[Information] Wanted!: Curiosities

[Icereach]

The carnival comes to town. [tbc] Oh, Sovern, greatest of all cities... What of you now... Implacable and impermeable, the God Road carried on, winding away until it became lost in the distance. Few continued on as the wave of civilization washed down the much more modern tributary towards Sovern, the City of Life. Few ever did these days. Fewer still came from the other direction. And yet... Horns, in a blaring cacophony to rival that of the monstrous city itself, rose to announce their first sighting of Sovern on the Sea. On their heels rode the merry jingle of tambours and the rushing beat of drums, still faint in the distance but growing ever louder. To those just leaving the God Road, the procession was too far away still for clear details. However, it was obvious even from this distance that the hornblowers spread the entire width of the God Road itself. Many stopped to stare northward as the apparition approached. Others, likely locals, and frequent visitors began to cheer quietly but excitedly. The horns blared a final time, a brazen announcement, a generous invitation. Kwintin Qu'weer had returned to Sovern, just in time for Jubilation. The Curious Carnival proved its namesake as it slowly trundled past those seeing it with virgin eyes. Manticores in their mobile dens groaned by, and contortionists hanging from their wagons in unnatural poses. Lions roared at the assemblage while magicians threw bright sparks across the twilight. Even as they strove towards the comfort and wealth of Sovern's great society, the carnival's occupants couldn't help but show off, just a little. Neither could their employer, the exuberant Kwintin Qu'weer. Brilliant azure hair shaved into an eyecatching crest down the center of his head, Kwintin rode out front of his entourage, minded only by a waifishly thin Kyn woman that smiled warmly as the halfling man preened. Preen he did, thrusting out his chest and sitting up straighter in his specially designed saddle. He was just tall enough to ride a true horse, with aid, and loved the effect it added to his image. As he neared the intersection with the road to Sovern and the crowd that had slowly gathered, his delighted smile stretched even wider across his well-limned face. "Ho, Sovern, ho friends," he cried out in a surprisingly carrying baritone, fitting his cadence to the stomp and trumble trailing him. He'd worn his second-best suit for this final leg, suitable to holding its shape and keeping off the dust. Even that was an elaborate thing of brilliant scarlet trims, soothing navy swathes, and bright brass buckles and buttons. It took a lot of panache to pull off Kwintin's wardrobe, a skill the tall halfling had mastered over many years. Now it served his purpose admirably, focussing all eyes on him as he passed. "Ho, Sovern, friends, travelers, and the road-weary! Make way and come along, make way!" As he cried out enthusiastically, Kwintin stood in his stirrups and raised his arms over-head, trusting his mount to carry forward on her own. The mare began to delicately pick her way through people as her rider leaned out of his saddle repeatedly to grasp an offered hand or pat a convenient shoulder. "Make way, my friends, in the face of the Curious Carnival, and I guarantee you a night to remember for the rest of your days! Ho friends, ho Sovern, make way for Kwintin Qu'weer!" Even aided by their ringleader's congenial manner, it was well past nightfall before the Curious Carnival finally arrived outside Sovern's walls. Midnight came and passed as the travelers sought to cram through the gates; it was sometime around dawn before Kwintin's personal wagon rolled out into Caravan Theater. The sprawling mall was empty, for once, as Kwintin knew it would be. The Carnival had been contracted by the city to perform inside its walls, for the first time in history. There was an undercurrent to the city that told him Jubilation would be something special, this year. Before long his performers began arriving and he set to direct their efforts, but not without a last glance back at the immense city, a twinkle in his eye.

Getting to the Know the DM (again) Hello, everyone! I doubt I'm an unfamiliar face, but if so, it's nice to meet you. I'm Ice. I've been around for a while, through ups and downs and trials and tribulations. If I'm being honest, I've tried this quite a few times now, with limited success. Nevertheless, I've committed once again to attempting a game we can all enjoy! This time I'm bringing a proto-homebrew setting to the table with the hopes of engaging everyone's imagination and creativity. If you'd like to have a look here, you'll see I've provided some pretty basic world details to be fleshed out as the game progresses. I want to run a very character-driven game with the sense that larger forces are moving in the outside world. Essentially, I'm relying on you to provide as much flesh to this project as I am. This is going to be a significant departure from my attempt at story-driven games, so bear with me. Make sure to note the universal rules on the linked page. Mixed tones. While Yallek has a tendency towards dark, serious, and gritty, it's not all The Malazan Book of the Fallen. There will be serious adventures and light-hearted romps. There might even be dives into the outright zany. Engagement is critical to keep the tone consistent in context. I'll usually post twice a week. I'm not going to lie and claim consistency here. I suck at posting rates. I do try, though. I really need player buy-in to help me keep engaged. Player engagement with myself and each other keeps me coming back. We have an excellent community here and the more active the in-game OOC threads are, the better I feel about the health of the game. Players should feel free to talk out their actions with each other before taking them; I trust my players to use meta-knowledge believably if I know they've bought in. Note that I'm not saying players have to spill all their secrets to each other, just encouraging cooperation. I also encourage critical feedback. I'm going to give more credence to that cool rule, the rule of cool. I've been pretty strict in the past, and I'm still not entirely creative trumps hard rules, but impressing me with your roleplaying can have a greater effect on certain outcomes than I would have considered previously. I've given you a lot of options with the feat tax fix and background skills, though, so don't entirely neglect your character's mechanics.

Character Creation I've never found a standardized method for this that I liked, so I'd like to keep this very open-ended. Here's what I need from you, in some legible format: Character Name Race. Note that [Native Outsiders] are extremely rare and draw the wrong sort of attention. Otherwise, choose any Core or Standard race. Class (Archetype). Paizo only, Unchained summoners only, Unchained preferred but not required otherwise. What services could this PC perform for the party? You can use traditional party roles if you like. Some sense of your ultimate goal for the character. Especially mechanically, I want to know if players plan for their characters to someday, for example, summon demons from the abyss. That way I can either guide them to a more fitting trajectory for the game world or plan to play it out. Identifying details, such as a description and a backstory. This should somehow include a reason for the character to be in Sovern on the night of Jubilation. (Optional) Personal story hooks you'd like to explore. This is potentially the meat of this game, so be creative. Also, remember that you'll be sharing the stage with other players, so be considerate. Your characters will begin at level 3 with 3,000 gp and may purchase up to 1 magic item, excluding consumables. Note that while low-level magic is fairly common, upper-level magic is scarce, so plan accordingly. Magic items are only slightly less so. Classes that may record scrolls to some sort of storage system (spellbook, formulae, witch's familiar, etc) may take 20 to add purchased scrolls to their repertoire before play begins. Direction not reviews. I've given a pretty loose framework of story to work within here. Feel free to ask for direction but you've got a lot of freedom. Selecting is never easy. The primary things I'm looking for are: is it well written and is it interesting. The obvious problem with that is that they're both subjective evaluations. With that in mind, you should really just do your best, and maybe proof it twice.