The Jade Regent, a Pathfinder Campaign

A traditional campaign set in a european-centric campaign goes off the rails to the other side of the planet, in the process saving an empire.

Future Wiki: coming soon.

Overview

Here I’m going to lay out some expectations for the campaign.

Game Type: Simulation and Story

Simulation in this context is meant to mean that the world is fleshed out, the actions the players take cause rippling effects on the world around them, and the world continues whether the players do anything or not. The players need to be aware of this because if they do nothing, or take too long doing something, the world continues to tick by, possibly with disastrous results. Treasure already exists in the world regardless of the party configuration, NPCs have lists of exactly the items they have (and may use to help or hinder the party), and if an NPC uses an expendable magic item, that magic item won’t be there anymore. What is on the other side of a door will, in general, already be planned out prior to the players kicking it down, and doesn’t adjust to the players party size or effectiveness. Because the “world” outside of the adventure exists and is fleshed out, the players aren’t restricted to a particular area, and in fact, deviating from the obvious course following a clue may be a planned for event with appropriate rewards. Combat does not scale here, if the players poke a dragon at lvl 1, they’re likely to get wiped out.

Story means that while the world exists and events are slated to take place until the players interfere, hinder, or help; the player’s actions will generally have dramatic results to help further the story. Character replacement, due to death or player boredom, will be stitched into the story, and “filler” will be added as appropriate to reward the players with an enjoyable experience. While NPCs exist with their treasure and details fully listed, all of the "unknown"s like antique shops, blacksmith shops, etc, are more likely to have things to help or be interesting to the players, in the interest of supporting player’s chosen character paths. Of course, the players will often not know the difference between filler and prelisted story events, so keep a wary eye on NPCs peddling excessively good deals, all items may not be what they appear to be.

Miniatures

The combat in Pathfinder is not like 4e, made to be an optimum tactical game experience. The combat is a bit more organic, and if an event doesn’t make sense because of the setting, it won’t work in the game. The DM for this purpose is meant to help facilitate describing the world the characters are interacting with, and sometimes the DM has to re-describe something to explain why something won’t work. Miniatures are a tool that will be used for this purpose, in addition to handouts, images, papercraft etc. For particular situations, miniatures may not be used, particularly events that don’t need precise control. Unlike 4e, combats will not always be exactly balanced, and any given combat may be intended to last 1 round (or even 1 player action!) or not be intended for the players to win at all.

Leveling

The goal of the campaign is to save the world, or at least some part of it, by being heroes. Rewards in the form of experience are given in pursuit of that goal. XP will be rewarded for being successful in the campaign, whether it be via combat, negotiation, or stealth. Larger accomplished goals, above and beyond individual actions, will reward more xp

Utilities

To generate your spell lists: http://www.trovetokens.com/spellmaster.html