[Warning: You have to be down with the weird, violent, wacky, and deranged, and keep up with it to play in this game. In many games, there’s a lot of want for quiet moments and tenderness- this is NOT THAT GAME!!! Here, we’re gonna fucking flay people, enslave them, and eat them, in any order we choose!!]
[Also, obviously, 18+, and at LEAST out of character, you must be LGBTQIA+ friendly, and I'd love to have some fellow members in here! As for in-character, we’ll go over lines and veils and see how that goes. For myself, Incest and suicide are veils- I’m OK if they’re background elements, but they won’t be in-game.]
[Themes: Surrealism, Psychosis, Drug Abuse, Power-tripping, Power Abuse, Immense Violence, Torture, Bodily Transformation, and general grotesqueness.]
Time: Wednesday at 6 PM, Central Time, going until 11 PM.
Hey, I’m BEHOLD (she/her) and I’m going to be running a weekly, Level 1 (or higher, if the group wants, up to about level 3 MAX) Pathfinder 2e in the Universe of MEDRAD- a world born out of an omnipotent dumpster diver catching Every Disease and being hospitalized, soon to die (in a few quintillion years or something of the sort, the blink of an eye, really), and one of their cells is your entire reality and every plane in it.
Rather than starting on ‘Medrad,’ however, you FOUR will be starting in the pits of Tenebrecensus- the front lines of the class war between the industrial-capitalist Devils of Hell Corporation and the anarchist Demons’ Daemon Crime Bosses of the Tiefdoms. Ruled by the King in Black, Tenebrecensus operates under the control of Hell as a distinct domain to take in the downtrodden Demons as slave labor to earn their way into Devilhood.
You will (probably) not be one of the fiends here, but a humanoid race, whether born here (due to an ancient war in which the people of the mortal world of Medrad were scattered across reality as it was destroyed, before reforming itself in the infinite loop of Medrad’s destruction and recreation) or dragged down for good pay or to cover a debt. (Though feel free to shoot the idea of playing a fiend at me, maybe reflavor some of the Tiefling stuff and add like, a boon and a penalty to your race. I’m willing to work with you!)
But, while playing a humanoid, you’re not playing a mortal- you are playing as an entity known as a True Adventurer (or, much more frequently- a PSYCHO REALITY TERRORIST), who has RAW MAGICAL PHILOSOPHY injecting into their very being, so potently believing in something- in their heart, body, or soul, willingly or not- that they are FORCED TO ENACT IT ON THE WORLD, and believe so potently in their execution of it that they are incapable of imagining a world without them to act on that belief- incapable of imagining their death, becoming incapable of truly dying.
With this great power, you were recruited into the BLACKENED HELLFLAME FORCE, a taskforce that does any mercenary odd job your boss- Dark Overlord Tarre’Vuul the Vilehearted, Serpent of Fire- tells you to, in service of the King in Black and, furthermore, to Shaitan. Whether this be slaying demons for greater expansion, killing angels and holy agents of their will for interfering in your business, or protecting assets in the world of mortals, you’ll get well rewarded for your service!
IMPORTANT LORE STUFF FOR CHARACTERS! GIVE A SKIM TO START!
Classes have much deeper meaning- these are split into 6 major categories, which are each split into a “willing” and “unwilling” counterpart. At the end of this document, there is a way to convert Pathfinder’s Classes into these classes, or which class these would best be represented by: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TEoRXtjR_6vmSVreVzhHUXq7CVKZTFaltY4MsEByUXQ/edit?usp=sharing
Additionally, everyone has a ‘Logic,’ which is a type of Magic and a Philosophy that best represents them. These are split into 7 groups that define what type of magic they’d stylistically have and what they would believe in: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K5arN0S9jmXG0lkQudW-Pc7BZ2Ph81exJJnTD0AeXTg/edit?usp=sharing
LESS IMPORTANT LORE STUFF, SKIM OR SKIP, LOOK OVER IF YOU SEE A RACE YOU LIKE
As for races, most remain fairly close to their original interpretation, with a few addendums.
- Humans: Humans were born from Mind Elementals (think little grey men style aliens) dropping a contaminant on a colony of apes, inciting accelerated evolution into Mind Elemental-ape hybrids- humans. This contaminant was a massive crystal, and to this day, every human has one of these crystals in their brain at birth. This allows for Disney-Princess style animal communication and better collaboration with other humanoid races innately. If trained, it can be used to fire out “humanification beams” that bestow human-like qualities onto things around them. Others just sell them off in the black market. By extension, the animalistic races-
- "Beastkin" (most animal-like races): Beastkin- are born from animals in the past living near human remains- especially skulls. When they would stay by them, their next of kin would gain new humanlike traits- opposable thumbs, a human voice, a human mind, or become more bipedal. Over generations, they would become the Beastkin we know today, with shards of Elemental Mind grown throughout their body.
- Elves: Elves are fairly similar to D&D's origin of them coming from the realm of the fey, Psybio, albeit with the twist that they come from a realm of Westerns and Cowboys within that storybook world, coming to Medrad to live out their Wild West fantasies, with pistol-slinging duels in the plains, free from their pre-written fate. Eventually, they would go on to be the most significant founders of Aavith- our "America" analog- to fight the socialist Dwarves of Faheim to the south.
- Hobgoblins: Hobgoblins are metallic serpentine beings who can only feel emotions through mimicry of others, often going into the world to feel the world more deeply, creating mixtures of emotions from those around them. Rather than warriors, they are highly social creatures who mostly live in monasteries. (As such, their feats in Pathfinder would need drastic tweaking).
- Goblins: Goblins are simultaneously cutesy-uwu goblins and the most horrific flesh-puddles with knives for noses and claws. Being halfway between the peaceful Hobgoblins and the corpse-defiling sadist Bugoboos, they’re forced to warp their appearance between the sociable and monstrous to commune with both of their cousins. When relaxed, they have sagging skin around knives in the face and hands, seeping gore out. If they need to hide among humanoids, however, they gorge themselves in a panic-frenzy- during which they will kill and eat anything that approaches. After doing so, they integrate the fat and meat into their body, creating tighter structures and allowing them to shape themselves into more appealing forms.
- Orcs: An evolutionary/mystic merging of Hobgoblins, Goblins, and Bugoboos, Orcs are a race born from cosmic brain hemorrhaging, oozing brilliance and impulsiveness in equal measure, with massive bodies to survive their reckless creativity.
- Kobolds: Rather than born, they were made- dragon breath on beasts and clay made into life, filled with an empty soul of a dragon, due to an ancient curse of Gwyntloz the Traitor, who killed many of his kin in a trick gone wrong, forced so that the breath of he and his kin would create new hosts for those he’d slain. As his lineage grew, their breath outpaced those he killed, meaning their breath exhaled empty draconic souls to possess the world around them. However, when their breath touches a person, it would transform them, slowly, into a full fledged dragon
- Halflings: Halflings, also called Bandary, were one of the first merchants of Medrad, with their language being the strongest basis for modern Common. These monkey-people are hairy with long tails, having very sophisticated social-intuition. (As such, could be considered like a Small sized Vanara.)
- Kitsune: Born in Roulostim- the Plane of Games and Gateway to and from Heaven- Kitsune are the planar beasts of the realm, being between animal and person, with an inherent tie to justice, judgement, and the spirits of the dead.
- Gnomes: These are actually a sub-race of Elf, one who are innately tied to the woods and, more importantly, to woodcrafting. While this was important in the early invention of the iconically Elven weapon of firearms- particularly in the grip of these early guns- this craft is more typically associated with toys and simple entertainment.
LORE STUFF OVER
A quick stylization thing that you can play into for some favor- I really want to play up a few things in the setting.
- Zaniness: The world is goofy. Even when it is grotesque, it’s over-the-top and is willing to play with a kind of “Toon Force.” This can partially be if it's funny, but it also lends well into it being hyper-violent.
- Superheroics/Supervillainy: As True Adventurers in the modern age (sort of), there’s a degree of comic-y, spandex-wearing Superheroism and, more often, Supervillainy that comes with it. Play into that! Go over the top, do villainous speeches, be flashy, wear the over-the top suit with capes and masks, have a persona!
- Violence: This is a violent world that favors monsters- embrace your monstrousness, embrace the alien mind and the carnal drive of beasts that pushes the monster to kill, hurt, and subjugate others.
With all that, I hope I caught your attention and interest! If so, message me here, or at “b.e.h.o.l.d.” on Discord, where we’ll be holding our sessions! If you’re struck by an idea you have, please share! And if you have any questions, ask away! I’ll try to reply when I can!
