[PF-1e] Crawl Out Through the Fallout

[CatCanCook]

Game Name Crawl Out Through the Fallout

Game System Pathfinder 1e

Theme Post-apocalyptic mayhem and diplomacy with over-the-top heroics; sci-fi with psionic mutants.

Flavour Nuka-cola, iguana-on-a-stick, and well marbled mole rat. Fast paced tactical combat, alternates with faction building.

Plot Summary Crawl Out Through the Fallout CLOSED THEME Post-apocalyptic mayhem and diplomacy with over-the-top heroics Defeat monsters, build alliances, and gather clues to cure the maddening, mutating malady that threatens the Commonwealth. While there is one main quest, the world is otherwise open and you can head in any direction on the Commonwealth map. While the Minutemen will remain your core faction, you have freedom as to which other factions to recruit or oppose. Theme Song. Scenario   Scenario The year is 2299. It is 222 years after the Great War devastated the world. Twelve years ago, an extraordinary Vault-Dweller came to Sanctuary Hills. His name was August Eddison, and he was on a quest to recover his son Shaun, who had been kidnapped by Kellogg, a brutal assassin associated with the enigmatic Institute. For some four years August revolutionized the Commonwealth, restoring the defunct Minuteman faction into a thriving network of mutually-supporting settlements. The Vault-Dweller proved that even apparently monstrous beings such as supermutants, ghouls and synths could learn to cooperate and live in peace with humans. His inspiring leadership established an uneasy truce between the major factions. Unfortunately, August Eddison failed in his quest. Eight years ago he vanished, presumed dead, somewhere in the violent depths of Boston. Shortly after his disappearance, a brutal war erupted between the Brotherhood of Steel and resurgent supermutants. Tactical nuclear weapons and dirty bombs were used liberally around the Commonwealth, greatly enhancing pockets of radiation, spawning new generations of ghouls, and reversing many of the gains of recent years. Under concerted counterattacks, the supermutants were forced back into hiding. The Commonwealth’s factions, which had been at peace, resumed their bickering. Then, just two years ago, a virulent plague called variously the Green Creep or the Rotting Madness struck humans of the Commonwealth. Some died, some developed mutations, and others were driven mad. Worse, there is no known cure to the plague, and each year more people sicken and die from it. While the plague exacerbates the physical mutations started by radiation, its effect goes much deeper. A few who fall into plague-induced madness but luckily recover have begun to develop extraordinary psionic powers. Preston Garvey, the General in command of the Minutemen, has assembled a trusted and diverse team of heroes of good-will. His assignment for you is: uncover the cause and find a cure or mitigation from the plague. As player characters, you may be from any background. However, your game-long allegiance is to the Minutemen. If you come from a different background, you have lapsed from whatever positive standing you may have once occupied with your previous faction. Additional World Background   Additional world background Knowledge of the Fallout series, and of Fallout 4 in particular, may be helpful but is not necessary. Do not use presume knowledge about the game world in-character without making successful Knowledge (local) checks or Lore (faction) checks. You can use Knowledge (geography) or actively gather information through social interactions to gain information about the map. You can find an abundance of maps and information searching online -- just keep in mind that it is outdated / often wrong. Most of the Fallout 4 NPCs are alive; some of them are in Sanctuary and were recruited by the original Vault Dweller, August Eddison. They are 12 years older now and retired from active adventuring. Anyone can write some relationship with the following NPCs into your backstory as they all reside in Sanctuary (the Minuteman’s capital settlement in the north-west corner of the map). They comprise its governing council. Preston Garvey - a veteran sniper with energy weapons, and the General, leading the Minuteman. [10th level: tactician/5 conscript/5] Strong - a supermutant barbarian who succeeded in his quest to find the milk of human kindness. He is now warm and cuddly -- though probably the Minuteman’s most deadly melee combatant should he fly into a rage. [9th level: barbarian/7, mutant/2] Cait - aging brawler - still a druggie and scoundrel. The Combat Zone where she once fought has turned into a settlement of Gunners. [8th level brawler] Kasumi Nakano is a woman in her mid-thirties who comes from far-off Acadia. She is (secretly) a synth, and (openly) a robotics expert, with considerable scientific and engineering expertise. [7th level technician] Frank Roberts, a civilized ghoul, who was once a Vault-Tec salesman before the war. He was recruited by August Eddison, and developed skills as a medic. When the plague swept through, he mutated and became a psionic Vitalist, and played an important role keeping Sanctuary and related communities healthy through the ravages of the plague. He has become a mentor to a number of people who survived the madness and have begun to develop psi powers. [6th level vitalist] Codsworth - a venerable pre-war Mr Handy butler - still in Sanctuary, serving Preston Garvey. [5th level modern hero / engineer archetype] If you originated in a different faction before joining the Minuteman, you should take some Lore skill ranks in that faction, and you may know one or more of its important leaders. Many of the locations in the Commonwealth will differ from the Fallout/4 game. They will often be more densely inhabited. Specific treasures/monsters/quests in the computer game will typically not be the same. The underlying issues affecting the motives of certain factions may have changed -- the world has moved on. Some areas that were radiation free in the game will be irradiated now by the recent Brotherhood-vs-Supermutant mini-nuke conflict. Character creation   Character Creation You must use this as your character sheet template, and only fill out the top half before acceptance. Fill in the part above the red line as part of your application. Leave everything below the line until if/when you are accepted. I am happy to answer questions and clarify how things work. As this is about 80% pathfinder and about 20% homebrew, the elements that are novel may take a little extra time for us to work through. Details: 6th level fast advancement (unless your race is supermutant, then you start at 5th level). (Note that this has advanced +1 level since we started.) 25 point buy. The stats are renamed, but work just like Pathfinder's, plus one extra stat, Luck, described here. Races are human, ghoul, robot/synth or supermutant -- with sub-races detailed here. 3 Traits, plus 2 campaign traits, all as described here. No magic, no divine classes. But there are non-magical Pathfinder classes, d20 Modern heroes, and Spheres of Power / Spheres of Might (if they can be reskinned as psionics.) More detail on classes here. Hit points are Max. Background skills are used. Psionic skills are used. See here for information on Skills. Feats are as described here. (Note that if you use Spheres of Might or Power classes then you are obliged to spend some feats to buy access into that system.) Fallout also uses Perks, which are like Feats but closely tied to your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. ability scores, and more flexible because you get a deck of Perks, and can redeploy them on the fly. Perks are listed here. Size is Medium, unless your Strength is low, then you can choose to be Small. Starting wealth will be random, based on skills. We will do wealth and gear last, after characters are accepted. Modern firearms and weapons are used, and technological /psionic enhancements replace magical enhancements. Many kinds of core Pathfinder armor are available, but modern armor is generally better. The expensive ultimate is power armor. Restorative chems are essential; addictive chems can be useful but have drawbacks. See here for information on Chems. Once you are accepted then you can fill out the rest of the character sheet, and I’ll review and declare when it is finalized. Expectations   Expectations Style: my games tend to be fast paced and tactical. Role playing matters, but so does taking a 5’ step at the right moment. My pace and style works for some players, it doesn't work for others. See my other game here "A Town Called Sweetwater" for an example. I award XP per post based on quality. Interact with others, have fun, entertain us all, be creative, be gracious to other players. Role-play your strengths and weaknesses and personal story arc. Pay attention to other characters and build the story together with them. Aim to post about 2-5 times a week. If you are going to be away longer than a week, away-time is fine but let us know. Please don't ghost us. If a player is inactive for 2 weeks without notice, their character will finish any current battle as an NPC, then contract the Green Creep and return to the nearest friendly settlement to recuperate. Rejoining is contingent on space. Always be pushing. Every time you post, try to advance the situation or plot if you can. Combat is round-by round. Initiative is rolled once per encounter -- and I’ll roll them all in bulk by posting a prepared table of rolls. And then that’s followed loosely, with actions resolved as they flow in. Generally all players who beat the monster’s initiative act, then the monsters, then everyone else. If a player doesn’t post by the time the monsters and half or more of other monsters have acted, I will stack their action onto the next round where I ask them to post two actions. Pay attention to this. I presume quick consensus to keep the game advancing. Expect that if 2 characters express am agreement on the party action that we’ll move forward with the action (unless it's in some obvious way controversial or presuming upon someone.) Don’t be offended if you are NPC-ed to keep the game moving. To keep the flow moving, rather than asking a question and delaying your action, post conditional actions in the OOC section. If I see this, then I do this, otherwise, I do that. Make dice rolls for knowledge and perception, etc. whenever you think they might be useful, as I’m not going to typically check your skills and roll proactively for you. Please give feedback immediately to me if anything is not working for you! If something bugs you, or you have tip, let me know at once! A general rule is, correct in private, praise in public. High level structure of play   High level structure of play This is loose, but roughly the structure of the campaign is like this: Pick a destination on the map. Travel overland to it. The farther the distance is through hostile territory, the more likely dangerous (and strategically non-productive) encounters are. If it is uninhabited by a faction, and a suitable location for a settlement, clear whatever threats are there, and plant a settlement. Each time you do this, the Minutemen (your faction), gain in power, and you earn Prestige. Every 1 point of Prestige earns 1% of the level-gap of experience to advance a level; so if you gain 100 Prestige, then the whole party advances a level. Prestige also unlocks your ability to commence productive negotiations with the more powerful factions. The more powerful factions will simply rebuff you if you approach them with insufficient Prestige. If the location is inhabited by a faction -- then negotiate, barter, fight, etc. as you see fit. The larger or more powerful the faction is, the more involved interactions are -- for example there may be 3-6 challenges or encounters involved in recruiting or combatting a major faction. Every faction has its sworn enemies, so any positive action you take also risks negative consequences. Try to gain information and allies to solve the main quest. If you can persuade a faction to ally with the Minutemen, you gain Prestige. Every location you add to the Minutemen’s control increases the safe zone you can travel through, and gives you more bases to craft, heal, recruit allies, etc. Your evolving alliance may have to be a hodgepodge of races and interests and alignments. Minor encounters won’t provide major clues, but significant encounters will (if skills are employed appropriately) yield clues that lead toward solving the quest. While you gain direct power by leveling up, it is ultimately equally important to gain power for the Minutemen faction and its allies. You will eventually discover who your ultimate opposition is -- and the only way of defeating them is to have sufficient indirect power via your alliances. Taking the Leadership Feat and the Local Leader S.P.E.C.I.A.L Perk are also ways where you gain indirect power -- as well as a sprinkling of allies across settlements. In between adventures, practice your profession and earn income. (See what I wrote about Wealth Factor.)

[CatCanCook]

Application status

Player	Character	Race	Class(es)	Role	Status
VaultDwe11er	-	-	-	-	Withdrew
AximusLokar	Deacon Kairos	Human (Half-Breed Vault/Railroad)	Gunslinger/1, Armorist/3, Armiger/1	Ranged DPS/Technologist	Complete
OneDarkness	-	-	Alchemist/?	Healer, Chemist	withdrawn
Rave	Nephry Aki Williams	Human (railroad)	Symbiat	Buff/debuff	Near complete
Nevrend	William Grey	Civilized Ghoul	-	Tragic the Garnering addict	Complete
taleteller50	Mr. Patchit	Super Mutant	Brawler/3 Mutant 1	Melee, Face	Complete
MundayKnight	Mr. E.	Mr Handy	Phantom Thief Unchained Rogue 4 Alchemist 1	Skilled Face	Complete
Silk	Atta	human Halfbreed(The Forged + Children of Atom)	Vitalist(mender) 5	-	Complete
Jenny Greenteeth	Nikki	human Halfbreed(Tribal + ?)	Hedgewitch/5	Face+magic support+gecko	Complete

(No roles missing -- the prospective applicants have most everything covered.)

[CatCanCook]

EDIT: Why all the above deleted messages?

I originally posted the homebrew game rules here. They are all moved to the game folders now ... and what was here was stale, as I've corrected/revised/clarified as play has continued and I couldn't keep two copies accurate.

[kingmonkey]

Wow, mate! That is a hell of a lot of info to process!

It's cool material, but I wonder if you might be frightening prospective players off with the sheer amount of it. Maybe your ad can be more concise, and the rest of this game setuo can be posted in your game forum?

[CatCanCook]

High Kingmonkey. I'll move it to a game forum when I have a game forum for it.

I'm the mean time, one does not have to read all the material to participate. Just lightly browse, and I'm happy to help anyone get set up.

I put a bunch of stuff behing spoilerbuttons -- so that people can dive in more selectively and not be overwhelmed by the volume

[CatCanCook]

Hi @Hyregoth,

Welcome!

In the character sheet, the Character Name should be "Andrew "Brother" Peterson"
The Player Name is Hyregoth.

In the Background, its "Minutemen" not "Militiamen".

[CatCanCook]

Also -- most character will want proficiency with firearms -- as that does not come automatically.

Ways to get proficiency:
1) Take a class (Gunslinger, Gearhead), or an archetype (like Savage Technologist) that gives proficiency.
2) Take a Spheres of Might class level, and choose a martial tradition that includes firearm proficiency.
3) Take 1 level in a d20 Modern class
4) Spend a Feat to purchase proficiency
5) Spend a Martial Talent (spheres) to purchase Firearm proficiency

The people who don't need firearm proficiency are those: who exclusively specialize in unarmed combat, or archaic weapons, or non-weapons activity like psi powers.

[CatCanCook]

OK, sounds good on the proficiency. When you say the first two levels will be Military do you mean something specific by that, or just that he was the Fighter class for the first two levels?

[CatCanCook]

@Hyregoth - Under traits, for type 1, type 2, type 3 -- I mean for people to designate what trait list it came from, e.g. Social, Combat, etc. Thanks!

[CatCanCook]

@Hyregoth -

For Favored Equipment -- designate a kind of equipment you favor. (I'd assume it might be Armor.)

You might consider trading in one of your Perks to get a 2nd level of the Armorer Perk. The advantage is, you'll be able to jury rig your armor to be +1 enhanced AND have a +1 special trait. And since you're efficient at scrapping you'll soon be able to afford multiple traits on different pieces of piecemeal armor -- and you can pick the one that is functional to meet the current need.

Re: Tough hero vs. fighter ... all up to you. There's various tradeoffs, no hurry.

[OneDarkness]

Just want to bump for an awesome GM, I can first hand say those accepted are in for a treat and if I can come up with a good concept you count on me submitted an application for this.

Placeholder for app

[VaultDwe11er]

Needless to say I should probably apply for this

[CatCanCook]

Hi VaultDwe11er, I even have VaultDweller as a subrace of human if you want an exact fit!

Let me know if you have any questions. I'm mostly following Fallout/4, but I've grabbed traits from Fallout 3, and just the mechanic of swappable perks from Fallout 76.

[VaultDwe11er]

Awesome! I definitely want to apply. I'm just quite busy at the moment, so will see if I get the time to do it.

[AximusLokar]

As a fan of pathfinder, fallout, and well thought out homebrew modifications I can't not apply to this game.

Currently torn between two concepts, a human wastelander 'luckomancer' and a ghoul ex-cop turned guardian angel.

A few clarifications while I mull over my options if'n ya don't mind.

• The -1 Feat from taking a Spheres class is separate from the +1 Feat general, correct? So it's net zero for a spheres user? And to further clarify, would a Champion (someone using both Might and Power) take the -1 Feat modifier once, or twice (for a net negative one feat)?
• Are custom traditions (casting and/or martial) that respect the balance and design structures outlined in their respective sections allowed? Is Luck a Mental score allowable as a Casting Ability?
• Any limitations on advanced talents that don't violate the rules regarding fitting into the setting?