DM Salsa Presents: The Jade Regent (Inactive)

Game Master AdamWarnock

First, let me thank all of you for applying. You've all got really cool characters and I'm humbled that all of you want to play in this. I'm far from a perfect GM, and there may be times I do something stupid, but hopefully those will be few and far between.

That said, I have played with all of you except rdknight before, or in Lady Ladile's and Nate's case, I still am. Black Dow is the only one that's been in a game that I've GMed before, so I want you to know how I do combat, and if you have any concerns about it.

I don't do maps since they tend to be the point where I drag my heels. It takes time to make them and set them up, and honestly, I'm not that good at it. I'll do my best to paint a picture of what's happening and tell all of you where everyone and everything is. If it becomes necessary, I'll make a map, but I hope that we'll be able to get along fine without them. I also handle initiative a bit differently than most people. I do block initiative, but all of the PCs are in a block, and I do actions by the order you post in. This helps keep things moving in combat because you don't have to wait for me to post what the enemies are doing between say, Soliana and Vigny's actions and Jeruhk, Emi, and Reiko's actions. This does mean that if you guys lose initiative (I go by highest roll, so individual initiatives still matter, I think anyway) you'll be getting hammered by whatever group of enemies managed to get the drop on you. Still things have worked out well in my other games, so I don't think you'll have to worry.

So, now that is out of the way, let me go ahead and answer my questions, just so it's fair.

-Who are you and how are you doing?
I'm Adam and I'm doing pretty good!

-How often do you tend to post?
At least once on any given day. I live in Alabama, so that puts me at GMT-5 or GMT-6 depending on the time of year.

-What kind of tone are you looking for in this game?
I'd like for this game to be more on the upbeat side. I'm going to be shooting for a sense of wonder as you guys travel to and through the lands of Tian Xia and Minkai.

-What do you expect out of your fellow players?
I expect them to have fun, and to be respectful of each other, but mostly to have fun.

-What do you expect out of me (the GM)?
I expect myself to do m job, which is to make this fun for y'all. If I'm not doing that, I'm not doing my job.

-What is your comfort zone? Where's the line for you in RP terms?
About PG-13ish, though I've been known to get really dark in my Rise of the Runelords game. Dealing with the priestess of the goddess of monsters, madness, and nightmares gave me plenty of opportunity to do that. Fortunately, I don't see myself getting like that ever again. That was difficult to write and I screwed up a couple of times.

As for romantic encounters, I'm perfectly fine with the fade-to-black solution.

-How do you see your character progressing as a character?
Well, this is a little hard since I play all of the characters you don't. :P
I do look forward to seeing how all of your characters progress, though.

Speaking your characters, I'd like to take some time before we start the game to figure out who knows who and how well, and make some tweaks to Reiko's background. So that said, let's look at what traits all of you have.

Emiliana Vasilescu
- Best Friend: Ameiko
Reiko Mura
- Rescued: Shalelu
Vigny Olafursdottir
- Childhood Crush: Sandru
Soliana of the Rose
- Childhood Crush: Shalelu
Jerukh Hörnungr
- Foster Child: Koya

Jeruhk and Vigny would probably know each other given their backgrounds, though given Jeruhk's attitudes towards Ulfens, they are probably acquainted, but don't interact a lot. I think everyone else is going to depend on y'all, the players.

Before I have to skedaddle to work, I'd like to tackle some changes to Reiko's background. I've talked to stormraven and he's okay with changing things, so let's dive in.

I'm fine with most of it up to the point her master is killed. I think for Reiko to still be a relatively inexperienced fighter, she'd be just starting her training. Instead, her katana belonged to an older samurai who took Reiko and ran when her master was killed. he was the one that began teaching Reiko how to fight. The two of them traveled over the crown of the world with a caravan from Avistan heading back to the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Reiko and the Samurai traveled further south into Varisia where they were ambushed outside of Sandpoint. Reiko was saved by Shalelu, but the samurai died of his wounds.

That's my idea, anyway. Do any of you have any thoughts on this? any suggestions?

I read through everyone's backgrounds... Wait, let me start over- Hi everyone, I'm excited to be here and look forward to playing with you all! You can call me Emi. (And, Soliana, it looks like we're on for that trade.)

Now, thoughts on backgrounds:
Soliana of the Rose- I think we've definitely met, but I'm not sure how well we know each other... For years, whenever my family has been in Sandpoint we stop by the church for services; mostly for Desna but I personally come to a bunch of the Shelynite services. I have a tattoo of the songbird by my right collarbone which I'm sure the clergy would have noticed. I also have a tattoo by my left collarbone of Arshea's symbol which some Shelynites will disprove of...

Vigny Olafursdottir- If you spend any of your time in the Rusty Dragon then I think we'd definitely be acquainted... I've been there most of the time for the last couple months, often dancing in the evenings; I also spent some time in the Land of the Linnorm Kings and speak Skald so there's a good chance we may have talked about my travels. We could just be acquainted if you want or we could have become fast friends?

Jerukh Hörnungr- We would definitely know each other. Growing up my family visited the Mvashties every few months and stayed for a few weeks at a time. So, we're probably like cousins in our relationship. How close you want us to be is up to you (I'm fine with anything from cordial to practically siblings).

Reiko Mura- It's hard to be specific before your background is done, but we could have met in the last couple months, especially if you've been hanging around Ameiko's bar/inn at all.

Hi everyone! Thanks for choosing me Salsa! Nice to meet you all!

Limited time for a post right now so I'll follow Emi's format with some quick jots.

Emiliana Vasilescu: It's almost a certainty we're acquainted. Vigny hasn't been in town long, a couple of weeks maybe? Sandpoint is an educated guess for her as a way of finding Sandru. If she hasn't heard the Rusty Dragon or Ameiko easn't mentioned by him in the past, she would still wind up there since it would be the friendliest place by her reckoning in town. If Emi mentions her Mvashti connection Vigny would certainly be interested and figure her for a good way to keep tabs on his possible arrival. But just in general they seem like a couple who would be two peas in a pod. I think they'd become friends (much less possibly rivals) very quickly. Since Emi's been to the Linnorm Kingdoms that would also be an attraction. Vigny doesn't remember them well, and spent her time there in a tiny hamlet far away from most everything of note. She would want to know more about it.

Soliana of the Rose: It's hard to say whether Soliana and Vigny would know each other. No clear connections, and Vigny's short time in Sandpoint make it dependent on Soliana's habits. Once they have met, and Vigny becomes aware of her background, there will be some shared things. As I mentioned Vigny could possibly teach Soliana Skald if she wanted to learn it, but it's likely Eni's command of the language is better than Vigny's.

Jerukh Hörnungr: This one is tough to decide on. On the one hand they're both from Riddleport so they could know of one another. On the other hand maybe it's too much of a coincidence? What do you think? As with Soliana, once they've met they will have several things they find in common. Lot's of Ulfen goodness in this group! Jerukh also has a Mvashti connection so Vigny would probably try to sidle up to him for that reason.

Reiko Mura: There's not much to connect Reiko and Vigny prior to the beginning I think. No shared NPC background. It's possible Vigny still has no idea who Shalelu is. They may know each other by sight depending on Reiko's habits. How long has Reiko been in Sandpoint?

I think that's one of the things we're going to be working on. I don't want to say too much beacuase Reiko is not my character, but stormraven's. That said, I do have some things to ask all of you but , typing it all out on a touchscreen is not my idea of a good time, so I'll have to wait until lunch, when I can get it typed on a keyboard.

Okay, there were a few more things that I wanted to cover in the opening post of the discussion that I didn't get to because I needed to get that posted and get to work. I'm at lunch, so I have a few minutes to bang this out.

Regarding the Relationship and Caravan rules. I am not planning to use them, though if you really, really want to, I will. To me, they just add another layer of bookkeeping and as both Soliana and Emi can attest to, I am a horrible bookkeeper. Add to that the blah of using what is essentially a video game mechanic for what should be an RP opportunity, and I'd rather not use the Relationship rules at all.

Speaking of Bookkeeping, I don't use XP. I use the guide at the beginning of the APs to determine when to level. I know there are some things, like Magic Item creation I think, that eats XP, but I don't think that's going to be an issue.

My plan for the caravan was to keep it small. There's five of you, the four key NPCs, and a few more statted and statless (at least initially) NPCs. I'll be retooling caravan encounters to be normal ones. I know this is more work, but I plan on having the adventures mapped out well ahead of time so that should help mitigate that.

Which brings me to a question I wanted to ask you. I have some ideas to expand upon some things that are briefly mentioned in the Brinewall Legacy. Are you okay if I put some characters of mine into the story? For that matter, do you guys have any characters that you've played or GMed in the past that you'd like to have in the story? I know that things like GMPCs are a really touchy subject, so let me say that I won't be disappointed if you say no. Okay, maybe a little, but I'm not going to hold that against you.

To help keep the NPCs from overshadowing, I'm going to be implementing a policy regarding them.
-NPCs will always be behind the PCs once the PCs surpass them in levels
-NPCs will only accompany the PCs if asked. (Depending on how things play out, there might be one exception to this rule, and I'll discuss it with you if that happens.)
-NPCs will only take magic items gifted to them, otherwise, all loot is for the PCs to with as they wish.

If you want, I'll provide more info on what I have in mind, and I'm always happy to answer any questions you may have. Like I said this is something I would like to do, but not at the detriment of the story and the fun of playing. I also detest Mary Sue characters, so don't worry, these guys will be plenty flawed and interesting (or at least I hope they are interesting. :^^ ).

Waves to one and all. Feeling pretty lucky to be picked and back in one of Salsa's games :)

Honestly Adam I do play more than half orcs lol

I'll keep with the program and fire up my own 2 runes worth on each of the group and our interactions/familiarity;

Emiliana Vasilescu: Agree 100% we know each other. Given Emi's proud Varisian heritage and also her being a little "wyrd" in the fey sense, they probably got along well. Cousin's make sense, and I'm drawn to the idea that Jerukh's traditional scarf was woven by your mother Alika (perhaps as a "coming-of-age" present for him). As a member of his extended family (and someone who accepts the half orc as another member of the travelling tribe) he'll be somewhat protective or her, whilst admiring her charisma and self confidence when she dances.

Vigny Olafursdottir: Again am pretty sure they know each other, although the relationshop is likely more frosty (but thawing... always thawing :) Given his own past Jerukh won't hold her ethnicity against her - especially given his older "brother" Sandru vouches for her. Ironically while they share similar ethos on some levels, his introverted seriousness and shyness vs her enjoyment of people, of life and extrovert nature means they are polar opposites. Jerukh rarely frequents The Rusty Dragon and when he does will take a drink rarer still... something Vigny will think odd and stuffy no-doubt!

Soliana of the Rose: Echoing Vigny I'm not sure if Jerukh and Soliana know each other, but they most likely know of each other. As a statuesque holy warrior he would likely view her with a degree of intimidation, and any interaction would be awkward from his side.

Reiko Mura: Until we've a better idea on her background, its difficult to see common ground. However as touched on above Jerukh's quiet and diligent demeanour (read: shy) means they might have crossed paths and even interacted on occasion.

Just realised that my boy Jerukh is the thorn in a bunch of roses lol. All these beautiful and exotic women and he'd rather be alone playing with his chemistry set!

Yeah that was not intentional. I started cackling when I realized what I had done. :)

Just realised that my boy Jerukh is the thorn in a bunch of roses lol. All these beautiful and exotic women and he'd rather be alone playing with his chemistry set!

I started laughing immediately- that was totally my character in another game (until a fellow PC showed him some things were worth looking up for).

Also- I like that my mom made your scarf, that's a nice touch (and makes perfect sense).

I'm good with those changes. So here is a synopsis of how my rewrite will go. Let me know if I've captured your intent correctly:

We leave her slave/student to free woman part as is. Once she gets free, she is spotted by an older samurai. He sees she has some potential and decides to train her. He is her Captain in the service of their Daimyo. Fairly soon after the training begins (she is still only allowed the bokken - wooden practice swords), the Daimyo gets into a war and loses. His samurai including the Old Caption and even the most junior members (Reiko) are given the Join/Die/Ronin options. Reiko, just indoctrinated into the cult of Bushido is pretty much a deer in the headlights and would likely have chosen suicide as most retainers would. But the Old Captain, far more experienced and well past finding romance in the 'glorious death' idea - takes the Ronin choice for himself and pulls Reiko along with him. Much as duty might call to her, she doesn't know the Daimyo but she knows the Old Captain and is indebted to him specifically. They join up with a returning Caravan crossing the Teeth - trying to get out of reach of the Lord's treacherous enemies. On the road, the Old Captain keeps training her. They leave the caravan in the Linnorm Lands and head further south to Varisia. They run afoul of a goblin band. Old Captain fights well and is grievously wounded. Reiko puts her training to practical - but far less effective - use and is going to die until Shalelu rescues her. Reiko receives Old Captain's blade from his hand before he dies - symbolically passing on the tradition and the torch. Reiko continues to Sandpoint with Shalelu, as much for protection as the fact that she really has no idea where else to go. And from there she continues her solo practice of the sword and her studies, trying to become a 'real samurai'.

Couple of questions:
1. Does that storyline fit your idea, Salsa? What if any changes would you like?
2. Should the Old Captain be motivated to return home someday and avenge his fallen Lord (i.e. Reiko's mission as written)? If so, then should Reiko accept that debt/mission as her own once the Old Captain dies? In this case... Salsa, should I leave in or get rid of that pre-existing plot hook?

=========================
To my fellow players...

Hi, it's nice to meet you all and I look forward to playing with you! I'm Justin (something I forgot to throw in my GM questions).

In terms of character ties... Reiko's background probably won't be too much help but let me say what she'd do around Sandpoint and we'll see if she is more than just a 'nodding acquaintance'.

I'll leave this to Salsa but I would imagine Reiko has been in Sandpoint for 6 months to a year.

Reiko is something of a homesick Tien but she'd rarely show it and would never discuss it. That said, she would probably try to see other Tien and hopefully be invited into their circle. She would never force her company on anyone. So most likely she makes excuses to run into Ameiko & family hoping for a connection at some point. That might take her into the Rusty Dragon.

She is dedicated to her poetry (carrying a notebook with her to jot verses down), to maintaining her Tien identity (wearing the robe & obi and periodically shaded by a parasol), and studying the sword. She will have an open area in the woods outside the village to practice her martial katas on a daily basis.

She is reserved but not unfriendly. She will happily talk with anyone although she is more likely to ask questions and listen attentively than speak about herself. Given her own reserve, she'd more likely to approach a wall-flower than the belle of the ball.

Well, you wouldn't likely have approached me then, but that won't stop me from approaching you... a Tien girl who comes by the Rusty Dragon often but quietly sits and writes? There's a story there.

It's up to you how much of your story, and your poetry, you've shared with me but I've definitely asked you about both.

Regarding the Relationship and Caravan rules. I am not planning to use them, though if you really, really want to, I will. To me, they just add another layer of bookkeeping and as both Soliana and Emi can attest to, I am a horrible bookkeeper. Add to that the blah of using what is essentially a video game mechanic for what should be an RP opportunity, and I'd rather not use the Relationship rules at all.

I don't want to use them. As I mentioned I'm currently running a Jade Regent campaign as DM and both rules systems are terrible. Caravan rules are simply broken from what I understand. Relationship rules favor CHA/Diplomacy PC's to an absurd degree. I decided to try out the variant rules system Ultimate Relationships that Mark Seifter (Rogue Eidolon I think) did for Legendary Games. They're certainly magnitudes better and more balanced, but I haven't had enough time with them to recommend them over using nothing at all. In a PbP roleplay seems best really anyway.

Speaking of Bookkeeping, I don't use XP. I use the guide at the beginning of the APs to determine when to level. I know there are some things, like Magic Item creation I think, that eats XP, but I don't think that's going to be an issue.

Good! I despise bookkeeping as well.

My plan for the caravan was to keep it small. There's five of you, the four key NPCs, and a few more statted and statless (at least initially) NPCs. I'll be retooling caravan encounters to be normal ones. I know this is more work, but I plan on having the adventures mapped out well ahead of time so that should help mitigate that.

Which brings me to a question I wanted to ask you. I have some ideas to expand upon some things that are briefly mentioned in the Brinewall Legacy. Are you okay if I put some characters of mine into the story? For that matter, do you guys have any characters that you've played or GMed in the past that you'd like to have in the story? I know that things like GMPCs are a really touchy subject, so let me say that I won't be disappointed if you say no. Okay, maybe a little, but I'm not going to hold that against you.

Oddly, I sort of did the same thing. My JR campaign is a semi-sequel to the Divine ROTRL campaign I'm playing in along with some of my JR players. It can't exactly be a sequel because ROTRL hasn't ended yet of course, so I don't know how it turns out. I did use some of the characters from ROTRL though as veterans of those events, a couple of whom are still around to meet.

I don't have any PC's around that I really need to show up to make me happy or anything, but you're welcome to use them if you like. My character Rojava from the ROTRL game is dead in my JR game, killed somehow later on during ROTRL. You could use her since she won't be making any appearances otherwise, and has no particular future. I also have a bloodrager and barbarian, both Ulfen, if you need something like that in a pinch.

I know nothing about either rule set, so I won't know any difference one way or the other.

@Reiko: That would make it more likely that Reiko and Vigny would run across each other. They're also the two characters that are at a bit of a loose end in Sandpoint. Vigney isn't the sort who lights up the room. She's easy company, approachable and friendly. Reiko shouldn't be too intimidated by her.

Thinking about it a bit more, Vigny would probably start getting bored after a week or more of waiting around for someone who's arriving at an indefinite point in the future. She'd likely try to pick up some work so her money doesn't run out, and to have something to fill her time. Bartending is what she knows best since she's worked in taverns for years so that's what she would look for. Even the occasional few hours helping out when it's busy somewhere would be something she would take.

Well, you wouldn't likely have approached me then, but that won't stop me from approaching you... a Tien girl who comes by the Rusty Dragon often but quietly sits and writes? There's a story there.

It's up to you how much of your story, and your poetry, you've shared with me but I've definitely asked you about both.

I plan on whipping out snatches of poetry during the adventure when it seems context-appropriate or possibly just funny - Reiko writes both 'serious' poetry (in Tien) and the odd dirty limerick (in Common), so I don't want to play that card too early. But she would certainly chat with Emi and translate some of her Tien poems into Common since you were interested. Overall, you'd say they focus on sharp single images from Tian Xia and mostly carry a sense of loss or longing.

In terms of her story, you'd very quickly learn she wasn't from a privileged background but she would avoid speaking of her childhood. However, she would be very descriptive about her life once she was being trained as a warrior through fleeing across the Teeth.

@Salsa - I'm totally fine with dumping the Relationship and Caravan rules. I can almost see why you might do Relationship rules in a table-top game where few players will want to spend whole sessions RPing how they score points with some NPC, or be the other player stuck twiddling thumbs while that happens. But given the rich RP opportunities in PbP, it seems silly.

I'm OK with DMPCs, particularly with the caveats you put on it. I would suggest adding a rule, DMPCs are never the leader or decision-maker.

That's a good point. I'll be adding all of them to the Campaign Info tab.

I would add that they'd also be uninteresting, but I'm not sure i could pull that off. :P

I'm working on some questions and other things in another tab on my browser. I'll hopefully have that up soon.

@ Reiko: Answers in order:
1. Yup, that'll work. :) We may need to tweak the timings a bit. I'll cover that below, though.
2. Honestly, this is up to you, though I'd prefer to not have that particular plot hook be her motivation for going adventuring. The AP assumes that you've been in Sandpoint a bit and everyone knows you're getting a little antsy to get out of town and have some excitement. I could see Reiko wanting to find something beyond the hinterlands of Sandpoint to inspire her writing. Though she may have more personal reasons crop up when the AP starts.

I mentioned that we may need to tweak the timing of events in Reiko's life some, and this will probably be more on me than you, but I figured it couldn't hurt to see how my assumptions line up with what you have in mind.

Reiko was a peasant girl working the fields until she was around 10 years old when the Daimyo heard her poetry and took her to be tutored along side his son during the winter (to be honest, it'd probably be more likely that he bought her from her parents and took her out of the fields entirely, but that's just me being the history freak I am). During this time, she caught the eye of one of the Daimyo's samurai while she was practicing kendo on her own. He took her under his wing and when she was about 14 or 15, the Daimyo went to war, and lost. The Samurai took Reiko and ran for it, traveling north along the Spirit Road and up to Ordu-Aganhei where they joined up with a caravan leaving for Avistan. The trip was long and arduous, taking nearly six months before coming into the Lands of the Linnorm Kings and a few more weeks before reaching Kalsgard. From there, the pair went south to Varisia, which took another couple of months before they arrived at Sandpoint. Just outside of town, both of them were a was attacked by Mosswood goblins. The samurai was grievously wounded defending Reiko, and Reiko would have likely fallen as well if not for Shalelu's timely intervention. So say a couple of months to go form Minkai to Ordu-Aganhei, and we can call it about a year before Reiko actually makes it to Sandpoint, putting her at 16-17 at the start of the AP. Does that sound right?

@ Everyone: Since RotRL was brought up, I thought I'd ask, were any of you in Sandpoint for the Late Unpleasantness or the events in Runelords?

Also, if everyone's fine with me sticking in a few characters of my own, I'll get started on preparing for this AP properly. I'm going to be making things interesting.

Oh, and how silly can you take your goblins? I've been known to play them as quite absurd. I'd like to know so I can tone it down if I need to.

lol. I haven't played a character that young in some time. I had pictured Reiko around 25. How about we up her age a little bit this way:

Working fields - til 13
Student - til 18
training - til 18.5
Escaping/Traveling to Sandpoint - till 19.5
6 months in Sandpoint - 20 years old

Would that work for you? Or do you really need Reiko younger?

And I'll nuke the 'avenge thy master' hook and throw in something more general. Actually, some of the comments by Emi and Vigny made me think of another path to take that fits in with your preference. I'll spool up a revised backstory and you can see if it works for ya.

Re: Goblins... I don't mind silly at all.

Checking in to say hello and that I'm looking forward to this! I've played with or am playing with everyone except rdknight (Vigny) but I'm familiar with him (her?) from the Divine RotRL game Nate recruited for ;)

Currently at work so I can't go into too much depth on PC relationships just yet but I'll re-read what everyone has so far and give my own take as well when I can.

I'm fine with dropping the Caravan and Relationship subsystems since everything I've heard says they're broken and/or ridiculous in practice.

I'm fine with DMPCs in this case since I trust you not to abuse it, hehe.

I don't know if I have any characters that would make sense showing up around Sandpoint aside from Sal (Divine RotRL game) but I'll give it a think and see.

Soliana (or Soli if you like) would've been around for both the Late Unpleasantness and the events of Runelords though depending on how much time has passed since Runelords and now she might've been pretty young for some of it.

I'm not 100% clear on the math for when everything happened but I think the late unpleasantness would have been while I was visiting Sandpoint regularly (so I was in town for 1-2 of chopper's attacks), and the attacks from RotRL would have been after I joined the caravan that took me through the Land of the Linnorm Kings (so I wouldn't have been around for any part of those).

I have no objections to adding other NPCs (as you may have noticed from my RotRL game).

Goblins you can run however you want; I run mine darker than paizo intends because I feel like makes them seem more dangerous which heightens the narrative tension when fighting them, but silly ones could be a fun change.

That works. I was just trying to wrap my head around the timeline. It's just one of the quirks I've got as a player and a GM. I want to have stuff like that straight.

Oh... I don't want to be presumptuous but one time Briana mentioned how beautiful a farm in the Sandpoint Hinterlands was, so there's a chance that there's a very powerful shaman and her unbelievably knowledgable husband living on an incredible estate somewhere out there (at Soliana's discretion).

Only if Jo's invited to the wedding. :P

That's right, she did say that didn't she? Okay, why not? :D

(That would also presume that Teldon's dad was one of the heroes of Sandpoint, wouldn't it?)

Yep.

Also, to those of you who aren't in the Shattered Star game, Soliana, Emi, and I are in, go check it out if you have some time. We've been having a blast.

Also, I hope that this isn't off putting. It appears some drama from recruitment has followed me and it's made me a little more self-conscious about this than normal.

Lol- I suppose it would, I hadn't really thought about that. If this is getting to be too much feel free to pull the plug on the whole thing.

Edit: this was directed towards Soliana's comment.

I will if it is. It's just...

Might be a good idea to read your PMs Nate.

<_< .... >_>...

Hookay, I'll just sit back and have myself a drink while this plays out :p

Vigny Olafursdottir: Again am pretty sure they know each other, although the relationshop is likely more frosty (but thawing... always thawing :) Given his own past Jerukh won't hold her ethnicity against her - especially given his older "brother" Sandru vouches for her. Ironically while they share similar ethos on some levels, his introverted seriousness and shyness vs her enjoyment of people, of life and extrovert nature means they are polar opposites. Jerukh rarely frequents The Rusty Dragon and when he does will take a drink rarer still... something Vigny will think odd and stuffy no-doubt!

Aw Sweetheart, you're a relative of Sandru's? I don't care what your habits are, that's your own business. I consider you almost family ;)

Nothing with anyone here, thankfully.

I really don't want to go into details, but part of me is wanting to say screw it, if they get embarrassed it's their fault. I know that's not mature of me, so I'm just trying to get some help in dealing with it. I trust Nate. He's a good GM and a good player, and on top of that, he did a good job of handling my character being on the outs with his, then having a melt-down. Thankfully, Jo's sprung back from that and is slowly getting to be good friends with Teldon.

PM replied to. And yeah, Jo and Teldon are doing well- I would say that maybe she could have officiated the wedding but that might be a little rude to Arsith, our resident Shelynite.

If those not in our Shattered Star game are put off by the inside jokes/references please speak up and we'll curb them.

Oh, not at all. It was just a little confusing at first, like I'd wondered into the Upside Down. :p

Allow me to Second what Emiliana is saying.

I've worked out some stuff with Vigny and will be posting that to the Campaign tab tomorrow. Basically, the Late Unpleasantness was about 9-10 years ago, and the events in Rise of the Runelords were about 4-5 years ago.

And I'm still waiting on an answer about how silly you can take your goblins. I've got an idea and I want to know if it's going to be too silly. I'd give details, but I want it to be a surprise.

Silly is fine with me. I've always thought of them as much like the gremlins from the movies, able to ricochet from ridiculous to vicious in a heartbeat.

How about viciously ridiculous? :P

Okay, might be better to give you some examples, these are from the Rise of the Runelords game I run here, so you can go looking if you really want.

Krosk and his posse was the first bit of goblin wackiness I threw at the party. Krosk was a lecherous, raging, grappler who went into battle in a leather vest and a thong. He was backed up by beatboxing goblin commandos and warchanting strippers.

Needless to say, this has left quite the impression and all I have to do is mention Krosk and everyone who was there freaks out a little. the fact that I picked Gangam Style and I'm Sexy and I know it as the theme music didn't help any I'm sure. :D

Goberto was a Spanish Taldane styled bravo with a masterwork guitar and the ability to play it. He tried to woo one of the PCs in the two encounters he was in. The first one ended with him losing to the party's bard in a musician's duel for the hand of one of the PCs. The second time he was knocked dead while lamenting his loss.

Oh, and there was also a goblin mariachi band. They wound up getting beat down when they tried to avenge Goberto the first time he lost.

Then there was the fight on Thistletop. This also happened to be when Goberto got snuffed. I was going to have him, Chief Ripnugget, and Gogmurt all try to do a Power Rangers/Gurren Lagann/Voltron friendship fusion thing with Stickfoot and Tangletooth. Goberto didn't get to be in it since the Barbarian squashed him, but that let me parody Kamina's speech to Simon with Ripnugget and Gogmurt.

I don't think it was as funny as I thought it was though. Still pretty funny, in that absurdist sort of way, but not the level of funny I was looking for.

So yeah, you can expect something like that.

Haha- ok, the Voltron thing would probably break immersion for me, but the proper use of a goblinatrix could be funny.

Don't worry. I'm not going to be using any of those. I have to ask because I have no clue, but what is a goblinatrix?

I have to ask because I have no clue, but what is a goblinatrix?

Um, really?

I really have to ask or I really have no clue?

Hehe, both kind of. But just in case: goblin + dominatrix = goblinatrix

Now if it were the twenties I suppose it could be a female pilot goblin...

I imagine it is part Goblin, part Dominatrix. You know... "whip me, beat me, make me write snarky tweets!"

*peeks in*

Well this went from fun to serious to silly so fast my head is spinning!

First point - Whatever the issue is, I hope you get it worked out and that it doesn't ruin the game for you.

Second point - Thirding what Salsa and Emi have said on the references to other shared games. It's fun but I've also been in the position of odd woman out on that very thing and I understand that it can get a little old as well.

Third point - Bring on the silly goblins! Though...I do sorta have to agree that the Voltron thing would probably be a bit much for me too, hehe.

Here's my revised background (spoilered to prevent a wall o' text). Let me know if this meets your approval Salsa.

Morning ALl - wow you lot have been chatty o'er the night (I'm in Bonnie Scotland so GMT)

Late to the conversation (and at work) so I'll make it relatively brief ;

Relationship & Caravan Systems: Totally fine with them being dropped - echoing everyone think the collective and interactions between us all (PCs & NPCs) should be rp'd out. Makes it more fun and allows them to develop "organically" rather than railroaded based on a few errant rolls.

PCs for inclusion: I've some Ulfen types that might fit, but more than happy to have Salsa indulge in some of his characters. Also have a goblin barbarian/druid that would be a rather crazy inclusion (see below for more details :)

Goblinology: Vigny has the crux of it with the gremlins analogy. The Voltronic transformation would have probably been a step too far, but silly absolutely works. Vicious and silly even better! I played the aforementioned "Glom-Glom - Wearer of the Spaniel Scalp Hat" in a now defunct pbp. He basically belivieved he was a barghest pup and would behave accordingly (right up to cocking his leg to "claim territory and loot"...)

Need to nail down my equipment and formulae, then I'll be (hopefully) good to go. Looking forward to it.

Re: Goblinatrix - Derp. I's an idiot. Now I've got the image of a goblin in latex and leather with a whip. Thanks for that. :P

Re: Drama Llamas -We're good. I'm just frustrated and my patience with entitled players is not all that great. You guys are awesome and I'm looking forward to getting started.

Re: Goblins - It wasn't exactly a voltron thing. Ripnugget hopped on Tangletooth and Stickfoot, Gogmurt was on his shoulders, and Goberto would have been on Gogmurt's shoulders. It was stupid, silly, and not as well executed as I wanted, but I was kinda rushing to get the PCs into a surprise I had before I spilled the beans. I made some more mistakes there, but I think everything turned out okay since it seemed that my players were willing to roll with it.

And don't worry, they'll be plenty of vicious and silly to go around. :D

Lol- yeah, goblinatrix was a portmanteau of goblin and dominatrix, inspired by your story of Krosk the leather clad grappler...

Okay, let's see what we've got regarding character connections:

Emiliana
I agree that we've definitely met and I do think that someone like Emi would certainly stand out enough to catch Soli's attention. As far as how well we actually know each other it could vary, though I do think that at the very least Soli would've approached to ask about your travels - especially if she'd learned or overheard (maybe from Ameiko) that you'd been north. She'd also love the dancing!

Jerukh
Soli would definitely know you since you're one of Koya's adopted children and as a half-orc you'll stand out just a bit, even in Sandpoint. Funny thing is that I imagine Soli would be curious about you but shy about approaching - not so much out of fear of you but rather because she's probably seen how you respond to others and would be worried that she'd either offend you or just be a bother.

Reiko
Soli would also know who you are as your arrival and the circumstances (plus it being so recent) would've probably been talk of the town for awhile. She'd be curious to know more about your culture and have a great deal of respect for your dedication to your code, assuming it's something Reiko would be willing to speak about. And uh, depending on your relationship with Shalelu she might just have another reason to find excuses to come talk with you ;)

Vigny
Along with Reiko, you're probably the one other PC that Soli would know the least about since you've not been in Sandpoint very long. She'll definitely be curious to learn more about you, especially once she hears about how Sandru rescued you and that you were also originally from the northern lands. Obviously once they get to know each other better they'll have at least one thing in common - their childhood crushes, though the 'whys' are a bit different.

************************

It's funny, but absolutely no one is an actual home-grown Sandpoint native - everyone started elsewhere and came to Sandpoint later. Soli would consider herself one since it's the only home she's ever actually known, though. It also seems we've got almost an even split of shy/reserved (Jerukh, Reiko) and outgoing (Vigny, Emiliana) with Soliana being somewhere in the middle.

On the 'mechanics' side, we're very martial-oriented with a paladin, warpriest, magus, samurai/monk, and alchemist!

*edit* Being a Shelynite, I guess Soli can't just drop-kick goblins like Krosk no matter how much a part of her might want to...

Yeah- I had noticed that we have no full casters too. I feel like that'll make Vigny and my spellcasting something we need to consider more than we might in a party with a wizard and/or cleric.

Sandpoint is as close to a hometown as I have. It's true I was born and mostly raised on the road but we spent a lot of time in Sandpoint and my best friend lives there, so I'm sort of almost a native...

No full casters will be something that we'll have to think about at higher levels for sure. On the divine side we're actually in pretty good shape. Paladin, Warpriest, and Alchemist with healing. In the party we've traded some quality for quantity but it'll work I think.

I'm planning on setting aside a couple of feats for scroll and wand crafting. There should be adequate downtime for it. Crafting will also help keep Vigny's reduced daily casting freed up for stuff other than healing. We also have Koya in the background of course.

Arcane should be fine with only 6th level casters. It will keep the party more even at higher levels and I've never known of an AP that can't be dealt with without full arcane casters. UMD will come in handy probably and Emi for one has it.

Something I had toyed with when reworking Soliana for this campaign was whether to go for a more traditional sword-and-board paladin or take an archetype like Hospitaler for more of a healing angle. If need be that's always something I can revisit before we get started, though I really like Jerukh's healing angle and would rather not step on toes.

Other random thoughts were to potentially have her manifest a few levels of oracle (always been interested in playing an oradin) or even have witch powers manifest on down the line (which I'm aware is very much not optimal to pair with a paladin but I thought it would be kinda cool with the potential 'was her mom really a witch or not' part of her background which I intentionally left vague).