Voice in the System's page

Discussion board.

You all wake up the following morning... You all remember the night before—the ringing laughter of a wild night, the heady joy of excess, the scents of rich stewed meat and perfume lingering in your nostrils. It was certainly a night to remember at the Formidably Maid.

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But now... a pounding headache, the sickly taste of cheap wine in your mouths, the hard floor, a rhythmic creaking noise, and the feeling of the room swaying, as if you were still drunk. Before you can do much more than sit up, however, several pairs of heavy footsteps enter the dark room, and the harsh light of a lantern painfully spears your eyes.

Six rough-looking men, armed with saps, accompany a tall man, carrying a cat-o-ninetails. An expression that might be mistaken for pain but which is clearly an attempt at a smile bruises the man's face as he cracks the whip in his hand and screams at the lot of you.

“Still abed with the sun over the yardarm? On your feet, ye filthy swabs! Get up on deck and report for duty before Cap’n Harrigan flays your flesh into sausage skins and has Fishguts fry ye up for breakfast!”

That rude awakening also causes you to notice that all of your equipment and personal affairs are gone. You have just the clothes on your back... and the bruises on your body.

Initial reactions to your situation

Dot here
Gameplay begins Friday the 21st

Feel free to move discussions here.

Mabuu was sailin' da waters in his boat when 'e spied a potential recruitment for piracy and freebootin'. To Mabuu's dismay, it was too fast a heist for him.

However, Mabuu is full of pump and rarin' to be piratin' and is wonderin' if any GM out there would consider running a Skulls and Shackles for a brash, bold and potentially disturbin' pirate!

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If there's any other players out there also lookin' for one, feel free to add in I guess. Maybe if we all band together we can pull through?

Also, Mabuu's class isn't final or anything, I just have the character and background and am fine switching it. Mabuu doesn't see himself as captain, he much prefers being the explorer type.

"Men and women of the Remnant Crusade!"
"Your lands and homes have been burned, pillaged and ruined by the Order of Amberfall!"
"Your nations have crumbled and bled before those fiends."
"We of the Remnants will stand for this no longer!"
"In five days time our planar ritual will be complete and we will have breached the Amberfall's demiplane bastion."
"On that day we will march on their home and we will tear the beating heart of the Order out from their still breathing husk!"

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The Siege of Amberfall is a war campaign involving a prolonged siege of the demiplane realm of Amberfall.

Amberfall consists of numerous areas and the PCs play an elite team whose mission is to slay the leaders of Amberfall.

Players begin at 10th level.

- 20 point buy, 2 traits
- Alignment: Any
- Class: Any.
- Race: Core, Uncommon and Advanced Races are acceptable.
- 62,000 gp: You can spend no more than 25% of your wealth on weapons, 25% on armor and protective devices, 25% on other magic items, 15% on disposable items like potions, scrolls, and wands, and 10% on ordinary gear and coins.
- This campaign is combat heavy so be prepared for it.

The plane of Amberfall itself consists of a multitude of different themed areas, so no single build will fit all areas.

Any questions can be asked here.

Serpent Cha (Ex)
The Tea Brewers of Shinzo are renowned not for powerful bombs but for the miracle qualities of a sacred tea known as Serpent Cha. Infused from rare and exotic leaves and requiring a closely guarded method of brewing, Serpent Cha is both deadly and at the same time curative. A Tea Brewer can use a number of Serpent Cha Tea each day equal to his class level + his Intelligence modifier. Serpent Cha Tea’s curative qualities fade quickly, and if not used in the round they are created, they degrade and become inert. In order to create Serpent Cha, the Tea Brewer must use a small tea cup containing an ounce of cha powder—the Tea Brewer can prepare cha powder by mixing a variety of herbs. These herbs are gathered as the Tea Brewer goes about his day and can be readily refilled in the same manner as a spellcaster’s component pouch. Most Tea Brewers create a number of cha powder pouches at the start of the day equal to the total number of Serpent Cha they can create in that day—once created, cha powder pouches remains usable by the Tea Brewer for years.

Drawing the components of, creating, and throwing Serpent Cha requires a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Thrown Serpent Cha has a range of 20 feet and uses the Throw Splash Weapon special attack. Serpent Cha are considered weapons and can be selected using feats such as Point-Blank Shot and Weapon Focus. On a direct hit, a Tea Brewer’s Serpent Cha inflicts 1d4 points of fire damage + additional damage equal to the Tea Brewer’s Intelligence modifier. The damage of a Tea Brewer’s Serpent Cha increases by 1d4 points at every odd-numbered Tea Brewer level (this bonus damage is not multiplied on a critical hit or by using feats such as Vital Strike). Splash damage from Serpent Cha is always equal to the tea’s minimum damage (so if the Serpent Cha would deal 2d6+4 points of fire damage on a direct hit, its splash damage would be 6 points of fire damage). Those caught in the splash damage can attempt a Reflex save for half damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the alchemist’s level + the alchemist’s Intelligence modifier.

As well, Tea Brewers always include trace amounts of blood in Serpent Cha. When preparing cha powder pouches, a Tea Brewer can add a drop of blood from a single person for every point of Charisma he has. Each person whose blood is part of that cha powder pouch is healed instead of damaged by that Serpent Cha.

This ability replaces the Bomb class ability.

Cognatogen (Ex)
At 1st level, a Tea Brewer learns how to create a cognatogen, as per the cognatogen discovery.
This ability replaces the mutagen class ability (a Tea Brewer cannot create mutagens unless he selects mutagen as a discovery).

Thoughts?

Delta 1; 149 ED; 13:50
WATCH 27: Day 3/7

It was the third day awake of the 27th Watch. As per regulations, 10 crew members were awakened from the pseudo-cryostasis they had been kept in.

The first two days were spent going over the past data received and transmitted during the downtime between Watches.

No new communications from Terra Prima nor from Nova Ark had been received in over two weeks. As such, the crew checked the communication arrays for failures but none were found.

On the third day, at 13:50... disaster struck. Warning sirens blared forth from all speakers. The ship had either collided with an unknown object... or someone had fired something at the ship.

With precious little time, each of the members of Watch 27 had just enough time for one last act before heading to the Escape Pods.

However, before the pods could be launched, a keening noise ripped through the ship's intercom system.

Rather than send the CSS Avalon back home... or to Nova Ark, the PTD sent the ship careening across the galaxy in near planetary orbit with an unknown planet.

It was too late to wait for the 10th member, the only remaining Escape Pod was launched.

Strapped into the miniature vessel, you bore down on the planet, watching the CSS Avalon drift downwards before colliding far below.

When you all came to, the Escape Pod had undergone damage and was bleeding oxygen. With minimal supplies... and little else, you were stranded in unknown space.

=========================================================================== =====================================================================

Prelude: My Last Moments

I would like each PC to invent one last action that they did before boarding the undamaged Escape Pod. I will then evaluate each decision, take it into account, and modify the starting supplies as well as other events as follows.

I wish you all the best luck.

Watch 27... Watch 27... All members please report to the Main Concourse to receive further instructions. Thank you.

*You slowly lift your head as noise floods into your speakers*

Incoming transmission

*something explodes behind you*

"..."

"...s..."

"I...nyone...ere"

"Thi...is...."

*a louder explosion sends shrapnel flying around your heads*

"M....eadings...ndicate...total shi....lure"

"cuate... ow..."

*a deafening roar, followed by a massive blast sends you flying back into unconsciousness*

=*=*=
149 ED

You were just simple colonists on board the CSS Avalon. Chosen as members for the second International Colony Wave from Terra Prima en route to Nova Ark, you were to bring your knowledge and competencies with you to help the first group of colonists develop the planet further.

However, something went dreadfully wrong. Halfway to your destination all communications to Nova Ark went silent. A watch later, Terra Prima also ceased responding to communications. With the majority of the crew still in cryo, you were all members of the 27th Watch who first realized Terra Prima had ceased communications when a prolonged absence initiated a mandatory Watch investigation.

As you attempted to hail your home planet and Nova Ark, your vessel came under heavy fire from an unknown enemy... with a ship that was neither Human nor Vex, the latter being a neutral race of explorers who crossed Terra Prima's path in -21 ED.

With your ship sustaining massive damage, and no weaponry on what is only a large Colonial ship, you had very little options left and the final course of action was activating the PTD (Prototype Trans Drive).

The trans-jump worked... but damaged circuits caused your ship to deviate heavily from its chosen destination.

Exiting in unknown space, systems failing and life support bleeding oxygen into the void of space, the CSS Avalon spiraled towards the nearest planet... crashing onto its surface... and all went dark.

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Gameplay and Explanation

Behold the Galaxy (BtG) is a Space Survival Campaign.

This round of recruitment will provide us with the members of Watch 27.

As those players slowly come to terms with what has happened, they'll want to revive any recovered colonists from cryo. When that time comes, the members of Watch 27 will have to perform their own Recruitment (guidelines will be provided) and assemble their own teams.

In time, each member of Watch 27 will have a fully fledged team of operatives, engineers, scientists and pilots ready to begin the long task of returning home safely.

BtG is also my first attempt at a unique setting and campaign that I have had actually written. Though not completed, this essentially also serves as a Playtest of the story and systems. My objective is to release the finished product as a free to download pdf once it is done.

A large thanks to The Modern Path as well for their helpful material.

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Character Creation

Character Creation is unique in that each player must only set his character's ability scores and select a profession.

- 20 point buy

As for your race, Terra Primar are as follows:
-Members of this race gain a +2 bonus to any two ability scores.
-At 1st,8th, and 16th level, members of this race gain Skill Focus in a skill of their choice as a bonus feat.
-Members of this race gain an additional skill rank at 1st level and one additional skill rank whenever they gain a level.

Professions
Each player selects a Profession from the following list. Once you have done so, you need only select your additional skills (1 per skill point) and write down your Talents.

Aside from this, make a small physical and character description as well as the reasons for your departure to space on this colonial voyage.
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What Else?
You'll notice that besides the Talents, Skills and bonuses at 1st level, nothing else is presented. This is intentional. As a derelict colony, you will need to build yourself up to unlock additional Talents. In short, the paths you take during the course of this game will determine much of the technology and talents that will become available to you.

For further questions you can PM me or post a question on this post.

If anyone is interested in getting more background information for their character let me know as well.

To a potentially astounding game of Pathfinder.... IN SPACE.

Discussion Thread

Just to let everyone know that due to an Astrobiology Exam on Wed at noon, I will need to postpone the opening of the gates to Wed afternoon. I hope everyone pardons my mistiming with this campaign and its unfortunate clash with my schedule.

Welcome to A Night at Wodewoode Manor.

For your first task of the evening, please describe how you arrive at the Manor.

The Manor entrance consists of a large iron gate, with a cobblestone path leading up to a small flight of marble stairs. These in turn lead to the front doors, which are currently closed. Tall hedges surround the property which largely seems to consist of gardens, fountains and statues of various monsters.

A majordomo waits at the door but currently asks all the guests to please wait patiently outside.

Greetings,

My name is Sir Thelvian Wodewood, Scholar and Collector of All Things Extraordinaire.

As you may have heard, I have recently returned to Pavaleau after my latest expedition to the Tombs of Ca’lajyt, where numerous wonders did I unearth. As you are all prominent members of the Society of Horizons, I felt it would be considerate of me to invite you all to attend an evening of merriment and discovery at my home of Wodewood Manor.

The evening begins promptly at 18:00 on the 7th of Whitewood. Come as you are. Weapons will be collected at the door.

To the pleasure of seeing you there,

Sir Thelvian Wodewood

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This is a short campaign that should take very little time to complete. The players will participate in a fancy evening full of mystery and intrigue, interact with the interesting locals of Pavaleau* and be part of a pseudo-murder mystery type game.

While this is not a combat heavy game, you can prepare your characters as you see fit.

To simplify matters, characters are created as follows:

- 3rd Level Characters
- Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, Halfling and Gnome are allowd races.
- 15 Point Buy
- 3,000 starting gold pieces
- 2 Traits
- HP are calculated as: Max at 1st, half +1 at every other level
- No Hero Points
- Clerics: Choose a god as you would in any Golarion setting.
- I recommend Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate, Perception, Stealth, Sense Motive and Knowledge skills.

======

I have not decided upon a total number of players, that remains to be seen. Once I have made my selection in a few days I will send each player the Map of the Manor as well as the list of all the guests for the evening so you can familiarize yourself with them.

To a fine night of dancing, dining and murder!

I figured these are always pretty fun to do, and I haven't seen one like this yet.

THE EVIL ORGANIZATION
What horrible, evil deeds are this world dominating organization up to?

1. Kidnap dragon eggs to raise their own flight of evil dragon minions.

2. Send envoys to demon, devil and daemonic leaders to gather outsider support for their armies.

3. Mass produce poisons to supply assassins throughout the lands.

4. Rile up monstrous forces such as orcs, trolls and goblins to cause chaos and force the armies of the resistance to waste resources.

5. Kidnap and torture known wizards and steal their spellbooks. Then, their own arcane spellcasters are allowed to learn an enormous quantity of spells to boost their potential.

6. Plant seeds into governments so as to manipulate the rulers into making critical errors.

And let's keep going on from here!

ORDER OF BUSINESS #1
Adventure Ideas

Quite simple so no need for long explanations, we need to throw in a few ideas for an adventure. Everything from genre to backstory.

I always have a good stash of ideas but I'm interested in hearing all of yours first.

Hey everyone,

While my two campaigns continue, I wanted to try something new again, but without the time to actually start a whole other campaign, I sat down and thought about what else could be done on the paizo site.

Well, I think I can finally propose something that I don't believe has been done quite before. I know there is the Woodbridge Campaign going on, but that is simply designing a setting.

Instead, I want to make a unique experience where design and game play will go hand in hand.

What I propose is the following:

A selected team of recruits will design an adventure, encounter by encounter. Each member will take turns posting the next step of the adventure, essentially connecting it to the previous one and to the story line as a whole.

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ADVENTURE DESIGN SYNOPSIS

- Design a premise for the adventure. This includes overall story, length, content, etc.

- Design any necessary material needed as well as setting/location required.

- Set up design order.

- Each designer creates one encounter, then passes to the next designer.

During this phase, other designers comment and critique encounters.

- When all determined encounters are created, the designers put them together, correct errors and add any missing components. Then, we give the adventure to a GM willing to play test it and see how it goes.

- Then... we continue? With a new adventure? A sequel? Who knows.

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WANT TO JOIN?

- Simply apply in this thread, show a few ideas, let us know what your playing experience is etc.

- Make a single encounter/room to fit with the following text:

The encounter takes place in an ancient ruin. The players have already gotten past a few rooms and defeated skeletal tribal-warriors, a zombie juju witch and a stone tiger construct. They have found a few ancient treasures and after getting past a deadly waterfall/javelin spear trap, they open a stone door and...

This can be for any level you want and doesn't need to be very long.

Final voting to choose members will be done by all participants on Friday the 15th of March. Each person who has posted in recruitment will have a certain number of votes (depending on the total number of candidates) and the top 5-6 candidates will be chosen. If the number of candidates is lower or around that number, we'll proceed directly to creating the adventure.
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Accepted Participants, please ask any questions you have here. Applicants, please direct yourselves to the Recruitment page or PM me.

By way of roads forgotten
You look back from where you came
The path behind you disappeared
As if the world itself had vanished
Carrying but a single hope
Be it torch or be it rope
You continue to shamble onwards
Towards walls and spires of horror

Area #1: The Bridge Through the Mists
You stand on a stone bridge, mist surrounding you. You can barely see anything beyond twenty paces of your current location. You cannot see the way in front of you, and you cannot see the way back from where you came. Furthermore, you feel rather lightheaded and unsure of just how you got here.

A lone crow wings its way overhead while a cold wind blows across the cobblestone walkway.

The bridge itself seems to be around ten paces wide, but if you approach the edges, you cannot see what lies beneath.

Even through the mists you can partially make out stone spires and buttresses in the distance.

What do you do?

By way of roads forgotten
You look back from where you came
The path behind you disappeared
As if the world itself had vanished
Carrying but a single hope
Be it torch or be it rope
You continue to shamble onwards
Towards walls and spires of horror

Of Dreams and Despair is an experiment in Play-by-Post gaming.

Each participant plays a lost wanderer who during his travels encounters a castle caught within clinging mists.

Each participant should follow the steps presented in the spoiler tab below.

As mentioned, Of Dreams and Despair is an experiment and the rules do not follow a typical campaign structure.

Players will come and go as events occur within the area and the campaign comes to an end when all of the following conditions is met:

Victory Conditions

- A Participant reaches the Heart of the Castle and survives the ensuing encounter.

- A Participant has successfully discovered the Castle's History and can recount all major events.

- The 22 Tarosian Entities have been defeated.

Failure Conditions

- All the Participants are either Dead, Lost or Corrupted and no new Participants have entered the Castle.

Leveling Up
Throughout the adventure, Participants will receive Experience Points based on the accomplishments of the group as a whole, known as the Collective. Whenever the Collective gains enough Experience Points to level up, every Participant who is neither Dead or Lost levels up. Corrupted Participants also level up.

Taint
As well, Of Dreams and Despair uses the Taint mechanics from Heroes of Horror, except for the following modifications:

- You do not gain a bonus feat upon reaching moderate or severe taint thresholds.

- Any Participant who reaches the Dead/Insane threshold instead becomes Corrupted. He continues playing, loses all the penalties that his symptoms would produce and is now a PC controlled enemy. He will obstruct other Participants and attempt to slay as many as possible.

- There are ways for Corrupted Participants to be returned to normal. Doing so returns them to Severe Taint and they are no longer against the other Participants.

- There are ways of reducing Taint. Find them.

Exploring the Castle
Of Dreams and Despair has a lot of puzzles and situations that will require you to think things through. Explore everywhere you can, use Perception to find things, but be wary... not everywhere is safe.

Participants are not required to travel as a group. For the ease of gameplay however, actions taken by any Participant is known to all. This helps the Participants coordinate themselves, but also allows Corrupted Participants to easily stalk and prepare.

Getting Into the Game
The Campaign has already begun. A Participant wishing to join the game must head to the Recruitment thread and submit his profile. As soon as I have verified your profile's character sheet and I have replied that you are accepted you may head right to the gameplay thread and begin exploring.

Participants joining in later in the game begin at the current Level (indicated in the Campaign Info tab).

The last and final warning is that there can be no more than 5 Participants at a time within the Castle. If ever a Participant becomes Dead, Lost or Corrupted, the next person in the Recruitment thread will be PMed a message that his Character can now enter the Castle.

It is HIGHLY recommended for Participants not currently in the Castle to follow the gameplay and the events occurring in the Castle so that they already know what to do, and where to explore.

Any further questions can be asked in the Recruitment thread or by PM.

The Castle is vast and there are countless hundreds places to explore.

Will you see the light of day again? Or will you never be seen again?

Discussion Thread Opened.

Knowledge of the Realms
I have not seen another PbP do this, but I have often does this for my own. Every day, you can make a Knowledge roll to try and learn something new about the Realms. Perhaps you wish to know more about a certain nation? The races? Nobility? Ask a question, make the roll, and I will answer that question.

Remember, only a single roll per 24h.

This rewards players using the Knowledge skills, of which I fear not much is used for.

Chapter I: The Slaughter of Belisaire

The evening music and sounds of merrymaking carry on into the Belisairean night over the town of Nalvallen. As the sun sets bright into the distant Steinhoch Mountains, the brilliant moon rises high into the sky. Stars shine brightly, the constellation known as the Lion's Shield prominent in the sky that night.

Please perform the following actions:

Gravewalker
Please read all the way to the end before contemplating joining.

No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow.
Euripides

23rd of Autumn
The crimson leaves gilding the proud oaks and maples fluttered for a moment, before falling from their tall heights, slowly tumbling and descending until they reached the ground. The crisp morning air brought a slight chill throughout Belisaire, one which spoke of a cold winter to come and of harvests to be carried out. Little that would do to stop the contingent of merchants, farmers and travelers walking the province roads.

Any official Pathfinder class is permitted (1st Level)

Belisaire's market was already open. Vittles and every day tools and supplies traded hands and would continue to do so until the sun set, many hours later. The pubs and inns prepared for the evening to come. The Church of the Martyr opened its doors, ready to accommodate any visitors. Livestock mooed and whinnied as the beasts were herded through the square. The chatter of adults and the laughter of children filled the air. Rumors of elves from Elisenden was the juicy tidbit that day, but no one had seen one of the fair folk in many years.

Only Human Characters Permitted. Only Good alignments can be chosen.

The day was spent well. Besides the market, the shopkeepers and professionals worked their trades, making fine business on what they made and sold.

Each character must have at least 1 rank in a Profession skill.

[b]Each character begins the Campaign with a 20 point Stat Buy

Gold changed hands fast that day. A strange fervor had taken hold of the people.

Each player begins with the average starting gold his class would have.

The soft prayers from the church slowly brought the night to a close.

Domain users can select any 2 Domains they wish to take.

And little did they all know...

No traits.

Come morning they'd be dead.

Any further questions and applications are to be posted below. No Private Messages please.