Volcano's Land - Home and Hearth (Inactive)

Game Master Miner Cotren

Please direct character's previous history here.

Just dotting in.
Perhaps our GM could create the gameplay thread and we can put in a stealth dot.
(If you post to a gameplay thread and immediately delete the post, your alias gets added to the Characters tab and the game shows up in your Campaigns tab for both your primary account and the alias. This makes it much easier to track new posts.)

I'll be posting soon with a more detailed background for Osric.

Good idea.

Friendly reminder:

--Fiordelise

--Byron

--Osric

--Obedie

Do we want to fill in any more shared history details between Osric and Byron, or does just leaving it at "They sometimes talk alchemy when they run into each other while buying supplies" sound good? For myself, I think leaving it there, with them being just casual acquaintances, would be good, but I'd be willing to add more detail if you'd like.

I tend to like to keep shared backgrounds vague at the beginning. More like an outline.
That lets us do the "remember that one time when" thing later without contradicting what's already out there.

Just my $.02.

I also like to write up posts and any large blocks of text in a text editor and then copy and paste it into the forum when it's done. Fewer lost posts that way.

I typically hit ctrl-A ctrl-C before hitting 'Submit Post' if I wrote more than a few lines, for the same reason. And that sounds good!

Hello there,
Osric - Fiordelise's brother is a bit of a decadent wastrel, you could have run into him through your investigations - perhaps he has used Gasp in the past?

Not sure about a link to Byron and I'm not clear on Obedie's background.

Here is a short background for Osric:

Osric Ferret was born seventy seven years ago in Light. He was the second child, followed by three more. His parents worked helping to form the mithral golems for the war effort.

Upon coming of age, Oswin (the eldest child, nearly ten years Osric's senior) left to fight the Darkness. Within two years, his older brother was dead. The fighting had been rough and to keep up with the Ifrit and Oread warriors, Oswin had turned to Soot.

Soot changed Oswin, making him take foolhardy risks. When he wasn't on Soot, he was dark and depressed, prone to violent outbursts. Oswin went deep into debt to support his habit. Eventually he could not repay his debts and the drug runners took their payment in flesh. Oswin breathed his last breath creating a dose of Gasp.

Since that time Osric has been the grim protector of his family. He gave up his alchemical studies to train with the town guard in Light. Once his younger siblings had grown, he began ranging further afield from home in search of criminals.

Several years ago, his travels brought him to Hearth. He found the Dims in need of law. Finding lodging was easier than he had expected. Since then, work has been steady, if not exactly plentiful. He continues to search out leads to drug trafficking, especially Gasp.

Previous Relationships we have so far, including from the recruitment thread:

--Osric and Byron: casual acquaintances from run-ins at alchemy shops and such

--Osric and Fiordelise: Osric's investigations into Gasp brought him into contact with Fiordelise's brother, and by association briefly with Fiordelise as well.

--Osric and Obedie: Both naturally part of the legal system, maybe were involved in the same case once (either same side or opposing sides)

Let me know if there are any objections to these. I also like the idea of keeping things as more an outline for right now, to be developed IC later if necessary.

As I mentioned earlier, we don't have to force a connection that isn't there (such as Fiordelise and Byron, who run in very different circles)

Looks like Osric is the lynchpin, which really makes sense as an investigator goes where the cases take him regardless of social niceties.

Also, judging from his post last night, I'm guessing Obedie may need a few days to recover from life. I know that delay = doom in PbP, so I'm planning on starting the campaign tomorrow night regardless. I'll likely be putting his introduction on hold until I hear from him.

Here is a short background for Osric:

Osric Ferret was born seventy seven years ago in Light. He was the second child, followed by three more. His parents worked helping to form the mithral golems for the war effort.

Upon coming of age, Oswin (the eldest child, nearly ten years Osric's senior) left to fight the Darkness. Within two years, his older brother was dead. The fighting had been rough and to keep up with the Ifrit and Oread warriors, Oswin had turned to Soot.

Soot changed Oswin, making him take foolhardy risks. When he wasn't on Soot, he was dark and depressed, prone to violent outbursts. Oswin went deep into debt to support his habit. Eventually he could not repay his debts and the drug runners took their payment in flesh. Oswin breathed his last breath creating a dose of Gasp.

Since that time Osric has been the grim protector of his family. He gave up his alchemical studies to train with the town guard in Light. Once his younger siblings had grown, he began ranging further afield from home in search of criminals.

Several years ago, his travels brought him to Hearth. He found the Dims in need of law. Finding lodging was easier than he had expected. Since then, work has been steady, if not exactly plentiful. He continues to search out leads to drug trafficking, especially Gasp.

Would you mind putting this in your profile too? This is good stuff, and I want to make sure I have easy access to it.

Fiordelise, could you put remaining/total rounds of raging song in your tagline, along with remaining/total 1st level spells?

Osric, Byron, and Fiordelise: your profiles look good. Except for the minor previous comments to Osric and Fiordelise, you guys are good to go.

Obedie, I need to see a more thorough background. I'd prefer to have your character sheet as just text and spoilers in your profile, but the bigger priority is to get a complete background (and your background, personality, goals, NPC, description, etc should definitely be in your profile, if nothing else).

Even if you don't have time to post a full update right now, a quick confirmation of interest and estimate on when you might be posting would be appreciated.

Look for all that tomorrow night; I have the weekend off. Again, my apologies for the delay.

Updated profile

Confirmation that I'm planning on starting our Gameplay tonight!

Check out the Campaign Info for details about PbP formatting, etiquette, and some minor house rules (like which rolls I make)

Profile is updated.

Also, knowing Osric from the job works just fine for me.

1) Hopefully the context makes sense, but for those who I wrote something like (chemical), that's an encouragement to come up with it yourself, or, if it doesn't matter to you, we can leave it unnamed.

2) Where do you all live in Hearth?

--Osric, do you have your office in the Dims, "in the belly of the beast?"

--Byron, do you live in the slums outside of Hearth, or do you live in the Dims?

--Fiordelise, given your background, I would imagine your family has a 'modest' (to be generous) house that is right on the edge of the Obsidian Mansions.

--Obedie, there are certainly some oread neighborhoods within the Dims. Would you live there?

--Obedie, there are certainly some oread neighborhoods within the Dims. Would you live there?

Seems likely, that works.

I was thinking Byron lived in the slums outside of Hearth. People probably care less about explosions outside the city walls.

Yes, a once modest, but well appointed townhouse, which is now notable for the spaces on the walls where the artwork used to sit, and the furnishings that emulate the styles of the nobility while being of much cheaper construction...

I figured Pilgar lets him use a spare room (perhaps even an actual sitting room) at his boarding-house as an office. Close enough to the Dims that the disadvantaged can reach it, but not close enough to discourage more affluent clients.
Besides, unbeknownst to Osric, Pil can eavesdrop and get a heads-up on anything that involves his cartel. So he doesn't charge extra for the use.

Cool, thanks for the answers and the game-play posts everyone!

Profile is updated.

Excellent, thanks for the update.

The original recruitment thread is where I'm catching up on requested world info. Once I get done with the current stuff, we can keep individual requests to these discussion threads.

Eventually, I'll be updating Campaign Info, otherwise this stuff would be impossible to find.

Recruitment thread updated with Servants/Heralds of the gods.

I notice that you've been using Italian for speaking in non-common. Are there preferred languages that you would like mapped for forum translations. I've seen some games that use spoiler tags to denote languages that some party members might not have. For instance:

"Mae hwn yn brawf, prawf os mynnwch."

I notice that you've been using Italian for speaking in non-common. Are there preferred languages that you would like mapped for forum translations. I've seen some games that use spoiler tags to denote languages that some party members might not have. For instance:

"Mae hwn yn brawf, prawf os mynnwch."
** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for the question! As you've noticed, Ifrit is definitely Italian and it's pretty common for ifrits to throw in certain words of their own language, even when having a conversation in Common. I know that most Sylphs would almost never do this with their own language, especially in the company of other ifrits. Undines and Oreads, it probably varies between individuals.

As for the other languages:

High Ifrit is Latin. I'm planning on using Vietnamese for Undine. Benthic would best be represented with Simplified Chinese. I wanted to do a Native American language for Oread, but let's keep it simple with something that's on Google translations - Zulu. Sedime is Afrikaans. Irish for Sylph. Welsh for Maker Script.

Arabic for Geni. Amharic for Eleme.

Oh, and this is by no means a requirement. It's fine to just write "In Sylph" before a spoiler.

"Campaign Info" has been updated with the following:

Language formatting, such as Arabic for Geni (in pbp formatting spoiler)
Clothing (in society spoiler)
Servants (gods spoiler)
Other religions (gods spoiler)

Oread rituals/superstitions/tribal structure (added to the Oread document link under society spoiler)

Not explicitly combat yet, but check out this map. You should have editing rights. Feel free to change your character's color or symbol. Roll initiative if you decide to start combat in earnest.

Any chance you could make that a Slide instead of a Drawing? I don't currently have access to a computer, I can edit Google Slides from my tablet, but not Google Drawings.

Miner Cotren wrote:

Not explicitly combat yet, but check out this map. You should have editing rights. Feel free to change your character's color or symbol. Roll initiative if you decide to start combat in earnest.

Any chance you could make that a Slide instead of a Drawing? I don't currently have access to a computer, I can edit Google Slides from my tablet, but not Google Drawings.

Just about to update with a new link. Everyone, please let me know if the functionality is alright - I basically copy/pasted the map over to Slides.

Osric Ferret wrote:

Miner Cotren wrote:

Not explicitly combat yet, but check out this map. You should have editing rights. Feel free to change your character's color or symbol. Roll initiative if you decide to start combat in earnest.

Any chance you could make that a Slide instead of a Drawing? I don't currently have access to a computer, I can edit Google Slides from my tablet, but not Google Drawings.

Just about to update with a new link. Everyone, please let me know if the functionality is alright - I basically copy/pasted the map over to Slides.

Working for me.

No problem at all! Seems to work the exact same as Drawings, so no issues here.

I didn't mention this before (there are always little kinks to work out), but could everyone get in the habit of mechanically describing actions that aren't entirely clear? For instance, I'm not sure if Byron is holding an action, delaying, or choosing not to act in Round 1 beyond readying a bomb. (not trying to call you out by any means, just a convenient example)

This will help me know when characters are done with their round's worth of actions or not, so I can comfortably move on to the next round.

Sorry, for some reason I thought combat hadn't started yet so I didn't think I was doing anything that needed a mechanical description yet. Basically that post had been intended as a 'ready for combat to start' post.

Gotcha, no problem at all.

Hmm, just realized that when swapping around numbers I left Weapon Finesse on my Sheet. Since my final Str is higher than my Dex, is there any issue with me swapping it out?

Hmm, just realized that when swapping around numbers I left Weapon Finesse on my Sheet. Since my final Str is higher than my Dex, is there any issue with me swapping it out?

No issue at all. This early in the campaign, I'm fine with a couple small tweaks here and there. No reason for a feat you're not going to use.

Fiordelise, I didn't answer your question from the gameplay thread - Latin is fine for your magic. I'm very open to flavor stuff like that, even though you don't "know" the language.

Also, totally loving the Italian idioms you've been using.

It strikes me that with two of our characters working in or with law enforcement, it would be wise to expand some of the hierarchy of the guard (at least in Hearth; probably changes between the great cities)

Commandant - in charge of all the various Watches (Hearth is way to big for just one Captain to be in charge of it all)

Captain - leader of one Watch (such as the Temple Watch, or the Dims Watch)

Lieutenant, 2nd Lieutenant, and Cadets - officers under the Captain

Warrant Officers, Sergeant Majors, Sergeants, Corporals, and Privates make up the enlisted men.

I'd like Odebie to be one up from Private in recognition that he's been at this several months - how does Corporal sound?

I'll put this in the Hearth Info page later tonight.

Corporal Odebie has a nice (read: extremely jarring) sound to it.

...this is not going well. Decorum is not Odebie's strong suit.

Not that I mind doing the talking, it'll just end poorly.

Hey, I'm sure Byron will speak up at some point. He might mention explosives. ;)

Hey, you're the Paladin, Osric is the gruff private detective with the chip on his shoulder. I don't think my form of diplomacy is going to go well for us either. :)

I think you and Fi are gonna have to team up. He'll probably listen more to an ifrit anyway. And she's got the only positive Charisma modifier in the party.

Quick question before I post: Is v'Manco my direct superior or do the various districts have separate chains of command? In other words, do I have to do what he tells me to do?

Thanks for the question. Separate chains of command. You do not have to follow what he says.

However, he could make your life difficult indirectly, by virtue of being a nobleman and having a higher rank than you.

Thanks to all of you for a fun 2 weeks of posting so far. In particular, thanks for the regular posting by all four of you.

Going to be camping in Appalachia for the next two days or so; I'll be around but inconsistent. I'm done with the scene as-is.