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[OOC] Chronicles of Odam (thread needs world-builders)
Horseshoe
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
The Lost Chronicles of Odam: Names Of Old
(for those of you who like to abbrieve things, TLCoO:NoO)
This is a simultaneous PbP dnd 3.5 game AND a worldbuilding exercise. Stick with me here. The players play the game and the world is created around them at the same time. How is this madness possible? Well, other than the RPG ruleset, and various wiki housekeeping guidelines, there is one main rule in TLCoO:TNoO…
Everything the Players say is Canon.
This Game Is:
And... uh... why?
Like any campaign setting, some things that are written about it are just going to be stupid (I'm looking at you, R.A. Salvatore), but of course, once they are written down they are in there whether we like them or not. But, because we aren't pretending to create a serious business campaign setting, who the fuck cares? The only thing that matters is if it is fun, because it is a game.
Another basic guideline would be to make it seem as much an actual game world as possible... and these of course are going to have a few in-jokes and tongue and cheek here and there, but don't go too overboard with the silliness because that's not exactly what we have in mind.
So basically... like Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, or any other campaign setting supported by a garbage heap of a product line... but it knows that it's ridiculous and that it is being made up as it goes along regardless of what the publisher says.
(for those of you who like to abbrieve things, TLCoO:NoO)
One day in the recent past, some moron asked: Instead of building a world that nobody will play in, why not play a game and build the world at the same time?
That moron was me. And then, other delusional individuals thought this was a pretty okay idea. So we decided we’re going to make a game out of it.
Table of Contents:
Post the 1st: The OP, General Info
Post the 2nd: The Current Roster and open positions
Post the 3rd: The PbP RPG Part
Post the 4th: Classes and Character Creation Hoohah
Post the 5th: The Wiki Part
Post the 6th: Naming things, making shit up, canonical disputes, and other topics.
Post the 7th: Merchandising (if we like that idea)
So peaples… What d’hail is TLCoO:TNoO?This is a simultaneous PbP dnd 3.5 game AND a worldbuilding exercise. Stick with me here. The players play the game and the world is created around them at the same time. How is this madness possible? Well, other than the RPG ruleset, and various wiki housekeeping guidelines, there is one main rule in TLCoO:TNoO…
Everything the Players say is Canon.
This Game Is:
1) a spontaneously generating RPG setting
2) an open online PbP game to which observers may be privy that uses OGL content with maybe a couple of extras just for grins.
3) a wiki to catalogue adventures and make notes upon / flesh out player-driven canon as it unfolds.
4) Improvisational plot, world, character backstories, encounters, etc. Basically, everything that most guys plan out for an adventure we will be making up on the fly. The rules governing the game and the wiki will help temper this, but yeah… it will be a bit chaotic in comparison to that which we are accustomed… which will help keep it fun and interesting IMO.
Of course, other minor rules to create the illusion of a unique campaign setting (because that's basically what everyone does every time they create another generic roleplaying setting while thinking that they are crapping out spun gold) We will expound upon this in The Posts Yet to Come.And... uh... why?
Like any campaign setting, some things that are written about it are just going to be stupid (I'm looking at you, R.A. Salvatore), but of course, once they are written down they are in there whether we like them or not. But, because we aren't pretending to create a serious business campaign setting, who the fuck cares? The only thing that matters is if it is fun, because it is a game.
Another basic guideline would be to make it seem as much an actual game world as possible... and these of course are going to have a few in-jokes and tongue and cheek here and there, but don't go too overboard with the silliness because that's not exactly what we have in mind.
So basically... like Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, or any other campaign setting supported by a garbage heap of a product line... but it knows that it's ridiculous and that it is being made up as it goes along regardless of what the publisher says.
Horseshoe on
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Whoever these guys are, I wish I could have played with them. But I was probably 5.
DM, Cartographer, Wiki Contributor – Horseshoe
Rules Lawyer – Litejedi
PbP Players (Party is Full, sorry folks)
Hylianbunny as Christine, Guntoting Girlygirl
Rend as Garreth, Kindred Cutpurse
Quoth as Oihana, Pathfinderin' Halfelfin
Wiki Contributors
FreeAgent
Abysmal Lynx
Rend
Legoman05
Salvation 122
Mortal Sky
Tofystedeth
Snix
Inquisitor
No d20 Campaign Setting would be complete without tomes of Splatbooks and poorly-written novelizations of the characters of the people who started writing the thing... so if anyone with photoshop and writing skills wants to roleplay the marketing department of… hmm, lets say the working name is “Critical Failures Publishing†(the fictional RPG publisher who is writing the “The Chronicles of Odam†modules, novels, and product line) and come up with fake press releases to accompany OOC material and have its own section in the wiki… we will be Best Friends Forever.
So any of you ODaM/Artist's Corner crossovers would like to contribute to this, or maybe making art to put up on the wiki and punch up the threads, or do character designs for the inevitable video game versions of the campaign world or whatever, please let me know.
Basically, making this as much of a Sandbox as possible... well, it's the basic idea of the whole think I guess.
Horseshoe
Litejedi
Arcanistheimpotent, Hylianbunny, INNS, Goumindong
Contributors and Lurkers
Posting in IC
Please throw in snippets when you talk, or just give a descriptor or two in non-speech text so that each post has a few fun things for contributors to develop. Embellish your actions with the proper fantasy novelesque description. Also, place spoiler tags around the "mechanical" stuff, meaning your rolls, spell cast and what in-game effect it has, that sorta thing.
Dice rolls will be made using Invisible Castle. You MUST put the name of your character in the top field or the roll will not count.
Rules
The "Players Roll All The Dice" variant will be used, which you can find here: Click Never done this before so not to worry, we can change or repeal this rule if it's a pain in the ass. There are a lot of opposed checks and crap like that in dnd and having one person make those rolls will probably speed things up in a PbP, and if I'm going to put the dice in anybody's hands, it will be the players. I will adjust enemy stat blocks (which will be posted in the OOC thread) with Attack Scores, Magic Checks, Fortitude Scores, Will Scores, etc. so that you won't have to do the addition every single time.
And yes, I'm actually going to do this for the defense rolls too. When it is the bad guys turn, I will announce in the IC thread what actions they will be taking, and you, the PCs, will determine their success and be able to state exactly what happen. If, for example, I declare that the Orc Marauder is going to run at you and try to sunder your shield, you roll to see if he can pull it off. You roll your defense and the opposed strength check, and he succeeds. You may post about how "...the slavering mongrel's mace smashed against Hangor's wooden shield, shattering it and sending him to the ground. Hangor deftly regained his footing while dodging a second swing. His arm was numb and throbbing... and he liked it. He gripped his axe in both hands, preparing to make the beast sorry to have given him a second hand to fight with!" That sorta thing.
Also we will be using "Action Points". Every level you will get 5 + 1/2 your level in action points. Unspent action points are not retained: the most you can have at any time is 5 + 1/2 your character level. With these precious action points you may do the following:
Improve any d20 roll. Roll 1d6 add the result of a 1d6 to your d20 roll to help you meet or exceed the target number. Depending on character level, a character might be able to roll more than one d6 when he spends 1 action point. If so, apply the highest result and disregard the other rolls. 1st-7th level characters roll 1d6, 8th-15th level characters roll 2d6, 16-20th level characters roll 3d6.
Gain another use of an ability that has a limited number of uses per day. For example, a monk might spend an action point to gain another use of her stunning fist ability, or a paladin might spend an action point to make an additional smite attack.
Boost a Spell. A character can spend 1 action point as a free action to increase the effective caster level of one of his spells by 2. He must decide whether or not to spend an action point in this manner before casting the spell.
Cheat Death. If a character is reduced to less than -10hp or less, they may spend 1 action point to be stable at -9 rather than dead.
I'm sure I will think of something else and edit later but this is it for now.
Most characters have a backstory. Or at least an archetype. Or something other than a character sheet. In this case... you don't need them. You start with just what's on the sheet (and y'know, like, a name) and the rest will just unfold along with the story.
For character sheets, use http://www.myth-weavers.com/
Some basic stuff:
Available races: Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling.
All PHB classes are available.
No two characters may have the same race, and no two characters may have the same class. Meaning, if the first guy picks "Dwarf Fighter", nobody else in the party can be the dwarf or the fighter. (Because how else are you guys going to be a ragtag multicultural adventuring party like all the other campaign settings have?)
No Evil alignments. Neutral is cool. If you wanna get all "Raistlin" on us, make it a believable (or at least "Dragonlance believable") arc that carries your character through... and if your twin brother kills you then... well, don't say we didn't warn you.
No Psionics
Core DnD stuff only. Having a lot of items, beasties, and rules linking to the SRD is going to help, because I like to run without a DM screen as much as possible like I do in my Star Wars thread.
One exception to the above: Feats and Alternate Class features from PHB II are okay.
Starting level: 3rd
That's pretty much it. First come, first served on the class and race combo. If you think that there is a role in your party that is lacking we can deal with it later.
A few extra whatnots:
You can always throw something out there that you don't know all that much about, like a common knowledge type of thing... but if the contributors don't think that you got all the details right... well... maybe you didn't.
And Bards are very special. Those fancy little bastards have "Bardic Knowledge", which is like a regular knowledge skill, but gayer. Whosoever plays the Bard, I hope ye have a penchant for throwing out snippets of the many "songes aend poemes of epikness" ye have picked up over the years... because this gives another thing that the contributors can do, which is to write the "full version" of the work if they are feeling so Tolkein-inclined that day.
Speaking of Tolkein: if your character likes to speak in foreign languages, feel free to use it, and then "subtitle" it in Common. In case any of our contributors are linguophiles.
Have fun. Race/Class combos are first come, first served. And yes, you can just say "Dibs on the Gnome Monk" or whatever.
Wiki page is here: http://pennyarcadeworldbuilding.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
Now then... Wiki Functions and Blah
Numero Uno:
...not too much juice though, because part of the fun is turning offhand remarks or obscure references the PC's might make into a major event of the past, a villain lurking deep in the mountains wringing his decaying hands, etc etc. Make sure it's not so detailed that the players get hemmed in right away... it should be open enough for a while that they're free to quip about something, then suddenly there's a history, then it's also part of the game.
Wiki Administrators
Y'all are in charge of trying to keep stuff organized and whatnot. Trying to keep the site clean, setting up a well-organized frontpage, making sure contributors don't overstep their bounds, that sort of thing.
And of course, you get to contribute!
Always remember the basic rule: What Players say is Canon. If they say something that seems contradictory, always "retcon" it or find some other way to make it consistent. Players will be admonished to keep their story straight... but sometimes crap changes. Like, wait, wasn't that guy dead? shit... oh, he must be a lich or something now. nice.
Though it's a different project, the Elothtes Wiki has some sweet features you might rip off... er... no, improve of course.
Regular Plebian Contributors:
When a player makes mention of a specific person or thing... you get to create a page for it on the wiki. If the Dwarf Boomslayer mentions the Mines of Mannarthil to the North, from whence his ancestors came, where glittering gems lay hidden in the dark... you get to make the page for "Mines of Mannarthil" on the wiki. Don't go way too far past what he's thrown out about the mines... basic geographic location, a bit of the history based around what he's said (Did all Dwarves emerge from the mines eons ago? Was it just his Clan? Why are Gems hidden in the dark? Did those nasty blackskinned pointyeared whitehaired minmaxers take it over?).
As the story advances it may take a turn where we find out more about Mannarthil, and then you and the other contributors start filling it in. It's probably a good idea to try and link a lot of stuff together... campaign settings tend to be pretty small worlds and interconnectedness also helps people navigating the wiki find out a lot of stuff quickly, plus it increases the "plot hook" factor.
Also: Players sometimes will have the facts wrong. *future link to knowledge checks and sayin' stuff* So, the same Dwarf says that his ancestor Banggagong was Lord of all the Undermountain. Well... this particular PC doesn't have much in the way of Knowledge (History) and he boned the check by rolling a 5. He might not have his facts straight, and so you can come up with who Banggagong really was and maybe the Dwarf PC will find out later.
Suggestions and My Two Cents
Probably good to have a "timeline" thread of some sort. I'll probably start the campaign with very vague referenes with "It has been only a year since the great war." In this case, you might set the timeline at a "before great war" and "after great war" scale. So when a PC refers to an event that happened "two thousand years ago", when you make a page for that event you put it on the timeline. And, of course, since the PC's are the heroes, their exploits will be entered on the timeline as well.
An "adventure journal" of sorts for the Campaign with links to the IC thread would be nice... a good way to check and see if you've missed any minutia that could have gotten into the wiki, and also to link significant milestones in the adventure to the timeline.
Another thing that could be good about this is that you directly put character dialogue onto these pages, which can then be turned into "Red Links", or pages that have not been made yet. So, a page is made by clicking on that link and then creating the page. This way, duplication of pages is less likely to happen and we don't end up with two pages, one called "Mannarthil" and the other called "Mines of Mannarthil". If the wiki constantly references to the adventure journal taken from the IC thread and all new pages are made by linking there, that's probably a good thing.
Indexing is good. Every page should link to other pages (so it can be found of course), and should probably link to a major page like the Timeline, or to an Index page that is appropriate to its content. (The Mines of Mannarthil might be linked to an index page called "Places" or something)
Having "discussion pages" on the wiki but outside of actual content is probably a good thing. We're sure to have disagreements from time to time, but being able to discuss what is going on. I believe PBWiki still has "discussion" elements. A "disputed canon" page might be able to point out pages with inconsistent information that contributors might want to tackle.
Creating a "Standard Page Format" is often a good idea. Take advantage of pbwiki's "table of contents" feature that allows you to index longer pages by heading.
And don't be Player-Haters. They may fuck with the canon by saying something wierd and rolling a high knowledge check... but you'll figure out a way to make it work, or be able to add a section to the page about the varying beliefs regarding the Origin of the Elves, and likely reasons for this.
However... it is not your job to say exactly what it means afterward. If someone fleshes out your statement a little bit and it wasn't exactly what you have in mind, tough. You're of course free to add stuff in later, but try not to make it directly contradict what we have so far unless making a mess of the canon seems absolutely necessary. Like your character, you didn't make the world... yer livin' in it, bub. Which is fun! C'mon now.
When you talk about a place, a historical event, a local baron, a bar you went to a few months back, one of the other planes of existence, or a certain deity... you make a knowledge check (no taking tens). Your roll will give you a guideline as to how much you know about that sort of thing, and also gives the contributors an idea of how accurate your ideas are... the Kokkar barbarian who makes an untrained check on knowledge (planar) and rolls a 5, then decides to say, "When gone, Big Spirit takes men to mountain of skulls." Well... Kokkar doesn't read and he isn't the brightest bulb, so there may not actually be an outer plane with a mountain of skulls. But, the contributor can still start a page about the mythology of his tribe, and place his statement in there with a few other Barbarian beliefs. The PC playing Kokkar gets additional information to draw upon about his religion and add to over time... even if he may get his facts wrong once in a while, as far as he's concerned, that's the way it is.
Things that a Player has exclusive right to edit: Things that have to do with his character. Players get to develop the story of their lives prior to the start of the campaign. Of couse, this too will be made up as it goes along too, using the same guidelines... so it's not a part of his backstory until he mentions it. But if he starts out with a particular item he is fond of, he gets to decide why he has it and where he got it. He gets to decide what happened to his parents, if he ever had a veneral disease, what kind of grades he got in school and what kind of music he likes.
And as turnaround is fair game, don't get bent out of shape if a contributor takes a page in a much different direction. These things happen... think about it as a page in your Gazetteer you hadn't read yet. Just like that awesome thing that you came up with, the stuff that they developed to go along with it is now a part of the setting.
Everybody
More specific stuff will be in further posts...
Thanks for the interest all... I'm sure I have no idea what I am getting myself into here but it will probably be fun.
Ask and ye shall receive.
Odam
If they're lying and/or boasting about stuff that never happened, presumably all the lying doesn't become canon. Worse would be half-truths and exaggerations- "I once slaughtered 20 goblins singlehandedly" When you killed a mother and her baby- with 4 guys helping you.
Anyway, I'll be interested to see how this is accounted for in the system.
Neat stuff!
History is full of half-truths and falsehoods. Eventually, for better or for worse, a PC's bold claims could catch up to him or her.
At least, that's what I think.
So, a player could claim that they have a decree from the mighty council of twelve, and we as the wiki creators, could create a might council of twelve powerful members, or make then a weak and decrepit council, or make them a puppet council, with some sinister force pulling the strings, or make them not exist at all.
Exciting, really.
yeah ,my interpretation was something like this and also Inquisitors above me. If the PC boasts of said goblin killing, the only thing the wiki is obligated to contain is the existence of goblins and their mortality (or possibly in this case, rumored mortality), and anything else we say about goblins is up to us. I think. Unless the aforementioned goblin killing is said to have been by or near, or to save an NPC of import, or the PC claims it was a battle of historical import or something, the wiki sticks to the facts and lets the players hash out the social player interaction stuff.
/spaghetti post
And who's to say the information posted in the Wiki is truth?
History is full of revision, and different opinions. I like the thought of that the Wiki contributors as historians or scholars of Odam. The information might be colored by their own prejudices.
If the PC is lying or exaggerating, the player's duty is to give a little indication of that in his post for the wiki contributors.
Also: PC's will make knowledge checks when they say things. This will give you, the contributors, and idea of just how good their information is. Bards will especially be good at establishing canon. Clerics will know things about Gods, etc.
But the fighter who talks about the great war of the ogre kingdoms two hundred years ago and how his country slew them to the last ogre? Well, if he's untrained in Knowledge (History) he might not have his facts completely straight... and if he rolls low on his check, the case might be the same.
No taking 10 on knowledge checks, the randomness will add a little flavor to the wiki.
More on that in upcoming posts.
Oh, and this could happen. The PC who brags about his Clan's notorious rivalry with the Goblins... well, that sort of thing might become relevant in history and bite him in the ass later.
Human bard, go!
Deities.
Y'all have deities of some sort. To prevent overly thinking through which domains for which deities and blahblahblah...
Use the default pantheon from the PHB. Keep the Alignments, Domains and Favored weapons. Throw out the names and all the fluff. If you're a cleric, choose the alignment/domain/weapon combination that seems fitting to you, and then you will make up the name of your god and what he's about... at some point. Just try to keep whomever he his relevant to his domains.
The same goes for oh... let's say a Lawful Good god whose domains are Good, Law, War and Glory who carries a longsword. He/she (or both, whatever) should be relevant to this alignment and these weapons, but doesn't have to be frikkin Heironeous by another name. Have fun with it. Maybe She's the deity of the world's equivalent of Valkyries, or Battlenurses, or Plucky Squires, or Warhorses or whatevs.
I'll fit this in somewhere eventually, but it seemed relevant to character creation.
Also, feel free to rename any spells you know or prepare if you so wish if it so tailors them to the campaign. (Ain't no goddamn Tenser in this world!) but link it to the SRD so at least the Rules Lawyer and the DM know what the deal is.
Dibs on the halfling character.
I'm not particular about class, just that I want to be a halfling. Probably cleric.
Fuck it, Halfing Cleric claimed.
Planeswalker
Will of the Council - Starting with you, each player votes for death goblin.
edit: I guess I didn't, sorry folks.
And also that way... your backstory will always be relevant because at least some of it is made up as we go along.
Just in case anyone ends up wondering why the hell the cleric is running around with a whip trying to trip everyone.
Well, they've already got a halfling cleric with a whip, and a damn bard no less.
I'm pretty sure dull characters won't be an issue.
Edit: His mount is a badger. A dire badger.
I need more skill points.
Move some points into int?
I'll just spread them around as well as I can, I suppose, heh.
edit: Have my character (basically) done. Would the sheets go somewhere in particular? Also, can someone just PM me the pass? I know the usual one, but the prefix is...? :P
Hmmm, I'm trying to think of any other way to get more skill points...
you could change your race to human? It's still open, I think.
Or, since you can use PHBII, you could take jack of all trades? Counts as you having 1 skill point in every skill or something, could help, if you're feat isn't already tied up.
Feats are also filled up for the moment; semi-fluff stuff.
Ah well, I'll make do I suppose.
? PHB II isn't core.
The best way to get more skill points is to put your first level in Rogue.
Also, man, as much as I really liked the idea of a halfling who ran around with a whip knocking people over, the whole 'strength check' and '-4 penalty from size' don't really make it feasible. -_-
Strength domain gives Enlarge Person.
No, I am not seriously suggesting that.
Oh, and Players: I am open to firearms as presented in the PHB.
Just don't expect to find them everywhere.