| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
* * * * *
In a forest glade, no less verdant for its twilit splendor, a beautiful nymph weeps with an outstretched hand. Her lover, reaching back to her in vain, fades and disappears as he is pulled into shadowy depths.
* * * * *
On the shores of a misty lake, a mighty warlord from across the eastern mountains clad in crimson and gold clasps hands with a gaunt man garbed in expensive furs. Two red dragons circle overhead, gouts of triumphant flame shooting from their jaws.
* * * * *
In caverns deep beneath the earth, chained dwarves work at forges and anvils while their cruel masters look over them from ledges above. One dwarf returns their hateful gaze, dreaming of vengeance and freedom by turns.
* * * * *
Atop a fortress overlooking a river, a tall figure crowned with antlers and an animal skull drinks a long pull from a dark bottle. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he stares off above treetops, beyond the horizon where an enemy kingdom seeks to encroach upon his demesne.
* * * * *
Welcome, one and all! It has been a long time since I have played or run Pathfinder. I've been off exploring the world of narrative story games, and I return to you with a bold experiment! I want to see what happens when the best parts of Pathfinder’s structure meet the collaborative energy of a storygame.
I have been brainstorming various changes to make Pathfinder (and other tactical combat RPGs) more fluid in the PbP format. While a totally custom system might be best poised to take full advantage of the format, a lot of us just like to play Pathfinder. People have been playing games like D&D and Pathfinder this format almost as long as those games have existed, and there's no sign of stopping. So instead of creating a totally different system, I'm hoping to instead adapt various tools from the narrative storygame side of the hobby to hopefully reduce the friction that high latency creates and increase the longevity of a Pathfinder campaign in the PbP.
This will involve a number of somewhat common rules tweaks and a substantial change to the norms and expectations that govern the traditional boundaries between the GM, the players, and the characters. If that intrigues you, read on!
I am looking for players who are familiar (or willing to become familiar) with the main plot of Kingmaker. I want characters that are directly tied into the themes and major story beats of the campaign. If you prefer to experience the story with fresh eyes and total surprise, that’s a wonderful way to play! However, this particular game will be more rewarding for players who enjoy engaging with the plot’s deeper structure.
I am looking for players who are willing to share control over their character with other players in limited ways to help the game flow more smoothly, and who are in turn willing to take control of other characters (including NPCs) in a scene when the opportunity arises.
Pathfinder is a tactical combat game, and we will play out tactical combats. I hope that the altered structure can improve the speed of combat significantly. Adventure Paths tend to be bloated with combats, so I'm going to reduce the number that the written adventure expects, but I'm not cutting out any major story fights.
I am looking for players who enjoy the tactical combat part of the game but who recognize that combat is just another avenue for roleplaying, not an adversarial tactical boardgame with winners and losers.
Tonally, this game of Kingmaker takes inspiration from Celtic myth, Greek myth and dramatic tradition, Shakespearean romance and tragedy, Machiavellian court politics, faerie tales, dragon tales, Arthurian legend, and Game of Thrones. I have a strong vision for Kingmaker's themes, and I want to share the game with people who are drawn to those same themes and want to dig into them. Pathfinder has a huge array of character options, and some of them don't fit my vision for this game. Golarion is a bit gonzo, and I love that about it, I just want to have characters that more closely represent the fantasy themes already mentioned and that fit easily into the Stolen Lands. The allowed races can all be found in and around the Stolen Lands without much issue, but I'm less interested in Vanara from deepest Vudra and Kitsune ninja from Tian Xia. If you want to play a Summoner, I am much more interested in a Kellid who hails from Old Sarkoris and practices their ancestral magic than I am a creepy child from Absalom with a violent imaginary friend, you get me? Think Dracula with Mina Harker, Van Helsing, and a cowboy — not Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter with a samurai and a pirate.
Stylistically and with regards to format, my version of Kingmaker has a lot of big epic historical events and plots that inform and intersect with the present-day plot. I want to explore those stories with flashback RP scenes with the players controlling the relevant NPCs. In the present-day plot, there will be certain objectives that various scenes need to meet, but once they are met, I will move the game to the next scene. Players are welcome and encouraged to continue playing out any scene even after the next scene begins, so be prepared to have multiple scenes that are taking place at different times concurrently happening in the same posts. We will use some standard formatting in posts to help keep it manageable. I intend for the whole table to have a clear shared understanding of the overarching plot of the game. I will provide clear direction and intent for scenes, as well as NPC motivations, and I want players to feel free to further the scene by controlling NPC action and writing appropriate dialogue. For example, let's say the players are at a ball and intend to strike a deal with a noble. Once the deal is struck, the primary narrative objective of the scene has ben accomplished, so in the next post I would cut to the start of the next scene. However, two of the other characters are still in conversation and another has decided to sneak around the grounds. We will continue to play out that scene concurrently while the next scene is beginning.
Point Buy: 25 points
Starting level: 1
Classes: All official Paizo PF1 classes, plus Path of War. Other 3pp content may be allowed, ask in the thread.
Races: Core Races plus Aasimar, Tiefling, Android, Dhampir, Drow, Fetchling, Changeling
Alignment: Any alignment, but this is more to inform your character's personality and not an alignment aura. see House Rules
HP: Full at first, subsequent levels roll OR take the average (your choice, choose each level)
Starting Gold: 900 gp equipment budget; buy what you reasonably need for your character. No masterwork equipment unless it is justified by backstory. No Wondrous Items. Remaining gold does not carry over, but each character can start with up to 20 gold "spending money" if they so choose, taken as either hard cash or mundane trade goods. Some of us want to start out rich, some want to start out destitute. Both are fine, this is fantasy. Any additional gold from traits (including Rich Parents or the Brigand campaign trait) must be taken as cash or mundane trade goods and should not be included in the starting gold equipment budget. The sum of additional gold from traits will be your starting cash, you do not get the additional 20gp "spending money" on top of it.
Traits: 3 traits; the regular 2 starting traits and an additional "Campaign Trait" slot that does not strictly have to be a campaign trait (from this campaign or any other) but will ideally be a trait picked because it fits the character and not for powergaming.
Backstory: You don't need to write a novel; sometimes less is more. But I'm looking for effortful quality. I'll take two amazing paragraphs over two pages of slop every time. Dig into the lore of Golarion to ground your character. Give us the highlights, but don't feel like you have to have every inch of them crystallized. You're allowed to be a someone, and you're allowed to be at least kind of a badass. But you need to sell me that, as cool as their roots are, the main thrust of their arc still lies ahead of them in the Stolen Lands.
Additionally, you do not need to be part of the original expedition chartered by the Swordlords. If you have a solid reason for being in the Stolen Lands and are willing to join up with the expeition at Oleg's, that is totally acceptable. Some of the best characters might not have any serious interest in becoming a baron; I have provided many additional plot hooks below. I'm telling you my secrets so that you will use them.
Leveling up: We will level up by milestone.
Alignment: Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos are planar energies in much the same way as Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. Unless specified, mortal beings are not strongly aligned to the planes and so all mortal creatures are True Neutral by default. Arcane and Divine magics and any other abilities that provide an alignment aura override this. Paladins/Antipaladins, clerics, necromancers, etc. may show as the relevant alignment for the purposes of the detect alignment spell.
Character death: Player charcters will only die when their principal player agrees that they do. If you're a player who likes the risk of dice rolls killing off your character, you are free to play that way in this game. If that's not fun for you, then it won't happen.
Kingdom Building Rules: Honestly, I don't even know yet. We're definitely not going to be using the base rules. There are a number of improvements that have been made over the years, many of them on these forums. I love the ideas in the Kingmaker Venture Capital thread. We can discuss these further as a group if and when we approach the kingdom building phase of the game.
Feats: We're doing Elephant In The Room Feat Taxes. Also, if anybody has designs on doing an Aldori Swordlord fighter, I'm happy to use the pre-eratta Crane Wing.
Initiative: We're doing block initiative, blocks will be decided based on the highest roll for the players and the enemies. During combat, post when you can or want, we're not worried about strict turn order, that just slows things down. If the enemy needs to roll for any reason during your turn, you will be allowed to roll and act for them as much as necessary to resolve your turn. Relevant stats will be available for your reference at the beginning of combat.
Attacks of Opportunity: Sorry, we're not doing them. They're very slow for PbP, even with everything else we're doing to speed things up. Don't build around them. If your build requires feats or abilities that interact with AoOs then we'll adjust it.
Core Concept
Each player begins with a small number of Narrative Tokens (exact number TBD; assume 3 to start). These tokens can be spent or traded to shape the story, influence scenes, or take limited control of other characters.
The player who submitted a PC is that character’s principal player, maintaining authorial control over:
• Their character’s backstory, goals, and motivations
• Major decisions and dialogue
• Combat
• Any long-term consequences of actions
Spending Tokens
Tokens can be spent in several ways:
• Invoke Story Elements: Introduce or establish something new that wasn’t previously true (like a convenient distraction, a lucky break, or an unexpected ally). Larger effects may cost multiple tokens.
• Take Temporary Control of a PC (Non-Combat): Trade a token to another player to briefly control their character in a scene to move the story forward smoothly.
– Must be voluntary; assume consent but allow the other player to veto and rewrite if needed (no token is exchanged in that case).
– Keep it minor and respectful, staying true to that character’s personality and tone.
– Not allowed in combat scenes.
– Do not spend another PC’s money, write major dialogue, or reveal personal secrets without permission.
• Take Major Control of an NPC (Non-Combat): Spend a token to take narrative control of an NPC for a full scene, essentially “borrowing” them from the GM. The GM can refuse the token if they feel it’s being misused. If the NPC was introduced by and is being controlled by another player, you trade them the token instead. In this case, you have as much control as if you had introduced them, until control is taken by someone else or assumed by the GM.
Earning Tokens
The GM may grant tokens:
• At the start of major chapters
• As rewards for great posts, collaborative storytelling, or strong roleplay
You can also gain tokens by adding complications or setbacks for your own character. These moments should create drama or tension—not benefits—for your PC, even if others gain from it.
Quick Reference
• Spend → Introduce story elements, coincidences, or NPCs
• Spend → Take control of an NPC (non-combat)
• Spend/Trade → Take minor control of a PC (non-combat, with consent)
• Gain → Excellent writing or teamwork
• Gain → Create personal complications or setbacks
• Gain/Trade → Someone else takes major control of an NPC you introduced
Note: This system is still a work-in-progress and open to adjustment once play begins. Feedback and collaboration are encouraged. I have further ideas for additional systems that are even more underbaked than this one, and I am open to hearing ideas from my players as well.
I know this system and mode of play will not be to everybody's taste. That's valid, but if you're not interested, then this game simply isn't for you, and I wish you best of luck in your future games. If you’re still intrigued after all that, I can’t wait to see what kind of legends we can build together! For anybody who is still with me, the following section contains major spoilers for Kingmaker as written as well as an overview of the relevant additions and changes I am making to the plot. This is provided to help you dig into the plot and themes for writing your character submissions.
The Aldori Swordlords of Restov find themselves in a precarious political position within Brevoy. To strengthen their hand, they have chartered groups of adventurers (perhaps including the PCs) to explore the Stolen Lands, eliminate the bandit threat, and establish a new River Kingdom. Naturally, the Swordlords expect to hold influence over this new state — a vassal ally they can call upon when Brevoy’s inevitable civil war begins.
The PCs will chart the Stolen Lands, end the Stag Lord’s tyranny, and build a new kingdom of their own. But taming the wilderness will only be the beginning of their troubles.
The Overplot: Nyrissa's Penance: Long ago, Nyrissa, a radiant nymph, became the lover of Count Ranalc, one of the Eldest of the First World. In her pride, she declared herself an Eldest as well. The Lantern King punished her audacity by banishing Ranalc to the Plane of Shadow and stripping Nyrissa of her capacity to love or feel compassion.
To earn forgiveness, she must topple and collect one thousand “worthy” kingdoms. The lost sword Briar — forged from Nyrissa’s own torn-out emotions — lies hidden somewhere in the Stolen Lands. Nyrissa has raised and destroyed kingdoms across millennia in pursuit of it, and now stands on the brink of completing her thousandth conquest.
She is the campaign’s unseen hand — tragic, wrathful, and bound by divine cruelty. Only fragments of her story survive in the whispers of fey, half-remembered songs, and old tales told by campfire. For most, her name is a myth. But to the founders of a new kingdom in the Stolen Lands… she may soon be a reality.
The Distant Plot: Brevoy's Civil War: Two centuries ago, Choral the Conqueror crossed the mountains from Iobaria with two red dragons at his command. In alliance with House Surtova, he united the long-warring lands of Issia and Rostland into a single kingdom — Brevoy — under his new dynasty, House Rogarvia.
After ruling for a decade, Choral vanished into the depths of the Gronzi Forest with his dragons, leaving his vassals and heir behind. The Rogarvias continued to rule for two hundred years — until one night, they vanished completely. Every noble of their line disappeared without a trace.
House Surtova swiftly claimed the vacant Dragonscale Throne. Over a decade later, they appear ready to seize full control and abandon any pretense of waiting for the Rogarvias’ return. As tensions mount between Issia and Rostland, Brevoy teeters on the brink of open civil war — and any new kingdom to the south will find itself entangled in its shadow.
The Secret Plot: The True History of Choral the Conqueror: The rumors were true: Choral the Conqueror was no mortal man. He was Chorazulanthus, a red dragon in human guise. Along with his sister Caelyndraxis, he sought to destroy their draconic rivals in Iobaria. To that end, Choral took on human form, conquered Issia and Rostland, and plundered their wealth to fuel his ambition.
When he vanished into the Gronzi Forest, he and his sister discovered an ancient ruin pulsing with draconic magic. There, they were stricken by the Drakeplague — a wasting curse. Rather than perish, they weaponized it, unleashing it upon Iobaria and slaying six of every ten dragons there.
Desperate to rid themselves of the plague’s lingering corruption, they turned to a forbidden ritual known as Flame’s Purity, a blood magic designed to burn away all weakness — at the cost of one’s own bloodline. On the 200th anniversary of Brevoy’s founding, every member of House Rogarvia gathered in New Stetven… and vanished. The ritual succeeded only partially. Somewhere in Brevoy, a few scattered heirs survived — bastards, forgotten branches, and hidden children.
Until these last embers are extinguished, Chorazulanthus and Caelyndraxis remain incomplete. In the years since, they have hunted their descendants in secret. And still, one lost soul yet carries the legacy of fire and royalty, pursued by unseen forces while the dragons wait in silence.
The Underground Plot: Droskar's Rebellion: In the Golushkin Mountains, the dwarves of Clan Golka suffered their own “vanishing” shortly after the fall of House Rogarvia. Many on the surface assumed the two events were linked. In truth, the Golka dwarves were overrun by a cult devoted to Droskar, the Master of the Dark Furnace. The cult sacked their halls and enslaved the survivors, forcing them to labor endlessly in the black forges of the deep.
To the surface world, the Golka are long gone — but far below, the forges still burn, their light never dimming.
The Shadow Plot: Incursion of the Fellnight: The Stolen Lands stand at a crossroads between worlds. The veil between the Material Plane and the First World is thin here, and the land is steeped in fey magic. But a new corruption seeps through the cracks — strange creatures called Hollowborn. They wear the shapes of beasts, trees, and even people, but inside they are voids — drained of color, warmth, and song. Ordinary steel and common spells falter against them, and the world around them fades into lifeless gray.
Unbeknownst to mortals, the Hollowborn come from a demiplane caught betwixt the Plane of Shadow and the First World — the Fellnight Realm. Its ruler, the dark fey queen who calls herself the Fellnight Queen, is the only child of the banished Count Ranalc and Nyrissa. She wanders the planes in search of her lost father, sending her Hollowborn as heralds of despair.
And in the end, perhaps only a mother’s love — the lost sword Briar — can unmake what her daughter has wrought.
* * * * *
This looks fascinating! Count me in! I'll put together a character proposal for you. I'm a big fan of storytelling game mechanics and troupe-based gaming from my Ars Magica days. My favorite Kingmaker character that I've never gotten past the beginning is a Rostland Bravo swashbuckler named Zsófia Dobós, with political ties to House Surtova instead of the Swordlords-- she hates the Swordlords and likes to show them up with their own weapons whenever she has the opportunity. Also, she is smitten with the beauty of the duel, and follows Shelyn in memory of her mother, who was a priestess of the goddess before she died. The king of Brevoy is sending her to the Stolen Lands to claim her father's ancestral birthright, since he has been exiled and cannot restore it himself. She's probably human, though she might be a Scion of Humanity aasimar. She's not very wilderness-oriented, but she is very Brevoy-oriented, and she has no reason to like the fey.
More details on Zsófia, if you're interested:
- 1. Zsófia is a brash, swashbuckling pirate's daughter raised in Restov by a priestess of Shelyn to become a dashing and dangerous young noblewoman.
- 2. She applied for the Aldori dueling academy but was apparently rejected without an interview, and consequently resents them.
- 3. She perfected her swordfighting as a bravo in private and street fencing clubs, where she enjoyed embarrassing hotheaded noblemen who underestimated her.
- 4. Though for many years she thought that her father was a simple trader, he is actually a notorious pirate with ties to the royal family, and she was unknowingly raised to be the perfect heiress, to take back the Stolen Lands for her family when the time is right.
- 5. She is quite pious and devoted to her patron goddess Shelyn.
- 6. She instinctively distrusts faerie creatures, though she is not quite sure why.
Step 2 (List at least two goals for the character. At least one of these goals should be one that the character has, while another should be one that you, as a player, want to see developed over the course of the game.)
- 1. Zsófia holds petty grudges, and has decided the Aldori swordlords are her sworn enemy. She would dearly like to embarrass them by demonstrating she is better than all of them.
- 2. I'd like for her to eventually gain the attention of her goddess through her actions, and receive her blessing.
Step 3 (List at least two secrets about your character. One is a secret the character knows, one is a secret that involves him but that he is not actually aware of yet. This will help me in creating plots that center around your character. I will also be creating a third secret which you as a player will not be aware of, so expect some surprises!)
- 1. Zsófia's father Vali Dobós was a pawn in a political game between Rostland and Issia; for years he has been the heir to the Stolen Lands, and House Surtova has held him hidden until they were ready to use him. However, he resented this treatment, and instead used his privilege to become a wealthy pirate, by essentially blackmailing the royal family with embarrassment to keep himself from facing consequences.
- 2. Zsófia's father believes that her mother was a Taldane priestess of Shelyn, because she looked so much like popular depictions of the goddess. It troubles him that she basically came to him for about a year and a day, just long enough to seduce him and have a baby. There are stories of goddesses doing that, especially ones that meddle in human affairs like Shelyn is reputed to do. In fact, Zsófia's mother was actually a faerie who adopted the appearance of the goddess, but who wanted to meddle in human affairs just the same. Zsófia doesn't know this, but perhaps because of her religious upbringing and her father's suspicions she has always distrusted the fey.
Step 4 (Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile. If you like, you can include an enemy of yours here as well, so I have an instant NPC nemesis to throw at you.)
- 1. Captain Vali Dobós is one of the most active pirates on the Lake of Mists and Veils, though these days he only makes one or two voyages a year and spends the rest of the time traveling Brevoy in disguise-- or rather, not in disguise, as his pirate costume is over-the-top and memorable, but not at all what he really looks like. He keeps an eye on his daughter, though he is careful that she doesn't know how closely.
- 2. Moldov is a hotshot bravo who ran a street dueling club in Rostov for many years. He took his defeats at Zsófia's hand with grace, and first coined her nickname "Prima." When she left the city for her estate, she told him where she was going and said he would always have a place in her court should he desire it.
- 3. Jamandi Aldori is the head of the Aldori Swordlords. Now in her fifties, she has worked hard to ensure that her dueling record remains unbroken. She instructed the porters to turn away Zsófia from the academy, and is aware of Zsófia's grudge, but so far she does not believe her to be a threat to their organization.
Step 5 (Describe three memories, mannerisms, or quirks that your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.)
- 1. Zsófia can't resist gloating over a fallen opponent, nor can she help mocking them while they are dueling. The banter is most of the fun.
- 2. Zsófia is always seeking attention; dressing flamboyantly, decorating her horse with ribbons, singing as she walks, speaking loudly, dancing as she fights, drawing with a flourish.
- 3. Every night before she goes to bed, and before every meal, Zsófia recites a short prayer to Shelyn.
Perhaps her favorite gift she ever received from her father was an intricately carved wooden sword that was shaped like the dueling swords of the Aldori swordlords. She played with it for her whole childhood, until it almost became an extension of her arm. The temple school had a strong artistic bent, and Zsófia incorporated the sword into everything she did: when she danced she waved it and clacked it against the floor, and when she sang she punctuated her words with it like a conductor's baton. Her father was impressed when next he visited; his eyes glimmered and Zsófia was so proud.
When she was sixteen years old, he brought her an actual dueling sword, a true work of art, and cautioned her on the importance of her practicing with it, so that nothing she did while holding was ever an accident. She was growing into the perfect young noblewoman, he said: accomplished at culture and grace, but also agile and sharp, and this sword was all of these things. She must become the sword, and let the sword represent her. With great dedication she devoted herself to this task, anxious to please her father again.
Soon Zsófia came of age, and her father asked her what she wanted to do. He had put aside money for her, and she could do whatever she wanted with it. He would buy her a house in the city if she wanted to practice a trade, or she could travel. Timidly, she asked if she could come join his ship's crew and learn to be a sailor, and he frowned. She quickly changed the subject and suggested that she would like to study at the Aldori academy instead, if she was good enough to gain admission. This also surprised him, but he enthusiastically smiled.
Zsófia applied immediately to join the school of the great Aldori swordlords, and while she waited to be called she joined a smaller dueling school-- more of a club, really-- to perfect her art. It was run by a rebellious young street bravo named Moldov, who believed that to win a duel one had to employ unorthodox methods, methods that traditional duelists did not like. As the only woman in their dueling circle, Zsófia received a lot of notice, and found she liked embarrassing hotheaded proud young men who underestimated her abilities. And like she did when she was young, she developed her own style of fighting, where she would dance while she fought, and she found that there was a kind of divine magic in her steps, almost like a prayer.
Each day she would stop by the academy and ask about the status of her application, but for some reason the porters always put her off. Zsófia was not used to being ignored; she had a loud voice and specifically dressed flamboyantly to gain attention, after all. Yet for more than a year she could not get an audience, and finally she complained to her father in a letter. The next time he visited, he had bought her a title. She was now a baroness of a small estate somewhere in the Stolen Lands, willed to her by a Brevic noble family that had died without issue.
If "Zsófia" was unpalatable to the swordlords, "Lady Zsófia" did no better. It seemed the Aldori family did not want to teach her for some reason. Hurt and angry, the new baroness threw herself into her dueling club with renewed vigor, and decided to embrace the term "bravo." She commissioned a specially-tailored dueling costume, with a plumed hat, long cape, and ruffled sleeves. Her reputation spread quickly, especially her hatred for Aldori swordlords, with whom she was especially brutal when dueling, cutting as deeply with her words as her blade. They began to call her "Prima Sophia," like Prima Donna, and joked that she was the queen of the bravos.
Eventually she grew bored with the Restov dueling scene, and became curious about her estate. She decided to prepare for an expedition into the Stolen Lands to visit and take possession of her lands, and learned that the king was sponsoring expeditions into the wilderness to combat the bandits. She hired teachers to go over with her some of the skills she would need to travel in the wild, and she purchased equipment she would need to make the journey. Finally she wrote to her father to let him know her plans, so that he could come to say goodbye.
When he arrived, he said that he thought she was old enough to hear the truth. He was not just a simple ship's captain, but in fact an infamous pirate. And that wasn't all, he was also the final descendant of the noble line that claimed title to all of the Stolen Lands, not just a small estate within them as he had said before. Because of her father's illegal activities, his good friend King Surtova had been forced to place a bounty on his head and could not acknowledge his title-- but certainly his daughter Zsófia Dobós would be able to claim the kingdom in her own name.
With documents proving her lineage, Zsófia made her way to New Stetven and an audience with the king. She charmed the herald into announcing her to the court as "Prima Zsófia Dobós," and to her great delight it was clear from the whispers and raised voices that the Swordlords in attendance knew who she was. The king proposed that he could affirm her ancestral claim to lands in the River Kingdoms, but that since large parts of the territory were uninhabited or overrun with wild animals and other hostile creatures, she would have to secure the lands herself. Prima Dobós agreed. It was whispered in the court that King Surtova was pleased to be able to send a representative to the new kingdom who did not owe her allegiance to the Swordlords, and that the two of them had an understanding that would help assuage the king's doubts that the new kingdom would be only an ally to Rostland, not Brevoy as a whole.
Armed with her royal blessing, Zsófia has arranged to join a company of soldiers and explorers hired by the Swordlords to travel to Oleg's holdfast and discover the state of the region. Once she has proven herself capable and trustworthy to her new companions, she intends to then breach the matter of her title and holdings. She would like to get a sense of the layout and culture of the new kingdom as it develops and especially her barony (the Narlmarches, as it is apparently called) and its seat at Candlemere. The more she knows about these lands she intends to make-- at least in part-- her own, the stronger her claim upon them will be.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I am really intrigued by the proposed rules and the focus on writing; it tickles my English major fancy. I have an elf ranger (or slayer) on hand who has been in a couple Kingmaker games that died early on who I'd love to give another chance to.
This said, due a few kerfuffles, albeit rare, I feel it best to post an about me/disclaimer:
I am an experienced poster who generally can post once a day to every two days. I will communicate when I can't post or if I have concerns that can be easily resolved through civil discussion. I can point to prior GMs and players who can vouch for me as a player if needed.
I've also gotten into disagreements with some GMs--and chose to leave games as a result--over two issues:
1. I advocate for player agency; save for obvious circumstances (e.g., consented-to botting, GMs performing standard issue Perception or Sense Motive checks for PCs, GMs summarizing combat actions already made, mind control), players should describe their own PCs' actions, feelings, and reactions, and neither GMs nor other players should write those things for them. Note: I think your token system for occasionally overtaking a PC, presumably for the purpose of botting, can get along fine with this as long as players don't use it as an opportunity to manipulate a character unfairly or unkindly, which I sense you would not abide.
2. Given we are in a public global forum full of strangers, I do not as a rule wish my PCs to engage in scenarios involving flirtation, propositions, romance, affectionate or intimate touching, sex, abuse, or harassment. I ask anyone wishing to do any of these things to my PC for any reason obtain my explicit consent first before approaching my PC with those kind of actions. I do not, in these specific instances, like to be surprised and will not abide a "seek forgiveness rather than permission" approach.
If you think these things would make me a poor candidate for your game, please let me know not to apply. I would like not to waste your time. Thank you.
I need to own that I am somewhat of a Kingmaker junkie, also a recovering English Major, and still adore PF1 even though I am really enjoying PF2.
I would love to take part in this experiment.
I could probably go on and on and on but I won't, other than to add a little insight about the Kingdom thing; it can be extremely hard to balance, by which I mean campaign focus. While it's a great opportunity overall, in principle, in RPGs of any kind, it also has to be a DESIREABLE opportunity, for the group as a whole, otherwise it can feel like a drag. In addition to that, when the achievement levels are disparate, it becomes both a problem and a disappointment.
My suggestion (which I have seen work) is paralell milestoning, where the kingdom's ongoing development is kept in step with the character's character development; and with milestone leveling that will be even easier.
My submission will def take advantage of the "solid reason to have ended up at Oleg's" suggestion and draw from broader world lore. Already interested in hearing whether you're interested in Drawbacks and/or 4th Traits too.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I, like Evindyl, love this particular game. I have run parts of it here on the boards as well as at home, but never got as far as I wanted as a character. So if that is ok, I would like to throw my hat into the ring. I am looking to run a character who has more than a foot in the fey realm, so perhaps a gnome...
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
@eriktd Zsófia is looking good so far! Something I love about this character is that right out of the gate you are recontextualizing the standard assumptions about how the journey into the Stolen Lands starts by being on Team Surtova instead of Team Swordlords.
@GM_Drake Westley and Will Turner are great inspirations to start from!
@DeathQuaker I'm glad you brought this up. PbP doesn't have the same kind of "safety tool" culture that IRL storygames have developed, but I am fully intending to use Lines and Veils. Players will be free to delineate ahead of time what they're comfortable with and not comfortable with, and they will be written in bedrock. You are absolutely correct that players will not allowed manipulate characters unfairly or unkindly. If it wasn't clear enough in the original post, all cases of trading tokens for "botting" (that's a good way to put it!) are voluntary and the receiving player is completely within their rights to refuse. A refusal will mean some slight backtracking and retconning, but I'm hoping it will cultivate trust between collaborators. Anything that seems intentionally abusive of the structure will simply not be tolerated.
@Evindyl I'm not going to lie, I picked Kingmaker over some of my other candidate APs because I figured it would be bait. The free-roam exploration nature of the game also creates ample opportunities to indulge in ideas like this. Thanks for the note about parallel milestoning! I didn't mean to sound too flip about the Kingdom Building rules in the original post, but even at a healthy speed it will be months before we actually need to have the final rules for that established. The whole group will give due consideration and I'm sure there will be a lot of deliberation in the OOC, I just didn't want to let it get in the way of actually starting the game, especially when so many campaigns sadly die before they get to that point.
Regarding Drawbacks and 4th traits, I'm not inclined to use them for this game. Drawbacks are good to have, and every character should have flaws, but Drawbacks are intended to gamify roleplay. With the token structure, the benefit to playing into your drawbacks is considerably more engaging than a simple mechanical penalty, and having a Drawback trait might create too much focus on that particular flaw over the others. If anybody is interested in reading more about the inspiration for this token dynamic, I took cues from a game called Grimwild, specifically "story" and "tangles".
@Daniel Stewart I look forward to your submission! There are plenty of hooks for a fey-aligned character to hang off of. For gnomes in particular, I would point out the Gronzi Forest.
dot
Thanks, GM Hurley.
Question: are you using background skills?
Classes: All official Paizo PF1 classes, plus Path of War. Other 3pp content may be allowed, ask in the thread.
I must ask. Are any of the Rogue Genius Games's Goding available for review? I find religion to be a great source of inspiration for character concepts, and godlings are my favorite 3rd-party class. Their level of customization while leveling allows for a a storied advancement.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
@everyone I have an additional setting document for your convenience. It is largely composed of relevant passages from he PathfinderWiki and the wiki for Owlcat Games' Kingmaker video game, but there is additional content in there as well. Feel free to use it to better inform your submissions.
Here is the link to the Kingmaker: Crowns of Flame and Sorrow dossier.
@DeathQuaker, GM_Drake Background Skills from Pathfinder Unchained are allowed. Thanks for reminding me of this system.
@TheWaskally Thanks for asking! Upon review, I'm not going to be allowing the Godling class. It's very strong, and the niche that it fills is covered in Pathfinder by the Mythic rules. This is decidedly not a Mythic game. This is the sort of class that looks like it does best when the whole party is using this supplement.
@GM_Drake Yes, treat one of your traits as a "Campaign trait". This means you can have two traits from the "Basic (Social)" list. The intention for this is that Campaign traits are a fun thing to have but the official published traits for this campaign are overly narrow in the backgrounds they cater to. So my solution is to grant a third trait of any kind as a Campaign trait.
We are using the Elephant in the Room Feat Tax rules, as listed in the House Rules section in the original post.
It looks like the concept is coming along! As you're crafting it, I would strongly encourage you to make sure that, as an Android, the character is originally from Numeria.
So NOT an actual campaign trait, just a freebie? That's awesome. I was literally just posting a link to the Player's Guide.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
This sounds really neat! Count me among the other English majors whose attention you’ve snagged so far. :)
I really like the shared storytelling aspect you’re stressing, and the flashbacks and behind-the-scenes, er, scenes to reduce “latency,” as you put it, and let the players see some of the background to various plots that might not be as clear from their side of the GM screen in other games. That said, what sort of pacing do you have in mind in terms of posting expectations and the like? Layering on multiple scenes representing different layers of time sounds like it might exceed my current bandwidth, to be honest, but if the aim is a more or less standard pace while allowing different layers to pick up the slack when one slows, that’s less daunting, I think.
Like DeathQuaker, I’m very keen on player agency, so thanks to both of you for raising and clarifying how that’s intended to interact with the collaborative layer and narrative tokens.
A quick question about house rules: you mentioned not faffing around with AoOs, which sounds fine for the character I have in mind, but how strict a “not doing” are we talking about, for things like casting spells and whatnot? Not that there aren’t many other reasons why a mage might not want to cast a spell right next to a baddie with a huge sword, but still. :) It’s a calculation that might factor into how some classes play, I think.
In any case, I’ve had a silkworn occultist rattling around my head for a bit, whose profile is here. She ended up being a bit different, in my imagination, from an ordinary Avistani elf (among other things, my ideas for her silks tend towards something closer to Eastern European (Ukrainian) embroidery and Scythian archaeological textiles), so I thought it might be fun to imagine what it might be like if the canonical rumours about an elven court in Fangard Forest were true, and there was an offshoot of the snowcasters living there. As an elf from Iobaria, she would have another perspective on the history of Brevoy (including Choral and his line) and the Stolen Lands, and I hope her stake would be compatible with many others’. In particular, while she’d happily rebuild an elven presence in a suitable bit of forest, if one turns up, she’d also happily take a supporting role as fairy godmother / lady of the court rather than the eventual leader of the incipient kingdom or one of the more obvious movers and shakers. Sort of a Merlin, and potentially happy to return back over the mountains following her Vivien once it looks like the situation in the Stolen Lands isn’t about to blow up in ways counter to her sense of elven interests. “Celtic myth, Greek myth and dramatic tradition, Shakespearean romance and tragedy, Machiavellian court politics, faerie tales, dragon tales, Arthurian legend, and Game of Thrones?” Oooh, that sounds very much like her jam. ;)
I'm definitely interested (Communications Major here). I love Kingmaker, and the in-depth storytelling PBP allows for. I'm definitely partial to the Fey aspects of the Kingmaker overplot, and the Shadowplot is fascinating.
Definitely thinking something nature-themed (Druid/Ranger/Shaman/Hunter/ Maybe even fey bloodline bloodrager)
Here's Zsófia's profile, with her character stats built according to this campaign's specifications. Let me know if you'd like me to change or elaborate on anything!
This is DeathQuaker with Jack Ciarathan, Elf Sniper Slayer 1. I've not fully finished buying his gear and it may be subject to change, but I figure I'd post what I had so far, especially as I wanted to check in about a few items:
- I did give him a masterwork longbow, with the idea that he has some skill at bowmaking and he's 150 years old, so he's had plenty of time to perfect his own weapon. Let me know if that is not a reasonable justification.
- I assumed I could have masterwork gear, e.g., backpack and artisan's tools. Is this the case?
- I picked the actual Kingmaker Pioneer trait as it helps tie him to Brevoy. This trait gives him a free horse. It does not say what kind. I assumed ordinary light horse (75 gp value). I spent 35 gp to make him a combat trained light horse (110 gp value total). I can't find anywhere how many tricks a combat trained horse gets, but I assumed if I'm paying for training, attack, down, and stay make sense, and I think most domesticated horses would be trained with work. Is this all okay? (I also don't necessarily anticipate keeping the horse forever and ever; it's not an animal companion.)
- There are probably math errors throughout. I'll get them fixed.
I wrote the core of his backstory for another application, with early Kingmaker rather than later, deeper plots, in mind. Jack just wants to help people with what he's good at and he hates bandits, so he'd have an especial drive to deal with the Stag Lord. (Come to think of it, while I have him signing up for the expedition proper, he could also just show up wanting to teach the Stag Lord a lesson.) I am open, but feel wary about assuming, to tying him into deeper plots. Could be Rocco the Horse is actually a fey. He may have encountered fey in his travels. He may know a little of the legend of Nyrissa and feels sympathy; having lost ones he's loved, he feels a little like his heart has been torn out too. I can codify this in his application if it makes sense... and/or if I am picked, I am well aware of how characters evolve once they are actually in play, and such things can emerge organically.
PS: for the sake of fairness, I should also note I am also IN another Kingmaker PBP here on the boards. I figure the style and focus are different enough it's not going to be an issue for me especially as the characters are quite different ... but if it were a matter of recruiting folks not currently playing that AP, I can understand passing over my submission.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
@Qunnessaa Pacing is always hard for PbP. I'm looking for players that can consistently put out high-effort posts, and I strive to do the same. I'm shooting for 1-2 posts per week on average. The first couple of weeks of any PbP tend to be faster and more furious, and it will be easier to put out more posts early on before things get too complicated with having multiple ongoing concurrent scenes. But for steady-state pacing, I'm hoping for 1-2 per week. Now, if this whole token system works out the way I hope it will, it should make it easier for more people to post more frequently because we don't have the problem (as often) where 3 people are waiting on 1 person to post and that person can't get to it for 4 days.
As for AoOs, I'm ignoring them as a rule. That's a knife that cuts both ways. Casters will not provoke Attacks of Opportunity for casting in melee. That's players and enemies. This is a rule change purely to eliminate a common cause for slowdowns in combat scenes, no other reason. I'm aware it may have unintended consequences for balancing combat, but I'm confident it won't be something we can't overcome.
@Jack Ciarathan You have ranks in Craft (bowyer), that's enough justification for me.
Per the combat horse tricks, I was able to find this:
An animal trained to bear a rider into combat knows the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel. Training an animal for combat riding takes 6 weeks. You may also “upgrade” an animal trained for riding to one trained for combat by spending 3 weeks and making a successful DC 20 Handle Animal check. The new general purpose and tricks completely replace the animal’s previous purpose and any tricks it once knew. Many horses and riding dogs are trained in this way.
I am not worried that people might be playing other Kingmaker games. I'm not running games as a charitable service to the online community, I'm running them because I want to have fun, too. Knowing the general plot should provide you with more ideas about how to hook into the game well. I would hope that people aren't submitting the same character as they're already playing...because what exactly is the fun in that? If you only have one character idea that you're interested in exploring and you're already exploring it, I don't know what my game has to offer. But hey, if the character is cool and the writing style is good enough, I'd probably still take it.
I don't have any issues with people submitting characters that they have written for other games. However, I will say that I encourage you to assume tying into deeper plots. That goes for everybody. It's the whole reason I'm trying to run in this style, with all of the cool plot details on the table out in the open. I'm excited to see other people's character concepts when they know they're allowed to write them into the plot. The most disatisfying part of how Adventure Paths are written and tend to be run is that they bend over backwards to assume that Player Characters can be anyone from anywhere, and in practice it almost seems like the writers don't want the characters to be rooted in the locations and conflicts that the adventures are set it. Reign of Winter is the Irrisen game, except it's written in such a way as to virtually exclude the players from playing Irriseni characters. It's absurd to me. I want a Kingmaker game that's about people who could be the main characters of Kingmaker because they belong there, not because they're the four randoms that answered a bulletin and decided to go romp in the woods together. I set out a plot hook that there's at least one descendant of Choral Rogarvia left alive and that Choral needs to kill them to complete a ritual. I put that level of detail in the recruitment post specifically to attract somebody who wants to write a character that fits into that. That's just one example, mind you. And I'm open to other players' plot ideas too, which is why I'm openly trying to share the GM responsibilities around and building systems to let players introduce totally new stuff into the game.
I do understand that the game theory of competitive recruitment might deter some people from "committing to a lane" in that way. But if you see one of my juicy plot hooks and think you've got some cool ideas for it? Insert just_hook_it_to_my_veins.jpg here. Anybody is free to say "actually, Nyrissa and Count Ranalc had another child, and here is my submission for that character." Anybody is free to say "Nyrissa's story may be a practically unknown myth to most people, but here is my bard who has spent half their life chronicling the tales of the fey within the Stolen Lands and I have been able to piece enough commonalities that I am working on an epic poem that puts all the pieces together and when I'm done her name will be known throughout the Inner Sea!" I could keep going, but I want to see your character ideas, if I just wanted mine reflected back at me I would just go write fanfic.
Personally, I don't have a go-to PC that I want to run in Kingmaker, which is one reason why I feel more comfortable GMing it. But my pet Curse of the Crimson Throne PC is the brother of an important named PC in the plot. If I could play Rise of the Runelords, I'd want to play a version that made Ameiko and Shalelu the main characters. My preferred Wrath of the Righteous PC is intended to be a child of Iomedae, who was rejected by Iomedae's church and couldn't become a paladin. If I could get away with it, I would play Peppery Longfarthing in Skull & Shackles and write her as the estranged daughter of the Master of the Gales. I don't say all this to brag about how cool I think my PC ideas are, I say this to try to communicate the kind of plot and setting integration I prefer the PCs to have for campaigns with strong enough plots to support it. And I think Kingmaker is definitely one that can support it.
I'm super heckin interested in this, **especially** since I've never played in a Kingmaker game before(though I have played deep into the CRPG, to the near end of it).
However, my current concept is would very much be some sort of fae themed character, which I already see there's several of.
I see in your reply above that you love PCs that are tied to the setting.
I've had this near obsession with House Arvanxi, and in my own homebrew of Golarion, I've turned into a haven for outcasts, half-breeds, loners, etc.
If I come up with a compelling reason, could I play a member of Arvanxi?
I also have a few suggestions as well:
1) I would at least consider making use of the expanded Kingmaker material Legendary Games has put out. They have their Forest Campaign Compendium(of which I was one of the higher backers for during the kickstarter, and got to create a nation), along with the Companion book(which has expended info on the companions from the CRPG).
They also have books for leadership, kingdom building, downtime, etc.
2) You might wanna make use of Discord for this game, to help run the side scenes, though I realize a lot of people dislike doing so. I have found it helpful myself when I've ran games, however.
@GM: Thanks for the clarifications! Sounds good!
I think I’ve updated my character’s profile per the character creation guidelines.
For her additional “campaign trait” I’m thinking of Trap Finder: occultists get Disable Device natively, and Tsia’s magical enough (and been in enough scrapes! – I’m thinking gothic heroine stuff, needing to open locked caskets, escape being locked into rooms by villains, and so on) that her skills in that vein might extend beyond the mundane. As a needlewoman, precise and delicate hand movements come easily to her, and she always has various useful pins and needles and whatnot to hand. :)
For the generous starting gold, there are a few masterwork items that I’d like to think Tsia could reasonably get her hands on, as she’s gentry and a trained crafter: her thieves’ and artisans’ tools, and her (silk) armour, the benefit of which latter is glam and readiness for magical enhancement rather than anything else, since it has no armour check penalty anyway. Other than that, the weirdest thing she might start out with is a cheat sheath: she’s not a wizard, and it’s a sore spot that she mainly deals with by not dealing with/thinking about it. (It’s not great, as coping strategy. :/ )
As I noodle about thinking about courtier's outfits and suitable jewelry to match, and how my character's some sort of helper figure like a fairy godmother, running into the realization that there's a bit more of "wicked queen" Modthryth or The Thirteen Clocks' Cold Duke Duchess in her than I might have thought. Don't worry, I'm sure it's fine to admire her gloves. ;)
Like several folks' characters so far, mine will probably have some connection to the fey: given various implement powers for occultists, she'll be communing with familiar spirits that, with her background in an elven court far, far away, probably make the most sense as some sort of fairies.
I'm having fun seeing everyone spinning out their character ideas! Lots of neat stuff!
|
@GM Hurley: I'm tossing around a couple of character ideas but I have some questions about character creation rules before I can decide anything for sure.
One of the possible characters is a Ranger, a Kellid from a small tribe that was pushed eastward into the Golushkin Mountains of Brevoy under pressure from the Sunder Horn tribe. The tribe had settled in to a symbiotic relationship with the dwarven Golka Clan until the dwarves disappeared. Since then it's gotten harder to make a living. The Ranger has been variously a smuggler and bounty hunter farther south. The plot connection is to the Golka's disappearance of course.
In this case I'm wondering about two archetypes. The first is the Transporter . It seems very cool and well matched for the early campaign exploration. But I wonder whether or not it would remain useful as the campaign continued into the later books. Thoughts or opinions on it?
The second archetype is Blood Hunter . I like this one because it seems to address some of the things like the lack of flexibility of favored enemy and favored terrain that makes the Slayer so much more attractive. It's a Paizo creation, but like the Vampire Hunter and Omdura, it doesn't seem to be official. Would it be okay to use it?
The second character idea is a character from Uringen in the River Kingdoms. She and her twin sister were alchemical ingredient gatherers who wandered into a spot in the Embeth Forest and got snatched into the First World. After various misadventures and escapades yada yada trying to get back, they were separated. The character then turns to trying to find her sister. Shyka then steps in and offers her a deal of the "you do something for me, and I'll find your sister for you" sort. The something the character must do for Shyka is insert herself into the expedition going to the Stolen Lands and ensure they succeed. Succeed at what? Shyka won't say. But if Shyka is wanting to put a finger on the scale it's probably quite big, maybe Choral the Conquerer or the Shadow plot.
My idea with this character is the finish with the Feysworn Prestige class. But how to get there is tricky. Feysworn seems best suited for a full casting class because it advances spell casting and its features are mostly those that help full casters more than others. A Wizard probably works best on the arcane side. On the Divine side, which I've been leaning toward, a Time Mystery Oracle seems very thematic. My question here is about the Half-Elf Multitalented trait. Can a prestige class count as the second favored class, allowing the character to continue selecting extra Oracle spells as an FCB bonus?
Finally, would you allow Variant Multiclassing?
Well met GM Hurley,
I have read through your post and find the concept of what you are trying to do to be intriguing. I have put together a character that I would like to submit for your consideration. Please look it over and let me know if anything looks out of place or needs to be corrected.
Thank you for your consideration.
Seamus Edelbom
Male dwarf inquisitor (sanctified slayer) of Grundinnar 1
LN Medium humanoid
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7 (+9 to notice unusual stonework)
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 20, touch 13, flat-footed 17 (+6 armor, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 shield)
hp 10 (1d8+2)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +5; +2 vs. poison, spells, and spell-like abilities
Defensive Abilities defensive training
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Melee
. . Dagger +3 (1d4+3/19-20) or
. . Warhammer +3 (1d8+3/×3)
Ranged
. . Light Crossbow +2 (1d8/19-20)
Special Attacks studied target +1 (1st, move action)
Inquisitor (Sanctified Slayer) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +4)
. . 1st (2/day)—cure light wounds, shield of faith
. . 0 (at will)—create water, detect magic, detect poison, stabilize
. . Domain Reformation inquisition
Statistics
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 8
Base Atk +0; CMB +3; CMD 16 (20 vs. bull rush, 20 vs. trip)
Feats Dodge
Traits affable, noble born - Garess, soaring sprinter
Skills / Acrobatics +1 (+3 to keep balance or jump, -3 to jump), Climb +5, Diplomacy +7 (+9 to gather information.), Intimidate +4, Knowledge (history) +3 (+5 on checks that pertain to dwarves or their enemies), Knowledge (local) +6, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +7 (+9 to notice unusual stonework), Perform (oratory) +7, Sense Motive +4, Survival +7, Swim +2; Racial Modifiers lore keeper, noble born - Garess, +2 Perception to notice unusual stonework
Languages Common, Dwarven, Gnome, Goblin
SQ finesse weapon attack attribute, monster lore +3, stern gaze +1
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Defensive Training +4 Gain a dodge bonus to AC vs. monsters of the Giant subtype.
Finesse Weapon Attack Attribute Finesse weapons use Strength on attack rolls.
Hatred +1 Gain a racial bonus to attacks vs. Goblinoids/Orcs.
Inquisitor (Sanctified Slayer) Domain (Reformation Inquisition) Moved by divine disapproval of your church’s mistakes, you seek to correct them however you can.
You can speak with divine persuasiveness.
Lorekeeper +2 for Knowledge (History) checks relating to dwarves and their enemies. These checks can be made untrained.
Monster Lore +3 (Ex) +3 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknesses of creatures.
Stern Gaze +1 (Ex) +1 to Sense Motive and Intimidate.
Stonecunning +2 +2 bonus to Perception vs. unusual stonework. Free check within 10 feet.
Studied Target +1 (move action, 1 at a time) (Ex) Study foe as a Move action, gain +1 to att/dam & some skills vs. them.
At some point during his investigation, Lord Howlan Garess got word of his inquiries and sent for him. Discussions about the event revealed that the Lord’s adopted son, Toval Golka, had also gone missing. Adding that to the already heavy burden of finding out what happened to Breana, left the inquisitor somewhat obsessed. Now, in search of new evidence, he has set out for the Stolen Lands in hopes of uncovering new information about the vanishing.
With a heavy heart, Seamus stepped forward and placed a hand on the old leaver of his door. Its dried henges ground in protest with an all-familiar tune as he pressed the heavy door open. After taking a deep breath, he continued forward down the steps of his rustic cabin and into the freshly powdered snow of the Golushkin Mountains. “It’s time,” he whispered just before fading into the tree line.
1. I elaborated a bit more on Zsófia's fey heritage. Her mother is one of Nyrissa's servants who offended her mistress by dallying with Zsófia's father and giving birth to a mortal child when she was supposed to be investigating House Surtova. She is now nameless and imprisoned by Nyrissa as punishment.
2. I also added the secret that although neither she nor her father know it, they are both of them descended from Choral Rogarvia, and their deaths are essential for the dragon and his sister to complete their ritual. Zsófia's fey heritage keeps her hidden from the dragons' blood-based divinations, but they will soon locate her father despite his precautions against being found, so it will not be long before they capture him, interrogate him to learn that his daughter is in the Stolen Lands, and kill him. :)
One thing this style of game is going to need, I think, is what J. Michael Straczynski (of Babylon 5 fame) called "trapdoors". Basically, when writing a serial story that was subject to vicissitudes like cast members leaving or studio executives deciding to cancel seasons, the writing team needed to leave failsafes for their characters so that important plot points could still happen even when the intended character suddenly vanished. It's unfortunate, but in the play-by-post format, losing characters because the player has retired is not uncommon, and it would suck if this exciting game idea ground to a halt because someone important suddenly stops participating for whatever reason. It's worth thinking about what you'll do if that happens when encouraging players to personally take large meaty chunks of the story upon themselves. :)
|
Well, this looks like a really fun way to play that campaign I loved so much on PC. I've got some characters kicking around here, namely a Lamashtu-worshipping alchemist and mixed race ulfen/taldan swashbuckler multiclassing barbarian.
I'll try to work up a submission soon, including a link or two to some writing samples from previous PbP campaigns.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Late to this, but oh my gosh, this is right up my alley! I started running Kingmaker with a strong wish to develop some of the narrative themes (especially the fey ones) and lean into the collaborative storytelling potential of PBP. And some time ago I was a player in a game that employed a similar co-DMing slant in giving players quite a bit of ownership in developing the world - honestly one of the best games I've been in.
I will have to read everything carefully and get back with a character concept.
This sounds right up my alley. I've played in a couple of Kingmaker campaigns and run Kingmaker up through Varnhold Vanishing 3 times. Right now I'm currently running a Westmarches style campaign with a persistent world and different parties in Brevoy/Iobaria/the Stolen Lands set after a prior party sparked off the incipient Restov-House Surtova civil war, where the current party has no relationship to the original Charter or kingdom rulers.
I love Kingmaker for players because it lets the PCs have time and space to really explore their interests and use the Downtime system and as a DM because it lets me do unexpected things like throw in dungeons or villains from other mods (I've done Fellnight Queen, Carnival of Tears, Dark Oak, most of Tales from the Old Margreve, and bits and pieces from a few others).
I always encourage my players to paint in the background during and in between scenes, try to get them to use the Downtime system, and generally do what it looks like you're looking for- write this as a shared setting where everybody gets to draw in people, places, and things for everybody (even me as DM) to interact with.
I really like this PC from a former Kingmaker campaign. He's strongly Game of Thrones coded and while not built to tie tightly into the Brevoy meta since that wasn't the focus of the game he was for I could easily change that. He's also a fey foundling that could tie into Rhoswyn or Nyrissa's backstory.
Here's his background as written but I'm very open to changing it because this sounds really interesting:
Ravan was a foundling from House Manolescu, one of House Medvyed's strongest and most loyal banner houses. To this day he doesn't know who his biological mother and father actually are. His adopted father's first wife had three daughters in a row along with two stillborn boys, so when he was found swaddled in a basket in White Knife keep's private chapel they took it as a sign from the gods. He was formally adopted into the House, but never really fit in with the martially inclined family. His adopted mother died less than a year after he was adopted, and his stepmother produced a pair of strong boys along with two more girl children.
In spite of his strong, insistent noble training for war and strategy, he never really took to it. Eventually he was pushed aside for his more apt brothers, who were of course actually of the lord's blood, and instead of being bundled off into the church of Abadar he left in the night.
Always somewhat spiritual, he followed signs and feelings out into the Stolen Lands, where he managed not to be killed by bandits long enough for him to discover an aptitude for working with plants. He actually met his mentor, Bokken, when he unknowingly raided the hermit's secret garden. After a rocky initial start, Bokken let him study herbalism with him for a few years.
After a few years in one place he started seeing signs again that he needed to move on, so he did, following them all the way to a sick mother mountain lion in need of help. He spent the winter in a cave nursing the sick adult lion back to health and keeping her cubs alive. When spring came and he was ready to leave, one of the cubs insisted on going with him.
Since then, he has been wandering around the Stolen Lands and has come to be known as just another eccentric in the wilds beyond civilization. He frequently helps anyone in need, be they hunter or farmer or soldier or bandit, and has developed a reputation as a friend to all. Not wanting to use his family's name, he stopped using the name given to him by his noble parents and adopted the moniker given to him by the residents of the Greenbelt- the Little Lion, Malylev.
Personality wise, I designed him to be the Kingdom's Councilor, a man of the common people, and just generally the kind of guy who pitches in to do what needs doing. Due to his reclusive curse, though, he plays as the kind of 'he doesn't talk much but when he does you should listen' guy.
The few people who know him as more than a helpful (or odd) stranger say he has a quiet confidence that makes everyone around him feel calmer. He can sit and just think for hours, contemplate the night sky all night long without moving once, and spend hours caring for a sick animal without losing focus.
He speaks quietly, but his words are unnaturally compelling. This could be a blessing from the gods or something he learned sitting alone with his thoughts for weeks and months at a time. People just want to trust him and give his opinion special weight.
He can't tell a lie or half-truth without getting sick to his stomach, so he tries to be honest in all things. Because of this, he has developed a reputation as an honest man willing to speak the truth in spite of how unpopular it might make him- conversely making him even more popular with most honest folk.
The sheet will be revised down to 1st level and aligned with your point buy and house rules, of course.
Here is Kittenmancer with a the seedling of a character.
The story of Nyrissa fascinates me, together with the all the fey elements - the Eldest, the various Courts, the plots and whims and incomprehensible nature - so while I do not have a fleshed-out character yet, I have a fistful of crumbs for the GM (and maybe other PCs) to discard or pursue at will.
- Count Ranalc was exiled, but was that an unanimous decision among the Eldest? Or were there perhaps some who dissented, sympathized or simply did not care? The curse on Nyrissa - was it simply a jest on the part of the Lantern King, or do they have deeper plans in which she is the instrument? And would those plans find opposition among the other Eldest?
- Did Nyrissa have a realm before her rise and fall? What happened to her attendants, friends, or other connections she might have made before meeting Count Ranalc?
- What are the designs of the Fellnight Queen on the mortal realm? How did she become separated from Nyrissa? Is she searching for her mother as well? Is Count Ranalc aware of her, or of her current status, and how might he view her?
- The Medvyeds: they mostly follow the Old Ways and might be in a prospective alliance with Houses Orlovsky and Garess. Their current holdings in Brevoy are not the best, might they be interested in expanding into the Stolen Lands? Perhaps in exchange for their family sheltering, or even formally adopting, a fey creature?
In terms of class, I'm leaning towards a caster of some sorts with fey/nature/shadow themes. Feyspeaker druid, shadow bloodline sorcerer, maybe an oracle or shaman or bard flavoured appropriately. I'm flexible in that regard, and it also depends on how the backstory and goals for the character shape up.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I really like this PC from a former Kingmaker campaign. He's strongly Game of Thrones coded and while not built to tie tightly into the Brevoy meta since that wasn't the focus of the game he was for I could easily change that. He's also a fey foundling that could tie into Rhoswyn or Nyrissa's backstory.
I like to lean into the Brevoy politics, so as long as that meshes with the story everybody wants to tell I'd love to modify this guy's background so he has more of a link there. Maybe as a castoff foundling he was befriended by the swordlords for insight into how his adopted House and the Medvyeds operate?
If people want to lean more into the fey storyline the fey foundling thing could mean he's a mortal scion of Rhoswyn or even Nyrissa.
For some reason I couldn't get to the site until today. I am planning on updating Jack's background to better work in some overarching plot elements and will do so by tomorrow.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Whew! That site maintenance was a doozy, eh? Everybody still with me?
@everyone We've got some strong submissions already! I don't want anybody to be discouraged by my not commenting on anybody's characters, I'm just holding myself back from prejudicing myself or prompting any major changes. The downtime didn't help things either. We will be closed to new interest at 11:59PM PST on Wednesday the 26th of November. I will not expect final submissions at that time; anything as minor as a "dot" post before then will be considered interest. I am also not expecting finalized sheets until after I close submissions and make final decisions. I do not have a firm date in mind yet, but I am hoping to close and make decisions no later than Friday, December 5th. I will make another post announcing the final timeline, you will have at least one calendar week between the announcement and closing to finalize your submission package. Final submission packages should include at least a general idea of a build and as much background information and writing sample as you care to provide.
I am planning to take 6 players. If I had to choose today it would already be a difficult choice, I imagine it will only get harder. In service of the group nature of this game, I will personally select my 3 favorites, and then I will work with those three to select the final three players and three alternates. So keep in mind that you're not only writing for me, you're writing for each other. And the writing really is the important thing.
@eriktd In the case of players dropping (and let's face it, there's a high chance of that happening at least once) then their characters will still be a part of the story and will become a character held in common by everyone. They can be controlled in combat by whoever chooses, or we might collectively work towards writing them out of the story.
@Anders Smith Yes, I would strongly prefer that you read the spoilers as well as the document linked in this post. It is ultimately up to you, but if you're not willing to be spoiled on either the main Kingmaker game plot or my various changes or additions, then this might not be the game for you. No harm, no foul.
@Jack Ciarathan It wasn't just you, the site received a major update that took it down for over a week. Welcome back!
Yeah, I knew the site was down, but I see people have been posting since Monday but I couldn't get on for some reason. Probably just a cache thing. :)
Anyway, Jack is updated, with a fixed microstatblock, new and improved tied-into-plot backstory, and a bit more gear.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Still here (Qunnessaa, posting under her proposed character’s alias), enjoying dreaming up ways my character might fit into the campaign. Since, as a silksworn occultist, Tsia’s very much a “courtly intrigue” sort of character, I’d like to think part of her narrative arc might be just how quickly she gets her fingers into how many pies, even as she’s an outlandish creature from over the eastern mountains with her own distant past and somewhat mysterious motivations.
That said, some more particular starting points would be natural for her.
Anyway! Just to make it a bit easier to see who’s all here, maybe start idly thinking of possible connections, and because I’ve seen similar in other recruitments, here’s a very tentative list of names and ideas I think we’re seeing here? I’m sorry if I’ve missed anyone, and if this is a useful sort of thing for GM Hurley, I’m happy to post an updated list once or twice before new submissions close next week:
Daniel Stewart – (possibly a gnome?)
DeathQuaker – Jack Ciarathan, elf slayer
ElbowtotheFace – (expressed interest)
eriktd – Zsófia Dobós, human swashbuckler
Evindyl – (expressed interest)
GM_Drake –Anders Smith, android spiritualist
karlprosek – Malylev, human oracle
Kittenmancer – Ta Bayang, gathlain oracle
Mark Thomas 66 – (something nature-themed?)
Monkeygod – (fae-themed, House Arvanxi?)
Nightfiend - Seamus Edelbom, dwarf inquisitor
Qunnessaa – Tsia Troian Malynova, elf occultist
rdknight – (human (?) ranger, or half-elf oracle (?))
Rosc – (possibly an alchemist or swashbuckler?)
TheWaskally – (expressed interest)
|
|
So, a question or two. One, if Attacks of Opportunity aren't going to be a thing, how does that work for the Swashbuckler? Is their Parry and Repose deed going to be nonfunctional, or will it be the fringe exception and allow swashbucklers to make AoOs for the purpose of deflecting attacks?
Second, how do you feel about the Oozemorph Shifter? It has a lot of flavor and could fit the nature themes, but it has certain difficulties in its natural form. A spiked tendril is enough to scrawl communications on a dirt floor, but diplomacy checks may be less of a thing. Not that any kind of shifter is much of an expert on that...
@GM Hurley, would you allow the Sworn of the Eldest Inquisitor archetype? I'm thinking a mulkticlass Sworn of the Eldest/Green Knight Fey Foundling, drawn to the thinner veil of the Stoen lands and the pull of their patron.
It's possible that Nyrissa's lost lover was Count Ranalc, the possible patron of my character.
GM, how do you feel about this?
A banner house of House Lebeda, the Raths are known have strong connections to House Orlovsky and ancient ones with House Medvyed. But kept secret from the scribes and priests who keep the ancestry records, one of Gortin Rath's children (Mal's 5th-great grandfather and the son of House Rath's founder) was a bastard of Choral himself with Gortin's wife, Milena Evenstar, also called Milena the Fair. Unrecorded and long forgotten, the blood of Choral the Conqueror flows in the veins of the rulers of Evenstar, though now only faintly.
6 generations later, Mal's mother- Hana Rath- found herself shipwrecked on a tiny, unnamed island in eastern Lake Reykal after a sudden storm destroyed her boat. She spent weeks on the island and fell in love with nisid who claimed the island as his own. Nisids are solitary creatures by nature, but helpful, and over the weeks he tried to help her fix her boat they forged a strong bond. They weren't able to fix her boat but she was eventually rescued by a young nobleman sailing Lake Reykal- Simon Manolescu, son of Wyman Manolescu. Due to the nisid's fey magics, Hana forgot him even though she was newly pregnant with his child (just like Simon and every sailor who ever learned of the island forgot about the nisid's island).
Hana and Simon fell in love and arranged to be married, forging a connection between two of House Lebeda and House Medvyed's most loyal banner houses. Hana, having forgotten her nisid lover, thought Simon got her pregnant, and Simon had no reason to think otherwise.
From there, the background is pretty much the same- he doesn't fit in with his family (because he's half-fey though he doesn't know it) and he leaves Whiteknife following signs and portents into the Stolen Lands. This makes him a runaway firstborn heir to House Manolescu (basically the Brevoy version of House Manderly from ASOIAF), the long lost last descendant of Choral the Conqueror, and half-fey. Mal wouldn't know either of those last 2 things, though.
Jack Ciarathan, elf slayer Oh, that’s an awkward “ancestry – class” tag combination: “Well, I never!” Tsia exclaims. ;)
Jack prefers to call himself a "scout." Just one that's very good at sneakily shooting things. :)
BTW put his plot-relevant backstory into his character sheet, but if the cool thing to do is share it in thread: gist is his best friend may have been kidnapped (or something) by the Fellnight Queen decades ago, and his only advice he's received has been from an invisible benefactor to "find Briar." Problem is he doesn't know who or what that is. But hearing about hollowborn and shadowbenighted places popping up he feels like it's a good idea to help explore the River Kingdoms.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
A note on ancestry/class for Ta Bayang - I'm quite flexible here as long as I can keep the fey aspect and a support caster/face role. I like the theme of the shadow oracle I put together, but I can just as easily play a shaman, a druid, or a bard.
Ta Bayang's (more coalesced) Background:
A fey who used to be close to Nyrissa before her curse, they have followed Count Ranalc in exile on the Shadow Plane (either at the behest of Nyrissa or out of their own initiative wanting to help their mistress's lover). For a longtime they have suspected that the Lantern King had hidden designs on his deal with Nyrissa, but now that the bargain is so close to being completed they can no longer sit idle; Ta Bayang feels that if Nyrissa actually destroys the thousandth mortal kingdom something terrible will happen to her, so they will attempt to thwart their former mistress at all costs (for her own good). With support (maybe? pending GM approval) from one of the other Eldest, Ta Bayang travels to Golarion with the goal to make that last kingdom endure long enough to find a real solution to Nyrissa's curse. A deal is negotiated with House Medvyed to shelter the fey and potentially adopt them as their own, in order to give Ta Bayang support and legitimacy for propping up this new kingdom.
Great initiative on making the list, Qunnessaa, thank you! Spitballing some potential connections to the concepts discussed so far:
@GM Hurley (and everyone else interested, of course) - you can see some of my writing samples HERE and HERE. Or just rifle through my aliases, that's also fine. :D
I'm no English major (English is not even my first language), but I do love writing.
|
|
OK...here is my submission so far. Still needs a background and some items purchased, but has most if not all of the crunch done.
Female gnome druid 1
N Small humanoid (gnome)
Init 2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +9
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 11 (1d8+3)
Fort 4, Ref 2, Will 5; +2 vs. illusions
Defensive Abilities warden of nature[APG]
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Melee quarterstaff +1 (1d4 B)
Ranged sling +3 (1d3 B)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +3)
. . 3/day—haunted fey aspect[UC]
. . 1/day—detect poison, know direction, speak with animals, stabilize
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +4)
. . At will—speak with animals (4 rounds/day)
Druid Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +4)
. . 1st—calm animals[D] (DC 14), goodberry, shillelagh (DC 14)
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic (at will), purify food and drink (at will) (DC 13), stabilize (at will)
. . D Domain spell; Domain Animal domain
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 15
Base Atk +0; CMB -1; CMD 11
Feats Arcane Talent (Mhh)[APG]
Traits first memories, friend of the fey (lands of the linnorm kings), green-blooded
Skills Acrobatics +0 (-4 to jump), Heal +7, Knowledge (nature) +6, Perception +9, Survival +9; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Common, Druidic, Gnome, Sylvan
Other Gear lamellar (leather) armor[UC], quarterstaff, sling, 20 gp
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Arcane Talent (MHH) Gain a cantrip as a spell-like ability.
Druid Domain (Animal)
Fey Magic (Favored Terrain [Forest]) Gain spell-like abilities in selected terrain.
Gnome Magic
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Nature Sense (Ex)
Speak with Animals (4 rounds/day) (Sp) You can use speak with animals as a spell-like ability.
Warden of Nature +1 to hit and +2 AC vs. aberrations, oozes and vermin.
Wild Empathy +3 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
Hello All!
Story-telling is the point. Well at least I've always thought so, although I am also a fan of the mechanics. Merged together well is always a truer Campaign made.
I definitely have the inclination to develop a submission.
Lots of ideas, but, I am thinking starting this from scratch....
Thank you for running!
EDIT!
Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos are planar energies in much the same way as Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. Unless specified, mortal beings are not strongly aligned to the planes and so all mortal creatures are True Neutral by default.
Thank you!
