Just to get everyone on the same page, we've discussed three main areas so far:

A) Portrayal of magic
B) General structure of the game
C) Portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in game

Might it be possible for our GM to give some pointers as to what we've decided and what we need to discuss further on the above?

As a sub point (and slightly linked to the above), are we portraying faith as having any supernatural properties in the game? I'm not massively keen per se, but I defer to other players for it.

In reply to Player 1 (msg # 14):

I would think the supernatural of the divine would be treated the same way magic would. This is a good time for it. Joan of Arc (recently captured) claimed she could speak with angels for example. I would treat it as mainly prophecy and generally out of players' direct control. As in, you don't have any 'powers' of prophecy or whatever, but you could position yourself fictionally (fasting and praying, etc.) for a chance of something happening. It is also, very rare. People who can do miracles generally become saints afterwards.

As to what type of story or game. I think from what we've discussed, I think a good suggestion would be:

You are the retinue of the Castellan taking over for the fleeing count. You can be servants, knights, courtiers, advisers, in-house priests or even the Castellan him- or herself. The main function of the castellan is to keep things going. To hear the people, collect taxes, upkeep the manor/castle/... of the County of Rethel. Things might pop up that need doing, but I'm mainly giving you a backdrop/sandbox to play in.

It would be good if you're a group that could work together, like a company of knights, a group of servants (like in upstairs, downstairs) or a group of courtiers (if you want to play the intrigue game). Another option is that you are all villagers in a village that has to adapt to the new castellan. Do they want to pay their taxes if they don't know he/she will care for them? Can they give taxes when all the milk mysteriously soured? Things like that.

We could also just have everyone run around separately and occasionally encounter each other. Forum play lends itself to that more easily than live play does. If that is an option we'd have to see how we handle timing and the sort, perhaps giving players who are 'ahead' in the story the option of running an NPC in another's story.

In these constraints, what kind of story are you interested in playing? An action oriented game about knights, a mystery game about strange occurrences, a backstabbing game of courtly intrigue? Maybe something else? Let's brainstorm!

I'm certainly happy with the idea of playing the Castellan's retinue/instruments of their will - I think it gives us enough leeway to both set some policy and be affected by it, and we're largely in a situation where we've got the scope to explore and find plot threads and hooks where they exist.

There's also a lot of scope to fill in different roles and specialities within the retinue and have some minor dramatic conflict within the group but still have everyone willing to pull together when it matters.

Of the three types of game suggested, I'd probably opt for more of a mystery one and really dig into the slightly dark, atmospheric and febrile environment of late medieval Europe at the time, in an ever so slightly Solomon Kane/Witcher/witch hunter vibe (without going too far into steampunk etc).

If we're going combat heavy, then I think you'd want more of an ordered system like DnD rather than the more collaborative play of the Pool, and intrigue potentially risks metagaming and a lot of potential PvP.

That being said, I'd probably also want to invoke a bit of a Buffy style approach of having an existing, more normal human plot which runs at the same time and behind the mystery things, to provide a bit of normality and human drama, as well as providing us something which emotionally anchors us and means we actually want to risk life and limb to defend those within the County.

As always, happy to comprimise dependning on other player wants :)

Again, I agree with the majority of what player 1 is saying.

I would prefer to see combat as being more rare, and very serious when it does happen. This is despite likely wanting to play a character along the lines of a younger knight.

Without the "healing potion" phenomenon, and with the kind of medical technology, arms and armor we see in that period. I would like armed struggle to retain some real danger and a strong narrative impact.

Mystery is good for all the reasons mentioned, and yes, some "slice of life" play apart from the work the characters do for the Castellan. A glimpse into their lives, would be a welcome addition.

In reply to Player 2 (msg # 17):

I would be okay with that as well.

Alright! Character creation time. The link to the rules is posted in the Rules and regulations topic. Whatever you come up with, in the end should work with that. I think it was a description of 50 words. Feel free to brainstorm and research first and then narrow, summarize and refine. I’ll help where I can, but now it’s bedtime for me.

So I've got a couple of concepts in mind, but I'd like to get a pointer from the other players to see what they're going for so I'm not treading on anyone's toes.

If memory serves, P2 was considering something down the young knight line, and P3 was thinking someone with a link to the liege lord, if I'm not mistaken?

In reply to Player 1 (msg # 20):

I was thinking a young knight as well

That's very good of you, and yes, I have been brainstorming a concept in that direction.

While I am still working on my 50 word breakdown, the character I have in mind is a young, somewhat disillusioned Knight who is still struggling with his experiences as a Squire during the brutal suppression of the Revolt of Ghent.

His story will likely include themes like the decline of the Chivalric values, the advance of technology and the growing obsolescence of the professional Knight.

The role of the armed enforcers in the 15th century European system and hereditary expectations...

What we would know as PTSD will likely play some part as well.

I'm going to try to leave a fair amount of the unknown that will hopefully come up organically during play, but that's where I am at so far.

Sounds like a plan - any thoughts on some more specific angles you might want to take them?

In reply to Player 1 (msg # 23):

not totally sure yet, would need to think on it

No worries.

For the sake of balance and indeed to pursue a slightly different angle, I'm tempted to play a female character, although I'm not sure whether to go down the route of a religious angle (because who doesn't want to go down the nun route once in their life), a merchant angle or something a little more controversial in terms of the more druidy-herbalist route (which I will admit has been done to death, but could be interesting).

I will also give it a thought.

Good ideas! And there are no bad ideas in brainstorming. It’s just throwing them at the wall and seeing what sticks, like the pasta none of these knights would know. Unless thise with links to Italy, and even then, I don’t know the history of pasta. Was it even around? (anyway, rabbit trail)

• Merchants are fun, because they have a lot of contacts I can play with. Depending on what kind of merchant you are you might also need to travel. Traveling is an issue if the other characters have a more sedentary function or do not have a reason to travel with you. We could also aways play an episodic way where after each episode you could decide wether to play a new character that fits the story or keepplaying the one you made. So if the first arc is two knights tasked with escorting a merchant, that is fine with me. After everything is resolved there, we could see what we do next. And that, in forum play, is a lot of if’s and when’s. In September school will start again for me and I’ll need to teach again, so things might get slowed down or come to a pause, but I’ll at least try to resolve the story.

• The nun angle could be fun because not all nuns have become nuns for religious reasons. Some have been put there for other reasons, either they saw something they shouldn’t have or they are being too involved with the machinations of their family. Some try to remain pure because of before mentioned gender issues and some might just be afraid of never landing a husband that would be able to provide for them and thus go to a convent where at least they have a place to sleep and meals to eat. Some might have actually had visions or dreams that they cannot explain other than divine involvement, so the religious options is certainly on the table still. The more difficult part is the reason why nuns would be traveling. They usually stayed in their convent, removed from the world. If we stay around the manor she might be a teacher for the Castelan’s children perhaps. Not sure if nuns actually thaught already back then though. That might have been a later development. They were often employed as nurses though, I think. So that’s an angle perhaps.

• The druidic/pagan/herbalist option is certainly there. We’d have to think about how she’s involved in the court. She might have some protection from the Castelan and be employed as a healer for the manor and those employed there. Alchemy was also a big thing at that time but probably more of a male thing I think. She could provide story in the sense that she might have to hide her beliefs, has to look for special ingredients and is an inroad to more supernatural stuff, or controversially more down to earth, debunking the evil demon hammering on the tooth as just a result of tooth decay. I think it would work best if she somehow has a connection to the manor or castellan.

This is just my brainstorm on those ideas.

This could work in different ways. Having two knights could mean they might have had the same master, but different characters or experiences, showing how they are different. Or they might come from different houses, showing a different interpretation of chivalry. Maybe the one still believes in it, while the other does it out of familial obligation.

You may be a hedgeknight or a travelling knight, roaming the land looking for good and righteous things to do, though that one is unlikely, since knights are often needed in battle. France and England are not on the best terms. I think there might be a sort of peace treaty around this time, but I’d have to look that up, and I probably don’t have the time for that today.

I think I'm probably leaning towards the merchant line - I think my concept would probably be that she's the only child of a relatively prosperous merchant who fell ill a few years ago and has been convalescing at home for the intervening period, to the point where no-one outside the family has actually seen him since.

As such, his daughter has dutifully been acting as his go-between to continue to allow the wheels of trade to function, and this would be the only reason she's been accepted in a male dominated society (she's basically considered to be an honorary man for the purposes of trade)

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I'm playing around with the possibility that he's been dead for a while, and that my character has been continuing with the pretence because she doesn't want to get married and lose her independence, but I'm not sure whether to start with that as a definite or keep that as a potential surprise/mystery

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Given her abilities and the small but prosperous trade family she represents (and effectively runs), the castellan has been very interested in keeping her around in his court, and she acts as a co-ordinator for other agents of her father who do more of the busy work (like hauling and supplying places). For the Castellan, she's probably some combination of financier and diplomat, with the potential to also be a fence or a smuggler if the situation requires.

At the same time, she's got enough independence to be able to do her own thing, and enough status (presumably encouraged by the castellan, who needs her money) to get people to do what she wants without too much work, but has a link to a court so I don't need to continually up sticks when required.

Thoughts?

I suppose the other thing to remember is that knights are as much a status thing as anything else, and plenty of nobles got their sons knighted for political reasons rather than purely for their skill and service on the battlefield.

Given we're 7 years after the hundred years war, there could be a good chance that your character might never have seen battle (or very limited battle) and owed their knighthood to family reasons, and thus has a more open character if you wanted to go down more of a bookish/courtier route. But it's obviously your choice :)

That sounds really interesting! Great job! I’m wondering what she might be dealing in. Lace was a big luxury item at that time I think, (or that might be a bit later) if you want to go that route. I think the people who made lace were traditionally women as well, so there’s even more of the women’s rights angle if needed, but the area is really forested, so it might be lumber, or woodcrafted goods. There might be mines, I’d need to look for that, or you could be a big cattle-holder.

Once you’ve got what you want you should try to summarize it to 50 words, as per the rules. Once that is done, then comes the time for highlighting parts of that summary and assigning values/dice to them.

That does sound like an interesting concept.

We get some feminine influence, some commercial interest and a perspective from outside the landed powers.

How are things looking for you Player 3?

And what step should I be working on now GM?

Once you’ve made your description of 50 words (character’s name doesn’t count), you go to step two of the rules. Traits and bonusses. You start with a pool of 15 dice.

So something like this?

Gerhard de Colmar is a young knight in the service of Charles the First. Heir to a small Imperial Free City in the Alsace, he squired under the chivalrous Knight Gaspar de Durtain prior to his accolade. A veteran of the Revolt of Ghent, he still struggles with his experiences from that campaign.

Traits could be

Heir to a small Imperial Free City +2

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_imperial_city )

and

Veteran of the Revolt of Ghent +2

( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...t_(1449%E2%80%931453) )

Leaving him with 7 dice in his Pool?

In reply to Player 2 (msg # 31):

I'm still very much thinking on my guy and learning the rules, since i'm brand new to the system.

In reply to Player 2 (msg # 33):

I think this is okay, but could be better (sorry, I'm a teacher). These traits will tell me as the GM what parts of your character you're interested in exploring. It could even be people, right? From the example we can also see that you can have a trait which you don't put bonuses/dice in. Since you chose to mention the knight you squired under, that could also be a part. If you don't think you want to explore it much, you put no bonuses on it, if you think it is you can give it a bonus.

"Squired under the chivalrous Knight Gaspar de Durtain" would give you a contact to call upon, a step up in networking in the courts (depending on his reputation) and something that could be rolled to reflect on the chivalric lessons or morality you learned there.

"Heir to a small Imperial Free City +2" implies you have duties outside of Rethel and might be called upon. It would make it questionable as to why you are here, except perhaps to try and make a name of yourself or to try and learn how to govern a city. On the other hand, some went adventuring out of chivalric nostalgia or to make a name for themselves. The +2 means you intend to use it regularly. Uses could be in political/governmental challenges (you learned how to govern and move among the court), cultural challenges (you probably speak whatever kind of German they spoke in the HRE back then and might spot blind spots that local people won't see) and others (I had something in mind and I lost my train of thought while typing). This is decent. I can work with it.

"Veteran of the Revolt of Ghent +2" is good, but from your description that is not exactly what he is. Or that's not all that it is to him. He has those doubts/struggles, right? So we might make it something like "Struggling Veteran of the Revolt of Ghent." It will mean that he can relate to brothers in arms, has a lot of contacts from that period of life and knows how to fight. It also means he can relate to the struggles people are going through and can probably give comfort in that way or help inspire or even discourage soldiers in certain actions. I know the struggling part is implied in veteran, but it's best to be clear. Being an Heir to an Imperial Free City as well might raise questions of loyalty indeed after seeing the attitude of the Duke of Burgundy towards a city with some autonomy. Or he might want to learn from it, depending on how his character develops. Does he rule with an iron fist or with a velvet glove?

Great job all around! I like the character! I like the synergy between the traits. There's a lot of things for me to challenge this character with.

About the bonuses. You can leave a lot of dice in your pool, which might seem like a good idea, but pool dice get lost. Bonuses stay, even when you fail. So a trait with more bonuses on it has a higher and more reliable chance of succeeding even when your pool is low.

I haven't actually run the system, but I think that's the trade-off. You want some pool dice to bump your chances, but you also want to be reliably good at things.

Don't worry. Don't start thinking about the system. First start thinking about the character. Then we can adjust and summarize.

You want to be a young knight. What about that idea appeals to you?

As a former teacher myself, this reads like far too many of the feedback slips I used to give out to my sixth formers. Usually followed by several litres of red ink and sarcastic comments about the positioning of apostrophes.

I am aiming to get my character description out this evening!