A suggestion for PbP - Twilight of Old Magic

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Is anyone in a mood for a PbP RP here in the corner?

How about a fantasy (sword + magic) setting, with Norse, Celtic and Slavic mythology allowed and clashes of the above recommended (not hybrids, clashes )? Keeping it subtle might be nice, but anything goes really. Magic is custom stuff - on players to construct and pick.

A world of forests, lakes, rivers, towns, mountains and snow. Timeline... think pre-Roman stuff. Most of the game world could be an enormous forest, unless someone strongly objects.
No deserts, palms and volcanoes - continental climate.

Allowed races - mostly humans would be nice, but others are fine, especially if you pull obscure ones important to the mythology your char belongs to.

Monsters, adversaries - whatever you can come up with, anything goes. Creatures not found in splatbooks are just as awesome as the ones listed.

A suggestion - each char starts with a mythology picked (Norse, Celtic, Slavic or Old Magic, with Old Magic being basically the spirit kind of the world itself (elemental, magic of places, animals, totems...). This can be entirely optional, and you can keep it as subtle, or as pronounced as you want.

The backstory of the RP would be the withdrawal of the Old magic before the three mythological systems, and the clashes of the three systems of belief. The atmosphere of the world would be heavy magical, with magic dominating in wild areas and virtually non-existent (dwindling) in cities and towns. Nations and tribes are left to your discretion. (The world isn't Earth, it just has certain belief systems like it - the nations would exist if your chars belong to them, mention them... basically if you create them)
Of course, the plot of the campaign doesn't have to have anything to do with any of this (the paragraph above is atmosphere).

On classes - anything you want is ok, as custom as you like it. (Obviously, it's nice if they suit the world they are in - having an Engineer might be tricky... unless Technology is added as a Force).

I hope I haven't bored you to death with this. So, if anyone is interested, has a suggestion, correction or question, post away here.

A rule of courtesy - the time limit between posts of a player in this PbP could be 24 hours, so that the entire globe would get to play, in all timezones. Of course you can post as often or rare as you like, this is simply a suggestion.

 

Sounds good, I join.

 

Will god-moding be allowed? God-moders usually put me off when playing PbP

 

What's god-moding? Been PbPing for a handful of years now and never heard that term before.

 

Its when someone creates a superhuman as a character. With no weaknesess, and more or less kicks ass throughout the whole play. Without getting scratched. Pretty much starts off at level 40, while the rest start off at level 1-5.

 

Where would be the fun in having such an overpowered character? Thus, no "god-moding" as far as I am concerned.

This thread could be used for OoC, char biographies and stuff (assuming we get a few more players interested). On char sheets - anything goes, no rules on length, categories or form - whatever you think is important for your char, as detailed or not.

I've never done this before, so suggestions and criticism are welcome. Should the in-game thread start, or do we wait for more people to join?

EDIT: Well, here's my char:

Mora

Priestess of Wolf-shepherd, with mythology loosely based on Dabog (slavic), in his interpretation as a chtonic deity of death and wolves.

Appearance:
She is in her late twenties. Dark hair and eyes. Mora has a black cape, with two scarlet wolves embroidered on the edges of it. It signifies her role as a priestess of Wolf-shepherd. It will make her respected in some surroundings and scorned and hated in others.

Tribe/History:
Her Order is Howling Dusk, which was once powerful but is now losing believers, and with waning belief, its power. This decline in power has coincided with the decline of the tribe Mora and all other Howling Dusk priestesses belong to - Nuaveth - a warlike tribe that got in too many wars over the years and from a feared war force has been turned to a dwindling series of villages in the southern fringe regions of the Forest. The Nuaved are famed for being good, if undisciplined fighters and are often hired in various wars and conflicts. They are generally disliked as bloodthirsty war mongrels. Their belief of the world ending when the last of their tribe is killed and still being highly motivated to fight over anything is disturbing.

Unknown to Nuavad or Howling Dusk, the beliefs in Wolf Shepherd are actually warped and twisted remains of some of the darker forms of Old Magic. As usual, death, rage, fear and discord were easily incorporated in new systems, since they never left the minds of people for long. This is what happened to the aspects of Old Magic - it thrived under the Wolf-shepherd, while its more benevolent forms had a hard time integrating in the new state of the world.

Skills/abilities:

- has a profound knowledge of poisons and poisonous plants
- uses an ordinary dagger, as a last resort weapon
- in towns she is rather defenceless, since she can't call upon her magic, so she doesn't like visiting them

Her magic has a few focuses:
1 - harming, but only through blood - a creature must bleed for her to be able to utilise her gifts on it
2 - rites of death - she can't ressurect nor raise people, and would refuse even if she could - the beings such as shades, spirits, restless souls are commonplace in her belief system and treated with more respect then the living, greeted, negotiated with...
- a very limited gift of presenting a glimpse of Wolf-shepherd's underworld to living creatures, in an attempt to intimidate
3 - curing injuries sustained from weapons, in battle and dulling pain in others. Weapon injuries are the only ones she has any skill in fixing, mostly without magic and nothing miraculous - a necessary skill for a Nuaved.

All her powers are quite limited, due to the waning power of her Order and their beliefs. Chances are she can only use them properly in extermely magic-heavy surroundings and that the actual benefits are disappointing or quite modest otherwise.


Personality:
Mora is not a chirpy person - she has doubts over the beliefs of her order, which drive them to escalate conflicts, but in terms of herself lacking dedication, not the methods as such.

P.S. She scares me, but I never played a priestess or a char with a mindset like this, so

 

Hmm, sounds interesting - I might look at some Slavic mythology and see if I find a good idea. Does anyone know of a good site?

 

Shaman: Not really, sorry. Finding a reliable site has been a problem for me as well, so I ended up cross-referencing wikipedia and several more promising results of Google search, with a few books I had at home. At one point I was browsing ethnology journals of all things... Tbh, I intend to use various local and not-so-local fairytales I have at home, Larousse and similar encyclopaedias, as inspiration.


For the sake of clarity, everyone: The mythology connections invoked in this game can be as accurate, loose or non-existent as you want them, with broad poetic liberty. Five different beliefs associated with the same item in game world, from five different perspectives? - sure, why not. The main idea is that we have fun.

Also, start posting chars, people.

 

Well, I'll see what I can do after work. I'm thinking either a combat oriented character or a ranger/rogue of sorts (damn D&D for coloring my perpective ) . How is the game going to be organized - freeform or some other system?

 

Tbh, the only system I know for PbP is freeform (well, a lack of system), so I vote for that.
I think it will work alright - we'll have all the narative freedom we need.

 

Aidan the Slave, also known as Aidan the Bastard
He is twenty-seven years old, fairly tall, with dark black hair. He has a massive scar running across his face. He wears an iron torque around his neck and well worn traveling clothes.

Aidan comes from the Island of Manx. A fairly large island not far off the shores of the Great Western Ocean. Two tribes live on the island, the Bordruh and the Carhatha. They are usually in a state of bloody feuding, with frequent outbursts of war which keeps the population in check. After a particulary bloody war, the two tribes brokered a truce whereby Deirdre, the daughter of Cenlan, the chieftain of the Bordruh tribe, would marry Fergus, son of Seamach, the chieftain of the Carhatha tribe. The tribes came together not far from High Hill, a neutral site sacred to both tribes, to celebrate the marriage and the possibility of peace, at least for a generation.

Two days after the festivities began, and only hours before the wedding ceremony, Deirdre disappeared. Claims of kidnapping and renegging on a deal were thrown about by both sides, while everyone searched the island for Deirdre, to no avail. Three days later she returned, heavily in labor, and Aidan was born in the sight of the combined tribes. Deirdre claimed that she had been going for a small walk before the ceremony when hounds started chasing her through the forest. She climbed a tree to escape them, and was found by the King of the Forest, or the fairy king, and taken into his court where she was his closely guarded consort for almost a year. Not wanting her child to be born in the fairy world, she managed to escape back to Manx, only to find that less than a week had passed while she was away.

Some believed her story as the truth. Others thought that the King of the Forest would not stoop so low as to keep a mere chieftain's daughter, beautiful as she may be, for a concubine, and thus it must have been the devil in disguise, or maybe a demon or rogue fairy. Eineard the swineherd claimed that the child was his, and he had helped bind Deirdre's stomach to hide her pregnancy, but very few believed him, as he was hideously ugly and it was hard to believe that Deirdre would have fallen for him. Everyone agreed though that the child was not Fergus's, and Fergus would not take a spoiled bride, so the treaty was in jeopardy. After a secret meeting of the chieftains and the shamans, it was agreed that the truce would hold, provided that Deirdre be given up as a sacrifice and Aidan given to the Carhathas in perpetuity.

That very night Deirdre was burned in a wicker cage, along with seven of Cenlan's finest stallions, on top of the High Hill, and Aidan was fitted with the first of many iron torques to symbolize his bond. Mergaon, the Carhatha's shaman, took Aidan to raise, as he always had extra goats for milk and nobody else wanted to care for a burden that would not contribute to the tribe for several years. As soon as Aidan could walk the Carhathas started making the most of their servant. By the time he was seven it was clear that Aidan had a knack for just about any thing he was told to do, and he became a much desired commodity amongst the Carhathas. After Michath the smith killed Kelligh the cooper over whose turn it was to have Aidan's help for a week, Mergaon set up a rotation system where Aidan would spent a month with each tradesman, and a week with each farmer or herder, with Holy Days set aside for him to help Mergaon. This satisfied pretty much everybody, except of course for Aidan, but no one ever asked him what he thought about the deal, and Fergus's sons, who treated Aidan as their very own punching bag, sword target, and wrestling dummy, regardless of how much the bruises they inflicted on him hindered his work with the craftsmen the next day.

Thus by the time Aidan was nineteen he was pretty much a master of every trade and skill in the village, from smithing to fishing to reaping and sowing or foaling. He was also quite knowledgeable in healing and was even trusted to treat the sick and injured when Mergaon was away. The Carhathas often joked that he was a Jack of all trades, but mastered by all. He also had learned not only to take punishment from the chieftain's sons, but to dish it out as well. He hardly ever talked except when spoken to, and as far as any one knew, he had no friends.

Mergaon often wondered about Aidan, and possibly even suspected that there was more to him than he let on. What kept Aidan from going insane and killing everyone in the village were his dreams. His first dream memories were of walking in a forest with his mother. As he grew older he was introduced to the King of the Forest and the members of his court. There he was treated with respect and kindness, which made the dreary misery of his waking world tolerable. He often fantasied that his dream world was the real one and the waking world just a nightmare. As he grew older, his mother did not, nor did any one else in the dream world. By the time he was clearly older than his mother, he was thinking of her as a sister, rather than a mother.

When he was twenty-seven, Norse raiders invaded the island. A fierce battle repelled them, but Mergaon was killed and his unicorn horn tipped staff was stolen. Aidan tried to stop the Norsemen from taking it, but was brought down by an axe across his face. Ironically, what saved him from losing his head was the iron torque, as the axe blade was caught on it.

When he awoke a few days later, Fergus gave him the command to go and find Mergaon's staff, and bring it back to the Carhatha. Axel the fisher took Aidan across the water to the main land. He was well supplied with weapons and equipment, sword, dagger, axe, bow, healing herbs, and trekking gear, but he had really no idea where to start looking. The only real clue was that the Norseman who almost killed him had a bright red beard that he braided into three strands.

 

well i guess there hasn't been much enthusiasm about this yet, but I love to join in. I have been waiting awhile to come back to Roleplay corner, and a RP with scot is always fun, (sorry to the others, but i haven't rp'd with you guys yet.)

give me time to think up a char.

Cheers
Dal

 

Go for it Dalamar. With three characters, we could at least start something, and maybe some others would jump in. I've been waiting for some more action, so that it isn't just Loreseeker and I babbling back and forth. We've got Celtic and Slavic represented so far, who'll give us a Norse. (Not that you have to.)

 

Heh, had a good RP here with two people, back in years past. Wouldn't overly recommend it, but it can work.

 

Vidar Hálfdanarson, son of Hálfdan
Vidar is the third son of Hálfdan the blacksmith, and husband to a murdered wife, Unni Sturladóttir. Vidar and Unni were the newly arrived in a newly conquered Norse nation, North West of the Isle of Manx. Vidar and Unni were newly married, and she was bearing his child when men emerged from the shadows and burnt the new settlement to the ground. The Norse were fierce defenders but fear gripped their hearts, and slow was their charge. The men were driven off, but the damage was terrible. The settlement was beyond repair, earth was trampled, and crops ruined. Many left to find new land, some stayed, Vidar and Unni were among those who stayed.

Houses were rebuilt, though food was short, they'd last a winter. A wall was built, surrounding the now smaller village, but these men of shadow climbed like beasts. Silently they crept amongst the sleeping warriors, guards were stifled and hounds were killed. The small Norse huts had but one entrance, built strong and hardy, but the men blocked the doors. Fire was lit and homes set ablaze, screams echoed into the darkness. Some made it outside to be only cut down, children thrown into the blaze, and none were left alive. The destruction of the settlement was complete, the men of shadow retreated to whence they came, as the pools of blood shone with fire.
Vidar, the son of a blacksmith, knew metal and ore, a knowledge that saved his life. Him and two others, went off to search the surrounding hills for iron and bronze. It was night when Vidar saw the shadows.
The two others fled to other settlements, warning their fellows of death. Vidar Hálfdanarson, had an anvil and tools, iron does not burn like flesh. Iron he could wield and have his revenge. He spent two days, repairing weapons. His sword, once notched, was beaten fine with fury.
Vidar took his time, he made spears, knives, swords, axes, helm and shield. He would hunt them all, no matter how long it took, their blood would be spilt. He left with his broad sword, his mighty axe, his spear, his bear cloak, his helm, and the rage of Thor in his veins.

 

Promoting the thread to OoC

I thought we might use this thread as OoC, too.

The idea behind soul-hounds:
Huge, pitch black dogs encountered at night viewed as embodiment of restless spirits of the dead. In this case, Mora hopes that the speared Celt would appear in such form after his death and head off to hunt the trail of those his hatred is directed towards (presumably, the black clad men).

If you like this idea, I'm leaving it to you guys to decide where it goes.
Also, if you dislike anything about my posts (too long, for example) - scream - here or via PM.

For the rest of the world: If anyone feels like hopping onboard - do so.
The more, the merrier.

 

sounds like a cool idea, go for it.

sorry Scot i looked back and saw that they were gone except for darkened stains, and there i go rummaging through their corpses. I am not sure exactly what i am trying to make these men out to be, but still human. I was actually thinking like an Asian type deal from across the mountains to the west. But some kind of magic that makes them blend in and out of shadows.

 

ok sorry, i don't know what to put. i got lost with the dream world. are the rest of us in it? what is the dream world?

just a bit confused, and i don't want to start talking about something i haven't the foggiest about. haha

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Fairyland, a.k.a Aidan's dream world.
Keep your hands on the same gate side at all times, leave all iron/steel items at the door and enjoy the ride.
Time shifts optional.

Don't know about Vidar, Dal, but Mora is sure to folllow.
(I was waiting for your post but I'll hop in now if you don't mind)