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The Governor's Gambit
The idyllic coastal City of Tarr has never been an easy posting. During the Great Orc Incursions of 6666 Tarr was a valued strategic port, allowing Human, Dwarven and Elven fleets to travel North to attack the Orc Hordes from the rear. But the war with the Orcs is long since over, and the port is now more important for trade than for a military staging ground.
But the Orc numbers will eventually recover, and the Elven Alliance will have great need of the port again, one day. The High Elves have decreed that the duty of protecting the City must fall to the Aquatic Elves who had remained absent from Artaria's troubles for far too long.
Governor Tanso has been tasked with achieving peace on the aptly named Coast of Carnage. Pirates, Drow, Goblins and the bloodthirsty Kuru have made it increasingly difficult to keep everybody safe, meanwhile his forces are bogged down in processing refugees from the Eastern Isles and curtailing crime in the Undercity.
It is for that reason that YOU are here. Governor Tanso has allowed Mercenaries into the city for the first time since his tenure began, a risky move, as Tarr's tentative situation has already been pushed to its limits. But it is a move that seems to be paying off. The City has plenty of work to go around and the Governor pays very very well. He has found that the best way to keep control of the mercenaries is to pay very very well.
- Pathfinder 1e
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- Pathfinder 1e
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- Miscellaneous
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Chosen for the Tigers Messengers
You have arrived in the land Newcomers call the Crosslands. Dek, the Creator, calls it the Land of Feather, Tooth, and Claw. And he is tired of his people being pushed into the corners of his realm by those he calls Skins. You have arrived between normal Arrivals, in an instance triggered by the Tiger God's own magic, to deliver an ultimatum to the marauding humanoid armies. If you survive, you will have a year of luxury to find yourself a place in this world. If you don't succeed, the Tiger has promised to wipe All Skins from his world.
Can you save the world? Can you survive the world?
This game uses 100 point- GURPS
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Forgelight
IRONSWORN: STARFORGED + MASS EFFECT
FORGELIGHT
- Ironsworn: Starforged
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- Worlds Without Number
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- D&D 5e
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Starlancer: A Path Home
Children of the Stars
For years you've noticed odd things about your life. Medical exams always seemed to be faulty, strange dreams have invaded your mind from a young age, and if you were raised by your biological parents one was significantly more mysterious than the other. The truth wasn't revealed until the day you were taken from your home, possibly to never return...
As it turns out your parentage is far stranger than you could have imagined. You are an in fact an alien human hybrid, the direct offspring of one of the most fearsome spacefaring pirates the galaxy has ever known. Even worse, that means you're technically a citizen of the Regency and are no longer allowed to reside on in a stage 3 civilization! Only the most trusted and capable agents of the Regency, known as Starlancers, are able to violate the seven empirical laws.
So you were given a choice. Become cadets, prove yourselves, and help save the galaxy for a ticket back to Earth. Or just live a comfortable life on the civilized planet of your choosing, receiving a fairly generous monthly stipend from the Regency in exchange for your cooperation. The choice is yours!
Galactic Heroes
Fluff done, commencing the crunch! Looking for 3-4 players, using the Star Wars 5e ruleset to create galactic heroes in training.
Level: You start at level 5 and can freely multiclass. Feel free to optimize, but please no ridiculous builds.
Abilities: For ability scores create two 4d6 drop the lowest arrays, picking either of the two arrays. If both are real bad I'll let you reroll if you want or just start the game with some heroic inspiration!
Hitpoints: Take the average on hit points.
Species: Any available species are fine and you're welcome to make homebrew requests.
Feat: You do start with the standard bonus feat at 1st level.
Gear: You have 4000 credits worth of requisitioned stuff and 300 credits in pocket money. Leaving a significant amount of your 4000 credits (over a 1000) aside lets you start with an extra point of heroic inspiration.
Background: Starlancer Academy only opens up to new cadets every four cycles so you might be brand new to all this alien stuff or already acclimated to it. Your Background can just as easily reflect your time on Earth or a natural inclination to certain skills.
Backstory: More than a paragraph and less than a book. Please be sure to include physical appearance, at least a rough personality, and what your alien species is like. Doesn't mean you have to follow it, just a general idea of where it's about. I'm cool with character hooks, NPCs, preplanned character development, etc. It's just not required. Age should be 16+. Starlancer Academy is very much an advanced training program and resemblances to high school are provided by certain students, not the curriculum.
Changes
Lightsabers: Reskinned as Psiblades. They function the same way, but you do need to have some Psionic (Force) ability to use them and they appear as regular weapons when not in use. While not "powered on", they still deal half their regular damage in kinetic damage.
Power Cells: Much like an archer doesn't count their arrows, so do you not count your power cells. Seriously, unless there's a survival themed mission going don't worry about it.
Vibroweapons: Following the same thought pattern as above, Vibroweapons are considered to just be regular weapons unless they have some kind of energy based effect, like an electrified stun baton.
Space Magic: Basically everything comes down to manipulating an all-permeating source of energy known as Ether, though many cultures have different names for it. The Force is seen as Psionics, Tech powers are seen as Technopathy, and most everything else is seen as Biomancy (like a Fighter moving super fast during Action Surge). Your natural control over it was one of the big reasons the offer to become Starlancers was extended in the first place.
Shades of Grey: Ether isn't inherently bad or good and neither is 99% of it's uses. Instead, it's broken into Blue Ether, Green Ether, and Red Ether. Blue (Light Side) is life, balance, and wisdom. Green (Neutral) is control, creation, and law. Red (Dark Side) is chaos, destruction, and power. If a power or trait refers to the "Side" of the Force, it refers to Ether type instead. Remember, most class features are considered to be extensions of Ether, so a Berserker's Rage would be Red Ether while an Engineer's Infuse Item would probably be Green. When it comes to Ether Types intention matters as much as affect.
Houserules
Heroic Inspiration: Works much like regular inspiration, but instead of advantage you automatically roll a 20! That said, it's much harder to come by and generally only gets rewarded during major story beats. So about as much as a forgetful DM rewards Inspiration.
Progression: You level after major events. During downtime you have the chance to swap out Powers (maybe even learn a new one), new languages, build stuff, new proficiencies, etc.
Deployment/Starships: Is a thing, but will happen organically during the game.
Aesthetics and General Rules
Vibes: Generally speaking my inspirations for this game are Final Space, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Guardians of the Galaxy, Outlaw Star, and yes the Dimension 20 Starstruck game. Fun, sometimes irreverent, sometimes serious, but colored more by the players and their decisions than anything else.
Posting Rate: I'd like once or twice a day, but I also know life gets in the way. I'm happy so long as the game keeps moving.
About Me: I've done PbP before and am from Reddit. Which, for reasons that are currently all over the internet, is a site I no longer use. Still, I am new here and apologize beforehand about any mistakes.
- Star Wars 5th Edition
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Restless Souls
The Northlands are part of the Lost Lands, this is our setting. You won't need the book (though of course it helps if you do), I'll give short descriptions, and any details you ask for.
Svilland is also a setting which I'm going to use for inspiration, and if you have the book you can also do that.
This is a game where smarts are going to be important against the undead, as your characters will realize soon after starting.
According to my plans, you can expect a mix of social interaction, wilderness exploration, and action; but it will obviously depend on the team's decisions as well.
- Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE)
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- Fate
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Reach for the Stars: A 4X GSRPG
What is this game?
Reach the Stars is a GSPRG that is a mix of group story telling and strategy game. The ultimate goal is entirely in the eye of the beholder but the game itself will last ~1 RL year if things go as planned and no major flaws are found.
The initial phase of the game will be a land grab while your home world remains hidden from potential enemies (unless you take the Drawback that removes this protection) for 6 turns. You will build a network of wormhole/jump point connected systems that will provide you with defense in depth when the inevitable invasion happens. It will be also the phase that leads to chance meetings between yourself and other powers, both NPC and PC, among the stars.
Will you make friends or enemies?
The initial phase of the game will be forcibly ended when the GM PC faction's pursuers (due to them taking Hostile Pursuit) arrive and begin invading basically everyone with varying degrees of interest. The faction(s) with the Hostile Pursuit trait will receive the majority of the interest, but the more of you that take that drawback the stronger and/or more pursuers will arrive to invade everybody. It also won't make sense to abandon those that took the Hostile Pursuit trait as, frankly, once they are all dead...the invaders will turn on the rest of you with the full force of the invasion fleets anyway.
So begins the military-focused portion of the campaign. You are no longer wide-eyed explorers but desperate defenders fighting to keep your people safe. You could continue to explore, of course, but should you? Who knows what you might stumble upon. Precursor reliquaries granting you technologies to defend your borders? Or new enemies who will seek your destruction that you've foolishly shown a path to your worlds?
Ultimately, victory is determined as it is in RL, by not dying prematurely. Good luck out there.
Rules & Discord Invite
Homebrew Rules (First Draft)
Discord - Valid for 30 days from the post date
Please reply to this thread with an "I'm interested" kind of comment since if I can't even get 3 players to read the rules and be interested, this obviously won't get off the ground. I plan to launch this on Baldr assuming I get enough interest and we can agree on the rules.
Victory Condition
There is no singular "win condition" unlike a traditional 4X. Your goals should be as varied as the civilizations & players that decide to play the game.
Everyone who doesn't die to the GMPC's triggered Hostile Pursuit is considered a winner in the simplest sense.
Defeat Condition
Losing all your systems will end the game for you, whether due to PC or NPC activity. I debated about a permanent "homeworld shield" that keeps homeworlds invulnerable forever but it feels weird narrative wise. If people want it though, I'm down to have impossible to invade homeworlds unless you take the Botched First Contact drawback which only functions if you can be invaded on Turn 1.
Co-GMs Wanted (max 3)
Realistically, to have a large scale GSRPG, we need more than just me to moderate the game. Each GM will have a player faction being GM'd by yours truly to keep things roughly fair and to avoid issues. I intend to run this game with 0-3 Co-GMs since 3 is the max players I think I can realistically GM for with 3 week turns.
I'll probably hand off GMing of my player faction to another GM if one exists.
Co-GMs will be responsible for the overall storyline of the game in cooperation with me. Adding new faction types, long term plot lines, what the Hostile Pursuit factions do the general story when they arrive, etc.
Priority will go to people I've worked with/played with before but I'm open to anyone really.
Game Operation
This is an alpha test of the game rules and such the rules will be subject to change every 5 turns to handle balance issues and/or to add content that might be fun. So if you want a polished rule set this isn't it.
This is my second attempt at a 4X SciFi GSPRG.
The main issue with the first iteration was it was primarily a design sim for ships. The other issue was Espionage was too strong/easy to accomplish "big things" with. The last was it was too easy to form "big alliance blocs" that players needed to be in to be competitive technologically/militarily.
There was also the danger of things like Zerg rushes and other issues that I think these rules resolve. They weren't really an issue in the first game but will be in this one due to the number of fleet turns I'm imposing on alliance like behavior. (i.e. You need 5 positive relationship tags which will take 2-5 turns to accomplish of a dedicated diplo fleet of which you have limited fleets)
I think I've fixed that with the new rule set (very little if anything was transferred over if we are being honest). The design space has shifted to entire systems/fleets with minimal micromanagement of either. It also does away with the overly complex automated combat system so it is easier for people to understand.
The goal run time for this game is 45 weeks or 15 strategic turns (with rule iterating being done on Turn 5 and 10 respectively).
Each turn is meant to run for 3 weeks to give time for actions to resolve and diplomacy to happen. Despite a turn taking 3 weeks, you might be engaged in 5-6 conflicts that you'll need to complete during that time with rolls/tactical decisions.
As such, this game will be in dire need of Co-GMs and I'm capping it at 3 players per GM. That might not seem like alot but you need to keep in mind, each GM is going to need to maintain 2-6 plot lines per player (1 per fleet).
I'm not guaranteeing any of the above timelines either, its just my best guess of how long things will take to run/resolve. The goal is to run it for 15 strategic turns and complete it in ~1 year.- Homebrew
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Homebrew Classes Solo
Visit Kibbles' site, you can find the free classes almost at the bottom.
The character is a video game player (MMO or single player, makes no difference), and gets stuck in the game world, which becomes impossibly realistic after an in-game rest.
The character will lose 5% of current Xp when they die, and will respawn at a location known to the character, chosen by the player. I think 5% Xp stings, but not tragic, and this will strongly encourage the player to play smart. This also means I will NOT hold back, because the character won't really die.
Since no system is exactly the best for solo play, unless it is specifically designed for that, I'm planning to use the method of one such game: contacts.
If you need a skill or ability you don't have, you'll have to find a contact, and invite / hire them to do the job, which might involve accompanying you at least temporarily. Finding a contact will be easy in this game, exactly for this purpose. Experts like this will be in abundance, so it's going to be character/player choice to pick the one based on the price (material or favor-based).It will be up to the player to roleplay/control such companions or leave that to the GM.
Another way is to have more than one PCs, which is fine with me; which also makes the Warlord a usable class here..
- D&D 5e
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- Miscellaneous
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Tales Of Golarion
Sun-bleached cobblestone marks ancient works of Man.
A place of ordainment, now stained by a winnowing hand.
'Cross the waters wicked plots unfold; heroism thus provoked...
...Within Shadow and Mystery...
...By Sunfire and Gunsmoke!Sunfire & Gunsmoke
East-ward the dusty Missa Shelf lies the ancient city of Almas, capital of the free nation of Andoran and one of the largest and most influential cities on the Inner Sea. 'Fore there was ever a democratic state of Andoran, 'fore even the Empire of Cheliax, Almas has stood proud on that southern coastal shore, over-looking mighty Absalom and the vastness of the Inner Sea. Here in these dust-swept hills, between shipyards and blacksmith, between forest and river, haunting rumours arise. A celebrated local politician goes missing. New gangs of misfits suddenly appear on the streets, hounding the good folk of Almas for their spare coin and confounding the Golden Aerie, headquarters of those most infamous Eagle Knights.
But when the wrong ruffians find themselves at crossed odds against the townsfolk, an unexpected duo finds themselves in the crosshairs. One, a talented and lawless gunslinger of questionable reputation and even more questionable motive, the other, a stoic by-the-books Clergyman in service to Sarenrae, Goddess of Light and Fire. As the criminal intent of the newcomers to town finds itself placed up against the priest and the lone gunman, the two are forced to work together in order to survive the fallout. Soon after, it has become apparent that these two aren't just unlucky passersby, but specific targets on a growing list of local citizens! Can these two polar opposites set aside their differences and put an end to a new Crime Lord before she has a chance rise from the shadows to take over the City, or will they fall into conflict over their fundamentally opposed world views? Can the two targets listed as "Sunfire" and "Gunsmoke" manage to unite and figure out who is trying to kill them both, or will their unseen foe prove the quicker draw?
Shadow & Mystery
In Great Absalom, the Greycloaks are the chosen defenders and guardians of the City and it's million inhabitants. Across the street, the Pathfinder's Society and their Grand Lodge serve as the headquarters to a global ambition of a wild world, tamed and brought to heel. But beyond these lauded heroes and glory-chasers, the Aspis Consortium has never wavered in it's devotion to the bottom line. Treasure, adventure and rebellion against authority all act to draw the "morally flexible" and less-than-heroic toward it's ranks. Most common folk only see the Aspis Consortium as a diverse group of non-landed nobility with their own private army of mercenaries, who have no ties to any one nation. But you know differently, and as one of the new recruits you know that there are discerning minds who guide what you know as "The Corporation", watching your actions with careful, calculating eyes. The Corporation have become brokers and procurers of rare materials, exotic magical weapons and highly valuable items; for you, that means dangerous, highly lucrative work. This has increased its prestige with the nobility and the powerful who desire these goods...
...But the Corporation's well-deserved reputation for high profits and once-in-a-lifetime ventures is balanced by ever-increasing suspicions and spreading rumours about their unscrupulous business practices. In the settled lands bordering the Inner Sea, the Aspis tend to maintain a pallor of respectability, but the farther one travels into the wild hinterlands, the more its agents' subtlety is replaced by open violence and worse. Can freshly recruited Aspis agents "Shadow" and "Mystery" complete their next series of tasks, or will their inner humanity and the possibility of shaking off the tethers of their dark masters lead them down another path? Can we escape our pacts and bargains, or will those claws prove too deeply entrenched for any to escape their fate?
- Pathfinder 1e
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- Ironsworn
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Ophidian Sands
Ophidian Sands
A Dungeons & Dragons campaign in a cursed land of blood and sand.
Ophidian
noun
noun : ophidian; plural noun : ophidians; adjective : ophidian
1. a reptile of the group Ophidia; a snake.
adjective
adjective : ophidian
1. relating to or denoting snakes.
Zoology :
Ophidia (also known as Pan-Serpentes ) is a group of squamate reptiles including modern snakes
and all reptiles more closely related to snakes than to other living groups of lizards.
"Even gods and kings suckle only dust from the desert."
~ Dambian saying
THE SETTING
Centuries ago, the Opidian Valley was the center of a powerful kingdom of yuan-ti, whose hubris and wickedness knew no bounds. They were such a blight that it is said that even the land they lived upon was disgusted by them. Their mighty kingdom fell into ruin about the same time their massive slave population rose up against them and killed nearly every yuan-ti in the Valley.
What was once a lush jungle has slowly transformed into a blasted, arid wasteland that continues to get less and less habitable. From the center out, the sands that now dominate the Valley are turning to salt, and within a few centuries, life within the Valley will become next to impossible. The Ophidian Valley is truly cursed, and when it goes, so too will the people that live in it.
The yuan-ti were watched carefully by their neighbors as a dangerous enemy that had no qualms against raiding and enslaving anyone who came too close. With the wicked snakemen scattered, the slaves filled a power vacuum and founded a confederacy of four city-states in the south near the Dambia River. The confederacy quickly established itself as a mercantile power, largely because of their laissez farie laws and primitive firearms they had developed. As one of the world’s few sources of these weapons of war, people paid handsomely for their manufacture. Despite a general lack of resources and a limited capacity for agriculture, business has always been good in the Valley.
But today, the people of the Valley have become complacent. Dark things from the latter centuries are organizing in the deep deserts to the north and soon the quarreling civilization will be overrun by creatures they had long since thought dead. And in the meantime, the Valley is a ripe opportunity for enterprising adventurers with equal parts daring-do and foolhardiness to carve a name for themselves in the blood and sand.
"There is love, of course. And then there is life, its enemy."~ Seven Hundred Seventy-Seven Sayings of Saint Seymour, CCCLXXXVI
THE GAME
Ophidian Sands is a (if you'll pardon the unintentional pun) sandbox game using the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition ruleset. It's a sword and sorcery campaign with light survival elements in a homebrew setting. This is the second game I have run in this world, the original of which was with my face-to-face group. My intention was to create a shared world, where the setting provides a skeleton for players to insert their own ideas without too much fear of upsetting an overprotective DM. I expect each player group and I will take the world in a different place with each iteration.
So as such, it's incumbent upon you as a player to be invested in being creative and accommodating of others' creativity. The game won't go anywhere if your character isn't somewhat self-winding. You'll need to provide an impetus for your character to go forth and interact with the world. This will be a player-driven game. It's my job to take the various story threads the players craft, tie them together, and give them tension.
HOUSE RULES
It's important that I be up front with you that I'm using this game to test a number of extensive house rules that are born out of a desire to tinker with Fifth Edition to satisfy my personal tastes. You can find those rules [ HERE ], and I don't want you to be surprised about mechanics you're used to not working the way you expect.
CHARACTERS
Make a post [ HERE ] with your character, named after him/her.
Character creation rules in detail can be found [ HERE ].
A character portrait is mandatory, but I have done my best to provide a useful gallery for you to use (or not) at your discretion. At the very least it serves as a visual guide for immersion into the setting. You can find that [ HERE ].
You'll want to read up on the setting [ HERE ].
"The yuan-ti are dead, but all the vipers are still alive."
~ Caleseth, Saeren Ambassador to His Excellency's Court in Majaeda
RECRUITING NOTES
I have been playing in and DMing table top RPGs since 1997. I am not a perfect DM, so I do make mistakes. Having been a continually active member on the site for several years now, I have seen both good and bad examples of how it is done here. (With any luck, I'll manage to be one of the better DMs...) If that is a concern for you, I think my posting history speaks for itself, but feel free to do your homework on me to your satisfaction.
I have tried to be as explicit and thorough as I can so that this is as smooth a process as possible for you. To that end, I took the time to write up some policies and expectations from me you may wish to know about in the future. Hopefully, they will preemptively answer some common questions I have seen on game recruitment threads. You can find those [ HERE ].
I am looking for 4-6 (depending upon quality of application) players who are dedicated to a long term game that are proactive in their posting, easy to get along with, and overflowing with creativeness.
Yes, I will accept a new player to the system. I believe a prospective player with a strong character concept that ties in well with the setting will not have to worry overly much system mastery or optimization. It is far, far more important that you create an interesting person to roleplay.
Any other questions or comments feel free to ask for help and I will be more than happy to assist.
Good luck, and may the gods look upon your offering with favor.- D&D 5e
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Eberron PF2e
It’s a world of magic with airships and dragonmarked dynasties; the Last War has ended, sort of; it draws on both pulp and noir for inspiration; and familiar things may not be what you expect them to be.
Your characters are members of the Clifftop Adventurer Guild, a guild with a good reputation that gets the job done.
- Pathfinder 2e
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Psionic Trio
The Setting
In any world, people want to travel from one place to another. However, outside of the stable regions, our continent has been invaded by some unknown force, making the general landscape volatile and dangerous. There are Rifts that open to other worlds, allowing their environment to seep into this one, including 'natural' phenomena and creatures. People who can't use psionics (no manifester levels) are extremely susceptible to these dangers, so they seek psionically awakened ones to guide and escort them from one safe region to another.
Whether out of altruism, financial gain, duty or desire for excitement, the characters are a group of such guides currently in Earth-helm. By chance, there's a small group of nobles intent on leaving in a day, not waiting for a trader group. They are willing to pay much better than traders, only they know why.
Character Creation
- Source: PFSRD Psionics Section
- Races from the link above, I'd prefer no duplicates
- Available classes: Aegis, Cryptic, Dread, Marksman, Psion, Psychic Warrior, Soulknife, Tactitian, Vitalist, Wilder, I'd prefer no duplicates
- Level 1 (reaching level 3 during the adventure)
- Attributes: 30 points to buy
- Pathfinder 1e
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- D&D 5e
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- D&D 5e
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Open thread: Safe Haven
Hi all, I am looking for a group of writers to create a storyline for a town with a marketplace and everything else that goes on in a town: harbour activity, clandestine stuff, schools, cloisters, monks, doctors (good ones or bad ones), gallows, outlaws, pubs, criminals, royalty, nobility... in short, you create a character who can live in Safe Haven. A soap, if you will. I am looking for regular writers, who can create posts with more than 5 sentences.
The story will start with Rosemary of Eldormere, who sails into town on a barge, which is her home but also is her apothecary. She has a 15 y.o. stray on board, Sergei, who is looking for his aunt Juniper de Nouvelle, but for the past 3 years they haven't been able to find her. Is Safe Haven the right town? Has anyone seen Juniper? In the meantime, Sergei has developed quite the skill for herbs and under Rosemary's guidance he has begun treating people for all sorts of ailments, most of the time with succesful results.
Anyone keen to jump in?
For character info the story needs:
- Full name
- Place of birth
- Physical Description (use a fun image!)
- Personality/character: write a least one paragraph to describe.
- Your friends/frenemies/enemies in town
- Marriages, family setting and intrigues (whether you hate or love, you decide)
- Miscellaneous
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Empire City
Empire City is a superhero game about heroes protecting the Big Apple on Sentinel-Earth. The Guard cannot be in Empire City all the time, it's left to your team of Superheroes to protect the citizen of Empire City from various threats.
- Tristat
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- Miscellaneous
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Avatar Legends: Water & Mist
Trouble is brewing in Republic City—First Gentleman Varrick has been kidnapped, and a conspiracy is afoot!
For the last two decades, Wakkanai—a Southern Water Tribe business magnate and inventor—has managed Republic City’s water treatment plants on behalf of the city government. Yet it now appears that the Utilities Commission is poised to award the water management rights to San Ho, a mysterious Earth Kingdom businessman! President Zhu Li Moon is sure San Ho has rigged the situation…and she strongly suspects he might even have something to do with Varrick’s recent disappearance. Can the heroes discover what Varrick has to do with this dastardly plot and stop San Ho’s machinations before it is too late?
- Powered by the Apocalypse