Mr. Handy is ready to play

[Zohar]

Hi everyone! I'm a long-time Lone Wolf fan since the 1980's and I've been lurking on Tower of the Sun for about a year now, ever since I heard about Mongoose's new editions. I heard about the game Maerin's going to run here and I'd like to play in it if it's at all possible. I have a great character concept (thought of it a while ago, and I think it fits the equally great setting well), but I don't have the Lone Wolf RPG. I haven't played much d20 at all, but I can pick things up quickly. The last time I played D&D was 2nd edition, though I am familiar with some elements of 3rd from playing the KoTOR computer games. I do have plenty of experience playing in and running play-by-post games, mostly Call of Cthulhu games at Play@Yog-Sothoth, where I'm the primary GM for Zombie Apocalypse. Posting once per day may be hard, but certainly not impossible.

Anyway, my character idea is a Sharnazim who opposed Zakhan Kimah's rise to power and was forced to flee Vassagonia for his life, ending up in exile in Anari and working toward the day when his homeland could be restored to honorable leadership. He assisted in the defense of Tahou and, following the death of Zakhan Kimah, was finally able to return home to help establish the new Vassagonian regime.

EDIT: I just read The Story So Far and realized that my character must start in Garthen. Perhaps he could have been sent there on a diplomatic mission to establish relations between the new Vassagonian government and Talestria. Anari would have been a more logical choice considering his background, but maybe someone else was even more suited to that particular posting.

[Maerin]

Okay, keep in mind that the game starts a matter of weeks after the defeat of Kimah. I like where you might be going with this, but remember that Vassagonia was a known enemy up until that couple of weeks or so, so a Sharnazim (even exiled) probably would not have been especially popular in Garthen (or safe...). Not saying you cannot go this route, but you might want to consider what brought you to Talestria and how you avoided suspicion and such.

Aside from that, let me see how things stand with the people who currently committed to the game. I can shephard you through character creation, though you may have to work on a fast-learn of the basics of the system (pretty far from AD&D 2nd Edition).

The once-a-day during the weekdays posting scheme is one I am pretty rigid about. I just want you to understand that up-front, before you commit to it, as I do enforce it. It's not to discourage or seriously inconvenience people; rather, in my experience, it is the most straightforward way of keeping the online game paced at a level that people can keep enjoying it.

[Zohar]

Yes, I can commit to one post per day, provided the post doesn't have to be several pages long. I know from experience how play-by-post games can drag if just one player doesn't post regularly. I have more time on weekends to post, but I'm willing to make time on the weekdays. I'm usually only online in the evenings (7 PM to midnight, Eastern U.S. time) then since I have no time in the morning before work and I can't go online while at work.

The timeframe between Books 9 and 10 wasn't exactly clear; I was reading that debate over it. If it's only been a few weeks, I'll think of a reason to have gone to Talestria instead of Vassagonia. Perhaps Kevoan noticed him during the Battle of Tahou and recruited him for this mission, and he intends to return to Vassagonia to help liberate it after he completes it, which he agreed to do in the interest of gaining Talestria's aid in the revolution in Vassagonia and their early recognition of the new government. My character would probably have disguised himself and be passing himself off as Anarian as far most people are concerned - which he technically is, having lived there for several years.

I'm a fast learner, so adjusting to the new system shouldn't be a problem for me. I'm going to sleep now (should have been in bed an hour ago), but I'll be back online in 9-10 hours or so. Thanks for considering bringing me aboard, and please let me know if and when you're ready to start walking me through character creation. I can roll up my basic stats any time you're ready and we can go from there.

[Maerin]

Sounds like a reasonable start, and at least the initial rolling rules for character creation are now posted.

There is, actually, a really solid basis to the timeframe between Book 9 and 10, but one does have to do some information mining to dig it out. It's not terribly important for most characters, however, since things start in Garthen (though your idea for having traveled with Kevoan from Tahou to Garthen works just fine).

As for the rest, probably just keep up through revolution in Vassagonia. A Vassagonian is likely to only look so far as the next Zakhan, and there is currently no reason to believe that another pro-Darklord Zakhan might take Kimah's place. That said, in general everyone in Talestria (and elsewhere) thinks the Darklords and their allies beaten. Though Talestria has otherwise committed itself to dealing with the Hammerlands and Ghatan, Kevoan would have certainly indicated that Dessi, Anari, and the other eastern Freeland nations would probably unite to take on Vassagonia and prevent them from ever again threatening their neighbors in the service of the Darklords.

All that said, even with the fears and concerns of Kevoan, no one really sees the turn-around that is about to unfold.

[Dirac Sil]

For learning the 3.5 system, I went from the basic D&D system played many years (not even AD&D) ago to the 3.5 system with barely a hiccup really

- THAC0 is gone, since the d20 system relies on simply rolling a d20 and adding stuff to make everything simple, You now have a base bonus you add to an attack roll (base combat skill for LW< base attack bonus in D&D) and add the result to try and get above people's AC, AC has therefore flipped to being a high number, but maintains the same structure (AC10 = average unarmed, AC20 good AC0 baaaad)
- set five saving throws are gone, now there are three (imho better) geberic savig throw bonuses
- abilities scores are slightly marginalised, you still roll the same basic six, but the bonus has scale has been flattened and improved
- skills now take the place of non-fighting proficienies, and augment the abilities. Now difficult situations have a Difficulty class (DC, 10 for anyone might do it, 15 for needs some skill, 20 for feat of brilliance, 25 for 'woah.' etc up to 40 for impossible (yet some powerful champions could pull it off once in a while). You assign skill points and more each level t create a bonus for a d20 roll, appropriatre ability modifier added

Yeah, that's about it really. Read the d20 online resource listed in the mechanics thread, and ignore the things the resource tells you to ignoe, and you should be perfectly set.

[Dirac Sil]

Oops, combat! Initiative is now a d20 roll + dex as a single roll at the start of combat, and combat is cyclic with everyone taking their full turn around the initiative order. A game round is still 6 seconds. Attack methods that i think were optional in D&D second ed are now part of the core options - like grapple, trip, sunder, disarm, feint, flank, etc. LWRPG drops a couple of these for simplicity like grapple

[Zohar]

Yeah, my character is still optimistic and would never even imagine that the new Zakhan would follow in Kimah's footsteps. He's in for a rude shock...

Thanks for the advice! Most of this is familiar to me from KoTOR I/II - I paid attention to the behind-the-scenes stuff in those games. I also read along with a d20 Call of Cthulhu game on Play@Yog-Sothoth and recognize some of it from there too. I shouldn't have any problem. I'm going to eat breakfast now and get started on character creation after.