Anirtak's Untitled Campaign

Game Master Anirtak

I'd really like to take these rules out for a spin. Is there anyone who would be into playing a pbp? I'm sort of thinking of a sandbox with DNA from a few favorite APs, including Kingmaker, Skull and Shackles, Savage Tide and others.

If there is any interest, I'll start working up a background.

Which rules are you referring to?

Which rules are you referring to?

These rules.

I backed the kickstarter a while ago and am getting previews. It's a very simple system, which I think should be fairly teachable.

It's based on City of Mists which in turn uses the PbtA rules, so low crunch, narrative forward, pretty simple at the end of the day.

Never heard of this, but I'd be willing to give it a shot.

Never heard of this, but I'd be willing to give it a shot.

Awesome!

Have you played any PbtA games before?

I'm happy to teach, it's pretty simple, but if you have played some, you're halfway there.

And here's my blurb on the setting:

The Far Isles are a small cluster of islands far from any other land. The people live their lives as they have for generations. Most are simple farmers and fisher-folk. Their communities are small and generally follow the law that has been handed down from their ancestors. They are not rich, but for the most part, they are comfortable, with enough security that there is time for leisure.

This is not to say it is a utopia. There are disruptions, raids, theft, greed, poverty, storms, tragedy. All the evils of humanity are present, but small in scope. The spirits, too, are not always the most peaceful neighbors.

And of course everyone knows not to be caught on the Isle of the Dead when the sun goes down.

(keeping it vague, so that world-building can be more collaborative.)

I don't believe I've played any PbtA, but I'm usally not too hard to teach :P

It's an easy system to teach. Hopefully we'll see a bit more interest.

City of Mists is incredibly fun. Really lets you dig your feet in on your concept. Love it. Masks in another PbtA game which I absolutely love.

City of Mists is incredibly fun. Really lets you dig your feet in on your concept. Love it. Masks in another PbtA game which I absolutely love.

Yeah, I loved CoM, and I love what they've done with the engine in Legends. Really hoping to get a game off the ground here.

Was even considering adapting an AP since that will whet some appetites on this forum. It's a lot to convert, though.

Did someone even *hint* at 'Savage Tide'?

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I don't know the rules but have wanted to play Savage Tide since it was first being published. (You can imagine how painfully difficult it was, as a decades-long subscriber to Dungeon, to get those last several issues before the cancellation and not read the new AP because I wanted to play in it. I could only read 2/3 of the magazine for the final few months before putting my credit into being a Charter Subscriber here.)

I do know a few Spoilers from Savage Tide; hey, what can you do?! And I was in a PbP several years ago lasted about three months -- but still the first encounter, I think, in the opening adventure. If you do Savage Tide, I will be interested.

Again, I don't know the rules system but I can tell you exactly what I like to do/be in the group and you can decide if the rules fit, and more importantly, if you like me at the virtual table:

I love making Knowledge & Lore heavy (as broken as possible) characters because I love being able to learn the background and history and lore of the story and setting as I play it. When I see, for example, a Holy Symbol of Pelor or a Cultist of Demogorgon, or an old Suel text or manuscript regarding The Nine Hells, I like to know my roll will be good enough to get all the info. I love the background and lore and history.

Additionally, I love being able to Bluff the bad guys (when I can, sometimes you gotta let the Barbarian just kick down the door with a scream and murder-hobo) to pretend I'm a bad guy, too -- in order to get more intel on the goings-on of the bad guys -- plus a Surprise Round when we start the murder-hobo as well. I love to Bluff gambits and tricks and guile. And hey, if they see through my lies, ah well, we were gonna roll Initiative anyway, right?!

For Savage Tide, I'd like to make a PC who is striving to become a Paladin-like holy warrior after a life of evil. However we can work it out in the rules. (When STAP was published, the 'Fiendish Codex 2' just came out with the Race, "Hellbred." Basically, you were an Evil, vile mortal your whole life and then, as you're dying, genuinely repent and beg forgiveness, not from fear of Hell but of conscience, of remorse. Your Soul escapes Hell but the gods of Good won't let you in Celestia. You are Reincarnated as a 'Hellbred.' And in this new life you know you have to do something truly great for the cause of Good against Evil -- and frankly, still may end up with your Soul going to Hell. But at least you have a chance.) So I want to play something with that Flavor that hopes to one day be a paladin. Like, in Pathfinder I may start with a Level-1 Slayer or Fighter, then maybe Ranger with Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider. Then finally make my way as an Inquisitor for a Level or two, and finally become a Paladin. Maybe I'm a Tiefling or something. That would all be worked out based on rules allowances and such. In the new game system you'd have to handhold me along at first.

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And if it's not Savage Tide or my style isn't what you and the other players are looking for, that's A-Okay, too. One day I'll get to do STAP.

Did someone even *hint* at 'Savage Tide'?.

Yes.

Full disclosure, though, it would be at most about 50% ST. I love the AP's broad strokes but there are things about it I find really annoying. Plus, a whole other system.

The last time I ran it, it was a hybrid of Serpent's Skull and ST and some other content which let me ditch the parts of each AP that I really don't like.

As for character concept and playstyle, I have no problem with any of it. Truth told, LitM is going to handle the character you're talking about extremely well, better than d&d/PF because it has mechanics that support that kind of evolution.

Full disclosure, though, it would be at most about 50% ST....

Yes, I read the OP. I know Kingmaker by heart -- it's hard to find those who don't, these days. And I know vol 1 of Skulls & Shackles as a reader when it first came out. Mentioning Serpent's Skull,... I know it by heart, too.

In 2025, and I still haven't played STAP,.... I'll jump at the chance to go into a 50%'er.

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If interest develops, and *if* you select my PC proposal, I'll gladly PM the few Spoilers I know from STAP, etc.

Never played any PBTA games before but I'd certainly be willing to give it a shot.

Yes, I read the OP. I know Kingmaker by heart -- it's hard to find those who don't, these days. And I know vol 1 of Skulls & Shackles as a reader when it first came out. Mentioning Serpent's Skull,... I know it by heart, too.

In 2025, and I still haven't played STAP,.... I'll jump at the chance to go into a 50%'er.

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If interest develops, and *if* you select my PC proposal, I'll gladly PM the few Spoilers I know from STAP, etc.

Agreed, Kingmaker is pretty well known through the videogame and being the most popular(?) AP out there. I think.

I'm not too worried about spoilers. I'll be tweaking enough so that any prior knowledge will hinder as much as help. ST, SS, and S&S all have a sort of nautical, tropical tone. THAT you can rely on.

Also, I feel like there's enough interest that I'm going to create a campaign for this.

I'm travelling right now and my availability is thin, so look for the campaign in roughly a week. Sooner if something happens.

Never played any PBTA games before but I'd certainly be willing to give it a shot.

There's a demo that will give you the basics of the system.

I love the pbta system - this character was in a pbta game based on Battlestar Galactica so I am familiar with how it works. I hadn't heard about Legend in teh Mist but I will take a look.

OK I had a chance to read through the demo (thanks for the link btw) and it looks like instead of rolling and adding your points in hot/sharp/weird/cool/sideways you instead add in all the tags that are helpful and substract all of the tags that are unhelpful? That's a realy unusual take on the pbta system - colour me interested.

OK I had a chance to read through the demo (thanks for the link btw) and it looks like instead of rolling and adding your points in hot/sharp/weird/cool/sideways you instead add in all the tags that are helpful and substract all of the tags that are unhelpful? That's a realy unusual take on the pbta system - colour me interested.

You got it. And glad to have some interest. Think about what kind of character you want to play.

I'll have the campaign up soonish.

I'm intrigued: question for the campaign you ultimately decide on, though. Would it be set on Golarion with LitM rules, or would you be homebrewing your own setting for it as well?

I’ll echo Archpaladin Zousha - ultimately, for me, the ruleset isn’t as important as the setting. Being able to weave into a setting will help make more fully-realised and verisimilitudinous characters.

I’m somewhat…intrigued by the ”narrative-forward” concept, though I must admit, not in a good way, and will download the demo from driveThru. I’ll likely watch from the sidelines unless I get a good feeling from the ruleset.

I’ll echo Archpaladin Zousha - ultimately, for me, the ruleset isn’t as important as the setting. Being able to weave into a setting will help make more fully-realised and verisimilitudinous characters.

I’m somewhat…intrigued by the ”narrative-forward” concept, though I must admit, not in a good way, and will download the demo from driveThru. I’ll likely watch from the sidelines unless I get a good feeling from the ruleset.

I will be honest, it can be tough for die-hard crunch adherants. Without crunch, you kind of just have to wing it with a lot of things. Read that actually as: a LOT of things. I remember the first time I asked "how fast can my character fly?" and the answer was basically, "as fast as he needs to in order for the narrative to play out"

The system makes for some pretty epic storytelling.

I would suggest that the format of Play-by-Post fits a diceless-roleplay or heavy story-based rules set than any Crunch-heavy system. For me, at least, PbP sucks at combat, a boring round in Initiative taking a whole week often -- while roleplay, story and written description are when it flourishes.

Savage Tide is set in Greyhawk. Last time I ran it, I ported it to Golarion and just on-the-fly converted stuff. THIS Savage Tide is set in the Mist (Legend in the Mist) which means we can incorporate whatever we want.

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Yes, to what Evindyl and W E Ray are saying. This is not going to be by any means as crunchy as pathfinder. The mechanics for LitM are simple, but allow for a lot of nuance. There aren't rules and numbers and so on for every single thing, but there are strong principles that allow a very simple ruleset to cover every imaginable scenario.

It does ask for 2 things: 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.

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For anyone still here...

We are going to call this Savage Tide, but with the understanding that I'm making some heavy revisions. Having run it before, there are places where it's 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. If you guys go 100% off the AP on book 1, that's on you.

I would suggest that the format of Play-by-Post fits a diceless-roleplay or heavy story-based rules set than any Crunch-heavy system. For me, at least, PbP sucks at combat, a boring round in Initiative taking a whole week often -- while roleplay, story and written description are when it flourishes.

It does ask for 2 things: 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.

This, this, 100000000 times all of the above. Narative based games like PbtA and Blades in the Dark treat the GM more like another player, not the enemy and I love that.

I have no familirity at all with the savage tide AP but I will look it up.

Is there a full ruelbook for Legend in the Mist out somewhere? the demo was helpful but kept saying stuff like "rules in progress!" and I'm not even clear how to build a character yet.

Savage Tide is set in Greyhawk. Last time I ran it, I ported it to Golarion and just on-the-fly converted stuff. THIS Savage Tide is set in the Mist (Legend in the Mist) which means we can incorporate whatever we want.

I just ask because Greyhawk and Golarion have very different base assumptions in their worldbuilding that may influence character creation decisions (i.e. Pharasma and Wee Jas are both goddesses of death, but one considers undeath an abomination and disruption of the natural metaphysical order and the other is totally cool with undead and uses them as divine servitors).

I think the character creation start-up is still a wee bit premature. Like you said, the DM has to give a little bit more. And the DM started with a generic 'Is there any interest?' post and only recently posted, 'Okay, gimme a few days to prepare a genuine Recruitment.'

Once we have that, then those of us interested can see whether we want to apply with a Suel follower of Wee Jas from Sasserine, a Varisian follower of Pharasma from Riddleport, or, um, I dunno, Whatever. For me, I mean, I'm the guy at the table that plays a similar 'theme' or Flavor every time, but am perfectly capable of making a Scarlet Brotherhood agent in Sasserine or Cauldron who worships Wee Jas, or a Pathfinder Society agent in Riddleport or Ilizmagorti who worships Pharasma. Or from Chult. Or Ptolus. Etc.

But am also really looking forward to when the DM posts a real Recruitment beginning, letting us know how we can compose an application for a PC. Huzzah!

EDIT:
It occurs to me that this post doesn't really offer anything to the conversation. Ah well. Sometimes when one is enthusiastic about a PbP, one just wants to post.

Greyhawk.

I just reread the player's guide and it does such a great job with Sasserine that I don't want to mess with it. That said, I don't know Greyhawk well, so it's not going to be a low canon Greyhawk.

I should have a recruitment up in 24-48. I have some decisions to make on magic.

I have read a but of the demo, but I don’t quite understand the part about overcoming challenges on p.4. It’s a bit frustrating to both be able to understand the central mechanic!

Anyway, I’d like to give it a go, and a “motes of Greyhawk” Savage Tide sounds good.

Also going to respond to this:

It does ask for 2 things: 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.

For those of us who have been playing RPGs for more than 40 years, when some DMs actually *were* trying to kill us (and succeeding) we are pretty ok with hard times. I’m pretty much of the opinion that while my character might want to succeed and live, as a player I’m entirely happy with narrative of failure and death. As long as the story makes sense, I’m fulfilled.

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.

See here’s where I’m unsure of exactly what collaboration means. From my investigation of “narrative forward” collaboration implies much more leaning on other characters in your group, and that makes me incredibly leery. I’m definitely uninterested in “beating the game” (as the only way to “win” is to …tell a good story) but I’m also not into other players interacting with my character’s narrative agency. As long as another player does not narrate what my character does, thinks, says, did, wants, will do, won’t do etc I’ll be fine.

And I guess where collaboration really worries me is that this would also encompass not saying what happens in the universe - which I think is actually what narrative forward wants you to do. In crunchy games, there are recognisable limits defined by game mechanics. I guess I’ll wait to see how this works…

Greyhawk.

I just reread the player's guide and it does such a great job with Sasserine that I don't want to mess with it. That said, I don't know Greyhawk well, so it's not going to be a low canon Greyhawk.

I should have a recruitment up in 24-48. I have some decisions to make on magic.

I appreciate the clarification! That gives me some idea of where to look for inspiration as I try to imagine the kind of character I wanna play.

I have read a but of the demo, but I don’t quite understand the part about overcoming challenges on p.4. It’s a bit frustrating to both be able to understand the central mechanic!

Anyway, I’d like to give it a go, and a “motes of Greyhawk” Savage Tide sounds good.

Also going to respond to this:

Anirtak wrote:

It does ask for 2 things: 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.

For those of us who have been playing RPGs for more than 40 years, when some DMs actually *were* trying to kill us (and succeeding) we are pretty ok with hard times. I’m pretty much of the opinion that while my character might want to succeed and live, as a player I’m entirely happy with narrative of failure and death. As long as the story makes sense, I’m fulfilled.

Anirtak wrote:

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.

See here’s where I’m unsure of exactly what collaboration means. From my investigation of “narrative forward” collaboration implies much more leaning on other characters in your group, and that makes me incredibly leery. I’m definitely uninterested in “beating the game” (as the only way to “win” is to …tell a good story) but I’m also not into other players interacting with my character’s narrative agency. As long as another player does not narrate what my character does, thinks, says, did, wants, will do, won’t do etc I’ll be fine.

And I guess where collaboration really worries me is that this would also encompass not saying what happens in the universe - which I think is actually what narrative forward wants you to do. In crunchy games, there are recognisable limits defined by game mechanics. I guess I’ll wait to see how this works…

Challenges: LotM uses the same language to describe challenges of all kinds, whether combat or social or just an obstacle. Each challenge has one or more Limits - a number from 1 to 6 that shows how difficult it is to overcome. So, a small band of untrained bandits might have a limit of Wounded-4 or Convinced-3.

You decide to try to talk them out of robbing the peddler so you start talking, making your roll with whatever social tags and statuses you have. Suppose you end up with power 2 on the roll.

If you succeed (7 or higher), you give them a status of, say Second Thoughts-2 (power=2). They’re not quite Convinced, but they’re listening, thinking maybe this isn’t their best play.

Now, maybe you rolled between 7 and 9, there is also a consequence - since this is already at the edge of violence, they may move to attack, but that sort of undermines the success, so I’d probably go with something else, depending on what you said to them. Let’s say I give you a tag of Outnumbered that’s going to make it harder if a fight does break out.

Next turn, you roll again. Let’s say you use all the same tags so the power=2 again. You add that to the Second Thoughts-2 you hit them with before. That takes it to 3 (4 actually, but who’s counting?) and they decide to go on their way and leave you and the peddler alone.

If you’d chosen to fight them, things would go the same way, only you’d be using different tags and different statuses. If at any point, you’d rolled a 6 or less, they’d jump you and you’d take a physical consequence.

If you’re trying to cross a rushing river during a flood, or navigate the abyssal seas, the same system is used.

As for collaboration, it’s not about taking agency away, as much as asking for your input. You search a room, and succeed… but the thing you’re looking for isn’t there. I might ask you what you found. You might ask me who’s in the tavern, and I might say “Good question,” and throw it back at you. If we weren’t doing an AP in an established setting, a lot of world-building would go this way. You’d want to play a wizard’s apprentice and I might ask yo questions about your teacher.

I’m also from the old school, so this kind of play was a little uncomfortable for me when I first tried, but after playing a few different PbtA games and running a few, I am a convert.

Please let me know if I haven't answered your questions, I'm playing reckless games with caffeine and jetlag so my processors are pretty janky.

Proper Recruitment Thread