Heroslayer's page

Early Pathfinder Experiences

Initially I tried running Pathfinder as a natural progression from custom D&D 3.8 house rules firstly in the Outsea setting and then briefly in the city of Absalom. When I run games I really enjoy designing my own campaigns and rarely use premade material, so when I hadn't been feeling inspired for some time after being the one who was usually the GM one of the other guys in our group offered to run one of the Pathfinder Adventure Paths. As far as I'm concerned this is something I'd never have wanted to do myself, no matter how good the material, simply because the creative outlet of campaign design is far more enjoyable to me personally given the amount of time one ends up investing in these games. Obviously though we were never going to get a true feeling for Pathfinder without actually playing an Adventure Path, as this seems to be the defining characteristic of the game. Indeed conformity into this common culture appears to be a driving force in general and why the setting of Outsea appeals to me so much as a place that challenges norms and really tries to find something unique, a key trait of China Mieville's. Anyway, so the idea of being a player for a while nevertheless appealed, and as an amusing echo of the Outsea Campaign I had been infrequently running I created an aquatic elf character for Rise of the Runelords.

RISE OF THE RUNELORDS
---------------------

Characters in our Campaign;

Zerrin Stormtide - Aquatic Elf Druid

Lady Tessara - Elf Witch

Argus Peabody - Human Magus

Ricgold Dryadson - Human Rogue

Wex - Human cleric of Desna

Lehhi Greyanvil - Dwarven Inquisitor

Tino Scarletti - Human Fighter

CAMPAIGN BEGINNINGS
-------------------
Our GM got things started with the module Murder's Mark which provided a good chance to roleplay and interact during the initial representation of our characters and the formation of the group. Most of our characters were then bound together by mishap as a lead-in to the adventure path.

KEY FEATURES
------------
Most of the characters were initially submitted to the GM in digital format via a spreadsheet on Googledocs. We have been using Rolld20 and Google Hangouts to incorporate players who cannot be there in person but are still available to play. The prevalence of material for the chosen adventure path has been convenient for adding tile-maps to Rolld20, which our GM has combined with LCD monitor screens lying face-up on the gaming table to create a digital gameboard. The preference so far has been to continue to use actual miniatures on top of this , combining hand-painted miniatures for most of the characters, Rise of the Runelords minis & other miniatures in support. So far Zerrin and Wex have hand-sculpted miniatures made and painted by their respective players.

AT PRESENT
----------
Currently we are about to engage in battle against Warchief Ripnugget and his goblin forces at Thistletop, having already defeated Nualia & Malfeshnekor. Most of our characters have only just reached level 3.

The Guide to the River Kingdoms indicates that the population of Outsea is some 6,700 individuals, of which 36% are Sahuagin , 34% are Merfolk , 20% are Humans, 5% are Elves and the remaining 5% covers everyone else. The ruling body of the city, known as the Council of Inhuman Generals, consists of leaders who are Ceratiodi, Merfolk, Naga, Sahuagin, Sea Hags, Skum & Tritons. Players are first encouraged to consider playing one of these mentioned races and will require extra work & flexibility to accommodate or adapt. The advantage here is that your players are going to be doing something hopefully quite different to what they have tried before, even if they have been role-playing for many years. Something I find a little inconsistent is that one would expect the ratio of unusual races to be much higher for a setting conceived by China Mieville. I have included below a more extensive list of races that might be offered or included in Outsea as either PCs or NPCs;

Aquatic Elves - Inner Sea World Guide p.25
Ceratiodi - Rivers Run Red [Kingmaker] p.80-81
Cecaelia - Fell Beasts Volume 2
Cetaceal - Pathfinder Bestiary 2 p.17
Chuul - Bestiary p.46
Cindarians - Cerulean Seas p. 38
Elves - Pathfinder Core Rulebook p.22
Humans - Pathfinder Core Rulebook p.27
Karkanaks - Cerulean Seas p. 28
Locathah - Bestiary 2 p.179
Merfolk - Bestiary p.204
Merrow - Bestiary 2 p.189
Sahuagin - Bestiary p.239
Nereid - Bestiary 2 p.178
Nixies - Cerulean Seas p.35
Sea Hags - Bestiary p.243
Selki - Cerulean Seas p.36
Skum - Bestiary p.253
Tritons - Bestiary 2 p.270
Undine - Bestiary 2 p.275
Water Naga - Bonus Bestiary p.14
Zoverai - AD&D 2nd Ed. Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix

If this isn't enough choice, try allowing your players the opportunity to create their own unique race with a suitable back-story for why they are present in Outsea. Of course there is no point re-inventing the wheel so if one of the above races seems appealing then it might be easier to use whatever information that race already has as a springboard.

With races such as Ceratiodi, Chuul, Merrow & Nereid and perhaps others care must be taken to avoid imbalance with other characters. Adapting such races to workable PC ones may be quite challenging, but also has the potential to be very rewarding, especially if done well. Other types of aquatic creatures might be encountered as monsters or may be specifically excluded.

Races I am specifically excluding as available PC races are;

Aboleth - Bestiary p.8
Gillmen - Inner Sea World Guide p.310
Ixitxachitl - ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixitxachitl
Kuo-toa - ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuo-toa

The ancient rivalry between the Ceratiodi and the Aboleth is the reason that no Aboleth or Gillmen are to be found in Outsea. Unlike the Gillmen however the Skum here are no longer slaves to the Aboleth. Other races such as those found in the Cerulean Seas Campaign Guide have not been included as I felt they did not necessarily blend in as well with the overall feel of Outsea. Naturally, personal tastes vary in regards to such matters.

I am using my campaign as an opportunity to collaboratively develop these races with my players for an organic and more personalized feel. This is something I hope will make the game taste more like a China Mieville story. I highly encourage anyone else using Outsea to try this approach, hopefully your players enjoy it!

CHARACTERS THAT HAVE SO FAR APPEARED IN MY CAMPAIGN INCLUDE;

Kelp of the Black Ice Clan - Sahuagin Summoner
Urgurgurgl - Sahuagin Monk
Tchak-tck-gaag - Sahuagin Ranger
Hadrathas - Human Cleric of Gozreh

Hi, welcome to the first entry of my gaming group's Pathfinder Campaign Journal!

This campaign has actually been our play-test of the Pathfinder RPG system, as up until not long ago we have been running with our own customized version of D&D 3.5 (I was actually calling it D&D 3.8). We began blending in elements of Pathfinder to our D&D game, in particular the expanded options from the Advanced Players Guide which is a fantastic accessory. The artwork of Wayne Reynolds and other highly gifted artists also made Pathfinder very appealing. Another aspect that caught our attention was the cameo contribution of speculative fiction author China Mieville in the Guide to the River Kingdoms. Endeavoring to extrapolate upon his unique style is both inspiring & challenging. I have been running roleplaying games since 1991 & have found that China's bold vision of non-conformity and the avoidance of fantasy stereotypes is an excellent imperative for creating a fresh creative experience. China's contribution with his curious Outsea ideas gave us a very interesting place to explore and personalize in the world of Golarion. Thanks to everyone in the RPG world for upholding the realms of interactive imagination!

Best regards, Heroslayer.