Welcome QuietPanther

Welcome QuietPanther.

We have heard good things about you. :)

What are you hoping to get from this game?

Do you know any Role Playing Games? Which ones? This can help us find a common language. Do you have any past experience with PbtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) games in general? It is fine of you don't, we can teach you as we go along.

World of Dungeons is very light on rules, so it does not provide anything by way of guidance as to how the game plays, or what you need to do. If you have played, or even just read, any PbtA games, that will shape how we teach; if you have not, we will take it from the top, no worries.

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I see you did the Psybermagi game. Feel free to ask if you have questions about how things work. Not all games are run in exactly the same way.

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Take a look at the Help! thread for guidance. Feel free to ask any question here or in the General Chat depending on where they seem relevant.

You can find the Game's Rule Book copied here for easy access. You may find Character Creation section useful. Also take a squiz through some of the old Character and World Creation thread to get orientated.

Ha well none of it is true. Or all of it. I will try to live up to expectations :)

I’ve played a variety of RPGs. First was D&D, both 3&5. Did some PbP games a while back, mostly role play, never got to much action. In the past few years I’ve tried a good variety of things, including a PbtA game, Fate game systems, and lately lots of Lancer. I’ve done rules-light one shots and a Pathfinder one shot. Most of the games I’ve played were in person or over video chat, but PbP has its appeals as well.

I’m hoping to get a game with some good role playing, some creative writing/storytelling, and an interesting plot. I don’t have a strong need to explore deep ideas but I’ll enjoy delving a little if they come up. Most of all, I want to have fun! I do consider challenges and some characters hardships to be fun, so I won’t shy away from conflicts or risks. Hope that’s not too tall of an order!

I have some ideas for a character, so I’m gonna throw in some rolls to see how that’ll shape things.

Welcome QuietPanther!
I think you will find everything you asked for.

Hmm, any chance I can swap Dex and Int? I can work with the current stats if that’s an important rule. But my original idea for a character was rather different from those rolls..

Sorry, we will have to ask you to leave. Joining under false pretenses and all. :)
Which one? Do you recall? (There are a lot, and they can be quite different.:)
All of that is available. This game is very collaborative, so you have the freedom —and expectation— to introduce things that you want to see. Take the elements that are happening in the story and react to them and build on them to drive things in the direction you want. In-character driving can be subtle, so, if you are trying for a particular thing, tell us, in OOC, what you are angling for, that way we can all lean our weight behind shifting the story that way.
Noted and good to know.
That's why it is probably best, in this sort of situation, to roll first, and then come up with ideas based on the roll. Admittedly, this is my least favourite aspect of WoDu, I am not a fan of random character generation (outside of quick one-shots), and everything else is 'fiction first, then roll' and this first thing a player does sets a bad example.

Tell us about your character idea. We can talk about a stat-swap if needed (and possible about what it cost you).

You rolled:
STR: 0
DEX: 0
CON: 2
INT: 3
WIS: 1
CHA: 0

Bearing in mind that 0 is average, 1 is substantially above average (with a 2d6 curve), 2 is amazing, and 3 is almost unheard of and as high as any human can ever get.

False pretenses? Better check with karabooo, the true deceiver! :P One of us always lies, and one of us always tells the truth. Unless I’m lying about that..

I’ve been hankering for a Druid for a while now, but the chance hasn’t come up in any of the other games I’ve been in(not PbPs). I will almost certainly take Wild no matter what. My ideal was Stealth and maybe Reflexes, with Survival or Awareness as the last Skill. With or without a stat swap, I could be talked into some changes. I enjoy having a balanced party, so I’m willing to tweak a character to help that along.

She will probably be called Lille, and I envisioned her spending a lot of time out in the woods. She lived out there, thus her affinity to animals. With good Dex, she could move like one too. She would likely wield a quarter staff, unless that would fall under martial weapons.

The first thing I thought of for cost was a literal money cost, like starting with less. I imagine you had something else in mind, like a penalty for character advancement or other mechanical handicap? I’m interested to know what that would look like before I commit.

The PbtA game I started with was about wrestling, like WWE. It was very much not my interest, but the GM loved it so I gave it a shot. We probably played a few others that I’ve forgotten.

Well, that's a pretty pickle. We can't kick karabooo, they are a valued member. Guess we will have to live with it. :)
It occurred to me that, if the girl in the movie Labyrinth had just gone to the one who told her the rules, she would have been fine. Either it told the truth about the rules, and therefore tells the truth, or it lied about the very rules and it does not matter. /shrug

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Maybe World Wide Wrestling? I am also not into wrestling, but I have heard that this game works very well for people who aren't. I believe I have it, but have not tried (nor read) it.

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OK. We should talk about what you are hankering for. I find that, often when people are hankering for something (but even more so when they keep playing the same character type), they are trying to get a particular experience and that need is not being met, often because they don't articulate that need to the GM.

What about a 'druid' appeals to you in this case?
Don't let that affect your decisions in this game. We have new players dropping in and out all the time, so any 'balance' will get throw off fairly often. We set the game and challenges based on what is interesting given the current party. For instance, we got an 'outdoorsman' in Ezme, so the mystery they were solving suddenly went from 'at the inn and town' to 'in the wilderness'. Play what you want, and we will make it work.
Those skills are fine. There is a fair bit of overlap with the others. But I know Albert does not mind (and your 'Awareness' is different to his), and I can't see a way to avoid overlap with Ezme as you are both outdoors people; If either of you want to tweak anything, we can talk about it.

It seems like Ezme would be a logical person for Lille to already know. This is not needed, but can help to bring them into the party.
What is the problem with Martial Weapons? There are no rules against 'druids' using them (this is not DnD:). You are welcome to define such rules and limitation, but there is no such thing as a 'druid' until you make one and tell about us them.

The difference between Martial and Light Weapons is the cost, the damage, and that Light Weapons are light enough to handle with your 'weak hand' while a Martial Weapon needs your dominant hand. A staff could be either, a light staff is a Light Weapon, a heavy staff is a Martial Weapon.

The Stat used to wield it would depend on how you describe your character wielding it in any particular situation. But a heavy weapon would be less appropriate for quick, nimble (DEX based) moves. 'Finesse' is a matter of fiction, not a mechanic.
How is that 'pronounced', even though we are not saying it, it can still help to know. :)
Makes sense.
No. That is boring, but also meaningless. You are taking a permanent boon for the cost of something that is easily replaced with minimal effort in the fiction.
I don't know. We are just tweaking the luck a little, you are not altering the Stats, just the order in which they fell. I would be most inclined towards some form of in-fiction (maybe 'bad luck') consequence, maybe explaining why you consider leaving the place you know and going adventuring with the others. This need not persist longer than it is fun, it could also involve 'money' or 'loss of gear' as a motivator.
Yes. Always negotiate the term before you commit. PbtA games demand that, don't roll the dice till you understand and accept all the possible outcomes (even if only in general terms).

Nice to have you, QuietPanther!

I see you're already well on your way to creating your character. Cool stuff!
:D All good for me.
Some input from me if I may be so bold :)
You can also be stealthy with Int instead of with Dex. Maybe you figured out animal movements by studying them intensely and therefor got good at mimicking that behavior.
Just a different way to look at things ;)

This is true. High INT is a superpower, you can do almost anything with INT, though it might take longer or need more preparation.

It is up to you if you are interested in going this route. We can talk about it if you want.

LOL. What is a deceiver but an artful weaver of words and stories? ;)

The deceit part? :)

@QuietPanther per the discussion starting here, it might help to know:

Are you keen on playing a druid in their element, or a fish out of water druid in a strange city? Given time you will get to do both (and other things) but as a start this answer will influence what we do next. Either we have an adventure travelling to Necusle, or we get there and then have an adventure in that city.

I have nothing 'planned' so whatever decision we come to is fine by me.

The thing I want as a Druid is an embodiment of nature. For me, the difference between a Ranger and Druid is that the former is good at nature whereas the latter IS nature. In many D&D settings(and others) this partly manifests in the character having the magical ability to turn into animals and manipulate/quickly grow plants. Between Wild and a great Dex score, the combo would sufficiently scratch that itch for me. Also playing Little Druid in a Big City would be the most entertaining for all of us, especially at the beginning. So I will vote for that, although some uneventful camping could allow for Lille to arrive and/or some getting-to-know-you RP.

Most of why I haven’t played that kind of character is because of the game settings(like wrestling) rather than something a GM did or didn’t do. I have been purposefully been playing very different characters, saving the Druid for game like this. Karabooo has spoken highly of YOU all, so no pressure ;)

I love having my characters and others discover each other and their backstories or secrets in game play, so I am hesitant to go into too many details here. Some things are well known enough to post here. Jordash was a hermit/ recluse who lived out in the woods. He came into town every few months to trade furs and things for supplies. Although he was friendly enough in his brief interactions, he never revealed much about his personal life, like where exactly he lived. We can decide whether he brought Lille(pronounced Leel) along a few times or never mentioned her. Or maybe there are rumors of her? In the high Int scenario, she grew up with him and a big pile of books because Reasons(can reveal that story as needed). In the case of high Dex, just Lille and her mentor.

He has recently died, though no one but Lille knows yet. His dying wish was for her to join some adventurers to learn about the world. We can have a brief scene where Ezme meets Lille before the main story, but she is sufficiently motivated to join without it. It would mainly be if we want to hurry up the group’s acceptance or trust of her.

If we stick with the high Int, I would take Lore instead of Stealth. I’m not really interested in stretching stats, and the epic knowledge would probably be useful. A few years back I did play a long D&D campaign with Karabooo (who was a ranger) as a high Int character so I was hoping for a change of pace. That said, the high Int Lille would be different and still fun to play. I don’t know what a good penalty is, but if you have a short list of options I can be quick about picking one.

I mostly wanted the quarter staff to be Light for cost in silver reasons, although the low Str is also a factor.

Lol. It just worked out this way. I swear I don’t always play rangers (and Ezmaray is very different from my Denny boy)!

Let's go with the swap and high DEX, it seems to fit better.
It should be something fun for everyone, not a penalty. If we can't come up with something fun we can ignore it and just swap the Stats.

Remember, 0 INT is average, you are not 'stupid' just not very educated (which seems apropos).

With the recent death of your mentor, I don't want to go with the above suggestion of 'bad luck motivating you to leave on an adventure'. Your reason is much better.

There could be a bad luck reason for your mentor to want you to leave now that they are not around. But Lille would not know that and we can work out what that means together as we play. What do you think?
Very considerate, but the question was for you. Is that what you want? If you don't answer for yourself then it can get tricky, others assume you want something while you are trying to give them what they want, then nobody gets what they want. :)

We are gownups, we can express our desires and then talk about them and come to the most equitable solution.
Maybe you have seen Ezme out in the woods? Then you find out she is joining a 'real adventuring party that saved the town' and tag along (as per your mentor's wishes)?

Presumably you are far enough away (upriver maybe?) that you were not involved in the Mist problem that Ezme has just helped solve, and only hear afterwards that there was a town-problem.
Since you are motivated to join an adventuring party, maybe you follow along as they travel and we weave your story into theirs as things happen to them. Then we can find a good time for you to meet (it only needs to be 'good enough') and reveal that you have helped them along the way?
Sure. Go with a Light Weapon staff. Describe it however you like.
Agreed. Though, two points:

The characters are not the players, and it can be hard to bring 'secrets' into play if only you know about them. Bring the other players (including the GM) in on any secrets you want to see in play. Any secret we don't see in play might as well not exist.

Leave room for yourself to discover secrets about your character as we play. Play to find out what happens. Don't decide now more than you need to get the character going.

I kinda thought it would be funny if part of the reason Ezme’s traps weren’t catching anything was because Lille kept secretly warning the animals. Maybe Ezme caught a glimpse of her in the woods and suspected something was up? Maybe not?

This would likely create some immediate curiosity and possible tension between our characters — I dunno if you think that would be worth playing around with.

This all said, why would the druid choose to travel with the trapper if she didn’t endorse her way of life? I dunno. Just throwing around ideas.

It is obviously up to QuietPanther if their druid would object to trapping. Strikes me that someone in touch with nature would understand that predators/hunters are not 'bad' but are part of the natural order of things. Vegan druids always seemed weird to me.

Maybe Lille saw Ezme doing something she doesn’t normally witness local hunters doing, like a ceremony to honor the sacrificed animals? Maybe she witnessed Ezme getting a little weepy/emotional (desperate/homesick?) afterwards, and that’s when Ezme caught her spying and Lille ran away?

This would create space for intrigue and emotional vulnerability between our characters and not just animosity.

Oh wait! This is all happening a week after the full moon on Summer Solstice?? That's a Big Deal. Ezme definitely recently performed a ceremony to her goddess, one that likely involved a tribute to the animals sacrificed... This is probably something she normally would have done with family -- which would likely make her feel very homesick.

Ah sorry for the confusion. What I meant was, I would enjoy starting with Druid in civilization first. Also, as an added bonus I think the other players would enjoy that too. I tend to be overly wordy and perhaps overcompensated too far in the other direction this time. I agree about clear and direct communication, and in the future I will do better :)

Also good on Lille joining the party as they travel. Karabooo and I can do a quick intro scene that happen prior to the mist adventure and post it. I don’t want to hold the group up, so please continue game play at your preferred pace. I will work on replies to other topics and the mechanical side of character creation in a bit, hopefully.

Excited to be telling this story with you all!