"TREASURE HUNT" or "HOW I GOT KIDNAPPED BY PIRATES AND MOSTLY SURVIVED"

Game Master Hack Anslash

A Treasure Hunt!

Marooned on a barren isle…
The island of the mighty Sea King, Viledel, was sacked by a pirate army 60 years ago.

It's a race against time and monsters in this desperate treasure hunt, where the real reward, the greatest treasure, may simply be to survive!

*****

Treasure Hunt is going to be a little different from most of the other adventures on this site in a number of ways, the most important being that it was originally written for 0-Level AD&D.

The Set-Up

The game will be run with the players starting as common folk (farmers, smiths, hunters, merchants, shoemakers, barkeeps, scribes, etc) with the goal of ending the adventure with everyone earning their first level in one of the CORE classes. (More on development below)
Each character will start as a 10 pt build for their ability scores. (Ideally, none of the scores should be exceptional, but that’s up to you guys. No score can go below an 8.)

All characters will start with 6 hps. Each character will start with a Profession Skill and one Skill of their choosing, that should be representative of their background in some way. None of the characters will start the game with equipment.
Races Allowed: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Elf, ½ Elf, Halfling, ½ Orc

*****

What happens next is based on the story and what the characters do, succeeding or failing at various tasks as you try to survive and (hopefully) escape being marooned on a pirate island!

When it’s all said and done, the characters SHOULD get a pretty good idea of what they are good at and what they’re not, based on what happens more than on the whim of the players that created them.

By the end of the adventure, each character that survives will:
1. Gain 1st level in the CORE class of their choice.

2.Rebuild their character scores as a 20 pt build. Also, if the players so choose, Archetypes can be chosen for their characters.

3. Gain a single Trait.

Now, SHOULD the game continue on after this point, characters may, upon achieving 2nd level, rebuild their Class as one of the Base classes rather than level as their Core class, provided roleplaying towards that end and whatnot has been done during their first level. Also, each character will earn a second Trait.

*****

About Me:

I've been tabletop role-playing since I was 13 years old. I'm in my 50's now, and teaching my kids to game. In the past I've run a long term (3+ years) pbp game for my college friends (from back in the day) in 3.5 D&D and both Marvel Supers (FASERIP) and Pathfinder on table top.
I've played everything from all the various D&D editions to ShadowRun and d6 Star Wars.
I recently started playing 5e D&D on Discord with some friends, and that gave me the itch to play and/or run something here. I figured if I wanted to play, it would only be fair to offer to run something as well. I considered 5e, but since this is a Pathfinder site...

My style is best described as "Heroic Fun" I think. No evil characters, but not requiring goody goodies, either. Humor is encouraged, but keeping in mind that adventuring can be horrific and dangerous at times.
Players have to come up with reasons to have their characters hang with the party and for them to work together. And if you want to try and convince the GM to allow something outrageous, fully expect NPCs to have a chance to do likewise and gain the same advantages you do.

The Recruitment

I live in Michigan so all my posting will be EST,
I’d like to see daily posts (hopefully at least 5 a week), and will aim to do likewise, though likely more. Obviously real life gets in the way sometimes, so just communicate with me and the group, and we can work through most slow spots…
I think that’s about it.

I’m looking for 5 - 6 players for this. (If there's enough interest, I MIGHT consider a couple more, but then character deaths will be more likely to be permanent. It's unlikely, but we can discuss how dark we want this to be.)

Recruitment will run until July 19th at 6pm EST

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This sounds like a cool idea. I'll see about putting together a character concept sometime this weekend.

I am so going to try for this! Thanks for setting this up!

Hmm.. Maybe a halfling brewer! Sounds nice

Amazing idea GM Labyrinth. And with a classic module to boot. Best of luck with the game!

This looks fun! I will start working on a character. :)

Hmm... I think I could roll with a grizzled elven fisherman ;-)

Alright, here is a rough 'sketch'.

Pikel is a grizzled, middle-aged elf who has been an independent fisherman for centuries, mostly minding his own business (although he has known some of the local families for generations!), until he was shanghaied and abandoned on the island!

NG Elf Fisherman

I assumed BAB 0, base saves 0, no additional hp from Con, no favored class bonuses, no alternate racial features, and no additional skill points from high intelligence (so just the two); is all of that correct?

A Treasure Hunt!

The game will be run with the players starting as common folk (farmers, smiths, hunters, merchants, shoemakers, barkeeps, scribes, etc) with the goal of ending the adventure with everyone earning their first level in one of the CORE classes. (More on development below)
Each character will start as a 10 pt build for their ability scores. (Ideally, none of the scores should be exceptional, but that’s up to you guys. No score can go below an 8.)

All characters will start with 6 hps. Each character will start with a Profession Skill and one Skill of their choosing, that should be representative of their background in some way. None of the characters will start the game with equipment.
Races Allowed: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Elf, ½ Elf, Halfling, ½ Orc

I have a question, instead of Profession, could one get Crafts? For example, if I went with a shoemaker concept, then craft shoes might make a lot more sense than the profession skill options of merchant etc. Ditto if someone wanted to play a blacksmith.

Sure. That works. Choice of Profession or Craft, keeping in mind the idea behind it is that you're commoners/mundane at this point.

Sure. That works. Choice of Profession or Craft, keeping in mind the idea behind it is that you're commoners/mundane at this point.

Thank you! And understood.

Ridge here again.
Your initial post, where you mentioned shoemaker as one possible job for our common folk, kind of inspired me and I went with a 'what if Cinderella were born from middle class craftsmen' rather than gentry?

Everything should be in the profile and I hope I got the point count right (Human bonus included). Her best stats are in Dexterity and Charisma, with Int close behind, but hell, depending on what she rolls she might live long enough to change dramatically. Her only two skills are craft (Shoes), and Performance Dancing (Because again, Cinderella). Neither of which likely to save her but that's part of the fun :)

It's a wall of text, but in addition to the 'Fairy tale plagiarism' of her history, I put some notes on her appearance and personality.

It's a wall of text, but in addition to the 'Fairy tale plagiarism' of her history, I put some notes on her appearance and personality.

Oh, in case it needs clarified, the talk of her lashing out against her old ways is more rebellion than any malice. In short, she might go more Chaotic, or yes, slightly Neutral, but she won't be evil

Mito Took here. Would be brewer and desperately wishing he was somewhere else.

This sounds like a really fun concept, I'll have to see what I can think of. My immediate thought is a halfling cook.

Will this campaign be based on Golarion? I'm asking for naming conventions.

Yes, Golarion.

For applicants, So far I think we have....
Luke Parry - Pike Bouldershoulder (Elf Fisherman)
Ridge- Isidiana Cobheel (Human Shoemaker)
Andrea1- Miro Took (Halfling Brewer)

And a few others are still mulling over concepts

Here's my submission, Dak Pastie, a human teenage adept.

GM Labyrinth, I gave Dak an indepth backstory, but if that doesn't work for you, we can scrap it.

dotting with interest,
Thinking Half-elf Blacksmith or Tanner

Thinking of a dwarf scribe, Rogar Silverink, who follows Irori.

More applicants, So far I think we have....
Luke Parry - Pike Bouldershoulder (Elf Fisherman)
Ridge- Isidiana Cobheel (Human Shoemaker)
Andrea1- Miro Took (Halfling Brewer)
The Waskally- Dak Pastie (Human Adept??)
LDDragon- Rogar Silverink (Dwarf Scribe)
RHMG Animator- Currently Nameless (Half Elf Blacksmith)

Sounds interesting. I do like 0-level games with potential to move forward.

So far, folks, I'm liking what I'm seeing.

@Waskally, small issue. Your character isn't supposed to have ANY class. You can set him up more or less how you have, but without any class bonuses and whatnot.

The game will be run with the players starting as common folk (farmers, smiths, hunters, merchants, shoemakers, barkeeps, scribes, etc) with the goal of ending the adventure with everyone earning their first level in one of the CORE classes. (More on development below)

Each character will start as a 10 pt build for their ability scores. (Ideally, none of the scores should be exceptional, but that’s up to you guys. No score can go below an 8.)

All characters will start with 6 hps. Each character will start with a Profession Skill and one Skill of their choosing, that should be representative of their background in some way. None of the characters will start the game with equipment.
Races Allowed: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Elf, ½ Elf, Halfling, ½ Orc

Basically, decisions you make in game, along with successful and unsuccessful die rolls will help decide everyone's eventual fates. Sure, in the end, you can sort of pick what you want, I suppose, but the fun for this one is supposed to be discovering a character's "True" purpose and class as the adventure goes on.

So far, folks, I'm liking what I'm seeing.

@Waskally, small issue. Your character isn't supposed to have ANY class. You can set him up more or less how you have, but without any class bonuses and whatnot.

Sorry, misunderstood. Dak (human bartender) has been updated.

"So where is that damned Rat-Catcher?" Jelonius (A fat rotunda of a fleshy dwarven weeble wobble) says.

"I am here." says the Rat-Catcher. His hands are implanted on his hips. One hand holds three leashes that are tied to three steely trained pussy cats. They are the arsenal of pain and death that rats in this town fear.

8/13/10/12/12/16

Handle Animal 6
Escape Artist 4

Human
+2 to CHA
Feats:
Improved Init
Weapon Finesse

Get a small but vicious dog, they g through rats like nobody's buisness.

Get a small but vicious dog, they g through rats like nobody's buisness.

But not as funny as attacking with three pussies.

I think this is the current list
Luke Parry - Pike Bouldershoulder (Elf Fisherman)
Ridge- Isidiana Cobheel (Human Shoemaker)
Andrea1- Miro Took (Halfling Brewer)
The Waskally- Dak (Human Bartender)
LDDragon- Rogar Silverink (Dwarf Scribe)
RHMG Animator- Currently Nameless (Half Elf Blacksmith)
Shane Joseph- Aldric "the Parchment" Dahlsen (Human Scribe)
CucumberTree - Currently Nameless (Human Ratcatcher)

Unfortunately, I couldn't settle on a good concept. Bowing out. Have fun!

That is a band of misfits for sure, but what did they all have in common that led them to being taken...

I'll have a limited internet connection for the next few days, so I might not be able to submit something more fleshed out at the moment.

But I am getting a better idea of them, though a few ideas are conflicting each other....

That is a band of misfits for sure, but what did they all have in common that led them to being taken...

Well, lets hope that it's not some sort of all-oiled-up naked fun time party.

That is a band of misfits for sure, but what did they all have in common that led them to being taken...

Well, my submission was taken from her less than happy wedding (Though I can change the backstory some if need be). The vibe I got was they don't have to have too much in common except being commoners of one sort or another. Maybe the raiders hit more than one village before hitting the sea or the like? Allowing a variety of folk?

I've been lurking for while, and I finally think I've settled on a concept.

Thanks to Ridge's Cinderella inspiration, I believe I will riff off that using Red Riding Hood/Boy Who Cried Wolf as my basis: a young female hunter. The twist will be she's a gnome and the Big Bad Wolf she encountered will be an intelligent warped fey creature (how else could the animal have spoken to little red?). Aside from the outcast woodsman recluse who saved her, no one in town believes the story of a smart talking wolf as divination magics did not locate any trace of a beast or lycanthrope as the cause of Grandma's death. Since then she's dedicated her life to learning how to hunt in order to find and eliminate the thing which slaughtered her grandmother.

I'll finalize the stats for Scarlette Cowl aka Scowl later today.

Looking to get in with a Half-Orc.

Are alternate racial traits acceptable?

and

If, we do continue to Level 1, does Core include Unchained classes?

Also, earlier on Pikel asked...

I assumed BAB 0, base saves 0, no additional hp from Con, no favored class bonuses, no alternate racial features, and no additional skill points from high intelligence (so just the two); is all of that correct?

And here's the finished profile for Scarlette Cowl or Scowl to her friends.

Since Hunter is an official class (which would be perfect for her, but alas it is an Alternate or Hybrid class, so most likely will head to Ranger if she gets a choice, but let the chips fall where they may), Scarlette is currently in the profession of woodcutter assisting the woodsman who saved her life those years ago.

I must say considering how limited the female gnome avatars are, the one I found which has red hair and an unamused expression couldn't have been more perfect for Scowl. :D

Miro likes beer.

24 hours to go. Good luck folks.

This is Ollie-Twist's submission! Realized I had an existing character that could be retooled to fit the bill here, so rather than making a cook, here's Honey, a sweet and friendly herbalist who would love to have an adventure one day! Kidnapped by pirates is not the way she wanted to start that, though.

Less than two and a half hours before recruitment closes it looks like.

My submission...

Adding Con to HP seemed to make sense to me, or why would we use Str, Dex or any other attribute/ability bonuses?

I took the liberty of Alternate Racial Traits, if not allowed I'm happy to revert.

Profession is Miner, Skill is Stealth.

I don't know that alignment matters, but he's Good... LG, NG or CG may depend on Core class selection (if Barbarian, Druid, Monk, Paladin).

Are y'all still accepting toons? Or did I miss the window?

Are y'all still accepting toons? Or did I miss the window?

Couple hours left, me thinks!

I think it's one hour now.

Seems like there is the making of a great group of potential captives. Best of luck to all.

Ok, so first, YES this is still happening.
However, the launch is gonna be delayed by a week or so.

I'll have the list of unfortunat...er...lucky souls who have by Wednesday.

Sorry for the delay.

Those poor unfortunate souls.... Hopefully we will find some gadgets and gizmos and thingamabobs on this treasure hunt.

I was getting more of a Gilligan's Island theme song in my head. :)

Good to know you're back, GM Labyrinth!