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Hi, we are looking to recruit one or possibly two players to join our ongoing play-by-post Red Hand of Doom campaign, updated from D&D 3rd edition to Pathfinder rules. Our group has been on the go for a good while and some of our players have moved on, but having come so far we’d really like to finish the campaign arc!

The game is lurching along at the moment, but the goal is to be able to update the game every few days.

The game is epic high fantasy. The lands and peoples of Elsir Vale are being overrun by an army of hobgoblins and their allies, calling themselves the Horde of the Red Hand. Our heroes have been attempting to stave off the horde’s advance through the Vale, enlist allies and find means to defeat the enemy. The gameplay thread can be found here.

If this sounds like fun, get in touch! At the moment I’m canvassing more for interest and character ideas than the builds themselves. I’m thinking to run this thread until probably this Saturday (8th Oct.) and see what response we get.

Just looking for character concepts at the moment, but as an aid here are the general guidelines for character creation:

1. 8th level characters, using high fantasy 20-point character builds.
2. Generally standard races from the core rulebook, though I wouldn’t say no to a character of another race with an intriguing background.
3. Classes can be drawn from the core rulebook, Advanced Player’s Guide, Advanced Class Guide, and magus. Samurai and ninja I’ll allow as well, though they might represent individuals who come from exotic lands far from Elsir Vale. Other classes I might allow as well by request, if there is a compelling character background.
4. Archetypes, traits, feats, spells etc from the above books, Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic are fine. Material from other sourcebooks are generally fine, just run it past me first.

Our party currently includes:
- Human Cavalier (emissary), a member of the elite Lions of Brindol.
- Human Druid (lion shaman), a devotee of one of the Old Faiths
- Elf Ranger/Wizard, from the mysterious elven kingdom

So, lots of scope for players to play other roles within the party. What’s your story gonna be?

Hi this is a game for those who have contacted me about running a Skull & Shackles game, and those I've invited to join in.

For those in the game, welcome! Feel free to post here while we set up the game thread, and if you need to use this space for discussing and rolling up characters. Here are the guidelines.

1. Any races, classes, or other material from the core rulebook, Advanced Player’s Guide, Ultimate Combat, or Ultimate Magic books allowed. Anything from other sources, check with me first. Aebliss, your tiefling concept is fine.

2. For building your ability stats, use the high fantasy 20-point character build.

3. Each character should start with two character traits; one should be selected from the Skull & Shackles player’s guide, which will help to set your character up at the beginning of the game.

4. Alignment – any good or neutral characters. Given the nature of the game, I might allow an evil character if you demonstrate that the character can work with the group and is unlikely to upset good folk. Some of your characters might be anti-heroes, but they're still the heroes of the story!

5. Have a close read of the Skull & Shackles Player's Guide when designing your characters. This game is meant to bring to life for your characters the thrill of life at sea and the dangers of shipboard combat, which tend to favor certain skills - the guide will give advice for outfitting your character to meet those challenges.

6. Characters start off with their maximum hit points at first level, and maximum starting gold for their character class. They’ll need it, but don't be surprised if you don't have access to all of your equipment right off the bat!

7. I’m posting from the UK, my expectation is to post and move the game forwards every 1-2 days, I usually check posts in the evenings.

I've already received a few character concepts, this has turned out to be a large group so play what you like and don't worry about doubling-up on character classes, as long as everyone gets a chance to shine.

What I think we have so far:
Aebliss - CG tiefling bard "Quara Sher"
Justin - rogue
Gerald - sorcerer
Krallek - swashbuckler rogue/fighter or dwarf cleric
Werner - ?
Deevor - ?
WoodSmoke - ?

I hope I've covered everything, any questions?

Private PbP game running "The Wormwood Mutiny". Aaargh!

Welcome! Feel free to chat here, especially while I get the campaign info up and the game thread on the go.

To start the conversation, the game assumes that your characters know each other and are part of an established group that's travelling and adventuring together. I was thinking as an adventuring company. Does your adventuring group have a name?

So, recently dusted off my old copy of the Red Hand of Doom, and thought it would be fun to play PbP style with Pathfinder rules. Here is how I was thinking to set up the game:

Characters
1. Any material from the core rulebook, Advanced Players Guide, Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic is fine. Also, I'm interested in the updated psionics rules from Dreamscarred Press, so if anyone would like to run a psionic character from Psionics Unleashed or their other supplements, that may be possible. Material from other sources might also be possible, check with me first.

2. High fantasy 20-point character builds.

3. Characters begin at 5th level. Remember to add ability bonus, extra feats, and favored class bonuses.

4. For hit points, you can either roll on this thread or multiply hit dice using average die results: 1d4=2.5 ; 1d6=3.5 ; 1d8=4.5 ; 1d10=5.5 ; 1d12=6.5.

5. Characters start with 15,000XP and 10,500gp in equipment.

6. You can select two character traits from the Advanced Players Guide.

7. Alignment - any good or neutral characters. Sorry, no evil!

8. Deities and domains, the game uses the D&D 3/3.5 ed pantheon, I'll keep that but update with the domains available in the core rulebook. I'll try to post that up tomorrow.

9. I post from the UK, my expectation is to post and move the game forward every 1-2 days. I usually post in the evenings.

Setting
The game is set in a region known as Elsir Vale. I've not set it in any published campaign world, treat it as a fairly self-contained homebrew setting. Any areas outside the extent of the game we can flesh out as needed. I'll post more about the area soon, if you are wanting the information for character backgrounds.

Who can stand against the Son of the Dragon?

A Tale of a Fateful Trip

So far, your voyage south to Eleder has been unexpectedly uneventful. Or so you think as you stand on the Jenivere’s deck, watching the placid sunset alongside several other of the ship’s passengers. The Jenivere’s resourceful Captain Kovack and his crew have been fortunate enough to avoid known dangers such as that dreaded whirlpool known as the Eye of Abednego, and the vicious Shackles pirates. Soon, the ship will be arriving at the Sargavan port of Eleder, along with the challenges and opportunities of that exotic city.

You turn from watching as the sun sinks down towards the western ocean, fluffy clouds turning pastel pinks and reds, and observe your fellow passengers. Nearby you see Savah Nevah, her hair flashing red as bright as the evening’s sky. You notice that since boarding at Ilizmagorti, she has gradually become more friendly and relaxed. Of course, anyone would be on edge in that city of assassins! At the moment she is conversing with the gnome passenger, Gelik Aberwhinge, who you see holding a small sketch of the sunset. It is amazing to see him quiet for a change, as he is usually speaking non-stop about his past adventures, notable persons that he has met, or generally dominate any conversation that includes him.

Further on you see the Tian man, Ishirou. The scruffy human appears as if he would fill the sails with his own breath if he could, and if he felt it would make the ship arrive in port any faster. Behind him, you see another fellow traveller, the bookish Varisian scholar Ieana, talking amicably with Captain Alizandru Kovack, then you watch them turn as the captain escorts the scholar down midship. Scattered about the deck, out of the way of the hardworking sailors, you see most of the other passengers, for the most part they look like scruffy adventurers – much like yourself. Notable by her absence, you don’t see the half-elven maiden, Aerys Mavato. You have exchanged few words with her on this voyage, and she appears to prefer to keep to her cabin. Likewise, you don’t see the human prisoner, Jask Derindi, who is kept in the small ship’s brig. You wonder, what need would there be to transport a prisoner on this voyage?

The sound of someone clearing their throat causes you to whip around. The friendly first mate, Alton Devers, stands at your elbow. “Pardon for disturbing you, but the captain wished me on his behalf to invite you to dine with him, this evening in the ship’s galley. Terillo, our ship’s cook, says it should be ready within the next bell.” Having given his invitation, he moves along, telling each of the passengers in turn.

Just as you turn to go, in order to look your best, the sun finally dips down below the horizon. Just then, you see an emerald flash on the horizon! When you stop First Mate Devers to ask about what you’ve just seen, he remarks, “Oh that, that be a green flash. Happens sometimes when the sun sets over water. Don’t ask me what makes it happen, most landlubbers see it as an omen, but when you’ve been sailing for a few years, you’ve seen your share of them. Will you join the captain for dinner? I think Terillo is making soup this evening. Then again, Terillo always makes soup, ha ha.”

Sometime later…

A Fortitude check from everyone, if you please. Except perhaps Slicingsong - are you still stowed away at this point, or do the passengers/crew know about you?

Hello everyone. I'll get the adventure thread up and running soon. In the meantime, you can use this thread to introduce yourselves and if you want to discuss finishing off characters.

Hi there, I’m a librarian based in the UK as well as an avid role-player, and am currently conducting some research on behalf of our library service. I’m looking at how local libraries and gaming groups can support each other, and what types of gaming materials might be appropriate for local libraries to have as stock – currently our library service does not stock anything in the way of rpg books or gaming aids.

If you have any experience or stories of using libraries for gaming in any way, I’d like to hear from you.
Here are some questions that I have:

1. Does your library stock rpg games? How easy are they to access (are they on a shelf, kept apart for special request, in the reference section, etc.)?

2. Does your library provide other gaming materials (dice, flipmats, paper or whiteboards)?

3. Does your gaming group meet in a library? Is your gaming group organized by the library, or does library just provide a venue? Do library staff take part?

4. Can you advertise for your gaming group at your public library?

5. Does your local library lend out other types of games – board games, video games? Are there games tournaments hosted by the library service?

6. What would you feel to be more effective, for a library to support games that local groups are known to play, or to stock some items for a variety of games, perhaps providing opportunities for gaming groups to sample different games?

7. Librarians especially, would be good to hear from you!

Thanks for your time!

Hi there, looking to get some more experience DMing, and would like to run the Serpent’s Skull AP. Jungles, ruins, snakes! Any takers? I’d like to set the game up like so:

1. Any material from the core rulebook, Advanced Player’s Guide, Ultimate Combat, or Ultimate Magic allowed. Anything from other sources, check with me first.

2. High fantasy 20-point character builds.

3. Each character can start with two character traits, one should be selected from the Serpent’s Skull player’s guide, to help establish a reason for being onboard ship at the beginning of the game.

4. Alignment – any good or neutral characters. Sorry, no evil!

5. Characters start off with their maximum hit points at first level, and maximum starting gold for their character class. They’ll need it!

6. I’m posting from the UK, my expectation is to post and move the game forwards every 1-2 days, I usually check posts in the evenings.

If you’d be interested in playing Serpent’s Skull, I look forward to hearing from you! Probably looking at a 5-player group, if interested you can post your character concept on this thread along with a brief character background. Stat up your characters if you wish, though it doesn’t need to be done until we’re ready to start gameplay. I’ll close this thread in just over a week’s time, Tuesday 21st Feb, and hopefully gameplay can start the following weekend. If there’s more than five applicants, I’ll make a selection that Tuesday. Good luck everyone!

Hi, I thought there might be a thread about this elsewhere, but can't seem to find one. I was wondering if there was any sort of online forum for converting adventures from the 1st and 2nd editons to 3.5. There seem to be a few things at enworld and on WOTC's downloads page on their website, but not much in the way of discussion. It seems to be a copyright issue, making changes to someone else's published work. I don't want to challenge that, but if you just want to make some conversions to run an adventure with your own group, is there anywhere to swap ideas? Especially things like calculating encounter levels, adjusting treasures, and monsters that don't seem to have any 3rd ed. stats anywhere. Oh, and deciding on a character level for the adventure and ensuring that the encounters are appropriate. I'm mostly interested in old Dungeon adventures, as I have a lot of old magazines but few published modules.

If you'd like to discuss specific conversions, these are the adventures that I've converted so far:

"Dragon's Delve" by Chris Perkins/Dungeon #62 (for 6th-7th lvl characters)
"Khazefryn" by Felix Douglas/Dungeon #81 (12th-13th lvl)
"The Scar" by Ray Winninger/Dungeon #80 (1st lvl)

I am also currently working on the following adventures:

"Divisions of the Mind" by Charles C. Reed/Dungeon #81
"Ashtar's Temple" by DeAnna Ferguson/Dungeon #81
"The Akriloth" by Matthew G. Adkins/Dungeon #79
"Prism Keep" by Rich Baker/Dungeon #45
"Dragon Mountain" by Colin McComb & Paul Lidberg

Any recommendations about how to convert the above? Or has your group played any of these adventures? What parts of the module worked, what didn't? Any requests for adventures you'd like to see updated? I keep thinking why let all this good material go to waste, and I'd really like to use at least some of these in a future campaign. I find it's a real challenge to create a balanced adventure, while staying true to the feel of the original. I often end up changing one element substantially in order to make other elements work. I'd like to hear if you've had any similar experiences.

Hi, I'd like to find a group to play D&D regularly, maybe once every two-three weeks. I'd be happy to play or DM. I'm based near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire - any other D&D players in the area?

You can email me at thecrazyhedgehog@hotmail.com