OOC Chat goes here

Apparently some people are trying to Join but having difficulty in getting an account on rpol.  May be a bit longer before we get rolling

How odd. What sort of problem are they having with registration?

Getting the verification email.  It may be a spam filter issue.  But two people so far have encountered it, so idk

So far both Yahoo and Gmail are giving the same (lack of) result to different people.

Are they trying to register at home or from work? Many employers block gaming sites of any sort.

I just saw on the message boards that they are having an issue with the server not sending emails.  It was posted yesterday so we may have to wait until that is straightened out

Still holding...
"I'm not dead yet!"

I'm vacationing in Fairyland at the moment.

Technical issues have been resolved... new players should be arriving shortly

And I'm in!

So, here's my very general concept:

My knight is the second son of a formerly-wealthy family... they had a mine on their land for generations.  He's a bit simple in the head, and much to the chagrin of his family, he preferred working in the mines alongside the peasants to his studies.  Given his second son status, however, they sort of overlooked his odd behavior.

Then the family falls on hard times.  First, the mine dries up and shortly thereafter the first son dies (maybe the two are related... I'm sure there are whispers).  Now, it's up to the simple second son to take up the mantle and save the family.

This guy is probably a real brute in terms of raw strength, thanks to his time in the mines, but he has little formal training, and he certainly isn't the guy you want representing the party in courtly situations.  Kind... but rather peasanty.  I'm thinking Illiterate + Gifted Physique.  It's pretty much the opposite of my prototypical characters... could be fun.

Thoughts?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:50, Tue 01 May 2018.

That definitely sounds interesting and unique.  I am trying to get the other players online so we can see how the characters fit together.

If you do not yet have a name, let me know and I will update your character.

Alright!  Classes are over and I'm ready for war!

Unfortunately, I was hoping for a better turn out from friends IRL, but it appears that won't work out.  I am still interested in running the game, if you guys still want to play I can post an open invite on the site here to get a few more players

Sorry, I've long since moved on to other games.

Just added some new players.  Please discuss your backgrounds and try to sort out/finalize how the characters relate.  Right now, a few people wished to have the Lowborn trait, but I would prefer if each trait was only used once.

Howdy folks!  Walter here is most definitely not lowborn, so folks are more than welcome to it!  I haven't decided on his advantage or disadvantage completely yet, but I was toying with Optimates, though if someone else has it in mind, I'm happy to take Iron Ore, or Scholar.  Not quite sure yet, but I wanted to talk to folks first and make sure I wasn't overlapping.  Niche protection and all that!

I'm playing around with the exact details, but the general thought is that I was going to focus more on social/leadership skills.  Not that he's bad with the blade, he is a knight after all!  It's just that anyone who is focused on combat is going to be far better.

Edit: I'm thinking Cardinal Sin, just not sure what it'll be yet.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:19, Wed 06 June 2018.

 Greetings all. Balian took Master at Arms and Low Born.

I want you to discuss your characters first before things are finalized.

 Bailain was born out of wed lock, to the Dukes Master of the Hounds, a loyal retainer, but one that is a commoner. The mother was some peasant wench, that the father had a tryst with,but took the son to raise on his own.

 A few years back during a hunt deep in the forest, Bailians father saved the Duke from a large Boar, but lost his life in the doing of it. The father's dying words where to ask the Duke to make his son better then he was.... and here we are.

Sorry I misspelled your name, I corrected it

Sir Walter was born to Lady Beatrice, Duke Thierry's youngest (and favorite) aunt.  She was a vibrant, intelligent woman, who was immensely popular in court, and always the center of attention at any event.  Unfortunately, she died in childbirth, and Walter's father simply never recovered, certainly not enough to serve as any sort of proper parent.  As such, Walter's cousin, Duke Thierry, served as a surrogate parental figure, looking after the young man and ensuring that he got a squirehood with a prominent knight under his command.

For his part, Walter is a lot like his mother and has become something of a fixture at court.  Whether it's his good looks, skill at political intrigue, familial connections, or some combination thereof, is up for debate, he's always a welcome sight.  While he's hardly the most adroit knight in terms of martial prowess, he manages not to embarrass himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Wed 06 June 2018.

When does this puppy crank up?

Probably a few days, once you discuss your characters and have that all sorted out

 I think everyone can write a description of their character for other to read. Beyond that, not sure what there is to discuss.

Someone's eager!

Well given that one of his stated goals is that we have a variety of character concepts, I think part of the idea is to talk and make sure that we don't end up with four copies of the same character.  So let's talk!  Correct me if I'm wrong, but Sir Bailain is very much a martial knight, no?  Does he favor any weapons in particular?

Another one is backstories.  I'm always a fan of weaving them together, and that's something we can do as well!  Sir Bailain, if you're the son of one of the Duke's retainers, then the odds are good that Sir Walter knew you, especially since the two are the same age.  I could easily see them having known one another, or even having played together a bit as kids.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:51, Wed 06 June 2018.

 I suppose.

 I am done for the night. My mood went into the dumpster today due to a real world matter. apologies. Things will be better tomorrow

I like the ideas so far.  I don't mean that all the characters should fit perfectly together, but rather have a decent level of knowledge of one another.  In this game, I would say that all the young noblemen of the county know each other, and being close in age you all would probably know each other fairly well.  You are not necessarily related to one another  (though you could be, if you wished), and your homes are spread throughout the county, so it may be some doing to visit one another.

For more mechanical bits, look at the descriptions of the Advantages and Disadvantages, and the pre-made knights to begin picking which you like.  I anticipate there might be some overlap, but I would prefer only one of each to be taken, which is why I want you all to talk through things

No worries friend, bad days happen to us all!

And my prior comment still stands, as in this case, it makes perfect sense for the two to know each other fairly well since Walter spent quite a bit of time with his cousin growing up.  If that's something you're interested in fleshing out, let me know?

And yeah, I'm a fan of Knight B, mostly.  In a perfect world I'd tweak him a bit, so we'll just have to wait and see what our fearless leader allows in that regard.  And as I said for Advantages/Disadvantages, Optimates, and Cardinal Sin - Indulgent (He likes his parties).

Also, we're waiting to hear on good Sir Baldwin and Dietrich!
This message was last edited by the player at 11:27, Thu 07 June 2018.

The Boss here let me know things were starting up again.  I'm happy to resurrect my original illiterate brute of a knight.  I suppose he needs a name though... how about Gontran?

Huzzah!  Hello good Sir Gontran!  I like the concept quite a bit!  Plus it'll be good to have someone who's quite adept at swinging sharp bits of metal, 'cause Walter sure as heck isn't overly adept at it.

As I said, if you want to hammer out a way to connect the two characters in terms of history, that's quite good by me!  Perhaps our two families were close, since yours was formerly wealthy?

It could very well be that our families were close, and that you and your family know of our recent misfortunes.  I'm thinking that Gontran was probably kept away from important formal events due what his parents perceived as his "simple nature".  He's likely to get on better with peasants than with proper knights.

That said, my goal is NOT to play someone who is disruptive and problematic... Gontran will generally know when to keep his mouth shut and how to be polite.  The intricacies of politics and court will be lost on him, but he'll shave and bathe before finding a quiet corner to loom in during.

Hopefully Gontran will be able to contribute on the battlefield, but someone else will have to be in the spotlight for more social or intellectual endeavors.  My usual character is a high-skill, charismatic support character... Gontran should be the exact opposite of that.

Probably looking for something along the lines of Sample Knight E, although I imagine that if he has Dancing, it's folk-dancing.

Luckily Walter doesn't judge!  After all even brutes have their uses! you never know when it pays to be good friends with someone capable of bench pressing a horse!

I imagine as kids Walter probably didn't want anything to do with the boring formal stuff going on, and so the pair did exactly what kids do... that is to say, got into trouble.  Maybe Walter's smart mouth got him in trouble, some of the other kids were causing problems and Gontran clapped them upside the head, rather decisively ending things.  In return, Walter smoothed things over with the adults, and the pair avoided getting in trouble.  Queue friendship?

It's fun to step outside your comfort zone every now and again, trust me, I get it!

Several of you have asked about different technical aspects or character creation points.  As a general rule, I would say that I am rather liberal with allowing players to design their characters (and holding, and equipment, and NPCs) to their liking, so long as it does not give any imbalancing bonuses.  Saying that you are a cousin of the duke, when you take the Optimates advantage, is perfectly fitting.  If you need to make up an NPC mother to facilitate that, fine - that is what NPCs are for.

Also, usually squires and retinue of your character are NPCs but you can generally write for them, as they are typically acting either directly or indirectly from your PC's direction

Perfect!  As long as we're telling good stories, that's what I care about!

I may tweak Walter's story to keep his mother alive, we'll see.  Mulling over some story ideas in my head.

I don't own the book/pdf for Paladin, but I have been listening to podcasts from a guy running it. It seems that they went back to a more random character creation versus the point buy of 5e Pendragon. (I prefer random)

I was really excited listening to the creation process...quite a few new steps compared to Pendragon including where you apprenticed/squired at. It led to player connections as well since, if two players rolled the same option during that step, then they squired in the same court and knew each other.

By the way, looking forward to this and hoping we are doing character creation like what I've been listening to!

 Look, Sir Bailian has a twin brother. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 17:18, Thu 07 June 2018.

 Bailian is a Bastard and orphan, that the Duke took into his household as a ward of the Ducal court. (Can we say John Snow) I thought of the snow angle after I make the background. Oh well.

 Bail grew up in the shadow of the Dukes castle,and he took to the martial arts like a duck took to water. But it does make sense he would know of you folks.

You know what's funny?  I much prefer point buy as opposed to random, but that's just me!  Nominal balance between players and all that.  But then again, I've always very pro-choice when it comes to backgrounds etc.  Play the character you have in mind, not the one that the tables chose for you.

That said, anything you can tell us about Sir Maixent?

In reply to Sir Bailain de Chasser (msg # 40):

I will change the avatar. At work so just chose a placeholder.

Honestly, in all of my many years of experience, point but leads to cookie cutter characters. However, I will always do what the GM decides. I just liked the level of randomness that was in the podcasts, rank of your father, where you were educated, etc with each step giving modifiers to abilities, traits, passions, and skills.

Background, still working on a few things. When I get home from work, I will try to expand on it. Was hoping to get to roll all of the background stuff and then write up history but not sure how we are handling char gen yet.

I am looking forward to this getting started as well. I like the fact that it Pendragon, but it is set in a different area besides Britain.

I will work on posting the full stats for the Sample Characters, but you will also have a few discretionary points to customize the characters.  And, because we are using mostly pre-made characters, I am open to other mods that fit the situation better.

I don't always like doing full character creation for Pendragon/Paladin, especially on line, because it is very finicky and I would rather not get too bogged down in it.

Color me sad as I really wanted to stretch my roleplay skills by playing what the dice dictate.

However, I will look through the sample knights and get an idea of what looks interesting to me.

:)

EDIT: Sample Knight B might be closest to what interests me...with a little tweaking.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:44, Thu 07 June 2018.

Of course,  I post above that I like knight B, only to reread through the posts and see someone else wanted that as well.  Back to contemplating life...

Consider this a chance to stretch your roleplaying skills? ;)

C is a fairly good all around knight, so it's not the worst second choice.  Besides, there's always room for tweaking things!

In reply to Sir Walter (msg # 48):

Meh, just sad cause I don't get to roll on all those lovely charts they were talking about in the podcasts!! LOL

C is probably fine.  None of the pregens have a focus on the skill I was wanting to build up, but, our GM did say there would be some minor tweaking so I can make it work.


EDIT:  New Avatar
This message was last edited by the player at 20:11, Thu 07 June 2018.

Hah, you still can, if only to help you flesh out your background?

And what skills are those?

This is the little blurb I wrote in the RTJ.  I want to see that character develop before I finalize a full backstory.

I see him as being a man focused on bettering his station.  That doesn't just mean gaining more lands and/or titles (although that is a goal). It means that he will focus on bettering his own manor, increasing his ability to better his and his descendants lifestyle.  He feels his father was always too focused on just fighting and not on the future of his people.  He cares about his people comfort and safety as well...he isn't the type to step on the backs of the common folk and  beat them in to submission.  He believes that happy commoners work harder and are more productive.

Focus: Stewardship, Folklore

Is there any possible way to get a map of Bastogne with available manor's posted somewhere?

I am a visual person when I am working on character backgrounds and google and our internet doesn't like to admit that Bastogne and the Ardennes existed before WWII!! (Slight exaggeration but finding good maps and images of Charlemagne era holdings isn't simple)

Per the bold/underlined part...I would love to roll any part of the character from random that the GM will allow me to roll.  OR, I will just take what is here and develop it as best as I can!  :)

Excellent, then I do believe there's little concern about overlap there!  Walter is very much a social butterfly.  That said, he'd certainly want to get lessons about stewardship once he gets a manor, so expect letters!

As an aside might I suggest the advantage that gives you an iron mine?  Fits well with what you're looking at, plus I've never found money to be rather hard to get/very handy.

A map would be lovely!

And as I've offered to everyone else, let's tie our characters together!  I know your backstory is a bit malleable right now, but let me know once it's firmed up and we'll figure something out!

Iron Mine was the first of three I was considering.

I should say, the list of Advantages and Disadvantages was something I made up for a Pendragon game before, to help differentiate characters.  But it is not strictly exclusive - if you have an idea for a new one, feel free to pitch it to me.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:04, Thu 07 June 2018.

Great minds?

Like I said, expect Walter to pick your brain about stewardship when it becomes something we need to deal with.

And Bard, I actually really like it!  It helps do exactly what you say.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:06, Thu 07 June 2018.

I updated the RTJ thread with the details of each of the sample knights.  Like I said before, if you wish to trade values (within the same type) to match your character better, let me know and I would probably be fine with that.

I posted the Winter Phase rules in a House Rules thread.

I would say for free points purposes, I would give essentially 3 runs of the Winter Phase stage 7: Training and Practice.

My phone is formatting the characters weirdly. I will try to get a better look on my PC tomorrow.

Question, you've got Horsemanship down there twice.  Which total do we use?

I think Knight E is closest to what I would enjoy. Only a little bit of tweaking is needed.

Also, will we have rolls for special items and for patron saints?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:41, Fri 08 June 2018.

 Knight E or F seems as close to Bailain as I perceive him.

Looks like special items are already accounted for in the sheets, but our GM seems the type to be more concerned about the narrative, so if there's something that would fit better, just try asking.  Or roll if you want the randomness!

Must have missed them. Phone is playing with the formatting lol.

I was too busy copy/pasting from the pdf to notice.

I had to look it up to figure it out, but it is an error in the original pdf.  After reading skill descriptions, I realized it was a misprint.  Under Battle skills it should be the Siege skill, not Horsemanship.  I will adjust them

So we have the following:

Maixent: E
Bailain: E or F
Walter: B

Is that correct so far?

I had Gontran down as an E as well.  If we're going to be such a meaty party though, I can change my concept.

Let me dig through them tomorrow and see if, with tweaking, I can make another fit what I am hoping to do. I think the intent is that we all take different archetypes...E does look like a rich knight archetype though...

I can work with Knight C...needs some tweaking but I can try to work with it.

So:

Maixent: C
Bailain: F
Walter: B
Gontran: E

--- I have noticed that a couple of these sample knights don't have the Valorous to actually get knighted, I know that you said we can age them 3 years, what is their initial starting age?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 15:24, Sat 09 June 2018.

My understanding is that he's not saying we need to age them, but rather that we can run three free winter cycles to get bonus points to play around with.

In reply to Sir Walter (msg # 70):

Some of them will have to be aged as they don't meet the requirements to be knighted...a la Knight C as he doesn't have the minimum Valorous of 15.  Not a big deal at all, just wondering what the starting age is since I didn't see that on the sheets.

Do we know if that's a requirement in Paladin?  And they're all 21.

They changed it to 13.  Just re listened to the audio of the character creation session.  There are requirements but some were changed, as, in this case, Valorous was lowered.  So, they all look like they do meet the minimums.

Can you share a link to the podcast?

http://esoteric-rp.blogspot.co...racter-creation.html

It is just audio, but is an interesting listen (at least I enjoyed it)

It is like a 2 hour listen as there is a lot of conversation and such.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:43, Sat 09 June 2018.

Sounds like I know what I'll be doing this afternoon when walking the baby.  Thank you good sir!

You are very welcome. They also have a lot of the adventures they've ran with the Paladin.  Just have to go through their other pages.

I plan on listening to them UNLESS our GM is planning on using some of them.  It is why I haven't started listening to them because I haven't asked him if he was free handing our adventure or using the published ones.

Hope you guys had a good day!  (Yes, I like to talk lol)

I added the base characters to your character sheets.  You can each alter them.  If you want to swap a few values within the same area, that is fine.  I also first saw your character portraits, very interesting.

Also, you each can add your character descriptions.  This should mention both your physical description and any other common knowledge about the character.  Specifically, at the bottom, you should add a line of "Notable Attributes" and list any values of 15 or more.  This indicates something that is so remarkable that people would know it about you (i.e. you gain Glory every year because of it).  Also, list what your Advantage/Disadvantage are.

In reply to The Bard (msg # 79):

Thank you, oh Great Bard!

Is there a map for the region available and/or something with names of the Manors that starting knights might have.  Basically something like the old Salisbury maps.

EDIT: On redistribution, I am taking it that, IF a skill is a 20 then that was the Family skill and thus, moving it would only net the skill it is going to a 15?  For instance, if I wanted to move Recognize to Stewardship would it be Steward 20, Recognize 6, OR Steward 15 Recognize 11 (6+5 for family).

Not sure I am going to do that, just curious about that.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:07, Sun 10 June 2018.

I would assume so, yes.  Though some family skills are +10 not 5.  Might be worth finding out which ones are which.  Maybe check Pendragon?  I imagine they're the same.

That said, I don't think Stewardship is a family skill.  Much like the combat skills.  At least not as far as I can remember.

In reply to Sir Walter (msg # 81):

I know it isn't a family skill. Just looking for how he wants us to handle skills that are 20s in this shuffling around. Don't want to make assumptions.

Fair enough.  My guess would be, remove the family bonus, adjust skills, reapply family bonus.  Keeps it true to standard creation rules.

Edit: I don't have edit privileges for my sheet oh merciful Bard ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 19:02, Sun 10 June 2018.

I added more info about the Duchy of Ardennes in the Book I - Introduction thread, which lists the manors in the area.  I am still working on a map...

In terms of switching skills, I am not particular.  You can just straight up swap the values.  But remember that you still have some discretionary points.

I know we can do aging, were there other discretionaries I missed or just forgot?

It's not aging, he gave three winter cycles worth of stuff I do believe (we're still 21).  Those are your discretionary points.

In reply to Sir Walter (msg # 86):

Ahh, ok, I misunderstood and took it as aging up to 3 years!  Thank you.

I will choose Odeigne as my family manor.

 I suppose when they mean " Blungeon" as a weapon, they mean mace, war .hammer,etc. Yes?

Any sort of blunt weapon, aye.

Description updated.  Waiting to add Notable skills and traits until the sheet is finalized.

Anyone else not able to edit their sheet, or is it just me?  Also, as soon as the tiny human stops being so clingy, I'll get my description plugged in.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:05, Mon 11 June 2018.

I missed the box for editing character sheets, but that should be fixed now.

I listened to the play through podcast.  After the first character creation session, they do get into some spoiler areas, so I would prefer if you don't listen to them.

In reply to The Bard (msg # 93):

Ok. I haven't and won't listen.

Any of you pick out your manors?

Nope!  I was hoping to see a map first.

In reply to Sir Walter (msg # 96):

I understand. I just started plugging names in to google and researching them. :-)

Yeah, I'm probably going to do that tomorrow.  Speaking of, I'll see you fine folks on the morrow!  It's time to hit the hay.