High God of Krynn's page

Show Teaser

The show begins in a dark night as the light of the moon shines down on a frozen lake, giving it a vague illumination. The camera pulls back until you see what appears to be a Grey Ford Focus at the edge of the lake. Standing near it are four figures dressed in winter coats, wearing ski masks and winter caps as appropriate for a cold night in March. By their clothing it appears to be a pair of men and a pair of women. Its hard to tell their ages under their disguises but none of them are particularly tall or well built.

One of the men speaks, "It has been arranged. We merely have to send this vehicle below the ice and the authorities will see it as an accident. We will be free to complete the plan without outside intervention."

The woman next to him says, "But what about the Effigy? We cannot delay too much longer to banish it to a place beyond the reach of others. If the Effigy gets free, it will kill and if it is undone..."

The man raises his hand to silence her and says, "The Wards we placed will hold the Effigy for now. We must wait until the stars are right before we can guarantee that it can be sent where it can never return from but also will not be destroyed by any outside forces. Then we shall be free of that which chained us forever. Now let us complete this plan and return quickly to our homes to set up our proper alibis."

There is a nod between them as they in-cant together a spell that causes the car to roll out onto the ice. Eventually after getting far enough, the man who spoke waves his hand and in-cants arcane words that cause the ice to collapse sending the car sinking into the depths of the lake.

The camera then pulls back quickly as it flies away from the scene and then jump cuts to a forest. There is a picture of what might be a bear cave. Some red arcane symbols are carved into the rocks as well as on a stone in the ground.

The camera pans to a person dressed head to toe in blood red robes highlighted with wreathes of blackened thorns, their face obscured in the darkness of the robe. Its impossible to tell if it is a man, woman or something else. The robed figure points its gloved hand and utters a spell in a dark inhuman voice. Suddenly the wards flare and then burn into the stone turning black instead of maintaining their reddish colour. The camera them pans to the dark cave as the camera goes black and there is a terrible roar of a monster that is heard.

The Title Screen flashes!

Monster of the Week: Nexus Nixes!

Here we can do out of character discussion and character building. To complete character building, we will need to build character links. What players will need to do is ask a question to each other player character using the questions on the sheet or by inventing your own that is relevant to your relationship. This can help with story building and is a reason how your character knows one another and why they might get involved together. It does not have to be a pleasant relationship though and it can be adversarial if that would better describe your connections.

In a world where the supernatural exists, there are lines of power that flow across the world, acting as a form of circultory system for planetry energy. However in specific places on earth there are convergances of Ley Lines, creating regions that attract powerful levels of supernatural actvitity. Some of these include Stonehenge, the Colosseum, the Parthenon, Angkor Wat, the Taj Mahal, The Bermuda Triangle and other locations. A few such places also exist in the west as well though, including one in the middle of North America, an area now occupied by the City of Yorkton.

Before the settlers came to the area the Assiniboine People performed various rites to draw upon the Convergance for power as well as control the flow of supernatural actvity in the area. White settlers were attracted to the land due to the fertile farming grounds which officially is from the commonly found black sand, although in truth the convergance provides very fertile lands for farming. An agreement was made that the settlers could live and work the land but the wooded areas would not be forested, although occasional wood could still be harvested. Unfortunately the coming of white diseaseses decimated the local Assiniboine population and in time the decendents began to forget their old traditions.

Without the proper rituals, eventually the magical wards began to strain and the power of the Convergance became more further known to the world at large. This in turn has attracted supernatural powers benign and sinister to this region over the years, seeking to use the power of the Convergance to further their own goals. Inevitably, innocents have gotten caught in the crossfire. But when trouble rises, there are heroes that rise to save the day. You are those heroes.

Game Concept:

Monster of the Week 2nd edition is a game based on the Appoclaypse World engine. It is ment simulate various supernatural media such as Buffy, Supernatural, Warehouse 13, The X-Files, Hellboy, Ghostbusters and Dresden Files among others. Its a sandbox style game that lets one build one's own mythology based on what the Keeper and the Players rather than any pre-established tropes, although real life mythology can me mixed and matched as appropiate. The player characters will be hunters/investigators seeking to unravel various mysteries that occur in the region of Yorkton Saskatchewan, a city of roughly 16,000 people in the midwest of Canada.

For this game I am leaving it open to what kind of hunter group you want to play. If you want teen drama, the players could all be associated with the local high School, Yorkton High. If you want to be a Winchester family style hunter group holding onto old traditions of monster hunting, that can work. Or you could be a motley crewe of random types working together for a common goal. One restriction is is that no one Playbook can be duplicated. This game will hopefully simulate the feel of a TV/Movie and thus everyone should have a unique role in the group. Unless the group wants to go all Monsterous and "Drak Pack", I'ed perfer a diverse group over one that follows a single trope. As for the Playbooks, they are as follows:

The Chosen: The chosen one, with a special destiny and power to back it up. Example: Buffy (BTVS)

The Expert: A scholar who much about monsters and magic and can be a skilled mentor. Example: Giles (BTVS)

The Flake: A conspiracy theorist, great at putting clues together. Example: Richard Langly from the Lone Gunmen.

The Initiate: Member of an ancient monster-slaying Sect, trained to fight and use magic/prayers. Example: Father Alexander Anderson from Hellsing.

The Monstrous: a monster fighting for the good guys. Example: Angel (BTVS)

The Mundane: you're just a normal regular person mixed up in all of this. Example: Xander (BTVS)

The Professional: You work for an agency that hunts monsters. Example: Riley (BTVS)

The Spooky: A person with magical/psycic powers but is either cursed with them or granted them by some powerful supernatual power. Example: Vanessa from Penny Dreadful.

The Wronged: A person that's lost everything and is revenge-driven and really tough. Example: Dean Winchester from Supernatural.

The Snoop: An intepid reporter/investigator deticated to getting the truth at what's out there. Example: Veronica Mars.

The Summoned: A powerful supernatural entity summoned from another plane who could end up the doom for the world. Example: Hellboy.

The Crooked: A criminal, delinquet or rabble rouser looking to make trouble. Example: Donnie Darko

The Spell Slinger: A practioner of the Arcane Arts that follows the tried and tested forms of wizadry. Example: Harry Dresden from the Dresden Files.

The Divine: You're an Angel, Divine Spirit, or other Celestial Being sent to earth to fight the forces of evil.* Example: Castiel from Supernatural.

* Note: I WILL NOT allow Smite to be taken as a move for the Divine. Having a magic bullet for every monster is a far to powerful an ability as a major part of fighting monsters is investigating and discovering their weakness and utilizing it.

Game Mechanics:

When you do something in the game you perform a move and add or subtract the relevant attributes to a 2d6 roll. On a 6+ you fail the roll or succeed at a hefty price and the Keeper can put a hard move on you to represent the consequences of your failure. On a 7-9, is often a success with conditions. Either you get a reduced effect related to a complete success or you have a complication that occurs in the attempt. A 10+ after modifiers is a qualified success and you get the result that is intended. There is a list of common moves but also playbooks have unique moves that only they can do.

You can get the playbooks and other downloaded material for free at the link below:

http://www.evilhat.com/home/monster-of-the-week-resources/

One thing classes don't cover is some skills which PC's might have learned before becoming an adventurer. One way this could be addressed is allowing the PC to take a single NPC class as a 0th level option. Basically take a single NPC class with skills and abilities of that class to represent what you did before becoming an adventurer. Only apply the skill points (With a max of 1 skill point per level) not any other class abilities. These skills are not class skills though unless your adventurer class also grants them. How does this sound as an option to make PC's more skill oriented at the start?

Something came up in a recent game of Pathfinder. The PC's are playing Way of the Wicked and I felt pretty bad for one of the players who got killed on an utter fluke of the dice. My rolling was hot and a max damage hit followed with a critical hit by a raging and power attacking Barbarian on the group's Antipaladin inflicted so much damage that the PC was instantly killed. The characters being level 7 did not have ready access to Raise Dead or some other caster to actually bring them back. Rather than mess around with the party trying to find a way to bring the Antipaladin back, an unique game thread I came up with actually allowed me a way to allow the PC to come back.

You see, I felt that there should be other "Evil" transformation options than either a Lich or a Vampire for PC's, with one of them allowing a PC to undergo a Devil Transformation route. While becoming a full Devil is outside the scope of the game, the Half-Fiend template is eventually attainable. To do this though the PC requires a pact with one of the Archdevils to act as a "Sponsor" for devilhood and would take part in 4 stages.

1. Getting the actual sponsorship of one of the Archdevils.

2. Performing a major task/sacrifice on behalf of the Archdevil as determined by him. By doing this the PC gets a Hellbrand (a 3.5 feat) as well as a single fiendish feature. However they also have to sacrifice a feat due to the hellish link taking a shard of a person's soul.

3. The next sacrifice involves a LARGE SCALE work of evil enough to impress their Archdevil. By doing this they gain the Half-Fiend template and all the benefits/drawbacks of this. They lose another feat in exchange for this though as they become much less mortal.

4. After MANY years of loyal service and performing many wicked acts for their sponsor the Archdevil may decide to grant full Devilhood to their minion. This is probably outside the scope of most games, probably an epilogue. Nonetheless as most PC's would be Epic Level characters by then, they would become a pretty powerful devil once the transformation is complete.

Anyway, back to the game. The Antipaladin had already completed stage one and had got Baalzebul, Lord of Maladomini, to become his sponsor. Baalzebul curious on the obsession of a certain pit fiend into the affairs of a puny island called Talongarde as well as the nature of this newly risen Deity called Mitra, demanded the Antipaladin to sacrifice a high ranking person of the Church of Mitra so he could claim his/her soul, pry the secrets from its soul as well as have a good plaything to entertain himself, granting the Antipaladin a vile ritual that would send the soul straight to him, bypassing the normal afterlife. Now I had intended him to eventually sacrifice a certain annoying Inquisitor who would show up later. However before his demise he also looked into the High Abbess of the local nunnery as a potential sacrifice.

Due to the pact the Antipaladin made with Baalzebul, the Antipaladin went straight to his throne room when he died. Baalzebul was rather perturbed to see that had died before the job could be done. The Antipaladin pleaded for a chance to go back and get the job done. Baalzebul considered just torturing his soul for all eternity but decided that since the Antipaladin was already corrupt, it wouldn't entertain him that much. Thus he gave the Antipaladin a chance to plead his case to be brought back. With a dam good Diplomacy roll combined with an offer of the Abbess and five other sisters Baalzebul was intrigued. However he demanded an extra sister because he liked the number Seven and he wanted more than what is offered, thus demanding the Abbess and Six Faithful Sisters. The Antipaladin agreed and signed a contract. He'ed have 1 year to do it and if he failed not only would he go back to hell but he'ed be be thrown away by a piece of trash with the other tormented souls and have no elevated status. Thus the Antipaladin signed a contract and Baalzebul resurrected him, bringing him back without any negative levels. Still he now has to do this difficult act of capturing a high-level cleric and six sisters alive so he could perform the ritual to send them to hell.

Now this is just my example but certainly it could be used in other circumstances. As many cannot cast or even have access to Raise Dead until higher levels, is it prudent to perhaps offer PC's an alternative, a divine intervention so long as some important task is done on behalf of the force that brings them back. After all Raise Dead and other spells cost a crapload of money and if the PC's can't afford it there should be alternatives. So what do you think?

I am measuring interest to see if anyone would be interested in playing a Play By Post version of the Misspent Youth RPG.

Misspent Youth is a game where you play as rebellions teens sticking it to the man in a F'ed up future and/or alternate history. It a storytelling game where the players are "Youthful Offenders" (or YO's for short) in a dystopian future run by the "Authority" (otherwise known as The Man). It is a cooperative and competitive game where the Authority (The GM) and the players (The Youthful Offenders) build the world and the reasons why it is F'ed up as well as what dark future may await the world if the Yo's don't do something about it.

The Authority starts out holding most of the cards, by means of their "Systems of Control", the means by which they oppress society. The Yo's on the other hand have "Exploits" which are ways they can counteract the authority's power. This is the core struggle of the game as well as a measure of the Yo's progress in bringing down the Authority. The more the Yo's succeed, the Authority loses grip on its systems of control and the Yo's get more opportunities to use Exploits. On the other hand if the Yo's are on the losing in, the Authority tightens its grip and Exploits become further systems of control. If the Yo's convert all the Authorities systems of control into exploits, they have brought down the Authority. The Yo's can still operate without any exploits but things definitely will be much harder for them as the Authority closes in for the kill.

The Yo's fight the Authority by using their Convictions, using whats best of their youthful vigor fight off the oppressive forces of the Authority. This is done in Scenes, where each session is seven scenes where the Yo's try and achieve their goals while the Authority attempts to oppose them. Usually there is free role play till a point of contention when the Authority stands in their way. The Authority then asks the players "Who is going to stand up?". Then the struggle phase occurs. The Yo's state what they want to gain by winning the struggle while the Authority decides the cost they pay for failure. The Yo's roll the dice (2d6) and claim numbers on the track and then declare the Conviction they're using to fight the Man as well as what in game actions they're taking. Likewise the Authority reacts to what the players to, claiming numbers of his own on the track. If the Yo's rolls one of their numbers, they win the Struggle. If they land on an Authority number however, they lose the Struggle (but have an option to avoid this). As the Authority usually gets 7 as one of their numbers, the odds are often against the Yo's, as it should be considering the forces they are opposing.

If the Yo's lose the Struggle, they not only fail to get their goal, but also has to pay the price of failure. The Authority while it cannot kill players as its stakes, he can put the players in bad situations which can weaken their chances of victory in future scenes. If the players do not want to lose however, they can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by doing a "Sell Out". By selling out, the Yo who chose to do so betrays one of their Convictions and uses an "Authority-Like" method to achieve their goal. The problem of this is, this permanently changes the character as that Conviction changes to a darker version and while it can still be used it will always color the Yo's interactions for the future. It also means that at the end of the campaign they have a better chance of a bad ending. In addition, if a Yo sells out ALL their Convictions, they not only get an automatic bad ending but it triggers the Endgame. At the end of the Session, tally up the number of Systems of Control and Exploits that the Yo's have. If the Yo's have more Exploits than Systems of Control, they still win. If the Authority has an equal or greater number of Systems of Control though then they hold onto power and the Yo's lose the game. As for the sold out individual, they likely become a tool of the Man as they have invested themselves wholly to the ideals of the Authority.

Now if the Yo's win the struggle then they've achieved their goals for the scene and become closer to their goal of defeating the Authority. At the end of a Session, if the Yo's have clearly achieved their goals then they can convert a system of control into an Exploit. If the Authority has clearly stamped out their efforts then an Exploit becomes a new System of Control they can use.

Misspent Youth can be downloaded for free at this link: http://misspentyouth.robertbohl.com/see/

So would anyone be interested in playing a game of Misspent Youth on the boards and do their part to stick it to The Man?

Greetings folks,

I am interested in running a Roll20 game using the Cypher System RPG. Here is the score.

The world that we know has more malleable laws of physics than what we can perceive. In the past centuries, the growth of technology has occurred in leaps and bounds pushing the line further from what might have seemed in the past impossible. In the 19th and 20th centuries the "Mad Sciences" lead to development of the modern conveniences that we enjoy to day. Things however came to a head in the second world war, when the power of the Atom was realized and the threat of nuclear Armageddon became a very real concern. Still this was also an age of science where a larger educated population and the propagation of Science fiction has brought many to push the boundaries of science much further than past ages. In the wake of the Red Scare, an organization called Indigo Technologies was created as a response to the dangers that these news technologies represent.

Indigo Technologies in its pubic persona is a think tank that develops new and advanced technologies for the open market. Behind the scenes however, Indigo and its agents investigate the propagation of "Mad Science" and control or contain the threats they maintains. And indeed, threats of Mad Science are many. Some that need to be released gradually while others threaten the very stability of the world at large. Occasionally the threat of Wormholes, Dimensional Portals, Time Anomalies, Ultraterrstial invasions, Doomsday Devices and other unstable technologies involve direct action from Indigo teams to deal with the threats.

Other than dealing with the threats of Mad Science a new threat has risen in this new age. The human mind has the potential to be a great and powerful weapon and some rare individuals have the power to tap into this potential and wield powerful psionic powers. Indigo Technologies utilize psionic users in their ranks but also seek to cover up and contain those who wield such abilities. For if the world finds out that they exist then mass panic may indeed occur.

Indigo in their job makes use of the most high tech devices they can muster. Using advanced technology, psionic powers and the resources of US government funding the Agents of Indigo are the last and only line of defense for the threats of Mad Science.

Character Creation

In Agents of Indigo, you play as a character that works for Indigo Technologies as a Field Agent. The four roles for the team are Pointman (Warrior), Infiltrator (Explorer), Faceman (Speaker) and Psi-Opp (Adept). If you chose to make an adept you MUST chose one of the following disciplines and take a related focus:

Telepathy, Telekinesis, Technokinesis, Pyrokinesis, Hydrokinesis, Terrakinesis, Electrokinesis, Cryokinesis, Photokinesis, Vitakinesis, Aerokinesis, Absorbsion, Levitation, Clairvoyance or Manifestation.

If you are not an Adept, you must take a focus that is not extraordinary in nature. You can take technology based focus or any focus that allows for some kind of mundane ability as some of your options. Psionics are only emerging in this setting hence why only Adepts can take full blown psionic powers. The only exception to this is if your character has been "Changed" by some kind of Mad Science exposure. If so, please include it in your background and I will decide if it is viable and allow an appropriate focus.

When making your backgrounds, please include at least one instance where you encountered mad science and/or psionics. If you were fundamentally changed by exposure to said mad science, please add it to your background story. Your characters may have done a few cases in the past but are generally new agents to the organization.

So who would be interested to become Agents of Indigo?

In the kingdom of Talingarde, many crimes are punished harshly by the Barcan regime. For those who commit the crimes of the righteous there is a far worse punishment. A sentence to Branderscar Prison has one meaning for you. Your life as you know it has come to an end. You will face the wrath of Hell in this life and the next. Before you were brought to prison, each of you was met by an Asmodian priest who offered you but one way to escape your fate. Repent your righteous behavior and sign your soul to Asmodeus and you would be given a reprieve from your fate. All of you of course refused such an offer but as you see Branderscar on the horizon you wonder if after enduring torture you might reconsider the offer.

Nonetheless even before getting to Branderscar all of you were subject to a combination of flogging, whipping and public humiliation. Still bearing bruises and cuts from your unkind treatment you are taken by prison wagon under constant guard. When you arrive you are then marched toward a bridge and toward the prison that stands on small island surrounded by rough waters. You pass one iron gate at the bridge and then a solid wood gate once you reach the outer wall of the prison itself.

As you enter the gates of Branderscar, a number of guards watch you snickering with glee at the new meat on their doorstep. Taunts, geers and haughty laughter comes from the watching guards as you are paraded through the prison courtyard for their amusement. Some of you consider lashing out but the chains hold you tight. The number of guards and your current weakened state make you reconsider your actions. Maybe it might be a quick death, a mercy to spare you what is to come. Or maybe they'll just whip the fight out of you and leave you broken in a cell and begging for death.

As for the guards their uniforms have the symbol of Branderscar on it but instead of blues they are reds, as appropriate. Otherwise their uniforms are pretty much the same except they have Asmodian symbols on them instead of Mitran symbols.

Before you reach the entrance to the main prison you look up to the highest tower and swear you see someone up there looking down at you from the upper story window. They are too far to see an expression but you can assume that it might be someone of importance to reside up there. Not that you care at this point considering your circumstances.

You are lead through the prison and up some stairs. There you see what looks like a burning forge with crimson fired coals and a cadre of more guards. In front of them stands a plump looking man with jet black hair and dark brown eyes. He seems to have a look of authority to him. He grins widely and says,

"Hey there meat sacks. Welcome to Branderscar you righteous scum."

He snickers and then looks to his men,

"Mark em boys and then chain em in the cells nice and proper. Don't want to have em dying or dead before the head torturer Morden Denholm gets back from the city to do his work. He likes his subjects as hale as possible before breaking them."

The guards salute and say, "Yes Sergeant Blackerly.

With that each of you are grabbed by multiple guards and forced over to the crimson pit of coals where Blackarly himself brands you with the demonic mark on your forearm. Even those who might be resistant to flame are burned by this mark and you get the sense that these coals are not of the normal type but tained with unholy energy of the Hell itself. The mark burns your skin black instead of red with a sight crimson hue and smell of brimstone to it.

Any attempt to fight back is impossible as the room is filled with guards and you're chained. If you even try to do so you get a clubbing taking 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7 non-lethal damage. If you still continue to fight you're beaten unconscious and then branded anyway. If you try and cast any spells they break your jaw and gag your mouth with a dirty rag. So, narrate it if you want but you'll take the consequences. As the Branderscar Prison commonly deals with illegal spellcasters they know what to do if you start flinging spells around. So if it is thematic for your characters to fight then mention it in character, otherwise just let things happen.

All of you are branded, given a through search and then dragged toward the cells of the prison. Each of you are chained to the walls of the cells as well as together. The guards then leave you alone in your cell but stay close by in an adjacent room and the only clear exit out of this stone prison area. Those of you with magic also sense your powers are gimped by the chains making any casting much more difficult.

Escape seems hopeless. All you have on yourself is a set of dirty rags on your body. Everything you could use to help you was removed. In almost real terms you are now in Hell. For what is Hell but a place without hope? And in Branderscar there is no hope, no way to escape and no release except for submission or death. And if you could somehow slip your bonds and fly out of this prison, where would you go? Your identity has been stripped from you. To the entire world you are dead and dammed. None would risk associating with the Marked lest they be condemned themselves to the same fate as yours. And who could blame them for they have their own lives to save do they not? So here you wait with bated breath unsure when your tortures will begin and when they will end.

This is the discussion board for Way of the Righteous.

I am considering running a sort of reverse Way of the Wicked game where Talongarde underwent an alternate history. King Markadian received his revelation from Mitra and marched to battle of Tamberlyn to face off against King Jaraad of House Barca. The battle went well for Markadian until he faced King Jaraad in battle. Markadian may have won the battle if it were not for a dishonorable act on the cusp of his victory. King Jaraard was not above treachery and before the final blow was stuck, Jaraard’s personal assassin struck a crippling blow from behind, piercing Markadian's spine and allowing King Jaraard to decapitate the the Paladin with a blow from his sword, Helbrand in the ensuing distraction.

With their leader dead, the Barca forces won the battle and took over Talongard. King Jaraard would take the throne and make Ghastonhall his seat of power. Choosing Infernalism as the state religion he let a purge of other faiths, most especially those who worshiped the lord of light Mitra. Still one thing he did not purge is the Markadian line. Although only a babe at the time, the heir to Markadian survived and with the aid of Mitran supporters and those that escaped the purges fled to the frozen north into a hidden enclave that would act as the last bastion of Mitrian faith. Finding support from both the Ice Elves, Dwarves and treaties with the local natives the Mitrian Faith has preserved in the north although life is harsh and unyielding, defending against attacks of rampaging monsters and surviving in the harsh frozen wilderness of the north.

The reign of King Jaraard was one of absolute tyranny. Slavery was the norm as those in debt or convicted of minor crimes were quickly forced into long periods if not permanent servitude. The privileged reeked the benefit of the system, while the average citizen was forced into a brutal lifestyle where their life was cheap and nearly worthless. The Asmodian church spread their doctrine of diabolism sought to corrupt the hearts and souls of those that resided there. Numerous people were ensnared willingly or forcefully into devilish contracts, feeding damning more souls to the eternal torment of the nine hells. King Jaraad for his evil work would eventually pass onto infernal reward for his wicked life, while his eventually his descendant Vastenous Barca would take the throne and continue the evil reign over the island.

Still the light of goodness could not be extinguished completely and there is many who work in the shadows to one day bring down the corrupt rule of the Barca and restore a righteous government to the land. For many decades they have done small acts to help the populace but for every step they made, the grip of the Barca and the Asmodian church grew tighter. Things in Talongarde have changed for the worst most recently with the rise of Cardinal Adrastus Thorn as the leader of the Asmodian church. Working with the sanction of Vastenous he has started a number of ambitious construction projects that many fear are part of a much more sinister plot. Now is the time for the Righteous to step out of the shadows and bring down the evil that has infested the island.

Premise

This game will use the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Much like Way of the Wicked, the PC's will start out as prisoners in Branderscar. If you are there you are there for a serious offense against the Barcan Regime or the church of Asmodeus. You will get 3 traits, one of them must be a "Crime" trait. Use the ones out of the Way of the Wicked as a guideline but some will be shifted to those appropriate to the campaign (Evil to Good for instance). Dueling is not a possible crime trait as that is completely legal in this corrupt system.

As for Branderscar, while the debtors and petty criminals are typically sentenced to slavery, those who commit more serious crimes against the state are sent to a number of prisons where a quick death would be a mercy not found there. Those put into the prisons are subjected to the most horrific of tortures and torments. Most perish after a long period of torture and torment but a rare few who are malleable enough to be bent rather than broken have their their souls to hell and come out the most fervent supporters of the Barca regime. Either way, in Branderscar hope is a fleeting memory.

Much of the adventure path will borrow from the existing module but of course things will change around in a lot of cases to represent the alternate history of Talongarde that has developed since the rise of Barca. The Watch Wall for instance still exists, but was created by the Barca regime instead of the Darians for instance. Other parts of the book will be twisted to better fit a more righteous path for its heroes.

The Mitrian faith is practiced in secret or the City of Markadian, an underground city in the frozen north where the ideals of Mitra are still upheld. Markadian V rules the city and has but a single daughter Bellinda as his heir. The priests of Mitra have received ill omens of impending doom to Talonguade. While for many decades the Mitrians built their strength and gardened alliances and treaties with the Dwarves and Ice Elves now they know that something must be done now or all of Talongarde will fall into darkness.

Character Creation

Players will create characters with a 25 Point Buy. You can use any class you wish but your characters must be Neutral or Good aligned (So no evil archetypes). As least one of your characters should be a divine caster of a good deity (Cleric, Paladin, Inquisitor or Warpriest), with Mitra as the preferred but you may chose another Golarion God instead. Either way you will be given a reason to help the revolution against the current regime in Talongarde.

While this game will recycle a lot of material from the Way of the Wicked adventure path, due to its reversal, many quests and objectives will be different. So while some maps will be reused, others will be invented to fit the current alterations. Of course as this is a generally good campaign, there will be morality to be considered with the actions you do and the ends justify the means may not be acceptable to the ideals of the revolution.

You will also pick 3 traits. One of them will be a crime trait. Pick one of the existing crime traits but any "Evil" trait becomes a "Good" trait and any effects involving such things are reversed.

In addition the following house rules will be implemented:

1. All classes will get +2 additional skill points per level. Our heroes are going to have to rely a lot on themselves in hostile territory.

2. Natural 20's will have special effects. Natural 20's on skill checks give an additional +5 bonus to the result while a Natural 20 on an initiative check gives you a surprise round or negates a surprise. In additional, rolling a natural 20 on a save counts as having an "Evasion" style ability for purposes of the save.

3. Hero Points will be used in this game. To avoid banking large amounts of Hero Points and then stringing them for a flurry of benefits you never can have more than 3 points at once. Any extra does not accumulate so it is advisable you use them or lose them. As you're going to start with the odds stacked against you, all players will start with a full 3 Hero Points to help them in the Branderscar Prison.

So who would be interested in saving Talongarde from the forces of hell?

I am considering running a sort of reverse Way of the Wicked game where Talongarde underwent an alternate history. King Markadin recived his revelation from Mitra and marched to battle of Tamberlyn to face off aginst King Jaraad of House Barca. The battle went well for Markadin until he faced King Jaraad in battle. Markadin may have won the battle if it were not for a dishonorable act on the cusp of his victory. King Jaraard was not above trechery and before the final blow was stuck, Jaraard’s personal assassin struck a crippling blow from behind, piercing Markadin's spine and allowing King Jaraard to decapitate the the Paladin with a blow from his sword, Helbrand in the ensuing distraction.

With their leader dead, the Barca forces won the battle and took over Talongard. King Jaraard would take the throne and make Ghastonhall his seat of power. Choosing Infernalism as the state religion he let a purge of other faiths, most especially those who worshiped the lord of light Mitra. Still one thing he did not purge is the Markadin line. Although only a babe at the time, the heir to Markadin survived and with the aid of Mitran supporters and those that escaped the purges fled to the north into a hidden enclave that would act as the last bastion of Mitrian faith. Finding support from both the Ice Elves and some of the local natives the Mitrian Faith has preserved in the north although life is harsh and unyielding, defending against attacks of rampaging monsters and surviving in the harsh frozen wilderness of the north.

The reign of King Jaraard was one of absolute tyranny. Slavery was the norm as those in debt or convicted of minor crimes were quickly forced into long periods if not permanent servitude. The privileged reeked the benefit of the system, while the average citizen was forced into a brutal lifestyle where their life was cheap and nearly worthless. The Asmodian church spread their doctrine of diabolism sought to corrupt the hearts and souls of those that resided there. Numerous people were ensnared willingly or forcefully into devilish contracts, feeding damning more souls to the eternal torment of the nine hells. King Jaraad for his evil work would eventually pass onto infernal reward for his wicked life, while his eventually his descendant Vastenous Barca would take the throne and continue the evil reign over the island.

Still the light of goodness could not be extinguished completely and there is many who work in the shadows to one day bring down the corrupt rule of the Barca and restore a righteous government to the land. For many decades they have done small acts to help the populace but for every step they made, the grip of the Barca and the Asmodian church grew tighter. Things in Talongarde have changed for the worst most recently with the rise of Cardinal Adrastus Thorn as the leader of the Asmodian church. Working with the sanction of Vastenous he has started a number of ambitious construction projects that many fear are part of a much more sinister plot. Now is the time for the Righteous to step out of the shadows and bring down the evil that has infested the island.

Premise:

Much like the real Way of the Wicked, the player characters will start out as prisoners in Branderscar for some kind of crime and then make their escape. Of course this time they will be heroes that will save the land and restore the light to the world.

As for Branderscar, while the debtors and petty criminals are typically sentenced to slavery, those who commit more serious crimes against the state are sent to to a number of prisons where a quick death would be a mercy not found there. Those put into the prisons are subjected to the most horrific of tortures and torments. Most perish after a long period of torture and torment but a rare few who are malleable enough to be bent rather than broken have their their souls to hell and come out the most fervent supporters of the Barca regime. Either way, in Branderscar hope is a fleeting memory.

Much of the adventure path will borrow from the existing module but of course things will change around in a lot of cases to represent the alternate history of Talongarde that has developed. The Watch Wall for instance still exists, but was created by the Barca regime instead of the Darians for instance. Other parts of the book will be twisted to better fit a more righteous path for its heroes.

The System:

Because I'm already busy running a lot of Pathfinder games I feel that in order to run this game, a more rules-lite system should be implemented. Thus we will be making use of the Cypher System for this game. The Cypher System has a lot of flexibility and gives players a huge amount of options of what to play. Martial characters definitely get a boost in the ruleset while casters generally are more down to earth and while proficient won't have a whole slew of world-shaking powers at higher tiers. Of course its also a system where you don't have to worry too much about as many permanent player-crippling effects like Stat & Level drain or getting resistances and you can often take on most foes. Magical items will mainly be covered by Enchanted Items, Cyphers and Artefacts. For instance your typical magical sword might just be a sword that does +1 damage or reduces the difficulty by one step to hit, while an artefact weapon would be able to burst into flames, inflict holy fire and the like. Cyphers can easily be represented by one use items like potions, scrolls and the like. I would have to decide how to handle "Cypher" limits, considering that I don't find it realistic for one use items to just "Vanish" if they're above your limit, in a world where you have wizards with entire towers full of magical items. Instead your Cypher Limit represents the number of items you can activate at a certain time. Once you clear a slot by using a cypher, you can fill it with another cypher by taking one action to "Prime" the object. Thus having a higher cypher limit means you get more utility out of one use items in battle but outside of combat with time you won't be as limited. Just a suggestion I am considering for this game.

Usually a character is built under the concept of a Descriptor Type and Focus. I am going to give PC's a sub-descriptor called "Race" though that will give a few racial abilities. For humans for instance I am thinking of giving them a flex skill ability (representing their versatility) and a bonus type ability at 1st tier. Elves would get something like Low Light vision, proficiency with bow & sword weapons and some bonus to speed defense (but a penalty in Might Defense) for instance. Those we shall work out in character creation.

In addition, much like the previous version, the PC's will also get a bonus depending on what crime got them sent to Branderscar.

Rebellion: While the average rabble rouser can expect at best a flogging, torture and/or enslavement, those who go to outright sedition such as attacking soldiers, asmodian priests, law enforcement, provoking riots or other major acts of opposition to the rule of Barca warrant a more severe punishment and are taken to Branderscar.

Bonus: If you were a physical rebel who fought the regime directly you may chose one of the following:

Practiced in Armor, Gain Practice in the next level of a weapon group (or light weapons if not practiced), Danger Sense, Thrust, Bash or Pierce. If you merely were a rebellion leader, you can chose to be trained in two social oriented skills as though you had taken the "Interaction Skills" knowledge ability.

Grand Theft of Noble Property: While low key thievery and crime is common in Talonguard or even indirectly supported through bribery and kickbacks, a person of low station stealing property of value from the nobility or the asmodian church is a crime worthy of the most harsh punishment imaginable.

Bonus: Due to your skill at thievery you gain two Stealth Skills as though you had taken the "Stealth Skills" ability.

Channeling Holy Divine Power: While worshiping a proscribed faith typically is punished with flogging, torture and/or enslavement, those who channel divine power are given special attention by the Asmodian church. While at times they will tolerate a priest of a neutral or evil faith (With the proper licencing fees and kickbacks, those who practice without such approval can expect no mercy), those who use powers of a good faith are quickly rounded up and given a slow and torturous death in Branderscar.

Bonus: If you have not taken "Channels Divine Blessings" as your focus, you may choose one "Blessing" of the Gods. If you have taken this focus you may chose an additional blessing from the list

Failure to uphold a magical licence: While the Barca regine embraces diabolism and magical prowess they understand that wizards, sorcerers, bards and other arcane casters are not bound by any rules or restraints. Those with the aid of magic can rise above their station as well as wield powers that can be a threat to the regime. To practice magic legally, a citizen need to register as a practitioner and pay exorbitant fees to the Barca coffers or alternatively sign an arcane devil contract, thus allowing the asmodian church some degree of oversight on their activities. This often means only the most wealthy of individuals can afford to practice the art or attend magical schools in Talonguard. Those who practice arcane magic illegally are often taken by force to a torturous end in Branderscar.

Bonus: You can chose either Hedge Magic or Magical Training from the "Magic" Flavor list as an additional ability.

Heresy: While many may grumble against the Asmodian church, committing acts that undermine the power of the church such as turning a sizeable number of people away from the faith, vandalizing property of the church or outright battling those of the faith is worthy of more severe punishment.

Bonus: You can chose 2 skills from either the Knowledge Skills or Investigation skills list.

Deism: Associating with good outsiders or agents of the good gods, be it summoning them directly or working towards their causes is enough to have a someone placed in Branderscar for such blasphemy towards the Asmodian faith. Also applies to those who associate with Daemons and Demons as well.

Bonus: Having met and interacted with the divine on such a personal level has left its mark on you. This at times gives divinely inspired visions and insight. You start with the Premonition magic ability.

Unsanctioned Murder: While the common murderer is sold into permanent slavery or executed, killing a Noble, Agent of the church or government official without the sanction of the regime will send the subject to Branderscar.

Bonus: You have learned to strike from the shadows and with deadly accuracy. You have the Surprise Attack ability from the Murders Focus. If you already have the focus, you instead can chose one ability from the Tier 1 stealth list instead.

There is numerous other crimes that can get you tossed into Branderscar for, those can be decided upon in game.

So does this concept interest any of you players?

I am interested in trying out a Cypher System superpower game. This will use the Cypher System corebook with options from the Strange, Numenera as well as some 3rd party resources. Here is the premise of the game.

The Goldwright meteor was heading towards the earth and the United States. The Meteor was over twice the size of the one that hit Tunguska. With the impact expected to cause massive widespread damage, earthquakes and other deadly fallout, America got approval locally and abroad to stop its descent. Using an experimental deep-space reaching nuclear warhead, the Meteor was blasted before it reached earth's atmosphere. The plan was apparently a success as the meteor was blasted into much smaller pieces.

While the remains of the meteor caused only minimal damage as most of the fragments burned up in the atmosphere there was an unusual element inside the meteor that had golden glow as it fell from the sky. This had a strange reaction to a small segment of the population who were outdoors during the Meteor Fall. For those rare individuals, extraordinary abilities began to manifest.

For one small city in midwestern Canada an unusual number of talents have awoken. As one of the first talents to awaken in the world what will you do with the gift or curse of power?

Proposed mechanics

I am thinking of making all the PC's people who attend the same high school. They will be genetically related in some way, from siblings to cousins or distant family relations somewhere in the past, as only those with specific genes are empowered by the meteor fall.

I intend to balance out the types, so that everyone gets the same number of abilities when they tier up. I find it unfair that Explorers get much more abilities than every other type while Adepts get so few. This is especially true as I intend to use Flavors to open up more options.

Rather than the traditional type names, your characters can fall into one of four categories below:

Powerhouse (Warrior): These talents typically manifest their talents through extraordinary feats of physical prowess.

Channeler (Adept): These talents tend to focus more purely on esoteric powers that directly manipulate the world around them.

Beguiler (Speaker): These talents specialize on powers that can inspire, frighten, manipulate or bend the wills of others.

Wildcard (Explorer): These talents tend to thrive on diversity, with a mix of different skills rather than direct specialization.

Further "Multiclassing" will be allowed if your character chooses to take a "Flavor". Thus you could be a Magic Powerhouse, a Stealthy Adept, A Knowledgeable Speaker and the like. Only one Flavor can be chosen for your character however and taking abilities from a Flavor use up ability slots that might have been used for type abilities.

As your characters will be superhuman, you will in the course of the game gain "Power Shifts" that will give you further extraordinary enhancements to skills, powers and/or physical aptitude. You start with one power shift and gain an additional one per tier of advancement. While talents will be powerful, they will not start out with powers on par with Marvel/DC superheroes but may well get to that level as time passes.

Themes

This is a game that supports the ramifications of emerging superpowers in a world thought to not have any. Still your characters will more likely deal with mundane conflicts as only a small number of people are affected by the Meteor Fall. That does not mean won't cross paths with another talent in game in fact such clashes will be inevitable. As for how these new powers affect the world at large this will happen in the background during play and those events may well have a bearing on your character and his/her life.

So does this concept interest some potential players?

One archetype I have not seen in in Pathfinder (but it is a Job in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay) is that of a Cantor. A Cantor just so you know is someone in a church that gives Oration and sings Hymns to a deity of some kind. Now it could be a Cleric Archetype as they are praising a God in some way but the problem is Clerics with their crap skill points don't have the dots to spare on Performance based skills to make it viable. It could also be a Bard Archetype, but bard spells are Wild Sorcery and are classified as Arcane thus their powers are not influenced or altered by any divine intervention.

So if you were to make a Cantor archetype, how would you do it?

Ok certain monsters have a Base Attack Bonus simply for being a monster. However how does this work with calculating multiple attacks. Here are some examples.

1. An Ogre (With a +3 BAB for being an Ogre) takes 3 levels in Barbarian, making his BAB a +6. Would he in turn have a +6/+1 attack spread or would he still have to be a 6th level barbarian to get an additional attack per round?

2. A wizard casts Transformation on himself giving him a high enough BAB to get additional attacks, would he get them?

3. A Thamacurge with 6 levels in his class, takes in the Spirit of the Warrior, boosting his BAB to a +6. Would he in turn also get the additional attack from the bonus to his base attack?

So are additional attacks based on class or Base Attack Bonus?

It is Saturday, July 11th, 2015 in Queen’s New York, the time 11 PM. It is a warm summer evening in the Big Apple, the wind mild and the humidity rather prevalent in the air despite it being the night. All of you have been contacted or been referenced to a black market auction that will be taking place in a repurposed storefront at the end of 26th street, a long out of business building once called Super Stud. The auctioneer who goes by the name “Mr. Farston” has promised those in attendance access to state of the art technology that will revolutionize their operations. While vague on what this actually entails this individual has convinced numerous criminal organizations and other unsavory investors that he is on the level and has apparently pulled some influence to get his share of interested buyers.

Some ground rules were set for those who would be attending the auction. No more than two representatives from each major group would be allowed to attend as the venue will be small plus as means of security the auctioneer did not want one group to have a numerical advantage in manpower over the other. Weapons are allowed but no weapons beyond the size of a pistol would be allowed to be brought in. This also is a means of avoiding conflict as if everyone is packing then there will be less of an incentive to cause trouble. A single guest would be allowed if an individual travels alone to the event but they will be responsible for the behaviour of the guest during the auction. There will be security on site and any disruptive behavior will forfeit your right to bid and have you removed from the premises.

As for the protocol, those who are attending are to approach the front door without any weapons drawn, press the call button and give the pass phrase, ”I’m here to pick up some Wigets”, a phrase given only to those approved to come to the auction. Access to the building will be granted to those who say the correct code phrase.

First to arrive on the scene is Julian Thay. He parks his car in a crappy looking lot near the Super Stud. The lot has a few other cars in it of mixed quality, some looking like junkers while others far above the norm for this area. The lot looks very under-maintained, the asphalt probably not replaced in a good number of years and cracks and weeds are abundant. The neighborhood looks to be barren and devoid of life with a number of old abandoned warehouses and apartments. The location for this auction is definitely out of the way of prying eyes, for good or for ill. So for what reason is Julian Thay at this auction and how did he get an invitation?

This will be the location of Out of Character conversations, info dumps and background information.

Greetings RPG fans. I am seeking to run a game of The Strange here on this posting board. The Strange is a new game from Bruce R Cordell and Monte Cook, making heavy use of their "Cypher System", a d20 based system (With D6's and d100's occasionally used) that allows for a lot of options and fast resolution. On a scale of things its less crunchy than Pathfinder but more crunchy than say Fate.

As for the game itself, the Strange is a game about exploration. It has often been called "Sliders the RPG" by some. The Strange is a Dark Energy Network believed to be created by near-omnipotent beings untold millennia ago. The Strange has been long abandoned by its creators and has shaped itself since then based on numerous influences. The greatest influence on the Strange are the so called "Prime Worlds", where Earth is one of them. Prime Worlds, dimensions that have a large amount of Spark (Sentience) create through fictional bleed Recursions, alternate dimensions in the Strange that are shaped through mass consciousness and belief. Not all recursions though are created through this method as numerous recursions are utterly alien and have no basis in known reality of earth.

As for the characters themselves, they play as special people often called Recursors (Also known as the Quickened). These are rare individuals that have the ability to translate themselves through the Strange and visit other recursions. However as many recursions follow different laws of physics and reality, translating to a new recursion also changes the person into a form accepting of that recursion. This can drastically change the abilities and appearance of a person. In a fantasy recursion for instance you might become a powerful elf sorcerer who can wield earth shaking spells, while in a mad science recursion they might become a Cyborg killing machine with internal weaponry.

Now using the boxed version of the game normally the PC's are members of an organization known as the Estate who hires Recursors and use them to investigate and "Police" so to speak the strange. I don't want to run my game that way. I feel the Estate gives too much meta-knowledge to players and pigeon-holes them to a single game role. I prefer a more Sandbox game mixing a Down the Rabbit Hole mechanic with options for PC's to decide what path to follow after that. Hence the start of the game will somewhat different from most Strange games.

Character Creation

Characters will start out as apparently normal humans on earth, preferably living in New York City but you can be from out of town due to the circumstances of the game start. Your characters may pick their recurser abilities as normal but any power that goes beyond mundane reality will not function as your characters will not start out as Quickened at the beginning of the game but will become so in play.

1. Pick your character type. There are 3 character classes to chose from.

Vector: Vectors are the typical action guy/girl character. Their abilities are mainly built around physical force and start with the highest Might and Speed pools and use them to their advantage and are the only class that can use all weapons and armor without restriction. Vectors use "Moves", which are physical enhancements and abilities to overcome challenges. In addition Vectors are very good at easing a translation of a group allowing them to more quickly adjust themselves when entering a new recursion.

Starting Pools: 10 Might, 10 Speed, 8 Intellect. Edge 1 in Might and Speed.

Paradox: Paradoxes are the scientists and breakers of the rules of reality. They typically rely much on their intellect and have very overt abilities called "Revisions" that allow them to alter reality around them and perform acts that border on magic and/or sorcery. While they are the less proficient in physical pursuits their intellect and abilities to manipulate the Strange are unmatched. Paradoxes are very good at initiating a translation and more likely to allow Recursors to get to where they need to without a mishap.

Starting Pools: 8 Might, 8 Speed, 12 Intellect. Edge 1 in Intellect

Spinners: Spinners are the force of personalty. Their abilities make them good at manipulating people as well as taking leadership based roles in a group of Recursors. They also can be built to be covert and sneaky with the right options. Spinners tend to be the middle ground between Vectors and Paradoxes, more proficient in a fight than a Paradox but less skilled than a Vector. Spinners make use of "Twists" that allow them to alter minds or perform acts of trickery. Spinners are good at quickening a translation allowing a group of Recursors to translate to other recursions in a much reduced time period.

Starting Pools: 9 Might, 9 Speed, 10 Intellect. Edge 1 in Speed and Intellect.

2. Distribute Freebie Points.

All characters have 6 points they can distribute between their starting pools

3. Chose Descriptor: Your descriptor defines who your character is. This is what makes your character stand out and affects their core personalty. No matter what recursion you go to, your Descriptor never changes. As for available descriptors these may be chosen out of the following books: The Strange Core, In Translation, Numenera and Numenera Character options. Some Numenera Descriptors will be disallowed however as they do not fit the setting.

4. Chose a Starting Focus: Characters will start with an earth related focus. No two characters should share the same focus however. Try and chose ones from the Strange Core book or from In Translation although I will also allow selections out of the Cypher System Core Book if appropriate.

5. Chose Class Abilities: Characters should now record your class abilities. Those are listed under your character type. Note that any Moves, Revisions and Twists that defy reality will not function until you undergo your quickening.

Optional Rules in play:

Vectors may chose either Defensive (Asset speed defense when not in armor) or Practiced in Armor (Reduces the Might Cost and speed penalty of wearing armor by 2) as their starting ability. You may buy both by assigning a move slot to the other. They also have access to "Warrior" moves from the Cypher System core book.

Paradoxes can have access to "Adept" moves out of the Cypher system core book in addition to their normal abilities.

Spinners can exchange Manipulator for Stealth, Lockpicking or Pickpocketing if they wish. They have access to "Explorer" and "Speaker" moves from the Cypher System Rulebook.

In addition all recursors in human form have the "Flex Skill" ability. This allows to chose one non-weapon skill they are trained in at the beginning of the day. This skill must be a skill you are not already trained or specialized in. On worlds with different races or odd creatures, the PC's will lose the flex skill ability in exchange for the racial abilities of the creature they become.

I am also considering allowing "Flavours" as well for more character options (As given in the Cypher System Rulebook). This allows you to exchange abilities for those of a specific "Skill Set" to better break the standard mold of a character. The available Flavours are Stealth, Technology, Magic, Combat and Skills/Knowledge.

6. Starting Gear: Starting gear is flexible as I don't want to bother having PC's record everything they own. Record any starting gear your Focus gives you. If the focus does not have any starting gear, chose an appropriate starting gear package from another Focus. Beyond that any reasonable request for other gear may be granted. It is assumed PC's will have enough money to afford a car and a place to live unless their background says otherwise.

Character Background: While this game is sandbox and your characters could be from most walks of life, the starting scenario will have your characters attending a black market auction. Only selected clientele and their guests are invited to the event thus your character will fit in one of five ways.

1. Your character is a member of a gang, criminal organization or independent party who is attending as a representative of your organization.

2. You are an undercover FBI, CIA, MI6 or other outfit who is infiltrating the auction to investigate what is going on.

3. You have been invited as a guest or employee (Such as a bodyguard) of one of the NPC's attending the auction.

4. You are a wealthy entrepreneur that has enough connections and background wealth to be invited to this auction.

5. You have somehow got the details of this black market auction and are sneaking in or using some fake identification to get into the event.

Suffice to say your characters will by circumstance Quicken during play. Once your Quickening occurs you will have access to your more overt abilities.

So who would be interested in traveling to the Realms Beyond Reality in The Strange?

Hello folks, I am checking on the interest of people in playing a game of pulp adventure in the 1930's called "Hollow Earth Expedition". It is a game where you play as people from the surface world who end up finding their way into the Hollow Earth of the world, a place of lost treasures and civilizations but also filled with long extinct species or creatures never before seen on the surface world. It is a place of high adventure and danger but also a place which is easier to enter but much hard to escape. Think Journey into the Center of the Earth, King Kong, The Lost World, Doc Savage and other pulp inspirations.

The system uses a very easy to use mechanic called the HEX system. It involves rolling a dice pool where Evens are successes and odds are failures. This can easily be simulated by rolling a number of 1d2's where 1 is a failure and 2 is a success. However you could easily still do it by rolling d6's, d8's, d10's, d12's, d20's or whatever other dice work as the odds remain exactly the same. The game uses a form of Hero Points called "Style Points", which can be spent to give you extra dice, invoke a minor environmental change or alter the plot in some way. As I want the characters to be somewhat larger than life but not superhuman I am using "Pulp Adventure" style points except I want style points to have more umph than the normal rules so 2 dice per style point instead of 1 (But still a cap of 10 dice will be in place). I will also be using Chance Dice rules (You can take +2 dice for a +1 difficulty to the check to a maximum of +10 dice).

As for books I will be using for source material, I will allow any non-Hollow Earth native Archetype from the Core Hollow Earth Book and Secrets of the Surface world as well as magic rules from Mysteries of Hollow Earth. Still I would prefer that characters don't have any overt magical abilities to start as all of you will be pretty clueless to the Hollow Earth at the start. I will allow at most a single Atlantean Blooded individual if someone wants to play someone of that heritage.

As for characters in the game the concept of the game is that a movie director from Hollywood who is down on his luck has brought a crew of actors, consultants, staff and extras to the Rocky mountains in British Columbia in hopes of creating a masterpiece film that will put him back in the spotlight. These 3 PC's Archetypes must be players in the game.

1. One PC must play as the Film Director.
2. One PC must play as a Female Lead.
3. Once PC must play as a Male Lead.

Beyond that most other archetypes work. This could include supporting actors/actresses, extras, security, wilderness scouts, assistants, press crew, consultants or whatever other person you could reasonably think of being there.

Character creation will be as normal (15 attribute and 15 skill points to distribute, 1 Talent/Resource and 15 XP points to spend). However as I want the PC's to be the heroes of the story I will be giving an extra Talent or Resource for free at character creation to better make the PC's resemble a star in a feature film. ALL PC's MUST take a Flaw for their character. I find flaws add flavor to a character and give the benefit of allowing more Style Points to be distributed. The game format will work much like a movie and thus PC's will be able to survive a good deal of punishment and may have "Coincidences" save them from being outright killed in random situations. Still this does not make your character's immortal and they can still die in suitably dramatic moments or if they continually put themselves in deadly situations without any form of self-preservation. There will be Mooks and Extras though that don't have this form of plot immunity however. In case of PC death a NPC might be promoted to PC status or a new cast member will be introduced to replace the old.

So folks, would you be interested in taking a step into the depths of the Hollow Earth?

Greetings RPG fans. I am seeking to run a game of The Strange here on this posting board. The Strange is a new game from Bruce R Cordell and Monte Cook, making heavy use of their "Cypher System", a d20 based system (With D6's and d100's occasionally used) that allows for a lot of options and fast resolution. On a scale of things its less crunchy than Pathfinder but more crunchy than say Fate.

As for the game itself, the Strange is a game about exploration. It has often been called "Sliders the RPG" by some. The Strange is a Dark Energy Network believed to be created by near-omnipotent beings untold millennia ago. The Strange has been long abandoned by its creators and has shaped itself since then based on numerous influences. The greatest influence on the Strange are the so called "Prime Worlds", where earth is one of them. Prime Worlds, dimensions that have a large amount of Spark (Sentience) create through fictional bleed Recursions, alternate dimensions in the Strange that are shaped through mass consciousness and belief. Not all recursions though are created through this method as numerous recursions are utterly alien and have no basis in known reality of earth.

As for the characters themselves, they play as special people often called Recursors (Also known as the Quickened). These are rare individuals that have the ability to translate themselves through the Strange and visit other recursions. However as many recursions follow different laws of physics and reality, translating to a new recursion also changes the person into a form accepting of that recursion. This can drastically change the abilities and appearance of a person. In a fantasy recursion for instance you might become a powerful elf sorcerer who can wield earth shaking spells, while in a mad science recursion they might become a Cyborg killing machine with internal weaponry.

Now using the boxed version of the game normally the PC's are members of an organization known as the Estate who hires Recursors and use them to investigate and "Police" so to speak the strange. I don't want to run my game that way. I feel the Estate gives too much meta-knowledge to players and pigeon-holes them to a single game role. I prefer a more Sandbox game mixing a Down the Rabbit Hole mechanic with options for PC's to decide what path to follow after that. Hence the start of the game will somewhat different from most Strange games.

Character Creation

Characters will start out as apparently normal humans on earth, preferably living in New York City but you can be from out of town due to the circumstances of the game start. Your characters may pick their recurser abilities as normal but any power that goes beyond mundane reality will not function as your characters will not start out as Quickened at the beginning of the game but will become so in play.

1. Pick your character type. There are 3 character classes to chose from.

Vector: Vectors are the typical action guy/girl character. Their abilities are mainly built around physical force and start with the highest Might and Speed pools and use them to their advantage and are the only class that can use all weapons and armor without restriction. Vectors use "Moves", which are typically physical enhancements and abilities to overcome challenges. In addition Vectors are very good at easing a translation of a group allowing them to more quickly adjust themselves when entering a new recursion.

Starting Pools: 10 Might, 10 Speed, 8 Intellect. Edge 1 in Might and Speed.

Paradox: Paradoxes are the scientists and breakers of the rules of reality. They typically rely much on their intellect and have very overt abilities called "Revisions" that allow them to alter reality around them and perform acts that border on magic and/or sorcery. While they are the less proficient in physical pursuits their intellect and abilities to manipulate the Strange are unmatched. Paradoxes are very good at initiating a translation and more likely to allow Recursors to get to where they need to without a mishap.

Starting Pools: 8 Might, 8 Speed, 8 Intellect. Edge 1 in Intellect

Spinners: Spinners are the force of personalty. Their abilities make them good at manipulating people as well as taking leadership based roles in a group of Recursors. They also can be built to be covert and sneaky with the right options. Spinners tend to be the middle ground between Vectors and Paradoxes, more proficient in a fight than a Paradox but less skilled than a Vector. Spinners make use of "Twists" that allow them to alter minds or perform acts of trickery. Spinners are good at quickening a translation allowing a group of Recursors to translate to other recursions in a much reduced time period.

Starting Pools: 9 Might, 9 Speed, 10 Intellect. Edge 1 in Speed and Intellect.

2. Distribute Freebie Points.

All characters have 6 points they can distribute between their starting pools

3. Chose Descriptor: Your descriptor defines who your character is. This is what makes your character stand out and affects their core personalty. No matter what recursion you go to, your Descriptor never changes. As for available descriptors these may be chosen out of the following books: The Strange Core, In Translation, Numenera and Numenera Character options. Some Numenera Descriptors will be disallowed however as they do not fit the setting.

4. Chose a Starting Focus: Characters will start with an earth related focus. No two characters should share the same focus however. Try and chose ones from the Strange Core book or from In Translation. I may allow some Numenera foci if they can be justified to work in a modern day human society (Such as Works the Back Alleys).

5. Chose Class Abilities: Characters should now record your class abilities. Those are listed under your character type. Note that any Moves, Revisions and Twists that defy reality will not function until you undergo your quickening.

Optional Rules in play:

Vectors may trade Defensive for another Tier 1 Move if they feel it does not meet their character. Vectors also have access to Glaive abilities from Numenera (But ask me first before taking one).

Paradoxes can take Nano abilities from Numenera (But ask me first before taking one).

Spinners can exchange Manipulator for Stealth, Lockpicking or Pickpocketing. They also can take Jack abilities from Numenera (But ask me first before taking one).

In addition all PC's have the "Flex Skill" ability of the Jack. This allows to chose one non-weapon skill they are trained in at the beginning of the day. This skill must be a skill you are not already trained or specialized in. On worlds with different races or odd creatures, the PC's will lose the flex skill ability in exchange for the racial abilities of the creature they become.

6. Starting Gear: Starting gear is flexible as I don't want to bother having PC's record everything they own. Record any starting gear your Focus gives you. If the focus does not have any starting gear, chose an appropriate starting gear package from another Focus. Beyond that any reasonable request for other gear may be granted. It is assumed PC's will have enough money to afford a car and a place to live unless their background says otherwise.

Character Background: While this game is sandbox and your characters could be from most walks of life, the starting scenario will have your characters attending a black market auction. Only selected clientele and their guests are invited to the event thus your character will fit in one of five ways.

1. Your character is a member of a gang, criminal organization or independent party who is attending as a representative of your organization.

2. You are an undercover FBI, CIA, MI6 or other outfit who is infiltrating the auction to investigate what is going on.

3. You have been invited as a guest or employee (Such as a bodyguard) of one of the NPC's attending the auction.

4. You are a wealthy entrepreneur that has enough connections and background wealth to be invited to this auction.

5. You have somehow got the details of this black marked auction and are sneaking in or using some fake identification to get into the event.

Suffice to say your characters will by circumstance Quicken during play. Once your Quickening occurs you will have access to your more overt abilities.

So who would be interested in traveling to the Realms Beyond Reality in The Strange?

One thing I don't get about Bards is why they get Healing Spells on their spell list. Its been established in the fluff that Bard Spells are Arcane Magic. No where in the Sorcerer/Wizard spell list (The Archetypical Arcane Casters) does it give a character an ability to heal wounds, with the exception of a few necromancy spells that drain life like Vampiric Touch. This also is an oddity for Witches who also get Healing Spells but then again they do get their powers from some demi-deity sponsor who may have divine magic so that makes greater sense than a bard having healing spells.

This definitely causes conflict in a lot of settings like Dragonlance where it specifically says that healing magic is DIVINE.

As for fixes to this problem, here are two suggestions:

1. Remove all healing type spells from the Bard spell list. Instead give them access to a wider array of other spell lists.

2. Give Bards the option of being "Divine" casters, perhaps sponsored by some God of music or other performance style deity.

A hundred years have passed since the Shadow in the North triumphed over the free nations of Aryth. The dark one’s corrupt lieutenants, the Night Kings, rule with an iron fist over ruined cities and shattered empires. The dwarves of Kaladrun have retreated into their mountain holdfasts, and the elves of Erethor have withdrawn into the heart of their vast and ancient forest. Twisted, incorporeal spirits known as sniffers hunt down the last true masters of magic, and the Shadow’s dark and secretive priesthood, the legates of the Order of Shadow, seek out elven spies, dwarven insurgents, and the few brave heroes who stand defiant against the fall of night.

The Dark God Izrador is preparing for his eventual ascension that will spell the destruction of Eredane and untold chaos in the Heavens. Little does he know the Gods that cast him out above have put their faith in one last gambit that may save not only the world but the heavens itself.

Game Concept: This was a game idea I came up with years ago using the Midnight setting. That the Gods while separated from the world still kept an eye on Eredane in case Izrador would once again pose a threat to the Gods. Sensing Izrador will eventually be able to break his prison and ascend stronger than he was before, the Gods have sent a last Gambit to keep the Dark God contained. One of their own has become mortal in order to pass through the veil, becoming a mortal being with a soul of a God/Goddess. Sent by a meteor the child is found and adopted by a humble farming family and raised under the yoke of the Shadow's rule. But as the individual comes of age, memories leak into their mind and a power not seen in milenna begins to awaken within them, the power of Divine Magic. Now the Godseed must discover his/her true self and become the force that will lay low the Dark God Izrador before the world is destroyed.

You may post OOC discussions and questions here.

The Nation of Khur, a vast desert land that lies north of the lush forests of Silvenesti, South from the evil lands of the Taman Buruk and east from the Ogrelands of Blode. Long has it been the dominion of the Nomadic tribes of the Khur, a brown skinned people well adjusted to surviving the elements. Khur has had its share of hardships in the past but much like the desert, its people have survived. The Khur are a spirtural people and one of the few humans who held faith in the gods even after their long depature. Still despite the return of the gods, the nation of Khur is in dire straights.

To the south, the Minotaur invasion has driven the Silvenesti elves from their homeland. These elves now swarm to the Khur civilizations in hopes of finding shelter from the vast and unforgiving desert. But they are just one worry for Khur and its people. The Dark Knights, driven out by the Minotaurs have also moved into the region. Many suspect the Dark Knights have plans for Khur in their effort to create their "One World Order". Feared the most are the Minotaurs of the south, who now consolating their power and resources in Silvenesti and there is fears that Khur will be the next target in their military conquest.

The town of Pashin has become a boiling point in these potential conflicts. The town being a major trading hub in the Mikku region attracts numerous tradesmen and refugees from a number of nations. The coming of the Dark Knights however has brought the town under their dominion and making it a base of operations for their activities in the region. Still there are many that resent their grip upon the town and mount a resistance against these occupiers. This of course has also attracted the attention of some other factions in the fate of the town. This is where our story of the heroes of destiny begins.

The Knight: Gabriel Lucas Barca

Gabriel Lucas Barca is a Squire of the Crown on his quest for full knighthood with the Solamnic Knights. While the Knights of Solamnia have little influence in Khur, the nation is one of the strong points of power for their ally, the Legion of Steel. With the growing Dark Knight presence in the region, the Knights of Solamnia will not stand idly by and allow their mortal enemies to bring more regions under their sway. Travelling to the Legion Stronghold at Ak-Khurman, he meets with Lional Uth Dartan, the Solamanic representative where he is given an important assignment, to travel to the town of Pashin and retrieve an intelligence package from a legion spy by the name of Klaudia Lorn, the proprietor of Old Omar's Oddities. When meeting with her, he is to give the password "Star eyes" and she will know he is there to retrieve the package. By no means must the package fall into the hands of the Dark Knights. You are also warned not to reveal your affiliation while in the town for the Dark Knights will surely interrogate and then execute anyone who serves the Knights of Solamnia. So with that Drake travels across the vast desert with a Caravan, heading into the town of Pashin.

The Wizard: Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti

Six months have passed since the invasion of the minotaurs and Terevalis still bears the scars of his experience. The foul bull-men struck without warning and without mercy, breaching the gates of the city and striking down those brave enough to resist them. The tower of House Mysti was one of the foremost targets of the invasion and the wizards lacking in the power they once had could do little to resist them. Among the wizards that escaped was Terevalis Unctio who fled the city with other refugees. He would wander from place to place for months, not welcomed by the Khurites he met along the way. Eventually his journey lead him to Pashin where he took up residence in an underground colony, meeting with another wizard who escaped the invasion, Shaylin of House Mysti. Things have been dire for the elves in Pashin. A plague ravages through the population, inflicting them with an illness that was named "Sunblight". The more fortunate have been able to avoid the infection, but those under it have become sicked, pale and allergic to the touch of the sun, a horrifying curse for any elf. The few divine and arcane casters among the population are stumped on the cause for no spell has been found effective against it. Other than the cause of survival, some elves have helped with the resistance against the Dark Knights, while others have looked to other concerns.

The Cleric: Alathea of Solace

Alathea, a native of Solace in the land of Abanasinia and member of the Legion of Steel. Once a Legion Mystic that channeled the power of wild divine magic, she made choice to join the church of Zivilyn and channel her power directly from the God. While the Legion was accepting of her conversion many of her fellows did not follow such a path and chose to not change their divine focus. With the events to the east becoming dire Alathea was chosen to deliver some important documents to an agent in the town of Pashin, one known as Klaudia Lorn. She would enter the city under a guise of being a Cleric of Zivilyn wishing to pay homage at the Temple of the True Gods to avoid suspicion from the occupying Dark Knights and make sure the orders are delivered and then receive instructions of what to do next from there as there would be more Legion operations she would be involved with in the nation of Khur. After a long journey across numerous lands she finally arrives at the town of Pashin.

The Warrior: Jor Majere

Conflict is a business for many mercenary companies including the Brass Tiger Company seek out contracts that will make good use of their services. Jor Majere a young but skilled member of the Brass Tiger Company has spent time in Kern working with the Brass Tiger Company doing a number of contracts. Showing promise his commander Gwynneth Cordaric decided to send him on a mission into the nation of Khur. Hearing about the troubles there the Brass Tiger Company believes the inevitable conflict in that nation will increase the demand for mercenaries and thus is a business opportunity that they do not want to pass up. Thus Jor Majere has been sent on a scouting mission to the town of Pashin in order to scout out the Dark Knights, the Legion of Steel and other potential clients in the region. Whoever could pay the best price for their services would have the support of the Brass Tigers on their side in upcoming conflict. And thus Jor Majere traveled south and arrived after a journey to the town of Pashin, ready to do his mission.

The Wildlander: Mithas Aran

While the Kagnosti are far more widespread than their Qualnesti and Silvenesti bretheren even they were not untouched by the elven tragety. Mithas Aran was a Kagnosti living in a small settlement on the edges of the Silvanesti forest trying the best he could to survive in the dark and godless times. But when the Minotaurs came, they did not distingish between Silvanesti and Kagnosti. They marched through the forests , defiling the very land you called home. Even with your skills in archery and survival the minotaurs were too numerous and your village was destroyed and many of your people were enslaved. You were one of the lucky ones that were out hunting at the time of the attack. Driven from your homeland Mithas become a wanderer in the deserts, trying his best to survive in the desert. Eventually his travels led him to the town of Pashin where in his wanderings he sought to purchase some supplies as the desert offered little in terms of food and water. And thus this is where he resides at this moment.

The Story Begins....

Our story begins at midday on the 8th day of Aelmont (Winter). The sun is shining down but the town is not too hot as there is a cool breeze from the north on this day. Our characters are currently in the the Open Market of Pashin in the center of town. While Grand Baazar is on the ourskirts of the town, the Open Market is still a place of much commerce as there is numerous market stalls hawking various wares of all sorts. Despite the jovial sale of goods, there is a presence of warriors dressed all in black and a frightening demenor. All of you know these are Dark Knight soldiers who are the so called "Law" in these parts, although such a term could be used loosely. At this time all of you have a reason for being here at this time.

Terevalis Unctio, you are here doing some shopping for supplies, seeking to get your hands on few reagents for your spells. Mithas Aran is here shopping for produce, looking to get some vegetables in order to fulfill his sensitive palate. Jor Majere has arrived in the town by Caravan and has been given 20 Steel pieces for acting as a Caravan Guard for the duration of the trip. Gabriel Lucas Barca arrives with another caravan and enters the town wearing a robe over his armor and disguising his affiliations as he would certainly be arrested on sight by the Dark Knights if his affiliation were be to known and is also travelling through the market square. Finally Alathea of Solace is currently in the market square dressed in full robes of a Priestess of Zivilyn and heading towards the Temple of the True Gods in order to pay homage to her deity.

I will leave the floor open for some Roleplaying before we get to the first events of the game.

Six months have passed since the War of Souls, an epic conflict that spanned the world of Krynn. After 36 years when the Gods have been silent and magic flows unrestrained by the Moons, the Gods of Krynn have returned. The first among the Light, Paladine walks the earth as a mortal, while the Dark Queen Takhisis lies dead, leaving their places vacant among the heavens. Ansalon still bears scars of the decades where evil reigned upon the world in the Godless times. The Dark Knights of Neraka still subjugate numerous lands and the wicked minotaurs have begun a campaign of conquest. Many among the righteous and good have suffered in the Age of Mortals. Solamina's forces are weakened by the war, the elves are in exile, the Kender lands burned to ash and the dwarves in ever conflict with their darker brethren. Decades ago, the Companions saved the world from the brink of ruin. Now once again, heroes must rise and bring balance back to the world. Will you be among them?

Greetings, I am an avid fan of the Dragonlance campaign setting. Years ago I collected the books of the Age of Mortals Campaign for D&D 3rd. This epic adventure path is covered in 3 books, The Key of Destiny, The Spectre and Sorrows and the Price of Courage, creating an epic campaign that spans from level 1 to level 20. I have tried to run this in the past but have had trouble finding players willing to stick around for the long haul. But I am undaunted and willing to give it another shot.

As I am a fan of Pathfinder, I will be converting the adventure path to use the Pathfinder Rules. As 3rd ed converts fairly easily I don't see much of a problem. Still certain house rules will be used in order to incorporate some of the materials and convert some of the races. Here are some house rules to be aware of.

1. Your character can start as a member of a major factions if you wish or join one during the game. Here is a list of some factions a player can be a part of:

Brass Tiger Company
Knights of Solamnia
Legion of Steel
Ergothian Merchant Marines
Holy order of the Stars
Towers of High Sorcery

If you are a member of a faction that has a related prestige class you may gain access to some prestige class features by spending feats. Your character level must equal or exceed the prestige class level of that ability to purchase it with feats. You can not use feats to gain access to spell-casting abilities however.

2. Most classes are allowed to be played, although certain classes are modified to fit the setting. The Oracle class is a replacement for the Mystic Class. As an Oracle you do not need to chose a patron deity as Mystics draw power directly from a domain (Which is easily represented by an Oracle's Mystery). Druids must define if they are servants to a god or another form of Mystic. For Sorcerers, the Arcane Bloodline is accessible to any character through study of Sorcery. Other bloodlines need to chosen before to represent that your character has some kind of magical blood in your background. The Gunslinger class is available to only Gnomes, as Firearms are not in widespread use on Krynn. As Krynn does not have an oriental region, players may not take Ninja or Samurai as classes in the game. The Hybrid Class, Arcanist cannot be used in this game. In addition out of advanced class guide may also be restricted. Bards may not take any healing spells as their powers are pure arcane sorcery. To make up for this Bards get a bonus feat at 1st level.

3. The most common races are: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome and Kender. Other available races are Half-Ogre, Half-Goblin, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Minotaur, Irda and Phaethon. Outsider races (Aasimar, Tiefling, Undine, Sylph, Ifrit, Oread) are rare in Krynn and you will need to give a compelling reason for playing one of these races.

Here are some differences I am incorporating into the game.

Humans: Humans get two additional racial features. First they get a regional language based on where they come from in addition common and languages from intelligence. They also get to chose 1 skill of their choice. If the skill is not a class skill, it becomes a class skill. If it is already a class skill, they gain a +1 misc bonus to using that skill.

Elves: Use the Pathfinder Elves racial traits with the following modifications:

All elves have Elfsight. This functions like Low-Light vision but also incorporates 30 FT dark-vision.

Depending on the type of elf you are you have variant bonuses & penalties.

Qualinesti Elves: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution. +1 on diplomacy and sense motive checks.

Silvanesti: +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution. +1 on knowledge arcana and spell-craft checks

Kagonesti: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 intellgence. +1 on knowledge nature and survival checks.

Kender: http://www.dlnexus.com/fan/rules/23083.aspx

Gnomes: http://www.dlnexus.com/fan/rules/11074.aspx

Minotaur: http://www.dlnexus.com/fan/rules/19940.aspx

* Note: The Minotaurs and the Elves are currently on terrible terms. I may be restrictive of allowing Minotaurs and Elves in the same party.

4. As this game is a heroic game, PC's may not be of evil alignment. You also may not be members of an evil faction such as Knights of Nekara. Just a heads up before you think about playing the Lawful Evil Anti-Paladin type.

Characters will be built with a 25 point buy. The Dragonlance AOM campaign is a difficult setting is a pretty difficult adventure path. You may also chose 2 traits to apply to your character from any list for Pathfinder as well. Starting gold will be as normal (Although the Gold Piece is replaced by the Steel piece.)

Just a reminder that Dragonlance is a low Magical Item setting. There has been numerous magical dark-ages where magical item production stagnated. This is especially true of the past 36 years where numerous magical items where horded by wizards and "Spell Leached" for magical energy. With the Orders of High Sorcery and Holy Order of the Stars back in business, there is means to enchant magical items although such items are not in mass production.

PC's might have lower AC's and Attack Bonuses due to a lower number of magical item drops and sellers. Only Focused spellcasters (Wizards, Clerics & Witches) can craft magical items and there is not many of them around to do so.

So who is interested in taking part in this Dragonlance Adventure?

Out of character discussions and questions will go here.

The New York City branch of the Psionic Scientific Investigation Division (PSID) lies in the Queens district of the city. The building appears on the outside as a stereotypical office building although made more of stone and concrete as the building has been there for a few decades. In the public eye, these are the offices of Techlock Industries, a Cyber-Security company but this is just a front to draw off any inquiries the public might have. The offices and cubicles are used for the day to day bureaucracy of the PSID but accessible by high security stairwells and elevators is the sub-basement where the equipment is kept and distributed and where there is holding cells for captured prisoners.

After years of training all of you have become full agents of the PSID and assigned to the same team code named "Team Gerico". Still for the first few months your lives as agents have been fairly uneventful. Each of you are provided a cubicle along with a computer, printer as well as office supplies and you spend a majority of your day behind a desk. Your days often involved filling out paperwork and/or contributing to research projects. You all are left to wonder when you will finally be sent out into the field.

On a Friday morning of April 15, 2016 you all receive an Email in your office mailbox calling you all to meet with Director Andrew Smythe, the head of your branch of the PSID. The Director rarely has spoken to all of you, only calling you individually once a month to assess your work performance. This is the first time you've been called as a team. Suffice to say you all gather at 9:00 AM in the director's office.

The office is a measure of perfection. The Director keeps his office perfectly clean and everything in its proper place. The office is sizeable with some couches and comfy chairs off in one section of the room to accommodate group meetings. There also is a small bar that is fully stocked with a mix of fine looking beverages. Some high tech upgrades have been done to this office as well. A large wall panel that conceals a sizeable video screen and some high tech jamming devices to block the room from outside surveillance and disrupt any form of recording equipment when active.

Director Andrew Smythe is a veteran of the PSID. What you know about him that while he is not a Psionic-User he has a Null augmentation that makes him utterly immune to any form of psionic mind reading and control. Those of you with psionic senses draw a blank when trying to gauge him with any form of psionics on him. As for his looks, he is a 5"10 gentleman with brown hair with gray streaks at the sides. He appears maybe in his late 50's but nonetheless fit for his age. He usually wears a pair of mirror shades. When you have seen his eyes you have seen that his irises have a silver sheen to them and you suspect his eyes are probably replaced with ocular implants. He is always dressed in a black over white suit and his shoes shine like mirrors.

When the group enters his office, he checks a bracelet on his wrist that appears to have some digital displays. He looks to you and says.

"It appears that you are five minutes late Team Gerico. I hope you are more prompt on your arrival in future assignments."

While you THINK you are on time, arriving at 9:00 am promptly, the more military minded among your team know that in any form of Government outfit, 9:00 am means 8:55 in Government time. But still the mention of the word "Assignment" catches your interest.

He gestures to the couches and chairs in a section of the room.

"I am not a man who likes to waste time with pleasantries. A suspected psionic incursion occurred in the Bronx at the Brooklyn Generation High School. The result being sizeable property damage as well as the death of two security guards."

He points his hand toward the paneled wall and it opens to reveal the large video screen. He presses a few buttons on his wrist bracelet and it shows a picture the front of a school which has a rounded front entrance that stretches 3 stories. What you can see is that the front windows have been shattered outward and the front reinforced doors look like they have been busted outward and while they still hold the fibreglass is shattered and the doors hang loosely on shattered hinges.

"As you can see by the glass pattern that the damage originated from within the building."

He flicks to the next picture to an inner hallway where lockers have been either ripped open or tossed around like rag dolls. Trophies and picture frames like scattered throughout the halls. But what really catches your eye is two bodies that look like they've been flattened by a truck. There is blood everywhere and their bodies are heavily mangled but you can tell by the uniforms that they probably were security guards.

"The adjoining hallway to the north of the lobby seems to be the originating spot of the Psionic Incursion. By the path of destruction, whatever force was unleashed went from the northern hallway and made a direct line toward the front entrance destroying many things in its path.

He shows several pictures of the path of destruction down the hall to the lobby before flipping to the close up of the mangled bodies. A look of horror is on their shattered faces and both have discharged tasers lying near them. "The two security guards Andrew Cade and Vernan Thomas appear to have used their tasers before they were killed. Cause of death has been ruled to be from massive bodily trauma."

Giving you all a chance to look it over he turns off the display and says to the group. "My initial analysis of the scene leads me to believe that this may be the case of a Psionic Manifester unleashing an ID monster in the vicinity of the school. The perpetrator is likely a student as in one of the classrooms there was some disruption including a sprawled message in spraypaint insulting one of the teachers, Miss Roberta Gerard, an English teacher at the school.

He then looks back to the group, "Your ultimate mission is locate this Psionic Manifester and bring the subject in to be quarantined. Your first task in this mission however will make use of interpersonal and investigation skills. You will go to Brooklyn Generation High School investigate the scene and perform whatever damage control you can. You will need to spin a story that the public will find believeable. I would also recommend giving the police are given a red herring so to speak. Under no circumstances should the New York Police Department engage this subject. If this manifester unleashed an ID monster on security guards, they would have no qualms using such powers on armed police officers."

He looks to the group and says, "You will be given a standard issue surveillance vehicle and necessary false identification for this mission. You will also be provided with Psi-Nullification formula to inject the subject and suppress their psionic abilities temporarily. As this mission will involve dealing with the public only conventional sidearms will be issued in the field. Is there any other questions you have before you proceed to gather your equipment and head out into the field?"

Years ago in Japan an RPG was released called "BEAST BIND NEW TESTAMENT" that sparked my interests. The game is a mix between modern horror, cthulhu mythos and Anime wackiness all mixed into one game. Unfortunately it appears that the game will never get a translation into English and I have the inability to learn Japanese so I'll never get to run or play the game as intended.

Still with the release of Monster of the Week Revised Edition I believe I have found a system that can be adapted to work well with the fluff I've learned of the system. A lot of the "Bloods" in Beast Bind can be supplemented with playbooks from Monster of the Week so this should work well enough. This game will have the feel of an anime but will probably also have some darker themes as Beast Bind does incorporate cthulhu mythos threats as well as monstrous threats similar to the world of darkness roleplaying game.

As for the concept of the game, the PC's are monster hunters in the city of Tokyo, Japan. In Beast Bind the general public does not know monsters and/or magic exists and there are government organizations (and monster societies) in Japan who want to keep it this way. A number of monsters are decent enough, just trying to make a living but others are savage monstrosities that need to be put down to protect the public at large and that is where you fall in.

Character Creation:

Character creation will follow similar rules to Monster of the Week 2nd edition. As by the usual Monster of the Week rules the only playbook I'ed allow duplication is the Monstrous, as that playbook covers a wide range of monster types. I would prefer though that people play a variety of playbooks. Here is a breakdown of the available playbooks with a few suggestions for background ideas. Feel free to come up with your own background ideas if none of the suggestions fit.

The Chosen: The chosen and prophesied hero with a special destiny.

Sample Backgrounds: Artefact Wielder, Prophesied Hero/Heroine, Reluctant Hero/Heroine, Reincarnated Hero/Heroine, Ancestral Bloodline.

The Constructed: A being constructed and given life by technology or magic.

Sample Backgrounds: Living Doll, Gyroid, Robot, Cyborg, Golem.

The Crooked: A criminal that has got mixed up in all this weird stuff.

Sample Backgrounds: Charlatan, Fence, Thief, Thug, Contract Killer.

The Divine: An Angel (or powerful Divine Agent depending on the faith) sent to earth for a purpose.

Sample Backgrounds: Divine Servant, Repetent Fallen Angel, Embodied Kami, Heavenly Warrior, Agent of Fate.

The Expert: A bookish man/woman who has experience and knowledge of the supernatural.

Sample Backgrounds: Arcane Scholar, Mentor, Supernatural Investigator, Record Keeper, Academic.

The Flake: An intelligent but awkward individual good at mental pursuits.

Sample Backgrounds: Conspiracy Theorist, Insane Genius, Computer Hacker, Know it all, Hikikomori.

The Initiate: Member of an ancient monster-slaying Sect, trained to fight and use magic.

Sample Backgrounds: Catholic Priest, Pagan Devotee, Secret Society Member, Ninja, Kannushi /Miko.

The Luchador: A masked vigilante who takes the fight to the enemy through physical perfection.

Sample Background: Martial Artist, Wrestler, Obsessed Comic Book Fan, Avenger, Thrill Seeker.

The Monstrous: A monster who so happens to fight on the side of the good guys.

Sample Backgrounds: Vampire, Werewolf (Or other Werebeast), Ghost, Orc, Zombie, Skeleton, Farie, Elf, Kitsune and numerous other monsters.

The Mundane: just a normal regular person, especially good at dealing with regular people you meet.

Sample Backgrounds: Hunter Sidekick, Friendly Sibling, Monster Magnet, Occult Enthusiast, Kooky Love Interest.

The Professional: An official agency that hunts monsters.

Sample Backgrounds: Government Agency, Military Black Opps, International Task Force, Ex-Cop Recruit, Investigation Unit.

The Snoop: An intrepid reporter seeking to expose the truth of the supernatural.

Sample Backgrounds: Newspaper Reporter, News Station Reporter, Paparazzi, Paranormal TV show host, Aspiring Director.

The Spell-Slinger: A practitioner of magic that draws power through study of arcane traditions.

Sample Backgrounds: Onmyouji Taoist, Wizard/Witch, Devil Binder, Spiritualist, Fortune Teller.

The Spooky: A wielder of raw supernatural power inherited from a supernatural source.

Sample Backgrounds: Psychic, Magical Guy/Girl, Half-Demon, Ancestral Curse, Delver of dark knowledge.

Summoned: A monster from another plane of existence that may be a herald for things to come.

Sample Backgrounds: Demon from hell, Extradimensional Horror, Manifested Oni, Beast From Beyond, Bringer of the end.

The Wronged: A revenge-driven individual seeking to destroy monsters.

Sample Backgrounds: Childhood Trauma, Murdered Family, Tortured by Monsters, Witness to Evil, Ruined Life.

Beyond this follow the character creation rules for the respective playbooks.

You can get the playbooks and the general game information here:

Monster of the Week

Once we have our players we will do some background connections in order to put everyone together and give them a reason to be working together. Looking forward for people to sign up.

Ever since the dawn of humanity, there has been a rare few people who have weilded power that defied rational explination. These people were called by many names, witches, warlocks, sorcerers, wizards, wise men, gods. But whatever the case these inviduals became the basis of numerous legends that have spread throughout history. This power which these people weilded would later be classified as "Psionics".

Psionics was rare enough that most failed to acknowledge its existence. While some psionicists created pagan cults and religions most did not wield mastery enough than to pull off some minor tricks, many that could easily rationalized. A few governments did acknowledge these rare individuals and during the second world war both the Nazis and the Allies started their own programs harnessing these individuals. After the war and seeing the power of Psionics first hand, the PSID (Psionic Scientific Investigation Division) was founded. Knowing if the world knew about Psionics it would drive nations into utter panic it was decided that the existence of psionics would be kept under wraps. Psionics would be rounded up and monitored and any Psionic disturbances would be swept under the rug.

When drawing on the power of Psionics as an asset, it was discovered by the PSID that there was other threats to the world than just Psionic users. There was numerous alien races that have infiltrated society and secretly pursuing their own agendas. Many of these Aliens bearing powerful technology and/or psionic powers and thus were a danger to the world at large. Thus the PSID was forced to extend its operations to also counter the numerous alien threats that lie hidden from the world.

Fortunately for the PSID, Psionic users were extremely rare among the human population. Until the "Event" hit in the year 1990. A powerful solar flare struck the earth bathing the world in increased cosmic rays. While not immediately apparent the number of Psionic Users has increased tremendously. What is worse that some manifested dangerous and uncontrolled powers, allowing them to create psionic manifestations of their ID creatures. The PSID now must work to not only keep the existence of Psionics under wraps and fight against the alien threats but also deal with the increasing number of Psionic users with unstable psionic powers. Only the agents of the PSID stand between the world and utter chaos.

The Game:

The PC's of the game are agents of the PSID that have recently completed their training. Only the most competent of individuals who can survive the intense training regiments of the PSID can become agents. In addition this game is High-Psionics so certain homebrew psionic rules will be implemented into the game. Here is the character creation rules.

1. Stats:

Agents of the PSID undergo intense training regiments in mind and/or body. All PC's will be built on 36 point buy (Using normal d20 modern rules). You MUST buy ones stat at at least 16 or higher as your PSID training will seek to focus at least one of your attributes. Your characters must also be 18 years of age or older as the PSID will not put Minors into the field. Only humans can be played in this game.

2. Focus: Agents of PSID are either Normal Agents or PSI-Agents.

Normal Agents: Normal agents are specialized recruits of the PSID who lack any Psionic Powers. Instead they receive an intense training regiment to maximize their skills in the field. Normal Agents get the following benefit.

1. As Normal Agents are expected to deal with Psionic threats, during their training they are taught to bolster their resistance against psionic powers. Normal Agents get a +2 bonus on any fortitude, reflex or will saves versus psionic powers. They may NEVER gain any psionic powers, feats or classes. They also get Knowledge (Psionics) as a class skill.

2. Normal Agents rely more on enhanced natural ability rather than psionic powers. They receive two additional bonus feats at 1st level and every 4 levels gain 2 feats instead of 1 when they advance.

3. Normal agents are more trusted by the organization and gain a +2 modifier to any social based checks dealing with the organization.

Psionic Agents: PSI-Agents are Psionic users who have been trained by the PSID. They are vital assets but also a liability as those who have gone "rogue" have become persistent threats to the PSID. Psionic agents gain the following benefits.

Psionic Powers: PSI-Agents gain the Wild Talent feat. In additional they gain Autohypnosis (Wis) and Knowledge (Psionics) (int) as class skills.

On top of this, PSI-Agents gain psionic powers. They need to chose one of three focuses.

PSI-Warrior:

One issue I have with Pathfinder/D&D is that imprisoning people with Divine Powers seems like a difficult if not dangerous prospect. Someone who gets spells from divine sources could cast spells in prison to mess with fellow prisoners, captors or facilitate escape. Not all divine spells require a divine focus to cast so as long as one does not violate their Gods edicts, there does not seem to be a way to "Turn Off" a divine caster's ability.

Now any legal system with a grain of salt would know just how dangerous spell-casters can be and would probably take precautions against Spell-singing unless the prisoner was able to conceal their abilities. Using special anti-magical chains might be one solution but chains can be picked or slipped out of.

One interesting house rule a DM I played with once did was that divine casters could be stripped of their spell-casting ability by painting and/or branding a holy symbol of an opposing God on the flesh. This came up in a 3.5 game when the PC's rescued two slaves from the Drow who had burned the symbol of Lloth on the chest of two prisoners who were clerics of Helm but as they were enslaved the Drow didn't want them flinging around spells so had branded them to surpress their divine magic. Would something similar work in Pathfinder?

One thing that I've often thought of is that as adventurers you often clear out castes, forts, dungeons, caves and such of monsters. Once you've looted the location however, most PC's fail to realize that they now have the rights to "Beachfront Property". After all the listed price for a Mansion is 100,000 Gold. If you take that BEBG (Big Evil Bad Guy's) Castle refurbish it have just aquired a castle for free (Baring expenses for repairs and upkeep).

Or even better take the land and sell it to some nobles or merchants. Land it itself is worth $$$. Why not cash in?

So the question is what prevents PC's from clearing out monster lairs and just taking over the place as their own property or selling the land for $$$?

So here is a good question that is on my mind. What prevents characters in game from getting friends/followers through roleplaying decisions or by shelling out money? Why would you even need the leadership feat when you establish a roleplaying reason for Followers/Hirelings. For instance:

First example: The group hires a bunch of labourers as camp followers in order to carry their stuff and tend to their mounts. If the NPC’s generally stay out of fights except if they’re defending themselves would you need to have the Leadership Feat to have them come along or could you just pay them wages and get them to help your group anyway.

Second example: The PC’s rescue an orphan child that was kidnapped by a bunch of goblins. Rather than taking the said child to some settlement and dumping them off they decide to take the child with them as a ward of their adventuring party. Its not like an Orphan would object to having an adopted momma or daddy taking them on adventures or would be a major asset to the party. And something like this creates roleplaying opportunities as cruel or intelligent DM’s could put the child into dangerous circumstances thus getting the PC’s involved in protecting him/her.

Third Example: The adventuring party kills a bunch of slavers but in the process gets their hands on a bunch of slaves from the caravan. While some of the slaves relish freedom and head off, others out of gratitude offer to work for the PC’s. If they accept them into their employ why would you need a leadership feat?

I have a rules question concerning the Amateur Gunslinger feat and deeds specific to Archetypes. Can you take as your one deed choice a deed from a specific archetype? I'm interested in the Focused Aim ability from the Mysterious Stranger build. I generally don't see a problem as rule wise it does not say you can't take an Archetype deed and a lot of the level 1 deeds are pretty crappy anyway.

In every incarnation of Dungeons and Dragons, we often end up with the "Vanishing Monster Syndrome". For instance at level 1, your average bread and butter Orcs and Goblins are a legitimate antagonist. As one's level goes up characters need to face more and more of the same monster to face the same level. Eventually though, your average Orcs & Goblins cease to provide a threat to a party of adventurers. So efficiently they "Vanish" from the world as the PC's never encounter them except if they actively look for them.

Now you might say they could remain a threat by giving those creatures Character Levels. But does that really make sense? Higher level characters are supposed to be more rare, the most powerful personalities in the world. Just because the PC's are level 10, does not mean every goblin in the world now has to be level 10 characters just because the player characters are. This also gets down to Demographics. A level 1 party could in theory raid a Goblin Village and kill off a bunch of goblins as the average goblin providers a reasonable CR threat for the level. If a 10th level party attacks a similar goblin village why would every goblin now be 10th level? The answer they wouldn't.

So in effect as characters level up, certain monsters appear (To meet the CR level), while others vanish from the world completely (As they don't show up because they're WAY too easy to fight). Sometimes I miss Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay where no matter how experienced your character is, a goblin with a spear is still a legitimate threat not to be ignored.

So the question is, how does one keep the lower-class monsters viable threat without buffing them with tons of class levels?

In my DMing experience, I can find parties can handle some pretty tough encounters. But I am finding throwing enemies that are CR equal to their level too easy in a fight. So how many extra CR can a party handle without the fight ending in a TPK. The math is mind boggling. Now take things into consideration:

1. Most CR's are built for 4 a typical 4 person party. For every additional player character, would it be reasonable to up the CR of an encounter by 1 or 2 points or character beyond the 4th?

2. When you give NPC class levels, it tends to calculate their CR as their class level -1. But how much value does a class level provide? A few extra HP and one or two extra class abilities or spell levels? And what about animal companions and the like? Do you calculate those as separate creatures or include their CR as part of the class you're facing?

So what is the guidelines of challenge rating that will help you judge the right balance of CR related to the threat? Is an encounter say +4 greater than the PC level too tough to put into play?

In my current campaign I am eventually intending the party to fight a very powerful Lich Necromancer at the end of the campaign to save the world. By then the party should be in the 18-20 range in levels. Now the problem is I don't know how to stat out an NPC based on a background description. Suffice to say the big bad is the following:

1. Centuries ago he raised an undead army of huge proportions. Large enough and powerful enough that it took the armies of 4 nations hold his army at bay (These nations include a nation of Barbarians, a nation with a lot of Clerics/Paladins, a Strong military nation and a Mageocracy with a lot of powerful wizards).

2. In his death thrones he unleashed a death curse upon the land he was killed that makes it so the dead do not rest easy and making it so that anyone dying in the land has a chance of coming back as an undead creature.

Anyway at the conclusion of my campaign, I intend the big-bad to reabsorb the curse and be reborn as a Lich Necromancer more powerful that he was before. I'll probably make him a Wizard Necromancer but a mere 20th level wizard seems rather underpowered for the things this guy pulled off centuries before. He probably would be more powerful than a Runelord in terms of magical power but I don't want to make the fight impossible either. He'll probably have some kind of material weakness that will allow people to bypass his natural Damage Reduction but as he is a wizard he probably has a crapload of spells that could make him untouchable. Not to mention being a Necromancer, a lot of powerful undead minions as well. So what would you advise in terms of making a Big-Bad for a campaign ending antagonist?

I as a DM refuse to allow players to play the summoner class. The reasons are as follows:

1. You get TONS of summon monsters per day even at level 1. An average summoner with 16 Charisma can summon monster 6 times a day at level 1 where most spellcasters don't have that many spells at level 1. Summon monster is a better spell that a 1d4/1d6 bolt from a wizard school or sorcerer bloodline. This does not include that they can also spend their normal spell slots to summon as well.

2. It makes the Conjurer wizard/sorcerer totally underpowered builds. A summoner's summoned monsters last MINUTES instead of ROUNDS. Why bother even playing a summoner-style wizard/sorcerer if the Summoner can summon better than them?

3. With forewarning, a Summoner can blow all their summons and totally gimp a planned encounter. For instance in a game I played in the Master Summoner in the group knew we were entering a Goblin Infested fortress so blew all his summons to summon 9d3 dogs and use his canine army to pretty much clear out the entire dungeon. With a 4 minute duration that was more than enough time in battle to wipe out most encounters.

4. Summoners slow down the game WAY too much. When you have tons of summoned monsters on the field being controlled, you have to include the actions of each summoned monster.

5. The Summoner's Eidolon has more combat potential than most fighters and druid animal companions. It also can't be permanently killed. A summoner can just summon it back later if it dies.

SO what's your opinion on the Summoner?

This is the discussion forum for this game.

Ten years ago, the sinister force known as the Darkfall first appeared in the lands of Aden. Heralded by a solar eclipse, the Darkfall began a reign of terror throughout the continent. Creatures of nightmare were given flesh and turned against the living. The weak, gullible, and ambitious became willing agents of destruction and betrayed their brethren for promises of power. The Seer Order, once protectors and custodians of Aden’s future, seemingly perished in a single night. Entire nations were wiped away – among them, the once great nation of Columbey. It was a bleak time for Aden.

But while Columbey was the site of one of Aden’s greatest defeats, it also became the source of its greatest victories. A mercenary captain named Urbane drew upon Columbey’s rich manite resources to forge an army bolstered by mechamagic. With troops bolstered by manite implants, advanced firearms, constructs, and powerful magical weapons he took the Darkfall unprepared. His forces recaptured the capital city of Tarello and soon liberated Columbey’s other major settlements as well. His exploits have painted him as a controversial hero. Though Urbane has arguably turned the tide against the Darkfall, his tactics are ruthless, merciless, and unrelenting. He has declared himself the king of the former nation of Columbey, renaming it Urbana and refashioning it in his image.

Nowhere is this as evident as Mekanus, the city formerly known as Tarello. This highly industrialized city has become the heart of Urbane’s campaign against the darkness. Urbane believes that to defeat the enemy, the people of Urbana must become as cold and merciless as the Darkfall itself. No sacrifice in the name of victory is too great. He has concentrated his defenses in Urbana’s cities and practiced scorched earth tactics against large portions of his own land, burning out the Nocturnals with powerful magic.

Due to a combination of wandering Nocturnals and Urbane’s own strategies, much of Urbana’s population has gathered in its cities for safety. Extreme overpopulation has only added to Urbana’s woes. Crime, disease, and poverty run rampant in many of the city’s poorer districts. Unable (some say unwilling) to maintain order throughout the city, Urbane’s forces have concentrated on those areas of Mekanus inhabited by the military and its wealthy noble benefactors.

Urbana's four major defense forces, The Iron Guard, The Rusters, the Inquisitors of the Eye and the Shadow Military are overwhelmed with duties to perform. Concentrating mainly on the more serious threats such as the Nocturnals, they are unable to supply the manpower to enforce the law for the common folk. The common folk have been forced to rely on the local militias for general law enforcement and keeping the peace. Unfortunately the Militia is often poorly trained and prone to corruption, often making a living of bribes to look the other way in the face of criminal activity. With the skyrocketing crime rate threatening the peace, numerous demands for action have reached the ears of the "The Elders of Mekanus" and finally they have decided that something would have to be done lest the city fall into further anarchy.

It was the retired Iron Guard Commander Shara Thale that came up with a solution. With the influx of people to the city has also come numerous mercenaries and adventurers, many who had proficient skills to bring order to the city. With enticing offers of reward, Shara suggested these transients be put to work and deputized as adjutants to the Urbana militia. They would become bounty hunters, assigned to deal with fugitives and other crimes too large for the standard militia. This company would be dubbed the Cogswheel Irregulars, named for the northern city gate station where they made their headquarters. Whatever their motivations, the Cogswheel Irregulars will make a difference for good or for ill.

Our story begins one week after our heroes applied to become members of the Cogswheel Irregulars. During that time you all have been tested on your skills and judged in character and judged worthy to join the ranks of the Irregulars. As the Irregulars were arranged into squads, all of you have been assigned to the same squad, assessed that your mixed skills would work well together in the field. After a brief ceremony you all receive your badges, a bronze cog you can use to identify your authority and inducted into the Cogswheel Irregulars. You are given time to once again review the terms of your charter and what you can and cannot do as a member of the Irregulars.

Justice is swift and certain in Urbana and lawmen are within their rights to kill criminals under the following circumstances:

A. There is a dead or alive warrant out on them
B. Acting in self defense (As it is a capital crime to attack a lawman)
C. You see criminals that are clearly guilty of a crime or are currently committing a crime. Still it is encouraged to use less than lethal force to subdue them unless they respond with lethal force, whereas the Self-Defense clause applies.
D. Bounties are special cases. If the bounty is wanted alive he or she should be taken alive if all possible. Killing the target will forfeit your right to the bounty.

Beyond these circumstances you are not above the law. If you go around randomly roughing up or killing innocent people you will face the appropriate consequences.

Looting rights depend on the severity of the crime. A major criminal wanted for a serious crime such as Murder or Treason forfeits their rights as a citizen and thus you have free reign to take their things. For minor crimes it is inappropriate to take someone's property unless the property is stolen. Another clause is that the Inquisitors of the Eye have all salvage rights to items taken off of Nocturnals. So if you slay a Nocturnal it is prudent to bring all you find to the Eye for assessment. In all cases you are NOT allowed to seize residences, businesses or other living dwellings as your own. As Mechanus is overcrowded with refuges, property ownership is highly regulated.

Most of all you should keep a good reputation with the populace. Bribery and corruption is illegal and if found out you will be punished to the full extent of the law and lose your charter. You are there to help enforce the laws not to make things worse in the city.

After spending some time relaxing and getting your individual affairs in order you are all called to meet with Commander Shara Thale in her office at the Cogswheel Station. You head to the office and see an elven woman with a stern expression on her face. She is dressed in the gunmetal armor of a Steel Legionare embroiled with a numbers of metals of service. The only major blemish she has is that she is missing her right hand that ends at the wrist, likely lost in the line of duty. When you come in she gives the group an analytical glare and says to the group.

"You have my congratulations that you have proven yourself worthy to join the ranks of the Cogswheel Irregulars. I have read the reports on your skills and you do seem competent enough to start taking on your first task. I have a two bounties on my desk and I shall give you the choice of which one you will pursue. Know that what you do not chose may be assigned to another unit to complete so chose wisely."

She shows you two bounty documents:

Mayhem at Cistern – Several reports have arrived from militia stationed in Cistern regarding increased ratling activity. Apparently they have become more aggressive as of late, and have even murdered several Cistern inhabitants, causing the mechamagical water purification systems to be temporarily shut down until the problem is resolved. Interested parties please report to the local militia station for more details. Reward: 100 gold crests per ratling tail recovered.

Robbery of a Supply Depo – A supply depo of the Militia in Tarello Landing was burglarized last night by unknown assailants. The night watchmen were knocked out, tied up and gagged while a dozen hooded individuals proceeded to steal food and general supplies. These criminals are wanted dead or alive for stealing Militia property and assaulting law enforcement personnel. Reward: 700 gold crests for bringing these individuals to justice. Evidence must be supplied of their guilt in order to claim the reward. Any remaining supplies should be returned to the Militia if possible.

So what do you choose or do you wish to ask Shara Thale any questions concerning the bounties.

Hello folks,

I was hella surprised that NO one on the Paizo Board had thought about running the new Adventure Path for Thunderscape. I would be willing to throw my hat into the ring. The PC's will be members of the Cogswheel Irregulars, a mercenary organization in the city of Mekanus in the nation of Urbana that are given bounties from the Urbana Government to solve the problems of the common folk where the Militia and the local Military would not. Here are the character creation rules:

Character Creation:

20 Point Buy characters.

You may pick 2 traits for your characters either from the core list or from the World of Aden book.

Max starting money for your class. It is recommended you purchase some cold weather gear for your character due to the nature of this campaign.

Hero points will be used.

Races

Common Races Available: Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Dwarf, Half-Orc (Technically Half-Jurak but same difference)

Aden Specific Races: Ferran (Predator, Brute or Sneak), Goreaux, Rapacian, Faerkin, Jurak

Rare Races: Elemental Races (Undine, Sylph, Ifrit, Oread), Tiefling, Echo

Any race not mentioned on this list requires justification to play and must fit in as a sub-set to an existing race. For instance a Gnome or Halfling would be an Offshoot of a Faekin and a Tengu would be a rare Bird Ferran throwback.

There are no Aasmiar in Aden the as the interactions with the Alignment Planes are minimal and with the celestial planes even less in the wake of the Darkfall. Tieflings on the other hand have become more common and are either corrupted individuals by the Darkfall and/or demonic/devil magic or descendants of rare demonic/devil crossbreeds. Either way Tieflings suffer the same bonuses and penalties as Fallen do with social interaction (-6 racial on most diplomacy checks but +6 on Intimidation checks against non-fallen and non-tieflings). This does not stack with the Fallen Class however as they essentially are from the same source.

Classes: All classes are allowed except for Psionic Classes. At least half the party must take a class from the Thunderscape source book (As I wish to playtest some of the mechanics)

The Aden Specific Classes are:

The Arbiter: A powerful front-line style fighter who uses strength to fight their foes and intelligence to outwit them.

The Entomancer: A druid offshoot that casts magic like a sorcerer and can command, control and take on aspects of insects.

The Fallen: An individual corrupted by the darkfall but has not fully given themselves to evil. They use their own corrupted nature as a weapon against their foes.

The Golemoid: When a person gets extensive mechamagical upgrades and becomes a fusion of metal and flesh they become one of these. Their implants give powerful abilities.

The Mechamage: A variant wizard that trades a school, arcane bond and some schools of spells in exchange for the ability to command and augment mechamagical golems and work with Mechamagical componets.

The Seer: The seer can manipulate fate giving powerful bonuses to their allies and penalties to their enemies.

The Steamwright: The Steamwright instead of using magic, uses enhanced science, alchemy, invention and machinery to generate wonderous effects. Their crafting skill is without comparison to those of lesser skill.

The Thaumaturge: A class that ultilizes heroic spirits to alter their abilities on the fly. They could be a powerful warrior one day and a stealthy assassin the other depending on what spirits they draw on.

The Thunderscout: The Thunderscout specializes in driving and operating mechamagical vehicles. From the fast thundercycle to the roomy transport, there is no better drivers in all of Aden.

Altered Class Mechanics:

Clerics/Oracles/Druids: There are no Gods in Aden but there is divine magic. Clerics and Oracles draw power from their faiths in certain ideals (Some could be organized faiths others would be upholding the spirit of their domain). Druids draw power from nature itself and not from any God. As there is no gods in Aden, spells that commune with deities do not function. If a Domain gives such a power you are free to switch it out with an appropriate alternative.

There is also a new Mechamagic Domain available to Clerics and a certain build of Druid.

Paladin: Paladins in Aden draw power from upholding a vow. The do not necessarily have to be Lawful Good in alignment (but almost are are generally a variant of Good). You MUST chose one vow to uphold. If the Paladin grossly violate their vow they lose their class features until they atone for their misdeeds.

Other altered mechanics:

Magical Item Crafting: Most magical items require a rare metal called "Mantle" in their construction to hold a magical charge. Only Wands, Staffs, Potions and Scrolls do not require this kind of infusion. As part of the construction of a magical item, Mantle must be incorporated into creating the item.

Thunderscape: Shadows of Carraway

Spring is in the air in the nation of Carraway and many have travelled far and wide to the City of St.Lucca. With the growing Nocturnal threat in the land, there has been an increased demand for Mechamagic and Science in the nation. In addition with the coming of spring is the great festival of Saint Leria attracting bards and entertainers throughout the land to take part in numerous festivities. You have arrived in the city by fate, fortune or choice to take part in the festivities. But little do you know that this trip shall be your first step on the path of heroes.

Greetings gamers. When checking out the Play By Post boards I was VERY surprised that no one had taken up the mantle of running a game in the new "Thunderscape: World of Aden" setting. I am looking to start my own game based in the nation of Carraway. For Golarion comparisons, Carraway is somewhat like the nation of Ustalav, a land marked by darkness and threatened constantly by the Undead as the Nocturnals. The nation resembles mostly Renaissance Romania, with cold winters, mild summers and middling temperatures in Fall and Winter. The government is benevolent and highly influenced by the Church of All Saints who revere ancestral spirits of great heroes in ages past. Despite this, Carraway is somewhat backward in technology compared to other nations but is seeking to change this, especially under the influence of newcomers from the destroyed magical kingdom of Aramyst.

Character Creation

Characters will be using a 20 Point Buy mechanic.

The races available are:

Common Races: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc

Aden Specific Races: Faerkin, Ferran, Goreaux, Jurak, Rapacian

Rare Races: Echo, Oread, Ifrit, Undine, Sylph, Sulis, Tiefling

As for other races, those will be considered on a case by case basis. Gnomes and Halflings could easily fit in as an offshoot of the Faerkin Race. The Tengu could be a rare throwback of the Ferran race for instance.

It is suggested players purchase or acquire the Thunderscape: World of Aden book for this game. I would like at least some of the party to play an Aden-Specific class or archetype. The book is easy to get in PDF format through a number of different sources (including the Paizo site).

There is no Gods in Aden, although there is Divine Magic. Clerics and Oracles get their powers by upholding the ideals of their chosen Domains or Mysteries. There is some established religions however, such as the Church of All Saints. As Clerics do not serve gods, instead of a favored weapon they may chose ONE martial weapon of their choice to be proficient with. This weapon should relate somewhat to the Domains they chose. A Cleric with the Mechamagic Domain might have a proficiency with Rifles but a Cleric of Nature would more likely take a Staff as their favored weapon. Druids in the setting get their power from nature itself represented by their Nature's Bond (Either giving them a domain or an animal companion respectively)

As your characters may be traveling with a good deal of their life savings all players start with max gold for their class.

You may choose two traits. Traits may be any Golarion trait (Save Rich Parents) or traits from the World of Aden book.

The game will be using a limited Hero Point mechanic. Player characters get a flat 1 Hero Point per level and may never have more than 3 at one time to promote using them or losing them. Other than that, Hero Points may be rewarded for completing a major quest or storyline milestone.

The Critical Hit deck will optionally be used in this setting with the following adjustments.

1. You only can draw from the deck by rolling a natural 20 on your attack roll. For weapons with higher critical ranges, you merely just get the normal result.

2. When you score a critical you can chose either to draw a card or do the listed critical hit damage for your weapon.

3. If your weapon has a critical multiplier higher than x2 then you draw an additional card for each multiplier (So 2 cards for x3 or 3 cards for x4). You then pick which kind of critical hit you wish to apply from the drawn cards. Monsters will always draw from the deck on a natural 20 critical hit.

If a PC takes a critical hit, they can spend 1 hero point to have the monster discard the card and pick another. You must accept the result of the 2nd card.

Thunderscape: The World of Aden PDF is now available for download at their web site. The link is below.

Thunderscape Campaign Setting

Who has bought the setting book yet and what are your opinions?

Like many people in Detroit you're down on your luck. Living in a low end apartment on Temple Street, scraping by with whatever employment or government assistance you can grasp and laying low while the crime rate of the city rises to unprecedented levels. But there are great evils in the world far beyond the surface that seek to delve the dead engine even deeper into the death spiral that it takes. It is time to take a stand against the darkness and step into the light of the Vigil.

This is a recruiting thread for a game of Hunter: The Vigil. This will make use of a combination of the Hunter the Vigil book along with with the rules updates from the God Machine chronicles. Some house rules will be implemented to better iron out some combat kinks.

Character Creation

Characters Start with the following spread:

One Virtue and Vice (By God Machine chronicle rules)
5/4/3 Attributes
11/7/4 Skills
7 Merits
7 Integrity

In addition to round out some edges I shall also start you as "Seasoned" player characters thus starting with 5 experience. This must be spent before the game begins.

Restrictions:

Player characters will start out as normal human beings with no direct knowledge of the supernatural. You may not start with any supernatural merits although they may be achievable later. Your characters might have some belief in the supernatural or be some kind of practitioner of occult but you have yet to see anything truly supernatural. Your characters will not start as a member of a compact or conspiracy for obvious reasons. Otherwise most merits out of Hunter the Vigil and The God Machine chronicles are available.

Players will all be residents of the Edward Apartment Complex, a low end apartment building in Dearborn District of Detroit on the corner of Temple and 15th street. You should adapt your backgrounds accordingly.

Players may not start with more than 2 dots in Resources. Anyone with money would probably be living somewhere else.

Characters should emulate REAL people. No ex-swat sniper with an arsenal of sniper rifles in his closet need apply. As a guideline try to keep most skills to 3 or lower. You may have a single skill at a rank of 4 and no skill at a rank of 5. Try to avoid min-maxing your skills and attributes.

Other rule changes:

The God Machine chronicles has a number of rules updates to combat. Most of those rules shall be used in game but some differences shall be enforced. These include.

1. You may apply your defense against a firearm attack so long as the attack can be perceived. If you do apply your defense against a firearm attack though you may only make a single move or standard action on the following turn as you must be evasive to avoid being shot.

2. Having the athletics skill adds a flat +1 to your defence you do not add your entire Athletics score to defence. I noticed a large flaw in the system that high athletics characters become nearly untouchable in combat to low combat pool attackers. This is a method to migrate that problem. While having the athletics skill should give some advantage, the God Machine rules make the skill far too powerful.

3. The Medicine skill can be used to reduce Lethal Damage to bashing damage. To do this you must have ample medical supplies and the time to perform complex treatment or surgery. This involves an extended Medicine roll, where every 5 successes reduces 1 lethal damage to bashing. You may not heal more than 2 points of lethal per day of medical treatment. This hopefully will speed up recovery times for characters as they likely will not have access to magical healing.

This is the discussion forum for OOC banter.

Backstory

Five years have passed since the island of Ovis was annexed into the Holy Lodissian empire. While Ovis had been politically influenced by Lodis for decades and given a good deal of autonomy, the events provoked the Shaher incident drove a military intervention from Lodis into the island. While the fallen archangel was defeated, Ovis was in shambles. The bitter king of Felis, a province in the Lodissian empire lost his son Richter during the conflict and held bitter contempt towards the Ovissians in the aftermath of the conflict.

Ivanna Ronway, the last of the noble Ronway family became the Baroness of Ovis in the wake of the incident and the nation was slowly on the path to recovery. But the bitter king of Felis wanted to take the island as his own. Ten years after the conflict there was a brutal assassination that slew Ivanna and her husband Edwin. Their two children were fortunately ferried away but went into hiding in the wake of the conflict. Without a clear ruler there was an internal power struggle on the island, giving Lodis a legitimate reason to step in. Lodissian troops mainly from Felis invaded the island and in a brief conflict conquered Ovis.

The occupation of the island was not a kind one. The noble family holdings were seized and their positions replaced by Lodissian nobles. The Lodis church sought to expand the worship of Filarhh and suppress the old religions. Most of all, they were intolerant of demihumans and monsters leading a purge of lizardmen, faries, lamia, orcs, merfolk and other creatures. The winged folk were tolerated as there was some who were citizens of Lodis but were oppressed more than the average citizen.

The occupation of Ovis led to massive exploitation of its natural resources. A sizeable amount of materials from mines and produce from farms were tithed to Lodis and shipped back to the mainland. This only added to the hardship of the people and Ovis would endure.

But there was some who would held onto hope that once day, Ovis would know freedom once again and the Lodissians would be driven back to their mainland. Indeed, there was word from the mainland that Lodis had lost two major attempts conquest attempts in the Valerian Isles and the nation of Palatinus. This proved that the Holy Lodissian Empire was not invincible and could be defeated.

And thus the Ovis Liberation front was born and now is preparing its plans to drive the Lodissians from the shores of Ovis. Indeed, this would be a conflict that would be remembered throughout history.

Ogre Battle: The Ovis Rebellion

The Island of Ovis is under brutal occupation by the Holy Lodissian Empire. While there was a time where there was some atonomy given to the rulers of the island, the chaos of the Shathar insident left the island in disarray and was ample justification for the Lodis empire to annex the entire island into their Empire. The order of the Sacred Flame, the militant branch of the Holy Lodissian Empire have brutally supressed the local religions and indotrinate the populace in worshiping their god Filarhh above all others. Other that this, the Lodissians are seeking to also destroy aspects of Ovis culture to better make the people of this island ideal citizens of the Empire. They have also lead a brutal campaign against the Demihumans of the isle slaying hawkmen, faries, mermaids and other creatures no matter their affliations.

Some however still seek to resist the Lodissian empire and liberate the island from their control. The Ovis Liberation Front is on the move and is looking to one day see Ovis free from the Lodissians and once again chose its own destiny in the world. Now destiny has called a chosen few to stand up for freedom. Will you be among their number?

Game Description:

This game is based in the world of the Ogre Battle series, some time after the events of the video games. It is a world with a lot of human drama and while there is monsters, angels, demons and demihumans, human conflict is the most prevalent aspect. As this is generally a human drama, player characters should consider playing humans. I may with a good backstory allow a Hawkman or a Mermaid in the game but I would rather have most, if not all the PC's in the game be human. There are no elves, dwarfs, halflings, gnomes and half-elves in this setting. Half-Orcs do exist in small numbers (as there is Orcs) but are not preferred as player characters.

For classes, all the Pathfinder Classes can be represented in this setting. There are also firearms (thus the Gunslinger class is allowed) but firearms rare and highly expensive. Most are imported and few have the means or the ability to craft them. For Wizards, most wizards of this world are either Generalists or adherents to one of the Elemental schools of magic although I will allow traditional schools as well. Witches are commonplace although somewhat distrusted as bewitchers and hurlers of curses. Sorcerers have a smaller list of bloodlines to chose from as there is not as many supernatural elements. The elemental, divine and infernal bloodlines are the most commonly seen, although undead bloodlines have come into being with the growing rise of undead and necromancy.

As for the Gods of this setting they are as follows:

Philaha: The High God, lord of Heaven father of the Gods. (Lawful Good)
Fellana: Goddess of Justice and mother of the Gods (Lawful Good)

From Philaha and Fellana came 7 Daughters who are:

Berthe: Goddess of Earth (Lawful Neutral)
Harnella: Goddess of Air (Chaotic Neutral)
Zoshonel: Goddess of Fire (Chaotic Neutral)
Gruza: Goddess of Water (Chaotic Neutral)
Lyuneram: Goddess of Ice (Lawful Neutral)
Nestharot: Goddess of Lighting (Lawful Neutral)
Ishtalle: Goddess of Light (Lawful Good)

The Dark Gods are:

Diablo: Dark God of Hell, lord of the ogres and known as the God of Destruction. (Chaotic Evil)
Asmodee: Dark God of the Netherworld associated with the element of Darkness (Lawful Evil)
Sentoul: Dark God of deception. (Neutral Evil)
Danika: Queen of the underworld (Lawful Evil)

Other Gods:

Fillarh: The Sun God. The God worshiped by the Holy Lodissian Empire and is seen as the only true God. His existence is in debated by non-Lodissians but he does grant spells to his worshipers although his philosophies are interpreted by the book of the prophet Lodis, who was said to a saint in his service. His alignment is unknown but Lawful Neutral seems to be the closest approximation. Some see him as good, others as evil.

Demigods of the wind (The 4 Sons of Harnella)
Euros (West Wind)
Zepyulos (East Wind)
Notos (South Wind)
Boreas (North Wind)

Character Creation:

Player Characters will be built with a 25 point buy, with an average number of Gold Pieces (Goth) for their class. You should play a human character unless you can come up with a good reason to play a demihuman race. I will come up with racial stats for that race if I am convinced to allow demihumans into the game. All players will start at level 1.

For traits, you may pick one trait from the Pathfinder list of traits.

For your other trait, roll 1d22 to figure out what your tarot aspect is. Every person of the world is born under the influence of one of the 22 Arcana. You will then answer a question based on that Tarot and will be given a powerful trait based on that answer. This could be a stat boost or a spell-like ability of some kind.

The lands of Ionara are the farthest north in all of Aden and the harshest realm on the planet to survive. The biting cold can freeze a man solid and the fearsome winds can tear apart the hardiest of individuals. And this is but only some of the dangers that are prevalent in this realm. But also within the frozen wastes lie many great and unclaimed treasures. Mineral wealth virtually untapped by civilized folk and veins of diamonds and mantle that are in high demand for both murdane and magical means.

While the mining settlement of Permis taps into one vital source of resources, there is still many unexplored places where vast resources lie unclaimed. Thus a call has been put out by a new mining company from Urbana for mercenaries to be hired to travel into the northlands and survey for a location where a new mining colony can be built and new resources can be exploited. Thus you have all traveled to the city of Floe, where the mining company has set up shop to take advantage of this opportunity. But what dangers will you face in the frost storm of the frozen north?

Character Creation:

20 Point Buy characters.

You may pick 2 traits for your characters either from the core list or from the World of Aden book.

Max starting money for your class. It is recommended you purchase some cold weather gear for your character due to the nature of this campaign.

Hero points will be used.

Races

Common Races Available: Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Dwarf, Half-Orc (Technically Half-Jurak but same difference)

Aden Specific Races: Ferran (Predator, Brute or Sneak), Goreaux, Rapacian, Faerkin, Jurak

Rare Races: Elemental Races (Undine, Sylph, Ifrit, Oread), Tiefling, Echo

Any race not mentioned on this list requires justification to play and must fit in as a sub-set to an existing race. For instance a Gnome or Halfling would be an Offshoot of a Faekin and a Tengu would be a rare Bird Ferran throwback.

There are no Aasmiar in Aden the as the interactions with the Alignment Planes are minimal and with the celestial planes even less in the wake of the Darkfall. Tieflings on the other hand have become more common and are either corrupted individuals by the Darkfall and/or demonic/devil magic or descendants of rare demonic/devil crossbreeds. Either way Tieflings suffer the same bonuses and penalties as Fallen do with social interaction (-6 racial on most diplomacy checks but +6 on Intimidation checks against non-fallen and non-tieflings). This does not stack with the Fallen Class however as they essentially are from the same source.

Classes: All classes are allowed except for Psionic Classes. At least half the party must take a class from the Thunderscape source book (As I wish to playtest some of the mechanics)

The Aden Specific Classes are:

The Arbiter: A powerful front-line style fighter who uses strength to fight their foes and intelligence to outwit them.

The Entomancer: A druid offshoot that casts magic like a sorcerer and can command, control and take on aspects of insects.

The Fallen: An individual corrupted by the darkfall but has not fully given themselves to evil. They use their own corrupted nature as a weapon against their foes.

The Golemoid: When a person gets extensive mechamagical upgrades and becomes a fusion of metal and flesh they become one of these. Their implants give powerful abilities.

The Mechamage: A variant wizard that trades a school, arcane bond and some schools of spells in exchange for the ability to command and augment mechamagical golems and work with Mechamagical componets.

The Seer: The seer can manipulate fate giving powerful bonuses to their allies and penalties to their enemies.

The Steamwright: The Steamwright instead of using magic, uses enhanced science, alchemy, invention and machinery to generate wonderous effects. Their crafting skill is without comparison to those of lesser skill.

The Thaumaturge: A class that ultilizes heroic spirits to alter their abilities on the fly. They could be a powerful warrior one day and a stealthy assassin the other depending on what spirits they draw on.

The Thunderscout: The Thunderscout specializes in driving and operating mechamagical vehicles. From the fast thundercycle to the roomy transport, there is no better drivers in all of Aden.

Altered Class Mechnics:

Clerics/Oracles/Druids: There are no Gods in Aden but there is divine magic. Clerics and Oracles draw power from their faiths in certain ideals (Some could be organized faiths others would be upholding the spirit of their domain). Druids draw power from nature itself and not from any God. As there is no gods in Aden, spells that commune with deities do not function. If a Domain gives such a power you are free to switch it out with an appropriate alternative.

There is also a new Mechamagic Domain available to Clerics and a certain build of Druid.

Paladin: Paladins in Aden draw power from upholding a vow. The do not necessarily have to be Lawful Good in alignment (but almost are are generally a variant of Good). You MUST chose one vow to uphold. If the Paladin grossly violate their vow they lose their class features until they atone for their misdeeds.

Other altered mechanics:

Magical Item Crafting: Most magical items require a rare metal called "Mantle" in their construction to hold a magical charge. Only Wands, Staffs, Potions and Scrolls do not require this kind of infusion. As part of the construction of a magical item, Mantle must be incorporated into creating the item.

As you know Adventure Paths often can have numerous encounters that can be bypassed through player actions. This could be unintentional as the PC's might chose to not go down a certain tunnel on the route and not backtrack (Thus missing potential XP and Loot). This also could be intentional as the PC's might be forewarned of some danger and bypass the encounter through stealth, navigation or quick thinking. This in the end might mean that the PC's will miss out on vital gear and experience that would leave them either without the proper tools for a future encounter or underleveled due to lower amounts of XP.

A good example of this is in the Dragonlance Adventure Path. Basically the PC's have a goal to navigate toward an elven encampment deep in the sewers. In the sewers there is a Shield of Bashing and a +1 Sword but both are encounters they might miss completely by accident (By not entering the tunnels with these encounters) or intentionally (Such as seeing a room full of spider webs and deciding to take an alternate route). If the PC's do not get the shield or the sword they will have no magical weapons in a future dungeon that has Shadows, Wraiths and a Demon that can't be efficiently fought without magical weapons. So what can a DM do to steer players towards vital encounters or make up for missed opportunities in an Adventure path?

This is the discussion forum for "Runebound: The Terrinoth Chronicles". Here you can ask questions, get fluff information or just talk Out of Character with other players. Welcome all to the forum!

In ages past there was a golden age of Menara where the Elder Kings bearing the shards of Timerion ruled over the nations of Menara. As time passed the Elder Kings passed on by natural (or unnatural causes) the shards passing to their descendants.

But then came the Dragonlords who craved the power of the shards, slaying the last of the Elder Kings and claiming the shards as their own. Marking them with their own runes the Dragonlords became stronger than They sought to conquer and rule over the lesser races. Some sought to move their way into society through trade and alliance while others sought control through conquest and enslavement. The Dragonlords wielded awesome strength, power and magical knowledge never seen upon the face of Menara. In time the Dragonlords formed to factions. To the north, the foul Magarth Coalition, to the south the Korina Alliance. War was evitable and the world shuttered as the great Dragon Wars began. Margath’s forces strengthened by monstrous races and his foul minions the Dragonborn struck victory after victory, razing the great city of Thelsvar and the seat of power of Korina. Korina forced to put aside her pride made a grand alliance with the elves, dwarves, humans and orcs, teaching them the secrets of Runecraft and draconic sorceries and with her new allies struck back at Margath and his allies. In a final conflict Korina and Margath slew one another in an epic duel The souls of the Dragonlords were imprisoned in Runestones and taken by the Elves, the eldest of the lesser races where they would be guarded for all time. The aftermath of the war was apparent, as there was great destruction throughout the world from the Dragon Wars as entire nations were razed many great heroes fell and many ancient artifacts were lost, some for all time.

Over the years the races slowly rebuilt their place in the world, but of all the races Humanity has prospered the most. Mankind became the dominant rulers of the cities in the lands of Central Terrinoth, Torue Albes, Ishiem and Al-Kalim. For the other races, the Elves withdrew into their homeland to live as they wished although this was only a portion of the Elven Race for the Frost Elves continued their lives in Isheim as they have for countless generations. The dwarves made their own lives in the mountain strongholds, engaging in trade with the free cities. As for the Orcs, they remained stout allies of the humans with bonds that remained strong after fighting side by side in the Dragon Wars. While savage Orc marauders still raided and plundered, they would often times find themselves fighting their own kind as the more civilized Orcs would work as warriors and mercenaries for the free cities. As for the Halflings and gnomes they maintained their neutrality as they have in the past but remain on good terms with the humans, welcome among the cities as any other traveller.

Mennara is still a place with many threat and conflicts, without and within three hundred years have passed and no conflict has ever matched even an inkling of the scale the Dragon Wars brought upon the world. The scars of the Dragonwars are still felt, but while the Dragonlords have been defeated, the lands still have its share of troubles. The savage and foul beastmen still make wars on the civilized world. Numerous monsters eldritch, beast and humanoid make war. The threats of the undead lands of Waiqar and the Demon Worshiping Uthuk Y’llan are as prevalant as ever. And in the world there is always ambition of evil forces, a constant trend in the history of the world.

As for the adventure, it begins in the city of Riverwatch in the lands of Terrinoth, also known as the City of Trade. The city is built on a major trading route and with two rivers flowing through it is a place that gets a lot of travelers from all over the world. The Great Market is famous throughout the world as a place where goods throughout the world can be found and the streets are lined with stalls, shops, traders and merchants. A lot of wealth flows into the city and hence it is the merchants who are the true power in Riverwatch. Riverwatch does not have a royal family or an official class system unlike many other cities. Instead it is ruled by the Merchant Princes where the strongest and most influential family holds the title as Grand Commodore. Currently the city is ruled by the Rydelor family and the Grant Commodore is Edmond Rydelor, possibly the wealthiest man in Riverwatch, for in Riverwatch he who has the gold, makes the rules. Still Riverwatch is a law abiding city and does have a competent force of guardsmen and mercenaries upholding the law. While much is allowed in the city, there are restrictions of course on the sale of certain kinds of goods, but of course there is a black market for these kinds of goods.

Character Creation

Stats: 20 Point Buy

Classes: All Pathfinder Classes are available. Mennara is a renaissance level of technology, including some machines including airships and blackpowder weapons such as firearms and cannons.

Races: Most pathfinder races are playable in this setting. Races that may not be played are: Drow, Kobold, Tengu, Merfolk, Ratfolk, Kitsune and Catfolk.

Race Changes: While Orcs are essentially the same species some Orcs have lived generations in the cities and thus have lost some of their savageness but are generally more intelligent than their ancestors. City Orcs have the following modifiers. Players can chose to take either a Savage Orc (using the normal Orc rules) or the City Orc race.

Stats: +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Charisma. City Orcs are strong and resilient but are generally hideous looking and lacking in social graces seen in other races.

Darkvision 30 FT: City Orcs have adapted to life in the sun. Their eyes are not as accustomed to the dark as their ancestors but are still efficient. They do not suffer the Light Blindness racial trait.

Ferocity: Orcs possess the ferocity ability which allows them to remain conscious and continue fighting even if their hit point totals fall below 0. Orcs are still staggered at 0 hit points or lower and lose 1 hit point each round as normal.

City-Raised: City Orcs with this trait are more accustomed to living in a large city. City-raised Orcs are proficient with whips and longswords, and receive a +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (local) checks. This racial trait replaces weapon familiarity.

Gods of Menara

Merlindia : Goddess of farming, fields and agriculture. (Neutral Good)
Faradon : God of Justice, protection, nobility and honor. (Lawful Good)
Kellos : God of Fire, Sun and Light, The Scourge of Evil. (Neutral Good)
Harken : God of Music and the arts. (Neutral Good)
Moradin : God of Craft, smiths and building. (Lawful Good)
Lyandar : Goddess of Love and passion. (Chaotic Good)
Cerradin : Goddess of the Moon, protector of the night. (Chaotic Good)

Deities of Neutrality

Elion : God of Judgement, mediation and balance. (Lawful Neutral)
Chalnier : God of War, Battle and Strength. (Chaotic Neutral)
Veranus : God of knowledge, skill and prophecy. (True Neutral)
Elderan : God of the Fey, patron of beauty. (True Neutral)
Cardistra : Goddess of the sea, oceans and the waves. (Chaotic Neutral)
Vaal : God of Nature, forests and animals (Chaotic Neutral)
Erathis : Goddess of civilization and development. (Lawful Neutral)
Alvareon : Goddess of Fate and Destiny. (True Neutral)
Drakavar : God of Death, lord of endings, ferryman of the dead. (True Neutral)

Deities of Evil

Tiamat : Goddess of wealth, greed and envy. (Lawful Evil)
Hextor : God of Tyranny, enslavement and conquest. (Lawful Evil)
Zorek : God of Darkness, Despair and Oblivion. (Neutral Evil)
Zebom : Goddess of Storms, Weather and Wind (Chaotic Evil)
Kelnov : God of Chaos, Wrath and madness (Chaotic Evil)
Morgheim : God of Disease, plague and pestilence. (Neutral Evil)
Myzekil : Goddess of Murder, Vengeance and Poison. (Neutral Evil)

Demigods

Shylya: Goddess of Healing (Lawful Good)
Ranald: God of Luck and Fortune (True Neutral)
Carthoi: Goddess of Blood (Neutral Evil)
Vurlog ): God of Competition, Patron of the Orcs (Chaotic Neutral
Glim Grungold: God of trickery and illusion, Patron of Halflings (Neutral Good)
Dergrim: God of Necromancy and the Undead (Neutral Evil)
(There are numerous other Demigods that may be revealed)