On Mon, Jun 23 2025 at 11:02:53 AM -0500, bss via Emerald Flame <emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org> wrote:

On Monday, June 23, 2025 10:00 AM Mike Bloy via Emerald Flame wrote:

...

I'm thinking of a person trained as a smith or craftsman who has discovered an innate magical ability of some sort, but I don't have more fleshed out than that. Will definitely recommend leaning in on Eberron ideas if that is helpful inspiration as well. ... Magitech might also expand the options of Foci, when you get there, so sounds good to me from that perspective as well.

As this idea fleshes out in my head I'm thinking that they're a blacksmith first in the sense of important skilled craftsman who also knows the secret rituals of iron and steel, and second a sorcerer whose ability was perhaps awakened by whatever local new anomaly will kick off the story. As such, I'm unsure if I should go with an Adept with a skills-and-knowledge flavor, or maybe an Explorer with a magic flavor. Ol' Gus appears to have a 'crafter' flavor which may fit the Adept better if you're allowing community content. https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/og-dd.html#flavor-crafter

On Monday, June 23, 2025 11:02 AM bss via Emerald Flame wrote:

That sounds good to me, and as you asked on IRC, I think an early industrial revolution style world where technology and magic have mixed, but things are largely still getting figured out, sounds like a fun setting. Will definitely recommend leaning in on Eberron ideas if that is helpful inspiration as well.

More on magitech, mostly just copy and pasting my thoughts from IRC because effort: What I'm thinking (which has been for about a day, so it's not like I have huge design plans) is when in doubt, think Eberron (if that helps), so I'd say something like scabbards and low/no holsters because people didn't bother with gunpowder weapons when they have magic, and I think of mechanical things as at least majority magical or fantastic at their core. The Eberron trope would be the lightning rail where [wizards/artificers did it] and the train is hovering on magical not-magnets and a bound air elemental propels the train cars forward. Cyphers (the items) and artifacts, and just adding flavor to abilities, can cover a lot of the use cases for cool weaponry that is powered by magic. I don't remember off the top of my head if Eberron literally took the "why bother with gunpowder if magic" trajectory but that's how I thought about it. Crossbow bolts are pretty good, wands of fireballs are great if you can get them, why bother with a complicated lateral step in between. [On a schism between magic vs. tech:] I was thinking there is a schism of some sort, maybe not strictly tech vs. magic lines, but something like that. e.g. the druids of the old way vs. the march of magitech. -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB

On Wednesday, June 25, 2025 1:55 AM Christian Kellermann via Emerald Flame wrote:

Rolling with this I thought of my character being a part of some sort of guild, that hunts (magical?) monsters for this 'industrial' usage. I'd go with a warrior type that hunts monsters. Somehow thought they are a bit at odds with their guild and teachers, maybe there is something going on that is quite iffy...

If establishing these 'factions' do not fit the setting you have envisioned we will find something else.

I think that idea is great. It looks like some factions are starting to become apparent, which is good, since that'll dovetail nicely with the homebrew relationships and the character arcs. Factions I see so far: * The Grand Druid - an unorganized, distributed order of druid circles, aligned with Etra (as they know it/perceive it, anyway) over magitech * [Hunter/Harvester Guild Name] - as above * more major guilds/houses - they have cornered a particular market, perhaps * some kind of Holy Order type * a dungeon delver group of Indiana Joneses types * demon/devil faction?

I had a couple of rounds clicking through the cypher system character generator tool on the MCG site and this will be my first time playing a cypher system so thanks in advance for being patient with me :)

Yup, no worries, and that reminds me that I don't think I wrote up anything specific about character creation yet, so a couple things for everyone to take note of as you're going through the book and/or MCG tools site and/or Old Gus, etc. resources: The strongest resources are the core book/tools/CSRD/OG-CSRD and Godforsaken, with plenty of other options available --- like I said elsewhere in the chain, I am usually good with anything once I review it. Those sources also have ideas on how to model traditional fantasy classes in Cypher System, use those if you need ideas. The Old Gus CSRD and Godforsaken have ideas on fantasy Foci, but with the magitech element, I think the list expands even further. That list is almost certainly good, and you can probably bend most other Foci out there to be magitech if you want, just ask. We haven't talked about species yet but I like species in my fantasy games, which Cypher System supports by allowing for *two* Descriptors --- either two personality trait Descriptors (for humans) or one species Descriptor and one personality trait Descriptor. Again, the primary resources are a good starting point, but I am open to other stuff and open to fresh ideas --- Descriptors are pretty easy to homebrew; anyway, be sure to pick two. I linked to the Relationship Connections homebrew module before, but here it is again, there is a step at character creation and this will help put shape around what factions can be good for: https://orb.moe/cypher/homebrew#relationship-connections Similar to the Relationship Connections, start thinking about your Character Arcs --- these are more like quests in scope, so you might define an essentially permanent relationship to a guild and then start down an arc for your PC related to that guild which will have a beginning, middle, and end, and pick up more arcs in the journey. Oh yeah, and one last thing on the factions, I am good with tensions between PCs due to their backgrounds and factions, but please remember that in the end we still need this to function as a game, lol. An uneasy truce between the old world druid and the artificer, with some snipping and "see why your way is bad?" pokes? Totally cool. Conflict rising to the level where the party's path is always at odds with itself internally? Dysfunctional. I think everyone here is pretty experienced on how not to biff this, but I thought I'd mention it. =)

Thanks for having me in your game group, I am looking forward playing with you all!

Thanks for joining, it should be fun! -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB

More world stuff: Mike is working on a third-person narrative post to introduce his character. As part of that, he's working on backstory and is going to provide some character relationship + "vague details" of what's going on in the area; as I mentioned in the organizing info, I like this kind of approach to building up the world based on everyone's inputs and ideas and riffing on it all, so this is pretty much perfect by my book and I encourage it for everyone as you're thinking about characters, and we'll keep that same approach as we play. The other thing I'm adding for this post is first, I figured I'd give him a name of the place to start with at least, which is Locke, in the region of Mystvil, part of south Trezuria, and second, I took a crack at making a region map, without much detail so far. I have one foot out the door so I'm just going to attach it for now and I can organize better later. Keep the ideas and character stuff coming, I'm happy we're going at a pretty good clip on this! -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB

The Connections section doesn't appear to store line breaks, so I parked Relationships as the last item under Background. Cypher wise, I've been thinking that I'd theme most of Nia's cyphers as some emerging magical abilities (she touches an object and infuses it with its effect or some such). Not super important, but it always seemed odd to me to have a rotating cast of objects that just show up. But then again, elves... demons... magic I mean, Nia has a Hellfire Slug that I re-themed as an arrow, and that seems like a fun form factor. I dunno, there's lots to hand wave - and if there is a particular cypher that needs to be an object, just let me know.

Re: equipment. I’d started out with the price categories, but am happy to switch to gold if that is the plan. If we go that route, I sort of imagine Nia will have her slate of purchased gear and any leftover cash will be in coins that came from an ancient elven civilization. These coins may or may not still have value. I’m sort of imagining her living on whatever supplies still exist at the temple, and then stuffing what she can into a bag on her way out. First steps/ connections: I think Nia would first seek out the Druids to at least let them know that she is abandoning the temple at Oron-yána. Hopefully the Druids will look out for it, but maybe not. Second, Nia would head to Broikae/ Locke to seek out anyone who had a clear look at the blue/green explosion. She would purposefully seek out Gegren the smith, as he’s about the only person there she would have interacted with. Third, if Nia had previously encountered Asal while they were hunting she might seek them out to see if they saw the blue light and had a better idea of where it impacted. Nia was far off and experienced the shockwave more than she tracked where it first hit.

On Wednesday, June 25, 2025 8:14 AM bss via Emerald Flame wrote:

Factions I see so far:

The Wild Court - a senior council of high druids meeting to discuss the otherwise informal organization of the druids of Etra in all her forms. They have tasked themselves with maintaining nature's place in the world, to varying degrees of conceptual purity and resistance against civilization. The highest of all druid circles, at the top of the order, is the Grand Druid, whose objectives remain unclear. The Everred Guild - a league dedicated to those who hunt and track monsters and creatures for profit and renown. There is no particular hierarchy in the guild across Trezuria, so the local house can vary widely in terms of its approach towards conservation, respect for nature, and embrace of profit, ranging from benevolent sportsmen and women to those engaging in outright bloodsport. House Magissa - an extended family of half-elves seeking to be exclusive wielders of forgotten magic and lost rituals. Their reach extends to being the sole source of some of the continent's most important wards, and running the network of /sending stones/ that hastens communication throughout. The Celestial Order - a hierarchical structure under which the worship of the most common good-aligned deities is furthered, the Celestial Order also recruits and trains a large number of paladins and clerics, devoted to their deity but also acting in the interest of the wide order. They have recently undergone a philosophical transformation from the top of the order, and no longer favor tradition at the expense of recognizing magitech's growing influence on the world. The Burclynth Company - a moderately-sized group of treasure hunters and dungeon delvers, the members of the Burclynth company specialize in the unearthing of lost relics and history of ages past. They work for collectors of unique curios, powerful artifacts, and the like, but in the process have amassed more pieces and knowledge from lost civilizations than any other group, with the exception of House Magissa's ritual archive in that specific field. -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB

On Monday, June 30, 2025 11:30 PM bss via Emerald Flame wrote:

In other news, it sounds like we'll have our fourth and final starting character introduced and built soon, so I will be setting the scene here in a couple days, probably. We can figure out some character elements and background bits as we go, of course, but please let me know if anything is needed from me, especially with the factions and relationship connections --- and on that subject, be aware that I renamed "neutral" to "conflicted", to capture (hopefully) that relationships are never mundane (and to match 13th Age-style framing).

I'm going to start a new thread for starting up in Locke, coming once I can finish (over lunch? maybe not?). All the characters exist in the MCG tools, which is great, I will try to review and come in with final comments soon --- again, hopefully --- so if there's stuff you're still working on, let me know. -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB

On Tuesday, July 8, 2025 7:33 PM bss via Emerald Flame wrote:

Looks like we have intros for all the characters, I will try to get a chance later tonight to review the state of everyone's builder characters; I think the major thing for everyone was making sure we had relationship points buttoned down so that we could start rolling that as we go deeper into Locke. Now's a great time for final touches.

My summary of stuff still to fill out before we are done-done with chargen (all based on what I see in the builder, to have a solid reference point going forward): Everyone --- * Arc stuff. I called it out for each character, below, and then added this foreword realizing that the builder must not prompt you for this as it's not an official rules/mechanic thing, and might not even give you a good place to put it? Seems like another thing to write in to the Background section. I like putting an arc to paper right away as it helps both of us get a feel for where the character's individual motivation may lie. * It looks to me that the builder successfully did the builder things and made characters with no obvious errors, so yay. I think we're ready to continue with Locke, just specifically mentioning that I would like to do the first relationship connection roll soon here to get some dice guidance on the story, so filling in those sections is the one big thing for most of the characters. * To highlight it for everyone else, Nia's relationship points in the Background section is exactly what I was thinking for how to do relationships (and how to capture them on the sheet). Nia (Murph) --- * I didn't see a Character Arc anywhere, it would be good to call out what you think is your character's current narrative outside of the goings-on of the group. Asal (Christian) --- * You should pick a second descriptor; reminder that it's either a second personality descriptor if Asal is human, or a species descriptor if not. * Asal should pick an Arc, same note as above. * Ditto for relationships. Maybe not the vibe you're going for, but for some reason I get the sense of positive relationship with the Burclynth Company due to the explorer and decipher bits. * If you need more factions, feel free to write up a prototype and I'll work with it. Dax (Ozzyie) --- * Arc, same note again. * Relationship points need some filling out and coding; I think elsewhere I surmised the family business as House Magissa-related --- you could go with that or your own direction with existing or new factions, either way you need to allocate two more points. Gegren (Mike) --- * Arc and relationships, notes as above about both. -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB

On Friday 11 July 2025 02:08:38 AM (-05:00), bss via Emerald Flame wrote:

Gegren (Mike) --- * Arc and relationships, notes as above about both.

Relationships -------------------- - -2 pts: House Magissa - Gegren has probably come to the attention of the House as a "natural" who is not dependent on the House for access to learning - -1 pt: The Evrred Guild - Some of the guilds more zealous members probably consider Gegren a monster not - 1 pt: The Burclynth Company - Gegren has probably made some useful equipment or gadgets for members in the past. Character Arc -------------------- Recover from a Wound (or Trauma): This sudden transformation into the appearance of a demon, combined with new powers that Gegren is just starting to understand, has taken a mental toll as well as any physical aspects of transformation. He'll need to integrate his new appearance and powers, and at least reconcile and attempt to control his new temper, before he'll be fully healed. -- Mike | he/him

On Wednesday, July 16, 2025 3:06 PM Stuck Ey via Emerald Flame wrote:

Relationship points (There wasn't a good way to enter it in the sheet, I tried with "---------------------- and ------------------------", so here's the details..

Somehow Murph figured out the magic, if you can see the source of his, that might be the way to do it.

2 points: Threads of Fate is the Crestfall's family and their business (mostly dealing in low cost magic items, specializing in clothing). House Magissa-related sounds fine. Most sold product are dimensional pockets for a modest cost. 1 point: Worked with Gabriella Cendrillion, young woman of a noble family. He awkwardly flirted with her, but nothing became of it, they are friends. The family generally would not remember him. More story telling... The Cendriollion family is in charge of grooming and raising the Talon (elite guards used by noble folk), Dax's family's dimensional pockets which along with Gegren are specially made to create weapons what fold into handkerchiefs for the Talon (as conceal carry) 1 point: Yalan, Elf warden where the Ancient Library of Penstanishuri'a found in ruins located underground in the <<name of woods that falls at least partly under elven control - lacking knowledge of world I just wrote Locke Woods, but probably could be better>> is located - he provides insights to the elf warden who benefits from that

I like the hooks here, but I would expand the scope of Yalan a bit. The idea (which I am absolutely definitely 100% /not/ stealing from 13th Age) is that, by spending your relationship connection point/benny/however-you-think-of-it, you have a way to hook any problem, event, or scene back to your backstory, with the relationship as the avenue to do so, and get a nice little boost from the 1 XP spend. This can be via association with an organization, a momentary glimpse of inspiration, a flashback to relevant information, agents of the organization showing up in an opportune moment, magical spirits guiding your roll, magic stuff in general, etc.. For example, it might not make sense for Yalan, the individual, to be able at any point in time to help you out (unless he is one of the most prominent magical entities in the world, or an exceptional source of inspiration and ability in all things), but if you think he would be a good representative for a new/existing faction (for example, the Burclynth Company, or perhaps an elven court) that would reasonably have its fingers in a lot of pies, then you can use that relationship at any point and back your way into the rationale. House Magissa sounds good for the family business, and perhaps House Cendrillion is a new faction, reaching as far as you said and perhaps even farther across Trezuria.

So for rolling relationship stuff, how do I do that with, some thing with dr_botzo?

You can, if you prefer, or need a dice bot in a pinch. Unless it seems like there are severe shenanigans going on, I'm also content for you to just roll them however you'd like and report back. -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB