In reply to The Referee (msg # 2):

TL;DR: Tom Floyd, or Tom Stripes, is an affably conniving pirate. Not in a "backstab the party" way, but a "see the angles the party might play" sort of way.

Full Backstory:

Tom Floyd was born in London, 1604. Father perished in Jamestown expedition, mother killed by plague of '08. Forced into apprenticeship to printer at age of 8. Learned how to read and write and as little else as possible.

After printer's mysterious death in 1617, began true career as rake and miscreant. After mugging a drunk hermetic scholar, was arrested under the Vagabonds Act of 1593, whipped, and pressed into naval service in Dutch-Portuguese war. Service lasted just a month (and three more floggings) before he deserted with tobacco trader bound for Jamestown; followed privateers to St. Kitts, falling in with rogues at age 14.

Showing a natural curiosity and keenness, especially when well-motivated, young Tom learned everything there was to know about seamanship. But though he was a deft hand at the rudder, it was his nose for profit that steered him to success. He wove from crew to crew, always arriving before they seized a respectable prize and moving on as their luck turned. By all rights he should have made enemies, but Tom was mindful of those: with tact, generosity, and a sharp knife, he address his rivalries before they began.

By the time he was 22, young Tom was a modest institution in the Caribbean, ensured a respectable role (if not executive authority) wherever he slung his hammock. Unbeknownst to his fellows, he parlayed some of this increased access to information into a profitable discourse with a mainland aristocrat—passing dispatches to his factor in St. Nevis in exchange for substantial cash payments. A very profitable enterprise, amply concealed by lies, half-truths, and just one well-timed bullet.

At age 26, the winds are telling Tom it's time to make a bigger move.

Tom's friends sometimes call him "Stripes" or "Tom Stripes," nicknames he earned early in his career. He's embraced them by choosing striped garments, whenever clean ones of good size and cut present themselves, but it originally referred to the wicked cat-scars on his back.

Hi all~

I’m playing Karl (real name Alain de Grey)- a strange layabout with a few jokes, a bit of a temper and a party streak. He’s also a noble on the run from assassins due to the decidedly poor decision of winning a duel against someone with better social connections.


Backstory

Born into nobility in 1604, to a mother with an established name and a father of relatively new wealth. A fan of taboo pursuits in high society, he spent time exploring the seedier elements of the city which drew excited gossip from peers and disgust and animosity from his family.

His mother died after the birth of his sister, who was born with a physical disability, and he grew up especially protective of her even as rumors of her illegitimate origins grew.  There was a comfortable separation from themselves and the expectations of their peers and family, including their new step-mother and her relatives.

While out on the town one night, an impromptu duel broke out from a combination of alcohol, building resentment between two families, goading relatives and his own quick anger. The duel ended in the man's death.

After that, he was made to go abroad out of fear of retaliation. Striking out on his own at 22, the best place to disappear was in the ongoing war. He kept his head down until he was forced to take charge of a small force in the heat of battle and successfully, surprisingly, lead them to victory.

At 25, he quietly resigned his position to avoid discovery from his pursuers after the  victory brought too much attention and he took to the road. After a drunken night of gambling and increasingly terrible decisions, a group of men mistook him as a friendly german knight they had known by the name of Karl.

By 26, the lie had grown enough for him to accept that new identity as his own out of convenience, and he set off to find a way of life more suited to his circumstances and new beliefs.

In reply to The Referee (msg # 2):

Hello, I´m Solana, friendly neighborhood witch and the only reason you all aren´t reduced to eating moldy ship biscuit for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can thank me later.

Also if you have any news on my sister's whereabouts, I would greatly appreciate you letting me know.

In the meantime, please enjoy your constantly fresh food!

While we´re waiting for the remaining two players to introduce themselves, let´s  discuss the game.

As you may have noticed, none of your characters have their own ship, or enough money to buy one. That means that, before I let you all loose to roam the Caribbean as you please, you´re going on an introductory adventure that will result in the group acquiring a ship (unless things go horribly wrong, of course).

Your characters begin the in the English colony Charlestown on the island of Nevis. Solana, Karl and Daphne just arrived from Europe, quite possibly on the same ship, while Tom and Arthur may have been on the island for a while looking for work. I´m leaving it up to you how well any of you have gotten to know any of the others by this point.

Does anybody have any questions?

In reply to The Referee (msg # 6):

I don’t think I have any questions so far… probably will soon enough though! As far as the depth of relationships with the people on the ship…

I think Karl would probably ingratiate himself with the crew or passengers in a shallow way- join in any gambling or after hours shenanigans, light talk with the people he comes by on deck. He probably comes across as a little strange and distracted at the moment but well meaning until he has alcohol. He can be a bit of a shit stirrer.

Once on land, much the same except he’ll probably be lightly investigating less legal work opportunities when he can find it.

Hmm just kind of… as a jumping off point for seeing where the character connections might be~

In reply to The Referee (msg # 6):

If the last two are Chani and me, we have introduced ourself in the character thread

In reply to The Referee (msg # 6):

I don't think that Solana would have made much of an effort to make friends. At this point in time she knows her sister is missing but doesn't know who/what took her. I have a feeling that it'll take a while to gain her trust. She would be friendly and nice to the crew and other passengers but I don't think she would be open about all her problems right off the bat since she wouldn't know who is a friend and who is a foe.

All right, off we go.

Let your characters meet and roleplay a bit before the mysterious gentleman makes his offer to the group.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:42, Wed 03 Aug 2022.

Anyone who wants to can roll Intelligence plus Deception to try and catch a hint of Mister Johnson lying, and also Education plus Rulership to see if anything he says doesn´t make sense based on what your character knows.

Each time, roll 2d6 plus the characteristic score modifier plus the skill rank (or -3 if you don´t have the skill at all).

10:44, Today: Tom Floyd rolled 14 using 2d6+5 ((5,4)).


^Is there a better way to format or post our rolls?

In reply to The Referee (msg # 11):

11:05, Today: Karl Friedrich von Bodenwerder rolled 9 using 2d6+2.

(For the roll with the Int modifier)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:08, Fri 12 Aug 2022.

There´s a log of rolls below the entire dice roller configuration, near the bottom of the screen.

I can see both your rolls there, but that might be because I´m the GM. Can you guys both rolls or only your own?

Either way, since I can see the reason for the rolls, I think it´s enough if you just state the result here (and for which roll it was). Maybe also write stuff like "Intelligence plus Deception" in the "Reason for roll" field, for clarity.

In reply to The Referee (msg # 14):

Will do! And I can also see both rolls~

As for the results...

Karl, you don´t catch anything.

Tom, you get the impression that he´s honest with you. Well, as honest as lawyers or spymasters (and he might well be both) ever are with people. Also, while he almost certainly knows you´re a pirate, you´re pretty sure he´s dismissing you as small fry because you´re not "management", like himself or the sea captain. The Spanish probably would be quite happy to catch you, on general principle if nothing else.

In reply to The Referee (msg # 16):

Alrighty~~

All right... unless anyone has anything else they want to ask or say to Master Johnson, I think it is time to sign up to his venture.


Master Johnson is a tricky one, as I´m sure you´ve noticed, but I promise I am not trying to screw you or your characters over.

Nor is anyone in the adventure going to try and screw them over in ways you cannot prevent. Not in this adventure, at least.

In reply to The Referee (msg # 18):

Alrighty, all of the above sounds good to me!

The journey from Nassau to the ruins of La Navidad on the northern coast of Hispaniola will take about 4 days.

Let me know what your characters are going to do during those 4 days.

Rolling Carouse to befriend the crew. If I begin to feel I've succeeded, I'll start fishing for grievances the sailors have.

In reply to The Referee (msg # 20):

Beyond whatever carousing shenanigans that get going on the voyage at night because he can’t resist, I think Karl would be trying to get information on his fellow party members before leaving and befriending the higher ups on the ship- probably the second in command type people. Get some hot gossip and a line on connections to the higher up without drawing too much attention. Or that’s my intention anyway haha

And if anyone wants to rp a scene of a side conversation between player characters, Karl would definitely be trying to chat up the others now that they’ve been recruited together into this.

In reply to Karl Friedrich von Bodenwerder (msg # 22):

Tom is convivial with Karl, matching his energy. When they're one-on-one, Tom listens a lot more than he talks and gives Karl his full attention.

In the presence of the crew, however, Tom rarely engages directly with Karl. His motivation seems to be to insinuate himself as part of the crew, not quite just another passenger.

I´ve added some information on the crew to the NPC thread.

Tom learns all this over the course of the trip to Hispaniola.

Solana´s previous shipboard experience gives her at least a general sense of what the captain and first mate are like - discipline is fairly strict on any ship, but the first mate is still a bit of an asshole.

So does anyone want to do anything else during the trip? If not, we can skip to arrival at the site of La Navidad.

In reply to The Referee (msg # 25):

Um hmmm, I think I’m good. Karl is just getting to know people on the trip and discussing the mystery with others.

So, how do you all plan to search for the hiding place of the treasure?

You could cut straight through the forest to get to the area where the hiding place should be, or you could move along the beach to the ruins of La Navidad, then head in the direction given in the journal.

(Or you could come up with something else entirely...)