Reposted from the Gamer Connection forum so that people don't have to tab back and forth for questions or to see the outline of the game.
I'm looking to possibly put together a Dragonstar game. For those unfamiliar with the setting, it's a sci-fi/fantasy D20 game, a much more technological 'Spelljammer' sort of setting. Spaceships, laser technology, Star-Trek-ish technobabble, a massive ruling aristocracy headed by dragons and dragon-kin and an entire new galaxy to play in.
The setting is very sandbox-y. Rather than having a few specific places in the world where 'Adventure' happens, the entire setting is malleable based on the scale of game the players and GM want to create, as well as the level of technology and culture one wants to deal with.
Specifics to my game:
Races: Standard PHB/Dragonstar PHB. I may make exceptions for other things, but I require non-monstrous, non-magical Humanoids as the bottom-line and am not likely to take up on anything too wacky like a kuo-toa.
Main Classes: PhB/Dragonstar PHB standard without exceptions. The setting functions very well on stereotypes, and the specialists and hybrids of the 'Complete' books don't tend to mesh as well as simply multi-classing would.
Prestige classes: These will *REQUIRE* an in-game mentor and will not necessarily happen as soon as the character's stats meet the minimum requirements. They are not subject to the specific limits of the PHB/Dragonstar PHB, but certain game-flavor will be maintained. Exceptions to rules such as archery feats/classes converting to the use of firearms will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Character Concepts: Characters should be 'problem solver' archetypes, typically not bound to any government agency or military (though that doesn't bar you from having this as part of your backstory). Characters need to be free of obligations so as to pursue whatever their contractor needs. Detectives, bounty hunters, mercenaries, and pilots-for-hire are good examples of these.
Please, no needless insanities, no 'comic-relief' character concepts. Professionals who do this for a living are what I'm looking for here. By all means, be the badass who quips about the weather during a firefight, but don't be a rodeo-clown or a pyromaniac.
Some specifics about each class to be aware of:
General - All classes function as of 3.5, upgrading from 3.0. Specific questions may be addressed in this thread.
Barbarian - not unworkable in this setting, but you'll need to think about just why your character has developed something of a reputation as a problem-solver. Not every problem requires Rage, and the Technical improficiency will be a serious hampering when it comes to investigations and pursuit of clues, as well as, of course, firefights.
Bard - You almost certainly attended a Bardic School. This will be formative to your musical talents as well as your casting style, and ought to be detailed at least a little bit.
Cleric - Unless you are from the inner sectors of the Empire where the Unification Church has got everyone into the habit of using the nine Unification Deity names, you've probably got a specific name for an indigenous deity to your homeworld that is regarded as an aspect of a Unification deity. Clerics from outside the Unification Church are allowed, but run it specifically by me first and detail precisely what it is you believe and why your world is part of the Empire but the deities haven't been absorbed.
Further, Clerics do not hot-swap for cure or inflict spells. Rather, they swap for Domain spells of the same level. This makes healing a somewhat more limited option, but brings a great deal more flavor to a given cleric and their deity, as well as precisely what aspect of that deity the cleric venerates.
Druid - Druids are divine casters. Their spells come from somewhere. Whether it be nature spirits or an eco-conscious aspect of one of the Unification Deities is up to you, but they are not ingrained abilities from training, like a Monk.
Druids also gain one Domain, representative of the chosen 'source' of their powers, chosen from the list of "Air, Water, Fire, Earth, Plant, Animal, or Sun," or from the Domain list of a specific Unification-Church deity. This latter option, however, requires that you also be specifically a <i>follower</i> of that deity and receive your spells through that deity.
Fighter - As written. Fighters are difficult to screw up.
Monk - As written. Monks descend from specific orders, and detailing this order as well as it's training/combat style and particular tenets would flesh out your character immensely.
Paladin - Pick a specific deity, as well as an Order you belong to. Paladins of the Unification Church are sanctioned by the Orders, given 'recognition' as Paladins and special jurisdictions, and it's important to be aware of what those jurisdictions are. You need not confine yourself to the paltry few listed in the book, feel free to make one up if you're feeling creative, but run it by me first, as well as their purpose and political connections.
Ranger - Note the drastic changes that Rangers underwent in conversion from 3.0 to 3.5. "Two-Gun Shooting" does not replace "Two Weapon Fighting" on the combat style table. You are either a marksman with the rifle as per archery feats, or you have learned a style of close combat.
Rogue - Consider the character's background, whether professional spy or member of a Thieves' Guild of some sort, and detail this as it will impact how your Knowledge (local) works.
Sorcerer - Sorcerers are believed to be dragon-blooded, but as noted in the book, there is no scientific evidence to back this. Nevertheless, there is a certain standing in society connoted by sorcerous heritage, and the realities of it must be addressed in your character concept, whether you embraced it or fled from it.
Wizard - Wizards are not reviled in the setting, they are merely looked at askance, for example, in the fashion that we regard UFO Conspiracy Theorists (though for different reasons, obviously). Typically, they band into clusters and share knowledge in this fashion, and as such it is important to determine where your knowledge came from. A specific mentor, a Wizards' College, or inherited/discovered works, for example.
Zo. Zees ees vair vee aur postink faur draginkstaur deescussionink, no?
Ja. Postink yoor thinkinks here, und vee shall built from zem a story!
*explodes all over the thread*
*Wipes up muttering to himself about lack of capitalization.*
Yeeeessss
Some new information:
The game is going to be set on a collection of around a dozen worlds on the outskirts of Noros space. ("Noros" is the House of Black Dragons, but the colloquial term would be 'Noros Space', not simply 'Black Dragon Space.')
About three of them will be of fairly high technology, coming close to fully "first world" planets within the Dragon Empire. The rest will be worlds variously technological, from primitive worlds of range-roving barbarians to worlds of roughly year-2000-Earth level technology.
Most of the worlds were recently colonized by the empire, a process that, in Noros space, is almost needlessly traumatic to the native populations. Arriving like vengeful landlords, the Explorer Corps ships captained by Noros officers offer a non-spacefaring world a single chance to capitulate utterly to the rule of the Dragon Empire, and decimate resistance movements. Most worlds surrender completely in the terrifying first days of contact, and are bound to their surrender by orbiting gunships and battalions of brutal 'peacekeeping' forces.
The cluster of worlds has been colonized in a sweep in roughly the last century. Some worlds were pacified as recently as a decade ago, some earlier during the opening sweep of the Explorer Corps.
PCs may come from anywhere in the Empire; Core-World techno-elite are just as acceptable as Monks from the Airless Citadel or newly colonized refugees fleeing the destruction of Noros' orbital bombardment of resistance cells.
If you need help integrating your character into the game-world or giving him/her a neat background, just ask.
So not so much with the Blue Dragons then?
The game is going to be set on a collection of around a dozen worlds on the outskirts of Noros space.
I meant Blue Dragons. Not Black.
Osorus Space, not Noros.
Make the correct replacements in the above reading, all else stays the same.
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.
Being a sci-fi setting (with a tyrannical elder Red Dragon(tm) heading up the show), this game will not be completely lacking in violence and occasional disturbing themes. I'm not excessive and I don't think anyone here is either, but consider this your pre-warning. If anyone has a weak stomach for plasma burns or the kind of console-exploding-klaxon-blaring violence you see in Star Wars, speak now or forever hold your peace.
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?
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?
Standard PHB and Dragonstar PHB (i.e. 'Drow') races.
32-point-buy.
You already know my story. I'm pretty sure I'm all set, unless there was something else you wanted and/or needed?
There is a Sasha! Hooray-ness! Any character concepts yet?
Mmm, thinking monk and then gundancer when I have the required levelage. :)
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. ;)
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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'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.
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
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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
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.
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*
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?)
Any estimation on when we're kicking this thing off? My humble, nature-worshipping ass wants to smoke some b+%%@es.
Any estimation on when we're kicking this thing off? My humble, nature-worshipping ass wants to smoke some b~#@&es.
I want to get this thing started pretty soon, but I don't have all the character sheets and am waiting to hear about finalized concepts from some players.
As well, I have an actual intro to write. We'll probably be getting started toward the end of the month. I'll let people know if it gets swinging before then.
Here's a question for you: Are you going to be handling all the rolls behind the scenes like I do in my games or are you going to have us roll and post the results (like we do in Aubrey's games)?
I'll be doing the rolling just to keep things seamless. I'm sort of a whiny DM and I like to see the results personally, if only so that I can impose my own standards of success on the result.
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?
Okay. Now just to clarify/write out backstory.
And I wish this avatar had existed when I was trying to find something for Riann. Oh well. *sigh*
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.
Okay. Character history is posted to livejournal. Take a look and gimme your comments. I think I managed to basically smoosh your ideas and my ideas into one cohesive whole, but we'll see. I may need some help meshing things a little more cleanly, since I really am not too familiar with the setting. For example, you'll notice I deliberately left out planet/city names, and for good reason: I don't know any.
A quick question:
Do we get a free regional language? Seems like unless languages are INCREDIBLY standardized, different planets are going to---at the very least---have different languages, if not multiple regional-languages within one planet.
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A quick question:
Do we get a free regional language? Seems like unless languages are INCREDIBLY standardized, different planets are going to at the very least have different languages, if not multiple regional-languages within one planet.
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.
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.
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
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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....
What Kabbalah stuff? I had an exceptionally short lived Mage char who was a depressed Jewish mathematician who sort of accidentally got absorbed into Kabbalah. and ascended. or went crazy... the story didn't progress far enough for me to be sure.
Re: Languages
Actually, no, there are no regional languages. When the Gods seeded the galaxy with sentient life, they ensured that each race developed language in more or less the same fashion, world-to-world. There would otherwise, obviously, be as many languages as colonized worlds, more or less, and the game would be unworkable.
Dragonstar is a Deistic world, really. The gods are not present, and are worshipped only in effigy and allegory. They caused life, shepherded it into certain forms, and then sort of let it spin.
Sasha: You should borrow the Dragonstar book from Zack and get a feel for the setting. You're not far off with what you wrote (though your lack of placenames and specifics makes it necessarily bland, of course) and it just needs a bit of fine-tuning.
I've sent an email to Ross, trying to poke him awake and get this thing rolling.
Looks like the finalized character concepts are thus:
Ian will be playing a dwarven rogue/diviner, a detective from an Outlands police force.
Christine will be playing a newly initiated paladin of SOLAR.
Zack will be playing an eco-conscious, technology-shunning Druid of the Mother.
Sasha is our resident Imperial Monk on the road to gundancery.
Finally, Ross is a displaced Outlands military man, a Ranger in the tradition of the American Army-Pathfinders, now a refugee after a very forceful Imperial 'colonization' of his world.
Zack, I would really appreciate some more background information about your character. What I have right now is extraordinarily hazy compared to everyone else and it's making it difficult to write you into the story.
Other than that, we're golden aside from me doing some writing and finalization. Check in here, plzlol.
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Zack, I would really appreciate some more background information about your character. What I have right now is extraordinarily hazy compared to everyone else and it's making it difficult to write you into the story.
I'm not sure what more you want. We went over pretty much everything.
-Born on a utopian 'green' planet (called Arborea by the locals) and raised into an ecologically-minded civilization that serves as a bronze dragon's 'science experiment.'
-Parents were relatively wealthy engineers who ponied up the cash to send Elan off to the druidic college/enclave at age 5.
-For the entirety of his upbringing, Elan was raised within the confines of the academy and taught the ways of nature and magic, only seeing his parents once or twice a year during holidays.
-Took very well to the training, earning the right to be accepted into the druidic order itself when he reached the age of 16. Was summarily sent to the 'preserve continent' on the other side of the planet to commune with nature alongside other druidic hopefuls and mentors.
-Managed to complete the 4 year druidic training program (only about 10% of the people who make it this far actually complete the program), subsisting in the wilderness with nothing but his own talents, skills, and magic.
-Is given his final assignment to study abroad for 10 years, learning about the worlds and people beyond his homeland and serving the Empire according to the contract that the bronze dragon had with Khelorn. When he completes his sojourn, he will be welcomed back to Arborea by the druids who raised him and awarded a position in the druidic council, the governing body of Arborea (alongside the dragon, of course).
The idea that I have for this druid academy is basically like the Jedi Academy in Star Wars, but without all the lightsaber stuff. It teaches clarity and reverence for nature as well as philosophy and basic combat training, survival skills, and magic.
What more do you want? He's never experienced any sort of tragedy, he's never done battle with anything but the occassional animal and/or magical beast, he's never held a gun, he hasn't seen a television since he was 5 (well, he probably has recently), and he hasn't been to more than a half dozen worlds by the time we get to where we are in the story.
Name the planet.
Name the Druid order and describe what they stand for.
Give a title to the Druidic circle and to the stage that he exists in now (i.e. what's his form of address?)
Basically, give me the details that will anchor this story into the world.
Hello.
No posts at all in this thread from Ross, and he's been pretty intermittent. I want to include his character very much, because his concept will be a good counterpoint to most of you. Right now, without Ross's somewhat grim and cynical 'refugee', we have a LG Monk, an LG Paladin, a LG Detective, and a NG Druid.
Conversation basically runs along the lines of "Yep! Let's go!"
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No posts at all in this thread from Ross, and he's been pretty intermittent. I want to include his character very much, because his concept will be a good counterpoint to most of you. Right now, without Ross's somewhat grim and cynical 'refugee', we have a LG Monk, an LG Paladin, a LG Detective, and a NG Druid.
Conversation basically runs along the lines of "Yep! Let's go!"
And here you were worried about me trying to be Exalted...
To be fair, though, too much roleplay is bad for a play-by-post. Several pages spent bickering doesn't do much to advance the plotline and these games are strung out long enough already.
MEATRACK SEZ:
Sasha, you might want to look at taking stunning fist- there is a bit of equipment in DS that makes it *awesomee*
Stun Gauntlets: Stun gauntlets work just stun batons except you wear them on your hands like gloves. A target hit by stun gauntlets takes normal unarmed strike damage and must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 15) or be stunned for one round. Resistances or immunity to electricity damage apply. 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.
(emphasis mine :D )
They're a worthwhile piece of gear for any monk to have, and I assume since you have a communicator and grenades and such that you have technical proficiency.
My two cents.
Posted Savilo's sheet, will try to get Bharek's up tonight as well.
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?