Return to Northmoor OC

[pathfinderq1]

These are all great ideas.

I especially like the inquisition idea. How about a fanatical sect that has gained too much influence in the Church, say with the help of the merchant guild. Originally a result of fear of the growing darkness. They are in secret opposition to the King. The witch hunt was an effort to destabilize one of the kings powerbases, namely arcanists. The merchants guild are just greedy, and see opportunity.

The Kingsguard are great. They are an elite faction of the regular Army. A knighthood. Maybe mostly Swordmages and Paladins? The Church is trying to gain control of them, but they are resisting. Room for some moral ambiguity, especially if the Church co-opts their name for the inquisitors.

As for the outside world, we'll keep it somewhat sketchy so we fullfill the Points of Light theme. A few ideas are good, but keep them loose.

This works for me. For the "Inquisition", the merchant guild idea ties well into my idea (in the other post) about commerce- with the slow disintegration of a formal trade network/structure, the guild merchants would be looking for either a new source of power/influence, or a way to restore the old network. Building a new organization might be one route, and that organization (whatever their original intent) has grown beyond their control, into an "Inquisition" (we'll have to come up with a better name- where did that thesaurus go?). For the Kingsguard, a knighthood works well- some paladins (particularly among the older members), some fighters and warlords, some swordmages (though I don't have the FR stuff for 4e, I can pick up a great deal through context).

 

[PrecociousApprentice]

Yeah, this has shaped up rather well, went quicker than I had expected, and was really fun and surprising for me as a DM. Made quick work of creating a setting.

I have posted chargen info and assignments. Have fun, and lets communicate about our public ideas. There is also a lot of room for sectrets, but we need to fit together as a group.

 

[pathfinderq1]

I'll work on the char-gen "homework" tomorrow at work, and I'll put something out tomorrow evening. Considering how well this has shaped up in not even one day, perhaps we will acquire another player or two in the meantime. I do not have any 4e material beyond the 3 core books, so anything I end up with will come from there.

 

[pathfinderq1]

Party roles discussion:
It looks like we have four people so far, plus whoever we pick up soon (one or two, at most)- so those already aboard can probably go with their first choice concepts. If nothing has changed, that gives us:
1. Striker (archer/ranger)
2. Leader ("Healer"; cleric)
3. ?Defender, I think? (Swordmage)
4. Controller (Wizard)

I've only played one 4e game so far, as a fighter- so if we have anyone who _Really_ wants the controller slot, I'm perfectly willing to play a fighter or melee rogue.

Thoughts?

 

[PrecociousApprentice]

Sounds great. We probably have a few days for chargen before anyone gets too anxious to get started, hopefully we will pick up another player. If we don't have a wizard, that is OK. I think it is the most disposable role in 4e. The others, especially leaders, are much more necessary. That said, a wizard can add a lot, and are really fun to play. If you would like to play one, go for it. I just don't want to be stacked with wizards.

This will be my first experience DMing 4e. I have only played a little bit, but we have plenty of time to look up rules and such if we need it, without making other people annoyed with us for taking the time.

The Return to Northmoor is written by a long time RPGA writer. He is putting it on a podcast, making it relatively easy for me to run it. (Hopefully). I will be changing a little fluff here and there, but most of this stuff is how he said it should be run, with player input and everything. I think I will be sending him some transcripts of our game as feedback for how it is going. This should be a very fun project.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

I'm workin' up the character homework slowly, it'll take a bit .

Swordmages are, in fact, Defenders. They use light armor, but have Intelligence as a primary ability so that works out alright. Not as good as fighters at taking down single targets, but they have a lot of AoE powers and teleporty-stuff.

Basic character-ideas if others want to start collaborating...

A very absent-minded intellectual type, who served as a professional writer in the Outpost, taking dictated letters from illiterate miners. On the Raft, he officially acts as a kind of consultant, providing the benefit of his extensive studies. In actuality, he's also there as a competent fighter and user of magic, and was drawn there by a desire to find out what the Raftman knows about the Lost Bog - all part of his plans to publish a groundbreaking paper on the subject of said location.

 

[Atanatotatos]

One question relevant for character concept, apprentice: what kind of creatures (aside from pirates and such) are the Outposts defending northmoor against?

My only doubt is the "unboarded" system linked, it looked actually pretty complicated to me, but probably I'll just have to get used to it...

 

[PrecociousApprentice]

Hey guys, we got noticed by the writers. They have a forum and we are linked from it. They have a feedback thread for people who play Return to Northmoor, that way fans can have some influence on the game. This is fantastic! It could almost be like having a professional writer write a game for us personally. (not really, but I can pretend)

That being said, I would appreciate it if there were no spoilers spread here in this thread. I also would appreciate it if the players stayed away from the podcasts for now. We are still in need of a fifth player, and I would appreciate it if only players that do not listen to this podcast apply to be in this game. Sorry.

This is so cool!

I am not really sure about the boardless system either. We might just play a little fast and loose with the rules and not stick too closely to the board.

As for monsters, I am not totally sure. I am not writing this adventure, and it is still being written. I will possibly reskin the monsters anyway, so who knows. I am working on it. Are there any cool ideas that you guys have for an aquatic race of humanoid monsters that I could reskin the bad guys into? There have only been 5 types of monsters through advancement to second level, and that is as far as the module has gotten.

 

[Atanatotatos]

A couple of random ideas.
A setting inspired to ancient Ireland doesn't look complete without some sort of Nature-worshipping religion or druidic sect. The most obvious thing that comes to mind is that this "religion" (more of a generic cult of sort, really) is scorned upon by the Churc, and has been persecuted for a long time in Lindinis.
But what if in the outside world, of which little is known, a small "revolution" is taking place, Druids at its head guiding the faithful towards the "return to the golden age", getting priests and officers out of villages and re-establishing the ancient traditions?
Some refugees might have repaired in Northmoor and spread the news...?
What d you think about it Apprentice? Too unfocused?

 

[Leif]

I was going to suggest something about an "ex-point of light," a city that had been overrun and consumed by the encroaching darkness. Maybe the church there, or local arcanists had meddled with stuff that they hadn't ought to have messed with, or something. Anyway, the idea was to be that the former city could be turned into a dungeon for us. Well, an "encounter area," with the wizard's guild and the temple being actual, real dungeon-type thingys. Anyway, I was going to suggest that, before I knew what the deal was with our adventure thread. But I guess all of that is probably all taken care of already, isn't it?