Rules Changes (or Additions):
1. Each character will begin with a swordsman school of their choice from their home Nation. However, the character is not automatically a member of the Swordsman's Guild. This can be paid for separately for the usual 3 Hero Points. In this game it will be possible for people to have been trained in a style, but not admitted into the guild as being admitted requires a bit more responsibility. This will allow everyone to participate in the swashbuckling side of the game and do the cool maneuvers associated with the various styles. From experience this doesn't undervalue a character that focuses on swordsmanship as they tend to still be better (and it allows them to branch out into another school much earlier if they wish to).
2. Instead of being limited to using a specific Defense Knack based on location or condition (i.e. swinging or balancing) you may *also* use Parry (Weapon) but it will be limited by the appropriate Defense Knack. For example, a character has a Parry (Knife) of 4 and a Balance of 2. While defending themselves on a top of a moving carriage they're allowed to use Parry (Knife) but it will be considered a 2. This allows characters with Advantages or Swordsman School abilities associated with Parrying to get use out of them.
3. You may purchase the Knack Exploit Weakness (School) of any school under the following circumstances:
a) If you have defeated 5 apprentices (or higher ranked) members of a school, you may purchase the Knack at 1-2.
b) If you have Rank 2 and defeat 5 journeyman (or higher), you may purchase the Knack at 3-4.
c) Only by defeating 5 Masters of a school (and already having rank 4) can you purchase the Knack at rank 5.
These don't have to be separate members of the school, but they do have to be separate conflicts. The conflict must be either a duel or some other form of single combat (GM Discretion). Also, while it's true that your character will learn from defeat as well as success, they need to put their experience to the test (and succeed) to claim the rank in the Knack.
Added a bit more to the character's background:
Rules Changes (or Additions):
1. Each character will begin with a swordsman school of their choice from their home Nation. However, the character is not automatically a member of the Swordsman's Guild. This can be paid for separately for the usual 3 Hero Points. In this game it will be possible for people to have been trained in a style, but not admitted into the guild as being admitted requires a bit more responsibility. This will allow everyone to participate in the swashbuckling side of the game and do the cool maneuvers associated with the various styles. From experience this doesn't undervalue a character that focuses on swordsmanship as they tend to still be better (and it allows them to branch out into another school much earlier if they wish to).
2. Instead of being limited to using a specific Defense Knack based on location or condition (i.e. swinging or balancing) you may *also* use Parry (Weapon) but it will be limited by the appropriate Defense Knack. For example, a character has a Parry (Knife) of 4 and a Balance of 2. While defending themselves on a top of a moving carriage they're allowed to use Parry (Knife) but it will be considered a 2. This allows characters with Advantages or Swordsman School abilities associated with Parrying to get use out of them.
3. You may purchase the Knack Exploit Weakness (School) of any school under the following circumstances:
a) If you have defeated 5 apprentices (or higher ranked) members of a school, you may purchase the Knack at 1-2.
b) If you have Rank 2 and defeat 5 journeyman (or higher), you may purchase the Knack at 3-4.
c) Only by defeating 5 Masters of a school (and already having rank 4) can you purchase the Knack at rank 5.These don't have to be separate members of the school, but they do have to be separate conflicts. The conflict must be either a duel or some other form of single combat (GM Discretion). Also, while it's true that your character will learn from defeat as well as success,...
Great! I like your changes. I've always thought that points can be tight for a member of a swordsman school because of the 25 pt. investment, and this completely solves that. It is cool that everybody can be involved in the swashbuckling side of things.
I'm perhaps even more excited about my character being able to defend himself on a ship or carriage without me having to pick up the Sailor, Riverboat Pilot or Acrobat skills to have access to the Balance knack. It never made sense to me that one would not be able to parry while on a ship.
I think I might actually have Luciano drop Ambrogia and train in the Bernoulli school instead. We already have at least one Ambrogia swordsman, and with Alcide Mondavi being a Bernoulli master, the precedent for the Mondavi family using the latter school is already there. I'll think more on this before committing to the change. What swordsman schools are other people thinking?
Keep in mind that you'll still want Balance, just perhaps not as much as you would otherwise. Your parry will be limited by your ranks in the Balance knack, but you'll retain access to a free raise or some school related knack associated with parrying.
Also, I believe Joy had something in mind for the discount that Mondavi's get on the Ambrogia school. I believe she was thinking of giving free Swordsman's Guild membership (as you were thinking of it anyway) and a free rank in one of the Knacks. It comes out to just over the normal discount, but I doubt anyone will complain. Now, I'm not absolutely sure on this, but I'll ask her when she wakes up.
With that said, I would *love* for your character to have trained at the Ambrogia School. My plan is to make my character less proficient than yours at fencing, specifically because of that. He obviously would have preferred training at another school, and was only barely good enough to get his pin. But I think it'd be a great influence on him to have a practitioner of the school that is actually good at it.
Going to do the destiny spread for ideas.
Virtue: - Comforting
Hubris: - Arrogant
Past: - Seven of Coins
Present: - Five of Coins
Future: - Five of Coins
I'll reroll the Past.
Reroll: - Five of Coins
Holy crap that is a lot of Fives of Coins.
I'm going to use my choice on the Present, setting it to an Ace of Coins. Other than that I'm okay with the spread.
@Luciano: Your updated backstory is fine and I already have an idea how your Romance background will come up if not when.
@Hauke: What nation was the foreign dignitary from?
I've received a question about the rolling for Puzzle swords, the answer is that it will be done in the same fashion as the Destiny spreads because I've seen some useless Puzzle swords before which isn't fair for the amount of points that were spent to buy them.
I'd like to suggest a change to the Ten of Coins (Present) selection in the Vodacce Destiny Spread (the selection that Gabriele received). It currently gives both Academy and University Advantages for free. Most Destiny Spreads at most give one or the other and both are just *way* too much of a savings. My suggestion is to allow both to be bought at half price instead. I plan to buy both, so it's as if I received one for free and bought the other one.
Ten of Coins (Present): Your family ensured that your education was the most complete they could give you. You receive both the Academy and University Advantages for free.
@Gabriele - I'm fine with that change.
Edited to fix the clarification I was given on puzzle sword rolling.
Puzzle sword rolling (PC will be from Paix, so no adjustment):
1st roll: - Renard Sword (2HP - 2 from destiny = 0HP)
Renard roll: - Picking this as a 6. (3HP)
Additional Renard roll: - Well Balanced
Uncommon Sword roll: - Detruire
Detruire roll: - Reroll this.
Reroll: - Additional roll. (5HP)
Additional Detruire roll: - Collapsing Hilt
Maitre roll: - I'll adjust this up one to an 8 for The Greedy Blade.
Total: 8HP
And for character information:
Name: Olivier du Paix (Olivier Ancelete)
Olivier was born in Paix, he was always somewhat cosmopolitan and had great exposure to foreign merchants, traders, and nobles due to the nature of the city. Born to two full blooded sorcerors who settled in Paix to avoid the increasing depredations of l'Empereur, he was always talented in the use of Porte. Preferring to use his talents in bar fights and other such scuffles, he quickly learned to take care of himself and do his best to avoid a beating (or worse).
When he was nineteen he met another mage that had a penchant for getting into dangerous fights and they became fast friends. It wasn't long before he fell in love with Camille, and the two of them took to starting fights both in the streets and of the verbal variety with the many visiting merchants. Olivier and Camille, free from the eye of l'Empereur and already held with some scorn for living in Paix, were able to circumvent normal gender roles and the two played their games with ferocity. It was while he was with Camille that he first met the members of the Falisci family, enjoying their company at the nightly parties; already knowing how to speak Vodacce, it seemed a natural fit. This friendship with the foreign family would prove quite fortuitous.
His relationship with Camille ended abruptly two years ago, when he was twenty-two. She vanished without a trace and Olivier mourned for her loss, assuming that she had grown overzealous and one of the foreigners had killed her during a fight. He was wracked with grief for a year before attempting to throw himself back into his more exuberant lifestyle. Six months ago he saved a friend, Michel Flaubert du Dore from one of the none too uncommon groups of individuals that seek to do him harm though these men were more drunk and more violent than usual. In thanks, Michel sent along a box, in it was a puzzle sword and a letter with thanks for saving his life and instructions on the use of the sword. It also had an interesting side note indicating that Michel thought he saw Camille upon returning home. He reported that she was calling herself Allete Valroux du Martise and that she had obviously married up. Olivier immediately started to send letters, attempting to contact her but, three months ago, a group of mercenaries claiming to be working for Camille attacked him on the street, attempting to kill him on her behalf lest he expose her rather checkered past to her new family. Olivier, frightened but not beaten, escaped and fled to Vodacce where he has been living with his friends the Falisci even as he plans a way to deal with "Allete".
Alias created. Point expenditures are currently in the profile, but I'll be changing it to a more reader friendly character sheet later today.
@Luciano - Your traits look ok. I'll be going with the trait limit set in the book.
And I don't think I've said yet, but everyone does get 100 points for character creation.
Sheet update in profile.
I've been posting in out-of-character text, but perhaps that's a little silly considering that this is a discussion thread. It's a habit from games that don't have separate discussion and in-character threads. Oh well!
I should have been specific with my question about Traits. I meant to ask if you had a limit on how many total HP a player can spend on them. It will cost 64 points to get the Traits I listed above, so I wanted to make sure that was okay. The maximum score of 3(4 w/ nationality bonus) suits me just fine.
I'm about to head out of the evening, but I'll see what I can figure out with the 100 points and try to post it early tomorrow.
I don't have a set limit on what you can spend on them, but I'd rather not see a sheet with all 3s and one 4.
@Hauke: What nation was the foreign dignitary from?
I guess Castillian would fit best. He picked a shell of a woman and molded her to his likings. Like a sculptor.
Added Hero Point spendings to profile
@Hauke: What nation was the foreign dignitary from?I guess Castillian would fit best. He picked a shell of a woman and molded her to his likings. Like a sculptor.
Added Hero Point spendings to profile
Aw, I was hoping Giuliana would be a member of the Swordsman's Guild. A bodyguard that's allowed to initiate duels is *highly* valued everywhere, but especially in Vodacce.
@Hauke: Looking over your character sheet and under your advantages you have a Pattern-Welded Steel Weapon, but that is only allowed for Crescent characters. Perhaps one of the Castillian blades would fit the character better and they are available to any.
Also for Aldana, I'm fine with you taking that school, but would ask that you pay 5hp for it since it costs 5 more than it would if it were your nations swordsman school and your national school was the only one that was completely free.
And given the clandestine nature of the mission given to you, your employer would not approve of an unknown (to him) person tagging along with you. That and I did say at the begining I'd rather not deal with companions. Since you used your pick on the Destiny spread to take the valet, you may just pick another one.
Vodacce has free for all dueling rules. ^_^ She didn't visit a formal school, had private lessons. If I find the points for it somewhere (have to change a few things, anyway) I'll take it, though, she would want to take it.
Sure, within the country. But having a member of the guild outside the country might end up being useful. Also, unless you're Giovanni Villanova himself, you'd probably want to be a guild member when initiating a duel with foreign dignitaries. :P
Also, under your combat section:
Note that in this game when something says it adds to "a roll" it means that you add that value to whatever is rolled, not extra dice. For example, if you roll 3k2 for something and add 2 to the roll, then it would be 3k2+2. If it says that you add 2 unkept dice to a roll then the value would be 5k2. If you add 1 kept dice then it would be 4k3.
Four of cups would fit both the character and give you an added reason as to why you were chosen for this mission.
Luciano's character sheet is up. I spent 108 hero points because of the Mondavi entry in the Vodacce nation sourcebook. Since I'm not yet sure of what the Mondavi benefit might be (aptinuviel listed a few possibilities to replace the Ambrogia discount), I may yet tinker with points. Of course, I'm happy to forgo what the sourcebook says and have a 10 point hubris if you'd rather do that.
I did spent a decent chunk of points getting to rank 2 in my Ambrogia knacks. Just to make sure I'm understanding it correctly, the rules listed above for purchasing Exploit Weakness knacks apply to schools other than the one you're trained in, right? I can still go to Exploit Weakness (Ambrogia) 2 at the start, provided I spend 3 points on the rank?
I should also clarify, Luciano forgoes the use of a main gauche while fencing. He finds the other blade clumsy, and prefers a free hand. I realize using Attack (Dirty Fighting) does still suffer from the off-hand penalty, but he probably won't use that much unless unarmed. Is this okay?
@Luciano
I'm fine with the points and with the suggestion of guild membership and free knack. Though of course you can suggest something else of roughly equal points.
Correct on the exploit weakness.
Yes, that's ok.
Great! I like the suggested perk. I'll think about where I might want to stick the extra points (most likely in a skill).
I'm still fiddling around with my Hero Points. My intent is to make the character have a wide breadth of skills. He'll be decent at fencing, but clearly less skilled than the other swordsman from the Ambrogia school (and it look like he won't be as good as Giuliana, which is also excellent.)
I'm thinking of changing Castille R/W to Montaigne R/W depending on working out some possible background with Olivier. I'm also open to changing just about anything to fit in with other people's background. Gabriele has spent time at an Academy, a University, on a naval ship and a whaling ship (easily his dumbest idea). He's also spent a lot of time slumming with Villanovans and making friends and enemies (though mostly enemies).
I'm happy to tweak Luciano's history to link him to other PC's. I was originally curious to see if Olivier was interested in becoming somehow tied to Yvette Deneuve du Surlign, Luciano's Montaigne lover. After some thought, however, that seemed like it could too easily turn into a duel, so let's not do that.
Luciano has a period of several years where he did little more than practice Ambrogia and sail Vodacce and Castillian waters. It's very possible that he shared a ship with Gabriele at some point, and equally possible that they were students under the same Ambrogia instructor.
He also has spent a good chunk of time in Paix, so he might know Olivier a little better. That would actually be a good way to expand his romance with Yvette, since she is of the noble family that oversees the city. It would make sense that he attended many parties in Paix, and beyond that, became very used to traversing its streets.
I'm happy to have ties of any kind. Olivier can easily serve as a tour guide, party friend, or guy to offer some assistance should people want to go slumming. He's pretty obviously a bar fighter more than a "swordsman" and would also have been willing to even catch bullets just for drunken fun (and probably get badly injured as a result sometimes). He could also teach Montaigne (or even Castillian) if anyone would rather learn it "on the street" instead of in a school.
I do love background linkages :)
And for those of you with past loves, romances type things. Please indicate if there was any consummation of your relationships in case your backgrounds come up in the future.
I am sure that Luciano has seen Giuliana. Considering the chauvinist entitlement of Vodacce men combined with Luciano's romantic tendency, he may have even stared.
I am thinking now that Luciano and Yvette left Chiarisa for Paix, and that he has been living there for the past several months. In that time, he has attended several parties of both high and low character. It's very possible that he and Olivier have dueled for the fun of it (Luciano enjoys dueling to first blood). At any rate, I will alter his history, but the big difference is that he will have been in Paix when Falisci's letter finds him.
I've been kicking around the idea of a tie in to Elseif's character. I will review the section on Rancho Ontiveros in the Castille book and see if anything strikes me.
Well, I can guarantee that Gabriele and Giuliana have met at a party or two. He probably even hit on her, rather poorly. He's probably quite embarrassed by the whole event.
I like Luciano's tie in with Olivier, so I'll see about tying in with Gaspar. Though I also think that given our ties to Fascili we won't need too much more than we have. And it'll be good for at least a few of us to be strangers.
I'll plan on that, then. I think Luciano would very much respect Tout Pres, as it has similarities to Ambrogia. While Ambrogia is a more formal school, it has room for ruthless improvisation. If Luciano and Olivier came to enjoy rabble-rousing in Paix, I think I will take his Attack (Dirty Fighting) knack up to 3.
To answer Joy's question about Luciano's romance, yes. There was consummation. I think this is one of the reasons Yvette is so shattered by Luciano's abrupt departure. He could fall for any other woman at any time, but she is likely considered a ruined woman if he leaves her. At this time, Luciano has every intention of ignoring his engagement to Viviana Lucani and returning to Yvette after his favor to the Falisci family is fulfilled. His Arcana (Star-Crossed) and/or an angry Montaigne relation of Yvette may seek to alter this course, however.
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I was very happy to see I got into your Carrion Crown game, but I have a slight problem. I was wondering if you'd be open to Joy playing the paladin (though she'd obviously prefer to play it as a female) instead of me? She was really interested in getting into the game and I mostly applied to play in a game with her. She's a big fan of paladins and a far better writer/roleplayer than I. And while I'm interested in Carrion Crown myself, I think she'd have more fun and would be more fun to run a game for.
Apologies to everyone else for using this thread for cross-purposes, but I thought it'd be best to ask off of the other recruitment thread.
1) At this point, I'm not entirely sure how I will handle having her take over your spot, but if you guys want to do that, I will work something out. I will admit that I'm pretty attached to Edmund's story. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for Lastwall. I also selected him with his build in mind, so I would prefer to see something similar.
and/or
2) I will reserve a spot for BOTH of you in my upcoming Jade Regent game (to begin late August). That will give you a chance to play together. I've been very impressed with you both in this thread and in your Carrion Crown applications, so I'm more than happy to save two spots.
I know what you mean about thread cross-purposes, but I think it's a good idea to discuss it outside of the recruitment thread. I love these boards, but I do sometimes wish they had a personal messaging system.
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Oh yeah, the intent would be for her to play that same character (background mostly the same, and character sheet exactly the same). Different name, of course, but same person. I think she'll be a little more interested in some hero worship with respect to Iomedae, but otherwise very similar attitude and style.
And yeah, there is really no reason to not have a message service on this site.
Hamied
Keep Jade Regent in mind. That offer stands until I start recruiting in mid-late August.
Now, back to our actual game here. :)
Just waiting on out-of-towners to post character sheets for final approval. Giving an extra day or so to get any questions about the sheets answered should give us a projected start date of this Friday at the latest.
Have I missed any questions or are there any unasked questions? If anyone is wondering what kind of theatrics I like in this setting, I suggest a viewing of "The Princess Bride".
If anyone is wondering what kind of theatrics I like in this setting, I suggest a viewing of "The Princess Bride".
Always good advice, whether playing 7th Sea or not.
I also advise the Count of Monte Christo movie from 2002 that stars James Caviezel, though I loved the character played by Luis Guzman, he just cracked me up.
I also need to find a game type to do a Labyrinth style setting in...
As for the relationship, given how long they were together, makes sense to me that Olivier and Camille slept together.
On a ties note, Olivier isn't exactly spectacular at fighting, but he's willing to take a beating and enjoys the act of fighting. So yeah, the swordsmen are way, way better in a brawl than he is =P