Mercenary Healer

Thrymr Níðingr's page

296 posts. Alias of Mark Sweetman.



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Minor Crab-beast

The grey light of dawn breaks through the dismal smudge that is the air of East Ending, barely beginning to illuminate the broken cobbled streets. The streets run between ancient tenements that seem to sag against each other as if in exhaustion and whose windows look out like blank, soulless eyes. It is the domain of the lost and the defeated, and the last place you’d choose to be at this — or any — hour.

A large, black sewer rat scurries through one of the many puddles of effluvia that gather among the cobbles as it runs for cover at your approach. The early morning air is chill, but the cloudless sky promises to bring an oppressively hot day, especially here among the tall buildings and narrow alleys where a decent breeze can’t ever seem to reach. At least with the morning chill, the reek of the streets and those that live upon them hasn’t yet set in for the day.

Trudging through the ubiquitous puddles and potholes, you see your destination ahead. Among the darkened structures and rotten fencing that make up this alley stands one small hovel from which lamplights burn. The distinctive red rope of the Office of the Watch cordons off the door. It is a crime scene, and the familiar figure of one of the Watch officers stands in the doorway, illuminated by the lamp within.

The figure is Inspector Hogan Muncy, a detective of the Watch and an acquaintance for the past several years. You can’t say that you know him well, but your paths have crossed in your personal circles and developed into, if not exactly a friendship, at least something of a mutual respect. He is the reason that you gather in this godsforsaken place at this godsforsaken hour on this godsforsaken street. The Constable of the Watch that roused you from your slumber an hour ago simply said that Inspector Muncy had requested your assistance with an investigation and to gather your gear and come as quickly as you were able.

He then escorted you into the benighted slums of East Ending and left you to continue on your own a block back. Joining you under escort of their own respective Constables are other men and women of shared acquaintance with both yourselves and the Inspector. There doesn't look to be rhyme or reason... yet... for why he's brought a number of civilians into play when the Watch is at his disposal... but the Constables were hardly forthcoming under questioning. From the way that they've faded back into shadow and filth, it seems that your meeting with the good inspector is to be in private.

Inspector Muncy lights his pipe and steps out into the street to intercept you before you get a chance to glance into the doorway behind him. He looks the part of the quintessential Watch Inspector as he has every time you’ve seen him, from his regulation moustache and sideburns, to his tweed jacket and pants, to his long coat from whose pocket his tiny Watch shield is suspended, to his city-issued, square-toed leather brogans. Even the brown bowler atop his balding head screams “official business”. However professional his demeanor is, his eyes look tired and his face a bit pallid.

At your approach, Muncy retrieves a small wax tablet from his coat pocket and clears his throat as he reviews his notes. “Let’s see. The deceased is one William Hughe, approximate age 70, at time of death, ‘Old Bill’ to the few people around here that knew him. He was a tinker by trade, though I get the idea he hadn’t done much business in a long time and mainly lived off the bread lines and charity houses. Didn’t get out much, didn’t have any friends as far as we know."

“Bill’s body was discovered about three hours ago by a pair of street sweepers making their nightly rounds. They noticed that the residence was lit and the front door standing open… something no one in their right mind would do in the middle of the night in East Ending. The sweepers found the decedent inside and immediately ran to the nearest Watch Station seven blocks from here to report the crime. The constables immediately cordoned off the area and called me. No one has been in or out since then other than me, and what I found prompted me to call you in. Before you go in I must warn you, the scene is…shocking to say the least.”

Inspector Muncy


Minor Crab-beast

Right... so here's where we do all the talking that's not surrounded by the miasmic atmosphere of the 'in character' elements. I'll have another post up shortly with the selectees over in the Recruitment thread.


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This is a recruitment for the first one-shot adventure that's been released for Monsignor Pett's foetid and sweaty magnum opus... that being Bloody Jack a chef d'œuvre from the sanguine filled eldritch pen of Greg A. Vaughan.

What is this 'Blight' of which I speak? - it is a whole cloth creation of the very man that popularized the Trial of Larazod, whose voice echoes with the sonorous tones of the Sound of a Thousand Screams... and who drugged your drink in the Formidably Maid one evening. A rotting, steaming pile of human achievement that is more ably described upon it's Kickstarter page here.

So what am I looking for? - I'm looking for betwixt four and six intrepid and foolish souls who think themselves either worthy or able to plumb the depths. The adventure itself is a one-shot and I'll be running just it and no more - your characters will start at 5th level, and should be built to PFS standard.

This adventure begins with the party assisting the city watch in the investigation of a murder. I don't require much in the way of background or motivation, as this will just be a one-shot, but your characters should be compatible with that being the focus of the adventure.

In order to assist me in selection though - I would ask you to state what your favourite content created by the Master of Mnnaaaarrr himself is, and why? (but please, hide it behind a spoiler to keep those yet in the dark free of it's tainting influence). Alternatively, if you are not suitably acquainted with Master Pett's growing and dangerous grimoires (which you really really should be... honest)... instead tell me what part of the kickstarter pitch (see above link) interested you sufficiently for you to apply.

Bloody Jack Carver
Went down to the harbour
Taking some children to play.
An eel popped up its head
And ate them instead,
While Jack tip-toed away

Questions are welcome, though answers are often partial... and seldom free....


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Going a while back now I started up a pirate PbP looking to crib from all the sources that I have on hand - which covers Paizo content, Razor Coast and lastly from Freeport. Unfortunately after getting into it... I had a work change that meant I had to put a 7 month pause on the game. The work change has changed back now though - and I've got the time and inclination to get things going again!

However (as would be understandable given the time lag) I'm down a few piratical souls. I've got two sailors still salty (a Bloodrager and a Conjurer), and am looking to give them another three friends. That's where you come in :)

The party will be landed up in Freeport - which is where the new recruits will join the party. Build rules are relatively relaxed - 3rd level, 20 pt buy, 2 traits... pretty close to PFS standard... however more important is a general idea of what you'd be looking to play. I'm fairly grognardy when it comes to races though (I'd prefer PF / RC / Freeport core) though Aasimar and Tieflings are on the table as well.

As to the campaign - it'll be a mix of seafaring, island hopping and grungy city adventuring through the combined world of Freeport, Razor Coast, the Maelstrom and the Shackles.

Any questions or queries please let me know.


NSFW due to language - but these are well worth a watch and chuckle.

The summary blurb from IMDB:
Fed up with the Magical Realm's obsession with large-scale fantasy warfare, Jack the Wizard decides to migrate to the sanest place he can think of: Melbourne's Western suburbs. After accidentally causing Flinders Street Station to turn ever so slightly into a giant Fish monster, his existence (and that of his fellow magical immigrants) is revealed to the Australian public. Fearing a backlash against himself and his kind, Jack swears off using magic in a bid to better assimilate into human life. But of course, fitting in was never going to be easy when people tend to get a bit 'explode-y' whenever you sneeze...


Minor Crab-beast

The day winds down to twilight and the ever noisy forest begins to calm to a lower ebb. The sharp cracks of chisel on krielstone fade as well, Algairn finishing his work for the day. Conrael puts Gordo abed in his lean-to outside the kriel-wall, the full blood troll taking scant moments before falling into a ragged-snoring sleep after a long day at plow. The smaller pyg cousins settle up for the night also, in their spray of huts on the other flank - but for many and most of the rest the kuar is their destination.

At the base Algairn sits enjoying a tankard by a stone as he waits for the gaggle of bairns to arrive and stories to begin. On the other flank fires burn and the enticing scent of basted and grilled meat waft through the air. A pair of kin are at either end of a rope dragging the night's keg towards the kuar's raised center... ready for the night's thirsty work.

Llaelish Gentlemen:
Please put down a dot with your character alias and a spoiler-ed appearance first - then I'll launch your side of things

Tonight will be a wee get to know you and establishing frame for characters - so please include a bit on an appearance in your first post. You're assembling for the kriel's communal meal of the evening.


Minor Crab-beast

Right ho here we go... character building time :)

Please post your characters here, be they fully complete and aliased, or partial works in progress. I'd like to get the mechanical side tucked away and people sorted into races and careers first - as it'll play into exactly how I kick the campaign off. Standard character construction - with the following rules:

  • 0 xp start.
  • No Warlocks, and no Warcasters (or other careers that start with steamjacks).
  • I have access to all of the books - so if you're wondering on anything (such as what Llaelish goodies are in the Kings and Gods sourcebook) please ask.

Please also feel free to throw up a bit of background type info on your character - but keep in mind the following:

  • 0 xp means that you're just starting out. You've done basic training and maybe gotten into a few scraps... but you're not an established warrior / hero... yet.
  • Keep it relatively short - I don't need novels, and we might need a bit of Selleys Spakfilla to get people meshing together.
  • If you're building Full Metal side - you need to be either part of or sympathetic to a fallen Llaelish noble house. No extensive connections to major powers outside of that.
  • If you're building Unleashed side - you need to be either part of or a close ally of a Trollkin Kriel of the Glimmerwood. No connections beyond that (inclusive of no ties to the Circle).
  • Please ask questions, prompt me to help fill in the campaign setting and world for us - it's going to be the best way for me to get started and us to all get on the same page.


Greetings Paizo-board-ites,

Relatively recently Privateer Press increased their offerings in the Iron Kingdoms RPG world by releasing Unleashed - which adds the monstrous Hordes extension into the Full Metal Fantasy RPG system that was built off of Warmachine. When I grabbed the PDF for same it rekindled my interest in running an RPG campaign in the steampunky rollicking world of Western Immoren.

I attempted a PbP previously here when Iron Kingdoms first became available but it was a fail partially due to my lack of a digital version of the rules. However now that the ruleset is available as a PDF from Drivethroughrpg that shouldn't be a concern.

So... here we are :)

Pitch:

This will be a mercenary / bandit based campaign set in Western Immoren. The central conceit will be a group of tribe members seeking out an estranged member of their Kriel / tribe to inform them of the terrible REDACTED that's occurred.
This will allow for characters to be built from both the Full Metal Fantasy system (those who are initially out in the world) as well as Unleashed (those who have left the tribe to seek out the estranged member/s).
A few other points:

  • I like Trollkin and would lean heavily towards having them (inclusive of Pygs) as the majority race.
  • I would prefer to not include either Warcasters or Warlocks initially.
  • My ambitions will start small, and grow from there if we start rolling along well. As in, it'll start off with small scale skirmishy survival style play before trying to introduce wider themes at a later stage after we've gotten some system mastery down.
  • Final group building would be carried out in the Discussion thread after we've parsed to a group of like-minded folks.
  • This will still essentially be my first IK RPG PbP, so it'll be bumpy and slow for a while.

What Now?

If any of the above has tickled your fancy... then pop into the thread and say so. I'm essentially looking for expressions of interest and character leanings before looking to collaboratively build the characters up in the Discussion thread (c/w additional notes and guidelines).

So:

  • Do you have the books / PDFs? - if so, do you have just the original Core book, or Unleashed as well?
  • What sort of character would you like to play?
  • Would you be happy with a Trollkin centric PbP? - if not, then which racial /social group would you prefer to build around? (ie. Blackclads, Farrow, etc)
  • Which geographical / political areas of Western Immoren are your favorite and why? - do you like Khador, Cygnar, Five Fingers, etc.
  • Any other questions for me?

Note for emphasis - this is a PbP using the new IK RPG ruleset which was released by Privateer Press in the last few years, and not using the older D20 ruleset.


Minor Crab-beast

Was you ever off the Horn
Where it's always fine and warm?
You'd wish to the gods you'd never been born
Riding on a donkey

Way Hey and away we go
Donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey, away we go
Riding on a donkey.

Opening up the Gameplay thread to allow for dots and easier tracking of the campaign.
If you're feeling lyrical, feel free to dot with a shanty or bawdy ballad.


Minor Crab-beast

As intimated via PMs or post this will be the bubbling saucepan to which I'm looking to stew away a few ideas for a piratey campaign that cribs from just about everywhere - Freeport, Razor Coast, Skulls and Shackles, and any other vaguely yo-ho-ho-ish source available to me.

Y'all have been round the traps before with me in the past, so no need to tread back over old ground... hopefully you've already got an idea of what's potentially on offer / at risk / my failings :P Instead I've a few basic queries to get my creative juices flowing and also tie together some assumptions and expectations:

1. Whatever I do, it will be mostly mapless and gridless - that means in general no combat maps, and things like distances and geography will follow Star Trek physics (ie. Speed / Distance of Plot). Maps were always what took the longest for me - and were unable to be done at work. By removing them, I should be able to open the game a little more and have it flow a bit better.

2. I make no promise to any overarching plot - aside from your own journey from fleabitten scabs to one man arrrrmies. Adventures will be set as 'set pieces' and linked together through trails of string and occasional invisible railroads. That is they'll be pre-written parts of other adventures with a new coat of paint to fit into the hodgepodge world I'm thinking of.

Hopefully it won't limit the fun to be had, nor will it limit imagination or creativity, or potential for repeating villains, etc - but the adventures at least initially will be more of the 'set-piece vignettes' than anything else.

3. Starting level won't be first, but will be lowerish - I'm thinking anywhere from 2-4. Sources will be cobbled together from Freeport, Razor and PRD - with all welcome.

4. What do you do with a drunken sailor?

Hopefully there are enough intrepid souls to give me another chance to put together at least a single wee group of pirates / privateers / independent naval contractors... once we've got a quorum of interest or thoughts I'll start threading more tidbits onto the pile for thought-review.

As a note - this won't likely start quick, but I'm aiming to get something together for launch within the next month or so. I've been three months out of the game, and I'm reasonably confident that I'm in a happy place to commit to re-opening as a DM.


Anyone else up on this? (Early Access was released for kickstarter backers, and opens up on Steam tomorrow)

I'm loving it at the moment... even though my second major foray (after the requisite faffing about to learn the system) involved an epic fail.

Two rooms in and the stress had already gone past breaking point so I had to back out and run away... which was compounded by my Occultist catching Syphilis and my Grave Robber the Creeping Cough. Scorched earth policy was the only way forward from there...

A good first impressions summary


Dear Sir / Maam,

Could you please cancel the miniatures subscription attached to my account?

I've had significant issues with customs clearance (unrelated to Paizo) and a lost case shipment (also unable to resolve due to no tracking) that have made it too much of a hassle to continue with the subscription.

Regards,
Mark


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For a while now I’ve had thoughts and ideas and rumination and procrastination all bouncing around in my noggin and I’ve oft desired to try and coagulate some of the morass into a cogent form. This thread is an attempt of both doing some of that, as well as allowing anyone else of interest to either point and laugh, or steal some ideas, or suggest improvements as they will.

The Plot:or at least part of it.
The prime influences for me have been the Harrow deck, and also some of the information recently presented in the Occult Mysteries source book. Specifically the concept of Lost Harrow cards as well as the Cosmic Caravan.

A Cliff Notes version is thus:
  • A caravan arrives into Galduria in Varisia having suffered the predations of the Lost Coast. It needs to hire new guards, and take on additional passengers / cargo for the return trip along the trade routes.
  • Specifically the caravan will follow the Kaspakari route from Galduria to Magnimar (see Varisia sourcebook inside back cover), then the Yondabakari route from Magnimar all the way through to Kaer Maga.
  • The PCs are drafted to provide security, or are securing passage for themselves on the way. Joining them will be a runaway Harrower who is a key to the plot and travelling incognito at first… as well as another less savoury passenger – a Vetala Vampire (from Inner Sea Bestiary) who had been sustaining itself by feeding upon visiting scholars.
  • Hijinks ensue between Galduria and Magnimar. Upon the journey the runaway is exposed and the PCs become embroiled in the plot proper.
  • Stopover in Magnimar for a major set-piece, perhaps involving the Irespan.
  • Caravan then continues on… cue more hijinks… through to Kaer Maga.
  • Once in Kaer Maga the plot dictates the interrogation of a troll auger – perhaps with something tattooed on the inside wall of it’s intestines.
  • ??? – not sure about this bit yet ;)

Obviously there is a lot missing in terms of detail… but I’ve just gotten started :P

Core Concept #1:
I’d like for the literal caravan train to embody the metaphorical Cosmic Caravan from Occult Mysteries (which is essentially Golarion’s take on the Zodiac). The star signs will be personified by various members of the group that either start the journey or join it midway (eg the PCs will personify The Rider).

A very partial list of The Cosmic Caravan:
  • The Stargazer – the runaway Harrower who joins the caravan.
  • The Stranger - ??
  • The Follower - ??
  • The Thrush - ??
  • The Lantern Bearer - ??
  • The Newlyweds - ??
  • The Bridge – embodying the journey that they are on.
  • The Daughter - ??
  • The Rider – the PCs
  • The Patriarch - ??
  • The Wagon – the caravan itself
  • The Pack - ??
  • The Mother – subversion using the Vetala vampire.

Core Concept #2:
Where possible I’m going to use the actual Harrow cards to inspire the themes of the various hijinks that the group will encounter upon their journey. I’m still not sure exactly how to pull this off – as in whether I’ll just pick up on single cards as inspiration, or using an actual spread of the cards to inspire encounters (as in laying out a reading and using that to divine the flow of the encounter).

Using a spread would allow for the use of a loaded Harrow reading at critical junctures to provide a soft guide and also add to the tension of the day. eg. If a Sword harrow spread (p17 Harrow Handbook) foretells The Cyclone is coming there will be some degree of trepidation.

OTOH if using individual cards I could run with providing a similar level of tension through visual motifs and having a specific harrow card be gradually depleted from the full complement to zero as more and more figures / creatures are encountered.

Core Concept #3:
The macguffin in this instance is intended to be a Lost Harrow Card (p6 Harrow Handbook) and the quest for it. Though this aspect still needs work, and will likely tie into the overarching theme of the campaign and what might be learnt from the Troll Auger in Kaer Maga, etc.

So that’s the long and the short of it… as it stands both proud and naked at the same time. Just like a busker in the central square of the city you can either stop and listen a while, or avert your eyes and hustle past. I’m hoping to flesh out the concept and plot and whatnot over time, and shall update as I go.


Project is here

I've been following them for a few weeks on their facebook and they've come up with some pretty funky bits and bobs - plus their base terrain and lights look fan-bloody-tastic.

Glowing Mushrooms - check
Lit torches - check
Laser beams - check
Levitating Dwarf sleds - check


The Brawler's weapon proficiencies are:
A brawler is proficient with all simple weapons plus the handaxe, short sword, and weapons from the close fighter weapon group. She is proficient with light armor, but not with shields.

And the Close Weapon Group (from Ultimate Combat) is:
bayonet, brass knuckles, cestus, dan bong, emei piercer, fighting fan, gauntlet, heavy shield, iron brush, light shield, madu, mere club, punching dagger, sap, scizore, spiked armor, spiked gauntlet, spiked shield, tekko-kagi, tonfa, unarmed strike, wooden stake, and wushu dart

So my read on that is that the Brawler is actually proficient with shields, as they are listed under the Close Weapon Group.

Is this right / wrong?


Minor Crab-beast

The gruff Katapeshi man didn’t seem too friendly when you arrived and spoke of your interest to join the lauded Valknar Gladiatorial College. A brief exchange of words and a handshake was all it seemed to take as far as admissions… well that and the practical that he mentioned. Details were scant as you were ushered into the bowels of the towering arena where the college makes it’s home. Shown a brief detour through a warm up room with wooden benches lining the walls to prepare before you were delivered to a sandy floored passage that tilted upwards into what you’d wager was the arena’s heart. At it’s end was a thick portcullis, blanketed by thick hessian curtains that prevented you from seeing through them.

There it was that you stood, waited, sweated and had your nostrils assaulted by the musty smell of old blood and sand. Beside you stood what looked to be a man with aims same as your own… admission. As you considered whether it was worth exchanging questions or names with the one beside you, a deep voice with an edge of steel boomed from outside in the arena ”Right then you maggots… impress me” and with that the portcullis rose and the hessian curtains parted – flooding your eyes with sunlight and a view of what lies beyond.

A massive bowl shaped arena with sandy floor awaited, near a couple of hundred feet long and at least half that wide. The ground was covered with sand… distressingly crimson in some parts… and lined all around by a wall nearly twenty feet high. You stood in what looked to be one of the access tunnels that allowed access into the floor – and two other portcullis lay open along the Southern edge of the battlefield. Nearly the entire stands were empty except on the Northern and central section of the upper stands stood a covered viewing box that presently housed a bored looking and seated gnome in robes, and a grizzled dwarf. The dwarf had a close cropped beard and scarred face and was standing leaning over the arena with his hands on the bannister.

But despite all of that, your attention was drawn to a more pressing issue… you were not alone on the sand of the arena. Near to each of the three opened portcullis was a ten foot tall monstrous creature weighing likely six hundred or more pounds. Misshapen and brutish face lorded over a corpulent and muscled body – piggish hands wrapped round a trimmed tree trunk fitted with a crude leather grip. The ogre nearest you turned to face you, and it’s ugly face split into an oafish grin as it readied it’s club.

The same reinforced voice from before boomed again ”Well then… what the bloody hell are you waiting for?”

Initiative Block:
Noonan: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Jason Argus: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Morgan Delbeckio: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Elijah Moore: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Juro Aevis: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Yldrath Wyrmblessed: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Ogres: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8

Action Tracker Round 1: Juro Aevis, Jason Argus, Elijah Moore, Ogres, Noonan, Yldrath Wyrmblessed, Morgan Delbeckio

Map

Ground rules and explanations for combat:
Arena surface is sand covered earth, and none of the area is difficult terrain.
Both you and the ogres start aware of each other, and neither of you are flatfooted.
I roll initiative at the start of each combat (as per the spoiler) and then prepare a tracker that shows the order in which character’s actions will unfold. Actions will be posted and resolved in ‘blocks’ (in this case Juro / Jason / Elijah will go, then I’ll do the ogre’s actions, then everyone else).
When stating movement on the arena grid, please state the movement similar to the following: Up four, right three. Each grid square is 5ft.
Where possible / needed call out your actions explicitly, eg: Move action stand, 5ft step up, standard to attack.
Lastly – have fun with it. Allons-y!


Minor Crab-beast

Welcome welcome - hopefully this will be a nice little diversion for us all. Please check in with a post and let me know when the following is ready:

  • Alias that you'll use for the character in game.
  • Character sheet filled out on the alias to show all pertinent information (skills, feats, combat stats, equipment, etc).
  • Let me know if you have a preference who you get paired up with or whether you're happy for chance to resolve that.


You are now all officially gladiators, and it's my job to whip you into shape so the fine people of this empire can watch you all be killed, gruesomely. Now listen closely, because I'm about to tell you how it's going to be in this hellhole for the rest of your short, miserable lives. - Gladiator Instructor Nasty, The Order of the Stick

This is a recruitment thread for a Homebrew Play by Post set on Golarion in the River Kingdoms at the Valknar Gladiatorial College.

A Personal Note:
Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.' — Charles Schulz

Hi, my name is DM VoV… you may remember me from such recruitments as… well clicking through my profile will give you a bit of an indication of my history. Though to save you the trouble I’ll give a few stats below:
# of Campaigns Started: Fourteen.
# of Campaigns still going: Two.
# of Campaigns that failed with <500 posts: Three
Campaigns that lasted at least a year real time before shutting down: Eight

What I’m trying to say is that I’ve had my ups and downs, but hopefully through those times I’ve managed to learn what I think I’m reasonably good at (visceral combat and dark-ish tone) – and what I’m pretty poor at (Interweaved plot with multiple complex NPCs). Therefore for this thread I’m going to try and aim at my strengths - and hopefully create a fun environment where everyone knows what they’re in for and I can hopefully keep up with and push along at reasonable pace and speed.

Campaign Summary:
Thunderdome's simple. Get to the weapons, use them any way you can. I know you won't break the rules - there aren't any. – Dr Dealgood, Mad Max 3

Put simply – arena based team combats. That is the PCs working together as a team in staged combat sequences. Sometimes it will be as simple as hit the other guys till they fall over, sometimes it will be a little more complex, I might even dust off the old chase rules occasionally… but that is the gist of it.

I’d still hope for a wee bit of off arena roleplay and uses for social skills… but it won’t be a real focus of the campaign. Also, the enjoyment for me is attempting to collaboratively write a combat narrative – so rather than a mechanical description of actions, I’d like there to be a lyrical quality to the combat description. Use adjectives wisely and try and add detail to descriptives.

Points of Note:
2nd level start and 20pt buy. Max HP for the first two levels.
Two traits and 1,000gp for gear.
All Paizo is acceptable – though races are limited to core rulebook only.
Third party products are on a case by case basis, but my preference is predominately keeping close to Paizo canon.
I have an allergic reaction to slumber witches, and summoners (or summons focused characters) tend to make me break out in hives.
Also, I’m aiming for six characters – but within that I’d also break the group into three linked pairs. So please feel free to link up with another interested party and present linked characters with symbiotic abilities / focus.
And yes - there will be maps

Posting Requirements:
I am looking for people that can check in on the thread a couple of times a day, and post 1/day on weekdays. Weekends are more relaxed, as I can generally only get online in the evenings due to the entanglements of a couple of young boys. My weekday posting can occasionally get a bit spotty as well depending on how my workload goes.

What do you Need to Post Now for an Application:
All I need are the following:

  • A paragraph description of what your character looks like.
  • A summary of how your character will be mechanically built (abilities, class, major character choices).
  • Brief rundown on how you’d expect to level up over time.
  • Once your interest and character are logged – I’ll ask a few questions for you to respond to in character.

Recruitment Timeline:
The recruitment thread will stay open for roughly a week or so. I also will give a 24 hour warning before shutting the gates to applications.

Fire away with any questions that you might have and I shall endeavour to answer them.

Lastly… please remember this is a Recruitment Thread; and not a Roleplay Tavern.

A Short Note to Previous Victims / Players:
I know that I recently shut down my Reigns and WotW, and it looks a bit squiffy to start up a new thread relatively soon after - but there is a madness to my method.

With the removal of NPCs, plot and overarching cohesion - I can focus on the important things like pugwampi ninjas and brutish ogres. A lot of the stress that I garnered during those campaigns shouldn't recur here... at least I hope not.

At any rate, please put your hand up if this at all resembles your alley to stroll down...


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Minor Crab-beast

The sun has not yet risen over the city of Solku, and yet already the streets are busy with traffic. Pilgrims and worshippers stream slowly towards the Lambent Citadel in preparation for the dawn service of Sarenrae; the dull glow of fire accompanies the homely scent of fresh baked bread being produced by communal tabun ovens; a second stream of docksmen wheel handcarts towards the western gate - ready to disgorge the cargo of river traders that arrived during the night. Much of this continues with the inexorable slow rhythm as though the city was drawing and expelling breath... though the air is more stagnant and sits heavy of late.

The Night of Tears - draws nearer, where minds will be cast back near fifteen years to when screams clothed the air in sadness, and the desert drank deeply of spilled blood. The Pens was thick with camel, horse and bullock as travellers pious and pragmatic both delayed their departure until after the night of remembrance.

A scream rose above the background sussurant hum of the city in it's depths... but did not sound a second time. Those that heard it pretended they had not, or perhaps were not even roused from slumber by it... but the hourglass of fate had been turned... and sand was slowly trickling through it...

Farah:
You are awoken by the scuff of footsteps upon stone, and as you blink your eyes to gain vision - you see a flatbread still hot from the oven on the cobbles before you. A worker with a wicker backpack basket is hunched over and walking away down the streets of Dustyfoot from where you lay - the bread obviously a charitorious gesture.

Kif:
Used to sleeping light in the field, Kif cannot help but be awoken in her bunk by the noise of several within the room waking and readying for the day. From outside the shared accommodation the smells of the Breakstride's breakfast tables are already permeating the air and making your stomach growl.

Siddig:
You are awoken by the sound of a clatter and then quiet cursing in Kelesh outside your room. It would seem that a man has tripped over his own feet in the early hour of darkness that still holds and remonstrated with himself with reasonable vigor. Stretching you wager an hour or more before the sun rises, and contemplate whether to rise from your bed and move downstairs to the Breakstride's breakfast tables.

Erasmes:
A discreet yet firm knock is heard upon your door, and a stray thought finds purchase within your thoughts that perhaps you'd requested waking prior to dawn so as to trudge to the Lambent for the service... but the sheets in the Gilded Dreams are soft and silky... and you do not know whether it is worth leaving them on this day...

Khepri:
With practiced discipline, you have already woken before you hear the rest of your fellow Sarenrite's waking and readying themselves for the dawn service. The courtyard before the temple will already be swelling with devotees, ready to supplicate themselves before the Dawnflower.

Brunhin:
Though the rest of the city has already awoken, the Weighted Scale has not yet. The tavern come guest house is faithful to Abadar and not Sarenrae... and therefore views the dawn as an event to predate rather than follow one's rising. Nevertheless there are still a few in the common room enjoying an early repast before moving out to market for an early start.

Please weigh in with your initial intents taking you through to dawn or a little thereafter... and yes, sleeping in is still an option ;)


Minor Crab-beast

Welcome one and all - and thanks for placing some faith in me to come up with something that should hopefully prove both diverting and fun. I'm looking forward to hopefully building an engaging and confronting experience :)

First things first is getting everyone checked in and squared away fully with character choices and details and what not. I'll be drafting up the opening post in the campaign thread as well - and will likely launch soon after everyone has checked in to at least get us started.


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“When the laughing beast-men attacked, I hid between two of our camels until the guards drove them off. For days after, nothing bothered us but the usual dust, heat, and flies. Then the mountains lifted above the horizon, and at last we came in sight of glorious Solku. How solid the town’s gate! How peaceful the boats sailing upriver! How golden the evening sun, which set the Citadel’s dome aflame! We clapped and cheered to see our journey’s end.
“Of course, that’s when the bandits struck again. “The healers say I’ll keep my arm. But enough of that—let me tell you about sunrise service at the Lambent Citadel!”
—Rehema Nasreen, Sarenite pilgrim

This is a recruitment thread for a Homebrew Campaign set on Golarion in Katapesh. The campaign will start in Solku, at the start of the month of Pharast.

Campaign Summary:
Give me a year and a hundred of my kin and I would make this a place that armies would break upon like water. ...Sleep! I feel the need of it. Yet my axe is restless in my hand. – Gimli, Son of Gloin

The quotes that I’ve included for flavor throughout this post should give you a reasonable inclination of what sort of game I’m likely to have play out in the long term. Hopefully it will be a game of three parts, with the beginning short and sharp, middle section dense and pressing and the final a slow dragging over hot coals as skin blisters and throats grow hoarse from screaming… should be a hoot ;)

House Rules / Restrictions / Points of Note:
The street is no longer measured by meters but by corpses…Stalingrad is no longer a town. By day it is an enormous cloud of burning, blinding smoke; it is a vast furnace lit by the reflection of the flames. And when night arrives, one of those scorching, howling, bleeding nights, the dogs plunge into the Volga and swim desperately to gain the other bank. The nights of Stalingrad are a terror for them. Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure. – Un-named German.

Nothing that needs be known for the start of the PbP. Assuming that we move past the opening chapter then we can discuss some additional systems that might be applied for the middle section, and then eventually for the end. I’m expecting that they’ll predominately be qualitatively driven though and easy to get your head around.

Secondly I will note that ultimately I intend for this to be a campaign suitable for good characters – or at least ones with the welfare of the common man close to heart. You can be pragmatic, enigmatic, magnanimous or any other description – but a desire for both preserving life beyond your own and protecting the weak will make things far more interesting.

Posting Requirements:
“What are you going to do?’ whispered Temple.
‘There was a time I’d have gone charging over there without a thought for the costs and got bloody.’ Lamb lifted the glass and looked at it for a moment. ‘But my father always said patience is the king of virtues. A man has to be realistic. Has to be.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘Wait. Think. Prepare.’ Lamb swallowed the last measure and bared his teeth at the glass. ‘Then get bloody.”
― Joe Abercrombie, Red Country

I am looking for people that can check in on the thread at least a couple of times a day, and post 1/day on weekdays. Weekends are more relaxed, as I can generally only get online in the evenings due to the entanglements of a couple of young boys. My weekday posting can occasionally get a bit spotty as well depending on how my workload goes.

Feel free to pop into my profile and take a peek at the campaigns that I currently DM if you’d like to get a read for how I go about things.

What do you Need to Post Now for an Application:
Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals. – T. E. Lawrence, The Evolution of a Revolt

The last couple of times I went about recruiting I had a fairly onerous response requirement, but this one will be much tighter and less demanding… so much so that I don’t actually want any written background or personality from anybody at this point. All I need are the following:

  • A paragraph description of what your character looks like.
  • Why are you in Solku?
  • What are your plans for the next seven days?
  • It might be useful (but not mandatory) to tie your character to a group within Solku or it’s surrounds, I’ve given a few possible suggestions in a spoiler below.
  • A summary of how your character will be mechanically built (abilities, class, major character choices).

Potential Group Connections:
Acolyte of the Lambent Citadel
Dathapatish within the Town Militia Dathapatish – commander of 10
Enforcer at the First or New Market
Adventurer staying at the Breakstride
Usher at Gilded Dreams
Researcher at the Archive of Eminent Tomes
Sergeant within the Condor Company
Officer of a Trade House
Sergeant within the Serpentine Blades
Ranchhand in The Pens
Acolyte of the Temple of Iomedae
Street leader from Dustyfoot
Bandit from The Beehive
Outrider from Fort Longjaw
Boatman for the Current Runners
Pesh Farmer from Commonfield

List is not intended to be exhaustive – feel free to make custom arrangements.

Oh, and for frame of reference – you’ll be building 4th level characters, core races, 20pt buy, standard wealth by level.

If you’re looking for fluff inspiration – much of what is in Dark Markets or the Solku entry in Towns of Golarion I would consider canon. Or if you don’t have either here’s the wiki entry.

Recruitment Timeline:
First, we ate the horses. We weren't riding anywhere, not with the castle surrounded. We couldn't feed them, so fine. The horses, then the cats-I've never liked cats, so fine. I do like dogs - good animals, loyal - but we ate them too. Then the rats... The night before you slipped through, I thought my wife was dying. She couldn't speak anymore, she was so frail. And then you made it through the lines, slipped right through in your little black sail boat with your onions... – Stannis Baratheon (TV Series)

The recruitment thread will stay open until ~Thursday 6th February or so. I also will give a 24 hour warning before shutting the gates to applications.

Fire away with any questions that you might have and I shall endeavour to answer them.

Lastly… please remember this is a Recruitment Thread; and not a Roleplay Tavern.

Duiker saw Coltaine there… his round shield a shattered mess on his left arm, his lone long-knife snapped to the length of a short sword in his right hand, his feather cloak glistening as if brushed with tar. – Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson


Minor Crab-beast

As soon as the PCs enter this room, a large unseen bell emits a single, deep toll, signaling the end of the dungeon’s longstanding stasis effect and bringing its denizens and illusions back to life.

A series of stairs winds west and east down to the floor of this bare stone room. A short railing permits a view of the room from the staircase’s landing. A scuffed circle of blue-white chalk marked on the floor of the northern section of the room is filled with various sigils and runes. Four-foot-tall torch holders adorn the corners of the room, and a wide, closed stone doors take up half of the western walls.

There is a ten foot wide corridor, with a set of doors on the Northern side and Western end.


Minor Crab-beast

As soon as the PCs enter this room, a large unseen bell emits a single, deep toll, signaling the end of the dungeon’s longstanding stasis effect and bringing its denizens and illusions back to life.

A series of stairs winds west and east down to the floor of this bare stone room. A short railing permits a view of the room from the staircase’s landing. A scuffed circle of blue-white chalk marked on the floor of the northern section of the room is filled with various sigils and runes. Four-foot-tall torch holders adorn the corners of the room, and a wide, closed stone doors take up half of the western walls.

There is a ten foot wide corridor, with a set of doors on the Northern side and Western end.


Minor Crab-beast

For you know, discussing and stuff.

For the build - lets build from PFS rules (20 pt buy, 2 traits) and keep it solely to Paizo created crunch.

Let us not limit to only 1st level as well - Thornkeep has dungeon levels for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th level entry. I'd be partial to the 5th level one, as it lets all classes have their best low level powers come in.

If we've enough I don't mind running a couple of groups.


Do you think Cthulhu's a chump and needs his comeuppance?
Ever think Treerazor doesn't get the respect that he deserves?
Have you ever wanted to punch out the Tarrasque?

Well, now's your chance! Throughout Pathfinder history there have been creatures that stand beyond your ken, beyond you power, untouchable... For entirely non-sensical reasons, that is about to change. The cosmic forces decree that scores need to be settled. Here are the rules:

  • Combatants will be dropped alone into the corner of a featureless arena that exists as an immutable cube of force constraining you within. Dimensions TBC - but thinking 200ft by 200ft, by 100ft up and 100ft down.
  • There will be no prep, there will be no allies, there will be only yourself.
  • Entities are to be played explicitly as written in the Bestiary / AP / Wherever they are found.
  • Entities must be named and unique - and the weight class is CR 25+.
  • Apart from that... have at!

So - up for a bit of harmless fun? - if so, all you need is the following:

  • Which entity do you want to take out for a spin?
  • Why do you think your entity will rule the roost?
  • Which entity do you most want to deliver the smackdown against?
  • Which entity would you least wish to face?

If there are a few likeminded individuals then I'll serve as compere and arbiter of proceedings.

Questions, comments, concerns? Just look at this helpful yellow sign that Hastur left for you...


Minor Crab-beast

It's an OOC thread... so make with the discussion and what not.

Previous campaign that birthed this one can be found thus.


Minor Crab-beast

This is the last chance for your people. For two hundred years, the dwarves have been scattered and leaderless. The dwarf holds are all but gone – conquered by invaders or overrun with outsiders. For decades now, the dwarves have mingled with the kingdoms of men. The humans have treated you well enough. They respect dwarven craft and tenacity. But with every passing year, the dwarves dwindle. Your tongue goes unspoken. Your ways are forgotten. Will there come a time when to be dwarven is merely another way of saying a short, bearded man?

It was not always so. Once the greatest empire in the all the world was dwarven. Once the majestic kingdom of Dammerhall was where all roads converged. The whole world came to pay tribute to the dwarven high king and his mithral throne.

And then calamity. The great mountain-city burned with black flame for three days. All the bridges into Dammerhall collapsed. All the gates were sealed. The only survivors were those who by chance were outside the city. For two centuries dwarves have tried to retake Dammerhall and discovered what really happened that dark day. And for two hundred years, they have failed.

The remaining dwarven holds, once vassals to Dammerhall, fell to squabbling about who should rule the dwarves. Weakened by division, many dwarf holds were overrun by orc or dragon. Some signed treaties with the realms of men, all but forfeiting their autonomy. And most disgraceful, some holds fell because of civil war where dwarf turned upon dwarf.

But there is yet hope. It is said that there is another way into the sealed city – a dark road beneath that goes through the uncharted depths of the earth. This expedition will be the one who will find that hidden road. This expedition will reclaim Dammerhall and restore dwarven glory, dispelling two hundred years of disgrace.

You have found an entrance into the darkness. Rumor speaks of a deep gnome village known as Fasturvalt where dwell the elusive svirfneblin, the deep gnomes. The first step is clear – Find Fasturvalt and secure a guide. Nothing will stop you in your quest. Nothing will stay your hand. This is your hour. This is the moment when the dwarven diaspora ends and where dwarven glory begins anew. In the realms below, you will make for yourselves and your people a Throne of Night.

Adventure, lunacy, hope, despair, fortune, annihilation... all await you within the underdark and upon your quest into it's all encompassing void. Through chance, desperation and resolve your party of dwarvenkind has taken upon itself to make one last attempt at the salvation of a legend among your kind... Dammerhall. Supplies have been purchased, farewells given to all kin... and the path lies before you.

Innocent enough are your first steps from the sun-burnt world into the chasm of darkness. A cavern whose floor is covered with bat guano and gently fading deeper and deeper towards it's back lies before you. Rumor holds that a tunnel ahead will lead down and deep towards the deep gnome redoubt of Fasturvalt. The path should intersect a major tunnel called The Gnome King’s Highway and Fasturvalt is to the east.


Minor Crab-beast

Since your arrival into Kenabres, the city has seemed somewhat bouyed by excitement and anticipation. The festival of Armasse is coming, where the faithful of Iomedae venerate the dead god Aroden, and thought is given to training the peasantry in arms and rudimentary skills of war. While elsewhere in Golarion the fest has become a hedonistic week long party, the mood in Kenabres is more somber and reserved. While much of Golarion need wonder about the evils that dwell in shadow... those of the crusade need only turn to the West with eyes open.

But still the mood is raised and festive, smiles crossing faces well creased and oft frowning - and the church of the Inheritor prepares itself for the ceremonies that need be performed. It was in the early afternoon that a messenger found each of you either at rest in barracks or at play. Orders were passed over and upon their reading you found yourself ordered to assemble...

Orders wrote:

Harrol / Nessa / Aarol / Theodric,

Report to Gregori Shadowbane with all equipment to the common at the Northgate guardhouse.
Captain Chun Dawei

Making your way through the streets of the Gate District you soon arrive at the guardhouse's door. A disinterested sentry waves you within and you enter a small room with wooden trestle tables and bench seats. It is currently empty of persons, barring a single tall and muscular man bedecked in gleaming scaled mail...

Gregori:
Relieved of your position with the crusading patrols, Captain Dawei informed you of a new challenge. You were to serve as the liaison and protector of a woman recently arrived from Oppara. Little was said of what her role or importance was - but your instructions were clear. Keep her safe, and do as she asks as long as it is sound and wise. Your position would defer to her, but she would stand without the command structure.
Thanking you for your service thus far, the Captain also informed that four other recruits would be seconded to the squad - two halflings, a human and one half-elven. With a shaken hand and clasped arm he bid you await them in the common of the guardhouse near to Northgate.

As you're likely aware - that is where you're waiting currently, as you are present before any others arrive.

Docia - please dot, and I'll post details for your entry after the others have meeted and greeted.


Minor Crab-beast

Welcome welcome, and thanks for coming. This will be our little OOC hang-out while our electronic alter-egos battle against demonic hordes and what not. As stated in the Recruitment thread - our motley crew shall consist of:

  • Meowzebub - Nessa Glenbrook - Halfling Fighter (Unbreakable) of Chaldira Zozaristan
  • Mark Thomas 66 - Gregori - Paladin (Warrior of Light) of Ragathiel
  • mbauers - Theodric Abernathy - Wizard (Abjurer) of Irori
  • Bombadil - Aarol Varien - Half Elf Rogue (Rake) of Desna
  • Harrol the Pilgrim - Halfling Cleric of Iomedae
  • Joana - Eudocia Fairday - Human (Taldan) Bard (Archaeologist) of Soralyon

Once we've gotten everybody checked in, then we can run through a few bits and bobs with respect to the group and Kenabres (based on Player's Guide information). I won't get the first volume of the AP until Wednesday when the PDF goes on sale, and will want to read it through well and ponder before finalizing the opening tableau.

So until then, please take a seat and work up the alias for your characters :)


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I may be on the side of the angels... But don't think for one second that I am one of them.
— Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock, "The Reichenbach Fall"

This is a recruitment thread for Paizo’s latest Adventure Path – Wrath of the Righteous.

Campaign Summary:
“I'm the one who steps from the shadows, all trenchcoat and cigarette and arrogance, ready to deal with the madness. Oh, I've got it all sewn up. I can save you. If it takes the last drop of your blood, I'll drive your demons away. I'll kick them in the b%~~+**s and spit on them when they're down and then I'll be gone back into darkness, leaving only a nod and a wink and a wisecrack. I walk my path alone... who would walk with me?” ― Garth Ennis, Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits

The Worldwound tore reality apart at the dawn of the Age of Lost Omens, murdering the nation of Sarkoris and unleashing a ravenous demonic horde upon the world. Only the quick action of several other nations of knights, barbarians, and heroes stemmed the demon army and contained it within lost Sarkoris, and for the next century, crusade after crusade tried to defeat the demons only to fail time and time again. Their greatest success, the line of magical artifacts known as wardstones that stand sentinel along the Worldwound's border, barely manages to contain the demons. So when one of the wardstones is sabotaged, a city falls and the demons within surge out in a massive assault like none before. Even before the Fifth Crusade has begun a city has fallen and some of the crusaders' greatest defenders and heroes are slain. Can anyone rise up against the demon host to prevent the armies of Deskari, the demon lord of the Locust Host, from swallowing the world?

Thus was written the Campaign brief for the campaign – Player’s Guide isn’t quite available yet… but there is enough bits and bobs floating around to work with until it does launch. You begin in the city of Kenabres on the border of Mendev, a base of operations for the Mendevian crusaders. The premise I will be using at the start of the AP will be that you have just been placed into a military squad under the auspices of the Mendevian Crusades.

Though keep in mind the information below when building characters.

A Question of Tropes:
Never fear the darkness, Bran. The strongest trees are rooted in the dark places of the earth. Darkness will be your cloak, your shield, your mother's milk. Darkness will make you strong. - Brynden Rivers, A Dance With Dragons

If you don’t know what tropes are – please feel free to visit TV Tropes for a quick primer.

I’d like to use tropes for the application process as a measure of two things:
1) For an insight into what sort of character you’re aiming to put together.
2) As a guideline of sorts as to my expectations.

One of my most favorite books recently from Paizo was the Chronicle of the Righteous which manages to encapsulate the tone I’m aiming for almost perfectly. That is, that Good is Not Nice, Holy is Not Safe, Dark is Not Evil and the ranks of Paladins have places for Knights Templar and those that would Pay Evil Unto Evil.

You can be Lawful Good without needing to walk on a tightrope to maintain it. Good deities exist that are there to support prostitutes, executioners and even sloth. That is the way that I view the world of Golarion as well as the fight against the Worldwound.

The group that I am putting together will be a crew of 5-6, and I will be comparing their personality traits against the Four Temperament Ensemble and looking to get a fairly decent spread of personalities. However I will also be looking for a Leukine personality type to step up and act as the group’s primary leader – the person that weighs and measures that which is said and is the final decider on the terms of action moving forwards. This is to help with the potential for PbP stagnation by appointing a specific leader – as well as an attempt at ensuring that although the personalities within the group will be disparate, there is a central figure melding those together.

If you’re aiming for the Leukine personality position, then keep in mind that I will be reviewing that very stringently and will take into consideration both posting history and submission strength when selecting.

Posting Requirements:
Bread for bread, blood for blood. - Russian proverb

I am looking for people that can check in on the thread at least a couple of times a day, and post at least 1/day on weekdays. Weekends are more relaxed, as I can generally only get online in the evenings due to the entanglements of a couple of young boys. My weekday posting can occasionally get a bit spotty as well depending on how my workload goes. But two and a half years on the paizo boards and coming up on 18,500 posts should give you some degree of security that I’m not going to disappear on a whim.

Feel free to pop into my profile and take a peek at the campaigns that I currently DM if you’d like to get a read for how I go about things.

What do you Need to Post Now for an Application:
People like you always mistake compassion for weakness. Michael and Sanya aren't weak. Fortunately for you, they are good men. Unfortunately for you, I'm not. — Harry Dresden, Death Masks

You will need all the strength that you can muster in order to combat the powers of evil within this Adventure Path, but the baseline from which you will start is as follows: Race: Human, Class: Warrior, 15 point buy, no traits and zero wealth. I would also need a short background to consider an application complete. The background must explain why you have come to Mendev and why you joined the crusade against the Worldwound.

Stingy? – why yes, but the salvation to that is in your hands.

To gird your form against the travails of the Worldwound – look to the following for guidance:

  • To choose a different race from the core rule book – explain whether your character is a native Mendevian, or why they’ve come north into danger.
  • To play one tainted by good outsider blood (aasimar) – tell me how that came to be, and which outsider was your forebear.
  • To play one tainted by evil outsider blood (tiefling) – tell me also how you are not killed on sight.
  • To be more powerful (20 point buy) – tell me of your character’s personality and state which aspect of the Four Temperament Ensemble is closest to your character's outlook.
  • To further hone your strength (25 point buy) – describe a few other tropes that apply to your character, and whether you play them straight or subvert them.
  • To choose one’s class – state what you have to offer the crusade (imagine you were responding to a recruiter).
  • To be a Cavalier / Cleric / Inquisitor / Paladin – ensure that you tie in your character’s personality and conduct to your code or deific edicts.
  • To gain belongings (average wealth for your character class) –tell me what your character looks like, and how they comport themselves.
  • To be richer still (max wealth for your character class) – describe one item you bear that was inherited from someone important to you, and how it came to be yours.
  • To have skills borne of experience (two traits) – weave the skills into the background that shapes your character.
  • To gain the bonus trait Channel Divinity below – state your patron deity and how you venerate them in daily life.

Channel Divinity:
Once per day as a free action you may invoke the name of a god or spirit to aid you in your endeavors. This gives you a +1d6 sacred bonus on any one d20 roll.

Recruitment Timeline:
“Honor, eh? What the hell is that anyway? Every man thinks it’s something different. You can’t drink it. You can’t f*** it. The more of it you have the less good it does you, and if you’ve got none at all you don’t miss it. But some men think it’s the best thing in the world.” ― Joe Abercrombie, Before They Are Hanged

The recruitment thread will stay open for ~7 days or so. I also will give a 24 hour warning before shutting the gates to applications.

The PbP game thread launch will need to wait until I get my grubby little electronic mitts on the first volume of the AP (which will hopefully be on the 15th of August).

Fire away with any questions that you might have and I shall endeavour to answer them.

Lastly… please remember this is a Recruitment Thread; and not a Roleplay Tavern.

"Soon there will be war. Millions will burn. Millions will perish in sickness and misery. Why does one death matter against so many? Because there is good and there is evil, and evil must be punished. Even in the face of Armageddon I shall not compromise in this. But there are so many deserving of retribution... and there is so little time." — Rorschach, Watchmen.


Oh I'm looking forward to seeing Kostchtchie in print :)


Minor Crab-beast

When you reach the little house, the place your journey started, you will recognize it, although it will seem much smaller than you remember. - from Instructions by Neil Gaiman

The village of Heldren lives on the edge of two worlds. One is always watchful of the border with Irrisen and the threats that come from the witch queens; and the other cautious of the Grungir and what secrets are held beneath it’s leafy boughs. But rarely has the watchfulness been tinged with such worrisome thoughts of late. There are signs the ice troll of Irrisen grow restless and hungry, and those attuned with the Grungir are disquieted by cold weather unnatural to the season and a stilling of the voice of the fae. Being as it is at the height of summer there should be song and warmth, yet the cold within the wood bloomed like an unholy flower disgorging heavy snow and bitingly icy winds. Those that dare travel the wood speak of an uneasy presence, as well as new, dangerous predators.

No one knows what these events portend, but the town’s runecaster, Old Mother Theodora, claims dark times lie ahead. As if in proof of that dire prophecy, a badly wounded mercenary arrived in town yesterday, claiming to be a bodyguard of Lady Argentea Malassene. He told the village council that the noblewoman’s escort came under attack by bandits and strange, wintry creatures near the edge of the Grungir. He alone escaped, and Lady Argentea was dragged away into the forest. Now the townsfolk cast wary eyes at all, seeing ill portents and witch-signs where there are none. Fearful eyes flick between the border and the newly snowy forest, and bets are being made as to which will rise to swallow the town first.

Tavern Rumours and Village Malcontent:

  • Everyone says the weather is unseasonably cold for midsummer—it even snowed in the Grungir!
  • Most suspect magic is involved, and some fear Irriseni agents played a role in it.
  • Old Man Dansby claims that someone keeps stealing from his fields. His farm lies closest to the Grungir, where half his crops have died from an icy frost and the rest have been carried off.

Knowledge Local DC 12:
A farmer’s son took ill a few days ago after falling through the ice over Wishbone Creek. The boy said he spotted a white stag in the forest—and heard it talking—then tried to follow it.

Knowledge Local DC 15:
A group of rangers in the Grungir called the High Sentinels usually keep bandit activity curbed. They’re doing a poor job if brigands could attack a well-armed caravan and abduct Lady Argentea.

Knowledge Local DC 18:
Locals say a hunter named Dryden Kepp claimed he saw a giant white weasel on the High Ridge in the forest. No one believed him so he went back to trap it and prove them wrong.

Cearb:
Heldren is not known to you nor you to it. An interest in a matter that seems of no consequence now drew you from Grungir and Southwards, and Heldren lay between you and the path back northwards. Whim brought you to Heldren, and thirst brings you to the Silver Stoat.

Kelgar Frostbeard:
It has been pleasant visiting your cousin Argus this last week – food is good and the ale is tolerable. You’ve been introduced in passing to Ionnia Teppen a village elder, and it was she who bade you attend the Silver Stoat this evening.

Hilde Alfborne:
Whimsy and a lack of other imminent desires have left you to walk into Heldren this night, the first time you have been within. As you walked through the darkening street your eyes crossed the stoop of the inn and you were driven to pause… a Raven’s feather lay upon the doorway – portending death. As you watched a chill wind swirled and the feather was blown to the North and West – towards the Grungir. Then voices could be heard within the tavern, and a single word carried through the gloom ”Help”

Bastagar Swiftthicket:
Bastard humans, too watchful over their crops and chickens… until tonight. No-one watching, no one stopping me… but one comes walking… she is of the Æsir! Or is she… carries as a princess, but walks on feet. Never dark daughter… Curious, investigate?
As you follow the beautiful fae-born lady she enters Heldren and after a brief pause makes to enter the local tavern.

Markus Hape, the Halfhand:
Impatience… anger… fear… hope? All feelings came into and out of your mind as thoughts were churned over and over. She was to bring leaves of yew from the North… Why was that important?... nay, it is critical! But she has not come… Attacked they said… Answers, need answers… The woman Teppen bid me come to the inn… Answers… or blood…
Hopefully that isn’t too obscure – but the Lady Argentea had a parcel of material components for you – so your initial desire is to seek her to recover the components.

Olaf Eriksson:
You have been in Heldren but a few days following your feet in search of song and phrase. Word of the injured mercenary crossed your ears, and you were bid to attend the þing by a messenger from the village elder Ionnia Teppen.

This night, the elders of Heldren attend a þing at the local tavern – The Silver Stoat. Some of you are invited, some of you are compelled and some of you know nothing of it as darkness comes to the town and shadows play furtively across the village. By chance you look northwards as you approach the door and a chill wind blows across your face. Fate has plucked at your thread as you push through the door and into the assembly… whether it portends weal or woe will be truth-made in the telling.

þing – assembly or village council

Please RP your appearance as it stands for the evening, and your arrival to the assembly and I shall take it from there.


Minor Crab-beast

Laws they made there, and life allotted To the sons of men, and set their fates - from the Völuspá concerning the Norns

The village of Heldren is always watchful, but rarely has the watchfulness been tinged with such worrisome thoughts. One would think it enough that there are signs the ice troll of Irrisen grow restless and hungry, but now hunters from the border of the Grungir speak of cold weather unnatural to the season – being as it is at the height of summer. The cold bloomed like an unholy flower disgorging heavy snow and bitingly icy winds to woods that should yet be temperate. Those that travel the wood speak of an uneasy presence, as well as new, dangerous predators.

No one knows what this event means, but the town’s runecaster, Old Mother Theodora, claims dark times lie ahead. As if in proof of that dire prophecy, a badly wounded mercenary arrived in town yesterday, claiming to be a bodyguard of Lady Argentea Malassene. He told the village council that the noblewoman’s escort came under attack by bandits and strange, wintry creatures near the edge of the Grungir. He alone escaped, and Lady Argentea was dragged away into the forest. Now the townsfolk cast wary eyes at all, seeing ill portents and witch-signs where there are none. Fearful eyes flick between the border and the newly snowy forest, and bets are being made as to which will rise to swallow the town first.

Tavern Rumours and Village Malcontent:

  • Everyone says the weather is unseasonably cold for midsummer—it even snowed in the Grungir!
  • Most suspect magic is involved, and some fear Irriseni agents played a role in it.
  • Old Man Dansby claims that someone keeps stealing from his fields. His farm lies closest to the Grungir, where half his crops have died from an icy frost and the rest have been carried off.

Knowledge Local DC 12:
A farmer’s son took ill a few days ago after falling through the ice over Wishbone Creek. The boy said he spotted a white stag in the forest—and heard it talking—then tried to follow it.

Knowledge Local DC 15:
A group of rangers in the Grungir called the High Sentinels usually keep bandit activity curbed. They’re doing a poor job if brigands could attack a well-armed caravan and abduct Lady Argentea.

Knowledge Local DC 18:
Locals say a hunter named Dryden Kepp claimed he saw a giant white weasel on the High Ridge in the forest. No one believed him so he went back to trap it and prove them wrong.

Skäne Ingvârssonn:
You have landed in Heldren to rest your bones a spell and enjoy the last of the warm before taking into the cold and icy North.

Elghund:
Your previous employer was a caravan headed South into Varisia and your service was completed in Heldren as the caravan had no need for a Northern guide when passing into the soft Southern lands. Before departing though he vouchsafed for you with the village folk, so while your features bring suspicion and disdain… you are tolerated.

Halla Ingendóttir:
You’ve managed to make your way to Heldren… though you’ve not much in way of coin. There is a rumor about town that a caravan is soon to arrive mastered by Lady Argentea and you’ve decided to try and seek employ with her for your journey South… that was at least until you heard the news.

Rikka the Dðcincel:
You’ve followed your instincts travelling East and South, and ended up Heldren. You’ve been here a few days and were beginning to doubt your instincts… and then the rumors of winter unwelcome began…

Kló:
The Old Man bade you South and South you went, though you’ve now passed from the ice and snow and into the edge of the lands of your home. Hoping that the quest you have been put on does not need you to breach the Southern lands you have lingered in Heldren.

Annalísa Finnrsdóttir:
As a resident of Heldren you’re well acquainted with local politics and share the concern over both the ice trolls as well as the unseasonable winter.

Each of you have been approached in turn over the course of the day and given an invitation to attend Heldren’s þing this evening at the local tavern – The Silver Stoat. No further detail was proffered by the messenger, though it does not take much thought to connect the summons with the arrival of the injured bodyguard. Evening comes early and the sun dips below the horizon, a chill wind blows from the North and West as you make your way to the tavern. Thoughts are grim as you push through the door and into the assembly… whether it portends weal or woe will be truth-made in the telling.

þing – assembly or village council

Please RP your appearance as it stands for the evening, and your arrival to the assembly and I shall take it from there.


Minor Crab-beast

So do I write / and color the runes – Stanza 158 of the Ljóðatal

Welcome all to the joint discussion thread for the twin Reign of Winter campaigns that I plan to run. I have read through the first adventure and am excited by the potential and eager to get things underway… but before then, I shall repeat our groups and give a little insight as to hows and whys:

The sluagh sídhe (fairy host)… and those that fear them:

  • Hilde Alfborne - MPCampell - Paladin - Half-Fey
  • Bastagar Swiftthicket - Twigs - Rogue – Gnome
  • Cearb - Meowzebub - Rogue(knife master) – Gnome
  • Markus Septimus Hape - SurplusRaine - Wizard - Human(Chelaxian)
  • Kelgar Frostbeard - wakedown - Inquisitor(Witchhunter) - Dwarf
  • Olaf Erikson - Luke_Perry - Bard(Savage Skald) - Human(Ulfen)

As I was reading through the applications I noticed the fey backgrounds of the top three and as I started rolling them over in my head it solidified into a way to colour the campaign for such a group. The seelie and unseelie nature of the fey, the way that Jim Butcher makes the summer and winter fey differ, and the roots in Slavic and Irish mythology. So that gave me a core of three: the half-fey princess, and two minor fey that could be bent to her ballad.

I knew that I wanted the Halfhand in one of the groups… and when the response to a question was More than anything, the Fey are what keep Markus up at night. They are the creatures that haunt his dreams, the fuel of his paranoia. I smirked maliciously.

Olaf was an instant fit when I read Olaf is fascinated by the heroes of the Old Sagas – and compared that to Hilde’s backstory… who just so happens to have a saga written about her. So despite Olaf’s distrust and dislike of fey, he has a reason to want to travel with Hilde from a skaldic perspective. Plus he provides an Ulfen outlook within the group.

Lastly wakedown’s grumbly Dwarven Inquisitor… I couldn’t stop a smile coming to my face thinking about the poor Dwarf shuffling to keep up with the Gnomes while shaking his head and quoting Danny Glover from Lethal Weapon.

So that is group one – half fey, and half of this world.

The Taighean Dubha (Black House):

  • Skäne Ingvârssonn - Black Dow - Fighter(Viking)
  • Elghund - Shifty - Ranger - Orc
  • Rikka - stormraven - Sorcerer(tattooed - Draconic Bloodline) - Human(Ulfen)
  • Klò Björninnsson - Eben theQuiet - Druid(Bear Shaman) - Human(Ulfen)
  • Halla Ingendatter - Joana - Oracle(Possessed) - Human(Ulfen)
  • Annalisa - Twilightrose - Barbarian - Human(Ulfen)

Given that I’d gone with a fey build in the other group, I knew that I wanted this one to be Northman heavy. There is less of an evolutionary story to the selection though – as I instead went down the list and segmented off the applications that I thought were good representations of Ulfen values and seemed to get the spirit best. The group is dour, it’s light on healing, it’s grim and it’s quick to anger – sounds perfect nei?

I’ll be back in later with some steer on finalization and background information for Heldren now that I’ve got the AP. I’ll also be working on the customized grab bags for those of you that graced me with some verse – they will each be different and be woven through your own backgrounds as well.

Other than that – thankyou and welcome!


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Cattle die, kinsmen die you yourself die;
I know one thing which never dies: the fate of the honored dead
- Gestaþáttr

This is a recruitment thread for Paizo’s latest Adventure Path – Reign of Winter.

Campaign Summary:
All door-ways, before going forward, should be looked to;
for difficult it is to know where foes may sit within a dwelling.
- Gestaþáttr

It has been a century since the immortal witch Baba Yaga last visited the world, and the hour draws nigh for her return. But when she fails to appear in the frozen realm of Irrisen to usher in its newest ruler, pockets of winter begin to grow throughout the Inner Sea region. After 1,400 years of perpetual winter, the icy curse of Irrisen is spreading! What links do these strange blizzards and swaths of wintry landscapes have with Irrisen, and is there any truth to the growing rumors that the Witch Queen Elvanna has taken full control of the realm? Can her plans for the InnerSea be thwarted, or will the Reign of Winter engulf the world?

Thus was written the Campaign brief for the campaign – Player’s Guide is available at this link. Though keep in mind the information below when building characters.

A Question of Tone:
Bodvar Bjarki ploughed into them now, hacking two handed, his only thought to do as much damage as he could before he fell. And now they fall in heaps before him, one on top of another, and both his arms are bloodied to the shoulder, and he felled so many, the dead were stacked all about him. He stormed on as if he was insane. - The Saga Of Hrolf Kraki

In my version of Reign of Winter, the start point will be moved from within Taldor to within the Lands of the Linnorm Kings – in the Northeast of Southmoor just on the fringe of the Grungir Forest (just South of Delmon’s Glen).

I plan on running this game firmly in the realms of the darker end of fantasy. While it will be far from grimdark, it will be a decent step away from the typical Golarion high fantasy tone. Magic will tend to be less overt, more discreet and insidious in nature. Healing will hurt and not automatically make everyone better instantly without some recovery time. Swords and axes cut deep and descriptions will be commensurate with that.

While a lot of these changes won’t actually change the mechanical effect of abilities - it is still important to keep in mind when putting together your characters. Wuxia inspired monks, or wizards that shoot fire out their nostrils will not fit in. Winter witches, sorcerers who call upon dark pacts and brutish brawlers do.

If you’ve never read any stories that involve vikingr or the like… I highly recommend you start reading this link, and do a little research into the subpages like the tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, or Saga of the Jomsvikings. This is the type of feel that I want for this campaign – and my selection of characters will tend towards those that can recognize that and build their characters and posts to suit.

House Rules / Restrictions / Points of Note:
A twelfth I know, if high on a tree I see a hanged man swing;
So do I write and colour the runes That forth he fares, And to me talks.
- Ljóðatal

I will be tying social skills to two abilities, meaning that the bonuses and penalties of each will apply. Diplomacy will be affected by Wisdom and Charisma; Intimidate by Strength and Charisma; and Bluff by Intelligence and Charisma. DCs will reflect the changes as well.

Due to the tone I have in mind, certain types of characters will need a better story behind them to prove that they belong – case in point would be guns and Eastern inspired classes such as Ninja or Samurai. I would not be terribly keen on Summoners either and Alchemists would be a tougher sell.

For races I am open to those in the core rule book, tieflings / aasimars and ARG races that fit the setting only (limited to orc/hobgoblin/changeling). Alternate rules for the planetouched from Blood of Fiends and Blood of Angels and race options from ARG are fine. But if you choose to be an aasimar or tiefling, I prefer more subdued signs of heritage. To me they are humans/dwarves/gnomes/elves/etc with just a touch of outsider heritage.

Lastly, in the true spirit of the North, bloodnames and odes are earnt and not given freely. So if you want more than a 15 point buy with no traits and the clothes on your back… you’ll need to give me something in return. This is explained a little more below in the guidelines for posting applications.

Posting Requirements:
Many men are mutually well-disposed, yet at table will torment each other.
That strife will ever be; guest will guest irritate.
- Gestaþáttr

I am looking for people that can check in on the thread at least a couple of times a day, and post at least 1/day on weekdays. Weekends are more relaxed, as I can generally only get online in the evenings due to the entanglements of a couple of young boys. My weekday posting can occasionally get a bit spotty as well depending on how my workload goes. But almost two years on the paizo boards and coming up on 16,000 posts should give you some degree of security that I’m not going to disappear on a whim.

Feel free to pop into my profile and take a peek at the campaigns that I currently DM if you’d like to get a read for how I go about things.

What do you Need to Post Now for an Application:
The halt can ride on horseback, the one-handed drive cattle; the deaf fight and be useful:
to be blind is better than to be burnt: no one gets good from a corpse.
- Gestaþáttr

The baseline from which you will start is as follows: race choice between Human (Ulfen), Dwarf or Gnome. 15 point buy, no traits and zero wealth. I would also need a short background and a rudimentary statblock showing attributes and feat / skill choices to consider an application complete. Please post the details in a spoiler and in this thread so that it is easy for me to chase down later. I do not require profiles built until people are chosen.

Of course if you longed for more… then boons may be purchased by paying a price:

  • To choose a different race from the core rule book (this includes Human ethnicities that are not Ulfen) – explain why your character is in unfamiliar lands.
  • To play one tainted by outsider blood – tell me how that came to be, and which outsider was your forebear.
  • To play a savage or hag-touched (orc, hobgoblin or changeling) – explain how it is that you are not killed on sight.
  • To be more powerful (20 point buy) – tell me of your character’s personality.
  • To further hone your strength (25 point buy) – describe two positive traits and two negative traits your character bears… and why.
  • To gain belongings (average wealth for your character class) –tell me what your character looks like, and how they comport themselves.
  • To be richer still (max wealth for your character class) – describe one item you bear that was inherited from someone important to you, and how it came to be yours.
  • To have skills borne of experience (two traits) – weave the skills into the background that shapes your character.
  • To gain the bonus trait Invoke the Vættir below – tell me a story, in character. It could be about anything relevant – a tale of your ancestors, a story told to children before bedtime or an ode to the might of the gods.
  • To be blessed with gifts of the gods (a grab bag of useful consumables to be defined by DM) – tell me your story in accordance with Skaldic poetic tradition. This could be through use of kennings only, or all out with an actual poem written with alliterative verse (though in English please ;)

Invoke the Vættir:
Once per day as a free action you may invoke the name of a god or spirit to aid you in your endeavors. This gives you a +1d6 sacred bonus on any one d20 roll.

Recruitment Timeline:
I know that I hung on a windy tree nine long nights,
wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin, myself to myself,
on that tree of which no man knows from where its roots run.
- Rúnatáls-þáttr-Óðins

The recruitment thread will stay open until I get my grubby little electronic mitts on the first volume of the AP (which will be on the 20th of February). I also will give a 24 hour warning before shutting the gates to applications.

Fire away with any questions that you might have and I shall endeavour to answer them.

Lastly… please remember this is a Recruitment Thread; and not a Roleplay Tavern.

No one will protest that there has been too little killing. - Brynhild, Völsunga saga


Minor Crab-beast

Legend of the Black Monastery:
Two centuries have passed since the terrible events associated with the hideous cult known as the Black Brotherhood. Only scholars and story-tellers remember now how the kingdom was nearly laid to waste and the Black Monastery rose to grandeur and fell into haunted ruins.

The Brothers first appeared as an order of benevolent priests and humble monks in black robes who followed a creed of kindness to the poor and service to the kingdom. Their rules called for humility and self denial. Other religious orders had no quarrel with their theology or their behavior. Their ranks grew as many commoners and nobles were drawn to the order by its good reputation.

The first headquarters for the order was a campsite, located in a forest near the edge of the realm. The Brothers said that their poverty and dedication to service allowed them no resources for more grand accommodations. Members of the Black Brotherhood built chapels in caves or constructed small temples on common land near villages. They said that these rustic shrines allowed them to be near the people they served. Services held by the Brothers at these locations attracted large numbers of common people, who supported the Black Brotherhood with alms.

Within 50 years of their first appearance, the Black Brotherhood had a number of larger temples and abbeys around the kingdom. Wealthy
patrons endowed them with lands and buildings in order to buy favor and further the work of the Brothers. The lands they gained were slowly expanded as the order’s influence grew. Many merchants willed part of their fortunes to the Black Brotherhood, allowing the order to expand their work even further. The Brothers became bankers, loaning money and becoming partners in trade throughout the kingdom. Within 200 years of their founding, the order was wealthy and influential, with chapters throughout the kingdom and spreading into nearby realms.

With their order well-established, the Black Brotherhood received royal permission to build a grand monastery in the hill country north of the kingdom’s center. Their abbot, a cousin of the king, asked for the royal grant of a specific hilltop called the Hill of Mornay. This hill was already crowned by ancient ruins that the monks proposed to clear away. Because it was land not wanted for agriculture, the king was happy to grant the request. He even donated money to build the monastery and encouraged others to contribute. With funds from around the realm, the Brothers completed their new monastery within a decade. It was a grand, sprawling edifice built of black stone and called the Black Monastery.

From the very beginning, there were some who said that the Black Brotherhood was not what it seemed. There were always hints of corruption and moral lapses among the Brothers, but no more than any other religious order. There were some who told stories of greed, gluttony and depravity among the monks, but these tales did not weaken the order’s reputation during their early years. All of that changed with the construction of the Black Monastery.

Within two decades of the Black Monastery’s completion, locals began to speak of troubling events there. Sometimes, Brothers made strange demands. They began to cheat farmers of their crops. They loaned money at ruinous rates, taking the property of anyone who could not pay. They pressured or even threatened wealthy patrons, extorting money in larger and larger amounts. Everywhere, the Black Brotherhood grew stronger, prouder and more aggressive. And there was more…

People began to disappear. The farmers who worked the monastery lands reported that some people who went out at night, or who went off by themselves, did not return. It started with individuals…people without influential families…but soon the terror and loss spread to even to noble households. Some said that the people who disappeared had been taken into the Black Monastery, and the place slowly gained an evil reputation. Tenant farmers began moving away from the region, seeking safety at the loss of their fields.

Slowly, even the king began to sense that the night was full of new terrors. Across the kingdom, reports began to come in telling of hauntings and the depredations of monsters. Flocks of dead birds fell from clear skies, onto villages and city streets. Fish died by thousands in their streams. Citizens reported stillborn babies and monstrous births. Crops failed. Fields were full of stunted plants. Crimes of all types grew common as incidents of madness spread everywhere. Word spread that the center of these dark portents was the Black Monastery, where many said the brothers practiced necromancy and human sacrifice. It was feared that the Black Brotherhood no longer worshipped gods of light and had turned to the service of the Dark God.

These terrors came to a head when the Black Brotherhood dared to threaten the king himself. Realizing his peril, the king moved to dispossess and disband the Black Brother hood. He ordered their shrines, abbeys and lands seized. He had Brothers arrested for real and imagined crimes. He also ordered investigations into the Black Monastery and the order’s highest ranking members.

The Black Brotherhood did not go quietly. Conflict between the order and the crown broke into violence when the Brothers incited their followers to riot across the kingdom. There were disturbances everywhere, including several attempts to assassinate the king by blades and by dark sorcery. It became clear to everyone that the Black Brotherhood was far more than just another religious order. Once knives were drawn, the conflict grew into open war between the crown and the Brothers.

The Black Brotherhood had exceeded their grasp. Their followers were crushed in the streets by mounted knights. Brothers were rounded up and arrested. Many of them were executed. Armed supporters of the Black Brotherhood, backed by arcane and divine magic, were defeated and slaughtered. The Brothers were driven back to their final hilltop fortress – the Black Monastery. They were besieged by the king’s army, trapped and waiting for the king’s forces to break in and end the war.

The final assault on the Black Monastery ended in victory and disaster. The king’s army took the hilltop, driving the last of the black-robed monks into the monastery itself. The soldiers were met by more than just men. There were monsters and fiends defending the monastery. There was a terrible slaughter on both sides. In many places the dead rose up to fight again. The battle continued from afternoon into night, lit by flames and magical energy.

The Black Monastery was never actually taken. The king’s forces drove the last of their foul enemies back inside the monastery gates. Battering rams and war machines were hauled up the hill to crush their way inside. But before the king’s men could take the final stronghold, the Black Brotherhood immolated themselves in magical fire.

Green flames roared up from the monastery, engulfing many of the king’s men as well. As survivors watched, the Black Monastery burned away, stones, gates, towers and all. There was a lurid green flare that lit the countryside. There was a scream of torment from a thousand human voices. There was a roar of falling masonry and splitting wood. Smoke and dust obscured the hilltop. The Black Monastery collapsed in upon itself and disappeared. Only ashes drifted down where the great structure had stood. All that was left of the Black Monastery was its foundations and debris-choked dungeons cut into the stones beneath. The war was over. The Black Brotherhood was destroyed.

But the Black Monastery was not gone forever. Over nearly two centuries since its destruction, the Black Monastery has returned from time to time to haunt the Hill of Mornay. Impossible as it seems, there have been at least five incidents in which witnesses have reported finding the Hill of Mornay once again crowned with black walls and slate-roofed towers. In every case, the manifestation of this revenant of the Black Monastery has been accompanied by widespread reports of madness, crime and social unrest in the kingdom. Sometimes, the monastery has appeared only for a night. The last two times, the monastery reappeared atop the hill for as long as three months…each appearance longer than the first.

There are tales of adventurers daring to enter the Black Monastery. Some went to look for treasure. Others went to battle whatever evil still lived inside. There are stories of lucky and brave explorers who have survived the horrors, returning with riches from the fabled hordes of the Black Brotherhood. It is enough to drive men mad with greed – enough to lure more each time to dare to enter the Black Monastery.

Oft pondered during fever dreams of wealth and power, the Black Monastery has been rumored to contain items of vast value...for those brave or foolish enough to venture within. Never before did you think that opportunity would be before you, but after returning from a successful venture slaying a seven headed hydra zombie - lo did the Monastery itself rise from the depths of hell and present itself to you. On a previously barren hill just outside of town, the imposing structure appeared overnight and stands there as an edifice - taunting you to investigate.

And investigate you shall. Your party has ventured forth in the dewy dawn towards the structure and it now grows ever closer in the distance. You can just make out the huge iron gates that sit at the monastery compound's entrance and need just make a choice of how you will breach the walls.

Much more information can be yours - just tell me what you are looking for and at.
The monastery itself is a large edifice with a constrained courtyard at the center - so the exterior is dominated by the monastary's walls - except for the clear iron gates.


Minor Crab-beast

Khador is not a gentle land, the North swathed in snow for most of the year and the Southern borders ever ragged with the press of war. But it's people are strong, presenting a stoic jaw and firm resolve to all of the hardships that Immoren heaps upon them. But the Khards are proud also... perhaps too proud.

For the glory of the Motherland, all men and women of age must serve. It is this that brings strength to her armies and allows the machine to roll Southward in conquest. Those that are left behind, the weak, the crippled and the old do as they must to endure... but sometimes pride stands before reason.

Such is the case in Pokhva in Khador's south. Near to the Ordish border and on the fringes of the Thornwood forest, the agrarian community lives to serve - literally feeding the Motherland's war machine. But times of late have brought ill...

Strained as they are with the Cygnaran war continuing to rage - the border grows porous and filth finds it's way through. The Thornwood grows both ominously quiet and at the same time screams with depraved rage. But for too long the Soviet of Pokhva remained unbowed, beliving this merely another hardship that must be cast off to show that they remain strong.

But then Srodnik Petravik was taken... plucked without word from the heart of their community. Back finally broken, the Soviet called for aid... but who would answer? - who would risk life and limb for the fate of a simple rural town?...

Soviet - Council
Srodnik - Kinsman

I've opened this up for people to 'dot' so that the campaign shows up in your own Campaign Pages. I've also subtly changed the town name to distance unfortunate implications...


With the advent of Kickstarter UK comes that...

they are making a doco of the story of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks

Having spent many childhood hours flicking between pages, plumbing the depths of Deathtrap Dungeon, getting lost in Scorpion Swamp and rallying the troops in Armies of Death; I really hope this gets funded :)


Minor Crab-beast

As the recruitment thread still seems to be suffering from a glitch - I figured we can keep the ball rolling in a Discussion thread as we prepare for the game.

The town where you will be starting out is called Pochva - and sits in the South East corner of Khador, nestled near to the Ord-ish border and on the North West fringe of the Thornwood forest. The ground near to the town is relatively flat, though there are some small hills.

The town itself is arrayed like a sunburst around a central plaza. Most of the population does not live in the town center, and instead stays in the workhouses attached to the many farms that surround the town. The ring of houses and industrial buildings in the town proper is only three or four deep, though some of the heavy industry (such as the tannery and blacksmith) and more questionable businesses (such as the mechanik workshop and alchemist) sit a short distance away and standalone.

The community is very close knit, and goverened by a council made up of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the major land / buisiness holders. In keeping with it's traditional leanings the town follows the Old Faith of Menoth. Technology has reached the town to a varying degree of depth, as some hold to the old ways even as the younger tend to embrace the new. Population is overwhelmingly Khardic, though persons of most races live within the town without overt persecution. There are no Iosans, though a few Nyss do work as farmhands or hunters.

The Khards that live there tend to be young, crippled or old. Most of the men and women of fighting age have been sent to be part of the Khadoran military. Many of the older residents are veterans of war and have a very strong patriotic streak, even if they cling to the worship of Menoth.

Those of you who are native (such as Sasha) will know a bit more that I'll fill you in on soonish. Those who are more recent arrivals will be responding to a request for men with a stout arm to assist the town with some problems coming from the Thornwood (the PbP will open at the council meeting where said problems are discussed).

Please ask whatever questions pop into your head about the town - as it will help me put it together properly.


I managed to pick up the Iron Kingdoms hardcover when I was back in Australia recently on a holiday. The rules system has intrigued me and the setting has always had a great potential for a wide and varied amount of adventuring content. I know that there are a few devotees of the Iron Kingdoms floating around on the boards - but was wondering exactly how many there are and whom they would actually be in the general community.

I am considering whether I have the time and drive to put together a PbP in the Iron Kingdoms personally, though would need to have a few disclaimers on file to start with:

  • I don't have much history in the setting, so it might be a bit of a bumpy start before I get that nailed out.
  • I don't have my rulebook at work, so my post rate would be significantly limited by that fact. I also DM four other campaigns here, and they would get precedence for updates if I got time limited. I'm confident that I'd still manage a good 4-7 updates a week, but it wouldn't be a fast moving game in the slightest.
  • Reading the system I see that there are probably a few minor points that need to be ironed out for PbP compatibility and ease.
  • Lastly, the bestiary in the core book is woefully small - so I would be leaning on the kindness of strangers to help build up a databank of NPC antagonists.

If that hasn't tempered your desire or interest, then please put your hand up and give me an idea of what sort of game you'd be interested in. The questions I've got floating in my head are roughly:

  • Have you got the new IK RPG core book?
  • How much experience with the setting do you have - and is it from the minis game or the previous RPG ruleset?
  • Would you prefer a military or non-military bent? and is there a preference of which major power's side you'd prefer to work for / around?
  • What is your favorite feature of the IK RPG setting - both on the fluff as well as crunch side?

Disclaimer: This is not a recruitment thread at this stage - so please don't try and pitch specific characters.


As the title to the thread might suggest, I came upon something interesting today... I went out to one of our local shopping centers to do our weekly grocery shopping today and found that they were having a Halloween Promotion called a Season of the Goblins. My first thoughts were relatively benign... until I walked into the shopping center itself...

And saw these decorations.

Suffice it to say I found it quite amusing to say the least and wondered if the decorators just found the images through google search - or whether it was a conscious decision to create them in the form of the Pathfinder Goblin.

I'll be dropping them a line on their Facebook Page to find out - but I thought that the Paizonites might find it amusing exactly how far their brand has reached out ;)


Minor Crab-beast

As you walk the streets of Almas, you find a curious note pinned to a lantern-post. The parchment of the note is tattered and faded, the paper yellowed with age and the black lettering tending more to gray… and yet it is still legible. Handwritten in a precise script, it reads:
Vaylen Trade Guild seeking dedicated and skilled persons for immediate employment. Applicants must be willing to travel. Recompense will be commensurate with risk… and pays double in death.
Seek out Maester Stephan in the Bank of House Vaylen, Mercantile District.

For your own reasons - be they desperate due to paucity of coin, or inscrutable due to a darker and more shadowed purpose - you are of a mind to answer the call. Making your way through the city you find it a hot summer's afternoon and the mood relatively subdued. Those with enough sense are hiding away indoors with a cold brew in hand or taking a siesta... but you retain your pace.

Soon enough the cobbled streets of the Mercantile District are beneath your feet and you find the aging facade of the Bank of the House Vaylen. The building is old and a long time has passed between applications of paint, but the structure is strong. A square and ugly building it fits the picture of a house of commerce and you enter. A severe middle aged male receptionist bedecked in a frilled shirt greets you curtly and a sneer forms on his face when you mention the parchment "Oh... I had thought we removed those bills months ago. But still, House Vaylen does not reneg upon compacts laid... Maester Stephan is a busy man, though he does have time to see you late this afternoon. Please wait through there... you will be called." and you are ushered through a dark corridor and into a dingy windowless room that has no furnishings apart from a flickering oil lantern and five cane chairs that you are not certain will hold your weight.

The time that you post is the time of your arrival. For the first post, if you can throw up a brief description and reaction to the welcome received thus far.
Once we're all assembled in thread, then I'll move things along to your meeting with the Maester.


Minor Crab-beast

Righto lads, lets get things squared away quick-smart so that we can get on the road :)

First order of the day is to check in here with your alias and let me know when it is fully completed and ready for crunch checking. Any final questions and queries on build should be asked so that I may answer.

Once we've all assembled and been checked then I'll get the game thread rocking (hoping for early this week).


A curious note is pinned to the lantern-post. The parchment is tattered and faded, the paper yellowed with age and the black lettering tending more to gray… and yet it is still legible. Handwritten in a precise script, it reads:
Vaylen Trade Guild seeking dedicated and skilled persons for immediate employment. Applicants must be willing to travel. Recompense will be commensurate with risk… and pays double in death.
Seek out Maester Stephan in the Bank of House Vaylen, Mercantile District.
Bereft of money and devoid of options, you shrug and decide that perhaps it would be worth a shot… besides… what’s the worst that can happen?

Campaign Summary:
This is a recruitment thread for a homebrew PbP set all over Golarion that will be a rip-off of the Trygalle Trade Guild from the Malazan Books of the Fallen by Steven Erikson.

The entirety of the campaign will center around running a series of courier jobs that will start mundane and gradually build up to the fantastical. Throughout this process you’ll be direct shareholders in the enterprise and getting a hefty percentage of the fees that the Vaylen Trade Guild charges for your services. As your reputation grows, so will the riskiness of your jobs and the payment that follows successful completion. Each time you complete a job, you’ll check back in with the local branch of the Bank of House Vaylen and get a choice of your next endeavors.

Vehicle rules from Ultimate Combat will play a part with respect to your conveyance – which will start as a battered carriage hitched to a couple of draft horses… but will be upgradeable over time and limited only by your imagination.

Posting Requirements:
I am looking for people that can check in on the thread at least a couple of times a day, and post at least 1/day on weekdays. Weekends are more relaxed.

Feel free to pop into my profile and take a peek at the campaigns that I currently DM if you’d like to get a feel for how I go about things.

Crunch Application Guidelines:

  • 2nd Level characters.
  • 20 point buy.
  • HP Max @ 1st, average +1 (6 for d10, 5 for d8, etc) after that.
  • Race is free and open, though I am somewhat of a grognard for the traditional core + tiefling and aasimar.
  • Classes - no restrictions (though firearms are basic only).
  • You start with 300gp only.
  • Two traits
  • All Paizo content is fine (just give me a book reference), and 3PP may be considered on a case by case basis.

Part of the conceit also requires at least a couple of roles be filled within the carriage – that of the driver, and the navigator.
The Driver must be capable of working with your propulsion system (initially animals) and steering the carriage (mechanically needs Handle Animal / Profession (Driver)).
The Navigator needs to be a class that eventually gains access to party planar travel – this can be via the shadow plane, direct planar shift, or another means – but needs to eventually have that capability.
All other characters will be applying as Guards.

Fluff Application Guidelines:
The PbP will start in Almas, the capital of Andoran – but will quickly move beyond that area and into more exotic climes.
You start off relatively down on your luck as reflected by your limited wealth for a 2nd level character. You need to ensure that it is reasonable for your character to give up house and hearth and take exclusively to the road as a courier.
As you’ll all be shareholders in the venture, then disruptive characters will be a problem (note I view this more as a character outlook issue than an alignment issue). Outside of that go hog wild :)

What do you Need to Post Now for an Application:

  • Stat breakdown
  • Class and Race – including any Archetypes and Alternate Features
  • Skills, Feats and traits summary
  • Basic backstory / personality
  • Note if you’re applying to be a Driver, Navigator or Guard.

I don’t need full sheets or profiles at this point, they can come post selection.

Recruitment Timeline:
Recruitment will be up for as long as it takes to get a decent list of applicants together, though at least 4-5 days minimum.I will be looking at a party of 4-5 for this PbP, and there are no reserved spots.

Fire away with any questions that you might have and I shall endeavor to answer them.

Useful References:

House Vaylen:
Beginning as archaeologists and treasure hunters, House Vaylen blossomed into one of the most successful banks in Andoran. They are currently the largest Andoren supplier of the precious antiquities from distant lands that help fuel Andoran’s impressive economy. They are well known for their funding of large-scale expeditions into foreign realms and generous contributions to the Pathfinder Society. They have 15 branches scattered across the Inner Sea region and employ approximately 90 factors. Its current head is Mennen Vaylen; its primary trade goods are antiquities, exotic artifacts, and luxury items.

Reference info on the Trygalle Trade Guild – which inspired this PbP


Minor Crab-beast

A full moon hangs over Port Peril, it's silver light filtering through the haze of smoke that covers the town to bathe the streets in a grimy tan. Shadows lie long upon the ground and the breeze carries whispered conversations farther than they are intended. From one alley the breathless inhalation as a man's lungs are laid bare by a blade, from another man the heavy lecherous pants that result coitus completed with a two-copper whore. This is not the sort of town where one idly wanders...

By the water the docks creak as ships at port move against the piers with the tide, while inland half-rotted wooden buildings swell to bursting with a seething tide of humanity drowning their sorrows in cheap rum. The factories of Beggarbriar toil still, coiling rope and forging tackle. Many creatures stalk the city... but there are six mostly human souls whose prospects are about to take the path less traveled by...


Minor Crab-beast

Evening one and all and welcome to the staging point that lies between yourselves and the great blue seas afore ye. I'm looking forward to the beginning torment that you'll face, and it's great and terrible savagery will make your eventual ascension to command and piracy all the more satisfying.

I'll be running the AP reasonably close to the original, but will be repainting some areas to suit the particular character we've got in the group.

Please build your character into an alias and make a post here stating when it's ready for a crunch review. Any final questions on builds and the like, please fire away and as people check in I'll also have a few items of discussion to get through with some characters.

I'll aim to get the gameplay thread rolling soon after we've had everyone check in.


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This is a recruitment thread for the new Paizo AP – Skull and Shackles… with a devilish twist

Campaign Summary:
The Paizo blurb is: There's adventure to be had on the high seas when a group of press-ganged strangers seizes a ship and becomes embroiled in the plots and politics of the Shackles—an infamous island chain dominated by pirate warlords. But as these new swashbucklers make names for themselves, rival scalawags, enemy navies, legendary sea monsters, and the infamous Hurricane King himself seek to see them walk the plank. Who will survive when there's glory to plunder?

However I would like to play this with a slight twist – being that all PCs are Tieflings of one kind or another. Not only will this give an additional reason for the characters to band together at the start of the AP – but will also give you an extra panache that you can eventually use to stand apart from the other Free Captains.

The Player’s Guide is located HERE

Posting Requirements:
I am looking for people that can check in on the thread at least a couple of times a day, and post at least 1/day on weekdays. Weekends are more relaxed.

Feel free to pop into my profile and take a peek at the campaigns that I currently DM if you’d like to get a feel for how I go about things.

Crunch Application Guidelines:

  • 20 point buy
  • Alignment is flexible – though see fluff guidelines below.
  • HP Max @ 1st
  • Tieflings only – all alternate types and traits in the recent Blood of Fiends book are allowed… and indeed recommended.
  • Classes - no restrictions as long as they fit the campaign, though firearms will be strictly limited to basic level only
  • You will be allowed only a single small item at the start of the campaign. It should be something that might easily be concealed within a sleeve or the pocket of your breeches. Everything else will need to be begged, borrowed or thieved.
  • Two traits – one of which must be either a Campaign trait or a Tiefling race trait from Blood of Fiends.
  • All Paizo content is fine (just give me a book reference if it is non Core / APG / UM / UC), and 3PP may be considered on a case by case basis.

Note: I will not be using Variant Tiefling Abilities. Instead you’ll get the specific replacement for the skill bonuses and SLA as per Blood of Fiends.

Tiefling Refresher:
Basic: +2 Dex and Int, -2 Cha; Skills: Bluff and Stealth; SLA: Darkness
Asura-Spawn: +2 Dex and Wis, -2 Int; Skills: Appraise and Knowledge (Local); SLA: Hideous Laughter
Daemon-Spawn: +2 Dex and Int, -2 Wis; Skills: Disable Device and Sleight of Hand; SLA: Death Knell
Demodand-Spawn: +2 Con and Wis, -2 Int; Skills: Intimidate and Knowledge (Religion); SLA: Bear’s Endurance.
Demon-Spawn: +2 Str and Cha, -2 Int; Skills: Disable Device and Perception; SLA: Shatter
Devil-Spawn: +2 Con and Wis, -2 Cha; Skills Diplomacy and Sense Motive; SLA: Pyrotechnics
Div-Spawn: +2 Dex and Cha, -2 Int; Skills: Diplomacy and Linguistics; SLA: Misdirection
Kyton-Spawn: +2 Con and Cha, -2 Wis; Skills: Escape Artist and Intimidate; SLA: Web
Oni-Spawn: +2 Str and Wis, -2 Cha; Skills: Disguise and Intimidate; SLA: Alter Self
Qlippoth-Spawn: +2 Str and Wis, -2 Cha; Skills: Escape Artist and Survival; SLA: Blur
Rakshasa-Spawn: +2 Dex and Cha, -2 Wis; Skills: Disguise and Sense Motive; SLA: Detect Thoughts

For anyone lacking the book I can work with those who are selected to advise on traits, etc.

Fluff Application Guidelines:
At the start of the adventure you get shanghaied into service – that means that you do not start out explicitly as pirates. I’m interested in knowing what within your character’s background / personality that would influence him to taking to life as a buccaneer.

I also want you to be aware that you need to have unshakable bonds with your fellow PCs. Blood is thicker than water in this instance (especially when tainted with the heady scent of an outsider), and while you can backstab and freewheel the opposition I’ll brook no intra-party conflict. Sure the bonds can take time to develop with some initial friction, but there needs to be a shared ambition to make it work in the long run.

As you are all tieflings – please include some brief detail on how the outsider blood came into your lineage and how it manifests on your character physically. (ie – horns, tail, etc).

Lastly, as a bit of fun, I’d like to know who is your favorite pirate / privateer / naval character from either real life or fiction – and why?

What do you Need to Post Now for an Application:

  • Stat breakdown
  • Class and Tiefling Variant – including any Archetypes
  • Skills, Feats and traits summary
  • Basic backstory / personality
  • Details on why your character would take to a life as a buccaneer
  • Details on outsider heritage that tainted you as a tiefling and the way it manifests physically.
  • Favorite Pirate / Privateer / Naval Character from real life or fiction

I don’t need full sheets or profiles at this point, they can come post selection.

For those I already DM:
Please feel free to apply if you've not already had your fill of me. I'll be selecting without prejudice to whether I DM the players already.

Recruitment Timeline:
Recruitment will be up for as long as it takes to get a decent list of applicants together, though at least through to the end of this weekend (until 13th May).

I will be looking at a party of 5-6 for this PbP. However two spots are reserved – which leaves 3-4 spots available. I’m sure the players with the guaranteed spot will check in – but they are currently looking like playing a Bard (Daredevil) and either a Bard or Cavalier.

Fire away with any questions that you might have and I shall endeavour to answer them.

Some songs to get you in the mood for Character Creation:
Turisas – Hunting Pirates
Alestorm – Sunk’nNorwegian
Tim Curry / Muppets – A Professional Pirate

And to answer my own question posted – I’ll go with the tried and true: the one and only Horatio Nelson. His story speaks for itself.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Minor Crab-beast
Gary McBride wrote:
Take a break from saving the world. Take a break from restless farm boys and loveable scoundrels who unite to fight an ancient evil. Put on your best black hat and get ready to walk the Way of the Wicked. By the time we’re done, the world will tremble in your wake.

This is a placeholder so that you can dot this thread and have the campaign appear in your tracker.


Minor Crab-beast

Welcome to the unholy five who have made it through the meat grinder and are ready to be put in chains and locked away to await their execution...

Order of the day to start with is getting profiles and the crunch locked away. Once you've got it ready for review, please let me know in this thread and I'll give it a review and ask any mechanical questions I have.

Any remaining detailed questions should be posed in here, and I'll throw up the Game thread shortly (for you to put a dot in so it shows up on your campaign tracker).

We have the following party members:
Tark - Summoner
Black Jack / Merck - Human Antipaladin
Peanuts - Gaav (goal of Cornugon)
Set - Human Cleric of Asmodeus
Nostrus / Albrecht d'Famion - Human Magus

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