A Merchant Company in Atlantis outfits a small but seaworthy ship with a crew of expert seaman to brave the ocean to the far west, past the area where it says "Here there Be Monsters" and to the new lands recently discovered by the Vikings and others.

The game is going to start at 7th level to try out some of the tier 2 abilities and is likely to be heavy into combat and rather lite on role play, and the party will be alone at sea for much of the game.

The idea is a merchant company outfitting a small exploratory vessel to find markets on the newly discovered western continents. There will be NO NPC crew. And your PC won't be hired if it can't bring something to the mission.

I will be using my Fantasy Earth setting (link to another game), and characters must fit into the setting, not be simply imported from another. I will work with those who are flexible to get as close to what they want as I can but you need to adapt to the setting, the setting won't be adapting to you.

The game will start in Atlantis, follow the European coast north, then take the Viking's route to the New World. This will allow for inevitable early drops outs and replacement players.

Please note: This is mainly a combat and exploration game, not a lot of NPC interaction will be available for most of it. Yes, I said it above. It's probably wise to repeat it, however.

I don't have a lot planned for the sea trip itself, mostly random Coastal and Ocean encounters, difficulty based on location. Farther away is more dangerous, of course. It says "Here There Be Monsters" on those maps for a reason. That being said, there are some special areas along the European Coast that may be troublesome as well.

Exploring the New World will be a different matter, of course. That I have pretty well outlined. Even a new Evil Empire. That will be more exploration. If you get to the Evil Empire, I might even throw in a dungeon crawl.

As I said above, I want to see tier two mechanics in action. 3rd and 4th level spells, and abilities that aren't usually reached in low level games. That means combat.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:58, Thu 22 Oct 2020.

Folks, I've been asked for a realict view of what potential hireling swill know before taking the job.

Not much. Truly. Crew isn't told much of anything ever. And a Merchant Company wouldn't make other plans too public to keep the competition from competing.

The Captain and Navigator will know more AFTER they are hired. They will need to. But we aren't there yet.

So... You are being hired as Ship's Crew to go to that place on the map where it says "Here There Be Monsters" and see what's really there. Some of you may be assigned to Officer positions, if you're the best choice. Others won't. Count on being basic crew.

That's all you know.

Qutfitting is done before you're hired (or even apply). And most of you are over packing, but that's fine.

I'm making Officer assignments when all characters are finished and we're ready to go, based on who is best qualified.

With information rolls, the result of the roll, if known, tends to affect interpretation of the results. It's metagaming, but it's unavoidable. How can it not influence your reaction to your results? SO I will roll all such Skills.

If the result is obvious: Combat, Saves, Where that arrow you just carved has a big curve in the middle, etc, then you roll. But what trolls like to eat?

Well, anything, but still, if a roll for that sort of information is needed, I roll it. And I may not even use the skill you think is appropriate.

1 is NOT always a failure. A high skill vs a low DC means you know it automatically. No roll necessary...but I'm not going to tell you that... just the information you get.

I am posting a private thread for each of you This is for occasional bits of solo play or events happening in public no one else knows about. Talking to familiars, probing memory for details about something, etc.

They ARE game play lists and aren't meant to fully replace PMs, but much of what usually happens in PM can happen in the PL.

Also, the bottom Bio line is for me. Mostly a quick note, about race, class or the like. It helps me keep folks straight early in the game, and will likley help you folks keep each other straight, too...assuming you can interpret my personal codes.

Please don't take such notes personally. To me a "thug" is a melee combatant with little or no magic or esoterica attached. Not at all a bad thing, but also not a Sage or Ship's Mage.

I use a "combat is chaotic" approach to combat rounds. I also use individual initiative.

Keep in mind: A combat round is only 6 second long. You don't have time to debate or coordinate. Certainly the person reacting last can't affect the person going first.

So...

All consider the IC thread closed to Player posts as soon as combat starts. Make all posts to your Private Thread.

Include ALL potential actions:
-Initiative: If it's round 1, we'll need an initiative roll.

-Movement: Any movement and when it happens. For some of you this will be broken up, potentially, to multiple parts of the round.

-Action: Some of you get 2 attacks on an Attack Action, some may want to do something other than attack. I DO enforce the one action limit. Pages 192-194 of the PHB list them.

-"Free Actions" are listed on page 189 pf the PHB. You get ONE. You may require a round or two to draw 2 weapons, if also fighting with them, for instance.

-Bonus Action: if you have one and want to use it, please do so.

-Reaction: After I post the round's results, it's too late. If you have a Reaction (spell, usually) and want it used, let me know.

-Spare D20 roll: Saves, Advantage you didn't know about. Disadvantage you didn't know about, etc. If you don't include it, I'll roll it myself.

Now, all of the above can be made conditional, and won't be charged against your daily limits if not used. Reactions, especially. If they aren't triggered, they aren't used.

Let me know of any conditionals. Healers might attack unless someone drops unconscious, in which case they might use Healing Word instead. Of course, that presupposes they move AFTER the person drops.

Oh, and Speech qualifies as your free action. I'll post it during the wrap up, and folks can act on it NEXT round...if they care to. Remember, Shakespeare, its 6 seconds. Control thine soliloquy or thou shalt surely find thine self stricken most silent.

Post all this to your private threads.

I will put everything in Initiative order and post it. After the first round, I'll post initiatives, as you'll now know them. Bad guys get rolls too, but generally they will roll in groups.

Then it's time to do it all again.

Combat turnover is usually 24 hours, except over weekends and holidays. Well, American Holidays. Let me know if you're elsewhere and can't make a post because of something local to you.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:46, Tue 24 Nov 2020.

I try to update Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless something is happening. Tuesday and Friday if Monday is a US Holiday. It's not that I'm trying to rush you, but sometimes the game just has to move forward or die.

Combat is a 24 hour turnaround, as posted above.

Please use Blue for speech (And don't forget the quotes).
Orange is for OOC
Green (Both shades) is for my use and is often neutral or good news.
Red is also for me, but usually not good news.

I will be using Encumbrance and Exhaustion rules on the ship. Possibly for explorations later, but that's for then.

On the ship, Encumbrance is mostly a factor for when Swimming and even then, mostly if doing so by Athletics, rather than an innate (spell granted or natural) swimming speed. This can affect Con rolls to avoid Exhaustion when trying not to drown.

Exhaustion isn't just for swimming, either. If you pull duty more than 8 hours, Forced March rules apply. You can pick up 4 levels of exhaustion just pulling a 12 hour shift, and only lose than at the rate of 1 level a night.

Mostly, likely, that will apply to Marvek and storms. Marvek can't do much to lessen a storm's force, but he can shift wind direction to a tail wind, and keep the rain off....until he passes out from the strain, at least. If the storm last more than 8 hours, or hits late in his shift or after, it could be dicey.

So why go to all that effort? Controlling the wind direction to something optimal for the ship could lower the DC by one level, making Hazard rolls that much easier for the rest of the folks.

Not much else will cause Forced March effects, unless someone takes out a crewman for a long period, and you have spare folks to fill in the gaps. Thalassa, for instance, can take a day off fishing without bad effect and Damen has nothing to do unless the ship is damaged, so mostly it'll be Marvek that has to worry.

Folks,

When you send me a string of activities/things-to-do, etc and I will do them up until t comes time to give you some sort of results, then stop on the theory that those results might change things (as has happened before).

This could be looking around to see what's happening, Perception to see what isn't obvious, or just  bit of repair or craft work where you won't even know if you succeeded automatically.

So..Anything that comes after that point ...doesn't. I stop where I gae you results and wait to see what you want to do after you find out what they are. Everything else on you to-o list is still,pending until you restart it..by TELLING me you are now restarting it.

If the information comes as the result of an update after a period of time was to elapse, then that period of time HAS elapsed.

This has come up a couple times already, but I thought it was to make it clear for all as it usually comes up in private posts, and in shorter time periods than ship encounters lend themselves to.