General Table Talk

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Light of Andorra
5165

BTW how close are we to moving along with Ancient Discovery? I dare to ask the question, because I'm new here and unfamiliar with the pace. But if everybody thinks they are waiting for something, which never happens?

It seems to me the expedition roster is prepared, lots of characters were named to go along. Are there still new characters we need to get involved?
The Woad still has not met any of the magi apart from Roberto. I assume he still needs to formally see the council members and ask for membership.
And then we need some kind of briefing about the expedition I guess.

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5166

We are waiting on Trogdor, who has been MIA for a while now. He has had a history of heallth issues, so I urge patience.
As you might see, it is almost impossible to hold a coordinated "council meeting" in a PbP format.
I do understand the frustration though. I can maybe put together a different story that takes place later that year or in the next year. Working in "branches" like that is an idea I learned from Jonathan Link playing in his Birbracte saga. It can get confusing and frustrating if we get toooo spread out though, so I wanna keep it as minimal as possible.
Gimme a few days to think of something good. I have a huge toy box of ideas. It is just a matter of finding the one that works best for the people involved.

5167

I completely understand and respect people being tied up with real world issues. I wish Trogdor luck on his Recovery Rolls.

I’m just eager to get the Woad on to something, to get started on this saga.
But I’d like for the Woad to explore the locale, and test his skills on some of the (lesser) ogres and drakes.

5168

I’m just eager to get the Woad on to something, to get started on this saga.
But I’d like for the Woad to explore the locale, and test his skills on some of the (lesser) ogres and drakes.

How about owlbears :slight_smile:

5169

Owlbears! Owlbears are good! I thought given the location (xagig) they would be bearowls, but that is me :stuck_out_tongue:

Mateu would also like to join in the hunt if there is one.

5170

Xagyg is Gygax spelled backwards. I had tried to slip that into a book once, but they wouldn't let me side (though they did chuckle). It is a tribute to the grandfather of gaming :slight_smile:

I have an idea. The tracks they found in the other story, I will leave that as forshadowing and let them continue on with their mission. But then, a season or two later (after The Woad and Mateu get back from their expedition), there is some incident. Some local civilians survive an owlbear attack and report it to the covenant.

Give me the a day (probably tonight by my time) and I will start a thread. Let me know who is interested in this :slight_smile:

5171

Depending on how things turn out in the first story, it would make sense for Marcellus to be interested in the second one. It involves animals, for one thing. :grin:

5172

The Woad reports as eligble

5173

My experience with PbP Ars Magica games is that as the number of players involved in a specific story rises, the slower that story gets. Council meetings are hard to do well as they tend to drag on for many weeks before things are resolved and decisions made.

That is why I am in favour of stories with a limited number of PCs involved - 2 or 3 seem optimal. Single-player stories also work great in PbP, though that puts a bit more load on the storyguide for that specific story. Having short interventions by other players can add some variety to such stories, but you need to be careful not to let others occupy too great a place in the story.

That is also why I will not jump in the Ancient Discovery story, even to run grogs. It has already more than enough players involved in it.

5174

I'm sure that is correct. I know it is for table roleplaying as well.

Which reminds me: Is there a thread with an updated list of all the current players and their characters? That would really help me. It's quite tricky to jump in like this.

It's fine if all previous players and characters are listed as well, as long as one can see who is current and who is historical.

5175

http://andorra.wikidot.com/magi

Unfortunately, it doesn't have the name of the players. But I think it is pretty current.

5176

What I find works well is having concurrent stories with a few players in each, possibly with different characters to prevent running into continuity issues.

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5177

The thread "Players and Fortune" mentions both players and characters, but I dont know how updated it is, plus it probably doesn't mention who is still active and who is not.

5178

This post has the most current list that I have made.

  • Carmen of Flambeau is played by myself (Markoko), and is treated more as a background NPC.
  • Arachne Ex-Miscellanea is played by The Fixer. He has been busy and mainly sticks to slow solo stories he crafts as SG.
  • Solomon of Gurnicus is Prince of Boredom
  • Vocis of Tremere is played by Iron Bound Tome
  • Vibria of Flambeau is played by Peregrine of Bjornaer
    *Lucus of Mercere is palyed by Trogdor, who has been mia (I pray he is well).
  • Roberto of Flambeau is played by Marko Markoko
  • Fleur of Bonisagus is Silveroak
  • Acutus of Bjornaer is Prince of Boredom
  • Guiverna Ex-Miscelllanea is Peregrine of Bjornaer
  • The Woad of Flambeau is Christian Andersen
  • Marcellus of Verditius is Arthur
  • Ikelos of Criamon is Jebrick
  • Edith of Flambeau is Markoko
  • Micaela of Tremere is Iron Bound Tome
  • Clotide filia Fleur is Silveroak
  • Lucien filius Carmen is Iron Bound Tome
  • Gabriel filius Solomon is Prince of Boredom.
5179

18 magi. Not bad.

Is there a similar list for the grogs and companions?

5180

That i lost track of. But the important count is players. We have 9.

5181

You mean Clotide Filia Vocis?

5182

mmmmMaybe...
Which one is Feur's apprentice? I know her vullgar name is Belladona, she is the sister of Edith.They are (were) both teenage mothers of the sons of Vulcanus.
There may be some missing and mistaken details. But I think I have a good grasp of players

  • The Fixer
  • Peregrine of Bjornaer
  • Silveroak
  • Prince of Boredom
  • Xavier
  • Jebrick
  • Arthur
  • Iron Bound Tome
  • Christian
  • Trogdor
  • Marko Markoko

And I think that is everyone. Please forgive me if I forgot any names!
There are also "Oracles" and past players welcome to join at any time.

  • Jarkman
  • Jonathan Link
  • Ken K
  • Andrew
  • Names I forget

There are others that have been part of this that I might consider. And there are a few that are not welcome back. No names needed.

Honestly, it is quite rare to have this many active players. But the constant flux and flow has been what has kept this saga alive through the years.

And this is exactly why I need assistant storyguides, and why I defer to troupe discretion. I cannot run this by myself. It is bigger than me. It is virtually impossible to jam everyone into the same story. I tried that with the City of Brass and I couldn't do it justice, and it flopped.

One thing I hinted at was perhaps splitting Sa Dragonera off into a separate covenant. But the players of the characters there are so heavily invested in what is going on here, that this is impractical.

And this may seem counter intuitive, but allowing players to operate multiple characters is actually helpful. If a player has one character that is mired in a slow story, they can stay engaged with a different character. Peregrine is a great example. He has a senior maga, Vibria, and when she is tangled up in something serious, he can play in another story using Guiverna.

The multi-thread system evolved from ideas learned from Jonathan Link in his Birbracte/Mons Electi saga. Fixer, Peregrine, and Jebrick were with me in that one. Fixer and Jebrick knew me from Novus Mane, where I created Roberto. There was talk of using Roberto as an NPC and I asked "Hey! Let me play him." I was sort of invited, and I sort of barged in and imposed myself. I can be a tool sometimes :slight_smile:

To make a point, there is not one set absolute way that this saga is supposed to run. I am open to ideas to improve the system and suggestions on how to fix the problems that arise. Several of you guys are veteran PbP gamers on these forums, a few of you are legendary SG of several sagas! I have only played in two others, and this is the only one I have run as ASG.

5183

I'd also be happy to run something. Long time roleplayer and ArM storyguide, but this is my first PbP. It's difficult to come into an ongoing saga, but by and by I'm getting a grasp of things.
Whatever I run had better be something fairly unconnected to the stuff I know nothing about. Or pick up some loose end, where it doesn't matter where and how it ends.
And if I can be picky, I'd prefer to not have too many players. Around a table I could manage a dozen, but I might drown in posts here.

5184

Micaela of Tremere is probably "retired" as she left the covenant when completing her gauntlet.