Dispositio Diabolum

[Umiushi]

The magical scale armor appropriated by Sir Listeneise was forged using some of the last mithril ore mined in Acanthras. The Lost Claw of Pontanok was recovered from the hoard of the infamous dragon Hroddzegor Gildenfang. The Orb of Winter's Wasting was instrumental in the successful early career of Glatisant, the Witch of Baubles.

Permanent magical items of level 10 or below may certainly have a bit of history attached to them, but those of higher level almost always do. With that in mind, when you write your character descriptions and background, please remember to include just a word or two about where your level 11 and higher permanent magical items come from, and/or how you acquired them.

[yukonhorror]

crud crud crud!

I can't play. My wife's new schedule makes it so we really don't see each other a ton. So it is either this game, or the game I run live. As I have been waiting about 7+ years for a live game, I have to bow out. I AM SUPER sorry. I REALLY wanted to play. But I want to play live and see my wife more. Good luck in finding someone.

[Umiushi]

I'm sorry to hear you can't make it, but don't worry; unlike The Autumn Knight, I didn't write this game with any minimum number of players in mind. As long as there's one, the campaign can go forward.

[Palpatim]

Drat, sorry to hear you won't be able to play, yukonhorror.

As long as there's one, the campaign can go forward.

If it's me playing that one character, it's either going to be a very short game, be populated with well-disposed clerics with the "Raise Dead" ritual, or take place primarily on one of the afterlife planes.

[Umiushi]

So, with Yukonhorror no longer in the party, there went the one and only vote for the adventure's starting location.

To review, here are the choices again:

• the cottage
• the outskirts of the Devilswood
• Eskaton
• Fell's Holdfast
• Hook Street, traveling east towards Eskaton
• Hook Street, traveling east towards Rience
• Hook Street, traveling west from Eskaton to Rience
• traveling from one of the other locations to Norin Trugvad
• Rience
• the watchtower

Let's decide this by Wednesday, August 3rd.

[Palpatim]

Hi Umiushi,

I'm still trying to consider Chant's backstory, so I haven't narrowed it down much. My votes will be, (in order of most-to-least favored, based on my current thinking):
* Fell's Holdfast (I like the parallelism of Chant's next chapter starting there)
* Outskirts of Devilswood (since that is likely where he will be based)
* Cottage, assuming that it may have some relevance to Chant's posting, either as a base of operations, the target of an investigation, or the abode of an acquaintance
* Eskaton
* Hook Street traveling east toward Eskaton

That said, I'm quite flexible. I trust your stories enough to know that I'll be able to come up with a good reason for Chant to be wherever he needs to be.

--T

[Umiushi]

The cottage and the watchtower are still up for grabs. They're free, but furnishings should be bought separately.

[Umiushi]

Chant has claimed the cottage for his own. The watchtower is still available, should anyone want a second base of operations.

Also, there will be an upcoming post in the Chat Calendar thread discussing some scheduling issues with the upcoming game sessions. Please review the most recent post in that thread, and the first post in that thread for details.

[Umiushi]

The window for the disposition of Autumn Knight items is now closed. I have noted which ones have been claimed.

[Umiushi]

This is a reminder that the starting location will be announced after Wednesday, August 3rd.

[Umiushi]

The starting location for the PCs will be Fell's Holdfast, a small, walled keep in the northeastern portion of Gwyren Ogleth.

Fell's Holdfast

• Population: a little over 100
• Government: resident noble ruler (Fell, a tiefling wizard; not technically a noble, but his position makes him equivalent to a baron in the orders of precedence for Elphame and Elveald)
• Defense: a band of around 40 mounted warriors and apprentice wizards; fortifications; siege weaponry; probable magical defenses
• Commerce: relies on a monthly trade caravan for general supplies; the holdfast also contains a teleportation circle; income is derived from hiring out apprentices, and from Fell's personal investments in other parts of Gwyren Ogleth
• Organizations: a hierarchy of apprentices and assistants to Fell; a domestic hierarchy; a company of warriors contracted to defend the keep; a small shrine of the Drywkirdara

Bordering Locations

• Chant's Cottage - southwest, on the outskirts of the Devilswood, lies Chant's cottage for those who know how to find it
• The Devilswood - the cursed forest of Tirsifa lies to the west
• Eskaton - the religious center of Gwyren Ogleth is a few leagues to the south
• Gritchbone Vale - this unsettled valley to the east is suspected to be a territory of the Unseelie; an unspoken reason behind the construction of the hold is to guard against possible incursions from the Vale, but that is not a concern of the present adventure
• The Highlands of Esk - forms a largely uninhabited buffer territory with Pellamar, further to the north; again, it is not part of the present adventure
• Norin Trugvad - the dwarf outpost on the shores of the Scawmere is to the northwest and is the last stop for traders who come out of Eskaton, but the way is too rugged for carts or wagons

Relative Distances (Closest to Furthest)

1. The Highlands of Esk - the foothills begin six leagues to the north, past a tiny, thicketed valley
2. Gritchbone Vale - ten leagues' distant, on the other side of a line of low hills
3. Eskaton - about two days on foot to cover the thirteen leagues or so
4. The Devilswood - nearly the same distance as Eskaton, but through rougher terrain
5. Chant's Cottage - no farther than the Devilswood
6. Norin Trugvad - twenty leagues away across rugged terrain

[Umiushi]

I acquired the Player's Handbook 3 a couple days ago, and so I've decided to allow the incorporation of some of its rules into this game. Unlike the other rulebooks we're using, I will only be employing a fraction of the material in the Player's Handbook 3.

December 30th, 2011 Update
In summary, post #44 in the Characters and Rules Guidelines thread applies here with the following exception:

• Characters may be of the Wilden race.

For Existing Characters

• You may make use of the new feats, including feats related to Runepriests and Seekers, except the following:
  
  • feats involving psionics
  • feats involving hybrids (if there are any)
  
  
• You may retrain your utility powers to skill powers.
• You may replace your chosen magic items with new ones listed in the Magic Items section.
• If you take the Superior Implement Training feat, you may purchase a Superior Implement, or incorporate one into a magic item.

For New Characters

• All of the permissions and restrictions for existing characters apply.
• You may create a character of the Wilden race.
• Githzerai, Minotaurs, and Shardminds do not exist in this setting as PC races.
• You may create a character of the Runepriest or Seeker classes.
• Ardents, Battleminds, Monks, and Psions--psionic classes in general--do not exist in this setting as PC classes.
• Hybrid characters are not permitted. Do not create one.

[yukonhorror]

Monks, really?? They aren't really psionic though. They are more martial than anything. I am not arguing, just curious. Heck, I am not even playing... But I personally really like the runepriest. Definitely a creative and effective new class.

[Umiushi]

I'll try to give you a broad answer, since I'll be allowing similarly-limited PHB3 rules into the other games soon enough.

As generic or vanilla as it sounds, all of my current settings in The Unquiet Lands are based on a Western European fantasy setting. Even if I changed the power source for monks, their whole style doesn't fit. Frankly, I've rarely allowed monks in my games even when they were part of the "core classes" for an edition, and I was happy enough not to see them in the first two Player's Handbooks. If a player wants to play a character that uses fisticuffs, there's the brawler fighter from Martial Power 2. If a player wants to play a kung fu expert, they need to find a different game.

It's not that psionics don't exist in the world, either. For various reasons, I'm just not sure I want that power source to be one for player characters. Among the four psionic classes, it's the ardent that is the best fit for Dispositio Diabolum, but I really want to think about it some more before I introduce psionic PCs at all.

Now, one of the three main projects I have on the back-burner for the future is a Chinese- and Japanese-influenced D&D adventure. In that setting, there would definitely be monks.

[yukonhorror]

gotcha. I was just curious on the mentality.

I don't MIND the ardent, but I like the battlemind better as a psionic class.