OOC

What it says on the tin.

Good morning all! I just wanted to make a few announcements. First, I know a lot of games have an introduction, but we don't need to go too in depth here, and only if you want to. I'd love to hear how long you've been playing, what your favorite character has been (in any game), and the most interesting game system you've played.

Second, there's a ton of information in the Setting Info area. You don't need to memorize anything, as most of it won't come up. But I know I love this sort of stuff as a player. There's also more information than you would believe hanging out in my books for this setting. If you want to know something, just ask! If you want to be from a far-off land, we can make that work. If you are interested in a particular type of god, we'll figure something out. You guys are playing level one nobodies, so don't worry about your character knowing the politics for each nation in the next region over.

Third, let's try to keep a balanced party. It would be good to cover the four basic character types (warrior, rogue, wizard, priest), but you'll also have the opportunities to grab some hirelings to supplement your party. You'll also be starting with a magic-user and a cleric NPC in the group, though I won't let them overshadow you and yours.

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With that said, hi! I'm Cowleyc and I'm a gaming addict. I've been in the hobby for about twenty years, and really stepped into DMing in the last four. My favorite character has been a robust, bearded pirate named Komar Jalu in a Barbarians of Lemuria game; he spoke in the third person, spent most of the game tending to his magnificient beard/chest hair, and was just generally a lot. As for the interesting game, that would be Fate of the Norns: Ragnarok. The use of rune tiles instead of dice was a cool feature, but I loved the setting and the over-the-top nature of the game. It encouraged you to emulate the wild feats from the old Icelandic epics, such as riding your own thrown spear into battle.

And here is a quick template I made so you can view your stats. I love the idea of the wheel, but in early hindsight it may be best for a live table where I can cut out props. Just plop your numbers in the top rows.

Stat Generator

From the Character Creation Guide:
What that doesn't say is that Gnomes can level without limit as a Thief, up to 7th level as a multi-class cleric, and up to 8th level as a multi-class magic-user. Both of these are right around what we're expecting to get to anyways.

Ascending! Save us all some energy.

Oh, that's absolutely allowed. I'm waffling over if it should require a language slot or not...

Oof. Got woken up several times over the night due to an emergency at my partner's work (one where waking us up WAS the right choice). I have an office day and a live game tonight, so I might not be super helpful today. But it looks like characters are coming along nicely!

Also, the equipment list isn't super long. If there's anything you want to buy, just ask. I was surprised guard dogs weren't on there

Come on now, Heroic is a state of mind!

The two NPCs will be there to supplement, but not replace. I plan on having them level slowly, so don't expect them to do much heavy lifting.

So we're looking at a dwarf fighter, a human druid, a gnome/halfling thief. And a low-con fighter still in progress. Looks like we're covering our bases. Though now I need to make some changes to the NPC cleric of Thyr...

I vote slavic-tattooed halfling!

Three fighters, druid, cleric, and thief. That's a party nobody could blink an eye at. Now that we have this established, we just need to finish up the sheets and I can get the story started once it's looking good enough. I'll also be going into everyone's sheets and doing some nifty auto-populating for the attack bonus, saves, and experience.

I don't need fully formed backgrounds from your characters; these often emerge through play. However, since banter is much slower on here than at a table, feel free to determine here if any characters know each other or have other ties.

Druids have a little overlap, and you'll have an NPC to help out. I wouldn't say it's a dire need.

Let's chat about languages real quick! OSE has a decent list of languages you can roll for (or choose), and there are a few regional languages. There is the common tongue- Westerling as it is known- as well as Gasquen, Kirkut, and High Boros. Gasquen is used to the south and the east, and is the language of the Foere nobility. Kirkut is used to the west in Reme to the west. High Boros is an ancient tongue that isn't really used today, but is marked in many ruins.

Each character can start with Common and their Racial or Regional language, and can choose to learn racial/regional/alignment languages with their Int bonus languages. Alignment languages are only for Lawful or Chaotic, and are a rough version of Celestial and Infernal.

I'm not here for a full simulation of language dynamics, but they will sometimes come into play. Monsters may not speak Westerling, which would make diplomacy difficult or impossible. Likewise, it might be useful to know that the thirty-eyed creature of blazing flame and confusing rings is speaking Celestial, and is actually an angel trying to help.

No worries, I think I can actually make the change AND make it fit the story better in the same swoop!

It's kinda a funny quirk, but you can only learn alignment languages if you are of that alignment. No evil wizards or neutral druids get to know Fantasy-Latin. But you do have Druidic in its place, which I see you've already added.

And that's our party! Faionn the Human Druid, Nebbleshuven the Human Fighter, Olaf the Human Fighter, Ryenne the Human Cleric, Monaghan the Dwarf Fighter, and Datura the Gnome Thief.

A few things. First, make sure that if you haven't rolled for HP, you do so. I know starting with max HP is a popular houserule, but this isn't that game. I reserve that rule for my Vikings game. Second, make sure you have your languages. I think most of you have those done. Third, equipment. A few of you are still finishing that up. Not to worry, this first little intro is just getting our feet under us.

And for KCC, a little note about Thyr.

I think given the other abilities the Gnome has, let's stick with it being a chosen language.

When I lived in Alaska, I kept hearing about how mules and donkeys were considered guard animals on farms, as they were ill-tempered and weren't afraid to kick bears and wolves in the face.

That's what I get for copy-pasting from another game. Thanks for pointing this out. The correct procedure will be to roll for starting HP.

I rolled a five folks, so when inevitably I die on some dungeon floor, having just needed one extra HP to survive… let us all remember this moment!

That feels like a 3rd edition thing. Like, I feel like I read that back in 3E.

Here you go!

What sort of prompts are you all using for your portraits? I've tried ai generators and been unimpressed with the results.

Some of you know this from other games, but I'm an avid backpacker on the weekends. And it's finally good weather! I'll be back tomorrow night.

Even though I'm busy on the weekends, I'll frequently be able to post on Saturday mornings or Sunday evenings. But weekends are absolutely optional.

It's gonna be a real kick in the chest when you find out what happened.

Uninterrupted rest is a day and a night of just chilling, listening to some Enya, and eating as many chickens as you can. Quite often travel will not count as rest, since you're still walking, but it's been two days of following a road. Ryenne is back to full.

FEAR ME

Ryenne shall be feared.

As two quick notes before I off to bed:

First, critical hits mean that you auto-hit the target. You may end up doing four damage to a dragon, but that doesn't mean the dragon cares about four damage. I don't do any max damage or anything, it's just a hit. It's lucky.

Second, feel free to edit your last posts to add rolls, but make sure to uncheck "this is a minor edit". Unchecking that note will make it pop up as a new message, which lets me know you made an edit. Don't go ham on the edits.

All, I made an oops! I definitely misunderstood the outdoor combat rules, and you should have absolutely been able to reach Vortigern in one round. Let's just continue from here instead of making all sorts of retcons.

Harrigan, if you want to just pull Olaf's brother Rolaf from the woods or something, I would not argue with that. Ha.

Absolutely! I had meant to post something last night, but ended up eating ice cream by the water instead. Priorities.

My loose policy is that if you haven't posted something in about two days, I'll keep chugging us along. As for default actions, OSR doesn't have nearly as many options as 5e, so that's pretty simple! If I have to make a move as a character, I try to do that in the least dangerous way possible. If anyone wants to send me some Defaults, feel free!

I'll be posting in a little bit once my coffee finishes brewing. Rest assured, you're all doing great. The last time I tried running this, my group got annihilated by the enemies.

Almost to somewhere we can bring Harrigan back in! And we should be finished with the railroad.

Gang, I'm going to be backpacking starting tomorrow morning until Monday evening. I'll be back and ready to keep this going! You're so close to being able to make meaningful choices!

I'm home, I'm alive, and I'll post first thing in the morning.

Looks like someone is now approved and waiting at the tavern!

If you are all finished at the "temple", I can chug you along to the tavern. Or you can do so yourselves!

He has indeed! Let's see if he'll share the wealth!

I'll wait until tomorrow morning for Faoinn. Weekends can be slow, and they might have a good spell for this.

Oh, for sure. It's been a busy week for me so the game sorta slipped my mind. I got a message from Rizado saying they were going to drop out. But I'll put up a post first thing in the morning!

I don't want combat to drag out and kill any momentum. I don't want to use any hard rule, but I think I'll either nudge someone or make a reasonable move to keep things moving.

KCC, what are you finding confusing it unclear?

The archers rolled really well and helped mop up the orcs. Monaghan used a healing potion on Ryenne to revive her. You now have the crucible! The question is if you want to return now or press on; some folks are suggesting that you send one person with the crucible and have the rest press on.

I can absolutely reach out for a new player! Five is a good number, however, and so I'll leave it to a vote.

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In other news, I've created a discord server to use in my games! Feel free to join in, but know that it isn't required. Here is the link.

Build your strength, take your time! After all, as my parents always said, "A healthy KCC is a happy KCC". Never understood it until now.

You've found my weakness, remembering NPCs! I had said that Corian was following the warriors, but then I promptly forgot. Let me make a retcon and say that he's still downstairs with the slime. Along with Faionn, whose darts aren't too useful at far range. They're downstairs to rush to whoever's aid.

As for those dwarves, there's no sight of them.

Before anyone asks, no I have not forgotten the dwarves. And yes, you have every right to fight or flee.

All right, I fell behind in the XP, but I think I'm caught up now. You all need to find a true treasure haul! I'm tempted to just split the XP evenly at the end of this chapter, including the newcomers. Keep it simple.

Certainly I think we'd do that anyway, looking for more captives / orcs. And rods staffs wands rings of power flying carpets scepters decks of many things wings of flying cloaks of invisibility etc. :)