Note to potentials: we are currently fighting tooth and nail over the submissions, thankfully in PM as it is all very uncivil. I had no idea how uncouth these ruffians could be. ;-)

Suffice it to say, we liked all three submissions very much.

When the dust clears and the blood drains from the streets, we'll let you know.

Guess I'm going to a water park tomorrow (Thursday) and will be gone most of the day. Might be too wore out to post at night.

Have fun... you and all your friends (except kyle... who none of us like)

Also, I'll wait until you've posted your roll in for the dude, and then go from there.

Congratulations and welcome to To Steal a Dragon's Tooth, Wiley Fletcher!

I hope your character has a long and prosperous life and that you find the game fun, interesting, and challenging.

To the runners up, it was a very difficult decision and I'm glad I had my fellow players to help. We'd love to have you both, but I just don't think I can GM for six players the way I'd like.

However, you might wish to stick around. Maybe something will open. And, if you'd like to be added as a lurker with posting abilities to the OOC thread, let me know.

I'll send a PM shortly to each of you.

Welcome aboard Wiley!

Try not to get killed too early :D

Thank you, thank you! I am excited to be here.

Hey Wiley, I look forward to seeing how your character will mesh. And what troubles he will get into.

No troubles (puts all his points into fasttalk and points at Martin) Wasn't me officer, it was him!

Guards: "We know. He has an eye patch, after all. As if we need more evidence."

Welcome aboard Wiley! And I'll be the one the never find...

Again, sorry for the long delay! Just been doing a lot of stuff and haven't chiseled out a block of time long enough to get my head into fantasy land where it belongs. ;)

Leon and Meeshak, you both have selections to make. Let me know in or before your next IC post. See msg #23.

As far as equipment, loot and treasure is concerned (and only that), we've basically went full Dungeon Fantasy here.



I really like the armor and weapon enhancements as well as DF equipment in general. Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables is my favorite DF book, perhaps my favorite Fourth Edition book of all. My all-time favorite book, GURPS Robots, is obsolete, unfortunately.

Where DF conflicts with other source material, we'll probably go with the "other" book, but we'll take it on a case-by-case basis.

One of the differences between DF and my fantasy world is that elves, dwarfs, goblins and trolls are not Tolkien/D&D/Three Hearts and Three Lions/Warhammer—and there are no orcs. First of all, all the sapeint speices are diverse and multicultural, just like humans. There are sinister elves and kind trolls, for example. However, there are stereotypes.

Gourouni are much like the pig-faced orcs of the original Dungeons and Dragons before Warhammer (Games Workshop)/Warcraft influence. Elves are little people, more like those found in Santa's workshop, not beautiful Star Trek Vulcans. Dwarfs aren't subterranean Klingon blacksmiths with a Scottish accent; they're much like those found in the movie, Willow. Gnomes are generally subterranean dwellers and are considered the "first" race before the appearance of otherworldly humans some two thousand years ago. They are the only species more intelligent on average than humans, IIRC. They are a fickle and mysterious folk. Goblins are more Froud than anything, though there was a feudal-Japan-like empire of Warhammer-like green-skin goblins at one time. Whereas humans are the crossbreeding lechers in most fantasy, goblins are in this world, which is why there is no standard appearance. There is next to no Tolkien influence on elves, dwarfs (who are as sylvan as elves), or goblins, so there is no history of bad blood there. See the CoSS for more info.

There are extremely rare Tolkien/D&D dragons, though. Not chromatic or color-coded, but still ancient, winged, reptiles of enormous power. The vast majority are unintelligent "wyverns" or "drakes," but true dragons exist.

Annnyway . . . All that said, we'll still keep the "Dwarven" and "Elven" naming conventions used in DF for equipment. We know what they mean.

(Moved from the IC thread.)

Okay, again, I stopped when the post got long. If you don't want to post right now, that's okay. I'm working with Wiley in regard to his introduction.

After that, you'll be told to buzz off, then go to another place tomorrow. Lastly, you'll be given time do do as you please before you have to go to the mansion. Once at the mansion, the game really begins. Oh, that won't be everything that happens from point A to B, but it's a roadmap.

As for the equipment, the mystery man has a scroll\ of Adjustable Clothing (M58) for Meeshak. Serendipity! ;) Honestly, it would be an easy and profitable scroll enchantment, no doubt, so it's probably one of the more common ones. That is, common as far as magic items go; mages are super rare in this world. Maybe one per 5,000 humans or so have Magery 0 and 1 per 10,000 have Magery 1-3 woith a 60/30/10 split or so.

Zuul misspoke when he said Dreadstone's crest was on a black field—it's actually a midnight/indigo blue so dark that it's almost black. My police uniform was this color and everyone thought it was black.

Standard traveling livery includes a hooded cloak, shirt, pants, leather belt and belt pouch, cloth gloves and leather boots. All clothing is made from fine material (+2 CF) and expensive indigo dye (+8 CF). Leather boots, shoes and gloves are made from fine material, as are leather belts and pouches. See DF 8, p. 17 for stats.

There are two sets that include mail shirts enchanted with Fortify 1 (M66); pot helms enchanted with Fortify 1; fine (+1 damage), balanced (+1 to skill) thrusting broadswords and regular-quality large knives. Included with them are standard livery. However, leather gloves replace cloth ones and surcoats replace shirts.

There are two sets that include a fine, balanced, ornate (+4 CF) light shield covered in felt embroidered with Dreadstone's coat of arms; very fine, balanced thrusting broadswords enchanted with Penetrating Weapon (M63); a large knife; a pot-helm enchanted with Fortify 1; and mail hauberks, arms and legs, all enchanted with Lighten 25% (M67) and Fortify 1. Again, leather gloves replace cloth ones and surcoats replace shirts.

Shirts and surcoats also have extensive embroidery (+8 CF)—the house's white wolf's head on a blood red moon.

Martin, you are saddled with one of the two sets with the mail hauberks. Leon, you can choose which of the three types of sets you want (no armor, light armor, heavy armor). Meeshack, you don't have livery at all and instead have what's listed below.

This in not an exhaustive inventory of everything included and the enchantments noted below are only as complete as your characters know; the list may be far from all inclusive! I'm including certain weapon and armor enchantments as meta-game info for our ease of play. Remember:


Martin—Eyepatch enchanted with Infravision (M111) and set with a dedicated powerstone (M70) capable of providing 6 FP and gauntlets enchanted with Fortify 2 and Boost Strength (M37).

Meeshak—Hooded Cloak and robe (DF8, p. 17 for both), both of which are enchanted with Soilproof (M115). The robe is also enchanted with 1,200 FP worth of Amulets (M58); you pick them. Potion Belt (DF 1, p. 25) with Alchemical Antidote, Flight Potion, 2x Great Healing Potions, Invisibility Potion, 3x Paut. There wasn't time to cast analyze magic on the staff, and it might not have mattered anyway since there could be several spells on it.

Leon—Boots of Balance (DF 1, p. 30) that grant Grant Perfect Balance (B74).

As we wait for Leon, I wonder if everyone is clear about the broad and reaching consequences of your words and actions here, not to mention Lisha who's the fulcrum of this treacherous seesaw.

Perhaps someone can compare and contract some different possible outcomes and the consequences of the party's actions at this juncture . . .

It is hard to know, without knowing what exactly is going on.

But if we were to kill one or the other, it would probably be bad if it was ever traced back to us. If we kill Blade (assuming we can) Durgin will probably try to track us down. If we kill Murdock (again, assuming we can) then the Empire will probably try to track us down. If we kill both, we'll have both on our ass.

Fighting off Blade (without killing him) or simply getting him to back off, might not earn us the enmity of Durgin, depending on what is actually going on, but will probably earn us the enmity of Blade, who, we must remember, probably won't have any qualms about murdering us once the boss no longer needs us. Fighting off Murdoch might not earn us an imperial bounty, but Murdoch seems like the type who might come around with a bunch of imperial bullyboys for some unofficial "justice". Again, getting both to back off will probably earn us both their enmity.

Speaking of that, if we can't simply get them to back off, we'll have to fight one, the other or both (if we get involved at all). Blade and Murdoch are both trained killers, which we, unless someone has hidden depths, are not. Even if we are in fancy magical gear, there is a good chance of someone dying or getting badly hurt. Martin has what he considers a reason for risking that. I don't know about the rest of you.

Of course, now that we have shown ourselves, we might not even be able to back off without consequences. Of Murdoch wins, there probably is no consequence, but if Blade wins he might feel pissed about us not backing him up.

The best choice might seem to side with Blade and kill Murdoch, knowing that Durgin will do his best to cover up the situation. But that still involves going up against Murdoch. We would probably take him down, but I wouldn't be surprised if he took out one or two of us, pretty permanently.

Best option would be to make it look like they killed each other.

Are we currently dressed as our cover identities? If so, this might tip off the wrong people.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:22, Thu 24 July 2014.

I wondered about that myself. Figured it wouldn't make much sense to run around in it, until we are actually "in character".

Before I say anything, what I would really like is for this discourse to happen in some form or another in character. Thoughts, whispers on the sidelines, whatever. I know I asked OOC, but I resorted to doing so. That's in no way meant to be a slam at IC posts. Just a side note.


Right! I am, of course, being intentionally ambiguous and vague about this situation because your characters probably have no more of an idea about what's going on than you all do. However, as a GM who does know all the details of this situation, I must take care that I'm not making any wrong assumptions about what's going through my players' minds.

This situation is bloody important to the game.

By the way, in my GM Screen, I jotted down real quick pretty well everything that is going on right before I made my OOC post, just so you know that I'm not having you write the story here—not that anything would be wrong with that.

Once, I said to all my players during a late-night table-top session, "In this legend that you all are familiar with, I've been calling someone 'The Thorn.' To be honest, I don't have a good reason for that title or name. What do you think?" My girlfriend at the time said, "A thorn is a protector of roses. Perhaps The Thorn is a protector?" So, I went with that. That's the short version.

That's not what I'm doing here. If it were, I would tell you all and I wouldn't be ashamed to do so. ;) I consider this as much your story as mine and don't have any trouble with including you all in the weaving of it.


Right again, and I assumed that we were all the same page here. You don't kill a cop or a crime lord's henchman without consequences, and those consequences are similar.


He's probably already beyond pissed at Wiley's last post, BTW.

Wiley's character might have got a bit ahead of himself there. Not sure if Murdoch's calling him "boy" had anything to do with it. ;)


Maybe. Guess part of it depends on why he's here and what he's doing.


Again, maybe. That's a hellofa tall order, though.


Yes, physical combat with either or both will be highly dangerous. Murdoch is roughly equal to a DF Knight if that tells you anything. So, good luck there. Being GURPS, it's possible that any one of you could take him down solo. It's also possible that he could hack his way through all four of you without taking a scratch. Not real good odds against heavy casualties, but I'd lay wager that you four could at the very least win a Pyrrhic victory. That's just against Murdoch 4-1. Add Blade into the equation and you guys don't have a snowball's chance in Hell in melee . . .

. . . But, Meeshak has magic and that makes calling the outcome of any fight difficult.

However, that's all still not really what I'm after. Of course, we all are aware that (GURPS) combat is dangerous and lethal.


Of course.


Oh no?


Wiley has already said he's going to fight Blade if Blade takes Murdoch. The "backing him up" ship probably sailed at that point.



Again, we can't count Meechack out of this. Blade against Blade, yeah, things don't look real good for a lone warrior. Five on one odds in GURPS is dubious no matter what. When one of those five is a mage, things get real, real harry.


I'm certainly not saying that's wrong, but better do a damn good job of covering that up, magical crime scene forensics being what they are.


Well, Wiley said he had his stuff in absence of me saying that there's no way in hell Zuul or the wizard would let you guys take it out of the shop for a night on the town. It was in the "vault" for a reason, the same reason Zuul didn't let you all keep the invitation. You lose that stuff or get caught with it—image the problems that will cause with the whole plan, not to mention there's no reason to have it anyway.

So, no, you probably shouldn't have the stuff. You certainly are not dressed in it! However, we don't have to retcon Wiley's statement if we don't want—I decided to let it fly. Up to you guys.

There are issues here that I think might be escaping you guys. You certainly have a grasp on the immediate danger. And, you also know the social (if not lethal) consequences of not backing Blade.

And here is where a sentence was that I cut before posting . . .


It's not what I'm getting at, but one has to wonder where Lisha is on all this, if she even cares. The whole problem could be that both these guys are looking for tail and she's had her fill of the BS and doesn't want to go home with either one of these ugly old dudes, if you consider Stephen Lang and/or Danny Trejo old ugly guys ;).

I don't really like discussing a presently ongoing situation in OOC because it can reflect on future actions, but here I go...

The stuff... Wiley has the stuff with him, if he could get it, because he needs time to adapt it to him and him to it. Minor tailoring of the clothes for a perfect fit, and wearing them to get used to them, get used to walking and stowing and retrieving items and appearing natural in them. He considers the others close to hopeless on pulling this off but also would have wanted them to do the same, make sure nothing when they are wearing the clothes and equipment screams "not my stuff" and maybe get a few hours teaching on how to act, how to sit, rise and move with a sword hanging off you without looking clumsy or poking the guy behind you in the ass, how to let him take the lead in a sticky situation while they look noble bored, noble angry, noble hung over, etc... Time is short and there is a lot to do that would be better done where they can move about as if they are in a manor, not sitting in a carriage.

As far as the present stand-off, Wiley is just trying to get the girl free without being killed. He doesn't want Blade using Lisha as a shield either, which is a present danger. Without more information he has to assume this is a simple fight between two horny guys over a bar girl, guys who only know how to be tough guys, who don't know how to stand down.

As far as Blade and Murdoch, Blade might kill Wiley in a fit of anger in the moment, but likely can be placated if he can talk to him after "I was just saying that to try to manipulate him, make him think neither of you could win so he wouldn't have anything to prove", and really, Blade can be eliminated later by stacking the situation against him, even setting him up. He can be replaced by any number of thugs. Murdoch is a tougher nut because if he goes away there are a lot more repercussions and people turning over stones.

Oh, just because Wiley has spouted some words, doesn't mean that Martin can't beg to differ. I mean, I haven't yet, but right now I'm feeling out the situation.



I was actually thinking that Zuul would be happy to get it out of the shop, given how nervous he is about the whole deal

In that case it might make sense that we've bundled it up, and are carrying it along in some bags. Though that's assuming we don't need to go back to Zuul's tomorrow anyway. Did we have business at Zuul's again before the job? I can't quite remember.



My first impression of the situation (which I was aware was probably wrong) was that Blade was escorting Lisha back home, and Murdoch wanted that piece of tail. That impression has evolved into Murdoch wanting to take the girl for some unknown third party, maybe the empire, maybe someone who isn't the empire.

I hadn't even considered that Lisha might have an angle, besides not wanting to get involved in this fight, and not wanting to go with Murdoch. Martin still doesn't, since he doesn't read the OOC :p

Thanks for the PM, Whisper.

Been meaning to post for more than a week now. Sorry. This Roll20 DF game has taken more of my creative energy than I anticipated. Five brand new to GURPS players.

I think about this game on a daily basis, I just haven't made the time to post. We're gaming on Roll20.net tonight, so I'm in the process of running that right now.

I'll make it a priority to get posts out this coming week.

On the bright side, school starts this coming week. That's great news for play-by-post gaming for me. It puts me at the computer nearly 24/7 and I'll be happy to procrastinate by using my time to update threads here. :)

So, I'm not dead. :)

However, I wonder how things are with Leon?

Leon! Live and kicking!


:D

Great! Well, it's your turn in the IC thread. ;)

Survival.

Hullo

Hola :D