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Let me start by saying that I read about Russell's unfortunate passing and I offer sympathy to his family and the gaming community that he enriched. I have tried crawling every forum possible to see if the 'Kaidan' kickstarter is still continuing and the projected ETA on it but have had no luck. I read updates for 'In the Company of Dragons' and a few other kickstarter projects, but have not seen any for Kaidan. The setting is one of great interest to me because I am very much a Japanophile and a lover of horror stories in general, so I have been looking forward to the general release of this ever since I missed the kickstarter years ago. So is the book still being worked on? If so, when might it be available for both backer and public release? If it is being discontinued, can I get an email of the notes and art? I would be willing to pay for even just a rough draft of the setting and the art, if I am being perfectly honest. Thanks for any information on this that you can give! - <3
PLAYERS, AVERT THINE EYES OR RISK THE GAZE OF THE UNDYING LORDS OF THE OUTER DARK UPON YE!!! ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Here are a few cool ideas that I plan to implement in my game of Strange Aeons. I will probably add more as I think of them. 1.I didn't see anything like this in the PG or the actual AP book, so here's a suggestion: have your PCs list up to three 'pillars' of their former life. These were people, places, or events that they had a strong attachment to. They remember these things, although they are hazy and sometimes lacking in context. Someone with a spouse as a pillar might for example have flashbacks of them sometimes and remember the way that person looked, the way they smiled, the sound of their voice, and the way that they felt about them, but not remember what their name is, how they met, ect. This could help give rise to some excellent impromptu character building as they unearth more about the people they used to be. 2. Maybe give your characters the choice to begin with an insanity that they will have to deal with most the campaign and, in exchange, they get a feat for it. Very little beats playing such a character... unless you happen to be on the DM side of the screen and you get to play as the monsters. 3. This is going to sound crazy but hear me out: this AP is perfect for antiheroes! I know some of you are tearing at your clothes and wailing in terror at that one, but consider: The PCs are in a situation where banding together is not a matter of convenience, it is a matter of survival. After the initial need for survival, they all will be following the same path to find the answers to who they were and how they lost all their memories. Evil characters would realize that banding together would be the best way to find their answers. Then comes what happens after they find out everything? They all stay banded together as they pursue their former benefactor, whether it be for revenge or to stop the coming doom. Even evil people should fear an apocalypse brought on by a Great Old One. Now obviously this means that an evil PC should likely be lawful evil or neutral evil and should not be a devotee of something like a Great Old One, Rovagug, Groetus, one of the Four Horsemen, or other entities seeking an apocalypse. That's a given in most campaigns or, at least, I would hope so! 4. Dreamlands corruption! That's right, maybe part of the Dreamlands wormed its way into the tabula rasas that are the PCs and is in them to stay. My thoughts on the matter are this. Maybe if a PC needs to make a save or else risk dying/TPKing the group, you could whisper to them that if they push a little harder, dig a little deeper inside, they can succeed. Well if choose to do so, they tap into that Dreamlands corruption. They succeed automatically but they begin to change and adopt one of the stage one corruptions listed in Horror Adventures. Further pushing of their limits would result in deeper corruption. Refluff certain corruptions as thematically appropriate. Maybe the werewolf corruption does not turn them into a werewolf insomuch as it starts mutating them into a squamous predatory beast with thin, fleshy tendrils in place of fur and a face that is primarily a gaping, toothy maw. Few things could be more terrifying than slowly losing oneself and turning into a monster. It would also make for poignant tales of self-sacrifice. And yeah, it could be a secret 'get out of jail' card, although one with a heck of a caveat. This could be especially worth it in PBP where no PC wants to lose a character they spent years playing.
I'll start! Remember, this list is for the classes themselves without archetypes. In no order, they are... TOP 10
2. Bard- Pretty scary in combat if you build one right and exceptional in
3. Wizard- The cheap way to god-mod a game. 4. Oracle- The REAL way to god-mod a game! 5. Paladin- What's not to like? Awesome combat, awesome concept, fun to see
6. Druid- Wild Shaping, cool thematic spells, and a lot of utility in combat. 7. Brawler- Pimp slap a dragon down... now with 50% less stick-up-the-arse than the leading Monk! 8. Occultist- Seriously, this is a cool class for anyone with real occult knowledge. 9. Spiritualist- It's a summoner, but cooler and creepier. Quite thematic too. 10. Vigilante- BE THE BATMAN! BOTTOM 10
2. Antipaladin- Nothing says suck like a code of conduct that basically forces you into the old, boring stereotypes of evil. Apart from that, it's a paladin clone. Make it more distinct! 3. Cavalier- Bland and horses don't fit in all locations. 4. Samurai- Same reasons as cavalier, but it also feels like a very poor representation of a samurai, at least in how iconic it is. Perhaps more historically accurate but it violates the rule of cool. 5. Witch- While it's cool, they are either too weak or too busted to play unless you gain levels fast and the DM adds some nerfs to some abilities. 6. Gunslinger- I love the concept of the gunslinger but I am not fond of it. I know it had to be balanced but it feels crippled compared to some other classes. 7. Summoner- I would have preferred a class similar to the Final Fantasy summoners, with a little bit of 'white magic' to go with a powerful being that they summon. Being able to choose from a few types, some more iconic/unique evolutions, and have a finishing move would have been awesome. 8. Unchained Summoner- It's the summoner, but more restrictive... enough said. 9. Fighter- Still too bland without archetypes. It's pretty much just passive benefits. Ever since the Tome of Nine Swords in 3.5 and Path of War from Dreamscarred Press, I would venture to say that fighters are just lame. 10. Warpriest- Meh. Atlas shrugs.
Let's just clear something up by saying this is not a campaign... it is a single fight with PCs against an enemy that I have made for the Zeitgeist AP, a 'final form' for the main villain. I will pick a melee fighter, a caster, a dirty fighter, a healer, and an 'other' PC class. I want the big five pillars of tabletop roleplaying present for this. Recruitment will be open for one week. No point in writing a novella for a background for a single fight, ya know? THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS FIGHT FOR BOTH THE VILLAIN OF ZEITGEIST AND FOR THE STORYLINE ITSELF SO IF YOU EVER INTEND TO PLAY THE ZEITGEIST AP, PARTICULARLY MY OWN, DO NOT APPLY FOR THIS GAME! IN FACT, DO NOT EVEN READ THE 'SITUATION' SPOILER BELOW! Material
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The Situation *HEAVY ZEITGEIST SPOILERS*:
This is a shoddily condensed version of the situation and only contains information to put things into context. It is still spoiler-heavy.
The villain of the Zeitgeist AP cast a ritual of immense power that was to rearrange the cosmic order in a way that made the world a utopia. His goals may have been heroic but his methods to achieve his utopia were anything but and so the PCs disrupted his ritual, but only partially. Although they did not know it immediately, disrupting the ritual threw the multiverse into disarray. Planes were destroyed. The fundamental laws of nature were threw into disarray. The Fey Titans were released from their ancient prisons. The sun disappeared from the sky and was replaced by a star-filled void that grew ever larger in the sky. This was the Gyre of Worlds, reality's way of recycling realities that had grown too unstable to exist any longer. The Gyre had already ground most of the multiverse into bits of planar dust. The PCs searched for a way to fix the world and journeyed through the Land of the Fey before deciding to visit the Gyre itself. They had to cross through what was once the Plane of Mirrors and unknowingly split themselves in two reflections. One group of them wandered the Gyre to find Keystones to use in a recasting of the ritual to recreate and realign reality to halt the coming apocalypse. The other group of them were transported back to their own world. But their nemesis was not just mucking about while they went about their own business. Enraged beyond all measure that the world refused the utopia that he envisioned, he began to draw on the altered reality of the multiverse and bent it to his will, fusing the minds of millions of people into horrific hiveminds that he would use to draw from in order to become a living god, an immortal ruler that would create a paradise on earth by stripping every living soul of free will. The PCs in the Gyre learn of what transpired on their home plane and use a planar touchstone to synch up their minds which frees their other halves and some of the people that they strongly linked to emotionally. The PCs in the Gyre send their other halves the planar 'keys' needed to fix the multiverse and save it from certain doom then head to confront the embodiment of death itself in the Gyre as it threatens to destroy the last fragment of the Plane of Time to erase history and return all things to oblivion. Meanwhile, the PCs at home begin freeing people from their mind control while heading to the Axis Seal to perform the ritual. Their enemy, Nicodemus, and his colossal construct have already begun their own version of the ritual. What transpires is a slugfest of epic proportions with the PCs fighting his colossus from the deck of a zeppelin while he assaults them with powerful magic. The PCs triumph over Borne the colossus and Nicodemus' spiritual flesh is wounded. It is at this time that he begins to invoke the Ritual of Apotheosis, a forbidden ritual that allows a mortal to draw on the faith of others to become a god... and is likely to succeed because of the millions of souls enslaved to his will. Now... this is where the game begins. Special Rules: Black Hole Sun: Any spell with the light descriptor is 1 level higher, and no spell can produce light for more than 5 minutes. (Magic can produce fire, which emits light; only magical light is affected). All existing magical light
effects such as continual flame end. In the new sunless world, light is no longer a cantrip, and even high-level heroes might need to rely on torches or lanterns for illumination. Blood of Ostea: All creatures immediately stabilize when rendered below 0 hit points. Creatures do not die when they reach a negative hit point score equal to their Constitution. To slay a creature, one must perform a coup de grace on it.
Reign of the Rational: All creatures gain a +5 circumstance bonus on
Impossibly Distant: Planar travel works to any of the new worlds in orbit, but all other planes are out of range. The Dreaming and the Bleak Gate are inaccessible. The Gyre can be reached from various areas in the world, but travel is perilous, and one-way. Summoning spells work normally, though. Teleportation and Communication. Gold no longer blocks teleportation. However it is not possible to teleport to a location unless you can either see it or you have traveled to it before. Any travel before the Ob’s ritual does not count, and scrying is insufficient, so it won’t be possible to teleport around the
Fourmyle Jaunting. Every creature is able to jaunt—to teleport within line of sight as an innate spell-like ability. As a standard action once per day, a character can teleport anywhere he has line of sight to. He cannot teleport to a spot he could not reach normally (e.g., you have to be able to walk or climb there, so no teleporting through a barred cage). He also cannot teleport if he’s
Three Miles is so Last Age: Spells that restore life to the dead are no longer limited by the body having to travel less than three miles from where it died.
Wings of Liberty: Magical flight is now possible. Spells such as fly, levitation, and overland flight now have their normal duration, and their spell level is reduced by 1. 
Sorry about the thread title, I couldn't resist putting an evil pun title! In all seriousness though, let me lay down the basics for you ladies and gentlemen. If you haven't read through Way of the Wicked's Player's Guide yet, please do so. It will help you get an idea of the layout of Talingarde, the four major Houses of the land, the basics of the campaign, and all that other fun stuff. This campaign is set in Golarion, so replace references of Mithra with the 'Shining Trinity', as they will be called: Sarenrae, Iomedae, and Desna. There will be an 'empty role' that will be filled by an NPC of mine, so don't worry if you are missing a primary role. My character creation rules differ a bit from the books, so please look below to see how these will be handled. Alignment
Race
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*Barbarians and Bards can be LE. *I may consider classes from the SRD. Ask first though. Hit Points
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