Branding Opportunity's page

At UNC hospital today for some dental work for my son. Will hopefully have them tomorrow.

There's no rush. I'll keep recruitment open for a week (starting yesterday), or longer should we not get 6 players.

if you add all modifiers together and get -3 or less, you may reroll that character.

That's six! Let's change this to a recruitment thread. Everyone who has access to the rules may post their four 0-level PCs. I'll post more detailed help and rules when I get home. For now, roll 3d6 and assign the stats as you wish.

Sounds interesting..will have to pick up a copy of DCC and see what is different, but otherwise count me in!

Only do this if you really want the rules, Daniel. As I said, it's easy enough for me to fill in the blanks during play.

Seeing if there is any interest in running a short, 0-level funnel adventure using the Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) rules. For those who aren't familiar with this type of game, you play, well, basically normal people thrust into a very dangerous environment with a high chance of not making it through the adventure. Due to the high lethality of the adventure, everyone who plays will create 4 PCs using either the rules for creating 0-level characters in the DCC rulebook or the automated party generator at Purple Sorcerer dot com. These PCs are all played at the same time, so if you like, you can have quite lively conversations between them (i.e. yourself).

If you don't have access to the DCC rules, but are familiar with Pathfinder or D&D, you're basically 80% of the way there, and I can explain the remaining 20% to you as we play.

Concept: The desperate and poor dregs of the Great City risk their lives for the chance to earn more than they could ever hope to earn in a lifetime by braving the terrors of the Sunken City and emerging with the buried treasures of ages past. What do they need? Nothing but their courage and a fighting chance!

Aim: We're telling the story of the poor or desperate who are willing to take a chance at making things better for themselves and their family (if they have one). Chances are they probably won't make it home, but by Crom, at least they tried! You could play a night soil collector tired of literally taking other people's poop, or a down-on-their-luck member of the upper classes who lost everything in a game of dice and has no other chance of reclaiming their former position, or anything else you can think of that fits the theme.

Tone: High violence, lots of action and problem solving, think about what's the best action before running into danger, a bit of gonzo (this is DCC, after all), but don't be afraid to take chances, you've got three other PCs, after all!

Subject Matter: The game will include lots of danger and violence, but there are limits. I don't have torture, SA, or outright racism/sexism in my game. It's a harsh world we play in, but I don't want to have to deal with those subjects when I'm playing an escapist fantasy game; I've got real life for that. If there are subjects that you don't like in your games, we can add those to the list.

So, anyone interested?

So if you have more than 8 points in a skill it looks like you get a special ability. Do you need to spend points to use those abilities?

Nope. These are called "Talents" and can be used without a spend and each is different depending on the General Ability. Gemma's Talent for having 8 points in Preparedness is very cool and is called "Flashback". I'll just give you the full text from the book:

If your Preparedness rating is 8 or more you can narrate a flashback where your group prepared a secret plan in the past, even if no one had been aware of it until now.
Examples include:

* declare that a foe’s breakfast that morning was poisoned
* a portal normally kept locked and barred is left ajar
* a dagger smuggled in earlier is hidden beneath your chair
* a stolen satchel of treasure turns out to be previously switched for an identical one with different contents
* you’ve previously bribed one of the two armed mercenaries threatening you to be your ally.

You must have had opportunity and the means to set up the action, which can include the help of fellow Heroes even if you haven’t filled their players in on the Flashback plan until this very moment. (This, by the way, is an excellent reason to keep pre-adventure planning as loose as possible: you’ll have more “blank space” available for preparation.) You must still make a Preparedness test to succeed, and you must still convince the GM that your precaution is credible. If the action required a test (of Burglary, Stealth, etc.) you or your collaborators must make it successfully. Depending on the result, the GM might introduce a complication to make life interesting…

The difference between a Flashback and a standard Investigative or General point spend is twofold.

* Your plan can involve other Heroes and their abilities.
* You can present your plan to the GM as a fait accompli; you don’t need to go back and roleplay your fellow Heroes hiding blackmail material in an easy-to-find location. You just grab narrative control, state what occurs, roll your Preparedness test, and then each Hero involved spends whatever points are needed, and succeeds with their rolls, to make it happen.

A suspect is fleeing from you across the densely packed rooftops of one of Eversink’s poorer districts. It’s common to have planks of wood between buildings to act as impromptu bridges for the locals. Using Flashback, you announce that Prophecy warned you about this, so you previously had an ally partially saw through one of the wooden planks that hangs above a pig pen 10 meters below. This is a complete surprise to your fellow player Karla, but she’s enthusiastic about the plan.

You make a Preparedness test, Karla makes a Burglary test for her Hero (since it involves a hidden trap), and your suspect falls 10 meters into a pig pen if they don’t have the Athletics to catch themselves.

Check in to the online character keeper (linked above) and add your player name to the character you've chosen, if you haven't done so already. That will help secure your spot in the game. You can also look at your PC and ask any questions you might have about the game/rules/setting/etc.

You mentioned spending General Ability points. For example if a PC has a 6 in athletics they potentially have 6 points to spent to increase athletics rolls that they make. Is my understanding correct?

Also, do these General Ability points regenerate/refresh?

Yes, in your example, you can spend up to six points to boost Athletics Tests (their name for checks). Each point spent improves a 1d6 roll by +1.

General Ability points refresh more often than Investigative Ability points. Basically, any time you complete a scene where people are likely to spend pool points, you receive Refresh Tokens. These tokens are a pool that anyone who was involved in the scene can use to "refresh" any General Ability points that were spent. It's a common pool for the entire group, not a per-person pool, so the group has to decide who gets the points. In a combat scene, each opponent has their own pool of Refresh Tokens that you get for defeating (or otherwise overcoming) them.

Investigative Ability points only refresh at the end of the adventure.

We have four people interested, great! We'll keep recruitment open until we get six, unless it slows down a lot.

In the meantime, let me give you a bit more info on the game. I'll keep this relatively short, but feel free to ask questions.

* The only die you roll in a GUMSHOE game (which Swords of the Serpentine is one of, but which also includes Trail of Cthulhu, Night's Black Agents, Mutant City Blues, Esoterrorists, and others) is 1d6.

* There are two types of "skills". In GUMSHOE they are called Investigative Abilities and General Abilities. Investigative Abilities are for gathering clues when you investigate something. SotS is a game about solving mysteries and gathering clues. If you have the Investigative Ability, you simply state that you are using it in a particular area or way, and if there is clue to be found there with that ability, I give it to you; there's no need for a roll.

* While Investigative Abilities are for gathering clues, General Abilities are more equivalent to skills in Pathfinder: you use them when you are trying to accomplish something where there is a chance for failure and where telling the story of that success or failure is interesting to all of us. If that is the case, you roll 1d6 and then can spend points from your General Abilities to increase the die roll (generally before you roll). You're generally trying to hit a target number of 4.

* Spending points from your General Abilities pools (meaning your max General Ability scores) does not make you "less good" at that Ability, it's just a game mechanic to represent how much reserve you have to push yourself. You can recharge the General Ability pools by accomplishing things during an adventure.

* There are no ability scores, you are your skills. The two skills that come closest to ability scores in SotS are your Health and Morale skills. Both have a maximum (listed on your character sheet) and a minimum of -10. Health is equivalent to HP, but you don't die when you reach 0. Instead, you are considered healthy if you Health is 0 or higher. Once you go into negative health, you have to make Health checks (called Tests) to stay conscious and you get other penalties. You take Health damage when you are damaged by an effect (such as fire) or when someone attacks you with their Warfare General Ability (or Sorcery). You finally are "taken out of the fight" when your health reaches -10. Your attacker decides whether you die or not. Morale measures willpower and how strong-willed you are. Generally you take damage to your Morale when someone attacks you with the Sway General Ability. You are able to think and act normally as long as your Morale is 0 or above. Once you go into negative Morale, you have to make Morale Tests to stay active in the scene and get other penalties. Once your Morale reaches -10 you are still conscious but are considered "Broken" and are removed from the fight.

That's enough for now. As I've stated, we'll deal with rules as they come up in the game, but I wanted to give you a very basic primer. Feel free to ask questions about what I have written ... or anything else.

Here are some links for the folks who are interested in playing in the Swords of the Serpentine game:

Swords of the Serpentine Rules 101 "Cheat Sheet"

Online Character Keeper of the PCs

G-unit and Sir Longears, feel free to look at both docs and add your name to your chosen character's profile in the character keeper.

While we are waiting to see if others show up to play, feel free to ask my questions about the game/your characters/the setting that are not covered in the Cheat Sheet.

More info:

Link to Dave Thaumavore's review of the game

"Three things about Eversink": Quick info about the setting

Hi folks,

I've been absent from the forums for a good while now to deal with family issues that took up all my available brain space. I did not end my last GMing experiences here in the forums well (I ghosted my groups), so I'll apologize for that for starters:

Sorry to all my players for ghosting our games. I was under a lot of stress at the time, but that doesn't excuse the poor way in which I dropped all of the games; nobody deserves that, mea culpa.

-------------------------------------------------

I say all of this because it is my intention to run a brief game of Swords of the Serpentine, a fantasy sword and sorcery GUMSHOE game. To make it as simple as possible, I'll be running a pre-written adventure called "Ragamuffins" about a small crew of pre-teen street urchins who have to deal with a strange situation. Anyone who is interested will be playing one of the following pregens:

* Gemma, a 12-year-old who fancies herself a freelance slink (P.I.) or a City Watch member, even if the Watch regularly chase her away.
* Benito, a brainy introvert ((who struggles with demons of his own, quite literally, as he’s a sorcerer and his demon keeps speaking to him in a voice no one else can hear).
* Luccia, the tough girl who keeps them safe.
* Ratter, an easily distracted thief in training.
* Vittoria, a church ward who regularly runs away to hang out with Gemma and her friends.
* Arabor, a commoner boy who is secretly a disguised noble girl on the run named Arabella Tiverti. She is the heir to the noble House Tiverti, but her parents were killed several months ago by her uncle Tellio Tiverti so that he could seize power. She evaded her parents' fate and fled to Sag's End (the neighborhood the Ragamuffins live in) and changed her appearance and is masquerading as a boy.

Names and genders are flexible and can be changed by the player.

If you're interested, this will be a game with a lot of RP and investigation and even a bit of combat. Since all of the PCs are children, however, most of the time it will be much smarter (and more in the spirit of this adventure) to run away instead of trying to win a stand-up fight. I am hoping to begin as soon as all the pregens are claimed on a first-come basis, or if they are not all filled, once new players stop showing up. No previous knowledge or experience with Swords of the Serpentine or a GUMSHOE game is necessary to play, and all rules will be taught during play.

Stumbled across this one today and it might be my favorite PFS module. Is there a canonical outcome for which naga rules the town?

Woohoo! Not as far as I know, keftiu. Pathfinder 2e has for the most part stayed clear of Tian-Xia in general, let alone the tiny village of Nibung.

This looks like a great idea, Branding Opportunity! I'm very interested.

I'm familiar with both funnels and Dungeon World or PBTA games (though I have yet to try Freebooters on the Frontier). I'd be all for rolling up some villagers and seeing where it goes!

Excellent! Well, that's two of you. Let's see if we can get a few more. I know this type of game is not a huge draw on these messageboards, but I think that Powered by the Apocalypse games are becoming more popular in general and perhaps we'll find some takers.

For the funnel I'll probably have each of you playing two different PCs, three if we only get three players or perhaps I'll play some as well just to increase the survival possibility of the group.

In all honesty however, I do not have a lot of free time to pour over multiple rules and booklets, so would this be a ‘learn as you go’ experience, or would there be a lot of pre-required reading? :)

I totally understand. I would be teaching the rules of the game as we go. I'm just starting a F2F game of this (well F2F online), so I want to get as much experience with it as I can.

The way PbtA games generally work is that we are sharing telling a story. I tell you what the situation is, you tell me what it is your PC is doing. If there are rules involved with anything you do, I will explain them to you first.

Most of the time when you interact with game rules, you are rolling 2d6 and adding a modifier (generally -3 to +3) depending on your stats and any other miscellaneous factors. If the result is 10 or more, that's an unqualified success; basically, whatever it was you wanted to do, you do it with no problem. If you attack the goblin with your sword, you hit with your sword and do damage. If you're trying to climb a building, you climb the building. On a dice result of 7-9, that's a qualified success. That means that you succeed, but there's a drawback or you don't do as well as you intended or I get to tell you how there is some kind of complication. If the dice result of 6 or under, it's a failure.

The OSR element in this game is that you will see lots of elements that are OSRish: standard abilities, standard heritages, low-power PCs (well, lower powered than Pathfinder, let's say), high stakes, focus on having enough torches and rations, etc. Combat is generally something to be avoided if at all possible, especially during the funnel adventure when you will generally have 2-5 hp. It forces you to think more creatively about solutions to problems.

Have you ever enjoyed playing Dungeon World or another PbtA game? Then you'll probably enjoy this. Want to play something very close to OSR and Dungeon Crawl Classics? Then come aboard!

Just seeing if there is interest in running a Level 0 Funnel using the playtest version of Freebooters of the Frontier (2e) by Jason Lutes. For thems who aren't familiar with this RPG, it's a hack of Dungeon World combined with OSR elements (mostly from Dungeon Crawl Classics). If you're interested, you can download the complete game from the Author's Dropbox Account (account not needed). The exact funnel adventure will be chosen by the players, but will either be a homebrew that I create with player input, or one of the published DCC funnels.

What are the elements of a funnel game? (see also this StackExchange posting)
* Random PC generation of low-powered individuals
* Multiple PCs per player so that you don't mind if one or two die
* High lethality (generally)
* Whichever PC survives can become your 1st-level PC (if we choose to continue)
* Wacky Fun

What are the elements of Freeboters of the Frontier?
* Four classes (Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Magic-User)
* Standard heritages (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, etc)
* Alignment
* Player and GM "Move"s (this is a Powered by the Apocalypse Game)
* Most rolls are 2d6 plus ability modifier (-3 to +3), with results of 10+ an unqualified success, 7-9 a success with drawback, and 6– is a failure.
* Standard stats (SCDIWC) + Luck
* Fort, Ref, and Will saves
* Standard D&D Mechanics (weapons, Armor, HP, XP)

Also, I will be out of town from July 28th through August 15th, and will be posting less (or not at all) for some of that period.

One caveat emptor:

Having written most of Belkzen, Hold of the Orc Hordes, I may drag you north before this is all over (with your permission, of course). I haven't gotten to run a game in that part of Golarion myself yet.

OK, then we're just missing Gabsen's input. Is anyone in any other games with them?

Thanks! Done.

Hi folks,

GM R0B0GEISHA put out a call for a new GM and I picked up the phone. Unless someone has a strong objection, I'd be happy to get this game going again. I've read through the IC and OOC threads and think I've got a pretty good handle on where you are in the story and what your characters' basic personalities/goals are.

I currently am GMing three other games: "Hollow's Last Hope" using the new Pathfinder Savage Worlds rules, an Old School Essential's interpretation of the Classic TSR "Palace of the Silver Princess", and the long-running "Rise of the Runelords" game that your own rdknight is also in, in case you want to check out my GMing style.

Take a look if you like, but if all of you agree, I am ready to go.

I currently have some room on my dance card and this seems like a good group, plus I've never run (or read) this AP. I'm available if you'll have me.

I'd be interested as well.

If you're looking for the bare minimum of an RPG, may I suggest Lasers & Feelings?. It's literally a single-page RPG with a Star Trek theme created by John Harper, the guy who created Blades in the Dark. It would provide a way to resolve situations where its more exciting if the outcome is uncertain.

I can post most days multiple times BUT have no experience of WH: Quests before. Google fu shows a mishmash of potential rules. Do you have a link to the rule set?

I found THIS. It's a pirated copy, but since the book is out-of-print ...

Sold! You can put me down for a Dwarf Warrior. I'd play a Slayer, but they're a little psycho and might be too one-note.

Malinor, what do you think are the benefits/differences in a PbP format of using Warhammer Quest Roleplay versus WFRPG or 3.X/PF?

Hi there,

It's the last day to proclaim your interest in joining us before we get going!

Would those who have already expressed interest please go ahead and check-in using your new Character Avatar in the OOC Discussion Thread.

We'll close recruitment on Friday, but if folks find this thread and want to join us later, that's fine. There's not a huge run on this game, after all. ;)

Looks good, scranford.

Judging by the formatting, scranford used Savaged.us a website that is very useful when creating SWADE PCs.

Thanks for your submission, Reckless, and I can already see some background info in your Hindrances, which is great!

Yes, you can certainly do stuff like trade out skills, hindrances, or edges, Geriatric. The only ones you can't trade easily without access to the Pathfinder for SW rules is Ancestry and Class Features, as those are specific to this rules set.

As I stated in the OP, no familiarity with the system is required. I am planning on teaching it as we go, but it is for all intents and purposes the standard SWADE system. If you don't have the Pathfinder for Savage World rulebook, it might be easier to just pick one of the pregens that are presented in the free previews I linked to above. If the character doesn't appeal to you, you can just "reskin" it to pretty much anything you wish. If those changes necessitate a change in the rules, that should be easy to do.

Sounds great!

If you download DrivethruRPG.com's "Pathfinder For Savage Worlds Archetypes Cards Sets 1 and 2" Full-size Previews (which are both free), you'll see all three characters. Merisiel and Lem are in Set 1 and Madda is in Set 2.

LINK FOR SET 1

LINK FOR SET 2

I haven't played Pathfinder for Savage Worlds, but I've dipped my toes in Savage Worlds and played a whole lot of dnd 3.5 and some pathfinder sometimes so I'm confident I could pick it up quite quickly.

Excellent! PF for SW is the same game as SW. The differences are minor.

I'm going to be out of town for the weekend, so you may not hear from me again until Sunday.

Hi folks,

Looking to run Paizo's excellent module Hollow's Last Hope using the new Pathfinder for Savage Worlds Rules. Looking for 4 – 6 interested players who are willing to commit to a posting rate of at least 1/day during the week and at least once during the weekend. You don't have to own the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds game in order to participate, nor do I require familiarity with the rules, as I will teach the game as we go along.

We will be using the standard Golarion setting of northern Andoran. Here's the blurb about the adventure:

"The Town of Falcon's Hollow Needs a Miracle! The plague has come to the town of Falcon's Hollow, and not even the town's priest can abate its wretched course. With the coughs of the sick and the wails of the dying echoing through town, the local herbalist uncovers a cure, but she needs some brave heroes to retrieve the ingredients. Finding the cure means risking the dangerous Darkmoon Vale, infiltrating a witch's haunted hut, and delving the ruins of an abandoned dwarven monastery. Do your heroes have the skill and courage to find the cure in time?"

If you have a copy of the rules, you are free to create a character using the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds Core Rules. If you don't have a copy of the rules, you are free to chose one of the pregens and reskin it as you see fit. Available pregens include:

* Amiri (Human Barbarian)
* Lem (Halfling Bard)
* Kyra (Human Cleric)
* Valeros (Human Fighter)
* Merisiel (Elf Rogue)
* Ezren (Human Wizard)
* Lini (Gnome Druid)
* Harsk (Dwarf Ranger)
* Seoni (Human Sorcerer)
* Sajan (Human Monk)
* Seelah (Human Paladin)
* Kira (Half-elf Barbarian)
* Teller (Human Bard)
* Brokar (Dwarf Cleric)
* Zyril (Elf Fighter)
* Korva (Human Rogue)
* Paelie (Halfling Wizard)
* Fariel (Elf Druid)
* Marn (Half-orc Ranger)
* Gnorr (Dwarf Sorcerer)
* Madda (Half-orc Monk)
* Sil (Elf Paladin)
* Darla (Human with no class but with magical abilities)

If you are interested, please submit the following by May 20th, 2022:

1) Your interest and willingness to adhere to the posting rate (see above).
2) A basic character concept (Name, Ancestry, Class, Personality) or a willingness to play a pregen. Don't worry about coming up with a detailed background, as I prefer to do that cooperatively once all the players are on board.
3) Your stated willingness to deal with the central concept of the adventure, which is helping a locale experiencing a lethal pandemic that resists a cure. If this is too close to home for you personally, please think twice about submitting an application.

I will pick 4-6 players from the applicants, giving slight preference to those with whom I have played with before (especially if the game became inactive before its conclusion, even more so if I was the one that caused it to become inactive).

Submissions will be accepted until May 20th, 2022.

Glad to see there is some interest. Let me familiarize myself a bit more with the rules and I'll create a recruitment thread, most likely in a few weeks.

As a big xxxxx-punk fan, I prefer Korra timeline.

Steam?

It's pretty much all in the title. I just downloaded the proof of the new Magpie Games Avatar Legends RPG and want to try out the rules. Anyone interested in joining me? We'd all get input about the type of game it would be (mystery, coming of age, fighting oppression, etc) and what Era (Kyoshi, Roku, 100 Year War, Aang, or Korra). If you didn't back the Kickstarter, I think the quickstart rules are still available on the Kickstarter or Magpie website.

For those who don't know anything about this, just do a web search for the Thread title and you'll get a lot of info about it.

Just to be clear, if you have not submitted a PC and would still like to do so, today is the deadline. Recruitment has not been closed.

Thank you to everyone who has submitted a PC and already put so much work into coming up with backgrounds. As I have already stated, since there was not a huge rush for this game, everyone who has been participating here and submitted a PC is officially in the game.

As for the OSR game system, I've decided to pick from among the two top-voted games and choose Old-School Essentials as the system we'll be using. Specifically, I'd like the Old-School Essentials Basic Rules (BR) and the Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome (CFR). The Basic rules are player-facing (and free), so you should be able to find anything you need there. The only exception is the "Elf" character class, which is from the Fantasy Rules Tome. Daniel Stewart, if you don't have access to that one, please let me know and I can get you the info about that class.

Here are the other character creation standards:

1) Ability Scores: Roll 3d6 and assign them as you wish. Rerolls of all ability scores/scratching your PC and starting over allowed if you don't roll above a 10 in anything or roll a 5 or below in anything. Note that certain classes have minimum ability score requirements.

2) Class: Any of the 7 classes presented in the CFR (Cleric, Dwarf, Elf, Fighter, Halfling, Magic-User, Thief).

3) Adjust ability scores: You may raise your PC's prime requisite stat(s) by lowering other ability scores on a 2-to-1 basis (i.e. a fighter lowering his Dex by 2 points raises his Str by 1). No score may be lowered below 9.

4) Level: We'll be begin at 2nd level for everyone. Set your XP to the minimum necessary for 2nd. Yes, that means we'll be starting with different amounts of XP.

5) Attack Values: We WON'T be using THAC0, but will instead use the optional ascending AC system presented in the books.

6) Hit Points: Roll for each level (no automatic max HP at 1st level). You may reroll 1s and 2s.

7) Alignment: You may choose any alignment, but if you pick Chaotic, you are still loyal to the other PCs and want to help your friends Jeremiah and Bernadette who are in trouble. I need everyone to have a logical reason for staying in the group and wanting to work together.

8) Equipment: Since we're starting at 2nd level, you get 2d6 x 10 to begin in cash but DO NOT need to buy any of your starting equipment.

I'll be creating IC and OOC threads for this game as soon as I'm finished here. I'll repost the character creation rules (as well as my house rules) in the OOC thread.

FYI, since there hasn't exactly been a stampede for this game, everyone who has submitted a PC can assume you're "on the team".

Something you can do in the meantime is figure out how you all feel about each other. After all, you all "grew up" around each other and are friends, or at least good acquaintances. Also, what do you think of your friend who is in trouble? What's your attitude toward him? Do you still have family in the barony? Who are they and what do they do? Those kinds of questions can help nuture good RP during the aventure.

Thanks for your submission, Tick. With your votes, the top three preferences are:

Old School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome: 4 votes
Five Torches Deep by Sigil Stone Publishing: 3 votes
Swords & Wizardry by Frog God Games: 4 votes

No worries, Tick, and thanks for the application and welcome, Knight of Yesterday!

So far our game preferences are:

Old School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome: 3 votes
Five Torches Deep by Sigil Stone Publishing: 3 votes
Labyrinth Lord by Goblinoid Games: 1 vote
Swords & Wizardry by Frog God Games: 3 votes

What, dare I ask, is the “funnel?”

In Dungeon Crawl Classics, you have the option of starting as 0-level characters. Every player creates 5 0-level PCs and goes through a dangerous adventure in which most of them are killed. This adventure is known colloquially as the "funnel" because many go in and few come out. (It's actually a bad similie, because the same number of things come out of the bottom of a regular funnel as go in the top. A more apt similie would be a "sieve", but that doesn't sound as good). The PCs who survive the funnel are the ones you can chose from as your 1st level PC

I'm definitely interested. Do you have any thoughts yet on whether you'll be using existing or homebrew pantheons?

I guess my real question is if I make a cleric, do I need to pick a god from an existing pantheon, or am I free to make my own deity to worship?

You'll be able to pick your own deity and flesh him or her out as you see fit. That said, I'm also happy if you steal one from somewhere else.

So far we have two submissions (Daniel Stewart and Helaman) with the following overlap in preferences:

Swords & Wizardry by Frog God Games
Old School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome
Five Torches Deep by Sigil Stone Publishing

I'll add Low Fantasy Gaming to the list for consideration. It's quite good and it's magic system is different enough to make it feel new.

I'm a big fan of LFG and own all the books, but the default B/X D&D setting is definitely not low fantasy, which is why I've kept it off the list. If we were doing more of a Conan or Fritz Leiber type of game, I would consider it.

Will the game use the Greyhawk setting?

It will not, no. The initial setting is based on Jean Wells' background material from "Palace of the Silver Princess", a D&D module set in Mystara, but I prefer to create a homebrew world with the help of the players. That said, there will certainly be many elements that are similar to Greyhawk.

Thanks for being the first submission, Daniel Stewart. Are your game system selections listed in order of preference or would happily play any of them?

@Helaman, I like DCC as well, but felt like I had to put some kind of limit on my list.