So at the beginning of this school semester, I made either one of the best or worst decisions of my life, and watched the entirety of Sword art online. I was inspired.
I took the concept of the first half of Sword Art Online, and created the following Campaign, combining it with a homebrew setting of my own design I had originally created for 3.5, back before I knew Pathfinder existed.
Players will take control of themselves as player characters in an MMORPG guilt around the pathfinder rules set. ALL pathfinder books and rules, with up to date Errata, are included (and because I knew they would, the 3.5 third party rules from "Book of Erotic Fantasy,"). Players starting race must be human. Campaign begins at level 1. This is a virtual reality MMO, so just like in Sword Art Online, players are fully immersed in the game. There are no full caster classes available. Players cannot select: Sorcerers, Wizards, Witches, Clerics, Druids, or Oracles. Any other class, alternate class, or applicable archetype published by Paizo is legal. Variance allowed, at GM discretion, for traits, feats, items, or features designed for specific campaigns and settings, if the original version was made by Paizo. GM has control of necessary changes to make the above function in game, if the gm chooses to allow them.
Shortly after starting the game, the players would discover the following. There were no resurrections. As far as the character was concerned, death in game would also result in death in real life. The following exceptions apply. The Paladin feat that allows a player to burn 10 uses of lay on hands to use the equivalent of raise dead, with the caveat that the paladin MUST begin casting the spell-like ability within 6 seconds of the targetted character's death. Also, spells which instantly resurrect someone who has just died the previous or current round can still be used, IF a player somehow gets their hands on that spell (there is a druid spell whose name escapes me with this power). Items with the same affect also still apply.
In addition, players could not log out. They could only escape by winning the game. Attempts to remove the VR equipment would result in death. To win the game, any player may complete (if possible) the main quest line, bringing together 12 jewels found in 12 ancient cities named for the Greek Zodiac. Success by any one or more players freed everyone. Finally, player's avatars, just as in SAO, were made to look like the player's actual self. (In this instance, this was less to follow SAO and more to facilitate my player's ability to recognize each other in game and team up, rather than go through the drawn out process of not knowing who the hell anyone is until a great deal of trust or a few wrongly or correctly chosen words are said).
Lastly, the setting. The only really important thing to know about it is that all my deities are drawn from modified entries from the Tropes Pantheon. As such, they are all nerd/pop culture icons and characters and references, and the entire setting is very lampshade heavy and rife through with tropes of every kind. Thus far, this has only served to increase how much fun we've had with it.
I have 24 players in 3 parties... it is week 4 of the campaign.
My first party is a group of my best friends, my regular gaming group. We have gamed together for years. There are 5. The Power Gamer. The Power Gamer's apprentice. The casual gamer (when it comes to dnd/path) The guy who tries to power game and play a character. The Sheltered one ("If you mock him you will die" is our general motto. Only we get to mess with him. Not that such a warning stops anybody here, but hey, the more you know). They've been a blast.
Starlancer is my bard (you will discover I love bards if you read this long enough, so i'm putting that out there now). He spawned in front of a temple to Fred Rogers, supreme deity of Good. He sends out friend requests to his buddies' screen names. Then he goes in the temple, chats up a dedicate, and scores an easy quest. He's also my Beta Tester, as he is the only guy who has properly experienced this campaign setting before. He goes off on this quest, a simple delivery and return job... and because he's not watching where he's walking, falls into a river and is rescued by Skip. Skip's cousin Ray is also there (they look like identical twins), as well as Skip's sister Chey and his other cousin Anne (ray's sister). Chey and Anne look like Identical twins, but are cousins, just so that's mostly clear. They talk and chat for a bit, then walk with Starlancer to the shop to make his delivery, cause they aren't in a rush yet. They are looking for their 5th player, their friend Froggy.
Tarius is my power gamer(nicknames used to protect the guilty and the innocent), and he spawned in a fountain... because it amused him greatly (and me) to do so. He there met an NPC named Froggy, who spawned in the same place. The two quarreled, as boys do, and then Froggy, because Tarius won't get out of the fountain, he's stubborn, hits him with a ray of frost. Meanwhile, Sir Chaos (my tries to power game player), has just failed (with a 1) to separate perception checks, and STILL doesn't know Tarius is right in front of him. Tarius is mightily upset by this, and attacks Froggy with his reach weapon. Now, battles in towns, just like SAO, are auto-nonlethal... but force still applies, and while you can't even actually knock them out, you can still mock fight, etc. So these two go at it, and Sir Chaos FINALLY notices this.
Tiger, my sheltered one, has meanwhile wandered around the inside of this giant mountain the starter city, Hellas, is built around. He just keeps wandering, and eventually stumbles across a shop... the very shop Starlancer is heading for. Meanwhile, Sir Chaos, Tarius, and Froggy finally leave the fountain behind, and go off to try and fine Froggy's friends. The problem is, Froggy's message and friends list systems are glitching, so messages and friend requests are bouncing like Froggy doesn't exist. So Tarius decides to meet up with Starlancer.
Tiger is already in the shop, and comes across a whole lot of different knicknacks. He muses around, eyes a few things, then asks me if there are any snowglobes. I think for a second, shrug, and say yes. It is important to note Tarius was wearing a deadpool shirt (with the little round deadpool face) that night. he buys a snowglobe with Deadpool's head in it... then the shopkeeper says, "Wait! No, i can't sell that, it was reserved for someone!"
Starlancer arrives, delivers his message... and discovers the item he was sent to fetch has just been bought by Tiger... and Deadpool is now talking with Tiger, breaking the 4th and 5th walls in the process. Then Tarius arrives, reuniting Froggy and co and turning everything sideways. Tiger won't give up his deadpool snowglobe. Deadpool won't let himself be taken from Tiger, he says he's his own snowglobe, and he's just visiting anyways (deadpool not being a deity per se in this campaign). Eventually, the go off to the campaign, and the presiding cleric says it is fine, have lifetime passes to Applecats ( a chain of bar/grill/inns in this setting, run by an extended family of what look like nurse joy/officer jenny situation character, you know, each one looks the same as the next, or nearly so).
Then the Joker warps them all to the town square, gives them his big spiel about taking over the game, changing the rules... and leaves. Well, Charlie turns to his left (he and Froggy warped into the fountain again) and Tarius sees some girl he doesn't know. Wait, no That's Froggy, she's actually a girl, except she's a guy. OH, she's pre-op... Well, Froggy and Co go their own way, and then Tarius discovers he's the lucky winner. He's got a mythic acquisition quest (a quest that, once completed, grants a character his first mythic tier) on his quest list... and it starts 20ft away. He walks 20ft over, and falls down a hole. He lands in a giant pile of ash, and he finds himself in a small chamber that seems to be a shrine to a Phoenix. Quest name "Phoenix Psalm." Tarius notices a deadpool face (like on the player's shirt) in place of the eye of the phoenix. There was an inscription, which said (I've lost the notes) how to activate the shrine, which was to light the fire in the brazier. (Deadpool, it turns out, is also the patron saint of the Phoenix in this setting, in addition to being a visiting deity from another world)
Not remembering that they had torches, Tarius climbed up the exit ladder to go look for some. He moves the manhole cover, and discovers a pretty young girl has almost fallen atop him because he removed the place her foot was about to step. Tarius asks me if he saw an upskirt, I say yes. He snaps a screen capture, and borrows a torch from the girl, getting her name and adding her to his friends list in the process (natural twenties on an untrained diplomacy had something to do with this). After some discussion, we determine her name is Rachel. he pops back down, and puts the torches into the brazier... then remembers he had torches in his kit. Well done sir. Anyways, they try using the spell "spark" as well as flint and steel, but nothing will light the torch inside the brazier. lighting the torch and setting it into the brazier extinguishes the torch. Tarius decides now is the time to go DOWN the exit ladder, to whatever is below. They go into a sewer, which is slanted slightly, and discover a larger than average lizard (small size in game terms). They have no clue what to do, so Tarius spends a hero point for a clue. Luna Lovegood (Goddess of the Meta) whispers in his ear, "Do not go up until you go down 3 times. Go right." Due to player misunderstanding, they go UPhill, and continue to run into left turns, right turns, and stairs going up... until finally they find stairs going down. The stairs are guarded by another lizard... one that sparks. The senior players reading this know exactly what's going on here. Tarius, the power gamer, who also knows what this thing is via meta knowledge (which is applicable because of the campaign setting)... goes up to the damned thing and gets shocked by it. He panicks, he doesn't know what to do. Then Tiger figures it out. They'd been going UP. They hadn't gone DOWN first.
After smacking themselves repeatedly for almost failing the test of the friggin shocker lizard, they go down, down, then down again, and always go right when the choice presents. THEN, they find a blank wall. Tarius uses perception, and finds the clue. I had expected someone else to find it, because Tarius has only a +2 to perception... but find it he does. It is the deadpool face. He risks everything and touches it... revealing a staircase. The stairs ascend into a sealed off basement full of giant casks of Ale and other alcohol. Tarius swipes a mug and 2 small kegs that are portable, about 15lbs each. Then the group troops into the only accesible room, after a little searching. It contains a phoenix statue, with the deadpool face for an eye. They puzzle about the statue, trying to make it do something, but nothing happens. Then Tarius frowns, looks at the beer casks he has, and experimentally pours some on the statue. It glows. He pours more, going through the entire cask onto it. It shatters, revealing a glass d20 with the deadpool face inside it... and a scroll no one can read.
Starlancer uses linguistics to determine it is music, meant to be whistled... but he can't actually read the notes to perform them. They troop back to the shrine. Tarius notices the d20 he is holding grow warm, and rolls it across the floor. It rolls a 20, cracks just a bit, and suddenly Tarius can understand the scroll. He whistles the song, and the brazier bursts to life.
Quest rewards: 1 15lb cask of well aged ale, 1 d20 useable to gain automatic success on a task for which Tarius could not otherwise perform or attempt with a die roll, such as skills that cannot be attempted untrained, etc. It can only do this so many times, and cracks a bit each time it is used. Tarius also acquired a recipe for Chimichangas (which he was forced to cook for Deadpool, not that he objected), and Mythic. I also forgot WHEN this occured, but Sir Chaos annoyed the snowglobe of Deadpool at one point, and he's been silent since them, except for a whispered comment to Tarius inside the shrine.
More to come when my brain is ready to recall more of it. I still have... oh lord, like 8 sessions to record, and it'll be 9 by thursday.