Feel free to dot in here if you've created an alias for this game. Also, let's move any OOC discussions that don't involve character creation here as well.
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Hi folks, Seeing if there's interest in playing "The Whispering Cairn", the first part of the Age of Worms AP using the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds ruleset. For now I'm seeing if we can make it all the way through the opening chapter of the AP. Whether it lasts beyond that will depend on everyone who is still there at the end. Here's my pitch:
System: Pathfinder for Savage Worlds (SWADE)
We begin in the wretched mining town of Diamond Lake, where a group of down-on-their-luck locals stumbles upon a secret that could drag them out of the mud—or drag the world into an era of darkness and decay. Campaign Philosophy & Play Style This campaign is intended to cater to gamers who love deep roleplay, rich atmospheric writing, and character development. Story & Prose First: I enjoy crafting detailed, evocative scenes and giving players room to explore character relationships, internal monologues, and moral dilemmas.
Cut Filler: Hallway trash mobs, repetitive minion rooms, and grindy encounters are cut or dissolved into narrative prose. We don't need XP from combat to advance (I will assign advances at appropriate moments in the narrative), so why keep the 3.5 combats that add nothing to the flavor or story of the adventure?
️ Character Premise & Starting Hook
✍️ Player Expectations Posting: Aiming for 3 to 5 quality posts per week (roughly once per weekday). If life gets busy, just pop a quick note in the OOC thread.
This is where the majority of our OOC discussions will take place
Hello to everyone coming over from the "Interest Check" thread. Please feel free to move the ability scores you have created for your PCs over here and continue with your character creation process. For those of you who are new, welcome! Five players have expressed interest in the game, but these modules were created for a very large group of PCs, so we definitely still have room. Below is the initial pitch for this game I wrote for the Interest Check thread that I am copying over here. Below that is additional stuff about the game I am copying over along with character creation info. I'll put that into spoiler tags so this doesn't visually become an uber-long post: INITIAL PITCH: Would anyone like to play some of the BECMI D&D modules (which stands for Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, Immortal, the five boxed sets published by TSR in the early 80s) using Old-School Adventures, specifically the "Advanced Fantasy" rules? I would be particularly interested in playing this as a sandbox, in which you start near the town of Threshold in the northern reaches of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos (that's in the default Basic D&D setting of Mystara). It wouldn't be like a Paizo AP where things can get pretty railroady, but would depend on the players to let me (the Referee) know where you want to go and what you want to do. Of course I'd drop lots of hints and hooks for adventures all over the place, but deciding which thread to follow would be up to the PCs. I'd even be willing to run this like a hexcrawl where you explore beyond the fringes of civilization if none of the hooks seem interesting. BECMI Modules I'd personally be interested in eventually playing: B2 Keep on the Borderlands
Other thoughts about this game:
As is my wont, I would definitely modify these adventures to suit my tastes (and the tastes of the players once I learn them) and more modern game sensibilities and the needs of a PbP game, but the TSR bones would all still be there. I'd also be drawing on material found in adventures from Dungeon Magazine, or from other OSR games to "fill out the world".
One thing that I have found with modern players (and GMs) running older adventures, is that forward momentum in them is very dependent on the players, which can be difficult, especially in a PbP game that depends so heavily on maintaining momentum. Newer adventures have MAJOR PLOTS that move the PCs along, but in older modules the motivation has to come from the imagination of the players making up reasons for the PCs to go on and complete these adventures. It's okay to have the accumulation of wealth and equipment be one of the main motivating factors (especially since the gold you collect literally gets turned into XP), but I have found that this can sometimes fall short if the PCs don't have substantial personal motivations and goals. Once the IC portion of the game begins, I hope that everyone can make the effort to check the messageboards at least once a day during the week and once on weekends and post something. If you don't have any action you feel you want to take, why not start or continue a conversation with another PC or NPC, or even post internal thoughts that help flesh out your PC's mindset, background, plans, etc? Everything helps in telling the story of these people. Having said that, RL obviously happens, but let us know when it does (if you are able). Character Creation information: I am planning on using the Old-School Essentials rules for this game, specifically those found in the Advanced Player's Tome from Necrotic Gnome. Although I have the original BECMI boxed sets as well as the hardcover Rules Cyclopedia, I find that the OSE rules consolidate and edit everything very nicely. That, and they're currently easily available if folks want to buy them. If you only have the older TSR publications, that's totally fine, you can use them just as easily. If there are discrepancies between the rules systems, we can figure them out. If you don't have access to either the old TSR rules or the newer OSE rules, you can download the OSE Basic Rules for free from DTRPG.
Another reason I want to use the OSE Advanced Fantasy rules instead of the OSE Basic rules, is that I am not a huge fan of the "race as class" conceit, and the Advanced Rules allow you to use the more AD&D rule of having race and class be separated. Having said that, if you want to play a PC that uses "race as class", I would be okay with it. Using the Advanced Rules just gives you the option not to. 2) I am planning on running the OSE rules mostly as written, but I would like to bring in other rules/conceits from other games as well. Here are some of the OSE character creation rules I plan on using: a) Race and Class are separate (but see above)
3) When beginning a new campaign, I prefer it if all the PCs already know each other. As classic as it is, I prefer not to have everyone just "meet in a tavern". In order to do so, we collectively come up with an "origin story" for the group. Most folks don't become adventurers unless they absolutely have to (due to the incredible danger of being one), so most folks have a very good reason of leaving behind their old life. 4) Species (the term I prefer over "race" because the latter has negative RL implications) have both ability score requirements and modifiers. Here they all are: ABILITY SCORE REQUIREMENTS AND ABILITY MODIFIERS BY SPECIES: Dwarf: Minimum CON 9, Modifiers -1 CHA, +1 CON
5) Even if your stats are less than exemplary (certainly by PF-standards), remember that turnover is high in these games, so the chances are good that you'll be playing a new PC soon! Additionally, modifiers are a lot less important in OSE. Here are the ability score minimums and prime requisites for the various classes: Acrobat: None, Prime Req: DEX
This is where OOC discussions will happen.
OK, given that there seems to be sufficient interest, we're moving recruitment and character creation from the Interest Check thread over here to an official recruitment thread. Those of you who have already begun the character creation process, please move your PCs over here so that we can have everything together in one place. I am also reposting my game introduction here for the sake of completeness behind spoiler tags: Game introduction:
Roleplaying in the World War III That Never Was
"Twilight: 2000 is a roleplaying game about survival in mankind’s most desperate hour. In the year 2000 of a history that took a different turn from our own, the world is ravaged by war.
"Each player in this game except one takes the role of a player character (PC). It might be a soldier from the now scattered US forces in Europe, but it can also be a soldier of another nationality, or even a civilian. In the fallen world of Twilight: 2000, it doesn’t matter where you come from. It’s your actions from this day forward that will define who you are." "In Twilight: 2000, there is no one to hold your hand and show you where to go in a world engulfed by war. It is up to you and the other players to decide where to go, together. The Referee will place encounters, NPCs and tough challenges in your path, but in the end, the stories of this game are created by you. They are not written down beforehand. You have control over your PCs’ lives – and there is plenty to do:" "STAY ALIVE
"HELP THOSE IN NEED
"SEARCH FOR INFORMATION
FIND A SAFE HAVEN
"STAKE A CLAIM
"FIND A WAY HOME
"RESET THE WORLD
I believe the three players you have already expressed interest (Daniel Stewart, Seth86, and Jacob Trier) have access to the Free League rulebooks. If this is incorrect, please let me know now. Also please let me know which other Free League T2000 books you have access to. If you have access to any of the other versions of the game, please let me know this as well. This will help me to know what stuff I have to post here and what I can just refer to by publication name and page number. You do not need access to these rules to play the game. Those of us who DO have access to the rules will endeavor to teach anyone interested enough of the rules to (hopefully) feel comfortable with them. Some additional things that I've already decided about the game: 1) We're setting the campaign in Poland following the failure of OPERATION RESET. 2) You can either use the lifepath or the archetype character creation system. 3) We can play a group that is a mix of military/civilian or just military. 4) While combat is certainly a part of the game, most of the time will be spent RPing and developing the setting details. If you are not a big fan of RPing then this is probably not the game for you. 5) Once the IC portion of the game begins, I hope that everyone can make the effort to check the messageboards at least once a day during the week and once on weekends and post something. If you don't have any action you feel you want to take, why not start or continue a conversation with another PC or NPC, or even post thoughts that help flesh out your PC's mindset, plans, etc? Everything helps in telling the story of these people. Having said that, RL obviously happens, but let us know when it does (if you are able).
Since my Twilight 2000 game interest check seems to have hit a lull, I'll suggest another game. This one goes back to an unfulfilled dream from mine from childhood. Would anyone like to play some BECMI (which stands for Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, Immortal, the five boxed sets published by TSR in the early 80s) D&D modules using Old-School Adventures, specifically the "Advanced Fantasy" rules? I would be particularly interested in playing this as a sandbox, in which you start near the town of Threshold in the northern reaches of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos (that's in the default D&D setting of Mystara). It wouldn't be like a Paizo AP where things can get pretty railroady, but would depend on the players to let me (the DM) know where you want to go and what you want to do. Of course I'd drop lots of hints and hooks for adventures all over the place, but deciding which thread to follow would be up to the PCs. I'd even be willing to run this like a hexcrawl where you explore beyond the fringes of civilization if none of the hooks seem interesting. BECMI Modules I'd really be interested in eventually playing: B2 Keep on the Borderlands
As is my wont, I would definitely modify these adventures to suit my tastes and more modern game conventions, but the bones would all still be there. I'd also be drawing on material found in adventures from Dungeon, or from other OSR games to "fill out the world". One thing that I have found with modern players (and GMs) running older adventures, is that forward momentum in them is very dependent on the players, which can be difficult. Newer adventures have MAJOR PLOTS that move the PCs along, but in older modules the motivation has to come from the imagination of the players making up reasons for the PCs to go on and complete these adventures. It's okay to have the accumulation of wealth and equipment be one of the main motivating factors (especially since the gold you collect literally gets turned into XP), but I have found that this can sometimes fall short if the PCs don't have substantial personal motivations and goals. So, anyone interested?
Roleplaying in the World War III That Never Was Seeing if anyone is interested in playing in a demo game of the new Twilight 2000 game by Free League (based on the original game by Frank Chadwick). I would help teach the rules of the game as we're playing, so no experience is necessary. I have read the rules, but have yet to run a game, but since the pace of PbP is so slow, we can all learn as we play. Here are descriptions of the game: "Twilight: 2000 is a roleplaying game about survival in mankind’s most desperate hour. In the year 2000 of a history that took a different turn from our own, the world is ravaged by war.
"Each player in this game except one takes the role of a player character (PC). It might be a soldier from the now scattered US forces in Europe, but it can also be a soldier of another nationality, or even a civilian. In the fallen world of Twilight: 2000, it doesn’t matter where you come from. It’s your actions from this day forward that will define who you are." "In Twilight: 2000, there is no one to hold your hand and show you where to go in a world engulfed by war. It is up to you and the other players to decide where to go, together. The Referee will place encounters, NPCs and tough challenges in your path, but in the end, the stories of this game are created by you. They are not written down beforehand. You have control over your PCs’ lives – and there is plenty to do:" "STAY ALIVE
"HELP THOSE IN NEED
"SEARCH FOR INFORMATION
FIND A SAFE HAVEN
"STAKE A CLAIM
"FIND A WAY HOME
"RESET THE WORLD
Here's the thread were we will discussing out-of-character subjects for our demo of the 13th Age 2e game "A Bad Moon & the Wrong Stars". Please "dot in" with your PC's alias to let me know you are ready to start playing starting August 11th, 2026.
Well, there seems to be enough interest that I'd like to start this Recruitment thread for a demo game of 13th Age Second Edition by Pelgrane Press. As I mentioned in the "interest check" thread, I am going to be largely AFK from July 20th to August 11th and won't start the IC game until I get back. It would be great to finish player selection and character creation before I leave, plus I can help folks without access to the 2E rules to discover the differences between 13th Age and other d20 games. I'll be posting the character creation rules soon, but in the meantime folks can start thinking about what kinds of characters they'd like to play. To help you with those thoughts: 1) Automatically allowed Kin: humans, dwarves, elves (high, silver, and wood), gnomes, half-elves, halflings, troll-kin, dragonics (aka dragonborn), forgeborn (aka warforged), tieflings, and holy ones (aka aasimars) 2) Automatically allowed classes (in order of increasing complexity): paladin, barbarian, fighter, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, cleric, wizard, and bard. You may also want to start thinking about what your One Unique Thing will be. To quote the 13th Age SRD:
You're welcome to refer to the 13th Age SRD in general (especially if you don't otherwise have access to the rules), but know that the SRD has not been updated from the 1E to the 2E rules, and there will be discrepancies between the two. Pelgrane Press has published several 2E pregens on their website for those who are interested. The filled-out character sheets that you can download from links on the pages give you some insights into the game mechanics as well, as most of the powers on them are summarized. Bulwark Paladin
Additionally there are 9 more pregens, but each of these links only to the PDF of a 2nd-level version of the character and not a web page explanation of the class (we'll be starting at 1st level to keep things simpler). If you want to use one of these, we can "rewind" these easily to 1st: Flexible Vanguard Fighter
Seeing if there is any interest in kicking the tires of the new 13th Age 2E system by Pelgrane Press and using it to first play the sample adventure in the new GM rulebook. I'm particularly curious to see how 13th Age 2E works in the PbP context compared to Pathfinder 1E and 2E. If you are unfamiliar with the game, you can find more info in the link at the bottom of this post. If you have access to the 1E rules, 2E is not fundamentally different, although PC classes have undergone the biggest change. If you're not familiar with the game at all, it's a d20 system with a few unique quirks (detailed in the link below) that can be pretty easily understood by anyone familiar with Pathfinder. I tend to prefer shorter games (i.e. ones that can be finished in under a year). If everyone agrees they can always lead to other games, but it cuts down on the super-long-term commitment. The setting will most likely be homebrew due to the Icons not fitting well into published settings and created as we go along but will most likely be generic high fantasy. If there is sufficient interest to begin player selection, please know that I'm going to be AFK the last two weeks of July and the first week-and-a-half of August, so although I'm happy to start character creation before then, I won't be starting the game until mid-August.
The Great City, which has gone by dozens of different names through the centuries, is a pale reflection of its former glory. Life is a challenge for most, but for the poor and weak, the city is a place of unrelenting hardships harboring neither hope nor promise of escape. Outside the gates of the Great City lies a ramshackle collection of buildings known as Mustertown on the edges of the Swamp. The Swamp has been encroaching upon Mustertown and the Great City for many years, and is sure to swallow them both up in the next century. You have gathered here because this is where the hopeful or desperate come when you have no other options of improving your lot in life. You come to take part in a ritual that has been going on as far back as you can remember: Touching the Sending Stone. In Mustertown, strangers band together to form Free Companies that travel into the swamp to touch the magical Sending Stone, which transports them to a seemingly random place in the Sunken City. The Sunken City is said to have once been a sister settlement of the Great City before it was swallowed by the festering bog of the Swamp, and is known to contain untold dangers and treasures. Participation in a Free Company can delay entrance to debtor’s prisons, and often acts as a final stage of initiation for various seedy guilds and apprenticeships, even wizardly apprenticeships, as many masters wish to test the will and determination of their charges before providing the final keys to access powerful magics. Each member of a Free Company pays a single copper piece (known as a Muster Counter) to the innkeeper of the Soiled Dove in Mustertown, and in return receives a brightly decorated matching arm band as well as a baked clay marker. You scratch your name into one side of the marker, next of kin on the reverse, and then make your way into the swamp to touch the Sending Stone. If you are lucky enough to survive your journey into the Sunken City and return with a piece of treasure of particular distinction (known as a Bright Prize), your Free Company's name will be inscribed into a board outside the Soiled Dove inn and its innkeeper will fence that bright prize for you and give you enough gold to change your life. If you do not survive, the people whose name you put on the back of the Muster Counter are informed of your passing. You are all standing in what passes as the town square of Mustertown, a bare dry lot of dirt that is known as the Circle. The Circle is surrounded by a few ramshackle buildings, but the only one of note is the Soiled Dove, an inn and tavern where you have bought your Muster Counters (see above) along with any adventuring gear you have the money to pay for. Its owner, known as Old Soily, stands in the inn's doorway sunning himself in the light filtering through the surrounding trees. Two tough-looking guards sit on a bench next to him playing dice, and a dirty banner hangs limply overhead that reads: "Welcome Free Companies and Best of Luck!" There are a few other local people standing around, gawking at the only entertainment that ever comes to Mustertown: the desperate and hopeful of the Great City. Some seem to be making bets about how many of you will make it out alive, while others are going about the basic tasks of everyday village life at the edge of a swamp. Your attention is also drawn to two unusual people. One is a man who seems to be missing the lower-half of his body and moves about on a small wooden cart that he pushes with his hands wrapped in great bundles of rags. Despite his obvious condition, he seems to be in good health and is speaking to several other people. The second is a pitiful-looking beggar carrying a wooden bowl that approaches you, crying: "Alms for an ex-sender who lost everything in the Sunken City! Bless me with a coin and I will bless you in return with the luck that allowed me to survive my ordeal." The only way out of Mustertown is either back into the Great City or toward the Causeway, the berm of raised ground that heads into the Great Swamp.
This will be the OOC discussion thread for "Into the Sunken City", a Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure.
Seeing if there is any interest in running a short, 0-level funnel adventure using the Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) rules. For those who aren't familiar with this type of game, you play, well, basically normal people thrust into a very dangerous environment with a high chance of not making it through the adventure. Due to the high lethality of the adventure, everyone who plays will create 4 PCs using either the rules for creating 0-level characters in the DCC rulebook or the automated party generator at Purple Sorcerer dot com. These PCs are all played at the same time, so if you like, you can have quite lively conversations between them (i.e. yourself). If you don't have access to the DCC rules, but are familiar with Pathfinder or D&D, you're basically 80% of the way there, and I can explain the remaining 20% to you as we play. Concept: The desperate and poor dregs of the Great City risk their lives for the chance to earn more than they could ever hope to earn in a lifetime by braving the terrors of the Sunken City and emerging with the buried treasures of ages past. What do they need? Nothing but their courage and a fighting chance! Aim: We're telling the story of the poor or desperate who are willing to take a chance at making things better for themselves and their family (if they have one). Chances are they probably won't make it home, but by Crom, at least they tried! You could play a night soil collector tired of literally taking other people's poop, or a down-on-their-luck member of the upper classes who lost everything in a game of dice and has no other chance of reclaiming their former position, or anything else you can think of that fits the theme. Tone: High violence, lots of action and problem solving, think about what's the best action before running into danger, a bit of gonzo (this is DCC, after all), but don't be afraid to take chances, you've got three other PCs, after all! Subject Matter: The game will include lots of danger and violence, but there are limits. I don't have torture, SA, or outright racism/sexism in my game. It's a harsh world we play in, but I don't want to have to deal with those subjects when I'm playing an escapist fantasy game; I've got real life for that. If there are subjects that you don't like in your games, we can add those to the list. So, anyone interested?
All out-of-character discussions of the game will be in this thread. First question for all players: Do you want to play the adventure contained in the Quickstart guide "Riddermound"? If so, try not to spoil it for yourself by reading anything from p. 26 to p. 34.
I am interested in taking Free League's Dragonbane RPG out for a spin and running a short adventure based one of the ones included in the intro box. Basic game and character creation rules can be found in the Quickstart that is avialable for free here: DRIVETHRURPG.COM Anyone else interested?
This is the out-of-character discussion thread.
Hi folks, I've been absent from the forums for a good while now to deal with family issues that took up all my available brain space. I did not end my last GMing experiences here in the forums well (I ghosted my groups), so I'll apologize for that for starters: Sorry to all my players for ghosting our games. I was under a lot of stress at the time, but that doesn't excuse the poor way in which I dropped all of the games; nobody deserves that, mea culpa. ------------------------------------------------- I say all of this because it is my intention to run a brief game of Swords of the Serpentine, a fantasy sword and sorcery GUMSHOE game. To make it as simple as possible, I'll be running a pre-written adventure called "Ragamuffins" about a small crew of pre-teen street urchins who have to deal with a strange situation. Anyone who is interested will be playing one of the following pregens: * Gemma, a 12-year-old who fancies herself a freelance slink (P.I.) or a City Watch member, even if the Watch regularly chase her away.
Names and genders are flexible and can be changed by the player. If you're interested, this will be a game with a lot of RP and investigation and even a bit of combat. Since all of the PCs are children, however, most of the time it will be much smarter (and more in the spirit of this adventure) to run away instead of trying to win a stand-up fight. I am hoping to begin as soon as all the pregens are claimed on a first-come basis, or if they are not all filled, once new players stop showing up. No previous knowledge or experience with Swords of the Serpentine or a GUMSHOE game is necessary to play, and all rules will be taught during play.
OK, let's start character creation. Freebooters on the Frontier is a hybrid of both OSR and PbtA games, and a funnel is an introductory game in which everyone plays multiple underpowered "commoners" for lack of a better word. Most aspects of the character generation is random, so we'll be doing a lot of dice rolling to begin with. For those who are joining us on what I hope to be a fun, wacky adventure, please roll (or complete) the following: 1) Occupation: d100 (this will also generate your heritage and your corresponding heritage move) 2) Ability Scores: Roll 3d6 for all characteristics in order: Str, Con, Dex, Int, Wis, Cha, and Luck. In order means your first 3d6 goes to Str, your seond to Con, etc. Don't worry if these are low, they will get bumped in the next two steps. Once everyone has completed these steps and I've give you the results (if you haven't looked them up yourself, see the link to the free RPG docs in the recruitment thread), we'll move on.
Just seeing if there is interest in running a Level 0 Funnel using the playtest version of Freebooters of the Frontier (2e) by Jason Lutes. For thems who aren't familiar with this RPG, it's a hack of Dungeon World combined with OSR elements (mostly from Dungeon Crawl Classics). If you're interested, you can download the complete game from the Author's Dropbox Account (account not needed). The exact funnel adventure will be chosen by the players, but will either be a homebrew that I create with player input, or one of the published DCC funnels. What are the elements of a funnel game? (see also this StackExchange posting)
What are the elements of Freeboters of the Frontier?
This will be the OOC discussion thread for our Pathfinder for Savage Worlds Hollow's Last Hope game.
Hi folks, Looking to run Paizo's excellent module Hollow's Last Hope using the new Pathfinder for Savage Worlds Rules. Looking for 4 – 6 interested players who are willing to commit to a posting rate of at least 1/day during the week and at least once during the weekend. You don't have to own the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds game in order to participate, nor do I require familiarity with the rules, as I will teach the game as we go along. We will be using the standard Golarion setting of northern Andoran. Here's the blurb about the adventure: "The Town of Falcon's Hollow Needs a Miracle! The plague has come to the town of Falcon's Hollow, and not even the town's priest can abate its wretched course. With the coughs of the sick and the wails of the dying echoing through town, the local herbalist uncovers a cure, but she needs some brave heroes to retrieve the ingredients. Finding the cure means risking the dangerous Darkmoon Vale, infiltrating a witch's haunted hut, and delving the ruins of an abandoned dwarven monastery. Do your heroes have the skill and courage to find the cure in time?" If you have a copy of the rules, you are free to create a character using the Pathfinder for Savage Worlds Core Rules. If you don't have a copy of the rules, you are free to chose one of the pregens and reskin it as you see fit. Available pregens include: * Amiri (Human Barbarian)
If you are interested, please submit the following by May 20th, 2022: 1) Your interest and willingness to adhere to the posting rate (see above).
I will pick 4-6 players from the applicants, giving slight preference to those with whom I have played with before (especially if the game became inactive before its conclusion, even more so if I was the one that caused it to become inactive). Submissions will be accepted until May 20th, 2022.
It's pretty much all in the title. I just downloaded the proof of the new Magpie Games Avatar Legends RPG and want to try out the rules. Anyone interested in joining me? We'd all get input about the type of game it would be (mystery, coming of age, fighting oppression, etc) and what Era (Kyoshi, Roku, 100 Year War, Aang, or Korra). If you didn't back the Kickstarter, I think the quickstart rules are still available on the Kickstarter or Magpie website. For those who don't know anything about this, just do a web search for the Thread title and you'll get a lot of info about it.
This is the OOC Discussion thread for the OSE Palace of the Silver Princess Game.
Game Name: Palace of the Silver Princess (Orange edition) or Who Will Save Our Land? Game System: OSR (system TBD, see below) Theme: Young adventurers return home to find it in the clutches of a ruthless baroness and must rescue their friend Flavor: Open World Survival hexcrawl based on published B/X D&D and 1st ed AD&D modules, all flavors from dark fantasy to gonzo Background: You left your home in the Barony of Gulluvia only a few years ago, leaving behind your family, loved ones, and the places you loved in order to pursue your dreams in the wider world. You thought that you had outgrown the rolling hills and fruitful meadows of home, and were destined for great things. A month ago, you received a desperate letter from home. Bernadette, the younger sister of your close friend Jeremiah who had stayed behind in Gulluvia to take over his family's farm, was begging you to return home and help her brother. She wrote that Jeremiah had been arrested by the soldiers of Baroness D'hmis, who had accused him of being a traitor and thrown him in a cell. Appeals for justice and mercy had gone unheard, and the Baroness' magistrate was moving forward with seizing their family farm. Rushing home to come to your old friend's aid, you met Bernadette at the Shady Dragon Inn in the settlement of Velders on the edge of the Barony of Gulluvia. Clearly in a state of panic, Bernadette's eyes darted around, fearing she would be overheard. After you had sufficiently calmed her, she tearfully confessed that Jeremiah had been tried and convicted by the corrupt magistrate and was scheduled to be executed for treason in one month's time after which their farm would be seized as well. The magistrate proclaimed that if she could come up with 500 gp, however, she would be allowed to keep the farm. That amount of money was ludicrous, as no farmer in the history of Gulluvia had ever acquired that much wealth. Bernadette was deathly ashamed but didn’t have anyone else to turn to and asked you if there was anything you could do. Clearly, her estimation of your collective worth was off by a few hundred gold pieces, but that did not make the situation any less tragic. Game Information: This will be an OSR (Old School Revival/Renaissance) game based on published TSR adventures from the early to mid-80s. Your PCs will be a group of young people from the Barony of Gulluvia, which was first sketched out by Jean Wells in her only TSR adventure: B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, published in 1981. In that description it states that the barony was recently taken over by the ruthless Baroness D’hmis. However you feel about this baroness, you all want to free your imprisoned friend Jeremiah, but lack the funds to do so. Of insufficient experience to take on the baroness directly, you have instead decided to do the only thing you can think of for coming up with the 500 gp needed to free him: become treasure hunters. Knowing that you have only a few weeks before your friend Jeremiah is unjustly put to death, you head off into the mountains north of Gulluvia, following the rumors of a wealthy princess who ruled a hidden valley and possessed a giant ruby. Surely a ruby of that size (if it exists) would buy your friend’s freedom, would it not? Game System: As I mentioned above, I have not determined which of the OSR systems we will be using to play this game, but since I own several, we have options. I also thought it would be helpful if everyone who is chosen to play this game gets a chance to help pick it. As part of your application for this game, please select your top 4 from the options listed below in the "Application" section. Application: If you are interested in the game, please submit the following: Name:
Submission Deadline: Feb 18th, 2022
Hello Customer Service folks, Please cancel my Pathfinder Society subscription effective immediately. Please cancel my Pathfinder Lost Omens subscription once "Absalom, City of Lost Omens" ships. Finally, please cancel my Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription once "#174: Shadows of the Ancients" ships. If the Lost Omens and AP cancel requests are too finicky to work on your end, please let me know and I'll put in separate requests for each of them at the appropriate time. The PFS subscription can be cancelled immediately, however. Many thanks, Alex 
Howdy Paizoteers, The subject line says it all: Breath of the Dragonskull Product Page. I know, not the highest priority ever, but, you know :)
Hi folks, I've begun a new online campaign via video chat based on the old Dungeons and Dragons module B 1–9 "In Search of Adventure" using the 13th Age RPG rules set, and am considering starting a PbP here of the same thing if enough folks are interested. I would run the two in parallel and use the background and story elements that are generated by both games to cross-pollinate one another. Would anyone be interested in adventuring through the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, first presented in the Moldvay D&D Expert Set, albeit using the 13th Age RPG rules published by Pelgrane Press? The module as written is very sandboxy and allows the players to head off in a number of different directions. We'd start at 1st level in the town of Threshold and use the 13th Age Icon relationships to help inform backgrounds and plots. The Icons themselves would be powerful (although not immortal) forces in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos and surrounding nations. Any interest? Questions?
This is where we'll be discussing the game. Everyone should begin by going to the Torchbearer RPG Downloads page and download the "Torchbearer Sheets Bundle" and the "Torchbearer Cheat Sheet". After everyone checks in here and confirms they have downloaded both, we can begin the character creation process.
Hi folks, I have long been interested in the Torchbearer RPG published by Burning Wheel Press and am wondering if anyone else might be interested in playing with me if I run a game of it here. I've been reading the rules for the past few months and am ready to give it a try. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Torchbearer, it is a heavily modified version of the Mouse Guard RPG with some elements of the Burning Wheel RPG thrown in. Since I backed the Torchberer 2nd Edition Kickstarter, we'd be using the beta version of it that has been released for backers. If you have the 1st edition rules or none of the rules at all, that is perfectly fine, as the nature of Play-by-Post allows us to introduce rules elements bit by bit as we play. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Torchbearer RPG, it plays like a low-powered (compared to Pathfinder anyway), simulationist survival game where you have to keep track of supplies and live by the edge of your wits. Success or even just survival is not guaranteed, and players are encouraged to make plans and work together, rather than simply wading into every combat knowing that is is "balanced" for the party. In many ways it feels like the early editions of D&D and AD&D (which is intentional, as it is an homage to it). Unlike many modern games, it is actually quite crunchy rules-wise, but I feel the rules are well-designed and make sense. There are quite a few reviews of the game online if you'd like to check them out: HERE, HERE, and HERE (video). In order to make the game more friendly to folks here on the Paizo boards, I would be setting it in Golarion, specifically in northern Cheliax in the foothills of the Menador Mountains. Players would be portraying down-on-their-luck treasure hunters, searching the ruins of ancient civilizations for fame and glory. There's no need to come up with a character concept right away, as Torchbearer character creation is best if it is done along with your fellow players, so just let me know if you are interested. If you'd like to start thinking about your character, please go ahead. The available classes are: Halfling Burglar, Human Magician, Dwarf Outcast, Elf Ranger, Human Theurge, and Human Warrior.
Hi there. I'm home on lockdown with lots of RPGs that I've never played. I want to change that. Anyone interested in joining me for a short, low-key PbP adventure? I'm happy to GM. If you're interested, please give me a list of the games you've always wanted to play but never have and I'll let you know if I have them. We'll narrow it down to a half-dozen and then will vote. Sound good? Game on!
This is where OOC discussions will happen.
Greetings and welcome to the Recruitment Thread for "Operation Unfathomable" by Jason Sholtis using the Swords & Wizardry game system published by Frog God Games. At its heart, Operation Unfathomable is an Underworld exploration game in a surreal sword and sorcery universe that has more in common with the books of of Robert E. Howard (Conan), Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser), and Michael Moorcock, than the imaginations of Tolkien and his intellectual descendants. The universe in which Operation Unfathomable exists is cruel, uncaring, and more than a little weird, but Sholtis has injected quite a bit of humor (often quite black) as well. This is not a place of dashing heroes and steely heroines with high ideals and seemingly endless hit points, but one where people have to be careful and clever just to survive, and where most are just out for themselves. But does this mean that things are grim and there is no hope? On the contrary. I hope to create a game where the PCs don't always get along, but try their best to make the best out of a bad situation, and have a laugh or two while they're at it. Here are some additional notes about the game:
Posting Expectations
Character Creation Basics:
Spoiler:
ORASK ZORUNAM
Level 1 Magic-User Intense scientific interest in all things Underworld coupled with below-average wisdom a possible liability Speaks like David Attenborough and given to descriptive monologues with evangelical fervor STR: 6 (-1), INT: 17, WIS: 8, CON: 13 (+1 to hp), DEX: 13 (+1 to missiles, 1 pt. bonus to AC) CHA: 12 Spells: 1 first level/day Armor: None Weapons: Dagger [1d4] Age: 45. HP: 4, AC: [10], SAV: 15, Move: 12, XP Bonus: None Equipment: backpack, bedroll, waterskin, lantern. 4 flasks oil, 8 specimen jars in leather case, 2 contain fungal spore samples, 1 contains a dozen live microsnakes, 1 week iron rations, 10’ pole, vial of holy water, portable spellbook containing sleep, detect magic, magic missive, reveal location, scroll containing fireball, 16 GP Here are some additional house rules:
Please let me know if you have additional questions! I'll keep this recruitment open for two weeks (10/23) after which I'll take my pick from among the 4-6 PCs I like best.
I recently purchased Operation Unfathomable by Jason Sholtis and found it is really up my alley. For those of you unfamiliar with the setting, it's been described as a gonzo, subterranean sandbox adventure that's plenty deadly but is probably very different from any Tolkienesque game you have ever played. The game is written for the D&D 0E retro-clone "Swords and Wizardry", and since I've been curious about how that game plays, I'd like to give it a try. Everyone begins at 1st level with the standard classes and races from the Swords & Wizardry Core Rulebook, which is available as a "Pay What You Want" PDF. The setting below the earth (where the adventure is set) is well-described in the campaign book, but the world above as imagined by Sholtis still hasn't been published, so we'd all be making it up as we go along. Here is the blurb describing the game:
From DriveThruRPG:
OPERATION UNFATHOMABLE is a 108-page, internally-consistent, gonzo funhouse module for Swords & Wizardry that runs like a subterranean wilderness trek instead of a “down the 10 foot hall and kick in a door” affair. There are random elements aplenty to keep GMs guessing as well as players. No balanced encounters to be found here, but the clever setup allows low level characters to drop into the dungeon “deep end” and still have a chance of making it out alive—if they’re smart and wary.
OPERATION UNFATHOMABLE includes: Underworld Phenomena: Novel environmental hazards to challenge explorers like Horizontal Cave Lightning, Whirlwinds of Unbidden Transportation, Sudden Seismic Events, and many more!
And if you want more background about the actual adventure, here's the full player's background:
Spoiler: Sorcerer-King Syantides, autocrat of the ancient city-state Mur, has made a terrible blunder. The fabulous Nul Rod (an anti-magical artifact of mythic proportions), long kept safely locked away in his Tower Impregnable, has been taken by one of Syantides’ sons, the gallant Prince Eyraen.
Unable to master the mystic arts and doomed to obscurity in the shadows of his nine (confirmed) siblings, the Prince dedicated himself to mastering the arts of war and became a mighty fighting-man and prominent explorer. While outfitting himself for an expedition, Eyraen discovered the Nul Rod among his father’s substantial treasure hoard and appropriated the relic for use on a suicidal errand into the unfathomable Underworld. At some point in their delve, the Prince’s party met with a terrible fate from which only a single porter escaped. This young man, his hair prematurely white from terror, was able to offer very little in the way of coherent testimony before breaking free of his restraints and throwing himself into Stonespear River. The authorities found a rough map from the expedition in the youth’s tattered sack, along with a small golden idol depicting a little- known godling, Shaggath-Ka the Worm Sultan. Former associates of the Prince confirmed that Eyraen had long a terrible vengeance upon the Worm Sultan, to whom one of the Prince’s most ardent lovers was sacrificed in an unspeakable rite. According to the map, Shaggath-Ka’s realm lies somewhere beneath the frontier territories to which your group has traveled in search of adventure. Just yesterday, the local captain attempted to plumb these depths with a sizable force of soldiers. A half-insane survivor, before renouncing his citizenship and disappearing into the night, reported that the war band attracted so much attention they were drawn into a series of nonstop battles. The captain and his remaining stalwarts fell in an encounter with a singular horror that the surviving man-at-arms was either unable or unwilling to describe. The agents of the Sorcerer-King hope that a smaller expedition, proceeding stealthily and choosing their battles wisely (this cannot be overemphasized), might have a better chance of success. The section of the Underworld visited by the Prince’s party was at least partially pacified, and many horrors were destroyed. Certainly, whatever wiped out the party remains at large, but with care, planning, and stealth, the Nul Rod may still be recoverable. The further opportunity to reclaim any treasures procured by the Prince before fate overtook him should not be ignored. The entrance to the Underworld used by the Prince lies but a few hours’ travel into the nearby wilderness. But, with perpetual internecine wars raging on all fronts, most of the greatest heroes in the Sorcerer-King’s service are dead, occupied, or very far away. And so in Fort Enterprise, the modest wilderness outpost you have chosen as your base of operations, the Sorcerer-King’s regent has determined to press into service whomever he can find who might pass for bold adventurers. Your newly formed company, already planning a career in exploration, treasure hunting, and dungeon delving, will simply have to suffice.
This is the OOC/Discussion thread for our Trail of Cthulhu game "Ritual Pursuits" written by Steve Dempsey. Feel free to post your rules-specific questions or other OOC material here.
It’s 1931 and the Indianapolis Indians have just opened their new Perry Stadium on 16th St., and the newly reformed Indianapolis ABCs are playing in the Negro National League. You are all traveling to Indianapolis cross country from New York in quite a decent car, a Ford Model A Sedan, looking to take advantage of these exciting times (Picture of Ford). There are two ball players, a sports journalist, a doctor, an author (whose car it is), a photographer, and Woodrow Chadrick, the driver. It’s not been an easy journey. Unmarried women traveling with men, and whites traveling with blacks, are viewed with great suspicion. You took a slight detour in Ohio to check out a haunting in Lima, Ohio. You had hoped to make better time, because you need to be in Indy tonight. You’ve been forced to push on into the night and now you’re just south of Muncie, Indiana. It is a moonless, clear and cold March night, and the stars are bright.
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