The campaign I am running started with an urge to run Rappan Athuk as a PbP. I decided to do it the way I have found works best from my experiences with my home games. Instead of just plowing through 20 levels of dungeon crawl, I insert many other introductory modules and a richly detailed city into a big sandbox hex map with Rappan Athuk looming as an infamous site to be eventually visited and revisited.
I launched this project at the beginning of this year as a PbP following the format I have done at home, and I currently have multiple parties of PC's running around in my sandbox discovering the setting and developing their characters.
The multi-party sandbox is something that I have really enjoyed in table-top these last few years after being inspired by an idea that made the rounds of the OSR blogosphere a while back, known as the West Marches style campaign.
I recommend that anyone interest in participating in my campaign follow that link and take a look at the article to get an idea of whether this style of campaign is going to be right for them. Perhaps the biggest adjustment is that there is no pre-determined plot, so it is up to the players to decide what they want to pursue. This requires a lot of engagement and communication to keep things from stalling in the PbP format.
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The most recent group to enter the milieu is going to start out by taking on The Lost City of Barakus, which has recently been converted to pathfinder from 3rd edition via kickstarter. The PDF is in my hands now, but while we were biding our time for it's release we began a little introductory module because we were all eager to start gaming together. I haven't said the name of this little warm up adventure yet but I will say that it was penned by Richard Pett who is just a devastatingly awesome writer of creepy adventures like the Skinsaw Murders chapter of RotRL. This will be a very short little intro that will take us rapidly to level 2 before moving on to The Lost City of Barakus.
We are currently down to 5 players as the player of the paladin has had to deal with some unexpected medical issues. I am looking for at least one player to replace him, but I have found that large groups work well for old-school flavored adventures like these, and I would be willing to let the party grow to as many as 8 if the right people apply with the right PC's.
In my next few posts I will put up the character creation parameters and some questions I would like to know about any prospective new friends looking to join our group. I will also describe some of the quirks and peculiarities of the material I'm running and my style as a DM to avoid any surprises since while I am using pathfinder as a game engine my games run very differently from, for example, what is found in adventure paths and PFS. The publisher of the adventures and setting I am using have a slogan, "Old school feel with new school rules!" and that is something I try to cleave very close to in my presentation of their material. It's important to establish this up front to avoid conflicts of playstyle.
So please if you have read this far and aren't scared away, bump the thread and ask questions, but let's start with a dialogue as gamers first before we skip ahead to builds and submissions.
Sorry about the wall of text but I have learned from other recruitment phases that it is more difficult to get some things established if they are omitted from the first post ;)
I have to run now but I will be back shortly with some follow up posts about character creation and my style as a DM.
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You had me at "no WBL".
Or, maybe at, "no starting stats above 18"? regardless. hooked. I learned on 1e / 2e, and it looks like your style calls out a lot of my ongoing low-level discontent with 3.x campaign assumptions. I'd love to be involved, both to see how you do things and because I've heard good thigns about Rappan Athuk.
I'm clicking around a bit to see how things work "as applied" -- but from the Obsidian Portal site, the "Lost City" PbP link seems broken, just goes to the main Online Campaigns page? I think I found the right one -- are you looking for characters that fill the paladin's hole / role in that party, or are you less concerned with that "party balance" concept? (I suspect the latter, though I kinda like paladins, too.)
From the other groups' threads, looks like your expected pacing has everybody posting about 1x/day, maybe a little less, plus in-character journal entries and so forth on OP?
Grimmy, if you were to get a wild hair to run one of the FGG games over here on Paizo, I'd kill a hobo to get in. I prefer to keep all my games on this site, though.
What confused me about the original post is that you're only allowing inquisitor and cavalier? Or those in additon to the core classes?
Grimmy, since Lilia would be sort of redundant on the prior game she applied for, how do you think she would do in regards to party role in your Barakas campaign? I like the idea of a sneaky sorcerer who can finagle traps. How do you think she would co-exist with the current Barakas group?
I posted in her profile for your ease to locate her. This is Gerald.
Lilia: I like that idea, I am playing something akin to that in DMG's Wizard's Amulet game. see the profile,
she is not as traps and sneaky as you are probably describing, but she is a pick pocket as well as a sorcerer.
good luck guys, I know you all will have fun, I am...
Ah, in that case (and the fact that you clarified that this will be played on the paizo boards, that was also a bit unclear in the original post) I am definitely interested.
Not sure what I want to play yet, an Inquisitor sounds like it would be fun in this style of game.
Edit: Also, your map link isn't working for me.
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I read the West Marches material and I'm hooked! I'd love to play in a game that the IRL but PBP will have to do. I was hooked on gaming while in college in the AD&D 2nd edition world in the early 90s. That all ended shortly before getting married, everyone kinda went their own way and the group broke up.
Fast forward to 4 years ago and a guy at working inviting me to join a Rogue Trader game and my wife and I joined. It's morphed into Pathfinder for the past 2ish years but I still don't get the whole MegaMagicMart mentality. Ninety percent of our magic gear was found, some was made but very little.
I've had an idea floating in my head for a while now of a character I'd like to give a try at some point. Race varies depending on the setting but, he was raised as a slave to a cabal of wizards. The wizards were wiped out (metallic dragon, adventurers, etc) and he was set free. He HATES wizards because of this, although he is "gifted" with magic abilities (sorcerer) he only hates wizards. He isn't into magic study and realizes all wizards aren't evil, he still doesn't like the discipline. I eventually see him going dragon disciple and using the Dimensional Agility feats to get to the wizards and tear them up. Not sure if this works in your setting but it's my idea. I'll work up crunch if you want me too.
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Presenting
Arwen
Urban Barbarian 1
Medium Pitborn Tiefling / Outsider (Native)
Init +0; Senses Perception +5, Darkvision 60 ft
==DEFENSE==
AC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +2 natural armor)
hp 12 (1d12)
ER Cold 5, Electricity 5, Fire 5 Fort +2, Ref +0, Will -1
Armor Chain Shirt, Light
Defensive Abilities Tiefling Resistances (PFBty 264)
==OFFENSE==
Spd 30 ft/x4
Melee Glaive-Guisarme +5 (1d10+6) 20/x3 brace, reach, see text
Special Attacks Tiefling Maw (PFARG 169)
==STATISTICS==
Str 18, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 18
BAB +1, CMB +5, CMD +15
Feats Armor of the Pit (PFARG 172), Armor Proficiency (LIGHT) (PFCR 118), Power Attack (PFCR 131), Shield Proficiency (PFCR 133)
Skills Intimidate +8, Knowledge (local) +4, Linguistics +4, Perception +5
Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Infernal
-----
Fluff:
Arwen had pretty much lost it all. Friends, family, clan. He had been captured and sold into slavery. But he had managed to live to tell the tale. On the long way back it rained, rained and then rained some more. He could remember the day he almost drowned while the small slave caravan crossed the Nelsin river. the current was strong but seeing that he was delayed the taskmaster pressed on. The horse he was tied to broke a leg on a stone while crossing. The current was so strong that it instantly took rider and slaves down under. But he had managed to survived. the rage, the controlled anger in him had helped. He had managed to escape.
But being a Full blooded Tieflin was not something most people would forget when they saw him. It earned him remarks and snickers even tough all he wanted was to fight injustice.
But that is when he heard the call. The call to fight against the Fiends He arrived to late to fight
And so he answered the question, he pause for a second his tail waggle a bit "Yes i know it is not because i look like one of them that i am one of them. It caused me enough pain in my childhood."
he says before bowing to the master at arms and heading out to the bar to get a beer
----
Rough draft of fluff that will get adapted to the adventure's background ;)
I am looking at a LG archon-blooded aasimar spellbreaker inquisitor (spellkiller inquisition) set on purging the followers of Hecate from the land. This will probably synergize well with trawets71's character concept.
Is there anything you wouldn't approve? I'm obviously still very much in the brainstorming phase, I just figured I'd shoot you something to chew on.
Edit: Actually, I'd love the chance to play a drow, especially since the hook has underground elements. If someone were to pay a drow would you just assume them to be evil, or would you allow (I know, I know) a non-evil spin?
That story could work amost eerily well actually. But he would have to be very old.
I've had an idea floating in my head for a while now of a character I'd like to give a try at some point. Race varies depending on the setting but, he was raised as a slave to a cabal of wizards. The wizards were wiped out (metallic dragon, adventurers, etc) and he was set free. He HATES wizards because of this, although he is "gifted" with magic abilities (sorcerer) he only hates wizards. He isn't into magic study and realizes all wizards aren't evil, he still doesn't like the discipline. I eventually see him going dragon disciple and using the Dimensional Agility feats to get to the wizards and tear them up. Not sure if this works in your setting but it's my idea. I'll work up crunch if you want me too.
I could go with Ifrit as the race, it was one I considered. Wizards conjuring elementals and enslaving them would work. Starting age would be 64-84. Middle age would be 150 years old. How old were you thinking?
Heya, Grimmy, thanks for linking me this thread. After looking over the general metaplot I have to say that I'm rather interested. Witch-hunter type characters have always been a favorite of mine and I feel like one would fit right in. I'm currently conjuring up a sort of dour cleric in my head. Raised in a strict and especially zealous monastery/Abbey of (Insert NG deity) they would have been a witness to some sort of particularly heinous cruelties performed by the church, through magic, in the name of good. This obvious contortion of the church's principles caused a mild psychological breakdown in our hero as they questioned what sort of a benevolent god would allow such acts? This contemplation leads our young ward to begin questioning divine goodness in it's entirety. Feeling emotionally beaten the cleric takes an alignment shift towards neutral, and gains the ability to channel negative energy, a manifestation of his hatred towards the clergy, all clergy. Vowing to continue upon the path of righteousness, they forge their own path in the world.
At their core this character is still a good person, with only good intentions ultimately, they're just feeling...broken and lost. Though, their spellwork seems to have gotten more potent since abandoning the church, which may be a sign...
My roleplay intention is not to be the depressed loner, just throwing that out there. I'm not entirely sure what Race, Gender, or class this character would be built as for sure, but I've wanted to play a sort of "Anakin during his transformation into a sith lord, turned witch-hunter" thing, if that makes sense.
The church can alternately be a mage's guild, church of arcane magic, covey of hags, whatever. My main point is the "Everything you grew up learning was a lie" plot-device.
Feedback?
So I was thinking of a character from Absolom.... No I was paying attention. You've said nothing to scare me off yet. I find that nothing is a problem if it's put out up front. I haven't been doing PBP long so I can't say what my posting will be like in the future. Currently I post more than once a day if there is something to respond to.
I'm interested in a wizard - probably either a divination or illusion specialist. Race? I'm not sure yet, but nothing along the aasimar/teifling axis... maybe a fetchling? (mostly because I've never played one, but partly because I'd imagine such a creature is regarded as a bit of an underclass, for reasons discussed in the next paragraph.)
Now, my basic idea includes some presumptions about the nature of the world, but here it is: the path to wizardry generally is much more open to the youth of wealthy and connected families, simply as a result of the "academy system" - usually this involves formal study at a school or college with residency requirements. In other words, it's expensive, not to mention simply getting accepted requires the kind of formal process and background more easily accessed by those of the upper classes. Students of wizardry unable to access such schools are reliant on an apprenticeship system, which can be very wonderful or very terrible, depending on the student's luck at finding a mentor.
The character I have in mind (let's call him a maybe-fetchling illusionist), hailing as he does from a looked-down-upon race (who will trust a fetchling?), has grown up as an apprentice to a decently-competent but negligent wizard who happens to be a retired adventurer. Such conditions have elicited an independent streak in this character, and has afforded him ample opportunity to pore over his master's notes and old journals (the master sleeping off a night's drinking, or whatever). Between that, and gazing in envy at the walls of the wizard's academy in his city, a dream of finding lost lore and wizardly power in this underground city - Barrakus - consumes him day by day until finally he sets off on his own, hoping to seek companions who might make an exploration of the place possible.
(He may have some notes on aspects of this lost city which he has stolen from his master's journals).
What if I can find this Devron? According to Master's notes, this... helm of power?... could be the leverage needed to extract secrets from him known to none other in this modern age. How the academy will beg for my acceptance then! What secrets must lie forgotten in those ancient halls... what power.
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So, Improved initiative is a worthwhile investment, then? ;)
I can't/won't promise daily posting, day-in and day-out. Small kids, work travel, stuff happens. My PbP resume is fairly short -- one game that fizzled out around 3rd level for various players' outside lives intervening, and one that I applied for but then declined a position because I felt I couldn't commit at the time. So consider those my downsides.
Upside, I'm usually the guy in my offline games who does character journals and volunteers to draw maps (badly?) and play loot steward -- I like the crunch, but I also like those other pieces of the party experience.
Here, I'm thinking to go with something fairly straightforward: sword/board fighter -- or really dwarven hammer/board, possibly with a couple levels of cleric at some point, depending on how things go? (Your deity Note looks appealing for a dwarven ftr/clr.)
A younger son of a merchant family, recently arrived in Bard's Gate with the family/clan's caravan from elsewhere in the Duchy. Running the shop is the job of his older (and, let's face it, smarter) cousin, so he's got most of the trade season to kill time and scout out the wilds around Bard's Gate for potential opportunities
I am relatively new to the pbp scene, but I've been gming and more recently playing Pathfinder for about two years now. I cut my teeth on AD&D 2e and have been rolling the dice ever since.
Every single one of my pbp campaigns have ended in the GM disappearing at or around the first combat, so one of the main reasons I am very interested in your game is the fact that you are obviously a very reliable gm.
In terms of my posting ability, I am lucky to work at a job where I can post as much as needed during the day. The evening/nighttime is a bit harder since I am a new father and work an early shift. In terms of the weekends, I can usually post in the early morning since I wake up before the rest of my family.
As for Rata's development, I look forward to testing the bounds of his alignment as he hunts down the remaining crew members of the Wailing Gypsy of which I can develop, or you can, or we can collaborate on. I really like the idea of having a colorful cast of pirates to track down to exact my vengeance. I think this will mesh well with the planned non-linearity of your game. You can provide me all manner of leads and/or red herrings to persue. The potential for fun is definitely there.
Also, I wonder what his motivations will be once he discovers the fate of his father. Will he give up his vendetta, or see it through to the end to avenge Usha?
And, of course, I look forward to enriching his relationships with the rest of the party members (favorable or otherwise).
I also want to pursue the bounty hunter aspect a bit more, if I am chosen I would love to discuss some options for enhancing that aspect of the build a bit more.
So, I present to you Rata Fenn (I haven't updated this alias yet, so just pay attention to the information I've provided in the spoilers below, for now) a retooling of a previous concept that I would absolutely love to play in your campaign world. He is a human ranger (guide) pursuing the two-weapon fighting weapon style.
Malika Fenn was forced to birth her twins Usha and Rata in secret. Very few citizens of Endhome were aware that Malika had begun suffering from a debilitating depression and began developing agoraphobic tendencies, isolating herself from society as she struggled to retain her rank within the city’s extensive network of nobles and aristocrats. She had recently fallen into ill-repute with much of the Endhome’s officials after some shady dealings didn’t pan out as expected and she became consumed with the fear that assassins were lurking just outside of her windows, ready to strike at any moment. Her husband spending most of his days at sea didn’t help matters.
So it was that both children were raised by their father Varas, a merchant vessel captain, with only rare visits with their mother in her swiftly deteriorating manor house. Usha and Rata grew up working their father’s ship, the Concord--Rata acting as lookout while Usha served as cook and deckhand when required. On a day like any other, a pirate crew (hired by a rival house, although Rata has no knowledge of this) attacked the Concord and in the ensuing struggle, Usha was killed. With no regard for his personal safety, Rata dove into the water, climbing up the ships exterior and into a gun port. Catching the cannoneer completely by surprise, he hacked his cutlass deep into the raider’s jugular. Rata was fully intent on killing every last man on the Wailing Gypsy; hell bent on avenging his sister. Unfortunately, as he stormed his way through the waves of pirates and up to the main deck, he was ultimately surrounded and one of them managed to land a crushing blow against the side of his head, causing him to momentarily black out. The brief opening was all the raiders needed as they quickly bum rushed Rata, ultimately heaving him overboard, to plunge into the frothy depths below.
. . .
He awoke to the sound of breaking waves, the faint buzzing of insects, and a deep, rasping hiss. As he began to stir he realized that he lay on the bank of a stinking bog, the air swarming with mosquitoes. He was coated in a sticky layer of condensation and the heavy air made it very difficult to breathe. As he gazed through a momentary break in the fog he found himself staring into the coal black eyes of a coiled python. With some careful coaxing and slow and steady movements, Rata was able to ease the fanged serpent’s hostility. The lithe reptile watched cautiously from a distance as Rata bandaged his head with strips of cloth torn from his loose pantaloons. Rata did so quickly, wary of the snake’s penetrating gaze.
That being done, he wasted no time in trying to figure out where he had washed ashore. After ranging the coast, he discovered tracks leading north. Rata had washed ashore on the northern edge of the Dragonmarsh Lowlands and after travelling a few short miles he came upon a small fishing village to the north. His first order of business was to send a letter to his mother back in Endhome, informing her of the attack and of Usha’s tragic fate. As he awaited a response, he pitched in assisted the fishermen as they unloaded their catch of the day in exchange for a warm meal and a roof over his head. The letter he received a few weeks later informed him that the wreckage of the Concord had indeed been found, but most of the crew was slain and the whereabouts of his father were still unknown.
He didn’t dare return to Endhome, for fear of being discovered by whomever had hired the pirates, so, he decided to head west to Wayfarer’s Way to see if he could find any information regarding the whereabouts of the pirates. After completing a few unsavory tasks in payment, he finally received word that the crew had disbanded and taken to land, most rumored to have taken the King’s Road en route to Bard’s Home. Rata, it seemed, was heading west.
^^^ This is Murph's dwarven fighter (in progress).
Trawets71, the Barakus group feels they are pretty stacked on arcane magic but I am still kind of intrigued about this antiwizard and it seems you see what I'm trying to do here...
Wish I had more spots now.
It's an idea I've been toying with and looking for the right place to try out. I'm not going to be front line, even when I have level's of DD, I'm going to be the deep strike option taking out the casters (preferably wizards) in the back and occasionally helping in the front line maybe as a rogue's flanking buddy.
They do have arcane represented but no full casters (of course I would only end up with level 8 spells myself going full DD). I've got to respect their want of a tank though. I might fit in better with Valley of the Shrines. While not a F/W EK, I would have similar abilities, but not the BAB.
If this isn't the time or place for this character that's fine. I really do like what you are doing and if a spot opens in the future or your start another group, keep me in mind.
There are some things of miss of 2nd Ed. Seemed like you never knew what you would run into (ie inappropriate CRs) and in some ways the characters were more fun to play. The most fun I've had was with a gnome Cleric/Illusionist. He was in charge of battlefield control with his illusions and healing the party when needed. I had a blast using his illusions to tie up half the enemies while the rest of the party took care of the other half. There is no way now to play the same character as multiclassing works way differently now.
I am mulling over some house-rules to help multi-classing and prestige classing, in light of ACG coming out and that FAQ that gives early entry into prestige for certain races. I figure if early entry into EK has not proved OP for aasimar's why not let other races do it to? I may change the pre-req's.
Maybe we could have your backstory connected to Barakus but stick you in Valley. Any ideas for changing that backstory to fit a non-evil race of ancient humans with a mageocracy who fell into ruin after imprisoning a lich? Maybe you were the guy who said studying the arcane arts would lead to trouble and when Devron achieved lichdom you were like "I told you so!" But your character would be on ice for a few hundred years somehow. And how would we get him up to the Lyre Valley with Rata Fenn just as a group of heroes arrives to cleanse the defiled shrines of Thyr and Muir?
How did you say he would start? Straight sorceror? Fighter/sorceror?
And how is your posting? Valley really needs a kick in the pants for momentum.
A little history on this character idea.
This whole thing really started when I saw the Dimensional Agility Feat chain. It popped into my head this would be a great way to take out wizards, but you'd have to be able to cast dimension door. So what would do that? That gave me the sorcerer/dragon disciple idea. What first came to me was an orc. His tribe was enslaved by necromancers (no need to put evil in front of that as it's redundant). The necromancers were wiped out by a gold dragon and the tribe set free. The reason the dragon did this was some of the orcs were descendants of his. After looking up the orc, I felt the hits to the mental stats were a bit much, so I decided on hobgoblin. This background gives the draconic bloodline reasoning and the reason to hate wizards so much.
This basic idea can really be changed to anything that gives the person a reason to HATE wizards. I was originally thinking Suli for your campagin, as wizards have been known to deal with jinn and enslave them. Ifriti works as well for that. Any race abused by the wizard would work, especially one that is more muscular. Give me some time and I'll think some more on it.
I was planning on going straight sorcerer to start, then to DD. I could finish up with more sorcerer or some fighter levels. I know BAB is lacking some for this character so fighter makes sense. I could even sprinkle in a level or two while being the sorcerer but that would retard my spell casting ability.
My posting currently is multiple times per day if there is something for me to respond to. Can't respond if no one else does though. I don't like to drag things out too long I am finding.
Here's another deity that you might like, I didn't have this one up on the wiki yet:
Pekki, God of Ale and Spirits
Thanks -- I think I do like Note, though; I'm going for a little more "earnest and loyal dwarf" and a little less "party dwarf." ;)
The backstory would need some tweaking.
Sure thing -- I didn't want to get too far in without a direction check. Anything you don't like so far, or is that just a request for me to keep going?
The only problem I see is the posting. PbP games die if people don't post. ... I just need to know you won't be silent for days on end without prior notice.
Totally understand that. Generally speaking, I'm a "desk job with occasional travel" type: usually I can check in and post a couple times a day, but about once a month I'm on the road for 2-3 days, and my ability to check in can be hit or miss depending on my itinerary. I can certainly give warning of those so that you know I might not be replying and can pass over me as needed. The other piece of it is that I have small children, so I can't pretend that I'm totally in control of my own life.
I certainly get the need for people to be present and active -- just wanted to lay on the table that I am AFK once in a while, but, barring emergencies, would communicate those events.
I like the genie idea that gives him a good reason to have beef with the wizards even though they weren't evil... but how does that fit in with dragon disciple? I thought they had dragon ancestors.
Jinn from mother, dragon from father. It doesn't have to be recent even for the bloodline.
After reading all of the Shrine posting I have an idea, will PM you.
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On early prestige classes for some races. I haven't seen the faq you mentioned, but I would think early edritch knight and arcane archer for elves, half elves, arcane trickster for halflings and defender for dwarves. Oh and dragon disciple for kobolds (nasty npc's)
I've updated background a bit to reflect your notes--Morti's now a little more on his own in Bard's Gate.
I'll check in on the discussion thread!
Hi all I am from valley of the shrines and a nice spell slinger or spellslinger/sword wielder would be great!