- I would love to take it live with Discord and Roll20. The format is getting to me.
- I want to go more troupe style. After playing this game for 25 years, I am running out of ideas. All I wind up doing is imposing my vision and style upon others.
- I want participants to do stuff, instead of waiting for me to do stuff or give them stuff. In that, I have ever and always been at offs with traditional Ars. I have been running a sandbox. I have no plot or story. I am not a storyteller, I am a story guide. The story emerges from the acts and actions of the players, I jyst seed ideas and facilitate agency.
- I want to bring about an OSR aesthetic, kind of like 3rd edition had. Rulings over Rules, Player Skill over Character Ability, Heroes instead of superheroes, and totally forget about game balance.
That last one has been the most difficult
And you enjoy that! It hurts nothing. My aesthetics are much different, so I feel it is best for me to stay out of it unless it bothers another player.
Since literally the game began Fleur has been trying to explore the caves of the region looking for cave art to drive her research. I was thrown one game at the beginning which gave a frankly impossible level of inspiration for what it was (a faerie simulation) and then have been thwarted in her attempts to plan and investigate the caves, or even spend time learning from the people who have the area knowledge she needs to be able to locate useful caves.
It honestly feels like I was welcomed to join and then stuck in the corner.
You were not thrown. You chose to go there. 
I remember that one. I had an adventure, but instead of taking the bite you retreated. Now, it being "impossible level", that may have just been a perception. But it is true that I have never payed any attention or regard to concepts such as "balance". Case in point, last year I did run an adventure in the Caverns. You should have gone with! And life or death in that situation, success or disaster, depended entirely upon player action. If they would have tried confrontation, it would have been a TPK. And as it is, if they made the right or wrong decision is something that needs to ferment to discover.
I have an interesting Caverns idea if you and a few others are interested. But keep in mind that this PbP format is like pulling teeth and it demotivates me. In fact, that is the true root of my issues. Everything else I have said is smoke and mirrors. The slow snail pace kills motivation and inspires procrastination. There has to be a better way for us to game together.
I have two children taking classes from home, this pretty much is my option for gaming, since I need to be able to get up and deal with things as the arrive. I don't recall the cavern adventure you are talking about, or the one last year.
You went to the Caverns and encountered a simulacrum of the previous generation of Andorra magi. You met Antonio and he flirted with you.
As for last year, This thread is what I refer to. It was not planned. They just went there. That is where I am having a disconnect with the troupe. I have always and constantly run this saga like a D&D sandbox. Nothing new. Been doing it for 25 years. The covenant keep is literally B2 Keep on the Borderlands, and the Caverns of Entropy is a thinly veiled Easter egg not to the Caves of Chaos.I tried to slip a magus named Xagyg into my Val Negra chapter when I wrote for Atlas. I roll on random charts. I do not start a story with any idea where the middle or end will be or what it will look like. This is nothing new. I have been swimming against the current since ArM5 started, and long have I been trying to restore the legacy of the early creators.
But okay. I get the point. Fleur wants to explore the Caverns of Entropy. Be proactive and just do it! Start a thread if you can, and if you cannot tell me and I will do so. Assemble your team. I will roll on my encounter tables and away we go!
Yes, I use encounter tables. That is the only reason The Woad ran into pirates on the way here. I try to avoid writing plots and stories.
Not so much the caverns of entropy, as ancient caves with cave paintings of ancient fertility rituals. The kind that are found around Europe and have been there since the paleolithic. Referenced in Ancient Magic.
Groovy. I can work with that. how many players can we get to participate?
Especially Companions or grogs, which I would expect to be the majority of the participating party.
What kinds of grogs will you be needing?
I’ll make one and help
Someone who knows the local language, preferably with some degree of area lore would be good. Maybe some ability in survival so we don't have to carry food for the entire expedition for an unknown amount of time. Someone with a cooking ability would be similarly useful, perhaps a hunter. Also we need to either have someone sail the boat or need to hire a commercial craft to get to Ibiza, unless the regio network has a portal emerging there...
Ok, Marko.
As you know, for some time, I've been wanting to have this whole "arachne gets to walten" thing resolved.
But I just realised, since she's laying a trap, I just need to write things down, and we go from there. I mean, I am the active agency here, while the NPC is just reacting, so this is a little like me creating an adventure for a NPC in which he is led into a trap.
Sadly, while I thought about all of this in detail before, I've forgotten most of it.
So I propose this: I'll try to think about it (
), create a thread detailing her preparations, and we can go from here. Is it all right with you?
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Okay, I have an idea. I've taken the role several times af a field chirurgeon - the grog who is brought along to patch up the others. Sure, there's probably a skilled doctor at the covenant, but he's not going out into he wild!
And then combine this with him being from the area in question (local language, area lore) and experienced with joining rescue operations into the mountains and caves (survival, a little athletics).
So, not a fighting grog, but a medic. Not a strong grog for hauling fallen people out of crevices, but the one who knows how to do it.
Oh, and if we're away for a long time, he can be a barber as well, to help keep people well groomed.
What would the local language and relevant area lore be?
Ibzia was conquered from the Moor by the Catalans in 1235, and was governed from the mainland (RL, if the saga has variation on this I am unaware) So I would expect Arabic (Maghrebi) with some understanding of North Iberian (Castilian-Ladino), but again the storyguide may have other idea.
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As for language, couldn't it be the one or the other? I mean, the local probably spoke something else before the Moors invaded?
But if the place was under Moorish rule for a long time before the Catalans retook it, then the Arabic culture may be more prevalent.
As for Area Lore, it is always a question of how narrow you want the definiton to be. The broader the less detailed IMHO.
Area Lore: Balearic Isles could probably be fine. Unless this is a place we're unlikely to go again, in which case it may be niche ability and a waste of points. So a broader defintion may be more useful.
Awesome 
I'm thinking a grog who was born and grew up on Ibiza, but ended up in Andorra. So someone with useful skills for the locale but also with a connection to the covenant
Because Grogs are on a tight budget, I'd rather not have to design one with too many languages.
If a Grog is to be relevant on this mission, ot be useful speaking with the locals that is, he or she needs top speak either Arabic or Castillan it seems.
If the Grog is to function back at Andorra Covenant, then Catalan is - if not needed, then at least - useful. It seems to me there are many Arabic speaking covenfolk, so if they already spoke Arabic from their upbringing that might do it. At least they could make do for a some years like that.
But for full usefulness on Ibiza a grog speaking both Arabic and Castilian
How close are the two languages Catalan and Castilian?
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Catalan is part of the Occitan language, part of the and is spoken in Eastern Aragon and the Balearic Isles,
Castilian-Ladino, which I assume is the same here as Castilian, is part of the Northern Iberian language and is spoken in Castile and by Iberian Jews. Both are part of the Western Romance language family so for speaking you can understand people between the two languages at -2.
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If you ask Xavi, he will give you a lecture! LoL
From the PoV of someone whose Native Language is English 6 (Midwest/Yankee Dialect), Catalan and European Spanish sound almost the same. But that is just accent. They are related languages, so I think I have them at -2 (not sure).