Solo campaign in the Midnight Campaign Setting

I think I'm going to try this in a new thread...

Brother Shatterstone said:

I think the subject covers the jest of it... I'm looking for a DM that is interested in running a solo game in midnight.

Now, I'm sure there are a few out there that are wondering, "Why would BS want to run solo through Midnight?" Surely he's lost what little common sense he had left. I'm not here to argue that, I would lose in a heartbeat, but it’s probably the best type of scenario for the game I want to play.

So instead of establishing my insanity maybe I should simply say what I would like to play.

I would like the chance to play a very evil character, and though I have no desire to go into detail pretty much anything could and would be hinted at. So I would need a mature DM, with a strong gut, with at least the campaign setting, the ability to realize I’m not that bad of a guy in person.

I’ve always been interested in playing a legate that though completely loyal to Izrador, he would face challenges from those who do not trust him and/or loathed him because of what he is. Orcs are the favored race of Izrador but other “evil” races populate Aryth, and could hear the call of Izrador. I was thinking goblinoid, and also thinking about the top of the food chain, a Bugbear.

Now, I’m sure if anyone has seen my posts out there where I’ve talked quite fondly of bugbear and how I see that they’ve been mostly ignored by DMs. Anything the size of Shaquille O’Neil, but with the grace of an elf, the strength of an orc but none of the limited mental capacity, is as tough as a dwarf but with out the speed limitation is a extremely dangerous adversary… (Yes, I love bugbears very much. )

As for character I was obviously thinking about a legate but because of the uniqueness of the game and the fact that I’m of the firm belief that that uniqueness is what drives a good solo game I was hoping to do that with my character. I would be interested in running a gestalt character; this has a lot to do with the racial hit dice that bugbears come with. I do not want to have a 13th level character, or what not, simply so that the legate level is high enough that he would known and feared, at least somewhat.

As for the other side of the gestalt side (the same side with the racial hit dice) I would have a Wildlander.

One of the latest books out for Midnight has a heroic/villainous path that could even help why Izrador would accept such a creature into his “flock” if perspective DMS are worried about the uniqueness of the idea being well to unique. (Sorcery and Shadow: MN06; shadowed 44.)

Also bugbears do exist in the campaign setting. One is mentioned on page 246, as are goblins.

Anyhow if there is anyone interested in running this, even if you don’t like some of the above, please reply… I would be interested in hearing what you would keep and what you would toss.

Thanks,
Adam

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It’s been awhile since I've bumped this... Seems like a good as time as any.

Mmmmm... Midnight. However, I think for now one game is more than enough for me to be running.

Good luck finding someone BS.

One of the latest books out for Midnight has a heroic/villainous path that could even help why Izrador would accept such a creature into his “flock” if perspective DMS are worried about the uniqueness of the idea being well to unique. (Sorcery and Shadow: MN06; shadowed 44.)

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Been awhile since I played a Midnight Game, but wasn't all that Heroic Path stuff reserved for the good (i.e. heroic) guys only?

Zweischneid said:

Been awhile since I played a Midnight Game, but wasn't all that Heroic Path stuff reserved for the good (i.e. heroic) guys only?

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It could be interrupted that way but all they do is separate the adventurer from the commoner. (There is no restriction that states one must be of this alignment or working against the shadow.) Also many of the later books that focus mostly on the Shadow have some heroic paths that aren't very heroic.)

If need be we/I can ask Wil (Upchurch) how he intended it to work when he wrote it.

Ferrix, no problem, and thanks on the well wishes.

Okay, I might be interested in DM'ing for you. I may not be your ideal candidate, but given that you've hardly had a nibble in months you might be willing to accept my conditions. Let me tell you a little about myself first. I'm a DM and player with 25+ years of experience, but while I'm playing in half a dozen games here I have never DM'ed a pbp game. I've run a couple of evil games and played in a few as well, but mostly back in the 1e days. I am a "Mature" DM, but if you are interested in some graphic sadist cybersex romp I'm not your guy. A certain amount of cruelty and lots of violence are to be expected. Poison, drugs, dark gods and so forth are also welcome, but any sex stuff will be "off-camera". We will need to live under the watchful eye of Eric's grandma anyway, which I'm sure you are more familiar with than I.

Now, I don't own any of the Midnight source books, but I think I can get at least a couple of the early books on extended loan. If you have specific stuff you want me to be aware of from later books you’ll have to paraphrase for me--in particular the heroic/villainous path you have in mind. I'm somewhat familiar with the setting, but have not played or DM'ed it. I usually do homebrews, or drop single adventures or short term stuff in the Realms or Greyhawk. The point is I'll need a little time to get up to speed on the world. I have a good bit of real life stuff going on, so it may take a month or so before we can play. You've waited this long, so hopefully that will not be a concern. Once we get started I can post pretty frequently; although, I may be away from a computer for a few days after Christmas.

Now the good news. For a solo game I'm willing to be very flexible on the character creation and how your character fits into the world. We don't have to try very hard to fit some official vision of the world or what is plausible based on the information in the books. You have a specific vision in mind and we'll work together to see that the world fits that vision rather than the other way around. There is also little need to worry about game balance since you are the only player. I can balance the bad guys regardless of what you play. We will also be avoiding what I have found to be the biggest weakness of evil games—intra-party strife.

Let me see if I understand what you have in mind. Please correct me if I'm wrong. You want to create a new gestalt of a couple of unique to Midnight classes and replace the three humanoid levels normally associated with Bugbears with them as well as have a few levels more. What level were you shooting for? Somewhere between 6 and 10 ECL? In this type of solo game with frequent posting I would expect advancement to more closely resemble a regular f2f game than the usual snails pace of pbp games. You plan to play some sort of troubleshooter/under boss for Izrador offering up skills and abilities that are valuable because they are different from the typical Orcs that are normally utilized. This of course lead a certain amount of envy and racism from the more traditional supporters of Izrador and they would prefer to see the character fail or even end up in an early grave. They can't openly oppose you without raising the ire of the boss, but any time they can hinder or embarrass your character they will. You want a chance to get into a fight now and then as well as a chance to role-play a darker personality. Am I on track so far?

I have a suggestion. If it doesn't fit with your vision, no problem, I just think it facilitates play in a solo game. You should have some sort of henchman/follower/cohort. This will allow us some better in-character interaction. Its hard to role-play a truly solo game. You would play the cohort 90% of the time and dictate actions in combat and such, but I would NPC him during planning and one-to-one situations to serve a foil and an in-character way for me to share information. It will reduce the amount of OOC posting we'll have to do. It could be some sort of lesser goblinoid that has been cohort along for your rise in the service Izrador or something more akin to an animal companion or familiar even a magic weapon I guess--whatever fits the vision for your character. He can also fill in some ability gaps that will inevitably arise in a solo game. What do you think?

Scotley, first thank you for reply, and I’m truly stunned by the length of your post, it really shows that your interested in DM this unique game.

I will go into detail more lately, right now I’m somewhat limited in time right now, but I wanted to comment on a few things to start off.

First, if at any point in this you decide you don't want to do DM this game then please just say so. No hard feelings and all that jazz.

Scotley said:

I've run a couple of evil games and played in a few as well, but mostly back in the 1e days. I am a "Mature" DM, but if you are interested in some graphic sadist cybersex romp I'm not your guy. A certain amount of cruelty and lots of violence are to be expected. Poison, drugs, dark gods and so forth are also welcome, but any sex stuff will be "off-camera".

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That's pretty much what I'm asking for, though the poison, drugs and sex I think will all be minimal to non-existent. I’m more worried about the cruelty/violence that would be associated with getting headstrong members of the resistance to talk. (I don't think they should just bow down so we as players can avoid a few details... Its their lives, and their friends' and families' lives I stake I would rather seem them act accordingly.)

Note: I'm not looking to go into massive details I just think some sense of drama/RP would be "better" than to say, "After 2 hours of constant pain the man breaks and tells you, "This, this and this."

Of course what you consider to be "better" matters to.

Scotley said:

We will need to live under the watchful eye of Eric's grandma anyway, which I'm sure you are more familiar with than I.

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Not that I think it truly matter, as where not going to go into the obscene, but I wanted to comment on this.

The PbP forums sort of fall upon different rules... If its clearly labeled vile/mature (and I prefer the vile label) and your not offending your players/DM then your really need not worry. (Though I think there is some applied moral decency.)

Scotley said:

Now, I don't own any of the Midnight source books, but I think I can get at least a couple of the early books on extended loan.

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Great.

Scotley said:

If you have specific stuff you want me to be aware of from later books you’ll have to paraphrase for me--in particular the heroic/villainous path you have in mind.

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Not a problem and I expected to be doing so.

Scotley said:

I have a good bit of real life stuff going on, so it may take a month or so before we can play. You've waited this long, so hopefully that will not be a concern. Once we get started I can post pretty frequently; although, I may be away from a computer for a few days after Christmas.

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That shouldn't be an issue either.

I'll comment on the rest after PT/lunch, a quick summery would be except for the mechanics we’re on the same wavelength, but I'm willing if you’re willing.

I'm willing. I suppose a game has been born, or perhaps to get into the spirit of the thing--untimely ripped from a Marlith's womb on a rusty iron hook. I'm confident we can accomodate the Bugbear's methods in as much detail as required. Thank you for the clarification on the vile/mature options in pbp on the boards. That will make things easier. I was not aware of the policy. I wasn't attached to the mechanics I mentioned, just seeking clairification of where you were going. So, it looks like we are in accord.

I'm now back from PT and I'm eating lunch so I can continue on from before.

Scotley said:

Let me see if I understand what you have in mind. Please correct me if I'm wrong. You want to create a new gestalt of a couple of unique to Midnight classes and replace the three humanoid levels normally associated with Bugbears with them as well as have a few levels more.

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First, thanks for being open to talk about character creation, I know alot of people dislike the gestalt character rules. It truly isn't for everyone and alot of people worry about power gaming. I'm not a power gamer, I will never chose a weapon base upon which weapon will do the most damage while having the best chance to critical, and I rather frown on doing that. I just like really heroic character, it’s probably a product of reading to many comic books.

Anyhow as for classes, the Midnight Campaign setting is a unique one as magic is very limited, and all of the core classes that have spells have been redone but if you look at a wildlander you'll go, "Oh that's the ranger." while looking at a freerider will make you have thoughts of the paladin. The single magic user class is still very powerful... (but trackable... More on this later.)

Also the races in the midnight campaign setting have all been redone, and are slightly more powerful than the core races. (Their are even three human races) I don't remember for sure but I believe that the races are listed as a LA +1. (which is a good thing considering that LA and gestalt characters can lead to confusion. So this removes the LA from the bugbear.)

Anyhow, I have no desire to replace the bugbear’s humanoid levels, the progression will be the same as any gestalt character:

Humanoid 1/Legate* 1
Humanoid 2/Legate* 2
Humanoid 3/Legate* 3
Wildlander* 1/Legate* 4

* Please note that it has been a few months since I looked through the book… The class names could be wrong.

Think of the Wildlander as basically a ranger, while the legate is the evil cleric that does Izrador's bidding.

As for overall level that is really up to you, though I imagine that 6,8 or 10 would work just fine for me… I’m pretty comfortable in the mid levels so it’s really whatever level is comfortable for you.

Scotley said:

In this type of solo game with frequent posting I would expect advancement to more closely resemble a regular f2f game than the usual snails pace of PbP games.

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Well to be honest it’s still a very slow progression… This isn’t my first solo PbP game, but advancement isn’t a big concern for me… While I want my character to advance and become more power like any one else…. It’s the chance to truly RP, to almost write a novel in collaboration that draws me to PbP.

Scotley said:

You plan to play some sort of troubleshooter/under boss for Izrador offering up skills and abilities that are valuable because they are different from the typical Orcs that are normally utilized. This of course lead a certain amount of envy and racism from the more traditional supporters of Izrador and they would prefer to see the character fail or even end up in an early grave. They can't openly oppose you without raising the ire of the boss, but any time they can hinder or embarrass your character they will. You want a chance to get into a fight now and then as well as a chance to role-play a darker personality. Am I on track so far?

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I couldn’t have said it better myself… The Legate has an “animal” companion that can track magic/magical items over some distance, I’m hoping my character skills would be the ability to track even the non-magic using resistance.

As for the cohort, I'm very much intrigued by the idea of it... Let me think on it some. (maybe leadership and have some orc lackeys/minions)

Scotley said:

I'm willing. I suppose a game has been born, or perhaps to get into the spirit of the thing--untimely ripped from a Marlith's womb on a rusty iron hook.

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Sweet, I'm rather glad to hear that. (I'll edit the subject or you can make a new OOC thread, how ever you see fit to do it.)

One website you might want to look at is: Against the Shadow

Its one of the best fan sites out their and FFG stops by to talk about all things Midnight regularly enough.