Dark Conspiracy 3rd (Inactive)

Game Master dickie

Here is some open space for you to discuss the team, perform build-related rolls, ask rules questions/ask for clarification and general out-of-character talk once the game starts. My main focus is toward testing the rules first, but I have no problem keeping things going after the initial module if everyone is enjoying things.

Are folks okay with using the New Orleans module/is anyone familiar with the plot to it?

Is everyone okay using Roll20 for maps/handouts? I could use Google Drive, but would prefer Roll20.

So for character building: Use the "self-determination method" of ending generation. I am planning on using an alternative initiative system as presented in the book, but at the time of this posting seeking some additional clarification on it from the current publishers. Characters will begin with 10 experience points. These are intended to be spent on some of the new rules I'm testing, but they're your points. I will soon be PMing everyone links to the folder in Google Docs where the review copies are. There is a section I'm planning on reworking some, but those edits should be handled very soon.

There is another section I was thinking of adding in: Randomly Generated Home Community (based on the Traveller TNE homeworld generator). This wasn't part of my original plan for these rules, merely something a friend suggested adding after I sent my pitch. If you're interested in this idea at all, let me know and I'll buckle down on starting the roughest of drafts for that.

Checking in here!

I will work on a profile over the weekend.

I'm not familiar with the NO module, and Roll20 is fine.

Alright!

Since you're offering some alternative rules, I purposefully try to test some of them to see how they work.

I'm not familiar with the NO module, and Roll20 is fine.

Looking forward to the PMs. =)

After I complete the main edit currently on my list, I will make sure to use a different color for new/changed text and work up a current change document.

Oh, I checked last night and the current edition's Empathic Guide (if anyone wanted to explore psychic powers) is currently available for free from DriveThru.

Checking in! I will work on my character over the next day or two...though I might possibly get done quicker if the mood strikes just right :D

*edit* Because I forgot to answer the relevant questions, I'm not familiar with the NO module and Roll20 for maps works fine for me.

checking in as well!!! Got the PM and will examine the information ASAP NO module is fine with me (I know nothing about it) and Roll20 is good also

So I feel kinda dumb and may have missed it somewhere in the PDF, but how exactly are we determining our Attribute Points? Or rather, which allocation option are we supposed to use?

*edit* Or am I really being dense and 'self-determination method' means to just wing it? :P

Yeah, I keep telling them they need an errata or a revision on the phrasing. I think the point of confusion is the table including two columns listing the "Maximum Attribute" (which is frankly, obvious from the arrays) and the "Total Points" (which doesn't match any math I'm aware of) that just shouldn't be there. With the company, 3HombresGames, being a small indie operation keeping the game alive through sheer love, there are more than a few hiccups like that.

TL;DR? The options are the arrays the player can choose from.

The Self-Determination thing refers to ending career terms, by the way. There is also a random ending option. While I think that was fine for Twilight 2000, where the idea was that World War III broke out when it broke out - your life goals be damned, I just don't really like to take that control out of the hands of the player.

Checking in! Like the others, I'm not familiar with the NO module and d20 is fine.

Will be able to work on my pc probably tomorrow or Monday.

*peeks in*

Just checking in to say that I've not forgotten about this; weekend ended up being a little more busy/tiring than I'd expected but I'm slowly working on things :)

Attributes - Option 3

STR 3; CON 4; AGL 8 (7+1); INT 6; EDU 2 (4-2); CHR 8; PSI 4; SOC 6

1st Childhood Career - Slave Labor

SOC 6->5
Skills (8): Charm (Act/Bluff 2); Determination (Willpower 3); Interaction (Persuasion 3)
Contacts (Slave Labor): 1d10 ⇒ 5 Specialist ()
Special: CON 4->5
Gift: Strong Willed
Flaw: Ripped Off

2nd Childhood Career - Street Youth

SOC 5->4
Commission (11+): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 2) + 1 = 5 Fail
Skills (10): Acrobat (Acrobatics 1, Stealth 1); Charm (Persuasion 2); Observation 2; Streetwise 3; Unarmed Martial Arts 1
Contacts (Street Youth): 1d10 ⇒ 6 Law Enforcement
Promotion (6+): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 4) + 1 = 6 Success - Acrobatics 1
Career Cash: 8x$250= $2000

1st Adult Career - Entertainer

Skills (First Term): Charm (Persuasion 2); Determination (Willpower 1); Fine Arts (Act/Bluff 4)
Special Assignment (8+): 2d6 ⇒ (6, 5) = 11 Success
Special Assignment Skills (5): Gun Combat (Slug Weapon 1); Melee (Unarmed Martial Arts 2); Vice (Bribery 1, Streetwise 1)
Promotion (8+): 2d6 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8 Success - Acrobatics 1
Contacts (Entertainer - 1st term): 1d10 ⇒ 8 Business Contacts (Foreign? 9-10): 1d10 ⇒ 9 Foreign
Secondary Activities (2): Gambling 2
Special: CHR instead of SOC for starting money
Career Cash: 4x8x$2000= $64000

Entertainer (2nd term)

Skills (4): Acrobatics 1; Charm (Act/Bluff 2, Persuasion 1)
Special Assignment (8+): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 5) + 1 = 8 Success
Special Assignment Skills (4): Gun Combat (Slug Weapon 1); Melee (Unarmed Martial Arts 3)
Promotion (8+): 2d6 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3 Fail
Contacts (Entertainer - 2nd term): 1d10 ⇒ 3 Entertainment (director)
Secondary Activities (2): Gambling 1; Unarmed Combat Arts 1
Career Cash: 4x8x$2000x3= $192000
Gift: Big Score
Flaw: Addiction (Sex)

Influence Points: 6 (base) +2 (promotion) +8 (experience) = 16

Final Scores/Skills

STR 3; CON 5; AGL 8; INT 6; EDU 2; CHR 8; PSI 4; SOC 4 (5?)

Acrobatics: 4
Act/Bluff: 8
Bribery: 1
Gambling: 3
Observation: 2
Persuasion: 8
Slug Weapon: 2
Stealth: 1
Streetwise: 4
Unarmed Martial Arts: 7
Willpower: 4

Cash: $258000

Languages: English 10; Spanish 5; (Ukrainian 10?)

Physical Statistics

Current Age: 25
Load: (3+5) x 3 = 24kg
Throwing Range: 3 x 4 = 12m

Combat Statistics

Initiative: 1d3 ⇒ 3
Unarmed Combat Damage Rating (UCDR): (3+7)/5 = 2
Physical Damage Capacity: Head 10; Right/Left Arm 16; Chest 24; Abdomen 16; Right/Left Leg 16

Not sure if everything is ok... Just to remember, my PC would be a former porn star.

I intend for her to be an Ukrainian whose parents were fooled by a gang, believing that she (still a girl), would come to the US to become an actress. In truth, it was just sex slave. She spent rough times until she escaped her capturers, living on the streets, and soon (since she was tall and could pass for an older girl) started to work as a stripper. The strip club she worked was then closed after some cops discovered many underage girls, but listening to her story, he let her scape.

Not knowing what to do, she became a porn star (better than a prostitute) and became quite famous. She is now retired (at 25).

Since she is not American, she gets Language (Ukrainian 10) as a bonus? Also how does the tests are made (for the street youth career?)

I'd like some tips, if this stats/skill allocation is viable or if she will be useless, since I never played this system before.

(Sorry, weekends are bad for me. I'll get on this. ^_^)

Love the character Sir Longears!

Flaw: Ripped Off

Ah! That's the sort of break-the-game thing I'm looking for, lol! Ripped Off with a career where no income is earned already is a bit of a freebie. You can keep it as a reward for spotting the exploit, but everyone should look out for updated text on that particular flaw in the near future.

Also, two childhood careers were selected...my other test group did this as well with one character, which is not what I intended originally.

So question for everyone: Should I restrict it to one term spent in these careers or fix the skill points some and allow up to two?

Since she is not American, she gets Language (Ukrainian 10) as a bonus?

Not as a bonus, it would be her native language.

Also how does the tests are made (for the street youth career?)

Not sure what you mean, can you clarify what you're asking?

The Flaw: I noticed the Ripped Off exploit and put that more to simulate her 'slave' start. If you think it will imbalance your experiment, I can change to Psychic Damage that would simulate her childhood trauma of being a sex slave at 9 a young child (creepy...)

The double career: I took two childhood careers because of this: "No career may ever been taken after the age of 17 and no career may be taken more than once." I understood that there was no problem to pick more than one... If you decide to limit to one, I'll drop the Slave Labor (starting straight as a stripper).

I think it would be nice to fix the skills and turn all of them in a first term and second term format... this way, it would be the same to take two careers or one up to second term.

The Language: In my case, she would have left Ukraine at 9, so it makes sense for her to know more English than Ukrainian, right?

The tests: The Street Youth career asks for an 'arrest and incarceration' check, an Average [INT]... Is it a d20 roll with a success of my INT score or less?

Like INT (1-6): 1d20 ⇒ 6

The Flaw: I noticed the Ripped Off exploit and put that more to simulate her 'slave' start. If you think it will imbalance your experiment, I can change to Psychic Damage that would simulate her childhood trauma of being a sex slave at 9 a young child (creepy...)

Feel free to change it if you like, as I said, I don't mind rewarding you with a flaw that has no real impact for detecting my mistake ;)

The double career: I took two childhood careers because of this: "No career may ever been taken after the age of 17 and no career may be taken more than once." I understood that there was no problem to pick more than one... If you decide to limit to one, I'll drop the Slave Labor (starting straight as a stripper).

I think it would be nice to fix the skills and turn all of them in a first term and second term format... this way, it would be the same to take two careers or one up to second term.

So, originally, I was looking at the childhood careers being only available as only a single term. I didn't phrase the rule there very well. I personally would like to fix it to that way to keep the skill points available roughly balanced with the Background Skills rules, but in addition to finding the flaws and loopholes in the rules, I am looking for general feedback.

The Language: In my case, she would have left Ukraine at 9, so it makes sense for her to know more English than Ukrainian, right?

You can go either way on that, but I'm going to be reading any of your character's dialogue with an accent :P

The tests: The Street Youth career asks for an 'arrest and incarceration' check, an Average [INT]... Is it a d20 roll with a success of my INT score or less?

An Average Test is twice the asset (so INT 6 would be 12) or less.

Easy = Asset (Attribute or Attribute + Skill) x4
Average = Asset x2
Difficult = Asset
Formidable = 1/2 Asset
Impossible = 1/4 Asset

I'll need to add that and a few other things to the campaign info section or something for ease of reference. Just like it is funny that the chapters the company provided me doesn't include Armed Melee or Firearm Expertise rules, so I'll have to get those to everyone as well!

Oh, one other thing about the basic mechanics:

Catastrophic Failures occur when the check result fails by ten or more and an Outstanding Success occurs when the check result succeeds by ten or more.

For example, in the case of the average INT check with a 6 INT, you need to roll equal to, or less than, a 12 to succeed. A 1 or a 2 would be an Outstanding Success. Since it would take a 22 or higher to have a Catastrophic Failure, it wouldn't be possible to mess up to that degree without a modifier of some sort. That specific check has no modifier on it's own, so you're safe from that with a 6 INT.

OK here are the bare bones of my submission James Woodville, my computer geek. Obviously this is a work in progress. DM Dickie, how far along did you want us to advance the ages of our characters?

Attributes - Option 4

STR 4; CON 4; AGL 5; INT 7; EDU 7; CHA 6; PSI 4; SOC 7.

First Childhood Career: Strict Education Program.
Prerequisite: SOC 7+.
ALL TERMS
Skills (8): Acrobat (1), Economics (1), Fine Arts (1), Physical Science (1), Social Science (1), Technician (2), Unarmed Martial Arts (1)
Contacts: Academic. On a 1D10 roll of 9+, this contact is foreign. 1d10 ⇒ 5 Contact is domestic.
Special: +1 EDU, -1 PSI, and a -1 to CON.

Oh the RP opportunities of a porn star and a computer geek... *heavy breath*.

There's a typo in the Unarmed Expertise section. Under Soft Style, it says "In addition, the character her level from any Combat Throw or Throw Recovery maneuvers."
I assume there's supposed to an 'add' or something between 'character' and 'her level'?

There is anything like 'circunstance' bonus to the checks? I ask this because in my PC's it would really make sense... For exemple, I guess it would be easier for her to persuade, and even bluff, against men. Against women it would be the oposite, sincw they would probably feel intimidated or have some kind of prejudice if they knew about her former profession.

Oh the RP opportunities of a porn star and a computer geek... *heavy breath*.

Not to mention a mechanic chick that's probably on the tomboy side of things ;)

As an aside, hi again Sir Longears! This is Nella/Korinne again; we simply must stop meeting like this hehe. Same for Atlas2112; this is Noreen from the space opera game :3

OK here are the bare bones of my submission James Woodville, my computer geek. Obviously this is a work in progress. DM Dickie, how far along did you want us to advance the ages of our characters?

That's totally up to you. Older provides more skills and money, but risks attribute loss from aging.

There's a typo in the Unarmed Expertise section. Under Soft Style, it says "In addition, the character her level from any Combat Throw or Throw Recovery maneuvers."

I assume there's supposed to an 'add' or something between 'character' and 'her level'?

Yup, thanks for catching that. Updated.

There is anything like 'circunstance' bonus to the checks? I ask this because in my PC's it would really make sense... For exemple, I guess it would be easier for her to persuade, and even bluff, against men. Against women it would be the oposite, sincw they would probably feel intimidated or have some kind of prejudice if they knew about her former profession.

Sometimes there are, it all depends on the exact situation. In your character's case, the high CHA pretty much tells that story, but this sort of reminds me that the Gift/Flaw list is missing some potentially useful ideas, such as some appearance based items.

Sir Longears wrote:

Oh the RP opportunities of a porn star and a computer geek... *heavy breath*.

Not to mention a mechanic chick that's probably on the tomboy side of things ;)

As an aside, hi again Sir Longears! This is Nella/Korinne again; we simply must stop meeting like this hehe. Same for Atlas2112; this is Noreen from the space opera game :3

Hi again! It is always a pleasure to play with you!

Also, on the tomboy aspect of your mechanic, mine would have no problems about it! Share the love!

@DM Dickie: Another question... the secondary activities are only allowed to those careers that mentions them under the 'special' section, or those are in adition to the two?

@DM Dickie: Another question... the secondary activities are only allowed to those careers that mentions them under the 'special' section, or those are in adition to the two?

The reason this is confusing is that they recycled some text from the previous editions. When a career states receiving 2 secondaries, it should really be read as 2 additional skill points for secondary activities.

Right, so far, with the information within those files, I was able to 'finish' Larysa.

Could you please tell me what still needs to be done?

That's pretty awesome. Did you want to select a Muster Option? I realized that most of the gear chapter was only the firearms, so I'm going to reach out to one of the guys at 3Hombres for an expansion on that section so you've got something to actually spend that cash on!

I really do not know, since it is quite hard to imagine Larysa in any of those mustering options... the more appropriate is the Seeker of Truth, were she would be looking for clues about her missing friends.

Also, I'm a bit lost with the influence and contacts... How much is worth to spend in a contact? My intention is to make the fed an important NPC.

The Idle Rich career, requires a SOC of 7... anyway to forget this pre requisite? I'm having difficulty to find a suitable new career for her to pursue now that she is retired. The Idle Rich would be a good fit, if not I'll change to Martial Artist (Muay Tai instructor) or Journalist (hired by a playboy like magazine).

I have one last worry... will she be useful? She has minimal combat abilities... she is just a pretty face. In social situations she should thrive though.

Seeker would seem the most fitting option. That may be a case where expanding the flavor text would help a player decide on whether it works. As always, suggestions are welcome.

Influence is a bit confusing, when I'm home and able to go through it I'll see if I can explain it a bit better.

I hadn't even noticed that discrepency (Idle Rich prereq) right away. I'm temped to allow the Big Score gift to provide qualification into it. I don't see why "New Money" characters shouldn't be able to go with it.

A face character is always useful! She's especially focused on the Act/Bluff skill to a degree that should open a lot of doors. Money is also a pretty handy thing to have, especially in a world where the divide between those with cash and those living on the streets is so high. It may be worth it to take some unarmed specialization if you're concerned about what she'll do in a fight. Unarmed under the basic rules is pretty low damage (though they do provide a lot of options), so I wrote the expertise rules to make up for that.

Thanks for the help and the insight!

I had already bought the Unarmed Expertise (hard style), as she trained Muay Thai as a way to stay fit for her movies. Also, is there a way to spend Experience Points to get Unarmed Expertise?

Indirectly I think it is possible, since I could just save skill points for the expertise and use experience to up the skills.

^ Yeah, the Act/Bluff + money will definitely be useful. And really, from what I remember from 2nd edition you really don't want to get into a fight (especially a gun fight) if you can help it since the injuries are done in a much more realistic way and take time to heal. It's definitely good to be able to defend yourself though, which the martial arts focus is nice for :)

Uggh sorry this has been on the back burner for me. I do plan on working on the character this weekend and should hopefully finish him up then.

Here is what I have so far:

James Woodville
Gender: Male
Age: 17 (not finished advancing yet.)
Occupation: Computer Programmer/Robotics Engineer

Attributes - Option 4

STR 4; CON 4; AGL 5; INT 7; EDU 7; CHA 6; PSI 4; SOC 7

Social Backgrounds: Nome (SOC 6+)
Business 1
Computer Operation 1
Persuasion 1
Ground Vehicle (Wheeled) 0

First Childhood Career:
Strict Education Program.
Prerequisite: SOC 7+.
ALL TERMS
Skills (8): Acrobat (1), Economics (1), Fine Arts (1), Physical Science (1), Social Science (1), Technician (2), Unarmed Martial Arts (1)
Contacts: Academic. On a 1D10 roll of 9+, this contact is foreign.
Special: +1 EDU, -1 PSI, and a -1 CON.

Undergraduate University:
Prerequisites: EDU 5+.
ALL TERMS
Skills: Total skill levels equal to character’s Education attribute from any combination of the following,but no more than level 3 in any one skill: Physical Science, Economics, Engineer, Social Science, Fine Arts, Computer, Language, Leadership.
Contacts: One per term, either academic or journalist. On a 1D10 roll of 8+ the contact is foreign.
Special: +1 EDU (after all skills have been awarded). No commissions, promotions, or special assignment rolls are made. Characters receive no income while attending undergraduate school. The character is awarded a BS/BA degree as a result of graduation.

Computer Operator/Programmer: Computer operator or programmer includes the roles of system administrators and web programmers in addition to the traditional application programmers.
Prerequisites: Technical school or undergraduate degree,
Computer Operation 2+.
First Term
Skills: Economics 2, Technician 4.
Subsequent Terms
Skills: Economics, Technician, Interaction.
ALL TERMS
Special Assignment: 8+ for Carousing, Language, Ground Vehicle, Intrusion.
Promotion: 7+, DM +1 if INT 7+.
Contacts: One specialist (Computer or Electronics) per term. On a 1D10 roll of 9+, the contact is foreign. If a special assignment is rolled, add an extra contact of any type. This represents a person met through an electronic network, email, messaging, blog, post, etc. The character may know this person only through electronic communication, and it is highly likely they have never laid eyes on each other.
Special: Computer operator/programmers are allowed two secondary activities per term.

Skill List:
Bargain (interaction)
Business (Economics)
Computer (Technician)
Computer Operations (Technician)
Electronics (Technician)
Instruction (Social Sciences)
Interview (Social Sciences)
Languages, Hindi
Research (Social Sciences)
Robotics (Technician)

Became a little distracted with some family stuff last night so I didn't get to take care of some of the things I meant to last night, but will try and break down the Influence rules into something a little more clear shortly.

^ Yeah, the Act/Bluff + money will definitely be useful. And really, from what I remember from 2nd edition you really don't want to get into a fight (especially a gun fight) if you can help it since the injuries are done in a much more realistic way and take time to heal. It's definitely good to be able to defend yourself though, which the martial arts focus is nice for :)

Fights are bound to happen, so keep it in mind that magical healing isn't typical. Empathic healing skills and some alien or darkling technology can speed up the process, but the joy of instant cure spells won't be felt!

Social Backgrounds: Nome (SOC 6+)

Business 1
Computer Operation 1
Persuasion 1
Ground Vehicle (Wheeled) 0

First Childhood Career:
Strict Education Program.
Prerequisite: SOC 7+.
ALL TERMS
Skills (8): Acrobat (1), Economics (1), Fine Arts (1), Physical Science (1), Social Science (1), Technician (2), Unarmed Martial Arts (1)
Contacts: Academic. On a 1D10 roll of 9+, this contact is foreign.
Special: +1 EDU, -1 PSI, and a -1 CON.

Remember that taking a childhood career replaces the normal background skills.

I've been updating some of the files to patch a few holes and will be adding an appearance based gift and flaw to the list shortly.

I got that Gear chapter I mentioned. You should be able to access it in the Google Docs folder I previously linked to.

Okay, so a little bit about Influence:

So all contacts start at a rating of 1 Influence and give you a point into your influence pool. A solid contact is at a rating of 3 Influence, and give you two additional points to your pool. At the end of character creation you can use points from the pool to raise the influence level of a contact (why? See the paragraph below). Raising the influence from the pool doesn't actually make the contact solid, it just means you have goodwill stored up.

When making an influence check using that contact, you use your charisma + influence rating of contact. The difficulty of the check depends on the difficulty of the favor you're asking. Getting your old Professor to translate a text in a common language would likely be an Easy task. Asking your foreign military contact to send you an experimental weapon could be Formidable or Impossible difficulty. When you reach out to a contact for some favor it will cost one or more Influence points from the contact's rating. These points can be replaced (or spent) from your character's influence pool. A botched check roll, difficult difficulty, or formidable difficulty checks cost more.

So why do you NOT want all contacts converted into solid contacts? Two main reasons. The first is that a solid contact considers your character to be a friend and/or a solid contact of their own! Solid contacts are going to ask for, and expect the PC to perform, favors. The second is that a solid contact becomes a major NPC. This means that they're great targets for enemies of the character.

I'm glad that the trend for everyone else is to make support characters. When I play a system for the first time, as a rule I try and run a brick. (I mean, I'm still gonna look at that psy book, but, I'm just sayin', the numbers for deciding dps are gonna be looked at. =)
Also, ya, sorry this was also on my back-burner, but it's topic A now. =)

Thanks for the explanation DM! I'll make the Fed a Solid Contact then. So, should I create an NPC sheet for him as well as a background, just like a PC?

Question about Psi: The Child path "Child Psychic Test Subject" says: "If entering the Psychic Test Subject (Empathic Guide pg. 15) career following this term and a successful Commission roll is made, you enter as an Psion."
But the Psychic Test Subject already says: "All terms: If commissioned, character is a psion test subject;"

It seems like that line in Child Test Subject is supposed to convey some benefit for, well, being a test subject after being a test subject, but since you get to be a Psion -anyway- for passing the Commision test, the point is mute.
It could just say outright "If entering the Psychic Test Subject (Empathic Guide pg. 15) career following this term, get DM +1 on Comision" or some such.

Also, by "following this term" does that mean it must be adjacent to it, or can it be in any term after that path is taken?

Thanks for the explanation DM! I'll make the Fed a Solid Contact then. So, should I create an NPC sheet for him as well as a background, just like a PC?

I can create such NPCs if you prefer, but it could be a fun exercise and allow wider testing if the players did, so feel free if you like.

Question about Psi: The Child path "Child Psychic Test Subject" says: "If entering the Psychic Test Subject (Empathic Guide pg. 15) career following this term and a successful Commission roll is made, you enter as an Psion."

But the Psychic Test Subject already says: "All terms: If commissioned, character is a psion test subject;"

It seems like that line in Child Test Subject is supposed to convey some benefit for, well, being a test subject after being a test subject, but since you get to be a Psion -anyway- for passing the Commision test, the point is mute.
It could just say outright "If entering the Psychic Test Subject (Empathic Guide pg. 15) career following this term, get DM +1 on Comision" or some such.

Also, by "following this term" does that mean it must be adjacent to it, or can it be in any term after that path is taken?

Excellent point. I guess I just didn't think that through...I like your suggestion about changing to provide a modifier instead. On the other hand, as it stands now it provides two chances to gain access to the pison discipline. I'll mull it over, but at the moment I'm leaning more towards your +1 DM suggestion.

Yes, following term means the next. It might be prudent to change the phrasing slightly to make sure that's clear.

Atlas2112 also pointed out that the career and skills chapter didn't include the "Skills by Cluster" table. I've put a copy of the table, in document form, in the shared folder for easy reference.

Okay, wait, yeah, I...I see it now. Sorry, I'm still wrapping my head around this. Yeah, I see how you get a Commision roll at the child path to be a Psion, and then another roll at the test subject to be a Psion. Yeah, okay, I guess that works too. ^_^ I can see benefits for both, but now that you mention it, it's probably better to keep it as it is. :p

P.S. DO you want us to do more conversation in the Recruitment thread to try and get more people? (That's fine if not, just thought I'd offer. =)

I think we're good on numbers, just need to get the characters built at the moment! I had also gone looking on another PbP site but got only one solidly interested player, so I might point them this way.

I've been prepping the New Orleans module on Roll20 so the maps and handouts are ready to go. Should be done with that piece in the next couple of days depending on how busy RL is for me.

Right, I'll build him up! Initially I intended for him being a fed, but I changed my mind and now he is a local... actually he is the Chief!

OK here is James Woodville, my computer geek. His Skills should be all good to go. I just need to roll his Contacts and Promotions, then work on his background.

Same as Atlas2112 this has been on the backburner a little bit, which I apologize for. Thankfully it seems like we've more or less still got everyone here and interested and since I know the bulk of this is working out kinks in the character creation process, I don't feel quite so bad about being a slacker on this.

Not to mention the leisurely approach works right now with Christmas right around and corner and such too, hehe.

Since a sizable chunk of the material to be tested revolves around character creation options anyway, it is fine for folks to generally take their time. You guys have already found a major mistake and a bunch of minor ones, so testing is actually going well. My live group had found a few things that were fixed before we started the PbP, and one of them is attempting to put the Unarmed Expertise rules through the ringer to the point where I'm trying to figure out the interaction of added damage and armor.

Even though I don't have a lot of time to write original material, the characters so far are giving me lots of story ideas, so I will be working on some threads and side-plots as we go.

I've created a PbP template using Google Docs to format character sheets. Everyone is welcome to use it and/or fix it to work better.

Find it here.

Ugh. Alright, I still have to assign a bunch of skills, but I feel good knowing that (I think) I can this.

So what's the status on some of the other characters? I know this time of year can be a little distracting, so I'm not trying to rush anyone, just curious how things are going.

My other test group noticed another issue with the idea of commissions in the childhood careers: commissions typically provide bonus skill points drawn from the subsequent term skill list, so I'm weighing options on how I want to deal with those careers.

Jessie is slowly coming together, a little at a time. I think a combination of holiday stuff (and a little of the holiday blues) plus some of my other PbPs having been busy the past few weeks is what has slowed me down, but thankfully the two PFS games I was in on the forums have ended so I think that will help :)

Hi there. I just found this thread and as one of the folks on the FB page I am curious to see all the final characters and will follow along if you all do not mind