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You are a stranger in a strange world. Last night you went to sleep as normal, but when you awoke you were elsewhere. What’s more you are different, you still look and feel the same for the most part, but you feel a new power awaken within you, a power that is growing and changing with each passing day. What will you do with this new life? How will you make your mark upon this new and unfamiliar world? Only you can say, and only time will tell. The World Generally speaking the world is a fairly standard fantasy world, containing humans of various races, elves, orcs, and dwarves. Magic is known and common, if not exactly available to the average peasant, but nobles will generally have a court mage or two. Technology is pretty much what you’d expect from this sort of setting, no gunpowder, no steam-engine. This may seem a bit thin on the ground, but I am intentionally keeping details from applicants, as a big part of the game will be your characters dealing with culture shock and adjusting to not only awakening to divine powers, but doing it in a world completely unfamiliar to them. Know that the world will have room for a variety of playstyles ranging from courtly intrigue, to merchant empires, to popular uprisings, to barbarian invasions. If you have a really pressing question, that is very important for your character please feel free to ask me in IRC or via PM and I’ll try and answer as best I can without giving much away. Lastly a map to whet your appetites:  Characters Your character will be from some other world, where you were a mortal person. Whether you were important or a nobody is up to you. Feel free to app whatever background you think will be interesting and fun to play. The only real hard and fast rule I’m using is that physics work fundamentally differently in this world even if the apparent effect is the same, so please don’t app a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and expect to be able to invent the steam engine and the machine gun. Your characters will find any high-tech devices they bring along simply will fail to function. Also of note, you don’t have to play as one of the existing species in the game. However, if you are not a human, elf, orc, or dwarf, expect that to be noticed and people to respond to it. Your character should consist of [+6] in mortal qualities, and a single [+2] divine domain. Your mortal qualities can be pretty much whatever you want them to be, are you great with a sword, very strong, handsome or pretty, know lots of esoteric lore, etc. Just as a warning, you will be going to a completely foreign world, so qualities that apply solely to your previous world such as political connections or favors owed would be useless where you’re going. Your domain can be nearly anything, it represents your character's burgeoning divinity. My advice would be to pick something you think you’ll be able to use, and that will have interesting effects. Also, do not app a character with domains that will be impossible for me to resolve in a consistent manner like Time[+2]. If you have doubts or questions come talk to me on IRC and I’d be happy to help you as much as I can. Lastly, your character should have a single [-2] drawback. This is some sort of inherent character flaw. It is important that this be something you would be able and willing to invoke. System I’ll be using PDQ for this game. It’s a pretty simple and rules light system. I’ll be doing all of the DC setting and rolling behind the curtain. The only major change to vanilla PDQ will be with using drawbacks. When you as a player or I as the GM invoke a character’s drawback, I will give you a bonus point. BP can be spent to add +2 to a future roll. This means it's important to pick a drawback you’ll be comfortable using. App Format What I want from you: A name - I feel like this goes without saying. However, of note please don’t pick a name that is exceptionally long or exceptionally hard to spell. A rule of thumb, if I can’t read your character’s name out loud without a pronunciation dictionary it is not a workable name. A Picture - Most games have this be optional, but I really want you to include one. They tell me a lot about character and they’ll make it easier to remember who your person is. Description - Tell me about your character, what do you look like. Keep in mind that you can play as something that otherwise does not exist in the world, but it will not go unnoticed. How people react will vary, but they will react. Who were you in your old world? - Give me some details, this is a chance to flesh out who your character is and where they are from. The more detail you give me, the better I’ll be able to set things up for your character if they get picked. Also, keep in mind nothing from the old world is getting carried over but your PC so feel free to go wild. Mortal Qualities - What’re you good at, what sets you apart? Feel free to spread out your [+6] any way you want. Anything your traditional fantasy hero could do can be used as a mortal quality. Ranging from being a swordmaster, fire-mage, pickpocket, charismatic speaker, politician, general, etc. Magic is kosher as a Mortal Quality, but generally its power-level should be tied into the number of traits it take up. So even if you put Archmage[+2] it’ll still be less mechanically effective than bumbling apprentice[+4]. Your mortal traits can be exceptional, but try and keep them from getting too super-human. However, don’t try and cheese it and put something overpowered in here. If I see Destroy the World[+2] or something like that I will a) never pick you, and b) yell at you. If in doubt whether a trait should be mortal or divine please ask me and I’ll help you. Divine Domain - Your character has begun the transformation into godhood. List their first domain, a +2 supernatural quality of some sort. This is something clearly super-human, do you have command over an element, do you control some fundamental concept of the universe? This may seem to have some overlap with magic or other Mortal Qualities, but keep in mind a Divine Domain will always be more potent than a Mortal Quality. If you’ve got the domain of Fire[+2] you’ll be able to suppress the fireball of the most experienced fire-mage[+12], or make it explode in his hand, or some other thing. It can range from an element, to an abstract concept, to something more concrete, but it's a sphere your character will be able to exert tremendous influence over. Drawback - What is your character’s biggest flaw, either personality-wise or physically. Make it something you would be comfortable invoking, and know that I reserve the right to invoke it for you when I feel it's appropriate. Also, this can change over the course of the game as your character changes, so don’t feel stuck with this. What do you want out of the game? Give me an idea of what sort of gameplay experience you're looking for. What do you want your character to accomplish, what sort of things do you enjoy? If you have any questions or need advice on Qualities, Domains or Drawbacks, feel free to ask me about them. Other Business If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via PMs. You can also often find me in #ohgod on synirc. I’m happy to help with questions about the game or your character. I am looking for 5ish players. Deadline for apps will be 11:59PM EST on Friday, November 20th. I’ll try and have picks up by the following Monday.
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Nov 6, 2015 03:01
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:22 |
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dog kisser posted:Gannet Not gonna lie, a non-sentient character is a bridge too far. I really don't like this concept, and will probably not pick it. I encourage you to app something else. Also just as a general note, even if I was ok with the concept this character would need some work. Your mortal qualities are perhaps a bit too specialized, combined with your very abstract divine domain, I can think of quite a few situations where your character would be unable to do anything. This is something I generally want to discourage because it pidgeonholes me as a GM to only being able to put you in very specific locations and situations, and it makes it more likely you'll end up having a bad time playing. I definitely encourage you to go back to the drawing board, because the concept is certainly novel and outside the box and I'd like to see what you come up with that is a bit more workable. Theantero posted:Winston Smithers I like your 1984 reference, but as a warning if you are picked there is no way you will be able to contact your home dimension, and doubly no way you will be able to invite them to the gameworld. To sort of let you behind the curtain, having characters be from foreign worlds is primarily a device to deny them knowledge of the gameworld and create a feeling of culture-shock. It also lets people have some more flexibility in who they can apply as well, which is another plus. Under pretty much no circumstance am I going to let any player connect to or bring more stuff from their home dimension. Also, I am a bit concerned that your guy is just going to go all Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court with a facade of magitech. Can you give me some examples of what you'd do with Artifice? You're certainly free to keep it as a character motivation as long as you are fully aware it will not succeed. Two new general rules to prevent future confusion:
If people want advice or have questions I'm on irc in #ohgod, feel free to drop by and ask me questions.
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Nov 7, 2015 01:44
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Ok, time for another round of app review. Like last time, if I've talked to you about your app on IRC, I'm not going to repeat it here.Redeye Flight posted:Marko Krepostnoy Everything seems to be in order. Mortal Qualities are pretty straightforward and look usable. Same with your Domain. Strong app. Pingcode posted:Khagan Another good app, its hard to go wrong with an elemental domain, and it fits the character well. Qualities and drawback are also good. I'm glad to be getting lots of good apps. It'll making picking hard. The Lord of Hats posted:Xochi Seems ok. Can you maybe give me some idea on what you'd use Itzli's Last Words[+2] for? Beyond just general arcane knowledge.
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Nov 13, 2015 10:59
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Just a notice, a little less than 48 hours remain until the deadline for apps. So if you still want to submit a character and haven't yet, then I would recommend starting quickly.
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Nov 19, 2015 09:17
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It closes at midnight. I'll put up a post when it closes.
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Nov 20, 2015 18:36
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Alright, we've hit the deadline. No new apps will be accepted at this point. I'm going to go through and make picks.
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Nov 21, 2015 06:00
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Ok, it was a difficult decision. Difficult enough that I've decided to take 10 characters instead of 5 or 6. So those who made the cut are: I Am Communist - Princeps Adamas HiKaizer - David Wells Shardix - Aldeberan MiltonSlavemaster - Talleyrand The Lord of Hats - Theodore Beauregarde JamezBfod - Kahuna Theantro - Winston Smithers Redeye Flight - Marko Krepostnoy Shogeton - Bo Zhang mcclay - The Count of Alisburg Reserves: You two were a hairsbreadth away from getting picked, so if at any point any of my players drop I'll PM you and ask you if you're still interested. pingcode - Khagan TheCog - Azyr Hollow
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Nov 21, 2015 07:10
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Gamethread is Up
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Nov 21, 2015 09:09
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Hey, just an FYI. I'm going to be out of town without access to my desktop for most of next week. I'll try and work on stuff on my phone, but the update pace will probably slow significantly until next weekend.
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Nov 23, 2015 07:08
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Just as a notice, you might have seen people earning new Qualities. This is a thing that can happen, if your character learns a new skill or goes through some other defining moment, I'll reward you with a mortal quality to reflect it, you might also see an existing quality change depending on the circumstances. Later on, your characters will begin to gain additional Divine Domains, these will be based on your character's actions throughout the game. Now, generally I will be handing them out to you, but if you get one and strongly object to it, let me know and I'm happy to discuss alternatives. Also, just as a general thing, if you're having trouble, or not having fun, or something's bothering you, definitely feel free to contact me on IRC or via PM and I'm happy to talk with you and figure out steps we can take to make the game more fun for you.
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Dec 2, 2015 01:56
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MiltonSlavemasta, if you haven't posted by 12:01am EST on 12/7 you're getting the boot for flaking. Generally I'll try and be understanding if RL stuff comes up, but please try and post at least once a week, two weeks without a post or an explanation and you're out of the game.
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Dec 3, 2015 06:20
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Alright, Milton, you're out for inactivity. That means I'm in the market for a new elven character. I'll set an initial deadline of Friday, December 11th, but I reserve the right to pick sooner if something comes up that's a great fit. You can app non-elf related characters, but you will have a severe uphill climb. Also, Pingcode since I did promise you a reserve slot and I really liked your character, if you're still interested I will let you in as well. I'd PM this to you, but apparently you don't have plat.
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Dec 7, 2015 23:51
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Pingcode posted:Heya! I'm still interested, yeah! Your first post is in the update I just posted. Enjoy the game.
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Dec 12, 2015 00:59
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Ok, I decided to go with Scribe Kynä posted by Rhjamiz for my pick. Thanks to everyone else who apped, this was a hard choice. Rhjamiz you're intro is in the update I just posted.
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Dec 13, 2015 01:40
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Hey mcclay, one rank in PDQ is +2. Meaning your two ranks of damage are +4.
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Dec 20, 2015 05:13
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Updates will be slow until this upcoming Monday, as I'll be visiting family and thus relegated to phone-posting.
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Dec 24, 2015 06:30
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Hey McClay. I'm not sure I understand your action. Can you be a bit more specific about what powers your looking for from them?
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Jan 15, 2016 05:36
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 Map with Duchy Names
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Feb 25, 2016 04:22
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JamezBfod posted:What is with the territory West-NorthWest that isn't colored like the rest of the Plains but not under the human territorial boundaries? mcclay posted:Think thats the elves. Color represent terrain, not population. White is snowy/arctic, Green is hills and plains with occasional forests, yellow is savannah, dark green is concentrated forests, blue is water.
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Feb 27, 2016 05:41
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Update delayed until tomorrow, as my board game group ran longer than I expected.
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Mar 31, 2016 05:24
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Just a heads up, there will be no updates this upcoming weekend as I will be out of town. Managed to snag Hamilton ticket, hurray!
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Apr 14, 2016 05:02
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So Hamilton was beyond amazing, if you can beg, borrow, or steal a ticket, definitely go as it lives up to the utterly ridiculous levels of hype. In actually game related news, Strangers In a Strange World is now official heading towards its first Age break. Last update of the age will be on May 1, 2016. After that, I take a week off from updating to actually go about fast-forwarding the world a century or two into the future. You'll get an IC idea that this is going to happen in the next update.
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Apr 18, 2016 08:33
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So something multiple people have run into, but I thought worth mentioning. The more ranks you get the fuzzier your pre-godhood memories become. At 3 Ranks, you can remember your life in broad strokes, but stuff like names and faces are indistinct and hard to remember. At 4 ranks the general arc of events is still there, but incomplete. However, details are just straight up gone. This increases the more ranks, so once people start get 5+ it'll get even worse.
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Apr 25, 2016 05:29
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So we've made it through age 1, hurray. So while I spend this week prepping for age 2, I'd like to get some feedback. What did you like? What didn't you like? What you you like to see more/less of? That sort of thing.
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May 2, 2016 06:01
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This is all good stuff, some of this will be resolved just by moving to the second age when you are a bit more well established and known, however it seems I definitely went a bit far in trying to make the world broken and in need of fixing. However, some of the problems may be related to the pace of my posting, and I might be better able to address them if I switched from daily to every other day. However, the regular daily schedule seemed like a high point to many of you too. So I want to hear your thoughts over whether you'd rather have me stick to daily or switch to every other day so I can put more time into the updates.
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May 2, 2016 22:55
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Hoping to get some more responses on daily vs. every other day. However, in the meantime I have another question. Do people want a big info-dump post at the beginning of the age, or do they want to do a bit of exploring in a fashion similar to when the game first started and learn how the world has changed as their characters do?
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May 5, 2016 03:27
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Oh, I forgot to mention Divine Body[+10] got phased out over the age break. I'll process existing actions that use it, but you guys should rely on domains only from now on.
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May 11, 2016 04:04
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Ok, just to clarify my new schedule. I'm taking Wednesdays and Fridays off. I was on the fence about Wednesdays, but having gotten back from my board-game group an hour ago, I find I'm writing like poo poo. So, next update will be tomorrow.
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May 12, 2016 04:33
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Just a friendly reminder. No update tomorrow as I am taking Wednesdays and Fridays off.
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May 18, 2016 05:12
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No update tonight, slight writer's block. I'll try and get one up tomorrow during the day, since I'm taking the day off of work for my birthday.
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Jun 8, 2016 07:04
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Updated delayed till tomorrow. Thanks a lot Brexit.
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Jun 24, 2016 05:59
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Updated delayed due to long chat and low motivation.
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Jul 1, 2016 05:16
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Writer's block + the need to get up early tomorrow means update is delayed until tomorrow night.
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Aug 8, 2016 04:44
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I've been dealing with a bit of burnout and just a general creative rut recently, which is why updating has been so erratic. So, to try and regularize the situation someone, I'm officially switching from daily to every other day in terms of update schedule. Hopefully that'll give some time for our slower posters to keep up more easily, while also lessening my burnout.
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Aug 24, 2016 04:31
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No update tonight. Work was brutal today.
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Sep 13, 2016 23:44
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Currently waiting to see if anyone else will post. If no other posts by Monday evening, I'll update with just Winston.
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Sep 19, 2016 05:28
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No worry. I've been a bit slow to post myself recently. Take as much time as you need.
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Oct 2, 2016 02:00
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:22 |
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Indefinite delay in my game as I managed to sprain my wrist severely enough that I had to go to the hospital to get it looked at, nothing's broken but I can't type with it because it hurts to twist it. I'll let you know when I've recovered sufficiently to start typing two-handed again.
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Nov 10, 2016 00:15
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