Hello.
Ive mainly hoped to use Battlegrounds to run Ars Magica, but Im unable to figure out if I can set up a Dice Macro for stress die rolls.
They require 1s rerolled, with the new result then being doubled, a further 1 requires a reroll with the result quadrupled, etc.
Any help much appreciated.
Neil
Greetings Mark
What is the status of Light of Andorra, do you have any openings?
Yeah, and we can use some help in reviving. It is mostly my fault (I drop balls all the time), and we/I are/am having difficulty reawakening after the forum collapse. It had gotten slow before that though. I am hoping for a player that is willing to run stories as well as characters. Full on troupe style.
I think we worked together on an Ars project. Many years ago. Grogs?
Just to let you know, I use the original Peter Henteges version of House Flambeau, and ToH-Iberia is cannon (ignoring Ken Cliffes parenthetical additions).
Yes, I worked on Grogs, it was the first book I wrote for with Atlas. I seemed to recall your name from writing, although it is mostly from Berklist and the Forum I remember you from.
Yes, I'm aware that you have opinions about Flambeau. I'll just need to read the source you mention, what is that, 3rd edition? Which book specifically defines House Flambeau, is it the Iberia sourcebook or anywhere else?
[Edit: I see the 4th ed "Houses of Hermes" from WotC had the Flambeau chapter written byPeter Henteges, I have that one both in pdf and in paper...somewhere. And I also have the ToH Iberia on pdf]
From what I could read from the first postings about Light of Andorra, it sounded like adventure, excitement and wild things. That sounds very promising.
While I have no PbP experience, I have many years of gaming experience, and SG a lot inArM as well as GM in other games/genres. I don't mind running stories, I just need to work out how things run in PbP. I'll also need to get a grasp of the saga, the history, the other characters, and the storylines.
Consider me intrigued.
I am looking for a game as well, after a fairly long pause. I used to be fairly active on these forums and participated in a number of PbP sagas here.
So I would be interested as well, although not sure I would have enough time to run stories for others.
Cheers,
Arthur
Tales of Power as well. And I fear I will never escape my Berklist reputation.
Iberia and Houses of Hermes are good source books. But as I said, ignore the parenthetical notes that scream (Infernal!). Do understand that I appreciate the culture and etcetera as presented in Societas. It is mainly the history and identity of Flambeau the Founder (aka Reculed Senecas) that I took issue with. In general, I do not favor the "scorched earth" approach to the lore in earlier editions. I also perceived that original material a bit differently than most I suppose. Whereas some saw bloodthirsty barbarians, I saw a warriors code of honor. Not the chivalry concepts from Societas as I find that to be a bit anachronistic. I wrote a piece in the second issue of Sub Rosa that explains my vision. The stuff I did for Faith & Flame was the closest I was able to get to restoring the old story in official cannon.
Grasping the saga as a whole is a Herculean task. It has a history of over 25 years, over a decade on the Forums and one previous collapse and revival. It is better to try and grasp the state of things as they are now. Said state is we are floundering. Or I am at least. There is no metaplot or master story arc. It has ever been a sandbox. The history is slightly mutable. I am always willing to retcon as fits the needs of the current dynamic. But we do have a wiki where most of this stuff got recorded.
http://andorra.wikidot.com/
The other player characters include...
Vibria of Flambeau: dragon blooded, hero of the Transylvanian Dragon Wars, mother of three (?), played by Peregrine of Bjornaer.
Fleur of Bonisagus: researcher, sybarite, pillar of consistency, played by Silveroak
Arachne Ex-Miscellanea: aka the spider, eldest player-character mage, Rustician, spymistress, dedicated to the security and preservation of the Covenant, Pontifix Secundus, played by The Fixer (though Fixer prefers to run stories and rarely is a player).
Roberto of Flambeau: veteran of the Shadow Wars, quintessential Flambeau, renunciate veteran of the Reconquista (when he was an apprentice), adventurer, played by Marko Markoko (me).
The rest are NPCs of undetermined status. Former PC magi.
And Carmen of Flambeau, the Pontifix Maxima. She was originally my character as a player, but I made her just an NPC so I could import Roberto in from another saga.
Oh! Guiverna, played by Peregrine. There is a covenant of "semi-dopplegangers" nearby. More like a "mirror universe" version. The version of Bellaquin I wrote up for Faith & Flame was based on Andorra Covenant. I made a story in this saga based on that. I had let players create the alternate versions of themselves. Of them all, only Guiverna stuck around in the saga. Vibria is descended from a fire breathing dragon, Guiverna is venomous.
It's all in the wiki. Somewhere.
Storylines are a work in progress. What is being kept? What to discard? What new ideas do we want?
The only active story is Dusk of the Flame, involving Robert and being run by Fixer (he does some really awesome slow-burn stories). I want to get something going for the other players, which I have been slow and lazy about. An ideal situation would be a circle, each of us running a story for another.
Really, all of this is a discussion that should be held by the Troupe. Just jump into the Forum and lets us start chatting about potential ideas in the General Tabletalk Thread
Everything I just wrote above in response to Christian. Jump into Table Talk and chat with us. As I said, we are (I am) having difficulties, but we are sorting it out.
It looks like I need to somehow "join" in some way, in order to post?
Same here.
In the old forums, members needed to add the "Player" rights to their account, but I can't find the equivalent on the new forums.
I would be a part of the peanut gallery to see how this game goes if I may
Is there room for one more to join ? I think I missed the opportunity to create a Flambeau, but I'd like to play a freshly gauntleted magus. I don't yet have a concept for it, just asking.
You did not miss out on anything. I know some players like niches, but I really don't understand it or much care for it.
My only worry is maybe disappointing you. We are sorta treading water trying to figure out how to proceed. You are welcome to join us, and I do hope that you reconsider a Flambeau mage (as it seems to be your initial idea). If you are willing to take a turn at running a story, you get extra appreciation points. Just letting you know our situation is a bit chaotic at the moment.
Yeah, don't worry about there being several magi Flambeau - if that's your idea go for it. The more the merrier, it can give great synergy and dramatic opportunities with several magi from the same House. They don't need to step on each other's toes, as they may not even have the same specialities. And they are definitely going to have different personalities and concepts.
About niches, I can anticipate problems if two players create characters with the same magical specialities, and one layer does it better, is more efficient in working within the system to design more optimized spells and use them for better effect.
But I see worse problems when a magus with a speciality finds himself undermined because another magus can learn and cast better spells with his secondary speciality.
And if one character invests heavily in one Form at character creation, but the library has a really good summa on it, and everybody else studies it and catches up really fast.
As long as it's coordinated anything can work IMHO.
I'm in the design process of a magus Flambeau from Hibernia, using the School of Apromor, or a variant rather.
My issue with niches and conflicts is the idea that somehow this is a competition. It is more about personality and acting. That is why I encourage different levels of experience. Create a challenge that you enjoy. I don't mind power or a little "imbalance". I don't care for min-maxing or munchkinism. In fact, I often suggest that players gimp their character in some minor way. As an example, Roberto was designed as a classic fire mage, but he hardly ever uses it. I don't think I have raised his Ignem score since Gauntlet. His true specialization is in Spells, and has garnered a wide and diverse collection of them. I don't think he has ever enchanted an item (beyond binding a Familiar). He has no Flaw or restriction. It has just never come up. Though about it, never got around to it. He has thrown opportunities away because, IRL, people don't optimize. I designed him to be played, not to study or "be best". He sorta lives "in the moment". And mind you, he does not originate in this saga. He started off in Novus Mane (run by Max), and made a (rough) transition to Bibracte (run by Jonathan Link). In that second game, I had to petition JL to letme make him a bit weaker. Not that I wanted to be weak, I just didn't want to distort him much. One of my favorite stories was one from this saga run by Trogdor, where he had his ass handed to him by a better spell caster and still won the day.
Do what is fun for you. Do not worry if someone is better or worse or the same. It hardly ever comes up, and if it does, I can make it work anyway. I have had situations where player A avoided being able to do "X" because they didn't want to infringe on player B who specialized in "X". But then player B disappears and we are stuck with no one able to do "X" at all. Obsessing over a niche is not beneficial to the longevity of the saga or the character.
Which is not to say don't find a niche. By no means. Everyone has their own style and swagger. Just don't obsess about it.
Wait, are you reviving the saga? I've been slow to get back online with the new forums, but just noticed the chatter.
I don't know that I have the mental stamina to figure out a new character, but I'd love to jump back into Andorra!
Awesome! My two favorite stories that I have taken the role of a player in this saga were those run by you and by Fixer. And I need all the storyguide help I can get! If you are willing.
Lucas of Mercere, right? I was thinking of making him the new Primus of Mercere. But I would rather put your parens in that role and put you in charge of the Mercere Quarter of the covenant. Which may put you in a hard spot with divided loyalty.Are you game for that?
Yes, Lucas.
I'm game to take whatever role in the covenant is best. Lucas obviously has a clear connection to House Mercere and there's always good story in conflicting loyalties. I will remind everyone that when the issue came up previously regarding Lucas' loyalty to the covenant, he declared that he was a member of the covenant first and a member of House Mercere second and that he would hold the good of the covenant as paramount -FWIW.
As for Primus, Lucas' parens (Talbot ex Mercere) is much older and more experienced and probably a better choice. If you recall, I set up some background for what I intended Lucas' parens to be:
A kindly and compassionate gentle-Gifted old Mercere magus who is parens to Lucas de Mercere.
He's incredibly humble and never pulls rank, even though he outranks a lot of people due to his hermetic age. He's utterly devoted to House Mercere, though he's kept out of the political side, being content to live in semi-retirement at Cunfin copying rare books and occasionally either crafting an item for a Redcap or a devising a longevity potion.
A master of Muto magic, he is the senior magus in the Milvi Antiquiti. Half a century ago, he was very active in there, and was instrumental in many of their endeavors.
His familiar is a white cat named Dexter.
As I wrote him up he was over a hundred and respected in the house, though he'd avoided major politics. He could easily have been forced by circumstances to take over as Primus. You can use what I've written about him or not as suits you. It's all on the wiki.
You have to rejoin the PbP groups somehow. Glad to have you back!