Iron Gods - Pathfinder AP

[Old Man Trouble]

I don't suppose there's anyone else out there really excited for this new adventure path from Paizo?

I'm seeking other like minded individuals who may share my interested. Idealy, this game would occur Tues, or Wed nights, EST, in the range of 5:00-10:00 PM. I've always been interested in the blend of fantasy with aspects from higher technologies, such as the old Iron Kingdoms campaign setting, or Eberron. Old games like Arcanum or the early games from the Thief series also come to mind. I'm looking for other active roleplayers to help delve into these mysteries and possibly even save the world in the process.

I've been scrupulously avoiding any sort of spoilers, so I'm not sure what might await us, but I hope to create a character that will become deeply involved in the story. As of now, it's just me and my half-formed notion of an explorer, seeker of buried knowledge, and the willingness to embrace with an open mind the different, the dangerous, the frightening, and the unnatural.

Please join me in my quest and we shall see what may develop, or lead me and my soon-to-be friends through this journey.

OMT

[Dr_Babylon]

I would love to play a part in this, if at all possible, but sadly, I cannot be your huckleberry.

[Old Man Trouble]

But, but... Dr. B! I counted on you to be running this game! (j/k)

[SheerANONYMOUS]

This sounds like it could be interesting. Do you expect to be the GM, or are you looking for one? And do you have any character restrictions?

[Old Man Trouble]

I am currently in search of a GM as well as additional, like minded players.

[SheerANONYMOUS]

Well, this AP certainly sounds interesting. I have no experience as a GM, but if this does get off the ground, I think I would like to participate as a player. Tuesday evening from 7:00 onwards is the only time I know I'd be available.

[RustyAngel]

I would be game for playing in this. Not too familiar with the world however and would need some info before writing up a character.

[DoomsDayPanda]

Hey new to a lot of this but willing to to join if you get it off the ground!

[Old Man Trouble]

It looks like we've got plenty of players looking to give this a shot. If there are any GMs out there looking for a new project, do let me know if you have any comments or concerns!

[Old Man Trouble]

Just kinda... you know... mentioning this adventure path again. Since the first book is now out. Player's guide too. If anyone would be interested in running it. I'm already considering my theoretical character, should it become possible to play one. 8)

[ThinkTank]

Intrested to see Conan Vs Magic Robots from Space taken for a spin.

Although still need to harpoon a GM to run it.

[Blackfoot]

I would also be interested in playing this one... you don't have a GM?

[Old Man Trouble]

Yeah, no one has stepped forwards to GM yet. I'm ready to offer financial compensation, or at least home made biscuits....
8)

[Mgrancey]

Hmmm... Do you mean you would provide the materials for the AP, do you mean you would reimburse for GM to purchase materials, or do you mean you pay someone to GM?

[darrenan]

If I wasn't already running two campaigns, I would gladly step up. I would be interested in playing in this one though, if it happens.

[Old Man Trouble]

It was meant more as a humorous aside, though I do make great buttermilk biscuits from scratch. On the other hand, if buying the AP is all that's holding someone back from GMing, do let me know. I'm sure I could figure something out. It looks like there are plenty of interested parties on the player side.

[avro5731]

are we getting a game going - I would like to shoot rainbow lasers

[Dr_Babylon]

The boy wants rainbow lasers, dang it! How can you deny him such a thing?

I continue to watch this brewing storm with great interest...oh yes...

[Mgrancey]

*shrugs* I was mainly curious and just asking.

[DFang]

If there's still room, I would like to join. :)
l though it looks like it's mostly players ATM...

[Dr_Babylon]

...How 'bout now?

[FraustTheSnowman]

I might be interested in running this...well, let me say, I AM interested in running it, and it MIGHT not be a complete waste of time for all involved :)
Having never run or played a game on FG yet I'd like to warn people well ahead of time that if I did run this I would quite possibly need a ton of help on the technical side of things.

Beyond the technical aspect, I wouldn't feel comfortable running it until I at least had the third book, and I'm not a subscriber, so I'm a couple days out from getting my hands on the second. Luckily, I have most of the first book already put into a campaign on FG, as I planned on running this for my regular group down the road...though I decided to continue on with a game we had started a while back instead.

Also, I'm not a big fan of voice games, so would prefer the game itself to go text based. It might be that that isn't practical, and I'm more than happy to change my mind on the issue if the need arises...but I've had nothing but issues trying to use voice in the various roll20 games I've been involved in. Optimally (in my opinion) the game itself would be run through text, and we would have some sort of voice up and running to do quick rule questions and the like, or general out of character banter.

For character creation...I'm fairly familiar with Pathfinder and the existing rules, so anything done by Paizo is good. Races beyond core are hesitantly good...as in one or two in the group is acceptable, particularly if you have a reasonable back story as to why you came from wherever the race is described to be native all the way to Numeria...but I'd like to avoid the menagerie of random weirdos type group. No scratch built races out of the Advanced Race Guide, but if you want to rework an existing race I'll listen to propositions. For example, I like kobolds, always have, possibly always will...played several through the years...the stats on a kobold in PF are a complete joke. If someone wanted to restat the kobold race to make something in line with the core book races, I would be happy to consider it.

Most third party is out...and I'm sorry for that. Being a single parent going to school, my free time is very valuable, and I choose to spend very very little of it looking at PF rules not done by Paizo. That said, I like what I've seen for Dreamscared's psionics, and there's a company that redid the binder from 3.5, I believe it's called Pact Magic...I love that concept, and would be willing to let someone play one of those as something of a test run. Otherwise...feel free to send me a link to something on the SRD, but I'll say upfront I'm going to glance at it, and if I don't absolutely love it within a minute, I'm going to say no.

The OP time frame (5-10 eastern standard I think it was, tuesdays) should work for me if it works for everyone else who's interested. I won't be able to commit to every week though. I could either commit to every other week, or have something a little more free form where we might play two or three weekly sessions in a row, and then miss two weeks.

But yeah...the long and short of it is, I'd be willing to run this, and able to start as soon as the third book is available in PDF form. Are people still interested in playing?

[Old Man Trouble]

Still interested. Will write more after work.

[Dr_Babylon]

I was all like "Marry me, Mr. TheSnowman!"

But then, curse you and your normal schedule. I'm pretty much never available until 10 pm Eastern during the week. Weekends are better but I understand others not wanting to tie up their Saturday evenings.

I am certain you will still make some people the happiest group of players that ever were.

[FraustTheSnowman]

lol well...a late schedule would potentially work for me too, I was just going off what was in the original post. We'll see what other interested parties say and go from there.

Weekends are either perfect, or terrible for me...and it's incredibly hard to tell what way it's going to go until it's already there. Basically, I go see my daughter every other weekend, but if weather or other scheduling issues mess with a given weekend, then the schedule is switched around. Having something to do on the weekends when I'm not seeing her, and something to do on the weekends where seeing her fell apart, would take a lot of the sting out of only seeing her so little...but at the same time, it would be far from a regular schedule.

[Old Man Trouble]

I kinda stick to my original post about schedule. 5-10 is my best window for weekdays. My weekends are pretty much full at this point. So far as the technical aspects go, I consider myself competent and can probably walk through much of what's needed to GM in Pathfinder. Entering the stuff from the AP into FG is by far the most time consuming process, along with any alterations and/or enhancements you wanted to do. I'd say finding maps, images, layout of encounters, etc are secondary. It sounds like you have a ton of work done already.

At this point, my schedule is full on friday - sunday, and free monday - thursday. Running 2-3 days in a row, then missing a week would be fine with me. The only thing I would caution against as far as every other week schedules is that Adventure Paths are long. I'm playing in one and running another. Both are nominally scheduled to run on a weekly basis. They started at about the same time, more or less. I believe both are approaching the end of book 1 out of 6 after 5-6 months. Sessions seem to get missed once a month, or sometimes twice. With running all 6 books, that's a commitment of 3 years.

I guess that's about it. Feel free to ask any questions you might like from my end.

[d1wright]

If it were a Tuesday schedule that skipped the 2nd Tuesday of each month, I would be interested. Early or late is optional.

[FraustTheSnowman]

OMT...Just so we're all on the same page, you're talking eastern standard time? I'm in mountain, so your 5-10 is my 3-8 if I'm doing the math the right way. Assuming so that works for me. In theory I'm free monday-thursday in that block, with monday and wednessday cutting in a hair close to the start time but doable. Thursday I might want to skip out an hour early due to a study group, but it's a study group for a class I could ace in my sleep, so it would be pretty rare I'd ever really NEED to actually cut out early. Tuesdays work the best for me.

Yeah, data entry is the only thing that has me truly worried at all. I was wrong though, I don't have all of the first adventure done, I have a little over three quarters done...so it'll be done by tomorrow night most likely...which conveniently is (last I checked) the day book 2 comes out for non subscribers, so I can start entering that in pretty soon. I'd at least like to read through book 3 before actually starting (I'm normally pretty adamant about having a whole AP before trying to run it...but I'm SUPER pumped about this particular path).

Was more thinking 2-3 weekly sessions in a row, rather than days, actually. Multiple days in a row, or at least multiple days per week would be a possibility, but it would be difficult to swing. I absolutely sympathize with the length of commitment, I'm in a Wrath of the Righteous game via roll20 that is just entering into the second book after probably 6-8 months...I just know running a game every week has crashed every time I've attempted it the last few years. I can say that if we agree on an every other week as the minimum I can make every effort to to run a session in the off week as often as possible. If that makes sense.

d1wright...I imagine we could make that work. Having the schedule look something like the first and third tuesday of every month, with the occasional game on the fourth tuesday as well sounds doable to me.

Only questions I can think of right now are what sort of a game would people enjoy most? Pulpy action? Sci fi fantasy horror? Good/evil/mixed? Anything in particular about Iron Gods you want to mention specifically that you'd like me, as GM, to focus on?

[Old Man Trouble]

I would imagine that the AP itself would set it's own tone. This one seems to be primarily fantasy with science fiction bleeding in. I am one of those people that avoid spoilers like the plague, so the only things I know are the blurb at the very start from Paizo, and the stuff in the player's guide (which was honestly a little too spoiler-y for me).

I personally tend towards the good characters. I don't tend to enjoy PvP Pathfinder, or inter-party conflict. I like it when the characters are more or less on the same page with goals that align. I find there's plenty of room for creativity, banter, cleverness while working as part of a team. I generally don't care what anyone plays, or how balanced the party is. If it becomes impossible to proceed down the path laid out, that's a matter that can usually be resolved. (I.E. monsters that can be hurt only by magic, and the group has no spell caster. Or a dungeon full of traps with no disable device. No healer? We just get plenty of potions/wands.)

[Dr_Babylon]

At the risk of seeming presumptuous, I feel that I can likely adjust my schedule somewhat if it will result in accommodating a confluence of d1wright and OMT (both top-drawer players in my opinion). I can commit to a start time of 6 pm Eastern if that would suit the needs of the many. Depending on how much voice-based communication you end up using (I respect your preferences), please consider me an avid proponent of this endeavor.

I very much concur with OMT on the question of mechanical balance. Decent teamwork and communication should assist in overcoming the majority of dilemmas and we demonstrate true character in how we wrestle with our most difficult burdens. Regarding alignment, I am more ambivalent, though often one must gauge the players involved. Portraying a skewed moral compass can be rather rewarding (if done with a little subtlety), but not if it impinges upon the enjoyment of our peers. I would subscribe to the notion that, whether a character is designed as a loner, a leader or a lunatic, all players should plan to work well together outside the boundaries of the game.

I must confess that I remain quite taken with this intriguing mix-up of settings (anyone ever play The 7th Saga on the SNES?) but I am doing my best to avoid all but the most essential information. I do have a somewhat challenging character concept who I believe would feel at home here but that remains a work in progress. On that subject, I should make it clear that I am very much interested in character interaction and development in addition to the more traditional goals involved with these procedures. Will the roleplay aspect likely be a focus or more the combat / puzzles / exploration side of things?

[FraustTheSnowman]

Having read through the first adventure I can say the focus is on exploration and combat, though there is ample opportunity for roleplaying, and I would be happy to add to that opportunity. It looks like most of you guys are interested in remaining as spoiler free as possible, but I would like to point out the community you begin in isn't one you stay in. I think that's good to keep in mind when thinking about characters and how they'll connect to the setting.

For party balance I'm good making adjustments to the adventure to let you guys make the characters you want to play, rather than feeling compelled to fill in party roles. Not that it matters as I'm the GM, but I lean toward more evil characters, though almost always with a focus on team work (largely due to selfish reasons, but team work nonetheless), so I appreciate a group of people who work toward working together.

For tone, yes the AP has a lot of inherent flavor, no doubt about that. Being somewhat investigative in nature I can lean it a little here or there though. Without giving too much away, I think the two avenues the adventure could go down most easily are something of a pulpy over the top action style adventure...as well as a nearly mythosesque horror style. But I'm good playing it out and see where things go.

Dr Babylon...haven't played 7th Sagan that I know of, but I'll look into it. Interested to hear about the character concept when your up for discussing it.

[FraustTheSnowman]

Picked up the second book and started reading through it. I've skimmed it over once, and am going to go back and read in detail while entering the info into FG. Not that I imagine it's incredibly relevant, but it looks like you don't completely abandon Torch after the first book, like I had believed and possibly mentioned earlier. I don't think Torch is quite like Sandpoint in Rise, where you really need to care about it as a character to fully appreciate all parts of the AP...but I don't get the impression it's like Riddleport in Second Darkness either, where you start there and then promptly leave never to return.

In my never ending quest to be an accommodating GM, what would people like for character creation? Generally the groups I play in go with 20 point buy (I abhor rolling stats, so that isn't even an option...sorry) and 150 gold, though we've experimented with 25 point buy in our latest game.

[Old Man Trouble]

I have no specific requests so far as character creation goes. I've done 15 point, 20 point, 4d6 drop the lowest... 20 point buy seems to be pretty average. With 15 point buy, you really need to pay attention to where and how you spend your points and you still end up with weaknesses. I would imagine 25 point buy to be fairly high powered, with no real weaknesses. I generally find it much easier to multi-class with more stats to play with.

I really have no preference though. Whatever folks want is fine with me.

[d1wright]

20 point buy is preferable to me.

Do we want to start a new thread in the Pathfinder section for further game setup so as not to keep bumping the Guild threads?

[ThinkTank]

I'd still be interested in playing, 5-10 eastern is alright for me, although I'd rather not run too late weekdays. Saturdays are free for me as well, but Sundays not so much.

Are you using anything in particular to organise the campaign? (eg like Obsidian Portal (https://www.obsidianportal.com/))

25 point buy usually insures a party has enough bite to avoid the majority of TPK bad roll singularities.

Pulpy or Mythos works, its pretty hard to judge how hyborian barbarian culture mixed with space magic will work out, but those descriptions sound about right.

Alignment wise I’ve never really cared one way or the other, tend to play by situation rather than by alignment.

[FraustTheSnowman]

I'll start a new thread in the Pathfinder section at some point today.

On the subject of Obsidian Portal...I've tried using it in the past and liked what I saw, but in the end my whole group was on facebook, so we just made a FB group. Opinions on this?

[ThinkTank]

Just found out about OP recently, and it seems a good way to organise times, info, characters etc.

[Old Man Trouble]

I have no facebooks, myfaces, or chirping birds. I do have obsidian portal pages. That would get my vote.

[FraustTheSnowman]

Cool cool. We did facebook cuz it worked the best for that particular group. I'm happy to give Obsidian Portal a shot.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?22230-Iron-Gods&p=188447#post188447

[ThinkTank]

Shunting this one back to the top again.

We are sans GM once more, so if anyones intrested the whole things set up and ready to go.

[Dr_Babylon]

That would indeed be pretty neat. We're awful grateful to the fellow who originally took the reins but his availability has been altered so we now have a number of terrific characters (and dedicated players) and no one to knock them down a peg or two.

Who among you can accept the challenge of Copperclaw and Crew (patent pending)?

[ThinkTank]

Bumping this one back to the top for some intrest now that FGCON has finished.

[darrenan]

You know I would love to. I'm in sessions currently with both Dr B. and OMT and really enjoy gaming with you guys. Unfortunately, just too full up at the moment. Maybe in 2016? Can you wait that long? LOL

[Dr_Babylon]

I'm buying a calendar now and making a note.

[Old Man Trouble]

Aw, come on. You can DM a third game. Ain't no thing, right? 8D

I know the feeling though. If I had more time, I'd run a second game. Maybe once one of my current games runs it's course, though that may be 2016 with you.

[ThinkTank]

Blip on the radar but no hard return, dropping depth charges!

[Dr_Babylon]

/e nervously approaches center stage and clears his throat before lowering his head to speak into the unattended microphone.

...How 'bout now?

[ThinkTank]

Bump for any GM intrest.

[Nickademus]

I'm not sure the state of the group at this time, but an AP in Numeria sounds most appealing. Not interested in running such a large campaign at the moment though.

[Old Man Trouble]

I believe the status is that we have a ton of players (enough for 2 groups probably) and exactly 0 GMs. 8(. We had someone for a brief time, but he was unable to continue and we never got past character creation.

I would be interested in running it somewhere down the road, but I would like to play it first.

[Nickademus]

Much as I expected.

[Dr_Babylon]

/e steps once more onto the stage, clearly surprised to find it more-or-less intact. He uprights the microphone from its position of disuse on the floor and peers a tad anxiously about the shadowy auditorium.

So...How 'bout now?

[kwarner1986]

You really want this to happen.

[Nickademus]

I could use a Wednesday game now. This would do nicely. So.... who brought a GM-in-a-bottle.

[SheerANONYMOUS]

I would still be interested in this for a Wednesday game.

[darrenan]

It's not Iron Gods, and it's not Wednesday, but how about this (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?23143-Zeitgeist-A-non-Golarion-steampunk-AP-for-PFRPG)?

[Nickademus]

Running a game on that day.

[ThinkTank]

May want to check back midway through febuary for a potential GM.