Kassarock — Roleplayer Guild

Hey everyone, I know I said I was gonna wait a few days before coming to a decision, but I figured it would be better to say something than keep everyone in the dark and draw out the wait for another day or two.

I have made a list of people who will be accepted, provided they make the changes I specified in my review post.

Those who have been provisionally accepted are:
@POOHEAD189, @Jbcool, @Trivval, @Gunther, @Hero, @Westwall, @Patryk, @Mattchstick, and @Dziady.

Commiserations to:
@Iuniper, @Forgiveness, @KazAlkemi, @Aristo, and @LordofthePies.

To those of you who weren't accepted, I'm sorry that you didn't make the cut on this one, if you want specific answers as to why I did not pick your character, shoot a PM my way and I will explain my reasoning.

On the whole I was happy with most people's characters, and should a slot open up as we go along you will be the first people I will contact to fill it. At the end of the day it came down to how many people I felt I could GM comfortably, not that I thought anyone wasn't up to the calibre of the RP.

I thought this would be the better way to do this rather than keep everyone in suspense when I had already made up my own mind. I realise it might seem a bit of shitty thing to do, saying one thing then doing the other. That was not my intention, but I still feel pretty bad about that.

To those who have been accepted, feel free to move your characters over to the C.S tab once you have made the edits I have asked for.

Welcome aboard.

The BIG FEEDBACK POST is here:

General pointers for everyone:

A lot of people go over the three skill limit. Your skills don't limit what you can do (i.e. you can still ride a horse even if you don't have it as skill) but its the things that you are REALLY good at.
A lot of people haven't given their characters sufficient armour - in particular archers, and particularly people need helmets. Helmets are the most important piece of armour and if you don't wear one in battle I will make sure your character gets their skull staved in with a pollaxe.
A lot of people's personalities felt similar, especially the older mercs, a lot of 'kinda grim and serious and don't talk a lot but they have a sense of humour if you get to know them'. I get this is kind of a trope for older mercenaries, so I'm not particularly bothered about it, but if you have the exact same personality as another character that makes it a lot easier for me to decide which one I prefer...

There's probably a few more I'm forgetting, but oh well, onto the individual reviews:

@Mattchstick The first issue with your C.S. is that you only gave me a picture, when I said that written descriptions were mandatory. Other than this I do like this character, someone in the middle of their life, still optimistic and learning, but tempered by experience. I know I did say to keep something back in your history, but I think you went a little far with that. He's a peasant, who hunts, who doesn't like to talk about his family. Regardless of whether or not his family life was something you wanted to keep vague, there were areas you could have expanded upon - what was he doing in the time between leaving home and joining the Band? What were circumstances in which he joined the Band?

The other issue I have is with your equipment section. The longbow you've linked in there is extremely light draw weight, we're talking almost 4x that for a medieval war bow. I'd like for you to have a proper side arm, and a little more armour than just what I presume is supposed to be gambeson? I am unsure as to historicity of that quiver design, but I'll let it fly. 

In answer to your question, after 3 years of work with the band it is likely you could afford a horse. 

@KazAlkemi Overall I felt you were brief in pretty much all of your sections, the C.S. just needs to be fleshed out a little more to be in competition with some of the other submissions. But even though you were relatively brief, I still felt there was a bit of a contradiction in Kade's characterisation. You say that he is 'always listening to a situation, sizing it up before he jumps in to say his two cents.' But at the same time his weakness is that he is hot headed and says things and questions things in a way which gets him in trouble. Would someone that that listens to an evaluates situations as one of the core aspects of their personality have this as a weakness? I personally think this somewhat contradictory.

I wasn't sure what you meant by your third skill/ability - the one about having a modern look and blending in? Also, like Mattchstick, you need to give Kade a side arm and a helmet of some sort. 

@Forgiveness I took some issue with Kaine's backstory, namely the idea that they switched to crossbow after their bow was broken they couldn't afford to replace? Crossbows require more materials and have more complex assembly than most bows, I find it hard to believe that they could afford a crossbow, but couldn't afford having another bow stave carved. I also felt that your backstory has some elements very similar to the two previous C.S sheets.

I would like some more armour on your character, and I would like some more specificity in what type of crossbow you are using - is it a stirrup crossbow, a goats foot lever etc. 

@Gunther I like Baldric. Someone with some anger and alcohol issues is always a fun addition to the mix. The only real pointer that I have for you is to cut down on the number of abilities Baldy has to 3, you can still do other things, but these are your special qualities, the things you are better than most other people at. I would also consider perhaps having your character as the leader of lance rather than just a common infantry man considering their long history and relatively long tenure with the Band.

@Patryk I like the idea behind this character, although I feel the concept still needs a good bit of developing. I really like the personality section despite it being brief. Gerald is a green boy who uses bravado to hide his fears and insecurities, he has nativity which will contrast nicely with a lot of the older members. I feel this is a good character for some interesting sustained character interaction and growth.

Going forwards, what you need to do is flesh each section out a little more, in particular your appearance. The same issues with equipment that I have pointed out above also apply, you need more armour if you're going to be in the cavalry. Perhaps attaching your character as someone else's squire/serjeant would be a nice idea?

@Westwall Someone took up a non-combat role! Huzzar! I like Wulfric, has a different and interest backstory to a lot other characters and good reason for his taciturn nature. I would like you to add another paragraph to that personality, if someone were to speak to him would they find him to be like? I think it still needs something more. If you could also give me a written description of his appearance, and make it a little clearer just exactly what your three skills/abilities are that would be grand.

@Jbcool I have no pointers for Brádach 'The Piper' MacShana - I love this character lol

@Dziady I feel bad about this because the main issue I have with this character is something that you wouldn't/couldn't have known because I was talking about it in the Discord but not the thread. Essentially Taratio, Bordia and everything on that peninsula is a fictional equivalent of the Italian city states. I don't think the character fits with the location/culture you've grounded it in. Again, its not your fault, I really should finish the Wider World tab in the first post of the OOC...

If you want to keep the kinda eastern European vibe I'm getting from Berislav could move them to the mountains and forests on the border regions between Westar and Avaria? That could work. Or PM me and we'll work something out etc.

I'm going to forgive your lack of armour because you specified about your role as scout and you put it as your weakness. While I like this character, and I think it is well written and well thought out, ultimately I don't know if its going to be the right fit for this RP.

@Trivval Oh boy, oh boy I like this character. The mute NPC thing is a favourite concept of mine to play as I am sure I have already gushed about in the discord. As for Il Sposoletto, someone with a bit more of manipulative and devious side will be a welcome addition. I could see Il Sposoletto rising through the ranks quickly... perhaps to quartermaster considering his administrate talents...

The only pointer I have is to cut your skills down to three.

@POOHEAD189 Branimir Bradford will serve as a nice foil to Lem in many ways. More charismatic, honourable, and well bred than his fellow leftenant. I look forward to interacting with this character. The only pointer I have is to give him a helmet, he's a commander, he can afford one.

@Iuniper I am somewhat torn on this character. On the one hand I can see you have put a lot of work and effort into building up some Lore for Westar and making a extensive character history, but I feel that this is in conflict with the role you have given yourself in the Band. You were still in Neystead when Adalmar II died, so a month or so before we start the RP. How did you rise to become the company paymaster in that time? The paymaster is one of the most important roles, you are in charge of distributing pay and looking after the coffers of the Band. Why would the Band hand over the control of its funds to someone it barely knows? I am afraid I am going to completely veto your character being able to fulfil this role with their current history.

@Hero And last, but by no means least, we come to Sister Margaret - a character I am tempted to accept solely on the basis of what a breath of fresh air this has been after our assorted collection of grizzled mercs. This will vastly increase the variety of possible character interactions we can RP as a group. I really like that you've gone for something different on this, you get bonus points for doing so. 

I have no real pointers for this character, although I wonder why they decided to join the Band of Fools specifically? Why choose a mercenary company as her vehicle to do the work of the Blessed One? The only other thing is that you mention having a Cross? The religious symbol of clerisy is something I haven't thought about yet, why not come to discord and brainstorm with me?

Sorry if I seem a little harsh on there, but generally speaking everyone here has submitted a C.S. that (with the changes I have recommended) I would accept were it not for the sheer number of people who have applied. This is the main issue now. I was planning on having 8 slots including myself, but given the quantity and quality of the submissions I am considering increasing that number.

What I may to do is accept some of my favourites first and then discuss with them about who they think would be a good fit to round out the group. However, I will give everyone a day or so to make changes before I do this.

In other business:

@Aristo Sent me character by PM and I have responded on there.

I am still waiting on @LordofthePies for a character.

Is there anyone else still planning on sending me anything?

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