Atlantis: the Second Age--Wrath of the Iron Spyder

[SilverElf4]

FWIW, I shut down my last PbP Atlantis game after I caught the third of five players cheating on their dice rolls. :\

I like the point buy from the optional system, but I'm not a fan of the way Tyson has changed some of the racial information. Is is alright to do the point buy and go standard from there out?

I'm thinking perhaps an Aesir or a Khemite at this point.

 

[iron-spyder]

Dark Lore: requires +2 Will, +1 Int and proper Modes to cast spells

We can use an online diceroller if that makes people feel better, that will put everyone on an even keel.

I will look closer at Tyson's racial information to see if we can use both systems for a fair game. It might be that I can integrate the two to reflect variations within races.

 

[SilverElf4]

While picking skills and talents, I found that some talent trees are missing, at least in my printing. Does anyone have the actual talents for the "Dark Lore" tree? If there's no such beast, can we assume that this contains both Dark Arts and Pact?

Dark Lore is one of the Options under the Arcane Training Tree (p. 246, top left corner)

 

[iron-spyder]

Thank you for pointing to the page number there and clarifying.

 

[mhd]

Dark _Arts_ requires +2 Will etc, I'm talking about the Dark Lore talent tree, mentioned in the introductory table but missing on the following pages (as well as the one for rune magic and possibly other stuff). My second printing book doesn't have a talent tree that contains "Pact", for example.

And yeah, on second reading the point buy character creation rules seem to change the system a bit too much. The only thing that's really useful is the attribute buying system. For the sake of simplicity, let's repeat the relevant part:

In a normal campaign, you've got 40 points to buy your attributes, with the following costs:

-5 / +40
-4 / +25
-3 / +15
-2 / +10
-1 / +5
0 / 0
+1 / 5
+2 / 10
+3 / 15
+4 / 25
+5 / 40

I'll probably use it, if most of the people playing do so, too.

Apart from that, should we start as a group or will we get together in the first stage of the game? It's probably faster if we start together, although it would probably better if everyone who's participating has some quick character concepts, so that we don't create utterly conflicting characters. If I'm battling side-by-side with the Defenders Of All That's Good And Righteous, I'll tone done the necromancy parts a bit

 

[SilverElf4]

Dark _Arts_ requires +2 Will etc, I'm talking about the Dark Lore talent tree, mentioned in the introductory table but missing on the following pages (as well as the one for rune magic and possibly other stuff). My second printing book doesn't have a talent tree that contains "Pact", for example.

Yes, if you look down the table you will find that each of the Orders shown under Arcane Training on 246 listed seperately (Arcane Training, Dark Lore, Elemental Lore, Rune Master) has been combined into Arcane Training. I'm guessing this is some sort of errata.

The connection between the Dark Arts Order and Pact is never mechanically spelled out. Presumably it will have to be something that you and the GM hammer out individually.

 

[iron-spyder]

Please bear in mind that you don't need to be from the Europan continent for this game at all. Your background can be as diverse as you want, I will get you to the area and you won't be on the continent forever.

Mhd, email me offlist from the Yahoogroup so we can work out the pact, if you would.

 

[adaen]

I am interested in partaking. I will have a look at the character creation options later tonight. Can you provide any information as to what sort of game you'd like to run? That would be very good to know when creating characters. For an online game (since it takes so much longer than in-person), I find that it is usually best to have a narrow, unified, and explicit vision of what the game is to be about. Are we explorers? Dungeon Crawlers? Members of the Tartessian Underworld? Merchants or members of a Caravan (or ship complement)? Border garrison on the Old Forest? Diplomats from (or to) Atlantis/Hesperia? Hunters in Hyboria?

I'm sure you have an idea (or several). I realize that it can be fun to let us all just pick characters and then build the adventure around that, but we can really make your job easier by picking characters that cater to the type of game you have in mind. Anyway, just my two cp's. I'd like to play either way.

Cheers,

~Adaen of Bridgewater, www.highadventuregames.com

 

[mhd]

Sheng Xuan, Khitan Outcast

So, this is my character. This might still be subject to some change, e.g. I might sacrifice some points so that I have a common language with other players. I haven't selected my spells, either.


Name: Sheng Xuan
Concept/Calling: Khitan Outcast Sorcerer

Born as a third son to a rich noble house, Sheng spent his youth idling around.
His laziness prompted his father to summon a local priest with an oracular talent.
He consulted his mystic yarrow stalks and pronounced "Lord Xuan, the gods have
spoken: Within contemplation, your son will find his power".

The following week the protesting Sheng was sent to a distant monastery, cursed to
spend the next few years (at least!) in ascetic devotion. He wasn't quite happy about
that. At least the monastery had some interesting books about the local people and
their tales. In one, he found the seed that let to his power -- and his exile. He managed
to contact a Fox Spirit and pretended successfully to be fully on his way to holiness.
Hungry for the immortality this promised to the spirit, he bound his power to Sheng.
After he noticed his betrayal, his wrath was supreme. Shengs fellow monks had nothing
to counter it, and the monastery burnt down in demonic flames.

The horrified Sheng fled his country, unwilling to confront his family or the authorities.
Yet his bond to the supernatural creature knows know boundaries...

Description:
Sheng is about 5'4" and very slender. He has the typical features of his Jambu origin
and his hair is still short, having not had much time to grow since his days in the
monastery. He has a somewhat haunted and paranoid expression which he hides
beneath the folds of an old cloak most of the time.

Int: +4
Per: +2
Wil: +4
Cha: 0
Str: -1
Dex: +1
Con: 0

Spd: +0
CR: +0
MR: +5


Skills:
- Concentration +1
- Deception +2
- Deduce Motive +2
- Diplomacy +1
- Evade +2
- Etiquette +2
- Literacy +3
- Lore (Arcane Arts) +2
- Lore (Demonology) +2
- Lore (Folklore) +3
- Lore (local) +6
- Lore (region) +2
- Speak Language (Khitan) +10

- Mode (attack) +1
- Mode (summoning) +3 (+7 / pact)
- Mode (manipulate) +1

Dark Lore
- Dark Arts Order
- Pact

Path of the Mystic
- Danger Sense
- Mysticism Order

Open
- Attribute Boost (Int)

Equipment:
- simple robe
- leather boots
- traveler's satchel
- writing equipment
- donkey (called "Heavenly Lotus Princess" by Sheng, no one knows why...)
- small wooden crate with magical equipment
- silver dagger


Edit: Regarding adaen's post, I'd like to note that I'd have no problem at all playing something different, if it's a better fit for the adventure. It doesn't take that much time to create something with the OMNI system...

 

[iron-spyder]

Adaen:
Good points. I would prefer that the players pick any character that they like and we go from there. I am hoping to have the group begin as explorer/adventurers and go from there, so a few varied backgrounds will come in handy. I see a few instances of dungeoncrawling, but nothing extreme.

The beauty of throwing a group together with a lot of differences is having the party work out those differences between themselves and deal with the rest of the world as well.