[OOC] The tales told of heroes

Here - we can discuss the game. What would we like to see, not see, delve into, avoid? Who did something cool? Rules questions. Etc.

Where possible, let's do in-character planning as conversations in the IC thread(s - depending how long we make this run).

Greetings to everyone! Excited to get this show on the road!

Tibbius, assuming you'd like us to hold off any IC posting until we've finalised the 5th member of the group by giving Jomsviking a chance to adjust his character based on your feedback?

Actually I would be glad to see people get the ball rolling with some i/c conversation - first poster gets to set the time of day, second poster gets the weather of the day. Please download the .zip and look at the map to start making plans how to proceed, and to locate Havens. One other thing you might want to do is identify your lost homes. When it's needful to Take Courage, you could share stories of those homes to restore yourselves.

Further note: please, on your character sheets, identify the gear you have. Remember you're refugees. You fled from war with what you could carry. For example, the group might have one pack mule or horse, a partial set of cookware. Each of you has clothing, a weapon, maybe a tool, and limited food. If you had significant armor, that could give you advantage in combat; but you don't. If you think of something else that a refugee plausibly would have, please propose it here before adding to your sheet.

As far as tools go, would Flintstone be appropriate? Seems like the kind of thing a practiced cook would think to grab along with pot and pan when scrabbling to get supplies together in a hurry.

Yes, sounds good.

DM, how is this for gear/weapons:
Weapon: Small knife
Tool: Smith’s hammer
Half a smith’s leather apron (missing length)
Two tin cups, one missing a handle
A chipped clay plate
A patched up water skin
A short, frayed length of rope (10 ft.), clearly cut from something else.
Some hard tack and dried fruits.
A small back pack

yes, good

As we are running from the war. Shouldn't we know where the main battles or horrors are right now? Or the turmoil is so big that we don't know that? I mean normally we should try to go away from the danger that causes us to flee. Do characters now any direction where is this danger?

Also do we know who is this Barbarian Prince ? Are the politics, factions, parties involved even important for the characters? Or we just try to stay alive and have lost track of what "the elites" are doing or don't even care for quite some time now?

DM, about my character gear and story:
I imagine Alfred as one who comes from very wealthy family. But left his family home, to seek for treasures or even much more: secrets of the world. But that was before the war. Now he don't know if he will ever get back there and meet his family. So he is not used too much to hardships like we will probably experience. I think it can make some interesting narrating opportunities. This contrast between what he was used to have, and having nothing at all. Or even better: having things that had a great value before the war, and now are just meaningless and the simple pice of bread is more valuable. I would like also him to have a mount. A great, beautiful one, that could run in the top races of this world are be a great help in biggest battles... but now it is used as pack mule for the group. What is painful for Alfred, but he understands that this is the way it should be. Another contrast between former life - now and then.
So my gear would be:
Great horse - Fakir
Two swords with narrow blades(like in the character art), but Alfred is using only one of them for fighting - it's called "Truth".
The other one is some kind of family heirloom, which he never even pulls out of its scabbard - it's called "Justice". Maybe someday he will find out that they have some special qualities?
3 throwing knives.
Leather armor, that don't restrains movements.
An expensive and ornate carpet with an image of his great-grandfather holding a lance on a horse - can be used as bed.
Rope good for climbing, with wich he is ting his valuable carpet...
Basic tools like knife to make basic animal traps.
Small bag with:
- 10 prices of fines dried meat. A real treat. But they won't last for long...
- sword sharpener
- his mother handkerchief with family initials,

Is it all good, GM?

I am going to leave many of the answers up to you. If you think that your character would be interested in the politics and goings on before the war, please look at the setting reference documents that are linked in the Game Details. Your character can know as much of that as you like.

As far as main battles, the turmoil is sporadic and widespread. It's not so much any major battles or fronts of war, as it is a generalized risk of being caught by scavenging soldiers, pillaging bandits, or the goblins, or some other horror loosed by bloodshed.

Now let's talk about food ... in addition to writing stories or poems or songs and making a roll of the appropriate skill, you also can Take Courage for the group by describing the preparation and flavoring of a lovely meal, and making a roll of that skill.

At the outset, you have peasants' trail food: a few days of some grain, peas or beans or lentils, maybe a few small onions or turnips or parsnips. Gisela has a cookpot, and you can find water suitable for making porridge by succeeding at a foraging roll. If you want something nicer or more flavorful, you'll need to forage the ingredients.

Yes, others have the peas and grains I mentioned above, you have the good salt meat to flavor the porridge.

DM, do you have a preference for posting etiquette, apart from 3 posts per week? I mean something like do we wait for each other to get post before we post again or can we post as we have time and see fit?

I would like everyone to be included as much as possible. Obvs if somebody just ghosts us, we shouldn't all be waiting on them. On the other hand, I would prefer not to see a prolonged back-and-forth posting between two players (including me) where other players are waiting for a prompt to engage.

Posting etiquette: don't exclude others; find ways to include your fellow players, and to be included.

About rolling dice: I run this differently according to the themes of each game. The themes of this game are hard times, scraping by, desperation ... accordingly, it seems appropriate to require die rolls for actions that might have any unusual benefit. For example, no roll would be needed for Gisela to prepare an ordinary porridge; but a successful cooking roll would be needed for preparing a specially nourishing porridge that could let its eaters Take Courage. Indeed, a foraging roll would be needed to gather the proper ingredients for that porridge, if they weren't already on hand. Similarly, when trying to distinguish antipyretic flowers from hallucinogenic flowers, an herbalism roll might be needed.

Follow up question regarding Take Courage... do we declare the Take Courage action before we do them? Fx, Talayan launching into a story could be "just" roleplay or it could be specifically to pick up the spirits of the group. So should I declare it beforehand if I want it to be seen as a Take Courage worthy action?

Tell a story, or cook a meal, whenever you'd like and have time in the main story. If you want to Take Courage, roll Rhyming or Cooking.

Following up on a side question:

Just working on a post at the moment, tibbius are you happy for us to assume we can gather enough tinder for a basic fire to get the food going with the ingredients we already have? Or would you like us to make a foraging roll for that as well?