Grey Flame Mercenaries: Pathfinder

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mister Strange

Guest
Original poster
Hey guys! So I have noticed that there is a section for roll play games. I am an avid fan of pathfinder and wonder if anyone would be interested in a pathfinder game? The game is based off of a on and off game that I haven't been able to continue due to moving to another state. So I was hoping to revitalize this game.

The players will be new recruits into a prestigious mercenary company called the grey flame. They would be recruited by a "talent" scout that will be roleplayed out a little before their inception into the company. Their starting rank will be ember and after their first mission they will be full fledged members albeit at a low rank. You will be assign missions to carry out. Your first mission you may have an overseer (someone who watches your progress through the mission who may not help you. . . maybe). And eventually you may go up through The ranks.

The missions will be modules that I have on hand with some plot hooks sprinkled about to lead into original stories and whatnot. You will meet npcs that have their own stories that will show up through The different modules. I plan on going with the original format.

That being said. This will be based around a duo or a three man group. There are three main bases of operations for the grey flame mercenaries. Steelgale Valley, Mount Elder Fort, and White Sand Oasis.

If this gets enough interest I will post the rules for character generation and whatnot. Happy holidays guys and thanks for checking out my pathfinder interest thread.
 
I love dice-based RPs and I've wanted to do one in a medieval fantasy setting for quite a while... but there's a serious problem with trying to do Pathfinder on a forum (instead of in person or in a virtual tabletop environment like Fantasy Grounds or roll20.net). The amount of rolls required for DnD (which extends to Pathfinder) is simply too much to make it viable for a non-real-time medium like forums. Already in a live setting, a single combat can take upwards of hours and that's with everyone communicating and talking and rolling all at the same time. Imagine that but in a forum setting, where people might not even check the forum for a couple of days, and you can have a single combat encounter lasting months! And humans being humans, they tend to get bored or drop out or stuff comes up that makes them withdraw from the campaign and well, they tend to fall apart.

My question would be, are you aware of those difficulties and, if so, do you have any way planned to help mitigate them?
 
Well hopefully I can address your concerns and if I don't clear up anything please detail me what I didn't highlight and I will do my best to answer them.

I only plan on having two players since in my experience running grey flame it is the easiest group to "control" and if one person can't make it i plan on continuing with the other person or bring in another player to help fill in. One of the challenges that will be presented is that I will be running modules for adventures meant for 4 to 6 or possibly more. So always going into combat may not be the best choice. But I will have a steady flow of npcs that can help out the players.

As for the forum medium being risky so to say, I plan on it. Unfortunately a forum is the best possible alternative I have come up with to play a dice roleplay if in person game isn't possible. Yes you may have a long wait period between posts but if you want to play and have a busy schedule a forum may allow for some structure.

Now keeping interest is going to be a major concern. Not only will it be a challenge to the players involved but could pose a problem to myself as the GM. If I don't feel like the players are investing into the game then I could lose interest and vice versa as well. It will be a tight rope balancing act that hopefully won't have anyone falling off the rope. My best answer to this concern is that I plan on having quite a bit of npcs and homebrewed towns sprinkled across the game so it isn't strictly just the modules and reporting back to your head quarters. One of my rules will be that in order to increase in level is that you have to find a trainer that is of a higher level than you are in The class you want to be trained in. Hopefully this could bring in some role play aspects and help stay away from combat all of the time. I will pick two characters that are polar opposite of each other in class strength and personality and make them a team. So to cover each other weaknesses while at the same allow for interesting interactions. And they grow together and become a team through all the adventures they to through.

And in case of a complete drop, I would like to have back up players to be able to jump in. I have played in a forum d and d site that used to be called dndog.com but didn't like how the application process for players felt so I went away from there. This is basically my last ditch effort to play a forum game without restorting to going back to the site. I unfortunately don't have the time nor the group anymore to actually have a in person game. And hopefully I was wanting to find similar souls and hopefully through our mutual desire, we could make a game that will go strong and stay strong. Again depending on interest I may do three groups of two players based at the different home bases. But that will require quite a bit of interest for me to consider that.

Again I hope I addressed your concerns and if I didn't please tell me what I left out and I will answer them the best I can.

Also on a side note, reason I pick pathfinder for this particular game is due to arguably its best strength. Its massive potential for character creation. There are so many options for possible character combinations that I feel that it could also keep interest in the game. Yes you may encounter a rogue but they aren't your usual rogue. Or the different races available that can bring all sorts of interractions into the world. And this is not including third party supplments that help enhance the possibilities .

Well I want to thank you for your time and interest and hopefully that helps clear things

Happy Holidays,

Mister Strange
 
Well I definitely like your style, and your realistic approach to the drawbacks of the medium. I definitely like that you intend to keep the group small, this maximizing everyone's involvement and opportunity for character development, as well as emphasizing non-combat methods of conflict resolution. That's awesome!

I guess the main thing I'd like to ask/humbly suggest is... why not look into something like roll20.net (which is free and lets you do rolls in it as well as chat/post) or even just scheduling a Skype group chat for a weekly- say...- 4 hour gaming session? With only three total people that seems like an incredibly easy way to improve the quality of the gaming experience, as there's a much lower likelihood of schedule conflicts. Then of course there'd be posting on the forums in the meantime between sessions, but those weekly sessions would go a long way toward increasing the pace of any action or conversations!

Not necessary of course. But it's something I think is worth considering.

On an unrelated note... How do you feel about creative problem solving? I've only ever played DnD once in person and it was a terrible experience because the DM frowned upon everything that wasn't a straight-forward by-the-books hack 'n' slash when it came to combat scenarios. I'll give you an example:

Our little adventuring group has one combat monster between all 6 of us- and that one had horrible luck with the dice. So when we came upon a cavern filled with hostile goblins that we had to rescue someone from, we nearly party wiped from just the entrance guards. We stepped inside to find a trio of chained-up guard wolves but our ranger calmed them with a series of phenomenal rolls, like repeated 20s and 19s, despite the DM clearly trying to make them attack us. One of our group scouted further into the tunnel and spotted a mob of goblins waiting in ambush for us. Well I got an idea. I was playing a sorcerer, so I used a cantrip to make a rock smell and look like a delicious hunk of steak, got the wolves all worked up over it (because they were clearly partially starved). Then I chucked the 'steakstone' right into the middle of the goblins and ducked back behind cover to avoid the arrows while someone else released the wolves

Well, the DM had the wolves bound right up to the rock, pick it up, and calmly walk back out of the cave.

ಠ_ಠ

That was just one example, there were at least two other time when attempts at creativity were met with "that doesn't work, go hit them with your swords/arrows/spells." And when that DM couldn't make it to the next week's session, someone else from the group took over and did the same thing. I quit after that and have been left wondering ever since if that was just standard fare for DnD players.
 
Well to answer your creative problem solving issue, I welcome it. There are many ways to get around a problem without having to fight. With that I have one example that I would like to share with you.

I was playing in a three man group consisting of a paldain, druid, and me as a fighter. We were tasked to take out the bandits in a nearby moathouse. When we got there our paladin walked into the room where the bandits were hiding and made a diplomacy check to persuade the group of convicts to turn themselves in. All 11 of them including the leader turned themselves in and on the way back to town the paladin was able to roll high enough to convert them to his religion and to pay off their sentence they agreed to help with the construction of his deity's church. That my friend is the sort of role play I love to see.

Yes I would like you to mainly stick to your class so to speak but be able to act as your class outside of combat and be able to find alternatives to combats if possible. In the long run that person you were able to get to repent for their wrong ways may become your closet ally down the road. I want players to find creative solutions to the obstacles I put up in front of them. Play outside of the box so to speak. Sure those bandits were evil but instead of killing them all, the paladin was able to bring them to the side of good which is a far better victory than killing them would have been. I especially encourage this behaviour with spellcasters. You only get a certain amount of spells per day so you got to be able to think on your feet of something comes up.

For another example. I was running a grey flame campaign where the team had to infiltrate a gambling tournament to see what the lord of the castle was up to. So the magus of the group tried to use mage hand to turn the tide of the dice to his favor. Unfortunately he didn't roll high enough on his untrained slieght of hand check and was caught. But his rogue team member was able to keep him in the tournament by making a convincing lie.

So don't worry about creative problem solving. I won't guarantee it will be the result you would want but I won't force you into a combat situation unless you didn't roll well.

I do have a roll20 account that unfortunately i had drop from the group I was playing with due to my work schedule changing. I wouldn't be opposed to Skype though. I will be using myth weavers for character sheets though and if you are still interested and want to make a character, I can pm you the character generation rules. :)
 
Oooh, very encouraging. I'm glad to hear that the roleplay is as much the focus as the rollplay for your game!

Please do send that PM, and I hope this gets some more interest.
 
Also I want to mention that yes I am a rules mongrel when it comes to pathfinder however I can Also be lax. The father of d and d once said that the only rule for d and d is that there aren't any. So I stick to mechanics for structure but I also allow for creative solutions. So I may allow you to make a roll that you wouldn't normally be allowed to or let you do something in combat that isn't neccesarily in the book. Again we are here to have fun. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Insomnant
Haven't actually managed to do much with the few Pathfinder characters I have made, but I'd definitely be interested in joining.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back