Hello friends!
I thought I would throw this up to see if there's enough interest to get a game going. I'm thinking of running a homebrew in a sandbox world that is about light-hearted fun a la We Be Goblins! style play. A little backstory...
I manage a physical therapy clinic in a large health club, and for as much as I love my job I deal with enough drama all day long. When I get home from a long day at the clinic, I really just want to laugh. I'm all for the epic level dramatic sagas that can be tabletop RPGs, but sometimes I want a break from serious characters in dark adventures.
So, I am interested in running a sandbox type campaign that is more about the characters than the story. Story would be a more fluid concept in reaction to what the players are doing, but not necessarily the driving force of the game. I have not done a ton of GM'ing in the past, but I've done enough to at least be competent. What I would be looking for is characters that are fully fleshed out with their own stories, quirks and eccentricities, and most importantly some kind of fun concept. I don't even care if it is a min-maxy character if it applies to the backstory. I've built a character as a bit of an example of what I mean by ridiculous/comedic:
In this example, all of his spells are mucus based. Not part of the actual rules, but works better with the character. So, when he casts "Drench" the spell takes on a whole new meaning...
Because this campaign would be so heavy on the character focus, all Paizo and third party material would be available. Creativity is king to me, and limiting your access to content might limit the concept you want to develop.
As far as gameplay, this is about everyone having a good time. I'm all for hand waving rules every so often when the suggested action is just too good to stop from occurring because the rule book wouldn't allow it. For example, in a We Be Goblins! I ran a while ago the party alchemist (who found a bottle of Sovereign Glue) teamed up with the party rogue for shenanigans that were just too good to say no to. The alchemist came up with the idea to throw the glue into the air while the rogue ran and jumped, colliding with the glue in mid-air, and landing on an owlbear's back for permanent back-stabbing. I still required dice rolls for success, but I loved the creativity so much I was just as happy that it succeeded as the players were. I love the spirit of that kind of their idea! Also, the way I see it is that critical successes are just as much fun as critical failures. I love flavor text as to why a thing succeeded or why it failed. My whole goal for this is to be something everyone in the group can come to and laugh at on a daily basis.
I feel like I might be alone in this desire for a sandbox campaign of ridiculousness like this, so I thought I would do an interest check first to see if people would want to do it. Let me know your thoughts!
That's a fair statement, but I really do love Pathfinder/D&D worlds and it can be doable. Plenty of example podcasts out there of people doing just that, where there is some semblance of story, combat, and yet still is more about getting listeners because it's funny. But to your point, this is also why I'm doing an interest check for now as opposed to starting a full recruitment thread.
I would love to play Dr. Fisty McKnuckles, my 'combat chiropractor' who specializes in grapples and holds in order to 'therapeutically' treat his enemies. He also has ranks in heal in case anyone asks, but like most chiropractors believes that anything can be healed by adjusting someone's posture. Even gunshot wounds.
You know, medical mumbo-jumbo. He'd probably be great at melee, but only because, you know, his patients are 'fiesty' and don't know whats good for them. They're just attacking because they're out of alignment. (pun pun pun)
As an aside, I think that Mr. Fizzlesnot would be better off as a Mite, which DO have tragically large noses.
I would love to play Dr. Fisty McKnuckles, my 'combat chiropractor' who specializes in grapples and holds in order to 'therapeutically' treat his enemies. He also has ranks in heal in case anyone asks, but like most chiropractors believes that anything can be healed by adjusting someone's posture. Even gunshot wounds.
You know, medical mumbo-jumbo. He'd probably be great at melee, but only because, you know, his patients are 'fiesty' and don't know whats good for them. They're just attacking because they're out of alignment. (pun pun pun)
As an aside, I think that Mr. Fizzlesnot would be better off as a Mite, which DO have tragically large noses.
This is a brilliant idea! Definitely striking a note with my own profession for sure, but I think the concept is exactly the stuff I'd be looking for.
Good point on the Mite too, I'll have to "adjust" (sorry, couldn't resist) the character.
Hehe. I'll be building Dr. Fisty McKnuckles tonight and put him up here for you to see.
What would the character creation rules be?
I'm thinking the 20 point buy, 2 traits, 150g, totally open to VMC and/or gestalt. I would prefer that if you go gestalt that you gimp the character in some way. I'm still going to use the various monster manuals and CL rating for monsters, so I don't want fights to get too easy. I'm open to third level start if the group prefers (pending enough interest).
I'm thinking probably giving everyone improvised weapon feats for free. I like the idea of solving combat problems in more improvised ways, and I'd hate for feat limitation to ruin that.
Huh. How about a chef adventurer who make sit his mission to sample dishes from around the world, as well as see how many dungeon critters are edible. There is in fact, a comic called 'Dungeon meshi' where adventurers eat the monsters.
What do you think about the concept of a goblin wizard (evoker), who is a self-hating goblin who reads and writes?
This is Gregor the Barkeep, an barkeep and bouncer (brawler / alchemist) created for a previous spoof/trope game. He is already 3rd level and appears built to fit your rules. He has taken Catch Off Guard as he is actually built as the barkeep who wields "whatever is in reach" as a weapon (bar stools, mugs, a halfing rogue...) to deal with problems. So, if that feat becomes free, just let me know and I will reassign.
VMC is Variant Multiclass, right?
Here's Dr. Fisty McKnuckles.
Half-Ogre (because Trox was *too* ridiculous) Brawler-cum-Licensed Medical Professional. If we get that extra feat I'll be able to take Improved Grapple. Or the lvl 3 feat if we do 3rd level.
Dr. Fisty McKnuckles
Male half ogre brawler 1 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide 23)
CN Medium humanoid
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +4
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 13 (1d10+3)
Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +0
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +6 (1d6+5)
Special Attacks martial flexibility 4/day
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Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +6; CMD 18
Feats Dirty Fighting, Improved Unarmed Strike
Traits caretaker, supportive
Skills Escape Artist +5, Handle Animal +3, Heal +7, Intimidate +1, Knowledge (local) +4, Lore (Chiropractics) +4, Perception +4
Languages Common, Common, Giant
SQ brawler's cunning, martial training
Combat Gear healer's kit; Other Gear studded leather, backpack, bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, hemp rope (50 ft.), torch (10), trail rations (5), waterskin, medical license (dr. fisty mcknuckles) (worth 20 gp, 1 lb), 21 gp
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Special Abilities
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Brawler's Cunning (Ex) Count as Int 13 for the purpose of combat feat pre-requisites.
Dirty Fighting Forgo flanking bonus to make combat maneuver not provoke attack of op.
Feet (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Martial Flexibility (move action, 4/day) (Ex) As a Move action, gain a combat feat for 1 min. More gained for greater actions.
Martial Training (Ex) Brawler levels count as fighter/monk levels for feat/item pre-reqs and effects.
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'Dr. Knuckles' Is totally a doctor. He has a medical degree. It's probably in his pocket. People sometimes confuse him for just an ordinary Trox, which is already something unusual, but no, he's actually quite rarer than just that. He's a real medical professional.
I mean, really, look at his custom-tailored coat. It's got sleeves for both his arms that don't tear when he moves. He wouldn't go out of his way to have that made if he couldn't practice medicine, right?
What level are we talking? There's a fun build I came up with a while back for a comedian who hits people with comedy props, causing them to literally laugh themselves unconscious (via Perform comedy shenanigans and catch off-guard), but it requires a few levels of bard, rogue, and monk (or just some gestating) to pull off.
Thank you everyone for posting interest! It's been enough to make me want to make a real recruitment thread for this. I will post the character creation rules fleshed out more based on what everyone has posted. I'm not answering individually just for time purposes, but everyone who's posted a conecpt I'm on board with. Take this link to put in a full application, please!
...'Dr. Knuckles' Is totally a doctor. He has a medical degree. It's probably in his pocket.
This made me laugh. Hard. I cried a little. You have got to have some kind of background with chiropractors/medical world, yes? These jokes are just too spot on. And yes, VMC is Variant Multiclass.
Here's the link to the recruitment thread:
Let's Do This!
I personally don't, but growing up my mother was a medical paralegal/transcriptionist and my wife's mother is a nurse, so I learned a few things. :)