This is an interest check to see if there are any players out there who might be interested in playing an indie game called Flotsam by Black Armada Games.
The game designer wrote:
Flotsam is a roleplaying game about outcasts, misfits and renegades living in the belly of a space station, in the shadow of a more prosperous society. The focus of the game is on interpersonal relationships and the day-to-day lives and struggles of a community that lacks the basic structures of civilisation.
Imagine the Belters of the Expanse watching as Earth and Mars shape their lives; the civilians in Battlestar Galactica living with the decisions made by the military; and the folk of Downbelow in Babylon 5, abandoned to destitution and squalor by those who built the station.
This is very much not a ‘hard’ sci-fi game – it has mystics and psychics and weird AIs and spirits and in fact is more about exploring the social side, with a hard emphasis on role-playing.
It’s a fun game and I’m hoping to find a few players willing to play it with me.
No, no, no. Resorting to poetry is an understandable reaction to the vastness of space, but if we must use metaphor, let it at least be accurate metaphor – and it is vastly inaccurate to refer to space as a ‘frontier.’ For one thing, the term ‘frontier’ implies the existence of a border; and you can’t have a final border because then there’d be nothing for it to be a border to (although I grant you that “Space. The antepenultimate frontier” does not exactly trip off the tongue). For seconds, a ‘frontier’ is a finite region: something perhaps not yet mapped to its fullest extent, but nonetheless mappable, capable of being reduced to manageable proportions.
Space is not like that. It is infinitely vast: even the discovery (gift?) of the Hyperspace Drive merely made travel through space possible, rather than convenient. Set against the vast infinity of space, any number you can write down – any number you can imagine – basically approximates to zero.
That same cold arithmetic has a distorting effect on qualitative values, as well. Take, for example, morality – are the Pact Worlds a force for Good in the universe? Set against the excesses of the Azlanti Star Empire, or the extradimensional forces from the fiendish planes, then the answer is probably yes; but a visitor from the Celestial realms might look askance at the compromises made on a day-to-day basis to ensure continuity (like the inclusion of the planet Eox into the Pact; although the belief that all undead are inevitably Evil is terribly unfashionable, these days). Such a visitor would almost certainly protest the crushing, systemic, injustices which are accepted as part and parcel of civilised modern life. Accepted by most, that is, but not all: if the Free Captains of the Diaspora agree on anything, it is the motto ‘Better to die free on your feet than live on your knees.’ (although the luckless bastard who’s just been spaced out the airlock of his own ship by marauding pirates might have something pithy to say in response to that. If he weren’t, you know, dead.)
In the face of these forces, of this arithmetic, there would seem to be little that an individual can do. But just occasionally, an individual – or a group of individuals – gets to do something extraordinary. Our story concerns just such a group. Of course, they don’t know that yet (which is probably just as well: the call ‘Heroes wanted to save Galaxy. Must be willing to repeatedly risk life, limb, sanity and soul. Minimal prospects of success. Meagre reward.’ tends not to find people wanting – it generally fails to find them at all)...
welcome to the discussion thread! This is where we're going to decide what sort of campaign we want and what our posting expectations/roles are going to be.
I love SciFi of all kinds, from the hopeful utopian vision of Star Trek TOS/NextGen through to the slightly grittier DS9; through to Babylon 5 and the dystopian views of The Expanse (watch it on Netflix if you haven't already!) and Blade Runner; from the heroes against the Big Bad (Star Wars) to a small crew just trying to get by in a dangerous universe (Firefly).
What are you looking for?
In terms of party role, there's a fair bit of starship combat and you will need the following:
Pilot
Captain
Gunner
Science Officer
Engineer
Which of those do you want to be?
Posting expectations: we're all busy. I can't guarantee a post a day, but I'll do my best to have a post up every other day.
What posting rate do you think you can commit to?
MAPPING: I can't do this - but it is essential for starship combat. If someone can commit to setting up a hex grid that we can edit and to keeping it up to date for our combats, that would be much appreciated.
START DATE - none set. I figure it will take a couple weeks to set up characters and roles and so on, by which point it will be Christmas. We're probably looking at a January start, but if we make incredible progress on character generation and world-building then it will be sooner.
Longacre. If proud Egorian is the heart and soul of the Infernal Empire, then Longacre - located on the edge of the Whisperwood Forest - is... less glamorous, some organ you don't notice until it stops functioning. It's not a place to come from: those who leave, who make something of themselves, reinvent their past and Longacre inevitably gets lost in transition. Longacre's where you end up, usually if you've disgraced or embarrassed yourself - or someone important. Soldiers (there are many veterans here) speak of the "Long march to Longacre" as a fate worse than death - a place to hide those crippled in, or otherwise discharged from, Her Majestrix's Service.
That said, Longacre is a key part of the Archbarony of Fex and a functioning, even thriving, town. Its lumber and charcoal burners supply the fuel for smithies and forges across most of southern Cheliax; and the leather armour stamped with the mark of Louislik's Tannery is recognised for its quality by soldiers across the realm. Its church (dedicated to Iomedae: soldiers identify more with the Chelish warrior-goddess than they do with the devil-god of lawyers) is well maintained and the local sheriff is popular and known to be incorruptible.
Longacre really only has two problems: the first is that its residents are strongly sympathetic to the Glorious Reclamation; and the second is that it's home to a half-dozen villains who are looking to make a name for themselves....
Longacre. If proud Egorian is the heart and soul of the Infernal Empire, then Longacre - located on the edge of the Whisperwood Forest - is... less glamorous, some organ you don't notice until it stops functioning. It's not a place to come from: those who leave, who make something of themselves, reinvent their past and Longacre inevitably gets lost in transition. Longacre's where you end up, usually if you've disgraced or embarrassed yourself - or someone important. Soldiers (there are many veterans here) speak of the "Long march to Longacre" as a fate worse than death - a place to hide those crippled in, or otherwise discharged from, Her Majestrix's Service.
That said, Longacre is a key part of the Archbarony of Fex and a functioning, even thriving, town. Its lumber and charcoal burners supply the fuel for smithies and forges across most of southern Cheliax; and the leather armour stamped with the mark of Louislik's Tannery is recognised for its quality by soldiers across the realm. Its church (dedicated to Iomedae: soldiers identify more with the Chelish warrior-goddess than they do with the devil-god of lawyers) is well maintained and the local sheriff is popular and known to be incorruptible.
Longacre really only has two problems: the first is that its residents are strongly sympathetic to the Glorious Reclamation; and the second is that it's home to a half-dozen villains who are looking to make a name for themselves....
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Welcome to the discussion/character creation thread! This is where you introduce yourselves and your character concepts, and begin the process of making a villain fit for this AP.
A few thoughts, which are intended to help:
1) this is not Way of the Wicked - your character does not start out as the most notorious criminal villain the land has ever seen. You're first level and you were either born in, or ended up in, a humble backwater town.
2) the intro to the AP is a minor heist - if you're creating a "the blood of innocents is my breakfast" villain, go ahead, but it will help if you can create someone who won't just see the early stuff as beneath them.
3) evil is as evil does - I like humour and I do my best to prevent campaigns I run from being unremitting grimdark, but this is a gritty campaign. I have a high tolerance for squick and if it's within Paizo's posting guidelines then it's not going to bother me. On which point:
3a) triggers. If there's anything that's going to squick you out, please say so upfront. I've gamed with survivors of all sorts of abuse and trauma; it has always worked, but I'd prefer to know now rather than after the fact. PM me if you prefer.
4) you don't need to be Asmodean to work here but it helps. If your character follows a different deity/cause, please ensure they won't be opposed to supporting and actively working for House Thrune.
5) some social interaction is crucial (by which I mean bluff/diplomacy/intimidate/sense motive). Being able to get things done without violence is useful. Remember that dead men and women pay no taxes.
==========
So, on to character creation. I favour the Focus and Foible rules:
Pick one stat at 18
Pick one stat at 8
Roll d10+7 for each of the other four stats and allocate as you like
Hit points: maximum at level 1, after that it's half HD + 1
We will be using the following rules from Unchained:
It is gone midnight once you have said your farewells to Sakkarot and his little group and received your new orders - and rewards - from your Cardinal.
Tiadora mentioned a ship waiting for you; as you follow her, she leads you to a ramshackle river barge named Halstyn’s Folly, which is moored at the bank of Lake Tarik; probably not that far from where the late and unlamented Odenkirk met his fate, along with his crew and ship, all those weeks ago. The captain and three man crew of this shallow-bottomed barge are all very obviously and very thoroughly under Tiadora’s control (much as the equally late and even less-lamented Sergeant Blackerly was, briefly). They are certainly no threat.
Tiadora is in no mood to delay. “The master commands you board. You will learn more later.” Accommodations are crude. There is only one cabin and Tiadora has already evicted the so-called captain and made that her own personal domain. Whatever else she may or may not be, she is not particularly adept at sharing. That means that the rest of you must find accommodation and a place to sleep on the deck of the barge.
There is a roof but no walls and at night in winter on the lake, it is bitterly cold.
Still, at least the night is clear; the stars shine overhead in a cloudless sky. It affords a good view of your handiwork, and Tiadora spends the time as you start your voyage gazing at the burning town of Aldencross with an almost wistful expression on her face. "Soon." It is a whispered breath, and you almost certainly weren't meant to hear it.
Without looking away from the view, she remembers herself and snaps out orders. "Get this tub moving. We need to be far away from here by dawn."
Welcome to the new thread! First post is up in Gameplay, so feel free to jump in.
Couple points:
1) I'm leaving most of the information in the old campaign tab; I've put a link to it in the new one. There's a lot of new information I will need to add and I don't want to over-clutter it.
2) Themes.
The theme of the first part of the AP was reasonably similar to stuff you've done before, but just seen from a different angle: the dungeon was crewed with humans instead of monsters, and the townsfolk were your enemies to be hidden from, rather than gratefully waiting for you to rescue them.
This module is different. Without wanting to give too much away, it involves you running (and crewing) your own dungeon. This means that you will have minions to do stuff, and a place of your own to call home that needs fortifying. This obviously involves a bit of paperwork and some mechanics, most of which I can run/keep track of on your behalf, but your input will still be required for this to work.
There are two ways of doing this. The first is, well, not to: you simply hold the bit of the dungeon that you need to and fortify it yourselves, dispensing with the need to manage and run minions. You might even succeed.
In my view, though, if you do that then you'll miss out on the fun of becoming 'proper' villains; every villain needs a lair and minions to do stuff for them.
The second is to embrace it, even if you have reservations; hopefully, you'll see the fun that can be had in doing it this way.
Welcome to part II of WotW. The darkness has been rising for some time: now it's time to call it forth.
Hey guys and girls, well done on being selected. Feel free to dot the Gameplay thread. As F. Castor pointed out, you can dot and then delete the post, and it still works.
I'll post something to get us moving asap, but in the meantime perhaps you can give some thought as to where in Korvosa you live? Lorick and Gehenna have hovels somewhere, Vaen's mother runs a tavern, Evelyn's presumably of No Fixed Abode but has a friendly halfling with a warm forge, and Juliet's father presumably lives somewhere smart - although I'm guessing she will have a room somewhere she can crash away from him.
There's a map link in the Campaign tab to help you orient yourselves.
BTW, one of the GMs in another game I was in created a good format for the Gameplay thread that I would like to adopt: basically, all dice rolls go in a spoiler marked "Mechanics" and all OOC comments go in a spoiler marked "OOC". It's a bit fiddly, but it does mean you get the game narrative without being distracted by dice functions, rules queries and player chat. I will be using it, and I hope you will give it a go.
Darkness rises in Korvosa, the Jewel of Varisia. The delicate balance of power between the ruling factions is failing, along with King Eodred II's health. His new young bride Queen Ileosa has yet to produce an heir - no ruler of Korvosa has ever passed the crown to their child. The locals talk darkly of a curse, and speak ill of their rulers - be they monarch, priest, or aristocrat. Tension grows between citizen and citizen, between Varisian, Chelaxian, and Shoanti. Yes, Korvosa is in want of heroes...
...but as the great philosopher-bard Mikael Jegarre pointed out in another age: "You can't always get what you want...."
OOC:
Welcome and well done on being selected! Feel free to dot the thread. Proper post will be up as soon as time permits. Oh, and as for the pun - I regret nothing :-)
Darkness rises in Korvosa, the Jewel of Varisia. The delicate balance of power between the ruling factions is failing, along with King Eodred II's health. His new young bride Queen Ileosa has yet to produce an heir - no ruler of Korvosa has ever passed the crown to their child. The locals talk darkly of a curse, and speak ill of their rulers - be they monarch, priest, or aristocrat. Tension grows between citizen and citizen, between Varisian, Chelaxian, and Shoanti. Yes, Korvosa needs heroes...
...but what it's got is YOU.
Welcome to this recruitment thread for Curse of the Crimson Throne, using (some of) the Pathfinder Unchained rules. Details are below; please read carefully before you submit your character for consideration. Please, please do NOT apply unless you have a copy of Pathfinder Unchained: the PDF costs less than 10 dollars, this ought not to be a problem.
About me:
For the curious, I've put some information (including the house rules I use) into my profile .
How Unchained?:
Good question! We're not going to playtest all the new ideas (if only because some of them don't seem to stack). The following new rules are going to be in use:
Unchained classes (pages 6-39)
Background skills and expanded skills (pages 46-53)
Alternate crafting and profession rules (pages 72-81)
Skill unlocks (pages 82-87)
Variant Multiclassing (pages 88-91)
Revised action economy (pages 102-109)
Stamina and combat tricks (pages 112-135)
Diseases and poisons (pages 138-141)
Limited magic (pages 146-147)
Wild magic (pages 147-148)
Overclocked spells (page 148; I will run this with the wild magic, so if you fail, you'll get a wild magic event)
Esoteric components (pages 150-155; the "optional" variant)
Automatic bonus progression (pages 156-157)
Scaling magic items (pages 160-179)
Dynamic magic item creation (pages 180-191)
New monsters (pages 192-253)
It would help me if you can explain somewhere in your post what part of Unchained your build will help test. I will take this into consideration.
Welcome to Korvosa!:
I've put links to information about the city and its various races, together with a map, in the Campaign tab.
Welcome to my CotCT:
I've DM'd this AP several times before, and my usual practice is to make Gaerdran Lamm more prominent, by swapping him over with one of the other criminal NPCs (Devargo Barvasi, for the curious). You will start the game actually working for Lamm himself - doesn't have to be willing, in fact it's better if it's not; but somehow, at the start of this AP Lamm has some hold on you and you need to do what he says - at least for now. The nature of this hold is up to you and is likely to result in something a bit less 'heroic' than your standard fantasy trope, although that's not essential... I look forward to reading what you come up with!
This is a reasonably significant deviation from the module as written, but my experience is that players find it far more cathartic when you get your final showdown with Lamm.
As a final point: there is a certain amount of what is termed "mature" content in this AP, and I don't intend to shy away from it; but I'm looking for players who can handle adult themes in an adult manner (and not misogynistic neckbeards who hit on Laori Vaus because 'dude, she's hawt...'). Just saying.
Character generation:
Read the Player's Guide to CotCT
Read the other spoilers in this post.
I'm mainly looking for a good concept, good roleplaying, and a good background. That means characters who have a connection with the city, and who are invested in what happens to it. You don't need to use the (horribly misnamed) 10-minute background, but please do list 3 or so Korvosan NPCs that you are linked to, and spend a little time fleshing them out for me, together with their relationship (ideally friendly - trust me, you have enough enemies!) with your PC; these can be Chelaxian, Varisian, Shoanti as you please.
It doesn't matter if you already know the AP - I'm mixing it around enough that things should still surprise you, although you will need to be able to separate your player knowledge from the character's knowledge for some of the major plot points.
I will take from 4 to 6 characters.
Level: 1
Ability Scores: 20 point buy
Alignment: Non-evil. This is non-negotiable.
Races: Any Paizo, but weird had better have a good story. Alternate racial traits and heritages are fine. The Fiendish Heritage feat is not required, abilities of the d100 table are not permitted.
Classes: Core, Base, Hybrid, Unchained (barbarian, rogue, monk and summoner HAVE to be Unchained). All archetypes available. No 3rd party, please don't ask.
HP: Max at first, then 1/2+1
Traits: 2 traits, one must be a campaign trait.
Starting Gold: Average
I suspect that assimilating the new rules and putting crunch together will take a while, and that there will be a lot of questions. I'm therefore setting two deadlines: a first of Monday 22 June for submitting a concept (name, race, class(es), background!, which bit of Unchained your build will test), together with any questions. After that date, I'll set a further deadline for completing crunch.
Please do NOT put questions in a spoiler. Please DO put everything else (background etc) in a spoiler. Please do NOT put roleplay in the recruitment thread.
I realise that there are probably job applications with less reading involved, but I'm planning to devote a significant part of my leisure time to this; we're more likely to have fun if we know in advance what's expected.
As the title suggests, I'm looking to give the Unchained rules a test-drive, and I'll be running the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP to do so. (Firstly, it's a fabulous AP, and secondly it needs adapting from 3.5 anyway, so making it work with Unchained won't - I hope - be significantly more hassle.)
Any takers?
In addition to indicating your interest, please tell me which bits of Unchained you particularly want to see tried out (or not!). I haven't yet decided which bits to use, so your input would be helpful in making that decision.
One of my players has DR/silver, and another will have it shortly due to taking the Vampire feat chain from WotW.
There is some enthusiastic forward planning going on, and both these characters are planning to take mithral armour. Mithral counts as silver for purposes of bypassing DR.
My first instinct was that this is extreme munchkin, but there's no RAW that I can find which prohibits it; is anyone aware of any rulings on this?
Hi everyone, this is the new thread - post thoughts, comments, queries here. Per my PMs, the game is scheduled to restart on 1 March; I will have ploughed through the books by then and be ready to move forward with taking over Talingarde. You're welcome to come too, of course.
In the meantime, I've put some information about myself in my profile so you know what to expect; if you have any questions please ask. I've put some of the house rules that I follow there as well so they shouldn't come as a surprise later on (obviously the 'no third party materials' rule is waived to the extent that we're playing a Fire Mountain Games AP).
I'm also going to be putting some information into the Campaign tab; please do take time to read it since (i) it helps with player character immersion in the gaming world; and (ii) this is an Asmodean campaign - failing to read the print can have ... consequences. (AKA: read the flavour text, b!tches!)
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