I had to reply to the another LG player, and it serves a game's social health to have this board anyway. In hindsight it should have been created far earlier. I lack focus...:( Oh well! Here it is now.

You can put whatever you want here. Whether it's a virtual high five, a joke, or as I'm talking about, other games.

Try to keep chat germane to the game threads in the proper threads. Just because I have a habit of not reading everything word for word. I look to make sure no one has breached ToA (not that I expect anyone to) and then otherwise scan.

Anyway!

Yay! Another LG player. There are a only a half dozen I've met on RPoL. I played in Dyvers and bit in Bandit Kingdoms (IIRC) and a few in Shield Lands. My character was fairly useless in one regard, but I really had some VERY awesome and quite frankly heroic players at my tables. My character was cursed by a kobold ritual (by a kobold paladin trying to help). I hit gold! I was a Gray Elf with 20 starting Int and 6 starting strength. It couldn't have been better. I got +1 Int at no risk (from the ritual), but then I was asked if I wanted to try again (with risk!) and I agreed. I got ANOTHER +1 Int, but -1 Strength. That actually became a huge point of pride, that I had the lowest strength in the region, and the second highest Int of PC or NPC (by level 12).

I won't use game (this game) time to say too much, but I want to say the PLAYERS and certain GMs were what I loved. I played a character who my true friends understood was very much built with love; but he was meant to fulfill the negative elven sterotype. He was flamboyant, prissy, eccentric (more so as an alienist) and prone to tizzies. Wood Elves resented him, dwarves pointed at him and said "Aye. Aye? Aye! See?! I TOLD YOU!".

He carried few things, most clothes in his backpack. He was conjurer and so would use mount, or  tenser's floating disk if he just Haaaaaaaad! to get something carried. He was badass though! Among badass PCs. MY favorite moments were those when my character should have died, but the PCs and players most of all reisked their lives to save my character. He was like the damsel in distress sometimes, and I felt so much love when players would put their characters into a situation they could brick...like in serious situations that would seriously set them back, or TPK.

Alautia, my character, was badass, but mostly from summoning or his MASSIVE spellbook. Everyone would always ask this question, and I love to answer it. "What would you do against shadows though?!" I did....face greater shadows. Well...I was in the room. MY mage armor, mirror image and mostly help of fellow PCs (one great friend of mine especially) which had anti-undead mojo. I actually got hit TWICE and took down to 2 strength. Alautia also faced shadwows, but they were against a pelor PC and that didn't really feel like the shadows had a chance. Great shadows....ooooh that was very spicy. Many players would seethe when I showed them the module. Just to prove I had weathered the ultimate threat.

Alautia was always comical, but I digress. I played with a crack team, but would attend (local only) cons, and get to see other players from the neighboring regions (IIRC those I mentioned). Alautia had a seriously (well!) bloated spellbook. Other wizard players would ask "can I see your spellbook" and I had it printed out of an (generic office) paper that organized it by school and level. Often those wizards would say "Which ones are in your spellbook?" AAAALLL of them. Not all spells printed, no, but I had dozens. It was another theme I enjoyed, to see the christmas lights in wizards eyes to save gold on scrolls. I took pride in knowing, yeah, I had only three magic items. Not even a HHH! A Cloak of the Couatl (+6 Int, +6...something), and TBH I don't remember the other two. Alautia had even more scrolls then I'vew ever seen a character have. I would milk my XP to scribe, just so I had just about any spell I could need. IT was poor decison in some ways, but it was really nice to see, again, other players really appreciate that. "Can't find secret door!" had the detect secret doors. "Need to barricade" had hold portal.

Last thing I'll mention. Alautia would take falling damage almost often, as in it was not that uncommon. One very fun experience (after the fact) was when I "used" my scroll of feather fall, only to realize. nopppe! It took a standard action to cast froma scroll. So we all laughed (after alautia survived). It was a cartoonish but relatable moment, of the glitter robed wizard falling while reading froma scroll, and then just hitting the pavement. I did not live that one down, but hey, I appreciated the flak for trying things people didn't.

I miss those days in some ways, the actor in me (I was to major in acting college, butfailed the other classes) loved having to sit with strangers, but also having the familiarity to play with friends at smaller cons, like at the LGS. I'm glad they're over as well, as I'd feel like I missed out. Like many, I don't have that time I used to when I was a 20 something.

Yup.  LG was a really grand time.  I played in a number of regions: Keoland, The Yeomanry, Veluna, Verbobonc, Bandit Kingdoms, Furyondy, Gran Duchy of Geoff, as well as the Duchy and County of Urnst.  Back then, I was a travelling fool. :)  Like as not, if you went to a con in Tulsa during the LG years, we may have been at the same conventions.

Travelling all around like that, one runs out of TUs and spins off secondary PCs.  The main PC I played was Jesper Jensen, a multiclassed archer and priest of Rudd with a cohort cleric of Kord named Finn MacDunnigan.  Jesper was an interesting fellow to play and still graces my gaming shelf in his folder upstairs.  There was a mid-level druid in there, a specialist heavy flail fighter, and a low level Touv wizard who might have been my favorite, though in years 7 & 8 the campaign got pretty wacky and I mostly switched to running gamedays and DMing for other people.

So many memories ...

I would have loved to play any of the Living tournamenty thingummajigs but I only went to one con a year and that was Unicon at what was then 'New Hall' Cambridge but is now Murray-Edwards College (the last female only college remaining at the University of Cambridge) and sadly, I wasn't able to join in.  C'est la vie.

On the other hand, I did get invlved in Filk music which was awesome.

In reply to Cyril Theodoric (msg # 2):

I had a RL mentor of sorts that helped me through the years to get my TU filled, either by playing modules, or IIRC crafting scrolls. I had a secondary character for just that reason, who could play when I was full up, and modules were going to expire.

Traveling around in regions would be expensive on TU. I knew a guy from the LGS (game store) who was an engineering accountant for an automotive company. So he traveled ALOT. He also didn't have the same RL time to spend on gaming, and so he preferred just playing where-ever he could. He also had a few semi-gaming buddies that would play home games with him and only him, which he was tickled to do.

I missed year 1, and most of year 2I simply didn't have the RL connections I did year 3. However, toward the end of my play, maybe three years prior to my stopping, for RL fallout, I had so many connections, that I knew a Dyver Triad member by first name basis. I also got to debut some Dyvers modules that were through most of the approval stage but hadn't been officially released yet. Which meant the author GMed the module. That second part happened quite frequently actually, having the author GM the module. Nothing quite suffices to explain how cozy that feels, as opposed to to some of the frankly poorer GMs that felt really nervous GMing modules.

Anyway, I didn't mean to have this thread be dominated by LG talk. Please feel free to continue, or change the subject, or both.  I'll probably leave this thread alone, resisting temptation otherwise. I want to give you all <i>Some<I> way to post, but it's largely a point where you'll all be waiting on me.

I'm playing some Exalted tonight with my roommate, just a little solo game. Then after they head to bed, I'll be looking over the threads, and then playing some Fallout 4.

As a change of subject, like share details of that game? I myself play in one long-running exalted game both as Lunar and Dragon-blood chars (all players got two chars and we juggle them depending on events/scenes happening at the time, all happening in Haslanti League region in north).

In the last session made an exalted version of 'fast ball special' with my lunar using a dawn caste solar as sling-shot ammo (using gloves of distant touch which I have constantly referred to creating semi-invisible silver wires to manipulate stuff than a pure force for stunt purposes). I threw said dawn caste solar on akuma DB sorcerer who was riding Florivet's ship to try get Malfeas with hostage...considering this dawn caste solar specializes on 'one massive +60 aggravated dmg sweeps in close range', neither Florivet or akuma got far once she was in sword swing range.

Here is video link what fast ball special comes from as concept; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bch2mbnZx0I

There are actually two solo games Anne (my long time roommate) and I are involved with. One is an infernal game, I'm STing. The other is a gold faction solar centric game, that Anne is STing. My game is "Grand Theft Yeddim" style, with another note I came up with, which is that the majority of the game will take place in the Underworld. The "group" which consists of two of Anne's characters, and three STPCs of my own. They are making heists eventually, but right now doing snatch a grabs on the Isle. They have a mentor from Iselsi, whose a Water Aspect named Kadecy. Kadecy in turn has mentor, who through an STPC's Bestowal of Accursed Fortune, received the Sifu of said mentor, making a full total of three degrees of mentors. Kadecy being an essence 6 Iselsi who defrauded Ragara, and got away with it. Kadecy's mentor, Emerald Sire, and Emerald Sire's Sifu, the Green Lady (heavily modified). The two sidereals, Emerald Sire and Green Lady, have a faction developing even more focused on solaroids, and anti-Yu Shan. They want ANY of the solaroids to be given a place, feeling those in Yozi and Neverborn essence, can fight (lifelong) against their "masters" and help reshape the worlds, all of them. This plotline will be stagnant if Anne chooses not toi explore it, or if the game dies, but I have it there if this game goes from short term to long term. The game is all about robbery and piracy. The "group" is mostly on the Blessed Isle for now, but has contact witha  Sentient Abyssal manse with Shadowland. I forget the specifics, and really repurposed them anyway, but there is canonical "off limits" area in a book about the Blessed Isle or Stygia that talks about being Sealed by the Empress. IIRC it's near the Scarlet Prefecture, but even if it isn't, I put it there. I'll give more details as I find them, but essentially that off limits area is the ONLY shadowland on the Blessed Isle, having been built by Meticulous Owl in Stygia, and dealing the Fakuf.

The "group" just hit a Ragara bank, and had to flee, because the manse was set to explode, but aborted by First among Equals, who currently has the hearthstone. The idea is that they'll eventually go back, but that hitting it all at once, was an optiom, even if a very difficult one to survive. They at least got some artifacts from the dragonblooded downed. One dragon blooded had useful artifacts that aren't jade only panoply. Mostly wiki and homebrew stuff.

The other game, which I'm playing tonight, is around Whitewall. Anne has a better record than I for long term games. She has three VERY long running games, one of which is still going, and another of which was a 7th to 48th level D&D game. The game tonight has four of my characters, a Zenith, Journeys, Night, and Eclipse; that are a brotherhood with her STPC the Twilight. The Journeys has established a factional base in the North, and through my boldness and Cell's (my Joruneys) tact, has Ayesha as a Mentor. Because I so carefully and respectfully included and played out how Cell respected and just short of pined for tutelage from Ayesha, Anne is playing Ayesha like Mentor I gainedf through roleplaying. Er...maybe Mentor is a strong word. Ally I guess. In short, Ayesha is very amiable to working with and supporting Cell rising in the Gold Faction. Because Cell is in the Air Convention, and knows the identities of the Syndics, he's shoein for the Air Chair, but right now is leery to take that, since that will upset another of Cell's deeply respected viziers, Righteous Tsunami. Though Righteous Tsunami is Bronze Faction, Cell isn't like Lupo or Ayesha. In fact he believes as Righteous Tsunami does like the opposite side of the coin. My Zenith, Cros Cros, is making campaign (hasn't started) to stop Bull of the North, due to the Dawn's disruption the cities. So circling back to the Air chair, Cell isn't solars=good or even useful. He believes solars need some control, like Lupo, and some freedom, like Ayesha, but he also feels letting them ALL restore the deliberative is very bad ina century, to say nothing of the current roster alive. So he wants to (but has yet to) befriend Righteous Tsunami. The Tya fought hard, and even faced freaking Deathlord, and was (what?) five centuries old to gain the water chair, and despite Kejek being "so proud", Righteous Tsunami has zero support from Kejak. Cell wants to honor the Tya by not just taking a chair prior to being at LEAST a century old. Hence why despite having Ayesha's, and more importantly all three Syndics support, he's like "ehhh...not yet....thank you though". My Night is really more about his anima power than night caste charms. He has basically all ride charms, and makes frequent use of Immortal Rider's advantages, while enjoying his anima power. He also has essence lending method. So he's sort of more a quatiary character, that has little of his own goals. There is a point when playing multiple characters, one falls short on depth. My Eclipse is very involved with Shadowlands and a bit with the Wyld. He has discovered what deathknights are, was told about the Lover Clad in a Raiment of Tears...blah blah long name...and so is very leery of doing TOO much to Marama's Fell. He has an Underworld manse he built "beneath" the factional base, and has some dragonblooded prisoners of War that were Incapped and held for two years, serving as guards in the manse. There are two manses actually, one a fortress, and the other the actual supply point. The Eclipse's name is Sting, and he has the firewand martial arts, basically almost every craft charm for solars, and also Implementation of Excellent Objectives. HE also has a Twice striking Lightning Prism and Raise the Puissant SAnctum, along with Imbue amalgam, and amalgams that learned Geomancy from the Night, the Night's name is Thrann. Thrann has Cecelyne Charms through Primordial Principle Emulation.

Right now the latter game is in downtime, and I'm having Cros Cros looking for Tepet Ejava to assist against the Bull of the North. I'll see how that goes though. Cros Cros is taking his brothers, with possibly the exception of Cell. Who may need to remain impartial.

After another 20 in game years, there's going to be a huge martial arts tournament during the Calibration Festival, which I know Cell, and Cros Cros want to attend.

Since it's a solo game and a continuation of another of Anne's games, that I wanted to switch characters in, we (Anne and I) are dictating a "downtime" and then I can sandbox for that many game years.

Anne is playing Fallout 4 right now. Which is why I'm posting here after all. Both her parents are in the hospital. She has bad history with them, but they're still family. In short, she's shaken up. You can scroll Vents threads in Community Chat on all the turmoil, but in short, Anne and I have very painful history, especially with her father.

But yeah, after Anne has taken Nordhagen Beach, she's going to ST the Whitewall game.

In reply to Narrator V (msg # 6):

*nods*

I understand how family issues can be complicated, games help distract the brain for while at least. But on my end; family is those who care for you, whether they are by blood or not. If the person who shares your blood betrays or mistreats you, you should not consider said person's family except by name only. I and my mother are black sheep on both sides of the family line (mother's and my deceased father's side), so we have been +30 years been us vs them attitude already and doing fine.

But not rant further, in my game besides dawn caste inspired from Mordred from Fateverse and my lunar who is changing moon with wolpertinger totem (he ate chimera heart during his exaltation so things went super weird fast on him and he has multiple personality disorder atop as well, so bit insane). Albeit my lunar does not 'top damage charts' of solar, from the entire group he makes cunning plays which gives solars in group openings to open cans of whoop ass (and had epic larceny scene as the group infiltrated an abyssal controlled underworld warmachine factory where he stole clothes and masks of nemissaries without them be wiser about it so the party can disguise and walk through factory unhindered). Origin wise my lunar was Nexus street urchin/pickpocket. Oh, also he is married to raksha noble who I purchased with ally background and she runs a flying castle (with a big mirror as a laser beam; functions as lighting ballistae) and is a crafter Raksha.

Other members include; zenith solar with giantess fetish (liking enlarge herself humongous size with dreaming courtesan style into blue genie form and slap people with fans and jiggle tits with appearance 7 and convert people with +30 social rolls for love and friendship and failing that then use martial arts), another solar is night caste with dual firewands but atm sports self-created (as she's crafter) a portable implosion bow with anti-undead enchantments.

There's others but mention them next post if folks still interested what second chars are.

Simply to help people who want to double dip into my GMing, and also for those that may get disinterested in this thread for non-D&D talk, I have this link: link to another game

Feel free to discuss exalted, or really anything here. I just want to post the link if you wanted an outlet as my exalted front slowly moves forward.

If you (any of you individually) weren't aware, here (link to a message in another game) is where this game started. Most importantly, it shows the time frame I work at.

My exalted game is slowly coming to a point as well. I started workshopping early this year, and was projected to start EotY, but will probably be early February and things are shaping up with the RL (lack of) home situation.

That said, I'll probably stop checking this thread until I've done the work here I need to. As a reminder, this game is mature, so "chest" slang can probably slide, but do be mindful that my number one duty for checking in to a game, is to make sure ToA aren't violated. It's the main reason I check in to games even when I have no time. So while I think some profanity and slang is fine, remember the rating and that is ToA are breached, by ass is on the line.

Anne is done with Fallout, but is on hold with the pharmacy. I need to pick up some medicine, and we don't want to waste gas if it's not ready.

In reply to Narrator V (msg # 8):

*nods*

Understood, we do not breach the mature tag. Even if I am involved in games where sexual elements are more profound but I know to tone it down in here (and my lich will not be a lecherous type anyways, so vulgarity/slang IC would not happen and I hold back in OOC).

You know the Exalted character I have tried to play. Never really works out.

Just got my ship blown up in the most frustrating game ever created, so going to do some mindless shooting.

Also best fastball special (Exalted Edition) I have seen was a Dawn using Thrown charms on her 'projectile' - her Lunar Mate in the form of an armadillo. Then landing as a Yeddim.

In reply to Vythisk (msg # 10):

Ah, indeed, classic 'yeddim missile' attack. I myself have both yeddim and tyrant lizard forms (as well some wyld beasts like a golden lion and diamond stag, but also weird forms like a super angry bear-sized badger).

Haha, not sure what to contribute -- V is helping me dip my toes back into Exalted after having had some rather bad experiences a while ago (not with V, or even on RPOL).

I have had a couple of bad experiences in Exalted. I am not good enough at the system to make a survivable Chungian Exalted and often wind up in a game where alot of the other players are able to do that.

Has anyone read Practical Guide to Evil?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:52, Sat 22 Oct 2022.

In reply to Vythisk (msg # 13):

Maybe... Probably not, but I'm intrigued. Not sure what that is (or pertains to) but I have couple ideas of how it would be relevant, possibly to evil characters working together in game.

It is a series of web novels. They are fairly good and they are finished. One of the conceits are people called Named. Which function at least somewhat like Exalted. So, you might become the Lone Swordsman or the Unconquered Champion. With some being Heroes and others Villains.
Talk of Exalted just brought it to mind and wondered if anyone had read it.

Here's something I found during a webcrawl night before last that seemed to have some currency for us in this campaign.  https://blog.trilemma.com/2021...hts-on-intrigue.html

In reply to Cyril Theodoric (msg # 16):

It seems like it could be good while dealing with other kingdoms/powerbrokers, but I'd rather not approach our internal leadership with this in mind.

:D Little bit of tweaking.

This, however, is still a suggestion. How I would represent the situation were I playing in the game. A strong suggestion, but not a requirement. Those that are divisive will affect the tone of the game. See the Game Info Link back to this game


This message was last edited by the GM at 06:26, Wed 26 Oct 2022.

Yeah, preferably we as group are damn solid unit which works together even if different alignments and overall goals being different (or partly shared) by others. The other kingdoms and factions around world is different story.

We have a common enemy... it is not a person but the impersonal cold dead hand (no offence Hathra) of a market that serves others more than it serves us.

I'm not a necromancer but I thought I'd reawaken this sleeping space anyway.

That's a good thing. I have a thread to post, otherwise I wouldn't be here. I've been really trying to avoid having to get on to this game, because I have yet more reasons things aren't moving forward.

I know at least two people have visuals for their landlord assets. So I want to post two threads for those. That's why I'm on, but things suck, and I hate having to repeatedly report this. I would rather that, however, than ghost you all. Much as it is easier to not have to confront inconvenient truths.

I'll update my bio later, but for now, I'll put the info as appropriately placed as I can here, otherwise.

So, just going through my library and was just wondering if anyone had a system or character idea that they are probably never going to get to play?
As an exampled, I have the coffee table Nobilis book and probably never going to play that system ever again. Also, came across a few things and now have a bug in my ear about creating a Gestalt LE Tanarukk Warblade // Archivist who serves Ilneval. Why I have no idea, but the idea just popped into my head and I am idly making the character - never played a Warblade before just flipped through it and was like...that is weird idea.

So, any systems or character ideas you doubt you will ever have the chance to play?

Sorry I haven't been more active; RL has given me some rather important issues to deal with.

To your question, though: I had a 1E Pathfinder character I've wanted to play for a while -- a gestalt bandersnatch (monster class)//Tyrr barbarian (homebrew class, but not one I made up). She had a backstory that I really liked. Both of the games I brought her into fell apart fairly quickly.

I have two systems I will never play one here (A-State) and one in the shed in a house we temporarily don't have access to (Orpheus).

I also have lots of characters I won't get to play. My favourites are a human rogue with all attributes the same (eg all 12) and all feats about improvisation and a female goblin (CG) Bard.

In my case I want to test out a homebrew prestige class; Midnight Occultist. Combines binder pact magic and magic of incarnum.

https://forums.giantitp.com/sh...eldshaper-PrC-(PEACH)

That looks interesting. On same site they had a rework of the hexblade with a whole bunch of PrCs that made the class very playable.

Just added another concept to my backlog of ideas never to be played - someone advertised a game that was full by the time I got off of work to RtJ. So it goes.

Also, waiting for someone to make a mod off of some other system for various worlds I want to play in. Not good enough to mod some of the worlds and the magic systems I would want to use.

The hexblade actually made me want to try a game where the higher power classes weren't there and instead all of the pcs played some of the lesser classes in gestalt. Two weak classes that have enough synergy that they become greater then the sum of their parts.

And what worlds are might people like to play in?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:54, Sun 21 Jan.

Hexblade mods are nice, but in my 3.5 dnd tables I fuse many classes together (basically gestalt them but it's not considered gestalt class).

I fused hexblade with soulknife; I changed psionic class to arcane version with this fusion.

Marshal I combined with paladin; as with marshal auras, paladins become better classes to stick more levels in the long run (and be bit similar to divine mind class from complete psionic).

Knight and Fighter I fused also together. Albeit knight is quite fine as classes go, but it lacked martial versatility to able to get feats to be a good warrior class. Knight's code I adjusted to have choices between Lawful neutral, Chaotic neutral, and Good or Evil versions (albeit knight can be any alignment but code is leaning towards specific alignment so lawful good knight has option take good or lawful version of the code).

Monk I did just give full BAB and weapon finesse as one monk feat options.

In settings/worlds, I would have preference over Eberron or Forgotten Realms as established settings go.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:49, Sun 21 Jan.

The soulknife never made much sense to me honestly. Just making a weapon with your mind is kind of bland. I mean at the least they should have some manifesting ability.

Maybe monk/soulknife meld could work - they just flow together really. Honestly you could meld the Fighter with pretty much every warrior type character and be good. Feat heavy, swashbucklers, hexblades, knighs, paladins, could all be a good thing.

In the established settings -
Eberron has always felt like a game with DLCs attached. It pretends to be a low level game, but with high level stuff happening in the background. With the other continents all being higher level zones until you return to your homeland and realize that there was epic level shenanigans happening behind you the whole time. The store clerk who helped you at 2nd level, is actually the epic level agent of a evil magical overlord who is struggling to break free. It is an interesting setting - though ripping alot of the setting and ideas in a different world can work. An early magicpunk setting with arcane engineers and just coming off of their version of WWI is always going to be interesting.

Forgotten Realms - my only thing about Faerun (at least up to 3.5, I have avoided 4e and 5e lore) is Mystra. First to get from edition to edition - stop killing her. Second, don't make her responsible for all magic. Beyond that the world is big enough you can do most anything.

Greyhawk is kinda of small - though there is a short series of book set in Greyhawk that is a fun read.

An interesting 3rd party is Midnight - in which Sauron pretty much won and is covering the world in darkness - only so many stories you can tell in that setting, but it has an interesting ideas for casters and where eveyone pretty much has a template added on to them.

In reply to Vythisk (msg # 28):

I enjoy Forgotten Realms but I've never played 4 or 5.  I love the concept of the Deep Imaskari seeking the homeland they made him or her forget when he or she was exiled.

As for combinations. My favourite was a barbarian monk.  She could no longer be a barbarian because she had become lawful to play a monk and so she'd left the power to rage but she was physically a lot stronger and faster than yeraverage monk.

Rogue Sorcerer seems to work well, especially when she enjoys the use of true strike out of the shadows.  Also, opening locks is not an aggressive action so invisibility works well.

Or how about Rogue Soulknife, seemingly unarmed until the guard's back is turned and then lethal.

The rogue sorcerer is pretty covered by the beguiler. Heavy on illusions and enchantments but those fit into the rogue archetype pretty well.

Haven’t played 4 or 5 but know they killed off Mystra again to change magic. Along with like Savras, Azuth, and I think Velashroon.

Then brought her back for 5. They did a lot of things weirdly in 4 where they made some racial deities just aspects of the mainstream ones and demoted a lot to exarchs - which seemed to be like quasi deities. 4 made a lot of weird decisions. Will see what they do with 6 since they seem to have fired most of the creative team for wotc

So just watched a video that had an idea for a game idea. The idea was the group woke up and the players literally had a blank sheet. For 3.5 or Pathfinder they had nothing filled in. The players had no idea what they were playing - the pcs had amnesia and they had to find everything out by simply doing it. As they played they slowly filled out their own character sheets. I am not sure about the viability of that idea either for face to face or play by post. Anyone ever try anything remotely like that?

I'm actually playing something like that in another game being run by V (and thus also kind of on hiatus) -- instead of not having the character sheet filled out, I'm learning what the things on the character sheet mean by playing. I think using that idea in D&D would be best for folks who already know the game system well, so that they could make fairly accurate educated guesses.

I feel like we might be in that same game.

Yes, it would definitely be a game idea for experienced people. People who could both make guesses and understand what the various bonuses or penalties might mean and be able to start filling out the sheet.