FAQ

World Views

Q) Are all the Centurions male? If not, what's the ratio of men to women?

A) No, they are not all males. Much like the rest of the continent, the farther North one goes, the more likely it is to find females in armor and bearing weapons. The Kingdom of Shienar, and the Baronies of the Shield are particularly notorious for equal treatment of womenfolks. There have been many times in the histories of both nations, where literally everyone who could swing a sword, or draw a bow has been mustered to the defenses.
 

Q) How common are female 'adventurers' of any sort?

A) Again, depending on how close to the lands of Shail Garath, fairly common.

Q) How are a group of adventurers greeted overall? With suspicion, malice, relief, happiness or something of a mix of those?

A) I don't think it would be accuate to make a generalized answer here. Sorry if this seems a copout, but parties of strangers will be greeted differently everywhere, depending on circumstances and recent history. It is probably just as likely that a small rural hamlet will be suspicious of any outsiders, as they are to be starved for news of the outside world. A city like Deltenheim, sees lots of traffic, and the arrival of another traveling party propably wouldnt be blinked at.
 

Q) Do your elves venture into the greater world, if so how often and how common are half-elves?

A) Yes, the Elves do travel, at times and at need, though for the most part they stay in their woods. Half elves, are possible, though not common in any regard. Exceedingly rare.
 

Gaming System

Q) What version AD&D? What options if 2Ed?

A) 2nd edition, the original version with "The Complete Handbooks" tho, if ppl dont have access to these we can talk about others.

Alignment

Q) What about alignments, which ones are acceptable?

A) Any "good" alignment will be acceptable. If a druid is rolled, neutral of course will be an exception. (Also see GM Style)

Magic

Q) What system of Magic depending on the game version and the options used?

A) I like the standard versions of magic laid out in the rulebooks. I *Know* how limited they are, and that there are problems, but for game balance between the classes, they worked, and if it aint broke....
 

Q) Is Siralya the only form of magic not used by priests, or does the Order of the Silver Knights cast wizardly spells not using Siralya?

A) No, Siralya exists separate from the Magic of wizards, as laid out in the rulebooks. Anyone who has a Siralya item, or has learned a Siralya "key" can manipulate it, for the price of their sanity. These items and keys are exceedingly rare though, so don't expect to find many barmaids hurling lightning bolts, or anything ridiculous like that.

Races

Q) What races allowed/disallowed?

A) PCs could be Human, Elven, 1/2 elven, Dwarf, Gnome, or 1/2ling.

Classes

Q) What classes allowed/disallowed?

A) Right now Im leaning towards disallowing Paladins, bt if a player could justify a Paladin class in the religion frameworks laid out in the wiki, I'd prolly change my mind.

Faith/Dieties

Q) Are the ways of Nature and The Creator the only deities?

A) Yes, for player characters. There are shamans for the humanoids, who worship some other power, and there will be clergy of an evil nature, but as yet I havent fully outlined this.
 

Q) In terms of mechanics only, will the loose structure of worshiping The Creator affect how a cleric/priest character is made?

A) As far as Character Gen. goes, I don't foresee the lack of structure changing anything. In a roleplaying context, I've thought about this a lot, and the main attribute of a person becoming a priest, is faith. Now if one is faithful enough, he may just find out that he can lay on hands, or what have you, and his belief is enough. I can also see the faithful one serving as an Acolyte to an established priest for a time, and maybe the way that mentor thinks about things rubs off. The thing that makes this unique, is there is no "One Way".
 

Q) Any changes in how one is made? Weapon proficiencies, mandatory skills, alignments, etc. Any bonuses or penalties to anything?

A) All "Priests of the Light" Are Good. Other than that, things are pretty much as outlined in the Player's Handbook. I'm open to discussing weapon proficiencies, as I can see Priests of the Light using weapons common in their homelands, rather than those taught at some seminary, or training school.
 

Q) Are there any actual centers of worship for The Creator? Maybe not a central church per se, but any established orders/organizations?

A) It would be unreasonable to assume that a group of priests who had similar beliefs would not form an Organization. There are several of these currently in existence, but they aren't active in or near the four rivers, so it's not in the Wiki as of yet.
 

Q) Tenets for The Creator – is there an afterlife? Intermediaries (saints, angels or whatever)? Some sort of ultimate reward for a morally rich life?

A) Here we hit on the crux of the reason why there is no central "church". For every priest to believes there are angels, and an afterlife to reward the faithful, there is one who believes that each persons own relationship with the Creator needs no intermediary, or that living a life full of good deeds is its own reward.

As long as the Priest has True faith in his belief, and works for Good causes, he is able to cast spells and progress in levels, just as another who believes differently. So it has been impossible for one faction to claim the True Faith over another...

(Imagine, in a "what if" scenario, that when monotheism was taking hold in the ancient world, if there had been no Monopoly on working wonders by one one man. If anyone who had faith in The One God could turn fishes to loaves, heal the blind, walk on water, etc etc, would there be a Catholic Church today?)

Q) Can priests of the old faith that aren't druids cast from all spheres or will there be restrictions?

A) All priests who follow the Olde Faith are Druids. Priests have faith in The Light, (The Creator) I know this may seem a bit limiting, but I really wanted to experiment with a monotheistic religion in a fantasy setting. Instead of a Pantheon of gods and godesses. I have tried to compensate for the limitation, by allowing Priests to exist outside the structure of a "Church" that sets doctrines. Leaving each Priest free to interpret the Creators will and serve him as he or she sees fit.

About the Game

Game Set Up

One of the only limitations on the Character creation process will be the home and age of the PCs. They will be young adults, and from the 4 rivers region, or around there. I can make allowances for nonhumans, but they will be from that area. They dont have to be childhood friends, but will certainly be acquaintences.

This is for several reasons, but the most important is that travelling around is time consuming and dangerous, and it will be much easier for the parties coming together to not feel contrived.

GM Style

I'd like to say a few words about my personal preferances, as a GM now.

As far as realism goes... It is fantasy. I like sound strategies, and solid plans... but Im just as likely to reward character who does something outrageously bold, the "swing from the chandelier move", so to speak. I dont like the "I swing my sword twice" approach to roleplaying.

Tone. Tone is a hard one, because I think variety is the spice of life. The parties are likely to be fighting for their very lives in one adventure, and in the next, be surrounded by gypsies who love to laugh and sing and dance. "All grim death and no play makes Jack a dull boy".

I also like players who make me laugh. Who doesnt? Not all characters are comic geniuses I know, but everyone should be able to cack a joke, now and then, for the most part.

Bean counting...and rules lawyering. I personally think it adds to character growth, if the character can remember at first level, when he had to count out pennies to see if he could afford that second ale with dinner... but at a certain point, I stop worrying about that. When they have enough money that it just doesnt matter. I totally agree, that it is tedious in this medium, and would rather see that roleplayed, than actually tabulated. if that makes sense.

And rules lawyering I find tiresome. Id rather tell the story, than hunt down the max range of a heavy crossbow. There are times a GM has to say "He's out of range" others when he wants the player to be able to make a miracle shot. Hope this helps the discussions some.

Alignments. Some of you may know how I look at alignments, most dont so I should say something here.

To me, Alignment is nothing but a declaration of what your character aspires to. Everyone makes mistakes, and in a moment of extreme duress, can do something out of their nature they regret later.

Alignment is not a straight jacket that locks you into programmed responses in every situation, nor does Lawful Good = stupid. Attacking by surprise is a tactic, not a moral, it is neither good nor evil. I've read a lot of D&D source material over the past couple decades and never once have I seen that LG folks have to make it a "fair fight"

edit:: I Have seen Codes of conduct for Knightly Orders and things that have that no
 attacking from behind clause, but to me that's separate from the actual alignment.
 ::edit::

Now if you're saying you're lawful good and you're running around stealing, pillaging, and eating babies.... that's another story.

World Influences

Jordan and Tolkien are drawn on quite heavily....with some other stuff thrown in of my own making.

Game Style

Q) Is the game Epic?

A) I would like to start out small. Baby steps. This will be my first shot at GMing in electronic medium, and I dont want to over reach myself. Having said that... I have always liked to plant seeds of important deeds later, into those first few adventures.