Gatewalkers!, but first, Malevolance!

About the adventure

Gatewalkers is an upcoming adventure path coming out from Paizo in January of 2023. From what we know it will be a journey into fairly classic cosmic horror, almost Paizo's version of "At the mountains of Madness". Party will journey from the City of Seven Arches, North into the remnant's of the Worldwound and eventually culminating it what seems will be an adventure at the polar Nameless Spires. Setting seems very up my alley and am very exited to run it, alas, time only flows one way and at the same speed.... So to tide those who are as interested in the Gatewalkers campaign as i am i will be running Malevolance until then! Supposedly the hardest dungeon 2E has to offer, the party will encounter Ghosts, Haunts, Traps and Abberations at every corner. The adventure is entirely contained within one location, the abandoned mansion of one Iossef Xarvin. The party has been drawn, be it through poorly understood dreams that might hint at a connection to the Xarvin family, an interest in the occult, religious reasons or all together reasons of their own, to Crooked Cove, in Ravounel where the mansion is located. However once investigation starts the party might soon discover getting in.... was the easy part. The adventure will focus heavily on these of gothic, cosmic and eldritch horror so, treat this as a disclaimer both in case such topics are hard for you to handle and to realise that your character's will be in mortal peril, and running away is always an option to avoid Death.... or worse.

Additional Details

How to prepare

Webcams are not mandatory, i will of course strive to allways be on camera - heatwave permitting. I do expect everyone to have at least a dedicated headset / microphone for the respect of your fellow players please don't have constantly buzzing, hard to understand audio equipment. Familiarity with the 2E system of course is a big advantage but i am perfectly capable and patient of inducting new players to the system. Due to being a Stand Alone Module, Malevolance does not have a Player's Guide Book, like the larger campaigns. Players should keep in mind things like a knowledge of Occultism, Religion, Society, Haunts, Spirits, Aberations, Anatomy, Pharasma will be fairly helpful. Things like Thievery, Stealth and Arcane will have slightly less direct application, but scouting and trap finding are of course allways useful. Considering the adventure is contained to one place, things like Nature or Survival might see fairly limited application Software wise all that is required is a Free Forge account over at - https://forge-vtt.com/ - this is the Hosting platform i will be using to host Foundry. The game will launch in your browser. Some nominal minimum system requirements are necessary as Foundry is a beast of a VTT - https://foundryvtt.com/article/requirements/

What I provide

The premium Foundry VTT Module for Blood Lords with it's lovely upscalled battle maps and specially mixed ambiance. A near encyclopedic knowledge of the system. All published material for 2E so far and some excellent third party stuff. At this point i own almost al of Paizo's premium modules on foundry so i have access to alot of aditional, fantastic artwork and especially beatifull, atmospheric music as these assets can be mixed and matched. A Discord community for hanging out and discussing with fellow players and myself in between sessions.

Gameplay details

Personally, everyone having fun is the most important thing to me so i prefer a table where we can smile thill our jaws hurt just riffing off each other. I expect my players to excuse the odd OC moment if it means we can all have a pleasant evening. That being said, as stated previously and will continue to be stated this campaign is INTENDED to put player's in an ... uneasy mindset. Disturbing scenarios will be plentiful (along with the rush of overcoming them!) Session 0 will of course be held so we can all figure out why each of your characters has come to Xarvin Manor, however also so we can determine just HOW horrific we're all willing to make the adventure. X, N, O cards will be available in case we jump the gun via foundry integration (you don't have to worry, only i as the GM will be able to see any card you wish to show)

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Breaks
Debriefing
Lines and Veils
Open Door
Session 0
X, N, and O Cards

How will character creation work

Character creation will happen during session 0 (or before if everyone is comfortable enough with second edition). While i have in the past and can integrate people with the system fairly smoothly given the expected difficulty i have, for once, set the experience requirement as "beginner" rather than "none" as i usually set. This assumes you have at least a first grasp of, if not 2E itsself, TTRPG mechanics in general - Things like atribute modifiers, DC, proficiency etc. Variant Rules are in effect. This includes Free Archetype, Ancestry Paragon and Gradual Ability boost. The level two archetype you would chose is in effect at lvl 1, upon character creation.

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.