Out of Character

This is my first time gming on GP and my first time running a pbp in a while, so have some mercy on me. That said, welcome all to this game! If you have any questions or clarifications about what this is all about please feel free to ask, otherwise, an introduction: You can call me mochi (all lowercase is stylised), I love all things rpgs and have been gming a reaaally homebrew ICRPG campaign for the past half a year or so, but I really wanna try it more vanilla mechanically. Plus, I picked up the Pirate Borg physical book the other week and really went, ok, pirates it is. :)

Hello and thank you for having me. I'd like a day to get familiar with the ICRPG. Will our characters all be part of the same ships crew?

Hello! I can't imagine we'll get started even with proper character creation for a couple days, I foolishly decided to open this up riiiight at the end of my final semester. So I'll give people as long as they feel they need.
The intention at the moment is to have you all as part of the same crew prior to the game beginning, to avoid that awkward meet-at-the-tavern type opener, but if everyone would rather have that meeting in session 1, I can probably facilitate that. It's all in the conversation I suppose.

Thanks for having me too. Still probably sticking with the stereotype naïve noble girl escaping family responsibilities by joining a pirate crew. What that means rules wise is a bit fuzzy kinda torn between Sabre & pistol slant or student of magic.

I have no clue about the rules of this system. My concept is as posted in the interest thread.

I have a concept and character I created for a game that virtually went no where. She was inspired by the character Mage, from Legend of the Sword. She's a ship navigator whose origin is from a matriarchal society that practices the old ways. She is part necromancer and a shapeshifter, whose alternate form is an Osprey.

Name: Siobhán Brangwy
Alias: Ravenne
Background: (Druid/Witch)
Class: Adventurer (Partial Necromancer/Skinshifter)

The rules of this system are fairly simple, it grew from a simplified version of 5e (ish) and it shows. Damage and health is way simplified, everything is boiled down to a sentence or two where possible instead of paragraphs of text for spells and stuff, the QuickStart rules are free on drivethrurpg if you’re interested in looking, otherwise what I’ve posted in Rules covers just about everything.

Interestingly, I actually gm a druid type character and we used this homebrew class. Particularly the "shapechanger" ability, I think it could fit this character concept pretty well from the get-go. Timers and random elements are a pretty big part of this game so I think this class probably intends that you’re able to shift into any creature but one at a time, but the timer is how it’s balanced and made interesting.

That all depends on what part you want to focus on, of course. My personal recommendation would be to focus on either the Necromantic or Druidic aspect to make into the starting Ability, and keep the other as loot. Abilities cannot be taken away, but loot, potentially, can (or be lost, upgrades, given, etc). That’s sort of the main crux of the game, is loot.

If that’s still untenable then we’ll can potentially talk about flavour, or something. Perhaps pushing the shapeshifting part into the Lifeform/lineage part of character creation, so it becomes akin to a second ability...? That could work. Lifeforms usually give 2 stat boosts but sometimes they give little abilities instead (the Sci Fi setting has lizardfolk that can climb any surface and deal Weapon damage with their claws, for example) so I could totally see it giving "alternate form: osprey" if it still something innate / cultural.

For what it’s worth, it would be good to diversify the PCs as much as possible. Magic in ICRPG is classically split in two: WIS and INT magic. Wis being mostly innate, but generally less easy to pick up, while INT magic is loot and can just be used while in your inventory (unless you require magical knowledge in your game to read/use them). While there isn’t specifically a CHA magic type, the vanilla Bard class does come pretty close, but I wouldn’t be opposed to making a new class that uses a different stat for magic, as long as it made sense and was cool.

All that to say - totally possible to pick up a spell or two as loot, so you won’t necessarily be locked into a martial-only archetype if that’s interesting to you. The best way to think of it is what role you want to play, and whether you want to be combat oriented or more exploration/support oriented (combat will always be a necessity, though, even if you have u orthodox ways of dealing with it). If you want to be a damage dealer, do you want to focus on staying out of trouble, slinging destructive spells on the battlefield? Fight with flourish and panache like a classic fencer? Run in guns blazing with no regard for personal safety? And then you can sort of build from there.

(Or, if you’re not feeling like imagining from thin air, you can take a look through the QuickStart archetypes OR through the runehammer forums / elsewhere for homebrew content that might spark some thoughts)

Actually having a poke at the Bard, I could probably use that with just slight retheme away from music...

I'll have to download the free rules and take a closer look at your hombrew druid class.
She was mostly focused on necromancy as her spell abilities.
Essentially, she was born into a drudiic/witch society that practiced druidic and necromantic magicks. The society was human, but there were a very rare few who were actually skinshifters or born of a ancient blood within their society that allowed them to shift into other lifeforms. Since the game never got out of its first couple scenes, she never gained enough experience to add other forms beyond her first; which was an osprey. Though, with time and experience, she could manifest others.

I am going to post up her sheet in the character gen thread so you can see what she had in her first incarnation. Its built using Worlds Without Number.

For anyone interested, here's a link to the Swords of the Swashbucklers graphic novel.

Okay submitted a character, not finished yet. not 100% sure on what I'm doing but I've muddled through. If we are getting 9 items still 2 to get, if we're only getting 5 got 2 to drop.
Looks like Int spells are loot so I've got a few spells, but she principally users her sword to attack. Took some liberties with other loot. But I *think* it's within the guidelines.

I've also seen there's a whole advanced/alternative magic sections, so not sure if we're supposed to be using that instead of the simple magic?

Im still technically supposed to be AWOL so I will not look at character sheets until later, but I’m not entirely sure where 9 Loot came from. Everyone should start with 5. One starting loot from your archetype, and then 4 more generic loot. I’ll take a look at whether things are in the guidelines later, but I’m usually pretty generous, so long as a character isn’t trying to do too much from the start.

For beginners, I usually go with the simple magic option for everyone, but if there’s someone who wants to (or eventually wants to) utilise the more advanced magic style I’m ok with it, it does require a little more bookkeeping though. Can spend a bit of time with the simple stuff first and see if it’s working out then change later if you so desire.

Hello everyone, and thanks to mochie for setting this game up. I am fairly familiar with the IC RPG system. I own both the core and master editions of the game. I have only played in the fantasy setting but the mechanism are identical.

I was thinking of playing a droid (Mecha bioform). Think Warforged in 5e. Main role in the crew will be the mechanic and in combat they are your typical tank.

@Redrage, thanks for the hyperlink to the graphic novel!

I think the crew is coming together quite nicely! Looking forward to it.

Simple magic seems fine. If it feels wrong later I'm sure we can work it out.

No problem. I hope you enjoy it. Very fond memories for me as a child having my older sister reading it to me, as well as the comic series that came with it.

Hey everyone! I’ve finished my major work for the semester, so I will be looking at what characters have been pitched thus far and helping everyone make ‘em pretty soon! While we get on that, it might be worth quickly discussing what kind of crew you’d like to be - grimy, nasty pirates, something more swashbuckley, brigands of lawlessness, buccaneers of the crown...? I want to determine how dark y’all will be.

I'd prefer something on the side of swashbuckling and light-heartedness but I'm easy to go with the majority if people prefer a darker game.

I would not want to go too dark. Thinking Firefly.

Not into grimy, nasty myself.

Swashbucklers, with magic and blackpowder is more my preferences. A bit of occasional humor maybe, but I'd like the main storyline to be more serious than that.

Hi all, I sent a DM to the GM a few days ago. It's been over a month since we have seen any activity. I hope he is OK. But I really want to play but I don't want to spread myself too thin. I joined a different space opera so I'll be bowing out of this game. Whishing everyone well. Hope you can find some fun games.