The Characters for My PbP Game

As I mentioned in my previous post, the characters are done for the most part. I am still waiting on one more (a Magic-user it looks like). Do to the length of time it take to roll up characters in PbP, I did add some house rules; max hit points at first level, roll 7 sets of 3d6 (arrange as desired and use the leftover for gold), and two weapon fighting (which, surprising to me, no one took).

I will add more as things develop and characters become, well characters.


Morzin the Hunter, 43yo, Male, Elf (Mu/F) - AC 7 [12] (Leather), HP 7, Att Spear (1d6), Save 14 (+2 vs Magic), Special Heredity Foe, Keen Detection, Mv 12 (45lbs), Gold 0, Lvl/XP 1/0 (+5)

Dagon the Mercenary, 22yo, Male, Dwarf (F) - AC 3 [16] (Plate), HP 7, Att 2H Battle Axe (1d6+1), Save 15 (+4 vs Magic, +1 vs Death / Poison), Special Combat Machine, Heredity Foe, Keen Detection, Hard to Hit, Mv 6 (100lbs), Gold 3gp, Lvl/XP 1/0 (+0)

Garen the Wanderer, 20yo, Male, Human (F) - AC 5 [14] (Chain), HP 7, Att 2H Sword (1d6+1), Save 15, Special Combat Machine, Mv 12 (75lbs), Gold 20gp, Lvl/XP 1/0 (+0)

Talyanna the Holy Woman, 22yo, Female, Human (C) - AC 5 [14] (Chain), HP 6, Att Mace (1d6), Save 14, Special Spell Casting, Banish Undead, Mv 12 (70lbs), Gold 2gp, Lvl/XP 1/0 (+0)

Balan the Guard(ian), 23yo, Male, Human (F) - AC 3 [16] (Plate), HP 7, Att Long Sword (1d6+1), Save 15, Special Combat Machine, Mv 9 (85lbs), Gold 0gp, Lvl/XP 1/0 (+5)


TB

When in doubt, whip Play-by-Post (PbP) out!

I advertised on a PbP site to see if there was any interest in playing a PbP game of Swords & Wizardry: Whitebox game. I wanted to get my fix and this seemed the best course of action do to limited RL time and limitations on finding a group locally (read rural). Surprised ~ I had quite alot of interest, even to the point of getting Private Messages (PMs) sent to me after I closed the recruitment thread. Why did the interest surprise me? It had nothing to do with the mechanics, but the fact that the site seems to cater more to v3.5 and v4 D&D crowd, than Retrocloners or the 'Old School' mentality.

I advertised as a small (3-5 player) short (4-5 scene) adventure using the Rules as Written (RaW) where I specified that I would making rulings on the rules as we went. I nearly, In My Opinion (IMO), ruined my experience by offering up my homebrew setting instead of just hand waving the ‘Conventional Fantasy Setting and Troupes’ that I planned on. I have rough notes on the setting, “Humanity’s Reign & Ruin”, but they are just hand written notes in a binder at the moment. It, the setting, also required the introduction of an additional Demi-Human race that I had not fully wrote up, fleshed out, or play-tested yet. Glad I decided to revert back to what I originally had planned.

So far we have managed to get through character creation, for the most part (one player I am currently waiting on a description and background for his character), and as we wait, finished characters are interacting with each other and NPCs within the small village of Handover. Character creation took a bit longer than I had anticipated. I suspected it would take a while, considering the medium that I chose to play over, but did not expect it to take as long as it has. I suspect that a day or two was added as players wrote up backgrounds longer (read more detailed) than I had expected and a couple chose to intertwine their backgrounds. In retrospect, it was worth the wait. Roleplay posts have been better than expected, I just hope the lethality of the S&W:WB rules does not make it all for naught.

TB

Building The Perfect... Well it's Not Perfect for S&W, but...

I stumbled upon a wonderful breakdown of how to Build the Perfect Class over at breeyark.org submitted by one Erin Smale. It is... inspiring IMHO, or at least to me, and just what I had been looking for to work on some Classes for my Swords & Wizardry WB Setting. It (the tables and such) appears to be a breakdown of the Rules Cyclopedia (BEMCI) however, and I need something for S&W... What to do?


Time to put on my thinking cap and see if I can tweak it to work.


Now I realize, balance is not a must for 'basic' D&D but I have to have some semblance of it at least for the PC's XP requirements to advance...


Best and Happy Gaming,
TB

The World of Ukarea

I have finished the base map for The World of Ukarea (TM) and have roughed out the Dominions of Humanity based on some guidance on the S&W Forum for sizes and such. I did not strictly go by the suggestions, as they seemed to be aimed more toward a traditional Middle Ages breakdown and I wanted a rougher chaotic fantasy feel.

I do want to take a moment and thank everyone at the Sword & Wizardry Forums who has given me some great advice and have shown so much tolerance for a S&W noob ~ Thanks you!

Now that the map is done, I have settled on using The Kingdom of Thuslean as my starting point and have decided to focus on the Grand Duchy of Duvallae', one of four dominions in the kingdom. I intend for the Kingdom, and it's subordinate fiefs, to be some of the youngest established lands of humanity in the world, with vast regions of inhospitable areas and limited technology.

I still have not settled on an overall technological level for The World of Ukarea however. I have thought of advancing some of the older dominions to as far along as a Steam-Punk-Fantasy-Society. I am unsure at this point, but I have to decide now, if I do do that, how do I limit the subsequent Humanity's Ruin dark fantasy setting from becoming too wrapped around the discovery of 'lost tech'?

Things to ponder as I drill down on my maps and my notes. I can't wait to destroy it all as well when I make the 'ruined' kingdom area....

That's it for now.
Best,
TB

The Plan Changed

Somewhere along the way, the plan changed. I initially was shooting for a Dark Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy setting that was devoid of humans (or nearly so). Hence the initial name; Humanity's Ruin. While trying to develop the setting, and the myriad of ruins of former human civilization, I discovered that I was doing as much work on the time of humanity as I was on the time of it's ruin. So I decided to combine the effort that I had already put into it and start from the get-go. Combining the two to become; Humanity's Reign & Ruin (TM).

What I envision for release initially will be a Setting book that will, in lose terms, cover the time of man prior to its downfall as one setting and the time after as another. Released together in a single PDF / Print-on-Demand Book. The time of Humanity's Reign will be a Human Only setting. What I mean by that, is it will be a history of Humanity; from its conception, through its trials and tribulations to overcome monsters, while surviving the hardship of the world to eventually reign supreme. A more 'traditional' fantasy, though I haven't quite decided on a level of technical advancement for humanity before its downfall...

The second half, if you will, will be a Demi-Human Centric setting after the fall of man. A much darker setting of survival, chaos, plotting, and discovery: political and religious. Humans will be lost as a whole, but some will have survived and will be looked onto with suspicion and awe...

More to come as time allows,

TB

In the Beginning (aka About Me)....

I have been a long time, on-and-off-again role player. I started with the Classic Red Cover Basic books when a friend brought them, and some other D&D stuff, into Art Class and I wanted to know, "What is that?"

I played a couple sessions with him before purchasing my own copy of the rules (BECMI) and set out designing my own dungeons and adventures. I played most of the way through high school when the big AD&D push came along. I wasn't in a position to get those rules at the time, and thankfully didn't. I discovered in college that it was just too complicated for my meager mind. Not really complicated I suppose, I just could not grok why I needed an additional book, Uneartherd Arcana, to play a Paladin. To me it was just a Fighter that lived by a Code. A Code that should, IMHO, just be role-played. I didn't need a book for that...

After many years of hiatus, I discovered PbP RPing and began to try my hand at playing some with the SRD of version 3.5. I lost interest in that due mostly to the 'Munchkin Mentality'. When I was playing with the SRD, or trying to, everyone else was checking the 'acceptance' of this or that book with the D/GM. I built non-maximized characters based on a concept. You would have thought that a novel idea, but I continually got emails and PMs telling me how to make my character 'better'. "You should take THIS Skill, or you won't be able to get THAT Feat until Level WHATEVER!" or "If you make your character THIS RACE you will get a benefit TO THAT and be able to max out on UBER COOL STUFF!" Shoot me now!

From there, I began searching for 'Old School' D&D and ran across Labyrinth Lord and subsequently Swords & Wizardry: White Box. Which I have become grossly enamored with at the moment ~ and will probably be the focus of this blog. Well, actually, I am sure it will be the main topic of this blog! Since I am old, have a family, and live so far from anywhere, I get to do very little actual gaming and have decided to spend my time working on a setting for Swords & Wizardry entitled: Humanity's Reign & Ruin (TM)

I suppose that is it for now,
TB