We are recruiting, just make a character and show up, that's all you need too do!
I'm looking for players to play over Ventrillo. (Talking faster than chatting is much.)
This is a learning game so I and everyone else can learn the new rules.
Brief overview of setting:
Recently the city of Aqueld, a major human ocean port with a historically weak government, has had trouble with people stirring up anti-dragonborn sentiment. After months of antagonists stirring up trouble and anti-dragonborn propaganda the goverment has finally banned Dragonborn from the city. On the day the new rule is enacted angry mobs have begun moving though the streets under the leadership of zealots "purging" the city of Dragonborn. Even more disturbingly rumors have already begun spreading about nearby towns adopting the same anti-dragonborn policy. Sea captains with dragonborn crew are pulling anchor and shipping out in order to avoid having their ship burned while already a few dragonborn have been caught and killed in roadblocks going out of the city. The mixed racial quarter is already burning as xenophobic sentiment spills over to other races, and the screams of people trapped inside the burning buildings can barely be heard above the mob roar.
This is the situation you will start in.
You will need to be good, or neutral at the very least. Other than that the skies the limit.
If this interests you, lets start talking.
Character creation rules:
Standard Array creation as described in the players handbook. Alternately you may use the following instead: 18, 14, 13, 12, 9, 8
You have 100 gold to spend any way you wish on equipment.
You start at level 1 - After you start new players will be fast advanced to comparable party levels.
Characters with a religious bent will want to know that there is a temple of Melora and Pelor in the city
This is a world building game, so for character backgrounds feel free to play around, pending my approval. The city sits at the edge of a small peninsula with a few small towns scattered to the north, and many islands of varying size to the south and east. Many of the larger islands have their own communities, shipping being a major job source for the world. Each city is it's own state, to common knowledge, the world has never been united, nor has it seen a major war between communities.
You can start knowing each other, but you don't need too.
After looking at the available tools I am really impressed with MapTool and we'll be using that:
http://rptools.net/doku.php?id=maptool:intro
You will also need a copy of Ventrilo
http://www.ventrilo.com/
I've had a good experience with using the PA public server, so we'll stay with that.
The players are first come first serve.
Start bouncing character creation ideas here, depending we can start next week on play.
[World building!]
It is a world locked in a permanent ice age, only the meridian is unfrozen, with a band of tropical reagion, then a narrow band of temperate land giving way to tremendous ice fields. No man lives in the deep ice fields, nor does any known animal/monster life. If the ice were to melt all land would be submerged. (No this isn't an invitation for a Waterworld game.) Weather conditions extend or contract the ice into or out of the temperate region giving the 'livable' areas a ragged sawtooth apperance. While the Dwarven home is cool and gets a lot of snow it is longitudally in line with the city of Aqueld, which experiences weather much like southern Italy.
The gods take few active rolls in society on a large scale. It is possible for Bahamaut to drop in for afternoon tea, or Pelor to appear in a church and heal a few sick, but the gods have never taken an earth shaking action. Low key as the world is the idea of the Great Hero is nonexistant. Yes, civilizations have existed before the current one and they did great things... but now the great magic workers are few and far between. Magic does not infuse the world as much as the standard book describes and magic wielders are looked upon with awe. Magic items are rarer here, and great items are not known. Old scholars when questioned, and perhaps, after a few drinks, may theorize that items of great magnitude are merely waiting for a time when they would be needed before allowing themselves to be created. Perhaps too is this how the gods are working, waiting for a moment when their powers are needed in full fruition.
Certainly with the actions happening with the Dragonborn some aspects of the world are becoming more alert, with the purging of Aqueld a general tension has begun to arise in the world and weapon smiths are taking on apprentices.
Races and Monsters:
Tielfings:
The Tielfings are pirates. They have no home except for small, impermanent settlements hidden away where they can maintain their ships. They could be considered closer to gypsies, in that they prefer to travel and trade... but the stereo type maintains that any town they are allowed in has lighter pockets when they leave and no Tiefling ship has ever not been claimed to have been stolen.
Dragonborn:
Dragonborn are also without home. They make their livings mostly as blacksmiths or body guards and families - with a very loose definition of family- live together in large houses. They have strong kinship ties along with a strong sense of brutal practicality. Currently most dragonborn are turning to piracy, and rumors abound with whispers of an army, the first one in recorded history perhaps.
Orcs:
Orcs are tribal, brutal, and savage. Islanders to the core most orcs have a 'gone native' mentality and worship animalistically. There have been cases of educated orc cells, and these fleet building orcs are a terror to behold and the only reason island the concept of navies exist. Though they don't know it, the orcs are slowly driving islands to ally with each other for defense and given time these will probably form into nations.
Towns and Places:
The Dwarf city of Balket lies many leagues to the Northeast of Aqueld, carved into the basalt of a (mostly) dead volcanic island, the magmas fire has left many rich veins of metal and the natural lava tunnels provide beautiful homes for the dwaves.
The island itself is large, and while one side is dominated by the "Volcrum" (volcano) the other side consists of deciduous forests and huge slabs of granite pushed up from the ground by the volcano. So from West to East (volcano)->(granite fields)->(forest). The islands sits on a cold current, and sees snow five to seven months out of the year. The prevailing winds are from the NE and this protects most of the plant life from the harshest conditions. The growing season is short but lush.
Several thousand dwarfs make their home here, the largest Dwarven settlement in the known world. Easy access to the granite above ground and a supply of ship building wood make them strong traders with what are easily the largest trading hulks operated of any race (Note, about 3 times the size of Jeans Cog). They have to be to transport granite. Balket trades in many wares and have a vigorous economy. The dwarves have been this way for centuries, and new buildings are almost unheard of as well as any sort of ship innovation other than to occasionally slightly increase the size of a trading scow. The scows themselves are well maintained and overhauled regularly, and have themselves in some instances been plying the sees for hundreds of years.
An annual contest draws visitors from the world over. The week long contest consists of lining up large blocks of granite on the quay, the contestants are given a week, and then they attempt to build a boat out of the granite. The winner floats. No one has ever legally won the contest (magic being forbidden). Normally the contestants are roaring drunk as is everyone else, and they receive a dunking much to the amusment of all. As you may have guessed the dunking day is a holiday and everyone takes it as an excuse to be as drunk as possible.
What has gone before (a.k.a. a quick summary of whats happened in the game)
The characters, through random happenstance ran into each other while fleeing the city of the purge which had extended onto any none humans. They braved a burning Inn and rescued a Eladrin child and in the process learned that Halflings leap from windows, Dwarves fall (and make really good landing pads). The child turned out to be the child of Jean Le Clerke, captain of a Carrack anchored nearby. Fighting off the crazed citizens long enough for the ship to weigh anchor they fled the city and headed south, only to be becalmed near a mammoth derelict. They were attacked by strange zombies, explored the wreck, freed a mermaid ghost, got cursed by another ghost, and sank the derelict.
Heading to an island with someone holding information they wanted, they found the place raided by cannibal orc animist natives and set off to raid their lair... an active island volcano. Killed a pig, some orcs, avoided an GM TPK via a Sea Troll, and defeated the high priest, and most gained a level.
Posts
PS I'm not busy all day Tuesdays, Fridays, or Sundays, unless something random and unexpected comes up. Other days I'm available before 2:30 and after midnight EST
It takes a bit of getting used to, but you can whip things up impressively fast when you do. It has a decent map, you can import images to use as terrain or tokens, or just draw lines or textures directly onto it. Also a very good chat/diceroller with lots of macro capability if you're into that.
Downloadable here: http://rptools.net/doku.php?id=maptool:intro
With some excellent video tutorials here: http://www.rptoolstutorials.net/maptool.htm
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=59789 This is my current character sheet
Will roll up a character tonight. Most likely a Cleric or Fighter. Backstory will be posted with character sheet.
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
Anyway, this is the backround for my Dwarf Wizard which will probably stay a wizard the entire campaign and just progress into heavy armor.
"Born the son of a wealthy adviser(Vicram Stoneshaper), Grimbold was educated with all the other dwarves but left when it became clear that the dwarves were not following what they taught. Cities were built for their own sake rather than the people living within. Knowledge was given freely and without consideration for its effects. There was a continued quest for material wealth at the expense of health, security, and necessity. Grimbold would come back when he was strong enough to wrench the corruption from its hold and reform the city into an efficient and good place to live.
It was much the same in the human world. But in the human world there were more tools available to compile the portfolio necessary to make the change. He enrolled in a correspondence course for wizards to augment his more formal dwarven training and set about completing odd jobs to pay for school and living expenses. Its been about one year since he left but his studies are coming along nicely and a more lucrative job might be on the horizon."
I can be whichever class is needed. If I am in, I'll watch the thread to see what is needed and make a character accordingly.
For planning purposes, I am available to play M, T, W, F from 6PM ET on and pretty flexible on the weekends but I would prefer nights (say 5PM ET to 1AM).
He's an uncompromising sort - completely willing to pull the trigger, and it's gotten him in to trouble in the past. After an incident in a tavern, he left one of the northern islands, paying for passage by working as a mercenary and fending off the frequent pirate attacks on the shipping lanes. During his travels, he fell in with a Dragonborn captain, and grew to respect him greatly - one of his few friends.
While he was on shore leave, his ship was attacked during the riots. Members of the mob had set fire to it, and the last he had seen, it was moving out to sea, still in flames. He's ready to strike back at whatever is behind these new laws. He's willing to work with others to achieve his goals, but his gruff attitude will take time for new allies to overcome.
I'm going to be hanging out on Ventrilo tonight, if you'd like to help me test the map program please feel free to join me in a game on. Also you can ask questions and such.
As far as play days I'm on a swing shift so it'll vary from week to week. I'll do my best to stay with a single day but I won't always be able to do so.
If enough people hop on tonight (say 7, est) then we may play, or at least get ready to play tomorrow. This is a learning game for me also so don't be afraid you'll slow me down. I'm learning the rules, the map interface, and everything.
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
Also: What room are we going to be in?
I can't make it tonight as that's when the other game I'm in is meeting, but that's okay. It looks like there is sufficient interest in the thread that you should be able to field a party without any real issues. Good luck and have fun!
It will save time if you have a link to your character handy:
http://www.myth-weavers.com/
If I'm awake I'll try to be on earlier at 7 or so to get the server up so you can play with the set up and experiment with using the OpenMap program.
Also, please make sure you are using the latest development version of OpenMap, it'll make things much smoother.
Right now its show up and play everyone, I have a method to weed extras out so come one come all. *evilevilevilevil*
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
EDIT: Character Sheet
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=63415
I plan on being there tonight.
Also, hi5 Stationary
Please let me know! I'll probably stop by on vent anyway just in case.
So a defender(fighter/paladin) or leader(warlord/cleric) would be best. And it would be totally awesome if one of our strikers went fighter/striker multiclass or leader/striker multiclass to give us a bit more durability.
Also; one of my friends is interested, is it okay if he pops in as well?
Also, this is an example of what it looks like on mythweavers. If you have a character i think you can find the game "PA statblocking" and then request to join via there
http://www.myth-weavers.com/showthread.php?t=40036
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
with 15 reflex!
Notes from last game:
1. DM needs to read the combat section
2. Players need to input all their actions into the macro roller so it goes faster.
3. Players need to familiarize themselves with their sheets and possible actions. Fighter didn't mark anyone for instance.
Other than that, once the game starts moving it looks like things will go pretty well.
But I think it will be much smoother next time as everyone has a chance to work with Maptool and learn its features. And hopefully there will be no more connection problems.
Looking forward to the next one!
/em cleric charges the mob
/em Wizard Bull rushes the zombie pirate
Dm needs to reread the combat section you mean.
Right, actually I think it did go smoothly once it got rolling. When we lost toaster and Dawolf we called it a night with just a bit of foreshadowing on the next section.
Something the fighting didn't allow your party to notice was that the ship was in a dead calm, which was why the splash woke you up (along with the gurgling sound). A dead calm is when there is no wind and no noticeable current or waves. Rising up out of the gloom off the starboard (right) side of the ship for anyone to see if they have time to look at it was a massive hulk, easily ten times the length of cog you are on.
Next play session I'm thinking will be next Wednesday. 8EST.
Couple of things I observed:
People need to not be afraid to talk, ask questions, or communicate with each other. If you don't want to step on someones toes, use chat. Its a great place to make asides and in character comments.
Foren and Merric did a fine job rping, Grim was awesome, Wolf, and Toaster didn't seem comfortable enough to really play around. I particularly liked Grim attempting to use the ship as a weapon even if it did not work. Bonus xp for that.
I think for myself I'm not being descriptive enough, my lack of familiarity with the rules is causing that and I'll redouble my efforts to learn the system.
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
Sonar
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
As an aside, I have played a decent amount of D&D before, but like everyone I need to get used to the massive 4th ed changes.
Anyway ok, if no one pipes up: Tuesday going once! Going twice!
If you want to join make a character, post it on the site listed in the OP, get your stuff together and show up early.
Oh and if the Ranger would show up early as well that'd be great.
Thanks!
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"