GM Rednal's Godbound (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

Lovely :) just wanted to make sure.

Okay, any thoughts on the applicants to your pantheon? You can PM me if you'd rather give your thoughts in private. ^^

I like both submissions. I feel like Nerdzul's concept is really interesting and more fleshed out, but Vrog Skyreaver's submission is still interesting (if less detailed) and mechanically brings more different stuff to the party than Nerdzul's. Vrog is also a MUCH more consistent poster, with Nerdzul having 30 posts over three years of account "life".

My 2 cp there, I think Vrog would be a better fit for long term player, but Nerdzul has the better character.

There is also mdt's Listrana, though I'm not too sure how her honorbound character would mesh with this ragtag bunch of misfits. Conflict can be nice but strife is usually not.
Other than that, I basically agree with SD above. I've had a bad experience with a "forsaken knight" a while ago, but I try not to be prejudiced.

MDT GMs one of my games and played in one of my games. So, I've been recommending him to Rednal as a player, since before the campaign started.

After him, I find posting history is an excellent predictor of player behavior, so then I would choose Vrog first and view Nerdzul as a risk.

As to quality of submissions, I think Rednal has free hand to tinker with each character, in order to integrate them into the pantheon. We had such a clear origin story. Introducing newcomers will be challenging, but I've confidence in Rednal considering the fantastic story so far.

cheers

I appreciate that, since I've been writing the story maybe one or two posts ahead of where you're actually at. XD Here's hoping that it holds up.

I like mdt as well, though I agree having a knightly sort might not mesh well with the pirate, nihilist thief, and musician.

*bows*

I thank thee for the slot. And the kind words.

And Jubal, no the nice words won't help Mud find the down-spout any faster. :)

In the meantime, though, you may want to tweak your backstory to align with the nations aligned in the book. There are places with a ton of tiny kingdoms, and specifics will help. XD

@Jebat: Since you know mdt, go ahead and double-check their profile for me to be sure all the numbers work out, would you? 'S good to get extra eyes on things since we're all fairly new to the system. XD

I will as soon as I can get a few minutes, buried at work. I did put in a suggestion, although I may have forgotten to update the background I c/p'd.

Ok, I made a quick easy fix. She's from a Far Realm, only recently arrived in Arcem. That seems to be the best way to handle it. She's a hundred or so years old (undying), so she's spent quite a while already as a godbound. She's not advanced as a godbound because she was the only godbound in her former land, and never had to stretch her abilities.

OK. I've reviewed Listrana and want to highlight a few things:

1. I thought our characters were supposed to have become godlings in the last year or so. Listrana has been godbound for awhile.

2. I thought our characters were supposed to be from the known realms as their godbound. Listrana is from beyond.

3. She uses the Artifact rules (pg 176) to get an extra 8 points of gifts. There are DM discretion and approvals written into the rules.

4. The profile is not formatted as you asked. MDT, look at our profiles.

Two of those are story. The third should be reviewed. The last is bookkeeping. Beyond that, the character looks to be by the rules. But, I'm no expert.

cheers

1) I made that change recently, if it's a problem, that's no big deal. I had not remember they must be recent godhoods, and with her origin, being from the Far Realms seemed to work better. If it's an issue, I can rechange it.

2) Nothing in the known realms fits, please let me know if it's a problem. I had not realized they must be from the known realm. Given she's joining late, it might be better if she isn't from around here?

3) DM approved before in recruitment, but I will change if needed.

4) I'll do that this weekend as soon as I can, I'm swamped at work this week. Have to work tomorrow to.

This is what I was remembering:

Things to Know

...

> Your character can be from any of the nations listed in the setting. There is no alignment system, but you're expected to be someone who can get along with the rest of your pantheon. Don't worry about where you'll start or how you all got together, because I've got a plan for that. Assume you don't know anyone else in the party.

> Your powers are new to you, and you've possessed them for no more than two years at most, possibly less. They can even be brand-new if you want to roleplay discovering your abilities.

If MDT's PC is older, she reminds me of a female Ramirez from Highlander. Considering we're all supposed to be figuring out our powers together, coming to the table as "experienced" will produce a different role-playing dynamic.

Then, coming to the table from beyond "the nations listed in the setting" will also produce a different RP dynamic. Those two things will set the PC separate from the original three. Now, there are lots of "Stranger" roles in mythology, so it's not without precedent, e.g. Frey and Freya as Vanir in Asgard.

As it is, the current PCs are trying to decide on what to change first in the setting. They are balancing their personal objectives of getting revenge on the Razors, for example, with Good objectives of removing slavery in the setting. Listrana does not have personal history with the setting who knew her before becoming godbound, so she would be 100% about changing the setting as she wants.

I don't know how much that "different" will matter. Remember Sesame Street? One of things is not like the other...

The main story of introduction is how to replace Kostya with Listrana, because we've got a strong Fantastic Four origin.

my two cents

In general, it's preferred if the Godbound are from the world in question - and there are actually quite a few places where a small, independent 'kingdom' could be located. There are, uh, plot reasons for that. XD

I would prefer if Listrana was less experienced myself. Having her be the only "honorbound" character as well as the one with the weight of centuries behind her creates a dynamic I don't think will really work well.

As a good rule of thumb, characters should conform to the background rules presented in the recruitment post, yes. You're all meant to be rather new to things, since discovering the full strength of your powers - and reacting to your growth - is one of the main plot threads.

Same here. Three newly-minted Godbounds and a really experienced one, nevermind one who comes from an unknown realm, could be a bit weird.

@Jebat: Love the idea of the ships spreading the news! Very crafty!

Not just a piratey face!

;D

I don't have a problem changing that, I just couldn't find any place that made sense for her to be from where a small kingdom was. The closest I could find was the Raktine Confederacy, but that's not small kingdoms, it's little barons all working together, so nobody is a king and nobody really knights or borders from the description, and wizards run everything.

Would the GM please help the player out and point out a good nation to place said small kingdom in?

Actually, the Raktine Confederacy would be a pretty good one - just say your kingdom was a bit bigger and stronger than most (but still not a full-on nation). Ancalia would also work - especially if you changed the king to a bit more of a warlord (they don't have to be especially aggressive about it, just having focused on ruling).

My two coppers on the places:

Ancalia - "For now, the surviving men and women of Ancalia shelter under the hand of countless petty warlords, surviving officials, and daring freebooters. Some of these lords are selfless defenders of the common people. Far more are desperate men and women willing to do anything to buy another month’s life for their community, whatever the cost to others. Some are nothing more than bandit kings, plundering other survivors for what they want or need." - So there could be good kings and knights, but there also are monsters roaming around.

The Bleak Reach - "A few determined souls mean to found their own petty kingdoms in the Bleak Reach. These aspiring kings and queens rarely end up ruling over anything more impressive than a small coastal village of uneasy refugees and exiles, but a few have had the charisma and contacts to launch serious colonization efforts in the interior. Such efforts usually prosper for a time, sometimes building intosubstantial statelets before the pressure of monstrous foes, demented parasite gods, or sheer inexplicable bad luck finally drags them down." - Awful place but lots of land to be claimed.

The Raktine Confederacy - "Local nobles carry assorted
titles, some inherited from the old Nezdohvan rule, others native. Domn, ban, boyar, knyaz, and voivode are the most common, but the theoretical hierarchy is irrelevant. All that matters is a noble’s strength and influence." - Basically, nobles are kings in all but name, and it's awesomely Transylvaniac.

Vissio - "Each major trading city is jealously independent, led by an elected doge, hereditary duke, or oligarchic merchant council. Smaller towns and villages pledge loyalty to a trading city, and are run by members of their leading families." - A petty kingdom (duchy-sized) sounds best.

All in all, I'd recomment Raktine, but that might just be me wanting to hunt werewolves in the Uberwald.

Ok, let me see if I can redo it...

Feel free to ask if you want any help or input. o wo/ Honestly, it probably doesn't need more than a few tweaks at most to fit into one of those settings.

Ok, how's that?

Looks good to me - and I think we can work her thing as a Knight without anyone to protect into the main goal of your pantheon - that is, sustaining your world and changing it by your divine wills.

Great! :)

I suspect Jebat will need to interact with Listrana to get that 'celestial reconfiguration' so he realizes that Listrana and not the other guy is the important #4.

I suspect Jebat will need to interact with Listrana to get that 'celestial reconfiguration' so he realizes that Listrana and not the other guy is the important #4.

Yes of course, but no amount of RP interaction with Listrana will unwind the Fantastic Four origin where Listrana was not there.

And if Kostya can just say "c'ya. Trust me, I'll stay alive." Why should Jebat stick around?

I would much prefer Kostya accompanying us to see the Red Lady. Then a description of divine transference from Kostya to Listrana. Kostya can then go on his merry way decoupled from the world engine, party glue.

^ or something like that, I agree.

Well, you can certainly go stop him. XD

*Miiiiiight have been doing that as a way to provide in-character motivation for talking him into a switch, rather than him suddenly bringing it up after you meet her*

Which is why Jebat replied "Wait Kostya" to stop him.

I didn't know how DM fiat you were going.

Thanks

Yeah, I figured you were going for a quick out. My bad.

BTW : I think the profile is fixed now? Other than my race/etc not having notes, I need to do that when I get a few minutes.

Before I post, should I assume that Listrana has a few followers already?

Yeah, you can assume she has some ordinary people interested in listening. It'd be a lot harder in an oppressive nation, but Vissio is pretty free, and godbound tend to be good at getting others to agree with them. XD Doubly so for those with powers involving telling others what to do.

You can retcon to put Kostya in the carriage. So, you can potentially describe the transfer of importance (Red PC Light)

I only thought of running into the Red Lady by accident just recently.

cheers

I can't remember, had we agreed beforehand to keep some kind of low profile? If not, that is such a great straight line.

@Beatrice - I was referring to this bit : All NPC soldiers serving under you gain +1 hit die, a hit bonus equal to your level, and a Morale of 11.

So all my knights are at least 2 hit dice. Which means they shouldn't be affected, correct?

They are affected if they fail a Spirit saving throw, since they are worthy foes.

Given there were multiple soldiers, can we just say Montrose was one that succeeded? At least one would have, rather than go back and roll for every one?

Sure we can, no problem with that. I have several ways of proving divinity, if needed, after all, it was mostly to pacify the crowd ;)

The manual states that "Normal men and women have one hit die. Hardened veterans and unusually skilled soldiers will have two hit dice." so I assume that in a mob of peasants we'll have an almost totality of one-dicers, especially since warriors have 1 HD as well. It's pretty much the norm.

Ah, that's strange. Still, any followers of ours are likely to have 2 or more hit dice, so again, assuming the mooks are mooks is a good way to have an enemy's followers put a dagger in your back.

Pretty much, yeah. XD

Clearly we need to start running this more like a freeform RPG. Retconning things swiftly gets annoying, so don't try to set a scene that relies on another player's consent (if you don't have it) or an understanding of their abilities (if you don't have it).

Hash these things out in Discussion FIRST, and then post them in Gameplay to reduce the massive clutter we've been hitting in this scene.

My apologies, I stated I didn't know the system and was still learning it. It's somewhat frustrating on my end because every time I post something I get lectured that I'm wrong on everything. *sigh* I'm trying to avoid retconning things but it's hard when everything I post in every single post is somehow wrong on all counts.

The problem really is NONE of us know the system, really. When combined with a game system that gives most PCs some kind of unilateral effect that works on almost everyone besides PCs without questions, you get issues.

This is a game system where my character could, right now, tell everyone here that a random person in the crowd (or Listrana herself) is a traitorous subversive and all of them would believe me without question.

Things get fuzzy when abilities like that come into play, and nobody's going to pick up on the implications of everybody's abilities all the time, at least at first. Hence, hash them out OOC before committing to something IC unless it's something you already know for a fact has no problems.

Same on this side XD I mesmerized the crowd and yet everyone is making them act as if nothing happened