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Insight's "Against the Blackstag Cult"

Insight

Adventurer
This is a recruitment thread for Insight's "Against the Blackstag Cult", a 4E game for the Heroic Tier, starting at Level 1.

This game is designed to be low-impact. What I mean by that is that we will use only the Core Rules at the beginning, and work our way up to the more complex stuff. PHB, DMG, MM only until further notice. I own all of the 4E releases with the exception of the Draconomicon, and I plan to get just about everything else that is due to come out in the foreseeable future, and I also have a DDI subscription, so we will work that other stuff in eventually.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR IN PLAYER CHARACTERS
This part is really sumple. I want four player characters and no more. While I think it's important to cover all of the roles, I'm not going to select party members based solely on filling out a roster. We will have at least one Leader and one Defender. The other two spots are open as far as I'm concerned.

Your characters will be 1st level and created solely from what's in the PHB. The only exception to this is the Alchemy feat from Adventurer's Vault. As the feat states, you can take Alchemy in place of Ritual Caster if you get Ritual Caster as a Class Feature (Clerics and Wizards, I believe). Otherwise, follow all character creation rules as outlined in the PHB. To create your Ability Scores, use the Point Buy Method (22 points; I believe this is Method #2). Please post any questions regarding character creation in this thread.

In subsequent posts, I will outline the area in which you start, a Point of Light (PoL) known as Haylen's Ford. This is a small settlement straddling a major river, located amidst a forest fraught with dangerous creatures and bloodthirsty cultists. Your characters will all start in Haylen's Ford and your first few adventures will be based in this town. Eventually, you will venture outside the town and explore the surrounding areas. Note that your characters do not have to be from the town, but you will start in the town.


Please post your characters in this thread.


HOW THE GAME WILL RUN
I am not expecting this game to fly by at a break-neck speed. I may not may not have the ability to post every day, but I will try to do so if the players can.

My goal is to run the game from Level 1 to Level 10 (the Heroic Tier), using Haylen's Ford as a base of operations. I will probably give out a little more XP than is usual because I don't want you to be stuck at Level 1 for three months' real time.

In terms of the actual process of combat, which is where things tend to get bogged down, we are going to roll initiative and I will ask for all of you to post your actions before I start posting results. You can post more than one action (if this happens, then I do X... if not, I do Y) to make it easier on me once the fur starts flying. I am planning to post Excel spreadsheets in PDF format to use as maps. If you don't have Acrobat Reader, get it.

INTRODUCING OTHER MATERIAL
As stated earlier, in the beginning, we will use only the Core Rules. As the game progresses, we will introduce other material. Already released material (AV, Martial Power, Manual of the Planes, FRPG) will take precedence over newer stuff which will be out in the first half of 2009 (PHB2, Arcane Power, etc).
 

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Note: This post is intended purely for use in character creation and does not contain the sum total of everything that is known about Haylen's Ford.

OVERVIEW
Haylen's Ford is a small community of Humans, Halflings, and Half-Elves located within the vast Surrim Forest. The town straddles the Vestis River, a popular river barge trade route. East Haylen is almost entirely occupied by Humans, whereas West Haylen is a mix of Humans, Halflings, and Half-Elves. Both sides of the river feature piers for barge docking purposes and both have their own merchants and storage related to the river trade. While Haylen's Ford is a popular destination for those engaging in the river trade, it is also a safe haven for refugees fleeing the nefarious Cult of Blackstag, a vile group of bandits, assassins, and other ne'er-do-wells dedicated to destroying communities within and on the outskirts of the Surrim Forest. In addition to the river trade, Haylen's Ford has a few family farms on its perimeter. These farms adjoin the forest's edge and are considered dangerous, especially at night. Most of the farmer have had to hire mercenary guards to keep an eye out for cultists and other strange beats from within the dark groves.

OUTSIDE HAYLEN'S FORD
Not much is known of the vast and dark woods beyond the light of Haylen's Ford. Here is a list of the major known landmarks outside the town:

  • BROKEN TEMPLE: Located northeast of Haylen's Ford, this is a Tiefling settlement upon the ruins of an ancient temple of unknown origin. If you are a Tiefling character, you are probably from here.
  • EBON SANCTUM: Located far to the north of Haylen's Ford, this fortified settlement is ruled by the Order of the Ebon Blade, a knightly order dedicated to eradicating the demonic host to the frigid north.
  • FARTHING PASS: Located far to the northeast of Haylen's Ford, this Dwarven settlement is built upon a great gap between impassible mountains, and is named for this well-traveled pass. If you are a Dwarf character, you might be from here.
  • GRAND VALLEY: Located to the southwest of Haylen's Ford, this Elf and Eladrin settlement is smack dab in the middle of a vast, verdant forest that borders on the Feywild. If you are an Elf or Eladrin character, you might be from here.
  • PORT HYGALAS: Located on the coast, far to the south of Haylen's Ford, this is the largest settlement in the known world. Most of the river barge traffic passing through Haylen's Ford takes the Vistus River all the way to its end at Port Hygalas.
  • STORM PEAK: Located north of Haylen's Ford this Dwarf and Dragonborn fortified settlement is built into the side of an active volcano. If you are a Dragonborn character, you are from here. Dwarf characters may be from here or Farthing Pass.
  • VESTINGDALE: Located just northwest of Haylen's Ford is this Elf settlement nestled into the northern edge of the Surrim Forest. If you are an Elf character, you could be from here or Grand Valley.
  • VOUCHSAFE: Located south of Haylen's Ford, this fairly new Human settlement was once a military installation and has now turned into a religious sanctuary.
 
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CHARACTER ROSTER
This post shall serve as a list of the final approved characters.

ROLES
DEFENDER: Regdar Quinn, Human Fighter [lochness]
LEADER: Erevan Somarta, Eladrin Warlord [EvolutionKB]
STRIKER/OTHER: Arjhan Khurdrat, Dragonborn Rogue [Erekose13]
STRIKER/OTHER: Iados, Tiefling Warlock [Friadoc]
WILD CARD: Ulrik, Human Wizard [Steve Gorak]

In the end, I decided to go with a 5-character party instead of 4. Congrats to those who have been selected and welcome aboard! To those who didn't make it, thanks for submitting a character and good luck in your future efforts.

Players, please visit the OOC Thread to start the character discussion and so forth.
 
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Came up with a character for this last night. Not 100% sure I did it right (more like 95%). Do you want us to post the characters here or send you them?

Edit: BTW the character is a Human Fighter
 
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I'm very interested in playing a dwarven battle cleric.

Would posted PDF's from the DDI Character Builder work for you for character sheets?
 


Hey Insight, I'm thinking of a human Wizard. What are you looking for in a submission?

At this point, no background or anything, just your numbers and stats. If you want to create a "personality" for the character, that would be fine. Once I have the setting basics posted, people can work on their backstory, if they even want to create one.
 


I'm very interested in playing a dwarven battle cleric.

Would posted PDF's from the DDI Character Builder work for you for character sheets?

Post those as attachments, but if you could, a brief writeup in the body of your post would be nice as well.
 

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