I'd be willing to run a one on one game of PF for you, perhaps. Were you looking to play via email, PbP, or messenger?
Generally PbP would be the easiest, since my work schedule always moves around a bit it would difficult for me to pinpoint a good time for messenger play past looking on a week by week basis- but I usually have access to the internet on my work computer, if not messenger programs.
If you'd prefer that I run something published, I do have a handful of PF modules (both society and...regular?), as well as 2 full adventure paths (Council of Thieves, and Rise of the Runelords). I also have a few homebrew campaigns that I could tweak for one player. Do you favor a particular setting (dungeon, urban, wilderness, etc) or genre (planar, horror, gritty/low fantasy, mystery, oriental, and so forth)? And would you prefer combat heavy hack'n'slash, heavy roleplay, or somewhere in between?
I do have a RotRL PbP that just passed 1000 posts if you'd like a sample of my style to see if it is a good fit for you. There is a link to the IC thread in my profile.
The homebrew setting I've been working on for a while now. Unfortunately I don't have a scanner so I can't upload any maps that are handdrawn for it, but no matter. It is inspired by Eastern Russia / Western Mongolia with a few Greek influences. It is a steampunk setting (don't know how much that interests you, but a quick primer is below).
Vasyuga Territory is a small, remote frontier region of the world of Spire with no centralized government, that measures some 75 square miles. It is bordered on the East by the treacherous Altai Mountain Range, on the West by storm-wracked waters of the Golyaev Bay, and framed by thick swamps to to the North and South. Due to its relative isolation from the rest of Spire, Vasyuga Territory is only sparsely inhabited. There are two major communities in the area, the village of Karaev (Car-A-Eve) and the Manzhouli (Man-Zoo-Lee) Steppe.
Karaev, along with its offshoots (notably Port Mezzan and Storm Haven), is the only “civilized” town in the Vasyuga marshland, and it only boasts a population of a bit under 1500, mostly human. It is ruled by a militant Theocracy to Tiamat which is passed down generation to generation within a family of pious worshipers. There is little in the way of laws for crime and punishment, but most illegal actions are punished by execution in the Brass Bull, a construction appearing as it sounds where criminals are placed inside while a fire is stoked underneath, cooking them alive during the mandatory weekly mass in town square, making even being a pickpocket a very dangerous profession. Heresy and religious negligence is a punishable offense, so at the very least most citizens pay lip service to the dark goddess of dragons, and any other “blasphemous” gods are only honored in secret. Though the church rarely dabbles in healing services save for anyone but the rich elite (who number very few), disease is a constant companion in Vasyuga Territory, so when one is injured or ill they are usually stuck on their own to recover. Karaev is mostly self sufficient, feeding its populace with a handful of farms and fisheries, and only trades for a few rare necessities that can’t be gathered in the wetlands. There is not much in the way of widespread artistic or cultural pursuits, and the major sources of entertainment are a few shots of potato vodka and a few games of dragon chess (a complicated board game involving a three-tiered playing surface). Citizens of Karaeve speak Vasyugan.
The Manzhouli Steppe, on the other hand, is home to the second people of the Vasyuga Territory, the “savage” Manzhouli tribesmen. Their mysterious ruler, Osho Rajneesh Khan, is reputed to be a great, though aging, warrior and tactician who issues edicts from his ziggurat at the heart of their land, just scant miles Southwest of Karaev. Little is widely known of their clan past their xenophobic policies and ferocity in battle on the rare occasion they’ve butted heads with the folk of Karaev. Truthfully, these nomads are gifted hunters and gatherers who revere the land and its bounty with an astute sensitivity to natural beauty. Though their ancient and sacred temple is rooted in place, their people are quite mobile, living in quickly constructed, though stable, and easily disassembled hide yurts. They are skilled archers and raise powerful steeds, indeed they are rarely seen off of horseback. Their population is roughly fifty percent human and fifty percent half elven. Tribesmen speak Manzhouli.
A third settlement, Salair (Sail-Er) Ridge, an old dwarf-home, once prospered on the Eastern edge of the Vasuyga Territory, but has remained silent and dormant for centuries.
Life is difficult in Vasyuga Territory. Everyday is often perceived as an uphill battle against disease, wildlife, relentless storms, barbaric hordes, ancient curses, and the dreaded Zmaj, the rarely seen, dragon-like beast who demands sacrifices of gold, livestock, and virgin women.
While many of the dangers of a coastal swamp are common enough to be expected, some hazards in the Vasyuga Territory are a bit more extreme. The heavy, frequent storms can cause flooding, but the true danger lies in a phenomenon known as the black rain. Aptly named for its unsettling appearance (sheets of shadowy blackness falling along with the rains of an otherwise normal storm), black rain is believed to be the result of the blood from countless infernals from long ago tainting the land and the water. Those few trapped without shelter who have survived the black rain can attest to the threat that it poses. It is said to chill those it touches to the bone, draining all warmth from the body, heart, and soul, filling them with a reckless and insane fury, and causing victims to commit foul and unthinkable acts of violence and worse against even those that they hold most dear as they slowly petrify into twisted, eerie sculptures which dot the landscape as monuments to their terrible deeds. Those that have managed to come out of the ordeal alive are never quite right in the head again. They suffer from paranoia and schizophrenia along with a slew of other issues, believing that evil spirits are not only out to get them, but taunt them in ways that only they can perceive.
The Zmaj is a force that has been in the region longer than anyone can recall. A titanic beast, it lairs deep in Ary-Mas (Air-E-Moss). While few, if any, have seen this monster and lived to tell the tale, it has spawned many legends. It is said to be powerfully muscled and have thick black scales and three heads, each scaled in green, capable of breathing either lightning or fire depending on whose telling the story. The Zmaj is also said to be of keen intellect, and indeed the Theocrat of Karaev sends regular tributes of goatgold, and girls into the swamp, never to be seen again.
Some old world technologies are still abound even in the remote swampland that is Vasyuga Territory. Steam trains remain the primary way of moving people into and out of the region, while larger quantities supplies are often shipped by sea. It is rumored that technomancers (magi and other intellectuals who see value and work in steam power and clockwork) are not far behind on dirigible technology. Semi-intelligent clockwork beings under the command of the Theocrat and his direct underlings patrol Karaev, never needing food, water, shelter, or even rest, past a few minutes of winding themselves up everyday. Indoor plumbing is not uncommon among the elite as well.
Religion and History of Spire to be added.
Barring that, RotRL might be a decent fit. It has a solid storyline with plenty of room to explore and interact with the world. There are a handful of traditional dungeons and book two is a decent mystery. There isn't a whole lot of "wilderness", but plenty of room to add a bit with sidquests. The story starts off a bit light and comical but steadily becomes rather dark and gruesome. There is a bit of oriental influence, as there is an afluent Tian family in the town at the focal point of the campaign.
As far as posts per day- I'm online more often than not throughout the day whether at work or home, so with PbPs I can match the speed of whoever I'm playing with fairly well. I tend to make sure I check my game at least once every twelve hours during slow times and more often at least once an hour while I'm work, more if I notice heavy back and forth activities. Every other Saturday and every other Monday I run and play (respectively) in RL games, so on those evenings I'll be scarce, but other than that I lurk frequently on these boards. If you'd like to make sure at least a handful of posts get in per day, I can do that, if you like a more leisurely pace of one ever day or two, that isn't a problem either.
I can't seem to get either url to direct me anywhere other than Paizo's homepage at the moment.
Renaissance steampunk and clockwork, not quite advanced Victorian. I'm still toying with the setting a bit and have a lot to type up (cosmology, religion, world history, region history), so it might be a bit longer before it is ready, but I could always rune a one shot adventure so we can get used to one another's styles before delving into a full campaign.
Although Council of Thieves might be a good AP to follow too. I can see the storyline and encounters more easily melded around a single PC. And on that note, would you prefer to play multiple characters or just have a single character? And if you want just one would you prefer that encounters be scalled down to fewer, weaker enemies, or would you enjoy playing a more powerful character? With a single character I think something might have to be tweaked as to account for action economy, perhaps something akin to hero points to allow an extra turn or action so many times per level.
And speaking of tweaks, are there any houserules you would like to use? I have a few that I generally use, but don't really feel the need to implement them if you don't care for them.
Council of Thieves would probably work best then, since I already have the books and am a bit low on money, but the other two that you mentioned might be worth looking into at some point.
I use quite a few house rules in 3.5, fewer in PF. One that I'm rather fond of is removing alignment from the game, for the most part. Characters with the aura ability (such as clerics and paladins) still are treated as the appropriate alignments, as are any creature with an aligned subtype (mostly undead and outsiders), but as far as game mechanics go, everyone else is treated as neutral. Paladins can still smite, in fact they can smite anything with an intelligence score of 3 or higher, still doubling its effectiveness on actual evil things. If you enjoy alignment hoever, I'd have no problem leaving it in.
I also let people with item creation feats "disenchant" magical items to store up half of their value in a pool for creating like items. For example you find a magic wand of spell you won't be using. You could disenchant it and use half its remaining value to craft your own wand. Or you find a magic greataxe, but you'd rather have a longsword. So you disenchant the axe and craft the sword.
I think those are the only two I almost universally use.
I've not seen anything from rite or SGG. Generally I'm careful when allowing 3rd party material due to balance reasons, but with only a single PC I don't think that it would be too bad (no other PC's to need to balance against). So as long as there isn't some exceptional ability that is hard to game around, the classes from other source materials should be fine. What did you have in mind?
As far as the power level of the game goes, I definately think hero points from the APG would be a good idea, if you are familiar with them. And perhaps I'll keep you a level ahead of where the module expects you to be, and remove/weaken encounters just a bit to kind of meet in the middle.
Have you ever had a chance to read/download the CoT player's guide?
Hero points are similar to action points from 3.5's Unearthed Arcana / Ebberon stuff. You can use them to get extra standard actions, bonuses to rolls, immediately ready actions, cheat death, etc. I think they'll help with action economy a bit.
As far as classes go, just make sure that anything that you take that isn't in the PRD you type up the abilities so I'm aware of what the mechanics are and we should be fine. I have tomorrow off of work, so I can start running the game as early as then. I'll just need to brush up on the AP tonight.
I think that starting at 2nd level and keeping one ahead of the expectation will work best when combined with hero points. And we'd better have you gain max HP at every level just to be safe. Unless you'd rather start at level 1 or prefer the randomness of the HP roll. Tomorrow, when I get the intro post typed up, I'll post the link in this thread, PbP will be the easiest for me to keep track of and keep up on unless you have any strong objections to it.
Did you have any strong idea of your background yet, or were you still working on that?
I'm getting ahead of myself. Would you like to roll or pointbuy? As the only player I can put the pressure one you to decide. :)
Oh, and to not keep bumping us up in Gamer Connection: Link