Adventures in Golarian: Abomination Vaults
A creeping mist and a haunting light comes from the abandoned lighthouse. Do you have the bravery to take on the horrors that lay below the surface?
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Thursday - 5:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 3–4 hours
Campaign Length / 2+ Sessions
0 / 5 Seats Filled
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About the adventure
This game is meant for new players and veterans alike, guiding them in the game that I found a lot of enjoyment running. We will be starting with the beginner box and then moving into the Abomination Vaults. Questions are encouraged to be asked through the whole process. I personally lean into the RP and combat of this game quite heavily. In terms of variant and home rules, I use the archetype feat ruleset and if you roll the same number when using a hero point, you will gain that hero point back as whatever god you believe in or pray to has deemed that will be your number. Any other home rule or variant rule addition or amendment can be done during session zero. And I am not the perfect gm, but I will try damn it. If you have any questions, comments, concerns or critiques on my gming, don't be afraid to bring it up! I want to tailor the experience for everyone to be comfortable at the table and have fun! We will be using Foundry VTT on The Forge. So an account does need to be made on The Forge. The setting of the game will be set in Golarian, specifically, Otari, a small fishing and logging village on the Isle of Korlos and three days away from the Isle's capitol, Absolom. The titular Abomination vaults is a 30 minute stroll from Otari. The beginner box is kept more light and upbeat in comparison to the main adventure which leans into the darker side of fantasy. Specific trigger warnings for Abomination Vaults does include: Graphic Body Horror, Gore, Mortal Experimentation (I would say human experimentation but there are more than just humans,) ableism, torture and intense psychological horror. I also add a lean into the cosmic side of horror, as it does blend well with the themes presented within the overall narrative. This however always needs to be paired with a bit of levity every now and again, which is why the Abomination Vaults is so close to Otari. Any of these can be modified for the comfort of the persons who are playing during Session 0.
Game style
Combat Heavy
Dungeon Crawl
Puzzle / Mystery Focused
Roleplay Heavy
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Rules as Written (RaW)
Tactical / Crunchy
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
1 year on StartPlaying
About me
Hello! My name is Dakota and I am a neurdivergent TTRPG enthusiast. If specifics are required, I am on the Autism Spectrum. I have been playing and running TTRPGS for 12 years now, going all the way back to when I was in high school. I wanted to start hosting games primarily because it was a way to get my brother and our friends immersed in a world and escape the everyday life. To be sailing on the seas of adventure or to delve deep into a dungeon. Now I continue to run because I love seeing the creativity of the players shine through starting from character creation, right up until the end of the campaign!
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
When first joining, the concept of the character will be brought up in during session 0 and there will can be discussed further, whether it is in dms or in a server made for the game, to help bring the character you are envisioning in your head to life. We will be using the base rules for Pathfinder Second Edition (Boosts associated with each choice you made for your character in terms of ancestry, background, class, heritage, etc etc.) The site we will be using to pull this information from is the Archives of Nethys aand using the character sheet in Foundry VTT and Pathbuilder, but not using Pathmuncher as it does miss a lot of flags for certain abilities when pulling that information from Pathbuilder to the sheet in Foundry.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
The players should come in with Discord as l will be making a discord server for this game any future games made on start playing, a Forge account as that is where I do my hosting. No other programs are necessary for the players.
What Dakota brings to the table
I will bring a willingness to mentor and teach, bending the rules just a bit for that rule of cool factor. I run tactical combats, however I do love my some strong roleplay, either from the party to themselves or to the NPCs that are around them. I will also ask, how do you do this, when slaying a foe to add a bit of flare to the end of combat or ending a monster. I do character voices and utilize either the music provided by the module or something more creepy and fitting from youtube or Tabletop RPG Music. I do sing if requested to do so.
Homebrew rules
I personally open the Archetype rule for the players to use for more customization to flesh the character out more. For recall knowledge, I will be using the Recall knowledge ruling set by Ronald the Rules Lawyer which are as follows: 1) You do not need to declare a skill right away. 2) A failure gives less useful information. 3) The DC does not escalate during combat. 4) You can make repeat checks for RK on a failure 5) Critical failures do give misinformation, and stop any repeat attempts. When taking the exploration actions to scout or defend, you will have a reaction ready for you at the start of combat. Showing your readiness to take action. If there should be an animist in the group, There is a focus spell that is called Garden of Healing. I will be modifying this, but only outside of combat. In combat, it works as normal, but for exploration mode, I do allow it to be sustained one more time after combat to do a bit of a top up, but then it will end. As mentioned above, if you roll a low number, use your hero point to reroll and gain the same number, your hero point will be awarded back to you as you keep the same roll. I will also be using Gradual ability boosts. Usually in PF2E, you would gain a bunch of ability boosts at level 5, level 10, level 15 and level 20. This ruling splits that up into one for each level after 1. to get people's builds going. However I am adding one addendum to this ruling. There will be no +5 in any stat until level 10, no 2 +5 modifiers until level 15, and no +6 until level 20
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Dakota creates a safe table
We will primarily be talking over a lot of the safety tools described in the list below during a session zero, to gauge on what tools people feel the safest using. I would personally involve aftercare, especially if people really get into the mood of the session. This will be done by debriefing before and after session, breaks, however many people feel are needed to manage the overall feel of the party, going over lines and veils as well as me doing a write up of said lines and veils, and stars and wishes. Players should be able to speak their mind on what can be omitted, what can be improved on in terms of my gming, especially if I do something that is considered over the line people. The session zero will help manage expectation when it comes to gauging what people wish out of the game in terms of themes, how much roleplay people expect, how much combat people expect, whether or not it's going to be tactical or a little light. Session zero will also establish which jokes can and cannot be said. Due to this being a more horror driven narrative, it's up to me and the players to find/create moments of levity. A joke is only a joke when everyone at the tables laughs.
Content warnings
Safety tools used