We're using Fourth Edition rules, pretty much straight out of the book now.  How refreshing is that?

At this point, you get 7,000 LPs to start.

Starting cash is still the same as for a beginning character, though - 100 Silver, but you also get an Adventurer's Kit; relevant Artisan Tools; a Dagger, Knife, or similar; a Grimoire if appropriate; a week's worth of Trail Rations; and, you know, some clothes.  We can also work out a kind of special item for each character depending on background.

But that's for current goods.  In terms of backstory, other money is assumed to have been earned and spent - ie, you can afford Circle Training, Skill Training, and Attribute Training.  If you're spending LPs on spells, it can be assumed that you gained access to that spell somehow, whether that was money, an old friend, or a page of a rotting grimoire you found on an adventure.  Versatility Talents are generally easy to get in backstory, though here I do reserve the right to outright veto, or to ask for the story behind it.  (I probably won't veto, especially at lower Circles, but it seems like a right I ought to reserve especially for the future.)  But in any case, the silver costs are, likewise, handwaved.  It's even quite possible that you had fancy armor a few months ago, but lost it in a swamp or something.  Totally up to you as long as what you have now falls within starting gear.

You have 7,000 LPs - you have lived a little.


Basic character sheet outline:

Name:                  Race:                   Discipline:
Age:                   Sex:
Hair:                  Eyes:
Racial Notes:

ATTRIBUTES*   Increases       Value       Step        Dice
Dexterity       00000          10           5           d8
Strength        00000          10           5           d8
Toughness       00000          10           5           d8
Perception      00000          10           5           d8
Willpower       00000          10           5           d8
Charisma        00000          10           5           d8

DEFENSE                             ARMOR
Physical                            Physical
Mystic                              Mystic
Social


MOVEMENT*                           STRENGTH
Full                                Lift
Combat                              Carry
*Movement modified for Race.

INITIATIVE
Initiative Step                    Armor Modifier
Final Step

KARMA
Current Karma           Max          Dice 4/d6

LEGEND
Current
Total
Legendary Status Newbie

DAMAGE
Current                            Wounds
Death Rating                       Unc. Rating
Wound Threshold                    Blood Magic
Recovery Tests                     Recovery Dice

TALENTS-Rank          Circle    [Step/Action Dice]  Action?  Karma  Strain    Die Roll

(*) Talents are Discipline Talents.

SPELLS-Circle  [Threads] Weaving  Range     Duration      Reattune   Cast. Diff.

*See text for effects.

SKILLS
Knowledge

Artisan

General

EQUIPMENT

Copper:
Silver:


Short bio:
Description:

This message was last edited by the GM at 04:15, Wed 02 Oct 2019.

In terms of House Rules, none so far.  But going through the Optional Rules suggested in the book...  red is in use, blue is not, and purple, as you might expect then, is sort of in between.

Hidden and Surface Traits (p72) - I mean, if you find them helpful to think about, they sure can be, but I don't think we need them as a rule.

Racial Restrictions (p82) - Abandoned over time with good reason; really it just encourages people to challenge it.

Riposting Longer Weapons (p165) - Not sure anyone has this anyway, but... OK, it feels like a lot to keep track of, but, while I know technically this is just adding another layer of things to keep track of, my inclination is to apply this to Riposte-as-a-Skill, but not to Riposte-as-a-Talent.

Practical Knowledge (p187) - I like that one.  It makes sense.  It doesn't come up that often, but it's something I'd have done anyway if it did, so yes.

Unweaving Threads (p232) - Sure?  I'm not sure why not, since you can just displace them anyway.  I won't promise it will work on something Horror Marked or Cursed, though, even though those are specifically listed as reasons you might want to.

Additional Threads (p256) - As noted, this isn't actually an optional rule, but since it is suggested as something you might want to build up to I wanted to confirm that this is allowed.

Take the Initiative (p372) - I don't know if we'll have such big combats as to require this, but I really do like the variability in Initiative and for some characters it's really critical.  I suppose I should reserve the right to do this should it feel necessary, but I'd be reluctant.

Long Falls (p399) - Um?  This seems to require more advanced physics knowledge than I bring to the table.  If someone is really falling from Very High Up I'm sure it'll make sense that they take more than one round to fall and I'm not opposed to some chance to recover on the way, but in most generally-ground-based situations I'd rather not deal with it.

Circle-Based Attribute Improvement (p448) - Nah.  I'll be honest, I kind of like it as a legacy rule; it did make Circles a little more special.  But Circles are special anyway and Attribute Improvement is pretty sharply limited without this.

Using All Talents to Advance (p453) - I'm good with this.  If it matters to you, go for it.  Assuming we do reach such lofty heights, I'll have to think about their warning on LP as we get to high Circles, but that's a long way off.  I wasn't going to, largely because of that, but then we got a Windling Scout and.. while I can see reasons a Windling might need to Climb, I'm hard pressed to say they need to keep it maximized.

Specific Training for Talent Options (p454) - Bleh.  Honestly I'd rather scale back the need for trainers; especially in PbP it just slows things down.  Generally speaking, if you want to learn a Talent we shall assume you can find a trainer for it, at least in downtime.  If you have a spot open and need one in a hurry, of course, in game time, things might be different.  Likewise for Circle Training, at least at lower levels; even fairly remote towns seem to have someone from every Discipline hanging around.  (This is actually part of my view of Earthdawn.  The Disciplines are really, really big Great Patterns; they make themselves happen.)


...And that seems to be all of them!
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:06, Mon 30 Sept 2019.

Astral Examination

This is not a House rule or anything, but is worth clarifying, I think.  Astral Sight is a little tricky.  Just activating Astral Sight lets you sense the Patterns of anything you beat the Mystic Defense of for a number of Rounds equal to your Rank.  But that is all that first roll does.  And if all you want is to see "where things are" (eg., you're using it to circumvent Darkness penalties, say, or looking to see if there's a Spirit hovering nearby) then you're done, and this effect lasts for Rank rounds.

If you want to study one of them, you have to make more rolls after that, up to one per Round (eg., your Ranks in Astral Sight -1, because the first round is just starting it up).  So for example, if someone has Astral Sight Rank 5 and wants to examine the Pattern of, say, a sword they suspect is magical, they would first roll Astral Sight to "find" the Pattern.  Once they succeed in that, then they can roll up to four more times to study it.

These don't cause further Strain, but could cost more Karma if you so choose.  If you reach the end of your "time", or roll too low to keep the Pattern in your Sight, you have to start over, which does cost a new Strain.  This is detailed on page 211 in the Player's Guide.

I thought a lot about whether or not this is important -- given that we're in PbP and things move slowly here, I really considered just letting it go and leaving it all down to one roll.  But actually studying a thing Astrally really should be a significant endeavor, I think.  Wrapping all of that into one easy roll ignores too much time, Strain, and Karma, as well as just making it... boring.

But in the vast majority of cases where someone with Astral Sight will actually be examining something in that kind of detail - ie, when you have time - you can make those rolls all at once.  Just roll your Astral Sight, then roll again for the Rounds following, and give me the results all at once.  That lets you decide when and how much Karma to put in as well, and then I can tell you what you found out and you can decide if it's worth doing it all again.  Of course, if we're seriously in Rounds, we'd have to take it round-by-round, but when we're seriously in Rounds we're doing that anyway.