Vorbis's page

I'm looking to start a new group with Savage Worlds, I already have a couple players just would like a few more. So if you're interested let me know. Oh, the setting is a homebrew but heavily focused on classic high fantasy.

Thanks for the responses, though no one actually responded to what I asked for. . . anyway.

My point was/is that I KNOW other people on paizo have run campaigns along these lines, I just can't remember the threads they were on.

And Steven, everything thing I've read and seen (in the box set I have) shows the 1st edition was very low-magic, at least on the player's side.

I've been trying to build a campaign with much lower levels of magic, and a grittier feel to it.

My plans are to use the Mage and Acolyte Advanced Classes from D20 modern instead of sorcerer, wizard, druid, or cleric. I'm also going to cut, Bard and Paladin, and use a spell-less ranger variant.

My main question is how to do damage, I know some people on here use static racial hit die,but I cant find those threads. I want my players to fear a guy with a crossbow, no matter their level.

Any tips or links to other threads that may have covered this?

Going back to the time travel episode, I'm gonna go super-nerd here for a minute. In the past the wormhole would destablize for seconds, not hours. And the time it would throw you to shifted, so you had to have the timing down pat. They offered no explanation for why it was different this time.

Come on, it's out there, someone on here has had to play it.

But remember you have to be noticed and with the tons of dreck on the net, it's easy to fly under radar.

I just found out this existed,and you can buy it on Amazon, but I'm wondering if anyone out there has it, played it, what's the setting? How's the system work?

But homophobia is a more insidious fear, I think, and somewhat unique in that sense.

I disagree, I think gay humans would win out over straight dwarves

And, in a society that has, for centuries, encouraged the gay person to live in hiding, marry the opposite gender and 'blend,' this anxiety is only *reinforced.*

NOT centuries less than a hundred years ago, in America we allowed for women to be in lesbian relationships, this was of course during the time of Pure Love Victorian ideals so sex was rarely discussed and from what I can tell it was *wink* *wink* situation, everyone KNEW what was going on, but those weren't the kind of things people talked about in polite company.

Vorbis wrote:

I'm not condoning his actions, just like I don't condone people who don't serve blacks at their restaurant, but it is NOT illegal, you can refuse service to anyone. Should it be? Should we revoke the rights of people to refuse to serve lunch to a bunch of barechested foul mouthed bikers in a family restaurant, because some people use that same law as an excuse to discriminate?

Hold on now, why you want to be stereotyping bikers?

Haha I'm not, that's why I didn't say just bikers I was referring to a very select group of bikers.

And Samnell yes you can, you aren't supposed to do it, and if it's proven you can get in trouble, but it's almost impossible to prove. Private clubs actually have a harder time at it, like the school club the kids tried to form in L.A. (I think) in a school full of African-American Club, Asian-American Club, Mexican-American club, they were denied opening a European-American Club. Country clubs, and other privates like that come under alot of fire, if they don't have their token black man out swinging a golf club.

Uzzy wrote:

Set this sixty years back, and suddenly you'd have a large proportion of the populace supporting this judge.

Probably all the voting adults in the area. Up through the civil rights movement majorities of white Americans told pollsters that they thought the movement was a bunch of fringe radicals and most black people were perfectly happy with segregation.

Well with people like Malcolm X supporting a fully segregated society, the whites had someone to point to and say "Hey see, they don't want to integrate."

Vorbis wrote:

A clarification: He is a Justice of the Peace, not a Judge. And as far as I can tell, he was elected (though JoP laws are different in every state), so yes he can be as racist as he wants. He, like anyone else, CAN refuse service.

So it's OK if this JoP refuses to marry my hypothetical opposite-sex fiance and me, 'cause: "Well, you know, you Catholics aren't born-again, so any children you might have will go to Hell."? Or if we were Jewish: "Well, Jewish kids will get discriminated against in the South."?

I'm not condoning his actions, just like I don't condone people who don't serve blacks at their restaurant, but it is NOT illegal, you can refuse service to anyone. Should it be? Should we revoke the rights of people to refuse to serve lunch to a bunch of barechested foul mouthed bikers in a family restaurant, because some people use that same law as an excuse to discriminate?

But My point was merely to let people know it was NOT a judge (didn't work obviously) and to show that while immoral, it is not illegal, yet (again didn't work)

Louis Agresta wrote:

In short: a contrast between fiction that explores the problem and fiction that whitewashes it.

This sort of invisible standard applies as well to fantasy settings where women, blacks, asians, etc. just sort of co-mingle in the same social grouping or 'generic fantasy country' with no mention whatsoever of gender differences, racial divides, etc.

By removing any potentially controversial 'blackness' or 'femininity' or whatever from the characters, that sort of setting, to me at least, feels sort of like watching a Greek play, where the women are played by men dressed up as women. Every character is just a white man, even if they appear to be black, asian, female, etc. making it, again, IMO, the exact *opposite* of inclusive.

Oh hey, let's make this character superficially black/gay/female, just so that we can say, 'Look at how open-minded we are!' but not actually make the character in any way culturally or socially or personally distinctive from the white dudes surrounding them.

But IMO, as a sociology student and I know alot of my professors would agree (I've asked), in a world with elves, dwarves, dragons and such, race would not be a factor, like Terry Pratchett put racism wouldn't exist because everyone was too busy being a speciest. (something like that).

This is different than sexual orientation (in Fantasy settings at least), but still you hate the outsider, the human race would be alot better off if we were invaded by tentacle monsters from another dimension (Yes I side with Ozymandias)

A clarification: He is a Justice of the Peace, not a Judge. And as far as I can tell, he was elected (though JoP laws are different in every state), so yes he can be as racist as he wants. He, like anyone else, CAN refuse service.

As for his reasoning(supposedly we all know it's B.S.), yes biracial people do often (though obviously not always) face more predjudice from both whites and blacks, but just because someone might suffer doesn't mean they shouldn't be born (though what makes him think that not getting married is going to stop from having kids?)

And Mosaic, I respectfully disagree, we have handed too much over to Federal Agencies already, this is a county matter and should be resolved on that level. And asking the president to intercede on a minor matter (again) is ridiculous, he has too much to do.

Rather, what is behind my criteria is simply that the experience of most gay people is the experience of living in a prejudiced, often hostile world. Fiction that ignores this reality may serve to entertain or to hold up an ideal (or some other purpose I'm not thinking of just now), but such fiction is not exploring the genuine experience of most homosexuals.

In short: a contrast between fiction that explores the problem and fiction that whitewashes it.

I agree with you, but in both Fantasy and Scifi there is this fallacy in thinking that society (in reference to anything, but homosexuality is a prime example) works the same, as well anywhere in the 21st century.

IMO, creating a Fantasy setting where everyone reacts to things like homosexuality like modern America does, is more unbelievable than the magic. And it seems insulting to authors to say that they didn't write "genuine" gay heroes just because they had a different social setting.

So Louis you believe Gay is only defined by the character existing in a prejudical enviroment?

Aubrey the Malformed wrote:

Richard Morgan's The Steel Itself. He's mainly known as an SF writer but the above is his most recent novel, the first part of a fantasy series. His style is fairly "in your face". The main protagonist in this series is gay and (in typical Morgan style) there are some pretty explicit sex scenes of various dispositions. It's an interesting take as Morgan seems to be quite interested in social themes, and the issues of anti-gay prejudice are quote prominent in the book. (It also works quite well on the action side too.)

This. Perhaps the first genuinely gay, genuinely hero.

That can't possbibly be true, that's a very new book, just look at all the others listed in this forum alone.

Well, it has been kicked around forever, and I am surprised I'm the first to mention it: the tender Frodo-Sam relationship in 'Lord of the Rings.'
I don't think Prof T intended to create homoeroticism, but some have disagreed. Much has been written about sexuality in 'Lord of the Rings'-particularly about the apparent absence of sex, the paucity of female characters and the significance of two of them being an angel and a monstrous spider (think neurotic virgin/whore constellation here).

Thanks for all the help :)

I'm looking more for explicitly stated relationships not implied.
Same thing for Dumbledore, his sexuality plays no role in the stories, and I've always felt that her retrospective labeling of him wasn't genuine and still don't understand why people care.

What's important for me to find is how the idea of homosexuality is treated in these books (essentialist v. social constructionist), and I'm focusing on fantasy because in most SF (that i've read at least) treat it in a very constrcutionist manner. That is, in the future when we can change bodies easily (therefore gender), and have met a number of sentient races then our sexuality will expand to encompass this.

I would suggest the works of China Mieville, as he often includes homosexual characters (both sympathetic and unsympathetic) in his works.

In particular, I would suggest Perdido Street Station and Iron Council the latter of which features a homosexual protagonist.

Hmm I read Perdido Street station, except for the one side character I don't recall anyone else, but Iron Council is on my list of To Read, thanks

So it's very rare for me to find gay characters in the books I read. They are generally male authors, but I've been led to believe a number of female authors feature gay men. Can anyone give me Authors or Book titles, this is for a paper in my Sexual Identity and Diversity class.

(and no Poppy Z Brite, she's a special case)

All in all I liked the show, but it has some serious holes. My major problem is the Tesla, they have it, it's non-lethal, induces short term memory loss, but is never used.

Remember when they were caught by the other SS agents? Perfect time to use the Tesla. Basically while the characters are interesting, the writing FAILS.

At least one character should take charge and not just stand around while the bad guy chatters on.

I'm not looking for how to make some).

If you look in your old english section of a Dictionary; Albho: pale elf, spirit.

So pale as to be spirit like...Now that is an elf. Wraith-like. If you want an Albho, slap on a Ghost Template.

While that does sound interesting (as it must have when they ran it in Dragon), a ghost elf does not equal a albino cave elf.

I've been thinking of adding muskets to my game, and was wondering if anyone had advice on their mechanics. I was think that it would add a success to Attack at the farthest range (i don't have my book with me I forget how range is done) and then with bayonet it can be a spear.
Ideas? Suggestion?

So i understand that drow are darkskinned because it represent their dark souls (or they were bound with shadow in Eberron). But most underground dwelling things tend toward lighter if not albino pigmentation. So I was wondering if there were any albino cave elves out there (that are already in a supplement, I'm not looking for how to make some).

I'm gonna bump this, cause I know I got some UAB students out there :)

I've been testing with friends recently real good game. I'd like to play any PBP set up

Specifically UAB, I'm looking for a group on campus who wants to kill some time during the week. I'm on Campus T&Th this Fall semester, I'm willing to run MouseGuard, 3.5, Discworld (GURPS)-I'm new to it so they may be bumpy, or Star Wars Saga Edition.

OR, if someone else wants to DM I'll play any system.

I finally added my equipment.

Everything appears in order, so as of now we have:

Kuhn-Duhn
Audric
Guntar

I'd like one or two more

Here4daFreeSwag wrote:

And here is what I got thus far with some minor changes made... (no, this is not an already repeated message for this topic)

** spoiler omitted **

looks good i'm gonna double check the equipment

Even though it's kinda late, if it's okay with Vorbis, the OP, may I be considered for an alternate spot/placeholder, just in case an extra player is needed?

Am thinking of creating a maenad ardent with life/freedom/mental power mantle (or possibly even an eneko druid with some substitute powers).

Sorry i've been away, but if you complete a character tehn yes you can play. It's first done first play system.

So, ding dong the game is dead, the sadly-unplayed game is dead?

Not dead just on hiatus until characters are ready

Humans are never satisfied with what they have (are). Sprinkle in some advertising aimed specifically at insecurities.

I have to disagree with you here, I've read a number of studies (I'm a Psych major i read studies about everything), that show men ARE happy with what they look like (no matter what they look like, men always believe women are attracted to them). And more than 90% of the time men indicate that they are attracted to women who are of a healthy size.

Woman on the other hand, believe that men are attracted to women unhealthily small, and seem to think that they are bigger than they actually are.

So what can we do about it? Nothing, this has nothing to do with men, this is a woman's body issue. It's obvious that despite the fact that we ARE attracted to properly shaped women, it has no influence on what women think we are attracted to.

This is something that both individuals and our the women in our society have to fix.

Note: All studies are on heterosexual men and women and focus primarily on U.S. citizens.

Any room for another character? I'm itchin' to get into an Eberron game (my favorite setting at this point)...

- Rebis

Hmm, yeah i think so, i'd like to begin soon so everyone whose almost done, post when you're completed everything. Let me know.

Oh and Khun-Duhn looks good, i haven't seen the psychic rogue in action, but i'm willing to test it out

Saern: very good ideas, thank you very much. I appreciate the reminders about the scale. The swarm's burst as the undead 'dies' is exactly the kind of thing that I want--more or less it only seems like a zombie. As for them devouring one another, I like that idea too, so that it would explain why only a few of the larger larvae that had managed to survive would remain.

I've tried to look up swarmhost but have drawn a blank so far...any idea of what book it's in?

Insofar as the actual encounter goes, it's supposed to be what seems like a zombie outbreak--shamblers but hungry dead that seem to be what the local villagers have become. The first encounters lead up to the ultimate encounter with the hive. I figured that if the larve 'hatch' from their host normally they then by instinct head towards the hive. Until then they are considered mindless vermin by the hive itself.

Still can't remember the template name unless it's Hivenest? anyway it's in Dungeonscape.

I can't remember the book, but there's a template for creating an undead that is full of bugs, I think it's called Swarmhost or something similar.

Five Common Syrkarn Legends

1.Syrkarn is free. Though nominally a protecterate of Rierdra, Syrks owe no fealty to the Inspired Overlords.

2. In the past, greatness lingers. The eneko are descendants of ogres and half-giants, the latter believed to be descendants of Sarlonan humans and traveling Xen'Drik giants.

3. The yuan-ti once held this land in the iron grip of magic-and seek to do so again.

4. The giant based faith of the mongrel ogres (eneko) hide dark secrets.

5. Beneath the beauty of Syrkarn, dark things abide.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

So do we still have to worry about angry Inspired coming after us, if we're psionic?

Probably. Then again, wouldn't the Inspired be chasing after us even if we weren't psionic?

Actually the answer to both is no. Syrkarn is a free nation, that has remnants of the old Sarlonan culture but is made up of the descendants who fled Rierdra when the Inspired first arrived. Yes there are Rierdrans in Syrkarn but they are merely observers not aggressors.

I think in this case you're playing Star Trek, because it's the story. With D&D it's about being a Fighter or a Wizard or a Bard, not about the story. The story is important, but D&D is a system (or set of systems) where Star Trek is a settin.

Here's what I got so far.

Umm i'm a little confused on the ethereal dragon mentions, could you clarify that for me

Hmm. Tough location for characters without 'kill me' signs on their heads. Religion is bad juju, as is magic and Kalashtar... how about a monk? Maybe a Dolgaunt with no class levels? >.>

actually the the continent is Sarlona, Rierdra is just a part of that, Syrkarn is much more free and not under Inspired control. Hope that helps and opens up some possibilties

Sorry for taking so long as well. This is what I have so far, I will try to finish everything else as soon as possible.

Alright looks good, can't wait to see the story on this one.

Sorry about the wait, we lost internet for a few days. My character will be done soon.

no worries

Yeah but i'm imagining an agent of the Trust (whispher gnome probably) using a silent pistol to quietly solve problems in the depths of Sharn.

An earth elemental might be able to make ammo, so you don't have to reload. Might also need a fire elemental bonded to it for the powder/explosion.

GAH! ninjad in my own thread. I knew i shouldn't read webcomics while posting

I am not sure of your basics here, but I don't see gunpoweder catching on. Its to dangerous and inaccurate . In a setting where magic can be gotten easy I don't see primitive firearms ever catching on but that's just me.

Now massproduced magic crossbows with more power yeah I see. It's too easy in eberron to improve the crossbow then to start from 0

I think you just unitentionally answered something for me, see why use balck powder? Well two small khyber shards one with an earth elemental, the other with a fire elemental could reproduce that effect (air elemental too for a silencer but less damage). Of course the weapons wouldn't replace the standard army kit, but may become the purview of nobility.

In my campaign i took the idea presented in Tales of the Last War, where the warforged finds the old dream center of the giants.

Cyre tried to fire an ancient giant weapon used against the Quori, but the artifact spells they thought would shield them instead trapped the blast in Cyre.

currently in my home campaign the players are fighting pirates in the Principalities. At some they are going to get themselves into serious trouble (I don't have to railroad them, they can usually come up with a catastrophic idea on their own), and I can introduce the Crimson Ship.

His bargain in order to save them is for them to raid a temple in another land and bring back the artifact. (the temple will be aztec with the shapeshifting PrCs from an old dragon) The High Priest will be wielding a pistol.

Now, assuming the PCs take the pistol back to Eberron and the technolgy is introduced into Khorvaire, how do you think it would evolve given the unique types of magic in Eberron. And the social structure?

For example, what will adding a khyber shard with and earth elemental to a pistol do? Will the Trust or another secretive agency move to stop it?

What do you think?

"Think of dragonmarks as a snag in the weave of the Draconic Prophecy. You can take that thread, and you can go forward and try to guess what will be woven next. Or, you can follow it back to the source, and now you can find everything that has ever occurred."

Alright, I have repurposed the name of a previous character, so here I am. I'll have the equipment and background up later.

looks good, like the story, don't see anything to object to here :)

How do you want us to handle hit points and equipment?

Hmm, yeah you cantell i haven't run PBP before i didn't even think about it.

For HP we'll use the static progression, Full Die at odd levels, and half die at even levels

Equipment, i'll say 1,350 that way you're below WBL and have to room to gain treasure

once complete post here first let me preview the character

Oh yes take you're time, i'm not trying to rush character creation :)

Alrighty, the thread is up Here

introduce your characters and include name, race, age, class, etc in a spoiler :)