Hey look! A discussion thread! For all your random chatter, ooc talk and, whatever.
Something
Seriously though, how did we all meet?
That's really the only time effect among my gadgets, though, so maybe we won't have too much overlap. The others are pyromantic and cryogenic in nature.
Even if we don't say your magic is powering my gadget's effect, we could say that meeting you got me thinking about the effect. You taught me the principles of time manipulation, and I experimented until I could put the Artificer equivalent of tachyons into the clockwork goggles, and voila! :)
What about my idea about the self-winding ticktock heart? Does that fit with who your character is?
Well, I wrote in my short "Arrival at the cavern entrance" piece that we may have met in the closest town over, banding together because of convenience. Does that sound like a start?
//EdinoiZ
That actually does fit for my intent as well, Caleb: Vanessa is very much going with you guys for convenience. Especially given that she isn't a fighter. She'll be able to help against magic, but her attack options are -very- limited.
Her abilities let her create solutions and break down (hostile) magic. Without selecting black magic she has abysmal attack dice, and worse: Abysmal dice to attack -with-. :P
But give her a wily mage, and she can punish it... maybe.
Mark Talbot didn't imagine that he would be selected to become a druid. For most of his seventeen years of life, he was raised among civilization's trappings, as an assistant to an alchemist.
One day, while ranging far afield gathering ingredients for his master's latest crazy experiment, he came upon a druid battling a group of illegal poachers. Not knowing anything about the conflict, Mark nonetheless saw one man versus three, and knew who needed help more. He stepped in, and with his help, the druid was able to triumph over the poachers. However, in the struggle, the druid himself was mortally wounded.
With his last moments, the druid, who called himself Malun of the Wastes, implored the Earth Spirits to pass on the knowledge of nature's magic to this altruistic young man. Malun passed away within moments of making his plea, and Mark, not understanding what had happened, went back home to think. Before he did, though, he set loose the creature that was being held captive by the poachers - a stag of tremendous size with an impressive crown of antlers. Without a second glance backward, the stag bounded away into the forest as soon as he was freed.
The spirits came to Mark that evening in a dream while he slept, in the shape of the stag he rescued. The spirit told him that the lands needed a protector in Malun's absence. Since Malun had no protege, Mark would take his place; having already shown his strength of character.
Mark had been searching for a purpose all his life, and this coincidental encounter in the forest provided the drive he had always been looking for. He left his master the very next morning to live among the rocky plains and steep slopes of Ere Fallopa, his homeland.
This was two years ago. Now, having mastered the basics of shapeshifting and living off the land, Mark has found a true test of his skills - Chiesa the Unspeakable. Little was known about the mysterious hermit who lived in the caves near the sea's shores; but one thing was for certain, the animals and plants - all life, in fact - shunned the area. It was for this reason - and the advice of the animals he spoke to - that Mark sought out a group of mercenaries who were after plunder in the Unspeakable's cave. Their motives were selfish, but they would do.
Mark would have intercepted your group when you were on your way leaving the nearest town to Chiesa the Unspeakable's Caverns, and offered his assistance as a guide and protector.
Living in the wild has made the human's hair wild, and his practical leathers weather-beaten and dirty; but he commanded an air of seriousness that belied his appearance. He also has shoulder armor that is fashioned from the petrified antlers of a mature stag. His constant companion from when he became a druid is with him also - a tall stag he calls Windhoof. It provides no combat advantages - yet.
Who's done with bonds?
I do, but first I have two questions. When using my Arcane Bladework skill, do I first need to succeed at a Hack&Slash move before I get to roll for Arcane Blaedwork OR do I roll for Arcane Bladework alone and resolve that as a modified Hack&Slash?
Also, how do you guys grt your stat modifiers spoilered at the top of your posts like that?
And now onto the bonds which, from a quick look at people's backgrounds and such, I reckon would be seen like this by Caleb:
1 Adishana broke up a fight I was involved in. I was probably going to lose, but they don’t need to know that part.
2 Gregor and I are regular training partners.
3 I may have killed a relative of Mark at some point in the past.
4 Vanessa seems like they would fold at the first sign of trouble. I don’t trust them.
** spoiler omitted **
Ah, I got half of it right. :)
1 Adishana broke up a fight I was involved in. I was probably going to lose, but they don’t need to know that part.
I'm fine with this. The story of how this happened will be very entertaining, I'm sure.
Proposed Bonds:
Gregor is the gadget I will use to kill Chiesa.
Vanessa helped me with one of my projects, and I helped her. We work well together.
Mark called me mad. Mad! I'll show him!
Ever since I broke up a fight Caleb was in, he's been nice to me, but he won't admit it. Let's see how nice.
Any thoughts from those affected?
All of the proposed bonds with me make sense.
Caleb;
¤Just the Arcane Blade work, it lets you Hack and Slash with Int basically.
¤Write the bonuses in the Class/Level line of your profile.
Gameplay thread is up. Post at will, players!
Adishana's fascination with unfeeling machines is understandable, but it is a mistake.
Caleb has a dark past. I find myself fascinated with what exactly it could be.
Gregor and I are kindred spirits, in a way. We both wish to prove ourselves in battle against the enemy. I am concerned that he may not care whether or not his enemies are righteously slain, however...
Vanessa looks clumsy. I wonder how she will handle herself in combat.
Adishana's fascination with unfeeling machines is understandable, but it is a mistake.
Love it!
Bonds are always so hard. Because I want them to be more personal than the base ones. I'm going to try something I haven't before: Multiple bonds on one person!
Either way:
I suspect Gregor fears what he doesn't understand. I'll try to salvage what I can in the brute's wake.
Adishana was able to recognize both my gift and its source with her mechanical magic. I can only hope that the secret is safe with her.
I suspect Adishana has an ulterior motive for guiding me to these caverns besides leading me to the knowledge that I seek. I suppose we'll see what those reasons are.
All proposed bonds involving Caleb so far seem pretty sweet :)
]Adishana was able to recognize both my gift and its source with her mechanical magic. I can only hope that the secret is safe with her.
I suspect Adishana has an ulterior motive for guiding me to these caverns besides leading me to the knowledge that I seek. I suppose we'll see what those reasons are.
Very nice! Lots of opportunities for Aiding with 2 bonds. Hint, hint. :)
@Mark, I love the cat face. I wish there was a "like" button on the post.
I'm considering doing something different for PbP. Since the end of a session is nebulous in PbP already, I might just forget about 'sessions' and let you all gain xp when one of the usual conditions was met. So if you resolved a bond with someone, instead of waiting for an arbitrary time, just mark the xp then and there.
How about the XP gain for fulfilling alignment? Would we use motivation or flaw?
Either or both.
I feel it would be best if you handled motivation and flaw then. Because those will be very easy to fulfill several times over. It might be wiser for you to let us know when we've fulfilled it enough for your liking and to mark an XP. :)
Mark, I hope you didn't try to jump from the ice. :P
That was -glorious-. :)
Rodents Of Unusual Size!
Out for the weekend. Enjoy your weekends!
Are we playing?
I'm still here :p
Hello, how was everyone's weekend?
Sorry for the delay, summer job hunts are the worst. Vanessa's Spout Lore is up, and the rest of the Caverns await!
Aside from feeling all around cruddy and my job winding up due to school being out, all is decent here. Had a pretty nasty headache last night, but I survived.
Another education professional in the group? I feel pretty marvelous, seeing that our Commencement was a week and a half ago. :)
Nope. More tourism. So when your job winds down, mine winds up. :)
I'm an animal caretaker at a pet hotel.
Aka a designated earscritcher and poopscooper.
Oops, I confused winding up with winding down. I must have been reading your previous post in reverse. ;)
Speaking of weekends, though, from a few posts up, on Saturday I had an early morning meeting about an hour away from my home. Ugh! When I got back home, I immediately left for a trip three hours the other direction. Some buddies have a band, and they got their first gig outside our immediate area. So I thought I'd support them. I guess I'm now officially a groupie. Spent the night there, and came back home Sunday afternoon.
I don't really have anything locally interesting. It doesn't help that I blow all my money on mortgages and car loans. A shame, too, since I'm pretty sure there's a lot of fun I could get into if not for the ball and chain that is 'security'.
Basically, my life consists of forums, YouTube, Netflix, role play on weekends, and crying into half empty pints of ice cream. :)
I hear you on the mortgage front. Ten more years, and this dump is mine! (Actually, it's a nice house, but that didn't seem to have the rhetorical oomph that "dump" has.)
This summer my life will be French (gotta get that language requirement finished before I officially start on my dissertation), reading science fiction, roleplaying online, roleplaying face to face, hiking, and going to concerts and music festivals. Which reminds me: drinking. Mustn't forget drinking. And the occasional conference. Yay, more drinking!
Oh, and Gen Con. My son lives in Indianapolis, and we're all going to Gen Con as a family: mom, dad, son, and daughter-in-law. The family that roleplays together, stays together.
I have something closer to 'thirty more'. :(
On the bright side, when I'm old enough to die... No more house payment!
I am -so- considering a second job, in the hopes that I will then discover what a 'disposable income' is. It will be glorious. In theory.
We're a little tight on the disposable income thing at the moment. We bought our house when we had two incomes, but we're down to just mine at the moment. But not tight enough for me to teach summer classes!
Speaking of which, it's time for lunch with some suckers who ARE teaching summer classes, a couple hours of French, and maybe Avengers. Still haven't seen it.
Avengers is pretty good. The first spoiled me, and I care very little for Ultron... So it just came across as a good superhero movie.
There are a lot of complaints that I find silly. Mine seem to be mostly unique to me, or simply not legitimate (like not caring about Ultron :p)
My biggest complaint will be under a spoiler:
So far as I can tell... this movie has no real impact on Avengers 2. I really would have liked to see Pepper do... anything... in the movie. I really do feel the scene later in the movie with black widow and Ultron would have been better and made more sense if they had used Pepper. The fact everything is falling apart, and the superpowered Pepper is offscreen for the entire movie just kind of denies the legitimacy a little. But maybe that's just me.
I will wait until I have seen the movie to read your spoiler.
And the anticipation will kill you. :o
Go watch Mad Max: Fury Road. Do it. It's glorious.
I'll get around to watching both, but we didn't go today. Instead we stayed home, cooked a delicious healthy meal, and are now watching The Flash. Cisco just said, "So long and thanks for all the fish," for the win.
I must confess I'm quite frustrated at the lack of activity in gameplay. Has the game died?
I'm here. But Vanessa a front-liner does not make. :)
Yeah, neither is Adishana. She gets to shoot her ice thingy at most 3 times before needing to recharge.