Zachariah Thistle's page

I have an Aasimar Bloodrager character I've been itching to play, and I'm looking for a game to get in. Any takers?

And so it begins...

And here it is, welcome to all our new players.

Recruitment for Doom Comes To Dustpawn

Invaders from Space! Drawing from the campaign in main and adding some of our own flavour to the game just for some unexpected fun.

Background: Dalviss Crenn, ex-adventurer and proprietor of the Mineshaft Inn of Dustpawn (in eastern Isger, near the Drumish border) has sent an invitation to each of you, asking for aid. A meteor recently crashed somewhere in the hills, several miles to the south of Dustpawn, but Dalviss believes it to be a ship from the far reaches of space. The townsfolk scoff at his theory, and to save himself further ridicule, and get to the truth of the matter, Dalviss has turned to you to find the crash site.

Character Creation

Please complete character submissions by the close of Saturday, 9th August 2014. We will post the successful applicants on Monday, 11th August.

Posting Rate: At least 1 post per weekday (this is not counting rolling die) from PCs, and, we will play it by ear over the weekend. For every 50 posts a PC makes, they gain a free Re-Roll to be used at any time. They may have up to 3 re-rolls at a time. If players cannot at least make one posting a day, please do not submit a character. We are looking for some good and regular/consistent roleplay. If a player cannot post for whatever reason, we ask for notice on the discussion board and the duration of absence. It makes things easier to manage if communication is present. If a player is away from the boards, without explanation for more than three consecutive days, we will retire their character and replace them. Too many games have gone stale (and ended) due to people not bothering to post, or explain their absences, and it isn’t fair to the other players or the GM.

We are looking for a BALANCED group in this adventure of investigation and cosmic horror. So, we’re seeking an arcane caster, a divine caster, a rogue type and a fighter type, plus any other to nicely round off the group. Hopefully applicants will give us some variety in race and class!

There will be two GMs (GM Left Hand of Doom and GM Right Hand of Doom) working together to run this campaign; each in different time zones (in the northern and southern hemispheres) to cater for players from different time zones. We feel this will improve the flow and movement of the game, as there will be at least one GM at any time to move things along and reply to posts, questions, messages etc. The GMs will have the same avatar, so they’ll easily distinguishable to the players. The GMs will be coordinating and communicating, so the ball won’t be dropped in game.

If you’re interested, please dot the recruitment thread and post your submissions (including a short backstory and personality description)! Also, please tell us what time zone you are in.

Now, let’s have some fun. ;)

It's spring in California.

Widely known for its wonderful weather, military base, high cost of living and cultural melting pot, San Diego has been thought of as "America's Finest City" by many.

The birds are chirping this morning as you rise. There is barely a cloud in the sky as you step outside and take in a breath of fresh air, and a sense of nervousness briefly passes over you.

*******************************************

Remembering back to high school, it had been a necessary evil. The days slogged through, melting into one another. For the first few weeks, you retreated into yourself, digging your feet in for what you were sure would be 4 years of torture. But then something surprising happened. You made friends. You found them rather randomly, through a flyer posted on the notice board in the quad.

Through cinema, you bonded with others, and found common ground.
"Enter the Dragon" was the first film, and though many followed, it often came back to that movie in your mind. Bruce Lee's swagger and poor dubbing caused awe and laughter, and you found a new home among these companions.

Over time you all grew closer, and even found that you possessed a kind of synergy. When one of you had a problem, whether it be in school or out, you naturally turned to your friends, and almost always found that the problem was solved. Whatever it was, you found that if you did it together, you did it better.

It was slightly before the end of the last semester that Adam lost it.
One or two of you had been there, but it was hard to remember clearly even now,because the story had almost taken on a life of its own. During an Advanced Biology test, Adam seemed to have lost his mind. Before he was tackled and subdued, he had begun muttering, and finally screaming that a dragon was after him. He had taken one of the scalpels used for dissection and caving at his forehead to "get it out".

He was taken to an institution the next day from home.

At graduation without him, you sat side by side in one of the back rows. Silent save for the occasional looks to each other of anxiety, excitement and support. You had to focus on the positive, you were finally free to live life as adults.

********************************************

Back in the present, you had reconnected with your good friends, at least virtually, and were meeting them in the Mesa College library*. You had all decided to stay in touch, and although a bit of life had come between you, you always seemed to end up back with them. It was the most natural thing, they were like home to you.

Through email, you had learned that Adam had recently been released from the institution and allowed to attend college, given a clean mental bill of health.

Pushing through the doors, early in the morning, there were not too many people there.

It was easy to pick Adam out. He had hardly changed; dirty brown hair and pale skin sparsely scatter freckles dotting it. He had seemed to put on a little weight, though from the looks of him, mostly muscle and his his hair was slightly scruffier under a plain black baseball cap. He wore his favorite red vans, beat up and faded, and a dark green hoodie, the sleeves pushed up above his elbows.He had a box of dvds in front of him on one of the tables, and was looking at "Being John Malkovich" when he turned to face you casually.

Without missing a beat, as if he had never been gone, he smiled his crooked smirk.

"Hey. So what do you think we should watch first?"

Here's the discussion thread, my players. Welcome!

Here is the study hall, home away from home for our nacent heroes.

What if there was more?

You made it out of high school alive, with your mind intact. You took the lessons learned there, in that jungle of education and social tumult and you moved on. But what was next? A full time job? Mooch off the parents for a while? No. You decided there was something more. Maybe because it was by the end of high school that you had figured out how it all works, but you decided to go to college. But your grades weren't good enough, or your parents couldn't afford a four year school, so you ended up at community college. Just a step up from high school...but it seemed alright because you had friends with you, friends that you could count on, friends that you had for many years. You had a built in study group.

The first semester took a bit of getting used to, but everything fell into place. This one would be smoother, you were sure of that.

You were actually a bit excited this morning as you prepared yourself, getting dressed, cramming a bit of breakfast into your mouth as you rushed out the door. You weren't really late, but you were off to meet your friends and go over a few things before your first classes.

Today would be great, you thought to yourself.

Boy, were you in for surprise...

I'm proposing a game that is both a fantasy and a modern adventure rolled into one. Homage to the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon from the 80's, this game will star characters from a version of our modern world who find themselves transported to a land of wonder and magic. A land where orcs maraud the countryside, pillaging from helpless farmers, and where dragons hide great treasure in deep cavernous mountains. Your characters will be long-time friends who attend a community college together, and meet regularly to hang out and study.

I'm thinking of starting the characters as 15pt. (no Att below 10) buy with one level of expert (skills adjusted appropriately for modern times) who will gain an adventurer level (and a point boost) when they cross into the other world. Definitely will have only humans. (At least to start with...may have the option to "change"...haven't decided yet.)

Story will be largely sandboxy, with players/characters responsible for seeking out adventure (though several hooks will be offered). I'd like to have 4-5 characters, and would have a rigid 3/week post minimum (one liners not acceptable).

Right now I'm just checking for interest.

First gameplay post is up. This will mostly be roleplay to start, so don't worry too much about the stats, I'll get all that to you guys soon.

As you rise from the stone slab that you lay upon,your limbs ache in an almost unfamiliar way. Normally when you lay upon this accursed cold table in the past, the collar that is still around your neck would hold you still, some enchantment within it damning you to endure the cutting and prodding of your captor.

Your vantage point no longer restricted, you quickly take in the room around you.

White stone, perhaps marble, dominates the area, which appears to be a circular room , some 100 feet from end to end. Floating silently above you, lifeless cherubs of brass hold everburning flame in their palms, providing steady but eerie light. Evenly spaced in the center of the room are 4 other white stone tables, bringing the total to 5, arranged in a starlike pattern. Behind each table is a wide of brass, held up by thee dark, thin copper legs. Most are undisturbed, with various tool of torture and "science", as well as sheafs of parchment where your captor would take notes. One of the trays, however has been knocked over, its contents spilled haphazardly on the ground. A few feet behind the trays are white shelves of the same stone, each containing a number of glass jars of various sizes, each filled with a barely transparent amber colored liquid.

And there on the ground before you lies the man himself. Lifeless now, the great gash across his chest has stopped bleeding some time ago. He wears a plain brown robe and is long dark hair is in a tangle with his neatly trimmed beard, and soaked through with the last of his life.

A gnarled black cane topped with what appears to be the grasping skeletal hand of some 6 fingered humanoid is just out of his reach. More sheafs of parchment are scattered around him, and bloody footprints of several sizes mar the pure white surface of the stone floor.

Further, you notice you are not alone...

What do you do now?

Your body aches. Your senses whirl. Gods! even your spirit hurts!
You're not sure how many years you've been here, it's been so long. Days
and nights blur together, and you are only reminded by the occasional
times your are brought food. The incarceration perhaps you could endure,
but the constant prodding and cutting has taken it's toll on you. You
could even perhaps fool yourself that you were here of your own accord
were it not for the uncomfortable collar that was fitted about you.
Strange tools of all shapes and sizes were used on you, testing your
limits and prodding at you. The "man" responsible was silent most often,
only responding with a small chuckle or sigh when you made certain
responses. When you wanted to give in, to just let the pain and torture
take you away from it all, the collar would send a surge into you and
bring you back.You would sit silently for what you might assume to be
days, only to be taken surprise by strange brutes, or drugged. Sometimes
you weren't even sure how you made it into the room, but all you
experienced there was pain and exhaustion. robing your body.You tried to
prepare yourself, by anticipating the times that you were taken, noting
little signs, but just when you thought you had some idea, some pattern
figured out, things would change. The only solace you could take was
that you were not alone. While in the room you would sometimes
catch a glimpse of another creature, and when you were returned to your
enclosure, you would fantasize about who they were, and imagine speaking
with them, have some kind of contact...any kind, that didn't involve
pain.

Then one day things were different.

You were in the room as your captor worked his tortures on you
and you had succumbed to the the mutilation and pain. Things went dark,
and after a time, as expected, you came back to the land of the living.
But things were different. You sat up from the stone slab you had been
placed on, and you were no longer bound! The first thing you noticed
after that was that there were others in the room with you, looking
similarly confused about their condition. You took a few seconds to
consider if it was a trick.

Looking about, you saw several of his shelves knocked over and laying at
your feet with a gash across his chest so deep as to nearly take him in
two was the hated creature.

Your torturer is dead!

What do you do now?

Welcome, Tribes, may your leader take you through the ages to prosperity!

What follows is an introduction. You will find a brief description of your area on the continent, and bits about your surroundings. If you would like something changed, or think it doesn't make sense, just let me know and we can work together. What I'd like to see from you after this is your own introduction. Take what I've started here and expand on it. Think of it like the first part of a movie, perhaps. Show me your people in their day to day activities, and take me through their interactions with one another. This should mostly be descriptive, giving us all a taste of your culture and how they interact with their environment. You may find it easier to follow your leader around for a while, or even perhaps a typical tribe member. You could do it like a journal, or however you like. After your introduction (which should cover perhaps a year) I'll present you with some challenges or opportunities, and we'll just see what happens. I have a loose structure in mind, but a lot of this there are no real established "rules" for, so lets work together and try to make something awesome. That said, lets begin!

Starting Population:
Azuran: 5d10 + 100 ⇒ (7, 5, 4, 4, 10) + 100 = 130
Ergalian: 5d10 + 100 ⇒ (4, 7, 4, 3, 9) + 100 = 127
Oru: 5d10 + 100 ⇒ (4, 8, 3, 7, 10) + 100 = 132
Rockmouth: 10d10 + 100 ⇒ (3, 2, 7, 4, 10, 4, 3, 9, 6, 5) + 100 = 153
Shuma'i: 5d10 + 100 ⇒ (9, 10, 6, 1, 10) + 100 = 136
Vuscadorah: 8d10 + 70 ⇒ (8, 3, 9, 10, 8, 3, 2, 7) + 70 = 120

This is the Discussion thread for the First Tribes game.

First up on the agenda, What should we call the world?

This is an interest check for a kind of world building/campaign building game. The way it would work is, I have a pretty generic map of the world, and each player would play the leader of a primitave-ish tribe in this fantasy world.
Each player would basically take charge of one race, and foster them as we play through the development of their burgeoning culture.
Play would revolve around how this tribe establishes itself in the world, growing and settling (or not) and building it's legacy.

Think of it as a mash-up of Civilization and Pathfinder.

Before I get down to the nitty gritty and mechanics of it, does that sound like something you all would be interested in? Who wants to build a world with me, and do some storytelling/rpging at the same time?

Was pondering this for a while, what would be the affect if a tiny or large caster (or any size other than small or medium for that matter) cast alter self? Are their only choices small and medium forms, or does their innate size come into play somehow, and if so, how?

The day begins on a misty morning in the town of Solace. It is the beginning of fall, and a low fog rolls across the ground as the sleepy folk rise early to begin their daily tasks. Groups slowly walk across the stretch from their houses, baskets on their back, hopeful for a good catch, so that they can keep the bellies of their families full. They fall into line, walking a path towards the sea, along the river and to the cliffs, where they take the winding switchback down to their small boats, The Sontan boys chatting about their expectations for the day, their father lamenting the chill in the air. Celeste smiled, hearing the group pass her house, and brushing her hair back behind her sharply pointed ears she grabbed her own basket and followed.

Others go about various tasks, mending a windowsill or gathering water from the river to wash their clothes. The blacksmith’s sons, Victor and Barnaby, trek out to the quarry to spend several hours chipping away in search for precious ore. Everett and Erec Snow, saddles in hand, begin preparing the cattle for the journey out to pasture, past the farms, to graze in the fields out by the old watchtower.

Abram Verance can be seen greeting everyone as he makes his morning walk about the town, nodding to everyone and wishing them well on their day. He smiles, and strokes his beard, long and thick, and his eyes, a dark amber, focus intently on anyone as he listens with full attention to each citizen, taking their hand in his before he moves on. He finally takes his place, as he does every morning, in the small garden behind the storehouses, where he sits in silent prayer for a while, admiring the various herbs that have been cultivated there.

Later in the day, past noon no doubt, Johnas would stumble through the town, jabbering on about this and that, his breath full and ripe with the smell of the fermented peach mash.

It is a typical fall day, as it has been for so many years before. For some few in the town however, there was something more...a feeling that today could be special. That today would begin something far more than typical...

let the story begin!

Ok,so this thread, obviously, is for discussion.

I just need to compile the backgrounds of all your characters for my record keeping sanity, then list out your hooks and make an NPC web. As soon as that is done, we can get started. I have a few things going on IRL today, so it's likely that we'll start tomorrow, but that just depends on how much i get done of my other stuff.

If you would, as a sort of "sound off", please dot this thread so I know that everyone is still in, and we'll continue from there.

Thank you all, and I look forward to some fun storytelling and gaming!

Checking interest for a homebrew fantasy game, using the pathfinder rules, with the E6 subset (for keeping things a bit more gritty)

All I can say now is that it would be an original world, most likely something I create with heavy player input and that it would be VERY sandboxy and character driven, so characters with their own motivations are what I'd be looking for.

Link for E6, for those not familiar: E6

Has anyone used any of these two play options together?
Particularly;SKR, i wonder if you've used or considered e6.

Links for those unfamilar...
step advancement,
e6

I'm trying to come up with a new race/concept.
In my camaign one of the main characters, a summoner, has an eidolon based on a woman from his village that he had a crush on and seems intent on a relationship with this being.
As weird as it seems to partner up with a pet/summon, I think it could be interesting down the road.

My question for the advice is this:
If I want to make an amount of evolution points available to characters in some way (as a result of lineage in this case)would it be more balanced to make this as a race, or perhaps a feat tree that has access to evolution points?
I don't want it to be too powerful, but at the same time, I'd like it to be interesting and somewhat cutomizable.

Ideas?