((For new joiners: Character sheet guidelines have changed. Refer to
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105791.msg4595408#msg4595408 for the new rules.))
Original post continues now.
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For a long time, the Kingdom of Illyria had been living in relative prosperity. The old king, Terence II. Kiske, may he rest in peace, was beloved by the people like no other as a father to his people and a paragon of virtue, so much that they even overlooked his love wedding to a maiden of questionable reputation and heritage, surrounded by rumours of witchcraft and black compacts. But the populace came to love her too due to her friendly, innocent nature and, which was probably not the smallest factor, great physical attractivity. Few children would match up to these kinds of parents, but their only daughter was a great source of trouble, an unending well of energy and of trendemous magical potential, but also selfish and hot-tempered. She turned to studies of black magic, in which she quickly excelled, and one day escaped from the court to start a journey of adventure, becoming one of the most notorious and infamous individuals of the continent in the span of a few years.
Then the old king died, and his daughter returned amidst the state burial, honouring her father's legacy by claiming, despite heavy reservations, her duty as new Queen of the Kingdom as Lucia I. "Inverse" Kiske. And while she turned out to be surprisingly competent in that role, she still is held back by her vices, temper, and horrible reputation and sometimes just doesn't seem to care. Because of that she struggles to keep the kingdom together.
Thus, the sudden discovery of a vast, mysterious underground labyrinth full of monsters beneath the small city of Kingsford was of great interest to the Queen, who would have preferred to explore it personally, but really has more important things to do. Therefore, she has issued great rewards to anyone exploring the dungeon.
You are one of those fortune seekers arriving in Kingsford. But because you aren't inexperienced fortune seekers, you have decided to form a party to maximize your survival chances. The labyrinth awaits. Go for it!
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Yeah, we're going for a party-based labyrinth exploration style game now, likely to be pretty freeform. When I say Roll to Dodge, I'm going for a not particularily fancy variant of the system, more of an ad-hoc-based thing. You'll not see something like the Space Wizard RtD here.
The setting is fairly basic medieval to renaissance fantasy, although with some anachronisms and liberties taken - just the usual potpourri slash fantasy kitchen sink. If it's been in any fantasy novel chances are it can fit in. Although, I have some pretty clear thoughts on the magic system to be used:
Magic is just calling on a power greater than yourself, most of the time. The known branches are:
White Magic, which draws its power from the celestial entities and is a healing, protection, but also order-oriented magic (Life and some Sorcery, in MoM terms),
Black Magic, which draws its power from the abyssal entities and goes for chaos, destruction and other things like that (Chaos and Death, although the mix varies),
Shamanist Magic, which draws its power from the spirits and elementals of the "normal" plane and encompasses both Elementalism with the traditional four elements and Spiritism, astral energy, that jazz (overall, Nature with some Chaos/Life for good measure), and
Alchemic Magic, which works mostly with the innate magical power of objects, which includes your own innate power. Fairly basic arcane magic, or Sorcery/Arcane in MoM terms.
White and Black Magic, as well as Shamanist and Alchemic Magic are opposites of each other, therefore you can only gain real proficiency in one member of the pair. Also worth noting that Magic, at first, is neutral, merely a tool. Black Magic is not evil per se, and White Magic is not good. And celestial and abyssal beings are not really that different from each other. This is one of the first lessons of each magic user, but non-magic users still have their prejudices.
Being proficient in a whole branch of magic is also for experts. The normal magic user specializes in their given branch and knows a few other assorted utility spells - as the saying goes, any idiot can learn one trick. The real mastery lies in learning a vast array of tricks and using it correctly.
Character guidelines: Generally, adventurers. You are no experts in your given fields, but have achieved a certain degree of competency. Non-combat characters can also work out fine. You'll want to be prepared in this dungeon, and I plan on making death not really that much of a slap on the wrist. It should be possible.
As a general guideline, define clear strengthes and weaknesses of your characters and give them about three or four major skills, such as, say, Fencing, Chaotic Magic, Reflexes. The implied disadvantage here would probably be low toughness, but it could be something totally different. If you have a good reason to break the rules, do so.
As for kit, again, characters being prepared is fine, you can bring quite a few mundane items, but maximally one enchanted item. Magic items are luxury goods, family heirlooms or loot.
But generally... roll with what you want. I'll try to make it fit, and I'm kind of hands-off here. Do your best, I trust in your balancing skills.
Also, give me a nice backstory and personality. Please?
Sheet would look something like this:
Name:
Appearance:
Personality:
Bio:
Skills:
Items:
That one bullet point I forgot anyway:
Anyway, let's get this party started! Sign ups are open!