I'm around, just very busy with school. Expect me to post ~4 times a week.
Queen Raidne
Member
Raspberry Diva
STATUS: Teaching myself web development by trying to fix some BBCode bugs/features in the Guild is probably a bad idea. Oh, well. 7 yrs ago
- Last Seen: 4 yrs ago
- Old Guild Username: Raidne
- Joined: 11 yrs ago
- Posts: 1018 (0.26 / day)
- VMs: 1
-
Username history
- Queen Raidne 11 yrs ago
-
Latest 10 profile visitors:
-
Most recent →
PrinceAlexus,
Izurich,
Sep,
Forsythe
Status
Recent Statuses
7 yrs ago
Current
Teaching myself web development by trying to fix some BBCode bugs/features in the Guild is probably a bad idea. Oh, well.
1
like
7 yrs ago
Depression is literally soul-sucking.
4
likes
7 yrs ago
If school were less hard, it'd be less interesting. I still want it to be less hard, though.
1
like
8 yrs ago
GUYSGUYSGUYS - I PASSED DYNAMICS!
5
likes
9 yrs ago
Adventures!
3
likes
Bio
Maybe I'll update this.
Most Recent Posts
Reserved in case I want it.
The ale is flowing, spirits are high, and three things catch the party's eye:
1)
A small list tacked half-hazardly to a well used pole. It contains advertisements for magical items of dubious quality and a posting that says, "Alchemical Shop-Minders Wanted". At the top, in dark, blood-red ink and wide, sans-serif letters, it says, "Craig's List".2)
A mysterious gentleman with a long, white beard lurks in a shady corner, staring at the party from underneath a dark, hooded cloak. Several times, he has started to stand and move toward the party, but he quickly changes his mind. He periodically mutters something about a ring.3)
A dwarf sits at the bar, war hammer leaning on his stool, blankly staring at his ale and not drinking it. Engraved on the hammer is a masterfully designed image of a dwarf, an elephant, and a butterfly. The dwarf is making a plaintive gesture. The elephant is laughing. The butterfly is dead.I'm looking for four to five people to play a fantasy RPG. In playing the game, you will also be worldbuilding it. I will not play every NPC; I will just play the important ones. That means that if you need a shopkeeping assistant to talk to, or a love interest, or anything of the sort, just create them. If you aren't sure how our elves are better, make them so.
The three caveats to this rule are as follows:
1 - I reserve the right to veto creations in extreme circumstances (eg: against the site rules)
2 - If you come up with some elaborate backstory for a race in your head, but don't demonstrate any of it in your writing, then that backstory doesn't exist yet
3 - Group worldbuilding means that all of our creations can be added to; this means that nothing we create will be specifically ours aside from our characters. If you make an incredibly elaborate backstory for elves, and then someone adds to elves and takes them in a different direction, then too bad.
In other words, go off of what's been posted, and then add to it. If you need to make up an entire race and kingdom to justify some small thing, just do it.
Rather than post 16,000,000 words on the backstory of the dwarves or something in the IC, put in the OOC. Exposition dumps in the OOC; IC is for introducing/acting upon new elements of the setting.
I will do my best to collect races, kingdoms, etc on the zeroth post of the OOC.
The setting which I'm going for is a trope-filled, tongue-in-cheek, fantasy setting with magic, stock fantasy races, probably some sort of pantheon of gods, and the inevitable kingdom or two.
This is sort-of like DnD without the tabletop elements.
Characters:
Characters will grow as the adventure progresses. After each module, you'll receive loot - part of that loot might be a new spell or strength training. Obviously, I'll tailor these to the characters. Alternatively, you could spend time in town learning new bardic songs or reading up on animal tracking. Character advancment, in other words, can happen organically, so long as it's RP'd (nothing is free).
All of that means you should not start out very powerful; leave room for your character to grow. Aim for slightly-better than normal.
In addition to the character sheets, the party should know each other. To that end, I've made a party sheet for everyone to fill out via decisions in OOC.
This is enough interest to make an OOC. It'll be up by Saturday.
@Copperpen No, definitely not. Exposition dumps about the world would fit in OOC; IC would be more along the lines of introducing/using elements which can then be expounded upon in OOC (if necessary).
This frees up players from having to second guess and research exactly what's in my head, and instead just post what feels right. For instance, in character creation, you can just make a damn elf without having to worry about this rp's particular take on elves.
Of course, the flip side of that coin is that more communication and collaboration has to happen between players so that we know what exists in the world. I will try and keep track of racial definitons, etc, in the first ooc post.
@71452k Interesting questions. The party should know each other. Those others are things that the players should work out. That gives me an idea, actually - a "Party Sheet" full of questions that the players should answer about the party. Who's the best cook, how did you meet, which of you owes the other a favor, etc.
There is a barmaid with a mess of curly red hair piled on top of her head. She is in conversation with an ugly, bearded man and looks annoyed.
@Copperpen No, definitely not. Exposition dumps about the world would fit in OOC; IC would be more along the lines of introducing/using elements which can then be expounded upon in OOC (if necessary).
This frees up players from having to second guess and research exactly what's in my head, and instead just post what feels right. For instance, in character creation, you can just make a damn elf without having to worry about this rp's particular take on elves.
Of course, the flip side of that coin is that more communication and collaboration has to happen between players so that we know what exists in the world. I will try and keep track of racial definitons, etc, in the first ooc post.
@71452k Interesting questions. The party should know each other. Those others are things that the players should work out. That gives me an idea, actually - a "Party Sheet" full of questions that the players should answer about the party. Who's the best cook, how did you meet, which of you owes the other a favor, etc.
There is a barmaid with a mess of curly red hair piled on top of her head. She is in conversation with an ugly, bearded man and looks annoyed.
Exactly, it's pretty much a DnD adventure without tabletop elements. Combine that with text adventures - I might set up a room, note where the exits and points of interest are in said room, and then the players can try and do whatever they like.
I do want players to progress. At the end of each "module" (or quest, or mini-adventure) I have an idea for loot. Part of that loot might be immaterial things, like strength training for a melee character, or spells for a wizard. However, players will be able to advance any time via RP. For instance, your bard is in a town and dedicates time and effort toward learning new songs from a traveling troupe.
I do want players to progress. At the end of each "module" (or quest, or mini-adventure) I have an idea for loot. Part of that loot might be immaterial things, like strength training for a melee character, or spells for a wizard. However, players will be able to advance any time via RP. For instance, your bard is in a town and dedicates time and effort toward learning new songs from a traveling troupe.
The ale is flowing, spirits are high, and three things catch the party's eye:
1)
A small list tacked half-hazardly to a well used pole. It contains advertisements for magical items of dubious quality and a posting that says, "Alchemical Shop-Minders Wanted". At the top, in dark, blood-red ink and wide, sans-serif letters, it says, "Craig's List".2)
A mysterious gentleman with a long, white beard lurks in a shady corner, staring at the party from underneath a dark, hooded cloak. Several times, he has started to stand and move toward the party, but he quickly changes his mind. He periodically mutters something about a ring.3)
A dwarf sits at the bar, war hammer leaning on his stool, blankly staring at his ale and not drinking it. Engraved on the hammer is a masterfully designed image of a dwarf, an elephant, and a butterfly. The dwarf is making a plaintive gesture. The elephant is laughing. The butterfly is dead.I'm looking for four to five people to play a fantasy RPG. In playing the game, you will also be worldbuilding it. I will not play every NPC; I will just play the important ones. That means that if you need a shopkeeping assistant to talk to, or a love interest, or anything of the sort, just create them. If you aren't sure how our elves are better, make them so.
The three caveats to this rule are as follows:
1 - I reserve the right to veto creations in extreme circumstances (eg: against the site rules)
2 - If you come up with some elaborate backstory for a race in your head, but don't demonstrate any of it in your writing, then that backstory doesn't exist yet
3 - Group worldbuilding means that all of our creations can be added to; this means that nothing we create will be specifically ours aside from our characters. If you make an incredibly elaborate backstory for elves, and then someone adds to elves and takes them in a different direction, then too bad.
In other words, go off of what's been posted, and then add to it. If you need to make up an entire race and kingdom to justify some small thing, just do it.
The setting which I'm going for is a trope-filled, tongue-in-cheek, fantasy setting with magic, stock fantasy races, probably some sort of pantheon of gods, and the inevitable kingdom or two.
Interest? Questions?
I've updated my character sheet. I think it's pretty much ready, although I would appreciate anybody's feedback.
My character sheet got a little into dwarven culture, so for anyone who cares, this is what I've come up with so far:
-Dwarves live mostly underground in the Undercomplex.
-Dwarves like shiny things
-Dwarves mine for shiny things
-Dwarves like making things out of metal
-Dwarves have "lineages" of families specialized in one industry or another, and also have "unlineaged" people that didn't particularly like their family's specialty
-These lineages are often literally named (eg "Reedsinger" for musicians) ((ironically, modern Reedsingers make brass instruments....))
-Dwarves have feasts for various precious-metal "Hearts of the Mountain". These feasts include food, crafts fairs, and tribute of the appropriate metal
-Dwarves have cities in the Undercomplex
This in addition to @AngelofOctober's "Dwarves are Loners" and @Whiskey Business's "Dwarves and Elves get along much more better than Humans". Those statements would imply:
-Dwarves are annoyed at humans trying to literally lord over the land
-Dwarves think working at forges and mining for shiny things and expanding their industry is far more important than "diplomacy" or "trade"
(-This isn't to say the Dwarves don't engage in diplomacy and trade, just that diplomacy and trade are done in service to engineering and industry)
-Thus, the only reason the Dwarves are closer to the Elves is that the humans started to get in the way of proper Dwarven business while the elves have kept their high-falutin' noses out of it
My character sheet got a little into dwarven culture, so for anyone who cares, this is what I've come up with so far:
-Dwarves live mostly underground in the Undercomplex.
-Dwarves like shiny things
-Dwarves mine for shiny things
-Dwarves like making things out of metal
-Dwarves have "lineages" of families specialized in one industry or another, and also have "unlineaged" people that didn't particularly like their family's specialty
-These lineages are often literally named (eg "Reedsinger" for musicians) ((ironically, modern Reedsingers make brass instruments....))
-Dwarves have feasts for various precious-metal "Hearts of the Mountain". These feasts include food, crafts fairs, and tribute of the appropriate metal
-Dwarves have cities in the Undercomplex
This in addition to @AngelofOctober's "Dwarves are Loners" and @Whiskey Business's "Dwarves and Elves get along much more better than Humans". Those statements would imply:
-Dwarves are annoyed at humans trying to literally lord over the land
-Dwarves think working at forges and mining for shiny things and expanding their industry is far more important than "diplomacy" or "trade"
(-This isn't to say the Dwarves don't engage in diplomacy and trade, just that diplomacy and trade are done in service to engineering and industry)
-Thus, the only reason the Dwarves are closer to the Elves is that the humans started to get in the way of proper Dwarven business while the elves have kept their high-falutin' noses out of it
This is very much a work in progress, but you can see what I'm going for. I'll likely finish tomorrow.
~o~0~o~
Name: Lucas Reedsinger
TL;DR: Cross a Snake-Oil Salesman, "Psychic", Used-Car Salesman of the slimeiest sort, Fixer, and Dwarf. That's Lucas.
Age: 67
Height: 4'2" (1.27m)
Weight: 125lb (56.7kg)
Build: Heavy
Race: Dwarf
Appearance: Lucas is short, pudgy, and has a gray-haired combover. He keeps his beard and moustache neatly trimmed and wears glasses - bulky wooden things with a hinge in the center and no arms. He wears a turban with a geode at the center. His clothing is generally loose, flowing, and checkered where it isn't stretched tight by his pudge. On his left hand, Lucas has three rings. On his right, four. He wears an iron necklace with a silver pendant of indeterminate religious iconography.
Equipment:
-Parcel containing bottles of Soul Ward.
-Charcoal with which one might make strange markings
-Flash powder
-Smoke powder
-Various small alchemical tools (mortal and pestle, retort)
-Hallucinogenic powder
Story: Lucas grew up on the fringes of dwarven society. The Reedsinger lineage were famed for their musical prowess, creating and playing complex brass instruments with intricate windings of pipes. Lucas took to the lineage business like a rock to flying. As soon as he could, he left and joined the ranks of the unlineaged.
He always got strange stares in cities - nothing he did was quite dwarven enough. When the Feast of the Golden Heart of the Mountain (or the feasts of the Diamond, Emerald, Iron, Copper, or Tin hearts of the Mountain) came around, he was lackluster in his tributary crafts, failed to mine much of the requisite metal or jewel, and ate rather more than he ought to. He tended toward loose clothing that ripped impractically easily in the tunnels of the Undercomplex. His hands were smooth and barely calloused, and his sleeves covered what few burns he had from forgework.
Lucas was, in particular, fascinated with human culture. He learned about their large merchant class, and just decided one day that was what he wanted to become. His friends rapidly left him as he began to hawk whatever he could in a poor imitation of human merchants that he picked up from a single book about the Art of Salesmanship. He tried selling rocks to miners, pens to clerics, small vials of scented things to the dwarven middle class, and time shares of a particularly dingy forest site. It was during the last scheme, and his last true friend finally disowning him, that he realized he needed something more. He needed a better reputation. He tried joining the Tocratian army - which was the first thing that popped into his head, for whatever reason - and they rejected him for being physically unfit.
If he couldn't have a good reputation, then he'd at least have good connections.
As eagerly as he took to merchanting, he took to becoming a swordseeker even more so. He threw himself into practice, training, tutelage, and genuinely seemed to be on the upswing from his disreputable past. And then training ended, and he was left adrift. For a while, he was content to hire himself out to those who asked, but he felt himself slipping back to a place he didn't want to go. So, he pushed for Sphinx rating. This time, he was feverishly dedicated. He hurled himself through obstacles, pushing past the physical problems only with concerted effort of will. The hallucinogenic portion of his trial was harrowing, but he could fall back on what alchemy he'd learned in his studies, and succeeded in diluting the hallucinations. Perhaps not in the spirit of the trial, but a success nonetheless.
At last, he achieved Sphinx rate.
It wasn't what it had cracked up to be.
After a few years, he re-read the Art of Salesmanship. People in the realm had a need. He had the training and reputation to provide a solution. Most of the time, people complaining of spirits never had anything more truly wrong with them than grief or guilt regarding a lost relative. If Lucas could provide comfort by claiming to dispell a spirit, or tell the living that the dead forgave them --- well, what was the harm? And it's only natural to charge for services rendered!
Never mind that his services often lead him to new adventures. He tries not to stay in one town or another for too long. Sell what you can, and take what you can't and dress it up as something the populace needs. Each town he's in, however, he pays his dues. Sometimes it's to the right guards, or a tithe to the local temple (even once to a nobleman's daughter who thought herself something of a Pirate Lady), but most often to the local equivalent of crime lord enforcers. In return, they'd politely tell him when to get the hell out of town. Particularly well-formed relationships keyed him onto new leads, or would ask for services that he himself couldn't render, but Lucas knew someone who knew someone.
Wetwork? That was never his gig. Lucas' best skill in a fight is to create enough of a flashy distraction that he can get out of it. But he knows a guy the village over yonder.
Suddenly have a need for authentic-seeming prayer beads for the next festival? Lucas can scrounge some through his large trail of favors and broken homes.
Need someone to delay the 25-merchant convoy because of a fight with your mistress? Lucas can spin a tale about the Horse Inspection Tax and a need to ensure all horses of the train are impeccably groomed (excepting draft horses), forcing everyone to spend an extra twenty minutes arguing over the meaning of "draft horse" vs. "work horse" and which, exactly, would be exempt from the tax.
What if you have a passing thought about getting an audience with the local nobleman? Lucas knows a guard that knows the cousin of the nobleman's mistress, who can whisper in the nobleman's ear about a need for connecting with the populace as long as you get a good whore for the cousin and a bottle of elven drink for the guard. And, oh, look at that, an upstanding citizen of the populace just happens to be asking for an audience at the right time (the next day) and in the right place.
Lucas happens to be wanted for crimes of only a peripheral nature to his own upstanding business (which you can't prove he was involved in anyway) by guards and nobles with far-too-big sticks up their asses. Don't worry about it.
~o~0~o~
Name: Lucas Reedsinger
TL;DR: Cross a Snake-Oil Salesman, "Psychic", Used-Car Salesman of the slimeiest sort, Fixer, and Dwarf. That's Lucas.
Age: 67
Height: 4'2" (1.27m)
Weight: 125lb (56.7kg)
Build: Heavy
Race: Dwarf
Appearance: Lucas is short, pudgy, and has a gray-haired combover. He keeps his beard and moustache neatly trimmed and wears glasses - bulky wooden things with a hinge in the center and no arms. He wears a turban with a geode at the center. His clothing is generally loose, flowing, and checkered where it isn't stretched tight by his pudge. On his left hand, Lucas has three rings. On his right, four. He wears an iron necklace with a silver pendant of indeterminate religious iconography.
Equipment:
-Parcel containing bottles of Soul Ward.
-One-of-a-kind knife with strange markings (4x)
-Charcoal with which one might make strange markings
-Flash powder
-Smoke powder
-Various small alchemical tools (mortal and pestle, retort)
-Hallucinogenic powder
Story: Lucas grew up on the fringes of dwarven society. The Reedsinger lineage were famed for their musical prowess, creating and playing complex brass instruments with intricate windings of pipes. Lucas took to the lineage business like a rock to flying. As soon as he could, he left and joined the ranks of the unlineaged.
He always got strange stares in cities - nothing he did was quite dwarven enough. When the Feast of the Golden Heart of the Mountain (or the feasts of the Diamond, Emerald, Iron, Copper, or Tin hearts of the Mountain) came around, he was lackluster in his tributary crafts, failed to mine much of the requisite metal or jewel, and ate rather more than he ought to. He tended toward loose clothing that ripped impractically easily in the tunnels of the Undercomplex. His hands were smooth and barely calloused, and his sleeves covered what few burns he had from forgework.
Lucas was, in particular, fascinated with human culture. He learned about their large merchant class, and just decided one day that was what he wanted to become. His friends rapidly left him as he began to hawk whatever he could in a poor imitation of human merchants that he picked up from a single book about the Art of Salesmanship. He tried selling rocks to miners, pens to clerics, small vials of scented things to the dwarven middle class, and time shares of a particularly dingy forest site. It was during the last scheme, and his last true friend finally disowning him, that he realized he needed something more. He needed a better reputation. He tried joining the Tocratian army - which was the first thing that popped into his head, for whatever reason - and they rejected him for being physically unfit.
If he couldn't have a good reputation, then he'd at least have good connections.
As eagerly as he took to merchanting, he took to becoming a swordseeker even more so. He threw himself into practice, training, tutelage, and genuinely seemed to be on the upswing from his disreputable past. And then training ended, and he was left adrift. For a while, he was content to hire himself out to those who asked, but he felt himself slipping back to a place he didn't want to go. So, he pushed for Sphinx rating. This time, he was feverishly dedicated. He hurled himself through obstacles, pushing past the physical problems only with concerted effort of will. The hallucinogenic portion of his trial was harrowing, but he could fall back on what alchemy he'd learned in his studies, and succeeded in diluting the hallucinations. Perhaps not in the spirit of the trial, but a success nonetheless.
At last, he achieved Sphinx rate.
It wasn't what it had cracked up to be.
After a few years, he re-read the Art of Salesmanship. People in the realm had a need. He had the training and reputation to provide a solution. Most of the time, people complaining of spirits never had anything more truly wrong with them than grief or guilt regarding a lost relative. If Lucas could provide comfort by claiming to dispell a spirit, or tell the living that the dead forgave them --- well, what was the harm? And it's only natural to charge for services rendered!
Never mind that his services often lead him to new adventures. He tries not to stay in one town or another for too long. Sell what you can, and take what you can't and dress it up as something the populace needs. Each town he's in, however, he pays his dues. Sometimes it's to the right guards, or a tithe to the local temple (even once to a nobleman's daughter who thought herself something of a Pirate Lady), but most often to the local equivalent of crime lord enforcers. In return, they'd politely tell him when to get the hell out of town. Particularly well-formed relationships keyed him onto new leads, or would ask for services that he himself couldn't render, but Lucas knew someone who knew someone.
Wetwork? That was never his gig. Lucas' best skill in a fight is to create enough of a flashy distraction that he can get out of it. But he knows a guy the village over yonder.
Suddenly have a need for authentic-seeming prayer beads for the next festival? Lucas can scrounge some through his large trail of favors and broken homes.
Need someone to delay the 25-merchant convoy because of a fight with your mistress? Lucas can spin a tale about the Horse Inspection Tax and a need to ensure all horses of the train are impeccably groomed (excepting draft horses), forcing everyone to spend an extra twenty minutes arguing over the meaning of "draft horse" vs. "work horse" and which, exactly, would be exempt from the tax.
What if you have a passing thought about getting an audience with the local nobleman? Lucas knows a guard that knows the cousin of the nobleman's mistress, who can whisper in the nobleman's ear about a need for connecting with the populace as long as you get a good whore for the cousin and a bottle of elven drink for the guard. And, oh, look at that, an upstanding citizen of the populace just happens to be asking for an audience at the right time (the next day) and in the right place.
Lucas happens to be wanted for crimes of only a peripheral nature to his own upstanding business (which you can't prove he was involved in anyway) by guards and nobles with far-too-big sticks up their asses. Don't worry about it.
© 2007-2024