Free Form Sandbox Forgotten Realms - Interest Check

[godfang]

Hi, im an avid dnd fan and would also like to join. Commenting on whether or not the setting has changed, i have the 4th edition Forgotten Realms players guide, and the setting itself isnt different, though there are some new developments (like the spell plague, and something about the underdark going to hell).

I agree that someone has to 'Dm' the setting, just to give the overall political climate. (Is there a major war going on, is the economy flourishing, is the spellplague here yet etc)

Another question i have would be whether we will use some of the famous characters, like elminster or King obould (if we do, then it should probably be used by the dm/runner)

[HairyHeretic]

I think I might actually bow out of this, at least for the moment. You seem to have enough players to make it workable, and I'm not coming up with a decent concept at the present time :)

Maybe later.

[Desan]

Ok my characters back story (not too specific time/place wise..since I'm not too familiar on DnD nor Forgotten realms)

Desan was born human, to lower-middle class parents who lived outside of a city. They weren't too rich, yet their farm was able to produce enough so they did not starve each winter. Desan loved to go into the city and look for temporary work. Whatever gold he made he gave to his father, who would save up and each year when the city shops had sales, they would go to town and purchase many gifts or sweets. Another hobby Desan enjoyed was to go hunting with his father during the evening, as the forest had plenty of wild deer and other animals.

However, as months passed, more and more people began disappearing. Some blamed supernatural beings, others noted wild animals coming in and dragging the people into the forest. Though Desan's family worried, they continued on with their normal lives. More and more people kept disappearing and soon shops closed down and the city began to deplete as people began moving out. More people blamed the animals of the forest as they retreated from the city. Some noted they heard unhuman, wolflike like sounds emanating from the forest  This did not scare Desan.

Desan ventured out in the forest after his father said he'd catch up once he finished his  own chores. As he entered the forest, he quickly began tracking deer footprints. Yet as he ventured further, he spotted a trail of blood and wolf like paw prints. As he tracked further and further in, he finally came across the dead deer. Standing over them was..something like a wolf..yet standing on its hind legs.

"Werewolf" he whispered to himself..

How's that so far? (writers block now)

[Schwarzepard]

@Mnemaxa

Your description of a multiple threaded sandbox game was an enjoyable read and highly relevant.  Thoughts for your comments and discussion:

The role of arbiter:  my intent in starting this thread was to find a writing partner with whom I could explore character focused stories in the Forgotten Realms.  I never expected it to turn into something bigger, but if people are interested, why not?  Given the number of people who are interested, the very least we should do is have a shared baseline view of the setting and the other issues Mnemaxa brought up. Like I mentioned, I'm not going to do all the Big Events that throw the setting into upheaval.  If my character decides to go to Waterdeep, I would like it to still be there when he gets there!  As for major events like wars and so on, what does everyone think about having a OOC/coordination thread?  The point would be to let the other writers know before somebody does something big, like a war as Godfang mentioned.  This is important because even if no fighting takes place where another character's story is located, there will still be effects:  some imports will stop, prices will go up, armies will be marching on roads, and refugees might swarm the countryside.  Time is another important thing, having people's stories relatively close to each other in time, within the same month or season.  Then again, we could all decide to ignore what's happening in each other's threads and ignore any inconsistencies if two writers decide to have their characters meet.  This might be the simplest and the best.

Speaking of having characters meet, that was never my intent, and if it did happen it would be because it had been mutually agreed on OOC. What does everyone think about this?  I don't think an arbitrator should have to weave all the stories together.  That would be alot of work especially if we are primarily focused on our characters' inidividual development.

Level control:  This is a very important point.  I mentioned it in a previous post, when I talked about improvement by story activity.  I guess the important thing is that characters who might meet at some point progress at a rate that makes sense.  Example:  a character who spends a year in hard training with the Waterdeep city guard would improve more as a swordsman than a character who kills 10 people in the course of the same year but doesn't do anything else.  We have to completely abandon the idea of levels and experience points.  Ideally improvement would, as Mnemaxa put it, be a byproduct of the story.  Improvement would be reflected not on a character sheet but as described in the story.  For my character, I was going to start him at a stage in his development I was happy with and not worry about improvement.  I guess it would be on a kind of creative honor system.  My comments about development through story arc are also relevant here.

Regarding preference of one thread over others:  I suggest we all put our character/story ideas out there and let's see if we can match concepts and interests.  I welcome other people's suggestions.

[Schwarzepard]

@ Desan:  That's a good origin story.  What kind of person is your character and what kind of stories do you want to tell about him?

@ Gideon:  It's a long story, but as long as you're enjoying writing at all stages of it is the length an issue?  The goal is one that would take an exceptional person most of his life to accomplish, if he were ever able to.  Is his gaining a kingship a non-negotiable conclusion to the story?

If we're going to have a persistent world and our characters are all in it together, we're going to have to keep things under control when it comes to the changing the setting.  I intended to include the famous NPC personalities like Elminster and King Obould, but I wasn't planning on having my character interact with them.  If my character ever meets Elminster, that means I've been writing this story for a very long time or my character has really screwed up.  I was really intending my character's story to be a kind of day-in-the-life of so-and-so, and the small would be the epic.  It's not a movie; I don't have to get to the big battle in two hours before the audience has to take a piss.  The original Conan books would be a good example.  They're really quite short and to the point, each one is a separate adventure by itself, but taken all together they tell an amazing story.

I agree that an arbiter would be very good for this, but I can't do it myself and I don't want to put that work on anyone who isn't completely okay with it, which is why I'm suggesting writing pairs.  Given my current things going on, I could GM one person's thread and write for my character, but anything more would be overload.

[Desan]

@ Desan:  That's a good origin story.  What kind of person is your character and what kind of stories do you want to tell about him?

Before Transformation: Character was humble, outgoing, dedicated and eager at learning new things.

I want to show what happens to him after he gets bitten, as his family accepts him for who he is, but since it was the first transformation, he could not control himself and he goes on a rampage...

I wan't to show how he deals with his disease, and how he plans to become a mercenary, moving from place to place, in search of others with his disease..
He need's a mentor in his lonely travels.

[Schwarzepard]

Okay, so far we have:

Asherah:  A female elven wolf-shapeshifter, young and inexperienced, ready to begin play anywhere with a seacoast, who will develop into a sorceress.  Possibly other character concepts as well.

Desan: A human(?) male, infected by lycanthropy by a werewolf near his village.  Currently a farmer, laborer, and a hunter.  His stories will include his struggling with the initial manifestation of lycanthropy and the aftermath, then finding his way in the world alone while searching for someone who can guide him.  Location to be determined.

Gideonblake:  A rough and ready farmer's son, presumably human, who has set off to find his fortune in the world and is determined to win a kingdom of his own.  Location to be determined.

Godfang: Character concept to be determined.

Heretikat:  After weighty consideration the winner is (laugh if you all want) ... Female Drow / Wood Elf half breed, early adulthood, hates Lloth and Menzoberranzan but remains an evil bitch.  A veteran fighter / blackguard on the losing end of a bloody power struggle, proud but defeated, her army destroyed.  She would start play on the surface world near Menzoberranzan.  Her stories would include: dealing with grief, intimacy and gender role issues, coming to terms with being spiritually adrift, exploring the Realms, and raising an army to avenge her loved ones lost in Menzoberranzan.  I'll probably never get around to doing this last bit, because the character would have achieved her life's goal and would probably live fairly quietly afterwards. 

Let me know if any of these summaries need to be modified.

[Elven Sex Goddess]

Alright here is my other idea.   

Laiah  a sixteen year old woman who is property of one of the many Red Wizard cabals within the land known as Thay.    Born into slavery,  Laiah at first was being magically altered to become one of the gladiator.   As is custom of the gladiatorial pits.  They are often given natural weapons.  Such is the case of Laiah.   As the Red Wizard would magically graft permanently horns of a ram on her head.  To give her the ability to ram some one with  her horns in a charge.  However, the said Red Wizard, learned in the arts of wizardry.  Has not the knowledge of the art of war.  Her lack of true warrior strength and size made the horns a mute point.  He would also give her a tail, also permanently magically grafted on her.   This was to give her the natural ability to trip.  Again the lack of foresight, and lack of strength did not behoove the plan.  So other then another appendage.  It offers no ability in giving her the ability to trip. 

But then one day, Laiah exhibited that spark.   The inborn talent of magic.   Immediately she is taken from the ranks of training for the gladiators.   For now it would be seen if she has the talent and aptitude to become an apprentice wizard.    Through not dumb,  young Laiah lacks the capacity of intelligence to apprentice.   

Which leads to her current status with the Red Wizard.   She is one of his personal slaves of his household.    He has gained an appointment to run a cabal of apprentices in the city of Waterdeep, to run the commerce of magical items that Thay exports.     He knows that she is budding as a sorceress.   Even allows her to continue.  As he is intrigue and sees possible use.   

On Laiah's perspective, she sneaks time to practice her growing spark of magic within.  As she is made aware of a world beyond the society of slavery within Thay.  By her time in Waterdeep.   Which leads to many various scenarios.   Does she one day seek to challenge her master for her freedom.  If she gains the strength of magic, to challenge one of power as a Red Wizard.   Or does that Red Wizard, skillfully use his secret source of magic.  To further his gains.  To one day he might sit as an Zulkir. When they return back to Thay.

Through the changes wrought, with having the ram horns and tail.  Which often causes her to be mistaken as a Tiefling or an actual Tanari.   She is not, she is no less human or just a human with no special powers. Other then the spark of magic within that guides her towards becoming a sorceress. 

[Desan]

Haha, yes to clarify I am/was a human :)

[Schwarzepard]

Updates!

Character concepts so far:

Asherah: 
1)  A female elven wolf-shapeshifter, young and inexperienced, ready to begin play anywhere with a seacoast, who will develop into a sorceress. 
2)  A female human gladiatrix, slave to a Red Wizard and warped by magic to have a prehensile tail and the horns of a ram.  Currently living in Waterdeep, serving her master while he manages a Thayan enclave dedicated to trafficking in magic.  She nurtures the growth of her nascent sorcerous powers while under her master's watchful eye... for now.

Desan: A human male, infected by lycanthropy by a werewolf near his village.  Currently a farmer, laborer, and a hunter.  His stories will include his struggling with the initial manifestation of lycanthropy and the aftermath, then finding his way in the world alone while searching for someone who can guide him.  Location to be determined.

Gideonblake:  A rough and ready farmer's son, presumably human, who has set off to find his fortune in the world and is determined to win a kingdom of his own.  Location to be determined.

Godfang: Character concept to be determined.

Heretikat:  After weighty consideration the winner is (laugh if you all want) ... Female Drow / Wood Elf half breed, early adulthood, hates Lloth and Menzoberranzan but remains an evil bitch.  A veteran fighter / blackguard on the losing end of a bloody power struggle, proud but defeated, her army destroyed.  She would start play on the surface world near Menzoberranzan.  Her stories would include: dealing with grief, intimacy and gender role issues, coming to terms with being spiritually adrift, exploring the Realms, and raising an army to avenge her loved ones lost in Menzoberranzan.  I'll probably never get around to doing this last bit, because the character would have achieved her life's goal and would probably live fairly quietly afterwards.

Let me know if any of these summaries need to be modified.

[Elven Sex Goddess]

Another possibility, is that instead of having one arbiter all threads.  That some of us, if character back stories mesh.  We can start out in one on one situations, paired up.   

[Schwarzepard]

I like that idea because it spreads out the work of the arbiter.  As long as we make a determined effort to coordinate with each other with regards to the setting, I think this is would be a good way of doing it.

[Elven Sex Goddess]

Heretikat:  After weighty consideration the winner is (laugh if you all want) ... Female Drow / Wood Elf half breed, early adulthood, hates Lloth and Menzoberranzan but remains an evil bitch.  A veteran fighter / blackguard on the losing end of a bloody power struggle, proud but defeated, her army destroyed.  She would start play on the surface world near Menzoberranzan.  Her stories would include: dealing with grief, intimacy and gender role issues, coming to terms with being spiritually adrift, exploring the Realms, and raising an army to avenge her loved ones lost in Menzoberranzan.  I'll probably never get around to doing this last bit, because the character would have achieved her life's goal and would probably live fairly quietly afterwards.

I have a Drow handbook, and one of the races listed is a Drothir.  They are crossbreeds between Drow and Elven parents.  Usually the result of a matron mother dalliance or elven female captives given to the house guard for use in violent rapes.    These crossbreeds are reviled and hated in Drow society and often don't live past infancy.   Equally so is the distrust the elven race has for such.   

These crossbreeds are usually taller then a Drow.  They have black skin, black hair and black eyes.  That gives them a sinister beauty.   That is the basic drift of what is in the write up in the handbook.

[Schwarzepard]

@gideon:  I think the Dales are a good idea because they're in the heart of things and they're barely governed anyway.

@ Asherah:  Thanks for that reference!  I just googled it and it is very similar to my character concept.  I chose her mother to be a wood elf for the size and strength.  This character was originally a tabletop character, and the DM and I just worked out a custom dope deal for stat bonuses and level adjustment.  She was entirely obisidian black, from her head to her toes, but her eyes were a reddish lavender.  She was very tall and strong, almost a throwback to ancient times when elves were the dominant humanoids in Faerun.   (I rolled some great stats and the stats bonuses from drow and wood elf made it crazy, plus spell resistance and all that good stuff.  Too bad the game went nowhere.)  Some background info:

Eela was the daughter of a drow general and a wood elf woman he brought back from the surface world.  Her size, strength and aptitude for war marked her as a true child of her father.  Her father loved her and raised her to be his second in command. Eela's mother inspired an awakening of good in Eela and her father, but this was extinguished when her father's priestess arranged a cruel death for the noble wood elf lady.  Grief and hatred turned the general and his daughter against his priestess and drow cultural tradition.  Eela's ascension as an officer in her father's army was an affront to the social order, but tragedy had made them reckless.  The general's priestess attempted to bring him to heel and a power struggle exploded.  The general and most of his loyal troops were killed in a battle to break out of the city.  Eela survived and found her way to the surface world, where she swore revenge against her former house. 

[Schwarzepard]

I've decided to start my character's story with Asherah as my writing / GMing partner.  Everyone who is interested in doing freeform Forgotten Realms as we've been discussing can feel free to check for writing partners in this thread.  When you reach an agreement to be a writing pair, post in this thread so I can set up an OOC setting coordination thread.

[Desan]

Yo gideon i was thinkin maybe we should team up? Cross paths somewhere as I could become a temp-body guard as you travel to establish/take over a kingdom..though you don't find out what I really am until latter in our travels?.. -ponders-

[Lunaris]

All of this sounds pretty intriguing, though I have to admit that...well...I'm tired of FR. Really tired. And 4e was the final nail in the coffin. I've been converted to Pathfinder, I'm afraid...and the character I wish to use at the moment gives her devotion to nature itself, not any particular deity (Her info is in my intro thread). FR, however demands that any druids, clerics, rangers, or other divine casting classes, give their faith to a deity. 

That said, I do have some workable characters that I could choose from. I have a catfolk gladiatrix from Chessenta. She's the only remaining member of a hidden mountain tribe that lived nearby, but was wiped out an ancient evil that emerged from its long-sealed vault.

I also have a Sacred Fist from Semphar and the Raurin desert. Though she is not a Celebrant of Sharess in class, she is in faith.

I might need to see some posts from the RP in action before I can set aside my problems with the setting and hop on board. The ideas here certainly have my attention, though!

[Far eyes]

Is the game still able to pick up newcomers, I have a necromancer character in mind but honestly I think she would be kind of a Vilain rather then any kind of Hero type. Don’t know if that is doable in the game, so taught I would ask

[Tulkas]

Interesting idea, alas i dont think i can spare the time, but ill be keeping a eye on this.