Something for you all to consider before we start the campaign proper:
- Is your character a native of Kintargo? If not, how did they come to be here?
- Does your character know any of the other player characters? If so, how?
- How would you describe your character?
- How would your character describe themselves? (Remember these two things can be very different).
Will there perhaps be some content from Ult Intrigue in this as well as the Horror elements or might it just be more optional for UI?
Thanks
Tom
The research rules from Ultimate Intrigue show up in a few of the adventures, but I made sure to provide enough information in the text for a GM to run those encounters without needing to reference Ultimate Intrigue.
*Said in the voice of Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures* We must do research!
I loved that show, and now want to play that as a character concept.
Hroren peers around the area before him. "There seems to be three paths ahead. The one to the right is some kind of small nook, and the one ahead and the one to the left lead off somewhere. I can't really see much. Shall we inspect the nook first?"
Hroren turns to inspect the area to his right. perception:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
So I'm curious.....is there any point in generating a "back story" for characters in this AP ? Or is it going to be assigned in some fashion....for example based on the AP trait you choose for the character ?
There will be a point, yes... it's something we're still working on and which will be covered extensively in the Player's Guide, which should be out around the time Gen Con starts.
I'm really excited to hear more about this. Without tipping your hand, are the PCs likely to have all been in a similar place prior to waking up in the asylum, or is it more diverse than that? How do the campaign traits tie in?
Stealth (this is going to be great):1d20 - 9 ⇒ (3) - 9 = -6
As the scraps land near the creature, Hroren tries to stealthily lead the way down the alley. However, so focused on avoiding the creature's attention, he slams whole bodily into the cave wall leaving the metal of his armour sounding a resounding clang.
That's alright. I'm just on australian time, so when I wake up in the morning, all my different play-by-posts have heaps of messages waiting for me. One of my campaigns had 16(!) posts waiting for me this morning :P
Before Dromer starts his climb, he feels a tug at his sleeve. Hroren has sidled up behind him and has an apologetic look on his face.
"Lad, there are two things I'm not particular good at, and I'm about to do both. Firstly, sorry I couldn't stop you getting hurt. I know it weren't much damage, but I've been protecting people my whole life and I still failed you."
The dwarf inhales deeply, obviously struggling to find the right words.
"And secondly, you hit well. I'll leave that there." The dwarf briskly turns and starts a slow deliberate climb up the slope.
I cannot express how much it agitates me when people bandy about phrases like this. This is not fraud, this is a company who specialises in making RPG games, expecting far less sales from Humble Bundle than have eventuated, and their IT infrastructure not being up to muster. They are not an IT company, they have an IT team and that team (I would wager) has never been through something like this before.
And before you say "THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN", Humble Bundle - a seperate organisation - should have known. But even if they did know, the point is that Paizo were caught with their pants down.
That's negligence at best, but certainly not wilful deception intending to result in financial gain. And they're doing their darnedest to fix the issue and communicate those fixes to people.
By all means, continue to be angered and disappointed, but please stop throwing around words like fraud.
As a rocket scientist with 20 years of experience, I would like to offer Paizo some friendly advice by telling them that they really should use a system with a vibration-isolated IMU. Otherwise, you're going to get some undesirable secondary harmonics.
-Skeld
This isn't rocket science...
On the other hand, as a tax lawyer with 2 years experience I strongly recommend that Paizo utilise complex trust structures to route the humble bundle money through the cayman islands, followed by luxembourg, lithuanian, mongolia and finally the moon. [/tongue-in-cheek]
To help welcome some of our new Humble Bundle friends to Paizo and Pathfinder, I've opened up a Play-By-Post game of Hell's Rebels over at THIS LINK RIGHT HERE.
I'm hoping this will be an opportunity to let people who are new to TTRPG or pathfinder get settled in, and in particular for people who don't yet have a gaming group to get a feel for an AP and then one day step into the GM-ing role for others.
Apart from that though, a hearty welcome to all those who are new to the forum :)
With so many new people joining the forums due to the humble bundle, I will be running a game of Hell's Rebels for new people who have recently purchased the humble bundle and are maybe new to Pathfinder or to tabletop roleplaying altogether.
This play-by-post is open to anyone who has recently purchased the humble bundle and is either:
- New to the pathfinder system; or
- New to TTRPG gaming altogether
As the first three chapters of Hell's Rebels is attached to the Bundle, I'm hoping that the players will get a chance to play the campaign by play-by-post and then take it away and GM it in person with your friends/family having already experienced it and having a feel for it. Given this, I do request that if you make it into this Play-By-Post that you avoid reading ahead until after we've finished up the campaign.
Understanding how delayed downloading on the website is at the moment, I will keep the application process for this game open for quote some time, to give everyone a chance to get books and start having a read through. In addition, I'm happy for people to discuss character creation in this thread so that new players can get their heads around how it works :)
Some quick notes:
Available Resources:
For creating your character, the only resources you are allowed to use are those that are available in the bundle:
- Core Rule Book
- Advanced Class Guide
- Advanced Players Guide
- Inner Sea World Guide
- Strategy Guide
- Ultimate Magic
- Ultimate Campaign
- Ultimate Combat
In addition, you should get a copy of the Hell's Rebels Player's Guide, which is available free from this website.
Character Creation:
We will be using the "20 Point Buy" to generate your character stats, as this is the standard format for playing Pathfinder Society (PFS) games. This way, if you wish to play PFS in the future you will be well equipped.
Your character needs two traits, one of which must be from the Player's Guide.
Starting gold is 150GP for each player's character.
Your character starts at level 1.
Backstory:
Given that people may be new to the world of Golarian (the setting for pathfinder) and in particular Cheliax (the particular nation that this Adventure Path is set in), I will be endeavouring to provide links and suggestions for forming your characters backstory. The Hell's Rebels Player Guide really is an excellent starting point for understanding the campaign, but if you have any other questions feel free to ask away.
Welcome again to Paizo, and good luck with Pathfinder!
They haven't even paused the selling on the Humble Bundle page.
Why would they? Humble bundle doesn't gain anything by pausing, and doesn't lose anything because of the backlog. In fact, no one buying the bundle loses anything due to this backlog, they just wait.
I find all the distress confusing. I too can't access my downloads, be them humble bundle or the new Players Guide or even a back up or an AP I'm running next week. But I know they'll sort it as soon as possible, and when they do all my downloads will still be there.
If a company offered a $350 phone for $20 (to charity) and had 10 times the orders expected, it would be reasonable to expect delays. Those rules don't stop applying just because we're dealing in digital. I don't say any of this to diminish people's disappoint, you're entirely entitled to feel upset.
On a sidenote, to all those who are totally new to pathfinder and Paizo, welcome. You are in for a great read and a great product. Once you're settled in, dig into the forums more it's a wealth of resources. In particular, the play by posts are a lot of fun.
Howdy forum goers. As per THIS THREAD, I'm opening up recruitment for Hell's Rebels.
The first two slots are reserved for Co-GMs who are playing:
- an Aasimar investigator
- an Human Warpriest of Milani
I'm looking for 3-4 more individuals based on the following:
Character Creation:
- All Paizo classes allowed, no third-party, no 3.5
- Core races. Additionally, tengu, tiefling, aasimar and ratfolk.
- 25 point buy
- Maximum average starting gold for class
- Max hitpoints at 1st, then half+1 every level after.
- Two traits, one must be a campaign trait. I'll allow a third trait in conjunction with a drawback, but the drawback must tie into your backstory sufficiently.
Backstory:
Please provide a brief backstory for the character, as well as why they are at the protest in Kintargo.
Additionally, I'd like a short answer to the following questions:
- What is your character's short-term goal?
- What is your character's long-term goal?
- How would you describe your character in a nutshell?
- How would your character describe themselves (in their own words)?
General Consideration:
I tend to prefer games with robust, fun characters roleplaying and interacting with each other. As such, I'll pretty much always take a character that is going to provide better interaction with the party than a character that is finely tuned or interesting in a void.
Female Samsaran Bard (Archeologist) | Perception +8 | HP 8/8
Hey friends! Congrats on getting in :D
Dakash is a whispy female Samsaran, dressed in practical khaki clothing that accentuates the pale blue of her skin. Unlike a lot of Samsarans, Dakash is in a constant sense of wonder at the world around her. Given that she has difficulties remembering her past lives, she is quick to laugh at jokes because she is generally hearing them for the first time. Dakash would describe herself as studious, but she's taken to flights of fancy and often will find herself getting distracted by grand dreams or little things going on around her.
Howdy forum goers. As per THIS THREAD, I'm opening up recruitment for Hell's Rebels.
The first two slots are reserved for Redelia and Shadowlord, and once they have locked in their characters, I'll open up recruitment for the remaining 3 positions.
Here are some spoiler tabs containing my terms and conditions for this rebellion:
Character Creation:
- All Paizo classes allowed, no third-party, no 3.5
- Core races. Additionally, tengu, tiefling, aasimar and ratfolk.
- 25 point buy
- Maximum average starting gold for class
- Max hitpoints at 1st, then half+1 every level after.
- Two traits, one must be a campaign trait. I'll allow a third trait in conjunction with a drawback, but the drawback must tie into your backstory sufficiently.
Backstory:
Please provide a brief backstory for the character, as well as why they are at the protest in Kintargo.
Additionally, I'd like a short answer to the following questions:
- What is your character's short-term goal?
- What is your character's long-term goal?
- How would you describe your character in a nutshell?
- How would your character describe themselves (in their own words)?
General Considerations:
I tend to prefer games with robust, fun characters roleplaying and interacting with each other. As such, I'll pretty much always take a character that is going to provide better interaction with the party than a character that is finely tuned or interesting in a void.
I think Redelia said anything other than MM NOY, unless I'm misreading that.
I'll open a recruitment thread tomorrow and get the ball rolling. I'll take Redalia, NOY and four other applicants.
EDIT: I reread her statement and see she said she would run it again. Likewise I can run ROW if that's what you both want and I'm playing in two others.
I'd be happy to play any of Second Darkness, Giant Slayer, Jade Regent, Hell's Rebel's, whatever you most want to run. But my preference is probably for one of the last three.
I think Redalia is running Mummy's Mask.
I'm happy to run pretty much anything. I've just gotten Hell's Vengeance pt1 and would be willing to run that once the players' guide is out, but I am honestly happy to run just about anything.
Did you spot Redelia's proposition up above? I'm just thinking if there are a few different things that are popular, we could easily each run on of those games and offer spots to the other two GMs in those games.
For example:
Redelia's Mummy's Mask
(1) NerdOfTheYear
(2) Shadowlord
(3) Forum member, via application
(4) Forum member, via application
(5) Forum member, via application
Shadowlord's Giantslayer/Jade Regent
(1) NerdOfTheYear
(2) Redelia
(3) Forum member, via application
(4) Forum member, via application
(5) Forum member, via application
NerdOfTheYears's Hell's Rebels/Hell's Vengeance/Whatever we all decide on
(1) Redelia
(2) Shadowlord
(3) Forum member, via application
(4) Forum member, via application
(5) Forum member, via application
Definitely Robot as far as Hroren is concerned. Despite his absolute belief that he is closer to physical perfection than anyone else currently present, I haven't fully decided whether Hroren is afraid of swimming yet :P
This adventure makes me wonder how I should run it as a GM. Should I play up children who are orphaned by the PCs' actions, people who are killed or their livelihoods ruined. Should I emphasize the pain and anguish they are creating. Is that part of the point of an evil AP? Or should I want to make the players feel good about what they're doing, that they're cool and badasses and whatever. Yeah yeah I know, table variation and talk to your specific players about their expectations, that's basic stuff. But I would like to hear peoples' opinions in general. When your *characters* murder a rescue puppy, should the DM make the *players* feel good or bad? Should I play up the puppy's sad eyes as the light leaves them, or describe what a cool arc through the air its head makes?
I think this is as much a matter of the "shades of evil" as it is character expectation. So, for example: I think a character can be "evil" without being "indifferent". A villain could love puppies, but love himself more. He kills the puppy because it benefits him in a way he feels nescessary, but he may be conflicted in doing it.
In the same way that a good character may be conflicted when called to do something less than good, an evil character may do something evil and regret that it was "nescessary". If that's the case, make the player feel that angst. If they're committed to playing the role, they'll appreciate it.
On the other hand, turbo murder hobo? They'll revel in the gore.
So, since I'm finishing this and getting it into the production cycle soon... aside from advice on how to play an evil character and be cohesive as a group and the normal character creation advice and setting background that we normally include in Adventure Path Player's Guides, what else do y'all think this guide needs? What's one thing that you'd expect to see in this one?
I guess anything that emphasises that Evil doesn't nescessarily mean impulsive or reckless, and that evil also doesn't nescessarily mean being the main villain (straight away). I know this falls under "how to play evil", but I feel they're some of the biggest stumbling blocks.
I guess the only other thing would be "influence", in terms of how to be an evil overlord going forward :P
I trust you guys though, you haven't failed me in an AP yet.
As a Tax Officer in real life, I now have a burning desire to build a Accountomancer for a campaign. Suggestions for class/alignment? I'd like to think I'm lawful good, but I know a lot of people would disagree about Accountomancers :P
Also, echoing everyone else: that goblin is super adorbs.
Chitteron also drops by to get 5 trail rations with the others, before briefly stopping by the Sage to say goodbye to Brodert. Finding that the old man isn't home, Chiltern scrawls a simple, succinct note on the table and leaves.
"Leaving town with group of strange men to find a criminal overlord. Please feed canary."
Every time a "D&D" RPG comes at a certain point, it answers with introducing Tech, and that's usually close to the end of it. Dark Sun/Spelljammer AD&D, Eberron D&D ...
There's been a demand for a Numeria adventure path by a segment of the customer base since the setting was first introduced. So this is hardly a matter of Pathfinder being close to the end.
I'd suggest that you keep an eye on the Pathfinder Adventure Path line even if you do unsubscribe. Iron Gods is 6 installments and after that a new adventure path sees the light of day.
Paizo caters to a wide variety of gamers. Some like Egyptian-themed adventures, others don't. Some like planet-hopping, others don't. Some like gothic horror, others don't. Some like tech in their fantasy, others don't. Personally I think Paizo's doing an admirable job satisfying the tastes of all those many gamers with an insane range of likes and dislikes. Science-fantasy's up come August, but after that it's something else.
So, if you hate tech in your fantasy, unsubscribe for 6 months, then come back if you feel the next adventure path is more to your liking. Paizo's absolutely cool with that.
I agree with everything you just wrote. You sir (or madam) are a wise man (or dame).
"My Divine Bond is a judge with a briefcase full of search warrants..."
This is my new favorite thing. Boston Legal for Paladins. Thank you Ascalaphus.
I play a Abadar Inquisitor who is a lawyer in PFS. He has bluffed entry using "Warehouse Inspector", "Boat Inspector" and the vastly less successful "Abandoned Dungeon Inspector" using fake warrants before.
Great times.
The particular way that he views the law is simple, and quite helpful once he explained it to our Paladin: If it isn't illegal, then it must be lawful. So he won't directly break the law, but if there is a way to skirt around it, he most certainly thinks that's justified.
In the years since I've done that, I found that if the first thing you do is have the players roll initiative and describe a battle they're in you'll start the campaign off with a bang. For more advanced gaming after the combat you can say: Nowhow did we get here?
Then you can "Rewind" to the players meeting up and taking the adventure hook.
Yeah, I'm definitely a big fan of the "flash forward" intro. I once played in a campaign where our story started with "Roll Initiative". We all had level one character sheets in front of us, but when we rolled to attack, the GM added extra descriptions of what was going on. Our fighter's sword was glowing with arcane runes, our lvl 1 sorcerer's magic missiles came out as immolating fireballs and so on. But he best bit was the BBEG who seemingly knew us all, and was super intent on killing us.
After about 3 rounds of this powered-up combat, the dm just stopped. And then started the campaign with us actually meeting with the local guard of a small town. Obviously, milage may vary, but we were all hooked.
I really really have no idea how I'm going to choose, holy crap. Only three others? Only three others?!?
What the hell was I thinking?
I am so terribly torn. If only I had the freetime to run two games, I would take all of my favorites. Except even that wouldn't be enough! Ugh, this is easily the most painful decision I've ever had to make in my history of gaming. Most of you are so so good. And I'm sure you know which ones you are. Please don't feel bad if I don't take you, because trust me, I REALLY wish I could. I feel like I can't stress that enough. No matter who I take, others who also deserves it are losing out, and that makes me pretty sad.
No one ever should ever have hard feelings about these things, we've all had the chance to see the legion of awesome and quirky characters you've had to pick and choose from :)
As promised, a few quick thoughts for you to consider. These are all just my humble take on how I'd try and do a similar set up:
-0) Before you read the rest, please note that I like the basic idea, but I think it could take a bit of polishing. All the below is constructive criticism, and how I would go about setting up a similar scenario for MY particular playgroup given what they are like.
- 1) You're initial sketch seemed very railroady. For example, you have a trap that the players can't escape, to bounce into a combat they can't lose, so they can be convicted for a crime they can't avoid committing. This presents two problems: either your players might feel disenfranchised, because their actions don't actual lead to anything. Alternatively, they'll do things you weren't expecting and you'll have to keep doing crazier things to get them back onto the rails.
- 1.1) Despite this, I think the idea of the "duped into a crime" idea is awesome. What you want to do therefore is work from the ground up on a few critical points, and let the characters GET to those points however they want to.
-2) An important thing to consider when constructing your long term villain is not merely to say "He's a tricky wizards", but work out why he wants to trick these particular NPCs in the first place. If he is able to 100% trap them, then why does he let them go to get done for a crime? Why couldn't he just kill them? More importantly, if them beating the major's son results in all the captured people being released, why did he really care about capturing them in the first place.
2.1) Suggested solution: don't trap them on the way to the castle. Let them fight their way to the castle naturally. When it comes to actual villain, make him locked up in a room right outside the "final boss fight" room. Give him an incredibly high bluff rank, and just say that he is the wizard's play thing. This way, he can still seem like a servant, and they can still believe him. Let the PCs take a perception check when they find him, and on a high DC the can note that for a slave the wizard seems quite well fed.
3) How far into this adventure are your players? Have you been GMing them a while or is this your first game? If this is the first game with these characters then you have the opportunity to do something really special: the flash forward.
3.1) The flashfoward could have your characters wake up in a dungeon, no weapons or armour. They have an executioner come down, take them up to a stage to be beheaded, and right as they're about to be beheaded, flash back to a month earlier. Start the actual adventure here, and this way the characters know that they're going to do something to lead to them being captured and tried for execution. This can break some of that "railroad" ice, because they have an exciting challenge to look forward to in the future. They know at some point they'll be in trouble, but they don't know why.
3.2) The downside to this flash forward is that they'll all be on the look out for things that aren't what they appear, this means you'll need an airtight bait and switch.
EDIT: sorry if some of this makes no sense, I'm quite tired after work.
For a brief while in online play, I was playing as Nostrum, a Lawful Good bard of Rovagug who acts much more like a Paladin or Cleric. Due to rolled stats though, he managed a Greataxe critical hit of 39 damage at lvl 1. He was known not only to hand out pamphlets in loving devotion to Rovagug ("Remember, the Devourer is coming to wipe away all: clean up after yourself, cleanliness is next to Rovagugliness") but his bardic songs usually involved evisceration. His Holy Symbol
He was confusing and hilarious :D
I also play in society an Inquisitor of Abadar named Charlaxis Mephistopheles Wright (or Charles for short). I introduce him as a lawyer though, and present to each player at the table the following business card. He wears a suit, and his Conversion Inquisition gives him amazing Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive and perception rolls. He also weilds a two-handed sword for 2d6 damage. He's been a decent example to some of the younger players at our store in regards to roleplaying fully fleshed out characters, as opposed to just stats. Up until combat, charles really feel like a lawyer.
Hahah, I'm loving these single super dump stats. Could make for some very interesting pirates, with very obvious flaws :D
In regards to the <7 int, I heard a story once about a 4INT 18WIS half-Orc, who mostly said very very stupid things in stunted common... Until he came out with a perfectly organized battle plan involving pincer movements. All the fellow PCs did double takes.
"Good morning gentlemen. My name is Charlaxis Mephistopheles Wright (call me Charles)... and I'm your new best friend.
As friends, let's be honest with one another: You can operate in the adventuring business for only so long before you invoke the ire of the law. Barbarians can only smack so many skulls before one of them has friends in high places. Bards can only sojourn with a limited number of buxom ladies before a father comes calling demanding dowery.
It's my job to make all those little legal qualms "disappear". Don't get me wrong, I'll certainly be of assistance if cutthroats come calling, but my real speciality is persuading magistrates that his hangman should take a brief holiday.
Now... let's discuss my prices.
Background:
Charlaxis was born into an upper-upper-middle class Chelaxian family and raised in Egorian. His parents had great aspirations to raise the esteem of their family and gain power by living vicariously through their children: all 12 of them.
Born the 3rd child of 12, Charlaxis' destiny was to be apprenticed and trained in Law and to become a travelling lawyer, judge and inquisitor, dispensing the convoluted justice of Asmodeus through out Cheliax.
Unfortunately, whilst dispensing Asmodeus' will in a backwards agricultural town, Charlaxis put to death a noble who was visiting the town incognito. To make matters worse, the noble was currently in great favour with the Thrice-Damned house Thrune and so Charlaxis was deemed a national traitor. Charlaxis fled the country, changing his name to simpler 'Charles'. As is often the case, Charlaxis' existence was wiped from the official history books, and his family was greatly punished. Some of his siblings were enslaved, others killed. Curiously, some of them ended up rising in fame and esteem because of it.
Despite his expulsion from Cheliax, Charles still believes in the absolute value of the law: If you trust in following the law to the letter, then you can generally get around any issue you face. Contracts are binding, especially if you write them to favour you greatly. For this reason, Charles has found a new family serving as a legal representative for the Sczarni. Even man deserves his day in court.
Details:
Inquisitor 1 (Conversion Inquisition Domain)
Deity: Abadar
Str: 16
Dex: 12
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 16
Char: 8 (No One Likes A Lawyer)
Appearance:
Standing at a short 5'9" Charles is thin framed, sandy-haired and sports a well maintained moustache. Despite his age and apparent frailty, close inspection will show that Charles is covered in lean muscle. Charles is always seen wearing an ill-fitting tan suit that roughly matches his hair colour, even in combat - he looks like a mafia lawyer. This lose fit suit masks the mail inquisitors arm that he constantly wears underneath.
Charles is silver-tongued and quick to involve himself in any situation that he could benefit him. He can quickly gain both trust and fear based on his precise use of language and wisdom in matters of law. Often people find themselves trusting him because he just seems to KNOW the right course of action.
The Twelve Children:
My future plans is to play out as many of the Wright children as possible. Of course, as was mentioned some of them are dead, but this way I can pick and choose as I get inspiration. Here is the list of their intended roles so far:
