PBEM (or other medium) GM or Player

[LaughingSalmon]

I've GMed two campaigns of BW Revised, and am looking to get into BWG. After finishing up grad school, l got a job overseas, making face-to-face gaming in my new home extremely unlikely.

In the past, I've had a lot of fun with a PBEM game and I'd like to try that out again. I think keeping the group small is best for this format (1 on 1) or possibly 2 or even 3 PCs. The beauty of PBEM is that PCs can easily branch off and link up again with very little problem.

Anyone interested?

[LaughingSalmon]

After checking out some PbP games, I'd also be up for playing/running something via Obsidian Portal or some other forums. Again, let me know if you have any interest!

[Taladel]

Do you have a situation in mind? I'd be interested in playing.

[LaughingSalmon]

A wronged peasant seeking revenge on the noble family responsible.

Rival noble houses in a cold war for control over a fiefdom.

Mysterious murders and supernatural unease emanating from the sewer system of the capital.

Those are just off the top of my head. What are you interested in?

I'm pretty flexible, though I will say I do like politics, intrigue, mystery, and the creepily inexplicable.

[Taladel]

I like the first two, definitely. I've never played a noble houses game and I love the idea of lots of intrigue, shady backroom dealings, and maybe a dark ritual or two? Duels for honor's sake are always great as well. I could play one of the pawns, a man in his early twenties torn between doing his ambitious mother's will and hiding the forbidden love he shares with a man from the other house. Not to get all romeo and romeo on you, but I like my characters to have vulnerable and dangerous relationships.

I've been itching to play in a big Mediterranean port town. Maybe the peasant has beef with a rich merchant family who control a great deal of the import/export trade? They put my son into indentured servitude because I couldn't pay my debts, and now I'm out for blood.

Both of these scenarios really get me going.

I'm not huge on the supernatural stuff but I wouldn't mind it tinting things. As long as it's not a big focus I'm totally cool.

[LaughingSalmon]

The noble houses game it is, then. I'm also a fan of intrigue and the rest. What you described sounds really interesting to me -- canals are a must. As for the supernatural -- I'm also a fan of very gritty, low fantasy games, so I think we're on the same page there.

Do you have a preference for medium? Email or message board? Let me know.

Otherwise, before we move this discussion elsewhere, is there anyone else out there who would be interested in getting involved?

Possibly even someone interested in playing a pc from the rival house?

[Taladel]

I'd love to try Obsidian Portal, actually. I've been following Judd's Forgotten Realms campaign and I really like the way it works. We could figure out a time to use Skype or some other voice chat to have a back and forth as well, if necessary. I don't have a webcam yet so G+ hangouts might(?) be out of the question.

[LaughingSalmon]

So... Obsidian Portal wanted to charge me for a forum (not cool), so I threw together a quick site -- it has a tag-able, searchable wiki and a forum... and I have way more control over it than OP offers.

Here's a link for the forum: check it out (http://treading.wikidot.com/forum:start)

You'll need a wikidot account, if that's okay.

Otherwise, do you want to try giving your character a burn? I would say 4 lifepaths, give or take 1.

Just some quick questions:

How powerful is your family? Are we talking an opulent, high house? somewhere in the middle? Or a forgotten, desperate family clinging on to the last vestiges of former glory?

What is the source of your family's wealth and power? Religious ties? Trade interests? Agriculture? Political connections? Military?

If you have any questions about setting, feel free to ask away. I'm planning to put up a bit about the culture on the wikidot forum, but I have some rushed work to finish tonight. If I can't post later tonight, than sometime tomorrow.

[Taladel]

Wikidot is fine, Peter. I'll register an account after work tomorrow, I've been slammed with other stuff so I apologize for my lack of reply in the last few days.

[LaughingSalmon]

No problem -- the beauty of pbp is that you don't have to worry about being slammed in real life - the game can wait.

[Taladel]

How powerful is your family? Are we talking an opulent, high house? somewhere in the middle? Or a forgotten, desperate family clinging on to the last vestiges of former glory?The house Foscari is at the peak of its power, but its enemies are growing. I imagine a recent alliance has ended in an ugly, public fashion.


What is the source of your family's wealth and power? Religious ties? Trade interests? Agriculture? Political connections? Military?Through a canny arranged marriage and some other skulduggery, the Foscaris have come into control of a sizable portion of the city's shipping industry. Building a business of this nature is far beyond their skillset (or their interest, frankly) but running the business has come naturally to them.

They have some influence in the Church, but their power mostly stems from their connecting ability (read: spy network). My oldest sister is ruthlessly ambitious. Truly her mother's daughter. She has an ear in every court, giving her considerable foresight.

Should we move this to wikidot, or to a 'playing bwg' thread?

[LaughingSalmon]

Let's move to the wikidot forum - we'll leave a link (http://treading.wikidot.com) here for any lurkers... in fact, I might just tack it onto my signature.

I'd be up for running a few interrelated stories in the setting if there are others interested!

[Dan2]

It's been a long while since I last got to *play* in a BW campaign. If you're willing, I'd love to join you guys (or do whatever is actually a possibility).

[LaughingSalmon]

I'd be glad to have you.

I would prefer to keep the PCs on separate but interrelated storylines. There may be some crossover scenes, but given the nature of pbp, I don't want to leave anybody waiting too much on anyone else. We can all keep each story on pace with individual needs.

Would that be okay with you?

If so, I have some other situations in mind for the setting:

- With all of the intrigue among the bloody nobles, nobody seems to have noticed that all the rats are going missing.
- An agent of foreign powers sent under some sort of coercian to infiltrate the city and inform on the politics, defenses, and weaknesses
- One leader emerges from one of the cultural minorities to teach the locals about a more democratic way of life, in which all men are equal under a just law and the bounty of their labor is more evenly enjoyed. Violent insurrection ensues.

[Dan2]

That would be fine with me. I expected something like that might be the case, based on the rest of the thread.

I'm definitely leaning toward the second, but mysteries definitely tickle my need to investigate...
Is there anything about the first that might warrant exploring it, rather than the second?

[LaughingSalmon]

The first is open-ended, but I imagine it being a bit cthulu-esque with heavy leads taken from whatever comes out of the beliefs in the burning. I'm imagining either an academic wandering the streets like a fish out of water or a ratcatcher uncovering a great discovery but nobody believes him. But to start out, the key lead is only "disappearing rats."

Those were just the three that came off the top of my head this morning. Is there any situation that you're itching to play? I'm open to other ideas.

I am a fan of mystery/investigation and intrigue. I like social/commercial conflict. Conspiracies, low-fantasy, but with something irksome and not-quite-right along the edges.

[Dan2]

I'll stick with your second scenario. Seems fun to me.

Should we move over to the wikidot area?

[LaughingSalmon]

Sounds good. I put up a thread "The Infiltrator's Background" in the character creation section of the forum.

Also feel free to comment on the setting background info that's up so far -- we still don't have cultural traits for the people of Iskrel Ascucci.

[Daenyth]

I'm up for this as well. What's your schedule like? Time window for IM? You're +15 hours from here right?

Also, you guys are in for a treat. I've been a player for this fine gentleman in person before, and the campaign was easily the best RPG experience I've had in my life :)

For a character, I'm thinking I'd like to play a street rat with a secret. Burglary, mugging, etc.

[LaughingSalmon]

I'm +13 hours. Whatever time it is for you +1. Easy to remember. :)

Email/post is generally easier than IM just because of general hectic life

that being said, if we are both online, i'd be down for some chat

[AnyaTheBlue]

Hey, just a heads up -- the link in your sig uses treadingwater.wikidot and the link up thread just uses treading.wikidot. The one in your sig block doesn't appear to go anywhere...

Also, are you still open for players, or have you reached equilibrium?

[LaughingSalmon]

I can take one more, but just. The pace of all the other characters has been very slow (i.e. burning still in progress) so as long as people keep it casual with posts, I can keep pace.

Given the gist of the other storylines already in place, is there anything you had in mind that you want to play out, or would you like me to offer a menu?

[AnyaTheBlue]

Out of what's been posted so far, I noticed nobody has really bitten on the "what's in the sewers/what happened to all the rats?" plot line, and that sounds quite appealing to me. I think I'd rather enjoy the more poor & criminal end of things in a big canal filled metropolis.

That having been said, I haven't explored the wikidot site yet -- and if you have any other ideas your itching to use, I'd be happy to hear them.

I'm thinking more along the lines of an urchin (or ex-urchin) type rather than a rat catcher or academic, if that sounds amenable?

I'll go sign up for the wikidot site now, too...

[LaughingSalmon]

Disappearing rats it is!

an urchin/ex-urchin sounds perfect to me.

I'll set up a section for you on the treading water forum!

[Daenyth]

Out of what's been posted so far, I noticed nobody has really bitten on the "what's in the sewers/what happened to all the rats?" plot line, and that sounds quite appealing to me. I think I'd rather enjoy the more poor & criminal end of things in a big canal filled metropolis.

That having been said, I haven't explored the wikidot site yet -- and if you have any other ideas your itching to use, I'd be happy to hear them.

I'm thinking more along the lines of an urchin (or ex-urchin) type rather than a rat catcher or academic, if that sounds amenable?

I'll go sign up for the wikidot site now, too...


Hum, perhaps we will end up knowing each other. I had a similar concept in mind.

[LaughingSalmon]

Hum, perhaps we will end up knowing each other. I had a similar concept in mind.

Well, of all the leads, this one is certainly the most treacherous. I think this one could be run with two characters with little problem, with the possibility for splitting up or losing one another.

Would both of you be amiable to playing through the "rats" storyline together?

[AnyaTheBlue]

I certainly don't mind -- he more the merrier!

[LaughingSalmon]

Okay -- you two post under Urchins' Backgrounds in the character development section. You may want to bounce concepts off one another to try to get a duo that clicks (or clacks)

[dc444]

Looking over your wikidot forum, the Character burning sections mainly, and I was wondering if you were interested in one more. I noticed that one person might have dropped out. On second look it appears the narrative threads have been inactive for quite a while. :(

I've been toying with a concept that seems to fit quite well in your setting with slight alterations, the non-magical agent at court of a sorcerous cabal which fits quite well in a setting where magic is below ground.

[Dan2]

It has been inactive for a while because the GM ran into some problems. It might come back up, it might not.

[dc444]

Unfortunate but good to know. Thanks.