PBeM Turn Log

[Daijaga]

Hello fellow POers, Your humble locally acredited DM here with a game annoucement for those who wish to participate.

Some basic statistics...

* The game will be performed in a Play-By-e-Mail format. Please Email me(daijaga@sbcglobal.net) just to tell me your interested, Ill contact everyone as a group at a later time.

* The game is organized into "Objectives" or missions which are episodical - so you can join or leave at any time after you've made your character ^_^. Each mission should take about 1-3 weeks of posting, depending, so no loose story lines.

* Posts should be no longer than 3-4 days apart.

* The game occcurs in a fantasy type setting - think Forgotten Realmsish. The world is technically Feria, a campegien world I've used in my home run campegiens for a few years.

* Players will be mailed the turn correspondence directly. The turns of all units will be posted to PO too, for everyone's reading pleasure.

* Combat mechanics run on the d20 system however you are not required to have any knowledge of the system to participate. I will handle all the rolls and statistics for those who wish to participate with out using the d20 system. EDIT 5/2/4: Due to my judgement, size of the playing audience, and venue, I have chosen to use a personal system based closer to White Wolf's d10 system. Gomen!

The story...

The city-state of Reaan has grown exponitally in the past decade. Famine, war, and natural disasters acredited to magic have driven rural country men east to the port towns on the gentle coasts to make a living. The largest of these, Reaan, quickly doubled, doubled, and doubled again in size to the point where the sprawling metropolis was little more than a pit of tents and shanties at the outskirts.

But with a large population, comes a large crime rate. The National Guard has employed a variety of tactics from emprisonment to murder, but gang activity, illegal component smuggling, off-plane arms dealing, and other clearly illigel crimes occur almost daily. The cumlination of such being the obvious assassination of President Laman, elect of the ruling governement body. Remorse could only be short lived, as the newly elected President vowed revenge...

The new President, President Taren Endle, proposed a new strategy as was as bold as it was expensive, and as foolish as it was brilliant. Using a bounty like set up, indiviual units of specialized individuals will be set up in Free Brigade Units (FBUs) and select from a variety of bounties avialble including suspect arrests, infiltration, recovery of goods or sensitive materials, street investigations, and any other duties specific to an objective.

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All interested parties please send me an e-mail just to let me know your interested! Be sure to include your PO name so I knows who ya is. I'll contact everyone at the later, at same time with information regarding character creation along with some other details.

Depending on the number of responses, you will be in a 'world' with at least one or possibly two other FBUs of other people commmunicating to be through e-mail. Your decisions as a unit can and will effect the other players - and thats pretty freaking cool.

Your humble DM, Daijaga. (daijaga@sbcglobal.net)

[Daijaga]

Caculating Defence
Azurel pointed out that my Defence rules are a little skewed ^_^. It seems that "(Armor + Dex) - Heavy armor" makes adding one point to armor useless - being as the heavy just knocks off the armor. In stead use this calculation:

Defence: Armor + (Dex - Heavy Armor) Note: Dex cant go below 0 for this purpose.

Azurel's example:
Shadow Sheild (4 points- 1 + absorb dark + stronger to magic + lighter)

Lets also examine the Shadow Shield's weight. It starts at 0 with its 1 defence. When he adds absorb dark and stronger to magic, this brings its weight up to a total of 2. The lighter brings that down a step to 1. The final defence should then look like this if Azurel's Dex is 2:

Defence: 2
Special Defence: 6, Chance to absorb Dark energy.
(His original 5 Special Defence, +1 from the shield's resistance to magic)

[Daijaga]

Regeneration
I was speaking with Faye who brought up the idea of an HP regenerating effect. First off let me point out that every turn you have a chance to regenerate HP and SP naturally. I roll a 1d10 for every stat point you have in Consitution every turn, and when it die roll comes up "10", you gain an HP that round - for every one that comes up "10" you gain one additional HP. This also applies to your SP, only I roll 1d10 for every stat point you have in Wisdom.

Here are the rules for effects that amplify regeneration of HP and SP:

HP or SP Regen: A point here allows you to aid regeneration of one person by touching them. The effect lasts for 2 turns and increases their chance to regenerate HP or SP from "10" to "9-10". If you want to regen from a longer range, in an area, or extend the number of turns the regen lasts, add one point. If you want to increase the die 'range' by one point to "8-10", "7-10", etc - add 2 creation points per range increase. This addtion only counts one SP toward your casting cost.

Note that there will be firther limitations on regenerating SP, but these will suffice for right now ^_^

Example:
Resounding Hyper Heal (6 points), 1 + longer range + two targets + more turns + wider die range "8-10"
Cost to use: 5 SP
Regens: HP, "8-10" for 3 turns.
Description of Resounding Hyper Heal

Hyper Mutt
It came to my attention that the stats on Hyper Mutt were a little skewed. Hyper Mutt was just a format example, and you should base your stats off of the formulas in the original e-mail

[Daijaga]

Operation 101: Getting Organized

"Congratulations on your achievement on passing the FBU agency test form!" announced an official looking parchment. It was followed by instructions, directions, dates and times, and a list of material and equipment that may be useful. All the other paper work had been filed and the technicalities taken care of, as of tomorrow...

"You are a qualified agent of the Free Brigade Unit, Cheshire Dragon!"

...as the note so cheerfully put it.

A man with wings and a bright aura smiled at his note, which he carefully tucked into a pocket inside his breastplate. His gaze swept the sky, as if seeking something. After several moments he returned his attention to the street and bore forward.

A woman across town in a bistro on Welburn street read the note several times, brushing back her hair in annoyance as the platinum strands cascaded over her armor. After growing weary of fighting the hair, she nonchalantly materialized angelic wings that she raised to keep her locks in check. A small gasp escaped from the near-by java drinkers, but otherwise the magic was unnoticed. Ever since the migration to Reaan, everyday life was stranger and stranger.

Another man handed the note back stoicly to a guard who stuck it in his jacket pocket. The guard unlocked the cell and hurried back as if the man within would bite. "So, this is to be my sentence then..." he mused, rising from his seat and striding out of the cell. "And the restraints?" the man brought his wrists up, presenting the large golden cuffs that bound his powers. The guards was only inches from the cuffs when they dissipated in a dark glowing crumble before his eyes. Azurel grinned and stood silent above the guard a moment, letting the reality sink in, before leaving the cell and the guard in a flash of shadow.

The click of hooves and the smell of sulfur was all that marked the mood of another whom received the letter, leaving a burning parchment on in the alley behind.

"I hope we have something to kill soon." the last man muttered over a piece of cheese in the bistro on Welburn’s street. "I always work better under a full moon." He glanced at the calendar in the back of the Reaan Journal. "And that means we better get some action tonight." A final sip of his coffee and a few copper for the tip and he was over to a booth leaning on the table before a girl who’d just evoked wings, it seems, just to keep her hair back.

"Can I help you?" she said sweetly.

"I noticed you and I have the same reading material," he flipped out his own note on the table. "And since the rendevous is in an hour, I figure we may as well be on our way."



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It was seven after seven by the sun’s shadow, at the Laman Monument in the inner courtyard of the Reaan state building, the ordered time for the Unit’s first meeting. Agent Fadora, feeling all of his sixty years in the banded mail he wore, watched the entourage of new Agents enter the court. A scruffy looking man in a coat bearing no obvious weapon but himself accompanied the girl with wings. There was Agent Mendago and Agent Faye, he mentally checked them off, vaguely wondering when they’d met but passing it off indifferently. A disturbance behind him marked Agent Rayne’s shadowy entrance. Two more, he mused.

Diablo and Faye each checked out Dantrel Rayne, and made their own individual evaluations. Dantrel stood an average height and wore no heavy armor or large weaponry. In fact, at first glance, he seemed like just another guy. The skilled eye of the paired agents, however, discerned he must have more arcane sources of power.

Rayne didn’t allow the visual challenge to go uninvited. The girl carried a bow of some size, but she didn’t show its weight in the slightest. Her platinum hair marked her as some sort of possibly angelic creature as well. ‘Just dandy" he thought idly and reviewed the other man. He was strong physically. He had no weapon on his belt, but his hands were obviously more than a threat in certain circumstances, something just didn’t strike him right though. "Ah, a were..thing. He’s probably a lycanthrope, that I can handle."

"Since everyone is here, I suppose we can get to the first order of business." Fadora began, sighing as he stood from the fountain’s edge. "That is, if everyone will kindly land."

The three agents eyes cast skyward to see an angelic man in glittering armor and majestic wings circling in the air, opposite him something that might have been a cross between a a horse and a dragon, with a sword easily the size of the winged man. After a few moments of consideration, the two broke off their engagement and landed, one lightly, the other heavily, on the courtyard floor. Agents Aracnea and Loki, check. That’s five.

Fadora began to address the entourage then decided he was too small and moved up on the lip of the fountain. When we was pleased with his perch and had finished scratching and adjusting everything, he brought his voice to a commanding level that defied that of an old man on a fountain seat.

"Associcates, fellow agents, comrades, or whatever name your tongue would use, let me welcome you." Fadora took a bow that was acknowledged by the group, who were now all arranged in front of him. "Now since that bull shit is out of the way," he said with a change of tone, "We’re all professionals here so lets right down to business."

A few shoulders visually relaxed, several perked up to pay attention, pleased that there was apparently not going to be any run around.

"The City-State has made no lie about what were doing here, forming the Free Brigade Units. We’re here to clean up this town and we need to do it fast and hard. I realized you all have your own reasons for being here, and let those reasons perceiver. Other Units are formed of normal men or certain professionals. They are identifies by a color and common animal as a rally point. The units Scarlet Badger and Blue Dog come to mind as distinguishing units. But they have a limitation everyone here over comes in one way or another. They are only men." Fadora paused a moment to let his words clear and their meaning to set in. No one here was, or was completely human. They were specially arranged.

"Unlike other Units, you will not be identified by a color-animal scheme. As you can plainly see, you are special, unique, and above all experts in both power and tactic. You will be Free Brigade Unit Cheshire Dragon, an elite unit comprised of only the exemplary examples of your profession." A quick hand darted into the water for a drink before he carried on. "And since we are all professionals here, I wouldn’t want to waste your time or the City’s payroll this late in the evening."

A few chuckles, but polite ones. Fadora knew his humor was as rusty as his bones, but he could still keep a presence.

"You have a unit headquarters and a signing bonus of 2,000 gold pieces. This is group money, so use it on things you’ll need, but tonight you’ll want to skip the flea market because I’ve already got your next 3k lined up I tonight’s job." That brought murmurs of appreciation.

Fadora broke all the dirty details down quickly and efficiently. In a couple of hours a boat carrying several crates of illegal spell components would be arriving at Peir 17. The components were used in necromantic rituals performed by a black market body dealer Nashmir Ed’strad. Intercepting this shipment would kill his operations for a month until the rare herbs on board could be reharvested, possibly ruining him altogether. The incoming boat was expected to be a trade vessel with about fifty feet from tip to toe and naturally the shipment was anticipated to be heavily guarded.

"Our Divinations Department had to burn a lot of crystal balls to get this information, so let me tell you what we really need to make this operation a success. One, try to arrest them alive. Of course, you are allowed to exercise your own judgement. Two, capture the cargo intact. The cargo can be used as evidence in an criminal trail that may result, and the components themselves are useful for less nefarious spell casting. Other than that, I leave the rest up to yourselves." Fadora sat down with a loud thump, happy for the long explanation to be over with.

"Take any prisoners to the holding cell at 4th and Harpy and good luck."



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DMs notes: I know I delayed beginning this thing, I apologize. Also this was a late night write, so please excuse any rushed run ons, or misspellings, I shall be more concise in the future. Also, I’d like to point out that although this is a very long post, most turns are much shorter to read. The first turn is always the longest.

Actions I suggest:

* Ask any questions to Lt. Fadora that you might need clearing up.

* Speak with your fellow PCs

* Do any prep work at Peir 17 you’d like to do, recon, etc.

The turn after next, the boat will arrive, so be quick!

Remember to post a lot of Ifs in your turn!