Interest Check: Pathfinder Homebrew. Starving musicians.

Hello, and thanks for taking the time to read. I've been tinkering around with a Pathfinder Idea that has a party of musicians/entertainers trying to make ends meet. There is an epic plot line, though the players would not be tied to it, although that's not to say it wouldn't become relevant. Imagine you are a musician playing lute or a lyre or a drum. Or perhaps you are dancer, twirling fire, or more tilted towards the exotic. A story-teller bringing legends of old to life, or an acrobat defying the laws of physics for an audience. Now imagine that's how you've made your living for the last decade, but now the job market has vanished. How do you make your living? You're not a veteran of wars, nor a pit fighter. You haven't spent your time bent over a tome in search of the keys to power. You are not tied to your deity in order to channel the god's wrath. Nope - hardened adventurer you are not. But you can play a nice g chord if you can keep the d string from slipping because of the tuning peg you can't afford to replace. You can pound out a slip jig and hope that your drum head can take one more night of abuse. Somehow you need to find a way to earn some money. Lodging and food aren't free you know. Leveling is slow, magic is low (not non-existent, but there are no wizard schools or k-marts of magic items). This is not a game for min-maxers. I have a very particular feel in mind for the players. As you would have guessed you would start as a broke musician, struggling to get by due to a curse that has taken a choke hold on the land. Farms struggle, sicknesses sometimes spread, livestock suffers. It's a tough time to get people to part ways with their coin for a song or a tale. The characters would begin with nothing more than their carefully guarded instrument, a few copper, and perhaps a second hand blade. Skills would play a major part in staying alive. The jobs you'd take on would more often than not be very 'not musician like'. The game would be for 4 players. Bi-weekly-ish is what I have in mind. I'd like it to be as 'roleplay' as possible. Meaning when we play, we 'play'. You don't talk about your character, you are your character (in a fun way of course - I am not that demented). I've posted 'niche' scenarios before and it's not uncommon to get someone trying to shoe-horn their Dwarven Barbarian into the mix. The players will be musicians, storytellers, dancers, acrobats. I don't want someone complaining because I don't want a necromancer in the party. Hehehe. I would make several characters and the players could look them over, deciding which they would like for themselves, and for covering the roles and skills the party will need. They could be tweeked with my approval. Skill changes, feat changes, race and class to certain extent. I use Hero Labs so the characters will need to agree with it. The game will be organized online. I kind of like Obsidian Portal. There would be forums there that would be usable for non-play time contributions. A song, a lymric, a background, a story about your character. Those would equate to experience for your character. I am an old dude. I played D&D in '79. I like adults in my games who can parallel real life experience and use it in their play. In the 80's I made a living as a musician - I was anything but rich. I slept in some bizarre places and ate happy hour dinners more than I care to remember. Does this sound interesting? Or am I sniffing glue? Peace.

This! This is the epitome of what I have been longing for. The concept really sounds like it will promote a more immersive roleplay experience compared to the easy-mode fully rounded party. If you are really only looking to check interest, I give you an extremely passionate +1 to keep you motivated in your works. If instead you are looking to soon launch a campaign I would be quite honored to scrounge up the few silver I need to purchase the bit of fuel (and food) needed to once again feel the thrill of the audience gazing upon an evening's fiery variety show.

JZouk. I love your style. Now let me coerce you into how a Sinth Summoner's Eidolon is just a Dancing Chinese Dragon (kidding!). I am very interested and although you may not remember me, I surely remember you as I have been in one of your past games online here at Roll20. You are a master for planning and design and creativity where true roleplay exists. You let me know when and where and how high; as long as it doesn't interfere with my Real Life then count me in if you will have me. Respectfully, The Scarred Witch Doctor who had to escape prison with nothing more than a sustenance spoon and a tin cup (not even his spellbook) *bow*

I'm very interested in this concept as well. At what time (and timezone!) and day do you imagine you would play?

I am est. So weekday evenings (no Fridays), or Sat/Sun. If it's weekend i'd be even open to a morning start time if it would be best for everyone.

Sadly, I am a european, so I would have trouble joining at those times. Good luck with the game though.

I would totally be interested. I've been wanting to roleplay a Skald barbarian/bard for the longest time.

To continue tradition, the times I am available would be weekday evenings (not friday) or weekend mornings too. Weekends are most likely trickier due to wife aggro. All times are EST for me too.

The village of Kriff was a full day’s ride Northwest of Fortress Yyle. Although the village marked the halfway point between the throne city of Yyle and the town of Barken, the Western Highway was well to the east. Only a rutted wagon trail connected the village to the main thoroughfare. It didn’t used to be that way. Kriff was known for its orchards and its wineries. The fertile soil produced a tart fruit that was perfect for the vats that had put Kriff on the map only a handful of years ago. With the prosperity the wine trade had provided, renowned vintners called Kriff their home, and that attracted other trades to thrive – barrel makers, a tannery, a blacksmith, even a perfumer found a niche to live in relative luxury. But everything changed since the curse of Orjik the Sour had spread. The sorcerer had sought to wed his son to the daughter of King Ordin and Queen Hela, but Princess Melanie had refused, as was her right. But Orjik had prepared for rejection and ruthlessly inflicted the princess with a curse that had somehow stolen her voice and entrapped it within a harp made of glass. As the story is told, Princess Melanie’s songs held magical properties and Orjik, in his anger, used it (and was using it) to bring sickness and blight to the Kingdom of Saphil. Whether or not the tale was true, the sickness and blight indeed was, and Kriff did not go unaffected. In the town’s orchards, the few apple trees that managed to survive bore fruit that more-often-than-not withered on the branch or fell to the ground long before they ripened. The vats and presses sat empty, and the vintners and their laborers had no choice but to abandon their enterprise. The traffic that the wineries had once brought also vanished, crippling the businesses that had relied on it. Kriff is now a shell of what it once was. Houses in empty disrepair, forgotten wine vats have succumbed to uselessness via inattention. The blacksmith’s fire burns small, as only the occasional shoe for a horse or the mending of a tool marks his order list. The tanning done by the leather worker is trivial to non-existent, and even the perfumist’s vials and pots are void of efforts. Despite it all, the troupe of entertainers leave the Western Highway and follow the all-but-forgotten trail leading to Kriff, hopeful in finding an audience to entertain in trade for a hot meal and a roof before the sun set - for nights were brutal, bringing cold, drizzling, and saturating, rains. Traveling through a field filled with rows of decrepit apple trees a song can be heard drifting on the cutting wind. It’s a child’s voice. "Shiny chips 'neath the sycamore of old Starry rocks, bauble bright, and sparklers glowing bold Never find me, never see me, but never do I go "Shiny chips 'neath the sycamore of old." "The sycamore was ten or more men tall Roots so deep, branches wide, and sturdy 'gainst the winds Never knew me, never saw me, but never did I go The sycamore was ten or more men tall" Reaching the center of the village, their instruments on hand to announce their arrival, the troupe of entertainers discover something quite unexpected. There is an execution in progress. Borgav Larkerson, the town’s constable, is reading a list of charges to a gathering comprised of the majority of the town’s eighty-three citizens. An elderly man, homeless by the looks of him, is forced to the back of a mule and his head through a noosed rope. The rope is slung over the branch of an old oak tree that has survived in the village’s square. “Grogen Jakenheimer,” Larkerson says with a booming voice. “You have been found guilty of thievery and debauchery and therefore sentenced to death. You shall hang by the neck for one day and one night, and your body shall be cast to flame!” “I din’t pick none of them apples.” Grogen wails in despair as he protests for his life. “I only ‘et stuff from the ground! I swear! You said I could!” There are three men that stand out from the town folk. Their garb is a cleaner and mended, and the scabbards at their waists reveal hilts of real weapons, not the makeshift tools most carried. Two of the men are hulks – twins by the looks of them. They stand apart from the crowd, obviously entertained by the transpiring events, laughing and sharing a drink from a bloated wine-skin. The third stands next to, but behind, the constable. This man wears an expression of disinterest, as if the event is a distraction if not an annoyance. The old man sits on the back of the restless mule, crying and sobbing as he awaits his death. The crowd hushes as a man begins to read his last rites. The troupe of entertainers, with a foodless-gnawing in their guts, and wet clothes that cling coldly to their skin, have a choice; watch, and let a man die, or speak up in the name the truth…

so...is there room for one more

I'm not quite looking for players yet. But I wanted to post something to give more of an idea what I'd be like as a DM. I like being story oriented. I like that same preference from players. Don't get me wrong, there'd be plenty of dice rolling, especially as folks managed to get a couple levels. But for now, just trying to show how I roll and give people the best chance to know what might be in store. See what people think.

oh, well if you do decide to do this i would love in. i would love a good story and you seem to know how to tell one.