TheRPGSite

This is the continuation of the thread started in the Pen & Paper RPG section. http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?38179-Lords-of-Olympus

We are hoping to play a pbp campaign of Lords of Olympus starting early January 2018. We are still accepting new players!

You've got a name!  Got an Idea what the game is about?  

I know its partially up to us, but its also up to you.

Quote from: Headless;1016007You've got a name!  Got an Idea what the game is about?  

I know its partially up to us, but its also up to you.

Agree with Headless. It would help me in starting to come up with a character concept if I had some idea what type of game we'd be playing. Courtly intrigue? Combat heavy? Emphasis on the martial or the magical? Modern times? Classical antiquity?

A cast of charcters would be great.  And something to let us know the stakes?  Whats in play?  What can we slingshot around and gain some energy.  What potential energy can we unleash.

Hey, folks, I'm not forum active enough to participate, but I wanted to say that you've got an enthusiastic spectator, and I'll likely make the occasional comment in an OOC thread. Good luck with your game!

Quote from: ArtemisAlpha;1016362Hey, folks, I'm not forum active enough to participate, but I wanted to say that you've got an enthusiastic spectator, and I'll likely make the occasional comment in an OOC thread. Good luck with your game!

Feel free to join, if you want. We still have to contact those people who have shown interest earlier in the game as only two of us sent characters to the GM. If you worry about activity consider making some semi-passive character like an Oracle sitting in a temple or perhaps a 'druid' which turns into a tree for a while.

Hey, sorry that I've been silent for the last week or so. Christmas was busier than I expected and now me and the family have come down with nasty colds. Hopefully I'll be posting more often next week.

QuoteYou've got a name! Got an Idea what the game is about?

The name was just something I came up with that sounds Greekish but I am not sure how it will be incorporated into the game. Or I'm not telling what it means just yet.

I suppose it would be best to let all the players decide where they want to start the game and from that the power levels will be decided on. If you all have ideas for different worlds and different technology levels then we would need to have a bit more invested in travel powers so you could meet up with eachother at some point in the future. If you think to all start together then one or none of the players need to invest in the power. I would recommend that evryone have some sort of travel power so the PC won't be dumped off in random worlds without anyway to escape. Wrathful elder gods might enjoy tossing away youngsters who interfere with their plans.

Starting point wise I think the rules 100 level is good to start with. It's too low in Amber since Pattern is a whopping 50, but with the three travel paths split to lower cost then a 20 for travel, 15-20 for other powers, 60-65 for attributes sounds about right. I was thinking of handing off the immortality power for free to start unless you were coming up with plans for gaining that boon.

So 100 points should allow everyone to get some useful powers, lay some good bids in the auction, maybe spend points on a world or items, and even take an extra 6 points by buying an enemy. There will be bonus points for background and other contributions but I will hand those out during xp awarding time which means the firt award will include all the background writeups. Maybe someone is willing to writeup a campaign log or encyclopedia of people and places or have other bonus xp ideas? If there is only the log and encyclopedia maybe you can rotate the responsibility around so everyone gets a shot at the bonus?

QuoteCourtly intrigue? Combat heavy? Emphasis on the martial or the magical? Modern times? Classical antiquity?

I think it will be action filled. Or maybe confrontation filled would be a better way to describe it. Too often these pbp games fall into a rut of endless discussion which is great at the table but with the slower posting rate a discussion can last months realtime. I was in a game where my PC had discussions with an important NPC then another PC and by the end over 3 months had gone by. That's not neccessarily a bad thing but both time were in the safe confines of a castle so the odds of some sudden action sequence breaking out was slim. If, on the other hand, the characters were travelling through a dangerous area while having the discussion some sort of surprise could have popped up to give a little break in the talking. So longer discussions, even if they are sueful and important to what plot we come up with, I will try to interrupt with something new.

So there will be physical and magical combat, weird magic from the elder gods, intrigue, cabals, sudden reversals in alliegence. Not much of the standard mystery type plots as I've found that they almost always are poorly done and the players get more annoyed than interested. The GM doesn't have the same control over the story as an author and can't fairly hand out the clues and also expect the players to keep track of all the fiddly bits of information neccessary for a good RPG mystery. Some of you may disagree.

So expect mysterious foes making the PC lives hell, ancient powers rising up from the depths of Hades, depths of the seas, and from above the skies, a collection of gods, demi-gods and godlings that may not always have the PCs best interests at heart.

There will be travel among the worlds in all ancient and modern times, some places decidedly not Earthlike, so feel free to start your characters anywhere you like even in Olympus, Atlantis, or Underworld.

So really what I have so far is some plans and starting points for the other NPCs and how that will relate to your PCs will partly depend on the type of characters you create. One thing that can help me decide is to have a goal for your character that I can incorporate into the game. Accomplishing this goal would be worth some extra xp then hopefully lead to another goal. Say, as a quick example, a PC with high Might attribute may want to defeat the other strength aspected gods in wrestling to prove that he is the mightiest of the gods. If they can win against all the other PCs that would be worth a couple points, all the other demi-gods would be worth more, then defeating Heracles or Typhon would be worth much more (and be close to impossible without cheating unless we keep this game going for a very long time!)

I gave it a bit of thought and came up with a plan. I think this is the best way to get the auction to be competitive, quick, and not bogged down with 1 point increments. The max amount of time allotted for each attribute is 3 days; the first day for secret bids, then up to 48 hours of live auction, but after 24 hours if I check in and find that there have been no new bids in the last 12 hours I will consider that attribute auction finished and then start taking secret bids on the next stat.

I might increase the no-bid time to 18 hours depending on where we all are living - someone in Europe could try to game the auction by placing a bid late West Coast time and hope the other player sleeps then doesn't get to check the website before work. Let's discuss this and see what's most fair for everyone.

I don't expect people to be available to post every day but if we can check in on the site a few times per day during the auction that would result in a better, and more expensive, experience for everyone.

Also, posting an 'out' message when you have decided not to continue bidding in an auction could reduce the length of the auction and let us know that you won't be around posting for a few days/hours. This 'out' bid can be rescinded if you later notice that the bids are stalling or not climbing too high and want to get back in the race.

I'll be up for work at about 5am (PST) in January so the end of the secret bidding would be at that time and I can post the results and then you all can let the fireworks fly. If you will be available to post on the weekends here is a rough schedule for the auction times:

EGO: Secret bids in by 5am on Wednesday Jan 3rd, auction complete at 5am Friday Jan 5th at the latest.

MIGHT: Secret bids in by 5am on Saturday Jan6th, auction complete at 5am Monday Jan 8th at the latest.

FORTITUDE: Secret bids in by 5am on Tuesday Jan9th, auction complete at 5am Thursday Jan 11th at the latest.

PROWESS: Secret bids in by 5am on Friday Jan12th, auction complete at 5am Sunday Jan 14th at the latest.

Still a longer experience that I'd ike but after the first few attributes are finished most of you will have a better idea of what powers you can buy and a few games threads could be started then. Heck, they could all begin earlier if your character concepts don't depend too heavily on attributes or we could start with something calm among the gods or out among regular humans when knowing that the PC will have an Olympian class or numbered attributes is enough to get things moving.

Running out of time to post tonight. Tomorrow I will take a closer look at the character ideas that I have received and PM and suggestions that I have. Mark, if you have any more questions post them here and we will try to answere them for you. Artimis, i have some ideas for a character type you could play if you would only be rarely checking in on us; if you are interested I can PM you my ideas.

I also PMed the posters on the first thread that haven't replied since. Hopefully will get a few more bites. But 3.5 characters isn't too bad to start and it should be easy to integrate any latecomers into the game.

Quote from: edster;1016743Running out of time to post tonight. Tomorrow I will take a closer look at the character ideas that I have received and PM and suggestions that I have. Mark, if you have any more questions post them here and we will try to answere them for you. Artimis, i have some ideas for a character type you could play if you would only be rarely checking in on us; if you are interested I can PM you my ideas.

I also PMed the posters on the first thread that haven't replied since. Hopefully will get a few more bites. But 3.5 characters isn't too bad to start and it should be easy to integrate any latecomers into the game.

I don't want to try to get you to give up any "confidential" information on the character ideas you've received thus far (don't want to prematurely influence the auction), but can you give those of us who haven't come up with a character concept yet some kind of idea of what they're going for so that we can try to envision the game a little better?

(I do appreciate your answers above to my previous questions...those've helped me generate some character ideas...I just need a little more to go on, if possible).

The thing that holds Nine Prince's in Amber together is Corwins amnesia.  Its a mystery, discovering what happened to him, and meating his fantastic family.  

Then it's his hatered of Eric that drives the story.  And the black road.  

We don't have any of those elements.  We're at blank slate phase.  Its paralyzing. Even though I have a pretty good character concept, but I don't know if it's going to fit with the game.

If you could give us an idea of the first challenge.  Or a few Devine rumors.  

How's Zeus doin'?  Titans still locked up? Prometheus didn't get loose did he?  Who is Aphrodite's current human lover?  Any mysterious stones of power wandering around?  

Just a little bit to prime the pump could be very helpful.

Sorry for the delay in replying, gang. I've been getting sicker and sicker so haven't been able to get much planning done for the game.

What I'm thinking of is that many centuries before our game begins Zeus developed a keen interest - some uncharitable folk might call it an obsession - with the mythical Valkyries. For many years he looked from Olympus across the worlds trying to locate their homeland. This interest was mostly frowned upon by the other gods of Olympus. When asked about it he would say "Tall, blonde chicks with wings. What's not to love?"

After a time he did locate the world (if one of you PCs wants the Olympian Road power discovering this world could be the reason Zeus gave the power as a boon) he immediately headed there and has been drinking, partying, and cavorting with the women ever since.

His location is known to the other gods in Olympus but they do not seem anxious for his return. Zeus has not been in contact with the other gods since.

Without Z around to keep order many old resentments and enmities are rising amongst the gods. Many view this temporary loss of rule as the only chance they will have to work their plots for many millennia and they are going to make the best of it.

I will flesh out more as you create your characters and we find their place in the world and the gods and plots they will be tied up in.

Quote from: edster;1017083When asked about [his obsession with Valkyries Zeus] would say "Tall, blonde chicks with wings. What's not to love?"

LOL! Exactly.

Thanks.  The wheels are now turning.  Hope you get to feeling better soon.  Happy New year.

Secert Bids by tomorrow morning right?

Yes, secret bids by 5am PST ( that would be 1pm GMT) then I will start the Ego auction.

My secret bid is in!

Ego auction is here: http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?38300-LoO-New-Prometheus-Ego-Auction

Might starts in the morning?

The initial secret bids are supposed to start in the morning but since there has been no movement in the Ego auction we can start it now. If I can get the initial bids in quickly the auction can begin early tomorrow.

Still waiting on one secret Might bid. I guess it's only fair to wait until the scheduled cut of time for the auction to start. Will try to get the post up at 5am. If I sleep in a bit it could be later. I really shouldn't have planned to start an auction so early on the weekend!

Auction results so far:

Name       Ego   Might   Points spent
-----       ----  ------  ------------
Mark     1st    4th      20
Quozl        3rd     3rd        25
Headless    2nd     1st       37
Jorian        4th     2nd       26

Will we be able to secretly buy up to the half ranks after the auction is completly finished?  I expect so but I just want to be clear.

That is available if anyone wants to do so.

Auction results after Fortitude bidding:


Name       Ego   Might  Fortitude  Points spent
-----       ----  ------     ----------  ------------
Mark         1st    4th        3rd              50
Quozl        3rd     3rd       1st             57
Headless    2nd     1st       4th            38
Jorian        4th     2nd       2nd           57


And now for your secret first bids on Prowess!

[tr][td]NAME[/td][td]EGO[/td][td]MIGHT[/td][td]FORTITUDE[/td][td]PROWESS[/td][td]POINTS[/td][/tr]
----------------------------------
Marksolino1st4th3rd50

Here are the rankings through 3 auctions now in HTML formatting!


[table=width: 500]
[tr]
   [td]NAME[/td]
   [td]EGO[/td]
   [td]MIGHT[/td]
   [td]FORTITUDE[/td]
   [td]PROWESS[/td]
   [td]TOTAL POINTS[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Marksolino[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]4th[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]--[/td]
   [td]50[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Quozl[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]--[/td]
   [td]57[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Headless[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]4th[/td]
   [td]--[/td]
   [td]38[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Jorian[/td]
   [td]4th[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]--[/td]
   [td]57[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Quote from: edster;1018775Here are the rankings through 3 auctions now in HTML formatting!


[table=width: 500]
[tr]
   [td]NAME[/td]
   [td]EGO[/td]
   [td]MIGHT[/td]
   [td]FORTITUDE[/td]
   [td]PROWESS[/td]
   [td]TOTAL POINTS[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Marksolino[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]4th[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]--[/td]
   [td]50[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Quozl[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]--[/td]
   [td]57[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Headless[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]4th[/td]
   [td]--[/td]
   [td]38[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Jorian[/td]
   [td]4th[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]--[/td]
   [td]57[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Question or quibble.  Don't you have to bid to have a rank? For instance if you bid nothing isn't your rank Olympian (or Amber) instead of 4th?

Quote from: Headless;1018788Question or quibble.  Don't you have to bid to have a rank? For instance if you bid nothing isn't your rank Olympian (or Amber) instead of 4th?

I was wondering that myself.

There is still post-bid point buy and elevation of classes anyway.

QuoteQuestion or quibble. Don't you have to bid to have a rank? For instance, if you bid nothing isn't your rank Olympian (or Amber) instead of 4th?

Yeah, I goofed on that. I was just comparing your characters to each other. Once this last auction is complete I will make up a correct chart.

QuoteThere is still post-bid point buy and elevation of classes anyway.

The buy-up after the auction is a secret to the other players. So your character may be much more powerful than the chart shows. It's good to have a secret power level in case one of the other characters is commanded by Athena to kill the PCs.

Also once xp is handed out none of the players will know the others attribute ranks without guessing or challenging them to fight it out.

Do you expect to be awarding XPs soon?  Or often?

XP will depend on the pace of play but I expect to give the first award a couple months from now.

Auction ends in the morning.  What next?  

I might need to adjust my character concept once he is fully stated out.  I did the questionnaire once but there are at least a couple questions I will answer differently now.

I like this two day rhythm.

I was thinking that after the auction ends tomorrow we then use the rest of the weekend to finish up character creation with powers and background and stuff then start play on Monday or Tuesday.  How does that sound to you guys?

Quote from: edster;1019097I was thinking that after the auction ends tomorrow we then use the rest of the weekend to finish up character creation with powers and background and stuff then start play on Monday or Tuesday.  How does that sound to you guys?

Fine enough, as we run a normal forum pbp we will have time to react and write even if I might have something to do that day (might have to go to hospital or just shopping), so once we're ready we can start any time.

Quote from: edster;1019097I was thinking that after the auction ends tomorrow we then use the rest of the weekend to finish up character creation with powers and background and stuff then start play on Monday or Tuesday.  How does that sound to you guys?

Sure. I may have some questions about the rest of character creation over the weekend, but Tuesday should work.

Here are the results after the final auction:


[table=width: 500]
[tr]
   [td]NAME[/td]
   [td]EGO[/td]
   [td]MIGHT[/td]
   [td]FORTITUDE[/td]
   [td]PROWESS[/td]
   [td]TOTAL POINTS[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Marksolino[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]Olympian[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]65[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Quozl[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]60[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Headless[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]4th[/td]
   [td]Olympian[/td]
   [td]38[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Jorian[/td]
   [td]Olympian[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]73[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Headless has the most points left to play around with, and I assume my character is now going to be an excellent commander for Troia.

Yes, you and Hector in Troy vs. Achillies and the rest of the Greek army. Plus a few wildcards, I hope.

Quote from: edster;1019340Here are the results after the final auction:


[table=width: 500]
[tr]
   [td]NAME[/td]
   [td]EGO[/td]
   [td]MIGHT[/td]
   [td]FORTITUDE[/td]
   [td]PROWESS[/td]
   [td]TOTAL POINTS[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Marksolino[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]Olympian[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]65[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Quozl[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]60[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Headless[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]4th[/td]
   [td]Olympian[/td]
   [td]38[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Jorian[/td]
   [td]Olympian[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]73[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Can you post the ranks by points aswell please? For instance I think the prowess one would be 1st 16 2nd 15 3rd 3 no 4th.

If you did all those like the grid above that might really help anyone who wants to buy up.  Either now or down the road.  Also it would be good to have if any one joins later.

Yup, Jorian reminded me that the points per level should be posted. I will send it later tonight.

Table of points and ranks for the Attributes:

[table=width: 500, class: outer_border, align: center]
[tr]
   [td]Attribute[/td]
   [td]1st[/td]
   [td]2nd[/td]
   [td]3rd[/td]
   [td]4th[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Ego[/td]
   [td]20[/td]
   [td]12[/td]
   [td]5[/td]
   [td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Might[/td]
   [td]27[/td]
   [td]26[/td]
   [td]20[/td]
   [td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Fortitude[/td]
   [td]32[/td]
   [td]31[/td]
   [td]30[/td]
   [td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Prowess[/td]
   [td]16[/td]
   [td]15[/td]
   [td]3[/td]
   [td][/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Instead of opening up a new thread now that pre-game i wrapping up I thought we could continue to use this thread for any out of character discussions.

I suggest renaming or asking a moderator for it, the thread from Pre-Game to OOC thread

Hey there you are!

I haven't heard from Quozl in a while so maybe he can't continue in the game. I will try to get the first Jorian and Mark threads posted tomorrow and then respond to Headless shortly thereafter. Sorry about the delay.

Quote from: edster;1021462I haven't heard from Quozl in a while so maybe he can't continue in the game. I will try to get the first Jorian and Mark threads posted tomorrow and then respond to Headless shortly thereafter. Sorry about the delay.

Send him a PM then, or email. Of course he might be busy.

I have been busy but what's going on? Not sure what to do.

Quote from: quozl;1021515I have been busy but what's going on? Not sure what to do.

Have you finished your character yet? I don't mean the bidding, but the part after it

Q, I sent you a PM with what we have for your character. We will be ready to play once a few more details are added.

Sorry, the last few days have been exhausting for me. Should get posts in for everyone today.

Quote from: edster;1022246Sorry, the last few days have been exhausting for me. Should get posts in for everyone today.

No need to rush, I rather have you focused, calm, and happy when we play. Rushing only makes feel GMing stressful and no fun. :)

Sorry again, guys. This week was another busy one. I should get posts in this weekend and hopefully next week will be better for me.

I was going to ask if you would have a chance this weekend.  But I figured it was a busy week for you and you would post when you had a chance.  

Things moving forward, everyone is engaged.  You are running a good game thanks.  

Looking forward to this weekend.

I put Mark in a situation where he might be getting Eric in a fihgt. I figured we needed some fighting instead of talking. It also gives me a chance to use the combat rules before people all join up together in the middle of a great war.

Oooo!  Minatuar!  You're fucked now buddy.

Sorry, this time I had problems and was the reason for lack of activity.

Hey you're back!

Groovy

No problem, Bud. Real life always has to take precedence over a game.

And I because post so slow you didn't miss much!

Well you said you wanted to test out the conflict rules.  Looks like you may get a chance.

Sorry, Spring Break and the Easter weekend have taken up all my time. I should be back to posting later this week.

Hey no problem.  I'm quite enjoying the game so far.

How's it going?

Hey all, things have been busier than I had expected but I should now be back to posting regularly. I hope.

How's it going?