Searching for Interest - Arcana Evolved

[daBadMojo]

Hey fellas,

It's been a while since I've seen Fantasy Grounds around, but I haven't been able to grab it since I'm currently on a Macintosh. However, my future is soon to change, and one of the first things I'm gonna be doing is picking up a copy of Fantasy Grounds II along with a few of the addons to run a campaign in the Land of the Diamond Throne from Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved...

...that is, of course, if there's interest :)

That's why I've registered and am posting here, to see if there is adequate interest in a potential Arcana Evolved campaign that I'm wanting to run, to start in about a month and a half. Are there any out there with the rules that care to join me?

I've been working on AE for a while now and haven't been able to find a group where I live, and this is a definite close second vs. tabletop gaming with pizza and good ole' Mountain Dew. I'll lay out a rough sketch on what it is I'm looking at doing (and which books I'll be using), and if there are enough of us out there that want to try it, let's give it a go.

First off, my books :

from Monte Cook's AE Setting :

Arcana Evolved
Tanscendence
AE Spell Treasury
Mystic Secrets
Legacy of the Dragons

from other sources of Monte Cook and associates :

Complete Book of Eldritch Might*
Book of Iron Might*
Book of Roguish Luck*

from other sources :

Book of the Righteous (Green Ronin)*
Book of Fiends (Green Ronin)*

*not all content will be used

It's basically AE with a stronger religious background (though by no means is that going to own the campaign, it's really there for flavor reasons) and a slew of options for characters to play with. I'm debating on starting at lvl 1 or around lvl 5-7, as the first few levels would be random dungeons while developing characters (yeah, I'm into the RPing part of the hobby too). I've a few bad groups for you to encounter and rival and hate, along with ideas regarding the dragons and lost cultures, etc.

I don't mind first-time roleplayers, but I do want to forewarn that with these books it's a bit more complicated than a normal DnD campaign and can take some time to wrap your head around. And if you don't have all of this material, it's okay - most of the content will come from the core book, while the other books tend to expand on options for your character.

Anyway, let me know if there are any of you out there that want to game. If there's enough, I'll plan on getting the software when I'm back in the states and I'll post the campaign outline for you soon.

Hope to hear from some o' yas! I'm begging for a reason to pick up FGII! ;)

[Habbalah]

I would be interested. I played in an AE game before. I don't have the rules anymore but I could pick them up. I have the Book of Roguish Luck and I'm sure I would want to use some things from that book. Let me know when you decide to run the game and send me any new information as you work on it.

[daBadMojo]

Sounds good to me Habbalah. I'll be sure and brush up on the BoRL soon. I haven't really thought about incorporating their luck system (it being another layer of complexity added to all the classes), but I do like the three classes represented there. There's a conversion of the Gutter Mage at www.diamondthrone.com specifically made for AE, and there are rough guidelines related to each of the classes for conversion at the end of the book, so I'll take a good look at those this week.

The story thus far is this - I'm moving back to the states next week and will be with family for a while, then ending up back at college for my final year (finally!) in August. The soonest I'll be able to pick up the software here would be mid-August, and the soonest I'd know my schedule will be august 20th or so, so I'll have more definitive information for you regarding scheduling and times then.

One word - though we'll be in towns and urban environments at various points, I'm not planning an urban campaign as it were and from what I remember off the top of my head some of the classes would be "nerfed" outside of towns. Is there a certain class you have in mind? Post it here so I can read up on it.

Anyway, glad to see you're interested :) We'll keep up the dialogue and I'll post a better sketch of the campaign before the end of the week so you can get some more information.

**edit - of course, after saying all that about it not being an urban campaign, the option to use Ptolus is always present. There's a decent conversion guide out there that pretty much does the job of converting it to AE standards in an efficient way and it's been on my mind in the past. So, if people are wanting to go venture into the world's largest RPG city every published... perhaps we could make that work, too ;) Has anyone here done a Ptolus campaign and, if so, how was it?

[scytale2]

I'm always interested in new stuff and I have a few of the AE adventures in my collection.

[Toadwart]

I like the AE rules and setting but game play times are often an issue for me (being down at the bottom end of the world in GMT+12)

[Habbalah]

I'd like an urban campaign though it's not a requirement. The class I would play would kind of depend on the type of campaign you plan on running. But, I did like the shadowmage base class in there. But, I also like the silvertongued charmer. So, I won't really know exactly what I'll play until later. Also, isn't there a AE base class called 'expert' or something? It seems I played that the last time I played in a campaign. It was the class that gave you a bunch of talents and bonus feats rather than pre-set class abilities.

[Habbalah]

I've also sent you a PM.

[daBadMojo]

Sorry for the late replies, had to leave for the night. Back though.

Toad, no worries on the time - we've a bit of time before I'm able to start this thing, so we'll see what comes of it. BTW, I'm using Central Standard Time for the US, not sure how that converts for you (I don't know what my GMT is), but again we'll take a look once I find a couple more players and get everyone's play schedule.

Habbalah - I'll make a new post describing the general idea of the campaign in a few days so you can take a better look at what we'll be doing and can make a decision on your character. As far as the expert class, from what I remember it's actually an NPC class from Wizard's SRD. I can take a look at it and see if there is some conversion work done for it, but I would suggest first thinking about picking an AE class as I'm not sure how balanced the Expert would be for play (I'm assuming it'll be underpowered compared to the rest of the players). If you don't mind that, I'm good with it too, but I'll check around to find a similar class a bit more spiffed-up for PC play.

[DevinRI]

I am deeply interested in running in an Arcana Evolved game. I have not had enough playtime with this setting and that saddens me. I live in CST (GMT-5/-6). Just keep me updated on anything that comes along, such as start times, character generation rules, or whatever.

I've never played an AE game starting at 1st, and that is my voice if that motivates you one way or the other.

[daBadMojo]

Hey man. Good to see another potential player :)

Opinion heard and logged. I know I've got a couple lower-lvl adventures pre-made that I can run, modified depending on player backgrounds. I'll dig them up and read them before we go.

So thus far I've DevinRI, Habbalah, and scytale2 interested, with Toad being a little off with times but we'll see. After about 24 hours I'm pretty happy :) This just might get me off WoW and into the Fantasy Grounds arena for a bit for my rping.

Again, keep in mind that this won't get off of the forums and onto FGII until late August. If I can get a couple more, though, we can start on character creation and I can lay out some stuff here for you all to read... in sweet, sweet anticipation of the game ;)

[Toadwart]

Hey man. Good to see another potential player :)

Opinion heard and logged. I know I've got a couple lower-lvl adventures pre-made that I can run, modified depending on player backgrounds. I'll dig them up and read them before we go.

So thus far I've DevinRI, Habbalah, and scytale2 interested, with Toad being a little off with times but we'll see. After about 24 hours I'm pretty happy :) This just might get me off WoW and into the Fantasy Grounds arena for a bit for my rping.

Again, keep in mind that this won't get off of the forums and onto FGII until late August. If I can get a couple more, though, we can start on character creation and I can lay out some stuff here for you all to read... in sweet, sweet anticipation of the game ;)


1st level sounds good to me too though have only played one AE character who started at lvl 7 so either way works for me.

To convert from CST(GMT-6) to GMT+12 add 18hrs to your time. e.g (CST)Friday8pm = Sat2pm for me.
Because I work mon-fri and am already in a (CST)Friday night game I'd probably only be available if you play on a Saturday(between midday and 10pm).
Welcome back to real gaming by the way. WoW is fun, but I'm happy to say that FG has killed my addiction to computer games.

[QT Barrister]

Hi,
I'm in North American EST. What time and day do you think you are playing. I was running a mojh mageblade for a while in an AE campaign (FG1 Digital adventures ruleset)and then the campaign ended rather abruptly. I have a fair bit of background, history and character direction planne. I'd be interested in reprising my character and continuing along the path.

I'll send you a PM if the time and day work out and we can further discuss.
QTB

[Habbalah]

Ah ha! Now I remember. It was called an akashic. If I remember correctly, akashic and unfettered were the only classes I really liked, but that was when it was Arcana Unearthed. It hadn't evolved yet, so I'll have to take a look again and see.

[daBadMojo]

Yeah, both the Akashic and Unfettered classes are from AE. And they're still there, unchanged aside from an additional 5 levels (you can progress to lvl 25 in AE un-epicly) and minor editing I believe.

QT - Thanks for the interest! As for starting dates, the game itself will most likely start the last quarter of August (after the 20th in any case), and will most likely be a weekend game, either Friday or Saturday night. Looking at Toad's post, I'd most likely go Saturday if it doesn't conflict too much with others' schedules as well. As far as time goes, not quite sure, but it'll be early-evening based from what I'm seeing (CST). If none of this looks too much like a problem, go ahead and shoot me a pm. I look forward to your character information; mojhs are a lot of fun and the mageblade class is a strong class in a party. I hope it works out :)

Toad - heh, thanks for the wb. WoW's been the only outlet for me for a while now and it's getting old. I'll be glad to be in the more-open realm of DMing and AE soon!

By the way, a general question for you experts out there. How long does a typical FG game go for? I know my tabletops had a habit of going between 3-6 hours, longer on those weekends we just wanted to kill with a bunch of pizza and coke(-a-cola). Anyone have an opinion on the average times using the program?

[daBadMojo]

Let me do a little free-writing on the subject of the campaign to give us something to think about.

It is a time of conflict. It is a time of adventure.

Those are the two themes I'm wanting to go with. Basically, between the Giants' Throne, the Knights of the Axe (a human-led group of assembled small kingdoms that resist the Giant right to rule), the secluded Verrik residing in their majestic cities in the desert, the various "Free Cities" that own allegiance to no one, the return of the Dragons, the reappearance of the "Gods," and the various other races and hidden dangers within the world, this is certainly a time of conflict and adventure.

I'm wanting to explore ideas that are potentially world-changing, with your characters in the forefront almost from day one. Your group will be a force in and of itself, and what it does will have effects on this new world. Will you accept the assumed right of the Giants to continue their stewardship and ally with the Diamond Throne to push the dragons away from what they claim are theirs, or will you aid and lead the Knights in their efforts to recreate the Lands of Old, of Terrakal? Or will you instead take up one of the banners of the Free Cities?

During the course of this campaign you will discover conflicts small and large, between cults bent on spewing forth the demons of Gehenna alongside one of the Dragon Lords to the obsessed mage wishing your utter destruction for a wound whether real or imagined. Your adventures will take you across the lands and under it, through exotic locales where you will see, hear, and taste what others can only imagine. Through your might, your magic, and your intelligence you will find and combat the evils or the good of this world. Which path do you wish to take?

I know, a bit epic and over the top, but that's what's in my head. I'm serious, too - I want you guys to grow in power enough to actually change the world, and I want to throw you in the midst of it at level 1, sort of. I mean, that mage we talked about earlier - what if it was the deranged old man you met and "helped" from your early years? :)

This is all just free-write mind you, so nothing's set in stone. With this though, tell me more of what you want, your race and class for sure, but goals you might want to accomplish as well. This game isn't going to be railroaded (too much ;) ), and you're free to pick what you choose and as you choose.

The only thing I'd like to see is a certain continuity with group members - why you're together and so on. Instead of me doing it, however, I ran across an idea from another game that interested me and I'd like to try that out here. Basically, I send you a name of another PC and you have to come up with a reason of why you know him and why you're involved with him. Something small, big, crazy, I don't mind as long as you're his friend. Not enemy. Or at least, not openly. Mwahaha- er, ok, I'll be quiet now.

Anyway, start sending me pms on this and I'll get the ball rolling. If you have AE, start with that, and if you have any of the other books I've mentioned in my earliest post, all the better. Have at with what you want!

--------

Character Creation Rules

Any character/class combo works as far as I'm concerned. There are a couple of house rules though.

-Litorans : Replace -2 Wisdom with -2 Intelligence
-Sibeccai: Replace -2 Intelligence with -2 Wisdom

I use a point-buy system for attributes as follows:

36 points to purchase attributes. You start naturally with an "8" in each attribute.

Score : Cost

8 : 0
9 : 1
10 : 2
11 : 3
12 : 4
13 : 6
14 : 8
15 : 11
16 : 14
17 : 18
18 : 22
19 : N/A

This is *before* your race modification

Finally, you have 150 gold for basic equipment and maximum hit points.

--------

Also, for you AE buffs out there, I know that some of my intro material doesn't follow the book strictly. No worries :)

Well there you go. Talk to me via this post or PM for characters and such. Looking forward to seeing you in

[scytale2]

Could you advise where to go for information on character classes and races? I'm sure the rest can be picked up easily enough, but the above will be necessary to get started.

I presume feats and skills are D&D equivalent?

[daBadMojo]

scytale2 - You'll have to reference the actual Arcana Evolved book. Monte Cook (the author) changed the basic rules enough to where he redid the feats, too - so the stuff in the SRD/Core Books won't mesh that well in AE without a little conversion work.

So basically, the one book you *have* to have access to is AE.

Though if someone can tell me, if I purchase the ruleset for Fantasy Grounds, does that include feat descriptions and so on for the players? If that's so, you might be able to wait until I grab that and we actually get online.

[Habbalah]

daBadMojo - Sent you a PM

[QT Barrister]

scytale2 - You'll have to reference the actual Arcana Evolved book. Monte Cook (the author) changed the basic rules enough to where he redid the feats, too - so the stuff in the SRD/Core Books won't mesh that well in AE without a little conversion work.

So basically, the one book you *have* to have access to is AE.

Though if someone can tell me, if I purchase the ruleset for Fantasy Grounds, does that include feat descriptions and so on for the players? If that's so, you might be able to wait until I grab that and we actually get online.


Hello, I actually have the ruleset for AE for FG1. It does indeed have feat, class and race descriptions. I have contacted Digital Adventures and they have to rebuild the ruleset from scratch for FG2. I believe the current projected availability for an FG2 compatible ruleset is at least Sept.

By the way, I've PM'ed you "daBadMojo".
regards,
QTB

[daBadMojo]

Let me do a player check to see where we are.

Potential Players :

Toadwart
Habbalah
QT Barrister
DevinRI
tahl_liadon
scytale2

If you're all committed to play, I'd say we have enough players here to constitute a good-sized group. I'll consider you my core group of players for now and work with who I've listed. Sound good?

I've registered over at Four Ugly Monsters, a website that Toadwart sent to me. It allows the creation of Campaign threads and I noticed a few campaigns I saw here posted there as well, so it looks worthwhile. I'll create an introduction post over there with information regarding the basics of the campaign, some house rules, some links, general PC information from each of you so we can see who we're all working with, and will update you with my starting date for the campaign.

Hope to see you over there and I have to say, it's looking good. I'm psyched about this - just waiting to get my hands on a windows pc and we're off!

*edit* Hey Toadwart, clear your PMs! :) I need some help figuring out how to create a Forum at Four Ugly Monsters instead of just a topic. When you get this, please help me out!

[Toadwart]

oops...:o messagebox cleared now

I find the FUM site a bit hard to navigate around these days. There used to be a message on the campaign forum with instructions (who to send a pm too) but I can't see it now. Anyhow, I see snikle has replied to your intro post. Just send him a PM and he'll get a forum set up.

[daBadMojo]

**edit** - this will be my last post on this thread. For anyone interested in the campaign, head over to the website below, where we've got a place to host the game via a forum. I've started posting character creation rules and other information there and it's where I'll be spending the majority of my time from now on. If you want me to see what you post, post there! :)

Guys,

For everyone who wants to get started before we actually get "started" with FGII, we've got our own forum up at Four Ugly Monsters! It's here :

<<https://www.fouruglymonsters.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=116>>

All of you that want to give it a go, get over there and register and post your character ideas in the "Words from Our World" Section, check for the "Your Characters Thread" er, thread.. and let them fly.

It's still a bit empty, but I'll be filling it up with information as we get closer to playtime. Hope to see you all there.

((ps - I don't know html worth anything, so you'll have to cut-and-paste the link. Apologies)