The Unseen Servant forums

Hey all

Long time since I've done pbp, but really looking forward to this. Have run 4S once, but first time playing.

Looking over the other characters, a couple are too close to ideas I had so am down to 2 that I've got a reasonable concept for: a wily, older, tracker who's been round the block (probably warrior but might actually fit specialist) and a charming rogue (specialist).

Is the second too close to what you had in mind for Jasper, badams30?

From the description thus far...

badams30 wrote: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.

And

badams30 wrote: Jasper is a good natured simpleton, so he's game for just about anything.

I'd say you're reasonably safe with the charming rogue idea Though personally I wouldn't sweat too much about similar characters. I'd say just play what you're going to enjoy.

Personally, I think a tracker is a great concept, and would really help round out the group.

I've asked for some ideas from the 4S G+ Community about building a Ranger, but here's a homebrew archetype I've just come up with.

Ranger
Hit Dice: 2d4 HP / lvl
Luck Dice: d6
Attributes: Physique & Intellect
Special Abilities (choose four):

• Master Tracker: Positive die on Intellect-based (wilderness) tracking checks.
• Monster Hunter: Upgrade the damage for all weapons by one step whenever fighting a non-supernatural monster.
• Wilderness Survival: Can spend an hour in the wilderness to upgrade a single usage die for water or rations. This must be a dedicated activity, and so cannot be attempted while on the march.
• Tuned Senses: Positive die on Intellect-based Perception checks.
• Bow Specialist: Positive die when using ranged weapons. Remove the Negative die for distant range when using a Longbow.

9littlebees wrote:I've asked for some ideas from the 4S G+ Community about building a Ranger, but here's a homebrew archetype I've just come up with.

Hmmm, interesting. I like the usage die upgrade ability. Overall, I'm not entirely convinced that a Ranger isn't sufficiently covered by vocation. For example, in my mind Jayamanka's 'Wasteland Hunter' covers things like hunting, tracking and survival. So, that already gives you most of the positive dice abilities you're proposing. And, as a Warrior, you can have a positive die on bows. Nice idea though. It'll be interesting to see what you get back from the 4S G+ community on it.

Captain Kinkajou wrote:Overall, I'm not entirely convinced that a Ranger isn't sufficiently covered by vocation. For example, in my mind Jayamanka's 'Wasteland Hunter' covers things like hunting, tracking and survival. So, that already gives you most of the positive dice abilities you're proposing.

You know, I completely forgot about the Vocation granting a positive die! I'll be revisiting Xantius now to be less generic...

For example, in my mind Jayamanka's 'Wasteland Hunter' covers things like hunting, tracking and survival. So, that already gives you most of the positive dice abilities you're proposing. And, as a Warrior, you can have a positive die on bows. Nice idea though. It'll be interesting to see what you get back from the 4S G+ community on it.

Good call on Jayamanka's abilities - totally different skin to what I was thinking but very similar ability set so I think that's steered me towards the other choice. Who actually works as well if not better as a Warrior once I thought about it.

So some input and suggestions please on a couple of things.

The 4S rules state that Will covers not just Willpower but force of personality, which I read as 'Charisma'. I have in mind someone who is dashing and occasionally heroic but rather weak willed about certain things (currently debating either an inveterate lothario or a gambler). So put a higher score in Will and take a suitable complication OR lower Will but take a Vocation that would give bonus dice when being charming?

Secondly, I'm aiming for a Douglas Fairbanks/Erroll Flynn style guy who might be a 'warrior' but much prefers to talk his way out of trouble. Would 'improvised weapons' be too broad a class for Weapon Specialisation?

Longfingers wrote:Good call on Jayamanka's abilities - totally different skin to what I was thinking but very similar ability set so I think that's steered me towards the other choice.

Just to be completely clear, my use of Jayamanka's Wilderness Hunter vocation as an example was in no way trying to dissuade you from your tracker idea if that appeals. I see Jayamanka primarily as a Warrior. Her hunting/tracking/survival skills are secondary (and her Intellect is only 9). They're more reinforcing that she's from a primitive tribal wilderness survival-type background. Just saying in case that makes a difference.

Longfingers wrote:So some input and suggestions please on a couple of things.

The 4S rules state that Will covers not just Willpower but force of personality, which I read as 'Charisma'. I have in mind someone who is dashing and occasionally heroic but rather weak willed about certain things (currently debating either an inveterate lothario or a gambler). So put a higher score in Will and take a suitable complication OR lower Will but take a Vocation that would give bonus dice when being charming?

This is only my opinion (you have more experience with SS&SS than I do ) but I think you're right on the money with your suggestions. In fact, you could double up and go high Will with a suitable complication and a vocation that gives bonus dice when being charming. To my mind, it's not like you have to roll a positive die in circumstances where you'd see your character as being weaker willed.

By the way, I like your 'inveterate lothario' / gambler idea (why not both vices? ). It also fits well with our group of hard-up adventurers working for Xantius to make ends meet. Perhaps you needed to get out of town for a few days too

Longfingers wrote:Secondly, I'm aiming for a Douglas Fairbanks/Erroll Flynn style guy who might be a 'warrior' but much prefers to talk his way out of trouble. Would 'improvised weapons' be too broad a class for Weapon Specialisation?

My feeling would be this is fine. It could possibly be abused but it isn't overly powerful when you consider improvised weapons are going to be lower damage dice (d4 or possibly d6) in the first place. It seems to sit about right for what I think you're aiming for.

All that said, sonofotho is ultimately the arbiter on what's OK or not. He's the one running this thing

I'm with Captain Kinkajou, though I thin having low Will with the word "charming" in your vocation is a brilliant concept, and definitely suits a weak-willed charmer.

Back to the ranger discussion, the author has responded on G+ thusly:

"I like it that you can also just say the character is a ranger in your Vocation and the Archetype kinda focuses on some aspect (combat, stealth and skills, or be a caster ranger)."

Longfingers wrote:Hey all

Long time since I've done pbp, but really looking forward to this. Have run 4S once, but first time playing.

Looking over the other characters, a couple are too close to ideas I had so am down to 2 that I've got a reasonable concept for: a wily, older, tracker who's been round the block (probably warrior but might actually fit specialist) and a charming rogue (specialist).

Is the second too close to what you had in mind for Jasper, badams30?

Sorry, I wasn't online last night, I missed this thread. Yeah, Jasper is definitely NOT charming. He's a nice talkative fella, is the type of guy who is friends with everyone, but he's a bit rough around the edges, and hygiene and overall charm aren't high up on his list of priorities.

Great, thanks for all of the comments and suggestions. Sounds like I've got across the general idea of what I was shooting for so will post up a character and can tweak it if required.

Longfingers wrote:Great, thanks for all of the comments and suggestions. Sounds like I've got across the general idea of what I was shooting for so will post up a character and can tweak it if required.

Looks great!

Hey guys,

Regarding the classes, I would prefer we keep to the three in the books. Use vocation to describe further, e.g. hunter, ranger, etc. We can then talk about advantages for certain actions, skills, etc. Does that work?

As for the rationale for you guys being together, I am fine with Xantius being your 'employer', if you guys want to roll with that. However, I'd prefer you not to be searching for a singular mcguffin. How about he's searching for magical items in general? This will give me an angle for the various scenarios I would like to use.

And just a comment regarding the character's complications. I will try and pull these into the game over time, i.e. some may lay dormant for awhile! Otherwise I'm worried the game/story might get a bid 'crowded'. At the end of the day, I want an emergent story and not one that is laid out.

If all this is ok, my aim is to have the first game post up by Sunday.

That all sounds good to me.

Just a thought. On the multiple mcguffin front, we could say that Xantius either needs a number of mcguffins to get to a singular mcguffin, or that he's looking for a singular mcguffin but doesn't know much about it so has to keep looking for different mcguffins until he eventually finds it. We don't particularly need to specify at this stage even.

I look forward to Sunday

By the way, nice job with Haroun, longfingers. He's a great addition to the party.

I'm really liking all of the characters and our brainstormed premise. I can't wait to get started.

All good! Xantius can be thirsty for forbidden knowledge and pursue every artifact he hears whispered about. Apologies for the Ranger archetype tangent. I've been doing a fair amount of game design recently, sometimes I can't help myself.

I am loving the characters, too! Curious as to the shaman being called "Fiddleback". Is there a story there, Nitehood? All I can think of when I hear the name is the moniker of someone who did a segment on the Order 66 podcast.

9littlebees wrote:All good! Xantius can be thirsty for forbidden knowledge and pursue every artifact he hears whispered about. Apologies for the Ranger archetype tangent. I've been doing a fair amount of game design recently, sometimes I can't help myself.

No apologies needed! I dig all the discussion!

Awesome! It has begun!

Hey guys, I have posted the map of the campaign area of Thangolia. Hopefully you can make out the details - I find iPad viewing works well for zooming in.

I have been hemming and hawing about the miles per hex. I see pros and cons of doing both 6 and 24 miles per. But I think I will go with 6. This gives us about the same area as Montana or Japan to play in, by my estimation. Depending on the terrain, you guys will be able to travel between 1-3 hexes per day on foot, faster on horses. I will try and figure out a terrain key for you guys.

I will be posting some information about different areas of the map in the near future. The starting city will be Enharza (more info to come) in Hex 44.14. And the Tower of Balaz-kai is south of that in Hex 44.20. I envision a post which we edit with locations and short descriptions that you can refer to.

Cool map. And, your logic around miles per hex makes good sense to me.

While I think, given that a few of this group are new to The Unseen Servant, I thought I'd ask the old hands if there are any posting conventions we should know about? badams30 is leading by example, putting the character name at the top of the post and dialogue in blue. I've edited my post accordingly. I think I read somewhere that OOC comments / clarifications are normally written in red. Though I can't find where I saw that now. Any other pointers, or is that about it? Thanks.