clanjos

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

Heyo! I'll be playing Starfinger (The Younger), a Tripkee/Grippli alchemist. He's focused on healing, but he's got a few nasty bombs and utility items because it's always nice to have a lightsource. His common isn't great, so he tends to mix metaphors or use ones that don't quite land. As a personal request: please, stay alive enough to chug healing elixirs!

Editing for his backstory:

Starfinger gets his name from his father, who got it from his father, who got it from HIS father- Oplo Starfinger, a Tripkee Monk who took the tenets of Irori to heart and practiced martial arts for the purpose of self-perfection, and went on to be an adventurer of minor note. Because of the shape of a frog's hands, the imprints of Oplo's well-practiced palm strikes on mountainsides, trees, and beasts across the Mwangi were noted to resemble a five-pointed star.

Starfinger The Younger's less into the whole "kick-punch-meditate" part of Irori's philosophy than the "use knowledge and your skills to help your community" parts. To that end, he's left the forests and wetlands his family calls home to attend alchemical lessons at the Magaambya, hoping to learn more of medicine and healing to help the sick and injured. And, maybe a few handy recipes.

Fabula Ultima: JRPG Adventures

Well, once everyone's got theirs made, I need to figure out how to start this off. The vague idea was "something goes wrong at a coming of age ceremony, the party has to step up and ends up pursued by sky pirates."

Fabula Ultima: JRPG Adventures

Oh that's a lifesaver! Thanks. On my end, here's some snipped pages that detail character generation more in-depth.

Fabula Ultima: JRPG Adventures

Sorry about vanishing, had to help my sister move! Anyway, admitting that this is completely stolen from Skyward Sword, I'm thinking some cultures in the sky islands have a coming-of-age ceremony where folks get a flying mount to allow travel between islands. Imma call it Everwing Island.

Also, I think a good way to flesh out the above questions is to start with character creation- it'll usually spark ideas about nations and such. So, with that in mind, here are the listed character generation steps:

• 1. Create their identity, a short sentence that summarizes how they see themselves at the moment.
• 2. Choose their theme, a strong ideal, feeling, or emotion that dominates your character's actions. (Examples include Ambition, Mercy, Belonging, Duty, Hope, Justice, and Revenge)
• 3. Choose or create your character's origin, either selecting a place from the World Sheet or creating a new one
• 4. Choose two or three classes, and distribute your five starting levels among them. Note your FREE BENEFITS and SKILLS. That Nerdgrinder site has a page with all the classes, so see if any fit your concept!
• 5. Determine which ability array you will use (Jack of All Trades d8/d8/d8/d8, Average d10/d8/d8/d6, Specialist d10/d10/d6/d6) and assign them to your Might, Dexterity, Insight, and Willpower
• 6. Calculate starting HP, MP, and Initiative
• 7. Use a starting budget of 500 Zenit to purchase equipment, then add any leftovers to 2d6*10 to determine initial savings.

Fabula Ultima: JRPG Adventures

Mmmm, if we're doing Ghibliesque, that's an easy twofer, ain't it? Now we have one industrial, technological little island-clump that's expanding into being a hegemon/actual imperial power, and their rise is a definite fun point for recent history.

@Raineh Daze

Aaaalright, we can work with that! Any suggestions for a name or should I roll on the tables?

Gathering Storms and Magic added to threats and enigmas respectively.

Fabula Ultima: JRPG Adventures

Right, uh, looks like there's gonna be two parties alternating adventures and teamups. But I'm capping the player count soon.

Aside from that, I'm going to go ahead and post the other worldbuilding steps before I head to bed.

4. Create the major NATIONS and KINGDOMS for your map. Mark their boundaries and relationships. Each person at the table should contribute at least one kingdom or nation during this step, and provide some information about their customs, industry, or citizens. (We'll
5. Discuss the major HISTORICAL EVENTS that shaped your setting. Everyone should contribute at least one.
6. What are the ENIGMAS and MYSTERIES of your world? Questions left unanswered, and truths now indistinguishable from legend. Everybody should suggest at least one that they want to explore.
7. What THREATS cast a shadow over the world? Environmental disasters, furious deities, evil empires, or perhaps dangerous miasma? Each person at the table should suggest one, as the Gamemaster will likely shape their VILLAINS around these threats.

Fabula Ultima: JRPG Adventures

THE WORLD SO FAR:

A world with a sky wracked with storms. Within the eyes of the storms, sky islands float about. Travel between eyes requires an Airship, while flight within the eyes is safe for flying creatures and less sturdy crafts. While technology is fairly down-to-earth and mundane, remnants of bygone empires can be found on the islands. Most people live fairly simple rustic existences, but travel between towns and islands is common thanks to flying mounts.

NATIONS
Everwing Island- An island where children undergo a coming of age ceremony in which they bond with a flying mount. Most of the ancient magitech here is either shut down or simple lighting.
Hegemony of Yankind: A cluster of islands that has recently begun industrializing and creating machines of war to expand their influence. Unlike most flying machines, theirs are mostly uniform and mass-produced.
Sky Camelot
Isle of Shipwrecked Children
Buccaneer's Bolt- A stormcloud-encrusted island where sky pirates hang their hooks and hats.

MAJOR EVENTS
-Rise of Imperialist Nation
-Crash of a colony airship (probably a recent development if they're still kids)

MYSTERIES
- Just what IS the nature of magic?
- Why do a storm's islands look like they fit together?
- What are the voices in the storm?
- Where is Yankind getting all that metal?
- What's with the weird statues?
- Can the collapsing island of Entegia be repaired? If not, are the other islands doomed to the same fate?

THREATS: Sky Pirates, malfunctioning ancient technology, gathering storms, Imperialist Nation's army

Fabula Ultima: JRPG Adventures

Rin, I'm insulted you didn't think there'd be sky pirates.

I'm kind of imagining that there's... maybe a giant storm, or series of big storms, that contain certain clusters of islands. Within those clusters, people can get around on flying mounts like birds or bats, but travel between them needs an airship. Maybe different clusters use different animals? I'm imagining the sky-pirates giving their mounts little goggles and bandannas, maybe painting a Jolly Roger on them if space permits.

Fabula Ultima: JRPG Adventures

Alright, so first things first: Here's a site where someone uploaded stuff for their personal campaign, including the 19 classes and a Player Aid. Don't worry about chargen just yet, we've gotta build a world!

1. Decide the shape of your world. Is it round, flat, donut-shaped, or are there nations floating in the clouds? Has its shape even been discovered?
2. Draw a map or use a Map Sheet- remember to establish the length of a travel day!
3. What is the role of MAGIC and TECHNOLOGY in your setting? Is it a medieval setting, an age of industrial development, or is it more renaissance-like? Is magic seen as a form of science, or is it more of a grand mystery?

For me, personally, it doesn't feel like a JRPG without at least a few floating islands. Heck, it's in a lot of the promotional art for the game too.

Fabula Ultima: JRPG Adventures

Alright, to elaborate from the book:

Hider

-Great castles whose crystal spires reach the sky, fleets of ornate airships emerging from the clouds, vast stretches of enchanted forests, and ancient, sprawling ruins brimming with magical golems and powerful artifacts. A HIGH FANTASY world is an ageless classic. Every location in a high fantasy world has some magical element to it, and everything is bizarre and wondrous. Magic is abundant and omnipresent.

-Floating amidst a lush expanse of verdant forests, snow-capped mountains, and crystal-clear lakes, small villages slumber peacefully, coexisting with the beasts and elemental forces of the wilderness. Underneath it all lie the ruins of mysterious past civilizations that once ruled this world of NATURAL FANTASY. In a natural fantasy world, every location and vista is deeply immersed in vibrant colors and populated by great beasts. There are no cities or roads, only small villages and narrow paths. Magic is tied to nature, life, and the elements: Its traditions are largely oral, and a mystery to most people.

-Heavy rain falls from polluted clouds, clanking sounds over the brass and steel pipework spreading from one building to another. Casting its shadow over the rundown districts is the massive shape of an industrial chimney, the factory below draining energy and power from the depths of this TECHNO FANTASY world. Techno fantasy locations often take the form of a literal "above and below" where the shining palaces of the wealthy steal the very sun from those less fortunate. Outside the cities lies a barren world turned grey by human greed. Magic has largely been claimed by technology and turned into another source of power, wealth, and warfare.