Update:

LaserEye, mrstrange and ucat are making quick progress toward completing their characters, with LaserEye almost finished, mrstrange not too far from being done and ucat progressing steadily.

MILLANDSON - sorry I haven't had time to get to you yet, I'll endeavor to rectify that this weekend.

eskatonic - waiting on your response in your thread.

Yuber Okami - waiting on your response, either in your thread or if you'd like, you can air your character ideas in the Concepts thread to get other players' input.

Dalewarrior - still waiting on your second draft.

Dagretto - waiting on your character details (note that there is now both a Decados character in the works and a Hawkwood Questing Knight submitted, in case that influences your concept).

friarjohn00 - haven't seen a character concept from you yet. Still with us?

Exile - haven't seen any activity from you since you joined. Are you going to be participating?

Update:

LaserEye - virtually finished with character creation, I expect he'll be done by the end of today if not sooner.

mrstrange - getting close to being finished with his character.

ucat - progressing steadily.

eskatonic, MILLANDSON and Yuber Okami - waiting on your responses.

Dalewarrior - still waiting on your second draft.

Dagretto - still waiting on your character details.

friarjohn00 - still waiting on a character concept from you.

Exile - have yet to see any activity from you since you joined.


In the meantime, I don't want Baron and lurker to get bored waiting on others to finish their characters, so I'm going to propose something both to occupy the two of you and to provide some extra flavor for the game's story-arc:

Provided each of you are interested, I will open personal IC threads for both of you in which you can freely narrate excerpts of your past experiences (for instance, flashbacks of Shik's past on Ungavorox with his tribe-mates, his civilization process, his training/experiences/missions with his Vorox Commando unit, etc., and Kidhido'on's experiences on Grail or whilst training in the Academy or serving during the Emperor Wars, and so on). These threads can either be made public for all the other players to see (as strictly OOC reading, not IC knowledge unless you state otherwise) and gain some insight into your characters, or private if you want to keep these scenes between you and me.

Style-wise, these excerpts of past experiences/adventures would somewhat resemble the italicized flavor text sprinkled throughout the FS sourcebooks (such as the various exploits of Alustro and co.). They would be selected snippets of your characters' pasts, short pieces and flashbacks meant to highlight some of your characters' more memorable moments, turning points in their lives or meaningful events which helped shape who they have become. Past-tense, third-person narratives that could have been taken from a novel written about the characters' lives up to the present time. You could even write them in the style of present-tense, first-person character-authored diaries and correspondences akin to Alustro's journals and letters if you preferred.

Now, in observance of this extra character development on your parts, I would consider awarding you bonus experience that could be spent prior to the game's start - i.e. extra pts to add to your character sheets as desired. The more quality writing you put forth and the more you invest into making your characters seem like believable, living, breathing, real people with real identities and souls, the higher the bonus experience I'd be willing to award. For the most part, this would last only until gameplay begins, but I'd be willing to allow you to continue your narratives alongside the present action if you found it enjoyable.

Let me know if you're each interested in doing this.

Sure, I'll give it a whirl. Public thread, to be considered OOC knowledge.

In reply to Gamemaster (msg # 20):

I'm game but it may take me a bit to come up with anything I feel would be worthy of posting.

Update:

LaserEye - virtually finished with character creation.
mrstrange - close to finishing.
ucat - catching up quickly.
MILLANDSON - progressing steadily.
eskatonic - still waiting on your response.
Yuber Okami - currently discussing his character idea in the Concepts thread.
Dalewarrior - still waiting on your second draft.
Dagretto - still waiting on your character details.
friarjohn00 - still waiting on a character concept from you.
Exile - still have yet to see any activity from you since you joined.

I am afraid I am going to have to bow out of the game.  My life just got a whole lot more complicated in the last week...

Good luck to all of you!

Cheers,

Brian (eskatonic)

Understood, Brian, thanks for letting us know and good luck with everything. If your situation changes at some point in the future, don't hesitate to come back and rejoin us. :) It's always possible to work new characters into an Epic in progress.

Dalewarrior has also informed me that he won't be able to participate, so as of now we have a total of 10 players.

Brian, I hope the good luck you share also reaches you. Also hopefully the complications that your life has received are good ones in the long run.

Update:

LaserEye - just about done with character creation.
mrstrange and ucat - both close to finishing.
MILLANDSON - about halfway done.
Yuber Okami and Dagretto - waiting on your character details.
friarjohn00 - still waiting on a character concept from you.
Exile - still have yet to see any activity from you since you joined.

Update:

LaserEye - finished with character creation.
mrstrange - close to finishing; I'll work with you this evening to get you further along and discuss ideas.
ucat - close to finishing.
MILLANDSON - about halfway done.
Yuber Okami - starting character creation; I'll work with you this evening as time allows.
Dagretto - still waiting on your character details.
friarjohn00 - still waiting on a character concept from you.
Exile - still have yet to see any activity from you since you joined.

David and Shik, now that David's character is finalized, I can open a thread for the two of you to play out some of your characters' past experiences together - if you're both interested. Also, as soon as mrstrange is finished with his character, I believe I will start the game and work other characters in as the story progresses along.

In reply to Gamemaster (msg # 29):

Sounds like a good idea.

Update:

mrstrange and ucat - close to finishing.
MILLANDSON - about halfway done.
Yuber Okami - starting character creation.
Dagretto, friarjohn00 and Exile - still waiting on character concepts/signs of activity.

Update:

ucat - very close to finishing; I'll respond to your message as soon as time allows.
mrstrange - pretty close to finishing, working out inter-character background ties.
MILLANDSON - about halfway done; currently waiting on your response.
Yuber Okami - starting character creation; currently waiting on your response.
Dagretto, friarjohn00 and Exile - still waiting on character concepts/signs of participation.

Kidhido'on, are you still planning on writing something in the thread I opened for you?

If time allows.

I haven't seen any posts for a while...

We're still here. I wouldn't object to more of your narrative. getting a beer with the guys leading to Captain Kidhido'on pilot and/or commander of his own Charioteer guild owned ship.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:08, Tue 17 July 2012.

Sorry for not posting an update recently, I was busy over the weekend and now catching up responding to private messages. I'm currently working out character details with ucat, mrstrange and Yuber Okami. Still waiting on a response from MILLANDSON.

I may have time to write more tonight. Just worried that something was wrong

Nope, everything is going smoothly. I expect both ucat and mrstrange to be finished with their characters very soon, and the game will begin at that time (I can work MILLANDSON's and Yuber Okami's characters into the plot later if they haven't finished by then). In the meantime, I'm enjoying the narratives from Shik, David and Kidh - keep it up! :)

In reply to Gamemaster (msg # 38):

+1 here for the cool posts being writen up. They give some nice light on the characters :-)

Update:

ucat and mrstrange - just about finished; working out background details
MILLANDSON - not far from done, could conceivably be finished at the same time as ucat and mrstrange at this rate
Yuber Okami - in beginning stages of character creation but moving forward
Dagretto, friarjohn00 and Exile - assuming non-participation until I receive notice to the contrary

I'll be away from my computer this evening, but I plan to work with each of you over the weekend to get your characters ready for action. As stated previously, as soon as mrstrange's character is finished (since he is tied to Sir David), I plan to start the game. I thank everyone - both those who have finished their characters and are waiting on others, and those who are still working toward finishing their characters - for their continued patience. Once characters are finished it will be smooth sailing, and I already have a lot in store for all of you, based on each of your backgrounds.

Update:

ucat and mrstrange - applying finishing touches/working out background details
MILLANDSON - close to finishing
Yuber Okami - in beginning of character creation
Vasuvik - deciding on character concept

I'm considering implementing a slight tweak to my system and I'd like to get people's take on it. Currently my Experience system functions by rewarding players for high success ratings on skill checks (in addition to other sources of XP like bonuses for good roleplaying, great deeds, meaningful learning experiences, etc.). But right now I'm actually considering reversing that - awarding XP for failed skill checks.

The idea would be that characters learn from their mistakes and in the beginning with very low-rated skills (1-2), characters will probably fail more often - and therefore gain learning experience quicker than characters with higher skills, since the more skilled one gets at something, the less often they'll fail at what they're trying to do, and consequently the harder it will be to notice their flaws or weaknesses and improve upon them as they get closer and closer to attaining mastery. This would also reflect the fact that the longer one has been training their skills, the more set in their ways they tend to become and the less able they tend to be to change or learn new approaches that conflict with what they've learned before.

What do you guys think?

I've always thought that learning from mistakes made a lot of sense.

I'm a big fan of BRP, where you put a check next to skills you've attempted in the course of the adventure. I know you get a roll to see if you go up if you succeeded in that skill attempt. But there are so many versions of BRP, I can't recall if you sometimes get to roll for a failure as well (depending on which incarnation of BRP you're playing). Possibly in some versions, certainly in some house rules I've played with.

IAC, I'd be happy for you to give it a try.