"How can we forget the suffering of our kin during the Age of Chains? How can we set aside those ancient grudges when the risk of slavery is now greater than ever? Fellow warriors, the orcs are upon us, marching once more to the beat of the giants’ drum. It falls to us to stop them—to hold fast no matter their numbers. If we falter, we give into fear. It’s not just ourselves and our way of life that will suffer; all people of the Elsir Vale will perish as well. War is upon us. Now is the time for men and women of courage to stand up and defend those who cannot defend themselves!"
The voice rings out through the streets of Overlook. A dwarven warrior by the name of Durkik Forgeheart, known to most as a captain of the city's militia, stands on the back of a cart as it is pulled through the city streets. You hear his speech as he rides past you, and you know of what he requests.
The lands west of the Stonehome Mountains have been a festering mire of want and suffering. This parched and barren landscape is suited only for orcs, goblinoids, and other fell creatures. From time to time, a warlord gathers a small army and tumbles out of these badlands to test their strength and arms against the stalwart dwarf defenders, but never have they crossed the mountains because straddling its single pass is an ancient dwarven stronghold named Bordrin’s Watch. No matter how many orcs muster, they die upon its walls, painting the sturdy stone with their black blood. So the rumors of a new host in these forlorn bogs and dead woods seemed a small threat—nothing the guardians could not handle. This army, though, is different. Unlike all the many times the orcs have emerged, they now have a leader who can keep them together long enough to win.
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I've decided to jump into another game to DM, this time using the 4E rules. The module is Siege Of Bordrin's Watch, a section of the Scales Of War Adventure Path from Dragon Magazine issue 157 (although I am running it as a standalone and not as a part of the Adventure Path). The game will involve 5 to 7 players starting at 3rd level, and can include any of the races and classes from PH I, II, and the FR Player's Guide.
Even though the dwarves have been successful in containing the orc hordes in the past, this time it’s different and the dwarves of Overlook are concerned that the walls of the Bordrin’s Watch might not be enough to staunch the flood. All their misgivings stem from the reports brought back by their own scouts, who mention endless ranks of orcs, trolls, and worse marching inexorably to the Stonehome Mountains. To shore up the thin number of defenders to man the Watch, the city dispatches a call to arms, beseeching able-bodied men and women to mobilize at Caer Overlook and then join forces with the defenders in the mountains. The player characters will be among those who heed the call.
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Character creation for this game will be a little different than usual. Rather than having interested players post their character sheets here and then I select a handful for the adventure... I'm going to actually start the In-Game thread shortly. At that time, anyone who might be interested in playing can begin posting roleplays of the character they have created for themselves directly into the thread. These characters will all be men and women who have just heard Durkik Forgeheart's announcement from the street, and you can use your posts to describe who you are, where you are, what you do, what your place is in Overlook, and your opinions of the potential battle as you head towards Caer Overlook, the government building in the center of the city and where the militiamen are gathering to get their assignments.
Feel free to introduce your character however you'd like, giving as much or as little background material as you think you need to help motivate your character's decision to join the militia. You can also add in various NPCs and locations in your posts to act against, and I will occasionally post in response to you as well. Also, if two or more PCs happen to run into each other, you can also post back and forth against each other as well. In these initial roleplays, what I'm looking for is the most interesting and immersive players with the most interesting and logical characters. This is primarily a dwarven city with a mountain range on one side and a forest on the other, and they are defending against an army onslaught of orcs, trolls, and other humanoids. So make race/class choices that help lend to the immersiveness of the story.
Eventually, all the interested players (and their characters) will make their way to Caer Overlook, and it is there that the Council of Elders will hand out the militia assignments (and I, as DM, will select the 5-7 players that I've chosen to continue on with the adventure). Those of you who aren't chosen will be considered alternates, should anybody drop out. And it is only at this point, when I've made my selection of the party, that I will ask for character sheets to be made. Until then, there is no need to bother. I don't care about your fighter's stats, I care about your fighter's personality and reason for existance (or whichever race/class you ultimately decide on).
Bear in mind, my choice of party selection will come down mainly on how interested I become in your character as you make your initial roleplays and interact with me and your fellow players. The more compelling your character is, the more I'll want to see your character's story continue and the more likely I'll select you for the adventure proper. That being said... I will have to make slight concessions to party make-up, so if you see that most players have selected striker-types and we do not yet have any leaders roleplaying for example, making a decision in that vein isn't necessarily a bad thing.
If you have any questions about any of this, please feel free to post them below, and I'll answer them as soon as I can. I'll probably get the In-Game thread up either tomorrow or Friday, so until then, you can start thinking about your character. For the more immersive among you... the actual module itself is downloadable from the WotC website:
Within it is a very large and descriptive overview of the city of Overlook (including maps of the city and the surrounding countryside). It gives info on quite a number of the locations throughout the city (inns, taverns, temples, shops) that you can use to help flesh out your character's place in the world. If you don't find what you need within the module, free free to make stuff up... but all of this additional city info is here to be used.
Thanx much folks, and I look forward to seeing the initial roleplays! Post your questions below.
No question. I loved playing Jango under you, so I'll give a try. I have a few concept in mind that could fit, until you start the game, I'll think about it.
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Durkik Forgeheart stood in the wooden cart, and uttered his call to arms for the third time that evening. Slinking beneath the cart, against the shadows of the wooden wheels, a small creature stirred. It looked like a large dog, but not quite – the hair was coarser, the muzzle slightly longer. In fact, it looked like a jackal, brown-grey stripes playing against the twilight and the shadows of the spokes, its eyes slate grey, casting about the crowd. When the speech was finished, the cart slowly rolled on to the next square in town, and the soft pads of the jackal’s paws trotting along, seen but unnoticed by almost everyone, save for a small child, who cooed “Ooh… puppy!”
Years ago, Galatea had learned the secret to getting by in town: if you wear a collar, people will assume you are a pet. Without a collar, you could be anything – wild, feral, certainly a threat. So Gala had a collar made, so that when she was in her jackal form she would look as she did now, as a slightly odd dog that was on its way home. She wore the collar all the time, even when she was her other self, because the collar had a power of its own, and could help her as she padded over the land, watching it. Gala had been raised in the woods that abutted the town, and indeed her childhood had been a happy one. Trade with the dwarves had been steady, and her parents affluent. But that was years ago, and when she first sensed the call, she knew that the break would hurt. It did. In the past twenty years she’d barely spoken to any other elves, and certainly she couldn’t go back. Not after the wasting.
The images people have of druids differ widely – the dwarves think of the elemental lords who protect them on their cliffsides; most elves think of the shapechangers who wander the woods as their sworn protectors. Gala had left the woods, called to the stretches of barren rocky landscape that were also part of the natural world, and in need of protection. So she wasted, those many years. She starved herself, like the land starved. She had shorn herself, that she might be the desolate emptiness of the parched landscape. And her faith had been rewarded – she had been given her form. Her true form, the jackal. That was years ago, when she left the woods. To protect the barren ground that this dwarf was now saying was threatened by the orcs.
Sometimes, a new form is a choice. Gala didn’t want that – she wanted it to be real. The first time she went a few months before changing back. Then she went for six years. As an elf, she had the luxury of time, and being true to her real self was crucial if she were to serve. She’d been with this pack for four years, now, eating with them, even, in time, having a litter. The curious jackal who wore a collar in the wild. With the pack, she had also served the land. But when the orcs had come, the pack had been slaughtered. Her brood, her mate, all of them except her. So, alone, she had gone back on two legs, and had gone back into town.
With the dwarves, she could drink (something she’d discovered many years back), but she needed to be upright for that. And now she wanted to drink. And it was sitting in an alehouse earlier this evening that she had first heard the call to arms. A few coins on the table, and suddenly the scrawny elf was no longer sitting by he window, but a small dog was yelping outside the open window. And now it was trotting beneath the wheels of the oxcart Durkik was using as a rostrum. The dwarf wanted a different army? He would get it… he would have the speaker for the land that the orcs had taken herself. And she would get it back. In the name of her mate, and her pups, and her pack.
Dang, I was hoping to try out an Invoker, but I'm not so sure how 2 controllers would work out in a group (assuming we both get selected, I'm presumptuous of course).
Choose whatever character concept you want, renau1g. There are only 4 roles, so there are going to be duplicates posted (unless I get absolutely no interest in the game). So your character work in whatever role/class/power source you choose will have more of an impact in the weeks leading up to selection.
And Kobold Stew... please repost your first rp into the In-Game thread when the time comes and I get it up. I'm not going to read it now here, only because the In-Game thread will have a few things started by me, so you might end up wanting to make some edits based on what gets posted. I dunno. So I do not want to influence myself by reading your first post until you are sure it's how you want it to be.
And Velmont, I'm always more happy to work with people again, so I look forward to what you come up with.
Sounds like an interesting way to do this, Def. Regardless of whether I'm selected or not, I'll be watching along to see how everything works out for you.
Yeah, it's different, but also hopefully very enlightening. There's nothing worse than doing a standard recruit, selecting a party, then having a couple players basically quit within the first two weeks of the game because they discovered the character generation and the ego boost of being selected was all they really wanted in the first place.
So by having two to four weeks of open roleplaying for anyone who wants to submit, I'll get a much better sense of who sticks around and plays along, and who just sort of lets the game fall by the wayside once the shine is off. That way, I can make a much better educated party selection, and hopefully grab folks who are in it for the duration of the module.
All interested participants can begin roleplaying their characters now. As I mentioned above, feel free to interweave your posts with other players, post as often or as little as you'd like, and use as much info from the module itself for inspiration. I will roleplay as well, in and around your posts to help push things along. And when it comes time for the meeting in the High Hall, you will be alerted to it. I expect it will be a couple weeks until then (unless I get little to no response to the game, in which case I might speed things up.)
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Yes, everything that you can find in the Character Builder is fair game. This includes all the Power books.
Obviously, since I'm not concerned with the numbers at this point, really the only aspects you probably would need from the books are the specific new class builds I would imagine. Feel free to describe your characters with these eventual selections in mind (like having a pet in your posession if you planned on going beastmaster fpr example).
And just FYI... as my other DMs and players whose games I am in already know... I'm primarily a Mon thru Fri PbP roleplayer (because I do all my writing at work). So if you write something over the weekend and don't see a response from me right away, don't worry. I'll probably have something up on Monday when I get back into work.
And just FYI... as my other DMs and players whose games I am in already know... I'm primarily a Mon thru Fri PbP roleplayer (because I do all my writing at work). So if you write something over the weekend and don't see a response from me right away, don't worry. I'll probably have something up on Monday when I get back into work.
I'm the same as you Defcon. If I get the chance on a weekend it's great, but it's also a rarity.
No problem, Jemal. There is more than enough great material for the warlock in the first PH. By the way... feel free to decide on which pact you are going with (fey, infernal or star) if you haven't yet. Knowing which one you get your spells from can lend itself to more roleplay opportunities.
And stonegod... if you decide you can't take on another game, it's okay. I'll forgive you. We always have Barovia! LOL!
Michelle the Shadow, Female Human Warlock (Infernal Pact). I've actually 90% completed the character, rest can't be done until the creation rules are posted (Assuming I'm in when that happens, I'll finish it promptly thereafter).
Could I get a bit of info about these 'lost ones'? Sounds kinda like an assassins or Thieves guild, the latter of which is an organization my character Michelle might fit in with..
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