Sharasvar's page

Check out the Stygian songs on the Age of Conan game soundtrack, very fitting for an Egyptian setting.

How sandboxy is it? Are there good RP opportunities in between dungeon crawling? How is the city (merchants, guilds, etc.) integrated with the dungeon crawling?

Well, Varn "knows" because as a governor of the "Nomen Province", a direct vassal to the Restov Swordlords, he regularly corresponds with Jamandi Aldori. :)

Although my system is a full conversion of the Kingdom building rules, the essence boils down to a simple division between the level of the Realm and the level of the Domains.

A Domain is basically a hex with a settlement and surrounded by a maximum of 6 hexes (one hex bordering the settlement hex). As in a more feudalist than absolutist system, Domains are more or less autarkic entities run by Domain Lords. Production and consumption of food and resources takes place primarily within the Domain, surpluses are taxed and traded.

A Domain can be as big or as small as you want it to be, in the sense of a simple Lord ruling a community from his manor, or an Arch-Duke residing in a metropolis.

If you want to slide Kingdom building in the background, you could just appoint a bunch NPCs to become Domain Lords and handwave production etc.

The Realm is the top level of the Kingdom. The King is a suzerain, not a sovereign, which means that (s)he and his/her vassals are bound to a system of rights and duties (military aid, tribute, etc.). In my Kingdom, there is a centralized standing army, paid by Domain taxation, but you could also rule that each Domain Lord has to send a certain number of troops when demanded by their Liege.

The party in my campaign just visited Varnhold (before the disappearance, of course) and I suspect that they'll want to visit - or, at least, scout/spy - Drelev's territory. The PCs are good friends with Maegar Varn, and are negotiating a pact of mutual assistance, trade, etc. In my campaign, Drelev, on the other hand, is from the beginning on bent on annexing the Greenbelt to his own barony. Varn warned the PCs of Drelev's intentions, so there's always a possibility they'll never actually get into Fort Drelev before hostilities ensue. In my campaign, Hannis is also close to the Surtovas, who want a southern ally to keep an eye on House Lebeda. This is before the trouble with Pitax.

I've also added two other settlements: Cloudberry Fields (at the location of...), and Wyvernstone (at Wyvernstone bridge, obviously).

I am *very* interested in your Cyclop-Skywatch approach. Are you planning on writing the whole Skywatch dungeon yourself, or pilfer another source? I'm looking for a suitable published dungeon/module/location to convert to Skywatch myself, as I don't have the time (nor, perhaps, the inspiration) to build everything from the ground.

Also, I introduced the concept of a "Land Diet", an irregular meeting of the Great Houses to discuss Important Stuff. For example, after the Rogarvia disappearance, a Land Diet convened to decide on the Regent. Now, with Prince Tzakiv Korya scheming in Iobaria, trouble in the Stolen Lands, and the constant danger of a Numerian incursion, most Houses are calling for a strong Brevic leadership. In my game, a new Land Diet is to be held, which will decide on the future and the nature of the kingship. The meeting gives the characters lots of opportunities for intrigue and scheming, if your players are up for this. The Land Diet lasts for a week and, apart from politics, also offers games, competitions, and tournaments for the nobility.

On a different note, I added a few hamlets to the Greenbelt, and used a modified "the Feast of Ravenmoor" module when the PCs began raising taxes in one of these settlements. They loved it.

Lastly, I am hosting a group of six players, and I mostly wing the difficulty of the encounters (adding monsters, HP, etc.) without any real problems.

Coincidentally, I was pondering about organizing a pbp EtCR campaign myself :-) I've ran the module as a tabletop GM three times, each time with a different twist.

The first campaign was set in FR's Damara and was embedded in a strong political context. The second was a classic hack and slash adventure set in the Ravenloft universe. The third one, perhaps my favorite one, was a d20 modern variation where the PCs formed some kind of elite intervention team investigating the mysterious disappearance of a millionaire's daughter in contemporary Transylvania. Humvees' and rifles vs. black metal vampires on motorbikes, securing cliché Eastern Europe mob assistance vs. a zombie outbreak, seeking shelter against devilish warped trees in an abandoned military base, etc. Fun times :)

For this episode, I was planning to set Barovia somewhere to the north of Ustalav, btw. A campaign set in the Ravenloft universe would have its own specific and awesome atmosphere, of course. Looking forward to see how you'll handle it!

For a change of pace, my players were going through a silly hack&slash Tomb of Horrors survival session. After getting a deck of many things, one of the players wished for big, flashy, light-emitting traffic arrows, pointing the way to the BBEG's location and any treasure under the way.

This was a strange call to make. On the one hand, it was a relatively underwhelming use of Wish, on the other it changed the very structure of that impenetrable Tomb of Horrors. I decided to roll with it.

The other players were quite frustrated that she hadn't used the wish to simply bring the party to the BBEG, but she answered that they'd miss out on all the loot under the way. Unfortunately, the PCs got slaughtered follow the fiery arrows before they ever reached the BBEG... *grin*

I'm sure this has been addressed before, but a search doesn't turn up any general does and don'ts, apart from the strict yet vague community rules concerning copyrighted material. (As it specifically concerns pbp online campaigns, I'm posting this question in this subforum)

Suppose I'd want to run a pathfinderized pbp of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft here on the boards, what material can I use from the book?
I've seen a few wotc modules (such as Red Hand of Doom) being played out here, so I assume that it's alright to follow the plotline of the published adventure and to use the names of NPCs, locations, etc. Is this correct?

What about typical read-aloud fragments (this room is...), introductory texts (Barovia is...), vignettes...? Copy, adapt, or just make up stuff of your own?

Thanks

Congrats everyone, a pity I haven't had a little more time to put into my character - lots of exam grading to be done.

Looking forward to reading how the story unfolds!

I'm throwing in Dragomyr Drorshull, a Dwarven shipwright (a wizard (transmuter), whom I hope to multiclass with a few levels of fighter and/or rogue)

A quick tesla tank build ^^

TESLA TANK (CR10)
Size: Huge Construct (mindless)
HD: 13HD
HP: 122HP
AC: 24 (Dex +1, natural armor +13), ff AC 23, touch AC 11
Initiative: +1
Speed: 75ft
Senses: blindsight 60ft
Melee: slam +21 (2d8+8) plus conduction (1d6 electricity)
Saves: Fort+4, Ref+5, Will+4
Immune: construct traits
Defensive abilities: DR10/-, resist cold, fire 10
Special attacks: breath weapon (60-ft. line, 10d8 electricity damage, Reflex DC16 for half, usable every 1d4 rounds), powerful charge (slam, 4d8+16), trample (2d8+12, DC24), conduction (1d6 electricity)
Abilities: Str26, Dex12, Con--, Int—, Wis--, Cha--

==> Path of Kings We're eight play sessions into the campaign, I think.

Note the wiki entries on Kingdom Building & Mass Combat, rules which are derived from multiple sources, changed and adapted to fit the campaign ^^

A quick overview of some elements:

* Instead of building points there are resource, food, and bullion points. The nature of production depends on the type of hexes, the amount on the size of the population center.

* The kingdom consists of two 'levels': its base are the Domains (effectively a settlement with some hexes), ruled by Domain Lords (which gives all players a chance to govern) and the main 'unit' that produces, consumes, and builds. Its superstructure is the Realm, which is governed by the ruler and which creates military units and oversees the Domains.

* Domains & the Realm have six ability scores (Power, Efficiency, Economy, Politics, Prestige and Authority), reflecting those of their leaders. Checks are made on the basis of these abilities.

* Mass combat units are designed as simple creatures with HD, abilities, etc. As a rule of thumb, the CR of a mass combat unit is equal to its HD minus 3. This enables individual PCs to interact with these units on the battlefield using normal combat rules, or the PCs can choose to lead a mass combat unit, granting it specific bonuses. This also creates the feel of epic or mythic play at higher levels as players will be still challenged by low-level enemies, but as whole armies instead of individual creatures...

Of course, we're still play-testing these rules throughout the campaign.

When I think of Irovetti, I'm immediately reminded of captain Bertorelli from the Allo Allo series: http://forum.net.hr/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Discussio ns.Components.Files/14/1563.bertorelli04mn9.jpg

Pitax as a hubristic Fascist-type steampunk realm seems fitting, yes. Tesla tanks and other automatons will also balance the military overweight of the players' realm vis-à-vis Pitax by that time :)

My players are quite into the mystery of the disappearance of House Rogarvia and the 'event' of the Varnhold Vanishing will undoubtedly encourage them to draw the conclusion that the two phenomena are interconnected. And why not, as it seems exactly the thing the Oculus of Abbadon would be able to accomplish?

Following this line of thinking, there are a few possibilities. Firstly, that there is more than one oculus, which, however devaluates the importance of the artifact. Not in favor of this option. Secondly, the oculus has been stolen from Vordakai, and then was returned. How? Why? The events of VV presume that Vordakai is just re-emerging from his slumber, getting to know the world, etc. So either he has been awake for some time - enough time to get out to retrieve his oculus. While this plotline is a possibility, I'm going for something different altogether.

Suppose that someone did found out about the artifact, its history, and current location, and tried to steal it, only to awaken the lich in the process? And suppose that said person was Noleski Surtova (or a close family member or vassal of his). Two possible scenarios unfold: either Noleski blackmails Vordakai into helping him, e.g. by threatening to destroy his phylactery (which he retrieved how?), or Vordakai dominates Noleski, picks his brain on contemporary politics, and uses him as an intermediary to rule in his stead, while the lich rebuilds his strength.

Why doesn't Vordakai simply do his evil lich stuff and get rid of Noleski? Well, I thought of an interesting twist on the "atrophied lich" theme. Suppose Vordakai is the original Vordakai Cyclops Overlord who ruled before Earthfall, and not a minor student of his. Suppose he foresaw the cataclysmic event, and prepared, much like the Runelords, for his own survival. In my scenario, Vordakai, seated on his throne, which was hewn out of the stone foundations of the Tors of Levenies, melded with the mountains. Yet, as always, something went terribly wrong, and the wizard did not awake as planned. Instead he was slowly petrified into the rocks. He only survived because of the presence of the Oculus in his head.

So, when Vordakai awakes, he is a fully capable lich, probably a 20th level caster with some mythic tiers thrown in, but much of his spellcasting is useless to him, as he could be considered paralyzed. Let's be lenient and say that he has been lucky and knows Still Spell, Silent Spell and has taken the Eschew Materials feat. :)
He still cannot cast spells with expensive material components or focus. Neither can he take any action that physically moves him, as he is still considered melded into stone. Last but not least, he cannot prepare new spells unless someone or something is kind or obedient enough to hold a spellbook in front of him (or in front of his familiar). So the spells he has remembered are those which he prepared more than 10,000 years ago, right before he melded into the rocks. Would he have prepared all these spells as Still/Silent spells? Doubtful.

The best poor Vordakai can hope for is someone coming along that destroys him, so he can reform non-paralyzed near his phylactery. The second best is to dominate a capable minion that turns the pages of his spellbook so he can devise a way to escape in a magical way.

Enter Noleski Surtova. First he's quite afraid of the lich, then he realizes that Vordakai doesn't pose a threat in his current condition. He cannot retrieve the Oculus without destroying the petrified lich. But by doing so he releases the age-old wizard (let's agree that Noleski doesn't know the location of the lich's phylactery). So he strikes a bargain with the creature: Vordakai is to help Noleski with his Oculus, and in return Noleski pledges either to destroy/free the lich, or get his spellbook. Vordakai sends his familiar with Noleski, doing his neat trick through his telepathic link with the creature. Noleski, however, isn't planning on keeping his promise to the elder creature and tries to kill the familiar as soon as the task is complete. The raven escapes, however, returning to the lich.

In the following years, the new regent is kept busy governing the realm, continuously postponing to deal with Vordakai, who remains, after all, locked somewhere far away from the Dragonscale Throne. Probably Noleski has taken the lich's spellbook in order to make sure that Vordakai will not find some gullible creature to help him escape. Vordakai sees the centaurs as nothing but animals, so he doesn't try to 'transport' them to his tomb. Patiently he waits. Over the years some poor souls find and enter the tomb, but none of them are able spellcasters, useful to the lich.

Then Maegar Varn arrives in the Nomen Heights region and begins to build a settlement, so Vordakai begins to plot a devious plan to take revenge on the Surtovas. Through his familiar he spies on the Varnhold citizens until he spots the arrival of the wizard Cephal Lorentus. Some time after that Vordakai uses the Oculus to grab the wizard and the whole Varnhold population to his tomb - the wizard because the lich hopes he knows of some spells that can release him, the rest because they can serve as (undead) minions in the army he envisions. For Vordakai's goals, however, the wizard is next to useless. Probably a Freedom or Disintegrate spell or adamantine weaponry is needed to release/destroy him from the stone(?).

Enter the PCs. Most of VV can be played as written. Minor changes in the tomb concerning Vordakai's appearances. It becomes interesting when the PCs finally encounter the petrified lich: destroying him will only release him, unless they're able to find his phylactery (a possible high-level quest in itself), while leaving him alone is no final solution either. Perhaps the PCs can temporarily ally with Nyrissa to find a means to defeat him, who is herself concerned over the re-awakening of such a powerful foe in her Stolen Lands. Vordakai, for his part, will do anything to convince the PCs to ally with him, possibly against the Surtovas and/or Nyrissa.

In any case, the lich is 'preserved' for a higher-level climax, unless the players are smart enough to deal with him presently.

So, are there any narrative and mechanical loopholes I'm missing?

Well well, lots of new and interesting ideas to draw from, thanks :)

Meanwhile, a lot of curious developments from my side of the gaming table:

1. After the battle at Oleg's the Wolf Lord sent Akiros to the party to negotiate a Spring truce, in order to rebuild his forces. The PCs agreed, on their own terms, which interestingly delayed the confrontation with the Wolf Lord for a few months. They began to explore the regions above the Wolf Lord's fortress and as they're fastly gaining in level, I'm contemplating now of mixing some of the Broken Moon (CC AP) encounters and plot into the Wolf Lord's region.

2. Hargulka was displeased with the Wolf Lord's pathetic performance and is putting him under pressure to drive the 'newcomers' back into Rostland. I'm still pondering on the emerging conflict between Hargulka and the Wolf Lord, who are both vying for Nyrissa's favor, and how this will develop.

3. I've let the players slowly and organically begin their kingdom building even before they've defeated the Wolf Lord and it is going smoothly, especially because my kingdom phases are timed seasonally and not monthly.

4. I've put two small settlements east to the Narlmarches on the map, to give the impression of a sparsely inhabited but still humanly populated land. The players brought these two hamlets under their control and I threw a modified 'Feast of Ravenmoor' as side-adventure in one of the settlements, which the players quite enjoyed.

5. The storyline of the 'Feast of Ravenmoor' was integrated with the main plot, because after the 'cleansing' of the village the players unwittingly cleared the Path of Dreams, through which Nyrissa influences the Stolen Lands.

6. In my plotline, Nyrissa is the unwanted offspring of the fey Queen Mab, who seduced King Oberon. She has been imprisoned (with some heavy influences from the 'Realm of the Fellnight Queen' module) and cannot as of yet escape the Fellnight Realm, but she can walk the Path of Dreams. This is the way she influences such NPCs as Irovetti, the Wolf Lord, Hargulka, etc.

7. The PCs have been invited by Elana Varn, the niece of Maegar Varn, to attend the Land Diet of Brevoy, a meeting where the noble houses of Rostland and Issia meet. Since the disappearance of House Rogarvia, this meeting has gained in importance as it was the Land Diet that recognized and legitimized the Surtova regency. The Rostland factions are concerned that the Surtovas will use the next Land Diet to finally crown Noleski as King of Brevoy, as they've been busy gathering support among the houses for Noleski's claim. In any case, the PC Leader is now courted by the different noble houses, promising titles and lands (the Greenbelt effectively) if she supports (or not) the Surtova claim.
The PCs, however, are suspicious of the Surtovas and they have shown a strong interest in the disappearance of House Rogarvia - so much in fact that they have arranged a meeting between themselves, their ally Maegar Varn, and Magistra Nadiya, who rules the Rogarvia estates in stead of the noble family. So before the Land Diet, the party is going to Varnhold to speak to Magistra Nadiya. Fun times :)

8. Obviously the 'Varnhold Vanishing' is put on hold until some time after the Land Diet, although the PCs will hear of some trouble in the south of the Nomen Heights, disappearing settlers etc.

That's all for the moment!

Ditch the ridiculous bonus.

Ditch the extra action thing.

Secure high dex players' ability to shine.

Add some dice rolling.

Add some randomness.

Amazing Initiative: When rolling for initiative, you roll 2d20, taking the best result as your base initiative. If you roll a 20, you may take an extra standard action during the first round of combat. For each use of mythic power, you roll an additional d20 to determine your initiative.

I'll shamelessly copy some of these ideas, thanks :)

Can you elaborate on the Druid's Circle?

Dear members of the board, I've been lurking here for a while, but now my Kingmaker campaign is shaping up nicely, I decided to share my variations on our shared Kingmaker theme. :)

First of all, I love published adventures and paths, but I have the habit -often good, sometimes bad- of turning and twisting them until they become something entirely different. For the Kingmaker AP I had decided to stay close to the original, but in the end I couldn't resist tinkering with, well, almost everything.

There are things I decided to change from the outset, and things that got transformed from session to session.

Everything below will be spoilers, so future and current players: don't read any further.

THINGS I PLANNED TO CHANGE

Goal: Starting play in Restov, and spending some time introducing the Swordlords, Brevoy, Maegar Varn, etc. Giving the players a sense of "arriving" in the Stolen Lands. Giving the players a sense of accomplishment before their first step into the Greenbelt.
Effect: In the end we spent three sessions on Restov and the road to Oleg's. Brief reports can be found here, here and here.

Goal:Playing up the fey aspect, and heavily foreshadowing Nyrissa.
Effect:Dreams, fey encounters on the road, and an ominous episode at Fort Serenko achieved the goal of establishing a(n evil) fey presence within the background of almost every session. Players now know of the mysterious "Lady with Green Hair", but nothing else.

Goal: Playing up the political scheming in Brevoy and its relation to the players' expedition.
Effect: This was realized in the first few sessions, as House Surtova plays an active role in sabotaging the expeditions, and the threat of civil war looms over Brevic politics.

Goal:Changes in the kingdom building / mass combat rules. (1) Making feudalistic Domains instead of the Kingdom the focus of realm building, so each PC and important NPC will have its own small fiefdom (2) Replacing build points by resources/food. (3) more "civilization"-like feel to the whole process. (4) Less Kingdom building turns with more to do.
Effect I took a clue from other kingdom building and mass combat systems and I invented a few things of my own. The most dramatic changes are the Domain system, the ability system which treats Domains/Realms as characters, the seasonal governance phases, the military unit structure. You can find them here, below Lore of the Stolen Lands.

THINGS WHICH GOT CHANGED ALONG THE WAY

Bandits at Oleg's Players arrived when bandits were presently threatening Oleg and his wife. This was a much more dramatic intro to Oleg's.

Bandits' revenge Knowing my players I should have realized they would go after the bandit camp as soon as they heard it existed. Their "stealth" mission, however, failed, as usual, and they were barely able to retreat to Oleg's. Instead of letting them attack the bandits a second time, I had the bandits coming to them for revenge in great numbers, which really scared them and resulted in an awesome battle defending the palisade.

Stag Lord? Well, with a heavy presence of Erastil, and one of my players being an Erastil druid, a "stag" lord seemed a bit much to me. For some reason. He got turned into a Wolf Lord. And a lycanthrope. So did his lieutenants. Instead of a mere bandit chief, he became the leader of a small, primeval human tribe who revered him almost as a demi-god.

Kesten Garess His noble background was emphasized. Oh and his wife Tania came along. Together with a dozen or so members of his household and a dozen loyal warriors. They came in handy during the battle at Oleg's. Now there's a strong bond of camaraderie between the PCs and Kesten.

And many more small things.

I'll keep you all posted of any other "variations", and welcome any comments :)