Medieval Fantasy RTD. I plan to make this one very open and develop storylines depending on the players' actions and develop the setting on the go. As this will be a plot-based RTD, I would highly prefer to have players that are decently literate and willing to roleplay.
I want to make the system quite loose, so many stats will be interpreted loosely rather than provide specific bonuses to rolls. Meaning if you have a dexterity rating of 1, do not expect to dodge an arrow flying at you, no matter how good your roll may be. However the game will be quite heavy on RPG elements, so there will be plenty of chances to improve.
The rolls themselves will be a virtual d60, ten times larger than the standard d6, because that way I can make some roll bonuses and penalties less extreme, since I feel like d6 is very uncomfortable in that regard.
___
The action starts in the Slayer's Fortress, home to an order known as the Silver Guard.
The Silver Guard is a loosely organized military group that does not swear allegiance to any realm - the aim of this organization is to exterminate the enemies of humanity such as monsters and the undead. While the neutrality of the order allows them to act in any country and help those that are in need regardless of their nationality, they also are not funded by any higher political power and therefore have to take payment from those that enlist their aid, otherwise the organization couldn't exist. In that regard, they are more like mercenaries, yet the Silver Guard are still treated as heroes, simply because they are the only ones that actually manage to keep the people safe from the various monstrosities that roam in the wild.
However, there is a darker side of the Silver Guard that is unknown to anyone other than the members of the organization itself. One does not become a member of the Silver Guard by choice - once in every ten years, the order sends agents to seek orphans in the villages and cities of the nearby realms so they could be brought to the order's headquarters and raised as warriors. However, they first undergo the Rites of Initiation, a magical ritual which imbues the future members of the Guard with great power at the cost of permanently cursing them with a hunger for the very essence of living creatures.
It is the year 1326, exactly 800 years since foundation of the Silver Guard. A wagon approaches the Slayer's Fortress in the middle of the night, the sound of hoofbeats and crudely crafted wooden wheels silenced by the pouring. Six children sit in the wagon silent. They have been told earlier where and why they are being brought, yet they are far too young to decide if this is their path and too powerless to resist. For now, their fate is in the hands of the Silver Guard...
___
Note that your character is a child at this point. Therefore this sheet won't contain much. Your skills and abilities and so on will be developed as the plot develops. This is basically just the playable prologue. You can roleplay about your background, but I'm not even leaving a part for that in the character sheet because your backstory is basically going to be played out in the prologue.
Don't fill this if you're on the waitlist.
Name: (Generic fantasy names, nothing too wacky please.)
Age: (Choose between 8-11. There will be two time skips, 5 years each, so after the prologue your character will be 18-21.)
Appearance: (Just the very basic parts - hair colour, eye colour, etc. You'll get to re-do this after the second time skip so don't put much effort into this part.)
It's a bit late over here, but I had a wave of inspiration which makes me hyped to start this as soon as possible, so sorry for the bad writing. In case you're wondering, the prologue part is going to be really short and it's going to soon let your characters really branch out.
Turn 1: Rite of Initiation
The wheels stop. The coachman climbs down from the carriage and opens the doors.
"Well, my job here is done," the man says, "now you better act like good kids and go meet your teacher."
The children dare not argue. They climb out of the wagon one by one and scan their surroundings. It is pitch black. The crescent moon hides behind an all-concealing layer of slate clouds. Torches illuminate the glistening wet stonework of the fortress, their flames jumping around the raindrops like agitated wisps.
A group of guards approaches, covered in cloaks so dark that they appear to merge with the black earth underneath. One of them gestures for the children to follow and the group proceeds towards the entrance.
The gates open, their ancient bronze surface carrying several hundreds of years of history engraved upon them. A view of the courtyard opens, although it too is concealed in the darkness.
"Rare to see the courtyard empty like this," a guard remarks, "but I guess I can't blame anyone. Awful weather we're having, no?"
"Good thing we won't have to suffer it any longer," another one replies.
The doors of the keep open. The captain turns towards the children and gestures for them to enter.
"Don't be shy now. You'll get a chance to rest soon enough."
As they enter, the captain mutters an invocation and suddenly all the youths collapse unconscious.
___
In the basement of the castle, a sorcerer sits on the cold stone floor meditating. Surrounding him is a magic circle drawn with the blood of various magical creatures and illuminated by the dim light of a few candles. The door behind the sorcerer opens and a large man in chainmail enters the room.
"How's the preparation, Ruon? You 'ave everything you need?" The man asks, his manner of speech clearly indicating that he is of northern descent.
"Ah, yes indeed!" the sorcerer answers enthusiastically, with a young voice uncharacteristic for a man of his trade, "In fact, I think that I can do it even better than anyone has done before! Tell the captain to bring the kids, also call Lyris, she has to see this."
___
The sorcerer stands at the edge of the magic circle reading an old leather-bound tome. The captain of the guard puts the last one of the unconscious children on the cold floor in the middle of the ring, then takes a few steps backwards, crosses his arms in front of him and turns towards the young mage, looking at him questioningly.
"Ah, good job!" the sorcerer exclaims eagerly, "Now I can start, yes?"
"Yes, yes," a red-haired woman in platemail replies, leaning on the cold basement wall and resting her hand on her scabbard, "Though I have no idea why you would insist that I absolutely must see it."
"Oh, you'll see..."
The mage closes his eyes for a few seconds to concentrate, then extends his hands forward and mutters an invocation. Suddenly the entire room is lit up with a bright flash of magical energy. Slowly, the light fades and the sorcerer opens his eyes to look at the results of his spell. Each of the children laying senseless on the floor has a glowing mark on their right wrists. The glow soon dulls, leaving only tiny black imprints.
"See!?" the mage exclaims, "I marked all of them at the same time! No one has ever done that in the history of the Silver Guard!"
The woman leaning on the wall chuckles and turns her head towards the mage.
"Well, how much time has that saved you?"
The mage throws his arms up in the air and replies enthusiastically, "A whole minute!"
___
The next morning, the children woke up in their separate rooms. The three tutors, Radirr, Lyris and Ruon brought them to the courtyard and explained what happened the other day.
The week was spent teaching the children the very basics of being a Silver Guardsman. Each morning they had combat practice with Lyris, then magic lessons with Ruon during the day and spent the evenings learning the theory of monster hunting with Radirr. Before sleep, they would absorb the essence of various small animals that the guard would bring to satisfy the hunger that they felt because of the mark. The young Guardsmen got used to life in the fortress. Some of them looked forward to becoming Guardsmen, some of them simply accepted their fate.
As this is still the prologue stage, you are not yet free to do absolutely whatever you want, but this is important for your character's backstory. Next turn will be a timeskip, leading to a part that plays more like a standard RTD. So, for the timeskip, answer the following questions:
1)How did you feel about becoming a member of the Silver Guard? Optimistic, afraid, accepting, etc.
2)What did you spend most effort on studying? Did you prioritize combat, magic or knowledge?
3)Did you discover a talent for something specific? For example, a talent with a specific weapon, specific type of magic (no necromancy, though), did you become interested in hunting a specific type of creature (consult bestiary), maybe you were exceptionally strong/fast/clever?
The members of the Silver Guard gain their power through the Rites of Initiation, a magical ritual which can only be performed once in every ten years. The spell leaves a small, barely noticeable black mark shaped like a crude symbol of the sun on the right wrist of the one chosen to become a guardsman. This mark grants the bearer great power at a cost.
By bearing the mark of the Silver Guard, one becomes far stronger and faster than a normal human, and has their reflexes, sight and hearing noticeably empowered. In addition, all guardsmen gain the ability to use magic, a gift that is rare amongst humans. With time, Guardsmen also start to need less and less sleep, experienced ones having no need for it at all.
However, the bearer of the mark also starts to feel a hunger for the essence of living creatures. By casting a spell, the knowledge of which each guardsman gains instinctively, the bearer can drain the very essence of dead creatures and vanquished spirits. By doing so, a guardsman can absorb some of the power of his prey, but failing to satisfy his hunger will cause the bearer to slowly lose his powers and eventually die. While a novice guardian can satisfy his hunger by hunting rats and pigeons, the more creatures have already been devoured, the harder it becomes for the bearer to satisfy his hunger. Eventually, he will have to satisfy his hunger with the essence of giants, dragons and so on, meaning that it is impossible for a bearer of the mark to return to an ordinary life.
Although the wild lands are full of varied monstrosities that require very different approaches in combat, they can all be attributed to one of the 6 monster categories.
1)Beasts:
-The most common and the most varied category. Encompasses various creatures of flesh and bone, ranging from the common wolves and bears that you can find in every forest to far more threatening creatures such as gryphons and dragons. Fighting these is straightforward, though not always easy - they can be outsmarted, are vulnerable to poison, feel pain and know fear, yet only a fool would assume that a dragon can be hunted without special preparation.
2)Trollkin:
-Humanoids that reproduce through spores. A far more varied category than legends would suggest! It includes not only the widely feared wood trolls, but also all sorts of creatures ranging from the small and mischievous gremlins to the destructive hill giants. While not all of these creatures have the green hide and regenerative properties that are most synonymous with trolls, they all share a weakness to poison and especially fire.
3)Infected:
-Humans twisted into monstrous forms. Members of this category, as the name suggests, all reproduce by infecting their victims and transforming them into their species. One of the most varied species, encompassing deep ones, merfolk, harpies and the far more threatening werewolves and vampires. While their methods of hunting prey are very different, monsters of this category all have two things in common: firstly, they are some of the most clever creatures you can encounters and second, they can all infect you in combat. While the immune system of a Silver Guard makes them immune to actually succumbing to a shape-changing infection, it can still leave one heavily weakened if not treated fast, so always prepare in advance.
4)Ghouls:
-Contrary to popular belief, these creatures are not actually undead. What sets the ghouls apart from other categories of monsters is that all ghouls are in a constant state of decay and rot and have a never ending hunger for flesh. Once slain, ghouls tend to decompose fully in only a couple of minutes, so no one has actually managed to study their biology and determine how ghouls reproduce. Much like trollkin, this category is far more varied than most think - simple village folk fear the common and relatively harmless graveyard ghoul, yet far more threatening types exist, such as the deviously cunning wights and the intelligent forest hags, thought by common folk to be simply old wives' tales. While these creatures do not fear silver or holy water, fire is very effective against them.
5)Spirits:
-A category that encompasses all sorts of immaterial creatures, including not only the spirits of the dead, such as wraiths or poltergeists, but also various forest guardian spirits and elemental manifestations. This category of monsters can be especially tricky to deal with, as they need to be forced to enter their physical form by trapping them in a magic circle and then can only be destroyed by using a method that varies depending on the individual spirit. While destroying a spirit requires a lot of preparation beforehand, they can actually be the safest type of creature to vanquish, as long as everything is done by the book.
6)Fey:
-Various nature spirits that, unlike "true" spirits, are forever locked in a physical form. This category includes not only faeries, but also elves and other more obscure manifestations of nature's will. These creatures usually are not aggressive unless provoked, but if combat is inevitable, it is important to carry a weapon made out of wrought iron, as it is the only material that can damage fey. Magic, however, is also effective.
Map will be updated as more locations are discovered, these are definitely not all the villages in the region. However, the major cities all start discovered.
(http://i.imgur.com/pQg3Ycj.png)
The action takes place in a region that encompasses the very eastern edge of the Holy Empire of Gith and most of the Kingdom of Colmyr, the two largest realms of the north. Situated on a nearby island in the Northern Ocean is the Grand Duchy of Rykrad. There also are various minor regions which could not be colonized due to the exceptionally difficult conditions, such as the Wildman's Wastes or the Wastes of Gith.
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Kingdom of Colmyr
-Colmyr is a traditional monarchy like most of the major realms in the world. The last war it participated in being the Continental Rykrad war 50 years ago, in which the kingdom aided their former allies, the Grand Duchy of Rykrad, but suffered defeat against the superior forces of the Holy Empire of Gith. Since then, the Kingdom of Colmyr became a heavily militarized and somewhat xenophobic country, not starting any wars, but always keeping a large reserve force in case another war was to begin. The current ruler is king Rilem XII, a lord that is infamous for his greed and unfortunate lack of competence in the field of politics.
Holy Empire of Gith
-The Empire is one of the largest realms in the world, mostly due to the many successful wars in it's past. The country itself is an elective monarchy, the emperor being chosen from amongst the dukes of the realm and ruling until death. The last emperor was killed in battle during the Continental Rykrad war, in which the forces of Gith were victorious and took the regions of Kogarurn and Rilisril from the Grand Duchy of Rykrad. After the treaty was signed in 1276 between Gith and Rykrad, Emperor Davian IV was elected as the new ruler. The emperor was only 22 years old at that time and is currently 72, his age causing many local nobles to worry as the emperors death will unavoidably change the fate of the empire.
Grand Duchy of Rykrad
-Before losing the war of Continental Rykrad, the Grand Duchy of Rykrad used to be the most influential realm in the north. Nowadays, it remains a small island nation, that is completely dependent on trade with the Kingdom of Colmyr and the Holy Empire of Gith. To ensure the safety of the realm, the nobles of Rykrad made a declaration of neutrality in 1280. The current ruler of Rykrad is grand duchess Aessa I, however the rights of the monarch are heavily limited by the council of nobles, which holds far more political power.
Radirr
-Male.
-Age:51.
-The oldest of the tutors looking after the new generation of guardsmen. A gigantic Rykradian man with wise dark blue eyes, long gray hair and a beard that reaches the middle of his stomach. Proudly wears a cloak made from the fur of a werewolf he had slain over a suit of steel chainmail and effortlessly wields a massive straight sword with one hand. Generally calm and passive, occasionally complains about "getting too old for this shit". Doesn't have the motivation to train the future guardsmen in the art of combat, so instead gives them lectures on the various creatures of the surrounding wilderness and how to fight them.
Lyris
-Female.
-Age:28.
-A young woman from eastern Gith, the territory that used to belong to the Grand Duchy of Rykrad. Has gray eyes and long wavy red hair. Wears a suit of light plate armour over a leather tunic and wields a steel longsword with a wavy blade in combat. She is generally very straightforward and honest when dealing with others, which may appear rude to some, yet she is also very kind and idealistic. Being the second strongest of the tutors, she teaches the guardsmen how to fight.
Ruon
-Male.
-Age:21.
-The youngest of the tutors. A talented magic prodigy from central Gith. Has light brown eyes and short straight dark hair. Wears a concealing hooded black cloak over light leather armour, wields a simple steel longsword that he rarely has to rely on due to his skill in magic. Somewhat absentminded and forgetful, yet likable due to his relaxed and optimistic nature. Trains his students in the art of spellcasting and magic theory.
Skippable parts: Bestiary - Categories, The Map, the Realms, Biography - The Three Tutors. This is if you're lazy though.
Edit: Also, this is how your character sheets look like at the moment, but you all have nothing yet so this is for character advancement reference later:
Inventory:
-Simple peasant clothes.
Stats:
-Strength 2
-Dexterity 2
-Intelligence 2
Traits:
-None.
Skills:
-Combat I
-Spellcasting I
-General lore I
Spells/Abilities:
-Essence drain (0 MP)
Health:
-Healthy.
Mana:
-100/100
At the very least he was glad life seemed better than the one he could have ever expected were he not taken in by the Guard. There was no way to escape after he had been cursed, so he'd take that path.
1) Fatalistically accepting.
2) Magic.
3) Mirror Magic, to return magic and attacks to their originator.
Most of the young Guardsmen were optimistic about their new lives. Although they started gradually becoming aware that the life of a Silver Guardsman is far from being as glamorous as the legends tell, they hoped to become better than the older generation. Still, a shadow of doubt remained.
"By now you're probably old enough to have realized this yourselves," their tutor Radirr said during one of his lessons, "but you can't save everyone. I've had this friend once. Took a contract to hunt a forest dragon. The beast was attacking nearby villages, killing cattle, sometimes men even. So this friend of mine went to find the dragon and killed it. Cut it's tongue off so he'd have evidence to show, went towards the village to collect his payment. Found everyone dead. He later found out that the dragon belonged to an elven princess. Elves got mad, killed all the villagers. And what could you do in a situation like this? Innocents would have died to the dragon if they wouldn't have died to the elves. What I'm saying is that you should realize as soon as possible - we are not simple monster hunters. We decide the fates of men. In the end, some people will have died because of you, but you will end up saving even more. It is our job to keep moving forward, try to save who we can. And if we couldn't save someone, we try to save someone else - there is no room for feelings of guilt or regret in the life of a Silver Guard."
___
As time went by, the children became more and more accustomed to life in the fortress. In five years' time, all of the Silver Guard not only knew the youths by name, but also knew what their strengths and interests were.
___
Alexander Vimes was the wisest of his generation. He spent most of his time learning magic from Ruon and was not only exceptionally talented at the basic theory of magic, but could also cast an impressive variety of spells for his age. He also had a very impressive knowledge of Spirits and Fey, but his focus on obtaining knowledge kept him from developing his combat skills. The Silver Guard knew that magic can not fully compensate for a lack of skill in combat and raw power, so the older generations found Alexander's overspecialization worrying. He did, however, have the potential to become a true expert at vanquishing spirits.
In contrast, Emma Eitr trained to become a master in multiple fields. The girl spent a lot of time listening to Radirr's lectures on werewolves and vampires. Horror stories about the infected were especially popular amongst the children of northern Colmyr, so it is no wonder that Emma had a fascination with these creatures. However her interest extended beyond a mere desire for knowledge - she would put a lot of effort into developing her combat abilities and refining her swordplay, hoping to one day become a legendary werewolf hunter, just like Radirr used to be. While she didn't focus as heavily on studying magic, the girl managed to learn a simple incantation that allowed her to assault her foes with bolts of fire.
However, her skill with the sword was not that impressive when compared to Herex Rundstone. The boy was not only capable of demonstrating exceptional swordplay, but was also stronger and far quicker than most of the other Guardsmen of his generation. Spending most of his time working on his combat ability, the child didn't pay much attention to Radirr's lessons and his knowledge was somewhat lacking. While the youth originally dismissed magic as an unhonourable method of combat, he did learn a couple of spells from the transmutation school of magic to augment his already impressive martial skills.
Although she paid more attention to improving her knowledge of the various creatures of the wild, Kolo Urveldt was also one of the stronger fighters of her generation. The girl tried to find a balance between theory and practice, having read about many different monsters without focusing on one category and still finding time to work on her swordplay. While she had neither the exceptional skill nor strength that Herex possessed, she was equally quick and far more inventive, hoping that her sharp mind would give her an edge over the many enemies that she would unavoidably encounter in her future.
Out of the Guardsmen that focused on combat, Kostadin Petrovski stood out mostly due to his weapon of choice. While most monster slayers preferred to fight using a sword due to it being a weapon that is both strong enough to pierce the hide of a dragon and light enough to keep up with the rapid blows of a werewolf, Kostadin mostly practiced with a massive voulge. Although the weapon was unpopular due to it's weight, it had many traits useful for a Silver Guardsman - the sheer weight of the weapon could easily throw a troll off-balance, while it's length made it a very reliable weapon when fighting smaller creatures. Kostadin also valued knowledge and learned a lot about the different monsters he would encounter, though when it comes to magic, he only learned a few elementary spells to augment his combat ability.
On the other hand, Landau Selenov stood out mostly because of his magical focus. The boy was slowly becoming a true expert of defensive magic, a school of magic that was unpopular amongst Guardsmen due to several reasons. To be truly effective, defensive magic requires both exceptional skill and a high amount of mana, so defensive spellcasters were limited in their choices when it comes to offense, having neither the mana to cast offensive spells nor the time to truly master their swordplay. However, the boy insisted that he would focus on this school of magic and worked hard to not only master it, but also become competent in the use of a sword, and while he succeeded in both, he had little time to learn about the creatures of the untamed lands.
___
While the five years in the fortress were peaceful, the political situation in the nearby realms was unstable. In the year 1328, Davian IV, emperor of Gith, died. Few were shocked by his death, as the emperor had lived a long time and had obviously noticeable problems with his health. Honach III, duke of Kogarurn and Rilisril was elected as the new emperor. His grandfather, Honach I, general of the army of Gith, was awarded his ducal title after he conquered the territory now known as Eastern Gith. Since then, the Honach dynasty were known as zealous supporters of Gith's expansionist policy.
King Rilem XII of Colmyr knew that war was inevitable, the elections in Gith being a clear sign that the nobles of Gith wanted to start another war in the east. The king ordered the general to station all the main forces of the army on the eastern cost of the Northern Canal and issued an embargo on all trade with the empire.
In the year 1329, emperor Honach III declared war on Colmyr, citing the embargo as the official cause of war. The forces of Colmyr expected to intercept the enemy at the Northern Canal, but were outmaneuvered. The forces of the empire were split into two battalions. The first battalion gathered at Rilisril and traveled to Colmyr by sea, disembarking at the undefended village of Jaerurn then heading towards the canal. The second battalion gathered at Kogarurn and crossed the canal at the same time as the first batallion got there. The forces of Colmyr were surrounded and crushed and the kingdom of Colmyr was forced to start gathering conscripts for a counterattack.
Despite the Empire of Gith being the aggressors, they had slightly more supporters than the Kingdom of Colmyr. Even during the darkest chapters of their history, Gith never had to rely on conscripts to fight their wars and was also a tolerant and multicultural empire, as opposed to Colmyr, a realm known for xenophobia. Some of the Silver Guard morally supported Colmyr, others supported Gith, some were completely indifferent, but as a neutral organization, the Guard did not provide military assistance to any of the warring realms.
___
It is the beginning of autumn in the year 1331. The six young Guardsmen stand in the courtyard by the back gates of the fortress. Their tutor Radirr approaches with a grim expression on his face.
"Good morning!" he greets his students, trying to hide his concern behind faked enthusiasm, "Well, as you all known, this is the time for your trial. I've been telling you about it every day for the past month now, but let me repeat one more time what this is all about. This is going to be your first true hunt. You are to split into three pairs. Each pair will travel into a different village. You get to choose between Vinnril, Vorakend and Notandar. The horses are waiting outside the gates. Once in the village, you are to look for a contract on the notice board - they always have at least a few jobs that need doing. Once you complete the contract, you are to return to the fortress and meet me. That is it for the trial. Now, I know that you young ones are eager to go on your first hunt, but remember that you are still inexperienced, so whichever contract you take, you are to do your job in pairs. And don't take on something that you won't be able to handle, I don't want to find any of you dead. Now choose your partner and off you go!"
The youths were slightly confused by their tutor's request. They were told earlier that they would go on their first hunt, but they weren't told that they would go in pairs. Due to how much they had to train, the young Guardsmen didn't have much time to socialize, so all they knew about each other was their names, therefore choosing a partner was difficult for most of them. Even more importantly, they had stayed in the fortress for the largest part of their lives, only sometimes leaving to hunt wargs with their tutors' supervision. The territory around the Slayer's Fortress was the safest in the entire continent as the Guardsmen have hunted most of the prey there for sustenance. For the first time in their lives, the youths would travel to the wilderness of Gith and Colmyr.
(http://i.imgur.com/vHdHNT7.png)
Rolls are d60, made possible by the miracle of cutting edge virtual dice technology.
Each roll has many modifiers applied to it, which may be stats, skills or traits. Have an example scenario.
John looks around the area for evidence of spirit activity. Although he was slightly lacking in knowledge, his generally high intelligence helped him greatly.
(Rolled 48, -5 lack of knowledge, +15 intelligence = 58)
He was extremely fortunate and found some ectoplasm. The Guardsman showed it to his partner Jim, an expert on spirits.
(Rolled 31, +5 intelligence, +15 spirit lore = 51)
After examining the ectoplasm, Jim decided that it must belong to a Banshee.
These rolls depend heavily on both your ability and the difficulty of the task that you plan to accomplish. In combat, these modifiers are known before the turn starts. As an example,
Jim draws his silver sword and prepares to face the Banshee.
Jim's intelligence grants him a huge advantage versus the predictable banshee. (+15)
Jim has knowledge of how banshees behave and is prepared for the battle. (+10)
The banshee is significantly quicker than Jim, making it hard for him to keep up. (-10)
Roll modifier: +15
Magic in combat:
A Silver Guardsman is capable of casting spells far more easily than a human mage, so in the game spells are a semi-free action - you may cast a spell and attack with your sword during the same turn, but you can't cast multiple spells. Due to this, focusing on purely on magic and neglecting your physical combat skills can leave you weaker than a jack of all trades. A Guardsman is firstly a slayer of beasts and while magic may be very useful to support one's skill with a sword, everyone must still rely on physical combat to a certain degree.
The spellcasting skill:
The spellcasting skill firstly influences your mana pool, it being 100 + (Spellcasting x 50). It also strengthens your ability to use spells which do not belong to a particular school of magic. These tend to be elementary utility spells which require minimal investment and are known by most experienced Guardsmen, even those that do not put any focus into improving their magical skills.
Known spells so far:
Basic Spells:
-Spirit Trap
Spirit Trap instantly creates a magic circle around caster which forces spirits to enter their physical form. All Guardsmen can draw a spirit trap manually, but it has to be done in advance, whereas a skilled spellcaster can use this spell to combat spirits even if he didn't expect to encounter one.
Blade spells:
-Silver Blade
These spells enhance the users blade with special properties for the duration of a fight. Silver blade does not actually strengthen a weapon, but instead grants it the properties of silver, making it especially effective versus many types of infected and spirits.
Bolts:
-Fire
-Lightning
-Ice
-Iron Shot
These are the basic ranged nukes. They are not very strong but can be very useful in certain situations. Fire causes many creatures to panic and can stop some trollkin from regenerating. Lightning is especially effective versus spirits and fey and on an exceptionally good hit can cause the fur of a creature to catch fire. Ice can cause creatures to bleed and very few enemies resist it. Iron shot does damage purely through the force of impact and is useful at crushing goblins and knocking gryphons out of the sky, but quite useless against large creatures that simply receive minor bruises from it.
Enchantment:
-Reveal Motive
-Pacify Creature
Reveal Motive is useless in combat itself, but has a wide variety of applications when it comes to identifying unfamiliar creatures. It can be used to tell malevolent spirits from forest guardian spirits, it can be used to tell if a ghoul is a cowardly graveyard ghoul (the motive of which is to feast on carrion and avoid danger) or a dangerous feral ghoul (which seeks to kill you and feast upon your bones) and so on.
Pacify creature is used to avoid conflict in case you get into a fight with something far stronger than you. Popular amongst spirit hunters who are usually far less prepared for facing ogres and dragons than a beast slayer would be. The spell works on all living unintelligent and semi-intelligent creatures, so it will work on wargs, dragons and even things like ogres and kobolds, but creatures like forest hags and mermaids are too intelligent for the spell to work, whereas spirits and fey are immune since their way of thinking is too alien.
Nature:
-Regeneration
Regeneration speeds up the natural healing of the one that the spell was cast on. It's not as effective as actual medicine, but it can be used during combat and is far more simple than taking a few hours to brew a potion.
Shields:
-Crystal Shield
-Magic Shield
Defensive spells used to block attacks. Crystal Shield conjures a thin but rather strong barrier in front of the caster made out of translucent glasslike matter - after blocking an attack, the shield breaks, launching shards at the direction of the attacker - these do not deal much damage, but can be ery painful, often stagerring beasts, infected and trollkin with relatively thin hides. Magic shield creates a barrier in front of the caster which reflects most offensive spells, although a truly powerful magician can penetrate it easily.
Character sheets:
Inventory:
-Leather vest over linen clothing.
-Longsword (Ordinary, Cast Iron).
Stats:
-Strength 3
-Dexterity 3
-Intelligence 8
Traits:
-Spirit Slayer
-Fey Slayer
Skills:
-Combat I
-Spellcasting III
-Air Magic I
-Enchantment I
-General lore II
-Spirit lore I
-Fey lore I
Spells/Abilities:
-Essence drain (0 MP)
-Spellcasting: Spirit Trap (40MP)
-Air Magic: Lesser Lightning Bolt (20MP)
-Enchantment: Reveal Motive (40MP)
-Enchantment: Pacify Beast (50MP)
Health:
-Healthy.
Mana:
-200/200
Inventory:
-Leather vest over linen clothing.
-Longsword (Ordinary, Cast Iron).
Stats:
-Strength 5
-Dexterity 4
-Intelligence 5
Traits:
-Infected Slayer
Skills:
-Combat III
-Swords I
-Spellcasting I
-Fire Magic I
-General lore III
-Infected lore I
Spells/Abilities:
-Essence drain (0 MP)
-Fire: Lesser Fire Bolt (20MP)
Health:
-Healthy.
Mana:
-100/100
Inventory:
-Leather vest over linen clothing.
-Longsword (Ordinary, Cast Iron).
Stats:
-Strength 5
-Dexterity 6
-Intelligence 3
Traits:
-None.
Skills:
-Combat III
-Swords II
-Spellcasting I
-Transmutation I
-General lore II
Spells/Abilities:
-Essence drain (0 MP)
-Transmutation: Silver Blade (50MP)
-Transmutation: Iron Shot (20MP)
Health:
-Healthy.
Mana:
-100/100
Inventory:
-Leather vest over linen clothing.
-Longsword (Ordinary, Cast Iron).
Stats:
-Strength 4
-Dexterity 6
-Intelligence 6
Traits:
-None.
Skills:
-Combat III
-Swords I
-Spellcasting II
-Fire Magic I
-General lore III
Spells/Abilities:
-Essence drain (0 MP)
-Fire: Lesser Fire Bolt (20MP)
Health:
-Healthy.
Mana:
-150/150
Inventory:
-Leather vest over linen clothing.
-Voulge (Ordinary, Oak shaft, Cast Iron blade).
Stats:
-Strength 6
-Dexterity 4
-Intelligence 4
Traits:
-None.
Skills:
-Combat III
-Polearms I
-Spellcasting I
-Nature Magic I
-Water Magic I
-General lore III
Spells/Abilities:
-Essence drain (0 MP)
-Nature: Lesser Regeneration (50MP)
-Water: Lesser Ice Bolt (20MP)
Health:
-Healthy.
Mana:
-100/100
Inventory:
-Leather vest over linen clothing.
-Longsword (Ordinary, Cast Iron).
Stats:
-Strength 5
-Dexterity 5
-Intelligence 6
Traits:
-None.
Skills:
-Combat III
-Swords I
-Spellcasting II
-Defensive Magic II
-General lore I
Spells/Abilities:
-Essence drain (0 MP)
-Defensive: Lesser Crystal Shield (50MP)
-Defensive: Lesser Magic Shield (50MP)
Health:
-Healthy.
Mana:
-150/150
Kostadin Petrovski: 16
Eitr Emma: 16
Alexander Vimes: 15
Kolo Urveldt: 14
Landau Selenov: 14
Herex Rundstone: 13
Anyway, for this turn just decide the pairs amongst yourselves and where your pair is going. You can and you should do a bit of roleplaying, because I want this to be a plot based game. To separate roleplay from OOC talk and actions, you should write it in italicized text, or if you prefer so, in pretty colours. Next turn is going to start as you arrive in the villages, so you can roleplay everything that happens until then, if you wish to. Seriously, please do, even asked you in the OP.
Kolo remains silent for now, one hand resting on her swordbelt as she glances between the others with a scrunched-up expression.
On the whole she looks rather less than pleased by the sudden idea of teaming up. Never having paid too much attention to her fellow trainee guards, she has little idea of their abilities, and deep down she somewhat dislikes the idea of having to share the spotlight in what was supposed to be her trial.
So, she stays quiet, waiting to see how the others will pair themselves up.
I think I will simply write roleplay in normal text and put any OOC in a spoiler, like so.
That way it won't be as hard on the eyes as posts entirely made up of italics, and I don't imagine I'll use much OOC anyway.
I will probably claim this colour for Kolo's dialogue, though.
___
Turn 3: Arrival
After a few hours, Herex and Alexander arrive at the village of Vinril. The peasants, including both the old inhabitants - the Colmyrians, as well as colonists from Gith walk from one end of the village to the other, working hard to build new housing. As odd as it may sound, after the village had been conquered by the forces of Gith, it has experienced a population boom. The empire has a lot of experience in colonization and cultural integration, gained through their expansion from their humble beginnings in the far west. Colonists typically flock to villages near the battle front due to the career opportunities offered by the authorities. Smiths forge swords for the army, farmers carry sacks of grain to feed the battalions stationed nearby, woodcutters haul the logs needed to build new fortifications. In their hurry, few workers notice the two Guardsmen walking through the crowded road.
As instructed, the two take a look at the notice board near the village elder's hut. Two contracts stick out:
"Help needed. Some creature from the woods comes to my farm every night and hunts my animals. So far, it's killed a bull, two pigs and my hound. Will pay 200 gold coins to anyone that finds and kills it."
As well as a slightly more curious one,
"Looking for someone to kill an odd creature. Hangs around the logging site, scares the workers. Hasn't killed anyone or stolen something yet, but won't let us do our job. 200 gold coins reward."
___
Emma and Kolo arrive at the village of Vorakend. The village looked very empty, perhaps due to the war between Colmyr and Gith. Throughout history, the kingdom of Colmyr has always depended heavily on conscripts to fight their wars, so one would assume that most of the former population of Vorakend is stationed closer to the front. The few remaining souls mostly stayed inside their houses, occasionally peeking through the windows to look at the two members of the Silver Guard passing by. It was rare to see two women with swords in any part of the kingdom and even more rare to see two young girls with swords. However, the locals knew why they were here. They knew about the Silver Guard and that the organization would train their recruits from a young age.
The girls walked towards the notice board, just as ordered by their tutor Radirr and took a moment to examine the notices. Two contracts appeared to be worth closer inspection:
"This very morning I found that someone dug up my father's grave. I will pay 200 gold to anyone who manages to bring the vandal to justice."
Despite the contractor being certain that the crime was performed by a human, the two monster slayers knew that such situations are usually caused by monsters, be it ghouls, hags or wargs. The other contract, however, pointed at a far more specific culprit:
"Be warned! There is some sort of beast in the nearby lake to the south. I saw it drag a cow into the water with my own two eyes! I'm willing to pay 200 gold coins to anyone that slays the creature."
___
Landau and Kostadin reach the village of Notandar and head towards the notice board. Life is peaceful in the village. Being near the very edge of the Wildman's Wastes, it manages to evade both the horrors of war and the eyes of the king. Hunters carry the pelts of foxes and various small game, farmers tell each other stories as they warm their hands with the dancing flames of a campfire. This is a village far away from civilization, where people are hardy and honest, strengthened in mind and body due to years spent in the surrounding wilderness. Locals eye the two travelers with curiosity and hail them with loud greetings and offers to exchange news. The inhabitants of isolated villages typically thirst for variety more than anything else and each opportunity to meet a stranger seems worth celebration to them. However, the two monster slayers know that this is not the time for that.
As the Guardsmen reach the notice board, two contracts stick out immediately:
"Offering 200 gold to a monster hunter. Was checking my snares this morning and heard an odd rustling sound and a loud roar. Went back to check up on my horse and found it dead. Please kill whatever ate my horse, I can't return to the forest until I'm sure that thing is gone."
The second contract is quite similar. Unsurprisingly, considering that this is a hunting village.
"Offering a contract to a monster slayer. The other day I managed to kill a bear. I went to tell my brother so we could bring the catch back home, but when I got back, all I saw was a few bones and a trail of the largest footprints I've seen. I may be able to kill bears, but I'm not sure about that thing! 200 gold reward to whoever is brave enough."
___
Basically just choose a contract for this turn. More details will emerge as you investigate. As I mentioned, this is heavily inspired by The Witcher 3, so those that have played the game will find the investigation part very familiar.
Notandar: Kostadin & Landau
"What do you think?" Landau asked Kostadin as they perused the notice board. Both of the notices seemed to indicate a problem with beasts, and very large ones at that. It was hard to tell which one was more impressive, though the second one had eaten a bear down to the bones with admirable speed. Both cases might even pertain to the same creature or creatures, in the end. "How about the first one? It attacked a living animal after all."
Are there names on the contracts? If so, can we interview the ones who put them up so as to acquire more information?
I advise players to add a header of some sort to make it easier for the GM to tell who's talking to who and who made a decision on what.
I didn't play The Witcher 3.