Strours Run

[Ezeze]

Strours Run: A story-oriented game about fate and people who fight it.

Shipshaven is a port city on the Southern border of Narin. It sits on the Western bank of Strours Run, right where the river meets the Walled Gulf which in turn connects out to the Iahst Ocean.

It’s not the largest city in the Kingdom of Narin, nor the richest. Both of those honors belong to the capital city, Dandarrin, which is nearly two weeks’ travel by even the fastest boat along the Strours to the North. It is, however, the most diverse – and arguably the hardest to control. Geographic distance combines with a lack of unified ethos in Shipshaven so that generations of the Narin royal family have struggled to bring it to bring it to heel. Some have attempted bribery. Some have attempted direct military control. Eighty years ago King Talebot the Reckless decided that to control the city (and it does need to be controlled; its location is vital to both trade and security) he was going to enlist the help of the locals. He scandalized his court by marrying Rosetta Stillhell, who was technically a commoner but whose father was head of the Shipshaven Merchant’s Guild. Her family was both breathtakingly rich and enormously influential. Rosetta convinced Talebot to ratify the Wavecrester Accords (named after the ship where they were drafted and signed) which guaranteed certain rights to the citizens of Shipshaven regardless of wealth, station or race. To keep his court from revolting Talbot only allowed these rights to extended to residents of Shipshaven. As a result in recent years non-humans have flooded into the city to the point where humans are no longer in the majority.

Today Rosette and Talebot’s eldest son, King Alsandare, sits the throne. He has visited Shipshaven only a few times but has been met by crowds of cheering subjects on every occasion. The crown and the city have come to an easy mutual understanding that will last as long as both feel it meets their needs.

Seven years ago an Israshi warship attacked a Narinian trading vessel on open water. It sunk, taking 80 souls (mostly hailing from Shipshaven or surrounding areas) with it. This attack lead to the War of Wits. Since then Shipshaven has been gripped by unprecedented patriotic fervor. Over the last half-decade almost a quarter of the young men and women of appropriate age from Shipshaven have enrolled in the Narinian navy. A few weeks ago word reached Shipshaven; the war is over. The Israshi king surrendered to Walwyn ‘Smiling’ Drace, an admiral born and raised in Shipshaven.

Admiral Drace’s flagship, the Vehement, is set to dock in the harbor today. The city has gone completely crazy with preparations. Narinian flags (A golden sun on a white and blue backdrop) hang from any surface visible from the harbor and also from most that are not. Work has screeched to a halt since even those houses where no one is expecting the return of a sailor prepare to welcome home Drace, who is already being hailed as a national hero. Every member of Drace’s extended family – children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews – have spent the last week bouncing from party to party as the entire city gears up for the celebration of the century. His plans are to dock in Shipshaven for a day then go to Dandarrin to make a report to King Alsandare in person.

It’s a big day for you, specifically. The Burgomaster himself has extended an invitation; he wants to send a small delegation, representing the young people of Shipshaven, to accompany Drace to Dandarrin. Your parents or your guardian or your mentor or someone else has managed to get your name on the list. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Your group will travel two weeks up the Strours, stay another four weeks in the capital, and then travel back down. You’ll have lodgings and provisions supplied for you. Your only duties will be to see the city, and to be seen in turn by the nobility there. Your little group is already being referred to as the ‘Ambassadors.’

Shipshaven Stat Bloc
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Population: 25,000 (humans 35%, halflings 17%, half-elves 15%, elves 10%, gnomes 8%, other 15%)
Government: Constitutional Monarchy
Trade: Transportation and trade, Seafood, Ship construction and supply.

[Ezeze]

The first question we have to settle before we can play is “what system should we play in?”

From my point of view here are our options and the relative Pros and Cons of each.

Dungeons and Dragons 3.5
Pros: I think this system is best known of our options. Just about everyone has played D&D 3.5 at some point, and those who have not are familiar enough with 2nd ed to make the leap. Has tactical depth. Allows for free-form roleplaying. I am very well acquainted with running this system.
Cons: Doesn’t have much in the way of Social rules. No ability for players to make declarations about their environments.

FATE
Pros: High GM/Player interactivity, encourages the creation of complex characters, well suited for a story-driven game and well suited to the game’s themes. Includes ability to run characters with a broad range of combat ability.
Cons: May be a little too abstract for some of our old-school D&D players.

D&D 3.5 with FATE Aspects
Pros: Combines tactical depth of D&D 3.5 with the GM/Player interactivity of FATE.
Cons: May be too complex for players who are unfamiliar with both D&D 3.5 and FATE. May need to make changes to Trip/Grapple/Flank/Bull Rush/Maneuver rules which further complicate matters.


I am also open to other suggestions! What do you think?

[GravityEmblem]

I might be interested in this game, if it uses a 3.5e base. However, I'm already playing in Gontoria AND Cage Berks AND a game on GitPG, so it's going to have to choose between this and Octhania, if I'm joining another game at all. 

[Daos]

My own thoughts:

I am familiar with 3E.  I have the PHB, I read 'Order of the Stick' and 'Goblins,' and I've played Neverwinter Nights and DDO.  I've played in one 3E game (it lasted 4 months before the DM vanished) and one Pathfinder game (which isn't the exact same thing, I realize, but close enough) that lasted a year and a half, but it was sooooo slow we only made it to around 35 pages before it died.

My knowledge of the rules is fairly rudimentary.  I know what things are, but I'm completely ignorant on things like viable builds.  Like, I know what the cleave feat does, but I have no idea if it's useful or broken or OP.  So I'd probably need a hand in making a build, especially if we're starting higher than level 1.

I know nothing at all about FATE, aside from the fact that it is a roleplaying game.  I've never seen it in action, read any of the books, or even have any idea of what it looks like in comparison to any other game.

[Ezeze]

Dec 15, 2017 12:56:04 GMT -8 Daos said:

My own thoughts:

I am familiar with 3E.  I have the PHB, I read 'Order of the Stick' and 'Goblins,' and I've played Neverwinter Nights and DDO.  I've played in one 3E game (it lasted 4 months before the DM vanished) and one Pathfinder game (which isn't the exact same thing, I realize, but close enough) that lasted a year and a half, but it was sooooo slow we only made it to around 35 pages before it died.

My knowledge of the rules is fairly rudimentary.  I know what things are, but I'm completely ignorant on things like viable builds.  Like, I know what the cleave feat does, but I have no idea if it's useful or broken or OP.  So I'd probably need a hand in making a build, especially if we're starting higher than level 1.

I know nothing at all about FATE, aside from the fact that it is a roleplaying game.  I've never seen it in action, read any of the books, or even have any idea of what it looks like in comparison to any other game.

Is that an argument for 3.5 or FATE though?

[Deleted]

Hey everyone! This is my very first post here. Woo!

Man, I haven't seen an active 2E game in a dog's age. 

ANYWAY.

I think my preference would be combined 3.5/FATE. D&D is a decent base. And then you can graft some narrative business on top of it.

But the best system depends a lot on what kind of game this is going to be, what kinds of conflicts are going to be prominent. What actions we want rules for, and what actions we want to just handwave.

As I said in another thread where this came up, D&D is good for tactical combat and applying discrete skills to static, pass/fail situations. If that's the sort of stuff we want to do, then by all means, let's D&D it up.

[Ezeze]

Dec 15, 2017 13:36:07 GMT -8 @truemane said:

But the best system depends a lot on what kind of game this is going to be, what kinds of conflicts are going to be prominent. What actions we want rules for, and what actions we want to just handwave.

To a large extent I don't know yet. I know what's going to be happening around the PCs, but I don't know what fights - literal or metaphorical - you're going to choose to involve yourselves in.

I'd like there to be rules for fighting, running/chasing, investigating, tracking, and lying. I'd like to leave whether or not you like a particular person, or whether you are inclined to listen to them, to Roleplaying. That, unfortunately, does nothing at all to narrow down the system between D&D and FATE. Both meet all of those requirements.

One concern is that if we do play 3.5 our skill-heavy classes like rogues, bards and monks might see their class abilities be a great deal more useful than fighters, barbarians and other martially-inclined classes. That's partially remedied just by telling you that is the case so that you know what to expect going into character creation.

I don't think it's a choice between a good option and a bad option. It's a choice between two good options

[notARobot]

Your teaser about the goings-on in Shipshaven makes it sound like this game will be a whole lotta fun.  And part of me is really, really tempted to jump in on the which-system debate (I've posted enough about my opinions on both systems here that most of you can probably guess which side I'd lean toward).

But I'm in too many games as it is, and real-life chaos has me worried that there may come a time when I have to drop out of those...so I can't in good conscience join any new games, no matter how amazing they may sound (I really really wanna take part in Octhania, so depending on how the rest of December and then January go, I may manage to convince myself I can keep my life together enough to do that.  Assuming Daos has vacancies and needs players).

Hope your player roster winds up being top-notch, and may your adventures be many and long and...adventureful.

[Daos]

Is that an argument for 3.5 or FATE though?

I didn't really mean it to be an argument, just an explanation.  I suppose though, given that, I'd personally rather go with the system I know something about than the one I know nothing about.

[GravityEmblem]

You know, this does sound pretty cool, but I may not want to join on account of my history with Kaptain Keen.
He was running a game, and I joined. Shortly after it started, I completely forgot about it.
Twice.
So, yeah. If Keen's playing, I'll probably just stick to Octhania.

[Ezeze]

Dec 16, 2017 6:16:45 GMT -8 GravityEmblem said:

You know, this does sound pretty cool, but I may not want to join on account of my history with Kaptain Keen.
He was running a game, and I joined. Shortly after it started, I completely forgot about it.
Twice.
So, yeah. If Keen's playing, I'll probably just stick to Octhania.

Like I realize at the time it probably hurt his feelings... But as someone who was not involved I find that funny

There is no guarantee Keen is going to be jumping in. I don't even know the man personally; I reached out to him at iTookUrNick's request. We shall see!

[GravityEmblem]

Excuse me...I'm sending Keen an apologetic PM, but...I forgot his username. Can sombody help me out?

[Ezeze]

Dec 16, 2017 6:58:16 GMT -8 GravityEmblem said:

Excuse me...I'm sending Keen an apologetic PM, but...I forgot his username. Can sombody help me out?

Kaptin Keen

[GravityEmblem]

Thank you!

[N0br41nz]

Hi all. iTookUrNick here.

As many other have stated, January seems still quite far off (I know it's not!), and I am unsure whether or not I will be joining this game.

That said, I'd like to weight in on the system discussion. Maybe 'weight in' is too strong a word... let's just say I want to give my 2 cents on the subject.

I'm a veteran D&D player, like most here (it seems). As previously mentioned, D&D has a few specific advantages. It is well-known. And it is structured. I mean the latter not only in the sense of character creation but also gameplay. Together, those two elements contribute to creating a strong shared fiction where many things are known to all players and can be given for granted. At the same time, this structure that holds the fiction in place also restricts it tremendously.
Conversely, FATE tends to be definitely more free-form. While I've never had the chance to play with this specific system, I've played others with similar premises and I must say that they lend themselves much better to plot-rich, story-driven adventures like the one I expect this one to be (judging from prior experiences with Ezeze). Its abstract nature is actually an asset in the setting of a PbP without maps (I've never been quite satisfied with theatre of the mind combat with such a precise rule system as D&D). In addition, the lack of formal classes and class advancement (base class -> fulfil skill and feat requirements -> prestige class) is surprisingly refreshing, letting everyone create the character they want straight away while retaining room for growth. If I had to point out the main weakness of the system, I would say that it can be a lot of work for the DM: D&D comes pre-loaded with lists, systems and subsystem for most everything, while in FATE you need to decide what can be hand waved and what cannot, what is consistent with what's already out there and what needs to be regulated further.

To conclude, i think that the FATE system might be advantageous here. The system itself is far from complex, and things can (and are actually expected to) be adjusted along the way. That is not to say that we (both DM and players) cannot draw from our D&D lore to (re)create the characters we want to play.

TL;DR: +1 for Fate, use D&D 3.5 as a starting point without embracing its restrictions or its minutiae.


Oh, one other thing: poor Kaptin Keen.