Jorvik: A Land of Snow & Ice

Game Master DSXMachina

Alright here is the OOC thread to start co-ordinating things. The Players;

Duana - Changeling Half-Blood of Maeve
Gelert - Foo (Wyld Fey) Dog
Raventhorns' - Winter Knight (a mortal)
Danny Kaye - A Summer Changeling in Winter's Court
Jericho Korben - Ferromancer Evoker
Aximeus - Demigod
Madclaws' - Were-Polar Bear Shapeshifter

Just a few extra questions, ideas for the city, theme for the city, how grim/gritty do you want the campaign, how much combat, how much romance, how mature, how much difficulties (danger) do you want?

PS. First Thread i've ever started :)

Checking in. Let me know if the Avatar is appropriate. If not, I'll just drop it completely.

The avatar works the more i think about it the better it seems. & of course in 'Human Guise' it would be a toned down/ less alien version?

Aye, but I am assuming that the party will know the difference between a changeling of the Winter Court and someone adopting a human guise. :P

Will get the crunch I do have up to the profile when my skype game is over.

No Problem, have fun :)

RE:Gelert, there is a great series of books by Barb & JC Hendee, the Dhampir series where one of the main characters is a fey spirit trapped in a Dog/Wolf body. It is more classic/renaissance fantasy than modern day, but is a good book to check out from your library.

Woot!! 1 Evoking badass coming right up. Actually that's kind of a lie, I'm intending to make this guy much less of a fighter than most of my chars. I'm thinking of making him actually kind of a geek. No weapon skills, very little in the way of defenses (Except Magic) and probably some good Scholarship and/or Medicine.

Hark, couldst though mean Dhampir? I own the entire series :P Chap again is my favorite character. ^^ nice to see other fans, checking in on the demon fighting dog warrior :)

Just for the games sake, I love a frequent yet believeable combat frequency. even as a dog i rly want to fight quite a bit :P i know this is really signing a death wish for myself but that's just me ^^

Jericho, do your players have a template for how they present their info in their profiles?

Not a very good one on most of them sadly. I could whip one up for you through, check my profile in about twenty minutes.

Checking in, you might notice my character if all about the fight unlike most of my characters.

Hey guys, busy in RL but I made it to the new thread! :)

Just a note about skills that I barely remember from my attempt at creating Danny,

Before you can buy a skill up to a level higher (say, 4) you MUST have at least 1 (or is it 2?) skills of that level before it,

Let me make sure I'm saying this right,

Of course, I'm going from memory here, since every time I go to try and buy the books they are out of stock. ;P
Can someone with a copy make sure I'm doing this right? :)

DM- As soon as you come up with a method for deciding whos guest starring in whose stories, all of your guys chat has got my creative juices flowing! I'm ready to re-write Danny! :)

See you all soon! (AFter this stoopid tropical storm gets off of my porch! )
:p

My character is of the Greco/Roman pantheon; the rebirth of Achilles wHich is what Aximeus means. I can repost the details of his lineage and such if you like. One important thing is that he gains much of his strength when touching the ground or things made of the earth; so in the air he is weaker. The earth being his mother; he feels very safe and comfortable in caves and forests and is a bit on the eco warrior side as he hates pollution and such poisons. His mother has hidden his birth and had him raised in secret and he doesnt know his birthright or much about his "family"; but he feels the pull of destiny.

Heres a decent enough template I suppose. Could be better.

Woof. Feels very silly and slightly out of place. After all, everyone else is the descendent of a great hero, a mighty wizard, a fey changeling or a Knight of Winter. Me? Juuuuuust a dog. A very bad@$$ dog, but a dog nonetheless. THis is my way of saying everyone else's character is rly rly coooooool!

If it makes you feel better, Jericho is just a nerdy college kid who can mess with metal. No awesome warriorness there.

If it makes you feel better, Jericho is just a nerdy college kid who can mess with metal. No awesome warriorness there.

Woof woof!!! Wags tail and chases it, passes out from dizziness then sits up a second later panting and scratching behind ear. Gives doggy grin at Jericho

Yeeeeeeah kinda does buuut I'm a dog. And I am soooo loving it XD

Duana lets a hand down to stroke Gelert's head, and assists scratching him on his neck.

Gelert pants happily and leans his huge head on Duana's leg, his skull the weight of a small cow's. He licks her hand after a while then stretches and lays across her feet.

Duana kneels down and strokes Gelert's stomach. She knows that he is a fierce hunter, but recognizes that every creature needs some manner of positive reinforcement in their lives.

Gelert rolls over onto his back and displaying his big brown-grey belly to Duana, panting and leg kicking as she pets his ticklish spot. Gives the others a quizzical 'Whaaaaaat? from his position, cocking his head and big pink tongue laying almost on the floor.

Hahaha. What will your girlfriend think of your alter ego being a dog that enjoys being stroked by a hot fae lady that can beat stuff up right good?

*laughs*

We really gotta work on where she found Gelert. I was thinking she found him on her first adventure with the Wyld Hunt, as a puppy. So, maybe his first adventure was with her on another?

Are you kidding? I told her all about it today and she loves it ^^

Lolz i love that idea, it adds to their bonding since he grows with her from a puppy so he's really attached to Duana. His first adventure would have to be with her, as will all of his others :) i will still need all the specifics on how to do the Stats, could someone link me the Temple Dog on here and I'll edit it as soon as I get the dresden books from my bro? really appreciate it, just want to have a semi-finalized character for GM :)

RE: Cities we have not chosen one yet, but at a minimum the following possibilities - New Orleans, York, Edmonton, Budapest, Atlanta.

RE: Guest Stars - This is upto you guys to decide who you wish to guest star with, of course this really should/will come after the 3 stories/aspects have been done (background/rising conflict/ first adventure).

RE: Ax & Danny, if you wish your adventures in the previous game can be canon & that might be how you know each other. Or alternatively feel free to completely change backgrounds. :)

RE:Duana if you could put the levels next to the skills (Fair +1), just for ease of reference, thanks.

RE:Gelert, yep that the Temple Dog above it has 2 too many refresh for this level game, so i would take away the supernatural senses (or replace then with the Your Story version). But you will have higher skill levels. & IMO i would have a highish Lore instead of the stunt (although that would allow you consolidate Lore & Alertness into one skill). Yes, Chap is great, in fact all the characters in the Dhampir series are great.

[Unfortunately Danny the skill pyramid just means that you cannot have MORE of a higher level skill, so both your examples are alright. But yep it was a long time since he was created.]

For the GM; here is my character sheet; not everything is on the Paizo profile:

repost of character sheet
Aximeus

Valegrim, the level n this game is Chest-Deep (8 refresh, 30 skill points & max level +5 superb skills) so i think you might have to lose a couple of points of refresh. But other than that he is looking good. I really like the code and his wandering spartan nature is really interesting and could be very entertaining with the Fey heavy party.

You mean there's someone the changeling of the Winter Court whose crazed, manipulative mom is keeping at arms length can't copulate with in the party?

Oh poo. And I so wished to be able to copulate with everything in the party.

I kid, I kid. I don't see Duana as the overtly sexual type fae. She might run about mostly nude in downtime coz she's worked out and doesn't give a darn for mortal conventions like prudishness. I think. I mean, do fae still work like fae? With the touching and the feeling being a big part of what they are? I got caught up in a skype game for 8 hours last night and wasn't able to get out and pick up the books...

The fae use quite a few of the classical conventions about the fae. With contact being what important, but so too is the manipulation of others and trying to score points. Which is how a see Maeve viewing Duana, she is a 'loose' cannon that Maeve can point or manipulate into a position that she deals with her rivals.

The most important thing about the Fae is of course that they cannot outright lie (although being a half-blood you maybe able to - though that would be looked down upon with disgust), instead they have to skirt the truth. A have seraphim in another game like this makes it quite interesting.

Yeah, I gave Duana average deceit so that she might try to skirt around the truth sometimes. Mostly I think she'll just omit it, since that is not lying.

There's a lot I have to read about Maeve since apparently she nullifies a lot of fae conventions and is a super genius when it comes to manipulation. But, much less stressful week at least, so I should be able to get down to the bookstore some evening soon. Currently have people over for the long holiday and should try to be social at least one day of it.

Don't worry too much about reading upto quickly, enjoy your guests [if you can ;) ]. In the books there is not too much about the Fae, as it is set in the mundane world. But i think the books you may want to look at that have most to do with them are; Summer Knight {4}, Proven Guilty {8} (introduces my favourite character Molly) & Small Favour {11} (Stupid english breaks the naming convention)

Unless you want to read them in order.

I dont know the link, as I got it long time ago, but there are some free Dresden Files character builder programs out there just help keep track of things. Not sure if any of you are using them; mine is probably out of date and a few upgrades behind; but just saying...

I am not sure what to change, could I just be a character that has been around a while, he is about 100 years old and has fought wars around the world since WWI when he was "drafted" ie told by the judge to join the army or go to jail. Otherwise; what do you suggest, loosing my two stunts and supernatural sense?

Valegrim, the level n this game is Chest-Deep (8 refresh, 30 skill points & max level +5 superb skills) so i think you might have to lose a couple of points of refresh. But other than that he is looking good. I really like the code and his wandering spartan nature is really interesting and could be very entertaining with the Fey heavy party.

Valegrim, i might lose the 'mighty Thews' as you already have a might of 7 for lifting things. And maybe Inhuman Speed, as Ax is already a beast and this would allow the others maybe to act a bit faster but you would be tougher. Alternatively, he might not have the Inhuman recovery as he has been around since WWI and he does not need to recover fast with his number of physical stress dots. Myabe he could be a slower exorable force.

BTW which side did he fight on in WWI, who drafted him? (Recently have played a TT WWI wargame was alot of fun, even if i got kicked. My French friend & I get vicious in board games)

How much of a straight-forward plot does everyone want? Ie. go here, find somebody, find the killer, etc. And how much of a sandbox/ multiple different threads do people want. I know this is a fine line, it's just i tend to put 2-3+ factions in a game along with multiple objectives. Which for a pbp could slow everyone up into inaction.

Are you alright with, to start the game at least; getting a definite objective (with infinite paths to complete it) and then me building upon it?

Sorry, i know it is a stupid question, was just trying to think of a set goal/ storyline before we start.

For myself I'd appreciate at least the beginning arc was sort of "scripted" to get used to the different way the game works. And so that the group gets to know each other and how we work and a reason to stick together at least marginally before we're allowed to roam.

As for the city question, I believe we have a lot of suggestions, including New Orleans and Atlanta, and York. I've never been to any of these cities, but it is likely that Duana would not be too intimate with any city, as... well, I would hope that fae hating civilization and their particular vulnerabilities to everything humans take for granted would be the same. So, even though they're new, she'll adjust, and my Google-fu as a player is strong.

Going out in half-hour for my RL D&D game. Whooo I hit level 5 last week after 2-3 years weekly gaming with this PC. :) I will be around for a bit later.

Okie, not going to spoiler since character building is supposed to be collaborative, and I am going to trust that people engaging in this game are going to resist the temptation to meta.

From what I can pick up of Maeve from Our World she is some manner of manipulative genius in a pickle, watching her queen go mad? So, I would expect that Maeve tracked down some healthy human over the course of months, if not years, learning his strengths and abilities before charming him into her bed at a highly fertile period to make our angsty changeling gal. So, it is highly likely that Maeve planned for Duana to be a warrior type, but probably would not know it from the way she treats the girl.

I imagine that Duana is the purebred puppy with wrong markings that gets drowned. She has her mother's height and slender build, but has dark hair and dark, human looking eyes. Her only claim to fae magics is her ability to walk in and out of NeverNever at will, something I imagine that Maeve would find extremely exploitable.

Background: Duana's first years were spent learning the intricacies of court. Now, I don't know much about Mab, but I think Duana's first phase aspect will be something that will boost her discipline, should she need it, because that type of political tedium is difficult to navigate as a changeling.

Rising Conflict: I assume that this stuff is supposed to take place during the adolescent phase of life. I imagine that Duana, being rebellious and able, would slip in and out of NeverNever and spend time wandering among humans while Maeve watched. Possibly looking for her father. But, time among the humans endeared her to violence. I imagine with all the political infighting and tension, seeing some dude beat the crap out of another in a ring on TV, either boxing or wrestling, would tickle her fancy, or kung fu movies, war movies, those type of things. Also, as I understand it, fae love chaos, and what is battle but chaos. High concept interfered because she was always different from whoever she met, boys and girls who she might have flirted with didn't excite her in the same way as her contemporaries in the Winter Court, and Maeve could always summon her back and take any sort of comfort she managed to find on those trips away in an instant. Aspect for this phase might be something that will increase her deceit not to lie, but for disguise or misdirection to appear human even though her thought processes are alien.

I know this is not a guest star phase, but perhaps she might have had contact with one of the other PCs at this time?

The Story: Duana is probably introduced to the Wyld Hunt by some manner of threat to the Winter Court. She likely instantly falls in love with the idea of being able to go to war and kill things. Should stress at this point that Duana is not necessarily a good character by PF alignment, but she's not a psycho. I'd say she's neutral, tending to CN but might dip NE, who knows. Anyway, Maeve actually encouraged Duana to go over to the Wyld Hunt, perhaps even "banished" her there for some slight, to get some actual training in killing monsters. She trains with fletches to skulk and becomes more friendly with the lesser fae. Aspect for this period is probably going to be related to Endurance, likely she got beat up a lot, and toughened her up quite a bit versus being essentially coddled in the Winter Court.
Guest star at this point will be Gelert, who she will find and raise from a puppy on adventure.

Aaand, I will leave phase 4 and 5 open to ya'll. If you're a part of the Winter Court or interested in knowing Duana a little better, drop a line and we'll see what we can do. I would hope that whatever we can come up with can make up for some more of her "slighter" skills like presence, so that if she should need to, she can be quite scary without being intimidating, but, it is not required.

OOr, the Winter Knight can help her train weapons and such. But I don't want to limit myself to that just because she's a higher fae and he's the Winter Knight.

Just to point out... aspects are not really skill based. They're meant to be a lil vague and apply to any situation you can justify. They're also two edged swords that are meant to be used both for and against you. For instance, I plan on one of mine being 'Just Ignore Me' reflecting that he tends to be overlooked or skipped over. I could tag thar forbonuses to social defense (no one cares if you have a problem with me, no one knows who I am) ), Stealth (just a face in the crowd here, moving on), or in some stretches to simply appear unthreatening (for a sneak attack type thing.) However, this aspect can be used against me... especially in social situations.

Just to help a lil with aspects.

Hehe. Excellent. I guess I need to get out of the PF mindset and remember that stuff that you put in your backstory WILL come to kill you later.

*malicious giggle*

I'm sure I'll pick this stuff up as I go along.

Chain bookstore only had Summer Knight and billions of copies of the latest books, which weren't the fae ones. Bummer.

Yes, Aspects are alot of fun as they can both help or hinder your character. And if they hinder the character you get bonus Fate points (giving you +2 to a single roll), thus they are very useful to phrase in such a way that they can do both.

IMO as a GM i quite like a teamwork aspect, a problem aspect ('cares too much', 'curious') & a straight-forward one that a player can evoke to give him the +2 ('i've seen worse'). These allow the player to 'buy-in' to the game and get a bonus for it. I had a player in a zombie apocalypse game that just said he went home :(

I also find it fun to make then (poor) puns, word-plays or phrases as the original meaning can be used to described the PC's personality, ie "Not for all the gold in Chinatown".

They are also good to involve the players in things they would rather avoid. So as GM i may invoke an aspect to do something that is not necessarily in the best interests of your pc (rescue a man from a vampire, insult a fey at court) if you do it you get a Fate Point, if you choose not to you lose a Fate Point.

But this can be very useful if the group is too CN (not that i want lots of chaotic stupid).

Aspects are a good way of defining the characters personality that you don't have to do in PF.

For example, using your idea for background you could have "As unbending as Cold Iron", this could show how much Discipline you have. But at the same time iron is brittle so i could invoke it to either request you be stubborn to the npc or even that not you snap. It also has a resonance with the fey.

I try not to use N alignments to justify Evil acts. I know that one or two Evil acts does not an Evil character make, but, I don't like seeing it as a player in a group, so I don't do it as a character. Now, not killing the obviously evil thing because Mama dun taught me better than that, that's not necessarily evil in and of itself, it's recognizing that Mama is scarier than X, and she'd rather not piss Mama off any more than she already does.

And yeah, chaotic stupid is not cool. She has a chaotic personality, but I don't see her being stupid. I don't know if that made any sense...

No its fine i was just thinking that especially the fey could be quite self-interested and that Aspects are a good way to get them more involved or helping others.

EDIT: And what i mean to say was;

Butt this can be very useful if the group is too CN (not that i want lots of Lawful stupid).

But this can be very useful if the group is too CN (not that i want lots of chaotic stupid).

Hmm, should try to see if I can work in my favorite Game of Thrones quote ever - "You'll wear it in silence or I'll honor you again."

Yesss... Phase One Aspect. If stuff starts hitting the fan politically, she can keep her mouth shut and observe. Flip side, she can also be compelled to not deliver her opinion if conflict heats up in the party, essentially being robbed of her ability to express herself.

Yep, nice Aspect (& quote, i must see/read that series). As it implies she has been 'honoured' before. It also shows a respect/bowing to authority. As well as being everything you said.

Sorry, about the 'u' in words. It's like my possessive apostrophy (poor english education).

Duana as a Changeling, is half fey & half human. Canonically speaking, this means that she has 'free-will' & a 'soul'. If someone looks into her eyes a soulgaze can occur.

Wow. I just read that Queen Mab didn't have a soul in Summer Knight. I thought it was just an expression. Interesting.

At least i believe that is the interpreation, thus you don't have Fey spirits. But i could easily (& frequently) be wrong. :)

Night :)

Hum de dum checking in and still working on concepts/skills/ working on kinks good thing we have a while to set them up lol

Axemius how do you have all those powers we only get 8 im counting ten and items of power dont work by giving + refresh they operate by giving a plus 2 or plus one for a supernatural ability says it makes it cheaper to buy them heres excerpt from the book

also you have like your guy on a 10 refresh level i think am I doing my math wrong only reason I saw it was using your character as basis to make mine up