World of Brukellen Development

[Kendermage]

Okay I have given the matter some thought and I am going to run a play by post here.

Ideally, I am looking for 3-5 players willing to post at least three times per week.

The campaign will be in a homebrew setting I am developing. This play by post will help me crystallize some of the details about the setting. I won't give away many of the world details up front as I want the characters to discover them.

The heroes will be inhabitants of Karson Island on the world of Brukellen (Brew-Kellen). Karson is inspired by the western movies which take place soon after the Civil War such as She Wore A Yellow Ribbon mixed with a little bit of the TV show, Wild Wild West. Basically Karson is a land embroiled in a conflict much like the Indian Wars of the late 1800's. The main difference is that in this campaign there will also be elements of fantasy as well, with wild eves taking the place of the indians, dwarven mining towns, and a smattering of magic right alongside steam technology and firearms.

Dominant Races: Humans, Dwarves, Wild Elves, Goblins, and Half-Breeds (half-dwarves, half-elves, and half-goblins)
Technology Rating: Mixed: 4 (Industrial Revolution)in human and dwarven territories, or roughly equivalent the Wild West; 0 (Stone Age) in wild elf and dwarven territories.
Supernatural Rating: Mixed: 1 (Forgotten Lore) in most human territories and all dwarven territories; 5 (Dawn of Magic) in wild elven territories and a singular human community

A Smattering of History
Karson is an island dominated by humankind and their dwarven allies. Most of the island has embraced technology and abandoned magic. The exceptions to this are the wild elves of nearby Wokia and one lone human settlement of adepts. The rulers of both human and dwarven territories have been waging a campaign of genocide against wild elves for the past 70 years. Those wild elves not killed are taken as slaves by the humans. The situation is the same among the goblins in dwarven territories. Half-breeds, except for half-dwarves often end up as slaves.

Books Allowed:
I am pretty open to information such as feats, weapons, etc..., from most True20 books. Since this is a Wild West style campaign, most of the information from True20 Wild West, such as heroic paths, feats, and weapons are especially appropriate for this campaign. I would steer clear of the modern settings and sci-fi settings except for maybe some pertinent feats. If you have a question then ask me.

House Rules:
To start with, the only House Rule we will be using will be Baduins Alternative Damage Rules. I am using it in some of my other True20 play by post and it really speeds things up. As the campaign progresses, I may try to implement some of other good bits of tinkering from the rules section, but will do it on a case by case basis.

Dice Conventions
I would like everyone to use the dice roller in the Play By Post forum to make their rolls. This will keep everyone honest.

[Kendermage]

New Racial Backgrounds:
The following are new racial backgrounds which may be chosen by players.

Half-Dwarf
The long alliance between humans and dwarves has led to more than a few inter-marriages between the two races. Though some half-dwarves feel alienated, most can find acceptance in one or sometimes both of their parent cultures. Half-dwarves combine the dwarven keen eyes and talent for quality craftsmanship with a bit of human adaptability.
Ability Adjustments: none
Bonus Feats: Night Vision, Skill Focus (Craft), Choice of Firearms Training or Weapon Training
Favored Feats: Improvised Tools, Skill Mastery

Half-Goblin
Half-goblins are rare. No self-respecting member of another race will freely admit to shacking up with a goblin; though it has happened more frequently than either side cares to admit. One almost never finds a half-dwarf/half-goblin. A dwarf would rather have his beard yanked out one hair at a time. They are sometimes found in areas inhabited by both wild elves and goblins. The low numbers of each race had led some members of these races to drastic measures. Half-goblins are shunned by the non-goblin parent, and tormented by their goblin parent. As a result half-goblins must be tough to even make it to adulthood. Most half-goblins end up as slaves in human and dwarven territories.
Ability Adjustment: none
Bonus Feats: Night Vision, Talented (Bluff and Stealth), Weapon Training
Favored Feats: Sneak Attack, Tough

[Kendermage]

Here is the format I want players to use for their characters:

Name:
Quote

Concept (Role):
Background:
Abilities: Str +, Dex +, Con +, Int +, Wis +, Cha +, Spd ft.
Core Ability:
Initiative: +
Combat: Attack + (+ base, + Dex)
Defense: Dodge/Parry +/+ (+ base, + Dex/+ Str)
Saving Throws: Toughness + (+ Con, + Tough, + armor), Fortitude + (+ base, + Con), Reflex + (+ base, + Dex), Will + (+ base, + Wis)
Conviction: +; Virtue: , Vice:
Reputation: +

Non-Lethal Damage: Bruised (0), Dazed (5+Toughness), Staggered (10+Toughness), Unconscious (15+Toughness)
Lethal Damage: Hurt (0), Wounded (5+Toughness), Disabled (10+Toughness), Dying (15+Toughness), Dead
Fatigue: Winded, Fatigued, Exhausted

Special:

Skills:

Bonus Feats:
Favored Feats:
Feats:

Powers:

Languages:

Weapons:

Armor:

Possessions: ;Wealth: +

Distinguishing Features/Mannerisms:

Bio:

Design Notes:

[elf23]

Sounds like an interesting setting Kendermage. I had no idea there's a True20 Wild west book!

Did you have any thoughts on what kind of party / characters would fit what you have in mind (if anything)? Clean and heroic or dubious and rogueish?

A couple of character creation questions:

• Conviction + Charisma? Or just flat?
• 1st level characters i presume?
• It sounds like Elf (and probably Goblin) characters would be difficult to integrate into a group with the other races. Is that how you imagine it?

[Kendermage]

http://www.greenronin.com/store/product/grr9017e.html

As far as party members. You could do a gunslinger, a cowboy, a cavalry member, a detective, a tinker, pretty much anything you can think of which you've seen in a western. You could be a good guy, or even an anti-hero.

Conviction as per the Rules as Written. Yeah 1st level characters, and its possible to play an elf or goblin; however, it would be like being a freeman (African American) prior to the Civil War. You'd risk being captured by bounty hunters and sold into slavery. But yeah that's how I imagine it.

[elf23]

I've been thinking about a Dwarf Artificer type... Maybe a gunsmith who combines technical precision with some kind of almost-forgotten semi-supernatural Dwarvish craft. A couple of questions about that type of character, if you think it might work:

• Would Dwarves in this campaign get Firearms training as a bonus / favoured feat (like Half-Dwarves do)?
• I was thinking the character would be an Adept (of sorts, maybe multi-classed with Expert at some point) - based around the Artificer training feat and the supernatural item creation rules in the Adept's handbook.
• However, the Adept core ability doesn't really fit, as an Artificer would never actually be using powers, per se, just imbuing objects with supernatural-like powers. So, i was wondering if you'd let me have the Expert or Specialist core abilty instead of the Talent?

[Kendermage]

Sounds like a pretty cool concept. He'd probably be an outcast from dwarven society, but the concept is certainly interesting.

I see no reason he couldn't swap his weapon training feat for firearms training.

I didn't really mention much about it but dwarves and humans have pretty much abandoned magic. Dwarves who are found using it are exiled. Humans that use it are looked on as madmen. To that end human adepts usually swap out the Talent core ability for the Synchronicity core ability in the modern section of the True20 Companion, which allows them to disguise their power use as something else.

To answer your last question; then yes you could certainly swap the Talent for Expertise. You could even explain his strange gunmage abilities as odd manner in which he puts together the components or some such.

Sometime ago, I had some similar ideas on gunmages. Take a look at this thread.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3979

[Kendermage]

BTW if you know anyone else who might want to join send em this way.

[elf23]

Yeah i've been thinking about his abilities being non-magical - maybe more of a mad scientist type, experimenting on the edge of weird science (which probably makes him a bit of an outcast as well, and possibly verges on elements of the supernatural / alchemical). Just using the supernatural powers and item imbuing as convenient mechanics for various effects.

I don't think i know anyone "in real life" who'd want to play by email... I'll mention it to my gaming group though. But hopefully some more people on here will be up for it!

[Kendermage]

The concept sounds pretty good. It kind of reminds me of Kevin Kline's version of Artemis Gordon, in Wild Wild West. I may run a soldier kind of in the same vein as Jim West from the same movie.

[The Shadow]

Interesting. I'm kind of pondering an abolitionist preacher, but I don't know anything at all about the religious setup. He might have some low-key powers that he thinks of as divine blessings, but are probably really the result of being an unconscious adept. (It may even be that his whole order has a holy book several pages of which used to be a spellbook, but they've forgotten all about that and just study it and memorize it - and those with talent can get somewhere with it without knowing that's what they're doing. Definitely would involve Synchronicity - it requires faith to see the miracle in it all. :)

Abolitionist, but not pacifist. There are some folks out there who just need killin'. :) Plus, of course, there are a variety of monsters who are abominations in the eyes of God (or the gods).

I don't have True20 Wild West. Is this a problem?

EDIT: How do goblins work? Take the background from the Bestiary? What are they doing in Karson? Are they slaves on the mainland too?

As for Wokia, is that a separate island or part of Karson?

[Kendermage]

Shadow,

Glad to have you aboard. The concept sounds great. It'll be interesting to see how he develops. You don't need to have True20 Wild West to play. If you have a question about something I can look it up for you.

[The Shadow]

OK, I'll get to thinking about him some more. PMing you to ask a few questions about specifics.

[The Shadow]

Oh, regarding favored feats - do humans get to pick their own, or are they set by culture?

[Kendermage]

They can pick their own. I don't have anything definitive decided for them yet.