
mittean |

I am running a massive adventure, interweaving many published and unpublished plots. This is a bit of an experiment. I have house ruled some pretty powerful advancement options, and we'll be using those. I am a pretty ruthless DM, so I like to give my group as much opportunity as possible. I have customized critical and fumble tables, I use the condition tracker, extra hit points and wound points, I have four types of Action points, and use luck and hero points as well, I use insanity scores, healing magic DEFINITELY works different in my campaign, as well as an back from death effects. I use traits and flaws, regional benefits, campaign cards, stabilization, massive damage and clobbered, death and dying rules, a couple of feats are different, summoning is highly specialized, i allow the ritual of renewal, priests pray, they don't cast spells, and I allow extensive spending of XP through training, guilds, and other schooling to expand your character laterally.
I'll be using All five published AP's (The Sunless citadel path being the first, non-congruous), and using any and all WotC and 3rd party books.
My group consists of (so far, and not always involved as a group)
Kalam'yre, a male Elan Swordsage 1
Kalam'yre is a wanderer. A student of obscure fighting styles in the world, he traveled south to Sasserine to learn more of some rumored techniques used in the area. He dislikes petty soldiers, and doesn't like most of society, having always been a little of an outcast. He trusts in laws, because, as written, many laws SHOULD protect him. He hates it when a law fails, citing it's 'human' failure. Acceptance and justice drive him.
Taryk, a male human rogue 1
Taryk is a local con, a scoundrel moving from person to person, leaching a little, and leaving them a dry husk. His charm and rapier wit are counterpoint to his Great club bluntness. He is brilliant, but fears acceptance and love. Rides the arrogance line. Chaos and passion drive him.
Roman, a male human sorcerer 1 of unknown heritage
Roman is a noble heart, who has serious self-doubt, and a bit of a dreaming problem, always with his head distracted with some idea or fantasy. A romantic, rides the supreme self confidence line. Guilt and love drive him.
Melisandre, a female Aasimar swordsage 1
A local orphan, she always felt the outcast. She always wanted to be more martial, to be able to defend herself, but was never allowed by the locals, being too young, a female, and an Aasimar. She met Kalam'yre two years ago, and began to learn the subtleties of fighting. Supreme self-doubt burdens her with a poor self-image. She is neurotic and moody. Belonging and desire drive her.
There are other characters, but these are what I am starting with. We'll see where this goes, and how long it lasts. Any comments are welcome, as well as advice. Thanks! (If you can tell what adventure line I'm following at any given point, let me know) :)

mittean |

Yeah, I've been DM-ing since 1st edition. I have several programs I use to help, and I feel it gives certain flavors I enjoy. I call the ability to expand your character so much outside of leveling as "Gandalfing" your character. The whole idea is Sauruman is higher level, and more POWERFUL, but Gandalf has much more knowledge of the obscure, many more little things he can do that he has spent time, energy, money and XP on, that Sauramon just put into leveling. A spire of a character, vs. a sprawling city. Thanks for your vote of confidence!

mittean |

Roman woke with a start, jerking up in his covers, his heart beating in his throat so hard he thought it might tear free. He was cold, which was odd considering the heat of the morning. He could see the color of the sky starting to lighten up in the slats of his thin window in the loft of the Drunken Morkoth Inn. It was going to be a warm day today, he could tell already. Odd, this time of year. It should have been cooling down.
He tried to remember what woke him. No images came to him. Just a feeling of... dread. Loss. Confusion. He hated his dreams. It was this way as often as not, with no explanation. And his memories weren't much clearer than the dreams. Roman was twenty three. But that was assuming that he really had been sixteen when he had arrived in the region. He had been found adrift in the Jeklea Bay seven years ago by a ship out of the city of Hardby. He was almost two-hundred miles out from the city of Saltmarsh, face down, not breathing, with just the clothes on his back. The story went that his body had been "churning" the water around him in the ocean, mist coming up from the waves, given off by the intense heat of his body.
They had brought him aboard the ship, dead as could be, and his body had cooled. Two days later they pulled into the southern port of Sasserine, the jewel of the south, named after a Priestess of Wee Jas, the Goddess of death. Upon debarking, they discovered that the body of the young man had disappeared.
Three days later, he was found by the inn keep in the very room he was sleeping in now. He was unconscious, with a fever tearing through him that nearly killed him. He was looked after by Ezakien Tobyn, the leader of the local church of Pelor, God of healing and the sun. Seven days later, he arose, although to his dying day, Master Tobyn said he had nothing to do with the odd lad's recovery.
Roman had become sort of an automatic friend of Master Tobyn's adopted daughter, Nualia. She was what was called an Aasimar, a human that supposedly had some angelic heritage in her blood. She and her best friend, Melisandre, another Aasimar, spent their days with him, talking, laughing, being the youth they were. The three orphans found a bond in their mutual situations.
Along with their other friends, Taryk, a local troubled youth who was brilliant but taciturn, and Kalam'yre, an oddly beautiful young man who hated humanity and all of her faults, they had become somewhat infamous in their little city of Cauldron, nestled in the caldera of an inactive volcano.
Roman rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands, and lay back down. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep again. 'I may as well get up', he thought. With a sigh, he climbed out of bed.