Enormous Radioactive Monster - - hp tons/tons - - AC nuh-uh I got forcefield
4th of Neth, the year 4709 A.R.
The bells atop the Temple of Erastil toll their midday song, echoing throughout the quiet village of Kassen. As the peals begin to fade, the first of the townsfolk make their way into the square, dressed primarily in black, almost as if attending a funeral. Slowly, they fill the square, moving quietly across the cold, hard ground, eyes downcast and mournful. After a few moments, a murmur passes through the crowd as it slowly parts to let Mayor Jonark Uptal through.
The Mayor is a heavyset man, gray licking at the fringes of his well-groomed beard and long, blonde hair, held back as usual by a thin band of iron. A tarnished silver lantern, elaborately carved but worn by age and exposure to the elements, is gripped in one of his calloused hands. Behind him trails an old pony, dragging with it a wooden cart laden with various packs and supplies.
These are the beginnings of a ritual every citizen of Kassen has witnessed many times.
Once he reaches the center of the square, he stops, taking a moment to stroke the old pony's head before turning to address his people. "Once again," he calls out, "the winter winds blow through the Fangwood, marking the end of another harvest. There are wolves in the wood, howling at our walls, and serpents in the shadows, waiting to strike. Just as it was one hundred and seventy-four years ago, when Lord Ekat Kassen himself left these walls to protect us, so it is today." He pauses for emphasis, allowing another murmur to surge through the crowd.
"Where are the heroes?" Mayor Uptal asks, eyes combing through the assembled villagers, as if searching for worthy souls among them. "Where are the brave folk who will venture out to Kassen's tomb and retrieve the flame to keep this community safe for another winter?"
The assembly talks amongst itself with hushed excitement. Everyone knows that this is a year in which a small group of elected young people will undertake the task, rather than the usual group consisting of Mayor Uptal, a few of his friends, and community leaders. Few of them, however, are aware of who has been chosen. The Mayor has met with a number of people over the last several weeks, including the ranger Arnama Lastrid, Guard Captain Wisslo, the paladin Sir Dramott, even Goodwife Crowley. Speculation over the identities of those chosen for the Quest has been a hot topic in Kassen these last several days, especially amongst the gossiping regulars at the Seven Silvers.
Six young people are among those gathered at the square. Each of them understands that this, the end of Uptal's well-rehearsed speech, is their cue to come forth and announce their intention to take up the task.
Heroes of Kassen, please present yourselves. Feel free to add anything you think will enhance the experience, such as what your character has been up to in the days leading up to this moment,or how you were first approached by Mayor Uptal regarding the Quest. Have fun, everybody!
Enormous Radioactive Monster - - hp tons/tons - - AC nuh-uh I got forcefield
Discussion is open! Heroes of Kassen, please check in here. You may chat amongst yourselves for the time being. Feel free to figure out how your characters know one another and other such fine details.
Over the last few weeks, your characters have been individually approached, primarily by Mayor Uptal himself, to inform you of the good news. Doreen was probably notified by Goodwife Crowley, though, considering she's a bit of a shut-in...
For nearly two hundred years, the people of the rough-and-tumble hold of Kassen have relied on the symbolic strength of the Everflame to comfort them during the long, harsh winters. Every year, just as the winter winds begin to blow, representatives from the village travel to the tomb of Kassen's founder in order to retrieve a piece of the eternal fire. Normally, it is the duty of Kassen's mayor and other leaders of the community to undertake the Quest for the Everflame, but every few years, a number of young people are offered the chance to step forth and take the lantern for themselves. It has become a beloved coming-of-age tradition, a rite of passage for young Kassenites who wish for more than the life of a mere logger or woodsman, and the village elders often venture ahead to prepare the Crypt of the Everflame with a number of traps and puzzles designed to test the wits and reflexes of the lantern-bearers.
This is one of those years. This is your time to shine. Mayor Uptal has informed you that you have been chosen to participate in the upcoming Quest for the Everflame. If ever there was a chance to prove to the community- and yourself- that you are meant for more, this is it.
But this is also not destined to be an ordinary coming-of-age. What awaits the young lantern-bearers in Kassen's tomb is no trick or prank. Foreign eyes have turned to Kassen, and something has gone horribly awry within the Crypt of the Everflame. What awaits the would-be heroes of Kassen will challenge their wits as well as their lives... and should they survive, they will find themselves facing a daunting threat that endangers not only their own humble homestead, but all of Nirmathas!
- - - -
The "Price of Immortality" Trilogy is a series of three interconnected modules from Paizo that manage to cover just about all the bases of what makes fantasy RPGs awesome: dungeon crawling (Crypt of the Everflame), urban investigation and social roleplaying (Masks of the Living God), and wilderness exploration (City of Golden Death). Masks of the Living God is my personal favorite out of the lot, but I've always wanted to run this trilogy in its intended form as a continuous narrative. I've been running a fantastic Feast of Ravenmoor here on the boards, and I've been aching to start up a second game. Now that a few of the other games I was playing in have come to an end, I've decided that the time is right, and the Price of Immortality must be paid! Mwahahaha.
I'm looking for a group of four to six players willing to watch their characters grow from meager, Luke-on-Tattooine wannabe heroes eager for adventure into seasoned, renowned heroes of Nirmathas. And who knows? The adventure might continue on after the City of Golden Death, if the players are interested; after all, Nirmathas has more than a few threats looming over it, and there just happens to be another couple of modules set there that I'm interested in running...
What am I looking for in a character?:
-1st level. By the time we finish the third module, your character can probably be expected to reach level 7.
-15 point-buy for attributes. I actually really prefer these lower point-buy values, though I know some people are turned off by them. I implore you to accept the challenge and make it work! Please try to avoid overzealous min-maxing.
-Core races preferred, with humans being particularly encouraged (darkvision spoils so many surprises!). That said, I'll humor just about any character concept if it's good enough! In other words, though I'd prefer to keep this as close to Core as possible, don't feel as if you absolutely can't propose a more exotic race.
-Core classes preferred, but as with the races, I'm open to less-standard character types as long as they are interesting enough and fit the theme of the campaign. Any official Paizo material is fair game, but I would prefer the Unchained versions of Barbarian/Monk/Rogue/Summoner. Third party material is probably off the board, but if it's something that can be easily referenced, I might consider it.
-Two traits (three if you take a drawback). Regional traits related to rivers and forests might be appropriate, considering Kassen's location. Keep in mind that I expect these things to actually reflect your character's background/personality and not just whatever mechanical benefit you wanted! Also, drawbacks will not be ignored if you take one.
-Average starting wealth for your class.
-Good or Neutral alignments are preferred. I don't really see this adventure working out too well for Evil-aligned characters.
-Your character should be either a native of the town of Kassen (located in northern Nirmathas, just south of the border with Lastwall) or have lived there long enough to be considered a part of the community. As the setup of the module involves embarking on a local "coming-of-age" tradition, it's probably best if your character is pretty young (reference the appropriate minimum ages for your chosen class- that's probably about how old your character should be!). If you're interested in ways to tie your character to the town (or to one another!), we can work that out together; Crypt of the Everflame has a rather exhaustive gazetteer of Kassen that includes potential mentors for characters of various classes.
-On a related note: Does your character have family, friends, rivals, or other such associates in Kassen? I am a fan of incorporating NPCs tied to the player characters into the proceedings. Siblings, parents, mentors, even enemies- all of them can potentially raise the stakes. Please include any such associated characters, as well as the nature of their relationship to your own character, in your profile. If you are interested in working with established NPCs that already exist within Kassen as-written, let me know what your intentions are and I can offer some suggestions.
-In addition to a good background and personality, don't be afraid to flesh out your character's appearance, as well. If you have an image that you feel better represents your character than whatever Paizo avatar you pick out, link it so that I can use it for your token on the maps.
-We'll be using the Background Skills subsystem from Pathfinder Unchained, which gives your characters two extra skill points per level to throw into skill categories that don't normally get a lot of love as a way of reflecting their interests outside of adventuring. It is possible that other new systems introduced in Unchained might make an appearance, but this one I'm already sure about.
What am I looking for in a player?:
-I don't require Shakespeare in every post, but after seeing how good things can get in my Feast of Ravenmoor game, I'd prefer a bit of writing finesse, if you can manage it. Try to get into your character's head and offer up some insight into not only how they physically react to the situations at hand, but also what they're thinking and feeling. As long as your posts amount to more than "I swing my longsword" and you're not spilling typos all over the place, you should do just fine.
-I would prefer that you be able to post at least once a day. I know that things get hectic sometimes, and sometimes you'll need to go a day without posting- happens to the best of us- but if you'll need to be away for more than two days, try to let me know ahead of time so the group's not sittin' around on their thumbs waiting on you. I reserve my right to bot you into NPC mode if you're gone more than a couple days, and after a more extended absence, the character's fate is in my hands- with all that implies!
-Don't be afraid to engage with the other players and chat things up a bit. One of my favorite things as a GM is to be able to just sit back and let the PCs talk amongst themselves for a while.
-If you pick up any loot, add it to your inventory on your profile! Also, please delete things you've used up and are no longer carrying. I hate having to keep up with what my players are lugging around. Same goes for tracking your limited-use abilities, spells, etc.!
-Don't be a jerk! Goes without saying, but it's still worth saying. A bit of in-character bickering is fun and fair game, but don't disrupt other people's enjoyment of the game by taking it too far.
So we're starting out in Kassen, eh? What should I know about this place?:
-Kassen is a scrappy, tight-knit frontier town with a population of about 750, located in the nation of Nirmathas near the Fangwood and the Tourondel River just south of the border with Lastwall. The population is almost entirely human, with only a handful of non-humans about: a few elves, dwarves, and halflings, a very few half-elves and gnomes, and few enough half-orcs to count on one hand. Kassen gets by primarily on its lumber industry, floating lumber down the Tourondel River to Lake Encarthan, then on down the coast of the lake to Tamran, the capital city of Nirmathas.
-One of the biggest things one should know about the country of Nirmathas is its seemingly never-ending war with its southern neighbor, the military oligarchy of Molthune, from which it seceded some time ago. While there's certainly no love lost for the Molthuni folk (or Cheliaxians, for that matter) in Kassen, since the village is on the far north side of the country, it's unlikely most Kassenites have ever so much as laid eyes on a Molthuni soldier. There are a few exceptions, however...
-The chief deities worshiped in Nirmathas are Erastil, Gorum, and Iomedae. There's only one temple in Kassen, but while it is dedicated to the worship of Erastil, it also provides for the worship of other gods- including the aforementioned deities, Gozreh, Shelyn, and Torag.
-Local dangers include wolves, goblinoids, and occasional ogres, trolls, or unseelie fey. With Kassen being so near to both the Hold of Belkzen and Lastwall, it should go without saying that Kassenites are always on the lookout for stray Orc raiding parties, though it's been quite some time since any have appeared.
-What about the Pathfinder Society? They don't have a branch open in Nirmathas; as such, the Pathfinders are known mostly by reputation in this country. They are seen by some as untrustworthy grave robbers, troublemakers, and scoundrels; others idolize the tales of the Pathfinders' adventures across Golarion and see them as heroes. Of course, the truth is a little bit of both... but to the young people of Kassen, the notion of a real Pathfinder coming across their humble little town would be very exciting. Rumors abound that a man named Cygar- a scar-faced, gruff-voiced man of few words who wandered into Kassen in recent months- might be just one such Pathfinder, but he's not telling anybody. With this in mind, you should think about what your characters' opinion on the Pathfinder Society is, and what they might do if they had an opportunity to work with or even join this (in)famous organization...
-Once we get further along in the recruitment process, I can certainly provide further information regarding the NPCs and Notable Locations of Kassen.
What else do you need to know?:
-I'll be using Google Drawings for the maps. Why? Because my crappy computer can't reliably handle Roll20, that's why! Also, not every encounter will have an interactive battlemap; be prepared to do a few encounters, mostly smaller ones, within the theater of the mind.
-I have a tendency to alter the modules I run, sometimes substantially. If you've skimmed or even read any of these modules before, don't count on things going exactly the way you expected. There is a great deal of supplemental material out there suggesting tweaks to the narratives or mechanical content of this series in order to enhance the experience, and some of these changes will be incorporated into this campaign.
-I'm one of those GMs who favors Rule of Cool (or Rule of Fun) over RAW. If you want to try something outside of the box, go for it!
-I'm also one of those GMs who doesn't really track Experience Points- at least, not religiously. I prefer to just level you lot up when I deem it appropriate (luckily, these adventures have some pretty obvious level-up intervals in there). That said, I also believe very strongly in rewarding players for excellent roleplaying- this will often be found in the form of bonuses to various rolls or treasures that might not have otherwise been lying around.
-On a related note, we may not be using Hero Points here, but I do reserve my right as GM to push a skill check or attack roll that might otherwise have just barely failed if you put enough "oomph" into it with your description. Don't get cocky with this, though!
Recruitment is tentatively open until Monday, September 14th, though I may close recruitment earlier than that depending on the number and quality of submissions. So... what are you waiting for? The winter winds are blowing, wolves are howling at the walls, and there are serpents in the shadows, waiting to strike. Get to it, future Heroes of Kassen!
Enormous Radioactive Monster - - hp tons/tons - - AC nuh-uh I got forcefield
Magnimar - Ordellia District
The Drunken Dog is not exactly the finest tavern in Magnimar. While the Ordellia district is more known for its counterculture stylings and self-styled anti-establishment dissenters than food and drink, any of you could have picked out a half-dozen far nicer establishments from the moment you crossed the Yondabakari river without much effort. But the Dog is small, tucked away in an easily-missable side street, the sort of place even most of the locals might never have heard of. In that, it is a perfect incognito spot to rendezvous with your newest client.
It is sundown, and the skies over the Varisian Gulf are reddening. There's no real crowd to speak of in The Drunken Dog, not that this surprises you- the burly barkeep almost seems surprised to see you come in. "If you're here to see Miss Anikee," he grumbles, "she's got the table over there." He points toward a large, round table near the windows, where a bespectacled woman sits, busily pawing through a small stack of papers.
Jeminda Anikee is about thirty years old, give or take a few, with dull brown hair tied back in a sloppy bun, and a plain, if well-tailored, dress. She is an attractive woman, if a bit mousy. Her only notable adornment is a simple silver holy symbol of Abadar hanging around her neck. She rises to meet you as you approach, introducing herself with a hint of a stutter and shaking your hand. Hers are somewhat clammy, and she wipes them on her dress before retaking her seat.
"H-hello," she says. "Jeminda Anikee. I work for the city. Pleased to meet you."
She has summoned five of you here today- each of you having gotten word of this mission through your own methods and contacts. She glances over each of you appraisingly, and while she wears a calm smile, she is clearly anxious.
Feel free to introduce yourselves to Jeminda. When you are done, she will proceed immediately into the debriefing for your mission.
"As you may have heard, I am a clerk- not a high-ranking one, of course, just a humble bookkeeper, you see- in the tax office here in Magnimar. I recently ran into a bit of a pickle- er, ah, a problem, yes? I was doing a routine audit when I realized that there had been a little... cock-up, if you gather, regarding the collection of taxes in a tiny little holding called Ravenmoor, way up the Lampblack River north of Galduria. It seems that somebody- not me, of course, that's not precisely my job- had been neglecting to double-check Ravenmoor's back taxes for the last... er, several years." She pauses to breathe, glancing around nervously as if embarassed to say it. "A little clerical error, you see. Ravenmoor's taxes owed have not been collected in nearly a decade. I can understand how it was missed for so long- it's such a tiny community that they hardly owe much, but after so many years, it turns out that they owe the city of Magnimar some 500 gold in back taxes. I can't imagine this was due to some malicious neglect on Ravenmoor's part- more likely it's because, thanks to this little oversight, we haven't sent anyone out there to collect anything from them for so long that they simply forgot they owed anything at all. But you can see how this could be a problem, yes? 500 gold missing from Magnimar's coffers is no small matter. I could... well, I worried there might be a chance I could lose my job if the higher-ups caught wind of this and decided that I was to blame, so I chose to send a tax collector out that way to see about retrieving the money we're owed before reporting the whole farce."
"I needed to keep the whole thing on the down-low, as they say, so I turned to one person in particular I could trust implicitly to do the job: Elias Kyle. He's my brother-in-law, you see, so I knew I could count on him. We've been close ever since my sister Rumelda- his wife- passed on a few years back. We've taken care of one another, because really, neither of us really has anybody else to count on..." Her voice lowers almost to a whisper, and you detect a bit of a stammer in her words. "I'm sorry, I digress. Elias only recently started working for the city- he'd gotten himself cleaned up, kicked his drinking habit, was all worked up and ready to accomplish something great other than getting into bar brawls, so it seemed like this kind of mission would be a perfect fit for him. He was enthusiastic about the idea, so we agreed to send him off to Ravenmoor to collect the 500 GP and resolve the matter before any real stink could come of it."
"A week after he set out, I got a letter from him- sent from Galduria. He said he was making good progress, would hit Ravenmoor in a couple of days and be back in Magnimar in a week and a half. But... it's been weeks, and no word back from him. Elias has gone missing." She unfolds a small sheet of parchment and slides it to the center of the table so that everyone can see it.
- - - -
Elias' Letter:
"Hey Jem! In Galduria! Making damn good time, weather's on my side. Be in Ravenmoor day after tomorrow if I'm lucky! Weather holds true I'll be back in Magnimar in a week and a half! Galduria's a drag but Ember Lake sure is pretty! Mel woulda loved this place. You should come out here sometime and see it. Anyway, I had to show some wannabe tough guy the hard side of my shiny new mace! Wotta laugh! Tell you more when I get home, many loves XOXO Eli"
- - - -
"So... what I'd ask of you here is twofold: retrieve the missing taxes from Ravenmoor, and find out what happened to my brother-in-law. Please, move as quickly as you can, and take care of yourselves- Elias was no professional fighter, but he could hold his own. If some kind of foul play has occurred- Gods, I hope that's not the case- then this Ravenmoor could be a lot more dangerous than any of us imagined. Elias would have left an impression wherever he went, I'm sure- he's not much of a looker, kind of a squat, lumpy-faced fellow- face like a pug dog, my sister always said- 'cugly,' I think that was her word- with bright red hair and patchy scruff on his face. He's been in a lot of fights, so he's got a bit of a knob for a nose. Elias's safety is a huge priority, but at the end of the day... the collection of those back taxes is still your official primary objective, so to speak..."
Sense Motive (DC 15):
That's clearly the tax official in her talking. She looks and sounds as if telling you that the taxes are more important than her missing brother-in-law is agony for her.
Sense Motive (DC 20):
It's not easy to tell, considering her nervous mannerisms and busy hands, but you get the distinct impression that there's something she's not telling you- something that seems to be on the tip of her tongue, but she can't quite bring herself to say.
"So... terribly sorry to ask this of all of you, but... I'm sure you can see why I had to call your lot in. I can't have word of this getting back to my superiors before we know what happened out there. My career is on the line here- I can promise you 200 GP in payment right now to recover the back taxes, but if you're able to figure out what happened to poor Elias... well, I can't put an exact number on it until I know whether or not I'll be keeping my job, but I can promise you that I can make it worth your while."
"Any questions?" she asks, twiddling her fingers. Her eyes bounce back and forth amongst you anxiously, as if she expects you to toss her into the bay for daring to hire you.
If you have anything to ask Jeminda about, go for it. Once you're done, we'll move you all along the Yondabakari river to Galduria, where Elias Kyle's final letter came from.
- - - -
Sometime later, deep in the Churlwood to the north...
Calwen (solo):
The Churlwood
These are a far cry from the lush evergreen forests of the northern lands; the sky above you is blotted out by a ceiling of thick, tangled branches with sagging, half-dead leaves; the earth beneath Whitemane's hooves is squelching muck one step, slick, greasy moss the next. Huge, knobby roots creep across the forest trail, making each of your steed's steps slow and deliberate. The hot, humid air is nearly suffocating, and the buzzing of insects rings constantly in your ears. They are more than just a noisy distraction, however- more than once, you have been forced to swat a fat, eager mosquito from your neck. The Churlwood more than lives up to its unpleasant name. And to think: you haven't even had any run-ins with beasts or bandits as of yet. Both, your intel suggests, call the Churlwood home.
Galeth's dryad- Lyila, he calls her- should reside somewhere nearby, if the map he provided you is accurate. Still, given the state of the Churlwood, the fact that anything- much less the nature-loving fey- could stand to live here is surprising.
After hours spent navigating the sweltering wood, you finally see a hint of respite: the colors of the leaves begin to grow more lush, and the trickling of some nearby stream reaches your ears. The dryad's domain is near.
You enter into a glade wholly unlike the rest of the Churlwood, where the trees possess a sort of keen vitality to them, and several small streams converge into a large, tranquil pool. At the center of the pond is a large tree, gnarled and twisted like its neighbors but possessing a singular peculiar beauty about it; its thick, ropey branches stretch upward and outward, its canopy filtering through several beams of sunlight that splay across the pool. Enormous roots arch up like bridges before plunging back into the pool. It is a dramatic and beautiful sight, exactly the sort of tree one might imagine being bound with a dryad.
As you near the edge of the pool, Whitemane trots forward and bends down to drink from the sparkling pool. As he does, three tiny heads poke up from beneath the water and stare up at you with curious eyes. These tiny, aquatic fey women are Nixies. Though every bit as capricious as the rest of their fey brethren, they seem harmless enough. The tiny girls giggle, and each one pops its head up out of the water to speak in turn:
"An elf's come to see us, girls!" "From the great white north, from the looks of it!" "Pretty thing, she is! What's your name, elf?" "Quiet, you! She's here to see Lyila, I'd wager!" "They always come to see Lyila! She's not the only pretty fey around the Churlwood, you know..."
As the trio of tiny fey continue to banter back and forth, you feel a brisk wind slip through the trees and send ripples across the pool, seeming to originate from the enormous tree.
"Oh, would you look at that? Seems ye've got Lyila's attention already," one of the fey in the pool pops up to say. "I'd get in there and impress her, if I was you, elfy-elf. Don't worry, we'll watch your pretty horse for you. Less'n an owlbear comes 'round looking for a meal, o'course. Then I'm afraid you lot are on your own."
For decades, the tiny village of Ravenmoor has existed quietly on the upper reaches of the Lampblack River, far from the centers of civilization in Varisia. Linked to the outside world only by an overgrown, mostly-forgotten trail, the villagers are comfortable with their isolation. Their ways are humble, quaint, and at times odd, and when travelers come, they find the town awkward and unmemorable. Certainly, the lack of a village inn, the oppressive humidity, and the bug-infested moors and swamps that surround the village do little to encourage visitors.
When a clerk in the city of Magnimar discovers that, due to a clerical error, the village of Ravenmoor hasn't paid taxes in years, a tax collector is sent to the distant community to settle accounts with its mayor. When the tax collector fails to return, however, a group of adventurers must travel to the town during its Founders' Feast celebration to investigate his disappearance. Did he really make off with the taxes himself, as the villagers suspect? Or did he never make it out of Ravenmoor at all?
Welcome, adventurers! Fate has conspired to bring an early end to not one, but several of the Play-by-Post games that I have been participating in... while this is saddening news indeed, there is a silver lining: I now feel confident enough to start up my own! For my first turn GMing a game in Play-by-Post format, I've decided to run one of my favorite Paizo modules, Feast of Ravenmoor. It is an investigation/mystery/horror adventure for 3rd-level characters, set on Golarion in an obscure backwoods village in Varisia. I'm looking to recruit 4-5 players interested in a game centered more on investigation, roleplaying, and quietly-building horror than kicking doors down and killing tons of enemies... though that's not to say there won't be any combat involved.
I would prefer that everyone be able to post at least once a day, with the concession that should you be absent for longer than that, I can GMPC you until your return. Since this is a module, it won't be nearly as long-lived as some PbP games (which is why I chose to run it instead of an Adventure Path- it won't be so daunting for a first-time PbP GM like me), but it'll still probably take a fairly long while to complete considering the format of play. With that in mind, please understand that I'd really like to bring on players who'll be in it for the long haul.
Also, a word of warning: this adventure contains some pretty grisly content that more squeamish players might find disturbing. While I don't want that to discourage anyone from playing in this, I think it's only fair to let you know ahead of time that there may be some "R" content. Worst case scenario, I can always put the "gory details" into a spoiler that one can click at his/her own risk.
Character specifications:
-Character level 3. At this level, your character should have had a successful adventure or two, and is well-known enough around Magnimar to have some reputation in the adventuring community (as it is)... but you're far from a household name.
-Average HD (+1) for HP beyond level 1, like the PFS standard.
-15 point-buy for stats. I know most people prefer 20 or 25 for point-buy, but I feel that the lower power range better preserves the spooky flavor of the adventure... so embrace the challenge! I fully expect you to roleplay your stats appropriately, so if you dump a particular stat below 8, you had better actually play that up!
-3,000 gp starting wealth.
-Any good or neutral alignment allowed. I will consider allowing a Lawful Evil character so long as they can be trusted to work with the party and won't disrupt gameplay. Note that your characters probably shouldn't be expecting a huge payday out of this mission, so if you're the type that only works for money, it might be a tough pill to swallow; I would suggest considering other motivations.
-Core and Featured Races only, though I encourage human characters. Humans just seem to work better in horror-themed adventures; darkvision tends to spoil things sneaking up on you in the night. ;) That said, I'll entertain just about any race if the character is interesting enough.
-All official Core, Base, and Hybrid Paizo classes are allowed. Please try to avoid character types that focus on multiple minions- an animal companion, familiar, or eidolon is one thing, but any more than that and this will get out of control very quickly. In order to preserve my sanity, try to keep your character concepts relatively simple, mechanically speaking. The less I have to stop and look up, the better.
-Two traits, one from each category, though a third can be taken if you also choose to take a Drawback. Please only use traits from this listing from Ultimate Campaign. I actually don't particularly like traits in my games, but I'm going to give them a shot here since most PbP games enable them. That said, please actually make sure they make sense for your character's background/personality. Including a reference to them in your backstory will net you bonus points in my book!
-When building your character, try to keep the mood and theme of this module in mind. There is not a great deal of combat in the early-goings of the adventure, and social skills will be just as important as fighting prowess here. Also, as a note, characters who are followers of the goddess Desna might find some interesting RP opportunities here, so consider that if you're planning on submitting a Cleric or the like.
-Please include a solid backstory for your character, as well as a physical description (feel free to link an image if you have something that represents your character well- in fact, if you have an image that fits your character better than the avatar you pick for you alias, I can use it to represent you on the battlemaps). How your character is perceived will affect NPC interactions considerably. Since this is a module being run stand-alone rather than a long-term campaign, personality is probably more important here than a background full of potential plot hooks, but I'm certainly not one to discourage such things!
-This adventure is set up to treat your characters like a team, so if you'd like to discuss amongst yourselves some ways that your characters might already know one another, go for it! I'm all for interconnected background and shared histories.
House Rules:
-Monks have a d10 hit die and full-BAB progression. I know it doesn't fix all of the problems the class has, but at least it satisfies the issue I have with the uber-dedicated martial artist having less hit points and being less skilled at fighting than the Gunslinger. Plus, it helps with qualifying for Feats earlier.
-Rogues' Trapfinding adds their Rogue level (as opposed to 1/2) to Perception and Disable Device checks involving traps. Note that this only applies to Rogues; any other class or archetype that gains Trapfinding still only adds 1/2 their applicable level. Again, I know this doesn't "fix" the Rogue class, but it's something.
-We will not use Hero Points, but I may give you a slight push on an attack roll or skill check that otherwise would have just missed its target if I am particularly impressed with the ingenuity or description behind the maneuver. This usually equates to a +1, and never goes higher than a +2. Don't rely on this- it's entirely subject to my whims, after all! Bwahaha and all that.
-I'm not really that harsh a rules lawyer, so far as GMing goes. If you have any ideas or suggestions that go outside the box a little, I'm willing to listen.
I'm getting the hang of Ditzie, so we'll probably use that for battlemaps. For any extremely simple encounters we'll probably just go mapless to save time.
If we finish the module and there is sufficient interest in continuing onward, we'll level up to 5 and move on to he next module I'd like to run... probably Carrion Hill. But let's not worry about that just yet... In the meantime, show me your best!
