OOC Chat: Chapter 1 - As Above, So Below

[bwatford]

OOC CHAT: CHAPTER 1 - AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

This will be the OOC thread for the first chapter of the game.

 

[bwatford]

Congratulations to all six of you. At this time, please complete your posting template if you have not done so.

Also take your time and look over the applications of the other selectees to make sure everything looks correct, and we are ready to begin.

I will post an opening thread sometime on Monday.

Please introduce yourselves to each other.

[Ayeba]

Thanks a lot for the invitation.

I'm a 42 year old programmer from Norway. Married, with 3 daughters ranging from 6 to 16. I enjoyed roleplaying games immensely during my student years, though mostly the tabletop variant. With my current lifestyle, I can't afford the time investment required to maintain a stable weekly meetup, so I turn to forum-based roleplaying games again. I spent a good amount of time here on Myth-Weavers almost ten years ago, and now I'm back.

I don't remember if I started with D&D or Shadowrun first, but both have been long staples of my roleplaying career. I used to play a lot of computer games too, but it has been less of that lately. Apart from that, I like to read comics and novels. Most of the amateur novels I currently enjoy are published on royalroad.com. I also write a bit myself, but I have yet to complete a single novel. My latest project is on chapter 28, but has barely been touched since I started applying for roleplaying games.

While doing housework and other repetitive tasks, I enjoy listening to what essentially amounts to mini-podcasts. Typically YouTube videos where a single person dives into a topic I have some interest in, which spans a pretty wide range. Examples include history, speedrunning, technology, storytelling tropes, programming, theorycrafting in roleplaying games, current politics, obscure games, construction, accidents, economics, movies and more. If an enthusiastic and knowledgeable person talks about something in a way I can understand, I don't mind listening to it. Recently, for example, I took a deep dive into Warhammer 30k lore because of a different game here on Myth-Weavers.

I'd also like you to know that I invite opinions and criticism on my gameplay and posts. I know I have a tendency to be a besserwisser. While I try to keep it down, please let me know when I slip up.

Edit: Just an FYI; I find writing in-character posts from my phone to be extremely tedious and annoying. There are times when I might quickly answer OOC but delay an IC post because I'm unable to sit down in front of a computer.

Edited April 21 by Ayeba (see edit history)

[scootloops]

Hiya,

I’m Scootloops, playing as Taborlin/Zahara. I’m an artist in the medical education field, new transplant to eastern US, and an avid reader/gamer. My very first ttrpg was a very informal shadowrun game nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t pick up 5e and any regularity with TTRPG’s again until about 8 years ago. Midgard is a new setting for me, and with Taborlin I plan to play that up with her far traveler background.

I’m more of a sci-fi guy than anything else, but a good story is a good story (mathismath.meme) and good character development and intrigue make or break it for me in any genre. I’m a GM for a few campaigns, one here on MW and another on discord, and I’ve been running SFS scenarios as gm/player for about 3 years. PbP is the only way I can play these days with time constraints, and I actually prefer it because I like improving my writing and like to have time to make the response I want, not the one my ADHD brain first sees.

Tabs is my first paladin, but not my first melee PC. Her focus is front lines, low level control, and social situations. She’s also got a trusty steed, a Giant Hyena named Sanaa, (Sanaa does bite, fyi) and is almost always around if able. Sanaa is capable of guarding items left with her if she can’t go down that trapdoor.

I’m really looking forwards to this little adventure, I haven’t been a player in something like Rultmoork in way too long.

[Harding]

Hello! I'm Harding, playing as Deidre. I work as a customer service specialist and used to be a programmer hailing from the French side of Canada. I'm 39 years old and have been immersed in tabletop RPGs for about 30 years since I was 9. I've also been into LARPing since I was 14 and engaged in medieval battle reenactments since 17. I come from a farming background; my grandfather was not only a farmer but also a farrier/blacksmith who passed his skills down to one of my uncles, who then taught me. Later on, I honed my craft further under other masters and through self-education in weapon and armor smithing. I used to create custom battle-ready gear for myself and fellow enthusiasts but had to stop due to limited resources and time constraints. Now, I'm in a completely different line of work!

I enjoy all styles and settings for RPGs, but I have a particular fondness for old-school fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, and retro-futuristic/retro cyberpunk themes. My introduction to RPGs was through Advanced D&D 2e, thanks to my sister's friends who became closer companions than she was!

During middle and high school, I was the official DM of our group, but as life got busier with work, school, and smithing, I found less time for game preparation. In college, I played more and was fortunate to join groups with established DMs. As an adult, time constraints grew, and unfortunately, Covid strained my relationships with my old gaming friends. Thus, I turned to Play-by-Post (PbP) gaming, which fits my current schedule well. Apart from gaming, I enjoy video games, reading, and home improvement projects. I even convinced my initially reluctant wife to watch anime with me, and now she's unwittingly becoming a weeaboo!

Deidre is an old character concept I've revived and adapted for this setting. She's loosely inspired by Merida from Disney's Brave and Kaylee Frye from Firefly, embodying a love for magic and technology, infused with enthusiasm and rebellious spirit. To my surprise, I've designed her to be one of the group's tanks, in addition to being an artificer specializing in support and tools.

It's great to meet you all, and I'm sure we'll have a blast playing and writing an awesome story together.

Cheers

[Newcomer]

Hi everyone, I'm excited to join this adventure!

I'm a 39 year old professional classical musician—a mix of singing, coaching singers, playing piano, playing organ, and conducting operas and musicals. I didn't play any role-playing games until my late twenties, when I got started with D&D 3.5. I've played and run both 3.5 and 5th edition games, but pretty much just D&D. I run a hybrid in-person/Zoom 5e campaign which meets as we're able, currently about once a month, and it's been a while since I've been able to run a PC instead of DMing. So I'm back to pbp, which I've done in the past but not on Myth Weavers. I'm also new to playing in Midgard, though I'd come across it a couple times before.

My schedule is variable, balancing a few part-time jobs, semester-based work, and major projects that come and go, so play-by-post is great for me but my posting patterns will sometimes shift around. I will try to make my posts descriptive, but I don't tend to think about things visually very much; call me out if things get too dry. I also prefer to post from the computer when I'm able, but I might check in and even occasionally post from my phone.

I'm playing Zeldaruil, an elven druid/wizard, but mostly a scholar of magic. Feel free to call her Zelda, though no proper elf would address her by such a humanized nickname. I've never played a wizard before, usually favoring rogues, bards, and druids, but druid multiclassing always feels right to me. I like the wizard's utility spells and rituals, but the low-level spell list is a little underwhelming—luckily druids have great first level spells! Zelda prefers the back lines, focusing on battlefield control, healing, utility magic, and perhaps some scouting. She can either wild shape herself, or briefly summon her familiar Liloria. Zelda grew up among the fey, and that's had some effects on how she looks at the world. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble we'll be getting into!

[8w_gremlin]

Kia Ora everyone
(it means hello, or goodbye in Māori) I'm 52, and live in New Zealand, so my posting time will usually be at odd times, I've changed careers a few times, and ex-psychiatric nurse, ex-programmer, and now I'm working as a solutions engineer, I have kids, now turning adults, and three dogs. I've been playing dnd since I was 9, along with about a bazillion other RPGs.

I'll be playing Willowveil she's a humanoid tree basically, and a though a warlock, acts more like a druid, and one that uses death, and decay as major themes.
She has a living plant creature as her familiar which bizarrely has wings and can fly. (still thinking about what it actually looks like) and she is more likely to summon either animal aid or the shades of those people who died defiling nature.

I try and call on all the senses in a post if I can, the sight, sound, and smells and weave them into the post if I can. Its great to be here and I'm looking forward to playing with you all.

[scootloops]

Off topic from intros, but should we discuss how all our PC’s met?

[MysteriousMiller]

Speaking of odd times for posting...Hi everyone, I'm MysteriousMiller and I'm based on the opposite side of the globe in the Northwest of the UK.

I'm a 54 year old high school teacher, with 30 years experience teaching Science and Chemistry to 11-18 year olds.

My RPG history is based entirely around D&D. I played 2nd edition as a teenager, then real life took over until Covid hit around the same time as I turned 50. I found I had time to play once more and turned to PBP as it gave me the flexibility I needed. My schedule means I tend to post at the end of the work day as a way to wind down. I can post at weekends (depending on RL) and though I go on holiday frequently I find the new MW site allows me to post quite easily on my phone...signal allowing!

Since returning to the world of RPGs I've played in a helluva lot of 5e games on MW, mostly playing rogues of all descriptions.

No surprise then that I'm playing Noodles, a Soulknife Rogue. He's a Wyrd Gnome from the city of Corremel in the Shadow Realm, but who has lived in the Wastes for the last 40 years as a "guest" of a nomadic tribe of Maimed Ones. He now loves his captors, but he's outlived most of them! One eye is a replacement which gives him his psychic abilities...it's also a link to one of the Dread Walkers and the cause of his instability.

I'm yet to hear his "voice" in my head, but I'll try to play him as somewhat unpredictable without hampering our gameplay...I think he's inherently good, just really messed up!!!! He's clearly a bit of a Skill Monkey and he can take a scouting role too, but in combat he'll be lobbing those psychic daggers from way behind the front line.

I'm really looking forwards to this...it sounds like a real challenge.

Edited April 22 by MysteriousMiller (see edit history)

[MysteriousMiller]

16 minutes ago, scootloops said:

Off topic from intros, but should we discuss how all our PC’s met?

Great minds think alike...I'm just about to read through all the profiles and note down some ideas 💡

[bwatford]

And....

Greetings, everyone. I'll be guiding you through the Wasteland as your DM. At 53, I've been immersed in gaming for over four decades, starting at the age of 8 when my little league coach introduced me to the original AD&D Basic set. Since then, I've played and DM'ed countless games and campaigns. My experience spans 1st and 2nd Ed AD&D, 3.5, 5e, Pathfinder, Pathfinder 2e, among others. I host games on Myth-Weavers for pbp and run multiple campaigns both in person and on Fantasy Grounds VTT.

I have worn many hats, having been involved in sales for most of my life. In addition, I am a web developer by trade and currently manage several e-commerce websites. My primary venture is www.Officialnorthpolemail.com, which is my seasonal business for Christmas.

I am a professional game master, currently running ten paid D&D 5e campaigns through Fantasy Grounds. You can view them on my Discord channel or through StartPlaying.Games. Additionally, I manage approximately four free-to-play games on Myth-Weavers, where I also oversee all the theme design.

I am looking forward to seeing how this group of characters develop as they learn more about and begin to explore Rultmoork.

[Ayeba]

Since we're talking about our characters: Question is an automaton; an android of sorts. Tainted by chaotic energies from the moment it emerged from its pod, and formed into her current appearance by a necromancer and lich living in the Mana Waste. After a brief stint with Blood Mother Margase's druids, she's back in the Mana Waste, searching for answers about her origin.

The best time/place she could have joined or been recruited by the rest of the party is right after her escape from the Oaken Ring, when she most likely passed through Savyone (aka the City of Blood), or in the Mana Waste, where they could have run into her wandering or investigating something that caught her interest. Perhaps she met Noodles after she returned to the Waste, @MysteriousMiller?

By the way, the aforementioned lich wants her back, so if we're constantly harassed by undead and the like, that might be my fault.

I created Question after finding the race in the suggested sourcebook. After deciding on the concept of an automaton investigating its origins, it was a no-brainer to make her a wizard. I tend to make mostly single-classed full casters, and an intelligence-based one was the best match for the concept. It helps that wizard is probably my favorite class in 5th edition, but I've also played my fair share of other full casters, of which clerics are the least favorite. Back in 3.5 and 4e I was all into psionics, but alas, that does not exist in 5e outside of a few psionically themed subclasses.

Happy to have Taborlin on our team, because Question very much appreciates not being intimate with her enemies. She can summon undead to serve the same purpose, so if you have trouble with fighting alongside undead, you may have an uphill battle convincing her its a bad idea. I'm curious what Zeldaruil's and Willowveil's opinions are on the matter.

Edit: One other thing of note. I find the normal font a bit small for my taste, so I tend to use 16 or 18 instead. I apologize if that creates some dissonance when reading through multiple posts. Perhaps I can convince you to use 16 as well?

Edited April 22 by Ayeba (see edit history)

[Newcomer]

2 hours ago, scootloops said:

Off topic from intros, but should we discuss how all our PC’s met?

Deidre and Zelda have both been in Bemmea developing an interest in archaeology, so it's plausible we'd have met. But we've had wildly different experiences with the fey and might have trouble getting along. We could have already gone on an awkward expedition together with a mutual associate, but perhaps it's better to not have traveled together yet.

On a related note, Zelda has explored a few ruins in the past (which would have been less of an adventure, and probably no further into the Mana's Waste than the current ruin), so that's a route for knowing of each other. It's also possible some of the scholarly among our group are familiar with each other's writings on magic.

11 minutes ago, Ayeba said:

Edit: One other thing of note. I find the normal font a bit small for my taste, so I tend to use 16 or 18 instead. I apologize if that creates some dissonance when reading through multiple posts. Perhaps I can convince you to use 16 as well?

Is there a way to change the default size on the reader's side? I know I won't remember to change the font size every time I post (especially since it goes against my instinctual favoring of smaller fonts for everything).

[Ayeba]

1 minute ago, Newcomer said:

Deidre and Zelda have both been in Bemmea developing an interest in archaeology, so it's plausible we'd have met. But we've had wildly different experiences with the fey and might have trouble getting along. We could have already gone on an awkward expedition together with a mutual associate, but perhaps it's better to not have traveled together yet.

On a related note, Zelda has explored a few ruins in the past (which would have been less of an adventure, and probably no further into the Mana's Waste than the current ruin), so that's a route for knowing of each other. It's also possible some of the scholarly among our group are familiar with each other's writings on magic.

The only times Question has been anywhere close to civilization was while being sold by dust goblins, or during her hurried escape from the Oaken Ring. She has not written or published anything; almost all her existence is spent in the Waste. It's more likely that we've run into each other in the Mana Waste, possibly after some of you met in a city somewhere and decided to group up.

[8w_gremlin]

Willowvine is an arcane user, and even the Oaken ring doesn't like her style of magic, even though it was gifted to her from a power older than the elves, dwarves and dragons. She is linked very heavily with forest and wood, and anyone escaping that area may have run into her, or journeyed with each other to the Mana waste, as she is on a mission from her patron.

Could we have met on the way, which way have you all come from, I don't know why, but I feel we're all at the Southeast corner of the mana waste would that be about right @bwatford

PS: great to meet you all.