Okay, thank you for choosing to sign up. Although everyone had something I liked, you seven had something that either clicked well with each other, or that I really, really liked. For most it was both.
That said, I want to lay out how combat is going to work since that seems to bog down PBP's more than anything. I want to shoot for a round a day, so month long combats don't even enter into the picture until higher levels. I'll roll everyone's initiative to keep things speeding along. You do not have to post in initiative order, and can even post for future rounds early as long as you don't try and cover ever single contingency and plot 5 rounds ahead. If you can, because I know posting from a phone or tablet is a pain, try and structure your posts like this:
Die rolls should be labeled so I know what they are. If you're using a feat or ability, such as rage or Magus Arcana, please say so at the top of your actions.
After everyone has posted I'll post a hopefully epic account of what happened and get everyone in order at this time. I'll also resolve any conflicts, like two people attacking an enemy one of them killed, at this time. I'm willing to adjust or even come up with an entirely different system if this doesn't work for ya'll.
Okay that's it for the boring stuff, now the fun stuff. I picked most of you because I liked the idea of having a little extra link to everyone's story. Mercy and Kishta were both little Lamms at one point and could have known each other. Velken could have been accused of murdering Vesni, Dreqar's lover and fiance, and Arianna's brother was hanged for either that murder or the murder of the witness. Its all up to you. Waydon and Theanna could even have a link if they wish. Maybe Waydon is friends with Theanna's father? This is all up to you as they are your characters and your are the author of their stories.
Speaking of stories, I'm going to take some liberties with what the AP gives me. Some of this are going to be minor tweaks to help (hopefully) make the NPCs more memorable, some are going to be slightly more major for the same reasons, the rest, which will be be minor, subtle, and few, will be mostly to satisfy my own ego, and won't amount to more than a nameless NPC bearing the name of a character I have come up with.
Now that I'm done bombarding you with a wall of rambling text, are there any questions?
No questions at the moment. Arianna checking in.
All makes sense! :) I will prep an alias tonight/tomorrow. Just FYI for all: Friday/Saturday are my RL gaming nights, thus posting from me might be scarce then.
No questions here. Ready to go.
Another possibility as far as a connection between Dreqar and I, is that we knew each other from the Accadamae. Especially considering that both of us were rare occurrences there. (catfolk and half-orcs).
Good Point
Checking in. Waydon could indeed be friends with Theanna's father. Or maybe her father still knows Waydon's father (his parents are both alive and well, retired but living in Korvosa).
I should note that I live in South Korea so the timing of my posts may or may not be out of place.
Also if I don't get around to posting during combat I'm perfectly fine with the DM making a choice for me. When in doubt I hit the enemy in front of me with my bastard sword. That's what I'll be doing most likely anyways.
Checking in, and yeah I like both ideas about me and Velken. Maybe combine the two a little.
Mercy checking in. Really looking forward to this AP. I'm in bonnie Scotland so like Waydon my posting might be a little off on occasion, but hasn't affected the other games I'm part of.
Like the idea of Mercy knowing Kishta, they'd make quite the imposing pair... (More so now their grown!)
I think combining the to would be great. When Veklen was at the Acadamae, he was friendly and scholarly. He would have definitely been sympathetic to anyone who had to work hard to get in. Veklen could have been friends with Dreqar before the murder (thus making me an easy target for Lamm to frame). what do you think?How would you feel towards me after the murder? After the fisherman changed his story?
Kishta checking in. Not really any questions -- everything sounds great.
I like the link with Mercy. I don't know if we were ever 'Little' Lamms though. :)
The only posting idiosyncracies I can think of is that I'll be away from the computer pretty much the entire long Labor Day weekend (WorldCon). (F2F gaming is every other Saturday, but I don't think that'll be an issue.)
As far as why Mikhal was hanged, let's go with for the murder of the witness to Vesni's murder.
Okay, everyone seems okay with that. I'll get the ball rolling for the game Monday, but there's a few things I'd like to do before getting into the start of Edge of Anarchy that I'll be posting in the game thread in a minute.
Just a few more questions:
-Mercy and Kishta, could you tell me how well you knew each other? how close were each of your escapes?
-Waydon, how old is your son and what does he loo like?
-Arianna, if you're okay with that, that's what I'm going with.
And a few more things before I go off and set up the game thread:
-I am not sure if anyof you have played part or all of the Curse of the Crimson Throne, so try to keep meta-gaming to a minimum please.
-If someone's name is on a spoiler, you may read it but you cannot act on it unless there's a skill check DC and you beat it. I tend to view PBP like reading a novel, so I don't have any qualms about allowing that, I just ask that you try to avoid meta-gaming.
-Most importantly, have fun. If you aren't having fun then I have failed as a GM and I need to know so I can fix what I'm doing wrong. In that vein, I'll be making some encounters more difficult to try and make things uncertain, but I'm not going to just hammer you until you drop. That isn't fun for you nor is it fair to you or your characters. Try and let each other shine. I'll be trying to give each of you a chance in the spot-light, so if a character seems suited to an encounter, let them show off.
Okay, Check the game thread in a bit for the first post.
One more question:
-Arianna, I know the character is familiar with the Harrow, but do you need the rules?
Here's my alias - though most of everything is in the character sheet in terms of details.
@Weydon - That sounds perfectly fine by me. The pair then might very well be acquaintances through their parents.
Here's my alias - though most of everything is in the character sheet in terms of details.
Can you link it in Thea's profile? Make things a little easier.
Waydon's son:
Sandy blond hair
Bright blue eyes
Resembles his father
7 years old
Average height for his age.
Very well-mannered
I think Waydon will find Theanna's circumstances very concerning.
I think combining the to would be great. When Veklen was at the Acadamae, he was friendly and scholarly. He would have definitely been sympathetic to anyone who had to work hard to get in. Veklen could have been friends with Dreqar before the murder (thus making me an easy target for Lamm to frame). what do you think?How would you feel towards me after the murder? After the fisherman changed his story?
That does sound interesting since Dreqar was out going and quite open to people. He has never believed in knowledge is power, guard it well, so he has probably shared and debated with Veklen on what spells work best, since Dreqar's is almost all offense orientated, Veklen only has Shocking Grasp and the rest of his spells seem to be support buffs, and Color Spray. Veklen being stronger, and Dreqar being more dex based also kinda lends to the idea they may of been friends but probably have different viewpoints on how to fight and use spells in combat.
Finding out Velken being fingered as the murderer, he would feel like the half orc had struck out at him for pointing said differences out. If the fisherman changed his story, he'd still want to get at Velken if anything just to find out what he knew, even though he'd probably accused Velken of working for Lamm, unless proven otherwise. Mikhal's hanging would further muddy the issue. Since the way it reads is the person that fingered Velken for Vensi's murder is killed, Mikhal is framed for that killing. And Arianna has cleared her brother's name after the fact. So he'd ask Velken about that death too, even if he had no knowledge of it.
One more question:
-Arianna, I know the character is familiar with the Harrow, but do you need the rules?
Nope, I have them. Bought one of the Harrow decks back when this AP came out.
Stuff
Oh yeah. This'll be fun.
In my mind's eye I had Kishta escaping/fleeing first, then Mercy running to the Church of Sarenrae. Kishta may well have come back for Mercy only to find she's gone?
Above could easily work in reverse...
Two personalities like Mercy and Kish would have known each other at the very least, and just as likely been close friends.
As Kish said we're hardly "little lamms" and as such were probably brought to heel by Lamm and his thugs regularly. Now reunited these ladies are quite the formidable duo.
As a side note am rejigging Mercy's equipement to reflect our wintery start (more flavour than crunch but sits with me better :)
That's fine with me. I think that's everything, so once everyone's gone into the game thread and posted, we can get the ball rolling.
In my mind's eye I had Kishta escaping/fleeing first, then Mercy running to the Church of Sarenrae. Kishta may well have come back for Mercy only to find she's gone?
Above could easily work in reverse...
Two personalities like Mercy and Kish would have known each other at the very least, and just as likely been close friends.
As Kish said we're hardly "little lamms" and as such were probably brought to heel by Lamm and his thugs regularly. Now reunited these ladies are quite the formidable duo.
As a side note am rejigging Mercy's equipement to reflect our wintery start (more flavour than crunch but sits with me better :)
That can work.
The way I saw Kishta is that she was one of Gaedren's enforcers. She'd seen what happened when Gaedren got too angry, so she tried to keep the other little Lamms in line for their own good -- she'd punish them so that Gaedren wouldn't have to get involved. At some point she refused to beat one of the kids when Gaedren told her to, and he beat her within an inch of her life (many broken bones) and threw her in an alley to die. By the time she'd recovered enough to do anything, Lamm had moved everyone someplace different.
I don't know what the other kids thought of Kishta. She was never cruel, but she would have hit them when she needed to, so some would probably have been afraid of her, though some of the older ones would probably have understood what she was trying to do. I don't know where Mercy would have fit into that. Kishta herself assumes that all of the other kids would hate her now, whatever their relationship at the time.
@Watson for the spoilers you want to tag use [spoiler=Tag] then close as normal. You can label dice like that too, if you'd like.
No Problem
Well, Veklen covered the important bits, but just in case, here's how I tend to format my text.
[@spoiler=Info that doesn't pertain to everybody/that needs a skill check to get] This includes lots of dice rolls and long questions that you really need an answer too.[/spoiler]
[@b]"What a character is saying, [@bigger]Shouting![/bigger] or [@smaller]whispering[/smaller]."[/b]
[@i]What a character is thinking[/i]
[@dice=a die roll]1d88[/dice]
[@ooc]Another die roll: [@dice]1d88[/dice][/ooc]
[@ooc]An out of character comment, question, or banter[/ooc]
With out the @s it looks like:
"What a character is saying, or whispering."
What a character is thinking
Posted from a smart phone. I'll reformat my post later. Sorry
No worries. I understand how smart phones and tablets can be.
I'm curious about the other players. Are the people playing women actually women in real life? I guess I've only known a few DM's girlfriends that were into non-video game RPGs. I haven't played a play by post in a long time and I'm already finding it fascinating to see the types of characters people have chosen for this game. At most of my gaming tables it's been min-maxers with the occasional hopeless role player.
About two years ago a friend of mine (a man) decided to make his character a pregnant woman and he didn't play the character as a comic relief. He never altered his voice but he solidly played his character logically and basically became the star of the campaign. It really made me think about the construction of a hero and the role vulnerability. Anyways I don't have a point and I'm rambling and curious.
Nope I'm a full blooded Scottish male, playing a half blooded orcish female lol.
To be honest never played a female character before, some am looking forward to the challenge.
Saying that I've not played a Paladin in a LONG time (and she's a Redeemer to boot), so there's welcome challenges all round. Will try to play Mercy as a hero first and foremost, and a woman second (if that makes sense) tis the fun of roleplaying nei?
Can't speak for the others playing female PCs, but I'm a guy. I don't play female characters often, just when it seems to make sense for the concept I have in mind.
I'm female in real life. I grew up in such a small town that I didn't know that it was considered unusual for women to game -- it was unusual for *anyone* to game. Even more outside the box, I came to D&D from the wargaming side -- I grew up on Avalon Hill and SPI board games.
There are more women gamers out there than you'd think; since I left Texas I've never been the only woman at the table. (Part of that, though, is that there are women who don't feel safe gaming with a bunch of guys they don't know, so if you've already got one woman gaming, that's the group that will attract more women.)
I've been lucky enough to run a RL campaign where myself and my best mate were the only guys at the table, the other players being my wife and two of her friends who were a couple.
Made for some very interesting dynamics in the games, particularly as our lesbian friends really "butched" up their characters!
Agree with Kishta we gamers are an unusual lot regardless of gender lol.
I play mostly female characters, but I'm a guy. I have an easier time visualizing and drawing women than I do men.
I'm in a RL campaign with a couple women. Sure one of them is my wife and I got her into it, but the others got in on their own.
I'm female on the other side of the computer. I was introduced to 3.5 by my husband by being handed a 12th level cleric built on a character sheet marking the combat section of the PHB saying "You might want to read up on this..." I've loved it ever since!
Happy Belated Birthday Dreqar - will sink a wee dram in your honour :)
Happy birthday. I hope you had a good time celebrating.
Happy Birthday Dreqar!
Happy birthday Draqar!! Hope it was amazing. :)
Happy birthday a day late. I'm in a face to face game, so I'll be posting at nine or ten tonight.
Thanks a bunch, and yes. I spent the day at Carowinds with my sister. I also got a suit of chainmail armor with helmet from my folks, so it was a great day.
Happy Birthday
Thanks a bunch, and yes. I spent the day at Carowinds with my sister. I also got a suit of chainmail armor with helmet from my folks, so it was a great day.
Sweet birthday prez Dreqar :)
Can I also add that the Harrow reading was superb DM-S :)
Thanks, I got home at 10:30 my time (CDT), so it took a while to write. I'm glad you like it, hopefully you'll like the rest of my GMing as well.
The harrow reading was excellent!
Sorry for Waydon's impatience, but I'm trying to play from the perspective of a cop/guardsman with a missing son. I know some pcs loathe going through the front door.
I like to play fighters and barbarians, so most of them are front door types.
Okay it may be a day or two before I can move things along. I need to ready a map, and that will take some time. I also have a minor project to work on and a quiz to study for, so GM time will be at a bit of a premium.
I like to play fighters and barbarians, so most of them are front door types.
Okay it may be a day or two before I can move things along. I need to ready a map, and that will take some time. I also have a minor project to work on and a quiz to study for, so GM time will be at a bit of a premium.
Please forgive me for the next few days. I've been feeling extremely sick all weekend, and sitting up is a chore and a half. while feeling (ever so slightly) better atm, the short time it takes to write this means I'll need to lay down again for another 2-3 hours or so. I'll try and keep up via phone, just makes it difficult to type. :(
Yikes! Get well soon. Being sick is no fun.