Testament: In the Shadow of Sinai. (full)

This is the OOC/Recruiting/Organization thread for "In the Shadow of Sinai" - A Testament PbP game.

We have four player and will start within a week or so - space for one more

Reservations I had about starting this game were discussed here, but suffice to say this game will take place in a Biblical setting, but may not follow the Bible consistently, either superficialy or at a deeper level. If that may offend you, I ask you not to read further. However, I do invite you to email me, or a mod, with your concerns.

After some more thought on the game, we will start out with a purely Israelite campaign. Almost all of the characters should be Israelite in ethnicity, although I might allow a character of another type (Egyptian or Canaanite being the easiest to integrate) if the character's back story truly justified it. Remember that this group of Israelites has been travelling through the desert for more than thirty years.

Andrew D Gable, Cannibal Kender, Yangnome, Voadam, and humble minion have first shot at this, as they have expressed interest already. Please confirm if you are still interested. Anyone else, let me know if you are interested as well, in case we have an open slot, or if you want to be an alternate.

The game will begin in 2486 (1274BCE), with the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai.

Characters will start at 4th level. 32 point buy - I'll try to help those without the book.

Also, I will be away from Friday May 28 to Friday June 4 (though I may have some internet access during that time.) - we won't be starting the game up until after that, although we can certainl start of character generation, questions, etc.

Here's some immediate background for what the chracters are experiencing at the present time:

***********************
EXODOS
CHAPTER 24, Verses 1-15
1 And to Moses he said, Go up to the Lord, you and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: and they shall worship the Lord from a distance.
2 And Moses alone shall draw near the Lord; and they shall not draw near, and the people shall not come up with them.
3 And Moses went in and related to the people all the words of the Lord and the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, saying, All the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do and be obedient.
4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and set up twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.
5 And he sent forth the young men of the children of Israel, and they offered whole burnt offerings, and they sacrificed young calves as a peace offering to the Lord.
6 And Moses took half the blood and poured it into bowls, and half the blood he poured out upon the altar.
7 And he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the ears of the people, and they said, All things whatsoever the Lord has said we will do and be obedient.
8 And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.
9 And Moses went up, and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.
10 And they saw the place where the God of Israel stood; and under His feet was as it were a work of sapphire slabs, and as it were the appearance of the firmament of heaven in its purity.
11 And of the chosen ones of Israel there was not even one missing, and they appeared in the place of the Lord, and did eat and drink.
12 And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to Me into the mountain, and be there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, the law and the commandments, which I have written, to give them laws.
13 And Moses rose up and Joshua his attendant, and they went up into the mount of the Lord.
14 And to the elders they said, Rest there till we return to you; and behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have a cause to be tried, let them go to them.
15 And Moses and Joshua went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

CHAPTER 32, Verses 1-6
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered together against Aaron, and said to him, Arise and make us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt -- we do not know what has become of him.
2 And Aaron said to them, Take off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives and daughters, and bring them to me.
3 And all the people took off the golden earrings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
4 And he received them from their hands, and formed them with a engraving tool; and he made them a molded calf, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, which have brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And Aaron, having seen it, built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation saying, Tomorrow is a holy feast.
6 And having risen early on the next day, he offered whole burnt offerings, and offered a peace offering; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

Definately still interested. My offer to host it over at my site still stands as well if you want. I don't have the book yet, but as I said before, I've been looking for an excuse to buy it. Now I just need to wait for the perfect opportunity to embezzle the money from my wife. So, I guess I'll need help with game stats until then.

Here I am. Count me in.

Still interested.

Glad to hear it, guys! Welcome aboard.

A few quick notes to be thinking about_:

Work on your character's family, in addition to the character itself - if over 15, your chracter is probably married, and over 20 almost definately is. If not, there should be an explanation. Characters would be aware of their family history over the past couple generations, so coming up with a couple personages or events from that history might be helpful.

For names, a good resource is Kate Monk's wonderful Onomastikon.

Any Israelite should be a member of one of the 12 Tribes: Reuben, Simeon, Levi (members must take Levi Priest as their first class, and gain some benefits for doing so. Members of other tribes may take this class, but don't gain the extra benefits), Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph (The Tribe of Joseph had two branches, named after his sons: Manasser and Ephraim), and Benjamin. If you want an Egyptian or Canaanite character, let me know, and we'll go over family info.

Finally, each character in Testament has at least one pronounced flaw - something that he or she struggles against or must constantly deal with the consequences of throughout life. (For those without the book, here is a list, although you could make up your own by clearing it with me: Boaster, Bully, Covetous, Coward, Deceitful, Drunkard, Fanatic, Gullible, Hedonist, Inhospitable, Irritatng, Lecher, Proud, Profane, Quarrelsome, Racist, Superstious, Tragic, Vain, Warmonger, Weak of Will, World Weary, Wrathful.)

Languages

Characters automatically know one native language - for most charcaters that will be Hebrew. All characters should speak some Hebrew. Secondary languages may be chosen from the following: Akkadian, Ammonite, Arabic, Edomite, Egyptian, Phoenician, and Ugaritic. Phoenician and Ugaritic are the most common languages in the region the Israelites are trying to get to; Egyptian was spoken where they just came from.

After the native tongue, additional languages are learned as follows:
1 Rank: Basic verbal communication.
2 Ranks: Verbal Fluency
4 Ranks: Verbal Fluency with no accent
Bonus language slots from INT count as 1 skill point that can be spent on languages only.

Literacy costs one rank per language, and may be chosen if the character has at least one rank in the verbal language.
If one knows one language in a family, he can communicate (as if having 1 rank in the language) in other languages in the family by making a DC15 Check against his skill in the language he does know.

Campaign itself

As envisioned ( and this could change, as early as the first scene, I guess), the characters will be sent out from the Israelites as spies in the land of Caanan, as described in Numbers Chapter 13. You characters don't need to be the people named there, of course, and they don't have to be of different tribes.

There are a few ways we can handle this -

a)One of the chracters could be a lead "spy" with the others sent to aid.
b)after some initial investigations, several of the spies find each other and determine they need to work together
c)something else - I'd like to hear some input.

Anyway, with that in mind, think about why your character might be chosen for such a mission, remembering that spy isn't necessarily the cloak and dagger type - there are lots of ways to gather the required information.

Let me know your thoughts.

My character idea is a half-Israelite, half-Egyptian (Egyptian father, Isrealite mother). Class isn't set in stone, though I'm leaning towards a spy (naturally). Should I still pick my mother's tribe? And would my starting languages be changed at all?

These are the classes I'm allowing at the start of the game. (Prestige classes and other core classes can potentially be chosen later - Multiclassing will require in-game explanation of the change). The specific classes that will become available to character later on will be determined by how the campaign progresses. Let me know if you REALLY want something else, and we'll work something out.

Israelite (*indicates a class from Testament):
Fighter
Levite Priest*
Paladin (we'll talk about the Israelite code)
Psalmist*
Ranger
Rogue
Sorcerer (must be kept rather secret - practicing the class openly with Moses around would not be good for your health)
Spy*

Egyptian (many of the uniquely Egyptian classes would not be appropriate for the start of the campaign, which takes place among th Israelites at Mt. Sina):
Bard (only secretly)
Fighter
Paladin(again, we'll talk about the code of behavior)
Ranger
Rogue
Sorcerer(only secretly)
Spy*

Canaanite (ditto)
Bard (only secretly)
Fighter
Paladin(again, we'll talk about the code of behavior)
Ranger
Rogue
Sorcerer(only secretly)
Spy*

Andrew D. Gable said:

My character idea is a half-Israelite, half-Egyptian (Egyptian father, Isrealite mother). Class isn't set in stone, though I'm leaning towards a spy (naturally). Should I still pick my mother's tribe? And would my starting languages be changed at all?

Click to expand...

Sounds good - I am assuming the father is out of the picture, but maybe that's wrong.

You may choose either Egyptian or Hebrew as the native language, but should probably take a couple or three ranks in the other, as well.

You should still pick your mother's tribe.

Spy is definately a great choice - but I don't want to give the impression it's the only way to go, since a character of any class can function in that capacity; additionally, if things go in ways other than I anticipate (as always happens when a campaign starts ), the mission of the group might change somewhat drastically.