Savage Tide (in the Mist)

Game Master Anirtak

Vanthus

Lavinia

Legend in the Mist:

This game will be run using Legend in the Mist which is a rules light, narrative-forward, player-facing game not quite released. The link is to a demo, and the full ruleset will be available (I hope) in the next few months. It is simple enough that it can be easily taught. It is also simple enough that those desiring High Crunch will be sickened, possibly even nauseated.

Two things the system asks for: a certain amount of trust, and a certain amount of collaboration.

Trust that I'm not trying to beat you. I'm you're biggest fan. If I'm making things hard for your characters, it's in the service of telling a better story.

Collaboration, in that I'm hoping you are trying to tell a better story too, and not just trying to 'beat the game.' If you're that kind of player, go away.

Savage Tide-ish:

We are going to call this Savage Tide, but with the understanding that I'm making some heavy revisions. There are places where I find it stupidly railroady, places where it's tedious, places where I want to claw my eyes out. And it's STILL probably my favorite AP. So, I'm going to try to fix the bits I don't like, and add some stuff I do like, and adapt it to a rule system with a radically different set of assumptions.

Two things I will say in advance: D&D/PF work on accumulation of xp, and there is a LOT of content (combat-heavy crawls) that exists to grant XP. I'm cutting all that, and sticking with what's important to move the story.

Second, railroading: APs are paths, so there's necessarily going to be a direction they want you to go. Savage Tide gets real railroady in places. I am going to sandbox it as much as possible, but I am working on the assumption that this AP is what we want to do, so we are going to be trying to pursue the main storyline. That said, if the players go in a 100% different direction on day one, I'm not going to force it.

Greyhawk:

The AP is set in Greyhawk, and my familiarity with Greyhawk is so-so at best. That said, the starting city presented in the Player's Guide is so well done, I don't want to mess with it, so we are sticking with it. It is going to be low-canon Greyhawk, though. Either we will have a player with an encyclopedic knowledge of Greyhawk who we can refer to for all sorts of questions of obscure lore that are way outside the scope of the AP, or we can wiki it, or just make it up. It is OUR Greyhawk, after all.

Spellcasters in PF-style LitM:

If you do not have a tag that identifies you as a spellcaster, you cannot cast spells. Easy.

If you do not have a tag that specifies an effect, you always take a consequence of magical fatigue equal to the power of the effect. This status cannot be lessened by a reaction. This is in addition to any consequence resulting from a 9 or less on the roll.

Pathfinder and D&D have way too many spells to take a tag for every spell a full caster has under their belt. When in doubt, consult with the Narrator (aka GM). I will list a few examples.

A tag [Fey-Blooded Sorcerer] might take [Fairy Charm] which would serve as Charm Person, Charm Monster - any number of spells that work on the principle of “Let’s be friends.” Of course, a more powerful target will require more power.

A [Wizard] with a [Fiery Destruction] tag can cast a simple flame bolt or - with enough power to add an area of effect - a Fireball.

A [Priest of Pelor] with [Healing Magic] could cast a cure wounds, but also disease, poison, etc.

So, let’s say the Priest wants to cure someone who has run afoul of a Wraith and suffered Constitution drain (which would be some sort of status - let’s say [Life Force Drained 3]). In pathfinder, this requires a Restoration spell, which the Priest does not have a specific tag for. He can pray for it, though. This would be a prep action he would do while camping, using Priest of Pelor and Healing Magic, plus or minus any other tags and statuses that are relevant, which he could use to create a tag [Restore Life Force] and now he can cure it.

Each casting class in D&D/PF has a slightly different set of parameters. I’m trying to walk the line where I keep that flavor, but without getting crazy granular. So, this is what I’ve come up with. Each spellcasting type will have a narrative limit.

Wizards will need a [spellbook] tag (though a fully committed Wizard will probably want it to be a theme) and can prepare various spells using the same kind of prep action as the priest in the example above. Alchemists will need a [Formula Book].

Sorcerers cannot improvise effects - if they don’t have a tag for it, they can’t do it.

Clerics, Paladins, Inquisitors, etc. need their Deity’s Favor - anyone who plays a cleric will need to agree with the Narrator what the tenets of the Deity’s faith are. If they violate those tenets, no magic until they have redeemed themselves in their deity's eye.

Druids and Rangers need to be in Harmony with Nature - they can take a status of Civilized which will impede their spellcasting, or they could lose their power altogether if they really go against Nature.

Bards have to perform. I know it’s not necessarily D&D canon, but there is no subtle Bardic Magic in my world.

Components, ceremonies, etc: The last thing I think anyone wants to see is a 2e style Quest for Bat Guano so the wizard can cast fireballs. But, I do love the power of exotic materials, holy symbols, dramatic incantations and so on. Anyone who wants to “power up” their spellcasting with components such as these can do so. But you need to have the tags and it has to be relevant. A priest with a [Holy Symbol] can use it to empower his spell casting. A wizard with [butter] can use it to empower his [Grease] spell. And any caster can take a prep action to create the proper [Incantations] and [Mystic Gestures] to juice up their spells. But nobody HAS to. You can just use your action to cast your spell.