AIMhack Postmortem: Selos and Blood Marsh

[Ephesos]

Pardon the bumpage, but two things:

 

1. Epilogues... please submit them, even if it's something fairly mundane. Character continuity is awesome.

 

2. Expect a post in the next few days about the next thing I plan to run.

[Rowen]

Originally Posted By: Ephesos

1. Epilogues... please submit them, even if it's something fairly mundane. Character continuity is awesome.

I don't know about anyone else but I found that writing the epilogue for Nixak was very difficult to do with out making it some cheesy mesh of words. Nixak's is not that awesome.

[Triumph]

Ehh...Lanrezac's epilogue is not particularly epic, either. Hopefully Dikiyoba won't go and make us all look bad by writing something amazing about Boregloaf. Part of the difficulty, I felt, was having hardly any idea what might happen to the other characters... I tried to write something open-ended enough that Lanrezac could conceivably reappear in a campaign pretty much anywhere on Mote, if he ever needs to.

[Ephesos]

Well, seeing as all of these will be posted on my site eventually, I might as well start posting the ones I've received.

 

First, because it was the first submitted...

Click to reveal.. (Lanrezac's Epilogue)

After returning to Quera, Lanrezac initially struggled with a sense of disappointment; the journey to Sarden had not achieved all that he had hoped, despite slaying Chak-Tha and avenging the death of Lord Hakkel and the other Querans who perished. However, he soon put aside his disappointment to pursue other matters. First, following the mission to Sarden, he recorded his experiences, and sent them off to the University of Oossfa. His far away colleagues all found his tales of boom squirrels, magically hallucinated boar, Khielek’s people, the canopy drake, and wretched hive of scum and villainy that is Sarden quite interesting.

 

When Zarusa offered Lanrezac a job as her assistant, he eagerly accepted the chance to pursue several of his goals at once. Lanrezac’s close encounter of the divine kind continued to impact him powerfully; a position of influence with Zarusa enabled him to keep working to uphold justice and honor Sliros. Zarusa was of course quite powerful, but even she benefited from Lanrezac’s words of wisdom at times. When not advising her, he served as a sort of ambassador, roving emissary, or courier. As he traveled on errands for Zarusa, he seized every chance he got to visit ruins and other sites of historical interest, taking notes as always.

 

Lanrezac also cultivated his friendships with the interesting and friendly people he encountered on his journey across Selos. He visited Khielek and his tribe several times, and from them, and Nixak, learned their language, eventually writing a grammar explaining it and getting the university to publish it. Rebuilding Quera and restoring peace took much work, and while in Quera, Lanrezac would work with Boregloaf as she worked kept order. The exception was Vitze; if ever Lanrezac knew she was around, he would try to be somewhat respectful (though he didn’t always succeed), but would never, ever, trust her.

 

Next, promptly submitted after the BM finale...

Click to reveal.. (Amadan's Epilogue)

That day, as the group bid its farewells, Amadan couldn't help but feel pride. He had faced an evil of old, and even gone mind-to-mind with Chamulsep himself... and came out intact. And he knew there was only one person to thank for it. Liea had chosen him, for whatever reason, and he could only hope that, one day, she called upon him again.

 

He decided to stay in Risis, finally getting around to what he meant to do when he first arrived: Alchemical Hunting. He ventured deeper into the marsh to retrieve herbs out of reach of the normal alchemists, while also keeping an eye on the crypts of the marsh. He had to retrain himself to use his bow left-handed. He never did manage to find his finger, but it was a small price to pay, overall. He managed to make a decent living, and in his downtime, continued to research Liea and Chamulsep.

 

But something was off. Something during the encounter with Yunelias had caused a small part within to break. Every day that passed, he felt more uncomfortable. The marsh was making him feel paranoid for reasons he couldn't understand. Occasional phantom pains in his missing finger made him jumpy. His dreams were plagued with nightmares, and on the quietest of nights, he could almost swear he heard Chamulsep still whispering evil nothings into his mind.

 

Then on one unremarkable summer morning, he vanished without a trace.

 

Finally, far better than its author is willing to admit...

Click to reveal.. (Nixak's Epilogue)

The weeks following the party's return to Quera went faster then the weeks before. Within a week Zarusa called on Nixak to meet with her and she discussed at length what she wanted him to do. To his great surprise she informed him that she wanted him to be her liaison working with the humans in the near by jungle and establish communication and a good relation between Quera and them.

 

Two days later he found himself and two of the local city guards back in the jungle trudging towards where he remembered Khielik and his people lived. After several days wandering Nixak and the guards managed to find one of the many human villages. They were promptly taken captive and almost killed. The only reason they lived was because of Nixak and his ability to speak with the humans in their own language thanks to Khielik's amulet that he still wore.

 

Nixak and the city guards spent several days under heavy human guard in a small hut. The humans had taken their weapons and supplies but provided them with food and water. At dusk on the second day Nixak and the guards where pulled out of the small hut and brought to another hut where they met Khielik.

 

Khielik recognized Nixak immediately. The following conversation between them went very well. After Nixak explained why he had come seeking Khielik and his people they were sent back to the small hut. The following day Khielik came to their hut and told Nixak that he had accepted Zarusa's wish of communication between their people. Nixak sent the two guards back to Quera with this report but stayed behind with Khielik.

 

After several months of living with Khielik's people he was able to garner some trust amongst them. He was not one of them but he quickly learned and adapted to their ways. With Khielik's permission he returned to Quera along with two human guards.

 

After being debriefed by Zarusa and harshly rebuked for having taken so long in returning, Nixak presented the idea that trade should be established between the humans and Quera. Zarusa agreed that it would be beneficial and Nixak returned to the jungle to make that idea become a reality.

 

Khielik rejected the idea of open trade flat out. If it had not been for the persistence of two human trades men that Nixak had met earlier, that expressed desires to sell in Quera, Khielik would have sent Nixak back to Quera immediately. After a few days an agreement was reached to send these two tradesmen to Quera with an escort to sell their goods and see how the city's people responded to them.

 

Nixak left ahead of the tradesmen and returned to Quera. He explained how the two trades men were coming to sell their wares and to see how they would be received. Zarusa gave Nixak the resources to make sure that the humans were tended to and helped them set up a place in the city's market to sell their goods.

 

The city's reaction was one of wonder, fear, and distrust. Despite the mixed reaction the humans quickly sold their goods and within four days time had returned to the jungle. Nixak also returned to the jungle and then back to Quera a dozen more times before it was agreed that those same two human trades men would be allowed to sell their goods in Quera once every month.

 

During the time that Nixak was not trying to bring Quera and the humans closer together he spent it in refection of his life and also in study of the silver scepter and its purpose. While he was not able to garner a full understanding of the scepters powers he did learn that it allowed him to focus his mind and enhance his mental abilities.

 

He used the scepter to place powerful wards on his own mind to keep others from getting into it. He remembered what happened in Sarden and how easily his mind's defenses were overcome. He could still feel that presence that had invaded his mind out there somewhere and he knew that he would have to face it again someday. Until then, he continued as the liaison that Zarusa had made him.

[Triumph]

Dude! Rowen, you practically wrote a book! Good stuff.

 

So Amadan vanishes, huh? O.o * cue X-files theme music *

[Dikiyoba]

Originally Posted By: Triumph

So Amadan vanishes, huh? O.o * cue X-files theme music *

The face-leaping mroe spiders strike again!

Dikiyoba.

[Triumph]

"mroe spider?"

[Ephesos]

Originally Posted By: Unattributed

"Yep, we got a bad case of mroe spiders back when we lived at the edge of the woods. The poor dog never saw it coming."

Those were the things that tried to eat Amadan in the second Blood Marsh session.

[Dikiyoba]

Originally Posted By: Triumph

Hopefully Dikiyoba won't go and make us all look bad by writing something amazing about Boregloaf.

Nah, Boregloaf's epilogue is short and not at all epic. And if there are any amazing bits, you deserve most of the credit for them, since Dikiyoba had no idea what to write until Dikiyoba saw Lanrezac's epilogue.

[Dintiradan]

Originally Posted By: Ephesos

Originally Posted By: Unattributed

"Yep, we got a bad case of mroe spiders back when we lived at the edge of the woods. The poor dog never saw it coming."

Those were the things that tried to eat Amadan in the second Blood Marsh session.

Question: will this and other side-quest-ish stuff be posted as well? What about stuff the GM only tells players privately, like the voice that Nixak and Amadan heard in their heads?

Completely understandable if this stuff isn't made public, for several reasons, but I'm still curious.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Dintiradan

Question: will this and other side-quest-ish stuff be posted as well? What about stuff the GM only tells players privately, like the voice that Nixak and Amadan heard in their heads?

Completely understandable if this stuff isn't made public, for several reasons, but I'm still curious.

I think my side session and Nioca's were posted somewhere on Eph's website, but not linked to in the main thread.

[Triumph]

Actually I think they, and other periodic private chats, were posted at various points in the main campaign thread. I'd check there, as long as it is...

[Rowen]

Most of Nixak's side adventures (Solo times that nearly killed him) I think I posted in the Mote thread. I didn't post the mind battle that Nixak, Chak-Tha, and Kyrpohius had.

 

To sum up what happened is that Nixak attacked Chak-Tha's mind and was beat back by not just Chak-Tha but some other mind that had linked with his. Nixak kept attacking and the other mind had no problem thwarting Nixak's attacks.

 

Then Nixak spent 6 stamina on a last ditch mind duel against Chak-Tha and the other mind and did very well in wrecking some mental havoc until the other mind (It was Kyrophius, the God of Trickery) easily overpowered and nearly killed Nixak. Nixak got to see Kyrophius as as he was overpowered and beat down (very easily I might add).

 

Also the silver scepter that Nixak had with him started to resonate with power during the battle with Chak-Tha and Nixak had no idea how or any practice with using it.

 

Looking back I can count four times that Nixak should have died but somehow escaped death. First was when Nixak tried jumping across a river and slipped, hitting his head; he landed face up in the water and drifted down stream. Second was when he came to the rescue of looters in Quera while down to almost no health or stamina in a burning house; tattoo saved him that time. Third time was when he burned 6 stamina on a mind duel with Kyrophius and got his ass handed to him majorly; still had some stamina to keep him alive after that. Fourth time was when Chak-Tha did his finishing move and Nixak took the explosion head first and ended with his life hanging on by one stamina; the amazing party healer saved him with a great roll of the dice.

 

Yeah, Nixak as escaped death a few times and even mind dueled with two different gods (one was the canopy drake). I have no idea how he is still alive.

[Ephesos]

Hm. Er, I can probably look for some of them, but my IM logs don't extend forever. I should start keeping better track of that stuff.

 

Also, a new interlude!

Click to reveal.. (Boregloaf's epilogue)

One evening, about three months after the death of Chak-Tha, Lanrezac was just leaving the mansion when he heard a yell. He turned around to see Boregloaf, Captain of the Mansion Guard, running towards him.

 

"Wait!"

 

"Yes, Boregloaf?"

 

"You're a smart lacewing. Do you--" Boregloaf's voice dropped to a whisper. "--happen to know where the temple for Kyrophius is located in this town?"

 

"I'm afraid not. Why?"

 

"I've been searching for it, but I haven't had any luck."

 

Lanrezac looked strangely at Boregloaf. "I must admit, I can't see you worshipping Kyrophius."

 

"No, no, it's not that. It's... never mind. Just a thought."

 

"Wait a minute. You still aren't worried about more assassins, are you?"

 

"Just wanted to keep an eye out for things, that's all."

 

"Well, don't wear yourself out worrying. Their leader is dead and we haven't seen or heard of any new assassination attempts for three months. Most worshippers of Kyrophius are probably as in the dark about it as you are." Lanrezac thought for a moment. "More in the dark than you are, actually."

 

Boregloaf stared off into the distance. "Yes, I suppose. Still, I'll probably keep searching. Even if I haven't found the temple, I've had good luck so far."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"Sometimes I see someone and think, 'well, they look furtive. Maybe they'll lead me to Kyrophius' temple,' so I follow them. They never do, of course, but a surprising number of them will try to pick someone's pocket." Boregloaf smiled.

[Rowen]

I have loved Boregloaf as a character. Diki's writing is clean but yet very colorful and informative. That helped to make Boregloaf the coolest goblin to ever lived. Ever.

[Triumph]

Boregloaf does indeed ROCK. Good writing, Diki. Glad I sort of helped inspire it.

[Ephesos]

First, more epilogues please!

 

Second, my site's updated, and the campaign pages got a nice makeover.

 

Third, on the heels of a discussion we had after last night's Dust Bowl session, we're making a change to skills:

• Intimidate is no longer a skill. From now on, you roll with whatever you're actually doing the intimidating. Usually, that'll be Strength, Martial, or Magic.
• Bluff and Diplomacy no longer exist. They have been replaced by...
• Composure is the new social skill. It represents a character's ability to keep cool under pressure in negotiations, or in outright lying. This puts more importance on what you say, because you can't count on rolling a 20 on Diplomacy to smooth things over.

Characters with Bluff/Diplomacy points at present will be able to swap 'em out for Composure, and Intimidate points will also be swapped. Pending DM approval for whatever campaign you're in, naturally.

[Rowen]

Would the conversion rate of the old skills to the new skill be 1:1?

[Dintiradan]

Can't believe I didn't think of this while in the chat, but what happens to an Elf's racial bonus to Bluff? Does it go to Composure now?

 

EDIT: I assume that Dust Bowl characters could just recreate their characters, as everyone's still at level 1 (assuming Sarachim is on board).

 

However, it would be nice moving my one point of Bluff into my three points of Diplomacy to make a whooping four points of Composure...

[Triumph]

One thought I had before is that it seems like one gets so many more chances to fail in combat than in skill challenge situations. One can roll badly loads of times in a fight and still win (we’ve seen it happen many times). But in a diplomacy/perception/whatever situation, a lot of times it seemed like one got one or two chances to fail and that was it. To some extent that is only realistic, of course. And I'm not complaining. But from a balance point of view, it makes those skill-based situations a lot harder than combat. Less forgiving, few chances to compensete for a bad roll. Or so it seemed to me. Now, I know at least once when I think Eph gave multiple chances, because it was so big (the mob that Vitze ended up inciting), but many social interactions...if it went south, there was no chance for recovery (or at least that was how I as a player perceived it). I really don't have a solution - like I said, it is realistic that you can only fumble your words so many times before someone gets ticked off...but it certainly makes those situations less forgiving than a fight, and correspondingly harder.

 

Now skimming through the discussion following the first Dust Bowl session; random thoughts will follow:

 

Regarding metagaming and min-maxing: I feel like it’s not possible to create a powergaming-proof system. It’s better to be explicit with the players about how the system works and what your expectations are in terms of character development.

 

Comments about saying stupid stuff: sometimes it’s just plain stupid, other times I feel like the players (or at least me) really didn’t understand the situation, or the GM’s expectations, and I’m not sure it’s entirely the players’ faults. Another aspect of that is learning that we rolled way too often. Having never played any game like this before, I had no idea what was appropriate. I know now that if I ever play again, I’ll only roll on those things if the DM asks me to.

 

I always did my best to say things that made sense, but felt like what I said never mattered because the dice rolls were bad. Probably part of that was rolling when I shouldn’t have (and didn’t know any better). Part of that was also not understand what was/wasn’t appropriate to say. Not sure how I can learn that, though.

 

I consciously try NOT to metagame…I felt like I succeeded overall. In some cases, as mentioned, ironically I feel like I failed in-character because I didn’t understand things out of character.

[Ephesos]

...oof. I forgot about the racial bonuses. Elves change Bluff to Composure, Dragonborn change Diplomacy to Composure, and Goblins change Intimidate to Perception. Gah, I will be seeking a better solution.

 

Re: conversion - Case-by-case basis. And remember, for any Dust Bowl characters everything is subject to Sarachim's approval.

[Ephesos]

Also, we have a new epilogue:

Click to reveal.. (Sawbones's Epilogue)

]If there is one thing that Allen learned in the Blood Marsh, it is the utility of violence.

 

Upon the goblin's return to Mekos, he returned to his work as a sawbones, skills only improved by his time adventuring. Still paying the elder Macterris' debts as best as could be managed, taking a beating now and again, but really only biding his time.

 

The body of an innkeeper on the city council was found in the marsh, half-submerged in a standing pool and half-eaten by wildlife. He had disappeared some months ago, probably carried off by an eagle on the outskirts of the marsh.

 

A month later, a the mayor's brother - a tanner - was found beaten to death in an alley, presumably for resisting a mugging. Some local thugs were arrested for the crime.

 

A powerful local merchant was flat-out murdered the next week, her throat cut on her own doorstep. Whispers of debts unpaid and ties to crime crept through the town.

 

And Sawbones simply left, leaving in the night for Risia with little more than boat fare, food, and his medical supplies. The temple to Phol-Phoram received a large, anonymous donation that night, and a small hovel on the outskirts of town burned down.

 

Anyone that Allen was indebted to was either recently deceased, unable to follow him, or unwilling to do so. He hitched a ride on the first ship he could find that was going far away, buying a position as a rower, and disappearing across the cold seas to lands unknown, where there would of course be work for a sawbones. Or, failing that, an adventurer.

[Nioca]

Originally Posted By: Triumph

Regarding metagaming and min-maxing: I feel like it’s not possible to create a powergaming-proof system. It’s better to be explicit with the players about how the system works and what your expectations are in terms of character development.

First off, I feel this needs to be said: Min-Maxing is making an optimized character. Munchkining is being a jackass and playing to "win". Please do not conflate the two, even if the latter does often include the former. There's nothing wrong with creating an optimized character, so long as you're not trying to exploit rules loopholes (in which case the DM Hammer should come down).

Anyway, I feel a bit of a ruckus is being raised over a problem here that, frankly, doesn't really exist. Yes, there's been a few occasions where someone's metagamed, but its not running rampant as the conversation last night implied. We've got a lot of players that haven't done this before, so we're going to have some blunders. That doesn't mean we need to chase after a fly with a shotgun, to speak metaphorically. When it happens, just tell the player not to metagame.

I've got my own thoughts on diplomacy, but I'd rather wait and see how Composure plays out before making any decisions.

[Lilith]

yeah that whole conversation came about mostly because i'm a game design theory wonk

[Ephesos]

Originally Posted By: Lilith

yeah that whole conversation came about mostly because i'm a game design theory wonk

Yeah, add in my aspirations to game designing and we were doomed to have that conversation from the start.

And I apologize for conflating min-maxing and munchkin-ing. The former is fine, the latter is not.

I like Composure, we'll see how it plays. But remember, all of this is just for what I think of as the core set of rules. Any DM is totally free to add house rules to their campaigns, even if it's something way beyond the core (which is why these changes won't affect Brigandage and Dust Bowl unless Nioca and Sarachim allow it). I know I've heard some people say they want to run a social combat system. And that would be totally fine, as long as you're up-front with your players about it.

[Triumph]

Thank you for clarifying, Nioca; I'm not all that familiar with the different terms, so that was ignorance showing through. I agree with your comments, though.

 

Ooh, another question that I'd love to hear from you DM-ish people: when things go south in a social situation (whether because a player said something stupid or got a bad roll...how much/should other characters intervene? Examples: I got the impression (afterward) that with the mob in Quera other party members should have intervened somehow to try to stop Vitze from inciting mob to attack Zarusa. On the other hand, I got the impression (afterward) that when we several of us were trying to talk when we got to Sarden, we made things worse than if we'd let just one's person story, however flawed, stand. I feel like I (or Lanrezac) probably handled it the wrong way both times, and I'd like to get a better sense of how I'm "supposed" to play. This really has nothing to do with stats and everything to do with roleplaying/ the DM's expectations, and I would appreciate anything that could help me better understand it.

 

Another question: is there any kind of definite policy yet regarding attempting something in which one has no skill points? Example: it was the Quera mob incident that inspired Lanrezac to take up diplomacy. Since at the time he had no skill in area, I made no effort to participate in that challenge, assuming he wouldn't be any good at it. On the other hand, everyone rolls perception all the time, whether or not they have the skill, and the results seems to hinge more on the roles than on whether someone has the skill. Again, I'd just like to understand the expectations better, whatever way they are, and I'll be fine going along with it.

[Lilith]

In general there seem to be two ways that untrained skill checks are handled, depending on the DM:

 

1) A roll based off the relevant statistic, with a moderate penalty.

 

2) No penalty to the roll, but the consequences of a failure are worse than usual.

[Rowen]

I might be wrong but I think that Nioca just gives a -5 to every roll for untrained skills. I'm thinking of when i played Casper and tried to use a sword and also when I played as Erika and tried to use a sword. Both don't have skill in it and It seemed that I was unable to do anything useful with the sword because it.

[Ephesos]

EDIT: Mega-sniped.

 

So, when social encounters go south, that's when I start actually asking for rolls (again, normally people start rolling long before that). It's when I feel that the characters need to do something more than just talk to smooth things over, which will now be a Composure roll in my campaigns.

 

The encounter outside of Sarden was a good example. People kept telling contradictory stories, which was already pushing towards when I would've asked for rolls (if people hadn't already rolled and failed). Obviously, other players can swoop in and try to save face, and Lanrezac actually did: He gave a nice bit of dialogue and crit a Diplomacy roll, effectively saving the party from a total failure. Of course, then they elected to not bribe the guy when given the horribly obvious chance, so the fail went through anyway.

 

The mob in Quera was a totally different story. In that case, Vitze succeeded at her goal... in fact, it was a bit of overkill. Then the rest of the party just kind of went with it, or gave middling responses backed by poor rolls. I believe it was Vitze fumbling a Bluff roll that pretty much sealed that encounter's fate... and even if the roll had gone better, she had just told the mob the exact opposite of the Bluff. So it would've taken magic dice anyway, or some incredible plan.

 

...so basically, feel free to leap in and cover for each other, just try to get your stories straight. Coincidentally, this is also when I crack down on out-of-character chatter/planning.

 

As for untrained skills... well, I've been applying a -5 penalty most of the time to untrained skill rolls. This definitely changed a few things in the Blood Marsh finale (i.e. Sawbones being unable to spot the gaps in the army, while Kurex and Alexander could). It also affected Alexander's attempts to be good with a bow... basically, he had very little chance of hitting anything until he put some ranks in it. And even then, it wasn't enough to hit most things. My two cents: learning a new attack skill late in a campaign is a fairly bad idea most of the time.

 

And when it comes to learning new skills, just be reasonable. If your character takes a rank in Composure, that's not a huge leap. History, sure. Crafting (Zeppelins), no. In-character justification is great, but not always necessary (though if you start pumping Composure while your character still acts impulsive and twitchy at every opportunity, I might call shenanigans).

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Ephesos

And when it comes to learning new skills, just be reasonable. If your character takes a rank in Composure, that's not a huge leap. History, sure. Crafting (Zeppelins), no. In-character justification is great, but not always necessary (though if you start pumping Composure while your character still acts impulsive and twitchy at every opportunity, I might call shenanigans).

Can I switch out my 8 ranks in Knowledge(Decorative Cake Frosting) for Knowledge(Suspension Bridge Engineering), then?

Major kudos if you get the joke.

[Rowen]

8bit Theater? I think they had to cross a canyon and deiced to kill everyone in a village and use their bodies to full in the canyon and cross.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Rowen

8bit Theater? I think they had to cross a canyon and deiced to kill everyone in a village and use their bodies to full in the canyon and cross.

That's pretty impressive. It was a guest comic done by the creator of OOTS, Rich Burlew.

[Triumph]

Originally Posted By: Ephesos

Crafting (Zeppelins)

Wait, is it possible to take Crafting (Zeppelins)? Now I know what my next character will be!


On a more serious note (not that I wouldn't love to have a strange airship-building character if that's possible!), thanks for insights, Eph. That really helps things make more sense me, and gives me a better idea of what will be appropriate in the future.

[Sarachim]

My ruling for Dust Bowl is that both Diplomacy and Bluff will become Composure. Nobody has both skills, so it works out neatly. As the original skills are becoming more powerful (characters with Bluff are effectively gaining free Diplomacy, and vice-versa) I think this is fair all around, but anyone who disagrees is welcome to PM me about it.

[Nioca]

Originally Posted By: Rowen

I might be wrong but I think that Nioca just gives a -5 to every roll for untrained skills. I'm thinking of when i played Casper and tried to use a sword and also when I played as Erika and tried to use a sword. Both don't have skill in it and It seemed that I was unable to do anything useful with the sword because it.

Actually, I basically removed the character's base attribute bonus for untrained checks. The idea being that it doesn't really matter how strong/dextrous/intelligent the character is if they don't have a clue what they're doing.

Though I think I might change that for Martial skills. Otherwise, if a character is deprived of their weapon, they become completely useless. Plus it renders things like wands and alchemical fire useless as well.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Nioca

Originally Posted By: Rowen

I might be wrong but I think that Nioca just gives a -5 to every roll for untrained skills. I'm thinking of when i played Casper and tried to use a sword and also when I played as Erika and tried to use a sword. Both don't have skill in it and It seemed that I was unable to do anything useful with the sword because it.

Actually, I basically removed the character's base attribute bonus for untrained checks. The idea being that it doesn't really matter how strong/dextrous/intelligent the character is if they don't have a clue what they're doing.

Wow, that's exactly what I'm doing. For every check you get the statistic+the skill as a bonus towards the DC of the check. But if you're untrained, you just get a bonus of 0. Great minds think alike, I guess...

[Triumph]

Originally Posted By: Ephesos

Of course, then they elected to not bribe the guy when given the horribly obvious chance, so the fail went through anyway.

Speaking of that bribe opportunity, it reminds me...I didn't offer a bribe because I didn't think Lanrezac, with his in-character background up to that point, would have any idea what offer. I even rolled a Streetwise check trying to figure it out (it didn't help, unsurprisingly). So I hoped that some of the more street-savvy characters would suggest something...yeah, that didn't work either. I also worried that if I offered too little or too much, something bad would happen. My question: was I over-thinking the whole situation? Does my character I need any special knowledge to bribe the slaver-driver, or would something terrible have happened if I'd over- or under-paid in my initial offer to the guy?

[Ephesos]

Originally Posted By: Triumph

My question: was I over-thinking the whole situation?

Probably, yeah. A few gold would've done it easily. That particular NPC would've been happy with pretty much anything. (even had it in my notes under "If Things Go South")

Thing is, NPCs can bluff too, and that guy definitely knew his stuff.

[Triumph]

Interesting observation: Popularity of Races

 

This is the population of PC races in Mote, based on active characters as of the finales of the Bloodmarsh and Selos campaigns, and characters currently active in Brigandage and Dust Bowl (basically I didn’t count characters who just dropped out of campaigns). That's four campaigns of characters.

 

Human 7

 

Elf 5

 

Lacewing 4

 

Goblin 2

 

Dragonborn 2

 

Dwarf 1

 

Considering the hypothetical scarcity of humans in the Mote setting, this is interesting to note. I would assume so many people choose human simply because, assuming all users of the Spiderweb forums are human, it just seems more natural and comfortable to play humans. But I am curious what thoughts people might have about the races, their characteristics, or why people do or don't like certain races. Does the way Eph characterized them initially, or the racial skill bonuses, have any significance?

 

Personally, I made a lacewing because at the time there were no lacewings in play, and because I wanted to make a historian character, so I took advantage of the racial bonus to history. Although I didn't realize they could "fly" a little, once I found that out, I had fun using it to make Lanrezac a bit acrobatic.

[Sudanna]

I picked a goblin because, well, I based Allen off of an image in my head of a demented goblin scientist, a not-uncommon archetype. I changed him to a medic because, as I recall, we needed one . It also gave me the idea of turning him into more of a melee-friendly character, what with the scalpels and and whatnot. This, in turn, influenced his personality, which was originally going to be the aforementioned mad scientist. It was originally going to be kinda savage, but when I worked out his backstory, with him medically servicing criminal elements of Mekos (or whatever the town was), I happened upon the idea of a more professional attitude towards violence, which is what I settled on.

 

Wait, why did I write that? Oh, I guess I felt I had to justify how Allen came from that particular archetype.

[Dikiyoba]

Boregloaf is a goblin because of the racial skill bonuses she would get plus the fact that no one else had chosen to play a goblin yet. Iliau is a lacewing because I originally envisioned playing a mysterious rogue character and the lacewing description plus skill bonus seemed to fit that sort of character best. Eric is human because I came up with the backstory first and it required a human character, plus it came with good racial bonuses to go along with it.

 

Dikiyoba has avoided playing elves and dwarves because Dikiyoba doesn't really like elves and would end up relying too much on Discworld ideas for the dwarves.

[Sarachim]

I made Vitze an elf because that race seemed best suited to the character I had in mind, both narratively and mechanically. I don't have any particular preference for elves, though. I could think of at least one character I'd enjoy for all the races, but I could only have one PC. I'm turning some of these unused character ideas into NPCs for Dust Bowl.

[Dintiradan]

Originally Posted By: Triumph

Considering the hypothetical scarcity of humans in the Mote setting, this is interesting to note. I would assume so many people choose human simply because, assuming all users of the Spiderweb forums are human, it just seems more natural and comfortable to play humans. But I am curious what thoughts people might have about the races, their characteristics, or why people do or don't like certain races. Does the way Eph characterized them initially, or the racial skill bonuses, have any significance?

It is odd that there are so many humans, but this can be handwaved away by noting that some races are more likely to produce adventurers than others. In Mote's case, you could say that the down-on-their-luck humans value self-sufficiency more, and produce a lot more itinerant sociopath, while dwarven culture guides its members towards sailing as a profession rather than adventuring with other races.

Or maybe all dwarves are crazy and everyone has a death-wish, and thus want to sail the world instead of saner, safer activities such as sword juggling or adventuring. I dunno, make your pick.

Wybren was an elf due to the race description (bards are most at home in the cities, and Mote's elves fit that the most), and because of the skill synergy. Also: Payet Best.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba

Dikiyoba has avoided playing elves and dwarves because Dikiyoba doesn't really like elves and would end up relying too much on Discworld ideas for the dwarves.

Brilliant! My next character can be Captain Carrot and get both the racial bonuses for human AND the bonuses for dwarf! Plus, you can't call him a munchkin because he's 6'6''!

[Nioca]

I choose Human for Amadan mainly because it fit well, both in terms of character and build. Being a hunter means he's a bit of a recluse and wilderness wanderer. Furthermore, +1 Perception and Stealth fit perfectly with a hunter's modus operandi.

 

Eva's an elf because I've got a bit of a comfort zone that I'm trying to break out of, and because very little fits stat-wise with an almost-pure magic caster.

[Ephesos]

Heh, I like hearing all this stuff... thanks, everyone.

 

(And Harosh is a lacewing because the aloof and cryptic elements of that race fit the student of a long-dead master pretty much perfectly. The History bonus also helps a lot there.)

[nikki.]

Esstra was a dwarf simply because we didn't have any yet. Mechanically, it didn't make much sense to have a healer be a dwarf (except for the +religion, I guess, but I used that check all of once in the final fight), but the image/personality I decided for her didn't really fit the other races.

 

Leitha is an elf because that fits best with what I had in mind for her personality, and because as Dintiradan pointed out, Mote's elves are typically city-dwellers. The racial bonuses helped, but they weren't a deciding factor.

[Rowen]

I had come up with the idea of Nixak before the races were released. I had writen the backstory as Nixak being a human and was to lazy to go back and change it to another race. Turns out human was a good fit for Nixak with the perception and stealth. Kind of fit in with the fact that he trys to avoid people or at least use to try to avoid people.

[Triumph]

Another postmortem question, about the future: in both Selos and Bloodmarsh, Eph left obvious hooks for future campaigns.

 

Do you, at this point, want to eventually have further campaigns with your same character used in Selos/Bloodmarsh?

 

If you want to use the same character in future campaign(s), do you want the same party (all the same characters or as many others as want to return)?

 

Personally, I would like to eventually use Lanrezac again, particularly in a continuation of the Selos campaign. I think having the same party would be fine. However, I also think I would like changing up the party. I think there could be a lot of interesting character interaction if there such changes depending how the party composition changed (for one example, having another human in the party for Nixak to interact with could be really interesting, I think).

[Sudanna]

I would love to use Sawbones again, but I doubt that we'd be able to have the entire party's schedules and inclinations align once more. Returning as an NPC seems much more likely.

 

Actually, who says we couldn't return to play as an NPC? That'd be kinda neat.