OOC IV

[Alethan]

Al,I checked out Debrah Teramis Christian's facebook. She is an interesting person, and is in interested in everything from spontaneous combustible babies to historic gems and jewels.

I guess what I was trying to say, but was not very clear, is that I was the only female playing a role in "Search of Adventure", I did not want to put a sour taste in anyone's mouth (TK's) about having girls in the group. I really feel lost a lot of the time, because I am starting out. If another female wanted to play with no past experience, I did not want him to think it would be a bad thing.

I also checked out the profile link. I think I was looking for some example postings of how a female character might post. I was unsure how much I was doing right, and how much I was doing wrong, but TK just let me know I was doing alright in one of his last posts.

Ah, for examples of that, go to the early threads of the Aroth game.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=149 (this is the first adventure thread for that campaign.)

Teramis played Hanna, a female fighter. If I can ever convince her, we'd love for her to come back and pick Hanna up. But, as you noticed, she is busy...

If you want to see how Hafnr plays, go back to her profile and there is a link there to see posts by the user. You can click on that and start reading through them. Or just see what game she is in and read through the threads there.

Here... viewtopic.php?f=76&t=1389
She is in TK's other game. Start reading there.

Let me know if you need any help tracking that down.

[Innana]

Al, That was a great link. Zeb has been playing for a while. He was actually online when I was looking over the threads of the Aroth game.

Oh, and there is our Cleric on the second thread. sulldawga, I recognize your pic. LOL. You guys get around.

I really like Hanna's Character. It would be fun to play with her with the group we have now. The threads gave me some great ideas.

[zebediah]

Yeah, we didn't have as many different games here as we have today but you'll see lots of familiar names in those old threads. Been absent for a few years till I found some time to resume my pbp activities last year.

[sulldawga]

Oh, and there is our Cleric on the second thread. sulldawga, I recognize your pic. LOL. You guys get around.

That would be true except that I've only been on this site less than a year and those two games are the only ones I've been in.

I used to do a lot of 4e and d20 gaming over at rpgcrossing.com and I'm also in a couple games at odd74. So there's that...

[frobozz]

That's an interesting theory. You're ascribing 21st century democratic values to a private guild within a pseudo-14th century feudal duchy.

Much more likely that we're contributing to the profit margin of the guildmasters but that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Not exactly a theory. According to TK's post from a while ago (OOC I, page 10), the Moneychangers Guild is more of a public-private partnership operating under the national authority of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Any profits going through the Moneychangers Guild are taxed. Tax revenues, in turn, "are spent on the maintenance of the armed forces, on the creation of roads, on the upkeep of Specularum, on the upkeep of the royal family, on the salaries of the royal ministries, etc." (Gaz I, page 34). The Duke is well regarded by many in Karameioks for his efforts in building these roads to increase trade, and also for building forts for the protection of the trade routes and the frontier areas. Sure, there are more tax revenues derived from other sources (sales, land, etc.), but this is one source of the total taxes revenues.

[thirdkingdom]

Pretty much. I mean, I honestly didn't think about it too much. It just seemed to be a good way to institute a low tech bank that would allow you to get cash from different locations and eliminate the tedium of trying to tax you guys on treasure you bring in through the gate, or whatever.

[sulldawga]

Well, I was going to argue with you that charging for the right to withdraw your deposit at any other bank location was not how banks operated in real life but I did some research and found that, around the Middle Ages, that's exactly what happened.

From Wikipedia - "Eventually, these documents evolved into bills of exchange, which could be redeemed at any office of the issuing banker. These bills made it possible to transfer large sums of money without the complications of hauling large chests of gold and hiring armed guards to protect the gold from thieves."

So I was wrong about that. Sorry for creating an argument where one didn't exist.

I guess Marodin will have to get used to being rich enough that he can't carry all his gold on his person any more.

I do think he will use the Guild as an actual bank, and take a bill of exchange instead of gold or gems, for his share of the treasure. He's got enough gold on him already (and three 500 gp pearls) to handle any transactions at any towns too small to have a Guild outpost. Chances are, if he needs another 4,000 gp quickly, he's going to be somewhere that has a Guild outpost and can redeem his bill of exchange.

[sulldawga]

FYI: I'm going on vacation tomorrow (8/25) and won't be back until late Tuesday (8/27) so Marodin will just go with the flow until then.

The only thing he definitely wants to do before they leave town is get Semele some plate mail, if possible, and buy a second shield for both of them.

[frobozz]

Thanks for the historical perspective, sulldawga. Thinking of it in terms of a bill of exchange system really makes a lot of sense.

Since TK has not mentioned it yet IC, I suggest that we temporarily put on hold the treasure distribution. I think it would be a lot of fun to do the city adventure on Fogor's Isle, which would be much different than the other adventures we have done thus far. It would also give a chance for our stealthy types (Saul and Rhys) to really shine. If we complete the mission, we could always split the treasure by 9 PCs then, and then Rhys would feel he is part of the group and has earned the treasure, so that he can use it to buy special weapons or identify magic items. Or build an orphanage. Whatever floats his boat.

[thirdkingdom]

I haven't mentioned treasure distribution because, frankly, it's up to you guys. XP has already been awarded, so you can distribute treasure however you guys would like.

[Innana]

FYI: I'm going on vacation tomorrow (8/25) and won't be back until late Tuesday (8/27) so Marodin will just go with the flow until then.

The only thing he definitely wants to do before they leave town is get Semele some plate mail, if possible, and buy a second shield for both of them.

Have fun!!

[thirdkingdom]

A little bit on magic items and how I deal with them. Now, Mystara (the world this is set on) is pretty rich in magic. However, it is not going to be possible for you guys to simply walk into Ye Olde Magick Shoppe and buy a ton of stuff. In terms of potions and the like, there are three sources in Threshold:
1)An alchemist/herbalist. You guys have already met one, Oleg Highstreet. His concoctions are more natural than magical and as such are less effective and more fragile.
2)A temple. There are two main churches in Threshold, those of Karameikos and Traladar. Both are capable of producing holy water and healing potions, but little else.
3)A magic-user. There are several high level magic-users living outside the city who can be commissioned to brew potions. These will take time and be expensive. Like, we are talking 1000 gold for a simple potion, more for a complex one.

I would much rather have you guys work for magic items as opposed to being able to buy it off the shelf, and try and give you that opportunity. For instance, I have already given out a hook for a fountain that functions as a potion of Strength.

[Alethan]

Aside from maybe healing pots, I don't want any magic I don't find or receive as reward for a task. That's just how I tend to play.

I understand WHY people want easier access to magic; it just isn't for me. I guess it's partly why I don't think Rhys needs any of that share of treasure so far; he doesn't have anything he can spend it on, except maybe a few healing potions.

[frobozz]

Aside from maybe healing pots, I don't want any magic I don't find or receive as reward for a task. That's just how I tend to play.

I understand WHY people want easier access to magic; it just isn't for me. I guess it's partly why I don't think Rhys needs any of that share of treasure so far; he doesn't have anything he can spend it on, except maybe a few healing potions.

Ok cool, I can certainly respect that. In that case, guys, let's just go with a treasure split by 8 PCs (plus 1 henchman, Semele). We'll start with 9 PCs on the next batch of treasure received. We can also make sure that all PCs (including Rhys) have everything they need before we leave Threshold.

Division by 8 PCs and 1 henchman = 5320 gp per PC (1330 gp for Semele)

Re: Healing Potions. While we are in town, perhaps we can get the ball rolling on commissioning healing potions for the party. I think a reasonable goal would be to see if we can get one healing potion for each party member (for use in emergency situations).

If there are any questions or suggestions about the above treasure split, let me know and we will work it out!

[zebediah]

Potions from the herbalist are cheaper. Even if they are not as efficient and have a lower shelf life I still think it's money better spent than buying the real thing for bigger buck. Typically we'll be using the potions if someone is at death's door and for that the cheaper versions do just fine.

Drudsa needs to visit Oleg anyway, to identify the vials we collected with the troll & with the ogres. I'm also buying more antidotes if there's any available.

[zebediah]

TK, with respect to the spell scribing material, is there enough availability in Threshold that we may buy as many as we want or do we need to inquire around town?

[thirdkingdom]

TK, with respect to the spell scribing material, is there enough availability in Threshold that we may buy as many as we want or do we need to inquire around town?

There are Levels of spell scribing supplies available: (12d8=47) available in 2d4=4 shops in Threshold.

Finglas, your shield can be repaired at a cost of 25 gp and three days. Everyone else, assume that basic equipment can be purchased at list price. Simply make mention of it IC or OOC; I am not going to make an IC post describing shopping for general equipment. Sorry.

[zebediah]

Drudsa buys 7 spell levels worth of scribing material and 2 vials of holy water.

He also replenishes his sling bullets and buys some extra silver bullets (if these are available).

[thirdkingdom]

Drudsa buys 7 spell levels worth of scribing material and 2 vials of holy water.

He also replenishes his sling bullets and buys some extra silver bullets (if these are available).

1-60% chance of 3-12 silver sling bullets: (1d100=18, 3d4=4)

Four are currently available. More can be commissioned and completed in 1d4+1=4 days.

[Innana]

Okay, so I really don't want to be unethical about potions. I just want to make sure that our group is protected and has what is needed so nobody dies. Do we have enough healing, protection from fire, magic etc?