Dervish

The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/126247-the-elder-scrolls-rage-of-the-waves/ooc

Ladies and gents, your chariot awaits.

The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves (Advanced)

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/126247-the-elder-scrolls-rage-of-the-waves/ooc

Ladies and gents, your chariot awaits.

The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves

A @Dervish & @Leidenschaft Production

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I have done all I can.

My people are finished, the last refuge of the Snow Elves, doomed from the machinations of my son who consorted with the Prince of Rape in a misguided attempt at obtaining power, and a daughter who broke thousands of years of isolation to seek help from outsiders, outsiders whom destroyed our civilization in their heavy handed and ignorant attempts to help, as only the ignorance of the young races can.

I grow old, and without an heir; both my son and my daughter perished when Molag Bal’s minions stormed our gates. While the outsiders stopped it, the cost was too high; the magics that protected Auriel’s Harborage were destroyed, and the ocean began to reclaim the lands as its own. I harboured no illusions that the Snow Elves would one day have a resurgence, and for all my great power, and the gift of sight I possess, I saw no reality where the fate we suffered could have been avoided. We were always doomed; our isolation merely prolonged the inevitable.

It has been over six-hundred years since I took the crown from my dying father’s hands, and I will return myself to the waves now that my final task is done. I have given a gift, one beyond wealth or conceivable value, to a Pirate Lord and a Bandit King, two men who had such potential, mere shadows of what they could have been. I have given them both a blessing and curse, one that could drive lesser minds mad. I will not see what the effects are as my time in this world is at a close. I cannot bear to witness what has become of the remainder of my people, subjugated and treated as lesser curiosities of the younger races. The twilight of the snow elves has arrived, and I the last king of our people, go with it.

The gift I gave could save the world in the right hands, but I have no faith that any in this world are pure enough to do so. And so, I have bequeathed this gift to two of the greatest thieves of the lands that stole the future of our people. It seems an appropriate end of an era, and the rise of another dark chapter is this world’s history; hail to the thieves, long may they reign.

~ ~ ~

Art by Lucas Graciano

The year is 4E226 and Tamriel is once more enduring yet another great war between the Mede Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion. Great armies collide in Cyrodiil in a decade-long war, but the Empire is at a serious disadvantage; the only provinces it could call on for aid were Skyrim and High Rock, both of which have remained untouched by the Dominion forces. As the Dominion dismantles the Mede empire Legion by Legion, High Rock looks on, withholding forces for a potential invasion that may never come.

The Lords of High Rock in their high castle walls and their fiefdoms discuss what to do; it is clear the Empire may be finished, and those who speak of rushing to the Emperor’s aid are drowned out from the more pragmatic voices who wish to consolidate their rule amongst the Lords of High Rock, which is already a fractured land of Lords who aspire to be kings, pirates who fancy themselves a kingdom of their own, bandits who roam unchecked, and scheming houses who wish to rid themselves of hated families and rivals. It is a restless land on the brink of all-out war, decades of frustration and power struggles finally coming to a head.

Amongst these feuding houses and lords lay the common folk, many of whom are often caught up in the power struggles of their rulers and have been forced to deal with the rising bandit and pirate scourges on their own. Others become mercenaries, hiring their swords to the powers that be; others smell profit to be made. While the political intrigue of the titans of the land refuse to be ignored, ambitious souls without an old name seek to create their own by any means possible, be it through noble acts of chivalry and heroism, others pillage the land and prey off of the weak. If any claim to be unaffected by the turmoil, they or liars or simply waiting their turn for the chaos to roll over them.

In the town square of the minor hold of Meir Thorvale, ever cast in the shadow of the Wrothgarian Mountains, a group of prisoners are chained and knelt before a minor count, for a variety of crimes they may or may not have committed. While they await their sentences, the thundering sounds of hooves grows in the distance…

This is where your story begins.

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Welcome to The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves, the follow-up to The Elder Scrolls: Resurgence of the Frost. This story takes place twenty years after the conclusion of that one, and prior knowledge of that game’s events are not required! For those wishing to read up on that game, feel free to check out this link: The Elder Scrolls: Resurgence of the Frost

As mentioned, twenty years have passed since the rediscovery of the snow elves and the subsequent fall of their isolated refuge; the survivors have scattered across Tamriel, some ending up as nobles’ servants, others beggars, some even slaves, and everything in between. Given that these are still rare individuals and rather unknown to most of Tamriel, as well as the only people who know what their culture and civilization was actually like, they were remain an unplayable race, although your characters may come across them as NPCs over the course of this game.

Ultimately, they are a race that had remained hidden from the world since before the dwemer started to enslave the mainland snow elves, and in a desperate gamble to seek outside help against the machinations of the Winter Prince, the snow elves’ prince and heir to the throne who had consorted with Molag Bal to seek power that would save his people, and Vylenwen, the princess who broke her father’s commandments to seek help with the Empire. A betrayal occurred, and the goodwill of the Empire’s volunteers and brave Legionnaires’ goodwill mission ended up as a disaster that barely stopped the Winter Prince and began to destroy the magic seals that had kept Auriel’s Harborage from being claimed by the frozen arctic seas. In the aftermath, the Aldmeri Dominion has sought out these surviving Snow Elves to preserve their people and culture; after all, the Snow Elves are the Altmer’s close cousins and near descendants of the Aldmeri elves, from which the Dominion claims their name. For all the horrors and subjugation the Thalmor and Dominion have brought upon the world, they remain the last remaining hope of the Snow Elf people.

In the years since the fall of Auriel’s Harborage, the Dominion has launched an invasion against Cyrodiil, seeking to dismantle the Mede Empire once and for all and begin a new era of elf supremacy. To the North, High Queen Elisef sits with the Jagged Crown in Solitude and has assembled both the Legions and companies of hardened warriors of Nords and other races to assist Cyrodiil in its time of need. Skyrim's lands still feel the effects of the Civil War after a decade of fighting, but this latest invasion has so far left Skyrim untouched.

However, these lands are of little consequence to High Rock, which was caught off guard by the sudden ferocity of the Dominion invasion against Cyrodiil, and debates raged for years of whether to send more than volunteer companies to assist the High Rock Legions sent to aid Cyrodiil and the besieged Emperor Tactus Mede, seeing it as a lost cause and understanding the need to keep High Rock’s borders safe from invasion. Inspired by Hammerfell’s independent defiance and success in repelling Dominion occupation decades before have emboldened the High Lords of High Rock who for the first time since the days of Tiber Septim’s unification of Tamriel that began the Third Era, the Bretons are embracing the winds of independence, and the problems of Imperial City seem so far away; piracy and banditry run rampant and lords both great and small are becoming embattled in a power struggle that is becoming more and more public.

Art by TheMinttu on DeviantArt

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Things to note
- This takes place 27 years after the events of Skyrim

- The Empire had won the Civil War, Ulfric Stormcloak and his rebellion were crushed.

- The College of Winterhold is flourishing and possesses the Eye of Magnus.

- The Mage’s Guild in Cyrodiil was abolished after the Oblivion Crisis and hasn’t existed for some time.

- The Dark Brotherhood has been entirely eliminated; the Night Mother has been captured and destroyed by the Praetorians prior to the events of this RP.

- The Dovahkiin has disappeared from Skyrim following the end of the Civil War. He did not take sides despite criticisms and is rumored to have gone west to Hammerfell or High Rock.

- The Companions of Jorrvaskr are largely intact and still operating out of Whiterun. However, due to strict laws post-Civil War, the Companions seldom venture beyond Whiterun Hold, contributing to the seemingly unchecked banditry along the roads.

- The Fighters Guild is still maintaining a presence in Cyrodiil, although the invasion has severely limited their ability to act as chapters are disbanded when cities fall under Dominion occupation.

- Morag Tong is enjoying a resurgence of power after the destruction of the Dark Brotherhood, being the only professional assassin organization of its size in Tamriel. However, it still operates almost exclusively in Morrowind with the very seldom involvement outside of that province’s borders. Because of the void left in the underworld's economy on assassination, freelance assassins and smaller organizations have steadily increased in business outside of Morrowind.

- The Thieves Guild is alive and well in all parts of Tamriel, some chapters are doing better than others. The Skyrim Chapter of the Thieves Guild is the only exception to this, as the strict curfew laws put in place in former Stormcloak cities have effectively suppressed the Guild's capacity to take part in thievery. Meanwhile, the Cyrodiil Chapter is having unprecedented windfall from the chaos the war has unleashed.

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Art by Rayph on DeviantArt

Rules

RULES

I apologize in advance for the length of this list; it is comprehensive because of years of hard earned experience, and having these written in stone means ignorance is not an excuse for later. Most of the following is really common sense stuff and very few people will have a problem meeting these requirements.

1. No Godmodding or power gaming of any kind. We're telling a story, not having a competition to see who is the biggest badass. Not to say you can't do awesome things when it comes around time for combat, but know your limitations. This includes self-insert characters, backstories that are designed to give the character access to abilities, skills, and equipment that would be considered an unfair or overpowered advantage, autokilling NPCs during fights with virtually no effort put into it, taking on a room full of people single handedly, meta gaming, trying to have everyone treat your character like they’re something unique and special, your character knowing things they shouldn’t, et cetera. The goal here is believable characters.

2. The writing standard is typical Advanced. Read what you wrote over before you post, and ensure you have acceptable spelling and grammar. That said, I'm not a perfectionist, and mistakes are made by everyone. Just make an honest effort and we'll get along just fine. Posting expectations are at least 2 detailed paragraphs per post, probably more, within a two week period. If you think short paragraphs and single lines are the best thing in the world, than I direct you to the free section. Failure to post within the 14 day period without a notification of absence will result in your ejection from the game, no refunds.

3. No speed posting. This means give other people a chance to post before you do. There won't be a strict posting order, but if I notice the same two people posting back and forward in a short time span without giving others involved in that group or conversation or whatever a chance to reply, I will not be happy. That said, if you have two characters conversing with each other, feel free to reply steadily back and forward if things are going slow. Just keep in mind posting expectations and if serious actions are taken during those posting, others will have to be taken into consideration.

4. If you are going to be absent for any length of time, please let me know. I’m not going to kill of your character or kick you to the curb because stuff came up. Real life comes first, but that said, do try to be fairly active. Your character will be controlled by a GM until you return. If you vanish without word for more than 14 days, you will be removed from the game and your characters written off or killed. Consider this your only warning.

5. If you disagree with contents of someone's posts, don't turn the OOC into some horrible flame fest. We're all hopefully mature enough to settle disagreements through logical discourse. If things start to go into flame war territory, I will warn the players. Failure to STFU will lead to your banishment from this RP with nothing more than an angri faec to accompany you and your character being killed off brutally. Probably after through ogre rape.

6. If you want to do something, and you aren't sure, ask in the OOC so it can be discussed. Or, if you want it to be a surprise, PM the GMs. If it's a good idea, we'll work it into the plot. I like to encourage creativity and think that all good RPs involve ideas from all their players. Sometimes this leads to amazing subplots and character development.

7. If you have questions or ideas for events, PM the GMs. Your input will help keep you not only invested, but it’ll give the GMs more fuel to work with for upcoming encounters and plot lines in the RP.

8. If you feel the need to start a romance between characters, that's cool. This isn't exactly a rated role play, and it’s bound to happen. I personally like to graphically describe violence and swear quite a bit, but if you feel the need to indulge in smut, please take that stuff to PM. 4 pages of graphic sex isn't going to save the world; it'll just cause everyone else to feel really awkward and need a cold shower afterwards. It is known.

9. Gary and Mary Sues will have a Morag Tong contract put on them that they will never, ever escape from. Probably because their legs will be eaten by ice wraiths and their body horribly maimed by hordes of angry hornets before the assassin gets to you. He's a local, and his name is Joe. He will ruin your day, Mr. or Miss. I Have No Flaws and Everyone Loves Me. The GMs may choose to do background checks to find out if you’re reliable and generally write at an acceptable quality, so beware that even if your character sheet is outstanding, if either Shaft or myself discover you’re argumentative, write at an unacceptable level, go AWOL frequently, power game, and so on, there’s a good chance you WILL NOT be accepted.

Game Related Rules

1. Equipment limitations are as follows:

-Iron, steel, and leather: Very common and easy to come by and easy to afford. If your character possesses anything under these categories, you don’t need to justify having it.

-Elvish and Orcish: these are somewhat easy to come by, and both have their unique advantages. They both happen to be fairly expensive and aren’t nearly as common as the previous category. Elvish weapons tend to hold an edge better than steel and are very sharp, as well as being much lighter and more flexible than most metals. Orcish material is very hard, very durable, and very heavy. It’s more difficult to work with and shape, but once it will never fail and requires virtually no upkeep while not being quite as sharp or flexible as elvish works. Please explain how your character came to obtain these items somewhere in their backstory due to their uncommon nature.

-Dwemmer, or dwarven: This is relatively common in Skyrim, Morrowind, or Hammerfell if your character has been in the ruins. Most of their machines and defenses are still working, so chances are, your character is brave and tenacious if they got their hands on this stuff. Stores would sell limited stocks at pretty marked up prices considering how hard it is to obtain it.

-Ancient Nord: Really old weapons that somehow hold up over the years, they're crude and quite common in ancient nord temples, tombs, and ruins. The only problem is you usually have to deal with the drauger. And obviously, they're not nice zombie people. Stores wouldn't sell this stuff (it would be like going to a gun store and asking for a Brown Bess when there's the newest Remington rifle on sale).

-Solstheim Nordic Steel: Weapons made by the Skaal of Solstheim, it’s excellently crafted steel weaponry and armour of the highest caliber, but is quite rare to find outside of Solstheim, given its association with the Skaal.

-Stalhrim: A special, magic ice-crafted set of equipment that can only be forged by the greatest masters using techniques only known by the Skaal. Changes are, your character will have neither access to stalhrim, the equipment to mine it, or the knowledge to do anything with it. It is exceedingly rare stuff.

-Aleyid/Akavari: Similar to the ancient Nord weapons and gear, a long gone elvish civilization left behind a lot of Cyrodiilic ruins and the invaders from across the sea to the East in Akavar. However, no armour examples are known to exist and what little katanas they had left behind are extremely rare to come across. Please don’t write up a whole backstory of how your character obtained these because ‘lol, Japan is the best’. However, what examples remain are expertly crafted swords that have held up well over the years.

-Falmer and Forsworn: Both sets of weapons are crude but effective, and Falmer gear usually has poison chambers due to being constructed from Charrus chitin and other parts. Forsworn stuff is built out of raw materials from nature, much like how a native American would. You'd only ever obtain either by killing a Falmer or Forsworn, and even then, would you really want it?

-Glass and Ebony: Both of these are high-end, expensive, and extremely well made weapons and armour that you'd be lucky to ever find. Ebony gear originates in Morrowind, so it would be found among the rich and powerful there, and likewise, Glass gear comes from the Aldmari Dominion and is usually only found on their elite soldiers. While some examples find their way into Skyrim and Cyrodiil, it's very uncommon and you are a very attractive target for having them. Would you walk around with a rapper's amount of gold chains around your neck at night in a dark alley? Kind of the same thing. However, their quality is absolutely top-notch and while both weapons require a fair deal more upkeep than other materials (both incorporate types of glass in the construction in addition to metal), they are very desirable and dangerous. If your character possesses anything in this category, I would like a background justified and believable explanation for having it. I will not approve every CS that has glass and ebony in it because people think of it in video game statistic terms and therefore it will give them a competitive edge.

-Dragon: Dragons are all but extinct, and whatever remains are enslaved or in hiding. As such dragon scales and bone are extremely hard to come by. You can only find this in Skyrim, but as such, much of it has been confiscated by the Empire for archiving, equipping their own elite soldiers, or as museum pieces. It is extremely hard to work with dragon scales and bones, so even if someone obtained them, they'd have to be among the best to do anything with it. You very likely will never possess dragon materials.

-Daedric: The Oblivion crisis ended over 200 years ago, and as such, the presence of the daedra in Tamriel is so rare they may as well be myths to most people, and the few that do manage to cross dimensions certainly aren't going to hand it over. Even harder to obtain than dragon materials, a master smith would be hard pressed to find a daedra heart, and likely wouldn't know the process to create daedric metals and shape it into armour and weapons. You very much won't have possession of these, at all.

Any enchantments: Possible, but you'll need to find the soul gems to charge them. Also, they're expensive as hell if you're trying to buy them, and only talented mages know how to soul trap. Best become friends with an enchanter if you're poor. If your character is an enchanter, it looks like you may be popular. Keep your enchantments limited to the level of skill your character has in the skill section.

-Daedric artifacts: No. Just no.

2. You can only carry so much on your person at a time. Think of real life, are you going to be carrying a bow, a claymore, 3 daggers, a staff, 400 arrows, steel plate armour, just as many potions and scrolls, and every book out of the public library? Keep it reasonable, keep it realistic. Collecting loot should never be your goal. You should also specify how your character is carrying around most of their inventory.

3. No matter how strong, talented, and experienced your character is, you're still only mortal. If you're running into 15 bandits, your odds don't look good. A troll is going to be the fight of your life. Herd of mammoths? Run like hell. You sustain injuries; you may die if you encounter a situation that is suicidal.

4. Potions take time to work in most cases, so you're not going to get gutted by an axe and then look brand new by chugging Tamriel Energy Drink. It'll help your body mesh the wounds and heal you, and it takes time for it to eliminate poisons and disease. In short, be careful. On that note, chugging potion after potion isn't going to happen unless you happen to be a whale with the body mass to do so.

5. Scrolls take time to read, so if you're reading one in combat to cast something, make sure you have someone watching your ass and there isn't a group of Minotaurs looking to rip your arm off ten feet away.

6. Damage is realistic(ish), if you're hit by an ice spike or an arrow; you're going to need some serious medical attention if it hits something vital. But since this is Elder Scrolls, and potions work in ways that a platypus would say, "that's fucked up." People also aren’t going to die of an infection from a blade wound after three days of sickness or something. Point is, your character is mortal and will be taking wounds in combat.

7. Keep in mind that whatever weapons and armour you do have does not reflect how well your character is going to do in a fight or survive, so don’t doctor a CS around trying to make sure that they’re the best equipped person in the game so you have a combat advantage. There’s going to be badass bandits out there running around in fur armour and iron weapons who’ve killed more people than your character has ever met who will not care if your character is decked out in full ebony armour, a shield, and a long sword. He’s light and fast, you’re low and heavy, and experience trumps expensive weapons and armour almost every time. Try to give your character equipment that makes sense for who they are and what they’ve been through.

8. Weapons do not necessarily have to be what you find in the games, but follow it as a template. As such, things like spears, throwing knives, throwing axes, glaives, halberds, javelins, and flails are fair game, even if most of that didn’t appear in any of the Elder Scrolls games. However, that isn’t free reign to try to put something that is high-fantasy or just ridiculous into the game. Do try to keep things lore appropriate where possible, as well.

9. Keep in mind religious symbolism is limited to Aedra and Daedra. Please leave real-life stuff like crosses out of it. I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’ve seen it happen. As such, lore established divines and other deities are the only things that will be acknowledged.

10. Vampire and werewolf characters are a potential possibility, but this is similar to the weapon rules where it’s going to be based more around role playing than stats. People aren’t going to react well to finding out their companion could turn into a flesh hungry monster at any minute, and many of the religious, paranoid, or sensible types will likely try to kill them for it on the spot. If you do decide to go this route, your application will face higher levels of scrutiny than others because I need to make sure that you can actually properly role play somebody who is struggling to control their disease and accept that if it’s discovered, they face a very difficult road ahead.

10. If you are trying to omit something in your character sheet saying that it will ‘be revealed later in the RP’, I expect to be private messaged about it for approval, but chances are something like that will set off a red flag unless there’s a good reason for it. Since nobody’s meta gaming, I expect everything in the backstory section of the character sheet to be revealed there. Most of the time, this comes across as lazy and that you can’t be bothered to write something half-decent.

10. Finally, do not have relationships and name dropping canon characters from the video game series. This shrinks the world to an insane degree, and given how their fates and interactions go in the series, everyone has their own ideas of what's going on with them. Since this is over two decades after TES V and in the next province over, this should be a non-issue.

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Art by Rayph on DeviantArt

CHARACTER SHEET

Name: Character's name and any alias they may go by

Race: What race they are (Altmer, Argonian, Bosmer, Breton, Dunmer, Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orsimer, or Redguard.)

Family Origins: Where was your character born and raised? This may affect their cultural outlook. It can be anywhere in Tamriel, just bear in mind that, for example, a Cyrodiillic cosmopolitan orc will have a different culture and mentality than a Skyrim stronghold orc, or a Summerset Islands born and raised altmer may hold different values than one who was born and raised in Morrowind.

Appearance: A detailed description of what your character looks like and a picture or screenshot, if possible. Please, for the love of The Nine, no anime. The more people have to reference, the better if is for role playing purposes.

Age: How old your character is. Age brings wisdom, youth brings strength and energy. Keep in mind elves tend to have longer live spans than men and beast races. For instance, dunmer may end up having about 100 healthy, strong years before going into elderly twilight years where they will likely make it for another 20 to 30 years. Wood elves are likely similar, and Altmer may live for a few centuries.

Note: Dervish will happily make your character in Skyrim and take a screenshot for you if you are unable to do so yourself. It may take a bit of time, however. The better detailed the appearance, the closer he can get it.

Equipment: Weapons and armour. As you fill this out, ask yourself, if you were your character, would you be able to carry all of this stuff? More stuff= more encumbered. Less stuff= less encumbered, but less resources at your disposal.

Miscellaneous: Things like lock picks, food, smithing materials, scolls, potions. The weight thing applies as well. Doesn’t necessarily have to be things from the games.

NOTE: Please keep track of your inventory use!

Favored Skills: This section gets a bit more complicated. Using the main skills of the game (two handed, smithing, destruction, illusion, lock picking, pick pocketing, shield, et cetera) things are rated by proficiency. You may have 1 highly proficient skill, 3 moderately proficient skills, and 3 somewhat proficient skills. You may, however, move up a class at the expense of another skill of the level below it (e.g. you pick 1 highly proficient at the cost of 2 moderately proficient). Likewise, you can gain more skills if you downgrade a skill (1 moderately proficient becomes two somewhat proficient, for example).

Note: Skills from Oblivion and Morrowind are also fair game!

[SPECIAL NOTE FOR MAGES: For a quick understanding, Highly Proficient skills are equivalent of Expert level spells, Moderately Proficient is Adept level spells, and Somewhat Proficient is Apprentice level. Keep that in mind when playing your character and picking your proficiency. Please stick to spells you see in the games, but I’m not against combining some of them if it makes sense, but keep in mind your character would have to be exceptionally talented to do so. Run spell ideas by the GM if you aren’t sure for approval, but if you see it in the games, you should be okay.]

Crime Committed: What reason the Count of Meir Thorvale has incarcerated your character

Character Background: A decently descriptive backstory explaining who your character is and how they developed into the person they now are. You don't have to go too crazy, but a few well-written paragraphs would be nice. It gives us an idea of your ability as a writer.

Fighting Style: Explain how your character approaches combat and their particular skills and talents. This will help the group decide who is best suited to deal with particular situations.

Personality: Briefly explain what your character's personality is generally like, including quirks, faults, and so on. The goal is to make a believable person, not a Mary or Gary Sue. There's a special place in hell for those kinds of characters.

Font Colour: If you wish to use a font colour for your character's speech and thought, state the colour here so people know what everyone else intends to use during the game. Please actually state the colour name and/ or code, and not just do something like "This"

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CHARACTERS

Cedric 'The Elkman' Sykes, Breton-Reachman, the Hunter - Played by Dervish

Brynn Tiptoe, Breton-Reachman, the Sellsword - Played by Leidenschaft

Fiona Haylius, Imperial, the Retributionist - Played by Luminosity

Pharasius Finch, Imperial, the Vagabond - Played by Spoopy Scary

Gaela ‘Greenfingers’ Dunywyr, Breton, the Alchemist - Played by idlehands

Maulakanth 'Hand of Mauloch' gro-Urgak, Orc, the Exile - Played by Hank

Kiralla Lima, Breton-Redguard, the Scholar - Played by DearTrickster

Cyrendil Grayfhar, Altmer, the Vigilant - Played by ConstableWalrus

Valen Alveul, Dunmer, the Disgraced- Played by Hellis http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3638880

Nyssa, Breton-Reachman, the Witch - Played by Culluket http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3699520

RESERVE

Reserve player characters will be called into the story in the even of a player dropout

Mirabel Durant by Cayce http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/126247-the-elder-scrolls-rage-of-the-waves/ooc?page=3#post-3637460

In Memoriam

Berich Macer, Nord and Masquerading Imperial, the Tycoon - Played by Macro Slain by centaurs in King's Guard.

Faruq, Redguard, the Bone Knight - Played by Lo Pellegrino Slain by pirates in Camlorn.

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Art by gugutroll

NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS

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ONGOING GAME SUMMARY

The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves (Advanced)

<Snipped quote by Dervish>

Yeah, but that RP (and gcold's) became so big I couldn't follow everything on top of my other commitments. Now, I have more time, and I hope this stays a little smaller?

@Hank

Probably going to be accepting 6-8 characters this time around, probably about 8 in the case of the inevitable drop outs that occur the first month or two.

The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves (Advanced)

@Dervish Yep sounds good, I love a good ol' ragtag bunch of adventurers with unclear goals and good hearts story.

You have my allegiance.

@Dynamo Frokane

We will be the raggiest of tags, good sir.

Formaroth: Battle for the Throne

I see the rules have taken great inspiration from Dervish's style...

I approve.

@Sundered Echo

<Snipped quote by Sundered Echo>

Yes :D!

Derv's and I talked a while back, and I told him that I may commandeer his rules and other formats.

I'm glad you approve!

@MacabreFox

How is it I look at this thread on a whim and immediately see my name.

I'm famous or something.

The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves

Awesome! Between both interest checks, that's enough to launch the OOC, expect that in a couple hours.

interested

@Leidenschaft

Oh, great. This guy.

The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves (Advanced)

I'm interested, is this a fellowship story? Or will the characters break off and their own thing sandbox style?

Also will there be a level up system? Or some sort of progression?

Looks very detailed overall though.

@Dynamo Frokane

Largely, the group will stay in the same town or city but will likely split up from time to time, depending on what's going on, so it's going to be a fellowship type RP, as you put it, that focuses on player agency and consequences. We can tell a much more cohesive narrative and make much more engaging situations if we just have to focus on a few local instances rather than trying to accomodate people who feel the mighty need to mosey off to Argonia for some reason while others want to go become Alinor terrorists.

The OOC will have a lot more for you to read so brew pot of skooma coffee before that happens.

What's this?

@gcold

It might be a roleplay or it might be a cleverly disguised permission form for the KGB to do terrible things to your body.

Feel like tossin' that coin, stranger?

Once every 14 days? I can manage that now that I've cleared my schedule a bit. Interested, if you'll still have me... after everything.

@Hank

Mass Effect was every 14 days, too! If you feel up for it, I'd be happy to have you back. Just try not to make me make another ambiguous and heart wrenching departure for your character. ;)

The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves

I am interested, you delightful dervish devil.

@DearTrickster

I love when you alliteration at me. <3

The Elder Scrolls: Rage of the Waves

Will you intend on there being a sort of tabletop-esque style of stat-keeping to maintain a fair balance? Like the Oblivion type of stats and skills, as it also helps to illustrate what our individual characters are capable of.

@Spoopy Scary

I've toyed with the idea before, but I decided that overall in the past 4 years I've run games, players are pretty good about writing out narrative combat scenes without tabletop mechanics, and ultimately I like to keep focused on the story and character development with combat mainly being an affair where the players largely exercise their judgement for what their characters are capable of, as well as reacting to GM counter responses.

A generic scene would go something like this (obviously with zero detail),

Bob decides to attack one of the 7 bandits with his sword, and because he's a former soldier, the player easily overpowers the mook and moves onto the next one.

However, John is a street orphan who's used to cutting open coin purses instead of fighting men twice his size, so out of desperation, his character lunges and gets a lucky strike against his bandit, but ends up hurting himself somewhat in the skirmish. He is wounded and needs help, which leads to

Suzy, who is an accomplished restoration mage because of her time in the temples, she's avoiding the fight, and fortunately there's others who are taking the bandits' concentration while she hurries to help John.

Then I, as a GM, write the surviving bandit responses and they act accordingly. A couple go for Bob and are angry at them killing their friends, but one of them sees easy pickings and goes for Suzy and John, and they have to react to him bringing an axe down on them.

Really oversimplified, and obviously it changes from situation to situation, but as long as players think of it as telling a story more so than trying to win a game, it works out pretty well most of the time! I'll mention when the enemy is something big or important (say, a group of trolls, a famed swordsman, a major antagonist, and so on so forth,) and in those cases, the GMs will be reacting as if those enemies are player characters of their own so they aren't insta-killed in a single post. However, small nameless foes? Feel free to dispatch them as you see fit! Just make sure you know your characters limitations; we're not going to have one guy take on 5 bad guys at once and come out unharmed, for instance, or a brave idiot chasing down a giant and not expecting to be joining the Tamriel Space Program right away.