"If there is one thing you need to know about Gods..." Said the old Wizard, as he tapped the ashes out of his pipe then refilled it with fresh pipe weed.
"...it's that they are all, without exception, and that includes the good ones..." The Wizard continued as he knocked the ash from his long white beard and relit his pipe.
"...A bunch of f~$*ing dicks."
"Not quite the opinion I was expecting when I inquired of one of the most knowledgeable wizards I know as to the nature of the Divine." The bookish young man admitted in surprise at the Wizard's answer.
"What would you have me say? The Gods are formidable beings, formed from Astral essence, the power of Ideas, into a latticework of reality altering power without form or function beyond the application of intellect and will. Unbound completely from physical existence the Gods are the greatest power in the multiverse bar none and know nothing of pain, weakness, or vulnerability." The Wizard replies, taking a few long satisfying puffs on his pipe.
"They have all the perfection the ego could desire and have all the power the Id could want. They are truly beings unbound by mortal frailty."
"Why do you insult them then?" The young man asked. "They sound like beings beyond fear or desire."
"No." The old wizard responded. "For though they can do anything they want to us and the world, even to our most closely held concepts of identity and reality, there are still those who frustrate them and their desires and who can bring them a true death."
"Who?" The young man asked.
"Each other." The Wizard replies with a thoughtful look. "If this multiverse had one God instead of twenty perhaps there would be peace, but the Great Game continues on between them and we are the pawns on the board, if we find ourselves one of the individuals unfortunate enough to be caught up in it, any conceit we may hold that we are masters of our own destiny vanishes the second we realize what is happening. We are pawns in a cruel game, that is why I condemn the Gods."
"Are you saying that we mortals don't have free will?" The young man asks, looking perturbed.
"Oh, we do, it is just that everything we are and everything we know can be swept away in an instant."
"A terrifying thought!" The young man exclaims. "To think that everything can be manipulated or destroyed by a will far beyond our own at a whim! What can we do in the face of that?"
"For me..." The old Wizard says as he stares out across his beautiful, well maintained garden surrounding his tower and puffing on his pipe.
Check in if you will and we can begin to discuss any preexisting relationships we want between player Gods before the game's current time and who created what.
In addition I will be selecting Forgotten Realms Gods to make up the NPC slots, somewhat based on what roles the players occupy.
Hello all and welcome to my pathfinder God game recruitment thread. In this game you will each play one of twenty deities that together rule their own multiverse, allying or bickering with each other as you attempt to gain status and control while a new threat arises and threatens to topple the Gods from their Divine thrones and take the multiverse for its own.
The game will feature Divine politics as well as Divine dicking around and will be largely player motivated, however, there is an interesting story and a main villain as well that will be part of the game.
The game will be rules light and will focus heavily on being a power fantasy with players free to invent or borrow from fiction locations, people, and events as they see fit to interact with and keep things interesting.
What is a God?:
A God is a Divine being made up of potent conceptual astral energy. The have strong personalities and powerful intellects but have no set physical shape and can assume any form they choose. They are likewise not bound by purely physical laws, able to peer with their minds almost anywhere in the multiverse as well as being able to communicate through dreams, signs, and visions as well as more mortal forms of communication.
Gods interact with their environments through simple acts of will that produce reality altering effects, effects that are not magic, per se but something both simpler and more powerful, the direct application of willpower to bend reality.
Gods are Immortal and nearly Indestructible with only a very few ways to die involving specific forces strong enough to unravel the net of divine energy that is a deity.
God Powers:
Gods do not need to eat, sleep,or breathe and do not age. They are immune to every form of manipulation or attack outside of a few specific ones(to be detailed later)
Gods speak, understand, and can use every form of communication that exists and can also communicate through signs, wonders, and visions.
If they concentrate Gods can peer anywhere in the multiverse and employ all five senses to perceive what they are viewing. There are some places Gods cannot perceive though, usually they are blocked from peering into the Planar homes of other Deities for example.
Gods can instantly travel anywhere in the Multiverse as a move action, even through planar barriers, though there are some barriers that can specifically keep Gods out, like a Gods personal Planar Domain if he does not wish visitors.
Gods can alter reality at a whim with very few limits on what can be accomplished, they can summon armies of angels or demons millions strong with the blink of an eye, raise a mile high fortress of adamantine with a wiggle of their eyebrows, create a major artifact with a snap of their fingers or tear an entire planet in two with a wave of their hand. While this is an act of will and theoretically a mortal with a strong enough will could resist something being done directly to them by a God no creature in creation has enough strength to even try.
Gods can assume any form they wish either conceptually or physically. If they assume a physical form they receive the stats of the person or creature they wish to be and can be slain in this form, however such a death does not harm the deity in the least and they can simply assume the form again or a different one whenever they want.
Followers and Worshipers:
As the game begins each deity has a religion with a million faithful worshipers, which may be located in one centralized location like a continent or may be spread out, even perhaps across multiple planets on the Material plane.
Unlike in some universes worshipers neither increase nor decrease a Gods power and are largely irrelevant to the God except as mortals who follow the God's personal beliefs and fight in the God's name.
In addition to a mortal religion Gods have tens of thousands of outsider minions, some frightfully powerful, and perhaps allies in the form of powerful and wondrous beings of all possible descriptions.
Can Gods be killed?:
Yes, but it is rare and takes specific powers of immense potency. To date the only known way Gods have died are in conflict with another God. When a battle erupts between two Gods and neither backs down at any point their astral essences can become violently entangled and unravel, destroying both Gods involved permanently.
It is possible there are other ways for Gods to die but none have been recorded up till now.
A Deities Planar Domain:
Each deity with rare exception has formed a Domain on a plane of existence they feel especially comfortable in(usually an outer plane with an alignment the same or similar to the God's one.) This domain is both a playground and home for the God and a place of protection, as he or she can block the remote viewing powers of other Gods and even bar them from entering. Planar Domains span a 100 mile radius around their center point and can look like and be anything the God wants, usually environments and structures the God enjoys and finds comforting.
God Conflict:
It is inevitable that the wills of two Gods will clash during this game if, say, one God is trying to sink a continent into the ocean and another is trying to keep it where it is. If this occurs both players must roll a d20, the higher roll is the winner and his will takes precedence(the GM will moderate such conflicts). It is also possible for Gods to kill each other, if both players agree each of their Gods can battle the other and both will be utterly destroyed. A rare circumstance, but it could happen.
Character Creation:
As a rules light game Character Creation is rather simple, choose a name, alignment, some titles for your god and a symbol, make a well formed personality and personal philosophy then choose a favored weapon and what domains you offer your Divine Casters.
Next, choose who your primary worshipers are and invent a Planar Domain as your home, then voila, you are done.
While the Gods themselves don't have stats as such your minions do and if you would like to detail stats for your Herald, special servants, etc feel free.
I will be accepting up to ten players in this game and will be accepting submissions until September 3rd.
In the extreme far north of the world is a tear in the fabric of reality, a hole into that unknowable realm men, in their ignorance, call The Realm of Chaos.
If the Realm of Chaos can be compared to something from the real world it would be an ocean, a vast ocean of magical energy formed from the thoughts, feelings, Souls, and imaginations of mortals.
All things exist in its swirling depths, every last idle dream man has ever had, for in this realm thoughts and feelings are as tangible as steel and stone is in the real world. When a person dies, their souls migrate into this realm of living dreams, where they encounter the Gods and Daemons of the mortal mind in strange realms formed from imagination, faith and emotion.
Though the Gods and Daemons of this realm are formed from the emotions and imaginations of mortals they are no idle reflections, they are real, and sentient and oh so potent in their terrible power, and they hunger, they hunger for more emotions, more power, more souls. Even the most benevolent amongst them draw strength and energy from the mortal races subconscious mind.
In ancient days a terrible event opened the door to this realm in the far north, and its energy has spilled forth ever since, raw magic, the raw power of change, sweeping the far north into shadow and mutating both the lands and the denizens beneath the pall.
Hello all, how are you doing? This is my recruitment thread for a short Warhammer Fantasy world adventure using the pathfinder rules.
The game is set far in the north of the Warhammer World on the border lands of the Chaos Wastes where a Norscan warlord has gathered an army of barbarians and mercenaries to seek out the legendary Tomb of the Daemon King, desiring the power rumored to be buried within.
You are one of those mercenaries, promised a pile of treasure and perhaps a share of the fallen Daemon's power should the venture succeed.
Characters start at level 13 with 140,000 gp worth of magical treasure.
You may pick 2 traits.
Any kind of character can be made though some effort should be made to flavor the character for the Warhammer World.
Combat:
I do not use maps or grids in my games, I will simply describe the scene and how far apart the opponents are, other than that movement is mostly abstract and descriptive. Usually when it comes to positioning the player can simply put themselves in the most advantageous position if they have the movement, example: if I say an Orc is x feet away and the players have that much movement than a pair of players can simply say they move to flank the Orc, simple.
One concept I use in PbP you may not be familiar with is that I simply do away with Initiative. Instead combat rounds work like this: After describing a scene and saying combat starts players have 24 hours of real time to post their turn, after the 24 hours the enemy goes, then the players have another 24 hours to go etc until combat is done. PC actions occur in the order they are posted.
If you do not post your character's actions within a given 24 hour period you simply miss that turn.
This style of combat has a couple of advantages, it keeps combat moving and means that the game will never grind to a halt because of a lagging player. It also means as long as you are on during that 24 hour period you can simply post your action instead trying to fit in a specified initiative order.
I am looking for between 5-8 players. Characters will advance in levels at certain points in the story not by the accumulation of XP.
This is based on a question I asked in a thread since locked that I didn't get a chance to see what the responses were. I am not trying to be inflammatory with this question I am just very curious about it.
While the world(and specifically the internet) is filled with conspiracy theories about all sorts of subjects the subject that has struck me as just exceptionally odd is the controversy around climate change, specifically human influenced climate change.
Climate change is a well researched and understood subject, and while many of the particulars are still being learned and debated the fact that it is happening and is influenced by human beings is pretty well established, the science is in, as it were.
And yet a wide host of conspiracy theories surrounded it, the most common being that the whole thing is being faked by the scientific community for some unspecified purpose.
To me this is just striking me as just so strange, I think mostly because I don't understand what people's investment in it being a lie is.
Why would scientists fake this? What is the underlying fear or motivation in believing a conspiracy theory like this? To me it is like if a huge number of people believed the periodic table of elements was a giant lie and had to be passionately condemned for the filthy deception it was.
So pornography tends to be polarizing topic, but it is a decently big part of our society's entertainment (billion dollar industry)so I thought perhaps we could have an at least semi-flameless conversation about it.
I believe in free speech and that adults should be able to enjoy erotic material without getting flak for it.
Still, pornography has been shown to have some influence in causing a few issues. Younger viewers often have their expectations of sexuality influenced by pornography (Is my body suppose to be look like that? Is that the most pleasurable way to have sex? What the hell is this 'foreplay' real women are expecting me to do? Am I suppose to do what those women in the videos do?)
Halfway decent sexual education for teenagers would fix the above pretty easily but unfortunately in the U.S. we rarely have that.
Enough consumption of pornography has been shown to cause ED in some men with no physical problems when dealing with a real partner.
Though most women in the industry are willing(and even happy) participants, coercion and exploitation are still common and after their careers in the industry are over adult film actors often find themselves treated badly by society.
It is a complex issue and I have only scratched the surface in this opening post, but I am interested in seeing what you guys think.
In the kingdom of Talingarde, many crimes may send you to Branderscar Prison, but the sentence has but one meaning. You are wicked and irredeemable.
Each of you received the same greeting when you arrived. You were held down by rough hands and branded upon the arm with a runic F. The mark signifies ‘forsaken’ and the painful scar is indelible proof that each of you has betrayed the great and eternal love of Mitra and his chosen mortal vassals.
Condemned, you face at best a life of shackles and servitude in the nearby salt mines. Others might await the “gentle” ministrations of the inquisitors so that co-conspirators may be revealed and confessions extracted. Perhaps, some of you will be spared this ordeal. Perhaps instead you have come to Branderscar to face the final judgment. In three days, the executioner arrives and the axe falls or the pyre will be lit. Through fire or steel, your crimes will be answered.
You have all been chained together in the same communal cell dressed in nothing but filthy, tattered rags. Manhandled and mistreated, any finery you once possessed is either ruined or long lost. No special treatment has been given any prisoner – male or female, commoner or noble – all of the forsaken are bound and imprisoned together. Your feet are secured by iron cuffs tethered by one long chain. Your arms are secured to the wall above by manacles. A guard is posted right outside the cell day and night. Little thought is given to long term accommodations. At Branderscar, justice comes swift and sure.
Escape seems hopeless. You have all been well searched and every attempt to conceal anything on your person has failed. And if you could somehow slip your bonds and fly out of this prison, where would you go? Who from your former life would want anything to do with the forsaken? Despised, alone and shackled – all that you can do now is await your doom.
For each of you, your old life is over.
For each of you, hope is a fading memory.
For each of you, justice will be fairly meted.
And who can blame fair Talingarde after what each of you has done?
At the moment you are all left alone to rot in your cell, if you would like to take a moment to interact with each other feel free, otherwise you can wait a bit and start playing as events begin to move forward.
Hey all and welcome to my Way of the Wicked recruitment thread.
Way of the Wicked is a savagely dark campaign were a group of villains rise from the sunken depths of being condemned prisoners to the dizzy heights of being the Dark Lords of an entire kingdom. But if you are here you prolly already know what you are getting into.
I am looking for nine players(yes nine! Nine is one of the sacred numbers of Asmodeus in some worlds, including mine. Also, play by post can handle more than the usual number of players...so that's a more mundane reason to have nine...)
Tone and Theme:
This Way of the Wicked adventure is for serious, realistic villains, not cartoon villains. It will have a dark tone but won't necessarily be bleak, there will be room for humor and levity. The primary themes I will encourage is friendship(even villains can overcome anything with some good pals), The consequences of deliberately choosing evil (to others if not necessarily to the evildoer) and the idea that no matter how righteous or in the right a good hero may be, in a war power is what matters, not morality.
Character Creation:
A Character's ability scores are simple chosen by the player to fit their character's concept. You can choose any score from 3 to 18 before racial adjustments. Yes this means you could have an 18 in every score but unless you have a pretty great story for why your character is such a paragon of awesomeness I will prolly not choose your submission.
Alignment must be one of the following: Neutral, Lawful Neutral, Evil, Lawful Evil.
Core Rulebook races are allowed automatically others on a case by case basis. (though I will prolly favor the characters made with Core Rulebook races over exotic races unless your character really stands out, just personal preference.)
Your Character begins at level 3, not 1 and you will have max HP per level(you will receive max HP at every level throughout the game).
You have 2 additional skill points per level beyond what you would normally receive.
You begin the game with no equipment and no animal companions, mounts etc. Spellcasters who memorize spells will begin with a head full of prepared spells, but no spellbooks, material components, divine focuses, etc. You literally have nothing but the dirty clothes on your back.
Material from the Core Rulebook, the Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Combat and the Campaign itself will be allowed. (Anti-Paladin can be any Evil Alignment, Vampires and Lichs allowed according to the Way of the Wicked rules) later on the Mythic rules will also be introduced as well but that is a way down the road.
As far as optional rules I do not use any. (traits or hero points or the like, although you will select a crime before you begin.)
Your Terrible Crime:
Each character chooses one heinous crime that has earned them a place in Branderscar Prison. Each crime grants a different benefit, similar to a trait. You may have committed many crimes during your lifetime, but this is the crime that finally got you branded and condemned.
Besides simplying choosing a crime, you should also consider how the crime was done. Was this a wellplanned criminal enterprise or a crime of passion? Did you do it alone or did you have accomplices? Was this the first time you did this crime or are you a repeat offender? Answering these questions will help flesh out your character’s background.
Your character actually perpetrated this crime. You may have done it for what seemed like noble reasons. You may have gotten entangled in this criminal enterprise unwillingly. But there is no doubt that you are guilty. You have not been sentenced to the worse prison in Talingarde unjustly. You are here because you deserve to be.
Arson
You have willfully started a fire that destroyed property. To be sent to Branderscar, you didn’t start just a minor little trash fire. Your act of arson threatened a major town, city, church or castle and likely cost someone their life. You’ll be punished for your crime by facing the fire yourself.
Punishment: Death by burning
Benefit: Whenever you score a critical hit with a fire
attack, you receive a +2 fire damage bonus to your
damage roll. This bonus is a trait bonus.
Attempted Murder
You tried to kill someone and botched the job. To be sent to Branderscar Prison, you did not try to kill just anyone. You likely assaulted someone of great importance and prominence.
Punishment: Death by beheading
Benefit: You gain a +2 trait bonus to Intimidate checks, and Intimidate is always a class skill for you.
Blasphemy
Either you have defamed the great god Mitra or you have been found guilty of worshipping one of the forbidden deities (who preeminent among them is Asmodeus).
Punishment: Death by burning
Benefit: +2 trait bonus to Knowledge (religion) and Knowledge (religion) is always a class skill for you.
Consorting with the Dark Powers (Witchcraft)
You have been found guilty of summoning an evil outsider. Likely you were captured by the famed witch hunter Sir Balin of Karfeld. The last thing he said to you was, “May Mitra have mercy upon your wretched, damned soul.” If only you could get a chance at revenge!
Punishment: Death by burning
Benefit: You receive a +1 trait bonus to Knowledge (planes) and Knowledge (arcana) checks, and one of these skills (your choice) is always a class skill for you.
Desecration
You have violated one of the churchs, cathedrals or holy shrines of the great god Mitra. To be sent to Branderscar this was no minor act of vandalism. Instead you have done something flagrant and spectacular to dishonor the Shining Lord.
Punishment: Death by burning
Benefit: You receive +1 trait bonus on all saving throws against divine spells.
Desertion
You have deserted from the Talirean military and been recaptured. To get sent to Branderscar this was not some minor or routine dereliction of duty. Instead, you abandoned your post during a time of crisis -- perhaps battle or while defending the Watch Wall. Regardless of the exact circumstances, your laziness and cowardliness must have caused loss of life.
Punishment: Death by hanging
Benefit: You receive one bonus skill point per level that must be spent on the Profession (Soldier) skill. Profession (Soldier) is always a class skill for you.
Dueling unto Death
You have engaged in a duel to the death and mortally wounded an opponent. The opponent was honorable enough to say nothing before he expired. Alas that his family or companions was nowhere near so honorable. Dueling was once common in Talingarde before the House of Darius came to power. The House of Barca all but encouraged duels of honor. Now, dueling of any sort is punished severely. Dueling to the death is a sure way to be sent to Branderscar Prison.
Punishment: Death by beheading
Benefit: You gain a +1 trait bonus to Fortitude saves.
Extortion: You have defrauded money from someone by holding information of their wrongdoing over their heads. To end up in Branderscar, this was no minor act of merely threatening to expose someone. Instead you have attempted extortion against someone of great prominence and for exorbitant stakes.
Punishment: Life at hard labor in the salt mines
Benefit: You receive a +2 trait bonus to Intimidate checks, and Intimidate is always a class skill for you.
Forgery
You have forged documents issued either by the crown or by the Church of Mitra. Alas, that your forgery while competent was not entirely undetectable. To be sent to Branderscar, this was no minor finagling of paperwork. This forged document could have cost lives, undermined the reputation of the Church or endangered the security of the realm.
Punishment: Life at hard labor in the salt mines
Benefit: You gain a +3 trait bonus to Linguistics skill checks to commit forgery and Linguistics is always a class skill for you.
Fraud
You tried to bilk someone out of their cash. To end up in Brandescar Prison, this was no petty con job or penny ante racket. Instead, you brazenly tried to defraud someone important of a huge sum of money. And it almost worked too!
Punishment: Life at hard labor in the salt mines
Benefit: You receive a +2 trait bonus to Bluff checks and Bluff is always a class skill for you.
Grave Robbery
It is forbidden by sacred law to dishonor a corpse after it is been sealed in its tomb by a clergy of the Mitran faith. Some may not honor this ban: necromancers, golem crafters, self-styled scientists, and alchemists delving into the forbidden secrets of life and death. These ghouls can expect no mercy from the Talirean Magistrates. And by sending you to Branderscar Prison, you have received none.
Punishment: Death by beheading
Benefit: You receive a +1 trait bonus to confirm critical hits
Heresy
You have denied the supremacy of Mitra and been condemned for it. For this to be a crime, you were not content to keep your heresy to yourself. You tried to sway others. Likely you were captured by the famed witch hunter Sir Balin of Karfeld. The last thing he said to you was: “Mitra may forgive you yet for your lies. Talingarde will not.” If only you could get a chance at revenge!
Punishment: Death by burning.
Benefit: You receive a +1 trait bonus on all saving throws against divine spells.
High Theft
You had a foolproof plan to steal some great treasure. Alas, the scheme had a fatal flaw and went horribly awry. To be sent to Branderscar prison, this was no ordinary robbery attempt. You tried to steal something of great value or religious significance.
Punishment: Life at hard labor in the salt mines
Benefit: You receive a +1 trait bonus to Reflex saves.
High Treason
You have willfully worked to bring down the current Monarch of Talingarde -- the beloved King Markadian V called the Brave of House Darius. To be successfully tried for High Treason you have done more than merely dislike the king, you did something tangible to undermine his rule. Alas, that you failed at your plot and are now headed to Branderscar Prison. Treason is the only crime that is still punished by the gruesome ritual of being drawn and quartered. Your stay at Branderscar will be brief.
Punishment: Death by drawing and quartering
Benefit: You receive a +1 trait bonus to Will saves.
Kidnapping
You have abducted someone perhaps to ransom them or do unspeakable things to them. Unfortunately, you were caught and your victim was rescued (if they weren’t rescued -- you would be guilty of murder instead). To be sent to Branderscar Prison, you must have abducted someone of great importance or in a particularly gruesome manner.
Punishment: Death by beheading
Benefit: You receive a +1 trait bonus to both Disarm and Grapple attempts.
Murder
You have killed without just cause and been condemned for it. To be sent to Branderscar Prison, this was no typical killing but a particularly savage and unforgiveable act. You may also have killed someone with powerful friends. Note: You are not allowed to have killed someone in the royal family of Talingarde. You may have tried (his would instead be High Treason -- see above) but ultimately they are too well protected.
Punishment: Death by beheading
Benefit: You deal 1 additional point of damage when flanking a foe. This additional damage is a trait bonus.
Piracy
You have been caught in the act of piracy on the high seas. This is a rare crime these days since Markadian I called the Victorious burned the last major pirate fleet to threaten these isles. Still the crime is punished harshly. Likely you are the sole survivor of your ship.
Punishment: Death by hanging
Benefit: You may select either Bluff or Intimidate. The selected skill receives a +2 trait bonus and is always a class skill for you.
Sedition
You have attempted to covertly stir up rebellion against your rightful sovereign. This differs from high treason in that you attempted to convince others to make war against Talingarde instead of taking direct action yourself. A subtle difference to be sure. But it is the difference between receiving the swift justice of the axe instead of the slow suffering upon the rack.
Punishment: Death by beheading
Benefit: You receive a +1 trait bonus to Bluff checks and Bluff is always a class skill for you. Further if you ever take the Leadership feat, you gain a +1 trait bonus to your Leadership score.
Slave-Taking
Slavery is illegal in Talingarde and a very rare crime. Still, once in a great while, slavers from the mainland will foolishly make an incursion into Talirean protected territories. When they are captured alive they are always made an example of.
Punishment: Death by beheading
Benefit: You receive a +1 trait bonus to both Disarm and Grapple attempts.
Slave Trading
Slavery is legal in other parts of the world and it can be tempting to the most decadent of Talingarde’s nobility to acquire a “souvenir” when traveling abroad or to purchase the object of their desire from a less reputable merchant. However you ended up trading slaves in Talingarde, you were caught red handed and now you will lose more than simply your freedom.
Punishment: Death by beheading
Benefit: You receive one bonus skill point per level that must be spent on the Appraise skill. The Appraise skill is always a class skill for you.
Personality and Background:
This is the most important part of the selection process for me, far more than the mechanics of your character. I would like you to write a bit of a backstory for your character, doesn't have to be really long (actually would prefer if it's not)but something that shows me your character's personality and how he or she ended up being an evil(or neutral with leanings towards malice) dick on their way to be executed at Branderscar.
Adult content level:
Though the Way of the Wicked campaign suggests setting the 'movie rating' of the game to PG-13 I prefer to set the rating to R, as it were. In that it can contain content up to what can be shown in an R rated movie.
That being said I will not as the DM ever describe scenes of detailed graphic torture, etc (and will discourage others from doing so) but depending on how evil the players end up being we could end up with 'Sin City' levels of mayhem. i.e. potentially someone might get tied up and their limbs fed to a hungry dog but I won't be describing every rip and tear. =P
Note: I live in the United States and I am not sure what the rating systems are for other countries, hopefully my ratings comparison makes sense.
What players should expect from the game:
As far as game play I would like to make players aware of what my particular DMing style is like. I tend to be more story oriented as a DM than combat or mechanics oriented and as such my games always include a great deal of character interaction and roleplaying and I encourage the PCs to roleplay with each other as well, on the reverse side some of the classic elements of gameplay bore me and I tend to abbreviate them: In particular, dungeon crawls. They are not very fun for me and in a play by post where fighting through a few rooms of mooks and searching them can take potentially weeks of real time I will likely condense some of the locations in game so that the relevant parts are brought to light quickly and the empty rooms, filler mook fights etc, are glossed over. This will hopefully help keep the pace up so at no point are we all bored to F-ing tears.
Look at it this way, would you rather get on with the business of being awesome villains, intimidating innocent folks, plotting for power, dominating your minions, killing the heroes that matter etc? Or would you rather comb through your sixth twenty foot room looking for loose change after killing a few irrelevant guards in exactly the same way as your heroic non-evil counterparts do?
Anyway as for the game itself I plan to stick decently close to the source material, though things will be changed here and there to my liking, in addition I will be adding additional NPCs, antagonists, and organizations to keep things fresh.
You will start at level 3 and be level 20 by campaigns end, with some Mythic tiers earned later as well. In this game I will not award experience but will simply tell the group they have earned a level when I feel it is time.
I will DM this game till it's conclusion as long as at least one player is still active and wants to play. I will not abandon this game or randomly disappear.
What I expect from players:
I expect players to be mature and not act like jerks toward each other. Discussions and even arguments will prolly arise in this game just like in most games but we will be kind to each other and talk things through like adults.
I use a three warnings system in my games, where if someone is being rude or disruptive I will issue a warning while explaining the problem behavior and possible solutions, if the player continues with this behavior I will do the same thing again, if I have to do it a third time you are out of the game.
In general, just don't be a jerk and everything is cool.
My three other expectations are 1. Please don't bother joining this game unless you fully intend to finish it (although if later real life happens or you just get hella bored, I understand) 2. it is very important that your character be capable of working well with other PCs. and 3. although I don't necessarily think it's that great a story structure the adventure relies on the characters being willing to follow the direction of a greater villain for about the first 2/3s of the adventure. I will try to make it enticing in game but you have to be willing to do so to keep the adventure from going completely off the rails.
Combat:
I do not use maps or grids in my games, I will simply describe the scene and how far apart the opponents are, other than that movement is mostly abstract and descriptive. Usually when it comes to positioning the player can simply put themselves in the most advantageous position if the have the movement, example: if I say a bugbear is x feet away and the players have that much movement than a pair of players can simply say they move to flank the bugbear, simple.
One concept I use in PbP you may not be familiar with is that I simply do away with Initiative. Instead combat rounds work like this: After describing a scene and saying combat starts players have 24 hours of real time to post their turn, after the 24 hours the enemy goes, then the players have another 24 hours to go etc until combat is done. PC actions occur in the order they are posted.
If you do not post your character's actions within a given 24 hour period you simply miss that turn.
This style of combat has a couple of advantages, it keeps combat moving and means that the game will never grind to a halt because of a lagging player. It also means as long as you are on during that 24 hour period you can simply post your action instead trying to fit in a specified initiative order.
In practice I find some players consistently miss turns but since we will have more than the normal amount of PCs this shouldn't be much of a disadvantage for the group, additionally if everyone is on the ball you should shred your opponents easily, as most encounters are balanced for 4-5 PCs not 9!
Submissions will be accepted until December 15th, after which I will spend a few days deciding who I would like to recruit and then launch the game.
Hi all, I have been feeling like having a change of pace recently and I would like to run a villainous game for some nice players and not-so-virtuous characters. Anyone interested in playing a villainous campaign?
It would be the Way of the Wicked campaign and I would stay decently close to the source material, varying some stuff here and there and likely adding some more villains (er, heroes?...antagonists!).
If there is enough interest to get the game off the ground I'll make an actual recruitment thread and post character creation rules, materials allowed etc. For now just checking to see if folks want to play!
Because Initiative can drag a game to a halt on an online game the normal Initiative rules will be discarded and combat will work like this:
Once the scene is described for a combat I will declare the combat to begin, after this players will have 24 hours in which to post their actions, after 24 hours the enemies will get their turn, then you may act again, 24 hours after I make the enemy post they will go again etc till the combat is done.
If you do not post within your 24 hour blocks you lose that particular turn. However, life being what it is I know it is easy to miss a turn or even a combat so I will balance encounters as if you guys have less party members than you do, so if everyone posts awesome! You should kick alot of ass.
Communication:
Communication is a big part of what keeps a Pbp alive, if I go on vacation, get sick etc. I will tell you and keep you updated if I need to pause the game momentarily. I will not disappear randomly. (unless I get hit by a bus load of monkeys driven by the incredible hulk or something similar, not a lot I can do about random death.=p) and I intend to play the game to completion as long as I have literally at least one player still interested.
On your side please inform me if you need to take a break for any reason, it's cool it's just helpful to know what's up.
In addition if you want to leave the game permanently for any reason, just tell me, it's cool, even if the reason is as simple as the game now bores you to death or you have better things to do, I won't be offended it will just be a lot easier to run the game if you don't randomly disappear.
Aside from those big things anything else you need to talk about just feel free, even if you want to PM me, let's keep this game running as smoothly as possible. Which brings me to my next point*
Player Code of Conduct*:
Aside from the Paizo Boards guidelines my only real rule is simple: Don't be a jerk.
There will be conflicts and differences in opinion in this game as with most games but we will talk it out as best we can without abuse, snark, insults etc.
Polite conflict is fine but if you get nasty I will issue you a warning and ask you to take it down a notch, after three warnings I will boot you from the game. We are here to have fun, not rip into each other. Polite discussion always please.
The Morpheus Sector: A heavily industrialized sector of space close to the Imperial heart land, this territory suffers from far greater than average incidents of heresy, corruption and rebellion.
Situated in the galactic northwest half way between Terra and the Eye of Terror, the Morpheus Sector is a primary production source providing men and material to reinforce the Cadian Gate and the Imperial watch worlds encircling the Eye of Terror.
With the launch of Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade the Morpheus Sector is stretched to the limit providing resources and has become comparatively lightly defended at a time when it needs strength like never before.
From the Realspace/Warpspace overlap on the eastern side of the Sector, once a large group of heavily populated Eldar worlds and now a nightmarish Warpstorm known as the Realm of Dreams, come the Chaos Space Marines and their armies of Heretics intent on destruction and mayhem.
From below the galactic plane, rising up like a beast from the depths to consume all; Tyranid Hive Fleet Tiamat has already almost completely devoured a neighboring Sector and now encroaches on Morpheus.
And near the center of the Morpheus Sector, amid dead worlds and old, weak stars long ignored by the Imperium, ancient, machine like intellects begin to awaken and focus their malignant, alien gazes upon the heavily populated human worlds around them.
But these threats are just the beginning, for a pair of far darker forces have begun to use the Morpheus Sector as their personal Regicide board and no matter who wins, the humans of the Morpheus Sector lose...
...The Shadow War has begun and all that stands between humanity and total destruction is the loyal and brave members of the Deathwatch, ideally placed by Fate to have a chance at saving mankind.
So I have been playing Final Fantasy 12 on my ps2 recently and today, as I was in the middle of one of the end game super boss battles my ps2 just completely died.
Good news is I still have the save data on my memory card, bad news is I don't have a ps2 anymore.
Still not the worst video game related disaster I've suffered (worst prolly goes to that time my cousin saved over all four of my saved game files when I was 70 hours into a game)but still pretty annoying.
How about you guys? Ever put a ton of effort into a game you love only to lose the data or your ability to play? Share your tales!
Relevant Information: 16 months ago Governor Malcantus declared Medenva free from Imperial yoke. Attempts from loyalist PDF to dispose of the governor failed. Planet firmly under traitor control. Connection to maleficarum in evidence, Alpha Legion involvement suspected. May be the latest of the Alpha Legion inspired insurrections in the Morpheus Sector. Battlefleet Morpheus has quarantined the planet. Imperial Guard regiments being assembled for liberation.
Orders for Deathwatch Squad Thanatos:
Primary Objective: Assault the Governor's primary residence and capture him for interrogation. If warp taint is too dangerous to contain exterminate him.
Secondary Objective: Confirm presence of Alpha Legion. If none is evident identify source of corruption if possible.
May the Emperor watch over your endeavor.
*message ends*
On The Planet Medenva:
The palatial Governor's Manor covered several square miles amongst the rolling green hills and crystal blue lakes of the Keltef Heights, the play ground of the extremely rich and powerful.
Normally defended from orbital attack by four surface to space turbo lasers and a crackling void shield, the towering spires containing the lasers had been reduced to burning rubble by the macro cannon of the battle barge in orbit and the shield had collapsed under the immense power of the bombardment.
The crystal windows of the Manor had been blown out by overpressure and the sculpted gardens had wilted under the searing heat. Banners declaring allegiance to the Ruinous Powers smouldered while hundreds of traitorous PDF soldiers prepared for the deadly Imperial assault inevitably coming.
In the well defended Star Tower, a well appointed sitting room covered by a crystal dome, traitor Governor Malcantus stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring up through the dome at a sky filled with black clouds and spiraling lightning, the result of the atmospheric disturbance caused by the bombardment.
He was a young man, slightly built, with waist length black hair and soft features. He wore an outfit fit for a king, worth a fortune in rare silk and jewels. Purple eyeshadow made of crushed amethyst and a golden colored earring made from Eldar wraithbone framed his face. At his left hip he wore an ornate powersword and on his right a slight needle pistol.
"I wonder..." He says to himself.
Multiple massive footfalls stomp into the room behind him, accompanied by the stench of sulfur and ozone.
"The wound in the Warp is complete." A deep, abrasive voice declares.
The Governor looks over his shoulder at the newcomers.
Five massive space marines in hulking, baroque, deep blue colored Terminator Armor loom behind him. Four are wearing their horned and tusked helmets. One, the leader, is helmless, exposing his bald and scarred head, his cat-like eyes and his serrated teeth. The eight pointed star of Chaos is branded into his forehead.
"The ritual preparations are done, it's time to leave." The leader continues with a growl. "Alpharius demands we complete our tasks on schedule."
The Governor turns back toward the sky, partly to hide his amused smile at the presumption of the marine who thinks to order around one such as he.
"Then hurry to your task, dog, and leave me be." The Governor replies dismissively.
"You dare?!" The Chaos marine roars.
He raises his Reaper autocannon, its autoloader clacking as shells are chambered, and ignites his power claws. Behind him his retinue bring their power weapons and combi-bolters to bear.
Despite this, the Champion does not attack. Even though he towers over the mortal man and bleeds the very power of Chaos from his pores he does not assault the innocuous mortal. Sweat begins to bead on his face as the tense moment stretches.
"Do you see that?" The Governor asks as a bright streak burns the sky like a shooting star, heading directly for the Manor. "A drop pod filled with Deathwatch champions."
The Terminator spits on ground in a show of contempt. "So what? Do you want me to slay them before we leave?" He asks as his black spittle hisses as it burns into the marble flooring.
"Heh, no, but I believe I would like to stay to meet them. Amongst the Imperial forces is a mortal whom The Architect of Fate has ordained to become the next Inheritor, and I think it might be one of the Deathwatch members. I should like to stay and see if, upon meeting them, I can determine who this god-in-waiting is." The Governor informed the over sized trans-human.
The Terminator grunted and added an additional stream of spittle to the floor.
"Do what you want, warpspawn." He sneers as he turns and stomps away.
"I always do." The being disguised as Governor Malcantus replied.
The Deathwatch Assault on Mendenva:
Your drop pod rattles and shakes as it sears through the atmosphere. It descends at frighting speed to strike in an open courtyard within the Governor's Manor. The courtyard is massive, with white cobblestone pavement and fancifully designed shrubs filling the majority of the space, along with a few defiled statues of Mendenva ancestor nobles and luminaries.
Almost a full company of corrupted PDF soldiers are positioned in the court yard, raggedy men armed with autoguns and light flak coats.
Many are killed and most are disoriented as the drop pod slams home, sending out shock waves.
PDF commanders wave laspistols and scream orders to their disordered troops as the pod opens and Squad Thanatos is unleashed.
Hey all, I'm starting up a Deathwatch campaign. It will feature a dark storyline of secrets, corruption, betrayal, and madness while also placing emphasis on brotherhood, loyalty, and, well, being a hero.
The game will take place in my homebrewed Morpheus Sector, a heavily populated part of Imperial space with a massive warp rift along its eastern edge known as the Realm of Dreams.
You will be Deathwatch Squad Thanatos, a team of highly experienced warriors under the direction of a conclave of Inquisitors, being their martial arm as you uncover the workings of a deadly, Galaxy-wide conspiracy.
I will accept up to 10 players (making up the ten members of Squad Thanatos)
Character Creation and Rules:
Material from the Core Rulebook and Rites of Battle will be accepted.
Stats will be chosen with 100 points instead of rolled(normal max of 20 spent in any one stat).
Being very experienced Marines facing horrible threats you will start at rank 5 with 20,000 xp to spend on advances.
Your Renown will begin at 50.
In game the normal rules of the game will apply with only 1 house rule:
Initiative will be ignored, instead, combat will work like this: I will declare the beginning of combat, all players get 24 hours to post their actions before the enemy gets a turn, then 24 hours for your next action before the enemy acts etc until the combat is complete. If you don't act within that window your character does nothing for that round.
This ensures the game will continue apace even if some players lag in posting instead of grinding to a halt.
Player Conduct:
Also, while I welcome all players to my game I will not tolerate purposely disruptive behavior. Conflicts between players will prolly arise, as they do in most games, but we will talk it out like adults. If you are being rude, mean, or purposely disruptive I will give you a warning while explaining what the issue is. I will do this up to three times, if after the third you are still being disruptive I will boot you from the game.
So, general rule: Don't be a jerk and everything will be fine.
I'm feeling out the waters to see if folks would like to play a game set in Menzoberranzan a year or two before Lolth's Silence. The game would be heavily player driven as opposed to DM plot driven. There would be open recruitment with player's being able to create one or more characters as a denizen of the city; Drow nobles, monstrous slaves, foreign iblith, etc.
Focusing on the dire interactions of Menzoberranzan's black hearted citizens players can build and destroy noble houses, ally and/or plot against one another, scheme for power, enact revenge, actively worship Lolth or other powers (worshiping those other powers in secret of course).
In addition to player's gangster-like activities outside complications will be consistently thrown in the mix, the largest of which will eventually be Lolth's Silence and all the dire bull s+*# that comes along with it.
And in addition to that while playing spider kissers and their monstrous slaves players will be allowed to create characters that don't quite fit the status qou as well, good hearted surface dwellers enslaved and desiring freedom, Vhaerun worshiping Drow seeking the downfall of the city, etc.
If this sounds of interest to you guys sound off, if enough want to play I'll go about some proper recruitment and character creation rules.
Hello all! I am soon going to be GMing a game of Pathfinder with the Mythic Rules.
I've only recently started to get a good handle on the Pathfinder rules and I have never
played a mythic game before. My group has been clamoring for it though and I
have a good story in my head for it.
While thematically and story wise I have full confidence in my ability to run this game
game balance wise I have no confidence at all. I have implemented hero
points in my regular games because I've learned I am not very good at eyeballing how
difficult an encounter will be for my parties. Some combat encounters seem to go well
but others end with either the PCs steamrolling the enemies or being steam rolled in turn.
I have no problem with PCs insta winning but the tpk is rather less desirable, though
they are rare in normal games and hero points save the PCs.
My question to the paizo community: While I have read all the advice in the Mythic book
do you guys have any additional advice about how to run a mythic game? Including balancing
combat encounters, things I should be aware of about how the mythic rules change the gameplay,
and any commonly encountered surprises I might not be fully aware of until I'm in the game?
