DMZ

Highlander Clans (always open)

This...could be interesting. I am not sure how well I'd play a Highlander, knowing next to nothing about Scottish customs and clans, but certainly....interesting.

Forgotten Realms: Tales of the Dead

<Snipped quote by DMZ>

I'll be a bit busy during finals week, but I've had several games die and I've got loads of free time. I'll be around.

@El Taco Taco

Well, the character sheet is up!

Forgotten Realms: Tales of the Dead

@El Taco Taco @vietmyke OOC is online with a character sheet for your enjoyment. If you wish to start early or read more, now you can!

Forgotten Realms: Tales of the Dead

Here's is the OOC section for the Interest Checks located at:

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/78991-forgotten-realms-tales-of-the-dead/ooc

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/79479-forgotten-realms-tales-of-the-dead/ooc

I'll be using what is mostly a carbon copy of the OOC that was used in Path of Gold, as it supports all the features I need.

This RP is is drop-in, drop-out variant, meaning players may quit and join the RP even while it's in progress, in accordance with the GM (me). Still try to avoid this.

Don't be scared off by the size of the character sheet, I am merely trying to provide adequate information to start, thus avoiding the need for you to read up too much with other sources.

Create 1 character, but have an idea for a second one, in case your primary dies!

The Story

A wizard of moderate power has posted signs all over the town, recruiting adventures on a quest to 'challenge' a competing magic user, and he is willing to pay a small fortune for any brave and equipped enough to accompany him on his journey. The posters invite applicants to visit the wizard's tower if they wish to join him on this easy quest for a fair reward.

Your very own FR map: http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/images/faerunlarge.jpg

(I suggest you download this and mark it as we go)

What this Roleplay offers

Click me

- A non-dice based combat system, instead relying on objective and realistic thinking from the combatants
- Full character development, from the details of the character's hair to romances.
- Magic and items, custom created or existing within the FR realm.
- (Hopefully) a non-standard antagonist
- Player-controlled NPC's (Not all of them of course).
- Rich dialogue
- For the interested, some D&D books can be added and read free of charge, being my own copies.
- An extensive description of the surrounding world.

Now, I understand not all of the above are "features" if you must. Don't burn me on that.

What this Roleplay requires

Click me

- Serious players, since this RP will require some honest and objective thinking.
- This means no gods, MS and speed posters of course.
- Players with a sense of humour.
- Creative thinking.
- Good spelling. Not perfect, good.

What is handy to have

Click me

Preferable, not required:
- Familiarity with AD&D 2nd Ed and Forgotten Realms.
- A decent amount of neutrality.
- Perfect spelling
- Ability to write more than 10 sentences.

The Character Sheet

The big one!

Name:
Age:
Class:
Gender:
Length(preferably in meters):
Race:(Demon, Undead and such also go here. Most common races: Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Human, Half-Orc, Half-Elf, Tiefling, Fiend)
Racial benefits:
Appearance (descriptive or photo):

Stats:
STR(Strenght)
DEX(Dexterity)
CON(Constitution)
INT(Intelligence)
WIS(Wisdom)
CHR(Charisma)

Maximum is 18/25, minimum is 3

Spells:

Skills:(pick 3-10 most noticeable)

Abilities:(max 10, see Abilities)
Armour:
Weapons:
Items:
Gold: (Reference: 10000GP buys you a large mansion. 1 Gold Piece = 100 Silvers = 1000 Coppers)
Biography:

Classes

Mage: Magic user, nuff said. Can't cast with armour. Bad at healing.
Cleric: Healer/Buff with some offensive spells. Can cast with armour
Ranger: Woodland fighter, feels best in the nature. Can stealth and befriend animals among others.
Paladin: Holy fighter, dedicated to fight against evil. Some clerical spells.
Thief: A thief.
Sorcerer: Special kind of mage, does not memorise spells but draws from a pool of power.
Fighter: A plain fighter, customisable.
Bard: Jester and song-writer. Experienced traveller. Can cast spells, do some thievin and fight, though is not nearly as good as the dedicated versions. Songs inspire party.
Druid: Woodland Cleric. Can summon animals and control them. Can heal, though less effective as cleric. Spells revolve around nature.

- Combinations of these are of course possible(Max 3). I'll drop the exclusions in favour of gameplay.

Races

Most common races: Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Human, Half-Orc, Half-Elf, Tiefling, Fiend)

Racial benefits: These are fairly general, but some noticeable things are:

Elves excel at bows and long swords, and generally can hide in woods better. Due to their fragility they are more sensitive to magic and can stand less punishment. Average lenght and slim build.

Dwarves are very resilient and strong, able to resist poison and magic to some degree. Not very charismatic or agile. Usually short and stocky.

Halflings make good thieves because of their size and inherited abilities. Agile and fast. However, being small does have its drawbacks, as fighting is harder. Short and slim.

Humans are average, having no special bonuses or weaknesses

Half Orcs are very strong and usually large, making for good fighters, even if a bit less intelligent and charismatic.

Half-Elves inherit both the human and the elven part of their heritage. A bit more tender than humans they tend to have fewer elf weaknesses and strenghts.

Fiend: Magical or otherwise unusual beings that come from the planes and darker cornes of faerun. Adept at magic and fighting alike, however extremely vulnerable to both.

Tiefling: A mix between fiends and humans, inherit both the weaknesses and strenghts of both races, but to a lesser extent.

Undead: Have resistance to arrows and piercing attacks such as stabbing. Generally unaffected by normal magic. Weaknesses include crushing attacks(hammers, flails, spells that do such) and magic specifically customised for undead.

Demons: Powerful magic users with some combat abilities, but weak against paladins and clerical power. Magic customised for them also hurts them a lot. Minor demons only.

Any custom race is allowed, but be sure to balance it out if you want to have fun and explain a bit where it comes from!

Racial Benefits/Penalties

• E = Elf
• D = Dwarf
• H = Halfling
• U = Undead
• T = Tiefling
• F = Fiend
• DE = Demon
• HO = Half Orc
• HE = Half-Elf

Applied to the max of 18, so a +1 means soft maximum of 19, +2 = 20.
(Most characters start with max 18, 18 is extremely good/25 is godlike. Racial modifiers apply, if you don't know what those are see above list and below definitions. Using them is NOT required)

Racial modifiers:

STR(Strenght) (HO +2, E -1)
DEX(Dexterity) (E +2, HE +1, D -2, H +1, U -1)
CON(Constitution) (D +2, HO +1, E -2, U +2)
INT(Intelligence) (HO -2, F +2, T +1, DE +1,)
WIS(Wisdom) (HO -1, F +1, T -1, DE -1, U -1)
CHR(Charisma) (HO -1, D -2, H +1, U -2, DE +1)
Maximum is 25, minimum is 3.

Skills

Skills(use the 0-100 system. Again, same story as with ability scores, the higher these are, the harder I will make the game for you. Skills may range from stealth to anything that can be expressed this way. This includes languages and basic skills like climbing.)

Skill ranges(using lockpicking for example):
0 = non existant, can't use skill (0% chance)
25 = normal, can use average skill (40% of locks can be opened (example))
50 = Professional (60% of locks can be opened)
75 = Master (70% of locks can be opened)
90 = Magically enhanced Master (90% of locks can be opened)
100 = Impossible for most without epic magic (No lock can withstand)

With climbing this would for example be from unable to climb a fence (0), to being able to fly up a flat glass wall (100)
Language skill determines the proficiency in the language, from clear foreigner (10) to native (100) for example.
If you are an Elf for example, you automatically speak Elvish and thus your Elvish language score is automatically 100 and doesn't need to be mentioned. Same for Humans and Common, etc etc.

Spells

- Spells(for Clerics and Mages, Bards): You can use the FR spells or make up your own, provided they are not overpowered. Be creative! You can either use the dXX system, or the point system.

For the point system:
0 = Spell fails to hurt a fly
10 = Spell will hurt most creatures for a normal amount of damage.
20 = Seriously wounds a bear.
30 = Kills any smaller creature if hit, deals good damage otherwise.
40 = Usually kills humanoids, easily kills commoners and wildlife.
50 = Dangerous to most stronger foes like ogres.
60 = Will kill any normal sized creature and seriously hurt even undead.
70 = Potential to rip a house off the ground.
80-100 = Epic magic, will bring down heaven on earth and destroy cities.

Abilities

Make something up, combine existing or use the standard, up to you. (Short description as to what everything does. Limit of no more than 10 magical/divine, not all usable at the same time. This excludes languages, spells and basic abilities like jumping)

Armour

Armour(For armour you can use the AC system, ranging from 10 to -10, the latter being the best. Give me an impression how strong/good it is. If you can, use the full D&D system and give more detail. Give a little back story if it's a magical or special armor)

Without dex bonus:
AC of 10 is normal clothing, so basically no decent protection.
AC of 8 is a suit of Leather Armour (Hard leather), good for the occasional bite or scratch.
AC of 5 is a suit of Studded Leather(leather with metal studs), giving basic protection against attacks.
AC of 3 is chainmail, good protection vs swords
AC of 2 is Splint Mail, chain mail with some plating.
AC of 0 is Plate Mail, chest piece
AC of -2 is Full Plate Mail, giving excellent protection against missiles and weapons.
The rest down is magical armour of great power, usually also some kind of plate. -5 to -10 is an almost impenetrable armour which belongs in the "epic" category, and thus is limited.

This means that a magical +3 AC Leather Armour would be equal to a normal Studded Leather and so on and so on. For the purpose of gameplay you are not allowed to create magical armour and weapons beyond +5 AC/+5 damage

Weapons

Weapons(D&D system is a dice based, which is quite easy to learn, see below. Use that or the point based system, where damage ranges from 1(daggers) to 12(greatswords) + any number of magical attributes. A little backstory is nice.)

Miscellaneous

Items(Anything important, clothes, furnace, magical box of slippers, anything you think you need. Backstory optional.)

Biography(Self-explanatory. Put some effort in this.)

Anything else of importance....

Money and costs

Coins inside

These are amounts to give you a general idea of what costs are involved in the custom rulebook
1 Gold Piece = 100 Silvers = 1000 Coppers

Horses & Mounts

(Living creatures overall cost slightly less, exotics come in at a factor 2.5-3.0)
An excellent horse (think King's Stables) would be anywhere from 300 gold to 500 gold
A good horse(think guard horse, messenger) would cost at most 150, at least 50 gold
A normal horse (any horse merchant) would come in at 5 - 40 gold, depending on the inflation.
And of course, for your snappy needs a bad horse would be relatively cheap, coming in at 1 - 4 Gold.
Of course, these are prices for actually buying a horse to own, hire costs are slightly different.

Weapons

A top of the line axe used by gladiators and knights will cost you a pretty penny at 200-300 gold.
A reasonable price for a good axe made for combat, normally used by wealthy infantrymen and less wealthy knights is anywhere from 50 to a 100 gold coins.
A normal axe that has seen some decent craftsmanship is worth up to 10 gold, and a general minimum of 2 gold.
The low quality battle axe will bring in about 10 silvers into the merchant's pouch and may even be sold for as much as 5 silvers.
If you want to chop wood you can buy a regular axe from any merchant and it won't cost you much more than 10 coppers.

Magical weapons are not usually sold at stores, but if they are expect a heavy price increase up to 5x the original value. Yes, such a weapon may cost more than a house. Swords more expensive than cities have been sighted.

Missile Weapons

These deserve a separate section. Normal prices are about the same as weapon prices, but:
The most expensive bows available use original Cormanthor wood along with slight elven magic, making them extremely expensive (700 - 1500 gold). Even gold plating has nothing in this price range(600-1000)
Darts, Throwing Knives and the like are quite cheap in comparison, being traded for less than 5 coppers per stack of 10

Armour

A dwarven-made king's armour is the best in terms of protection(or so they say), and will bring about a hefty sum, from 700 to 2000 gold.
Richly engraved Knight armour is generally not less pricey and will change hands for 700 - 1500 gold
A city guard's armory is worth about 200 coins on average
A suit of mercenary plate armour will be made on request for about 150 coins.
The average leather armour of good quality is bound to be found for prices from 2 to 9 gold.
Low quality leather or perhaps bad quality plate can be your for as much as 50 silvers.
Armour that will protect a fly from your hand at most can be bought for a single silver.

Again, magical armour will be vastly more expensive.

Clothing

Silk and Gold-threaded suit, the very classy one: 100-200 Gold
Very comfortable clothing made from the finer fabric around: 50-100
Average clothing made out of good quality fabrics and with average craftmanship: 10-30
Adequate clothing for everyday life: 1-5
Low Quality clothing: 30-70 Silvers
A bunch of rags stitched together: 2-5 silvers

Shoewear

King's Boots: 100-150 Gold
Nobleman's Sleeks: 20-70
Knight's Pillars: 10-60
Guard's Support: 3-20
Merchant's Travelers: 30-90 Silvers
Citizen's Walkers: 10-15 Silvers
Worker's Steppers: 1-5 Silvers
Beggar's Flakes: ~2 coppers

Food and Drinks

Bread: 5 Coppers
Water: 1-10 Coppers, mostly free
Mug of Ale: 1 Silver
Vegetables(Markets, 1 kg): 5 coppers - 20 Silvers
Fruit(Markets, 1 kg): 9 coppers - 40 Silvers
Grain(Markets, 1 kg): 5 Coppers - 10 Silvers
Meat(M, 1 kg): 6-20 Silvers
Fish(M, 1 kg): 5-65 Silvers
Exotics: Regular price + 75-200 % (Not counting any factors such as city multipliers. Regular price is the regular price for the city.)

Resting and Entertainment

Night's Rest at respectable Inn: 10 silvers
Courtesan, average: 20-50 Silvers
A ticket to a local play: 10-100 Silvers
Hiring a local band of minstrels to play: Usually around 20 silvers per hour.
Ticket for Gladiator fights(large cities): 50-200 Silvers ( 50 silvers - 2 Gold)

Miscellanea

Paper, 1x1 sheet: 50 silvers
Fabric, 1x1 piece: 10 Silvers - 20 Gold, depending on material
Belts, Pouches, Sheaths: 20 - 40 Silvers
Needle and Thread(1 m thread): 5 coppers - 5 silvers (depending on quality and type of thread)
Bedroll: 30 Silvers
Tinderbox: 5 coppers
Leather packs: 2-20 silvers

Ammunition

Bolts, Arrows, stack of 50: 5 Coppers
Sling stones: 4 Coppers
Magical Elemental Arrows, Bolts and Bullets: 50 silvers/piece

Any price in here can be expressed in any kind of coin, be it silver, gold or copper. A 1000 Coppers is still equal to 1 gold, albeit more heavy.

FAQ

Hider

Q: I want to be a god of some sort, can I?
A: Unless exceptionally weak for a god, no. Let's keep it on the ground.

Q: How about undead and demons/angels?
A: Make your pick. Be sure to balance your character accordingly and expect some resistance in towns/cities.

Q: I got all 25's on my scores! I rule!
A: Your game will be significantly harder, since every single monster will attack you, random lightning will have more chance of hitting you, Drizzt might come around, cows can fall from the sky, etc etc.

Q: I got a spiffy M-16 and am a cyborg!
A: May Bhaal have mercy on ye. *dropkicks character to hell's smithy pits*
Findin ye olde musket might be an option.

Q: i got like a 1000 minions, muahahaha!
A: If you can feed and manage all of them, good luck. I'll be sure to kill off half of them before each battle.

Q: My special ability is call a demon, which destroys everything!
A: You first, then it disappears and the RP goes on.

Q: What if I don't want to die?
A: Depending on how the RP goes ya may have to. In that case you might be resurrected at a nearby temple, or we'll meet a new character somewhere along the storyline. Don't expect either to happen.

Q: Ooh, can i do an NPC?
A: You can, depending on who we meet and how much interest there is.

Q: I don't know D&D at ALL? Can I play?
A: Yes, it shouldn't be too hard for you to learn some stuff.

D&D damage mechanics:
It's a dice based system. For example:
A weapon does 1d4 damage. This means you roll one(1) dice with four(d4) sides. The minimum you can roll is 1, the maximum is 4. So the weapons deals between 1 and 4 damage without any bonuses, which usually just add to what you rolled.

Magical example:
2d4 +3
This time you roll two(2) dice with four(d4) sides, and add three to the roll. Minimum you can normally roll is 2 (2x1, snake eyes), maximum is 8(2x4). However, since there is a +3, the minimum/maximum rolls become 5 and 11 respectively.

Dices can have any number of sides, from 3 to a 100. For the purpose of weapons we'll stick to d4-d12. Spells also use the same principle.

Q: I want to read up on FR material. Where?
A: forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Q: How...?
A: Ask in the thread, think I've covered most there.

Forgotten Realms: Tales of the Dead

You've pretty much won my undying love and loyalty already. Forgotten Realms is the light of my life and skjkjakljs 2nd edition and Baldur's Gate and jdsljdklsd. Yes. Okay. I'm ten million percent on board with this.

@El Taco Taco

Do you have the time for this? I can deal with high turnover, but are you ready to dedicate a few hours a week for a few months to this?

Forgotten Realms: Tales of the Dead

Even in death, they still talk

What this RP offers:

• The world of the Forgotten Realms Faerun, augmented and expanded by you!
• A D&D esque experience for everyone
• A non-dice based combat system, instead relying on objective and realistic thinking from the combatants

What I want from you:

• Serious and objective thinking
• Humour
• Creativity
• Good spelling. Not perfect, good.

Handy player skills:

• Familiarity with AD&D 2nd Ed and Forgotten Realms.
• A decent amount of neutrality.
• Perfect spelling
• Ability to write more than 10 sentences.

The Setting

A wizard of moderate power has posted signs all over the town, recruiting adventures on a quest to 'challenge' a competing magic user, and he is willing to pay a small fortune for any brave and equipped enough to accompany him on his journey. The posters invite applicants to visit the wizard's tower if they wish to join him on this easy quest for a fair reward.

(Nothing out of the order here, but details will certainly be worked out in good order. Since the story will largely depend on what the party does, this could not even be a major plot in it!)

If all of this sounds interesting and you'd like to join, head over to the OOC:
http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/78997-forgotten-realms-tales-of-the-dead/ooc

Thanks to HeySeuss for a nice topic template
Picture credit: Boyko @digital-art-gallery

Ye olde OP for you readers

I've created an OOC which outlines the exact requirements and the exact character sheet for the roleplay, to help you decide if you wish to participate: http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/78997-forgotten-realms-tales-of-the-dead/ooc

Greetings folk,

I'm DMZ, and I've decided to start up another roleplay in one of my favourite worlds. I've ran a similar story on the old RPG, called 'Path of Gold', and sort of managed to finish it thanks to some very dedicated roleplayers at the time. So, it's time to do it again, since I don't see any topics that tickle this particular fancy.

The Setting
We'll start off in classic D&D fashion: somewhere in the world a group of adventures assembles for a mission, and hilarity(plus roleplay) ensues.

The world we're playing in will be the world of Drizzt Do'Urden, the world of Baldur's Gate, the world of Faerun, with all or most of its quirks and tricks. That does not mean there needs to be a strict adherence to the rules of the world, as I've always stuck with the mantra: 'if you can explain and play it, chances are you'll be allowed to'. The world functions merely as a backdrop, sparing me the need to create a full world with many languages, and allowing us to expand upon the world and its assets.

The Concept

As you've maybe noticed, the setting is straight out of D&D rulebooks. This doesn't mean you'll need to know D&D, far from it. The last RPG of this form I ran, Path of Gold, didn't require the players to know the basics of D&D, it simply required imagination, a good writing style and the willingness of participate. Think of the game as D&D light.

Our main focus is to have fun, explore the world, acquire treasures, fall in love, learn new magic, fight the battles, and so on. The standard D&D experience, without the requirement of having the knowledge.

I will be acting as the DM, helping you with the character sheet creation, controlling enemies and NPCs alike, and trying to provide you with a world worth exploring, with (hopefully) unlimited freedom to do what you like.

The story

A wizard of moderate power has posted signs all over the town, recruiting adventures on a quest to 'challenge' a competing magic user, and he is willing to pay a small fortune for any brave and equipped enough to accompany him on his journey. The posters invite applicants to visit the wizard's tower if they wish to join him on this easy quest for a fair reward.

(Nothing out of the order here, but details will certainly be worked out in good order. Since the story will largely depend on what the party does, this could not even be a major plot in it!)

What I want from you

- A respectable and somewhat mature attitude to things
- The capability to write good English (that meaning, spelling and grammar mistakes should be rare).
- An active imagination and lots of creativity(remember, we'll be creating spells, magic items and maybe even new races!)
- A lot of time to invest. This roleplay will take months, likely more, depending on player participation. If you don't have the time for it, don't apply. You'll be expected to post every week, multiple times.

What you _don't_ have to have

- D&D knowledge. This is very much D&D light, and I'll be handling most of the heavy work. If you wish to learn D&D or explore it on your own during the roleplay, that is fine, but you certainly shouldn't be worried about knowing the world, the magic system or the dice rolls. Any of these concerns will be addressed when we come to it.

- Perfect English. No, you don't have to have an English Major and perfect spelling and grammar to play. It's a welcome addition, but not a requirement.

- The ability to write X paragraphs. I have never been a fan of these, and as such I won't hold you to a minimum amount of words per post. However, understand that the more you write, the more everyone has to work with, so if your posts are frequently of the order of one or two sentences, this will be a problem.

To give you an idea of how the last RP went, these are the rules and requirements I set out. This RP will follow much the same principle:

- Serious players, since this RP will require some honest and objective thinking.
- This means no gods, MS and speed posters of course.
- Players with a sense of humour.
- Creative thinking.
- Good spelling. Not perfect, good.

Preferable, not required:
- Familiarity with AD&D 2nd Ed and Forgotten Realms.
- A decent amount of neutrality.
- Perfect spelling
- Ability to write more than 10 sentences.

Q: I want to be a god of some sort, can I?
A: Unless exceptionally weak for a god, no. Let's keep it on the ground.

Q: How about undead and demons/angels?
A: Make your pick. Be sure to balance your character accordingly and expect some resistance in towns/cities.

Q: I got all 25's on my scores! I rule!
A: Your game will be significantly harder, since every single monster will attack you, random lightning will have more chance of hitting you, Drizzt might come around, cows can fall from the sky, etc etc.

Q: I got a spiffy M-16 and am a cyborg!
A: May Bhaal have mercy on ye. *dropkicks character to hell's smithy pits*
Findin ye olde musket might be an option.

Q: i got like a 1000 minions, muahahaha!
A: If you can feed and manage all of them, good luck. I'll be sure to kill off half of them before each battle.

Q: My special ability is call a demon, which destroys everything!
A: You first, then it disappears and the RP goes on.

Q: What if I don't want to die?
A: Depending on how the RP goes ya may have to. In that case you might be resurrected at a nearby temple, or we'll meet a new character somewhere along the storyline. Don't expect either to happen.

Q: Ooh, can i do an NPC?
A: You can, depending on who we meet and how much interest there is.

Q: I don't know D&D at ALL? Can I play?
A: Yes, it shouldn't be too hard for you to learn some stuff.

D&D damage mechanics:
It's a dice based system. For example:
A weapon does 1d4 damage. This means you roll one(1) dice with four(d4) sides. The minimum you can roll is 1, the maximum is 4. So the weapons deals between 1 and 4 damage without any bonuses, which usually just add to what you rolled.

Magical example:
2d4 +3
This time you roll two(2) dice with four(d4) sides, and add three to the roll. Minimum you can normally roll is 2 (2x1, snake eyes), maximum is 8(2x4). However, since there is a +3, the minimum/maximum rolls become 5 and 11 respectively.

Dices can have any number of sides, from 3 to a 100. For the purpose of weapons we'll stick to d4-d12. Spells also use the same principle.

Q: I want to read up on FR material. Where?
A: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Q: How...?
A: Ask in the thread, think I've covered most there.

Looking for..... [seeking m for f]

Seems interesting, how are you looking at Fantasy?

RP Cravings (Most 18+)

I'm more of a fantasy guy myself, since I have literally 0 experience with SAO. How about that? (D&D fantasy worlds are something I prefer, but that's not a limitation by any means.)

Shattered & Scattered Shards of Sustenance

Looks fun. Can I use swords&magic?