Pale Stranger

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Mila Ekanheart wrote:
Only one tip, since you said you are new to the Online GM business: It is faster when you roll our Initiative checks... this way, when we post we already know what to do and just a 'check'. This generally will save us a day each combat.

Good to know. I shall endeavor to keep that in mind.

I know that the real world intrudes often and I want to reach a pace that is comfortable to everyone, while also progressing the story. If you have any thoughts/criticisms don't hesitate to let me know.


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Uret Jet wrote:
The Metara is an enigmatic amorphic mass that vaguely resembles a quadrupedal creature, and likely has fur. This is how I picture it.

For some reason this made me picture slimer from ghost busters in a fur jacket

For the record: Metera appear similar to a large reindeer or caribou. They are naturally more intelligent and isiosyncratic than most other beasts, and legend has it that the first Metara manifested from the spirit world to allow the Tonah faithful to survive in the harsh climate. While horses have been adopted due to being less choosy; many Luthanders view horses riders as weak willed.


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I have decided to go ahead with my homebrew adventure: Trail of the Curseborn, a gothic horror adventure in a ruined world. This will use pathfinder rules but is not set in Golarion.
I want 4-5 players looking for a game that focuses on story and atmosphere over hack-and-slash. I will be choosing characters largely based on interesting back stories and a commitment to contributing to the world as it develops.

Setting:

The continent of Korvare was in the middle of a golden age until the dead rose up to wage war upon the living. In a matter of years the population was decimated into a mere fraction of its former numbers and even the optimistic soul thought the end of the world was nigh. However, just as mysteriously as they rose, most of the dead returned to their repose leaving humanity to reclaim what little they could of the old world. The world was forever changed as the veil between the living and the dead had torn allowing the migration of spirits to this world with relative ease.
This happened 30 years ago. The only world you have known has been a haunted one. Humanity ekes out a living in isolated regions clutching close to superstition as the last ward provided them. What civilization does exist is usually under control by petty despots and bandit kings desperate to grab whatever power they can before death rips it from their clutches.
You can be a light in this darkness. An individual that can fight back against the marauding dead, the witch covens, evil men and fickle spirits but it will not be easy. Your spirit shall be tested more often than you steel and the world has become a grave for foolish heroes.

Our Story Begins:

You were at the battle when Dead-Hand Uberan unleashed his army of killers, thieves, and rapists upon the ill-equipped town of Mistcrest. You may have taken up arms with the people, you may have attempted to lose yourself in the forest, or you may have attempted to save what few people you could but it did not matter as you yourself get cut down like an animal on the street.
You did think there would be another memory to make; save maybe the bone adorned halls of the dead…but you were wrong. There was cold, the type of cold that cuts like a invisible knife trying to separate muscle from bone. You were in water. A brackish water that tasted foul as it tempted to pry open your lips and steal whatever life still clung to you. You pulled yourself free and upon breaking the surface you see the mansion. A vestige of the old world brought about by opulent wealth but now looked…broken and hollow.
You know one thing: you’re alive. No spiritual form could feel as old and frail as you do at this moment but the question is; where are you now?

Character Creation:

• 5th level characters
• Maximum HP at first level. ½ +1 at each level thereafter
• 25 point buy for statistics. No stat below 8.
• Automatic Bonus Progression equal to your level +3. Magic items are incredibly rare
• 2 skill points per level for background skills
• You only start with common and the language of your people at first level.
• Only Humans are allowed as player characters (See ethnic groups below)
• You start with a sanity score equal to 5x your wisdom. You can take Trauma and a loss of beginning sanity to start with a magic item or with a bonded spirit. Note: Most of the extrinsic magical aid you will receive will come from spirits you bond with. This is not a spiritualist phantom.
Classes
No Antipaladins, Ninjas or Sammurai: Not campaign appropriate
No Arcanists, Maguses, Summoners or Wizards: The high arts of magic are lost to time. Since after the fall of the Calavesti, the practice of arcana has been viewed with suspicion and hostility. Sorcerers and Witches, who develop their talent without reliance on conventional study, are still playable

One Faith: There is only one organized religion on mainland Korvare and that is the worship of The Saraten. Before the rising the empire was in a state of enlightenment, rejecting the old faiths to focus on the burgeoning philosophies. After the fall: The Saraten Faith, bolstered by the efforts of an uncompromising faithful, rose to prominence in the midlands. In many ways this faith is similar to Catholicism during the Dark Ages. Clerics, Warpriests, Inquisitors and Paladins are likely to be fanatics dedicated to expunging every trace of sin from this world (see the spirituality of the Alvanen)

Unchained Rogues

No 3rd party classes

ethnic groups:

Luthander
Appearance:
Lutheranders are upwards of a head taller than most southerners with robust frames and pale skin. Their hair is fair in color and worn long. They are often characterized as being “unkempt” by southerners and they tend to have a racial focus on function over form.
There is a saying north of Rogue’s Ridge: “Never trust an unscarred man.” Luthanders do not adorn their bodies much with jewelry but wear there scars with pride. It fits in with their belief that their body be testament to the accomplishments of their life. Nowhere is this more apparent than in their tradition of painting themselves before battle, so, should they die, their ancestors will know what they have done without a word needing spoken.
Culture:
Luthanders are a proud people with a cultural history dating back millennia. This is kept by their Skalds who are not only expected to entertain but also to educate the young in their history. What surprises many outsiders listening to their tales is the shortage of names. In the beliefs of the Luthander, speaking the proper name of a dead person causes that person to stir from their rest and disturbs the harmony of the long sleep. Consequently, the names of hated individuals make for swear words so they may never know rest.
The culture of the Luthander is remarkably egalitarian with both sexes being treated equally. This is due to their belief in the balance of forces; men possessing the masculine Kath, while women contain Pala. Every tribe is ruled by both a man and a women, although marriage is unheard of in their culture. Sex is simply considered a pleasurable act to be engaged with whomever is willing and has no more significance than that.
Technologically the Luthanders are quite behind the developments of the Alvanen. Their lack of black powder weapons is what ultimately led to their defeat and the annexing of their lands by the empire. Left to their own devices Northmen live as a simple agricultural society. The domestication of a species of caribou known as the Metara has shaped their entire culture. Not only does the Metara provide meat and milk, it is also their riding beast of choice. The relationship of a Luthander and Metara is one of mutual respect.
Spirituality:
To the Luthander the world is a constant state of conflict between invisible spiritual forces. From Kath and Pala, to good and evil, and even the balance between the two moons in the sky. For there to exist growth there must be conflict but should conflict go unbound it would destroy the world as we know it.
Every living thing has a spirit and these spirits belong to a dizzying number of sects depending on their role in the constant conflict of creation. While there are no complicated prayers to placate these beings, there are simple rules of etiquette. The simplest is the need to ask the trail’s admittance before taking the first step upon any journey. If one forgets to do this, certaintly the trail will twist and turn and leave you hopelessly lost.
There exists no formal magical tradition amongst the Luthander. It is understood that all those showing signs of shamanic talent shall be left to the wilds, because if a family wishes to harbor such an individual the wild will come to claim its own. The history of the Luthander is rife with tales of children being taken by strange beasts in the night, or lighting being guided by some unknown hand to slaughter an entire tribe while leaving a single special child untouched.

Alvanen
Appearance:
The empire builders are a small, lithe lot and are quick of wit and tongue. They rarely exceed about 5 and a half feet in height. Their hair is usually brown or black with lighter tones indicating some northern heritage.
Culture:
Before the ancestors of the Alvanen forced made landfall on Korvare, they made harbor in the lost island and met a mysterious figure known as Alvara. A woman of surpassing beauty and magical talent who allowed the newcomers to stay for nine years. The time was passed with the woman instructing the wisest individuals in the ancient philosophies and the laws of the craft. It was said that she personally crowned the first arch mages but always cautioned that arcana is a tool of the enlightened and should never be used as a weapon of war.
Even during the barbaric ages the lessons of Alvara were never forgotten and the Calavesti dynasty can be seen as the first attempt at bringing her ideal society to life. Of course, Calavesti reaped the whirlwind of its demon binding and magical hedonism, but that was merely a setback to the Alvanen. The Alvanen Empire was supposed to be a more pure interpretation, wherein magic was eschewed in favor of a focus on understanding the world as it is.
At the height of the Empire the Alvanens developed firearms, harnessed the secrets of alchemy, and established the beginnings of democracy. The empire might all be ash now but nobody feels the loss more than an Alvanen. Even in their fractured hamlets, ruled as they are by often petty barons and arbitrary laws, the southerners pine for the lost knowledge of the golden age.
While survival is still the struggle faced by many in the new age, Alvanens also attempt to cultivate some forward momentum. Knowledge is the most important thing and the search for lost arts is what most often compels an Alvanen to a life of adventure.
Spirituality:
After the fall of Calavesti and the great purge of the Witchborn, the attitude towards most forms of spirituality was one of either fear or contempt. The Alvanens pride themselves on logic and the faculties of reason. While no person can deny the existence or power of magic, it is a force to be distrusted.
Post-rising the belief in the Saraten religion has become dominant in the south. Saraphytes believe that humanity long ago turned from the flowing scripture that is written in the waters of creation and flows from the well of all things. It was this hubris that caused the destruction of Calavesti and the Rising and until we turn our backs on the temptations of sin, we shall know no peace.
On first joining the order a Saraphyte imbibes ash water, a process that can only be described as agony itself, whereupon they divulge every last detail of any transgressions they have committed in their entire life. These are written in each acolytes “Book of Sin” which they are expected to carry with them always and to show to anyone upon request. A Saraphyte can have no secrets.
The Saraten religion as a whole preaches the evils of magic, base needs of the flesh, false gods and the constant threat of the whisperer. A Saraten Inquisitors life is a restless search to bring fire to the countless witches whose black magic erodes the soul of humanity.

Calivan
Appearance
The wandering gypsies exude an inviting exotic allure with dark complexions and haunting smiles. Their most notable feature is their acidic green/yellow eyes that pierces the soul with but a gaze. Outsiders point to this as proof of their demonic lineage tracing back to debased Calavesti.
The Calivan dress in clothes lined with strange symbols that are indecipherable to outsiders. These symbols are a mix of secret code and protective mysticism that is unique to each individual. The color purple is of special significance in their dress and seems to be something binding them to the Purple Dynasty in the early days of the Calavesti Empire.
Culture:
The life of a Calivan gypsy is not an easy one. They are on a constant pilgrimage from site to site along an ancient path of the ley ways. At each site they perform rituals whose meanings are lost to history by now but must be fallowed without fail. Building a life around this ludicrous journey requires a certain gift for improvisation which has earned them a reputation as thieves and witches.
To the nomadic folk magic is part of who they are. Their ties to lost Calavesti is what gives them pride and a sense of purpose but puts them at odds with the Saraten, who have come close to declaring all Calivan as enemies of the faith.
In the old days they gave communities the gift of mystery. Offering to foresee the future or help to win the gift of a potential lover’s heart with a bit of magical aid. In truth, despite the fact that arcane magic manifests in a Calivan at a much higher rate than the standard population, most of this was stage magic and a silver tongue and while they may not be welcome, at least they were tolerated.
Calivan caravans are a mix of families traveling in their large wagons from place to place. The first loyalty of every gypsy is to their people everyone else comes second. The highest ranks in their society belong to those who possess the gift and can see the trails that they must follow. These individuals Emcha (Male) or Elcha (Female) which translates to “Blood Father” or “Blood Mother” referring to the magic within their blood. Vials of the blood of every individual born with the gift is kept in special containers within each caravan.
Spirituality:
The toils of this life are to keep the magic in balance until Alvara can return. While the Alvanen interpret her teachings as a philosophy on life, the Calivan see her preaching the true ways of magic and the eventual migration of their spirits to dance in the beyond. The “beyond” is very open to speculation but the idea is becoming one with the very requiem of creation.
The blood collection is central belief as Alvara will be born to one of the Calivan in the next great age of magic and upon her brow a drop of blood from every one of her favored children shall be anointed upon her. She will then rise up as Queen unquestioned to destroy all false artifice upon this world and rebuild Calavesti as it should have been.


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You are shivering as you walk each shaky step towards the manor. Your have no idea how you got to this place or how you came to nearly drown in the dark waters in the first place. All that matters now, is to find warmth and shelter from the unnameable dread that seems to be eating at the inside of your bones.
The manor is an old world construction of grim portent. Its stern visage does not nothing to calm your mangled nerves and your imagination catches on every shadow as you draw your sore body up the stone steps. You don't have time to reach for the door, your not entirely sure you had the gut...but it swings open all the same.

Thinking about possibly starting up a pathfinder game in a gothic horror setting of my own creation. It is set 30 years after an event known as "The Rising" in which the dead rose and tore down the world of the living. Since that most of the dead have returned to rest but left the world irrevocably changed. . The veil between the world of the living and the world of the best has been torn, allowing spirits to readily traffic in the living world.
The empire of the old world is no more; instead humans are spread out in isolated hamlets and small cities, ready prey for the hungry denizens of the dark. This haunted world is most likely the only world your character has ever known. Fear and uncertainty is something you have grown up with your entire life.
If I decide to run the game, I will be looking for 4-5 5th level characters. I will be utilized the automatic bonus progression with the characters treated as 3 levels higher due to complete lack of magic items. Magic items are incredibly rare and potent, but your character will have the ability to bond with spirits granting many magical boons.

Characters:

These are some early notes.
Playable Races: Human beings are the only civilized race in Korvare. The beings of Undermountain (The Fey) are inscrutable, given to petty mischief at best and outright malevolence at worst. While the painted men of the north are known to ocaisionally lay with such creatures, any resulting half-breed would be wise to hide away from the eyes of the fearful.
Class changes:
No Arcanists, Maguses, Summoners or Wizards: The high arts of magic are lost to time. Since after the fall of the Calavesti, the practice of arcana has been viewed with suspicion and hostility. Sorcerers and Witches, who develop their talent without reliance on conventional study, are still playable
One Faith: There is only one organized religion on mainland Korvare and that is the worship of The Saratan. Before the rising the empire was in a state of enlightenment, rejecting the old faiths to focus on the burgeoning philosophies. After the fall: The Saratan Faith, bolstered by the efforts of an uncompromising faithful, rose to prominence in the midlands. In many ways this faith is similar to Catholicism during the Dark Ages. Clerics, Warpriests, Inquisitors and Paladins are likely to be fanatics dedicated to expunging every trace of sin from this world.
Occult classes encouraged: I really like the flavor of the Occult Classes and the fit in well with the setting.