Agora Core – Page 8 – Rollplay Sidekick

Player Character Profile

Name: Nomo
Played by: Terry
Race: Male
Class: Monk
Strengths: Dexterity (very high)
Weaknesses: Intelligence and Charisma

Background: Hermit. I am utterly serene, even in the face of disaster. I’m oblivious to etiquette and social
expectations.
Ideals: Greater Good. My gifts are meant to be shared with all, not used for my own benefit.
Bonds: My isolation gave me great insight into a great evil that only I can destroy.
Flaws: I like keeping secrets and won’t share them with anyone.

Additional Notes from Player: Nomo Naurehta doesn’t know what name his Elvish parents gave to him. His mentor, Ereb Noldo, found him standing outside the smoldering ruins of a remote outpost near Orcish territory. Nomo was a toddler in Elvish terms, badly scarred by the fire and unable to speak. While there were no elves there, Ereb believed some elves had been captured and taken as slaves or hostages.

A half-elf monk living in self-imposed exile, Ereb raised Nomo as he himself had been raised in the monastery, training him in martial arts and how to master his fear of fire, always focusing on becoming as swift and nimble as forest animals and birds, and as aware of his surroundings. Ereb’s favourite question was “Is it better to absorb a blow, or to be elsewhere when the blow falls?” Ereb was nearly 200 years old when he died, and he encouraged Nomo to seek others who would value his gifts.

Development during series 1: Nomo has had to wrestle with the greater good of his party and the conflicting influences of Hector and Long. He has been a stable, consistent force the others could depend on and very useful in combat. Nomo experienced visions of an orc attack he witnessed when very young and this resulted in his fire scars. This took place at a now abandoned monastery to the south of DaNis.

Character Portraits used:
60 Terrible Character Portraits for Creative Commons Release by ‘A Terrible Idea’

DM Note #2

How far down does the rabbit hole go?

This refers to the second episode of Agora Core:

The journey between the towns of Nis-Ton and Mid-Nis was designed to be 2 episodes at most, adding some intrigue, action and a chance for the Player Characters (PCs) to get to know their characters better along the way. This episode was part 2 of their journey. The intrigue was to create a room in the inn where they were to rest for the night that had a sign on it which said ‘Keep Out’ and a quiet wailing noise…

This side quest could have stopped there. They had no need to snoop, and yet they snooped. Once inside the room the windows were boarded up and there was no visible source of the wailing sound. Orix’s curiosity got the better of him and he stabbed holes into the paintings on the wall. They found a hole…

The hole had spiritual entities living inside it. Having got this far, the prepared sucker-punch was that if they stuck their head inside the hole they would have to pass a wisdom saving throw or be possessed by an animal spirit and behave oddly for a time until the group could seek clericial aid. The players, however, wanted to find the source of the wailing. They wanted to see how far down the hole went…

From now on, the plot was completely off-book, with Long in very real peril having dropped off the pages and into the abyss.

The resultant actions and decisions took the group on a very different path to the one originally planned.

As a DM this was an exciting challenge – how much would their employer, Elstan, suspect and how would he react? What consequences would this have when the group reached the town of Mid-Nis? In such situations the DM is roleplaying as much as the players are. Their employer is a Non-Player Character (NPC) with a motive and resources of his own. I decided that he would have been in the next room to the merchant Lanir and so would have heard the group force entry and attack him. As a response, he would have sent a message ahead to the town guards through means of a messenger bird to request the group’s arrest. They were no longer trusted by their Employer, Elstan, and through his actions they would no longer be able to enjoy Mid-Nis Festival of the Clans and would face a trial, which could result in their execution.

Player Character Profile

Name: Pevel
Played by: Dan
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Class: Rogue
Strengths: Charisma and Dexterity
Weaknesses: Strength and a weasely disposition, described by the player as ‘pathetic’.

Additional Notes from Player: Dan describes Pevel as “a weasely blub of cowardice. A young man that would betray all his friends to avoid being bullied again, a fat Rincewind, an adolescent Falstaff with the humour, pathetic.”

Development during series 1: Pevel has indeed been cowardly, but his survival skills have allowed him to be sneaky and do anything to avoid near-death experiences. We also learned in series 1 that Pevel comes from the town of Mid-Nis, which proves useful when the group have to make haste.

Character Portraits used:
60 Terrible Character Portraits for Creative Commons Release by ‘A Terrible Idea’

DM Notes #1

The Meeting

This refers to the first episode of Agora Core:

It is a conundrum, because however original your plot may
seem, you need to contrive a reason for a group to form. How should they begin? Perhaps there is a backstory connecting some
or all of the players. An example of
this approach is in Will Wheton’s Titans Grave where character backstories are
discussed and secret bonds are disclosed to the Games Master.

Another simpler approach is a reason that attracts the
players to one spot, such as a call for adventures and the promise of riches
for successfully completing a mission. I
decided to loosely follow this second approach, bringing the group together at
the docks of the town of Nis-Ton. Their
reasons for being there were their own, but each was looking for an
opportunity; perhaps to earn more money, perhaps for adventuring, perhaps they
hoped to escape the land of DaNis altogether.

In much the same way as Character Creation, I left the
players to choose their reasons for being there. This has both advantages and
disadvantages. The main advantage, as I
see it, is that they are in total control of their characters and can develop
them organically. I can then suggest
paths for them to follow during the roleplay but they can choose where they go
from there. The main disadvantage is
that they are complete strangers and they have no bonds to each other or to a
central plot. The introduction of Long
mid-way through this episode highlights the loose bonds between the characters.

What worked really well at the docks was that the players
grasped the situation quickly and decided that there was an opportunity worth
exploring. They then advanced the plot
with their actions and dice rolling.

The finding of a horse and cart was a single line plot
that developed because Hector did not roll well when perceiving where to look
for a horse and did not ask anyone. So
rather than go straight to the transportation store, they successfully deceived
a resident and took their horse. Then
they had to deal with the transportation store for the cart. In this case, the characters of Nomo and
Hector started out being civil and ran an errand for the store owner; collecting
flowers that grew on the cliffs ledges, but when that didn’t work out they
resorted to tossing him over the side of the cliff. Hector is definitely a bad influence on
Nomo! The interesting part is that they
had already secured a horse and cart but decided that they needed an extra
horse! The poor store owner needn’t have
been so roughly discarded! But this is
what makes roleplays so interesting – you never know how players and plot will
interact!

A lovely moment was when Orix decided to pay special
attention to the horse they commandeered and named it Loki. I liked that personal touch, which he also
displayed when creating the Weasel familiar.
Another character-driven bonus was the strange friction between
man-of-the-wilds Long and the dry-witted drow Hector. Long simply didn’t trust Hector. To be fair to Hector, if someone threw a warhammer at me I would not warm to them either!
Still, it is moments such as these that make each party unique, for
which I am very grateful.

The World

Agora Core is designed to be a D&D 5th edition campaign that takes place in a fantasy realm. The players participate remotely using Skype and Roll20. You will get to meet the players through the Agora Core Episodes, but I will also post Player Character Profiles over the following weeks. But what of the world they will inhabit, what is it like?

DaNis Map:

DaNis is a spectre of the place it once was. The fertile plains have long since been swallowed up by the Da; the mysterious and constantly shifting desert. The river Nis is the life-blood of the lands and whilst it runs the land on either side continues to sustain life. There are two main towns in this area – the port town of Nis-Ton is an important supply line to other settlements and Mid-Nis is a hub for the many clans and settlers in the area.

DaNis is an annex of the Kingdom of Thoregar, which stretches east, past the Hussarian Mountains into the lush basin of the Dudron before meeting the rocky halls of Tratridra and Vatet. To the west lies miles of wasteland where only those crazy or cold-blooded enough survive in the fiery Arlatla. The south is nought but sea but merchant ships do occasionally sail in from distant, exotic shores of which only books and stories tell; they normally leave DaNis disappointed with what they find. To the north (once the Nis turns around) the road is rocky and baron and only those belonging to the mysterious Mara Society go on willingly.

Map production by Jon Paget, created using Inkarnate (Inkarnate.com).

Player Character Profile

Name: Hector Nyrna
Played by: Ben
Race: Dark Elf / Drow
Sex: Male
Class: Rogue
Strengths: Dexterity
Weaknesses: Intelligence

Unique features: A drow is an uncommon race on the surface world and so will attract attention.

Additional Notes from Player: Hector is a moody, vain, arrogant, durable fighter with a few tricks up his sleeve. Background: A dark elf living in an underdark city. Has dreams of Ezakina, Archfey, lady of the Fey. They strike up a relationship. He is told that a medallion of hers is kept by someone high up in the drow ranks, She says she wants him to take and wear it. Will strengthen their connection. In exchange for entering her service, he will be rewarded. He sneakily steals it and flees the underdark to the upper lands…..

Development during series 1: Hector has lived up to his arrogant and durable fighter status. He is not afraid to speak his mind or sleep if his surroundings do not interest him. His visions show that the drow are seeking him and the medallion that he stole. Ben has provided plans for his level ups and as a Warlock, he may well encounter Ezakina again.

Character Portraits used: 60 Terrible Character Portraits for Creative Commons Release by ‘A Terrible Idea’

Agora Core Episodes

The final section of this blog is the episodes themselves. I have been recording the audio for each episode as we have gone on, since the beginning. I have then provided some background and allowed the rolls of the dice to be displayed on YouTube.

If anyone wants to recommend a better approach or if anyone likes this style, please let me know. Also, if the length of each episode could be shortened or is about right.

I will provide links when I refer to a particular episode, but series 1 (following the characters during their Level 1 character statuses) is now available to view.

Agora Core – Series 1

DM Notes

The other ongoing section of this Roleplay blog will be Dungeon Master (DM) Notes. This is a fun, section and a behind-the-scenes or perhaps more aptly behind-the-Schemes look at what occurs during the campaign. More likely than not, the players have not taken a road that the DM had prepared in advance, and very likely the players have not behaved at all predictably. This provides both awkward and delightful moments where the storyline rails are removed and anything goes. DM Notes will taker a closer look at elements of the storyline that went untold or were unravelled!

Characters

As part of creating any roleplay, characters are an essential part of it, especially when you factor in the Player Characters (PC) who drive the story and are the reason for creating the roleplay scenarios – to be played out and to see what happens next. Along the way, the Player Characters will meet many intriguing, charming, dangerous, downright despicable, duplicitous or law-abiding non-player characters (NPCs) with whom they can interact. This section will aim to give you the lowdown on who these characters are, what their purpose was and how ‘fleshed out’ they really were.

Welcome!

I started creating this roleplay back in late 2015 as I had developed a craving. This wasn’t a simple itch, it was deeper than that. I had run weekend roleplays before, collaborating with other Dungeon Masters (DM)/Games Masters (GM) within the friendship groups that shared the love of fantasy and storytelling along with my Brothers and myself. These could be very rewarding but also very frustrating because the amount of work didn’t amount to the gameplay length – this was especially true with collaboratively run roleplays where ideas could be sacrificed for a cohesive storyline or if players wanted to stick with certain groups.

So my deeper itch involved taking the time to create a new fantasy roleplay from scratch and finding players who were prepared to do it for the long haul – from Level 1 and up!

The other desire was to try and use the new 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. This was designed to be a lot simpler than the system I was used to – version 3.5 – and relied more on story-telling. I had also taken the time to develop a character creation system in excel, and wanted to put it to good use.

As I type, we are nearing the end of the players’ time as Level 2 characters. It has been very interesting seeing how the players have interacted with the storyline and with each other. This has affected my levels of preparation and style as a DM and it will continue to evolve along with the players as we learn about the roleplay system and about the world known as Agora Core.