Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Topics - Lord Dick Tim

Pages: [1] 2
1
The Pit / It lives!
« on: July 29, 2014, 11:43:31 am »
UAHhhAHHuuhhhahhahhUUuuaaa!


~Skywhales

2
World / Noble Houses
« on: September 14, 2013, 06:18:15 am »
Lets start talking about noble families, big named people, movers and shakers in the world.

What kind of personalities would we like to see, what kind of people from different factions?
I'll start with an example of what I mean, and by no means does this have to conform to a template.

Tobias Gint House Hathor, Merchants Guild.

Owning the controlling stake in some of the worlds greatest ports, Tobias has managed to elevate himself much higher than his predecessors in House Hathor.  Of a minor branch from the Julit line of fame and fortune, House Hathor fell on considerably difficult times during the gray plague that felled many cities, resulting in the loss of trade assets and shipping concerns that had been shot out of the sky by military's the world over during a brutal attempt to suppress the plagues spread during its earliest stages.

From humble beginnings as a clerk at James and Sons shipping, Tobias began collecting a network of informants from the city's youth, using his natural good wit and easy charm to cajole, sell, bribe and even blackmail opponents and allies alike till he had amassed a staggering fortune for a man of only 24 years of age.

His first order of business was to secure proper investments for his considerable income, that was quickly wearing a hole in his pocket due to the nature of high class societies trappings and needs.  Again relying on his network of now expansive informants he discovered a rather little known fact of a warm spring in the Yeshan west.  With further knowledge he soon discovered that on such a spring nine years past a large swarm of locust had nearly wiped out the grain industry of the entire southern side of the nation, leaving the Arashi city states in desperate need of food.

With new contacts in the Chaladonian Order Tobias began buying up ships as quickly as he could, sending letters and contracts while negotiating prices with Chaladonian merchants on the prospective yield of crops that hadn't even matured yet.
He gambled it all on this venture, reasoning that even if Yeshan crops didn't fail that year, he wouldn't lose every penny.

The resulting summer brought one of the most devastating locust swarms that the Yeshan Empire had ever seen.  Tobias's purchase of huge swathes of grain based on prospective yields had encouraged Chaladonian farmers to plant extra rows, yielding a surplus that was sold at an extreme mark up as the west starved for a need of food that Tobias was more than willing to provide under a new business charter called the "Eastern Grain Trade Alliance".  With Chaladon farmers being handsomely paid for their grain, and merchant ships collecting a substantial revenue in taxes the addition of several prominent Guild families monetary might was added to the alliance, allowing them to buy out the native Yeshan grain sellers, cementing the name Tobias and the Eastern Grain Trade Alliance as the premiere seller of dependable food stuffs across the continental south.

3
The Gallery / Chaladon: A seed of ruin
« on: September 14, 2013, 05:01:35 am »
The Order of Chaladon

“A civilization is truly great, when old men plant trees knowing they will never take comfort from their shade.”

Marious considered the tree before him, a large and broad elm with a gray cast to it’s wrinkled bark.  The sun was high in the blue sky, narray a cloud streaked the perfect brilliance that he could see like small sapphire jewels through the bright green leaves of the Elms foliage.
Marious was an old man, yet not one burdened over by the weight of his years.  Broad shoulders and a thick neck rose up from stately red velvet robes decorated with gold patterns chased with silver. 
His hands, still steady though marred with liver spots, touched the rough bark and closed his eyes for a brief moment till a voice interrupted him.
“Sir, it is the hour, the councillors are gathering.”  Marious opened his eyes and but briefly, when seeing his own hand, saw the flash of a small, chubbier hand beneath it, feeling the bark of an elm much like this one.

A semi circular amphitheatre, cut from white limestone left bare and simple occupied a space that looked out over a grove of olive trees growing on a lower plain that sat just above the spray of a near cerulean blue ocean.
Men and women of all ages and stations gathered in an arrangement of seats by long standing order and tradition, some of the most finely garbed and noble blooded bowed, giving way to simple looking farmers in rough homespun woolens, the gathering of the Chaladonian orders prelates did not honor the dichotomy of financial status as would most civilized nations.  This was a hall of deep respect and deeper traditions whose blood could be traced to before the great ages of the last rise of mans empires, beyond the haze that was the Age of Dust.
A tall, stately appointed man with curly white hair began the assembly by striking a round stone of black onyx against a slab of gray rough hewn slate known as the gavel and anvil respectively.

Without preamble the assembly began, the Speaker of the Order calling the assemblage to rise and recite the oath of the people, 7 basic articles that had began the great cultural unification of the various people that later collectively became the Order of Chaladon.  When all was seated he announced Marious to rise, and address the assembly.

Julius Haerule sat in the upper rows of the assembly, the son of a powerful landowner and first son of a long yet minor line of the Orders noble houses.  He watched on with curiosity as Marious Vanerius stood before the assembled, an older man who had once been speaker himself years before Julius was born, he recalled some chatter that the man had been altruistic, naive in his term, speaking of the outside nations as lost brothers, siblings that must be united and sheltered, not shunned or ignored.  So it was a surprise when this little mans steely gaze panned across the audience, the intensity of his posture and set of his jaw lending a great amount of gravitas to his countenance as he said a single sentence that came from deep within his chest, breaking the silence with a gravely, deep growl from a dragon long at slumber.
“War is upon us.”
He paused briefly, and Julius could already feel the mockery of the assembly about to rise to their lips when he spoke again, words that immediately silenced the crowd.
“The Yeshans have matched their philosophical and industrial might with action, a legion of Tiger heavy infantry and their auxiliary support marches under the shadow of an Imperial fleet of airships commanded by the Tiger lord himself, Kanto Hoi.  They march for the burrens, to expand their borders and pacify the burren peoples into a single cultural entity.”  He said, moving onto speak again before being interrupted by a young man in a bronze ceremonial breastplate baring two dancing parrots facing one another.
“But surely, this does not affect us, look about you Marious, we are surrounded by ocean, by harsh winds and rocks, by the trackless wastes of the burren to the west and the vastness to the south.”
Several heads nodded their assent, yet Marious did not give an inch as he continued as if the young man had never spoke, “The Guild raises it’s banner over Vyshtorg in response, martialing it’s vast financial resources to bring to fore a massive mercenary army to protect their trade interests across the burren.”  This had the desired effect, as the audience now quieted to finish listening, while some others nodded in agreement, their own network of informants having confirmed the same to be true.

“The Baronies are small and vulnerable, heavily dependent on Guild trade routes to supply food to their populations and fearful of losing their buffer to a much larger and stronger Yeshan Empire.  The Angleans will come to whichever side pays the most while the Vulture of Arashi surveys the chaos for easy opportunities to expand his borders and gain access to lucrative Guild ports.  And what do we do, nothing.”

A different person spoke up, a woman from the south, by the way she was garbed and heavy accent, “And why should we do something?  Foreign wars, foreign problems.  I will not send my sons to fight another mans war.”
There was much nodding and loud agreement to her protest, though Julius doubted all the intentions behind them were as motherly, many great families could stand to lose more than a son to a war with the other nations, there was land and holdings to consider, with the populations that relied on the law and peace the Order provided.

“And then what will your grandsons do when the Yeshan thirst for expansion sets its eyes on our emerald island?”  He replied, now not appearing as vibrant as he did, the color from his cheeks having turned a shade of grey as the emotion of the moment began to wear on what was clearly, still a very old man.  “Only a century ago we lived an agrarian existence, studying philosophy and arts, cultivating the land to bare greater and more wondrous marvels.  While the rest of the world hardened itself, the age of dust and gray plague stripped them of weakness, while we idled in lush gardens before verdant green fields.  When the first Guild airships crossed our borders they were a marvel to behold, and our great thinkers quickly assimilated the technology of our peers to use for our own ends.  But what of guns, troops, supply lines, munitions?  The city of Anvala sits within a ring of fire, its foundations propped on the hammered muzzles of guns from an age of warfare.  That, my friends, is but a single stone of defiance in a sea of chaos that will be churned to dust under the boots of a Yeshan army marching at full force.  If the Anvalans will surely fall beneath this sea, what will we do, when Yesha has added the industrial and economic might of four other nations beneath it?  We, whose sons carry arms to hunt deer, will find themselves the prey of Tigers.”

Here it comes, thought Julius, the vote, he’s been building up to this moment with a theatrical dramatization, over simplifying a problem that is much broader than simple Imperial conquest, but sometimes the simplest explanation was the best one to stir up the most votes when delivered with the correct balance of passion and conviction.

“I call for a vote, a vote that has never been cast for a ballot that was at one time, unthinkable.  We marshal what forces we have, and build more.  During this time when the war drum of Yesha is just a rumbling thunder, let us prepare for the storm it heralds.”

One black stone for no, one white one for yes.  It was a simple process, and none knew what stone another cast into the clay jar as they past it, each having two in their hands.  When the stones were spilled and counted, the vote was close.  37 against, 41 for.  It was not the two thirds needed to marshal all the forces of Chaladon together into a single military power, but it was a start, the seed of an idea, and the Chaladonians were anything if great growers of seeds.

.

4
The Pit / Religious debate out of control
« on: July 16, 2013, 11:28:10 am »
Libel, slander, words of hate and religious intolerance.
Words that are used to incite the community into acts of terrible violence...

I move that we add Bacon to the banned word list.

Do I have a second?

5
The Pit / The Holy Sky Whale
« on: July 13, 2013, 09:00:54 pm »
BEHOLD ye wretched soul, ye who has climbed up from the ashes of despotism of the barbarian, the heathen, the witch, the heretic.

Behold!  Glory unto it, it's form and mass be greatest in the heavens, dwarfed before it all the conscious collective of man who can nay fire a weapon of war and destruction greater than the song of creation ushered from it's mighty maw.

Tremble and know IT'S GLORY when cast beneath it who may blot out the sun, for it is the Whale, the eternal thing شيء خلود.
The great wanderer, it knows no port as man does, to travel in its wake is to know the passage of a thousand, thousand years, to breath its breath to taste the beginnings.   

Pass not across it's face with hubris in your heart, for شيء خلود does not know but one soul from the multitudes and will bear your challenge to it's will as an avalanche does the pebble.  Ye who is prideful shall be swept away and made low, denied into the realm that is only شيء خلود.

Come ye, shunned and despotten, ye sick and feeble, feel the might of its beating heart thundering in the sky as it passes over head and know salvation, know the rhythm of شيء خلود and know what has been since the beginning and know what sound shall thunder across the heavens as it ends.

 

6
The Pit / Roast Duck Recipes
« on: May 25, 2013, 06:51:48 pm »
Rob Quackers Duck Bites

 
 1 cup steak sauce
 1 cup whiskey
 salt and ground black pepper to taste
 1 pound bacon strips, cut in half
 6 duck breasts, deboned and cut into cubes
 1 box wooden toothpicks

Directions:

  • To make the marinade, stir the steak sauce and whiskey together in a bowl.
  • Pour the marinade into a resealable plastic bag and add the duck cubes.
  • Seal the bag, turn once or twice to thoroughly coat the duck, and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
  • Preheat a grill for medium heat. Soak the toothpicks in a bowl of water at least 1/2 hour to prevent burning.
  • Remove the duck from the marinade, and discard the sauce.
  • Wrap a piece of bacon around each duck cube and secure with a toothpick.
  • Cook the duck bites on the preheated grill until bacon is crisp and duck is no longer pink, turning once, 5 to 10 minutes.
  • Place on a serving plate, cool slightly, and serve.

7
So this is the opening to attempt at creating a d10 based gaming system for individual character use in the GOI lore space.
The proposed system utilizes a three step combination for determining dice rolls in most situations that are considered a challenge for a character to overcome, or as an opposed dice roll between a character and an npc.
The three steps are Ability, Skill, Tool.
Each step would be accompanied by a dice pool which are generated by a score in the corresponding step.
For example.  Strength(ability)+athletics(skill)+climbing gear(tool) might look like 3+3+3, equaling out to 9 d10 dice which would form a players dice pool.  This dice pool is rolled, with the numbers 8,9,0 resulting in a pass, 1 resulting in a negative pass and all other numbers being failure.  0 would also count as a success, and be re-rolled for the chance of an additional success.
If three dice are cast and come up a 2, 4, 8, the roll is a success.  A 1,8,5 however is a failure as the 1 negates the success of the 8.  A 0,1,2 is also a failure, but with the chance that the 0 can be re-rolled into a success. ( some people may recognize this system from world of darkness, with a few small changes to make dice staking more difficult)

We can go into more depth later, or tear this system down and try a different one such as a d6 or d12.  My desire however is to use a success/failure system rather than a dice challenge system like the d20.

My next post will have a proposal of the primary attributes, the charesterics of a character, and the proposed skills that would refine their use.  It will need to be expanded on and refined some, but also keep in mind it suppose to represent a generalization of skill assets, we can come up with some kind of profession system or feats that represent talents that take considerable time and effort to learn or be proficient in.

Update 24 June 2013

Links to the google docs with some of the Work In Progress systems

Ammo, Armor, Weapons and Tools
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c-vf60az0xr8F3IvrWZeQH05KUUMS0Ux2Ogy1Rs4NwA/edit?usp=sharing

Character Sheet
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_zrU7oS9KvDI2S6WlgwtxZCsEEmZd70K-xzjtDMn-No/edit?usp=sharing

Rules and Systems (Perks are not implemented as of yet)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rTQ31O6UnFlgVfIa8L6R1ESVDrHOH4xnySGmCkBPMVc/edit?usp=sharing

8
The Gallery / A Glorious Dawn
« on: May 23, 2013, 07:38:16 pm »
Have you ever seen the sun rise above the Arashi desert?  The Fiery chariot of Apollo thundering up into the blue black cloak of the maiden of night, the mane of his glorious horses, astral rays of orange and red that cast across a land bathed in the image of the sun gods hues.
His radiance burns back the night, his glory outshines all other stars so that even the white of the moon, if she still hangs in the sky pales with his coming.  I feel such great pride as he looks down upon this, my humble land, barren to the witless, harsh to the weak, a mother to the strong and wise. 
The winds rise with his coming, a hot howling of air let from the lungs of Apollos beasts as they charge into the heavens, grit and sand prickles my skin and eyes yet I revel in their bite, the sensation of a thousand stings reminding me I am a thousand times alive to know it.
This is the glory of dawn, a new day, a new struggle, yet another night survived, another victory celebrated another triumph.
I prostrate my body to the east, kissing my brow against the heating ground, a prayer of supplication for the strength in my limbs, the charity of my will, the temperance of my judgements.  I beg forgiveness for my weaknesses, my doubts and my errors, and thank the lord for his mercy and love.
I rise, renewed and vigorous, yet steeled with patience and care, my strides are powerful, my arms bulging with the muscle and sinew of countless labours made by hands as rough as rock with a grip like a vice.  I thank the lord again for these blessings, and collect those few things I call my own.  I wrap my rifle up carefully in cloth and sling it over my shoulder, looking down the rocky ridges towards a file of soldiers kicking up a cloud of dust that defiles the pure cerulean of the morning sky with a smudge of brown. 
They are loud, the fall of boots and grinding of tread tracks echoes across the narrow valley of ancient red islands that dot the landscape, sentinels of the wastes, witness to a thousand, thousand glorious dawns, a thousand victories, a thousand miseries, a thousand failures.

I lay and wait, still and patient watching the column through the delicate lense of a magnifying scope.  A glinting light from the north signals its start, a plume of fire and rock rumbles up from the earth like the belch of hellfire scattering limb and steel as chaos reigns into the ranks of soldiers.  Lightning strikes from the hills, the thunderous report of single shot rifles tearing into the soft bodies as officers and sergeants are murdered, valiant men desperately trying to muster their troops.
And as soon as it starts, it stops, the crane is wounded and bleeding on the Arashi desert, she cries for water, for comfort, for aid, struggling across the wasteland with terror in her eyes and the tremble of panic in her limbs.
Yet Arashi is barren to the witless, harsh to the weak, and the Asps poison is in her now.

A Desert Asp Short


9
The Gallery / The 3 Word Draw Off!
« on: May 16, 2013, 06:49:59 pm »
Rage, corn, greek

10
World / Perils of the world-Life of a Sky sailor
« on: May 16, 2013, 03:48:41 am »
So here I'd like to discuss the various perils ship captains may face in their trade adventures from one city to the next.  From water shortages, engine failures, poor weather and pirates.

I'd also like to speculate on some jargon that could be created about different things, situations, maneuvers and just some of the general mood of being onboard a sky ship.

Jargon

I'm more than a little biased in my opinion that naval language would become part of the sky ship life.  Port and starboard, deck, galley, head, fore and aft.
But there are things that aren't commonly known by the general public that should probably be fleshed out a bit, or changed up to fit in the space with a bit more ease.  I very, very much like the idea that languages other than English creep their way into this space as well.

Screw
My first example is jargon for the engines.  Usually known as "Screws", referring to the turbines on a ship.  So a squid would be a 4 screw ship.

Jib
The cut of the front sail of a ship, typically a defining feature of national vessels during the age of sail.  A jib could now mean the general profile or style of a particular national ship.  "Looks like a Yeshan Jib from here captain, could be Anglean though, they are similar". (I have no idea if they would be)

Cycle Guns/Gun Cycle
Refers to the manual cycling of a weapons firing cycle.  Feeding, Chambering, locking, firing, unlocking, extraction, ejecting, cocking.  (Charon will be happy I still remember that after a year of never having said it.)

Weather Deck
The floor of the ship exposed to the open air

Gun Deck
The platform on which a gun emplacement rests

Pilothouse
Where the ship is piloted from, also where the binnacle is usually at as well(compass)

This is a sample of just some terms.  What are some of the maneuvers that could come up as well?  What do we call it when a captain intentionally burns out their balloon to drop faster?  What is a typical meal onboard ship consist of?  What is it usually called? 
Lets bake some theories in every which direction, so I can get told no again :P

11
World / The Yesha Empire
« on: May 13, 2013, 03:15:52 am »
What we know

Modeled after china
Symbol is the crane
Ruled by a triumvirate
Dedicated to spreading its culture and enlightenment by any means necessary.


This sounds a lot like aggressive confuscian philosophy, bring your ways to the barbarian and change him with your culture first before resorting to swords.

I can imagine Yeshan missionaries pushing out from their empire bringing with them the "Glory of a better way".  It's a dangerous and subversive kind of attack that undermines the soviergnty of a nation by making the lower classes question the authority of those over them.
That being established I imagine caste societies, like the Fjorlands would be completely opposed to the Yeshans, as would the Angleans, the alter likely seen as crude thoughtless barbarians by the Empire.

The Arashi might have been seen as the people who need the Yeshans help the most, yet the Arashi want nothing to do with the Empire, or it's laws, seeing them simply as foreign invaders just like the guild with only their own interests at heart.

As china itself is very diverse, with several ethnic and cultural groups, languages and religions forming its makeup I suspect the same will be true to s degree in Yesha.  We could see cultural differences from one city to the next, yet there would always be that unified idea that they are all Yeshans regardless of whatever else they may be.

12
World / The Order of Chaladon
« on: May 12, 2013, 02:24:13 am »
What we know

-Inspired/descended by a combination of Indian culture and English colonialism
-Kingdom
-Sigil is a parrot

Now this one is a bit messy, India is huge and has incredible cultural diversity.  So I'm going to skirt around trying to speculate on to many specifics because it can go anywhere.

What I think might be going on depends largely on the fusion of the two different cultures that might exist in the nation.  Well, that's my first assumption, that there is at least two cultures in place and they might not get along all the time, or at least didn't in the past and are only now showing cohesion, if not inter breeding.
One thing I can be sure of, India has a huge religious diversity and I see this playing into the Order in some fashion, whether it be influenced by the concept of Dharma or not, I haven't even the foggiest.

India also had some of the earliest social projects and has had a continuous history of powerful leaders that started projects simply to improve the quality of life for their people because it was a good and right thing to do rather than for some religious idealism.  So there is that potential angle, that Chaladon is a rich and fertile kingdom looking to spread the "greater good" around, or projecting their borders as a way to ensure that foreigners can't invade.  Offensive defenses as it where.

There is also the idea of the spice trade, the indies trading companies and powerful corporate nations with wide sweeping political power granted by their nations.  This plays well with the merchants being so close by, and could be either a strong bonding relationship between the two, or drive them apart due to competing enterprises.  Hell, maybe both.

Some other forum goers have some exciting ideas of their own about this faction, I've been contacted a few times about it, hopefully we get to see what they all think as well.

...before Jess comes in and says, "no Tim, no."
Skywhales!

13
World / The Anglean Republic
« on: May 11, 2013, 01:29:10 am »
What we know.

A northern people that resemble Viking raiders.  Little natural resources, representative form of government, possibility of slavery.  Their national flag is the Albatross, their colors black and red.

My first not so wild guess, the name of their congress is probably the Allthing.  My second not so wild guess is slaves are likely thralls, and thralls are likely captured people from raids or prisoners of war.  Thralls most likely do not have the right to vote, yet make up the majority of the working class or menial labourers of Anglean society.

That leaves the Angleans themselves as fighters, political leaders and possibly the business owners of their nation.
If I'd hazard a guess, a little more wild one, tradesmen are valued thralls.  When a place is raided I could see the Angleans sacking industrial settlements and abducting skilled labor like engineers, shipwrights, carpenters and masons.  I'm also going to guess that the Angleans themselves are incredibly inventive, just like the Vikings themselves, using unorthodox tactics, cunning, logic and wickedness to win the day.

I'm not so sure about their society ethically.  Vikings where ruthless, an enemy was treated like a predator does prey, no quarter was given, no parley taken.  If a commander rode out to the middle of a field to negotiate terms with an Anglean army it might be likely he would be shot at range, leaving the enemy army leaderless and shocked by the sudden surge of overwhelming violence and brute naked force.

That being said, this society was also alarmingly polite to guests.  A man lost in the winter months, finding an Anglean settlement could expect to be fed, kept safe and warm the entire winter as would be due the laws of hospitality, laws of tradition that men would measure each other by.  The more hospitable the host, the grander, stronger and more fruitful their endeavors.
The doesn't mean that when you left for your own home that same person wouldn't murder you in a raid if he was about plundering.

Let's see how long it takes till a green name comes in and tells me to go play with my whales.

14
World / Fjord Baronies
« on: May 10, 2013, 01:39:53 am »
Lets kick off a discussion of the Fjorlands, the culture, people, disposition and imagery.

We know that their a feudal government, the national bird is a crow/raven and I invented words for the banner on a whim "Providence by blood", meaning they rule divenly by right of their ancestry.

I'm not taking the angle that they are a religious bunch, just that it is probable that a great deal of emphasis is made on lineage and pedigree, so much so that it's almost become an ancestral cult, a persons social status possibly escalating with the achievements of their blood relatives and ancestors.

With this in mind I can see fierce power struggles taking place, along with a succession of rule based on a gravelkind to the children, different houses likely handling the passing of titles and deeds to the next generation in appropriately different ways.

Some key issues with this system might be claimants to property or titles.  For example, John was baron of the Keystone Ridges, he passed the title to his son James, who died young and passed it to his younger half brother, as James has no children, micheal.  However, John had a brother as well, who had a true born son named Alex, whose mother was also Johns  second cousin(their nobles, incest is gonna happen), giving Alex a higher percentage of blood relation to John over Michael, and is older with children of his own which would provide him with an unbroken chain of succession.  In this way, Alex can claim the title to "protect" the families fortunes from foreign invasion or a weakening of the blood.  With suitable support from the House of Johns vassals he could take the title by force, or just have Michael assassinated.

There's a fairly epic story locked away in that example that just begs to be told.

There is also the possibility of the nation existing as an elector state, the heads of households are elected from the members of the house to lead the family from one generation to the next, or it could be a combination of the two.

I believe the overall government, the "king" or "emperor" of the baronies would likely be an elector chosen from all the noble houses that have a vote on some form of congress designed to give each noble house a say in the governance of the federation.

So ya, that's my mental vomit.  I'll likely be doing something like this for each faction just for the sake of getting conversations going, or to nudge some devs to chime in with an "actually... Your wrong Tim, go back to your whales".

15
The Pit / Hello there Grixis
« on: April 26, 2013, 03:57:10 am »
Performing an unknown action on the forums huh?  Whatcha doing Grixis?  Inquiring minds want to know.
The internet is watching you o.o

Pages: [1] 2