Kingmaker in the Viking North
Some additional information...
What to expect from this game, and my style of dming:
Just as in the original adventure, this play through will feature a strong emphasis on wilderness survival and exploration: Albeit with an emphasis on encounters with the more sinister aspects of the fey controlled wilds. As such, combat and skill use will play a very large part. Roleplay and storytelling still remains my favorite part of being a GM, but in my time running real life games, I've learned that its better to let the players determine how much roleplaying they actually want to do.
This is a philosophy I've learned to extend to other aspects of play: Meaning that ultimately, I leave the direction the game goes in to my players. What that means in the case of this game is that should it make more sense for the party to abandon their frontier exploration and instead venture into Irissen, or engage in political backstabbing in one of the nearby towns, I will roll with it. Some of my best experiences as GM have emerged out of the need to improvise. I like to draw part of this improvisation from the players themselves; taking aspects of their backstory and weaving them into the arc of the game.
That said, I expect this game will feature a relatively balanced mixture of role-playing, puzzle-solving and combat.
Gameplay and rolling:
Players will roll all attack rolls, and most skill checks, including voluntary perception checks to search an area or detect details about the immediate environment.
For the sake of maintaining the pace of the game, I will roll player character perception checks and saving throws when player characters are targeted by an effect or when the characters may percieve something that they were previously unaware of (for example, I would roll the perception check for a character performing watch duty to see if they hear the crunching of snow as a group of bandits closes in on the party's camp). I will, however, leave players to decide when and if they want to use "sense motive" during a conversation. I will also roll inititative at the beginning of combat.
I will roll for all npcs and enemies.
Posting rates:
I will attempt to maintain a minimum posting rate of 1 post per day, if not more. I would like players to post at least once a day as well. However, I realize that this isn't always possible. In this case, I ask that players send me a message ahead of schedule to say they will be unable to post, and for how long. In the case that a player notifies me that they will be unavailable for a week or more, I will post actions for them on their behalf. Players who are absent for more than a week and do not notify me will be shelved.
On another note, applications are looking very good so far. The application is open until the 14th, at which time I will close the thread and review applications. I will be posting a table of applications and any work that needs completion.
Thank you for all the interest so far, and I'm looking forward to getting this "Vikingmaker" under way!
