Andante's page

Kays, I'm confused.... do I get a feat beyond technical proficiency or not?

If it's based on whether or not my back-history justifies it, then I'm guessing not, but maybe Steve interprets it differently?

*bloop*

I here.

*unbloop*

I'm obviously still interested. (I'm one of the in-progress preludes, for those who are wondering).

Noooooooooooooo :(

Erm... you DO have my email address, right? It'll be easier, I think, to do things that way as I have no idea when I'll be able to sit down for an IM conversation. Feels like every g$&!++n scrap of spare time I have is occupied by something that makes IM impossible or at least inconvenient. But work... it's soooo easy to check email at work, kekeke.

We're getting there. The goal is in sight. I'm attempting to get peoples' personal openings done so that we're all on the same page. Ian's is going to be on Monday. I've already handled Ross's.

Everyone else is welcome to e-mail me (or, if you live with me, just poke) and we'll get it going.

Wait, you doing preludes in email or IM or something? If so... lemme know how you want to do this (i.e. have me email you first? We going to go back and forth or are you just sending along some text?) so I can figure out... um... WHEN to do this. :P

A pipe bomb made of lightsabre chainsaws, then? Or a lightsabre chainsaw made of pipe bombs?

The latter sounds a good deal more formidable than the former, so.... a lightsabre chainsaw made of pipe bombs. *nodnod*

Fatespinner wrote:

I want a lightsaber chainsaw.

*plants a pipe bomb in your shoe*

A lightsaber chainsaw pipe bomb?

Okay. Back on track for a minute, I'm going to attempt to pour out a few things that Ian (JackDaedalus) and I have sort of started to take for granted, but which I realize have not been posted up here on the boards.

...

There are others, and I'll probably update this a bit as we get closer to launching the game in a week or two.

Duly noted.

Everyone else is going to have fun camping for my birthday.

Hey, the invitation still stands for you to go! :D We may actually be doing a day trip instead and doing some BBQing/smore-making. Mmmm.....

Honestly, I'm really looking forward to the Dark Ages Marathon. Smokie and I were talking after the Oktoberfest party and we decided that, since Ali will be gone for 3 weeks, we're going to double-up on Dark Ages every week that she's not there. That means Dark Ages on Friday and Saturday every week for 3 weeks. Sweetness!

Oh ye gods... o.O

LOL I'm not doing anything for my birthday either. Well, my parents are making dinner and my sisters and brother-in-law will be there... probably Lisa too since she's my sister's roomie and just kind of randomly got incorporated into the family... but that's it. I don't have the energy for a party this year. F@@$ing school. >.<

Besides, 22 is no fun.... :(

HEY! how's it going? What are you playing?

Monk. Eventually going gundancer, but that's pretty far off in the future yet.

OMG LOCKE!!! HI!! (Sasha here lol).

75 credits. Practically nothing. Make room for them *nodnod*

Neat. I'll have to swap stuff out at Zack&Ali's this weekend then; I don't have the slightest idea off of the top of my head what some of my gear costs.

Mrr. That was my bad. All the mechanics were calculated for level 3 but I typed Pally 4 for some reason. Apologies. Also She will have a better description when Christine writes it. I was just putting something in the blank.

Mmm, that's right, I need to write a physical description of Rakti... although, in general, she looks like her avatar, keke.

Sasha, you might want to look at taking stunning fist- there is a bit of equipment in DS that makes it *awesomee*

Is stunning fist the 1st or 2nd monk feat?

Monks with technical proficiency can use the stun gauntlets to augment their unarmed attacks. The DC to resist the monk's stunning fist attack is increased by 1 and targets for fail their saving throws are stunned for 2 rounds.

Stun gauntlets are powered by twin microcells good for a combined 50 hits before you need to replace them. Failed attacks don't drain the weapon's charges.

About how much do those cost? If I decide to use them, I may have to give up some other eq, since I'm fairly certain I'm too low on money.

Posted Savilo's sheet, will try to get Bharek's up tonight as well.

*blink* Are you playing two characters?

That made me smile. The favorite D&D bumber sticker I have ever seen/wanted began "Wanted: Minions" and then went on to explain the requirements. I would still love to have that. My wife couldn't find it at the time and got me the one that says, "Chaotic evil means never having to say you're sorry." which also seemed somehow appropriate. :)

Reminds me of a shirt/sticker I've always wanted: "Cult leader looking for followers" kekeke. ;)

Well, as of a few weeks ago I am the (drum roll)...new VP Operations for a $10MM installation services vendor for Home Depot. It's not as cool as it sounds though it a. someday could be and b. is far cooler than anything I have done to this point. Basically we either install, provide and install, or sell, provide, and install (depending on which project type it is) different home improvements for The Home Depot as a service provider.

Congratulations! Sounds cool to me; you'll have minions of your very own... :D

Thanks for asking. I'm doing a bit better. Still somewhat dizzy and have a medium sized headache. And I hate the insurance companies. Other than that, I seem to be ok.

The new job is keeping me insanely busy. But the job is a *great* thing.

New job? What do you do, if you don't mind me asking?

Why does everyone hate us? :'(

We've got what it takes to keep what we've got... and make OTHERS pay for it! :D

See the things that suck item to see why I missed out on the last exchange. Short version is that I was in the hospital and am now working on recovery. thanks for helping me out Fatespinner.

I am very dizzy still so can't look at a screen for long at a time but I will try to keep up. Hopefully I will be virtually all better in a few more days but there's no way to tell.

thank you all for your patience. This has been an amazingly challenging few months. I really like this game and plan to continue it as long as it goes. Thanks.

I'm sorry to hear that things have been so difficult for you lately. How are you doing now?

Speaking of dead languages and the importance of words, thanks for sending me the Kabbalah stuff. I actually found your commentary in the brackets to be more useful and enlightening than the text itself. :D

Now, how to work a character concept around it....

You're welcome and... lol... good luck on that! :P

I believe, for simplicity's sake, the Dragonstar setting standardizes all languages. As unrealistic as it may seem, the Elven spoken on Draconis Prime is the same Elven spoken by random foraging elven nomads on the farthest Outlands planets. Common is Common is Common, no matter where you go. I think they use a little bit of Star Trek-style "universal translator" nonsense to explain most of it but yeah, regional languages do not exist in the rules as written.

Hmm.... then I'm just going to pretend that Rakti's name (which is actually significant) comes from what is essentially a dead language. Kind of like how you or I---or better yet, Catholics---can say a phrase or two in Latin and think of a few significant words despite the fact that we in no way know the language.

You know that you can change your avatars at any time, right?

Yes but... I dunno... it feels weird to give the character a different avatar after I've gotten so used to the one she's already using. Besides, this avatar fits Rakti much better than Riann. We'll just say that Riann is a VERY light-skinned half-drow, and Rakti is a very dark elf. *shrug*

STEVE: I have written up the character background. If you can give me your email sometime within the next hour or so I'll email it to you. Or, alternately, I can just post it on livejournal and put you in a custom group all by yourself.

I'll get character info posted and background info to you as soon as I'm able to escape work, class and homework long enough to do anything remotely fun.

Btw, since I don't have the time (or energy) to keep generating race/homeworld ideas that don't seem to work, it might help if you just tell me where I'm from and give me some general info on the social realities there. That'll help me generate backhistory that meets your expectations and doesn't contradict the backstory you've worked on or the setting in which you're situating the story. Maybe just email me a paragraph or two? Hopefully that'll facilitate getting the ball rolling a bit faster, hmm?

I find it amusing that Riann is always considering stealthy options when Aynsley is the only character with any ranks in Hide or Move Silently.

RIANN'S not going anywhere. She doesn't have the ranks in Hide or Move Silently, but anyone with an intelligence above 8 should be able to say, "Oh look, our enemy is OVER THERE. Perhaps someone should sneak over and take a peek so we know what we're dealing with."

[ooc]Yfel has been staring, slack-jawed, for 5 days.

13 days. Last post on the 5th. :P

:'(

Because no one is saying or doing anything. Yfel seems to be frozen in time, unable to respond! Oh no, whatever shall we...

*WARJACK FROM SPACE*

Can someone who's frozen in time make a reflex save?

Can we name the Warjack From Space "Bumblebee"? :D

We seem to have... stopped. :/

I believe Weapon Focus with some form of light firearm is a requirement for the Gundancer PrC, so... unless you want the 'worthiness' to happen really soon (or put your PrC off until level 12 or so), you might want to rethink it.

Ack, Steve recommended something different... *is suddenly very confused*

I thought monks could not use weapons (or use them effectively, at least)... it's been a while since I last played one though and I may be thinking Nodeka monks, kekeke. Anyway, BECAUSE they can't use weapons, Steve and I worked on that bit of backhistory detail to explain why, despite the fact that she's training to become a gundancer, she doesn't actually wield guns yet... but if she CAN use the damn things, the whole "not touching guns until worthy" thing is not really a necessary, let alone practical, part of the character concept, now is it? :D

I just had a really badass idea for a gundancer concept. It obviously won't work for this game (because Steve isn't allowing classes from the Complete books) but I may have to use it in the future...

Mmmmm.... drow ninja/monk/gundancer with ascetic stalker... *drool*

*steals* ;)

Jk jk!

BTW... since I have no idea wtf I'm doing, wanna help me put this character to paper tomorrow evening? (We ARE meeting, right, for Smokie's game?)

There's actually nothing stopping you from having a gun right from the start, you know. With the money we get by level 3, you should have more than enough for a couple of pistols.

Well... yes. But a monk... with a gun? Anyway, I'm refraining due to the character concept moreso than the game mechanics. She isn't going to touch a gun until her training makes her "worthy". :P

Brilliant! I am excited for this thing to get rolling. I expect some awesome gun-fu-iness, miss.

Oh there will be hehe... when she's high enough level to be worthy of touching a gun. ;)

There is a Sasha! Hooray-ness! Any character concepts yet?

Mmm, thinking monk and then gundancer when I have the required levelage. :)

Okay. I'm putting the opening story-bits together and finalizing player character sheets. If you have any questions about the setting, now's the time to voice them.

No questions about the setting (yet) but a question about character generation: How are we going about this? LVL 3 characters, standard (AND dragonstar???) races... Roll stats? 32 point buy? Other?

For those of you who are unhappy with your current avatar, Gary recently added a bunch more and you can change them at any time. You might want to take a look to see if you can find something more to your liking... if you care.

Still nothing that positively screams Nyss... or even Sy'yll. :(

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't that come out roughly forever ago?

Yes. :P

Yeeeessss

Kay. You can come flail at Ali if you want. I'm sure she's going to be bored and in need of girl time since I plan on spending most of the night with my face glued to the shininess of the new MMO that I've been sucked into.

Mmm, I need girl time too, nodnod. I'll see what, if anything, she wants to do.

Nope, no gaming tonight.

I don't think anything in particular is happening. We're playing World of Darkness tomorrow night, but you might want to confirm with Marvin.

Kays

Hey Zack&Ali... any idea what, if anything, is happening tonight? Is Marvin's game going to start?

Hehe, I don't so much demand plot development as some motivating factor to make Claudian relevant. Right now, the sullen 7-Charisma veteran talks quietly with people who've already been his friends, collects his evening meal at the end of his shift and heads up to bed. j0o know? Well, I mean, before Graves stomped in.

At least he's more likely to interact in plotlines than the "I disdain everyone but I just can't bring myself to be outright rude to you" Nyss. :P

If I had a round free I could heal check riann to stable and heal 1d6 with my skill trick, but I suspect fighting is my best option at this point. Hang in there Riann!!

Meh... she's got 7 rounds to stabilize on her own. If this thing doesn't end in 7 rounds we're probably ALL toast. If she survives that long there are always heal checks to stabilize, natural healing overnight and spells. :P

Although maybe I should start brainstorming new character concepts just in case, eh? ;)

I hope you're not expecting me to 'invent' a song for Bri to sing. 'Cuz it ain't gonna happen.

ROFL. Make Ian write the song. :P

Go Ian, go! *smirk*

Just a note folks. I'm going out of town tomorrow (to Newport Beach, CA on a business trip) and won't be back home until Tuesday. My boss basically promises that I'll be working full hours during the day and then going to the hotel and working some more, because there's a lot to do and it HAS to be done by Tuesday. (Kinda sucks but I basically volunteered for the job because a) I need the money and b) I want to go to California because I've been promised beach time.) SO... it's possible, depending on the availability of internet access at Niche's office (during LUNCH, because I'm not going to screw around on THEIR home turf, hehe) and at the hotel, I may not be posting as much.......... or even at all. We'll just have to see.

So... In case I don't see you, have a good weekend and try not to axesk Sy'yll or anything. ;)

Like the people who came to our house to make Dragonstar characters a couple weeks ago? They were clearly intelligent (well, okay, the guy was at least) but definitely social limburgers.

Hehehe... yeah, I kinda had them in mind. ;P

Okay, so, umm... Sy'yll and Yfel have one more stat point to spend because, ah, you're... level 4. You get a bonus point. Put it wherever you like. It won't affect your stats since I think all your ability scores are even numbers, but it might matter come level 8 when you get another one. (It might also matter if you suffer ability damage in the future... ghosts tend to do that. Just sayin'...)

Also, could people please list their characters' languages in the 'About' section of their profiles? The 'Languages' heading doesn't seem to be showing for anyone.

SQUEEEEEE!

Kay.

And now I have to add to that Intelligence and Wisdom 12. He's above average on the charts when it comes to perceptiveness and intelligence. Why would he not pick up on these things, especially after being this way for 20+ years?

I think it might just be purely aesthetics. He runs into people, *always* seems angry, is rather unpleasant to look at and revels in combat and aggression. Maybe that's how it'll play out.

One does not become more likable simply by virtue of being smart or perceptive. He may be able to notice the's offending people and understand why, and yet be unable to change. Like he can't make his smile any less threatening, he's no better at putting words together than he was yesterday, and maybe trying so damn hard to be likable makes him come off as even LESS so... like the people who are too touchy-feely, giggly, and talkative because they want to seem "nice".

Charisma is a passive thing as much as it is an 'active' thing. Whenever you're at a bus stop or a train station or what have you, you know the creepy guys that are sometimes found late at night? Not just the homeless people, but the guys who seem to radiate the aura of 'stay the hell away from me'? That's low Charisma. People who are just creepy and/or scary-looking. Claudian is covered in scars, sounds like a wood chipper when he talks, and is (probably) missing a tooth or three. People aren't going to respond warmly to that, even if he's trying to be pleasant.

And if you combine that with a general desire to be nice to people and a lack of understanding about how people expect you to be nice to them... I imagine someone who claps people way too hard on the back, sticks his foot in his mouth when he talks, lacks tact, stares when he shouldn't and picks his nose or something, etc...

When I think Charisma 7, I think of Joe from my other gaming group. Nice guy. Dirty, smelly guy who rarely bathes. Burps and farts, even at the table. Eats with his mouth open. Tries to be friendly by joking around with others, but his jokes are inappropriate and occassionally offensive. May very well call a black guy by certain socially-inacceptable names without meaning any offense whatsoever. Will take his friends into headlocks to show them he likes them, or slap them on the back/upside the head. Can't express his thoughts any better than our illustrious President can....

Proper English has won this battle, ladies and gentlemen, but the war is far from over.

Support literacy for a better future.

(This announcement has been brought to you by the Society to Turn Everyone Into Golems.)

I would like to celebrate this moment with a quote from the Bard himself, William Shakespeare: "Words, words, words." (Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2, Line 192}

I think you're probably thinking 'sibilant' which is close to what you said, but also happens to actually be a word.

ZOMG! I KNEW I wasn't crazy! I just couldn't think or or spell the right word, even with dictionary.com and spell-checker to help me! *runs off to edit her post*