[BornAgainGamer]

Tears of Ioun



The cry reverberates high above the ramparts of the Forlorn Tower, wailed in outrage. One by one the thieves are dispatched. But one escapes. Angrily, a force is assembled and sent out to seek revenge. They are seen from far below by the Harrowfolk, hidden beneath the boughs of ancient Harrow Wood, as they make their way eastwards, a malevolent band, hell-bent on chaos.

A league or two away, in Estered's square in the centre of the old town of Wellspring, pilgrims gather to worship at the statue of St Estered - beloved worthy of Ioun. In the midday sun, the square is crowded and patrons spill out from the gloomy bar of the Blue Plate tavern onto the cobbled stones outside. Amongst the merry makers, heroes of the land drink in the peaceful scene. A peace that is soon to be shattered.

The Game
Tears of Ioun will take characters through the three Dungeon adventures; Touch of Madness, Descent into Madness and Brink of Madness from 10th to 13th level. The game will be a good mix of roll and role play to kick off with but I will attempt to tailor the game to the desires of the players once we get going.

The Setting
Standard Points of Light setting. The town of Wellspring will be the starting location for the adventure - there is more information on Wellspring and the surroundings in the game forum.

The DM
Me, BornAgainGamer. I have a couple of years experience playing 4e on the Weave and DMing 4e face to face. This is my second foray into DMing on pbp. The first suffered from player drop out and hence I am trying a different application process in an attempt to secure greater commitment from the players. Of which more in a second...

Character Creation
Characters will be Level 10, standard 22-point-buy, with a level 9, level 10 and level 11 magic item plus 4,200gp for extras. I have a DDI subscription, so anything that is available on Character Builder is fair game. Backgrounds can be taken - as many as you want but only one mechanical benefit. Things not on CB I will probably allow too but best to check first. Character should be of non-evil alignment. Your characters must be happy, or at least not completely unhappy, to save the world from the forces of evil and chaos.

The Adventurers
I will be accepting six players in three pairs, yes three pairs - the application process will be as the animals went onto the Ark - two by two. Here is the process:

1) Get yourself into a pair. I am looking for long term commitment to this game from all players - so real life friends or gamers that have a shared history in existing games on-line will have an edge. This doesn't preclude scratch teams made up here in this thread but you will have to try harder to convince me you have the commitment to be a stayer.

2) Once you have your pair - post on this thread and I will setup a couple of sub-threads for you in the "Application Workout" ThreadGroup on the game forum - an OOC one and an IC one.

3) Use your Application Workout OOC thread to work out your shared application - intertwined backgrounds, complementary mechanics (or otherwise). Please do not build characters by pm - I want to see your level of commitment and thinking patterns in the application process and will use this as part of the selection

4) Once you are ready to roll - move to your IC thread and role play an interaction between your characters - it could be their first meeting, an excerpt from a shared adventure or their arrival in Wellspring

5) Final applications should be posted in your OOC thread on the game forum and should follow a fairly standard application format:

Application Format
Please include your entire application in one post at the top of your application format thread - do not update in multiple posts and please also post when you believe your applications are complete

Suggested format for apps...

Why Me?:Why should I choose you and your buddy?
Name:
Gender:
Age:
Race:
Class:

Your character's appearance, dressing habits, etc. An image is helpful - DeviantArt is a great source for fantasy images

Your character's likes, dislikes, quirks, mannerisms, etc.

How your character got to where they are now? I am looking for interesting combined backgrounds - it won't be enough just to have your adventurers know each other and adventure together. I'm thinking Lan and Moiraine in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series or maybe a pair of Dwarves - Invoker and Avenger trained to fight together in ancient temples - a Divine Dyad.
Background is important for the selection process. I need to be able to judge your writing ability - interesting well thought through backgrounds are a help here - but there is no need to go overboard 3-4 paragraphs is plenty. If you have ideas that you want to run past me - please post here - use [private=BornAgainGamer]put hidden text you only want me to see here[/private] if you want to keep some of your background secret from the other applicants

How your character finds themselves in Wellspring at the start of the adventure?

Standard Mythweavers statblock - some guidance on my preferred format for stat blocks here

Above all, I am looking for players that can post regularly - typically daily and will attempt to write interesting posts both in and out of combat situations. I am also looking for partnerships that will work well with each other and preferably have a shared game history. These will be the main basis for the selection of applicants - please do your best to write interesting and grammatically stylish applications and show me evidence of your ability to commit to a pbp game.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Once we get going - each pair will have some extra responsibility. If one half of the pair is absent their buddy will be responsible for RPing their character during the absence. And if one half drops out completely, I will expect the remaining player to secure a replacement. Please make sure you can work together on this basis.

Deadline
9th October 12:00 GMT - midday

Questions
Please post any questions here in this application thread or in your OOC thread. Please - no pms - if you have private questions then post using private tags in this thread - helps me keep all the stuff in one place. And - no questions is a stupid one - we are all here to learn - especially me.