Character and World Creation

Cook wouldn't have been *A* bandit, too feeble for that. He could have been the bandits' cook though, back at their camp. Sounds like you have some story going with a bandit (Cassum?) - don't know if being at the camp would mess that up or not. Whichever is the more interesting story.

The only problem with Cook being back at the bandit's camp is that you may have to wait for us to get there before you can start play. If we need to get there we will hop to it toot-sweet, but might not have gone there otherwise.

It need not be the 'camp' as such, but anywhere related to the 'bandit mystery', wherever the players' choices lead them.
Merely 'potential for story', if the players choose to pursue it. Cook probably would not have much knowledge of whatever is at play there, just to keep things interesting and so that we can improvise on what we find.
Agreed. We can make whatever seems most interesting happen.

If you are keen on the idea, we can work out the details. If the others don't want to mount an expedition to the bandit camp we can find any number of ways to get Cook from there to here. Or we can fast-forward the expedition to get you into the fray ASAP. Whatever we need to do, we can do.

Then let's make Cook a flunky of the bandits. Maybe he's near by, tending the horses or something. Maybe he's hiding in a bush, an unfired crossbow laying on the ground beside him. Whatever brings him directly into the story and gives the PCs a reason not to kill him.

What does everyone else think?
Is there interest in going to the bandit camp, or exploring their activities more?

theatreofcomets: Does Meht pursue the map (or tattoo)? They are your details, what do you (the player) want to see come from them?

We can derail the story as much or as little as we want, it is not precious. This is a good time to change direction, what with introducing new PCs and all.

So I noticed that scattered around several areas, there's the idea that Magic is dangerous and you shouldn't just be using it willy-nilly, but the WoD rules on the subject seems a bit more interesting/different than the usual "just toss fireballs from your hands" that I'm used to in other fantasy systems so I do want to interact with it as such. I assume the Wizard's "Summon" ability would be the main form of spellcasting in this world and thus what is being shunned?

My character concept would be a young noblewoman whose family lineage rose to prominence due to the secret usage of this ability in its early days, but has fallen on hard times in present day. The method of utilizing such power is taught down through each generation but using it is something reserved for only the most dire of circumstances... or at least done in a way that they can attempt to cover it up as just an unfortunate incident.

Due to the financial collapse of the family, the eldest daughter (my character) has been forced to make her fortune as an adventure. These are the skills/abilities for the concepts I am thinking of

Leadership - Due to my interest in interacting with hirelings and such later on when the character has more pocket money and in theme with her character background, this seems rather appropriate. Would there be any other areas this skill could cover (roughly the same areas that Diplomacy would in D&D?)

Decipher - That being said, since her ability to use Summon is a secret, and perhaps bringing someone on an adventuring party whose sole purpose is to order people around might be a bit strange, this skill would be used for her "cover job", as it were. Since WoD is very rules light, I'm actually a bit uncertain of what "decipher" entails - reading foreign/ancient languages perhaps? Analyzing magic items? If my character had some merchanting background, perhaps the ability to "decipher" contracts for fine print etc? Do let me know

(Lore was my other candidate for this slot but I see that one of the other players has selected it, and as such it makes my decision on selecting decipher easy)

Summon - I believe Magic is not completely outruled, but rather that I simply can't use it openly, and thus I will have opportunities to bring this into play if I choose it, yes? I will come up with the Spirits later - I'm thinking one of them would be Shadow / Flame and the other, Love / Hatred as their domains.

Pet - Going with the noblewoman theme and nothing that another partymate has also picked a pet, I have decided on a Falcon due to her being trained in Falconry as is a noble pastime.

WoD seems very rules light in regards to Pets given that there's no section for it, so I believe it's definitely a 100% Fiction First thing? I figured a Falcon could of course, scout, deliver messages or ferry objects and perhaps hunt small game for sure. If combat breaks out, it certainly won't be taking on even a goblin in a head-on fight, but I figured it is trained for battle somewhat, perhaps to harry the enemy as a distraction for someone else or go for their throat when their guard is down, sort of like a Rogue-Bird.

Rolling for stats now (if I understand the interface correctly) - as I stated I'm mostly only hoping for a positive Cha and maybe Con (due to building resistance to Quicksilver usage), and the rest can fall where they may.

(Incidentally while I have some idea of money expenditure, I honestly have no idea how much adventuring gear to buy - or should I let the more hardened adventurers in the party take care of all the roping and 10 foot pole-ing?)

Yeah, there are risks and costs, and it is frowned upon (possibly for reasons of superstition).

Magic can be very interesting, and it is 'allowed' OOC, just be careful. A noble background would have allowed a lot more leniency in the past. How well are you and your family coping with now having to deal with the need for secrecy?
Yes, most 'magic' requires summoning and possibly commanding a spirit.
Presumably so. The corrupting influence of these spirits has probably contributed to the stigma.
Did you sign up as a caravan guard because the money seemed worth it or is this an attempt to gain credibility as an adventurer, and a supposed stepping-stone to what comes next?

Are you a caravan guard or are you out here on your own and will be forced to join the party for 'reasons'?
Leadership seems like it would cover 'diplomacy' and such, yes. See below about a possible hireling at the start.
'Ordering people around' is less likely to be successful now that you are no longer a wealthy noble. You may have to resort to the more subtle forms of Leadership.

Those all sound like exactly what Decipher could be used for.

Remember that you can still try to do any of these things. All the skill does for you is soften the worst outcome, making it a little 'safer'. They add flavour to the character, but should not limit the character.

'Leadership', for instance, means people will tut and ignore you ("She does not know how to behave") rather than get angry and fight you on a miss.
Indeed. Those sound like interesting domains. I always worry about 'love' it can be very rapey. Tread carefully.
theatreofcomets: Would you be happy with another Pet in the party?

Nanoka: Are you taking a Pet instead of Command? Summoning spirits and then not being control them proves why everyone is right to mistrust these magic users.

Without Command, the spirit will probably only do what it wants, as dictated by its nature. I don't know if you can reason with (or Lead) spirits.

paladintodd: Would you be happy with another player taking Command? Are you still wanting to go with that? If you are still set on 'magic disruption' why does it not work on this noblewoman? ("Because she is PC" is not a good enough reason, but we don't need to know the answer, yet.)
Yes, it does. :)
Most of those seem reasonable, and fit the idea of a falcon.

'Delivering messages', though? It is not 'intelligent', can not follow complex instructions, so tying something to its leg and sending it to someone you can see seems reasonable, but sending to find someone elsewhere is hard to justify, unless it is 'go home', and then it is gone.
I don't know what that is.
Well done. Nice roll overall.

CHA would also be useful for Commanding these spirits, if you choose to do so.
INT is good for Deciphering, including 'contracts' for the spirits.
How recently were you still a 'noble'? Does your character have any idea what to bring?

Do you want to blow most of your starting money on a 'loyal retainer' (hireling) who we don't need to worry about paying, for now?

Perhaps the reason for the dire financial circumstances would be because the situation in their domain is currently too "hot" in terms of anti-magic superstition fever such that they have not used the Summoning arts in a while, and thus could not compete in business deals / dealings with rival houses etc without supernatural aid.
Would it be more logical to be part of the caravan "handling the books" / hunting with my falcon and other such logistical matters before being thrust in the limelight, as it were?
I don't think I would use said domain for purposes that lean in that direction, that being said, if it feels like it could be a worry, perhaps I could change it to "Secrets / Hatred" instead. The family would have used said spirit to learn secrets about their rivals and perhaps used said secrets to stoke the fires of hatred amongst their house - and hey, it's just so unfortunate that the peasants learned something about their Lord that they absolutely couldn't stand for.
Hmm, is that how the Summon ability is supposed to be interpreted? My reading was that the Summon ability allowed you to give a single Command to whichever Spirit you summoned, and that they would interpret it "evil genie" style where if you weren't very specific, they would definitely take a reading of the instructions that had the highest annoyance factor for you. The Command ability, on the other hand, would let you command ANY wandering spirits or supernatural beings that you may come across, as it were.

I read it that way because the sample wizard builds have to take Summon as a required ability but also have a choice of several other abilities to acquire, and it would certainly be odd for them to design it this way where a class would not be able to utilize one of their abilities without another ability as a pair.
Hmm, I'm trying to go with what has been done with trained birds in real life - yes, it would not be able to e.g seek out a specific person if said person was taking a walk in the marketplace and some such, though I assume that it would probably have several places it could be trained to travel to/from, "home" being one of the more logical areas.
It's a bit of a joke - I'm just saying that if forced into combat, the Bird combat tactics is somewhat like that of a Rogue (look for opportunities to catch someone off guard etc)
She hasn't been living a cushy life of comfort for a while now, though outright adventuring is still a new concept to her. Falconry is a bit of an outdoor sport I think, so I believe she could probably have some knowledge of how to camp in the woods and such (though it would be more peaceful maintained "hunting grounds" forests rather than the savage wilds). Actual Dungeon Delving experience, nah. (Also Nanoka the player doesn't know anything about camping.)
How much would it cost and what would his scope of tasks be? It's a tempting offer.

You're a PC. Limelight is where you belong. But it is up to you, we can make it work however it works.
Yep. Pretty much. With Command you can Command them to do things (including 'leave this place!'), without it they only do the things they were summoned for, per their domains. If you are happy with just summoning them, it can work the way you describe.
Sounds fair. No 'send them a raven'.
Nor of Summing Spirits, one presumes. We muddle on with our imperfect knowledge of our characters lives. :)
I don't know. We can come up with something reasonable once we know what else you just have to own.
The retainer would need gear as well, but need not be much better kitted for adventuring than you are.

I was just floating the idea. If you are interested we will need to discuss it and make sure we don't screw you over later.

Right, I meant this line in a more "I was always retroactively with the Caravan, but now X happened and thus I step into the open to be known by the rest of the party and be a PC from here on out"
Yeah, this works for me - I'm sure the consequences of being too careless with this power is probably a lot more interesting than if I had a comparatively easy way out.
The only thing I believe this character absolutely needs is 1 or perhaps 2 doses of quicksilver, which would be 10-20sp. She might have a light weapon in the form of a hunting/skinning knife (y'know, to finish off all the rabbits that the Falcon's gonna bring back) but I would not expect her to actually stab people with it unless absolutely cornered, so this is technically optional.

(Funny thing that she has a higher than average Strength score if I interpreted the rolls right - perhaps purchasing more martial-like gear could in the cards in the future, but as for now, keep the expenditure of myself low in favour of the hireling)

Let me know about any further discussion on the subject.

That is the simplest. We can just assume you were there all along, but we can also do something more complex if you want. The more complex the longer it might take to get you into the story. It's your call.
We can also assume you were as active as you want to be, over the past day and in the fight. You can have met the other characters and we can shoehorn in any past interactions, or play them out in a flashback.
A Light Weapon would be another 10s, but a knife is not a dagger and would only be 2s for Adventuring Gear, but would not have inherent mechanical damage.
Yeah, STR, CON, INT, CHA are all +1. Makes sense that a noble would be healthy, educated, and refined.
Indeed.
Tell us a bit about what sort of hireling you (the player) would like. We can try make it happen. They might not be the sort of hireling your character would like, but that can be fun, too. :)

Nah, simple is best, I think. :)
Well, today I learned, I suppose. :o

(Though that being said, I noticed that the most basic of weapons deal d6 damage but I have no frame of reference to judge that against, or what using a "not suited for combat" knife gets me)
Hmm, I will probably go with an old cliche - an older manservant who used to be the house's spymaster before "retiring" to his current position. Outside of Butler-like duties, he's spry for his age and still has knowledge/training from his ex-spy days. He can run interference/distraction if the mistress needs to slip away, cover up any traces of her summoning, deliver a dagger to the back of a thug threatening the young lady, deliver secret message and all that jazz.

He would be equipped with a dagger (for amusement sake, let's say that our noblewoman character also does not understand the distinction between a dagger and a knife in this instance), light armour (perhaps some sort of padded jacket that wouldn't draw attention?) and perhaps lockpicks.

I'd happily switch back to Magically Disruptive. For a fellow PC, what if it was just fiction rather than rules? Any fails on her casting get interpreted as Cook interference.

Weapons differences, and such, are mainly narrative, and have effects in the fiction. There are situations where a long weapon would give one an advantage, and there are situations where a small weapon would give one an advantage. These advantages are much more significant than the +1 or +2 damage.

Similarly, a knife would do about the same damage as a dagger --if it landed a hit-- but would be much harder to use in a fight. If you can arrange the fiction such that you get to use it, it can still be brutally effective.

Since people might not expect it to be used as a weapon, it can have advantages as well. If you can sneak a knife (or a screwdriver, or knitting needle) into someone's bed chamber as they sleep and put it into their ear, they are probably dead, no need to think about damage and dice, the fiction of the situation comes first.
Do keep in mind the concept behind this campaign. You are all Fresh Faced Adventurers, none of you have any experience with the sorts of things you are going to face and lack the knowledge of how to deal with such things. This should apply to long-term NPCs as well.

This is one of the big issues with hirelings, they can often overshadow the PCs. This guy seems a bit too specifically useful. He might qualify as an 'Expert' which would cost you 20s per day.
Your whole budget is gone on gear for these two. :(

Let's try focus on an interesting person rather than a useful person for this experiment. You are not making two PCs, after all.

Also think about how this retainer would affect your starting position and what you are doing in the caravan. They complicate things, but simple is not always best. :)

Ha, yes. That is quite cool. And yes, it is just fiction, not an Ability.

Nanoka: You happy with that?

I'm fine with the magical interference thing.
Hmm, my quickest "tone him down" attempt would be "background still the same, but he's old so that knowledge does mostly nothing if he doesn't have the physical prowess any more" - lean mostly fully on the butler part, equipment pared down to just a light weapon in extreme self defense cases.

That being said, would you have any suggestions for "interesting"? I would be willing to go with any idea you might have.

PbP is about long-term, patient play. 'quickest' should be one of the last considerations. :)
With the assumption that the PC will provide the 'action' and the hireling would provide the support, having him have all that very-not-fresh-faced prior knowledge goes against the grain.
Why not just make him a butler?

He can still have practice cleaning up (covering up) after you.
I would not.

They are your NPC, it is all about what you would find interesting to play alongside, and I can not predict that.

I think I'll go with that then. Rolling for HP (I assume it's 2 dice keep one) then I'll make the char sheet.

Yep.

Having full health might suggest you were not involved in the fight? (Or not very.) It is up to you.

Hey all, just catching up on this thread, welcome to the new players! I'll weigh in on the things relevant to Meht in a sec, will just check I've got everything.

theatreofcomets: Letting us know your thoughts/desires about the map/tattoo might help finding ways to introduce the new characters. They could be wherever those send us, if we plan to follow up.