Torn Journal Excerpt #104

I don't know who these people are, but they saved our scalps tonight. Another wave of void zombies attacked, as we expected, but there were other presences in the woods this night. A tricksome nature spirit came. It claimed to be the guardian of the island. I have no knowledge of the truth of this but I was not about to ask.

I had never been a superstitious man, but since landing on this accursed island I am beginning to think otherwise. At first I thought that someone was pulling a prank, but that voice, that ethereal presence. there can be no mistaking. It caused no harm, and led the strangers to our aid. It makes me believe our cause is true.  will be pleased with our work here, if we can ever get of this Gods forsaken rock. I will have to send for another boat.

Thursday's Session

Since it's been a while, we will be drawing plot cards at the beginning of the session, or as players show up. If you remember your cards and would like to keep those, this is ok. If you want to change them out, you can change one.

Since this is long distance it will be done by a fancy card shuffle/count that will make it as random as possible, all things considered.

New Trait Class - Designations

I have been dabbling with the idea of a new class of traits, Designations.

These would work like regular traits, in that each one could only be taken once. However, any number of designations could be earn by the player as they progress through a campaign.

There are currently five basic designations - Pilot, Driver, Helmsman, Navigator, and Engineer (not to be confused with the Engineer class). Each of these designations has three levels of progression, 3rd through 1st Class, or Novice/Journeyman/Master.

These designations confer skill check and other bonuses to the player due to their specialized knowledge in their individual fields of designation.

Take a look at the document I've typed up explaining how these work, and leave some comments on what you think, if you like them, would add other designations, or if you have any suggestions on how to fix them up!

Rolling Characters

For characters we will be rolling by the "dice pool method" with a pool of 24 dice. If, once you roll, you are completely unsatisfied with your character you may approach me for a mulligan. You only get one of these throughout the whole campaign (The Norbert Companion to Awesome GM Tools, Rule #76) so use it wisely.

Every will be recieving nifty background bonuses, provided you provide me with one. This will include things such as heirloom items, stat increases, feats, etc. so do not disparage below average rolling!

p.s. Traits are also incouraged for character creation, but again, anything involving extraplanar elements is verboten. Don't worry if an entry or a choice is unclear, I will be reviewing your characters before the first session to make sure everything is ok. Those who want play a class that would normally thrive off extraplanar magic (ie. sorcerers) can still do so, contact me and I will walk you through whats different and what stays the same.

General Startup Info

Some important preliminaries:

-This campaign will be run in Pathfinder.

-Each character will start at level 1. However, later on there will be the ability to do a sort of character tree. This is so that I can get comfortable with GMing as well as determine if there is large enough interest to continue.

-All Pathfinder races and classes are ok with a few exceptions. No on may play a character with an extra planar (outsider) race or bloodline, as well there is limited access to extra planar magic. That being said, If you have an idea for a character that involves either of these, still run it by me. You may be able to use it as a later character, or if you are clever, you can justify it from the start.

- Think about what faction you would like to be. Most of you will be starting as Keepers (total rail-road, I know), but this doesn't mean you can't have mixed allegiances. Each faction comes with nifty bonuses for membership, which I will discuss with you privately once you've made a decision.

- I would like people to pass their ideas by me in two stages. First, when coming up with a concept, I may be able to suggest factions, some of which are not listed in the Background. Second, once the character is created, so I can see what everyone has come up with (I'm super nosy like that).

- I have no preference for stat rolling style, but I would like us to come to a consensus. Message, email, or post your preference.

If there are any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask me.