Eternity Beckons - New Blood

[HeyGayzelle]

Okay then, I'll probably check back in a little while after my current RPs are a few steps beyond the formative stages, may or may not have a character sheet or at least a broad concept at that time. Let me know if there are any character archetypes or other niches that need to be filled in the game and I may be able to help.

 

[HeyGayzelle]

@Grey


So I've dwelled over the rulebook for a bit and I feel like I have a decent grasp on how the dice system works (perhaps not enough to build a character yet), but I feel like the degree of detail in the worldbuilding makes building a character that feels like it already exists in this setting challenging. It's not that the book is lacking, it's just tough for me to engage with it at a level that feels fluid and spontaneous.


Do you have any idea if I could deal with this issue by somehow justifying it through my character concept? Obviously plenty of RPGs do the whole "amnesiac protagonist" thing and that can work, though it runs the risk of being very trite and leading to a character who is too reactive. But is there a more interesting genre or setting-specific means of achieving a similar end? Maybe something like a character of very low stature who isn't as knowledgeable of the various clans and such? If this means that I have to play a character who has less influence on the story, then I think I could cope with that limitation.

 

[Grey]

@Grey
So I've dwelled over the rulebook for a bit and I feel like I have a decent grasp on how the dice system works (perhaps not enough to build a character yet), but I feel like the degree of detail in the worldbuilding makes building a character that feels like it already exists in this setting challenging. It's not that the book is lacking, it's just tough for me to engage with it at a level that feels fluid and spontaneous.


Do you have any idea if I could deal with this issue by somehow justifying it through my character concept? Obviously plenty of RPGs do the whole "amnesiac protagonist" thing and that can work, though it runs the risk of being very trite and leading to a character who is too reactive. But is there a more interesting genre or setting-specific means of achieving a similar end? Maybe something like a character of very low stature who isn't as knowledgeable of the various clans and such? If this means that I have to play a character who has less influence on the story, then I think I could cope with that limitation.

Generally, all characters will be ignorant of the Clans - that's secret vampire knowledge only vampires and especially dedicated heretics would know. When it comes to broader setting stuff, the furthest most people get from their home village is the nearest big town, so ignorance of anything outside your immediate cultural context is fine.


Indeed, being brought up to speed organically is intended as part of the plot because a major NPC is a historian who will be drawing on the PCs both to search sites and bounce ideas around.


So your options could be - an especially precocious young peasant (from practically anywhere), a displaced Bersarkr, or an escaped slave (the biggest slavers in the setting are quite happy to raid any fishing village on the continent).

 

[HeyGayzelle]

So your options could be - an especially precocious young peasant (from practically anywhere), a displaced Bersarkr, or an escaped slave (the biggest slavers in the setting are quite happy to raid any fishing village on the continent).

Yeah, those were sort of the character ideas I was thinking of. Do you expect the world outside of Kelen being a point of interest in the RP? I was thinking of making my character a foreigner from a really small and remote island or something so I can actually have a distinct character background without needing to be as concerned with writing in something that proves incompatible with the setting. Beyond that, I'm trying to get a sense for whether I want to go with a character who leans more towards having martial skills or social/intelligence skills, but that choice sort of hinged in my previous issue. I've gotten the opportunity to improvise some background stuff in-character with another RP I'm doing and I've found that I can dig that, so maybe I'll shoot for something like a spice trader.

 

[Grey]

Outcaste Spice Trader would be pretty excellent, actually, or a spice trader from a remote Frontier town near the 'official' Laman border.


Don't stress about setting incompatibilities, though - I realize it might be tough for other GMs, but since I wrote the whole thing I can always improvise around the unexpected, and canon isn't especially sacred. I actually welcome people tweaking and adding, and you honestly seem like someone with great instincts, to me.


And yeah, I do expect to visit other parts of the world, but the RP will take place over a few hundred in-setting years so it might not be before you find your feet.


Oh, and if you feel you can identify ways I can make that engagement more fluid please do let me know.

 

[HeyGayzelle]

Cool, I might run with that concept after I distribute some points on the character sheet and see where it leads me. It's not like my character concept is so grand that I anticipate it breaking the setting, but seeing as most character aspects have some bearing on the setting, it was still a point of concern for me. So in that sense, I'm also totally fine with having revisions done to my character background to make it tie more neatly into the setting if need be.


I imagine the slower pace of the game will at least give me adequate time to cross-reference anything I might be confused on, but I'll probably just break character and ask any questions OoC if need be.