Scaled Continent: Lessons Learned

• There is such a thing as too many players at the table, especially when they all have henchmen and you can't see each other.  ACKS with DM+3 is a very different game from DM+5.  At DM+3, we saw cohesion and lack of player capability overlap.  At DM+5, we saw disintegration of cohesion (see: Tim's assassin forays away from rest of group) and massive capability overlap (contention for front-rank slots by many fighters).  Grim Fist was DM+4, and that worked out pretty well.  Alex Macris' games seem to run at DM+6, but he built the system, so one would expect him to DM it optimally.
• Playing over internet without video seriously aggravated this issue.
• Fighter-centric game problems might eventually be solved by ACKS Heroic Fantasy book?  Or not adventuring in narrow corridors.  It's interesting that our group seems to really like fighters; I think that of eight players, four either were playing a melee fighter or had a melee fighter henchman (or both in two cases), while only two had dedicated ranged fighter or ranged explorer henchmen.  Dungeon-biased party composition.
• Play to the things that motivate your players (duh?).  Treasure and exploration for their own sake, while romantic, don't appear to cut it with my player-base.  Money and exploration are both means, and there was a lack of interesting ends.  I have a slight aversion to unifying distant existential threat, because of a past experience where one player hyper-focused on it and set the group's agenda, but avoiding it entirely was probably not the right solution.
• I believe this also contributed to lack of players taking scheduling initiative, which meant the irregular scheduling mode of operation broke down and the game became regular.  Timezones basically precluded weeknights anyway, though.
• Lacking elements that I believe my players enjoy:
• NPCs with agendas.  For all that we complain about the Elminster effect and how ACKS isn't like that, having a handful of high-power (possibly malicious) NPCs around is actually good in ACKS.
• Coherent narrative; partly impeded by total playerbase size, partly by my intended style of game.
• In platoon-scale Domains at War, lizardmen can crush something like three times their number of human mercenaries as a result of HD advantage (2d8+ vs 1d6) and racial +Morale, and lightning bolt is probably less good than fireball.  Sorry about that, Mark.
• I may have made the barrier between civilization (Voltager) and wilderness (Continent) too big - 500 miles of ocean is "daunting".  Conversation with dad suggests that this may have also contributed to lack of scheduling initiative.
• Trade under the standard rules still isn't quite doing it for us.  Probably needed bigger markets.
• One player's feedback suggests that ready availablility of RL&L for purchase made death inconvenient rather than terrible, and hence the game was less exciting.  The primary consequence of dying was probably that you were basically done for the session because you needed weeks of bed rest; the side effects folks rolled were mostly nuisances rather than serious handicaps (especially when RL&Ling the giant hawk henchbeast).  Perversely, this problem is best solved by lowering market classes.
• Treasure maps pointing to lairs rather than full dungeons actually worked pretty well.  The only trouble is that a lair with as much treasure as the treasure map roll yielded almost certainly meant dragon, cyclops, or something else rather formidable.
• Hex stocking wasn't a big problem, but I did fail to use dynamic lairs again.  Random wilderness encounters were reasonably random and respected by players without dominating the game.  Nobody tried hex-clearing (yay?).
• Again, world needed to be more active.  This was coming, with monsoon season and political upheaval, but not to the once-a-session-at-the-pizza-break levels that I had planned.
• DM / genre fatigue is a thing, and timing when starting a new game is important.  If you take too long between when you have the idea and when the game starts, something else will start to look appealing.  In this case I waited a couple weeks trying to find a local group before falling back to internet.  This was a mistake, I guess?  Holiday unavailabilities did not help matters at all either.

Scaled Continent Session 2

Report:

• PCs were bladedancer, amazon, fighter, assassin/pirate, and bard
• Set out from Voltager to Port Maw to sell cursed / fake snakeman relic sword.  Lost at sea, made it to Port Maw eventually by good luck.
• Found a buyer for the sword for 8kGP in Port Maw.
• Sailed north to Rat's Nest to solve their dragon problem.  Attempted to drop a (giant) tree trunk on dragon laired in ancient ape temple with large hole in roof, missed badly.  Mercenary crossbowmen very effective, but suffered terrible casualties.  Breath weapons are terrifying; fighter, fighter's cleric henchman, and amazon's giant eagle henchman felled by corrosive gas before dragon shot to death.  Falling damage from temple roof also terrifying, but bladedancer/amazon/cleric-hench stack and good mortal wounds rolls resulted in no fatalities.  Stacked Bless from multiple deities with Inspire Courage is pretty substantial.
• Recovered 210-lb solid gold idol of a smiling four-armed ape casually carrying the globe on one shoulder.  Party decides that this was probably a fun god, pirate considers getting religion.  Also found magic shield, two scrolls, three potions.
• Returned to Rat's Nest, healed up, told by elven priests that idol is primitive superstition with no actual deity behind it.  Unable to find buyer for idol.  
• En route to Port Maw for RL&L, ran into merchants at sea, sold idol for 20kGP based on value as bullion.  Some sads were had.
• At Port Maw, RL&L for mortally injured.  Took on cargo of coffee and furs for return to Voltager.
• Avoided encounter with fleet of uncertain motives at sea.
• Arrived at Voltager, sold coffee, unable to find buyer for furs.
• Made plans to explore haunted Castle Haven next session (or to pursue one of Tim's maps)
• Seven weeks elapsed, most of which was seeking merchants for trade goods, rest of most of which was travel time.
• Upon return to Voltager, fresh news is that a pirate captain has escaped from the dungeons...  He may want his ship back.

 Sticking points:

• Still somewhat slow; rusty players (only two players overlapped between sessions) and lack of video continue to induce lag.
• Technical difficulties continue.  We got roll20's flash voice/video working, but lag to the West Coast was horrific and some voice connections just didn't work (ie, I could hear Tom, Tom could hear everyone but me, and everyone but Tom could hear me).  Fell back to skype again.  Conclusion is that I need to switch distros so google hangouts work (currently have issues with audio devices not appearing properly).  Further work required.
• Figuring out XP and GP shares for items found one session and sold the next with an overlapping set of PCs is hard.  Party treasury would make my life a lot easier, and make it easier for party to go "Oh man, a scroll of cloudkill is something our party's wizards should definitely have, but none of them are here this session to make it happen" when something good comes up on the market.  Does generate some risk of mishandling of party finances, however.
• Mercenary pay, morale, and levelling - contentious outside of DaW unit scales.  Surviving crossbowmen of dragon fight should almost certainly have levelled to Fighter 1, probably deserved hazard pay, but PCs did not want to pick up more henchmen, and uncertainty about shares for henchmen-of-henchmen abounded.  As it was, ruled that they left service after being denied spoils of victory, market now flooded with jaded veteran crossbowmen.  Need to find a good solution to this; probably warrants a separate post.
• Market classes too small to be useful for mercantile ventures or to sell magic items and giant golden idols.  Should probably boost Port Maw's class to III on basis of being on trade routes / important river-mouth position.  Willing to leave Voltager a IV on basis that while an important supply point, it's too far from anything to qualify as being on a route even if it were a class I market.  This also has the effect of pushing players towards a mainland base of operations; will probably boost Stillwater to III likewise for some symmetry / choice about best base on Continent.
• Probability distribution of goods for sale by merchants should be influenced by market modifiers at current location, rather than a universal percentile table.  Need better scripting on mercantile in general.  Volumes/values of trade goods pathetically small in class IVs.  Currently a much less potent income source than was last campaign.

Scaled Continent - Session 2 and 3 planning in progress

In case folks are just not checking the ObsPort - currently looking for input on scheduling and target locales for 2nd and 3rd sessions of Scaled Continent.

Scaled Continent Session 1

Report:

• Sewers partially explored.  Found and fought a gang of snakemen, took their leader prisoner, interrogated.  Knocked the snake door, snakeman volunteered to check hall for traps by trying to escape, was very successful.  Found cursed fake snakeman artifact, then found secret passage to real one.  Decided to undertake expedition to sell fake one to snakemen.  Encountered ruffians in sewers on way out, did not engage.
• Pursued the bounty on pirates.  Aerial reconnaisance was conducted via amazon riding giant eagle, pirate camp in hidden cove located.  Scouted plantation of former captain rumored to be mysteriously immune to pirate attacks, no evidence of wrongdoing found.  En route to pirate base, encountered hunting party, captured one and slew rest.  Base found in low alert state waiting for hunting party to return with dinner, pirates dispatched easily, captain (8th-level assassin) taken prisoner via bolas while trying to flee.  Much treasure was had, including two ridiculously huge gems, and a small troop transport captured as ship for further expeditions.
• Technical difficulties - neither google talk nor roll20's voice/vid was cooperative, ended up falling back to skype voice conference + roll20 map / roller.  Voice quality less than fantastic, one player dropped early due to skype bugging out.  Not ideal, but not sure how to fix.
• Somewhat slow; many and rusty or new players may have contributed.  Carrier-sense multiple access of voice medium also hard without facial and body cues.  I am sorry we ran overtime, Mark and Alex :\
• No casualties of either PCs or henchmen.  They didn't even have any "oh god we're all going to die" moments :(.  They managed resources well and made quick, single-target expeditions into reasonably safe areas, so partly smart play on their part (and partly that most of their opponents were 1HD mooks suitable for great cleaving).  I will have to do better next time.

Scaled Continent: Obsidian Portal Up

A bloodstained ring of black volcanic glass stands in this otherwise-pristine jungle clearing.  It is overgrown with vines, and carved in the shape of a snake eating its own tail.  The trees themselves seem to shy away from it.

Let the complaining about their new interface begin.  I have done my best to de-terrible it.  Also, if I don't have your Obsidian Portal username or an email address, I may need it to send you an invite.

Also: upon examination of the vast tracts of land and vast numbers of hostile sentients residing on the continent, I am considering raising starting resources to 20000 XP and 16000 GP.  Input on this matter is requested.

And now to go put stuff on the wiki.

Scaled Continent: Intended Structure of Play

Here's how I see things working out:

The playerbase as a whole agrees on a Base of Operations.  This base is initially Salvation on Voltager.  The relocation of the base is a fairly major to-do, involving the transport of all adventurers, almost-all henchmen, and most portable resources, and requires unanimous consent.  For players of last campaign, think the move from Deal to Opportunity.  It may be possible further into the game to construct forward operating bases in the jungle, but for now only friendly settlements may be used as bases.  I expect that a coastal continental settlement will be chosen as a base fairly early in the game, but I leave the scouting and decision-making to y'all.

Each session, one or more expeditions from the base of operations are undertaken by the players present for the session. Under ideal circumstances, all PCs return to the base of operations at the end of the session.  PCs stuck in the dungeon or wilderness at the end of a session may suffer calamitous fates.  I would like to keep track of time records, and permit the characters of players not present to experience elapsed time, which may be used for hijinks, recruiting, magic research, congregation-building, recovery from mortal wounds or RL&L side effects, awaiting commissioned goods, or other ends.  As much as I harped on our Standard of Living Costs piledriver previously, I don't really see a good way to employ it here without some people getting screwed over, so those will probably not apply (if SoL costs come out of individual pockets, infrequent players get shafted.  If they come out of a common party treasury, then the group will experience large gold losses because it will be paying out 10 people's worth of SoL costs but only earning money with 5 adventurers at a time).  I'm also loathe to intermingle time between sessions and parties (which would fix "5 supporting 10"), because that creates huge headaches and inconsistencies for everyone involved.  Better to have strictly linear time and accept standard of living as a casualty.  I suppose henchman monthly pay will only be owed for sessions in which their players participate, or over time periods where they were undertaking non-adventuring work (hijinks, crafting, &c).  This actually creates a possible compromise position on SoL costs too - one could charge SoL costs for when a PC is doing something, including non-adventuring things.  But that disincentivizes non-adventuring work, which runs counter to the interesting parts of ACKS.  So I think I'm just going to leave SoL costs out, if that's all right with the lot of you.

I expect this whole time structure will react either wonderfully or catactrophically to the shift to domain play, if and when it occurs.  But that can be worried about later.

Given current player base size, I expect two sessions a week may be necessary to maintain interest.  Given the diversity in timezones, I think probably a friday or weekday night (for PST and EST night-owls) and a sunday late-morning-to-afternoon (for London, EST early risers) session might work.  There is only so much DMing I can reasonably do, so 3-4 hour sessions are likely going to be more common than 6-8 hour ones; should still be plenty of time for an expedition, possibly two.  I would prefer to maintain some degree of cohesion across the player pool rather than division into two distinct parties, but if that happens then it happens.  I expect this will mostly depend on how players in the EST zone end up operating.  I will also do my best to not burn out like I did last time I ran two games a week, but I have better tools now for content generation and am more willing to constrain player action for the sake of sanity (see: the first half of this post) so I think this is significantly less likely than last time.

Obsidian Portal coming soon.  Honest.  At this point my list of things to do for prep is:

• Build ObsPort
• Begin mapping of Guano Cave dungeon
• Start generating notable treasures for maps and rumors (scriptable)
• Drop initial hook
• Build some dynamic lairs
• Demographic maths on the lizard realms
• Market modifiers for coastal settlements (scriptable)

Possibility of first session is really only blocking on ObsPort and hook-drop, since I have that dungeon (sewers of Voltager) ready to run, but I'm going to be travelling all of next week and working unpredictable hours, so expect games to be starting the week after that.  At that time most of those bullets should be complete.  This weekend is juggling car repair, emptying my fridge, packing, and other travel preparations.

Scaled Continent: A Brief History, and Current Situation

Long ago: Aura and environs ruled by the High Kings, divinely appointed.  Rule of Law expands; isles of Voltager settled.

2-3 centuries ago: Lizard kings invade Aura, overthrow High Kings with assistance of Voltari mercenaries and ships.  Torch and salt the forests of Argolle, dragon overlords crack open and plunder dwarven vaults.  Vast numbers of slaves shipped back across Sea of Tears to Scaled Continent for thirsty altars and hungry teeth.

~60 years ago: Dragon Emperor of the Lizardmen disappears mysteriously.  Empire begins to crumble under internal strife, civilized races rebel and gradually retake homelands, form Auran Republic of independent principalities.

5 years ago: Auran Legions dislodge snakemen from volcano-crater-mouth stronghold on Voltager by cutting their water supply and undermining their foundations.  Voltari mostly complicit.  Construction of permanent garrison on Voltager undertaken, along with aqueduct.  Taxes imposed, slave trade halted by Primipilus Galerian (commander of garrison of ~1500 soldiers) much to discontent of Voltari.  Piracy increases as a result, Auran-Voltari relations tense. 

Further expansion by the Legions onto the continent is hindered by inept seamanship, pirate activity, long distances, and institutional preference for galleys.  In preparation for future invasions, however, Galerian has been authorized to provide rewards both for maps of the continent and the capture of pirate vessels.  Meanwhile, grumbles in Voltager suggest that some members of the Council of Captains, a governing body comprised of captains both of ships and mercenaries, find the Primipilus onerous and would be pleased to see him ousted and replaced with someone more pliable.  The Temple of Ianna has been granted a religious exemption on pleasure slaves (an act of political necessity that Galerian no doubt regrets, but which his troops do not), and so supports the Auran garrison, while the Church of Yaris leaves each priest to his own judgment.  The Guild of Ship's Mages tends to support the Council out of alignment of interests.

Salvation, the largest settlement on the Isles of Voltager, is a class IV small city, but is treated as a class III market for the purposes of ruffians, mercenaries, mariners, ships, and trade goods as a result of its traditions and location.  Two other villages stand on the shores of Voltager - Timber, a logging village on the northeastern edge of Voltager Maxima, and Gemsands, a mining village on the eastern short of Voltager Minima.  The settlements on the coast of the Continent are mostly class V or VI, except for Stillwater and Port Maw, which are class IV large towns.  They were once larger, but the decline in slave traffic has caused much of their beastman populations to return to the jungle.

Scaled Continent: Character Generation

I said I've have these ready, so here they are.

Stats: By the book - five sets of 3d6 in order.  I don't care if you use Str Int Wis Dex Con Cha or Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha as long as you decide beforehand and are consistent.  I will award bonus reserve XP ('karma') in an amount TBD (probably ~5000) to players who use Invisible Castle or similar verifiable RNGs to roll their stats, but I do not require it.

Trading statblocks is discouraged.  ACKS chargen is about using what you've got.  Play a class you've never played before!

All classes, races, and proficiencies in the core book are permitted, in addition to some cleric variants.  Some proficiency tweaks:

• Diplomacy permits a character to intervene after a reaction roll has been rolled and the results are known.  He rolls 11+ and 2d6+same modifiers as original reaction roll.  Should the proficiency throw succeed, the higher of the two reaction rolls is used; should it fail, he has bungled and the lower of the two is used.  This proficiency may be taken multiple times, at +4 to the roll per time taken.
• Goblin-Slaying is replaced with Lizard-Slaying, with bonuses applying to dragons, dinosaurs, crocodiles, giant lizards, lizardmen, crocodilemen, snakemen, and other land-dwelling four-or-more-limbed reptiles of human size or larger.
• Mapping lets you reconstruct a player-drawn map from memory on an 11+ should one be lost or destroyed, rather than producing perfect maps from memory.  It also permits illiterate characters to map.
• Seafaring provides a +1 bonus on checks to avoid drowning per level possessed, in addition to its normal effects.  Seafaring III provides a +/- 4 modifier to maneuver into a boarding position or avoid being boarded in addition to its normal effects.

Selecting a class requires that its prime and minimum stats be >= 9 before it is selected.  Once selected, prime reqs can be boosted by lowering non-prime reqs by 2 points per point of prime req gained.  In accordance with the rulebook, the two points should be from the same stat.  This makes doing this actually potentially expensive / a true decision, rather than lowing four 10s to 9s to boost your prime req from a 16 to an 18 with no real cost (as we've seen).

Characters begin play with 20000 XP and 16000 GP.  This puts most classes in the 4th-6th level range.  Prime requisite does not effect these values; if you have +prime req, you are assumed to have reached these values more quickly than your fellows, and may choose (after rolling your age) to subtract a year if you have +5% or up to two years for +10% if human, 2 or 4 if dwarf, or 5 or 10 if elf.  This is useful, as undead drain age rather than levels, but optional as it may drive you into youth, which carries ability score penalties.  See page 248 for aging rules.

Hit points are rolled as normal, except that the first hit die is the best of two rolls (much like L0 men get max(1d4, 1d8) when levelling into fighter, adventurers get max(1dn, 1dn) at first level).

Everything else is per page 253; arcanists start with their repertoires full of random spells (Exception: Phantasmal Force is replaced with Glitterdust from the ACKSPC.  Still an illusion, still powerful, but more clearly written, better-defined in its capabilities, and infinitely easier to adjudicate).  Gold can be spent on magic item rolls, henchmen XP, ships, labs, trade goods, horses, mercenaries, &c.  Henchmen use rolled but unchosen statblocks.  Statblocks used for henchmen are no longer available for use as PCs later.

Trading gold for magic items is a high-risk high-potential-reward strategy, and should be weighed against the purchase of low-power magic items sometimes available in towns.  Purchasing ships and trade goods for their base price may be smart moves.  Players may pool their wealth towards these ends.

Obsidian Portal coming soon, possibly with forum, calendar, and misc other ascendant features.  Likely accompanied by a grumpy post about their recent redesign.

Scaled Continent: Call for Players

In search of freebooters, mercenaries, mappers, hired bearers, mule drivers, local guides, and sundry others for the purpose of exploration, conquest, and plunder of a forbidding jungle continent.

Operational parameters:

System: Adventurer Conqueror King

Medium: roll20 and Obsidian Portal plus some subset of skype, google hangouts, jitsi, IRC, whatever.

Level: probably starting in the 3rd-4th range.  I would like a second shot at handling wilderness adventuring properly, and reaching Domains at War levels in some sort of reasonable timeframe would be fun too.  Starting from 1st is a charming idea, but awful slow.

Lethality: Probably.  Bring henchmen, 10' poles, and/or reserve XP.

Plot: A verb describing the actions taken by smart players between sessions

Playstyle: If low interest, single-party expeditionary play.  If more interest, Western Marches-inspired, but online and with more towns.  Cloud player base, irregular scheduling, single-session expeditions when possible so infrequent players don't get screwed by being out-of-position.

Player types liable to have fun: grognards, planners, repressed wargamers, Dwarf Fortress or Nethack players, greedy bastards who like treasure, pyromaniacs, players sick of riding the railroad.  We've also had good experiences with new players picking up ACKS.

Intended frequency: 0.5 to 2 games per week, depending on interest and with real life permitting.  Perfect attendance not at all expected; my quorum is 2-3 players + DM.

Intended duration: Some months, with breaks as necessary.

Number of players sought: Come one, come all, but probably no more than five per session or so depending on henchman count.  Primary intended audience is family and post-graduation-diaspora old friends, but general public welcome subject to available space.

Character generation details and house-rules in use will be consolidated hopefully by end-of-week.

Gods and Clerics of the Scaled Continent

Deities:
Volgrim - Metal, fire, craftsmanship, dwarves
Neith - the chaste huntress.  Amazons serve her.  Wilderness deity.  Bladedancer meets Explorer.  Ianna's uptight older sister.
Ianna - sex and war.  Much-worshipped on Voltager.  The reason young Voltari men go raiding elsewhere is that the bladedancers refuse to put up with their shit.  ACKS Core Bladedancer.
Ammonar - Sun, law.  ACKS Core Cleric.
Yaris - Wind, water, trade.  Much worshipped by men of Voltager.
Earth Mother.  Clerics as standard ACKSPC Priestess for the time being.
Hungry Darkness / Blind Devourer.  Holy symbol is ouroboros.  Deity of time, death, chaos.  Serpentmen worship its aspects.  The moon to Ammonar's sun.  Cleric variant not yet complete.

Amazons of Neith:
AL: Merciless without cruelty (Neutral)
Prime Reqs: Wis, Dex
Holy Symbol: Running deer.  Also associated with panthers.
Permitted weapons: Hunting weapons.  Bows and crossbows, bolas, spears, javelins.
Fighting styles: Weapon and shield, two weapons.
Permitted armor: Leather or lighter
Turning undead: No
Bonus proficiencies: Skirmishing, Difficult to Spot, Beast Friendship, +1 initiative
Spell list:

1.  
• Cure Light Wounds
• Delay Disease
• Detect Danger
• Faerie Fire
• Locate Animal or Plant
• Pass Without Trace
• Predict Weather
• Purify Food and Water
• Resist Cold
• Salving Rest
2.  
• Augury
• Bless
• Charm Animal
• Delay Poison
• Resist Fire
• Shimmer 
• Silence 15' radius
• Snake Charm
• Speak with Animals
• Swift Sword
3.  
• Cure Blindness
• Cure Disease
• Eyes of the Eagle
• Glyph of Warding
• Growth of Animals
• Prayer
• Remove Curse
• Striking
• Winged Flight
4.  
• Command Animals
• Create Water
• Cure Serious Wounds
• Divination
• Fate
• Neutralize Poison
• Nondetection
• Speak with Plants
• Sticks to Snakes
• Summon Animals
5.  
• Atonement
• Commune
• Control Animals
• Create Food
• Insect Plague
• Quest
• Restore Life and Limb (and its reverse, Arrow of Death)
• Scry
• Strength of Mind
• True Seeing

Class proficiency list:
Alertness, Ambushing, Animal Husbandry, Apostasy, Climbing, Combat Reflexes, Contemplation, Divine Blessing, Divine Health, Endurance, Fighting Style, Healing, Laying on Hands, Land Surveying, Martial Training, Naturalism, Navigation, Passing without Trace, Precise Shooting, Prophecy, Quiet Magic, Riding, Running, Survival, Swashbuckling, Theology, Tracking, Unflappable Casting


Clerics of Volgrim:
AL: Creator and scholar (Lawful)
Prime Reqs: Wis
Holy Symbol: Hammer superimposed over anvil.  Also associated with lanterns.
Permitted weapons: Tools of industry - hammers, axes, picks, serrated entrenching tools, large wrenches, &c
Fighting styles: Two-handed, weapon and shield
Permitted armor: Chainmail and lighter
Turning undead: As normal
Bonus proficiency: Craft or Engineering (Damnit, Jim, I'm an engineer!  But also a priest.)
Spell list alterations:

1.    
• Detect Evil -> Read Languages
2.  
• Silence, 15' radius -> Smoke Cloud
• Snake Charm -> Sharpness
• Speak with Animals -> Produce Fire
3.   
• Feign Death -> Detect Secret Doors
• Growth of Animals -> Cloud of Embers (Glitterdust)
4.  
• Create Water -> Some variant of Soften Earth and Stone, TBD
• Speak with Plants -> Infravision
• Sticks to Snakes -> Vigor
5.  
• Create Food -> Some variant of Wall of Stone, TBD
• Insect Plague -> Hammer of Fire

Class proficiencies:

• Lose: Beast Friendship, Combat Trickery (Push Back, Overrun), Knowledge History, Laying on Hands, Martial Training, Prestidigitation, Quiet Magic
• Gain: Alchemy, Arcane Dabbling, Craft, Endurance, Engineering, Illusion Resistance, Knowledge Any, Siege Engineering

Dwarven craftpriests typically worship Volgrim.  They take a slightly more martial approach, however; they keep access to heavy armor and their own class proficiency list, as in ACKS Core, but their weapon and spell selections change to the above.


Clerics of Yaris
AL: Fickle (Neutral)
Prime Reqs: Wis
Holy symbol: Albatross.  Also associated with coins and dice.
Permitted weapons: Fishing implements (daggers, spears, nets) and wind-borne projectiles (bows, crossbows)
Fighting styles: Weapon and wooden shield ('flotation disks permitted'), two weapons
Permitted armor: Leather or lighter.
Turning undead: as normal
Bonus proficiencies: Whispering Wind (as Eavesdropping), Seafaring
Spell list alterations:

1.  
• Command Word -> Fellowship
• Sanctuary -> Predict Weather
2.  
• Snake Charm -> Fog Cloud
• Hold Person -> Warp Wood
3.  
• Continual Light -> Gust of Wind
• Feign Death -> Call Lightning
• Glyph of Warding -> Water Breathing
• Growth of Animals -> Winged Flight
• Striking -> Eyes of the Eagle 
4.  
• Smite Undead -> Clairaudience
• Sticks to Snakes -> Fate
5. 
   

• Insect Plague -> Summon Weather
• Dispel Evil -> Control Winds 
• Flame Strike -> Hailstorm, Vortex, Meteor Strike, or other similar reflavoring

Class proficiencies:

• Lose: Combat Trickery (Sunder, Overrun), Contemplation, Laying on Hands, Knowledge (History), Martial Training, Profession (Judge), Righteous Turning
• Gain: Alertness, Bargaining, Gambling, Language, Navigation, Precise Shooting, Seafaring, Swashbuckling

Scaled Continent: Templates

Note that many of these templates use the Standard Kit I proposed last time.  Also these templates, rather then being rolled on 3d6 as starting gold, have an associated gold piece cost.  Roll or choose a template and subtract its value from your starting gold.  If you come out negative, you owe a debt to a Hutt Voltari crime lord and had best pay up by the end of the first month or so of play.

And so, without further ado, templates!

Fighter:

1. Legionnaire.  Fighting Style (Shield), Siege Engineering.  Banded plate armor (AC5) and shield, javelin, gladius (short sword), dagger, small shovel, hobnailed sandals, freeholder's garb, standard kit.  95 GP.
2. Legionnaire Equites.  Command, Riding.  Banded plate armor (AC5) and shield, sabre, lance, armiger's garb, high boots, standard kit.  107 GP.
• Upgrade: medium warhorse, military saddle,  saddlebags, chain barding.  +430 GP
3. Legionnaire Velite.  Skirmishing, Tracking.  Leather armor (AC2), javelin x3, gladius, dagger, hobnailed sandals, freeholder's garb, standard kit.  55 GP.
4. Slaver.  Combat Trickery (Knock Down), Intimidation.  Leather armor (AC2), whip, sap, scimitar, freeholder's garb, sandals, manacles, standard kit.  80 GP.
5. Ship's Marine.  Combat Trickery (Force Back), Seafaring.  Scale mail (AC3), polearm, dagger, shortbow and 20 arrows, freeholder's garb, no shoes, extra waterskin, standard kit.  60 GP.
6. Mercenary.  Alertness, Manual of Arms.  Chain mail (AC4) and repainted shield, spear, short sword, dagger, freeholder's garb, low boots, standard kit.  83 GP.

Mage (parenthetical entries indicate bonus proficiencies or spells from extra intelligence):

1. Scholar.  Loremastery, Collegiate Wizardry (Knowledge or Language).  Spellbook with Sleep (Read Languages), quarterstaff, blue mage's robe, sandals, ink, three tallow candles, chalk, standard kit.  52 GP.
2. Enchantress.  Mystic Aura, Seduction (Lip Reading or Mimicry).  Spellbook with Charm Person (Ventriloquism), bodice knife, armigeress' dress, cloak, low boots, small mirror, standard kit.  68 GP.
3. Natural Philosopher.  Beast Friendship, Naturalism (Healing or Alchemy).  Spellbook with Sleep (Light), quarterstaff, brown mage's robes, no shoes, empty vial, pound of hemlock, standard kit.  52 GP.
4. Necromancer.  Black Lore, Disguise (Intimidation or Profession).  Spellbook with Sleep (Hold Portal), sacrificial dagger, freeholder's garb, low boots, blasphemous 'holy' symbol, standard kit. 75 GP
5. Witch Doctor.  Sensing Power, Intimidation (Theology or Healing).  Spellbook with Sleep (Magic Mouth), club, dagger, loincloth, sandals, voodoo doll, grotesque mask, standard kit.  45 GP.
6. Legionnaire Arcane.  Battle Magic, Endurance (Military Strategy, Riding, Leadership).  Spellbook with Sleep (Magic Missile), quarterstaff, dagger, freeholder's tunic, hobnailed sandals, plumed hat, standard kit.  46 GP.

Cleric:
I need to do deities first.  In good time.

Thief:

1. Thief-Acrobat.  Acrobatics, Performance.  Leather armor, short sword, dagger, 5 darts, thieves' tools, 10' pole, standard kit.  72 GP.
2. Spy.  Bribery, Disguise.  Armiger's garb, boots, dagger, 5 darts, thieves' tools secreted on person, extra identity, treasonous orders, standard kit.  65 GP.
3. Smuggler.  Alertness, Bargaining.  Leather armor, sword, dagger, crossbow, case of 20 bolts, thieves' tools, standard kit.  105 GP.
4. Failed wizard's apprentice.  Arcane Dabbling, Collegiate Wizardry.  Leather armor underneath's mage's robes, dagger, quarterstaff, spellbook with one random 1st-level spell, empty vial, thieves' tools, standard kit.  90 GP.
5. Ruin Raider.  Trap Finding, Mapping.  Leather armor, spear, dagger, lantern and two pints of oil, crowbar, thieves' tools, chalk, standard kit.  80 GP.
6. Arsonist.  Precise Shooting, Alchemy.  Leather armor, short sword, dagger, crossbow and 20 bolts, 4 flasks of military oil, thieves' tools, standard kit.  110 GP.

Assassin:

1. Pirate.  Swashbuckling, Seafaring.  Leather armor, cutlass, dagger, grappling hook, flask, ratty clothes, no shoes, standard kit.   75 GP
2. Duelist.  Fighting Style (Two Weapon) or Weapon Finesse, Manual of Arms.  Leather armor, smallsword, main gauche, dueling cloak, armiger's garb, low boots, moustache, standard kit.  70 GP
3. Cultist.  Arcane Dabbling, Theology.  Leather armor, ritual daggers x3, freeholder's garb, sandals, holy symbol, standard kit.  73 GP
4. Poisoner.  Disguise, Naturalism.  Leather armor, short sword, dagger, darts x10, empty vial x5, armiger's garb, low boots, standard kit.  80 GP
5. Gladiator.  Acrobatics, Endurance.  Spiked leather armor,  polearm (nothing like backstab with a d10...), flail, pair of daggers, serf's garb, sandals, pouch full of sand, scars, standard kit.  57 GP.  Optional exchange of Hide in Shadows and Move Silently for Manual of Arms and Combat Reflexes
6. Cave-dweller.  Blind Fighting, Caving.  Hide armor (AC1), crude battle-axe, dagger, foot-wrappings, necklace of finger-bones, pale complexion, dredlocks, agorophobia, standard kit.  35 GP

Bladedancer:
Postponed pending deities

Bard:

1. Mountebank.  Prestidigitation, Mimicry.  Leather armor, sword, fancy cloak, armiger's garb, low boots, standard kit.  75 GP
2. Standard-Bearer.  Command, Signaling.  Leather armor, spear with crossbar, crossbow with case of 20 bolts, tattered remnants of standard of former mercenary unit, war-horn, freeholder's garb, low boots, standard kit.  96 GP.
3. Piper.  Beast Friendship, Animal Husbandry.  Sling with 30 bullets, dagger, pan pipes, chiton, sandals, pet rodent, standard kit.  50 GP.
4. Archaeologist.  Magical Engineering, Knowledge (History).  Leather armor, whip, short sword, crossbow with 20 quarrels, freeholder's garb, low boots, hat, standard kit.  85 GP.
5. Missionary.  Running, Theology.  Leather armor under priestly robes, quarterstaff, concealed knife, holy symbol, sandals, standard kit.  60 GP
6. Old Salt.  Eavesdropping, Seafaring.  Fishing gaff (as battle axe), net, knife, sun-bleached serf's clothes, no shoes, assortment of patently ridiculous sea stories, standard kit.  28 GP.

Explorer:

1. Big-Game Hunter.  Precise Shooting, Tracking.  Scale mail (AC3), arbalest with 20 quarrels, spear, dagger, pith helmet, tent, freeholder's garb, low boots, standard kit.  126 GP
2. Trapper.  Trapping, Bargaining.  Leather armor, shortbow with 20 arrows, spear, dagger, tent, dingy freeholder's garb, boots, standard kit.  68 GP.
3. Jungle Tribesman.  Ambushing, Naturalism.  Shortbow with 20 arrows, 3 javelins, machete, knife, loincloth, sandals, standard kit.  35 GP
4. Islander.  Navigation, Seafaring.  Three javelins, axe, net, loincloth, sandals, tattoos, outrigger canoe, 10' fishing pole, standard kit.  70 GP
5. Legion Scout.  Land Surveying, Mapping.  Scale mail (AC4), short bow with 40 arrows, machete, dagger, freeholder's garb, hobnailed sandals, tent, extra week's rations, standard kit.  97 GP
6. Escaped Slave.  Passing Without Trace, Survival.  Hide armor (AC1), shortbow with 20 arrows, crude axe, loincloth, no shoes, manacles (opened), scars, grudge, snakeman jerky, standard kit.

May or may not do demihumans later.  Deities first.

Settlements of the Scaled Continent

In ACKS' default 'borderlands' setup, it is assumed that there is a region of human civilization on one map edge, with forbidding wilderness on the other side and a sparse line of frontier towns down the middle.  The Scaled Continent has a very conveniently navigable dividing line, namely coastline.  And so, a list, named in my typical town-naming style:

• Notable non-border settlements:
• Salvation - The largest settlement on the Islands of Voltager, so named due to its position as a source of fresh water in the middle of an otherwise massively empty ocean.  Once occupied by the lizardmen, fell to a short Auran siege due to Voltari complicity and poor fortress design.
• The Forks - Once-capital of the Thrassian Empire, located at the massive fork in the Serpent's Tongue from which that river derives its name.  A multiracial city, hosting large resident populations of lizardmen and vipermen along with representatives and slaves of a hundred jungle races, along with man, dwarf, and elf.  The Citadel, a massive castle once home to the dragon-king Itzcoatl, rises eighty feet from an island at the center of the city.
• The Pit - An immense sinkhole deep in the jungle whose walls the vipermen have riddled with burrows.  Known for its market, where it is said to be possible to buy any poison known to man, and many more exotic.
• First, towns that are where they are for a good reason:
• Stillwater (town) - A trading port at the mouth of the River Langour.  Primary port for man-crocodileman interactions, and a designated Human Preserve / slave-trading area.  Named for the speed of the aptly-named river on which is sits.
• Haven (village) - a good natural harbor located midway between the mouths of the Langour and the Serpent's Tongue.  Old lizardman ruins on the promontory overshadow the town.
• Unity (village/hamlet) - Settled by a passing ship's crew due to generosity of friendly natives.  Good relations persist to this day.
• Port Maw (town) - Positioned at the mouth of the Serpent's Tongue river, a major trading port with the lizardmen and vipermen of the upcountry.  Once a major slave port, less so now.  Named for the impression of early sailors that the overhanging canopy resembled a toothed mouth.
• Mission (hamlet) - An Auran religious / military outpost some ways south of Port Maw.
• Guano Cave (town) - Midway between the Serpent's Tongue and the Islands Innumerable.  Primary natural resource and export is guano from the extensive nearby cave complexes, contested by cave inhabitants.
• Liberty (village) - Carved into the cliffs of the Turtle's Beak by escaped dwarven slaves.  Remains a dangerous place for slavers to put ashore.
• Scurvy's End (village) - Among the northwestern Islands Innumerable, and home to extensive fruit trees and abundant fresh water.  A favorite stop of sailors.
• And of course, those settlements with less fortunate origins (mostly villages / hamlets)...
• Mire - A hellhole in the Crocodile Fens founded by poor benighted (and beknighted) fools in search of a city of gold.  Enjoys regular visits from hungry crocodileman raiders.
• Miasma - A barrier island off the coast of the Fens settled by sailors who ran ashore during a storm.  The whole place stinks of rot from the salt marshes, and malaria is its primary product.  The soil is good for growing rice in the marshes, but mortality is atrocious.
• Rat's Nest - North of Port Maw, a ship washed ashore during a tremendous storm was caught in the canopy of the jungle.  Most of the original sailors have left, but the elves enjoy the humor of the place and congregate here.
• Splinter - A treacherous reef in the Islands Innumerable, inhabited by sharkmen.  Their religion prohibits them from eating anyone who makes it to shore, and a small colony of survivors has sprung up on the nearby atoll as a result.  They trade crude alcohol, crafts, and stories to the sharkmen for fish, but are always careful to stay out of the water...
• Mutiny - Beyond the Islands Innumerable lies the Bay of Black Sand, abutting the Desert of Black Sands.  A fool captain once attempted to chart the coast of that miserable place.  When he came upon a river running north into the desert, and a merciful source of fresh water, he let it be known to his crew that he intended to continue east along the coast after only a day to gather provisions.  His mistake in henchman morale management cost him his life, and a town sprang up at the river's mouth.  These days it caters to fools seeking to explore the desert's interior, and is inhabited by the desperate, the wanted, and the slightly-unhinged.

Of course, there are a number of abandoned, destroyed, and forgotten settlements littering the coast as well, but those are adventure locales and must be found!

Scaled Tongues

Setting work on Scaled Continent continues.  Start date of campaign at FLGS is set for 3 November, so I have just over two more weeks.  Running a game for a group of complete strangers will be...  interesting (provided I can get any to sign up).  If not, well, I've heard good things about Roll20...

Been working on mapping, custom treasure, and custom spells.  Not Joe Orcs these beastmen - Player's Companion and custom spells for their witch doctors and shamans.  Got to thinking about language and the importance thereof in dealing with natives recently.  I like the assumption that the various beast species have their own languages (crocodileman, viperman, toadman,...), along with a general 'Thrassian' pidgin from the Imperial days and a religious / court / high language, probably Draconic.  Common is the language of slaves and former slave races, who also have their own racial languages (Elven, Dwarven, Auran).

The plethora of languages suggests some fun complications to me which are typically glossed over.  First off, how many languages do beastmen speak?  Off-the-cuff heuristic says that the higher up the chain of command they are, the smarter and better travelled they are.  Normal beastmen speak only their tribal language, while champions speak two languages (tribal + pidgin or rival tribal), subchiefs three (tribal + two pidgins or rival tribals), and chieftains, shamans, and witch-doctors four or five (tribal + two pidgins or rival tribals + Draconic, typically).

Entertainingly, this means that the guys you're most likely to capture to interrogate for intelligence (the grunts) are the least likely to be able to communicate with you.  Hi-larious!  Also, the Comprehend / Read Languages / Tongues / Telepathy / ESP spells are much more useful when language barriers crop up reliably than in a game where you occasionally meet a dead script in some guy's tomb but all the beastmen speak Common.  As are the Thief ability to read languages and the late-binding +Int language slots.  ACKS provides plenty of ways to work around this problem, but it could still get in the way occasionally and entertainingly.

The other side of the coin is that the language you're speaking may effect your reaction rolls.  Choose wisely; an armed band of demihumans addressing a lizardman in Common comes off as a slave revolt, while the same armed band of demihumans speaking Thrassian is more likely to be perceived as Voltari mercenaries.  Speaking the tribal tongue of those you are addressing is liable to get a bonus, while speaking the tribal tongue of an enemy group may net a penalty.  Common sense applies, but a plus or minus one bonus to reaction rolls from language might be utilized to good effect by canny PCs.