Experience

[Thanee]

So, what I'm hearing is that some people would like to reuse their existing characters, but no one is terribly attached to the current story arc, and the world itself is alterable so long as it doesn't play hob with character backgrounds, yes?

I wouldn't worry about the existing background here, really. It was fairly light, because we didn't even know which country we came from by the time we made characters, because it was meant to be two parties from two countries at that time and the party distribution was to be done afterwards, but that idea was later canned and just a single party formed.

I'd just make up the background for the campaign and let us take care to incorporate our characters there.

I have a couple ideas on good stories, but I'd like to hear what you want in a campagn; specifically, what preference you have on degree of combat, degree of puzzle-solving, degree of character independence/initiative in determining storyline, and degree of moral absolutes/relatives.

Just a fair mix.

I'm not opposed to combat (tho, it doesn't need to be the main focus), neither puzzle-solving. Socializing is good, too. I like role-playing and cooperative play in general.

I'm not sure, what the last two mean exactly, tho.

I guess how much our characters actively make out goals and let you improvise from there (PC: "Hey, why don't we go investigate those old ruins in the north?", or something like that), or how much we want to be "taken by the hand" in terms of storyline development (not meant as railroading, but having events in the background, that dictate a certain course of action, to a degree at least)?

I really don't know what you are getting at by absolute or relative morals, tho.

Maybe you could elaborate these two items a bit more?

Bye
Thanee

 

[GnomeWorks]

That means moral ambiguity.

In a game with ambiguous morals, things aren't white and black... it's more realistic. Most "good" people have one or two traits that aren't exactly "good" in nature, and "evil people" aren't all-consumingly evil.

If there are moral absolutes, then you don't have those. Good people are good, evil people are evil, that sort of thing.

At least, that's how I would interpret it... feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Manzanita]

I would want the world to be what you want it to be as a DM. I've found the best campaigns are ones the DM is excited about and pours his/her creativity into. I'm flexible on all the questions you asked.

But since you ask, I prefer a good mix of combat and RP, moral ambiguity, and an occational puzzle. I don't know if you've read the IC thread, but the characters don't necessarily get along very well. I think a bit of railroading to start would probably be your best bet to get everyone going in the same direction. Once we get going, I like to be able to take initiative and choose a path.

Thanks for considering DMing, Paxus. I think it would be tough to take over like this, but, on the other hand, I think you'd be getting an exceptional group of players.

 

[thatdarncat]

Well, I'd like to recreate a character from a dead game.

Marcus Delacore grew up in a wizard's guild, placed there as a baby after his parents (died? gave him to the guild hoping he'd have a better life? were sent to prison?). He proved to be clever and quick, spending his childhood running errands, doing chores and listening to his elders.

As he grew older he was trained in the magic arts and swordplay. He's taken a role as a sort of enforcer. He hunts down troublesome magic users for the guild and city guard. At the same time he also teaches self defense to young mages and works to improve his own skills and enhance his abilities with magic.

(I'm looking at a level of fighter, 5 levels of wizard and then either the Guildmage, eldritch knight or Raumathari Battlemage PRC, possibly with some changes if we can work something out.)

Goals: protect/teach others, possibly found guild/academy of his own/related to the guild he grew up in. Enhance & improve his own abilities.

Marcus is definitly a bit of a perfectionist, particularily in himself. He tries to use his abilities to the best effect in any encounter. People who rush headlong into combat without thinking first frustrate him. He isn't a great stickler for rules and laws - he's bent/broken his share, and will do so in the future, though he prefers to work within the rules whenever possible.

Possibly somewhere within lurks a romantic and a bit of a trickster, but the world mostly sees the stoic professional mage he's chosen to display.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Me, I like roleplaying, but I also like to bust some heads now and again. But I'm a flexible person. I can re-write my background to conform to the DM's preferred world. I can go with some direction from the DM when it comes to the plot. As for morality, absolute or relative, I can do either.

 

[thatdarncat]

I like roleplaying, I like busting heads... I like puzzle solving... I guess I like pretty much everything

I do like to be able to take the initiative, but I try to work with the DM I'd say just throw a few possible plots at us in character and let us sort it out. Don't be afraid to point us in the right direction if you have to, or ask us to bare with you if we start to wander.

 

[Thanee]

That means moral ambiguity.

In a game with ambiguous morals, things aren't white and black... it's more realistic. Most "good" people have one or two traits that aren't exactly "good" in nature, and "evil people" aren't all-consumingly evil.

If there are moral absolutes, then you don't have those. Good people are good, evil people are evil, that sort of thing.

At least, that's how I would interpret it... feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Ah, thank you.

In that case, I prefer relative/ambiguous morals.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

@Manzanita: I consider this game as new, and the background here has never happened and the characters aren't the same from here, just in some (most? but not all) cases very similar by coincidence. I even suppose it won't be the same world we play in...

So who or what is everyone going to play then?


The old characters of the people who have posted yet, would be:

Dwarf Monk/Drunken Master (is going to play this)
Human Ranger/Rogue/Fighter (will probably make a new character)
Human Paladin
Human Ranger/Sorcerer/Eldritch Knight (ponders switching sorcerer to wizard)
Half-Elf Bard
Elf Rogue/Wizard/Arcane Trickster (I'm going to play this)

tdc is pondering to play a Human Fighter/Wizard, but is thinking about a career change currently.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Paxus Asclepius]

What I'm contemplating at the moment is a Hollow World game. You'd start out being from the surface, either from Mystara (as the original setting had), the original homebrew world of this game (if you want to keep backgrounds), or a simple generic setting. There'd be a fair amount of exploration/discovery, but with a great deal of room for complex social interactions. You could have shared background with other characters if you wanted, but the only requirement would be the very basic one of a mutual location (so as to arrange your transit). Does that sound interesting, or is it just nostalgia for the old 1E days that makes me think it's cool?

And yes, Gnomeworks was correct about what I meant, for the most part; there's also the question of how much you want morality to enter into things at all. It's possible to have moral ambiguity by avoiding moral dilemmas entirely, or to have it by complex moral dilemmas. I personally prefer the latter, but if you don't, I'm hardly going to force them on you.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

That sounds kinda cool, I could dig it.