Chat

[9littlebees]

I like it. I'm imagining Jayamanka as being somewhat superstitious and suspicious of full blown magic - so a shaman would be far more to her liking than a bloody fireball wielding, damage wreaking mage - no offence Xantius Not that she's liable to advertise such views. Better to try and stay on the right side of sorcerers lest they turn you into a toad or something

Haha, no offence taken! Looks like we won't have any issues with party tension. I nearly took a different spell instead of fireball, but there's a reason the fireball is a classic.

I also like the idea that I can't completely control some of the creatures I summon.

[Captain Kinkajou]

I nearly took a different spell instead of fireball, but there's a reason the fireball is a classic.

Oh yeah, absolutely. OOC I entirely agree

I also like the idea that I can't completely control some of the creatures I summon.

Awesome! I like your thinking. This is going to be a fun game!

[sonofotho]

Hey guys, I need to put you all to work! As you know, we are all aiming for a good S&S vibe with this game. But given that most of the 'traditional' S&S stories have one or two protagonists, what in the heck brings the 5 (maybe 6) of you together in one party?

Thoughts? Ideas? Can I pose the question to the full group to workshop? Hopefully we can land on something that works!

[badams30]

Hey guys, I need to put you all to work! As you know, we are all aiming for a good S&S vibe with this game. But given that most of the 'traditional' S&S stories have one or two protagonists, what in the heck brings the 5 (maybe 6) of you together in one party?

Thoughts? Ideas? Can I pose the question to the full group to workshop? Hopefully we can land on something that works!

Jasper is a pretty unremarkable, generally unkempt, common guy of low social standing. He's friendly (a bit too friendly at times) and he's trying to eschew common street theft and take up adventuring to make some better coin. He's been actively seeking a group of folks who also want to seek adventure (and MOST importantly, get some coin!) To those he isn't familiar with, he tries to pass himself off as a down on his luck man at arms, but he'll happily share the nature of his talents with those he trusts.

As far as Jasper meeting everyone, I could see him just approaching anyone who looks like an adventurer in a tavern, on the street, whatever...

[LtTibbles]

That is a good question, besides the old go to of gold and glory perhaps we could all be drawn in together because of our complications?

Maybe we're all questing for the same ancient relic of vile sorcery

Skagvurd and Jayamanka could need it to defeat the creature hunting Skag and The Warlord that destroyed Jaymanka's people.

Xantius could be searching for it to help increase his power and sate his addiction.

Maybe Jasper see's it as "The Ultimate Score" because naturally only the greatest thief could ever steal such an artifact.

Last but not least perhaps Nitehood's shaman wants to just destroy the damned thing to help protect and balance the natural world.

These are all very personal (and perhaps even selfish) reasons and goals that don't affect the world at large that I think helps keep with the style of the Sword and Scorcery genre.

Maybe all of our characters know what the score is and we know only one of us are actually walking away with the prize, or perhaps we're all decieving each other about it or maybe just some.

Sorry for the wall of text guys, and I know I'm making a lot of assumptions about your characters but it's just for examples, obviously you all probably have different ideas for your characters or maybe going with a mcguffin isn't to everybodies taste.

[Captain Kinkajou]

As far as I'm concerned, assume away LtTibbles. You are making good suggestions. And I'm about to respond with my own wall of text

I very much like your idea. I'd probably adjust it a little for Jayamanka as, though she would want revenge, given I envisage her as distrustful of sorcery, I'm not sure she would necessarily go after a powerful mcguffin for herself.

However, I can think of various other rationales to overcome this.

Generally Jayamanka's motivation would probably be close to Jasper's in that she is down on her luck and needs pay or treasure to survive. Hired muscle or adventuring are logical ways to earn coin.

I did wonder, noticing that Xantius is a bit more well off than the rest of us, if one idea might be that he has hired us all (or persuaded us based on rumours of treasure) to go with him after an artefact such as you propose (or after the first clue to its whereabouts) and, as we adventure after it together and the true nature of things becomes apparent, we could all become embroiled in the overall situation in the kind of ways you suggest (e.g. for Jayamanka, perhaps it turns out her enemy has an interest in the artefact too).

Just brainstorming off your cool suggestion, so I'm not at all precious if you don't like the way I'm taking it. What do you think?

[LtTibbles]

I really like the idea of being hired by Xanitus for a possible start!

[badams30]

I'm good with any and all of those suggestions. Jasper is a good natured simpleton, so he's game for just about anything.

[9littlebees]

While I really like LtTibbles ideas, it's probably not a great idea to start a campaign with us at such great odds with each other. But let's go with the premise of a sorcerous relic...

I'd be more inclined to say that Xantius has discovered hints as to its whereabouts through some ancient tome. Eager to retrieve it, but cognisant of the dangers, he seeks out a band of adventurers to aid him. He has let them know there is an ancient [GM location] full of dangers, but also potentially full of treasure. His terms are that he gets to choose a single item from the location ("an old bauble, only of worth to an old historian like me"), and will forego his own share of the rest of the treasure. Kind of like Thorin & the Arkenstone in the Hobbit. Obviously the others will strongly suspect his motives and may even be planning to betray him if this "old bauble" proves to be valuable enough.

That should be hook enough for the warriors and specialist. Not sure how the shaman ties in. Maybe the location is near his lands? Maybe he also needs the coin for his own reasons? Regardless, Xantius is aware of his own very specialised magical knowledge and is keen to hire another magical user to try and cover more eventualities.

I also need to recalculate my coin. I rolled 130SC, then messed about with inventory a lot. I think I would be willing to pay 10SC each as an upfront cost, though.

Anyway, just spitballing!

[Captain Kinkajou]

Good points 9littlebees and I like your proposed tweaking of LtTibbles's initial idea. Making things less potentially adversarial is sensible and only really hinges on whether any character objectives are mutually exclusive. Plus this will hopefully be tempered by us forging bonds between our characters through our adventures on the path to the relic.

I also need to recalculate my coin. I rolled 130SC, then messed about with inventory a lot. I think I would be willing to pay 10SC each as an upfront cost, though.

Haha. This made me laugh. I rest my case about Xantius being more well off. 10SC seems like a princely amount. Based on my starting coin it feels like Jayamanka would be thinking she could live well for weeks on such a sum

[Captain Kinkajou]

I'm good with any and all of those suggestions. Jasper is a good natured simpleton, so he's game for just about anything.

Haha. Nice. I'm liking Jasper already

[9littlebees]

10SC seems like a princely amount. Based on my starting coin it feels like Jayamanka would be thinking she could live well for weeks on such a sum

We each roll 3D6x10SC for starting coin, right? I guess I did roll well with a 13, but 10 & 11 are the median values for 3D6, so I would have thought 100 or 110 SC wouldn't be hard to roll up...?

[9littlebees]

OK, I retweaked my starting gear slightly and definitely have just over 50sc.

So, if we decide to go with my starting suggestion, the question is how much coin would people be willing to accept as an upfront payment?

While I'd be happy to give each player 10sc in starting pay (leaving me with 13sc), I'd be happier with paying less. I like the idea of being a wealthy sorcerer, as it gives me the opportunity to spend it on things that the other party members would find excessive or impractical (nice beds / expensive food at an inn, a mule to carry stuff / me, small animals to do arcane experiments on, etc).

[Captain Kinkajou]

We each roll 3D6x10SC for starting coin, right? I guess I did roll well with a 13, but 10 & 11 are the median values for 3D6, so I would have thought 100 or 110 SC wouldn't be hard to roll up...?

Yes, you're absolutely right. I can't actually remember what I rolled (less than 13 ). It was just that the current coin on the character sheets read Skagvurd 14cc, Jayamanka 13cc, Xantius 53sc (=530cc) - though truth be told, if I continue on down, Jasper and Fiddleback have around 10sc each, so not quite such a stark distinction. I guess it's tough to make your way as a warrior in this world and being a fireball wielding sorcerer is more profitable Probably all that secret lore and knowledge of ancient tombs containing treasure.

Anyway, I too really like the idea of you being a wealthy sorcerer and IMO I don't think you should be penalised mechanically in coin for our fictional premise. Why don't we just say you've already paid us and what we have left is what we have. Perhaps Jayamanka and Skagvurd had armour or weapon repairs to pay for before setting out (or some other debts), so they haven't got much left and are hoping to find some of the treasure you mentioned, while Jasper and Fiddleback still have their fee in their pockets.

Going forward, if you were our employer it would seem reasonable that you had a larger share of any treasure recovered, so we could hand-wave it and say that you were paying for our continued service out of any treasure found, rather than us actually being a drain on your coin.

[Nitehood]

I like it. I'm imagining Jayamanka as being somewhat superstitious and suspicious of full blown magic - so a shaman would be far more to her liking than a bloody fireball wielding, damage wreaking mage - no offence Xantius Not that she's liable to advertise such views. Better to try and stay on the right side of sorcerers lest they turn you into a toad or something

Haha, no offence taken! Looks like we won't have any issues with party tension. I nearly took a different spell instead of fireball, but there's a reason the fireball is a classic.

I also like the idea that I can't completely control some of the creatures I summon.

[Nitehood]

All the ideas above are very good and a I can run with them.

The GM stated:
"I was thinking of starting the game off ‘at the doorstep’ of the first dungeon/adventure just to get things off with a bang."

Perhaps it would help if we knew a little more about the adventure we were about to embark on, and the surrounding area? This would help with coming up with why we are all together?

Is it a long lost temple of an evil god that houses a relic? Is it a place that a, not so local towns person with money, has hired us all to investigate and bring riches back? Or just a rumor we overheard in a tavern and we decided to check out? etc....

~Fiddleback

[Captain Kinkajou]

All the ideas above are very good and a I can run with them.

The GM stated:
"I was thinking of starting the game off ‘at the doorstep’ of the first dungeon/adventure just to get things off with a bang."

Perhaps it would help if we knew a little more about the adventure we were about to embark on, and the surrounding area? This would help with coming up with why we are all together?

Is it a long lost temple of an evil god that houses a relic? Is it a place that a, not so local towns person with money, has hired us all to investigate and bring riches back? Or just a rumor we overheard in a tavern and we decided to check out? etc....

~Fiddleback

Fair question. It does feel like we don't know very much about the world just yet. That said, I'm assuming sonofotho's style is to give us agency to determine such things for ourselves, rather than specifying them and presenting us with a situation for us to react to. Turning it around and asking us 'what do you think you'd be doing / what do you want to be doing?' and then ensuring the adventure fits with that premise rather than having an adventure/dungeon already in mind.

If that's not the case, I hope we haven't just screwed everything up!

Good to see Fiddleback up in the characters thread, by the way. Are you looking out a character image? I've found it really helpful with visualising the rest of the party.

[sonofotho]

Wow guys! I'm excited to see that you all have really put some thought into this. And you're definitely giving me some food for thought.

Let me chew on your ideas and come back with my thinking... It has been a long day at the office and then home alone with the kids. My brain is fried at the moment!

In terms of little info on the setting so far - fair point. I had toyed with the idea of giving you some more info before posing the question, but opted against.

In short, I want to run a sandbox style game where you guys get hooks/leads to follow or not. I have a number of adventures/scenarios that I would like to use, but let's see how things develop.

More info to come - and thanks again for being so enthused! Pressure is back on!

FYI - we will have one final player. Haven't heard from kruk in a long time, but Longfingers has really been patient in waiting. He has now been added, so a 6th (and final) character will soon join.

[Captain Kinkajou]

No pressure, only enthusiasm Hope you have a relaxing evening my friend.

And, welcome to the gang longfingers.

[9littlebees]

All good, no rush.