Character Creation Rules & Questions

[yxanthymir]

Create your character as normal in a new thread using these guidelines:

 

Starting level: Level 2 (no rolls required)

Allowed ancestries: Player's Guide, Terrible Beauty and Tombs of the Desolation (only Salamander).

Starting equipment: Comfortable, plus 15 ss and 2 interesting things.

Background: Every character must have lived one time of their lives in Esker and made a deep connection with one of following NPCs.

Choose at least one.

 

1 Tobias Owner of the Nail and Spice, who seems more concerned with pursuing women than with sales.

2 Fari A rumormonger who frequents the Two Stings Inn because she has a crush on the innkeeper.

3 Edward The town drunk, often seen sleeping under a potato sack near the well.

4 Ella Village apprentice wizard and collector of occult trinkets and tomes.

5 Gwilherm Innkeeper of The Two Stings Inn, known for fair prices and honest advice.

6 Gabriella Esker’s historian, who lives mostly in the past.

7 Flick A goblin who defies conventions of his kind, aside from being a known pickpocket.

8 Crisella A survivalist who does not fear the Desolation and lives alone in a hut a few miles outside of town.

9 Gideon A beet farmer who spends most of his time chasing figments of his own mind.

10 Galena Esker’s sole prostitute has a seemingly ageless beauty. Some whisper she might be cursed, have faerie blood, or possibly even be a vampire, a rumor strengthened by her tendency to go about at night.

11 Bardin Esker’s only dwarf and resident blacksmith, works for Tobias.

12 Gwendolyn Serves as one of Esker’s patrollers. She was a high-ranking military official of High Watch once but left for the sake of honor.

13 Lagby An entertainer who performs nightly at the Two Stings Inn.

14 Fereen A salamander woman who works as a mercenary and bounty hunter.

15 Benjamin Serves as the temple apprentice, a gloomy and withdrawn fellow.

16 Sandra Resident teacher for village youth by day, musician by night.

17 Jonathyn Village veteran, elder, and storyteller with a penchant for dark humor.

18 Satine Matron of the temple, famous for her confections and treats served during mass.

19 Dinust The village’s “jack of all, master of none,” known for bringing people together.

20 Amalia A potter and cobbler who works out of her home.

 

Quick Start

You can find the quick start guide here.

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by yxanthymir (see edit history)

[cailano]

Are there quickstart rules available for new players? Any sort of free resource we can use? I almost purchased this game when it was in Bundle of Holding a few months ago. Wish I had, now!

[yxanthymir]

You can find the quick start guide here.

 

It is a very easy system compared to DnD 5e. Character creation is a lot easier, and the rules are simpler too.

Edited March 23, 2023 by yxanthymir (see edit history)

[yxanthymir]

5 hours ago, cailano said:

Are there quickstart rules available for new players? Any sort of free resource we can use? I almost purchased this game when it was in Bundle of Holding a few months ago. Wish I had, now!

I downloaded the quick start guide, and it doesn't cover level advancement. But it cover the rest of rules very nicely. If you want, I can give you orientation in how to advance your character to level 2. At novice paths options are limited to: Warrior, Rogue, Magician and Priest.

[cailano]

Perfect! That is just what I was looking for.

[Neopopulas]

I've been going over the rules today and i quite like them, they are a just different enough to take some work but i think they will be pretty simple in the end.

 

How do you feel about the various forbidden magic traditions?

[yxanthymir]

They are allowed, but remember you gain corruption for each forbidden magic tradition and a chance to gain more for each spell. 

Also the people in the world will not react well to them, most of them being from the New Faith, but what is not seen, it isn't known.

[Neopopulas]

I expected as much. Its just hard for me to look at the traditions and just skim past such absolutely bonkers spells like Hateful Defecation or Part Bone from Flesh. And not want to do something with them.

I mean necromancy is also very tempting but if i'm going to dabble in the dark i'm absolutely going to go to 11 and not some middle ground of 'oh no you have skeleton friends'

Don't worry too much friends, my main focus will be on fire i think. Good old fashion fire magic, never caused anyone any problems.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Neopopulas (see edit history)

[yxanthymir]

Nothing bad can be done with it. That's for certain.

Better burn someone than make him defecate to death.

[Mourning Star]

Wow, I’m really digging the setting. I love the OSR sensibility of the system, too.

[VolsungaSaga]

I like the setting too!

I would like to roll an Orc -- is there any deadline for character submissions?

 

[VolsungaSaga]

When we encounter a die roll in character creation like with how much money we have in our pouches, do we take the maximum possible value?

[Neopopulas]

I had a question about corruption. I was looking into it because i have to take 2 corruption, forbidden magic and all that, fairs fair.

But i was playing an elf and i'm wondering how Corruption kinda works. They do say that elves are kinda of capricious, and though they reward good behavior they punish bad behavior.. but what is good and bad sort of depends on the elf and their opinion of things. So corruption mentions things like murder, stealing for personal gain and things like that, which makes me wonder if corruption is a universal concept or if its more individual.

To give an example, the elf entry has this;

Others might interpret their actions as selfish or evil, but elves don’t concern themselves with such concepts, making no distinction between plucking the pretty eye from a shepherd’s face and composing a sonnet to a beautiful flower. Both acts give them pleasure.

And i'm wondering, do a lot of elves just have a bunch of corruption, or does their more alien outlook on life and morality and especially mortals in general sort of change what does and does not grant corruption?

 

[yxanthymir]

On 3/25/2023 at 11:03 PM, VolsungaSaga said:

I like the setting too!

I would like to roll an Orc -- is there any deadline for character submissions?

 

Yes, there is one. End of April. If we get many applications, maybe sooner.

 

On 3/26/2023 at 5:04 PM, VolsungaSaga said:

When we encounter a die roll in character creation like with how much money we have in our pouches, do we take the maximum possible value?

You don't roll. You start with the items from a comfortable living expanses, plus 15 silver shillings (ss), which you can use to buy extra equipment.

 

12 hours ago, Neopopulas said:

I had a question about corruption. I was looking into it because i have to take 2 corruption, forbidden magic and all that, fairs fair.

But i was playing an elf and i'm wondering how Corruption kinda works. They do say that elves are kinda of capricious, and though they reward good behavior they punish bad behavior.. but what is good and bad sort of depends on the elf and their opinion of things. So corruption mentions things like murder, stealing for personal gain and things like that, which makes me wonder if corruption is a universal concept or if its more individual.

To give an example, the elf entry has this;

Others might interpret their actions as selfish or evil, but elves don’t concern themselves with such concepts, making no distinction between plucking the pretty eye from a shepherd’s face and composing a sonnet to a beautiful flower. Both acts give them pleasure.

And i'm wondering, do a lot of elves just have a bunch of corruption, or does their more alien outlook on life and morality and especially mortals in general sort of change what does and does not grant corruption?

 

 

It doesn't matter your race. All are subject to the whims of the Demon Lord. He is not omniscient, but his perception is vast, and his followers extend it even more. If the veil is thin and a person falls into his perception, chances are that person will be corrupted and eventually become a demon. So not everyone which is evil will be corrupted, certainly not an entire race. Maybe some races are more easily corrupted than others.

PCs are a special case. They will thwart the plans of the Demon Lord, so he will pay special attention to them. He will try actively to corrupt them, and so they need to be extra careful. Which is good, because it is a game mechanic that prevents the PCs to becoming murder hobos in a dark setting.

Well, that at least is my interpretation.

[Neopopulas]

I like this interpretation. Its a mechanical but also in-lore reason for characters to at least try to be more heroic. Getting into a fight over ale and murdering someone is very specifically a bad thing to do and not something that can be glossed over.