Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Jackdaw
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Jackdaw

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Welcome to Arann!

Let’s talk shop and jump into it. As mentioned, you can find our Discord Channel here, and the world map here. You’ll find that we lay our scene at Orzamar, which you may find by following the road from the dwarven city of Khazadram east, to the Eastern Gap in the Forgewall Mountains. This ancient place, once an orcish fortress, is now a bustling town, a trade hub and haven for all peoples traveling east and west along the Stone Road.

But who are you? You are adventurers, local folk who deal with goblins, orcs, and other monsters of the forests, protecting the locals and their livelihood in exchange for gold. You may come from the farthest reaches of Yvenlond, or the farm just down the way by Old Man Cobb’s mill, but what matters is that you are here, and you bear witness to the beginning of an epic saga.

That saga began yesterday, from your character’s perspective, though the dramatic importance of the event may have been lost on them. A hobgoblin herald, the self-proclaimed Voice of Vaul, the Great Khan of the Eastern Steppe, arrived at the gates of Orzamar and announced that in Vaul’s name, this city would be his. As fear spreads among the locals, and the local lords debate what steps to take next, however, the goblins have struck.

A trading caravan bound for Orzamar from Hillcross, to the west, was sacked by the greenskins, and a number of citizens of the Empire and the Underkingdom of Khazadram have been taken into the depths of the Great Forest. Tracking the movements of the goblins through the forest, you and your fellow adventurers have discovered their lair, an ancient priory of Gyaal hidden in the woods, lost long ago to the overgrowth of the forest.

What will you do next? The choice is yours.

Now, for a quick crash course on what this is all about…

Orzamar
Orzamar is a small, fortified town home to about eight hundred people, and sits squarely on the frontier of the Empire. Just under a hundred years ago, Orzamar was an orcish settlement, but during the last war against the orcs and hobgoblins of the east, the Iron Dwarves took Orzamar by force and routed them, banishing the greenskins across Forgewall and into the forests of the northern empire. The Iron Dwarves, far more accustomed to living under the earth than on its surface, ceded Orzamar to the Hill Dwarves of the Forgewall’s foothills, and Orzamar has since become a haven and trading post, home to many varied peoples.

The Great Eastern Forest, the greatest stretch of woods on the continent, teems with goblin tribes, which have harried and harassed the citizens of the empire for years. In your first foray into Lost Realms of Arann: Orzamar, you will find yourself squaring off against these local enemies, though there may be more to them than you might expect.

Now, let's talk about the races, religions, and languages of the world, just to give you sense of what this place is all about.

















As always in the Lost Realms of Arann, it's 27 Point Buy, First Level Characters, with max die health + CON at character creation. Use whatever character sheet format suits you, so long as it's accessible and readable.
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Jackdaw
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Combat House Rule: Initiative
One thing I've been mulling over is how to deal with the hopefully-not-inevitable disappearance of players. With a turn based system, a player dropping off the face of the earth in a play-by-post setting without informing the group can cause the game to grind to a halt (see Lost Realms of Arann: Northmarch). I very much hope we don't lose anyone, but to deal with that in the event we do, I'm instituting a house rule borrowed from Final Fantasy Games's Star Wars: Edge of the Empire role playing system.

When rolling for initiative, rather than players going in the order they roll, we will instead be using Player Slots. In essence, each player's initiative roll unlocks a Player Slot at that initiative value. There is no obligation for players to act on the Player Slot their initiative roll produced. So, to demonstrate, consider the following scenario.

A Fighter, a Wizard, and a Rogue are engaged in combat against the Voice of Vaul and his bodyguard. The Fighter, Wizard, and Rogue roll a 12, a 7, and an 18 on their initiative rolls, respectively, and the Voice of Vaul and his bodyguard roll a 13 and a 3, respectively. The order of combat is as follows:

18 - Player Slot
13 - Enemy Slot
12 - Player Slot
7 - Player Slot
3 - Enemy Slot

Any one of the players can choose to take that first initiative slot. Rather than the Rogue going first, the Wizard may choose to act during that first Player Slot instead, or the Fighter.

I'm not sure what the ramifications will be for the game with this system, so if it breaks it entirely I apologize, but I think this should combat the danger of the game grinding to a halt if someone leaves unexpectedly. Rather than waiting for that person to show up, we can have the fight continue smoothly.

Let me know if you have any comments or concerns on this house rule.




Torack has put forward another idea I rather like.

TorackToday at 4:05 PM
I remember this one system that was employed on the DnDBeyond forums similar to this, but essentially what would happen is that everyone rolled for initiative and posted in random order despite the initiative and the DM would summarize everything that happened after a single round


I would couple this with a time limit to post, say 48 or 72 hours, to be adjusted as needed. If you guys are quick and responsive, we can resolve things more quickly, if not we can take a longer window. The point would be that only people who have dropped out of the RP would be skipped.

I am open to either one, please post here with your vote, either Option 1 (Player Slots) or Option 2 (Torack's Simultaneous Resolution).
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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by rush99999
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Option 2
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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Torack
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I'm going for option 2!
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Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Cu Chulainn
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Since the first option makes things like readied actions awkward, I'll go with Option 2
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Lurking Krog
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I'll cast my vote towards option twi as well.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Oraculum
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I'll voice for option 2 as well.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Jackdaw
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Jackdaw

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I'll save us the time and fiat us into Option 2, actually. After further discussions, I think it's the better choice and will give us some flexibility and fix the need for me to be on hand to resolve every player's action after they take it. It'll be a much smoother experience for all of us, I think.

Thanks again to Tolack for the suggestions, I expect this will go over very nicely.

Also, general update (will be added to the Discord as well), we now have six characters. As soon as we round out enough for the two parties and you guys sort yourself out into two groups, I will post the encounter prompts. If we can get everyone's sheets up sooner than Sunday, I'm happy to kick the adventure off early.
Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by rush99999
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Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Flood
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Flood Cyber-Phantasy Knight

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Hey there, I was wondering if this was still open for application?
Hidden 5 yrs ago Post by Lurking Krog
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@floodtalon

As of right now our DM has not put anything in here or in the discord chat for several weeks now. I don't know if or when they will return to this game.
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