Hello! As the thread title suggests, I am looking for a couple of individuals who’d be up for participating in a game swap. You run one for me, I run one for you; basic tit for tat. :) (Of course, should any unusually generous souls be willing to run a game for me without desiring one in turn I would quite likely take them up on that offer, but I am absolutely not expecting any such thing from anybody.) To make sure we are all on the same page: by solo games (or one-on-one games games, as they are also and perhaps more accurately called), I mean games with two participants – the GM, and one player controlling a single character. Lesser entities that are entirely under the PC’s control, such as a beastmaster’s animal companion, are exempt from this within reason, but the idea really is for the game’s narrative to revolve around a single character. That being said, in my experience it can be a good idea to have a single GMPC accompany the PC. They would merely be along for the ride, as it were: someone whom the PC can interact with if desired and who can shore up their deficiencies in the skill/combat departments, but who has no active agencies of their own (or at any rate only ones that the player has approved). Even so, this is not a hard necessity and certainly dependent on the circumstances of any given game. Because RPG systems usually aren’t designed around a party size of one or two, I am quite open on a case-by-case basis to implementing additional rules that increase the characters’ overall power level (e.g. gestalt rules, extra resources during character creation). Other steps may also have to be taken to ensure that such a small party will still fare adequately, which I shall be keeping in mind as well. In the following spoiler you will find a list of things, in no particular order, that make me tick (or don’t) as a GM/player. I hope that they convey a serviceable idea of the kinds of games I would like both to run and to play in!
Likes and Dislikes:
• In terms of a game’s overall concept and structure I incline towards adventuring (in a rather loose sense), as opposed to games which revolve around a particular “gimmick” of fairly narrow scope, such as managing a business.
• Elaborate intrigue, political or otherwise, is not my thing. I very much do like games with strong social and other non-combat elements, mind you. (In fact I would opine that in solo games, the GM ought to be doubly careful in their handling of combat encounters.) • As a rule, PCs should always end up prevailing. Not effortlessly or without a struggle, sure, but ultimately there ought always to be some kind of “win” condition and the prospect of failing forward. Some players want the threat of death or a similarly grievous end to hang over their characters; I am not one of these players. :p • I prefer low-level play, with characters still at the beginning of whatever path the game is going to take them down. This need not mean starting literally at level 1 or whatever the system’s equivalent is, but certainly not much higher than that. • Tonally, on a scale from 1 (cartoony/silly) to 10 (grimdark), I like for my games to be roughly around an 8. • I generally prefer to use a given system’s core/default setting (e.g. Golarion for PF2E) rather than anything homebrewed or third-party. • I am not really interested in pre-written modules/adventure paths, running them even less than playing in them. • I like posts that have a modest amount of effort put into them (qualitatively more so than quantitatively). Play-by-post is a written medium, entirely divorced from the need to produce anything in real time; to me, part of its appeal is making the most of this. • My posting frequency is uneven. Two posts a week should be doable most of the time; managing three would be an outlier; anything beyond that is almost certainly not going to happen. Next up, have a list of the systems I playing in and/or running, again in no particular order.
Systems:
(Please note: systems in italics are those I consider myself a less-than-proficient GM of due to a lack of practical experience. I am perfectly willing to run them as well, but to be on the safe side you should expect a bumpier-than-usual ride in such cases.)
• Godbound
If your interest remains piqued still, great! In practical terms I am looking for one or two “pairs” of short pitches per poster, outlining both the characters you would like to play and the games you’d be interested in running for me. It should be noted that the system(s) you are prepared to run need not be the same system(s) you’d like to play in. • Character pitches should include the desired system (if not self-evident) and a brief summary of the character themself: who they are, where you could see their story going in broad strokes, that sort of thing. There’s no need to put together a sheet yet!
Post your pitches in this thread or PM them to me if you prefer. This explicitly is not a “first come, first served” venture – I don’t really have a set period of time for this recruitment in mind, but I will be accepting submissions until, say, 15 March at the earliest. When all is said and done I intend to go with two, maybe three game exchanges, if there even end up being that many interested players. Anyway, thanks for reading all of that! Here’s hoping there will be a few takers. :)
GM of the Streets wrote: Particulars? I’m still working on the ‘plot’, but did you mean something else? I simply did not wish to give the impression of unconditionally committing ahead of time, as considerations such as character creation restrictions, house rules, posting rate expectations, etc. also figure into whether I end up applying to any given game or not. (Though you could quite rightly point out that this probably goes for most anybody!)
I think I shall give a Sister Hospitaller concept another shot that I put together for a game, many years ago, which never went much of anywhere. Raw rolls:
WS: 2d10 ⇒ (7, 10) = 17
BS: 2d10 ⇒ (6, 10) = 16 S: 2d10 ⇒ (5, 3) = 8 T: 2d10 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5 Ag: 2d10 ⇒ (2, 8) = 10 Int: 2d10 ⇒ (2, 8) = 10 Per(+): 3d10 ⇒ (8, 8, 3) = 19 WP(+): 3d10 ⇒ (3, 5, 5) = 13 Fel(-): 3d10 ⇒ (6, 6, 9) = 21 Ifl: 2d10 ⇒ (1, 5) = 6 Divination: 1d100 ⇒ 26
Modified rolls: WS: 17 + 20 = 37
BS: 16 + 20 = 36 S: 8 + 20 = 28 T: 5 + 20 = 25 Ag: 10 + 20 = 30 Int: 10 + 20 = 30 Per: 16 + 20 = 36 WP: 10 + 20 = 30 Fel: 12 + 20 = 32 Ifl: 6 + 20 = 26 Divination: "Truth is subjective."
DM DoctorEvil wrote: Summoner, eh?-- you love to challenge the GM right away, dontcha?!? (just kidding, play what you want). Will look forward to see how you tie it to the Broken Tusk following. In my defence, summoners seem like they pose a challenge for their players, too. :Þ Nor can I claim to be a PF2E pro myself. But I'm sure none of it is insurmountable.
DM DoctorEvil wrote: Frankly, I am a little surprised by the lack of interested persons. Glad for those who have posted, but I am used to dozens of interest posts. So a) my idea is not captivating or b) there just aren't as many people looking for a game as there used to be.... In my experience, 2E unfortunately remains rather less popular than 1E. Personally I'd slightly prefer one of the 1E adventures I named earlier. That said, I also wouldn't blame you if you decided the effort to convert the module(s) to 2E was more than you care to take on and opted to run AoA instead. :)
To be honest, none of the 2E APs appeal to me very much based on what I know about them, with the possible exception of Age of Ashes. The closest I got to playing any of the 1E APs was a D&D 5E conversion of Curse of the Crimson Throne, in which we didn't even get to finish the first chapter. I wouldn't object to that one, though by all accounts Rise of the Runelords also is pretty decent? Really, my familiarity with 1E adventure paths is virtually nil. Generally speaking I have fairly little practical experience with PF2E, despite my best efforts.
One thing you may want to decide (or maybe hold another small poll for) before people start working on their PCs is what crew type the game will be about. The backstory of a character who joins a Cult is likely to be different from that of one who joins a Smuggler gang; "one story fits all" doesn't work terribly well here in my experience.
Have you played Second Edition?
How comfortable are you with Second Edition?
How comfortable are you with the Play by Post format?
What kind of character are you willing to play?
Tell me a bit about yourself as a player.
Tell me a bit about your favorite character ever.
And lastly, what do you enjoy most about Pathfinder?
I'm always up for more 2E, so consider my interest piqued. And in fact, I actually somewhat prefer slower-paced games, not being the most active of posters myself! As for questions: which of the current players/characters are still around? Or are you looking to move on with a totally new roster? If not, do you have any preferences when it comes to party composition? The game's premise is giving me the impression that there might be more social manoeuvring and intrigue than classic combat action, which may affect my choice of character.
Before I put together a full-blown sheet, here's the part of my prospective elven monk's background that deals with the whole monk business, or one form of it at any rate. Just felt I should get it okayed first to avoid stepping on any toes and what not. :) Concept: Dhennaa fech, “those who are apart”, are ritualised outsiders in elven society [as they utterly lack the magical aptitude found in almost every elf]. Numbering no more than a few dozen at any one time, they gather ceremonially once in a great while but spend most of their adult lives in seclusion, meditating on what it means to live without magic and honing their physical form to the absolute limit. Other elves tend to pity the dhennaa a little, but also respect them; while they are far from outcasts, in the minds of many their lack of magic means they are not quite “true” elves either. Still, the dhennaa are sometimes sought out for the wisdom they might bestow, their perspective being free from many of the concerns and prejudices that would trouble a more ordinary elf. In addition to this, the dhennaa fech are also respected for their martial skill – they do not patrol the wilderness as a ranger would, but they nevertheless oppose anyone and anything that threatens their fellow elves just as fiercely.
During certain times of the year, a dhenna fech travels between the tribes in the general vicinity of his or her hermitage to observe the tradition known as “life-etching”. Sometimes a dhenna’s meditations will guide her to a handful of elves among the tribe she is visiting, but it is also not uncommon for life-etching to be treated as something more like a service being offered. In either case, those who avail themselves of it are elves who have just completed an important chapter in their life or otherwise had something momentous happen to them. After carefully questioning this elf on this, the dhenna then spends another night in meditation before applying a tattoo to the elf that represents the subject matter in question. What the tattoo looks like and where on the body it is applied is entirely up to the dhenna, but it is virtually always a highly abstracted affair whose meaning is known only to the artist and the one who received it. A similar process may also be employed to honour and commemorate the dead, though it is more common to scrimshaw their bones rather than tattoo their bodies. As the dhennaa fech have no ties to what many deem the three chief pillars of elven life – the tribe, magic, and the divine –, so are their tattoos and scrimshaw work regarded as something slightly alien, yet potentially illuminating. Few elves are so set in their ways as to completely deny the potential validity of something beyond their worldview, at least if it is so steeped in tradition as the ways of the dhennaa fech are. Still, a tribe gladly welcomes a dhenna fech and just as gladly sees her off; few envy them the secluded, magic-less lives they lead, as highly prized as their insight and skilful life-etchings may be. |