Wow, cool!

Without having actually read the character (yet), I have two quick questions: what program did you use for the character sheet, and how did you post on Google? That looks like a really handy way to bounce pages around.

Don't know about the character sheet (I think it is pretty great also) but you can "share" anything you upload to Google Drive (top right of the screen for me). Change the privacy setting so anyone with the link can view, and then just paste the link here.

I will take a closer look at the character sheet this evening (as I watch the election results roll in), but at quick glance it looks alright.

Something that may be useful to note as you build and finalize your character sheets. The Wagon you are travelling with will have enough room to carry any gear you don't want on your person (within reason) and enough food for the 10 day journey through the pass.

Also, I think I have most names that people would like to use for their characters. Please double check that I have the right one, and I will update everyone's screen name.

I used the free GURPS Character sheet program - it takes a little getting used to, but I find it really speeds things up. Basically you open a character sheet, and a library, then drag and drop the things you want from the library to the sheet. Then just print to pdf so it's readable by everyone. Find it here:

http://gurpscharactersheet.com/wiki/

If you have a google account you should be able to open google Drive. I uploaded the pdf character sheet and set the share settings to anyone with the link.

EDIT: ninja'd. GM, should we be looking at equipment already? How much should we spend on 'adventuring' gear?
This message was last edited by the player at 16:39, Tue 06 Nov 2012.

Awesome, thanks guys. I'm not really computer savvy, but I try to learn (especially since being on RPoL).

@GM: I'm not sure this is the right place to ask, but you mentioned you liked the idea of my being the financier for the wagon. I'm totally into that... but I have no idea what it involves as far as character points and such. Any thoughts?

Here are my skills:

Area Knowledge (Middenheim) 12
Polearm			    14
Brawling		    13
Climbing		    14
Crewman (Seamanship)	    12
Escape			    13
Riding (Horse)		    11
First Aid		    13
Gesture			    13
Throwing (Axe/Mace)	    13
Forced Entry		    13
Housekeeping		    12
Hiking			    13
Intimidation		    13
Judo			    14
Running			    11
Scrounging		    13
Stealth			    13
Streetwise		    13
Survival (Island/Beach)	    13
Swimming		    13
Throwing		    13

What's starting wealth? $1000? Or are we TL 4?

Equipment will come after we finish sheets, so y'all don't have to worry about it quite yet, I just wanted to bring it up.

Max wealth is "Average" for TL 4, so $2,000. If Player 3 is going to be the Financier, I will make an exception for him. No Wealth level above "Very Wealthy" and most of those funds should be spent in to the value of your trade goods.

Here is how I am planning on this wagon to work. We can discuss more after sheets are cut, but as this might affect some points, I'm going to go over it briefly here. The financier should decide on the value of goods he would like to buy i.e. if he puts $10,000 of his wealth into the wagon, you all would be transporting $10,000 worth of goods, mostly cloth (I'm giving you the wagon, supplies for the first leg of the journey, and two mules). When you get to Akendorf on the other side of the pass, you may sell all or part of your cargo at a profit (profit margin will be determined by a successful "Merchant" and/or other role as appropriate). Then choose whether or not to reinvest that profit in goods to take from Akendorf on to the next leg, or divide up profits and go off on some different type of adventure (or both).

For reference, $1 at TL4 is equal to about $12.50-$13 in real world money.

Suggestion: This is a bit of a twist on things but might make people more invested. What if we were, instead of mercenaries, all businessmen who'd financed and invested in this trip? We'd each put down a sum of money into the caravan, and each get a share when we get to where we're going.

That way we're personally invested -- beyond it being a "job".

Everyone could either be in for an equal share, or for a different % (and thus get a different % of the profits). I'd probably need to tweak my character a bit to make him someone more likely to invest than just be a guard.

Here's what I have so far:

Warrior Priest

Basic Attributes [140]
ST 12 [20]; HP 12 [0]
DX 12 [40]; Will 13 [0]
IQ 13 [60]; Per 13 [0]
HT 12 [20]; FP 12 [0]

Basic Lift: 20 lb.
Damage: Thr 1d-1;  Sw 1d+2
Basic Speed 6 [0]
Basic Move 6 [0]

Advantages [55]
Clerical Investment [5]
Power Investiture 4 [40]
Charisma 1 [5]
Higher Purpose (Slay Chaos) [5]

Perks [5]
Dual Ready (Shield and Mace) [1]
Psychic Guidance (Lightning) [1]
Shield Wall Training [1]
Signature Gear (Warhammer) [1]
Weapon Bond (Warhammer) [1]

Languages: Common (Native) [0]
TL: 4 [0]
Cultural Familiarity: Human [0]

Disadvantages [-50]
Duty (Cult of Sigmar, 12 or less) [-10]
Disciplines of Faith (Ritualism) [-5]
Fanaticism (Cult of Sigmar) [-10]
Callous [-5]
Pacifism (Cannot Harm Innocents) [-10]
Major Vow (Use no edged weapons) [-10]

Quirks [-5]
Careful [-1]
Congenial [-1]
Humble [-1]
Responsive [-1]
Staid [-1]

Skills [41]
Axe/Mace (A) DX+4 [16] - 16
Shield (Buckler) (E) DX+2 [4] - 14
Brawling (E) DX+2 [4] - 14
Captivate (H) Will-1 [2] - 12
Hiking (A) HT [2] - 12
Intimidation (A) Will [2] - 13
Leadership (A) IQ [1] - 13*
Occultism (A) IQ-1 [1] - 12
Public Speaking (A) IQ [1] - 13*
Religious Ritual (Cult of Sigmar) IQ-2 [1] - 11
Theology (Cult of Sigmar) IQ-2 [1] - 11
Exorcism (H) Will-1 [2] - 12
Diplomacy (H) IQ-1 [2] - 12
First Aid (E) IQ+1 [2] - 14

* Includes +1 for Charisma

Spells [14]
Bless (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Curse (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Share Vitality (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Minor Healing (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Banish (VH) IQ+3 [2] -15*
Turn Spirit (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Turn Zombie (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Light (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Lightning (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Flaming Weapon (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Burning Touch (H) IQ+2 [1] - 15*
Burning Death (VH) IQ+3 [2] -15*

* Includes +4 for Power Investiture

Points Summary
Attributes/Secondary Characteristics [140]
Advantages/Perks/TL/Languages/Cultural Familiarity [60]
Disadvantages/Quirks [-55]
Skills/Spells [55]
Total [200]
This message was last edited by the player at 22:05, Tue 06 Nov 2012.

Fine by me. Only thing I'd say is that the dog really shouldn't get "dead broke" as an animal, but I don't think that makes a difference for your point total. Question for you, would you like a screen name to post as Rufus in addition to your PC? (as in, would you like to give Rufus his own posts, or just act for him under your player screen name)



Decision is up to you all as the players, but I am totally fine with this option.


Looks fine to me as well.

What do you guys think? Instead of hired guards, we all play investors in the venture, with personal financial stakes in the shipment?

This might require a little fiddling with concepts -- just to make sure we can all afford to contribute to the costs -- but even the ratcatcher concept could have saved up enough coin to invest in such a venture.

 Hmmm, your going to convince the slayer to give up his bottle of bugmans to invest in a caravan deal?.

Gotta do something with the loot he earns. Not like he can spend it on armor, right?

I like the idea of being able to invest in the caravan (and I'd probably throw some spare crowns towards it), but personally I'd rather it be an option rather than mandatory. I think framing it like an open merchant venture looking for muscle and money would work just fine and let people stick to whatever fits their character concepts. Granted, if people are unanimous in wanting to invest, the flexibility is obviously superfluous.

I'm dead tired right now so I'll look over the other sheets/points, and hopefully post the first full draft of my character, tomorrow night.

What's the benefit of being an investor rather than a mercenary? What would motivate our characters to invest?

At this point I'm not seeing the viability nor the reason behind it.

Money.

You get a share of the profit instead of being paid a set wage.

Story-wise you're more invested if it's your money.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:59, Wed 07 Nov 2012.

That's my point exactly: why would our characters care about the money so much so as to invest in it? I'm not totally familiar with the setting, but a Warrior Priest doesn't seem like he would care so much about money. I'm not sure that the other characters would want to take the risk of an investment, either. Sure, you might make more money, but you might lose it all. Investments are big time gambling. It's like working on commission. Most people prefer a steady job. It just doesn't fit in my mind, but like I said, I'm not familiar with Warhammer, so correct me if I'm missing something.

Some investments are risky, but others aren't. They're the chief (only) means of social mobility until the industrial revolution.

(That's the origin of the term "fortune". Not money you have, but money you have invested that earns a regular income for you. "Fortune" = "Investment Capital".)

Anyway, that's the point of my question.

Do we want to play "feckless mercenaries" or "guys with a trade caravan"?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:11, Wed 07 Nov 2012.

As you can probably tell, the idea isn't very interesting to me, personally. I'm not convinced it meshes well enough with our characters. If you can convince me why, as a Warrior Priest, I should want to invest, I'm pretty open minded, but I don't really care about making a fortune; I care about smiting chaos. ;)

Priests in this game are NOT Benedictines. They do not take vows of poverty and chastity. You are encouraged to own property, amass wealth, and invest.

There is no reason a warrior priest is less likely to engage in business ventures than anyone else. Even if they're two-dimensional cardboard effigies with no interests or hobbies beyond "the job", smiting chaos isn't cheap, and neither is maintaining a set of arms.

Especially if you have aspirations towards a warhorse. But even if you don't.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:44, Wed 07 Nov 2012.

I like the optional investment route. Right now I can't see my character investing either, but if we come across some kind of treasure he might do it in the future.

You could change his backstory to say that he did.

Very true. I guess what I meant was that I'm less interested in playing an investor, and hadn't originally considered it when I came up with my concept because the original pitch for the game was for caravan guards. If we're changing the concept of the game, I don't mind, it will just take a bit of adjustment on my part.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:48, Wed 07 Nov 2012.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Do we want to change the theme of the game (and thus, our characters) from "caravan guards" to "(ad)venture capitalists"?

The GM said it's up to us. I think it might be a neat idea, but I'm happy with keeping things as they are if that's what the rest of you are interested in.

That's the key thing -- making sure we're all playing the same game, right?

Ah, gotcha, and thanks for the clarification. Maybe we should have a vote before everyone finalizes their character sheets?

I vote to keep us as just guards, but am willing to play in an investor game if more people prefer that.