D&D

[Istefan Perþonest]

No, I'm "Toruun". And I'm holding off actually creating my character until I know what the rest of the party is like.

(I figure people with less D&D experience should get their choices, and the guy with thirty years' playing experience and seven paid TTRPG writing credits can slot in a character wherever's appropriate.)

I didn't know that about you!  You can wait to make your character if you want, sure.

Very minor credits, mind.  Contributions to Scarred Lands open calls back for D&D 3rd-era D20 material that got into four books, one Munchkin d20 article for D20 Weekly during the brief period it was a going webzine, two GURPS articles for Pyramid when it was a webzine. All paid at three cents a word; I framed the first check because I thought it was worth more as a wall decoration than the $8.73 I could get at a bank.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

@Ian Plätschisch , @Adam Grigoriu , you folks still interested?  If so, make your character in that campaign to which I linked.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

I'm thinking the overall thrust will be a group of mercenaries hired by a local member of the nobility to perform an as-yet unknown task.  So if that helps with thinking through what you want your character to be, ponder on it.

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

I'll get on it ASAP, I've had a busy few days.

[NRB]

Do you need people still? Some of my fellow union members had a group going but after we ran through the adventure it looks like we're pretty much done.

I probably have the second most amount of experience behind Istefan Perþonest. I started back in 2nd edition days, played through 3& 3.5, then quit entirely for a long time until my union started about starting a game and that was probably the first time I picked it up in about ten years. I really enjoyed getting back to it again though, and would like to sign up if you have the slots.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Do you need people still? Some of my fellow union members had a group going but after we ran through the adventure it looks like we're pretty much done.

I probably have the second most amount of experience behind Istefan Perþonest. I started back in 2nd edition days, played through 3& 3.5, then quit entirely for a long time until my union started about starting a game and that was probably the first time I picked it up in about ten years. I really enjoyed getting back to it again though, and would like to sign up if you have the slots.

I don't really need people, in a sense that I'm short of people to form a party or anything, since the idea was just to give anyone who wanted to play a chance. A good DM is seldom short of players, after all. If you're interested, you're certainly welcome :-)

[NRB]

okie dokie i made a dude

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

I've joined as Bartran Fatrabbit

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Okay, so we have Ian, Istefan, Nick, and Adam.  Anyone else?  Last call to get in on this.  Tonight I'm going to put together the adventure, so you have until then.

All y'all, we'll have a session zero sometime this week.  For those new to the game, that's a quick meeting where we talk about what we each want to get out of the game and finish up characters and backstory.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Okay, I think everything's just about set.  I picked an adventure that I wrote a few years ago for a group of newbies, then did a bit of tweaking to get everything more suitable for a virtual tabletop.  Let me know if you have any questions, objections, or suggestions.  I don't think there are any necessary trigger warnings for the adventure. What week night this week will work well for everybody?

The Ruby of the Cold Sun:
An Adventure for New Players

For thirty generations, the city of Yminti has been ruled by the patriarchs of the Linhausen family.  Official histories claim that this power is theirs by right, and that the Linhausens took control during time of war in order to save the city.  But the antiquity of the conflict surpasses even the memories of the elves, and Linhausen gold has been heavy in the pockets of local historians.  The truth may be lost.  Suffice to say that -- whatever the cause -- the rightful rule of the city is symbolized by the sacred Ruby of the Cold Sun set within the Linhausen sigil ring, and it has been passed from eldest son to eldest son for nearly three thousand years.  Its likeness is set above every city gate and adorns every official document, and the eldest Linhausen boy has always held it.

Until now.  Old Lord Kol Linhausen lies on his deathbed... and it is his daughter, Ina, who claims his ring, his rule, and the Ruby of the Cold Sun.

Like everyone else in Yminti, you know about the Linhausen children.  Ina is the competent and cool one, always standing at her father's shoulder during deliberations and trials.  Her younger brother, Garten, is a wastrel and a jackass.  He drinks, he gambles, he spends.  Sometimes it is even rumored he dabbles in darker matters.  And yet he always assumed that power over Ymitri would be his one day.  He was the son, after all!  And while his sister might have been everything he was not -- serious, wise, and strong -- that just didn't matter.  It was a tradition as obdurate as stone.

Perhaps Garten should have kept in mind that even stone doesn't last forever.  The wind scrapes it and the water scours it, until one day...   Well, one day maybe it turns out that all it needed was a single firm tap from a sharp chisel.

In this adventure, we'll see how sharp you all can be.

Your little group of mercenaries has been brought to Linhausen Hall this evening by a grim-mouthed servant of the family.  He refuses to explain anything.  The manor is rich and stately, warm with the thousand comforts of an ancient homestead: thick carpets and deep-seated chairs.  But the servant brings you through a back door, down long halls and wide rooms, and down the stairs into the clamminess of a cellar, and before too long you start to wonder if tonight's rendezvous is entirely -- above board.  For one odd thing: you see none of the usual guards you would expect to see in such a stately home.

Finally, he leaves you in a cold and bare basement room.  The walls are wet with moisture and green with mildew, and it is bare of any decoration beyond a table, an old set of chairs, and two dozen greenish hams hanging from the rafters.

"Good evening," says a woman's voice, and you all turn to see a stout figure step forward into the flickering torchlight.  "Thank you for coming.  I am Ina Linhausen.  And I have a task for you."

Ina Linhausen is not stately and she is not beautiful.  The Linhausens were never known for their physical blandishments.  Short and pale, her tangle of frizzy hair is barely constrained by a bonnet, and her cloth-of-gold dress stretches over her wide tummy.  But her blue eyes are as clear and cold as a winter rain, and when she speaks there is a strength of command in her tone.  This is a leader.

"My brother has taken something from me," she says, pulling something from a pocket on her bodice and holding it up to the light, "and I need you to get it back."

She holds a heavy golden sigil ring.  But the setting on the ring is empty.  The Ruby of the Cold Sun is missing.

[Tierçéu Rôibeardescù]

Okay, so we have Ian, Istefan, Nick, and Adam.  Anyone else?  Last call to get in on this.  Tonight I'm going to put together the adventure, so you have until then.

ME?!

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Okay, so we have Ian, Istefan, Nick, and Adam.  Anyone else?  Last call to get in on this.  Tonight I'm going to put together the adventure, so you have until then.

ME?!

Yes, sorry, you also are on my list 😁!

[NRB]

What week night this week will work well for everybody?

I am free every week evening - I mostly work remote nowadays.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

I can't do Tuesday or Wednesday, myself, but I can do any other weeknight after 8:00 EST.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

@Adam Grigoriu I'm going to assume you are dropping out, since you still haven't made a character.  If you change your mind before the first session and have the time to do this, let me know!

[NRB]

btw I am assuming the one-shot is a weekday here and the actual game is weekend evenings? But perhaps I am wrong.

ANYWAY I do often go into the office on Mondays to download backups. Depending on traffic it can take me between 30 and 90 minutes or so to get home. Since a lot of people are teleworking these days it's usually on the lower end of that, but there are days I do not leave the office until 6ish. So on a really, really bad day on Monday I might not be home until 7:30pm. We are looking at places closer to my office though, so hopefully this will change soon.

Wednesday nights aren't always great because I have a union meeting on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.

When COVID is over, I will be 50% remote again, and my days at home are Tuesday, Thursday, & every other Friday.

[Sir Ian Plätschisch]

Thursday would be best for me.

[NRB]

Also I read somewhere that apparently I have to communicate with a Talossan resident on a platform other than this forum, so I will be using all of you to support me for citizenship - even if you hate me after we meet and we talk to one other, you still must support me. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Thursday evening it is, tentatively, at 8:00 pm.  I'll put up a Zoom meeting link when the time comes, and I anticipate it lasting somewhere between ten minutes (for Istefan) and an hour (for new players).  You don't have to learn many of the game mechanics or you don't have to buy any books (although if you enjoy D&D, you should eventually get yourself a hard copy of the 5th Edition Player's Handbook).

Nick, the one-shot is the actual game -- it will actually probably be two or three sessions, but it's just going to be this short adventure rather than a sustained campaign.  I don't want to commit to something large-scale with (a) people I've never played with before and (b) only 36 days to go for a rather big project of mine.  I'll be happy to support your bid for citizenship in terms of the extraTalossan contact, though, since I think it's pretty clear you're just a bit of a troll sometimes and you have no plans to actually try to hurt the country in some sort of antidemocratic way.

[NRB]

I got a question - you know how people can access Zoom through the website and not through actually having Zoom on the computer? Will I be able to do this for the game?

If not it's fine, I just need to know so I can roll up another virtual machine and install Zoom on it.