More info as of tonight: Tuln is returning on regularity and starting next Monday will be back to full steam ahead, post-holiday. Apparently the universe made me post yesterday and Tuln contacted me today to tell you all what I already told you, with an addendum.
"Listen, berk, nothin' personal, but you must be barmy as a Spire god to think I'm 'bout to give up this street block to the likes'a you Chaosmen, blabberin' on about twenty-three. If I had twenty-three feet, I'd tell ya where's ya can stick'em. Go preach yer nonsense somewhere else. Didn't even know you could have lazy eye with three eyes...
Name: Gardel Cottonfoot
Age: 24
Race: Halfling, of Oerth descent
Faction: He floats in Signer, Sensate, and Bleaker circles, but if he had to choose, he'd be a Bleaker on bad day and a Sensate on a good one
Class/Archetypes: Street Performer (Bard)
Description:
Blond with copper skin, Gardel, or Gar to his friends, Del to his family, and "Hey, Halfer" to everyone else, has a grin on his face and his hands on his most important package. His trusty mandolin Roberta, that is. Perpetually dressed in his green padded coat and his brown leather vest over a cotton off-white tunic, his hair is perpetually combed into a curl. Below the golden belt are brown leather trousers and a complete lack of shoes, his feet armed with downy almost-white hair that seems to manifest itself as seafoam on otherwise padded feet. Sometimes he has a pick in his grinning mouth, even when his mandolin is up; it keep his mind rolling. Armed with pens and parchment, he is a true artiste of the street, the common folk, the breathing, beating heart of Sigil itself, the only home he's ever known.
If only it hadn't made him so blunt and bitter.
Gardel is nothing if not a realist. Everything in perspective, no silver linings, no deep dark depressing after-the-facts. Everything as it really is. Unfortunately in a world with magic and chaos and gods, it's hard to tell sometimes. He lets that guide him. He knows what he can touch is mostly sometimes real, but that's an illusion sometimes. Especially that time with the eladrin merchants and that weird pipeweed they brought.... He wants to trust his senses and what he can see, but he knows there's so much more than that. He wants to be bleak and see no merit in everything. He's five seconds from becoming a dread Bleaknik, but in his heart of hearts... he believes in hope. He can't get away from it. Everything has a dark underbelly, every demon a glimmer of bright light hidden in their black hearts somewhere. That there can be a succubus and archon couple walking down the streets in Sigil proves that. Still, they can fight like cats and dogs. A glimmer of hope is one thing; the nature of the beast is another.
Gardel has a nasty habit of pointing this out at inopportune times. He's lost more than his fair share of friends, and thus, is a loner by nature. But he can't get away from crowds, from people. He feeds off of them. He's not a Heartless in that sense, it's a two-way street. He gives, they take; they give, he takes. Gladly, in fact; it pays for his sups most nights.
Gardel gets around. He plays this corner of Sigil one day, he plays this nameday party another night. He sees things. He listens. In fact, he's seen too much. But he knows when to bark and when to keep his trap shut. He's had to run for his life more times than he can count, he's had to fight for it just as many times. He can take care of himself. Mostly. If he had friends, he'd get by with their help, but....
Background:
Gardel doesn't really know how the Cottonfoot family left Oerth, he just knows they were glad to do it. Something about a debt to a demigod warlord or something. It doesn't matter.
Papa Cottonfoot was an industrious fellow in Sigil, a textile-maker in charge of a pretty large shop. An Indep, too, didn't believe in taking favors from nobody and didn't believe in giving them out, either. An honorable man but too independent for his own good. Mama Cottonfoot, however, was a proud Sensate, dedicated to knowing and doing. The two clashed but there was real love in their hearts; or something like that. Life's more fun with a Sensate, and it's hard to experience new things if you can't afford them. Gardel was their second child, and hardly an appropriate heir; his sister Keila had a much better mind for business. An almost Infernal one, you could say.
From an early age, going to all of those Sensate meetings, Del learned how to play music and how to keep his pointy ears open and mouth shut. Not always the best thing to do, but he did it all the same. Soon he started writing his own words, based on what he saw and what he knew (if he could trust that), and started using that oft-ignored emotion of empathy to feel what others felt. He used this to his advantage, and sneaking away from one of his mother's more experiential sessions, he performed for the first time without any supervision at fourteen. It was fantastic, he got a decent crowd (four berks, one of whom was a deaf primer, but what can you do?) for a first gig, and he fell in love.
Unfortunately, that didn't go over well with Papa Cottonfoot. He wanted his son to be industrious. While Mamam Cottonfoot supported him, she would never raise a word against her husband, and that was that. By seventeen, he was out, living on the streets of Sigil on his own, moving through circles that rarely allowed him to cross over with his parents or his family (his twin younger brothers tended to take after Papa Cottonfoot as well, just less meticulously). On a good night, after a few drops of cherryfire from Toril, he realizes that his father was pushing him to work on his own, a real Indep, but on every other night he spits at the mention of anything remotely paternal. He hears his sister went independent as well, and is building a textile empire (and maybe some more questionable practices as well). He's more careful to avoid her than he is their father.
It's been a ride since then. Weddings that turned into bloodbaths. Playing background music for parties that were really meant to discuss the end of the world (well, some world; not his world). Doing beat poetry for the hottest concert this side of the Elemental Planes. He's done it all. Well, not all. He's still up and coming. People might have heard of him. He wants to be heard. He's been crafting his persona carefully, trying to find the real Gardel, the Gardel he wants Sigil to sing the praises of.
Jade Regent being a travel game, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about recurring NPCs, namely villains, to use in the game for the sake of continuity. I know that the AP suggests ways to incorporate the baddies of each section of the game as a recurring baddie after their failure as a Big Bad, always hunting down the caravan.
But for the most part, I want the caravan to feel like it's just as much not safe as when it's stopped. And I want each section of the game to feel like it's connected to the others, subtle reminders of what's happened in the campaign that comes back. Already I've got a few ideas, but I was wondering if anyone else does.
For the record, I'm running the game with 6 players, online, at RPG Crossing.
Jubaryl Vhiski-I haven't read Rise of the Runelords so I don't know if he takes any part in that campaign outside of being a Sandpoint NPC (currently playing it, so we'll see), so I ran with what information I had, introducing him the same night Belor asks the party to investigate the Licktoads as an antagonist at the Rusty Dragon. Sandru about goes nuts, he banters with Ameiko in a negative way, and insults Koya outright: the party responds in kind, but the situation diffuses with him promising retribution. I had a couple of thugs follow the party into Brinestump but get murdered by the Soggy River Monster, to tie that bad boy in. Eventually, Jubaryl and Sandru's uncle in Riddleport is going to reassign Jubaryl elsewhere, word reaching the party as they return to Sandpoint (thus, they can't get retribution outright). And nothing happens... until they get to Kalsgard. From there, I'm not sure what to do with him.
Best Licktoads-I ran We Be Goblins! first, which had a twist at the end with Scribbleface being alive; I plan on him joining and following the party, maybe even joining the caravan (short of Shalelu killing him). The Licktoads were pretty cool, and I decided not to kill them off with the first skeleton raid on the Licktoad village. So, I elected this: one of my players for the Licktoads disappeared, and before he did so, managed to tame the two lesser dogs of Vorka during that game. He's not going to be present at the Licktoad Village when the party arrives and whoops some ass, so thereafter, instead of going into We Be Goblins Too!, he's going to hunt down the party and gather up some stray Goblins he encounters, and attack from time to time from Varisia to Tian Xia; I'm not sure if they'll fit into the Forest of Spirits, but it seems like it can be a good idea to attack them when they least expect it.
Still not a Linux user, but since I stated I believe in consistency, and you want feedback, I figured I'd give it.
Aside from my review, I got nuttin'. The only thing I could come up with was a sheet to design the base of your organization, but the room that would require is too astounding to even suggest. And here I am, suggesting it. Needless to say, you probably shouldn't add it.
That said, you're doing a great job with these projects. If I knew a way to promote these products more than just review them, I would, but I am neither a blogger nor a person whose opinion is often asked in the gaming community, so I can only give you a plug with my other DM friends. That or make them jealous with flashy sheets and versatility abound.
Any plans for future products, if you don't mind me asking?
Might as well go the whole nine yards and give suggestions here too; you seem to want feedback, so here goes.
Good sheet, but overall I think it could use some definite improvement. I would suggest getting Gender, Age, Height, Weight, Eyes, Hair-that area-and put it elsewhere on the sheet. Hell, I'd say go further and give it a full section: add an area for history, notable features, character relations, what have you, things you might see on more backstory-centric sheets. To go further and to repeat myself, you might add a box for character portrait/personal emblem (because signet rings never get enough love).
In relation to Skills, and more important than my last suggestion, you might consider adding additional Misc modifiers and a box for Trained bonus. Most players have a hard time keeping up with Misc mods, and putting them all in the same box gets taxing and leads to metaarguments in-game. Not necessary, but would certainly help.
On the Spell sheet, which you did beautifully, there is no need for expansion on what's there. I would, however, suggest adding a section for Familiar/Animal Companion, Bloodline (definitely Bloodline), and I'd consider a section specifically for if you have a Bonded Item, in case it's not a Glamdring-knock off.
The Gear section leaves much to be sought after. You might add a weight value to each of the spots for Gear, and for location on each thing. The biggest improvement to be made is overall weight of the products: this is the only sheet I've seen without that value box. Consider adding a section specifically for Magic Item location, as that can get tricky the more rings you run across in-game.
Aside from those suggestions I've got nothing more to add. Looking forward to future releases.
I'm going to sound like a broken record here from my suggestions from the Realms sheet (I don't think I praise enough), you might consider a small box for the settlement's crest. Just as countries have flags, cities occasionally have crests/flags/what have you. To break away from repeating myself, I might also suggest, as you have on your Realms sheet, an important events section: dates of founding, dates of holidays/festivals, that whole shebang. Maybe even adding another part for notable laws in the Demographics section.
Another suggestion I might have is a local flavor section. Perhaps a small area for visual characteristics of the buildings, the environment surrounding the settlement, or traits among the locals: say they all have black hair, or green eyes, that might stand out. Not really anything in the way of stats other sections might call for, but it's a thought.
You requested feedback on your other products and on the description here; Aside from massive kudos, I have one suggestion in relation to this sheet specifically. Not sure where you would put it, and this is purely out of an aesthetic preference, but you might consider adding a section/a box somewhere for people to put their nation's flag/crest. I have no idea where you would put it, but more than anything take it with a grain of salt as it's not necessary.
Another purely aesthetic request, and this would ostracize more people than it would make happy, might be to add a grid to the map section, be it squares or hexagons. Granted, I can just as easily draw on them/get a clear grid sheet to go over it, but it's a thought.
My only other suggestion, and this pertains to all of your products, is to put the OGL on the last page instead of the first; kind of threw me off at first. Not sure if the OGL requires it to be within the first few pages, but if it doesn't you might put it at the end (then again, people might forget it's there and print off nigh-infinite copies of the sheet, and each time print a new copy of the OGL, so maybe it should stay where it is).
