Crypt of the Everflame (5E) - Interest Check

[Siereis]

You are a young villager within the rustic town of Kassen, a logging village set deep within the remote forest of Fangwood.  For as long as you can recall, village life has been quiet...and rather dull, with most folk going about their daily chores and paying little mind to rumors from the outside world.  Yet once every five years some small amount of excitement can be found during the autumn celebrations.  Whereas most villages might hold a festival with parties in celebration of the end of the summer harvest, the village of Kassen is different.  Instead, once every five years the autumn festival is used as a sort of 'coming of age' trial for the village's young ones, a way to welcome the youth into adulthood.  Every citizen of Kassen has gone through the trial since the town's founding and while few speak about any details they went through, every adult of the small woodland community holds a sense of pride in themselves upon reflection of their own quest.

Today is no different as another group of young ones assemble in the village square to undergo their own coming of age quest.  The bells atop the Temple of Erastil toll their midday song, echoing throughout the quiet town of Kassen. As the peals begin to fade, you see the first of the townsfolk make their way into the square, dressed in black, as if attending a funeral. They slowly fill the small town square just before the town's only inn, moving quietly across the cold, hard ground, their eyes downcast and mournful. After a few moments, a murmur passes through the crowd as it slowly parts to let Mayor Uptal through. He leads the way with a tarnished silver lantern, no flame within. Behind him, an old pony drags a cart laden with backpacks and supplies. Once he reaches the center of the crowd, Mayor Uptal stops and calls out to the assembled townsfolk. “Once again the winter winds blow through the Fangwood, marking the end of another harvest. There are wolves in the woods, howling at our walls, and serpents in our shadows, waiting to strike. Just as it was one hundred and seventy-five years ago, when Kassen himself left these walls to protect us, so it is today. Where are the heroes? Where are the brave young folk that will venture out to Kassen’s tomb and retrieve the flame to keep this community safe for another winter?  Come young ones, you are called to serve your village and prove you are worthy of being citizens of Kassen."



Hello all.  This is an interest check for a a game of DnD 5E.  As a DM in the 'real world' with a lack of time lately to commit to multi-hour long sessions, I'd like to try out running a game here, on Elliquiy.  This will be somewhat of a learning curve for me to run a game via forum, so I will be keeping it relatively simple in scope to start with.

What you can expect from me as a DM:
- DnD 5E game running from level 1 - 3 with potential to go further depending on how the first 'module' goes.
- Light sexual content.  There won't be any monsters looking to mate with adventurers, nor overly lewd content.  You can expect other themes such as potential wardrobe malfunctions, nude enemies, compromising situations for the young adventurers, and potentially sexualized outfits ...but the enemies will not be raping any of the player characters (unfortunately).  Romance or sexual content between characters is encouraged, but I'd request the act of sex itself be taken into a 1-on-1 post just so the RP itself is not slowed down too much.
- Daily posts.  Regardless of if all players post or not, I am looking to provide DM responses on a daily frequency so as to keep the pace going.
- The actual adventure will feature a healthy combination of exploration, combat and social interactions.
- Combat will be tactical - meaning I plan to provide a grid map for each encounter and players will choose where their characters go.  The grid will be updated per DM post.  This is something I've wanted to try out, but if I come to find it is too burdensome, we will devolve the combat to 'theater of the mind'.

What I would expect from players:

- Players are to interact with one another, not only the DM.  Obviously your first priority should be write your characters actions within the plot related to the plot...but at the same time, I'd prefer if players interact with one another and not only with the NPCs.
- Players should be able to post relatively frequently, ideally no less than twice a week, though daily is preferred.  Posts should be within the paragraph size (or more) for most situations, unless there is truly not a lot to describe (such as in combat).

If you are interested in playing, please provide the following:
- Basic character concept with picture, bio, and class choice.  All player characters should be young villagers (about the age of 18 - 22) and relatively green when it comes to adventuring (level 1 in other words).  No stats are needed at the moment.
- Due to size limitations, I'll only be able to run the game for 4 - 6 players.  Ideally I'd be looking to start the adventure next week.
- Ability scores will be 27 point buy as described in the 5E handbook.  Described here.
- Any official source material for character builds will be acceptable, including some Unearthed Arcana publications at DM review.

In the meantime, please feel free to ask any questions or provide your interest.

[Chulanowa]

I'm going to take a wild guess that you're mainly looking for fairly "normal" races? Like just core book stuff? If not, I've got a goblin barbarian who needs a home, but uh, plenty of other ideas if that's a no-go  ;D

[keyotess]

I am most definitely interested in playing.  I can post most days, except for Fridays when I will be busy.

Character: I am thinking half elf.  Either a Druid or Ranger, depending on party need. Age: 20

Name: Langwen,  family lives in the forest outside of Kassen and come into Kassen for trading of herbs for other supplies.  Her father was a human from Kassen and she has extended family in Kassen.  Father, human: Stan of Kassen  Mother: female: Langdis.  Stan and Langdis met during Stan's coming of age ceremony.  Langdis is a "young" elf, she is older than the town in actually years and has stayed around Kassen to be with Stan.

[RedPhoenix]

edit: Interest withdrawn.

[ZincStandard]

Hmm, possibly interested.  A few questions: is this set in Golarion, or is Erastil just borrowed?  If the latter, how high-magic is the setting?  The idea I have is for a girl who grew up shunned because she was thought to be bad luck, who's recently been learning a bit about magic from a witch who lives nearby; the concept works if magic is rare and mistrusted, at least in rural parts like Kassen, but if there are other spellcasters about the village who are accepted, or people deal with magic frequently in non-hostile ways, it doesn't really fit.

[Siereis]

1.  I'm actually OK if people wanted to use odd races such as goblins.  They would still need to have the background of a villager and be welcome among the general population.  With that said, definitely no more than half of the party should be anything too exotic.

2.  The world setting is Golarian, so any lore you want to use from the Pathfinder setting would be welcome.  Same applies for magic.  Since the players all grew up in a remote village, magic is certainly not a super commonplace feature, but is common enough that most folk are comfortable with simple spells.  Some magics are shunned, so if your idea was to have your character learn magic from a witch and be sort of a black sheep in the village, we can make that work.

[ZincStandard]

Thanks, but I don't feel like my idea really works in that case, and anyway, I'm not a fan of Golarion.  Have a good game, everybody :-)

[Brittlby]

I’d be interested in submitting a character for this! Let me put something together.

[Athem]

I'd be interested in submitting a character.

A. A human or half-elf sorceress or wizard, the daughter of the local lord who's competing in the trials alongside the villagers. She's competent enough in her class, but has no experience of the practicalities or hardships of adventuring. Fond of impractical silk robes.

B. A human or elf barbarian, a tribal envoy who's competing as a gesture to improve relations. Inspiration for the human would be Invictus by Boris Vallejo; the elf would be a wild elf. In either case, oblivious to the reaction that her attire has on the locals.

C. Something else...

[Ampere]

I'm also interested in this:

Hannah O'Donohue Human Barbarian

Loves nature, animals, brawling, brawling with animals and rage!

Dislikes townies, too much talk, intellek... intillectu... intelic... people who think too much!

Hannah started hunting when she was old enough to hold a spear, joining her mother's tribe until they moved on to new hunting grounds. She spends the majority of her time away from the village and her father's civilised influence, either hunting or 'playing' with the local wildlife.

[Just noticed I might be treading on Achmed's toes with this one - so I'll withdraw the suggestion]

[CeruleanSerenity]

I'm interested, but I don't know much about Golarion... is it important for players to have any knowledge of the setting? If so, is there anywhere I could get a good overview of it?

I don't have many character ideas yet, but I'll think it over... one is to recycle a character I never quite got to use from a game with a similar small village start. She was an orphan tiefling rogue with a playful and flirtatious streak and a bit of a reputation as a troublemaker, who never quite fit in and didn't stay close to anyone for too long for fear of her true nature getting out.

But I'll see what else I can think up, too.

[Siereis]

I'm interested, but I don't know much about Golarion... is it important for players to have any knowledge of the setting? If so, is there anywhere I could get a good overview of it?

No prior knowledge is needed.  Since its sort of a coming of age story, the characters would not start off knowing much of the outside world anyway.  As we progress, I'll give the needed details as the characters explore the world outside their small home.

[Siereis]

So far the character concepts are looking great.  I'd like to get at least 2 of each gender in the game, and won't be making any decisions until probably Sunday or Monday.

[Brittlby]

I was actually going to go Goblin fighter but Chul already called it. Perhaps an Orc monk?

Oh! "Red-foot" Mazz Merrytongue - Halfling Moon Druid. Vintner family by trade, she tends to the grape from cradle to grave, vine to bottle! Also gives me an excuse to have a wee character that can eventually morph into an attack bear.

[Siereis]

Don't worry about adding too much detail, even to background at this point.  Really I just want to get a good feel for the interest level and what sort of classes and roles people are looking to play.  So far I like everyone's stuff...enough so that its already making me think of just including as many as I can.

We still need some males though.

[Chulanowa]

I was actually going to go Goblin fighter but Chul already called it. Perhaps an Orc monk?

Oh! "Red-foot" Mazz Merrytongue - Halfling Moon Druid. Vintner family by trade, she tends to the grape from cradle to grave, vine to bottle! Also gives me an excuse to have a wee character that can eventually morph into an attack bear.

Smols are best!

I'll have time ot think over what i'm doing tomorrow! So many options, oi vey.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Name: Valerus Merenda
Race/Class: Human Paladin 1
Age: 18
Concept: Valerus has wanted to be hero early childhood, his mother working in the sole tavern as barmaid and she slept with a knight who departed to grand crusade by name of Iomedae (albeit to most think/treat his mother as local harlot who sleeps with anyone with coin and story of knight is just lie Valerus). Valerus is not wise or smart, but he has heart right place and he has trained by himself entire life how to wield sword and armor (starting toy swords and kitchen wear as armor). Out sort desperation mother send him study to local smith and for time there was hope for him as he eagerly took his studies...but when his artisan work for graduation was self-made armor and sword, there was no way shift his focus on any serious job in the village and was still dead set to become a crusading knight!

Soon after followed the adulthood ceremony and it's mother's last hope get her son straight and settle down, instead running off and get himself killed for sake of story she weaved from one night stand with a mercenary, who did pay sleep with her but had nice huge dick as well and she did enjoy herself. Perhaps sake of that enjoyment she carried pregnancy through with faint hope mercenary had returned back to her (as he promised), but most likely had died on field of battle.

OOC GOAL: Play Int/Wis 8 paladin, overall try aim 'dumb but charming/handsome' hero idolizer approach.

[Athem]

I'd be interested in submitting a character.

A. A human or half-elf sorceress or wizard, the daughter of the local lord who's competing in the trials alongside the villagers. She's competent enough in her class, but has no experience of the practicalities or hardships of adventuring. Fond of impractical silk robes.

Expanding on that idea:

Name: Chammady Krupt
Race: Half-elf
Class: Sorceress (wild magic)
Background: Noble

Chammady is a Chelaxian and her birth was something of a scandal, since both her parents are apparently human. She's simply a throwback: both her parents had some elven ancestry. But that didn't stop the rumors flying.

Chammady wasn't exactly cloistered, but she was a bit over-protected as she grew up. That was, in part, because of her natural talent for wild magic: her parents didn't want anyone getting hurt. But Chammady grew annoyed at this, and when she came of age she demanded her right to take part in the trials.

Goal: Determined to prove she can stand on her own two feet, despite being woefully inexperienced at the practicalities of adventuring.

OOC goal: Have fun watching Chammady lurching between successes and embarrassing failures, and slowly learning.

Attributes:
STR 10    2
DEX 15+1  9
CON 12    4
INT 13+1  5
WIS  8    0
CHA 14+2  7

[Vergil1989]

Despite being a long time fan of the Forgotten Realms area of D&D, I know nothing about this world of Golarian.   :-[  Having said that, the reason why I'm joining this is that I have very little experience with D&D outside of watching Critical Role and a few scattered games back during 3.5.  Chul's group game is the most recent I've joined anywhere, but I'm always up for more.  :D

And hey Brit!  Fancy seeing you here.  :P

Name:  Valtyra
Race:  Aasimar (Fallen)  ((Yasha for the WIN!))
Class:  Bard  (eventually College of Lore.)  ((Scanlan Shorthalt for the WIN!)

Despite being found as a babe by a kindly family in the little village, and the fact she was unusually pale, Valtyra had a happy childhood all told.  One question always lingered in the back of her mind growing up even when she was entertaining the youngest of the village's children with her innate talent for music and song, who was she?  Where had she come from?  The one and only time she'd gotten so afraid that someone was going to end up dead when goblins attacked the village, Valtyra had sprouted skeletal wings, the lights had all gone out around her, and she had literally scared the would be attackers so badly that they had ran right back where they'd come from.  Everyone else had been cautious at first, but once it was clear she was alright, and she was still in her right mind, she was celebrated as a local hero.  Attention she didn't wish, but she's done her best to push past, especially since her time to see the world is fast approaching.

Goal:  To figure out where she came from, and why her wings are skeletal as they are.  (Thus she plans to become a traveling bard, learning everything she can to unravel the mystery of just who, or what, she is and why she was left behind.)

OOC goal:  Learn to play D&D and just have fun.  Also ale.  :P  But no, just having a good time with fellow D&D nerds/friends/etc is good enough.  :D

EDIT:  What do I need to know about Golarian though?  I can start reading the wiki, but I just thought I'd ask and see what you guys said before I got lost in there.  Also, I hope my overall concept is okay, but if I need to edit anything, or cut it down at all, just let me know.

And how are we doing character sheets?  I don't mean for just our characters, I mean the actual character stats and such?

Anyway, just wanted to ask while I was thinking about it.  Take care and here's hoping this goes well.  :D

https://youtu.be/N6UTl7CcCLw

[keyotess]

@Vergil1989:  Woohhoo another fan of Critical Role!  And Yasha for the win!  I hope we get to see more of her soon!

[Vergil1989]

Lol but of course.  Critical Role is awesome, no question.  I can't watch the live shows unfortunately with this computer or my connection or something, but thankfully Youtube and the like works just fine.  :D  So instead of it 'Is it Thursday yet?', it's always 'Is it Monday yet?' for me.  That aside, thanks for the welcome Key.

RiseUndaunted or whatever their name is has two other fan pieces for both Fjord and Caleb, all of which were pretty amazing.  There's a LOT of good stuff out there for both Campaigns though, but anyway, my actual question involves what I should be looking up to understand this new world we're playing in.  Gods, common races, history, anything of particular note I should be aware of now?

[Chulanowa]

I'll be going for the critical role (hah hah haaaaaah I'm so funny) of Sorcerer / Warlock / Wizard. Just gotta find an image i like  :-\

[Vergil1989]

What race are you going for Chul?  And male or female?  I might be able to send a few pics your way if you'd like.  :D

[Snake]

Is there still room to join?

[Chulanowa]

What race are you going for Chul?  And male or female?  I might be able to send a few pics your way if you'd like.  :D

That's a very good question!