This thread is to cover some expectations and method for this game which may differ from player's standard assumptions, to make it easier to proceed without repeated discussions about or around these topics:
troupe composition: in a traditional game there is a central covenant where people may have multiple characters. A typical game has multiple mages gathering together en masse while the secondary characters are generally left as NPCs or operated by a single player who has tagged along while their mage has done something else.
This game covers a very wide area and nobody is expected to have a magus in every game. Use grogs and companions to be involved with each other, and there will be some adventures which do involve multiple magi, but as a general rule one or two main characters per adventure not only makes more sense in the setting, but also prevents the game from getting bogged down due to real life issues for one player- grogs can sit quietly in the background without affecting the flow of the game.
Flow of the game: if Real Life issues hit, let us know if possible, and you have options- you can place your characters under someone else's control, or the games can sit suspended until you can come back to them. If it takes several years game time then that character will have been discovered to have been too busy to be involved in adventures for the missing time. grogs and companions can fade into the background to allow those games to continue.
Player conflict- you may make characters which oppose another players character, just not enemies of other people's characters. The main difference is characters who oppose each other have conflicting goals, while character who are enemies seek to ruin each other. The closest you should come to actual enemies would be a Verditius feud or Tytalus beloved enemy.
Character death- this may come as a part of the course of a game, by unlucky die roll or unfortunate event, or by a bad (or noble) decision on the part of the character. Smart characters will make their wills if they have resources worth bequeathing. These events are impersonal, and making new characters that fit into the story line at the time are always appropriate.
Character retirement- if you find you do not want to continue running a character due to the way things have gone- how they developed or the circumstances they find themselves in, let the SG know, we will turn the character into an NPC and you may create a replacement character as if they had died.
Free will: Many games have a pre-written plot where characters are herded through and the roleplaying is in the characterization. This game is more of a simulation- while the world in general has a pre-written plot through 1220, the actions of the characters will have an impact on events, both local tot hem and increasingly on a global scale- actions taken in 1204 may well result in changes to what will result in 1221. Most importantly you have the freedom to start your own side quests and stories, even in the middle of existing stories. If you wander down a street looking for something what you find may not be what you are looking for (and relatedly not every problem will be assured to be solved if you don't come up with appropriate methods of dealing with them- that's life), but there are always potential stories for me to improvise.
