Welcome players
This is my favourite part of GMing; where we build our world together, work out bonds, and set our scene.
If you haven’t already, please create your alias and post your character sheet there.
Please answer the following questions for your character.Please feel free to work out bonds amongst yourselves, you will need them before we begin.
After this round of questions establishing world details, I'll ask some targeted ones to get the actual river scene moving.
Don’t feel like you need to write an essay on these, a sentence or two should be fine.
Onick, the Human Paladin
Laguna, the Erze Dark Knight
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Terren of the Hills, the Human Druid
Rankev ‘Power’ Davis’, the Human Wizard
Lewyn, the Elf Bard
Yes, finally!
Pfft, don't need to write an essay. Too much fun not to - just too fond of making little stories when I can think of one. The problem's trimming it down!
So, in order then!:
The Erze aren't the most common of beings, but you'll find them scattered about. They tend to slot into other societies rather than have their own. There might be an Erze society somewhere, but given their eclectic personalities and values...there's probably not going to be many such groups.
"Come again? I've been able to do this stuff for about forever. Freaked a few people out, that's for sure. After a while growing up here, one of the elders - Grinwick, that crazy old man - decided, 'Hey, this looks interesting!' and decided to actually teach me to use it properly. 'parently he knew a few other guys like me, though their powers were a bit different. We're 'magically mutable', he said? We respond to any magic going off nearby when we're growing. Don't know what kinda stuff was going off nearby me to get this result, but yeah, that's how it happens. Doubt I'm the only one to get this kind of crazy mojo, but they probably don't have my kinda powers specifically. 'specially since I haven't seen anyone else use shadow magic, ever. Just doesn't happen 'round here."
If you don't wanna read that, he basically has it because of magic going off near him during his development. When things like that happen, the Erze tends to have command of that kind of magic later in life. Shadow magic isn't known in Chromia though. It's just another one of those things that mark just how far away he originally came from.
"...geez, that's not a fun one to talk about. Yeah, I remember something. Guess that makes me lucky, though I sure as hell don't feel it. Think this one's from my last life...a whole library on fire. Mine. I...man, it hurts to think about that. That's so many me's forgotten. There's a lot of screaming, from people I cared a lot about, and then it goes black in some kinda dark maelstrom around me. It's a while of listening to screaming and suffering before my consciousness goes. Next thing I know, I wake up - kid's body, kid's mind, and a whole lot of painful memories that ended up being shut off. Whole place is gone around me. I spend some time wandering, making use of whatever survival info's still in my head, and I finally hit Chromia. It was great, before all this Catastrophe stuff happened. Now I've got a whole new set of painful things to think about."
"Well, most of them said the stuff you'd expect - chosen one, bring light to the world and purge the shadows from the land, reveal the truth and expose the lies...did I mention how uncomfortable that was for me? One lecture too many, and poor Issa wouldn't come out of her house. She was afraid she'd have to hurt me or something. I start complaining about them to Grinwick, and he tells me he had other ideas - there's some prophecy he said about. 8 chosen - 4 of Light, 4 of Dark - that would come together to restore the world. Apparently, he figured Issa as one of the chosen of the light."
"We head over to Issa's place, tell her about this. Poor girl's kind of confused. Asks 'Aren't light and dark enemies?' Me and Grinny look at each other and laugh. I'd already had this lecture, but she had no idea what she was in for. 'Issa,' he says, 'do not worry. It's quite the opposite, really. Light can't exist without darkness, and darkness cannot exist without light. People like to think of light as good and dark as bad, but with them so dependent on each other, that can't be true, can it?' She still doesn't look quite sure. So, I chime in. 'We're friends, aren't we Issa? I think that's proof enough we don't need to fight each other.'"
"I swear, that was the happiest I'd ever seen her up 'til then. Guess she just needed the example. One calmed down kid later, and it's like nothing ever changed. 'cept for just how much happier she was. I...didn't think she liked me THAT much. I ended up promising to save the world with her later. Gotta find her again before that...world really needs saving now. I promised her. We're gonna do this no matter who wants to stop us!"
May have nicked and melded some lore from appropriate sources. All this is subject to your approval, Lichkicker.
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It has been previously accepted that Arcane magic is powered by the Positive and Negative Planes, while Divine magic comes from the Divine. However, Rankev has proven that Divine magic usually carries Positive Energy with it to affect the Material Plane, so he's postulated that since Wizards can already affect positive energy, they should be able to re-create Divine magic as well.
If given the choice, I fall back on the Shadowrun type of "low-magic" world. Only 1% of the World's population is magically active, but most civilizations put their teenagers through some form of screening, and most of the Active population are sought after, trained, and their gifts developed and utilized. The bards, or other entertainment media, also fortify their tales heavily with deeds of magic, giving little heed to reality, so, while the population remains ignorant of the details of magic, almost all know that it is a real thing, but exactly what the capacity or qualifications of a "wizard" are they are largely ignorant of.
In the year CE 1354, in the Month of the Dragon, a single man changed the world of Wizards forever.
The Order of the White Angel, one of the chiefest among the Wizarding guilds, put in a large order for uniforms to Retzack & Sons, a large costuming, dyeing, and bleaching consortium. They required a large supply of their bleaching agent: Powdered Foxbane.
Their foremost supplier, Wolfgang Von Goethe, was certifiably insane, but could usually be called on to provide good service. Alas, he recently discovered a large patch of rare Purple Lotus, and, due to the hallucinogenic effects such a plant gives off even in an unprocessed state, large amounts of it were mixed in to the shipment of Foxbane.
Great was the surprise when Isagoras the Light, Highfather of the Order of the White Angel, received shipment of robes that carried a slight purple hue.
While Isagoras and Retzack bantered on for some days about the exact nature of the restitution to come, the King, His Majesty Gorn the Unlearned, learned of the situation, and over-quickly passed decree making the wearing of purple FORBIDDEN by any save his royal person.
Isagoras, never holding great love for the king, gave Retzack payment in full and openly supported wearing the purple robes. King Gorn responded by ignoring any diplomatic effort and sent the VIIth legion to enforce his will.
Upon the Fields of One Thousand Sorrows the two forces met. Some say that Propoket the Many, the deified patron of the Order, came down from the sky to support his followers. Others say that it was Imrael, the Herald of Propoket, that joined the line. And others say 'twas Brian WhiteAngel, the immortal found of the Order, who appeared himself on the battlefield to lay ruin. And others say all three joined in inexorable union.
Whatever the facts, the Order of the White Angel removed all pretense of charade or masquerade. The full power of their arcane might was unleashed on the martial troops before them, and few survived from the King's army to tell him of the defeat.
The Order, with an unsurprisingly large amount of public support, invested the capital and put the King to the sword. In his place they put Therenger the Kind, a mind-mage of the first rank, who instituted a Republic that continues to this day.
Though the Order of the White Angel again resumed their opal robes, wizards throughout the world adorn themselves with at least a swatch of purple in recognition, respect, and warning, of the great changes wrought that day.
TL;DR: The right shoulder of Power's garb is purple, announcing him as a wizard. =)
Wizards generally hold Divine casters in the view as one would a brother: The perform the same work, just in a different frame. They view (and believe the belief is mirrored) that there must needs be at least a grudging respect, since Divine casters are capable of some great feats, and many of those can not be reproduced by the Arcane.
Druids are looked upon with something akin to pity, and usually a polite mental dismissal. Viewing them as little more than hedge-wizards or voodoo witch-doctors pantomiming real power, they are do not count highly in the rankings, though the few that are able to accomplish some fine works are at least accorded the fame due to them.
Bards, alas, are looked upon with only one step above derision, the way one would see a younger brother who mimics the older's knight training with sticks and cardboard armor, who also seems to declare his deeds equaled to his steel-clad sibling.
In all of the basic lore, there are no Bard's of worth noted, and most wizards view bards as entertaining, but their magic is only good for parlor tricks and opening the legs of ladies of ill repute.
Wizards will wish the bards well, but know they should not count upon them to be effective.
In one of the dusty tomes that Power gleaned while researching his thesis, he came upon a dark secret. He shares it with the mages of Chromia only when locked into a secured room with a learned few who swear secrecy.
Though long believed slain by Propoket the Many, the Dark Lord Nekron is alive, and working on plots of vengeance. His harbinger, Lord Borak the Despoiler, stalks the land gathering insane followers and harvesting rare items of power. The spoor of his sacrifices have been discovered, and the power stolen from the victims only hasten the Dark Lord's return.
I love the enthusiasm guys. It's a personal preference that I prefer minimal backstory with some solid hooks rather than essays, because leaving room for the unexpected to crop up is important in Dungeon World.
Also, going in too deep before we play creates some heavily divergent ideas between players. The important thing is for everyone to agree on the setting and events, and the more detail you give the harder that can be.
As it stands I think this gives me some ideas, but depending on the other answers I might consolidate some of the events and/or characters between backstories.
But fear not, I will say this: I am the type of DM who asks regular questions during gameplay, about how you know things, when you've seen something before, how you know an NPC, etc.
So there'll be plenty of opportunity to delve deep, but it's better to do so as a part of the gameplay :)
Sorry for the delay, it's been a busy couple of days and I'm still trying to find Teren's voice.
When Chromia first started grow, its leaders tried to just clear a goodly area. The Guardian Beasts didn't take kindly to that, and after a "lively discussion", worked out some guidelines for the city folk to follow. That was a long time ago, now. The valley's fertile enough that even with their rules, there's plenty to go around, so things usually aren't a problem. Usually.
It's a mix. Mostly respected; the initiation and obligations aren't easy, and some of what we do is obviously useful to the city folk. Some don't like it when we have to say no, of course, and it's been long enough since the last major disaster that some decide it's just us not liking them.
Critters of magic. They roam along lines of arcane energy, but their path wanders depending on what life is nearby. This preparation is to map out adjustments to crop layouts, livestock pens and such to keep 'em along clear paths. Lots can happen if the beasties run into something, and while it's not always bad, it can be. Peldon reported this bunch is about a week out, so let's get to it!
And the Catastrophe will, of course, throw all those plans into total chaos. (If you'd prefer another time frame, I just picked a week arbitrarily.)
Ahh, the Vores. Four of 'em, but you already knew that. Teren ticks them off on his fingers as he names them. Fang, the Carnivorous. Bounder, the Herbivorous. Sunseeker, the Photovorous. Phosphor, the Magivorous. Trust me, if you'd ever seen any of 'em, you'd know!
I can flesh those out if you like, but thought I'd leave them open if someone else wants to build on the names/theme.
You mean the Crossies? You get used to 'em after a while. Mostly, anyway. Saw one once that was a rabbit with a wolf's head, that one stuck out. Near as anyone can tell, they're messengers; landmark spirits can't travel far, so they use the little critters to chat. Mostly it's best to leave 'em alone.
(They usually manifest as fluffy little hybrids; most of them are cute, like bunny/squirrel, or fox/cat.)
Are there an Order of Paladins? Or are you the only one.: Onick has heard of distant lands where there are warriors dedicated to foriegn Gods and emperors, but he's never seen them.
If the humans who lived in Chromia were peaceful and in harmony with nature, what are the humans from the North like?: There are few cities and little civilization in the north. Local warlords control most of the north. Some strive for peace, some attain it, though everyone must learn to fight. Battle is an art and a way of life.
What do the demons you've fought before look like?: They often appear as sinister shadows in the dying firelight or in rare occasions take the form of snakes or swarms of black moths surrounding a person or place. Normally it takes several meetings to determine the truth of a person but on rare occasions powerful evil shows itself quickly.
What is your Holy Symbol, and what is your Quest?: My holy symbol is a spherical piece of obsidian. It has delicately carved lines and symbols carved into it. It is worn on a chain around the neck. My quest is to discover the truth of that holy symbol. It is a mysterious object and there is nothing like it in my homeland.
Before you left the hermit, they gave you one part of a secret weapon against evil. What was it?: The hermit gave me a fractured shard of bone. He said that it was half of a hilt to a legendary knife. He did not elaborate, though I think he may have been crazy and the hilt shard has no meaning.
Thanks Onick, Teren. These are just perfect!
Onick, can you please make note of your quest objective, and what boons you're taking in your alias profile.
Rankev, can you please create a new alias with your character sheet like the others.
Everyone, please start working out bonds with each other as well while we wait on Lewyn.
Getting excited!
Seems it's worth asking a few questions, huh?
Onick, just what exactly do you think of Laguna? I mean, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't detect as evil to you - at least based on his nature - but part of his thing is wielding darkness and shadow. Considering your stated intent to "bring light to the darkness" and the god you follow, this could be interesting.
Teren, how much do you involve yourself with the people of Chromia? Might you have seen Laguna at work, or come to him about anything?
Not sure what to ask you, Rankev. For more general points of magical interest there's the stuff relating to Erze biology and Laguna's abilities, but I wouldn't want to pigeonhole you here. I can't think of a link that might lead anywhere.
Laguna - Teren (and the other local druids) are definitely involved with the city. We've definitely interacted before. Teren is/was intensely curious about you; if Laguna doesn't find that off putting, we could easily be friends.
The druid's starting bonds:
______ smells more like prey than a hunter.
Assuming Lewyn shows up, I think this one is for him.
The spirits spoke to me of a great danger that follows _______.
Rankev or Onick could easily fit here. Either of you particularly want it?
I have showed ________ a secret rite of the Land.
________ has tasted my blood and I theirs. We are bound by it.
These two both imply a longer relationship than seems likely with Onick or Lewyn. I could see one or both of these applying with Laguna - a rite to assist the guard with something, or to investigate the erze's past/nature; a blood bond emerging from friendship, or even an old bond related to Laguna's early integration with Chromia (bonding with the druids as a means to provide reassurance to skeptical citizenry)?
The secret rite could also potentially be with Rankev, related to his research - though based on the established relationship between druids and mages, that would've taken some serious persuading.
I could see "tasted my blood" implying a fight rather than a binding ritual - that could maybe be Onick instead; I read his intro post as implying that he's quick to attack anything that reads as evil to him, so if we want our characters to really get off on the wrong foot, Onick could've attacked something that Teren considered protected early after his arrival.
Any of you have thoughts on the above? Anything we should promote to "established truth"?
I really like the sound of having bonded with the druids as a way to help integrate with everyone else. Depending on what druids are like around Chromia, they may have a rather interesting view on creatures like the Erze, whose environments are imprinted on them in numerous ways while they form. Why are you so curious about him, I wonder? What's your reasoning?
In any case, Laguna's pretty friendly, generally speaking. Not that he isn't wary of some people (Onick just screams bad news for some reason), but he'll give them a chance. I think I can easily say we're friends, presuming you're a decent person.
So, presuming we knew each other a while, I've got a couple of questions - I'm going to attach each one to a bond you suggested for me. One's probably more interesting regarding relationships, and one's liable to get me eaten by monsters. Or animals. A lot of things. Feel free to ignore both of them, they're just ideas to try and help with the bonding part of bonds. Ideas for a shared history, if you will.
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Alright!
All set!! =)
Erze, Rankev would be fascinated by you and how magic affects you. If you let him, he'd spend all day cutting you and healing you, watching how the arcane/divine magic interacted with your biology.
Teren: Actually, if you would have showed me a secret rite, I think that would be perfect. You probably would've heard about that weird wizard asking around town about odd magic, and Rankev would've struck up a conversation with you about whether you would describe your magic as arcane or divine. Whatever the rite was, Rankev would've made -copious- notes. =)
Onick: I'm trying to use arcane magick to supplant the monopoly that divine magick has on healing. How do you feel about that?
My starting bonds:
____ will play an important role in the events to come. I have foreseen it!
____ is keeping an important secret from me.
____ is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can.
I've never liked these, but I usually can't think of new bonds until play starts. Go figure! =)
I've been super busy this week but just wanted to check in to let you know i'm still here. I'll think about these bonds and try to get mine posted tomorrow. I definitely like being bonded to Teren. I've tasted his blood and he mine. Onick is definitely wary of Laguna, but nothing seems particulary evil yet. Rankev, I've not had much experience with arcane magic and would probably be amazed and a bit fearful of it. I think I am woefully misinformed about the world.
Alright, so I think I'm going to go with having shown Laguna the secret rite, and shared blood via conflict with Onick. (Sorry, Rankev - only one per slot, sadly. How do you feel about having a great danger following you?)
Laguna - the overall fascination is driven by your unusual biology/personality; the way you're literally shaped by your animal selves, and compare/contrasting with the way the druids adopt aspects of the creatures they can wild shape into. As for the ritual, Scales of the Morning is part of the druid's wild shape training, involving attuning your mind with that of one fish, and knowing* of existence when you literally remember nothing more than five minutes ago.
Teren couldn't make out much of what Laguna was saying during the ritual - the noises were those of a reptilian predator, but not one Teren knows well enough to understand.
*This is actually a distinct word in the druidic tongue with a much deeper connotation than mere knowledge.
Onick - if we were driven to bloodshed when we first met, which of the forest's servants did you (mistakenly?) believe was evil, and attack?
Alright, things are looking good...though if nobody has yet, someone should message Lewyn? Maybe? Worst comes to worst, somebody else has expressed interest that we could ask to try and slot in with a character.
I should start throwing bonds out. Always fond of writing up custom bonds.
Sounds good, Teren. It raises questions as to why I'm speaking Dragon, and the importance of it, but that's half the fun. As for the ritual, it's going to be interesting going through THAT process with you. I wonder - something that's only done when he's having a rush, or something that needs to be done regularly to prevent one?
For you, I'll say: "I've been relying on Teren ever since I came to Chromia, and I need to repay that debt." Your feelings would be another matter, but Laguna would feel that he seriously owes you.
Rankev, my name is Laguna, my race is Erze, and you're pretty terrifying. Erze biology doesn't react in the same way to magic after their developmental stages, but there's probably enough of a reaction to pique your interest. There's probably SOMETHING interesting you can find during your experimentation process.
First attempt for you: "Rankev mainly sees me as a test subject, and I'm positively terrified of what that means for me."
Depending on how you interpret it, Laguna could easily be keeping an important secret from you - his biology. That, or you caught him mumbling something during the onset of a rush. Or something else. Whatever would give you suspicions...or frustrations.
Onick...hmm. Not sure with you. Why've you got AC in your statline though? That's not a thing in DW. Should be your armour - think that's 2.
Gonna pluck one of my standard bonds for you: "Even I wouldn't touch the powers that Onick wields." As far as he can tell, that 'Sight' of yours has made an awful person of you - a self-righteous attitude, an explosive temperament, and just the sheer level of judgemental and arrogant you reach is astounding. His powers of Shadow are uncommon, fearful, and get him dirty looks, but at least they didn't make a terrible person of him. Issa could teach you a thing or two, honestly.
Object, agree, or propose other suggestions as you will.
________ is callous towards the losses of others. I’ll deal with that.
________ has an utter lack of discipline that I'm certain will cause them misery.
I want to get closer to ________, but I’m getting sick of losing friends.
Teren, I'd say it was something I'm unfamiliar with in the north. Maybe large rodent of some kind?
Laguna, sounds good. A little animosity between characters could be interesting and force us to come to an uneasy truce or something. Sorry about the stat line, changing it now.
-----has stood by me in battle and can be trusted completely.
I respect the beliefs of------but hope they will someday see the true way.
------ is a brave soul, I have much to learn from them.
I don't know that anyone has stood beside me in battle yet, but I could see a bond with Teren being a brave soul I have much to learn from. Any others stick out to you guys?
Just based on my power set, if not a multitude of other things you might be convinced of that may or may not be true, I'm probably a perfect fit for "---- ’s misguided behavior endangers their very soul!" I doubt you trust me or think well enough of me for any of the other bonds to apply.
I'm thinking at this stage, if Lewyn doesn't respond by mid week we might just move ahead with 4 players - or I'll choose someone else from recruitment.
Maybe ask the people that expressed interest after decision time if he doesn't respond?
Laguna - your bond sounds good. I'm also looking forward to finding out why you used to speak dragon :-) My initial thoughts were that the ritual was a one time thing; I can see story potential in needing to do it repeatedly, though - maybe the full ritual taught Laguna the skill, but he (does Laguna use a particular pronoun?) still needs to engage in some lesser version periodically/when symptoms show?
Onick - how about you attacking one of the Crossies? Weird creature to you, natural motivation for me to intervene. I'm open to thoughts on the nature of the blood-based bond, or we can wait and figure that out during play.
That sounds about right. Also, Laguna generally refers to himself as male, but...biology is weird. Trying to determine the gender of an ooze person confuses people, so that's why I put the question mark there.
It's not important in any case. There've probably been female Lagunas in the past.
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Alright, it looks like for Teren his bond for me is: "The spirits spoke to me of a great danger that follows Rankev."
Ugh. Why does great danger ALWAYS FOLLOW ME!?!?
We all know the inevitable conclusion to this now. Everything else is just narrative. ;)
Alright, Teren, since you haven't shown me the Secret Rite, I'm now convinced that Teren is keeping an important secret from me. Seems appropriate. =)
We really have a paladin and a dark knight in the same party. Oh this should be good. ^_^
Plot twist: the secret I'm keeping is that the spirits spoke to me of a great danger following you!
As Lewyn has been inactive, I have given his spot to ZenFox42 and his (yet unnamed) Dwarf Psion. Everybody give him a warm welcome!
Zenfox, I need you to do four things.
1.Please respond to the worldbuilding questions below
2.Choose your BONDS with each of the other players
3.Create an alias and post your character sheet there
4.Tell me what your character's name is, and what they were doing in Chromia on the day before the Catastrophe
Zenfox's Psion's Questions
Ok,so my only bond so far is with Laguna and his endangered soul. I'm actually ok with adding the rest as we rp because I was just chilling by the river when "the incident" happened and I haven't met anyone other than Laguna and Teren.
-Teren, maybe we met on the trail several weeks ago when I killed what I thought was an abomination of nature only to discover you consider it a sacred forest spirit. Our meeting came to fisticuffs and after a good fight and and a good talk I came to learn of the forest and it's power. Our bond could be that you are a brave soul that I have much to learn from(my bond), as well as our blood bond(your bond). How nice that we met up once again in Chromia on the day of the disaster.
Here's my alias!
Bonds
____________'s soul is so bright it almost hurts to see.
Onick sounds about right for this.
When ____________ opens up, they'll be so much happier.
How about Teren?
I suspect ____________ is afraid of me.
How about Rankev?
Teren and Rankev's bonds could be swapped, if either of you has an opinion about it...
I have seen the dreams of ____________ and they are eerie things indeed.
Laguna. Definitely Laguna.
Lichkicker - please note the Psion's "always on" ability of "Peer Through The Veil" :
You perceive phenomena invisible to mortal eyes: visible manifestations of emotions, astral creatures which prey invisibly on mortals and signs of great and terrible things yet to come. You have little choice in what you see, but you can interact with these things as well as you can interact with anything else.
So I figure this would manifest as a continuous stream of feelings, visions (perhaps only as analogies that I can relate to), etc. of what's immediately around and ahead of us. You ok with this?
Answers to questions :
Where do Dwarves hail from, and what makes them different to the typical fantasy dwarf?
Where did your powers come from? Was it genetics, training, or some other-worldly influence?
Not only has no one in your clan ever had a Psion before - no one has. you're one of a kind and your abilities have gotten you into trouble before. Tell me who you're on the run from.
What she was doing in Chromia on the day before the Catastrophe?
I *think* that answers everything, unless I missed one - please let me know...
Onick - that works for me.
Sarthel - yours is okay with me. Have we actually met? From your description, it sounds like you've literally just arrived in the vicinity of Chromia.
Also, "Sarthel smells more like prey than a hunter" seems like a natural, if somewhat literal, fit - and that one could be apparent on first meeting.
I have seen the dreams of ____________ and they are eerie things indeed.
Laguna. Definitely Laguna.
"I, ah, can't deny that. Which one was it? I keep losing track. I should probably start keeping a journal of these things, see what I can piece together."
Wait, how does she know about those?Have to agree with Teren - doesn't sound like you've been here any length of time.
At all. All I can think is that you caught a dream of mine when I was knocked out.
If you've been here a day or so, I probably greeted you (get to know the local guards and all that), but otherwise I'd have to work it out in play.
I do have one idea, though.
"I'm sure I felt Sarthel in my head. Gotta keep her out - it's not safe in there!"
Someone reads his mind, and he's worried about them before any other concerns. Erze priorities, ladies and gentlemen.
Well, Lichkicker asked for Bonds, so I gave them. But I see that Onick is "OK with adding the rest as we RP", so I guess that's an option, and I could have *no* established Bonds yet (but these would probably be the ones I pick once we all get to know each other better...).
Teren - your (future) Bond with me sounds right on...
Thanks Sarthel, I'll keep your passive ability in mind. When you feel it is relevant, I would suggest you ask me directly what you see with this ability - I will most likely have something better for you.
Your characters may have met before, somewhere other than Chromia, which would allow for some of these more detailed Bonds. But you're free to not use all of your bonds.
This is enough for us all to get started. Gameplay post will be up in the next 24 hours.
Gameplay post will be up in the next 24 hours.
Yeeeees.
Huzzah!
So, random thoughts/questions on shapeshifting:
How do you want to handle defining animal moves? Should I just name one or two moves each time I pick a new form, or do you want to handle that?
Fictionally, I'm picturing shapeshifting as taking the form not of a species, but of an individual; Teren doesn't become a generic dog/horse/mouse, but Mellen's hound/Seabiscuit/*three quick squeaks*. This involves spending time with that particular individual per Studied Essence; when the study is complete, Teren takes part of the animal's spirit with him. (This spirit may have ties bank to the animal; possible GM moves would be injured animal forms if the original animal is injured, or even needing to re-do Studied Essence if the original dies?)
Does that sound good?
Sounds good to me. I think when you shapeshift, give me an idea of what you hope to accomplish with the form. Feel free to suggest moves your form might have.
Or since we're taking the angle that it's a specific animal, tell me what that animal did or was known for when you shapeshift.
Has anyone messaged Onick?
Update will be coming after the weekend! Traveling interstate.
And now, the real fun with me and Onick starts. Oh man, I can't wait to see where this goes when there's less death imminent.
Things are circumstantial. In this case, the thing I found out earlier is that sometimes, your parley target isn't willing or able to listen. Unconscious? Can't Parley. Deaf, and blind? Unless you can get around that, nothing. Filled with blind fury or abject terror that's overwhelming their mind? No go.
In this case, your targets are running for their lives. As far as I can guess, unless you're very clearly a source of safety or potential threat to their lives, you aren't going to get much attention. Even then, they're still running for their lives. Hard to concentrate on words like that. You just act. It's that sort of logic that, as I'm aware, is the basis of how this all works.
Just my thoughts. Thought I'd share since it's something that only really came to my attention during this campaign. I'm going to carry this with me.
Thanks Laguna. I think as well, that what your leverage will be changes based on the fiction. For example, offering a bribe isn't really going to help in this situation. But bribing a town guard to look the other way while you trespass somewhere would be much easier.
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Well, yeah, the situation just became more defined. 'Don't mess with us because we are strong' is applicable if they are coming to attack you. But it fades to irrelevance if their collective response is 'dude, we don't see you. We're running from this giant kill-death eat-face monster behind us.'
An understandable response. =)
As you've noticed - updates are running slower in the lead up to Xmas but it's not because of lack of interest on my part! Just life getting busy.
Over the Xmas season, I'll probably take a short break.
Probably 19th Dec to 3rd Jan.
In the meantime expect updates 1-2 times a week :)
Sorry guys, Xmas time is busier than I anticipated so I'm starting the holiday hiatus early!
Since a hiatus is as good a time as any I'm going to run an End of Session move right now!
Everyone, since we have some hardcore RPers here I'd love for you to actually roleplay this as an internal reflection from your character's perspective on the events that have taken place.
So.... Mark XP if we as a group:
*Learnt something new and important about the world? [this is a yes!]
*Overcame a notable monster or enemy?
*Looted a memorable treasure?
And individually if:
*You fulfilled your alignment
*You resolved a bond - talk about it with the person you share the bond with, and if you agree it's resolved, write a new one.
Also:
*Mark an XP because your GM is slow on the updates, Merry Christmas :)
Anyone please feel free to contradict me, but I'd have to say that's a "no" to the second two group questions.
I'd also have to say that I did not fulfill my alignment, and I currently don't have any bonds with anyone.
I also made *every one* of my rolls, so no XP there.
So, 2 total XP for me. :(
I agree with your assessment on the group questions, sadly. Likewise, while I definitely found an unnatural menace, it's decidedly not eliminated. And since my first act was to leave the party behind, there's not really any bond updates either. (Sorry about that, y'all. I honestly expected someone else to follow, but then I also didn't expect an open melee to break out immediately, so...oops.)
(Though Sarthel, you might want to go ahead and write a bond - got any snap judgements the other characters can either live up to, or subvert?)
Quick post just to say I'm here and ready to get this rolling again!
Me too! Hope you all had a great break.
I'm feeling much more recharged, and a little excited to see where we all go with this.
Update coming this week.
Looks like we may have lost Onick. As far as I can tell, he hasn't posted anything since November.