Homebrew tabletop system- playtesters requested

[Master_Baerne]

Yay, more stuff! I think I'll improve my ability to bullshit convincingly - Not being able to do so almost got me killed, after all.

[Lord Relvenous]

I'll put my points into my Longsword skill.

[Vehrec]

Well THAT was pretty interesting.

I'm either going to dump my points into magic or perception, since I'm the only mage to date, and as I noted at character creation, he's a bit too oblivious for my tastes.

Maybe we should have someone bring in a cleric in the next batch...

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Lusankya said she would give it a go, and she was supposed to be playing a religious (sane) character- well, in normal for player character terms. The character concept had a lot going for her, I hope she does decide to get involved after all.

Where the points go; Top down, Vehrec- two XP into Perception raises it from the default to 8, another two points would put it up to 10, or on magic could raise Life to 16, raise your power by 1, or start a new skill at 4. Also under the power of Talents, apart from life, there is MA(Agility)- jumpy-jumpy abilities which Rav actually has, and later on you amy actually have to stop her from trying to teach you; Flora- or if you prefer, plant magic; Motion, which has a lot of potential uses; and Shape- whose primary civilian use is actually DIY, but which can also do fairly horrible things to people (there's no reason the shape someone is being twisted into has to be viable for life)- but the idea would appeal to me in your shoes, for one reason; imagine having an instrument in your hand that can more or less instantly be remoulded into the perfect shape for the medical procedure to hand. Your decision.

Relvenous- all of it? Really? That would take your skill up to 18, which is, well, more than good enough to deal, most of the time, with the majority of the people you come across. The average NPC knight or squire is only 15-17.

Baerne- Con up to 15, Persuasion up to 14?

Norade- followers, it did come up (just) and it is appropriate, so two per- they would get you Followers 2, a serjeant and five men at arms. Which leaves one point- Perception, up to 13?

[Norade]

That works for me.

[Master_Baerne]

Sounds like a plan.

In the next installment, weirdness will occur, methinks - Assuming that rocks don't fall and no one dies.

[Vehrec]

Where the points go; Top down, Vehrec- two XP into Perception raises it from the default to 8, another two points would put it up to 10, or on magic could raise Life to 16, raise your power by 1, or start a new skill at 4. Also under the power of Talents, apart from life, there is MA(Agility)- jumpy-jumpy abilities which Rav actually has, and later on you amy actually have to stop her from trying to teach you; Flora- or if you prefer, plant magic; Motion, which has a lot of potential uses; and Shape- whose primary civilian use is actually DIY, but which can also do fairly horrible things to people (there's no reason the shape someone is being twisted into has to be viable for life)- but the idea would appeal to me in your shoes, for one reason; imagine having an instrument in your hand that can more or less instantly be remoulded into the perfect shape for the medical procedure to hand. Your decision.

I suppose I never formally modded my stats to replace Geology with Perception, did I? Can I do that retroactively or...not?

On the subject of jumpy-jumpy...no. HELL NO. We will need to invent new colourful euphemisms for how bad of an idea that is. Shape, on the other hand, saves money not only by reforming tools for the patient, but saves money in the lab as well-do you know how expensive and rare custom lab glassware can be? I mean, distillation columns, huge flasks, test tubes, etc. This is a must have for my character, considering how good his e Flora might be useful, might not be, but all I can think of using it for is growing things out of season and kinky combat debuffs. Motion is so open, I don't know how to begin considering it.

[Lord Relvenous]

Hmm, fair enough. How bout an even split. 2 in Longsword, 2 in Flail.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Vehrec, yes- tinkering is allowed. Swapping those out means Rudolf will have perception 10 (with the two XP) instead of geology 8.

Now I'm trying to come up with circumstances where geology might actually be useful to a doctor; I'm not about to invent the Horta, and there are a very limited number of sentient hills... Shape for the other two points it is then.

Oh, wierdness will definitely occur. I'll be very disappointed if it doesn't, in fact. Story post in a bit.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Right, recovering from that moment of madness (the relevant dice has been fired), who goes where now?

We left Rudolf, Valette and Carlotta D'Cearach in mid- conspire, Safrac being run out of the temple district, essentially, de Andorra talking to a mad jester and a homicidal Amazon, so pretty much pick up where we left off.

Finally bringing the subject of the poison up, D'Cearach admits 'After all of this happened, I just felt...so empty, lost and destroyed- I thought about how many people must be feeling the same way, and when I had a chance to go shopping, I bought up all the powerful poisons that I could afford- and threw them into the city hall. Threw them into the lava where the city hall- where it used to be. Destroyed them. Some of them might have had some use, but not now, not right now, all I could think of was that I might be preventing two or three score suicides. It might have been a stupid thing but I,...my father was killed with poison, wasn't he?'


The krylanyan and the jester are old friends, that much is obvious; in fact dame Mathilde, the one who's basically wearing a liquid metal blob, introduced Eloisa to her fiance- who is now missing presumed dead. "she asked me to pick out the least worthless" is how the warrior woman puts it.

As a general note on the war goddess- sneaky plans and dirty tricks are her department. Huran the god of war is much more brutal and direct. Each of the gods has their own field fo divine magic with it's associated powers, and it's as good a yardstick as any. Valdemiron's includes 'Discipline', Extract truth', and 'Delegate' for instance, Huran's includes 'Fury', 'Fear' and 'Confusion', Krylanya's includes 'Deception', 'Mobility' and 'Sword and shield'- they're a dubious lot.

What is de Andorra saying to or asking of them?

[Norade]

Having learned something out of the ordeal does ease the sting of being forced to leave the temple district and it does give Safrac time to get the letter written and take a look over De Novara's information. So that in mind he heads back toward the inn in hopes of getting started on that. As he walks he thinks of how to best phrase the request for aid, and decides on asking for a small retinue as his investigation relies less on speed and more on proper contacts and the ability to deal with several things at once.

[Lord Relvenous]

De Andorra introduces himself formally to the krylanyan. No need to be rude. After the introductions, he asks Eloisa, "Who would I get in contact with to be hired as a temple guard? You said that their ranks need replenishing. Or maybe I could seek employment at a specific temple. Tell me, dear lady, is your temple in need of more protection?" This question is directed to the Krylanyan.

[Vehrec]

That was awkward. Randolf averted his eyes, but spoke anyways. "Yes. He and most of his household, a few kitchen servants being the only survivors, and one of them needed to have his hand amputated. Powerful does not begin to describe the poison that was used, so you will understand why your purchase was of interest to us even before this will came to light." Randolf glanced at her again and pressed on. "That being said. We have no clear motive for your father's death and you stand to inherit significantly, which may place you at risk now. I would recommend a bodyguard, if I knew any worth the coin. I have a feeling that when my earlier companion returns, we'll be able to inquire about that possibility, I have a feeling she might know a few people in that line of work."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

As Safrac wanders along Ridge Street, ignoring the insults and occasional objects thrown at him- many of the locals have feelings to vent but few if any have the courage to put actions to them- he spots four familiar faces and familiar colours, men of the Third of the Seventh- Third March Column, Seventh (Chevalier) Regiment- men of his own Lance, in fact.

This is where BattleTech borrowed the term from- from the historic usage, one knight and his retinue of squires, mounted and foot men at arms being referred to as a Lance, at least in western europe during the Hundred Years' War. There's no fixed organisation, whoever you can afford to pay and choose to bring. A Cataphract regiment consists entirely of regulars, and if this sounds like Tol Authran is simultaneously running two or three separate systems, you'd be right.

Safrac recognises Serjeant Parrol, who spots him without much difficulty. parrol would probabl never have made rank without serving under someone from off the beaten track- he's a martinet and a petty disciplinarian and something of a detail fanatic, unpopular but efficient. 'Ah, there you are Sir- we waited as long as we could for news, Rowel and Tomas ran relays, they'll be here in the next two days. We intercepted a dispatch I think you'll want to see.'


Mathilde is not best pleased to be addressed as 'dear lady'- 'We don't know each other that well yet.' She looks de Andorra up and down, thinks about it, says 'All right, come through to the inner courtyard, let's see if you're any good.'

more in the morning- Vehrec, I'll catch up with your bit then.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

'Inherit?' Carlotta D'Cearach looks a little like a frightened rabbit. 'If I was my own patient, I'd be recommending a quiet rest in the country, gods, my patients- two severe burn cases that are going to need to be looked after.

Actually, let's treat this as if it was a patient, that way I might be able to keep my head, make some sense of it- the diagnosis first, so what have I just inherited? I...' she looks at the will again, 'and why? My brothers wouldn't do this, they'd be angry but they'd talk first, not- he simply didn't have the kind of enemies who would do something like this. Not with poison.

At least, the man, the father I knew didn't, but to draw up something like this, to turn against the loyal sons and give everything to those who had broken with him...what had happened to him? Not, not death, before all of this? I think I need to see the rest of his papers.'


The temple of the war goddess is set slightly back from the rest, so it has more room to spread out; but it is embarrassingly intact. in fact they're seriously thinking of doing some damage to it themselves just so they blend in a little better- why they weren't hit harder is an interesting question they're not willing to discuss right now. de Andorra is led through the long galleries of the crossed swords, to an open bit of ground formed by a fence across the angle of the swords and the plus sign of the symbol.

'Right, flats of blades.' Mathilde says, and some of the metal flows off her body to form long swordblades extending from her hands. 'Consider this an interview- if you do well enough, you're in.'

There are spectators, male and female, and some of them are laughing- they know how good she is. She's wearing a figure- hugging mirror (yes, this is a magic item as if it wasn't bloody obvious)- that can be used to distract in any one of a dozen ways, and she actually goes fairly easy on de Andorra to start with- but the first couple of passes do not go well. Is there a plan?

[Lord Relvenous]

Well, it seems she took umbrage at "dear lady" didn't she. De Andorra just can't say anything right this week.

Well, de Andorra knows when he is facing an opponent that is dangerous. He assumes a more defensive posture that limits his counter-attacking abilities, but greatly increases his defense. He will wait for a mistake or overextending on her part before he makes anything more than a cursory attack. As well, he glances at the ground to see if there is any loose soil or anything. If there is, he will start to kick up a large amount of dust, hoping to dull the shine off the mirror.

[Norade]

Seeing a familiar, and friendly face, Safrac jogs over to his Serjeant and listens to the what his best man has to say before saying, "Parrol, as glad as I am to see you, let us move to the inn I'll be staying at, the climate in the streets here is far to toxic and full of ears to speak comfortably in. Leonard, Symond, and Walter, I'm not sure what lodgings we'll be able to find for you as I expect the inn will be rather full. I'd suggest find a place to lodge while Parrol and I speak, and when I get back we'll get down to business."

That said he starts to lead Parrol toward the inn.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Relvenous, hm...(lots of things with dice)- in the short term, that's a bad option. Its still daylight when de Andorra is, so she can ripple the mirror to flash the sun into his eyes and temporarily blind him; he can see his own reflection in it- she can do the funhouse mirror thing, rather more to the point it can shift in and out, hiding her own musculature- misleading him into being wrong about what move is coming next. Oh, and the blade can change shape and curvature. Curvature...yes, that's fairly seriously distracting too.

And entirely apart from the unfair advantages her kit gives her, she's bloody good. She's definitely a senior templar or paladin, she knows exactly how good she is, (between actual skill, occupation bonus, augments, kit, enchantments, advantages, etc, she's rolling against a thirty-two) and she can't really be expecting de Andorra to actually win. Just to do well enough, just to be seen to try. There are still at least half a dozen opportunities she could have used to gut him before she leaves anything that could be used as an opening.

She overextends herself trying something fancy- an over-the-shoulder shot, hitting de Andorra in the back from in front of him- and he nearly disarms her, or at least as far as is possible with those projected blades she's using, she stretches after it, he manages to get inside her guard and land a touch. It would have been a mutual hit, at best, though.

She steps back, and looks at de Andorra as if he's curdled. 'Borderline. You're better than that, your skills are good- but your tactics stink. I'm not convinced you have the temper, the cast of mind that we need. Why is it that you want to join us under the banner of the goddess?'


Norade, you end up at the inn- the three foot soldiers sticking rather closely; they've already had a few bricks thrown at them and they do not want to be sent off on their own where they can be ambushed and butchered, and possibly eaten.

de Novara's not there- urgent problem, a food riot on the west bank, left a note to ask that you come by his own town house this evening. Parrol hands you the document- it's a scroll, a numbered copy of a dispatch.

'Sent under wartime rules, multiple copies by multiple routes, we took the liberty of taking one of them on a longer route- we felt it was justified, sir.'

There are the usual flowery formalities at beginning and end, but the important part reads 'I'm sorry, Ger, this is the way it has to be- it's been up to the very highest levels, the ones that flap scaly wings at you and breathe fire. You're not going after them.

Forgive me for thinking that it's just as well; however that unruly mob of multiracial, multinational lunatics was put together, they seem to be damnably good at the business of killing people. You may be committed as disaster relief, but you are not to proceed after the Twentieth and attempt to bring them to battle.

Someone- who may or may not have taken leave of his senses, I couldn't possibly comment- at the political level thinks what they are doing is a legitimate grand- strategic move. What the hel ruining Army group South's reputation for peacemaking and peacekeeping is going to achieve, I couldn't tell you either. Maybe further evidence coming to light might help convince them it's not worth it.'

The document is addressed to Gericaut du Ferre, count and colonel, commander of the Third of the Seventh, from general Olbert Marais, military district commander.

[Norade]

Safrac isn't alarmed that his men choose to stick with him as opposed to finding shelter in a hostile city and, though he'd never admit it to them, he's glad to have some loyal men by his side. The letter comes as no shock at this point, after seeing what the enemy can to a city in an unheard of amount of time do he knows that fighting them now would simply be tossing men into a grinder. He knows however that, like all good fighting men, his retinue will be disappointed by the news.

Mustering up as much diplomacy as ever he says, "Trust me, no honor will be lost in rebuilding this city; the foe we were dispatched to follow and eventually fight isn't like what we've drilled for. Good horses, sturdy men, and strong wills won't win against magic and beasts..." He lets the words sink in a second before coming up on a bit lighter of a note, "But enough of that, we have jobs to do now. I have a letter to send back to our own lines and I'll need you to act as peacekeepers once we know where the peace needs keeping."

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

I was beginning to wonder where everybody had got to...

'I think I know someone who transferred to the Twentieth.' Parrol says. 'Do you remember the borderlander officer sent to inspect us, almost a year ago now, Sir? The scary one who claimed to be an exiled prince and could practically make his sword talk?

After the inspection he collected about a score of the column's worst head cases-' he mentions a few names, all troublemakers- 'not the bad soldiers, but the madmen a sensible man thought twice about turning his back on, the real enthusiasts.

Tried to convince us all to join a new unit, a proper fighting unit, blood and thunder and mayhem; he was looking for bloody handed men, without consciences, who could do whatever needed doing. Promised promotion and plunder and all sorts.

I have to admit I thought about it, Sir, but then I thought that even a set of stripes wouldn't be worth what it would be like serving with a bunch that thought it was a good idea. That was just before I got bumped up to serjeant and assigned to you, and I wonder if that was because I had the sense to tell him to shove it.

We circled the city once before heading in, and talked to a few people along the road,' Parrol informs Safrac. 'There are farmers' markets north and south of the city, securing and organising them- I don't know if so few of us can do it, but somebody has to.'

[Norade]

(No idea about the others but I haven't felt terribly creative the past few days, and I GM my D&D group Tuesdays so that tends to eat up a fair chunk of creativity and time.)

Listening to Parrol's story has the corners of Safrac's mouth turn up a bit for a few reasons, not the least of which is hearing the normally stuffy Serjeant tell a story. However as quickly as the mood to tell a small story came, it was gone and he was mentioning farmers markets and the need to secure them. Safrac thinks a moment before making up his mind.

"I think we can do some good at the market even if we aren't force enough to take them by ourselves," says Safrac as he takes out a sheet of parchment and a small vial of ink from a tube carried across the back of his belt.

Putting pen to paper and starting a proper report he continues, "Once this note is written, I'll make Trustin ready to ride and we'll head in nice and visible. We may catch some rocks along the way, but if we haven't been lynched yet I doubt we'll be attacked as a large and impressive group. Once we get there we'll try to talk them into some more sensible prices, then move to a bit more of a strong arm tactic. Does that seem like a plan to you Parrol?"

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

First of all, slight typo on my part- farmers' markets north and south of the city centre, that should be.

'It sounds like what needs to be done, Sir.' is about as far as he'll go.

The family that were in the stable have gone, but there are now two others, and one of the families has a quite attractive daughter that Symond is chatting up. She's going along with it, too.

Leave how that gets dealt with later- Parrol is intending to simply grab him by the back of the neck, point him towards his horse, and say something like 'Business first, trooper.'

You are attacked on the way; by a grief- maddened fool with no eye for the weapon he's using. There's an incoherent yell of rage from the first floor window of a stone built, tiled roof tenement, the words 'son' and 'murdered' might be in there somewhere, and a javelin comes streaking down- misses completely, and hits an innocent bystander on the other side of the street. In the knee, quite badly.

A few moments after that, a shocked- looking, grey- haired man appears in the tenement doorway; probably the man who threw the javelin- the injured man's mates are about to go for him.

Backtrack to that bit, too.

Getting to the market is easy enough; it is where it is because it's just off the Karvalheim Road, a wide, paved, obviously dwarvish highway that links the county capital to one of the county's larger towns. Low halls, pits in the ground that are entrances to underground storehouses, a few taller buildings- offices and administration.

It looks as if the problem is the opposite of what you were expecting; there's definitely trouble, but it doesnt seem to be coming from profiteering merchants. There are a small number of large men in green and russet coats, yeoman archers who seem to have slipped the bounds of discipline.

There are also immediately visible two hired swords in guild sashes who are lying face down with arrows through them, a well- dressed man hanging by his heels from one of the taller buildings, one of the stallholders with a broken face sitting there weeping in pain. The plan?


Relvenous, Vehrec, Baerne- where are you? Post when you can, please.

[Master_Baerne]

I'm here, I just don't have anything to add. This whole situation is leagues outside of Valette's normal area of operation; she figures her best bet is to look as non-threatening as possible and hope the elf won't stab her.

[Eleventh Century Remnant]

Believe it or not, the two halves of the party are actually converging on the same objective- with wiggles and wobbles along the way, but utimately, you do have separate pieces of the big picture. The documents Valette walked off with contain plot threads that matter; her secret contains threads that, well, eep.

I'd pictured her as being bolder than that; con- artistry, breaking and entering, living a double life, that takes a certain amount of nerve, I'd have thought.

Besides (bare pass on elvish culture- it's kind of obvious)- Rav is a svartalf, a dark elf. Looking meek and timid is a pretty certain way to make sure Rav does take a dislike to Valette- 'dangerous enough to be interesting', engaging with her, is a better survival option in general, and in specifics, remember that the doc (Vehrec) talked Rav out of stabbing Valette, and into 'let's see what you can do to prove that you're useful enough to spare'.

Besides, I'm superstitious- as a gamer. Sometimes dice just decide that something ought, or ought not, to happen. I expected Valette to have to be stealing the nails to prevent Safrac's crucifixion at this point, and look at what happened- boldness really does pay off, at least most of the time, and when it doesn't at least it usually leaves an interesting story.


General note on NPC's, incidentally; any fully statted up character will have some rerolls, but by and large I tend to let the dice fall where they may- limited to no character shielding. The corollary of that is that a character in a position of power or importance really ought to have the skills for the job- or at least the skills that got them into it.

This can sometimes result in numbers that look scarily big. Remember though, the PC's are growing faster than they are. Even when NPC's do get experience, they're not centre stage, they're not the main event, Destiny's spotlight is not upon them. Rooting through the files, I come up with two veteran player characters whose primary weapon skill is forty-eight. Both of them actually relatively well rounded, with social and magical skills in the twenties and thirties.

This is national hero level, these are characters who have bent the plot around them, this is the thousand miles that begins with the single step. What's to lose?

[Norade]

(Before I act do any of my men have ranged weapons of their own? I know that Safrac has a horse bow, but I'd like to know if there is any chance of us firing a volley and then charging the archers before they figure out what's going on.)