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RULES OF THE GAME.

This is an experimental system, we dont know if it will work yet.

- I am the GM at start , later when the adventure is over someone else can take over and we can round robin it. Meanwhile what I say goes.
- A set number of characters is available, Dakka members may adopt those characters. If the game is popular more characters will be added, but I will start with 3-6.
- The system is diceless but every player has a personal random number pool of 1-6 representing a single d6 roll adding to what you do. When your character take an action, you assign a number to it. You must use all six numbers before your personal dice pool is replenished, however replenishment is not automatic, if one player is taking most of the actions they can 'tire' or are 'too busy' if the actions all take place in a short sequence and have to sit it out,. You may add only a single random number to the post which applies to all you do. The GM will work out how or what your success or failure means.
- You may edit your post as many times as you like to flesh out what you do and to account for decisions from the rest of your party members.
- When the GM posts a reply all subsequent comments are invalid and no editing can occur. The GM will copy paste valid entries into his post, editing for size, but taking into account content.
- The GM may take as long or as little as they like to close an action down and progress the story. Not every character will have chance to respond to every action. Players who didnt couldnt or chose not to vote are 'tagging along' the Gm may decide they do background stuff if in combat or mundane activities if not.
- If the GM believes you used a bad dice roll for a trivial reason he may choose to accept the failure, but not expend the low result.
- If the GM likes your heroic deeds and believes they aid the story arc, you may be rewarded by replenishment of your entire dice pool. If the GM thinks you are rooting for it you wont.
- When in a non stress situation players can choose to 'take 3', this doesnt expend a 3 result, which is a sloppy borderline result.
- When the players takes their time over something and are not opposed and describe themselves doing so they can 'take 4', this doesnt expend a 4 result, which is a mediocre pass.



GAME BACKGROUND
This will vary from GM to GM and adventure to adventure. What I am looking for is a starter party along a road with a wagon. what is in the wagon is not relevant to you at present, and you cant be othered to ask, its not your business. the wagoneer and his guard are along to share the road.
please choose player types from low fantasy feudal setting, humans prefered, elves, half elves and dwarves acceptable, no silly names or backstories, no lost princesses wierd deviants or cultists, or people with a preassigned axe to grind or blood lust to sate. I think its best to start with a non-descript plain characters and develop a personality in play over time, than to start with a specific background and then have to impose it everywhere. To me fleshed out starting character have it backwards. For this reason joined the road to 'seek adventure' or 'make my fortune' are good enough answers and you dont need to give more than race gender and build, no one should be too rich, or too poor, but some may be knights and others not. so long as you dont ask for too much at start.
Magicians of all stripes are acceptable, but magic will be low key. We will need strong warriors though. All characters will start off very green though.
There are no stats, yet, and characters have so far kept to themselves, people tend not to be too nosy around armed adventurers, including each other.
PM me with your character details, any starter secrets etc - dont go overboard, keep it simple, and post what you want to share publically here.

This is an experimental game and for easy of introduction set in its own setting which will be developed as we go along so if you want to play a priest and flesh out your religion at the same time, or want to seek out a wise master of a certain philosophy, or have a school of magic in mind go ahead but PM me first for adjudication. Metagaming will not be tolerated though, for that try 3.5

Still looking for players
Some recommended approaches:

- grizzled mercenary (good starter skills and equipment, wise in the ways of the world, emphasis on a hard boiled possibly cynical man who is forced to confront his past and his future)
- young questing squire (very well equipped, well trained but inexperienced, emphasis more of stepping out from a sheltered upbringing with knightly burdens to perform)
- wizards apprentice upon his journeyman's travail (has very limited magicks at his disposal, but on a journey of discovery, emphasis more on hidden knowledge than shooting fireballs)

As its a text adventure the emphasis will have to be on character depth rather than flash.

That popular. Ok

I'd be interested

ok, what type of character?

an equirer by PM wrote:Do you have a specific setting in mind?

As this is experimental no, as I wouldn't be able to port in everything into the simplified system.
So I am going to try low key generic fantasy.

I ask from an RP perspective, not from a rules perspective; it's easier to come up with a character when I know how he fits in the setting (even such decisions as race/build; I don't want to play an elf if we're in a setting where they're snobby elitist hippies, I might try and run a wuxia-esque martial artist and find out we're in a western-European setting, et cetera).

Absent any information of that sort I guess I'm game; I'll play it safe on character details and run a male human bowman with some wilderness skills.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
I ask from an RP perspective, not from a rules perspective; it's easier to come up with a character when I know how he fits in the setting (even such decisions as race/build; I don't want to play an elf if we're in a setting where they're snobby elitist hippies, I might try and run a wuxia-esque martial artist and find out we're in a western-European setting, et cetera).

Absent any information of that sort I guess I'm game; I'll play it safe on character details and run a male human bowman with some wilderness skills.

That will fit fine. The setting was stated as low feudal fantasy, I should have specified western rather than assumed.

You will have

- boots
- tunic and hose/burlap or similar
- blanket
- waterskin
- net bag (you can fish with this and it carries your stuff
- a belt and quiver/boltcase

Choose 1:

- longbow, knife, wearing 'the greens', ranger trained
- longbow, axe or mace, chain shirt and leathers, some survival skills, light infantry trained
- crossbow, axe, sword or mace, pavise or buckler, chain shirt, open helmet and heavy leathers, limited survival skills, line infantry trained

In all cases I will allow you to have a woodsman background, so even the crossbowman option is ok for wilderness adventure. you get proficiency in your chosen weapons and are advanced trained in your main missile weapon

Choose 2:
- fletching skill (and fletchers kit)
- game hunting skills (includes shortbow proficiency) from hunting in your youth
- winter travel training
- climbing experience
- you can swim
- you are fully literate (you start partly literate 'poor reading skills')
- spear training (with line or light infantry experience)

Choose 2:
- a sling hidden on your person (with training)
- a silver arrow/bolt (you think it might be enchanted with magicks, you might be able to reuse it if you find it, but it will likely need reshafting)
- a rabbits foot charm
- a recipe for 'hardloaf'
- a spare pair of good boots
- a light flax robe for your godsday best wear
- an old document passed to you from your mother, its the freehold deeds to a farm in a now conquered land (you cant recover that farm but it might have transferable value)

I'll take the ranger training package, hunting and winter travel experience, spare boots, and the silver arrow.

Ill join if I can be a monk? No Armour, a quarter staff and my fists.

I will worship a god of fish and be wise cracking with lots of wisdom and advice.

 Swastakowey wrote:
Ill join if I can be a monk? No Armour, a quarter staff and my fists.

I will worship a god of fish and be wise cracking with lots of wisdom and advice.

Ok I guess, keep the comic relief balanced but I see no reason why you cant do that. I will write up a package option for you.

Give me more info of what you mean by 'god of fish'. Is this Monty Pythonesque humour, or something like Poseidon?

I take my role as Monk Seriously... in Role Play Terms.

God: Opochtli: Aztec God of Fishing. Randomly settled on that one. So to clarify I follow the god of fishing.

I dont need much. I will be but a simple man. I do need a fishing rod, some hooks and string, or a fish trap and netting.

Weapons would simply be quarter staff and martial arts.

I rely on inner soul and discipline etc etc.

Well that would be ideal for me anyway.

 Swastakowey wrote:
I take my role as Monk Seriously... in Role Play Terms.
God: Opochtli: Aztec God of Fishing. Randomly settled on that one. So to clarify I follow the god of fishing.
I dont need much. I will be but a simple man. I do need a fishing rod, some hooks and string, or a fish trap and netting.
Weapons would simply be quarter staff and martial arts.
I rely on inner soul and discipline etc etc.
Well that would be ideal for me anyway.

Ok. Not doing earth gods but i will firt in your chosen ethos.

You will have

- sandals
- monks habit (western style)
- blanket
- waterskin
- net bag (you can fish with this and it carries your stuff
- an iron bound staff
- fishing line cork floats hooks and bait in your belt pouch, you don't have a fishing rod with you, and you don't need one.
- an iron fish upon a string wrapped in a cloth, it is holy to you, it seems to want to stick lightly to other iron and always swims north while dangled
- a small book of wisdom (what is in it is generally up to you, it can be as specific or general as you like, it will dedicate at least half the pages to hymns, prayers and religious text, and the book is rather small)

Basic skills

- quarterstaff (very advanced training)
- fishing
- wrestling skills (advanced training, you don't know special punches of flying kicks etc, more wrestling and grappling but you are trained also to fight in water where grappling attacks are far more useful)
- literacy, including scriptography and illumination

Choose one focal tenet to master, or choose to be a journeyman in all three.

- Spirit of running water (you worship your god as a river god and fish upon the riverbanks)
- Spirit of still water (you worship your god as a god of lakes and glades and small brooks and fish upojn his still waters)
- Spirit of deep water (you worship your god as a sea god and fish upon his holy waters)

Your skills list and disciplines will be provided one I know your focal tenets.

Still Water sounds good I think.

- Spirit of still water (you worship your god as a god of lakes and glades and small brooks and fish upojn his still waters)

You fish inland with fresh water. You have heard of sea fishermonks who can perform feats that you cannot, some can even drink seawater. You kniow of wandering monks who follow the path of the running waters, they tend to adventure far more than you, their path causes them to wander. Perhaps your spirit journey takes you from the lakes to the rivers and down to the sea, or back from such journeys. All waters are one.

Bsic tenets of the shrines of still waters and starting gear based on the nature of your shrine.

- You can swim but not very well Uunless modified below) fresh water lakes are not for swimming in
- You are used to temperate grassland and forest climate and mild winters, not condusive to special survival skill development.
- You have launderers soap and are a cleanly monk.
- You start with a knife, two spare.extra fishing lines and floats in your pouch (so you have three on the go at once)
- You know how best to fish in still waters and catch small lake fish, unless modified below you have limited skills fishing elsewhere You know the ways of other fisherman but as an outsider being content with life by the still waters.
- You do on the other hand have a sedentary agrarian style, you don't till or raise animals, but did catch rabbits and squirrels, and know the fruits and berries of the forests and lakebanks at your shrine. These also are considered bounty of your god as the lakelands are in harmony with the lakes and still waters that feed them.


PATH DISCIPLINES
You have developed from the following Path disciplines. Choose one you have deep knowledge of and three you have partial (much reduced) experience of. I will explain what portions you keep of the partial knowledge later, possibly much later, as these will be potential skills which you may or may not have developed, or are part of your past experience but are unreliable to replicate. You can try and use partial skills at your own risk.

1. Heart with the nymphs. Nymphs do not approach humans, it is rare for someone to even see one, excepting those malicious water spirits who draw men to their doom. You however sat patiently fishing and when you saw the water nymph made no threatening gestures. As first she was very shy, but over time she would stand still across the lake from you and not run when you spotted her. This taught you a great lesson in PATIENCE, as few men get this far. Eventually in her own time she approached closer to you, taught you her songs, you cannot sing them, none can sing as a nymph does, but they are in your heart. She has been close to you, you remember not what happens when she or you approach too close, but know in your heart no harm befell you.
You have the following benefits from the wisdom.
- You can always tell if a fresh water spirit is friendly or treacherous so long as you make eye contact.
- A friendly water spirit nearby will far more likely aid you in dire need if they sense your bond.
- You have the gift of celibacy. Having seen a nymph upon the waters no mortal flesh can tempt you. Of magicks that ensnare the heart with lust or false devotion, only the most powerful will entrap you, and then for a shorter time.
- Your gentle nature means forest animals will not react with fear to your presence if you mean them no harm. You cannot use this discipline to hunt as it would violate your ethos. Sometimes you think the animals understand what you are saying.

2. Wisdom of the waters. - In your youth you explored the waters around the shrine, you embarked upon this task upon your wanderings of the brooks feeding water to the lakes and glade pools where you fished alongside your old master. There you understood the ways of the rivers and streams, the flowing in and the flowing out. This taught you a lesson in AWARENESS.
You have the following benefits from the wisdom.
- You understand the relationship between the waters and the land, and can tell if a farm or settlement plot or site will be sustainable, and know where to dig a well. This is a long term logisitc skill, not as short term survival skill.
- You understand if the waters are tainted or poisoned or accursed. You can also tell poisons by taste if in liquid.
- You have knowledge of a powerful fighting saint, St Gustus, to whom you prayed when called to clear a corrupted brook from its taint.
- You have temperate forest survival skills.
- You have both a spiritual and temporal awareness

3. Walk between the dark mires. - You have spent time in marshes and wetlands, time amongst the boat people in the reeds fishing and frog hunting. They are both a savage and peaceful people. They taught you not to attract the blood eels that live in the dark waters, how to survive in wetlands on foot and by boat and how to see what is likely to be beneath the surface of solid looking paths. most of all it taught you to avoid the dangers of those trouble lands. This has taught you a lesson in STOICISM. Your time amongst the boat savages was an ill memory.
You have the following benefits from the wisdom.
- You can with some difficulty be very stealthy in wetland and bog environments, and to a lesser extent to be unseen in shadows or vegetation when not moving.
- You can hunt with a fishing spear, consider this a javelin skill. You can so so silently.
- You have skill with shallow marsh boats (not sailing)
- You can detect and traverse mires, bogs and even possibly perils of quicksand.

4. Spirit of the laughing brook. - In your youth you explored the waters around the shrine, you embarked upon this task upon your wanderings of the brooks feeding water to the lakes and glade pools where you fished alongside your old master. This portion of your time of your walk with nature was a happy time. This has taught you a lesson in JOY. In these good years you didn't learn to face the hardships of the world, and your girth expanded somewhat on good food and honeymead. Looking back on these times though you learned so much. You built an apiary at the shrine and harvested honey both to sell and to make fine honeymead, which you would drink and sell for good ale and farm produce. You spent time picking mushrooms around the streams, not only do you know which mushroom and forest plants are good to eat, but you are a good cook. Your squirrel stew with forest spices is especially hearty, and that is both one of many recipes you know, and above all you know the wisdom of good cheer and merriment.
- The joyous monk makes light of his burdens and those around him, a joyous peace yields a hope that is hard to extinguish in yourself and others.
- You found joy in the small running waters, and can find peace quickly and can meditate within earshot of small running waters like brooks and small streams to recover your inner strength rapidly.
- You have a moderate trading skill and know good produce and food fayre and have a good eye for agrarian trade goods.
- You start with a small bag of silver coins, a bag of spices, a flagon of good ale (already opened) and some starter tradegoods/provisions from the shrine: Several jars of honey, four small barrels of good mead, four barrels of smoked fish.
- You are a good cook, a hearty eater and have a very strong constitution.

5. Labours of the Scriptorum - You spent several years in a scriptorum copying religious texts. You still got to fish, but you also spent many hours illuminating or copying manuscripts. This has taught you a lesson in DUTY, as the labours were long and boring. However while writing the truths of the scriptures you also learned many of them. You copied scrolls of the saints of old and their struggles with demons, battles with the orcs, wisdom imparted to kings and follies of man who rejected goodly teaching as they often wont. Over half the time you spent copying tax records and certifications under the scriptorums contract with local lords. You also had other work. From time to time documents would come to the scriptorum, not for copying, but safe disposal, you were ordered never to open them or read them, but to destroy them while purified under a special chant, which varied from document to document.
- You are fully literate in the common tongue both high and low and can read the olde tongue as written in the more ancient texts with a little difficulty.
- You have an informed outsiders understanding of tax law, contract law and deed law from the documents you have copied over the years.
- You can recognise the seals of all the noble houses, religious orders and trade guilds of this and surrounding lands, and the more important ones from further afield.
- You also know vaguely about one of two other seals, the ones only stamped with black wax, the ones that hurt your eyes to look at them.
- You have learned of a few chants potent against devils and malicious spirits, some gained in relation to handing above documentation, others from old texts of the warrior saints.
- You have knowledge of two extra saints of your choice (see below) by reading many tomes.
- You have a wooden box with a slide lid including several pens, a pen-knife, some iron nibs, a blotters stamp, gold leaf and illustrators inks from your time in the scriptorum. It is worth quite a bit, but it wasn't entrusted to you for sale.

6. Paths to the sea. - You have left your lake shrine to travel and learn a portion of the wisdom of the deep waters and of the running waters. You traveled long and far and were a guest of many other shrines. You developed a broader understanding of your God and learned the wisdom of DIVERSITY.
- You can swim very well
- You know how to handle a sailing boat, rowing boat, fishing boat and river barge.
- You can river fish competently by net or line, and man a fishing boat in shallow coastal waters more or less. You are not a deep sea fisherman.
- You have knowledge of trade custom, know some trade routes and goods and a rough idea of what price a commodity would fetch where.
- You start with the riverman's fayre for a long journey: A small barrel of salted sea fish well spiced, hardbreads and some skins of ale to wash down the salt.
- You have knowledge of two extra saints of your choice (see below) by visiting many shrines


Saints of the Divine.
The great divine whose waters are One, whose essence touches the world, in whose name we bring forth the bounties of the deep and shallow waters and the blessings of sweet rain. Is served by many saints of older years and new. These saints may aid you upon your travels trials or daily life and they are many. You can name a hundred or more true saints easily, but only a few due you know by pilgrimage and fewer yet have you embarked upon a deeper understanding via. A Monk doesnt pray directly to the Divine for help except when at the risk of loss of his immortal soul, the power of the divine is a privilege granted unto the priests and is both a greater and lesser power invoked by a plea of faith.
A monks faith is to ray to the saints to build upon the earthly acts of faith and draw strength from them. All the saintly blessings are acts that previous saints have done. If you perform a great deed as yet undone then you too may become a saint once called tyo the divines side and can impart your knowledge to the next generation.
the holy truth is that priests often fail, as sufficient divine faith is known to but a few, and while most priests prattle few are true enough to wield the miracles power of the gods. Monks however follow an earthly path, rely more on their faith empowering their spirits to an earthly wisdom and preform lesser miracles based on the saints who are thier patrons.
A learned monk knows the truths of many saints, a wise monk understands those truths and can replicate them through faith.

Here are a few of the saints of which you know.
Only one (unless modified above) do you know the deeper knowledges. Five more you have been on pilgrimage to learn about and you can pray to for lesser effect. The rest you can quest to go on pilgrimage for as and when you notice the opportunity arises, you wont know about opportunities for the myriad other saints unless you are told about them. You may help develop the religion and add saints to this list, to a maximum of twenty at start the more potent the power attribute of a saint the more specific it a limited in scope it will be.

St Augon - Companion of Thenor the Bold, who played a flute upon the shore and caused the great Kraken to sleep and so allowed the ship of the Companions to cross the Forbidden sea.
St Bessel - Who brewed the joyous beer which was then set in humble service and prayer before two rival houses at the brink of war caused them to forget their differences and make peace.
St Dois - Who rode a storm to new lands.
St Dorian - Who caused the fey Drowner Witch to repent.
St Flores - Whose bees stung and taunted the horde of the orc warlord Dogshagga and caused them to quite forget their want to raid until after a local knightly muster was raised to stop them.
St Gorath - Who knew always where to fish, and never came home hungry.
St Hectorius - Who always found safe passage across the raging rapids, and dark swirling currents of deep strong rivers.
St Maglena - Who first learned the music of the dolphins.
St Noctrus - Who made the black waters pure again by slaying the liche who stole his name.
St Owyd - Who restored the rotten fish in the holds of a boat long swept out to sea to wholesomeness, so not only did it feed the crew safely home, but made good sale.
St Tomastus - Who brought salmon back to the great northern river when even the oracles said the salmon would not return.
St Tyban - Who held his breath for ten minutes in calm mediitation until the pirates who sought his life gave him up for dead and stopped searching,.
St Ungron - Who found the seventeen new uses of fish oil in his shrine laboratory.
St Yolian - Who when shipwrecked, and left clinging to wreckage with his shipmates, shut the mouths of the ever hungry sharks, so only the unrighteous blasphemer was eaten.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
I'll take the ranger training package, hunting and winter travel experience, spare boots, and the silver arrow.

Because you chose ranger training you will get swimming for free, flint knapping, and stealth skills. You are good in hill country, but don't have specific climbing skills.

Being a ranger with game hunting skills you are adapt at the quick kill against large game and stealth kill when hunting small game. When you take a rabbit it doesnt alert its kin and you can take another one. When you take a der is dies quickly without needles suffering but the strike is still obvious. To a limited extent this can be applied also to human targets.

Flint knapping will allow you to produce your own crude tools in a survival situation, if you later develop the sling skill you will make potent ammunition. Stone tools are otherwise mostly behind you.
You don't get any extra equipment at start, you have accumulated plenty of rabbit pelts to craft or sell along the road so far, enough soon for a blanket or winder coat, some charred venison for the journey ahead and rawhide left over from a small deer you took last week by the roadside (which despite being road game some might consider poaching) and and also three fresh rabbits you caught for breakfast on the morning of the start of your adventure journey along the road, which you shared with your companions.
So far you haven't had the slightest problem getting by on this journey and have done much to help feed your road companions.

Awesome. Good to be helpful.

Glad you are happy with it, I add in lots of earthy, simple details, especially at inception. They become a foundation upon which you can build your characters personality during play.

Hm, this looks interesting, I'm game.

I think I'll go ahead and take up grizzled mercenary

Ok, I will reply to this properly soon and set up your options for your merc.
Sorry i didn't notice the reply until now.

We have three players now, which is more than enough to start.

When we get the character choices back I will begin the adventure.