Kingmaker

Game Master Rackal28

Still very much lurking here. I'm avoiding the "ping"-style posts in respect for the people who are still preparing their submissions as to not clog the thread :) And, as supposed, fingers crossed all this time and curious for the final selections.

Oh no, I hadn’t thought of that! I was just trying to be friendly and keep spirits up. I didn’t mean to be distracting or to play favourites! If someone whose character I haven’t commented/complimented feels left out, I’d be happy to rectify that!

Answers to questions three:

1. “Hmm. Sounds like some mages I know: in their library seat first thing, then pacing in excitement in their lab’rat’ry, and then still poring over their books in their bunk at night with a cup of tea.” Her voice slips playfully into a less formal inflection than she usually uses, before returning to its normal cadences. “What? The right book or experiment can be quite a journey, and after a day of that – though it might be a pipe or whatever, if not tea – I defy you to find a mage that won’t have something they consider an essential support even as they read far into the night.”

2. “Probably not faster than a crow, since it’s flappier, and not as far, unless it’s cruising during its migration? I could keep an eye out, but I’m an herbalist, not an augur,” Hyalinnea acknowledges her vagueness with a languid gesture, but as she says, she’s more of a botanist.

3. She resists the impulse to check, barely. “A handful of coppers, the stump of a stick of bloody mandrake tint, and, honestly? probably some blue and maiden lily petals.”

For Natalia Aslanov.

1. Man

2. Shot from a bow, or a cannon?

3. My dagger, see!

Presenting Orandek Slagboulder, dwarven outcast, rugged survivalist, and terrible singer!

Answers to the riddles!

1. "Of the things I've seen out in the woods, could be 'ard to guess. While a man'd be correct, 've you ever seen a were-beast. For I 'ave, and I tell ya, they lurch and lope all over."

2. "A swallow? Depends on the type, where it's goin' and what it's aimin' to do. A swallow huntin' down a gnat in open sky'll be far quicker than one flittin' from tree to tree."

3. "My pockets? As it stands now, some odd coin, a compass, and...well that's odd, a crossbow bolt."

@Simeon: Finally a dwarf! Though a very atypical dwarf indeed.

Why does Orandek feel a need to reconcile with his clan if all they have done is treat him so terribly?

@Everyone: Jeegus! I never expected so many responses it was just a joke! XD that said, while many of you were indeed right, some of you were wrong in the best ways possible and that's even better! XD

You have unlocked the final decision!

Which will be revealed on 3/06 at whatever time my wife and I can decide which characters we like the most, though the decision will be quite difficult >.>'

Orandek’s thoroughly turned his back on his clan as a whole. He’s no longer a Goldboulder, and barely was to begin with. His father is a different matter. He never knew who his mother was, and if it was possible to reconcile with his father, being his only close blood relation, he would.

I’m a big fan of the stoicism and general attitude of dwarves, but they’ve always struck me as rather stodgy so Orandek’s a reflection of that.

[ooc] Sigh, I should have delayed answering to get in on this IC train goodness! Well, better late than never? [/oo]c

The seemingly simply huntsman walks forward next to his horse and examines the strange creature asking the riddles on the road south, then simply smiles as he confidently starts answering with much more eloquence than might be expected...

1. "A circus dog - probably."

Met with disbelieving stares from his companions, he waves with an apologetic smile. "All right, all right. Let's break this down, shall we? See, the obvious answer is 'Man' if we take the question metaphorically. But does that make sense? A man doesn't have four *legs* starting out, but rather two. Nor does he have three in the eve of his life. Unless a male wizard woke up one day decided to enlarge and animate his... ah... 'poppy' to serve as an actual spare one. Who really knows what they're up to when they get bored in their towers?"

He tips his hat to Gardolf the Green with a rogueish grin."And my friend is right, of course. To count a crutch as a third 'leg' seems like cheating. Unless the crutch is made from a table leg? Though surely whoever came up with this question didn't seriously think all crutches were made from demolished furniture?"

He pauses a moment to think. "And if we're going for 'Man', we should specify it to 'A smart man', instead. The ones less so surely do not make it to stage three. Definitely not adventurers like us, am I right?"

"So that leaves us at the circus dog. They have four legs starting out, and learn to walk on the hind legs somewhere on the way. But unfortunately, one of their ever present smilodon coworkers eat one during a rehearsal accident one day and she's left with three when she dies. Of course, a similiar answer is possible for most circus animals, but given that the question seems to include a lot of arbitrary generalisations I went with an arbitrary answer. Simple logic, really!"

2. After clarifying whether it was Mwangi or Avistan and not having the questioner spontaneously fall off a bridge, Raevis nods. "Twenty point one miles per hour. But good of you to ask that! There seem to be a lot of misconceptions concerning swallows, especially prevalent among mustache twirling Taldans in their budget forts with Cow Catapults. They seem to think the Avistan variant flaps their wings forty-three times per second, when it's actually only twelve. They also weigh less than an ounce against the excessive claim of five. So to assume one could carry an average coconut of one and a half pounds..."

He gestures at the sky. "In other words, a fruit weighing around thirty-four times heavier than the actual bird, the only conclusion is that Taldans are full of s#~%. The real question should be if a coconut is a fruit, a nut or a seed!"

When asked how he knows so much about Swallows, Raevis blinks and waves it off, blushing a bit. Privately, he remembers asking his tutors that exact same thing around twelve years ago, and he'd never taken their words seriously until this very day. "As a potential future king, you're supposed to know things like that!"

3. Just as it seems he's about to engage the creature in another philological debate, he stops and looks at it in concern. "Hm... I'm afraid I've broken it." Placing a comforting hand on the creature's shoulder, he proceeds to walk past it. "Get some rest... maybe some magical help. If you can't tell what I am or what the plural of a pocket is, you have issues - way more important issues than what's in my pocket."

@Trevor86: O.O Wow, that post was... super well written. I am... very, very impressed. Well done!

Five points to Gryffindor!

I get the sense, Rackal, that you'll understand how difficult it is to make these sorts of choices. xD

It suuuuccckkkssss >.>'

So many great characters and I can only choose four...

maybe go with five or six....lol

Yeah but then I'll have to restructure every encounter and all the loot >.>'

One more application to make things even tougher for you :) (sorry not sorry)

Background and other stuff is in the alias. Do you need paladins to follow a deity? Or is the cause of good, good enough?

1. What is a short-term goal of your character?

Katya’s immediate goal is to prove herself, somehow. She became a paladin about 6 months ago and is keen to show anyone who’s watching that she is good enough. She’d see the Charter to explore the Greenbelt as a way of doing that. If it brings her to the attention of people who matter that’s no bad thing either.

2. What is a long-term goal of your character?

Katya would love to find some way of getting one over on her family. She’s aware of the idea of forgiveness and such but some hurts run deep. (Anyone trying to suggest that “living well is the best revenge” can stick it.)

Beyond that, she knows first-hand how callous the noblse can be. If there’s a civil war, the common people will just get trampled on. She’d love to be an a position do do something about that.

3. If your character was given the opportunity to found their own kingdom what would be their motivation to do so?

Paladin Something something justice for all See above: a mix of impure motives (see how great I’ve become! Up yours, so-called family!) and slightly better ones: if civil war breaks out, people are going to need somewhere to run to. Even without civil war, she’d like to think she can create something better than the constant infighting and instability of the River Kingdoms.

Lots of nobles in this submission group. Neat!

Oh my! Signy would have such a delicious time driving Karina nuts while trying to cheer her up!

I was lurking as well, so that I would not jam up the recruitment thread.

I hope that didn't jinx my chances, as this seems to have exploded in the time I was sleeping.

utc - 7
MST.

Yeah but then I'll have to restructure every encounter and all the loot >.>'

Speaking as someone running Age of Worms with six players, yeah, it's a pain sometimes. On the one hand, you worry a lot less about TPKs (or losing players), and adding +50% enemies to every encounter isn't so hard. On the other hand, adjusting for WBL and single-enemy encounters does require a lot of active consideration, and combats are that much slower. Five players isn't so bad, though.

Thomas, I'm honestly not sure how big an issue "jamming up the thread" is, though I also can't imagine that not posting as frequently here will jeopardize your chances. Keeping the thread active provides some active benefit (it keeps people finding the thread, after all), and some GMs don't like it, some do.

Like I said, I honestly don't know if it's a problem, though I feel like players can get pretty superstitious one way or the other—"I need to keep posting about my character so they don't forget about me!" versus "I need to keep quiet so I don't annoy them!"

Speaking of which, I don't know if I'm spamming with these, but they're for my benefit as much as Rackal's, and they give me something to do other than worry about who'll get in!

Concepts:

Trakas Aeramirdal, NG male human swashbuckler/magus, by Jovish
Signy Birkirsdottir, CG female human Inquisitor of Cayden, by rdknight
Alice Redeyes, NG female human bloodrager, by katataban
Lorna Medvyed, NG female human spiritualist of Erastil, by Archlich
Natalia Aslanov, NG female human shaman, by DBH (question answers)
Thomas Leafbearer, LN male half-elf cleric/wizard of Iomedae, by Mokshai
Hyalinnea Kyrithra, CG female elf magus, by Qunnessaa
Margus Blackfeather, NG male tengu cavalier, by ArendK
Wylhia the Wisp, NE or CN gnome druid of Green Faith, by Kobold Cleaver
Kul'Theraka, NG male half-orc ranger (bow), by Ironperenti
Lethyr, CN male half-elf ranger (longbow), by ScorchedOne
Serena Beaumont, LG female human paladin of Erastil (melee), by Ventiine
Raevis Rogarvia, NG male human swashbuckler, by Trevor86
Morof Tarci, NG male half-elf wizard
Brental Fenson, LN male aasimar druid of Green Faith, by polyfrequencies
Gardolf the Green, LG male human bloodrager, by eriktd
Meneas the Cowl, N male human cavalier (hooded knight), by Sensen
Orandek Slagboulder, CG male dwarf ranger (melee)
Karina Zayatevya, LG female human paladin (ranged), by Sarah 'Queen' Bee

Expressed Interest:
Assembler, archaeologist bard
GoblinFiddler
Camris

EDIT: I also think there's some quantity of trying to have some fun while we're here—not making it in to a lot of PbPs in a row can be a bummer, and so for some of us, the Recruitment thread becomes sort of a recurring playground for character growth and development, at least until we make it into one proper. :P

I don't think there's a competitive advantage to posting in the recruitment thread. It's just people checking in to read new posts and responding to things that catch their attention. It's a way to pass the time waiting for the GM to make selections.

I have in the past seen some recruitments where the GM does require applicants to interact with each other in-character in the recruitment thread as part of the selection process. I avoid those because the 'dance for me' aspect of them seems really weird and forced.

Leaving those aside, it's been my experience GMs make decisions based on well thought out applications and the need to select characters for a balanced party. Racking up lots of posts in the recruitment thread doesn't count for anything.

@Karina: Oh, a very interesting character we have here! Welcome aboard, and while I do prefer my paladins to worship gods I don't think they have to according to the rules so do as you like~

I would like to know how you believe she gets her powers though. What does she believe good is and how can she bring it to her will? :)

On the other hand, adjusting for WBL and single-enemy encounters does require a lot of active consideration...

The adjustments to WBL don't have to be huge. One way of balancing an extra player or two in the party is to reduce WBL some to compensate.

I avoid those because the 'dance for me' aspect of them seems really weird and forced.

At the risk of, against my better judgement, cluttering this thread, I have to quote this. You said it better than how I would ever be able to.

Queen's classic Under Pressure plays in the background and nervous sweating intensifies as Rackal begins agonizing over character selections once more

But... but this character has a cool concept... and this one has a fantastic backstory, this one just has a real fun personality, never even seen this kind of character before, this person is just such an amazing writer, but what about party balance?! Ahhhhhh!

At least my wife said I look cute when I'm stressed xD

@Karina: Oh, a very interesting character we have here! Welcome aboard, and while I do prefer my paladins to worship gods I don't think they have to according to the rules so do as you like~

I would like to know how you believe she gets her powers though. What does she believe good is and how can she bring it to her will? :)

Thanks! :D

I've given this sort of thing a lot of thuouhgt partly because it beats working but mainly because I think LG characters are fun to play (LE too but it has to be the right group). if I'm wroking within constraints, I can work out what those are and how my character came to them and thaht helps me work out who my character is. Anyway, the basic forms of good as I see them are passive (the good shepherd who watches the floock and knows their names and tends their wounds), reactive (the watchful shepherd who patrols the narrow lanes and drives off teh wolf when it attacks) and active (the angry shepherd who tracks the wolf to its lair, burns its lair, cuts its head off and sticks it on a f****** spike to make sure nobody else gets funny ideas).

(it's more cmpoplicated than that but you get the idea I think.)

Katya is probably going to be the active type. Does that mean she's not watching over the sheep? Yup. Might some of them die while she's going after the wolf? Sure. Is she bothered? Not really. There's lots more sheep. That doesn't mean she doesn't care, or won't help, but if there's a choice between saving the burning orphanage and going after the f***** who burned it down, she's not going to think too hard on that one.

She believes she gets her powers from the paladin's oath, which as long as she follows it, will give her access to abilities most people don't have. Her focus is probably more on punishing evil than respecting authorirty, tbh.

I'm not really up on the gods of Golarion, I knwo the main ones and I think Sarenrae is too forgiving and Iomedae is a bit stuck up for Katya's tastes. (also I'm playing a priestess of Iomedae in another game so wuould like some variety). One of the other players (can't remember who, sorry) mentioned looking at the gods as saints: not worshiping them but defeinitly respecting their power. Katya might do something simliar.

Of course, if you can think of a god that might fit, do let me know :)

Bet you're sorry you asksed now!

@Karina: OMG! Aisling? It's Vantine! Took me a long minute to figure that out!

I love Karina's character—"rough-and-tumble" paladins are so much fun to roleplay and roleplay with. Oh, and Wisp is the one who sees gods as saints, so that's a fun thing to have in common between the paladin and the most morally dubious PC here! ;D

Also, I couldn't help myself. I wrote up Wisp's "quick thoughts" on every other PC. Sensen and Rackal will remember this is a bad habit of mine. I think it's fun, it gives other people something to read about their characters, and it's a good way to think about how I'd roleplay Wisp if she got in. I don't see these as her "canon" thoughts on partymembers, obviously—you can't know two PCs' feelings on each other until they've entered play—but it's an exercise.

For the sake of not cluttering the game thread, though, it's probably best to keep any responses people have to PM or to their own characters' bios, unless Rackal wants to see it. :P

Wylhia the Wisp wrote:

On the other hand, adjusting for WBL and single-enemy encounters does require a lot of active consideration...

The adjustments to WBL don't have to be huge. One way of balancing an extra player or two in the party is to reduce WBL some to compensate.

Or, if feeling extremely generous, just lowering the Perception DCs to find some hidden loot: it’s been a while and I honestly don’t feel like testing my patience with the archive and Boolean operators at the moment, but I think one of the design team (James Jacobs, maybe?) is on record somewhere saying that the adventure paths are written with the assumption that a surprising (to me) amount of the treasure might get missed by the PCs. And with a kingdom to run, there might be a fair amount of downtime for crafting and such.

… And now (showing my age here) I can’t help but think that once she picks up Craft Wondrous Item, Lina would make sure there actually would be things floating around that could be traced to the Queen of America. :)

I'm not really up on the gods of Golarion, I knwo the main ones and I think Sarenrae is too forgiving and Iomedae is a bit stuck up for Katya's tastes. (also I'm playing a priestess of Iomedae in another game so wuould like some variety). One of the other players (can't remember who, sorry) mentioned looking at the gods as saints: not worshiping them but defeinitly respecting their power. Katya might do something simliar.

Of course, if you can think of a god that might fit, do let me know :)

Fictional theology nerd strikes again! Perhaps I ought to have used one of my other aliases, for a character who actually is a theologian. Anyway. Not the GM, obviously, but…

Also, I couldn't help myself. I wrote up Wisp's "quick thoughts" on every other PC. Sensen and Rackal will remember this is a bad habit of mine. I think it's fun, it gives other people something to read about their characters, and it's a good way to think about how I'd roleplay Wisp if she got in. I don't see these as her "canon" thoughts on partymembers, obviously—you can't know two PCs' feelings on each other until they've entered play—but it's an exercise.

For the sake of not cluttering the game thread, though, it's probably best to keep any responses people have to PM or to their own characters' bios, unless Rackal wants to see it. :P

Sounds interesting! Reminds me of the very first time I was accepted into a PBP where I did something similar. Mind sharing via PM?

Oh, I realize I forgot to say that it's all on my profile!

Reading that Wisp thinks Brental is honorable brought a little tear to my eye.

I'm not really up on the gods of Golarion, I knwo the main ones and I think Sarenrae is too forgiving and Iomedae is a bit stuck up for Katya's tastes. If you can think of a god who would fit, let me know

Well, from the orphanage example I guess your character is hard on the punishment side of things and less so on the saving people. The most judge dredd lawful good entity I know of in pathfinder is Ragathiel. But if you'd like a more badass warrior goddess who isn't Iomedae, there's also Falayna. She's an empyrial lord, and not her entire portfolio might appeal to you, but her strong focus on Martial Training seems to fit your written backstory.

Isn't Torag kind of famously more lawful than good? Or is that Abadar? That might be more up your alley, just in the sense of, "Helping others is not as important as correcting injustice and punishing bad actors." But that's getting dangerously close to some mixed opinions on what "lawful" means, I guess.

I don't follow Golarion deities much; I have, like, five I enjoy and the rest I mostly learn about when I play alongside clerics worshiping them. :P

Abadar is LN. Torag's rather more idealistic, though still pretty traditionalist.

Never having seen a Torag cleric, but having read plenty of paladin threads (unfortunately), I'm pretty sure my main impression of Torag is... well, to put it kindly, "the one who just really, really wants you to kill orcs".

EDIT: If I can make a suggestion, it might help to look at this particular character as being less "a paladin who chose her favorite god", and more "a paladin who got chosen by a god, for reasons not fully known". Maybe the god views her as a "project" ("Yeah, she's a bit rough for a paladin of Sarenae, but I can change her! She just needs a few nudges!"), or appreciates her commitment to her code and punishing evildoers and sees her as a valuable agent despite her "rough edges". ("She's not my best paladin, but she's the best I've got in the field.") That's just one possibility, but it allows you some flexibility. Paladins are sort of a cross between oracles and clerics—sometimes they choose their god, but just as often they were selected.

It can also be fun to roleplay a paladin who's sometimes at odds with their deity, and make that a part of their character. My original submission to Sensen's Jade Regent game was a paladin of Shelyn with a bad temper.

I'm not the GM, nor the foremost expert on your character, of course. Sorry if I'm butting in; just trying to help a fellow non-deist applicant! :P

Way I've seen it, Torag is lawful than he is good. Less doing good for it's own sake and more than doing good makes society better for everyone.

Queen's classic Under Pressure plays in the background and nervous sweating intensifies as Rackal begins agonizing over character selections once more

But... but this character has a cool concept... and this one has a fantastic backstory, this one just has a real fun personality, never even seen this kind of character before, this person is just such an amazing writer, but what about party balance?! Ahhhhhh!

At least my wife said I look cute when I'm stressed xD

I don't envy your decision.

Honestly, I think organization is going to be your friend here. Sort by roles, then add +'s for backstory/personality/writing style/potential hooks you like.

The flipside is if something happens, you have a MASSIVE pool of people to jump in.

I think there's something to be said for deemphasizing party balance in favor of finding players you think will be fun to play with, and making sure every PC has their own niche. A party without divine casters can always find a wand of CLW. Non-mechanical issues are harder to correct for.

It might be a bit more intensive, especially with the sheer number of applicants, but a GM I recently applied to play with did private text interviews with everyone to ask questions. You more or less did that here as well, but still pretty public.

Y'all are fun.

Yeah, honestly, I'm going to be looking into launching a second game from these forums soon, and anyone who's applied to this game but doesn't make it in will be welcome to apply there. There are some fantastic concepts and fantastic player attitudes around here, and I hate to see any of them go to waste. There just aren't enough games to go around!

I was going to say, we may as well start recruiting GMs! We're close to 20 finished applications, enough to run this 5 times over!

Honestly, if I didn't have two games going already, I'd consider it. I do kind of want to see what I can do with the possibilities of Kingmaker, especially taking inspiration from the cRPG game.

Yeah, I don't know if I'd have the time to learn a whole new AP like Kingmaker myself, honestly. Maybe a co-GMing setup, but I've never tried that sort of thing before.

Anyways, one way or another, judgment day tomorrow! It's the final countdown! Good luck, everyone.

Well, with the day nearly upon us, best of luck everyone!

Good luck all.

I can just recruit eight players right? Yeeeaaaah eight players will be fine then I don't have to make any super difficult decisions >.>'

DM Rackal may have slightly lost the plot on this one.

Last minute note, if it makes a difference for party balance, i could take Raevis into bard from level 2 instead of inquisitor, for some arcane spells and similar skills. Make him hum some catchy tunes during those sword fights :)

That said, good luck on selection everyone!

Recruitment is now closed.
Thank you, sincerely, to everyone who submitted such amazing characters, it was a treat being able to read them all.

The final decision will be posted by the end of the day.

A belated good luck to all the prospectives, and my deepest and sincerest sympathy for Rackal.

Good luck evyrone! (and thank you for sharing thoughts on deities)

Best of luck to everyone.

Good luck y'all!

now the waiting. Good luck all.