[OOC] The Snug Retreat

[97mg]

The Snug Retreat Hello everyone! Welcome to this cosy thread away from the wild winds and falling hail. This a place to chat, scheme and discuss things all manner of OOC. Feel free to ask questions, share ideas, plan moves and settle in. To start off I guess we should discuss people's character ideas, and once everyone has something cooking, we'll get to know each other! I'd love for every PC to have some kind of relationship with the others. This could be as simple as "knowing" each other's roles in the village, and their general personality, or it could extend to being much deeper... in the forms of strong bonds, friendships, previous romance, rivalry etc. Have fun with it!

[Vaynol]

Evening all, first in I think. I suspect that most in the village would know of Lili given she is the local entertainer and minstrel. Certainly Cheshire mentioned the possibility of playing the barmaid, if so then it’s very likely that her and Lili would know each other very well.

[97mg]

The barmaid and the entertainer having a close working/personal relationship sounds great! This is thus far looking like quite a chick-flick which is neat. Will be interesting to see if Noquarter19 continues the girlpower flavor, or mixes things up!

Vaynol did you want/need to secretly scheme Lili's actual heritage with me? Or would you like this to be something I can unravel for you during the course of the story, as a surprise? Seems like as a form of coping mechanism, she's created the story in her head about what her early memories should be. Would these include her parents at all? Just trying to plan who would have cared for her etc so perhaps I can give her a few more "trusted" NPCs to interact with

[Tyrtaeus]

Hey there, thanks for the invite to the game, I'm excited to be part of it, especially with Aeona, I've played her once before in a pathfinder game as a witch, which I quite enjoyed. She is a Gnomish Wizard of Divination because she takes inspiration from the stars, her background as a Sage: Astronomer which I thought would tie in nicely as flavor. She found her way to Cilsie after deciding one day that she was going to walk north and only stop when she found the edge of the world, which she doesn't believe she's found just yet, but she's found the wonderful little town just south of the edge and is going to do her best to endear herself to the locals and learn the ways of such an isolated peoples.
Kind of a force of personality, which might even be exacerbated by such cold temperatures and hardy living, she wears her heart on her sleeve and trusts very easily, a flaw and a strength.
As far as statistical info, she's very squishy with minimal combat skills, preferring to use illusions and whimsical spells instead of harmful ones.

As far as her connection to the village goes, I'm fine with starting as a complete stranger who just arrived, or jumping off from a point a couple of days/weeks/months in where people are aware of her, but she has not been assimilated into the fold as of yet

[97mg]

Tyrtaeus welcome! I'm hoping that this kind of story really works out to be a great place to enjoy characters of a more squishy variety As for your arrival date, how does around 3 weeks or so sound? Enough time to pass to allow you to know the important NPCs, and maybe have met most of the PCs too? Also just enough time for most of the locals to feel trusting of you, as Aeona might have been talk of the town for a while there hehe.

[97mg]

Hi team! It's great seeing some characters land in the Cilsie Folk repository

Everything and everyone looks great, so please feel free to nut into mechanics and sheets and things at your leisure.

I've posted up our first in-game post to help set the scene for you, but I'll keep it locked until everyone is ready to go and we've sorted out what you all think of each other

[Vaynol]

Originally Posted by 97mg

Vaynol did you want/need to secretly scheme Lili's actual heritage with me? Or would you like this to be something I can unravel for you during the course of the story, as a surprise? Seems like as a form of coping mechanism, she's created the story in her head about what her early memories should be. Would these include her parents at all? Just trying to plan who would have cared for her etc so perhaps I can give her a few more "trusted" NPCs to interact with

I’m cool either way, but this aspect of her background is something she has no knowledge of, save for the fact that she is looking for something in Cilsie, but she does not know what that something is. The parts of her memory that are obscured are her early life from before the point where she arrived in Cilsis and made a living for herself.

Where I was leaning towards with that angle is that something has happened to Lili that she has blocked out as a coping mechanism as you mentioned above. She would certainly have interacted with the NPC’s of the village but at the point she arrived she would have already been self-sufficient. She believes that somewhere in Cilsis there is a link to the parts of her memory that she cannot remember, and that is why she is still there, because of that undefinable something she hopes to find but does not know what it is.

Hope my ramblings make sense ….

[Tyrtaeus]

I'm trying to think of some character connections if anyone is interested:

• I think Wyl and Aeona could have been introduced when he saved her from dying of hypothermia in the wilds outside of Cilsie, so she would be very friendly with him for saving her life and follow him around like a puppy asking him questions about how to survive in the wilds. Wasteland Survival Guide by Moira Brown Aeona Brightcap.
• Aeona would feel ambivalent towards Kirra; she's tall and pretty and strong, whereas the Gnome is none of those things and would be jealous, but at the same time the barmaid is a woman she would look up to because of her natural charisma, her strength and talent with the violin
• I think Aeona would be drawn to Lili because of a shared interest in a connection to magic, and both seem to have an interest in something beyond the material plane. The two might discuss the stars and other arcane vagaries.
• Not sure about Snicker yet, but I'll be happy to discuss with everyone about ideas!

[Vaynol]

Lili’s thoughts and interactions with the others, happy to amend as necessary:

Wyl: Lili frequently pesters Wyl to take her on sojourns in and around the environs of Cilsie. Although he no doubt wonders what the purpose of said treks are Lili has not yet divulged the true purpose of her frequent explorations, mainly because she doesn’t really know herself what she is looking for. She respects the guide and his knowledge even as she teases him for his rather impressive beard.

Aeona: Aeona is Lili’s favourite talking companion when she is not singing at the Hunter’s Refuge. With their shared interests in things magical they often lose themselves in many many hours of conversation and before they know it night has turned into morning.

Kirra: A kindred spirit! The two of them know each other well as Kirra works as a barmaid at the same place that Lili frequently sings at. The two have so many common interests that it would be hard for them not to get along with each other and even, on occasion, have been known to duet with Kirra playing the violin as Lili sings.

Rana: Although they likely don’t know each other that well (to Lili Rana always seems to project an aura of friendly distance) Lili certainly recognises her honest nature and there is an aura of dependability and solidity from Rana that she finds comforting. That she looks up to and respects Rana is certainly true and there is also an element of wanting to know more and befriend her.

[97mg]

Love it! Vaynol your ramblings make perfect sense to me. I look forward to giving her things to chew on hehe.

These character thoughts on each other are very neat. I've popped them in a grid in the Characters thread, thank you so much!

If anyone needs special stuff to do with background features or subclasses just holler.

As for equipment, characters start the story with:
Everything granted by class and background.
A humble timber home (a little place for yourself, or a shared premises) in Cilsie.
A free fur coat, gloves and long boots (basically traveller's clothes that are weather-appropriate).

If you wish to trade out starting equipment for more customised goodies, we can take care of that IC, as you'll need to see what Lorgen's Protective Gear has available at any given time, and do a bit of haggling. You'll have plenty of downtime to shop, resupply and visit various places.

[Noquarter19]

Originally Posted by 97mg

This is thus far looking like quite a chick-flick which is neat. Will be interesting to see if Noquarter19 continues the girlpower flavor, or mixes things up!

I almost went back and started re-working Wyl as a female when I saw the game was turning into "Wyllie's Angels" but decided to stick with my first idea (and also I'd already picked out the AI image I liked and was too lazy to start over)

I'll have Wyl's thoughts on the other characters up in a bit, chugging along with the sheet for now. Good to see the free cold weather gear - AND a log cabin?! So spoiled! I'd be happy to have it be a shared premises with everyone if that was OK with people, but at that point it'd basically be a lodge, so I don’t know if that takes the concept of "humble timber home" too far. Either way, that's really neat. Building a cabin was actually on my list of goals so this is a real treat.

A97mg, anything special with regard to HP? I know some DMs say either roll or take the average and others let you take the average if the roll is low, just wondering what your thoughts are. I'm sure I'll have other questions but for now that's all I can think of.

[97mg]

Hi Noquarter19! I'm actually thrilled that you dropped something other than a female into the mix It's going to make a really interesting dynamic and have plenty of fun RP aspects to consider.

Oh, Hit Points! Folks, you are welcome to take averages after level 1, or roll... but there's a catch... if you roll, that's what you get, no turning back

If you'd all like to live in the same lodge, or some of you share a multi-room abode, that's totally fine! Many of you have been here all if not most of your lives, so through inheritance or just life-stuff it could have brought you under one roof. With a spare room perhaps, maybe once Aeona looked like she was going to be sticking around, she moved in too? Up to you folks! Won't effect the story too much, so whatever's fun.

As for building a cabin, maybe some work on an out of town alone-time escape could be something to consider? Maybe a man-cave for when you need some time out from the ladies

[Noquarter19]

Good to know. I took the average.

I'm looking through the list of beasts that Wyl would be likely to have seen and would be eligible for. I don’t think there’s anything too ridiculous on the list but obviously you get the final determination.

 

Badger, cat, deer, goat, rat, spider, weasel, giant rat, giant weasel, mastiff, mule, pony, boar, cow, draft horse, elk, giant badger, giant wolf spider, riding horse, wolf

There are certainly more options but they don't seem like they would exist in this climate.

[Snicker]

Hello everyone, and thanks for letting me into the game! I'm really excited to be here with you all.

Originally Posted by Tyrtaeus

I'm trying to think of some character connections if anyone is interested:

• Not sure about Snicker yet, but I'll be happy to discuss with everyone about ideas!

Rana's fairly reserved and probably doesn't make a strong up-front impression - she's someone you come to know over a long relationship, so she and Aeona likely don't have a strong grasp on each other yet. She's also a very practical and pragmatic woman with little interest in the abstract, so there might be a lack of common ground there, but Rana likes to be around passionate people so she'll absolutely listen to Aeona talk about her studies even if she doesn't get most of it.

Originally Posted by Vaynol

Lili’s thoughts and interactions with the others, happy to amend as necessary:

Rana: Although they likely don’t know each other that well (to Lili Rana always seems to project an aura of friendly distance) Lili certainly recognises her honest nature and there is an aura of dependability and solidity from Rana that she finds comforting. That she looks up to and respects Rana is certainly true and there is also an element of wanting to know more and befriend her.

Their relationship, I think, actually depends on how long Lili has been in Cilsie. If she's lived here her entire life, then even if she doesn't remember her parents or early life, then other villagers absolutely would. Did she come here from somewhere else, and if so, when?

As for the other characters:

• Wyl is pretty similar to Rana in a lot of ways. They're both handy, helpful, and outdoorsy types, though Rana is more comfortable with routine and doesn't have to help others the way Wyl does. While they probably understand each other and probably very effective when working together, they probably also have little use for each other since they rarely need each others' help.
• I'm not sure how Rana would feel about Kirra yet. I'm eager to see how Cheshire plays her so we can see how their personalities mesh.

Originally Posted by 97mg

If you'd all like to live in the same lodge, or some of you share a multi-room abode, that's totally fine! Many of you have been here all if not most of your lives, so through inheritance or just life-stuff it could have brought you under one roof. With a spare room perhaps, maybe once Aeona looked like she was going to be sticking around, she moved in too? Up to you folks! Won't effect the story too much, so whatever's fun.

I'd initially assumed Rana lived in a home with her family, but a communal home with several families (and other PCs) would be an interesting twist, and reinforce the theme of a small, tight-knit community.

[Vaynol]

Originally Posted by Snicker

Their relationship, I think, actually depends on how long Lili has been in Cilsie. If she's lived here her entire life, then even if she doesn't remember her parents or early life, then other villagers absolutely would. Did she come here from somewhere else, and if so, when?

Not her whole life but she has lived in Cilsie certainly I'd say for the last 8-9 years.