I'm considering running Maure Castle on a play-by-post campaign. I've done it before, but 20 years ago — quite shocking to type that — and it ran pretty successfully for a few years, though given the limits of PBP the party still never made it to the Statuary or Kerzit, for example.
If I do it again I plan to streamline things a bit, cut down on some of the less-interesting upstairs fights to move things along more quickly, and just hand-wave level progression. Anybody ever do this with Maure? Assuming groups start at Level 12, how would you have them progress as they go through the dungeon?
Kicking around an idea for an occultist or rogue-type, either way the son of an artisan who’s making use of the magical curios in his fathers workshop.
Cave is a subdomain of Earth, I think? Perhaps that's still not allowed.
Regardless, may have to chuck the Bear Shaman part, as it leans into summoning and I could replace those summoning feats to help with healing instead (Signature Skill-Heal + Healing Hands instead of SF/Conj+Augment Summon. (plus I'm not sure if summoning even works properly in Undermountain?)
If still open, I'm putting together Fen-gal the Tamer, a Druid follower of Luthic (Bear shaman + Cave domain). In theory, follows Orcish teachings and Luthic's guidelines about female servitude towards males. In practice, this means she has arranged to keep the males far away, so the subject has never come up.
@Pasha — This time frame would have been only a few years after the 1930 British Treatment Act officially retired the term “lunatic”; they were just “patients” now. Some great things going on in asylums for people half-in, half-out of the dreamlands.
Still thinking on Errol “the Eye” partisan mersmerist and how big a role the Fey courts might have played in the Irish Civil War post WWI.
Oh, so maybe another witch isn't the right idea, then. (They can do blasting but largely doubling up on the same abilities seems redundant.) I did like the concept of linking the PC's ability to a different shard, but there are other ways to get the same feeling; Spirit Whisperer Wizard; probably some type of Sorcerer, will think a bit.
Hah! super close to the same thing. It's fine, Wisdom is high enough. (Could we include age modifiers and start him at middle age? No problem if not; 9/13/16/17/13 is a perfectly good set)
Definitely interested, will submit Nassor the Night Watchman, a Serendipity Shaman with the Heavens spirit.
short intro:
Originally from the kingdom of Zar in Hepmonaland, Nassor traveled to the Flanaess decades ago on a Scarlet Brotherhood merchant ship (he's old enough to remember when the Brotherhood was considered merely a bunch of mysterious cranks). He's sailed for a variety of captains since, and generally has never wanted for work: His gift for star-reading makes him desirable for trading companies looking to save money on trained navigators, and shipmates are convinced he's good luck. (They're right.)
Actually more interested in non-mythic version of this AP as I never learned the mythic ruleset. Will submit some version of a Witch/Rogue or Alchemist Ratfolk from a (non-gestalt) WoW campaign that never actually launched.
re-reroll for 1:1d6 ⇒ 1 re-re-reroll for 1:1d6 ⇒ 4
Good enough. 11/14/13/15/12/10
Thinking on a Level 4 Witch whose patron is from a different shard; it's been unable to contact her before now but has "awakened," if that's the word, as the original party merges the first two shards.
From the PCs perspective, their pet cat (or whatever) is suddenly making far stranger demands than usual. Will think some more.
OK I was stuck on this for a while … the only concept I had turned out to be pretty much that exact Shaman. However looking at the list there's no regular thief? For a 1E reprise? May do a plain 'old URogue or a burglar, a friend of the dying man who had refused to go with him on his last journey and is now feeling super-guilty about it. Will work on an intro.
Despite everyone being "human", there will be some options for uniqueness in character creation once the recruitment thread drops.
Gotcha. Thinking of a guy called Errol “The Eye” Faherty, an Irish partisan who relocated to London after coming up on the wrong side of the civil war a few years earlier. Would work well as a mesmerist only dimly aware of any magical talent; but could also work as an intimidating-glare barbarian depending on how the magic rules sort out.
FWIW Pinkerton already had its own London operation by this point, launched by Harry Smale, the founder of the Association of British Investigators trade group (still around!).
Question on races -- though there are no actual Dwarves tending bar or whatnot, would races be allowed from a mechanical perspective? (Chiefly concerned about favored class bonuses, racial traits and so on.) For in-campaign purposes, that bartender isn't a Dwarf, he's just a stocky guy with a remarkable resistance to alcohol poisoning.
Wow, I'd heard of this adventure way back when, but had *no* idea of the author's full career 'til just now. She was also a level designer for Quake?!? Very badass stuff.
Definitely interested, though after reading that background on spatial complexity I'm not sure I'm smart enough to navigate the place.
Working on the crunch, but here's an Ashifta Witch, an urchin possessing (and possibly possessed by) the veil of a long-dead Qadiran agent.
Name: Safina
Class: Witch (Ashifta)
Race: Human
Trait: Foreign Opportunist
abbreviated intro:
Who knows how long the veil had been there? A year? A cycle? A King’s Age? The old woman who wore it last was a dried-out husk when Safina found her, but that was no help – bodies could last nearly forever out here if left undisturbed.
It was not pretty. It was not luxurious. It was black and tattered and looked every bit as old as everything else in the room — and then some. But Safina found she couldn’t avert her gaze from it. Even when she closed her eyes it was there, as if she was feeling it.
She couldn’t describe the feeling, because as the youngest child of a poor family, it was unknown to her. It felt like power.
She sat and watched the veil for a long time. Then she closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they looked out from behind the veil.
personality, description:
Split between youthful, curious rapscallion and grouchy, know-it-all crone, depending on the veil's influence. Veiled most of the time; the Veil considers it her face at this point.
abbreviated motivation:
The veil's previous owner lived centuries ago, and died on a mission from Qadira to uncover secrets buried beneath Osirion. Its memory isn't too good about specifics after all this time, however.
Kicking around an idea of a hag's apprentice from the Gnatmarsh. Short pitch, still in development: Things were looking desperate for the family after Eunice's father was hauled off to debtor's prison, and so her mother probably could be forgiven for not hesitating when the old woman from the swamps of the Nesser came looking for a girl to help her with chores. And that was how Eunice came to study under Shun, the Poisoned Eye of the Gnatmarsh.
Now witches aren't available per the rules, but something like types of druid would fill the role. I'd considered Death Druid (Horror Adventures pg. 50, no wild shape, replaces Animal Companion with Spiritualist phantom), which seems like a valid path for a failed necromancer type — Eunice is good-natured enough to care for the souls of Shun's victims and see they find peace. If that's too esoteric or doesn't fit Greyhawk cosmology, there are other archetypes, like toxicologist, that also feel witchy.
Tough stats but will go with Ettiken, a down-on-her-luck Ratfolk Witch; family came to Korvosa years ago and fell prey to its criminal underworld. Ettie has been scavenging and stealing on the streets since.
I think 9th level is good; it’s far enough along in the AP that a lot of groups probably fall apart before getting there. And Champion’s Belt is among the best-received chapters in an already well-regarded campaign.
On Traits; they could certainly be dropped, especially at this level. One of their most useful purposes is to add additional class skills — a super-helpful trick at level 1, but at level 9 gives plenty of room for multiclassing to do the same thing.
Both sound terrific and old school FR is actually the one I’ve any familiarity with at all. I’d lean more toward waterdeep, as I’ve been thinking about urban characters lately.
Related to that point: How long ago, in campaign, would Rise of the Runelords have been? (Thinking of how that could impact the Sihedron Heroes tie-ins, as well as the Scion of Legend trait, though Intrigued by Thassilon probably makes more sense for me.)
OK, going with this, based on the family that's spent the past century trying to carve an image of Crazy Horse out of a South Dakota mountain. PC would be the child of the original sculptor, who died under mysterious circumstances — I'd imagine a Golarion version of the monument would generate some controversy similar to the real-life one — and is trying to decide if they can continue the work (or, more accurately, if they can truly walk away from it.)
Either Oracle/Mysterious Stranger or straight Oracle (Stone Oracles may have enough ranged options w/o guns, have to think more.
Currently split … Got the mechanics idea for Grizzled Prospector (hermit oracle with stone or metal mystery), but leaning toward the Saloon Madam (build unknown) b/c I may have more of a backstory for her, plus I don't want to spend the entire adventure mumbling and spitting.
Well, I just said an hour ago I’d be interested in this sort of thing — and yes, I am. And I even bought a 1990s FR sourcebook for some reason (I wasn’t even playing then; I see it’s worth $50 now, interesting). So, perfect!
I've thought about, in the future, pitching games where it'd be asynchronous posting for all rules-lite material like skill checks and all fluff interaction, but schedule 3-4 hours sessions on discord to do combat which would force everyone to sign on, look at and move their tokens on a VTT, and just move through the thing so it's done and doesn't take a month or more to finish.
It’s a good idea; using discord or something similar on an occasional or as-needed basis might also help players used to PBB get comfortable with that sort of real-time play. I’ve been hesitant to join regular Discord games partly because I’m not confident I can be available every Saturday at 7pm for the next year. But scheduling some time in the next few days to handle a big fight scene? That I can do.
Another plus of asynchronous campaigns: I’m way more comfortable doing RP stuff writing than in person, so this would be the best of both worlds.
Interested; I’d fixated on minor characters from Casablanca for the recent Hell’s Rebels recruitment so let’s make Guillermo Ugarte for this. A little wretch who nobody really trusts; he’s thrown in with Thune bc he’s certain they’ll win. Need crunch of course
You know, Rick, I have many a friend in Casablanca, but somehow, just because you despise me, you are the only one I trust.
And look where that got him …
(Hm, actually that could be a backstory. The real Ugarte committed suicide/died trying to escape, but maybe he cut a deal to stay alive In return for helping crush the rebellion
Interested; I’d fixated on minor characters from Casablanca for the recent Hell’s Rebels recruitment so let’s make Guillermo Ugarte for this. A little wretch who nobody really trusts; he’s thrown in with Thune bc he’s certain they’ll win. Need crunch of course
Will the PCs be assumed to have gone through earlier parts of the Adventure Path? Or does this chapter stand on its own? (Not too familiar with the storyline). Considering a former Sacrament Alchemist who settled on Ustalav for a quiet retirement. (She was, as the saying goes, misinformed.) (WIP sheet for Fatima Eisen,) still have to level her up a bit and continue her history
Considering a Bloodrager suffragette (we're a year early for the start of the Kensington Society, but presumably there was already talk of this sort of thing.) Obviously some of the bloodlines won't work, but there should be a few that fit the setting.
Are the Welcomers still active in Phlan at this point? Thinking of a low-level enforcer (monk, likely, or someone else fond of punching) who's on the outs after roughing up a relative of one of the guild's higher-ups. ("He didn't look like a local!" was the excuse.) Needs to find a new crew to hang with, and fast.
* HTBM: Urol's abduction, and the inner sanctum of the shrine
* ToD: the Battle of Farshore
* TLD: all of Golismorga
* CoBI: hm, maybe the entry to the complex and the lowest level
* SoS: the Crimson Fleet's base
* ItM: this one is harder to dissect; maybe a battle with Vanthus over the cauldron, and one other boss of your choice
HTBM: I'd skip HTBM altogether, grabbing the shrine parts and sticking them into a part of ToD.
CoBI: Agreed, go straight from Golismorga up the shaft to the complex. Cut off the usual exit with faster flooding. Allow them to rest on the way or something.
SoS: Is this even necessary? Have one of the Pirate ships in ToD have the Wakeportal and Vanthus take Lavinia straight to abyss.
ItM: Skip it all — Vanthus, realizing that Demogorgon has forsaken him, heads straight for the Wells of Darkness to ask Shami-Amourae for aid in – well, you know – with his sister. Seems appropriate given her sphere of influence. Big three-way fight between Vanthus, PCs and Dino-Riders from Big D, who probably thinks Vanthus has allied with PCs.
EoME: Skip the Gwynharrf bit; she just joins on without making them jump through hoops. Iggwilv and Orcus are fun, though. Maybe skip DG's clone, too.
however, the big problem i see is the cleric picking a fight w/ orcus himself...getting himself and possibly the rest of the party dead-ed quite readily.
Hey, they put his stats in there for a reason. :) I think they expected that SOMEBODY would want to take a poke at him.
I'd actually encourage a fight -- I'm a fan of Orcus from 1E and personally didn't care for the fact that Demogorgon beats him in Dungeon 150. But if Orcus was weakened by his earlier fight with the players -- which, fortunately for all concerned, was interrupted by Iggwilv or one of Orcus' lieutenants who stop the fight before the cleric gets plastered -- well, that gives it some more narrative weight.
I don't like the Asgardian idea. You've already got CG Powers covered with Gwynharrf.
The Olman deities -- that is a nice idea. Really helps tie the AP's middle act in with the finale.
But even so, don't you think the rest of the group would get a kick out of Orcus? It's Orcus! The prospect of getting involved in an Orcus-Demogorgon throwdown seems simply too cool to pass up.
I get the Cleric's problem -- it's the same one lots of good-with-a-big-G PCs have with STAP in the later adventures. But the making-choices-about-evil is a big part of the game here.
What about just role-playing it out? Maybe the cleric could just sit out the adventure ("Beg to the Demon if you want. But you'll do it without me.") You'd have to come up with something for the player to do, of course, or time it so he's gone that session.
But regardless, I'd probably do the Olman thing. That's pretty nifty.
