[Discussion]Tempus Fugit ['closed' to new players]

[Leif]

No wriggling now!

But, but, but wriggling is what I DO! Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, worms/snakes/lawyers gotta wriggle.

But I'll see if I can't come up with something. Hmmm.....

[BTW, DeWar, Sharks certainly do wriggle if they're on dry land. ] [Thanks for getting me to L8, btw!]

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

OK, the idea of a Cavalier is firming up for me, though I don't know yet what order or anything. In looking the class over, the basic tenets should translate fairly well to any genre or time so I think I'm gold on this.

I'd love to play somewhere around level 8 to 10 for this first adventure. High enough to get a really good feel for the character and have some nifty toys to play with in the way of abilities and gear but not so high that it gets ridiculous. Right in the 'sweet spot.'

Still not sure how I want to develop the default incarnation. It might help if I knew a little more about what you have in mind for that. Level one commoner to level twenty wizard is a really broad range . . . how do you see this incarnation being used?


In regards to 'same universe/timelines' I don't really think it makes much difference, as stretching one timeline out long enough can make the universe seem like more than one anyway. If the timeline stretches both backward and forward into infinity it would be very easy to imagine a time of magic a million years in the past from a time of space opera. Not explaining it very well, I think, but maybe enough to get the general idea across.

 

[grufflehead]

Still not sure how I want to develop the default incarnation. It might help if I knew a little more about what you have in mind for that. Level one commoner to level twenty wizard is a really broad range . . . how do you see this incarnation being used?

What I was envisaging is that as part of the intro there will be an 'awakening' of sorts. Before that happens (i.e. during the intro), you will be your default incarnation which will have been living and functioning in whichever campaign world up to this point (and it won't necessarily be the same world for all of you). You'll have all the concerns and responsibilities that a 'character' of that type would have, which could be as simple as holding down a job and feeding your family, to be an 'adventurer', to ruling a kingdom. Obviously the more outlandish and/or powerful your character, the more potential headaches that gives me, but by the same token it also opens up possibilities.

Each stopping off point in the arc will see you assume your champion personas in whichever world you travel to (i.e. your first and subsequent characters). We could simply move from world to world in a path, but I was thinking of having a central hub or nexus point through which you always pass - and whenever you are there, you revert to your default persona.

To add another twist, if your 3 default personas are from *different* worlds, then it opens up the possibility that the other 2 might end up in your home at some point... In a way, if our only scheduled fantasy episode turns out to the level 8 - 10 PF game, then having default personas at other levels means there are chances to do side-treks at those levels if 2 of the champions end up on the homeworld of the 3rd.

If you follow all of that (well done!), then you can see your default persona doesn't have to be a fantasy PC either. It could be pretty much any type of character you could find in an RPG.

 

[GlassEye]

OK, the idea of a Cavalier is firming up for me, though I don't know yet what order or anything. In looking the class over, the basic tenets should translate fairly well to any genre or time so I think I'm gold on this.

Sounds like a great idea! The common 'mount' theme across worlds/time is a cool one and I hope to come up with a decent theme that translates as well. I'm currently thinking something to do with 'magic' (I know, it's vague) which may require to some thought to translate to worlds that don't have magic. To begin with I'm thinking my PF character will be a ranger...

I'd love to play somewhere around level 8 to 10 for this first adventure. High enough to get a really good feel for the character and have some nifty toys to play with in the way of abilities and gear but not so high that it gets ridiculous. Right in the 'sweet spot.'

Agreed! I was going to suggest 8th level or so myself.

What I was envisaging is that as part of the intro there will be an 'awakening' of sorts. <snip>

So we'll start with our default persona in an intro and our next thing is the Pathfinder characters? What sort of things if any should carry over from one character to the next? What sort of detail and at what level do you want the default persona: just key elements of the character or full-on character sheet?

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

Sounds like a great idea! The common 'mount' theme across worlds/time is a cool one and I hope to come up with a decent theme that translates as well. I'm currently thinking something to do with 'magic' (I know, it's vague) which may require to some thought to translate to worlds that don't have magic. To begin with I'm thinking my PF character will be a ranger...

Thanks! I was also thinking that the Cavalier's 'Expert Trainer' ability would translate similarly. Rather than always being facility with animals suitable as mounts, the Handle Animal skill would translate into facility with maintenance and repair of vehicles in a higher tech genre.

Default Persona
Gaibrial Brannan is a mechanic in an impoverished, gang riddled neighborhood of a major city. He's been a mechanic his entire life; he learned the trade in his father's garage, served in the motor pool in the marine corps and came home to take over the family business on his father's death.

Gaibrial is a leader in his community, much respected by both the 'civvies' and the bangers for his unique attitudes as well as his physical prowess. He sees the gangs as misguided organizations with the potential for positive influence; thus, he treats the bangers with respect and courtesy even as he's pushing them to use their influence for the true betterment of the community. At the same time, he tolerates no foolishness from them and keeps the 'peace' within his neighborhood with an steel will and iron fist if things get 'out of hand.'

A huge man (6'8" tall, 305 pounds) with features that lend themselves naturally more to ferocity than to laughter he nevertheless has an easy way about him. Possibly his ease comes from the utter certainty that he can handle himself in just about any situation. Wherever it comes from, he laughs far more often than he snarls, and while he can 'mix it up' with the best of them he prefers to solve problems with words if possible.

Appearances aside, however, Gaibrial has an inner unrest, a sadness, that comes from the long-standing belief that he could be doing something more with his life. This, along with his natural sense of loyalty to his 'old stomping grounds' and his father's legacy, is the motivation behind his efforts to rehabilitate his community rather than just packing up and leaving when things started to go downhill. This belief and its resultant discontent has led to much difficulty in his life; his wife, citing emotional distance and irreconcilable differences, divorced him and took their daughter to live across the country on the west coast.

(I may rethink the 'easy way' part of his personality - not sure on second reading whether it's too 'vanilla.' But I got the leadership aspects of Cavalier in there, along with the loyalty aspects for the Order of the Dragon, so I'm pretty happy with the way it's coming along).

 

[Leif]

I'm leaning towards the "skill-monkey" not only as the default persona, but also for most of the alternates. Rogue, techie, engineer, etc., with maybe a dash of magic added to a couple of his personas.

 

[grufflehead]

Excellent work on Gaibrial! Gives me lots to work with (in fact after 1 read through I already knew how I was going to do the intro and segue into 'part 1' for him).

I'm very happy for people to build in 'core skills' which will express themselves in one way or another in different personas; should help ease transitions.

I'll throw out another idea - only for the curious. I mentioned on the possible game list something called Active Exploits. It's a diceless system, which you can still download for free (got mine from DriveThru). I've only skimmed the first few pages, but as it has a fairly simple way of assigning abilities and task difficulties, I may well try it out for interactions with the 'defaults' when we do a little playing with them (and if we get to the stage of having 2 of your respective defaults visiting someone else's home).

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

What will be the guidelines for our Pathfinder incarnations? Level, ability score generation, monies to spend, etc. Also, will be using traits?

I have him in mind as a Half-Orc, with the Chain Fighter and Beastmaster alternate racial builds from the APG.

I'm ready to build Gaibrial and get a move on . . .

I also have a vague notion that he did something extraordinary during his time in the Marine Corps . . . something heroic that whetted his appetite for 'doing something more' with his life. Or maybe he almost did something extraordinary, but just missed saving that life or catching that infiltrator.

 

[grufflehead]

For your Pathfinder PCs I'll let you guys decide where in the 8 - 10 range you want to play - maybe someone has a build that gets something cool at 10th, otherwise 8th will have got you another stat point, and 9th a feat so either of them have their attractions.

2 traits, 25 pt buy, any PF source you want to use (I've only got the Core book and the APG but if you have others feel free).

For cash, do you want to just take standard wealth by level? As we're pushing the envelope a bit here, options might be: increased cash, no magic items at all, items assigned by me (which you may or may not be told what they do!) or something else. Happy to let you guys drive, so to speak.

 

[Maidhc O Casain]

"Here's some money, kids . . . head off to the candy store and buy yourselves whatever you like!"

I'd like to play at 10th myself . . . I've got a finesse build in mind that could use a couple of levels of fighter to round out the Cavalier stuff.

(In his default persona, Gaibrial was infantry before some unusually perceptive NCO recognized his potential and bucked him up the chain for additional training. He 'mavericked' and became an officer.)