Let's use this thread to discuss character creation please.

Welcome.

Just to give you a heads up on a couple of things:

I try to check the boards on all my games once a day, at least five days a week.

I will usually be off Wednesdays and probably one of the weekend days.  My job schedule is a bit funky though.  So I may have to be gone overnight at times.  Will try to post a heads up to all my games when that happens.

Okay.  Character creation in Ars.

So you know, in most Ars groups, the character creation process is a group effort.  Other players can input on your character.  Not all groups are like that.  But many I've seen online are.

So let's get you familiar with the process before you go jumping into a troupe style game.

I'm going to ask you to build three characters.  A magi.  A companion.  And a grog.

I am assuming you have read the 5e core book.  Have you read any others?

If you feel comfortable with it, go ahead and work up the characters.  I would say start with the grog.  Let me know if you have questions.  Tahnks.

I’ve read most of the 5e book, nothing else (except for a supplement or two for previous editions).  I’ll get started on the grog shortly.

Thanks again for adding me.

For the grog, should I use one of the templates?

I really want to make either my grog or companion a hunchback for some reason.  Maybe I’ve seen too many Universal monster movies from the 30’s and 40’s.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:33, Sun 08 May 2022.

In reply to Gauntlet (msg # 5):

There was a player in one of my games once who's magi was both a dwarf and a hunchback.  Think he also had blatant gift.  No NPC liked him ever.

Templates can be a good place to start yes.  Personally though, I tend to start with their occupation.  Shield Grog/Bodyguard, Cook, Herder, etc.  If you wanted to make your grog a hunchback, consider making them a beggar or thief for example.  They could also be your magi's personal servant.

For your companion, make them mundane.  Making a magical or faerie companion is not something I recommend for beginners.  Especially if you have not read the supplements.  If you wanted to make your companion a hunchback, you have more latitude than you would with a grog hunchback.  A hunchback companion could be most any occupation.  A scholar or criminal mastermind or some such.

My suggestion is make one of them a military/fighter type and the other one the hunchback.  But that's just a suggestion.

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 6):

Here is a quick grog I made up using MetaCreator.  It's a rough draft, but I used fisherman as an occupation.  If I were using him in a game, I'd tweak him quite a bit.  But just to give you an idea of using an occupation as a base.

I think I want one character to be a somewhat embittered, but educated, hunchback, a servant of my master… perhaps a failed apprentice himself?  The other one, I want to be a tall, overly strong sadistic goon who does whatever physical labor my master needs done.  (Neither one of these would be very pleasant to be around, of course.)

But I have no idea what their professions would be.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:22, Sun 08 May 2022.

In reply to Gauntlet (msg # 8):

In my opinion, from what you just described, the hunchback would be your companion and a failed apprentice.

"Failed Apprentice" is usually one of those terms that almost always steers towards companion.  Thought that's not always necessarily the case.

---

The goon would be...well.  A goon grog.

If you wanted to look at templates, I would say either the Beserker or the Grizzled Veteran templates on page 21ish of the core rule book.

You can use those as a base.  Consider what kind of work your magi would have the Goon do.  Is he more a hitman type?  Is he more a thug?

With your Virtues and Flaws, you need to optimize, as you can only have +3/-3.  Enduring Con, Large, Berserk and Reserves of Strength are good options.  Warrior is almost mandatory, though you can make an interesting fighter by leaning on Brawl.  That is, as long as the guy never goes up against a knight or a demon.

You may also want to look at the Social Status: Custos with him.  Since he is favored by his magi, he may be the type to lord it over the other grogs at the covenant.  But that depends on how you see the guy acting.

If you are wrapping your Goon's background close to your magi's, you may want to consider building the magi first then.  It can help shape your ideas on the Grog character since they are so close.

---

The failed apprentice is a little tougher.  Take a look at the Female Scholar or Priest companion templates.  If you do go the failed apprentice/hunchback route, you would start with

Virtue: Failed Apprentice, Flaw: Hunchback +1/-1.

This is how I would go about the build for him.  First, decide what House he apprenticed under.  The apprenticeship for a Criamon is muuuuuuuuucccch different than the apprenticeship for a Tytalus.  It can make a difference in what he was taught and what philosophies he was exposed to as a child.

Next, consider how he failed his apprenticeship.  Was his Gift not complete?  Did he just not have it in him?  Or maybe his master/parens screwed something up.  Maybe there was a lab accident and Hunchy went into Twilight and lost his Gift.  Or maybe he went along with his Parens to some faerie court and they did something to him.

This can be a big decision because if he still has some kind of Gift left, he can have supernatural abilities.  Second Sight.  Premonitions.  What have you.

Once you make those decisions, then consider what other Virtues and Flaws he might have.  Is he bitter at the Order of Hermes in general?  At his Parens or your Magi specifically?  Does Hunchy have a thirst for revenge?  Or is he just bitter at a world that gave him a glimpse of heaven and then took it away?  The answers to those questions can be translated into personality flaws or story flaws.


Hunchy would be valuable because he would have been taught to read and write Latin and maybe taught some basics of magic theory (make sure to buy those up).  So he can get work as a librarian or a lab assistant in a covenant.  Make sure you buy up his abilities to reflect what work he actually does.

Any of that help?
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:13, Sun 08 May 2022.

Just so I’m clear about this, is the magi I’m creating going to be my character, or my parens?  My guy is just going to be an apprentice for now, right?

I was thinking the magi would be your character.  But let's talk about that.

An apprentice game in Ars Magica is a bit of a different animal.  You start as a child.  There are a lot of special rules involved, so many in fact apprentice games have their own supplement.   http://www.warehouse23.com/pro...s-magica-apprentices

It might be easier to learn the rules, particularly around advancement, by playing "the regular game".  That is, start with a magi who is just out of gauntlet.  Most games are going to start at the point of the magi just being out of gauntlet or a few years out of gauntlet.

I will leave it up to you though.  If you want to run an apprentice game, we can, but I would probably ask you to consider picking up the Apprentice supplement.

If you want to just rely on the core rulebook for now, make up a magi who is just out of gauntlet per the rules in the core book.

If you do want to go the "regular game" route, I would recommend the following houses as being easiest for a new player:

Bjornaer
Bonisagus
Flambeau
Jerbiton
Tremere

Any house will work though.  These are just the most straight forward in my opinion.

If you want to go the apprentice route, hold off on making the PC for now.  Just make the grog and companion.

Any questions/concerns thus far?

Thanks.

I purchased the Apprentice supplement and just started reading it.  It’s really intriguing how you could literally role-play a character from birth.  I’ve never tried to do anything like that in any RPG I’ve played.  You could literally write a novel about a wizard’s apprentice without going into anything like that level of detail.

Reading on…

Already getting ideas.  Perhaps my character spent the first seven years of his life growing up on a farm, where he either talked to certain animals, or believed that he could.  Did unusual things happen?  Myths springing up all around him, growing right out of the cow shit, so to speak?  To a child, getting lost in the woods by the farm and finding your way back could be like living out The Odyssey.

Glad you recommended this supplement.

Maybe he has seven elder brothers and sisters who hate him because they know he’s special… and perhaps he has a weird uncle who is the only one in his family who relates to him; when he sees him on rare special occasions such as holidays, there is always that twinkle in his eye that says, I know.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:53, Mon 09 May 2022.

In reply to Gauntlet (msg # 14):

Sounds like you want to go the apprentice route.

Okay.  We'll start from you being I think you mentioned seven years old.  So per Apprentices, work up a seven year old.

As far as background, make sure you have read up on the effects of the Gift from the core rulebook.  You'll need to decide if Jr. has a Gentle, regular, or Blatant Gift as that has a big impact here.

As far as what makes him odd (other than the Gift), that's your call.

If you want to go the talking animal route, take the appropriate story flaw.  Magical Animal Companion is the most likely choice, though Faerie Friend or Plagued by Supernatural Entity could also work.  If you want me to decide what kind of critter it is, let me know.

If you want to go the uncle route, I can work that in as well.

Let me know.  Thanks.

Could we even start earlier and play out his infancy?  I wouldn’t want to remain there forever, of course.

I think regular gift should be adequate to explain his many social problems, especially with his family.  Life is going to be more than hard enough for this kid without saddling him with blatant gift.

And I was thinking he could talk to all sorts of animals, or at least suffers from some type of mental illness that makes him think that he can. But he can definitely talk to at least some animals, and might have a magical animal companion (who probably suffers a gruesome death at some point).

It might be fun to play around with the idea that some of what he experiences is real, some is the result of his flawed perspective (including, you know, being a kid), and some is the result of the Gift.

I’m thinking that he’ll experience a great deal of loneliness, loss, disappointment, and betrayal, but will also inhabit a personal world far more wondrous than most people ever experience.  Also, I think this ‘kind uncle’ will be the one who sells him out to his eventual parens, who in turn may also reject him later on.

What do you think of the name Tristan Common?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:06, Mon 09 May 2022.

You would need to take either: Animal Ken virtue (if he can talk to animals), Delusion (if he can't), or we can leave it nebulous if you want to figure it out as we go along.

Also, you probably want to take Inoffensive to Animals. Otherwise, the animals will not react well to him.  Having Animal Ken won't overcome the effects The Gift will have on animals.

The companion is up to you.

One thing that is different with an Apprentice game as opposed to a regular game is your Virtues and Flaws will shift as the game goes on.  Using your example, the Magical Animal Companion you pick up at creation may croak by the time you gauntlet.

Tristan is fine as a name.  "Common" is fine as well, but that name puts us probably in England.  You okay with him being English?  Since Mythic Europe is just an alternate reality Medieval Europe, names tend to be more realistic sounding and less high fantasy sounding.  Also one other thing to bear in mind about apprentice games:  your name will change.  When you gauntlet your parens (me) will give you a new name.  Though of course you the player will have final say in the matter.  Just another aspect of an apprentice's life.


As far as the uncle, that's what I was thinking.  Let me figure that part out as part of the story.

For now, just figure out how old you want to start him at.  No older than 8 years old though.  Use Chapter Two of the Apprentice supplement and the core book to build Tristan out.  For now, just build him as you wish.  Don't try to fit him towards one or another Hermetic House.  I have an idea on how we'll handle house selection that is, who Tristan apprentices under.

I would advise not maxing out your Virtues/Flaws at this point.  You will pick up and discard V/Fs as we go.  So maybe keep it around +6/-6 or under.

Once you have a draft of Tristan, we can move on to the game, which will start at the Common's family farm/house/etc.

Questions?

Could we even start him off at birth?  I noticed the book even provides rules for determining whether or not mother and baby survive it.

The books also mentions Aesop’s Fables… perhaps this would be a good source of inspiration.  (Conveniently, I happen to have a long neglected copy laying around…)

Would it be possible to roleplay how Tristan acquires his virtues?  For example, how he learns first to talk to animals, and later how to be inoffensive to animals?

I’m thinking that later in life, he may be drawn to Herbam magic.  Perhaps he is forced to tend a wicked old witch’s garden, or something like that.  As a youngster, he may try unsuccessfully to talk to trees and other plants, to whom he feels drawn.

MUCH later in life, he may aspire to create a haunted forest, and to populate it appropriately…

Definitely cool with him being English, btw.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:18, Mon 09 May 2022.

In reply to Gauntlet (msg # 18):

Coming up with stories for babies is a bit outside my comfort zone.  I can do it, but...I'd rather we start off between ages five and eight if that's alright.

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 19):

As far as roleplaying the virtues, yes.  We can start with a story about how he picks up Animal Ken for example.  The others may or may not come up during stories.  Part of your advancement will be offscreen study time.  We'll get into that later.

For now, just decide what you want Tristan to start with.  Thanks.

Let's start him at five, then.  Maybe flash back to cover potential issues such as strange wonders occurring during his birth, or whatever.

Now that I think of it, getting into how he acquires object permanence and control over his bowels may be tedious and unnecessary.

So far, I’ve settled on supernatural nuisance and short attention span.  Continuing to work on him.

Tough might also be a good choice, considering the fragility of being five years old.

Social status = peasant, of course.

Would starting him off with five points of virtues and flaws at this age be reasonable?  Also, is poor (financially) an appropriate flaw for a child?

I was also thinking of giving him poor memory: family names.  It might be funny if he kept forgetting the names of his own brothers and sisters.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:34, Tue 10 May 2022.

Here is what I’ve come up with so far.

Sharp ears [minor, general] 1
Tough [minor, general] 1
Strong-willed [minor, general] 1
Magic sensitivity [minor, supernatural] 1
Sense holiness and unholiness [minor, supernatural] 1

Supernatural nuisance [story, major] -3
Reclusive [personality, minor] -1
Simple-minded [personality, minor] -1

On first blush, I would advise changing out both Simple Minded and Reclusive.

Simple Minded is really more of a Grog kind of flaw.  For a Magi, even at apprentice level, it can be character killer in play.

Reclusive is also less about being shy and more about being militantly anti-social.  I think the core book recommends against taking it for PCs if I recall correctly.  Which has always made me wonder why they included it in the first place.

Tough makes perfect sense.  Kids back then had to be tough to survive.  Sharp Ears is always a good one.  Strong willed is also one I prefer to take for my own characters.

You surprised me with the Magic Sensitivity and Sense Holy/Unholy, especially the latter.  Not many players take that one.  I like them both.  However, this being an Apprentice game, that can lead to some issues later on.  Read pages 34 and 35 of the Apprentices supplement.  Depending on which Parens you take, you can lose one or both of the virtues fairly early on.  Not telling you to ditch them.  Just want to make sure you are aware of the risks taken.

I am guessing the Supernatural Nuisance is your talking animal?

No, I was thinking that supernatural nuisance was some sort of fairy problem.  Not that I know much about fairies... haven't gotten to that supplement yet.

I picked reclusive and simple-minded because they seemed to fit the profile of an introverted five-year-old who is sick of being bullied by his mean older siblings, with the assumption that they might be dropped later.  This assumption may have been wrong, of course.  Once you pick flaws, are you stuck with them for life?

In reply to Gauntlet (msg # 25):

Flaws are generally considered for life, yes.  You can get rid of them, mostly through stories or some concerted long term plan of education which will take away from your time to improve other areas.  Different gaming groups do handle it in different ways.

For example, I once played a Companion who was an alcoholic.  During one game, my drunk character caused another PCs death.  I decided the PC would have been shocked and would try to go sober.  The SG agreed it was possible.  But he required me to pass a "sobriety check" of sorts for so many seasons.  I think I had to make like three seasons of Stamina checks in a row.  During which, I couldn't do any other training activity.  Getting sober, especially in a world without AA or any other kind of support group, would be tough after all.  I kept missing the third check.  After a while, I ran him in another story where he managed to stay sober throughout the entire storyline.  The SG allowed me the switch out the Compulsion flaw with another one (I think I traded it out with Depressed citing his guilt complex over the other PCs death) at that point.

In an Apprentice game, you can trade flaws and virtues out as part of the growing experience yes.  But in most cases, there has to be some justification for it.  And that would usually require a story or some extended activity.

Here are some suggestions for building out an introvert who's gunshy around people.

Judged Unfairly is an option.  He would get that already from the Gift.  But in his case, this would also probably apply to his parens, other magi, or anyone used to the Gift.

Social Handicap.  The nice thing about Social Handicap it that it's flexible.  You can say your Handicap at creation is shyness or insecurity.  Then as Tristan develops, you can change that handicap to some other handicap, like an unwillingness to make eye contact or standoffish attitude.  Social Handicap also doesn't hamstring your roleplaying options the way Reclusive or Simple Minded can.

Clumsy.  Maybe his psychological distress manifests in him being clumsy.  As he grows more confident, it would be natural for him to become more self assured in his movements.  That would give you an easy justification to later switch this flaw out with another one.

Depressed.  Like Clumsy a symptom of his distress.  Just like clumsy, as he grows and becomes more confident about himself, it would be an easy justification to swap out for another flaw.

As far as the Simple Minded, the fact you will start out with a huge penalty to your Int is enough to simulate a child's lack of understanding.  My suggestion here is drop Simple Minded and Strong Willed to balance it out.  You can pick up Strong Willed later.  Since Tristan is starting out introverted, he may not be all that strong willed at the moment.

I am not requiring you to drop either Reclusive or Simple Minded by the by.  Just strongly recommending it.  You can pick either up as we go if need be.

The way 5E treats Faeries is one of it's strong suits.  The short version is:  Faeries are stories brought to life.  They exist to play a role or bring some kind of tale to life.

My one observation of Tristan is he seems to have a foot in several worlds.  Magic Sensitivity.  The Divine and Infernal with the SEnse Holy and Unholy.  And now the Faerie with the Faerie Nuiscance.  If Tristan was being created post-gauntlet I would probably ask you to narrow his focus a bit.  But with him being pre-apprentice, it's fine.  All the realms would take an interest in a new child with the Gift.

Tristan is a peasant, correct? So I am assuming he is growing up on a farm?

Tristan is indeed a farm boy.  Presumably this means lots of mud and animals, although I’m sure there’s a lot about medieval farming that I don’t know about.  I’m guessing this means he’ll end up being physically stronger than most other boys, although this probably has little to do with magic.

The change I’m most reluctant to make is dropping strong-willed.  Although I see him as introverted, I don’t envision him as lacking confidence.  In fact, he may be (somewhat obnoxiously) overconfident.  I also don’t want to make him depressed, although heaven knows he’ll have plenty of reasons to be.

When it comes to a social handicap, I was thinking that Tristan’s (male) parentage could be dubious.  This could cause significant resentment against him in his family, on top of that caused by the Gift.  Would that work?

I’ll go ahead and drop reclusive and simple-minded, and add judged unfairly.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:12, Wed 11 May 2022.

In reply to Gauntlet (msg # 28):

Stamina is very important to magi.  So his farming background can be a boon there.  Your call.

Understood on the strong willed. And it makes sense.

You may want to consider Bad Reputation (bastard) as well then.  Just a suggestion though.

I ask about the farming because I need to figure out the fairy nuisance for the first story. Let me get back to you on that.

For starting abilities, I would suggest one of the childhood packages on page 8 of the Apprentice supplement.  But that is a suggestion.  You can use them as a base if you like.

What about Tristan's characteristics?  Start by designing him as an adult.  That is you have 7 free points to spend to bump up the characteristics.  You can get extra ones by taking a negative on another one.  Remember you can't take a +3 or -3 without a corresponding virtue or flaw.

Questions so far?

How’s this?

Int +2
Per +1
Pre -1
Com -1
Str
Sta +2
Dex +1
Qik +1

In reply to Gauntlet (msg # 30):

That balances and looks good.

Couple of notes just for future reference.

I commented before how Stamina can be of importance for a magi.  And you can probably guess why Intelligence and Perception can be as well.

Communication can be of importance in troupe play.  When you get to writing books and lab texts, Comm can come into play.

Quickness can be useful if you play a magi who may do a lot of fast casting.

Presence can be useful if you play a magi who will get into a a lot of certamen duels.

Just throwing those out there as food for thought on future characters.  Nothing you need to change here.

Okay.  So now we take those scores as a base and make him a 5 year old.  Per the tablee on page 7 of Apprentices, subtract 5 from each of those scores.  So Tristan's starting characteristics would be:

Int:  -3
Per:  -4
Pre:  -6
Com:  -6
Str:  -5
Sta:  -3
Dex:  -4
Qik:  -4

His size starts at -2.

What were you thinking about abilities?

I found this in the manual under sample childhoods:

Exploring Childhood: (Area) Lore 2, Athletics 1, Awareness 1, Native Language 5,
Stealth 1, Survival 2

This looks pretty good to me.

In reply to Gauntlet (msg # 32):

Okie doke.

Just because I'm old and prone to forgetting things, can you put all that together on a character sheet for me please?  You can use the RPoL one if you like (link to a message in another game) or one from Metacreator if you are using that, or just type the basics up in whatever format you like.

I'll open up your character sheet under Character Details.  Please post it there.  We'll worry about the other scores as we go.

I'll want to take one more look at the completed sheet, and then I think we can start a game.

Questions thus far?

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 33):

I believe I updated you to Tristan now.  The Character Sheet should be open for you but let me know if you cannot access.  Had some trouble with it.

Thanks.

For now, can I put off assigning specializations to my abilities?  Also, my virtues and flaws are currently slightly imbalanced.  Is this acceptable, since I plan to add Animal Ken later?

Update: I did add (certain obvious) specializations for athletics, awareness, and stealth, all designed to avoid and out-maneuver hostile older siblings.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Wed 11 May 2022.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 35):

You can change up the specializations during the apprenticeship cycle.  Put down an "Inherited Flaw: Unknown" or "Inherited Virtue: Unknown" as needed to balance out the Virtues/Flaws.  We can fill them in later.

How are you imbalanced?  What does the current Virt/Flaw list look like?

In looking back through the thread, are you something like this:

Sharp ears [minor, general] 1
Tough [minor, general] 1
Strong-willed [minor, general] 1
Magic sensitivity [minor, supernatural] 1
Sense holiness and unholiness [minor, supernatural] 1


Supernatural nuisance [story, major] -3
Judged Unfairly (-1)

Did you take Social Handicap?  If so you are balanced.  That is without the Animal Ken, even as an Inherited Virtue.  If you want to take Animal Ken now, just take "Inherited Flaw: Unknown -1" for now to offset it.  However...

Taking Animal Ken now is probably going to cause some problems when your parens opens your arts (see Message 24).  You already are running a risk with just the two you got.  Plugging in Animal Ken now, even as an Inherited Virtue, raises the difficulty level of those rolls even higher.  You may lose one or all the virtues at the time Tristan's arts get opened.

That might be interesting in and of itself.  Tristan suddenly reacting to losing a sense he had always had.  Depends on how you want to roleplay it.  I just bring it up so you know ahead of time the risks involved.  Don't want to suddenly spring it on you.

We can use a story to give him Animal Ken later.  But that's got it's own set of rules.  I didn't want to get into them just yet, cos they're kind of advanced class.  The supplements that cover them are Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults and The Mysteries.  Also, with a story, there is a chance of failure.

All that is to say, there's risks taking Animal Ken now and there's risks taking Animal Ken later.  Just be aware of that before we proceed.

Okay, looks like I’ve got ‘em balanced now.  Here’s what I’ve got:

Virtues

The Gift
Sharp ears [minor, general] 1
Tough [minor, general] 1
Strong-willed [minor, general] 1
Magic sensitivity [minor, supernatural] 1
Sense holiness and unholiness [minor, supernatural] 1

Flaws

Supernatural nuisance [story, major] -3
Judged unfairly [minor, personality] -1
Social handicap [minor, general] -1

---

I’m cool with playing out him acquiring Animal Ken (or perhaps failing to) as a story, as I welcome an element of randomness and uncertainty.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:36, Thu 12 May 2022.

Sorry folks.  Having a thing at work.  I hope to catch up on postings for all my games Friday Evening.  May be Saturday.

Thanks.

No rush.  I hope your thing works out.

Thanks.  Not sure I mentioned, my job schedule can get funky.

Okay, virtue/flaws look good.

Only thing at question is Area Lore.  Some of the skills (abilities.  I wish they would just call them skills like every other RPG and be done with it) need definition.  Area Lore is like the prime example.

As listed in the rules, the broader the area you know the lore of, the more general your knowledge becomes.  So is the "area" Tristan's home village?  His county?  The woods his village borders?  Southern England?

Along those lines, let's talk about his home village and the starting point for the game.  You mentioned Tristan's parents were farmers.  They can be:

-Sheep herders not far from Bristol
-"Regular" farmers who are serfs for a lord near Cambridge
-A village not far from Lincoln.  Your father and probably at least one older brother would be away from home, working on the reconstruction of the church there.

Where we start will impact the game.

I'm going to give you a heads up:  Tristan will not get a choice as to who is master/what house he is being brought into.  That's not how it works.  You the player will get a say.  But some of your choices will affect what options you have to pick from.

For example, in the three starting locales I have listed, one of them has a Hermetic Covenant active in the area.  So that may give you only a few houses to chose from.  It also   means Tristan may have to deal with and be affected by what's going on at said covenant.

I'm not going to give you details, and ask that you not pick up a copy of Heirs to Merlin, the England/Stonehenge Tribunal sourcebook.  We may not stay in England long, so my advice is not to invest the money unless you just want to build your personal library up.

Let me know if there are questions.  Thanks.

My first pick would be the village setting, assuming there would be plenty of animals around.

No questions, at the moment.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 41):

So you are not far from Lincoln then.  Thanks.

I need to jigger some stuff.  I will post a new thread tomorrow and we can start your game.

Thanks.

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 42):

And there will be animals by the by.

Couple of things when we do start the game:

Please color your dialouge.  This helps me when I scan posts.  Any color except Orange and Yellow.

Color any OOC comments in orange please.  This includes posting any roll results.

I will be writing posts in third person tense.  You can write yours in first or third as you please.

Thanks.

Will do.  (This is all fairly standard for Rpol, anyhow.)

Nice thing is, I can use just about any ol’ color I want, since I’m the only player.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:25, Mon 16 May 2022.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 44):

That is true.

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 45):

After some thought and a couple of drafts, I will be switching to second person tense in my posts Tristan.  It's easier when there's just one player.

Hey All.  Have to catch a plane.  Should be back online by Thursday.

Thanks.

I recently watched the Twilight Zone episode ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’ again.  Nothing of the sort happened on your flight, I trust?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 48):

Not this time.  Though I have sat next to William Shatner's character before.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:18, Sun 05 June 2022.

Hi All.

Sorry.  The Father's Day/Juneteenth weekend got away from me.  I will try to catch up with posts, though it may be tomorrow before I am back completely.

Thanks.

I'm not sure I have any skills that apply to this situation.  Any suggestions?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 51):

You can still try to use some abilities, even if you have no ranks in it. Some you can't.  You can usually use common sense to figure out which is which.  Anyone can Brawl assuming they know how to make a fist.  You can't read ancient Greek unless you've had training.

If you try to use an ability you have no ranks in, you treat it as having a score of 0.  So you'd still make the roll.  If you botch, you roll three botch die instead of 1.

I tend to be a little lenient on that rule myself.  In your current situation, you could just try to listen as you outline.  If you didn't have any ranks in Awareness, and you botch, I wouldn't make you roll the three botch die.  Just one.

If you tried to charm her without any ranks, I probably would make you roll 3 botch die.

Clear as mud?

To answer your in game post, yes: Sharp Ears would definitely apply here.  That's a +3 to the roll I think.

So go ahead and make a Perc/Awareness/+3 roll to listen for the song.

Sorry for the long answer.  Thanks.

To the contrary: thank you for that useful long answer.

Okay, since my per is -4 and I have one point of Awareness, that should be a straight roll... assuming my calculations are correct.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:20, Sat 02 July 2022.

Hey All.

I was in an accident a couple of weeks ago.  Nothing serious.  But the meds they have me on have kind of been making me loopier than usual.

Taking today off as I am trying to flush them out of my system.  Will reply to posts tomorrow.

Thanks.

Take your time.  Be well.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 55):

Hey All.

Will be back in the saddle tomorrow.  Sorry for the delay and any weird posts/PMs I may have put up over the last week.

Thanks for your patience.  Greatly appreciated.

I thought the whole idea of this game was making weird posts.

Hello All.

I am working on answering posts, but wanted to give all my games a heads up.

I will be traveling the 31st through about the 7th.  Will post if I can, but it is looking like my internet access may be sporadic.

Will try to post each day until then.  And should be back online by the 8th.

Thanks.

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 58):

Hate to say this after I just got back from vacay, but I have to appear at a trial next week.  I will probably be offline again the 13th through at least the 15th.

My apologies for the numerous abscences so far this summer.  It's not the norm for me.  But when it rains, it seems to pour.

I appreciate your understanding and patience.  Should be able to get back to regular gaming schedule after the 15th.  God willing.

Oh boy.  There’s no fun quite like that involving the legal system.  I hope you don’t experience too much unpleasantness.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 60):

Sorry folks.  Have to hit the road earlier than I thought.  Will be back later this week.

Having people in this week.  So my posting may be spotty until Tuesday the 8th.  Please bear with me.  Will update as often as I can.

Thanks.

No prob.  Take your time.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 63):

having a work thing.  Will catch up on posts tomorrow, Wednesday.

Thanks All.

As we head into the Holiday times wanted to give my usual spiel.

I know everyone's schedule will be off and on.  Please post as you can.  RL always comes first after all.

I will be here next week.  Will be around Christmas time.  Not sure of the dates yet.  Will let everyone know.

If you do know you'll be offline for a while, please drop me a line if you can.  But otherwise, games will be here.

Thanks All.

Happy holidays, boss.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 66):

Sorry folks.  Holidays got away from me.  Will update games later today.

Hope ya'll in the US had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks!  I hope your festive season is going just as well.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 68):

Thanks.  Hope yours was good too.

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 69):

Sorry folks  Having a work thing.  Will post tomorrow.  Thanks.

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 70):


Hello.

There has been a change in my travel plans for the holidays.  I will be offline Monday the 19th.  Posting will be catch as catch can until probably the 28th.  I will post everyday until Monday.

As is usual with RPoL, I expect the posting rate will slow until after the holidays. If you need to take time off with family, please do so.

Thanks.

Good Evening All. Hope you had a good holidays and are looking forward to the New Year.

My apologies for the lack of posting.  Things went a little sideways for my family.  I will be back tomorrow 12/28.  I will catch up with posts/games then.

Thank You for the patience.

Sorry folks having computer issues should be back up tomorrow

Hey Folks.  Have a bit of a situation.  Will catch up on posts Monday.

Thanks.

Sorry for the delay folks.  Thursday got away from me.  Will catch up on posts tonight.

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 75):

Hello.

I am going to start running a small group (3 or so) Ars Magica game on another board.

It will start off as a small group game, no more than 3 players.  I am going to try starting it as a mini-campaign. That is skip the usual covenant set up phase.

Would you be interested in joining?

I would suggest starting out as a companion character.  You'd get a chance to see magi in action as well as familiarize yourself with the gameplay.  You could make a magi PC later.  But if you wanted to start off as a magi PC, that'd be okay too.

Anyway, let me know if you are interested.

Thanks.

Sounds interesting.  This is at a non-Rpol site?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 77):

Nope.  It's on RPoL.  Link below

link to another game

RTJ sent.

Sorry Folks.  Had a bit of a thing this weekend and just got back into town.  I'm exhausted.  Will catch up on posts tomorrow.  Thanks.

Sorry folks.  Will catch up on posts tomorrow.

Hello.  Will be offline unexpectedly tonight.  Will catch up on posts tomorrow.
Thanks.

Sorry folks.  On a deadline.  Will answer posts tomorrow.

Thanks.

Hey Folks.

Seems like Tuesday is turning into my "you need to work late" night.

I will update posts and respond to PMs tomorrow, Wednesday.

Thanks for your patience.

Due to the storms here in Texas, my internet has been going up and down all evening long.  I am working on updates and will update ASAP.

Thanks.

Hey All.  Have a last minute business trip.  Should catch up on posts by Thursday.

Thanks.

Hi All.

Will be offline tonight.  Should catch up on posts tomorrow, Tuesday, but there is a chance I will not be back online until Wednesday.

I appreciate your patience.  Thank You.

Hello.

Just as a follow up to all my games:

It looks like my Off-Monday/Tuesday-Sundays-Are-Maybes schedule will last at least through the end of July.

My apologies for the inconvenience.

I hope to be back to my former schedule as soon as possible.  But RL happens.

Thanks for your patience.

As an aside, I will be home this coming Monday and Tuesday.  I do plan on trying to post at least one of those days.  Hopefully both.

If you are off due to the 4th of July holiday, Happy 4th.  See you when you get back.

Hi All.  Will need to work late tonight, so I will catch up on posts tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks.

Regarding my schedule:  I will be back to my regular posting schedule as of 8/7.

That is, I will post M,T,Th,F, and either Sat or Sun as I can.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Hi All My Games.

Have some bad news/good news.

First, I will be offline tonight, Wednesday.

Second, this will be it for my summer schedule.  Starting on Thursday I will be back posting TH, F, either Sat or Sun, Mon, Tue and off on Wednesdays.

I appreciate the patience with this.  Glad it is over.

Thanks again.

Hey All. Power in my building has been off most of the weekend and may not return today. Will update games as soon as I can. Thanks

Sorry All.  Have a deadline at work.  Will update games tomorrow.

Thanks.

Sorry All.  Back on deadline.  Will catch up posts tomorrow.

Thanks.

Sorry All.  Very long day at work.  I will catch up on posts tomorrow.

Thanks.

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 96):

And I'm back.  Thanks for the patience.

Working on updates tonight.  Any questions?

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 97):

Hello.

First up:  how did you want to spend that 4 XP from the last thread?

Thanks.

I have 23 XP accumulated… I’m not sure how to spend it yet.  I hope to post again either tonight or tomorrow.

And of course, I’m open to suggestions.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:57, Wed 18 Oct 2023.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 99):

We should probably consider reworking Tristan's character sheet.  He's how old now?  7?

In reply to The Founder's Ghost (msg # 100):

Did I lose you?

No.  Yes, 7 sounds about right.  Sorry, I still haven’t planned my expenditure of XP… I need to get my shinola together.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 102):

No need to apologize at all.

My suggestion is: let's rebuild Tristan.  Instead of advancing him, now that you've had a chance to see the game a bit more, let's try remaking him as a 7 year old.

Up for it?

Sure, if you think this is the best way to go.  What shall we do first?

Let me amend this: I’m down with rebuilding him… as long as I can keep the XP he’s already earned.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:52, Thu 26 Oct 2023.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 104):

Absolutely on keeping the XP.  You can spend that now or pool it for later.  But let's do the rebuild first.

You do have the Apprentices supplement, correct?

First, Let's start with his characteristics

I believe his "base" (before the childhood/age penatlies) was



These would be the scores of a grown up Tristan before the events of all the story threads thus far occurred.  Your master, Coscrach Cam, has taught Tristan the basics of reading as well as had him take up some basic martial training and physical training.  Would any of that have affected how you think an adult Tristan would turn out?

Then let's look at his Virtues/Flaws.

I think Tristan currently has:



Do you think those still fit?

Hola.

As we come into the Holiday season, wanted to say my usual.

First, I will be a little catch-as-catch can in the coming week (through 11/6).  Should be able to stick to my usual posting schedule, but will beg your patience if I am off a day or two.

Second, I will be offline the week of 11/19 for Thanksgiving in the USA.  Happy Turkey Day to all who will be turkey-ing.

Third, I should be at home all of December.

I will understand if attendance is down during the next couple of months.  If you can let me know of any vacations/absences ahead of time, that would be much appreciated.  But I do understand how it goes.

Thank You All for gaming with me. It is much appreciated.  Thanks.

I do indeed have the Apprentices supplement.

I’m still okay with Tristan as he’s already put together… but do you have any particular objections, something that doesn’t make sense about him to you?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 107):

Not really, no.  But I wanted to give you the option to rework him before we move along.  That means we can move ahead.

We are going to skip a year and bring Tristan up to age 8.  He'll get 4 seasons on top of the story XP you've banked.  So we need to figure out how to advance him.

Would you maybe want to role-play his training?  I know this may be against the spirit of ‘skip a year’, but it might be more interesting, and further develop his relationship with his master.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 109):

We will roleplay parts of his training yes.  But a lot of what he goes through is the grueling book study/weapon study.  Roleplaying the day to day will get cumbersome.

But the next story will be more..."academic" focused.

For now, I'd like to advance him at least three seasons.  Do you want to assign the story XP you banked?  Or do you want to keep it banked?

Also, we do need to look at where his Virtue and Flaws stand.

Prior to know, Tristan's V/F stood at:


You ticked off a Fae Bird King in the last story.  So you can keep Supernatural Nuissance and be bothered by Fae Birds.  Or you can switch it out with Plagued By Supernatural Entity:  Bird King.

We'll need to look at swapping out Judged Unfairly.  He's not in a place that will judge him like he was with his family.  And I can't recall what his Social Handicap is/was.  We don't need to swap those two out right now.  But we do need to think about it.

We're also going to need to pick up a new virtue soon.  So you will probably need to consider a new flaw to offset it.  We can work that out as we go.  But it is something to keep in mind.

Let me know your thoughts on all that.  I am working through the next storyline now.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 03:23, Fri 10 Nov 2023.

Can flaws be flat-out paid off, or am I normally stuck with them?

Also, what would be the pros and cons of switching to Plagued by Supernatural Entity: Fae Bird King?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:36, Mon 06 Nov 2023.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 111):

You always have to have enough flaws to balance out your virtues, unless you get the virtues through a Mystery.  More on Mysteries later.

Usually, when you rid yourself of one flaw, you have to take another in it's place.  There are some caveats to that.  But that would be something that will happen later in Tristan's life.  Much, much later.

The difference in the two flaws is

With Plagued by Bird King, it is the Bird King itself that is after you.  He may use other spirts/creatures that report up to him to bother you.  But it is that specific creature, the Bird King, who is messing with you.

With Supernatural Nuisance: Fae Birds, any time you meet or are in the vicinity of faerie birds, you get messed with, but to a lesser degree.

The Bird King may be out to kill you or to torture you or get revenge.

With the Nuisance, the fae birds just like messing with you.

Usually "Plagued" gets nastier but it is easier to handle because there is just one entity that is after you.  With Nuisance, the threat is more annoyance.  But it's constant.

I’ll go with Plagued.  What the hell.

Now I wonder what he was doing in that cage.

Okay.  So he'd look like this:




Alright.  Characteristics prior to the age penalty are:



Now that Tristan is 8, he would look like:



Your arts will be opened up, so you have a score of 0 in all fifteen Arts.

You've learned some Latin.  You would get 15 points in Latin.  So I think you're score would be Latin 2.  Have to check that.

You will also get 5 points in Magic Theory and 5 points in Order of Hermes Lore.

The rest of the time, you've been helping Master in the laboratory or running laps.

Did you want to spend any of your banked story XP?
Qik +1

I’ll keep it banked now until I have a better idea of how to use it.  Looking forward to learning some real magic.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:31, Sat 11 Nov 2023.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 115):

Which brings us to the last item on the agenda.  Your Arts training.

You are going to get some XP from teaching on this.  Not much.

Master is stressing Rego at first.  So you get 3 XP in that, which I think brings your score to that up to 2.

Re 2

He's going to teach you in one other Art.  I will let you chose it.

If you make it a Form, you can start experimenting with Spontaneous Magic.  Something we will get into in the next story thread.  You don't have to.  But to cast a spell, you need one Technique (which Rego is) and one Form.  Any preferences on what Form you want to start messing with?

If I choose Mentem, could I use it to ward off my faery friend?

In reply to Tristan (msg # 117):

Sorry all.  Got noticed this afternoon I have to deal with a project at work due in the AM.  So I will catch up on posts tomorrow.

Thanks.

Tristan:  depends on the type of fairy.  If you are taking something just for that, I'd recommend Animal or Auram.  Will give you a better answer tomorrow.  Thanks.

I wouldn't want to choose a form just to ward off fairies, but I'm sure Tristan will want to get into some kind of magic that will help him in that department.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 119):

So you get three points in Mentem, which brings your score there to 2.

I will work up an updated Tristan on Metacreator and post him.

We can start the next story thread tomorrow.

Thanks.

Should I put Rego 2 and Mentem 2 on my character sheet?

Yes.

As previously mentioned, I will be travelling next week.  Will try to post when I can, but cannot guarantee I will be able to.

For those in the States, Happy Thanksgiving.

For those not in the States, Happy Work Week.

I will catch up on posts when I return Monday 11/27.

Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving back to you, and a merry Work Week as well.

In reply to Tristan (msg # 124):

Hello All.

I am back.  Working on trying to catch up on posts.

Thanks.

It looks like I already had single weapon 1.  Any chance I could buck for 2?

I'll give it to you.

Sweet!  Thx.

I now have listed Single Weapon (thrown spear) 2 and Single Weapon (dagger) 1.  Is this correct?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:49, Tue 05 Dec 2023.

The Marial Skills are one of the more ticky parts of AM in my opinion.

Single Weapon covers a familiarty with all one handed weapons.  You can specialize in one of them for the bonus.

Great Weapons is the same thing, but for two handed weapons.

Bows are exactly that.

Thrown Weapons are for missle weapons other than bows/crossbows.

Brawl covers unarmed combat.  But it also covers knives.

So Tristan would have a Single Weapon skill which would cover the sword training he's gotten and using the spear hand to hand (it's a short spear.  So it doesn't count as a two handed weapon).

Throwing the spear would fall under the Thrown Weapon ability.

The dagger would fall under Brawl.

So I was thinking Tristan had:

Single Weapon (spear) 2
Brawl (Knife) 1
Throwing Weapon (spear) 1

But if you want to rearrange those scores, go ahead and do so.  You have a total of four "levls" you can assign between those three skills: Single Weapon, Brawl, and Throwing Weapon.

Don't change the specializations up.  You can do that later as Tristan progresses.  Let's just give him a leg up for this story line.

Dagger is covered under Brawling?  Yeah, that is confusing.

Okay, I've updated those skills, with no changes.  Thx.

Sorry folks.  Have an unexpected work deadline.  Will catch up on posts tomorrow.  Thanks.

Hello All My Games.

My apologies for the lack of updates yesterday and today.  Everyone here caught the flu this weekend, and it wen through us pretty hard.  I need to get some sleep.  Will update tomorrow.

Thanks for your patience.

Happy New Year.

Note to all my games:  starting this week, my posting schedule is going to change slightly.

I plan on posting Monday through Wednesday, off Thursday, and post Friday.  I will post either Saturday or Sunday as my weekend schedule allows.

It's a slight change up, but I will try to update four to five times a week.

Thanks for your patience and your participation.  Hope we all have good games for the coming year.

Sorry folks. Computer issues. Hang tight please. Thanks

Hey All Games.  Sorry for the two day delay.  Had Internet issues the past few days.

Will catch up on posts tonight.

Thanks.

Sorry folks.  Flight was very delayed and I didn't get in until very late.  Will catch up on posts tomorrow.\

Thanks.

Hi All Games.  Hope you had a Happy Easter or Happy Weekend.

I had an unexpected family emergency over the weekend.  I will get back to posting tomorrow, Monday.  Sorry for the delay.  Things happen.

I appreciate your patience.  Thanks.

Sorry All.  I had to catch a plane.  Will catch up on posts Tuesday.  Thanks.