For Occluded Oceanographic Pursuits.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:28, Thu 19 Jan 2023.

Hello to everyone in the RTJs:

Lots of applications so far, as is to be expected for a 5e game! I'm going to leave the RTJs open till Monday (NZ time), then sift through them.

Apologies, everyone, for the delay in handling the RTJs; got busy the last couple of days. Starting it now.

Thank you everyone for your patience, and my apologies to those RTJs I wasn't able to respond to personally.

I had so many good applications that part of the reason it took me so long was that I was wrestling with how many I could accept; in the end I decided to expand the campaign remit to include two adventuring parties, exploring the same world and mystery from two different angles. I think it could be interesting to have two bands splitting up to chase down leads in different places, teaming up to tackle great threats, cooperating to share information and resources or falling into opposition with each other, depending on the paths the characters and players choose.

I finally settled on two groups of four, one mostly human and the other stocked with slightly more exotic concepts. One group will start focused on the problem of Ibh-Kewar's dwindled water supply, while the other will be commissioned to mount a rescue mission for an important caravan that has sent up smoke signals of distress from the desert.

(I picked these groups based on combinations that seemed interesting to me; we're not necessarily wedded to this division of PCs).

Waterseekers
Ka Anpu, a holy warrior dedicated to Khem-Vor the Judge of the Dead, from the Senpethi Empire.
Omar Swiftarrow, a nomadic mercenary horse-archer from the Thundering Steppes.
Ineqtawy, a scoundrel from Hayandrasht who has formed a bond with a mysterious black dagger that fell into his possession.
Ardul'ssyn Nasadra, an druu elven sorcereress and scholar touched by Morgu'th the scorpion goddess.

Smokefinders
Vayu-Raman, a gnoll disciple of the mysterious Bone-White Pharoah from the glassy wastes.
Pasha Renn, a student of the ecology around Ibh-Kewar.
Eshma, a fate-weaving halfling sorcererss who left her regimented burrow to become a merchant.
Anahitaria, a sea elven martial artist far from her watery home in the Pearl Kingdom.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:19, Sun 29 Jan 2023.

There's a character sheet template in the house rules thread which you can adjust as needed to the specific features of your character and class. Please let me know if there's problems with the template or RPOL's sheet functionality - I've been on this site for dang near 20 years and still find the sheets a pain in the neck to use.

Hello all and HELLO my fellow Waterseekers

Greetings. Looking forward to having a good time!

Hello everyone and welcome all of you fellow waterseekers!

Hello seekers and finders both! I am excited to see how we weave this story together!

Hello! Looking forward to playing with you all!

I'm hoping to get a character profile up ASAP, though the username might change.

What are the relations between the Waterseekers? Have we been pulled together before the first game or will we meet each other in game?

Good morning all my fellow Waterseekers! I am glad to be here and look forward to undertaking this quest of grave importance!

A bit about Eshma to start things off, she is a halfling sorcerous, clockwork soul, who works as a merchant moving from one city to the next hocking wares for whoever can afford her. She is personable and even between cities she never forgets a face. Imagine if the stereotype of pushy car salesman met an actually decent human being who cared about people (I know a lot of car sales folks and they are great people, just like the imagery). She kind of bucks the general hive mindedness of the Halfling society. She is currently in our starting city hocking woven goods, so one potential hook for knowing some if not all of you is if you needed to procure clothing, rugs, bed sheets, etc. She might have sold them to you :)

This message was deleted by the player at 17:02, Fri 27 Jan 2023.

Hello all!

Vayu-Raman blinks lazily, wondering how long it will take a sea elf to dry out and wither in the sun. Though there were desert fae, as he knew well, surely they did not look thus? He twitches one furry ear to dislodge a fly. Wait - perhaps she knew a magic to protect, beyond her garments!

Looks like all of the Smokefinders are magical sorts? If you need a precipitating force for the initial meeting of that group, Vayu-Raman would be quick to approach any magic-wielding folk. All would recognize him as that weird lanky gnoll who kept nattering away to them about magic.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:06, Fri 27 Jan 2023.

I just realized I am actually a Smokefinder! ha! Not sure how I missed that giant post, but either way Eshma is happy to be helping the town :)

Happens in excitement, and they are more guidelines anyway:D

Anahitaria might not have been as prepared for the desert as she thought, and would be looking for more hear suitable clothes. So easy run in with Eshma.

The gnoll watching her was hard to miss. Anahitaria didn't know what he wanted but she didn't mind. She knew how to take care of herself. Imagining the gnoll soaking wet made him seem less intimidating.

Barely meeting the threshold to be considered a caster, but yes seems we are all magical ;)

I think everyone is waiting with baited breath to see the fireworks go when Ka and Vayu meet, xonsidering Ka's deity is basically thr Forgotten Realms version of a certain jackal... :p

Character sheet is up, just gotta mark down my gear. Also found a portrait I like, I think.

Also, if Ka and Vayu fought to the death, would whoever died get sent to their god, or their opponents? :P

Probably depends how they were buried afterward? :D

The last time I played a game in the Realms, Myrkul was the guy when it came to death gods. Kelemvor came out with 2e, I think? I'm not so familiar with him.

But for Vayu-Raman, gods are not his concern. Except in so much as they have taught their followers interesting magic...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:43, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

I'm in favour of prexisting connections between PCs (including between groups in this campaign's case), but I know some people don't like to force it.

Maybe Omar and Ineqtawy Mahdi have travelled together a bit, sort of a Fahfrd and Grey Mouser buddy-cop crook duo.

Nasadra, Vayu, Eshma and T'kensan all potentially came from, across or from beneath the wastelands so might have run into each other - especially Eshma, hailing from a halfling burrow and Nasadra, from a dark elven subterranean holdfast might have met each other before the latter ever saw the sun.

Anahitaria and Ka Anpu come from kingdoms to the south, in the sea and on land respectively. They might have met on board a ship crossing the Ink Sea, battling pirates, slavers or sharkfolk.


Or rather, the Tal-Talabi version of the Forgotten Realms version of Anubis oh no I've gone cross-eyed.

(Don't they have the actual Egyptian pantheon in FR's Mulholland, too? Must be a lot of jostling for jurisdiction).

I like the idea that Ka and Anahitaria met while traveling to the city.  He'd certainly be the type to offer her protection or at least a companion on the way to their destination.



(Possibly, but I know you didn't want to have real-world equivalents so I suppose the answer is in your universe, no they don't :P)
This message was last edited by the player at 23:49, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

Had a quick scan through Powers and Pantheons, the 2e Forgotten Realms book with the Mulhorandi pantheon. They are indeed Egyptian deities. But there's no Anubis! Osiris seems to have nabbed his portfolio. Weird.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:56, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

Here's the writeup/version of Kelemvor that I submitted to the DM:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Kelemvor

One PC's sheet is done (turns out fighters are straightforward, who'd have thought it). Anyone else, let me know when you're ready for me to take a look.

Added an equipment section to the house rules thread - just rules for hot-weather clothing at the moment (thank you for the suggestion, Anahitaria), but more to come as I ransack old 3.5 and Pathfinder books for inspiration. Anyone who has traveller's clothes as part of their class or background gear can swap it for hot-weather clothes for no cost.

Regarding equipment, I'm not an arrow-counting or weight-tracking kind of GM, so don't worry too much about recording carry weight, etc. I like to use the lifestyle rules (PHB 157) to keep track of living expenses without nickel and diming you for every mug of ale cup of date wine, so might be wise to keep a few coins in hand to pay for that.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:44, Sun 29 Jan 2023.

I enjoyed playing a Scrivener of Thoth in 2e. It allowed a human to multi-class as a Priest/Wizard. The down side was no armor but handy when the other players wanted to play fighters and thieves.

T'kensan was incommunicado, so in the interests of keeping things moving smoothly I've invited a new player in their stead. Please welcome Pasha Renn, a dweller in the hinterlands and student of the ecology around Ibh-Kewar!
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 04:20, Sun 29 Jan 2023.

Hello all, excited to join you!

I am ready for you to take a look at my sheet @GM. I made it pretty late so please excuse any glaring oversights. =)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:28, Sun 29 Jan 2023.

Seconded, although she needs little protection she will welcome company, especially once their beliefs come up and the discussion of Life vs Death starts going.

Welcome Pasha! Looking forward to explaining how much better living on the coast is, especially when everyone is in balance with the environment.
(P.S. For now Pasha looks a lot like Vayu - please check the description)

Sounds good Ana.  Would you like to set that up via a PM or just as we go along?

And welcome Pasha!

DM, can we have threads for pre start RP (so they can be made visible to others at some point), or should we do it in PMs for simplicity?

@DM: Madhi's sheet is complete!

@Omar: I'm open to having us met before! We seem to have some similar interests! Any thoughts there?

In reply to Anahitaria (msg # 30):

Stand by.

Thanks for the warm welcome gang!

Works for me. Maybe we had worked on a caravan in the past and went our separate ways.

All right, I had planned to put up a prologue thread in the marketplace of Ibh-Kewar to let you do some freeform RP and introductions before the Call to Adventure while the remaining sheets are sorted out; I can also put up some other threads for pairs or groups that knew each other beforehand:

• One for Ka and Anah travelling to the Khvarenah Empire by ship.
• One for Mahdi and Omar doing some caravan escort work.

Anyone else want one?

Any chance the Caravan escort work was for the Caravan that brought Eshma to the city?

Vayu-Raman could meet someone ahead of time, or meet everyone for the first time in the village; either can work.

And my sheet should be finished.

In reply to Vayu-Raman (msg # 37):

This will be my first-time roleplaying with a Gnoll. I am super excited but trying to play it cool, for some reason that I can't quite describe!
This message was last edited by the player at 19:02, Tue 31 Jan 2023.

I always liked the later-D&D hyenalike gnolls (original D&D had them 'a cross between Gnomes and Trolls', borrowing only the name from Dunsany, where they weren't described at all). And a big toothy grin, stooped posture, and weird laugh seem perfect for a warlock.

Vayu-Raman is a bit peculiar, even for a Gnoll, having turned the Hna curiosity dial up to 11 and followed it down a rathole in the desert.

Looking busy for the next couple of days; I'll get on top of sheet confirmations and such by the weekend.

Apologies for complicating  and delaying things with RP threads. If DM is busy, let's do the pre start scenes in PMs for now?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Wed 01 Feb 2023.

Phew. All right, I've done a pass over the character sheets and they're mostly looking very good.

GM, hope things are well.
I see how much love and effort you put into setting up the game. Let us know how we can help you get it running.

In reply to Anahitaria (msg # 44):

Agreed

Same!

Same here.

I still exist! Hope everybody's doing well!

Still here as well!

Seems likely this game is DOA - GM hasn't logged in since the 4th. But I'll keep watching for a bit, hoping for the best.

*blows the sand off this parched game*

First of all, I owe everyone an apology. My parents' house got flooded (twice) in the superheavy rains we had here in NZ at the start of the year, and as we were clearing up from that I got called for jury service, and ended up serving on a very long and complicated trial. This one-two-three punch left me bereft of time and energy for so long I couldn't even bring myself to log on for a long time. That was extremely disrespectful of me, and I'm sorry; I should have found the time to notify you.

Secondly, it's extra-galling because we were so close to being ready to start. As I was going through my notes, I found a draft of an intro post already done! Reading my notes, looking at the setting and seeing your characters again reminds me how excited I was for this game, and rekindled my interest. You all made some really fascinating PCs, and I'd love to see them given a chance to stretch their legs in the deserts of Tal-Talab.

Are any of you still around and interested in giving it another go (well, a go, really)?

Sorry to hear about your parents house. but I don't even have my character anymore.

I will have to pass on continuing.

Wish you Happy Gaming.

I'm still here.

Still around - hope we can pull a game together still! Don't get too many floods in my town, luckily. I got called for jury duty a couple months ago but had it much easier - when I showed up on the day of the trial (a civil one, not criminal) I was told they'd already settled. Would've been my first time and I was curious how these things went.

Uff.. those are some rough months you had GM.
Glad you made it to the other side.

Here, and glad to give it a go!

Hope you get out from behind the 8-Ball there. Still here at this end.

Still here!  I'm up for it, however we start.

It's great to see so many of you still around and keen! I'll give it a couple more days for the remaining players to have a chance to check in and refresh my memory of your sheets, and aim to get an intro up by the start of the weekend.

Depending on how many signal interest, I might revise my plan and have one slightly larger party rather than two crews.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:21, Tue 30 May 2023.

Sounds good Boss, Eshma is ready!

Still game!

Any updates?

Not looking good, GM has not logged on in three weeks.