HM's swashbuckling adventure (game postponed)

[Voda Vosa]

I think that force a 3.5 to characters without or with little armor, will render several classes useless. I think D20 modern and the past complement are better since it is actually made for using little or no armor. Heck there is even a musketeer advanced class around there, so if you want to swing a rapier out there, I think you'll nail it with that.

 

[Fenris]

On that subject there are enough people interested (and I think two more out there)

There are, both Queenie and I are still interested.

to play a game where all of you are the crew of a caravel type ship. The Captain and first mate would be NPCs and hand out jobs (adventures) for you all to go and do. If you play pirates then there will be some raiding going on and a little ship to ship combat.

Sounds like a good plan.

Swashbuckling is all about flamboyant characters and combats. So will be changing up a few things rule wise to help with that.

Lets see I think I am rambling what do we have so far:

3.5 game in a semi-real world setting, with nothing truly agreed on about the style.

We both have similar votes for 3.5 (pathfinder would be OK as well) set in a semi-real world.

Let's narrow it down.

Would everyone like to be pirates operating along the merchant lines sacking ships and raiding towns (and then be pursued by the authorities).

Or would you like to play as a ships company who patrols the waters and takes on the pirates and no-gooders whenever they come across them. They work for no one but themselves kind of a seamen's vigilante.

I'll have to let Queenie chime in on this one, but I would prefer to be less evil. Even in the Pirates of the Caribbean, we never saw Jack attack a ship that was not captained by an evil man. So I would prefer the navy setting or even a privateer (a good way to be "legal" pirates.

And I'm thinking 5th lvl characters (alot of houserules) and my games are usually 60% RP - 40% combat.

Will decide on books to use soon. It may not be an issue with the houserules in place.

HM

Sounds good. I will disagree with VV on 3.5 rendering some classes useless. I have played a fantasy pirate game with straight 3.5 and it was great fun. yes, the fighter did not wear full plate, but that didn't matter as much as the fact that we all had fun. There was more multiclassing (especially for rogue for skills). But there are lots of ways to take care of that and I am sure you will find something that works HM.

 

[Voda Vosa]

Sounds good. I will disagree with VV on 3.5 rendering some classes useless. I have played a fantasy pirate game with straight 3.5 and it was great fun. yes, the fighter did not wear full plate, but that didn't matter as much as the fact that we all had fun. There was more multiclassing (especially for rogue for skills). But there are lots of ways to take care of that and I am sure you will find something that works HM.

Don't misunderstand me, I can have fun with almost anything. I was speaking of which system better adapts to the setting.

 

[Fenris]

Don't misunderstand me, I can have fun with almost anything. I was speaking of which system better adapts to the setting.

Maybe, but the mechanics are secondary to the story telling and tone for a setting for me. And even the Three Musketeers strapped on breastplates when they went to war.

 

[HolyMan]

Just a heads up on what I'm thinking to changes to help in a semi-real world.

Adding healing surges/second wind to combat rules since clerical healing will probably be out.

Up grading first aid to give back hp as well as stablise and long term care to give back more hp (again because of little to no healing).

Add the Defensive Bonus rule from Off to War to this game. It is simply a + 1/2 your BAB to AC dodge/parry bonus.

So a high lvl fighter would get a pretty good bonus to his AC and not have to worry about wearing full plate.

And since ther is not alot of shield carrying going on in swashbuckling any class that has shield prof will lose that in favor of the Dodge feat.

Alot of other things let me go down my list, and these are not set in stone we should debate whatever you think you wish changed.

a) everyone is human but changing what you get for that:
-add +2 to any one stat (thinking of rolling for abilities)
-add skill focus (your choice) probably do to apprenticeship or growing up around the family business
b) Uping the amount of skill points recieved per base class as I see everyone needing alot of different skills and don't want everyone to have one lvl in rogue
c) Ability to swap out one class skill to get another. A fighter on ship may need handle animal and ride less than he needs use rope and balance. But you could have a trained parrot or be a land lubber who just got on ship so don't think you have to switch it, is all in what you wish to play.
d) feats I saw a list of some from the swashbuckler campagin set like an improved weapon finese that allows you to deal DEX damage instead of STR to the target. Said "they know where to put the blade" LOL I liked that and it may have some more looking into it.


The point would be to have a crew and all your bases covered so we may want to start with a list of postions on board and what they would contribute to a group game wise.

HM

 

[GandalfMithrandir]

I shall be the group navigator, also I will be the guy that is the guide on land as well, with lots of survival skill.

 

[Voda Vosa]

Well then I'll get a fighter and use heavy armor. Then I'll have tons of AC, while multiclass for rough and get lots of skill points to laugh at the ACP.

 

[Herobizkit]

Ok, so are we using 3.5 core rules + Completes + Unearthed Arcana (IMC, all of this is 'core')? The core rules are very magic-heavy... what kind of magic level are we dealing with? If clerical magic is right out, what about the mages and quasi-clerics (druids, favored souls et al)?

And psionics? Mmmmm... pirate psionics...

 

[Queenie]

Hi! Apologies for taking me so long to get into the thread

Looks like a lot of my choices have already been chosen (yay for me!). Frankly, I'm most experienced with 3.5 but with the exception of 4e I'm good with learning new systems. To me, it's more about the character and setting in a PBP then the rules. Those always get worked out.

I have been imagining POTC / Indy in my mind for a setting and when you think about it, it's supposed to be low level magic but there are quirky items here and there and lots of fun monsters. Adding healing to that would be fabulous.

I was thinking a roguish - sassy lass although I don't have any kind of specific character in mind yet. Usually that type of female is a stowaway but I'm okay with figuring out a post for her if that works better. Like Fenris said, I don't think I would want to be evil yet I also don't want to be the fuddy duddy law abiding guy. An actual Pirate would be fun but I'm for whatever works for everyone, sounds like Privateer. I'm super happy with starting at 5th level, I hate starting at 1st level with all my hopes and dreams for my character that then die before getting out of 2nd level, lol.

I'm not opposed to combat at all, keeps things exciting, but I'm hoping for a game where the characters will actually interact with each other, too many times there is just dead space waiting for the GM to post again.

I'm excited about this game!!

 

[perrinmiller]

HM;
If you are contemplating 2 different groups, how is that going to work?

Split by rule sets or settings differences or styles. It would appear that we have two different philosophies among the players. Just wondering where you would draw the lines.

I was liking the idea of being pirates, but privateers is okay too. Let's go sack some towns of the evil Spaniards. Aaargh! Something akin to the setting of Sid Meier's Pirates, with some fantastical bits thrown in. Without having seen the AEG stuff, I cannot say for sure, but I would agree that using the d20Modern with Past Supplement as VV suggested lends itself to the time period and setting better. Using Urban Arcana as a guide you can add some of the fantasy things into it fairly easily. Outside of character Generation, pretty much everything else under the hood is 3.5Ed D&D. But I am easy and will go with the flow on that. Certainly more choices on 3.5Ed Rules when you start adding in the supplements.

I like the 60-40 split in style. With this much interest I could get into having 2 smaller groups. What I am not so excited about is a large group of over 5 players having to wait 2-3 days, or more, for someone to post a single sentence of 12-15 words for their IC input outside of combat. I have too many games like that already. I can understand writer's block, but if a character has nothing to say and is just waiting on others to make the decision, it would be nice if they posted as such right away instead of holding the game up for 4-5 days. Even an OOC post saying as much is better than holding up the game.