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Organized Play Member. 106 posts (190 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 2 aliases.
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Friday, April 12, 2019
8:00 PM
You are sitting around doing whatever it is you do on a Friday night, when you get a text message from a familiar face:
Berto
Got a job for you. Meet me at Thracie’s.
You recognize the bar by name and head out, getting there in less than 20 minutes. You meet up, grumble out your hellos, and step inside. The place is full of mundanes, but that’s normal: they don’t know the password. You look around the room until your eyes fall on one of the waitresses. You pull her aside and whisper a simple phrase into her ear:
“We’d like a bite of ambrosia.”
She recognizes the phrase instantly and, after delivering the drinks she’s carrying, leads you to a storage closet out of view of the other patrons. She leans forward and whispers something to the door. The words she says sound less like any human language and more like the crackling sound of a campfire, but they have the desired effect as the door opens to reveal a dark void and a pair of eyes peer at you all from the darkness. It says something in language that none you speak, and the woman responds with only a single word: “Thracia”.
The eyes blink twice and the woman steps back. You know the procedure, and eagerly step forward into the darkness, and the moment the door is closed behind you, you feel a pair of arms embrace you, before suddenly evaporating into air, and in front is a new door, this one appearing much older yet far better made than the one you just stepped through. Opening it, you step into a strange and ephemeral bar, surrounded by crystal lights and well-crafted wooden furniture.
The denizens of the bar are varied but not packed: in the center of the room is a quintet of anthropomorphic animals engaged in a drinking contest, while a table over a trio of what appears to be wizards drink cocktails and are engaged in prattle about some magical product they wish they could afford. In the back of the room are a few loners, one of whom, a dark-skinned man covered in tattoos and mostly hidden underneath a grey hoodie, is very clearly refusing to talk to anyone, and anyone who tries walks away looking rather shaken. At the bar itself, a pair of old men drink beers and talk in even tempered voices, while the bartender simply cleans glasses and brings drinks to patrons as they order them.
As you look around the room for Berto, you get another text:
Berto
Something came up. Gonna be late. Be there in approx. 15 minutes.
You roll your eyes, disappointed but not surprised: Berto never shows up on time. Figuring you’ve got time, you pick a table and wait.
Some major plot points in this setting
[list]
This campaign takes place mostly in the city of Portland: while some moving around will take place, most of the action will happen here.
In this world, magic went away some time in the mid 1300s, right around the onset of the Black Death in Europe. It came back in 1908, coinciding perfectly with the Tunguska Event.
Three major powerhouses rule the magical underground in Portland: the Society of Gilded Oak, the Shield Legion, and FACCS, the Federal Agency for Capture, Containment, and Study.
The Society functions as the de facto “rulers” of the supernatural world. Some of the most powerful and influential spellcasters in the state, if not the whole country, can be found within the Society’s ranks. The local branch’s head is Arseni Volkov, one of the few confirmed Aasimar living in the Pacific Northwest. His spellcasting ability is unrivaled, and many magical initiates study under his tutelage. Their current base of operations is the Crystal Ballroom (a historic music venue and one of the most haunted buildings in portland), and their symbol is a dead oak tree, often stamped in brass or gold.
The Shield Legion’s activities are pretty self-explanatory: it’s in the name. They work to eliminate dangerous monsters that less powerful groups can’t combat, and the performance of their soldiers is eons ahead of most mundane special forces. The Shield Legion’s organization is identical to that of the roman legion: ten legionnaires lead by a decanus forms a contubernium, and ten such squads forms a centuria, lead by a centurion. Portland’s centurion is Maleko King, an enormous hawaiian man rumored to be among the last men alive with giant blood. Their local fort is somewhere along the Columbia River, but only a legionnaire knows where, and their symbol is a man on a horse wielding a trident.
The Federal Agency for Capture, Containment, and Study. FACCS is an esoteric group, and little is known about them save for their goals. FACCS keeps magic and the supernatural out of the public eye and captures unique examples to study. Far from just containing physical specimens, FACCS also scrubs public media and even monitors economic trends to avoid manipulation. FACCS’s local presence is difficult to pin down as they constantly move and strike from new locations to avoid detection, and as such only one recurring figure has been named: Captain Will “Napalm” Parks. Parks is a skilled tactician, and his nickname comes from his recurring use of incendiary weapons against supernatural threats. FACCS’s symbol is a key ring containing 8 keys, each pointing in a different direction.
The Trinity function as the three pillars of the magical world, and together prevent the supernatural from becoming obvious to the public: the Society controls magic-users, the Legion fights off monsters, and the Agency prevents information leakage. In spite of this, all three pillars indirectly oppose each other, and while no one group will directly take action against another, they’ll gladly fight proxy wars in a bid to get an advantage.
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The Precipice and The End of an Age
The world is full of things that normal people aren’t prepared to know about. Cutthroat assassins and black ops agents skulk the shadows doing the dirty work of the world’s most rich and powerful. The world’s brightest minds are devoted to little more than developing new methods of deciding the outcomes of petty grudge matches between these plutocratic giants. And on top of all of it, monsters roam the world. Not the metaphorical meaning the word: zombies, aliens, and honest-to-god demons. And when monsters step a little too close to the public eye, someone has to step in and drive them back to the shadows where they belong.
That’s where you come in. Admittedly, with a name like “The Riot Crew”, you weren’t expecting work as a rent-a-cop or bouncer. Your job is simple: when night falls and the freaks come out to play, you keep anyone not in the know from seeing them. It’s not all bad: the pay is good, if you live long enough to enjoy it, and working outside of the law leaves you with certain… liberties others aren’t allowed to enjoy. But it requires nerves of steel, a strong stomach, and copious amounts of alcohol. Because after seeing half of the stuff you’ll be expected to not just face, but gun down? You’ll need it.
Think you’re up to the task?
Basic Premise
Most of this campaign takes place in and around Portland, Oregon, in the current year. In this alternate universe, magic existed for most of human history up until the mid 1300s, when a series of calamities caused magic to not only disappear, but for any evidence of its existence to be destroyed. History as you and I know it continued more or less as history describes it until June 30, 1908, when magic came flooding back into the world after an explosive event in Russia. Despite this, magic’s return has been rather slow, enough that the governments of the world have kept its existence mostly under wraps.
You and your fellow PCs are members of a self employed group of mercenaries called The Riot Crew. You take jobs from secretive employers to deal with unsavory magic threats or to perform sabotage on magical rivals. Anything from killing a rampaging ooze before it wanders into a local town, to stealing a magic knife from a dead wizard’s grave, to planting a bomb in the warehouse of a cult’s rival, this is where you shine.
But things are soon to get more complicated. New muscle has come on to the scene and is starting to threaten your job security. The masquerade is now thinner than ever, and when it inevitably comes crashing down the secrecy you so greatly value will be no more. And a grave threat, now sleeping in the space between the planes, has begun to stir.
We sit on the precipice.
Build Rules
[list] Ability Scores are generated through point buy (20 points).
Humans are the most populous race on the planet, and the only one available unrestricted to PCs. With GM permission, the aasimar, android, changeling, dhampir, fetchling, ganzi, half-elf, half-orc, ifrit, oread, skinwalker, suli, sylph, tiefling, and undine races may be allowed. Other than when they use the abilities granted to them by their race, all members of these races look indistinguishably human.
All characters gain 2 background skill ranks each time they gain a level in a PC class.
PCs receive two traits at level one, and may take a drawback to receive a third one.
PCs receive hero points as per their rules. PCs can never choose to forgo hero points for a bonus feat.
Content from both the Occult Handbook and Technology Guide are allowed, with GM permission. Additionally, the game follows the Occult Rules shown in the Occult Guide.
This game includes unique equipment for the modern day: This information can be found here.
The game follows the “Pathfinder E6” rules detailed here. In addition, these rules include a house rule: if you meet the prerequisites of a prestige class, you may spend your bonus feats on class features from that class as if you had levels in it.
Starting wealth is the average by class.
All characters must spend a portion of their income every month on maintaining their current lifestyle: it is presumed that PCs start the game at the average level, living in a good apartment and able to afford proper living expenses.
PCs may choose to use Subtle Spellcasting, detailed in Clinton J. Boomer’s minisetting “Eve of Dreams & the AWAKE”.
Third Party content is allowed, with GM permission.
Modern Skills
The rules for some skills have changed in the modern age.
Appraise: The skill to determine the price of gear is far different with magical items than with mundane ones. Thus, Appraise has been split into two separate skills: Audit and Appraise. Audit applies to mundane gear, while Appraise applies to magic gear.
Craft: See the Gunsmithing feat and the Technologist feat and the Technology Skills pages for more information. Note that due to the reduced cost of modern firearms, guns on the Modern Equipment page count as 100x their listed price for the purpose of the Gunsmithing feat (thus, the Semi-Auto Pistol counts as 4000 gp).
Interaction Skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive): The internet provides a unique avenue for research and to gain information, but makes interaction significantly more difficult. Checks used to verify the truth or to gain information (like Diplomacy or Sense Motive) gain +10 bonus. Checks to influence someone’s behaviour receive -5 penalty, as it is much harder to influence someone without using body language or choice of words.
Ride: The Ride skill is used whenever a vehicle is being operated. Rules for vehicles and their operation can be found here.
Modern Feats
Guns Akimbo (Combat)
You can manage recoil well enough that one handed firing becomes a breeze.
Benefit: You treat the Big Bore Revolver, Submachine Gun, and Sawed-Off Shotgun as one-handed weapons for the purpose of firing one-handed. In addition, you treat the penalty for shooting two-handed firearms one-handed as one less.
Normal: The Sawed-Off Shotgun, Submachine Gun, and Big Bore Revolver are treated as two-handed weapons for the purposes of firing one-handed. Firing a two-handed weapon one handed takes a -4 penalty to the attack roll.
Modern Drawbacks
Broke Wizard
Though your dedication to magic has given you power, it’s left your bank account… sparse.
Your cost of living cannot go above poor. This penalty does not affect your character wealth.
Recruitment
I'm looking for 4-6 players to join this campaign. To apply, I wish to see the following:
[list] A character build (it need not be finished, but it should at least be blatantly obvious what your character is built to do)A written backstoryThree "hooks", or special connections to the setting: this can be anything from a character's family members and friends, to unique goals, even weaknesses that the character has
Players will be chosen based on unique character concepts and filling out the central party roles.
For questions on other rules or questions on the setting, go here.
Finally, note that these guides are not set in stone, and may be changed based on player input or campaign needs.
Would anyone be interested in a modern urban fantasy campaign? The basic plot involves a group of hired mercenaries investigating supernatural events. Imagine a combination of TF2, the MCU, and Hellboy. Combat will be done on Roll20. The game will use E6 and Loyalty rules from Clinton J. Boomer, and third party content will definitely be allowed, on the limitation that it be easily accessible (i.e. you don’t need buy a sourcebook). Anyone interested?
I’m a relatively new GM, if that’s important. Feel free to ask any questions or to give suggestions.
I'm writing my own adventure as a new GM, and while I feel like I have most of my bases covered, I've run into a wall.
One of the encounters I have planned is a ranged vanara bandit who fights from the trees. The bandit is also skilled at making traps. One of the traps I have planned is a heavy crossbow "turret" which, when triggered, fires a shot at everyone it detects.
My first thought was to make a trap, but I have no idea if I'm doing right. Currently, the trap looks like this:
Crossbow Turret CR 3
Type Mechanical; Perception DC 0; Disable Device DC 22
Effects
Trigger proximity; Reset automatic; Bypass hidden switch
Effects heavy crossbow fires 4 times, +4 (1d10/19-20)
Will this work? Is there a bette way to make a turret? The party will be APL 1.
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