Thor Olavsrud
05-23-2005, 12:41 PM
In other words, you got nothing done last night so you decided to come over and shit on my game?
anyway, I posted my actual play from last night. So I'm not living in no glass house!
-L
No. In other words, I actually have a day job, and so didn't have anything written yet. I had hoped to chill out and discuss it with you last night after your game. 8)
We've decided to spend half our time on the Jihad and then switch over and play the Nobility. If everything works out, we'll set up the final conflict from the Jihadi side, and then switch to the Nobility just before the launch of the final assault. We'll see how it works. Everyone is supposed to post their characters here soon. I've got Little Rich's.
Characters:
Tom is playing the most out-there character. He's got about 10 lifepaths, including Lazy Stay-About, Soldier!, Pilot, Cripple, Fabricator, Smuggler and Rafiq. His one-legged character is the least devoted to the Jihad, though he does have Fanaticism, of course. He is out to prove that the Fellahin can and should benefit from the advanced technology of outworlders.
Anthony is playing a straight-up Fedayin commander, with a troop of Death Commandos at his disposal. He picked up the Xenophobic trait and is interested in seeing the Aristocracy suffer for their oppression of the Fellahin before the Mahdi came to lead them on glorious Jihad.
Big Rich is playing a Fedayin as well, but more focused on the stealth and assassination side of things. He too has a troop of Death Commandos at his disposal, presumably with a more assassination-type focus as well. Rich's character is convinced that outworlder technology leads to weakness, and plans to prove this to his fellow Fellahin, even if it means his death. Intitially, Rich tried to create a Fellahin/Sisterhood character (Born Fellahin, Desert Rat, Sister to the Tribe (lead to Sisterhood), Libra, Sister (lead to Fellahin) and then into the Jihad. However, I pointed out that while he could travel the Sisterhood paths, he would not be able to pick up the Simhanada Trained trait necessary for the funky Sisterhood abilities. I suspect Rich will create a Sisterhood character when we change to the Noble characters.
Interestingly, the two Fedayin, with less Mental points to play with than the others, wound up with the lowest Steel of the characters. With their special Hesitation action from Martyr, that suits me perfectly well. Besides, we're talking about B8 as 'low' here. Little Rich and Tom wound up with B10 Steel. Andy came up with a B11 Steel and so was forced to Gray it, coming in at G6.
Little Rich is playing his Hujjat, as expected, though interestingly, his Fanaticism is lower than the Fedayin characters, as he did not take the Fidahi, Fedayin or Dahi lifepaths. He is also one of the youngest characters! Rich chose to spread his skills very broadly, rather than focusing particularly on a few. He has no Gray skills, and none with an exponent higher than B5 (those include Ritual, Religious Law, Intimidation and Command). On the other hand, he will be a FoRKing and Helping MONSTER, with 24 skills at his disposal. I can see already that Rich's character will be the pivot for any intra-party conflict that erupts. His beliefs include:
1. Ancestor worship is Hadud (in other words, those who he cannot convert he will send to God's justice)
2. The Sunna of the Mahdi is binding law (implied: he will do anything the Mahdi commands. With his high Religious Law rating, he will be able to decide the Mahdi's feelings on anything where I do not step in personally).
3. My life is expendable, my soul is not.
While these draw a very sharp line in the sand, they actually leave a lot of room for Rich to go one way or the other in the conflicts the other players have set up.
Finally, Andy is playing the Saltmaster/Shayk that has become a Mustajib. Andy initially plotted out a series of LPs that lead from Fellahin to the City, where he picked up Moneylender, Merchant and Magnate before joining the Jihad as a Fidahi. However, after scouring the paths for a while, he decided the Saltmaster/Shayk progression was essentially the Magnate for his Tribe. Andy wound up with an incredibly powerful Gray Command skill. His character is thoroughly dedicated to the Jihad, but he also sees many benefits to portions of the Nobility's secular society, despite his Traditional nature. He is caught between the two worlds, making him another pivotal character on the axis that we've created. Anthony and Big Rich come down firmly on the outworlders are corrupt side while Tom provides weight on the opposite end. Little Rich and Andy will be somewhere in the middle. Also, I foresee tension between Little Rich and Andy's characters as they work out exactly who is in charge.
Things we decided:
1. The characters will be the second wave of Jihadis to land on the planet. The first wave, consisting of the Fidahi infiltrators and Dahi missionaries, have been on the planet for a while now. Andy's character came with this wave, and I think he was in charge of them. Little Rich has led the second wave, which is tasked with softening certain aspects of the planet's infrastructure as well as finding and capturing/disabling the family atomics, and their Salt stockpiles. This must happen before the third and final wave of Jihadis brings the Mahdi's Justice to these people.
2. The planet is composed primarily of badlands/desert, with almost no human structures on the surface. In fact, this place is a manufacturing center, possibly founded as an outpost for the technologists of 9. The entire planet is an industrialized manufacturing center, all built under the planet's crust. The place is especially known for the manufacture of lasguns, shields, and other weapons, as well as non-military manufactured goods. The Jihad needs the manufacturing base, especially the weapons, though sees no use in the shields. The mission is to subdue and convert the planet. The population must be kept alive in order to continue production!
3. Part of Tom's character's agenda will be interfacing with the Smugglers on planet and ensuring that the planet's aristocracy cannot use them to flee the planet with their house atomics.
4. Andy will be the ambassador-type character, infiltrating the world's political infrastructure.
5. Big Rich is interested in some black ops/assassination/blowing stuff up missions.
6. I believe Little Rich has a cadre of Dahi Missionaries working for him, so he'll likely be sending them out to convert the Peasant/Villager population.
7. Anthony will be leading the footsoldiers in any assaults.
anyway, I posted my actual play from last night. So I'm not living in no glass house!
-L
No. In other words, I actually have a day job, and so didn't have anything written yet. I had hoped to chill out and discuss it with you last night after your game. 8)
We've decided to spend half our time on the Jihad and then switch over and play the Nobility. If everything works out, we'll set up the final conflict from the Jihadi side, and then switch to the Nobility just before the launch of the final assault. We'll see how it works. Everyone is supposed to post their characters here soon. I've got Little Rich's.
Characters:
Tom is playing the most out-there character. He's got about 10 lifepaths, including Lazy Stay-About, Soldier!, Pilot, Cripple, Fabricator, Smuggler and Rafiq. His one-legged character is the least devoted to the Jihad, though he does have Fanaticism, of course. He is out to prove that the Fellahin can and should benefit from the advanced technology of outworlders.
Anthony is playing a straight-up Fedayin commander, with a troop of Death Commandos at his disposal. He picked up the Xenophobic trait and is interested in seeing the Aristocracy suffer for their oppression of the Fellahin before the Mahdi came to lead them on glorious Jihad.
Big Rich is playing a Fedayin as well, but more focused on the stealth and assassination side of things. He too has a troop of Death Commandos at his disposal, presumably with a more assassination-type focus as well. Rich's character is convinced that outworlder technology leads to weakness, and plans to prove this to his fellow Fellahin, even if it means his death. Intitially, Rich tried to create a Fellahin/Sisterhood character (Born Fellahin, Desert Rat, Sister to the Tribe (lead to Sisterhood), Libra, Sister (lead to Fellahin) and then into the Jihad. However, I pointed out that while he could travel the Sisterhood paths, he would not be able to pick up the Simhanada Trained trait necessary for the funky Sisterhood abilities. I suspect Rich will create a Sisterhood character when we change to the Noble characters.
Interestingly, the two Fedayin, with less Mental points to play with than the others, wound up with the lowest Steel of the characters. With their special Hesitation action from Martyr, that suits me perfectly well. Besides, we're talking about B8 as 'low' here. Little Rich and Tom wound up with B10 Steel. Andy came up with a B11 Steel and so was forced to Gray it, coming in at G6.
Little Rich is playing his Hujjat, as expected, though interestingly, his Fanaticism is lower than the Fedayin characters, as he did not take the Fidahi, Fedayin or Dahi lifepaths. He is also one of the youngest characters! Rich chose to spread his skills very broadly, rather than focusing particularly on a few. He has no Gray skills, and none with an exponent higher than B5 (those include Ritual, Religious Law, Intimidation and Command). On the other hand, he will be a FoRKing and Helping MONSTER, with 24 skills at his disposal. I can see already that Rich's character will be the pivot for any intra-party conflict that erupts. His beliefs include:
1. Ancestor worship is Hadud (in other words, those who he cannot convert he will send to God's justice)
2. The Sunna of the Mahdi is binding law (implied: he will do anything the Mahdi commands. With his high Religious Law rating, he will be able to decide the Mahdi's feelings on anything where I do not step in personally).
3. My life is expendable, my soul is not.
While these draw a very sharp line in the sand, they actually leave a lot of room for Rich to go one way or the other in the conflicts the other players have set up.
Finally, Andy is playing the Saltmaster/Shayk that has become a Mustajib. Andy initially plotted out a series of LPs that lead from Fellahin to the City, where he picked up Moneylender, Merchant and Magnate before joining the Jihad as a Fidahi. However, after scouring the paths for a while, he decided the Saltmaster/Shayk progression was essentially the Magnate for his Tribe. Andy wound up with an incredibly powerful Gray Command skill. His character is thoroughly dedicated to the Jihad, but he also sees many benefits to portions of the Nobility's secular society, despite his Traditional nature. He is caught between the two worlds, making him another pivotal character on the axis that we've created. Anthony and Big Rich come down firmly on the outworlders are corrupt side while Tom provides weight on the opposite end. Little Rich and Andy will be somewhere in the middle. Also, I foresee tension between Little Rich and Andy's characters as they work out exactly who is in charge.
Things we decided:
1. The characters will be the second wave of Jihadis to land on the planet. The first wave, consisting of the Fidahi infiltrators and Dahi missionaries, have been on the planet for a while now. Andy's character came with this wave, and I think he was in charge of them. Little Rich has led the second wave, which is tasked with softening certain aspects of the planet's infrastructure as well as finding and capturing/disabling the family atomics, and their Salt stockpiles. This must happen before the third and final wave of Jihadis brings the Mahdi's Justice to these people.
2. The planet is composed primarily of badlands/desert, with almost no human structures on the surface. In fact, this place is a manufacturing center, possibly founded as an outpost for the technologists of 9. The entire planet is an industrialized manufacturing center, all built under the planet's crust. The place is especially known for the manufacture of lasguns, shields, and other weapons, as well as non-military manufactured goods. The Jihad needs the manufacturing base, especially the weapons, though sees no use in the shields. The mission is to subdue and convert the planet. The population must be kept alive in order to continue production!
3. Part of Tom's character's agenda will be interfacing with the Smugglers on planet and ensuring that the planet's aristocracy cannot use them to flee the planet with their house atomics.
4. Andy will be the ambassador-type character, infiltrating the world's political infrastructure.
5. Big Rich is interested in some black ops/assassination/blowing stuff up missions.
6. I believe Little Rich has a cadre of Dahi Missionaries working for him, so he'll likely be sending them out to convert the Peasant/Villager population.
7. Anthony will be leading the footsoldiers in any assaults.