Adventurers of Gladden Vale (Inactive)

Game Master Syrus Terrigan

Alrighty!

One thing I do want to mention here is that we would benefit from using spoiler tabs as much as possible. It will help keep us from scrolling through acres of text to get to the parts most relevant to each of us, and it will just bring our thread's appearance up a notch. I know that I was #1 on the Forums' Most Wanted List for Thread Vandalism early in the Recruitment thread, but I totally blame my long absence from the boards and the associated rustiness for that.

I've made a rough outline of events and circumstances that will bring our characters at least toward one another, if not outright together. I'll probably spend a day or two more refining it, and I may have questions for each of you as I go. Any communication for our game will most likely be posted here in Discussion, but I will keep an eye on my PMs just in case.

I have an appointment with my orthopedist today (worker's comp case; busted up my knee in the midst of last month's Frostpocalypse), and I expect that I'll have the Campaign Info tab set up with the setting description and condensed character generation rules by the end of the day.

More later!

So here is my tentative notion:

Characters that gain the ability to use magic will gain a pool of spell points. These spell points can be spent to allow the player to roll a "spell check" twice and take the better result. We can drum up tables for spell fumbles and critical castings as we go.

My idea builds on this - without Vancian spell slots, the only real difference between a wizard and a sorcerer is a wizard prepares his spells and a sorcerer has a limited number of spells known. However, the wizard prepares his spells in his spell slots, and if we don't have those, the difference becomes very small. The wizard's arcane school feature also rather weakened, as you don't get bonus spell slots anymore.

I was thinking that casters could each choose a number of schools of magic that are their "focus" schools equal to their casting modifier - e.g. a +2 mod in their casting stat mod gets 2 schools of magic. When casting a spell that's part of one of their "focus" schools, they get a bonus on the check or a lower DC on the check, representing the fact that it's easier for them to cast the spell. The wizard's arcane school feature then becomes like a bonus "focus" school, however, in exchange, the wizard also gets their two opposition schools. When casting a spell from one of the two opposition schools, they take a penalty or have a higher DC on the check. Opposition schools can never be a wizard's "focus" school, so they can never do anything to improve their chances to cast those spells.

To balance it out for sorcerers, they could get extra spell points, equal to their Charisma mod, representing that they are better able to control what magic they do know, since they only know a limited number of spells.

Spheres of Power addresses spellcasting in an unusual way -- at its root, there are no prepared casters. Nor are there verbal, material, and somatic components. Divine casters are not required to use a divine focus. All of these elements are optional and elective, even if they come strongly recommended.

When you do choose drawbacks, you either gain access to new talents (diversifying effects) or extra spell points (produce stronger results). It is a highly customizable magic system, and i like it quite a lot.

Prepared casters in SoP assign their spell points to specific spheres when they make their daily preparations; spontaneous casters (especially the sorcerer) get an extra spell point per level. Wizards learn more talents; sorcerers can "juice" their magic more often.
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I really like what you've put forward here, helaman, in terms of opposition schools and sliding bonuses/DCs by each. We will be incorporating that for our hodgepodge spellcasting system.

So, to bring these ideas together:

1) We'll keep the familiar PF1 spell list, as well as its schools, descriptors, and fundamental mechanics (generally).
2) Prepared casters will assign their daily spell points by school. School specialists gain a +2 bonus to their casting checks for their chosen school of magic, and may not assign any spell slots to their opposition school(s). (So a diviner that chooses evocation as the opposition school may still learn magic missile at some point in time, but will never be able to produce the maximum effect with it.) Universalist wizards will . . . gain an extra spell point each time a wizard bonus feat is granted? (I'm totally fishing for input on that point.)
3) Spell points are gained at a rate of 1 per spellcasting level plus the appropriate ability modifier. Sorcerers are awarded one bonus spell point per class level.
4) All spells prepared/known may be cast with a standard spellcasting check for "half-strength" results. Natural rolls of 1 result in a failed casting, and run the risk of a spell mishap. Natural rolls of 20 result in a successful casting (regardless of DC) and provide a chance of a casting critical.
5) Spell points may be spent to make spellcasting checks with "advantage" (a la 5E), or to enhance a cast spell to its highest-available potential based upon caster level. A caster may also elect to spend two spell points to apply both of these effects to a spellcasting attempt.
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Okay. There's some material for us to chew over. *mic drop*

@Phntm --

I just wanted to check on something, to avoid both my own confusion or the possibility of offense. The gender pronouns in your brief description of Daenara change between male and female in places, and I'd like to confirm whether or not that was by intent, or by accident, before I post a narrative sequence with Daenara in it.

@all --

Let's remember to keep the Recruitment thread quiet as much as may be, since we've got four confirmed participants now. Since we're doing more of the actual prep work rather than hyping interest, this is the best venue for all those interactions.

Also, if you know anyone on the boards that might have an interest in this game, please feel free to point them this way! One or two more players will be a fine thing. That said, though, I'll be closing recruitment on Wednesday, 24 March 2021.

By accident - I'll get it fixed.

I am roughing out the first draft of each survivor's opening scene, and it's going very well, I must say. I am going through the process of tying almost all of these characters together narratively in some way, and I want to post what I have so far and get input from each of you.

See if y'all can think up one or two connections between at least one of your characters and a character of another player.

I am roughing out the first draft of each survivor's opening scene, and it's going very well, I must say. I am going through the process of tying almost all of these characters together narratively in some way, and I want to post what I have so far and get input from each of you.

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See if y'all can...

Gimme a bit

@Sarah --

You still around? We haven't heard from you in a while . . . .

I'm here! Wejkeends are somethimes tricky for me to post but I am aruond :)

Okay, good deal! Just wanted to check.

Work on the opening scenes is going well. I'm sure we'll wind up running a staggered series of introductions (all in the interest of verisimilitude, 'cause travel takes time), but the keys are in place.

Crazy kinds of hyped!

I just realized something, I think. I've been brainstorming all these narrative threads, but I'm not 100% certain that Purity is female! I just . . . well . . . I assumed I was right in guessing that Purity is indeed female. But I don't want to muck up the narrative with misaligned pronouns from the word "Go". Am I on the money, or off the mark?

I will set up a 'super-aliasa' today and put my characters into it :)

I just realized something, I think. I've been brainstorming all these narrative threads, but I'm not 100% certain that Purity is female! I just . . . well . . . I assumed I was right in guessing that Purity is indeed female. But I don't want to muck up the narrative with misaligned pronouns from the word "Go". Am I on the money, or off the mark?

Purity is female.

I'll be running my 4 under my common alias for the moment

@Sarah --

This is my homebrew setting, geographically and culturally (to a lesser degree, at present), but I have a very keen interest in Alice's discipleship. What things can you tell me about the faith she follows?

If you have a name for the deity, send it my way. Likewise for alignment, domains, favored weapon, whatever. I'll collaborate with you on that, as my pantheon is as yet undefined.

@all --

Similarly, if any of you have ideas about faiths, factions, persons of interest, and the like, start posting your contributions! We are very nearly to launch date, and a prepared GM is a prepared GM!!

None of this needs to be concrete and exhaustive -- we'll have time to "discover" these aspects of our world as we go. But any additional hooks you can provide for roleplaying and setting will be much appreciated!

I keep digging through the Darker Dungeons content, and as I do, the more I like it!

I can see the skill challenges from 4E in the "trials" section.
I am loving the notches/repairs mechanics for tracking gear integrity.
I haven't even made it to the spell mechanics yet, and that's what actually got me started on this!

Thank you for the recommendation!

Sarah here! I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, yesterday was crazy busy but I am around and i hvae a new alias for this campaign :) I just need to add my 3 survivors into the profile.

@Syrus - my original plan was for Alice ot be a foundling but the roll I got means she's from a way ruraul area. I think whatever god you have of simple rustic folk - farmers, shephersds adn so on - will be cool, sort of an Erastil withouth the misogyny? (I believe James Jacobs when he says he never intnended Erastil to go in that direction, fwiw). There probaby aren't a lot of priests out in the sticks, so the local midwife also doubles as the shrine-keeper and has given Alics as much teaching as she can.

My preference for favoured weapon is something melee based as she doesn't have the best dex ever. Mabye something farm related like a scythe?

I hope that helps

Coupling the religious foundling aspect with the geographic disposition of the South Gladden Hills is a piece of cake. You don't have to sacrifice any bit of your brainstorm (yet) {'cause it could happen}.

I must confess that I've totally missed any of this controversy surrounding the lore/published content about Erastil. So . . . *big shrug*

The hilly regions in Gladden Vale are almost universally forested, so some sort of blending of Gozreh, Obad-Hai, Eilistraee, etc. will work. In the interests of prompting your thoughts . . . .

Okay, I've thought up some relationships.

Anyone want one of their characters to be the cousin of Caraya or Wilbur? Being the only two from the Ferrytowns, a relative they see once or twice a year at holidays is all I can come up with.

I've closed the recruitment. I'll put up our first gameplay posts (note the plural!) this Saturday, likely between 8:00 AM and 1:00 PM CST.

I know that I haven't specified this beforehand, and it may be a bigger deal than I realized -- I do not have the technical savvy nor the hardware to effect grid-based tactical combat via maps. I should have said that I intended to keep this mostly in the theater of the mind.

That being said, though: I can gradually work on gathering the equipment and knowhow to put up maps, if so desired.

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I've got a small set of important questions I need to lay out for y'all.

1) What aspects of the game are most important to you? Combat? Roleplaying? Problem-solving? Social interactions?

2) How closely do you want to keep to the PF1 class mechanics? Or more specifically, what classes do you envision each of your characters will take?

3) I have one primary hook for our launch in the "Trial", but I have other hooks interwoven in our opening scenes, too. As each of you play out the stories of your characters, additional choices will become apparent. But here is the important part: what kind of character arcs do you want to pursue? I know that we do not expect to have all our characters survive (and if they do, we'll wind up choosing one to run with and keep the rest on as NPCs), but some idea of the goals you have for your characters will help me guide things along enjoyable paths!

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I think that's it for now! Looking forward to getting your responses!!

Excellent ideas, Phntm! And, yes -- one additional hook for either Wilbur or Caraya would be excellent. I've already laid out that the two Ferrytowners know each other in my prep work, but one more line of connection would be great.

To be specific:

Klin and Baernd know Allvin
Allvin is acquainted with Albion, and has dealt with Blizzard
Alice and Purity (Blizzard's niece) have grown up in close proximity
Caraya knows Wilbur from her errand-running back and forth over the river
Bea knows (knew!) Dawn
Celia and Daenara have a surprisingly strong friendship despite the miles between their homesteads
Adric is assigned to Blizzard for his training in the King's Rangers
Gulsti has met Valentine at least once

I actually used your ideas as the base when I was fleshing out mine. How close are the Ferrytowns to the other towns?

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I've got a small set of important questions I need to lay out for y'all.

1) What aspects of the game are most important to you? Combat? Roleplaying? Problem-solving? Social interactions?

2) How closely do you want to keep to the PF1 class mechanics? Or more specifically, what classes do you envision each of your characters will take?

3) I have one primary hook for our launch in the "Trial", but I have other hooks interwoven in our opening scenes, too. As each of you play out the stories of your characters, additional choices will become apparent. But here is the important part: what kind of character arcs do you want to pursue? I know that we do not expect to have all our characters survive (and if they do, we'll wind up choosing one to run with and keep the rest on as NPCs), but some idea of the goals you have for your characters will help me guide things along enjoyable paths!

1) I honestly enjoy all aspects of Pathfinder, and find that variety can keep a campaign interesting. That said, problem solving can slow down a PBP game and sometimes makes it hard for people to maintain interest if it's not something they're in to..

2) I'd like to stay fairly close to the PF1 class mechanics since it will make encounter design easier and quicker. As for the classes I see them taking:

3) Character arcs I'd like to pursue:

Mind-map of the Vale

I think the simplest way to describe my basic vision of the Vale's geography is this:

Picture a circular clock face, but take the hours and minutes hands away. Northferry and Southferry would be situated slightly "south" of the center. Along the perimeter of this clock face are Cutters' Wash (12:30-ish), Last Rest (3:30-ish), Bear's Den (6:15), and Three Waters (8:00). Ravenlock is about 3/4 of the way from the center toward the 2-o'-clock position.

Though there are no discrete communities along the 9-to-12 arc in this rough description, the northwest portion of the Gladden is home to a great many farmers. There is one road that follows the track of the Loggerfall, and another that sweeps farther around the "perimeter" of the valley. Honeycombed between those two roads and then reaching out farther west are alternating tracts of arable land, forest, and pasture.

. . . I'll keep going if I don't get myself back on track. (Tool's 'Pneuma' is looping in the background while your question prompts more critical thinking about the region's terrain! Thank you for asking!!)

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The Ferrytowns are basically one day from every other community in the valley. Ravenlock is about 6 hours' walk from Northferry, and Last Rest is around 12 hours' walk from Southferry. The two toughest locations for Ferrytowners to reach are the farms beyond the Loggerfall River, and the King's Ranger's outpost between Bear's Den and Last Rest.

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I agonized over that answer for a whole hour. I almost typed up an exhaustive travel guide for the whole of Gladden Vale. I'm glad I didn't.

Thanks. I was trying to figure out how far would be a reasonable distance to travel to see family on a regional holiday (whatever holiday(s) may exist).

That's another good question!

And apart from the Naming Year Feast (more on that later) and the Logjam Festival (held not long after the Naming Year festivities), I don't have anything specific in mind. Obviously, some sort of season-transition events would fit in comfortably. Religion-specific holidays will be a thing worth detailing, too.

Do you have any ideas of what holidays make sense and seem cool?

Harvest is a fav. In any rural community. Mid winter solstice is another... ie, life SHOULD be getting better moving forward.

All Gods day also makes sense in a rural community where multiple religions may exist and more importantly where you can't afford to piss any god off by ignoring them.

First gameplay post is about to go up!

Ok

Finally made an alias

Woo-hoo!!!

Do y'all want me to just pull everyone to Three Waters and lay out the first main hook? Or would you like to interact with what I'm rolling out on a day-by-day basis?

I'd just kick it off... event happens, stuff is bad, we're all in the aftermath or mouth of dungeon/cave etc. RP will happen organically.

1) Is Valentine male, female, or something other?

2) If nothing new is posted by tomorrow morning, I'll jump ahead to day two of the proceedings. 24 hrs after that, we'll begin with Day Three, and get the stage fully set.

--> We're going to gave a little more of an "open world" intro. It will be less about a dungeon, and more about an actual adventure. But do not fret -- we'll definitely have some dungeon crawling!

1) Is Valentine male, female, or something other?

I'll work it out later... at this point, these guys are stat blocks and semi random professions. I'll breathe life into them as we go. That's how the funnel works.

I've got some business to attend, which was unforeseen. I'll continue the story for Klin, Baernd, Celia, and Daenara as soon as may be, and keep driving us toward the hook.

I'm such a scatterbrain, I'm sorry - this wasn't in my campagings page so I forgot to check it! :( Reading now and will post either today (less likely) or tomorrow for sure.

Yeah, the launch is fraught with easy-to-miss cues. No problem! I'll hold off on the next phase for 24 hours to give you a chance to say or do something in-game.

I'm gonna have a busy posting day tomorrow!! :)

Thanks for waiting on me, i have now posted and look forward to seeing how this goes :)

My apologies -- I forgot to ensure that Blizzard's relocation was mentioned here before everyone got started posting. If you have time to catch it, try to edit that post: I moved Valentine into Adric's orbit.

If it isn't caught, no big deal.

Also: Bea won't be directly introduced until the events of Day Three -- we're unveiling things a little as a time, allowing for the geography of the Vale to account for the timetable.

Eventually, everyone will make it to Three Waters (theoretically, but not necessarily) to launch the major action of our first chapter.

EDIT: And to be clear -- Days Two and Three will be both posted within the next 24 hours. I'm going to try my best to get us launched.

We're playing 4 stat blocks who may die at the first arrow. That's cool. That's what I signed up for... I like professor DM too. That said it's four of them. I'm looking forward to getting to the dying etc rather than the world building. Deeper RP will come as they are whittled down.

So be it. Consider it retconned. Or whatever makes it fit.

Also: Bea won't be directly introduced until the events of Day Three -- we're unveiling things a little as a time, allowing for the geography of the Vale to account for the timetable.

Taht makes sesnse, thanks :)

Okay. Condensed version forthcoming. I fell asleep last night in the midst of typing everything up. Fast-tracking engaged.

Alrighty. For the next few phases of our gameplay, we're going to keep it pretty simple.

1) Each day, a character will indicate what kind of work he or should would wish to perform on the way to Last Rest, and make a Charisma check. This check has no set DC for success, but will be reckoned on a sliding scale.

2) After each Charisma check, make a flat 1d20 roll. This will be the base die roll for your "labor" check; I will adjust accordingly off of your character's stats and background skill selections. The modified result of this roll will determine the nature of your reward for helping other citizens.

3) At your discretion, you may choose to make more than one set of checks each day (essentially, one for morning and one for afternoon) in order to increase your chances of success and reward. However, making such an attempt will indicate that you intend to hustle for a significant portion of your overland travel for the day, and will need to roll a Constitution check after making a doubled labor attempt. Failing that Constitution check, though, will mean that your character is fatigued the next morning.

We'll make these rolls one day at a time. I emphasize this solely for the sake of allowing roleplay for those who want to engage a little bit more in the world. But, if the action is the primary target, just make the rolls and I'll note any astonishing successes so that they can be cashed in later.

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For Blizzard:

Make the same rolls, but these rolls will be broader in application, since he has already passed the Trial many years ago. If there's some goal or another that he would want to achieve (perhaps trading his new boots for better-fitting, broken-in boots), just make a note of it next to the rolls.

The RNG has decided to hate on you a bit, it seems, Helaman. Maybe "tomorrow" will be better!

Thanks for getting things rolling.

My pleasure... play the dice as they land. That's how this has to be done.

Also, Helaman, throw in those flat d20 rolls for each character!

I'm confused. It's a charisma check, right? One per character? Or is it one for the job and another to kiss butt?

Edit: Re-read it.

Job checks incoming

1) Each day, a character will indicate what kind of work he or should would wish to perform on the way to Last Rest, and make a Charisma check. This check has no set DC for success, but will be reckoned on a sliding scale.

2) After each Charisma check, make a flat 1d20 roll. This will be the base die roll for your "labor" check; I will adjust accordingly off of your character's stats and background skill selections. The modified result of this roll will determine the nature of your reward for helping other citizens.

The Charisma check is meant to indicate your level of success at finding the work (or drink) that you want, and the flat check that follows will garner the measure of reward.

I think we'll need to adjust things for Blizzard a bit, though, since drinking isn't too exhausting an endeavor in and of itself. Though he's definitely serious about it!!

I'll post the checks for my three characters in just a little bit.

*sigh*

Always so much to do.

As we migrate our characters toward Last Rest, some interaction among our characters may well be a good thing. I'll also provide some exposition with the advice that other Valers will provide, based upon the results of these "community service" rolls. Also, since Bea and Gulsti have the highest Intelligence bonuses, they may yield some strong results with some generic Knowledge (local) checks. But anyone may attempt such a Knowledge roll.

I'm hoping to hear from Phntm and Sarah in Gameplay very soon!

Okay. It's been 48 hours. Advancing the plot. Just a little.