- Invitation Status
- Look for groups
Gillian, third son to Lord Gillian of House More, has, by virtue of his boredom and increasing tendency to do irresponsibly adolescent things, declared his intent to commit himself to, well, an adventure kin to the tales of the Scops: a quest for the name of his, his father's, his clan's, his home's, and his god's glory; naturally, by virtue of Moreland's rather peasant-y nature, his calls to glory were ignored by most.
Most. Unfortunately, stupidity, though a great rarity in the district's sensibly passive population, still somewhat exhibits itself within Moreland, especially upon the minds of youths as young as Gillian. A few people, all of them just as inexperienced, over-excited, and hormonal as young Gillian here, have answered Gillian's call with a succinct "yes", followed usually by enthusiastically naive remarks on how exciting adventures like this are; and, after a bit of preparation, their party of, say, 4 or 5, set off on their quest, to....
A word on the system: This is my first go at FAE as either a player or a GM, so this adventure may get a bit wonky; still, I hope we learn lots of things, and have lots of fun! Anyway, to participate, you'll need to have read and understood the rules for FAE, found here.
Do note that the general role-playing rules (clean up yer writing, no god-modding (ie no rigging of roles), no controlling other people's characters, et al.) still apply here; and if you are inactive with or without notice for at least a week, I may either take over your character, or give him to someone else.
Most. Unfortunately, stupidity, though a great rarity in the district's sensibly passive population, still somewhat exhibits itself within Moreland, especially upon the minds of youths as young as Gillian. A few people, all of them just as inexperienced, over-excited, and hormonal as young Gillian here, have answered Gillian's call with a succinct "yes", followed usually by enthusiastically naive remarks on how exciting adventures like this are; and, after a bit of preparation, their party of, say, 4 or 5, set off on their quest, to....
THE ADVENTURE IN SINDAR MINE
A FAE-based fantasy adventure role-play
A FAE-based fantasy adventure role-play
A word on the system: This is my first go at FAE as either a player or a GM, so this adventure may get a bit wonky; still, I hope we learn lots of things, and have lots of fun! Anyway, to participate, you'll need to have read and understood the rules for FAE, found here.
We're gonna follow the FAE system here, with a few setting-based additions.
Some notes on character creation
Personal Name: ----
Father's Name: Patriarchal society here; families are based around the dad. People will often refer to you as "x, son/daughter of y".
Age: Your character's supposed to be fairly young here, at around fifteen to seventeen years of age.
Appearance: ----
Description: Make this short, sweet, and a bit devoid of lore.
Clan and Estate: "Clan" determines the family your, er, family serves or is a proper part of; estate reflects your status or rank in society. In this adventure, all of you are peasants belonging to House More.
High Concept: ----
Trouble: ----
Patron deity: Most people here believe in the Old Gods, the region's traditional pantheon of deities. Your "Patron deity" is the god whom you follow the most closely, and your worship of him or her is treated as an aspect to be invoked or compelled as appropriate to the god's nature. The list of gods may be found below.
Additional Aspect: ----
Additional Aspect: ----
Approaches: You're all gonna be a bit weakened here; you're gonna have to rank your approaches one level down (ie, one at -1, two at 0, two at +1, one at +2).
Stunts: Don't give yourself any more than one stunt.
Refresh: ----
Fate Points: ----
Physical Stress: This is your stress track for physical damage. Instead of having the usual three boxes, you'll only have two, with one for one shift, and the other for two shifts. Right now, just write this down as "0-0".
Mental Stress: This is your stress track for mental damage. You'll only have two boxes here, as in Physical stress.
Consequences: ----
Father's Name: Patriarchal society here; families are based around the dad. People will often refer to you as "x, son/daughter of y".
Age: Your character's supposed to be fairly young here, at around fifteen to seventeen years of age.
Appearance: ----
Description: Make this short, sweet, and a bit devoid of lore.
Clan and Estate: "Clan" determines the family your, er, family serves or is a proper part of; estate reflects your status or rank in society. In this adventure, all of you are peasants belonging to House More.
High Concept: ----
Trouble: ----
Patron deity: Most people here believe in the Old Gods, the region's traditional pantheon of deities. Your "Patron deity" is the god whom you follow the most closely, and your worship of him or her is treated as an aspect to be invoked or compelled as appropriate to the god's nature. The list of gods may be found below.
Additional Aspect: ----
Additional Aspect: ----
Approaches: You're all gonna be a bit weakened here; you're gonna have to rank your approaches one level down (ie, one at -1, two at 0, two at +1, one at +2).
Stunts: Don't give yourself any more than one stunt.
Refresh: ----
Fate Points: ----
Physical Stress: This is your stress track for physical damage. Instead of having the usual three boxes, you'll only have two, with one for one shift, and the other for two shifts. Right now, just write this down as "0-0".
Mental Stress: This is your stress track for mental damage. You'll only have two boxes here, as in Physical stress.
Consequences: ----
Some notes on character creation
1. "----" means that it's either terribly obvious, or it's essentially the same as in regular FAE.
2. Always describe your aspects and stunts in your character sheet.
3. You may leave your other two additional aspects blank for now, and fill them in later.
4. Always leave some room for your fellow players to suggest changes to your sheet.
5. I'll only be accepting at most five characters in the adventure, so for the sake of player inclusiveness, you may only submit one character.
6. The list of gods you can choose from is in the spoiler below. I've already a good idea on the nature of these gods, but feel free to describe the god you've chosen in whatever way you want to, as gods often have natures that are....inhumanly infini-dimensional.
2. Always describe your aspects and stunts in your character sheet.
3. You may leave your other two additional aspects blank for now, and fill them in later.
4. Always leave some room for your fellow players to suggest changes to your sheet.
5. I'll only be accepting at most five characters in the adventure, so for the sake of player inclusiveness, you may only submit one character.
6. The list of gods you can choose from is in the spoiler below. I've already a good idea on the nature of these gods, but feel free to describe the god you've chosen in whatever way you want to, as gods often have natures that are....inhumanly infini-dimensional.
Matrona, Mother of the Earth
Auros, Father of Souls and Magic
Tethysion, King of the Skies
Porton, King of the Seas
Plutodis, King of the Underworld and Master of Smiths
Vesta, Goddess of Hearth and Home
Pasegantia, Goddess of Plague and Famine
Passephonia, Goddess of Death and Keeper of Winter Days
Tubarrachus, God of Drink and Keeper of Summer Days
Sybicus, God of Madness and the Wilderness
Archon, Lord of the Sun and Patron of the Arts
Maladia, Lord of the Moon and Mistress of the Hunt
Virilia, Goddess of Sex and
Karen, God of War and Bloodshed
Arachnia, Goddess of Secrets and Mistress of Weavers
Jackaron, God of Puterfaction
Harkilion, God of Heroes and the Law
Mercurio, Grand Prince of Thieves and Poets
Sithis, God of Domination and Destruction
Harmonia, Goddess of the Winds and the Changing of Seasons
Auros, Father of Souls and Magic
Tethysion, King of the Skies
Porton, King of the Seas
Plutodis, King of the Underworld and Master of Smiths
Vesta, Goddess of Hearth and Home
Pasegantia, Goddess of Plague and Famine
Passephonia, Goddess of Death and Keeper of Winter Days
Tubarrachus, God of Drink and Keeper of Summer Days
Sybicus, God of Madness and the Wilderness
Archon, Lord of the Sun and Patron of the Arts
Maladia, Lord of the Moon and Mistress of the Hunt
Virilia, Goddess of Sex and
Karen, God of War and Bloodshed
Arachnia, Goddess of Secrets and Mistress of Weavers
Jackaron, God of Puterfaction
Harkilion, God of Heroes and the Law
Mercurio, Grand Prince of Thieves and Poets
Sithis, God of Domination and Destruction
Harmonia, Goddess of the Winds and the Changing of Seasons
Here are a few important notes on the setting. Many other details I'll elaborate on once this story's started moving along.
I'll probably add to the above list in the future, but right now I'm too excited to postpone the role-play for finishing up on these details. Feel free to ask for any clarifications and such, and also to complain on the murkiness of the style here as compared to the other sections of this post.
- Magic here is very, very, very rare. Wizards are not ubiquitous, magic item shops are practically non-existent, and 'magical' creatures are often completely natural in nature: if you want to experience magic, either do what everyone does and interpret everything you couldn't understand as "magic", or pray to the generally (seemingly) indifferent gods.
- Speaking of the gods, they do not seem to have a very active presence in the world; in fact, the interpretation of them being merely figments of man's imagination is a very real and open one in this world (though being too overt in this belief can get you in trouble with various churches). If your character is one of those kinds of people, then when you're invoking your "Patron Deity" aspect, feel free to show it as if it were an act of fate/fortune, and not of the gods.
- Again on the gods, there are in fact other pantheons of gods worshiped in this world, although those pantheons we'd only explore once you guys get out of Sindar Mine, and not before, as the story starts from within Sindar Mine (not exactly: the story does begin in a mine, but that mine is a human coal mine, not Sindar itself. I'll explain later, via IC exposition), and it'd be fairly unnatural for a bunch of laypeople to talk about gods other than their own in such an isolated area.
- This time, it's a note on the setting's mortals: There are, in this world, three species of truly sapient creatures: Men, Dwarfs, and Nixies. Men are men; Dwarfs, dwarves, but a bit nimbler and uglier; and Nixies, well, they're sort of like a cross between fish-people and water nymphs. No Nixies shall appear in this story, but as for the Dwarfs, well you'll see....
- On the lay of the land: Think medieval England, only more....lush, dramatic, romantic. This, however, only refers to the specific country where the story is set, not the world as a whole.
- On society: Once again, think of England in the Early Middle Ages, but without all of that Viking nonsense (yet), and with bits of anachronisms from the High and even the Late Middle Ages. So yes, there shall be a lot of sexism against women, a rather cruel system of social stratification, a distinct rarity of plate armor (and ubiquity of spears), and even a general stupidity about the populace (a lot of the world can't even read!), but at least you won't have to worry about rugged northerners pillaging your homes and raping your women.
- On Sindar Mine specifically: Once a bustling 'Dwarfopolis', Sindar Mine is now an empty ruin, abandoned by its creators due to circumstances never revealed to the world of men. Not much loot may be found in the place, although from the few Scops' tales on it you surmise that there may be some key treasures still resting within its haunted halls. As for the dangers occupying the place, so far the only danger you've been informed of is the danger of getting lost, or at most having its decrepit ceiling falling on your head, although you suspect that there maybe more, er, beastly troubles lurking about.
- A fairly meta note that I should've written down on the introduction: Though there should be a lot of humor in this adventure (especially, perhaps, in character reactions and interactions), the primary themes of this adventure have to be High Adventure, The Terrors of the Unknown, and Overcoming Adolescence.
As said, the system we're gonna use is FATE Accelerated, found here. I chose FAE because it seems like an easy system to learn, use, and adapt to play-by-post roleplaying, what with its simple math and greater focus on storytelling.
This role-play will feature two threads, an "out-of-play" thread, and an "at-play" thread. The earlier thread is this one; the latter can be found in the "Fantasy Roleplays" section of this forum. Discussions on player activity, commentary on the story, and backstage exposition shall be held in the out-of-play thread; meanwhile, the role-play itself, including both mechanics processing and in-character exposition, shall be held in the at-play thread.
Posts in the at-play thread shall have all their mechanical bits posted within a spoiler, and all their in-character bits posted live on the thread, like in the following example. Always keep all the mechanical bits clear.
Posts in the at-play/in-character thread shall also follow a specific order whenever any mechanics are involved. The order shall be as in the following list. (Negotiation for compels is gonna be a bit trickier here. Perhaps we'll just handle that via private messages?)
Anyway, that's all of the special notes on the system I have so far. Credit where it's due: the rules I presented here were either inspired by or taken from this thread.
This role-play will feature two threads, an "out-of-play" thread, and an "at-play" thread. The earlier thread is this one; the latter can be found in the "Fantasy Roleplays" section of this forum. Discussions on player activity, commentary on the story, and backstage exposition shall be held in the out-of-play thread; meanwhile, the role-play itself, including both mechanics processing and in-character exposition, shall be held in the at-play thread.
Posts in the at-play thread shall have all their mechanical bits posted within a spoiler, and all their in-character bits posted live on the thread, like in the following example. Always keep all the mechanical bits clear.
Gillian jumps carefully onto the other side. To succeed, I need to roll a value of at least +2, and a success with style here will give me some momentum, which can help me with my next jump. A tie can lead me to either twist my ankle, which will definitely hurt, or fall into the water (briefly), which will make me dripping wet. A failure can lead me to either crack my head on the rock, which would definitely lead to some bad consequences, or, again, fall into the water, but for a longer period of time, and so attracting unwanted attention.
I roll for a total of +1, which leads me to a tie. I don't really want to twist my ankle or get myself real wet, so I spend a fate point for invoking Harmonia, leaving me with only 2 fate points. I add a +2 bonus to my roll, leaving me with a proper +5. I make the jump and get a bit of momentum.
I roll for a total of +1, which leads me to a tie. I don't really want to twist my ankle or get myself real wet, so I spend a fate point for invoking Harmonia, leaving me with only 2 fate points. I add a +2 bonus to my roll, leaving me with a proper +5. I make the jump and get a bit of momentum.
Gillian steps back. He draws a deep breath. He bends forward, shifting his weight to his hips. Another deep breath.
He runs up to the edge of the ledge and leaps to the other side. His feet, though, leave at too early a point, and the path of his flight ends up too short for him to make it. He doesn't make it.
Or at least, he was not supposed to. Something....well, something rather supernatural seemed to give him a littlepush as he was in the air. A chill, perhaps, a certain heaviness of the air that felt rather too strange, too alien; he's not really sure what it was. Perhaps it was the famed luck of the House of More blessing him in a fashion rather too active (although said luck often only blesses its possessors in matters of cash), or perhaps it was his patron goddess, Lady Harmonia of the winds (although he's pretty sure he's too deep in the earth to be still in her domain), acting on his behalf?
Anyway, he made it to the other side, with even a good bit of momentum backing him for his next jump. It was a very lucky shot.
He runs up to the edge of the ledge and leaps to the other side. His feet, though, leave at too early a point, and the path of his flight ends up too short for him to make it. He doesn't make it.
Or at least, he was not supposed to. Something....well, something rather supernatural seemed to give him a littlepush as he was in the air. A chill, perhaps, a certain heaviness of the air that felt rather too strange, too alien; he's not really sure what it was. Perhaps it was the famed luck of the House of More blessing him in a fashion rather too active (although said luck often only blesses its possessors in matters of cash), or perhaps it was his patron goddess, Lady Harmonia of the winds (although he's pretty sure he's too deep in the earth to be still in her domain), acting on his behalf?
Anyway, he made it to the other side, with even a good bit of momentum backing him for his next jump. It was a very lucky shot.
Posts in the at-play/in-character thread shall also follow a specific order whenever any mechanics are involved. The order shall be as in the following list. (Negotiation for compels is gonna be a bit trickier here. Perhaps we'll just handle that via private messages?)
- First, the GM sets the scene, describing the setting and the NPCs of the chapter while defining all of the involved situational aspects.
- Next, the player states his intentions and his actions, along with any other relevant details.
- The GM will then assess the difficulties of the situation (and so, the skills required for success), invoking and/or compelling aspects as he sees fit. The GM will also state the possible consequences for success and failure.
- Finally, the player will roll and tag all of the necessary aspects, while narrating the consequences of his actions.
Anyway, that's all of the special notes on the system I have so far. Credit where it's due: the rules I presented here were either inspired by or taken from this thread.
Do note that the general role-playing rules (clean up yer writing, no god-modding (ie no rigging of roles), no controlling other people's characters, et al.) still apply here; and if you are inactive with or without notice for at least a week, I may either take over your character, or give him to someone else.