The Harrow GM's page

It is always raining in Havengul. In the city proper, brick buildings and cobblestone streets keep everything clean and civilized, but outside the walls nearer to the land, where the farms are, everything is constantly mired in mud. The city is famous for a few things: Its dockyard, where ships that dare to brave the kraken-infested seas bring goods from faraway continents is one. The city's university, high on a cliff overlooking the sea, features gardens, aquariums, and libraries that are the envy of Innistrad.

Havengul is also known for its criminal underbelly. The city's extensive sewers are at once a vital piece of sanitary infrastructure and a haven for smugglers, mad scientists, corpse traders, runaway skaabs, and nonhumans. It is said even that a lich lives in the sewers, and steals the power from those who suffer the misfortune of crossing his path. Havengul does not have much in the way of town authorities, though a small number of Avacynian zealots do operate out of a small abbey in the town (even after their patroness' death) and hunt monsters that grow too public. The city's governing body is a simple merchants' consortium, who concern themselves much more with import taxes than with the murder of a peasant at the hands of a zombie now and again.

Outside of the city's walls, the county of Nephalia spreads. The short distance inland to the borders of Gavony and Stensia is mostly swamp, farmland, and the occasional hermit dwelling, while the bulk of Nephalia is made up of rocky, clifflike beaches that glitter in the moonlight, the banks of the Nephalia River that leads inland, and the three towns: Havengul, Drunau, and Selhoff. The towns are linked by a fortified road network, but outside of the towns and their roads, the wilds are dangerous and dirty. The swamps are haunted by ghastly undead, as well as strange and terrible beasts, and the creatures of the ocean are hostile to human life. As a result, the people of Nephalia are almost entirely urbane and civil.

Today, it is a Friday. It is getting close to sunset. The markets, located near the docks, are starting to close up as the merchants haul their goods back into the dockside warehouses. Urchins paid pennies by the merchants' consortium run through the cobbled streets with matches and oil, lighting up the streetlights, while the bars start to play their music. The nighttime professions begin to be seen. Ever since Emrakul was defeated, things in Havengul seem to be... almost normal. Aside from the occasional mutated creature that crawls out of the swamp from time to time, the only threats have been regular and mundane for some time. Today is a fairly average day. There is a light rain, and it has been cloudy all day.

Where are you and what are you doing right now? If you prepare spells or any other resources, please confirm that your character sheet reflects what you have available today. Please add a header with relevant defensive information, and somewhere on your sheet to track resource expenditure.

Hello folks,

I'm very sorry for the long and unanticipated delay. I'm moving, and I've been saying goodbye to some loved ones in the city where I live now, so I've been sort of avoiding the computer as of late. It shouldn't happen too often.

Before we start posting in Gameplay, I'd like to go over a few things with one another here, in Discussion. I will make a Gameplay post soon, and folks who have checked in can visit there.

I'd like us to briefly touch on:

Where does my character live?
What's my character's job?
Do any of us know one another?
Do I anticipate any interpersonal problems with any members of the party?
Why is my character in Havengul?

Havengul, Nephalia is a prosperous city. Its position on the SIlburlind River and the coast allows it access to trade from many directions, and it is partially protected by the Avacynian fort known as the Elgaud Grounds. At least it was, until recently. The archangel Avacyn, humanity’s greatest protector, fell prey to a monster from beyond the boundaries of this dimension and now her blessings no longer protect humanity. Though another archangel, Sigarda, rose in Avacyn’s place, Sigarda is not as powerful as Avacyn was, leaving many people in great danger. Though the forces of evil are also recovering from the attack by the extradimensional monsters, it will not be long before they turn their sights back to the world of men and see a world without its defenses. Soon after that, there will be attacks. The world of men must be ready, or it will be destroyed.

Havengul, where our story will be introduced, is an evil mercantile port town. Its greatest threat is Jelava, a vampire psychic, who preys at random on the citizens of the province without regard for consequences. The humans of Nephalia are typically suspicious, prone to caution, and cunning. They face threats from many more directions than simply the manor of Jelava, for the seas where the merchants ply their trade are infested with creatures and every corner of the city may house its own horror. Some say even that a lich makes his home somewhere in Havengul’s sewers, but few believe that story entirely.

Characters will be introduced on a fairly typical day in Havengul, so they must have a personal reason for being there, whether it be because it is their hometown or for some other reason. They may know one another ahead of time, but they will be drawn together by a mutual interest in a magical anomaly that strikes the town. Once together, characters will cooperate to face monsters that plague humanity. Not all characters must be motivated by the desire to combat evil, but characters’ motivation should generally push them in the same direction. A mad scientist character, for instance, might be motivated by gathering samples of various monsters, or a geistbinder by making sure that all those slain rest peacefully.

Characters do not have to be from Havengul, but they do have to be from Innistrad. Innistrad is a dark, terrible place unfit for people. Its mountains are haunted by bloodthirsty dragons, and its forests are infested with flesh-eating oozes and werewolves. Its swamps are filled with witches and vampires, and the islands guarded by krakens. Its greatest city, Thraben, is in chaos. Thraben was ruled by the Church of Avacyn when the angel fell, and so the city is experiencing civil unrest and governmental uncertainty. The werewolf forest is disrupted by beasts mutated into terrible abominations, and the vampire clans are depleted by their participation in the war against the abominations.

Build Guidelines:

I would like to see flavorful, versatile builds that reflect the story that you have created. I would like to see characters with multiple descriptors, at least one relationship with someone else, a fear, a hope, a job, and a place to live. With their starting level, these characters will be among the most competent people on the plane. Imagine Innistrad as a Epic 8 setting, and Magic: The Gathering as a full 20-level setting. Your characters should be guard captains, academy professors, swamp horrors, feared raiders, or a similarly impactful character archetype. I want to give my players the opportunity to wield authority, not just the power of their character sheets. On the other hand, I will be requiring rolls for most game-relevant situation, so if you want your character to be a successful politician they should invest in Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate, Sense Motive, Knowledge (local), and have class abilities that could theoretically aid with their ambitions. I hope that explanation has gotten across what I’m looking for. Specific directions are below.

Basic Info: Characters will begin at level 7, with ability scores generated using 20 point buy. Characters will be restricted to 1,500gp starting finances and can only spend money on non-magical items. Characters with craft feats may begin with magical items and receive an allowance of 4,000gp to spend on their enchantments. All first-party material that can be found on Archives of Nethys is permitted, following the restrictions baked into the material itself. For example, to use material marked for Kelesh characters, your character should be Arabic in origin. All characters must be human, vampire, demon, or werewolf. For vampire, demon, or werewolf statistics, use dhampir, tiefling, and skinwalker. Characters may select 2 traits and no drawbacks.

Clerics, inquisitors, and warpriests must choose Sigarda or Ormendahl as their patron (deity information listed below). Druids, hunters, rangers, and paladins are unrestricted in their domain and alignment choice.

Optional Rules: We will be utilizing Automatic Bonus Progression from Pathfinder Unchained. The Big Six items with numerical bonuses do not exist in this world. Items such as the belt of the weasel which are partially those items have the effect and cost of the relevant item deducted from their cost.

I am prepared to allow the use of Dreamscarred Press’ Path of War and Psionics options, including all classes, feats, prestige classes, and additional skills, but not including races or traditions.

---

I think it will take a little while to whip up some decent 7th-level characters, and I want to allow some time for people who procrastinate to get it done too. Plus, I’m moving soon, so I am in no hurry to get started. Let's say three weeks (ending on the 26th of July) to finish characters with GM clarification and audit. Close recruitment, ask some questions to all applicants, and select soon after that.

Other than future disruptions to the normal schedule, when there are player actions for me to respond to, I am available to post continuations to the story 4 or 5 days each week. In terms of full duration, I don’t know. A single dungeon can take three months or it can take a year, or it can be never finished, depending on the party. However, I would ideally like to complete two AP-segment-length chapters. I would like to bring characters up to level 11, as they become the champions of their home plane and enter interplanar politics. I would like to resolve that story before it gets too absurd, though, and leave characters as great interdimensional heroes.

Anyway. Let me know if there are any questions or anything I can help with. If you are unfamiliar with Innistrad, you can find some information here.

Hey all,

I've been thinking about this forum, and considering adding another game. I think the genre and game that I'm most interested is oceanic horror. I'm interested in using an established, classic-seeming world that is not Golarion, and I'm interested in using the Pathfinder system.

My choice of setting is the Magic: the Gathering plane of Innistrad. Wizards has published a guide to Innistrad for players of 5e in its Plane Shift: Innistrad PDF. You'll be able to take a look if you're unfamiliar with MTG or Innistrad in particular.

I'd like to choose Innistrad because it's fairly classic. Vampires live in their castles and rule a whole land of sheeple humans. There's a coastal region where cultists worship krakens. There's a horrible mountain range where dragons live. There's forest humans who are sometimes werewolves. It's good, comprehensible, standard Gothic horror.

Characters will all be humans from one of the four provinces of Innistrad: Established and successful Gavony, Rural and independent Kessig, Foggy and coastal Nephalia, or the vampire-ruled county of Stensia. The story will revolve around the various human settlements and threats to their security, starting in Nephalia with a mad scientist's creations roaming the streets.

So, if I were to publish some more specific character-creation guidelines, who would like to jump in on this adventure?

Hey all,

I'm keeping a game going after a few dropouts. Currently I have two live PCs and one PC who is dead, but who has not yet communicated about the future of his character. I am looking for three additional adventurers to round out our party and make sure that we have lots of options when dealing with problems.

The adventure is on a time limit -- the party has 60 days to solve all of a variety of problems within the Vale. Their employer is the city of Korvosa, which is attempting to open up a trade route through the Vale, a wilderness area haunted by many monsters. The next day will be Day 3, so we've just barely gotten started. Dropping in and dropping out is fairly simple, though, since it's not an "end of the world/destined heroes" type situation, and is basically just about working for a monarch to fight monsters.

Character Creation:
Begin at 6th level.
15 point-buy, Core races only.
Use Automatic Bonus Progression (and half wealth, or 8,000gp).
Use Background Skills.

We have a Wizard and a Battle Herald already, who play our party's arcane and our support. My goal here is to have a pretty classic party, which means that of the (up to) three party members selected, I will be selecting one skilled character (such as a rogue, investigator, stalker vigilante, or inquisitor) one divine character (such as an oracle, cleric, shaman, or druid) and one martial character (such as a barbarian, fighter, paladin, or antipaladin).

I want a solid idea of how your character might behave. In that line, I'd like you to explain why you chose your character's alignment. I'd like a description of appearance (including equipment and clothing) and background. I'd like to know where your character is from, and what their goals are. I expect characters to be motivated by the notion of a land grant or large payment in gold.

I expect to see some blending of the backstory and the character's abilities. For example, if your character is a sorcerer, I'd like to see their sorcerous bloodline addressed in their backstory somewhere. Abilities tied to flavorful places in Golarion (such as Varisian Tattoo) should be restricted to characters from the appropriate demographic.

Our game thread is here, if you'd like to read it. The module we are going through is called Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale. It runs until 8th level, at which point I am open to continuing with additional modules.

Discuss!

Four mercenaries on the road together, headed through Korvosan territory and on the road to the Bloodsworn Vale. Having gathered at the Four Points in at the last crossroads, the four proceed together to Fort Thorn for their meeting with Sir Tolgrith.

Please describe your characters as they are on the road to Fort Thorn.

"Land, Gold, and Titles!"

That is the headline on the advertisement answered by your mercenary company. Those words are about Bloodsworn Vale, a wild area in the north of Cheliax, long neglected. Following the Glorious Reclamation and the deposition of Queen Ileosa Arabasti, the new monarchs of Korvosa have declared a claim to the Vale. However, the land has proven to be a greater challenge than the martial crew assigned to it. Sir Tolgrith, the Chelaxian knight in charge, has put out a call for strong warriors to reinforce Fort Thorn, the military encampment where the venture is centered. Among the threats to the Fort are a clan of bugbears, giant spiders, fire drakes, a chimera, a medusa, and a tribe of lizardfolk.

Game Type: Extended module (6th-8th level). Classic adventuring against simple foes. Adventurers make expeditions into the wilderness to conquer local threats over a two-month period, making the area safe for settlement. Some battles will be theater-of-the-mind, some will have a simple battlemap on Google Drawings. Encounter selection is somewhat sandbox. A map will be provided, along with intel, and the group will choose which areas to investigate. The goal is to pacify every area.

Party: 4 or 5. Looking for some representation of the four traditional D&D roles, with allowance made for the 5th Member (traditionally a bard). Some diversity is expected, of course, with the number of options available in Pathfinder today. Please do not ask me, "Will [class name] work for [role]?" It's your job to figure that out.

Hook: Party members are part of an existing mercenary company that elects to go together to the Bloodsworn Vale. Advertisements for the job were posted all over Cheliax in public areas. Your characters may be from anywhere, but they were passing through Cheliax.

Duration: As a hopeful goalpost, I hope to spend about six months on this venture. At 8th level, characters will face an enemy who also has plans for the Vale. Once that enemy has been conquered, characters will be rewarded and be able to retire.

Character Creation:
Begin at 6th level.
15 point-buy, Core races only.
Use Automatic Bonus Progression (and half wealth, or 8,000gp).
Use Background Skills.

I want a solid idea of how your character might behave. In that line, I'd like you to explain why you chose your character's alignment. I'd like a description of appearance (including equipment and clothing) and background. I'd like to know where your character is from, and what their goals are. I expect characters to be motivated by the notion of a land grant or large payment in gold.

When multiple characters get posted, I'd like y'all to discuss how you think your character might get along with others. I have no alignment or personality requirements other than that they could theoretically be in a mercenary company with others that are posted here.

Start Date: December 6th

Let me know if I've forgotten anything.

The Outpost of New Bayrut, a brief description.

The Atrium is the center of the settlement. The Atrium is a large natural stone chamber with an open pool of clean, cool water at the center. The roots of a strange white tree stick into the chamber from above and into the pool of water. Six sealed research labs ring the chamber.

Pathways from the Atrium lead...

North, to the Loading Bay, which is a raised gantry with cranes open to the sands below. This room is hot, and to get here one must pass through an airlock. The cranes are used to lift trucks from the sands into the settlement, where travelers can disembark. No trucks are currently parked (although if a PC has a vehicle, that could be stored here). Also here are storage lockers with survival equipment.

South, to the Habitat Tunnels, which are a four-hallway by four-hallway grid. Each hallway is filled with doors that lead to small dormitories. Each dormitory has two bunk beds, a water dispenser with a ration indicator, and two small wardrobes. There are about eighty dorms in total. Also here are two small communal kitchens and eight closetlike bathrooms.

Down, to the Aeroponics Farm. In Aeroponics, plants are hung on shelving units and occasionally sprayed with water. The farm is a massive open chamber separated by glass walls. Dozens of people work down here producing food for not only the whole settlement, but for trade as well.

Up, to the Surface Exit. An airlock provides access to the surface atop a low mountain. Stored on the outside are maintenance tools for the solar panels and wind generators that cover the mountain's surface, and a small footpath winds down the mountainside to the dunes below. This is rarely used due to the heat.

Hey all, I'm back!

I'm here to offer a homebrew play-by-post adventure. It will go for at least a few months, and if things are going smoothly with a dedicated playerbase, then it has the potential to continue on for longer. I am looking to start making gameplay posts in approximately a month.

It will be set in a homebrew world based on the work of Eclipse Phase (The Babel Virus), Altered Carbon (the cortical stack) and the Diamond Age (nanofabrication technology). I am looking for between two and twelve players who are willing to make decisions and guide the plot.

I'd also like some guidance as to what the 'main quest' is depending on the interests of the group. Read the below.

The World of Nordic Frog Beach:

Humans have lost their home planet (11 billion dead in a machine apocalypse) and moved through a mysterious alien wormhole to a new planet. This planet is temperate, mountainous, and 95% oceanic. Its landmasses are made of sharp mountains, swampy deltas, and forests of rubbery ferns. There are a handful of small human settlements, with populations between one and five thousand. There is one city, called New Alexandria. It is a diamond-towered paradise of scientific learning and infinite wealth. It lies between two rivers next to high coastal cliffs and a deep bay with docks. It has been two hundred years since Nordic Frog Beach was settled by an old Earth scavenger named Scrud. She built the first settlement, a mountaintop monastery called Scrud’s Retreat.

Nordic Frog Beach is a wellspring of kind, compassionate, intelligent, well-adjusted humans with lofty goals for the universe. It also contains a wormhole to a myriad of other worlds. The map to these worlds is not widely available, and navigating them is extremely difficult, so mainly humans stay on Nordic Frog Beach.

If you're curious, I've created a WorldAnvil to write more about this world. You can find it here.

There is another, if you have the time to read. It is about 240 years in this world’s past, and details the discoveries of the party of legendary explorers who founded this world. You can find it here.

The Maeglin and the Portals:

12 billion years ago, a race of psychic conquerors called the Maeglin spread all across the universe to dozens of different worlds. They made it as far as Triton in the Sol System, which connected their network of wormhole-connected planets to humans. Although navigating the portals is very difficult, it has a science to it. Each five-word password that opens a portal is unique, and describes the destination world in detail. For instance, the password that leads to S.E.E.L. is “construct warm sentients hub world”. Construct indicates the condition of the crust. Warm relates to the atmosphere. Sentients relates to the level of native life. Hub refers to the world’s most defining characteristic. World differentiates it from comet, satellite, asteroid, star, or singularity.

The Maeglin were ruthless and egocentric. They died out billions of years ago, driven extinct by their rivals, the Dark Ones. One of them was returned to life by Lux, the Electric Knight. This Maeglin, a biosphere scientist named Nel-Tesk, escaped Nordic Frog Beach into the Gate network. He now serves as a persistent villain as he tries to return his people to life and to their prior positions as the rulers of the Gate network.

The Babel Virus:

The Babel Virus was discovered on Earth by a scavenger named Scrud. While searching for loot, Scrud came upon an alien probe that infected all those who used it with a virus that spread through speech and turned people on one another. It did so by taking away peoples' ability to understand one another and replacing it with the ability to understand only people who have the Babel Virus. Babel Initiates cannot intelliglbly speak except with those who have the Babel Virus. Those without the Babel Virus that hear a Babel Initiate speak will receive a piercing headache, like there's something trying to get in to their head that doesn't belong there. Those of weak willpower will gain the Babel Virus, though strong-willed people sometimes can hold it off for minutes at a time. When Babel spreads unannounced through groups of people, it causes widespread chaos.

The Babel Virus also happens to grant magical powers. Those who have the Babel Virus are suddenly able to do incredible things that no human could possibly do. Therefore, having Babel Initiates around can be extremely valuable. Despite that, Babel Initiates tend to stick together in their own small communities. Sometimes the Babel and Non-Babel communities exchange things, either for trade or for mutual defense. They are still able to communicate symbolically and with action, the two groups just keep their distance.

Genre: This game will be a mixture of hard-sci-fi biopunk and sci-fantasy superheroics. Part of my inspiration is Fantastic Four, part of it is Blade Runner 2049, and part of it is Guardians of the Galaxy. I plan for things to be dark and realistic, but for the players to be superpowered and not bound by the same rules as others.

Gameplay: The game will be roleplay, investigation, solving scientific mysteries, exploring new places, and guiding the future growth of civilization. There will be collecting clues and information (by going on adventures), analyzing the information (by making skill checks during downtime), coming to conclusions about that information and using it in some way. There will be occasional combat against those foes that threaten all of mankind. Violence against other sentient creatures is strongly discouraged. Killing is strongly discouraged even against foes that employ violence against you.

Build Instructions
Species: Humans are the predominant playable species. They are able to alter their genome with advanced science, which allows for the creation of human-adjacent species with specialized adaptations. Humans are able to mimic the statistics and appearance of lashunta, undines, elves, orcs, and sylphs. Those fantasy species are not present in this world, merely their function and look is able to be replicated with science.

Humans with a subspecies are humanoids with the human subtype, but they also gain any additional subtypes from their subspecies, and are counted as a member of both types for the purpose of abilities.

Humans have also created artificial life. Androids and SROs may be played. Androids and SROs face a complicated legal and social position. Nordic Frog Beach is administrated by Ischyro, an artificial intelligence. As such, artificial creatures are considered to be trustworthy and safe. However, Earth was also destroyed by Myrmidon, an A.I. developed by the U.S. Navy. Therefore, humans have complex feelings regarding artificial life. Some people believe that artificial life is just as alive as biological life, that it deserves the full rights of personhood. Some people believe that artificial life is superior and that artificial creatures should be treated superiorly to biological ones.

There is contact with the Formians, a peaceful, scientific race of spiderlike aliens from a cold, icy wasteland. The Formians are known as the Anansi to the humans, who restored the Anansi to life using cortical stack technology and brilliant neuroscience. The formians had been driven extinct by the Dark Ones, shadowy and ancient aliens who roam Dark Space. However, human scientists were able to model Formian brains from their remains and brought the species back. The Formians have since re-settled on their home world and begun exploring once again.

Classes: The biohacker, envoy, mechanic, operative, and soldier classes are available to anyone. The mystic, technomancer, vanguard, and witchwarper are available to characters who are infected with the Babel Virus. Feats that give spellcasting can only be taken by a character with the Babel Virus.

Level: Characters will be starting at 6th level.

Equipment: Because of nano fabrication and the abundance of free renewable energy, characters in this world are comparatively extremely wealthy. Characters may have any human-made item they want (regardless of cost or relative level), as long as that item does not provide a numerical bonus. In addition, only mundane items are available for purchase. Magic items are not available for purchase. In addition, characters begin the game with 3,000 credits. More specific rules on item availability are found below.
Consider how much it is possible for a character to actually be carrying. All items of equipment should be included in your character's description.
Weapons: Characters may begin with any melee weapon up to item level 9, flame weapon up to level 4, projectile weapon up to level 6, frag grenades, and web grenades.
Armor: powered armor up to level 9. Or, the reinforced EVA suit, estex suit, second skin, stationwear, or D-Suit of any level.
Augmentations: Characters may begin with any cybernetics level 5 or below or biotech level 3 or below.
Other Equipment: All characters begin play with a tier 3 computer, either external or implanted. Characters may begin play with any medicinal or vehicle, and any technological item level 7 of below. All characters begin play with a small apartment.

Characters who wish to gain additional equipment must make scientific discoveries or inventions by embarking on adventures or accomplishing high DC skill checks during downtime. After the design for new equipment has been discovered, it can be nanofabricated at will.

Alignment: Strict limits based on alignment do not exist in this game. You may select an alignment if it helps you define or explain your character, but you also do not have to. If you choose not to, you must describe a motivation.
Archetypes: Several archetypes are common in this world, including assassin, commando, instructor, mediator, and medic.
Themes: Fantasy themes (such as Dragonblood and Solar Disciple) are unavailable, although paranormal ones (such as Sensate or Dream Prophet) are.

Post Rate: I expect one or two well-written and well-thought posts that involve a decision to be made each week. Roleplay at speeds of up to one post per day is encouraged but not required except in the case of important conversations.

I also have a Discord partially dedicated to this world. If people would like to communicate at live speeds with each other, they can join in order to discuss their decisions or characters with each other.

Getting In: If you finish a character, I will want to talk with you about how they will fit into the world, what plot threads. After we have worked out what we’re going to do, then… we’ll just do it!

For about a year and a half now, I have been running a homebrew science fiction game based off of the worlds of Eclipse Phase, a post-apocalyptic horror game, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We are using The Cypher System for game rules, which is fairly rules-light but still allows for fairly nuanced character-building.

I am currently taking a break from our live games to focus on worldbuilding. My goal is to build a utopian alien planet from which Avengers or Fantastic Four-inspired adventurers can sojourn to do fantastical science space adventures. My original plan was to have an extended cast (like the Avengers) and then people could pop in or out according to their availability.

In addition, this pandemic is making me re-imagine my time-priority goals. I think it's possible that I want to run text-based campaigns more than I want to run voice-activity campaigns while the pandemic is going. However, I doubt many of my existing friends will be open to text-based campaigns. So, I decided to come to the best place I know to find people who are into text-based roleplaying: Here.

I don't think I can commit, at this present moment, to actually running anything. However, with the right group of real people and the right party of heroes, I could be persuaded. That sort of thing will take time to build - time talking about worldbuilding, about character-creation, time spent clarifying questions - and I can commit to that. So, if you're interested in spending time putting a footprint on someone else's artistic work, practicing making complex, diverse, and compelling characters, with a possibility for joining a play-by-text game, you're in the right place.

Here is a link to the wiki I have made for this world. It is called Nordic Frog Beach. It was settled by heroic adventurers of a campaign gone by. It was settled following the chaos of a machine apocalypse on Earth. It is a beautiful oceanic utopia.

Here is a link to the wiki I wrote for the previous campaign. The information contained in this wiki is about 250-years-behind the wiki above, for it takes place right after the Earth had its apocalypse. Reading it is helpful in the same way that reading a historical document is helpful for understanding today.

Here is what I would like:

1. What is The Future wiki missing? If you were to make a character for this world, you should be able to look at The Future wiki and get all the information you need. What do I need to add in order to accomplish that?

2. What characters does it excite you to make in this world? I'm looking for a next-generation of superheroes - more diverse, more kind, better communication skills, a higher focus put on science. Does this world make you want to make that sort of character?

The world is full of heroes. Heroes arise from cities, from the frontier, from the Underdark, from different planes, from different dimensions. And these heroes throw themselves against the myriad, endless threats of the multiverse, for there are many. Wizard-kings are defeated, goblin armies are halted, efreeti warlords are cast down. And yet for every hero who defeats a villain, another villain and another hero rise. None in this cycle are immortal, and sometimes, a threat rises which is too much for a mere mortal hero to face. Sometimes things arise which threaten the balance and construction of the very multiverse itself.

Sometimes, you need gods.

But these gods don't just come from nothing. They start as something lesser, once. And over time, their immortal sparks are forged and shaped by their travails into something beyond mortal ken and power.

This is a story of five such divinities.

Ok! Welcome to A Grim Moon Looms, demigods! Thank you for working so hard on your characters, and I hope we can get started as soon as we can. I’m really excited to get going on this! I have about thirteen adventures to send you on, and those adventures will take you up to level 20/tier 9. I’m not the kind of guy who likes things to go on serially forever, so I’m thinking we’ll wrap up after that, but as I’m sure you know, thirteen adventures are going to take quite awhile on PBP - probably a couple of years.

We’ll be starting with Blood of Dragonscar. That adventure takes place in a small city in Taldor. We will begin when one of you receives a sending from one of your most devoted clerics - a panicked, fearful sending that calls you to aid them. However, before that I would like to see a couple of posts from each of you (we can interact with each other, or you can interact between one another) that are simply about what you do when there is nothing else to do. What I want to see is a short snapshot of how your character spends their time before they’re interrupted by the beginning of the mission. Then, we will have a post traveling to meet each other, and then we will begin the adventure in earnest. I hope that sounds good.

Because your characters are (and will be) so powerful and will have so much agency within the world, I’d really like you to consider something important: what is it that they want to accomplish? This won’t be a necessary question to answer until you’ve finished my prologue - the first three adventures. However, it will be important later on. You’ll be able to push your cults forward, defeat powerful worldwide threats, and see unseen sights. Which ones are you interested in pursuing?

If you aren’t active in pursuing these things, you will go through the story that I predetermine for you. If you’re fine with that, fine! I’m fine with it too.

I’d like to see you make aliases, formatted something like this: Appearance on top, statblock below, formatted like that, and below that your character’s personal information. Apologies if this is too specific, but it’s very easy for me to read if they’re formatted like that, and that’s my priority.

Appearance: a short description of what your character looks like

NAME- CR
Gender Race Class (Archetype) # / mythic path tier
AL Size Type (Subtype)
Init +; Senses Perception +
--------------------
DEFENSE
--------------------
AC , touch , flat-footed (+ armor, +2)
hp (1d10+1)
Fort +, Ref +, Will +
DR - Resist - Defensive Abilities anything that needs to be checked against when enemies attack you - uncanny dodge, evasion, miss chance, etc.
Immune - SR
--------------------
OFFENSE
--------------------
Spd ft.
Melee weapon +attack bonus (damagedice + damage bonus /crit) Your attack and damage bonus should be whatever is active all day long.
Ranged
Special Attacks anything that modifies your attacks, such as a barbarian’s rage, a bloodrager’s 1st-level bloodline ability or smite evil
Divine Source (CL )
6th
5th
4th
3rd
Domains
Spells Known/Prepared (CL xth, concentration +)
7th
6th
5th
Bloodline or Mystery or Arcane School
--------------------
STATISTICS
--------------------
Str , Dex , Con , Int , Wis , Cha
Base Atk +; CMB +; CMD
Feats
Mythic Feats Mythic Paragon, Mythic Two-Weapon Fighting, Extra Path Ability
Mythic Path Abilities champion’s strike (), then in order by tier acquired. If there is a sub-choice (for example, Path Dabbling or Divine Source) then it should be in parenthesis next to the original choice: (Divine Source (Chaos, Liberation) or Path Dabbling (Enduring Armor))
Traits
Skills
Languages
SQ passive racial and class abilities that do not fit under ‘defensive abilities’ or ‘special attacks’.
Worn Gear magic and mundane items on your person that you are benefiting from
Consumables potions, alchemical weapons, oils, etc.
Other Gear everything else

- - - - - -

OK! So, let’s get started as soon as we can. I’ve already posted the first Gameplay post, so go ahead and get introducing yourselves. We’ll keep whatever pace we can that allows us to make nice, detailed and well-written posts.

One more rule: I'm expecting to see a lot of buffs. Because of that, please be merciful to me and spell out each buff in the math of dicerolls and also in the proper order, like this:

Die! (Power Attack, M. Heroism, Bless, Rage): 1d20 + 15 - 3 + 4 + 1 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 15 - 3 + 4 + 1 + 3 = 34
Damage (Power Attack, M. Heroism, Rage): 2d6 + 15 + 9 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (3, 4) + 15 + 9 + 4 + 3 = 38

Have you ever wanted to play a character who can explore the Great Beyond without fear? Have you ever wanted to kill a demon lord? Have you ever wanted to have your own cult? How about work alongside actual deities? If yes, please keep reading!

There is so much material in Pathfinder made for high levels that absolutely never gets used. Even if you were to play every adventure path and every module (which none of us will ever do) there would still be oodles of really great material out there that never sees the light of day. Who ever gets to fight Kostchtchie? Who ever goes to Jalmeray, or Leng? Who ever gets to build world-shattering super-powerful constructs?

Well, I'd like to at least partially remedy that. There are many parts of Golarion and its Great Beyond that I love and which I would love to explore with a few good players. My first caveat: This will inevitably be a high-level mythic adventure, and while I'll do my best to keep it from being too semantic, it's inevitable that high-level Pathfinder involves a lot of number crunching, especially during the build phase of things (y'know, before your PC is finished). However! You do not have to build a 15th-level character to be considered for this game! We will do that together afterwards. My goal isn't to spend all day looking at dice rolls, of course, it's just important to mention. However, for those willing to put in the work, I have many (what I hope are) interesting adventures and powerful, savage foes to pit your PCs against. The freedom of having a flexible, powerful party is being able to throw things at them that really feel epic and watch as they succeed anyway.

The second thing that I'd like to explore in this game: The Divine Source mythic path ability. Divine Source allows a mythic character to grant spells to worshipers as though they were a god, and in so doing become a sort of demigod. They are able to start a cult, which allows them to make sweeping changes in the world as people empowered by them go forth to evangelize on their behalf and enact their visions for them. As soon as I saw that ability the first time I got Mythic Adventures, I knew I wanted to play with it. The idea that a character could start a real religion with real dogma and real divine powers was super cool, and that it gives even full-martial characters flavorful magic related to their portfolio is an even nicer touch.

The third thing that I'd like to explore in this game: celestial politics and relationships. If you go into the wiki or you buy the setting books, you'll see that all of the demigods, demon lords, empyreal lords, and even real deities have regular personalities, goals, relationships, even homes and friends. In fact, the thing that really got me pumped about trying this kind of game was reading the wiki article on Chaldira Zuzaristan, a halfling demigoddess of fortune in battle. She has a regular home, friends, she goes on adventures, and she has solid relationships with other deities. I thought: We could play our own game, with PCs that are like that! Powerful, (divine, even) extraplanar creatures with agendas and personalities and homes and which still feel human. That's canon in Golarion's world, and that's really exciting to me.

In between, there will be downtime, allowing you each to develop relationships with other divinities, build your own divine realms, guide or develop your cult, and also do the normal things that normal PCs do during their downtime (like craft magic items, for instance). Basically a normal campaign, but with different themes and a greater scope.

For our first quest, one of the worshipers of the PCs will have gone missing in Leng. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to reach Leng without specialized equipment or powerful dream-traveling abilities, and it is especially difficult to reach Leng as a group. Thus, one of the PCs' allies recommends that they retrieve the Dreamstone, an ancient artifact that fixes the Dimension of Dreams in a radius around it. Thus armed, the PCs could enter the Dimension of Dreams together, find Leng, and retrieve the lost cleric.

Unfortunately, the Dreamstone was lost centuries ago in an attack by the powerful fey called Leviathan. Legend has it that the inside of Leviathan contains a demiplanar city, and scholars theorize that if the Dreamstone still exists, it must be still within Leviathan. The PCs must travel to the First World, find Leviathan and climb into its gullet in order to retrieve their chosen artifact.

So, if all of that ranting resonated with you at all, please continue on to the spoilers below to see what I'm looking for to join me in writing this.

Alright, well. I think that's good. I don't know whether this sort of thing is something anyone really wants to do, or how long it will take anyone. I don't think it would be beneficial to set hard deadlines now.

I am looking for a triumvirate of three allied demigods. Every pantheon has dark deities, so feel free to make deities of any sort of bent that strikes your fancy! However, all three characters I choose must have believably chosen to specifically work with one another for some reason. Keep that in mind! Other than that... I'm purposefully being about as permissive as I can. Show me your creativity!

Hello! So I have begun a game called 'A Bunch of Riftwardens', but due to real-life business, several of the players I had intended to play with are not going to play! I have begun the campaign during the information-gathering section of the game with my two players, but I believe that they will almost certainly need reinforcements when it comes time for BATTLE, so I come here to ask the forums to provide me with said reinforcements.

What is my game? Well, it is a sidequest that is about the length of two PFS modules. The idea is that a group of interplanar terrorists called the Blackfire Adepts are creating a weapon capable of tearing holes in the fabric of space-time, and run a smuggling operation to distribute it to warriors all over the multiverse. Your characters, as members of the Riftwardens, seek to prevent this, hunt down the smugglers, and end the usage of Blackfire as a weapon.

Your characters are Riftwardens. Specifically, 10th-level ones. You can be from anywhere in the Multiverse, and I have rules for outsider and monster characters you may use (detailed below).

Each of your characters, wherever they happen to be, have individually been hunting down a bunch of Blackfire Adepts who are using harvested/collected blackfire for NEFARIOUS purposes. You know, setting it up underneath a church and fireballing it to suck the church into a black hole type things. Your character are all kickass heroes and have been stopping these things for a bit, but it just keeps happening!

You must discover the source! So you all get into contact with some other Riftwarden contacts (specifically, each other). Turns out this has been happening all over the place! Utilizing plane shift, you all meet up in the City of Brass on the Plane of Fire, where the usage of it has been statistically the worst. Your plan: Root out this Blackfire smuggling operation back to wherever it comes from and shut it down directly.

So, since this is a fairly involved recruitment, you know, mechanically, and because I don't actually need the PCs in the thread right now, I'm going to give everybody some time to put some characters together, ask questions, make contacts with each other, etc. You have a month to finish. That's right! I will make selections on May 6th.

I think that's quite enough for one post. Please let me know if you have questions. Please let me know if you need anything. Please come here and give me what you've got for characters! I am looking for up to four Riftwardens to join me on our journey, but I will only take characters who I am actually interested in.

Also, the current party members: Zadok Warren, a fetchling questioner investigator from Shadow Absalom, and Amarelys, la Rosee de Nerosyan, a nymph halcyon druid from Lost Sarkoris.

Hello everyone and welcome to my table of Kingmaker in the Age of Progress. Thanks so much for your time and attention in recruitment. I've already made a Gameplay post with a nice, relaxing scenario so that you can get started RPing with each other and with random NPCs (whom I can introduce as needed). I also need to spend some time finishing up the Campaign Info tab, copying down your equipment into a loot list and auditing you guys. Please introduce yourselves to each other in here!

I'd like everyone to please add a header which has the following information: Current/Maximum hit points, Armor Class (touch, flat-footed), your saves (+any situational modifiers), your CMD, your Perception bonus, your Initiative bonus and any senses you have (like darkvision).

Somewhere in your profile you should be tracking your resources. I like to do this directly in my profile like (this), (you can see each level of spells has a parenthetical tracker next to it, as does his number of meta words per day). Some players keep this in the header as well, like (this). Isilme has many different types of resources, so there are many acronyms for each category. You will be expected to keep your hit point total and your current resources up-to-date.

Now that I've got you, I will also bring up a couple of houserules:

I will be using some skill consolidation:

Knowledge (history, geography, and nobility) are fused into one skill called Knowledge (society), which covers all uses of all three skills.

Heal and Survival are fused into one skill, now called Survival.

Acrobatics now covers crossing threatened spaces, balancing, plus all of the uses of Escape Artist and Fly.

A new skill, Athletics (STR-based), covers jumping, as well as climbing and swimming.

Everyone gets Power Attack, Deadly Aim, and Combat Expertise for free, regardless of prerequisites. In addition, Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple are fused into one feat, now called Unarmed Combatant. Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot are fused into one feat, called Precise Shot.

If you have redundant skill ranks or feats due to these consolidation rules, you may immediately choose new ones. I will link this post in the campaign info tab for future reference, in case you forget the rules.

OK. I think that's enough for one post ;) Enjoy, and nice to be playing with you!

Chapter One: The Taming of the Nomen Heights

Pharast 17, 4730 AR

The incessant rumbling and creaking of axles and wheels softens and then stops, accompanied by a chorus of "Whoooaaahhh" as the wagon-drivers pull the oxen to a stop. The caravan has come to a stop outside of Nivakta's Crossing, Brevoy's southernmost town, to gather supplies before the final sojourn into the mountains. Even with seventy mouths to feed, food is not the biggest worry on the six-day journey into Varnhold. Logging tools, hunting supplies, and seed are much more important to procure before becoming a homesteader. Little more than a day's errand, the caravan's troupe of buff farmer guys disembarks and heads into the small town's marketplace to haggle and negotiate for the final pieces to their new life.

Nivakta's Crossing has been something of a backwater for most of its life. Established on the edge of Restov as a central hub to all of the nearby farms, it mostly stood as an organizational nexus for Rostland's breadbasket. However, with the recent push towards settling the nearby wilderness, Nivakta's Crossing has nearly doubled in size. A modest train station straddles the road, heading towards New Stetven towards the west and towards Restov towards the east. Clusters of houses stand on the western half of town, and the area around the train station has turned into a central square. Around it a marketplace, a small town hall, a church of Erastil and a few warehouses crowd. On the western side of town lie a modest graveyard and a small mausoleum dedicated to Pharasma. A charming place, but ultimately a minor waystation in between you and your futures.

The exodus from Restov, while never phlegmatic, was driven into high gear when rumours began to stream into the city. Strife between the two major noble houses of Brevoy had always existed, but apparently House Surtova, the rulers of northern Brevoy (a region called Issia) had decided now was the time for a complete takeover. The rumours on the streets of Restov were that Lord-Mayor Sellimus had received an impossible ultimatum from the Surtovans and that either conflict or occupation was imminent. Getting their s$$@ together quickly, the families who had dedicated themselves to this trip quickly purchased and outfitted the wagons and left the city. Traveling alongside the Kellid Windborne clan, they rumbled along the South Rostland Road.

Now the settlers stand at the precipice. The Nomen Heights, wreathed in a seasonable fog, are clearly visible to the south. Among them rests the frontier town of Varnhold and their futures. A light spring rain begins and then quickly ends. A warm breeze ruffles the hair of youths who stand on a nearby grassy hilltop, gazing into the mountains.

What awaits them? What awaits you, traveler?

Everyone: Please use this opportunity to RP with each other as you please. Establish any existing relationships if you choose. If you need an excuse to discuss with another PC, you may simply say that you have a strange attraction that you don't really understand. Alternately, you can seek out and introduce yourself to some NPCs. We will move forward to action soon!

4730 is the last year of the Age of Lost Omens. For the last 22 years, intrepid bands of heroes have been sojourning to every corner of creation to slay the supernatural monsters that threaten humanity, put lost god-kings back to rest, settle succession claims in ice-locked lands, depose oni dictators, stop tyrants from returning, and halt the advancement of armies of monsters. While many brave souls were lost in the effort, Aroden's disappearance seems only to have made mankind stronger. The world is becoming a safer place, and the time of adventurers is coming to an end. Where there are still bands of hobgoblins or cloistered liches or a coven of hags, they are being beaten back by the encroachment of civilization and at the sword-point of heroes. It is the dawn of a new Age - the Age of Progress. In pursuit of this new Age, bands of settlers seeking virgin lands venture into the last unconquered territory in the Inner Sea Region - the River Kingdoms land known as the Stolen Lands. Steamboats and coal trains convey brave settlers to the unsettled, wild border and they sojourn in, hoping to set up homesteads and create something new away from the stiff strictures of the old kingdoms of Cheliax, Taldor, Ustalav and Kyonin.

One such group travels from Brevoy. Borne aloft by news of the successful town of Varnhold and the wonderfully beautiful land of the mountains, the group sets forth to travel into the Nomen Heights and settle somewhere nearby, build homesteads and forge a new life for themselves.

In addition to the PCs, this will mean a caravan of a few dozen ranchers, farmers, hunters, and other assorted hopefuls looking for a new life.

Campaign Concept

I personally am in love with the Kingmaker campaign. Of course, I'm not the only one that sees some problems with the way that it was written, and some years ago I set forth to write a revision for it. I ran this campaign for my F2F group, and I consider it to have been a great success. After some further revision (nothing is created perfectly the first time!), I'm ready to run it again on PbP. If it goes well, it will be the only GMing project I intend to take on until it finishes.

The first part of the adventure is a remixed version of the Kingmaker adventure path, set about 15 years after the current time in Paizo's continuum. In this new world, I assume most or all of the Adventure Paths to have been completed by one party or another, in effect removing most of the world's great supernatural threats. Because the world is safer, the population has experienced a surge and there has been a Renaissance of technological innovation. Consider the world's technology level to be post-industrial revolution in great urban cities and more like the American Wild West at the tail end of the 19th century in "the boonies". Guns are commonplace. Transportation has seen a great revolution with steam boats and coal-firing trains connecting far-flung areas. Magic makes some of these things even more convenient than they are in the real world - magically-reinforced materials need less maintenance than traditional materials and energy generation is even easier than in the real world. Who needs oil to generate electricity when you can bind a lightning elemental, after all?

The remixed adventure that I have cobbled together takes material from Chapters 2, 3, and 5 of the Kingmaker adventure path and sets them in a new order, with setting changes according to the new technology level. This adventure will see PCs defeating both monsters of the ancient past and monsters that are decidedly modern, as well as creatures that toe the line. Players familiar with the setting and with the AP will recognize many things, but many things will be new.

This campaign will also be mythic, although with a limited number of tiers and with a number of nerfs to keep the impact of the mythic powers both epic and and not-game-breaking. The Player Characters in this game are destined, in one way or another, to become great leaders of mortal life. The mythic ruleset allows Player Characters to stand apart from the chaff of commoners even with a limited number of tiers. Your players will have the power, and should have the will, to change society according to their beliefs.

I am looking for six players, one for each mythic path. This is both for mechanical and for fluff reasons. At the forefront of a society, the mythic heirophant might champion the excision of long-running and ignorant superstition while the mythic archmage might build and staff universities of scientific learning and the mythic guardian might create the world's first modern police force. I also like to see balanced parties, obviously, and a party where each person is predestined to fulfill a given role is one that works better together.

This is how I see the roles of each mythic path:

Archmage: Arcane casting ability, battlefield control, elemental damage, magical travel, magical social manipulation
Champion: Martial offensive ability, damage-dealing, combat maneuvers, defeating foes
Guardian: Martial defensive ability, damage prevention, area control, personal survivability
Heirophant: Divine casting ability, healing, resource restoration, divination, terrain manipulation
Marshal: Party leadership, altering turn order, party buffs, secondary support of other roles
Trickster: Depriving enemies of their strengths, skill mastery, subterfuge, reconnaissance

Please make it clear which path you will be pursuing.

Selection Requirements:

While I am looking for players familiar with Golarion's setting, I am more than willing to help players who are not familiar with the setting fit their characters into the world. As such, I am really more accurately looking for characters who fit well into the world. In the spirit of that, I won't be accepting refluffing of traits, archetypes, feats, etc. If you want to use setting-specific material, embrace it! You want to play an Agent of the Grave? Tell me about your character's membership in the Whispering Way! You want to use Thunder and Fang style? Tell me about your character's native Shoanti tribe!

To elaborate on that, I would like your character's crunch and your character's fluff to be well-integrated. Ideally, I get as much information about your character from looking at their statblock as I do from reading their backstory.

Crunch Requirements

We are starting at 4th-level. As 4th-level characters, they have some experience and some talent that goes beyond average accomplishments. A 4th-level ranger is probably the best hunter in their small town. A 4th-level wizard might be a low-ranking novice of a major spellcasting guild. A 4th-level cleric might be the head priest of a small town, or they might be simply an apprentice in a larger city's cathedral. Why is your character 4th-level?

1. You may use any Paizo-published material, as well as any material from Dreamscarred Press, Kobold Press, or Rogue Genius games. As an exception to this rule you may not use third-party races, and you also may not use planetouched races such as the aasimar, undine, ganzi, tiefling, or sylph.

2. To generate ability scores, roll 4d6 six times. Subtract the smallest dice from each pool. If your total result is less than a 15-point buy or has a score in it that is less than 6, you may re-roll the entire set until you get an adequate set.

3. Wealth will be generated with the aid of Automatic Bonus Progression, the rule from Unchained which grants the "Big 6" items to characters for free as they level up. Wealth for a 4th-level character thusly is 3,000gp. 4th-level characters get +1 armor and weapon attunement and a +1 resistance bonus to saving throws for free from ABP.

4. You may play any alignment of your choice, with the following two caveats: Your character must plausibly be both a leader of men and must plausibly be a team player who gets along with her teammates. An a$%&$&$ of any alignment will probably not be tolerated by anybody for too long.

5. Choose two traits. Campaign traits are not required for this campaign. You may choose a drawback and an additional trait, but please choose traits which illuminate more about your character over traits which are simply there as placeholders.

6. Characters in this campaign get Max hit points. Your characters are pinnacles of their chosen professions. As such, they are survivable.

7. We will be using background skills in this campaign. Combat Stamina comes free with one fighter level, and can be chosen as a feat by other characters. If you wish to play a rogue, a barbarian, or a summoner, the unchained variant is mandatory.

Fluff Requirements

1. I want to see a description of your character's appearance. How do they dress? What facial expression are you likely to see if you glance at them? How do they carry themselves? How do they want to be perceived?

2. I want to see a description of your character's personality. What are their core motivations? What are their most important moral beliefs? What are their flaws, their quirks? Do they have any important favorite things or hobbies?

3. I want to see a narrative backstory which answers the following: Where was your character raised? What was their upbringing like? Where did they learn their class' skills? Is your character religious? How did that come about? If your character is not from Brevoy or the Stolen Lands, why did they travel there?

4. What is your character's position in society? By nature, most adventurers are outcasts in one way or another. However, these characters will be at the forefront of their society. As such, they must begin by being part of it. Is your character a farmer? A local priest? An itenerant minster?

5. If they survive, your character will realize their destiny and ascend to something greater than a mortal hero. What is it that gives them that destiny? Perhaps they perfectly embody a leadership-related concept. Perhaps they're the child of a diety. Perhaps they're a mad science experiment. Perhaps they were trained by one of the heroes who saved the world. Perhaps you, the player, don't know! That's okay too.

For now, I am not setting an end date. Maybe there won't be any interest, and maybe there will. Once I start seeing concepts, I'll set a selection date.

Thanks for your time!

Welcome to the DotZone. Gameplay to commence in a matter of months.

Hello! While I don't plan to actually begin the adventure until after the Siege of Drezen, it seems that it's high time we get a concrete place to discuss ideas, audit things, etc. etc. So here it is! There'll be a Gameplay thread to dot so it'll show up in your campaigns tab and all.

During this adventure, you will be playing Riftwardens. The Riftwardens are a guild of arcane scholars that seek to reverse entropy and close interplanar gateways. Their greatest rivals are the Blackfire Adepts, an anarchist guild of summoners who use antimatter to rip holes in reality. In this upcoming adventure, your characters will respond to a summons. On the Plane of Fire, there is an ongoing conflict between djinni terrorists and the efreeti nobility who reside in the City of Brass. However, the Riftwarden library in the city has taken note that the djinni fighters have begun to use Blackfire in their attacks. The steward there has taken to assuming that someone in the city is selling them Blackfire, and asked Riftwarden leadership to send someone to investigate.

The adventure will take place over multiple planes and will primarily feature traveling, investigation, and combat, with some optional diplomacy and infiltration.

In the interest of keeping character creation in parity with Kiora's, I am adopting the same character-creation rules as her. All Paizo material welcome, in addition to 3pp material from Legendary Games, Kobold Press, Dreamscarred Press, Green Ronin Publishing, and Rogue Genius Games.

Roll 4d6 six times for stats, choose two traits, you must be non-evil, etc. etc. However, as these characters are not quite the mythic main heroes of a war, we will use PFS standard for hit points.

We will begin (and end) at 10th level. You will begin with 31,000 gold, plus the ABP of a 10th-level character. You may substitute class levels for up to 10 CR worth of any non-evil creature of the aberration, fey, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, magical beast, or outsider type.

If you are looking to use this character as a potential back-up for our Wrath campaign and the mythic ascension is an issue for you, we can talk about it! I have a couple of general ideas already.

What do you do when you are destined to become a great hero, but there is no life-threatening danger?

Welcome one and welcome all.

I will get on a mechanics audit (which I can complete after everyone has dotted in) for you guys before we jump into any real action, but I'd like to ask three things of you while I handle this, get all my ducks in a row, and write up the first few encounters.

1. I'd like a short description of where your character lives. Use the map, tell me what area of what neighborhood your character lives in, and what your character's house is like. Also, tell me if anyone lives with them and who they are.

2. I'd like you guys to double-check if your characters know each other already, and under what circumstances.

3. I'd like you to dot into the Gameplay thread. I'd like, as your first post, a post about the kind of night that your character has on an average Oathday evening.

The former Chelaxian city-state of Korvosa has always had a cursed rulership. Not a single one of its rulers has survived to a ripe old age - each of them, going back as far as memory goes, has died a horrible or tragic death.

The latest one, Eodred Arabasti II, is no exception. The Stirge King was killed, the town criers announce, by poisoning. In fact, he was killed yesterday. In a matter of hours, the news had escaped the castle and it spread like wildfire through the city. The streets filled with sign-bearing protesters who resented the ascension of Eodred's teenage wife Ileosa, a young and spoiled noble from Cheliax.

The Campaign

Curse of the Crimson Throne is one of my favorite Paizo APs. It is a story of political intrigue, hidden danger, corruption, dedadence, and tension. Over the course of the campaign, the players will face street rioters, vampires, a plague, underground abominations, criminal gangs, racial tensions, undead legions, and a powerful threat from the ancient past.

The PCs of this adventure will begin the game as agents of the Korvosan Guard, the city's militia. Led by an Abadaran paladin named Cressida Kroft, the Korvosan Guard is responsible for peace and safety on the city streets. The day after Korvosa's King dies, riots and protests threaten to tear the city apart, and your group is put together to help quell the riots and solve a variety of problems caused by the chaos. As you delve into what happened to the city, your group will become one of heroes who transcend their job titles.

Player Guidelines; How to get Chosen

The first thing that you should do is to download the Curse of the Crimson Throne players' guide. Please read it!

You will be chosen based off of how well your character fits into the setting. You will be chosen based off of the plot hooks that they drop for me, the GM, to use, and for your fellow players to pick up on. You will be chosen based on the integration between your character's story and their abilities. If you pick the "rich parents" trait, your parents should be rich. If you pick a "rivethun" archetype, you should be a dwarven spiritual animist. If you pick a gunslinger, you should be connected somehow to Alkenstar. Please don't ignore the fluff aspect of choices.

Posting Expectations

Except when the group is involved in some interpersonal RP, I intend to post with the intent of moving the plot forward three times each week. If you want your character's personal arc addressed, you will need to keep up and show me what you're interested in pursuing by being an active participant in the game. I want to see about 30 posts per week from the cumulative group.

Fluff Requirements

Please, your crunch and your fluff should match. I should be able to look at which skills you've chosen, and understand why you've chosen them after I read your character's backstory and personality. Other than than, I would like:

1. A description of what your character looks like. What clothes do they wear? What do they do with their hair? Are they clean or dirty? Do they accessorize?

2. An explanation for why the Korvosan Guard would call on them for help. Are they a local mercenary with a good reputation? Are they a community leader with public goodwill on their side? Are they a guardsman themselves? Are they an informant in the criminal underworld of the city? It's your call!

3. Tell me where your character from. Are they a Korvosan native? Are they from Kaer Maga? Are they a Shoanti, or a Chelaxian?

4. How did your character become whatever character class they are, or learn whatever abilities they have?

5. What does your character do for a living? When and why did they start doing that?

6. Is your character religious? Why? What does faith mean for your character?

7. Your character must in some way care about Korvosa. For some, this is because it's their home and the place where their family is from. For others, it's because it's a place of opportunity where you can make a good buck if you're lucky and ready for it. Why does your character care about being a city hero?

8. What are your character's moral lines? What would they never do? What can they not stand by and watch? What will they always take advantage of?

9. If you have a character who has sworn a code (such as a Paladin or Cavalier, for example) be explicit in what that code entails.

10. What's your characters economic situation, and the economic situation of their family? A desperately poor character with a rich family tells a very different story than a desperately poor character with a poor family.

Mechanics Requirements

- Classes: All Paizo material is allowed, but I reserve the right to nerf or ban specific things if you choose to be unfairly cheesy about them. Any characters whose choices are nerfed will be allowed free re-trains. In addition to Paizo material, you can choose Path of War, Spheres of Power, and Ultimate Psionics material.

The unchained barbarian, summoner, rogue, and monk are required.

- Races: You may choose a Core race. In addition, you may choose changeling, tiefling, orc, ratfolk, and skinwalker. The nearby Storval Rise and city of Kaer Maga disgorge quite a few of monstrous origin.

- Ability Scores: Ability scores are generated with a simple 20-point buy.

- Level: This campaign starts at level 2.

- Wealth: You may start with 500gp worth of equipment. If you have a Craft skill or a magical crafting feat, you can purchase starting equipment for reduced price, as long as you can create the indicated item on a roll of 10.

- Traits: Take two traits. You may take a third trait if you take two drawbacks. You may use the campaign traits, but it is not required. The importance of any future Gaedren encounter depends on how many PCs care about including him.

- Other Rules: We will be using fractional advancement, automatic bonus progression, and background skills. There will be no alignment restriction. Hit points are maximized for every Hit Dice.

Hey guys. I know this is a long shot, but I wonder if anyone is interested in playing the Stars Without Number system? It's an old-school-revival sci-fi system with its own (fairly simply premised) setting, its own basic rules and it's available for free online as a pdf. It's designed for sandbox space exploration, and has a really robust set of random generators for planets, star systems, alien ruins, encounters, and a really cool custom-monster creator.

Please take a look through it (it's worth a download even if you don't want to use it right now!) and let me know what you think. I'm really into old-school games and dying to see where the random generation of this game might bring us.

After a couple of disappearances, I'm back to pick up one additional player for my low-magic Starfinder homebrew game.

My current party is:

Amaryst Geil, a lashunta soldier (guard), professional bodyguard

Jin Larson, a witchwyrd mechanic (exocortex), doctor and bioengineer

Cross, an android operative, ex-asteroid miner, motorcycle racer

Maldor, a human mystic (healer), escaped science experiment, former street rat

MLE, a human mystic (empath), test tube baby, escaped science experiment

The original recruitment thread can be found HERE. The gameplay thread is connected, and available for reading. Character-creation is basic - you will start at level 2, with 1,500 credits for character generation. You can choose any Starfinder material, save that you must be an escaped human science experiment in order to play a mystic or a technomancer, for spells only barely exist in my setting.

The game is set in the real world, in the 28th century Earth. My players are preparing to escape Earth because the government is chasing after their two mystics (science experiments given psychic powers in a lab before being broken out by lashunta terrorists).

Because of this, its strongly encouraged to have your character's introduction be one of a few things:

- They are also seeking to leave Earth and get passage on the PCs' ship.

- They are another escaped psychic who need shelter.

- They stowaway with the PCs to be discovered at a later date.

- They are encountered in one of the locations that the PCs come to after leaving Earth. This can be left partially to your discretion, as my campaign is highly player-driven. However, some sample ideas include: an endangered re-fueling station, a planet in a system under lockdown, a captive on a pirate ship that attacks the PCs, or other.

If you have your own idea, that's welcome as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional details. The campaign is gritty, hard sci-fi, low-magic. Inspirations for the themes include Blade Runner, Firefly, Ghost in the Shell, etc. It's intended to be episodic galaxy-hopping with an overarching quest of large government oppression.

Welcome to the DotZone.

Welcome to one of my tables of Carrion Crown. Please take some time to dot the threads and to consider character creation. Please start by downloading the Carrion Crown Players' Guide. It provides some information about the country of Ustalav and some valuable insight into character-creation. However, don't bother with the campaign traits. Because I am adjusting the beginning zone, the traits relating to Professor Lorrimor's funeral just don't work anymore.

The campaign will begin in the city of Lepidstadt. Lepidstadt is in the county of Vieland, ruled by a council that is based in the city. Until recently, Lepidstadt was ruled by a count called Caromarc (like most of the country was ruled by various members of old aristocracy), but he voluntarily deposed himself during the country's turn towards democracy. Lepidstadt is also known for its university, an internationally-renowned center of learning, for its large chapel dedicated to Pharasma (Gravecharge), and for an old, mysterious circle of standing stones called the Spiral Cromlech.

The campaign will begin as a young woman - Jeminda Anikee - contacts the PCs or their friends, looking for a small competent group of people to go looking for her brother-in-law. One of the Ustalavic townships around Lepidstadt is late on taxes, and Jeminda's brother-in-law Kyle recently traveled there to collect. He's been missing for a couple of weeks along with the payment, and someone needs to go see what happened to him...

This is a horror campaign. I will endeavor to increase the desperation and tragedy and to make it more realistic, although I'm not aiming for edgelord cringe. Let me know if you have concerns about tone, or if you have any subjects you would not like broached.

- - - - -

Lemme know if you've got Qs, for which I have As. I will be posting up a character questionnaire when I have more time (probably tomorrow after work) to help guide character creation.

This is the DotZone.

Hello, this is the Discussion thread. I will be posting something more substantive momentarily.

This post is so that you can dot before gameplay.

Hey guys, thanks for checking in here. This is the Discussion thread, for out-of-character conversation, planning, questions, etc.

We'll be ready to start pretty soon, and I have a good idea for the first opening scenes, but I'd like you to answer a few questions so I can maybe flesh out the opening setting a bit more.

1. Where does your character live? Not in a geographic sense, but I'd just like a short description of your character's home.

2. Does your character have a job? If so, what do they do, and what kinds of people do they work with? Obviously the psychics don't have to answer this one.

3. Which of the others that were selected does your character know? How close are you with them? Each of your characters must connect to the others such that when the action starts, the whole group is drawn in. Of course, not every character needs to have some ideological reason to join, but... It's gotta be somewhat plausible that you join.

- - - - -

We will begin, after a bit of narration, one day after the events of the raid.

- - - - -

Also, I'd like each of you to add something like this in your class page as a header:

hp x/x, sp x/x | KAC xx, EAC xx, Fort +, Ref +, Will + | Perception + (senses), Sense Motive +, Init +, (resolve x/x)

Please keep this updated if you can, but I also plan to track PC health in the campaign info tab.

In addition, if you have daily use resources, please keep track of them in your profile. For example, for spellcasters, put something like (3/3) next to your spell selection to indicate how many spells remain to you during the day.

- - - - -

Also, I'd like to announce a couple of houserules regarding survivability:

1. When you level up, you only gain half the listed number of hit points, rounded up. You still gain the normal amount of stamina points.

2. When you rest, you regain a number of hit points equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier. When you are subjected to magical healing or medical attention, you heal 1 hit point per dice of healing that you would otherwise have attained, plus half the normal bonuses. The mystic's cure ability heals 1 hit point per level of the mystic. "Treat deadly wounds" heals 1 hit point per two levels of the character performing the treatment. Healing stamina points works normally.

3. If you die, you can choose to be affected by a trauma. If you gain a trauma, you gain a crippling injury determined by the GM. You survive and remain stable at 0 hit points, although you appear dead unless carefully examined. If you have not been otherwise healed after 1 hour, you regain 1 hit point and become conscious. If you have a number of traumas equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier, you cannot gain another and you die.

Hey all, I've got a hankering to start another game. I've got lots of time to write recently, and I've noticed that not too many people are starting new recruitments lately, let along recruitments for Starfinder. So! I'm here, to offer up some science fiction goodness.

The Premise,

We will be beginning on Old Earth in the year 2717. For the past several hundred years after the invention of hyperspace travel, humanity has been spreading through the stars. In their travels, they have met and gained relationships with several other alien races: the lashunta, vesk, shirren, ysoki, and kasatha. Because of the wide net its cast, humanity has begun colonizing dozens of other worlds, and those who were able largely left Old Earth behind, as the decrepit and abused planet was polluted and overcrowded. Those who stayed were the nostalgics who believed Earth was humanity's home, the rich who were too proud of their generations-old estates to abandon them, and the poor who did not have the resources to get a job or a home on one of the newer, more fertile colonies.

Ever since first contact, the psychic abilities of the lashunta and the shirren have captivated the imaginations of humans. They have also captivated the theoretical minds of human scientists who saw, like humans have seen in fascinating things throughout history, a new weapons that could be built. With lashunta and shirren "volunteers", humanity experimented with gene therapy, selective breeding, radiation, and gene grafting. Over the course of the last few decades, they created an entirely new force, one which is formally called T.P.K.A (tele-pathic-kinetic aptitude) but which most people just call magic. For years, all T.P.K.A-users were confined in government complexes in the Sol system for maximum security. They weren't ready for field testing certainly, and knowledge of the government's experiments going public would be a disaster.

The campaign begins when a lashunta terrorist organization crashes the party at several of these complexes, destroying them and freeing the magic users inside. The Earth military is strong, especially in the Sol system, so very few of these lashunta actually escaped the system. However, many hundreds of mystics and technomancers were freed on that day, and they were scattered all over the Sol system by circumstance or a combination of luck and unluck.

The Game, the Party

Your party is a gang. Whether gang means criminal or simply a friendship is up to you. Whether you are rich or poor is up to you. Whether you have a steady job, a tragic past, or a whatever else backstory element is up to you. What is not up to you is that the characters I choose all be good friends. What is not up to you is that you live on Old Earth, and that Old Earth kinda sucks unless you're ultra rich.

What is not up to you is that your life is shaken up by the appearance of one or more of these escaped spellcasters. If somebody wants to be a technomancer or a mystic, it could be them. If nobody does, this will be an NPC. Whether out of a good heart or because you're forced to out of self-preservation, your lot is thrown in with this science experiment/fugitive. All you know is, you can no longer go back to your old life whether for good or ill.

This will be a player-driven, low magic, classic sci-fi adventure. Cyborgs! Transhumanism! Artificial Intelligence! Starship battles! Planets with crazy climates! Weird aliens! Wherever you end up, there will be all the excitement found in a growing, changing universe. Inspirations include Mass Effect, the Hyperion Cantos, anything by Neal Stephenson or William Gibson, and classic sci-fi anime like Ghost in the Shell or Akira.

- - - - -

So, anyone interested?

This will use the base Starfinder character creation rules. 10 point buy, level 1, you may choose any race or class. We begin on Old Earth, though where is up to the players.

The only exception is that if you want to play a Technomancer or a Mystic, you must be human, and you must be an escaped science experiment.

The Starfinder SRD can be found HERE.

I am looking for, I think, 5 players. Well-written, well-thought-out characters. Players who plan to stick around, and who love science fiction.

Recruitment will be in two stages. Stage one is application, and will last until December 21st. During that stage, you may post new characters. After December 21st, recruitment will be closed and we move into the refinement stage, where we figure out how the different applications mesh together, where the game might start, and so on. I will slowly narrow down applications during that stage.

Hello all! I am currently DMing a game on these here forums that I like to call Baronmaker. Baronmaker is a very revamped version of Kingmaker that takes place on the continent of Arcadia. With many of the adventures the same, the face on the antagonists and the setting and the tone are all intended to be very different.

Important themes in my game include the struggle of nature versus civilization, the importance of diplomacy, the source and meaning of leadership and responsibility. Frequent encounter-types that will be showing up are Monster-Hunter-esque fights against massive beasts, wilderness survival, sailing, social encounters with a language or cultural barrier, and social encounters designed to take control of commoners.

I have lost a player recently, and so I am looking for one new character to round out our six-man-band.

My current party is:

Sorala Thorn, an aristocrat 1/magus 3 ; a refugee from Irrisen, the former apprentice of a Winter Witch. Neutral.

Ehiz Bor'Dari, an expert 1/cleric of Erastil 3 ; formerly an Andoran country farmer, his family died of plague, and he left for Arcadia to find a new start. Neutral Good.

Mogwai, a warrior 1/warpriest of Sarenrae 2/bloodrager 1 ; A goblin exemplar that wants to create a society that goblins can live peacefully and nicely in. Lawful Good.

Murob Dara Gash, an expert 1/witch 3 ; A half-orc tired of the racism that her family faced on the mainland, and joined the voyage in order to earn a home for her parents and brother. Neutral Good.

Yosiah Crint, an expert 1/warpriest of Kofusachi 3 ; A native Arcadian and member of the ACDF, Kansai military. He was separated from his squadmates and accidentally joined in with the PCs. Chaotic Good.

The players' ships were shipwrecked during a mysterious supernatural storm, leaving them on the shores of distant lands far from anyone they knew. However, fighting through native beasts, gillmen slavers and ogre raiders, they perservered and reached the site intended for the first settlement - First Landing. There, about ninety people cower in fear of several local threats, slowly running out of food and afraid to venture out to the prepared farmland in order to cultivate farms.

The players now must decide which of the settlement's problems to solve, and in which order, in order to save this colonization effort from doom.

Hello! Interested?

Here is the original recruitment thread. You can also access the campaign from there. It has not been very long, but I anticipate much significant gaming ahead of us.

The character creation guidelines are the same except that we are now 4th level, and you may begin with 1,000gp in starting wealth. The original guidelines are on this post. Thank you in advance.

Questions? Shoot them my way.

Here is the first post.

Here is the Discussion thread.

Here is the first Gameplay thread post. Dot here to add it to your campaigns tab.

Here is the first post in the new discussion thread.

Hey all, I've got a Jade Regent game that I'm running that's had some issues with flaky players dropping out. We're currently at four players, and I'd like to add a fifth by the end of the current chapter. We're on Chapter 2 right now, exploring Ravenscraeg and defeating the ninja up there.

Here is the campaign's info tab, from which you can access our gameplay thread, just in case you'd like to read it.

Here is the original recruitment thread from 14 months ago. Pretty standard stuff, except I have a few minor houserules.

Here is a link to the free Jade Regent players' guide. It would be best if you took a read through here.

Your character will be starting at level 7. The party is currently in the city of Kalsgard, in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. I expect that they will take some downtime in the city to do crafting and shopping and some research when they are done with the current dungeon. Your character's introduction may take place in the city itself or along the beginning of the path across the Crown of the World. Please make your character invested in one of the following things:

1. One of the other player characters
2. The fate of the country of Tian-Min
3. One of the key NPCs (Shalelu Andosana, Sandru Vhiski, Koya Mvashti, or Ameiko herself)
4. The joy of exploring and long overland journeys

... or any other thing that will cleave them to the party and the events of the campaign.

We are using 17-point-buy. You will start with 12,000 gold pieces' worth of equipment. The gunslinger and the master summoner are going to be banned. You may take two traits, and are allowed a drawback if you want one. Hit points are generated with the PFS rule of 1/2 + 1 for every level after first.

The current party as stands now is,

Calder Brandson, a half-Tian half-Ulfen fighter 4/ranger 2. He uses a greataxe in combat, has decent wilderness survival and other mundane skills. Dependable, moral, tough. He also wants to see the land where his grandmother came from.

Clara Flingflopsparkfizz, a Varisian gnome alchemist 5/spiritualist 1 raised alongside Koya Mvashti as a sister. She is dedicated to replicating her ancestor Umbiculus' recipe for the perfect soda, and thinks traveling to exotic lands will give her access to more materials. Her brain is partially inhabited by a draconic spirit dedicated to the Amatatsu line.

Tallak Sigurdarson, an Ulfen human cleric. He was the shaman for a local tribe, but joined the party through tracking down his son, who had signed on with one of their enemies. The party killed his son, but he blamed it on the enemy and went along to get vengeance. He was rescued as a lad by Koya.

Vashta Denaria, a Varisian mesmerist. Once part of a crime family and used essentially as a slave, she escaped and has been traveling alone since. She's had a relationship with Sandru in the past, and has something of a crush on him.

That should be it! Y'all should show me what you got! I am not necessarily looking for a character to fill any roles. I am just looking for a player who will be around consistently and who will get along with the rest of the party. Recruitment will be open for at least two weeks.

This thread is for in-character posts relating to the plot!

This thread is for players and the GM to discuss out-of-character topics with one another!

Hey PbP fam,

I'm looking to GM another game on these here forums, and the one I've chosen is, in a nutshell, Kingmaker. I actually (despite the many problems with it) really like the Kingmaker Adventure Path, and have been trying for a long time to revise it into something a little bit smoother, something which makes a little bit more sense, something which is more fun to play.

What I've come up with will, in many ways, resemble the Kingmaker Adventure Path as-written. Many of the same NPCs will be present. Some of the same quests will need to be undertaken. However, many things will be different... most notably, the campaign will take place on the far-off continent of Arcadia, on the other side of the Arcadian Ocean and the Lost Continent of Atlantis Azlant. Many years ago, Cheliax sent some ships over yonder to establish a colony, and establish a colony they did! Despite some setbacks, some contact with the local natives and the monsters extant on the new continent, the colony is reasonably successful. The rest of the Inner Sea Region's nations, thus, want in on that hot colony-on-undiscovered-continent action. Sponsored by Absalom, a consortium of Inner Sea Region nations (take your pick, your character could be from anywhere) all throw money into the pot and raise a fleet of a few ships, and send them with the best of well-wishes across the sea.

Your player characters will be among the hopeful colonists sailing across the Arcadian Ocean in search of a new life, though not all will go according to plan on the journey, nor is all hunky-dory when you reach your destination. Though they will start off as inexperienced novices with little ethos and few allies, in order to survive your PCs must take charge, leap into the breach of situations far above your pay grade, and establish the new colony as something with clout. There will hopefully be a small village waiting for you when you arrive, if you arrive in the correct spot. One with some resource-gathering tools already, and some housing to take in the new colonists.

What I'm looking for are three to six players for whom roleplaying is the goal. Without intercharacter dialogue, no game this sandboxy will survive for long, and without consistent momentum any game would fail. I'm sure you have all experienced this.

I'm also looking for skilled writers. Not only in the technical sense but also in the creative sense. I want to be able to imagine that your character is a whole and complete human. I want to be able to imagine that your character has their own life, their own friends, goals, desires, and more. They won't start off exceptional, but they will get there, so feel free to write in some extraordinary circumstances if the urge takes you. Be aware, however, that I prize believability over many things when it comes to TTRPG. Please be reasonable.

Another thing: Feel free to make characters of any stripe. Please consort with one another when making your characters. I will want to be choosing characters as a whole party, to ensure that they all will work together and that everyone has the same goals in mind.

I'm gonna hold off a bit on posting the character-creation guidelines, just wanna see the level of interest first. However, if anyone has any questions about the situation, the world, the character parameters, and more, please feel free to ask. Much will be allowed, so long as it isn't ridiculous.

This is a post.

Uhhh hey! Whoever I decided to invite into this game, say hi to each other, and then read the following bits at your leisure, provide input, bring me questions, and discuss with each other about things.

The first step in starting the new game is deciding what plot hook you'd be interested in pursuing first. If you happen to run into other ones that you wish to pursue later, that's fine. It's just helpful for starting placement, resources available, starting level, and the like. Here are the options that I'm interested in pursuing:

The current year is 4745 AR.

Option 1 - Pieces of a Puzzle: About two decades ago, the legacy of Kazavon the Indomitable resurfaced. The immortal, Zon-Kuthon-serving dragon, who once conquered much of the Inner Sea region with an army of orcs, was broken up into seven unbreakable pieces and spirited across the multiverse. When the teenage Queen Ileosa of Korvosa found the dragon's Fangs, she didn't know what she was getting into. It didn't take long for the dragon's spirit to possess her, kill the King, and send the city spiraling into a deadly and ridiculous dictatorship. Luckily, a group of heroes stopped her, though the Fangs have since gone missing and Korvosa was struck by a mysterious plague that rendered those who died from it undead.

Recently two of the figures from this story have been seen in Nidal, the country whose mandated state religion is Zon-Kuthon. One is Grey, the aasimar paladin of Iomedae who helped to slay Queen Ileosa, and the other is Yzadek, the efreeti lord who made away with the dragon's fangs after the whole ordeal. It appears the dragon may be making an appearance soon, and a group of heroes is needed to find out what's going on in the shadow-cloaked nation of Nidal before one of the world's most terrifying conquers returns.

[heroic adventuring/urban investigation, potentially very high-powered]
[starting locations: Korvosa, Haven, Mendev, Absalom]

Option 2 - Spite's Daughter: Haven is a nation of heroes, inventors, mages, and dreamers. It is an exercise in utopian experiments, where education, food, housing, and many other resources are practically free and available to everybody. Ruled by the god-king Aaron, who is rumoured to have inherited the lost divine power of Aroden himself, the nation has flourished in the 23 short years it's been extant. However, not all of its founders agree, and the greenwitch Aulana is one of those who disagree with Aaron. She took many who agreed with her, moved to the Narlmarches, and created the town of Oakenhearth. Designed to be a bastion against civilization, Aulana protects Oakenhearth and its 'hippie' population from industrialists, businessmen, and marauding monsters alike. The town is successful and divinely magical. Fey and magical beasts live alongside the humanoids, and immigrating there is extremely difficult due to Aulana's strict vetting process.

However, just a few weeks ago Aulana went missing. She was often gone for a few days at a time for various reasons, but recently an old crone has been seen visiting her in her home, and the last time the crone visited, Aulana left with her without so much as a word and hasn't been back since. Now, sensing the absence of the town's protector, Numerian terraforming machines move on the town. Somebody must step in and fill Aulana's place as protector of the idyllic town, or find its witchly protector if the town is to be saved by the ravages of invention.

[guerilla warfare/First World exploration, low-medium power level]
[starting in the town of Oakenhearth]

Option Three - A Queen's Origin: The newest Queen of Cheliax, Varianna Thrune, is unusual in a few ways. She is the first Queen to not have any extremely direct ties to Hell. She still has infernal servants, and she still pays lip service to Asmodeus, but she and her closest advisors do not gain their power from divinity. Instead, she has personally ushered an age of prosperity and progress to the stagnant country, bringing many modern inventions to it. Despite her youth, she has surpassed her mother Abrogail in many ways. Rumor has it, though, that she's working on something entirely new, even innovative for herself. Chelaxian agents and spies have been seen all over the world, though what task they're completing is unknown. Varianna herself has skipped many public functions, locked away in her research labs working.

Many of Cheliax's rivals and adversaries worry that she's working on some kind of doomsday weapon, while Cheliax's agents and allies know that retribution for this kind of fear naturally will follow such developments. The balance of power in the region teeter's on a knife's edge, and it would take nothing but a small group of determined individuals to shift the fate of the whole political landscape one way or the other.

[political/urban adventure/mystery campaign, medium to high powered]
[starting location: Cheliax, Andoran, Taldor, Haven]

A subtle hum permeates every stone wall on the Durngrist - the usual. When the engines were running, everyone in the Station could hear that. Out of the ordinary, however, were the exciteable crew members running about the stout, square hallways of the vessel. They'd come across a new planet! In the habitable range of its sun, it didn't have the trademark complete destruction that every other planet they had found had exhibited. Or at least, so the rumours were. Not everybody had access to a viewing station, so it's not easy for everybody to confirm the rumours.

Aramant is busy working, identifying some massive blocks of stone that had just been pulled from the Granite Gate. His monocle-magnifying glass falls from his face when a pat on his shoulder comes. Turning around, he sees a few recognizable faces. Two warforged guards, their integrated breastplates glimmering in the light, flank a dwarven Captain. He gestures, and a replacemnet geologist comes out from behind them. "You're being relieved. Harzadoum has a job for you." says the Captain.

Aam already knew what was happening. During one of his semiweekly lunches with Dorna about eight Golarion days ago, she told him of the approaching planet. She told him that she wanted him be a part of the first mission to see its surface. Aam waits in the gyrocopter bay for the rest of those chosen to show up, while the mechanics prepare the device that would be used to drop them to the surface.

Torgar's daughter Margrin volunteered him for the mission, and it was her that told him about what would happen. She knows he would be happier somewhere with real dirt, and knows that he could do a good job looking after the others that would be sent. Grumbling, Torgar made his own way over to the gyrocopter bay on the day.

Dargrin was exercising one of his rest periods when the guards came for him. He had been working hard over the course of the last few weeks on the outside of the Durngrist, repairing the ship's divinatory sensors and one of the defense weapons that had been damaged during a recent encounter with a flock of space monsters. He knows better than to question a summons, though, and is escorted over to the bay.

Reginald is in the central farmland chamber when they came for him. Despite its limited space and needs, there are still some farm animals... chickens, goats, a handful of oxen for ploughing. It's his job to take care of them, but a druid accompanies the three guards who come for Reginald, and takes over the task he was taking care of.

- - - - -

The gyrocopter bay is a large chamber. The ceiling is fifteen feet high, triple the height of your average hallway in the Station. There is another on the other side of the station, and four gyropcopters sit within this station. Made of steel and bronze, the contraption has wide bladelike propellers extending from a rotor on top. A glass chamber on the front would hold the pilot, otherwise holding a comfy-looking chair and an array of levers and dials, and a small space behind him holds a number of passengers. Two passengers at a time can access the firearms connected to the sides of the flying machine for defense.

Other than those summoned, a small number of other characters are in the gyrocopter bay. Jezzick, the purple-skinned half-orc mechanic, does some last-minute maintenance on one of the copters. About ten guards, a mixture of warforged and dwarf, watch the doors and the group in the chamber. Another dwarf consults with Jezzick - one that you recognize as Tordin Slatecatcher, a Captain in the Station's military and a gyrocopter pilot. Finally, Ba'Ad Harzadoum, the man behind the whole mission, stands near the gyrocopter. His braided grey beard falls below his waist, and his wizardly robes are resplendent. In his hand he holds a staff crafted from adamantine, designed to appear like a spine. The head of the staff looks like the back several inches of a head, rounded and concave. "Thank you for coming." he says, his voice deep and resonant.

Feel free to describe your characters, your reactions, and do whatever. I'd like everyone to dot before I move forward though.

This is a place to spread words of great inspiration, and also things like "Hey, I'm doing x life thing and can't post for awhile", and also where you post what happens whenever you level up!

It's also a great place for casual conversation.

In the year of 4745, the utopian nation of Haven hosted something truly impressive - a new dwarven city. Settled by the remains of a dwarven tribe excommunicated from their own home, New Golushkin was lead by a dynamic duo of dwarven leaders, visionaries, and crafters. Ba'Ad Harzadoum, a conjurer wizard of great skill, power, and a mythic stature, and his wife Dorna Golka, a divine servant of Torag, Queen among her people and the bearer of the Axe of the Dwarfish Lords. The pair saw their people, the dwarves, in decline. Half of the Sky Citadels had fallen since the time of old, and there was no sign that they would be rediscovered or retaken anytime soon. Dwarvenkind were embattled on every front, even deep in their most sacred strongholds. Ba'Ad in particular saw an intellectual decay in his people. He had long been ostracized for his practice of arcane magic, though he knew he has the pwer to create great new innovations to guide his people into the future.

They knew they had to change something. For twenty years, they labored. They built great monuments to inspire people, they bound lightning elementals to cars on tracks to pull cargo more easily. They traveled worldwide, visiting different dwarven strongholds via teleport spells, doing their best to spread their mission, uniting dwarven spirit. They put out a call - those who are the best in their field, the most promising warriors, scholars, priests, and arcanists... come to New Golushkin. Something exciting awaits.

Twenty long years they spent converting their mountainside home into a vessel. A vessel kept warm and filled with air by magic, and filled with farms policed by druids to feed thousands on minimal land-use. A vessel, when the time came, held aloft by massive engines of steel and adamantine, fueled by the blood of telekinetic demons. They had done everything they could to gather the best, tribes all over the world had sent representatives. The time to delay had turned into a time to act, and Durngrist Station rose into the sky, crossing the boundary and entering the Dark Tapestry. It flew between the stars, sheltering all that Ba'Ad and Dorna had built together. Their mission? A new Quest for Sky. Golarion had given them all they had wanted to accept and more, bringing millions of dwarves much suffering. The couple believed that the future of dwarven kind lay in the stars, and sought out a new planet to call come. A planet that dwarves could make their own, a planet where they could truly flourish.

To do this, they needed to leave the solar system behind, and explore the reaches of space. But space is not a forgiving environment, and years of travel were hard on them... and they found many of their prospects, observed with telescopes from the surface of Golarion, to be not quite as promising as they had hoped. Whether they be too inhospitable to sustain life, or victims of a strange (strangely consistent) disaster, for years all the planets they found had either no life at all, or the life was horrific and non-Euclidean.

The Game:

The PCs will be members of a select group of thousands of dwarves, the best of the best, chosen to accompany these two dwarven visionaries on their foray into space. The campaign will take place upon the location of a planet to call their own, though I don't want to reveal information about the planet to discourage meta-knowledge.

Exploration of this mysterious (but strangely perfect) planet will comprise much of the campaign, as will dealing with native life, other spacefaring species, and the entropic decay that awaits us all as the universe nears its heat-death.

The Deets:

This is a homebrew I've been working on for awhile, and it's connected to several of my other games that have been running. It uses the Golarion setting as a base (so all of your characters should be from various parts of Golarion) but the entirety of the campaign takes place on another, far-away planet.

Because of my excitement about this game, I'm looking for four to six players who I will judge to be reliable, good writers, and who make characters that I deem appropriate for the setting and the game that I have in mind.

I have some small specific requirements when it comes to fluff things, but know that the more idea of what kind of character your character is I have, the more likely you are of being selected. What is most important, separately from the questions below, is why you wanted to go, and why you were picked. The requirements I have are below:

Go ahead and dot here if you like. I'm not quite ready to start, but will be very soon!

Hey all! Go ahead and say hi to each other, work out whether you all know each other beforehand and make sure your everything is totally up-to-date. I'm gonna go through the adventure again and ensure that I know what's up. I'll also be setting up the Campaign Info page with relevant info as I have time to do so.

I plan to start the AP right as the caravan hits the road on the way to Kalsgard, with the Amatatsu Seal in hand.

In far Minkai, decades ago, a traitor clad in jade stole the throne from its rightful owner. The family of the emperor, in the wake of many noble murders by unknown demons, fled the country for distant lands. Pursued by murderers intent on ensuring no noble scion survived the deadly coup, the Amatatsu family had to move quickly and far, and chose to cross over the Crown of the World. They had to sell family heirlooms in the Land of the Linnorm Kings to continue to fund their flight, and ended up settling near the small Varisian town of Sandpoint. They spread out, choosing to live in the small town of Brinewall and the new towns of Magnimar and Sandpoint.

Over the decades, and due to misfortune or subterfuge, the Amatatsu family has shrunk to just a single member: the ex-adventuring tavern owner Ameiko. The family name, to help disguise them, was changed to Kaijitsu. When Ameiko's grandfather Rokuro died, the last family member who knew of their noble heritage for sure was gone, and so Ameiko was raised in Sandpoint, with no knowledge of her family line.

When a group of adventurers pursuing some mischievous goblins uncovers a hidden cave and a letter claiming Ameiko's noble heritage, an investigation of nearby abandoned Brinewall commences. In the dungeons of Brinewall, a powerful artifact is found: The Amatatsu Seal. Within the Seal is contained the completely certain knowledge of Ameiko's nobility, as well as the nature of their flight: evil creatures known as oni usurped the previous Amatatsu emperor. If the far land of Minkai is to be saved from an infernal dictator, Ameiko must travel across some of the most dangerous portions of the world in order to return to her homeland, and reclaim her crown.

The Game

Hi! GM here. I really like APs, but I hate starting at level 1. Especially on Play-by-Post. I'm looking to try out something that is conceptually one of my favorites, and I want to start by all-out skipping Book 1. The goal of the PCs at the beginning of the adventure will be twofold: To escort Ameiko to the Land of the Linnorm Kings to procure a guide with whom to cross the Crown of the World, and to find the sword Suishen that an Ulfen raider bought from the Amatatsus 60 years ago. It is not only a family relic, but it is an intelligent item and is sure to have some counsel to give the last Amatatsu scion.

What am I looking for?

Well, I'm looking for four dedicated, story-oriented players. Recruitment will be open until July 6th, though I may close early if there is a lack of new interest or I may extend if I haven't met my player needs by then. There are four important NPCs that will be accompanying the players on their long journey, and ideally I'd like one PC connected to each of those NPCs. You can find descriptions of these NPCs, as well as instructions on how to choose the campaign trait associated with them, in the Jade Regent Players' Guide. Please download this and read it.

I'm looking for players who make characters that would make sense for this AP. Don't make a character who's terribly invested in Sandpoint, or any one locale. Please make a character that's interested in traveling. If you want to talk about being part of any faction (most notably the Pathfinders), just mention it and we can talk about it.

It'll be best if you make a character native to the Lost Coast - so Sandpoint, Magnimar, etc. If you want to make a character from elsewhere, just explain how you got to Sandpoint and why you care about going on a caravan journey with somebody from there.

Character Creation Guidelines

House Rules: I have a small list of these, but they're important. They could affect character-creation.

1. Rolling a natural 1 or a natural 20 on a skill check, attack roll or saving throw provides a -10 (on a natural 1) or a +10 (on a natural 20) bonus or penalty to the check. Rolling a natural 1 or a natural 20 on any other roll has no effect.
2. With the exception of classes whose abilities explicitly mention it, taking 10 or taking 20 is not allowed. If there is no penalty for failure, I simply won't ask you to roll certain checks.
3. When crafting magic items, one cannot ignore a prerequisite. All prerequisites must be met. Multiple creatures can contribute to a single item's creation, though.
4. When you make a combat maneuver and you don't have the relevant Improved feat, you only provoke an attack of opportunity if you fail the combat maneuver.
5. Crossbows deal bonus damage, as if they had inherent strength bonuses. Hand crossbows deal 1 bonus damage, light crossbows deal 2 bonus damage, and heavy crossbows deal 4 bonus damage.

Optional Rules:

1. The unchained variants for each class with one are mandatory. (That is, you cannot play a chained monk, summoner, barbarian or rogue)
2. I plan on using the Wound Threshold system from unchained. For those unfamiliar, it imposes debuffs for every 1/4th of your health you're missing. It will apply to both NPCs and PCs, and the threshold of a creature is visible to all.
3. Fractional advancement is used for multi-classing.
4. I plan to track encumberance, food, and water. If this becomes too cumbersome or if nobody likes it though, we can skip it and be Big Damn Heroes without worrying about little stuff.

Actual Character-Creation Rules

- To reflect the fact that we're skipping the first chapter and because I hate 1st-level play, we'll be starting at level 4.
- Any Paizo source (barring bans or playtest material) is available, as is all of Dreamscarred Press' psionics material. Flavor-wise, psionics and psychic casting work the same way and psionic powers will have emotion and thought components.
- For ability scores, please use 17 point buy. Yes, I know it's unusual. Do it anyway.
- Starting wealth will be 3,500gp.
- for classes, please no Gunslinger, or any other gun-related archetype or class. No ninja and no samurai, at least to start. No master summoner. No vigilante.
- The races allowed will be all Core races plus the goblin, the tengu, the hobgoblin and the kitsune. To be a kitsune or a tengu, it's likely that you're a descendant of a Tian immigant.
- I don't have an alignment restriction, but don't be a dick. Make a team player. I don't have time for the cliche loner ranger whose family died who has a dark secret and a revenge quest to go on.
- 2 traits, one of which must be one of the campaign traits found in the players' guide. So, read that.
- HP is generated with the PFS rule: 1/2 HD + 1. Everybody will get Background skills. Find the rules for that here, but it's simple enough. You get 2 bonus skill ranks per level but can only spend them on specific skills.

Fluff Stuff: I have a few expectations regarding your fluff stuff. To discourage a 2-sentence backstory, I'm coming here and giving you guys this.

Answer these questions!

1. What does your character look like? What kinds of clothes do they wear? What weapons and armor do they carry?
2. How is your character acquainted with Ameiko Kaijitsu? Why would he care about traveling with her across the world?
3. Alternately, is there another reason they want to join the caravan? Perhaps they just want to travel to a faraway land, or perhaps they're from Minkai and wish to see its rightful ruler reinstated.
4. How did they become whatever class they are? Were they trained? Did it come to them magically one day?
5. What is your character like? How do they treat people?
6. Why is your character whatever alignment they are? Explain what their own ideas of ethics or morality mean to them.
7. If you have a character with a Code, like a paladin, be explicit about what that Code means.

Okay, well, I think that's about all. Hopefully the word-vomit wasn't too much. I basically mimicked the recruitment style of my favorite GM, and that recruitment turned out some pretty cool players.

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to post it here or PM me, whichever you prefer.

This is where the righteous will either meet their doom or gain eternal glory by slaying a linnorm!