I tried to come up with a cool name that combined these things but I couldn't. Dungeon Gods? Iron World? Dungiron Wo- no, that sounds awful, stop.
Right, then. Hello!
Since I'm pleased with how my two games of Rise of the Runelords in the Dungeon World rules are going, I've decided to start up recruitment for another game! With another Adventure Path!
What Ruleset is this?
Dungeon World!
Super short premise: Dungeon World is a narrative-driven game with very simple mechanics. You have the 6 standard attributes (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA) and the modifiers range from -1 to +3. When you roll, it’s 2d6+the relevant modifier. A total of 6- is a miss, 7-9 is a partial success, and 10+ is a full success. There are basic moves that everyone can do, as well as class (and for our purposes, race) specific moves.
If you’d like to see some games in action, I have two ongoing games here on the forums.
Do I need to be familiar with Pathfinder / Golarion / the Iron Gods Adventure Path?
Absolutely not!
Dungeon World is centered around the idea of us building the world together. This is something that works great when the players are already selected, but is more difficult for recruitment such as this. An Adventure Path gives us a simple place to start from. I do not expect that we will follow it faithfully, or even necessarily at all. If the group decides to veer off dramatically, we'll do that. The Adventure Path is more used here as a rough framework to give us a base to launch from.
Okay, what's the premise?
You will all be in a town in the land of Numeria known as Torch. The land itself is savage and dangerous, with ancient ruins, superstitious barbarian tribes, dark magic, and nigh unfathomable technological marvels. There are automatons, and at least one crashed metal mountain from the sky that people harness the metal from. Torch gets its name from an ever-burning and otherworldly fire, that sometimes erupts with flares and otherwise works as a perfect forge.
The region is ruled by the Black Soverign in name, but the real power is held by the Technic League. Even here in the town of Torch, they take a significant cut of the town's income as tithes. They openly accept slavery, and have reputations as being cruel sadists, and hoarding technological wonders.
The rest of the world is subject to what you write. Where are you from? What are your people like? Why are you here?
If you would like to read the established lore, you can download the Player’s Guide here on Paizo. For our purposes, it’s not necessarily canon, but it may give you some interesting ideas.
How do I apply?
For this game, you'll be using some custom Dungeon World classes that I've put together. You'll select a Race playbook and a Class playbook. This is slightly different from how Dungeon World normally operates. But for your Starting Moves you'll have the option of choosing some from the Race and some from the Class. Any you don't select can be taken as Advanced Moves when you level up.
I've left the Races intentionally vague, so when you choose one, think about what kind of stuff you want to be! Obviously be prepared to deal with problems if you're going with something absurd.
You don't need to make an alias or go too far into character creation. Let me know what Race/Class combination you'd like to go with, and tell me about the Race itself, and what your character is like. You can do some world building if it helps get your idea across, but I'm more interested in your character's personality. There's a fair amount of world building that we'll do together, and at this stage, I’m more curious who you see existing.
Here is the link for the Races and Classes. I’m also using these for my in person Rise of the Runelords inspired game - which is why the formatting is the way that it is, they’re intended to be printed as little booklets. Also since it’s my personal project, I shameless pilfered from other sources without credit - sorry.
Recruitment will be open for probably a week? Let’s say maybe next Friday? But if interest dies off / everyone has dotted submits before then, I may close it early (giving 24 hours notice, of course). And, of course, any questions, please do let me know!
I'm interested. Never played Dungeon World though. But the weekends are near, so definitely will check the rules.
Sounds great! I'd like to play a forged monk. Will dash up the sheet in a bit!
I've been interested in Dungeon World but haven't had a chance to play it, nor has Iron Gods been spoiled for me- so I'll look over the options and have a character put together.
Nature-borned rogue coming soon (tomorrow or on Saturday).
How tied to Golarion will this game be? I'm considering a monstrous Templar but I want to see how much room there will be to make up a deity.
Oh wow, a bunch of interest immediately. That's awesome. :) Everything being presented sounds great so far. Really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.
How tied to Golarion will this game be? I'm considering a monstrous Templar but I want to see how much room there will be to make up a deity.
Not at all! Use what you want, make up something new, I'm definitely flexible. You're the one who has to worship it, haha. Monstrous Templar is a very interesting idea!
Since Iron Gods (and Numeria in general) is the Tech part of the setting, is there any way to mechanically tie characters to the high-tech stuff? Either at creation or later in the game as we learn more?
Good question! The Forged gets some of that stuff off the bat because they (likely) exist purely as a result of the tech stuff. For most others, their experience with such things is presumed to be fairly limited.
It's definitely possible that everyone will be able to get more moves, though. Also, remember that there's a fair amount that can come down to essentially technological gadgets, which will have their own mechanical things.
Also do humans fit in any of those races? I didn't see anything appropriate.
There's nothing specific with them in mind since Humans are so varied as a people, but I think The Fae or The Scavenger or The Untamed Wild could easily be adapted to fit with it. Of course, that's if humans even exist in this world. There is the opportunity with this to make up races, and to change established conventions.
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Kon'Zu is what's known as an Iron Monk, a former Warbuilt that has shed his military ways in search of enlightenment and peace. He looks like a pot furnace with arms and legs and a head, the fires that run him burning behind his eyes. He's slow to anger but quick to protect those smaller or weaker than he is.
And everyone is smaller and weaker than Kon'Zu.
((Where do I upload my character sheets? I've filled them out, minus the bonds))
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Rogue - Dweller of the Deep
Goromatz the Dwemer (see: Skyrim) was the youngest member of the underworld famous circus acrobat group the Flying Dwemers of Muztmaz, the great underground capital. While it was a constant whirlwind of excitement and fame, he retired quite early and quietly to take up his true passion, cooking. At the youthful age of 55, he opened a small eatery and bar in the lower reaches of Muztmaz called, Goromatz Gourmet. When Goromatz isn't checking the oven or slicing fresh fruit, he can be found joining the next adventuring party going topside in search of new ingredients and a new cooking challenge.
The Dwemer race is very much an underground culture with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, especially if it pertains to magic and technology. They are considered the masters of astrology, building grand observatories near the tops of mountains. They are also notorious for keeping to themselves, causing other races to see them as stuck up or too self involved. They typical live 400-500 years. They are just shy of average human height with beards and hair rarely cut short. Instead they favor tying up their hair and braiding their beards. Think hairy elves.
"The only way they would care about the affairs of the world is if they could see them through their telescopes." - random person
I could also just go dwarf if that would be easier to remember/deal with.
Templar- Monstrous One
Garl was born to the Wheelkeeper tribe of trolls, though he never knew of them until he grew older. As is the Wheelkeeper custom, children born stunted and small as Garl had been are abandoned to the elements and the whims of the jackals. But it was the infant troll's good fortune that a Peregrine of Cormara, Courier of Souls, had found him while leaving offerings to her goddess in the badlands. The Courier of Souls gazes down upon the meek and the mighty and the Peregrine saw potential in the castoff infant where his tribe never had.
Though he grew to a mere 7 feet in height and his horns will never be more than mere stubs, Garl's resilience in the face of punishing hardships and his keen nose for tracking trespassers and willingness to suffer for those even more wretched than he have served Cormara admirably. He never eats birds despite his enormous appetite, for they bring the departed to their place beyond the sky.
Oh! Oh! Got room for one more? =)
I'm feeling inspired by Meetch's Zen-Forged, and it looks like could use a broken-things-maker, so I'm thinking of a Forged Barbarian. Wachy hijinks and hot Forged v Forged philosophical debates to follow!
Oooh, that'd be fun!
So, interest so far, then!
Atlas2112 - Forged Barbarian
belethlich - Dweller Rogue
James Keegan - Monstrous Templar
Madcaster - Nature-Born Rogue
Meetch - Forged Monk
MrJPStilts - Scavenger Mage
ThistleCity - Forged Druid
I am surprised by how popular the Forged race is!
((Where do I upload my character sheets? I've filled them out, minus the bonds))
When you create an alias, you can fill out a profile for that alias and enter the sheet in there. It's common practise here that you aren't required to make an Alias until you're selected for the game, because of bloat - Once Aliases have 10+ posts, they can't be deleted.
With that said, (and this is for @everyone) I'm suddenly thinking that I should have some indication of the moves people are intending to take, especially those that are interested in the same races / classes. Obviously we don't want to have characters who are mechanically exactly the same if we can avoid it.
So, again, you don't have to make an alias, but if you can post and give an indication of the starting moves you're choosing, that will probably help me with selections when the time comes.
Dhiobdain is a dryad. His dark green hair is unkept, and there are twigs and leaves in it. He has slender and lithe body, but it's hard to notice under his loose clothing. His keen brown eyes rarely miss anything, especially if Dhiobdain focuses his attention. His skin has green and brown tones in it and bark-like texture.
Dhiobdain is over a hundred years old, but by dryads' standarts he is barely an adult.
He is curious about the world, so he left his settlement a couple of years ago. His kleptomania caused him many troubles, but he never seems to care.
Many people think that dryads consist solely of females. That is wrong. There are both males and females in the race. It's just hard for an outsider to differentiate between genders, as males and females tend to have similar builds and an androgynous looking.
Dryads are somewhat detached from the other world, since they live much longer than many other races.
There are, of course, exceptions, as everywhere. Some dryads are attracted to outside world. It's exotic, it has different values, different temp of life, different everythinig. Those few live amongst other races, rather than with their own.
As for the moves, I think I'll take Vine Lash, Trap Expert/Tricks of the Trade, Fire Bad! Fire Bad!/Turn To Tree and Hide in Shadows.
I'm planning to take Valiance and Divine Ward as my major moves, with Armored and Foe Tracker as minor moves. Stats will focus on Constitution with Strength and Wisdom being the next highest. He'll be pretty clumsy and a little off-putting, so low Dexterity and Charisma.
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My character (that I'm trying real hard not to actually name "Atlas" because appropriate, but I may lose that fight =)
In 3626, a decade before his ill-fated siege of Absalom, Karamoss the Machine Mage was already toying with his new-found powers, making great leaps in the research and production of artificial life.
The Technic League would not have this, but they felt it a poor idea to confront the mage too directly. Still, the countryside began to feel the effects as the mage's fledgling experiments began to clash with the League's forces as they vied for areas of control.
Near a long-forgotten village called Metaurus, a squad of League Enforcers tried to collect their rightful tax, but were met in combat by an assault-class Forged. The robot fought well, but was eventually stopped by a well-placed dagger stuck deeply into his back. The construct fell, and the enforcers collected their tax. Though they left the dagger, not daring to remove it, lest it resuscitate the bot.
Time passed, and the grass-swept plateau reclaimed both bot and village.
Many decades later, a young boy was fleeing for his life. He was running from, ironically, a press-gang from the Technic League who needed warm bodies to absorb arrows.
The boy noticed a dagger stuck into the ground, and, tired of running and wanting to at least die on his feet, he grasped the dagger out of the ground and turned, ready to meet his fate.
The press gang, happy that their quarry finally quit running, drew weapons of steel and advanced, ready to try and take him alive. But they wouldn't try too hard. There were always other boys to take.
Everyone was surprised when the ground opened up and vomited an assault mech into the middle of the crowd. The robot took one look around, identified the insignia of the Technic league, and murdered the entirety of the surprised press gang.
When it was finished, the robot picked up a weapon from a cooling hand and headed off.
The boy at least wanted to talk to his rescuer. He had never seen a Forged up close, and it seemed at least thanks were in order. "Wait!" he called out. "Don't you want to sit and rest for a peace?"
The bot paused. He turned it's head and said allowed,
The Forged walked on.
****
I'm thinking of a massive armored kill-bringer that is constantly providing comedy relief in awkward social situations while striving to understand human culture and why everyone doesn't just want to crush things all the time.
Maybe a Skyforged and Integrated Systems (with [Frickin] Laser [Beems!] and Aiming Systems), with Berserker Rage and Unencumbered, Unharmed.
Kon'Zu is a punching and kicking fireforged construct with integrated shields and violent strikes due to his pressure driven fists. His fighting style is passive dim mak and he's built, not born.
In general, Kon'Zu prefers to defend and absorb blows with his reinforced arms (defy danger + con) instead of directly attacking, but he's built to lay out punishment when he doesn't have another choice. Kon'Zu never starts a fight, but he's capable of ending one.
My character (that I'm trying real hard not to actually name "Atlas" because appropriate, but I may lose that fight =)
** spoiler omitted **...
I'll think on my character. He's definitely a deserter from one side of the war or the other. Maybe a former warmech from the Technic League who grew a concience and decided to follow a way of peace instead.
After reading over the player's guide, I feel good about that decision:
Kon'Zu was built as a foot soldier by the Technic League. Designed to carry out their sadistic wishes with no thought or will, Kon'Zu eventually saw the League for what it truly was. Realizing the blood on his hands, he turned against his cruel masters and vowed to never be the aggressor again. He was taken in by a group of monks living in the slums of torch and taught their ways of peaceful defense. He's made a home for himself in the Junkyard and is beloved by the children of the area who call him "Metal Friend."
Haven't seen any posts here in a few days? Yorick's do you feel good about closing this down so we can get started?
I'm a bit busy this week, but yeah, may as well set an actual deadline. I'll close this down on Thursday at noon EST in case anyone else pops in. Then I'll make some selections and we can do some world building things.
Current Submissions
Atlas2112 - Forged Barbarian
belethlich - Dweller Rogue
James Keegan - Monstrous Templar
Madcaster - Nature-Born Rogue
Meetch - Forged Monk
MrJPStilts - Scavenger Mage
thejeff - Monstrous Barbarian
ThistleCity - Forged Druid
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A hulking assaultmech is stalking through the junkyard, calmly analyzing various bits for durability and damage potential. He comes across another Forged who is, unusually, pulling up weeds that are encroaching on his young crop of red beans.
The assaultmech stops and analyzes the behavior of the other robot. Misunderstanding the intent, he offers to help with the task.
Kon'Zu contemplates for a moment, then turns to Atlas.
I appreciate your offer, but I fear my beans would not survive the efforts. Are you designed to dig or grasp?
Kon'Zu frowns as much as it's possible for him to. He'd thought he'd maybe found a friend. Still, it may be possible to avert violence.
My designation is currently agriculture. My objective is the selective termination of unwanted plant matter in the interest of preserving target plant matter. You can put your laser away. I am not equipped with a weapon and offer no threat to you.
I would like to join, shouldn't be too late.
Cold-Blooded Monk:
Basking in the heat of the Torch, I have rested well. But as the world around me erupts with conflict and hatred, it is my duty to diffuse the tension and make my inner peace an outer reality.
Hopefully that'll do for now.
Oh and for moves I wanted to go with all the Monk ones and the Whip tail. The fighting style is an Intense but Passive combination of Grappling and Joint locks. Not sure if Loose form or Animal Mimicking is more applicable.
The crystal that controls memory flashes inside my steel head. A crying child. A burning home. A skull crushed under my foot.
I have left my master. Violence is no longer my destination. I have neither need nor want for a weapon. Leave me and my plants be, or equip that shovel and engage digging.
Wait! Destroying plant matter? Some of those are herbs! For cooking!
How does something made of fire care for beans?
Chimaru tilts his head in confusion.
As for you, no need to shout, there's been no indication of this one being deaf. Just go pick your weeds if they are so precious.
Current Submissions
Assaultmech Atlas 21-12 - Forged Barbarian
Cior Eolas - Scavenger Mage
Dhiobdain - Nature-Born Rogue
Firzenick - Cold-Blooded Monk
Goromatz - Dweller Rogue
James Keegan - Monstrous Templar
Kon'Zu - Forged Monk
Skelitinor - Forged Templar
thejeff - Monstrous Barbarian
ThistleCity - Forged Druid
Everyone's characters are looking great! Here are some questions for everyone so I can possibly have an easier or more difficult time choosing your characters. Just trying to get a slightly better handle on your characters.
Assaultmech Atlas 21-12 - How come Karamoss never went to look for you? With his attempts to have machinery give a new lease on life, were you a lifeform before, or were you born as a machine? Also, how big are you?
Cior Eolas - What type of creature are you? Seems mouselike but I don't want to make any assumptions. How old are you / how long do your people usually live for? How does Cior feel about people who use Technology instead of Magic?
Dhiobdain - Where do you keep the items that you steal? Or is it more about the taking rather than the having? How do you feel about being in Numeria, which is largely barren?
Firzenick - What kind of creature are you? How long have you been in Torch?
Goromatz - Are some of the Dwemer still miners? What's the scariest thing in the Underdark?
James Keegan - How big are trolls typically? How are they viewed by most people, and how do you yourself view them?
Kon'Zu - Was there a single event that caused your "awakening" to realise what the Technic League really was? Are they actively pursuing you?
Skelitinor - With the burning hatred, were you enslaved and programmed in a certain way? How did you discover religion?
Thejeff - Cool idea. I can definitely see the appeal for people to have gnolls, but how do the gnolls feel about having others in their tribes? Was this posting something you volunteered for or is it more like a (bad) lottery?
ThistleCity - With the intent be to care for nature, what brings you to Numeria? Are you passing through, or perhaps trying to bring some more nature to the area?
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To the gardening Forged, Atlas nods. "Acknowledged. So you are growing these plants so you may consume them?"
The thick neck of the mech swivels to take in the newcombers. By default targeting solutions are plotted for each being, and a tactical assessment ran.
But as neither seems to be immediately hostile, the internal A-TAC spins down and allows inquiries to be made.
he booms out.
1) Heh. I just read what the wiki had, and it seems like there are a couple interpretations. One is that he just had his head down for three decades and didn't do a lot. I don't like that interpretation. =)
The other is that he was like a one-man DARPA, creating and experimenting and waging small-scale war, until he finally cranked out his magnum opus the Red Redoubt. (This seems more likely.)
If he was doing that, then he had a LOT on his plate. He was probably experimenting with artificial AI, and mechanical war machines. And the thing about an army is, once you have it, it demands to be used. =)
He was probably skirmishing with the Technic League for territory and resources, running a low-grade hot war from the isolation of the Silver Mount.
Hence, when he lost contact with unit Atlas 21-12, he just thought he was dead, and concentrated on the other several dozens of mechanical murderbots that he either already had in the field, or was working on building.
2) Larger than a man, but smaller than the larger mechs. I'm thinking 6'8" and broad build.
3) I wrestled with the idea of making him a man-turned-cyborg, and go with the whole "Robocop" thing, but I couldn't really get all the parts moving in the same direction for that.
Since he was never human, he has more trouble understanding human interaction and catching many social norms that others take for granted. (Kinda like Arny in Terminator 2, but more so.)
Kon'Zu - Was there a single event that caused your "awakening" to realise what the Technic League really was? Are they actively pursuing you?
Tomas Von Passlefoot had grown very fat since taking a leadership role in the Technic League. With these new WarMechs handling the basic foot soldiering, he had little to do than give orders and eat vast amounts of little sweets.
He licked the chocolate off of his fingers as he crumpled up the bag that he had ripped from the orphan's hand.
A lovely offering, but it's a far cry from what's actually owed. He turned to the orphan-master. Can you pay?
The orphan-master shook his head sadly. Von Passlefoot shook his head sadly. Only one was sincere about the gesture.
Send the children inside. We'll discuss this man to man.
The orphan-master shuttered the sixteen young children into the orphanage. He turned back to Von Passlefoot, only to see the Technic Leaguer flanked by four hulking WarMechs, their girth eclipsing Von Passlefoot's own.
Von Passlefoot blew into a brass whistle and the robots lifted their arms, long jets of flame emerging from their palms. All but one. The newest version, who had been gifted with limited command intelligence. The Mark V stepped in between the orphan-master and Von Passlefoot.
All life is precious he intoned, using his voice for the very first time. I shall never be used for violence again.
Von Passlefoot stood mouth agape, but only for a moment. He hadn't risen so far in the League without being able to think fast on his feet.
Then we'll melt you to slag and go around you. he said, haughtily.
Mark V, who no longer thought of himself in terms of a number or a version thought for a moment. The gears in his head turned and just as quickly as he devised his original philosophy, he revised it.
Some life is precious. He cracked the knuckles of his pressure-driven gauntlets, steam escaping from the joints. I shall be used for violence as circumstances dictate.
The Mark V was VERY advanced, compared to the Mark IIIs that Von Passlefoot had otherwise been trusted with. When he was done with them they had been torn into so much scrap it was impossible to tell if it assembled into three robots or four. He scattered the chunks of metal over the ruins of the orphanage, over the ash that could have been made by sixteen young children...or one very fat man.
I was initially wondering why the playbooks were set up the way they were, but I do like it. Gives a way to further differentiate characters. If I'm in time, here's what I'd like to put forth.
Changeling - Fae Charlatan
For the longest time, he'd lived alone, in the woods and wilds that used to surround Torch. He'd never really known how he got there, or what he was, but he adapted, learning how to wield the forces that changed the area, and move without disturbing his home, traceless and unknown.
On one day, he saw a burst of light from Torch, and curiosity lead him to see what he would find. With his talents, he moved unnoticed, seeing grand marvels and savage cruelty. He kept visiting, eventually learning language, and how best to wield it. He learned happiness and sorrow, greed and sacrifice, want and whimsy, all as he investigated this source of curiosity. He eventually began to walk the streets himself, veiled to appear as one of them. The place became a second home.
Things changed, though. Those who called themselves the Technic League swelled in number and power, taking control of Torch and stripping down the forest for materials at a degree beyond merely excessive. And this angered him. For all he knew that change came to everything, this was the worst kind. They stole the bounty of town and tree alike, seizing it all for their own selfish sake. And he would not let this stand. He was far too attached by this point.
He could not fight, but he didn't need to. He had learned how to direct change as he wished through magic and word, and with this he would turn the town of the League, and the League on itself. Change was coming. And he would embody it.
|"Hmm? What do you want?"|-----|"They intend to do WHAT?! Who's intent is this?"|-----|"Thank you, citizen. I will see to this right now!"|
Changeling left, as the gunshots began to ring out from the place he once was. The Technic League would not have their way here.
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The short version is that he was abandoned to the wilderness, while he was still very young. He eventually came to visit Torch in its earlier days, and became enamoured with the place. Eventually, the Technic League gained presence, and threatened the places he'd come to love. So he's responding in kind.
As it stands, Changeling is long lived, and of an undetermined species. If anyone has ideas, be my guest. I'll be taking Silvertongue, Beguiler's Cloak, Changing Seasons, and Touch the World Lightly, working for Good/Justice and with the Orphan Background.
Forgive me if there's something I missed because I didn't do enough reading.
Chimaru has only been in Torch for a few weeks, basking in the heat could take months, Monk meditation and everything.
Chimaru is actually a Lizardfolk much in line with the Basilisks, you know, the lizards that occasionally run on water. This one's fast, but such feats are just slightly more difficult when you're about 100 times as big (under 5 feet), he's getting there though.
I've been thinking actually, what am I a monk of... that monk token.
Can't really think of anything, very open to suggestions.
It has always been a part of society as a career. They are considered adventurers and working class heroes, often encountering strange beasts that they have to conquer. None, however, are more fearsome than the dreaded Apocalypse Pig, a porcine dragon creature known for devouring anything in its path.
Just chiming in to sing DM Yorick's praises! He's great. Dungeon World is a really, really fun game, too.
Perking up, Oh my dear lizardfolk sir, I have enough weed right now. No need to pick anymore of....Wait, oh! Weeds? That is a different story. I suppose I could try cooking a meal with those. Hmm. Challenge accepted! Goromatz grows quite curious. What do you prefer eating anyhow?
Name's Chimaru, and my need for food is considerably less than yours I'm sure. Those times that do I feel hunger I will consume most anything but I do tend to prefer a good egg when I can get one.