Lost Light

Started by Silkcat, September 20, 2005, 08:38:02 AM

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Silkcat

This is the general call for a new game. "Lost Light"

This is the tale of a group of heroes sent into a dark land.  Last autumn, a paladin and his priest-squire went on a personal quest to recover a relic of the Light: the Chalice of Compassion.  The paladin had come across information that the relic had been taken by a merchant into a foreign enemy land, ignorant of its full nature, and merely thinking of it as a bejeweled silver chalice with some healing properties.  The Chalice was noticed by an spy of the Church, who relayed it to the paladin's order.  The paladin, in his pride, immediately set forth with his squire to recover it without considering all of the dangers and subtleties of the situation.

The Order has been unable to find out what happened to the paladin, though divinations suggest he is still alive.  A recent intelligence report has found the location of his squire, now a slave to a powerful merchant-prince.  It is hoped that both the squire and his knight can be saved, and that the Chalice can be recovered.  The Order is well aware that the direct approach that the paladin took was foolhardy, riding straight in on his holy mount in his Order's tabard with his sword ready.  They now have brought together a group that is considered loyal and pure enough to handle a relic of the Church, yet canny and capable enough to bring some subtlety that will be needed for success.  It is now spring, and you are called to march.

(that'd be you)
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Background. (entirely made up on the spot right now... :) )

The Church is that of the Lord and Lady.  The Lord is symbolized by the sun, the Lady by the moon.  The Lord represents strength, justice, and right action.  The Lady represents knowledge, healing, and civilization.  Together they are the guiding divinities of the Kingdom, a land that though benevolent monarchy has brought law and good works to the wilds that once covered the west.  There are a variety of saints (ascendant mortals) and demigods of lesser renown, each of which embodies subsets of the whole of good divinity in a heirarchy very comparable to the nobles arranged under the King and Queen.  Slavery is forbidden and abhorent within the Kingdom of the West.  The classes of citizens are very structured, but theoretically even a peasant-born child could rise to nobility or powerful priestly position by their own merits.  Whether the average peasant truely believes this to be true may be another matter.  The Kingdom is generally temperate and wooded, with the woods slowly and consistently pushed back to make way for civilization.

In mechanical terms, the Kingdom is predominantly controlled by Lawful Good.  There are lesser godlings that represent acceptable other ranges of good faith (Neutral Good and Chaotic Good) that could be followed by heroes.

The Empire lies across a narrow ocean to the east.  It is an older, larger civilization seen by the West to be in decline and depravity.  The Emperor is nominally the ruler of the entire eastern continent, though in reality there is a hugely complex system of powerful people who have nigh-absolute power of their own domains as long as they pay lip-service, taxes, and bribes to the people theoretically above them in the heirarchy.  From what Westerners know, the east is corrupt in government, law, and faith.  There are a wild variety of gods, godlings, and self-proclaimed living gods that demand worship of the inhabitants.  Men, women and children may be born into slavery or have that forced upon them, often due to the internal strife between domains.  Tales of Easterners offering sentient beings offered up as sacrifice to gods and demons are common amongst people of the West.  The lands of the East nearest to the Kingdom of the West are known to be dry plains sometimes punctuated by rocky blasted desert or rich, fertile hidden vales.

In mechanical terms, the Empire is predominantly Chaotic Evil.  There may be pockets of any other alignment within the Empire, even Lawful Good, but from the character's point of view (barring appropriate Knowledge skills) the lands of the east are dark, corrupt, and evil.

There is also an older faith of the Earth, but its practitioners are rare and generally remain quiet or hidden.  It is borderline heretical within the Kingdom, as it revers the spirits of the land over that of the Lord and Lady.  Only those with appropriate knowledge skills really know much about it.

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The Characters
"Arise heroes of the golden West, faithful servants of the Lord and Lady, King and Queen.  Courtly and wise, strong and quick, you are called to service."

Your character should either be a member of the Church or have reason to be a close ally.  All of the Good alignments are acceptable.  You're coming from a land that prizes chivalry and courteous behavior, but even in Camelot there was alot of roughness still there. :)

At this stage, I would like get character ideas by PM.  I'm not looking for a D&D character sheet, but a character concept.  If it helps you to think about what level this will mean, consider level 7 a base.  Perhaps the most important part of the character concept for this stage will be their moral code.  What is acceptable to them, in their interpretation of the Church's teachings?  Think of a Camelot-like base, but like some of the more earthy ones.  While the courtly expectation might be for spouses to be virgins at their wedding and faithful after that, the unspoken reality is that both lusty exploration and infidelity happen quite often.  The members of the Church are to hold themselves to that higher standard.  Priests and paladins are not required to be chaste and celibate, for instance, but those that held themselves to that standard would be better regarded and considered more close to the Holy.  To throw out a teaser, one legend of the Chalice of Compassion says that only a fully pure member of the church can call upon its greatest miraculous powers.

Outside of sex, chivalrous rules such as accepting the surrender of an enemy and not attacking noncombatants are the norm.  Grey areas in the persecution of war against the enemy of the Kingdom and church exist here just as they have in our own world.

Our heroes will need to have some of the same spread that a normal adventuring group will have - warriors, healers, and more stealthy types.  Good is not stupid.  The church does have spies, and it is not a sin to disguise yourself and be clever to help defeat an evil enemy.  Of course, that's the cutting edge where corruption probably starts too...

Okay, there's a start.  Fire away with questions in public or private!
Ons and Offs - Story Ideas - Stories Past and Present - Apologies and Absences
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No, the avatar image isn't me, but it is a good representation of the characters I like.

GoldenChild

Well sign me up for the Pure Paladin (male), more description coming up :)

WarDragon

I'm intrigued.  Would a Druid be acceptable, if I can work out an appropriate patron?

Siegfried

I have an idea, but first: what about the lands to the north and south?  Or are they included in the kingdoms of east and west?

Silkcat

Oh Siegfried, you big meanie. I said I was making this up. :D
But that's okay, I like making things up.

Let's see.  The northern reaches of the western continent grow wild and barbarous.  There are lands there that the Kingdom has not yet civilized, with crude monsters and demihumans that resist the proper advancement of the holy-blessed humans.  The north grows colder and colder, less fertile and hospitible, until the land itself is nothing but continuous ice and snow.

To the south the western continent breaks into a large number of islands upon an ever-warming sea.  It is said that if you sail far enough south, the very ocean itself boils beneath the keel of your ship with the heat.

A note from other ideas sent to me.  I'm seeing the Kingdom as being very human-dominanted.  They fey (including elves) have been pushed back into the wild woods, along with their strange earth and spirit based religions.  On the fringes of the Kingdom there are elven/fey communities that have made peace with the human lands.

There are non-humans in the Kingdom, and in or allied to the Church.  There are two varieties: sanctioned non-humans, and hidden non-humans.  Then there is a third category - celestial.

Sanctioned non-humans are people who are not of pure human blood, don't try to conceal this fact, and have been accepted into the Church for their deeds and piety.  They may not be fully trusted by many, though the official word of the Church theoretically compels Order members to treat them fairly.  It is rare for a sanctioned non-human to hold particularly high rank.

Hidden or concealed non-humans.  Despite what might be desired or believed by many in the court, there are a decent number of half-breeds in the Kingdom that are not immediately visible as non-pure humans.  Those with half-fey heritage, for instance, often can pass as human.  The risk of being discovered in real, and punishment for attempting to take privledges only allowed to humans (such as holding rank in the Order, a position in the royal bureaucracy) can be quite severe.  There are camps within the Church and the Kingdom which argue for either increased pure human dominance, or increased tolerance, so this is an active issue in the lands.

Celestial - There are children of the holy-born amongst the lands, the aasimar.  They are almost inevitably born to a noble human family or an exemplary member of the Church, at least as far as the nobles say.  They are rare.
Ons and Offs - Story Ideas - Stories Past and Present - Apologies and Absences
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No, the avatar image isn't me, but it is a good representation of the characters I like.

Silkcat

Okay, I think I've replied to all of the PMs regarding this game, so I missed you, PM me back.

Taure Elwe, when I hit "Reply" to your message it tried to send it to some other name, so I renamed it back to "Taure Elwe".
Possible bug in the system?

Ons and Offs - Story Ideas - Stories Past and Present - Apologies and Absences
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No, the avatar image isn't me, but it is a good representation of the characters I like.

Taure Elwe

Nah, I signed up under a different name, and then changed it once I looked around and saw the functions and rules and such.  I was trying to be funny and named myself "L Borgia" and then made my quote ~  "A spoonfull of sugar helps the medicine go down."  It was one of those joke quotes in a Robert Asprin M.Y.T.H. Inc. book that I can never forget.
"Sex without love is a meaningless experience, but as meaningless experiences go, it's pretty damned good." ~ Woody Allen

Silkcat

Okay, things are looking great.

We have a Lord's Champion (pure human, paladin, very straight arrow and who will be the leader of the group) [GoldenChild]

We have a young, good-hearted commonborn knave (pure human, rogue) [GolGol]

We have a huntress of sanctioned half-human ancestry (half nymph, ranger, pure of heart but innocently a temptress to men around her) [Taure Elwe]

We have a potential Aasimar sorcerer or bard in the formative stages. [WarDragon]

I think that gives us a good group.  There is also a potential special guest star, if that works out.
I won't exclude a really good idea for another PC, but I'm happy where we are.

The to-do will be for me to talk to a mod about a location for the game, and then work out character mechanics with everyone.  If you are mechanically inclined, feel free to send me a character based on 7th Level.
I looked over the UCK stuff again, http://www.netbook-of-uck.net/online.htm, and I'm up for people working elements from there in on a really tenative basis.  I'm up for any other suggestions on variant rules (sexual or general).

Please do keep in mind that this will be from a rules-light point of view.  I won't be posting maps, and actions will be encouraged to be on intent rather that specifics, largely to keep things moving.  I like the rules to give us a common ground for agreement and to keep me honest as a GM.

Last chance warning: This will be of the NCEF variety, and I'm not above throwing things at you are above your rating in strict mechanics terms.  You'll need to remember when to hide, negotiate, or surrender in the face of overwhelming odds - or better yet, not get yourself in a place where you have to face those odds.  If you decide to take the entire city guard of a metropolis on in an open square while the captain of the guard rides in on a dragon then that's your funeral. :)
Ons and Offs - Story Ideas - Stories Past and Present - Apologies and Absences
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No, the avatar image isn't me, but it is a good representation of the characters I like.

WarDragon

Hmm... how rules-light are we talking here?  Like, say I cast Fireball (just as an example).  Do I still roll to determine damage, or do you just say who lives and who dies?

Also, would you prefer an even mix of males and females, or is it okay if there's three men to one woman?  My character could still go either way.

Silkcat

Muahaha! I determine who lives and who dies!
(Sit down Crow)

I'd say go with whichever one inspires you or you'd be more comfortable with.  I think it's stereotypically easier for me to be the temptress NPC against the male characters, but if you like the idea of being a female character (or have an image in mind) then go for it!

Oh, and I really should have said it earlier, but let's go with a 28 point buy.  If you need more info on what that means, or if you hate buying stats and would rather roll away, then drop me a line.  I'm not super familiar with the invisible castle rolls I've seen linked to in other posts, but if you want to roll using the 4d6 drop 1 method that's fine too.  (Statistically 28 pt is pretty much the same as 4d6 drop one, I think I remember from somewhere)
Ons and Offs - Story Ideas - Stories Past and Present - Apologies and Absences
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No, the avatar image isn't me, but it is a good representation of the characters I like.

WarDragon

I've decided to play male.  I'm more comfortable sticking to my own gender, as well.

As for stats... if we're going to use point-buy, 28 seems a little low to me.  Maybe I'm just used to more high-powered games, though.

Siegfried

My character is going to be male, but I have a female NPC I'd like to introduce later, if the game last for a while.

Silkcat

Okay we have a board!

Thank you Pixie!

Lost Light, in NC: Exotic System

I need to get to work now, but I'll get back and start up threads there to continue from.


WarDragon: I got your background and Wow, it looks great.  I'll reply to that once I have more time to read it properly.
Ons and Offs - Story Ideas - Stories Past and Present - Apologies and Absences
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No, the avatar image isn't me, but it is a good representation of the characters I like.

nick012000

Are you still accepting players? If so, I would like to join, as a noble savage type, from the frozen wastes of the north, a LG ranger. He's also a butcher, and I mean that literally. Due to the relative scarcity of food, his tribe eats everything it kills, and I mean everything, and everyone. It is considered a great dishonor amoungst his people to leave a body for scavengers. Of course, there are very strict rules about what can and can't be eaten (brain and nerve tissue is taboo), and he follows a fairly strict code of personal honor. With that said, when he fights, he fights to win.

Silkcat

Hi Nick!

Thanks for the interest, but I think I'm happy with the foursome we have right now for exploring this idea.
Ons and Offs - Story Ideas - Stories Past and Present - Apologies and Absences
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No, the avatar image isn't me, but it is a good representation of the characters I like.