ROLEPLAY INFORMATION:

SETTING & GENERAL

This adventure will take place during the events of the game Skyrim, so a lot of the ambient setting is already pre-determined.

An old and experienced witchhunter on a quest for a powerful artifact that promises him his biggest payout yet, and an aspiring witchhunter on a quest for revenge against a necromancer that killed her mother. These two travelers find themselves in each other's company and become unlikely partners as they journey toward the cold and war-torn land of Skyrim, which is trapped in the thick of the Stormcloak Rebellion and the return of the dragons. This is not a tale of heroes driving back ancient, apocalyptic evil. This is the story of an unlikely troop of adventurers that find themselves pitted against an adversarial force that, while not a harbinger of the end times, is still powerful enough to cause major trouble in the corner of the world it occupies.

This is meant to be a fun experience of a group of adventurers, united by paralleling interests or directions, that must learn to work together and overcome the challenges of a province that will only get darker and sadder as events progress.

The necromancer - a student of Mannimarco's style (Duke of Worms, we'll call him), supported by seven lords and the usual undead servants such people keep, will be the main villain. There will be two lairs for him: a false one out in remote wilderness (which will be reached first), and the real hidden-in-plain-sight lair.

Start date is 1st of Midyear, 4E 201 (This roleplay will take place during the game Skyrim's timeframe.)

Starting location is the Roxey Inn & Steakhouse. Our idea is that a little village as sprung up around the original Roxey Inn from Oblivion's time period.

The direction of the characters' paths should converge northward toward Skyrim, mostly along the direction of the Silver Road to Bruma. A character may begin with Mixcoatl and I at the Roxey I & S, north of the Imperial City, at some location along the road (e. g.: fighting bandits at Sercen, that Ayleid ruin at the intersection with the Silver and Red Ring Roads), at Bruma itself, or some similar point of origin. Just make sure you're in close proximity to others so interaction can begin soon and we're not left with a collection of isolated accounts for a while.

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RULES:
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For simplicity's sake, it might be best to use one of the ten races used and extensively observed throughout the games. But, if you want to try your hand at a different race, we're open to it.

Race stuff: en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Races
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With Conjuration, summoning weapons has changed a bit in Skyrim from earlier titles -- earlier games rendered the gear as solid, Daedric-appearing objects while Skyrim renders them as pinkish-purple, ethereal entities. Taking some creative license with this, we have established that the longevity and usefulness of summoned weapons and armor is relative to how solid they appear. For example, a novice conjurer may only be able to summon a very transparent sword that will probably not be very strong or sharp; as he gains experience, he will be able to conjure swords that become more opaque, hold sharper edges for longer, and resist breakage better. Concentration also factors in. A novice conjurer will likely have to devote more effort to concentrating and keeping his sword manifested, meaning that if he is distracted, or if he is surprised and hastily conjures one, it may become ethereal and wispy to the point that it passes harmlessly through the target -- or at least does not do any significant damage upon striking it.

As for fighting special enemies (like vampires and undead)... Ethereal beings are subjected to Oblivion-style rules: silver, Daedric, and enchanted only. Even high-quality unenchanted items, like ebony, will not work unless enchanted. Physical beings may be harmed by any sort of weapon, but only silver, Daedric, and enchanted gear will inflict lasting injuries (e. g.: iron mace strikes a vampire in the chest, ribs may get broken and bruising may occur, but would very quickly heal -- silver mace strikes a vampire in the ribs, those same injures would last and take roughly the same amount of time to heal as they would with a normal mortal).

Travel time is calculated according to the map and distances found here: reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/ui64h/t…

Bandits, wildlife, and other nuisances are not suicidal homing missiles that instantly attack anything that wanders a little too close to their camp. A bandit gang preying on travelers on a road should have the smarts to gauge whether or not they're equipped to handle something more than defenseless commoners.

We will be trying to preserve some cursory elements of realism here. Realistically nonsensical perks like weight reduction for heavy armor are nullified. Using shock magic on someone in a body of water or in contact with metal will be especially devastating if he has no resistance of some kind. Stolen items may be sold to any merchant, provided the character has the cool-headed-ness and sense to fence the right stuff to the right merchant. No swimming while decked out in iron or steel, or while laden with a bunch of stuff. No surviving a thirty-foot drop and sprinting off like it hasn't bothered you at all. No easily won fisticuffs against bears and saber-cats. Basic stuff like this. Magical augmentations that make feats like these possible should be used very sparingly to prevent us immediately ex-machina'ing out of every hairy situation that crops up.
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Characters must specialize in either Combat, Magic, or Stealth, like in Morrowind or Oblivion. This does not limit their choice of skills, but it does give them some direction in which skills would probably help them the most.

Character skills can be picked from Morrowind's skill list, and are subjected to Oblivion-style configuration: 7 Majors, all the rest are Misc.. To speak in game terms, one master-level skill is allowed provided there's a good reason for this mastery. Additionally, one expert-level (or two, if no master), up to three journeyman-level, and the rest apprentice-level.

MORROWIND SKILLS: en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Skills

COMBAT: Heavy Armor, Medium Armor, Spear, Armorer, Axe, Blunt Weapon, Long Blade, Block, Athletics

MAGIC: Unarmored*, Illusion, Alchemy, Conjuration, Enchant, Alteration, Destruction, Mysticism, Restoration

STEALTH: Acrobatics, Light Armor, Marksman, Sneak, Hand-to-Hand, Short Blade, Mercantile, Speechcraft, Security

*The Unarmored skill, while filed under the Magic specialization, is fair game for any class.

Keep in mind that the exact nature of your character will determine which sub-areas of these skills they are strongest at. A hardened thief that grew up on the mean streets of Bravil will have different "Speechcraft" sensibilities than a sheltered nobleman in the Imperial City. A magic-capable person will likely be best at enchanting within their respective schools of magic. Etc..

Also, extra skills outside this list are allowed, as life on the road often requires people to be proficient in different things. Climbing, horsemanship, cooking, camping, and stuff like that are welcome. Perhaps your assassin lives in a perpetual game of "The Floor is Lava?"
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ATTRIBUTE LIST: en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Attributes
Strength
Endurance
Intelligence
Willpower
Agility
Speed
Personality
Luck

Characters are not bound by attribute values per se, but some sense should be used in determining their make-up. Thieves used to sneaking and climbing in the shadows will probably be quicker and more agile than a beer-belly mage or merchant. Huge-armed smiths and warriors will probably be able to win contests of brute force. Some attributes like Intelligence, Willpower, and Personality are harder to niche than others since they can be interpreted in a lot of different ways depending on the character, so they can be used pretty liberally. If you'd like to specify certain dominating attributes for your character, the limit is 2.
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Afflictions such as vampirism and lycanthropy are allowed, but are limited to one per character. Awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of these different conditions should be taken into consideration so no god-modding occurs. In some cases, like with vampires, it's probably easiest to stick with breeds seen in the games so that one can properly flesh out such a character.

References, if you're curious about this stuff:

Morrowind Vamps: en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Vampires

Oblivion Vamps: en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Vampires

Skyrim Vamps: en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampire

General Lore: en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Vampire

Book about fighting vampires: en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Immortal_Blood

About Morrowind's vampires: en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Vampires_of_Vva…

One story of being cured: en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Galur_Rithari&#…

Werewolf anatomy: en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Physicalities_o…
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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

If you'd like to use levitation magic, you may want to come up with a reasonable explanation for your knowledge of it based off of this: en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Levitation_Act

CHARACTER SHEET

NAME:

RACE:

GENDER:

AGE:

BIRTHSIGN:

HEIGHT:

APPEARANCE:

EQUIPMENT:

PERSONALITY:

WEAKNESSES:

SKILL REPERTOIRE:

POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS:

GUILD AFFILIATIONS:
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BACKSTORY:

This is optional, but may help one to decide how their characters came to possess certain traits, skills, or items.

You guys still accepting characters? :)

Sure are. Go ahead and post one, if you like.

Will get one up for tomorrow! :)

Alrighty. Happy character making!

Sorry it's later than I said, I've been working all weekend. Let me know if there's anything I need to change. :)

I'm interested. If you'll take me, here's Bruoch.

@josephb
@Parzivol
Characters look good. Welcome aboard, guys. I've been busy myself with getting ready for the next university semester and trying to help get the new house in order (we just moved). But, I'll have a post up hopefully tonight.

Got my first post up. I feel like a good entrance was necessary to breach the already established narrative course for proper insertion, so I went a bit overboard with the hunt.

Also: Working on the Skyrim-established idea that Reachmen are basically a branch of Bretons native to the Reach and the High Rock-Skyrim border territory. It's clear based on his dress that he's a Reachman, but he also looks Breton of lineage because he's a Reachman.

Additional question: Two of us have the Atronach starsign. It provides a fifty percent spell absorption passive, meaning half of the spells you're hit with turn into raw magicka rather than inflicting damage. How is that to be handled?

Skyrim does a full absorption on every 1 of 2 spells, but half absorption on all spells may be more reasonable given the medium we're using for play. I just want to be certain come time to be struck with whatever magic is likely to be slung at us at various points.

I’ll be getting a post up tonight. :)

@Parzivol

Hmm...I agree with your suggestion on the Atronach sign function. Perhaps luck may factor in somewhat, as to exactly how much of the spell gets absorbed. And also things like racial resistances (e. g., Nords resist 50% shock damage).

Hmm...perhaps extremely weak spells could have a chance at being completely absorbed? Some novice mage that slings a piddly little fireball at our characters, and it's so weak that it just gets totally eaten? Wouldn't work once you're up against spells that could do some real damage, plus there's always the chance that whatever celestial fates control the absorption will just let it affect you anyway.

I've got a more in-depth theory for how birthsigns and their abilities could work, but that's more for my own personal writing...still, if you'd like to hear it, I'll try to explain it. It's a work in progress.

It's an interesting conundrum. It also has additional issues. A Breton can activate Dragonskin, which lasts for 20 minutes in real time based on Skyrim's timescale, meaning that if Bruoch turns on his racial power he suddenly doesn't get affected by magic for nearly a half hour.

Neither game properly establishes limitations. Perhaps for the sake of story we should probably use Skyrim's full absorption but cap it's chance of activating at 75% so that there's always the chance to be magic blasted regardless of skill.

If a portion of every spell is absorbed, then it runs into the issue of suddenly we're all having to figure what half or so of a lightning bolt is going to do to someone. Situations like that seem likely to bog things down.

Hello, guys. Been waiting on my buddy Mixcoatl to reply, but he's been swamped with work and wrote me to go ahead with my post. So, I'll have something up hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning. My apologies on the lengthy wait.

That post was fun.

Part of me loves Bruoch because he has the potential to be interesting, but the other part of me dislikes him because of his choice to not just answer the question and make conversation.

He had to go out of his way to show off, basically sitting there and screaming, "Hey, I'd be a good guide into Skyrim that knows survival techniques, especially in cold weather, very well."

I’ll only be able to get a post up tomorrow, busy with work today.

Yeah, I liked the display of Bruoch's hunter-ly observation skills. Looks like he might be a fun character to get into trouble with.

@SoulChrysamere @Parzivol

Sorry it was a bit later than I expected, had a busy weekend.

Who's next?