TL;DR: Two guys with the better part of two decades worth of tabletop experience are looking for a Pathfinder 1E campaign (we're open to D&D 5E, but have no experience with the system). Preference on new games and on adventure paths, although we are open to preexisting campaigns and home brew. Whatever we do must be story-driven ; we're looking for collaborative story telling with some goal/s in mind, both for individual party members and as a group. We must humbly insist upon a session zero before firmly committing to a group just to make sure we all mesh well. We are available on Mondays and Tuesdays anywhere from 12PM PST on. Voice only and uninterested in paid games. See wall of text below for additional details. Hey there everyone! I made a TL;DR to give the quick and dirty details that I thought were relevant. The rest here is meant to give you a snapshot of who I am, what my experience is, and what I'm looking for (I'm mostly speaking for myself and will let my friend say his piece during session zero). I'm a man in my mid-30s and have been playing tabletop games since high school. I've played with a variety of systems, such as D&D, Pathfinder, various World of Darkness games, Exalted, BESM, Warcraft d20, Traveler, Legend of the Five Rings, and others. Much of my personal experience with games has been in campaigns rather than one shots. I am currently in another group on Roll20 that I've been with for about 3 years of weekly (barring holidays) play, so I am willing to commit. I have played at all levels of play, from 1-20, including mythic 10, so I am familiar with most rules in Pathfinder (although this isn't the same as me saying that I'm some kind of rules lawyer expert either). I do watch Critical Role and thus have some passing knowledge of 5E, plus I've done some light reading to familiarize myself with the major changes there, so it wouldn't be too shocking to play that, I think. We've chosen Pathfinder as our preference as it is the system we have the most experience with (when you factor in 3/3.5 play time in as well) and the one we've had the most success in campaigns with. We're fairly familiar with Golarion as a whole, including gods and politics. We have not played Starfinder, though we'd consider it if someone had a good campaign in mind. Likewise we'd consider 5E so long as a group doesn't expect us to be fully knowledgeable of all the rules or the setting right away--there would definitely be some confusion with Pathfinder/early edition rules, I'd guess. Any other systems are less likely to be agreeable simply because we don't know them that well and aren't very interested in doing a lot of homework learning, but feel free to pitch a concept if you really feel that we'd be a good fit. As for what I'm specifically looking for, I'm looking for a group of adults who are both looking for story driven role play and have a solid foundation in mechanical knowledge. I'm hoping for that sweet spot where the group knows when to 'rule of cool' things, but not tear apart the rule book to home brew (or god forbid ignore) all of the rules. I'm not expecting a party to be fully optimized or min-maxed, but I'd expect that a player has a rough outline of what they'd like their character to do mechanically over the course of the campaign. I personally feel each player should consider what role their character plays in the party, both in role play and in mechanics, as this is a tabletop game as much as it is a story telling tool. Similarly, I expect that when a player makes a character, that they've made a character they can see playing through to the end of the campaign (barring extenuating circumstances). I find it quite immersion breaking if the party is a revolving door of new characters that are the flavor of the month for a player who can't make up their mind or is bored with what they made. For this reason, I'd also prefer if the GM did their level best to tune encounters such that it isn't expected that PCs will die on the regular. It's fine if a character dies and it is story appropriate or if someone made a grievous error, but it's not particularly fun if someone has to make a new character all the time. I know I put a great deal of work into developing my characters and I'd hate for them to die casually. In game, I don't expect people to be 100% serious all the time--out of character joking and laughter are part of the experience. Still, it would be good to keep things reasonably focused. I know I can be crude at times with jokes and language, but I'm respectful of other people. If something I say is bothersome, let me know and I'm pretty good at reining myself in. That said, I'm not looking for someone to police anyone else's thoughts, actions, or language. I strongly prefer meta knowledge be kept to a minimum, as it makes the story more compelling. Exceptions can be made for mechanical suggestions (emphasis on suggestion) that are in theme for what a character might do if a PC can't seem to decide what to do. I believe strongly in that unspoken contract that all players will try to do their best to make a party work. This doesn't mean overlooking actions that would be jarring or disruptive, either in or out of character, but simply means that you aren't going to make a lone wolf character who has no loyalty whatsoever to the party (or any annoying 'double agent' characters that undermine the party). On this point, I also would hope that a group of adults could talk about any issues that they have respectfully with the parties involved, and that if no solution can be found, that the group and GM be able to make a decision. I dislike conflict as much as anyone else, but I'd rather deal with a problem once rather than dealing with a game that slowly turns toxic because it is ignored. For campaign themes, I am an adult and am fully comfortable dealing with adult themes. Death, torture, or other uncomfortable topics. The key to this though is that whatever is happening is believable for the setting. I'm not looking for an edgy game where I'm wading through blood up to my knees with the skulls of children floating down a river of tears, but I'm not going to throw a fit if my favorite NPC dies either. I am fine with sex and romance existing in the role playing world, and if two PCs or the GM and a PC wish to carry such a scene on, no judgment, but please do it out of game session so as not to detract from everyone else's time and experience or please keep it brief (fade to black). All things in moderation. As a final note, my thought process when it comes to role play and story: I always prioritize my character's goals above anything else--though not to the degree of completely screwing over the party. If my character can't pursue any of their own goals at the moment, then the priority shifts to party goals and what moves us to the end of our story. If there is no party goal to pursue in the immediate moment, my priority shifts to other PC goals and how to help them achieve those. And if there's none of that either, then my character will focus on helping favorite NPCs with whatever they need. Obviously this isn't hard and fast, but is my general guideline for dictating my character's actions. This is what I feel creates the most believable characters, as we're all individuals with our own goals and we'd, of course, look to our own interests in addition to whatever the party's goals are. People don't just pop into existence to take down the Demon Lord, born into a squad of warriors for the sole purpose of killing said Demon Lord--or at least not all of us are. We have backgrounds, differing experiences, hopes, and dreams. We're brought together for common purpose, but we all want something different in the end. My apologies for the wall of text. I both thank and congratulate anyone who made it this far. I felt it necessary to give a lot of insight into my thoughts since my hope is to draw the attention of people that are of like mind that I can play with for months or years to come. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to either post a response or send me a private message. Although my friend didn't get much coverage in this post, you can assume that he and I are of fairly like mind on many of these topics and blend well for these purposes. If you do message me, expect a lot of questions regarding your game; I'm perfectly fine with answering any of your questions as well. I look forward to hearing from you.
