Assallya

Dimensional Tavern

Should we await an establishing post from you, our GM, or should we go ahead and post in the In-Character thread. I would feel a bit uncomfortable putting in too many details in an opening post.

Saint's Row: A Return to Ass-Kicking

When we last left the City of Stilwater, our Protagonist had been confronting the Mayor aboard his yacht when the boat exploded in a great fireball. Our protagonist was thrown clear but was arrested and has languished inside Stilwater Penitentiary for nearly half a decade. In her absence, the Saint's have disbanded and many new gangs have made their homes in the Protagonist's home city.

It's time to put her house in order.

It won't be easy. There gangs of Stilwater are much more than she's face before.

--The Sons of Samedi: Drug Kingpins of Stilwater, they import their drugs from Latin America. Their leader, "The General", also imports and deals in contraband weapons.
--The Ronin: There are crimelords aplenty in Japan, so much so that new blood finds it hard to carve their own niche. Shogo Akuji hopes to prove to his father that he is a worthy successor by creating a foothold in another country. They have their own casino in addition to a number of underground attractions like Mahjong tournaments, death fights and anything one gambles upon. They also run protection rackets and
--The Reavers: The worst of the worse. The Raiders race about in purpose built junkers, use pneumatic air cannons. They emerge from their armed camps, enter Stilwater proper and take what they want from wherever they want and the local police are too afraid to face them. They also grow crystal meth and it's rumoured they engage in cannibalism and slave labour.
--The Vice Kings: Benjamin King rules his media empire, one built on brothels, then porn movies before becoming large enough to produce music, and finally feature films. They dabble in drugs but it is not their main focus.

Upgrades:
Extra Homie: Starts with 1. Maximum of 4.
Health Upgrades 1-IV
Health Regen: I-IV
Ammo Upgrades: Pistol, SMG, Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Explosive, Special
Dual Wield: Pistol, SMG
Sprint: I-IV
Pickpocket

Gang Upgrades
Gang Health Upgrade
Gang Weapon Upgrade (SMGs, Shotguns, Assault Rifles)
Gang Revive Timer Increase I-IV
Gang Vehicle Upgrade

Phone Abilities:
Car Delivery
Helicopter Delivery
Ammo Delivery
Saint Reinforcements

Outlaws of Varisia Pathfinder Campaign Interest Check

True, the GM has to be amenable to such changes and it helps if he or she provides alternate avenues of plot advancement but a GM can only do so much.

I once had a group that decided, instead of going to the King's castle to answer the call for heroes, elected to get jobs in town... Yes, they did. I had the Kitchen Help, Barmaid, Stableboy and Blacksmith's Apprentice. I just about strangled them. It's a lot more work to bring the adventure to such "heroes" on short notice :) NOW, if they told me ahead of time that they were going to be "ass hats", maybe by mentioning in their backgrounds that they weren't the adventuring sorts, I'd have come up with a murder mystery suitable to such a venue.

I think my table became much more interesting when I started putting in some crazy rules... like putting up their hand to speak out of character. Being human beings they were too lazy to lift their arms all the time so they got more used to talking in character :)

Outlaws of Varisia Pathfinder Campaign Interest Check

Avoiding formulaic adventures is the responsibility of the players in my opinion. For example, when I was GMing, my players instead of going up against the local tribe of Goblins instead hired the goblins to help them against their mutual enemy- the local kobolds. It totally messed up my story arc but it made for some awesome plot development.. Particularly when Maglubiyet, the God of Goblins, caught wind of a bunch of humans and elves civilizing one of his tribes.

Dimensional Tavern

Assallya Kressair

Gender: Female
Species: Elf
Extra Information:
--Is an enchantress, specializing in mind affecting spells and illusions
--has a bounty on her head posted by a crime lord in the desert kingdom of Calimshan
--is a dancer, herbalist (mainly of the recreational variety), fortune teller, paltry musician, courtesan and con-woman
--has a toe ring that provides regeneration of wounds, healing her of even mortal wounds over time

Pirates...IN SPACE!...Sort of

Well, one possibility is for the crew to find some sort of advanced alien starship leftover from some extinct alien race. Maybe they are conscripts sent aboard to investigate and the ship, seeing a threat to itself, instead deactivates their bomb collars or bomb implants. (Those of you who are science fiction fans will recognize this premise)

Maybe they are a bunch of pirates and get shot down by the authorities and land before some sort of ancient alien temple which houses the starship inside?

You might also want to give some thought to psionic abilities, cybernetics, bionics, weapons technology and the like.

Desert Fantasy (Prince of Persia meets Aladdin)

Imperfectionist said The idea of the Sha'ir (a sorcerer who uses a small familiar as an envoy to the Outer Planes) works fine in D&D, considering that jinn in that game are natives of the those Planes and all, but how would it work without the defined Planes to travel to? The best I could come up with was that the Sha'ir sends the gen to make arrangements with various higher jinn, who then travel to her location and assist her with their power. Would she trade favors with them, or perhaps wealth? It's an interesting thought: what does a jinni ?

Well, we could go based on the concept of King Solomon who had the ability to bind Djinni. Perhaps the Sha'ir has done something similar but instead of binding Djinni into items like lamps and rings, he or she uses a smaller Djinni familiar to send to the far distant greater Djinni for the spells. Why they do this? Perhaps a Sha'ir summons the full on Djinni into circles and uses the implication that they could be bound into an item as a threat to coerce their compliance.

This also would mean that there are some Sha'ir out there that routinely entrap Djinni into items. These might have to deal with Djinni reprisals. Certain Djinni might deal with these "nicer" Sha'ir, trading favours in return for them taking down their tyrannical brethren.

The other question is, pre-Islamic, why do the Djinni simply make humanity extinct? They certainly have the ability. Maybe the gods dwelling in the Kaaba forbid this or maybe Bahamut, the great fish upon which the world resides, starts thrashing when the spirits threaten to wipe out humanity?

Outlaws of Varisia Pathfinder Campaign Interest Check

I have a charisma based seduction type that works well in such themes.

Desert Fantasy (Prince of Persia meets Aladdin)

Perhaps one might consider a half-djinn sort of character. The character searching the land for his or her mortal parent. After all, he or she would never fit in among the djinni.

I was considering a D&D styled Sha'ir, one that uses the most minor of djinni as familiars, little one foot tall djinni that have very little power to speak of. They send the "gen" to fetch the spells they need.

Desert Fantasy (Prince of Persia meets Aladdin)

Errr.... how is it that the winning guild is gifted great luxuries? I rather suspect that the Sultan and his nobles aren't providing these gifts.

I am, despite my confusion, eager to enter into Agrabah or whatever this great city is called.