End of the Northerners - Dungeon World (Inactive)

Game Master kdtompos

Discuss away...

I will actually wait in the wings... being the last to show interest, I'd prefer that those who did so in a timely matter get a shot, before I add my own character to the mix. What timeframe are you looking to start? That way I can hold out for a bit before adding my own spins. If less than five show interest, I'll swing in. :)

I like your Sea King idea. I think some sort of captain hat would work for a banner. I am the law would be based more on being captain of a dragon ship. I am not sure if Quest should be Oath or Voyage. The big thing that I am debating is if Lay On Hands should be replaced with some sort of breath weapon.

That's noble of you Hotaru! I don't predict things will really start until the first week of the new year. In the mean time we'll work on building a bit of the setting and characters.

But I don't intend to get the entire setting together, just some big chunks of meat that we can hang the rest on later. My biggest priority with this game today is to get up a handful of questions for you guys to be thinking about over the weekend that will give us those sections.

Then we'll need to figure out classes more precisely.

And then I ask you questions concerning your class. :D

So anticipate answering questions. Not only is the game front loaded that way, but it should happen a lot in game too. It's as much a part of the game as any mechanical aspect.

I had a statement, but I have forgotten what it was.

HEllo :P

Seth86: I'll throw together a playbook for you as well based on what we talked about. Luckily I've got a strong concept for both of them within the fiction already, so the flavor in the mechanics shouldn't be a problem. But may take a little bit.

And also so you're aware, this class would be instead of a basic class. And what we talked about with the Angel of Death sort of character, he/she would be a bit more fragile than a fighter... much more of a caster type with melee capability.

I'll let you see it before you make any decisions ;) I'm actually kinda stoked to be building characters with Class Warfare.

Alternately, space willing, and rangerish slot already filled, I am absolutely in love with my channeler and would not at all mind building one very differently from my current channeler. :)

Much thanks. Looks cool so far

Dm Frogfoot asked:

We cool with using battle-captives for manual labor? I was thinking I could be the kind of "bard" who "inspires" the captives into pulling the oars for our ship, like in Ben Hur.

Otherwise I can just as easily be a traveling music-man.

What do you guys think?

Historically (and I'm aware that I said we will not assume anything because it's 'traditional' or 'historical') slavery was a common practice amongst the Scandinavians of the age we're replicating. People were spoil as much as anything else. So it has it's foundations if you want the idea. But you'll have to help explain why it works.

Likewise, if you don't like the idea, you'll have to help explain why it's not present :)

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And yeah, Hotaru, Channelers look pretty impressive. Never played with one, but it's an impressive book.

Also, as I understand the history, things were better than the US treated their slaves. There were even opportunities to earn their freedom.

Exactly, that's why I'd call them battle-captives instead of slaves.

For those interested in some historical research/inspiration re:Thralls.

Viking Answer Lady

Also just a fantastic site to bookmark if you're into that sort of information.

So for my icon, I was thinking the head of some big nasty. Dragon and troll are the most obvious.

Alright. Nowhear and Seth86 should have some playbooks, to see if they match what they were hoping for. I've also decided it would be best to have characters before we define more of the world so I've held off asking questions. So let's get our characters and playbooks all decided first, then we'll move from there...

Creating Your Characters:

• Name and Playbook! (Should be simple enough. And only one person per playbook.)
  
• Racial Blood-Mix?! (If you're full-blooded human, awesome. But if something else is mixed in there, let me know. And just name one mix. Whatever you name, that thing exists now obviously...)
  
• Snippet of Background or Personality! (Give us an idea of what you're about, what your character is like. Anything you make up for a background becomes canon. So have fun. We'll resolve contradictions between backgrounds)
  
• Why are you with this group?! (More of this may come up with bonds. But I at least want some kind of motivation for working with the others.)

Please Disregard the Following for the moment:

• Don't select a Racial Move yet. (Unless you really like the one in the playbook. Otherwise, we'll come up with that later.)
  
• Don't select an Alignment. (Seriously. We're going a different direction. We'll decide on that later too. But for now it can be blank)
  
• Don't select Bonds yet. (I mean, how could you? You don't know everyone yet! Plus, I intend to alter those too... so many changes!)

So for my icon, I was thinking the head of some big nasty. Dragon and troll are the most obvious.

Sweet! How does that work? Is it attached to something, contained in something, or a messy head in a bag?

Why does it remain preserved?

What ties it to your community/longship?

RonetheSlayer, right out of the gate:

Okay, Ive a mind to play a burly fighter named Prottigr Stein, Old Norse for "Mighty Stone." He's big, somewhat overweight, a little filthy, ruddy cheeked, boisterous and lighthearted. He is approx 35 years old. He wields a massive warhammer that has the (Huge: Messy and forceful) enhancement. He drinks heavy, and beds heavier. Unflinching in combat, Prottigr spent a few years in his youth as a raider, pilaging and murdering all along the coasts. He left that life behind though, to become a mercenary, and has never turned back.

This is a good reference picture for Prottigr
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/320/0/d/0d483d41d82168a77b7fb83eaa2c 7ffb-d6uhmt8.jpg

Prottigr will be purely an all out melee character. Never taking the time to master let alone learn any other skills, besides bashing people with his hammer, and consuming alarming levels of ale. Of legendary strength and constitution, Prottigr is litterly like a rock, running through and over enemies, taking blow after blow, and laughing like a maniac throughout. What he excels in strength and toughness, he lacks in speed and agility. I will assume throughout that 8 out of 10 enemies I encounter are faster than Prottigr.

Nor is Protigr of impressive intellect. Barely able to read and write, preferring to let his hammer do the talking. Some people have jokingly teased Prottigr that he must have some giant blood in him. Shrugging at the thought, Prottigr secretly enjoys the idea, and has even passively encouraged the rumor.

My other idea for a character is Aegir Ulfir, an experienced sailor with a secretive past. His name means Sea-Wolf, and any character with knowledge of law and/or local may recognize the name

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And RonetheSlayer, if you want him to actually be related to giants, then we can have his race be "Jötunn-blooded". We'll figure out some racial move for that if so.

Even though I like the idea of Prottigr Stein, I decided to go with Aegir Ulfir.

Name and Playbook: Aegir Ulfir and Fighter or Cleric

Bloodmix: Full-blooded human OR distant merfolk relation

Background:
Aegir Ulfir is an experienced sailor with a secretive past. Aegir is comfortable aboard the deck of a ship, and agile enough to prove himself an essential member of any crew. He is knowledge about shipbuilding, navigation, astronomy, naval strategy, and reading signs of weather.

In combat, Aegir is a focused and fierce combatant, never allowing himself to get seperated or surrounded, yet willing to throw himself in front of a wounded ally, screaming defiantly as he defends his friend. Weilding a long handled, single edge axe, Aegir also has two to four throwing axes (if the DM allows).

Aegir has a dark secret. Though his exterior attitude suggests that he considers all mysticism to be a joke, Aegir reveres the Lords of the Deepdark, sometimes called the Morkoth, othertimes called The Octopus Lords. They are aren't gods, or deities even. They are a mythical race of creatures, appearing only few times throughout history. The dreaded kraken is a direct result of their rare appearance on the surface waters, usually to punish a society that has insulted them, or simply to claim a ship whose captian has mocked their power. Believers of the Lords of the Deepdark are rare, and almost exclusively sailors.

This "religion" doesn't have to play any part in the story, in fact, it could just be complete bologna in the game fiction. Nevertheless, Aegir will perform his rites, and make his offerings, guaranteeing safe passage for the party and their ship.

Heres a good reference picture for Aegir Ulfir.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/30/66/9e/30669e5c54067ca825d080e0 c3b6b42c.jpg

Why is be with the group? Aegir is a seaman through and through. He seeks to find a true home at sea, onboard a powerful ship, with a crew of true companions. Though he has left the pirate life behind him, he is still vulnerable to the trappings of his past: greed for riches, lust for freedom, etc. I'll come up with something deeper while im resting.

I would like to throw some ideas around with you guys, but I have the flu atm, and barely managed to get this stuff posted. When I am feeling better, I'll get on and try to contribute to world building some more.

And i'm sorry i keep double posting, my browser keeps going screwy on me. I can't explain how it happens.

@RonetheSlayer, Understandable, get well soon and all that.

@nohwear Thanks, I woke up and made some crazy tea stuff. It had like mint, lemon, thyme, and cinnamon i think. Worked real well.

A problem Ive run into though is choosing Aegir's class. In my mind's eye, I am seeing Aegir running along the length of the ship, fighting off boarders with his axe, and knocking them off the sides of the ship with torrents of seawater. Something along the lines of Battlemage, except he is drawing on the blessings of the Lords of the Deepdark. Which may make him more like a cleric, yet at the same time, he isn't gonna be healing anyone. Some "blessings" that I'm seeing him use are things like causing sudden waves to bash against enemy ships, gouts of water, stirring up strong gusts to carry the ship faster in times of pursuit, predicting storms, and even communing with sea monsters.

Also, I would like ur opinion on Aegir's religion. They don't have an official name, being something from distant mythology (in game). Im drawing very lightly from actual scandinavian history. In Norse mythology, Rán (Old Norse "sea" or "robber") is a sea goddess. According to tales from the period, she is married to Ægir (the king of the ocean, essentially Posiedon) and they have nine daughters together. This is where I spin things:

Rán proved herself unfaithful to her husband, by laying with his hated nemesis, the sorceror prince Loki, who loved her. As punishment, Ægir forced Rán to continue laying with Loki, until he was so far in love with her, he could not bear to lose her. When the time came, Ægir forced Rán to break Loki's heart. In return, Loki used forbidden Svartálfar (dark elf) black magic to curse Rán's nine daughters, turning them into cold hearted, souless monsters. Ægir, disgusted with what his daughters had become, yet unable to help or destroy them due to the black magics upon them, sent them to the deepest recesses of his domain, far far below the surface of the ocean.

The nine daughters, utterly transformed beyond gender, are much alike what we depict as krakenesque beasts. Each one is different in appearance, and each has a different domain over an aspect of the ocean. They are indeed very powerful, and beyond the control of any god or deity, aside from maybe the Svartálfar, the Dark Elves, who "supposedly" were wiped out by the prime gods thousands of years ago, though remnants of their power remain in the world, from underwater ruins, to onyx obelisks scattered across the land.

Anyway, the Nine Lords of the Deepdark, since the absence of the gods, reign supreme over the sea. They don't attack every ship, or every harbor, who doesnt pay them tribute or anything like that. But those sailors who spend enough time at sea, oftentimes come to revere them, and pay them tribute in various forms, so that they would grant them safe passage, and protect their vessel from weather and monsters.

Let meh know what you think, and also if you wanna expand on the Svartálfar any, lore-wise.

Or if you guys don't think Aegir fits into the whole theme of things, say so, and I might just go with Prottigr.

Just an FYI I will be indisposed and likely AFK for most of this weekend.

As much as I love Channeler, I'd suggest you take a look at it, Rone. It makes you a tanky/crowd-controlling monster. I was planning to go high-str high-con with the one I made, and taking things like conduit warrior. Wind/Water as primary elements, or perhaps 'storm' more specifically, if you can work out the details of why it isn't just better. Bender of the Elements might let you control weather to a degree. It's neat, and castery, with no healing aside from self-healing, and very probably fits your concepts of what you want to do (especially if you reflavor elementals to minor pacty things.)

This is Nohwear, I have not built hims yet, but I will be using this persona.

I was thinking. It seems to make sense that with the gods quiet, that the people would turn more to the spirits. Thus there would be respect for shaman types, while more traditional priest might be seen more as foolish relics. Thoughts?

I'm also pretty unavailable on weekends. But keeping up on stuff even if not able to reply in depth. I'll be back at it monday. Very cool stuff being brought up!

@hotaru Indeed, that sounds pretty good. Could you perchance direct meh towards some info on the channeler , I'm having problems finding it. Also, if you were thinking of making a channeler, u go right ahead and do so. The arcane aspect of Aegir can be something I expand on later in the game. I was wanting to definitely have a martial\skill focus for him to begin with anyway.His reverence for the Fathom Lords (another name I'm toying with) is something more for flavor. Mayhaps he dabbles in magic later on, perhaps being taught by one of the magic users in the group?

Thing is, I'm holding off in case there's not enough interest in the game as things get hashed out. I was, after all, the last to show interest :P It'd suck to barely eek into the window and kick someone else out that'd been excited for longer.

Either way, I can play a ton of things, as I've only ever played a -single- channeler. So 'what' I play isn't really a huge deal for me. :)

Anywho, I'll see about sending you a link that Frogfoot sent us. :) As it is not my Google Doc that is being shared, I'll ask Frogfoot (Hi Frogfoot!) if it's cool to share it. He can also just go ahead and send it to you if he deems it's cool. :) I'm not sure how copyrights and such work for all of this, so I'll leave it to him, or just share if he lets me!

You can share the link Hotaru, that's no problem at all.

I'll stat up Baelgrin the Old, ship's bard, later today.

I've rethought my character a bit, making him into the ship's chronicler, if that's alright. Figuring that the Norse oral tradition would be great fodder for a bardic historian.

Just scroll down a little. :)

Sorry for radio silence. Long day of travel today! Thanks for sharing the channeled book. I think that could be a great fit. I'll look around a bit too.

Even if I can't contribute much at the moment, I'll still pop in each day so you know I'm around!

RonetheSlayer: I think that's a cool concept. The Svartálfar fit well lore-wise, because we create the lore. So you can keep the story as it is or even mess with it however you wish. Likewise, you can have traces of their own lineage mixed with your own.

See if that Channeler class works for you. I could also try to piece something together from Class Warfare. To be honest, most of the Grim World books seem to be overpowered compared to the rest. They start with a lot more going on than any other class. But that makes sense as Grim World is supposed to be quite unforgiving, and the lore is well thought out.

Nohwear: That makes great sense. If the gods have grown silent, than people would not put a lot of stock in what priests have to say/offer, instead turning to those that could speak with the spirits as you said. I like that idea.

Hotaru: Thanks for sharing that link. And I'm glad you're sticking around!

Frogfoot: Baelgrin the Old sounds great. Oral traditions would make the most sense and be see either as especially valuable or entirely irrelevant during a sort of apocalypse. I like that dynamic!

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So what can I help people with? I'm out of town through the end of the week, but popping in on my phone while I can. Once we have characters I'll have setting questions and more specific ones for your characters as well!

I found this collection of playbooks.

@Hotaru & Frogfoot: Thanks, I like the channeller alot, especially how the channeling of magic scars or further damages his body; I'm a huge fan of magic with a cost. The magic Aegis can do isn't something learned, it's innate for him. Im thinking a culmination of his distant merfolk and Svartálfar heritage grant him a limited scope of magical ability.

But Aegis is first and foremost a man of the sea. He has been a pirate or raider at times, a trader and professional sailor other times. It wasn't until later in his life, let's say mid thirties, that he began to revere the Fathom Lords. The more he learned about them, the more he began to believe, and the more he grew to respect their power over his life. Unknown to him, his Svartálfar ancestry also naturally draws him to The Fathom Lords, who were created by Svartálfar black magic.

@DM Mogthrasir: The above being stated, Aegis is primarily a melee combatant. He has fought with steel his whole life, not magic. Even if all I can do is catrip-like magics, that is fine. That is something for me to work towards. Being new to DW, is there anyway you and I can work out something for my class that reflects these traits? I'm not trying to be difficult, I promise.

It makes sense. I want you guys to play characters you like. I'll check out some other ones on the "big list" and see about class warfare too.

What I'm looking at is a metal Channeler, or a fighter with a bit of multiclass into Channeler, depending on if that's okay.

For a metal Channeler, I'd plan to get Callus, which gives armor 5(!) against your primary element. The problem here, is that most weapons will be metal (is that a problem? It wouldn't apply to monsters, natural attacks, wooden implements, etc...). As a result, I could totally pick something like 'steel' instead. The cool thing that makes this fitting is that a huge number of Norse monsters couldn't be harmed via steel.

The Fighter that dips into Channeler would like to pick up Conduit Warrior, and Channel if it's required to take Conduit Warrior. Otherwise, the character would likely take the improved Barrier tag down the line.

Finally, there's the ranger, who'd likely use a raven for a companion, that I'd -really- like to get Through Death's Eyes (from Fighter) on, if there's any way to manage that.

If you'd like me to help flavor the world, I wouldn't at all mind. :)

Look at those possibilities. I love this system.

Also, note. That's not armor +5. That's just armor 5. Which is only two higher than a normal set of platemail, and only against one damage type. So it's not super amazing, but it's still kinda neat.

I apologize for not being around, folks. I had expected that I'd be able to get on a bit over the holidays despite a family reunion.

I had not counted on another death in the family. I am probably going to be indisposed for several more days, if you have to drop me and move on with someone else I understand.

Oh wow, That is most unfortunate indeed! I am sorry for your loss and continual bad fortune.

Had some issues myself, though nowhere near as serious (lost my laptop when I moved back "home" from school and had a lot more going on for the holidays than I had planned)...but I'm still interested in playing.

I saw somewhere before the whole laptop thing a site that had a playable dragon race for DW. Depending on if I can find it again, or anyone knows what I'm talking about....I have an idea for a character along those lines. If it's not kosher I can tweak the idea for it to be a human.

Dragon or not, I'd like Boran to be a ranger, though if we have an abundance of warrior types or someone else is really itching to play a ranger I have some ideas for making him a Shaman instead.

Having a ship as a fundamental aspect of the group sounds cool to me. I've played in a few games where we've gone on long voyages and ocean travel has been temporarily important, but nothing where the whole campaign revolves around it.

As a Ranger I could see Boran acting as a general purpose sailor, and guard for when we run into some sea monster or another. As a Shaman I see him doing various rituals to appease the spirits of the sea/reassure the superstitious sailors.

Hey guys! Sorry for being incommunicado these past few days; I've been on Christmas vay-cay with my family without any internet access since last Wednesday. I'm back with a vengeance today, though - posting from the airport. As soon as I get home I'll get caught up on everything.

Sorry for your loss, Cyrin.

Hey all. Still around, but still unable to contribute much until next week when things get "normal" again.

Hotaru: I'm still toying with ideas for your class. I may just build a fighter type class with some small magical ability. We'll see what comes out from that. There's a handful of others that are looking at the ranger, so that may be contested as we will only have 1 of a single class.

So you can still try the other routes if I can't come up with something you like better, and we can find out ways to multiclass to other options with minor setbacks.

Tisiphone: I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope you and your family are coping with the loss. That shakes everything up--emotionally as well as taking a lot of time and energy to deal with.

I'm the biggest bottle-neck in all of this as I still won't be able to really get rolling until next week. So if you think you'll be back then, then stay on board. But if you feel you need to drop, you're picking the right priorities.

Fraust: I haven't looked a lot at the dragon character, but will when I have more time. I know there's a dragon racial option from Grim world, which may be what you're thinking of. Remember though that everyone will be human, so the best I can offer you is someone with draconic blood somewhere down the line. That could manifest in just about whatever way you wish though, so same function with human flavor.

I'm also looking at alternate options for hirelings (and animal companions by that same token). I'll explain more of the houserules later, and if anything it should make your companion more versatile rather than less. But I want you to know that's likely on the horizon.

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I hope everyone had a great Christmas, or whatever wintery holiday you may celebrate. I'm still here, and this is still kicking. Monday of next week I'll be much more focused on it!

Let's pretend I'm going fighter for now, for your questions:

Creating Your Characters:

• Name and Playbook!
  Tofa the Thrall, Channeler! (Later down the line, maybe she'll earn her freedom.)
  
• Racial Blood-Mix?!
  Distant ties to the Valkyrie
  
• Snippet of Background or Personality!
  Tofa was found chained to a tree in a village that was raided by the group's 'community'. No one was quite willing to say what the person had done, but they found it impossible to remove the manacles from the woman. She spoke little, and didn't seem to have a specific answer, but once removed from the tree, she simply wrapped the chains around her arms. She fights fiercely with her signature weapon (flail-style, who hasn't wanted to use a character that fights with chains?), and always seems to be a step ahead of her enemies... now, if only folks knew why she hadn't been allowed to fight for the village when the group showed up....
  
• Why are you with this group?!
  She is a thrall. Her village was taken. She needs no other reason. That might change once she's earned her honor, and thus her freedom, but until then...

The idea behind Tofa is that she's a monster on the battlefield, were she not already part valkyrie, she would certainly be one of the chosen. The reason I wanted through death's eyes was for specifically this: Valkyrie are the choosers, and it's fitting that with her background, the character would be capable of determining such things.

Metal may not be the best element for her to multiclass for channeling. Death or Divine also fit, but I'm open to suggestions! :) Lightning in particular. Of note Tofa is a feminine name for Thor ;)

Looks cool. And it also looks like in total we have 7 interested players:

Hotaru
Nohwear
Seth86
DM Frogfoot
RonetheSlayer
Tisiphone
Fraust

And as I'm feeling now, we'll start with all 7 if all of you are still interested when we get there. I know I said I'd have to limit it to 5, but I've changed my mind. It may be chaotic at the beginning, but I'm also toying with ways to deal with that. And you guys are coming up with really interesting stuff, so I want to keep all of you as resources :)

How is everyone coming with their characters by the way? All of my choices are essentially made. I just need to fill out some fluff.

I'll choose my class after everyone else has settled in. :)

Baelgrin the Bard,
Rone the Fighter or Cleric,
Sven the Goldeen

What's everyone else playing? :)

I am a modified Paladin called a Sea King in English. The biggest mechanical difference is that I am less of a tank and more of a leader. You can see the playbook in my profile.

So it's safe to say 'Charisma' is covered, between the Bard and the Pokemon?

Good thing I was planning to sac it :P

Also, apologies for the spam: Important information for everyone: He's already opened the gameplay page, allowing you to dot it if you're for sure in. That means you don't have to keep checking your bookmark. :)

I'm also leaning heavily towards channeler.

One of the things from Grim World is that the 'human' racial for the classes is as follows (And yes, I did see you say not to do racial things as you normally would!):

Human Plasticity
When creating a character, you may choose to take
a Starting Move from any class playbook not already
in use. However, one of your existing Starting Moves
becomes an Advanced Move (you lose it, but you can
choose it later when you level up). The GM will ask
you how you came to learn the ability.

What this means is that I could totally trade off elementals as a whole to take a Fighter's signature weapon. The only question is: Would it be worth it? Or even a possibility?

Still discussing things with gm. But there is progress =^^=

Alright! So! With no one interested in channeler, the two ideas I've had as a result of a flurry of activity today rely on those, but I could totally use help in fleshing out both.

First! Tofa, as a descendent of the valkyries, is a death channeler. When the last of her village died of a mysterious plague that had no effect on her (her death effect trickling out...), She headed out in search of a new people, hopeful that she could put her skills to work for a new jarl. Ideally, I could delay elementals to take signature weapon, and get a neat spear to help with the theme. Later, when she would learn to summon elemental's, the ability is simply reflavored to Einherjar. Basically, she summons the chosen dead, who embody specific tags, rather than elemental's. Seems really neat, especially since she doesn't start with it, and it is a manifestation of her heritage. Other effects would be spectral in nature. This character would be a dex-con primary, as the spear would be precise, in an ideal world.

Second! Based on one of my other favorite Norse things: the self-fulfilling prophecy, is Kari, the rage channeler. She doesn't need the signature weapon so much for the theme. She was the young lady chained to the tree. The picture information on her is that she was once one of the mightiest warriors amongst her people, the niece of the Jarl. One day, the Karl was met with waking dreams that showed the ruin of his village, and one phrase stuck in his head: the betrayal of Kari would lead to the devastation of his people. The way would have been clear, if not for the laws handed down from the gods regarding kinslaying: kill her, and the problem goes away. But due to every villager regarding her as family, to kill her would invite the wrath of the gods. So... they melted down her prized weapon and chained her to a tree in the center of the village. Unfortunately, without her to aid in the defense of the village, it was destroyed by outsiders, all the same. It was not her betrayal of the people that the prophecy had spoken of... it was their betrayal of her. A rift opened in her heart that day that made her a conduit of pure rage.

Kari will utilize rage spirits, and induced rage in others, along with those detrimental effects that accompany such things to power her effects. Ideally, her abilities leave enemies messy, and allies positive about her sanity.