OOC I

[dmw71]

Update:
A few of you have reached out to me privately and asked whether I was serious or not when it comes to asking questions about character generation, or the game in general. In a word:

Absolutely! Especially in regards to character generation.

I am going to make sure to include a bit of "fun" time in my schedule each day (so as to not go completely crazy), but probably not enough to kick the game off properly. At least not right away. I will be checking in on the game, though, a bit every day, and will respond to any questions asked.

[Alethan]

Do you want any kind of background information written up? If so, can you give me a starting point?

[dmw71]

Do you want any kind of background information written up?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean here, but thanks for the offer. If you're talking about information regarding the adventure itself, I'm not sure how I could hand that over even if I wanted to.

You guys will be starting outdoors; traveling together following a trail. There will be forests and hills/mountains available in your view.

I have an opening "situation" or two in mind to present you with, but my plan with this game, much like it was in my Foxmoor game, is to just completely wing it. There's no sense in building out every area of a world ahead of time. When you guys indicate you want to do something, I'll build it out on the fly.

It's actually for this reason that I'm hesitant to start the game immediately -- world building on the fly takes time, and I expect my time to be wildly unpredictable for the time being.


Now, if there are things you know you're going to want to do (e.g. travel by sea, explore a set of ruins... anything...), feel free to throw some ideas out there. I'm happy to build around what you guys want to do.

[dmw71]

Now, if there are things you know you're going to want to do (e.g. travel by sea, explore a set of ruins... anything...), feel free to throw some ideas out there. I'm happy to build around what you guys want to do.

To elaborate on this (and feel free to use the private forums for this as well), but definitely feel free to suggest class-specific things you may want your character to attempt. A thief may want to do one thing (e.g. rumor has it a shipment of expensive pieces of art are set to arrive somewhere), while a mage may want to do something else (e.g. a rare spell component is needed, or they learn of a great library), etc...

I'm definitely going to try and keep the classes of your characters in mind when I generate ideas, but I'm definitely open to your ideas as well.

[hedgeknight]

Doesn't matter where we go 'cause all of their souls are mine for my dark master!!!

Er...did I post that w/o a spoiler? Dammit! Now I gotta redo my character...knew I shoulda put that 18 in Intelligence...

[hedgeknight]

Seriously...as long as we don't start off in some bar/tavern/inn I'm good.

[dmw71]

...start off in some bar/tavern/inn...

So, you want to start off in an inn. Got it.

Selective editing is fun.

[Alethan]

Do you want any kind of background information written up?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean here, but thanks for the offer.

Sorry, meant "Character background". Didn't know if that was going to be important or play any role or if it would even be possible, considering the un-fleshed world into which our characters are being thrust.

[dmw71]

Sorry, meant "Character background".

Ahh, okay. I've actually been thing about that for a while now. Most of you did provide a background for your character, which is great. What I might do is create a new topic and have each player respond to it. Maybe I'll create a questionaire that each player will fill out for their character and, if they have found an image for their character, to post it in their response as well.

Questions such as:
What is their gender? How tall are they? What is their approximate weight? Do they have any distinctive physical characteristics? List any armor work. Weapons carried. What physical possessions are visibly being carried (e.g. backpack, pouches, etc...).

Since a character background isn't visible or public knowledge, I'm thinking players, if they want to include one with their character, should do so in their private forum. I think having the questionaire data publicly posted, though, will be helpful for the rest of the players involved in the game.

If anyone can think of questions (other than what I jotted down above off the top of my head) that should be included in this questionaire, feel free to respond to this.

[Alethan]

The questions you have would provide good "This is what you see..." Information for each person. And I like that. I like listing the obvious physical items and traits the character has.

I was thinking more of a background story, though. What has the character done with their life up to this point? What drives them? What are their goals and ambitions?

I guess I was thinking that kind of information might be useful to you (Dave) for storyline plots or for coming up with information about where the characters are starting out or whatever. Or, alternately, if you had some basic background information you wanted to provide us that we would then use to help flesh out our characters. ("You all start off in a medium sized (pop: 2500-5000) city in a frontier town." Or "You are a recent arrival in an ancient city that is known to be over 700 years old, though more than half of the existing structures are currently abandoned. Explain why you are here.")

I don't know about anyone else, but the more I know about my character, the more I flesh them out with details and background information, the more time I will devote to the game and the more easily I can make the character unique and varied from others I play.

[dmw71]

I was thinking more of a background story, though. What has the character done with their life up to this point? What drives them? What are their goals and ambitions?

Some players did include a bit of background information about their character when they submitted it ("background" is a field in the die roller character sheet), but I can't remember offhand if any "goals and ambitions" were provided, which would be the biggest help in terms of developing future plots around.

It's strictly optional, but if anyone does want to include anything extra about their character, please feel free to do so. My only request is that you do so as a reply to your character sheet and not in your 'ooc' thread as the discussion will almost certainly get buried and lost in there.

In terms of basic background information from me, I don't really have anything concrete to provide aside from the fact that you won't be near anything exotic. A demi human would likely have arrived from a nearby hill, mountain, forest, etc..., as appropriate, but not one of the nearest hills, mountains or forests from where you'll start. I don't know why, but I always like to set my characters away from their home town or birthplace; they're adventurers now, they've traveled from wherever they're from. (I also don't like having hometowns available to characters because they're places the character would be intimately familiar with, and creating a whole town or whatever in that level of detail is not something I necessarily have time to do.)

[hedgeknight]

Do you want us to use the US character sheet or some template from another source?

[Alethan]

So we are starting in an urban setting?

[dmw71]

Do you want us to use the US character sheet or some template from another source?

My preference is still a text character sheet, but most players are using the US sheet which is fine.

[dmw71]

So we are starting in an urban setting?

No, you'll be traveling. See: Subject: OOC I

You guys will be starting outdoors; traveling together following a trail. There will be forests and hills/mountains available in your view.

[hedgeknight]

Do you want us to use the US character sheet or some template from another source?

My preference is still a text character sheet, but most players are using the US sheet which is fine.

Awesome! I will use the text character sheet > don't like the US sheet at all.
Do you have a template or does it matter how I arrange things?

[dmw71]

I will use the text character sheet...
Do you have a template or does it matter how I arrange things?

Cool.

I really don't have a template, per se. I really like the sheet Ethan is using... which, of course, is private, so I stripped away all the details from it and pasted it below, which you could use. If you'd rather just create your own, you're welcome to do so. As long as all the needed information is there, it doesn't matter to me in what order things appear.

*** TEMPLATE ***

[image]

Name:
Nickname:
Race:
Class:
Age:
Appearance: x'xx" Tall, xxxlbs, x hair, x eyes
Alignment:

STATS:
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA

XP: 0
XP Bonus: x%

HP: x/x
Alive Until: -x
AC: x/x ([armor worn] + [bonus])
THAC0: 20

Skills/Abilities:
x
x
x

Nonweapon Proficiencies
x
x
x

Languages:
x
x
x

Saving Throws
Paralysis/Poison/Death:
Rod/Staff/Wand:
Petrifaction/Polymorph:
Breath Weapon:
Spells:

Class Skills - or - Spells
x
x
x

Weapons: (*Proficient)(^Finesse Weapon)
x Example: Dagger*^ [1d6]
x
x

Equipment: (Pounds)
Clothing (5)
Backpack (30 pound cap.) (10)
- Item in Backpack (x)
- Item in Backpack (x)
Large Sack (40 pound cap.) (2)
- Item in Sack (x)
- Item in Sack (x)
Next Item
Next Item
x
x
x

Coins/Treasure: 1lb
PP: x
GP: x
SP: x
CP: x

Encumbrance:
Total Carried:

Movement Rate: Base Move: 12" or 6"
- Modified Movement Rate: x"
- Next Higher Movement Rate: x" at x pounds
- Next Lower Movement Rate: x" at x pounds

[Starbeard]

I'll switch mine over to that template too, when I get the chance. The convenience of having tabs in the US sheet is more than offset by the inconvenience of trying to use the items tab.

[dmw71]

Just so people know, you don't have to use this text template. I know I prefer it, but it's not required.

[Alethan]

I don't have a problem with the US Character Sheet, but I greatly prefer character information written out in "long hand", as it were.

Thanks for giving up my primary weapon, Dave. Thought you said you scrubbed the form!