Square Sails on the Horizon (Inactive)

Game Master Mark Sweetman

"Full sails ahead, ocean painted red when the soldiers of fortune hunt for pirates"
(Turisas - Hunting Pirates)


51 to 100 of 226 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>

Two Handed Fighter/4; AC: 21; HP: 47/47; F: +6, R: +4, W: +1; Init: +3; Perc: +1

Yes, also fits in well with my background. He wants to be a "named man", and who he does it with is of no concern.


I'll definitely be able to work with that. Thinking that he has left due to troubles with a rough clan - perhaps an over the top sibling rivalry. And to that end, I have a 3PP trait to float past you.

Nom De Guerre You have a famous or infamous pseudonym based on some exploit that is assigned to you (regardless of whether you actually performed the deed accredited to you). Once per day you can invoke the power of your name by informing an opponent, causing him to be shaken for 1d3 rounds on a failed Will save (DC 10 +1/2 your character level + your Charisma modifier).

This is from Rite Publishing's 101 Pirate and Privateer Traits. I'm thinking of a clan name in his case.

Black Dow - you betcha :)


Its been a busy week of work for me this week since I have been on call. Hitting the crunch when I can and just need a block of time to sit and embellish the background.

Mostly ready though


Male Hairy Highlander Halfbreed (ThirdSwede) Barbarian 9/King O' The North 5/Staffy Dad 7

Ditto for me!

DMVoV where do you sit regards Midgards Reaver Dwarves? Was thinking of taking a few of their racial abilities for Torgeir...

Think the Nom De Guerre trait is excellent (perhaps tie in with Reputation rather than CHA???), but would be a perfect "reward trait" to all/any who "earn" their name in the North or from their new clan nei?

Right back to the character...


Two Handed Fighter/4; AC: 21; HP: 47/47; F: +6, R: +4, W: +1; Init: +3; Perc: +1

Yes, I agree Black Dow - I would be very interested in that trait when "earning my name"!


Minor Crab-beast

Torgeir - looks good to me and no issues from a quick read. Will give all characters another once over later.

Busy all day but will definitely get the game thread kicked off tonight my time!


Crunch is done pending review. Still need to add backstory.


Torgeir got eaten by the thread Linnorm!

Here he is again...

Backstory to come...


Minor Crab-beast

It's not much - but it's a start :) - please introduce yourselves to the friendly huscarl. I have no issues with kicking off the initial get to know each other phase while you're still working out backstories and crunch.

For reference - consider Skald as you would Common for this game. Everyone oop North speaks their mother tongue and not that of the soft South ;)

Black Úlfarr - no issues with the trait. I'm assuming that the effect is garnered off of a free action to say the name?
Crunch looks ok from a quick read.

Torgeir - as I said before - looks good for now :)


Male Human (Ulfen) Magus (Myrmidarch) 1
Torgeir Strømsvik wrote:

Torgeir got eaten by the thread Linnorm!

Here he is again...

Is that what all that yelling was?

I saw Torgeir in all caps earlier and thought that he took a 'hard of hearing' trait that made him yell all the time.


All right. I think the backstory is done, but would welcome any suggested changed. I have clarified the trait to be a free action.

EDIT: Didn't have the ancestor's story done yet. Now I do.


I decided to get the Midgard supplement tonight and I would be interested in the runic magic.

So taking the feat allows to you choose two to have mastery over, though to master any further ones you must do special things associated with those runes?

If you have mastery over the runes then when you level you get those bonuses?

My original idea was to have a strong northerner with his oracle powers, but now I am thinking more towards the mystical and strange. Maybe having a slight mistrust in society but serving a good purpose so partially accepted.

Still will stick to Oracle of Waves with the ability to peer through mist and fog, the water walking, and the curse to speak aquan.Rune mastery thinking Water and either Raido (for knowing north) or Kaunen (for low light vision)


Minor Crab-beast

Will have more time tonight to give the game thread some justice - weekends tend to be harder with a 3yr old son running riot ;)

David: I'll likely be tweaking the runic abilities a little from that presented. They are very feat intensive as written - so here's how I see them working:

1. Take the Rune Mastery feat - and choose two runes you start out having mastered. That gets you the Mastery Bonus. The third and onwards runes to master I'll handle through in-game rewards without needing to burn any more feats (ie. help a soothsayer with a problem, in return he teaches you mastery of the rune).

2. If you want to access the powers you need to take a second feat (Deeper Rune Lore). That will allow you automatic access to the powers of one rune. Then the powers for additional runes will be handled in the same way as additional masteries - in game rewards without needing to burn feats.

How does that sound?

Also - mystical and strange works very well without needing to be a physically imposing character.


Two Handed Fighter/4; AC: 21; HP: 47/47; F: +6, R: +4, W: +1; Init: +3; Perc: +1

I hear ya DMVoV. I have a 1 and 3 year old, both boys, running me ragged! Would not have it any other way, though.


Minor Crab-beast

Yeah definitely wouldn't change a thing - I've got the second boy on the way as well. End of April might get a bit ragged when he arrives ;)

I also haven't forgotten about the backgrounds and stat blocks. When I get a free chance over the next day or two I'll be asking a few questions and double checking things.


DM - Voice of the Voiceless wrote:

Will have more time tonight to give the game thread some justice - weekends tend to be harder with a 3yr old son running riot ;)

David: I'll likely be tweaking the runic abilities a little from that presented. They are very feat intensive as written - so here's how I see them working:

1. Take the Rune Mastery feat - and choose two runes you start out having mastered. That gets you the Mastery Bonus. The third and onwards runes to master I'll handle through in-game rewards without needing to burn any more feats (ie. help a soothsayer with a problem, in return he teaches you mastery of the rune).

2. If you want to access the powers you need to take a second feat (Deeper Rune Lore). That will allow you automatic access to the powers of one rune. Then the powers for additional runes will be handled in the same way as additional masteries - in game rewards without needing to burn feats.

How does that sound?

Also - mystical and strange works very well without needing to be a physically imposing character.

The changes sounds good. With the Deeper Rune Lore what will be the requirements to take, just making sure I have enough Wisdom since it isn't a main stat for an oracle.

My four year old hosted his first sleep over last night so it has been very crazy around here!


Minor Crab-beast

I'll hand wave the Wis reqs for it, so build your guy however you see fit


Sounds like you guys all have young ones. Heading off to Pathfinder Society with my 15 and 12 year olds in a half hour.


Male Human (Ulfen) Magus (Myrmidarch) 1
Black Úlfarr wrote:
Sounds like you guys all have young ones. Heading off to Pathfinder Society with my 15 and 12 year olds in a half hour.

That is just too cool!


Minor Crab-beast

Heh give me ten years and I'll likely be doing the same :)


Two Handed Fighter/4; AC: 21; HP: 47/47; F: +6, R: +4, W: +1; Init: +3; Perc: +1

I hear that!


Minor Crab-beast

Ok, now to start going through your subs and piping up with any questions I have. I'll spoiler it partially for length and partially for sneaky secrecy. Please reply in spoiler in the discussion thread though - as I'm fond of having all the info easily in one place for later referral.

Kjell:
Crunch Check: 1. In the Feats line, the Power Attack is listed as '-1/+4' - shouldn't that be '-1/+3'?
2. Could you note somewhere that the favored class bonus has gone to HP?

Fluff Check: 1. Can you give me a couple of specific events from Ragnar's reaving days? - could be notable foes, favorite weapon, etc.
2. Where does your clan call home? - is it Bildt, or an outlying village / island?

Gylfir:
Crunch Check: 1. The description for Arcane Pool seems to have been cut off halfway through.
2. Could you note somewhere that the favored class bonus has gone to HP?

Fluff Check: 1. Can you give me a couple of specific events from Ulfar's reaving days? - could be notable foes, favorite weapon, etc.
2. Where does your clan call home? - is it Bildt, or an outlying village / island?

Black Úlfarr:
Crunch Check: Can't see any issues.

Fluff Check: Backstory and Ancestor tale are perfect. When / if the time comes for the family to re-enter the tale I'll likely ask for some more details - but that's a ways down the line

Torgeir:
Crunch Check: 1. Ranged attack might be a bit OP ;)
2. Looks good!

Fluff Check: Pending - but no rush.

Roluo:
Crunch Check: If you can add the trait details to the Shield Bearer trait that would be grand.

Fluff Check: Where does your clan call home? - is it Bildt, or an outlying village / island?

Jorleif:
Crunch Check: 1. Reflex save should be +3?
2. Bit of formatting out of whack in the skills section.
3. Shortbow Proficiency is a bit weak as a trait. You are hearby granted shortbow proficiency as a direct DM bonus and are free to take another flavorful trait instead ;)
4. Class Abilities section references an Oracle of Flame. Also has three revelations when should only have two?

Fluff Check: Pending - but no rush.


DM - Voice of the Voiceless:

Thanks! I'll put a to-do on my list to put some detail around father and brothers and maybe a little more about the clan.


DM - Voice of the Voiceless:

Most of those gaffs were from changing from my old idea to the new (other than the Oracle of flames which was a copying error)

I changed the trait from the shortbow to the "Born for the Longship"

Fixed Reflex
Fixed Formatting

Need to add the Runic stuff then finish updating my fluff (Which now that I am not on call I should have some time after my home game tonight)


DM VoV:

Aye - thought my ranged attack was a little overpowered myself lol. Ranged attacks are for cowards and seelie... :)

Okay to retool Torgeir a little as I develop his background?

Case in point am considering dropping the Ruthless racial trait for the Strong Hearted Gorum religion trait.

An Iron Liver and a Strong Heart make for good bedfellows nei? And ties in with his home town of Skjoldmur being a hotbed of Gorumites.

May also re-tool some of his equipment to reflect that as well (spiked shield and iron holy symbol) depends on how much faith will play a role in the game...

Strong Heart (Gorum)

You can stand strong against even the most terrifying foes.

Benefit: You gain a +1 trait bonus on saves against fear effects, and the DC of Intimidate checks made against you increases by +2.

Background is coming - once I get my long neglected Iobarian Saga up to date... on that note...


Two Handed Fighter/4; AC: 21; HP: 47/47; F: +6, R: +4, W: +1; Init: +3; Perc: +1

DM VoV:
Kjell updated with -1/+3 Power Attack and favored class spelled out. Also, I updated the background, expanding on Ragnar "Cleaver" Carlufsen. Thanks!


DM - Voice of the Voiceless:

If ok with you, I'm going to swap my first level feat from Power Attack to Combat Reflexes.


Minor Crab-beast

Black - no problems from this side.


Thanks, change made.


Male Ulfen Bard (Skald)/1

DMVoV:

Crunch added

Fluff I hadn't thought about it but with profession sailor it would make sense to come from one of the nearby islands. I pictured his ancestor being a very minor player on the nobility aspect, so having a small holding on an island would be in line with that.


Male Human (Ulfen) Magus (Myrmidarch) 1

DMVoV:
Yeah, it looks like I got a poo floating in my arcane pool. :-) Looks like HeroLab had a hiccup. Will fix that. and the hp bonus label.

Reaving days? Is that his fair days of summer? Sowing his wild oats? So a little more person history? I got a good foil in mind, will put some words to a page tonight.


Minor Crab-beast

Gylfir:
Aye - whatever you like. Can be his visit to the militant basket-weavers of Southern Varisia if that's your bag.

Just after a few specifics that I can seed through in speech for those that might know of your clan.


Lads:

Great resource to add flavour to the game and language...

Some of you may have already seen this nei?


Minor Crab-beast

Torgeir - it's a new one to me, though will start incorporating it :) Thus far I'd just been google translating into Swedish and picking out the odd word from wikipedia and other sites.

As far as the sprinkling of words - I'm keen to keep it predominately to a word here and there, and it is not compulsory. If you like doing it (as I do) then please feel free, if not - then no need to worry :)


Well I'm learning Norgie as a brownie point exercise here in Scotia, so hopefully the odd work can be sprinkled in as I become Vikingised lol.

They have already called me Gary Hilsen rather than Hilton, which I actually like lol.

But yeah I'll be sprinkling it in just as y'all do with the Olde English in the Iobarian Saga.


Male Human (Ulfen) Magus (Myrmidarch) 1

DMVoV:
With rune stones covered so well in the group, I have come across the idea that ties Gylfir closer to the fey. Instead of runestones, he has a collection of small pieces of junk (like the coin he wears around his neck) these are small items he dug up in his yard as a child that the fey left for him to find. That he was attracted to them, confirmed to the fey their interest in him (whatever that might be </hook> ;-)). I can make a list of items tied to each spell, like the coin, right off, could be Shield that he has currently prepared. As you know from some of my other casters, I am always looking to push the boundaries of source magic fluff. :-)

I see him still needing time to prepare spells, but I don't see him having a spell book, but a collection of fey junk that he will start to contemplate (for now he carries them for luck). I would need to think about scrolls (maybe Read Magic is done looking through a broken piece of glass) and he can charge up new items from the scroll to add it to his collection (if it comes up). Normal spell acquisition at levels up moments might be recognizing new bits that he has picked up have powers.

Let me know. Could be fun. I won;t play it for humor, as I have shown in the first initial posts he is in awe of the fey, doing favors for the seelie (the Garden People that visited him in the sun) where he can and trying to avoid the attention of the unseelie (the Hedge People that hid in the dark of the undergrowth).


Minor Crab-beast

Gylfir:
Aye - I'm liking the flavour as well. Definitely happy for you to shade the character this way.

If you like we can collaborate with respect to learning new spells. You tell me OOC what you're after and I can seed the root item into the storyline. Gold cost can be sorted out by making offerings, coin into wells, etc.


Minor Crab-beast

I am happy to see that Torgeir has taken offence and we have our first showdown in the longhouse :) - feel free to read over the options I gave Torgeir in thread as I'd see them potentially in use again depending on how the rest of events play out in the longhouse :)

Goes without saying that it would be typical in the North to allow the two to settle things between themselves. If one of you were to step in on Torgeir's behalf physically then the situation would escalate from there. Heckling / supporting verbally from the sidelines is fine though.


Hey I'm Scottish - we know how tae start a good rammey!

BTW here's another Old Norse Resource as the previous one doesn't allow copying...

Anyone steps in and they're for it! ;)


Minor Crab-beast

And then there were 19... First blod to the dvergr!


DM-VoV:

Here is the background I wrote up. Hopefully the ancestor side works ok.

Jorlief was born to a sailor out of Bildt. Jorlief would well out strange words when angry or hurt even before he could speak. As he was growing his father started to teach him life on a longship when he noticed water acting weird around him as if Jorlief had some control over it.

He took them to the local witch who verified that Jorlief had the calling of the Crestefalla. Against his father's wishes for his son, Jorlief was given to the enimatic group that lived off of Aegos on a tiny island surrounded by dangerous rocks and fog.

Jorlief learned to control his divine abilities, such as walking on water and seeing through fog and mist. Most importantly was learning the runic ways which Jorlief had an easy time learning.

One day the leader of the Crestefalla named Jorlief one among them and was time to go out into the world. He had learned what he needed and was time to expand his powers and learn more runes. Walking across the sea to Aegos, Jorlief heard of the call for men.

About the Crestefalla:

Centuries ago, the Crestefalla were on every ship in the north. Valued for their control over water and runic mastery, any ship without one was surely at a disadvantage.

Hrolfgir Crestefalla was the greatest in the order's history leading the attack against the Chellish Army in 4402. It is said Hrolfgir called upon a fog so thick that two men standing beside each other could not see. Yet Hrolfgir led his ships to the Chelish Admiral's vessel destroying it in grand fashion. It is even said Hrolfgir became the water during the attack. Every Crestefalla aspires to his level of mastery.

But around 100 years ago something happened that caused most of the order to go insane all at the same time, attacking their own ships or even hanging themselves in the ship's rigging. The few who remained fled to a small remote island that could only be reached by a Crestefalla as the island is surrounded by deep fog and dangerous rocks. Only a Crestefalla can guide a ship through the obstacles.

Few Crestefalla leave the island anymore, but they can still find a spot on longships among the men of the north who rise above the mistrust and superstitions of land.


Minor Crab-beast

Jorlief - the fluff looks just fine to me :)


Minor Crab-beast

Hoping the slow-ish start out pacing isn't annoying anyone too much. I appreciate that the threads of conversation aren't including everyone at every step and thank you for the patience to watch it unfold.

I'm trying a bit harder in this PbP to make sure that the rest of the guys that will be going out in your longboat with you actually have names and at least a bit of a personality stub to go with them.


Works for me. Wonder if humiliated guy will be back :)


Male Ulfen Bard (Skald)/1

Works for me, I'm having fun.


Two Handed Fighter/4; AC: 21; HP: 47/47; F: +6, R: +4, W: +1; Init: +3; Perc: +1

Enjoying it thoroughly...just starting using the Norse translator as well.


Tis cool. Makes it easier to juggle all the other commitments also :)

BTW will have my backstory up by end of weekend for perusal...


Backstory almost done DM VoV - tis a doozie though and worth the wait!

I hope... lol


Minor Crab-beast

Looking forward to it Torgeir!


Minor Crab-beast

Such noble vikingr, leaping to the defense of the aggressor :)

1 to 50 of 226 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | next > last >>
Community / Forums / Online Campaigns / Play-by-Post Discussion / Square Sails on the Horizon - OOC Thread All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.