Welcome to all, and well done for putting together such compelling characters!
I have sent you some questions via PM so that I can get a better idea of what you are looking for from the game. In the meantime, some quick house-keeping
1. Please put your stat-line into your alias (and create an alias if you haven’t already!)
2. I’m hoping for 30+ posts a week (as a group) in order to keep things moving. If that’s likely to be a problem, please say so. Also, please don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good here – I love words, as you can probably tell, and I’m all for long posts that show your character agonising over their cruel fates and railing against an unjust world (it tells me I’m doing my job properly as GM), but sometimes a quick “Thrun swings his axe at the nearest orc [dice]” or “Astrid moves forward with her companions, her expression wary, looking for trouble” is all that’s needed to keep things moving on and prevent me from waiting for you.
3. I will be keeping track of time in-game, but I can never remember the Golarion months or days. I will therefore be using seasons, which seem to be more appropriate for the Frozen North anyway. They are:
New Year (late Winter)
Early Spring
Mid Spring
Late Spring
Early Summer
Mid Summer
Late Summer
Early Fall
Mid Fall
Late Fall
Early Winter
Mid Winter
This doesn’t fully align with Earth-type months (February is nobody’s idea of Early Spring) but it gives you an idea of what point of the year it is.
If I have to use days of the week I will use the German ones (Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag, Sonntag) so as to try and avoid breaking suspension of disbelief.
4. Kingdom roles. In the end, these didn't play as big a part in selection as I originally thought they would - I was looking for good characters with a good story to tell, and boy did I find them. But it does mean that we're going to need a Ruler - hopefully this will emerge naturally from the roleplay, since it's going to be quite some time before it becomes an issue! Essentially: forget the kingdom roles for now, they're a red herring.
If you have any questions or comments, have at it!
Greetings!
I think Aivar's character sheet is in order and ready to go. I copy-pasta the stuff in this link to get the neat stat-line Aivar has. Feel free to use it :D
The use of simplified seasons sounds good to me. No matter what the setting is, be it Faerun, Stormlight Archives or Pathfinder, I never remember the order and names of the seasons they use.
When I have some free time I will take a dive into the character sheets of the other players.
Looking forward to getting this one started!
Thank you for selecting me, GM! I am looking forward to a great game with all of you.
I will get my status line set up later today.
Greetings, glad to be aboard! I'm going to create an avatar later today. Just a heads up, I'll be out of town tomorrow and Thursday... just happened that I had a planned get away for those days, but then I'll be back Friday.
Okay, here is the rough outline for the avatar. Had to make a slight change to the name, apparently the original spelling is already taken.
Lovely! Looking forward to finally getting a taste of Kingmaker!
I'll have my alias cooked up and posted shortly.
Tristan Aislin, at your services. Especially if you desire a song.
Thanks for the invite, WW! I can't wait to get started. :D
Right, that's everyone (I've had a PM from Arianna, who should dot in at some point soon).
@Aivar - thanks for providing that stat line - please would everyone use that one just so it's all standardized.
@KGB - no problems, post as you can.
@Tristan - let's say that the noble you killed was from House Lebeda: probably not a Lebeda themselves, but from a family closely affiliated with them. That might give you some sort of tie-in with Arianna, but I'll let you two work that out.
Gameplay will be up shortly, but it will mostly just be an opportunity for some roleplay to get your character established before we move on.
Oh my god everybody's characters are so great, I'm practically vibrating with anticipation.
@GM: two quick questions, what time of year is this starting? And for the sake of consistency, what was the title of Dame Lebeda's late husband? I used Lord, Nariel used Baron, paizo materials were unhelpful.
The game starts as we pass from one year into the next: mid-winter 4718 into new year 4719 (I'm updating the timeline so that the Rogarvias vanished 10 years from the present date, rather than the 'canon' date of 4699).
As for title: let's say that "Lord" is an address for anyone noble, whether they have a title or not; thus the Baron in question would have been Lord [insert name here], Baron Lebeda. So you're both right :-)
OK, first gameplay post is up! I've also put a link to the Charter at the top of the campaign screen so you can see what you are in for... :)
I went ahead and made up a name for the lesser house: House Uille.
As far as having previously met/heard of any of the folk, I'm not sure Tristan would have met anyone except for possibly Aivar (due to the Art/Song angle). Though given that Tristan was often the subject of rumor (and occasional scandal) it wouldn't be surprising if others had heard his name (not necessarily in a good light, depending on their own origins).
Aivar doesn't have Knowledge Local (yet!), but does have a lackluster +4 to Knowledge Nobility. Perhaps he has heard of the story, but I think it would make sense that he doesn't know Tristan (yet).
Next level I should have a skill point laying around that I can put into Know. Local. I hope :P
Arianna could certainly have heard the name Aislin, maybe the gossip exaggerating the incident with the lordling Uille. But she has little regard for nobility, so she could take it for a good thing, hearing about a commoner who cut off a lordling's head. And she could have met somebody else during the interview process. Only other thing is that Arianna probably would know of Nariel, and would do everything she could to avoid engaging with her at least until they get out of Restov.
Maybe I missed a line somewhere, but what is this 'pin' everyone is apparently wearing?
Oops - just to clarify: you were given an invite to the new year ball, but the ball itself hasn't happened yet (it's still late winter). This is just a chance for you guys to meet up.
I'll put up a post starting the ball in due course.
@Tristan - yes, upgrading to masterwork instrument is fine.
@arianna: Tristan came up with it and I figured I would simply roll with it, but yes, it wasn't something GM Wastrel inserted.
Oh gotcha, this is more of a meet an greet then. By the way Wastrel, I wanted to use the 50g for materials to scribe some 1st level scrolls, hope there would still be time to scrible some scrolls?
Enchantment is one of Nariel's opposition schools, but Sleep is useful at this level, so she'll scribe two of those.
Note: Just a reminder that I'll be away for the next two days, unable to post since I won't have much in the way of internet access. Hopefully I won't miss to much, but I'll post again on Friday evening at the latest.
Oh my god everybody's characters are so great, I'm practically vibrating with anticipation
Agreed. There is also a very classic RPG feel about the party composition that I'm liking a lot :)
@Nariel - yes there is definitely time to scribe scrolls! Thanks for the reminder about your absence, see you Friday evening.
@sasha: I think you can still pick a third trait, since it's two traits + a campaign trait :D
Ah, whoops. Definitely missed that this wasn't the actual Ball. Go-go gadget retcon...
Don't worry about it - I'm still getting used to the difference between PbP and tabletop (at the table, I'd have been able to quickly interrupt as soon as it was clear there was a misunderstanding).
I'll do my best to be more clear/less ambiguous in future.
EDIT: also, Tristan - could you use the same stat-line template the others are using, please? Thanks!
Am I right when I say that the party doesn't have anyone with a rank in survival? Oh my, hehe :'D
Who needs Survival when you look this good??
EDIT: Thanks for the info, Aivar!
As far as who knows who, Sasha is a member of the aristocracy, although a minor family, and she's traveling under an assumed name. Unless one is intimately familiar with the politics of Whitehall, and to a larger extent, New Stethaven, you probably wouldn't recognize her.
That's hilarious - and completely unintended on my part! Oh well. Best pack a lot of provisions, cos you won't be living off the land....
EDIT: not sure how many of you have a horse, either. No matter. I guess we'll all get to find out whether a masterwork violin burns warmer than an ordinary one :D
Can do!
And yeah, no Survival... we have a lot of skill points between us though, somebody can spring for cross-class. :) It being a Wisdom skill means it isn't exactly up Tristan's alley, though.
Counter-Edit: Keep away from mah violin! And yeah, money was rather tight to be buying horses. Hopefully we'll acquire a bit of spending cash before too long.
Just to be sure that I'm following the correct format: is the qualifier behind Human supposed to denote nationality or ethnicity?
I've always assumed it to be ethnicity, so I put Taldan, which is the group that most native Brevans (including Sasha) fall under, but I notice that everyone else put Brevan.
I assumed ethnicity, but also don't know a great deal about Golarion ethnicities so I thought Brevan was one.
Not sure - maybe we can say that Brevans are a mix of Taldan and Ulfen and thus their own thing.
Maybe the peasantry are more cross-bred with Ulfens while the nobility are more 'pure' Taldan? Thinking a sort of medieval England, where the rulers were Norman and the peasants were Saxon.
Never mind - Raquel has actually done some research and found the answer.
I can switch one of my skills for Survival if nobody else is willing.
From the Pathfinder wiki: "Taldan humans, many descended from its early explorers, make up most of Brevoy's population, but the nation's broad cultural tolerance results in many ethnicities and races calling Brevoy home. This includes lost Kellid clans from bordering Numeria and descended from Choral the Conqueror's armies, migrating Varisians passing through, and Chelaxian, Keleshite, Tian, and Ulfen visitors and outcasts."
@Sasha - have you got the right no. of skills? 8 Rogue, 2 Int, 2 Background, 1 Human = 13 and it looks like you have 14 (unless I've missed something)
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I also noticed that nobody is trained in survival, we're going to get lost and eaten by squirrels like the city slickers we are.
I also noticed that nobody is trained in survival, we're going to get lost and eaten by squirrels like the city slickers we are.
@Sasha - have you got the right no. of skills? 8 Rogue, 2 Int, 2 Background, 1 Human = 13 and it looks like you have 14 (unless I've missed something)
Favored Class Bonus :)
Finally going to get to posting!
@Sasha - have you got the right no. of skills? 8 Rogue, 2 Int, 2 Background, 1 Human = 13 and it looks like you have 14 (unless I've missed something)Favored Class Bonus :)
Doh! Always forget about that one. Thanks :)
PS: thanks to everyone for your replies to my PM. Even if I didn't respond, I have taken on board what you said.
With the GM's permission, I would like to trade out my rank in Knowledge (planes) for a rank in Survival, and my Competitive trait for the Orphaned trait.
Benefits: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Survival checks, and Survival is always a class skill for you.
@Raquel - that's fine. The AP kind of depends on you NOT being eaten by squirrels, after all.
Loving the interactions so far! Keep it up.
I'm going to hold off on moving gameplay on until later today, in view of Nariel's absence.
Thanks GM, will make the changes. I'd also like to change what I'm spending the stipend on. I will buy a courtiers outfit instead of the scroll. Have to look good for the ball!
No problems there.
It's Mid-Winter in Brevoy. Think Eastern Europe or the Mid-West in America and you have some idea.
Since the roleplay seems to be still happily carrying on, I'll hold off for a bit longer on the next gameplay stage.
Okay, so winter clothing is an absolute necessity. A scroll or spellbook page devoted to Endure Elements would be amazeballs as well.
I can prepare it as a cleric spell.
Sasha will purchase a set of cold weather gear as well.
I've settled on Extremely Fashionable as my third trait.
I can prepare an extract of endure elements, but unfortunately I can't share it.
@Raquel: btw, I also play Arma Avox.
@Arianna: Cool, looking forward to playing with you here, too. :)
Right, you shall go to the ball. Please read the 'how this works' below (and spoilered in the gameplay thread, so there's no excuse for not reading it :p)
HOW THIS WORKS
OK, we are going to be using the Influence rules from Ultimate Intrigue. That means that this part of the game is divided up into ‘social rounds’ (around 15 minutes each). For the first ‘round’ you may move to a single area and make a dice roll (with appropriate modifier for your clothing) using any of the Influence Skills listed for that area.
Where a skill is listed “as appropriate” it means what it says: for example, profession (brewer) would be appropriate for the Taproom, while profession (barrister) would be appropriate for the Long Gallery.
Depending on your roll (low/high/outstanding), you will meet a particular NPC.
In the next round, you may then either:
(1) interact with that NPC, using skills you think might be appropriate (I will roll a Sense Motive for you to get some ideas);
(2) politely disengage and make another roll against the area’s listed Influence Skills to try and find a different NPC; or
(3) politely disengage and move to a different area (note that if you do this, you won’t get to make a roll against that area’s Influence Skills until the subsequent round).
I hope that’s clear. If you have any questions, throw them down in this thread.
The goal of this part is for you to make friends and influence people: charter or not, you are a small group of nobodies (no offence) about to go out into terror terra incognita. You need all the friends you can get...
Writing about and doing research on medieval Russian outfits fit for cold weather feels ... odd, what it being 36 degrees Celsius out here. And yes, my brain is melting because of the heat. For what it's worth, I took the Russian streltsy outfit as inspiration for Aivar's attire :D