DSP's Kingmaker (Inactive)

Game Master Darksmokepuncher

Greetings and Congratulations.

I know that the first post in the game thread is up and you're all dying to get underway, but let's all check in here first and hammer out those last minute details.

Like:

Are Theodric and Cromwell related? Surely they know each other at least.

How do the Lebedas, Garesses, and Medvyeds get on? Are some of you less inclined toward others?

Etc.

First of all, thanks for picking Theodric for this campaign.

My original thought was that Theodric's father Vors was one of several brothers of the head of House Lebeda, making Theodric a bastard nephew of the head of the House. I'm not dead set on the exact relationship though so that can change if it would make things easier. From reading Cromwell's back story it sounds like he is a bit more distantly related to the main branch of the family. Theodric has never met any of the Lebeda's personally, so he wouldn't know Cromwell. Cromwell might have heard a rumor of some bastard half-elf who claims to be a Lebeda, especially if he kept up at all with events that were of interest to the main branch of the family like his parents seem to from his back story.

Theodric would have paid closer attention then most to news concerning the closer members of the Lebeda family, but likely not to as distant a cousin as Cromwell seems to be unless his family was important for another reason. If the Wist-Labedas were prominent enough merchants that he'd have heard of them living in New Stetvan then he would likely have heard of Cromwell. Not by name though, but that one of the Wist-Labeda's sons had abandoned the family business to go off and join the Church of Abadar.

If either the Garesses or Medvyeds got along poorly with the Lebedas, Theodric would be very inclined to try to get along with them.

First...w00t!
ahem
Offhand, I can see two potential connections between Kern and others.

Theodric's tale ended in New Stetven, a bastard out to prove himself...as that's presumably the Surtova seat now (since they're running things), there are a number of parallels, and Kern/Theodric could easily have traveled together from New Stetven together.

On the other side, Lanya grew up in Lastwall, as did Kern. Even though Lanya is a half-elf, it's not beyond reason that they may have met before Kern left (or not, as desired, Lastwall isn't a tiny country). If so, the Lanya that Kern knew would be very different than the Lanya of today.

I'm here, thank you for the invite DSP, very happy to be a part of this.

About the three houses in our party, I'm not sure yet, the only problem Lanya personally has is with the Surtovans, being a sly and slick bunch.
Lanya herself not being a Mevyed by blood, rather a favored servant of Alexei Medvyed, may know of relations between the noble houses and will act accordingly, but she has no trouble enjoying the company of the other houses.

Probably the Medvyed have a healthy respect for the Lebeda family, through the (possible) trade routes via the East Sellen River.

Lanya has spent most of her time near the Fangwood in the south and Vigil, from about her 19th to her 23rd. Kern and her could have met once or more before he went out with Riders, at least he would have heard stories of a stunning red-headed half-elf in the city. But she has definitely changed since then, some of the stories she will tell later when certain events/conditions come to pass.

Let's just say with the right tools, send her in, and send in the cleaning crew when she comes out ;)

Well, that's half of you. Welcome and good thoughts!

So y'all can start planning. You'll all leave Restov together and travel with Maegar Varn's company weat to Nivakta's crossing. From there, the 6 of you will continue west to Fort Serenko and finally west, then south to Oleg's Trading Post.

It will be up to you how you came to be in Restov for the reading of the charters. Then, you can all talk a bit and get to know each other and Varn's people until the crossing.

All in all, I do not care how long it takes in game to get to Oleg's, but that is where the AP begins.

Once the other three check in, the gameplay thread with be available to post in. Once we decide that the nitty gritty is taken care of, we'll get to Oleg's.

Exciting!
I've always wanted to play Kingmaker.

From a quick look at backstories, it's unlikely that Gliadel would know anyone else very well at the beginning. If she had met anyone, it would have been in the past couple of weeks since she's come to town, or perhaps on her journey north, from Qadira, presumably through Taldor and up the rivers.

It's quite possible anyone may have heard of the Muse-touched Qadiran dancer who has been making the rounds of the taverns of Restov in the past couple of weeks. The Lillend that was her mother told her only that she was to come to Restov to find her destiny, and no more. Her exotic appearance and beautiful dancing has drawn a fair amount of attention since she arrived, but when the charters are read, she joins immediately.

Awesome. First thanks for having me play. Loving the one other PbP i'm in so far (CotCT) and really looking forward to this one.

Cromwell may have heard of Theodric ( and it sounds like they ARE blood related if only distantly), but he really wasn't interested in family attachments. However, that being said he adversely pays attention to how the Lebeda family is doing, especially since his is a god of merchants. Just not on a personal level.
He is proud of the main Lebeda family for doing their part for the prosperity of Brevoy. His own family.... He recognizes that they contribute, but being closely involved with them, finds them too focused on the wrong things.
He has no prejudice against other houses, if he even notices. However lay-a-bouts and vagrants seem to catch his eye and his ire.
Cromwell was sent to Restov by a ranking member of the Church, also a Lebeda. He wasn't told what exactly was happening, just that he could serve the interests of Abodar and maybe learn something about the world while there. Unfortunately this priest thought Cromwell a little too dreamy and idealist in his beliefs and wants him to experience the real world.
In Restov, Cromwell will be looking for Maegar Varn, and offer his services as healer and guard for the caravan.

Cromwell is dressed in tailored and stitched studded leather armor (not MW but semi-fancy). he wears a small buckler with the Key of the vault engraved on it. He also wears a silver key about 3 inches long on a chain around his neck. Over his shoulder is a smooth, polished, oaken handled light crossbow and a stitched case of bolts. He looks dressed to travel, but hasn't much dust on his boots, and probably arrived via carriage.

Excellent. Alright, now just waiting on Drym.

Is there anything else I should know about your characters?

Do you have any questions for me, either about the campaign or as a GM?

Well there is a part of the story of Lanya I left out, I hope to be able to surprise people with, it involves the spoiler below.

I've seen some of your threads, so I have a rough idea as to what to expect DSP.

I have a question, how do you intend to do combats and exploration? I take it via maps, but are you using googledocs? Or something we need to have an account for?

The setup itself seems pretty straightforward, my only questions really revolve around whether you have explicit posting preferences (first person or third person, specific requirements for speech formats vs. interior monologues, OOC/game crunch markers as desired, that sort of thing).

As far as the trip, Kern will openly want to discuss skills and abilities, wanting to understand what everyone is capable of. While he doesn't particularly discuss his past or ask about anyone else's, he is very open about what he can do, and will not evade any question if asked.

Sorry about the wait! (RL threw a few things my way)

As for Drym's take on things, I see his own priorities as being:
1. Dwarven Interests.
2. House Garess
3. Allies

BUT... if he should make friends, I figure they'll find themselves moving up the chart quickly. ;)

Rereading the charter, I realize I'm going to have some questions for the person giving it to us. Is that something you want taken care of here, or in the Gameplay thread? (I'm assuming that conversation on the way to Oleg's will be in the gameplay thread as well, so my last post can be partially ignored)

As far as the trip, Kern will openly want to discuss skills and abilities, wanting to understand what everyone is capable of. While he doesn't particularly discuss his past or ask about anyone else's, he is very open about what he can do, and will not evade any question if asked.

Dyrm will be pretty open about his skills and abilities. Heck, he is a young dwarf and probably proud of his following the ancient and honored path of the 'der Berserker' and might go on a bit TOO long about it.

I just realized that I need to roll for my mount's second hit die: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

I prefer that narrative be third person.

"When I talk, I use bold face so everyone knows."

When I'm conflicted internally, I don't say it out loud, but I still need to talk about it so I use italics.

Now, I have nothing to say about the game, but everyone needs to know that my oven produces brownies on its own!
_________________

I don't always use maps, but when I do I use Google docs. Stay corporate my friends.

Any other items to discuss?

When we do start, the man who announced the charter will be walking back into the Swordlord estate. Any questionsabout the charter will need to be directed to him.

From there you have 1 hour to gather your things and meet the caravan.

Nothing coming to mind. With all the hints you've been given that we are going to be facing some dangerous stuff (Allowing the rerolls of less than 10 etc) I do wonder if I shouldn't have a back up character just in case my poor Dwarf bites it ;)

You can if you want.

Running away is a valid strategy. FYI.

The thing is, Kingmaker is a sandbox. You can choose to do whatever you want, but that means you might end up walking into encounters of a much higher CR.

Also, don't forget knowledge skills/spells. Information saves lives :)

With that, the gameplay thread is open!

Let the adventure begin.

Ja Goot! It has begun!

;)

The hard part will be remembering I'm trying for a phony German accent rather than a phony Scottish one ;)

Should it be of interest, **this** is a portrait of Kern (which is much better than the icon, who looks like he has jaundice)

I am really digging the role play so far everyone: especially the inter-player role play.

I did want to give a piece of advice though. This come directly from my live group that is about to complete the fourth book of this adventure.

Take notes. Find some where that you can jot down meaningful (or trivial) matters. This will become painful if you do not, because you will meet characters now that do not reappear for 4 or 5 books. You will learn things about people or places long before you ever see them. Your notes are your characters' memories. If you don't write it down, you will have a single wisdom check to see what, if anything, you do remember. Apart from that, I will not help.

The measure of your success will depend predominantly on forethought.

Any questions?

Thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely start taking notes. Just to clarify, do you mean in character or out of character?

Whichever. I only meant that y'all should jot down what you believe to be important happenings, names, places, rumors, etc. because you might need them later.

Thanx for the warning.8D
will do on the note taking.

I'm all for note taking ... I just need to think where.

Looks like Cromwell and Kern are surrounded by the forces of Chaos :)

Dyrm is the force of "Use your rage and axe to hit bad people until they realize that random violence is not the answer."

Dwarves think irony is something you forge with :)

Great line Drym!

Hahaha.

Greetings folks!

I will be heading out of town this weekend and I will not have the interwebs :(

I will post through mid afternoon tomorrow, and I will try to leave off in camp where the group can start a good planning sessions if you want.

Roll me whatever knowledge checks you want here in discussion and I'll try to give you an idea of what your character might already know.

only Knowledge Lanya has is Knowledge Arcana, perhaps a Diplomacy roll to Gather Knowledge amongst Varn's men and followers?

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Gather Knowledge?: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

I don't know how many of these will be applicable, but I'll put them in just in case...

Knowledge: Arcana 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Knowledge: Dungeoneering 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Knowledge: Engineering 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Knowledge: Nature 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Knowledge: Nobility 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Profession: Soldier 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17 (in case it is relevant for an understanding of the military situation).

I have no relevant knowledge skills.

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
Knowledge Nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

And people say dwarves aren't romantic.

Right? I laughed at that.

You guys are doing a fantastic job. I wish I could reward you in some way...

Oh wait. I can!

Everyone add 2 skill points to your characters.

BTW, There is no xp in this game, you level up after "x" amount of stuff happens. Don't worry, my other group didn't even notice the xp was missing.

Also, I run group initiatives. I will average your initiatives and the enemy's. That way anyone can post on the party's turn and we don't have to wait for specific people. This makes combats flow better.

And people say dwarves aren't romantic.

Nothing says love like a bag of orc heads wrapped with a bow. :)

Right? I laughed at that.

You guys are doing a fantastic job. I wish I could reward you in some way...

Oh wait. I can!

Everyone add 2 skill points to your characters.

BTW, There is no xp in this game, you level up after "x" amount of stuff happens. Don't worry, my other group didn't even notice the xp was missing.

Also, I run group initiatives. I will average your initiatives and the enemy's. That way anyone can post on the party's turn and we don't have to wait for specific people. This makes combats flow better.

Woot! Thanks. I realize we just made some knowledge checks, and I don't expect a reroll, but could I spend one of the points on Knowledge Nobility? I figure he'd have at least a LITTLE training that, but I couldn't afford it at creation and was going to wait till level 2.

You can spend the points wherever you choose.

If you get a DC 15 KN:Nobility, you learn the Varn is not a Swordlord, but he is a knight.

Cool...in that case:
Knowledge: History 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Knowledge: Local 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

I was looking at my sheet, and realizing I had two big holes regarding knowledge...fixed :)

Kern, nothing new from local.

I will keep that history check in mind. There is nothing I can really give at this point, but you will know about the history of a few places when you see them.

Oh, forgot to mention, I put the other new skill point in climbing. I figure for a dwarf barbarian, it might be a bit embarrassing if he falls every time the leave lowland areas :o

Other possible names for our new city/kingdom:

Dyrmopolis!
Dyrmtopia!
Dyrmafornia!
Dyrmvania!

no biases here mind you :)

Dyrmhamtonville?

The Dyrmpire of Dyrm?

:) I would suggest naming the first city and country differently, but as Cromwell has stated, it is too soon to name it now.

I'll have none of that sort of talk in the OOC thread.
Or we'll name it Lanyagrad.

;)

The Dyrmpire of Dyrm?

OOo...I like that one.

Well, if we go by the suggestions in the players guide with high charisma for the ruler, then it looks like one of the ladies will spread her own brand of tyranny. :)

I'll make everyone learn to dance. Especially the dwarves. Muahahahaha!

I figured I'd take one of the Dexterity oriented positions, but we can work that out once we pick a name.

Dyrmistan?