A Keep On The Borderland OOC

Dr Simon · Sep 13, 2011

IC Thread

Throwing out a concept here to see if anyone will bite. Probably foolish of me to do so seeing as its coming up to a busy time, but seeing as it could take a while to get things sorted....

Inspired, obviously, by The Keep on the Borderlands, the idea is for a game where characters are re-colonising a lost outpost on the borders of some civilised land. A bit like the Kingmaker AP, but with a different flavour.

Thoughts are along the lines of using a bit of skirmish-level mass combat, as well as diplomacy, dominion-building and good old-fashioned dungeon crawling, so although the rules are Pathfinder it might be worth checking options from the Miniatures Handbook and Heroes of Battle, for example. Although not exclusive, I thought it would make a nice change where the PCs are in charge of followers pretty much from the outset.

Characters will likely be 2nd level (or ECL 2), and pretty much any option is available from PF or 3.x. - to some extent what the players choose defines the background. If you're a cleric, you get to define some of the mythology; if you choose a non-human race you get to decide how that race fits onto the world, and what its culture is like, and so on.

I was thinking that the characters are all part of a "punishment detail" sent to clear out the fort for resettlement. There is a commanding officer, then the PCs as "specialist" rank, and some low-level warrior types, although there could also be a number of personal reasons why your character is in the group which might springboard the direction of the campaign.

Character Creation

Pathfinder
20 point buy
2nd level
Any class from the srd (core and base)
Races and classes from 3.x also considered.
Starting funds - 1000gp
Hit points - maximum first, roll for second. Then add your Con score (not modifier, whole score)

For experience I will probably do what I do in the majority of my other games - simply award a level up when the character pass some kind of milestone. These will be faster (in terms of encounters per level) than normal, but slowed by the natural rate of PbP.

Shayuri · Sep 13, 2011

I really want to try Kingmaker sometime.

The Living 4e game seems to have stalled.

So I'm intrigued. What are the circumstances here? Are we working for a lord, who will then come and sit in the Keep? Or do we get to keep the Keep for keeps?

Dr Simon · Sep 13, 2011

I don't own Kingmaker, so the only connection is based on what it sounds like from the blurb and hearsay - it's mainly the dominion-building thing.

I was thinking less of a feudal system and more of a professional army, like Rome. The intent of the powers that be, whoever they are, is that the keep (actually more like a stockade at first) be recaptured for the legitimate authorities, who are somewhere far away. Whether or not the PCs decide to keep it for themselves is up to the players. Since it is as feasable for a PC to be a criminal or exiled noble as it is to be a volunteer, there may be various points of view about this. Films about the Foreign Legion might be an inspiration (although it's not in a desert).

Kaodi · Sep 13, 2011

I think I would be up for such a game. I will work on a character concept...

Shayuri · Sep 13, 2011

Exiled noble was exactly what I had in mind.

Watching the Game of Thrones has given me a taste for a character fleeing the fall of her House in the mainland...and now seeking a new place to begin rebuilding power.

Kaodi · Sep 14, 2011

I am thinking about a holy warrior of a heretical, schismatic or maybe just unpopular sect related to a more mainstream religion. Class would be cleric, maybe using the crusader archetype.

As for the particular god/religious structure I would be looking at, I was thinking it might be a religion that had a god that was venerated that had one domain, and then a number of heralds that embodied domains that could be paired with the first. Maybe since the crusader only receives one domain, it could be paired with the idea of eschewing the heraldic system and focusing on the single domain of the god. In this case, clerical members of this order would probably all be of the cloistered cleric, crusader, divine strategist, evangelist of theologian archetpes, since they only receive one domain.

Kaodi · Sep 14, 2011

As for a few more details...

I was thinking that the god my character serves would be a god of Glory, and would be served by six heralds representing the Artifice, Destruction, Luck, Nobility, Strength, and War domains (and specifically *not* their subdomains). In addition to the unpopular but tolerated sect of pure Glory that my cleric belongs to, there would also be two heretical sects, one that venerates the god as one of Heroism with Artifice, Luck, and Strength, and the other than venerates the god for Honour with the Destruction, Nobility, and War domains. These two heretical sects are generally seen as something to be stamped out by the established church, and to be shunned by the pure Glory sect.

Dr Simon · Sep 14, 2011

Kaodi, that sounds workable.

Been thinking a bit about the "powers that be", and my thought was that it is a fairly new government that has recently overthrown the old regime of nobility. Part of the re-settlement of the keep is the New Regime flexing its muscles and part an excuse to get rid of undesirables (some connected to the Old Regime, some for other reasons).

For now, the new regime, the Commonwealth, is fairly stable, but there's always the possibility of it turning sour. I also quite like the idea that the Old Regime may have been corrupt in places but was basically sound, so there isn't an absolute right or wrong to supporting either side.

Fitting with Kaodi's idea, different branches of the churches may have supported opposing sides, and those loyal to the Old Regime are now suffering for being on the losing side.

(It's also an excuse to use the French Republican Calendar which I've always wanted to do).

Walking Dad · Sep 14, 2011

Would there be room for a half-elf summoner (master summoner archetype)?

Not sure which part of world design I would get... planes???

Dr Simon · Sep 14, 2011

It wouldn't be a Dr. Si game without you, WD!

With that character there could be several aspects of the setting you could influence - elven culture, how half-elves are treated, how magic (and particularly summoners) is viewed and/or organised, etc.