[PF-1e] The Forsaken Plane: The Plane of The Elder Evils

[MalchiorTheForgotten]

Originally Posted by Xian

Team,

Had a late night/early AM trip to the ER last night so will be delayed in getting the assessments out, but will try to close it out today.

Again apologize for the delay.

Cheers, Xian

That sucks, hope everything's okay.

[kaylara]

Hope all is well. Wishing for the best

[Narsis]

Originally Posted by Xian

@All - I just want to put this note to clarify the kind of world that the Forsaken Plane for those that may not be familiar with the Ravenloft campaign world setting based on my review of the apps so far.

The Forsaken Planes is a low magic setting, not unlike those found on the material plane. Spellcasters are rare, and common folk seldom witness the supernatural, understanding it only through folklore, though that folklore is very prevalent. Even "common" Core races, are a rarity on the Forsaken and often the subject of wrongful association with the dark powers. Those more "exotic will find their lives and the lives of their team mates very difficult. Subtle and unknown to all but the select and rare few, the natural laws of the Forsaken Plane have been insidiously re-written. It is crucible for the virtuous to be tested and for the wicked to be tormented.

At the very core of the this theme I should have clarified is a Gothic core. The horrors of the Gothic tradition resonate and are horrifying and terrifying because they are inherently us. Innocence battles corruption, where love destroys and redeems, and where magic cannot overcome morality. Just because you are playing in a "horror themed" campaign it is not necessary for the character to BE the horror theme. Thus those that are selected by The Powers to play in this world are being selected to their heroes, not to be one of its inmates. These heroes for the most part study the occult or mysteries beyond the mundane to pursue and combat the evil, not for pursuit of personal power or ambition.

Having said that because the players were selected to be heroes, does not guarantee that they will become heroes and nor should the path be easy. This references that characters that are so good/virtuous that they are flawless. As a Gothic crucible, The Powers selects those with faults and flaws that they can test and challenge. If the character was so virtuous and flawless that their morality could not be challenged, then they would not have been taken. There wold be no point. This goes to the question I posed to the players applying of why they as players believe that The Powers chose to bring their characters to the Forsaken Realm. What faults or flaws do you think that they are going to use you to test your virtue or villainy? For those with darker/villainy characters that tenuous potential for redemption.

The Powers will challenge your morality so not answer are simply black and white, for few, if any, dilemmas and things in the Forsaken Realms ever will be.

Coincidentally, along with a few other qualifiers, this is the basis for my assessments and, in the end, player selections. I will put this in the front advert for all to reference and apologize that if the above was not articulated clearly up front and also understand that if this causes you to change your concept, please feel free to do so.

Thanks for your support! Onward!

Cheers, Xian

That's actually really helpful thanks.

[kaylara]

[Xian]

Team,

I apologize for not getting the feedback to you for all of the hard work that you have done on your characters. The reasons are purely self serving as I am just returning from a College Football National Championship party and do not have it in me to write what is in my head (might add that I would not be able to guarantee its understandability at this point in time).

Thus, I promise that this will be my top priority following work tomorrow.

However, based on the reviews of the apps submitted thus far I anticipate sending out the PMs for Phase II probably this Wednesday. I will keep this Phase I/Initial App portion open until next week, which should give those with busy jobs the chance to put together something this weekend before I close Phase I. Will run Phase II through the end of the month and will make final selections prior to Super Bowl weekend, probably by month's end.

I hope that helps and apologize in advance for my football weakness...

Anyway, great work overall by the entire team... I can already tell this is going to be a tough one!

Cheers, Xian

[pianoman90]

No worries Xian, take your time.

[AlwaysCivilMike]

1) Phase I open until next week: *Sigh of relief* I really need to start reading the last posts in a thread before getting to excited about a storyline (last game I looked at was closed) . I was like "oh nooooo...not again! I bet they are not excepting any more applications". So, in the immortal words of Jim Carey "So your saying there is a chance.....YES!". Mind you, given my post count vs experienced site players it just might be 1:1,000,000.

2). I certainly hope you were rooting for Bama. That would have been heartbreaking to be a Clemsen fan. My cousin went to Clemsen and was at the game. She is proud of her team but the loss was just crushing.

[Xian]

...mentioned that the forsaken plane was a parallel world to Golarion. What does that mean? Does he wake up in his lab/castle/home in a different place.

It is a parallel world to Golarion in terms of geography, but the names and the things inside of it are different. So your character will not wake up to his castle or home when he is taken, but the land will seem familiar. Now having said that, there is nothing that says that a certain lab or castle that he was in can't be in the same place. However, there will be no past connection to the character.

For those old enough to recall think of the old school Tales from the Darkside for context.

Cheers, Xian

[Xian]

Originally Posted by PassionFruit

1) Phase I open until next week: *Sigh of relief* I really need to start reading the last posts in a thread before getting to excited about a storyline (last game I looked at was closed) . I was like "oh nooooo...not again! I bet they are not excepting any more applications". So, in the immortal words of Jim Carey "So your saying there is a chance.....YES!". Mind you, given my post count vs experienced site players it just might be 1:1,000,000.

2). I certainly hope you were rooting for Bama. That would have been heartbreaking to be a Clemsen fan. My cousin went to Clemsen and was at the game. She is proud of her team but the loss was just crushing.

Though I was team agnostic for this game, I am partial to SEC teams, so I was pulling for the Tide. Regardless it was a phenomenal game.

Anyway, based on some feedback, just want to let people know that the concepts here in Phase I and Phase 2 are not locked in stone and the players will be given the opportunity to make refinements and adjustments as they test drive their concepts. Even overt changes will be permitted on a limited basis with dialogue, so please do not stress over minutiae. (That comes later... )

Thanks again for the interest and keep them coming!

Cheers, Xian

[OneDarkness]

So out of curiosity what happens in phase 2?

[GeoAvanti]

Good to know the delay is just you being lazy, Xian, and not ER-related troubles. :P

Seriously now, You don't need to stress too much. You've already provided a whole heap of helpful information that some of us (I'm hoping more than just me) have already made use of in some revisions. Take your time, yeah? We don't need you getting burned out during the selection process.

@PassionFruit: Don't doubt yourself! I've been blown away by the quality of writing from new people on this site, both as DMs and Players. Sure, having lots of posts is great for having a reference point to show off how good you are, but post count is by no means directly related to ability! Have faith!

[Xian]

Originally Posted by GeoAvanti

Good to know the delay is just you being lazy, Xian, and not ER-related troubles. :P

That's how I roll! Roll TIDE! (Disclaimer: Not a Alabma fan, just happened to be the team I was pulling for last night!)

@PassionFruit: Don't doubt yourself! I've been blown away by the quality of writing from new people on this site, both as DMs and Players. Sure, having lots of posts is great for having a reference point to show off how good you are, but post count is by no means directly related to ability! Have faith!

Well said, Geo, well said. Coincidentally, this is the basis for Phase 2 and to answer OneDarkness' question, Phase 2 is meant further fleshing out of your character, finding his voice, to see how how the characters will interact with one another in various situations and scenarios, and for me to assess how well they post (using the 2 paragraph post as a metric).

This is why I asked people not to get too deep into the fleshing out the life history in the app, but to bring it out and reveal in game, like they kind of do in Lost, so it is shared n interaction with the other players and characters. (I am huge Lostie, BTW...) Also like the previous reference, by interacting players can see how they can make meaningful connections to OTHER players even if it is not thought of previously during the app process.

In short, Phase 2 also lets me see those who are best suited to help me collaboratively tell this stories of which each of their characters are a part.

My ideal is to create a cast like the one on Serenity/Firefly where every member is memorable and so integral that the story is not the same without even one of them.

Cheers, Xian

[Digorig]

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42

[OneDarkness]

108

[Xian]

Team,

Feedback is in the works and I have updated the ad with the current timeline based on the interest that I have gotten for this.

UPDATE: Currently, Phase 1 applications will close on the evening of 22 January 2016. Phase 2 will conclude 01 February with selections announced O/A 02 February 2016.



Also if anyone has edited their application since last night, with the exception of kaylara, please post saying so. Also from this point on for those that have submitted Phase I apps complete, let me know if you make ANY edits, so I can cut and paste you into my DM tracking folder.

More to follow!

Cheers, Xian