Background Intro - The Old World

[K Man]

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Today is The Calling.

It is a special day that only occurs once in a decade. When all those with both the ability - and the desire - cross the boundary into the Old World. Some cross as agents of the wealthy, seeking artifacts and knowledge in return for profit. Others cross in search of power for returning with a coveted obsidian sphere assures elevation to a position of status in any race. Still others cross the border with heavy hearts, chasing those loved ones that left before and never returned. Some cross as individuals, staunch explorers supremely confident in their own abilities. Others cross as a members of grand parties, some so large they could almost be called armies. Humans, Dwarves, Elves...every race that looks upon the sun at day will eventually send agents into the Old World at night. The lure is impossible to resist...and often deadly to answer.

Whatever the drive to cross the monuments marking the Old World, those that answer the call know the stakes all too well. So few return from the Old World that the ceremonies and celebrations seeing them off are as much about wishing them well as they are about remembering their life until now...for surely the last of it stares at them from the stony eyes of the behemoths partially buried in the earth. Little is known about the Old World beyond the behemoths, save that it is deadly and constantly shrouded in deadening fog, ancient magic and bizarre structures. In the hundreds of years that the races have been crossing the boundary, the survivors that return to tell the tales can be counted on a few fingers.

The lucky ones that manage to return are probed at length about the wonders beyond but their stories never seem to coincide; endless deserts, waterfalls that spray into the night sky, cities that stretch to both horizons of a purple sun, armies of metal men frozen in battle....it seems the Old World is filled with wonders that the new may never understand. According to the legends, the Old World was a melting pot of races but it was sundered during an exodus of the inhabitants...the source of this exodus as varied in rumors at the Old World itself. A mad king, a plague, an army of dragons....a malfunctioning artifact to name a few. The ancestors that left the Old World forgot their ways, their magic and their powers....the legend being that the stone guardians at the border were keepers of the secrets of the universe and those that left their protection were no longer worthy of their knowledge. For years the races floundered in the darkness of the new world, clumsily staggering about through the stages of survival. They eventually scattered into the winds, to where they were most comfortable; Elves to the woods, Dwarves to the Mountains, Humans to the winds.

That was a thousand years ago or more and the sights and sounds of today draw you back in to the present. You find yourself at Midgate, one of the three cities that has sprung up on the border of the Old World. To the North, Sungate, and to the South, Moongate. Midgate is by far the largest and most diverse of the edge cities, and it certainly puts on a spectacle for The Calling. The streets are lined with vendors selling hand drawn maps from survivors, tonics and supplies they guarantee to ensure your return....you even pass a bard that offers hand delivered songs of your glorious deeds to your next of kin. Taverns and Inns overflow with those culled from lands far and wide to cross into the Old World; Dwarves drink deep of endless tankards, Elves gather in circles quietly discussing tactics in tongues like rustling leaves. Nearby a group of mixed color Half-Dragons sits around a wooden harvest table, staring tensely at each other, the air palpable with their hatred for each other.

Of course, over all this presides the massive rock guardians cloaked in fog on the horizon. They rise out of the mist like the stony shore of some foreign world, quiet and beautiful but not less capable of smashing fleets of ships without care or discretion. The slim passage between them into the Old World navigated by only the hardiest of fools...a fool like yourself.

You've some to cross the border into the Old World. To answer The Calling....you steel yourself and set eyes on your target. The Eclipse Inn, where the rest of your party awaits.....

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Hopefully this sets the stage for the game for everyone. Use this thread to ask me any questions, for common knowledge, etc. We can also discuss house rules here too.

To re-iterate for those that have been selected to play, the following has been laid out for creation;

• 35 Point Buy, no 15 Point Stat Max at Creation
• All Races, All Classes from PHB welcomed
• I will roll trinkets for characters and assign when we are ready
• It is preferred that you know each other, saves me background stories for this game
• In addition, I need all players to select a number between 1 & 6. No duplicates please, so each player will wind up with a number (or 1-5 if we only have that many players. I will tell you the results of those choices before we get started

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

I'll need help building a character
Im thinking barrbarion but unsure of race
at this time

[harknail]

Oct 29, 2014 16:08:28 GMT -5 K Man said:

[li]35 Point Buy, no 15 Point Stat Max at Creation

[/li]
[/quote]

I thought the 15 point stat max was restored (not counting race bonuses), because the price of stats doesn't go above 15.

[Yakumo]

Alright, I'm working out the details now, but here is the gist of my character. He will be a "legitimate businessman", a guild artisan who runs/ran a jewelry shop in Midgate, but as business wasn't going so well he started looking into other revenue streams. He began to run a fence/second hand business on the side. As that business became more profitable he began to pick up the skills of the rogue trade himself. Now he's looking to cross the borders in hopes to bring a big score back? In hopes to eventually go straight? He isn't sure (and neither am I yet).

K-man, I'll take the number 3, for whatever the numbers mean.

[Jasmine]

I'll take 2 then.

[harknail]

The hobbyist wizard/Sage is here to see if he can recover some of that lost knowledge. Not for profit, just for the sake of having the knowledge. Not that he isn't looking to make a better profit as well :-)

He's here with his younger brother, who also was not a good fit for ordered Dwarven society.

I'll choose #6

[(George) 3.5./ ZEM ( 4.0)]

Ill take 5

[harknail]

Here is a site that might help to prepare character for the forum. It lets you make your choices with popups and check boxes, then displays all the relevant information as text appropriate for pasting. The skill section did take some work to format nicely. Spells took a bit of cleaning up. And equipment lists all weights followed by the items (so I just deleted the weights).

If you want to see the final result, look at Thorin the Arcane. This saved a lot of time vs. doing it completely from scratch.

pathguy

[Jasmine]

That...is very handy. Huh.

I already did a Myth-Weavers sheet though.

[at]

I'll take #1

Basic character sheet up. Need to finalise equipment and background, and possibly swap out a skill if we need a diplomat or survival specialist.

How much cash do we start with (or are we just using the pre-set class/background equipment)?

kmansadventures.proboards.com/thread/8828/bishop

[harknail]

I don't think starting cash has been set. Using equipment options from class and background should be fine. But that didn't fit my character so I went with the starting cash option. Minimal equipment for my concept was more than average but less than Max for a wizard. I think the key point is to keep it reasonable.

Considering where we are going, I'd like to be better equipped so as to be more self sufficient. But without a specific starting cash value I'm not sure how much is reasonable.

[K Man]

Oct 30, 2014 19:55:39 GMT -5 harknail said:

Oct 29, 2014 16:08:28 GMT -5 K Man said:

[li]35 Point Buy, no 15 Point Stat Max at Creation

[/li]
[/quote]

I thought the 15 point stat max was restored (not counting race bonuses), because the price of stats doesn't go above 15.[/quote]


While correct, the math is there to continue if you'd like. Just because the book doesn't go above 15, you can calculate what it would take to get there. My experience with the new D&D is that it's quite lethal and you'll need the all the help you can get.

To address the starting cash issue; I am willing to just give everyone a flat 500gp to spend. That is ABOVE and beyond basic starting gear, used solely for upgrades, better / more exotic weapons etc. Like harknail says, consider where you're going. You'll be cut off from the rest of the world and return won't be that easy, so gear up peeps.

I'll try to get the first game post tonight.

And I think we used to have a whisper feature to privately put something in a post for players, but I guess I'll be PMing each of you with the result of your choices.

Look for a post soon and thanks everyone.

[at]

I didn't see it in the free download rules, but to my understanding there is a masterwork option in the game for +300 gold, or twice the cost of the weapon - whichever is higher. It grants +1 to attack and damage rolls with the weapon.

[K Man]

Nov 3, 2014 13:01:03 GMT -5 at said:

I didn't see it in the free download rules, but to my understanding there is a masterwork option in the game for +300 gold, or twice the cost of the weapon - whichever is higher. It grants +1 to attack and damage rolls with the weapon.

I'll double check when I get to my rulebook at home and let you know. Sounds right though.

[Jasmine]

If there is, it's not in the PHB; I can't find anything like that in the Equipment chapter and the index has nothing under "masterwork."

[at]

May be mixing them up with houserules/3rd

[harknail]

I kind of thought that would be dropped, it makes magic items less special. It was part of 3rd Ed for the price you listed for weapons. Masterwork armor was only 150 GP more. And all magic items had to be masterwork, which meant that you already had the to-hit bonus for a magic weapon even before the enchantment.

I'm going to have fun shopping when I get home from work. Will be upgrading Armor to the best medium armor available (I think that's half plate). And then going shopping for supplies :-)

[Jasmine]

Well, I can upgrade to splint, but it looks like I'm still a ways away from full plate. On the other hand, I'll have enough gp left over to buy an elephant. Did you know the equipment section has a listed price for elephants?

[K Man]

Nov 3, 2014 13:25:05 GMT -5 Jasmine said:

If there is, it's not in the PHB; I can't find anything like that in the Equipment chapter and the index has nothing under "masterwork."

This is correct, there is no masterwork entry in the book. Sorry, low bonuses all around. It's decidedly slimmer than previous editions on magic and buffing.

[Yakumo]

K-man. I spent the 500 gold, but I couldn't really see my character having all sorts of fancypants equipment as a Merchant turned fence and since we are going into the great unknown I figured he would load up on supplies and a few trade goods (after all he is a jeweler). If this is acceptable just okay the purchase list in my character thread and I will then update my character sheet and organize the inventory (including the locations of the supplies).

I sort of took to heart the idea of going somewhere you don't know and not knowing how long you will be on the road or how long before we find civilization if at all.

If not, PM me and we can work things out better, plus hammer out the details from my bonds.

I will post a full background and update the sheet after we talk.