Gaming w/Jemal: Past Tense (4E) OOC

EvolutionKB · Jun 24, 2008

Jemal, I must have missed that. Turns out for the better anyway. I was going to withdraw my submission anyway. Good luck and have fun everybody!

ShaggySpellsword · Jun 24, 2008

Bialaska said:
In the end both Ilian and Sylas got great characters and it's hard to choose between them. But I guess Keira would fit in best with the Warlock with a connection to the fey, rather than the one with a connection to the infernal forces, even if she can probably cooperate with both of them. Therefore one of my votes must be on Ilian Soulstorm.

As a not-completely unbiased observer, Sylas's pact is Star-Pact, not Infernal.

And as a Cha-based Warlock, he'll probably have heavy Fey-pact influence.

Just saying.

Walking Dad · Jun 24, 2008

@Jemal: Can I spend 800gp to update my 5th slot to a 6th slot? There is no level 5 neck item

Graf · Jun 25, 2008

Thanks for picking Verity.

I think it's cool that Jemal's asked for feedback.

Fundamentally it's unfair that everyone can't get in, but I think that Jemal's concept just doesn't work with two groups (and he's running a lot of games already).

There are lots of awesome games here on enWorld, even if people don't get into this game I think there's a lot going on, and new games are starting constantly.
(I know that I'm not applying for anything else for a while too, and I'm seeing a lot of "regular faces" pulling back from new applications so I think that we'll finally get past this 15+ people posting to get into one game thing...)

I'll decide based on rp background. We've got a paladin and a warlord. Beyond I don't care about party balance really.
I just don't think it matters the way people think it does.

[sblock=current party]
Ruthaer ar'Thar, Tiefling Warlord - vicious warlord possibly headed for a change of heart
Graf: Verity Thronble, Human Wizard(Illusionist) - infamous traitor on an impossible quest for redemption
Walking Dad: Ripper, Bugbear rogue - can't find rp/backstory block
Bialaska: Lady Keira, Human Paladin - matchmaker and diplomat (and our resident non-jerk)

[/sblock]

[sblock=These are just my personal reactions...]
I did make an effort to read everyone's posts, and did some searches to try to make sure I didn't miss anything, but I probably did...

I don't normally do this (at all, RPing is very personal, people tell different kinds of stories and that's a good thing) but since we've been asked to contribute (and I think that's a worthy goal as well).

Atanatotatos: Illian Soulstorm, Half-elf Fey Warlock

he's got a good epic history, I like the lute and the history fighting the formoreans. The character has good drive with clear RP goals. It also feels like Ata's got a strong sense of the character's personality and interactions with others.
No connection to the group, per se, though

ShaggySpellsword: Sylas Dardragon, Halfling Warlock

I like the idea of someone having started the group at the very beginning and still being with the party. And the "ultimate goal" of having been dealing with the lich is a nice clean link. But I don't see much really about Sylas personally (he's sickly and strange but...); does he like his mission? hate it? is he happy to have found his roll after all these years?
What's written is very clear and evocative, so I want to give points based on that but....

OutlawJT: Amintor Timon, Minotaur Ranger

Short, but punchy background. I've used the I-owe-you-a-debt-but-we're-really-friends thing a few times myself. It's got a lot of strength. But obviously, a bit one tone.

Lobo Lurker: 'Boy', Human Fighter

Love the concept. Fleshes out both our parties back story and the groups adventures (perhaps Gerard the Gray encouraged the group to free Verity and listened to him when he returned with dire proclamations about the Unseen Lord?). Recovering from cultist indoctrination is a "fresh" concept to me in terms of DnD and it offers a lot of play in different directions. And boy himself has an actual history of personal development.

SarahRequiem: Ash, Eladrin Fighter

a very strong initial concept... I guess I wonder what happened in the years between when her lover was killed and she became a hero? Is she really "frozen" at that moment?
How'd she become good enough at fighting to kill an entire village? what did she do in the feywild, before she met her soulmate?

[/sblock]

In some way's it's unfair to judge because I'm sure that people have a lot more backstory than they've shared with us (and it takes time to type etc etc). And some of the selected PCs don't seem to have much backstory themselves (so people are being judged on a different criteria than others).
And, re-reading Verity, I can see that I neglected to really flesh out his personality properly either. So in some ways I'd using critera that I'm not sure my own character would pass.
On the other hand it's just one vote.

1. I think boy's backstory is really strong. In addition to a compelling backstory for his own character Lobo's built some NPCs, and helped flesh out the backstory for the rest of the group.
I can easily imagine Verity (maybe with the support of Lady Keira) trying to convince him to "please, just pick a name, we can't keep calling you <boy>".
2. And boy again. (we can't vote for the same person twice?

)
Personally he's my favorite sort of character... it could be any race, or any class and it'd still hold up as a good solid concept AND it's tightly integrated into the groups history. This is the kind of character I hope I manage to create when I create one.

Atanatotatos · Jun 25, 2008

Just as a note: it was just a small sentence in the backstory so it's not surprising it escaped notice. Illian's connection to the party comes from the fact that they supposeddly helped him to get rid of the curse that kept him imprisoned in the feywild for half a decade. Not much, i know, but heh...

Graf · Jun 25, 2008

Fair enough.
Most people had something about how the group "helped them". I guess the point I was (inarticulately) shooting for was that LL went above and beyond. The Gerard character is something that everyone can play off of and work with. (it also helps explain how in gods name we got anything done before Lady Keira showed up.... we ain't exactly the most likeable bunch).

I had another section originally with more, but I felt like there's a line were you go from "objective discussion" to "personal preference".
Which is OK, but I think you need to be strong about calling that out. (Not liking a particular theme or image or race or whatever).
But a lot of personal preference stuff is kinda bogus "I like coffee more than chocolate" sorta stuff. So I deleted it. (Hopefully before anyone saw it).

Jemal'll make the call based partly on information we all have (the stuff on this thread) and partly on a lot of info that we don't have (about the game he's planning, etc).

Atanatotatos · Jun 25, 2008

No worries, Graf; it's obviously about personal preferences, wasn't trying to steal votes

Walking Dad · Jun 25, 2008

Graf said:
...
Walking Dad: Ripper, Bugbear rogue - can't find rp/backstory block
...

Sorry, as I already said in numerous threads, I was sick at the beginning of the week and tried to finish the crunch of this character and the remaining fluff on some other characters first. As Ripper was already chosen, I saw no need to rush his background, as the party wasn't even complete.

My short cocept is here:

Destinied to be sacriviced on his 14th birthday, he flew his tribe. After some unsavory contacts with humans ("A monster! Kill it")
he finally found some companions that appretiate his special talents.

Still wild and dangerous, he still values the friendship of the other characters and accepts the rules of human/dwarven/elven kind out of respect for them.

A more complete background will follow.

Graf · Jun 25, 2008

I wasn't banging you. Sorry if that came across the wrong way.

I'd originally had a much longer post (that included your personal situation; cause I saw it on another thread), but I felt like I crossed boundaries a bit. So I just wound up deleting it.