Tamru's page

Dot this and delete your post when you can. Once we get the details worked out, I'll post our intro.

Welcome. You guys should have a link to Discord in the PM I sent. If you're opposed to using Discord, that's probably OK as long as you can PM me your email address or you can present some alternative that works for me.

I won't need it often. Just to check in when you're busy before botting your character, that sort of thing.

Also, my plan is to use Roll20 for the maps in this campaign and I'll link an image of the current combat state so you guys can check it on your phone. I'm happy to move tokens for you if you need.

If that solution doesn't work out for some reason, I can switch to Google Docs. But I have everything set up in Roll20 already from a previous campaign so let's start with that.

I'll have the link up shortly.

Diamond Lake: The Emporium

Today is Shag Solomon's birthday. Not that you'd normally know that, or care; the wildman spends most of his time rubbing noses with the nobility in town, when he isn't on display in the "Gallery of Science". But the Emporium is hosting a party of sorts and anyone with a ticket gets in free. Which is weird because that place is a party, but who are you to argue? What's important is that you managed to get your hands on a ticket. The door charge to get into the upper floor is 3 silver, typically beyond your means. But free... that price sounds much better. And you could definitely use a break from the tepid drudgery that makes up your average day.

Upon entering, you encounter a small desk station manned by a grinning, businesslike attendant. The thin, balding man smiles wryly at you, a gesture accentuated by his upcurled mustache. You've seen Gaspar around, you're not sure he knows any other expression.

"Ah! A ticket! How fortunate! Do come in.. yes, yes! Do come in!" The man wastes no time waving you toward the stairs, where you can hear a quiet preview of the excitement to come.

You glance over at the closed up "Gallery" before heading up, where you're greeted by a riot of exciting sound, dampened somewhat by the nine foot monster of a man glaring at you from the top of the stairs. Kurlag usually doesn't have to do much here, his presence alone serves as a pretty good deterrent. You've seen him throw people out by twos before though, one in each hand. Best to stay on good behavior.

Music plays from the stage across the large gaming hall, its laid-back sound serving as a counterpoint to the eager players, gambling their money away with cards and dice alike. Right away, you figure out why the "Gallery" is closed. The dealers and attendants are still working today, but it looks like the freaks are out to play for the wildman's birthday.

At one table, the combustible magician, the halfling Ariello Klint torments a flirtatious "Three-Dragon Ante" dealer, casting his flames tauntingly near the cards, to the annoyance of the other players.

At another table, a little blue creature with a large bulbous head, the contortionist, Tom Shingle sits with his chin on the table, one foot casually casting dice over his head onto the table. You're not sure where his other foot is.

At the same table, the alluring Chezabet pouts, her arms crossed in front of her chest, pointedly not throwing dice. It seems nobody wants to gamble with a fortune teller.

The dealer doesn't look happy to have either of them at his table.

Your attention is drawn to the center of the room, where Shag Solomon and Zalamandra stand, idly talking with several well-dressed patrons, in front of a curious open-topped maze. You've heard of the "Rat Game" before, but it doesn't look like it's starting just yet.

There's a lot more going on, but this should be plenty, I think. You could've gotten your ticket from a friend in the Emporium or through other, less honorable means. Feel free to interact with any of the named NPCs, including the doorman or the bouncer if you want. You can also sit down at either table or go and wait for the Rat Game, which I may narrate if anyone shows interest. The band playing music is meant to be in the background, but I can come up with something for them if there's an interesting reason to.

Also, while you're broke at the start of the story, this is some time before that, so you could conceivably have some coin to gamble with if you wanted.

Oh and why not:

Is modern profanity allowed/appropriate for characters on this forum? I've been listening to Joe Abercrombie lately and I really like the feel of his characters.

If not, what type of language do characters use that could be considered profane/offensive if I wanted to portray a vulgar character?

Since the beginning of history, humanity has measured time in Ages. Ages of Glory, of Dreams and even of Great Sorrows mark the human tally of years, giving a sense of order to the events of past centuries. But one age has yet to occur--an age of darkness, of decay, and of writhing doom. Witty bards and wrathful preachers know it as the Age of Worms, weaving it into the peripheries of their passion plays as a mythic era of destruction that could begin at any time. Astrologers, diviners, and the servants of Fate know more. The canniest among them fear that the Age of Worms has already begun...

Hey all, this is an open recruitment for a story set in the original D&D world of Greyhawk. While it would be possible to convert it to Golarion, the dark theme fits too comfortably into the unforgiving world of Greyhawk for me to want to change it.

Before we go any further, I want you to suspend any character concepts you're thinking of. There's something I need you to do before even thinking about a character, but that comes a little later.

I'll be looking for 4-5 players to join me in a tale I've told numerous times. The story takes characters from level 1 all the way to level 21. It's a little bit dungeon crawl, a little bit hack and slash, but it's mostly a story of exploration and discovery. There are mysteries to be solved and truths to be uncovered, not many of them particularly happy ones. A majority of the roleplay and character devolopment should happen between player characters, but this is important as the plot leaves you uncertain of who might be your enemies, so you need to be sure of your friends. The party will quite often feel like it is alone against the world.

This is my first real foray into PbP gaming so I'm very open to suggestions and criticism as things move forward. I'll also be nailing down the details of how I plan to run this game as part of the discussion following recruitment, which I'll leave open for 2 weeks.

Post Rate: I'm expecting a post rate of once per day at minimum. I'd be open to allowing a slower post rate on weekends if everyone wanted. I can personally post every evening after work, multiple times per evening most nights.

Communication: I have set up a Discord server as a way to communicate real-time for anyone who needs to delay posting for personal reasons or for anyone who just has a quick question here and there. I am requiring that players use this with me as a way to keep us all accountable. You don't need to put the app on your phone if you don't want (that's how I'm using it), but I won't be accepting applicants who refuse to use Discord at all. I might be open to alternatives to Discord as well.

Etiquette: There are some good posts on PbP etiquette here and here. I intend to use these as strong guidelines for my game, but I also have a few other things to add. First of all, and most importantly, the party needs to work together. This campaign is challenging enough without the party opposing each other. It's OK for there to be character conflict and arguments, but when it comes down to taking action, I need you to find a way for your characters to be on the same page. This means no evil alignments at all (in over a decade of GMing, I think I've had one evil character played in such a way that didn't create problems within the party). Also, in a similar vein, please do not include allies in the area of your detrimental spells without discussing it OOC first (via discord or the discussion board). I don't know why, but it seems like in half of the groups I get together, the sorcerer wants to Sirocco the barbarian because he can 'hit two more enemies that way'. This is not fun for the barbarian or the cleric to deal with.

Backdrop: The campaign will start in the lively mining town of Diamond Lake, a muddy smudge on the map of the hills east of the fabulous Free City of Greyhawk. Diamond Lake's inhabitants are predominately miners and laborers, serious folk who spend most of their lives toiling below ground. When not working, the miners celebrate along the Vein, a seedy road lined with alehouses and brothels. Overall, the village is a sooty, sullen place prone to unpleasant bursts of violence and passion. Nobody likes it here. Not really.

As characters, you're stuck here for some reason. Either you grew up in Diamond Lake and know no different, or you got caught here coming through and now you can't afford to leave. You're broke, bored and tired of the daily toil that is Diamond Lake. Right now, you'd probably jump at even a remote chance at something interesting happening.

So when a trio of richly dressed adventurers come into town, bragging about their plans to explore the long-abandoned Stirgenest Cairn (which is notoriously bereft of anything interesting or valuable at all) and after you or a friend come across an outdated map with some markings that aren't on modern maps, you decide to check one of them out. You don't have anything better to do on your day off. Besides, it gets you out of town at least. And with a name like The Whispering Cairn, it's probably more interesting than staying home.

Remember I asked you to wait before coming up with concepts because I had something specific for you to do? Here it is. With the town of Diamond Lake and your predicament in mind, listen to this song that really captures the setting while you come up with a character concept.

I will provide a lot more detail on Diamond Lake and it's inhabitants on the campaign page throughout the recruitment period. I also have a bit more detail on the exact starting scenario depending on the specific characters that end up participating. Typically, I start this campaign in town but given the scope of the campaign and how slow PbP is, we'll start the actual game at the entrance to The Whispering Cairn. We'll need to connect the characters in some way to give them a reason to be exploring the Cairn together, but we can figure that out later.

I've been GMing 3.5 and Pathfinder for almost 16 years over the table, with some online over Roll20 with voice chat more recently. In all of my experience, there's one story that I've run for multiple groups and anytime I come across a new gaming group, my first instinct is to run the same game. It's weird because I've run many APs and none of them really strike me the way this one does.

It's called The Age of Worms.

Anyway, my situation now is that I really enjoy the groups I game with, but all my players already know the story. They lived it. GMing the story for me is a lot like picking up a favorite old book again. And while it's been a few years since I've run it for them, playing in it again would just fall flat I think.

So, my hope is to use PbP gaming as an outlet to experience my favorite AP again. I know the story inside and out. I've run multiple groups all the way through it, levels 1-21. Plus, I've read through the multiple guide threads stickied at the top of this forum. I'm just hoping to get some further advice for how to get things going.

1. When I went to build the recruitment thread, there didn't seem to be a way to save it without posting it. I wanted to take some time to build the post thoroughly. How is this typically handled?

2. I typically run my games with the players being allowed to use any official paizo content as long as they clear it with me, giving me the option to veto anything that is either inappropriate for the setting or that would unbalance the game. This works pretty well with my home group who are familiar with my style and have a pretty good idea of what I will and won't allow. For a group of strangers, I'm not sure this will work as well. Running a game in the Greyhawk setting will require me to limit a good amount of content based on setting alone. Are there any issues with doing something along the lines of Core only, with additional rules subject to GM approval(with the intention of allowing a good amount of additional material)? My main concerns are a variety of spells that I'd either have to disallow or start having enemies cast to keep things interesting and certain well-known builds that tend to steal the show.

3. Does anyone have any advice for running this campaign specifically in a PbP setting? I've read about some of the challenges of running a dungeon crawl in this format and I have some decent plans for handling that issue, but I'd love to hear from anyone who has run it themselves this way.

LCF