Perils of the Salt Road

[Killian]

Hey everyone this is the intro to a game I am hoping to run starting in mid to late January. Please read all the info and then private message me with the Title Salt Road Campaign with your application. Please read both posts including the questionnaire I will reply with an email address you can send it to.

The Salt Road is the main trading route through the kingdom of Viridor. The kindgom itself comprises of the human lands in the centre of the continent and the barony of the Halfling Lands to the west. Viridor XII is the latest of the heriditary line and has kept the peace his forefathers began with the elven forests of Mythriel in his lands and the dwarven kingdom in their mountain fortress of Fyndor. These primary races live in relative peace and unity and free passage is allowed within their lands to some degree. The orcish warbands of the south have been peaceful of late, some of the older generations amoung the humans remember a army marching through to the middle kingdoms where they were routed by a combined alliance of humans elves and dwarves. Of minor historical note is the king's cavalry force sweeping through and killing the Orc Chieftain's personal sorcerer at the Battle of Saltlick.

The village of Saltlick is a welcome rest stop along the road that transports the goods of the sea and far off lands back to King Viridor and likewise the produce of athe main races pass along to be bartered traded and sometimes stolen. The trade route has always been seen as such, though it is known that many centuries ago a contingent of dwarves set up posts here to facilitate trade but subsequently disappeared. Today the village has grown up aroundthe road and the inhabitants survive by selling their services to passing traders and adventurers

Here are a few details about the game:

Begin at 1st level
All characters begin at first level, I will be using D20 ruleset after it seems more stable than 3.5. The game will be D&D 3.5. Character creation will be as follows:
28 Point Buy
Core PHB Races I will allow subraces such as wild elves but I will not allow Drow. There may be an option to have your race altered at some point in the game
Class
You can use PHB, PHB 2 the Complete series and Races of stone wild destiny etc. including alternate class options from those books No Tome of Battle or Psionics (they make my head hurt and my monsters bleed from the eyes)
Traits/Alignment
As per PHB two please choose two traits for your character. I expect these to be followed or informed if you plan to have them change by events. No evil alignments The questionnaire will help decide your alignment but you must have a nee dto place current circumstances above self interests or at least not stab your friends in the back.

Character
This is a tricky one. I love roleplaying, I love complex characters and I love trials flaws and mannerisms. What causes a drain on the party are characters that clearly cannot work in a group or function properly. I do not want a party comprised entirely of LG paladins but at the same time I do not want a group of hooded silent loners, hyper aggressive barbs that chop heads for sideways glances; or bards that sing too loud when not quaffing their weight in beer. Be sensible, the campaign will have you working with others and pursuing goals as a group so please be aware of this when you make your character.

Setting
I am still coming up with some of this but aside from the italics assume standard PHB (Greyhawk) planar system, magical laws and also deities. I am Using PHB deities as a basis and probably won't be adding more but if you wish to play a religious character and want more info let me know. Your characters will all be residents of Saltlick either born there or long time residents and all of you will be just coming of age for your race.

(For Crusader and any others) The setting is High Fantasy and Adventure. Your characters are not adventurers yet but will quickly become one. You will fight, you will also negotiate or solve puzzles or be swept up in events. There will be dungeons and they will be important but to get there you may need a few real world skills and abilities. Healing magic is well known and life certainly isn't cheap but there are roads back from the brink of death.

I do hope that answers most questions. I am looking for 6 players to game regularly on a Wednesday Evening GMT+0 around 6-7PM every 2 weeks for the foreseeable future. I will also keep 2 people on reserve for when more than one person drops out. Game sessions will probably last between 4-5 hours depending on everyone's committments.

[Killian]

Please note that this questionnaire is mandatory but does not replace a character background, it is to ensure a full and well thought out character that I hope you will enjoy as much as the other players and myself enjoy interacting with them. Also if any the questions make you uncomfortable just state such and move on. I recommend this be copied and apsted in a word processor and done at your leisure, once you submit your request to me in a private message i will give you an email address to post your answers. Also, please paste in body of the email I do not open attachments.

Disclaimer: Though most questions will not, the Relationships, Fighting talk and Life before adventuring sections of this questionnaire may affect your character’s starting alignment. That said, most characters will start somewhere in the neutral area, having had few momentous decisions in their lives. A character with a completed questionnaire will receive a bonus xp upon commencement of the campaign. However, “My character doesn’t really care about X” is an acceptable response to “What is your character’s favourite X?”



SECTION A: PREFERENCES

1.What is your character’s favourite;
Colour
Food
Time of day
Smell
Alcoholic beverage
Language
Word
Type of plant
Animal
Mineral
Mathematical theorem
Piece of religious dogma or scripture (Greyhawk pantheon, obscure or otherwise)

2. Describe, briefly, your character’s ideal situation in the world.

3. Where does your character see themselves in ten years time currently?

4. Describe, briefly, your character’s ideal house (place of residence)

5. What doesn’t your character like about themselves? What would they change?



SECTION B: HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS

Describe your character’s likely actions in the following situations.
1.Your character, and three other PCs, are lost in the wilderness and find a ring of three wishes.
2.Your character returns home to find that a powerful wizard is mind-controlling their home town. However, it is now a utopia.
3.Your character and a friend are walking through a seemingly endless desert. You have a single water skin left, and no means of obtaining more.
4.Your character and a friend are in single figure hit points deep in enemy territory, and your only healing is two clw potions that your character holds. (These will get either one of you to half, or both of you to quarter)
5. Your character returns home to find their house is now being used as a pig farm by a man who has a forgery of the deeds.
6. Your character is eating lunch in the forest, and a mangy looking dog, obviously starving, sidles up and starts making eyes at them.
7. Your character finds the remains of a trader’s caravan. All the traders appear to have been killed by wild animals. However, in a box in one of the carts is an exotic looking purple egg as wide as a man’s waist.
8. A local official is demanding that your character go hunt down some outlaws in the local woods. She’s not going to pay you because she thinks you should do it out of the goodness of your hearts, and says so.
9. Your character discovers that a crazy elf has been poisoning the water supply. However, your character also knows that revealing this may heighten racial tension, and innocents may die.
10. Your character finds their way blocked by a door that is radiating strong evil.



SECTION C: RELATIONSHIPS
(A note: anyone wishing to have their character involved with another PC prior to the campaign should discuss it with the player before mentioning it here. That said, I fully endorse love triangles)
Describe your character’s relationship with their parent(s). Do they talk? Do they remember birthdays?
Describe your character’s attitudes towards romance
Describe your character’s attitudes towards sex (If the answer to both 2 & 3 is “not really interested”, or “would rather read a good book”, please proceed to section D)
Describe your character’s attitude towards the opposite sex
Has your character had boyfriends or girlfriends in the past?
If so, how many? How far did they get? How did it end?
What, if anything, does your character perceive as constituting a relationship? Is a girl that they’ve kissed once their girlfriend?
Does your character see marriage as an impending doom, or something that will happen in a hazy, far-off future?
What, if anything, does your character perceive as cheating?
How badly disfigured/polymorphed would a partner have to be before your character ditched them?
Does your character think that all sex with a nonhumanoid is bestiality? What if they are sentient? Polymorphed? A construct? Where do they draw the line?
Describe, in twenty words or less, your character’s ideal romantic partner. Bonus points if in haiku form.



SECTION D: LIFE BEFORE ADVENTURING
Describe, in detail, your character’s bedroom currently
Now, describe your character’s bedroom when no-one else has bothered to clean it in a month
What kind of shoes does your character wear?
What has been the most terrifying moment in your character’s life to date?
As a child, what kind of hi-jinx was your character likely to get up to when left unsupervised?
As an adolescent, what kind of hi-jinx was your character likely to get up to when left unsupervised?
Did your character pay attention in school? What did they do instead of paying attention? Was your character a bully?
Where does your character spend the most time currently?
Did your character ever have any pets? What happened?
Give a brief overview of important events in your character’s life to date. (Those of you with biographies already needn’t answer this)



SECTION E: FIGHTING TALK
Does your character hold a grudge?
What is the longest standing grudge your character has held?
Has your character ever been provoked into, or provoked a fight with someone? When? Who came out worse for wear?
How easily would your character be provoked into violence?
In what circumstances could your character be provoked into violence?
Does your character regard violence as necessary? Obsolete?
If your character wanted to kill another person in their home town, how would they be likely do it?
How would your character express hatred? How would they treat someone that they hated, socially?
How does your character define forgiveness?
What is the most spiteful thing that your character has ever done? Are they ashamed of it, or do they believe it was justified?



SECTION F: COSMETIC DETAILS
Hair colour? Naturally? Otherwise?
Hairline? Hair length?
Eye colour?
What’s their complexion like? Do they sunburn easily?
Height?
Weight? (Take a rough guess)
Build? (Are they broad shouldered? Wide hipped? Busty?)
What does your character wear on a daily basis? (N.b. Your characters are not adventurers at this point, so no answers of chainmail or traveller’s outfit, please) Describe colours, fit, and generally your character’s fashion sense or lack thereof.

[VenomousFiligree]

Count me in!

What causes a drain on the party are characters that clearly cannot work in a group or function properly.

Maybe we should discuss our concepts, prior to putting in a lot of effort, to make sure the Party works out?

[Orphite]

I am definitely up for this. I'll get to work on character creation and the questionairre post haste. Here's to a world of fun

[Killian]

Thanks that's a good point feel free to discuss your ideas and how they might meld with a group although your characters are from the same village they do not have to know each other personally but will know in passing, and should have the capacity for working together.

[VenomousFiligree]

So I'm possibly thinking of a Half Orc Druid - mistreated as a child he fled the cruelty of the townsfolk and has been living with nature until recently, when he has made his first foray back to Town. I realise a Half Orc may not go down well in the party, so if that's the case he'll be human instead.

[Crusader2010]

Count me in if we can do 7PM GMT+0! I had fun the first tryout session (sorry I couldn't make it to the second). I'll start sending you info soon.

[ButtatakiBuddha]

My character Idea is a warlock who got his powers from a treant he encountered when he was lost and dieing in a forest.

[Blahness98]

Count me in as well.. I can always retool Galen a little bit and make him a little more personable. Or I can do a chain fighter. Been hankering to test one of those out. Or a rogue or whatever the party needs of me.

[Orphite]

I was thinking of playing an elven wizard with a major artistic streak. He wants to adventure so he can become powerful enough to create his own magical worlds/objects of untold beauty.