(Pathfinder) Considering starting up a... unique campaign.

[Kelsey MacAilbert]

It would be unique because the landscape of the nation the campaign would take place in (Vendalia) is best described as a fantasy version of Australia, but with a lot more lakes and rivers (Vendalia still has deserts and other dry areas, and possesses the iconic Outback landscape in many areas, but not quite so much as the real Australia.). Vendalia has all the Australian wildlife one could wish to see, is part of the "British Commonwealth", and is located in much the same area relative to other nations as the real Australia. Where Vendalia differs from Australia is that it was colonized by the "Chinese" first, then the "British", and has a very large "Chinese" population as a direct result of this. Vendalia also has a much larger "Greek" population than Australia (and Australia has a pretty big one) do to immigration. The same goes for Italian. The ethnic groups in Vendalia, in order of size, are: "British" (this includes "English", "Welsh", "Scottish", and "Irish") (30%), "Chinese" (28%), "Greek" (17%), "Italian" (12%), Aboriginal (11%), and Other (2%). Vendalian culture mostly mimics Australian culture, except for some areas of "Chinese" influence, which will be explained in the game thread. Vendalians do wear their hats with the brim up Aussie-style. The Australians started wearing their hats with the brim up so that soldiers could carry a rifle over that shoulder without the hat getting in the way. The Vendalians started for the same reason, except with a polearm instead of a rifle. In both cases, the tradition is no longer purely military, and is iconic of the nation.

This campaign will revolve around the players being members of a Vendalian government organization tasked with dealing with monsters and magic users that pose a threat to innocent life. This organization is called the Vendalian Commonwealth Ranger Service (Despite the name, the Ranger Service takes people of all character classes, not just Rangers, as it needs a wide variety of skills in order to do it's job.), and accepts both men and women into it's ranks, as well as people of all races.

So, is anyone interested in such a campaign? I won't start it up if nobody wants to play. If anyone has advice, I'd like to hear it. Also, I'm getting a used copy of Oriental Adventures off Amazon, and if I find anything useful when I receive the book I will modify it for Pathfinder and introduce it into the campaign.

This campaign has the same medieval tech level as is familiar in D&D/Pathfinder, as I'm assuming the existence of magic and favourable socio-economic conditions have allowed a colonial era MUCH earlier than in real life.

The campaign starts at 5th level, and all characters are gestalts. Paladins in this campaign must be Neutral Good, not Lawful Good, and those features of the Paladin class that deal explicitly with law and chaos have been accordingly modified, as has the code of conduct. If anyone wants to play a Paladin, I will gladly provide a list of these changes. The reason I use NG Paladins instead of LG Paladins in pretty much all my campaigns is because I like the idea of a Paladin beholden to the ideal of good above all else, including law and chaos. These Paladins will always do the right thing, whether than entails working with law, against law, or neither.  

[Kelsey MacAilbert]

I might allow homebrew classes/races on a case by case basis. As for level progression, the rate is fast, so all characters start out with 10000 XP.  

[Raganui Minamoto]

It's definitely interesting. You may wish to give a bit of info into the question of are they new recruits or old members of the ranger service.  

[Kelsey MacAilbert]

Raganui Minamoto

It's definitely interesting. You may wish to give a bit of info into the question of are they new recruits or old members of the ranger service.

It's be up to the player. The Ranger Service allows people to apply directly for entrance, and takes those it thinks show promise. If that was your background, you could a veteran of a year or two (or three), having been a ranger since first level. Conversely, the Ranger Service also offers transfers to promising people in other combat professions (and sometimes accepts requests for such offers if the person seems useful), so if your character was, say, in the military or otherwise employed as a warrior (unlike most real world medieval governments, Vendalia has professional law enforcement, so you could be a former cop if a military background is unappealing), and was noticed by the Ranger Service, you could start play as a new recruit who is at fifth level due to previous combat experience outside the Ranger Service.  

[Rain Yupa]

Are you using ethnicities instead of humanoid races? Just curious.

I don't actually know all that much about Australia, besides the fact that everything's poisonous. So I'm going to pass on the opportunity myself sweatdrop  

[Kelsey MacAilbert]

Rain Yupa

Are you using ethnicities instead of humanoid races? Just curious.

I don't actually know all that much about Australia, besides the fact that everything's poisonous. So I'm going to pass on the opportunity myself sweatdrop

I can explain the needed information about Australia to be able to function in this campaign. It isn't too much. I don't want to break it with too much required reading.

I'm using humanoid races, but assuming that they also mimic humanoid ethnicities (so there are Asian elves and Aboriginal gnomes to go along with the European versions of the races [Elves still act like elves, though. They just look a bit different, and different elven ethnicities speak different dialects of Elven. The same goes for other races.]).  

[Strawberry Bathory]

I'm not sure whether I like the setting or not yet... the basis on real-world geography and cultures yet using high-fantasy races, creatures, and magic makes it feel, I guess, awkward and potentially problematic. More detail into the local and global setting would be very nice.

Still, I'm interested in giving it a try, especially since I've been wanting to play a gestalt character for awhile now. Which method of generating ability scores would you prefer?

 

[Kelsey MacAilbert]

Little Miss Chloroform

I'm not sure whether I like the setting or not yet... the basis on real-world geography and cultures yet using high-fantasy races, creatures, and magic makes it feel, I guess, awkward and potentially problematic. More detail into the local and global setting would be very nice.

I aim to do some work with elven, dwarven, orcish, gnomish, and halfling cultures so that they vary by region in the same way humans do while remaining noticeably non-human. For example, Aboriginal elves are nowhere near as isolated as European elves, and in fact are typically found living as respecting elders in Aboriginal human communities. Aboriginal elves retain the same love for art and nature as European elves, it's just that they would rather share their knowledge and interests with humans than live apart from them. Aboriginal humans, meanwhile, revere them as being highly intelligent and worthy of listening to. However, this can lead to Aboriginal elves seeing themselves as superior to humans (European elves aren't exactly innocent of elitist behaviour, either, but they don't tend to live or rule over human settlements like Aboriginal elves do), and when that happens it often turns out very badly, as elves are perfectly capable of being cruel bastards when the mood strikes them. So, while Aboriginal elves do not form the same types of communities as European elves, they share many of the same interests, and their behaviour reflects typical elven attitudes. Both elven ethnicities are long lived, wise, artistic, nature loving, and somewhat aloof and/or elitist, but one tends to live apart from humans because of these attributes and the other advises/lords over them because of the same attributes. This is the approach I aim to take with all the fantasy races: the general theme is the same, but specifics differ wildly.

Little Miss Chloroform

Still, I'm interested in giving it a try, especially since I've been wanting to play a gestalt character for awhile now. Which method of generating ability scores would you prefer?

6d6, best 3. Gestalt characters can be pretty demanding when it comes to ability scores, and this is a pretty high powered campaign, so having a high set of ability scores is acceptable.  

[Strawberry Bathory]

First 20 out of 36d6 for stats

 

[Strawberry Bathory]

Remaining 16 out of 36d6 for stats

4, 1, 5, 1, 3, 2 = 12
3, 4, 2, 6, 3, 5 = 15
3, 1, 4, 2, 2, 4 = 11
6, 5, 4, 1, 2, 1 = 15
5, 2, 6, 6, 5, 3 = 17
3, 2, 4, 1, 3, 2 = 10

Sadly, with great volume of dice does not come great power.

 

[Rain Yupa]

It would be more appealing to me if it was "D&D with Australian aspects", rather than "D&D... IN AUSTRALIA". It might have intended to be more of the former, but it definitely seems like more of the latter.

If you don't get enough interest, and decide to tone it back a bit, I'll reconsider then smile  

[Strawberry Bathory]

Rain Yupa

It would be more appealing to me if it was "D&D with Australian aspects", rather than "D&D... IN AUSTRALIA". It might have intended to be more of the former, but it definitely seems like more of the latter.

If you don't get enough interest, and decide to tone it back a bit, I'll reconsider then smile

Ya, that was kinda the issue I was having with it. Would probably actually be far easier to just make the setting a island nation (similar climate/size to Australia) with an asian-influenced australian-like culture/mode-of-dress.

For one thing, with the existence of magic and the proof of God(s) as well as actual mythical beasts roaming around, world history and culture would probably have developed vastly differently. An Australia settled from such a world quite likely wouldn't be anything like real-world Australia in terms of culture, neither would any other of the major cultures.

Just imagine how much different things would have been if the Romans had had Mages who could teleport troops and supplies across the Empire. If the Mongol hordes had ridden dragons instead of war ponies. If there was proof of more than one God, or the Romans had just blasted Jesus and his companions with lightning bolts from the sky before his message could be passed on... and all of western culture is completely changed without the existence of Christianity.

So ya, that's the problem with trying to use the real world and it's existing cultures in a high-fantasy reality.  

[Kelsey MacAilbert]

Little Miss Chloroform

Rain Yupa

It would be more appealing to me if it was "D&D with Australian aspects", rather than "D&D... IN AUSTRALIA". It might have intended to be more of the former, but it definitely seems like more of the latter.

If you don't get enough interest, and decide to tone it back a bit, I'll reconsider then smile

Ya, that was kinda the issue I was having with it. Would probably actually be far easier to just make the setting a island nation (similar climate/size to Australia) with an asian-influenced australian-like culture/mode-of-dress.

For one thing, with the existence of magic and the proof of God(s) as well as actual mythical beasts roaming around, world history and culture would probably have developed vastly differently. An Australia settled from such a world quite likely wouldn't be anything like real-world Australia in terms of culture, neither would any other of the major cultures.

Just imagine how much different things would have been if the Romans had had Mages who could teleport troops and supplies across the Empire. If the Mongol hordes had ridden dragons instead of war ponies. If there was proof of more than one God, or the Romans had just blasted Jesus and his companions with lightning bolts from the sky before his message could be passed on... and all of western culture is completely changed without the existence of Christianity.

So ya, that's the problem with trying to use the real world and it's existing cultures in a high-fantasy reality.

I concede that you have a point, and will go with the suggestion in the first paragraph and use the Australian climate with a fictional culture. The Vendalian culture is a blend of Celtic and Chinese (which are it's two largest ethnicities) with some Greek, Roman/Italian, and Native influence.  

[Laertes Ursus]

... Dammit. I can't pass up the possibility for Gestalt.

Rolling set 1.

 

[Laertes Ursus]

Rolling Set 2...

1, 2, 3, 3 = 8
1, 6, 5, 4 = 14
1, 2, 5, 6 = 13
2, 2, 6, 1 = 10
3, 3, 6, 4 = 13
5, 4, 6, 4 = 15

... The dice gods really don't want me to play.