[LF1-2P] Pathfinder - Rise of the Runelords - Sunday 7PM-11PM EST

Greetings everyone! The last time I searched around here for players it was an oddball system that very few people have likely played. This time, I come with a fan favorite. The Adventure Path, Rise of the Runelords, which started building up the core Pathfinder setting. In particular, I am looking for one or two people to fill out an existing gaming group that will be starting Rise of the Runelords in the near future. I would like to give a hard time on the matter, but to be honest, I just do not have one. We are currently finishing up a run of the Emerald Spire Megadungeon and have a few more floors to the end. A rough estimate is that in 4-6 weeks, we will be starting up this new game. Now, I'm the kind of person that likes a nice mix of roleplay and combat. I personally have the tendency to make detailed character biographies - at least until I have to switch PCs because one of them was destroyed. So I want to give people time to bounce ideas around - and include them on the large e-mail chain that has been started for discussion. In any case, let me hash out some actual details at this point, so people know what they are getting into. Roleplaying:  Of the player base so far, two are very comfortable roleplaying and one seems to enjoy it when it is directed toward them. The third player is a bit more of a munchkin, tending to prefer gish-style characters. The saving grace is that he seems mostly focused on combat and has not broken everything wide open with full-progression spellcasters yet. I'm hoping to find a happy medium in which characters feel appropriately challenged while also focusing on the stories that are being told during the adventure path. It should be noted the players prefer roleplaying over text, though we use VOIP (Ventrilo in particular) in order to communicate quickly. Materials:  I am a fan of restricting things primarily to what I refer to as the "Loose Core" of Pathfinder books. This is essentially all books with the label "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game", consisting of the Core Rulebook, Advanced Race Guide, Advanced Class Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Pathfinder Unchained, etc. It does not include the side Pathfinder Campaign Setting or Pathfinder Player Companion books. The primary reason for this is that I find the quality in these side books to be dubious on a few levels, especially with regards to balance. I'm not ENTIRELY  closed to material from outside this loose core, but it will be a case by case basis. Point Buy : We are currently leaning toward a 20-point buy. If I accept two more players instead of one, I may want to swap down to 15-point buy to make my rebalancing adjustments a little easier. This is open to discussion among the players ultimately though - to a degree, this is always a game for the players, and if you feel you can't reasonably make your character in 15-point buy, we'll swap up. Character Creation : The original Summoner is banned and replaced by the Unchained Summoner. Gunslinger is banned. Leadership is banned. Beyond that, I do not have any particular changes beyond the previous mentioned allowed materials. Currently, one of the existing player group is very excited about playing a Cayden Cailean worshiping Warpriest that bludgeons things with a keg of ale and checks the taste to see how favored she is. The other two are further away from full concepts and are considering a Wizard or Arcanist and some sort of multiclass Rogue/Monk respectively. What I Want:  Ideally, one or two players to round out our player numbers a little bit. These players should NOT  have played through Rise of the Runelords to any significant degree. If you have played before, please list how far you've gotten in a PM to me or spoiler button or the like. I am not interested in people suggesting completed characters at this point. If you really want to impress, I'm in particular looking for somebody who is good at initiating roleplay and drawing the others into it. Players interested should not be offended at the concept of optimization - odds are that one player is going to do that. Furthermore, I love to see players worked into the town of Sandpoint. Either of the Rise of the Runelord's Players Guides should be able to help make those first steps towards integrating yourself into the town in some fashion. I'll choose one or possibly two interested people and get them incorporated in the e-mail discussion between the players and GM (me) further, so that they can get a better sense for how things are going along that front. If you are interested in seeing how some of the players act, we do currently use MapTools on the same timeslot on Sunday and I may well be able to work in some observing with the current GM. I make no guarantees on that. If there are any questions, feel free to ask in thread (if you think it would be helpful to everybody) or just shoot me a message!

I'm interested. The time is good and I always preferred text-based games personally. And I like to think that I RP well while still being reasonably okay with optimization up to a point. That said, still have to have a look through the Rise of the Runelords player's handbook myself since I'm not familiar with this adventure path.

The two Rise of the Runelords PHB should be free on the Paizo page (there is an old OGL version and one that comes with the Anniversary Edition). My understanding is the old OGL version is a little better for information about Sandpoint, which is reduced to a mere two pages on the Anniversary Edition version. I've given my players some additional backstory through e-mail chains, but the nutshell is a few key points. 1. Sandpoint is a medium city on Varisian's Lost Coast.  It was founded by four major families and is mostly Chelaxian, with a sizable number of Varisians (who were here first) and some scattered Shoanti. It has a large amount of existing businesses and NPCs, so if you want to tie in to the setting, a vague detail on your end can turn into something bigger with a bit of digging from me. 2. Sandpoint went through bad times five years ago.  It is called the Late Unpleasantness. There was an accident with a noblewoman, a beloved town icon turned out to be a serial killer that murdered twenty-six people before killing himself, and the Sandpoint Church burned down, with both the beloved town priest and his beautiful adopted daughter inside. 3. Sandpoint is about to experience the Swallowtail Festival.  This festival is a tradition among those who worship Desna and happens on the Autumnal Equinox. This year, it will also hold a consecration ceremony for the grand new Sandpoint Cathedral that was created, helping the town move past the Late Unpleasantness. On a more general note, the main campaign theme is this: The players take the roles of adventurers who start by fending off local threats to Sandpoint before finding themselves drawn into conflict with an ancient evil and becoming legends in their own rights. I think that is my spoiler-free summary of what to expect that I have given my players. Hope this helps get some brain juiecs flowing! It does help if players are tied to Sandpoint, since the story assumes to a degree that they are driven by a desire to protect it.

If I wasn't already in a game on Sundays, and in a Rise of the Runelords game on Saturdays, I'd be chomping at the bit to join this game if for no other reason than because you seem so thorough and committed Asura. Your players are incredibly lucky to have a GM such as yourself running the game. You don't see that around these parts much.

Well, I try to give a good idea of what people should expect up front. I find it is good practice overall. That being said, I will say that I am still a learning GM at the core. Part of running an Adventure Path like this is so that I can get a better understanding of how to make a campaign flow smoothly, involve the players, and have interesting encounters. It'll help my GMing even in games like Eclipse Phase and Star Wars, ideally! Also, I'll admit. I hate making maps. It is always a boon when there is a glut of existing maps to draw from rather than having to make my terrible abominations.

Oh yeah, maps are a total pain in the butt. Still trying to figure out what direction to go in, but I think I'm interested enough to start doing some work on a character. Is there any specifics on what to submit for consideration? I assume at least a character concept. Also, my e-mail is <a href="mailto:windscar18@yahoo.com" rel="nofollow">windscar18@yahoo.com</a> for the e-mail chain.

I'll probably be sending out a group e-mail in the near future with both my existing players and potential people to bandy around ideas and answer questions that way. Probably Friday evening or Saturday morning, depending on how interest is looking. That way I can get an idea for who thinks they'd want to fit in with the existing group a bit more. Ultimately, I'd like characters not to be build entirely independently of each other (inter-character relations is always a good start to things), so I don't want fully fleshed out things at this point in time. That being said, rough character concepts, ideas of how you might fit into Sandpoint, things you might want to explore is what I am interested in this point.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, especially as the other players start looking for ideas. With everyone in Sandpoint, it is fully possible that all the PCs can know each other from the start and that'd be a good way to introduce the group.

It is quite possible, and so for people who want to start in Sandpoint, having them bounce ideas off each other that way would be a solid thing. That being said, I don't want to just start throwing around e-mails in less than 24 hrs of having this up. I'll set something up tomorrow evening!

Hello I'm interested in joining a game like this out. I was thinking of playing a cleric if something like that was available. <a href="mailto:Chasesp1@gmail.com" rel="nofollow">Chasesp1@gmail.com</a> is my email. I quite like roleplaying so this group sounds great. I'm also willing to play other roles if needed. I just had the idea of a farmer brawler heading to the town to try and sell his wares only to get roped into this whole adventure.&nbsp;

Hey, if there's ever open space as the game draws near I'd love to get in on it. I will mention that I've played the beginning of RotR before. Without spoiling anything my group was nearing the end of book one when our DM had to bail for RL reasons (if asked I can send a PM detailing exactly what content I've been exposed to). I've really been itching to get into an RotR campaign again since then, but understand if getting that far is a deal breaker. My Magnimarian sorcerer has already been moved to another campaign so I was planning something different and can fill most needed roles. My first choice for this campaign would be a Paladin of the Chosen One archtype, a Luke Skywalker-esque character that starts from simple beginnings in Sandpoint and has to learn a lot about his new calling and walk a tightrope of morality instead of starting out as some sort of shining paragon. I'd probably take the campaign trait that makes him besties with the Sheriff, helps explain where he learned to wield a sword and/or bow despite being from a village family of manual laborers. If that isn't what the party needs I also have ideas for a Barbarian Invulnerable Rager who's not really a barbarian and would be coming from outside of Varisia as well as a Rogue Investigator from Magnimar with some ideas for reasons why he would be in Sandpoint, both characters would require more background detail given via private PM. I even have an idea for a second sorcerer of the Ifrit Wishcrafter archtype who would be another Sandpoint native, kind of a Jack Frost styled character who's a bit of an outsider in the town. I did want to ask about RPing text vs voice. I've never RPed via text when it comes to table-top (I'm still pretty new to the whole thing in general), just play-by-post forums without strict rule sets. I find I overthink and take a bit of time on writing out RP posts.&nbsp;If everyone is going to be on Ventrilo anyways is there a problem with some of my RPing being by voice and still interacting with what the rest of the group texts?

So, the nutshell thing is that I am going to send out an e-mail including both my players and the players at the end of the evening. If people don't want their e-mail all over the forum, I do recommend just PM'ing me. That works absolutely fine! Anywho. Moving on from that. Keep ideas bubbling, but I find it works better not to do that all in a vacuum. On Voice vs Text: So it is almost guaranteed that a couple of my players will at least do their dialogue by voice. Physical actions tend to be done more by voice as it is, though it varies a bit more. It is a matter of their personal preference. Doing some of your RPing over voice should not be a real problem. On Exposure to Rise of the Runelords: The best way to handle this is send me a PM detailing what your experience was like and what you know so far.

Well I was thinking that my character and the cleric could bond over a love of alcohol together, maybe get into stuff regarding my guy wanting to taste his ale.&nbsp;

Bonding over booze is awfully traditional for adventurers I hear.

Just to confirm, how many players from your spire game are slated to continue? And you're looking for 1-2 more?&nbsp;

Currently, we have three players who will be playing from the Emerald Spire game I am in. 1. The GM, who is interested in being a Warpriest of Cayden Cailean. 2. A Swashbuckler in our Emerald Spire game, who is looking into a full-progression arcane spellcaster currently. 3. A Magus in our Emerald Spire game, who is looking along the lines of a Rogue/Monk or Fighter. Nobody has finalized any characters at this point though. Edit: I am looking to add one person at a bare minimum (I hate adjusting for undersized parties), but I may take 2-3 depending on how things work out. The existing players would ultimately get a say in this process as well.

First e-mail chain sent out to interested parties. That being said, we aren't starting for a month, minimum, likely. So it is still a long haul if there are more really interested parties. I'm ultimately letting my existing PCs decide how they want to take things.

Since you mentioned you might still be looking for interested parties, I'd like to be considered. &nbsp;I do have a few years of experience playing in a pathfinder game every other week. &nbsp;Having said that, I don't have much experience with Golarion because the settings for the other games I have played in have been in Ravenloft and Greyhawk. &nbsp;The games I have been in have been more focused on sandbox adventures and combat, so I do like the idea of a game more directed by role-play and character motivated action. &nbsp; I'll PM you my email address as I don't love the idea of posting it on a public forum. &nbsp;I get enough spam as it is.

Temporary closing of new e-mails for the time being. Have quite a few people interested already, so want to see how these things work out before it becomes an absurd mess.