Talk:Story : Supper in the West Room

From Ars Magica

Revision as of 17:49, 24 March 2006

Grogs and NPCs

There are some grogs and NPCs in this scene, and I thought I would just clear this up now before anyone gets confused. The first story was Magi-character story, and there was little danger of the grogs/NPCs doing anything noteworthy, so I was content to let them be written by the player's they were accompanying. This is also a Magi-centred story, assuming that the magi don't start throwing any more balls of abysmal public relations around.

The threads subsequent to this story will require grogs and NPCs to be played by people who do not have a magi character in that thread. I am happy, for the time being, for animal companions to be played by the magus/maga they accompany (this may change if they become familiars; I haven't decided yet.)

If one player introduces an NPC/grog to interact with (e.g. Mnemosyne and Geraldous in the first story,) there is nothing to stop you from asking to play that character at any point, providing you can post in a manner consistent with their antics up to that point.

It may take a story or two before we fine-tune our methods of assigning supporting characters, but as long as you all remember that supporting characters aren't really owned by any one player, and that it will sometimes be necessary to have a character played in place of someone who usually has in the past, then hopefully we won't have any significant problems.

I would like to hear about any preferences you have regarding grog assignment, as I imagine that from the range of options in the core rulebook, etcetera, we are probably used to completely different styles of troupe-play.

--James\\^Talk 11:06, 21 March 2006 (PST)

I'd like to play Aloysius even after he becomes a familiar. His personality is much like Sano (my much-missed ferret and friend), if Sano could talk. --Eirlys 12:16, 21 March 2006 (PST)

He's one of the main reasons I'm holding back. I rather like the little fellow as you portray him, and I doubt you would be happy with the resulting personality change if someone else played him. --James\\^Talk 09:49, 24 March 2006 (PST)

Splitting Up

I am perfectly happy for players to split up into seperate threads. I would prefer, at this stage, that there be no more than three seperate threads.

James, can we start up a thread for Warren? Others can join in as their character's actions permit. --Rencheple 11:35, 20 March 2006 (PST)

Yes, that solves my third site hook problem nicely. I think you'll like what I have in mind.

Ok - I'll let you start the thread off and UI'll jump in as soon as it's up. --Rencheple 09:17, 22 March 2006 (PST)

I would like players to request grogs that they wish to accompany their magi characters, and then I will assign those to players who aren't in your thread.

Regarding sites - groups can head to specific parts of larger geographical features, such as ring forts, 'the eastern side', the crest, valleys, etc. It is up to you where you want your covenant, though the features of a wide-range of locations have already been determined by Samuel, Tim, and I.

Have fun, --James\\^Talk 03:53, 19 March 2006 (PST)

Mnemosyne would like to be accompanied by Geraldous. Otherwise, I presume the grogs we have are those we brought with us? These are...?--Perikles 04:12, 19 March 2006 (PST)

I would suspect that most of us would like our usual grogs to acccompany us, which in Marcus' case would be Diarmait--JBforMarcus 10:27, 20 March 2006 (PST)

While Llewys is an NPC, Ambrosius is without a shield grog and would be happy to have one assigned to him. - --Rencheple 11:34, 20 March 2006 (PST)

Mundane Knowledge of the Order

Bedo posits, "What do we tell him, or any of importance who we approach, of the order, or our aims in settling here? Even if, for the start, we are only looking for a temporary home while we search for a suitable place, we need a reason we can give them for our presence which will cause no alarm or offence."

This is a good question, and since I do not have access to my book here at work, I would ask. Is the knowledge of the Order of Hermes much like the "crazy" court magicians that claimed they could turn lead into gold in RL? How is the Order viewed by people who would have likely have heard of them, like our bailiff?

Of course, this could be something that Marcus or Warren might even approach the Bailiff and probe him (verbally, not IntVim!) about. --Rencheple 07:31, 22 March 2006 (PST)

Bedo's comment is an in character comment which fairly closely fits with my player viewpoint - as I'm not playing a reckless character his in-game voice will urge caution. If we take that route, if James's view is that the order is much more visible we'll be slower getting started than we need, if it's similar to mine we'll not get 'bitten' too badly. Of course that's fine for me - but for players of more reckless characters it would mean that we take things more carefully than we need.

My player viewpoint comes from a feeling that in the small intimate world of the rural English C13, any group of strangers would be treated with extreme caution unles they came with 'credentials' - orders from a liege lord or the King, or personal knowledge of them. Strangers who are 'strange' as well would be even less welcome. Yes - the people know mages exist - as do faeries and demons, but apart from hedgies I ssuepct most of them have never actually met one, let alone a group such as ours.

The good news to balance that, is that although all the land is accounted for, and ownership is publically known, it is not all used. Much of Shropshire was still forested - and permission to create an assart in a quiet area from someone in authority over that land would be the very best I would expect we could hope for - and I would expect that we would have to make him some payment as well. The problem comes should he ask us to swear fealty to him.

The other interesting point is the role of the bailiff. He's an official of the landlord - and we don't know how much autonomy he is allowed. He may be able to grant us land as tenants, he may not. It's not clear if he is the bailiff of the manor or the hundred yet - someone needs to talk with him to find out his limits. --OldNick\\^Talk 08:21, 22 March 2006 (PST)

I think if we choose a suitably out of the way place then we should not have any trouble about ownership of the land. If we do, it should not be a particularly difficult matter to melt the person in questions mind and get them to agree to an amicable settlement which makes them happy and keeps us out of trouble. Look into my eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, into the eyes... You are perfectly happy to grant us a hundred year lease to the land in return for us keeping the threats of giants away from this area...--Perikles 06:48, 23 March 2006 (PST)

What the PCs know

I'm under the impression that the player character's have more than enough to go on for the time being. If that isn't the case, leave me some abuse on my talk page. --James\\^Talk 09:49, 24 March 2006 (PST)

Hints about the local area

The Long Mynd has a small hill fort (better suited to your purposes,) which has a steep drop on three sides, and thus pretty much only needed a wall on one side for safety. The earthworks are still extant, but little else.

Caer Caradoc has a really large hill fort. Due to terrain, the ditches have had to be made far more complicated in order to make it defensible, and so it has far more impressive earthworks, and has a much larger bailey.

The Long Mynd has other antiquities, such as barrows, old stones, and a greenway dating back to the time of the druids (British pre-history.)

--James\\^Talk 09:51, 22 March 2006 (PST)