I've got an idea for a game that's been exciting me, but I'm not sure if it would work.
I love games where I can work my way up, and build something in the setting - not just follow an adventure path. Something where I can be proactive in seeking power within the game. I love Kingmaker for the sandbox kingdom building elements in it.
I also really like the idea of an urban but high magic setting, like the cities in Stephen Brust and Simon R Green's settings. Somewhere people live and work, but anything is possible. Within Golarion the two obvious choices are Kaer Maga and Whitethrone. I'm tending towards Whitethrone.
I want to build a rich and deep world and I am really want players to want to sandbox inside it.
While this sounds like a great game for me I'm just not sure if people are interested in this style of game.
What do you think?
I really want to play a wizard in a game with a home base. I have SO many ideas, but basically every game is a constant rush to get to the next location and I can never pimp my lair. If you want to run this game I'd like to play as a wizard please.
I would love to play in Irrisen and play a White Witch. Not sure if you'd want that kind of headache in their homeland though. Also I'm a guy IRL and am not positive I can play a female all that well, but I am damn willing to try.
Also, don't listen to that midger caffinee construct. He's nothing but trouble, grinding coffee and making a mess, spraying milk and sugar everywhere and offering donuts at inappropriate times...
Certainly! I find the same things interesting. I'm always asking DMs, how my character can make money and build wealth. And therefore power.
Is the country neutral evil? Are we evil?
I would love to play in Irrisen and play a White Witch. Not sure if you'd want that kind of headache in their homeland though. Also I'm a guy IRL and am not positive I can play a female all that well, but I am damn willing to try.
Also, don't listen to that midger caffinee construct. He's nothing but trouble, grinding coffee and making a mess, spraying milk and sugar everywhere and offering donuts at inappropriate times...
Don't listen to him. He's not even a real monkey.
I could adjust Elandor.
This is Tiny Coffee Golem.
I don't know what level we are, but I would like to offer Shaezon for this game. He was built for a kingmaker game. Turns out DM didn't like magic or so I found out after playing from level 3. We parted ways amiably, but I would still like to play him in a real game. He's built to go into the Pathfinder Savant PRC, but depending on game style he may or may not do that.
I'll naturally adjust him to whatever the specs are for your game.
This sound fun, I have cleric of Irori (God of history, knowledge and self-perfection) in mind that I would like to play.
I'm a frequent poster in two games as a player and I run a Council of Thieves game. That CoT game has surpassed 1700 posts in 5 weeks time, so you can count on me being imaginative and active with my posts.
Irrisen is where the monsters live.
Actually, Irrisen is where the monsters rule. Whitethrone has (by canon) three social classes. Jadwiga (the magic using descendents of baba yaga and not at all human shut up), then monsters (ice trolls, winter wolves, worgs and goblins), then finally slaves (humans).
The country is definitely evil, probably LE. I'd say most Jadwiga tend towards N, LE and LN.
Whether people are evil? I would want to make sure there wasn't PvP, if so. But I'm trying to be open to ideas (sandbox) so I guess I'm not fixed on alignment.
@Tiny Coffe Golem
I love making stuff as a wizard, and always seem to have a million things I want to do and the gp to do one... I feel your pain.
Harakani what are the BPs, traits and starting money you are looking at for the builds? What are the minimum posting requirements - too many games fizzle out with the 1 to 3 minimum post rule. It is probably best to get the player and GM expectations out of the way.
Hmmm - I had thought minimum 1 post per day. Can you elaborate on the fizzling, and causes thereof?
@Tiny Coffe Golem
I love making stuff as a wizard, and always seem to have a million things I want to do and the gp to do one... I feel your pain.
**single tear (of coffee) rolls down TCG's face**
So if you do this game I hope you'll take my request to play into serious consideration. I also want to make use of some of the material in the Race guide. Elves have some cool stuff.
Edit: I'm also a big fan of custom magic items, so perhaps we could work together to make some cool flavorful stuff! I have 1001 ideas.
Hmmm - I had thought minimum 1 post per day. Can you elaborate on the fizzling, and causes thereof?
Not to put you on the spot, but the games I have seen fizzle boil down to the DM being able to manage the different post times/styles.
For example I post a lot during the day because I have a boring job, but not much at night. Others are the opposite.
Lessons I've gleaned (others feel free to add to this):
Communication is key for both players and DM
a>Clearly post time passage especially during combat. SImple tags (EX:ROUND 1) tags can go a long way to keep people from being confused. Both players and DM.
b> Keep lengthy OOC conversations in the discussion thread.
c> If you're going to be away for a period of time tell people when you'll be back and how to NPC your character in the mean time.
re stating my interest. That damn coffee golem seems to blab on and on...
White Witch ok? Both the archetype and eventual PrC?
Ps,
TCG and are good buddies here on the boards. This banter is normal for us both ooc and IC. We play rather well together too.
I'd be very interested in a game like this, though I'm not quite sure what I'd play yet.
I'd love to play a male character with a martial bent with some sort of military rank. Perhaps a Magus, Hexcrafter or something. Not sold on race though, though monster blood is always fun :)
re stating my interest. That damn coffee golem seems to blab on and on...
White Witch ok? Both the archetype and eventual PrC?
Ps,
TCG and I are good buddies here on the boards. This banter is normal for us both ooc and IC. We play rather well together too.
I fixed that for you. ;-)
It's true. Monkeygod and I play well together and we do banter quite a bit. It's all in good humor though.
Hmmm - I had thought minimum 1 post per day. Can you elaborate on the fizzling, and causes thereof?
Unfortunately, this site is littered with great game concepts that teeter off and die mostly due to inactivity. There are many reasons for the fizzling of games - many deal with time requirements. It is an undertaking on everyone's part to get a game up and running with sustainable longevity. Real life impacts most games which is understandable, but with communication on everyone's part, some of the problems can be avoided. Nothing worse than a GM or player disappearing without warning. IMHO the second biggest complaint with most games is the snails pace. A one or two post a day game will move like molasse, especially given the depth of the campaign setting you are looking to put together.
Look at some of the more successful threads and see what they do correctly, but equally as important, look at several unsuccessful ones and see the common themes for the campaign closures. By all means, click on my profile and look at my Council of Thieves you can see game that is fast paced, interactive and fun.
Color me intrigued!
Monkeygod has already beaten me to it. But if there's room for more than one witch in your Whitethrone, I'd like to play a Jadwiga. She'd be only remotely related to the current queen. So now she wants to secure some power of her own, before Baba Yaga returns to take her family away.
Alternatively, I'd be interested in playing a bard, who wants to rise to power and fame at the queen's court.
Can we play monster races?
Also, what is the starting level?
I am very interested in submitting a character. This sounds like it could be fun.
Posting to show interest.
No ideas, nor time atm to flesh anything out.
So, the adventure will be in the frozen North?
By the way, I think you forgot one big magic city: Quantium, the capital of Nex
1stlvl:Barbarian1(Titan mauler)
2ndLvl:Barbarian2(Titan mauler)
3rdlvl:Gunslinger1(Mysterious Stranger1)
4thLvl:Magus1(Kensai1)
5thLvl:Gunslinger2(Mysterious Stranger2)
6thLvl:Magus2(Kensai2)
7thLvl:Gunslinger3(Mysterious Stranger3)
So...a Paizo 'Gun-mage' as opposed to an Iron kingdoms Gunmage
What level do you think this game will be?
Quick clairification,
Winter Witch is what I want to play, not a White Witch. Way too tired lately from work. Third dumbass move in two days...
After thinking about it a little more, I'd love to play an ambassador from one of Irrisen's sparse allies or a nation that is more or less Neutral to their dealings while still interested.
As such I think I'm limited to Qadira, Northern Garund (so Ossirion, Nex, Geb and Katapesh), Jaleray or outside of the Inner Sea area.
The idea would be a character that is more or less stuck in Whitethrone, probably forbidden to venture beyond without an escort, and who is a complete stranger in this land and probably not used to the cold either.
EDIT: After looking over some options, I think an ambassador from either Chu-Ye (an Oni run country with similar connection to giants as Irrisen has) or Shenmen (Ruled by another Witch Queen, though this one is a spider-thing) would work perfectly. Another idea would be a necromancer ambassador from Geb.
Again, this is TCG.
With his white hair Shaezon could easily be of the lineage of a white haired witch, or at least confused for one.
Quick clairification,
Winter Witch is what I want to play, not a White Witch. Way too tired lately from work. Third dumbass move in two days...
Huh? Is there a difference? I thought these two were essentially the same thing.
Huh? Is there a difference? I thought these two were essentially the same thing.Quick clairification,
Winter Witch is what I want to play, not a White Witch. Way too tired lately from work. Third dumbass move in two days...
White haired witch is a grappler. White witch is a cold themed caster.
White haired witch is something completely unrelated. I was aware of that.
But both white witch (without the hair) and winter witch seem to be cold themed descendants of Baba Yaga. I thought these two were synonyms. Monkeygod implied they are not. Thus my confusion.
White is often used to denote a good, often healing and protection focused caster. A white necromancer for example is much different than a more classic necro...
I am definitely not playing a good, healery type Witch.
I will wait on throwing a full character up until we find out more about the campaign. Could go summoner out-rider type, not sure of race, maybe even a goblin cavalier.
Hmm, I think I'd like to play an ambassador from Chu-Ye, the Oni country. It would require a bit of refluffing though. Basic idea would be Half-Orc Summoner grabbing both Synthesist and Blood God Disciple (ARG). Instead of his Eidolon the form he takes would be the true shape of the Oni Spirit that has chosen the Half Orc as his vessel.
Before I do a recruitment thread...
Levels
I would love to start at level 1 and going through to 20 for that 'epic feel'.
That said, I realise that it can take months to gain a single level in PbP, even on Fast.
Are there any good mechanisms people have seen for speeding up levelling without losing verisimilitude?
I'm tending towards either
(A) based off number of pages, everyone levels
(B) declare arcs, at the end of an time jumps forwards and everyone levels (possibly multiple times)
(C) Very Fast XP progression; like half of fast xp progression.
What do people think? Am I missing anything?
Characters
The only issue with a game in Irrisen is that characters are going to need to be descendants of Baba Yaga, or slaves of a descendent of Baba Yaga UNLESS we open up monster races.
I've run games with character-levelled monsters, and in all honesty I'm just not sure how well it hangs together. The monster PCs were overpowered at the start, and near useless by the end. I guess goblins would be fine, but ice trolls, white wolves and worgs? Between no-hands and regeneration, they just don't seem like good pc races.
I don't think they need to be descendants or slaves and that's it.
My concept is obviously a descendant, but I think that Cuan's ambassador character could work easily as well. As a Winter Witch, it would make sense for me to have a body guard type or at least a muscle type to do my dirty work.
I can almost guarantee you that anything TCG comes up with will somehow work. So that's four right there. Also the bard concept of The Friendly Lich makes plenty of sense as well.
So there's 5. I'm sure if you open up an actual recruitment, more solid concepts would come in. Though the five us have pretty good characters already...and you should just run the game with us.../shameless attempt to grab a spot already.
Definitely interested in playing in Irrrisen. Have a Barbarian character, currently created at level 2 but can easily be downgraded.
Sigrun Jagrsdottir
4oo years after the founding of Irrisen, Tollheim hosted a number of individual Ulfen tribes, including the stalwart warriors led by Jagr Oriksson, a legendary Ulfen fighter reknowned for his skill in battle and one expected to one day take the mantle of a Linnorm King.
Along the border an ambitious Winter Witch sought to expand her territory, summoning an army of fey to her side and pressing in towards Trollheim and directly into the domain of Jagr, as warden of the northernmost border. The fates however, deemed that the warrior and his people would not fall further, as a trio of Norns appeared before the warrior, warning him of the advance and granting his daughter, a skilled healer, with knowledge of a ritual that would grant his warriors power to face the witch and her trolls and giants.
When the witch's emissary, a Frost Giant warrior mounted atop a white dragon, arrived to accept fealty, the entire tribe attacked with an unrelenting fury, slaughtering them both despite heavy losses. Their blood was drained and mixed with herbs and mystical components, a ritual cast with painstaking precision and the blood consumed by all the tribe's warriors, imbuing them with the impervious nature of a frost giant and the unrelenting fury of the white dragon.
Such was the might of these magically imbued warriors that winter witch's plans for expansion were soon abandoned in light of continuous heavy losses, and a lack of support from the Winter Queen and her forces.
Hundreds of years later. it is whispered that traces of this power still lies dormant in the blood of some Northernmost Ulfen, a rumor that bears truth, for once in a generation a warrior manifests a portion of this power and the ability to truly embrace the cold that for all Ulfen is simply an inevitable aspect of life.
Sigrun was one so blessed, seemingly unaffected by the weather from the age of four. Her parents were outcasts, her mother, the daughter of a mighty Jarl and rumored to carry the blood of Baba Yaga herself, her father, a powerful warrior, born on a day of bad omen, a poor match despite his prowess and ability in the hunt. It was her mother's refusal to accept his fate that resulted in her being cast out, when her spurning of another warrior's approach erupted in a riot that killed a dozen warriors.
The wild tundra was the home of an immeasurable number of deadly creatures, one of the deadliest being the dreaded winter wolf. Scenting a child protected only by two adults, the pack descended upon the family's hovel, managing to kill Sigrun's mother before retreating with 4 of their number dead.
Left with his wife dead and a five year old girl child, Jagr was forced to make a hard decision. Placing an axe and a doll at equal distances, Jagr set his little girl down in the snow to see which she would go to. The world of the north was no place for innocent childhood, and with pain in his heart, the man resolved that should the girl choose the doll, he would end her life, sparing her the suffering that would inevitably fill her short life.
She toddled towards the axe, straining to pick it up.
The years were hard, but Sigrun was harder, the stoic child growing into a powerful and intense young woman, tough and focused, her father's pride and joy. No son could have done a father prouder, trained in the hunt, skilled in combat and prone to a devastating icy cold rage when in battle, the girl exhibited that in her the old blood was strong.
Alas the hard lessons of life were far from over, during a hunt, Sigrun and Jagr were attacked by a trio of Ice trolls, a battle during which Sigrun was rendered unconscious after being thrown into the trunk of a tree, her body buried in a snow bank. Believing his daughter dead, Jagr fought with no regard for himself, slaying two of the creatures before falling to the third, yet even in death he saved his daughter's life as the wounded troll took his body to feed upon, leaving the girl and its fellows in the snow.
Awakening hours later, she understood the scene, shedding tears for the first time since her mother's death. With no body to bury, there was nothing for her to do but pick up the father's mighty hammer and carry on, surviving through toughness, tenacity and cunning against all likelihood.
I'm playing a teleportation specialist wizard. He could have come to town for any number of reasons. Seeking ancient lore, wanderlust, political exile, etc. I can work my story in.
As a matter of fact I was contemplating talking to you (dm) about introducing an Avarel (winged elf) sub-race. The wings would mimic the kobolds winged feats, but with a different flavor. Think snow owls crossed with elves. Im working on balance issues. The whole idea may be way off, but it's just something I was toying with.
The point is, I can make a back story work. :-)
Maybe Whitethrone is a problem.
I've been thinking about this for weeks, so I have been reading up on it in Cities of Golarion as well as the guide.
Books are pretty clear that all non-jadwiga are pretty much either (A) slaves or (B) here at the sufferance of a jadwiga. There is an enormous social difference. To the point that non-jadwiga have almost no rights and monsters can pretty much kill them if they claim the humans have insulted them.
I think there is an implied "casters are better jadwiga than non-casters" as well, but subtler.
I grant you that outside Whitethrone the situation would not be so bad, but I was looking at at least starting as a city game.
If you are looking for an urban high magic game most large cities should work for you, that setting will also provide the resources required for research and experimentation. Lots of roleplaying possibilities with various guilds, cults, thieves, blackmarket and whatnot. A setting like Katapesh 212K people where trade reigns supreme could provide a cool backdrop. It's easy to get lost is such a city, so the early rise of the party could go under the radar for awhile.
Mayhap an it please thee, this might offer a modicum of use? Irrisen
@Monkeygod. Looks great, but it doesn't come out till december. Do you think I should hold off?
Well, what you could do is start a game elsewhere, within a nice large city for all that urban intrigue you're lookin for. Then in Dec, pick the book up and if the game is still running and you're able to, make your to Irrisen.
If the game happens to have stalled out, and knock on wood it doesn't, you can always open recruitment for an actual Irrisen focused game.
It's up to you. I really want to play a Winter Witch, maybe I could be an exiled outcast for whatever reason, and I eventually make my way back to Irrisen.
Yes, I know, I am sort of telling you things to base your game around, just trying to help you out as best I can so that you can, if you desire, start a game nowish, as opposed to waiting.
Katapesh really sounds interesring.
Then again I also agree with Monkeygod that we can come up with something that works in Whitethrone. Just pick the party he suggested. It would be easier to come up with good character concepts for Katapesh, though.
The Irrisen book would help. As well as the people of the north book. But I don't want to wait till December to start this PBP.
Or just let everyone play a winter witch.
Hello.
Am happy to play a 'Bounty hunter' type spin on my eventual character class.
As for players being monsters, the new Advanced Races Guide might be worth a look/reference, perhaps?
Other than that, the ideas are all looking good. Nothing more to add here.
Well, my ambassador more or less is a monster, just using a non-monstrous shell and he isn't from Irrisen. Other than that, I'd think that as an ambassador in a place like Whitethrone you'd basically have guaranteed safety while inside your embassy and it's made very clear you will need to travel with a Jadwiga or have a bunch of might bodyguards.
EDIT: That said, I could probably make an Oni version of an Orc or an Ice Troll using the ARG but I don't think either (Especially the Ice Troll) would be less than 20 RP
@Monkeygod. Looks great, but it doesn't come out till december. Do you think I should hold off?
The question is why do you want to set it in Irrisen? It is your game, how do you see your campaign evolving? From a longevity POV where do you see it in 6 months and a year from now?
If you are set on having an Irrisen setting, it is probably a good idea to wait till the book comes out so you don't have conflicting issues and have character/NPCs rewrites, setting, theme and plot adjustments. If you simply want a sandbox, big magic urban setting then most large cities should do the trick.
Any cleric that I put together will fit into your game concept.
Well, if we start at level 1, our options are a lot more limited. If we start at 9th level, just for example, we'll have access to 5th level spells and can teleport wherever you want. If you keep that in mind it'll be a bit easier to tweak.
If I can work out the Avarel race angle I can start at any high mountain peak or simply be "flying" over the group and have some reason to fly down and chat/help.
TCG - Why don't you reskin the StiX (?) From the ARG.
Change some stuff out and keep the basics.
Alright, thanks guys.
I've tried to take what people have been saying on board.
I worked out that Whitethrone was the "closest" city to what I wanted in Golarion, and I think I got caught up on making it fit.
I've posted a recruitment here for the campaign.
I've set it in the city I was originally thinking of, and I think it does fit better.
Hopefully I've taken on board what people were saying, and I will see you there.