New Campaign: Daggers in the Night

[Morfedel]

I'm starting a new campaign. Not today or tomorrow, but "soon."

Firstly, its not based on the D20 system, but a system called The Riddle of Steel (TROS).

The great things about TROS:

1) Combat is very realistic. Just like in real life, a dagger can kill in one stroke (although someone sufficiently armored, or skilled, can probably avoid it). Thus, you don't have the whole "I hit him again with my battle axe!" resulting in "He takes the hit for 11 hit points!" "Doesn't that effect him at all?" "Nope."

2) Another nice element about combat. Maneuvers. You don't repeat ad infinitum "I swing! I swing! I, er, swing again!" Instead, you declare, "I'm in a forward offensive stance, and performing a diagonal swing aimed at his right shoulder!" If damage results, it will never be a matter of mere hit points, but a result deterimined by the level of the wound and location.

3) Getting hit is bad... really bad! Think of real life. You and someone else are fighting in a bar, and he slashes your arm with a broken bottle. You will suffer pain, blood loss, and probably give him the advantage. This is equally reflected in the game. You might ask, "Heck, why would we fight?" That question is answered in just a tad.

4) The system may sound complex, and it does have a high learning curve. However, its like riding a bicycle... once learned, its easy to remember and play. So don't worry... and I'd take it slow for the new players, so you aren't overwhelmed too fast (including practice battles so you can get the hang of it.)

5) A dice pool system slightly reminiscent of the World of Darkness rules, for those familiar with it.

6) A very cool prioritization system for character creation that lets you make a powerful nobleman, a dangerous pit fighter, or any one of a number of characters without the problems that free point build systems often create.

7) Last, but not least: Spiritual Attributes. This is what really sold me on the game more than anything else. TROS isn't about grinding in dungeons or fighting minotaurs; its about what's most important to the character. This is accomplished by 5 attributes known as Spiritual Attributes that the player defines, within a certain set of requirements. These attributes define what's most important to the character, and thus, what drives him the most.

Thus, two things happen with Spiritual Attributes. The character is rewarded for pursuing his goals, and he uses these S.A.s to advance his characters. In other words, every scene that your S.A. triggers, it raises 1 point immediately. Then, that S.A. adds to all dice pools for that scene.

And when you want to advance, you sell off S.A. dice for character improvements, which since there is a limit to the score for an individual S.A., is a good encouragement to change anyway.

Let me give you an example of how S.A.s work in game, and how it can turn a campaign into a character-driven drama. This actually happened to another group I know of:

There was a character who had taken as four of his five S.A.s: Faith (in whatever religion he followed), Destiny: To become the next Vodarch of his church, Passion: Loyalty to his king, and Passion: hatred of this enemy kingdom.

During the height of the campaign, the character in question discovered, during an invasion of the capital city by the enemy kingdom, that his church had betrayed his own kingdom and was working with the enemy.

The character had to make a choice, since four of his five S.A.s were firing, but were in conflict. So, he decided that it was the church that acted dishonorably, sold off every single point of his Faith and his Destiny S.A.s, thereby converting them to Drive: Destroy the Church, and Destiny: kill the current Vodarch.

Then, with four of his five SAs firing, each bumped a point, and adding to every single dice pool. It turned him from a very good swordsman to a whirling dervish of death.

Also, if you die, all the S.A.s you spent allows you to buy a better than beginner level character.

Which brings me to the next point:

8) Why would someone get into a bloody combat that could mean death? That's precisely what this game seeks to ask, and answer. In a game where death is so much easier (and less video-gamish) than many other games, why would someone fight?

For something thats important to them. In other words, whenever your S.A. might trigger... when something is really important. Which, of course, adds dice to your pools as well, raising your capabilities.

It also encourages "real life" tactics. Fighting honorably is all well and good, but teaming up on single foes, ambushes, and dirty tactics have been used in real life so often for a good reason: they work, and have the least chance of getting yourself killed. They work in real life, they will work for you too.


Magic and fantastic creatures also exist in these games, and are very powerful, very dangerous... and very rare. This game is taking the approach that many novels have been taking, such as the Game of Thrones series: that combat is deadly, magic is rare, but a wonder to behold, and mythical creatures are so rare that many people don't really believe in them... until its too late.

Thus, your most common foe is man. And what greater monster exists than man?

If you have read A Game of Thrones and the other books in the Song of Fire and Ice series, then you can see the potential... and TROS makes it rewarding. It gives you the capacity to make a noble drunk on power, a slave from the pits having escaped with bloody sword in hand, a wanderer hermit with secrets no one else might have, and a great variety of other options.


TROS is often referred to as a Blood Opera. Because the combat is bloody, and the character-driven nature can turn it into a soap-opera with blood and guts. One campaign had four of the five players taking S.A.s involved with revenging the deaths of loved ones, turning it into a blood-soaked story of revenge and betrayal. Another where all but one player took S.A.s regarding self discovery and unraveling mysterious, global or personal, making it a game much more about mystery and self-discovery.


The game I want to run is heavily suggested in the title. I plan on running a game much like the feel of the Game of Thrones series. Manueverings of nobles, the threat of civil war, and the gathering of power and players of intrigue.

You don't have to be directly involved if you don't want. If you want to make a character caught in the middle of it, at the periphery, a major player, or someone who has no idea what's going on, that's fine. But this is the general feel I'm looking for.

I'll take up to 6 players, but no more. Must obviously be willing to try a new game system. The game will have some very bloody combats, but much roleplaying as well, so hack-n-slashers, mony haulers, and the like, wouldn't enjoy the game too much.

Also, in the beginning there would be no sorcerers. The magic system adds a significant layer of extra complexity for the player who wants to play a sorcerer, and I want to make sure that all players in question are learning the current game well enough. As such, after the players have a solid understanding of the system, I'd allow ONE person to make a sorcerer character.

Sorcery itself is incredibly flexible and powerful, but also a danger to use for the incautious. Sorcerers are real powers, and not one-shot wonders, although a single swordthrust can kill one of them just as easily.

Thus, I'm looking for players interested in plot, a feel of REAL danger when your character is at risk, of blood and sweat and tears. The game is less about the accumulation of wealth and power, and more about what passions drives your characters. What's most important to THEM.

I'm still working out the details, and it would probably start around 9 pm cst (gmt-6), although I'm not entirely certain yet what day of the week.

Eventually, I'll have a rules set and character sheet setup as well. Until then, however....

So, anyone interested?

[sueil]

Sounds really cool. I'm interested in playing. I hope enough people are because it seems like it would be really fun.

[Morfedel]

I want at least three players. No more than 6, but at least 3. ;)

I've already created it on the calendar, but since I'm still hammering issues out, its locked from anyone applying before they contact me here, or via email or IM.

[Belizan]

I was going to say in the other thread, Morfedel, that really, the character sheet xml stuff is less necessary. The primary thing is getting players, plotline and character discussion started, as well as meeting times and what not. Realistically, especially if you expect most of your players to be TROS neophytes, we won't have much use for the character sheets anyway.

[LordTomar]

This ruleset sounds really interesting. I would be very interested in joining, depending on the day you plan on running the game.

If you have any questions about me, just send an e-mail or PM.

[Morfedel]

I was going to say in the other thread, Morfedel, that really, the character sheet xml stuff is less necessary. The primary thing is getting players, plotline and character discussion started, as well as meeting times and what not. Realistically, especially if you expect most of your players to be TROS neophytes, we won't have much use for the character sheets anyway.

That's true. I'm not going to pause starting the game until the rules set is done... I'm going to work on it WHILE running the game.

I'm thinking on running it somewhere between Thursday and Sunday. Starting at 9 pm cst.

[LordTomar]

I'm thinking on running it somewhere between Thursday and Sunday. Starting at 9 pm cst.

Friday-Sunday are good for me. Right now I am playing in 2 games that take place on oposite thursdays, so if you pick that day I would not be able to play.

[Snikle]

Is TROS something you made up or a game system for sale? Just curious, I would like to see the combat system. I am always interested in realistic systems and how they impact game playability.

[LordTomar]

Is TROS something you made up or a game system for sale? Just curious, I would like to see the combat system. I am always interested in realistic systems and how they impact game playability.

it apears to be a real game system... they have a website and everything... seems to have 3 or 4 books so far... maybe more.

[Snikle]

Yeah, done a search, but appears their site is down.

[LordTomar]

I just went to their site and it appears to be up. Thought I did have problems going to it earlier.

[Snikle]

Ah yeah now it is.

[Morfedel]

Hm. Their website IS down. It was up yesterday, but they have been hacked and had their website "replaced" with "other messages" more than once in the last three months.

May have happened again. Oh, wait, while typing this review, it finally came up.

Anyway, their website is: https://www.theriddleofsteel.net/

Their forums are at: https://www.trosforums.com/ And the forums ARE still up.

Go check them out. Hm, wait, let me post a few reviews for TROS too:

https://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_6355.html (by the guy who, since, has bought the company from the original owner)

https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9361.phtml (by me ;)

https://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_6567.html
https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9273.phtml
https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9633.phtml

You can find just about everything you need to on the website's link, but for a fast start at checking it out, download the quickstart rules from here: https://www.theriddleofsteel.net/support/TROSQS.zip

[Morfedel]

Ah, and two of you beat me to it, heh!

[Belizan]

I have seen it in stores, I flipped through the book once. If things get going, I'll probably go pick up a copy of the rules. Weekends are problematic for me, as things tend to come up in ways such that I don't even have ready access to a computer to message that I can't show up. Thursday would be best for me of the days you've suggested. F-Su are all equally bad, I'd say.

[Morfedel]

Ok, I went through the info I've received on people interested in the game for schedule possibilities. This is what I found (when quizzed on which day thursday through sunday):

Belizan: Thursdays only
Lord Tomar: Any day BUT thursday
Surly Dwarf: Thursday definitely, friday sometimes
Suiel: No info yet
Snikle: No info yet

Also, two people from the TROS forums who might be interested in buying FG and playing as well:

Mr. Steed: No info yet
Dragon: possibly, hasnt decided yet

So, Suiel, Snikle, what days work best for you? And man, whats this with players with diametrically opposed availabilities? Ugh!

[sueil]

I am free Wed-Saturday.

[dreign]

If you still have room, I would love to get in on this. I can only play on Thursday or Sundays. Friday and Saturday are too busy. So if you wouldn't mind another player and you decide to play on Thursday or Sunday, I would love to join.

Thanks

[Morfedel]

Great.

Another player with conflicting schedules with everyone else.

LOL! Sorry... it seems like most of the players' availabilities conflict with everyone elses.

I'll be going through soon and find out which will work out the best, with the most players.

[Snikle]

Unfortunately I am way too busy to get into another game, I would love to, but at this time, just not possible.

[Belizan]

Well, I could make some games on the weekends, just not reliably all of the games :/. Which may be too irritating to deal with, but it's not quite the same as being entirely unavailable 8).

[sueil]

I can now play Mondays and Wed-Friday but no longer Saturdays. Tuesday and Sunday are still out.

[Morfedel]

Ok... Tomorrow or the day after, I'll make my decision on game times and we can start generating characters.

It kinda sucks just a little... no matter what I pick, at least one person will be unable to make it. But what do you do, eh? I'll be choosing the day with the most people available....

Anyway, see you in a day or two.

[Ray]

this sounds boring and seams to allow for very little char building and advancemant. the point of fantasy is to escape reality not be just like it. who wants to play a hero that can die falling down the stairs as it were.

[Belizan]

Some people like wrestling. Others don't. No need to hate.

[Morfedel]

this sounds boring and seams to allow for very little char building and advancemant. the point of fantasy is to escape reality not be just like it. who wants to play a hero that can die falling down the stairs as it were.

Tell me where you are playing so I can come dump on your game next, ok? thanks.

Besides, you appear to have entirely missed the point of the spiritual attributes, which is how characters advance and are rewarded, and I really didn't say much about character creation, so you don't have any real info for criticizing that either.

You are very rude. Go away.

[SurlyDwarf]

Tell me where you are playing so I can come dump on your game next, ok? thanks.

Besides, you appear to have entirely missed the point of the spiritual attributes, which is how characters advance and are rewarded, and I really didn't say much about character creation, so you don't have any real info for criticizing that either.

You are very rude. Go away.

I agree with you, Morfedel. I think this game, its system, and it's style has a lot of great potential and am very intrigued by it. Even if I do not make it into the game, I will be looking into TROS.


Some people like wrestling. Others don't. No need to hate.

Well put, Belizan. I will say, however, that it is always OK to hate people who like wrestling. :D

[Snikle]

this sounds boring and seams to allow for very little char building and advancemant. the point of fantasy is to escape reality not be just like it. who wants to play a hero that can die falling down the stairs as it were.

Never played TRoS, but I think it is ok to have a game where it is difficult to survive, not every gamer is a GenX powergamer and has to have living gods as characters. Still not seeing how having a powerful character and added to your power is considered character developement, but hey, I am old school.

[LordTomar]

this sounds boring and seams to allow for very little char building and advancemant. the point of fantasy is to escape reality not be just like it. who wants to play a hero that can die falling down the stairs as it were.

I dont know. In my opinion, I enjoy it more when I have to worry if my char can get killed in a fight. I have acualy played in a game before where the DM told me I wasnt able to be killed for some reason. This drove me nuts really fast and I spent the first session trying to kill myself... and the next session I didnt even go to.

About the reality part... I enjoy games that are more realistic.

And the best part of this game... if you dont think you would enjoy it... then you dont have to play it.

[Morfedel]

Ok:

Belizan: Thursdays only; or some weekends, not reliably
Lord Tomar: Any day BUT thursday
Surly Dwarf: Thursday definitely, friday sometimes
Suiel: Wed-Friday
Dreign: Thursday or Sunday

Mr Steed emailed me, but I'm not at home. Soon as I get home, I'll add his information in and make the final decision.

That means, not counting Mr Steed:

Thursday: (4) Belizan, Surly Dwarf, Suiel, Dreign

Friday: (3) Lord Tomar, Suiel, sometimes Belizan, sometimes Surly Dwarf

Saturday: (1.5) Lord Tomar, Belizan sometimes

Sunday: (2.5)Lord Tomar, Dreign, Belizan sometimes

It looks pretty solidly like it will have to be thursday, as everyone but Lord tomar can show up for that, although I'd hate to lose Lord Tomar. I still have to factor in mr Steed though.

I'll have the final answer tonight. Then we can start character generation.

[Morfedel]

Yup. Its decided. I'll be running the game on Thursday evenings, 9 pm cst til around midnight. Sorry Tomar, but the other days just didnt have enough interested people. If you can get free that day later, please let us know!

Next post will start the discussion of character creation.

[SurlyDwarf]

Hm. Their website IS down. It was up yesterday, but they have been hacked and had their website "replaced" with "other messages" more than once in the last three months.

May have happened again. Oh, wait, while typing this review, it finally came up.

Anyway, their website is: https://www.theriddleofsteel.net/

Their forums are at: https://www.trosforums.com/ And the forums ARE still up.

Go check them out. Hm, wait, let me post a few reviews for TROS too:

https://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_6355.html (by the guy who, since, has bought the company from the original owner)

https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9361.phtml (by me ;)

https://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_6567.html
https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9273.phtml
https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9633.phtml

You can find just about everything you need to on the website's link, but for a fast start at checking it out, download the quickstart rules from here: https://www.theriddleofsteel.net/support/TROSQS.zip

What materials would you recommend? The main book? What else?

[Morfedel]

If you want to get any books, the main book is obviously the most important. The Flower of Battle will eventually be as well, as the only rules I'm taking out of it immediately is the rules for armor, but will eventually be bleeding then other rules into the game a little at a time.

Eventually I will be using most of the rules from TFOB however. So it might be nice to have it if you can afford it.

Of Beasts and Men is primarily for a GM, thus you shouldnt really need it. The companion I don't even own yet myself, so you won't need it for now.

[Morfedel]

Ok, I lied a tiny bit on my next post being about character creation. I'm writing up a document on the world that I'm running (an original creation), for the rest of you to reference. It will be important for you guys, as I want the characters to be created in reference to the world around them.

Most of the work is, really, already done, but its just in GM note format, and thus not really understandable. So I'm "prettifying it," and probably going to post it on my website. Then I'll link it here for you all to read.

Once I've done that, I'll want us to get together online to discuss concepts of characters. I want the group to have a bit of consistancy, and working together to build the party, rather than just a set of individual characters, will behoove us in the long run.

After that, I will post the bulk of the character creation rules so you can get started. In the meantime, follow my link above that links to the quickstart rules, if you haven't already.

Also start thinking about what kind of character might interest you. Remember, this is a Rare Magic world, so sorcerers, magic items, supernatural creatures, etc, are all very very rare, and thus the majority of people have never even seen magic (or monsters or what have you); people BELIEVE in them, but few have ever actually seen them.

Remember, also, that the game will focus on your enemies being human; there will be politics, intrigue, etc, bloody combat, daggers in the night, etc etc.

It is possible to play nobility, as you will see, though you will not have to be to be involved.

I want you to start considering your characters. Don't get too married to a single concept just yet, but it start playing around with ideas.

Also, be aware that religion is very important as well. There are no "clerics" performing everyday "miracles" for their gods... but it is as important as its ever been in our world. Think about the crusades. Think about what's going on today. Aethiests are rare, and some churches will kill those who practice heresay - and most people believe in some religion in any case.

And just to get you started, I'll give a very brief description of the kingdom we will be playing in.

The kingdom is known as Terrelain. It is not currently at war with anyone, though it has allies that are, and it is considering getting involved in the near future. Its only been a true kingdom for about thirty years; it used to be an area of independant city-states, until Duke Unker managed to unite several of the city-states under one banner, and conquer those who resisted him.

So, the kingdom is still very new in many regards. It is rife with intrigues, diplomacies, tensions, and threats of war, from both inside and without.

You will get the more in-depth info in a few days at most.

[Morfedel]

Hm. Actually... Saturday or Sunday would work so much better for me, on reviewing my situation, but, like, no one is available then practically. Ugh.

Ah well. ;)

[Belizan]

:/. Well, so are you sticking with Thursday? I hope so because I just got back from getting the main book :/.

[Stonar]

Okay, so I just stumbled upon this site, and it looks great. I don't have the program yet, but I'll get it if it means I can start another table-top game. I haven't played one in a while(read: a year and a half or so,) and I need something new to do, and this system sounds great! I was wondering if I could get in on this? I'm most open on Thursdays, and I wouldn't be able to come until 9:30 CST, but if you'll take me, I'm in. I'm not exactly sure if I can come always (I'm at school, and my schedule gets a bit crazy soon,) but I could come most of the time.

[Morfedel]

Yes, Belizan, I'm sticking to thursday, though I may start an hour earlier, say, 8: pm cst rather than 9; haven't decided yet though.

Stoner: I think we would have room for one more, if you were reliable. I don't mind late, as long as you are consistant in showing up.

Back to you, Belizan: The problem is i have a wife who gets grumpy if I stay up late a lot, and I have a game every other friday face to face, in addition to this; staying up two nights in a row will make her grumpy, but I'll deal with it.

Oh, and tell me what you think of the book! ;)

[Morfedel]

Ok, here is my schedule, just to keep you apprised of my timetable so you can expect when, what, etc.

My brother is coming into a town 1.5 hours away from me for his and his wife's baby shower. They currently live 6 hours away, but are moving back to our home town, which I live 1.5 hours away, as you can guess.

As such, I'm expected to be there, of course. My brother and us guys are getting together to play golf (which is much more fun than I thought it would be, and although I'm a rank beginner, I'm not so bad at it either).

So, my time will be a bit divided over the weekend. Also, to be honest, I'm in a beta test for a computer game (Guildwars: Factions) that only lasts this weekend. So I will be playing that a good bit too.

However, I will also be working on the document explaining the world in general, and the kingdom more specifically. I expect to have this done by the end of the weekend, although I'll say tuesday at the latest. It won't really be all that complex, and more of a summary than in-depth, but I'm having to dig up all my notes I have spread all over, in different notebooks, compile them, and enter them in, and in a format where it doesn't look utterly horrible.

Once I have that done, I will either paste it into an html format on the web, make it available for direct download, or paste it in here.

When that is done, I'd like us to get together for a joint character creation section. We will first focus on the concepts of the characters and their interlation as a group, if any. This is one of those games where I prefer group participation in character creation, as the Spiritual Attributes can cause conflict if not wisely chosen.

Example: I had two characters once who each took a spiritual attribute that related to a goal in a very specific geographic location... on opposite sides of a continent, spread over 2000 miles apart! As you can imagine, that made it very difficult for either to work on their goals easily.

Anyway... so I'm aiming to have all my work done by Wednesday, so that Thursday evening we can get together to start making characters.

Anyone have any questions? Comments?

[Belizan]

Other then impatience, sounds good to me 8). I've read over the "book two" and "book three" of the book so far, and therein have an idea for the character I'd like to make, but I'm waiting to see the world background to make sure it fits, and then the player characters to make sure he fits in there as well :/. A lot of impatient waiting 8).

A few unrelated side notes, are you going to making up more skill kits? They have rules for non-humans in the core book, but I had the impression that you were only allowing humans? I know you said no Sorcerers. I haven't gotten a chance to fully read over the "combat styles" but had you intended to add or remove any for your world?

[Stonar]

Darn... I seem to have gotten ahead of myself... my computer apparently can't run this program. It's unfortunate, I was getting really excited about this setting, it seems great! Maybe when I get home, I can use my other computer to get some games in on here, but until then, have fun! I might still lurk around here to see what else I can find, but thanks for letting me have a spot even though I couldn't play! See ya!

[Belizan]

I can see why you said we were going to have to try out the combat system before the game. That really is violent. And a fair number of mappings to get a grip on. There are a few maneuvers I'm unclear on. It seems like, with TNs being what they are that being lucky is the most important thing, and after that, generally, just having more dice. Most of the special maneuvers seem nice only if you were going to win anyway :/. Although winning more assuredly with stealing initiative on pre-emptive attacks looks promising 8).

Anyway, it's a very interesting system. I'm all jazzed to try it out now. How are things going on your end?

[Morfedel]

I can see why you said we were going to have to try out the combat system before the game. That really is violent. And a fair number of mappings to get a grip on. There are a few maneuvers I'm unclear on. It seems like, with TNs being what they are that being lucky is the most important thing, and after that, generally, just having more dice.

Yes and no. Luck is like for any other game; rolling natural 18s for stats or critical hits in D&D is about the same, though combat gets a lot deadlier in this one. On the other hand, it goes both ways.

However, having more dice certainly does promise to give the advantage to the opponent... just like a higher level character in D&D has an advantage as well.

The idea is to maximize your advantages, while minimizing your own. For one, the S.A.s firing off will add to your dice pools. Enough of those will turn you from an ok fighter to a whirling dervish.

The second is fighting the way anyone in real life would. Let's put aside fights of honor and fair fights here. Let's talk instead about... oh, a home invasion. You awaken to realize that one or more people have just invaded your home, and this fight may well be to the death - or worse.

What tactics would you resort to then? Double or triple teaming your foe? Attacking from ambush? Dirty tricks? The old saying of anything being fair in love and war is most certainly true of the latter.

As the book says, ambushes, ganging up on individual foes, and other dirty tricks have been working for ages for humanity; they will work for you in this game too. Don't play video-gamish D&D style here - plan tactically and strategically, and play like its for your life, because it probably is.


Most of the special maneuvers seem nice only if you were going to win anyway :/. Although winning more assuredly with stealing initiative on pre-emptive attacks looks promising 8).

Anyway, it's a very interesting system. I'm all jazzed to try it out now. How are things going on your end?

This isn't entirely true. For one, you need to remember that you are dividing your dice pools between two phases and planning your manuevers accordingly makes a big deal.

For another, you need to remember that some of the riskier manuevers also provide bigger rewards, or assist you down the line. For example, bashing an opponent's weapon aside won't net you any damage, but for someone with decent to heavy armor, you might not have anyway. However, bashing their weapon aside at the right moment provides for an advantage later on that can let you net a greater blow at that moment.

There are a couple of manuevers that are a bit lame, such as toss, but most are fine.

But, to give you an example: one critic of the game stated that the game combat system sucked, because the obvious single best manuever was to put all your dice into one single attack, as should the defender in defense, and whoever rolled best would win, and that any other tactic was stupid.

I proceeded to show him otherwise. I took a guy with a sword and shield; shields generally have better defense TNs than weapons have attack DNs... overall.

We decided to use the same dice pools for both parties to prove the point. I would put, oh, two or three less dice in defense then he did attack. The idea being, that with a lower DTN, I would roll at least as good, and thus, barring bad luck, I'd successfully defend.

And the second exchange of combat, his dice pool would be empty, while I'd have around 3 dice for attacking. If he even survived my counter attack, I would claim initiative. In fact, i'd always keep a couple of dice from the first exchange to the second. so when he emptied his entire pool, I'd still have a couple dice left, which meant initiative always went to me.

He would win about one out of, oh, every three battles. I'd win the other two.

So, sure, a berserker assault like that could work, but it left weaknesses. Also, if he met someone superior, he would be dead.

"But wait," you might say, "if it was someone superier, he would be dead anyway!" Not if he kept back some dice for defense. He could then perform a full evasion and run. You know, the whole Live to Fight Another Day, rather than the Time to Create a New Character Day.

Anyway; when looking at the manuevers and thinking, "Man, I don't think this would work," play Devil's Advocate and determine how it might work instead.

In the meantime... I plan on having the materials for background done by tomorrow evening. I'm going to TRY to have them done THIS evening, but my goal is for tomorrow.

[Belizan]

Oh, I'm not saying there isn't a point to holding dice. I'm not even saying that all of the maneuvers are pointless. I'm just saying that most of the maneuvers seem overly risky, compared to just doing straight out dice supremacy. Not the way your fellow was describing there, but rather simply by going for the most dice-conservatively efficient maneuvers. Counters and Stealing Initiative being the only exceptions.

Either way, it was just my impression 8). Far from any sort of conclusion. I'd want to actually use the system before I tried to draw actual conclusions 8).

The other thing is having read the combat system I am immediately given to think of a few tweaks I might want to add, but those may be in the battle expansion book already, which I don't have.

[Belizan]

Pity FG doesn't have a scripting language to allow us to automate the damage tables :/.

[Stonewell]

Some people like wrestling. Others don't. No need to hate.

don't hate the player, hate the hater. Bro, get a life... it's a game, and it's supposed to be fun. if you don't have fun, don't play, but don't rag on others.

[Morfedel]

Well, I have a program that does the damage tables on the desktop. I also have a character generator, though its not absolutely perfect. I also have a combat simulator.

The character generator is pretty good, though you need a bit of instruction in that I'm using my own world, not theirs. The program has you either select one of the 30 or 40 kingdoms in their world, or define your own. I'd obviously have you define one of my kingdoms to use.

The combat simulator is a tad flawed, but it can give you a decent idea of combat.

Here are the links:

Character generator: https://www.theriddleofsteel.net/support/troschargen.zip

TROS Damage Table Program: https://www.theriddleofsteel.net/support/trosdam.zip

The TROS quickstart rules for those who havent downloaded it from an earlier post above and dont have the book: https://www.theriddleofsteel.net/support/TROSQS.zip

The combat simulator: https://www.theriddleofsteel.net/support/TheRiddleOfSteel.zip


As for my progress: As of this moment, I've written 21 pages. It includes the important aspects of my world, and some words of advice. All that remains to do is write the specifics in the kingdom of Terrelain that we are playing in. I should have that finished tomorrow.

After I'm done, I'll put it on my website, zipped, and in rtf format, for you guys to download. Additionally, for those of you that havent yet, get the quickstart guide if you dont have or arent getting the rulebook, and read it over. Also get the combat simulator, the damage chart, and the character generator from the links above, and start playing with them.

By doing this, your learning curve wont be QUITE as large once we start playing. In the meantime, if you have any questions, let me know.

[Stonewell]

Hi there,

I sent you an E-mail about the possiblity of joining.... I have the learning curve for the new system, and FG, but I would be dedicated to thursdays and add a lot to the game. Please write back to [email protected] Thanks!

[Morfedel]

By the way, the game is now active on the calendar page, so those of you playing please sign up! ;)

[Morfedel]

I expect to have the rtf file completed by this evening. I am merely adding in a small bit of historical, geographical, and political data for the specific kingdom we are playing in; enough to give you a hint of the feel of the game setting for the kingdom.

And I will add a few words of wisdom in character concept development. I expect everyone to read the entire thing before meeting to talk about characters; this isn't an unreasonable request. Its already 21 pages, and will be a bit longer by the time I'm done, but I assure you, you will read it faster than it takes me to write it.

Don't expect a work of art; it's a first, rough draft, and I'm not taking the time to really edit it, much less flesh it out. Time, as they say, is of the essence, and I won't have enough to do any real fleshing out before we get together for the character creation session.

It should be adequate, however, for you to start working on character concepts.

[Morfedel]

Oh, another thing; while I'm an old hat at GMing online, I haven't really used FG before. Thus, be patient if I'm a little slow at first.

Also, I'm not the best mapmaker in the world, and to add to it, I don't have a really good mapmaker anyway, so my maps will likely look less than stellar.

Just an FYI. Eventually I'll get a good mapmaker program, but for now....

[Stonewell]

Hi there,

I downloaded the quickstart guide, had some problems with the character generator, but the guide was pretty clear. I have the book on the way, but it's about 4 days away. Can I still sign up?

This looks like a GREAT gamming system and would love to get onboard!

Thanks for your concideration!

[Morfedel]

I'm at work, and I'm really, really, REALLY bored. I'm a substitute teacher currently while transitioning to a new field of work (IE, I've decided to do something else, it will take around 2 years of training, so I'm doing this on the side).

Anyway, unlike being a teacher, a substitute generally just babysits. So here I am, with nothing to do, and I'm getting more bored with every passing hour.

So... I'm going to start talking about character creation.

First thing's first: the concept. This, obviously, has to wait until you get hold of my rtf, which I will be posting this evening sometime. It really is the most critical part, though, and not only because I feel it's important for any RPG anyway, but also because the Spiritual Attributes that drive the characters pretty much require it.

In any regards, the concept has to go beyond "A lone warrior cutting his way through the chaff," but must include his familial background: who was his or her mother and father, siblings, extended family? Social status? Who is alive and dead, and what are the relations with said family?

What interesting may have occured while growing up? How did the character end up becoming who they are now?

Go beyond "I'm an Orphan" and other cheesy ways to avoid thinking about your character. Also, feel free to stretch your imagination a little. Is your character a noble knight, hurting over his beloved's Father's decision to marry her to some distant nobleman? Is she a Lady in Waiting to one of the Royal Princesses, and is privy to secrets not meant for her ears? Is he an embattled baron fighting off incursions on his lands, or a prisoner recently freed and anxious to build his fortune... or just find food for his belly?

This game isn't class-driven, so it does leave you room for playing around with some concepts. Don't get too married on something until you see the rest of the character creation mechanics, but it does have a start.


Second thing: this is normally reserved for later by most GMs, but I've decided this should actually be first, as it is so intimately tied to the character concept. That is the selection of Spiritual Attributes.

Each character gets 5 Spiritual Attributes, or S.A.s, that the character determines on their own, with a few restrictions, and the guidance of the GM and the story, of course. An SA is something that is very important for the character, something that he is actively striving to accomplish - or avoid.

SAs benefit the character in two ways. First, whenever a scene causes an SA to fire, that SA goes up 1 point; then, for that entire scene you get to add the dice from that SA to all your dice pools for that scene.

Secondly, you can also sell off SA dice to improve your character, and in fact, this is the only way your character can improve (except for skills, which improve by using); also, each time you sell off SA dice, you earn insight points, which can be used to buy a better starting character should this one die.

Following is a list of different general SA categories. Unless I specifically say otherwise, you are limited to one SA from each category. Most of the SAs must be further defined, although a few stand alone and are self-defined.

Destiny - Destiny is an SA that defines something that your character is destined to do, or something destined to happen to the character. Destinies can be something the character would want to accomplish, or something he would want to avoid. For example, his destiny could be "Destiny: To Dethrone a King," and thus, each time he opposes the forces of a king, his Destiny SA would fire. Or, his SA could be "Destiny: To Die in a Ditch," and thus, each time he was in a ditch, trench, canyon, etc, knowing his destiny, he would fight harder to avoid his fate.

Drive - Drive is an SA that defines something the character wants to accomplish. Some examples could be "Drive: To Avenge Wife's Death," or "Drive: To Discover Son's Disappearance."

Faith - Faith is an SA that defines a religions, spiritual, or philosophical conviction important to the character. You will see the world's religions in my document, but to use the real life as an example, "Faith - Catholic Church," or "Faith: Al-Quidan Islam" could be real world examples... and you can see from both medieval ages and today's real world just how important religion and faith is to some people.

Passion - passion is the only SA that can be taken twice, and must obviously not be a duplicate of the first. A passion is something that the character feels, well, passionately about. Examples could include "Passion: Hatred for the 'evil' baron," or "Passion: love for Wife."

Conscience - self-defined, this essentially means that you have this desire to "do the right thing," and are generally a good person.

Luck - Luck is self-defined. Unlike the other SAs, you may used luck dice any time you wish. However, once used, they cannot be usd the rest of the game session. Also, you may spend luck dice to give you story-based luck. Thus, if you are falling out of a three-story tower, the GM might allow you to spend a luck die to have a wagon filled with hay that, by happenstance, is underneath the window you were just shoved out of.

Note that taking too many vague SAs doesnt really give any interesting plot hooks. For example, taking "Destiny: To become the greatest swordsman ever," in order to justify adding dice any time you are in combat, ever, might be considered cheesy, but also is terribly generic in that it gives no real plot hooks for me to make something interesting.

In comparison, if you had taken "Destiny: To Become The King's Personal Guard," when a rank peasant, or "Destiny: To Become Know as Wizard's Bane," in a game where sorcerers are incredibly rare, are more interesting, and gives some great story ideas rather than cheesy power gaming attempts, where the others give great story hooks.

However, be cautious not to take something TOO specific. Using an example from my previous game I ran, I had a different game world, and each of two characters chose an SA that required each of them to be at a specific geographic location... on the opposite sides of the continent! This can cause significant problems.

Thus, while I'm mentioning the above to get you thinking about your character, also realize that it will be important to work as a group, both with the concepts and the actual SAs, so that something similar doesnt occur again.

Additionally, I don't want the PCs taking SAs that will derail the story I have planned too much. I am setting the story in the kingdom of Terrelain; thus, if a character takes an SA that requires him to go to Morgoroth, that will cause some real problems too.

Continued next post.

[Morfedel]

Hi there,

I downloaded the quickstart guide, had some problems with the character generator, but the guide was pretty clear. I have the book on the way, but it's about 4 days away. Can I still sign up?

This looks like a GREAT gamming system and would love to get onboard!

Thanks for your concideration!

If you can play thursdays at 9 pm cst, then yes, you may join.

[Morfedel]

Next Step: Prioritization.

Most games tend to be one of two types: class-based, as per D&D, or point-based, where you have free reign with making characters. The problems with the former is that classes tend to make characters look cookie-cutter after awhile, while the latter encourages powergaming and minmaxing.

A few games have taken steps to try and get some of the flexibility of the former, while avoiding the abuses of the latter. TROS is one of those games.


TROS, thus, works with what they call a prioritization system. Each player has 6 priorities, lettered from A to F, with A being the best, and F the worst.

There are 6 categories that these are assigned to, from your most important to your least: Race & Sorcery, Attributes, Skills, Proficiencies (meaning combat or sorcery skills), Social Status, and Gifts and Flaws (a balance of advantages and disadvantages).

Since for this game, I'm not currently allowing either sorcerers or nonhuman races, your F is automatically assigned to Race and Sorcery.

You then assign the rest to your other areas. Attritbutes determines how many points you have for allocating to each of the particular stats. The higher the priority, the more points you have for attributes. The minimum is 2 for each attribute, the max is 7, and one attribute must be higher than the rest.

Skills gives you one or two skill packages, and a starting score for each of the skill packages. Unlike attributes, the lower the score, the better. This is because for using skills, your skill score is your target number, while the dice you roll is based on an attribute. Thus, having a lower score means a more likely chance of success.

You may even take a skill package twice. whenever you get a skill from two packages, you take the better of the two skill scores, and subtract an additional -1 from it.

Proficiencies are your combat skills (And for purchasing sorcery skills if I allowed such); the proficiency dice are assigned to combat style skills, such as sword and shield, or long sword/great sword. The dice assigned here adds to attributes for a final combat pool, determining how many dice you roll in combat (the target numbers are determined by the weapons themselves; agile weapons tend to have a better TN than a clumsy one).

Also, some manuevers become available only with higher scores in proficiencies in a particular combat style. Your main proficiencies also give starting, lower level skills in other, similar combat styles. These are known as defaults. For example, Sword and Shield also grants Dagger at -2, meaning you can use dagger 2 levels less.

You can then add extra dice to dagger from this default level. You may only put 8 dice max in a proficiency if you have put an A in proficiencies; B-F are limited to 7 dice in a proficiency.


Social Status determines your starting wealth and social power. An F is a slave or prisoner, while an A is a landed noble, or a member of a powerful landed noble family.

Gifts and Flaws are a combination of advantages and disadvantages. Each Gift or Flaw is rated as Minor or Major. Two minor count as one major. The higher the priority, the more gifts and the less flaws you get, and visa versa. Gifts could represent, for example, ambidexterity or being incredibly beautiful, while flaws could represent being, for example, fat, or being really ugly.


At this point, you should take a minute to examine the character generator while looking at this post, to make sure you have at least a basic understanding.


While you are at it, realize for non sorcerers, there are three sets of attributes. Physical, Mental, and derived. The physical and mental attributes are used when rolling for skills, for instance, while the derived ones are determined by the physical and mental stats, and are used for calculating final combat scores.

[Morfedel]

The next step, after this, is of course, assigning your attributes, chosing your skill packages, gifts and flaws, etc etc.

Start using the character generator. It should walk you through the entire process. As far as I recall, there is only one flaw in the program, and that's that it has a section for chosing your nation, from the nations listed from the main rulebook.

As this is my own world, it is inaccurate. It has a section for defining your own nations... which is what we will use, and once we have your character information, I can give you the necessary details for "defining your own nation" for the character generator.

Let me know if you have any problems. Characters aren't final until thursday, as we still have to get together to discuss them, but this is a great way to start thinking about your character.

[Morfedel]

Hi there,

I downloaded the quickstart guide, had some problems with the character generator, but the guide was pretty clear. I have the book on the way, but it's about 4 days away. Can I still sign up?

This looks like a GREAT gamming system and would love to get onboard!

Thanks for your concideration!

What problems are you having with the character generator? And did you install it in its default directory, or change it?

Reason I ask is, I remember hearing that there is some weird bug that, if you change the installation directory or something, then it wont work. Gotta install it at its defaults.

[Morfedel]

Oh, OOPS!

I forgot that the character generator, in making sure you have a copy of the book, asks for a particular word on a particular page in the book each time you run the program - and of course, it changes.

So, tonight I'll be online no later than 9 pm cst, and possibly earlier. You can contact me on an instant messenger program as you load up the character generator, asks for a word or what have you, and I'll give it to you.


Also, just an FYI, I forgot to add one thing, a personal rule, on SAs. No significant overlapping of the SAs. In other words, doing something like taking "Destiny: To become the worlds greatest swordsman," and "Drive: to become the greatest swordsman ever," has obvious serious overlapping, and I won't allow it.

A LITTLE overlapping is acceptable. A LOT is not.

[Morfedel]

Ok, here it is!!! The link for the zip file containing the rtf of the summary of the background for my world, in all 30 pages of its glory. Its not as nice as I'd like it, but it should do.

https://members.cox.net/cybermerlin/files/Avurnis%20Introduced.zip

[Belizan]

Do you want us to post character ideas here or...?

I read over the Avurnis document, and it was very interesting. It reminded me of a cross between some of Glen Cook's worlds and the Game of Thrones setting. It did leave a number of things less clearly specified. At some point, either when we get together or during our first session we're going to want to go over some of these things, I think.

For instance, each religion describes it's orientation vis a vis who was the savior and who was the betrayer back when the Ixnar came and so on, but none of them describe (other then with re: sorcerers) what any of their tenants are. Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, Hinduism, etc. have fundamental tenants--philosophies about how the world works and how life should be lived, what happens when you die, where people come from and where they go and so on, moral "law", etc. I can't imagine playing a character with an SA in Faith without knowing what my religion stood for :/.

Also, you describe each of the current kingdoms, but in a vacuum, more or less. It's hard to see where each kingdom came from, historical development and so on--That's not so surprising as such things can take a long time to work out and can be remarkably complex; look at the history of Europe afterall (or India if you prefer). What would be important to work out sooner as opposed to later, though, would be the cultures in these various regions. Are these kingdoms all uni-cultured? Are their cultural groups? What are their values, customs, social structure, etc.? Where does each society sit in the age old balance of secular vs. non-secular. Upper class vs Middle class vs Lower class. What are their attitudes towards entertainers? farmers? artisans or merchants? You touch on a few of these issues in your discussions of armor and weapons and social norms, but leave off there. For instance, there is no discussion of slavery--rampant throughout Human history, and specifically referenced in the rulebook. Who practices it and how does it come about? Another probably important idea for some people would be criminal justice. Is there things like Debter's Prison? Babylonian severing of the thieve's hands? Work camps? Trial by combat? Gold price ala the Vikings? I guess this is probably most significant for Terrelain.

I know you previously made some comments about lack of good mapping software, etc., but even a hand drawn scanned sketch would help (me at least) a lot in placing the various kingdoms geographically. I have sort of a loose idea where a some things are and sort of a sandbox where I've dropped the other kingdoms into mentally with a certain amount of hand waving "their over here somewhere" sort of picture.

Also, you didn't really talk about which cultures/countries/people tend to use which fighting styles. I wonder if there are any analogs to the cultural styles from the TRoS book, like the Stalnish Doppelhander style. What sort of weapons do the horse lords of Strachmoor, or the Lords of Terrelain use? Again, maybe these questions are best answered at our first session or what have you, but these are the first things I want to ask having read the document 8).

I recall that you said at one point that you wanted the players to make backgrounds that added to the flesh of the world. Perhaps, well, not with the religions, but with these other details we should make up these details to fit with the backgrounds we want to play? ... Or how should we proceed? 8).

[Morfedel]

Gah! that was thirty pages I wrote in two days! How much more do you want me to squeeze in before thursday? :P

heh

[Morfedel]

Do you want us to post character ideas here or...? Not really. I'd rather us get together Thursday and discuss them together, to create a team of PCs.


I read over the Avurnis document, and it was very interesting. It reminded me of a cross between some of Glen Cook's worlds and the Game of Thrones setting.

Two major inspirations for me. Glad those came through.



It did leave a number of things less clearly specified. At some point, either when we get together or during our first session we're going to want to go over some of these things, I think.

Again, I really ended up having only two days to work on the document from all my notes, and the information stuck in my head. I'll do my best to continue to disperse information as necessary.


For instance, each religion describes it's orientation vis a vis who was the savior and who was the betrayer back when the Ixnar came and so on, but none of them describe (other then with re: sorcerers) what any of their tenants are. Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, Hinduism, etc. have fundamental tenants--philosophies about how the world works and how life should be lived, what happens when you die, where people come from and where they go and so on, moral "law", etc. I can't imagine playing a character with an SA in Faith without knowing what my religion stood for :/.

You're right there. I was focused on the history and feel of the world, and the pertinent details, such as the tenants of the churches, fell through the cracks. Then again, most fantasy worlds don't go a whole lot beyond "Bob, God of beer and revelry!"

But I'll try and flesh things out more. We aren't going to be seeing pages and pages of fleshing out initially... there is only so much I can get done in a short period; this isn't something I started developing years ago. I came up with the basic ideas over time, but somewhat piecemeal until I suddenly decided to run TROS, on FG, in this world.

For that matter, anyone with the TROS book will see I borrowed a few themes from their own world. Eventually, long term, I tend to break that relationship completely, but that will take time.


Also, you describe each of the current kingdoms, but in a vacuum, more or less. It's hard to see where each kingdom came from, historical development and so on--That's not so surprising as such things can take a long time to work out and can be remarkably complex; look at the history of Europe afterall (or India if you prefer).

Let's not. After all, there isn't a single game that has a world as detailed, as rich in history as the real world, though some work hard at it. Compare my setting to other settings, not Europe or India! :P


What would be important to work out sooner as opposed to later, though, would be the cultures in these various regions. Are these kingdoms all uni-cultured? Are their cultural groups? What are their values, customs, social structure, etc.? Where does each society sit in the age old balance of secular vs. non-secular. Upper class vs Middle class vs Lower class. What are their attitudes towards entertainers? farmers? artisans or merchants? You touch on a few of these issues in your discussions of armor and weapons and social norms, but leave off there. For instance, there is no discussion of slavery--rampant throughout Human history, and specifically referenced in the rulebook. Who practices it and how does it come about? Another probably important idea for some people would be criminal justice. Is there things like Debter's Prison? Babylonian severing of the thieve's hands? Work camps? Trial by combat? Gold price ala the Vikings? I guess this is probably most significant for Terrelain.

All well and good, and something that will certainly help. Again, though, please remember I've had only two days thus far to assemble that document, just to get the bare-bones basics going. As long as you understand it will take me time to write all this up, that's fine. Otherwise, you are expecting a bit much of me to get it done in only a couple of days.

In any case, the best, fastest comparison for my world in one short sentence is, my world should have the flavor and feel of the Game of Thrones books (The Song of Fire and Ice series by George RR Martin), with a slight touch of the Black Company by Glen Cook.

For those not familiar, think medieval setting with complex social interactions. But read the books, they rock. :)


I know you previously made some comments about lack of good mapping software, etc., but even a hand drawn scanned sketch would help (me at least) a lot in placing the various kingdoms geographically. I have sort of a loose idea where a some things are and sort of a sandbox where I've dropped the other kingdoms into mentally with a certain amount of hand waving "their over here somewhere" sort of picture.

Actually working on those now.


Also, you didn't really talk about which cultures/countries/people tend to use which fighting styles. I wonder if there are any analogs to the cultural styles from the TRoS book, like the Stalnish Doppelhander style. What sort of weapons do the horse lords of Strachmoor, or the Lords of Terrelain use? Again, maybe these questions are best answered at our first session or what have you, but these are the first things I want to ask having read the document 8).

Working on these too. I realize how important this is, just hadnt had the chance to get them done yet.


I recall that you said at one point that you wanted the players to make backgrounds that added to the flesh of the world. Perhaps, well, not with the religions, but with these other details we should make up these details to fit with the backgrounds we want to play? ... Or how should we proceed? 8).

Over time I'll continue fleshing out the world. Now that my general introduction to the world is done, I'm focusing on Terrelain culture, the religions, and at least a basic map of some kind.

Also, I will over time divorce this setting from the elements of others that I borrowed. For instance, Xanar Stormbringer, an obvious adoption from the Weryth setting of the TROS books, will eventually disappear and be replaced by something more original.

But, I will attempt to get as much done as I can for the critical areas. If you have any suggestions in the meantime, that would be fine, but in the end I need to stick to my personal vision.

Worst case scenario, just ask, and I will do my best to make a spot decision then and there.

[Morfedel]

Ok, the players I have for this are:

Belizan
Surly Dwarf
Suiel
Dreign
Stonewell
possibly mr steed

However, the only people I have heard from lately is Stonewell and Belizan. Dreign, Suiel, and Surly Dwarf, are you still out there?

As for Mr Steed, I need to email him.

Guys, if you are playing, let me know, and sign up on the calendar.

[Belizan]

I didn't mean to imply that you hadn't written a lot up, particularly for the amount of time you've had 8). I'm just saying that either in direct conversation or in a similar document there are a few more things I think we'll need (want?) to know before we start playing, or at least some shortcut approximating examples to draw from 8).

By the way, when he says Calendar, I believe he means here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/index.xcp?id=56).

[Stonewell]

Would everyone be available for character generation tonight so we can start (or at least be closer to start the game tomorrow). I do not want to step on any toes, so If this is not ok with everyone (especially Morfedel), then we can still start tomorrow.

... let me know, thanks!

[Belizan]

I'll be around at least part of the night.

[Morfedel]

Well, I won't be available. And I need to make sure our other, less responsive players are actually still planning on playing.

[Belizan]

I found this while looking around online, it has a synopsis of TROS Combat in the full rules...

https://cursa.ihmc.us/servlet/SBReadResourceServlet?rid=1141790001484_951279698_ 3446&partName=htmltext

[Morfedel]

Thats not bad. Could have been worded a bit better, be a bit clearer, for those who don't have the rulebook, but it will help ease the learning curve once started learning.

[Stonewell]

hi guys, wondering if it would be ok to start a little early today. It will be a start time of 10 here in Virgina, which is fine. ... Guess I'm excited to get started. Also, I will not have the book for a couple more days, I got it off of Ebay Sean (Belizan) was very helpful explaining things to me last night (I thought we wear playing out of the quick start guide until last night, ha!).
thanks for your time =)

[Morfedel]

Ah! No, sorry, the quickstart guide was to give those too cheap, poor, or reluctant to buy the book for themselves, to give them somewhere to start with.

I MIGHT be able to start as early as 8 pm. Probably no earlier, though. Look for me on my messenger programs, and if I can start earlier, you can find out from there.

[Belizan]

So, do we have an address for tonight's session?

[Belizan]

[18:58] CyberMerlin: the alias is : huge hook vast camp

[Morfedel]

Surly, while you are working on your character concept, realize that Belizan and Stonewell have already worked on theirs.

They are both playing outdoor, woodsy, ranger types, but from different regions, with different motivations, etc.

I need all three of your email addresses; Belizan and Stonewell, I need your character sheets and backgrounds. So email me, and I will email you both back.

Actually, though, add your character concepts here. It will give Surly Dwarf something to play off of while working on his own character concept.

[Morfedel]

We could use a couple more players; anyone out there looking? Anyone out there know anyone who is looking?

[Belizan]

You may have to start a new thread to get a fresh batch of lookers. Most people looking for a game will assume with 8+ pages of posts, that we're full.

[Morfedel]

No kidding, heh. Yeah, I'll do that tonight then.

[Belizan]

by the by, what is the philosophical underpinnings of nobility in Terrelain/Frost country? Do we have that concept of nobility is a responsibility to all those who serve you sort of thing, or where does this philosophy sit?

What are the social/moral values regarding the responsibilities and "place" for the various social classes?

Also, what is the "law level" of Terrelain and particularly of Frost country? Do freeman have some sort of symbol to indicate their status, or is it rather that serfs have papers indicating the opposite? Does one need travel papers? Are serfs allowed to travel at all? Who can carry/use what weapons?

Also, on an unrelated note, do Frostguard rangers use longbows or shortbows?

[Stonewell]

Hello!

Just the basics on Hugo Marr: He grew up a hunter/traper from a humble family. He has two younger brothers, Leo and Simon. Leo is 20 and left for the "big city" to make a name forhimself, or at least some cash. He left when he was 18. Simon fell victim to the bladsingers dream, and tried to get picked up to be a squire... since he was not from a noble family, he is now searving as a stable boy. He has just turned 15. Hugo's father (Peter) is a simple man, still hunting and trapping the everyday dear and rabbit for meat and hides. Hugo has a facination for the ladies (minor flaw), and feels that becoming a noble is the only sure fire way for them to swoon over him (Destiny). He has a love (passion) for hunting, but prefers exotic (hopfully large) game... creatures or animals. He also feels that harming others to obtain your goals is wrong, and you should be able to accomplish this by just means (conscience). He is very skilled with the bow, and "familar" with the sword... but wouldn't plan on winning an argument with it. Now he has set off, no clue on how to become a noble... just knowing that it will happen, because it must.

[Jonman99]

It sounds like a very interesting game. I'd love to play though depending on what day it it. What day and time is the game currently scheduled for? The 8 page thread is a tad bit intimidating.

Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are prime for me.

[Morfedel]

Thursdays, sadly. I'll start a new thread though. to help out finding new players.

Anyway, Thursdays 9 pm cst. Is taht possible for ya?

[Jonman99]

I probably can make that timeslot.

How long would it run for though?

[Morfedel]

Two to three hours on average. :)

[Belizan]

You catch my questions, Morfedel?

[Jonman99]

Sadly, I can't make the slated timeslot as I'd only be able to play until 11 EST.

[Horatio]

Hey Morfedel,

This is Sir Mathodius Black from the TROS forums. I sent you an email but didnt get a response (you said you sometimes dont check it). Anyway, Id love to join this game here if there is room. My schedule is pretty open right now, and Ive got lots of TROS experience. Anyway, just thought Id chime in here.

Peace,

[Morfedel]

sorry, been a little sick last few days; feeling light headed and dizzy, which is odd. I went to the doctors today, they found that I had a sinus infection (NEVER had one of those before), and they also found an enzyme on my blood tests that COULD have indicated heart damage.

Being diabetic, and knowing that 90% of diabetics die due to heart attack or stroke, that was pretty scary. They did more tests, however, and the results were negative, thank goodness!

But, I'm still dizzy and light-hearted, so while I'm dosing up on antibiotics I think I'll be spending a couple of light days online.

I do need to get a couple things done, however, so I will be available for a little bit.

In the meantime, those of you who have been interested in my game and havent already done so, go to our game calendar and sign up there.

Also make sure to go through this thread; I'm sorry, I know its over 8 pages, but information on the game system, game world, links to the character generator, and other items, are all available within those 8+ pages.

I'll condense it in the next week; and in fact, will probably make a little website to do so, but as before, being under the weather it will be a few days.

If you have any questions in the meantime, contact me via email or one of my IM addresses.

See ya soon!


Morfedel

[Belizan]

I've been feeling sick for about 2 weeks running now :/ Symptoms keep changing up, and are generally pretty mild, but... I don't.. starting to make me wonder 8).

Anyway, I hope you feel better 8).

[Morfedel]

Oh, btw, here is a link to the map of the game world. Its not that great, but it should give you a basic idea, heh.

https://members.cox.net/cybermerlin/files/basic%20map%202.bmp

[Mr. Steed]

Okay, I'm here. You can start the party now.

[Morfedel]

Ok, I'm finally feeling a little better now, so I can start answering some questions.


by the by, what is the philosophical underpinnings of nobility in Terrelain/Frost country? Do we have that concept of nobility is a responsibility to all those who serve you sort of thing, or where does this philosophy sit?

Well, that's somewhat a fluid concept. Realize until a mere thirty years ago, the region consisted of independant city-states. Each area, thus, had their own approach.

Since then, with the Unker family having taken over, it's had some effect on the noble mindset. However, after ony 30 years, with some of the people from the original War of Unity participants still alive, that mindset has not changed dramatically, so each region of the kingdom varies somewhat from the others.

With that in mind, however, if you wanted the closest thing to a kingdom-wide definition of noble outlook:


People's worth is generally defined by their social status. Equality does not exist; Nobles are better people by nature, and on down the social food chain.
This does not mean that the lower ends of peoples have no rights whatsoever. It does mean, however, that in a conflict of law, it will be assumed that the higher status peoples are more likely to be truthful; all murder is wrong, but the murder of a noble is punished much more harshly than the murder of a peasant.
Nobles have greater responsibilities than peasants; nobles must protect their lands, their peoples, etc. Nobles have the power, but also the responsibility to govern their lands and their people wisely.
In exchange for the protection granted by nobles, Nobles have the rights of taxation and draft, to name a few. The peasantry owe their lord, as is right and just.As for the region of Frostguard in particular, the Frost family takes their role as protectors of the kingdom in general, and their peasantry and lands in specific, very seriously. The peasantry are often more militantly trained than other duchies due to their being on a border constantly plagued with conflict.

The peasantry respect the Frost family precisely because of this. And they are generally treated with respect as well.


Also, what is the "law level" of Terrelain and particularly of Frost country? Do freeman have some sort of symbol to indicate their status, or is it rather that serfs have papers indicating the opposite? Does one need travel papers? Are serfs allowed to travel at all? Who can carry/use what weapons?

Generally speaking, social status is pretty easy to determine without such needs as papers. First of all, there is just the matter of dress and behavior. With a clearer division of social status, one can merely look at someone else and determine their social status; clearly, a rich person would not act thus, for instance, or dress thus.

Also, there are no slaves in the normal sense, except for Indentured Servants. Indentured Servants are debt slaves, and are branded with a brand that indicated the levels of their debt. When they earn their debt, they receive a second to indicate that debt is paid. In these cases, papers are kept and maintained by authorities to maintain clear records.

These brands are normally on the small of the back, so one who returns to free living isn't publicly marked. If an Indentured Servant flees, the master may file a warrant, along with description. If a suspected, fled, indentured servant is caught, examining the small of the back, along with authorized papers, can determine whether one is escaped, or freed.

A master may also sell his Indentured Servant. One might want to get a portion of his money now, rather than all of it over a period of time, thus a master may sell his Indentured Servant to someone else for said portion of the debt owed him.

Prisoners are dealt with differently. For violent crimes, if the criminal has a hope of being freed again, will often be maimed, and always be branded. For those who will never breathe free air again, they are still branded in case said individual manages somehow to escape.


Also, on an unrelated note, do Frostguard rangers use longbows or shortbows?

Either is possible. Long Bows, obviously, for reach, but short bows for more wooded and less open areas. In other words, terrain is one of the big decision makers for this.

[Morfedel]

Our current player base is now:

Belizan: playing a ranger-apprentice from Frostguard, learning the ways of the wilds to the south of the City-Fortress.

Stonewell: playing a ranger as well, but from further north, wandering the lands in search of something better for his life.

Mr Steed - who is working with me on character concept now

Horatio - who is playing a diplomat from one of the main noble houses.

Surly Dwarf - ?? not sure. He was out of town, and not sure if he is back and available yet.

Anyway, that leaves us at least four players, which satisfies me. Our next get together should be this thursday coming up; there, we can finalize characters. Probably not start then.

Why?

Because I mold my adventures around my characters (in TROS this is somewhat necessary), and I won't be ready as we don't have completed characters yet.

Heck, I'm still waiting for full character sheets. I know at least one of you that should have sent it by now, and hasnt!! ;)

[Horatio]

By the by, what format do you want the character sheet in? should i just send you a word document or something?

[Morfedel]

Yeah, word document, as long as its crisp, clean, with lots of paragraph breaks and the like! ;)

[Belizan]

Generally speaking, social status is pretty easy to determine without such needs as papers. First of all, there is just the matter of dress and behavior. With a clearer division of social status, one can merely look at someone else and determine their social status; clearly, a rich person would not act thus, for instance, or dress thus.


Noble from Peasent, sure, but serf from freeman, not so much (necessarily).



Also, there are no slaves in the normal sense, except for Indentured Servants. Indentured Servants are debt slaves, and are branded with a brand that indicated the levels of their debt. When they earn their debt, they receive a second to indicate that debt is paid. In these cases, papers are kept and maintained by authorities to maintain clear records.
...

Yes, we talked about slaves. I was asking about the rights of Serfs and Freemen most specifically. I had a better wording of the question in the email I sent you, but, laws, practice and enforcement over issues like weapon/armor use/ownership, owning horses or land(?), travel permits, hunting, marriage, etc.


Also what is the state of tithing? And could we hear more about the tenants and practice of the Xanarian church, since that's the major religion of the area? Do we have a sabbath? Dietary restrictions? Special prayers? etc. To the extent that we should know them anyway 8).

[Morfedel]

Ugh.

Chill, slavemaster, it's coming :P

[Horatio]

Noble from Peasent, sure, but serf from freeman, not so much (necessarily).

It would be relatively easy to tell the difference from a serf to a freeman as well, no doubt about it. The society these people were raised in (just like the societies of our own history) train them to recognize exactly what station someone is. In a society where social class is SO important, everyone knows who's who. The clothing of a serf and freeman would be radically different, as would the way they speak, their mannerisms, and the way they carry themselves in general.




Yes, we talked about slaves. I was asking about the rights of Serfs and Freemen most specifically. I had a better wording of the question in the email I sent you, but, laws, practice and enforcement over issues like weapon/armor use/ownership, owning horses or land(?), travel permits, hunting, marriage, etc.



I dont want to speak for Morfedel about the workings of serfs in his world, but as far as real world history goes, heres the low down. Serfs were basically the lowest level of peasants in Medieval society. Unlike slaves, a serf was tied to the land and often owned a small portion of land. The key here is that serfs are not property as slaves were, and could not be sold off the land they worked.
Serfdom is essentially a contract where the landlord provided land for the serf and the serf pays taxes to that lord. Serfs could usually buy their way out of their position as well. As far as marriage goes, serfs generally had to get permission from their landlord to marry someone from off the manor. The specific workings and laws of serfdom, however, varied from time period and location.

"Freemen" were a relatively uncommon group until after the middle ages were already done with, and the Early Modern period was underway. So, the laws of medieval society arent really all that useful for governing "freemen". Just look in the TROS rulebook if you have it and it tells you what they think a good idea of the rights of all social classes are.

[Morfedel]

Yes, we talked about slaves. I was asking about the rights of Serfs and Freemen most specifically. I had a better wording of the question in the email I sent you, but, laws, practice and enforcement over issues like weapon/armor use/ownership, owning horses or land(?), travel permits, hunting, marriage, etc.

Thats a rather broad question to answer in detail, so for now I won't answer it in detail. Instead, I'll try and give the best generalities I can.

Peasants, low freemen, and high freemen are mostly considered the same as far as the law is concerned; for these three, its mostly a matter of economic power and opportunities available to them.

With that in mind, however, the old adage of "He who has the gold makes the rules" is not entirely inaccurate even within the range of non-nobility. A rich merchant, for instance, will be more likely to be believed than a poor farmer, as the merchant is worth more gold, and is thus most likely a harder worker and a better person, etc etc.

The actual rules aren't a whole lot different than for nobility, but there are a few. Only nobility may wear plate armor in any form in Terrelain (the exceptions are plate segments for joints that are sometimes worn, cups essentially, and some of the Duchies allow their soldiers and patrolmen to sometimes wear plate breastplates; even then, only nobility may wear more comprehensive plate armor).

Most weapons are not necessarily restricted in and of themselves, but those who are obviously not well bred will likely be stopped more and watched more when carrying weapons. In some areas, harrassment may occur just for carrying a weapon, again, unless well bred.

Certain of the most powerful weapons, such as the two handed greatswords, are illegal in most parts of Terrelain, unless you are in the military. Peasants and freemen who are not in the military just "don't have the need" for such powerful weapons. Longbows, despite made more for war, are allowed as hunting implements, and some makeshift weapons do exist as well.

As for one-handed weapons; it's not generally ILLEGAL to carry a weapon, but, outside of times of war, peasants and freemen in particular are frowned upon for carrying anything greater than a dagger, knife, or short sword for melee weapons. Shortbows and certain other weapons are generally allowed for hunting purposes.

In travel, these social rules may relax a little bit; bandits do roam the roads and lands, and it is understandable to protect oneself; however, it could happen that you are also believed to be a bandit yourself by law enforcement, should they stumble upon you on the road carrying more massive weapons and armor.

In other words, there aren't many laws that are enforced per se when in regards to weapons, armor, and the non-nobility, but there are a lot of unspoken social rules. Note that the following is ignoring exceptions, such as military or patrolmen:


Non-Nobles do not carry anything larger than a short sword, and usually a knife, dagger, fighting stick, or some kind of walking fighting staff in town.
Non-Nobles do not wear armor in town.
Nobles generally only wear armor, particularly plate, when either on patrol or specifically expecting serious trouble or a battle.
Nobles might carry weapons in town, depending on their natural proclivities. These will rarely be anything huge or bulky, however, due to simple inconvenience, again unless expecting trouble.
Those of lower station always defer or make way for those of higher station. High Freemen, low Freemen, and Peasants are all officially under the same status classification (IE Non-nobles), but those with obviously greater wealth and power, such as a rich nobleman, can reasonably expect a certain small amount of deference from those less fortunate.
On the road, it is more reasonable for non-nobles to go armed and armored; however, one must be careful not to become accused of banditry rather than self defense. In these cases, armor up to the heavier leathers is very acceptable; anything up to chain will raise eyebrows, as it seems to broadcast to the more suspicious that you were in fact expecting trouble, and thus a bandit.
As for #6 above, the same holds true for weapony; carrying around such items as a longsword becomes more acceptable. Carrying around something like a greatsword will advertise that you expected trouble, and thus may become in trouble yourself.
Nobles most often travel longer distanes in groups, with guards and the like. However, if the noble in question is capable of armed combat, the noble might wear armor as heavy as chain and the like, and carry around just about any weapon they want. Anything heavier is generally reserved for planned battles and expected problems, or for show and parade. It does happen from time to time.
Any weapon in the upcoming regional weapons chart labeled as armor piercing is strictly illegal.Anyone may own a horse if they can afford it, though warhorses are restricted to knights. Only Nobles own land, though anyone may rent/lease land, paying a percentage of their earnings off the land to their landlord, not including the taxes the king requires as well.

Hunting is less restricted than in much of historical europe, but there are some lands set aside for restricted use by the nobility. Travel is generally unrestricted, though few opportunities exist for wanderers and the like.

And as for marriage, that is the one area where the peasantry actually (theoretically) have it better than the nobility. Parents may try to influence their children's decisions, but the fact is, they can marry for love if they want - and if they can find someone suitable within their means and environment.

Nobles are married by their parents to another noble child by the other's parents as well, for political alliances. Generally, the noble child has no choice in the matter.

I hope that helped. If not, ask me more specific questions and I'll do what I can.


Also what is the state of tithing? And could we hear more about the tenants and practice of the Xanarian church, since that's the major religion of the area? Do we have a sabbath? Dietary restrictions? Special prayers? etc. To the extent that we should know them anyway 8).

I haven't decided on much about the Xanarian church yet, sorry. It might be most closely compared to christianity, particularly catholocism, but it's not entirely accurate either. If you have the book, there is a section at the end of Weryth that explains a few religions, of that world, including the Xanarian Church, also known as the Imperial Church of the Three Gods Become One. Read that... I'm basically taking it, with a few modifications, for my world.

(actually, I will eventually be replacing the religions whole cloth, but I'm a ways away from that yet)

[Horatio]

And by the way, to any player considering having their character use plate armor. My advice is: dont. In all my time ive been playing TROS and have seen characters wearing plate armor it only causes trouble. Its really much better to rely on lighter armor, shields, and/or your own agility.

[Morfedel]

Plate is when you are expecting to have attacks come from just about any side, and be unable to see, much less parry, all of them.

[Horatio]

Exactly. I think it greatly depends on what kind of campaign is being run. If there are knights/soldiers going into the middle of heavy combat with lots of enemies, plate can be useful. However, since TROS is so often based more on duels, personal combat, and high levels of mobility and maneuvering, in those situations, plate can really set you back. It all depends on the situation.

[Belizan]

I dont want to speak for Morfedel about the workings of serfs in his world, but as far as real world history goes, heres the low down. Serfs were basically the lowest level of peasants in Medieval society. Unlike slaves, a serf was tied to the land and often owned a small portion of land. The key here is that serfs are not property as slaves were, and could not be sold off the land they worked.
Serfdom is essentially a contract where the landlord provided land for the serf and the serf pays taxes to that lord. Serfs could usually buy their way out of their position as well. As far as marriage goes, serfs generally had to get permission from their landlord to marry someone from off the manor. The specific workings and laws of serfdom, however, varied from time period and location.

"Freemen" were a relatively uncommon group until after the middle ages were already done with, and the Early Modern period was underway. So, the laws of medieval society arent really all that useful for governing "freemen". Just look in the TROS rulebook if you have it and it tells you what they think a good idea of the rights of all social classes are.

I know the general descriptors of each social class and what it looked like historically, (within the parameters of certain societies at least). The question here was what do they represent in Morfedel's world 8).

[Belizan]

Thats a rather broad question to answer in detail, so for now I won't answer it in detail. Instead, I'll try and give the best generalities I can.

...



Ok, so basically all peasents are just really poor freemen and serfs don't really exist? Law enforcement is by local custom and ad hoc, but theoretically, for a medieval society we have a great deal of civil liberties? I think I'm getting a feel for what you are describing. Is Terrelain in general a "frontiersy" sort of place, or have these lands been host to man for a great long while now?




I haven't decided on much about the Xanarian church yet, sorry. It might be most closely compared to christianity, particularly catholocism, but it's not entirely accurate either. If you have the book, there is a section at the end of Weryth that explains a few religions, of that world, including the Xanarian Church, also known as the Imperial Church of the Three Gods Become One. Read that... I'm basically taking it, with a few modifications, for my world.

(actually, I will eventually be replacing the religions whole cloth, but I'm a ways away from that yet)

Ok, will do 8).

[Morfedel]

Ok, so basically all peasents are just really poor freemen and serfs don't really exist? Law enforcement is by local custom and ad hoc, but theoretically, for a medieval society we have a great deal of civil liberties? I think I'm getting a feel for what you are describing. Is Terrelain in general a "frontiersy" sort of place, or have these lands been host to man for a great long while now?

Well, basically, yes. Peasants are theoretically free, except they usually make their living by working the land, which is owned by the nobles. As long as they work for a noble, they follow his/her rules.

Essentially, the peasants get a bit of land to work, and the lord's protection, in exchange for a tithe of the food they grow, etc.

The law, by its letter, does not distinguish between different freemen; you are either noble, freeman, indentured servant, or prisoner. It DOES distinguish between different levels of nobles.

For freemen, therefore, its kinda ad-hoc. I mean, there ARE laws against, say, murder; there are not laws against a peasant picking up and trying his luck elsewhere, or who he can marry, etc etc.

But, due to the fact that very few people rise to power in such a society, a wealthy freeman most likely came from a wealthy free family in the first place. By a combination of matter of dress, body language, and manner of speech, a person's wealth status can be guessed at fairly accurately, excepting disguise and such.

And such people are treated accordingly. As if the poor are inferior to the rich. And the rich, nobles, and guards are less likely to be forgiving, and more likely to be abusive, to perceived inferiors, and visa versa.

So, if you put your E priority in peasants, it isn't just that you are poorer than others; you would act, walk, talk, and dress like a poor farmer boy, or whatever, and would be treated accordingly. For that matter, if you managed to disguise yourself, you would STILL be treated badly later if the truth came out.

In other words, it isnt so matter an issue of law as it is an issue of perceived worth.

Does that make sense?

[Morfedel]

Just your friendly reminder, character creation is Tomorrow Night!!!! To complete, so we can start for real next thursday!

[Morfedel]

BTW, I originally typed tonight, not tomorrow night, in the above post. If you read that before I editted it... its tomorrow night, not tonight, hehe

[Stonewell]

ok guys, "it's rich quill ugly camp"

[Horatio]

do i have to wait because it isnt letting me join?

[Stonewell]

no quotes around "it" just "rich quill ugly camp"

[Horatio]

i figured that, but it still says it cant connect

[Stonewell]

you shouldn't

it's up and running

[Horatio]

hmm...didnt have this trouble with Morfedels server

[Horatio]

dont know why it isnt working

[Stonewell]

ok, try "soft want meek luck"

[Horatio]

still nothin...any alternatives here?

[Belizan]

Well, I'm behind a firewall, so I can't host. Not sure why Stonewell is having issues. Can you host, Horatio/

[Stonewell]

hey horatio, belizan and i are typing
can you host a game?

[Horatio]

i only have the cheaper version of this thing so i dont think so

[Stonewell]

maybe if we try the ip....

[Horatio]

yo sure its "soft want meek luck" ?

[Stonewell]

try "soft wand meek luck" again


and it's "wand" not "want" sorry about that

[Belizan]

We're trying to get Stonewall's to work a sec.

[Horatio]

eh...still nothin

[Stonewell]

192.168.2.3 try just the ip

[Horatio]

no luck with that either

[Belizan]

And there's the problem :). 192.168.x.x is a local address.

Stonewell needs to smurf with his router.

[Belizan]

We're checking the faq

[Horatio]

i have no idea what that means lol

[Belizan]

Ok, short version, I'm debugging his network issues, we should be good to go in about 5m

[Horatio]

debug away, ill be here

[Stonewell]

I couldn't fix it with a complete walkthough! ha!

[Horatio]

so what now? why dont u just get aim and we can go into a chat room

[Belizan]

We're in an AIM chat room, if anyone else wants in, message williambriceking on AIM 8).

[Morfedel]

Did everyone have trouble connecting, or just Horatio?

[Mr. Steed]

Once I got the address alias correct, it worked just fine. But after I got cut off, I could not reconnect no matter what I tried. I opened the FG forum site, logged in to that, opened extra windows, tried all of the other aliases that you guys put up on the last 3 pages. I tried for about an hour to reconnect.

Look forward to the next session. We can work this stuff out.

[Morfedel]

Did you try rebooting ?

[Stonewell]

in the end, it was a problem with my router. port 1802 or something. Belizan konws what's going on, maybe I can try to fix it with him later this week. By the way, Belizan, Horatio... had a good time staying up and going over everything. I think it's going to help a lot. might be able to do it again if any of the (fellow) newbies need some extra practice

[Mr. Steed]

Yes, the service provider required a reboot to log-on again. That was the first thing that I did.

Can't wait to try the program again.

Oh, and I never did find out what you guys want with the "group concept." I have 4 concepts that I am working on simultaneously, cause I know that the first several are going to die quickly. Bailey is a very adept, and reluctant, young thug, pressed into assassin service by some ruler or group. He is fleeing from this threat because he's tired of doing their dirty work. But I am still waiting for more instruction from Morfedel about this. He has to help me identify the noble or group that would be pursuing Bailey, if any is available in his world.

Tell me about your characters. Or is there a location here where backgrounds are uploaded? Please tell me. Also tell me if there is a copy of the entire dialogue last night, so I can read up on what I missed!

[Belizan]

As I understand it, the four other characters are...

A grizzled sergeant turned mercenary (Stonewell)
A Diplomat/Spy who has turned away from court [for some reason] (Horatio)
A "Greedy Noble" -- possibly from the Frost family [that's where our money is] (?? Lacus)
A young, would be Frostguard Ranger (me)

I don't know of any particular party gestalt or what ties us together at this juncture, but I imagine that is part of what Morefedel is thinking about this week :).

[Morfedel]

I was just wanting to make sure your SAs and concepts didnt clash, really. After seeing things like people who had SAs so divergent they had to be on opposite sides of the continent, or trying to kill each other, I decided making the group work together at least a little more helpful..

Mr Steed, I'll email you about your character concepts tonight, but Belizan's summary of what we have in the group so far is essentially correct.

[Belizan]

By the by, when Horatio, Stonewell and I were testing stuff out, Stonewell pointed out a lot of equipment that's in the FoB which isn't in the main book. Are we using those new items? (new armors and weapons for instance)?

[Morfedel]

There wasnt a lot in terms of new weapons; a bit, but not much. It was mostly armor. But yes, we will be using them.

[sueil]

Ok guys I did it. I bought the book. So I'll be able to talk about the game like I know what I am doing with you guys soon. And you wont have to tell me what things do anymore yay! I don't know how long it takes to get here but whatever. It's coming :)

Also I finished my character. Lacus Frost a baron and knight will be a force to be reckoned with on the field of battle and in the court of nobles :)

[Stonewell]

are we also using the CP and archery modifiers from the companion for from the main book? Thanks!

[Morfedel]

I dont own the companion, so no! ;)

[Morfedel]

Just your friendly neighborhood reminder: the game is tonight, and the alias for the server is now listed in the calendar.

[sueil]

Sigh I forgot it was CST. I tied to log on at 8 EST and was sad when I couldnt :(

[Horatio]

Hey Im back from the twin cities. ready to go tonight.

[Horatio]

so its almost time and it isnt up yet...anyone else having trouble or is the game not set up yet?

[sueil]

Don't think its up yet.

[Horatio]

ok good so it isnt me

[Horatio]

this is the right time right?...

[sueil]

Yeah I think so. I think we are starting late tonight.

[Belizan]

Same alias though?

[Mr. Steed]

I'm here too. But I can't connect. I'll keep trying.

P.S. This happened to me last week after I got disconnected.

[Belizan]

huge hook vast camp

[Morfedel]

Ok guys, just a reminder, I've ALWAYS said it was 9 pm CST. Multiple times. When I started the server, I was only 7 minutes late, not an hour.

So, repeat after me:

Game time - 9 pm CENTRAL time
Game alias - huge hook vast camp


:p

Thank ya... and thanks for playing. Had fun last night.

[Horatio]

Yea what happened with me was I set the clocks on this site to always show EST, so when I saw 9 pm, i thought it had switched it to EST already or something. But anyways, yep good game. Next week hopefully we can get our SA's into play.

Also, Morfedel, drink lotf of coffee next thursday so we can go later and get some serious gameplay in ;)

[Morfedel]

LOL! Well, thats fine, but I also DO go to work the next morning, so a half hour to an hour more is all I'd be able to give normally. :P

[Stonewell]

Hey guys, I decided I'm not going out tonight, so if you want to play around with some senarios and try some things out, I'm game.
Post a message here, or yahoo me at [email protected]

Talk to you later.

[Belizan]

I forget now, was someone going to set up a private forum for us to post game related discussions on?

[Morfedel]

As far as I recall, there has been no discussion to that effect yet. However, I was considering starting a Yahoo group on it or something.

I'll do something about that tonight.

[Belizan]

We might have had that discussion after you left, I can't remember :/.

[sueil]

My book came today! YAY! Can't wait to read it.

[Belizan]

I'm looking over the rules for fighting animals. I can't shake the feeling that TROS only goes 90% of the way :/. I'm working on a set of personal house rules in my own mind, but I'm still hoping to get more experience with the game as written before I set them down anywhere. I don't know.. It's like an itch I can't scratch. Ah well...

Anyway, did we want to do any of the legwork prelim adventure stuff via the forum before the game? I imagine Waldorf and I can chart our intended actions and resolve them in about 3 messages back and forth with Morf. Might allow us to get everyone together by the time the game starts.

[Stonewell]

Good thinking on doing the pre-lim stuff via chat/e-mails. Also, I know the majority of people wanted to play longer, but James has to work early. It is kind of unfair to ask him to crack out. So, I wanted to suggest that (if EVERYONE agrees), of starting earlier. I could start up to 4 hours sooner (i'm in eastern time, so it would only be 6pm here), but I know everyone might not be able to.

If everyone could start 1 hour (or maybe two...three.... six =) ) hours earlier, then it should be able to solve some of our crack addiction.

Again, It's up to Morfedel and we shouldn't leave anyone out, seeing how everyone already put in the effort and kept their word by showing up.

P.S. Download the combat Simulator from the riddleofsteel.net, it rocks! It will also make you realize just how much of a ***** you really are. =)

[Belizan]

Morf can't start earlier either, as I understand it.

[Stonewell]

Ok, so if Morfedel can't start earlier. Would anyone like to log on a couple of hours ahead of time and practice senarios, combat, or just discuss the rules? Mr. Steed said that he has the full version, but we have not tried it out yet. I have the full version, but am behind multiple routers... and am ignorant how to fix it. Please respond after you read. Thanks

[Horatio]

sure i can get on early

[Mr. Steed]

I would be happy to host a demo session, but I can't do it any earlier. I have been lucky to get out of work early enough to do what we have done, to this point. Another night, or a weekend morning, might be feasible. Or later.

Are you guys aware that this game is the one that is the most viewed out of any in the last 5 pages of the Guildhouse? By a long ways, actually!

[Belizan]

I think that's because we use this thread as a conversation area 8).

[Horatio]

and because everyone knows TROS is the best gaming system around:cool:

[Stonewell]

Hey guys, it's 7:40pm (eastern time). I'll be ready to play around with some senarios here in about 20 min. ...my yahoo IM is williambriceking Or, just post something here. Later

[Horatio]

sure im ready. dont have yahoo but if you want to post an alias ill join.

[Stonewell]

everyone had problems signing on to my alias last time... too many firewalls...
I guess we will bring this up ...games almost ready to start. Mr. Steed said that he could try, but it would be after any games started.

[Morfedel]

Sorry guys, I suffered a minor but painful injury (on the golf course of all things) so I've been a tad unavailable. Gonna try and run tonight, but I hadnt had the chance to prepare like I'd want to. Should be able to run, still, tonight though.

[Horatio]

cant you just lower your firewalls? are you using a public computer or something?

[Stonewell]

I have an office (with employees) in my home, there are 5 computers networked together... I supposed I could lower the firewalls, but I would rather not risk loosing any company files.

[Veelivar]

How did I miss this? I check this fourum pretty much every day!

Timzones make me unable to play even if I had seen it anyway.

Oh well :) It's good to see some one is playing TRoS with FG! It's pretty much my favorite system but I've not played it much recently.

It'll be interesting to see how you get on and how you like the system.

Dan.

[Morfedel]

Well, we have really just gotten started; with three poor characters and two nobles, I've been trying to unite them, and not having much luck yet; the PCs keep on heading in directions I didn't expect.

Well, no matter. I have it well in hand now. ;)

[Stonewell]

sorry we have been so much trouble =)

[Morfedel]

Oh, no, don't blame yourselves. You are playing your character as you envision him, and that's just great! It means I haven't done the best job as a GM to cover all bases, so I need to work at plugging your holes for escaping from the adventure, hehe!

I looked over the SAs of the entire group, have been working on my Character Relationship Map, working on the Plot Map, and its looking good. I also have been feeling great lately, and looking forward to running tomorrow.

So, we should have the group united tomorrow. Basically, our three "poor folk" will be working on one end of the plot, that will be the main impetus for getting your groups together.

The other two, the "rich folk" will be working on the opposite side of the plot. I have to flesh out their side a bit more though. I'll be working on that tonight so I'll be ready by the morrow.

Anyway, see you tomorrow night! :)

[Morfedel]

Just a quick warning. I had a really bad case of insomnia last night. I lost several hours of sleep because of it.

And because of that, I will probably not be able to run tonight... I'll start falling asleep at the keyboards!

As such, if I cancel tonight, can you guys make it either tomorrow night or during the weekend? If so, I could still run, just delayed... if not, I may have to just outright cancel until next week.

Either way, let me know.

Oh, also, I'm going to create a Yahoo group tonight for messages like this in the future, so we can kill this thread from going another 10 pages, heh!

[sueil]

I can make it tomorrow night and day or Saturday and Sunday during the day.

[Horatio]

if morf cant make it tonight we should still try to do the alt. campaign we were planning for for after morfs game.

[sueil]

That sounds fine if he can't make it.

[Horatio]

wait sueil, what game name do you go by?

[sueil]

suill / obviousdecoy / lacus / power hungry noble / your friend you are having lunch with today with lady flowers.

[Horatio]

ahh ok gotcha. but i didnt know you were playing our alt game? i thought it was just me, navarin, waldorf (brice), and stanley (DM)?

[Belizan]

Alt game sounds fine if main is cancelled. I *think* I am free tomorrow night, but I'm definitely busy Sat. and probably Sun. :(.

[Stonewell]

it's 9:15, the ALT is good for me. I'll be doing a fundraiser until about 230am my time (at a comedy club) tomorrow... saturday day might work for me though... or Sunday. Let me know =)

[sueil]

Oh I see... Well if you guys don't want me.... I'll just go sit in a corner.

[Morfedel]

now now, gentlemen.

I'm setting up a yahoo group now for us. I'll post the parameters soon as its done.

[Belizan]

Oh I see... Well if you guys don't want me.... I'll just go sit in a corner.

I have no idea what Charles meant by that :). I'm sure Stanley wouldn't mind a 4th player ;).

[Morfedel]

Ok, here it is:

The Yahoo group is at: https://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/TROS_Daggers/

Go join and we can start managing the game from there instead of here.

And now I'm going to bed. Sorry folks... damned lack of sleeep. G'night!

[Morfedel]

Ok, someone asked me to set up the server even if I went to bed, so its up now. Same alias as always. G'night again, and have fun.

[Belizan]

So, then... Are we playing tonight? Or what's going on?

[VarnFury]

I just got done reading this and i must say, Being new and a lover of RPGs.. This sounds really damn good. Will be looking foward to learning new stuff ^.^

[garrion_sw]

I just figured I would drop in here and say 'Hi' since there has been no activity on the Yahoo! Groups site. Drop on in at the new site. I have posted a few questions and didn't want to build this public thread any larger than it already is. I also uploaded Morf's files so that they can be easily accessed.

Looking forward to the games.

Garrion

[Belizan]

I've been migrated my email from one machine to another, and have not yet gotten my mail archive to merge properly, so I've been holding back (enryoku shiteru) on my email usage until I can get that all properly managed, folders reconstituted and the like. Also, last I checked, for some reason I couldn't send out emails, I think I have to go play with the security settings on my email server to add my new machine's ip address or something. Didn't set it up, so I'm just guessing 8).

I assume we're playing this Thursday?

[Morfedel]

Yes, we are. I'm moving this discussion to the Yahoo group however. See you there :)