The Second Apocalypse

Miscellaneous Chatter => RPG Discussion => Topic started by: nicodante on August 22, 2017, 03:05:56 am

Title: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 22, 2017, 03:05:56 am
Has anyone here done any D&D style roleplaying set in Bakker's universe? I'm thinking of starting a campaign with some non-readers set a few years prior to TDTCB. Not sure what system to use... Please share thoughts and stories :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 22, 2017, 06:15:28 am
So far I'm thinking of a mandate initiate who has lost his primary mentor trying to lead a motley crew on a quest to find the heron spear...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 22, 2017, 06:16:36 am
Some initial character ideas:

Lunair Avarian - Neutral Good - 19 years old
Mandate Initiate - Nroni - Search for heron spear - Mentor killed - Gnostic magic-user
Your life was dull and hard, helping your father fish, until the Mandate school of sorcerors saw that you had the Mark.
Plucked from your former life and family, you were taken to Atyersus, to train as a Mandate sorceror. After learning the basics of sorcery and managing to cast simple wards and cants, you were taken to the depths of the fortress, to take part in the Grasping ceremony, touching the mummified heart of the Mandate's founder, Seswatha. Thereafter, you relive his terrifying memories of the Apocalypse in your dreams each night. You know the Consult seek to bring about a Second Apocalypse, and swear to do all in your power to stop them. You are given a mission to interrogate a Scylvendi
gladiator for any information on the possible whereabouts of the Heron Spear, which sruck down the No-God and ended the First Apocalypse, but was lost when the barbarian Scylvendi sacked Cenei. Your teacher Rimas falls from the ship and
drowns during the voyage to the Nansur Empire, leaving you to attempt to complete the mission alone before your target is killed in the arena.
 
Gin'jara Gix - Chaotic - 6000 years old
Nonman Ishroi - Warrior-knight - Chorae - no memories - nimil armour and sword
 
Zinka Talzi - Chaotic Neutral - 14 years old
Zeumi Witch - Izwazi magic-user - companion of Gin'jara
 
Noura urs Sindar - True Neutral - 25 years old
Scylvendi female -  Barbarian - Broadsword - prisoner/gladiator
You are unusal for a Scylvendi, as Scylvendi women are not usually part of their raiding parties. However your strength, ferocity, and martial prowess have allowed you to gain the status of a warrior. However on your first raid disaster strikes as your horse stumbles while fleeing a cohort of Nansur cavalry and you are taken prisoner. The only thing that stops you from being executed is the curiousity of your captors at seeing a female scylvendi warrior, and their knowledge of the price you'll fetch when sold to a gladiator master. You've killed five men so far in your
gladitorial career.
 
Zenif ab Fane -  - 30 years old
Kianene tracker - Rogue - Bow, dagger
Despite being Kianene you are able to pass for a Nansur when needed and have travelled in the Nansurium
 
Pirtei Joras - - 42 years old
Conriyan knight - Knight-Paladin - Chorae - Inrithi - disgraced/exiled - gladiator



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 22, 2017, 06:22:09 am
(As you can see I've started adding history/description text for my non-reader players)

Toying with making someone a secret skin-spy too...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: TaoHorror on August 23, 2017, 04:15:24 pm
Looks like you're putting some elbow grease into this, my friend - looks cool! I've not done anything like this, myself - playing D&D for 40 years I've "borrowed" a few concepts from PON, incorporated into my world, but really just re-purposed some names and have an "apocalypse" in the history, nothing else. In my apocalypse ( which I'm considering changing to "calamity" to avoid wholesale plagiarism - I guess it doesn't matter since only me and a few friends know of this, no commerce ), Tiamat has seized control of all dragons and embarks on a human extermination campaign. One of the few Chaotic Evil sorcerers helping them under the misunderstanding it's a campaign to dominate/rule the world, not exterminate it, finally figures out the true design and locates/awakens the Terrasque who then devours almost all of the dragons, slays Tiamat and then "leaves" for no apparent reason and is lost to history for 2800 years ... introduce, "the party" in which the campaign centers on a story which reveals mysteries of the past and the current catastrophe in the making ( which is not a resurrection of Tiamat, btw ).

Aligning it so closely to the PON story as you're doing seems daunting to me, but count me in to play if you're looking for players - seems cool! The trick will be to know when to deviate from the actual PON storyline, could get challenging enforcing consistency.
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 23, 2017, 05:24:29 pm
I'm planning to get 4 or 5 of my local friends involved, none of whom have read any of the books despite my proddings lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 23, 2017, 05:26:52 pm
I've been looking at some systems like openquest online but think I'm going to build things from the ground up for the most part and use basic D100 checks for combat etc - if anyone here wants to help create stat profiles for the characters or enemies and flesh out their backstories id be much appreciative :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 23, 2017, 05:28:37 pm
Playing with non-readers who know nothing will get very interesting when I make one of them a skin-spy or when they encounter a Dunyain - I'll have to come before them and win their hearts and minds ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Wilshire on August 23, 2017, 05:29:59 pm
nicodante, very cool. You too TaoHorror - 40 years? So long.

Playing with non-readers who know nothing will get very interesting when I make one of them a skin-spy or when they encounter a Dunyain - I'll have to come before them and win their hearts and minds ;)

Lol. awesome.
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 23, 2017, 05:32:17 pm
'Roll to escape'
*PC rolls a critical miss*
'The sranc use your corpse as a fleshlight'


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: TaoHorror on August 23, 2017, 05:54:00 pm
nicodante, very cool. You too TaoHorror - 40 years? So long.

Playing with non-readers who know nothing will get very interesting when I make one of them a skin-spy or when they encounter a Dunyain - I'll have to come before them and win their hearts and minds ;)

Lol. awesome.

Yeeeeeah ... I don't know whether to be embarrassed or proud  ???
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Wilshire on August 23, 2017, 07:56:42 pm
I mean you went this far. Own it ;) Pride is the only reasonable emotion in this situation I think.
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 23, 2017, 09:12:54 pm
Writing up spell descriptions ATM - so far have cirroi loom, surillic point, burning sparrows, dragonhead, cants of calling, summon demon... what others can you all remember? Might need to get creative with cishaurim sorceries...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Cynical Cat on August 24, 2017, 05:16:25 am
I've actually being cooking up some rules mods for Earwa for D&D.  The bug bit me and wouldn't let me go.  I wasn't going to post anything until I had polished it more, but better rules 6 months from now aren't going to do you any good so I'll post the rough stuff early.
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 24, 2017, 06:21:12 am
Nice, thanks! :) also need to do stat profiles for the common enemies and some NPCs - I have the below list:

Sranc/Ursranc
Wolf
Bear
Emwama
Scylvendi raider/blooded/many-Swazond
Bashrag
Wracu
Nansur columnary / generic soldier
Watchman (generic policeman)
Bandit
Pirate
Kianine outrider
Camel-rider kianene
Skin-spy
Minor ciphrang
Am I missing any?

Any Nonmen, greater demons or Inchoroi/synthese will be NPCs



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Cynical Cat on August 24, 2017, 06:26:23 am
You'll want veteran soldiers/knights/elite units/warrior thanes in there or as a template.  This is a setting with a lot of hard dudes, not that being hard will always save you when death comes swirling down.
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 24, 2017, 03:39:01 pm
Found a gnostic spell list in the wiki - need to remember what they all do though!

The Bar of Heaven - big fluorescent light :P
The Bisecting Planes of Mirseor
The Cant of Sideways Stepping - meta-gnosis cant of calling?
The Cants of Torment (Agonies)
The Cirroi Loom
The Compass of Noshainrau
The Cross of Arches - a ward?
The Ellipses of Thosolankis
The First Qûyan Fold
The Huiritic Ring
The Ishra Discursia - cant of calling
The Mathesis Pin
The Ninth Merotic
The Noviratic Spike
The Odaini Concussion Cant
The Scythe of Gotagga
The Seventh Qûyan Theorem
The Surrillic Cant of Illumination
The Thawa Ligatures - one of the agonies?
The Third Concentric
The Weära Comb


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 24, 2017, 03:42:21 pm
Anagogic spells:

The Dragonhead
The Houlari Twin-Tempests
The Iswazi Cant - an iswazi spell?
The Memkotic Furies
The Meppa Cataract (meppa? Cishaurim spell??)
The Portcullis - ward
The Ramparts of Ur - ward
The Uruborian Circle


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 24, 2017, 03:54:39 pm
The only cishaurim spells in the wiki are the Scourge and the Lash. No Iswazi spells...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Wilshire on August 24, 2017, 03:57:38 pm
There's a thread somewhere around here detailing spell lists I think.
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Madness on August 24, 2017, 04:10:06 pm
Indeed. (http://www.second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=2173.0)
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Wilshire on August 24, 2017, 04:51:34 pm
Yup thats the one. H's post has most of them in the thread, though one or two others might be listed.
Book/chapter references if you want to write up / extract a description :)
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 24, 2017, 09:52:38 pm
 Awesome, thanks guys :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 27, 2017, 03:07:47 pm
My prep is going pretty well :) one major thing I still have to decide on is whether to have a skinspy player in the game from the start... how would a GM manage such a thing? Setting up a secret messaging system?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 27, 2017, 03:34:39 pm
My campaign will be based around a search for the heron spear so it makes sense that a skin-spy will attempt to infiltrate it to retrieve the spear - I will approach one of my players before starting to get their acceptance of playing a secret traitor, but how to handle situations when he wants to do things without the others knowing??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Cynical Cat on August 27, 2017, 09:06:25 pm
It depends on how you're playing.  Online it's easy to send IMs but in the flesh it's a little trickier.  Make taking aside players for a few minutes and passing messages normal.  Give several other players minor side missions.  Take the Mandati aside and tell them what they dreamed of during the night.  You can't hide that there is secret communication going on, but you can hide its importance by burying it in a routine stream of information exchange.
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Fenris777 on August 27, 2017, 11:00:38 pm
Or make it an NPC. Lots of parties have that "nice guy, very quiet" healer type that no one really wants to play anyway. Not as cool as having it be a player though, which will be awesome if you can manage it.
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 28, 2017, 12:44:36 am
I'll be playing in person :) maybe I'll make my wife the skinspy, she's a sneaky one ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Cynical Cat on August 28, 2017, 03:34:10 am
I'll be playing in person :) maybe I'll make my wife the skinspy, she's a sneaky one ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It seems you have a solution.
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 30, 2017, 06:37:06 am
I still need a way to receive secret messages in-game though... I'll try the idea of hiding it admit other secret info :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: nicodante on August 30, 2017, 06:40:48 am
Also what voices/accents do you think characters from each race/nation/species should have? Kian should have middle-eastern, Zeum African, but not sure about  Nonmen (upper class British?), skylvendi (Klingon?), inrithi nations or sranc (Aussie? :) )


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Earwan roleplaying
Post by: Wilshire on January 12, 2018, 01:12:34 pm
Earwa game by redditor scrollbreak:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bakker/comments/7o0xjy/musings_on_making_a_very_small_video_game/