I've listened to a number of podcasts about this site Nahanni National Park Reserve, which is one of the creepier examples of the so-called 411 phenomenon of disappearances in national parks (a lot of it is conspiracy theory stuff and over emphasizing non existent similarities, but, to me, it's genuinely captivating Americana/urban legend stuff).
Does anyone want to do a PF1e (yeah, I know this isn't the perfect system for this idea, but it's the one I know the best, so...) game that's sort of like urban fantasy -- the setting is the historical US with a little more magic in random places -- like an elf lecturer in Atlantean archaeology at Yale, or a half-orc Ammish midwife who's an oracle, or a gnome NASA researcher who's an Alchemist, etc. I imagine the setting would be sometime in the early 1900s-modern day, I'm open, and would initially involve some kind of expedition to the Nahanni valley, whether to investigate a disappearance, or to prospect for gold, depending on the time period an inclination of the party.
Some other, similar, scenarios I have in mind
-The Villisca axe murder house in Iowa
-the dogmen of Wisconsin
-The Franklin expedition
-Bigfoot sightings in the Cascade Mountains
-The Jersey Devil
Are you using insanity rules or anything like that from Cthulhu to represent the strange sh*t we may find out or experience?
Are you using insanity rules or anything like that from Cthulhu to represent the strange sh*t we may find out or experience?
I hadn't given it consideration yet, but, yes, that would certainly fit. There are insanity rules in Pathfinder.
The nahannai valley is famous for gold prospectors going missing, with their heads removed when their corpses are recovered. Tales about big foots, huge wolves, dinosaurs, and neanderthal tribes.
I am interested.
I have been floating around a Golfer that gets exposed to the Supernatural.
If you plan on traveling, he could be in the PGA. (Never the LIV). Or if you plan on being in a certain area, he could be a Pro Golf Instructor for a local Golf Course.
Reading between the lines, your setting should never be defined. Similar to FX Archer, you can have 1960's suits with cell phones.
I am interested.
I have been floating around a Golfer that gets exposed to the Supernatural.
If you plan on traveling, he could be in the PGA. (Never the LIV). Or if you plan on being in a certain area, he could be a Pro Golf Instructor for a local Golf Course.
Reading between the lines, your setting should never be defined. Similar to FX Archer, you can have 1960's suits with cell phones.
I'm honestly imagining refluffing a lot of magic as modern tech, or something similar. Like a potion might be a vape pen with extraordinary abilities or something. I'm not going to define anything super specifically -- the only thing we need to define is if we're vaguely in the early 1900s or vaguely in the 1990s-2010s
It's not going to be super historical -- just enough to define what continent we're on and vaguely what kind of tech exists -- though, as you suggest, we could easily mix aesthetics from different periods like Archer, I'd probably be doing that to avoid having to think too hard about the setting details. I'd probably also make up a mythical "President Harding" or something similar to avoid any dating of specific historical conflicts or administrations.
-The Franklin expedition
This would be perfect
I'm thinking the Simmons rendition in the Terror with the invincible Eskimo polar bear soul-eating demon god, combined with the conspiracy theories about the british secret service and arctic giants.
I think I want to start with the Valley of Headless Men one, but there are lots of creepy 411 type stuff I could use for additional expeditions.
So, of those who've expressed interest, who wants to do 'Archer-time' -- like 1960s dress, with and 2020s tech, and no defined political situation, and who wants to do mid-late 1800s, early 1900s?
I’m intrested definitely would prefer a late 1800s early 1900s!
Archer-time is a wonderful time. That's my vote.
Though the late 1800s early 1900s could have Mad Science! I personally like the Roaring Twenties, just after the Great War. All that bloodshed and shell shocked troops coming home sets the right feel of "Let's drink and party to forget the horrors we've committed in name of God and Country."
I think the 1800-1900s is sort of interesting because it has more limited communications technology, and thus lends itself to a greater sense of isolation -- especially in wilderness areas. It could still have weird steam punk anachronistic tech -- I'm not wedded to a very realistic setting, just a vague earth like concept that is enough to provide the basic names and places, but most of the other details, like exact chronology etc. will be ignored.
1880s to 1930s give a broad range of low tech meets high tech, and you can tap into the arcano-tech vibe of "pulp fiction" villains (mad scientists, doomsday cults, nazi special units/hydra, etc). And I agree, the lack of communication makes going down a dirt road more dangerous.
Sounds like a cool concept!
Isolation is cool. But there are ways to get around it through Jamming Technology, theft of cell phones, not paying the cell phones, the cave systems has no bars...
And worse... Fully charged in the morning... as evening rolls around, you realize there is no place to charge your phone.
The isolation that sets when you have a dead cell phone in a foreign airport. Wow. Something you take for granted, then is taken from you in a moment of vulnerability...
Besides, great way to get a group back together with a group text. "I found the breakthrough. Meet at O'Malley's down by the Cape. Where we can plan our Escape."
The American Horror Story: Roanoke did some interesting things with technology and isolation horror too....
I'll try to put a recruitment together in the next few weeks -- I need to get a couple other games underway before I can make up my mind about the time period and exact build rules.
I had an idea for the rules for this game -- what if we stuck just to the Paizo classes (but allowed unchained variants too), but used the multi-class archetype system as a 'subclass' system, where you get to pick one of these archetypes as a free add-on to customize your character.
Those multiclass archetypes are interesting! So are you saying they would gain the added abilities as listed, without loosing those listed?
Those multiclass archetypes are interesting! So are you saying they would gain the added abilities as listed, without loosing those listed?
That's one idea I had rolling around in my head, I'm still thinking about it.
How about the New Haven Sea Hag.