It was just a regular day in Rush, until the emergency horn sounded. After that, balls of fire began raining down. Amidst the chaos, the sounds of war rose over the wooden ramparts. The militia was called up, and civilians are quickly mustered to evacuate. You have decided to volunteer to stay and defend the town, some of you even watching your families leave you behind. The captain of the guard rallies the volunteers and delivers a quick speech.
An army of Hobgoblins is at our doorstep, and they've arrived in greater numbers than we've ever seen. They even have siege engines. There are bands of orc mercenaries, goblin suicide troopers, and even a troll. We've dealt with hobgoblins before, but never more than warbands and highway thugs. We've certainly never seen them join forces with the other monstrous creatures. We're completely under prepared, and it'll be days before reinforcements arrive. We're not going to win, but we can delay long enough for our families to get to safety. If we're lucky, some of us may even get away.
Background Information:
The nation of Perham lies against a mountain range on the far western edge of an area that is just beginning to become civilized in the past few hundred years. Borders are loose, and might makes right most of the time. Perham is politically respected, but fears that the eastern-neighboring nation of Amstead will use its military and economic power to overtake it before Perham has a chance to establish itself enough to defend against such a strike.
The capital is Lorton, which only became so because it is the major trading hub between Perham and its neighbors to the east and south. Weston is the next-largest city, having grown up around a huge spice and luxury oil trade. Spirepass guards the only route to the mountainous dwarf civilization to the west. A mighty river, unofficially called the Golden Road, passes through the center of Perham, allowing for easy exportation from Weston to Lorton and beyond. There are only two crossings of the river so far, due to its width and speed. They are at Weston and Etford.
Rush is supported by a mining trade out of a huge network of caverns nearby. After some vermin were cleared out, miners moved in to exploit the veins of ore. The network is so large, however, that it has not yet been fully explored and charted.
First of all, I firmly believe that the number one goal of an RPG is for everyone to have fun. To support that primary goal, there are a few rules.
1) Intercharacter conflict is encouraged to the extent that it does not interfere with the overall flow of the game.
2) Interplayer conflict is to be mediated immediately and out of character.
3) The GM has final say in either of these situations.
Second, this game in particular is a collaborative roleplaying experience. I have only the skeleton of a plot and setting, with lots of room to fill in blanks. Feel free to make things up including geography, history, and even common knowledge. I'm completely open to discussing any and all rule interpretations, house rules, and other suggestions, with the caveat that the GM has final say.
Along the same lines, feel free to be creative during combat and such. I am a bit of an "old school" GM, meaning that I'm more inclined to make "rulings" instead of sticking religiously to the rules. For example, if you are fighting in a bedroom, it is safe to assume that there are sheets on the bed. Therefore, as a standard action, you could throw the sheet at an enemy. If the enemy fails to make a reflex save, he would become blinded for a round. Just an example, but hopefully you get the idea.
Alignment is dumb. Pick one for your character for mechanical purposes, but don't feel constrained by it. I'll be ignoring it for the most part. That means that "detect ***" spells will only show anything if the target is extremely *** or defined by it, as in a clerc or something. In my book, the only true alignment is loot. ;)
Play by Post is a unique medium. It allows for deeper thought and planning, but suffers from the pitfalls of a very slow pace. As such, please post at least once a day. If you do not post in 24 hours during combat, you will be botted. If you do not post in 72 hours, your character will be removed by whatever means are appropriate, up to and including death.
Similarly, initiative will be streamlined to reduce waiting. Initiative will be in group, and, generally, will not even be rolled, since it's usually obvious which side goes first. If not, initiative will be rolled by the GM for each player against a DC of the average enemy initiative+11. Any players who beat the DC will go before the enemy, then the enemy will go, and then all the players will go as a group.
Combat will take place with on a grid that I will upkeep. Please use this notation for combat posts:
Steve races toward the remaining goblin and swings his axe down in a powerful arc.
__________________
Charge 7 squares west
[dice=Power Attack]1d20+4[/dice]
[dice=Damage]1d8+3[/dice]
You will be responsible for tracking your own resources including HP, spells per day, arrows, food, etc. I will try to keep up, but the more hands on deck the better.
You will be responsible for your own animal companions and mounts in combat, but they can and will be used at the GM's discretion outside of combat for plot and roleplaying purposes, but they will never be put into harm without your permission.
Player Characters have a pool of Conviction, which functions like Action points. All PCs get 6 Conviction. Conviction is replenished whenever the party has a night of complete rest.
Conviction can be used in the following ways:
Cost.....Result
1........Roll an extra d20. Keep the highest. This must be declared before you roll.
2........Re-roll a d20. This may be declared after rolling.
2........Take an extra move action. This can only be used on your turn.
3........Take an extra standard action. This can only be used on your turn.
The death flag is definitely designed for campaigns where characters can't come back from the dead. This lets those campaigns get rid of random lethality without eliminating death altogether as a possibility. This is done with a change in the "social contract" between players and GM. Whereas in standard D&D the player is at the mercy of the DM and the rules, with the death flag the player decides when the stakes of a conflict are life and death.
As an Immediate action, a player character can choose to raise his Death Flag and gain 6 Conviction instantly (even if this brings their total Conviction pool above 6).
When the death flag is raised, the normal rules for death apply. If the death flag has not been raised, then the character, if killed, is treated as reducing the player character to 1 hit point above death. The Death Flag can be lowered by spending 6 Conviction.
Under the "Race" blank on your character profile, please include HP, AC, Saves, Init, Perception.
