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Okay so the story is Atlas2112 contacted me privately, and I gather several of you, and said he'd do sub/co DMing duties in order to play the Savage World conversion of Rifts. I said I'd do the story and maps if he did all the mechanics stuff and converted the material I need from my shelf of Palladium material -- which I also have no idea how to do.

I know almost nothing about this system -- I can't answer any rules questions or character creation questions. I'm just going to be typing the flavor text and asking Atlas2112 what gets rolled when to deal with a given action. I have 33 pages of single spaced notes for a palladium adventure, and most of that is description, so I'm pretty much ready to go whenever anyone gets their characters together.


I just completed my collection with a bundle of holding. Anyone want to play this clunky monstrosity of a system from the 1990s? I'll run it.


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The Duchy of Mulcrow was a land of rolling hills, verdant forests, and sparkling rivers. It was ruled by a just and fair duke, who governed with the advice of a council of nobles and the counsel of his people.

The capital city of Mulcrow was a bustling metropolis, home to a diverse population of humans, elves, dwarves, and other races. It was a center of trade and culture, with grand markets, magnificent temples, and ornate palaces.

The countryside of the Duchy was dotted with small villages and hamlets, where farmers, herders, and craftsmen lived and worked. The people of Mulcrow were proud of their traditions and their way of life, and they worked hard to preserve them.

Despite its prosperity, the Duchy was not immune to the dangers of the outside world. It was bordered by treacherous mountains and plagued by occasional raids from bands of orcs and other monsters. But the people of Mulcrow were a hearty and courageous folk, and they stood united against their foes, defending their land with bravery and determination.

Overall, the Duchy of Mulcrow was a land of beauty, prosperity, and harmony, where people of all walks of life worked together to create a bright and thriving future.

The pastoral town of Griffondale sits nestled in a valley surrounded by rolling hills and verdant forests. With a population of just over 1,000 inhabitants, it is a tight-knit community of farmers, herders, craftsmen, and merchants.

The town is centered around a bustling market square, where vendors sell fresh produce, meats, cheeses, and handmade crafts. The smell of baking bread and roasting nuts fills the air, and the sounds of haggling and laughter echo off the walls of the nearby shops and homes.

At the heart of the market square stands the town hall, a grand stone building with a tall clock tower. It is here that the town council meets to discuss matters of importance and make decisions for the good of the community.

On the outskirts of town, the fields and pastures are dotted with small farms and homesteads, where families work to raise crops and livestock. The people of Griffondale are hardworking and self-sufficient, relying on their own resources and the bounty of the land to sustain them.

Despite its small size, Griffondale has a rich cultural life. There are several inns and taverns, where travelers and locals alike gather to share stories, music, and ale. The town also boasts a small theater, where traveling players and local actors perform plays and musicals.

In the center of town, a beautiful park boasts a gazebo and a sparkling fountain, where people come to relax and enjoy the fresh air. The park is a popular spot for picnics, games, and festivals, and it is here that the town celebrates its major holidays and events.

Overall, Griffondale is a peaceful and thriving community, where people work together to support one another and preserve their way of life. It is a place of beauty and simplicity, where the simple pleasures of life are valued above all else.

The Telltale Tavern sits on the outskirts of the bustling town of Griffondale, nestled in a quiet grove of trees. It is a popular destination for travelers, adventurers, and locals alike, known for its comfortable accommodations, hearty meals, and lively atmosphere.

As you approach the inn, you are greeted by the sight of a charming two-story building with a thatched roof and a sign depicting a winking cat. As you enter through the heavy wooden doors, the warmth of the fire and the savory smells of cooking fill the air.

The main common room of the tavern is a cozy space, filled with tables and chairs, a fireplace, and a well-stocked bar. The walls are adorned with tapestries, paintings, and weapons from all over the land, testament to the Tavern's reputation as a hub for storytelling and news.

As you make your way to the bar, you are greeted by the proprietor, a friendly halfling named Faegan. He greets you with a smile and asks what brings you to the Telltale Tavern.

As you take a seat at the bar, you peruse the menu and decide on a hearty stew and a tankard of ale. You watch as Faegan expertly prepares your meal and chat with him about the latest happenings in the city.

As the night wears on, the common room fills up with an eclectic mix of people, all seeking a warm meal and a comfortable bed. You listen to the tales of travelers and adventurers, sharing your own stories and making new friends.

As the fire in the fireplace dies down and the last patrons retire to their rooms, you retire to your own comfortable bed, content in the knowledge that you have found a true home away from home at the Telltale Tavern.


I'm genuinely curious and would like to hear any first hand reports if they exist, especially from DMs/GMs.

Has literally anyone ever run a long term mythic campaign that wasn't just the last part of Wrath of the Righteous? Has anyone ever run a mythic homebrew campaign that lasted like at least 6 months of regular sessions, or even took characters from MR 1-10, and up to level 20? I'd be especially interested to hear if anyone has ever done a long term campaign with mythic spheres and other third party material -- mythic psionics, gestalt etc.

If there are any genuine reports 'from the wild' of such a game -- how did that work? Did you just add 10, 20, 30, etc. to every item on pre-generated stat blocks, did you spend months creating stat blocks for monsters, or did you use some kind of generator like hero lab? What kinds of rules did you use, if you did, to try to keep things manageable?

I'm just genuinely curious if a lot of this high level material in both 3.5 and PF is purely a theoretical object of art which allows readers to imagine a hypothetical metagame construction of an epic level game, and maybe even have fun imagining or stating up characters for it, but it's, in practice, never been an actual game that anyone plays on a regular basis.


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I got involved in a thread about converting old classics, and it made me think back to the early days of Dungeon magazine (like 2e era stuff).

I was thinking about doing a very casual campaign (just playing through modules, no big plot arcs and back story, etc.) doing a series of these old modules converted to PF1e. This style will make it possible to complete discrete modules and not worry about some huge over arching storyline.

The goal would be to be able to use monsters and NPC stats without a ton of adjustment beyond maybe increasing hp or adding in a few new abilities.

I want to be able to do 95+% of the conversion just using NPC stats from pfsrd20 and Nethys, so I don't want a bunch of gestalted pcs I have to really struggle to find/make npc opponents for, or who are using classes that don't have sample npc statblocks available.

I want to give enough little tweaks to make things fun without opening the floor up to powergaming craziness. My proposal would be the following:

Sources: Paizo (archives of Nethys) only with the following additional additional restrictions

Level: level 2
Attributes: 25pt. buy
Races: core and standard races (I'm not looking for super weird things)
Classes: limited to Core, Advanced Player's Guide, Advanced Class Guide, and Unchained Rouge (i.e.,. no vigilante, occult, or shifter)
Skills: everyone gets +2 per level. Background skills. Everyone gets skill unlocks. Unchained Rogue gets an additional rogue talent at 5th level, and an advanced talent at 10, 15th, and 20th level to compensate.
Feats: 1 per level w/ Elephant in the Room feat tax rules. Everyone gets Combat Stamina (Combat) for free. Fighters get an extra bonus feat to compensate.
Equipment: WBL
Traits: 2, 1 more with a drawback

Other notes:

You can make evil characters if they're cooperative

No modifications to animal companions or other pets, and no pregame crafting gimmicks (just don't make a crafting-focused character, I don't want to get into that)

I'm going to use the Unchained action economy for opponents -- you can use the normal one or the unchained one.

I'm going to use critical hit and fumble tables https://www.paperspencils.com/critical-hit-and-critical-fumble-charts-for-p athfinder/

You can use whatever gods you want for divine characters

You don't even need a back story beyond maybe a vague idea like 'elven prince on a rumspringga'. We're just going to start with everyone at the beginning of the first adventure and play through the modules. I'm not discouraging role playing, but this isn't going to be much more than playing through the modules, and mostly I want to keep a good pace, and it might be a sort of less than completely serious style. I'm starting off with the vague generic fantasy land concept that exists for most Dungeon modules -- I may homebrew some more later, but really we just need stats and we'll assume everyone's already in a party together and ready to go. Also, I'm intending a fairly deadly campaign, so be ready/willing to either make a new character or get resurrected.

I'm going to use a miro.com whiteboard for maps.

Post 1/day during week, more on the weekend is good, but not required. Let's just try to keep a consistent pace.

5-6 slots depending on submissions.

Let's see if we can get characters together by the 22nd


I have an idea for a new homebrew campaign that would involve playing essentially different varieties of lizardfolk (chameleons, iguanas, bearded lizards, gila monsters, some kind of salamander race, and an axolotl-like race).

I have a lot of additional details for the world if I think there's enough interest.

I'm torn on the rules system. I think both PF and 5e can model the stuff I want, but I see more 5e examples of stuff like axolotl people when I do google searches. I'm wondering if anyone can suggest something. I was thinking about spheres of origin, but my concern with that would be players would just pick a bundle of abilities to stack build concepts rather than features that had anything especially to do with, for example, being a chameleon race. I'm not sure how much time I want to spend policing that sort of silliness. Does anyone know other sources for these specific concepts?

I've found a new resource in electronic whiteboards for pbp -- infinite space to build on; I just did a test to make a desert island; here's a link example (you should make sure you can open it I suppose -- it will take a hot minute to load no matter what rig you're working on).

Map Example


Would anyone be interested in a freeform, or extremely rules-lite, Jurassic Park-inspired near-modern setting game?

My concept would be a near future setting -- maybe 15-20 years in the future with slightly better VR/internet and weaponry, but otherwise essentially recognizable. The game would be set in a Jurassic Park type of operation with more creatures from more time periods -- Permian-era creatures, Ice Age megafauna, etc. You'd be visitors to the park and it'd be a similar kind of set up as the franchise with corporate espionage and monster of the week mayhem.

I might try to find some super rules-lite scheme (open to suggestions), or just make things purely freeform. I'm more interested in spending time writing stuff about the characters -- stuff like detailing the guns they use and why. This would be sort of a pulp modern/cinematic style.


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I'm down to 2 players in a recently begun level up 5e campaign. I'd like to try to revive it with some new characters if they can be quickly generated.

The storyline is that a small town in a homebrew setting has been the victim of an abduction of a young woman by goblins. It seems they intend to sacrifice her to their dragon god. The party tracked the goblins to the forest and allied with a bugbear from a rival tribe. They fought some spider-snake cross breeds and a couple players quit. The current players are headed back to town to find some new allies before they head into the goblin territory proper.

The homebrew world is a setting ruled by dragon gods. The previous age was ruled by four empires of elves that worshipped the goblin gods, goblins that worshipped the elven gods, gnomes that worshipped the kobold gods, and kobolds that worshipped the gnome gods. This alteration was caused by magical rings around the planet. The last age ended in a great war that banished the gods and led to the rise of the draconic gods. Some populations of the races have returned to a more traditional good or evil outlook with the banishment of the gods. The heroes are in a hinterland region contested between a theocracy dedicated to four black dragon gods of undeath and sorcery, and merchant oligarcy devoted to Astabilor, the dragon god of greed.

Campaign Page

Build Rules

Sources: we're using A5e for races and classes. You can use feats, spells, and subclasses from any 5e source, as long as it hasn't already been replaced by an A5E version.

Attributes: Roll 6d6, take the 3 highest. You can roll 6 sets if you want. That or 27 pt. buy.
Alignment: Good or Neutral.
Races: Limited to A5E races.
Classes: 5st level A5E class. In addition to you A5E archetype, you can pick a free subclass from any 5e source for your class -- the 'extra' subclass should be 5e, not A5e, the point is not to give ever character an extra archetype, but rather a non-A5E subclass.
Feats/talents. Everyone starts with a feat. Can be from any 5e source, as long as it's not already present in A5E.

Posting will be 4-5 times a week, more on weekend if you want.

Other considerations:

I'm using Foundry for maps. I have fancy stuff set up -- maps that are 10,000+pixels with elaborate detail. It most likely won't work on mobile. You have to be willing to use this VTT.

This is a homebrew world -- players should feel comfortable keeping up and interacting with homebrew lore and setting assumptions that are different from Golarion.


I have a couple of slots for a A5E campaign we just began.

Here are the build rules.

Build Rules

Sources: we're using A5e for races and classes. You can use feats, spells, and subclasses from any 5e source, as long as it hasn't already been replaced by an A5E version.

Attributes: Roll 6d6, take the 3 highest. You can roll 6 sets if you want. That or 27 pt. buy.
Alignment: Good or Neutral.
Races: Limited to A5E races.
Classes: 5st level A5E class. In addition to you A5E archetype, you can pick a free subclass from any 5e source for your class -- the 'extra' subclass should be 5e, not A5e, the point is not to give ever character an extra archetype, but rather a non-A5E subclass.
Feats/talents. Everyone starts with a feat. Can be from any 5e source, as long as it's not already present in A5E.

Posting will be 4-5 times a week, more on weekend if you want.


Does anyone want to play a conversion of an old MERP module to PF?

Here are some rules that I think would work pretty well for such a campaign: The Middle Earth d20 Campaign. I'd say start at 8th level (your first level in these rules is an NPC class).


Forumites,

I'm desperate to try a specific rule set for a Dark Sun game, but am challenged to recruit enough players on discord. This is the rule set I want to use: Kryxrpg. This is basically a revision of 5e that combines elements of PF1e, 4e, Tome of Battle, and Spheres of Power. All the classes are designed like 4e/Spheres with domains of ability like dark energy and 'talents' you buy from those domains, along with some kind of resource pool to fire off, charge, and maximize the Warlock 'blasts'.

These would be the build rules:

*You should start by following the process outlined: here.

*Start at 5th level.

*For ability scores, use the option for rolling, and you can roll 6 sets or, if you're dissatisfied with any of those, use one of the other two options (array or pt. buy). This system reduces ability scores to just the modifier.

*Pick races appropriate to Athas (i.e, gnomes don't exist, so you can't be that).

*My additional modifications are going to be things on top of this -- you'll get some points to add to subskills within each skill - but that's a separate subsystem that sits on top of the skill system and doesn't change what you need to do as the first step to make a character.

*You can pick an additional subclass from any 5e source to customize your character and account for some build concepts. Pick something that's not hard to integrate with this rule set, I'm not interested in agonizing about conversions.

*I'm throwing out the entire critical hits system for combat. I'm replacing it with the critical hits system from Rolemaster Classic. Don't make builds based around some concept of using the DnD crits system, it's not going to function once I've added the Rolemaster material. Any feat or other ability that conflicts with it is getting thrown out. In these rules, you make a critical hit 16-20 and roll on a bunch of tables depending on what armor type and weapon are interacting. Its all totally random. Any of the other rules about criticals are being overwritten to accommodate this material.

*I'm going to have a simultaneous combat round system. Don't make builds that focus on getting initiative to win rocket tag and control combat by killing the monsters before they even get a chance to act. That's going to be an irrelevant model for this game. I'm going to throw out all feats or abilities that conflict with the simultaneous combat round system.

These are the subskills:

Subskills:
SUB SKILLS
In the core rules, a character is either proficient or not proficient in a skill category like Alchemy, Athletics, Brawn, etc. The core system does not allow a player to expand and become good in skills like Pick Locks or Tracking. This skill system makes it possible to specialize in subskills from level 1, but still retain the simplicity of the original system.
When choosing a class, a player can choose a certain number of proficient skills. Choose these as normal. At level 1 you are now Proficient in the skills you choose as per the default rules.
Skill Progression
Proficient (stat bonus + proficiency)
Rank 1 (stat bonus + proficiency) +1
Rank 2 (stat bonus + proficiency) +2
Rank 3 (stat bonus + proficiency) +3
Rank 4 (stat bonus + proficiency) +4
Rank 5 (stat bonus + proficiency) +5

Gaining subskill points

At level every you will receive 2 subskill points. These subskills points can be used to further create and rank up subskills within the default skill categories. Subskill points cannot be spent on the categories themselves. The maximum rank in a subskill is the character’s level.

Each subskill point you spend on a proficient subskill gets you 1 rank in that subskill. Each subskill point you spend on a non proficient subskill gets your character ½ rank in that subskill. (Half ranks do not improve your skill check, but two ½ ranks make 1 rank.) You can’t save subskill points to spend later.

Becoming an expert
You can choose to spend one Ability Score Improvement to become an expert in a subskill. This doubles the effect of the skill ranks for that skill (+2 instead of +1, +4 instead of +2, etc.). You must be proficient in the category and rank 1 in the skill before specializing. You can only become expert once in a skill.


Combat skills

Weapons (str)

• Attack (Axe)
• Attack (Bows)
• Attack (Brawling)
• Attack (Clubs)
• Attack (Crossbows)
• Attack (Darts)
• Attack (Hammers)
• Attack (Knives)
• Attack (Picks)
• Attack (Slings)
• Attack (Spears)
• Attack (Swords)
• Use a maneuver

General skills

Alchemy (int)

• Recall knowledge (alchemical symbols)
• Recall knowledge (alchemical theories)
• Recall knowledge (alchemical reactions)
• Recall knowledge (concoctions)
• Recall knowledge (alchemical items)
• Create a concoction
• Identify a concoction (capable, secret)
• Craft alchemical item, poison, or antivenom (capable)
• Identify a herb, poison, or potion (secret)

Athletics (str)

• Boost (capable, psi or stamina dice)
• Climb
• Jump
• Distance jumping
• Run
• Distance running
• Swim

Brawn (str)

• Boost (capable, psi or stamina dice)
• Break free
• Forcibly open a door
• Grapple
• Hang on
• Hold back
• Overrun (capable)
• Push through
• Shove
• Trip
• Lifting
• Throwing

Engineering (int)

• Recall knowledge (structural engineering)
• Recall knowledge (mechanical engineering)
• Recall knowledge (electrical engineering)
• Craft (capable)
• Identify a technological item (capable)
• Repair (capable)
• Sabotage
• Architecture
• Chemistry
• Explosives
• Gadgetry
• Mathematics
• Mechanical traps
• Siegecraft

Lore (int)

• Recall knowledge (lore of an ancient civilization (arts, empires, genealogy, legends, inhabitants, laws, customs, traditions, historical events, disputes, and major wars))
• Recall knowledge (civilization of a region such as a country or city-state (inhabitants, laws, customs, traditions, historical events, disputes, recent wars, etiquette, linguistics, regional goods, streetwise, courtly manners, trade))
• Recall knowledge (creature (choose 2 specific creatures [angels, vampires, lycanthropes, etc.] or a creature type such as aberrations, animals, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends [choose demons, devils, or other fiends], giants, humanoids [choose 2 species], monstrosities, oozes, plants, undead, etc.))
• Recall knowledge (deity (one specific deity))
• Recall knowledge (legends (legends, legendary people, and famous personalities of a region such as a country or city-state))
• Recall knowledge (planar (a specific plane other than the Material Plane, or the plane in which the game is set if not the Material Plane))
• Recall knowledge (faction (one faction))
• Recall knowledge (genealogy)
• Recall knowledge (guild (one guild))
• Recall knowledge (heraldry)
• Recall knowledge (lore of a type of food or drink (Alcohol, Baking, Butchering, Cooking, Tea, etc.))
• Recall knowledge (lore of a specific profession (Accounting, Architecture, Art, Circus, Farming, Fishing, Fortune-telling, Gladiators, Herbalism, Hunting, Legal, Library, Mercantile, Midwifery, Milling, Mining, Sailing, Scouting, Scribing, Stabling, Tanning, Theater, etc.))
• Recall knowledge (warfare)
• Recall knowledge (alignment)
• Recall knowledge (cults)
• Recall knowledge (secret cults)
• Recall knowledge (holy symbols)
• Recall knowledge (morality)
• Recall knowledge (prophecy)
• Recall knowledge (Spell lore)
• Recall knowledge (Magic item lore)
• Recall knowledge (Eldritch symbols)

• Recall knowledge (Runes)
• Recall knowledge (Heraldry)
• Recall knowledge (Artifact lore)
• Recall knowledge (Religious hierarchies)
• Recall knowledge (Prayers)

Medicine (wis)

• Recall knowledge (diseases)
• Recall knowledge (poisons)
• Recall knowledge (wounds)
• Recall knowledge (forensics)
• Diagnose illness (capable, secret)
• Diagnose poison (capable, secret)
• Stabilize
• Staunch bleeding (capable)
• Treat disease (capable)
• Treat poison (capable)
• Treat wounds (capable)
• Animals
• Autopsy
• Diseases
• Herbalism
• Poisons

Nimbleness (dex)

• Boost (capable, psi or stamina dice)
• Balance
• Escape
• Grab edge (capable)
• Smother flame
• Soften fall (capable)
• Squeeze
• Tumble (capable)
• Vehicles
• Swinging
• Tightrope walking
• Contortions
• Diving
• Rappeling
• Juggling

Perception (wis)

• Notice creatures or details
• Search (secret)
• Detect traps
• Detect poison
• Farsight
• Invisible objects
• Listening
• Scent
• Locate hidden
• Surveillance
• Observation

Sleight of hand (dex)

• Boost (capable, psi or stamina dice)
• Arm a trap or device
• Create a forgery (capable, secret)
• Disable a trap or device
• Open a lock
• Pilfer or plant an object
• Secure a prisoner
• Smother flame
• Distraction
• Pickpocketing
• Legerdemain
• Trickery

Stealth (dex)

• Boost (capable, psi or stamina dice)
• Avoid notice (secret)
• Conceal an object (secret)
• Anonymity
• Camouflage
• Casing
• Sneak
• Disguise

Streetwise (cha)

• Gather information (secret)
• Locate a fence
• Track and hunt

Wilderness (wis)

• Recall knowledge (fauna)
• Recall knowledge (flora)
• Recall knowledge (geography)
• Recall knowledge (weather)
• Recall knowledge (environment)
• Determine cardinal direction (secret)
• Estimate the time of day or season of the year (secret)
• Avoid natural hazards
• Handle animal (calming)
• Handle animal (driving)
• Handle animal (farming)
• Handle animal (riding)
• Handle animal (training)
• Identify a plant or herb (secret)
• Predict the water (secret)
• Forage for food and water
• Track and hunt
• Astronomy
• Beast lore
• Farming
• Fey
• Plant lore
• Weather
• Dungeoneering
• Wayfinding
• Caving
• Survival (desert, jungle/arctic)
• Traps


Magic skills

Arcana (int)

• Recall knowledge (arcane symbols)
• Recall knowledge (arcane theories)
• Recall knowledge (magical traditions)
• Recall knowledge (arcane spells)
• Recall knowledge (magic items)
• Recall knowledge (planes of existence and the inhabitants of those planes)
• Cast an Arcane spell (capable)
• Identify an arcane magic item (capable)
• Identify an arcane spell (capable, secret)
• Disable magical trap (capable)

Divinity (wis)

• Recall knowledge (divine symbols)
• Recall knowledge (deities)
• Recall knowledge (rites and prayers)
• Recall knowledge (religious hierarchies)
• Recall knowledge (divine spells)
• Recall knowledge (divine magic items)
• Recall knowledge (the practices of secret cults)
• Cast a Divine spell (capable)
• Identify a divine magic item (capable)
• Identify a divine spell (capable, secret)

Occult (int)

• Recall knowledge (ancient philosophies)
• Recall knowledge (esoteric lore)
• Recall knowledge (obscure mysticism)
• Recall knowledge (eldritch symbols)
• Recall knowledge (cursed items)
• Cast an Occult spell (capable)
• Identify an occult magic item (capable)
• Identify an occult spell (capable, secret)

Primal (wis)

• Recall knowledge (ancient symbols)
• Recall knowledge (primal spells)
• Recall knowledge (primal magic items)
• Cast a Primal spell (capable)
• Identify a primal magic item (capable)
• Identify a primal spell (capable, secret)

Psionics (wis)

• Recall knowledge (psychic symbols)
• Recall knowledge (ancient mysteries)
• Recall knowledge (psionic traditions)
• Recall knowledge (psionic spells)
• Recall knowledge (psionic magic items)
• Cast a Psionic spell (capable)
• Identify a psionic magic item (capable)
• Identify a psionic spell (capable, secret)

Social skills

Deception (cha)

• Diversion
• Impersonate (capable, secret)
• Lie
• Boasting
• Ciphers
• Concealing emotions
• Mimicry
• Duping
• Cheating
• Gambling

Insight (wis)

• Discern intent (secret)
• Intuition
• Detecting lies
• Reading emotions
• Sensing motives
• Appraisal
• Deciphering
• Forensics
• Research
• Trapfinding
• Direction sense
• Sense motive

Intimidation (cha)

• Coerce
• Interrogate (secret)
• Authority
• Ferocity
• Interrogation
• Subtle threats
• Weapon displays
• Threaten with violence
• Subdue

Linguistics (int)

• Understand the gist (capable, secret)
• Communicate in a language (proficient)

Persuasion (cha)

• Acting
• Composing
• Dancing
• Fine art
• Singing
• Speaking
• Writing
• Bribery
• Flattery
• Leadership
• Negotiation
• Peacemaking
• Tale telling
• Diplomacy
• Etiquette
• Inspire people
• Haggling

; there are about 250 of them, and some of them are overlapping or very close ideas; the idea is to get an extra 'umpf' in an extremely narrow area, like this history of a specific noble family. Assign you subskill points after you finish your initial skills to make things easier (do the stuff in the first post first). You may need to look at the fluff documents to decide on certain lore subskills. Many of them are based on individual skill functions for the skills -- some of these require a certain level of training (capable). You can only train the subskill if you can already perform that skill use with the parent skill.


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The world of Suviri is surrounded by several rings, for which reason it is known as the 'World of the Halo'. Some of these rings are stable, and some appear and disappear with regular or unpredictable variations. The stable rings are manifest zones of the various inner planes. The intermittent rings are manifest zones to the other outer planes. Creatures that manifest on the rings can orient and prepare themselves on the asteroid clusters and small moons strew throughout the bands, and then descend to the surface of Suviri via magical portals or flight.

In the earliest ages of the world, the deities of the gnome, kobold, elven, and goblin pantheons succeeded in manifesting and stabilizing rings that connected their deific realms to the lands of Suviri. The establishment of the four great empires of Tykor, Glier-Cuir, Zabkist/Pakoog, and Qhink-Vak followed the manifestation of these rings. The manifestation of a ring that opened on to the Outer Chaos led to the alignment shift of several races, and their affiliation with the gods of their hereditary enemies. Thereafter, Tykor was a realm dominated by evil high elves who venerated the warlike deities of the goblin pantheon. The goblin realm of Glier-Cuir was made up of druids and rangers who served the elven gods. There were two primary, allied gnome realms Zabkist, a realm of rock gnome shadow mages and illusionists, and Pakoog, a kingdom of deep gnome earth elementalists and geomancers, and these served the kobold deities, including Kurtulmak. The kobold realm of Qhink-Vak served venerated Garl Glittergold and the Metallic and Gem dragons. The height of these realms’ power was known as the Diamond Age.

During a great war between these four powers, a gnome warlock re-opened the gates to Outer Chaos, leading to the Protean, Limbic, Oblivion, and Chaotic Wars with the malign powers of these reaches. At the end of these conflicts, the gods departed Suiviri in order to secure the withdraw of the powers of Chaos. This withdrawal also released many of the races of the four empires from their previous thrall to the deities of their ancestral enemies – now, for example, the goblin races are divided between those who wish to continue the peaceful and druidic traditions of Glier-Cuir, and those who have turned to the veneration of the wrathful ancient wyrms.

In the wake of this conflict, the ancient wyrms Aasterinian, Asgorath, Ashardalon, Astilabor, Azharul, Bahamut, Balagos, Chronepsis, Daurgothoth, Falazure, Garyx, Haerinvureem, Hlal, Imvaetnarhro, Kalzareinad, Kereska, Klauth, Kuyutha, Laerahkralan, Lendys, Lernaea, Miirym, Null, Odassa, Palarandusk, Saridor, Tamara, Task, Tiamat, Velsaertirden, Xavarathimius, Zotha, Zorquan, and others seized the mana wells, the ancient nodes of power which the Elemental Halos caused to manifest on Suviri, and also conquered the genie, elemental, and mephit races that once ruled the Inner Planes. The Age of the Dragons was decreed, and the lands of Suviri divided between the ancient wyrms. The chromatic and selfish gem dragons have in general overwhelmed the peaceful gem dragons and metallic dragons. These aggressive ancient wyrms seek to draw forth the life energy of Suviri through their control of the mana walls, and increasing their own power and size, and gradually terraforming their territories to more closely match their preferred elemental habitats.

The territories of the ancient wyrms include the Warlands of Dhal-Thar, which was shattered by the war of the four empires during the Aeon of Annihilation.

Historically, the continent of Dhal-Thar stood in the midst of the Four Empires – the elven realm of Tykor to the north west, the goblin realm of Glier-Cuir to the southwest, the gnome realms of Zabkist and Pakoog to the south east, and the kobold realm of Qhink-Vak to the north east. The present-day ‘Warlands’ of Dhal-Thar were once known as the Crossroads or the Centerlands, and contained several dozen human and halfling realms that suffered grievously in the quaternity of the Protean, Limbic, Oblivion, and Chaotic Wars which brought an end to the high point of civilization experienced in the Diamond Ages.

The Town of Sikrystal lies on the border of the Kingdom of Sylras, an ancient hinterland of the Empire of Tykor. In the previous era, during the height of the Four Empires, it stood on the border of the quaternity of imperial realms within the so-called Warlands of Dhal-Thar -- the central landmass of Suiviri which lies between the ancient homelands of the elves, kobolds, goblins, and gnomes. The town sits on prominent cliffs on the shores of the Shining Deep, a semi-circular body of water that may be 360,000 ft. deep. It is surrounded by the dense foliage of the Emerald Scale Forest. These forests are contain many dangers, including renegade goblin and kobold tribes.

In the previous age, the goblin empire of Glier-Cuir was a force for good that served the gods of the Seldarine. However, in the wake of the wars with the Realms of Chaos which ended the Age of Annihilation, many of the goblins turned to the worship of the dragon goddess Claugiyliamatar, the green dragon queen of greed, illusions, and treachery. These new splinters of the goblin nation, which remained from the former armies of Glier-Cuir which were stranded in the hinterlands of Dhal-Thar at the end of the last age, now strive with the kobold servants of Ashardalon and Tiamat. The conflicts between the groups of dragon worshippers has made the hinterlands of Shining Deep a dangerous location for its inhabitants.

Even now, the town and kingdom it theoretically belongs to lie on the dangerous border reaches of two draconic powers -- the Necrocracy of Plegilon, an evil theocracy and mageocracy devoted to the four black dragon lords Chronepsis, Daurgothoth, Falazure, and Null to the north, and Slizitha – and oligarchy and slaveocracy ruled by merchant-priests of Astilabor the topaz dragon queen of greed, to the south. Both Plegilon and Slizitha desire to incorporate the rich hinterlands of Sylras into their borders, and to subjugate its peoples for their scaled rulers.

The Town of Sikrystal, nestled deep within a forested valley on the outskirts of civilization has sent out a call for aid. Heroes and adventures are needed to help save an innocent girl from a gruesome fate. Treacherous green skinned goblins carried off the miller's daughter several days ago and the villagers fear the worst. A significant reward has been offered to anyone that can find her and bring her back to safety. In addition, a hefty sum of gold has been offered to any that can to put an end to the goblin menace.

The party has spent the last few hours trekking through the dense forest of the Emerald Scale Forest, weaving a winding way through vast trees and grasping
undergrowth. The forest is an ancient and wild place - the canopy overhead blocks out most of the sun’s light, while the brooding calls of far off birds are the only sounds that drift through the woodland. The party of would be rescuers have been following the trail left by the goblins they're pursuing - the creatures are anything but subtle, and their passing is marked by a pathway of broken branches, trampled undergrowth and even the odd butchered animal.

Go ahead and introduce your character and explain why they agreed to join this expedition, make any knowledge checks you'd like to roll, and then I'll start posting maps of the forest.


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I recently came across these house rules: ADAPTING ROLEMASTER AND HARP CRITICAL TABLES TO CASTLES & CRUSADES for adding Rolemaster critical hits tables to Castles & Crusades. I'd imagine using the tables from the 1989 Weapons Law and Claw Law.

I think they could be adapted without much difficulty to PF1e by adding the evade and dodge combat actions from the C&C player's handbook, which is also free.

The way this changes the game is that combat suddenly has 1000's of possible critical hit possibilities -- including killing an opponent instantly.

There are similar rules for spells, though the charts would apply in fewer cases -- i .e., many spells don't have attack rolls.


I've listened to a number of podcasts about this site Nahanni National Park Reserve, which is one of the creepier examples of the so-called 411 phenomenon of disappearances in national parks (a lot of it is conspiracy theory stuff and over emphasizing non existent similarities, but, to me, it's genuinely captivating Americana/urban legend stuff).

Does anyone want to do a PF1e (yeah, I know this isn't the perfect system for this idea, but it's the one I know the best, so...) game that's sort of like urban fantasy -- the setting is the historical US with a little more magic in random places -- like an elf lecturer in Atlantean archaeology at Yale, or a half-orc Ammish midwife who's an oracle, or a gnome NASA researcher who's an Alchemist, etc. I imagine the setting would be sometime in the early 1900s-modern day, I'm open, and would initially involve some kind of expedition to the Nahanni valley, whether to investigate a disappearance, or to prospect for gold, depending on the time period an inclination of the party.

Some other, similar, scenarios I have in mind

-The Villisca axe murder house in Iowa
-the dogmen of Wisconsin
-The Franklin expedition
-Bigfoot sightings in the Cascade Mountains
-The Jersey Devil


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Okay, I've had an opportunity to think about the A5E rule set and what I want to do, and this is the recruitment thread for that game.

First, what is A5E. It's basically a more complex version of 5e that's its own independent game that EN world published. It's similar to the relationship between 3.5 and Pathfinder. It's on a free SRD, which can be found at the following link: https://a5e.tools

Major changes:

-'race' consists of a background/profession, a culture, and an ethnicity. Races get additional powers as they level.
-classes have talents like rogue genius and legendary games classes. There's a PoW like maneuver system for martials.
-there are more terrain encounters for DMs to work with.
-the monsters have Dark Souls style 'not even my final form' conditions -- when you deplete their hit points by a certain amount, they go super nova and have new abilities, and when they die they may explode or something else nasty.

This game will start at 1st level since I'm still learning the rules, and the module I want to use is 1st level. I'll bump stuff up relatively quickly if we have a good pace. If people literally won't play if it's 1, we can start at 2-3.

The setting will be the Dragonlance Setting during the Age of Mortals. You can read about it here: Age of Mortals. The adventure will start in a small town on the edge of Onysablet's domain.

Major concepts:

Gods are gone -- 'clerics' are channels of primordial powers.
Ansalon is ruled by a group of chromatic super dragons.
Divine and arcane magic is now 'ambient magic': https://dragonlance.fandom.com/wiki/Wild_Sorcery,
https://dragonlance.fandom.com/wiki/Ambient_Magic

Build Rules

Sources: we're using A5e for races and classes. You can use feats, spells, and subclasses from any 5e source, as long as it hasn't already been replaced by an A5E version.

Attributes: Roll 6d6, take the 3 highest. You can roll 6 sets if you want. That or 27 pt. buy.
Alignment: Good or Neutral.
Races: Limited to A5E races.
Classes: 1st level A5E class. In addition to you A5E archetype, you can pick a free subclass from any 5e source for your class -- the 'extra' subclass should be 5e, not A5e, the point is not to give ever character an extra archetype, but rather a non-A5E subclass.
Feats/talents. Everyone starts with a feat. Can be from any 5e source, as long as it's not already present in A5E.

Posting will be 4-5 times a week, more on weekend if you want.

I will do battlemaps and other handouts by uploading viewable images -- I'll just make a jpg of a battlemap with the characters on it when we need it. I'll upload large area maps in a uguu.se/pomf.se style image hosting site, and provide up close images of the direct encounter area round by round. Here's an example: Battlemap Example


Based on the responses in the interest check threat, this is an official recruitment for 4-6 players for a wall-of-text, extreme worldbuilding, classic fantasy campaign using the Fudge rpg system -- a narrative, rules-light system.

I'm first going to describe the character creation process, and the end of this post will be a wall of fluff about the Dragonlance-like setting the adventure will take place in.

Okay, first, rules -- the Fudge system. What is Fudge? Fudge is the predecessor of the FATE system -- the latter is considered to be a type of FUDGE game that eventually turned into its own system. Fudge stands for Freeform Universal Donated (later, Do-it-yourself) Gaming Engine. Here's a wikipedia entry if you'd like to read more about this history of this system: Fudge (role-playing game).

It's all free, and the main resources we'd be using can be found at the following links:

https://www.fudgerpg.com
https://fudgesrd.opengamingnetwork.com
Fantasy Fudge

Fudge is a tool box, and basically involves rating things on a seven or ten point scale (-3, -2, 0, +1, +2, +3 ... (legendary rules go higher, but that 7 point scale is the base system); this scale can apply to an ability score or a skill, etc. The system mainly involves opposed roles on this scale -- it's a fairly simple system if you look at the documents.

Ex. You have 0 in strength, and are going up against a difficulty of +2. You roll the Fudge dice and get a result of +1 -- you fail, but the effects are not as bad as if you not a -2 result, for example.

Character Creation

Character creation consists of a list of items from the Fudge system, and then a questionnaire with additional details.

The character creation rules are mainly found at this link Character Creation

Fudge rules items: Abilities, Skills, Gifts, Faults, Supernormal Powers. Basically, you'll have a list of these, and each will have a value from -3 to +3, starting at 0 with customization points based on how many of the items you have.

1. Abilities: You can pick from this list, or add anything you might want. I would aim for at least 12, and potentially up to 20 or more. There should be more granularity in areas that are significant to your core character concept -- several physical ones if you're an acrobat, for example.

Everyone needs to have abilities broadly equivalent to strength, size, and speed, since most of the combat rules require those.

List of Suggested Abilities:

Body: Agility, Aim, Appearance, Balance, Brawn, Build, Constitution, Coordination, Deftness, Dexterity, Endurance, Fatigue, Fitness, Health, Hit Points, Manual Dexterity, Muscle, Nimbleness, Quickness, Physical, Reflexes, Size, Smell, Speed, Stamina, Strength, Wound Resistance, Zip, and so on.

Mind: Cunning, Education, Intelligence, Knowledge, Learning, Mechanical, Memory, Mental, Mental Strength, Perception, Reasoning, Smarts, Technical, Wit, and so on.

Soul: Channeling, Charisma, Charm, Chutzpah, Common Sense, Coolness, Disposition, Drive, Ego, Empathy, Fate, Honor, Intuition, Luck, Magic Resistance, Magic Potential, Magical Ability, Power, Presence, Psyche, Sanity, Self Discipline, Social, Spiritual, Style, Will, Wisdom, and so on, and so on.

Other: Rank, Status, Wealth.

For attributes, you have free attribute levels to assign based on how many attributes you select (if you have 12, you get 12, if you have 20, you have 20, etc., everything starts at 0).

2. Skills

Here is a suggested list of skills -- pick the ones that make sense for your character. I would like you to pick at least 100, and as many as you want. You can also make up your own. You should have a high level of granularity for the things that are important to your character concept.

Suggested Skills:
Awareness,
Follow,
Track,
Watch,
Acrobatics,
Athletics,
Contortionist,
Riding,
Stealth,
Swimming,
Armour Training,
Close,
Order,
Evade,
Hand-to-Hand,
Marksmanship,
Melee,
Siege Artillery,
Skirmishing,
Etiquette,
Inquiry,
Intrigue,
Leadership,
Persuasion,
Seduction,
Streetwise,
Teaching,
Wardrobe & Style,
Acting,
Composition,
Dancing,
Disguise,
Musicianship,
Oratory,
Singing,
Sleight of Hand,
Storytelling,
Animal Training,
Artistry,
Blacksmithing,
Campaigning,
Craftwork,
Drawing,
Engineering,
Farmwork,
Fieldcraft,
Gambling & Gaming,
Healing Arts,
House Keeping,
Housework,
Midwifery,
Sailing,
Shepherding,
Writing,
Commerce,
Heraldry,
Language (each one a separate skill),
Alphabet/Runeset (each one a separate skill),
Letters,
Local Expert (one area),
Navigation,
Research,
Tactics,
Alchemical Lore,
Cult Lore,
Folk Lore,
Herbal Lore,
Hermetic Lore,
Occult Lore,
Star Lore

As with attributes, you will have free attribute levels equal to how many skills you have. You have 1-2 additional skills to play with in-game if you forgot something during creation and need something in the course of the narrative.

3. Gifts/Faults -- I'm honestly okay with handwaving this -- give yourself some of each if you want. I'll come up with firmer guidelines if it's needed.

4. Supernormal Powers.

Here's the rules link: Supernormal Powers

This is a combination bin of basically feats, class abilities, racial traits, magical powers, templates. I'm at least going to start off with a super loose interpretation of this -- what you basically need is a list of all your character's feat/spell/racial/class abilities, or the near equivalent. However, you don't need to worry about pre-reqs or mechanical compatibility. All you need is a list of items, and the same scale -3 to +3 scale for anything with a combat focus (you can also have legendary values if it's justified). I'm handwaving the number of these make it equivalent to about a 20th level PF character -- I'd like to see about 100 items in this section as well (this involves just writing down a concept like 'whirlwind attack +3', it's not as hard as it sounds). You can add scale to your supernormal powers if it makes sense -- just decide for yourself.

To find ideas for supernormal powers, you can use and d20 system or other fantasy system -- just take the basic description/concept. Individual spells should be individual supernormal powers (but here, again, this is easy, because you don't have to worry about mechanics, just the concept, and you're just writing a name down, with a -3/+3 or scale value if it has a combat application).

**Personality will be done by description.

**I'll decide on Fudge points economy before the game starts.

Here are some simple examples of a character sheet -- scroll down and you'll see some fantasy examples: Tips and Examples.

Okay -- so that's the mechanical part -- the second part of the character submission is filling out this questionnaire

Name (Given, Nickname): This would include any surnames, religious names, etc., as well as names in different languages, as well as any history about how the name was given, or contexts where the character uses particular names.

Age (Age Cohort): This includes both the numerical age in years, and perhaps an alternative value in a different counting system or two, as well as where this number places the character in their culture or species' age cohorts -- i.e., a youth, teenager, middle adult, etc.

Sex/Gender/Sexuality: This refers to any information on gender presentation, species gender (does the species have a biological or cultural 'third' (or fourth, fifth) gender?), and romantic or affinitive dispositions -- hetero/homo/bi/a-sexual etc.

Species (Subspecies): Example, Glasskrystal Kobold -- and explain what that means. Maybe they're kobolds with mind magic crystals embedded in their pink scales that contain the accumulated dreams of their ancestors?

Physiology/Physiognomy: Height, weight, musculature, body art -- piercings, tattoos, color of scales, hair, eyebrows, nails. A broken horn, etc. History of any injuries or outstanding features -- how did the character tear a wing, or gain a tattoo which signals a particular achievement in their culture.

Height,
body weight,
skin tone,
body hair,
moles,
freckles,
hair color and type,
eye color,
nose shape,
ears shape,
body shape,
body deformations,
mutilations and other variations such as amputations, scars, burns and wounds.

Dress: What outfits do they usually wear -- what's their cultural basis, what do they reflect about the character? Detail a few common outfits they might don or want to acquire.

clothing, including headgear and footwear; some clothes alter or mold the shape of the body. As for footwear, high heels make a person look taller.

style and colour of haircut (see also dreadlocks, braids, ponytail, wig, hairpin, facial hair, beard and moustache)

cosmetics, stage makeup, body paintings, permanent makeup
body modifications, such as body piercings and tattoos

plastic surgery

decorative objects (jewelry) such as a necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings

medical or body shape altering devices (e.g. tooth braces, bandages, casts, hearing aids, cervical collar, crutches, contact lenses of different colors, glasses, gold teeth)

Tools: Not martial equipment -- i.e., a handyman set handed down from a beloved relative, give some history to the individual items. Were they purchased, made, or given? How old are they? How well made are they?

jewelry
sunglasses
goggles
watch
headphones/handsfree phone headset
hair ornaments
hats and caps

Arms and Armor: Same kinds of details as with the 'tools' category -- come up with stories about each dagger and/or sword, where they were purchased, what they've been used for, etc.

Mannerisms: Any physical ticks, like always standing ram-rod straight, or thumb-twiddling?

Blushing,
crying,
fainting,
hiccup,
stuttering,
reddening of the skin due to increased blood flow due to exertion. Sweating,
shivering,
nose bleeding,
skin color changes due to sunshine or frost.

Culture (sub-culture): What is their culture and/or subculture -- i.e., a French Catholic (but equivalent fantasy concepts).

Personality: Surly? Friendly? Under what conditions (Surly to strangers, friendly to long time acquaintances?

Religion/Philosophy/Worldview: Any sort of ethical or meaning-making outlook, or combination of influences that motivates the character. Can be an organization or a perspective. Were they born into it, or acquired it? How stridently do they adhere to one or more of these affiliations?

Profession/avocation: What does the character do for a living or for hobbies -- how long have they done it? When and why did they acquire this interest?

Languages: What languages does the character speak, and how well (reading/writing/speaking level).

Special Abilities:

This is going to be the most detailed section -- think about 3-12 entries from your 'supernormal powers' section, consisting of special things the character can do and give me some fluff detail. This can be a magic system, a set of divine boons, special martial artist abilities, etc. It can embrace a wide range between a feat and a whole magic system with a number of spells described.

The key here is detail -- if it's a special martial artist move -- where does it come from, how did the character learn it, and give some narrative details -- when it's used, does the whole vicinity go quiet? When a form of casting is used, does it make the character unable to speak for several minutes, and make the air smell like sulfur? The more detail the better.

One special thing: Are they the only individual to speak a certain language? The last surviving member of a royal family?

One weakness/secret: Are they terrified of the color yellow?

Additional notes -- basically this system can be as simple or complex as you want; it basically focuses on the +3/-3 scale and checks and narrating the result. Most of it is handwaved. There are more complex rules for some things I may integrate over time, and I may use more or less complex rules for different encounters -- there are hex grid rules for combat, but I'll only use those for full on boss fights, and mostly use the simpler rules for mooks and simple encounters, for example. I may experiment with adding more rules for certain things over time.

Okay, so that's the character creation process. Now let me tell you about the setting. You're basically going to be playing a member of this setting's equivalent of the Heroes of the Lance.

The major artistic influences here, and that should shape your imagination and thinking, are as follows:

Larry Elmore
Jeff Easley
Michael Whelan

The literary influences you could think about are:

Tracy Hickman -- Dragonlance, Sovereign Stone, the Obsidian Trilogy
Tad Wililams -- Memory, Sorrow and Thorn
Anne McCaffrey -- Dragonriders of Pern
Brian Jacques -- Redwall
Jim Henson -- The Dark Crystal

The setting is a classic 'Princess and Paladins' 80s/early 90s fantasy world of medieval chivalric adventure.

Some of the further-off areas to the east have some additional influences like Wuxia films (Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon, Hero, the Dog Warriors, Samurai Shamploo), and there are other continents similar to Taladas that are desertified and more sword and planet/conan, but that's not the primary adventure area.

The depiction of the Pits of the Inferno is based on Wayne Barlow's art Inferno -- and I'm taking some worldbuilding concepts from this art as well.

More detail -- this is a flat, high-fantasy planet with a dark and light side. The continents of the light side mostly look like things like dragons. The main continent of the campaign (Saradon) looks like a dragon, you're starting in an area near the 'snout'.

The kingdoms of western Saradon are based/but not 1-1 correspondence, it's a more general inspiration on the Crusader Kingdoms, the German Empire, Napoleonic France, Regency England, Tudor England, Aurthurian Camelot (Humans), ancient Rome, Greece, and Gault (Elves), 18th century Switzerland (Gnomes), Plains Tribes (US) and Wild West (Halflings), Achaemenid, Sassanid, and Qajar Iran (Dwarves) - eastern Saradon contains an orc empire in the 'tail' of the dragon (Manchu), and Thai/Burmese/Japan islands that are populated by Kitsune and other animal people.

I can produce more fluff information -- but I want to get more of a sense of character concept so I can write give more information on the right things.

Setting Creation Story/Background (Long!!!):
Let me tell you of the former days,
In the time before days, in the age before the Song, or of the Song without Sound, the darkness was deep, and there was quiet within the darkness. Some say that the darkness itself was the sleeping form of the High Goddess Zaraynezugheth the Eternal, who is also known as Esarla, and who is believed by the cantors of the Inspired Incantation to be the chief manifestation of the Song Itself. The Mother of Dragons and of Mortals stirred in the abyss and sang the first notes of the Music of the Spheres. The notes of the First Song resounded within the void. For a long age, the Music of the Spheres resounded within the void, clear, beautiful beyond words of any language, and solitary, without any partner.

Then, notes began to answer the First Song of the Mother of Dragons, and Her first children were called forth from the darkness. These were the First Clutch, and they were three --

Nereza, the Midnight Queen, Mistress of Evil Dragons
Tenshe-Senyan, The King with Five Faces, the Manalord, and Chief Minister of the Elemental Bureaucracy
Kheryth-Khatar, the Shinning Lord, the Father of the Dawn.

Unto each of the First Clutch were born a separate family of godlings as each sang their own song into the Void, joining each their strain unto that of the First Mother, Esarla, Queen of Dragons and of the Morning Light. From the song of each of the First Clutch was born another generation of godlings – the Second Clutch. The names of the Second Clutch are these:

Unto Nereza the Queen of the Night were born the dragon gods of the Dark Symphony,
Unto Tenshe-Senyan, the Master of the Nodes, were born the hierarchies of the Elemental Bureaucracy,
And unto the Lord of Light, Kheryth-Khatar, were born the choirs of the Celestial Orchestra.

As the powers of the Second Clutch came into being, they immediately opened a great battle between their forces. Darkness raged in the formless void of the early days of the world, until the High Mother Esarla, seeing the disunity of Her children and Her children’s children, silenced the battle with a great roar which interrupted the First Song. Chastened by their creator, the three powers of the First Clutch dispersed themselves – having returned balance to creation, the Mother of All began a slumber which would last many ages, the resonance of Her song a lullaby that would accompany Her divine sleep for millennia…

The dragon gods of these three agencies in the heavens divided themselves within the void and established the planes of Darkness, of Light, and the Elemental Strongholds – and so came to be the 7,777,777 Heavens of Paradise, the 666,666 Pits of the Inferno, and the 231 billion Departments of the Elemental Strongholds of the Elemental Bureaucracy

Or… that is one fashion in which the history of the War Before the Dawn is related.

Another account holds that the dragon brothers of the First Clutch -- Tenshe-Senyan and Kheryth-Khatar --, who some believe to be twins, awoke first of the Prime Mother’s children and, taking their places of honor, respectively, at Her left and right hand, sang the stars and spheres into existence, joining their strain to that of the Mother of Dragons. However, they doubted in the perfection of their own creation, and whether they had matched the inestimable beauty of the First Song in their own strains, and this doubt mingled in the darkness, and gave birth to Nereza, the Whispering Shadow, the Queen of Maleficence. When she had awakened within the void, the Dark Queen immediately took umbrage at the strain of the First Song and sought to silence its tones. Thus it was that Nereza stealthily approached the First Mother and struck Her with venom and darkness and hate, and then death, and thereby silenced the First Song. Upon hearing the death cries of their progenitor, Esarla’s two sons immediately closed battle with the shadow – the followers of both Tenshe-Senyan and Kheryth-Khatar hold that their patron deity delivered the fatal blow to the Dark Queen.

And so, by the hand of one or both sons of Esarla, the Dark Queen Nereza was cast into the most profound depths of the darkness, those forbidden reaches of the cosmos that should become the 666,666 Pits of the Inferno.

Note, however, that the scriptures of the Dark Symphony proclaim that Nereza was first born of the children of the First Clutch, but that she remained in silence as the two sons of Esarla commenced their song. However, they, jealous of the greater beauty of her song without sound, and spurred by the jealousy of their mother, who likewise resented the greater power and beauty of the noteless strain of Her first daughter, struck down the Queen of Midnight.

In any event, all scriptures agree that Nereza was cast into the darkness, a darkness which the priests of the Dark Symphony proclaim to have been the remnant of the world that existed prior to this age. The scriptures of the Celestial Orchestra and the Elemental Bureaucracy differ on this point – holding that there has been only one, and not several, cycles of time. The dark priests proclaim that the Midnight Queen and her children were surrounded by the remnants of the Time Before Our Time, and waged a great conflict to establish themselves in the 666,666 Pits of the Inferno.

The power of Nereza was extinguished by her brothers, and her soul migrated for an age to the Sea of Midnight Waters, which lies at the bottom of the lowest pit of the Inferno, and has never been glimpsed by aught but the chief ministers of the Midnight Queen since the earliest days of the cosmos until the present hour. But her children resurrected Nereza with a great and terrible magic and she arose, recreated in a more awesome and terrible form than that which she had previously held. When she arose again within the depths of the Inferno, the first war against the Songbearer races of the Lands of Light commenced…

In the absence of the Dark Queen, the Two Brothers, Tenshe-Senyan and Kheryth-Khatar commenced the creation of Esarlon, whether solely through their song, or upon the body of the First Mother, the tales differ on this point. Some traditions hold that the world was founded upon the body of another child of Zaraynezugheth the Eternal who was slain in the War Before the Dawn, a dragon goddess of dreams and fates known as Esairlaya of the Unblinking Eye.

And it came to pass that the divine children of Kheryth-Khatar and Tenshe-Senyan, the Second Clutch, themselves bore children – the varied races of dragons, and these established themselves in the First Age of the world – the Age of the Dragons of the Dawn. One portion of Esarlon was blessed by the light of the spheres which her creators had sung into existence, while another was covered in shadow. Each portion was divided, one from the other, by the unimaginable heights of the Mountains of Soorn. Still, to this day, at the farthest reaches of the Outer Seas, these heights divide the Lands of Light from the Lands of Darkness.

The Age of the Dragons of the Dawn saw the foundation of the many lands of the Four Founding Lands of Esarlon – Saradon, Eschalia, Tabaron, and Venshan. In Saradon, the scaled children of the Lord of Light and the Fivefold King established two great draconic empires, respectively, upon the western and eastern portions of the Lands of Light. The children of the Two Brothers joined together to sing, again, the Music of the Spheres, and bore the Third Clutch, the gods of the other races of mortals, known as the dragonchildren. In turn, the Third Generation took up the strains of the First Song and created the various races of the Songbearers – the wise elves, the courageous orcs, the ingenious gnomes, the diverse races of men, the clever kitsune, the just litorians, and many others.

The Age of the Dragons of the Dawn came to a close as the dragons ceded the rule of the Lands of Light to the younger Songbearer races in order to commence the Great Journey to rejoin the First Mother in the Highest and Purest Heaven. In their wake, the realms of the dragons divided into many domains – the kitsune departed the eastern lands for the Jimonzo-Mayaburian Isles, the orcs withdrew to the Steppes of Khazayburkhan, the elves withdrew to the Peninsula of Thiseas and the Islands of Ethfimios, and many others established their own homelands, no longer brought together by the rule of the draconic children of the Second Clutch.

For a long age, the Lands of Light were at peace.

First among the powers of the Lands of Light were the kingdoms of the elves and the realm of the titans. These grew to a formidable strength, and began to subjugate their fellows. In time, the elves and titans came to strive against each other, and their empires were both destroyed in the wake of the Elf-Titan War. The island homeland of the elven capital -Achitheira- was submerged in a magical cataclysm wrought by the greatest of the titan sorcerers, and the titans were cursed with a mishappen form and twisted soul by the greatest of the elven arch mages.

No longer the fairest of creation, the titans wandered within the deep earth, and eventually found their way to the Lands of Darkness, where they joined their hate and anger with those of the other children of the Dark Symphony.

In the wake of the decline of the elven and titan civilizations, the human mages of Arkantos, many of whom it is said had elven blood from the archmages of Achitheira, established a great empire that would rule the Lands of Light for a long age. The capital of Arkantos was the fabled city of Spiritheria, City of Topless Spires, and it lay within the innermost regions of the blighted wasteland now known as the Graven Steppes.

Just as in the Lands of Light, the Lands of Darkness were, in the First Age, ruled by the draconic children of the Second Clutch of the Dark Symphony. The Second Clutch of the Mother of Midnight, like those of the Two Brothers, in turn raised their own wordless strain and created godling slaves – the divine progenitors of the goblin peoples – the goblins, the bugbears, the hobgoblins, and others. For a long age, the dragons and their scaled children brutally ruled other peoples of the Lands of Darkness. They were the Scaled Tyrants, and their yoke was heavy upon their servants. For uncounted years, the goblins and their brother races toiled in agony to raise numberless monuments to the greatness of Nereza and her First Children among the Scaled Tyrants.

In the midst of this darkness, the deformed titans, the first of the ogres, emigrated from the Lands of Light, and found the Lands of Darkness. Joining the slaves of the Scaled Tyrants, they still retained old knowledge from their previous rule in the Lands of Light, and the ogre mages instructed the goblin warlocks in the spells by which they might throw off the Curse of Servitude which bound their peoples to the rule of the dragons. In the Great Revolt, the hero-god Torgash led the Third Clutch of Nereza against the Second Clutch, and thereby overthrew the rule of the Scaled Tyrants, who were then imprisoned beneath the titanic monuments of the Lands of Darkness. The kobolds and other children of the dragons were driven into the wastes and beneath the earth, and the goblins established a mighty empire which ruled virtually the entirety of the Lands of Darkness.

Even the Mother of Midnight, the Dark Queen Nereza, was laid low, her undead shade cast into the Outer Abyss beyond even the 666,666 Pits of the Inferno. But the great generals of the goblin lords were not satisfied. The reports of the ogre magi told them of bright lands of richness and health, and so they slowly began to dig the World Maw, a great tunnel by which they would pass from the Lands of Darkness to the Lands of Light. Their great beasts dug at the roots of the world for millennia until, on one dark day, they emerged from the midst of the topless towers of Spiritheria, capital of the magical realm of Arkantos. The realm of the Empermancers was quickly overthrown, and the once boundless riches of the imperial heartland devastated by the goblin war machine. The forces of the goblin generals seized all the western lands of Saradon, and were only held back by elemental fortifications quickly established by the orc emperor of the Ageless Empire of Aangang.

In the Age of Agony, for so was this time of darkness named, the majority of the Songbearer races suffered the oppression of the goblins and their allies, and prayed fervently for the departed dragons and dragon gods of the Second Clutch to deliver them from their ceaseless misery.

In time, the dragons and dragon gods of the Second Clutch returned from the Great Journey and, together with the beleaguered Gods of Light, dispatched saviors to the races of the Songbearers. After a long age, the hero children Sorin and Mystralia was born to slaves of the goblins, and led the forces of the Songbearers against the forces of darkness, driving them back into the depths of the World Maw, and closing the gap with the Great Seal.

However, in the wake of their victory the heroic pair fell into strife. Mystralia devoted herself to the veneration of the First Clutch and their returned children, while Sorin preached a new revelation – all gods were in fact representations of the One God, the First Song. The generals of Sorin established the realm of Palinsar and the apprentices of Mystralia established the sorcerous realm of Myrasthal. The two realms divided western Saradon amongst their powers, and guarded, together, the ruins of Spiritheria and the Great Seal. The emissaries of Palinsar were dispatched to the far corners of Saradon, where they established many new realms among the former colonies of Arkantos. However, most of the non-human races resisted the revelation of Sorin, and a new mistrust emerged between his followers and the polytheists of the other Songbearer races, as well as the dragon disciples of the sorcerers of Myrasthal.

However, the forces of darkness were only temporarily defeated. With the retreat of the goblin generals from their occupation of the Lands of Light, their hold over the Lands of Darkness was also imperiled. The cults of the Second Clutch arose, awoke their sleeping masters, and the Dark Queen herself was called forth to new life from the Outer Abyss. The dragon lords of the Dark Symphony, the Scaled Tyrants of the ancient Age of the Dragons of Dusk when the reptilian races ruled the Lands of Darkness, revived the ancient legions of the First Clutch and prepared to launch a final war against the enemies of the Midnight Queen.

And so the Scaled Tyrants and their legions ascended the World Maw and broke the Great Seal – the forces of the magi of Myrasthal and the paladins of Palinsar fought valiantly in the ruins of Spiritheria to hold the Great Seal, but their sacrifice was for naught. The seemingly endless legions of the Dark Symphony poured forth once again from the Great Seal and quickly overwhelmed the Graven Steppes.

The border lands of Palinsar formed the Crusader States of Celothia, Herment, Jehannette, Rykeld, Mighel, Seraphinus and Perchavel to hold the line against the legions of darkness, and a new age of conflict began between the forces of the Dark Queen and the Two Brothers.

The tide of conflict shifted over the course of several hundred years, but in the Battle of the Vorson Plateau, the Dark Symphony overcame the gods of the Celestial Orchestra, as well as many representatives of the Elemental Bureaucracy, and banished them from the lands of Esarlon. Since that day, the Songbearers of Western Saradon have slowly lost the war against the forces of the Dark Symphony – and now the legions of darkness are on the verge of breaking the Crusader States and pouring forth to dominate the entirety of the Lands of Light.

At this time, perhaps the greatest conflict in the battle is found in the Siege of Eboncross, great port of the Crusader State of Celothia. It is here, friends, that we begin our tale….

The City of Eboncross was founded by the barghest shadow mage Lassolk Iltur during the Age of Agony, when the goblin generals of the Third Clutch led their forces forth from the World Maw to conquer the Lands of Light, destroying the ancient magical empire of Arkantos. During this period, Eboncross served as one of the primary ports of Western Saradon, the continent of Esarlon where the invasion of the forces of the Dark Symphony commenced through the World Maw. The city is built on the western and eastern banks of the wide waters of the Hudter River. In the midst of the Hudter River is the Isle of Waljour, which contains the central district of Eboncross. The eastern portion consists of the remains of the city founded by Lassolk Iltur, and its haphazard street design reflects the influence of goblin city-planners, who designed the district to be a dense warren that was both difficult to navigate by attackers and easy to defend from their opponents among the crusaders of the Songbearer races. The western district of Eboncross is built of the ruins of the ancient city of Iyrirora, a center of magic learning in the former Kingdom of Vrulidor, a successor realm of the fabled Empermancers of Arkantos that survived for some period during the Age of Agony, resisting the forces of the goblin generals. Up until the beginning of the Age of Discordance, when the Dark Symphony conquered the gods of the Celestial Orchestra, Eboncross was a major city of the Crusader Kingdom of the Celothia Dynasty -- in the last years of the Age of Glory, during the decline of Celothia and the other Crusader States of the Graven Steppes in the face of assault by the forces of darkness streaming from the World Maw, Eboncross became partially independent along with the realm of its hereditary ruler, the Baron of Surea. And so it has remained the second great city of the Barony of Surea besides its capital at Vam-Osatin, which is located further in the hinterlands.

However, Eboncross has come under assault by the forces of the blue dragons known as the Azure Tyrants, servants of Amon-Xysyn, Goddess of the Ostracized and Negther-Nurdar, God of the Abyss, two prominent dragon deities of the Second Clutch of the Dark Symphony. The Azure Tyrant Zakorth-Imentairth the Sky Shearer, a vampire and priest of Amon-Xysyn and Negther-Nurdar, has gathered a vast host of goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, ogres, giants, kobolds, lizardfolk, troglodytes, and many others and laid siege to the great city. Already, the eastern districts of Eboncross have fallen to the attackers, and the forces of the Legion of Ash, the name given to the army of Zakorth-Imentarith, have occupied the eastern shores of the Hudter River. The seemingly endless pinpoints of their bonfires threaten the western districts of the imperiled city day and night. The valiant defenders have destroyed the bridge that once united the Isle of Waljour with the eastern districts, but it is feared that the forces of the Legion of Ash will soon build enough battle barges to renew their assault on the western districts of Eboncross.

Emissaries of all the Songbearer races have been summoned by the plaintive missives of Knight-Commander Batsuen of the White-Fire, Lord Commander of the Legion of the Dawn, an ancient order of templars dedicated to Telara-Niara, Dragon Goddess of Beauty, the Dawn, and the Flute. This ancient knightly sodality defends the city in an uneasy alliance with the crusaders of the Exalted Choir, one of the many legions of old Palinsar, representatives of the monotheistic faith of Sorin the Savior, the founder of the Church of the Exalted Incantation, which proclaims that all gods are representatives of the One Song. Duke Casthros of Surea, the hereditary ruler of the region, prepares the defense of Van-Osatin, which lies further north along the Hudter River. It will surely soon come under attack if Eboncross falls to the forces of the Legion of Ash.


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Has anyone else looked at this Website with free base rules.

It's a d20 JRPG sort of like FFd20 or PathFinal, but all the classes are completely modular -- you just pick talents or class feats every level, and there's no AC, just a reflex bonus and DR.

There's an airship combat system.

I spent the 3 bucks to get the master classes and extra monsters pdf.

There's a completely automated excel spreadsheet with the base classes and races.

Seems like kind of a nifty little d20 system. Thoughts?


I just started a freeform roleplay Startrek campaign, and have so far enjoyed the concept, and was reading up on some other freeform concepts -- so I'd be interested to know if anyone wants to try to do a freeform fantasy campaign.

Basically, we'd be using 3.5/PF esque lore and rules as narrative inspiration for things like the 'abilities' and 'profession' and 'weapons' categories below, but not be confined to the actual rule set.

I really enjoy just freewriting a lot of the time -- and I think this would be a great format just to indulge worldbuilding and creative flights of fancy.

The character submission would be in the format described below, and would consist, in some cases such as culture and descriptions of tools, of several paragraphs of information.

I imagine a complete submission would be at least 3-5 pages of writing (that's what I smashed out for my freeform Star Trek character, and that seemed a decent length to sort of flesh things out).

The only 'rules', if they're needed, will consist of dice pools of d10s against a difficulty number, trying to roll over a target number (usually 1-100). The dice pools and difficulty class are adjudicated by the creativeness and depth of description of the attempted action, combined with any relevant abilities or skills, as argued/negotiated by the player/DM.

For example, if a character wanted to pick a lock -- they would identify any relevant abilities and skills, such as they had a 'Very Good' Dexterity (88), and a 'Good' cunning (75) and that would impact their knowledge of how to pick a lock, as well as their ability to do so -- manual dexterity (there's not one 'right' answer here, it's the creativity of the player that counts), as well as an 'Excellent' (99) in the Streetwise skill. You'd write your description of your action against my description of the lock mechanism and design, and the creativity, detail, along with the argument about applicable abilities and skills, will give me a guestimate of how many d10s you get to roll against a target number.

Mostly this will work on 'rule of cool', as you'll be able to make another argument for a 'save' or a 'recover' with the same format if the first attempt doesn't work. It's supposed to be a bare-bones concept to motivate writing, not a fully-fleshed out system. Basically, almost anything is possible if you're willing to write enough to justify it narratively.

That said, here's my proposal for character submissions -- I'm open to further suggestions if something obvious seems to be missing. It's intended to be extremely detailed, but without any real mechanics as such. The only scale values are really to inform brainstorming more than provide an objective measure.

If there's enough interest, I'll write an official recruitment thread with a campaign outline and fluff, as well as make any adjustments that might emerge from discussion.

Character Submission Format:

Name (Given, Nickname): This would include any surnames, religious names, etc., as well as names in different languages, as well as any history about how the name was given, or contexts where the character uses particular names.

Age (Age Cohort): This includes both the numerical age in years, and perhaps an alternative value in a different counting system or two, as well as where this number places the character in their culture or species' age cohorts -- i.e., a youth, teenager, middle adult, etc.

Sex/Gender/Sexuality: This refers to any information on gender presentation, species gender (does the species have a biological or cultural 'third' (or fourth, fifth) gender?), and romantic or affinitive dispositions -- hetero/homo/bi/a-sexual etc.

Species (Subspecies): Example, Glasskrystal Kobold -- and explain what that means. Maybe they're kobolds with mind magic crystals embedded in their pink scales that contain the accumulated dreams of their ancestors?

Physiology/Physiognomy: Height, weight, musculature, body art -- piercings, tattoos, color of scales, hair, eyebrows, nails. A broken horn, etc. History of any injuries or outstanding features -- how did the character tear a wing, or gain a tattoo which signals a particular achievement in their culture.

Height,
body weight,
skin tone,
body hair,
moles,
freckles,
hair color and type,
eye color,
nose shape,
ears shape,
body shape,
body deformations,
mutilations and other variations such as amputations, scars, burns and wounds.

'Abilities'

This section includes the following abilities (i.e., Constitution, Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Nimbleness, Cunning, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Resolve) rated on a level of 1-100 within a category (i.e., Very Good (93)). You decide this for yourself, Give yourself a base 300-600 points if you feel you need a range. It can change over time or because of events.

Give me a quick note after each category the explains it -- i.e., Cunning Very Good (88) -- Sairla grew up in a gambling hall and learned, early in life, to combine her native predatory intuition with keen observation of the habits of competitive professional con-artists.

These are not as rigid as Dnd or PF -- they can change over time but are supposed to be a jumping off point for characterization, and give rough values for dice pools on simple checks.

Outstanding = 100+
Excellent = 90-99
Very good = 80-89
Good = 70-79
Above Average = 60-69
Average = 50-59
Below Average = 40-49
Low = 30-30
Weak = 20-29
Very Weak = 10-19
Extremely Weak = 0-9

Constitution - represents health, toughness, and survivability. Directly affects HP and saving throws vs poison, diseases, and exhaustion effects. Connected with Resolve and Strength.

Strength - represents physical power, muscle strength, and the weight of a punch. Directly affects damage, carrying capacity, and a minimum amount of it is required for properly using certain items, such as armor. Connected with Constitution and Agility.

Agility - represents speed, springiness, and flexibility. Directly affects movement speed, acrobatics, and dodging. Connected with Strength and Dexterity.

Dexterity - represents balance, coordination, and stability. Directly affects accuracy, checks to maintain balance, and elaborate maneuvers or skills, such as dual weilding. Connected with Agility and Nimbleness.

Nimbleness - represents quickness, sharp movement and manipulation of small objects. Directly affects checks to pick locks or disarm traps, reflex saving throws, and using certain items or weapons, such as crossbows. Connected with Dexterity and Cunning.

Cunning - represents quick thought, slipperiness, and general wit. Directly affects perception, saving throws against certain mind affecting spells, checks made to see through illusions, and smartass comebacks. Connected with Nimbleness and Intelligence.

Intelligence - represents memory, problem solving, and aptitude for learning. Directly affects knowledge checks, skills known or learned, and maximum amount of abilities known, such as spells or maneuvers. Connected with Cunning and Wisdom.

Wisdom - represents natural understanding, awareness, and spirituality. Directly affects insight, handling skills or equipment without proper proficiency, saving throws vs emotion altering effects, such as fear, and availability of abilities. Connected with Intelligence and Charisma.

Charisma - represents force of personality, and strength of character. Directly affects social skills, such as deception and persuasion, performance, and potency of spells. Connected with Wisdom and Resolve.

Resolve - represents mental toughness, and will. Directly affects HP, saving throws vs certain mind affecting abilities, and death saving throws. Connected with Charisma and Constitution.

Dress: What outfits do they usually wear -- what's their cultural basis, what do they reflect about the character? Detail a few common outfits they might don or want to acquire.

clothing, including headgear and footwear; some clothes alter or mold the shape of the body (e.g. corset, support pantyhose, bra). As for footwear, high heels make a person look taller.

style and colour of haircut (see also dreadlocks, braids, ponytail, wig, hairpin, facial hair, beard and moustache)

cosmetics, stage makeup, body paintings, permanent makeup
body modifications, such as body piercings and tattoos

plastic surgery

decorative objects (jewelry) such as a necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings

medical or body shape altering devices (e.g. tooth braces, bandages, casts, hearing aids, cervical collar, crutches, contact lenses of different colours, glasses, gold teeth)

Tools: Not martial equipment -- i.e., a handyman set handed down from a beloved relative, give some history to the individual items. Were they purchased, made, or given? How old are they? How well made are they?

jewelry
sunglasses
goggles
watch
headphones/handsfree phone headset
hair ornaments
hats and caps

Arms and Armor: Same kinds of details as with the 'tools' category -- come up with stories about each dagger and/or sword, where they were purchased, what they've been used for, etc.

Mannerisms: Any physical ticks, like always standing ram-rod straight, or thumb-twiddling?

Blushing,
crying,
fainting,
hiccup,
stuttering,
reddening of the skin due to increased blood flow due to exertion. Sweating,
shivering,
nose bleeding,
skin color changes due to sunshine or frost.

Culture (sub-culture): What is their culture and/or subculture -- i.e., a French Catholic (but equivalent fantasy concepts).

Personality: Surly? Friendly? Under what conditions (Surly to strangers, friendly to long time acquaintances?

Religion/Philosophy/Worldview: Any sort of ethical or meaning-making outlook, or combination of influences that motivates the character. Can be an organization or a perspective. Were they born into it, or acquired it? How stridently do they adhere to one or more of these affiliations?

Profession/avocation: What does the character do for a living or for hobbies -- how long have they done it? When and why did they acquire this interest?

Languages: What languages does the character speak, and how well (reading/writing/speaking level).

Skills:

Like with the abilities section, give a score on the same scale and a brief explanation if you give yourself a noteworthy value. Except for some character concepts like a bard/jack of all trades, you shouldn't expect to be omni-competant, so only give yourself meaningful values in the things that are narratively relevant count the others as a very low value with minimal explanation. You can also make up another one if I've missed something you think might be important.

Awareness,
Follow,
Track,
Watch,
Acrobatics,
Athletics,
Contortionist,
Riding,
Stealth,
Swimming,
Armour Training,
Close,
Order,
Evade,
Hand-to-Hand,
Marksmanship,
Melee,
Siege Artillery,
Skirmishing,
Etiquette,
Inquiry,
Intrigue,
Leadership,
Persuasion,
Seduction,
Streetwise,
Teaching,
Wardrobe & Style,
Acting,
Composition,
Dancing,
Disguise,
Musicianship,
Oratory,
Singing,
Sleight of Hand,
Storytelling,
Animal Training,
Artistry,
Blacksmithing,
Campaigning,
Craftwork,
Drawing,
Engineering,
Farmwork,
Fieldcraft,
Gambling & Gaming,
Healing Arts,
House Keeping,
Housework,
Midwifery,
Sailing,
Shepherding,
Writing,
Commerce,
Heraldry,
Language (each one a separate skill),
Alphabet/Runeset (each one a separate skill),
Letters,
Local Expert (one area),
Navigation,
Research,
Tactics,
Alchemical Lore,
Cult Lore,
Folk Lore,
Herbal Lore,
Hermetic Lore,
Occult Lore,
Star Lore

Special Abilities:

This is going to be the most detailed section -- think about 3-12 entries of special things the character can do. This can be a magic system, a set of divine boons, special martial artist abilities, etc. It can embrace a wide range between a feat and a whole magic system with a number of spells described.

The key here is detail -- if it's a special martial artist move -- where does it come from, how did the character learn it, and give some narrative details -- when it's used, does the whole vicinity go quiet? When a form of casting is used, does it make the character unable to speak for several minutes, and make the air smell like sulfur? The more detail the better.

Basically, you can be as skilled as you feel like detailing -- if you want to write up a narrative description of 60 spells your character can perform, how they learned them, what their effects are, when they've used them before, what the history of the incantation is, etc. -- go ahead, the more the better.

One special thing: Are they the only individual to speak a certain language? The last surviving member of a royal family?

One weakness/secret: Are they terrified of the color yellow?


I have one additional opening for a game that's just kicked off. Here is the link to the original recruitment: Link to Recruitment Page

In addition to looking through the build rules carefully, please take a look at the gameplay thread and make sure you can deal with the narrative style -- this is going to be a lot of talking and description. Some players like that, some don't, but that's what this is. This is a sword and planet homebrew that is very complex, and the narrative is more like reading a Malazan Book of the Fallen novel than a standard dungeon crawl or other common campaign format. It has its own cosmology and lore assumptions that are extremely different from FR, Golarion, or similar settings.


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So, what is 'A5e'? Answer: it's a revision of DnD 5e put out by EN World that adds some additional complexity and customization to 5e. It has a very nice online SRD with the relevant information, which can be accessed by clicking here: Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition.

I'm interested in learning this system by DMing a game -- I need some patience because this is the first time I will run this, but it looks pretty similar to other d20 games to me, so I shouldn't have that much difficulty getting the hang of it.

I'm interested in running homebrew using some modified pre-made stuff. This is the adventure I'd imagine using: The Burning Goblins. I'll add some more material and encounters to flesh it out.

Some additional considerations:

-This would not be a 5e campaign, but rather a A5E campaign. The new rules are not optional, and players won't be able to just use a core 5e character for this. Players would have to use the races and classes from A5E, along with all the other new rules -- no substitutions or exceptions to avoid A5E.

-I would add in some additional 3pp. material like new monsters, subclasses, feats, 'talents' (basically 1/2 feats), and some version of a 5e Magic of Incarnum conversion.

If there's enough interest I'll put together a formal recruitment thread.


I'm not sure I have the time to start this for another couple of months, but I've been giving some heavy consideration to what works and doesn't seem to work in play by post format, and I've come to wonder whether what would work best is to adopt a hybrid format as follows:

All RP interaction, simple skill checks, utility spells, etc. will be done in the play by post forums.

All combats will be done in real time on scheduled discord sessions -- when a combat happens, we'd come up with a mutually agreeable time (it doesn't have to be the same every time, but I'm US EST, so that's the limitation of time frames -- I wouldn't get up at 4am to do this, for example), for everyone to simultaneously get on a discord chat, sign on to the VTT, move their tokens, and MOVE THROUGH COMBAT -- i.e., do a major combat in 4-5 hours and be done with it and move on with the campaign. I find it so frequent that combats take months to do and everyone loses interest with all the cross checking and retconning that's caused by asynchronous attempts to debate or adjudicate complicated rules interactions. This would all be done typing on discord -- I'm explicitly ruling out any kind of livechat or videochat -- I have to read rules to understand them, and I don't like looking at myself on zoom. This would all be typing on discord in several channels, but at the same time instead of asynchronously. The discord sessions would also utilize the Astral VTT -- so that's something any player would have to sign up for/on to and be comfortable using on a regular basis.

In terms of campaign plot, what I'd currently imagine doing is a Moonsea campaign based on opposing the machinations of Iyrauroth Forgotten Realms Alternative Dimensions: Issue 1, a homebrew black dragon master villain that's been behind most of the major events in the area, such as the fall of Northkeep.

Some other considerations:

For me, the 'Moonsea' means the 2e sourcebook I bought and read in the 90s -- that's what I've read and I'm familiar and comfortable with as a basis. So, no 3e multiple Manshoon clones or whatever they did with the area in 5e. It will either be pre-Time of Troubles or immediately afterwards (2e era). If that lore set up doesn't work for you, this won't work for you as a game, since I have no interest in the 5e version of the setting, as well as no interest in the 5e Sword Coast area.

I would also make some homebrew adjustments (the dragon Iyrauroth is already a homebrew adjustment, so I'd add a few more tweaks) -- think of this as a parallel/alternative timeline, darker version of the setting.

First, regarding magic, psionics and akasha would be the dominant forms of "magic" -- including the new veil-weaving supplement that incorporates psionics, and the spheres of akasha supplement, as well as spheres casting traditions like blighter, blood magic, cholmic traditionalist, and defiler. The overall goal would be to portray magic as a sinister supernatural and occult force more line with Sword and Sorcery traditions such as in Conan and Lankhmar.

In terms of monsters, there will be no bog standard foes -- even a standard goblin tribe will have kind of unique ability like teleportation or ethereal forms. A blue dragon might have a poisoned claws and the ability to cause earthquakes. All bosses will have Elden Ring-like "Not even my final form" exacerbations when they reach a certain critical loss of HP, like a new halo effect or spell like ability that comes online. Absolutely nothing will just be the bestiary entry monster.

Zhentil keep will also have conquered Shadowdale, as they did briefly during the 3e era, and have a greater regional prominence.

A further note about FR lore -- I personally prefer to make homebrew worlds, but I think it often works better for players if there's a wiki to read or there's something they're familiar with lore wise to do good RP posts.... but that's only an advantage as long as they're actually familiar with it. If your only exposure to FR is the 5e modules, which make bizarre changes to the lore like making the Cult of the Dragon a religion of Tiamat, and you don't know, for example, who the Red Plumes are, never heard of the god Moander, or which foreign power Mulmaster is allied with -- well, that's, from my end, negating the whole point of using a setting with pre-existing lore. I'd want any players to at least read the relevant wiki entries on the Moonsea so I don't have to explain every little thing -- what's Netheril, what's Darkhold, who's Fouzl Chembryl, etc., and assume no knowledge with every post. The whole point of using a pre-existing setting is so the posts and RP can be richer because everyone's already familiar with it and can freely draw on the lore in their posting.

Anyway, I'm just curious whether anyone else has the same sense of what might make a more consistent play by post experience and would like to try this hybrid format.


open


The event, when it occurs, seems to happen in an instant. But it is really unknowable how long the darkness lasts -- it is certainly possible that the displaced consciousnesses of the inhabitants of Earth are displaced in the void for a geological age, or sent hurtling back many uncountable eons, before they find purchase, once again, through their awakening to this strange, new reality.

The darkness descends in a moment, and then lifts just as quickly, revealing a shaped, stone corridor whose floor and ceiling are made up of volcanic rock. The rock steams slightly, releasing a caustic exhaust into the subterranean air. The walls appear to be made of some other variety of stone -- and appears harder and more expertly-shaped, as if it had been transported into the tunnels once the initial passage through the volcanic massif had been made, at whatever undetermined time.

The bodies of the transportees are all laid flat upon the volcanic stone that forms the floor of the tunnel, and are surrounded by half a dozen humanoids -- two are anthromorphic mustelids, probably otters, one is a human with yellow lemon skin and spiky, violet hair and emerald eyes, and the three figures are diminutive humanoids with hairy feet and epicanthic eyes.

One of the mustelids announces in a distinctly feminine voice,

"Mother of mercies -- I think they're waking up again. Everyone, back up again give them some space -- remember what happened last time. They're going to need a second to process the transportation."


I have in mind to do either:

Forgotten Realms 1e era (pre-Time of Troubles, no Cyric, no Kelemvor, Bane, Myrkrul, and Bhaal are still the primary evil gods, no shades taking over Sembia, no Spellplague, no Sundering, no multiple Manshoons, no return of the Imaskari, the places are further apart and there's more wilderness like in the old maps) probably in Sembia; traditional DnD adventuring in the style of the old Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale isometric rpgs.

Dragonlance, Age of Mortals: this is the post-Chaos War era where there are Dragon Overlords that rule Krynn. Gods are gone and magic is different/more primal. I'd make a couple of tweaks to the setting like replacing draconians with kobolds and making the size of Anasalon and Krynn a bit bigger.

or

Some mix of the two -- the Knight of Takhisis find a portal to the realms and are establishing a beachhead on behalf of Malystryx or another Dragon Overlord to invade the Realms.

Let me know which idea appeals the most.

Build Rules

I think I've covered everything here -- the goal is to have interesting but not completely overwhelmingly powerful builds. I'm starting low level to make sure I have a grip on stuff. I'll level up fairly quickly milestone leveling if things are going well.

Attributes:

*25 pt. buy.

Races:

We're going to use the relatively new Spheres of Origin system to make races instead of a list of allowed races. It has example builds for basic fantasy concepts.

That said, I don't want a whole party of drow or half-angels -- think fantasy DnD archetypes, as well as something that can socially fit in within the average fantasy town. If you walk down the street of Saerloon as a tiefling or snake man, for instance, people are going to flip out.

Classes:

*Gestalt, 3rd level.

The following list are the only base classes allowed, but any prestige classes are allowed (though that won't apply until later, since we're only starting at third level, but you can contemplate a prestige class for the future).

For the base classes, it consists of a curated list of classes from FFd20, PathFinal, Spheres, Path of War, Samurai Sheepdog, and Legendary Games, if it's not in this list, you cannot take it -- the base Paizo classes aren't allowed, or anything else not in this list of base classes.

There is no discussion or negotiation about the list -- this is the list, no other options.

Use this list to make a decision -- it is a mix of things from different sources, and some have the same names as classes from other sources -- it is not everything from any one source. Don't confuse yourself by looking through the spheres wiki, or library of metzofitz, which both have oceans of material I'm not allowing; go through these links to make sure you're picking an allowed class.

Archer
Astrologian
Bard
Beastmaster
Berserker Black-Belt Black-Mage
Blue-Mage
Blacksmith
Chemist
Chocobo-Knight Cleric
Conscript
Crimson-Dancer Dancer
Dark Knight
Dragoon
Dragoon
Druid
Epilektoi
Elementalist
Eliciter
Fencer
Fey-Adept
Fighter
Gambler
Gambler
Geomancer
Harbinger
Holy-Knight
Illusionist
Incanter
Kineticist (Legendary)
Knight
Knight
Medic
Medic
Monk
Monk
Monk (S-Class)
Montebank
Mystic
Necromancer Necros
Ninja
Parasite
Prodigy
Ranger Rajah
Ranger (S-Class)
Reaper
Red Mage
Samurai
Scholar
Sentinel
Shifter
Stalker
Sword-Saint
Soul-Weaver
Striker
Summoner Symbiat
Thief
Time-Mage
Troubadour
Warden
Warder
Warlord
Warrior
White-Mage
Zealot

*In addition, you can use the playtest classes for Spheres of Guile Playtest
*You can construct a custom casting tradition for spheres casters.

Additional options:

multiclass-archetypes
archetype packages (these are archetypes that can be applied to any class)

Skills:

*Background skills.
*Skill unlocks are a base part of the system (get, for free, all signature skill feats for any trained skill you have). If skill monkey classes think they need some extra talents or similar abilities to balance this out, let me know and we can work something out.

Feats:

*1 per level.
*Every gets combat stamina (combat) as a free feat. If characters playing martials feel they need some extra talents or something to balance this, let me know and we can work something out.
*EitR feat tax rules: Elephant in the Room (i.e., the pdf revision, not the original blog post)

Traits: Five. You can re-fluff Pazio stuff. No drawbacks.
Health: Maximum hit points.

Equipment: Wealth by level, but if there's something iconic, like mithral chain for an elven lord or something similar, that you want but that you can't afford, we can probably come to an agreement about it.

We will also use:
Variant Rules: Low-Magic Item Campaigns

Combat: We're using the Unchained Action Economy (this is basically the 3 action action economy from PF 2e). If there's some issue with swift actions in this scheme or related build issue, we can make some small adjustments.

Other rules:

*We're also using Hero Points.
*You can pick the feats to take advantage of this system if you want: aristeia.

*Besides the things I have explicitly mentioned above as topics for discussion, no 'can I treat this as that' or 'can I change x to y'. We're using the rules as they are written, not tweaking them for corner case build concepts.
*For all questions about build interactions, I'm going with what I think the designer most likely intended, or makes sense in the context of the rest of the system, not what might be possible to interpret if you squint through the eye of a needle and make several levels of extrapolation that occur nowhere else in the system. If you think it's unlikely to be legitimate, I'm probably not going to allow some strained reading to facilitate some absurd build concept that leads to infinite regression of effects or similar nonsense.

Other consideration -- I'm using a lot of high-res, complex maps with top-down icons; this is the reason I DM -- I like maps and worldbuilding. If you don't care about that or don't like dealing with VTTs or maps, this will be a bad fit for you. I'm going to tell players to move their icons on maps and tell me where they're going based on looking at the map. It's not going to be theater of the mind. If you think your computer can't handle that or that sounds like more trouble that it's worth, this won't be a good game for you. I spend a lot of time collecting and creating elaborate map assets. I want an appreciative audience for those efforts. I'm going to lose interest quickly if there are lots of complaints about why these things are necessary or ongoing requests to do something else. Only apply if you're a big fan of maps as well.


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Greetings fellow Pathfinders,

This is a recruitment for several players who want to do a high RP PF1e fantasy-horror Isekai campaign. The frame story is that all the players will be humans from this year, on Earth, who are transplanted into bodies on another planet. The story begins when you wake up in bodies on another planet. You know nothing, but will be able to speak the native language from the outset.

Isekai is a genre of Japanese literature that began with a fairy tale about a fisherman who spent time in an underwater realm, but basically refers to a 'fish out of water' or 'stranger in a strange land' kind of narrative. To read more, here's the wiki entry: Isekai (Wikipedia).

The setting and narrative will be inspired by frontier and horror stories like Robert E Howard's Beyond the Black River, Ridley Scott's Prometheus and the Alien Series, and the classic fantasy RPG Earthdawn, as well as the Void Series of Peter F Hamilton and the Land Fit for Heroes series of Richard K Morgan. The setting will be a complex homebrew setting I'll slowly unveil as you explore.

There will be an initial dilemma of sorts, but this will be a very open-ended, sandbox kind of story, and all the players will have to actively investigate, move around, keep 'pushing' and moving the narrative forward. This is going to be basically the opposite of an AP where there's a clear assumed narrative.

In terms of build rules, this is going to be the opposite of almost every game I've run on here -- there's going to be a small selection of races and classes, and a generally average/low over-all power level.

Build Rules

Attributes: 25 pt. buy.

Alignment: any, but you need to play nicely if you're evil.

Races: these are the options (if it isn't listed here you can't pick it):

Humans
Kobolds
Half-Elves
Grey Elves
Drow (I only want 1 of these in the party at most, there's no way I'll pick more than one Drow submission)
Dwarf
Halfling
Svirneblin (again, only 1 of these)

Adamant Entertainment Races
Otterling
Ratels (Badger Folk)

Classes: the following is the list you have to pick from (if it's not listed here, you can't pick it; no if ands or buts, no substitutions or modifications of any sort):

Akashic Classes
Legendary Classes
Path of War
Psionic Classes
Samurai Sheepdog Classes
Kobold Press Classes
Spellburst Savant
Strange Magic

If you have a divine caster, the list of available gods are the Egyptian pantheon: Egyptian Mythos Gods

Level: 6th, single class. VMC and Multiclass Archetypes allowed. You can also have the abilities from the 'special' table of a second class (i.e., no spellcasting), only the stuff in the column labeled 'special'.

Skills: background skills, and all classes get +2 skill points per level.

Feats: 1 feat per level and using the following feat tax rules: Elephant in the Room feat tax rules (pdf revision).

Health: Roll hp; if you get less than half, take half.

Traits: 2, 1 more with a drawback.

Wealth: by level. Guns Everywhere tech level for any classes that use guns.

Other sources: you can use 3pp. spells, feats, equipment from pfsrd20, the library of metzofitz, and the dreamscarred press wiki. However, we're not using the spheres system in this game, so you can't take any feat etc. that would give you spheres abilities.

No pregame crafting.

Note: no other options, no substitutions, no 'can I treat this like this, or change this for that', no consideration of any other options -- don't ask for other classes, races, etc. -- these are the only options.

Additional considerations: it will be helpful to think of this game as a halfway point between an isometric RPG like Baldur's Gate or an MMO and a text-based RPG. There is going to be a really heavy focus on elaborate maps you have to navigate through. The entire game is going to be played on maps I upload to Astral VTT (everyone will need a free account). I will simply extend the map on each side as you explore, but you're never going to be 'off' a map. If you walk a mile, I'll extend the map tile-by-tile for a mile whichever direction you're going with geomorphs. You'll have to constantly interact with a map the entire time you're playing and move your token around on the board like you were playing a videogame. You should only apply if that sounds positively appealing to you as a playstyle -- not something you're simply willing to put up with or ambivalent about. I don't want to entertain any reservations or lack of enthusiasm about this approach in any way, shape, or form -- only apply if you're a big fan of elaborate maps and map making and are excited about that being a big focus of the game.

Post: once a day during work week, and additional on the weekend if you want to.


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***This is going to be a long recruitment -- at least 3-4 weeks -- both because of the complexity of builds and because I need to finish my nursing school semester (done early May) before I'll have time to put all the material together.***

This is a recruitment for one of the games proposed in This thread. The prompt I am working from is as follows:

Quote:

Please Lore Hold Much like the above ‘game world’, this is a pretty broad idea. In fact, this could easily be combined with one or more of the above, as the main concept is to play in a lore *heavy* game in one of the various established settings: Forgotten Realms/Faerun, Golarion, Eberron, or Ravenloft would be my primary choices. Followed by Sigil/Planescape(if chosen, this doesn’t *have* to involve planes hopping like the actual planar game), Greyhawk/Oreth or Dark Sun/Athas.

I want to be able to dive deep into the lore and history of the setting, interact with famous(though not necessarily powerful) NPCs, quest in legendary locations, etc.

This is a concept for a Forgotten Realms campaign in a distant age of the Realms -- instead of the modern period, the campaign takes place during the time of Elminster's Youth in the Kingdom of Athalantar. This period is also contemporary with the golden age of Myth Drannor. The elves are still powerful but are beginning to be encroached by the humans, the human civilization exists in the shadow of the fall of Netheril and is much more limited than in the modern era of the 2e/3e box sets. The players will be great heroes of the era who will escort/teach/advise/guide the young Elminster, who will be much lower level than they are at this point in time.

There is a great dragon magazine article that gives more information on this time period and context: Dragon Magazine 228.

The build rules would basically be everything and the kitchen sink except for mythic PF1e:

Basic concept for build rules: (I'll update this and place the final version on the campaign page when all additional questions have been resolved).

Ability scores: straight 18s, move the points up and down on a 1-1 basis as you choose -- i.e., move one up to 19, another down to 17, etc.

Classes:
Quadralt (4 classes), level 18.
All 3pp. allowed.
Legendary games or Samurai S-series or Rogue Genius Talented-X series of classes will replace all the base Paizo classes. This isn't a technological setting, so any tech based class will have to have a story to explain that -- a character from the Spelljammer setting crashed on Faerun, for example.

Races: 41rp and/or some kind of template allowance.

Skills: all classes get + 2 skills per level

Health -- maximum or double maximum, I need to see where the totals come out before deciding.

Feats:
1 per level
Stamina and combat tricks and skill unlock feats for free
Elephant in the playground feat tax rules (pdf)
We can use some of the rogue genius ridiculous overpowered feats, but I don't want to give a blanket approval -- we'll have to remove a few like the one that lets you always go first in combat no matter what.

Equipment: 1 million gp. Pregame crafting fine.

Traits: 2 and another with a drawback. You can refluff Paizo stuff.

Additional: hero points, artesia, and some kind of abp/oath system

That's all I can think of for now -- the kind of character you should be thinking of is an archmage, like a rebel mage lord of Athalantar, a Elven prince, a high priest of Mystra, or some other significant figure. These are going to be some of the most powerful heroes of the age. Evil characters aren't going to be great for this campaign concept.

The campaign would consist of high level exploits around Athalantar -- Netherese ruins, as well as battles with the mage lords.

This is going to be a lore-heavy game; the point is the 'ooo' factor of, for example, encountering the early form of the Harpers in Myth Drannor, visiting Myth Drannor at its height, and hanging out with a young Elminster and Mystra in a human guise. To really appreciate this game, you need to be kind of a realms-head, or be willing to do a lot of reading before starting. This isn't going to be the 5e realms where there's nothing outside the Sword Coast and not much detail -- I'm going to be digging deep into the lore in the posts and campaign presentation.

I like to do a lot of stuff with maps and handouts and prefer Astral VTT because I have a lot of stuff uploaded to it and know how to use it. I may try to use a lot of isomorphic maps for this. Anyway, you should be comfortable learning how to use a VTT (it's not hard) for the battlemaps.


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I've seen several proposals for multi-DM/DM trade/DM-less etc. projects, so here's another -- what if we re-did the original AP as a sandbox (this would involve rewriting the statblocks for many/maybe even most encounters), and split it among DMs by site -- for example one DM might be in charge of Foxglove manor, another Thistletop, another the Catacombs of Wrath, as well as specific NPCS -- or we could split it up by more general zone -- one person's in charge of Sandpoint, another Fort Rannick, another Magnimar, etc.

Condensation in Action: Rise of the Runelords Edition!

For something even more ambitious, we could even combine Rise, Crimson Throne, and Shattered Star into one mega sandbox/campaign zone.

What this wouldn't be:

We're not just splitting the books up and running them in order, the idea is to make it less linear, and it will require some reworking of stat blocks and encounters. The idea would be to make the whole AP sandbox run in the 'sweet spot' where the game works the best (we could talk about what levels that was). If you want to just run the books in order, that's totally not what I'm proposing -- someone else can organize that if that's their desire.

No one can play that doesn't want to run an area -- this isn't just a recruitment for players for the AP 'out of the box'; don't apply if you're not willing to do that.

We'd have to agree on build rules and other such things, but it might be an interesting experiment.


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This would take me some time to put together, but I'm thinking of reviving a highly unusual world concept I had from my first PbP game -- in short, it takes the major ideas from Alderac Games' Warlords of the Accordlands and moves it underwater, along with some other permutations.

Here are the major ideas

Underwater Ice world -- most of the world is fairly frigid -- about half (the upper 1/2 of each hemisphere, and then a central, temperate and tropical zone). This would include weird stuff like penguin, walrus people races. Almost the entire planet is aquatic except for some islands, and some desert continents that have no more than hunter gatherer, stone-age level tech in scattered regions, and not much.

Weird magic -- principally music based Strange Magic -- i.e. Composition Magic, but also cartomancy and ethermagic playing an important role.

A World of Music: -- the principle gods are all associated with musical instruments, the conception of time is similar to the movements of a symphony or the acts of an opera, the different pantheons of gods are divine orchestras with different conductors, one of the evil gods is a music critic, etc.

Weird Tech: parts of the setting would almost be a scifi/anime setting -- gundam bots underwater, pew pew pew las guns, submarines and hovercraft, domed arcologies, etc. Other parts are more traditional fantasy.

Rules: I put "PF1e" in the rules categorization because it's going to be almost like playing PF without the Core -- I want to use a combination of FFd20 classes, Legendary games classes, Talented-X classes, Spheres, Path of War, Little Red Goblin (principally the gonzo classes), Strange Magic, Akasha, and Psionics -- I'm not really interested in base class builds. Probably some kind of subjob or gestalt thing. Not thinking about base wizards.

Probably some other subsystems like oaths (spheres) artesia, elephant feat tax, skill unlocks, background skills, more skill points, orisons for 3/4 casters, a few other things. Maybe mythic.

The rules will probably allow for a decent amount of power, but I'm principally interested in WEIRD builds and character ideas.

Probably 8th-12th level.

Cerulean Seas and spheres of origin for races (and maybe prestige classes). That would mean stuff like mermen, underwater drow, catfish people, sea urchin people, selkies, penguin people, elves with ice exoskeletons, octopus people, frog people etc.

Campaign Concept: The principle story arc is that there is an enigmatic conspiracy that refer to themselves as the 'Wise Ones' who are set on some kind of fell design. The first scenario takes place in an underwater keep in which the peace delegation is occurring to end a long-standing war.

Fair warning -- Cerulean Seas has additional rules for 3d underwater combat, because of course you move in additional directions underwater. It's pretty complicated.

I'd be especially interested if someone wanted to help run a recruitment and answer all the rules questions -- I hate doing that.

Also, this is going to be super bizarre -- stuff like major religions based around musical theories and sub and hyper sonic languages and holy books that consist of musical pieces or plays. The most ordinary kinds of monsters are going to be mutant dinosaurs -- almost everything else will be a lot weirder underwater stuff. Campaign will probably have stuff like time travel and excursions to really weird outer planes (like stuff from Numenera, not the regular Great Wheel).


The Thaythilorian regional embassy of the Steppes of Blode Region, one of the many names for the inhospitable territory on the steps of the Ravenlands of the Blood Mist on the northern shores of the Sea of Blood which includes the foreboding reaches of the Hornbreaker and Thornsaw forest, the drow enclaves of the Moon Lake, and the city-states of Phloon and Malvent, stands on the north of the walled enclosure which defends the harbor of Malvent. It was established, like all of the embassies, by the direct order of the Father of Obedience, Supreme Leader of the draka, master race of the Scarlet Brotherhood and future rulers of all Caeril, Speaker of the Blood Gods, and Emperor of the Hidden Empire. These institutions present themselves to foreigners as cultural centers, and are ostensibly administered by the civilian civil service of Thaythilor, consisting largely of bored second and third children of aristocratic plantation holders who have been sent abroad to gain wisdom and avoid conflict with their more-favored siblings. However, they are in fact the locus of external intelligence gathered by the Hidden Empire -- every one of the embassies hosts members of the various secret societies that comprise the Scarlet Brotherhood which truly rules the land of Thaythilor, not the citizen's senate in the civilian capital of Arkona. As such, members of the Scarlet Spires and other mage guilds, as well as priests of the Blood Gods and others operate in the shadows from the safety of the embassy. The embassy sits on a small island in the River of Evening Vespers, connected to the mainland of Western Malvent by a heavily guarded bridge.

It the representatives of these ulterior interests that have now been summoned to the most well-guarded chambers of the embassy to receive a communication from Thaythilor itself. What the import of this message might be is uncertain. Recent rumors in the city speak of the disappearance of an apprentice of the great wizard Mordenkainen the Magnificent, as well as new predations along the Sawbreaker road which runs along the coast of the Sea of Blood, through the treacherous depths of the Hornbreaker and Thornsaw forests, between Phloon and Malvent. The current reports of the vast spy network of the Hidden Empire, surprisingly, indicate that the slavers of the Citadel of Tarim, who dominate the western coast of the Sea of Blood and are habitual rivals of the slaving ships of Thaythilor, are not to blame for these recent interruptions in trade on the Steppes of Blode. Perhaps all will be made clear during the audience...


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It has been just over a hundred years since the end of the God War which tore the lands of Caeril in twain. At this time, the intervention of the Dark Three, Bhaal, Myrkul, and Bane, stole the Tablets of Fate from the Mesos the Father of Magic. This event precipitated the God War in which the Titans, former rulers of creation, were cast down, including Kadum, Father of Giants. Now, his bloated corpse pollutes the depths of the Sea of Blood, and the remnants of his children's realms occupy the northern shores of the Sea of Blood. The Sanguinians, the name for the inhabitants of this region, are a resourceful race. Freed from the tyranny of the giant kingdoms by death of the titan Kadum at the hands of Corean Brightbrow, god of light and truth, they have flourished in their new found freedom. However, this is still a hard and twisted land, and its nature is reflected in the despotic conurbations that rule the territory.

The western shores of the Sea of Blood are contested by the twin forces of the Citadel of Tarim, an alliance of slavers and the priests of the dark god Kamus and the White Goddess, contests rule of the region with the city-states of Hanfar, ruled by the purple plume knightly orders under the guidance of the despotrix, Iopos, seat of the Denirastas clan and their detestable flesh-weaving magics, and Rykussirdar, a city of expert swordmasters who have recently concluded an alliance with the distant land of Thaythilor.

The north is bounded on the west by the city-state of Phloon, founded on a ruin of the ancient realm of Angramor, and to the east lies Malvent, where our great story begins...

Malvent, also known as the Fire Jewel of the Sea of Blood, is a frontier city that sits on the northern coast of the Blood Sea, in the Blood Sea North region of north Caeril. It is a city of smithing and mercantile services, as well as factories serving as the port of entry to many travelers coming to the region. Malvent is a city-state in Blood Sea North region of north Caeril, and formerly the village of Vespermouth. It sits on the mouth of of the River Vesper on the eastern side of the Blood Sea North Region, at the end of Blaern's Trail from Thindilar and at the end of the Hlintar Ride from Hlintar. Malvent, which was once called Mondowshan, is an old Sanguinian city known for its exotic tastes and gothic architecture, sprinkled throughout with gargoyles and other decorations, and for its mercantile activity, seasoned by thievery and intrigue.

Malvent is a busy port on the aptly named Malvent Bay, that bustles with activity late into the night. The city is built on every piece of land that touches the water, hungrily claiming it as too precious to be wasted. The northern end of Malvent's harbor is the location of a Thayathilorian compound. The locals do not like the structure, and it is even evident in the isolation of the compound as if building themselves shunned it.

Prior to Malvent's rise as a city, it was held by a band of robber-barons, who constructed the Fortress of the Five Vultures, which was named for them.

During the Blood Sea's so-called Time of Glorious Fools (from 649 DR onwards), Malvent was among those harbors that served as landing spots for immigrants and as rest stops for pirates. These harbors were developed as trade ports for the trading vessels came from Grond, Plinth, Sansibar, and Tori. From its beginnings, Malvent was a free city, but equally free for criminals and a haven for the lawless.

Around the 1330s DR, Bellas's Band, an adventuring company, took over Malvent, naming themselves Supreme Scepter and the Merchant Dukes.

By the late 14th century DR, Malvent grew several miles outside the city walls. Travelers who enter the city pass numerous inns, taverns, stockyards, and stables long before reaching the old city gates. The busy neighborhoods outside the city walls carry a strong aroma of smoke, cooking meats, animal dung, as well as the stench of smelters, tanneries, and paper presses.

The city within the walls was referred to as Old Malvent, and this is the part of the city renowned for its gothic architecture, high-pointed arches, blade-like buttresses, tall needle-spires, and rooftops adorned with gargoyles. Many visitors think the sight of the Old Malvent to be magnificent but sinister. The city is flush with grand stone-carved statues, fountains, and carved trees that replace the natural vegetation.

The city is divided by the River of the Evening Vespers between western and eastern Malvent. The west contains city's walled naval port and the steep gabled mansions of the nobility, while the east contains most of the mercantile districts.

Of late, the city of Malvent has been troubled. It is rumored that a war has broken out in city's storied underworld between the forces of the Shade Mantle thieves guild and the Moon Masks guild. The road between Malvent and Phloon, known as the red road or the blood way, has also witnessed increased predation in recent months. The territory is intermittently punctuated by small islands of settlement between the major cities, but the majority of the coast is consumed by the dense foliage of the Thornsaw Forest. Caravans have begun disappearing in its depths. Some believe the robberies are the result of attacks by orcs, goblins, and giants from the Titanhome Mountains to the north, which contain the ruins of the ancient Kingdom of Thaumka, a realm founded by giant kings who worshipped the ancient Titan Kadum.

Nevertheless, there is warmth to be had this night at the hearth fire of the Floating Fire Tavern, a reputable establishment of Eastern Old Malvent favored by nobles. It is one of the busiest establishment's in Vauntor's square, a small collection of shops and other buildings which lie on a canal that stems from the River of the Evening Vespers.


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I just got tabletop simulator to play around with a map program:

3d map example. Holy Cow is there some amazing stuff you can do with this program. There's 3d map of the City State of Tyr from Dark Sun -- just amazing. It's basically a computer game. The 3d monsters move!

The only catch is everyone needs to own tabletop simulator (20 bucks) to do this, so it'd require some serious interest. I get that most of the time in recruitments, you can make one serious 'ask' in terms of something outside the ordinary -- so my 'ask' for this would be a player group that has, or would be willing to get tabletop simulator, and have computers that can run stuff like this. I'd also use Astral tabletop as a supplement.

I'd be willing to run a fan favorite like Runelords or Crimson Throne if everyone was on board with the tech element, which is the main thing I'm interested in.

I'd rather do homebrew, but I thought the popular APs might make this idea more palatable.


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This thread is probably half recruitment/half interest b/c the viability of the recruitment will depend on interest in certain aspects.

I'm interested in doing a fairly casually paced (about 4 substantial posts per week -- i.e., not "I open the door", "Thenn follows," etc., but rp and detail, like a decent short paragraph,") to flesh out a homebrewed setting I've been working on versions of off and on for a few years.

The game would be more about rp and doing stuff like describing interactions around the campfire etc. than a focus strictly on combat (though there would be combat). I'd want interested players to be comfortable with a setting/style where there will be a lot of scene setting and detail -- imagine something like playing a table top experience like a Malazan Book of the Fallen novel. This would include elements like conlangs with complete grammars, comments on hairstyles, clothing fashion, architectural features, mythology etc. I'd be interested in players contributing their own fluff like making up gods they worship, or their mage guild etc. Maybe develop cities or kingdoms connected with their character, flesh out the culture of their race. I'd like players to actively help me flesh out details of the setting -- coming up with unique monsters, historical events, locations etc. as they flesh out their character.

Looking for 6-8 players (really probably 6, but it depends what kind of submissions are received). Probably no more than mid level.

Caveat -- I'm not really interested in the part of recruitment where the prospective DM has to answer dozens of rules interaction questions/clarifications over several weeks. I'm looking for a situation where I can just offer some basic fluff parameters (what kind of elves and magic exist in the world), and the interested players will just come up with the build rules between themselves and negotiate questions/concerns, or just have one person appointed to do that for me, and I'll answer fluff questions. I'm open to anything basically PF1e or very close like FFd20 or something similar. I'm not going to learn PF2e, 5e, or some other system like 13th Age or Fate for this -- I just don't have time or energy. I also like some specific elements in PF1e like psionics, akasha, spheres, etc. that I already have ideas for in my fluff. 3pp. and homebrew are options.

So, if you have some specific build in mind that fits my fluff, propose some rules and this may be your chance to play something unusual you've been thinking about.

Additionally, a lot of this game is going to be focused on 'map porn'; I'm going to be using the Astral and Foundry VTTs to post enormous maps. I have hex maps with millions of hexes and thousands of cities, city maps with hundreds of thousands of buildings, full color area maps and isometric maps, etc. This is a lot of work to put together and post, and I'm looking for an appreciative audience that is really into that sort of thing. If you're the kind of player that just wants a white screen with some x's drawn in for basic placement for a battlemap, this game isn't for you; if you think that all sounds unnecessary, excessive, or ridiculous, and are going to constantly be annoyed by 30,000x30,000 pixel maps with thousands of cities and buildings, please don't apply, you won't like this, and I'll be frustrated putting lots of effort into game aids that no one appreciates.

That said, here's the basic outline for the setting -- Tzarilon: The Age of Hematite is a dark fantasy medieval setting inspired by Dark Sun, but doesn't have the bronze age/ANE cultural element or some of the climactic features -- normal oceans, for example.

The planet has over 100 ages named after different metals, and probably hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years of history -- it certainly goes very far back. The most significant known historical concepts are that the planet was once ruled by a world-wide empire of dragons, the provinces of which, not all geographically contiguous, were connected by magical portals known as Dragon doors or Wyrm gates. This civilization was known, among other names, as the 'Empire of the Dragons' Dreaming'. Its ultimate rulers were unimaginably ancient advanced dragons whose slumber connected them to the dream realm of their draconic gods. The mediators/representatives of these dreaming dragons were the primary priests/oracles/religious officials of their civilization.

The downfall of this realm occurred because of two servitor races of the dragons -- the elves and the kobolds -- which were created by the different great houses of the draconic civilization. The elf-dragons and kobold-dragons (i.e., ascended elves and kobolds that had a draconic, mixed, and completely mortal form) each took different stances in relation to their masters -- the elven dragon blooded wished to replace their makers and become the new representatives of the dragon gods, while the kobolds instead wanted to uplift their race to join their masters. The two forces began a civil war that consumed the realm of their masters and caused the civilization of the Empire of the Dragons' Dreaming to collapse. This left the geographically isolated provinces of the empire disconnected for several millennia. Different regions were ruled by dragon-elf or dragon-kobold remnants of the ancient empire of the dragons, and the original wyrms fled to the realm of dreams, fell into a deep slumber in subterranean tombs, or were slain in the civil war.

In the wake of this collapse, one region, known as Ba'al-Chemosh, saw the rise of a new race known as humans, who resented their oppression by the older civilizations of the elves and kobolds. Several renegade druids contacted ancient chthonic entities that predated the civilization of the dragons, who offered them the powers of blight magic to overthrow their enemies. These dark druids/anti-druids, known as 'the Chosen', trained their fellows and began a genocidal campaign against the older civilizations of the elves and kobolds, who eventually put aside their differences to cast back the waves of undead and servitor races which were overwhelming their cities and armies.

The humans were faced with practical extinction from the resurgence of the elves and kobolds, but the chosen were offered an opportunity by their mysterious patrons to sacrifice the lives of most of their fellows to achieve a new, greater form that could turn the tide of battle -- that of the 'draugothim' or 'draugothaur', the blight dragons, or false dragons (these are basically the alien dragons of the Iron Kingdoms and Dark Sun that pollute their environment and require life energy sacrifice). The newly created 'Dreadlords' sacrificed most of humanity to achieve their new forms, and then proceeded to devastate their continent and declare victory and a new regime. They also imprisoned their antediluvian patrons when these entities, realizing their error in offering so great of power to the Chosen, attempted to dispose their creations. The new empire of the Dreadlords, administered largely by the few remaining humans who serve as warlocks/dark energy channelers of the blight dragons' caustic miasma, now seeks to replace the former Empire of the Dragons' Dreaming by re-establishing the network of wyrm gates and conquering the various isolated territories.

I have a lot of additional fluff, but I'll leave it at that for now.

I'd imagine adapting some old dungeon magazine adventures.

The basic fluff/aesthetic and naming conventions of the setting is something like medieval/mughal India. The merging of Indian and European architecture in the recent Wheel of Time sets is a good example of what I'm thinking about.

The basic races include:

-Many subspecies of kobolds derived from different dragon species.
-Many subspecies of elves -- there are no 'baseline' elves, but rather distinctive subraces descended from different dragon species -- the groups I have so far are blind/albino elves created by dread or corpse-eater linnorms and red skinned psionic elves created by obsidian dragons.
-Humans are almost extinct -- the vast majority of the existing humans are warlocks of the Dreadlords. Half-breeds -- half-elves etc. are also mostly a lower class of servant to the Dreadlords -- such as members of their 'slave soldier' ghilman/mamluk/sardar armies; these are akasha-wielding warriors who are the main force of the Dreadlords' armies.
-Various reptilian races, who are the oldest species on the planet, descended from civilizations that preceded that of the dragons.
-Half-dragons of various sorts. A distinctive element of this setting is that there are few real dragons that are present/awake, but lots of half-dragon monsters and races that reflect their previous influence. Half-black dragon otyugh, for example.
-Elemental species like oreads or earth-dwarves etc. The planar alignment of this setting is such that there are dozens of elemental and transitive planes, but less connection to the outer planes. Instead of an arch-devil, it would be more likely to find worshippers of evil princes of elemental fire.
-Some of the gods that are present are the Egyptian and Mesopotamian pantheons, but none of the gods from Greyhawk, FR, or Golarion. You can make up replacements, but I don't want Sarenrae, for example, to be stuck into this setting.

Some class considerations:

-Most arcane magic is of a spontaneous/sorcerer-like quality, and consists of having dragon-blood. There are few arcane casters among races other than kobolds, elves, and humans/half-humans who are warlocks or akasha-users of the various dreadlords.
-Other kinds of casters are primarily technomages/tinkerers and alchemists/golem-makers of various sorts. For tech level, think of an industrialized mughal empire with magical technology run by dragon-ash/gun-powder.
-Elemental/energy-channeling concepts for different classes are all at the forefront of options.

I'm looking for really detailed, well-written back stories that prove an ability to contribute substantively to world-building and setting-fluff.


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At the Dawn of Time the forces of Law warred with the forces of Chaos for control of the Cosmos. The Battle of Pesh was the climax of this campaign where the armies of Chaos were led by Miska the Wolf-Spider, while the forces of Law were championed by the Vaati, or Wind Dukes. Desperately outnumbered, the Wind Dukes fashioned the Rod of Seven Parts, a weapon powerful enough to kill Miska in a single strike. Yet the Battle of Pesh was a draw, as neither Law nor Chaos won the day. The Wind Dukes were decimated, but in the final moments their leader struck Miska with the Rod, but rather than being slain the Wolf-Spider was mortally wounded and imprisoned for eternity within the Abyss. The resulting balance created the multiverse as it now exists, with a tense stand-off between order and anarchy. The fate of the multiverse is in the hands of the wielder of the Rod of Seven Parts, for it can still both slay Miska and free him.

Because the Rod is so potent, it cannot be conventionally protected. Therefore, to keep it safe the Wind Dukes designed the separate sections of the Rod to scatter around the globe whenever its full powers were employed by striking Miska. Each piece of the Rod both leads and urges its bearer in the direction of the next sequential section. Once the first section of the Rod has fallen into the hands of the player characters they are committed to a quest which will take them the length and breadth of their homeworld, and eventually into the heart of the Abyss.

This is a recruitment for a high-level romp requested by long-time board member Monkeygod, and is based on some classic campaign concepts. It will basically consist of seven set pieces to gather up different components of the Rod of Seven Parts.

Monkeygod is going to be responsible for the mechanics part of the recruitment, and I'm going to do fluff and run the campaign.

The ideas I have for the ‘set-pieces’ so far (and potentially subject to change are):
-Subterranean quest based on Night Below and the Demon Web pits -- aboleth cities and drow
-A combination of Gates of Firestorm Peak and Dragon Mountain/white plume mountain and castle whiterock (major red dragon bores a hole to the far realm in planes-hopping mega-dungeon) – dragon in a war with cloud giants in a flying castle.
-Flying pyramid Stargate/Tomb of the Mud Sorcerer in 'Dark Sun' or the ‘Old Empires’;
-Thieves Guild in a major city in the 'Moon Sea' region -- also sought by slavers and pirates, I'm imagining it being stolen and you have to chase after it (combination of elements of 'the Styes', the Blight, and the old slaver series;
-Offworld (Tale of the Comet (2e)/barrier peaks and or/Star Trek. Maybe Romulans have it.
-Hell/Limbo/the Abyss/Infernal Outer Planes (Face the Queen of Chaos with the Rod).

There’s not going to be a lot of complicated plot beyond traveling from one location to another to get different pieces of the Rod. You’re going to be given the quest by Mordenkainen at the outset.

The setting for this expedition will be a wacky homebrew mash-up of my favorite elements from a dozen or more campaign settings: Forgotten Realms, the Known World/Mystara, Greyhawk, Kobold Press’ Midgard setting, the Iron Kingdoms, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Golarion, Ghostwalk, Eberron, Arcana Evolved, Dragonage, Mass Effect, Star Trek, Star Gate, and others. If you’re a canon purist, this entire set up will annoy you to no end, and I don’t advise submitting an application. I’m going to combine, tweak, rename, and rearrange all kinds of things.

The pantheon for this world contains thousands of gods -- all the gods from Golarion, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk/Basic D&D, the Scarred Lands, Deities and Demigods (the pharaonic gods, etc.), and many other settings. It is also worth noting that the ‘Mulhorandi’ pantheon is the ‘Church of Light and Dark’ from the Palladium world setting and is one of the major religions throughout the northern continent.

The basic history of the setting is that a combination of the FR Time of Troubles, the Wrath of the Immortals, and the Divine War of the Scarred Lands occurred about 150 years ago and caused major upheaval. Much of the earlier historical record is fragmentary because of this event.

Here is a link to a basic setting map: Setting Map

There are three major continents which surround an inner sea; the linked map gives an idea of the approximate locations of different elements and the shapes of the continents, though maybe not 100% accurate in terms or relative size, and areas are also moved around quite a bit within these outlines.

The following is a list of the ideas/planned areas that I currently have, I’m going to do area maps bit by bit and leave some things slightly amorphous so I can always have space to insert additional things if I want to

Northern Continent:

The ‘Coast of Blades’/Sword Coast – this is a wild area containing isolated city states and the remains of the ‘Great Kingdom’; it includes Underwell/Waterdeep, Sandpiper/Sandpoint re-envisioned as a populous city-state, Magnimar, Korvosa, Greyhawk city and the Domain, Baldur’s Gate, the City of Mithril from Scarred Lands, Lankhmar and the Land of the Eight Cities, some version of Absolom, Alderac’s the World’s Largest City, a version of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, and an approximation of Hyperboria’s Aquilonia – the largest remaining component of the former ‘Great Kingdom’.

The ‘north’ of the Coast of Blades will contain winter elves, ice elves, and ‘stormpunk’ from the Rune campaign setting, as well as elements from the Island Kingdom of Byzantium and other parts of the ‘northern wilderness’ from the Palladium world – wolfen, dwarven rune forges, etc. It will also contain the Bandit Kingdoms from Greyhawk.

The Heartlands – a combination of the Dalelands, the five shires, and the valley nation of Toris Kelt from Alderac’s Warlords of the Accordlands. These human and halfling territories are at war with the evil, undead, element-worshipping elves of Warlords of the Accordlands in the Cormanthyr Forest equivalent. Some of the dale capitals like Shadowdale may be small cities.

The Sea of Starlight/Inner Sea contains a Cormyr equivalent, which is also engaged in the elven war, and is more based on Arthurian legend, and is also combined with Furyondy from Greyhawk. ‘Sembia’ is combined with the Republic of Darokin and the Theran province of Talea from Earthdawn, and is more explicitly Renaissance in flavor. This area also contains the Ducky and Country of Urnst. It also contains a combination of the Theocracy of Carraway from Thunderscape and the Theocracy of the Pale and the Theocracy of the Lance from DCC’s Aereth.

The Sea of Blood is north of the Heartlands and combines the Moonsea with the Blood Sea from Scarred Lands. The Titan Kadum lies in the depths and the middle of this inner sea is polluted by his divine blood. The city-states of the Sea of Blood include: the Citadel of Tarim – the Zhentarim are replaced by a slaver network that is a combination of the Slaver’s of the Pomarj, the Despotate of the Ruby Sea from Midgard, and the slaving nation of Pel Brolenon from the Kingdoms of Kalamr; Xin-Shalast; Melvaunt/Melvant, an important trading city; the Styes from Dungeon Magazine, Castorhage from the Lost Lands, High Port from the Pomarj in Greyhawk, Iopos from Earthdawn, Hilsfar, Mulmaster, and Phlan, and other city-states. North of this region are the ‘Forbidden Lands’ of the bloodmist.

The Empire of Calastia lies to the south of the Coast of Blades region; this is a combination of Calastia from the Scarred lands and Cheliax. Hellknights are now an institution of Calastia. It takes up the same approximate region as Amn. This area also contains a realm which combines Dambrath and Nidal.

The Vast equivalent, to the east of the Heartlands, contains a survivor state of Narfell that is based on the Deverenian Empire from Warlords of the Accordlands. Denska from the Accordlands and Damara are also combined. The city-state of Manifest from Ghostwalk may also be in this region.

The ‘Old Empires’ contains: Mulhorand: Fantasy Egypt more on the model of Stygia and Acheron from Conan. There is a substantial population of Yuan-Ti and serpent-blooded within the populace. The Assathi cities from the Scarred Lands exist in the deserts; Unther: Unther combined with the Mennite religion of the Protectorate of Mennoth from the Iron Kingdoms. Steampunk and magitech mixed with Sumero-Babylonian influences; Taman Busuk: Once a province of Unther; the Knights of Tiamat broke away from the rule of Menoth. The Knights of Takhisis/Tiamat and dragonborn rule in this region; Chessenta: Combined with the seven cities region of Kobold’s Midgard and the Scarred Lands’ pantheon.

The ‘East’ contains: Thay – a combination of Thay and Thassilon. The Scarlet Sorcerers/Red Wizards practice Sin Magic and the Scarlet Brotherhood is the foreign arm of the Red Wizards, and are also allied with the Red Mantis Assassins. They are competitive with the Slavers of the Blood Sea and also have substantial influences from the Domination of the Draka; further beyond that are the Skorne from Iron Kingdoms in the wastes. The middle of the wastes contains the Dark Sun setting, and it is hidden within a storm of dust similar to that which surrounds Ur-Draxa, and has been cut off by dimensional barriers from the rest of the setting for thousands of years; it the realm of the Nothrog from the Warlords of the Accordlands.

The southern western continent combines Maztica, Xend’rik from Eberron, and Lustria from the Warhammer setting.

The south western continent combines Argonessan with the Mystical Odyssey of Theros and the Odyssey of the Dragonlords mini-setting.
The middle of the Inner Sea surrounded by these three continents contains the Blood Isles of Io from Council of Wyrms.

We're either looking to have 1 party or 2 parties, one evil, and one good that compete, the latter if people can handle PvP in a mature manner (i.e., the evil party makes a deal with the drow to ambush the good party and dispatch assassins to kill all the local clerics that can raise dead to further slow them down; the good party gets their god to intervene and kill the witch patron of one of the evil characters, etc.).

Build Rules:

Monkeygod is going to answer all the build rules questions, and I'll answer fluff questions. We'll update this material on the campaign page if there are further clarifications/modifications

-Attributes:Dice Pool
-Gestalt classes 15th, one mythic path MR 5.
-PCs should try and stick to a theme with their build.
-Any standard races that don't have monster HD, so a noble drow would be okay.
-ABP, weapon and armor enchantments can be added as normal.
-360k gold(which is x1.5 15th WBL, to account for mythic), mythic items can be bought.
-No templates(maybe earned in game?).
-2 feats per level, 1 mythic feat per tier.
-Background skills; +2 skill points all classes
-combat stamina,
-1 trait per category,
-skill unlocks.
-3pp allowed.
-Elephant in the Playground feat taxes
-gestalt favored class bonus. -Expanded Favored Class Bonus
-Quarter Caster Cantrips: Rangers get druid cantrips, Paladins get cleric cantrips and Bloodragers get magus cantrips. Rangers and paladins get a 1 slot per day at first level, and add another at levels 2, 6, 10, and 14. Bloodragers get 2 known at level 1, and add additional spells known at levels 2, 6, 10, 14 and 17. It's a tiny tweak, but it makes the magic feel a lot less tacked on when it finally unlocks.
-Fractional save progression for multi class
-Maximum hit points


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Pathfinder friends,

I've taken a break from the forums since the summer to get through my first semester of nursing school, but I'm contemplating offering a new game in 2022 now that the next semester will only be 3 days a week.

I've become sort of interested in the steampunk genre, and was thinking of using these settings and some homebrew:

Thunderscape: World of Aden

Pure Steam

The Thunderscape pdf, and about a half dozen supplements, can be had for a dollar each, so it's fairly accessible for anyone who wants to take a look. I'd be happy to cut and paste individual races and classes, but I don't want to get into reproducing whole sections of the book -- like all the races or all the classes or all the kingdoms.

So, the major issue I would want to talk about is campaign format and expectations. This would not be an AP style with a really strong central arc, but more of an episodic, sandbox open world, MMO style game. Think something like Daggerfall or Everquest.

What's the difference? For example, many of the city maps in APs or campaign supplements are impressionistic and only detail major areas. I'm imagining something very different. Here's a city map with every one of its 30,000 + individual buildings drawn in Sample City. In this format, you'd be moving through the different sectors street by street, building by building, and I'd generate what you'd encounter with a combination of homebrew, procedural generation tables, and improvisation. Same thing with wildernesses and dungeons -- if you start on a journey/encounter, there will be a huge map and you move through areas and decide what to do on a sector by sector basis.

This would necessitate a different approach to story telling -- most of the narrative will emerge from player choices and exploration, and so will require a more proactive player-style than most APs. I think that's necessary to make clear at the outset in a recruitment thread 'sessions zero' because the game would bog down quickly if everyone is waiting for 'the plot' to happen when there isn't really any assumed narrative. The starting scenario might be the players hanging out in a saloon and they have to decide which of 36 patrons, if any, to talk to, after hearing some local rumors, and there's no assumed course of action.

This means the focus of the game will be heavily on scenery and worldbuilding elements like made up languages (I have a conlang generator I'll be using that makes entire languages with grammars and 2,000+ word vocabularies), descriptions of strange locales, and other local color. If that kind of detail/emphasis seems unnecessary, completely unimportant compared to a plot arc, or otherwise unappealing, I think this will be a frustrating experience.

The style/genre would be something like Cowboys and Aliens, Bone Tomahawk, and Deadlands. I.e. 'Weird West.

For battlemaps, I'm interested in using Foundry VTT. Player accounts are free, and I own a dm account. It is very pretty -- like playing a video game. The way this would work is I'd chop up my 46,000 pixel square pixel city maps into 100 sectors and post individual ones to explore like an old bioware isometric. Some of the maps are going to be like 8,000-16,000 pixel squares, so it will be helpful to have a good graphics card and memory.

I'm thinking much simpler build rules than I normally propose. Something like 3rd level, 20 pt. buy or some simple rolling scheme, some additional traits, feats, and cantrips, maybe elephant feat tax rules and background skills. I'm interested in focusing on the story-telling and role-playing element.

Another option, because of the magitech elements, would be to use the FFd20 rules.


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I'm considering reviving a game that went on for a few years and about 4,000 posts. Here are the basic premises. Here's the link if you want to take a look.

Basically, I ended up customizing my version of Athas so much it became it's own setting, which I eventually explained as Dregoth having achieved divinity and recreated the universe with a copy of Athas that had some variations from the published setting.

Here are some considerations:

-I made up a bunch of additional 'power sources' for magic -- geomancy, solamancy etc.
-All the city-states are larger and more complex polities (several hundred thousand - more than million inhabitants instead of 20,000).
-Serinbáʿal has several additional city-states in addition to the canonical 'seven cities' of the Tablelands.
-The continent of Carcharoth, which holds the Seven Cities, incorporates the expansions to the setting made on Athas.org -- the Deadlands, the eastern side of the Sea of Silt, etc.
-There is a kind of 'necropunk' tech in the setting -- there's still no metal, but there are obsidian automatons/warforged and guns made out of animated bone, etc.
-The distant history of Serinbáʿal is the 3rd party Violet Dawn setting: Here's a link if you want to take a look at it.
-Defiling and Preserving are related to the paracausal powers from the MMO Destiny: the Traveler and the Darkness. There are spheres and pyramids floating around if you know where to look.
-The flora and fauna are much stranger. I'm drawing on the Snaiad and Birrin xenobiology speculative worlds for weirder creature ideas.
-There are many more elemental planes in this cosmology than just the standard inner planes and paraelemental planes.
-While there are currently no true deities, there are elemental powers in drake form that grant spells: basically the Blood Storm dragon gods from the Rifts MMO. There also also a plethora of other elemental powers, and clerics of transitive forces like shadow, the ether, mirrors, dreams, etc.
-There are other polities in this setting besides the Seven Cities: there is theocracy of elemental clerics/elemental lords to the west, a land dominated by tareks to the south of the Tablelands, and a region dominated by assassins and merchant houses, as well as city states ruled by an avangion council.
-There are more varieties of advanced beings -- there are advanced beings that use alternative power sources like cerulean avangions and shadow magic and gray magic dragons.

TSR almost published an introductory adventure about the Deadlands called the Emissary where a messenger from Dregoth visits one of rulers of the Deadlands to make an alliance. I was thinking of structuring perhaps using that as a germ for campaign idea, though it would only be using the basic concept.

So, if you're interested in a Dark Sun game that isn't exactly slavish to canon, I'm going to let anyone who will play along design their own build rules as long as you can all agree as a group what they will be -- here's your ultimate chance to do anything you ever imagined at whatever level, just play nicely and work out some benchmarks for AC, BAB+, etc. that are mutually agreeable.


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I've been putzing around with a build idea based on 3pp. sources.

The major idea would be you can't use any Paizo sources for player options -- you have to use 3pp. for everything, including spells, races, feats, and equipment. I think the only possible exception would be skills and skill unlocks from unchained, but I'm going to use a variant skill group system from Rogue Genius games.

My basic idea is to do a tristalt that is limited -- all three classes have to be of a similar chassis -- i.e. d8 full casting divine caster (either spontaneous or memorized), d6 arcane caster (spontaneous or memorized), d10 full BAB+, etc. I'd probably have to judge the proposed combinations, because I can't imagine all the possibilities. The goal would be to make an ueber cleric or ueber spontaneous divine caster/oracle etc., and you wouldn't be allowed to make synergies between, for example, a full caster and a full martial.

I'd also like to make use of prestige classes as tree options like in an MMO -- you'd get a prestige class in the same chassis in your build at 5th level for free.

There's an entire set of scaling feats that replace the CRB feats I'd use, for instance.

I'm also interested in using 3pp. other than spheres -- I'd be open to spheres in builds but if this is just going to be spheres and path of war, that's not really super interesting, I'd like players to look into stuff like truenaming, ethermagic, spellweaving, or just run down obscure third party options and surprise me.

If that sounds interesting, ask some questions so I can firm up my ideas and make a clear recruitment.

Sources I'm looking at: Little Red Goblin Games' Alternate Paths Series, Ennead Games, Necromancers of the Northwest, Strange Magic, Misfit Studios(spellweaving)


open


Q'barra is mostly a dangerous frontier nation recognized by the Treaty of Thronehold.

Originally founded by Duke Ven ir'Kesslan, a Cyran refugee, the few civilized settlements continue to struggle against tribes of lizardfolk, Valenar warbands, Lhazaar raiders and Kobold marauders from the Endworld Mountains not to mention disease riddled swamp lands, dire and horrid lizards and dinosaurs.

Q'barra is a land for the brave and the tenacious.

Lying on the eastern front of the Endworld Mountains and the long expanse of The Dragonreach it is easy to see why Q'barra remained untouched by civilized settlements for so long. The steamy jungles and sprawling swamplands that encompasses most of the landscape is a perfect habitat for dire and horrid animals as well as dinosaurs. The small shard of land is not completely inhospitable, however, as a small strip of fertile land lies in the southeast and other open expanses peel away from the jungle in places around the country.

One of the most notable outposts of civilization in this dangerous wilderness is the city-state of Daal-Aryn, a relatively new settlement founded by a hierocratic sect of Dol Arrah. The Sovereign of Sun and Sacrifice, Dol Arrah is the light, not only of the sun, but also of the good aspects of the mortal soul. The patron of paladins, diplomats and all who seek justice, as well as explorers who bring light to dark and forgotten places, Dol Arrah oversees all those who fight with wisdom as well as weapons.

Unlike most other followers of the Host, those that belong to the hierocratic sect known as the Lanterns of the Everlasting Aurora, also known colloquially as the Lantern Lights or the Illuminated, set the worship of their patron deity as preeminent over all other members of the common pantheon of Khorvaire. Their zealousness for their patron has been compared to that of adherents of the Silver Flame.

The Lanterns were originally a minor sect with the majority of their adherents to be found in the nation of Cyre, but their numbers swelled considerably when it appeared as if a prophecy of the sect was fulfilled by the Mourning, and its wake sent Cyran refugees flooding to the group's leadership. Their ranks swelled, the Lanterns led a great pilgrimage into the jungles of Q'barra to settle and reinforce one of their furthest strongholds.

The followers of this sect, which include the militant arm known as the Lions of Eternal Sun, the sages of the Illumined Scribes, and the spies of the Hidden Source, founded Daal-Aryn upon the bones of an ancient settlement which the sages of the Illumined Scribes believe to have been an ancient colony of the Dhakaani Empire. The city straddles the waters of the Crimson River, which divides bteh fetid morass of the Basura Swamp from the sweltering climes of the Q'barra Jungle.

This ancient Dhakaani settlement was rebuilt and reinforced, and forms the inner city of Daal-Aryn, which lies on the northern shore of the Crimson River. The remainder of the city state has grown up around this holy city of the Lanterns, which remains a site of pilgrimage for the sect's adherents from other regions of Khorvaire.

The streets of Daal-Aryn are presently abuzz with fevered preparations for the yearly ceremony known as the Night of the Hopeful Judgment. During this ill-omened time, all twelve moons of Eberron are obscured in the night sky, casting the city-state into an unparalleled darkness. The ceremony is held to commemorate the defeat of the forces of evil and the night by the Radiant Maiden Dol Arrah, the Eternal Light and Font of Life. The faithful of the Lanterns believe that the forces of the Dark Six are set free during this witching hour, and that only by the might of the Everlasting Sun can the faithful be delivered from the certain doom that awaits all who are not guided by the Source of all Light.

It is a great curiosity that this twelvefold eclipse is unobserved outside the confines of this isolated city-state.


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I just started 2 tables of this AP and need 2-3 new players for each table.

Build Rules:

Dreamscarred Press has a helpful From the Deep: Player's Guide that presents setting information and most of the race/class options. However, note that I modify a couple of these elements below.

Ability Scores: 25pt. or buy use the Dice Pool method where 1's are rerolled. You can attempt 4 sets if you want. You can try each method and decide what you want to keep.

Race:

*Anything from the Player's Guide. You can also pick Blues even though they aren't listed in the Player's Guide, as well as Arkhoon and Maedu.
*I am also open to other options that make sense within the setting, though I don't necessarily have a list. Reptilian, avian, and insectoid races, or other unusual options would be appropriate.

Class:

*1st level, with VMC allowed, with a 'half-gestalt', which means you take an archetype and stack the features instead of switching them out.
*You can pick anything from the Player's Guide or anything from the d20pfsrd.
*This is a psionics primary setting instead of a psionics only setting, so you can play a cleric, wizard, oracle, etc. However, if you pick a Vancian caster like a wizard, you have to take a psionic archetype for your half-gestalt. Additionally, there are no gods as commonly understood. There are 'god minds', which are like psionic deities, or clerics and other divine casters would have to be proponents of a philosophy or elemental or transitive power (i.e., a cleric of shadow/astral/ethereal energies).
*I would prefer Dreamscarred Press' akashic mysteries or Interjection games' ether magic builds to regular Vancian casters. Fluffwise, both veilweaving (akashic mysteries casting) and ethermancers are understood to be channeling the 'flow', a concept of psionic energy in the setting.
*There isn't much planar contact in Third Dawn, so characters with infernal etc. blood lines don't make much sense. Any planar connection should be to transitive or inner plane alignments.
*Gunslingers are available w/ the 'guns everywhere' setting for the campaign's technology level.
*Dreamscarred and Paizo sources are assumed to be allowed. I'd like to stay away from spheres of power except for akashic spheres and maybe a symbiat. Spheres of might are okay. I'd prefer to use akashic mysteries, path of war, and interjection games' ethermagic out of the available 3rd party stuff. I'm okay with things like Talented Rouge instead of Unchained Rouge, or Legendary Rouge etc.

Skills:

*We will be using the background skills system and skill unlocks from Pathfinder Unchained. For skill unlocks, all characters automatically get access to the expanded skill features when they achieve the requisite ranks in their skill. In other words, this is now a base part of the skill system.
*If anyone wants to play a rogue, I'll work out some additional feature with you to compensate for everyone getting the skill unlocks.

Feats:
*1 per level, with the Elephant in the Playground feat tax rules also in effect.
*Additionally, all martial characters get the Combat Stamina (Combat) and Push the Limits (Combat) feats for free as long as they fulfill the prerequisites. They also receive Extra Stamina (Combat) when they fulfill the prerequisites.

Equipment/Wealth: Roll or take average. This is a swashbuckling setting with ancient industrial level technology, so we will be using the 'guns everywhere' setting for technology.

Hit Points We will use the Wounds and Vigor system from the Gamemastering Guide instead of hit points. Take maximum values per level. For first level, take double vitality, and add constitution bonus at each level. The creatures will also receive maximum values.

Xp: I am not using xp, I'm just going to level you up at the appropriate level.

Traits: Up to six, but they have to be from each of the individual six categories OR you can take two, with two additional additional from potential drawbacks, and not be limited as regards categories. You can refluff stuff from a Paizo AP if you want.

Additional Notes:

*We will be using the Hero Points system from the Gamemaster Guide to convey the cinematic character of the setting's swashbuckling themes.
*All characters receive a Defense Bonus by class.
*I also forgot (!) that there are no, or very few, magical items. So we need some kind of ABP to keep up w/ the expected bonuses per level. Consequently we'll use the ABP from Pathfinder Unchained at the 'no magic' setting.
*Characters can swear Oaths if they wish.

Other Rules:

*I use a hex grid for combat, which changes the diagonal facing opportunities.
*Combat will have the enemies roll, and act, as a group for initiative.
*Called shots from the Gamemastering Guide are an option for combat.
*Artestia is also an option for combat.
*I will also employ some of the subsystems from Ultimate Intrigue and Horror Adventures to mechanically model the Lovecraftian and swashbuckling concepts in the campaign setting. I will apprise the group when I introduce one of these subsystems.


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dot in


The Companions of the Broken Band finds itself once again bereft of many brave members and seeking refuge from the terrors of the Flaenaess' wilderness. They have come to a mostly-forgotten city in the Duchy of Urnst known as V'run.

V'run was founded by Sueloise refugees from the Rain of Colorless Fire, as was the Duchy itself. As the crossed the forbidding heights of the Abbor Alz mountains, they made a camp on the foggy shores of the Mist Lake, deep within the dolorous confines of the Mistmarsh. Here, the early refugee camp of several noble houses grew into a city, spreading out to the shores of the Mist Lake from the old citadel where the Sueloise noble families first established a beachhead in the forbidding wilderness. V'run has seen better days. It still lies along an important trade artery which connects the Urnstian cities of Saltaren and Leukish with the Free City of Greyhawk and the city-states of the Pomarj, but much of its intellectual and mercantile activity have been siphoned off to less dangerous routes than that which crosses the Mist Lake.

The Companions find themselves sitting in a waterside tavern in the River District.

This tavern, known as the Broken Arms Tavern, displays the battered equipment of the retired knight Amarost Sendrial who founded the establishment.

As they are feeding themselves, and attempting to forget the recent terrors of the Unassailable Redoubt of the Scarlet Monks, the front door of the Broken Arms is thrown open by an out-of-breath dockworker.

The man issues several long, painful exhalations before declaring loudly to the whole room,

"There's a kobold that just popped up, having apparently stowed away from somewhere upstream on a barge, and says he needs to find some adventurers to help his family."

"He's a stubborn little vermin and he won't leave. Does anyone hear know of any adventurers so we can get him off the barge?"

"He's been positively adamant that he won't get out of the way for us to offload the goods until we get him in front of some adventurers."

Maps:

Map of V'run (you're on the river that flows through the city)
Map of River District (you're sitting in the building on the north side of the river, with a bearskin rug at the entrance.


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Hello fellow Pathfinders,

So, it's been decided to do a Eberron Campaign with FFd20 rules. I love these rules, and know almost nothing about Final Fantasy as a franchise, so we're using a D&D world I do know something about that is broadly compatible w/ the fluff assumptions of the FFd20 rules.

Here's the link to the main rules site you're going to want to look at Final Fantasy d20.

However, there have been other adaptations of Final Fantasy to PF1e which may also be of interest, though you need to make sure the power level is in line w/ the first link I posted; for example, most of the FFd20 classes have CONSIDERABLY more class features overall than PF1e classes. The bard, for example, has 75 class features over 20 levels.

FFPF
PathFinal Fantasy

You may also want to look at this: Eberron Pathfinder, though, again, you need to be sure the power level is in line w/ the FFd20 rule set. You'd have to put some serious conversion effort to upgrade a class, though I'm willing to consider it.

For fluff, this is an Eberron wiki:The Eberron Wiki.

Okay, for build rules, here's my proposal (I'll post a final version of the campaign page for reference once we've hashed out any discussion, since you can't edit posts on this site):

Stats: You can roll a dozen (12) sets using the Dice Pool method (I'm not a fan of point buy, I like actually rolling stats).
Races: Anything in the FFd20 site that works for Eberron. The races are basically all RP15, so if you want to use anything else, you'll have to make sure it's in line with that.
Classes: I'd like to stick with FFd20 classes, but I'll consider other stuff if you'll put the effort into converting it. However, as I stated above, that will likely be a lot of work. Let's start at 5th level.

I'll deal with other requests on a case by case basis, but it'd be great if we can stick mostly with the FFd20 ruleset -- it has a bestiary that's balanced against the class and character building assumptions, and there's really no point in bothering to use this ruleset if no one's actually going to use it and wants to make a spheres character instead.

Other Notes: I'm using all of the Optional Systems, which includes a version of feat tax rules and hero points (which is like the action points Eberron had in 3.5).

Final notes: for Eberron fluff, I'm keeping the large continent size from early 3.5 -- i.e., North America sized. The population figures are ridiculously low, so I'm increasing all that by at least 10x, if not more, I need to look at some proposals for fixing it. The FFd20 rule set is a higher power level than base PF1e, and that will be reflected in the mechanics too -- the Lord of Blades will probably be higher level than the equivalent 3.5 build, for example.

I'm thinking of starting in Korth, the capital of Karranth. I'll have some hex maps and city maps to throw up over the next week or so. I'm open to suggestions on places/themes interested parties are really eager to experience.

The only thing we really need to decide is about gestalt or sub-jobs. Someone in the previous recruitment mentioned a sub-job system, but I'm not seeing a link googling that, anyone have that?


Open


I have an idea for what would be as much a world-building project as a campaign. This would be a PF1e campaign that would use rough conversions of old 2e Dungeon Magazine adventures. The focus of this campaign would be developing world details through the pbp process.

The project would start with some basic ideas we'd develop in the recruitment thread, which would then get expanded upon in the game itself.

My basic prompt is a world that is strongly elementally aligned where gods would be replaced by elemental forces and other objects of worship -- i.e., a 'cleric of shadow' instead of a cleric of a god of shadows, or a cleric of autumn, or a cleric of the archetype of the red queen from the traditional card deck.

I'm open to rules suggestions as long as it doesn't start too high of level, and it remains PF1e. Ever had a build idea you've never gotten to try out? Here's your chance! Is there a 3pp. source you've always wanted to use, or a race you've never gotten to play? Here's your chance! Tell me what rules you want, as long as you want to worldbuild!

The first adventure would be an adaptation of the Roarwater Caves from Dungeon Magazine #15, which deals with an expedition into a tidally submerged cavern complex occupied by xvarts.

Here's a map I would use for this complex: Roarwater Caves

I have ideas for two areas on a continent so far. One is the Kingdom of Sashea. Here is a large hex map of the The Kingdom of Sashea. I imagine this as a cosmopolitan polity populated by humans and surface-dwelling non-evil drow.

The second area I have begun to develop is the Northern and Southern Seas of Blood. These are a set of inland seas that, like the Moonsea in Forgotten Realms, would be dominated by independent city-states. Here is a map of the Northern Sea of Blood.

Between these two areas would like a vast plateau of red desert, and that region would form the north western corner of the continent.


I got interested in https://www.finalfantasyd20.com when there was a recent recruitment that died off, and would be interested in using these rules to run a game.

However I know nothing about the FF fluff except that it comes from a series of (Japanese (?)) video games, so we'd have to pick a different setting that I'm actually familiar enough with to run a game. I'm open to suggestions -- I've been playing DnD for like 25 years on and off, so I am familiar with a lot of the classic settings and Golarion. I'm not sure what would be a good fit for these rules.


This is a recruitment for OSR PF1e adventures in a 3pp. world called 'Elemental Cross'. Here's a blurb:

Quote:


Long ago the gods of this world created the races from the four classical elements of air, earth, fire, and water. However, they were cut off from their creation through the actions of the demon lords. In order to aid their children they sacrificed themselves to the cosmos in order to bring their wisdom to those wise enough to find it. After years of war the children of the elder gods finally drove the demon lords back. After centuries of relative peace the demon lords are ready to begin a new conquest. The question is will they succeed this time? Or will brave heroes again rise to the occasion and set things right?

Principle points of interest:

*Elves are the dominant race, with humans a small minority
*Elves are strong, orcs are wise, and dwarves don't live underground
*The main races are elementally and seasonally aligned
*There are no gods, clerics instead follow philosophical schools
*The afterlife is a megadungeon

I'm intending to adapt some old Dungeon Magazine adventures, beginning with 'The Roarwater Caves' from issue #15. I am going to use the kernel of the adventure and expand it with the wonderful handdrawn maps of Dyson Logos. Here's the map I'm going to use for this scenario Roarwater Caves

I'll get up some full build rules in a future revision of this post, but the allowable races will be human, elf, dwarf, orc, and gathor. You'll have some extra rp to customize something that's in line with the fluff below. The allowable classes will be Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger, Paladin, Cavalier, Cleric, Druid, Witch, Sorcerer, Monk, Rogue, and Bard (it's deceptive, because I'm going to use a version of these classes that combine the abilities of the Genius Guide to the Talented-X and the Legendary Games version of these classes, and throw in some free archetypes).

I'm reproducing the race and class information from the campaign setting in the next post (apparently this one is too long), which is systemless, but has mechanical suggestions that can be implemented in Pathfinder.

Races

There are five races available to player characters: elf, dwarf, orc, gathor, and human. The five races are genetically incompatible so there are no half- elves, half-orcs, or other crossbreed races on Mabori. These five races make up the bulk of the humanoid races on the planet. Including the three offshoot races (goblins, giants, and ogres) the population breaks down as follows:

Race Current population

Dwarf 300 million
Elf 700 million
Gathor 100 million
Giant 10 million
Goblin 500 million
Human 5 million
Ogre 25 million
Orc 200 million

Each racial description will contain the following entries. In addition each entry will detail the average height and weight of the race, miscellaneous notes, and general personality traits.

Ability Score Modifiers

In many role playing games the various player character races have modifiers to their ability scores. For ex-ample, elves usually have higher than average dexterity but suffer from __ frail constitutions. This entry will describe which ability scores the race receives a positive and negative adjustment to. The amount of the adjustment will depend on the game system you are using. As a general rule of thumb every +1 bonus should be balanced by a -1 penalty. This is only a guideline and the game master may modify racial adjustments as he sees fit.

Occupations

This entry will cover the skills and/or character classes that are common to members of this race (though Elemental Cross does not put any restrictions on what skills or classes a character can take based on a character’s race). If the game system you are using incorporates a “favored class” option than this entry can be used to determine what a Maborian’s favored classes will be.

Weapons and Armor

This entry will cover the weapons and armor members of the race tend to favor. It will also describe any weapons developed specifically by the race. Although they are labeled as “racial weapons” anyone can learn to use them.

Strengths and Weaknesses

These sections will cover the race’s inherent strengths and weaknesses. Since many fantasy systems use a +1 to +5 scale for giving out bonuses or penalties that is the scale that will be used here. If your system uses percentage rolls then multiply the bonus or penalty by 5 to determine the modifier (+1 equals +5%, +2 equals +10%, -4 equals -20%, and so on).

Each entry will also include how each race is influenced by the ebb and flow of the seasons. As with each race’s ability score modifiers the effects of each race’s strengths and weaknesses are open to game master interpretation and discretion. Since Elemental Cross is not written with any one system in mind what works for one game might not work as well with another. In any case the game master has the right to modify the given abilities as needed to best work with his system of choice. The listed strengths and weaknesses disappear when the season changes.

Dwarves

Dwarves are the shortest of the five player character races on Mabori. They stand between 4 and five feet tall with the average being 4.8” and weigh between 100 and 135 pounds. Male dwarves are known to grow long beards that they often braid and decorate with beads and other trinkets. Dwarven skin is tan and hair color is generally red, black, or dark blonde. The average dwarf can live to be 150 years old.

Personality-wise, dwarves are some of the most likeable people on the planet. They are very down to earth and most dwarves will tell you this is because they stand so close to the earth (well, the average dwarf thinks that joke is funny). Dwarves love comedy and have a special appreciation for puns and bad jokes. Unfortunately, a dwarf comedian may have a hard time making a living outside of his community. Dwarven humor tends to draw on themes and motifs common to their own culture. Thus, a non-dwarf in the audience might find himself sitting clueless while dozens of dwarves around him burst out in laughter.

Dwarves were given the element of fire. In days long past they used their gift to unlock the secrets of blacksmithing. Many dwarves have a great love of beauty and in their communities’ artists and craftsmen are held in high regards. The streets in a dwarven city are usually lined with sculptures and murals commissioned by the local government. Their appreciation for art extends beyond their own race and dwarven patrons have been
known to sponsor non-dwarven artists as well. The most sought after dwarven craftsmen are the blacksmiths and metal workers. Most dwarf smiths will decorate even mundane items with geometric patterns and knotwork. Dwarven weapons are especially prized due to their perfect marriage of form and function. Such arms are highly decorative but yet are properly balanced and tough enough to stand up to the rigors of com-bat. Dwarven goods of any kind tend to fetch a high price on the open market due to their high quality and intricate detail.

Dwarves on Mabori do not live underground like most dwarves of fantasy literature. They prefer to live on the open plains along well used trade routes. Such locations given them plenty of opportunities to sell their goods, meet new people, perform their songs, and collect information from the outside world.

Ability score modifiers

Dwarves are highly intellectual and very outgoing, and as such should receive a bonus to their intelligence and charisma abilities. The major obstacle facing dwarves is their muscular makeup. Dwarves have less “fast twitch” muscle fibers than the other races. Fast twitch muscle fibers are more efficient at generating short bursts of power. While dwarves can be as healthy as the other races they have a hard time matching their physical strength.

Occupations

Dwarves love nothing more than traveling to exotic lands and meeting new people. Combined with their charming nature dwarves make excellent bards and diplomats. Their natural curiosity often leads them to engage in intellectual pursuits as well. This may lead a dwarf to seek a career as a sage, scientist, or perhaps even a wizard. Craft skills and performance skills are common to dwarves of all types. Most dwarves are either competent craftsmen or at the very least capable of telling a good story.

Weapons and armor

Dwarven warriors rarely have a favored weapon. They realize each weapon has its own strengths and weak-nesses and would rather be proficient in a dozen weapons than be an expert in one weapon. The average dwarf warrior carries three weapons with him while on adventure: a blunt weapon, and edged weapon, and missile weapon of some kind (usually a short bow). Most dwarf adventurers carry a knife as well because of its functional purposes and its usefulness as a backup weapon.

Sap chain (racial weapon)

Despite their skill as weapon makers dwarves have developed only one weapon unique to their race. This weapon, called the sap chain, is a chain or rope 5-7 feet in length. One end has a loop that is Slipped over the wrist while the other ends in a leather pouch filled with sand and a rock (or sometimes a lump of metal). The sap chain can easily be worn like a belt or sash by slipping the weighted end through the wrist loop. Sap chains are used two handed: one hand to hold the wrist loop and one hand to spin the chain and launch the attack.

During combat the dwarf will use the sap chain to aim for the side of the opponent’s head. These weapons inflict very little damage (1 or 2 points base, not factoring in any bonuses for strength or weapon skill) but have a base 10% chance to knock the opponent out cold for 1d6+4 minutes. The chance to stun is increased by 5% for every point of damage inflicted. If the opponent is wearing a metal helmet he takes no damage and has only a 10% chance of being stunned for 1 round. Sap chains can also be used to entangle an opponent’s leg or arm. If the dwarf manages to jump an opponent from behind he can even attempt to use the chain like a garrote. Many of the attacks made with a sap chain require called shots, making it a difficult weapon to use properly (but an effective one in the hands of a master). Sap chains are relatively easy to make and are inex-pensive. One made with a rope or cord should only cost a few coins. Higher quality sap chains made with a chain instead of a rope will rarely cost more than a dagger or other small melee weapon.

Strengths

*Art, crafts, and music are very important in dwarven culture. All dwarves begin with one free skill chosen from the following list: art (painting or sculpture), blacksmithing, weapon smithing, armorer, singing, storytelling, joke telling, or musical instrument.
*Dwarves receive a +2 bonus to defend against fire based magical attacks.
*Dwarves enjoy a +2 bonus to any skill or ability check that involves influencing reactions. *Dwarves are strongest during the summer. During this season they receive a +1 bonus to their strength score. Healing magic is more effective on a dwarf during the summer months. The effectiveness of such spells are increased by 50%. These benefits disappear when autumn arrives.

Weaknesses

*Dwarves suffer a -2 penalty to defend against ice based attacks.
*Dwarves are also weak against paralyzation and suffer a -2 penalty to resist attacks that cause such an effect whether they come from spell or a monster’s natural attack.
*Dwarves are weakest during the winter. During this season they take and small amount of extra damage from any attack-magical or physical. The amount of damage is up to the GM, but it should not be a great amount (for example, 1d4 points or an extra 10%).

Elves

The pointy-eared elves are the tallest and strongest of the five character races. An adult elf is rarely shorter than 6 feet tall and often closer to 7 feet. The tallest known elf in history reached 8’2” in height. Weight is proportional to height. Their skin varies depending on where they live. Most elves have fair skin but northern elves can be light blue and southern elves sometimes have a faint green tint to their skin. Hair color is generally light brown, grey, or white. Males can grow facial hair but it takes a while to do so and in most individuals their beards tend to be scraggly and uneven. Most men choose to remain clean shaven but goatees are popular for those who take the time to grow their hair. Elves remain physically fit until around 90 years of age but after that point their health tends to decline rapidly. It is rare for an elf to live past 100 years.

Elven personality runs the spectrum from kind to cruel. Since they are the most widespread people on Ma-bori many elves have a bit of a superiority complex. They feel elves were put on the world to be role models for the other races. The other people of Mabori have their strong qualities: they appreciate the craftsman-ship of the dwarves, the wisdom of the orcs, and the skill of the gathor. They are still suspicious of humans and find making friendships with that race difficult but grudgingly respect their tenacity. But of all the people of the world it is the duty of the elves to lead and inspire! This doesn’t mean the average elf dreams of conquering the world in the name of elvenkind, but wherever possible elves tend to gravitate towards leader-ship roles. They tend to have a “we know best” outlook on life.

Elves were given the element of water. Their gift led them to become the first healers as they learned how to treat disease and injury. They realize water is unique in that it has the power to both give life and take it away. When a living thing is deprived of water it dies.

Thus without the elves the world too would weaken. Such a revelation does little to keep the elves’ egos in check.

Elves have a highly structured culture. Most elven lands are ruled by a king who in turn appoints a series of barons to act as his administrators (and generals in times of war). Of all the cultures on Mabori the elves most strongly resemble medieval Europe. Each baron employs farmers and tradesmen from the peasant stock and knights from the noble houses. The barons provide the serfs land to farm and in return the knights protect them. Not all serfs are content with this system and many a great elf adventurer started out as a humble farmer who grew tired of life on the farm.

Although they are very adaptable and can thrive in any environment elves prefer the coasts of the ocean. Sailing and boating are popular past times among the elves and many nobles like to show off their wealth by constructing large ocean going vessels of extreme opulence. Nobles use these floating palaces to impress their king and his barons.

Often these ships contain works of art from all across the world. Sometimes a noble will even reward loyal serfs by taking them on a short pleasure cruise.

[I]Ability score modifiers[/I]

Elves are the strongest and hardiest of Mabori’s races. They should receive a bonus to their strength and constitution scores. On the downside their muscle mass makes them a bit slow and uncoordinated. Elves should have a penalty to their agility score.

Occupations

Elves prefer warrior classes above all others and those who meet the qualifications strive to be elite warriors like knights, cavaliers, warlords, and paladins. The only major exception is the ranger class. While elf rangers do exist most “civilized” elves keep their distance from them. They don’t hate their kin; they just find their reclusive nature and desire to shun civilization contrary to the elf’s duty to lead others. Thus shunned by their kin elf rangers often find acceptance among humans.

Weapons and armor

Elves prefer polearms of all kinds. Their great height and strength makes these weapons especially deadly in their hands. Other favored weapons include great axes and two handed swords. In addition most elves have no avoidance of armor and in fact find its weight strangely comforting. Many elf warriors dream of someday owning a finely crafted suit of full plate mail.

Elven sword (racial weapon)

This weapon is the same size and cost as a normal two handed sword except it is a little heavier due to the wedge shaped blade. It shares the same weapon proficiency. However, only one side of the sword is sharpened. The elven sword inflicts the same amount of damage as its double edged cousin except the wielder has the option of inflicting blunt damage by striking with the unsharpened edge. Undead hunters favor these weapons because some types of undead take less damage from slashing attacks and the elven sword allows the hunter to deal with such foes without having to carry a second weapon. When using this weapon the player needs to inform the game master what type of damage he is inflicting. Elven swords are not very well balanced and force the wielder to take a -2 attack roll penalty.

Hooked spear (racial weapon)

This weapon looks similar to most spears except it has a hook on the head that bends backwards to point to the wielder. Originally the hooked spear was used for hauling large fish aboard boats. One elf would spear it while two or three other elves would use the hooks to pull the fish from the water. While the hooked spear is still used for that purpose it can have other uses as well. In combat the hook can be used to catch and pull down shields and weapons. A_ character using this weapon gains a +2 to any disarm attempts. Hooked spears can be thrown but the weapon’s extra weight imposes a -2 attack roll penalty. This weapon inflicts the same amount of damage as a normal spear and costs a little bit more (about 10% more).

Quick loading crossbow (racial weapon)

One of the few ranged weapons elves regularly use, the quick loading crossbow is one of the most advanced personal weapons of the day. The crossbow has an interior compartment that can hold up to five bolts. After it is fired a special mechanism inside the body partly draws back the string and pops the next bolt up so it will be within easy reach. The weapon functions the same as a heavy crossbow in terms of damage, range, and weapon proficiency. The main difference is an improved rate of fire. The exact effect is up to the GM but as an example if a heavy crossbow in your game system can only be fired once every other round then the quick loader can be fired once per round. Alternately, the GM can grant a character using one of these weapons an minor bonus to his attack roll since it is easier to load (such as +1 or +2). Once the crossbow is empty it takes one round to fully reload the weapon. Quick loading crossbows are quite expensive and cost double the price of a normal heavy crossbow. Only the elite units of elven armies make regular use of them.

Strengths

*Elves are drawn to water and learn much about season elf characters receive a +2 combat aquatic skills when they are youth. Elf characters start with one of the following skills upon creation: fishing, swimming, boating, navigation, or sailing.
*Elves receive a +2 bonus to defend against water and ice based attacks.
*As youth elves train extensively in the use of long weapons and receive a +1 to attack and next morning. This bonus goes away when damage rolls with spears, polearms, and quarterstaves.
*Elves are natural healers. Any spell cast by an elf that is designed to heal injuries restores an extra 25% hit points/body points/vitality, etc. The GM may modify the exact amount healed depending on how healing spells work in the game system. The GM may decide the spell heals an additional die worth of damage (an extra 1d6 or 1d8, for example).
*Elves are strongest in the spring. During this season elves receive +2 combat bonus. This bonus may be applied to attack rolls or damage. The player has the option of breaking this bonus down to a +1 to attack and +1 to damage. How the bonus will be distributed must be selected at the start of the game day and may not be changed until the next morning. The bonus goes away when summer comes.

Weaknesses

*Elves are weak against fire and suffer a -2 penalty to defend against such attacks.
*Excessive muscle mass isn’t always a good thing. All elves suffer a -2 to any dexterity based checks and skills (agility based attacks are exempt from this penalty).
*Elves require larger than normal amounts of food and water to sustain their muscle mass and require 50% more food and drink than other races. Their digestive system makes them more susceptible to potion effects. Elves suffer a -2 penalty to resist ingested poison and to resist potion effects.
*Elves are weakest in the season of autumn. During this time of year elves become more susceptible to magic and suffer a -2 penalty to resist any magical attack.

Gathor

The cat-like gathor are one of the most reclusive races on Mabori. Gathor stand anywhere from 5-6 feet in height with the average being 5’4”. Their bodies are covered with fur that has the same range of color and thickness as domesticated cats. Gathor native to colder regions have thicker fur while their brothers from warmer climes have shorter fur. Their hands and feet have sharp, retractable claws. Gathor can live to be 80 years old.

Gathor dislike crowds and large groups. An urban gathor is a rare thing indeed. Most members of this race prefer to live in quiet villages in the mountains or forests. They dislike coastal regions because they find the smell coming off the ocean a bit nauseating. With regards to other races gathor usually get along with humans but prefer to keep their distance from elves, dwarves, and orcs. Perhaps this is because the other three native races of Mabori fell victim to The Corruption while they resisted it. For this reason gathor harbor a great deal of hostility towards ogres, goblins, and giants.

Gathorian culture is clan based. The gathor tend to live in remote settlements consisting of 2-4 clans and 100-300 members. Competition between non- allied clans is fierce but rarely comes to violence. Most gathor prefer to settle disputes through one- on-one challenges though in special circumstances the entire clan might participate. These challenges often consist of races, unarmed combat, and feats of strength. The winner of the challenge has the right to make reasonable demands of the loser, such as the return of a stolen item or a month’s worth of service. The loser has the right to dispute the winner’s demands if he feels they are unreasonable by petitioning to the elders of the clans involved. A loser who fails to comply with terms that are deemed reasonable risks exile. Such individuals have the fur on their heads treated with a special mixture of herbs and berry juices. This mixture permanently changes the color of the fur making dark colors light and light colors dark, creating the “Rune of Exile.” Other gathor are expected to avoid contact with an exile, though other races may interact with them as they wish.

Gathor tend to mate for life and are matrilineal. Unlike most races females propose to the males. Upon marriage the male takes the last name of his wife’s clan. Divorce is unknown to the gathor but if a marital arrangement doesn’t work out the wife is allowed to select another husband. The former husband is reduced to little more than a servant. Gathor who seek to break away from the clan are marked and exiled. It is rare for a widowed gathor to re-marry.

Gathor were given the element of air. They used their gift to learn the arts of hunting and tracking as well as the skill of being aware of one’s surroundings. Due to their swiftness gathor prefer to hunt by chasing down fleeing game and ending it with their claws. This method works great for deer, moose, elk, and animals that are generally not aggressive. For more dangerous game the gathor will employ bows and spears. To this day hunting plays an important role in gathorian culture. Young gathor start out hunting rabbits and wild pigs. Up-on reaching adolescence they move onto deer. In order to be recognized as an adult the gathor must bring down a large animal like a boar or bear. Gathor of both sexes must face this challenge before being allowed to marry. Their contemplation of the element of air led them to develop coordinated strategies that are ef-fective for both hunting and war. When forced into battle a small group of gathor will work together to bring down weaker foes first then team up on stronger opponents. Gathorian settlements don’t keep a standing army but they are quick to unite and mobilize when a significant threat approaches. Occasionally gathor will enlist in the armies of other nations as spies, scouts, and skirmishers. Those who would hire such units only do so when they are certain their opponents will not be using gathor as well. Armies employing gathor learned long ago the cat-men place more importance on racial unity then they do on money. Most gathor will refuse to fight their own kind in these situations.

Ability score modifiers

Gathor are quick and agile and thus should receive a bonus to their dexterity. Their general aloofness and natural tendency to avoid other races makes them poor diplomats. In addition, they tend to rely more on gut instinct than learned knowledge. Gathor should receive a penalty to their charisma and intelligence scores.

Occupations

Skills and character classes of all kinds are found among the ranks of the gathor. Gathorian wizards are rare but other than that they do not favor any one profession over another. The only occupation rarer than a ga-thorian wizard is a gathorian bard. In part this is due to their general avoidance of other races. The other rea-son is because the gathor have poor singing ability when compared to other races. Gathor who choose to be-come bards generally focus on instrumental music or acrobatics.

Weapons and armor

The gathor will use any weapon appropriate to the situation with a preference for spears and bows, since these weapons are useful for hunting as well as battle. Gathorian bone is lightweight, like that of birds. For this reason they find heavy armor uncomfortable and too restrictive. Gathor suffer penalties when wearing metal armor (see weaknesses). The gathor have not developed any significant racial weapons.

Strengths

*All gathor know how to track and hunt and receive these skills for free. This is as much from instinct as it is from learning. Gathor receive a +2 to defend against air and lightning based magical attacks. The gathor’s re-tractable claws provide them with several benefits. First, they may use them in unarmed combat. Doing so allows the gathor to inflict slashing and thus potentially lethal) damage as opposed to blunt damage. However, these claws are not strong enough to shred metal. The amount of damage inflicted with the attack re-mains unchanged. The gathor’s claws also grant him a bonus to skill checks that involve climbing wood or oth-er soft surfaces. The gathor will receive a +1 bonus to his check if he is just using the claws on his hands. If the gathor’s feet are bare the bonus increases to +3. The gathor have been rewarded for resisting The Corrup-tion. They receive a +2 bonus to their attack and damage rolls against goblins, ogres, and giants.
*The swiftness of the gathor is legendary. They receive a +1 to +5 bonus to running skill checks. If the gathor is unarmored and lightly encumbered he receives a +5 bonus. If lightly armored or encumbered he receives a +3 bonus. If the gathor is wearing medium weight armor or is moderately encumbered he only receives a +1 bonus. Gathor are strongest in the winter. During this time they take half damage from cold based attacks. Their bodies heal at a greatly accelerated rate; the character will recover a small amount of life every ten minutes. This ability will not function when the gathor is reduced to O or less hit points. Finally, the gathor’s bonus against goblins, ogres, and giants increases to +4.

Weaknesses
*Due to their light bone structure gathor do not fare well when in heavy armor or while carrying a lot of weight. When heavily encumbered the gathor suffers a -2 penalty to any running skill checks and has his base movement score lowered as well (GM’s discretion). Heavy armor causes another problem for them as well. How this will play out depends on how armor works in the game system you are using. If armor grants the character a defensive bonus then the gathor suffers a small amount of damage from any successful non-magical attack (such as an extra 1d6 damage). This is be-cause the added weight makes it harder for the gathor to adequately defend himself. If armor reduces damage then the character suffers a defense penalty (2 — 4 points is a good range). The gathor finds the armor so uncomfortable it makes it harder for him to avoid attacks.
*Dragons love the taste of gathorian flesh. Evil dragons are known to hunt gathor and will attack them in preference to other opponents. Once an evil drag-on has slain a gathor he will attempt to carry him off to be devoured. Non- evil dragons usually have more self control and will act as the situation dictates.
*Gathor are weak against earth-based magic and attacks that turn the target to stone. They suffer a -4 penalty to resist such attacks whether they are from a magic spell or a monster’s special attack.
*The animosity gathor feel towards ogres, goblins, and giants is mutual. Gathor suffer a -3 penalty to any sort of reaction roll or charisma based skill check against these races. Goblins, ogres, and giants will attack gathor in preference to other targets.
*Gathor are weakest during the summer. During this season they become susceptible to sleep, charm, and mind control. The gathor suffers a - 2 penalty to defend against such attacks. Healing magic becomes less effective on them during this time as well. Such spells restore less life to the character. The exact effects are up to the GM but for example a spell that heals 1d8 points of damage might only restore 1d4 points.

Although they are the youngest race on Mabori humans have caused quite a stir and have already made a huge impact on the world. They were created by demons for the sole purpose of bringing chaos and disorder but in the end turned upon their masters and helped the four native races turn the tide against their infernal creators. Humans posses the same range of hair, eye, and skin color as humans in your game system. Height can range from 5’4” to 6’5” with the average human standing 5’10”. Humans can live to be 120 years old.

Humans

After humans were created they were placed in the most remote regions of each continent and left to their own devices. As their numbers grew they spread across the land and were greeted with suspicion by the other races. Suspicion became fear and fear became hate. Just like the demon lords planned humans rose against their oppressors. If it were not for the intervention of the wise old dragon Andorth humans would not be in the position they are today. Humans are no longer hunted down to be enslaved or killed but that doesn’t mean prejudice doesn’t exist. There are still significant numbers of people that still view humans with contempt.

Humans have no widespread, unifying culture. The other races of Mabori started in the same region and spread out from there. Humans on the other hand were scattered from the start. Most of the time their culture is influenced by the races they are closest too; a human settlement on the edge of gathor territory will most likely develop a clan-like matriarchal structure. Humans who chose to integrate into another culture will usually adapt those beliefs and outlooks.

Ability score modifiers

Humans were blessed with better than average endurance by their demonic creators and should have a bonus to their constitution score. They were also de-signed to be easy to control, and as a result their willpower tends to be weaker than that of other races.

Occupations

Humans on Mabori had to learn to live by their wits. For this reason thieves and other scoundrels are more common among the ranks of humans than any other race. This is not because they are more greedy or dishonest than the other races.

There was a great deal of distrust and outright hostility between humans and the natives of Mabori in the early years. Humans had to learn how to move quietly, avoid detection, escape their enemies, and be alert in order to survive. Skills such as these are common to humans still, though not all humans use these talents to steal from others. Humans are prolific explorers and adventurers and many skills used by rogues are helpful to this end. The ability to live off the land was important for the early humans as well. Both orc and human rangers are common but they tend to have a slightly different outlook on the natural world.

Orc rangers see nature as something that needs to be nurtured and protected. Therefore, orcs tend to be-come rangers out of a desire to put that belief into practice. Humans often become rangers out of necessity. Surviving in the wilderness became an essential skill among the early humans, thus nature is a means to an end (survival in this case). Many human rangers are more likely to fall along the lines of Robin Hood (using the wilderness as a base of operations to fight an oppressive government) or Orion the Hunter (hunting game for food and pleasure). Of course, this doesn’t have to be the case-a human ranger certainly can see nature in the same way as an orc ranger does. Barbarians on Mabori are rare but most of them are humans. As humanity’s population grew not all humans chose to integrate into the societies of the other races. Those who refused to be-come civilized fled to the wilderness to lead a more pure and primitive life.

Weapons and armor

Humans to have less wealth than the other races of Mabori so they prefer weapons that are easy to make or replace. The most common weapons carried by humans include hammers, axes, knives, clubs, and staves. For missile weapons they prefer slings and short bows. Humans tend to wear armor that is easy to make or simple to repair. Most humans wear ring mail or brigandine armor and carry small shields.

Skull smasher (racial weapon)

This simple to make bludgeoning weapon consists of a hand sized rock lashed onto an 18 inch stick that has been split on one end. Although creating a skull smasher seems simple enough it is actually quite an involved process. A smasher is designed to be highly per-sonal weapon balanced just right for the person who created it. The process of creating a skull smasher takes 1d6x10 minutes. The process involves finding the appropriate rock, splitting one end of it, then placing the rock and lashing it tightly. The character needs to make a roll against his intelligence (or weapon making skill -whichever is more appropriate). If the check fails the weapon is poorly balanced and functions like a simple club. If successful the weapon inflicts as much damage as a mace. In addition, if the character did an exceptionally good job creating the weapon it will grant him an attack roll bonus due to the perfect balance. The bonus granted can be from +1 to +3 depending on GM discretion and how much the character made his skill check by. The more difficult the skill check the character made the better the bonus should be. No matter what the quality of the weapon a skull splitter is treated as a lightweight club in the hands of anyone else. People other than the weapon’s creator suffer a -2 attack roll penalty because they will find the weapon’s balance awkward. On the downside, skull smashers do not stand up to the rigors of combat as readily as most other weapons and are more prone to breakage. How this will be implemented is up to the GM. Skull smashers are never found for sale because they are simple to make and the individualized balance makes them ineffective weapons in the hand of anyone else.

Strengths

*Humans are magically resistant and receive a +2 bonus to defend against most magical attacks with one exception (see weaknesses). Once per day a human may chose to take half damage from a magical attack or, if defending against a spell that doesn’t cause damage, he may increase his defense bonus by +2.
*Humans are accustomed to being distrusted and attacked without warning. They have subconsciously developed a “danger sense” that helps them react to hostile actions. All humans receive a +2 bonus to any attempt to avoid being surprised and a +2 to any rolls to determine the order characters will act in combat.

Weaknesses

*Humans were designed to be easy to manipulate and suffer a -2 penalty to any mind control spell or spell like ability. The human’s normal +2 bonus to resist magic does not count against these spells.
*While a human’s innate magic resistance is helpful it does cause one problem. If the character is a spell caster he advances slower than normal. He re-quires an additional 10% experience points to advance if he knows any spells (non-spell casters advance normally). For example, if the character normally needs 1000 experience points to advance to his next level than he will need to earn 1100 instead. The GM may modify this as he sees fit depending on how character advancement is handled in your game system.

Many members of the non-human races of Mabori still view humans with distrust. Some individuals will even go out of their way to attack humans or strike to kill when their intention is to subdue. Humans almost always suffer a penalty to reaction checks and charisma related skills when dealing with non- humans. The GM may determine the penalty depending on how much animosity the NPC holds towards humans.

Orcs

Despite their fearsome appearance orcs are among the wisest and most compassionate beings on Mabori. They have pointed ears similar to elves but their faces are flatter and small tusks jut out from their lower jaws. Orc skin color ranges all shades of green but individuals who spend a lot of time in the sun tend to take on a blue tone (the orcish equivalent of a sun tan, sun burned orcs take on a purplish hue). Their eye color ranges from solid white to a pale yellow. Only rarely are the pupils visible. Such individuals have no better or worse eyesight than their brothers and sisters, nor are they treated any differently among their peers (though oth-er races might treat the orc like a freak). Hair color is generally black, brown, or dark green. Orcs range any-where from 5’5” to 6’2” in height with 5’10” being average. Orcs can live to be 110 years old.

Orcs were given the element of earth. They used their gift to develop agriculture and they taught the other races of Mabori how to farm crops and live in harmony with the land. Of all the races orcs live closest to na-ture. They build their major cities deep in the woods or jungle though they usually establish trading posts on the edge of the forest. These posts trade lumber, furs, herbs, and fruit with other races. The only thing they won’t trade in large quantity is meat because to do so could potentially lead to over-hunting of an area. This does not mean they are opposed to hunting or trade of animal products, though. Orcs recognize the importance of hunting but also realize the importance of conservation. Many orc communities will regularly employ rangers and druids to monitor the local wildlife population. Sometimes a neighboring kingdom will employ a group of orcs for this purpose as well.

For the most part orcs have peaceful relationships with other races. They sometimes run into conflicts with elves due to that race’s tendency to expand their kingdoms.

There have been numerous elf-orc conflicts but nothing resembling an all out war. They are almost always on good terms with gathor that share their domain and in rare situations are called upon as a neutral third party in clan conflicts. Humans and dwarves are judged based on their actions.

Orcs have the sharpest senses of any race on Mabori. Thanks to their excellent sense of taste orcs can be-come superb cooks with the right training, though their cuisine tends to be a bit too spicy for most non-orcs. In part this is because their knowledge of herbs and keen taste buds allow them to come up with the perfect combination of seasonings, resulting in flavor combinations that can be overwhelming for those who are not prepared for it.

Orc culture places an emphasis on_ practicality. Most orcs will dress for comfort over fashion any day. An orc will gladly wear a set of mismatched garments if they are comfortable. Since many orcs spend a great deal of time outdoors they prefer earth tones-partly for camouflage but also because they tend to do a better job of hiding grass, mud, and dirt stains. Orc cities seldom have many large buildings as their goal is to build in harmony with nature instead of dominance of it. Many orc homes are built on in trees or into the side of hills. Most orc cities have a central plaza dedicated to public entertainment, especially music and storytelling. Orc bards tend to favor drums and woodwind instruments; strings are rare but those who do learn them prefer smaller instruments like lutes and mandolins.

Ability score modifiers

Orcs are very wise and insightful and should receive a bonus to their wisdom score. On the downside they tend to rely more on instinct than intellect. Orcs suffer a penalty to their intelligence score,

Occupations

Due to their closeness to nature survival skills are common among orcs, as are professions related to the outdoors. Druids and rangers are more common among the orcs than any other race. The members of such occupations are held in high esteem as well. Orc druids are concerned with the balance of nature but this does not mean they blindly follow the “switch sides when one side gets too powerful” stereotype associated with unaligned characters. They believe in thinking in the long term. For example, if in the long run it is more beneficial for all the giants to be driven out of their protected land they will not stop until every last one has been slain or exiled. Orcish druids are especially watchful of woodcutters and hunters. Such folk will likely attract the attention of the local druid if their activi-ties threaten to disrupt the natural order. Orc rangers are similar to the classic rangers of fantasy literature: protectors of nature and opponents of evil. They scout their territory for danger, guide lost travelers, capture highwaymen, and have no qualms about slaying evil monsters that threaten their communities.

Orc rangers are usually on good terms with druids and they are quick to work together when the need arises.

Orc knife (racial weapon)

This weapon is about the size of a short sword and was developed in an attempt to create an all-in- one sur-vival weapon. The blade has two edges: a slashing edge and a saw-like edge. The pommel is flat and heavily weighted, allowing it to be used as a hammer. This allows the orc to perform three common survival func-tions (clearing brush, sawing wood, and pounding in stakes) without having to carry three separate tools. Orc knives are heavy and weight about as much as the average long sword. In combat orc knives function as short swords but inflict slightly more damage due to the added weight (1 or 2 points). Even though it is about the size of a short sword the orc knife requires its own weapon proficiency and costs the same as a long sword.

Orc mail (racial armor)

Decades ago orcs developed their own special armor. Orc mail consists of strips of wood riveted between two layers of leather and padding. The wood used in orc mail has been treated with special oils to make it strong as steel. Orc mail provides slightly better protection than chain mail (one or two points would be appropriate) but weighs only half as much. Ore mail is expensive and costs 50% more than chain mail. This is due to the difficulty in preparing the wood and the rarity of the mate-rials involved. On the downside the oil used to treat the wood makes orc mail more flammable. This armor suffers a -3 penalty to resist fire damage, should such rules exist in your game system.

Strengths

*Orcs live close to nature and receive one of the following skills for free upon creation: survival (forest or jungle), tracking, plant lore, animal lore, forestry, hunting, fishing, or animal handling. Orcs’ acute senses give them a few advantages. First, they receive a +2 bonus to any skill check that involves observation (like trying to spot a trap or hear a noise). Their sensitive taste buds also grant them a +2 to resist poison or harmful po-tions because they have a chance to detect the poison before swallowing it. Finally, their sharp eyesight gives them a +2 to attack rolls (but not damage) with ranged weapons. Orcs receive a +2 bonus to defend against earth based attacks and petrifaction, whether it comes from a spell or a monster’s special attack (like the gaze of a Medusa). Orcs have the ability to give off a subtle pheromone that normal animals find relaxing. This gives the orc a +2 to any skill checks that involve handling or befriending animals.
*Orcs are strongest during the autumn. When the leaves start to fall from the trees and the weather begins to cool orcs become more spiritually aware of their surroundings. Their wisdom score increases by one point. Orcs in the autumn also enjoy a +2 bonus to defend against most magic attacks (with the exception of the magical effects listed under weaknesses).
*Finally, orcs gain some toughness from the earth and take a little less damage from any attack (such as 1d4 points or a set number). The GM has the freedom to determine how much based on how damage is handled in his game system. This damage reduction applies to situations as well, like falling damage or damage from a trap.

Weaknesses

*Orcs are weak against air and lightning based attacks and suffer a -2 penalty to resist them. This penalty also applies to spells that hinder movement but do not prevent it all together (it would apply to a spell that makes the target move slower but not against a spell that paralyzes the target). In addition, spells, potions, or items that increase the target’s movement rate and/or grant extra attacks do not work on orcs. If the item has other properties they will work normally. For example, let’s say an orc finds a pair of boots that protects the wearer from cold and allows him to move normally over ice and snow. The orc will still gain the protection from cold benefit but he will suffer the normal penalties when trying to move through snow or over ice. While orcs can become quite strong and healthy they have a hard time exerting themselves over long periods of time.
*Orcs suffer a -2 penalty to any roll or skill check that involves endurance or extended periods of physical activity (such as long distance running or swimming).
*Due to their closeness to nature orcs have a hard time remaining calm when they see it desecrated. Should the orc come across others despoiling nature (polluting, excessive hunting, slash and burn agriculture, etc) he must make a check against his willpower (or the closest ability score). Failure means the orc flies into a blind killing rage. Druids, rangers, and other characters involved in the protection of nature have a harder time resisting this rage and suffer a -2 penalty to resist it. The orc will stay enraged until those responsible for the desecration have been killed or driven off.
*Orcs are weakest during the spring. During this season they suffer a -2 penalty to all attack and damage rolls. Their reaction time also decreases and they suffer a -2 penalty to their physical defense and rolls to determine initiative.

Classes

This section will cover various character classes common to fantasy role playing games and how they fit into Elemental Cross. The races of Mabori have no character class restrictions, even if such restrictions exist in the game system you are using. Most character classes are permissible, but there are a few exceptions.

Barred Classes

Classes based on personalities unique to a specific “real world” culture are not found on Mabori. For example, as mentioned previously there are no cultures on Mabori based on Japan, China, or any other Oriental culture. Thus ninjas, samurai, and martial arts practicing monks are not recommended for an Elemental Cross cam-paign.

Barbarians

Barbarian characters are allowed but most should be human. When humans were introduced to Mabori they were placed in settlements far from the races native to the world.

The first humans quickly learned to live off the land but most eventually adopted the technology and cus-toms of Mabori’s natives. However, not all humans chose to integrate themselves into society. Some were content to live in the wilderness free from the shackles of civilization. These humans became the first barbar-ians. There is nothing wrong with allowing elf, dwarf, orc, and gathor to be barbarians but such characters should not be commonplace. At this point in Mabori’s history the four native races have already established their respective civilizations so it unlikely they would decide to abandon their way of life to live a primitive existence far from the comforts of the civilized world.

Priests

Divine spell casters exist on Mabori but in a slightly different form than they do in the average fantasy role playing game. Priests on Mabori are called gnostics, though from a game mechanic standpoint they function as clerics for determining experience point advancement, combative ability, spell selection, hit points, and so forth.

However, there is one important difference between a gnostic and a traditional cleric. A cleric worships a god or goddess and gets his powers and spells directly from that deity. However, the gods of Mabori sacrificed themselves long ago and don’t exist in the normal sense the deities of other game worlds do. Their divine essence has become integrated into the cosmos, so rather than gaining spells through prayer a gnostic’s spells come from his understanding of the Elder Gods’ teachings. He literally “draws” his spells from the fabric of the universe. The gnostic can’t do this indefinitely. Like a traditional cleric the gnostic has a limited number of spells he can cast per day. As the gnostic advances in experience he will be able to draw upon the knowledge of the Elder Gods more times per day.

Druids exist on Mabori as well. They are essentially a specialized form of gnostic that focuses on the natural world. Other than that they follow the same guidelines as druids in your game system.

In some game systems there may be means to travel to alternate planes of existence.

It is permissible to allow characters in an Elemental Cross campaign to travel to other game worlds and vice versa. Depending on the game system you are using clerics from other game worlds might not be able to access higher level spells because deities are unable to grant these spells when their priests are removed from their home plane. Mabori is no exception. However, gnostics who find themselves taken off Mabori must follow this restriction as well. Even though the gnostic’s spells aren’t granted by a deity the character will have a hard time drawing upon the source of his power when he is far away from it.

But what about characters who aren’t priests but are able to cast divine magic? These classes are permissible but in order to cast divine “clerical” magic the character needs to be initiated into a gnostic order. More in-formation on these orders will be given in the next chapter.

Rogues

Thieves, bards, and other assorted scoundrels exist on Mabori. Members of these classes should require no adjustments to be incorporated into an Elemental Cross campaign. If the character class has access to divine magic then he follows the restrictions gnostics do.

Warriors

There are many different types of warriors in role playing games. As stated previously there are no Oriental cultures on Mabori which rules out warriors like ninja, fighting monks and samurai. This does not mean martial arts aren’t practiced on Mabori. A character can still learn and Specialize in unarmed combat but organized monasteries devoted to specific combative traditions have not arisen here. Other characters that are absent from Mabori include those that might be based on a specialized fighter from an ancient Earth culture like the Aztec eagle knight or a Native American warrior.

Your basic fighter, a common character class found in’ many role playing games, needs no modification. Specialized warriors such as swashbucklers, cavaliers, and street fighters are permissible as long as their abilities or backgrounds aren’t tied to a specific Earth culture.

Rangers and paladins pose a unique situation. Both these character classes are allowed in the world of Elemental Cross. In some role playing games these characters receive divine abilities. Rangers often worship a deity associated with nature while paladins often follow deities of law or justice. A Maborian ranger or paladin must be initiated into a gnostic order to receive divine abilities and follows the same restrictions gnostics do in regards to spell casting.

Wizards

Those who study arcane magic are allowed to operate freely on Mabori. Specialist mages like illusionists and necromancers are allowed as well. For the most part wizards face no specific restrictions, but due to arcane magic’s demonic origin some people might view wizards with suspicion (especially if the mage favors necromancy and other dark arts).

Other classes

This has been a gross oversimplification; the classes covered here are common to most fantasy role playing games. It is entirely possible the system you use might include classes not listed here. In that case it is up to the game master whether that particular class will be playable or not. For the most part classes not modeled after personalities specific to Earth based civilizations should be ok.

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