Variziel's page

You arrived in Sandpoint only a few scant days ago, and while you've been hopeful to explore and learn more about the landmark they call the Old Light, you haven't made much progress as yet. You've been living out of a room at the Rusty Dragon Inn, which caters to travelers and adventurous types such as yourself more than the other boarding houses of the town do. Beyond that, you've spent some time familiarizing yourself with some of the locals, particularly an elderly scholar named Brodert Quink. Quink strikes you as the type who knows quite a lot, but unfortunately feels the need to pretend he knows even more. Still, he's the local expert on Thassilonian ruins... although his working theory of this particular ruin, which involves it being an ancient mystical siege weapon, seems somewhat beyond practical consideration.

Your day begins with a polite knock on the door of your room, and you open it to find the beaming face of Ameiko Kaijitsu, the proprietor of the inn. The lovely young Tien woman smiles as she says, "Sorry if I woke you, but I thought I'd check on all the tenants to let them know it's nearly time for the Festival to begin. Speeches are up by the cathedral, can't miss the square, and then everything's started! Hope to see you there." With that, she walks off down the hall to the next room.

You arrived in Sandpoint just two days ago, and quickly made your way to the smithy to sell what you had and offer your help. The owner, a fiery-haired bear of a man, was at first quite dismissive and rude, but once you offered to bend your back at the forge, he became more accepting... if only slightly. You're not sure if Das Korvut likes you or not--you're not sure if the man likes anyone, truth be told--but so far he's put up with you and allowed you to sleep on a cot in the Red Dog Smithy.

Today, you're woken well before dawn by the sound of a hammer striking hot metal, and you quickly rise up to see what's happening. Das is already at work by the forge, finishing up the project he's been working on for the past few days: a magnificent rendering in steel and bronze of Abadar's holy symbol, which he intends as an offering for the new cathedral. He grunts when he looks up to see you, and although he doesn't say anything, you sense his appreciation when you lend a hand to help. When dawn arrives, the beautiful, arm-length key is finished, and Das wipes the sweat from his brow with a rare grin. "Time for the speeches, I reckon," he says. With no more words, he sets the key on a table for later, and steps out of the smithy to head for the cathedral.

You've been in Sandpoint for nearly a season, having arrived just before the height of summer. At first you stayed wherever you could, but most recently you've taken up semi-permanent residence with Chask Haldan, the elderly owner of the Curious Goblin. The old man is more a librarian and simple lover of knowledge than a businessman, but he's appreciated your help around the "shop," as well as your unique foreign wisdom and outlook on life. You've spent more than one afternoon sipping tea and discussing all matters of life and philosophy with the man, and he's been especially grateful since you handled some would-be thieves a couple weeks back.

On this day, you're woken by the pleasant scent of fresh tea, and when you rise, Chask hands you a steaming cup with a smile. "Drink up, and let's get over to the cathedral," he says, eagerness in his raspy voice. "I'd hate to miss the speeches, or anything else. This is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of day, after all!"

Your travels to Sandpoint have been smooth enough. Varisia is still a frontier country in many ways, with open plains and roads that see only nominal lawkeepers most of the time. Between Belkzen raiders, standoffish Shoanti tribes, potential bandits, and the local wildlife, it's not exactly a safe region, although the main roads are usually free of too much harassment. Still, you were somewhat fortunate to link up with one of the caravans that travel the country, and with the safety of numbers your trip to Sandpoint has been as safe as you could hope for.

The timing has gone well, too, as you wake this day an hour before dawn. Most of the caravan's sleeping arrangements are already broken down and stored once more, and soon enough the caravan's master--a young Varisian man named Sandru--swings by to check on you. "We'll be on our way shortly, if you'd like to ride beside me," he says with a grin. "We should arrive in town by dawn, just in time for the start of the festival. You should enjoy yourself before going off to hunt your Devil--might I suggest sampling the Rusty Dragon's offerings. Always good food to be had." With a laugh, he claps your shoulder and moves off to finish getting the wagons on the move.

You've been back in Sandpoint for about a month, although having grown up in the town you of course are familiar with... well, most everything that's common knowledge. It was a mixture of pleasant and disappointing to find that things are mostly the same here since you left for schooling, although there's been a more hopeful attitude of late with the leadup to the opening of the new cathedral. You've been living at home with your mother for the time being, although plenty of your time is spent in your own pursuits--mostly speaking with Brodert Quink about the Old Light, and what else he knows of Thassilon. For all his knowledge, though, Quink doesn't seem able to offer all that much insight, as he's hooked on his latest theory: that the ruins were once some sort of magical siege weapon.

Your day begins by accompanying your mother to the Hagfish, as you promised to help make sure Jargie Quinn was ready to offer his work for the festival. Having a boisterous one-legged tavernmaster as an unofficial uncle has always been interesting and entertaining over the years, and he's grateful as always for the help you lend. Truth be told, he's mostly finished the work himself by the time you arrive, and you end up just seasoning some stew while he polishes Norah's tank and repaints the old sign proclaiming the Hagfish's signature challenge. By dawn, everything's finished, and he hobbles over with a smile and a nod. "Well, let's get a move on, Alaznas," he says. "Don't want to miss the kickoff of everything, after all!"

You only just arrived in Sandpoint last evening, having set out from Magnimar several days prior with a small caravan bound for the town. You know you've been brought here with divine guidance, the need to stamp out some evil that threatens not only the town, but the world beyond... but nothing seems amiss from the short time you've been here. The people seemed friendly enough, excited for their celebration, and you quickly secured cheap lodgings at the Rusty Dragon Inn, which caters to travelers. The bed was comfortable, and your sleep was free of dark dreams. If there's evil in Sandpoint, you haven't found it yet.

Your day begins with a knock on the door of your room. You open it to find the smiling face of Ameiko Kaijitsu, the owner of the establishment. She nods and hooks a thumb toward the stairs. "Hope you slept well. I'm just making rounds to let everyone know that the Festival's going to start soon. Opening speeches are at the cathedral square, you can't miss it. Hope to see you there!" With that, she bounds off down the hallway, leaving you to get ready for the day.

Starting Level: 1st. The PCs will one day become great heroes, having overcome incredible dangers along the way... but they have humble beginnings.
--Special Rule: Gestalt! We'll be using the gestalt system for leveling up, meaning you advance in two classes and take the best of both. If you're unfamiliar with the system, a quick web search should get you what you need to know.

Ability Scores: Use a 25 point-buy by standard Pathfinder rules. You're great heroes with many talents and strengths.

Races: I don't explicitly disallow any given race, because soemone might wow me with a great backstory, but use good sense, and keep in mind your race is more than just numbers and abilities on a sheet. If you play a drow, people are going to react to that; same for any other distinctly odd or monstrous-looking race. Core and featured races are your best bets, unless you give me a great backstory to explain how you've come to be in Sandpoint.
--Templates: Not at game start. If your character concept involves hoping for something down the line, mention it as wishful thinking, but no guarantees. This is not the game to put forward your Advanced Natural Wereocelot.

Classes: I allow all Paizo published classes; the only one I can think of that raises an eyebrow for this area is the gunslinger, but a decent backstory will explain that. Unchained is recommended, but not required (although Summoners must use the Unchained spell list).
--Archetypes: I'm mentioning this since it comes up sometimes: I'm fine with archetypes, and feel free to use them for a different flavor than their origins. Sometimes a mechanical setup works perfectly for an idea that doesn't fit the flavor, and that's okay by me. I also have no issues with archetype stacking (per the usual requirements), as a general rule, so go for it.
--Third Party: Listed here since classes and archetypes are the most common. The only third-party sources I'll allow on a general rule is the Path of War work from Dreamscarred Press. Anything outside of that needs to be run by me specifically, on a case-by-case basis of what you want to use, before I can allow it; I also need access to it, meaning that if it isn't on the d20pfsrd website, it probably won't work, since I don't own very much.

Traits: Each character begins with a campaign trait for Rise of the Runelords; you also gain two other traits of your choice, for a total of three. You may take a drawback for an additional trait, but I will hold you to that drawback both mechanically and in terms of roleplaying.
--On Traits: Traits should be more than just a way to gain a class skill or bigger numbers on your sheet: they should inform an aspect of your character's background. I'm fine with reflavoring a trait for you to gain the same advantage, but it needs to be explained somewhere.

Starting Wealth: Maximum for your class at 1st level (e.g., a fighter or other 5d6x10 gp class would begin with 300 gold pieces to spend). There are several traits that add to this, whether in gold or equipment--these are powerful tools, so don't use them lightly.

Sources: To reiterate, most anything Paizo is available, with exceptions here and there. If it's from a hardcover you're probably fine--if you want to use something from an obscure source, please point out to me where it's from and I'll make sure it's okay. Third-party is allowed on a case by case basis, other than Path of War (which I like as a neat system providing more options for martials); please ask me before building a character, to save us both time and energy.

Alignment: At risk of causing a big debate (please, please for the love of the gods don't start one in this thread), no alignments within one step of Chaotic Evil. The reasons for barring NE and CE should be clear; CN is banned due to probability for shenanigans and it being unlikely that a truly Chaotic Neutral individual would go through the entirety of this AP. Lawful Evil will be looked at with a leery eye, but if you believe you can build one that will get along with the party (and well), I'm willing to give it a look.

House and Optional Rules
--Background Skills are a go, including Artistry and Lore.
--Combat Stamina and its related systems are allowed; Fighters can access these for free, anyone else can take the feat.
--Feat Taxes are a thing I don't like, and to help combat them I'm using some changes I've recently been made aware of. This article discusses some of the basic alterations in depth, and this table has some more changes that we'll be using. Nothing major is altered here--it simply does away with some feats that don't need to exist, and combines some others to make things more streamlined.
--Variant Multiclassing is allowed, but it means you cannot multiclass in any other way. (For example, you could be a fighter/wizard VMC cleric, but you couldn't then multiclass from fighter to rogue down the line.) This does lock you out of prestige classes.

Let me begin this section by saying that I don't require anything specific. Everyone writes backgrounds differently, they focus on different aspects, they write in different ways. Instead of telling you how to write your character, let me just offer some suggestions of how to get my attention and fulfill what I need.

If you don't know where to start, try the Ten-Minute Background. It's a simple, useful method for writing down the basics of your character: concepts, plot points, goals. It's by no means the be-all, end-all of background writing, but it's a solid foundation.

Please don't just give me bullet points, or fragmented highlights that aren't full sentences, or something similarly half-assed. I'm offering to run a well-loved campaign with NPCs and subtlety and character and plot. True, most if not all of it comes prewritten, but I'm also promising not to just copy and paste chunks of the book into a thread and call it a day. In return, I'm asking you to give me an interesting and thought-out character.

Interesting is the best word to have in mind for your PC's background! After all, this isn't a game about regular townsfolk who are boring old commoners, nor is it about skilled individuals who'd rather hang out on their porch than take the fight to the evil of the world. This is a game about heroes! Feel free to go reluctant hero, or even grudging antihero, but above all, make your character an interesting person who will rise above the masses.

Finally, make sure to hit the usual highlights. What are your origins? How did you become an adventurer? What brings you to Sandpoint? Think of your backstory as the origins issue for your hero, their special prologue that comes before the team-up arc. Feel free to describe their first mini-adventure; in game terms, it might have netted a total of 300 XP or so, so maybe you killed some goblins or helped hunt down an ogre or something. Definitely have fun with it! The more you care about your character, the more likely it is that I will, too.

I'm a recent college graduate with a degree in Creative Writing; naturally, I love to read, tell, and write stories, which lends to my love of RPGs and GMing. I've been playing for about a dozen years now, and I've been GMing in some form for much of that time (since I was among the first of my friends to get into the hobby), so I have experience. I can theorycraft with the best, but I prefer interesting, well-rounded characters to powergamed one-trick ponies.

As mentioned previously, I'll be running this game based on the Anniversary Edition of Rise of the Runelords, with updates and upgrades to reflect the new material that's become available since the book's release (as well as changes I feel will make for a more challenging, and thereby more fulfilling, campaign). The plot will remain nearly entirely the same, but expect many encounters to be different. You might think of this as the AP on Hard Mode, but the PCs are also much more powerful to match. I think of this campaign as a great example of classic high fantasy, with heroes rising up to stop an ancient world-changing evil, and I want things to feel truly heroic throughout.

With my schedule as it is, I hope and plan to post, on average, once a day, perhaps going down to once over the weekend. (I live on the East Coast of the United States, in terms of time zones.) That said, I have an active and at times very busy life, and there will be times when I cannot post. As often as possible, I'll at least check in, and any planned departures will have warning ahead of time, but life happens; things come up that cannot be avoided. All I can say is that I'm in this for the long haul, barring extreme circumstances, and I hope to see this through to the end no matter what. I don't promise a fast game--I promise a well-loved one.

I would strongly recommend anyone who's interested in this game to take a look at the following document: Virtues and Vices of Playing. It offers some of my most important thoughts on how to be a good player for PbP, particularly how to improved your chances of being selected by me for a campaign.

For this game, I'm looking at recruiting 3-6 characters, depending on interest, party composition, and so forth. There's no hard deadline to recruitment as of the moment, and warning will be given before it closes down and I make my selection.

Ahh, yes. The Vault. Once it was a great nation, the pride of the Rhoune, alongside our Grand Duchy. But that was before this age; before the coming of the Fell Beasts. For a hundred years it stood against them, but another hundred have passed since its walls rose and its gates shut. The stories of miraculous discovery and magical advancement are gone, replaced by whispered tales of darkness, monstrous things that prey upon those few who remain. But you--you bear the mark, don't you? The mark of the blessing, or the curse, if you prefer. You are a Hero, with Estus in your blood. You will enter the Vault, as is your fate; you will face its horrors again and again, and you will return a Champion, wealthy and beloved... or you will lose your very being to the madness of your existence.

The Concept: A campaign steeped in the flavor, tone, and lore of the popular Dark Souls video game series, with a dash of Bloodborne thrown in for good measure. (Probably some Demon's Souls too, but more in legacy than references.) Gearing toward sandboxy with an overarching "metaplot," it sees a party of Heroes who rise above mortals but are doomed to fight until they die, over and over again, and either succumb to madness or live long enough to "retire." That sounds a lot bleaker than I hope the game plays out, but it sets the tone. Rest assured that you can (and hopefully will) make a difference in the land, and my goal is for the party to ultimately uncover the secrets of the Vault.

The Setting: A homebrew setting of mine, specifically an alternate timeline of a larger setting I'm working on that will encompass huge swaths of time and a variety of different types of games. It's a classic medieval fantasy world that's been in a downward spiral for a couple of centuries, with rivaling nations clinging to life and struggling for what power they can claim.

The System: After some heavy thought anad work on this idea, which I've been bouncing around for a while, I've changed from Exalted as the basic chassis to a simpler offering: World of Darkness, mainly utilizing rules from the NWoD books with the God-Machine Chronicle updates, at least right now. I have some of the stuff for Chronicles of Darkness, but I don't love all the changes they made, so it'll probably end up somewhere between the two with some houserules.

Our scholars have long pondered over the origins of the Gates which dot our lands, but we understand so little of their workings. The world has gained much from their immense magical power, perhaps nowhere more than our City of Alabastre. But all light casts darkness, and the brilliant energy of the Gates is no exception. We have long guessed the Gates to be a cause of the monsters that roam the wilds, but now the Venhurst Empire is harnessing the power of their Gates for conquest and war. Already some neighbors have fallen to their Godbound Legions. We can only hope our own Knights are able to hold fast, should they come to our shores...

The Concept: This game has evolved somewhat from a couple of ideas I had a while back, mainly by combining them and adapting more ideas in the process. The basic concept is a classical high fantasy story, drawing from some of my favorites (Final Fantasy [some of them, especially I, II, IV, and XV, as well as the Tactics series], The Belgariad, Sword of Mana, and of course The Lord of the Rings)... but basing that story in a mythical Bronze Age setting reminiscent of classical myth. It'll hit the high points of that foundation: an evil empire on the rise, heroic knights with abilities well beyond those of mortal men, incredible mystic power and fearsome monsters.

The Setting: My hope is that this game's setting will start somewhat loosely defined, probably as a fantastical reflection of the Mediterranean region and the surrounding continental areas. I'm hopeful that the players would collaborate with me and with one another to establish what more of the setting needs filled in: homelands, other city-states or nations of interest, things like that.

The System: My most solid plan for this game would be Pathfinder, probably using E8 as a level cap and Mythic rules alongside to create an appropriate level of incredible but limited power. That said, in the last thread I was made aware of Godbound, which is an interesting system and could be helpful for capturing some of the feeling here. This one in particular could go one way or the other on system depending on how potential players feel about it.

Ah, welcome, my friends, to Accoria. Don't worry, I've already bribed the guards, so you're free to enter. Watch your purses, watch your steps, and don't mind the common folk--they shouldn't cause any trouble for people like us, eh? Now, I've secured lodgings for you at one of the finer establishments in the city, personal friend of mine runs the place, pays to know people in high places, after all. Fine dining and a private bathhouse, not to mention company if you desire? Settle in there with your belongings, enjoy yourselves if you like. The first party you're expected to make an appearance at is tomorrow, the Duke's cousin's daughter-in-law's fete to celebrate the new ship in her name, so you have a day to make yourselves at home... and to go over the dossiers. We only have one shot at the first impression. Don't screw it up.

The Concept: This is a game of high intrigue, utilizing some of the newer themes and mechanics Paizo's released recently to play a very different sort of adventure. I don't expect dungeon crawls and murderhobo antics here: this is a world where the danger lurks in garden parties and backroom dealings. Traps lurk around every corner, but they're more likely to be a hired knife or a social faux pas than a pit filled with spikes--after all, that's so uncivilized. The PCs will be agents representing an outside faction (or factions) with interests in the power plays between nobility in a city-state at the height of its decadence.

The Setting: This game will take place almost entirely in and around a large city-state, which is called Accoria until I potentially come up with a name I like better. It's a fantasy setting complete with many races and even monsters, but it's a little more advanced than the typical medieval feeling--think more along the lines of southern Europe in the height of the Renaissance. Beyond that central point, I'm leaving the setting fairly empty, which means more elements can be created as needed by players and myself alike.

The System: I'm looking at Pathfinder for this, making heavy use of the rules from Ultimate Intrigue; that book inspired me to start crafting this sort of game, which I'd vaguely tried in the past with less success. I'm considering making it E8, but in any case it'll make use of gestalt rules, with the strong suggestion that one side of each character be a vigilante. (The class is very fitting for a game like this, but I feel it can use some extra filling out to really make it shine.)

Alright, everyone, listen up. Dolph, that means put down the explosives. We just got a comm in from the Edge, a message from the Colonial Board. It seems one of their colony worlds went dark on 'em not long ago, some lush beautiful hunk of land that seemed like it was gonna send lots of money their way. Guess there were some dispatches about megafauna or some other big nasties, so the CB's hired the Expedient--that's us--to come in and lend a hand, find out what happened. We're going in without a whole lot of intel here, I know, but it's not like we haven't done that before. So I'm gonna send in a team of you to go down there, face what could probably be certain death, try to kill it, maybe save some people, and most importantly, make us all rich and famous. Mostly rich. So, who's in? Now don't volunteer all at once.

The Concept: If you can't tell from the name, this is a mish-mash of a bunch of my favorite genres for stories and games, and my hope is to have a glorious combination of them that plays up the tropes to eleven. An important note is that although we'll have characters from a gritty setting dealing with big trouble, I'm not looking for some grimdark operatic drama about the hopelessness of existence. I'm looking for this to be pulpy and over the top, with dynamic characters who spit in the face of danger. The horror will be there, but it's gonna be less Resident Evil or Night of the Living Dead and more Dead Rising or Zombieland. If you know the game Evolve, that was a big inspiration for this game's concept. Above all else, I think this one should be FUN.

The Setting: A colony world on the edge of the ever-expanding galaxy. Beyond that, it's played loose and fast; I've got ideas for stuff if people want to use them, but I'd also encourage people to come up with their own notions if they like. Part of me wants to add a Space Western flair to things, but I don't know if that might be one too many genres to throw in the mix. (By the by, aliens do exist, I'm not against people playing them for this, but they do need to be alien, not just humans with rubber heads.)

The System: For this one, I'm thinking Savage Worlds, making good use of the Science Fiction and Horror Companions. It's a system designed for pulpy, over-the-top fun with quirky characters, and it's gone hand in hand with the concept since I started planning it out.

Goblin raids on the coastal town of Sandpoint presage a growing danger in the ruin-choked wilderness of Varisia. An ancient evil stirs to waking life in the distant mountains, drawing crazed murderers, inbred ogres, warlike stone giants, and creatures fueled by the power of sin into an epic conflict destined to create a new generation of heroes!

The Concept: Pretty much what it says on the tin: I'm very down to run the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path, using the Anniversary Edition with some extra touch-ups and add-ons. This is one of my favorite published campaigns, with a classic fantasy feel mixed with other elements to tell a fantastic story. I just hope to use the newer additions to the system to really make it incredible--don't worry, it'll stay very recognizable as the campaign we know and love.

The Setting: Golarion, of course. I have my own small takes on certain aspects of Pathfinder's main setting, but I don't know that any of them have a big impact here.

The System: Pathfinder, to put it simply. I'm envisioning this as a high-powered game where the heroes are truly heroic, so I'm strongly considering using gestalt rules for the PCs and powerful NPCs (mostly key villains), and I'll be making use of the additions we've had to the game since the campaign came out. Expect NPCs with levels in newer classes, and expect them to be built pretty well with the new options that are available--while keeping to the vision that was laid out for them, of course. This will be a challenge, but a fair one.

Depending on how I'm feeling as I get an idea of what to run, I may also open a recruitment for a smaller, simpler game that would be expected to be perhaps less serious, although equally enjoyed and tended. This would likely be run using a somewhat simpler ruleset, and probably overall be a more lax experience, since I'm not sure I'd want to start two new full campaigns at the same time.

My main thought here is a fun little game called Kung Fu Hotel, although I'm not positive on how well that would translate to a PbP format. I own a few fun, small systems, though, and I'm up for exploring others if people want to suggest any. Some of my personal favorites include the always-wild Everyone is John, the tongue-in-cheek Kill Puppies for Satan, the team-focused One Last Job, and the slightly more serious but equally simple and fun Paladin.

The idea for this game is a mega-campaign that takes place in a world combining the Deadlands (specifically Deadlands Noir) and Rippers settings from Pinnacle Entertainment. This game's world aims to be a mixture of the two: an altered reality of the history of our own Earth, where magic is very real, and the things that go bump in the night are tangible threats. On the surface, to the common man, the world goes on much as it did in our history, with a touch more fear and darkness around the edges, as dangers lurk in the shadows and supernatural evil spreads its influence on the very land itself.

Beneath that surface, though, that evil is combated by those brave or just dedicated enough to take up arms. The most widespread of these groups are the Rippers, a secret society with a troubled history dating back to the Renaissance. They've had their trials, and not so long ago the entire organization was thrown into turmoil and seemed on the brink of collapse from within. With the death of their greatest enemy and the destruction of his own wicked organization, though, the Rippers have rebuilt, and lead the global fight against the darkness.

In the Americas--which remain divided between the Union to the North and the Confederacy in the South--there are two other organizations which battle supernatural forces. The USA's mysterious Agency serves in a secret capacity, their men in black hunting down monsters and disappearing them before the public has any idea what's gone on. In the CSA, the Rangers have spread far beyond their origins in Texas, and their "shoot it or recruit it" strategy has led to many victories against evil, if some are more pyrrhic than they'd want to admit.

In general sweeps, history remains much the same. Major events take place more or less when they did in our world, or at least in the same order, and although Weird Science has resulted in technological advancements before their time, the general technology remains similar. The Devil is in the details, as they say: wars tend to last longer with supernatural influence, and many famous folks have a little more to them than simple luck or mundane skill.

The city that will one day become the gaming capital of the world is still growing up. Even in the 1930s, Las Vegas is still a wild frontier town in many ways: only the names and details have changed. Bands of roaming outlaws on horses have been replaced by organized mobsters in their automobiles; six-guns and Winchesters were turned in for automatics and Tommy guns. The construction of the nearby Boulder Dam has brought thousands of workers to the area, and the mob and the city government both did their best to capitalize on the influx of working men with money to spend. Now fledgling casinos strongarm each other for the biggest take, and rumrunners from the Confederacy smuggle booze across the nearby border. The town is wild, dangerous, torn between the region's history and the modernization that creeps in day by day.

In the thick of this mess is a small group of hardboiled men and women, working at a private detective agency in a city with more crimes and secrets than most. This agency has a secret of its own, however: they are not only detectives, but Rippers, forging the way for the newly founded Las Vegas Lodge. Though they take many cases, they have a special interest in the stranger events that crop up with odd frequency in the American West, and even the city authorities sometimes send a case their way if it doesn't make sense.

This setting will be the bulk of the campaign, with the PCs serving as the Ripper detectives in the city. Their cases will be a mix of "regular" detective work and supernatural investigation, although in a world where nothing is quite what it seems, the occurrence of a truly mundane event is unlikely. There's no end to the concepts that will work here, so long as the character has come to the Rippers and to Las Vegas, in whichever order. Rippers come from all walks of life, from all nations and creeds; the main links that tie them together are special skills and the will to use them.

The city that will one day be known as a turning point in the Great War is currently serving as that turning point. The Allied Forces have made a push on the town, beginning with a surprise attack and bombardment, and the fighting has continued for days. The assault is led in large part by Canadian and Australian forces, known for their aggressive power and ability to break German lines to capture territory. The push has already gained more ground than most battles in the war; it is the hope of command that it will be a breaking point for Germany, allowing for a counteroffensive to push them back and end the war.

Among these forces is a small, special company nicknamed after its commanding officer, Lieutenant Warren "Triple U" Updike. The Triple U, the man, is a skilled Australian soldier, a proud warrior reputed for his leadership skills and his ability to turn supposed suicide missions into fantastic successes. The Triple U, the unit, is a collection of men who want to serve with a bonafide war hero, and are willing to lay down their lives in high-risk missions to make a difference in the fight. Just now they're in the final moments of the Battle of Amiens--and their role in the war and in history is about to change forever.

This setting will also play a role in the campaign, in played-out flashbacks of events that effect the Rippers fifteen years later. Many games might include a written clue in the form of a diary entry that characters read; in this game, you will instead play out the very events as you discover them. The soldiers you play might coem from any nation, although Western European Allies are the most likely; both American nations also joined the war, on the same side for once. Although the Triple U is technically part of the Australian Expeditionary Force, organization has broken down to some extent during the battle, and individuals from any nation or platoon join the unit through volunteering or absorption.

System: Savage Worlds, particularly using elements from the Deadlands Reloaded, Deadlands Noir, and Rippers Resurrected setting books. That said, I own a number of sourcebooks for the system, so if there's something of interest from another book that you'd like to use, let me know what it is, where it is, and what it does. You also shouldn't be afraid to apply if you aren't familiar with Savage Worlds or the subsettings I'm using--it's not that hard to pick up the basics of the game, and I'm happy to assist in creating a character you want to play.

For Your Ripper
All I need here from you at the moment is a concept! We'll be fully building the team of Rippers in Discussion once we have the group together, while we start off with a scene in the World War I period. For your concept, I'd like to know your Ripper's nationality, what their particular skills and specialties may be, and how they came to be part of the new Lodge posing as detectives in Las Vegas. You might be a native to the area who had a run-in with something strange in the desert, or you might have been with the group for some time and you've just recently come out to the city. For this part you're selling me on background and character, so make it interesting and unique!

If you're knowledgeable of the system and want to build a full character, use standard Savage Worlds rules: 5 points for Attributes, 15 points for Skills, a free Edge for being human, Hindrances as you take them. Keep in mind that as this takes place in the Great Depression, we'll be using Deadlands Noir's setting rules, including the one on Poverty; use prices from that book for your gear, as well. There's one bonus, though: you get an additional free Edge to be spent on an Arcane Background, a Faction Edge for your Ripper Faction, or the Harrowed Edge--these round out your character with something special about them.

As an added note, due to the mixed nature of this setting, almost every Arcane Background is available. I don't mean the basic versions in the Savage Worlds core book, I mean the versions from the Deadlands line as well as Rippers. Pretty much the only ones not available are Martial Arts Magic from Deadlands due to rarity, and Mad Scientists from Deadlands because they've become the Patent Scientists of Deadlands Noir.

For Your Soldier
This character does need to be built for the game start, so if you're knowledgeable of the system, certainly build it! (If you're not, we can work it out.) These are also standard Novice characters, with 5 points to spend on Attributes and 15 for Skills. You get the free Edge for being human, although the only Arcane Background available to a soldier is Weird Science, to serve as one of the company's Tesla Engineers (see below). Don't do equipment, because that will be given to you based on your role in the unit.

And that brings me to the roles! When you submit your Soldier, include the role they serve in the Triple U from the list below. Note that the numbers are hard limits that will continue throughout the 1919 campaign: the Triple U is a field company without time to get reinforcements once we're started, so when soldiers inevitably die, it cuts down on the numbers of the squad. Pick your part carefully! Each role has requirements to serve in it, listed below; some are definitely more intensive than others.

Infantry Rifleman (16): Shooting d6
Machine Gunner (6): Strength d8 OR Brawny Edge
Medic (4): Healing d6, Knowledge (Medicine) d6
Scout Sniper (4): Notice d6, Shooting d8, Stealth d6
Tesla Engineer (2): Arcane Background (Weird Science) Edge, Military Engineer Edge (see below)
Trench Gunner (14): Fighting d6, Shooting d6

In terms of background, you can give as much as you want, but I only ask for basics: your character's nationality and name, and perhaps a brief idea of what they did before the war, if anything. I fully expect deaths to occur in the 1919 campaign, so be aware of that when creating your character--no matter how lovingly crafted, I make no promises that they will live to the end. In fact, I think it's very unlikely that all (or even any) of the characters you start with will be around at the end. (Don't worry, you'll make replacements.)

Finally, I note the Military Engineer Edge above, and it's available both in the 1919 campaign and for the Rippers if it makes sense that your character to have it (for example, being a veteran). The Edge requires Arcane Background (Weird Science) as well as Repair at d6, and has the following benefit:

Thanks to training with the military's foremost engineers, you've learned to make devices that will stand up to the rigors of a battlefield and keep working when others might not. Devices you create only suffer a Malfunction when the skill die rolls a 1 and the roll fails. Additionally, the device will only suffer a Catastrophic Malfunction if the roll was a snake eyes--otherwise, treat the result as a Major Malfunction.

I think that covers everything for character creation, but I'm sure I've missed something, so let me know if you have any questions.

I don't really have any comments on your setup. Joran is very good at what he does... even if what he does isn't particularly nice.

Bonus Feat: Joran is an infiltrator first and foremost, and he's gotten by through a combination of skill and focus. His sense of self has held through despite years of subterfuge and deceit, and that force of personality lends him mental strength. Recently, it's been pushed in a new direction: distrust and dislike of Force-users like the Jedi. His anger is controlled and directed, as fits his discipline, and this gives him strength. You gain Unstoppable Force (Clone Wars 31) as a bonus feat.

Never responded in Recruitment, but duh, wielding the saber in two hands definitely accounts for the missing damage bonus, and there's no reason not to do it. You also guessed it on the bonus feat!

Bonus Feat: Callum is, as his master so recognizes, a Corellian through and through. He may have the gift of the Force, and he's been trained by the Jedi to refine his talents, but there's no doubting that he's a crack pilot. If you need a Jedi who can face down foes in combat and then fly you out of the hot zone, look no further; the Force is with Callum, and nowhere more so than the cockpit. You gain Vehicular Combat (Core 89) as a bonus feat.

I don't believe I have any commentary on your mechanics, as everything looks solid. Trevan has a mix of lightsaber skill and unique Force capabilities that can add to the party.

Bonus Feat: Trevan has led a dangerous life, from beatings to the danger of being a Sith Apprentice, all the way to a renewed life in the Jedi. He's skilled with both a lightsaber and the Force, but perhaps his most powerful tool is his mind: between the brainwashing of the Sith and the mind-tapping of the Jedi, he has a unique perspective on the way the Force can tap into a psyche... and the ability to shake off such mental attacks. You gain Imperial Military Training (Rebellion 29) as a bonus feat.

My comments on your sheet aren't so much problems as a suggestion: now that we've got the party together, I think it would be interesting to see Vintressa's role as a sniper played up a little more. At the moment, it seems like that was an aspect you were shooting for (hah), while also wanting to cover some other tracks. I might be a little wrong on that, but it seems like something you're geared towards, so if you like, I'd suggest shuffling some feats toward that. Of course, your current setup is also perfectly fine!

Bonus Feat: Vintressa is a skilled reconnaissance officer, capable of infiltration and survival, but she particularly shines as a sniper. Her patience and resilience have given her the ability to lay in wait for the perfect opportunity, and that in turn has shown her that if you wait for the right shot, you can end a fight before it even starts. You gain Advantageous Attack (Force Unleashed 31) as a bonus feat.

No comments on your mechanics here that I can think of--the Prototype thing is cleared up, and you're built as a close-range machine with Force Powers to assist.

Bonus Feat: As a Jedi Shadow, Alaric knows more than most the danger the Dark Side can pose. It presents an ever-lurking threat, destructive power and cunning temptation combining to form an evil that will corrupt and ruin the entire Galaxy if given the chance. But equally, as a Shadow, Alaric is prepared to combat that threat, and its failures only grant him further resolve. You gain Unswerving Resolve (Jedi Academy 24) as a bonus feat.

You look solid in mechanics, a mix of skills and some options to boost you in combat.

Bonus Feat: Jal was a Jedi for a time, but that was years ago. Since then he's been a gangster, a slicer, and most recently, a full-fledged crime lord. In a profession like that, especially working with the Black Sun syndicate, there's a very well-known and important lesson: it isn't what you know, it's who you know. For Jal, it's natural to mix the two. You gain Friends in Low Places (Scum and Villainy 21) as a bonus feat, ignoring the prerequisite, and you may use your Trace talent with this feat's benefit.

Starting Level: 8. This is intended to allow everyone to have one level of a Prestige Class should they so desire, particularly allowing for full Jedi Knights in the party.
Sourcebooks: I believe I have all of them, so use your judgment but in theory most everything’s available. I’m okay with reflavoring some things, but do ask, particularly if you’re using something obscure. If I don’t recognize it I’ll look it up, and if it seems screwy I’ll call shenanigans.
Ability Scores: All your scores start at 10, and you have 20 points to spend increasing them on a 1-for-1 basis. No scores should be below 10 before adjustments for your species, unless you’re a Jedi, in which case none should be below 10 after adjustments. And don’t forget the score increases for being level 8!
Species: Most species are available, but some aren’t as reasonable. I’m not hugely concerned about what’s canon and what isn’t, but we probably shouldn’t have an Ewok or Yuuzhan Vong running around in this period.
Classes: All five base classes are available, of course, and as long as it makes sense, Prestige Classes are on the table, too. Keep in mind, you’re part of a special team of operators for the Republic during the Cold War: you should pick options that gear you toward a useful skill set for the team. Also make sure to look at my Class Notes/Upgrades below.
Skills: I roll Climb and Swim together into a new skill called Athletics; if either of those were class skills for you, Athletics is a class skill for you. I also fold Jumping into Athletics and Acrobatics, so you can use either of those skills for jumping as you please. Anything that would have added to Jump instead applies to Acrobatics/Athletics checks made to jump (or perform some other use of the Jump skill).
Feats: Biggest changes here are in your class’s Starting Feats. I’ll also be assigning your character a bonus feat of my choosing based on a background element—homeworld, prior experience, training, something of that nature. It’s worth noting, however, that I’m quite willing to change certain feats to replicate their Pathfinder counterparts. The ones that most come to mind are Dodge, Melee Defense (Combat Expertise), Power Attack, and Power Blast (Deadly Aim); ask me if there are others you’re interested in taking that seem worth changing.
Talents: You get two talents at each level you normally receive one—that is to say, every odd level of a given class. These talents are considered to be taken simultaneously, though, so you can’t use one to qualify for another at the same level. I’ve also altered certain talents, as noted in the Class stuff below. The other thing worth noting is that I make talent trees from your base class(es) always available when you take a Prestige Class; e.g., if you go from Soldier to Gunslinger, you could keep taking talents from, say, the Weapon Specialist tree with your Gunslinger levels if you wanted to do so.
Equipment: You have 50,000 credits to spend on starting gear; if you have the Wealth talent, it’s doubled to 100,000. As long as the base equipment makes sense, feel free to purchase modifications, upgrades, templates, and so on, as long as you follow the normal rules and everything works together. You can even purchase upgrades from the Tech Specialist feat, although if you don’t possess that feat yourself it costs double.
Obviously some characters may have more to purchase here than others—Jedi come to mind as probably not needing to spend all that much on their own gear—but I would strongly advise that you keep some cash in reserve for both purchasing/upgrading the group ship and just having some liquid funds during the game. After all, in the galaxy of Cold War espionage, you never know when having a few thousand credits on hand will make a difference.
I would also advise purchasing licenses for at least some of your equipment as necessary. Since you’re Republic agents, you’re technically allowed to carry anything short of illegal equipment, but since you’re covert Republic agents, you won’t be able to fall back on that excuse with any reliability--certainly not on any Imperial-controlled worlds.
Character Traits: I’ll be using the Background system from the Rebellion Campaign Guide, with the caveat that rather than just adding skills to your class skill list, you receive training in them; after all, you’re highly skilled operatives who’ve been chosen for your particular skills and experience. I won’t be using the full Destiny system, but Destiny Points are in play as a rare but powerful resource; each of you starts out with 1 Destiny Point. You also start out with max Force Points as regular for your class and level.For Hit Points, use half-max+1 for your class’s hit die (so Soldiers, for example, would gain 6 HP+Con for each level) for every level after 1st (which uses regular rules).

Backstory: The more the better, within reason—while I’d love to read a well-written novella about your character’s life up to this point (that should only be read with a mild amount of snark), I doubt I’ll have the time, or the inclination to spend the time doing that instead of something else. A few paragraphs or so is probably good enough for giving the basics of your backstory: where you come from, how you’ve gotten here. The Legend of the Batman for your character is a good idea here: a neat sum-up of what’s made them who they are, but which doesn’t take too long to get through. We’re looking for the action, after all!
Beyond that, though, there are a few questions I’d like everyone to answer for their character.
Question 1: Who do you know? Name a couple of contacts your character has made, people they can call on for a favor or support when the time comes. One of these should be someone who could be a contact over and over again, and one should be more of a short-term or one-time deal—they owe you a favor, something along those lines. Give them a name and a basic summary of their role—something like “Dexter Jettster, Cantina Owner/Information Broker” would do, with a little more to explain how you know them and while they’re willing to help you.
Question 2: Who knows you? Name an enemy your character has made, living or dead. The Galaxy is a dangerous place, and not so long ago it was embroiled in all-out war. It’s difficult to make it very far in life without making enemies, and for the types of people who become Player Characters, it’s all but impossible. Maybe it’s a smuggler you busted, rotting in prison and waiting for revenge; maybe it’s a Sith apprentice whom you dueled to the death as a Padawan during the dark days of the Great War. Give them a name and summary like your contacts above, with a brief note on why you are (or were) enemies. (Obviously noting their current state will be helpful too, because if you don’t, I’ll take it and run as far as I can.)
Question 3: Why are you part of this mission? The game is going to start with your first mission as a team already underway: a “cold open,” in medias res, whatever you want to call it. The objective is to rescue one Kaul Wren, a Republic Special Forces agent who was compromised and captured by Sith agents. He’s currently being held in a complex on the city-planet Carratos, kept under careful watch and tight security measures. The situation is delicate for many reasons, but it seems a perfect testing ground for the new unit the party comprises.
But the group has been hand-selected for the expertise of each individual and their purpose in this particular mission. Explain what your role in the mission is, and be specific! If you’re a sharpshooter, don’t say “I was brought on for my precise aim and cool trigger finger;” try something like “Intelligence showed there are three guards posted on the balconies of the floor where Wren’s being kept, and there’s no approach to take them out without alerting them. The only vantage point to take them out is over 300 meters away; command knows there are just four rifles in the Republic who can make that shot, and I’m the only one who can make all three quick enough to count.”
Don’t treat this as a restriction that means you have to build characters with certain skills; think of it as a way to really sell yourself as a creative player and your character as a valuable member of the team.

JEDI
Ability Scores: To play a Jedi, all of your ability scores must be at least 10 after adjustment for your species. Jedi are well-rounded and capable individuals, and are often above average for a member of their species in nearly every regard. (They’re also extremely powerful and I don’t want them to get away with dump stats of any kind.)
Starting Feats: In addition to their regular starting feats, Jedi gain Armor Proficiency (light) and Weapon Proficiency (advanced melee weapons). In these dangerous days, many Jedi find that some light armoring can make the difference between life and death, and with the rise of energy shields, their training has reintroduced the use of vibroswords.
Talents: The Block and Deflect talents are combined into one single talent. Additionally, Jedi can take the Armored Defense talent from the Soldier’s Armor Specialist talent tree.
Build Lightsaber: Assuming you’re high enough level in the Jedi class to have this option, you should have completed it by game start. You do pay the cost for one attempt from your starting credits, but you also gain the bonus for having a personally built and attuned lightsaber (with a crystal of your choice).
The Force: (Listed here since Jedi are the most likely to be affected) When you take the Force Sensitive feat, you pick one mental ability score (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma). You use this score as the linked ability for the Use the Force skill, and for determining how many Force powers you learn when taking the Force Training feat. By default, this does NOT affect Force talents or other Force effects that rely on a given ability score.

NOBLE
Starting Feats: In addition to their regular starting feats, Nobles gain Armor Proficiency (light) and Weapon Proficiency (advanced melee weapons). Even diplomats and corporate heads are trained to use energy shields and vibroblades in self-defense during these dark times.
Talents: Nobles gain the Connections talent from the Lineage talent tree for free; in the Cold War, who you know is nearly as important as who you are.

SCOUNDREL
Starting Feats: In addition to their regular starting feats, Scoundrels gain Improved Defenses and Weapon Proficiency (advanced melee weapons). For those who live by their wits, natural reflexes and luck are more important than armor, but a vibroknife at your side is never a bad plan.
Talents: Scoundrels gain one rank of the Dastardly Strike or Sneak Attack talent for free; perhaps more so now than ever, it pays to take whatever advantage you can. Additionally, Scoundrels can take the Improved Stealth talent from the Scout’s Camouflage talent tree.

SCOUT
Base Attack Bonus: Scouts have a Base Attack Bonus equal to their class level, rather than the usual progression.
Starting Feats: In addition to their regular starting feats, Scouts gain Armor Proficiency (light) and Weapon Proficiency (advanced melee weapons). Even reconnaissance specialists and backwater survivalists benefit from armor and vibroweapons in this day and age.
Talents: Scouts can take the Armored Defense talent from the Soldier’s Armor Specialist talent tree.

SOLDIER
Starting Feats: In addition to their regular starting feats, Soldiers gain Weapon Focus (player’s choice) and Weapon Proficiency (advanced melee weapons). Nearly all combat training in this era includes the use of vibroweapons, and the best warriors are known for their skill with a given set of weapons.
Talents: Soldiers gain the Armored Defense talent for free; having lived through an era of all-out conflict, anyone with combat skill knows how to use armor to their advantage.

I'm a senior at college, going into my final semester later in January; I'm a Creative Writing major with minors in Film Studies and Philosophy, which keeps me busy and thinking but does leave me with enough time to post here during the semester for the most part. That said, I'm busy with other things in life as well: I'm involved in a couple of theater-based clubs on campus as well as other activities and two in-person games, one of which I GM. Between that and classwork, I sometimes find myself without time to do big GM-style update posts on a given day. I will do my best to maintain a 1/day post rate if the players do the same, but I make no stalwart promises: real life comes first. I'm almost always able to alert my games if I have an expected absence, though.

This game draws inspiration from a few venues, not just Star Wars, although it of course owes greatly to the films and expanded universe. Most directly it's built from what I know of the Old Republic through games like Knights of the Old Republic and the Old Republic MMO (neither of which I've played much myself, honestly, although I'm familiar with most of the general lore), and the recent Rogue One film, which to me showcased what a grittier story in the Star Wars universe can really do from a cinematic perspective. It also draws inspiration from the James Bond films and other espionage-themed media.

1: Build a Character You Want to Play
I'm offering you a lot of options here, and giving you a fair amount of power to play with as well. I have a few restrictions, but not that many, and ultimately this is all because I want you to play the character you want. Don't worry about party balance, or trying to cram a "defined" role into your character that nobody else has; build what you want to build. It'll make the character more fun for you, and honestly I'm more likely to pick a neat character with a strong theme about them instead of someone who happens to have slapped a couple of, say, piloting options on the sheet. I'll build the game around the party, not the other way around.

2: Spread Out a Little
With more feats and talents than usual, your characters have a lot more options than most. I've done that to enable you to have characters with more skills at their disposal--not so much so that they can be horrendously good at one thing. I don't have strict requirements here by any means, but I'd advise you to spread things out. Use this as an opportunity to pick up the necessities, sure, but then nab those cool talents you've always looked at but couldn't justify fitting in a regular build; grab the feat that's situational, but flavorful and useful; build that switch-hitter who swaps from sniper rifles to subrepeaters to vibroknives. You can hyperspecialize if you must, but if the party's full of hideously overpowered combat monsters, I'll feel no guilt when I retaliate with the same for your foes. Don't make me do it.

3: Build a Team Player
It might be a natural response to see things like espionage and special operations and start creating a lone wolf sniper, or an undercover specialist who operates behind enemy lines without backup, or something along those lines... but maybe don't. I'm not saying you should build a character who thrives on supporting others, with all their talents and feats geared towards working in tandem with other people, but make sure you can function well as part of a team. Go ahead and make yourself a fine sniper, but make sure you'll have something to do when you're with the rest of the group, too.

3.5: Be a Team Player
This one's a little trickier to nail down in words or rules, but it's a simple enough idea: be a member of the team. Play nicely with others, and make an effort to do so. Gaming is a two-way street: I put forward a big wide world with lots of stuff to do and a plot crafted up to keep things interesting, and you put forward a character who's willing and ready to explore that world, follow that plot, and generally be interested. Ideally you as a player want to do those things, so make a character who does, too!
Like I said, it's not super easy to qualify, but here's a general pointer: I make characters all the time who have really interesting backstories, and lots of cool skills, and they're finely crafted with mechanics to back it all up and they've got really neat personalities, but they're not really "adventurer" types, they don't really poke their nose outside their boundaries or follow plot points. These are perfectly wonderful characters, and they're called NPCs.
Don't build an NPC.

4: Be Present, Be Positive, Be Helpful
I like to see potential players with a bit of initiative during the recruitment process, people who post with useful or important questions, people who help put forward neat ideas, people who are willing to help others without necessarily expecting anything in return. (You shouldn't expect anything--while I like it, I won't give you a spot just because you helped someone else or compiled the lists of applicants people always like to see.) If you maintain a positive outlook, helping people tweak their ideas and support their concepts, I'll take note. I'll also take note if you make unhelpful or maligning comments, so you should avoid that.
Likewise, I'd like to see people who are active in the thread. I don't want the Recruitment thread to turn into an in-character chatter area--if people want one, I'll open one--but I'd like to see people post a few times as the days go by. If you post once a day from now and disappear, that's not as good as seeing you check in every now and again.

5: Try Not to Waste Time
Don't ask questions that have already been answered. (What level are we starting at? How much starting gear do we have?) Don't ask questions that shouldn't need answered. (Can I play a Sith Apprentice? Can I stack X, Y, and Z in an unholy abomination that's strictly rules-legal?) Don't put forward a concept that should be obviously against the kind of game I'm trying to run. (Can I play a modern-day Star Wars fan who's been hilariously universe-transported into the campaign and also they're a Jawa now?)
I admit there's a fine line between questions worth asking and questions that aren't, sometimes, which is why this note is try (which my inner Yoda is yelling at me over, rest assured). If you're unsure, do go ahead and ask--and if you just want clarification, that's always fine!--but in my experience you can pretty quickly get a sense of a GM and what they are and aren't likely to let fly. I don't want to tell people how to play their game, but I am going to advise them strongly on how to play mine. That's my right as the one offering up the game in the first place.

6: Have a Good History
This is one that you can't control quite as much at this point, and in some ways that means it reflects the most on you as a player. If I've had good experiences with you in the past, that's going to be taken into account. If you seem like a generally good player who's got some good games and characters in their belt, that's good. If your first post ever is in this thread and I have no way of knowing what you're like, it's not an instant red alert, but it's something I consider. I'm very forgiving of certain things, especially absences--I once disappeared for a solid month and some folks welcomed me back to games with warm arms, so I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I wasn't--but I take things into consideration. I'm in my games for the long haul, barring unforeseen problems, and I want players who are the same way.

Who are you again?
I go by Loup Blanc on these forums, where I'm mainly involved in the Play-by-Post scene, although I dip into the advice and chatter threads every now and again. I don't know if I have any sort of reputation, although I like to think the people I've played with like me.

How active are you?
That kind of depends on what you mean. In terms of quantity of campaigns, I've been involved in many during the last few years I've been here; my campaigns page features a bittersweet graveyard of games gone by, and I'm currently involved in 21 (16 playing, 5 GMing) moving at various speeds. In terms of how often I post, I shoot for once a day if there's something to say, but I'm the first to admit that doesn't always hold up; real life has a tendency of getting in the way, and I usually need to take care of things there first and foremost. In terms of quality, I like to think at least that I provide in-depth posts on both sides of the "table," hoping to breathe life into the characters I play and the worlds I create. It's about the experience provided by all, and I'd rather make it a creative and interactive one if at all possible.

You said semester at school?
Yes I did--I'm a full-time college student in my senior year, studying Creative Writing with minors in Philosophy and Film. That means that I'm fairly busy, but I usually have enough time in my schedule to check the boards at least once a day, and although GM posting can take a while to write up, I'm almost constantly aware of updates. Rest assured, even if I don't respond on a given day, I've almost definitely seen what you've written and started working out a thoughtful response!

When will these actually see recruitment and opening?
I'd put the short end as recruitment starting somewhere around January 18th, and selection and game start maybe a week after that. That's the soonest I feasibly see that happening, though, since I'm going on a big family trip that'll take me through somewhere around the 16th, and I don't want to be monitoring a recruitment thread during that. It might get pushed back to more like the very end of January or early February, though, in which case I'll open a game as a birthday present to myself.

What's the format you're using to present these ideas?
Well first I put the idea's working title as the title of a spoiler.
Then I have a little in-character introductory blurb, that hopefully gives you a vague notion of the game's subjects and an idea of what it's about.
The Concept: This is a more summary-oriented look at my idea for the game--themes, inspirations, that sort of thing.
The Setting: An idea of the setting of the game.
The System: What rules system I'm planning to use. This is potentially up for debate in at least some cases--if everyone likes a concept but nobody owns the rules, I'll likely switch it to a system people can play.

What in the Nine Hells is up with you/your life/your ideas/your plan to do more?
I really don't know. I wish I could tell you.

Ahh, yes. The Vault. Once it was a great nation, the pride of the Rhoune, alongside our Grand Duchy. But that was before this age; before the coming of the Fell Beasts. For four hundred years it stood against them, but a century has passed since its walls rose and its gates shut. The stories of miraculous discovery and magical advancement are gone, replaced by whispered tales of darkness, monstrous things that prey upon those few who remain. But you--you bear the mark, don't you? The mark of the blessing, or the curse, if you prefer. You are a Hero, with Estus in your blood. You will enter the Vault, as is your fate; you will face its horrors again and again, and you will return a Champion, wealthy and beloved... or you will lose your very being to the madness of your existence.
The Concept: A campaign steeped in the flavor, tone, and lore of the popular Dark Souls video game series, with a dash of Bloodborne thrown in for good measure. (Probably some Demon's Souls too, but more in legacy than references.) Gearing toward sandboxy with an overarching "metaplot," it sees a party of Heroes who rise above mortals but are doomed to fight until they die, over and over again, and either succumb to madness or live long enough to "retire."That sounds a lot bleaker than I hope the game plays out, but it sets the tone.
The Setting: A homebrew setting of mine, specifically an alternate timeline of a larger setting I'm working on that will encompass huge swaths of time and a variety of different types of games.
The System: It's built on a chassis of Exalted Second Edition, using the rules for Heroic Mortals as presented in the Scroll of Heroes, and using the updates from the Scroll of Errata for some things. I'm drawing up my own weapon and armor lists, and the rules for spells are being designed entirely from scratch. I like the overall feel of Exalted's heroic mortal gameplay for this game, as PCs are very much better than average people, but still weaker than overtly supernatural creatures, and there's a lot more tradeoff with attack and defense than in many systems. I only have access to Second Edition material, so that's what I'm using.

There were days, so the legends say, when the very gods walked the earth. Now their children make their way across our lands, stirring up trouble or righting wrongs. There seems to be no shortage of monsters to slay, or bandits to chase off, wicked tyrants to halt in their tracks. It is a troubled world, but there are those brave enough to protect it. We can only pray that the gods watch over their scions, and grant them what power they need to keep us safe.
The Concept: A game steeped in classical myth and legend, particularly those of Ancient Greece. PCs will be children of the gods, heroes of superhuman might and ability, wrestling with dangers beyond the scope of the common man and seeking ever greater challenges as they try to maintain safety and justice in their land. There's going to be a more defined plot, I just haven't given it specifically a lot of thought just yet. Maybe a heavily adapted and reflavored published campaign?
The Setting: Very loose at the moment, and it will likely stay that way; in general, a fantasy reflection of the Mediterranean region is likely. This is a game where I'd love to have player input on the setting, with players developing their homelands and setting information cooperatively.
The System: Likely Pathfinder with an E8 level cap, along with the Mythic rules. Possibly including some sort of gestalt, although probably limited to keep things from getting too out of hand (I'm currently considering a free variant multiclass, so limited abilities at 3rd and 7th level). Weapons and armor will be adapted/reflavored as necessary.

For centuries, Edria has been the shining jewel of the continent, a kingdom of prosperity and justice. Its Royal Knights are known far and wide as champions of peace and light, heroes among princes and paupers both. Now, though, it seems darkness is claiming the land; the Empire of Verthurst is on the rise, with a madman on the throne and frightening new advancements in magic and technology powering its sudden grasp for power. We can only hope that heroes will rise when they are needed most.
The Concept: A high fantasy game drawing on the classic fantasy epics and RPGs of old, from Lord of the Rings and the Belgariad to Final Fantasy and Sword of Mana, to name just a few favorites. The party will consist of Edrian Knights (who come from all backgrounds and skillsets) who struggle to defeat a wicked empire and the forces of darkness. It's fun to play around with other stuff, but it is hard to beat the classics--nothing feels quite like it. Disclaimer: Names and plot are liable to change as I see fit/come up with different/better ideas.
The Setting: Loosely defined as of right now (e.g., I just figured out Edria and Verthurst for this post), and likely to stay that way for at least a bit. I don't figure on this being collaborative in quite the same way as Gates Ascendant above, but neither do I feel things need to be figured out in depth. There's a pleasant kingdom and an evil empire, and you don't really need a lot more than that for a fun story.
The System: At the moment I figure on this using Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition, probably with some homebrew stuff including a mini-gestalt idea for more customization in character classes. 5E has a very old-school, classic fantasy RPG feel to it, in my opinion, and I think it would fit this idea very well. I might be convinced to use Pathfinder instead, but it isn't likely.

Youse listen to me, kid: this city's the type ta eat you alive and spit ya out before breakfast. These are mean streets. There's plenty danger in the shadows, and I don't just means a palooka with big fists or a Chicago typewriter's got your name on it. I seen a fella take a swig of whiskey and spit a fireball in some thug's face. I seen a dame make a man run off babbling nonsense just by looking at 'im. An' I seen a guy shot in the chest four times, with a shotgun no less, and he keeps comin'. Just watch yourself, kid. The world ain't like it was.
The Concept: A good old detective story in the noir genre, with gritty private eyes and deadly femmes fatales, all with a supernatural bent. You may already know where this is going: Pinnacle Entertainment's Deadlands Noir. Undead detectives, perps with black magic, it all comes together for a unique blend and a good time. Characters will come from various backgrounds and work in a private detective agency. More specifics on plot to come, as I haven't fully decided yet--we'll be revolving around one of the published plot point campaigns, but I'm not sure which one, or if it will be just as written.
The Setting: Almost certainly the regular Deadlands Noir setting, although I'm considering 1920s Chicago and 1940s Lost Angels (Los Angeles) above 1930s New Orleans. I've also recently started thinking/working on a Deadlands/Rippers/Weird Wars crossover mega-setting, but that's still very much a half-baked dream right now. (Not that it couldn't be worked on and ready-ish if people are interested.)
The System: Savage Worlds, along with the Deadlands Noir-specific additions (and select others as requested/allowed). There's really nothing else to run the setting with, at least in my mind.

Times of great upheaval and monumental action are the focus of history, but there are many worlds in the Galaxy, each with their own stories. Countless lives are won and lost every standard day, and so many things pass that will never be recorded, never known to future generations. The Jedi are no exception--they may be regarded as diplomats and guardians, but they too have their secrets. Who's to say how many times the Jedi, in service to the Republic, have engaged in subterfuge and deception? After all, the greatest hive of scum and villainy in the Galaxy sits at their very feet, in the underbelly of Coruscant...
The Concept: A Star Wars game that focuses on an aspect rarely touched on by most media (at least what I'm familiar with): the Jedi were a lot like special agents in a number of ways, during the glory days of the Republic. In the prequels (I know, I know) we see some of this; although they're usually talked about in terms of mystical knights, there's another side to what they do, and the opening of The Phantom Menace is very reminiscent of the opening of a James Bond film, in many ways. I wouldn't say I want everyone to be Jedi, but the game is likely to focus on a group of specialized Republic agents, Jedi among them, who engage in covert operations.
The Setting: Star Wars, obviously. I'm not sure on timeline, as there are a number of options: the Old Republic, the Republic before Episode I, the Clone Wars... There's a decent chance we'll need to wave our roleplaying wands and say Forget canon! regardless of when we set it, so that's not as big a deal as opportunity for fun.
The System: I'm torn, because part of me desperately wants to do a bunch of homebrew and use Shadowrun for this, but part of me thinks that's way too big a project and may not even turn out well in the end. So there's a decent chance I'll run this using the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition rules, with some changes and probably a slight power increase (to the tune of picking two talents instead of one at each odd level).

It's about 3 PM and you're sitting at your desk, going over yet another file in what's been a long day of paperwork. There was an issue a few weeks back when a Private got in a fistfight down at one of the bars in town, and the drug bust a week before, but beyond that, it's been backlogs and clerical duties for most of your time, lately. Sometimes it seems like taking the job here, in a relatively quiet New England college town, may not have been the best idea... but then again, you haven't had any flashbacks or direct nightmares about your last mission overseas lately. Maybe the trade-off is worth it. After all, if nothing else you've got your old cold case file on the Master Sergeant's disappearance, even though there haven't been any updates there in...

As your thoughts are drifting off, you're brought back by the ringing of your office phone. You answer to hear the familiar sound of Detective Marcus Warren, one of the local LEOs you've worked with over the last couple years. "Nikhols, hey, I figured I'd give you a ring. You still working that case with the sergeant thing? Asked me to send you anything with the Thompson kid for that, yeah?" He pauses, apparently both for you to answer and for a sip of something. "Well, we just got word that some art thing going up in town tomorrow? New exhibit opening, something like that, I dunno the specifics just yet. Anyway, apparently there's a last-minute addition and it's a tribute to the kid. Figured I'd send it your way, in case you wanted a look at it. Dunno what connection you see, but hey, you federal boys got further sight than us, I guess."

Warren's chuckle ruins his attempt to sound like the gruff cop bothered by higher-ups pulling rank or jurisdiction. He's an old hand at the game, and he cares a lot more about actually seeing justice done than anything else. He was also one of the original detectives assigned to the Thompson case, and he's been helpful in more than one investigation since.

It's just after 3 PM, and you're walking out of Bio lab, free for the rest of the afternoon into evening. There may or may not be anything on your schedule just yet, but if nothing else you can always just walk around town a bit. Romney may not be the big city, but it does have plenty to do if you look for it. Maybe catch a movie, or visit one of the museums or hangout points in town. You're still too young to hit one of the bars just yet, but give it a little bit and you'll be there...

Your thoughts are interrupted by a familiar voice--Dennis, one of the guys in your lab. You don't know him incredibly well, this is the first course you've had together, but he's a friendly guy. Just now, he's got his hand on your shoulder and a grin on his face. "Hey man, you going to the opening tomorrow night? I heard professors aren't counting it as absences for labs or anything."

It's about 3 PM, and you're gaming in the name of research. It's honestly a potentially useful experience, and can give you insights into the way modern games are being made and the elements that go into a fun time for the user. It's also a decent way to take a break from the ongoing problems with your personal projects, and to procrastinate just a little on your homework. At least that's what you've told yourself, but the game is actually quite good, with a number of complex decisions to be made as well as character choices in-game that provide what could be positively described as "extensive." To an old hat RPG player like you, this only opens up worlds of opportunity, and you're looking at the various opportunities presented by a few options in particular...

Your thoughts are interrupted by the door opening and your roommate, Summer Shines (her actual name, thanks to parents who never quite outgrew the sixties despite not growing up during them), coming in to flop down on her bed. She heaves one sigh from a day of classes and then turns to look at you. "Hey, you hear about the art thing going up downtown tomorrow? Apparently there's gonna be a gamer thing as part of it. Maybe a good way to get out of the room for a bit, do something fun and different, you know?"

Fitting for her name, Summer's got a bright outlook on life and a cheery personality, for the most part. She was your roommate last year, and she's been a true friend and what even you recognize as a good influence, helping you continue to keep out of your shell and do new things. She doesn't ever really push you to do anything you don't want, but she's definitely suggested events in the past that have turned out to be a lot of fun.

It's about 3 PM, and you're packing up in an art lab where you've spent the last couple hours doing figure work with other students. Practice doesn't start until four, so you actually have a brief period to yourself. Between school, sports, and your outside work on art, it sometimes feels like you're busy all the time, but you've got a bit of freedom every now and again. Right now that freedom could get you some extra work on projects, or maybe an episode of something on TV or Netflix or...

Your thoughts are cut off by a new email coming into your inbox, and you check the subject line. New Exhibit Opening Tomorrow--Please Read! Opening the email reveals a longer message, sent out through the Art Department's collective email service to all of its students at Romney State.

To All Our Students and Faculty: A new exhibit is opening at the P. Stroehmann Gallery downtown tomorrow night, Memory Warp, and we would like to officially invite all of Romney State's fine arts community to attend if they have the time and desire. While we always encourage our students to attend exhibits if possible, but in this particular case we believe there may be even more value than usual in attending. The exhibit is showcasing works of local artists, working individually and together to create a showcase of unique and varied pieces. Also of note is a recently announced addition to the exhibit which will relate to the life and memory of Ricky Thompson. We are all aware that our community still feels the disappearance of Ricky and its effects, and we would like to encourage everyone to participate in this special reflection.

As such, any classes tomorrow evening will be excused, and you should speak to your professors regarding possible extensions to any ongoing projects. We hope you will take this opportunity to view a special collection of local work and participate in an important community event.

It's about 3 PM, and you're staring at the last page you've finished so far today as you sit in the Fog and Flame. Maybe you typed or wrote it there this afternoon, maybe you're just reviewing over something warm to drink on this blustery autumn day, but either way you're looking at what you've written to double-check for now. Probably just a basic proofreading, making sure you don't have any blatant misspellings or punctuation issues. The book's coming along nicely, and you'll probably have it done before too much longer. Then it's final chapters to the agent, probably not long before a full manuscript to the editors, and from there, if everything holds up, it won't be long before you're out of town again...

Your thoughts are interrupted by the scrape of wood on wood and a familiar, if somewhat unwelcome, face appearing on the other side of the table. Now seated across from you is Hollis Brown, well-known to you and other Romney locals as the owner, publisher, and senior editor of the Rag. Most people think of him as a talentless hack, and as a publisher, he definitely is--but you know enough about the craft of writing to realize, however grudgingly, that the rare article he writes himself is well-written, if not completely factual or even ethical.

"Hey there, golden boy. You gonna be at the big hoedown tomorrow at the gallery? Asking strictly off-record, of course." He gives the wheezy laugh of a lifelong smoker at his own joke. He wrote a review of your novel and published it in the Rag after it came out--it was positive overall, although he seemed to miss the real plot in favor of wild conjecture about your own psychology and how it was represented on the page. "I'm sure it'd mean a lot to the community if our very own homegrown literary hero attended. Especially what with the Thompson piece and all."

It's about 3 PM, and you're currently finishing up in a computer lab after class. It's mostly things you already know, mixed in with some thoughts on theory and specific vocabulary that you don't really care about. In the end this is likely to be an easy A as long as you take the time to do the busywork along with coding out the projects--ones that you may not still have saved on your computer, since they're basics you got used to years back. If there's one good thing about the class, though, it provides you ample opportunity to work on your own projects after you've finished whatever assignment was given that day. The school computers might not have as much power as yours, but taking down security measures is a piece of cake, and it does make it theoretically impossible to trace back to you if you're using the campus-wide networking. Even makes hanging around after class for a little bit to finish things up worth your while...

Your thoughts are interrupted by the tone of a new message popping up in an online chat you use to keep in touch with people of "similar interests." The message is from a "username" that's just a meaningless string of numbers, letters, and symbols, similar to your own in format and the fact that it'll be wiped and replaced as soon as you disconnect from the server. The actual sender, you know, is a local hacker with moderate skills and too little ambition to get him on a bigger scene. They go by PAC, always all caps, and you haven't met in person, but you've gotten to know them pretty well--as anonymous hacker collectives go--since coming to Romney.

Found lead on 1928--art open tomorrow. You in? Short and to the point while maintaining full spelling fits PAC's usual style, and they're the only one you share the codename 1928 with. It's a fairly basic but adequate way to mask discussions involving Ricky Thompson, and PAC is a source who's been helpful with gathering some info here and there, more with word on the street than hard hacking ability.

It's about 3 PM, and you're in your room, going over some of your latest drawings with a critical eye after classes this morning. You have a lab this evening where something's due, and you aren't sure just what to turn in as of yet. You're sure that several of your pieces are definitely of the right quality, but it seems that your subject consistently turns toward the strange. Whether it starts as a portrait of a man on Romney's bus system, a woman in a coffee shop, or a landscape look of Ash Valley Avenue, there seems to be something a little off or dark, somewhere just out of the focus of the piece...

Your thoughts are interrupted by a chime from your computer, signaling a new email in your inbox. You open it up, figuring it may be important, or at least distract you from your own work. New Exhibit Opening Tomorrow--Please Read! The subject certainly suggests it might be important.

To All Our Students and Faculty: A new exhibit is opening at the P. Stroehmann Gallery downtown tomorrow night, Memory Warp, and we would like to officially invite all of Romney State's fine arts community to attend if they have the time and desire. While we always encourage our students to attend exhibits if possible, but in this particular case we believe there may be even more value than usual in attending. The exhibit is showcasing works of local artists, working individually and together to create a showcase of unique and varied pieces. Also of note is a recently announced addition to the exhibit which will relate to the life and memory of Ricky Thompson. We are all aware that our community still feels the disappearance of Ricky and its effects, and we would like to encourage everyone to participate in this special reflection.

As such, any classes tomorrow evening will be excused, and you should speak to your professors regarding possible extensions to any ongoing projects. We hope you will take this opportunity to view a special collection of local work and participate in an important community event.

It's about 3 PM, and you're in your own office, going over some files. You don't have any actual appointments here for the rest of the day, and no classes in the evening either. For once you've got a bit of time off, if it can be called that. It sometimes feels like the work's never done lately, between the practice, the hospitals, the university... Still, it's fulfilling enough, and it keeps you engaged. Better than always finding nothing to do...

Your thoughts are interrupted by the office phone ringing, and you answer it to hear a familiar voice. "Hello, Doctor Wilcox." It's Detective Andrew Banner with the Romney PD, one of the detectives from the Thompson case who's worked with you on-and-off over the years, giving you what information he can when it's available. He's also worked with you on a couple of other cases since then. He tends to be serious to a fault, but he's gold where it counts. "Detective Banner here. I thought I'd let you know something came up in relation to the Richard Thompson case? We don't have anything solid, but we've gotten word there's an art exhibit opening tomorrow in town, with a piece relating to him somehow. I can't say any more than that, but I thought I'd let you know, in case you hadn't heard. Apparently the piece is a last-minute addition, so not a lot of people have heard about it yet."

Starting Level: 3
Races: Stick to races that are fitting for this region and time period. Humans are the most common by far, with aasimars and tieflings potentially having some representation; the genie-kin planetouched are less likely to appear, but it's plausible. The racial tensions between the nagaji and humans died down some thousand years before this point, so a nagaji character wouldn't be impossible. I'd rather avoid kitsune to place emphasis on kami and other spirits being otherworldly creatures, but I won't rule them out. Most of the core races aren't very common or even present in Minkai at this point; keep in mind we're well before any contact has occurred between Tian Xia and the Inner Sea.
Classes: I'm not going to rule anything out, and we are doing gestalt. I'd suggest that at least one of your classes give you mechanics to support a strong flavor that fits the game--whether that means monk, or an appropriate archetype, or whatever, is up to you.
Ability Scores: 20 points on a point-for-point spread, with abilities starting at 10; this means a 14 costs 4 points, a 16 costs 6, and so forth. I'd like at most one score at 18 and at most two scores at 8 after racial modifiers, to give you guys plenty of room to grow.
Traits: 2 base, you can take a drawback for a third, and of course the Additional Traits feat for two more on top of anything else. Campaign traits aren't off-limits if they make sense (other than Finding Haleen), but please ask first.
Starting Wealth: 3,000 gp, plus one masterwork weapon and one masterwork armor of your choice. If you're playing a character who wouldn't benefit from either of these, let me know and we'll work something out (I also have some houserules that could change things). Note that you should primarily use Eastern weapons and armor (including those specific lists as well as thematic options from the overall lists).
HP: Max for these levels. We'll take half+1 after this point most likely.
Optional Rules/Houserules:
--Background Skills from Unchained (including the new skills introduced)
--Stamina and Combat Tricks from Unchained. Fighters get the feat for free, everyone else has to take it.
--Automatic Bonus Progression from Unchained at your level+2, albeit with some important changes to make it better that I'll get into as it comes up. This is negotiable, but I like the thematic idea of heroes who are inherently skilled with their chosen equipment and style, rather than relying on magic items. It also frees you to use that 3000 gp on interesting things instead of the obligatory +1 armor and cloak of resistance.
--Strain and Injury, a simpler variant of the Wounds and Vigor idea. This is mostly for the purpose of flavor, since unless you play a swashbuckler there aren't realy mechanics for parrying in sword duels like you typically see, but it's also useful mechanically and fits the idea. And this way the group doesn't really need a dedicated healer as much, leaving you free to focus on, y'know, badass samurai stuff.
--Duels from Ultimate Combat, when they come up.
--Intrigue from Ultimate Intrigue, as appropriate if/when it comes up. There's usually courtly intrigue at least in the background of wuxia and jidai geki films, so having some in our game feels fitting.
--Honor from Ultimate Campaign (and the Dragon Empires Gazetteer), because it's incredibly fitting. I'm also open to potentially using Honor in the alignment system from Dragon Tiger Ox, if people like.
(Wow, that was a lot. We're almost through.)
Available Material: Pretty much everything Paizo as long as it can be found online--I mostly use d20pfsrd and Archives of Nethys, so between them I have access to most of what's been published. For 3rd-party, we'll mainly be doing Path of War from Dreamscarred Press, and Dragon Tiger Ox and the Heroes of the East series from Little Red Goblin Games. Other things are potentially open if you ask, as long as I have access to the stuff in question. If you need anything I've mentioned, PM me an email and I'll get them to you.

Backstory: I don't need a novella, although the more the merrier. As long as it gives me a good sense of your character and where they come from, that's all I need. However, I'd love to hear a couple of things in particular.
--Allegiance: In a period of civil war like this, very few can survive on their own, and who you know is often at least as important as what you know or how skilled you are as a warrior. In this campaign you'll be mainly working as agents of the five Imperial Families, at least to start. Which of the families are you mainly allied with? Maybe it isn't one of the central five, but another clan related to one of them somehow. Think about how you know them as well: are you a member of the family, are you a vassal samurai who works for them, are you a ronin who's been hired on? It's up to you. If you want to come up with some information on your character's clan, especially if it's not one of the main families, feel free; if you want to see any notes I've come up with, feel free to ask.
--Style and Training: It's often an interesting facet of characters in this kind of setting to look at where they trained, who they trained with, what kind of style they use to fight. Obviously we're starting at 3rd level, so you won't be masters of the greatest sword style in the land, but you may well be journeyman students under a famed master. What's the name of your style of combat? What were the circumstances of your training?
--History and Ancestors: These are some of the most important elements of an individual in the culture, as there's huge emphasis on respect for family of the past as well as the present. How much has history affected your character's current circumstances, and do they have any famous ancestors? Maybe they're named after a famous swordsman who fought in the armies that raised Imperial Lung Wa. Maybe your lineage is traced back to a dragon or an emissary of a god who visited a righteous ancestor.
Appearance: I just want the basics of what your character looks like, in terms of physical appearance and bearing. It would also be worthwhile to discuss things like the appearance of their armor and weapons, if any, as those are a big part of how your character is viewed by others.
Personality: Again, I just need some basics, nothing huge. Your character's alignment, ability scores, and honor and such can help form a basis for your character's personality, but they definitely aren't everything, so a deeper look at their life outlook and all that can be useful for defining them further. This is also a decent spot to discuss any religions or philosophies your character follows, and any other aspects that alter the way they view the world.

Build Points: Standard 400 BP and its rules. You can spend up to 200 on your base attributes, up to 50 on money for gear. Extra costs as usual for maxing out an attribute or skill.
Metatypes: I'll allow all the base metatypes obviously, and if you want to play the slight variants on them, you can, although the stranger you are the more I'll want a good backstory and everything. I'd rather people stick to core here if you can. I'd also rather not deal with any exotic creatures that are way out there, so please stick to the base five and work from there.
Archetypes/Concepts: Normally you'd talk about classes here, but Shadowrun doesn't have those. Instead, just keep in mind that while you can play anything that'd normally fit in a Shadowrun game, it would be interesting to see concepts that are reminiscent or linked somehow to the kinds of characters common in Lovecraftian stories and games. Some make more sense than others--playing a runner who still considers themselves to be mainly an author would probably be strange at best, for example--but there are lots of good concepts to reflavor, rework, and otherwise play with to fit here.
As a second note on your character concept, please don't shoot too high in terms of power and prestige and all that. I'd like for people to either be fairly novice runners who have a few jobs under their belts but nothing big yet, or else entirely new to the game--maybe not even considering themselves a runner at all, at least not yet--but with some sort of past experience that gives them the edge to succeed.
Gear: You can spend up to 50 build points here as normal, getting 5000 nuyen per BP spent, and the regular Availability cap of 12 is in place. However, I'm very aware that gear more than anything else is where you can break SR six ways to Sunday. I won't actually restrict anything outright, but I'd ask that you not equip your novice runner with crazy amazing custom weapons and armor. A little bit here and there is fine, of course, but especially with weapons and armor, the more you stick to the core rulebook and off-the-rack stuff the better. You'll have plenty of opportunities to buy shiny toys in-game, no worries--and besides, if you start out with the tricked-out machine gun, where do you go but down?
Sources: I believe I have every rulebook for Fourth Edition, so pretty much everything is open within reason. Please let me know if you're grabbing something particularly obscure from an out-of-the-way book just so I can double check it and all, but you should be good to go.
Background/Backstory: I just want a good feel for the character, so don't feel you need to write a novella. Use whatever format you like: simple description, in-character narrative, the ten-minute backround format, anything that works. One thing in particular you should note, though: Why has your character come to the local Stuffer Shack late this night?

--Batman and DC Comics: I suppose also superhero comics in general, but more specifically the DC universe, and most specifically everybody's favorite powerless bad*ss, the Batman. What comics or storylines have you read, do you know, are your favorites? How about movies, or TV shows? To be even the very most specific, are you familiar with the comics The Doom that Came to Gotham (more on that in a moment) or Gotham by Gaslight?
(For myself, I love the character, and am currently working on reading through the New 52 series. Some choice favorites include The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke, of course, but also Death of the Family and the above-mentioned stories. In terms of movies, I'm a big fan of the recent trilogy by Nolan (although the first two are vastly superior to Rises), although I have a soft spot for the original 1966 film; my least favorites are probably Tim Burton's contributions, mostly for the weird tone and characterization. As far as TV, gotta love The Animated Series from the 90s. Who cares if it ran entirely before I was born?

--H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos: More focused on Lovecraft's original writings, and those of his contemporaries, but general knowledge of what's happened since then as well. Who are your favorite Ancient Ones, what's your favorite story, ever played in a Cthulhu-themed game before? Even if you're not super familiar with it yourself, is there any other weird fiction, or authors thereof, that you like?
I'm the first to admit I'm a tad lacking here, and there's a very strong likelihood some of you know a lot more about the mythos than I do. Still, I'm interested in it, I have basic grounding in the lore, and I'm slowly working through Lovecraft's collected works. Can't claim myself to have a favorite Lovecraft story just yet, as I've really enjoyed what I've read so far, but I'm also a fan of more modern horror and weird fiction writers who've descended, so to speak, from the original master.

--Cyberpunk: You certainly don't have to have read Neuromancer (I haven't) to appreciate futuristic dystopias, street samurai, and chrome-plated criminals. What have you read, what have you seen, what have you played? Do you lean more black hat or pink mohawk? There's plenty to be said and I can't come up with examples for everything.
I know of cyberpunk mainly through Shadowrun, but plenty of popular media has ties to the genre. I enjoy The Matrix, which has a cyberpunk-ish feel at times; Escape from New York is one of my biggest guilty pleasure films for over-the-top fun and action. Equilibrium is in my opinion a hidden gem for some fun, I, Robot is of course a good flick. I haven't played a lot of cyberpunky games, but "Shadowrun Returns" is obviously a solid example, and personally I looked at "Watch_Dogs" as a great look at a modern setting on its way to full-blown, dystopian cyberpunk glory.

--Zombies: I'm sure everyone's at least passing familiar, but the genre's a lot bigger than it might look at first glance. What do you know, and what do you like? Fast or slow zombies? Truly undead, or the result of a virus? Shoot for the head, or chop them to pieces?
I've seen and played plenty here. Favorites include Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland for fun, The Strain series for serious (okay, they're technically vampires, but it plays out a lot like a zombie story at least at the start), and among games, I've just recently picked up Dead Island and am having fun. Personally I'm not a big fan of The Walking Dead on TV, find it to be too much like a soap opera with zombies in the background, but that's me.

--Victorian Era: Possibly in England, but more likely in America. Almost definitely not steampunk, since I don't love that genre.
I love Sherlock Holmes, especially the recent films, I mentioned Gotham by Gaslight earlier, I'm playing in a Rippers game right now on the boards. There's lots to love in this period for a game.

--1920s/30s U.S.: Yeah, there's a number of differences between these decades, but there's a fair amount of similarity as well, especially in the types of stories set in the period. Feel free to state your preference between the two.
Haven't played in this period much, but it's certainly an interesting and fun one to look back on, and I love stories from and set in the period--Indiana Jones comes to mind.

--The Modern Day: I find it a tad boring to just run games set in the modern day, so if we go here expect some sort of twist. Still, there's plenty to work with.
Not much to say here; it's what we all know by virtue of living it.

--Apocalyptic/Post-Apocalyptic: Lots of post-apoc media out there, but there are plenty of ways to keep things fresh and make original stories. Less common but perhaps even more interesting is setting something more directly during the event: the last days before an asteroid strike, the first days of a zombie outbreak, something like that.
I enjoy this stuff a lot. I've played Fallout games, I've read The Road and A Canticle for Leibowitz as just a couple examples of apocalyptic fiction... The end of the world is a smashing good time.

--"Feudal Japan": The oddball dark horse of this group, and one that I kind of hesitate to even include since it's a super vague idea that's popped into my head of late, mostly due to my recent reading. I put it in quotes because I wouldn't necessarily constrain myself to the true feudal period, since there's lots of interesting time periods, and I wouldn't necessarily constrain a game to being set in actual real-life Japan, even as an opener. I just think samurai types versus Cthulhu or zombies could be fun to play.
The recent reading I mentioned is Rurouni Kenshin; I came across my volumes of the manga the other day and have been rereading voraciously. I'm not even near what I'd call a "Japan-ophile" myself, but I've seen films and read stuff, so I'm familiar enough with the subject to feel comfortable doing something with it, or at least shamelessly steal for a vague fictional setting.

Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition
Savage Worlds (Deluxe Edition, the most recent)
Shadowrun, 4th Edition
No real commentary here, these are just a few systems I know and like. CoC is the most recent I've picked up, but it isn't that difficult to play. Feel free to mention any others you feel particularly fitting for your other preferences.

This is probably one of my favorite APs from Paizo, and it's the only one I have all 6 books for in hard copy. It's got a lot of great themes and stuff going on, and while I'll admit I don't love every individual nuance and detail, it's a lot of fun. I've started in in real life with a couple groups, hashed out a strange idea online here, and planned out a number of different paths and changes for it. That said, I've made a few change ideas over time, and the game would likely include a number of alterations to the exact story and encounters going on. I also plan on including at least limited gestalt or something of that nature, with the exact power level depending on what kind of game we want to play.

There are also a few subset variations of Jade Regent I could be interested in doing:

1: Vanilla. This would be a fairly normal version of Jade Regent, with a few substitutions of characters and events based on my own preferences. For the most part, though, the plot of the game would be fairly close to normal.

2: Jade Inheritance: In this version of the Adventure Path, the Oni have taken Minkai and been really consolidating their power in the region, and the PCs are much more closely linked to this from the beginning. At least one PC is actually a scion of an Imperial family, the heir to the throne. The family fled from the country to avoid the Oni takeover, seeking to avoid massacre at the hands of the fiends. Now the scion of the family and their friends and retainers must come out of hiding, quest to grow strong and build support with their allies, and take back the throne.

This could be done one of two ways: with the entire game taking place in Tian Xia, exploring a lot of tropes of wuxia and martial arts style stories; or starting in Varisia as normal, and exploring more of the journey trope and following more of the normal string of events. Not to say that events wouldn't be used in Tian Xia, because they would be adapted and used there, but it would have a very different flavor to it.

Either way, I'd be open to using plenty of thematic 3rd-party options for this AP, and would actively be using some of them to rebuild enemies. To give an idea, I have the Heroes of the East supplements from Little Red Goblin Games, and I'm a big fan of Dreamscarred Press (especially Path of War).

I've had a bit of a kick to run a horror game for a while now, and I've done a fair amount of planning out ideas, thinking about settings, and what I'd want to do with it. That said, this is fairly open-ended and I have no completely set plans on what system to use or what kind of setting. It could be anything from dark, gothic medieval, to Victorian or even Western (with or without elements of steampunk), to modern, or even futuristic or science-fictiony. The overall themes would revolve around a number of horror elements, and the tone would definitely be fairly dark, although not necessarily hopeless. As far as systems go I'd want something that isn't TOO filled with minutiae and fits the overall tone I'm looking for; World of Darkness would be a strong contender, at least for some settings, but I'm open to ideas as well.

Like I said, this one is fairly open-ended, but I've got plans and ideas, as I've been thinking about it for a long time. The main hope is that it would be pretty sandboxy and player-driven, although I'd have plotlines going on.

This is basically what it sounds like. I enjoy Shadowrun. It's a lot of fun, it's a neat system that fills a niche I haven't really seen in any other games I know of, and it can be very different than the usual fare you see in a lot of RPG groups and on these forums. It's been mentioned before to me by some folks that Shadowrun games are really scarce here, so I'd be happy to do one up with folks. We'd be using 4th Edition with a few houserules here and there.

Basically whatever you'd want to play. Shoot suggestions at me, let me know what you're interested in doing. I won't run EVERYTHING or anything, I'll definitely shoot down suggestions of things I don't really want to run or don't feel I have the experience or talents to do well. And please don't ask me about Adventure Paths, because frankly I don't own the books for most of them and I'm nowhere near prepared to run any but Jade Regent or maybe Rise of the Runelords.

As far as this option goes, shout out anything else, though. System, genre, themes, whatever. Even just voice a character you really want to play and see if it sparks an idea or lines up with something other folks want to do. I've been playing and DMing for a long time so I'm comfortable with a lot.

Boot Hill has 5 Attributes: Strength, Coordination, Observation, Stature, and Luck. Strength is your character's physical power, stamina, and endurance; Coordination is their dexterity, agility, and reaction; Observation is their perceptiveness and vigilance; Stature is how well-known they are; and Luck is just what it sounds like. You'll note there aren't stats for intelligence or charisma: those are based entirely on how you choose to play the character! Make a level-headed fistfighter or a terse simpleton of a pilot--it doesn't much matter!

To generate your attributes, roll 2d10 5 times, then add the following modifiers to each of the 5 remaining rolls:

• 2-5: +5
  
• 6-10: +3
  
• 11-14: +2
  
• 15-17: +1
  
• 18-20: +0

Then arrange the attributes however you want from there, but keep in mind that your Stature and Luck attributes will be halved (round up) to achieve the total. Most Attributes rate from 1 to 20, with 10 being average; the exception is Luck, which only goes up to 10. This means that while you might start out as a lucky individual, your Stature will most likely be below average--after all, you're fairly new on the scene and haven't made a legend for yourselves yet!

If you roll a particularly low set up attributes, don't worry because it means you get more skills (see below). But if you really would like to petition for a reroll, you only need ask.

There are a LOT of skills in Boot Hill, and believe it or not I've cut down on them some. The important thing to keep in mind is that there are two types of skills: Weapon Skills, which have simple ratings of 1, 2, etc., and improve your ability to handle weapons of that kind; and General Skills, which are rated like Attributes and represent training in other areas (although some General Skills are useful in combat!)

You get a number of skills at character creation based on the total of your rolled attributes:

• 27-40: 10
  
• 41-62: 8
  
• 63-80: 6

You can only put up to half of these initial skills into Weapon Skills; that is to say, at least half of your skills must be General Skills. When you put a point into a Weapon Skill, you gain a rating of 1 in that skill, and you can buy up to 3 at character creation; for example, spending 1 point on Pistols gives you a rating of 1 in that skill, and spending 2 points gives you a rating of 2. When buying General Skills, however, you roll 2d10 and add a modifier just like you did for your Attributes. You select all your General Skills before rolling, then allocate the results as you choose.

The list of skills is in a spoiler below.

Weapon Skills
-Automatics: This skill covers the use of most automatic weaponry, including assault rifles and submachine guns. Automatics are expensive, uncommon, and prone to more wear and tear than other weapons, but they're truly fearsome when they work.
-Blades: This skill covers the use of most melee weapons that can kill a man--knives, swords, axes, and all manner of sharp-and-pointies. The dangerous end goes in the other guy.
-Brawling: This skill covers the less elegant sort of close combat--punching, wrestling, and smashing whatever's at hand over the other guy's head.
-Energy Weapons: This skill covers using the most technologically advanced weaponry out there--lasers and the like. These are a little different than other firearms for several reasons, and while they're potentially the most deadly and accurate weapons, they're also the most likely to break down--and the hardest to fix.
-Pistols: This skill is used for just what it sounds like: handheld small arms. They aren't always the most powerful or longest-ranged, but a reliable old six-shooter that fires is better than a tuned-up hogleg that doesn't. "Automatic" pistols are also covered in this skill.
-Rifles: This skill covers all manner of longarms that don't fire more than once per trigger pull. From shotguns to snipers, if it's long enough to get a second hand on there, this is the skill you want.

General Skills
-Assaying: This skill enables a character to assess the value of various items and materials, from minerals to tech.
-Bureaucracy: This skill gives a character knowledge of the law and legal channels; perhaps they once practiced law, or have simply had a number of dealings with legal officers and know the ins and outs of things.
-Chemistry: This skill gives the character knowledge and training in the use of various chemicals; they know the makeup of most common materials and chemicals, and can use this to their advantage.
-Communications: This skill represents knowledge of various communcations technology and methods, and can be used to establish contact in adverse conditions and keep a comm array working.
-Cooking: This skill is just what it sounds like: the ability to whip up a good dish. A lot of ships don't keep much fresh produce on board, and it takes a good cook to make another night of soy protein interesting.
-Driving: This skill is used for controlling ground vehicles, whether they're wheeled or tracked. A number of frontier worlds have few if any cars or such, but they do offer a faster method of transport than other ground options.
-Engineering: This skill gives a character knowledge and training in engineering of some kind. The most common sort of engineering used in the frontier is ship engineering, which lets a mechanic keep the crew flying, but other types of engineering have their place. The basic version of the Engineering skill represents the sort of training expected of a ship mechanic; other kinds should be specified when taken.
-Explosives: This skill is used for handling explosives of almost all kinds, from dynamite to the most advanced chemical and plastic explosives available.
-Farming: This skill means a character knows how to grow crops and raise livestock, probably from having grown up on a farm or plantation of some kind. The skill can be used to identify plants and animals, as well as care for them.
-Fast Draw: This skill is used to get a gun--or other weapon--up and ready for fighting as quickly as possible. It is mainly used in close-range gunfights; after all, when everyone's close enough that they'll probably hit with any given shot, it's the first one that counts. Note that while this skill seems like one every gunhand would want--and in some ways it is--it's really only necessary for someone who wants to haul iron REAL quick. And if you try and fail to use it in a fight, it sets you back further than drawing normal-like.
-Gambling: This skill offers experience and instinct when playing games of "chance," mainly various card games.
-Gunnery: This skill is used for large-scale weapons, from field artillery to ship-mounted cannon. Due to how much large guns differ from small arms, this isn't a Weapon Skill and doesn't follow the usual rules for combat.
-Gunsmithing: This skill gives a character the know-how to build and repair most manner of firearms, although particularly complex equipment (such as most energy weapons) may require additional skills to fully comprehend. It also allows a character to cast their own ammunition if necessary.
-Leadership: This skill represents to some extent a character's natural charisma, but more than this it gives a character training in how to speak to people, commanding and persuading them. This skill can be used for social interactions involving diplomacy or intimidation, depending on the situation.
-Linguistics: This skill gives a character knowledge of language in all its forms, including skill at writing. One-quarter this skill's rating (rounded down) is the number of additional languages the character can speak (every character can speak a language).
-Medicine: This skill represents training in medical practice that goes beyond basic first aid knowledge. The character may have been a full surgeon, or just had extensive hands-on experience with tutoring. Note that while this gives a character the aptitude, it does not guarantee the tools; most ships have basic medical gear for dealing with common illnesses or basic injuries, but surgery of most kinds require special equipment.
-Navigation: This skill is used to chart--and blaze--paths across the cosmos. In the modern day this skill typically represents astronavigation, giving the knowledge to find a safe and efficient route between planets and systems, but terrestrial navigation is still practiced by guides on frontier planets. The base form of this skill represents navigation as it is used in space, but its second form--often called Orienteering--is also available as a separate skill.
-Performance: This skill gives a character the aptitude to put on an entertaining performance of some kind, from music to dance to acting to more mature endeavors. This skill represents a certain type of performance each time it is taken, although they are typically broad categories. In certain cases it can also assist in some social interactions, especially deceptions.
-Physics: This skill offers a character training and knowledge of physical science, including many of the advances made during the space age. While more theoretical than practical, knowledge of how space travel and other technologies work can often assist in other activities.
-Piloting: This skill represents a character's ability to fly a ship. While more advanced ships can have autopilot programs for long-distance travel, a skilled pilot at the controls can perform maneuvers to outrun pursuit (or pursue) and go off the beaten... path?
-Prospecting: This skill enables a character to quickly look for and recover all manner of salvageable goods. While originally used just for mining-type activities, in the modern day this can also be used for other activities, such as scavenging.
-Riding: This skill gives a character the ability to control a live mount. Horses and other beasts of burden are still in common use on many frontier worlds where vehicles are too expensive or unreliable, and while most folks are able to stay on a well-trained animal, it takes a skilled rider to perform tricks or fight from horseback.
-Smithing: This skill shows a character knows how to work with different kinds of metal materials; it includes not only basic smithing, but welding and other advanced metalwork. It is commonly used for practical maintenance of a ship's hull, as well as other metal goods.
-Stealth: This skill represents a character's aptitude at skulking about, moving unseen and unheard.
-Survival: This skill gives a character the knowledge and experience to make their way through wilderness on the frontier. It covers everything from identifying edible plants and potable water, to tracking game, to scouting terrain for a safe place to camp.
-Tactics: This skill allows a character to gain knowledge about strategy for combat, from small teams to large armies, and also enables them to potentially predict what an opponent might attempt. This skill can be used at the beginning of combat to give a side a bonus to their initiative throughout the fight, as well as to potentially gain some advice on what could be done in the combat (although a failed roll will result in faulty planning).
-Theology: This skill represents knowledge of religion of all kinds. Perhaps the character is ordained themselves, or they may be simply interested in religious studies. Using this skill can potentially assist in social interactions with characters who are believers in a given faith.
-Thievery: This skill gives a character the know-how to commit all manner of roguish acts, from smuggling to picking pockets.
-Throwing: This skill allows a character to accurately throw items or weapons by hand, often used for knives and grenades. The character's chance to hit uses their Throwing skill rather than their Coordination attribute.
-Trading: This skill means a character has experience buying, selling, and bartering all types of goods. It enables a character to help get a good deal in their business interactions. This skill can occasionally help with social interactions of other kinds as well.

You can use this video as a slight reference to show you the sheer power of a good Falcon Punch.

Essentially, though, it's really, really, really g*@$~~ned powerful. And harnesses fire, generally speaking. In PF terms, it includes the following:

• High damage
  
• Possible fire damage (this would be excellent)
  
• Windup Time: The Falcon Punch is slow. It's not meant to be part of a Flurry of Blows or something--it's a slow, really powerful punch.

Races: I’m mainly looking for goblins, of course, but hobgoblins are also acceptable. Note, though, that if you play a hobgoblin, you get one fewer trait (you still get a campaign trait). There is also a campaign trait that allows you to play a (slightly weakened) bugbear as your race.

Classes: I’m going to be open here and say that everything is allowed. Please don’t abuse this, though--I don’t want to see 1st-level goblin synthesists who can fly or turn invisible or something like that.

Alignment: I don't have any restrictions, but keep in mind that playing evil is probably going to be best. What variety of evil you espouse is up to you!

Ability Points: I like to keep things equal, and you’re playing as a bunch of goblins, so we’re using the 20 point-buy method to make characters, with one exception: EVERY POINT COSTS THE SAME. Raising 10 to 11 costs 1 point; raising 17 to 18 costs one point. This will help with any funky MAD builds you want, and it makes strong (or charismatic) goblins more doable.

Starting Wealth: Average for your class. Keep in mind, however, that you’re goblins living in a swamp. If you have a cold iron greatsword, I’m going to be asking how you got that. Just explain it in your backstory if you have anything unusual. You must also have a named lucky pet toad. This is something the Licktoads do. Keep in mind, the more goblin-y your equipment is, the more I’m going to like your goblin! Include some random knick-knacks and oddities (and don’t worry about encumberance, I won’t count them against your carrying capacity at all).

Traits: I’m allowing 2 traits and a campaign trait from the link below. Keep in mind, though, that if you’re playing a hobgoblin, you only get 1 trait and a campaign trait, and if you want to play a bugbear, you will take that campaign trait, meaning you only get 2 other traits. My campaign traits probably seem a little powerful; they’re supposed to. If you own Ultimate Campaign, I’ll allow you to take a drawback for a third trait. That extra trait can’t be used on a campaign trait, even if you’re a bugbear.

Link to Campaign Traits and Bugbear race

Vital Strike: This feat (and all its later improvements) is usable during any action where you take a single attack. This includes the attack standard action, using Spring Attack, and charging. It does not include Whirlwind Attack.

Agile Maneuvers/Weapon Finesse/Dervish Dance: These feats are rolled into two new feats--Combat Finesse and Improved Combat Finesse.

Combat Finesse

Prerequisites: Dexterity 13

Benefit: As the Agile Maneuvers and Weapon Finesse feats.

Improved Combat Finesse

Prerequisites: Combat Finesse, Dexterity 17, Base Attack Bonus +2

Benefit: When using any finessable weapon, you may substitute your Dexterity modifier for the Strength modifier when calculating damage. You still take any Strength penalty to your damage roll. You don’t add 1.5 times your Dexterity modifier in damage with a two-handed finessable weapon.

Normal: You use Strength to calculate damage on melee attacks.

Special: With GM clearance, you may apply the benefits of this feat, as well as Combat Finesse, to certain weapons if you have taken the Weapon Focus feat for that weapon, even if those weapons are not normally finessable.

DO NOT nitpick or criticize/critique/comment on those feats, please and thanks. The intent is clear, and as they’re houseruled in, they don’t need to be perfect.

HP: At each level up you will gain 1/2+1 hit points, plus your Constitution modifier. For example, a fighter with a Constitution score of 14 would gain 8 hit points at 2nd level (10*.5+1+2=5+1+2=8).

Coup de Grace: If you attack an enemy outside of combat (which usually counts as the surprise round) and they were completely unaware of the attack, it counts as a coup de grace against them even though they were not helpless. There is also another new homebrew feat to go with this (again, please don’t pick it apart).

Skulking Killer

Prerequisites: Sneak attack +1d6, Stealth 2 ranks

Benefit: You may coup de grace an enemy in combat as long as that enemy is completely unaware of your attack, even if they are not helpless (at the GM's discretion). The coup de grace is still a full-round action.

Combat Maneuvers: You are allowed to Bull Rush and Reposition enemies into dangerous squares, because why shouldn’t you be able to? Also, the disarm and sunder (on weapons only) maneuvers do not provoke attacks of opportunity, since you’re targeting the weapon. And I don’t know if the great sunder debate is still going on, but in my book, it replaces any melee attack.

Class Alignments: Antipaladins do not have to be Chaotic Evil, they can be any evil. Monks do not have to be lawful.

Point Buy: 15. The goblins are heroes among their people, but they’re actually not that special.

Classes Available: All but the antipaladin, magus, ninja, paladin, samurai, or wizard. I also allow all official Paizo archetypes.

Races: Goblin, obviously!

Traits: You get 1. Just 1.

Equipment: You get a melee weapon, a ranged weapon (if you choose a throwing weapon, you get 1d8), a set of light armor if you want it, two potions of 1st-level spells, and miscellaneous other equipment befitting a goblin of little to no use or value. You MUST have a lucky pet toad with a name. Think of this equipment partially as a way to make the character, and partially as a way to role-play your goblin. If you want other gear, you can put in a request to me, which will be taken into consideration.

Other: You have to have something distinctly goblin-esque about your character. A specific goblin feat, trait, or archetype would fit this. I don’t need a big backstory for your goblin; you’re just a goblin, after all.

Allowed Books: Essentially anything Paizo and on d20pfsrd.com is allowed, including, but not limited to, the CRB, APG, UC, UM, UE, ARG, and others. I also suggest the Jade Regent Player’s Guide.

Point Buy: 20. Unlike the goblins, the main adventurers here are destined for greatness, and have the capabilities to survive dangerous tasks.

Allowed Races: I prefer core and featured races (like the demi-human outsiders), but even a relatively unusual race could be a part of the group if you have a good backstory to explain it. However, keep in mind that you’ll be dealing with a lot of good characters as well as townsfolk, so being a “monstrous” race probably won’t work well, if at all. You’d need a really good backstory, and have to be willing to face the RP issues.

Allowed Classes: I won’t disallow anything at this time, but certain classes may not have the easiest time in this AP. Especially the gunslinger. I’m not saying you can’t play one--taking on the challenge might prove very interesting--but keep in mind that guns aren’t a huge part of the AP in the first place.

Skills: You get an extra skill point at each level to be placed in a Craft, Perform, or Profession skill (or, with special permission, another skill that represents a non-combat skill you possess). This particular skill is a class skill for you.

Traits: You get 3 traits, and one of them has to be a campaign trait from the Player’s Guide.

Starting Gold: Average for your class.

Background: I don’t need a novel--though I’ll certainly read one, as I tend to write long backstories myself--but I do require a background for your character, or the submission isn’t considered complete. Just let me know a bit about the character, maybe their appearance or how they took up their profession now. The campaign trait will automatically link you to at least one important NPC.

Vital Strike: This feat (and all its later improvements) is usable during any action where you take a single attack. This includes the attack standard action, using Spring Attack, and charging. It does not include Whirlwind Attack.

Agile Maneuvers/Weapon Finesse/Dervish Dance: These feats are rolled into two new feats--Combat Finesse and Improved Combat Finesse.

Combat Finesse

Prerequisites: Dexterity 13

Benefit: As the Agile Maneuvers and Weapon Finesse feats.

Improved Combat Finesse

Prerequisites: Combat Finesse, Dexterity 17, Base Attack Bonus +2

Benefit: When using any finessable weapon, you may substitute your Dexterity modifier for the Strength modifier when calculating damage. You still take any Strength penalty to your damage roll. You don’t add 1.5 times your Dexterity modifier in damage with a two-handed finessable weapon.

Normal: You use Strength to calculate damage on melee attacks.

Special: With GM clearance, you may apply the benefits of this feat, as well as Combat Finesse, to certain weapons if you have taken the Weapon Focus feat for that weapon, even if those weapons are not normally finessable.

DO NOT nitpick or criticize/critique/comment on those feats, please and thanks. The intent is clear, and as they’re houseruled in, they don’t need to be perfect.

HP: At each level up you will gain 1/2+1 hit points, plus your Constitution modifier. For example, a fighter with a Constitution score of 14 would gain 8 hit points at 2nd level (10*.5+1+2=5+1+2=8).

Coup de Grace: If you attack an enemy outside of combat (which usually counts as the surprise round) and they were completely unaware of the attack, it counts as a coup de grace against them even though they were not helpless. There is also another new homebrew feat to go with this (again, please don’t pick it apart).

Skulking Killer

Prerequisites: Sneak attack +1d6, Stealth 2 ranks

Benefit: You may coup de grace an enemy in combat as long as that enemy is completely unaware of your attack, even if they are not helpless (at the GM's discretion). The coup de grace is still a full-round action.

That’s all for now, though others may be forthcoming.

As a member of a race of few--and very few of whom partake in RPGs--I find myself seeking to be as tolerant as possible when it comes to different things. I’d like to make you comfortable and make this campaign as enjoyable as possible for everyone involved. If there’s something you’d like to know or try, don’t hesitate to ask! I’m relatively accepting of even 3rd party material, but run it by me first.

As a senior in high school, though, I must admit that my schedule can get very busy from time to time. Particularly in upcoming days, I may be swamped with work and unable to post for a day or two. Once summer rolls around I should be more available.

I’m in the Eastern U.S. Time Zone, and I post in the afternoon and evening on most weekdays, though I can sometimes get on during a free period at school, or in the morning. Weekends, I will post whenever I’m able to get on.

I currently am involved as a player in several different games here on the forums, and also run a Fallout-based campaign. I’ve been considering doing a Victorian-esque homebrew as well. As may be apparent, this is the most orthodox Pathfinder game I’ve considered running.

This campaign should be enjoyable. It should have a good amount of combat, but I’m also looking for good roleplayers who will make it amusing and interesting. I’m also looking for team players--if you’re here with the “sooo grimdark, I’m so evil and angsty” character, it probably won’t work. Not to say I won’t consider it--but it had better be a pretty damn good character to get a good shot.

Alchemist*, Barbarian, Cavalier, Cleric*, Fighter, Gunslinger*, Monk, Paladin*, Ranger, Rogue.

--Alchemists: Upgrade your bomb damage dice to d8s, rather than d6s (they count as Large, to bypass armor DR). Also, you can swap out the Brew Potion feat for Extra Bombs, or another feat to improve your alchemist abilities.
--Clerics: Your spells will be reflavored as applications of technology and whatnot. Obviously, some spells might not work with that, and we’ll see what we can do about that. You would probably also have connections with the Brotherhood of Steel, or, possibly, the Enclave. I may be willing to add in Druids or Oracles along with this system, and a Sorcerer/Wizard has a VERY slim chance of being allowed; give me strong points on why it’ll work, and how it’ll work, and I can check on allowing it.
--Gunslingers: Obviously, Exotic Weapon Prof (guns) isn’t going to be helpful in a Fallout world, where everyone knows how to shoot guns. So, you have two options: either A) gain proficiency with EITHER one type of energy weapon or one type of big gun; or B) gain Gun Training starting at Level 1, but it only applies to EITHER pistols/1-handed small guns or rifles/2-handed small guns. By the way, you still get the free gun with your Gunsmithing ability, meaning you have two free guns right off the bat. Congratulations!
--Paladins: You will almost definitely begin play with Brotherhood of Steel membership. This means you’ll get a suit of Power Armor as your free armor, and any one gun (including a big gun or energy weapon) as your free weapon.

Humans in this campaign are the same as humans in normal Pathfinder, no changes. However, every human character gets to choose one of the following “templates” to add to their racial benefits:

Wasteland Delver: You’ve spent many hours exploring old ruins from the bombs. Maybe you were born with good eyes and keen senses; maybe you’ve honed them from years of time spent in dingy, burnt-out old buildings. Either way, you’ve gotten good at it.
--Ruin Dweller: +1 to Knowledge (dungeoneering) and Survival checks made in ruins
--Low-light Vision: See twice as far in dim light conditions
--Stonecunning: +2 to Perception to notice unusual building features, such as traps and hidden doors; receive automatic checks to detect these within 10 feet

Wasteland Mutie Killer: The Brotherhood of Steel aren’t the only ones with a burning hatred for Super Mutants. Even regular folk can easily learn to despise the abominations, and you’ve turned that anger and fear into a source of skill for you. You’ve probably already helped track down and kill a Mutie or two in your time.
--Defensive Training: +4 dodge to AC vs. Super Mutants
--Hatred: +1 to attack rolls against Super Mutants
--Weapon Familiarity: gain proficiency with 2 small or big guns

Wasteland Resister: There’s radiation all over in the Wastes, and frankly, most people avoid it. You, however, have a special resistance to the strange effects still lingering from the war, which is helpful when you run across irradiated areas.
--Radiation Resistance: racial bonus on saving throws against radiation equal to your HD

Wasteland Stalker: Whether you used to be a Raider, a Merc, a Caravan Guard, or just a hunter, you’ve become very skilled at moving quietly and quickly in the Wastes--the better to kill your foes, or avoid fights you can’t win.
--Camouflage: +4 to Stealth checks in the Wastes
--Silent Hunter: reduce penalties for moving in Stealth by 5; can run while using Stealth at a -20 penalty

Wasteland Scavenger: In a world without white-collar jobs, potentially one of the most lucrative professions is that of a scavenger: finding and trading scrap and goods from the Wastes. You have to have a keen sense of what’s worth taking, though; fortunately, that’s a sense you’ve honed.
--Greed: +2 Appraise to determine price of goods
--Scavenger: +2 Appraise and Perception to find hidden objects and determine whether food is spoiled

Wasteland Tinkerer: Most people see the heaps of metal and rubble strewn across the Wastes as garbage, but to a mechanic like you, it’s a veritable treasure trove! With the right materials, you can craft some very high-quality goods... even if they blow up every now and then.
--Master Tinker: +1 Disable Device and Knowledge (engineering) checks; automatically proficient with any weapon you craft
--Craftsman: +2 to all Craft and Profession checks to craft armor, weapons, and ammunition

Wasteland Trekker: There are no cars or planes anymore, or at least, there aren’t many in a good-enough condition to run. What’s a guy/gal to do but take the shoe-leather express? You’re a traveler, and your time out there in the wastes has made you good at picking your way across the broken land and being able to survive that extra mile.
--Desert Runner: +4 racial bonus on Constitution checks and Fortitude saves against fatigue, exhaustion, and ill effects from running, forced marches, starvation, thirst, and hot or cold environments
--Terrain Stride: move through natural difficult terrain in the Wastes at normal speed

Ghouls used to be humans, but they were caught outside, above-ground, and unprotected when the bombs fell. Most people were killed instantly, but some survived, the radiation seeping into their skin. What was left was a human with skin grayed, burnt, and blistered, often thinner. In fact, their appearance is reminiscent of film zombies, which spawned that nickname for them. (To get an idea of what ghouls look like, do an image search of “fallout ghouls.” Keep in mind that very thin ghouls, often shown running at someone, are feral ghouls, poor saps who’ve gone mad and, well, feral.)

Ghoul Racial Traits
Medium Monstrous Humanoids
Base Speed: 30 feet
Abilities: +2 to any one ability score; -2 to Constitution. Ghouls are as varied as the humans they once were, but the radiation has weakened their physical endurance.
Bonus Feat: Ghouls gain a bonus feat at first level, the same as humans.
Darkvision: Ghouls can see in the dark out to 60 feet.
Low-light Vision: Ghouls can see twice as far as humans in dim light.
Radiation Born: Ghouls were made what they are by the intense radiation from the bombs, and while it has affected them negatively in many ways, they have also grown used to that level of danger. As such, ghouls receive a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against radiation, chems (including chem sickness; also, they have to take this save every time they take a chem), and becoming nauseated or sickened.
Languages: Ghouls start play speaking Common (English). They can learn any other language, except secret languages.

Please note that Ghouls cannot join the Brotherhood of Steel.

I’m serious, I’m not offering them as a PC race in my game. Sorry.

You will be Level 1.
Ability Scores will be based on a 25 Point Buy.
You will get 2 Traits (but see below).
You will get Max starting caps (gp) for your class at level 1.

Traits
I’m going to run traits a little differently than normal: you can get the effects of two traits, and work them into your backstory in your own, logical way. I’ll allow a little leeway to change the exact applications of traits; for example, the Hunter’s Blood trait could be changed to apply to Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders, Slavers, etc. The Hellknight Ancestry trait could be changed to apply to the Brotherhood of Steel, the Enclave, or another appropriate group. Please note that I’ll be checking traits for balance, logic, etc. if you use this system. You can always just take a trait as is.

1) New Skills: There will be the Athletics skill, with STR as its base ability; this replaces Climb and Swim, as it rolls them into one. There will also be the Use Computer skill, with INT as its base ability; this is used primarily for hacking and other complex computer usage.

2) Non-existent Skills: Bluff, Climb, Diplomacy, Disguise, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana, nobility, planes), Spellcraft, Swim, and Use Magic Device. Please note that I’ve done away with certain skills I don’t see being used in this setting as well as ALL THE SOCIAL INTERACTION SKILLS (barring Sense Motive, since it has other uses as well). This is because I don’t like the idea of a perfectly good argument or threat failing because of a poor roll of the dice. I expect you to do good roleplaying when it comes to lying, negotiating, or threatening, and I also want you to take your Charisma score into consideration. Likewise, I’ll look at your CHA and the enemy’s Wisdom/Sense Motive/whatever, and take into account what all an NPC would know, like, fear, etc. This does promote good roleplaying, and it will be tough if you’re just not great at coming up with stuff--however, there are always the go-to methods (flattery for Diplomacy, simple lies for Bluff, a gun to the head for Intimidate...)

3) New Skill Uses: Appraise can be used to scavenge for goods (and there is Profession (scavenger) as well). Disable Device can be used to disable or jam weapons and technology (other than hacking computers). Heal can affect the amount of HP you heal with the application of a StimPak or other item of that sort.

4) What All is Open for Use: EVERYTHING! Well, not everything; for example, I laid out above what Paizo-published classes I’ll allow, and Human and Ghoul are the only races to pick from. But I’m very open to 3rd-party feats, archetypes, etc., as long as you and I both understand how it works and I give you the OK. If you spy a 3rd-paty class that you think would fit, by all means shoot me a link and I’ll take a look. I’m here to make you happy to play the game, after all!