Dimira Kressen's page

Yes, how do you read them?
Do you spend a single afternoon reading your new book in the course of several consecutive hours? Or do you divide your readings in several days?
Do you flip through your book, reading here and there where your interest is grasped, or do you read from cover to cover?
Do you actually read all the books you own?

I personally vary my approach based on the type of book. I usually flip through rulebooks, focusing on the options potentially interesting to the characters I play and on the rules that may be useful in my GMed campaigns. I think I have never read the Core Rulebook cover to cover, but there are some sections I have read several times. Then I check it frequently when any doubt arises after our game session.

As for lorebooks, including Adventure Paths, I like to read them cover to cover in the course of a single day, when I can, or in a few days when I am busier, since I have found that to me, personally, extending the reading time too much undermines my immersion. I love to read those books in their physical version, sitting on my couch while petting my animal companion. That has become kind of a monthly ritual with time.

And no, I never actually managed to read all the Pathfinder books I own, not in their entirety at least.

Hi!
So, lately I have been thinking a lot about all those small, circumstantial bonus characters get (mainly from feats). You know, bonuses such as +1 to Athletics checks made to climb, +2 to resist the negative effects of cold weather, +1 when using Perception to discern when someone is lying to you, and so on.

These bonuses have been bugging me since Pathfinder 1E, for the following reasons:

- Players tend do forget about them, and so do I. Even when the circumstance to use them arises, they are so rarely used that no one remembers.
- Players feel overwhelmed by having to remember them, especially when using higher level characters. As an example, I have been playing Sundered Waves recently, and although we had a really huge blast, my players (who have previous experience with Pathfinder 1 and 5E) felt a bit discouraged by the sheer number of small things they had to take in and keep in mind while we played.
- They can be easily given at GM's discretion. When I know a character is grown in Irrisen, I will give him a +2 bonus to saving throws against the effects of cold weather anyway.

This post is not aimed at criticizing those bonuses, however. Since they are in the system, I would like to know why do you think they are useful, what do they add to the game experience in your view, and, most importantly, if you can share any tips on how to manage them, helping the players to remember them without feeling overwhelmed.

Thank you in advance!

So, while reading PF2E world guide, I noticed that a number of changes happened in the current state of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, such as:

Now, my question is whether these changes happened in the course of any Adventure Path, and/or if there is some source where I can learn more on how these changes came to be.

Thank you!

In Lost Omens World Guide, p. 87, under the description of Kibwe the Adayenki is mentioned. In previous PF1 materials, the spelling has sometimes been Adayeniki (https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Kibwe).

Since I am working on the Italian translation: what should I consider as the correct spelling? Thanks!

Hello everyone!
One of my players, who is playing a rogue, has found a crow, made it helpflul and now wants to create some kind of bond with it, making it his familiar or animal companion.
Is there any feat, or chain of feats, that would allow him to do so? He is willing to tap into any archetype, if needed.

Thanks!

Hey everyone,
is the spell skin of thorns from Lost Omens World Guide p. 42, Fey Bargain sidebox, an existing spell in the game?
What was it supposed to stand for?

Thank you!

Hi everyone!
I am curious about how everyone prepares to run an Adventure Path. I usually read all the six volumes in advance, and then reread the relevant information for the next session as we play.
What's your method? And how long does it take for you to read an installment? It usually takes me about 6 to 7 hours, because I usually take notes while I read.
Another curiosity of mine: we all modify APs to better suit our players and encourage our players to create characters thematically suited for the AP to a certain extent. Do you tend more toward the former or the latter? Example: do you prefer your players coming to session 0 with character concepts already in their minds, or would you rather have them form their concept based on the themes of the adventure as detailed, for instance, in the player's guide?

This is a question I always had about Pathfinder's official adventures, which I cherish dearly.

What I mean, in a few examples:

[1] In Gods & Magic we have a few aphorisms for each major faith in the Inner Sea region. I would absolutely love if one of the different NPCs that are encountered in Adventure Paths and modules actually *use* those sayings!

[2] In 1E Campaign Setting books (I'll take Classic Horrors Revisited as an example) you have all manner of juicy lore tidbits about specific monsters, such as vampires, ghosts, etc. I would love some official encounters to be built around that lore!

[3] Also in 2E's Gods & Magic, we have descriptions for boons and curses bestowed by deities. I would love to meet some NPCs who are afflicted by one of those, and, for example, help them out to lift their curses.

[4] In 1E's Varisia, Birthplace of Legends we have common sayings among Varisians and Shoanti people. I would love to see them used!

Now, I would love this to cover also crunchy bits, such as character options, but I know that applying this to stat blocks is kind of a mess, because we do not want to send the message that you need to have *all* of the published book in order to play. So, for example, it is not easy to implement rules from People of the Sands in the statistics for a Mummy's Mask npc, because you would have to write all of the content in the adventure, which in turn would lead to useless expenditure of precious space.

What I am talking about here is pure lore. Something that can be explained with a single sentence or might not be explained at all. Is there anything preventing those cool bits of lore to pass into official adventures? I reckon that perhaps not all the writers have read all the books, but from a fan perspective, I think they should, because it's cool stuff, and it directly feeds into their job.

In general, I would love to see more of the stuff Paizo puts out in their books making their way into the official adventures!

Mornin'! Nice day for fishing, ain't it?
I am trying to figure out how Stealth works in 2E and it is not clear to me whether it is an Exploration activity or it should be part of Encounter mode.
Let's say Merisiel is sneaking into a chelaxian vira trying to avoid being noticed by guards. Should I put a gridded map in front of her and let her take turns using the Hide and Sneak actions? Or should I avoid using a map for now and just consider her as taking the Avoid Notice activity? And if this is the case, would this be a single check for the entire vira, or should I ask her to roll for each new room she enters?
Another exemple: let's say Merisiel is in Citadel Altaerein, the dungeon from the first PF 2E AP. After an encounter in the first room, she decides that she wants to scout ahead for the group and check future rooms before the party enters them. Now, do I describe this scene without using the map (physical or virtual) relying on description, or should I ask her to move square by square and use the Hide and Sneak actions as required? I am quite sure that what Merisiel wants is not covered by the Scout activity. Would this be another Avoid Notice activity? Or should I stay in Encounter mode?

Thank you for your insights!

Hey everyone!
Does anyone have tips on the most thematically appropriate characters for this Adventure Path?
My players love to have ties with the themes of the adventure, but since this is the first campaign we play in 2nd edition, I am making some pregens for them to customize at their will.

As far as I know, some big themes in this adventure include:

- Dragons
- Slavery
- Personal freedom and moral choices
- Building a keep
- The six ancestries from the Core Rulebook (one for each module)

So after reading the player's guide, the only option that seemed immediately appropriate to me was a sorcerer with the draconic bloodline. I also think that a druid may be fitting, especially with the warg puppies being in the Citadel.

Do you have any suggestions?

Hello everyone!
I am looking for advice on the best way to represent combat in Age of Ashes. I am playing in person.

My options:
- Theater of mind
- Roll20
- Fantasy Grounds
- Physical battlemaps

I have always found theater of mind to be a little bit tricky with PF1e, given its tactical complexity. I don't know how much this changed with PF2e.

Roll20 hasn't released official modules for this particular AP. Since it is fairly easy to create custom tokens and import maps from the web, this could be an option, with two PCs at the table (one for me, the other for the players).

Fantasy Grounds has the official modules, as far as I know, but is quite expensive and has the disadvantage of forcing me to put two PCs on the table.

Physical maps would be perfect, since a Pawn Collection for this AP is out already, but I have always struggled to accurately represent the huge dungeons on the gridded map (usually a basic terrain flip-mat). Drawing each room separately forces me to spend a lot of time drawing, thus significantly detracting from the pace of the session (which I consider a top priority). The alternative is to pre-draw the map, but that is not always possible (sometimes the maps won't fit in a single flip-mat) and also gives huge spoilers to players.

Can you help me with this decision?
Of course I am open to suggestion of methods I didn't mention. They are not there simply because I am not aware of their existence.

As per the title: how do you guys use the dialogues in the Adventure Paths?
I am aware it is a sort of tradition for dialogues to be in adventures. I always struggled with finding the best way to convey the contents of the dialogues to the players.

I remember that when I was GMing Rise of the Runelords ages ago (my first campaign) I would steer the players towards the questions in the book and then read them aloud. That was the worst option ever, since it made me feel restricted in the roleplay of the NPC.

Nowadays I usually take notes about the info I absolutely need to convey through that dialogue (key pieces of information for the progression of the adventure, usually) and then just RP my way through the dialogue, using the contents in the adventure as a tool to be able to answer specific questions, basically as information.

Sometimes I wonder what's the point of switching to direct dialogue where an indirect description would probably convey more info in less space, and offer me, the GM, a much clearer overview of the situation. Especially since I am going to paraphase it anyway.

But I also think that seeing how the writer thought that specific NPC would talk (its terminology, its catchphrases, its probably partial comprehension of the situation, its interpretation of the matter at hands) really helps to make the NPC alive and not just a bag of gray information.

What do you guys think?

“A wider public” – A reflection on Pathfinder 2nd edition

A premise: I love Pathfinder 1st edition, and what I am going to say is driven by that love, the same love that brought me to become a Pathfinder translator for my country (Italy).

I think that a second edition of Pathfinder was unavoidable if we wanted to avoid the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game as a whole to slowly collapse and fade away. Why should you listen to me, now? Because I am going to give you a new perspective, perhaps one you are not very familiar with. I will tell you about Pathfinder in Europe.
RPG games are far less popular in Europe than in the United States. When you like a system, you usually have to endure some pain in order to find a party to play with, even as a GM, unless you are not playing the most popular system around. It used to Pathfinders a few years ago, now it is D&D 5th edition.

I recently moved to Paris for work. I moved from a relatively small city in Italy where I had slowly built my party of friend with whom I have completed several Adventure Paths using Pathfinder Rules. When I left, I said myself. “Do not have fear, Giuseppe, you’re not going to give up your favored hobby! Just imagine how many people you will meet in Paris who will be ready to embark on a campaign with you! Paris is a huge city after all!”

Wanna know the results? After 4 months spent searching, posting in Meetup groups, Facebook groups, sending mail after mail to the local PFS coordinator, I gave up. And listen: I was offering to GM, not trying to get in a group as a player. Only a few people wanted to play Pathfinder, and most of them were newbies: and they all would have preferred D&D. You know what? I tried to post on a group offering myself as a D&D GM and you know how many candidates I got? More than you can imagine, my friends, and more than I am willing to admit.

But I endured. I painstakingly put together a group of 5 players: none of them had played Pathfinder before. We met on a Sunday afternoon to create our characters and…that was the moment I realized Pathfinder was going to slowly die, unless an undreamt of new edition came out. The players were confused. Too many options, too many sourcebooks (I even projected the Strategy Guide for them), too many rules. I tried to help them, to guide them, and eventually we did it, but I was left with the unpleasing sensation of having made their characters myself. Before I left, one player asked me: “Why don’t we just play D&D instead?”

This happened on Sunday, the 4th of March. You know the rest of the story.

I was excited, as though one of the Gods of the Inner Sea region had heard my unspoken prayers. Pathfinder 2nd edition was a thing!

***

Now, I want to speak a bit more in general. In the last few years, many friends asked me to GM a game for them. 5 years ago, when I started to play, they were all people in the category that some would define as “nerds” or “geeks”. They were driven by a sincere love of fantasy or RPG, and were willing to try out this new (to them) game named Pathfinder, which promised depth and endless possibilities of customization. They loved it, and they became my party. We achieved many RPG goals together.

It has been 2 years since the last “nerd” person asked me to run a game for him: someone with an interest in videogames, fantasy books, or other similar things. I got a lot of requests, but not from them. "RPGs? Too mainstream!," told me someone. How ironic!, I thought.

Most of the prospective players were girls who had seen Stranger Things and were interested in finding out what a RPG was. Others were people in search for a new pastime. No previous interest in fantasy, no love for RPG, and unsurprisingly…no love for math and complex character building processes. I made Pathfinder players out of them of course, but that was not easy. I had to work hard and many of them asked me to simplify the game, because they didn’t have the time read all the published books.

And now I am left with this feeling that Paizo is doing the right thing at the right moment. Carpe diem. I am not a veteran player by any means, I have not seen previous edition wars in the past, and I was not there when Pathfinder first came into light. But this time I will be. And I will work hard as I ever did in order to promote it. I hope it will be a bit less complex, with a slightly more comfortable learning curve for new players. Because we have to deal with it: RPG games’ public has widened significantly over the last few years, and Pathfinder 1st edition was not in line anymore with the new players. And although we could continue to ignore those “newbies”, I have realized how crucial they are not only for Paizo’s sales and consequently for the quality of its products, but for the diffusion of our game in itself. Annoying as it may seems, we must take them into account, and give them a reason to prefer OUR game to the others on the market. Their exigencies changed, and the game needs to change as well, because as Cicero said “the shifts of fortune test the reliability of friends.”

Just my two cents. I may be wrong on several, or all points of my post. After all, I've never been to the U.S, and I'm sure it is a completely different world over there. But that is what I am feeling, and I needed to share with you guys.

Hi all,
I've just purchased the Syrinscape sound pack for The Dragon's Demand. In my download page, however, I'm not able to download the product. It makes me click on a link reading "Click here to fetch serial number". When I click, however, it just brings me to the top of the page.

What should I do?

It is quite urgent, so please help me solve this problem as soon as possible.

Thanks!

Paizo folks,

I will get straight to the point. I want to give online gaming platforms a try, since until now I have only used them for PbP purposes. Since I live away from home, and from my real life party, I want to try my hands at GMing on a digital platform such as Roll20.

What I need: A group of 4 to 5 english-speaking players based in Europe. This is not due to continental discrimination (does something like that even exists?), but rather due to timezones.

What I would prefer: Players with a decent amount of experience with Pathfinder rules, since explaining them during the game scares me off a bit. Good knowledge of the lore, and a sincere fan attitude toward Golarion is not needed, but is appreciated.

What we will play: An Adventure Path. Or a module, depending on the feedback of the players. Ruins of Azlant is a strong candidate, for only a few have already played it. But I'm open to input from players on this.

When will we play: Once a week, either on a weekday in the evening, from 8:00 P.M. to 00:00 A.M GMT; or in the weekend.

Disclaimer - More than a real recruitment, this is an interest check. I have not definitely decided whether this will turn into a real thing or not. I guess it largely depends on the interest I get as an answer to this post. So please, go ahead and tell me if you would be willing to join, perhaps with a brief introduction of you as players.

Hey everyone, I've got a question for you experienced PFS GMs. So, I'm running a PbP PFS Core Campaign based on scenarios from Season 1 here on the boards. I'd like to know if there's a specific field in the chronicles for each scenario in which I should enter the amount of gp gained by a character via day job. I can't seem to find an appropriate field for it, and I wonder where other GMs running older scenarios usually put that piece of information.

Open for dotting. Please dot and delete your first post.

Hey everyone,

be welcome! Hopefully, this is the thread where we will be discussing any out ot game issues and topics related to our campaign. Make yourselves at home then, since this will be your home for the few next months, at least!

So, before everyone (including me) gets overexcited, there are several issues to be tackled.

• As I mentioned in the Recruitment Thread, I need Dolgarth to update his profile.
  
• Also, I need everyone in the group to put his character's stats below his name. If you don't know how to do it, please check my profile. As an additional note, I'd prefer everyone to have the same format for vital stats: there's a template for it in my profile.
  

Hey Paizo people,
I recently opened an interest check thread here on the Recruitment sub-forum, and I got the interest I hoped for, so I’m opening an actual recruitment for my original campaign idea. I will summarize my project below.

This is a recruitment for a Pathfinder Society Core Campaign. We will be playing a wide variety of modules selected from PFS Season 1 that will lead your characters from level 1 to at least 9. You will be adventuring from Taldor to Andoran, visiting remote lands such as Qadira and Jalmeray and help the Society solve some problems in Absalom. In the meantime, you will uncover plots and scheming, prevent evil plans from wreaking havoc on Golarion and much, much more. All of this together with the same party and the same GM.

Since I was asked to provide a full list of the scenarios I plan to play, below you will find a Google Sheet with the scenarios I’ve got in my mind. Keep in mind that this plan is susceptible of change in order to adapt to players who have already played a certain scenario for credit in a Core campaign. Of course, if you’ve already played too many scenarios in Season 1, you may want to reconsider your idea to submit an application for this campaign, since we will be playing most of, if not each, scenarios in Season 1.

SEASON 1 CORE CAMPAIGN PLANNED SCENARIOS

As I said in the interest check thread, what I’m looking for is a group of 4 players willing to play several scenarios together and with the same GM. Additionally I’m looking for players who are willing to embrace a slightly more roleplaying approach to a PFS game. I’m not going to offer a mere hack-and-slash experience, so I’m asking you to submit an application for this game only if you enjoy roleplaying in all of his dimensions. Interaction with your teammates, willingness to investigate the stories behind the scenarios and so on. So please, if you’re used to post only when strictly required and anyway only if you’re required to roll some dice, this is clearly not the game for you. Also, I need players who can manage to post at least once a day, and preferably twice a day during the week, and at least once in the weekend.

---

This recruitment will work just as any other recruitment selection for Adventure Paths and other games. You are expected to submit an application comprehensive of the following.

BACKGROUND: A backstory detailing your character’s experiences before becoming a Pathfinder. You may want to try and answer to the following questions in your background.

- Where was your character born and how his homeland affects his personality?
- Why did your character decide to become a Pathfinder?
- How did your character actually become a Pathfinder? What lodge was he trained in?
- What faction does your character belong to? Why did he choose that particular faction?
- What does your character like about being a Pathfinder?
- Does your character have a particular goal to fulfill in his career as a Pathfinder?

PERSONALITY: A short overview of your character’s personality. You may want to consider answering the following questions in your personality entry.

- In a team of Pathfinders, how does your character interact with the others?
- What does motivate your character to be a Pathfinder?
- What's your character’s attitude toward his faction?

---

CHARACTER CREATION

You will need to build a NEW character for this campaign, since everyone will be starting at 0 EXP.

Character creation rules follow those for a Core Pathfinder Society character.

You must choose a legal faction for your character, but keep in mind that in Season 1 factions are different and as far as roleplaying is concerned, I will keep the original factions.

---

I think this is everything for now. If you have any additional question, feel free to ask to me in this thread.

Recruitment will close on Sunday, December the 4th.

_________________________________
For the new players applying to the game: if you're new to Pathfinder, to PbP or to the Pathfinder Society, please don't be afraid to submit a character. Since this is PFS, you will get plenty of opportunity to play should your character not be selected. Also, I plan to run a few Pathfinder Quests for new players only, and I will be recruiting players for those quests from those who sumbitted a character for this campaign.

Hey Paizo people,
in the past few years of so I’ve been having quite a success in running PbP games on these boards, with my greatest success being the completion of the Price of Immortality campaign arc, featuring three distinct modules (Crypt of the Everflame, Masks of the Living God, and City of Golden Death). You can check my profile if you want to take a look at my previous efforts as a PbP GM, as links to all my previous and current games are provided.

Now, I’ve always wanted to give Pathfinder Society a try. I live in Italy, and here PFS is not as established as it is in the United States: opportunities to participate in one PFS event are very rare, and even then there’s no continuity in the experience. Combining this will on my part with the fact that I really enjoy playing PbP games, I came to the conclusion that I should have tried to join a few PFS games being run here on the Paizo Boards—and that I did. I enjoyed the experience, but there was something in the way PFS games were run that just didn’t seem to fit my tastes. That led me to another idea: running my own PFS game on the Paizo Boards as a GM. And this is precisely what this interest check aims for.

What I need: A group of 4 dedicated players willing to join me in this venture. In more detail, I’m looking for players who are able to post twice/day during the week, and once/day in the weekend. In addition, I need players who are willing to indulge my roleplaying approach to PFS Scenarios (for more details, see below). Finally, I need players who are willing to commit to a long-lasting PFS game with several scenarios being run one after the other.

What I offer: I plan to start small, and I’ve set on the idea of running as much Season 1 PFS Scenarios as possible in order to create a cohesive and immersive PFS Core Campaign where the party members never change. This means that I’d like to play different scenarios with the same group of players using the same characters.

Why Season 1?: For three distinct reasons. (1) I own all of Season 1 PFS Scenarios. (2) Being older scenarios, the chances that a player has already played a scenario from that Season using the Core Campaign rules are considerably less. (3) Season 1’s Scenarios use a small sub-set of rules, making my life much easier.

Why Core?: Because this is my first attempt at PFS Society GMing, and I’d like to keep things as simple as possible for me to manage. Also, because I believe there are more chances that someone has not played a Season 1 Scenario in Core Campaign rather than in Standard.

How do I plan to accomplish my goal: My goal is to bring an immersive PFS Core Campaign to life. In order to reach my goal, I’ll try to create story hooks to link each Scenario with the others: the general idea is that you will follow your character from the first steps of his PFS career through his confirmation and then establishment as a famed PFS field agent. On the top of that, you will follow you character progression as he travels to different locations in The Inner Sea region and adventures along with his established party with which he has shared past adventures. In order to assure you can enjoy this experience, I’m going to try and add some roleplaying and story hooks between the scenarios, so that the different adventure do not seem too unconnected with each other.

My roleplaying approach to the Core PFS Campaign: I want to be honest. There’s one thing in particular that I don’t like at all about PFS PbP games: they almost always end up being a rollplay series of posts with scarce or no roleplaying at all. This I don’t like. I want to change things and create a campaign where players are encouraged to roleplay: interact with each other, write roleplaying posts without any dice rolls for the mere sake of doing it, discover the story behind the different scenarios, and get a distinct idea of the overarching story behind the different scenarios. In order to reach this goal, first of all I need players willing to commit to such a game. In PFS, this is not required; but in my game, it will be. I don’t need players willing to post only in combat situations, because I want to create something that is much more fan than rolling (virtual) dice on a (virtual) table. Of course, combat will be important, but roleplaying will be just as much. If you don’t share this approach and you see this campaign just as an opportunity to gain PFS credit without any roleplaying fun to it, please do not apply.

How do I plan to use factions: Although Season 1 uses older factions and factions’ mission no longer award any type of reward to the character, I like the idea of staying true to the scenario and keep the factions as they are. This means that you will be asked to join one of the factions featured in Season 1 and roleplay accordingly. You will receive your faction missions, and I expect you to try and fulfill them at your character’s best although he/she won’t gain any reward from it.

______________________________________

As I said above, I’m not that experienced with Pathfinder Society, so please forgive me for any errors or naiveties this post contains. I’m open to any suggestion to improve my starting idea, and willing to listen to any tip if I made any mistake.

Now, this is just an interest check. From what I’ve seen, there are considerably less players on the boards these days if compared to the past, so I’m aware that my idea might never see actual realization if I don’t have enough player interest for it. Let’s just say that I’m trying to test the water here.

Hey Paizo People,
it's been a while since my last recruitment on the boards. The last campaign I started was an invite-only type of game, so I didn't open the recruitment for anyone except those invited. But now my game is in need of a replacemente for a character whose player has decided to step out due to difficulties in keeping the (high) pace my game has. He's a wonderfully talented player and regular poster, but lately he's been having some issues in respecting the deadlines for post so he decided to step out of the game. Now, this introduction is to make clear to everyone willing to apply for this game that I'm looking for a consistent poster, someone who can manage to post at least once/day every day, or more if the need arises. I value pace as the most important part of PbP gaming, and it's absolutely important that whoever applies for this recruitment is well aware that I'm looking for a player whose posting rate can match the one of my game.

Before going into details, I'd like to clarify that I need only one player and that my group needs either a bard or a rogue. I want to keep the party balanced, so you'll have to go with that. Below you'll find some information drawn from the character creation document that was given to my players at the start of this game. Please take the following as simple tips and not as compulsory rules.

Alright, before delving in the details of character creation, an important note. I'm running this game in my format of choice, Pathfinder Vintage (click on the link to find out more about this format). In short, Pathfinder Vintage is a format in which legal sources are limited to the materials which were released when the adventure was published*. You can check this link or my profile for a complete list of legal sources for this campaign.
_________________________________________
* This campaign will be using the standard variant (so no 3.5 materials allowed).

Something about me: My name is Giuseppe Capriati, and I’m a Pathfinder translator for my country, Italy. I’ve played Pathfinder for almost 5 years now, and in my Face-to-Face games I’ve been able to successfully complete four Adventure Paths as a GM (Council of Thieves, Serpen’t Skull (x2) and Carrion Crown). I’m currently GMing a Kingmaker Adventure Path in person. As a guarantee of my consistency, please take a look at the Price of Immortality Campaign Arc I've GMed here on Paizo boards. Thanks to a group of devoted players, we managed to complete the whole arc in approximately six months, with the forts module being completed in the stunning period of 1 month only. Two of those wonderful players are also part of the Council of Thieves game you're applying for.

===================
CHARACTER CREATION
===================
Before you start creating your character, please take note of the following suggestions.

First of all, you may want to start by reading instead of writing. As a GM, I value player’s knowledge and tend to prize those players who are able to come up with interesting character ideas which are strongly tied to the campaign setting and to the adventure I’m going to run. This means that if you manage to acquire a good knowledge of this adventure’s setting, your PCs is likely to reflect that, implying a higher chance of being recruited for you. Take your time, read and think about what you’ve read before getting to work on character creation. To better explain what I mean here, I can give you an example: if I had to choose between two equally good and well developed characters, one of them submitting a generic two-handed fighter and the other applying with an aldori-style fighter, I would pick the latter. Why? Because I would feel that the latter is much more suited for the AP. So, to ensure that you can apply with a character who fits the adventure, I’m going to suggest you some compulsory and optional readings below.

Read the guides – If you haven’t done it yet, please read the excellent guide written by Doomed Hero about PbP gaming: DH's Guide to Play by Post gaming. If you’ve already read this guide, there’s another excellent guide expanding DH’s guide you might want to read: Painlord's Advanced Play by Post Play. Even if you feel like you already know a lot about PbP, these guides are going to help you out for sure if you haven't read them yet, no matter how much good you are at PbP. There's always something to be learned, and these guides are the perfect mentors for any PbP player.

---

Alright, now that we I’ve brought these aspects to your attention, we can delve into character creation specifics.

• Class – Bard or Rogue.
  
• Origin - Your character must be born or raised in Westcrown and have a genuine interest towards its improvement.
  
• Starting level – 2nd
  
• Starting wealth – Average starting wealth for your class + 1000 gp.
  
• Ability scores – 15 point buy.
  
• Ability scores restriction – No ability score below 8.
  
• Hit point generation system – Maximized hp at 1st level, then half your HD +1 (e.g., 1d6=3+1; 1d8=4+1; 1d10=5+1; 1d12=6+1).
  
• Alignment restrictions – Non-evil characters only. Good alignment recommended but not necessary.
  
• Traits – Two traits, one of which must be selected among those featured in the Council of Thieves Player’s Guide. No Drawbacks.
  
• Legal sources – Check this list (for additional information, see Pathfinder Vintage Standard).
  
• Race restrictions – Core races reccomended. Races from the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary may be allowed, but make sure to have my permission by sending me a PM with your idea and waiting for my approval before expanding on that concept.
  

I need your submission to include the following:

• Complete character sheet
  
• Background
  
• Personality
  
• Appearance
  
• A quick introduction of yourself as a PbP player
  

===================
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
===================

Hello Paizo people,
I'd like to have your opinion on a magic item I've been toying with for a long time. I'm not looking for advices on the item's balance, because I'm going to use it mainly as a story device to enhance our story. What I'm looking for, instead, is to know how would you price it.

---

AMULET OF DRACONIC BLOODLINE
Aura moderate evocation; CL 7th
Slot neck; Price ??? Weight 0,5 lbs.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ DESCRIPTION ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
This amulet grants the power of dragons' blood. The wearer of an amulet of draconic bloodline gains the draconic bloodline power. Whenever the wearer of this amulet casts a spell with an energy descriptor that matches the amulet's attuned energy type, that spell deals +1 point of damage per die rolled.
Each amulet of draconic power is attuned to one energy type selected upon creation.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
⁞⁞⁞⁞ CONSTRUCTION ⁞⁞⁞⁞
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, dragon's breath, creator must have a draconic bloodline matching the amulet's energy type; Cost ???

---

I was not able to recall any kind of wondrous item replicating a bloodline arcana's effects, but I've not ready any of the newest rulebooks (Ultimate Magic was the last source I read attentively), so maybe I've missed something important.

In 4606 ar, Aroden, god of humanity, innovation, and history, died.

No city in all of Golarion was wracked more fundamentally by this catastrophic event than Westcrown. The capital of Cheliax—an entire country sworn to the god of humanity’s worship at the time—Westcrown was the expected site of Aroden’s return and had spent decades preparing for the event. A massive plaza known as the Arodennama, complete with a towering statue of the god, stood ready to receive the deity, yet after his death, it took only a few short years for the church of Aroden to fall. The Arodennama was abandoned, and the entire country found itself in the grips of a civil war with fierce diabolists.

The rise of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune saw Westcrown’s further descent. After a brutal 30-year civil war, the diabolical House of Thrune seized control of Cheliax. One of their first acts as the nation’s new government was to move the capital and royal court north to the city of Egorian, emptying Westcrown of much of its affluence and prestige. Those nobles who remained behind were largely old families rooted in their traditions and their pride, content to rot in their declining home. While still a vibrant and important port, the splendor that had typified Westcrown for centuries swiftly waned, and without the noble court many commoners and merchants who had previously made a living pandering to the country’s elite were forced to move on, leaving whole blocks abandoned. Westcrown faded to a pale shadow of its former glory and became a playground for vultures eager to pick the royal carcass.

Hey everyone, this is our new home, the place where we should discuss OOC contents. Please feel free to dot the Gameplay Thread in order for this campaign to show in your Campaign Tab. After dottin, please make sure to delete your own post as to not flood the Gameplay Thread with dots.

If you have any last questions on character creation before we start, this is the right place to ask.

As a reminder, I confirm that we're going to start this game on July, the 1st. Posting rate will be 2/day. We'll be using Roll20 for map and such, and I'll make sure to provide a link to the campaign as soon as possibile.

Dot here.

Hey everyone,
this is the space where we can discuss about your characters for the upcoming campaign. If you want, dot in the gameplay thread to make this thread appear in your campaign tab.

Happy Gaming!

______________________________________
“Enter the Stolen Lands, a wilderness claimed by nobles, bandits, and beasts alike. Into this territory the fractious country of Brevoy sends its emissaries, tasking them with subduing the lawless folk and deadly creatures that have made it a realm of savagery and shame. Beyond the last rugged frontier stretches the home of voracious monsters, capricious fey, wily natives, and bandits who bow to the rule of a merciless lord none dare defy. Can the PCs survive the Stolen Lands, bring their dangers to heel, and lay the foundations of a new kingdom? Or will they just be one more fateful band, lost forever to the ravenous wilds?”

---

“Be it so known that the bearer of this charter has been charged by the Swordlords of Restov, acting upon the greater good and authority vested within them by the office of the Regent of the Dragonscale Throne, has granted the right of exploration and travel within the wilderness region known as the Greenbelt. Exploration should be limited to an area no further than thirty-six miles east and west and sixty miles south of Oleg’s Trading Post. The carrier of this charter should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry remains, as always, execution by sword or rope.”
— So witnessed on this 24th day of Calistril, under watchful eye of the Lordship of Restov and authority granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current Regent of the Dragonscale Throne.
______________________________________

Hey guys, welcome to our Discussion Thread. It's good to finally get started!

First off, I would like to discuss whether you would prefer to begin playing tomorrow already or you'd rather take some time to work on your PCs while the Christmas holidays pass. I'm personally leaning towards the latter option, since I wouldn't like to lose momentum. We could get started on January the 2nd in this case.

Also, I've got some suggestions to further involve your characters in my game and will post later today or tomorrow in this thread detailing what my thoughts on this matter are.

If you need to start to make plans together, decide leadership roles for the future, get build tips and so on, this is the right place and time to do it.

Happy gaming everyone!

______________________________________
“Enter the Stolen Lands, a wilderness claimed by nobles, bandits, and beasts alike. Into this territory the fractious country of Brevoy sends its emissaries, tasking them with subduing the lawless folk and deadly creatures that have made it a realm of savagery and shame. Beyond the last rugged frontier stretches the home of voracious monsters, capricious fey, wily natives, and bandits who bow to the rule of a merciless lord none dare defy. Can the PCs survive the Stolen Lands, bring their dangers to heel, and lay the foundations of a new kingdom? Or will they just be one more fateful band, lost forever to the ravenous wilds?”
---
“Be it so known that the bearer of this charter has been charged by the Swordlords of Restov, acting upon the greater good and authority vested within them by the office of the Regent of the Dragonscale Throne, has granted the right of exploration and travel within the wilderness region known as the Greenbelt. Exploration should be limited to an area no further than thirty-six miles east and west and sixty miles south of Oleg’s Trading Post. The carrier of this charter should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry remains, as always, execution by sword or rope.”
— So witnessed on this 24th day of Calistril, under watchful eye of the Lordship of Restov and authority granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current Regent of the Dragonscale Throne.
______________________________________

Hello everyone, and welcome to yet another recruitment thread by GM Giuseppe. This is a recruitment for the Kingmaker Adventure Path. I plan on running the AP from the beginning to the end; presumably, this will take us about 2 years to complete. Unlike Wolfspirit’s Kingmaker: Legacies recruitment thread, I plan on running the AP as written, without adding further modules and adventures aside from those featured in the Adventure Path itself (which are plenty already).

I’d like to make clear that I’m searching for 2-3 players only. In fact I have already invited two players to join the game, and I plan on creating a group of about 4-5 characters. The players you’re going to play with if you’re selected are Euan and Fabian Benavante: two great PbP GMs and players I’ve chosen because I like their posting style and frequency.

Before anything else, there’s one thing I’d like to make clear: I need all the applicants to be able to commit to at least 2-3 post per day. While this posting rate is quite fast compared to other PbP games run here on these boards, I firmly believe in what Painlord named the “Prime PbP GM Commandment” in his amazing Guide to PbP GMing: “Don't set out to start a PbP. *SET OUT TO CLOSE A PBP*”, which can also be expressed as: “Finish what you start”. Oh, and just so you know, that Euan guy you’re going to play with has successfully completed an entire AP on these boards (Curse of the Crimson Throne) as a GM. Well, my primary aim is to close the entire Kingmaker AP too, and in order to achieve this goal I’m convinced that a fast-paced game can prove very helpful. The faster we go, the sooner we end; the more frequently we post, less are the chances of real life getting in our way. And, above all, posting frequently helps us to keep momentum, something that I found to be very important for every PbP. It’s a matter of tastes: I think that when you post frequently you are more involved, you can feel the adventure on your own skin, and it’s easier to stay in-character; to the contrary, few posts in my experience mean less involvement and the loss of momentum. So, please, if you already know or if you fear you won’t be able to post 2-3 times/day just do not apply for this recruitment. It’s a big commitment, I know, but it can be extremely rewarding. So, again, apply only if you feel comfortable with this pace and your current lifestyle allows you to afford such a commitment. Of course, there will come a day in which you won’t be able to post at all, and in that case I’m going to ask you not to worry and let us know of your absence so I can bot your character accordingly.

I plan to run this game in my format of choice, Pathfinder Vintage (click on the link to find out more about this format). In short, Pathfinder Vintage is a format in which legal sources are limited to the materials which were released when the adventure was published*. You can check this link or my profile for a complete list of legal sources for this campaign.

* This campaign will be using the standard variant (so no 3.5 materials allowed).
______________________________________
Something about me: My name is Giuseppe Capriati, and I’m a Pathfinder translator for my country, Italy. I’ve played Pathfinder for almost 4 years now, and in my Face-to-Face games I’ve been able to successfully complete four Adventure Paths as a GM (Council of Thieves, Serpen’t Skull (x2) and Carrion Crown). I’m currently GMing a Skulls and Shackles Adventure Path in person and a Price of Immortality Campaign Arc here on Paizo boards.

===================
CHARACTER CREATION
===================

Before you start creating your character, please take note of the following suggestions.

First of all, you may want to start by reading instead of writing. As a GM, I value player’s knowledge and tend to prize those players who are able to come up with interesting character ideas which are strongly tied to the campaign setting and to the adventure I’m going to run. This means that if you manage to acquire a good knowledge of this adventure’s setting, your PCs is likely to reflect that, implying a higher chance of being recruited for you. Take your time, read and think about what you’ve read before getting to work on character creation. To better explain what I mean here, I can give you an example: if I had to choose between two equally good and well developed characters, one of them submitting a generic two-handed fighter and the other applying with an aldori-style fighter, I would pick the latter. Why? Because I would feel that the latter is much more suited for the AP. So, to ensure that you can apply with a character who fits the adventure, I’m going to suggest you some compulsory and optional readings below.

---

Read the guides – If you haven’t done it yet, please read the excellent guide written by Doomed Hero about PbP gaming: DH's Guide to Play by Post gaming. If you’ve already read this guide, there’s another excellent guide expanding DH’s guide you might want to read: Painlord's Advanced Play by Post Play. Even if you feel like you already know a lot about PbP, these guides are going to help you out for sure if you haven't read them yet, no matter how much good you are at PbP. There's always something to be learned, and these guides are the perfect mentors for any PbP player.

---

Alright, now that we I’ve brought these aspects to your attention, we can delve into character creation specifics.

• Starting level – 1st

• Starting wealth – Average starting wealth for your class.

• Ability scores – 20 point buy.

• Ability scores restriction – No ability score below 8.

• Hit point generation system – Maximized hp at 1st level, then half your HD +1 (e.g., 1d6=3+1; 1d8=4+1; 1d10=5+1; 1d12=6+1).

• Alignment restrictions – Non-evil characters only. Good alignment recommended but not necessary.

• Traits – Two traits, one of which must be selected among those featured in the Kingmaker Player’s Guide. No Drawbacks.

• Legal sources – Check this list (for additional information, see Pathfinder Vintage Standard).

• Race restrictions – Core races recommended. Races from the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary may be allowed, but make sure to have my permission by sending me a PM with your idea and waiting for my approval before expanding on that concept.
  

• Complete character sheet

• Background

• Personality

• Appearance

• Leadership Roles

• A quick introduction of yourself as a PbP player
  

Please do create an alias for your submission. After you have created your alias, please make sure to include his vital statistics under your forum name. If you don’t know how to do it, check my profile.

===================
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
===================

===================
SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE
===================

This recruitment is open and will remain opened for 8 days. I will close recruitment on December the 20th. I will give you 5 days to submit your character. After that, I will stop accepting applications and will give you 3 days to roleplay in this thread (during this period you can still adjust your character’s sheet, but I need your submission to be complete in all of the entries I’ve specified above before December the 17th. Please make sure your submission is complete by that date).

I will try to keep an updated list of applicants, providing you with a link to it in the Campaign Info Tab so you can access the list and check to make sure your submission was included.

I’m planning on starting the adventure as soon as possible, which can also mean to start it in the new year if starting it now would cause us to lose momentum because of the Christmas holiday. I will check the selected players’ availability before deciding when to begin the game.

I plan to close Kingmaker in a 2 to 3 years period, depending on how fast we go.
______________________________________
If you have any question, please ask directly to me in this thread using the ooc code.

Let's do some brainstorming here!

Welcome everyone!

Hey folks, welcome to our Discussion Thread. First of all, I want you to post in the Gameplay Thread and delete your post there right after: in this way you will be added to the list of players but you won't flood the thread with lonely dots.

Before we can start, I need you to make some minor adjustments to you character's sheet.

As you can see, you have no arcane caster in your party. I always prefer to choose the best overall characters, not the best character for each role. Sometimes this produces strange combinations, but I think that in general you'll be more than able to face the challenges I'm going to put against you even with this party composition. Consider that you will reach the 5th level when the campaign arc will be over: arcane casters don't really get the chance to shine at low levels, so I think it is no big loss.

If you have any questions before the campaign starts, I'm here for you. I'm going to make my first post tomorrow. Today I'm going to create our campaign page on Roll20 and campaign gallery on Pinterest and give you the related links.

DISCLAIMER: This is not a PFS game and as such won’t give PFS credits.

______________________________________
“As every Neth 4th, the small town of Kassen celebrates its founding ceremony, commemorating the day in which, in the year 4535, beloved founder Ekat Kassen and his men gave their life in a successful attempt to protect the town Kassen had established 10 years before from the cruel bandit Asar and his mercenaries. Kassen and his men managed to defeat Asar’s forces, but Kassen himself died 2 days later. The townsfolk buried Kassen in the ancient crypt where the final confrontation against Asar had taken place. They placed an eternal flame above Kassen’s final resting place, so that all who visited it might find warmth in the wilderness.

“This year, rumors have been heard that a group of younger townsfolk will be tasked to perform the annual ceremony in honor of Ekat Kassen, traveling to the Crypt of the Everflame and lighting the lantern before coming back in town as adults.
______________________________________

Hello everyone, and welcome to this recruitment thread for the Price of Immortality campaign arc. This campaign arc features three separate modules, namely Crypt of the Everflame, Masks of the Living God and City of Golden Death. My aim is to run all of these adventures one after the other, but to start small for now I simply commit to closing the Crypt of the Everflame module in a reasonable amount of time. If we’ll be having fun and we manage to create a solid and fun group to play with, we’ll be likely running also the remaining two modules.

Before anything else, there’s one thing I’d like to make clear: I need all the applicants to be able to commit to at least 2-3 post per day. While this posting rate is quite fast compared to other PbP games run here on these boards, I firmly believe in what Painlord named the “Prime PbP GM Commandment” in his amazing guide to PbP GMing: “Don't set out to start a PbP. *SET OUT TO CLOSE A PBP*”, which can also be expressed with: “Finish what you start”. Well, my primary aim is to close at least the Crypt of the Everflame module, and in order to achieve this goal I’m convinced that a fast-paced game can really prove helpful. I mean, we all know life sometimes just happens: people sometimes have to leave campaigns even against their will. But if it the game itself lasts less time, the chance for life to happen in the meantime is much less. The faster we go, the sooner we end; more frequently we post, less are the chance of real life getting in our way. So, please, if you already know or if you fear you won’t be able to post at least 2-3 times/day (but ideally a lot more) just do not apply for this recruitment.

______________________________________
Something about me: My name is Giuseppe Capriati, and I’m a Pathfinder translator for my country, Italy. I’ve played Pathfinder for almost 4 years now, and in my Face-to-Face games I’ve been able to successfully complete four Adventure Paths as a GM (Council of Thieves, Serpen’t Skull (x2) and Carrion Crown). I’m currently GMing a Skulls and Shackles Adventure Path in person and a Serpent’s Skull Adventure Path here on Paizo boards. I’m starting this recruitment because I want to test my skills in a shorter and faster-paced adventure than the AP I’m currently running; I’m also doing this because I want to give new PbP players a chance to get in a game which can be preparatory for players hoping to join the best games on these boards (which usually involve high posting rate). New players are the lifeblood of our game, and I firmly believe is our duty to work in order to get them involved and transform them into good PbP players. Of course, I’m willing to commit to your same posting rate, even higher if needed, and I expect my players to do the same.

===================
WHERE ON GOLARION?
===================

I expect my players to be familiar with Pathfinder Campaign Setting. If you are not, please see the references listed below.

Crypt of the Everflame is set in Nirmathas, a struggling country that only recently freed itself from the grasp of the imperialistic nation of Molthune, which continues to try to reclaim it. The people of Nirmathas are proud of their freedom, liberty, and self-sufficiency. They are continually on guard for incursions by their southern border. For more information about Nirmathas, see The Inner Sea World Guide 138-139 (even if this book isn’t legal in terms of character’s options, its strongly recommended for the setting lore it provides). If you don’t own this book, you can take a brief overlook of Nirmathas on this wiki.

Crypt of the Everflame starts in the Nirmathan town of Kassen. As I’ll further explain below, all of the PCs are going to be from Kassen (or they need to have spent at least 3 or more years in town). As a consequence, I think that a brief overview of the town of Kassen can come in handy. All the applicants should read the following entry to develop a character who’s tightly tied to Kassen. Players are strongly encouraged to forge links between their characters, the town of Kassen and the people living in it.

===================
CHARACTER CREATION
===================

Before you start creating your character, please take note of the following suggestions.

First of all, you may want to start from reading instead of writing. As a GM, I value player’s knowledge and tend to prize those players who are able to come up with interesting character ideas which are tied to the campaign setting and to the adventure I’m going to run. This means that if you manage to acquire a good knowledge of the setting of this adventure, your PCs is likely to reflect that, implying a higher chance of being recruited for you. Take your time, read and think about what you’ve read before getting to work on character creation.

Read the guides - If you’re a PbP beginner or you just haven’t done it yet, please read the excellent guide written by Doomed Hero about PbP gaming: DH's Guide to Play by Post gaming. If you’ve already read this guide, there’s another excellent guide expanding DH’s guide you might want to read: Painlord's Advanced Play by Post Play. Even if you feel you already know a lot about PbP, these guides are going to help you out for sure if you haven't read them yet, no matter how much good you are at PbP. There's always something to be learned, and these guides are the perfect mentors for any PbP player.

I plan to run this game in my format of choice, Pathfinder Vintage (click on the link if you wish to find out more about this format). In short, Pathfinder Vintage is a format in which legal sources are limited to the materials which were released when the adventure was published. In our case, Crypt of the Everflame was the very first Pathfinder Module released after Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook came out, so this means that our campaign will be a Core only game*. You can use only Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook for character creation, and turn to other sourcebooks only as a source of lore about the setting and about anything else you might need**. This should also help new PbP players to focus more on RP than on their builds.
* If you’ve read my guide to Pathfinder Vintage, you might want to know that this campaign will be using the standard variant (so no 3.5 materials allowed).
** If we manage to close the first module in a reasonable amount of time, I will consider to allow the use of additional material which had been published when the subsequent Price of Immortality’s modules were released.

Alright, now that we I’ve brought these aspects to your attention, we can delve into character creation specifics.

• Starting level – 1st

• Starting wealth – Average starting wealth for your class.

• Ability scores – 20 point buy.

• Ability scores restriction – No ability score below 8.

• Hit point generation system – Maximized hp at 1st level, then half your HD +1 (e.g., 1d6=3+1; 1d8=4+1; 1d10=5+1; 1d12=6+1).

• Alignment restrictions – Non-evil characters only. Good alignment recommended but not necessary.

• Traits – No traits (at least for now).

• Legal sources – Pathfinder Core Rulebook only (see Pathfinder Vintage Standard).

• Race restrictions – Core races only.

• Class restrictions – Core classes only.

• Origin – All characters must be from Kassen (see above) or must have spent at least 3 years in town.

• Age – All characters must have an age compatible with participating in a coming-of-age ceremony, depending on their races.

• Mentor – Each character will have a mentor depending on his class. Be sure to read Kassen overview presented above in order to properly determine your character’s mentor.

• Lifestyle – Crypt of the Everflame supposes that your characters are neither heroes nor adventurers when the campaign begins. Please try to reflect this in your background.

I need your submission to include what follows:

• Complete character sheet

• Background

• Personality

• Appearance

Please do create an alias for your submission. After you have created your alias, please make sure to include his vital statistics under your forum name. If you don’t know how to do it, check my profile.

===================
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
===================

• Submission Format – Please use this format when introducing your character: this helps me and other players to discern your submission from you roleplaying post.

• Read my profile page – In my profile page a number of important things involving my games are detailed, such as what I expect from my players, how to roll dice in my games, how to add vital stats to your characters, how to format your posts, and so on.

• RAW vs RAI – I tend to follow RAW as much as I can, unless rules interfere with the story; if it does, I’m likely to change that rule once and for all.

• Like other applications – Please like your fellow applicants’ submissions by hitting the add to favorites button near the character you like. Of course, this in non-binding at all for me: it’s not a voting system in which the most voted characters get recruited automatically, but it tells me who you would like to play with, which is one of the main criteria for my choice.

• Roleplay! – If you think you can benefit from doing a bit of roleplay (especially if you’re a new PbP player and you want to show me your skills) or you just want to practice a bit in the meantime, feel free to use this thread to roleplay with other applicants. This is not compulsory: roleplay only if you want to. I could easily recruit a player who hasn’t roleplayed here in the recruitment thread if I think his submission is good enough and I like that player’s posting style and rate. See my next post for further details.

• First timers (Part I) – One of the primary aims leading me to start this recruitment is to give new PbP players a chance to join a consistent game. As a consequence, I plan on recruiting at least 2 PbP first timers. This doesn’t mean I won’t be recruiting experienced players (they are going to be necessary to give the new players an example to emulate), nor that I’m going to recruit newbies if there aren’t good submissions on their part. Take note of this simple observation: I can easily assess the value of an experienced PbP player by reading its previous posts, checking if he has been consistent in the game he played and judging if I like his posting style or not; I can’t do the same with newbie players. You have to strike me with something good to impress me. It’s like when you have a job interview and you have no curriculum: I need you to work hard to prove me that you’re worth the risk I’m taking recruiting you. So, as a tip, heavily invest in your character: make sure it is a great character with a correct character sheet, has a good story, an amazing personality and a well-detailed appearance. This will be your main reference. Then roleplay him/her in this thread if you wish, to show me your posting style, your writing skills and how you interact with others.

• First timers (Part II) – I know this recruitment post could prove a little bit overwhelming for you. But trust me, it was designed to be this way. If a player isn’t able to read this post and conform to it, probably he won’t be able to follow my instruction when we get into play. So following this recruitment is for all intents and purposes your first trial. Show me that you can follow my instructions. Show me that you will be a focused player.

• Party assortment – I’ll try to recruit the best players, not the characters with the best builds. That said, Crypt of the Everflame is very focused on a traditional party composition (arcane caster, divine caster, skill monkey, tank/damage dealer) and I will try to recruit a balanced party in order to let you enjoy the game. This doesn’t mean I will be recruiting a wizard, a cleric, a rogue and a fighter at all. As I said, I believe first of all we need people who can have fun together. Builds and character’s option come after, even though they still retain their importance.

• How many recruits? – I’ll be recruiting a party composed of 4 members, if there are enough good submissions of course.

• Mapping tools – We’ll be using Roll20 for combat encounters. I’m pretty good at it, or so my players have told me. As a consequence, I expect you to have a Roll20 account or to create one after you’ve been recruited. If you don’t know how to do it, I will be there to help you to create your own account and teach you how Roll20 works.

• Campaign Gallery – I’ll be using Pinterest to show you some pictures which can help you to immerse in the campaign. You’re expected to be able to access the gallery. If you don’t know how to do it, I will be there to help you out.

• Handouts and reference documents – I’ll be using Googledocs to provide you with additional reference documents. You’re expected to be able to access these documents. If you don’t know how to do it, I will be there to help you out.

===================
SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE
===================

This recruitment is open and will remain opened for 10 days. I will close recruitment on November 19th. Please make sure your submission is complete by that date.

I will try to keep an updated list of applicants, providing you with a link to it in the Campaign Info Tab to access the list and check if your submission is regularly included.

I plan to close Crypt of the Everflame in a 3 to 6 months period, depending on how fast we go.

______________________________________
If you have any question, please ask directly to me in this thread using the ooc code.

Hello Paizo people.

I'm actually GMing a Serpent's Skull campaign on these boards and I'm here to see if there's enough interest for another project to get started.

My goal is to run the Price of Immortality campaign arc, starting with the Crypt of the Everflame module and ending with the City of Golden Death module.

This thread's aim is to check if there's enough interest around my project, so don't read too much in it. I can't ensure I will run the campaign even if I get enough interest. I'm just checking for interest, at least for now.

The idea beyond this campaign would be to give those Pathfinder players who want to play in PbP format a chance to play. I know it's hard to get selected in an AP recruitment, usually for the heavy competition involved and the high number of applicants. First of all, as a consequence, I want to address to new PbP players, by which I mean people who already know how to play Pathfinder but haven't had the chance to play in a PbP game yet or have had only limited experience. Of course, recruitment would be open also to more experienced PbP players, to balance the group and give to new players some examples to follow.

As a consequence, I'd wish to keep the campaign CORE, that is, limited to the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook: this is both to help new players and to stay true to the campaign, which was conceived at the very beginnings of the Pathfinder RPG history.

Another thing to note is the posting rate: my aim is to help the players to become good PbP players. And as a matter of fact, the best games on these boards usually require a frequent posting rate. So I would need for everyone who applies to commit to at least 2-3 posts/day, and possibly a lot more when RL do not get in the way. I know this posting rate will scare off many potential applicants, but I want a fast-paced game which can be truly preparatory for the best campaigns run here on the boards. Besides, the preparation period would last for years if we don't keep this tempo.

I don't need you to submit a character. I don't even need you to present a brief character concept. I just need to know how many players are able to commit to such a high posting rate and are willing to play this sort of campaign (with all its limitations). Please do not dot for interest if you already know you won't be able to post at least 2-3 times/day.

Hello everyone and welcome to our gameplay thread. In your first post I'm going to ask you to describe how your characters had spent their days since they boarded the Jenivere and with whom and how they've interacted during the journey. If you need information about NPCs aboard the Jenivere you can take a look at the Player's Guide or ask directly to me in our discussion thread for more in-depth info. Feel free to describe your routine and your attitude towards any NPC aboard the ship in the detail level you prefer.

Alright, so welcome in our discussion thread! In the next months (hopefully!) we’ll have a lot to discuss in here, but for now simply use this thread as a place where to post everything that is not actual gameplay.

So, first of all, as I had announced, before we start we need to improve your characters and ensure that there’s nothing out of place in your back stories or statistics. Take what follows not as a critique of your work, but as a way to make sure that you as players and your characters as PC can enjoy the game the most.

Well, I said all that I had to. Now, apart from working on your characters’ refinement, I would ask you to link me a full picture of your characters: if your avatar is just the way you imagine your PC, just let me know in which source it’s contained so I can work on it. I plan to create some beautiful tokens for you, so I need a full picture of your PCs.

I also would like to know if you have some contacts which I can use to show you pictures for our game: they can be maps, NPC portraits, and so on. I use Pinterest, and if you’re willing to make the effort to register on that site I could invite you to my private gallery where only the campaign’s pictures will be shown. Otherwise we can create a group on facebook, if you all have a profile. As a last resort, I can upload pictures here on the campaign thread.

I’ll soon send you a PM with the link needed to access our campaign on Roll20. Please forgive me if I’ll make some mistakes initially, but this is my first PbP campaign as a GM. I promise I’ll improve myself constantly during our adventure. And please be patient if I’ll make some mistakes while writing since I’m Italian and even if I’m a Pathfinder translator, English is still not my native language.

Let me know when your PCs are ready, so we can start off. Brace yourselves for a long first post, because you are going to describe a lot of things, but don’t worry, this will be the case only for the very first post ;)

Hey everyone! So it seems like we have enough players to start the recruitment for this campaign. Please take a look at the interest check thread for additional info about this campaign and how I'll handle it. Here I just want to make sure that the character's creation process is clear enough to everyone, so let's start:

The next thing I'd like to talk about is my evaluation criteria:

Now I'm going to focus on the submissions' modalities and deadline:

This said, good work to everyone and let's hope that some excellent characters may make their way to the untamable wilds of the jungle!

**I'll edit this post regularly to show the existing applications so everyone can see them and think about them if necessary.**

So, after a long time spent seriously considering all the facets of the thing, seems like I'm inclined to start a new experience as PbP GM.
I really love APs, so I'm choosing the one I've GMed more than others for my first attempt: Serpent's Skull.

This post is intended to check users' interest about my project, interest which must take into consideration the list of things detailed below:

• English is not my mother language. I'm Italian, and even if I have the honor to be one the official translator for Pathfinder's products in my country, I could well make some linguistical mistakes in my posts.

• I would require a character's creation process that's slightly different and more time consuming (but also more rewarding) if compared to what I see is the standard with PbP campaigns: with this I mean in-depth additional reading to make sure that the character does fit perfectly to both the campaign and the campaign setting; a stronger focus on background info of all sorts; creation of a character SPECIFIC to the Serpent's Skull AP.

• I intend to consider "legal" for the campaign in terms of characters' creations and development only those sources that were available when the Serpent's Skull AP came out: I would post a detailed list of legal sources to which players must conform to. The reason beyond this choice is that I really love every single handbook published by Paizo, and restricting the options gives me the chance to see some sources thoroughly exploited, without considering the fact that this choice allows grater mastery of the game for me.

• I'd like to have at least one experienced PbP player that could help me in the harsh beginnings, helping solving problems that may occur.

• The starting idea is to run the first module of the AP, "Souls for Smuggler's Shiv", as a standalone adventure: if we like it, we can follow with the rest of the AP; if we don't, we would have played nonetheless one of the most exciting first modules in the history of Adventure Paths (IMO).

• The campaign would start in September, giving the applicants time to conceive their characters.

Looking forward to know if are there enough people who intend to applicate and if I can get any suggestions that the extraordinary people here has got for a fresh new PbP GM.

Wondering about future Pathfinder RPG Player's Companions, I came to think of what would be next, when "Blood of X", "X hunter handbook", "X of Golarion" will have covered all existing races and enemies. I accidentaly came up with two ideas that I would like to discuss with everyone willing to read. Even though chances that these proposals could actually turn into reality are scarce, this could be simply viewed as my personal wishlist: not monters for the next bestiary, nor a specific archetype to play with; just a whole product line XD

1. "Classes of Golarion": The basic idea is that each volume provides setting-specific infos on each class. For example, "Paladins of Golarion" could feature a section in which most plausible paladin's faiths are analyzed region by region, a general overview of how each region sees paladins, region-specific paladin archetypes, mount choices, spells, magic items, equipment; but also presenting famous paladins of Golarion, notorious paladin-esque organizations around the Inner Sea, rules for joining them and so on. "Fighters of Golarion" could focus on region-specific archetypes and combat styles or feats, fighters NPC to add to home-campaigns based on those feats and styles or on the region in which the adventure takes place, fighting schools, renowned fighters, and so on; "Rogues of Golarion" could instead focus on Golarion thieves' guilds, description of archetypes more suitable for each region, an overview of how each region sees crime, how it's punished, what type of crime is overlooked, and why, where, etc.; "Clerics of Golarion" could finally focus on religions and how their priests are seen region by region, with specific archetypes for each faith, a list of temples and religious organization for each country, etc. This way, all of the classes would get some love, and none of them would be neglected, with each volume providing specific informations and ideas to anyone willing to play a character of that class or creating NPCs who are part of that class.

2. "Organizations of Golarion": This would function identically to Seekers of Secrets and Pathfinder Society Field Guide. Well, this would maybe function better as Campaign Setting than Player's Companion, but the sense of the proposal remains the same: give some love to Golarion's organizations other than PFS. Red Mantis Assassins, Hellknights, Aspis Consortium, etc. all are in need of a sourcebook providing additional lore, player options and setting specific informations about how and where they operate throughout Golarion. Usually those informations (where present, such as for hellknights) are scattered around APs, Campaign Settings boxes and so on, but are lacking of a unified and systematic analysis that could add some great in-depth into Golarion. Just imagine how good would be to have 3-4 new archetypes for Hellknights, specific feats for each order, specific spells that only Hellknights are teached to use, new hellknight armors (maybe light and medium?), new weapons (maybe an hellknight flail is different from the standard one?), new alchemical items, new animal companions or mounts best suited to hellknights, new materials for armors and weapons, a specific code of conduct for each order, a list of renowned hellknights complete of stat blocks, an overview of how each class could better fullfill his duties as a hellknight enforcer. That would be great!

I ask mercy for my probably awful english, but this is the first time I embark on a long post here on the messageboard; but the will to share my ideas was too strong. Maybe just because I will love to get my hands on books like those I've proposed!