Campaign Burning

[Rex]

I am good with an insurrection game. Sounds fun.

[Stirling]

I ran a 'Le Resistance' fantasy campaign tabletop once which pitted 'nazi' drow against mostly human inhabitants and had dwarves as a gypsy / hard labourers migratory race that were both partisan or sympathisers. It was a hoot over much beer and takeaways.

Anyway, I am a novice with TB but not rpg's. I was thinking to keep my character simple and play a typical human thief.

[BillTheGalacticHero]

As a possible idea: we find something in the dungeon, that gives us the idea of turning against the government.

And to the question about rival parties; this system builds in the idea of enemies in a very real sense. They could be out for your blood, or just a rival adventurer. In the last game, my enemy was the mentor of the party's thief, and my parent/mentor was the enemy of the party's dwarf, which led to some interesting moments and interwoven character story.

Or we find something in the dungeon that proves the current government is completely and totally corrupt and/or evil - say something like the current ruler is actually a high-level undead creature, one nearly undetectable by normal means.

[drpete]

Though I like the idea of a trial run, getting the story going, let's not go too short.

As for what we "find" (or whatever) I'd recommend a personal motivation rather than an existential one. The king might be a monster, but there is literally nothing we could do about that. We need a "hook" into whatever we are doing.

Stirling, a heads up... this is flavored like a typical d&d game, but it is not actually that. It is intensely "wow, dungeons are HARD!" in a totally new way.

[Stirling]

Yes I remember the intensity of Dwimmermount. Ideally could check over some skills so I know the difference between pathfinder to scout and survivalist to scavenger.and others.

Are we going for team build anyway?

[drpete]

I'm cool with coordinating a team concept or build, yeah.

My gut tells me that newer players *should* stick to the base classes, rather than going for custom combinations... merging the burglar with human stock, for example, seems like it will end up in a strange place.

[Enoch]

I will respond a bit more thoroughly later, but I wanted to say that I love the enthusiasm. The rebellion idea can be made to work.

I like the idea of starting "at the doors", but I do think it should be a full-length adventure: otherwise that first Town session is going to be even more brutal than usual (unless you all retrieve a full adventure's worth of treasure anyway).

I will be starting a character creation thread shortly, and will be walking through it step-by-step for the sake of our newbies. People that understand character creation aren't required to participate but are encouraged to do so, so as to serve as an example of what to do and why.

[shroomofinsanity]

I will be involved in the character rolling thread as much as possible and can make a character to fit any of the base concepts if need be. My comrades from the last game, do we want to hook our relationships together to show how that can look for the newer players?

And don't underestimate a 3 room dungeon. I've run 4 "room" dungeons that took 3 sessions and were very interesting. It all depends how you craft the encounter areas.

[Rex]

I am in favor of a team build. I am flexible on what I can run.

[Marullus]

Are we going for team build anyway?

The main difference from traditional games is that the main conflict is 'Man vs. Environment' - as described in Enoch's game pitch, death comes from the relentless progression of The Grind. Every individual action has consequence for the whole group. The group literally lives or does together.

That means it is always a Team Build. No individual is usually skilled enough to survive alone. There's still a wide variety of builds and ways to survive, but team matters in all of them. As Enoch said, we should all have a different class - it is prebuilt so that brings different skills to the table.

The game is really honed for groups of 3 to 4. As a large group, tests get easier due to huge amounts of help but removing conditions is harder because there's more to fix with a scant resource.

Enoch - do you want to run a group of 8 for the first session, or two groups of 4?

World Building

So far, it looks like all classes/options exist, and
There's some oppressive regime that has impacted or oppressed all of us (our poverty is inflicted and not just hard luck). That may lead to beliefs about insurrection.

Other thoughts?

Roles:

So far these preferences are expressed:

Stirling - Human Thief
Billthegalactichero - Forsaken Ridder
Rex - Witch
Marullus - Minotaur Pit Fighter or Gnome Illusionist

Others?

[Enoch]

A group of 8 is going to be tough, especially if we don't use the "one player per action per turn" rule, as most players will not get to act very often, and ironically The Grind will advance really quickly. Assuming we get to the start of an adventure with everyone (I think we're at seven now, coincidentally; Paladin decided that learning a new system wasn't in the cards for them right now), I think 2 groups is probably best.

That also gives you all the option of switching groups up if there's something you want to do later that requires a particular skill--"if we're going to teach those villagers to defend themselves, we need that guy with Mentor and Fighter".

Personally, I like the "Prince Farquad" option (human ruler who wants to eliminate anything "different" or "disorderly"--this definitely includes non-humans, but will include anyone who resists his rule, too. By default, that means you. There will be a few towns that you know are relatively safe (i.e., the citizenry is unlikely to alert the king's soldiers to the presence of rebels).

One of the interesting things that shakes out of the turn economy is how punishing PvP is. The system absolutely supports PvP, but any action that involves breaking out the dice, including an argument that isn't easily settled in a post or two, advances the turn clock, and leads toward hunger, anger, sickness, and death. Working together as a team is critical (that's not to say you shouldn't argue or disagree, but when those get serious, there's more at stake). Covering certain core skills is very important, and we will be working together to create characters (I'll probably start the thread today). I will do my best to highlight what I see as key skills (given the number of players, you may want 2 or more characters covering these), and others are welcome to chime in as well.

I do not currently have the book with the Ridder (thanks for bringing it to my attention! I didn't know it existed!), but I'll be fixing that today. I do not have any objection to any of the published character classes, though talk to me if you want to use Middermark (there are heavy setting assumptions) or break any of the default rules (mixing race and class, substituting skills, etc.).

[drpete]

I am thinking that I want to be a Dwarf Adventurer. The revolution idea sound good. I'm a bit worried that if the purge is at too advanced a stage, that just puts several towns out of play... maybe at the annoying harassment level, or excessive taxation or something, but not "cant show your face without being killed" level...?

[Rex]

I was thinking witch, but for the direction we are going I am not so sure. The Dwarf Oathbreaker looks good to me but overlaps a bunch with the Dwarf Adventurer so may not be a good choice.

[Enoch]

In terms of towns, here's what I'm thinking: we make towns as per the rulebook. These are assumed to be relatively safe: the inhabitants may not be thrilled to house rebels (this actually helps explain why you can't just stay in town all the time), but they won't turn you over to the authorities (generally). There are plenty of other towns, but you're likely to betrayed if your affiliation becomes known (or if you appear non-human). So there'll still be a City, Crossroads, Village, etc. that you can go to for the Town phase.

[Enoch]

I don't necessarily see why a Witch wouldn't work. Certainly, in a human-centric kingdom intent on wiping out anything non-human or with strange powers, a witch would be on the "burn at the stake" list, and would have a stake (pun intended) in opposing the new order.

[Enoch]

Are you all opposed to having traditional ruins present? It would give you some flexibility in terms of missions, and provide you a source of funding and/or relics of the past you're trying to preserve.

[drpete]

I have no problem with regular dungeons. Actually, a thing I would hope for would be some "cool" dungeon locations-- giant sized features, or puzzles or something to make em neat

[Rex]

Not opposed to ruins at all. We will see what everyone else wants but the witch is intriguing.

[Enoch]

To sum up why I think the Witch would work just fine, here's more-or-less my view of the overall situation. It's essentially a more serious take on Shrek:

The Age of Legends has ended, and the Age of Man has taken its place. Once, many creatures and societies jostled for dominance; orcs warred against dwarves and elves, goblins preyed on the edges of every society, and creatures now called "monsters" lurked in the dark, built, fought, and died. Man was dangerous, but no more so than any other faction.

But that has changed. Mankind has won to a degree unthinkable for thousands of years, wiping out entire populations and enslaving the people and land. Man was fatally underestimated: they breed almost as fast as goblins, smith nearly as well as dwarves, learn not as deeply but faster than elves. More importantly, they bend the world to their vision, rather than molding themselves to it.

Human kingdoms now span the world, and lines on maps determine who belongs where--but there is no room for you on that map. Non-humans, as well as humans with strange powers or even strange accents, have no place here. You are hunted, despised, unwanted. True, there are a few towns and steadings willing to defy the Prince and give you succor, but not many, and not for long. You live on the benevolence of those Men raised on the Old Stories, and in those hidden places Man has yet to find.

And there are many: though Mankind may claim the world, they do not understand it, nor do they fully rule it. The land is dotted with ruined fortresses, hidden places of power, and more, where your people once built, and created works of wonder, and crafted treasures both magical and mundane. Treasures, perhaps, that could aid you in taking back what once was yours.

[Marullus]

I am so unbelievably excited by that blurb.

The witch is great! (One of my top choices, too.) It mixed great skills and role-playing with an animal familiar is unique to that role.

If you don't want the witch, check out Trollborn Enchanter.

For Rex, the Dwarven Artificer are worth mentioning.  A very different flavor of dwarf. There's also a Dwarf Runecaster.