I'm looking for players for a Labyrinth Lord pbp game I'd like to run here on the forums. Six players would probably be ideal, but I should be able to handle a few more or a few less. If you're interested, please post here and let me know what class or classes you would be willing to play. While your class choice isn't written in stone, this will give me a rough idea of the party's makeup so that I can start planning accordingly. You might want to hold off on actually rolling up a character until we have enough people to get things started, as the number of players will influence your starting level.
Here's the fluff:
A long and bloody war has finally reached its end as the last of the elven nations are crushed by the might of the Empire, but victory has not come without a price. The elves' reckless use of arcane power has blighted vast stretches of the land - streams are poisoned, crops will not grow, and livestock have been stricken with plague. While the nobility of the Empire hold victory feasts in their halls, the peasant folk are slowly falling to famine and disease. The Emperor himself seems oblivious to the plight of the commoners, and it is only at the insistence of the church that he has agreed to establish new territories in the hopes of finding new lands for the stricken and dispossessed.
Baron Kelgar, a recently titled warrior who fought valiantly in the war, has been granted a barony far to the north, in a largely unexplored wilderness area. Although he has proven himself a hero of the Empire, his criticisms of the Emperor's selfishness and decadence have not endeared him to the royal court. Kelgar's barony is a wild and inhospitable place, inhabited by dangerous beasts and hostile subhuman tribes, and while Kelgar was granted lands and title, the Emperor did not grant him any additional troops. Kelgar is expected to tame and settle this land with the shattered remnants of his household staff, his loyal friends and retainers, and a motley assortment of refugees and camp followers.
It was Baron Kelgar's hope that the dwarves, a race of beings little known to men, would prove to be valuable allies, but he has since discovered only a handful of survivors from among the once-stalwart dwarven clans. Each group of refugees has reported the same thing: their tunnels and cities have been overrun by the same vile creatures that now roam the wilderness.
The Emperor has promised to send men to the Barony, to help build a stronghold and to assist in the exploring and clearing of the wilderness, but help has been slow in coming. The crown refuses to send substantial aid until Baron Kelgar can prove the worth of the land, so he has put out the call for stouthearted adventurers who seek to make a name for themselves on the edge of a new frontier.
Campaign Website
I am putting together a website for the campaign over at Obsidian Portal.
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns ... est-barony
Please note that while I will be using Obsidian Portal as campaign website/wiki/record, the actual playing of the game will occur here on the Goblinoid Games forums. I could set up a forum at Obsidian Portal, but I figure since most of us already visit these forums pretty regularly it will be easier to play here. also, if I post something on the campaign website that is critical for you to know, I will also post the info, or a link to the info if it is a lot of text, here on our PbP forum.
That being said, it will behoove players to check in on the campaign website once in a while. As I add things to it, attentive players will be able to pick up rumors, clues, and other nuggets of information. Again, anything crucial to the game will be posted here on the forums as well, but there will be some things you'll only find out by reading the background and setting information on the website. Think of this as another way to "gather rumors" in the game. You don't have to read it, but if you do, you might find some interesting opportunities and knowledge.
House Rules
unless otherwise noted, everything will be run as per the standard (not AEC) Labyrinth Lord rules. I' am a bit of a house rules junkie, but I've kept my mania in check so that we're still playing "Labyrinth Lord" and not some weird homunculus of a system that I whipped up. I will be using some house rules. I may add a few more before play begins but what I have posted on the website should cover the major changes. in an nutshell:
- Fighters can use three different combat feats, giving them some extra utility on the front lines.
Spellcasters do not have to memorize their spells beforehand and can use higher level spell slots for lower level spells.
Spellcasters have the ability to cast 0-level spells. (I still need to post the list for magic-users). A couple of 1st level spells are now 0-level spells (Detect Magic and Read Magic for magic-users, Detect Evil for clerics).
Turning undead is now a 0-level cleric spell.
No PC elves.
Using a shield provides a greater advantage (+2 to AC instead of +1, and "Shields Shall be Splintered" rules apply).
More HP at 1st level. (hp at 1st level = maximum HD roll + 1/2 your Constitution score).
Starting Levels
As far as starting levels go, I'm still trying to make up my mind. 1st level characters have been beefed up a bit for this campaign, so that might prove to be a good starting point. On the other hand, if I can only get a small group together I may want to start characters a bit higher. Due to the slower pace of pbp, I will be increasing experience awards so that the players get a chance to see their characters grow.
Style and Themes
I am a firm believer in player agency, and my job as a GM is to provide exciting and interesting opportunities for adventure. It is not to railroad you through a scripted plot or regale you with a wonderful story I've made up. That being said, I know that many open-ended "sandbox" campaigns can suffer from "what are we supposed to be doing?" syndrome. Therefore, while I am going with a sandbox style of play, there will be many jobs you can sign on for, rumors to investigate, areas to explore and secure, and so forth. If the group wants to venture off and do their own thing, that's fine, but the opportunity to help secure the Barony will be there. All I ask is that if the group decides to leave the barony altogether and do something completely different, please be patient while I flesh out a different area of the world.
As far as the theme and mood of the setting... It's very human-centric, with a powerful monotheistic church. For the most part, human culture mirrors that of Europe in the 13th century. The war is over, the land is blighted, and things in the south are dark and grim. New settlements such as The Northwest Barony may be the key to a new and better age.
Aside from the divine magic of clerics, spell casting among humans is very rare and often feared. Although you will find yourself face-to-face with the supernatural on your adventures in the Northwest Barony, monsters and fantastical beings are almost unheard of in the civilized lands to the south. Your previous experience with such creatures is slim to none. The only other "civilized" races humankind has had contact with have been the elves, who now lay defeated after ruining the land with their spells and rituals, the halflings, who have long been allied with the empire and are not really that culturally or physiologically different from humans, and the dwarves, who have only recently made themselves known to the men of the Empire.
Posting Expectations
Unless i am out of town (which happens only rarely these days,unfortunately) I should be able to post at least once a day, if not more frequently. I would expect the players to post once a day, but obviously things come up and nobody can be expected to never miss a few posts here and there. If you're just going to be missing a few posts throughout the week, don't sweat it. I hate to set hard limits, but - as a general guideline - posting 5 days out of the week should be fine.
If you're going to be out for a while, just drop us a line and let us know. We'll figure it out from there and try not to get your character killed before you are able to come back to the campaign
To keep things moving along at a decent pace, I'll be using Rule #427-a, now known as "Kipper's Rule":
kipper wrote:As a general rule the way I keep a game moving as a DM is that I *don't* necessarily wait for all players to post before going ahead and making my next post, I simply tell players the rule that they have 24hrs between my posts to post their actions. After that time period, I feel fully justified as DM in moving the game forward in fairness to the other players. If a player hasn't posted, I usually have their character just continue their previous action or stand quietly in the background as may be appropriate.
