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Messages - Roman

#1
Last night I ran my first session using the Dungeon World rules. The difference with D&D/Pathfinder is immense, but I love it. The best way to describe it is that it's a narrative-driven system, as opposed to a stats-driven system like D&D. The character sheets are lean and every roll you make is 2d6 (plus modifiers). On a 10+, you succeed. On a 7-9, you succeed but there is a consequence. On a 6-, you fail. That's the gist of it. The consequences and the failures are up to the GM. You don't play Dungeon World for tactical battles that could last for hours, like D&D. These are cinematic battles that rely heavily on what the characters attempt to do, and how well the GM can improvise when they fail or partly succeed. It's pretty great. The sense of freedom after years of D&D is a breath of fresh air. Not that it's a perfect system, mind you, because there are a lot of things you cannot do with it, and it obviously requires players and a GM who are reasonable and creative people and who don't try to power-play.

But the real reason I created this thread is to talk a little bit about the Aukarian Republic. These players are all new to role-playing and they enjoyed last night's session, so they want to continue. I don't want to run the Avisarr campaign again, so I thought it would be a good chance to explore one of the other continents of Khoras. Aggradar interested me most. All of the nations there have a lot of potential for adventure, and the continent is still 'unknown' enough for me to add a lot of things. I've decided to start in the Aukarian Republic. While going through its pages and jotting down notes for the coming campaign (probably focused on Lothiramar's return), I thought I'd add anything I'd find/have questions about here.

1) The government section says 'The government is a true democracy. The population is divided up into "noble houses" and most citizens are a member of a household.' but a bit below that, it says that only 10% belong to houses (and the Government Type tab says it's an aristocracy).

2) On the Nation page, it lists Wutar Alov Hashon as the supreme commander of the armies who's currently off fighting Lothiramar. On the Brulan page, it lists two people with similar roles: both Wutar Hashon and Alov Hamond.

3) On most pages, it says 'Trossoli', but on both the Nation and the Brulan page, it says 'Trossali'.

4) What happened at the Burning Wood? How did people know Lothiramar was truly dead? Did they find his body?

5) Is anything substantial known about Tembrul's Island?

So far I'm mostly working on the Aukarian Republic itself to make it come alive in my mind more. I get an Armenia feel about its geography, climate etc, with some Arabic influences in its general architectural style (with special notes for gardens, terraces, low walls, statues and ornate stone-cutting).

Because it consists mainly of 'coastal grasslands', I was going with a Byzantine-style army: cataphracts as the absolute elite forces that strike fear into all opponents, light cavalry for support and recon, heavy infantry as the 'secondary elite' forces with light infantry for backup.

I even made a note to change dates to other types of fruit because the 'temperate' climate doesn't seem suited to dates. After doing some research on Armenia's fauna and flora, I went for sandthorn berries and quince instead. Yes, it's ultimately meaningless, but I enjoy adding little things like that to the world.
#2
Miscellaneous / Re: Current Activities?
December 25, 2014, 12:03:29 PM
Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.
#3
General Discussion and Questions / Re: Calendar
December 15, 2014, 06:07:18 AM
Personally I would place it under 'Civilisation' because it's an invention and not a natural phenomenon. (That, of course, is also why I was too stupid to look at 'Physical World' and find it...)
#4
General Discussion and Questions / Re: Calendar
December 13, 2014, 05:21:53 PM
Thank you. I knew it couldn't have disappeared. I just didn't think of linking 'physical world' to something like a calendar -- and the Search function didn't help either.

Thanks again!
#5
General Discussion and Questions / Calendar
December 13, 2014, 11:04:36 AM
Where has the calendar with the different names for days etc gone? I can't seem to find it anymore. Either that, or I'm more tired than I thought.
#6
Is it me or would Ynthari make excellent Jedi-like characters?

One thing I don't really understand (but that might just be my limited intelligence): why are the Ynthari opposed to the Dark Lords? Is it just because the Dark Lords are considered evil and it's simple 'common sense' to be against them? That I could understand, although that seems too simple a reason for a whole faith. If the Ynthari tenets are about body, mind and spirit, then I figure concepts like good and evil are inconsequential. A 'good' person could strive for perfection of body, mind and spirit as much as an 'evil' person could -- unless you believe that perfection of spirit is 'the ultimate good', which I don't. I'd interpret the perfection of spirit as a state that transcends concepts like good and evil. A state of nirvana. Both good and evil people could strive towards that. The former needs to overcome concepts like pity and kindness while the latter needs to overcome concepts like cruelty and egotism. Both sides are obstacles towards the perfection of mind. Hence I could see 'evil people' become Ynthari monks just as easily as 'good people', because good and evil are meaningless in their faith. Or am I missing/misinterpreting something?

On another note: David, is the deity Vallaurias still part of the pantheon? I loved the concept of a Rojavi, so I'd be saddened to see it gone.
#7
Miscellaneous / Re: Current Activities?
November 15, 2014, 03:10:28 AM
Yeah, that's exactly the idea. That YouTube user (itmeJP) has a ton of games going on in many different systems. And everyone involved in all of those games have their own games running as well etc etc. I personally love itmeJP's videos because they look slick, which adds a lot as well.
#8
Miscellaneous / Re: Current Activities?
November 08, 2014, 04:40:02 AM
I'm sorry to hear about your recent difficulties, Sid. I hope things have improved by now.

David, I was employed in Congo. I'm hoping to go back there soon (as I was scheduled to), but that seems unlikely now due to various high-level issues. Oh well.

I haven't gotten around to writing the campaign narrative yet. I need to force myself one of these days, I think, because reliving our adventures in that way is a lot of fun. Two players are still in Congo, and the rest of us refuses to continue without them, so the campaign itself is stuck too.

To keep myself busy in that regard, I've been reading other people's gaming adventures, and watching sessions on YouTube. I found out about a system called Dungeon World. Has anyone here ever played it? It's narrative-driven and is truly a collective story-telling system rather than a combat-focused system, so I love it. Battles in Pathfinder can take hours and that's a lot of fun if you're in the mood for it, but I do love true narrative-driven sessions as well.

If anyone is interested, here's a good Dungeon World campaign and it starts with character creation, which already gives you a good idea about what it's like and how stories are set up. I'd love to try it out myself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooa-apRt2wk

#9
Miscellaneous / Current Activities?
September 16, 2014, 12:49:26 PM
It has been a while since I last posted here. Getting unrestricted Internet access on deployment is quite difficult. However, I hope that has been resolved for the next few months. I see David has done a lot of work on the Religions. I need to go through them, especially Kael and Barrinor -- and I can't wait for the Dark Lords.

In the past months, I have commenced the Avisarr campaign with five friends. We've gotten quite far, and we've all been having a blast. Khoras is such a wonderful world. It's become something entirely different than I had originally planned, but I don't mind at all. It's been amazing. Four of the players were completely new to RPG's, but they've been role-playing like champions. We've all kept notes about the sessions and now I'm trying to put them together into a narrative in an attempt to do something different from the usual 'session summaries'. Hopefully I'll get around to it soon so I can post them here. And then we can continue in the near future, hopefully. Deployment has its advantages.

So, what has everyone been up to? Is anyone playing any campaigns or one-off sessions? In Khoras or not? Has anyone read any good books? Seen any good movies?
#10
Why not just teleport?