I'm opening up the discussion thread now. You guys can start using it to get to know each other and so forth while I get the rest of the threads ready
Blep!
Boop!
Blarp o_o
A Redhead, a Brunette, and a Blonde all walk into a tavern...
Well, actually...I mean, nice to meet all of you!
While I'm still feeling ill(as mentioned), I would love to request a Gameplay Thread to dot.
(One can post, then delete the post and it's still dotted, so no need to "spam" it)
That way we get it in campaign overview and see the updates. Will make it easier to communicate and orient each other.
I'll do a start: The introduction/background on my character is out-of-date. I never got around to rework it, but will as soon as I manage. Of course, being ill means there'll be plenty work waiting for me once I am healthy again, which will not help -_-
Yuki will be a bit of a Jill-of-all-Trades. I will deal with Trapfinding.
My rogue Archetype will give me very limited access to spells. Yuki will be using those for utility and to buff herself.(with regular AP progression, she will get to around Level 4 spells of the Wizard List near the end - so not numerous, not powerful, but well worth what's given up if able to use it to empower her options/add utility)
She will be hard to hit for enemies, but won't hit very hard herself for a couple levels. Eventually, Feinting Flurry and (diminished) Sneak Attack with Arcane Pool will all help with that.
As Dex-based character, she can probably also help out with a bow or shuriken, but that'll not be her main thing.
Skillwise, she'll cover Perception(with Skill Unlock eventually) and Disable Device for Trap Duty, as well as Stealth, Acrobatics, and Bluff. The few other points will be spread around a bit for fleshing out the character for a few levels, and may eventually be invested into skills we lack, defaulting to Sense Motive if we seem fine otherwise.
I'll get the gameplay thread going in a few minutes Yuki
The gameplay thread is open.
Alrightey, if we're making a brief character resume of what we are going to play, following yuki, here's Sonia!
Decided to make a paladin, but take it in an interesting direction. With the Divine Archer archetype, she will not be the standard tank and spank type of paladin, but be mostly there to support from the back with heavy archery. Eventully, she will progress to be able to do lay on hands at range to be able to reach people in need much more easily, and will have auras that help others gain free feats when using ranged abilities, wich might benefit Yuki eventually with the using of a bow or crossbow.
For skills, she isn't exactly a skill monkey (Paladin is super heavy on MAD, urrg), but she is intended to be the group face, skilling diplomacy, having a racial trait to allow her to learn languages twice as fast, and a starter trait to reroll diplomacy to make a good first impression.
While right now focusing on archery feats, will eventually head towards mounted feats to perform horseback archery, so will need to invest in Ride eventually.
The unique thing about her, is she is a devout worhsipper of Desna... and her very first paladin. Me and rick have worked together and agreed upon a customized paladin code for this instance. Sonia will basicly be a glorified travel agent, desiring to travel the world, paint it, capture it in art, and display it for all to see to inspire the world and new cultures to travel and explore themselves. Which is why learning new languages and cultures quickly is going to be key. While Desna is chaotic in nature, as a paladin, she is lawful in alignment as a form of sacrifice for others, to conform and respect other cultures, to better learn and share about them.
I'll follow up with mine!
Since our party didn't really have any frontliners, I decided to make a vanguard-style cavalier, with a defensive focus. She has a lucerne hammer to help with zoning, with a buckler as well, and while she's going to be a little slow on foot, she's going to primarily be glued to her wolf, Flax. Eventually I'm going to make them both close to invincible, and someday when she reaches level 4, she'll find a bison and tame it as a mount! Because I really want to see an armored halfling riding an equally-armored bison.
I'm thinking she's a guard of some sort, or part of Sandpoint's Militia; a local, in other words. She's also going to be of the Order of the Blue Rose, which hopefully means she's the moral center of the group... but she also has 8 wisdom, so that will be difficult.
Oh, and she's also madly in love with Shalelu. Poor Mari.
What does dotting in mean? o3o
Once you posted in a gameplay thread, the campaign is shown as "active" for you. So clicking on the "campaigns" tab on your account will list it.
Like thereIt's mainly convenient for those people playing in several, as that listing always shows how many new posts in which threads have been made and let you jump right to the new posts by clicking on the "x new".
In my case, I have several games running, so I requested the gameplay thread for the added convenience, because I had to manually check back here all the time, before, to see if someone posted or we're getting ready to start. :)
Agreed Mordred, without dotting it's a pain. :-)
I was considering dipping into a second class to assist with frontline fighting though I may not depending on where we are when we first level.
She is a Priestess of Desna and when the Runelords rose she was marked for greatness, however, greatness passed her by.
She had a moment in the sun when she rescued her friend from danger but when the Heroes of Sandpoint left, Father Zantus asked her to stay with the Cathedral. She did as she was bid and the mark has since faded leaving her to wonder if she made the right decision at all. Should she settle in Sandpoint marry and raise a family or should she travel before she becomes too old?
Thanks for the explanation of dotting in Yuki and Talene.
No need to worry about it further Mari. Now that you've posted in gameplay you'll have this campaign listed in your campaigns section for easy access.
One thing that I have mentioned to couple of people, but I don't think I stated clearly to everyone is we will be using background skills.
If you're not familiar with background skills you can find the information here:
Hopefully I will have the campaign info section completed in the next couple of days. I'll be working on in it today especially.
A couple of things that will be included in the campaign info section but I'll mention here as well so it's known. We won't be using the Relationships System or the Caravan Rules included in the AP as they are given in the Player's Guide. I'm looking at an alternative set of rules for relationships. But we might just go with RP and no metrics for them.
If you haven't read the Player's Guide yet I'd suggest you do. It will help you get oriented and introduce the major NPCs in play at the beginning.
Finally, I'm looking to start over the weekend or at the beginning of next week. But if you want to go ahead and post in the gameplay thread to begin establishing your characters feel free to do so.
Hi folks. I'm the new recruit.
Looking over the introductions people have posted for their characters, I really like what I see. I love that it's a female-heavy party. That's rare and awesome.
About Inari
Inari came to Sandpoint with Sandru's caravan a few months ago. He's been living at the Rusty Dragon and working as Ameiko's handyman. He also spends a lot of time with Koya. Word on the street is that he has some kind of medical condition that she is helping him out with.
Inari is a fun, personable guy. He's movie-star handsome, but doesn't seem to have let it go to his head. He has an uncanny knack for impersonations and is quick to flirt, but he doesn't really seem serious about it. There have been a few spats involving jealous parters, or spurned lovers since the easygoing handyman came to town. Every time it happens he seems surprised and sad, but mostly clueless about why people are angry.
Mechanics and party role
Inari is firmly in the 'Support' role. He's an Oracle, but is honestly not terribly good at much right now. He has impressive social skills, but kinda mediocre at everything else. For the early part of the game he'll mostly be using Aid Another and casting Guidance to help the rest of you out, and trying to debuff the enemies.
Expect him to stand back with Sonja and Talene, guarding them with a longspear and hoping he doesn't have to use it.
Connections
I'm a big fan of developing personal connections between characters before the game starts. I've created ties to the major NPCs, and I'd like to do that for as many of the rest of you as possible.
Inari spends most of his time at the Rusty Dragon. He's only been in town a few months, but he's close with Ameiko.
Connections
I'm a big fan of developing personal connections between characters before the game starts. I've created ties to the major NPCs, and I'd like to do that for as many of the rest of you as possible.
Inari spends most of his time at the Rusty Dragon. He's only been in town a few months, but he's close with Ameiko.
Then he would know Tal. She and Ameiko are Besties. Tal spends her days in the Cathedral and her nights (usually) at the Rusty Dragon hanging out with Ameiko.
Expect him to stand back with Sonja
I never understood why people write that with a J, when it's clearly being pronounced as an I. Son-Jah just sounds so really weird.
I'd like to do that for as many of the rest of you as possible.
As for making connections, Sonia is rather diverse in her time spending, she works full time at The Way North, being a landscape artist and cartographer, works part time at Savah's armory only to get paid in arrows that she spends when in trips in the wild deeps to find new landmarks to paint and archive, She also spends a great deal of time in early mornings and evenings at the Cathedral alongside Koya's company as both a student and a good friend. Despite her birth family, she's kind of the black sheep of the family, and rarely associates herself with them because of conflicting ideals.
They wanted a prim and proper Belle type of a daughter, and she wasn't gonna have it.
Expect him to stand back with SonjaI never understood why people write that with a J, when it's clearly being pronounced as an I. Son-Jah just sounds so really weird.
Force of habit for me. It's my cousin's name. Spelled with a J, pronounced with an I.
I don't know, Sonya, but do remember that different languages use different phonetics. ^_^
@Inari: Welcome, I suppose. Fair warning well ahead of time: If you try and fool Yuki with Realistic Likeness, she'll not take it well.
As for what Yuki does(and a little history):
As a younger full sister of Ameiko, she's been working as Waitress in the Rusty Dragon, with Ameiko being the closest Family left to her(and partially having been raised by her). Yuki had been sent off to a girls school in Magnimar prior to the events of RotRL(around the time Ameiko decided to go adventuring, and Yuki intended to come along with a wooden toy sword), and returned to Sandpoint shortly after her fathers death.
She grew up with a certain pride regarding her family history, and is trying to incorporate her ancestor's cultural heritage in her life. Where Ameiko is her own person and all but turned her back on the past, Yuki somewhat clings to it in search of her own identity.
Thats one reason she learned martial arts at the House of Blue Stones, while not being a follower of Irori, considering that an aspect bringing her closer to her ancestors.
Working as a Waitress not only lets her be close to her sister, it's also a social work that honed her interpersonal skills. Especially, of course, bluff.
As such, it could well be that she flirted with Inari as well, hoping for a better tip, but she's never too outrageous, nor too serious, always going about it playfully making sure not to give any people wrong ideas or expectations.
She is also fiercely protective of Ameiko. Having lost much of her family, she's afraid of losing her too. If Ameiko was to find her true love, Yuki would expect to be all alone. As such, she's actively undermining attempts of potential partners to try and get close to Ameiko.
If she were to lose this anxiety, either by finding her own path or finding someone important herself, she'd probably relax about these things.
So far, she's careful regarding Sandru, despite seeing him more like an older brother than as a competitor for Ameiko's attention.
She did have a boyfriend a little over a year ago(it ended in tears), and, back when they were together, mustered all her courage to visit Koya asking for advice on herbal contraceptives, blushing violently and hoping Ameiko would never find out. Koya handled it exemplary and kept the secret, and Yuki, thankful, helps her on some odd jobs, sometimes accompanying Shalelu into the Wilderness to gather specific items for Koya.
These rangings are a small taste of Adventure, and just enough to keep a desire in check(yet not fully fulfill it) Yuki felt ever since her Sister got to be an Adventurer and she got put in a school uniform.
I don't know, Sonya, but do remember that different languages use different phonetics. ^_^
And yet, the creator of the Conan the Barbarian, and then the spin-off character Red Sonja, is an american man born and raised in texas... So i'm not sure about other cultures having to do with it (Unless it has closeby mexican influence, which the wiki on the author doesn't mention?). Really like to find out the etymological origin of that appelation.
Well, considering it itself is just a spin-off of Sophia, I figure all variants are fine. *shrug*
Plus in the listing they seem about equally distributed:
Sonja, Queen of Norway
Sonia (Sonia Evans), English pop singer
SONiA (Sonia Rutstein), American singer-songwriter
Sonia, alias of Omaira Rojas Cabrera, FARC-EP guerrilla member
Sonja Bakić, Serbian pop/rock singer
Sônia Braga, Brazilian actress
Sonja Christopher, reality television star
Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress
Sonya Hartnett, Australian writer
Sonja Henie (1912-1969), Norwegian figure skater and actress
Sonia Holleyman, creator, author and illustrator of Mona the Vampire.
Sonia de Ignacio, Spanish field hockey player
Sonja Elen Kisa, Canadian linguist
Sonja Morgan, Reality TV actress Real Housewives of New York City
Sonia McMahon (1932-2010), Australian socialite, widow of William McMahon
Sonia O'Sullivan, Irish athlete
Sonia Rykiel, French designer
Sonya Scarlet, Singer of Italian band Theatres des Vampires
Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States
Sonya Tayeh, American dancer and choreographer.
Sonja Vectomov, Czech/Finnish sculptor
Sonya Walger, actress best known as Lost's Penny Widmore
Sonia Zober, American actress
Fictional characters[edit]
Red Sonja, archetypal fierce and beautiful barbarian
Sonya (ソーニャ Sōnya?) in the Baby, Please Kill Me! Japanese four-panel manga
Sonja in the Underworld series of vampire films
Sonya Belikova in Vampire Academy novels
Sonya Blade in the Mortal Kombat series of video games
Sonia Fowler in British soap opera EastEnders
Sonya Herfmann, also known as Chanel #2, in the television series Scream Queens
Sonya Marmeladova in Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Sonia Nevermind in Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Sonia Rey in Argentine telenovela Rebelde Way by Cris Morena
Sonya Rostova in War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Sonya Ross in The Maze Runner novel series
Sonya Serebryakova in Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov
Sonia Ganguli in The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Sonia Strumm, rock star in the Mega Man Star Force series of video games
Whatever strikes one's fancy, I guess.
What I mostly meant with the phonetics is that around here, "Sonia" would be pronounced like Son-E-a(like the Electronic Arts slogan E, followed by an Apple-A), and writing it with J or Y makes it a more rounded sound. Son-ya(like "hey ya' all") or Sonja (like Jar Son-Ja(no r)). Basically placing a "i" demands emphasis on that part, which would sound weird in my native tongue because it breaks apart the name into 3 parts, while "j" or "y" make it a more fluid thing not demanding emphasis to be put on it and pronounced slightly differently(y more weight on the ya, j more weight on Son)
And yet for me with a french language background, the I or Y rolls off the tongue much more easily (They are phonetically the same, with different grammatical uses), while for me, the J seems really, REALLY off, it forces me to pronounce the letter in a different language. It'd be like trying to say Son-ga if i didn't.
Eh... *shrugs*
Just a guess, but I blame America. American English especially has always been friendly to alternative spellings, partially because it has so readily adopted words from other languages, and partially because so many non-English speaking immigrants have come here.
Also English is just the worst in terms of standardization of spelling, and letter - sound matching. Spelling in English often approaches the random. I used to teach English as a second language to Turks (Turkish is extremely regular in it's rules) and spelling/reading would practically drive students to tears. There just aren't any rules in so many cases. As a native speaker one doesn't notice how many things are just rote rather than rule based. I can't count the times I had to tell classes "There isn't a rule for this, you just have to memorize it".
So anyway, my theory. Sonja is a spelling that continued to be used my German/Dutch/Scandinavian language speakers, especially in the Midwest. J approximates Y, so the name Jurgen would be transliterated into Yurgen in English. But nobody actually does that. Everyone just learns that Jurgen doesn't sound like it's spelled and moves on. The spelling sound mismatch in Sonja is simply something everyone got used to since the spelling continued to be used. There are hundreds of words like this in English. Phoebe is a good example, why isn't it Feebee?
Phoebe is a good example, why isn't it Feebee?
When i was still learning english in my early teens, I remember trying to pronounce that name as Fuebé.
Thanks to the tv show Charmed for correcting me on that, saved me a few embarrassments when i was working in call centers.
Who says that television never teaches anything. Tisk-tisk.
Hi everyone,
I'm making good progress on getting the campaign info section fleshed out and ready. Depending on some circumstances outside my control we should be able to get started some time in the upcoming week. However, those circumstances directly relate to starting the campaign...
Okay, rather than dance around the subject, here it is. There is another campaign hat several of us are in that is linked to this one. The events in take place before Jade Regent, and I have to wait for a thing or two to happen in it to avoid spoilers in JR affecting the other campaign. We're almost there though so I don't expect a big delay.
That taken care of, there are a few things I'll need you to do it you haven't yet. Some of the characters are lacking sheets in their profile section. I'll need those in place before we start. If you haven't filled that out yet for your character yet, please do so. If you need some help doing it, let me know.
I will consider the information in characters' profile section to be the official sheet for the character, so make sure everything is there, rather than somewhere else. After all the sheets are in place, I'll give them a final run through to make sure they're okay. Consider yourselves able to modify your characters up to that point.
I'd also strongly advise reading through the Jade Regent Players Guide if you haven't yet. It really will be helpful. If you have, or will read it, you'll notice there are two subsystems introduced for use in JR: Relationship Rules, and Caravan Rules. These have never been well liked and we won't be using them.
I will be using a different system for relationship rules that are far more flexible and forgiving than the rules in the Players Guide. I can sum up the original rules easily: RP some interactions with the NPC in question (ideally), give them a gift, roll a diplomacy skill check. To further your relationship, wash rinse and repeat. I'm sure you can see how they were a problem. I will put a spoiler with an overview of the new system we'll use on the campaign info page.
For caravans, I'm still looking a few possible replacements. Regardless of the specifics, they will be greatly simplified for bookkeeping and combat sake. Given the slow rate of PbP play, I may just take over supply myself, and run combat for caravans as regular combat with other members of the caravan doing well or poorly pegged to the PC's combat fortunes. AKA handwave it. :) Any caravan stuff is a ways off though, so we will deal with the specifics when it's time.
Aye Cap'n. I'm pretty sure I'm ready to go. I like the approach of hand waving as much of the bookkeeping stuff as possible.
What do you think of us doing some intro stuff in the Gameplay thread, describing our characters going about our daily routines to give the other players an idea of who their party will be?
That would be fine. Go right ahead if you wish. The first of my posts that advances the plot will have to wait though.
Tonight the RotRL group will be finding something pertinent out DM. So this week will be fine :-)
Sounds good Talene, thanks. Also thank you for letting borrow very liberally from your ROTRL information to set of the Sandpoint Gazetteer. Some entries needed to be updated to account for the intervening years, but it was a great time saver!
Sounds good Talene, thanks. Also thank you for letting borrow very liberally from your ROTRL information to set of the Sandpoint Gazetteer. Some entries needed to be updated to account for the intervening years, but it was a great time saver!
Of course, happy to help. Less time prepping and more time running the adventure :-)
Tonight the RotRL group will be finding something pertinent out DM. So this week will be fine :-)
I guess I meant tonight, for a vacation week, a lot of crap I did not want to do bogged me down last week.
No problem
Just for the record, no need to hold for me. After my friend dropping that one-liner about Aldern...*shrug*
I figure there's a couple things I already know(from the JR players guide) or from continuity(while Ameiko has gone missing, it seems to be assumed that she survives unless we mess up), and other things, we will learn in the near future.
If anything, it'll give me material for Lia to work with, some direction for her visions - there'll be plenty more plot beyond that.
Alright, for your bio and posts just consider Yuki and Ameiko to be the only members of your family.
As soon as I've finalized a few things on the Campaign Page, and all of the character sheets are in place, we'll get started. Saturday is looking good for a start. I'll have some extra time then. Just have to see if any earlier is possible.
Oh well.
FINALLY did get around to redoing background.
Alas, I'll be gone on another trip starting in about 10 hours and lasting until monday evening.
So, feel free to get this show on the road, but you'll need to be patient with me :)
Since Inari provided a real-life analogue, I'll follow suite: Yuki is probably a slightly older amalgam version of 70% Ellie(The last of us/Ellen Page) and 30% Matilda(Leon/Natalie Portman).
I do hope she also gets to have some transformation during the course of the adventure, starting from a scared waitress clinging to her older sister, to a independent and strong heroine not afraid of what fate's got in story for her.(so...yeah, probably also part I picked specifically these two characters to represent her, considering both have an awesome transition from where they started to where they ended up at the end of their respective story).
I will post the opener either late this evening or tomorrow. With Yuki and Sonia unavailable over the weekend I decided to wait a little.
Sonia the paladin won't be able to join the campaign after all. I think the party will be fine at four members, so we will go ahead and continue as we are for the time being. If it looks like a fifth member might be needed, there are a couple of points early in the AP where it would be easy to insert a new player though. We can take up the subject a little later after we see how things are going.
"Last time I just went over and started talking to a pretty girl, I got punched in the face." Inari said wryly. "I am interested in what they're talking about though. I have a score to settle with those goblins."
If you are a living at the Dragon, doing work at the dragon as housekeeper, and consider Ameiko a friend?
You better be prepared to have been placed under close scrutiny, and that you know Yuki damn well.Because she makes sure to know if any males spending significant amounts of time with her sister intend to take things further.(and trying to sabotage things if so).
So, yeah, assume you know Yuki as well as Ameiko, at least. Since you seem to be a "player" when it comes to woman, Yuki likely decided that you are not Ameiko's type and won't be a threat, thus can get along with you nicely.
That gets a big thumbs up from me. :)
Maybe not a huge problem. Although nobody has asked around yet about where exactly the Licktoad Tribe is located, it's common knowledge. So, here are a couple of freebies. The Licktoads live in Brinestump Marsh, a coastal swamp south of Sandpoint. It's not very distant, about a half day's walk away. Hunting Licktoad goblins could be more of an overnight adventure than a departure from Sandpoint.
As for how Ameiko might react, if Yuki does have an interest in doing it, she could always talk to Ameiko about it. Those who don't ask don't receive.
Yeah...as said, I will need to work on that a bit.
It's one thing to say "I like guns", but a whole different thing to "sign up with the army".
While I may like adventuring, maybe even heared of the godmarked heroes, it usually takes more of a reason than "I'm bored" to put one's own life on the line. ^_^
Unless Ameiko is convinced the Goblins are no match for us, in which case it's not much of an adventure, is it?
I'll work something out, no worries ;)
As a mentioned earlier we won't be using the Relationship Rules laid out in the Player's Handbook. They're very simplistic and repetitive mechanically. They also strongly favor characters with high CHA and strong abilities in a small set of social skills.
I've considered just using RP to deal with the subject, but there are small boons that characters can receive for strengthening relationships with major NPCs. Without some system for measuring the relationship, I would either have to eliminate those boons, which you probably wouldn't prefer, or simply rely on my personal judgement for when to award them. The second option could lead to issues of fairness unless everyone just gets a boon at he same time.
Instead I'm going to use an alternative set of rules called Ultimate Relationships/Imperial Relationships. It is an add-on developed by a 3rd party to expand and balance the original Relationship Rules. The fundamental ideas remain the same. Characters have relationships of some type with all of the major NPCs. The relationship strengths are measured in points. A relationship with more points is stronger, or closer, than a relationship with fewer points.
Every character will start with 1 point in the relationship with the NPC their campaign trait references. All the other relationships begin at 0 points. There are a couple of ways to get points. At each level up a character will receive 2 points that can be added to any relationship, and in any combination. (2 points to one NPC, or 1 point to two NPCs) Characters can also earn points by interacting with NPCs in certain ways. As in the original gifts can be used, but also doing things or acting in ways that are in accord with an NPC's views or interests can result in extra points. It is also possible to lose points by doing the opposite. Acting in ways or saying things that run counter to a NPC's views or interests can remove points.
As relationships advance, there are opportunities at certain stages to "level" the relationship up. This involves having the points to move past the level, and successfully completing a mini-scenario with the NPC in question. If the character is successful, they will receive any boon attached to it. If not they will have to wait a little while and try again. The skills and abilities needed to be successful are tailored to the particular NPC, so it's no longer a question of just having a killer diplomacy skill bonus. Most level up also allow to find out more personal things about the NPC in question than they can learn otherwise.
This is only a partial explanation, but rather than make the wall of text any longer I'll stop here for any questions, thoughts, or comments. I'll elaborate after you've had a chance to digest this.
Hm, am I waiting on you, or are you all waiting on me?
@Relationships: I'm fine with it. My focus would be pretty clear. So one thing that I would like to be made certain is that there is some chances to interact with the other NPC's, as it simply would not be in-character if I start putting points into other relationships before I feel the one I have with Ameiko is sufficiently represented.
@Gameplay: It's an open scene, so I assume the waiting is mutual. As I mentioned in my game, real life kept me very busy, and after I was done yesterday, a friend who helped me convinced me to go for a drink. Which turned into a few, and I don't exactly feel great today :)
Regardless, I settled for seeing how the other PC's make up their mind to go after the Gobbos, and possibly "attach" myself to one of those, only speaking with Ameiko after I found a reason for doing it.
I messed up now knowing the NPC's would be passive for a couple levels :)
No problem on the delay in posts. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't neglected to do something and that was the reason since there were no posts from anyone for a couple of days.
A delay in the characters not banding together and doing something immediately is fine as well. The two posts of mine that are spaced 3 days apart in game time were supposed to be together and first, but the evening at the Rusty Dragon, got ninja'd in before I had the second post up. That is fine, all I was trying to do with that was establish a party out ahead of your own, and impress the idea that the problem with the goblins is getting worse as time goes by.
Interacting with the major NPCs is just a baseline for a relationship. The points characters get each level cane be spent however you choose. Any awarded points will take more than just some interaction. More like interaction plus something special. I guess a concrete example would be something like this:
Saying hello to your neighbor each day would establish a roughly 0 level relationship, You are known to each other by name and familiar, but that's about it. Continuing to to so every day won't increase the relationship level. But if you offered to help them clean their garage, or foiled a person stealing the bike off their porch, it could advance things by adding a point. The steady state without advancement is interaction, required maintenance you could say.
You're also not bound by your starting relationship. It's fine to decide you like another NPC more and spend all your points there instead. So, a character could end the campaign with their closest relationship being with an NPC other than the one their campaign trait selected.
Relationship points are plentiful enough to allow multiple relationships to be cultivated. And there are reasons not to focus too much on a single one. To level a relationship to the next phase will require beating a DC of some type. Spending all your points in one place could present you with a DC you can't make yet and stall things there for a while.
On the other hand spreading them too thin among all the NPCs could lead to never getting the best boons and information. A middle path of focusing on a relationship while not neglecting the others is probably best.
I mean to say that I grew up with Ameiko, before and after she left, and she's my only remaining family.
Having the same "level" of relationship with her as, say, a caravan guard working for Sandru has with him simply does not do it justice.
I completely understand what you mean, but I'm saying I will sink all the "free" points into Ameiko until I feel that the relation we have in roleplay is sufficiently represented by the mechanics, checks/DC's be damned.
@other NPC's: I understand it's not as easy as saying good morning each day. Of course it takes work - just saying it would be appreciated if such opportunities do come up.
Posted, sorry got busy there.