Back to the Past

Musings on Flashbacks in the Gaming Narrative

Lately, I’ve been thinking about narratives that work in books which could be used in RPGs. Most games tend to be pretty straightforward with play being in the moment. Things like cutscenes, flashbacks, and dream sequences can often seem more like the GM talking to himself, or like one player getting the spotlight for a longer period of time than anyone else. And you certainly don’t a want to use cutscenes to shift to the villain’s point in the plot like you might in a book or a movie, because you don’t want to give things away to your players. For the past few days, I’ve been thinking about flashbacks and the ways they can be used in games to strengthen the narrative.

One of the things I like about flashbacks is it allows character growth for players who may not be the best at writing backstories. Not everyone is like me and has a five-page character background, and although some GMs might not like that, I understand that not everyone is a writer. Flashbacks can help draw out portions of a character’s past during play which can give the player a deeper connection to the game and the GM some things for the player to use as hooks later.

There’s a game I played once that had an awesome mechanic to draw out these narratives from the players; I played it at a one-day gaming event and it left a lasting impression on me. 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars is basically Starship Troopers the game, but what got me was the flashback mechanic. You could use a flashback twice each session; once to have a critical success and once to flee and not take damage.

This mechanic worked by telling the GM that you wanted to cash in on the ability to do either of these things during the battle. I think there were poker chips or another token that represented each use. Once you did this you had to narrate a brief flashback that explained why you’d be good at doing the thing that you were about to do. For my critical success, I narrated being a standout basketball player in high school known for my jump shot, and that was why throwing my grenade directly into the mouth of the bug-alien would succeed.

I’m not sure how this method could transfer over to games like my current game of choice, Pathfinder, but having players narrate their critical hits or critical failures in terms of a flashback could work. The difficulty then becomes monopolizing time. The problem with flashbacks is they often only include one person’s character. This can leave other players out in the cold if they aren’t short narratives like in 3:16. So how do we bring the whole party into that moment?

One way requires quite a bit of work on behalf of the GM. The flashback must be prepared ahead of time. NPCs that represent people that the player having the flashback might meet need to be premade so they can be handed out to the other players. This should allow the GM to include the entire group in the cutscene, but as mentioned it is far more work.

You could attempt a more fluid version of this, and as the player mentions people he interacts with during the flashback hand those sheets out to the other players. This requires some trust in the person telling their character’s history. They need to be able to come up with enough peripheral characters to allow the whole group to play along. And both methods require the player flashing-back to trust the other players won’t mess with their “moment.”

I haven’t personally used a lot of flashbacks in my games. Pathfinder isn’t really geared toward the way more narrative games are. It is something I’m looking to incorporate more into my play, though, and I hope my thoughts on it might allow you to do so as well.

In what ways have you used flashbacks or other cutscenes in your games? How have you incorporated these narratives into games that aren’t specifically designed with them in mind? In what ways do you keep all your players engrossed when one person’s character currently has the spotlight?

Your past informs your future. If today’s article has helped you expand your narrative tools, please consider becoming a supporter. Monthly donations of as little as one dollar can be made to my Patreon. A one-time donation can easily be made to my Paypal. Every bit helps me keep the lights on so I can concentrate on bringing you the content you deserve.

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Following Your Own Path

Ways of Making a Pre-Written Adventure Your Own

I am not now, nor have I ever really been a fan of sandbox games. Just because that’s true does not mean, however, that I believe a story must be a straight shot with immutable conclusions. There are many ways for GMs to roll with the punches of their players and make minor adjustments or additions to a game with a defined plot. Many veteran GMs have learned this fine art but I think it’s time to share some ideas with new GMs trying to find their way in the hobby for the first time.

The first way a world can be made to feel more dynamic is its people, so your NPCs are going to help make the game more interesting. Your PCs are going to latch onto all the NPCs you didn’t expect them to like and ignore all the ones you thought would tickle their fancy. This is a fact of gaming. So even when you are throwing in a character that’s only supposed to be met once, you have to be prepared to bring them back if need be.

In one of my games, the players met with a woman who runs the dockside area, kind of like a mob boss. They found a locket that belonged to her father in an underwater part of a dungeon and returned it to her. This was a literally supposed to be a throwaway part of the adventure. There was the possibility they may not even have found the locket or met the NPC. Upon meeting her they took an interest in her and as a side quest for the adventure they’ve run errands for her and we even roleplayed a whole shopping excursion where they wanted some items that only a black-marketeer could find.

I’ve also discussed my dislike for random encounters . But I do add encounters – especially during travel – that are placed to give the players a way to see what’s going on in the region they’re in. Many modules and adventure paths also add these one-off encounters that have nothing to do with the plot. You can expand on these and add other aspects to it to connect the characters past, making their previous actions matter.

As an example one of the Pathfinder adventure paths has an encounter with some boggards. The players are meant to defeat them but my players have a tendency to try and redeem anything that isn’t undead or an evil outsider, so they tried to make the boggards change their way and let them go. Later they encountered a few dead hunters that another group of boggards had killed earlier and this put the characters on a path to hunt down the boggards who wouldn’t change their ways.

A book earlier in the campaign they faced off against another group of boggards and a boggard “witch” escaped. I decided to add this character to the encounter as a recurring villain. Later, when the player went to save the hunter’s younger son who was going to be sacrificed to their dark god, they found this witch leading their efforts. She escaped again and has popped up two books later.

This list of NPCs that have become allies, acquaintances, and recurring enemies – there is a wererat my players hate – is a mile long. The one big rule is don’t force an NPC on the players. Let them pick the ones they like and make those ones a part of your story. A robust cast of characters from the unnamed shopkeeper, to the escaped minor villain, to the town guard whose barbershop quartet you are going to go see can become important characters. And, if need be, events can be made more personal if one of these friendly characters meet their demise by your villains.

Some GMs are afraid of character death, but really a dying character can be a great way to have a little fun and play with the script of the game. One of the characters in my game died and the player really wanted to play something else, so we came up with an idea. The character was resurrected but turned on his partners. He stole a few pieces of the McGuffin they were hunting down and might have kidnapped their paladin – the player was leaving the game. Now the players have a new challenge to overcome to complete their quest. It wasn’t originally a part of the game layout, but it makes the game something created by the character and their actions and not wholly what was written.

So there are plenty of opportunities to put your stamp on a game as a GM. Even if you’re running a module, there are points where you can veer off while still keeping the overall plot intact. Don’t be afraid to try new things, and most of all, don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

In what ways have you made a module your own? What characters did you not expect to become reoccurring that have? How have you adjusted your own stories to take into account the decisions of the players?

Everyone likes to put their stamp on things. If the CRB has helped you get that stamp ready, consider becoming a supporter. Monthly donations of as little as one dollar can be made to my Patreon. A one-time donation can easily be made to my Paypal. Every bit helps me keep the lights on so I can concentrate on bringing you the content you deserve.

The CRB has been growing as a community on social media. Please join us on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion. If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to have the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon.

Flood of Lies

Heretics of Geryon

Each layer of Hell has its own ruler that represents the purpose of that particular area. We’ve looked at a number of these archdevils, including Barbatos, Dispater, Mammon, and Belial. This week we take to the fifth layer of Hell known as Stygia and try to come up with followers of Geryon, the archdevil of forbidden lore, heresies, and snakes. Presented are three sects you might use in your game.

As always, let us imagine we are sitting at our theoretical gaming table. Our imaginary GM sets out the rules for the game that we will play. In this game, we are to make a follower of Geryon. The character does not need to be a divine caster, just a devotee of The Serpent. What character do you make?

For more information on Geryon

Geryon’s Pathfinder Wiki Page

Geryon’s Archives of Nethys Page

The Oath Bearers

This sect of followers of Geyron seeks to emulate his diabolic followers that man the Library of Oaths in Stygia. Masters of the deal, they seek out the desperate and the lost with honey words of vows to help better their situation; if only they make a promise. These oaths are kept secure in special books that each acolyte binds themselves and are stored in a central library, presumed to be in Abasalom, for safekeeping when full.

Becoming an Oath Bearer is a promise in and of itself. The first oath recorded by each supplicant is their own before becoming a full member. Because each pledge is also recorded in the infernal library in Stygia, divine power is unnecessary when coercing one, but many of this sect’s followers are still clerics. Bards also make up a number of the small group’s membership, but really anyone who can talk a good game has a chance at becoming and Oath Bearer.

The Fetid Water

Every lie told on the material plane becomes a drop of poison that fills the swamps of Stygia. The Fetid Water is a group of assassins who have dedicated themselves to Lord of Filth. Unlike most assassins guilds that have an image to uphold, the members of the Fetid Water more closely resemble homeless urchins living in a sewer than a proper guild. They specifically take jobs where one person betrayed another by breaking a promise and have an odd habit of showing up just when someone wishes a liar dead.

The leader of the cult is a Chelish oracle named AverniusKreuger. Although he has lost his ability to see, he says he has visions of where his assassins need to be. They operate out of the sewers in Egorian but their influence spreads as far as Riddleport in Varisia to the North and Augustana in Andoran to the East. Those few who know about The Fetid Water call them the liar’s death.

The Lost Prophets

Geryon was one of the Asura Rana before becoming an archdevil. Mixing his former life’s love for taking over ruined holy sites and abandoned deific domains with his no positions as the master of all lies, he has become known as the source of all great heresies. The Lost Prophets look to spread heresy on Golarion in the name of their master. They do so by creating completely new deities that fit the needs of those they wish to convert, or by claiming to be a small sect of an existing deity; twisting the chosen god’s dogma until the unwitting congregation is too far gone to do anything about it.

These false clerics are consummate liars with the ability to contort the emotions of their small groups of worshipers. Although a few true clerics of Geryon join the sect’s ranks, sorcerers, bards, and mesmerists make up a large portion of their numbers. Many of the downtrodden folk they claim as a “flock” don’t know the difference between divine intervention and arcane magic.

Like their master, these serpents revel in what is unknown and what is untrue. Who is your disciple of Geryon? What lie has brought them to worship the Source of Lies? Where does their devotion to this Archdevil come from? Let me know in the comments.

If the CRB has helped you take a closer look at those inspired by the divine, please consider showing support and become one of my patrons by donating to my Patreon or making a donation to my Paypal. Looking for more out of the CRB? Then you’re in luck! Facebook, Google +, Tumblr, and Twitter all have a CRB presence. And if you’re as impatient as I am, have the CRB pushed directly to your Kindle with every new post by signing up for Kindle Subscriptions.

Character 102 - Vasuman Walia

I write the intro to these things after I actually write the character. It gives me a chance to comment on difficulties I may have had and my process. I say that specifically because I am going to point out that even I cannot tie everything together. As I was writing the background I thought I had hit on all the little tidbits, but upon rereading the random rolls post I realized I missed something. I liked what I had and I couldn’t see shoehorning another piece into it, so you will find that the influential person – the academic – has been left out. It just goes to show that this is not always easy and it’s ok if you miss a piece when creating your character.

As for character choices I went looking through the Advanced Races Guide for some information on Suli but there wasn’t a lot. I wanted to play on their natural ability as negotiators, his worship of the Empyreal Lord of communication and music, and his need for pleasure. Although charisma was not his best stat it was still good so I choose the celebrity bard archetype from Ultimate Magic.

Vasuman Walia

The nation of Katapesh has become a common home for Vudrani who seek a life outside of the caste system of their homeland. The people of The Impossible Kingdoms have spread through the region, finding homes not just in the cities, but in the towns and villages as well. The city of El-Fatar, where adventures come to plumb the depths of ancient ruins, is where the Walia family have made their home now on three generations.

VasumanWalia is one of nine children born to Bhupati, a farmer who inherited his land from his father before him. The boy was in many ways the most unremarkable of his brothers and sisters; not the strongest, fastest, or most attractive. And he most certainly was not the smartest, a fact that infuriated his father often.

The boy did have a good heart and a decent voice, and could often be heard in the kitchen singing as his mother prepared meals. His lack of critical thinking occasionally caused him to act out of bad judgment, even if he meant well. He once overheard his father complain about how a merchant “robbed him blind” and so he snuck into the trader’s caravan and stole a few mostly worthless trinkets to recoup his father’s losses. He would never understand why his dad was so mad, but he made him return the baubles.

Vasuman also had a tendency to literally get lost in his own thoughts. He desperately wanted to be famous. Seeing all the powerful warriors, wizards, and occasional scoundrels flock to his city made him dream of that kind of life. Often while practicing swordsmanship or pretending to learn spells he would find himself lost in the desert. Sometimes he could find his way home, other times his eldest siblings would have to search for him.

On one adventure among the dunes the boy ran into a man sitting under a palm tree. He was like no person Vasuman had ever seen before with bronzed skin and eyes that almost sparkled like stars in the night sky. The man at first seemed insulted by the interruption of his nap but he soon realized it was just a boy.

The two talked well into the night with both Vasuman and the man losing all sense of time. The being explained that he was a janni, a type of genie that lived on Golarion itself. The boy asked about wishes, which from a grown less innocent man would have been a grave breach of etiquette, but the janni let it slide with a few tactful words. Before the night was through he told the boy that he too would feel the pull of the elements and left him with that thought at the gates of his parent’s farmhouse.

Eventually, as he aged Vasuman began to see that his chance meeting may not have been by chance. His own blood seems to have been laced with that of the janni, and like the mortal genie he was blessed with the natural ability to understand the desires of people and play to their wants. With a honeyed word and a pleasant tune, the young Vudrani began to make a name for himself in his hometown.

Vasuman hopes to one day be known throughout Golarion for, well, anything really. But that day is not today. Today he starts his adventure in the deserts of Katapesh.

Did you come up with something similar to Vasuman? Which class did your suli gravitate to? What creature did he meet as a child? Why did he steal from a merchant? Who was her academic influence? If you haven’t written your background yet you still have a chance.

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

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Silent Night

Faithful of The Black Butterfly

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.

As always, let us imagine we are sitting at our theoretical gaming table. Our imaginary GM sets out the rules for the game that we will play. In this game, we are to make a follower of Black Butterfly. The character does not need to be a divine caster, just a devotee of The Silence Between. What character do you make?

For more information on Black Butterfly

Black Butterfly’s Pathfinder Wiki Page

Black Butterfly’s Archives of Nethys Page

Monks of the Black Tower

There is a saying about becoming the monster you hunt. Delving too much into how any evil creature thinks and acts is likely to rub off on the one studying them. This is even truer when the creatures you wish to understand are the personifications of madness. But the Monks of the Black Tower do just that as they study the Dark Tapestry – the void between the stars – for hints into the workings of the great old ones and the outer gods.

Wizards, sorcerers, occultists, oracles, and astronomers make up the membership of the Monks. They each take a vow of silence, as to speak the names of these eldritch creatures is to invite them into your heart. They also take a vow of isolation never to leave the monastery again. All of their findings are kept on scrolls that are locked away until the information is needed to battle specific threats.

Void Hunters

Whereas the Monks of the Black Tower isolate themselves, the Void Hunters actively seek out the agents of their enemies on Golarion. Far older than the Monks. it is believed that one of the members of this sect was the founder of the Black Tower Monastery. The Hunters are believed to have come into existence as some of the earliest explorers of the crashed starship in Numeria. They were very active in Osirian during the second age in AR -1498, where they fought against a mysterious cult they discover from their findings in Numeria.

The Void Hunters consists of active field agents who work in small cells to hunt down agents of the mysterious Dominion of the Black. Any person who has felt the touch of these emissaries of the void can join. Often, though, hunters and investigators of the occult find their way into the ranks. Clerics, rangers, investigators, occultists and other psychic classes make up the core of this sect.

The Silent Gift

Battle against the unknown isn’t the only way followers of the Black Butterfly make their presence felt on Golarion. Like many Empyreal Lords, there is a small mystery cult to The Silence Between in the city-state of Magnimar. Their existence is mostly unrealized but their impact is felt by many of the most downtrodden of the citizens of the City of Monuments.

Most of the sect members were at one point destitute themselves and know what it means to want for even basic necessities. As such the cult members perform seemingly random acts of charity every day, often taking from the well-off to give to those truly in need. The leader is a shadow dancer by the name of NyvenWildershins, a Varisian who grew up in the shadow of the irespan known as Underbridge. His followers are mostly rogues and a few clerics to the Black Butterfly who came from the slums of the city they call home.

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 me know in the comments.

If the CRB has helped you take a closer look at those inspired by the divine, please consider showing support and become one of my patrons by donating to my Patreon or making a donation to my Paypal. Looking for more out of the CRB? Then you’re in luck! Facebook, Google +, Tumblr, and Twitter all have a CRB presence. And if you’re as impatient as I am, have the CRB pushed directly to your Kindle with every new post by signing up for Kindle Subscriptions.

Character 99 - Mkpulunma Usweko

Picking a class for this week’s character was difficult. Although the high charisma screamed some kind of charisma caster; Bard, Bloodrager, Oracle, Skald, and Sorcerer all had magic that in the Mana Wastes would be unreliable at best and dangerous at worst. This goes to show that although the stats may lean toward one thing, background information may dictate another.

I was originally thinking that she would be some sort of charisma-monkey rogue. Then I remembered that constitution was the core stat for the kineticist from Occult Adventures. In looking through their archetypes I found one for specifically for changelings out of the Blood of the Coven book called the Arakineticist. Upon further delving I also found the Overwhelming Soul, which replaced con as the core stat with charisma. The fact that they stacked was just the providence I needed to make this character.

Mkpulunma Usweko

The Mana Wastes is a barren place, but life can be found here and there amongst the mutants and monsters. In many instances, these small towns and village fall along what few trade routes pass through these desolate lands. In one of these towns is where Yafeu Usweko made his home after leaving the jungles of Mwangi with his first wife and son.

Yafeu was a merchant among his people and used what money he made to expand his business upon his arrival in the Wastes. Just as his career grew, his family did as well. His late wife bore him one more child, although she passed before her youngest son even turned ten.

It took a few years but the merchant eventually remarried. The woman reminded him very much of his first wife. The married quickly and within a year she produced a daughter. But on the night of their child’s birth, the mother mysteriously disappeared leaving Yafeu to raise the child alone. The coming of a daughter and the loss of a second wife was bittersweet.

Mkpulunma grew the youngest child with two overprotective brothers. Even if she was only their half-sister they still loved her very much. As she grew up, the young girl exhibited a certain unnatural beauty that attracted many of the boys in their town. Nothing ever lasted and she often used her brothers to help her break off a romance that she decided she was over so as to protect her ego from the pain of being broken up with.

When she was spurned for another girl by a young man who she took a fancy to she became exceedingly jealous. She used her position as the daughter of one of the more prominent tradesmen to humiliate the young girl, who she felt stole the affections of the boy she wanted. Again her pride would not let her be hurt in this way.

Things began to change for her when Mkpulunma was sixteen. Aspects of her true heritage began to show themselves. The curse of her mother’s bloodline began to overwhelm her body with negative energy. The blood of a hag almost tried to kill her and those around her as she began to lash out with blasts of entropy and decay.

The young changeling began to hide from the world; her ego could not allow for those around her to see her so vulnerable. In her quest to remain unseen she turned to the lady of veils. She begged to be made invisible to those who would seek to know her. She also took up the wearing of many veils to cover the green hair and different color eyes that gave her away as the daughter of a hag.

The Mana Wastes are full of chaos. Magic has gone awry when it even works at all. Those who exhibit some of these wild talents do not go unnoticed. Although Mkpulunma’s abilities were neither divine nor arcane in nature they were still seen to some as a symptom of the anarchy of power in the region. One such person to take notice was the hunter Heracrix.

Heracrix’s powers came from the discordant nature of the land around them. His wild soul infused with the beasts of the land, but not so much that he could manage true druidic magic. As a member of one of the few druid groups in the region who looked to heal the land, he chooses to do so by helping others with wild talent to find some sort of balance within themselves.

The Hunter took Mkpulunma under his wing as her mentor and trainer. He found her strength in the force of personality she exhibited and helped her to learn to use that to control the power of her curse. Although it lessened what she was able to accomplish, it did keep her constant production of negative energy from eating away at her physical being.

Through years of constant study, learning to force her mind over her body, Mkpulunma eventually gained control of her curse. She still wanted very little to do with others, lest her fragile pride be hurt. She decided to leave all those who knew her in the past and make her way in the world where the new her was the only her people would know. What that will bring she is quite unsure of.

With that I give you a complete background but what class do you think this character would have become? Who was her mentor? Why was she jealous enough to humiliate someone? Where did her worship of Sivanah come from?

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

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Character 98 - Amaras Igneri

There were two hard parts to writing the background for this week’s random rolls. Writing this intro, which I typed and erased a dozen times, and deciding which class this character should be. There was a rich character to be built off of a Samsaran with a desire to live in the past. Dead parents and a god of accidental death seemed almost too good to be true. I had most of the history of this character figured out before I even managed to come up with what mechanical class her background would take her into.

The cult and high wisdom almost screamed for her to be a cleric but I felt there was something else that would fit my idea of a nihilistic character. In searching through the psychic classes from Occult Adventures  I came upon the geist channeler archetype and I knew I found what I was looking for. Further investigation into the spiritualist class netted me the scourge archetype from the Haunted Heroes Handbook – from which I took an archetype for last week’s character – and I knew I could link the emotionless nature of the giest channeler with this archetype’s pain aspect.

Amaras Igneri

Kaer Maga. It all comes back to Kaer Maga. In the flashes of her memory, every past life she’s lived has brought Amaras back to Kaer Maga. This life, however, started in a small village along the trade river between Magnimar and The City of Strangers. Her parents settled there to be at the center of things; to help trade flow in both directions. They wanted to raise their daughters outside of the major cities and away from what they thought was corruption.

But as Amaras often tells people, “Kaer Maga always calls me.” She found herself again in that ancient city when a great storm saw the river break its bounds in the middle of the night and wipe her village from the face of Golarion. Most of the population drowned except for a handful clutching to the floating debris of what remained of their homes. Amaras’ parents were washed away and only she and her sister remained.

When the refugees came people were waiting. Many looked to take advantage of the tragedy that befell the people of the flood for their own gain, others wanted to help those lost souls beset by this terrible accident. Some others would masquerade as the latter to do the former while still others were waiting as if they knew that this accident would happen. A couple showing concern for the children of the tragedy took in Amaras and her sister.

The girls were hurting. Keila, her sister, lashed out in anger at everything. Her adopted parents could never control her rage. When she got older, she fled the home and lived on the streets of Kaer Maga, leaving her sister alone. Little did she know she would be the lucky one.

Amaras internalized her pain, shutting off her feelings. Her adopted parents encouraged this in subtle ways. The only way the young Samsaran could feel was through pain, which her parents taught her to inflict on others. When she was a young adult she was brought into the fold of her guardian’s religion and became a full member of the cult of Zyphus, the god of accidental death.

The worship of a god who represented the pain of her early childhood seemed in some small way comforting to Amaras. As she grew in her faith, she learned how Zyphus’ chosen would arrange accidents to furnish him with more souls in his war against Pharasma. It seemed right to her, although she never once questioned the accident that brought her to her city. The truth might have broken her further, but cultists of the Grim Harvestman have never been big on truth.

Amaras was, for the most part, a nihilist. Nothing really mattered and everyone was going to die in the end anyway. However, she was a nihilist with a sense of style; an archaic style. Beyond her connection to her god she had a stronger connection to what she called her city and she lived in the city’s past. Like many Samsarans, she could remember her past lives. They only came in snippets, as if something were blocking them, but each and every one of them lived in Kaer Maga. From its earliest days as The City of Strangers, to its time as a major hub in the Thassilonian Empire, to even before Xin and his apprentices left Azlant to forge their own way.

Love is a fleeting thing, but in the moment it can feel like it will last forever. Love is also an emotion and in general Amaras did not feel those. When she caught the eye of a young mercenary attached to a local branch of the Children of Steel she actually felt something. The two bonded through their love of Kaer Maga’s past, and as much as they both loved her city, she was enamored of his tales of the outside world. When she went on her first mission with the fighter she saw that they both had a talent for causing pain.

The Samsaran had been finding her path through the cult of Zyphus and her own methods to cause pain and misery. Many thought she would grow to be a cleric of the Grim Harvestman, but her path came more from her own strength of will than in a connection to her deity. She could see the pain-wracked spirits sent to her god. Stripped of emotion in the torture, he had them endure before being absorbed by him. And when they tried to break his grasp, she could capture them and use them to her master’s ends in her own way.

Amaras reveled in the past and hated the future, so when it was her time to show her devotion by formulating an accident to send a soul to Zyphus’ realm she chose one of the troll augurs. Although many of them were charlatans she knew a few had the actual gift of foresight and she thought it the height of irony that a prognosticator could never see an accident coming. She planned for months – her lover assisting her with ideas – until the day it happened.

A cart carrying runoff from one of the many factories in the district of Bis overturned right onto the troll, washing him away, as her former home was, in a torrent of corrosive acid. One of the only two ways to stop a troll’s regeneration and a highly unlikely scenario. Yet with the subtle manipulations of the follower of a god of tragic accidents, the unlikely became not only possible but reality.

Soon after Amaras was reminded that life is pain, and that love is a trap. For a mercenary, money talks and you can’t change a tiger’s stripes. One of the trolls saw in a vision that the death of their number was engineered and through their vast web of contacts they set to finding out how. Her lover saw the gleam of coin in the clawed green hands of the augurs and set to make his own fortune.

The Trolls may be excellent information brokers, but in her years in Kaer Maga Amaras has made her own connection in “her” city. A warning from one of the vampire lords, who much appreciated the Samsarans attachment to the era of his mortal days, warned her of the meeting between her lover and the trolls. She set about circumventing this and found him before he could find his payday.

A battle in the dark alleys of The Bottoms was brief but bloody. She and the cultists’ tormented spirit left the swordsmen writing in pain. Amaras, however, stayed her hand and let him live. She wanted a reminder that all life his pain, and she knew he would cause misery for others if he still lived. She did warn him that she should never see him in her city again.

What class do you think this Samsaran’s background would have driven her toward? How did her parents die? What accident wiped out her village? Who was her one lover? Why would she take up the worship of Zyphus?

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

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Character 97 - Saiki Tatsumi

So this character – beyond the difficulties in my work life – posed some really onerous challenges. The high intelligence, being born at a time of power, and having mystic as an influence screamed for her to be a caster of some kind. Being a follower of the Black Butterfly made we want to make her a mute. The problem is that being able to cast spells without speaking is exceedingly hard. I had to search high and low for ways to add silent spell to her spells at a reduced cost, and there aren’t many of them.

Looking through a number of threads I found that the oracle curse “deaf” gave free silent spell to all spells. Finding a way to get the oracle curse on a caster that wasn’t an oracle – because it didn’t fit what I was looking for – was no easy task. I’m not a fan of variant multiclassing, although one could have built the character using VMC oracle, but I did find the one archetype that gives a curse; PactWizard from Haunted Heroes Handbook, not to be confused pact wizard from the Familiar Folio.

Admittedly this will hamstring the character till level 5 when she can choose the deaf curse, but I’m ok with that for the story purposes. I do like that the pact wizard gets a witch’s patron and I thought that stars would be appropriate for a god who was literally created by first being a constellation. For this character, you need to take silent spell at first level, but she’ll retrain it at fifth when she no longer needs it due to the oracle curse.

The exploiter wizard archetype stacks nicely with the pact wizard archetype and will give her some versatility that I think she needs. One of the exploits she can take is dimensional slide, which I think is definitely something someone who worships a goddess of space and distance would take, so I went with that as well.

Saiki Tatsumi

The dangers of The Worldwound abound leaving many homeless and emotionally scarred. As the borders of Mendev slowly recede the Demon hordes take prisoners from the border towns. There are many families that either came to fight the abyssal incursion or followers who traveled with these crusaders from across the face of Golarion. The Saiki family arrived with such warriors from their homeland of Tian but they were taken prisoner by demons when their outpost was sacked.

Saiki Okada and his wife Setsuko saw their lord torn up before their very eyes before they were carried off into the night. Setsuko was pregnant and Okada knew he must help his family escape. On the night that the twins were to be born three of the planets aligned, causing chaos in an already chaotic land. Okada took this as an opportunity to help his wife make their escape.

They traveled through the night led by the light of the stars, although one star itself moved across the sky like no other they had ever seen. They stopped for the night huddled at the border of a desolate forest, which is where Setsuko gave birth. In the morning they were found by outriders from the one liberated town in the demon-infested region, Gundrun.

Although Gundrun is far from the major loci of demon activity, it isn’t always safe. Some believe that there are demonic agents living in the town itself. On occasion, a demon raid will fall upon the town but it is usually repelled. Sadly not everyone survives, and Tatsumi and Chiyu lost their mother when they were only ten. This left a scar on both children with Tatsumi retreating into herself, barely speaking. Her sister Chiyu went the opposite route and began to act out violently.

When the two girls turned twelve and started going through puberty it became evident why they had processed their grief in different ways. The blood that ran through their veins came from two different ancestries. Somewhere along their bloodline a dalliance with the elemental must have happened as Chiyu began to show signs of the fiery blood of the efreeti in her veins while Tatsumi manifest some of the djinn bloodline as a sylph.

It is here that the path of the girls truly diverged. Driven by emotion, Chiyu was drawn to the often savage ways of the Kellid of Gundrun, who descended from the people of Sarkoris, which is now known as the Worldwoud. Tatsumi again took to a life of quiet contemplation, which attracted the notice of a traveler known as The Voiceless Monk.

The Voiceless Monk was a disciple of the powerful Empyreal Lord called the Black Butterfly. Born deaf, he never truly learned to speak, but later in life a pact with the being known as Desna’s Shadow saw him develop arcane powers. Although Tatsumi was not deaf, or truly mute, her mental block on speaking drew him to her. Her training was difficult -- learning to cast spells without speaking didn’t come as easily to her as it did her master.

Tatsumi still had the urges of an adolescent to deal with as well. Although she was quiet, that didn’t mean she didn’t desire the affection of other people. Being unwilling to speak made these relationships more difficult but it didn’t stop her from trying. Sadly, abandonment issues from the death of her mother meant she often used coercion to keep her partners from leaving her. This was a tactic she would secretly regret as she got older.

Although she and her sister took different paths – Chiyu channeling her elemental nature into a bloodrage – they both held strong to a need for fairness and justice. The two saw the injustice in a world that would take their mother; in a world that would allow demons to wipe out an entire country and its peoples. They sought to help those who seem to have been treated unfairly, whether by the world itself, by people, or even by unjust laws.

So there you have it. Yes, this is not the most optimized character at the beginning. You really eat a hefty penalty by willingly not using sound to cast spells, but to me it’s worth it. And even when you get the cure, the deaf penalty is pretty hefty. I wish there was a mute curse that was similar, but I will take what I can get. The Black Butterfly is, after all, the patron of both the deaf and the mute.

What class did your version of this sylph gravitate toward? Who was her sister? How did her mother die? Why did she choose The Black Butterfly as a patron, or was she chosen?

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but helps you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to create, please consider supporting your favorite content provider – that’s me, right? – by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon or making a direct donation to my Paypal.

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Giving Magic Flavor

What Do Potions Taste Like

I’ve touched on the topic of dynamic magic before; noting that one can make their world seem more real by using descriptions of how one casts spells. This kind of depth can be added to much more than just immediate spell casting. Although I’ve talked about it before with some of my groups, it dawned on me the other day while drinking some tea to help defrost, “I wonder what different potions taste like?”

Potions definitely have a flavor. When attempting to identify a potion – in Pathfinder at least – you have to take a little taste of it. Different potions will have differing flavors and that healing potion won’t taste the same as a portion of barkskin. I would imagine that something like a portion of healing might taste a little like kids cough syrup, and describing this to your players will help immerse them more deeply into your world.

Although the ability to determine what a potion is by tasting a bit suggests that all of the same types of potions taste alike, I’m not sure I’d like it if that were true. It might be interesting if the more scientific minded alchemists’ healing potions tasted like chalky medicine while the motherly witch has healing salves that taste like chicken soup. Making the flavors dependent on the one who brews the potions could add an interesting twist to identifying them.

Tasting something isn’t always about flavor either. Texture plays a big part in how we consume food. The aforementioned barkskin potion my feel like moss on your tongue while having a woody taste. A potion of haste might slide across your tongue and down your throat. And a potion of slow might feel like molasses and stick to the sides of your mouth.

Adding little things like the flavor and texture of potions can honestly be the difference between a memorable game and just a good one. What do you think potions taste like? Do the common ones like cure potions all taste the same? What is the flavor of a love potion?

Today we brewed up another bit of flavor for your games here at the CRB. If you’d like to throw some ingredients in the cauldron, please consider becoming a contributor. Monthly donations of as little as one dollar can be made to my Patreon. A one-time donation can easily be made to my Paypal. Every bit helps me keep the lights on so I can concentrate on bringing you the content you deserve.

The CRB has been growing as a community on social media. Please join us on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion. If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to have the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon.

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

Sense Motive is not an Automatical Lie Detector

Just like magic has limitations, so too do skills. One of the skills that sees the most abuse is Sense Motive. Oftentimes people use sense motive as an automatic lie detector, or in some cases, even a means to read someone’s mind. However, the skill doesn’t really work that way; magic is often not even that precise. So how do we allow a player to use Sense Motive – especially if they’ve maxed out ranks in it – and still make it a skill and not perfect ability?

What many people tend to forget is that there is a big difference between knowing something is up and knowing what that something is. Sense Motive is really looking for non-verbal clues that reveal something about the character. Just saying  “you know he’s lying” honestly pays a disservice to the skill and the character using it. Instead, you should try explaining the ticks that the character sees, and because our character is not our player, talk about what they could mean, because your player may not know.

The Eyes are the Windows to the Soul

A lot of people believe that the eyes will give you away. Some say that when constructing a lie a person will look up and to the right. Others believe that someone can’t look you In the eyes when he is lying. The fact of the matter is that psychologists have done numerous studies on this and have found no connection with eye movement and lying.

Although there is no direct connection, not everyone knows that and that means the eyes can give something away. Bad liars tend to believe the statements about eyes – especially about not being able to look someone in the eye. They will often compensate by trying to stare at you for too long to prove that they aren’t liars. Many professional interrogators now use this as a means to spot a liar.

Studies have also shown that liars tend to blink more. Although the difference between the amount of eye fluttering between a truth-teller and a liar isn’t vast, it is there. Someone with a high sense motive may be able to tell when the subtle line of too much blinking been crossed.

The Face of Fear

Although it’s not foolproof when added to other factors, fear can be a signal of someone obfuscating the truth. Liars are often afraid that the person they are lying to will see through their lies and fear is often one of the clearer emotions that you can read on a person. But the reason I say this should be used in conjunction with other signs is that a truth-teller may be afraid that no one will believe they are telling the truth.

Words a Plenty

Liars will often use overly formal language. Whereas they might normally call their coworker Bob, they will instead call him “Mr. Smith”. Most people use contractions and would say “didn’t” but a liar will often say that they “did not” do something. Innocent people tend to adamant in their defense using hard words like “steal,” they don’t mince words. Liars will often soften the words they use and talk about “borrowing” things.

Liars can be caught, not just in the words they use, but in how they use them. When fibbing, a liar will tend to offer shorter responses. The feeling is that they believe the less they say the less likely they will be to make mistakes. In those short statements, you may also hear more ums, ers, and ahs as the fibber tries to look for the correct word to meet his crafted statement.

Now that you know some of the things your player’s character with the high sense motive might be looking for, you can try and weave these things into your description of what he sees. There are many other signs and a lot of research into proper methods of discerning the truth. But the ones I’ve put forth here have been agreed upon by a number of different studies.

One thing you may want to take into account is: What if your player fails his sense motive roll? Is he just unable to read his target? Does he see false flags in the cues given by the suspect? The biggest fear of a truth-teller in stressful situations is not to be believed, so you can play off this for interesting roleplay situations.

How have you used Sense Motive in your games? Do you just tell your player that his target is lying? What clues do you give your interrogator? What happens when they fail their checks?

Have I given you the sense that my motives are pure? If you’ve found this article useful please consider becoming a contributor. Monthly donations of as little as one dollar can be made to my Patreon. A one-time donation can easily be made to my Paypal. Every bit helps me keep the lights on so I can concentrate on bringing you the content you deserve.

The CRB has been growing as a community on social media. Please join us on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion. If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to have the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon.

I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing

Joy-Bringers of Sinashakti

In a world filled with death, destruction, and unknowable horrors, it can often be hard to find joy. This week we look at a being whose sole purpose is to share his tales with the multiverse. Sinashakti is the Empyreal Lord of journeys, joy, and messengers. We’ll look at three possible sects for this infectiously happy divine entity.

As always, let us imagine we are sitting at our theoretical gaming table. Our imaginary GM sets out the rules for the game that we will play. In this game, we are to make a follower of Sinashakti. The character does not need to be a divine caster, just a devotee of The Walker of Worlds. What character do you make?

For more information on Sinashakti

Sinashakti’s Pathfinder Wiki Page

Sinashakti’s Archives of Nethys Page

The Riders of Devotion

With wars being fought all over the face of Golarion loved ones are often separated from each other for years at a time. From the battles between Nirmathas and Molthune to the defenders of Last Wall and the Frontlines of the Worldwound,  any soldiers have someone they long for back home. The Riders of Devotion travel between active battlefields and many nations to bring letters to and from these separated lovers.

Every member of The Riders is an excellent horseman. Many of them are also ex-soldiers who lost a loved one while they were away and never had the chance to say goodbye. They join the sect so that they can stop others from feeling the devastation that they felt. The group’s only requirements are the ability to ride, and devotion to Sinashakti and the power of love.

The Dusty Boots

The Boots are a sect of travelers who seek to collect knowledge of as many places and peoples as they can. They take their name from the fact that they are constantly covered in the dust from the dirt roads they travel. Younger members travel the roads of their homeland, and as they become older and wiser they travel further afield. The highest ranking – and oldest – members of the sect take after their patron and travel the pathways between the planes.

The sect accepts any follower of The Walker of Worlds who wishes to begin a life of never-ending travel. Although bards are the most common members of the sect, rangers, investigators, rogues, and many arcane and divine casters can be found among the ranks. Barring the use of magical items, casters are needed to make planar travel possible; so rare few of the Dusty Boots have found paths that lead to other planets in Golarion’s solar system

The Light

The mission statement of The Light is to bring the light of joy to the darkest places. The sect began in Ustalav where the many horrors of the realm have sucked the joy out of the country’s populace. The Light would travel among the principalities trying to enliven the people’s spirits. From there they have expanded to other lands. The group has taken a special interest in the shadowy lands of Nidal

Like most sects of The Immaculate Joy, any follower can join The Light. And like the general members of Sinashakti’s church, many of The Light’s membership are bards. In the land like Nidal where joy is pretty much a crime, The Light acts in the manner of spies and counterinsurgents. Many of the group’s members here are rogues, investigators, and rangers.

Followers of The Walker of Worlds look to bring joy to even the darkest places. Who is your disciple of Sinashakti? Why have they chosen to dedicate themselves to The Immaculate Joy? Where does their devotion to this Empyreal Lord come from? Let me know in the comments.

If the CRB has helped you take a closer look at those inspired by the divine, please consider showing support and become one of my patrons by donating to my Patreon or making a donation to my Paypal. Looking for more out of the CRB? Then you’re in luck! Facebook, Google +, Tumblr, and Twitter all have a CRB presence. And if you’re as impatient as I am, have the CRB pushed directly to your Kindle with every new post by signing up for Kindle Subscriptions.