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Hashtag Yoloswag
Mar 24, 2013

...I'm sorry. I can't seem to remember any of the rest.
The War of Burning Roses

Long ago, a great and terrible war was fought under the everlasting twilight of the Sleeping Sky. The ancient kings of the Firelands and the Wood's Grace could not reconcile their differences, and so they moved to destroy each other and take the other's land. However, their armies were evenly matched, and even with their sorceries one king could not overcome the other, and so the great and terrible war came to a stalemate in the land between the two great nations.

As the Army of Fire advanced, it burned everything in its wake; and as the Army of Wood advanced, the great, sprawling roots tore the earth asunder. The people of the Sky nation were helpless in the midst of the war; many innocents died and many villages were destroyed.

The last survivors of the Sky nation banded together, surrounded by the two armies, and prayed as one to the Sky Dragon; and She answered their prayers, decimating the armies and protecting the Sky people. But too much had been lost, and so She carried them into the heavens.

These days, the Sky nation lies in ruins, one half covered in scorched permafrost and the other encroached upon by the roots of the eldest trees of the Wood, frozen into sharp, terrifying spires; but the Sky people live on to this day, thriving in their great, prosperous and beautiful cities in the clouds.

Hashtag Yoloswag fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Jun 17, 2014

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Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
I'm tagging in Anias to run City of the Spider Queen tomorrow; I have some stuff going on and I want to spend some more time preparing things for this next part of the campaign.

RPZip
Feb 6, 2009

WORDS IN THE HEART
CANNOT BE TAKEN
<Arivia> post a thiiiiiiiing
<RPZip> in what
<Arivia> in btb!

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
Hey everyone! I just cleared the chat log for BtB, this should make it a lot faster next session. Before I did, I saved a copy of the log for anyone who wants to reference it - this is everything we've ever said going back to Anias spamming macros before the first session. I'll post a link on Obsidian Portal, but it's not going away if you don't grab it right now.

Hashtag Yoloswag
Mar 24, 2013

...I'm sorry. I can't seem to remember any of the rest.

Hei Wuya, the Black Crow

Hei Wuya was swayed by the promise of immortality at the young age of 16 - but then, what teenager doesn't want to retain their youth forever? He left the tengu mercantile families, brainwashed by the Phoenicians and led to believe that their trade was transient, unable to bring the permanent happiness that would result from the eternal rebirth of the soul.

It's easy to stay disillusioned when you're a low-ranking cultist, fed a torrent of lies, but Hei was promoted...and horrified by the new secrets he learned. The family he thought he'd belonged to, reveling in the idea of eternal peace and happiness, was shattered as he realized that the Phoenicians were an insane doomsday cult. He fled in the night, wandering for a week before a Raven Knight - Argale, to be specific, but before he'd risen to the rank of commander - found him, half-starved in the forest. As luck would have it, his badge had been torn off as he crawled through brambles; if he'd still had it when Argale found him, he would have been slain on the spot (at least, this is what he believes).

That was five years ago; after recovering, he offered his services as a sneak and assassin to the then-reigning commander in order to pay off his debt to the Knights. In time, he became one of their most respected members; none of the Knights know of his prior involvement with the Cult of the Phoenix.

Hei is almost unbearably smug, and steals peoples' wallets and other trinkets just as a fun exercise, much to the chagrin of many Knights. He always returns them, of course. He stands a bit shorter than most human men and is thin but athletic, but looks a bit bulkier because of the thick cotton clothing he wears beneath his dark cloak - both meant to conceal many, many knives. Like most tengu, he does not have wings.

Hashtag Yoloswag fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Jul 4, 2014

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
Thanks for playing everyone! It was fun!

640 experience each for the catfolk fight. You're now at 13,952 / 15,000 XP to level 5.

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
Loot catch up from the Face:

-A reminder, you found 2 50g gold bars the very first session in the Face. (those were already noted in the thread)

-In the secret armoury was: mwk breastplate, light hammer with a snowflake engraved on the head, glowing blue (+1 light hammer, glows as a torch), small metal flask with a shield painted on the side (potion of shield of faith), small metal flask with a swirl painted on the side (potion of protection from chaos)

-Scattered around the alchemist's laboratory were: a small red ceramic jug with a yellow star painted on it (oil of dispel magic), a metal scroll tube with a snowflake gouged into the side (scroll of ice storm), a length of sheep hide with symbols sewn into it with golden thread (scroll of holy might), and a stick of blackened, almost broken wood (wand of touch of idiocy, 12 charges). There was also that +1 hp potion, which Asgall drank.

-Stuck in the stupid mosquito swamp area was: An old satchel slips out from under the disintegrating body, and you grab it, looking for something to make this disgusting ordeal worth it. Inside is an tiny earthenware jar (potion of burrow), and a short golden rod with a flower made of ivory on the end (wand of bless.)

-And in the grick's lair was a +1 greatsword. Scattered around the chamber is 52 gp.


And you spent 540gp last session to get Thomas and Lagron healed of their diseases.

Oh, and just to be complete with note-keeping, here's the two notes you found in the Face:

At the very first room at the bottom of the stairs: “She’s gone mad. Madder! She patrols the halls, burning anything she sees! We run and hide, but her wrath has cut us off from escape to the warrens below. She seems to be everywhere, all the time. I’m going to try and run for the entrance - maybe I can get out somehow. Maybe she’ll be too busy burning her own traps to care about me. I can only hope. I should have left long ago, with the others.”

In the rotting library with the vampiric mists: “Adake, I’m not an idiot. I know we’re just cannon fodder for whoever comes after her. But the promise! No, I refuse to sit by and twiddle my thumbs. I’m going to make a break for one of the lower levels tonight, find her apprentices in that well they keep talking about and prove myself to them! I found three ways down. I can’t use the two everyone knows about: there’s the grand staircase (watched over). The back staircase is guarded by that skeleton reading a spellbook. So I’m going to rappel down that trash hole in the menagerie. You should come with me - tonight. We both know we deserve better.
-Methaxa”

Arivia fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Jul 6, 2014

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
And I should really put this on the wiki, but a list of major places so far in the game:

Arc, The: A district in Selnar.
Corazura: The imperialistic elven empire.
Drowning Lands: An adjacent wedge of Sakara to the Wood's Grace.
Heartwood: The sleepy farming village you started in.
High Lorvan: The town around the Raven Knights' keep. Also just called the keep a lot.
Rise, The: A district in Selnar.
Saplingtown: A district in Selnar.
Sarvidal: The village you evacuated from the elf attack; also leered over by the necromancer's castle.
Selnar: Both the name of the Raven Kingdom and its capital city, the Raven City. Just Selnar in both cases.
Sleeping Sky: An adjacent wedge of Sakara to the Wood's Grace.
The Wood's Grace: The current "wedge" of Sakara that you're in.

That's it, actually - that's every community you've been to or through.

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
Hey everyone, we're down 2 people this weekend - both Wahad and RPZip are unable to make it.

With that in mind, would people rather see if we can play despite that, or should we just take a week off? I can probably fit what I have in mind for a group of 4, but it won't be as fun without all of you.

Hashtag Yoloswag
Mar 24, 2013

...I'm sorry. I can't seem to remember any of the rest.
I'm fine either way, if everyone else wants to play then I'm up for it.

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
No game this week, then.

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
Wahad we did some talking after you left! Get in touch with me when you can, I have some questions to ask you. (And Tryphon is still alive just fine!)

We're doing a Dungeon World one-shot this next weekend:

Welcome to Salt Rise. At the edge of the Firelands, where the World Sea comes in-land and the great mountains of the World Tree's roots keep the Metal's Heart away, are the great Salt Flats. It's too hot in the Firelands for real water in the sandy desert toward this side, so all the water that runs inland from the World Sea dries up over the rocks and sand creating great basins, rivers, and lakes of low salty water. Here, enterprising humans, dwarves, and androids carve at the earth, living in small camps, cutting away large slabs of pure salt to be used all over Sakara.

The Salt Flats are desolate at best: there's very few trees, the only grasses are yellowed and short, and all the water is either trucked in in giant sealed tubs or produced on-site by paid elementals. Salt Rise is the main trading point, a town of maybe two hundred where miners and merchants buy and sell before moving back or moving on. Salt Rise has been safeguarded from the spirits who rampage across the sands for years by an ancient totem - the Lily of Flames - kept in a glass jar high above the town's centre. Without the Lily, the ancient truce is broken, and the spirit ravager Kallorax and his forces will burn Salt Rise down to ashes and dust.

Someone stole the Lily last night, and headed southeast, into the heart of the Salt Flats. Who took it? Why? Where are they going?

You are the only ones with any fighting experience in Salt Rise the day after the theft - and you are who the town turns to. You have two options: fight, or leave; and you choose the first, stumbling out of Salt Rise with these five other strangers the next morning. Better hope you find this thing quick - or you'll run out of water and then everyone will die.

Hey everyone make a Level 1 Dungeon World character, any playbook (I need a copy.) Picture, short biography, and the filled in sheet like always.

Feel free to add additional details to the Firelands: currently it's human-dominated by a central government called the Enonan Empire, and becomes grasslands and jungle towards the edge with the Sleeping Sky.

I think I need to give you some character creation questions but I'll do that in a little bit.

Arivia fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Jul 20, 2014

100 degrees Calcium
Jan 23, 2011



Gonna make a Slayer

Hashtag Yoloswag
Mar 24, 2013

...I'm sorry. I can't seem to remember any of the rest.

Helix Hedera

A dryad from the Wood's Grace that moved to Salt Rise on a mission to find a way to bring renewable water to the Firelands. Maintains the Green Spire, a building carved out of a tree he nursed to adulthood over two sleepless weeks; the Spire provides much-needed shade and a splash of color in the dry, brown savannah. The grasses around the Spire are greener than in the rest of the town, and occasionally a flower may even bloom nearby.

Cool, collected and mysterious, Helix is often sought out for spiritual advice, which he gladly (but often cryptically) gives. Terrified by fire for obvious reasons; he often stares out over the plains to the northeast from the top of the Spire, making sure the everlasting flames aren't making their way toward Salt Rise.

pre:
Helix Hedera
Level 1 Rainlord

HP: 12/17
Damage: d8
Armor: 1
Rain: 1/3
XP: 1

STR 15 (+1)
DEX 09 (+0)
CON 13 (+1)
INT 12 (+0)
WIS 16 (+2)
CHA 08 (-1)

Drive: Salvation
Save another from certain harm

Liquidity: Shadow (Ward +WIS)
Your body is dark and ethereal, making you difficult to spot.
When you are in water, rain, or fog, you cannot be seen
unless you want to be.

Liquid Body
Underneath a thin layer of semi-amorphous skin, your insides are entirely made of
liquid, from Sola's blessed rains. As a result, your body can stretch and compress in
ways that bodies of flesh cannot possibly mimic.
You can fit through incredibly narrow gaps - anything you can reach your arm through
will fit your entire body. When you Defy Danger by taking advantage of your body's
inherent flexibility, roll +Ward.
When you wield a Hand weapon, it also gains the Close tag. When you wield a Close
weapon, it also gains the Reach tag.

Rain Man
Wherever you go, the rain will always follow. Whenever you Make Camp, it will
rain in the area around you. When you spend at least a short rest in water, rain,
or fog, you hold 3-Rain.
At any time, you can spend 1-Rain to fill the area within Reach around you with
rain or fog, your choice. The rain or fog will only last a minute or so, but it will
come even if you are indoors or underground. This rain or fog moves with you
for as long as it lasts.

Liquid Cache
With a body made entirely of liquid, you can carry your supplies inside of you, as
long as the water would not ruin them and you do not exceed your Load. Supplies
held inside you can never be taken from you without your permission, but they are
clearly visible inside you if you don't cover up. You can retrieve anything hidden
inside you at any time, without needing to dig through your body for it.

Deluge
When you unleash a blast of water from inside your body, spend 1-Rain and
roll +Ward. On a 10+, choose three. On a 7-9, choose two.
• You slam back a single enemy within Reach, pushing them straight away from
you up to Near range. If they slam into something or someone, deal your damage.
• You create a wave around you, knocking everything within Reach off their feet.
• You don't waterlog, sweep away, or damage anything or anyone important, either
around you or from your Liquid Cache.
• The big splash doesn't draw any unwanted attention.

Bonds
_____________ has a mission I must help them complete.
My duties rely on the help of Ness.
_____________ does not understand me, and I do not
understand them.

Gear (3/8)
Monster feed (8 uses, 1 weight)
A blessed sword (close, 1 weight). It glows in the presence of those who mean you harm.
Lightweave armor, worn under your skin (1 armor, 1 weight)
A badge of rank and 30 coin

Hashtag Yoloswag fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Aug 10, 2014

Wahad
May 19, 2011

There is no escape.


In the Firelands, few things can truly be called living; and even less have some semblance of civilization among them. But the Lizard-folk, or the Afaya as they call themselves, are a hardy people, and their way of life has existed there in the desert for thousands of years. Their bodies are uniquely adapted to the desert, able to subsist on very little amounts of water over longer periods of time. Their priests and mages, however, have the ability to call on the favor of Yemaya, their Mother-goddess, to bless them with rain and wind.

Thrice a year, all the wandering tribes come together in the sacred grounds, the location of which is known only to them, for then is the time to honor Her gifts, and through the combined power of their a great storm gathers overhead in which all the Afaya bathe and dance and pray. It provides the desert with life, and for a day or two after these grand celebrations, the entire desert comes to life, hidden plants blooming, before the sweltering heat of the sun comes back to scorch everything into submission once more.

Ayra is one of these mages, though is place is no longer with the tribes. Once upon a time was exiled for reasons he declines to share and now spends his time roaming among the other races, selling his services as a common mercenary. His power is still at his command, and many of the weaker races are very grateful for the water and cooling wind that he can call up with ease; so he is high demand still. But most of them are rather off-put by the lizardman's odd mannerisms and customs - for despite his exile, he still holds his people and traditions dear to his heart, which often goes directly against the laws of some of the other races.

pre:
Name: Ayra
Look: Wild HairCrest, Worn RobesLoincloth, Creepy Body, Touch of Static
Class: The Mage

Race: ElfLizardman
Whenever a magical effect happens close by, you can feel it, and
tell roughly which direction and how far it is from you.

Alignment: Good
Use magic to directly aid another.

HP: 17
Armor: 1 
Damage: d4

Stats
STR  9 (+0)
DEX 15 (+1)
CON 13 (+1)
INT 16 (+2)
WIS 12 (+0)
CHA  8 (-1)

Moves

Arcane Learning
You are a font of esoteric knowledge. When you Spout Lore or Discern Realities about
something magical or otherwise arcane, on a 10+ the GM will also tell you a little-known
secret about the subject.

Cast a Spell (INT)
When you weave a spell to help solve a problem, describe it and roll +INT. Spells cast this
way can never deal damage directly. On a 10+, the spell certainly helps, but choose one.
On a 7-9, the spell takes effect, but the choose two:
• Your spell won't last long - you'll need to hurry to take advantage of it.
• Your spell affects either much more or much less than you wanted it to.
• Your spell has unforeseen side effects, and might draw unwanted attention.
• The casting saps your energy. You take -1 ongoing to INT until you have a few minutes
to clear your head.
On a miss, something's gone horribly wrong. Your spell may well have worked, but you
will regret casting it.

Spell Focus
Your magical studies are centered on a particular kind of magic, an aspect of the metaphysical
world from which you take inspiration. When you weave a spell that is Aligned to your Focus, 
your modifier to the roll can't be less than +1. When you weave a spell that is neither Aligned 
nor Opposed to your Focus, take -1 to the roll. You can never weave a spell if it is Opposed to your focus.

Focus; The Storm
Look; Touch of Static
Aligned; Fog and Lightning, Control Wind and Rain, Move like the Wind
Opposed; Stasis and Calm, Creating Anything Solid or Permanent

Black Magic (INT)
When you weave a spell to inflict pain, choose two tags and roll +INT. If
you do not pick any Range tags, the Range defaults to Hand. On a hit, deal
1d8 damage. On a 7-9, also choose 1:
• You draw unwanted attention or put someone in a spot.
• The GM removes a non-range tag of their choice, and you deal -1 damage.
• The casting saps your energy. You take -1 ongoing to INT until you have
a few minutes to clear your head.
Tags: Reach, Near, Debilitating (-1 damage), Elemental (choose 1), Forceful,
Piercing 1, Subtle, Two Targets (-1 damage)

Gear
- Dungeon Ration (5 uses, 1 weight)
- Arcane Treasure - Claw Necklace (power source, 1 weight)
- Leather Armor Iron Bands (1 armor, 1 weight)
- Dagger Claws (hand, 1 weight)
- One healing potion
Load 4/7

Bonds
I have shown Janwen the power of the arcane arts.
I suspect _______________ fears what they do not understand.
_______________ knows the secret to my powers.

Wahad fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Aug 9, 2014

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
Unrelated to DW, and because we're not sure what we're up to, here's the XP and treasure for yesterday's session:

You each receive 800 XP for the fight with the ninjas. That brings you to 14,792 / 15,000 XP to level 5.

On the ninjas bodies are: a +1 wakizashi, nine masterwork wakizashi, five suits of masterwork leather lamellar armour, 100 masterwork shuriken, 4 scrolls of burning hands, 4 scrolls of communal resist energy, and 5 potions of cure moderate wounds.

In addition, the leader - the ninja in red who was also the tavern wench - has a black quill pen stuck in a pocket of his vest. Looking at it closer, it's a raven's feather.

100 degrees Calcium
Jan 23, 2011



haha what a bunch of weeaboos

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
I'd like everyone's sheets and backgrounds for the one-shot by Friday night so that I can go over them in relation to what I have planned.

Thanks!

100 degrees Calcium
Jan 23, 2011



Valmiki


When the foul necromancer Kanare Rose attacked the Raven Knights' keep in High Lorvan, the dark magic should have killed the keep's librarian. But being at the perimeter of the blast saved Valmiki's life, in a sense. The fel energies invaded his body and transformed him. His blood was drained and replaced with the essence of the necromancer's evil. When he was discovered, the alchemist's did everything they could but in the end all they could do was inform him that he was on borrowed time.

While the arcane vileness that runs through his veins will someday kill him, it has also granted him new strength and agility. Knowing that he only has a short time to live and not content to spend the rest of that time surrounded by books and stone walls, Valmiki left the keep. Unconstrained by the political realities of the Order of the Raven, he dedicated himself anew to finding and hunting the creatures that torment and prey on the innocent.

pre:
Name: Valmiki
Playbook: The Slayer
Look: Burning Eyes; Wild Hair; Scarred Body; Worn Clothing

Drive: Protect The Innocent
Destroy a threat to civilization purely for the sake of
others.

Origin: Mutation
Your body has been subjected to harsh alchemical 
modification. You are immune to poisons and diseases, 
and your blood is toxic to other creature.

Stats
STR 16 (+2)
DEX 13 (+1)
CON 12 (+0)
INT 15 (+1)
WIS  9 (+0)
CHA  8 (-1)

HP: 20
Damage: d10
Armor: 1

Monster Hunter
When you spend downtime researching or preparing against one particular kind of 
enemy, roll +INT. On a 10+, hold 3 Readiness against that enemy. On a 7-9, hold 2.
On a 6-, hold 1, in addition to whatever the GM says.

When engaged in battle, you may spend Readiness against an enemy, one-for-one, 
on the following:
)Maim it
)Take something important from it
)Predict its movements - take the 10+ result when Defying Danger.

Bestiary Knowledge
You are learned about monsters and how to fight them. Take +1 to Spout Lore 
about dangerous creatures. When you first encounter a monster, you may ask the
GM "how can this be killed?" and they will answer honestly, or ask you to answer.

Tools of the Trade
You carry an arsenal of specialist monster tools - siler bolts, wooden stakes,
lamp oil and so on. When you rummage through your arsenal for the right weapon,
roll +INT. On a 10+, you pull out just the thing, right now. ON a 7-9, pick one:
)You only have something similar.
)You packed just the thing, but spend 1 Readiness.

Grisly Trophy
When you slay a dangerous creature, you may impart some of its power into a
trophy (1 weight) - a horn, a claw, a skull, or some other body part. For every trophy
you take, the GM will give you an appropriate nonmagical move related to the
monster's move list. As long as you wear the trophy on your person, you may
perform that move, though you may have to Defy Danger to do so.

Monstrum
You can always find trouble wherever you go. Or maybe it follows you. When you
enter a settlement for the first time, the GM will tell you what danger the local
folk fear most, or at least what the rumours and stories say.

Gear
Studded Leather (1 armor, 1 weight)
Dungeon Rations (5 uses, 1 weight)
Arsenal (2 weight)
Barbed Spear (reach, piercing 2, 1 weight)
Crossbow (near, far, reload, 2 weight)
Quarrels (3 ammo)
Bolas (thrown, near, forceful, 1 ammo)

Load: 7/12

100 degrees Calcium fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Jul 23, 2014

Gao
Aug 14, 2005
"Something." - A famous guy


The Bentley family has been the home of mayors, bankers, and minor nobility in various parts of The Wood's Grace for generations. Their reputation as shrewd business people, good leaders, and smooth talkers is mostly well deserved. So you can imagine the frustration of Rupert and Margaret Bentley as they found their daughter far more interested in picking fights with other children, often much larger than her, than any sort of education. They'd hoped that fencing lessons would at least focus her talents in a more appropriate direction for someone of her standing, but it was so hard to get her to care about the rules or honor when she got into a fight.

When Ness came of age, her parents used some connections to get her a job in the city watch in Selnar, figuring that she might at least make some good connections there and maybe work that need for violence out of her system. Ness was just pleased that she was now getting paid to bash people's faces in. It wasn't as often as she liked, but there was enough criminal activity in the city and bandit activity just outside of it to keep her satisfied.

This worked for a few years, but more and more people started getting into this new religion. Something about a phoenix and resurrection or some nonsense. Ness didn't really care about the details, and, particularly when drunk, would make crude jokes about “that drat fire chicken or whatever.” This got a colder and colder response over time, coming to a head one drunken, half remembered night where a brawl broke out, and somehow a couple of Phoenicians ended up dead. She woke up at the house of a friend, who warned her that she needed to get far away and fast. She wandered around doing paid odd jobs, eventually ending up in Salt Rise.

Ness is blunt and sees little value in complex etiquette or drawn out talks if the swing of a sword would solve the problem faster. She loves a good fight, but is uninteresting in bullying the weak, if only because there's no challenge.


quote:

Name: Vanessa “Ness” Bentley III
Core Rulebook Fighter

STR: 16 +2
DEX: 13 +1
CON: 15 +1
INT: 8 -1
WIS: 9 +0
CHA: 12 +0

Armor: 3
Damage: d10+1
HP: 25

Look: Hard Eyes, Shorn Hair, Calloused Skin, Built Body

Alignment: Neutral

Race: Human
Once per battle you may reroll a single damage roll (yours or someone else’s).

Bend Bars, Lift Gates
When you use pure strength to destroy an inanimate obstacle, roll+Str. ✴On a 10+, choose
3. ✴On a 7-9 choose 2.
•  It doesn’t take a very long time
•  Nothing of value is damaged
•  It doesn’t make an inordinate amount of noise
•  You can fix the thing again without a lot of effort
Armored
You ignore the clumsy tag on armor you wear.

Signature Weapon: A giant sword with various spiky do-dads welded to it with seemingly little rhyme or reason. (sword, hooks and spikes [+1 damage, +1 weight], huge [messy and forceful], sinister)

Gear:
Scale armor (2 armor, 3 weight)
Shield (+1 armor, 2 weight)
Hideous sword (3 weight)
Rations (5 uses, 1 weight)
2 Healing potions

Load: 9/14

Gao fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Aug 2, 2014

RPZip
Feb 6, 2009

WORDS IN THE HEART
CANNOT BE TAKEN


People say that all elves are evil. It's not that this is wrong, exactly. It's just that it's considered impolite to actually come out and say so. Didn't your grandmother teach you anything before her soul was sucked into the great abyss?

Janwen was the dutiful daughter of two Elven parents, who were no more or less abusive than any others. They made sure she had a proper Elvish education before sending her off to the Elven Academy for Necromantic Arts and Sciences, one of the most renowned schools in the realm. Janwen did well in school, as she did at most other things, but what really caught her attention wasn't just the lessons about how to bind the souls of the unwary to your bidding, but also the small group of engineering students at the university who would use that energy in new ways. Instead of using those spirits as monstrous assassins, or curses, or to slither into your enemies beds at night and then make chattering noises (a common Elvish prank), these students were using the bound souls of their ancestors and others to animate machinery.

This seemed like an excellent idea. There were rumors of other creatures constructed along similar lines, far in the past, but Janwen hasn't been able to get the "shadesteel" these legends mentioned to work properly. Nevertheless, she's spent the last few years continually improving the Spirit of Friendly Cooperation and Together Advancement Towards a Brighter Future by Combining Soul Power Through Action (usually shortened to the Spirit of Friendship), her mechanical suit. Janwen hopes to be able to parley the completed suit into a full Professorship at the Elven Academy, and if they deny her application again she's liable to use the administration as fuel for the suit. In the meantime, though, she's been testing the Spirit of Friendship out in the Salt Rise, trying to work out the last few kinks in its soulcatching apparatus, when some jerk went and stole the flower of heebie-majeebies or whatever that stops the barbarian rabble from burning this place to the ground. It should be a simple matter to recover it and then finish her work on the Spirit, which is definitely almost fully ready. Definitely. Very close, at least. Close-ish.

pre:
Name: Janwen Cholrian
Suit Name: Spirit of Friendship
Inverse World Mechanic

STR: 12 (+0)
DEX: 15 (+1)
CON: 13 (+1)
INT: 16 (+2)
WIS:  9 (+0)
CHA:  8 (-1)

Damage: d8
Armor: 0, 1 in suit

Drive: Unfettered Mayhem
Cause great collateral damage and don't even care.

Specialization: Theory and Analysis
You are particularly curious and thorough about analyzing anything put in front of you. When you use Let Me See That, ask
three questions instead of two.

Mechanical Suit (INT)
You have a mechanical suit, unique to you, which only you can operate. When you wear your Mecha Suit, you have 1 armor, and
can use the suit as a weapon with a range of Close. When you Hack & Slash in your suit, roll +INT instead of +STR.
Primary Weapon: Necromantic Energy Cannon - Near, Piercing 2, 2 ammo. When you Make Camp, restock 2-ammo.
Movement: Jumper - Jump incredible heights, and take no damage from controlled falls.
Advanced Systems: Shields - When you Defend in your suit, gain 1 additional hold, even on a 6-.

Hold Together
When you would take damage while you are in your suit, you may negate that damage by marking Stress on your suit. When your
suit takes stress, mark one of the following:
Damaged: Movement Modes are disabled. The suit can still walk normally.
Disabled: Your Shields are disabled. The bonuses do not apply.
Disarmed: Your Primary Weapon is disabled. The suit itself can still be used as a Close weapon.

Let Me See That
When you take a few moments to handle or examine something interesting, ask the GM three of the following questions. The GM must
answer truthfully.
* What does this do?                     * Who made this?
* What's wrong with this, and how might I fix it?
* What has been done most recently with this, or to this?

Gear:
Dungeon Rations (5 uses, 1 wt)
Mecha Suit (8 wt, 0 wt when worn)
Repair Kit (6 uses, slow, 1 wt)
Wrench (hand, 1 wt)
Bag of books (5 uses, 2 wt)
Bandages (3 uses, slow, 0 wt)

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
No game tomorrow.

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
Tomorrow's DW game will be running in a separate campaign on roll20; I'm handing out the link in IRC so if you can ask for it and just join the campaign that would be helpful. If not, I'll be around and have it for when our regular start time is tomorrow!

Anias
Jun 3, 2010

It really is a lovely hat

Thelian




The wind is unbound. Of the elements, it is free. It's sister, the water, is tied to weight. It's brother the earth, bound by roots. Of the fire, it speaks in only anger, but fire is bound by fuel. The wind is free, and bound to that freedom. It is not still, it cannot wait, it must be moving and flowing. For an age, that was enough.

Yet all things feel time. She presses close to us, and from time and the wind came my people. We call ourselves Anwyn El Anandrielom. The Windtouched as you call us is a small part of it. Truer to call us Timelost. We were carved from time by the loving touch of the wind, and we are parted from her until the wind ends. In apology, the wind has granted us some small part of himself. That is how I am as you see me. As my parents before me.

My people are scholars, and as we age we pick our truths. To each some small measure of eternity in study, and my study has always been the duel. My sword is immaterial, a simple instrument of the dance, an accompaniment of the song. I will dance for your lily.

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
Hey everyone, no game today :(

Both Anias and Sagan have had things come up, and trying out a new system doesn't work great if we're down 2 people. :(

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
So just a reminder: we will be taking the next THREE weeks off due to vacation, and returning on September 13th!

I will have more details on what we're playing come the 7th or so.

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Arivia
Mar 17, 2011
Okay, so here's what's up!

Thank you for trying out Dungeon World with me! I had fun, and I really enjoyed exploring a new system with you all. I don't think we need to return to it. Plot wise, my original idea was for the thief to have stolen the Rose as part of an ancient ritual to flood the Salt Flats. She knew about the possible destruction it would bring to Salt Rise, but felt that the water, the new growth, and the lessening of hardship in the area was worth it. She was going to do this by activating one of several contraptions left over from the Metal's Heart on this side of the mountain wall, a giant robot embedded in a forgotten tomb flooded with sand. Obviously we didn't get that far, but that's okay!

I enjoyed Dungeon World. It has its strengths, and playing around with the narrative is a lot of fun. I do want to explore it a bit in the future, but it doesn't fit what I want to do right now. One of the things trying out Dungeon World made clear to me is that I want to run Pathfinder for the sake of running Pathfinder right now - I'd always sort of known that, but it really crystallized that I have a lot of cool stuff I want to do and work with in specifically that system! Monsters to fight, items to share, spells to cast, all that. So from my perspective, I've learned that Pathfinder is what I want to run, and what makes me happy right now.

Now, that brings us back to the question of what system to run BtB in. You're all my friends, and when we talked about this before, you all said you'd be willing to go back to Pathfinder if things didn't work out with an alternate system. Which is cool, and thank you. But it doesn't really address the underlying issue - that pretty much everyone was feeling a general malaise about playing. There was a lot of complaining, frustration, and general bad vibes. I recognized it, several of you mentioned it to me, and I think everyone's felt it.

Switching back to Pathfinder - no matter what we do - isn't going to fix that feeling. Switching to Dungeon World might not have fixed it either. I don't think anything we do in game is probably going to fix that. It's no one's fault - it just happened, and it kind of makes Saturdays unfun when it comes up. Because of that - because we have a barrier to having fun that we can't necessarily fix - I'm officially ending Back to Basics.

Again, it's no one's fault. No one should feel responsible - this is my decision, and it's solely based on fun for everyone. I think a breath of fresh air is going to do all of us some good, and I think it's going to bring some fun back into play that's been missing. So logistically, the campaign - and also the group - are over.

Now, that decision comes with a follow-up. I think we need fresh air, but as I said I quite obviously don't hold any of you responsible. I still like running games of course! So in a couple weeks - once I do prep, and far more of it than I ever did for this game, so I can be in a better and more consistent state to run things - I will be opening recruitment for another Pathfinder Roll20 game, to be played on Saturdays. You are all welcome to apply, of course, and I'd really like you to apply, because you're all good people and you're fun to play with! But it will be Pathfinder, and it will be staying that way. I certainly don't blame any of you if you've had enough of the system at this point, or just want to take a break.

Either way, thank you for playing. It's been a fun year and change, and I've learned a lot. Feel free to ask questions or whatever you'd like to do. I'll also be keeping #backtobasics open until at least the beginning of recruitment for this new game.

Thanks,

Arivia

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