laughmask21's page

I have recently been attempting to gather all of the known information on Vudra and dump it all into a single document from which I can attempt to form a campaign. Turns out, there is quite a bit of information! Especially with the release of Distant Shores (which I am still going through). I thought I would share the document with you guys in the hopes of hearing some adventure ideas or finding new information that I missed. I am trying to leave a lot of the nitty gritty details out because I'm not entirely sure where that lies legally with regards to sharing and also to encourage buying their products. But I have included links to the SRDs or page references to their book locations for the most part. I have to say, this thread was the main inspiration for me doing this, as I saw the timestamps were pretty old and I figured new information had surely been published since. There are a lot of really cool sounding name drops through the various books that had no expanded definitions or details that immediately spawn adventure ideas which I tried to include (like the Night Weaver King!?) as areas for creative GM's to run wild with.

Anyways, here it is - the Vudra Gazetteer! (WIP)

[01000100 01101111 01110100]

Ee Threepio, or "E".

1) Protocol Droid
2) Knowledge, Perception. Maybe technical as a third.
3) E is a salvaged Imperial E-3PO droid that has been reprogrammed for Rebel use. Its databanks were damaged during a space battle and subsequent crash landing in addition to having lost some of its metal plating. As with most E-3PO droids, its exclusivity throughout the galaxy has resulted in a haughty personality, but the damage sustained causes it to temporarily take on that of a forgotten Sith Lord.

I have been working on a conversion of the World of Warcraft RPG rules to Pathfinder rules and thought I'd share it with the community to get some (inevitable) critiques. Originally, I tried converting it to D&D4e to make it feel more familiar to the video game players, but I quickly realized it was more work than I wanted and slowly seemed like a bad idea. Instead, I figured I'd do something much more manageable and reskin it with Pathfinder. This is my first attempt at something like this, so don't expect it to be great or without error.

Pathfinder Warcraft RPG

Some notes:
I decided to do up my own custom built races since some of them simply had no obvious sibling in the Pathfinder World (take Warcraft's Gnome for example). When doing this, I realized I could basically do this for all races to better represent the Warcraft setting. It seemed more-or-less like a pre-defined Alternate Racial type for each one. I tried to flat-line everything at 12 RPs for the sake of balance since I'm new with creating races.

Originally, I was going try to translate the more unique classes (Shaman, Warlock, Priest) to Pathfinder equivalents, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like sticking to the MMO's pre-defined classes wasn't a critical step in capturing the essence of Warcraft. Plus it seemed more fun to have greater class freedom. In the books, comics and else-where, you see characters that do not necessary fit the eight base classes of the games. How I justified it to myself was: I don't want to feel like I'm playing World of Warcraft, but that I'm playing in the world of Warcraft. That world will surely be populated with bards, sorcerers and witches and more that have never been played in the video games.

I created a Wizard archetype for the Warlock class using the abilities presented in the core rules for the WoW RPG that I felt could serve as a good alternative to the Summoner or Conjuration focused Wizard. To emulate the cloth-wearing caster priest of the games, I felt the Adamant Entertainment 3PP Priest class does an excellent job.
Shamans and their totems, on the other hand, seem to be unrepresented either in Paizo or 3PP. There are plenty of ways to capture the spiritual side of the class, but I'd like to see a well-done totem ability. I was thinking about an X-times a day ability that lets you place a totem of either Earth, Fire, Wind or Water. At first level, you start with one totem of each type (Earthbind, Searing, Healing, Grounding). At 4th level, you gain access to a new tier of totems (Stoneclaw, Magma, Mana Spring, Wind Fury) and continuing following this sort of progression. You can only have one totem of a given type on the field at a time. Something like that...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Lastly, I will probably re-do this in Wordpress or something because google sites is just too hard to work with formatting wise.

Anyways, let me know what you think.

This is a great opportunity to test your players' response to the grim and macabre. I like the idea that others have put forth with an ordinary staff. However, I would push it further by noting to the more perceptive character that there is an unplaceable hideousness about them. Keep conversations and appearances pleasant and otherwise normal, but emphasize that when talking to the staff, it seems as though something else is listening from behind their physical facade.

Again, as others have said, it is important to think about the setting and the 'why' of things. Your players may still have a great time even if you throw in a seemingly out-of-place zombie or looting bandits, but you create an opportunity for both them and you to walk away with a truly memorable experience with a well constructed story and series of events. It seems obvious that there will be some sort of confrontational force, be it aggressively insane patients, twisted staff with a lust for sadism, or an otherworldly force that has possessed a few of the inmates (it seems like the latter is the case). Make sure to develop goals for your antagonist (presumably the warden). Is he trying to summon an Great Old One or one of their lesser creatures from the Beyond? Is he attempting some ritual that exploits the weak will of the mentally insane? Or perhaps he is possessed by a unutterable thing from the Beyond who is using him as a vessel to herald its arrival. Since you are going down the path of the Great Old Ones, a tribute to the wonderfully insane machinations of HP Lovecraft, consider what elements and themes make his work so potent.

1) There is a long build of suspense.
In the vast majority of Lovecraft's works, suspense is built gradually and over time, with subtle and ambiguous clues that something is not quite right. Often times, the reveal is the climax.
Ideas:

• Note to the players that they feel an unwarranted discomfort dealing with the staff.
  
• The players feel more at ease with the inmates than the staff.
  
• Whispers or commotion is heard from within rooms that, when investigated, are empty and in pristine condition.
  
• You see more staff taking "medicinal substances" than the patients are receiving.
  
• You continually see dead patients being carried to the morgue, and whispers of mass suicide become heard.
  
• The PC's encounter the body of the former warden. Depending on how long ago the take over was, the body will be in different states and require an appropriate clue.
  

2) There is a supernatural element.
Not always. But it is certainly not uncommon. The supernatural element adds to the suspense by introducing something unknown - and we naturally fear the unknown. In Pathfinder and other fantasy settings, this can be hard to use to the same effect as there are already "supernatural" things from our point of view such as magic, elves, dragons, etc. But when you go beyond that and introduce things that are supernatural to our characters, it becomes a powerful tool.
Ideas:

• When the arcane or divine player investigates a supernatural element, take advantage of this to explain that is not magic that they are experiencing, but a power foreign to Golarion.
  
• The players may walk into a room to find blood smeared across the wall in an unknown language (Aklo???), a foetid stench tests their stomach (save or become sick) as they lay eyes upon a freshly gutted inmate sprawled in a ritual circle, but in a blink returns to a normal room with a "healthy" patient inside.
  
• The PC's come across notes between staff that speak of "The Whisperer in the Darkness", or some other Lovecraftian epithet.
  
• The inmates cry out to the PC's to get out before "The Whisperer in the Darkness" (or some other Lovecraftian epithet) comes to take them.
  
• At times the PC's get a glimpse of a staff member/inmate who they just saw as an inmate/staff member. If they try to alert anyone a staff member suggests they get checked out.
  
• The PC's find a secret room with hidden tomes of forbidden and ancient knowledge. (Chance for magic loot - possibly cursed)
  
• One of the PC's hears sporatic whispers in a tongue that he knows he has never heard before, yet somehow understands.
  
• The warden bursts into a writhing mass of horror mid-fight (50% hp, new abilities, fun and dynamic fight). The payers must make will saves to prevent some form of insanity.
  

3) There is an element of unstoppable and impending doom.
Many of the stories that relate to the Great Old Ones are often heavily undertoned with a sense of impending doom. Regardless of the outcome, doom will come. If the evil was halted, it is only temporary. This sense of doom really makes the previous two elements stand out so much more. What is the difference between an Arkham detective and a real detective? When an Arkham detective finds a clue, it is never a relief. If the players were to come across a note that the warden was killed and the new warden is an insane killer, that is manageable. They could apprehend, kill or maybe join the warden. But if they came across a note that warden was killed and replaced by a harbinger for a being of chaos and calamity that has existed before existence? Well, my character wouldn't be sleeping well, regardless of how we dealt with the warden.
Ideas:

• Continue the whisperings from the Great Old One every so often in subsequent adventures, like the threat still remains.
  
• Add a supernatural relic that poses as a threat to all of Golarion if it were to fall in the wrong hands. (Follow up adventure to destroy the one ring?)
  
• A nice, quick monologue from the warden to illustrate the scale of things.
  
• Show hints that the cult has been around before recorded history, and has always posed a cosmic threat.
  

This advice is taking the direction of a very Lovecraftian feel to your adventure, which may not suit your wants or desires, but I hope it at least gave some good ideas!

Legaine rolls back from the devil's last attack, putting just enough distance between him and the enemy. Legaine can't stand another wound from that hellish weapon, and he knows it, so he focuses on felling the beast before it gets a chance. Drawing two more arrows, he nocks one and fires, watching it burn into the devil's flesh with baneful energy. A second one quickly following, he plants it perfectly in his mark.

5ft step back. Rapid fire with Bane
attack 1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
attack 2: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

damage 1: 1d8 + 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + (5, 3) + 3 = 17
damage 2: 1d8 + 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + (5, 4) + 3 = 16

A lot of what I have read on setting a sandbox in motion is starting on the railroad, then running off the tracks. For reasons stated by Corvino, a lot of players simply won't know how to respond to the options. I've seen it myself in my games and have since altered my introductions to sandbox homebrews. I would establish a quest, set in stone, before the game begins. That is what we are doing. The players use this as a starting point from which they can spring forward and expand their scope of adventure. I fancied my group quite the role play focused group, but when I said, "You've heard of x, y, and z. Also a, b and c. And roll to see if you've heard of q," the players decided to go to the tavern to look for adventure. Like there were so many options, they needed someone to tell them what to do.

If you want to get players in the sandbox mood while still starting with a little rail-roading (aka an agreed upon quest), define the quest, goals, motives, pretenses and everything before hand - TOGETHER. Ask them questions about everything. So using your example, if you want them to explore the ruins of the fallen kingdom, tell them that and ask them questions to fill in the details. How were you informed about this task? Why did you take it? What's in it for you? Who's rewarding you? What have you heard about the place? What do you hope to gain? Where do you see yourself afterwards?

With questions, you will get a clear picture of the character they expect to play and the direction they plan on taking them. From within, place plenty of hooks for other adventures. Clues that the kingdom was felled by people they know. Clues that the kingdom was once a pinnacle of arts and culture, so who would want to destroy it? Clues of a rising threat (cult, army, invaders). All these things can be placed in the adventure, and the players can choose to pursue them as they see fit. I have not really seen an absolute sandbox that works as intended. The use of hooks alone is practically railroading, the players just choose which railroad to ride. The other thing to keep in mind is once the players have settled on a hook, let them play with it for a bit. Don't start dropping more hooks to the point where they go from hook to hook to hook without ever obtaining a quest that they can finish. Use the quests to provide more hooks. Generally, their attitude will be "Ooh let's check that out when we get back with the MacGuffin." And that's what you want.

Think of it this way. A railroad is a quest. It is the beginning, the middle and the end. The player starts with the quest giver (whatever it may be), goes through a trial, then concludes the quest. Some railroads may branch and meet back up, and some quests can be completed with multiple approaches. What is a sandbox? It is an opportunity for players to do what what they want to do when they want to do it. And what are those things? Well, it varies party to party. Some will focus on the plot and do things that seem integral to the plot. Others will create their own goals, with or without regard to the plot. But one thing is the same throughout, they will want a quest of some sort for whatever it is they are trying to do. Whether the quest is going to a tavern, taking it over and making it your headquarters, making a map of the lands for personal satisfaction, fixing the city's sewer systems because you're tired of fecal-lined streets, or answering the king's call for aid, quests will give a satisfying beginning, middle and end to their task. So when you ask, do I want a sandbox or a railroaded system, you're essentially asking "Do I want a game where the players focus solely on the plot at hand? Or a game where the players create the plot, while the world goes on around them."

For instance, my sandbox game followed this progression: I started the players as associates of a tavern who worked to solve peoples problems. They received a job to investigate the sewers under a noble's mansion only to find goblins setting up explosives. [We determined ahead of time the goblins were working for a bugbear that was denied payment from the noble for sacking a competitor's establishment. The bugbear was now going to assault the city. Choice 1] While they were under the mansion, they overheard individuals in the mansion speaking about plots to overthrow the king. [This we did not discuss ahead of time. The king was a good king, and sometimes employed the players for good pay, so they liked him. Choice 2] When they returned to the tavern to store their loot, there was a 'businessman' looking for capable people to seek an expedition to a family crypt where there was supposedly great treasure. [I figured the crypt would be haunted and filled with undead. The businessman didn't know his family was involved with necromancy and the loot was all taken from terrorizing raids. Choice 3] At this point, the players figured they would go deal with the noble, get paid for the goblins, get information on the bugbear, and try to stop the assassination of the king. Long story short, they stopped the assassination but the bugbear destroyed their establishment and they couldn't get back in touch with the businessman for some quick money to rebuild [he vanished after investigating the crypt himself - future enemy].

When I asked if they felt that they had free reign to do what they want, it was a resounding yes and they enjoyed the plots. So, in conclusion, start on a railroad with a defined quest, introduce hooks with compelling stories, and let the players choose their path and the world moves on around them. That last part is key. Make sure you show the consequences of the choices they make. If I said, "Okay, it's been a month investigating the assassination plot. The bugbear has been waiting patiently, and the businessman is still in your tavern." That would have been quite static. It would make their decision less consequential.

As Oath said, what you did is perfectly understandable, as long as it was done with the right attitude. If there are other players with the books, you could borrow them when you go over, or see if they can all chip in. My group did that where we collectively bought the books with the understanding that, I was running the games and putting in large amounts of time for them that the books would default to my possession if we were to split or anything.

If PDF's aren't going to work, and you can't get books, you can use the online resource. If you have access to the internet, you have access to pretty much everything. D20 Pathfinder SRD and Paizo's PRD are reference documents with everything, quick indexing and a search function. I prefer d20pfsrd because it provides a lot more information generally. If you don't want to use these resources, that's fine, that's your choice. But you should also be understanding if the players do not want to limit themselves. I have run games without books or pdf's due to borrowed technology and did everything from those sites. There were no hold ups or unanswered questions.

It's actually less about them not wanting to play it and more about them tearing down the setting by picking apart the things I don't think of, and less in a "No my precious setting!" and more in a "Stop asking so many questions I don't have the answers gimme a friggin' minute to think of an answer that works". Though now I've learned from the first campaign to circumvent some of those questions.

"Why doesn't the Queen have a standing army?"
"That's a good question. Anyway, moving on..."
"You didn't answer my question."
"Yes, I know."

Here is a great opportunity for you to get them in on the world creation aspect. You said you wanted to, so here's your chance. When they start asking questions and you don't have answers, turn the question on them.

"Why doesn't the Queen have a standing army?"
"That's a good question. You tell me."
"I don't want to."
"I guess it's a mystery to you and the realm then." *queue devious smile*

You have to look for every opportunity with homebrews to get the players involved if that's what you want. There are constantly opportunities popping up and you have to learn how to see them. When a player says, "I worked for a noble as a squire where I learned the basics of horse mounted combat." Your immediate response should be, "Who was the noble? Describe him." And write it down. The players will see that you're serious once you start noting what they say. Don't just ask and listen, and ask and dictate. Write it up in a Google Doc and send it to them to show you are listening.

Google Docs is a great tool for collaboration. You could write up the setting you have in mind for it and leave blanks for the players to go in and complete. "10,000 years ago a _________________ wiped the majority of life on the surface world." Or, make a spreadsheet with multiple questions that they can answer in the next column. Build a column for each player and you can track all of their input.

I wouldn't suggest doing an AP when your turn comes around because then you are going to be tethered to a massive story and campaign arc that you may never see the end of, meaning no homebrew for you. Instead, just do a one shot that you can get out of the way and hope your players will be more receptive to your ideas in the future. But don't stop trying. The Gear Wastes Players' Guide would flip my shit if I saw that sent to me from my GM. It would show your dedication and you could really have some enticing things in it.

This sounds like quite a pickle for you. While on one hand, as Azyr said, you don't want to make the player's work and effort to become a trapfinder feel muted with traps he can't overcome. But at the same time, now you're down an entire asset that GM's typically use to add flavor to their games. The Moriarty trap is a great way to get around this as others have suggested. Another thing you could do, and not sure how detection rules would work here, would be to trap the trap. You know he's going to find it, and you know he's going to disable it. So make that the trap. I'm not sure what abilities he has specifically, but you need to remember that a lot of traps, the complex ones at least, hide their mechanical function behinds walls, floors or doors. So when he goes to look for a trigger or "off-switch" to disable it, he can only see what's in front of him and maybe draw on his trap knowledge to infer what's going on in the walls and stuff. So while he may be able to get a 40 without trying, what does that represent? It's hard to say. Does it give him the ability to perfectly infer whats going on mechanically 30 feet down the hall behind the walls? I wouldn't think so, but he might disagree. If I have two control boxes for traps on both sides of a hall and all he knows is "each disables one side of the room and they are connected somehow", does he know how they are connected. Probably not, unless he has x-ray vision and can see through foot-thick stone walls and ceiling where the wires and pullies run. So for instance, would this approach be appropriate?

DM: "You walk into a 30 foot long and 15 foot wide hallway. Along the outer walls are several dragon statues facing the opposite wall with gaping maws. Scorch marks mar the floors and statues. Rogue, you are able to see that to you're left and right are loose wall-plates that hides the the mechanisms for each side of the room."
Rogue: "Okay, I'll use perception to inspect them."
DM: "It looks like a fairly standard trap, simple for someone of your skill set. You note that the trigger is rigged with a wire shared between both control boxes."
(What he doesn't know is what that wire does. When he disables one, the wire will trigger the other side. So he has to decide, what is up with that wire?)
Rogue: "Okay, I'll inspect that wire further and try to figure out where it goes."
DM: "You can only assume that it runs to the other control box, connecting the trigger."
Rogue: "Okay, I'll disable the left one."
DM: "You set the trigger from ever switching, but as you get everything in place you hear a click come from the trigger box behind you. Suddenly the all the statues on the right side of the hall are spraying a constant stream of fire."

Not every trap has to be disable-able either. If I've got a big ass boulder hiding in a fake ceiling 40 feet off the ground and it's triggered manually by a kobold peering through two tiny eye holes at the other end of the room, there's no way he's disabling that! No amount sticks, pitons and twigs are going to stuff the cracks enough to hold the weight once the trap is sprung. If the rogue gets upset because you're not giving him a chance to shine or you're undermining his character's specialty, that's partly his fault. He put all his eggs in one basket. And I'm pretty sure the adage tells you NOT to do that lol. But don't take that as a cause to punish him. It's going to be a challenge but there are alternatives.

• Place the control box in a position where the players have to navigate the trap first. Justification for such a setup: the enemies inhabiting the place would normally hail down a person manning the "off-switch" to get safe passage through the room.
  
• Don't place any control box for the rogue to disable the trap. Justification for such a setup: the trap is triggered manually by another creature, or the mechanics are all behind walls.
  
• Make the trap giant, with giant mechanisms requiring strength rather than disable device. Justification for such a setup: the players are in a storm giant fortress and come across a large room with a large trap.
  
• Two triggers have to be disabled at the same time. He can only apply half his disable device modifier to each roll since his concentration is split. Justification for such a setup: the person who built this trap wanted to ensure that no one would be able to find a work-around.
  
• Remove the rogue from the scenario. Split the party somehow with the most technically inept people in one area (the trapped area) and the magically inept in another (the magical area). Justification for such a setup: The only way forward required activating an artifact that would transport the players to different rooms.
  
• Use a mimic disguised as the control panel. It gets +30 to disguise as an object, he will be equally matched on that end. Place this in an encounter, and the set-back of dealing with the creature could hurt the party, even as easy at it would be. If he touches it..."Opponents so grappled cannot get free while the mimic is alive without removing the adhesive first."
  
• "Legends and tales speak of mimics of much greater sizes, with the ability to assume the form of houses, ships, or entire dungeon complexes that they festoon with treasure (both real and false) to lure unsuspecting food within." Make the trap/mechanism a mimic. And make it big.
  
• Find a way to blind the rogue. Normally, he would fail that because it relies on vision, but give him a chance with a great penalty for being as good as he is. Justification for such a setup: the room has a supernatural darkness, blinding mold covers the control box that release spores when disturbed.