creativerepositoryblog

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One of the things I love most about Golarion is that there is a ton of stuff left unwritten. It allows me to expand on things in my games and invent new things to further enrich the game world. A part of the setting that always interests me are the divine being they have and how the interact with their followers and each other. On one of the Pathfinder FB pages I play a little game of creativity where I ask about what kind of character you would make to follow a god. This week I'm looking at The Soralyon, the Empyreal Lord of guardians, magic, and monuments.

Sitting at our theoretical gaming table, our GM turns to us and says, "All of the characters must be followers of Soralyon, although they do not need to be divine casters." What character do you make? Who are they? Why have they chosen The Mystic Angel as their patron? In what ways do they further this Empyreal Lord's goals? Why would he be attracted to this beings doctrine?

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There are many narrative aspects that get included into RPG. Some easier than others depending on what system you're using. Most - although not all - games have a linear approach to storytelling. The players move the plot forward in the moment. So unless the game has a design for it that often leaves out certain narrative constructs. This week I take a look one such device, the flashback.

Have you used flashbacks or other kinds of cutscenes in your games? How have you made this work in games without a specific way to do so? Flashbacks often focus on one person, how do you include the whole party in one persons history?

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The good guys always win or do they. It isn't often at the end of a movie the villains go over. But failure can be a great learning experience for the heroes if you can find the right balance of wins to losses. Its a hard thing to find but today lets talk about some of the issues with your players facing defeat. Have you ever handed your player's a decisive defeat mid game? Have you ended a a story arc with the party's loss? How many wins to losses do you hand your opponents?

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For a lot of new GMs sandbox games can be overwhelming. Meanwhile boxed games can seem to linear. For many newer GMs a canned campaign is the best starting point, but there are ways to branch out from what is in the book, while still staying true to the main plot of the story. These are tricks you learn over time but here are some ways in which I've expanded on the premade campaigns I'm running. But I'm not the only one who makes adjustments and additions. Let's here some other examples on the topic. How have used supposedly one off or throw away NPCs in your premade games? What adjustments to plot have you made while keeping the general story structure whole? How have you let your players add to the world in which their canned story is taking place?

[creativerepositoryblog]

Monday means a new creative challenge. I liked the things I saw for last week's random rolls and hopefully more of you will step up to the plate. This week we have an interesting case from a story stand point that I think will draw out some fun backgrounds.

So lets jump right into the rules.

1) Read the background bits and randomly rolled stats

2) Write a background that ties everything together - any length this is for fun no homework

3) Post your finished creation as a reply or reblog, and on the blog if you like, for all to see.

4) Receive a gold star from me and maybe the adulation of your peers

On Friday we can compare notes as I unveil my background and see the similarities and differences. Best of luck to you all.

[creativerepositoryblog]

One of the things I love most about Golarion is that there is a ton of stuff left unwritten. It allows me to expand on things in my games and invent new things to further enrich the game world. A part of the setting that always interests me are the divine being they have and how the interact with their followers and each other. On one of the Pathfinder FB pages I play a little game of creativity where I ask about what kind of character you would make to follow a god. This week I'm looking at The Geryon, the Archdevil of forbidden lore, heresies, and snakes.

Sitting at our theoretical gaming table, our GM turns to us and says, "All of the characters must be followers of Geryon, although they do not need to be divine casters." What character do you make? Who are they? Why have they chosen The Serpent as their patron? In what ways do they further this Archdevil's goals? Why would he be attracted to this beings doctrine?

[creativerepositoryblog]

This week's character posed some difficulty for me. Proof that even doing this every week I may not fit everything in. But I was happy with the character I go an I think he would definitely be interesting to play. Seeing as I generally tend to play int based characters these rolls would have definitely made me play out of my comfort zone.

Its also interesting to see the differences between the characters produced by different people. One reader made a brawler/shifter with variant multiclass oracle which as you read my background is far a field from my bard. The same stats. The same background bits. Two totally different characters.

Would you have made one similar to mine? Or maybe similar to the brawler/shifter? Or to these bits of information say something else to you all together. Its not to late to give your read on the random rolls and step up to the challenge.

[creativerepositoryblog]

Its Monday so its time of a challenge. This week we've rolled up a Suli that needs a background. The Jann blooded character is of Vudrani decent with a huge family that lives in desert land of Katapesh. But we still have to contend with the fact this character is not to bright. How do you reconcile the Intelligence of 5 with the rest of his decent stats. So here are the rules of the challenge 1) Read the stats and background information 2) Write up a background that ties up all the disparate pieces of information (Any length or depth this is fun not homework) 3) Reblog or reply with your background (and post on the aactual blog if you like) 4) Receive the adulation of your peers or at least a hardy good job from me Good luck and on Friday I will post my background so we can compare.

[creativerepositoryblog]

Some beings come from the very fabric of what it means to be good, or evil, and others are created by mere chance. Even true gods don’t always understand their own power and today’s being of divine power was formed by accident from the creation of the stars by the deity Desna. The Empyreal Lord known as The Black Butterfly is concerned with distance, silence, and space. We look today at this defender against the madness of the Dark Tapestry and I present you with three possible sects to The Silence Between.

Some fight the darkness and some use it to do good, but all pay homage to this chaotic deity. Who is your disciple of Black Butterfly? Why have they chosen to dedicate themselves to The Silence Between? Where does their devotion to this Empyreal Lord come from? Let us know

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A week late but I took some much needed time away from home last weekend. The character still went up last Friday but its time to share it with the world. See if my ideas matched yours as to what the stats and background snippets meant for the character.

Amere Inistar follows in the foot steps of one of the famous residents of her town as she tries to make a name for herself to catch the eye of the renown Andoran Eagle Knights. Plague by competition with her younger sister she has had many trials of her own. Come see how this character was cobbled together. And as always its never to late to share what you would have done with the random rolls.

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Visually impaired tabletop merch!

[creativerepositoryblog]

With 100 behind us its time to start on the second hundred with random roll 101. This week we find ourselves with a Dhampir from Andoran. A peasant who ends up being formally trained in something. A woman made of pure strength with the rest of her stats being decent across the board. So how will you tie all these interesting tidbits into a cohesive story.

Its Monday so its time to play our game and here's how it works.

1) Read the randomly rolled stats and background snippets on the blog 2) Write a background that brings all of these things together - any length. This is fun not homework. 3) Reblog or comment your background here - and on the blog comments if you like 4) Receive a god star from me and the respect of all your peers. (Disclaimer I can only promise the first part of this)

On Friday I will post my own background and we can compare notes. Did we have a lot of the same ideas?

[creativerepositoryblog]

I’m a sucker for wolf companions

Nathrae and Lueros by Angevere

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The final product of the 100th randomly rolled character background has made its way to the pages of the CRB. I found that the informational bits this time around took a little more to put together. A lot of people suggested an orcish Sherlock Holmes just based on the goddess he followed. But I didn't see that there. So now I introduce you to Beldar Seven-Toes channeler of the past through the relics of his people. Maybe an orcish Sherlock Holmes was your idea? Or something else entirely? Its never too late to tell us the background you would have built for this character. How did you tie it all together? How does it match up to mine? Go ahead give it a shot and post your background.

[creativerepositoryblog]

When is an orc not like an orc? Well that depends on what you can do with this charismatic lawful Neutral orc follower of the goddess of deductions and subtlety. Who is he?

This week's challenge is quite a bit to put together. Although any creature can be any alignment our rolls this week give us an orc that is very unorc-like. Very charismatic, not very strong, lawful neutral, and following a non-orc god. So the question is are you up to the challenge for this milestone 100th random roll.

For those of you who haven't tried here's how we play.

1) Read the random rolls. Which include stats and mall tidbits about the characters life as rolled on Paizo background table 2) Work the disparate pieces of information into a complete background. Any length this is a creative challenge not homework 3) Reblog this post with your background as a comment (also post on the rolls in the blog if you so choose) 4) Receive the adulation of your peers. Or at lest a gold star from me.

On Friday I'll post my own background and we can compare notes