N:
Wants to play an elf of royalty/nobility.
LOTR style fantasy.
L:
High fantasy, one nation has a flying capital city/building floating around the kingdom.
Doesn't want goblins.
J:
Wants a game that flows in and out of mass combat.
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Notes for a home game.
Scaling back to one character per player and removing the "Big Six Replacement" homebrew rule due to interest in the soulknife class and problems adjusting for natural attacks.
Hi gang, I'm currently setting up the campaign in Roll 20 and I have drafted the character creation guidelines below. We're trying something weird...two characters per player. This will allow for your characters to interact with each other without waiting for other players to post. It could deepen the RPing opportunities or it could feel like a fiction writing exercise--we shall see! I'd like to have 3-4 players with 6-8 characters, but I'm open to opinions on this. I can't imagine us starting soon. Let's shoot for an in-house goal of 4/6 for invited players to be done with their characters. I'm also working on some homebrew rules, poached from other games: Homebrew Rules If we go to open recruitment then I will ask for your input on which players to accept. Character Creation Guidelines v1.0: ===Active Recruitment Character Creation=== Players receiving invites have the following guidelines regarding character creation. Open recruitment will have different requirements. Since I want the invited players to join the game then I'm very open to whatever you guys want. Additionally, we're going to try and play two characters per player. As this is experimental, we may drop back to one character each if it's just not working (though I don't see why it will). Please create a posting alias for each character. If you have different ideas of how to post then just let me know. Also, I have a preference that all characters be from Trunau and have relationships with everyone there. While I haven't banned foreigners/travelers completely, I have tried to mechanically reward characters with backgrounds from Trunau. Please take into consideration the homebrew rule: "Big Six Replacement". There will not be +2 through +5 weapons and armor, or headbands and belts but more automatic bonuses through level progression. Level: Start at Level One
Background and Personality
Relationships in Trunau If your character is from Trunau, please summarize relationships with NPCs, if any relationship exists. Main NPCs Jagrin Grath: Patrol Leader and father of Rodrid and Kurst Rodrik Grath: town militiaman and locally known play write and poet. Twin brother of Kurst. Well liked and popular in Trunau. Kurst Grath: more reserved brother. Member of the militia. Cham Larringfass: owner of Trunau's inn, the Ramblehouse Halgra: town mayor, used to be an adventurer, has half-orc children "Optional" NPCs There are many NPCs described in the player handbook. For example, if a character is a wizard then they could apprentice for Agrit Staginsdar at the House of Wonders. You might also know Sara Morninghawk since they are married.
For...discussion. Headhunting recruitment post to follow.
Hordshyrd, I think that's a great idea. Also, let's have the next day start on 9/23 since we haven't rolled too far yet.
Yeah, thought I was going to be able to post at work more often. Things'll pick back up for me soon.
Galen Valdemar puts one hand to his face and another to his side in a gesture of thought. He scans Alic from head to toe, his eyes pausing for a moment at the hilt of a sword on Alic’s belt. Finally he speaks: ”I find it difficult to refuse a paying patron. Especially one who seems to have some sense about him. Besides, it’s best to get to know each elf in town. Follow me, I know which inn you’re referring to. We’ll chat on the way. The name’s Galen Valdemar in case you hadn’t heard.” Valdemar is dressed in artisan’s clothing and not quite like a nobleman. The sharp angle of his eyebrows exhibit a constant glare, so it looks like the only way to read his face is from the nose down. Galen Valdemar leads Alic towards Uptown. ”I won’t bore you with anything too lengthy. I’m assuming you don’t know much about Sandpoint, you being an elf and I can’t say I recognize you. But we Valdemars are one of the four founding families of Sandpoint. Not a big deal, but my older brother runs the Sandpoint shipyard.” He drivels on about his seemingly unimportant family history. Alic and Valdemar reach the front of the White Deer Inn. There are two beautiful wooden sculptures of stags on each side of the entrance. The Inn stands three stories tall with a stone first floor and wooden upper floors. Alic & The White Deer Inn: Upon entering, the inn seems desolate. Alic and Valdemar take a seat at the currently unattended bar. Valdemar looks around the empty room. Then says to Alic in a hushed tone, ”Say, are you looking for some kind of work? I don’t mean to judge a book by its cover, but your cover's title says How to Get Things Done: The Condensed Version written by, eh, what's your name again? Sorry, I feel like I haven't let you get a word in."
Sorry guys, busy weekend. I will climb back into this sandbox soon. I think we may stretch each game day out to two weeks instead of one.
Madeleine: Madeleine successfully creates an iron skillet of good quality, using up 3sp of raw materials in the process.
To Alic, the townsfolk returns a smile. "Busy time here in Sandpoint. It all just depends on what you fancy. I'll tell you this much, don't go into the Fatman's Feedbag. Worst tavern in town. You might lose some valuables in that place." The man raises a hand with two missing fingers. "Scarni," he says, as if describing a disease. "If you're the adventuring sort then maybe head out to a tavern and stir up some trouble. Like Galen said, we even got orcs in our inns now."
Galen Valdemar seems to focus on points economic in nature and disparages the current work of Mayor Deverin in tactful ways. Galen has the pale skin and sharp eyebrows typical of someone from a Chelaxian familiy. Valdemar suddently get's louder and raises a hand with a finger pointing to the sky as if scolding the gods. "But let me assure you, this complacency with security will be the end of Sandpoint as we know it. Desna weeps! We even harbor orcs at our inns. At this rate, we'll be supping with goblins and ogres. And by that I mean, we will be their dinner." To this, some of the crowd applauds, some chuckle, but mostly the mob is beginning to dissipate and people going about their daily lives. A few line up to talk to Valdemar in smaller conversations. He seems approachable and available for more private questioning.
In response to Madeleine's inquiry, the city watchman’s nose twitches and his eyes dart back and form between Madeleine and Galen Valdemar. Obviously, the watchman is attempting to listen in but he quickly gives Madeleine his undivided attention. ”Suppose you could set up in the market for now. Plenty of room there. I can ignore ya’ for a few days but eventually someone will complain and you’ll have to report to the Mercantile League. Jasper’ll do you good there. Maybe fix you up with a loan if your competition don’t find out first. The League's over by the docks.” The watchman stands on his toes to get a better look in the cart. "Looks like you're some kinda' blacksmith. That or you're training to be a miner. Or the opposite of a maid." He focuses his attention back on Galen Valdemar and then glances back at Madeleine. "If you're gonna' be making some kinda' shoddy forge then maybe set up where the kids aren't playing. Ya?"
Heie in the Rusty Dragon Inn: An odd man, his mouth slightly ajar and an overall stupefied look, stares awkwardly at Heie for a few moments before taking a seat next to Heie. The man smells of ale though isn’t armed with a drink. His head sways as if he’s on a ship while he tries to get a closer look at Heie’s armor. “Say…what kinda’ material is that? Did Korvut make that for ya’?” he asks. “It’s called kikko. Kikko armor.”Answers Ameiko Kaijitsu from behind the bar. Ameiko, appearing to be either the owner or an employee, is a pretty woman with seemingly rare Tian heritage as evidenced through her dark hair and exotic eyes. While still as beautiful as ever, puffy bags under her eyes imply another long night. ”It’s like…uh…chainmail.” ”Keekoo? Keyaku?” the man attempts. ”Close enough,” replies Amieko. ”So you some kind of warrior, then?” another patron asks, this one much more collected. Without waiting for an answer, he continues, ”You should talk to the Sheriff. We’re down to about…” The patron looks up into the air reciting names to himself and counting from his fingers."Four full-time guards. Town of our size should have way more. Heard the Sherrif’s doing some recruiting. Maybe you can collect some goblin ears with your…” The patron examines Heie’s exotic katana, ”…sword?” ”Close enough,” repeats Amieko. ”He’s right though. We could use some more but the town's budget is a bit tight. Sheriff Hemlock is usually up by the Garrison. That’s in Uptown on Mainstreet.” Ameiko seems to scrub the bar while the odd man begins to nod asleep into a pool of his own saliva.
For future reference are we going to be using any of the good, capitol, or labor systems from the Downtime Rules or are we doing everything by straight gp? Great question. I hope to have a final answer for that by Day 2 (9/16).
Each day will have some events, assumed to be advertised by signage around town and well known to all. The rumors are discussed around town and you can either assume your character knows these rumors already or you can roleplay actually hearing them. Beta trade rules: Characters can take their highest modifier of charisma, intelligence or wisdom and multiply by a dice roll indicated below based on the item purchased or sold. The result can then be used to reduce the purchase price or increase the sales price (whichever to the player's advantage). Example: Character Y wants to buy a pound of pepper today. She has a CHA of 3, a WIS of 1, and a INT of 4. She multiplies 4 by a 1d4 roll and subtracts the result from current day's market value. One pound of wheat: none
Market prices vary by day.
It's a bit early, but I suspect we'll need the extra time and it'll give a chance those without characters to join in on the first day. Feel free to introduce your character as either just arriving or doing whatever. Second day will be 9/16
Sandpoint is a small town on the Varisian Coast. Most of the buildings are single-story, constructed of wooden walls, wooden roofs, and stone foundations. The dirt, hardpack streets make for decent transportation by foot or horseback. Not even the light wagons, drawn by mule or ox, of the hinterland farmers kick up much dust. While there is some activity, the town remains quiet and conversations prone to eavesdropping. Sandpoint divides into Uptown and Downtown. Uptown—not so cleverly named due to the literal exaltation of the buildings on a level bluff on the north side—is less crowded. Downtown resides on an easy slope running down into the harbor and river. Most Hinterland residents enter into Downtown through the southern and eastern entrances, both wooden bridges over the Turandarok River. Also containing the Harbor, Downtown seems much more active than Uptown. Besides, most residents believe that Uptown lacks anywhere to get a proper drink, an opinion that Garridan of the White Deer Inn would dispute. A fifteen-foot stone wall and a gatehouse ostensibly protect the northern entrance. Gregor, an elderly one-legged guard, greets visitors amicably during the day. While Sheriff Hemlock assures of Gregor’s constant vigilance, most residents will be satisfied if Gregor will just hop over to the alarm bell and clang it a few times before a goblin raid. The cordial and industrious people of Sandpoint greet one another in the streets by first name. Strangers and visitors are welcomed unless sporting goblinoid or aberrant features. Public magic users elicit uncomfortable glances from commoners, but are not arrested outright. The residents are mostly Varisian with a few clear lines of Chelaxian descent among the wealthier humans, while other common races regularly do business in town. Many of the commoners only speak Varisian but the shopkeepers and anyone involved in politics or trade speaks fluent Taldan (common). Today’s Date: 7 Pharast, 4711
Today’s Events:
Future Events:
Rumors:
Market: A huge shipment from Qadira drove the price of linen way down. Price in copper pieces. One pound of wheat 5
**Post for future use**
For rules/guidelines and out of character discussion.
Kyleah, these Downtime Rules might be helpful for you, even if just to make your system better. Thanks Monkeygod. I really like these downtime rules...I'm trying to think of how to best to integrate this system.
I would like to accept everyone for now. So far there aren't an overwhelming amount of entries. Adara Lavariss; Varisian Bard
Since it looks like we've got a few characters good to go as well as others with an eye on this, I would like to start the first day on Monday, September 9th. Anyone with a character that's in Sandpoint is welcome to hop in. I want to reinforce that this should be an RP heavy game and I hope a lot of rping between characters. Character creation should be RP rather than battle based. I recommend that each character have a profit generating profession of some sort so that way if you miss several weeks then you can roll for wages and be making money while in "vacation mode". We'll also have a trade goods system in which the prices of goods will vary day to day. Your characters will be able to buy or sell these at profits or losses, while using their INT, WIS, or CHA modifiers (whichever is highest) to get bonuses. I doubt many people will take a stab at this but it just adds another dimension to this whole thing and isn't much work on my part.
My suggestion so far would be to use this for your reference document. Or this one works too, since it's a good deal wider in information. I think that's an excellent idea, thanks. I will probably update in the first discussion board post. How intense will the dungeon crawls be? Trying to figure out what sort of class would be best suited for this. I will probably play an Elf Ranger or a Halfling Rogue, since it has been a long time since I played a Tolkien-esque character. I can't imagine that I will make intense dungeon crawls, but I hope that I will anyway. I 100% support characters that require 4 breakfasts.
Thanks to ShadowyFox's suggestion above, I think we'll be able to open up other class options listed in d20. Does your game have any need for a samurai or a ranger? Because if so, I would be more than interested in joining up. I hope that this game will not need anything. You can make any class you want to. It's just that with my character concept I have no use for poisons or physically buffing myself... I want to be all mind focused We can work something out. My main concern is you playing something you want to roleplay.
I am super interested. Dotting! What are we doing for traits? Standard two traits, anything from the PRD. I believe you already did that for Adara above.
I'd prefer if you stick with one archetype as I don't have the system mastery to work that out in a fair way.
I made a grave error in assuming everyone was familiar with Sandpoint. Since every character should essentially be new to town, it's less important to get bogged into details during character creation. Brief Intro to Sandpoint
Greetings! I would like to begin a Sandpoint Sandbox PBP “Campaign” that is character driven and MMORPG inspired. Instead of a campaign, this is more of a setting. For example, I will not be coercing players to form a party to accomplish a specific task. I will plant little seeds for typical adventures, but a character could literally be mundane as can be if the player so chooses (go to work, roleplay that or not; go to the inn for drinks, roleplay that or not; walk home drunk, singing songs about Aroden—awesome!). Basically, my intention is for this to be a roleplay heavy game for anyone, and an adventure/dungeon crawler for few. There are pros and cons to this idea, but it may be nice place for someone to have a character that you can hop into and roleplay a bit without much of a commitment to a party or an adventure path, though some—I hope—will head down that route. I've drafted some "rules", but I would really like board feedback especially from those that have tried this already. Rules:
As much as I’d love to have none, for this to work we’re going to have to have a few. Books: Let’s try and stick with materials available on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Reference Document. I can’t afford to buy and read everything. Go Home: If you don’t like what’s going on, your character can go “home”. NPCs cannot interact with your character when they go home and neither can other player characters. This solves vacation issues as well as gives someone an out if they don’t like roleplaying with someone else. Home can be a room in an inn, a shanty somewhere, a tent outside of Sandpoint, anywhere a recent immigrant without much wealth might live. The Go Home power can’t be used to escape negative consequences (just snatched that lady’s purse and the guards are about to pound you…sorry, go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not go home). Player versus Player: Only between consenting players. That is, your character may not want to fight, but the player may. I would need to see both players agree in the discussion section. Fight may continue to the death with player consent. Battle must occur either outside of town or inside a private(ish) building so as not to interrupt other roleplaying. Sandpoint Based: Until I’m more comfortable, don’t have your character leave the Sandpoint area. Obviously, you can go to the surrounding wilderness and dungeons after discovering their location via role play, but no trips to Korvosa or Magnimar or wherever yet. Time: We’re going to have to be nimble with time. Some scenes will be progressing in slow motion while others going through hours in just a few posts. I will start the game with a week in real time lasting for one day in game time. Perhaps your last or first post of the week should summarize how your character ended the last day and where they’re starting in the new day. Players outside of the city of Sandpoint will go through time differently. I will try to make a post on Monday mornings signifying the next day has arrived and maybe an intro to the goings on in the city.
Guidelines:
Party by Post In the discussion section, list your likely posts per day or week. Try to stick to other characters with similar posting patterns without breaking the roleplaying narrative. Mind Ya’ Business If another party is roleplaying in an indoor location, then leave them alone unless it really makes sense for your character to appear. Roleplaying in the streets of Sandpoint should be thought of as a public activity and anyone should be able to interject or observe. Spoilers by Party or Location To help clean up the message board, once it’s pretty clear you are in a “party” with someone else, or at least heading towards a clear goal together, then put your whole post in a spoiler, aptly titled something appropriate for the group you’re in. Or if you’re in a building/private location, then title your spoiler by where you are. Formatting Regular text for character actions and other goings on. Italics for our Pulitzer prize winning inner monologues. “Bolded quotes for dialogue.”
Character Creation:
Level 1, 15 point buy, starting wealth by class, full health for first level, let’s start with only core races for now Alignments All alignments are okay with some restrictions on evil. Lawful evil are okay in moderation. If we have a game of 15 people going, then we shouldn’t have more than 2 or 3. Chaotic evil characters are only okay when paired with a Lawful Evil, and the Lawful evil is clearly the boss instructing the chaos. We’ll tread lightly with the evil characters and I reserve the right to have an epic Paladin NPC show up and smite them all if they are getting out of hand. Background All PCs should be coming to Sandpoint from somewhere else, for whatever reason. It would be difficult for me to work in PCs with native Sandpoint backgrounds.
So let me now what you think. I'd like to get at least 3 interested folks before starting. |