Welcome to the out-of-character thread for the Tales from the End of the World! I'll post some of the things that you should know, after which you're welcome to create characters. If they look good, I'll approve them, and we can start the game!
The town of Zurogh (where you will be starting)
Zurogh is a town on the border of the Stormfist Empire. Situated at the confluence of the Falling River and the Great Serpentine. With its two rivers and close proximity to the passes through the mountainous Gates of Exile to the lands of the Others, Zurogh has long been a strategic location. As such, it was the first town in the region taken by the soldiers of the Stormfist Empire when they brought order to these lands.
Before the Empire's soldiers came to conquer, Zurogh and its surrounding lands belonged to the fractitious hobgoblin tribes, changing hands as often as one tribe became able to conquer the others. In recent years, the Fallling River Tribe has reigned unchallenged by the others. But despite their bitter resistance, they were unable to challenge the might of the Stormfist army.
These days, the Falling River hobgoblins keep a sullen peace under the rule of their conquerers, alarmed at the loss of their traditional way of life and the threat to their sacred forests. Some of their traditional rivals resist as well, but other tribes see the Empire as an opportunity to gain power and cooperate with the Empire.
The town of Zurogh is a filthy sprawl of tents and rickety wooden buildings, spreading further and further each day as more of the People come, seeking glory or fortune or any number of other things. The native hobgoblin tribes are joined by the soldiers and camp followers of the Empire, and the streets of Zurogh are filled with as great a diversity as any place outside of Narkuz, the captial of the empire itself. Vast fields surround the town itself, with hundreds of slaves coaxing the rocky ground to grow grain. But even these fields are small in comparison to the primeval forests of beech and conifer. Here, it is said, lurk things that were ancient even before the Others exiled the People to the End of the World.
Character Races (as per the Complete Book of Humanoids, except...)
Orc
level limits: fighter U, ranger 8, cleric 9, thief 11
multiclass combinations: fighter/cleric, fighter/thief, cleric/thief
Half-Orc
level limits: fighter U, mage 5, necromancer 5, cleric 9, thief 15
multiclass combinations: fighter/cleric, fighter/thief, cleric/thief
Goblin
level limits: fighter 10, ranger 10, mage 4, illusionist 4, cleric 9, thief U, bard 8
multiclass combinations: fighter/cleric, fighter/thief, cleric/thief
Hobgoblin
ability score range: maximum charisma 17
level limits: fighter 11, paladin 5, mage 8, conjurer 8, cleric U, druid 12, thief 12
multiclass combinations: fighter/cleric, fighter/thief, mage/cleric, cleric/thief
Bugbear
level limits: fighter 15, ranger 10, priest 12, thief 15
multiclass combinations: fighter/cleric, fighter/thief, cleric/thief, fighter/cleric/thief
Kobold
level limits: fighter 8, mage U, invoker U, transmuter U, cleric 9, thief 15
multiclass combinations: fighter/mage, mage/cleric, mage/thief
Ogre
no changes
Half-Ogre (and Orog, which uses the same rules)
level limits: fighter U, cleric 4, thief 4
Creating a Character
Ability scores will be rolled by method I (3d6 in the order of Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). You may roll five sets of stats and pick which one you prefer. Take the underscores out of the following to roll each set:
[_dice]3d6[/dice], [_dice]3d6[/dice], [_dice]3d6[/dice], [_dice]3d6[/dice], [_dice]3d6[/dice], [_dice]3d6[/dice]
Weapon and non-weapon proficiencies will be used, so include those in your character creation process.
Think about the following questions regarding your character:
Why is your character in Zurogh?
What motivates your character?
Where is your character from (generalities such as "the city" or "born at sea" are fine considering that you, as players, are unfamiliar with the world unless you can read my mind)?
Does your character fit in with the culture that he or she was raised in?
Why might your character work with others?
Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll think of more questions. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers.
Pre-game Connections
You are free to propose and discuss connections between your character and other characters amongst yourself. Creating shared backstory gives a better start to the game than "you all are in the tavern...". Of course, if you wish, you're welcome to claim that your character is brand new to town and doesn't know anyone, but if so, you should have a good reason to throw in with a bunch of strangers when the game starts.
Resources
Copyright law forbids me from posting a copy of The Complete Book of Humanoids, so if you don't have it, you'll have to find it yourself. I believe that it's recently become available at dndclassics.com, though. A free retro-clone of the core AD&D 2e rules, For Gold & Glory, is available should you need it.
Anything Else?
Since I just got home from five hours in the car, my brain is feeling pretty fried. The above is all I can think of for now; if I remember more advice upon waking up tomorrow, I'll post more. On the other hand, if you have questions, feel free to ask them and I'll answer them as I can. I look forward to running this game; I hope you look forward to playing in it. Create away!
Thank you for putting this up, I appreciate that you took time to do it with all that driving.
Set 1
Set 2
Set 3
Set 4
Set 5
Hmm fighter thief with 3 or cleric with 5 hard choice. Definitely still running bugbear.
Be thankful we get to roll new sets. Could have been 3d6 down the line one roll. How did we play like that again?
Set 1
[
Sorry learning hear
Set 3
Set 4
Set 2
Set 5
No problem, Gandrik. You'll learn...
Algar, I like 3d6 in order for a couple of reasons. High stats don't matter as much in 2e (and other TSR-era editions) as they do in 3e and later, and 3d6 in order is quick (not that speed is necessarily as important in a play by post). But more interesting to me, 3d6 generates characters that, while not perfectly optimized, are interesting. Say you roll the following set: 12, 14, 10, 4, 10, 16, and you want to make a thief. Arranging as you'd like, you'd put your 16 in dexterity. With 3d6 in order, you'd have a decent dexterity but a 16 charisma that you'd have to explain, one that you'd not have to otherwise. By rolling five sets of stats, you'll likely have one that will fit your concept, while still potentially having unexpected and interesting stats.
Well set 5 it is rofl. I'm gonna be a charismatic half ogre fighter!
A few more questions:
What does your character do as a living before the game starts?
Does your character have family? Where are they now?
Making a Character
I'm sure that you all know how to roll up your characters, so I won't bother instructing you there. But the mechanics are only part of your character, and I'm more interested in finding out what's in your charcters' head, so to speak. I'd like you all to write up a few paragraphs of backstory for your characters (more, if you'd like). To get you started, think about your answers to the questions I've asked about your characters, and feel free to add whatever else you can come up with.
Are our stats gonna be racially adjusted?
Are our stats gonna be racially adjusted?
Yes, certainly. Once you've picked your set of stats, apply your racial adjustments.
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it works to a certain Extend DM
while you can technically play a fighter with 12 Str for example you can't really play a wizard with 12 Int or a cleric with 12 Wis (all the way to high level)
Because these stat limit spell casting hereby rendering mid level spellcaster useless and not even able to use their class mechanic.
A wizard with every stat rolle between a 10-12 with say a 13 int would cast a maximum of 6th level spell
a cleric with 13 or below has spell failure (i am of course not talking about access to 6th level spell or 7th level spell who need 17 or 18 wisdom)
Could you post the racial stat adjustments? I no longer have the humanoids handbook.
Also, other then the large creature damage penalty, are there any other positives or negatives we will have for being large size?
If anyone else needs the rules for their race from The Complete Book of Humanoids, let me know.
Half-Ogre as per The Complete Book of Humanoids
+1 Str, +1 Con, -1 Int, -1 Cha
Strength: 14 minimum, 18 maximum
Dexterity: 3 minimum, 12 maximum
Constitution: 14 minimum, 19 maximum
Intelligence: 3 minimum, 12 maximum
Wisdom: 2 minimum, 12 maximum
Charisma: 2 minimum, 8 maximum+4 hit points at first level
natural armor class of 8
languages: ogre, orc, troll, stone giant, gnoll, common
This brings up some points I hadn't previously thought about...
Ability Score Range
For some of these races, it looks pretty tough to get a character that meets the racial ability minimums and maximums. You may, therefore, sacrifice two points from an ability score where you exceed your chosen racial maximum to gain one point in an ability score where you do not meet your chosen racial minimum. For example, taking Gandrik's fifth set:
3d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 5) = 15
3d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 1) = 11
3d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 5) = 12
3d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 1) = 11
3d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 6) = 14
3d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 5) = 16
These stats meet all requirements but Con >=14 (12), Wis <=12 (14), and Cha >=8 (16). Therefore, Gandrik could sacrifice points from wisdom and charisma to raise constitution until all stats are within requirements. After this adjustment, then add in your racial ability adjustments--these may bring your abilities to outside of the initial ability score range.
As per page 15 of The Complete Book of Humanoids:
Note that the maximum Charisma score is that perceived by other races. A rolled score higher than this has its full effect on members of the character's own race.
As such, your character may have a charisma that exceeds the listed requirements, but that score will effectively fall to the racial maximum when dealing with those outside of the character's race.
If your character still doesn't meet the racial requirements for the race you'd like to play, let me know and we'll see what we can work out.
Languages
As listed in the quote from the book above, not all of the languages fit with this campaign. Therefore, given the shared history of the character races, all characters may choose from the following: orcish, goblinish, hobgoblinish, bugbearish, ogrish, all koboldish. Orcish may be considered to be the closest thing to Common: not all of the People speak orcish, but most who have business dealing with those outside of their tribes can speak at least a bit.
Ok settled on going with the original fighter/thief. Should be fun. Just have to go through a box and grab the books. Been putting off hitting that attic for too long.
Any way you can post the info on half Orc? I'm worried about the large creature rules
.
Half-Orc as per The Complete Book of Humanoids
+1 Str, +1 Con, -2 Cha
Strength: 6 minimum, 18 maximum
Dexterity: 3 minimum, 17 maximum
Constitution: 13 minimum, 19 maximum
Intelligence: 3 minimum, 17 maximum
Wisdom: 3 minimum, 14 maximum
Charisma: 3 minimum, 12 maximumno special abilities or disadvantages
languages: orc, goblin, hobgoblin, ogre, common
Bare..bare bones of her so far
It's good to see you all here! Skarvek, Gandrik, Adrollatta--I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Adrollatta, if you're still interested, I'm working on a specialty priest writeup for Vakka. I've still got the special powers to work on, but here's what I have so far:
Specialty Priests of Vakka
Alignment: any evil
Minimum Ability Scores: constitution 12, wisdom 9
Prime Requisite: wisdom
Races Allowed: bugbear, goblin, hobgoblin
Non-weapon and Weapon Proficiencies: Non-weapon Proficiencies Required: healing, herbalism; Non-weapon Proficiencies Recommended: agriculture, dancing, religion; Weapon Proficiencies Required: none; Non-weapon Proficiency Groups: Priest, General.
Duties of the Priesthood: Vakka's priests and priestesses preside over the fertility rituals that ensure the expansion of their tribes and peoples. These rituals differ from tribe to tribe, but often include elements of debauched revelry and bloody sacrifice. In addition to the fertility of the tribe, they are also responsible for the fertility of the land, and conduct ceremonies to hasten the arrival of spring on the longest night of the year. Finally, Vakka's clergy often serve as midwives and guide their followers through the ordeals of pregnancy and childbirth.
Weapon and Armor Restrictions: Weapons Permitted: sickle, spear; Armor Permitted: hide, leather, studded leather.
Other Limitations: Priests of Vakka must not enter into marriage contracts. They are considered the husbands and wives of all in their tribes.
Spheres of Influence: Major Access to All, Charm, Guardian, Healing, Protection; Minor Access to Necromantic, Plant, Sun, Weather.
Ok. I think my character is about finished. All the info is under my profile. It is on the generic side because I have not role played in any capicity in a few years so I wanted something simple to start back.
Let me know if I need to make any changes.
Your character looks good, Gandrik. I see you went with half-orc after all. I don't see any problems except your comment on "if I can afford it". Roll for your starting money and buy accordingly. Which leads me to:
Starting Money
Roll for your starting money as per the Player's Handbook. If I recall correctly, that'd give warriors 5d4 x 10 gp, wizards (1d4 + 1) x 10 gp, rogues 2d6 x 10 gp, and priests 3d6 x 10 gp.
Algar, I was looking back through the thread and realized that I hadn't responded to your last comments. If you're dead-set on playing a wizard or a priest, AND you are unhappy with all five of your ability score sets, you may sacrifice points from your other ability scores to raise the prime requisite of the class of your choice at a rate of 2:1. If you still don't like your scores, message me and we'll see what we can work out.
My apologies for the late reply!
Your character looks good, Gandrik. I see you went with half-orc after all. I don't see any problems except your comment on "if I can afford it". Roll for your starting money and buy accordingly. Which leads me to:
Starting Money
Roll for your starting money as per the Player's Handbook. If I recall correctly, that'd give warriors 5d4 x 10 gp, wizards (1d4 + 1) x 10 gp, rogues 2d6 x 10 gp, and priests 3d6 x 10 gp.
Yea I'm at work and do not have a PHB with me so I was just doing what I could here. Play by Post is a great distraction from a stressful work day. LOL
Okay, here's the completed writeup for specialty priests of Vakka. Note that in addition to adding special powers, I also missed the Animal sphere to spheres of influence. Next up, it looks like I'll be writing up an ogre deity, perhaps modelled after Haela Brightaxe, for Algar. Is anyone else interested in playing a cleric, and if so, does anyone have any requests for gods to worship (e.g. $RACE god of $THING)?
Specialty Priests of Vakka, complete.
Alignment: any evil
Minimum Ability Scores: constitution 12, wisdom 9
Prime Requisite: wisdom
Races Allowed: bugbear, goblin, hobgoblin
Non-weapon and Weapon Proficiencies: Non-weapon Proficiencies Required: healing, herbalism; Non-weapon Proficiencies Recommended: agriculture, dancing, religion; Weapon Proficiencies Required: none; Non-weapon Proficiency Groups: Priest, General.
Duties of the Priesthood: Vakka's priests and priestesses preside over the fertility rituals that ensure the expansion of their tribes and peoples. These rituals differ from tribe to tribe, but often include elements of debauched revelry and bloody sacrifice. In addition to the fertility of the tribe, they are also responsible for the fertility of the land, and conduct ceremonies to hasten the arrival of spring on the longest night of the year. Finally, Vakka's clergy often serve as midwives and guide their followers through the ordeals of pregnancy and childbirth.
Weapon and Armor Restrictions: Weapons Permitted: sickle, spear; Armor Permitted: hide, leather, studded leather.
Other Limitations: Priests of Vakka must not enter into marriage contracts. They are considered the husbands and wives of all in their tribes.
Spheres of Influence: Major Access to All, Charm, Guardian, Healing, Protection; Minor Access to Animal, Necromantic, Plant, Sun, Weather.
Powers: At 3rd level: charm 1/day; at 7th level: charm monster 1/day; at 9th level: +1 to charisma; at 15th level: effect one creature as per philtre of love 1/week.
Are we rolling for hp at first level?
Are we rolling for hp at first level?
Ah, let's go with maximum hit points at first level, and roll thereafter.
So, uh, how are peoples' characters coming along? Any information I can provide that'd help?
I'll be writing up a few more gods tonight, I think. I don't know if I'll get specialty priests done for them, but the descriptions should be up.
Not bad. Still have to get equipment and a backstory but nearly there.
Okay, I only got the fluff for one deity done. I guess that two might have been a bit optimistic for tonight...
Hacha
Hacha is a goddess of hidden places and greed. She looms large in the ogre mindset, holding responsibility for the caves that many call home. Unlike Guth, she is not a goddess of battle, but she does not shy away from a fight. Indeed, she can be just as brutal as any, but she fights mainly to keep others from the places and things that she considers to be hers (like most ogres, her concept of such places and things is very broad). Her ferocity, however, is tempered with far more cunning than any of the other ogre deities, and rarely does she ever let her anger put her at a disadvantage.
Worship of Hacha likely stretches back as far as the worship of any ogre deity, but she has never enjoyed Guth's popularity. No ogre warlord proclaims faith in her, unless in secrecy. Instead, hers are those who are weaker, who trust in her to protect their holdings and possessions from the strong.
Statistics: AL ce; WAL any evil (ogres); AoC caverns, secrecy, greed; SY a cave mouth with looming stalactites.
Hacha's Avatar (Fighter 12, Thief 3)
Hacha's avatar appears as a huge ogress with long, stringy hair and blank white eyes. If expecting combat, she arms herself with an immense club of gnarled wood, studded with metal spikes, but is equally happy to beat her opponents to death with her gigantic fists.Str 21 Dex 17 Con 19
Int 13 Wis 13 Cha 15
MV 18 SZ H MR 40%
AC 1 HD 12 HP 120
#AT 2 or 1 THACO 8 DMG 2d8 + 2 (fists) or 3d6 + 2 (sword)
Your character looks good so far, Skarvek. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with a backstory!
All right, it looks like there isn't as much interest in this game as I thought; I was hoping that a few of the other people who had expressed interest in the recruitment thread would make characters. I still want to run this game, though, so I have a few options for those of you who have made up characters.
1) I can go ahead and run the game with two players. You'd either have to hire hirelings, make multiple characters, or have me run NPCs as party members (I promise I won't do the stereotypical awesome DMPC shtick if that's the option we go with).
2) We can wait and see if any other people are interested in joining the game. I'll post more on the recruitment board and see if we get more players.
3) I can move this game to a different board that's likely to have more interest in a 2e game. I admit, I'm not all that surprised that posting on Paizo's board hasn't generated much interest in a non-Pathfinder game, but I like the tools here.
4) We can scrap the game. I don't really want to do this, but hey, if you don't like the other options, I'll take it.
So, what do you think, Skarvek and Gandrik?
I will be honest I wasn't super into a plain second ed fighter but I am really into my backstory. I origionaly made it for a pathfinder human barbarian with his first level as ranger. Anyway I'm excited about playing regardless. I like this forum because I can pull it up at work. If you link the other forum you are talking about I will see if it is blocked. I guess I'm down for 1, 2, or maybe 3 if I can access it at work.
Yes, I'd rather stay with option 1 or 2 as well; preferably option 2. I'll bump the recruitment thread again and see what happens.
If we go with option 3, I was thinking about playing over at rpg.net. Can you access that at work?
Nope
Reason:
The Websense category "Games" is filtered.
Hmm, that's too bad. Well, let's hope that options 1 or 2 work, then!
I like option 2 myself so let us see what happens. been down with the current run of Death Plague that has been going around so only been posting on active threads I had to, but am feeling sorta ok now so will resume crafting gear and backstory for character. Sorry for the lag in posting.
Edit: Also I miss the ease at which one could put together a second ed character. Leads to more emphasis on rp it seemed. Or just might be old man nostalgia.
Yea 2nd ed characters fly together. I just wish there were more class options.
Castles and Crusades is a good system for that. Its almost like DnD 2.5
If we continue on...
What would I need to do to make a Paladin instead? I think I have the stats for it.
All right, option 2 it is. I'll start posting on the recruitment thread again. If either of you know anyone who'd like to play, let them know and have them make a Paizo account if necessary.
I'm sorry you've been unwell, Skarvek. I hope you're feeling better, and it's good to hear from you again!
One of the reasons I'm running this game as AD&D 2e is because I've become burned out on the sheer complexity of character creation and advancement of 3.X and Pathfinder. The simple character creation is a big draw for me.
Gandrik, it looks like you've just about got the stats to play a paladin with your fifth set of ability scores. You'd have to switch to hobgoblin for race and burn two points from one of your other scores to boost your charisma up to 17, but other than that you're good. I did notice that I must have missed a "1" in the level limit for hobgoblin paladins; it should be 15 and not 5. If you'd like to keep your outcast exile backstory, I have no problem with you playing a half-hobgoblin using the same mechanics as the full-blooded hobgoblin.
Skarvek has one shame, a shame that will forever haunt him. He could not hear the voice in the trees. Oh he had tried, but it just would't speak to him. He knew what that meant, everyone did. It meant he couldn't stay. He would be given what the tribe thought he would need, and then he would be lead to the edge of the wood. The tribe would turn their back on him, he would be dead to the tribe. He would take what he learned here and he would have to live on his own. Out there. Alone.
Skarvek belongs to a tribe of bugbear that lives deep in the primal forest. A tribe of rangers and strange for bugbears, druids. Something about the wood fills the tribe with an attunement to nature. This being said a few are born without that connection. These are deemed unfit for the wood and forced out into the world. They are unaware that there is even a town out past the trees.
Skarvek is trying to make his way in a world he doesn't truly understand. He has been trading hard labor for food and most assume he is just a simpleton. This will probably change if he gets into a fight. He has kept his bastard sword hidden with his gear but carries daggers with him, not an odd thing to do in a medieval society. He has been in town for about two weeks.
Oops just remembered I can only spec one weapon at the start. Will go in and fix when I get home and do my equipment.
Welcome, Stephen! What kind of character are you thinking about playing?
Nice background, Skarvek. One that fits in well with some of the goings-on around Zurogh, I might add!
All right, option 2 it is. I'll start posting on the recruitment thread again. If either of you know anyone who'd like to play, let them know and have them make a Paizo account if necessary.
I'm sorry you've been unwell, Skarvek. I hope you're feeling better, and it's good to hear from you again!
One of the reasons I'm running this game as AD&D 2e is because I've become burned out on the sheer complexity of character creation and advancement of 3.X and Pathfinder. The simple character creation is a big draw for me.
Gandrik, it looks like you've just about got the stats to play a paladin with your fifth set of ability scores. You'd have to switch to hobgoblin for race and burn two points from one of your other scores to boost your charisma up to 17, but other than that you're good. I did notice that I must have missed a "1" in the level limit for hobgoblin paladins; it should be 15 and not 5. If you'd like to keep your outcast exile backstory, I have no problem with you playing a half-hobgoblin using the same mechanics as the full-blooded hobgoblin.
Would a half-hobgoblin be Lawfull Good? Would that cause major issues with the rest of the party?