To Rule the Razor! (Inactive)

Game Master Eric Swanson

I should think we three were "barbarian jocks" together. Easiest way I can see.

Timeline looks good to me. It's easy to work me in, working at the tattoo joint in town! I'd also be a frequent visitor at any house of ill repute in the area.

"Screeeeeeeeeeeee?"

You were barbarian jocks... without ME?

I get the idea that Oren doesn't consider anyone in town a stranger. Most of his friends would probably be of the lower class of course, but he could have done work for a couple higher ups in town (or refused to do work on the kids of a higher up in town,) and scored some brownie points either way.

I removed my post, in case it would be taken the wrong way.

I agree that I see Oren as having a very wide social circle.

I don't remember the post, Nef, but it obviously wasn't offensive to me, lol.

I was asking if Nef was aware of your extracurricular interests...

I was asking if Nef was aware of your extracurricular interests...

Probably not. He wouldn't be crass just to be doing so, so his tales of drinking and women chasing would be on the down low as far as nef would know.

OK all,

I have finished reading the pertinent rules in the RC book (well mostly anyway) and I will be ready to start this up by tonight or Friday at the latest! All I need to do is finish setting up some scripts for combat posts, and a few miscellaneous items.

OK a few notes on how I will be handling combat:

*I will be rolling all Stealth/Perception checks prior to staring encounters. That said, feel free to roll your checks and I will take your rolls instead.

*I will be spoiler-ing all of my rolls in order to keep the combat posts clean. I request you NOT spoiler your rolls, unless they are triggered by a condition, for example Panache re-rolls.

*I will post combat maps to Google Drive, per player request. I use Maptools to generate the maps.

*I also will spoiler skill checks, such as Knowledge and Diplomacy checks. Feel free to roll them when you see the spoilers.

A request: Please finish updating your characters and post here indicating your character is ready to go. (Full backgrounds are not needed at this time.) I will look over the characters and review them for this game. I may have some questions as well as to your abilities, skills, equipment, etc.

Looking forward to this everyone!

EDIT: PS If anyone has any questions, suggestions, or concerns, Please let me know. Thanks!

Thank you so much Eric. I'll try to go over Nef's final equipment list tonight!

Wooh! Looking forward to it.

A couple things about me personally. I am EST and can usually only post while at work (I have a job with large periods of downtime). I very rarely have the time to post in the evenings, but may post on the weekend if I do something nice for my wife (haha). I also have my son all day every other Friday (including this Friday) so posting on those days is difficult for me as well.

That being said, I've never had any issues keeping up with my games and look forward to a long and fruitful campaign!

I'm ready to go, Eric. I will need some help with the maps, since I post about 80% of the time from iPad/iPhone, so I can't move any tokens on it. I'm happy to call out my movement so others can move me.

Ditto on phone posting. Can't post from work computers.

Ready!

Okay, back to chronology...

So we're all back in Port Shaw for a few days to gather supplies and hang out with Oren. Can we have it that I have just met Ke'ahilani? He's an old friend of Zem and Aikane, and may even know Oren -- since Oren knows EVERYBODY -- but I think to Rata and I he is brand new.

Maybe we can even RP meeting up with Ke'ahilani?

Unless I missed a call to rebuild somewhere above, Aikane is ready to roll starting fri pm.
Busy week for me.

@GM: Any little tidbits you could throw out about the nature of our game or where it will take place? I'm assuming we'll be starting in/around Port Shaw.

Any ideas on why Rata joined the group? I guess the easy explanation would be that he needed a guide in this foreign land, but once the party returned to Port Shaw what's preventing him from leaving immediately to pursue his own agenda?

I have stated in his background why he doesn't want to immediately return to Bloodcove, so maybe he's here fishing for leads? I'd like to brush up the bit of his background I have written after the party found him to help reinforce his motivations and establish a clear mindset for when we start to roleplay.

@Nef: Yeah, you will run into everyone at the docks. Think of it as the old standby 'You are all drinking in a tavern when the <insert plot hook here>....'

@Rata Fenn: You have heard rumors the ship Wailing Gypsy you are looking for was last sighted near Port Shaw . I assume that is why you are hanging around :) I can say all of you are getting low on funds as well...

As for the nature of the game, as I have said to Hmm already this is a TOUGH campaign. I would advise all of you to bring your A game.

I will be posting in the Game Thread tonight.

Nefertiti Abdul, reporting for duty.

Oren --

You're doing such a magnificent job with the broken common that I feel a little guilty that Nef's Tulita is so smooth. However, I've been an exchange student and have picked up languages very quickly if in a total immersion experience. So I'm going with the idea that 2 straight months of speaking almost nothing but Tulita with Zem and Aikane has led to a fairly decent language skill...

Besides, I got the impression that Zem was fairly strict on her pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Anyway I hope you don't mind that I'm playing her Tulita skills as being fairly high right now.

__________________________

Aikane --

The film noir style narration was AWESOME!

Don't mind at all. Some people, even very intelligent ones, don't seem to have a natural ability with languages, and I think I've decided that Oren is one of those people. He is good at about 85% of his 'other' languages, but the last 15% is a struggle.

Yes, I agree Aikane. I don't know where you pulled that narrative from, but it was awesome. I want to put it into Rata's profile when I get a chance.

In terms of language, it can definitely be a hard thing to get right. I'm still trying to find Rata's voice. Being from the mwangi I thought he might struggle with speech, but since he worked on The Concord for so long, it's easy to imagine he became quite fluent in the common of the seas. Hell, it might even make sense for him to be fluent in Tulita since they sailed primarily to the Razor Coast. Maybe I'll switch around his skills and give him a point in linguistics. That work for you GM?

@Rata Fenn: Go ahead and make that change. I see no reason he would not know at least a smattering of the tongue.

Going with a Raymond Chandler/Graham Greene feel, but words are mine.

Well, Aikane... It's been magnificent fun.

****

I should note that the current addict sub-plot could be a great way to bring in Ke'ahilani. Nef and Rata don't know him, but the rest of them do.

****

In other topics, I've been thinking of Nef, and the light marks on her face (as depicted in the avatar.) I've been thinking that they're not tattoos but facepaint, and that they mean SOMETHING.

Nef is too new to become Pakeha, but she has been given a quest by an elder of the Moamasu tribe. I'm thinking that the cosmetics are a marking that indicates that while an outsider, she's been given some sort of probationary status with the Moamasu.

I don't know what we'd call it -- Ne' Pake'? It would translate to "Questing Seeker" in Tulita.

Zem, I am thinking that you painstakingly painted those markings on my face until you taught me to apply them to your own satisfaction. Other Tulita would recognize the markings but if not Moamasu, would be free to treat her as any other outsider.

Non Tulita would only know that markings like that are sometimes seen on foreigners who work closely amongst the Tulita.

Guys... Honorable Kraken... Does this work for you?

Sounds good to me, Nef.

Honorable Kraken?

::looks around for a moment::

Ohhh, you must be talking to ME. Heh...I did not know Krakens HAD any honor, he he.

In response to your question, yes I do love that attention to detail. I am willing to go with it, it does make my job easier :)

I like the idea Nef - count me in for the initial paintings, as well as for comments regarding them, every once in a while ;)

I think the idea of their significance to Moamasu, but not necessarily to other tribes is great.

One question Zem -- did you fully explain what the marks mean? Does Nef know the full story, or only that they signify that she accepted your elder's quest? I leave that up to you.

What I think would make more sense is that the marking identifies Nef as someone in the Razor as a 'guest' of the Moamasu, but slightly more than that - under their protection.

It would make sense that the symbols would not be the exact same as the ones native to the tribe, but instead some sort of 'honorary' member identification, treated by the Moamasu mostly in the same way as other members of the tribe, but also to inform others of this same exact situation, and asking of them the same respect they believe due to their tribe among natives.

On the other end, after spending this time with Nef, Zem would most likely starting to lend some of his own interpretation to the markings, slowly adding those that would reinforce her tie to the tribe.

Found a hawaiian glossary I like.
Standby for inbound jargon.
here it be. Aiwiwi give it a glance

I took a point out of intimidate and put it into linguistics. Rata's profile has been updated with this change.

Slang just gives us more work to do in order to interpret your meaning. While, obviously, I appreciate the flavor and going the extra mile to get into your character, if we're being brutally honest, I'm not a fan. :D

What I think would make more sense is that the marking identifies Nef as someone in the Razor as a 'guest' of the Moamasu, but slightly more than that - under their protection.

It would make sense that the symbols would not be the exact same as the ones native to the tribe, but instead some sort of 'honorary' member identification, treated by the Moamasu mostly in the same way as other members of the tribe, but also to inform others of this same exact situation, and asking of them the same respect they believe due to their tribe among natives.

On the other end, after spending this time with Nef, Zem would most likely starting to lend some of his own interpretation to the markings, slowly adding those that would reinforce her tie to the tribe.

The first two paragraphs make total sense, and I'll roll with them.

I'm not sure what you mean in paragraph 3, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with in game, Zem!

I took a point out of intimidate and put it into linguistics. Rata's profile has been updated with this change.

Slang just gives us more work to do in order to interpret your meaning. While, obviously, I appreciate the flavor and going the extra mile to get into your character, if we're being brutally honest, I'm not a fan. :D

I find myself mostly agreeing with Rata. I think the slang should be spice -- it can give some fun flavor to posts, provided it's explained in context. Slang probably should not be the main dish. We all speak Tulita now, but in game it should mostly appear in translation.

If we do use slang, can we always put it in context in the post?

The last paragraph means that, in spite of there being a set of markings that are adequate to Nef's standing with the Moamasu, as time goes by, Zemwaar will most likely consider her more than a 'guest', or 'protegee' of the tribe - thus the markings he urges her to do will be more and more akin to those of a true tribeswoman.

Zem --

Interesting. We'll see how this plays out in game!

Oren --

You just about killed me with your last post. I'm dying of laughter here.

Gang, I think it is time to throw confetti, or red powder, or whatever kind of freaky mushrooms Oren's experimented with.

I just looked at the top of this page, and I see our new GM's name there. Our previous GM's name is Nohwear to be found...

We have been officially transferred! Thanks for adopting us, Eric!

:: Throws red powder at her teammates, dusting them all as she celebrates!::

(Ha! Now you all have to go to the bathhouse.)

One of us! One of us!

This weird line has come up. Now I have to try and build cynical monologues that don't offend anybody. So if I cross that line, please know It Was Not Intended.

Furthermore, the author will be Very Sorry to hear that, and he will Rectify the Matter.

I am also somehow playing my NG gnome as cynical, which is I suppose a break in pace. Let's just say he has a heart of gold and really prefers to be in nature, I suppose?

No offense here! Aikane, that was hilarious.

Now I have to ask... I know who stumpy is, but who's angry? I can think of several candidates.

Pretty sure that would be me. ;)

So far, I think we have Holy, Stumpy, Angry, Tiny, Friendly, Doc, and The Bird.

So far, I think we have Holy, Stumpy, Angry, Tiny, Friendly, Doc, and The Bird.

Holy = Nef

Okay, those are clear....

Friendly = Oren? Zemwaar?
Doc = Ke'ahalini again to me. He's a witch doctor.

Who's Snow White?

Lucky, I guess.

Lucky, I guess.

He did swoon in my arms. Let's hope that like Snow White, he cleans up well!

And here I thought I was Angry :D

You were one of my two candidates for the position, Zem! That's why I had to ask earlier... Though mostly you've been tall, dark and stoic!

I thought Oren was going to be Stumpy!

Crazy work day, so I probably won't be able to make an in character post until this evening, fyi.

Bummer. Feel free to time warp back when you finally get a chance to respond to Nef. I've been looking forward to seeing your reaction here.

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!