Tavern Tales

Game Master ButchersBrew

A Tavern Tales game set on the back of a colossal, dying, cosmic being floating in space.


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Hello! So to start off the game I want you all to work together to make a group of adventurers.

In this game the world is a dying Cosmic Titan named Nethos. The Titan is kept alive through monumental rituals and the consumption of magical energy. Crystallized blood is used to fuel the rituals and spells that are needed to keep the heart of the world beating. Because of this, blood is a valued commodity in this world.

Adventurers, or as they are referred to in this world, Reavers, are employed to hunt monsters and harvest their blood to be sold back to a group called The First Order. The First Order is an ancient faction that controls the Bastion, the city where magic is poured into the heart of Nethos.

Monster blood is extremely efficient source of power for the World God, so Reavers scour the globe for monsters to slay. One complication with this system is that not all "Monsters" deserve to be slain and not all Reavers care enough to tell the difference.

Because of this, the Beast Races have distanced themselves from the Old Races of the world. Dragon Empires, Orcish Tribes, and the like are vast and mighty, reaching all across Nethos' remaining arm and further around the world.

The Old Races: Dwarves and Elves and their allies, live in closed nations, distancing themselves from the chaos of the rest of the world.

This game will be set on The Back of Nethos. The Back is a dangerous, lawless place. Civilization is spread thin and danger lurks behind every chasm, every tree, and every peak.

You are a group of Reavers. You hunt monsters for a living, either for the gold or for the good of the world. It's up to you to decide what kind of people you want to be, but I will ask you to make characters who will cooperate with each other.

As you are making your characters try to make up a bond with another member of the party and a goal. For example: Another PC is my character's brother and I want to gain power and take back my homeland from the Bad Guys who conquered it.

If anyone has any questions, please ask.


Heya! Should we set up a chat room/IM group of some kind so that we can have instant correspondence for out of character things? It would be good for developing our characters I think. IRC or skype or something like that...


hey bb! how are you doing? what kind of characters do you want for the setting? any idea when we would start? Love the lore and sounds like the game will be a lot of fun!


What does normal life look like for normal people?

Does everyone believe that blood must be collected?

Are monster hunters (Reavers) universally loved, reviled, or ignored?

It sounds like we should all be pretty focused on combat if we're hunting monsters for fun and profit.

----

Originally I was thinking of a traveling huckster:
Dragon.Cynosure
Command.Banner
Occult.Trial By Fire

But I don't know if that's appropriate here.


It's up to you if you want to set up a chat room. While it may be easier for character creation, I think it would also be difficult to schedule and manage.

I want to give you guys as much free reign as I can when it comes to character creation. I have a lot of ideas for plot hooks but I want you guys to be able to choose what kind of story you want to play. If you made a Cabal of punk warlocks then I would make a very different game than if you were a ragtag group of fighters and rogues.

Normal life on this world is essentially confined to urban spaces, where people work as craftsmen, traders, merchants and the like. Magic is common here (it flows through the veins of the world) and it permeates into every aspect of life.

Ideologies vary wildly. There are philosophies that oppose the preservation of Nethos and these come in various forms. Certain Naturalist groups see preservation as an affront to nature, and some worship Rhonaut (the Victor) over Nethos. Some of these groups are fully accepted faiths in society, and some are little more than apocalypse cults.

Reavers are treated like cheap mercenaries. Some are noble people, but all of them kill for gold. This world does not always love the knight who slays the dragon.

Combat will definitely be a part of the game, but I promise I'll do my best to work as much Interaction and Exploration into the game as I can.

On that note, what kind of Interaction do you want to see? Investigation, political intrigue?

What kinds of Exploration? Will you hunt for artifacts and ruins? Traverse deadly climates, or take long treks across the world?

I'm really glad to see these questions. One of my faults as a GM is I don't always know how much I need to say, so please continue to help me fill in the world and the game by asking and of course making suggestions.


Happy Halloween btw!


Hey bb? when should we have our characters ready? and what level should they be? when will we have our first session? I Think it be nice to see some investigation, and just a little Political intrigue a little latter in the game...I'd love to go into ruins in search of artifacts or take a long trek all over the world....what kind of races and religions will we see? what kind of governments are in this world? Hope to hear form you soon BB!


Hopefully if you guys can post your characters/ideas and figure out your party relatively quickly we can get started soon. The more you guys post the faster we can get started playing!

Because of the nature of a forum game you should each post your own ideas and your own character and then you can all figure out how to make that into a single group of characters.

Start at level 3 (1 combat, exploration and interaction trait, and 1 signature trait). When the next update comes, if you haven't leveled up by then I may increase your level to compensate for the potential loss of a signature trait.

I will be working more on this world as we play. One broad characteristic of Nethos as a place is diversity. Governments, cultures, species, and philosophies will all vary completely across the world and within smaller spaces.

You should make up your own races! You should make up your own everything, really. TT doesn't have classes but if you wanted to make up your own kind of magic-user I invite you to go for it.

Something significant: I want this setting to be a collaboration. I want to get ideas directly from you guys and I will do this both by using whatever you tell me about and by asking you questions during the game and granting you creative license.

For example, if your party arrived at a city, I might ask: You arrive at a city, tell me about the guild that you encounter as you enter and the influence it has on the location.

The Exchange

Abilities:
cone attack 1/min, celebrity status, allied dice results go up one level, on very good bolster -> ally gets +1d damage
Traits:
Dragon.FireBreath | Dragon.Cynosure | Command.Banner | Psionics.Levitate | Command.Inspire | Weapons: Throwing knives: ranged, disarming
Stats:
Spirit 3 | Finesse 2 | Mind 1 | Brawn -1 | Block 0 | Tough 10 | Life 40/40 | Recuperate? Available | Adv 1

I figured we need to get the ball rolling, so I posted something as Abd Aalaal Al-Sa ("Al" or "Abed" is fine.)

He's a traveling salesman. Sells snake-oil. He hasn't actually fought any monsters yet, but he claims to have defeated many of them. So far, it's an act and a way to make a living. There hasn't been the need to face a real threat yet. He's not a total coward though, so he's probably up to the task if it's ever important.

He recognizes one of the other characters in the crowd. We've traveled together before. Anyone who wants to jump in can introduce their character.


This is great! Your character sounds like a really interesting guy.

He seems totally different from the ordinary, blood-soaked, badass (not that there's anything wrong with the blood-soaked badass or that your character isn't one).


Hey! i've got my character ready! Bale, Bale is a warrior, an undead warrior, he is member of a warrior cult that worships Nethos and Rhonaut, they worship the battle itself and they believe that the only reason life exists on Nethos is to protect him and insure his life. So all of the cult are reavers and they go thought a dark ritual drinking the monster blood to give them other worldly powers, that make them timeless, they don't age and they use this forever long life to get black blood for nethos. they are few in number and scattered far and wide. Bale himself is a member of this warrior cult and believes in it, he is soft spoken and calm, and overall a good guy, wants to serve his lord Nethos to the best of his abilities....

traits:
Sig: Reanimate

combate: indomitable (warfare)
exploration: foul appetite (undead) (Monsterblood)
Interaction: Aura of death

Abilities Brawn +3 Fitness +2 mind -1 spirit +1

items
heavy armor +2 block
sword and shield (Melee and Defensive +2 block)
adventures pack


So cool! I actually made a sort of similar undead warrior character a little while ago. A Revenant archer.

If you want you could make an alias for him to help organize your stats and make your posts easier to read. To create aliases, go to your My Account page (link at the top of every page), and click the "Create new messageboard alias" link.


Thanks bb! I will!


Hey this is aby55 from reddit. I was thinking for my character something like this. Lin wasn't a bad guy. Sure he may have engaged in some thievery when he was younger and he's no stranger to violence, but he'd done what he had to to survive. He signed on to an expedition when he was a young man and that's when he got the taste. He made some money as a tomb raider until the day he explored a ruin that led deep into the Nethos. He found an ancient temple and in exploring it he awoke something, an ancient being. It was then they made their first deal. It was then his shadow changed. It was then he became a Reaver.

Traits

Sig: Patron

Combat: Arsenal
Exploration: Place of Power
Interaction: Knowledge from Beyond

For the Patron I was wondering if we could do something like the Saurex in strength but more like a giant shadow being. In this world he manifests as Lin's shadow. That'll be the consultant for the Interaction trait as well. The being is cunning and above all else desires amusement which it usually derives from death and blood. It also enjoys making deals with people.

Probably a Lil cheesy haha. Let me know what you think of the concept.


Dark Party!
Abd will have to find some Grit!


i love all the characters so far! should be a fun game!


Yeah! I'm super excited to see where this goes, you guys really nailed it with the characters.

Gamesrgreat, I really like your character. On Nethos, Mages who gain their power through deals with other beings are called Warlocks! I will be writing more about Warlocks soon, because they are one of my favorite kinds of magic users. You should introduce your character to the story in the gameplay tab when you get a chance!

You guys should check out the post on vertical progress. I think the new way looks great. How do you all feel about it?

I like the restriction: wrote:
Custom + Signature: Select 1 of your traits as your signature trait. You can upgrade that trait as many times as you want. All other traits you can upgrade only once.


Alright I'll post in the gameplay and we can work on fleshing out the Patron's instincts, traits etc. here. I have some ideas

Equipment wise we start with 100 gold yes? I'll take

Heavy Armor - 50
Daggers- Melee, Reaching - 25
Adventurer's Pack - 10
Lockpicks - 10


Oh btw I was wondering if melee, reach is okay for the daggers. The way I'm gonna do it is have him summon them from the shadow so I was hoping for reaching they'd be like black daggers but when he attacks with them they can extend a bit longer for slashes and thrusts. I was also wondering if for the aesthetic of heavy armor he can look like he is just cloaked in more shadow/darkness than normal for the lighting and if you look at his shadow it looks like he is wearing armor but if you look at him it doesn't.


One of my favorite things about tavern tales is that all the aesthetics are up to the player. I love the armored shadow idea btw.


Are we doing the single-roll or multi-roll system?

In my experience, single-roll works best for fighting mooks and lieutenants. Multi-roll works better for boss fights.


That sounds perfect. I'll handle the roles of significant enemies and you guys can use single-roll the rest of the time.


I hope what I did is legal. I mean I know we can intimidate but using Arsenal for it haha


I loved it! It made perfect sense, it was creative, and it looked really cool.


For rolling plus one dice do you take both rolls or the higher one or what? Also would I roll to attack now on this guy or did the counterattack count as the turn?

BTW how excited are you guys for Transformation?


Werewolves are awesome and every theme always has a trait or two that appeal to me even if the theme itself does not. On a scale of one to excited I would say very excited.

The attack you made was a part of his turn because it was his roll that triggered it. You can now make another attack if you wish.

When you are increasing a roll that means you use the highest of the three rolls that you roll when you roll 3d20. Roll roll roll roll roll.

When you have +1 damage die, or +1d, you roll an additional die depending on what kind of weapon you are using. So by default you do 1d8 in melee and 1d6 in ranged and with a +1d you do 2d8 in melee and 2d8 in ranged.

And then there's Abd's banner! The way this works if when you roll a combat roll, you don't increase the roll or anything, but you bump up your result one step. So a "Good" roll (13-16) becomes a "Very Good" roll (17-20).

I hope this answered your question!

By the way, _Oldgod_1, in the future you should roll whenever you are in conflict with an NPC of a reasonably power level. In this case you wanted to take your book back from the thief, but the thief wanted to steal it, so I would have rather had you roll to resolve the conflict.

Not really an important moment, so don't worry about it!


ok, sorry bb, still new to the system and all that. I think transformation is gonna be great! cant wait to see what they do!


Yeah, I always love it when new themes come out.


Yeah I'm personally hoping for some cool transformations! Beyond becoming a werebear or werewolf, extra limbs sounds cool.

Now that the vertical trait progression update is out, I think we should hammer out the details of the patron, BB.

I was thinking something like

Finesse 5| Mind 4| Body 3| Spirit 1
Life: 100
Block: 10
Damage: 4d8

Traits
Sharp Shadows- Ignore armor and cause bleed
Ignore Terrain- A shadow glides as easily along the water or rocks as it does flat ground
Dim the Lights- The area seems to become darker and the shadows loom. Terrify enemies within a midrange distance and increase rolls for one turn.

Personality Characteristics
Cruel- derives amusement from observing and participating in life and death situations
Toy with Prey- Like a cat with a mouse, the shadow enjoys playing games by making deals with humans and through prolonging combat.

The personality characteristics are kind of similar there but I think they create a decent picture for what the Patron would do in a lot of situations. Under the rules we should work out the stats together (I just based it off of the deadly creature template) and you should add two personality characteristics and probably give feedback on the ones I've suggested.


I really like this so far. I'm a huge fan of evil Patron type creatures.

I think that Ignore Terrain should get bumped up a bit. Perhaps the Patron can become invisible in complete darkness? Or move instantly between other shadows? Or put out lights from a distance?

As for the personality traits, I think you should try to combine the ones you've come up with because they are similar and also come up with a motivation. What does your Patron hope to achieve? Sure it loves to watch mortals dance with death, but what about its more specific goals?

How does it feel about the state of the world, or the future of the world? Would it delight at the sight of the apocalypse or does it thrive on the conflict of civilization?

I will add:

Dramatic- The Patron is more interested in the drama than your success. When it is interesting the Patron will support you, but whenever it's boring the Patron will cause trouble.

Vindictive- The Patron is filled with pride. If insulted it will seek retribution. Additionally, the Patron often enjoys supporting the downtrodden or the wronged just so it can watch their foes perish.

The Exchange

Abilities:
cone attack 1/min, celebrity status, allied dice results go up one level, on very good bolster -> ally gets +1d damage
Traits:
Dragon.FireBreath | Dragon.Cynosure | Command.Banner | Psionics.Levitate | Command.Inspire | Weapons: Throwing knives: ranged, disarming
Stats:
Spirit 3 | Finesse 2 | Mind 1 | Brawn -1 | Block 0 | Tough 10 | Life 40/40 | Recuperate? Available | Adv 1

Quick question regarding the new vertical progression thing...

Old characters started the game with 3 traits, plus 1 signature (which was like an upgraded trait). New characters start the game with 3 traits only.

Should we respec down to 3 traits, up to 5 trait points, or split the difference with 4?

The Exchange

Abilities:
cone attack 1/min, celebrity status, allied dice results go up one level, on very good bolster -> ally gets +1d damage
Traits:
Dragon.FireBreath | Dragon.Cynosure | Command.Banner | Psionics.Levitate | Command.Inspire | Weapons: Throwing knives: ranged, disarming
Stats:
Spirit 3 | Finesse 2 | Mind 1 | Brawn -1 | Block 0 | Tough 10 | Life 40/40 | Recuperate? Available | Adv 1

Earlier, you asked: "What is one market stall that interests one of your characters?"

Since most of my goods are gone, I'd be interested in the spice vendor and the alcohol vendor to get reagents for my nostrums.

Failing that, I'd take a costermonger (apple vendor), because apples can be distilled into alcohol.

However, I spent all my starting money on the items I had on hand, which are now mostly gone. So I can't really buy any new ingredients.


How about

Like a Shadow
Treat all terrain as if flat. Cannot pass through walls. Turn invisible in darkness.

Possessive and Selective
The Patron doesn't choose to take an interest in many people, but he doesn't give up a toy easily. The Patron is jealous of respect or worship paid to other beings, particularly those it feels threatened by.


For vertical progression, I think that everyone should have 4 traits. The one that used to be your signature and the other three you already have. So for now we will have, as you said, split the difference.

I like to level up somewhat quickly when I play, especially early on in the story. How do you all feel about that? How fast should your characters gain levels?

I think that your Patron is looking very good. Feel free to add any personality traits you think are interesting and/or necessary.


I think we should talk about the tone and difficulty of the game.

Do you want to play a difficult, bloody, and dangerous game? Or do you want to be more powerful? Do you want the game to have a dark or a lighthearted tone, or some of both?

I think 100% serious games are difficult to do because it's hard to always take it seriously. I don't really like silly RPGs, though. It just doesn't really work for me when it comes to RPGs.

The Exchange

Abilities:
cone attack 1/min, celebrity status, allied dice results go up one level, on very good bolster -> ally gets +1d damage
Traits:
Dragon.FireBreath | Dragon.Cynosure | Command.Banner | Psionics.Levitate | Command.Inspire | Weapons: Throwing knives: ranged, disarming
Stats:
Spirit 3 | Finesse 2 | Mind 1 | Brawn -1 | Block 0 | Tough 10 | Life 40/40 | Recuperate? Available | Adv 1

I'm a bit lost. I failed my knowledge roll earlier, so someone else will have to try and figure out what's going on. Who are these people, what do they want?

Regarding tone and deadliness, I'm happy with deadly, so long as we have some method of assessing risk. These guys just jumped us out of the blue. We had no information to assess the risk.

Even now, I'm not sure whether we should run or fight.

My character is mainly a supporting role (Banner), so I'm not going to be the heavy hitter.

Bale, your last attack: rolled 5, 18, 22 = 18. That's a very good result.
You should have added +1 damage dice.

Also, I'm not sure if you spent the advantage I granted you earlier. That will give you another +1 damage die when you spend it.


Yeah idk what's going on but seems like we should definitely run. One more hit and Lin is down and chances don't look good for Bale and Abd to 2v2 them


First, on the subject of giving you a method of assessing risk, I will definitely keep that in mind in the future. I don't think it's any fun either if you never get a chance to plan and use some brains. I really appreciate the feedback, btw!

Second, I hope you aren't frustrated by not knowing what's going on. I've tried to give you all some questions so that you could do some investigating when the dust settles.

Part of the point of this scene is to establish some conflict that will then push the story into play.

And third, you could run if you wanted to. You do still have a decent shot at winning, though. So far you've all been somewhat separated.

I'm sorry if this has been a more difficult fight than you anticipated. I am new to GMing Tavern Tales and I'm finding it somewhat difficult to balance fights, which is to be expected with a young system.

I'm going to roll Bale's extra damage and add it to his attack.


Well I figured owing the Patron is better than dying lol. So who is gonna choose the price?


You should decide approximately how much power you want to use. I have an idea for a bane that I think would be cool if you wanted to use your Patron to mend your arm. If that's not enough you could restore your arm and increase a related stat, at a greater price.

You could also gain access to some of the shadows traits. The way your Patron rose could definitely turn into Dim the Lights just because it was scary.

Alternatively your Patron could join the fight, but summoning a deadly creature would cost you, depending on how much damage they inflict.

What do you want to do?


Oh sorry if it wasn't clear. I summoned him. Nothing else is gonna get me thru this fight


It is kinda difficult lol. This guy can two-shot Lin and his first hit was a maim where my guy almost lost his arm for good. I kind of thought this fight would be more of a warm-up. I'm not complaining though. Boss fights in the intro


I like the game so far, though I agree with Abd, i feel a little lost.

sorry about messing up that roll by the way, thanks for checking that!:)

also i worry about getting and keeping the party together.

I don't think Bale would run away at the first sight of danger, i think he would bit off more than he can chew a lot of the time, yet i don't want the party to be killed or knocked out while he is still in the fight (he's a good tank and the only one in the party)....

I also think having a goal or over aching plot would be cool!

also how are magic users treated in the setting? are they respected? Feared? Hated?

how should are party operate morally?

also I think that splitting the party in a play by post doesn't work that well... I sometimes get confused with who's where and who can do what.....what do you guys think?

Also how far is lin form Bale and abd?

what do the rest of you guys think?


Health:
26/40 Block: 2 | Melee, Reaching
Traits:
Arsenal | Glory and Gore | Keen Eye |Knowledge from Beyond | Dark Bargain
Stats:
Finesse 3 | Brawn 0(2) | Mind 1 | Spirit -1|

I'd think he is at the edge of the town/market while you guys are in the street. Probably fifty yards or something but that's just my imagination

The Exchange

Abilities:
cone attack 1/min, celebrity status, allied dice results go up one level, on very good bolster -> ally gets +1d damage
Traits:
Dragon.FireBreath | Dragon.Cynosure | Command.Banner | Psionics.Levitate | Command.Inspire | Weapons: Throwing knives: ranged, disarming
Stats:
Spirit 3 | Finesse 2 | Mind 1 | Brawn -1 | Block 0 | Tough 10 | Life 40/40 | Recuperate? Available | Adv 1

Bale made it from the market to the temple in the span of one "post", so I figured the Market must be in the north end of town, kinda near the temple on the hill.

If I had to guess, I'd say two or three full actions to get back together?


I have a lot to write so forgive any typos.

I'm going to say that Lin is a Midrange distance from Abd and Bale.

Abd is grappling with The Sorceress (I'm imagining a Sumo style type thing, each with both hands on their opponents arms).

Bale is Close to the two of them, perhaps not attacking because he doesn't want to hit Abd or maybe he just hasn't gotten the chance.

I agree with _Oldgod_1 about splitting the party! One reason The Sorceress threw Bale out of the temple was so that he could rejoin the rest of the party.

_Oldgod_1 wrote:
also how are magic users treated in the setting? are they respected? Feared? Hated?

Magic users are treated differently based on how they got their magic and how they use it. They are somewhat commonplace, though. I'll be adding to the Campaign Setting part of the campaign page soon about this.

I do have an over-arcing plot in the works. As soon as this battle is done, you can start figuring out what's going on with the plot.

_Oldgod_1 wrote:
also i worry about getting and keeping the party together.

The characters haven't really had the chance to develop very much so far, so it shouldn't be very difficult to write them in such a way that they want to work together.

Lin, do you want to roleplay your Patron or do you want me to do it?

The Exchange

Abilities:
cone attack 1/min, celebrity status, allied dice results go up one level, on very good bolster -> ally gets +1d damage
Traits:
Dragon.FireBreath | Dragon.Cynosure | Command.Banner | Psionics.Levitate | Command.Inspire | Weapons: Throwing knives: ranged, disarming
Stats:
Spirit 3 | Finesse 2 | Mind 1 | Brawn -1 | Block 0 | Tough 10 | Life 40/40 | Recuperate? Available | Adv 1

Midrange is like the size of a building, 10 spaces, so traversable in one action of "hurrying"?

TIL: in TT, you can still attack when hurrying, you just decrease your attack roll. (I'm still getting over D&D3.5 and Pathfinder with their single-move, double-move and myriad action types)


I'm down for either. I can do it most of the time unless you want to.


I was just wondering if you were waiting to attack the Stranger but it's no issue.

Please describe your Patron's actions to defend you! (I'm excited to see this...)

Also just to be clear, the issues that I'm hearing are:

1) Confusion about the characters locations and the distance between the characters

2) You had no information to assess the risk before this fight.

I feel like you guys mentioned something else but I can't put my finger on it.


I was wondering if anyone minded the way I've been handling Mixed attack results. Sometimes I've rolled the damage for you guys and sometimes I've let you roll damage in your post and then do your turn.

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