Okay.

For reasons of my impatience, I once thought we'd lost Nathan.  So, I removed his character-creation thread.  But not before backing it up.   That back-up is at:
https://drive.google.com/file/...eV5/view?usp=sharing

You're welcome to peruse if you should so see fit.

Nathan's an Investigative-Enforcer, so here he is, investigating one of the fancy gambling halls, only tonight there's a rough crew been drawn in by the opportunity for fleecing some of the better off. He has backup ready to come in, raid the joint, and there's Oswald, who has both the villains and a handful of naive dilettantes enthralled with the same risque story...

Details deliberately left vague, though there is probably a reason that he would be there that needed a heavy-hitter

By the way, I love this kind of collaborative development!

Oh yes, I remember now. It's not uncommon for me to spend a fortnight or two at a time on the payroll of taverns and gambling halls. Free room, board, and a little extra coin for my travels is always a plus.

That particular night was aboard The Private Helm, the most upscale gambling galley of the seven seas!! Security nearly doubled when the Queen's nephew Aldridge purchased a ticket to come try his luck. I believe that's what led you to the Helm.

I was sea sick for the first three days on board. Nasty business not knowing when my stomach would give me permission to eat again. Though the gods saw me through it.

We picked up a fresh group of loaded suckers-- err...I mean--noble guests at our second port stop. There was something off about a few of them: less concerned with having fun and more concerned about everyone else. Aldridge also boarded with that group.

I usually don't begin telling my tales until later in the evening, but the house had a bit more luck sooner than it should have and people needed a distraction. Halfway through my second ballad is when I believe you noticed one of our new guests emptying the counting room key from one of the coin attendant's pockets.

I'm a little fuzzy on what you did when you saw that. Care to elaborate?

Ack.  I went to look for responses to my post and see it didn't post.  I'm sorry.  I must have closed the browser without posting...  Here's a second go-round...

Nomadic storyteller with a weakness for skirmishes
So he likes to fight, eh?  Why?

This suggests he's an entertainer who fights.  And certainly he should be able to hold his own.  But... is "a weakness for skirmishes" really such a fundamental part of who he is, that it's part of his high-concept and not, say, his Trouble Aspect?   I'm neither here nor there about it, I just wanna get a feel for why this combination of words.

he seeks for story fodder through courageous acts and honorable deeds.
I'm fascinated that this is all rather narcissistic of him.  He seeks adventure so he can tell the tales of his own adventures.  Not those he's witnessed, nor those with whom he fought.

I can't help but wonder if this focus on self might be the better Trouble Aspect.

Off-hand, I can't help but notice that there is nothing in this that speaks to his "noble blood" (thus social standing, education,, etc).

As a side note, I also wonder if he has some sort of romantic notion of "knightly-virtues"?   Or is he actually working at "creating" the idea of courtly love in this setting?



Terrible Ideas Make the Best Stories!
It's not bad.  It's just... not terribly exciting.   I'd really like this to be something that's a fundamental conflict for him.  I personally love Trouble Aspects that are reflections of the character, drawing on a personal "defect" of some sort...  Something that tells me more about who he is.

You can really get an idea about some of the ones I've used in the past:

• Towering Rage; Hair-Pin Trigger
• Five--Count Them--Ex-Wives
• I'm Not Scatter-Brained;  I Just Have Trouble--Oh, Shiny!
• Can't Hold My Own Tongue

You certainly don't need to go with an internal defect approach.  But I think we can probably twist Terrible Ideas Make the Best Stories! into something more powerful, more... suggestive?  How do any of these strike you as jumping off points?

• Might Not Be The Tactician I Think I Am
• But I Am the Hero of the Story!  Me!
• Attention-Whore
• Can't Leave Well-Enough Alone
• 'Cause Embellishment Improves Everything
• Just Can't Hold My Own Tongue

Perhaps something about his sword or some other piece of gear he's acquired on an adventure.
I'm certainly okay with special equipment...   Some very special artifacts (not just weapons) have one to three Aspects associated with them.  If your character can do the research to uncover these Aspects, they can then invoke those Aspects on their own behalf...  It's a twist on Earthdawn's artifacts approach.   If it's particularly complex or symbiotic or something, we may look at working that into a mantle...
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:31, Wed 28 Oct 2020.

You might not have believed the sudden clumsiness that afflicted Nathan at this juncture, his claret spilling over the key-lifter and his stumbling fall knocking a tray of flagons over the Queen's nephew. Chaos, curses, apologies and camaraderie ensued - enough to steal the tempo of the "heist" and the key-lifter's key to vanish

Okay.

Okay... I'm really wanting to start moving on this.

Can you please update your RPOL character sheet.

I'd really like to get the skills in place before we get too deep into the mantle.  It can all be revised, but let's set the groundwork first please.   A basic character first, before we start working on the add-ons.

I have most of it done in my first post.  I'll tweak my aspects a bit based on your feedback and pick a stunt. I'll transfer it all to the character details proper.

Interesting, thinking about Mantles a bit.

What differentiates Oswald from everyone else?  What makes him exceptional?  What can he do that no one else can?m Storyteller who bites off more than he can chew?  Bit of a Swashbuckler but with a bit of a reputation?  So off the top of my head I'm seeing a guy who can perform extraordinary stunts of swashbuckling, and get people to do him favors, but who leaves a trail of enemies in his wake.

How the hell would we do a Mantle for that?

Easy

---

Unique Conditions:
Hot On Your Trail (Sticky):  [ ]
When this condition is marked, your existence and location are revealed to an old foe. This condition lasts until the thing or things pursuing you catches up and you confront them. Either paying off an old debt or convincing them you’re not worth the trouble.

Daring-Do (Sticky): [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Mark one of this condition’s five boxes to use the plucky grit granted to you by your mantle, as described in your stunts.  Recover this condition by laying low (one box per session), or clear it completely by marking Hot On Your Trail.

---

Then you pick a couple of stunts related to swashbuckling, acrobatics, story telling, musical performances, and bam!

Got yourself a Mantle.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:36, Thu 05 Nov 2020.

By "weakness for skirmishes," I was trying to speak to a couple of different things. First, fighting is a core concept for Oz, but I think it's more than that; honestly, he's more of a grand adventurer. He doesn't mind getting messy when he knows that a good story will be added to his repertoire at the end of it (more on this in a bit). Secondly, to speak to the types of stories he likes to tell.  His tales of grand adventure and battle. As I write through this, I think his HC needs to capture more experience rather than fighting.


I agree this is coming off as a bit narcissistic, but that wasn't my intention.  Oz narrates other people's stories as well, but he likes to seek out adventure to give him new tales to tell. I need to incorporate his culture and nobility into the HC as well.



If it's all the same to you, I think I'll opt to keep this one as-is for now.  Are you okay with letting it evolve a bit during play?

I wanted to close this out, so I brought the story elements together and named a couple of aspects at the end.

#Nathan
Nathan's an Investigative-Enforcer, so here he is, investigating one of the fancy gambling halls, only tonight there's a rough crew been drawn in by the opportunity for fleecing some of the better off. He has backup ready to come in, raid the joint, and there's Oswald, who has both the villains and a handful of naive dilettantes enthralled with the same risque story...

Details were deliberately left vague, though there is probably a reason he would be there that needed a heavy-hitter.

# Oz
Oh, yes, I remember now. It's not uncommon for me to spend a fortnight or two at a time on the payroll of taverns and gambling halls. Free room, board, and a little extra coin for my travels are always a plus.

That particular night was aboard The Private Helm, the most upscale gambling galley of the seven seas!! Security nearly doubled when the Queen's nephew Aldridge purchased a ticket to come to try his luck. I believe that's what led you to the Helm.

I was seasick for the first three days on board. Nasty business not knowing when my stomach would give me permission to eat again. Though the gods saw me through it.

We picked up a new group of loaded suckers-- err...I mean--noble guests at our second port stop. There was something off about a few of them: less concerned with having fun and more concerned about everyone else. Aldridge also boarded with that group.

I usually don't begin telling my tales until later in the evening, but the house had a bit more luck sooner than it should have, and people needed a distraction. Halfway through my second ballad is when I believe you noticed one of our new guests emptying the counting room key from one of the coin attendants' pockets.

I'm a little fuzzy on what you did when you saw that. Care to elaborate?

#Nathan
You might not have believed the sudden clumsiness that afflicted Nathan at this juncture, his claret spilling over the key-lifter and his stumbling fall knocking a tray of flagons over the Queen's nephew. Chaos, curses, apologies, and camaraderie ensued - enough to steal the tempo of the "heist" and the key-lifter's key to vanish.

#Oz (new material)
While Nathan was able to discretely and gracefully foil the attempted theft, Aldridge was still a big target. Finishing his time upfront with a story about a  sea captain pressing his luck and being greatly rewarded, Oz stepped down for some ale. Nathan, worried about the Queen's nephew, recruited the storyteller to keep an extra eye on the thrice removed prince. We don't have time to finish this tale now; suffice it to say, Aldridge is deeply indebted to Nathan and Oz. On this trip, Nathan learned about Oz and became willing to vouch for him for our current adventure.

A couple of aspects I've drawn from this story are:

Well known by many taverns.

The Queen's nephew owes me his life!

I'm good to move forard with what we've got.

While I can gladly discuss/argue Aspects til the cows come home, in the end, it's only in play that we see which ones carry weight.

I'm not keen on Terrible Ideas Make the Best Stories!.

Implicit in this Aspect is the idea that he chooses to run with ideas even knowing they're terrible.   But, you know, I can live with it.  Or rather, Oswald can live with it.

I've started plying Dragon Age: Inquisition and the character Varric puts me in mind of Oswald.   hich is to say, creative, industrious, a charmer, very capable (the guy named his crossbow "Bianca")...   And I'm re-reading Luck in the Shadows, (which I may've mentioned before) which features Seregil, who takes on the role of a bard (and very very well)...  So, I'm keen to get Oswald up and going.

In fact, we've done enough that if you wanted to start posting in-character, The Briney Goose thread is up and ready for you.

In reply to Control (msg # 34):

I'll think through this some and try to tweak it a bit.  I do think what you're saying is valid.  It's not doing exactly what I want it to be doing as I think about it more.

Late one night after leaving the university library, Oz stumbled across a man lying in the street next to a five-story building, bleeding from what seemed like hundreds of micro lacerations. The man could hardly move, much less speak as labored to breathe. It was then that Oswald noticed the crushed crate underneath the man, the torn canopy over a window, and three pairs of eyes peering over the ledge of the roof. They locked eyes with the Troubadour.

A weak voice interrupted, "Take the sword..." said the stranger before he coughed up some blood and weakly pointing across the cobbled street halfway in a covered ditch. "Its name is 'Mage Slayer.' Don't let them have it." said the man, taking his last breath. Oz crossed the street and picked up the blade; runes glowed blue along the steel's flat sides. The weapon was well balanced and seemed lighter than one would think. The hilt ended with a deep blue orb a quarter size of a man's fist.

"Hand it over!" said a gruff voice, but without waiting for a response, the taller of the three from above evoked a bolt of lightning toward the storyteller. Instinctively Oz held up his arms to brace for an impact that never came. He felt  Mage Slayer become heavier in his hand and opened his eyes in time to see the last of the bolt be absorbed by the now burning blue runes; the orb in the hilt now also shown with a light that was not there before. The battle had just begun...

This is my idea for a unique piece of gear, and maybe it will work as a mantle if I'm thinking about that correctly. A sword that can absorb magic attacks and then unleash them back. Mechanically speaking, I'll need to defend, maybe even with style, against a spell and then have some sort of stress track to see how many "charges" the sword has.

The aspect would be something like:
Wielder of Mage Slayer
This message was last edited by the player at 14:03, Fri 06 Nov 2020.

An anti-Evoker Sword could definitely be a Mantle.

---

Unique Conditions:
On a Mission (sticky)[ ] Each artifact has a specific purpose or mission. Mark this condition when you are suddenly called on to fulfill your artifact’s purpose. Add a new approach at Great (+4), appropriate to your item’s properties.

Crisis of X (sticky) [ ] There are certain rules for every powerful artifact. Mark this condition if you significantly violate the tenets or misuse the power granted to you. While this condition is marked, the approach and all stunts of this mantle are unavailable. Recover this condition after performing appropriate penance, per the GM.

---

Use a Mana bar to represent its charges, and then a handful of stunts of cool shit it lets you do, with the idea that you can unlock more later if you so choose.

Reflecting a spell for sure could be one of them.

Thoughts?

Does that make any sense?

Does it feel way off, or kind of where you wanted to go?

In reply to Cara (msg # 38):

I think it's definitely the direction I want to go. Just need to flesh it out.

Any ideas on themes you'd want to expand on?  Aesthetics?

In reply to Cara (msg # 40):

Should the sticky be: you have a spell currently absorbed? Like there’s gas in the tank?  Or am I think about it incorrectly?

I was thinking about filling the mana bar by absorbing spells. So that would make the negative sticky be true when it’s empty?


Would that be how it works?

Oooh, interesting.

So it isn't really a magic sword unless it's absorbed a spell!  Yeah that totally works.  So here is just a rough draft, feel free to change anything or everything.

Unique Conditions:
Spellpool: (sticky)[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]  Unmark one box of your Spellpool whenever you use the well of power granted to you by Spelldrinker, as described in your stunts.  In addition, you can also Unmark one box of your Spellpool to take a +2 to any one action.  The roll for Spelldrinker cannot be enhanced with Spellpool.

Crisis of X: (sticky) [ ] There are certain rules for every powerful artifact. Mark this condition if you significantly violate the tenets or misuse the power granted to you. While this condition is marked, the approach and all stunts of this mantle are unavailable. Recover this condition after performing appropriate penance, per the GM.

Unique Stunts:

Spelldrinker: When you are the target of an Evocation or Ritual, you can attempt to absorb it into Sword Name.  Roll Blades as a Block Action against the Approach.  If you win, the spell is negated, and you mark down points of Mana on your Spellpool equal to the difference between rolls. On a tie, the spell is still negated, but you do not recieve any mana in your Spellpool.

---

So let's say Pierre the Pyro shoots a beam of fire at you and Rolls Shoot +3, and you roll to defend with Blades +5, you would get 2 points of Mana in your Spellpool.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:02, Mon 16 Nov 2020.

Oh, that's neat!

Oh, and by the way, you're welcome to post in the  02.02: Aboard the Hundari Kornmara thread.

In reply to Cara (msg # 42):

this is perfect!! thank you! Exactly what I imagined.

Awesome, do you need help with stunts?

Want to get you ready to play in the main thread.

I'll dedicate some time to them either today or tomorrow morning.  Between moving and the holidays, this has been a busy couple of weeks.  I have an idea for the main thread, have outlined some notes, and need to get some keyboard time.