My girlfriend's looking to start up a homebrew space fantasy campaign when our run of the Emerald Spire concludes, and I'm hoping to hear people's thoughts regarding the various available rule systems for spaceship combat and travel. I don't know the specific of elements she's looking to include, but she's certainly leaning more towards 'fantasy, but in space' as opposed to 'sci-fi with wizards,' if that makes sense. The Big Three seem to be Starfinder, Starjammer, and Aethera, and as I've got a bit more time than she does to pore over rulebooks, I've already developed some impressions as I help her decide which direction to go, but having done no playtesting and very little theorycrafting, I'm hoping we can find more guidance here. Here's what I've gleaned so far.
• STARJAMMER: The feeling of Starjammer is the best for what we're trying to do, but a lot of the rule elements feel to sparse (designing customs hulls, available weapons or engines) and while I like that ships and components have GP values, it doesn't adhere closely to the WBL chart, has strange assumptions built into it, and overall offers little guidance on how to balance ship encounters well. I'm not so confident on the combat rules being as well designed as the other options, and I also think the element of "each ship component is magical and doesn't require external power' veers to far off of the flavor of Space Fantasy we're looking for. On the plus side again though, Starfinder compatibility is coming to Starjammer very soon and these biggest complaints might be cleaned up within that system.
• STARFINDER: Very thorough and complete rules, with a lot of thought put into the options even if they are a little off our target thematically. I admittedly have had little time to leaf through the book myself so this is more hearsay, but the math seems pretty poor (anyone following has heard about the DC 70 problem) and some maneuvers are noted as redundant. I also don't like that ships are entirely divorced from player wealth, and it seems a lot of flexibility is lost to make balance super easily (no rules for an NPC crew, tier is always equal to APL, ships DON'T become easier to use the better and higher level you are, ships rely on tier for piloting maneuvers much more than physics, etc.). Also, would require some amount of conversion to use with Pathfinder characters.
• AETHERA: This is probably my favorite of the bunch: space fantasy flavor with power requirements, ships have a financial cost but also CRs for easy balancing, and the combat rules offer players a lot of agency, and yet seem to have had the fat trimmed from them. I do have a couple gripes though: the selection of hull options is a bit limited compared to the other two and there aren't any guidelines for creating your own, as well as within the hulls you are locked to placing equipement in 'hardpoint slots', which is only compounds the frustrations found with limited hulls. The other problem is that Aethera ships do not have any guidelines for FTL travel (as the campaign setting is an inescapable star system) and I wouldn't know where to begin getting that right.
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So what are everyone's thoughts? Anyone see a genius way to hack the best pieces of each together? Should we just bite the bullet on Aethera and add what we need, or see if some homebrew fixes to Starfinder's odd design choices crop up in the next month or two?
Now available on OBS, Interjection Games is proud to present: The Master of Forms for Hero Lab
"Bend" the elements to your will!
The classical monk perfects himself through discipline and sheer force of will, turning his body into a lethal temple of the self. Of course, there's always more than one way to train a martial artist. Viewing such a path as narcissistic and sadly limited in its scope, the masters of forms seek both to understand their own limits, as well as the nature of the primal elements themselves. Harmony is not a fortress standing alone in the wastes; harmony is digging one's toes into the earth and feeling a sense of belonging. Only by reaching out and learning how to mimic the rich weave of the world itself can this true harmony be found.
Hey all! My name's Bennett Selchow, a Hero Lab coder working with Interjection Games, and I'm excited to announce that we will be releasing a Hero Lab data package for The Master of Forms (and its expansion!) in the very near future. While Brad puts together the legal and other finishing touches on his end, I wanted to start trawling for a public opinion on what our next release should be.
Now before anyone says it: the next release will NOT be Strange Magic. That is planned down the road, but there are some complex components that I will need to work out before that really gets under way. Instead, I plan to develop this other project at the same time that I prepare for SM, so that when I get sick of beating my head against the difficult stuff, I can work on something that provides myself a visible progress bar. :-)
With that in mind, I've got a few good candidates for this secondary project.
The Big Book of Bloodlines: This one sits at the top of my personal list because it's a Kickstarter-backed, meaty project that will be easy enough to work on, and because well... the sorcerer will always be my first love. This could also include IG's other bloodline expansions.
The Class Expansions Collection: Though known for his base classes, Brad has developed a number of small PDFs that build on the classes released by Paizo. This one would be a fairly quick and easy to complete, though if you're in love with the idea you'll have to convince me of its popularity.
The Tinker Collection: Interjection Games's original success story, the Tinker remains popular enough to get new mini-expansions year after year, and this would include everything released for the Tinker so far. I'll own up to a little hesitation with this idea, for I fear there may be hurdles similar to the ones I'll encounter with Strange Magic, but I'm entertaining the idea regardless, so I've included it.
There are other base classes that would be fairly easy to work on as well, such as the Assassin, Animist, Gadgeteer, and Sanguine Disciple. Ultimately, the opinions offered here will only be part of my decision process, but if I didn't care, I wouldn't be asking. :-P
**Oblivious to this becoming available on Paizo.**
Oops. Hey everyone! Author speaking here, figuring he should probably make himself known. This was my first crack at serious design, and I had the good fortune of not just Bradley Crouch's advice, but his publishing know-how to make this a reality. (You know, without a bunch of crashing and burning first.)
With that introduction out of the way... any questions for me about what's inside? :-)
This might be the wrong forum to place this question, but as I specifically have 3PP products in mind for this (since anything published by Paizo shows up on a SRD somewhere), this seemed the appropriate place.
What are the rules/guidelines/laws when it comes to sharing PDFs with my players on Google Drive or similar cloud-storage sites? I specifically bring up Google Drive because I know that you can disable file downloads and printing with documents uploaded there... but it isn't out of the question that someone can just 'screenshot' their browser if they really wanted to.
For example, I'm running two Pathfinder campaigns. One is a Roll20 game with six players I know personally, the other is a PbP on these boards with four players I haven't met and don't know well.
I use TPK Games' Laying Waste for both games (so far, I've explained how the rules work as they come up)
I would like to introduce Everyman Games' Ultimate Charisma into both games (there's a lot of content here - explaining each aspect of the system would be arduous).
In the PbP game, it takes place in Kobold Press's Northlands region, and it would be nice to share the campaign guide with my players. (Unlike the other two, this setting book has 89/110 pages marked as product Identity)
Does this some/all/none of this count as fair use? Is the proper way to make these changes to my games instead to require players to purchase these products themselves? I just want to make sure I go about this the right way for running my games.
The work began at daybreak. As cirrus clouds tickled the edge of a clear sky, you and your fellows escorted Fanna and Nord, her grandfather, to the docks of Skári. Your way paid in advance by House Hávardr, your charge and yourselves were seated on the Falgeirr, a smaller longship built of sturdy oak. Merchants loaded their wares, festival-goers shuffled coin with oarsmen, and gulls squawked loudly along the shore all before the journey down Three Glaciers Fjord began, but it began nonetheless.
Your travel from Skári to Drífa, the hamlet that Fanna calls home, was but five days across barren taiga. The journey from Drífa to Skári, however, took nearly two weeks as Boreas croaked the season's death rattle of howling winds and heavy snow. As such, conversation was curbed both by the effort of travel and the practicality of volume. The storm broke around before noon the day before as you neared Skári, and after an early bedtime, you're set to reach the village of Viezla by midday. Which gives you a day and a half to spare before the Ice-Break Þing is underway.
The sun is warm, and the winds are with your sails. Nord takes a break from beaming at his granddaughter proudly and turns to address the four of you. It is that same moment when a tenor voice cuts in from behind Havark, "Scaly skin? Say, I've just the tonic for that. Interested?"
Here's your opportunity to roleplay with each other and NPCs before anything too interesting happens. We won't dawdle here for too long, but anytime you guys are ready to move on, just say so.
As you're seated on the ship Azul, is your size reduced or no? There's seating either way. If your flaunting it, is Glówen riding somewhere on your person?
Boom! Discussion thread. I’ve got a few topics to start us off.
Character Portraits
Bane88 provided me with an image for Azul Undi - I’ll be using that for his token and character sheet on Roll20. Does anyone else have a particular image they’d like used for their character? If not, I’ll default to the one used for your alias.
Party History
I know Ashe suggested tieing Havark’s story to others via PMs. Did anyone take him up on that? Glówen and Azul are about the only solid connection that’s been forged out in the open at this point. Let’s start to get a real handle on this while I finish tying things up for the gameplay thread.
Posting
Third Person Limited, speaking in "quotes & bold", thinking in italics - OOC in OOC tags. Shirking the 'theater of the mind' approach, I will provide ACs, CMDs & F/R/W bonuses, such that players may describe their turns in full. To offset this free information, Knowledge checks made to learn about creatures will be at +5 DC. I would also like in-combat play to list round of combat, actions taken, and status effects. Ashe told me he was going to work out some macros for his character on Roll20 - would you rather roll dice on the forum, or on Roll20? It doesn’t matter to me - I will check Roll20 regularly during combats regardless for positioning and so on. Did I forget anything I should specify about posting in regards to combat, or otherwise?
Sample Post (dice on Paizo):
Round 1: Lothran "The dogs will die where they stand!" exclaimed Lothran. Sunlight glared off of his ancient blade as he rushed the foremost orc, and Lothran's steel bit deeply into the collar of his foe. These despicable fiends DO bleed, he thought, grimly .
Full: Charge 45' and attack with longsword.
Longsword Attack (charge):1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 2 = 17 Longsword Damage:1d8 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
AC at -2 from charge
Listen now to a song of the North Wind. Hearken to a story of mystery, of honor amidst deceptions, of feud and betrayal and nightmarish horrors, and of those long forgotten rising to walk beneath the icy stars.
Listen now to a Tale of the North. What Is This? “On the Fourth Day, We Kill Them All” is a Northlands adventure for four to six 3rd-level PCs.
The Northlands are a part of the Midgard Campaign Setting by Kobold Press. Drawing heavily from traditional Nordic themes and set near the literal “edge of the world” where reality breaks down, the Northlands is a Pathfinder experience where bravery and honor takes much you further than coin. THIS IS NOT A FULL CAMPAIGN. This will be the only adventure that I will run for these characters… at least for now.
This adventure starts with PCs traveling aboard the Falgeirr, a small longship ferrying passengers and merchant wares down Three Glacier Fjord from the port village Skári to Viezla for the Ice-Break Þing. House Hávardr has hired you as guards to escort the beautiful maiden Fanna, as she is to be the Vetrdís in this year’s Þing.
Definitions and Name Meanings:
Falgeirr = means ‘Travel-Spear’.
Fanna = means ‘Snowdrift’.
Hávardr = means ‘High-Guard’.
Þing (pronounced ‘thing’) = A combination of trade fair and democratic court, this is a many-day event that brings travelers from all around.
Vetrdís = means ‘Winter Lady’.
Viezla = means ‘Meeting Place’.
Who Am I?
An enthusiastic GM with a few years of experience under his belt, running mostly Pathfinder and some Dungeon World through a mix of in-person and VTT play. I have never participated in PbP before, but I've been perusing these forums and advice threads for a little while, and I'm excited to try a new format of gameplay.
Understanding that PbP gaming requires consistency and commitment, I am safeguarding myself against overdoing by choosing to run a single adventure, rather than assembling a full level 1-20 campaign out the door. If you have any other questions about me, feel free to ask.
Who Are You?
Someone who has a solid grasp of the Pathfinder rules. Sorry, but I'm not looking to teach people the game as I've done that enough. That said, someone who is new to PbP, and even someone who maybe hasn't PLAYED the game before (but can show that they know the rules), is as welcome as any veterans to apply.
I will be looking for interesting characters who can function in the cultural/social environment as described, but direct ties to the Northlands is by no means required. As noted in the tag, much of the 3rd-party Pathfinder material out there will be welcome. It is, in fact, encouraged: I really enjoy much of what 3PP companies put out, and don't get to use their products often enough. I'll include a list of of approved content in the Character Creation rules below, but anything not covered there I probably just don’t own, so you are welcome to ask.
Character Creation
All Paizo content is available for use.
3PP:
=Alluria Publishing=Clever Classes:The Marauder and Remarkable Races Compendium allowed.
=Amora Games=Liber Influxus Communis and WIP Liber Xpansion allowed.
=Dreadfox=Swordmaster allowed.
=Dreamscarred Press= Allowed, except flying races.
=Drop Dead Studios=Spheres of Power and supplements.
=EN Publishing= All Trailseeker is welcome.
=Eric Morton Presents= All allowed except for flying races, as noted.
=Everyman Games= All allowed.
=Flaming Crab Games= All allowed.
=Forest Guardian Press= All allowed.
=Interjection Games= All allowed.
=Kobold Press=Complete Advanced Feats and New Paths Compendium allowed, as well as Northlands Campaign Setting. Ask about the rest.
=Legendary Games=Gothic Campaign Compendium and Ultimate Commander allowed. Ask about the rest.
=Little Red Goblin Games=Alternate Paths books allowed. Gonzo disallowed, for hopefully obvious reasons. Ask about anything else.
=Paizo Fans United=Wayfinder allowed.
=Purple Duck Games= All allowed.
=Radiance House=Grimoire of Lost Souls playtest document allowed.
=Rite Publishing=In the Company of Angels disallowed. Everything else allowed.
=Rogue (Super) Genius Games=Horrifically Overpowered Feats series and The Genius Guide to the Shaman disallowed. Everything else allowed.
=Total Party Kill Games=Feats Reforged series not in use. Laying Waste rules will be used in place of standard critical rules, and all options within are allowed. The basics of these rules, for those without them, will be explained at the game outset. Anything else, just ask.
=Wayward Rogues Publishing= Ask first, but generally allowed.
Race: Anything reasonable balanced against races presented in the CRB is okay. No races with either constant or shapechanging abilities that grant flight.
Starting Level: 3rd
HP: Max at 1st level, either average or as rolled in this thread for 2nd & 3rd levels - your choice.
Abilities: 15 point buy
Gear:Automatic Bonus Progression will be used. Starting wealth is 1500 gp, expected to be divvied up fairly evenly between offense, defense, magic, limited use, and gear - though some wiggle room is fine.
Alignment: Characters will have three loyalties that define them ideologically. Abilities dependent on alignment will be managed as per Subjective Morality, if/when they see use in play.
Religion: We will use the pantheon presented in the Northlands book. Lines up pretty nice with the old Norse pantheon if you want to go searching for more in-depth information.
Baldur, the Shining:
Youthful god of light and beauty, happiness, and rebirth Domains: Charm, Good, Healing, Protection, Sun
Favored Weapon: Mace
Boreas, the Devouring Wind:
Cruel god of the North wind, bringer of storms and killing cold Domains: Air, Evil, Madness, Travel, Weather
Favored Weapon: Pick
Donar, the Thunderer:
God of strength and thunder, slayer of monsters and protector of man Domains: Destruction, Protection, Strength, War, Weather
Favored Weapon: Warhammer
Freyr & Freyja:
Twin Gods of Passion, Fertility, Magic, and the Natural World Domains: Animal, Charm, Magic, Plants, Water
Favored Weapon: Sickle
Hod, the Blind:
Blind god of caves and darkness Domains: Darkness, Earth, Liberation, Repose, Travel
Favored Weapon:
Loki, the Trickster:
Shapeshifting god of cunning, mischief, and malice Domains: Chaos, Fire, Luck, Travel, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Net
Njord, the Ocean Master:
Fearless god of the sea travel Domains: Artifice, Magic, Travel, Water, Weather
Favored Weapon: Harpoon
Master of fire and anvil Domains: Artifice, Community, Earth, Fire, Travel
Favored Weapon: Battle Axe
Wotan, the Rune Father:
God of strike and wily king of the Asgard Domains: Fate, Knowledge, Nobility, Runes, War
Favored Weapon: Spear
Game Expectations
I live in Central Standard Time, and at the start of the campaign will post a minimum of twice a day Monday-Friday. My weekends are generally pretty hectic, but I will post at least 1/day. If, for any reason, I am unable to post as a GM, I will regardless notify you of that fact within the timeframe of this schedule. Players are expected to post 1/day throughout the week and once between Saturday and Sunday. On this I’ll be a little flexible, but if you end up over 48 hours overdue, ESPECIALLY without communicating, I reserve the right to post for you to the best of my interpretation of your character. Additionally, if you are new to PbP, like me, let me point you to some great advicethreads.
Battlemaps, when in use, will be managed on Roll20. Roll20 supports tablets and conventional computers, but not mobile phones, so be aware of that. I will also use the Journal tools of the site for NPC portraits and descriptions, and quick rule references for stuff like the Laying Waste rules. You won't be required to learn how to navigate the Journals functionality, but I'm most comfortable GMing with Roll20's full array of features, and I believe it'd be a boon to your gaming experience if you did. Upon game start, I will send a link inviting you to the campaign, and if you do not have one already, you will be asked to make an account (don't worry, it's free).
Other than that, common sense rules apply: make characters that can work with others as well as the described hook. Communicate with me and with your party, and be pleasant when doing so.
Submissions will be accepted until Tuesday, February 2nd, at which time I will select five characters and two or three alternates.
Just looking for an update on this order, placed on October 17; shipping was estimated to be 2-14 days, and I'm curious about what the issue is. If it is going to continue to be a wait, that's fine, but it would be preferable to see the charge go through on my debit card.
