| domicilius |
Wheezl, Punz, Corey, Reeves, Golem, Tombat:
I will make no (large) concessions to keep this thread spoiler free. If you truly trust yourself to not metagame, feel free to read. If you think you will even unconsciously metagame, you'll likely enjoy the campaign more without the knowledge ensconced in this thread. I'll mark huge story-arc chatter in spoiler tags and leave journal entries unspoilered. You should skip ahead past the first post.
This is my campaign journal for my Iron Gods campaign. I'm running it somewhat as written, though I've made some significant changes to incorporate "Mad Max" flavor and some Starfinder ideas, equipment and mechanics. Iron Gods was originally written with a lot of nods to Conan, but I and my group have no knowledge of Conan other than that it exists, so I chose a context we all knew and loved already. Unfortunately for me, "Mad Max" is more of a shared aesthetic than anything else, but I can adapt that pretty easily into Pathfinder.
I have a track record of making significant changes to Paizo APs, so I'm not sure how useful this will be to other GMs, but hopefully it will be entertaining.
My changes:
1. Numeria is a hot desert now. Rocks, sand, cactus, scrub brush, arroyos, mesa, a dull red tinge to everything, etc. I personally picture the North American Southwest when I describe things in Numeria. This was mainly for the "Mad Max" flavor, but also because I really love that part of the world.
2. Numeria is about 5x bigger and much more isolated from the rest of Golarion. I generally run APs completely isolated from the rest of Golarion unless its very necessary to take the story to a global scale. I find that games getting too big in scope very quickly lose track of the scale of gameplay and get stale, so I try to limit it. Numeria is physically bigger to give a lot more room for desert raiders, make transport and trade more important, make resources like water and food more important and lessen the stranglehold any organization like the Technic League can have on the country as a whole.
3. Numeria has a lot of technical vehicles in it. This is my main source of "Mad Max" flavor, as the scrappy vehicles and war rigs are very memorable to anyone who has seen any of the movies. My players and I both love the idea of fast-paced vehicle battles, and I need vehicles to make that happen. The much larger size of Numeria is partially to give me more room to both have and hide vehicle battles in the countryside. I go into more detail into how I integrated vehicles down below.
4. I made the Technic League less "moustache-twirling EVIL" and more of a cross between a mercantile union and state troopers. They still have a penchant for Evil deeds and have a lot of room for corruption, but the organization itself is theoretically not evil. They also haven't completely restricted all technology, but do posses the vast, vast majority of it as well as control all of the big flashy technological artifacts.
5. Torch is the place to get skymetal gear. I bumped the size of Torch up to a small city and made it the premiere place to get adamantine and mithral arms and armor. Its a famous place both to learn metalcraft and to shop around for deals, due to all the smithing competition. The Technic League makes a tidy profit on the logistics of Torch, importing skymetal both internationally and domestically and exporting bulk skymetal goods mainly internationally. Torch long ago made a deal with the Technic League, trading autonomy and a lack of large Technic League force within the walls in return for a large portion of the profits. The Council of Torch and the Technic League are both aware that any major incidents would result in the Technic League needing to both protect and "protect" the city, giving away much of the freedom, power and influence Torch enjoys. The two groups are also both keenly aware that with no Torch, the city of Torch is going to have an economic die-off, and also likely a literal die-off. Living in Numeria isn't cheap or easy.
Power Woes:
I knew I had to have vehicles in my game, and for that I needed power. I didn't want to have to rely on super-expensive magic vehicles, which would be both out of flavor and out of reach for the desolate wasteland that I made Numeria out to be. The pure-tech energy options in the AP as written are very limited, especially in the first few books, and would be out of reach for anyone except the Technic League.
Instead, I decided to create janked-together hybrid magic-tech generators as one of the only true inventions of the Technic League. Any arcane spellcaster can spend (n+1) hours and a spell slot of at least (n+1) level to create n charges in a generator, up to max of 8 charges a day. This allows the Technic League to use their batteries and their tech, they'll just have problems trying to maintain their technology past their own meager abilities.
This means that its perfectly credible to have Technic League convoys, mercantile convoys, raiders, and bandits all using the same magic-tech generators and driving around in the wastes trying to whack each other. Every group will just need its own arcane casters willing to sacrifice their spell slots to power tech. Downtime can be used to create surplus power and store it in batteries. Generators that are more powerful or more useful than the ones describes may be found in the adventure, I'm not sure yet.
Vehicles Themselves:
This is where I'm glad I started this campaign now. I just got my Starfinder book in the mail, and intend the use the vehicle rules and stats printed there. I'll have to cook up some statblocks for specific vehicles and do the conversions into Pathfinder rules, but it shouldn't be too hard. Mainly I wanted the Starfinder vehicles for their believable speeds and tactical rules for vehicle combat. I'll probably talk more about this when I cover the party's first race.
For now, the main vehicle I've looked at is the Basic Enercycle, which I have solo Technic League travelers use to get around.
The Party:
Wheezl is playing this crazed Kasatha Bloodrager named Gutgash, intending to dual-wield chainsaws by AP's end. For now, he runs around with a ripsaw glaive and does his best impression of a War Boy from "Mad Max." Gutgash and Ript are brothers from the wastes, who wandered into Torch after hearing that the town would pay big for someone to rescue Khonnir and turn the Torch back on.
He was born to a small Kasatha tribe living out in the Numerian Wastes, which I have decided to make exceedingly rare, but possible. His whole tribe died (starved? killed by the Technic League?) when Gutgash was just a child, but Ript found him struggling to leave the cave and adopted him.
Gutgash is not very smart and keeps his arms hidden within their cloak the majority of the time, trying not to let people figure out he is a kasatha. He always takes all the meat out of Ript's food and leaves Ript to eat the rest.
Punz is playing a Half-Orc Skald trying to become the Doof Warrior named Ript Steelflex. He is the other player with a "War Boy" flavor, and came with Gutgash out of the wastes for the money offered by Torch. Ript is much smarter than Gutgash and is the brains of the duo. Ript invented "Rocks" (a Calvinball-esque game of "chance") and plays it with whoever or wherever he can.
His story starts when he found Gutgash, and the two have been brothers and friends since. Ript always has a joke or a mollifying word.
Reeves is playing a Human Alchemist with the Tinkerer archetype named Mercer. He is the 16 year old adopted son of Khonnir Baine, brother to the 22 year old Val Baine. He grabbed the Technologist feat and wants to use ALL OF THE TECH. He currently is mostly chucking bombs and wishing that his familiar was a clockwork familiar instead of a clockwork spy.
Mercer often argues with Fritz over actions or Fritz calling him the wrong name. Mercer is much more interested in rescuing his father than re-lighting the Torch, but he knows that either the Torch is relit or the town will die.
Tombat is playing an Android Psychic with a name that I don't remember right now, the Hedge Witch archetype, and the nickname of "Doc." Doc is a travelling doctor in the wastes and is interested equally in stopping the mass economic die-off and the money associated with turning the Torch back on.
Doc is a blend of all of the Android tropes from sci-fi TV and often talks using computing terms. Currently Doc has been a little nonplussed at fighting all of the constructs and undead and has mostly been sadly converting his Sleep spells to Cure Light Wounds. He also possesses the Healing Hex, making him the primary healer by far.
Doc has developed a penchant for "Rocks," the game of chance invented by Ript. As far as I know, he hasn't actually won a game yet, but he keeps playing.
Corey is playing a Dhampir Gunslinger focused on being a stereotypical cowboy named Fritz. After the first session, it became canon that he is also kind of a drunk and had a one-night fling with Val Baine in the past. Fritz wants to get back together but Val considers him nothing but her worst mistake. Fritz and Mercer interact a lot, mostly with Fritz acting "bad stepdad" at Mercer (calling him Dave, calling him champ/bucko/boss/buckaroo/slugger, telling him off when he does something too dangerous). Mercer shares his sister's opinion of Fritz but puts up with him.
Fritz wants the money from re-lighting the Torch. I think Corey is also contemplating having Fritz harbor a hope that rescuing Khonnir will make Val talk to him again.
Golem is playing an Ifrit Rogue with a mystical flair named Ashad. Ashad has ties to the seedy underbelly of Torch (Garmin Ulreth and the Ropefists, along with Silverdisk Hall) and is in for the money as well. I'm not totally sure what Ashad wants beyond the money.
| domicilius |
Spent half of this session getting everyone's characters ironed out and describing Numeria/Torch. Golem ran an as-written version for me, Reeves, Wheezl and Punz in the past, so the majority of us were familiar with the concept of Torch already. Main differences were covered in the main post, but were mostly about making Torch larger and more important. I want the party to come back to Torch in the future and use it as a hometown, so I wanted to make sure the town was big enough to support anything I could anticipate them wanting while also being realistic in the setting.
The party met up in the Foundry Tavern, all except Mercer finding the flyers that Val had posted up around town. Val was steely-eyed and not hopeful at seeing the ragtag crew who showed up to answer the flyer, especially Fritz. Val had posted a reward, which is the coin for rescuing her father, Khonnir Baine. Mercer, of course, lived with Val and Khonnir and so was already down to go rescue his father. The party meets and greets, eating some delicious hot sandwiches and drinking (well) booze from the bar. Ript and Fritz immediately begin playing a rousing game of "Rocks" while Gutgash meticulously pulls all the meat out of Ript's sandwich.
Shouts and the breaking of glass are heard from the workshop next door, along with Val's hawk shriek of anger. The party scrambles up and out of the tavern from both the north and south ends, grabbing their weapons as they do. They see 4 Ropefist thugs attempting to steal the 2 repair drones Khonnir and crew returned with in their first excursion.
Val fends off two trying to subdue her, just in time for Doc to turn up and Sleep them both. Mercer and Fritz battle the malfunctioning repair drones, both of whom were activated by the Ropefist thugs in their ignorance. The two robots flail around the shop, one throwing an anvil through the large bay window facing the road. Gutgash, Ashad and Ript end up climbing the building itself to chase the other half of the burgling squad, killing them as they try to escape off the northeastern end of the Foundry tactical map.
The party decide that they might as well get started at this point. Most of the party knows that the previous expeditions have all had to enter via the underwater passage underneath the Black Hill and that Joram Kyte could probably help. Mercer himself has met Joram many times before, as he learned the art of mechanicry from Khonnir and Joram's many projects, arguements, and debates. Ashad is puzzled why the Ropefist gang wants the robots at all, since they were obviously damaged and worth little to anyone in town with the troubles going on.
They decide to group up and olly over to the Temple of Brigh, which I have transformed into something resembling a cross between a modern-day mechanic shop and the pile of steering wheels in "Mad Max: Fury Road." I have also transformed Joram into the stereotypical old-man mechanic, reminiscent of characters like Cid from Final Fantasy. He greets them from the undercarriage of a war rig, covered in grease and futilely trying to get the worst off with a rag covered in more grease than he is. Joram talks tech with Mercer for a few minutes, and ends up giving the party 8 "rebreathers" which he "just got working the day befo'." The rebreathers are ramshackle and covered in grease, but Joram assures the party that the grease is actually integral to their function. The devices themselves only work when water is being pushed through them, but aren't waterproof: a design flaw that doomed them to obscurity in their past life. In modern-day Numeria, they're not very useful, but Joram figured that by coating them with a liberal layer of grease, you could get "oh, a couple uses out of each o' 'em. Mebbe three each?" Ashad also managed to score a waterproof jar of the grease, giving them 10 additional charges. Joram wishes the party well and sends them on their way, imploring them to come back "iffin you need a tune-up."
I made the decision to transform a lot of the aid that Joram gives from magic to tech to really get into the flavor of the area.
The party secures a rope outside the Brackwater Pond and sets to swimming down without much event. Gutgash surprises the majority of the party on the other end by abruptly revealing his other two arms. The party almost ends up dying to the Blindheim, all but Fritz and Ript being blinded while Ropefist thugs seek to ambush them during their blind-spot. They take a break to let their vision clear and get Doc to heal them up as best he can.
Advancing forward, the party finds a large cavern blocked on one end by thick green-tinged steel with a 10' spiral set inside it 5' up. More concerningly, there are Small purple-skinned hairless humanoid corpses everywhere, along with the debris and ruin of 6 Large huts. A yawning, gaping hole seems to suck in the sight of anyone in the cavern. Standing amidst the wreckage are 5 Ropefist thugs, who immediately attack the party.
Gutgash, Ript and Ashad take the fight to the thugs, advancing and menacing them with their weapons. Fritz tries to get a few shots off while Mercer lobs bombs from behind. Doc mostly focuses on healing with their limited resources at this point. Unfortunately, the statblock I created for Ropefist Thugs are CR1 and rather lethal with the party at level 1. The party manages to squeak by, with only Gutgash going down and the whole party taking a bunch of damage. Mercer got grappled by one of the Thugs and ended up hitting the both of them with a bomb to survive.
The party decided to call it a session at this point, and their characters returned back to Torch to rest.
For those of you who know the story of Iron Gods, there are some things I definitely need to explain at this point, but I'll do that when I have a bit more time in the next post.
| eakratz |
Witness!
I too have been trying to do the Mad Max flavor. I turned the Smilers from book two into War Boys, and Scrapwall I treated as a Bartertown. I havent messed with any mechanics, but the PCs have ridden robot/golem off road vehicles, and they made the trip to Iadenveigh (not looking up spelling now) in Max's camel truck from Thunderdome. I'll have to look at your ideas here and look into the Starfinder vehicle rules. We are playing on Roll20 so it is very easy to use Mad Max style icons for enemies and friends. Good luck with the game!