Deus Ex Machina - Why and When Do We Use Divine Intervention

In worlds like Golarion, where gods undoubtedly exist, the divine is a part of everyday life. Spells and abilities are granted to those who dedicate their lives to a divine being. In some cases the gods themselves have touched the material plane and directly caused or changed events in the world. Although some gods give their devout followers a little nudge here and there, for the most part a power struggle amongst the divine powers stops them from taking too much direct action.

These gods can be used as a platform for deep storytelling. Many of my characters, even those not given direct divine powers, have a patron being to whom they dedicate themselves. Factions among a deity’s follower like the ones I outline for Mahathallah can be a great starting point for some characters. Even the gods themselves may instigate the quest that the players undertake. I’m still waiting to read the description of Kofusachi’s Tea House to a group of players and have them start out in that mystical place.

With summoning spells many divine characters can even call down servitors of the gods to aid them in times of need. Divination spells can be given as visions from a deity trying to guide their chosen’s hand. Aid from those dedicated to your chosen patron – Clerics, Oracles, Warpriests, Inquisitors – can be considered divine aid as well.

In this realm where we can see, hear, and in some cases even touch the beings that may grant us divine power, how much interaction is too much? When do we move from a divine nudge to full on Deus Ex Machina? What personal lines do you draw for how much intervention a god can give?

There are some who don’t mind a little god meddling here and there. I think I fall into this camp, especially if a character has been very intent on furthering the goals of her deity. I think Fizban the avatar of Paladine in the Dragonlance novels straddles this fine line. On the one hand he is physically present to guide and safeguard the party, on the other his aid often comes in the form of bumbling over hints and clues, rather than outright telling them what to do and how to do it.

My biggest issue with divine intervention comes toward the end of a campaign, or sometimes in a novel. When the players meet the final bad guy, the ultimate enemy, and it doesn’t matter what the adventurers do if it takes a divine being to stop the threat. The player’s actions mean nothing if a god's divine intervention was necessary all along; and then what’s the point in the characters even going on this adventure? Even if at the end a player or two must sacrifice their lives to attain success, there is a certain kind of heroism in that. But when you give your life and a god still has to step in to finish the job, to me at least, the sacrifice seems pointless.

I’m sure not everyone feels that way and mine is not the only opinion on the subject. How do you use the divine in your games? When building your own worlds, how important do you make them? Do you let your gods solve problems of your player or characters?

This is the last post of the year and it’s been a fun five month ride. Don’t forget you can subscribe to get an email whenever there is a new post. And here’s to a new year full fun gaming and expanding our horizons.

Winter Auroras - Followers of the Empyreal Lord Pulura

It’s Saturday and thus time to talk about a god. For those of you who haven’t been a part of my explorations into the religions of Golarion, here’s how it works:

Imagine, if you will, you're creating a character for a group. Your only instruction is that you must be a worshiper of a specific god. You do not need to be a divine casting class, although you can be, but the party’s purpose is working toward the goals of this specific divine being. I'd like not just a race/class combo, but a little bit about why the character would choose to dedicate themselves to this particular deity. Feel free to make up secret or not-so-secret orders within the church, or even sects outside of the church that you think might be interesting. With only this one piece of information that must be true, let your imagination run wild with the rest.

Today's god

Pulura, Chaotic Good Empyreal lord of constellations, homesickness, and northern lights

Pulura’s Pathfinder Wiki page 

Pulura’s Archives of Nethys Entry 

Although she is but an Empyreal Lord Pulura was worshiped as an actual deity, although minor, in Sarkoris. Seen as the opposing force to Kostchtchie by the Kellids there they were considered dualistic gods of cold.

The Wandering Stars

Many who worship Pulura seek out her lost places in the Worldwound, once known as Sarkoris. Many pilgrims clamor to travel into this twisted place to show their devotion to their goddess. One of the most popular destinations is an idol on the walk of lost gods in a town that was once called Gundrun. Travel to the idol, or any other location sacred to Pulura, is dangerous at best.

The Wandering Stars is a group dedicated to guiding these pilgrims through the ever-twisting landscape that is the Worldwound. Some are granted divine power by Pulura, and some have their own divine power and choose to serve the goddess. Many have no divine gifts at all but are excellent trackers and scouts. All have but one mission: Ensure that their charges return from the abyss on earth that is the Worldwound. Members of the wandering stars would rather give their own lives that those they guide may live.

Guiding Light

Though the Wandering Stars stick to the Worldwound, Pulura has many among the ranks of her followers who are excellent guides. These folk travel further across the frozen north and can sometimes be convinced to act as Sherpa in warmer locales. The guides are known as the Guiding Light because they never use a map. They always follow the stars, trusting in Pulura to lead them on the true path.

The guide’s emblem is that of a glowing firefly the, sacred animal of their goddess -- but there is another that claims the lightning bug as sacred. The minor deity Kitumu supposedly even takes the form of a giant firefly, and for this the Guiding Lights despise her. Some members of this faction, especially in their later years, travel from the cold north to the jungles of Mwangi to try and find the supposed hidden temple that houses the hibernating deity.

The Rememberers

Of all the lands in Golarion, Sarkoris was the spiritual home of Pulura and the Kellids are favored people. When the Worldwound ripped its way onto the material realm and devoured Sarkoris, dispersing the once great clans of Kellids, a piece of Pulura faded with it. Where most other folk of Golarion no longer remember the old name, calling it the Worldwound, the former residents remember.

The Rememberers or those-who-remember are a group of Kellids who can trace their lines back to the great lords of Sarkoris. Comprised of stroytellers, elders, and even some of the famed Sarkoris God Callers (read Dave Gross’ King of Chaos to learn about these summoners), these Kellids take pride in their heritage and look to make sure no one ever forgets them or the land of Sarkoris.

The Stargazers

Resting on the peak of one of the Tusk Mountains, where the range that runs through the Realm of the Mammoth Lords meets the Winterwall Glacier sits the great observatory of the Stargazers. The grand structure was built with a large glass dome so that the brothers of the stars can always see the night sky. Within the frigid walls also exists a grand library that has some of the most accurate star charts ever made on Golarion.

The Stargazers are an ascetic order that very rarely leaves the confines of the home of the heavens, and they very rarely allow outsiders into their home. Rumor has spread that the brother’s library contains clues as to the whereabouts of the lost artifact known as the bard of pleated light.

Drift Wardens

Although a majority of Pulura’s followers are from Kellid stock, her battle against the demon lord Kostchtchie has driven more than a few Ulfen to her banner. Despite the fact that not every follower of the star goddess fights in the war against the heartless giant god, there is one group dedicated to it. The Drift Wardens, a mixed group of Ulfen and Kellids seeks to protect both their peoples from the predations of the demon lord’s minions.

The group spends its time shoring up defenses in the Land of the Linnorm Kings and the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. They are particularly vigilant in culling the number of frost giants in those regions to keep Kostchtchie’s power contained. There is rumor that there are white dragons who now dedicate themselves to the demon lord and many of the resources of the Drift Wardens are now put toward finding out if these rumors are true.

And those are just some of the followers of The Shimmering Maiden. Each seeking to do good in their own way. But who would be your devotee of the Empyreal Lord?

The Killing Joke

The Minotaur rushes forward and his horns pierce the side of the ranger. The pointed protrusions find their way into a seam of his leather armor, pushing through the flesh and finding a home in the ranger’s heart. The woodsman who has ventured out into the dangerous world falls to the ground lifeless. Although the rest of his companions dispatch the bullman, he is beyond the power of the cleric to heal. The light has gone out of his eyes and his soul has gone on to meet his patron deity.

Player death. When and how is it appropriate to kill your player’s characters? The answer isn’t simple, and it really depends on the type of game you are playing and who you players are. Gary Gygax was famous for taking a very aggressive view on player death. He thought the game was the GM versus the players and that the GM’s job was to attempt to kill off his players to stop them from getting to their goals. Luckily that isn’t the only school of thought out there.

I’m sure there are more than two camps of when to kill a player, but I’m going to go with what I think are the two most extreme. These are personal choices and I don’t condemn people for using the one that I do not. The game is “play how you like”, as it should always be.

When the GM for my Rise of the Runelords game asked how we wanted to deal with character death, the first option was plot armor. Basically unless he thought player death was appropriate to the story, he would do his best to avoid it—or at least I think that’s what he meant. To some players, getting killed by a luck roll from a goblin mook is much different than dying facing off against the monstrous demon that controls the goblin tribe.

Plot armor usually means that most of the rolls will be hidden. This way the GM can fudge a roll if a player was going to die at a non-heroic moment. Characters tend to survive longer this way; which many players enjoy, having spent hours creating a character they love. To be honest for me this method takes away from the game, again personal opinion.

Now I wasn’t the only one who thought this way. The other players also said no to plot armor, and said if the dice land in a way that kills the character then so be it. Adventuring is a dangerous lifestyle, some folk die facing the balrog and some fall in the pit trap and skewer themselves. Such is life. In the first book of Rise, one of your players died in a trap after we’d pretty much cleared the entire first area. It was some amazing RP, but he still died in a trap, that we’d already made it past once before.

I will totally admit that this is my favorite way to play, and it is the way I run. The things is, there is a difference between GMs who let the dice fall where they may and those who go out of their way to kill players. A fine distinction it is, an adversarial relationship with the players versus a neutral relationship. Personally, I could never play a game where I felt like the GM was out to get me at every turn, but again that’s just me.

Of course, we have the ultimate player killer. The GM that is so fed up with a player or players that he’s just had it. We’ve all joked about the giant rock falling from the sky with the word “GM” etched into it landing on the problem player(s) and killing the instantaneously. As funny as it sounds when you write it, don’t let this be you. Something has obviously gotten you to this point, and that should be dealt with way before having to turn the player(s) into a fine red paste.

There are, of course, many methods between “plot armor” and “die at any moment”, what is yours? When do you think it is the correct time to kill your players if any? As a player, what do you prefer?

The end of the year nears, and I see many of you returning. Get notified the instant something gets posted by subscribing to the CRB here. Be the first (or close to first) to see every article. I hope everyone has happy holidays and I’ll see you all here for the last article of 2015 next week.

With a Frozen Heart - Those Dedicated to Kostchtchie

It’s Saturday and thus time to talk about a god. For those of you who haven’t been a part of my explorations into the religions of Golarion, here’s how it works:

Imagine, if you will, you're creating a character for a group. Your only instruction is that you must be a worshiper of a specific god. You do not need to be a divine casting class, although you can be, but the party’s purpose is working toward the goals of this specific divine being. I'd like not just a race/class combo, but a little bit about why the character would choose to dedicate themselves to this particular deity. Feel free to make up secret or not-so-secret orders within the church, or even sects outside of the church that you think might be interesting. With only this one piece of information that must be true, let your imagination run wild with the rest.

Today's god

Kostchtchie, Choatic Evil demon lord of cold, giants and revenge

Kostchtchie’s Pathfinder Wiki page 

Kostchtchie’s Archives of Nethys Entry 

As we get into what should be the bitter cold of the winter months, except for here in the northeastern United States for some reason, we look to a god of cold. Kostchtchie has been outlined but not as extensively as the major gods, as an important figure in the lore of Irrisen and among the Ulfen people. Many a frost giant has turned from their traditional god to worship this demon, once an Ulfen man, whose hatred of giants was only matched by his hatred of women. But can such a chaotic entity that despises all mortals have organize sects and cults? My answer is yes.

Winter Bear Cavalry

A small sect of disenfranchised men who have been driven from their tribes over a woman, the Winter Bear Cavalry find solace only in the warmth of their mounts. The would-be bear rider feels an itch in his mind as his battered ego draws the attention of Kostchtchie. The demon lord feeds this desire for revenge by promising to help right the wrong of a mere woman turning the supplicant away. Revenge which is granted through dedication to destroying everything Kostchtchie hates.

The rejected suitor can’t just become a member of the bear cavalry simply by being scorned; he must first be initiated. To become one of the ursine riders the supplicant must hunt, fight, and defeat one of the great ice bears that reside in the crown of the world. If he cannot bend the bear to his whim then he was never worthy of the woman he prized anyway. But should he return to the camp of the Cavalry with the wild ice bear in tow, he is accepted as one of the riders.

The Winter Knights

Kostchtchie’s hatred of Baba Yaga and her daughters knows no bounds. The thing that burns hottest in the cold heart of the demon lord is hatred for the witches. Even though he despises humanity many, Ulfen flock to his banner due to the predations of the witch queen and her minions. These Ulfen, all men, are reluctantly given power by Kostchtchie so that they might take the battle to the witches of Irrisen.

The Winter Knights are mainly made up of Antipaladins, inquisitors, clerics, and rangers who are granted their power at the whim frost demon. For a group of hateful, chaotic loners they are surprisingly well organized. Mainly acting as an insurgent group within the borders of Irrisen itself, the Knights do whatever it takes to disrupt the governing body of the winter witch’s realm, even sacrificing their own lives if the gain is great enough.

The Bitter Wind

The Bitter Wind is a small and unique group of Kostchtchie’s followers; four white dragons who have given themselves over to the demon lord and are dedicated to his goal of wiping out mankind. Kostchtchie’s hatred for his former people, the Ulfen, and his loathing for the frost giants whose form he now takes are legendary. The quartet of dragons uses their considerable power in the attempt to wipe out both humans and giants, using the gifts of the deathless frost to lay claim to the lands gained by their destruction.

These four young wyrms have carved out a healthy territory in the crown of the world and are beginning to make moves into both the Land of the Linnorm Kings and the Land of the Mammoth Lords. The dragons especially seek to garner power in the Ulfen territories of the Linnorms, as they consider these pseudo-dragons less than worthy of having an entire region named after them. Kostchtchie seems to be willing to back the lizard’s play, so long as their goals continue to coincide with his need for destruction.

So these are those who dedicate themselves to a god that most likely hates them. Could you do that for power? Who would your follower to Kostchtchie be? What biting frost flows through that character’s veins?

World Building - (re)Building a City

I’ve had a lot to talk about over the last two months, and my series on world building kinda fell to the wayside. That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about our little Ratfolk city. Today we’re going to continue to move forward with fleshing out our location by adding some local color to the town, including neighborhoods or cross-sections. On a larger scale these could be regions and you can almost definitely use the same methods to build on that scale.

First we can take a look back at the prep I did here, then the first steps I chose to do, which was factions. Some of my research and a few of the factions have sparked ideas for places within the city for adventurers to visit. There are always general ideas for locations that should be present in just about every city.

The Rubble

One of the first things that came into my mind when thinking about the City of Whispering Swords was the fact it was at one point an old ruin before being given to the Ratfolk to inhabit. In the time the rats have been there I imagine there has been a lot of infighting as they fought to crown an established ruler. To me this means that much of the city still lies in ruins, and so I picture a good half or more of the city is just vacant, or mostly vacant.

I see the rubble actually being two separate sections in and of itself. The shadows, an area close to where the rats inhabit and the places the Ratfolk are beginning to reclaim one building at a time. Then they’ll be the deep ruin, an area where the buildings aren’t just dilapidated but completely reduced to rubble. A place where mighty stone structure once exist and now lie In piles of stone and wood.

The Shadows

Although this areas is not considered reclaimed by the Ratfolk, the Shadows actually has inhabitants. Those who are outcast even among the lax laws of the rodent folk find homes here. True and dire rats run the streets along with other fauna that had taken up residence; everything from wild dogs to more exotic beasts. Much of the architecture is overgrown with vines and weeds that many vermin find suitable for their homes.

Being a kind of middle land, still accessible to everyone but mostly shunned, I imagine it as a place of covert meetings. The thieves’ guild, the worshipers of the evil god, and those plotting against the royal family come here for clandestine meetings. No one group makes this place home, it is unofficially considered neutral ground.

The Deep Ruin

Very little is known about the City of Whispering Swords, what little has been excavated and made habitable has been residential districts. Governmental buildings, temples, schools must have all been in the part of the city known as the Deep Ruin. Although those of inquisitive minds long to delve into the mysteries of the old  city, the fact that some who have already ventured into the broken bones of the past have not returned keeps that curiosity at bay.

I see this as a place where you can have traditionally outdoor adventures within the city limits. Hidden temples, old barracks, monster having taken root. Anything from the restless dead of the old city, to roosting magical beasts, to true dragons could be buried out here. The one thing I do know is that whatever dark being the evil god worshipers follow, his temple is here among the refuse of an older world.

Screecher’s Way

One of the few things that all rats can agree on is the need to relax. They live in a war torn city with a fledgling and struggling monarchy. Screecher’s Way is the place the rat folk come to unwind. As I flesh the area out there will be inns and teahouses, geisha and troubadours. But this will also be a place to find other ways to take you mind off of the world. A thriving drug culture will exist here with opium dens that move from place to place.

Screecher’s Way will also be home to the thieves’ guild. As mentioned in the factions write-up, the rogues of the ratfolk’s society aren’t just common thieves; they act openly. This region of the city will include a very public chapter house of the guild, as well as a number of more secret holdings to keep special goods and conduct business away from prying ears.

The Warrens

Much like true rats, Ratfolk are used to living in a close proximity, almost on top of one another.  To outsiders the warrens might seem as haphazard as the broken buildings of the shadows Shadows, but all of the buildings are now rebuilt and structurally sound. However, the haphazard construction of additional structures in the empty space between buildings along with extra rooms built on top of preexisting structures make the Warrens appear disjointed to non-ratfolk

Walk of the August

The smallest region in the city, the Walk of the August, is where the royal palace is located. The actual royal housing of the old City of Whispering Swords is believed to be somewhere in the Ruins. The current home of the royal family is a large manor that seems to have been on the outskirts of the city itself. The Walk of the August now includes a promenade that has been built to connect the manor to the city and a number of newly constructed houses that are used for foreign diplomats, honored guests, and a few of the more prominent members of the court. As of yet there is little aristocracy among the rats of the city.

As you can see I left out a religious center, learning facilities, or even a wizard’s guild. The City of Whispering Swords is growing location. I see the ratfolk as worshiping their gods on a more individual level, which helps hide those in the dark god’s cult. Until they can reclaim or build better facilities, they are forced to send those with talent to schools outside the city, just as the Jueyin’s son—Lung Bingci, the random character that all these ideas spawned from—was sent off to Wizarding School.

I’m sure there are things that I’ve left out. What neighborhoods or regions would you add to a city growing on the bones of an older one? What specific locations would you add to the locations I already have?

Fire in the Winter - The Supplicants of the Swarm of Kitumu

It’s Saturday and thus time to talk about a god. For those of you who haven’t been a part of my explorations into the religions of Golarion, here’s how it works:

Imagine, if you will, you're making a character for a group. Your only instruction is that you must be a worshiper of a specific god. You do not need to be a divine casting class, although you can be, but the party’s purpose is working toward the goals of this specific divine being. I'd like not just a race/class combo, but a little bit about why the character would choose to dedicate themselves to this particular deity. Feel free to make up secret or not-so-secret orders within the church, or even sects outside of the church that you think might be interesting. With only this one piece of information that must be true, let your imagination go wild with the rest.

Today's god

Kitumu, Choatic Evil goddess of fireflies, hibernation and swarms

Kitumu’s Pathfinder Wiki page 

Kitumu’s Archives of Nethys Entry

Unlike most of other divine beings Kitumu does not reside in the outer planes. The firefly goddess resides in a pyramid deep in the jungles of the Mwangi Expanse. She was revered by the lost Kembe people, who were thought to have arrived in a silver craft as giants and shrunk to human size, then halfling size, and then disappeared altogether. Now Kitumu isn’t so much worshipped as feared and placated by the manifold tribes of the Mwangi Expanse.

The Hive

Although worship of Kitumu is forbidden in almost all of the Mwangi tribes, some few have taken to consecrating themselves to the Mother of Fireflies. Oftentimes these supplicants are misanthropes who can find no connection among their own people and long for something deeper. In their search for belonging they come upon The Hive.

Members of this secret society have two things in common: the ability to create, summon, or control swarms of insects, and the ability to connect telepathically with other members of The Hive. Each lost soul connects to one or more others in a sort of telepathic group mind. Many of Kitumu’s chosen feel lost when the buzzing of other thoughts are no longer present within their minds. y don’t have someone else in their head with them.

The Sleepers

Kitumu is almost always at rest in her hidden pyramid sanctuary, and scholars believe that she may be in a state of metamorphosis while she hibernates away the millennia. Some of her followers look to this aspect of her and spend periods of their lives sleeping, hoping they awake as something more powerful. Many of these sleepers are actually powerful dream mages, able to interact with the world on the astral and ethereal planes.

Kitumu uses these dream masters to further her own inscrutable goals, feeding the Sleepers power to help her meet her ends. The gifts of Kitumu come at a price and as the Sleepers cycle into longer and longer cycles of repose, their neglected bodies waste away until they slowly die of malnutrition.

The Endless Battalion

Many forget that Kitumu is a goddess of war. She revels in battle, but will only fight if her numbers overwhelm those of the enemy. The endless battalion is a tribe-less mercenary group in the Mwangi Expanse. They bow to no nation, only Kitumu, and will fight on any side for the right price. They believe, rightfully so, that Kitumu imbues them with the power to defeat all enemies.

Members of the Endless Battalion come from many walks of life: kidnap victims who are then indoctrinated into the Mother of Fireflies’ worship, outcasts who have gone against their own tribe, and often Mwangi whose tribes are nearly extinct except for them. The Endless Battalion is one of the few factions of Kitumu worshipers that have members that are not of the Mwangi people.

Those who have faced the Endless Battalion say that the warriors flow from the jungle in a never ending stream. Each warrior fights with their chosen one-handed weapon and a torch their free hand. Some have claimed that they appear as a swarm of fireflies in the night.

Let the Dice Fall Where They May

Having played many different RPGs, I’ve seen hundreds of character generation methods; Point distribution systems like World of Darkness, thematically appropriate systems like using a deck of cards in Deadlands, and of course the old school D&D method of rolling some six-sided dice and generating your character. In all honesty, they basically boil down to two general themes equal distribution – everyone starts with the same points whether its point buy or a dot distribution – or random generation.

Now there are pros and cons to even distribution and random generation. Point buy gives you the ability to tailor your character exactly as you like and it starts everyone off on a pretty equal playing field. Random generation, I think, makes you think outside the box when building your character and since people aren’t created equal the variance of character strength gives play a grittier, more real feeling.

Personally, I’ll use either system. However, when I’m GMing for a new group, I’ll almost always use point buy, most especially if the players are new. You don’t want to try to introduce a new player to the joys of gaming only to have their first impression be that they got the short end of the stick. Speaking for myself, I really love the challenge of making a character based off of disparate pieces of randomly generated information. To me one system isn’t truly better than the other, although I know many have strong opinions one way or another. For the rest of this article though I want to talk about why I love the random generation method and some ways to modify it, making it a little less random so that players don’t feel left out.

One of the main reasons I enjoy creating random characters is it forces me to think outside the box. I’m a writer and I love to create, but sometimes even I get into ruts. I also have a type of character that I gravitate towards: I play skill monkeys and finesse fighters. I can’t help but max Dex and Int, it’s just my nature. But that means I don’t get to explore all the other varied classes that games like Pathfinder have. When I do straight down the line random rolls and I get the 16 Str, 14 Con and a middling to low Dex and Int – well now I’ve gotta really build something new and force myself to play outside my comfort zone.

The other reason I enjoy random character generation is the challenge of creation. If you’ve seen my random generated backgrounds – which are on hiatus now but you can see here as to how I go about them – you know I’ve come up with some pretty interesting stuff. If you haven’t, here are two of my favorites: Bartok Forgetoil the Houndof Dranngvit and Horguk the Sieger. I randomly rolled stats, a race, used the background generator, and then picked a class based on what the random results indicated their lives should be like. Suffice to say I would play the hell out of either of these characters or any of the ones I’ve generated to date.

“But Simon,” you say, “I don’t want one player to feel like he’s too much better or worse than another.” Yes that is a huge concern among groups. No one likes being the weaker character and everyone envies the guy who has 18s in everything. You can mitigate this a bit By filtering their choices to balance the party. The 3.5 Player’s Handbook says to never let a player keep a set of stats where the total ability bonuses are less than +3. 

For the record +3 is usually around a 10pt buy. If you want to narrow the playing field while keeping the group within a 15 to 20ish point buy, have them reroll until they get between a +4 total and a +6 total. The last method is to take what they rolled and add or subtract one point from a stat until they meet the point buy you want to use, this way they get random stats but adjust them to be more even.

There are other ways to produce randomness. I participated in thought exercise today where I was given a race, class, and deity and had to write up a character for it. I got an Orc Arcanist who worships Alseta, for whom I’ve done a write-up here (link the one door opens article). With this method you get to place your stats using point buy as you see fit, but you still need to think outside the box with weird combinations. For the record I made a feral arcanist using both the unlettered and school savant archetype. The turtle is Alseta’s sacred animal, so he has a turtle familiar that he uses as a spell book like a witch.

There are, of course, a million other ways to inject a little randomness in your character – but randomness is not for every player or every group. If you could introduce some kind of randomness, would you? Do you prefer the even playing field of point buy? Voice your opinion on the matter and let us know.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland - Tolc's Frigid Followers

It’s Saturday and thus time to talk about a god. For those of you who haven’t been a part of my explorations into the religions of Golarion, here’s how it works:

Imagine, if you will, you're making a character for a group. Your only instruction is that you must be a worshiper of a specific god. You do not need to be a divine casting class, although you can be, but the party’s purpose is working toward the goals of this specific divine being. I'd like not just a race/class combo, but a little bit about why the character would choose to dedicate themselves to this particular deity. Feel free to make up secret or not-so-secret orders within the church, or even sects outside of the church that you think might be interesting. With only this one piece of information that must be true, let your imagination go wild with the rest.

Today's god

Tolc, Choatic Good Empyreal Lord of cold, frozen wilds, survival

Tolc’s Pathfinder Wiki page

Tolc’s Archives of Nethys Entry

As the autumn fades into winter, the gods of the cold months and climes come into their own. Whether it’s the frigid and deadly cold or the durability of the arctic beasts, the freezing days have much to offer for those who worship the gods of the season. One of the goodly winter gods, respected among the Ulfen and the mysterious Saumen Kar people, is Tolc the Snow-Strider. Today we look at some of the factions among the worshipers of the Empyreal Lord of the cold.

Drift Riders

Although they mostly worship Findeladlara, goddess of art and architecture, a few devout snowcaster elves revere Tolc over their people’s traditional god. Tolc’s faithful make up an elite group of female warriors who ride into battle on Caribou, and their male counterparts who are masters of animal husbandry;  breeding the caribou big enough to be ridden. These caribou riders protect all the tribes of snowcasters and renounce familial ties to become one of the riders or breeders.

The females tend to be rangers, fighters or Cavaliers. On rare occasion a paladin who can see past Tolc’s chaotic nature and focus on his good works joins the cause. The males who spend their days in communion with the mighty caribou come from a druidic tradition, which seems very alien to the more traditional forest druids.

The Tractless Rangers

From the Land of the Linnorm Kings to the Realm of the Mammoth Lords and up through the crown of the world, the snow-covered wastes of the northlands are a dangerous place.  Although these lands are treacherous, many caravans use the crown of the world as a faster route from the westernmost portions of avistan to the easterly portions of Casmaron on their way to the nation of Tian Xia. Making the trek is difficult at best and deadly at worst  so many merchants hire on the services of the Tractless rangers.

The rangers come from many of the snow-born peoples. Ulfen and Kellids, Half-Orcs and Snow Elves, even the occasional frost giant outcast numbers themselves among the group ranks. The only thing the members have in common is their dedication to Tolc. Although they are called rangers, the group is made up of any being that can survive the cold climes and lead others through the frozen wilderness unharmed.

Who is your follower of Tolc? What is your winter warrior like?

I've Put This Off For Too Long

I’ve been seriously putting this off—writing this article that is. I’m writing it on a Monday afternoon which is actually pretty early for me. I do my best work around 9pm on Tuesday when the article needs to be up Wednesday morning. Sometimes I won’t finish Saturday’s articles till 3 or 4am Saturday morning. The thing is, I don’t see this as a bad thing, I just tend to work very well under pressure.

Now how does this translate to gaming? Well I put everything off until the last minute there as well. I usually start setting up for a session the night before. I have all these ideas swimming around in my head and I can’t seem to get them out until it’s go time. Sometimes as much as an hour before game I’m still just getting things down for what I want to do.

These days I mostly run online. My work schedule makes it hard to meet with a regular local group, so it’s either that or not play at all. I know a lot of gaming purists dislike online gaming, but I have to say I enjoy the hell out of it. I found a great group, which includes a few GMs so that we can take turns. And, I was a late adopter; I delayed trying it out, thinking it could never live up to face-to-face. I discovered, however, that it can.

Even though I love Roll20 (I know some of you may use something else but I dig roll20) it hampers the one thing that I’m really, really good at: On-the-fly encounters. It’s easy enough to find counters for your bad guys and I can just roll manually instead of setting up a sheet for the NPCs. But setting up maps takes a while, especially sizing them to fit a pre-existing grid on the virtual table top. Adding dynamic lighting (at an additional cost) is an amazing feature, but it also eats into set-up time.

In my days of in-person gaming I could throw an impromptu encounter at my players with a minimal amount of preparation or forethought. Occasionally their actions would give me an idea that just had a life of its own and I could usually put it into play pretty quickly. I would rough sketch some terrain on a battle map, open up the Monster Manual to the page I needed, and run with it. Now, if I absolutely want to run an encounter on the fly I need a 15 minute break to set it up.

This isn’t a condemnation of online gaming; I still love it. But, as a procrastinator, doing things spur-of-the-moment is my specialty. I can still get away with it to a degree, and I’ve surprised my players on more than one occasion with encounters I didn’t even know I was going to use. Some of them read this blog, and I know they’re now wondering which encounters I totally pulled out of my ass and which I didn’t. I’m not telling, sorry guys.

But maybe you’re not like me. Maybe you’re a planner and far more organized. One of the other player/GM’s in my group Joel has a few words for you to counterpoint my own.

In response to Simon’s excellent post on off the cuff DMing, I thought I might write a counterpoint examining my own style which is heavily informed by preparation. He and I trade off GM duties (along with another fellow) so that we can all enjoy playing without becoming burned out with the heavy work of running a game. Some background; I cut my teeth in 1st and 2nd ed. DnD, and several other systems that were popular at the time.  Storyteller, Battletech, Palladium, Shadowrun, and various others were frequently played at my table. Life and college forced me to take a break for the better part of a decade, but five years ago I returned to the scene and have been running games ever since. Pathfinder is my current system of choice, like Simon, and in particular the AP Rise of the Runelords.

I, like Simon, can be a bit of a procrastinator.  However when it comes to DMing games, I generally put more hours into preparing a session than I do into actually running it. I also use Roll20 Virtual Tabletop, and over the many thousands of hours I have spent logged into it over the last few years, I have become fairly skilled at making it work for me.  I have become fairly proficient at the use the Photoshop alternative GIMP in order to build some rather nice high quality battle maps for my Rise of the Runelords campaign (all of which are posted on the Community Created thread on the Paizo Runelords forum for anyone to use).  I enter the enemies so that each has their own character sheet (tho mooks will share one naturally), and their own token.  I often set up alternative versions of the enemies with different templates such as advanced or undead, just in case I want to throw something different at the guys once and awhile.

 I spend hours reading the source material for my adventure, forums where people discuss their experiences running the game, and background material for the setting in which we are playing.  All of this improves my game greatly I think. The work I do in my character journal, setting up those sheets, allows me to yank out a mook they fought as a solo encounter at a lower level, and set them against the now leveled up PCs in groups of four or five.  I can boost up a former villain that escaped and make him a returning baddie, perhaps supported by a gang of cutthroats or a bunch of zombie goblins.  It may take me twenty or thirty min to set up a minor mook, but if I use it three or four times in the course of a campaign, it saves a ton of time.

Not all of my preparation is done in the VTT however.  In fact, MOST of my prep time is probably spent in research and story/plot planning.  Naturally, since we are in a sandbox situation, it is counterproductive to try to plan out a linear storyline for the PCs to follow, but you can develop storylines that are perhaps a series of dramatic points you are trying to connect without tying the hands of your players.

 For example you might say “I want a tense standoff with some mobster types, followed by a chase scene, then the following day there might be an encounter with some town guards looking into the ruckus”.  Fairly general, but I know I need Mobster Mooks, some Town Guard mooks, and a chase scene mechanic.  All of that is easy to prep ahead of time and, if I end up not using some of it, well, perhaps it pops up in a future game.  

How the PCs handle the encounter is up to them.  Do they negotiate with the Mobsters?  Are they the ones being chased, or are they doing the chasing?  Do they scrap with the town guard, or play nice?  All of this is up to them, but by having the guys entered with appropriate skills and combat stats I am prepared for both social or combat encounters.  And because of my research I am able to fill in interesting bits of descriptive text or background information that bring the encounters to life.

I try to develop the kinds of storylines for my players that tie into their backgrounds, and offer them opportunities to role play by surrounding them with 3 dimensional NPCs who, if I am doing it correctly, feel like supporting characters more than set dressing.  When they bump into Mama Alvertin in Sandpoint, I describe the barely hidden pain in her eyes and the fact that she is obviously putting on a cheerful false face so that later, when they find out about her son’s tragic death, it becomes a piece of the world they inhabit and not just a note in their log.

I am able to do these things because I have read and thought about the setting, the NPCs, the Player Characters, and the overarching Storyline and Background info.  I have run the campaign before for others, and learned from mistakes I made.  I have read the advice of others and taken their better ideas for my own.  And often, because of this, when I do need to wing something, I have a number of tools in my kit that I can bring to bear to make it all feel as if whatever I am improvising is something I planned the whole time.

I think am a better GM because I am prepared, but that may be just my own style and type of game. Are you a Prepper?  Do you spend hours developing your games?  What were some of your greatest long term plans that worked out in the end?

Are you a procrastinator or a planner? Do you set up encounters last hour? Last Minute? Last second? Or days before? What are some of your favorite on-the-fly portions of your game? Were they combat or RP?