[PF-1e] Doomsday Dawn

[Tesselia]

Doomsday Dawn

Keleri Deverin, an aristocrat and scholar living in Magnimar, has a problem. Just a week ago, she received an invitation from her cousin Kendra, mayor of the nearby town of Sandpoint, to attend that town’s upcoming Swallowtail Festival. With the festival’s focus on the consecration of Sandpoint’s new cathedral, Keleri hoped to bring a family heirloom, the Star of Desna, to receive a blessing, but as she prepared for her trip, an unexpected complication arose.

When Keleri entered the old vault beneath the family estate to retrieve the star from storage, she found the chamber in total disarray. Chests lay smashed about the room, shelves were knocked over, and worst of all, the steel lockbox containing the Star of Desna was missing. The source of the robbery was made evident by a gaping hole in the center of the floor, leading down into the sewers, and sewage stains in the shape of goblin footprints leading out of it.

Enraged, Keleri lashed out at the now-empty shelves and ruined containers, only to find that she was not alone. A quiet whimpering came from behind a partially collapsed armoire. Investigating, she found a lone goblin, wounded and wretched. Keleri demanded answers about her stolen heirlooms, but the goblin only began howling in greater terror and begged for mercy. Keleri’s rage subsided, and she asked the goblin what had frightened her so.

The goblin introduced herself as Talga and explained that her tribe, the Mudchewer tribe, had been enslaved by a brutish hobgoblin named Drakus the Taker, who was forcing members of her tribe to dig into vaults and basements all around town to rob longshanks of loot and treasure. Those who refused were taken away, only to have their blood-drained bodies put on display as a warning to the other goblins. Immediately after the robbery on the Deverin basement, Talga and a few other desperate goblins rebelled, but they were cut down and slaughtered. Only Talga survived by retreating up to the Deverin vault and hiding.

Now with no home and nearly paralyzed with fear over the fate of her fellow goblins under Drakus’s increasingly violent rule, Talga became desperate. She begged Keleri to send adventurers to her old lair, a complex called the Ashen Ossuary that was accessible via the Magnimar sewers. She promised to sketch a map of the lair and to lead Keleri and anyone who might help to the entrance, and vowed that in return she would work to spread the word among other goblin tribes in the sewers that longshanks are friendly.

While Keleri was sympathetic to the tale, she is a scholar, not an adventurer. However, she does have contacts, and knows of at least one eager new nominee for the task. Ever the forward thinker, she hopes that by calling upon allies she can not only recover her stolen heirloom, but perhaps even start a new diplomatic alliance between Magnimar and one of its most notorious antagonists.

Game Name Doomsday Dawn

Game System Pathfinder

Theme Cults, Hidden Enemies, Dark Gods, The End of the World.

Flavour Testing a new set of rules while playing through a story about strange phenomenon occuring all around the world.

Disclaimer So, this is Pathfinder Playtest material. That being said, I do plan to run this like a normal adventure path for the most part. I want to have fun alongside testing the rules. If you aren't in it for the long run then I would ask that you pass up this advertisement so that someone else can have the opportunity. Do not grow too attached to any one single character idea/class/race. This adventure switches characters at certain points to tell the story from a different point of view, often at locations far from where you were previously. You might even be required to create up a specific class, or restricted to only a few to choose from. You do however revisit the characters you create at game start, granted there is a bit of a time/level jump. If you do not like that idea, then this might not be the game for you.

Applications Name: Race: Gender: Age: Class: Give me more than just the name. If you are going with Sorcerer, which bloodline? If you are a Barbarian, which totem? Just enough to give me an idea on what you have in mind. Ancestry: Must be one of the adventure specific backgrounds. (See below) Appearance: Character: I usually have people give me a general idea of their character's personality but I wanted to change that up. Instead, give me a little bit of information such as any goals or dreams your character might have. You could write about his views or outlook toward the rest of the world. You could give me a few things he enjoys or dislikes. It doesn't have to be all these but create a few defining facts about your character. Backstory: How your character knows or was recruited by Keleri. I am going to require that any goblin applications be from among Talga's people and also found either injured or abandoned in the vault. Your character would be forced to guide the other players back to the Mudchewers. Story: Have you read through the adventure? This can be as simple as a yes or no. We will worry about actual character sheets and stats after players are selected.

Application Due Date: I think two weeks should be sufficient. Lets set the due date for 9/7/2018 for now. I may move it up depending on interest or a lack of.

Player	Character	Ancestry	Class
Caveman	Yoanna	Human	Cleric
InstantD	Remus	Human	Ranger
suburbanplankton	Caeryn	Elf	Alchemist
JasonWFD	Kalraine	Human	Barbarian
Vaerdis	Max	Goblin	Alchemist
gnollservitude	Bonnie	Gnome	Alchemist
Zealot	Gaius	Human	Sorcerer
WhiteStag	Shandra	Human	Sorcerer
Phenyks	Bramblelocks	Gnome	Wizard
Morathor	Calis	Human	Rogue
Wyrom	Mordecai	Gnome	Alchemist
Kshnik	Pluck	Goblin	Druid
Unko Talok	Andhace	Halfling	Paladin

[Tesselia]

Backgrounds

Budding Osirionologist The secrets buried in the seemingly endless sands of the nation of Osirion have long intrigued you, even though you’ve never actually visited the nation. Some day, you hope to correct that. Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost. You gain the Terrain Stalker (rubble) feat, and you’re trained in the Ancient Osirion Lore skill.

Esoteric Scion One of your family members belongs to a semisecret society called the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye. You’ve long held an interest in perhaps some day joining the order and have studied strange topics in preparation for that day. Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost. You gain the Quick Identification feat, and you’re trained in the Esoteric Order Lore skill.

Family Friend Your family has been friends with the Deverins of Magnimar for a generation, and you’ve grown accustomed to hobnobbing with the aristocracy even if you have little or no interest in such matters. Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Charisma or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost. You gain the Hobnobber feat, and you’re trained in the Nobility Lore skill.

Goblin Renegade You had been working with a gang of goblin burglars, but that new leader was no good. It took a lot of guts to stand up to him, but you survived! Now you’re stuck with the longshanks, but maybe you can get back at the old boss. Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost. You gain the Quick Repair feat, and you’re trained in the Criminal Lore skill.

Mind Quake Survivor As a child, you once woke from a particularly harrowing nightmare, and this nightmare has plagued you ever since. You’ve had strange thoughts and knowledge that you always felt weren’t truly your own. Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost. You gain the Dubious Knowledge feat, and you’re trained in the Dominion of the Black Lore skill.

Pathfinder Hopeful You’ve long wanted to join the adventurous Pathfinder Society, a world-spanning organization of relic hunters. This aspiration has led you to take up the dangerous life of an adventurer eager to make a name for yourself and gain the attention of the Pathfinder Society. Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost. You gain the Additional Lore feat, and you’re trained in the Pathfinder Society Lore skill.

[Caveman]

Oh, thank desna for that, I thought noone would set one up! I would be very keen to playtest as well as DM test so if you're willing to have someone who is currently DMing the adventure I would love to play. Likewise if you are keen to play feel free to head over to the only other playtest in town (see a few advert threads further down for details)

Applicatio!

Name: Yoanna Von Urthalar
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Class: Cleric of Sarenrae
Background:
Appearance: Petite but fiery with pale skin, a multitude of freckles, green eyes and shockingly flame red hair.
Character: Yoanna is a woman with a temper and strong opinions. She leads from the front and has no hesitation in rooting out and confronting evil and injustice wherever it is found. Intensely loyal and devoted to her friends, she will do everything in her power to keep them alive and well whilst protecting them from harm and burning her enemies to the ground.
Backstory: Yoanna is the youngest daughter of a prominent nobleman in Ustalav. Ever since she could walk she's been a terror to her parents - holding them to standards they could never meet. When she announced at sixteen that she was joining a holy order of Sarenrae they were delighted, and paid well to ensure that she stuck with her calling. Having completed her Holy Orders, she took up the scimitar and her holy symbol and looked for evil to vanquish in Her name. Magnimar was her first posting, sent by her superiors to provide healing and solace to the town and to try and build up the Order's presence in this Varisian backwater. She had recently helped clear out an ancient burial ground troubled by undead, and when her order's head heard about Talga's call for adventurers suggested her new, fiery charge. Talga leapt at the chance to have a genuine cleric in the group and hired her on the spot.

Story: Read it and DM'd it - I have no problem not meta-gaming!

[Seekr34]

Play test...interesting. Jumping thru time/levels, also interesting. I'm guessing we'll start at low levels? With games being dead after a couple of weeks or few weeks at best, I been looking at games that start at high levels. However, this game is interesting.

[InstantD]

I'm really interested in this. I've always wanted to try out Pathfinder but never had a chance. Would you be okay with someone completely new to Pathfinder? I'm a quick learner, promise

[Tesselia]

@Caveman - I am willing to allow someone that is running it to play, as long as you can curb any metagaming born from having prior game knowledge.


@Seekr34 - It's the Pathfinder 2.0 Playtest material, so I am afraid there is no Dhampir race or Shadowdancer class. The characters you create at the start are level one and you begin in Magnimar. In chapter two you change to new characters that are level four and takes place a few thousand miles to the South in Katapesh. The jumps may seem unconnected at first but the more you learn the more connected the events feel. The playtest materials are free to download and can be found on Paizo's website. For the question about story, I am asking if you have read through the Doomsday Dawn adventure as it would obviously provide spoilers and such.


@InstantD - Just so you are aware, as I stated above, this is not normal Pathfinder but Pathfinder 2.0 Playtest material. The rules are different (they were just released earlier this month). In this instance being new is just fine, as the rules should be a bit different for everyone so they will be in the same boat. That makes this game perfect for newer players or players of other systems that want to try something new.

[InstantD]

Remus Stanescu Name: Remus Stanescu Race: Half-Elf (Varisian Ancestry) Gender: Male Age: 30 Class: Ranger (Focus on animal companion supplemented by ranged combat) Ancestry: Budding Osirionologist Appearance: Remus stood a hand taller than the average Vasirian. The ranger is built lithely with long limbs and lean muscles under his armor. His platinum hair flows straight down to the nape of his neck framing chiseled strong features, sharp grey eyes, a short beard that seemed to refuse to grow any longer, and pointed ears betraying his elven-ancestry. Contrary to his people's penchant for bright clothing, Remus usually wears brown or green leather clothing that allows him to blend in nature. The only bright clothing he allows himself, and even this he would take off when he is attempting to be stealthy, is a deep red shawl he inherited from his lost father. Character: Remus Stanescu loves traveling more than anything. His life's dream is to explore the reaches and depths never trodden upon by others, Osirion foremost. He is drawn by the mysteries of the unknown; of things and places yet to be discovered. While he enjoys the occasional pleasures of a city, he is truly happiest traversing on the road leading to a place he'd yet to visit. A generally optimistic fellow, Remus is friendly to most people he encounters, though he's reluctant to forge deep connections for fear of being tied down to one place. He is known to be straightforward to the point of rudeness, and would often fail to consider how his words or actions would affect others. Backstory: Remus Stanescu was born among one the many Varisian caravans roaming across Golarion. He was raised only by his mother, though being a child in a Varisian caravan meant that there was no shortage of people who cared for him. Remus did not learn what had happened to his father, an elven man who had fallen in love with Remus' mother and the nomadic lifestyle, until later in his life. The lifestyle instilled in young Remus a curious nature and a love of traveling. The caravan never stayed too long in one place, preferring instead to perform their trade and quickly moving on to their next destination. It did not help that some of the local population seemed to distrust the Varisians, despite the caravan never giving cause for it. When not exploring his surroundings, young Remus would often spend his time with Eugene, a scholar-turned-nomad with seemingly endless stories to tell. The older man would recount things he has read, hearsays and fables he's collected in his travels, or stories he's coaxed out of strangers in taverns. He would tell the bright-eyed youngster of strange places, peculiar people, and outlandish cultures, of magical beasts and supposed gods. Remus drank all of it up like a thirsty man finding an oasis in the middle of the desert. The young Varisian's favorite stories were of Osirion, an ancient kingdom so old that much of its history was lost to knowledge. He then promised himself that he would someday visit the nation and uncover its lost troves of knowledge and artifacts. However, the years went by and Remus' caravan visited all of the civilisation but Osiris. After some particularly difficult questioning, Remus learned that not long before he was born, a tragedy befell the caravan in Osiris. The details are unclear as his people were reluctant to even talk about it. All he knew was that something terrible happened at a ruin and some of the caravan men were lost to them forever, presumed dead. Remus' father was one of those men. Learning of what happened did not dampen his dream of exploring the deserts of Osiris. In contrary, he felt the desire burn even brighter. What happened in there? Did his father really die? What could have caused something so terrible that the caravan all but forbid talk of the event? These questions and more nagged at Remus for the rest of his youth. When he was of age, Remus joined the ranks of hunters among his people and found himself naturally gifted in tracking, archery, and animal handling. He knew that if he was to one day go to the treacherous part of Osiris, he must hone his skills to ensure he could survive and uncover the mysteries that have spurred him so. The hunter was convinced that if he was to go to Osiris, it would not be with his caravan. So one day, after much preparation, Remus said farewell to his mother and people and set off to travel on his own. He did not head straight for Osiris right away for he needed time to train himself and procure provisions for the travel. Instead, he alternated between taking odd jobs here and there and studying up on the ancient lore of Osiris. It was not an easy task, for Remus was not an especially bright young man. But he was driven. In his travel, he found the body of a dead snow leopard, died of another's arrow and her beautiful fur skinned. Hiding near the dead animal was its cub, scared and starving. Feeling sorry for it, Remus decided, after suffering some painful scratches and bites, to adopt the young animal as a traveling companion. One day, while staying in a village in Southern Varisia he received a letter from Keleri, an acquaintance that had employed him a couple of times in the past: Once to track a missing family pet, and another to hunt down a dangerous beast near her land. It was another request. Thinking that this would be just another standard affair, Remus set off to the city of Magnimar. Story: No.

[WhiteStag]

Hi Tesselia,

I think I am interested in joining you. You sound intelligent, articulate, and enthusiastic. A pleasure to read your words.

I will edit this post soon with your character requirements and my ideas.

Cheers.

[Seekr34]

Ahh, ok, got it. I got the playtest rule book a couple of days ago, didn't get a chance to look at it, now I have, I am going to withdraw from this game. After reading the book, I am not thrilled with it.

Thanks anyway and hope the game goes well.

[suburbanplankton]

I downloaded all of the Playtest materials, though I haven't had a chance to test any of them yet, so I'm eager to have a chance to try out the new ruleset.

Name: Caeryn
Race: Elf
Gender: Male
Age: 45
Class: Alchemist (not sure what else you're looking for here, as I don't see any "class options" for Alchemist, unless I'm looking in the wrong place...)
Ancestry: Esoteric Scion
Appearance: Caeryn is just over six feet tall, with the lithe figure that is typical of his race. His skin has a coppery hue and his eyes a deep green. He keeps his long brown hair in a single long ponytail, which he usually wears over the front of his right shoulder where it mostly hides the top section of a burn that covers much of the right side of his torso, the result of an early alchemical experiment gone wrong.
Character: Caeryn is a seeker of knowledge: the more esoteric and arcane the better. Two of his uncles are members of the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye, but his father - the black sheep of the family - was denied entry, and so Caeryn must pay for his father's sins. He feels as though there must be some great secret out there, waiting to be discovered, which remains just outside his grasp. He will gladly collaborate with anyone who he feels can help him reach his goals, but has little patience for those who he deems to be "wasting his time".
Backstory: Keleri is acquainted with Caryn's uncle Othar. Othar is well aware of Caeryn's desire to join the Esoteric Order, and has somewhat of a soft spot for "the boy", so he recommended him for Keleri's mission.

Story: Have you read through the adventure? No, I have not, but I have the PDF on my hard drive.


Question: You say that we switch to new characters for Chapter 2 - how does that work? Is there some mechanism in the campaign that "guides" us to create characters that are relevant to the existing story? I'm sure I could just look it up, but I'd rather avoid spoiling anything if I can.

[JasonWFD]

Application Name: Kalraine Argodard Gender: Male Age: 17 Ancestry: Descendant of the ancient Chuldoon clan (Human) Background: Pathfinder Hopeful Class: Barbarian - Spirit Totem ("Ancestors guide me") Appearance: Kalraine is tall and well-built, with broad shoulders and a skin tone of finished oak. Sandy hair frames his rectangular-shaped head. A bandanna of his clan's ancestral colors (blue and black plaid with yellow lines) rests above steady brown eyes. Character: - Kalraine seeks to learn more about his people, find others descended from his clan, and bring glory to his ancestors and their legacy. - He is terrified of mushrooms. Got sick once when he was young after eating some, and he's been disgusted by them ever since. In the wild, he'll refuse to touch them unless absolutely necessary. If they're in food he's eating, he'll meticulously pick them out or discard it and eat something else. "Mushrooms were created by evil spirits." - Every sunset, Kal performs a short ritual to honor the spirits of his ancestors. Another tradition involves placing offerings of food at the base of very old trees and tossing coins into large bodies of water. Backstory: Kalraine grew up traveling with his parents, learning from them the ways of his ancestors. They were descendants of the Chuldoon clan, an old tribe that had befallen a terrible fate many generations ago and its people scattered to the winds. Kal could hear the whispers of these ancestors during moments of intense emotion. As he grew, his mother trained him as a warrior while his father taught him how to hunt and how to honor the spirits of their clan. Well into his teens (many years after he could have taken his warrior tests, if his clan was still together), Kal decided that he wanted to test himself by traveling the world, finding challenges to overcome, and bring the memory of the Chuldoon to glory. Story: I have not read any of the playtest adventures, but I do plan on watching the Paizo live play streams each week. I am fully capable of not metagaming with any insight I might gain from said streams. That just wouldn't be fun at all.

[InstantD]

Application complete. I didn't want to add too many details and a history since you said to not get too attached to a single character

[gnollservitude]

posting interest, will get a character up asap

[Tesselia]

@WhiteStag – Welcome. I’m afraid flattery isn’t going to get you any brownie points.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with.


@Seekr34 - That's too bad. I see some merits to it myself. A large part of the reason I like Pathfinder is the variety to and customization of a character's class and race. The reason I am not as fond of D&D 5e is because I believe they made things a little too simplified. The Playtest rules sort of feels like something in between the two and it's kind of growing on me.


@suburbanplankton - Each shift in story and character has guidelines, some more strict than others. The adventure has certain recommendations when building characters for the specific chapter. For example: In chapter two you make level four characters. It recommends that I inform the players that the languages Auran, Gnoll, and Ancient Osiriani will open up additional role-play and investigation options. It would not be abnormal for players in the region this takes place in to have such languages. However, the languages are not required to progress through the story. Your characters would already have preexisting relationships with each other and were hired to travel across a dangerous tract of terrain, so it is also recommended to have at least one character that is suited to wilderness exploration, but not at the cost of a balanced party. It also gives guidelines about what kind equipment would be available and how much you would start with. I hope this example answers your questions.


@InstantD - I wouldn't skimp on your backstory for two reasons. One, I will mostly be using the backstory and character sections for determining which players are selected, as I'm sure more players will apply than I am able to take on. I would normally base it off a combination of background, character sheet completion, and example role-play. I've kind of done away with the sheets and role-play examples for this application process so the burden falls heavily upon your background to catch my eye. It doesn't have to be super long, but don't just give me a couple sentences either. I will require less out of the backgrounds for the characters that come later, mostly just a general overview (unless you want to write more). The second reason is that the characters you create at the start are technically the main stars of the show. If this was a movie they would be the protagonists and the other characters you create would be side characters used to tell more of the story or provide another view on events. You revisit these first characters a couple times throughout the chapters.

[InstantD]

Ah, good to know. I'll rethink my PC and edit it then!