A thread for out of character discussion. Feel free to ask questions, chat with others, and engage in civil conversation.

Hello, hello o/

Hello. Hell-a busy today. I am a dabbler of half-elven descent. Pleased to meet you all.

OOfdah, just rolled up stats and... the best of twelve method is a very forgiving format.

Is that really ok, GM?

A Darker-Than-Usual Dusk Elf, Wizard here.

Hello all, still considering character type here. Was going to go for a Wizard but it seems we have it covered.

Well, when I started there was no Wizard in the applications so...

That being said, sufficiently bribed I may consider switching to Animist since it was my second choice.

Don't change for my sake please, play what you want. The magic system is broad enough to allow for multiple wizard types in the same party :)

That's for certain.

But, just to be sure, let's check what scho... er, lores we are all looking at. Ahvylyn will have none of the combat lores, mostly support stuff. Detections, Illusions, Sounds and light, and that sort of stuff. Oh, I plan to spend a point every level in Animal Movements. I am still debating Skirmishing Mastery. But it is mostly archery and I don't care.

We may be hurting if no one tanks though...

Yeah. It'll be okay. I hope. If not, it's only a game. :)

Well, my total from best of twelve adds up to about 90 or so, and that's really high by this system's standards. Almost double what are considered average/above-average.

But if you are cool with it, that's cool for me.

Ahlan, my friends!  Hello!  I am Faaid, no family name to speak of, and I am here to assist you with all the, well, unsavory tasks you may find before you.  Before we set out on such a lucrative adventure, perhaps we should coordinate (to some extent) areas of expertise?

Hello. I'm playing a High Man warrior so there's going to be someone on the front line, at least.

Torstein's deal is that he was taken in by a religious order of warriors known as the Order of the Red Cup as a boy, and raised in their fortress-monastery. He's grown into something of a wandering do-gooder type.

I'd place him as part of Atrocles's expedition, so if anyone else is part of that they've gotten to know each other a bit on the road?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:56, Tue 14 Sept 2021.

Faaid greets you, Agha Torstein.  He comes from the Young Realms himself, though a son of the High Men much like you.  But Faaid is not much of a do-gooder, not that he'd stand in your way.  He comes to join this expedition to sate his lust for gold and stories, and brings his own particular talents to the group.  After all, ruins are often filled with nasty things, it may become necessary to have a nasty man around.  Not that Faaid is nasty, of course!  Haha!

I have:
- Detections
- Eldritch Frost
- Eldritch Hand
- Eldritch Storm
- Eldritch Tide
- Eldritch Visions
- Eldritch Wards
- Elven Lore
- Enchantment
- Illusions
- Spell Songs


I'm unlikely to raise Eldritch Tide and Enchantment at all, and I just want the level 2 of Eldritch Hand and Detections, no more.
I'll raise Eldritch Frost, Storm and Wards at each level I think. Not sure for the other two points. Maybe Illusion or more likely Eldritch Visions if you want to have a focus on Illusions. Last point will probably be used here or there (so that means Elven Lore and Spell Songs).

Spell Songs
Elven Lore
Detections
Skirmishing Mastery
Movements of Nature

I will be getting Illusions, Mind Control, and trickery as well. But dabblers get a lot less magical choice than others.

If Faaid's the type to share stories over the fire while camped for the night, I imagine Torstein'd enjoy his company a great deal - especially Faaid's animated in his story-telling and does voices.

Oi! stories are my bit. Don't make me cut a #*$&%!

Ahvylyn is a "bard" type. Hah. Emphasis on story-telling and singing. Other than that, she's a bit of a jack-of-all-trades type. I plan to focus in roguery a bit and spell lores though. Well, as much as a dabbler can focus in anything.

Well, my friend, Faaid does love telling stories!  And campfires are the best place to wax poetic.  But he does not have too much knowledge of the stories of old, no.  What is the point in retelling those, when the present is so much more intimate?  Do not worry, fair Brightsong, I would not dare step on your dainty elven toes.  Sing to your heart's content.

Any time is fine. Torstein likes stories that have happy endings the best.

Haha. Ahvylyn doesn't have a favorite type of story, just the story itself. Any story from anywhere about anything.

If Faaid knows stories she does not, be prepared to be pestered.

So we're looking at a Warrior, Rogue, Dabbler, Wizard, and then whatever Corwyn decides to play?  Sounds well rounded so far.

So, I have a question about Specialty Skills.  With regards to Ranks, Warriors and Rogues are allowed to buy them at a 1:2 ratio (one point for two ranks) as opposed to other careers that use the 2:1 (two points for one rank) ratio.  But we're also only allowed to buy two ranks per level.  Am I correct in interpreting this as only being allowed to spend one point per level, as it gives us the two ranks?  Or is it saying that we can spend two points, which would end up with four ranks?

I know what's up with Faaid, Aleesia, and Torstein for starting point: they're with Atrocles. Please let me know when you're ready, Ahvylyn and Corwyn, if your characters are on board with that as well or if they've got their own reason to be in the area.



I think the correct interpretation is being allowed to spend on point per level since it gives two ranks. Two ranks per level is the limiter, not the amount of DPs.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:30, Wed 15 Sept 2021.

Got it.  That makes sense.  Gives us the ability to spread our talents wide, while other careers build tall into their magicks.  I grabbed a few, myself.

All right, all I have left for Faaid is gear: specifically, the third choice from his Culture.  Those final options from Desert aren't all that inspiring.  Dried Food and Waterskin, Camel or Horse, or Tent and Bedroll.  Is it winter when the game is starting?  Cause that would make my choice a lot easier.

The season in-game will be early spring. Easier to dig in the ground when it's not frozen.

Blah-bitty-blah, I get home after work and I destress with some videos and I forget to turn my notes into a character sheet for this game. It's all spelled out on a notepad, but I just need to translate it all.

Sorry, GM.

Gah, making this character reminded me of playing anything made by Palladium. I mean, the 80s RPG style influence is heavy. Way more Chaosium and Palladium and Runequest than AD&D to me. I especially love the solve to the old D&D HP problem here. And the advancement system is crunchy yet flexible. I like it. The way stats are done is intriguing. That's why I am leery of the best of twelve system. It will really skew skills. We'll effectively all be a few levels higher than our actual level.

Blaha, if they ever put out a Palladium Fantasy 3e, I'd be game. If they have and I am unaware, then I need to track it down. 2e was nice, loved the flavor, but it had serious gaps in the design as I recall.

It's all good. No rush.

I actually agree with this.  Part of the game is not being good at certain things, such as Warriors and Lore, and Wizards/Animists at Combat.  With the Best of Twelve, we basically cancel out what we're bad at, and double down on what we're good at.  Even the Best of Six is a powerful system, though a lot more swingy.

That being said, I do enjoy looking at Faaid's sheet and seeing him look like a badass who won't outshine any other character in their respective roles.

Fair enough. If you weren't done with sheets I'd reverse myself, but since you've put in the work I'd rather just stay the course and see it through.

I mean, if you were going to do something now would be the time.  But I also wouldn't look forward to changing all those numbers.

Yeah, I don't want to make the majority of you go back and change things. Just enjoy being fake high level and getting to skip the obligatory basements full of rats. ;)

You know, I've been thinking about it.  For every Hobbit (who clearly used the 50pt point-buy), there was an Aragorn or Legolas or DORF or Boromir.  They definitely used variations of the random stats.  Powerful allies tagging along with struggling protagonists is definitely a trope.

I guess what I'm saying is no worries.

If it makes anyone feel better, Torstein's only got a 5 Wits score.

Really, as long as we have one character who can slay all the foes, and one character who can pitch a tent like a champ, we'll be sitting pretty.  Everything else is bonus.

Will be completing my character over the weekend, as I'll need time to flip through the book and my sheet.

And I am all for the 12 point buy, nothing wrong with starting out competent and well rounded. The 50pt, for some vocations at least, is far too stingy IMO; the way level ups and DPs work (the 2:1 is very expensive) and the bonuses to vocational skills you will only be able to specialize what your vocation is good at; the alternative is too expensive and doesn't yield much result.

I like the game but I really wish they had been more free with DPs for non-vocational skills to allow for more rounded characters (a mage who is good at wandering and the outdoors for example; Gandalf traveled all over middle-earth!

OOO, I disagree on so many points here. But that's fine. The only one that matters is that I don't often play RPGs to roll up the heroic figure. To use the analogy above, I am here to play hobbits not Aragorn or even Boromir. I love the feel of first level characters barely capable of fighting off goblins while not crapping their pants. I mean, Gandalf was a nearly unique, semi-divine being. Bilbo was a fat hobbit who liked comfort.

I'll be about finally translating my notes into a character here.

I'm pretty happy with the build of the character I've ended up with. There's obvious holes in what he can do and I'm not really sure he'll be all that good at fighting, but I'm thinking that we can complement each other.

That's really the thing I like the most out of these kinds of RPGs: the team aspect where the characters count on each other to succeed at different challenges.

Torstein, did you roll or use the 50pts?  If we have multiple players doing the point buy, I might just go through and quickly recount things.

I rolled. Turned out better than the 50 point buy.

Hopefully Corwyn has something in mind for a character. If nothing else, going with the wizard as originally intended is quite okay.

I do plan to start things this weekend - hopefully Friday or Saturday I will have a thread up. So far as I know we are good to go except for Passions for some, but as I understand that those are more or less optional so those who elected not to do those are fine. If you need help or some guidance, please to message me.

I'm actually looking at hiking out to an alpine lake starting Friday evening, and returning Sunday evening.  I do a lot of weekend backpacking, but I always try to get a post in each day (usually early Saturday and late Sunday).  But Faaid is finished other than that last gear option.  Actually, scratch that.  He has a camel.

No problem. I just plan to throw up the opener then, and you can post when you have time after getting back. :)

I'm super curious about what Corwyn ended up creating.

Got things kicked off. Everyone's free to hop in. Hopefully Corwyn will have their character ready in short order and can join in too. :)

Sorry if I never set up how I am connected to the group. I'll review it and the passions tonight.

I'll post up tomorrow morning.

Oh man, you caught me after a full live session of Coriolis and far too much beer.  I'll post something at an ungodly hour tomorrow.

Also, I found a less dangerous route to the lakes I'm searching for this weekend, so I'll be heading out there early Saturday instead.

Alright, sorted out some passions. They are not perfect, but they get at Ahvylyn's personality and goals.

As for why she is in Greenvale, I think she is just curious about the brigands. I don't see someone like her being SOUGHT for an expedition as much as bringing herself along for the adventure.

Do we share our character's passions with each other?

I'd like to state publicly before any confusion arises that Lyn masks her elven heritage carefully. She just finds it more convenient to be mistaken for a human.

Faaid also disguises himself as a human, instead of what he really is.  Three halfling in a caftan.

I edited my post a little to elaborate that Torstein's struck by Ahvylyn's looks, and not 'oh my gosh it's a half-elf.'

Are you guys using the responsive site or the old one?

Just to know if for the next rolls I can just put things like Playing the Lay of Thrymm': 121 or if I need to copy/paste the whole 13:36, Today: Aleesia Valhorn rolled 121 using 1d100+75.  [Challenging] Playing the 'Lay of Thrymm'.

I still use the old site while the new one is in Beta. Just a habit more than anything. Don't want to edit my bookmarks.

As long s I know what the roll was, I care not about the format. So, in that first one, I have no idea what the roll result is.

I, personally, use the old site.  The new one has always looked a little funky to me, though I'm also that type of person that prefers older operating systems for the aesthetics.  If we ever needed to look up what your roll was, we can see it in the Dice Roller.  So I vote "You do you".  I am curious, though, as to which skill you rolled to play an instrument?  Was that just Songs&Lores?

I'll stick to the old ways then. Dinosaurs!




And yes, Song & Lore. It was either that or Charisma, and the former seemed more appropriate considering the Song part (and the challenging difficulty example in the skill description).

I still use the old site and some of the stuff they added is new and scary to me.

It occurs to me that if Ahvylyn and/or Aleesia have Passions that relate to performing, I nominate they get a point of Drive. I think defusing the potential fight qualifies as a challenge.

Sounds legit. Take a point of Drive, Ahvylyn and Aleesia.

I plan to move the scene along Saturday or Sunday.

Can we Parry in the same round where we are drawing the weapon?

I can't see anything that says you can't, so I'd say you can.

I'll dive into things and get a post up this evening.

Before I post, is the enemy group surprised by Faaid in his attack?  He's attacking them unawares, and so many abilities (backstab, assassination) require the enemy to be surprised.

Yes, they are still surprised by him. Sorry for the inefficient communication. Faaid would also get the positional bonus (i.e. his weapon counts as one step higher in length) and the on rear attack bonus of +30.

I'm going to go back and edit, but the enemies are wearing Light Armor in case that affects anyone. The Man in blue has a leather jerkin and the half-orcs have leather armor.

 F
HO-MB-HO
HO-To-HO
Ah

Al

This is roughly how I imagine the fight positioning right now. F is Faaid, MB for Man in the blue cloak, HO is the half-orcs, To for Torstein, Ah for Ahvylyn, and Al for Aleesia. The actual distance for Aleesia and the melee is vague, but sufficient that a move half-action would be sufficient to get her into the melee or for someone disengaging from the melee to get to her. Not long enough to incur a ranged penalty for her bow.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:27, Sat 09 Oct 2021.

Oh, hmm, I've just noticed that my first attack was a light critical, so:

22:12, Today: Nozomu Inkaku rolled 7 using 1d20+6.  Survival.

Which means +4 damage and 2 bleed.

Maybe we should have bribed Aleesia to go Animist after all so there could be some Healing magic available.

Healing outside of magic is pretty difficult in this system.  As it should be.  But dang, a good crit will haunt you for weeks.

I actually really considered it. Particularly since at level 1, none of the Wizard's spell lore do much of anything (and nothing at all in combat). But on the other hand, it's not much better for an Animist (I mean, heal 10% HP? You won't go far with that... You'd need to wait for level 5 to actually be able to really heal...) and most of the Animist's Spell Lores are actually kind of meh.

I mean, I don't mind not being particularly useful in combat as long as I can still do some stuff here or there, but the Animist can do next to nothing. Sure, it's great after (assuming she spends all her points on the right Spell Lores for that), but in combat? Nothing at all.

You made a small mistake here, it's a lethal critical so rolled at +50.

Doesn't change all that much but still: Deeper cut to thigh. If the target's wearing leg armor: +3 Damage. If not, +6 Damage, 3 Bleed, Stunned, and -20 to all actions.

Thanks. I'll go fix that!

If it's any consolation, the Song of Tranquility almost worked. It was really close.

Well, I think we are in a bad spot then. Torstein looks to be pretty badly beaten. Facing any kind of parry, Ahvylyn basically can't attack in melee; conversely, she can negate any attack a single half-orc throws at her with parry as well. But that gets us nowhere fast. My deceive isn't high enough to feint. To be fair, I am a lot better at ranged. But I assumed we needed to take some pressure off Torstein here. Just, my Brawn is a dump stat for me!

I'm glad I went with the 3 point version of Battle-Hardened and put my highest roll into Fortitude.

But hey, I'm excited. This is fun!

Edit: I forgot to subtract the half-orc's defense from my roll but I don't think it'd ultimately make a difference. I can re-roll if you want, GM.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:16, Sun 10 Oct 2021.

Hmm, going to have to consider Lyn's combat style a bit more in the long run. Dabblers tend to be useless at a lot of things at low levels, though, so to be expected.

Is that due to their jack-of-all-trades nature spreading them really thin at low levels?

Alright, (if you don't mind GM?) I'm going to change one of my backgrounds to take the Healing Spell Lord thanks to Rogue Mage.

It won't do much of anything (and certainly won't help in the combat itself) but it'll be better than nothing.

I don't mind. Go right ahead. :)

In reply to Aleesia Valhorn (msg # 77):

Hooray! What can we do to thank you?

Well, if that is on the table, then I might want to switch about my backgrounds points just a tiny bit. Make Lyn more effective at combat.

If anyone feels like they want to make some changes, feel free and let me know.

Psst. Aleesia, it's your turn again, just in case. (if you're just busy don't worry)

Oh sh... I thought I was waiting in someone else...

I'll have a post up soon.

Oh gosh, such bad luck Aleesia. I feel for you.

Meh. Thankfully I'm not expecting to shine in combat, so it doesn't matter all that much.

Remember that you get to reroll any 96+ roll and add that to your total.

Just a heads up, I'm looking at taking a trip into the Grand Tetons, and will likely be out of service from the 20th to the 24th.  I'm still hashing out details, and will make sure to set any character expectations before I do leave.

In reply to Faaid (msg # 87):

Thanks for letting us know!

If no one has any objections I'd like to move things forward to a new scene tomorrow.

No objections. Any direction on how to wrap this scene?

Nothing in particular. If I missed anything anyone wanted addressed, please do let me know!

I'm heading out in the morning and should be back in about five days.  In the meantime, Faaid is likely deep in thought about Baddar and some other info he received.  Hopefully I don't miss anything too exciting!

Also, this last round of roleplaying has been amazing.  Absolutely beautiful.  It's great to see how everyone reacts to this situation.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:05, Wed 20 Oct 2021.

Soo, about moving on? Haha. The current scene is neat and all, but adventure awaits!

I'll try to move things along Tuesday or Wednesday.

It is fun learning more about Ahvylyn and Aleesia. I look forward to what other secrets the two have. :)

I look forward to everyone's character arc. We have ourselves an interesting little group here.

You have to roll a d100 again and add to the result there since you naturally rolled 96+

Ahh, I always forget this system has exploding dice.

Don't think it matters on helping rolls since I got the best success possible. but I'll add to the perception roll.

You did, but... Only the second one. Since you rolled a 4 or less, you have to roll again and subtract.

And if your total is 25 or less, roll on the sell critical failures (p134).

True, but I think in this instance Ahvylyn could only hit up to 100 on that table, and the worst that can happen is being Stunned, losing half the spell's MP, and the spell goes off 2 rounds later, right?

I'm not sure what the rule for rounding is in this case, but I'd assume up. Basically the worst that can happen is Ahvylyn's out 3 MPs instead of 2.

Oh yeah, nothing bad happens in that context, it's just to remind Ahvylyn that it works both ways ^^

I appreciate your help. :)

I was mostly piping up to make sure I was following along correctly. Got to admit, the magic system for this game's been a little challenging.

It's a little frustrating that the magic system uses different rules.  I mean, it looks very similar on the surface, but it's all sorts of wacky after you dive in.  Different numbers required for success, the possibility of alerting the Darkmaster, warping, etc.

And all so you can summon a light breeze.

That is one of the reasons I decided against making Torstein a Champion.

"We have no need for magicks, men like Torstein and Faaid.  We have steel in our hands and steel in our hearts."

If Aleesia chooses, she may make a Hard (-20) Nature or Arcana roll to study the trees and try to come to some conclusion about what could be done to counter what's happening to them and find out more about why they're sick. Other characters could Help with a roll of the same skill and difficulty.

You're asking a lot out of me!

Well, let's see...
03:06, Today: Aleesia Valhorn rolled 68 using 1d100+65.  [Hard] Arcane.
03:06, Today: Aleesia Valhorn rolled 50 using 1d100.  Exploding.

Grand total of 18. The roller hates my guts, always has.

Infinite sadness.

If not too late, my contribution. Last few days were a real bust for me, sorry.


10:11, Today: Ahvylyn Brightsong rolled 72 using 1d100+10.  Nature.

Sorry to hear.

So Ahvylyn narrowly succeeds and her Nature-based investigations show the physical manifestation of what's happening to the trees is like a poisoning/corruption of the sap. The black streaks poisoned/corrupted sap flowing close to the surface and affecting the wood and bark of the trees. In trees that're really badly affected the streaks have broken open and black viscous fluid is leaking out slowly. Touching the stuff wouldn't be immediately harmful but not a good idea.

Busy week for everyone?

Yes. Haha, president of the company that owns my school was scheduled to visit "this week" sometime. Still waiting for him on full alert. Also, week before was midterms, so still hip deep in grading exams and essays.

I'll try to post on the weekend when I have time.

Kinda. A network "upgrade" resulted in a misconfiguration that lost us two days of productivity. When I left we were sort of close to getting caught up but we'll still be on the back foot.

Oh, shit. I read all this when I couldn't answer and was just waiting...

I'll have an answer up ASAP.

Hoping we can get this train rolling again!  I've been loving the characters and the role-play, and the fact that the GM is actually utilizing our backgrounds!

I've been watching and waiting.

I wanted to give Aleesia a chance to weigh in before doing anything. I'll wait a few more and then enact a total party kill post.

Dam, waiting for me? I didn't have anything interesting to say...

I'll post something quickly to say nothing then :o

But please, don't hesitate to skip me should something like that happen again!

If I can make a suggestion, it usually seems to help the flow of a game if people post regularly, even if they don't have anything to say.  There was an article I stumbled upon in another site that discussed it.  Basically, a post in which your character observes what's happening is infinitely better than *crickets*.

Also, I hope this doesn't come across as rude or negative, because that was not the intention.  :)

No no, no worries, you're right.

Alright, I posted to say more than nothing (though...well, it's not much) as penance :o

I'm all for it!  I personally struggle with adding scene to my posts, feeling much more comfortable with adding action.  The rest of you have been inspiring to engage with, since none of you seem to struggle in that arena.

Sorry that took longer than I wanted. IRL gonna IRL.

My apologies for holding things up.

Hope everyone's holidays've gone well.

Happy new year!

Inddeed. HNY.

Okay, Torstein, did you account for flanking? I went through all that trouble to flank Grondy-boy, so you get soem type of bonus, neh?

As for combat, don't expect this roll to go super well. Half the party is not built for combat. In this system, that seems to mean that you can't stand toe-to-toe with warrior types really.

Well, no, having read through the rules... Ahvylyn's CMB is reduced to 0 by Grondy's defense, so her attack is ineffective. Per the rules.

So, she'll end up just parrying and preparing soemthing else fun.

Don't worry too much, we'll all be dead soon anyways.  I'm down to a +10 with my attacks, and have to roll pretty dang high.

Erm. Something something honour. Something something vengeance.

Which is to say I forgot to account for that in my rolling.

It doesn't affect rolling, it affects initiative in this system. I looked it up later to see if it might help me.

And, yeah, if Aleesia has no way to contribute to the combat and neither do I, we are severely outgunned here. Perhaps, try to do some damage with fire or at least set clothes on fire?
This message was last edited by the player at 05:12, Wed 05 Jan 2022.

Okay, I went too fast and misread what's on page 195 about Flanking. I thought Torstein would get that +15.

I'll adjust for that when I resolve your action, Torstein. Sorry about forgetting the armour type. I'll get that in when I reply. Hopefully tomorrow.

Also apologies for the poor tuning of the encounter. I used some default stat values without really giving much thought to things. I'll try to better going forward.

I think that the problem lies in that magic focused classes are non-threats at first level. Also, dabblers are heavy RP classes not combatants. And, in this system, if you don't specialize in battle, you suck at it. Which is realistic, I suppose.

Been a while since I played a system quite this gritty. I am actually digging it.

Faaid's player has elected to part ways with this game. It is an amicable parting that I'm still sorry to see happen but it's nothing personal and for my part there's no bad feelings.

Oh my, what's that mean for our situation?

It's down to three player characters. I think the remaining characters have enough investment in things to pursue the Witch Queen as an antagonist and the story can spin out from there. If everyone's amenable to continuing I am as well - we just go forward without a Rogue and things like picking locks aren't as likely to come up as they may have otherwise been.

Hmm, well, I am intrigued by the game, but we lack combat prowess, seriously. Like, without Faaid, this scenario we are currently in is unwinnable. Isn't it?