Chris Nehren's page

I would like to change my avatar name and alias, both "Chris Nehren". I created these when I knew less about myself than I know now, and I do not feel comfortable with those names (I identify as non-binary and my given name does not represent who I am any more). I emailed customer service in June and have yet to receive a response beyond asking for some identifying information. I understand that folks are busy, but I feel that two months is a long time to wait. Would it just be easier at this point for me to create another account and wait for them to be merged?

Trying to get back into PbP after a while away from it, reading through the sticky threads here makes me think that it's going to take several hours per night to do everything suggested if I want to be a really good PbP GM. Am I really misjudging the amount of time it will take? Will it actually be like that for a while until I'm able to become comfortable with it? How do I get to the point that it takes less time? I can never find the kind of game I want to play, so that leaves running it, but I can't have something that takes hours per night to run. Thoughts? Am I just anxietying myself into a corner here?

In trying to assign a faction to a new character (a Monk, specifically), I encountered great difficulty in selecting a faction that fits. He prefers order and law, so Andoran's free-spirited approach is a poor fit. That said, he's not "neutral, honest, don't detect evil me bro", so Cheliax wouldn't work either. I didn't want another character in Grand Lodge. I wanted something different. But as you'll see, we'll be coming back to Grand Lodge in the end. He's a monk, and doesn't care for power. Osirion is out, and so is Taldor. These two seem to be more or less the same faction to me: a broken nation wants to be powerful again. He doesn't care for wealth, so that means Qadira and Sczarni are out. Again, very little distinguishing these two. It seems that the former is only a shade less seedy than the latter. Otherwise, I'm having trouble distinguishing them. He's not out to save the world, so Silver Crusade doesn't fit. I admit I'm simplifying here, but the Guide to Organized Play doesn't really differentiate the two pairs of factions very well.

At this juncture, a very fair question is "You've turned your nose up at all the factions. Why's this monk a Pathfinder if he doesn't get on with any of the factions?". Essentially, Stagmar adventures to bring pride to his family and to become a better martial artist. Wealth and power don't mean much to him. Through process of elimination I'm left with Grand Lodge. Yet even this doesn't fit. And here is the crux of the problem: Grand Lodge has become a "default" faction for a lot of characters when there's no better fit, even when it doesn't fit at all. This, combined with what seems to be a lot of duplication of goals in the existing factions, presents players who aren't interested in politicking and wealth with a difficult choice for their faction. My wizard is in the same situation. Talathel explores to learn more. Power through knowledge fits a wizard well. He'd be Osirion if he cared for their politics. But he has no ties to that nation, and has no interest in politics besides. Again, he's in Grand Lodge as a default.

This is as much a request for guidance as it is an observation that neutral-leaning characters with no interest in wealth and / or power have very few choices as regards faction. Have I missed something obvious? Am I simply doing it wrong? I realize that it's impossible to accommodate everyone, and this isn't meant as a criticism of everyone's hard work on the factions. Maybe I just have a penchant for playing characters that don't fit the mold. I'll accept that, along with the hope that things will improve in the future.

I am having timeout issues reaching paizo.com from several points on the Internet. Here's the list of network points whence I cannot connect:

* Philadelphia, PA: Comcast
* San Mateo, CA: Comcast Business
* Fremont, CA: Hurricane Electric
* Dallas, TX: ThePlanet
* Manchester, UK: ByteMark
* Atlanta, GA suburbs: Comcast

Networks from which I or a friend can reach paizo.com:
* a friend in Raleigh-Durham on Roadrunner
* Verizon 3G
* Verizon 4G LTE
* Clear Wireless 4G

I can provide traceroute / mtr for all points of presence. My friend should be able to do that if I annoy him enough.

So this Cleric can cast Sun Metal. Can I cast that on the Monk I'm going to be doing a First Steps PbP with? Specifically, can I enhance my Monk companion's unarmed strike?

I'm looking to recruit one or two (max) players for a roleplaying-heavy (75-80% role-play, 20-25% combat) Pathfinder game using the 3.5-era Faerûn setting. The game will take place in the Mt. Airy / Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, accessible by bus and train. Street parking is available as well. MMO gamers need not apply. I'm looking for mature, serious gamers who are more interested in telling stories than min-maxing and powergaming. That said, I'm fairly lenient in the sourcebooks I'll allow at the table given appropriate backstory justification. I personally loathe the restrictions and limitations imposed by video games (and the thought processes they encourage), so please feel free to be creative in solving problems at my table. A couple things I will not allow, however, are firearms (they have no place in the Realms) and any kind of collectible / trading cards. This is a tabletop RPG, not a game of Fluxx. I do like Fluxx, but that's not what I'm trying to do here. As for houserules: none, to start. I will consider suggestions from my players and if they seem cool I'll ask for consensus.

Some campaign background info:

This is a thinking man's game, full to bursting with political intrigue, subtlety, covert machinations and moral choices. There will be many situations where there is no right or wrong answer, but where a decision must be made and it's the PCs who make it. I love the Forgotten Realms lore (which I'll commonly refer to as realmslore, as is customary) and it will feature prominently. The story will cover the length and breadth of Faerûn, spatially and temporally. Furthermore, I don't believe in always creating encounters that are winnable through combat. I've put a group of 5 NPCs, level 5-9, against a group of level 3 PCs. That group of NPCs wanted to talk, and one player decided to fight (yes, I did ask "are you sure?"). It didn't end well. If you're a hack-n-slash player, you won't survive long: simple as that. I subscribe to the school of logical consequences. If you attack the lich who really does want to just talk, well, you taste good with ketchup. And maybe a little tabasco.

If you're familiar with Faerûn in 4E D&D, bear in mind that I have no specific plans to line up with what Wizards says happens a few years in the future of the setting. I passionately and vehemently disagree with what they did with the setting. Anyway, enough of that. Here's the actual story so far:

It is high spring in the 1380th year of Dale Reckoning: Year of the Blazing Hand. Our story begins in Suzail, with all of you there for your own reasons. A lot of the talk at the taverns, and even the libraries and museums, centers around a famous archaeologist.

Anselm Auntaroch is something of a local celebrity among Cormyrian historians. He discovered and successfully excavated the site of the first human settlement in the region, and ever since has received sponsorship from the Cormyrian Historical Society for further excavations and research.

He's caused a bit of a stir, recently, however. In what he's claimed to have the potential to be his magnum opus, he has set off into Hullack Forest in search of historical artifacts dating from the very formation of Toril itself. For several weeks before finalizing preparations for the expedition (after the local intellectuals bought him one too many at the tavern), he dropped hints that the site may contain an artifact created by Oghma and Mystra that fully details the history and future of Toril. Valuable in its own right, such an artifact could be studied and utilized for nearly infinite power and riches. While this expedition is not unusual on its own, he hasn't returned for several weeks--and those who saw his party set out report that they didn't have nearly enough resources to last that long in the wild.

The Cormyrian Historical Society has commissioned you to find and possibly save Anselm and anything he's discovered. Unfortunately, he's always been very tight-lipped about his work, and the Society doesn't know where, specifically, he went. However, they do know that it's somewhere in Hullack Forest and will provide you with transportation and rations. You are free to keep anything you find that is not of historical value (as determined by Anselm) as well as a stipend of 200 gp total.