Topic: [E6 Pathfinder] NC-Exotic Homebrew Campaign (application reopened!)

[FragarachZ]

Updated - June 18

Greetings everyone!

I'm re-opening applications for this game as some of the players have dropped out or stopped posting for real life reasons. The campaign is currently in a plot-point where I can't really introduce new player characters until it is resolved, but after the current dungeon crawl is resolved I'm filling up the party with interested, active players again. If you are still interested after reading through this long post, feel free to create a character based on the guidelines here and post a link or a character sheet in this thread. I will browse applications and answer any questions asked in this thread or in PM, and introduce the new PCs as soon as the opportunity comes up in the story. That is after the players resolve the current conflict or TPK. Selection won't be on a first come, first served basis: applications are open until I update and this post says otherwise. I will pick (possibly) two characters to add to the group based on the activity of the player, quality of their writing and on how much I like the character itself. Using names, themes, art etc. that wouldn't fit the setting will make me look at other applications, so please consider your choices withing the limits of this story.


I am looking for interested players in a slightly dark, low-power level campaign. I've seen and been in some group games where posting slowed and grinded to a halt or people lost interest and I'd like to try and avoid that, so please only apply if you're willing to participate actively and are willing to communicate if you have any matters/problems/dislikes so we can try to solve them.

First and foremost, I'm looking for female adventurers, strong and confident women who dare to face the challanges of a not-so-nice world. This would be a homebrew setting and the game would be labeled NC and Exotic, meaning that defeated heroines could very well get captured, raped and humiliated. Yes, it's one of those rape-themed games again, but that doesn't have to be main focus, in fact there will be an overall storyline and it is up to the players to try and play the campaign with one party or lose some characters. For simplicity's sake, I won't try to make up new rules for sex in the system, such encounters will be mostly narrative or handled with a few rolls appropiate for the situation. As a rule of thumb, a character can't be raped unless they are helpless or pinned. There won't be any special rules for armor damage or sex during combat.

I prefer the theatre of mind approach to the combat grid, at least for this game, so you don't have to get overly tactical on your ability selection. In fact, all enemies except for bosses will be fairly standard and not super-specialized to murder or rape characters. For major fights, bosses and big bads, you can expect a hand-crafted enemy character or a monster with a few class levels. Because of this, I would like to encourage a more story-based character development rather than minmaxing out every +1 that's possible from characters.

Before I go into the details of the setting and character generation, let me say in advance that in this campaign available races and classes will be restricted at first, and in-game decisions may open up new options for future characters (to replace a lost or retired character or introduce a new one). The fluff of classes and races will also be different from the standard d&d and pathfinder settings. Also, the game will be on the darker side of fantasy: think something along the lines of Berserk. There will be an Empire Strikes Back mood throughout the game where the party will be on the run, and odds will be stacked against them.

The Setting

War has waged on the land of Aussa for longer than anyone living remembers. The golden days of the "Conqueror King" Lug are long past, and humanity has broken into several countries and city states, spread across the realms, each clinging to their own way of life. The once proud and noble fey folk who assisted the great hero have been all but wiped out in their war to rid Aussa of monsters, their last communities hidden from civilization and slow to trust another alliance. The mighty dwarves who once forged legends from steel, retired to their underground kingdom beneath the Worldspire mountains. The bickering and conflicts of the human realms made the other races slow to trust humanity, but none foresaw the renewed threat of the beastmen. Ferocious and vile, monstrous humanoids consisting of goblinkind, orcs and gnolls swept over the land as great horde of demons intent on destroying civilization. That event marked the beginning of the war, centuries ago. Since then, nations united and forged alliances, even some of the waning races joined the fight, putting aside their distrust for humans to fight the greater threat. Under the guidance of the Spire of Truth and the Council of the Chosen made up of the high priest of each deity, the allience fought for civilization's very survival for countless years. Blood was spilled, bodies piled and borders redrawn as the seemingly never-ending conflict was drawn out forever... It was two years ago that a child of prophecy has made herself known and united each of the races, including a tribe of orcs to end the destructive conflict. The great revelation of a puppetmaster upset the powers, as the leading member of the Council of Chosen was revealed to be an extremely old, powerful sorcerer, responsible for the centuries of suffering. Lady Paladin Yustissa decided to storm the Spire of Truth, the very church that raised her to serve a false prophecy, and handpicked a squad of the finest in her army to break through enemy lines and slay the "Supreme Traitor" High Priest Hagan at the seat of his power.



Map of Aussa Island.

Locations and Origin:

The Beastlands: Territory occupied by the seemingly endless hordes of orcs, gnolls and goblinkind. It's borders are constantly shifting as battle rages on against West Yranur and the Allied City-states. Any orc and some half-orc characters might come from this region, but other characters can't select this as their home region. Should player characters be captured, they will eventually be transported to this region where they will be kept as slaves until a rescue party penetrates into enemy lands deep enough to free them. About 90% of slaves never leave the Beastlands once they get there.

Yranur: Yranur is a kingdom with very strict laws and a caste system. It has also the most history, since it is what remains of Hero King Lug's original nation, that once spanned almost the entire island. Yranur resembles Medieval Europe a lot, with a definite upper class ruling over the people, and using a code of chivalry to control their highly trained knights. Heavily armored warriors, knights, paladins are likely to hail from this region. Some half-orcs might also be born here, because the kingdom shares a border with the Beastlands and monster raids on the Western territories of Yranur are frequent and brutal.
Yranur's king and his son were killed three months ago, and Princess Charlotte, the young and fierce princess knight has taken up the crown to avenge her famiy, leaning towards much more agressive and reckless tactics against the Beastmen.

The Republic of Gimir: Gimir is a land of craftsmen and scholars, bordering most of the other nations. Masters of all trade are found here, and while the citizens are do not like warfare, they do have a standing army in case Yranur requests reinforcements, or raiders from the North decide to make their lives harder. The Worldspire mountains are located here as well, a citadel built on the tallest peak where arcane spellcasters are trained in the ways of the art. All members of the Citadel of Nine Winds are marked with a special, magical tattoo that identifies them, as mages who do not bear this mark are renegades that are feared and hunted down. Almost any character can hail from this region.
Gimir is governed by a parliament and the Citadel of Nine Winds is led by Archmage Gavin Wardenhawk.

Untamed Lands: The Northern region is a vast grassy plain as far as the eye can see, with an occasional hill popping out of the flat landscape. Nomadic tribes of barbarians inhabit most of this land, living free and wandering with herds of animals, hunting and gathering for food. They exchange and barter, trading pelts, food and items as needed and have no currency of their own. While they fight the Beastmen, they are also unfriendly towards other outsiders, save for a few tribes that joined Lady Yustissa's alliance. Mostly barbarian characters would come from this region, though other classes with a "nomadic" feel could also qualify.

Meklier: The first to break away from Yranur, the kingdom of Meklier is located along the East Coast of Aussa. They have vast forests and built a powerful navy that allows them trade - or warfare with any other nation along the shores. While Meklier has undeniably the strongest and largers fleet of ships, their ground troops aren't up to par with Yranurian knights, or even trained fighters from the Free City-states. While a kingdom, Meklier has very loose regulations and laws compared to Yranur, and is home to many gangs and spy networks. It is a public secret that the king rules with the help of these networks and guilds in fact. Somehow, this government seems to work, perhaps due to the war diverting everyone's attentions to the West... Most rogues, swashbuckling heroes and secretive characters might be from Meklier.
Meklier is ruled by King Theodore Saberghost II.

Allied City-states: The Southern shore region of Aussa is littered with independent city-states, reminscent of ancient Greek cities like Athens or Sparta. While there were many feuds and battles between these states in the past, the Beastmen threat forged them into a tight alliance, so they can defend themselves against the frenzied monsters, and avoid being annexed into neighboring countries at the same time. Because of the variety of city-states in this region, almost any character class or race could be found here, but religous classes such as cleric might be most common, due to the Spire of Truth being located in the Eastern regions of these lands.
Each city-state has its own ruler, and the Spire of Truth serves as a central church and place of pilgrimige for most, led by the Council of the Chosen, recently overthrown by High Priest Hagan.

Kisaki Empire: The Kisaki Empire resembles feudal Japan after its unification, with creatures of Japanese folklore such as spirits and animal-folk living there as well. Currently, the empire has closen its borders to all foreigners and people living there usually keep to themselves.

Elven and dwarven lands: It is rare that a member of these races would join with humans, Lady Yustissa convinced many to aid her cause against the traitorous High Priest. However, there characters would either be outcasts from their lands or would have sworn blood-oaths never to reveal the way to their homes to others. This has to do with most non-human races almost being wiped out in the past and their overall distrust towards anyone but their kind.

Magic:
Magic will be readily available to all characters, with one major exeption to how d&d and pathfinder usually roll. Permanent magic items will be extremely rare, and most of them unique and too valueable to have a real price. As such, supplies will be limited to mundane items, and magic items like potions, scrolls and wands from the right vendor. Character ability and in-character decisions will carry more weight than gear in this game, and if the party finds a magic item, it will truly be exceptional.

Character Creation

Races:
At the start of the campaign, core races are available only. That is: Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-elf, Halfling, Half-Orc and Human. Additionally Orcs are a selectable player race at the start of the game only. These orc characers would come from the tribe of Chief Graymane, an orc warlord who joined Lady Yustissa's crusade to slay the puppetmaster who led most of his people to their meaningless deaths for something that wasn't even true conquest or honorable battle.

Update (June 18): Core races only. Orcs will be exclusively villains and NPCs from here on.

Classes:
At the start of the campaign, core classes are available only. That is: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer and Wizard. Other classes might be available later in the game for replacement/new characters, depending on how the story unfolds. Because of the 6 level cap, you can multiclass however you want as long as it makes sense in the story, but prestiege classes won't be available, neither for players nor npcs.

Ability Scores: These will be generated via point buy, with 15 points to spend for each character.

Traits: You may take 2 traits, and a 3rd one if you also take a drawback.

Starting gold: Each character receives starting equipment worth their max starting gold value at level 1. However, due to how the story starts out they will carry their equipment and nothing more, so any "unspent" money on characters will be lost at the beginning of the campaign only. Subsequent characters will receive max starting gold and may spend and keep it as they wish.

Update (June 18): New characters have starting gold by class, as if they were new level 1 characters. That is, you roll your starting wealth, not max the die. As normal, you keep what you don't spend.

Experience Gain: We will be using the fast XP gain table for leveling up.

Hit points:: First level is max then roll for each level up. Basically, by the book.

Character decisions: For abilities such as monster lore skills and favored enemy types, the most frequent adversaries will be goblinoids, orcs, gnolls, undead and humans, as well as a few more powerful monsters like the minotaur, evil outsiders that fit the CR range of the game. Aussan people worship a great number of gods and don't limit themselves to serving only one. Clerics can pick any domain combination that they like, as long as it fits with their character.

Starting out: The PCs will be mighty 2nd level adventurers, a handpicked squad from Lady Yustissa's army and will storm the Spire of Truth to take out the sorcerer Hagan with her. They would be members of her army and would have reasons to fight to end the war, and would have some basic level of comeraderie already, having seen eachother in battle perhaps, or between previous skirmishes. They don't have to be best friends right at the start, but there shouldn't be a question that they are allies, and pretty much everything else is out to get them killed or worse.

In addition to a character sheet and backstory, think about your characters personality and mannerisms. In general, I'd like these questions answered: What does the character LOVE? What does the character HATE? What are their short and long term goals? Why are they fighting for/with the good guys? (And we're on E...) What are the character's sexual preferences? Are they sexually experienced?
Note that this is a heroic game. The party will be fighting against the beastmen and their master, and ultimately try to end the war by either winning or exposing that both sides were played. Consider this when thinking about your character's motivations and pelase don't apply with someone who has or wants to do nothing with the main plot hook. Such applications will be ignored.

Update (June 18): New characters start at level 2, with 1300 XP. This is the case for every new character, both for new joiners and existing players rolling up new chars after they retire or lose one. The longer you can stay in game the more powerful you'll be, in turn new characters should be able to catch up quickly.

House rules

E6 rules will apply, as well as the following for the naughty parts of the game:
- When a character would normally die in combat, the player can choose that the character survives, but at a cost: capture, rape, pregnancy etc. This price will be one reason for the NC-Exotic rating for the game... This might still not prevent losing that character, but she might be rescued at a rater time. Story will have a heavy say in this, but if you don't want a gruesome graphic death 'on screen', you won't have one.
- Orgasms. These will build levels of fatigue (fatigued condition first, then exhausted, and finally unconscious) that can be saved against with fortitude.
- Ahegao/fucked silly: a will save might be called to avoid "becoming out of action". Again, this is situational and comes up only when called for.
- Risk of pregnancy: A female character might get pregnant, determined by a d20 roll every time a male ejaculates in their vagina. The chances and exact numbers for the die roll will be based on the participating parties and their compatibility. (Most monsters will be compatible with almost all females, but the chances might vary, for example an elven woman might be less fertile than a human.) This roll is made by the GM and put in a spoiler box, so you can stay ignorant of the result until the heroine's belly starts to swell, or check the result outright.
- TPK: If the entire party is defeated, they will be likely dragged off to be broken in as slaves or breeding stock for the beastmen. In this case the players may decide if they accept the "Bad End" or try to rescue their characters with an alternate party (or even alternate players). Of course, the longer this takes the higher the chances that the defeated heroines will be beyond saving...
- Story rewards: exceptional actions and major plot points might reward characters with permanent bonuses to make up for the lack of stat-boosting items. For example, someone studying under a swordmaster might gain a permanent +1 attack bonus if  the player is invested enough in their character interacting with the world.

I'm interested in running the game for a group of 4-5 players. Should there be more applicants, the characters will be seperated into different groups after the short prologue and introduction. Players won't be picked on a first come first served basis either. If you post interest or character idea, I will check your posting frequency and amount/quality of your writing.

Thank you for your understanding and for reading through all this. Hope to game with you soon :)

UPDATE (JUNE 18): Added links to characters and IC thread for applicants to view:

Characters
Main story thread

[FragarachZ]

Sounds interesting. I'd have to give some serious thought as to what to play, but could be great.

With E6, how would feats that have high BAB prereqs work?

Prereqs stay the same for high-er level stuff. So even as a pure fighter, your highest BAB would be 6. Though there are some capstone feats if you stay single class through 6 levels, the fighter's one lets you pick feats with a higher BAB prereq.

[Shjade]

This sounds like a fun concept, particularly the limited ruleset (speaking as someone whose eyes tend to glaze over when I look at D&D's endless list of abilities and so forth). I'm a little unclear on the whole goal/prophecy/traitor thing that's supposed to be the driving force for the party, but I suppose understanding the details isn't so important if you have faith in your leader the way the troops are supposed to, so I guess that's not a big problem. xD

[schnookums]

Never did e6 before, but the campaign itself seems like it'd be fun, so I'll throw my hat in.

[Roxy Rocket]

      There is much here that is wise.

      Maaaaaaybe.

[Miroque]

I would love to join, if you have me.

I would love to play Druid (wildling shamanistic type) or Rogue (spy/ninja type)

[Strangefate]

Posting possible interest.

[victoria4]

How interesting!  I'd never even heard of E6, but I really like the sound of it - and of this game's setting & house rules.  I'm sure I'd enjoy a playing a sorceress, most likely human or one of those rare half-elves in this setting.

[FragarachZ]

Thanks for your responses guys! :)
I'm glad there are people who like or find my idea interesting.
I like E6 because limiting available resources gives character decisions a greater impact, and PCs get to be badasss heroes after an adventure or two.

The whole prophecy/evil sorcerer thing is just the background that's been going on recently. Basically to give the impression that there are bigger things going on in the world that people don't really understand so they depend on their leaders. Things will get clearer once we start, and the party will eventually be free to sandbox around if they want to. For the introductory part it will be a pretty linear short adventure to set the overall mood and theme of the game, and then we'll zoom out and you can decide if you want to desert, freeroam, take missions from military leaders, fight the beastmen or run away from them, etc.
There will be reason to hate the villains for things other than the campaign background too.

I would love to join, if you have me.

I would love to play Druid (wildling shamanistic type) or Rogue (spy/ninja type)

Spies are good to go, though ninjas wouldn't be involved in the war effort at this point in the story. That said if you just want to have a certain flavor backstabby assassin flavor on your rogue I don't mind, but I'd rather not include catgirl shinobi into a western fantasy setting (outright).

[Miroque]

Who mentioned (space)Catgirl-amazon-ninja-pirate-cook?

I was thinking of Pure human, rogue (royal assassin type and information gatherer specalist) or Old-world Druidess (ritual sacrifices for the goddess for gaining powers to subjucate the enemies). (I hardly ever play non-human, as they SHOULD be more alien that things with pointy ears or green skin and bad teeths..)

Who really can play Immortal elf, giving that time it takes them to grow to adulthood, is 3-4 lifetimes for common human.. and even if they "mature" slower, they still waste their hundred years into something.. like childhood games (building physical atributes and skills) or intellectual studies (insane book knowledges) etc.... unless they are kept in stasis for their childhood or something... (and/or they are podpeople)... no RPG  really takes growing up time into count on the longer living races.
(in our TT games, elfs and such grow up the speed of normal humans, but they just live way longer, so starting elf is on the par with starting humans in age wise, and yes, they get the child negatives on their stats...)

[FragarachZ]

Hehe, it was just an example of how out of hands things can get really quickly. I like your ideas though, I could see both work in this setting, maybe leaning a little bit towards the rogue idea a bit more? (Since one of the themes of the overall conflict is civilization vs barbaric hordes of beast-creatures. That doesn't mean druids or nature classes are out of the picture though)

[Miroque]

Got it, and trust me, Im into LOW fantasy.

[Miroque]

Rogue-types then to be more "loner" operators, that part of military groups, but Im sure I can come up with something.

*thinks* Wizard...sort of "advisor" to the leader of the expedition.. maybe even an bloodrelative to some other character in the group... how would that fit in GM?

[FragarachZ]

Rogue-types then to be more "loner" operators, that part of military groups, but Im sure I can come up with something.

*thinks* Wizard...sort of "advisor" to the leader of the expedition.. maybe even an bloodrelative to some other character in the group... how would that fit in GM?

If you can find a theme you'd like to play, I'll make it work Miroque. As for being related to other PCs, you'll have to agree on that with the other player, I have nothing against it.

This also goes for everyone: if you feel like having npc relatives or contacts, you're free to add to the game world by including them in your character background. However, I ask that for starters nobody be related to the Lady Paladin Yustissa and High Priest Hagan for story reasons.

E6 sounds fun. Thinking about a priestess of some kind of passion deity.

Thanks for posting interest! As long as you can give me a good reason why a priestess of passion would be in warzone? Perhaps she served as a courtesan but she was enlisted on the mission because there was a shortage of healers? Also, cheers to a fellow planescape fan! :)

[ererruz]

Thanks for posting interest! As long as you can give me a good reason why a priestess of passion would be in warzone? Perhaps she served as a courtesan but she was enlisted on the mission because there was a shortage of healers? Also, cheers to a fellow planescape fan! :)

Ha, you posted while I was in the middle of deleting and sending a new (edited) post, so my post got lost. Sorry for that! I was actually considering the divine courtesan idea and if you're alright with it, I think I'll go with it! (Planescape is awesome, and I was wondering whether that avatar of yours was on purpose or not, but now I have my answer :) )

[FragarachZ]

I was actually considering the divine courtesan idea and if you're alright with it, I think I'll go with it!

By all means.

I got enough people posting interest to have at least one, perhaps two groups running. From this point on I'm accepting character applications as it looks like there'll be enough players to start.

[ererruz]

Do you have the gods of the setting fleshed out, or are you open to suggestions and it's fine to create a god/goddess?

[FragarachZ]

Do you have the gods of the setting fleshed out, or are you open to suggestions and it's fine to create a god/goddess?

I imagined religion in this setting to resemble how the ancient Greeks treated their pantheon, giving name and characteristics to the forces that played parts in their lives. The people try to please the deities through worship and rituals, but the things they see the gods in still toy with their lives. The church as an institute studies these forces and seeks to understand divine beings. That said, I do not plan on having antrophomorphic gods in the manner of Greek mythology, or divine interference in the game. I've always seen divine spellcasting as a feat of faith and conviction coming from the caster rather than actual godly intervention. If the gods do exist they are distant and quiet, not interfering with the world. Well, that's the idea anyway.
You can go ahead and "create" a deity for love or passion or whatever you imagined for your character, but it is likely that different cultures in the world might know them differently. Basically you'll paint a picture of how your character and their culture might see that particular god. You can get specific or as generic as saying "my character follows this god" as long as you can roleplay your character out. It's unlikely you'll need many details about the god she follows, other than what kind of behavior and mannerisms the character will have as a result of their faith. Does that make any sense?

So in short, no and yes.

[Miroque]

Im going toward the wizardess... how would you like to have the character applications ? (and should we keep something hidden, as the characters dont know everything about everyone yet...)

[schnookums]

Phooey, I was gonna play a wizardess...and we really should diversify

[victoria4]

Echoes of schnookums - I just sent FragarachZ a sorceress character for consideration.  Seems we all want to see what it's like never to get higher than 3rd-level spells. 
Mind you, if the limit was 2nd-level, perhaps these spellcasters wouldn't be so popular!

[RubySlippers]

I could get into this how does a LG half-orc Paladin from a Commoner background with the Archetype Hospitaler sound?

[ExisD]

This sounds like it would be a lot of fun, though there are a bunch of people interested.

If there's room my current idea is a ranged specialist. Either human sorcerer who's orc-blooded, maybe from the orc tribe but I'm unsure, and focuses on exploding everything. Since so many people are looking at casters my other thought, elven fighter focused into archery, might be the better call. Though I had less fluff thought up about her.

[Shjade]

Sadly I don't think I'd be able to keep up with all the knowledgeable folks. I tend to take forever to figure out the paperwork for this stuff. xD The idea's nice, though. Best of luck with it!

[schnookums]

How do monks fit into the world? I'm guessing they're slightly less "asian" themed in general (or at least the ones that come from the initial lands lands presented).

I'm torn between two ideas, a zen archer monk, or a dervish dancer bard (Why yes, I am picking archetypes that completely change the core nature of the class, why do you ask?) A swashbuckler rogue is a third choice if the other two turn out to be unworkable