I'm still deciding on a setting. Personally, I'd like to see what kind of players and what they are interested in, because there's a bunch of different ways I wouldn't mind taking this.
Godbound is a HIGHLY reactive game that really moves in the direction the players want, so I kind of want everyone to be on the same page, rather than me define a bunch of stuff for a plot train (only to have it get derailed totally).

What kind of world do you want to play in?
Default Setting? Modern Day High Fantasy Setting/Anime Fantasy Setting? Crazy hypermagic neitherworld? Other* I'm not super picky.

What kind of things do you want the game to focus on?
Fighting some great evil? Conquering the world? Combat? Intrigue? Reforming the world? Building a giant city that rivals the world?  Debating various forms of ethics with one another? Taking over the world (of course).

What level of morality will your character have?
This isn't really a multiple choice question, but a general idea of what your character is cool with and how they see "the little people" is drastically going to effect how you deal with the other characters.

If any of these ideas, or another one, sound particularly appealing, please let me know.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:27, Fri 05 Oct 2018.

I've given everyone player tags before I start.

Please don't build your character yet :> We need to work out what we are playing. Please post here and make your case. At least one player has already said they want something like a modern fantasy.

I'm cool with that.

Also, if there's any particular era you want your Scion game to run in, let me know.

I can easily back date it to say, adventure times or fore date it to cyberpunk pretty easily (Shadowrun.. now with Gods!) Or a modern fantasy (ala Brite) or just run it in today's time.

Or if you'd rather do something else, post that. I'm open to suggestions.

I'm open to anything so long as I can make my character kinda screwed up
 :)

Woops. Too quick on the draw there. Please disregard my message then GM.

I'm open to any setting. I like the printed setting so that could work well with minor alterations to accommodate people. Modern fantasy could also work.

Looks like I was added!

Hello all!

For setting, my thoughts are the following:

Modern Day: This would be cool because we'd all know the setting! (Obviously!) It would be easy to talk about stomping around New York or Hong Kong. The downside though is that technology would likely overshadow a lot of the words. Being a god of Health isn't nearly so cool when there's a hospital up the road.

Godbound Base Setting: This would probably be my vote because we'd all have access to the setting through the book so we'd know, and it's kept vague enough that you can massage the setting quite extensively.

To be more specific, I'd probably vote for either Ancalia (Since it has a nice range of supernatural invasion, warlords and also some urban centers left to offer a nice mix) or Vissio  (I like the more political/urban bend there)


Combat: This might not be a popular opinion, but I'd really vote that the game be low combat or have combat be abstracted. After a number of years on RPOL, I've found that combat is one of the biggest killer of play-by-post games, all the dice rolling makes a 5 minute round in a tabletop game take a week of play-by-post time. I'd prefer rather than combat we be given impactful choices, or maybe roll multiple attack rolls at once to speed things up? Something.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:21, Fri 05 Oct 2018.

I'm fine with any setting. I've never tried a modern day godbound game, but the character concept i had prepared happens to work just as well (if not better) in modern fantasy. I'll have to be that guy and sit fence, let others decide what setting fits them best.

I would be down for a few angles:

Godbound core setting - A fun world I really haven't gotten to experience save as a GM.

Modern - Could be amusing as well though we could do that somewhat with the one Republic in core too.

Cyberpunk - Would be kinda amusing dealing with godbound acting as the ruling boards of megacorporations fighting for dominance.

I prefer some intrigue, but I enjoy adventure and combat, etc. I am eager to test out some of the new words or concept words though.

I'd like to point out: one of the nice things about the default setting is that they have multiple technological levels.

If someone WANTS to be high tech, you can always be from the distant past (where tech was rampant) or PC island (where tech is still rampant).

I'll let everyone give an idea of what they want. So far, I'm seeing the predominant ideas seem to be

1) Modern Fantasy or Godbound default, with some concerns over tech overshadowing stuff. We can always run post apocalyptic if people want to downplay that aspect, but I'm cool with the Godbound default.

2) Heading towards more intrigue and social aspects.

The last player joined, I'm no longer recruiting. I think we have 8 players currently? I'm going to have to get down to 6, I think.

I'll give a little time for some other players to pipe up before I narrow the choices further.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:25, Fri 05 Oct 2018.

I would say that tech doesn't outdo the gifts of a godbound by much. Miraculous healing is still stunning compared to days of medical attention. And hell, some tech in Godbound is terrifying already from Heaven, etc and make use look small.

Just playing devil's advocate since I think tech is great but the powers of the Words still is far more impressive. Especially when Tech Words start to get involved and show just what a Techie godbound can do with said tech.

In reply to GM (msg # 9):

I'm here because I wanted to be in your game that you specifically GM-ed, and show my support. But like I mentioned in my private message before, I'm willing to give up my spot for someone else who needs a godbound game to join still if the player list is still too big.

I agree. Technology doesn't overshadow the Godbound. However, the big issue is making sure technological Godbound don't overshadow those who aren't artificers.

With that said, if we do a technological world (without the restrictions that Arcem has on its hypertech), I absolutely vote for banning the Artifice Word in favor of Engineering. Engineering has clearer limits.

Myself, I like the idea of a world of high adventure and something of a kitchen sink. High tech and high magic both exist, and we can turn it on its head. (The golden-age Final Fantasy games come to mind.)
This message was last edited by the player at 05:25, Fri 05 Oct 2018.

Oh lord, something inspired by FFV-VII? I'm the one who suggested Scion-in-Godbound (definitely engineering over artifice, yeah) and I think this is way better.

The Bright Republic is invading the mainland. They've found some way to operate their tech outside of their infrastructure range, and the results are brutal. They're hungry for resources, expansion room, and a docile labor force. The few instances of captured equipment won't operate except for the Republican soldiers, and no one can solve the riddle, especially with the ordinary problems still going on. They first made a beach head in the Golden Wastes last year, and Vissian patrols have been reporting armored giants leading squadrons of infantry, all with alchemical or even more mysterious weaponry. Lom cut off all outside trade and closed its borders three months ago. Caravans passing through the Red Desert have been turned away from what looked like mining operations by Republican mechanical cavalry.

What's really (probably) going on is that they've found either a way to trap parasite gods or a secret cache of them already in stasis chambers from before the sundering, and they developed a technology to infuse normal mortals with a fraction of the power there. Not enough, in theory, for them to become inhuman, just a few drams of divine essence to let them operate essence cannons and magitech outside of the island. The military and political leaders *may* have taken slightly-too-large doses, personally. I'm sure it'll be fine.


(This is 100% ripped from FF6.  It could use some elaboration, but the idea of BR overcoming its cage and starting to annex the rest of the world is juicy.  Nezdovha and the Iron Tsar are almost certainly involved somehow.)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:56, Fri 05 Oct 2018.

Best quote lol.

Well, if we were going to use Arcem instead of a new world, I'd figure the Bleak Reach...er, the Bleak Imperium...as the starting point for the new empire. The Bleak Reach provides an opportunity for an even higher-tech conquering empire if someone loots the right ruin.

Maybe that's where they found the cache of powermacguffins?  The esper cave wasn't coincidentally under the imperial capital, after all.  I'm just having trouble explaining the Reach coming together as a militarized colonial force, you know?  It seems like more of a marauding warbands thing, maybe the occasional Alexander the Great figure.

That was my idea; local tribes empowered and united behind whoever found the original Sierra Madre.

Ok, so.

Lots of ideas. When I'm Infront of my computer tonight and have more than a few minutes, I'll go over them and try and parse them into something we can all enjoy.

This deserves some reflection.

I personally am still really interested in the core setting, or possibly the anime-esque one. I'm also interested in social/intrigue over combat, but adventure is loads of fun too. Not sure about the FF-VII setting, it's been ages since I played it, but the game was awesome. I'd have to refresh my knowledge of the world.

Well, the idea there was to do a FF-inspired plot in the default Arcem setting.

I thought the Final Fantasy 6 reference was cute.

Some cute thought exercises...words for a few FF 6 characters:

Terra: Sky, Winter, & Fire (and later Sorcery) or Half-Esper Concept Word, Sorcery, & Health

Locke: Night, Deception, Theft

Celes: Winter, Sword, Music

Edgar: Artifice, Knowledge, Command

Cyan: Sword, Alacrity, Vengeance

Maybe it's just me, but i don't think that when the GM asked what we wanted to play he meant we give him the plot. Ideas are always good, but ultimately will just decide on the kind of setting we want and let the GM develop the world (or run it if it exists already). Just my opinion on the matter. On the FF inspired lore, I don't know enough about the FF franchise, so i'm almost guaranteed to derail from the atmosphere you are expecting with my character.

I feel as though I'm being interpreted very strictly, which would be a mistake.

I actually am a huge fan of the core setting Godbound. So I'd be fine with that considering we have all sorts of areas to work with depending on where the GM wants to go.

So the general gist I'm getting is that people would prefer to be roughly based in Arcem (with some modifications). I'm thinking closer to FF4-6 with airships and magic steam engines.

An FF style plot is desired, which means a GIANT WORLD ENDING CALAMITY and the final bad guy is never who you think it is, and there will probably be a rebellion. I can dig it.

One thing important to remember about FF Games.. the default is that you are a bunch of heroes, alone, standing up to the world. Remember, in Godbound, the world is something that bends to your will: the game expects you to build up armies and nations up, bend the world to your will. You'll want some serious force to take over the world.

Here's what I'm thinking..
1) Godbound are a new thing. People know parasite gods and made gods, but Godbound? Wazzat?

2) Your character will just come into their power when the game starts. Keep that in mind for your character concept. You could be a badass or a peasant before hand, or a low magic wizard, but you've never been able to do this before.

3) We need to work out what country to start in. I've got some different ways of getting you all together.

Looking for
1. What country to start in
2. Starting words/facts/overall concept.

If you want to start as a prince or something, or have an artifact or something, let me know.

I haven't ever so much as seen a game played in the Skerries, and I think it would be fun.  But I also think it ties the characters into a lot of internal politics and limits mobility.
 The Kirasutan Archipelago is as good a place as any for a handful of motley travelers to meet.

But for real Calamity?  Thousand Gods.

Keep in mind: you can BE from pretty much anywhere. I'm thinking that there's a good chance your characters will start out captured in a lot of those places.

Suddenly inspired by the discussion in the other game on Concept Words.

Name: Claire Durand

Words: Artificial Intelligence, Passion, Sky

Facts:

Creation of a Republican Robotics Lab
Beautiful Singer, Beloved by Millions
Vengeful Fugitive from the Bright Records Company

Goal: Kill the shit out of the people who discarded her and killed Sarah. Better yet, drive them bankrupt and throw them out on the street.
Goal: Bring hope to the people of Arcem through her words, deeds and music.

So yeah, XI-3-Claire was made as a robot idol singer to spout the latest preformulated musical crap produced by Bright Records, and later as a companion to the producer's young daughter, Sarah Durand. However, when her latest diagnostic revealed that she was developing an emerging consciousness and ability to disobey orders, they immediately gave the termination order, and Sarah was accidentally shot by Company Men while helping her escape.

(I'd like to slightly bend "just come into my power," by the way. Tech hardening and emergent strong AI in a singer bot don't "just happen," though she doesn't really know what's going on. But she doesn't know yet that she's got actual powers, or that she's been reconfigured into a war machine with bones of titanium.)

Where to start: I like the Archipelago. Especially "in the hold of a slave ship."

In reply to GM (msg # 25):

Just so long as we don't imitate Final Fantasy IX' final boss battle.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:02, Sat 06 Oct 2018.

Feedback

Gifts: Really? Not Music for Claire? That's kind of surprising. It's your call though. If you want Sky for the "hear everything and blow people's eardrums" gift, I'll let you take that in music, instead (it's basically the most 'sound' orientated of the sky gifts).

Re Claires Background: Claire's memory from before the events that killed her friend are.. hazy, are the events afterwards. You remember a performance that went better than anticipated, a lot of yelling.... Sarah dying though. That's clear as day. It gets foggy after that, at least until you wake up.

Note On Appearance: Claire should have a very expressive but probably be visibly non-human, at least until you get a gift to modify your appearance.  Maybe something like..
http://virtuafighter.wikia.com/wiki/Dural. Or you can use whatever other robot/android you want for a template?

Overall, I really like it! You have some goals, and I have some secrets I can put into the backstory of your character's creation that I can use later. Obviously, I promise that it's nothing stupid like a bomb or a kill switch: that would be cheap.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:58, Sat 06 Oct 2018.

Oh, we're posting it here?  In that case, let me offer a spoony bard.

quote:

  Gaja Broken-Chord had been the daughter of a renowned Howler peace chief, once.  Then she was a slave on a Kasirutan pirate vessel, like all the rest of her tribe save the dead warriors.  They sold her in Ulstang, and she joined her kin in death.  She knows none of this.

  The scraps of intellect that were revived along with Gaja's body were barely enough to manage simple tasks, and didn't include such trivialities as long-term memory, biting wit, or a longing for freedom.  The Entertainment remembered how to sing, though, and play a dozen different instruments to accompany itself.  It knew how to dance, both on the floor and between the sheets.  It knew how to smile prettily, and the witch-queen who revived it took pains to preserve that beauty against decay.  And it knew it was far from home, but no one else knew it knew that.

  It's hard to say what happened in the immediate aftermath of her brush with divinity.  The fragment of a dead god fused with the remnants of a dead girl, and it took some time for everything to fit together enough to rebuild an entire mind for her.  She remembers the witch-queen pushing her roughly out of the way in a fit of pique, and she's sure the sorceress' hand was already blackening and starting to blister before she recovered her balance.  She remembers being stopped by guards and doing the only thing she could think to—she danced, and the living commanded the dead to let her pass.  She remembers a sympathetic matron who was more upset she'd never become an acolyte than she was loyal to the witch-queen.  Iselin was her name, and she helped hide the runaway slave in a shipment of reaver-plunder that was about to be loaded onto a Vissian merchant cutter.  The newly-re-reborn godbound was so impressed with this generosity, she took the woman's name for herself in honor of it.  She doesn't much look like an Iselin; the Vissians told her that when they found her.

  Iselin Draugr can sing to set the trees dancing, dance to set the wind singing, and incite delirium with a touch.  She's also dead.  Sort of dead.  Dead-ish.  And she would very much like to not be.  The biggest problem, as she sees it, is that the best chance of that is to find a really goddamn good necromancer, but the seven best necromancers in the world probably want to snuff her out.  While she cracks on that problem, she gets by using the talents and motivations her first resurrection left her with; it still feels deeply satisfying to make other people happy, and she doesn't entirely grasp how their free will enters the picture.  Try to understand; it was a sadistic lunatic who preserved these feelings for her.

Music / Dance / Intoxication – Eventually, Iselin will mature into a Dionysian figure, become the goddess of parties or something.  For now, that spread gives her 16 con, 18 cha, a bunch of immunities that fit an undead character really well, and a lot of party buffs and anti-mob debuffs.  She's not intended to be subject to the powers of Death or Lich King, but if you want to let some greater eldritch be able to influence her with its necromancy as a narrative complication, I'd be down for that.  Her big goal is basically a Pinocchio quest: she wants to be truly alive again, though to be honest, she has no idea what it was like being alive the first time.  She might regret it, if she achieves it.  Until then, she's a font of bliss to the greatest degree possible.  Communities have far less conflict when she's dumping drugs in their water supplies, but they also get considerably less done.  She's naive and carefree for the most part, and might not actually be able to understand why everyone cares about getting to make their own choices.


edit: oh balls, that's a lot of overlap.
edit edit: WAIT NO, CLAIRE WAS PROGRAMMED FOR DUETS ANYWAY.  THIS IS PERFECT.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:03, Sat 06 Oct 2018.

I'll hold onto my character for a bit, since it has a lot of speculation i need GM aproval for. Will post it here when i have the core ready. But i can already tell you that the few bits you didn't overlap with Claire you are gonna overlap with Plaga. Though, i may be the necromancer you were looking for.

urggggg I mean

I could fall back to an Underworld/Shapeshifting/Madness petty noble from the oasis states, or some kind of deicidal Fallout-style vault dweller from the Thousand Gods.  Or a lycanthrope from the Reaches with Murder/Beasts/Health.  But I'd like to see how bad the pile-up gets before I start over, especially since Claire and Iselin hit the Idol Singer themes with completely different Word selections.

Sometimes it may seem like you overlap, but when you actually go for your goals you realize that you are taking a different approach to it. I wouldn't change the concept if you like it. Worst case scenario, you two make a 2 person band.

EDIT: "The Bot and the Rot"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:42, Sat 06 Oct 2018.

Ok, first up, that's some good writing and descriptive language used in tandem*

I have a few issues with this concept.

1. Overlap: The other concept I got in a PM was "Undead Death Doctor"  and I think that includes intoxication (I'm not 100% sure, but I think it covers that) and the other one is a singing robot, so I think you see the dilemna here. I don't think the singing robot actually HAS music, but that might change. Two characters with the same words aren't the end of the world, though.

2. Motivation: Being dead is a weak motivation - with health and an impossible change, you could probably come back to life.. and then what? What's more, it doesn't really explain why your character acts the way they do, what they want out of life.

2. Background: Since your powers are going to come into effect once the game starts, having them beforehand is a bit problematic. Plus, while your character is.. from places, I'm not seeing how the background made them who they are (since they lost their memory) or give your character motivation.

Suggestion
Lose the dead aspect. It's the weakest aspect of the character and the most overlappy.
Consider motivation and history a bit more. Be from the culture your character comes from.

Eh. The escaped draugr doing completely un-undeadlike things was the primary hook, and the potential for convenient tie-ins and complications was meant to be part of the fun. But I'm realizing now that I took my tone cues more from ATLA than the themes I'd been recommending. I'll start over tomorrow.

In reply to GM (msg # 29):

I imagined Claire as mostly human-looking with obvious robotic ears as a tell, because part of an idol singer's job is looking attractive. Specifically:



And I chose Passion rather than Music, yes, because I figured it would be a different approach to the concept. Her music is a symbol and tool of Passion, rather than a Word in itself. Her actual music-generating equipment will initially be Upgraded Armature, though I'll upgrade it with Voice of the Winds at some point.

She probably has a corporate logo on her forehead (branding!) and her skin is made of bullet proof materials (it keeps fans hands off). It "looks" human enough.

Bring on the stats.

You are trying to get me to dip a Shapeshifting gift at level 2, aren't you? XD

---

Name : Claire Durand
Goal : Revenge against Sarah's killers

Facts

Origin: Creation of a Republican Robotics Lab
Past Career: Beautiful Singer, Beloved by Millions
Relationship: Vengeful Fugitive from the Bright Records Company


Saving Throw

• Hardiness 14
• Evasion 11
• Spirit 12

Hitpoints: 10

Armour Class: 1 {3 Base -2 Dex}

Weapon: Warbot Weaponry (Ranged) 1d10+4
Weapon: Warbot Weaponry (Close Combat) 1d10+2

Fray: 1d8

Effort: 3
Influence: 2
Dominion:
Wealth:

Word : Artificial Intelligence
      Gift : Warbot (Greater)
      Gift : Effort of the Word (Lesser)
      Gift : Upgraded Armature (Lesser)

Word : Passion
      Gift : Banner of Passion (Lesser)
      Gift : Heart of the Lion (Lesser)

Word : Sky

In reply to Player8 (msg # 38):

Well, you can dominion away the corporate logos :>
Bright Records symbol is a burning circle with a hole in the middle.

* - Note, You'll want to work out some longer term goals once you accomplish this. You also wouldn't mind finding out more about your construction, and her. Your memory has.. holes, particularly after Sarah was shot.

Claire may not have the music word, but I'm going to rule that her synthetic speakers can provide self accompaniment and has generally incredible range. You can do some vocal mimicy, but it's really not good enough to fool anyone very observant (it wasn't designed to copy more than one voice perfectly), and the armature system also provides lighting effects (though maybe they didn't need to put in a megawatt laser in there?)

That was indeed my idea: Upgraded Armature allows for essentially any musical device I need, including speakers, light effects and so on. (The fact that I'm also the most advanced piece of military equipment that the Republic's ever built is a story hook.) Glad to know we're on the same page!

And yeah, I intend to develop further goals, but I'm starting with short-term specifics, a longer-term desire to do good, and a lot of secrets in my past that will likely inform future goals.

Hey everyone. At a conference today so I'll post later but my current concept is a Nomadic Wiseman with Words of Artifice, Fertility, and Knowledge.

Intend on picking up Journeying. Not overtly powerful in the conventional sense but who doesn't want Artifice on their side right?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:15, Sat 06 Oct 2018.

One of the great things about artifice is that that even if you don't have a combo that's OP as hell, you can just put one together via an artifact.

Okay, let's pretend I didn't try to be creative while deeply sleep-deprived and completely forget how god damn big Godbound are supposed to be (I so did).  I'd usually do what I said and start over, but I work a lot better with a challenge than a blank slate, and trying to salvage this idea will suffice.  The backstory below is close to 900wd, so feel free to skip past the breakline for nuts and bolts.  I worry that this huge post is kind of rude, so let me know if I should move it someplace out of the way.
  The Red Dust plains are a harsh place to grow up.  It's especially harsh near the edge of the desert, where the coatl-hawks and the sandpanthers occasionally find themselves caught up in heretical breeding programs with things that were probably human a few generations back.  But it's not as though you really have a basis for comparison, if you did grow up there.  Nobody's running cultural exchange programs for Howler youth, after all.

  Gaja's father, Kumha Broken-Chord, was the peace chief of the Dawnblood tribe and probably not the genius everyone believed.  He was, in any case, canny enough to broker lucrative deals for the Dawnblood's giant pack-scorpions.  If only he had been wise enough to reserve the more venomous breeds for the tribe...  The warchief was an afterthought; her guidance hadn't been needed for years, with trade bringing in more than raiding ever had.  The warriors had grown soft, and the roar-sticks hadn't sung in so long, their rawhide tethers were dry and splitting.  When one caravan of Vissian "smugglers" turned out to be a military detachment, the entire tribe was caught off-guard.

  Gaja fled.  Her father had been grooming her to step into his role some day, and while the basic demands of survival among the Howlers mean that even their adolescents can out-fight your average city watch, this was an entire slavecatcher squad with half a dozen magmaroons and at least twenty golden fattails.  Fighting meant dying, and escaping at least left her free to try to rescue her people.  Don't give her too much credit—she didn't have a plan for triumphant return, but any grim practicality in her family line had skipped her father and settled in her breast.  Plus she was terrified.

  The ambush had come from the west, and Vissian patrols were thicker that way regardless, so Gaja threw a blanket on Szkarik, the sunspider instar she'd personally raised from birth, and took off for the desert.  In theory, she knew how to survive long enough out there for the Vissians to give up the search.  It was a coward's choice; she knew that.  But even the tribes that cared the most about courage stayed alive by never keeping still—how was that not the same cowardice?  She shook off the thought and urged her mount onward as fast as his legs could skitter.  The fattails would never catch up, and the archers had missed the few shots they had time for before Szkarik was out of range.

  By the end of the day, they were as far into the dunes as Gaja had ever been, and she risked sheltering for the night at a tiny oasis the tribe had often visited when catching new breeding stock for the paddocks.  That's when the losses finally hit her: Hargu, her lover, was dead from a magmaroon's spray, already cooked into a fine meal for the carrion pigs; she'd watched the iron band close around her father's neck, the first to be captured; Dokk, the beastmaster; her closest friend, Keela; war chief Onyi...  Here, by the oasis, with water to spare for it, Gaja wept at last.  She tore at her clothes, her hair, her skin, in unreasoning anguish.  She dug a whisper-pit and wailed her heartache into the earth until her throat was raw and bleeding.  She grieved until her head throbbed and her voice failed, and then she buried it all there, just far enough outside the oasis to not taint the spring.

  She slept like the dead, that night, and the crimson light of morning brought a new clarity with it.  Her people were lost; by the time she could have developed a plan to rescue them, to say nothing of gathering the force it would take, they'd have been split into a dozen different fields, houses, cargo holds, and mines.  She had survived, but she would never actually find the rest of the Dawnblood again.  She could have gone to another tribe, sought adoption, and left this all behind; they'd be happy to have her family secrets joined to theirs.  And then the Dawnblood would be gone, wiped out by the failure of both its chieftains, like any other ruin the desert had reclaimed.  Or—

  Or, she could begin again.  The tribe wasn't dead yet.  She was alive, she was free, and while she was no beastmaster herself, she'd been one of Dokk's more gifted students.  She knew most of the story-songs, all but the most secret ritual dances, and enough about surviving the wastes to teach a companion or ten.  And then, she allowed herself just a moment to imagine, to teach another generation.  She ate a bite of jerky and a handful of dried dates to quiet her stomach, refilled her water skins, and climbed back onto Szkarik's broad pseudothorax.  Then she turned south, toward the tip of a pyramid that just peeked over the horizon.  Peace chief Kumha had known nothing of war and soldiers.  War chief Onyi had been content to ignore merchants and their customary deceit.  By Gaja's reckoning, she was the last of the Dawnblood, and that made her both chiefs at once, and that made rebuilding the tribe her duty.  She even had some ideas for which traditions needed to change.  And then it would be time to repay the favor to the Vissians, over and over, until the sands swallowed up their ruins, too.

---

---

So okay.  I still think the draugr arc could have been a blast, but probably would have become stuck as a secondary character in the story.  So let's stop that path before the dive into Creepy Childlike Doll space and instead explore the woman who could have happened if the destruction of her tribe hadn't caught her in it.  Most of Gaja's people are actually still alive, and she would probably drop everything else she was doing if she ever learned of a chance to rescue a bunch of them, but I think it should only come up if they can get caught up in the Big Damn Apocalypse somehow.  Otherwise, she has more pressing issues to focus on.

I don't know what she does after she escapes; it depends too much on where we start the game and what regions or topics we want to focus on.  Left to her own devices, she'd probably settle in with the Oasians somewhere around Buseer or Dehnet.  Maybe in a pyramid as an entertainer or concubine, where she studies the eugenics program and realizes the tribes could do the same thing, or maybe with a sand prince who wants to step up from running around on camels all the time, where she gets to see how a community of raiders operates under a more centralized leadership style.  It might change a starting fact, but that should be it, really.  She's only there to study, plus maybe charm up some lackeys, before heading west again and rustling enough wildebeest to return to that nomad life.  But of course, she can't be left to her own devices for long, or there'd be no adventure.

Early- to mid-20s, hardened by life in the wastes, tough and wiry.  Scrupulously honest with tribe and family, but largely amoral when it comes to Outsiders.  Naturally warm and family-oriented.  Also just had to spend several (years? months?) carving herself into a weapon.  Still cha-heavy as all getout, but all the naivete is uprooted and replaced by Fury of the Coming Storm motifs.  Gaja expects conflict and treachery at every turn, and makes her plans around the certainty of it.  If you're familiar with Exalted, I'm planning to draw so heavily on Cecelyne that we could practically say the god whose power she inherited was an Endless Desert expy.  If not, just mix a lot of Relentless, Autocratic, Unforgiving, Maternal, and Temptress, then bake at 825°F for the rest of your life.  Gaja wants to rebuild/recreate the Dawnblood as something the Vissians can be specifically and brutally frightened by, and she would never trust anyone else's judgment to lead them, at this point.  One way or another, she's going to learn that the Oasians do to people what her people have done to animals for centuries, and she's going to think that's just a brilliant idea.  The power of the tribe matters more than its humanity, now.  Vengeance is a far-off dream, to be sure, but only survival matters more.  She left her sadness behind, gave it to the earth that first night; fury filled in behind it, and an entire nation will pay for what they did to her people, if she has her way.

Probable starting facts:

• Gaja grew up in some of the worst of the Howlers' lands.
• (either specifically emphasizing the beastkeeping stuff or whatever she was up to with the Oasians)
• Szkarik, the fastest racing scorpion the tribe had ever bred, is essentially her pet. (My thought here is to trade the potential Fact bonus for a mount along the lines of summoned-minion stats, much like you can do with low magic and lesser strifes.)

Looks good to me!

So this is basically a cha heavy character, who was probably way more social (since her father was trader focused) but one who's been hardened since the betrayal and capture of her tribe (or at least that's what I'm getting) at.

This should work into the background I had planned.

I can either have your character working for an absurd amount of money for an asshole (to fund rebuilding your tribe, maybe you are planning on stealing some scorpions from the guy?), or you can be seeking out your mount/tribesmen who you'd heard had been brought there (any maybe you got captured? I'm kind of leading on the PC's starting down on their luck).

Any of those sound decent?

What are the words going to be?
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:21, Sat 06 Oct 2018.

Just below the name - Dance, Music, Desert.  She'd be going Flesh of Shifting Sands a lot, in combat, but most of her offensive gift choices would be about grandiose scale, not tactical applications.  She's not a warrior, who menaces with a spear or bow.  She is the Shaman of the Wastes, the elemental rage of the simoom brought to life.  She levels buildings with her voice and shakes the earth with her footsteps.  Her displeasure is famine, and in her mercy her children disappear from sight.  One part I Dream of Jeannie and all the odalisque motifs there, one part fearsome sand-witch, singing ruin and bounty into being.  Eventually.

For now, she's a homeless wanderer with a selection of useful skills.  Since I think we talked past each other last cycle, let me be clear: none of what she gets up to pre-game is intended to be supernatural, she's just going to have comic-book-convenient superpowers, perfectly appropriate to her mortal life.  And so she's susceptible to whatever trouble might get a cunning, scrappy mortal girl stuck wherever our adventure begins.

Sure. If you wanted you could spend a gift on the courtesan style. It would fit your character well, I think.

Once the stats are done I can think of tons of reasons your character might have ended up at the party that will kick off the game.

Scorned Lover?  I will probably never pick up a True Strife on this character, but that lesser one is not a bad idea.  That's one gift point for...
Unarmed steps up from 1d2 to 1d8 magical.  I was thinking about getting Music's magical weaponry gift, but that takes effort committed that could have powered Flesh of Shifting Sands, which itself allows for unarmed attacks unlike most physical immunity gifts.  Great sneaky combat and play-the-victim options, plus a once per scene counterattack.  I'm not sure it's quite as powerful as an ordinary 1d10 gift, but it takes no effort and fits her early development better, while her late development will have Shaking the Walls anyway.  I'll take it.  I'll also toss in some easy-tables if anyone wants to just plug their details into the formatting.


Goal: Restore the Dawnblood, then wield them to cut Vissio off at the knees

Origin: Howler tradition-bearer
Employment: Let's figure this out
Relationship: Giant racing scorpioid









This message was last edited by the player at 04:09, Sun 07 Oct 2018.

Ok, looks like we have 3 characters so far.

GM should I post the character I originally pinged you with here for review?

Put up facts and background first for approval. I remember the stats but not the background and your characters motivations.

Name: Increase Scribe
Birthplace: Atheocracy of Lom
Age: 28

Facts:

Origin: The first born son of devotees to True Reason, they instilled Increase with the doctrine of stringent rationalism and militant atheist that would follow him for much of his young life.

Occupation: Increase's fervent dedication to True Reason and fanatic pursuit of knowledge led him to becoming a scribe for the Church and their antipriests. Serving in this capacity he learned of the faiths doctrine as well as the churches machinations.

Relationship: Increase has peered through the veil and seen into the fires of the Pyre. Only the divine fire of true divinity has spared his mind but now he is driven to destroy them and their angelic puppet-lords.

Motivations: Increase seeks to travel the world in the pursuit of knowledge and the power that it brings. His mission is both for the purposes of preserving this knowledge and to one day obtain the key to not only destroying the Pyre but trapping the One's angels in Hell permanently.

Along the way he shall forge a genuine faith of reason, one dedicated to the reclaiming humanities forlorn legacy so that they may once again place their hands upon the gears of creation and right what their forefathers set wrong.

Marius Valeria - Betrayed General
Peak Human/War/Wealth





Goal: Found a new, greater empire to better humanity.

Origin: Patrian citizen of Din descent who like all males enlisted in the Legions on his 16th birthday.

Employment: Patrian General who served as commander of the 22nd Legion on several campaigns.

Relationship: Betrayed by the Senate who layed false charges upon him at order of the Great Houses, leading to his enslavement as a gladiator.








This message was last edited by the player at 23:30, Sat 06 Oct 2018.

Everyone should have edit privilege on their characters now.

I do not. Am I still gated?

I donut have access to my character sheet.

Weird.....thought I fixed that. One sec.

It turns out can't give edit permissions till a sheet is there. I put the ones you provided in . They should be user editable now.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:18, Sun 07 Oct 2018.

Mine was fine. Added the fancy formatting in.

After looking over the Howlers' description, I have a question for Gaja:

Did your tribe have any connection with Bright Records' talent scouts and music recorders?

I've been thinking about it. My initial hunch is no, given how far from the coast they were, but I'm open to suggestions, definitely. The existing connection could be interesting.

Ok. Increase: So.. why are you at the party?

I'm not sure why they brought you. Were you one of the slaves brought in tribute? Perhaps one of the merchants want to know the secrets of the Island and decided to bring along a scholar to witness them first hand?

Perhaps you were captured a while back by the owner of the isle and you were kept since you had scholarly knowledge that might seem useful?

Ah fairly straightforward. When the island was gaining a reputation as the "Island of Immortality" I sold myself into slavery so that I could be sent to the island. No amount of trial or suffering could deter me from obtaining the knowledge of immortality, should it exist.

Ok. Interesting.

I'm going to say you've been on this island a while now, and know a bit more than other people.

Alright awesome.

I'm really digging all four of the characters I've seen details on.

Our last player is just finalizing the details of her character with me in Skype. I've also got a bit of backstory chat with our scholar.

It is looking be an interesting group so far.

So, the first IC thread should be visible. Most of you are welcome to post reactions or do stuff within the contstrains of your situation. You have not yet awakened to your godlike powers yet.

All of you have also had the weird repeating nightmares in the past.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:48, Mon 08 Oct 2018.

Aw cheez.  We have two 18s and a 19 in charisma in this party?  The pantheon has a T H E M E.  Just gonna roll right through social challenges.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:48, Mon 08 Oct 2018.

A 19? What Word gives a 19?

Faerie Queen does. I don't know if there is any other that bump charisma that high

There are three Words that give a 19: Might for Strength, Faerie Queen for Charisma, Artificial Intelligence for Intelligence.

Ah I see. I've never really looked to closely into either of them.

This is a very talky party.

I saw similar behavior when I ran Exalted games starting before the Second Breath.  I think it's an excess of caution, that's all.

Yeah Increase would talk but two of our players are priceless auction items so best not risk catching the rod and Gaja is frankly terrifying to Increase. Beautiful but obviously deadly; sort of like a poisonous desert rose.

She would be deeply flattered to learn that.  Do feel free to mentally scale back that description to less obnoxious levels, though.  No apotheosis yet.


edit: Okay, so, I was actually thinking that "crazy good fighter" was way overselling her, but even with only base stats and Initiate in Scorned Lover, she's somewhere between the Warrior and Veteran mortal foes.  Damn.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:43, Mon 08 Oct 2018.

I would talk, but you know... would freak people out.

In reply to Plaga, The Doctor of Death (msg # 77):

Sorry, we'll speed this along for you to join. We just need one more body.
Not another player, an actual body.

I'm not body enough for you?! That's skeletist.

(I don't mind waiting, i'm just being silly)

In reply to GM (msg # 73):

Well, you've indicated that starting anything will lead to heavies dropping on us.

Yep, I'm just getting a few character building moments before we formally start. One more reply from each of you and I'll move it along.

  Okay, so, Godbound has stats for not-very-important natural animals, and it has stats for Serious Threats, and it offers guidelines for easily replaceable summons.  I'm trying to hit something in the middle, somewhere in the design space of a paladin's Holy Steed thing from D&D.  I'm proposing this as kind of a template for any similar investments, so I'd like to hear from anyone with thoughts on it.  I'll take general feedback, but you know, GM's call.

  Facts are a permanent metagame resource, and I'm actually thinking of this creppy boi as part of her eventual panoply, so my impulse is to lean much closer to the summons end.  Since, again, Facts are permanent and animals die easy, my gut says a bonded mount can be restored at dawn, when Effort/day is recovered.  That might mean miraculous raising from the dead, reanimating a ghoulish nightmare, repairing that autocossack you pal around with, some unnatural species that has a phoenix-like rebirth cycle, an agreement with the GM that 0HD just means it's too wounded to do anything useful and goes into hiding, whatever makes sense.  Mechanically, it's all the same.  If one Gift point means you almost always have XYZ available to you, one Fact is probably not far from that.  A bit weaker since there's no summoning cost to consider.  Improving with level could be advanced training, soaking up all the ambient divinity, growing to adulthood, or [be creative].  In this case, all three are probably to credit.

So, my initial idea for a huge riding arachnid bred for speed over power is:

  That's a little faster than a normal horse, with a good mobility tack-on that's not quite up to the level of flight, solid defenses against most mundane threats, and an attack roughly on par with your average elephant.  The dominion thing is already in the rules, I'm just reiterating here for clarity.  Whaddya think?
This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:52, Mon 08 Oct 2018.

I'm fine with objects and similar granted by facts to be permanent in some way, but I don't think that should be a general rule. If you get an artifact with a fact, for example, I find it hard to believe that ruling it comes back to you every time you lose it in some way is something a DM would do.

I'd say that it's DM's choice on this particular case, but it should be a trait of the fact itself, and not a general rule about how facts work. That's my two cents anyway.

Im away from my computer so I'm not sure how legal it is but it is definitely interesting. Using a Fact to secure the mount sounds the domain of Artifacts. Especially if it's statistically a summons.

Well the comparisons we have for facts are as follows:

*Auto succeed or add +4 to a relevant skill roll related to the fact (this is the default use of facts). Basically, if I have a Fact saying I'm the Prince of some kingdom in say Ancalia, I'd automatically know a lot about ancalian geography, about its people and culture, and also be good at courtly and social things relating to things a prince would be expected to have been involved in or be educated in. It wouldn't help me build houses or pave roads (although could help me coordinate such actions lol), nor would it help me sail a boat or know about say Dulimbai.

*Gain archmastery in a single low magic tradition.

*MAYBE gain an artifact. This is probably a no-go most of the time, but in some situations may be approved if the artifact isn't too nuts. The problem is there isn't really guidelines for making fact related artifacts I don't think.

*Having a special mount or pet or critter/servant as a fact is probably balanced against archmastery in a magical tradition. It won't be terribly fabulous though compared to what we can get via gifts or make via dominion though.

There is guidelines. It give a maximum of 8 dominion, obviously pending of DM approval.

Ah, and neither would I as the DM.  But artifacts can't reasonably be destroyed, which is the comparison I'm drawing.  Pets or mounts or animal companions can be stolen just as easily and meaningfully as artifacts; I'm just trying to respond to the reality that other godbound can effectively just snap their fingers and declare your companion dead, and now why did you invest that Fact?

Oh, yes, I agree with that. I think being able to revive the mount will pump it up to artifact levels (or similar). Otherwise you don't need a fact for it, you can claim it as you can claim lower magic items.

I'm thinking that, right now, it'll have the stats of a major predator out of the main book.
That's reasonably beefy, but it has no supernatural powers. I do assure you that it will have a certain degree of "plot armor" and won't just be killed out of hand unless you order it to pick a straight fight with something it really shouldn't.

In the event that it dies, it returning to you is a plausible change in a desert, and implausible in other bionomes other than say, ocean.

So it won't cost more than 1-2 to ever get him back if he dies.

Later on, you can enhance it's body for 6 dominion (normally 8) to pump it's current form to immense levels, giving it gifts and multiple attacks as outlined in the rules for greater champions.

That's pretty fair, right?

So I've never seen it before but can a living being (lets pick a horse) be an artifact? Re-reading the rules there is nothing expressly against such a thing just depends on how stringent you wish to be with "wielding". If I ride the artifact-horse then am I wielding it for the purposes of activating its gifts?

Pretty sure that's actually more use in a fight than I was asking for in the first place, and as long as nobody calls foul on a spot of plot armor, handling all the future changes with Dominion is probably the best thing anyway.  Less custom work means fewer questions to answer, after all.  So yeah, more than.

@Increase Scholar - That is essentially the scenario I'm trying to draft an approach for.  In this very specific case, I wanted it to start off no more supernatural than our characters are right now, though.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:36, Mon 08 Oct 2018.

Psssst... if you want to raise it for free... you know... I'm your girl

DISCLAIMER: It might come back with a tendency to bite people's faces off and significantly weaker.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Mon 08 Oct 2018.

Pfffffsh; Increase is so adorable. Gaja's gonna have to seduce him at some point, just for his confidence's sake.

hello my name is plot bot

(I'll hold off on posting in the escape thread, because I have no way of knowing if my attempt to force the transition is successful, but it feels as though we've all clearly established our characterization by now.)
This message was last edited by the player at 03:21, Wed 10 Oct 2018.

Claire can't really take action during the party, as most of her programming is intact. But once the quake hits...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cjFB5YhHyY

Music unrelated.

Will post soon. Was asleep lol.

Destroying an artifact: Might, Entropy or Destruction 2pt miracle. It's very very heavy, but it could be picked up with a lifting gift from Earth Might or Dragon.

There are three doors to this place. One to the outside, one to the kitchen and one to the back room. That door is normally heavily locked.

There is a Destruction Word?

No, that's me being silly and posting right when I woke up. Destruction really is entropy.

There's a might gift that's really good for it.

I let entropy and artifact do it because it makes sense.

I'm going to say a 1pt miracle will do if you take the time.

Artifice?

Yep. Sorry, on my phone.

I get the feeling Resplendent isn't going to care all too much about what I just said lol.

IC it makes sense to be cautious. Well, except maybe Claire and Radiant. None of you quite know what all of you are capable of.

Which is funny because Claire(Passion) and Radiant(Journeying) are probably all it takes to trivialize Increase's whole objection.

Yeah I had assumed it was going to get dismissed with a "pssh that's all? Maybe if had mecha demons I'd consider stretching first."

No scrawny. My delicate feelings. I'll have you know I have a Constitution of 16 and Strength of 10. I'm average on a bad day. (none of this is serious)

I got your back kiddo. Also, disclaimer: If you ever see me refer to Plaga as "he", it's a mistake i make quite often, since my male to female character ratio is about 4/1.

EDIT: This is the second game in a short time where i have my character wrongly assume another's character phisique. Why do you all keep making the nerds so buff? (The first time was actually our DM's character)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:08, Wed 10 Oct 2018.

I didn't make him buff. the Fertility Word did.

To be fair, it's Godbound.

Lowest stat is 8 (low average) and the default might word example is an aged dwarven scholar.

Also, sorry Plauga, I totally DID miss your second post. I thought you were talking to Marius for some reason.

Fertility? You realize we're going to have to arrange for back and forth fights over jointly held terrain, yes? Have to.

Lol I don't think we have to. Does Fertility clash with your Words in some fashion?

Desert, yeah. Increase drops his harvest blessing, she casually strips the area down to rock and sand while passing through, repeat tomorrow. Just petty god stuff, you know how it is.

;)
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Wed 10 Oct 2018.

Sorry about the dialogue with the GM, nearly done

@Gaja Ah I see lol. We might need to get you a nice walkway or something. Have signs up "Gaja please walk the around."

No reason you can't chat while Gaja is talking to her minion. You might also react to the TALKING CORPSES.

I'm honestly trying to stall for Marius to catch up. If I responded to everything reasonable to, I'd wind up trampling people who can't be online as often.

@GM I think Omniscient Scholar gives me a degree of credibility when I say I've just accepted it as something that can happen. Also I've been around the world; probably not my first reanimated body.

Though this makes for a good time for inklings of the supernatural.

Welp its about to get nasty in here.

To recap.

- You have three doors.
One leads to a kitchen/pantry area and is open. There is a back exit there.
The other to a back room no one has seen. That door WAS locked, but it got opened by a miracle.
There is also a big door to a small "cloak room" and then outside. This is the door you all came in earlier.
- The floor is littered with gold/silver tableware, there's expensive food and drink and the walls are stocked with expensive objects d'art.
- Marius's miracle, and Laiser's warning made it clear that this place was guarded. You weren't to leave till he returned in the morning.

I missed that back exit point somehow.  Well, this serves both ic and ooc purposes then.

Ok. Please let me know when someone is opening the door and if they are trying sneak or just going to run for it or whatever.

Okay, you got it.  Gaja's going out the back, and planning to stick to the shadows.  She'll move as fast as she can without being easily seen, since that's all she really has to worry about.  Any patrols that do spot her will find their voices replaced by crickets and nightingales.

Sorry, my descriptions weren't clear.

Back exit (north, to main population of island)
Kitchen exit (east, nowhere but it gets you out)
Main door. (West, to docks)

I am not sure which of those options you are going though.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:52, Thu 11 Oct 2018.

Kitchen.  That back room was some kind of abbatoir, and I'm not having it.

So it seems we've opted to split up. If I'm understanding correctly Increase and Marius are leaving out of the main door and heading to the docks. Gaja and Claire are going out the kitchen to get to the stables (?). Not sure what "north" is for Plaga and if Resplendent posted their choice I missed it.

Plaga indicated she'd probably go with Gaja. Gaja's checking that pit in hopes the "monster" is her pet. Claire wants to not split up, and hasn't announced what she'll do now. Radiance hasn't said much.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:51, Thu 11 Oct 2018.

Please explicately state if your character is opening an exterior door, and if they are trying to be quiet.

Well that doesn't sound like a trap.

I want to be above-board for the sake of player coordination - Gaja's mostly trying to give the others a head start on Plaga if she turns out to be another parasite god, or even Laiser in disguise. And she doesn't have any defenses against mind-reading, in case that matters. This is actually jumping on a grenade.

I neither confirm nor deny your implications :)

But really, I don't want to kick off something dangerous until someone actually does the thing. Don't want to take over your characters.

It's kind of BS otherwise.

Poor GM. All these ladygods, with all our names and such. ;p

That is undeadist. Check your chaotic good privilege.

EDIT: Plaga has her own reason to follow Gaja, that will likely become apparent soon.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:58, Thu 11 Oct 2018.

So.... Dead guards?

You can kill them both auto.

In reply to Plaga, The Doctor of Death (msg # 133):

If those reasons are to raise a bunch of brand-new fighters for the skeleton wars, well...
Let's get spoopy.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:55, Thu 11 Oct 2018.

Oh, I'm unarmed. Marius is kinda riding the high of going Peak Human. lol

Oh, well, good point :)

You all go first.

You have a small squad of guards to deal with right now. They are all around the manor, a lot with bows ready to fire from the roof.

Realistically it is not a challenge for you to get up there to kill them.

Guards on the dock are just reacting, and are 2 full round's charge away. The Seige weapons will take 1 round to wheel about.


Plaga's and Radiance's vision is good enough to see Laiser out there (of course) Plaga is badly out of position to see, being on the other side of the house)

The general population are just fighting off sleep and hangovers. They will take 3 rounds to arrive, other than the small reserve squad which will arrive in one round.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:13, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

Marius not to leave you high and dry but I'm going to use the commotion to go secure the boat.

Please be a good distraction.

Remember, if you have no combat stuff at all you can still miracle smite/Corona, physical attack and fray.

In reply to Gaja (msg # 135):

You gor that right, grats

The Bad Guys

Laiser - Most of you can't make him out. He's got regalia armor though, and is AC 2.
HP - ??????
Abilities ?????

Small Squad of Manor Soldiers - AC 5, These guys are very well geared, most wearing armor with chain links. They are, however, considered 1HD (lesser foes)
They are armed with bows and shortswords.
In one round, they will gain some reinforcements unless the manor guard are killed or broken.

They are in yo face. Normally mobs attack everyone, however, they aren't sure they should be attacking Scholar, and can't see anyone else unless they walk out. This might be bad news for Marius if no one joins him. ALL HAIL THE RADIANT QUEEN

Small Squad of Dock Guard - These guys wear VERY good armor, and are well trained. AC 3, 2HD each. Armed with javelins and bucklers.
Very Distant

3 Arbelests - Arbelists are instantly killed by area damage, 4HP otherwise AC 5 because they are hard to damage and the soldiers take cover behind the weapons.
Very Distant
Currently Turning to face you.

Large group of Assorted Servants - AC 7. A smattering of light weapons.
Barely even awake yet, let alone organize, let alone near you. You can't even attack them unless you have a truly massive area weapon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:13, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

So that's.. all the manor guard on your side.

Good play

Still waiting on actions from everyone except Radiant.

Aight.  Gaja's an opportunist, not a bloodthirsty killer, so let's start with that social engineering gambit.  If I've misunderstood Marius about relative positions, or the overall layout of the area, let me know soon so I can edit to correct this.

Ok. If you do nothing but play any move, you can be by the pit by the end of the first action, and they will not attack you.

Off we go, then. Like a blender inner.

Iiiiiincidentally, are we near enough to the coast that this is mostly sandy, or will I have to parch it before I can manipulate it? It's the difference of a single turn, so I'm not too stressed about it, but I do need to know ahead.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:13, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

It normally wouldn't be, but the description for the word is VERY generous, so I'll allow it.

It really is. And even if it weren't, Azure Oasis Spring lets her instantly dessicate her immediate surroundings enough for them to qualify, so she carries the desert with her anyway.

Clarification: Boreal Spike allows me to choose what targets I freeze, doesn't it? "Every chosen target within 200 feet is frozen for a number of points of damage equal to your level." That implies that I can freeze someone solid while his wife sleeping next to him doesn't even feel an initial chill.

"Liquids in range are frozen solid up to 200 feet deep and all normal fires are extinguished."

That part doesn't appear to be optional. Don't worry, you know a guy who can get you a great deal on boats.

I think his name was increase something.

To make it clear: You didn't target the boats. They are all unfrozen... except the ice just bit into the hull when the warm water froze.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:09, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

K. I also didn't target the dock, for the record, but it's probably just as crushed.

(When I have more experience, I'll put the center of the sphere a little above sea level+200. Unless I want to kill an enemy boat.)
This message was last edited by the player at 08:18, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

Wow you all posted alot while I was sleeping. Manor guard enthralled, siege engines gone, and the docks mostly frozen.

I feel like Increase might just keep walking forward at a leisurely pace.

So, are the ships borked?

In reply to Increase Scholar (msg # 153):
Cool guys don't look at explosions.


Re: IC-
Silly of me to assume that I could just Sandshaper a ramp up. Oh well. Szkarik isn't harmed by the collapsing of this wood and metal structure. 3HD to the group of servants
This message was last edited by the player at 14:06, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

Wow y'all are some murderers lol. Did nobody remember me saying that the servants and guards are likely being mind controlled into obedience? We not even trying to be merciful. (?)

That aside I'm really excited to build some nuttier stuff once we get off this island.

The docks are damaged, but are still mostly intact, though they'll need some repair.

Pylons are a lot harder to crush than wooden planks being pushed in at the seems or broken in half at the stress point. Once they do, ice trends to claw the ship up.

Scholar knows this. It'll probably be easier for him to fix the ship's though. If you want to change your action, you can.

Marius hasn't acted yet, I believe.

Ah I can still repair them. I suppose I went a little overboard on my interpretation of events. Going to dial it back and repair them.

It would be hard to overestimate how much Gaja cares about this bug.  It's the last living trace of her old life with the tribe.  What are a score or three of Outsiders worth compared to that?

Lol apparently absolutely nothing. Also since we have Journeying covered I'll likely be picking up Cities instead. I think it fits nicely with the direction I'm trying to go.

I wouldn't call it a considered action.  She's wildly impetuous.

edit: Mh, no, wrong word.  She does make careful plans; she spent that whole party sorting out who were the most powerful potential allies (/resources) in the room and how she could best mobilize them and get in their good graces.  She's just very driven by emotion.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

Oi, if they didn't want to die they shouldn't have gotten mind controlled. Nobody forced them... well, they did, but they should have thought so before not becoming Godbounds

Fertility/Knowledge/Artifice/Cities makes for an amazing Fisher King.

Mortal children's teeth are a common currency among the unseelie and certain magical creatures, as it lets them affect the children's life with ritual magic without exposing themselves to retribution, or breaking certain treaties the far made they are still bound to.

Also, I like Danger 5. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:14, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

@Plaga You nearly had me laughing out loud

@Gaja I'm not sure but I'm definitely making the Bleeding Lance now. Seems the appropriate weapon for a group like this.

Also it may be a toss up between Cities and Sorcery. Sorcery is a big commit but its good justifying the nonsense I want Increase to do.

I'm a big sorcery fan. It's like having a second levelling system on the side

Yeah its definitely been growing on me as of recent. Used to think it was underpowered, now I think its slightly broken.

I'd call it a useful toolkit, myself. It's low on raw power and broad in reach, but has a different kind of utility from miracles because each spell does a specific thing.

Wizard's Wrath is a really nice Gift for Mob-slaughterers, though. As our GM has recently witnessed in the other game. <3

The thing about sorcery is that you need to be patient about it. It is a word built to be improved, by learning new spells and new schools of low magic. Plus, it opens a big window to create custom spells with your DM.

Low magic gets really scary when your entire damn cult has it.

A medium sized 3HD mob is very scary when they each summon 8HD fire elementals.

Would anyone like to try negotiation with Laiser?
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:07, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

I'm confused as to where Laiser is. Is he in direct sight of anyone?

Yeah I'm all about the slow improvement. Also yeah cult wide low magic can be absurd.

Increase is working on the boat so I'll leave that to the others.

Hes in the big crowd of dock soldiers.

You couldn't make him out because he was far away. Now he's moved closer and so has Marius, so he's visible. Also he's talked to you.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:25, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

Oh, alright, so we aren't there yet with Gaja. Need to wait her to let her feelings out first. Which results in some heavy damage property, and some death of nameless NPCs

Yeeeeah, you told us most of us couldn't see Laiser, then told us Laiser was responding to things, but I don't think we ever got a location on him.  I'm guessing one of the boats?

Plaga and Gaja aren't really in sight. The others should be, now.

Whoops, yeah, caught up now.

Look, they were BIG FEELINGS.  These things happen when you're a young god.
edit: uh, not that you should expect the heavy property damage to really stop happening.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:59, Fri 12 Oct 2018.

Increase: "Gaja"
Gaja: "Yes?"
Increase: "Why is my library filled with sand? Where are my books?"
Gaja: *sullen silence.*
Increase: "Damnit Gaja! Not again!"
Gaja: "THEN STOP MAKING THE BOOKS SO DIFFICULT TO READ! ITS INFURIATING!"

hahhhh.  Fear not, friend.  Gaja would never set foot in a library.  Writing is how you break the world; she's actually illiterate.

Assume that Plaga follows Gaja at all times, unless i specify otherwise (to avoid unnecessary posts)

Yeah, big group merger time

People can talk. Unless someone, say Marius, is particularly interested in violence, combat mode is over, and everyone can say there two cents.

Unless of course, you wanted to stay and take this place over. Or build a buncha boats or something.

Taking it over as a base of operations could be useful. Do we need one of those?

For some reason, the ladies kept in cages aren't inclined to be merciful.  Well, can't deny the radiant queen, right?

We are kinda apart from everywhere. Anyone has a Sea word? If not we should set up on the continent.

If you want to discuss it a bit in the OOC thread as well, that's cool.

Or you can kill him and take his stuff :>

Well, the whole island practically counts as a desert for Gaja's purposes ("arid and rocky" okay thanks), so she's in great shape for dominion spending here.  But she'd be nonstop looking for ways to convince the rest of you lunatics to get away from this cursed place if you proposed it.

Plaga has a plothook tying her somewhere else. She lost her old life in Vissio, so she should establish over there eventually. His former home was near the Oasis States, so plenty of sand for Gaja to play with.

Props to the GM for making Lasier so damn determined to bargain and survive. I'm actually enjoying his efforts as he tries to slither out of this.

Shades of Loki.


oh noooooo
This message was last edited by the player at 00:44, Sun 14 Oct 2018.

Yeah, OOC i'd like Lasier to stay around. He seems like the kind of douche ally that you have to constantly keep an eye on beacause he will backstab you at the first chance.

Hey, he's the Lord of Bargains. It didn't make much sense for him to scream out "I GIVE MY LIFE FOR MONEY" and explode on you once he saw what you were capable of. :)

But thanks.

If there's an NPC you'd like to flesh out more, I'll do that.

Also, the main reason I keep around the "soft play" threads is so you can interact more and talk about your background without slowing the game too much, so feel free to take advantage of that or to suggest soft rp threads.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:51, Sun 14 Oct 2018.

That's a good idea. Whenever we settle down you should make a Hub thread of sorts, to interact with each other while we aren't doing godly things.

Strategically, taking the island as a base would be a good idea, and we've got the Words to turn it into something cool, but I can also see why everyone OOCly likes Lasier. He's an awesomely slimy dude.

Someone ought to speak up for him in-game if Claire's to change direction. She's not exactly feeling Asimov-compliant.

I'm about to, when some other people have had a chance to get in

I would be against staying on this island. I think having to expend Dominion to make a place suitable is sort of a waste when there is a whole world that can be conquered more easily. Rakatine is perfect with its broken governments and abundance of untapped resources.

Edit: Also not against going to the Howlers.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:25, Sun 14 Oct 2018.

So who wants to take the first swing?  Relent on his counter-offer?  Stall for moral clarity?

Increase maintains his neutral silence.

@GM Is the boat ready to cast off?

I just realized that none of us answered this question, and that it might lead to a certain amount of clash later on between some of us.

As people may have guessed from her response to our host's offer, Claire is Lawful Good down to the circuits. She's just and honorable, protective of the poor and weak, a believer in virtue largely as the Unitary Church defines it, and not really cool with shady dealings. She can work with rogues, but thieves need to be dealt with.

Not sure where Increase falls on the alignment chart. He is interested in his own objectives primarily and tends to agree with the opinions of his allies so long as it doesn't contradict his own goals.

If you all want to liberate all the slaves in the world than Increase will assist and take some portion of them as acolytes. If you all wanted to reinforce slavery as a practice Increase would devise the laws and systems to ensure that none would ever escape and then select acolytes from the citizenry.

If you wanted to burn all the books in the world then Increase would likely plot to kill you permanently and ensure that your soul burned in Hell or ceased to exist.

  Gaja's from a place where people die.  It just happens.  You protect your own, you never give away all your secrets, and you take what you need to survive anywhere you find it.  So her values have a lot to do with whether you're threatening something important.  Now that she's possessed of supernatural cosmic powers et such, she'll probably be less quick to violence, because she doesn't need a doctrine of Attack First & Hard in order to survive.  If you don't need it to survive, conflict is gambling with resources that are often scarce, so she'll be a lot more ready to calmly evaluate threats and just redirect the minor ones.  But fundamentally, she's unforgiving by nature because you have to become like the wilderness to survive in it.  She'd prefer to warn people far in advance of becoming problems for her, so she doesn't have to solve them, but they don't always give her notice themselves.  There are a few things she cares enough about specifically that she'd probably go way over the top making examples of people who crossed the hard taboo lines.

RE: The Boat
Sorry, even at x100 or x1000 speed, you can't build a boat in 5 minutes. Once the threat of imminent death is resolved, you can spend a couple hours building a boat that's not crap. It's going to have to be fairly substantial if you are going to put a giant scorpion on it, as well.


Any other questions or comments, OOC or otherwise?

I'm giving Marius and everyone else a chance to speak before my next IC post.

Yeah I think we all need to give Marius a chance to respond. Perhaps until Monday? Otherwise we must maintain pacing lest the game die in the water.


@GM That makes good sense honestly.

@Gaja You going to start a menagerie or just the one giant scorpion?

Radiance is very much designed similar to Claire, morally. Her whole schtick is being the fae queen of freedom. So she looks out for the little people and wants to punish the wicked. Leaving them around allows them to perform more misdeeds. Laisier OOC is interesting, but i also don't think Radiance will work with him.

Honestly for the sake of expedience can we just take the Doctor, leave Lasier, and take those slaves which are not helplessly addicted.

This isn't going to be a one day journey to my understanding and this isn't an ark.

In reply to Increase Scholar (msg # 205):

Her people bred a bunch of kinds of these things, from stock native to the desert to the east.  She'll definitely have them as some kind of light cavalry if she ever claims territory.  If the territory she claims is in the Golden Wastes, she'll probably start tinkering with the mutant dangers that pop up.  And then it's time for the people.

So.. on cold meds right now, might be a little loopy. Or I could surprise you with my sublime brilliance.

Oh also I don't think that we should be able to break down the scales with a Miracle of any degree regardless of the Words involved. It establishes a dangerous precedent and these things are expensive: 1 shard min. + 1/6 points of Dominion.

There is also that passage from the RAW which tells us we would need to do a heroic deed or learn ancient methods to unmake an Artifact.

Edit: Question concerning Items of Lesser Magic and Reverence of Steel. If we make Regalia Armor as an Item of Lesser Magic does it still benefit from the Words effect?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:13, Mon 15 Oct 2018.

Destroying artifacts are handled on a case by case basis. Their destruction will NEVER be allowed in the midst of combat.

However, it may be possible to eliminate certain less powerful artifacts and recover some shards from them by using a focused power on an appropriate word (Might, Entropy, Artiface) with approximately 10 minutes of effort and a significant effort expenditure beyond what is outlined in the rules.

This is a power level beyond what an eldritch or even a parasite god is capable of, however, Godbound may.


In this specific instance, the artifact isn't one of the truly insanely powerful ones, and is a large, immobile object I could see being taken apart.

If you guys find the One Ring though, you'll still have to drop it in Mount Doom. Fair enough?

If we can swear him to appropriate oaths, then sure, leaving Lasier works. No slavery, no torture, no wanton cruelty, no hurting/interfering with us, and an understanding we are coming back for the addicts, when Radiance is able to free them of addiction. (Because there's totally a word for that!)  Maybe something about honesty with us?

Anything I'm missing? And yes, destroying the scales.

I think Resplendent has the show for setting terms with Lasier.

Does anyone have Might and/or Entropy?

Yeah, the fae are notorious for contracts in most settings.  Gaja's dictated her personal terms, but Radiance would be the natural choice to speak for the group here, I think.  Her or Marius.

Claire will accept Radiance setting the terms. While in the future I expect her to do a fair amount of speaking for the group (and she has the charisma to do pretty well) she hasn't fully developed her creativity yet, so I don't imagine her - yet - being able to come up with the contract I came up with in my head.

In reply to Gaja (msg # 208):

When you get to people definitely come talk to me. I'm always done for some terribly unethical experiments. I'll make sure they are all zealous acolytes who are willing as to not offend the morality of our more aligned allies.

I've actually been tossing around ideas for an artifact with Birth Blessing just to accelerate the program.

Ok. I need acknowledgemenr that that wording is fine, and that you aren't going to kill him.

Then you can all decide where you are going (I'm guessing Vissio, it's closest) and who you are taking.

Marius is going to be fine with those terms.

Alright Increase has said his piece. I suppose if we go to Vissio first then we are going to want to kill whatever organization Claire hates. Not really an issue for me all things said.

I'm probably not going to be able to post much today. I was sick yesterday and missed work, and now I have a hard project deadline I have to catch up on as well as whatever wasn't done Monday.

Will try and post when I can.

I know Scholar has some info coming for Plaga. Will try and post tonight, but it's a bad day and I still have a cold/flu.

Shall I assume that everyone's exchanged names in between Escape and Island Planning?

I'm going to start weaving together the actual plan IC, but briefly, Claire wants to go with the original plan of liberating some of the island's slaves and setting up a Libertalia in southwest Howler territory.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:38, Tue 16 Oct 2018.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah, I'm down with that.

I'm also fine with that. Definitely have to discuss the logistics of this tho. Lasier has many a slave its not likely to be a one day journey at see.

Can any of us even navigate?

I can't become lost!

In reply to Increase Scholar (msg # 226):

You can probably, no? You are the smart guy of the group.

Yeah I can navigate and with Artifice I can control the ship with no crew. I was just thinking that we might need multiple ships so multiple people captaining them.

If Gaja can't be lost that's a navigator for another ship.

I'm unsure where to post non-island planning related things. I'll go with "The Escape" for now, and delete it if it was supposed to go somewhere else

EDIT: Plaga doesn't have any background related to navigating, nor Knowledge word or similar. I COULD miracle the Ageless Erudition from the Lich King word if we really need it though
This message was last edited by the player at 14:23, Wed 17 Oct 2018.

I think Island Planning or the Long-Term Projects thread is good for those things. Depends on if its IC or OOC respectively.

Also we can keep that Miracle in our back pocket for now.

I have Sky, so I can navigate as well.

Three ships should be a colony.

So someone will need to commission Increase to build the ships since the ones we have currently are damaged by sudden frost.

In reply to Increase Scholar (msg # 233):

We will, never fear. You are a key part of the colony-building plan!

Laiser says if you are going to Vissio he will send a couple boats with you (he can repair his own). That'll keep the pirates off you and they can explain to the port guard not to mess with you.

In a couple days, Scholar can make a decent ship. If he blows his influence, he can make it temporarily hold together and operate like a professionally built one while expended.

He needs to send people out in the world anyway to say the youth thing is done with.

Re: Dominion. Once you arrive on the mainland you will get XP and Dominion. I will let players use influence as a loan if they want to do something here.

If there's any threads people want, let me know. I'm still very busy this week, so I can't post as much as I'd like.

I think I misread that as a request for details here.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:25, Wed 17 Oct 2018.

Not sure if my intent is clear in the other threads but Increase is not going to use Influence to build the ark. He is saving his influence so he command the ship without a crew using Artifice. I'm not trusting anyone on this island to be responsible for our safe arrival.

I did some math and if I wanted to build a Noah style arc I would need a month of labor; I think I can cut down since I think our tasks are different.

Well, we don't need to feed seven breeding pairs of every livestock animal and two of every other sort for forty days. We just need a colony ship.

Agreed and its refreshing that you didn't just say "two of every kind". I wanted to say something about clean and unclean but left it alone lol.

Marius? Will you be joining us for dinner?

Everyone really should be there for the planning session.

Ok. So. Gaja has been somewhat successful in convincing people that she's not going to straight up murder these people.

Is anyone making an outreach to the slaves on the island?

Also, does anyone want me to skip to Vissio? Assuming you are going there first?

I'd like to roleplay the dinner scene since it should set the tone of our group dynamic.

I kind of agree with that one.

Afterwards we can go macroscale, skip through the day-to-day stuff and get on the arkship. I think destinations and plans will be discussed at dinner.

Cool.

In reply to GM (msg # 242):

I intend to make an outreach after the planning session. Perhaps I can turn some of that terror into awe.

And I don't think Vissio is our first port of call. Just saying.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:51, Fri 19 Oct 2018.

I'll wait one more day for Marius before proceeding. Everyone else okay with that?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:30, Sat 20 Oct 2018.

Radiance would be reaching out to the former slaves to encourage them to consider life off the island and in an effort to better understand humanity. And if anyone wasn't already freed by her Word, she'd want to ensure they were free before she left.

You get a fair chunk of them. However, not nearly all.

Many are reluctant to set out with a group of new gods.. particularly those who are lamed or rely on drugs to get through the day, and a few legitimately seem to wish to remain with Laiser over heading out into the unknown.

Unless, of course, you use mind control gifts.

Still, it is an important step.

Re TPO Marius: I've PM'ed him and asked him to post.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:19, Sat 20 Oct 2018.

Gaja's only outreach to the mortal population is making amends. Which is funny, because she wouldn't flinch at killing them if it had been important to. The accidental part is what has her fucked up. She won't hold a conversation about them coming and retreats with the scorpion to the far side of the island if pressed on it. Girl is not tryna build a following.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:17, Sat 20 Oct 2018.

No mind control, not from Radiance.

Mind control from Claire! ...well, more like speaking kindly and soothingly with Banner of Passion up.

That said, Radiance has Shed the Need, right? So the drug problems are probably going away.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:39, Sat 20 Oct 2018.

Marius hasn't posted in quite some time. Start talking without him.

Sorry about that, work and sinus infection. I'm back to active again.

Welcome back!

Slightly busy today. Will try to post soon.

Ok, so, a few things about planning.

1. We need to figure out where this ship's going first. Short term.

2. If you have any questions you have about any area you know about that would make sense given your facts (or something you can cheat with knowledge), let me know.

3. If there's anything you want to do during the time it takes to build the boat other than talk to people, let me know. I've tried to let each of you have a conversation.

1: Unless anyone says otherwise, we're going to land at that point on the Howlers' territory in the Southwest, right on the entrance to the Yawn, west across the water from Ingress.

That's close enough to Vissio, Plaga won't mind.

I second that.  Gaja will be very in favor of that, once she gets off the island and chills out.  She knows the local culture well enough, and has exactly the tools to bring them into line.  Don't expect this to mean they stop raiding us.  Plus, close to Vissio means plenty of opportunities for nursing her pet loathing.

The solution to raiders is twofold. Provide trade opportunities, and deal with raiding parties brutally.

Unfortunately, we can't take prisoners of war as thralls, so we'll need a worse punishment than that.

If we find one big scary ship, I want to try filling it with undead to the brim, and then bailing out. That has to be fun.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:07, Tue 23 Oct 2018.

Yeah about that

They might have divine support.

Depending on what words Radiance takes, she could make them swear an oath as unpalatable as Laiser's was. Alternately, it's cruel, but laming them in some way so they can't continue raiding or something might be a deterrent, too.

In any event, it looks like you have figured out where you are all going.

Is the party ready to depart the island?

Increase is.

Edit: GM I destroy the scale and harvest that shard you mentioned.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:49, Wed 24 Oct 2018.

Yeah, I'm down

In reply to GM (msg # 266):

Let's roll.

Ok, I'm probably not going to be able to post for the next day or two, and I want your landfall to be well written rather than rushed.

Are you going to be splitting up, or are you going to help Plaga do her thing after the colony gets set up? I'm kind of curious.

I was planning the second. In the absence of guiding directives, Claire is going with "help liberated slaves get their feet in a new land" as her first goal.

I'm not gonna help Plaga. I'm gonna split up from her.

Increase isn't interested in the colony but he will assist if its made worth his efforts, just like the ship.

In reply to Plaga, The Doctor of Death (msg # 272):

Branching into Madness? ;)

Intoxication//Madness is pretty ridiculous.  You can hallucinate anything you want, and you can interact with it as though it's real.  Walk through a door you imagined in that wall.

Intoxication alone is pretty good at that, since you have pretty much an endless supply of drugs as per the word ability. Besides, the rules themselves are so scared of using madness due to possible social issues that makes me not want to go near it.

I apologize for the continued conversation if people are trying to wrap this up. Increase is the curious type.

GM don't let this stop you from advancing the scene lol.

I'll say the same. Feel free to not answer Plaga and move on, this is purely for flavor.

Indeed, move ahead if you want. I'm just presenting Marius' outlook now that I have better timing to do so.

It's a soft scene, so if we want to keep talking philosophy while things move ahead, we're allowed to do that.

And yes, I agree with the others. Good to go if you are!

Gaja would have argued for Vicino Alla Sabbia on the grounds that the refugees aren't fit to survive rougher surroundings yet.  She also stopped being so moody and cryptic as soon as Bargain Island was off the horizon.  I'll just give you the explanation if you want, but it'd be fun IC, too.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:09, Sat 27 Oct 2018.

I'm thinking no one will object to going to the city?

Claire isn't happy with it, but doesn't really have a counterproposal.

Increase maintains his indifference for the moment. I will be letting the ship slip into nothingness here soon.

City is fine for me.

GM how many people are with us?

Edit: Also just want to be clear that Increase isn't going to be taking the lead or anything of the group but I assume we are all of one accord about not being stolen from/having our people stabbed an hour after landing.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:26, Tue 30 Oct 2018.

Just over 100 people.

Increase knows what he's doing, Radiance is cool with him taking the lead on this one.

Empyrean Ward over the entire Inner City? wow

There's a good reason no one has ever taken them except by internal revolt.

I happen to be a specialist at internal revolt :) (though can't do much without my effort)

Is it really even worth making trouble here? The objective is to get these people settled into a community of their own. Effort blocking aside that objective hasn't really changed.

It's more about gaining something than making trouble. Plaga is all about controlling others. I'm not saying I will act on this though, since i know nothing about the city, other than it's super secure which is a detriment. I need criminal rates for my plans to work out, and this city seems more than capable at preventing them, at least at first glance.

Well if you poke Increase IC I do have Omniscient Scholar. I can't divine the future or anything but crime rates are likely to be recorded somewhere which should be within my sphere of influence. I might even be able to get names and locations depending on how detailed the guards are.

That's oughta be helpful

And at least one of our charisma juggernauts is 100% in favor of this place burning itself down.  ijs.

We could see to that as well if that's what the Pantheon wants. The city holds nothing of value to Increase unless there is struggling academy or disgraced golemsmiths who need a Zenith (the term Increase is using in place of God since he is still an atheist).

So, really, all of you know what you need (followers/supplies) and a few of you have personal goals as  well.

The question is, how are you going to go about this?

You may wish to implement your own plans in sub threads or pm's.

hey sorry for the disappering act
got hit by a car
back soon

Hope you feel better soon.

Whoa! Take care of yourself and heal fast!

"No no! Being hit by a car is NOT acceptable! You must roll dice and play elves now!"

Seriously, that sucks. Get better. I've been involved in a few car crashed and they threw me for a loop every time.

Okay.  Well, I'm mostly okay, just bruised up a bunch.  I'll probably have the focus to be creative again later today or tomorrow.  Do me a favor and look in front of you before you start accelerating, not just down the road at a break in traffic.

Good advice, Gaja.

Sorry if things are a little confusing, I'm trying to move the game along with six people, some pulling in different directions at different speeds. If something gets missed or I contradict myself, please let me know, I'm very happy to correct any mistakes I make.

Scholar has gone off to do his own thing with argent. The other NPC's are available.

If you want converts, you are going to have to work out how to get them.

One of the few advantages of RPOL over live gaming is that I don't mind splitting the party, since I can handle PC's in smaller groups without things crwaling to a halt. Another thing about Godbound is that I strongly recommend PC's trying stuff on their own, since they have a lot of different interests and spheres.

There's a lot to do in this town, you can all stay here as little or as long as you want.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:55, Sat 03 Nov 2018.

I don't think you're missing anything, particularly.  In response to your question in the other thread, Gaja just really doesn't understand how mercenaries and garrisons work.  This is probably the largest population center she's ever seen.  It wasn't a cue for anything in particular.  On converts, I'm actually not sure whether she'll be forming a cult or going free divinity; I'm kind of ignoring Dominion until I figure that out.  Free divinity is more her idiom, but a cult that's ultimately led by her descendants is better for her goals.

Over the next day or two, Argent requests the audience of each of you and explains the situation and requests assistance on behalf of his master.

He is willing to answer any questions.

BTW the concert is an interestong idea. You could also buy or raid slaves.

I'd recommend pushing that, or trying something else.

No one has really done much on the whole "get people for the free city" front. You alsoight want to figure out a good place to go (and find out who owns it).

Gaja's going to start asking around to find anything like a slave market soon, though her primary goal is actually to dig for rumors of a big group of howlers hitting the market a few months back, try to find out where they went.  It'd be a fine spot to reunite since everyone apparently left Increase to wheel and deal.  A concert would also be dramatically more effective with a goddess of Music weighing in, so let's probably do that.

On the topic of Argent and the lost ships, Gaja's going to be very quick to agree.  She's much freer to act outside the city itself, and she'd probably be guessing some kind of boat-eating monster in the first thirty seconds of explanation.  She's used to monsters being the problem.  She's considering trying to tame whatever it is.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:40, Tue 06 Nov 2018.

Increase has no issues about taming the creature should it exist and your assistance is appreciated.

Quid pro quo. What is it that Gaja wants in return for her assistance?

("music has charms to...")

So okay.  Argent runs across her, says boats are vanishing into nothing, no wreckage, no dead, no flotsam, nothing.  Gaja says that sounds like something is eating them, wants to get out of the city for a while anyway, major undertaking though.  And she has only the faintest idea what he's capable of, whereas she's been feeling her own out for a while.

I think the answer was exactly, "He can make rocks that float.  Tell him I want a rock that sees."  I think I'll leave the interpretation up to you.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:23, Wed 07 Nov 2018.

There's kind of been a lull in posting recently. I'm not terribly surprised, as Godbound is a highly proactive game, which is VERY different from most rpg's (particualrly on RPOL) which tend to be plot trains. I'd strongly urge people to try and join in one one or more projects.

Marius is still working out what to do. I'd have figured vegence or regaining political power for ambition would be your primary goals. If the latter, you could always intigrate into other PC's actions to indebt them to you. IF you can't figure out what you want to do, you can always join in on other people's actions.

Claire and Resplendent both seem interested in setting up an anti-slavery civilization, with Gaja maybe helping out with her own group of desert nomads. Claire was also interested in looking up some aspects of her old life in the Bright Republic, particularly her friend's (sister's?) death. Scholar could help her with that as payment maybe?

Gaja also announced she was going to burn this motherfucker to the ground (referring to the city), though she's got pretty good reason IC to hate this place, and would also like to find information on the Howler tribe she lost. That information would get back to everyone, BTW. It wasn't just HER worshipers who were in that corner of the tavern, after all.

Plaga is trying to recruit people for a criminal network, and is going to find some vengence in a nearby city later. Marius might want to pair with this goal as an odd man out, and organizing a criminal network might

Scholar doesn't have any super immediate goals, but wants to establish himself as a citizen of this place.

For anyone who wants to build a cult or an army, it's also in all of your interest to establish a size 2 city, since it means it'll be fairly trivial to get a size 1 cult going. But you should actually figure out what you are going to do here to earn some followers.

Specific Actions Proposed

Scholar has a job lined up and he needs some help. There are people recruiting. I'm going to create a thread for the job, and any PC's who wish to join in may. I'm assuming scholar is willing to help with a favor or cash in exchange.

Claire and Resplendent want a concert to recruit people to their city. Wealth would also be good for starting funds. Getting Scholar on board for that would be stupidly useful as well to establish initial infrastructure?

Plaga might be able to use the concert to recruit people into her own cause, or introduce herself as a criminal gangster. You'd know that a concert is going to gather people who will demand protection money, pick pocket the crowd, and it's a great place to sell drugs.

Your assumption is correct GM.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:50, Thu 08 Nov 2018.

Indeed. Claire wants Increase to join up with the movement to set up in Howler territory, but has very little to offer.

Once I recover properly from the Election Day crunch, I'll have Claire pay a visit to the shantytown and play some music. Resplendent and others are welcome to come.

I accept binding favors.

Well. Gaja is going to be asking probably the wrong people where to find people for sale. Whether that ultimately puts her in the shantytown, a dockside auction, or at a cathouse thanks to somebody's misunderstanding is negotiable. All three have directions worth going in. Somebody probably gets laid out for taking liberties she wasn't offering, along the way. A kiss that can knock a man out cold is an okay reputation for her purposes. Shit, it's Vissio. Someone might even recognize the style, at least as an intuitive variant of the classic school.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:27, Thu 08 Nov 2018.

"I accept binding favors."

Yeah, if only you had some sort of artifact that did that ;)
Like say, a scale...

Naw I had to harvest that. If I ever need something to that effect again I'll just make it.

What's the sanity cap on falling damage?  The only thing I can find is ~1d6/10' in the strife of the falling sky.

I ask because I think I might have built a character that can annihilate an armada at first level, under good circumstances.  Purely accidental.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:45, Fri 09 Nov 2018.

I'm going to say it caps at 10d6 for human sized objects.

Beyond that, honestly, it should take multiple rounds to fall, and in real life air resistance slows acceleration dramatically.

The max damage on falling absurd distances will be 15d6*

*And you could probably reduce that by flattening out. 10d6 is enough to kill you unless you are a great hero or fantastically lucky or both.

I'm giving people till Sunday to decide if they are going, and to maybe do something else instead of they want.

@Gaja So long as its not an armada I built I'm good with all that.

Gaja is immune to falling and can negate an enormous radius of "open water" at will. If that means down, too, she has a pretty devastating effect on any boat she can get close to, maybe by walking on water. I'm not married to the idea, but it'd be a nice thing to have a clear rule for.

Sorry folks, been caught up in work and trying to decide what to do with Marius at the moment.

How much water we talking about? Which gift is this?

Azure Oasis Spring.  The one with the absurdly broad terrain effects.  Create a desert for the rest of the word to act in, feed an unlimited number of people, erode away mundane buildings and structures.  I'm not convinced biting chunks out of the ocean is intended to be a possible use, but I'm not convinced it isn't, either.

"Optionally, the Godbound may instead instantly destroy
all open water and kill all natural springs within two hundred feet
per character level, transforming ordinary land into sandy wastes."

(To be fair, Fire/Sorcery has a far better combination for taking out vast mobs, and Sea can do the navy-killer thing pretty much alone.  It's just a lot of situation-specific power to get for not even an essence commitment.)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:26, Sat 10 Nov 2018.

So open water by definition included seas, oceans, large lakes, etc. So the power would destroy a hemisphere of water with a radius of 100 feet and a height of 200 feet. A ship falling that distance would take the damage that you determined but the real killer would be the water that collapses inward to fill the void.

200 feet of water is killing everything, including you since the effect is centered on Gaja.

So, Resplendent and Marius are no longer in the game.

They had post counts that were literally like 1/4th of the more active players, and most of the ones they had were from character creation.

I'd previously talked to Marius at the start of the week about inactivity via PM, and Resplendent offered to withdraw via skype on her own this morning (there's some very understandable IRL issues)

I have a ton of people on the wait list though that I've PM'ed. I'll give them the opportunity to join in as those PC's, or make their own.

For Marius, it's pretty easy just to rule that he was a mortal all along and will bail at the first opportunity. If no one wants to play Resplendent, I'll just say she leaves to go do "fae thigns"

(Also, this is the 666 post, which normally I wouldn't point out except that it's for player removal!)
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:01, Sun 11 Nov 2018.

doom

A small doom.

Hello everyone!  I'm one of the waitlisters who was waiting for a spot to open up.  Excited to be joining all of you.

Welcome aboard. You may wish to avoid the island threads, as there's no way you'd know about them, but I'm far too lazy to use permissions :).

The dream sequence is something you would have experienced for your character.

When you have a chance, please send me your stats so I can put them on your character sheet, and edit your character description.

You're right. Fire Dance would be more appropriate for the trick than Perfect Rhythm.

That was the most anime meeting.

My most sincere apologies then, for inflicting that all on you.

:)

Really enjoying the character, looking forward to getting to know all of yours.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:31, Tue 13 Nov 2018.

So, I forgot my phone at my significant other's house... and she's on a trip.

Replies will be a little slower than usual this week, for obvious reasons.

At least when you do post it won't be from a phone, right?

Anyone doing anything on the boat? I noticed that there seemed to be some plans to improve the crew's performance?

I'm not sure. I left it up in the air but you can post again for the next day if Gaja and Claire have nothing to add.

I've gotta get off this computer fora bit, if it's not done by tonight i'll post something.