Jacko the Druid
Jacko jumped onto FG2 tonight while I was building the module for the town (more on that later). We bounced ideas back and forward about the background history of his character. How he fitted in with the world and his reason for being where he is. As we got in to more and more detail, his character's story really started to take shape. I'm really impressed with where it took us and how it developed into a rich character story that really makes sense on a number of different levels. Some obvious, some subtle. I'm pumped!Sandpoint Module
The other "background" at play in the campaign is the town of Sandpoint. This too has it's own character (and I'm pleased with how well the two are now merged for Jacko's character). For the purpose of running the campaign on FG2 I've been trying to modularise components, so that I don't have one enormous campaign mess whenever I fire up the program. I know you guys are interested in how we can use the Fantasy Grounds software so I thought I'd share a bit of how I've organised things.I've basically divided stuff up into modules (FG's name for them). I can load/unload the modules at will into the main campaign on the fly. So for example if you are in Sandpoint I can have the Sandpoint module open. This dynamically adds extra tabs to the relevant sections of the FG desktop. E.g. A new tab appears in the story section that has just story entries for Sandpoint. I have colour-coded (and for that matter symbol-coded) the tabs and ensured they appear with hover text when I load the module. So for example all my town modules will be globe symbols on a bright yellow ribbon (tab). When you leave Sandpoint on your adventures I can simply close that module and open any others I might need. This ensures I don't over load the system or (more likely) my brain by having thousands of entries to wade through. To give you a feel of the scale at the moment I have about 60 story entries alone for Sandpoint already. There will be 20 or 30 more before I'm finished I am sure. Another 130 so far for the main part of the module itself.
hmm i am not so sure now - I was originally going to go Travis Bad Boy form the rougher part of town who is now out of the gang and looking for wealth and Power.
ReplyDeleteThen you mentioned about a female char so i reworked it as Leena the half Shoanti exile - grew up with mother in Shoanti clan but due to half caste didnt fit in and eventually rebeleed somewhat, ran off to look for Father and get involved with a bunch of bandits/ruffians and when they get too much left and have wnadered about till ended up in sandpoint.
But now with the influx of Shoanti I might go back to the original - Both were Fighters Btw. Any thoughts
Russ
Actually now i think about it, I have done more work on the Leens half Shoanti Char so unless that isnt going to work at all then i am going to go with that. I didnt select a totem (though it would have be the Hawk clan seeing as they interact with other more) mainly casue PCGen wouldnt let me select Shoanti even though it was in the list and seeing as i am only half Shoanti it may not be appropriate. By the way I don't dislike my shoanti half or the clan its just they didnt like me especially as i rebelled a bit.
ReplyDeleteEither way will work ok. There are worse things than you all being Shoanti. Makes it easy for you to all know each other for a start. Jacko's character is sun clan. That's not to say that you have to come from the same clan. There are a few Shoanti in town. The sheriff for a start!
ReplyDeleteDon't play a female if you don't want to. It's not necessary just better story wise. The story is totally tweak able around it. I've even got both sets of dialog set up just in case.
Now the bad boy character would also fit in pretty well too, if you want to go that way, we can spend a bit of time in fg developing that aspect. Whichever way you choose will need to be it, because i'll be giving you assumed knowledge that will be quite different depending on which one you choose.
I think i will go with the Leena Character and can give you some dot points of backgound that i have thought about and then we can fill in anything else.
ReplyDeleteBorn in Hawk Clan Shoanti to local girl and a visiting trader/whatever.
Father would visit reasonably regularly until about 4 when he was given ultimatium by Clan chief to either marry girl and do the right thing or to leave forever so that she could marry local boy and be part of the Clan properly. He left.
Was bullied and harrased by other kidds while growing up which toughend and caused some rebellious tendancies
comming of age at 14 resulted in less protection from family and more problems others. Rebellious actions caused issues, ran way to find father.
Wandered obout for awhile living off the land - fell in with a bunch of ruffins /bandits; was looked after taught skills by one of the senier crew who sa me as suragate daughter.
stayed for couple years until things went bad and he was killed - went downhill as other members weren't so nice. tried to stick it out for a few weeks but couldnt. stole some weapons and gear went off on own again.
Been wandering about doing odd jobs to get by and starting pub brawls when i am angry.
Now in sandpoint for whatever reason.
I think we can work with that. Have a think about how badass you really are. I see you hung out with bandits and you're fond of starting bar brawls. Let's talk alignment. Depending on how badass you really are, will depend on whether you might know 'some people'. A real badass might attract the attention of some of the town's seedier elements. Who knows what might be going on under the surface.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if you're not really a badass but rather just someone put in a bad situation, then there is that kind Shoanti druid that teaches at the academy. He's older too, about your father's age you suppose. He has shown some paternalistic interest in you and tried to calm your more violent tendancies. Sometimes he talks about the land of the Shoanti peoples in a way that makes you think about it more than you did when you were with the tribes. He talks about a deep connection with the land and has dropped hints that if you wanted to take a vision quest and try to connect with the totem of the Hawk people, he could help you do that...
Alignement was going to be Chaotic Good. So basically when things got too bad I generally got uncomfortable. Eg when i had the mentor with bandits he was a calming influence on the others as well so generally they robbed caravans and things but were never overly violent. When he was killed things went south and the others got more violent and had to defend myself more than once. tried to stick it out but was too much. The bar thing is more a letting off steam, I get angry i go start a brawl or get involved in one. Dont really care if i win or lose as the bruises numb the other pain.
ReplyDeleteThe Druid has potential but i do carry a Great Sword and I aint afraid to use it.
Friday and Saturday nights are the worst nights for me sorry. Sunday would be as good as any other nights for me I reckon. I would like to do it weekly, but if it is friday/saturday, there is more chances that I wont be available.
ReplyDeleteI with Adam here, sunday, monday or wednesday would be best
ReplyDeleteHow is sunday for you John?
ReplyDeleteHow is sunday for you John?
ReplyDeleteSaturday, Sunday and Monday are no good for me, with Luisa working Tuesday through to Friday nights, any of those nights from about 8:45 onwards would suit me. She already puts up with Saturday night being LotRO night only just at times.
ReplyDeleteThings are dicey enough at the moment as it is, with out pushing it any further.
ok i'm starting to spot a problem here! I'm sorry, but I'm just not up for a 9 o'clock weekday start! As a player, ok I could probably do that and be half asleep and it not matter too much, but not DMing. I work 11 hour days so I'm happy to play Mon-Sun, I'm happy to DM Fri-Sun (sat would be best for being prepared and also being able to stay up late). I'm not seeing any way out of this frankly, the best suggestion I can think of (and it's not great) is that we play Sundays and John joins us when he can.
ReplyDeleteNow that assumes the game must be in the evening. The only other idea I have is an out of the box one - we play on Sat or Sunday mornings from say 7am. In a lot of ways mornings would be great from my point of view. I'd be fresh, my eyes wouldn't be tired, and we could have a good solid session. stopping at lunch would give us 5 hours, even stopping at 10 and having most of the day free gives us 3 hours.
One word kills any hope of me doing a morning session - Kids.
ReplyDeleteSorry mate like I said last night as keen as I am maybe just count me out, unless something changes quite radically there is no real way I can do a Sunday night, even turning up late isn't a certainty. My only good night would be Friday, but that seems to be out.
And I don't say that to guilt anyone into week night DM'ing or changing to Friday nights.
ReplyDeleteWeek nights are just as bad for me. I understand the long days Dave. Mine isn't as long at work, but it's long, usually at work at 7:00, back home at 4:30, at which time L goes to work, then I cook dinner, wash up, spend time with the kids, do some house work and get the last of kids in bed by 8:30
Like I said Johnno, I'm happy to play during the week, You want to run a game on Tues/wed/thurs I'll be there with bells on. Russ will be travelling as often as not I suspect.
ReplyDeleteI suggest we review our preferences here too. we are WAY out of 'preferred night' territory and in to 'what might work some weeks if the stars align' territory. I note that Jacko was talking in terms of "more chances" and Russ in terms of "best". If Friday is sometimes doable then at least we could get John in on it sometimes.
Ok another out-of-the-box solution is to not have a regular night but to agree on the next session at the conclusion of the current session. That way you only have to plan a week out.
Out of the box solution #3 (and I realise this is a big call-seriously no pressure!) take a break from sat night lotro.
Out of the box #4 - we try to get a few of the old gang involved too. budge..rick..jayson...leigh (if he's still alive) for example. it would give some heft to our numbers. We are one person away from this being a choose your own adventure
Day time play is not gong to happen for me with James. Friday night is doable just not my best time. Sat nit could be good if we can move Lotro night, dont want to drop it though. I am with you John on the "She already puts up with Saturday night being LotRO night only just at times." i get that quite a bit as well. we could try the organise a session at a time which might work
ReplyDeleteMight suggest a move tonight when we get on, see if we can free up Saturday nights and maybe move LotRO to Fridays?
ReplyDelete