Evolution of my Pathfinder campaign

I recently binge-watched Game of Thrones from first episode to last of the 4th season in order to prepare for the recent premiere of season 5, and I have come to the decision that I really want to add some flavor to my campaign setting.



Though I'm intending on using the old Dungeons & Dragons setting maps for Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance and the like, I've never been one to read much of the history of the settings. Though I would gladly utilize signature characters such as Elminster, Raistlin Majere or Lord Soth, I never really used much of their back story or the surrounding stories that exemplified the novels of Ed Greenwood, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I always gave them my own personal spin, and everything worked out well.



While watching GoT, I thought of a few things I want to add to my setting:

• Families with notable histories and various duties.


• Firm religious orders with hierarchy setups and ideas on how to possibly progress a religious movement.


• Working off the religious orders, I want to create 1 or 2 that are counter to the norm. (i.e. cults)


• Not that I feel that it would actually come-up in the campaign I have designed, but military orders at various levels for each family and royalty. (i.e. Kingsguard, Night's Watch, The Unsullied.)


• I had already planned on having some special swords for a specific part of my overall storyline, but I never really thought of naming them until watching GoT.


• Secret societies like Skull & Bones.

As I'm writing this over the course of several days, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2nd trailer was just released, and I would also love to incorporate some of what I'm seeing from that as well:

• Going back to the religious orders I mentioned above, that would include something similar to the Jedi and Sith. Could also be considered a military order as well.


• Ruins from epic battles that will make my players take notice. (i.e. The ruins of a fallen Star Destroyer from the SW trailer, the Titan of Braavos.)


• Military orders with notable differences in rank and file. (i.e. The different Stormtrooper uniforms/armors.)

This means a lot of work ahead of me before I am ready to get this game actually going. This is taking me a lot longer than I had originally anticipated.



My biggest roadblock is that I have never been good with coming-up with names... especially for a fantasy setting. I love the family names George R.R. Martin came-up with, and I'd like to try and create names that give a similar feel when you hear them. You can't deny that (at least from those who have either read the books or simply watch the TV series) you have some sort of feeling when you hear the name Lannister, Stark or Targaryen. I want to be able to instill similar feelings into my players when they come across NPC's from my noble families.



If you happen to have a good resource for fantasy names, please leave a comment.

Update on my epic Pathfinder campaign

A lot of what I've been doing to prepare for my Pathfinder campaign is to pick-up a few specific D&D books to add a little flavor to the game. Here's what I've got so far:

• Dragonlance Campaign Setting


• Dragons of Autumn


• Dragons of Winder


• Dragons of Spring


• Expedition to the Demonweb Pits


• Expedition to Castle Ravenloft


• Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk


• Expedition to Undermountain

I actually have all the books I need in PDF format, but I prefer having the physical copies so I can easily add notes in the book (sticky notes, that is) to clarify specific Pathfinder items. (i.e. Where I can find which monsters stated. Specific treasures dropped at specific locations.)



Right now, I'm looking for a few different key modules to fill-in whatever gaps I may have in my campaign. The whole reason I picked-up the "Dragons of" books is because I loved the original modules they are based from. It's been quite a long time since I used modules, so I can't remember which others I enjoyed playing when I was a kid. I'm open for suggestions.



As I believe I mentioned before, I plan on having this campaign cross campaign settings; that's why I have books for Dragonlance and the expedition books that are keyed to Ravenloft, Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms.



Character Creation Idea's:



Here are a few things I'm going to use for character creation-

• Group character creation. 


• Starting campaign setting- Forgotten Realms.


• 4d6, re-roll 1's once per roll. (I want to try and have a better than average stat pool for characters.)


• Max HP @ 1st level. (Yes, I've decided to start the characters at 1st.)


• Max gold @ 1st level.


• 4-5% chance for every player to play a non-standard/special race.


• Random magic items-




• Each player will roll-up a totally random magical item.


• After all items have been generated, the group will decide who should get what.


• Any items not claimed will be "sold back" at their value and the total divided amongst players who did not receive a magic item.


• Players with GP from selling the items will be able to purchase magic item(s).


• All items gained like this at character creation will be considered heirloom items from the character's family, or something similar.

Faith Between Realms:



As my loyal readers know, I intend to have the party travel between several of the campaign settings and I was a bit concerned about the logistics of clerics & paladin's being able to receive their divine power when they are essentially cut-off from their chosen deity.



I didn't feel comfortable with allowing deities from setting specific pantheons travel into other settings, and I didn't feel like having a single cosmology for all the various pantheons. It took me a bit of thinking, but I came-up with a compromise that I am comfortable with and I think any players who decide to play a cleric or paladin will like.



Before the character attains their 1st level as a cleric or paladin, they go through a series of trials for confirmation in their chosen faith. The last of these trials will be a high priest telling the character a tale of how their chosen deity chose their very first cleric or paladin. At the end of the tale, the character will have a vision of the deity who imbues their holy symbol or weapon with a small piece of them.



My thoughts behind this is that the piece of the deity will be enough to maintain the divine abilities for the cleric or paladin and the symbol or weapon is keyed specifically for that character. I want to also provide a minor benefit, but I haven't yet settled on what that will be.



More to come later.

Cosmology of the Universe

I hope the title doesn't scare you away, but I'm actually going to touch on 2 topics in this post:

1. Religion in my upcoming Pathfinder game.


2. The planes in my upcoming game.

I don't intend on being preachy and I'm not a fan of any singular religion.



Religion-



In the current PF game I'm playing in, I'm the token Cleric and the church of my characters religion (which also happens to be the predominant religion for the empire) has started to spin out of control since the newest emperor happens to have been a high priest. Corruption shakes its very core, and inquisitors seems to be everywhere. Because the party I'm in is such a thorn in the side of the church, they have actively started to take action against us. (There's a longer story to this, but I hope you get the basic idea.)



At the moment, my character has claimed his birthright as county lord in one of the duchies of the empire, and he's seeking to form a new church based on the original tenants and beliefs he was originally raised on without the corruption of politics.



This got me to think about my own PF campaign. If anyone happens to decided to play a Cleric or (God forbid) a Paladin, I'm seriously considering creating a structure for their chosen religion rather than the "I visit the church and yada, yada, yada." I don't want religion to be a consuming aspect, but there must be more to a Cleric's faith than just the ability to heal and cast spells.



Religious holidays are an aspect that I don't think I've ever really encountered in any fantasy setting. In other games, I've never once seen a Cleric who was devout enough to actively tithe on a regular basis, confess, take part in regular church ceremonies (mass, communion, bris, etc.) or anything like that. I know it's not very conducive to an adventuring campaign, but I think there should be more expected from someone who has chosen to play a faith-based character.



My only issue on the topic of religion for my game is how it will be affected by the next topic...



The Planes-



My original concept was to run a campaign in a singular setting with a few key adventures/modules. As I worked to acquire the necessary books for this undertaking (Yes, though I do have the digital copies I still prefer to have the physical books), I started to re-think my original idea. This was born out of a question I posed regarding the interaction of the different campaign settings. I wasn't 100% certain if they were parts of a single planet or if they were individual planes unto themselves. The response I received from my query was that they are each individual planets, but could be traveled to via magical means.



So I thought long and hard on my options, and I think I will incorporate all the settings into my campaign design. But now the crux of my current dilemma... what about religion?



If a Cleric of Mystra were to travel to the lands of Greyhawk, what would happen to their powers? Greyhawk has it's own pantheon, but would the deities work together? As my personal belief system would welcome the thought of all the deities of the various religions being able to work together, I just don't see it happening with large groups of deities. Sure, I can belief that Jehovah, Allah, Yahweh and such can either be a single deity or work together, but for Zeus, Mystra, St. Cuthbert and Cthulhu I don't see it reasonably happening.




I guess the question I'm dealing with is how do I keep the plan of hoping settings intact without disrupting the abilities of Clerics or Paladin's? I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on these topics.

Continued progress

While my personal schedule is filled with things like work, school and family, I have had a little time to myself to think about what I'm going to offer my players for this "epic" campaign I'm designing. I want to give it the right mixture of classic fantasy, but also go into some ideas that I've never really gone before.

In a word: GUNPOWDER

I'm familiar with settings like Stephen King's "Dark Tower", and that's kind of what I'd like to bring to this game. I've never included gunpowder in any of my games before, and I'm reaching out to those who have for some advice.

• Are there any pitfalls you may have encountered with gunpowder in your fantasy setting that I should be aware of, and how did you manage to overcome them? 


• Will the addition of gunpowder to the campaign detract from the magical nature of the setting?


• If I allow my players to have access to gunpowder weapons, are there any limits you would suggest?

I always like adding a bit of diversity to my games. As many of my players can attest to, when I run a genre specific game (i.e. Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, etc.) I open it up beyond the "confines" of the specific game. (i.e. For any singular World of Darkness game, I always add elements from several of the other games to help provide the proper feel of "You're not alone in this world" -or- "You're not actually top of the food chain.")



For those players that are interested in playing a race outside of the norm, I'm going to give them a chance... albeit a slim one. 4% or 5% depending on the player's choice. Here's what I was thinking:



   4%- (player rolls)

• 2 #'s = the players current age and *2. (i.e. Player is 23 so they get 23 and 46.)


• 2 #'s = chosen by the player

   5%- (DM rolls)

• Extra # chosen by DM.

I'm not sure how this option will be received, but I thought I'd give it a shot. As always, I welcome your thoughts. I've already modified some of my design based on the feedback I've received thus far, and I DO appreciate the feedback.

The NPC progession & character creation

As I've mentioned before, I enjoy bringing old characters (mine or others) back to life in the form of NPC's in my games. This way the back story that I or a friend originally created can live on or evolve into something new.



The Pathfinder game that I'm working on will be no exception... but it will take some serious work on my part to bring back some of my favorite characters into a fantasy setting.



Since about 1997, I've primarily focused of playing or storytelling White Wolf's World of Darkness games. Most of these games have been in a modern setting. While many of the character concepts can be easily translated to a fantasy realm, there are those that will just not do like the hacker character that I've re-envisioned from a ghoul in a Vampire: The Masquerade LARP to a house-bound Glass Walker for Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Although it could be done with some serious tweaking of the concept, I'm just going to let it go as there are a plethora of other characters I can use.



I'm planning on spreading these NPC's out across the land, but I'm sure that there will possibly be 1 of them that will travel with the players depending on if there's a major gap in the parties needs.



So that got me thinking about character creation. I'm actually considering the first session of the game to bring everyone together to create their characters at one time. This way, we could try and strategically craft each character to fill the roles for the party. I've done this a couple of times before with the mortal campaign, and it seemed to work well.



For those ST/DM/GM's that allow players to have technology at the game table, how do you regulate players from being distracted by going online? I'm torn on technology at game for a number of reasons:

1. It's a distraction to players and they frequently lose track of their place in the game.


2. Not all players have the necessary books for the game, and I would like to be able to share my digital copies as well as other specific online resources.


3. Sending players an IM for secret communication is easier than slipping them a written note.


4. Allowing players to use computers or similar tech for character creation will allow me a chance to gather copies of everyone's character sheets easier.

Depending on the location of the game sessions, the solution to the online issue could be as easy as not allowing players access to the wifi. If the sessions are held at a public place, like our LGS, then I don't really have control over that.



For the books I have digitally, it's easy enough for me to have them available to download from a thumb drive. Certain online resources, such as d20PFSRD.com, are invaluable to have access to. If only I could find an offline program that had the same functionality of that site, with all the information included. (You'll have to take a look for yourself to know its usefulness.)

The beginning dilemma

So, I want to make this campaign epic and memorable so that the players will remember it and stories will be told for years. I have the overarching concept for the game, plus the end result for the finish. There is even a clever way of getting the party together. But right now I'm stuck on the horns of a dilemma...



Do I start players at 1st level characters, or do I advance them so I can get them into the meat of the epic?



I plan on having experienced players for this game, so it's not like we'll have a huge learning curve to get through... but the way I'm bringing the characters into play, they won't necessarily be accustomed to their skills and class specific stuff like spell casting.



I feel that if I start the characters off at 1st level, there may be a level of boredom for the players as the tediously advance to a level where I can begin running them through on of the adventures I've scouted for this campaign.





I know that reading this may not make much sense to some of you, but I don't want to give away my surprise for this game. Think of it like watching M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" or "Signs" for the very first time. You didn't know what the twist was or where it would come into play, but when it did come, you were amazed... or at least amused. I'd like to try and get that feeling from my players.



I've already been able to adapt a couple of modules from 3.5 to get the characters to at least 3rd or 4th level, and that's almost enough to get them ready for the larger campaign.



I am planning on giving the players a brief questionnaire that will help me to give the world a feel that they would enjoy instead of playing everything cookie cutter canon. My intent is to give the campaign the fantasy feel of whatever setting world they choose, but give it enough customization to liven it up and give it a more personal feel. (i.e. Inclusion of black powder weapons. Use of undead.)



I welcome your thoughts and opinions.



I think the next step I'm going to take is developing my NPC's and figuring out a clever way to organize character creation.

Onward I go

As I'm working on the specifics for each of the campaign settings, I realize that I really wished I hadn't sold all my old D&D books (save the AD&D hardbacks that I still have). I'm fairly certain that I had each of the adventures I want to run for each setting... minus Dark Sun, because I never really got into it. I had most of the 3.5 conversions, where they were published... like Expedition to Ravenloft or Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk. I'm working on reacquiring some of these books as I have a need to have the physical copy in my hands even though I have digital copies.



As for the Dragons of Autumn and Dragons of Winter 3.5 books, I was fortunate enough to find someone who was selling them off at a very reasonable price. (Not nearly what I found the Dragons of Spring book for, but also nowhere near what others are asking for them on Amazon and eBay.)



Something I think I'm going to start doing is actually using the digital copies that I have to keep notes on. This is easy to do, and I don't mark-up... thus devaluing... my physical copies. Never done this before, but I need to roll with the technological advances at my fingertips.



So far, I have plans for the following campaign settings:

• Forgotten Realms


• Dragonlance


• Greyhawk


• Ravenloft

I'm very on-the-fence about Eberron. From what I remember of the setting, it's good but I don't know that there were any "epic" adventures for it.



Dark Sun is basically out. As I mentioned above, I never really played it so I am very unfamiliar with the setting. Same can be said for Spelljammers. I don't even think they made a 3.5 version of SJ, so that works to my advantage.



Though I'm familiar with the Oriental Adventures setting for D&D 3.0, I don't think I'm going to offer it as an option because another DM is working on an oriental themed game as a continuation of the campaign he's been running for several years now.



I posted a poll on a Facebook group for local gamers that I help support, and it seems like the majority prefer Forgotten Realms. Even though my purchasing has been focused on Dragonlance, I think I should turn my attention to FR now and see what I can put together.

The planning begins

When the concept for the new campaign hit me, I was very excited about the prospect of being able to DM a large-scale game again. I don't want to give away the surprise I have in store for the players, but I will divulge the process I've gone through to come-up with the finished product.



I'll be the first to admit that more often than not, I tend to improvise on much of my campaigns. I'll start with a great concept and get much of my good ideas out within the first few sessions... and then I'm left with an open story but I've lost connection with how I would like to see the players get from point A to point B.



To alleviate that problem, my concept isn't about the actual A to B, but rather an overarching issue that the players will need to solve and the middle will be filled with some of the great and epic adventures that D&D has produced over the years.



My first thought was to use the Dragonlance settings series of "Dragons of" modules. Margaret Weis retooled these modules for 3.5, so it wouldn't be hard to convert them to Pathfinder. I loved these modules when I was younger, and I felt that they would be good for the "filler" for my campaign.



Dragons of Autumn, Dragons of Winter & Dragons of Spring are the names of the specific books that compiled the entire "Dragons of" module series for D&D 3.5. I didn't have any of these books in my collection, and unfortunately I didn't even have digital copies either. Fortunately, a friend was able to find a copy of Autumn for me, and I found a very reasonably priced copy of Spring. I have my eyes open for a copy of Winter now.



Only a few days later, I started to think of other epic adventures and modules D&D has had to offer over the years, and it made me think that perhaps I should broaden my idea outside of a single campaign setting and let my players choose where they will adventure. We've got Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Dark Sun and so many other settings available. I'm a personal long-time fan of Ravenloft and Forgotten Realms... but I also love the Temple of Elemental Evil modules based in Greyhawk.



At this point, I've decided to come-up with a few options for my players with regards to setting. Since I'm going to be taking my time with my research and development for this campaign, I'm really looking forward to the end result of it and the beginning of a new gaming experience.

Working on a new campaign

Recently, I had an epiphany. I haven't actually run a large-scale game in quite some time. Over the past few years, I've run a couple of Hunter: The Reckoning games and I'm currently running a Werewolf: The Apocalypse game, but nothing with more than a small handful of players.



I remember a time when I was running games with 5-8 players. I kind of miss that. More to the point, I haven't run any really epic games in many years.



That's got to change!



Last year, I was finally introduced to Pathfinder. I've found that I like it, and I'm going to use it for the system of my next campaign... but with a twist. I'm going to work on adapting a few classic and epic modules from AD&D, 2nd edition and 3.5 to be run with Pathfinder.



In order to accomplish this, I'm going to have to do quite a bit of research and acquisition of books. I sold all of my D&D 3.5 books several years ago and I only have a couple of Pathfinder books. Fortunately, most of what I need I have available in digital format... so I'm not starting from ground zero.



For this and the fact that I'm still working to complete my schooling, I'm going to take (at least) the next year to create this campaign. I plan to give my players a lot of options at the beginning of the game from character creation to actual campaign setting. Not sure what I'm going to title the campaign either, but I'm going to blog about the progress of my research and acquisition under the label of "The Pathfinder Progression".