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1 year ago ::
Mar 18, 2012 - 4:41PM
#161
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Hey, namph! I've had a great time reading about Milkducks campaign, and I would more than enjoy reading about your adventures in the Raining City. I'm looking forward to your game this summer!
I'm actually looking forward to D&D Next. I think that every edition had some really awesome qualities, and every edition has truly awful design flaws. I don't expect Next to be any different, but if WotC is actively trying to incorporate the good bits into one unified whole, then I do expect it to be worth playing.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 27, 2012 - 11:48PM
#162
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Alright, contributors and fans of the Raining City, I'll be running a game set in this damp setting on Sunday. I'll post an account of the whole affair after, but until then, I've been thinking about the city's criminal element. Since the flooded levels of the city are by-and-large disregarded, I thought it would be cool yo introduce the thieves guild as "The Divers." Their MO is underwater infiltration and exfiltration. Thoughts?
I'm actually looking forward to D&D Next. I think that every edition had some really awesome qualities, and every edition has truly awful design flaws. I don't expect Next to be any different, but if WotC is actively trying to incorporate the good bits into one unified whole, then I do expect it to be worth playing.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 28, 2012 - 6:48AM
#163
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Date Joined:
Aug 28, 2011
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I like that idea a lot. It can lead to a lot of places and is a good mixup from the older generic thieves guilds of most games.
So then, how do they get about without drowning? I imagine that they are underwater for long periods of time and not often close to the surface. Or are they more of a dive in from one pier, swim under the bridge with the guard, and pick the lock on the story beneath the mansion while occasionaly coming up for breaths?
You may have already thought of a few ways to give them under-water breathing, but here are a few anyway:
Each team brings an enslaved air elemental with them as a portable air pocket.
Each new mwmber must participate in a blood ritual binding thier blood with that of a(n) elemental, demon, magical beast...
Old and reliable water-breathing potions. Not only do they make thier own and import potions, they are easily able to scavange these potions from the older layers and from about town (watch this one. It may make travel into the deeps of Strasa a little too cheap. However, if players are really eager to explore, this option is open from the get-go).
Something similar to Pirates of the Carribean where two people bring a boat or similar object filled with air down under and hold unto it while other members do thier thing. When they are running out of breath, they come back to the boat for a breather.
All diving specialists can naturaly breath underwater (genasi, heyegokai, half-elfs with thaliessan blood). Other members handle selling, buying, and other face interactions so as to not draw attention.
Hope this helps.
Also, as a side note, I have really enjoyed this thread. Its been a great pastime and a source of ideas. Thanks to everyone that posted.
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. -Revelation 21:6
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1 year ago ::
Apr 28, 2012 - 9:28AM
#164
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I'm picturing them as fully mundane humanoids with little to no magical assistance. They dive in, swim to the first or second level below the water line, proceed with ingress, and pilfer only what they know won't be ruined by the water. They sometimes work alone, keeping their take small, and sometimes work with teams and waterproofing equipment to handle larger or more delicate scores.
Their initiation includes a trial where a prospective recruit must pick as many locks as he can while holding his breath for at least five minutes underwater. Obviously, some candidates can't make time, and rarely a stubborn one comes along who doesn't think about coming up until it's too late.
I'm actually looking forward to D&D Next. I think that every edition had some really awesome qualities, and every edition has truly awful design flaws. I don't expect Next to be any different, but if WotC is actively trying to incorporate the good bits into one unified whole, then I do expect it to be worth playing.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 28, 2012 - 7:53PM
#165
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Date Joined:
Aug 28, 2011
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Hey ,you know, whatever floats your boat, magical or not.
How prominent are these thieves going to be? Big bads or occasional annoyances?
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. -Revelation 21:6
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1 year ago ::
Apr 28, 2012 - 8:41PM
#166
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I think on the spectrum of thieves, from the rank amateur (pickpocket) to the artiste (solo bored phantom), the Divers are the working professionals. They're the second story men, but it just so happens their second story is totally submerged.
I think it should be a small circle, maybe only a few dozen members.
I'm actually looking forward to D&D Next. I think that every edition had some really awesome qualities, and every edition has truly awful design flaws. I don't expect Next to be any different, but if WotC is actively trying to incorporate the good bits into one unified whole, then I do expect it to be worth playing.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 30, 2012 - 1:43PM
#167
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Well, that was a disaster. That's what I get for picking up someone elses story and for running a game with a rules lawyer who really just wanted to fight everything. Chasing thieves and a tragically self-aware golem couldn't save that train-wreck. I'm not even going to write it up. The shame is too great.
I'm actually looking forward to D&D Next. I think that every edition had some really awesome qualities, and every edition has truly awful design flaws. I don't expect Next to be any different, but if WotC is actively trying to incorporate the good bits into one unified whole, then I do expect it to be worth playing.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 26, 2012 - 3:05PM
#168
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Mine didn't even make it past the first session. We started and then nobody could show up. My shame is great because I would've loved to see this get going.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 6:08AM
#169
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Date Joined:
Jul 18, 2009
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Hey guys! Remember me? Our last game fell apart when I abdicated the "GM Throne", but now I'm starting up another game, and I want it set in the world of Strasa. Not in Strasa, specifically, but in a town or village near enough by that travel between the two places isn't uncommon. Some of my players from the last Strasa game will be players again, so I was thinking of throwing a spanner in the works and having this new story take place maybe a hundred years before the first game. Strasa will still be there, obviously, the Abiding One will still be lurking beneath the streets, and even Vhauglohrl will be present (she's defeated by the Raven Watch in the future, of course, but she can still be a thorn in this group's side).
I was even thinking of including Granger, the NPC bartender who ran the Brazen Foal tavern. I know it's set a hundred years in the past, but Granger was an adventurer himself; there's no reason why he can't be in possession of a magic ring that prevents him from aging, or be under the influence of life-preserving sorcery, or whatever. Maybe he's just a child in this new story, and the exploits of this new group are what inspire him to become an adventurer in the first place? Maybe one of my new players is a Fighter, and Granger is a local Man-At-Arms, who trains him to wield a sword a shield?
Either way, I think expanding on the world of Strasa is a good thing. I'd like the area where this new story takes place to be a few days away from the Raining City on horseback, so it's far enough away that it doesn't get mired in Strassan politics, but it's close enough that people from the village can go back and forth whenever they want (Strasa is a huge trading hub, after all, and a cultural mecca).
I'd like the town to be "small-ish", especially compared to Strasa, and have a completely different culture. Maybe inspired by the French? I like the name "Oliver" (pronounced "Olli-VARE", because it's French-ish).
Anyway, just wanted you guys to know I'm still around, and I'm still interested in fleshing out this world. Let me know what you think of my ideas, and if you've got anything to add, toss it my way for sure; you guys are always a huge source of inspiration for me.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 05, 2012 - 6:25PM
#170
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Date Joined:
Jul 18, 2009
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One of my players (a guy who did not play in the first Strasa game we ran) came over today to talk about character generation. I explained to him everything that had happened in the previous game, and he asked if it was okay for his character to be from Strasa. He likes the idea of being a mercenary who came to the nearby region of Verterre (where Oliver is located) after he was forced to leave Strasa.
We worked for a while on his character concept, and I think he's got a pretty cool story: basically, his character was a foreman in charge of the workers down in the aqueducts beneath Strasa. The longer he worked down there, the more and more he noticed that his workers were beginning to act ... oddly. Eventually, things got so strange that he was forced to do some independent investigation. Further and further down he went, surveying the natural cave tunnels that led down into the Underdark. That's when he began to lose his mind.
It was subtle, really. He didn't out-right go crazy, or anything like that. But he began ordering his teams to dig in odd directions, deeper and deeper. Water swept down these newly-created tunnels, creating a series of underground rivers. His character crawled down into the deepest pits, pickaxe in hand, and chipped away at ancient stone walls, as the whispers in his mind urged him to do. Eventually, he tore apart one final wall, and a wave of black water came rushing through. He was swept away in a current that nearly drowned him, deep in the cold, dark earth.
He had unleashed the Abiding One. Now it was free to rise up from the blackest seas of the Underdark, and lair beneath the Raining City of Strasa. Its mind brushed up against his, and he temporarily lost sanity. He swam for his life, and only managed to escape back to the surface by the slimmest of margins. He ran to the Council, to warn them, but when he arrived, he found that they were as cold and dark as the world he had just escaped.
They were already under the Abiding One's control.
They held his daughter before him, and told him to leave Strasa. Leave, and she would not be harmed.
And so, what choice did he have? He left. If he ever told anyone what had happened, she would be killed. And who would believe him, anyway? Did he even believe himself? Maybe he really was insane? Maybe it was all just an illusion, brought about by his time in the deep, dark world beneath Strasa.
At any rate, he left. And now he is a mercenary -- dead inside, and willing to fight for anyone with enough coin to fill his pockets.
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