Here you go folks! Congratulations on making characters that I found extremely interesting. I hope you're all looking forward to this as much as I am!
Nice choices, IMO. The stories are cool we cover all the arm-hammer-anvil bases, we've got the classic arcane-divine-skill-beatstick roles covered, and a nice mix of background integration. Good call.
This should prove very interesting indeed
I try to set things up so that mechanics and story are both covered in my face-to-face games, so I saw no reason to have it otherwise in PbP. However, before we get into things in earnest, there is one major thing I have to address. We have a mix of alignments for out group, with 3 Neutrals, 2 Evils, and Marcus. While I have no issues with in character arguments (which will inevitably happen), I would like to issue my standard reminder that this is a team game, and thus it is in all of your best interests to act like a team. I'm sure none of you will have a problem with that, but it doesn't hurt to state it either.
That's the good thing about Lawful Evil; they can play nice when they have to. Magneto will team with the X-Men when it's to his advantage.
Plus, I'm assuming we're under orders from the Queen, so that's great IC motivation for a guy who is trying to legitimize himself.
Besides, as I think I tried to convey, Edmund is ruthless, but not cruel without necessity. Think Raistlin or, as mentioned earlier, Magneto. He's not such a caricature of villainy that he's going to attack someone for being good.
Mock them, perhaps...but yes, OOC I hate PVP. Rivalry and japes are one thing, but that's as far as I like.
In case of Leandric I can say that while he is Lawful Evil he leans somewhat towards neutral on both axis.
His evil also mostly stems from his selfishness and lack of empathy for all but a select few people. He isn't going out to hurt others just for the fun of it. His is a lazy, passive evil so to speak.
One thing I did notice is that we're quite melee heavy with only Sclivian functioning at range.
I have an ammentum and javelins...
I dont think I asked, and sorry if you mentioned this, but how will you be doing mapping?
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Hey everyone, glad to be on board, and thanks GM for the pick.
One factor that should help ameliorate potential alignment conflicts is that Marcus is used to being a Chelaxian peasant, and all that entails. He expects nobility and those in power to be self serving and even cruel, and doesn't really believe that as a peasant his views will be given much weight.
Thus I don't see him being too shocked if/when the other group members act in ways that don't align with his beliefs; his Chelaxian cultural conditioning means he's much more tolerant/numb to what might outrage other good-aligned PC's from different countries.
While I'm looking forward to some good conflict-generated rp, if I ever foresee any real problems coming our way I'll bring my concerns to this Discussion thread so we can hash things out here first.
(GM, if you have a moment could you create the Gameplay thread? That way I can dot and delete so as to be notified in my Campaigns tab when new posts are made to the Discussions thread. Thanks!)
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Wait...Wait...wait...am I...
Yep. Only non-human. Sweet!
Sorry. I had a snowflake moment.
Hello everyone! I'm glad to be in, especially with such a cool cast.
Hiram is a very practical sort of Evil. While he is capable of committing horrible atrocities if needed, he doesn't do bad things for their own sake, or because he enjoys them. He leads a near ascetic lifestyle, and doesn't appreciate petty cruelty or anything else that he sees as self-indulgent behaviour. Sadism is for the decadent nobility, who are too soft and weak to wield real power.
Tellis is: Glad to be aboard, it would have been embarrassing to return to his peers after his glib announcement... Slightly surprised that Edmund is glad to be non-human, but I suppose we all must embrace our disabilities... Interested in learning about Hiram's culture as it is quite exotic for one from the heart of the empire... Glad Sclivian is along so no one will expect him to attend to clerical tasks... Enchanted that a peasant hero such as Marcus is along, surely that will fit well into the bardic recitations of the group's exploits... Uncertain about Leandric because Tellis's father cursed the name numerous times in drunken fits claiming things must have been forged, which would be a sin that Tellis would never countenance - Fortunately, Tellis considers his father both an inveterate liar and a horrible judge of character.
Disability? I can bite through a shield and set my face on fire like its a brief exfoliation. What do you mean "disability". Third eye can spot jealousy, too. :-P I was OOC cause it's the discussion thread. :-)
Leandric does not care about Edmund's Tiefling-ness. In fact, from the vague memories he has of his father he thinks he might have been a tiefling as well. He's not sure though, because those memories are vague and he was only 6 years old when he last saw his father and if he was a tiefling the features weren't as dominant as they are in Edmund.
He also doesn't mind working with Tellis despite any previous history with his family. Work is just that and when a job is done Leandric moves on to the next. Nothing about it was personal, just business.
As for Marcus being a peasant, Leandric cares even less about that than he does about Edmund being a tiefling. He himself is nothing but a lucky orphan, as far as those things exist, and it's only this luck that kept him from a life as less than a peasant. Besides, Marcus seems to be a decent sorts and maybe even more deserving of noble status than some of the babbling hedonists that do hold a title.
The rest of the crew, well Hiram is an old, vague acquaintance and a dependable fellow so good in his book and Sclivian holds a job similar to his own. It does mean that he'll instinctively distrust Sclivian, at least at the start, mostly because he knows how he deals with other in his profession.
Surprisingly enough, I see Edmund of having a begrudging respect for Marcus (who I think forgot to add his additional Background Skills).
Considering his own seeking alternate routes to fame and promises to disavow him from his family after his mother's death, he's spent many years working to prepare himself for his eventual self-reliance. Studying to be a Hellknight has taught him to respect ability, order, and discipline, and a man who can rally a village, rescue a noble hostage without losing lives, and maintain his humility is rather admirable, no matter what station one comes from. I don't think they would've interacted before this assignment, necessarily. Edmund wouldn't be invited to the balls that Marcus grudgingly accepted admission to, and Ed is most certainly not a countryside kind of guy.
I believe we've hammered out the details of Ed's relationship with the others: Hiram, a former teacher and military insructor; Leandric, owed a favor in response to pulling some strings to get him a fair admission potential with the Hellknights; Tellis an old friend, rival and fellow member of disgraced nobility obviously having much in common (though obviously by the tone presented earlier, again, I see lots of fun poking between the characters); and Sclivian being offered protection in exchange for researching Edmund's fiendish patron ancestor
Hiram has some fiendish blood in him too, though it's not nearly as apparent as with Edmund. He is probably not even completely aware of it, though it might partly explain why they get along.
His connections to Edmund and Leandric are fine as we discussed them previously. Hiram probably doesn't know any of the others to begin with, which is fine. He was pretty new in Egorian before the group was sent for the mission. It does make sense for all of us to be loosely in the same extended social network, assuming the ambassador or whoever chose us is somehow previously connected to all of us as well.
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Mr. Ruttle is the Korvosan contact for the group, tasked with setting them up and handling any paperwork involving a move to Korvosa. He will have most likely been coordinating the transfer with Mr. Scrivan, having been contacted as an appropriate solicitor at the colony by either the Corinesten family or the Charthagnion family or both.
Hmm... Would Hiram or Marcus make this more difficult? Not sure yet.
"Seaside property, if you would, my good sir. I hear the seafood is delectable in Korvosa, I don't mind the smell of fish, and I absolutely dare anyone to try and mug me on a midnight stroll. They'll be fishing parts of the mugger up for weeks. Plus, I found the endless crashing of the waves to be comforting to meditation. Further, dockside women are less discriminatory. Half orcs, in particular, seem to find me exotic. Nothing with hammocks, though. A good proper bed, something a captain would rent, and a bar with proper brandy on premises."
And Gameplay thread is up!
I dont think I asked, and sorry if you mentioned this, but how will you be doing mapping?
Can't believe I missed this earlier. To put things simply... Not entirely sure yet. I don't have much experience with online maps as of yet, so that's going to be a learning experience. If all else fails, I will approach it in the same way I approach it with my group. Namely, chances are I won't use a map. I'll just talk about how things relative are to you, and go from there. Thankfully, this method is easy in comparison on a PbP forum, and really takes advantage of my houserule for flanking.
If you decide you want to, my second Fallout group has been using a spreadsheet based map on Google Docs that anyone can update. It doesn't allow for pretty pictures, but for tactical positions and the like, it's useful. I ask because I plan on taking advantage of bottlenecking and other such abilities when possible on indoor combats. Whatever you feel I best, though. My other group has run through like five combats without a map yet. I'm just not on computer most times, so Roll20, which seems popular, won't usually work for me, as it's not phone friendly.
The fact that you can't get to Roll20 is very good to know, so I thank you for that information. Google Docs was the one I was thinking of taking advantage of, so that'll come into play when combats get complicated (ie tons of people involved, wall spells, etc.) Aside from that, you guys will probably just have your posts and mine to go off of.
Google docs works well... That said, I have found that PbP runs much better with maps, otherwise people end up waiting for multiple posts to illustrate the scene dragging things out.
Duly noted, and thank you for the advice. Also, I for one am glad that these little perception roll fudges are getting out of the way now. Here's to hoping this trend doesn't continue.
Perception and Sense Motive don't become class skills for me until I get into Stalwart Defender. In the meantime, I am a shadow of my concept.
Even simple map might be better than none at all, at least once things start getting more complicated. Let's see how it goes.
As for all the failed Perception checks... that must have really been a rought trip, eh? :P
Perception = Hangover I think...
And Tellis simply couldn't comprehend that he possibly could have been classified as a servant. Just not possible enough to even be a consideration that occurred to him.
Obviously talking about Hiram and Marcus, man. Obviously.
What? You nobles, servants? Pfft, that's unlikely! I mean, who would be so gauche as to even insinuate that? ... Anyways, post is up. I realized that I never described just what Dressarosa looked like earlier, so I will be rectifying that little mistake here when I have the chance.
Hiram being older (I lowered Ed to 24 to reflect the backstory that you could be his tutor), as well as his tutor, along with Ed not having a father figure that actually respects him or even an older brother, I figured he actually tries to impress Hiram, perhaps even looks up to Jim for rising up so far socially from a slave, seeing it as an example for how much he believes he can accomplish. I think hushing him earlier sealed it.
Makes sense to me. :)
Weee, more posts! Got a map of Korvosa up for you guys as well. Now onto what I said I would do earlier: Describe Dressarosa Arvanxi.
Dressarosa is a 27 year old woman that stands in at 5'5", and weighs 120 pounds. Obviously the sort that has never had to work a day in her life, Dressarosa has pale white skin that has never seen any sort of blemish cross it surface, as well as red hair that goes surprisningly well with her green eyes. Add in a figure that would inspire a good deal of envy in many other woman, and it's no wonder that the older sister of Korvosa's queen was considered a shoo-in for becoming a diva like her father desired. Sadly, while Dressarosa is certainly pleasing to look at, her singing voice left much to be desired. As such, it seemed that she would be a political prize that her father could trade off to solidify his powerbase in Westcrown. That is, of course, until Ileosa ran off to the backwater former colony of Korvosa to become its queen. With House Arvanxi having a surprisingly good connection to the former territory, House Thrune has decided that it would be in their best interest to have Dressarosa check in on her sister, particularly amid oh-so-troubling rumors of the King's failing health. After all, without any legitimate heirs, the throne would fall to Ileosa, and it would be a shame to let such a young girl rule over a place like that without proper guidance....
Also worth noting, if Marcus is open to it, is that Dressarosa could easily be the noblewoman he rescued.
I think that's a brilliant idea, DM. It really hooks Marcus into the game, invests him in Dressarosa's well being, and gives him ample reason to be proactive about this mission. Thanks!
And that will make it even easier for this crew to celebrate the peasant hero and avoid a bit of intra-party class war...
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Oh, the irony. Ed actually values merit over title, (even though he really values title - but since he has no official title himself and has been forced to rely on commoners, he has learned there are many exceptions), but you can't just wipe away a privelaged upbringing overnight, can you? "Stock" got exactly the reaction I expected. :-) this guy is fun to play.
Some additional questions about the house:
Do we have our own rooms?
Does the building have its own yard, or is it really close to the nearby buildings? If there is a yard, is it walled? If not, how close are the nearest neighboring houses?
Is there a back door? Perhaps most importantly, is there sewer access? If there isn't, perhaps we should make one. We need an escape route.
Edit: Oh, wait a second. Does the basement lock from the outside?
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Basement = dungeon. Nice folks, the previous owners.
Well, it might prove useful...
Well, it might prove useful...
So Hiram is going to the brothel, then...[/cheekybastard]
Minor character sheet fixes - forgot to add my attack penalty from the tower shield, and my dodge bonus from the feat. Would you look at that Level 1 AC? TANK MODE!
Some additional questions about the house:
Do we have our own rooms?
Does the building have its own yard, or is it really close to the nearby buildings? If there is a yard, is it walled? If not, how close are the nearest neighboring houses?
Is there a back door? Perhaps most importantly, is there sewer access? If there isn't, perhaps we should make one. We need an escape route.
Edit: Oh, wait a second. Does the basement lock from the outside?
Yes, and then some.
Walled Yard, not exceptionally big since, ironically, Korvosa has slight overcrowding issues. The nearest house have some alley-space between you guys, but are relatively close. However, someone would have to be exceptionally good at jumping to clear the distance between the manor walls (roughly 20 feet), and would be better off just climbing the wall instead.
There is a back door. No sewer access that you have noticed as of yet, though that may not be from it not existing to your knowledge.
Yes.
Are there any expectations on hour our group is to use our time while we wait for the lady? As in, are we expected to be ready and on call at home, or dismissed for the evening, or are there no expectations in place, and it's up for us to decide?
Marcus is kind of in agreement with Hiram. He'd prefer to stay close and within reach in case needed.
Yeah, IC, I'm for kicking back, but OOC I would appreciate some direction.
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Here's the thing: I'm, like, 99% certain that something is going to happen to you guys either way. I'm simply waiting to see how things play out before I decide which one I go with. Since, at the moment it seems like you've all settled upon going out IC, I'll run with that.
Just to make sure on my part: I'm not giving you all too much or too little information, right? That has been a complaint players have had for me before, so I get a tad paranoid about it at times.
Not to me, so far.
No, everything's going great, far as I can tell. You're giving us enough room up front to get to know each other, while still maintaining a presence. I'm really enjoying myself.
Ditto.
I think we are having a good opportunity to flesh out our characters from an RP perspective, and heading to the Inn for a bit should provide further opportunity for that. I for one don't mind a little push in a certain direction from a GM in order to keep us on course, however. The plot line seemed to give us some free time to gather information at the local tavern and that's what Tellis is about while he tries to build bonds among his new companions.