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Adam,

Well, needless to say I would rather have been around with you guys last night than waiting at NEMS on Derby Road.

New campaign.

This sounds like the one you ran at the Big Meet a couple of years ago indeed. Although a Pathfinder aficionado I found 7th Seas refreshing. Sadly I shall not be around to play it.

Damn! I had in mind a min-maxed idiotic Half-Orc sewer-worker obsessed with things-that-go-boom.

No, seriously the plot seems interesting, however I hope that for the sake of realism the game world in indeed actually flat as per the Vaticine understanding. All those spherical worlds: Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Golarion are just silly in their assumptions.

Calendar and other things.

You are right in trying to attract new players. Our group did not solidify until one third of the way into the Rise of the Runelords campaign and as experience has always shown, you should aim for "ideal number of players" + 1 as a rule of thumb.

Make sure you post your game on the calendar and use alternatively "7th seas", "Seventh Seas" and other keywords linked to the game systems. Although slightly obscure compared to Pathfinder and D&D, the system could still be looked at by potential players using Bing/Google.

I have taken the liberty to add the reference to Vague Connections, Nottingham in the thread subject header.

Hopefully seeing the gang for one last time next week for Legacy of Fire.

Laurent,

Should also post a reminder about what we need for characters.....

1) Character concept
2) Nationality - need not been Castilian, but it would make sense if this is the default
3) Thoughts about special skills - linked packages of abilities (combat or non-combat) linked to character concept
4) Arcana - something about the character's, er, character or outlook related to earning or spending drama dice
5) Name of the character, and name of the actor playing him/her (my adventure has an unlimited budget, so any actor past, present or future)

By way of example, for James' character I was thinking something like:

Special skill: Non-lethal combat

Knock unconscious - with a sneak attack, can knock someone out cold (like the Vulcan death grip, or the Man from Uncle karate chop to the neck). This could work either on a successful stealth roll and a successful attack roll (TN 20), or perhaps under limited circumstances in normal combat, where it might knock someone out cold if a dramatic wound is caused. That's a bit more complicated, and I'll need to think about it.

Anatomist - expert at hitting where it hurts. Re-roll any 1s rolled for damage.

Both those are quite powerful for a character who's not primarily a combatant, so....

Reluctant combatant - must make a resolve roll (TN 15) to attack an enemy who is already crippled (if a villain) or badly wounded (if a henchman). Difficultly will vary according to danger/gravity of situation. Must make a resolve roll (TN 10) to attack an enemy unit (villain, brute, henchman) that's not already engaged in combat. TN will vary according to how aggressive the action would be. This may apply to knock unconscious under certain circumstances - though not when knocking someone out is the lesser of two evils for that person. Actions are not normally lost of the check fails - can do something else instead.

I'm also thinking some kind of social skills bonus and some kind of willpower/force of personality bonus. Perhaps a surgery special ability too.

And for the Arcana, perhaps:

Sheltered Life - Years in holy orders have equipped him with a lot of book learning, but not much street smarts. In spite of being outside the cloister for a while now, he still tends to be a little naive about the darker side of human nature and about the outside world in general, which is noisier, more chaotic, less structured, less religious, and less sane than he's used to. Drama dice available for role-playing (sensible/appropriate) unworldly/sheltered/naive behaviour. Note that 'sheltered' doesn't mean 'born yesterday'.

Or perhaps something based around being excessively kind/soft hearted....

Working on what I was talking about yesterday, I've got the character's relation to his coin fleshed out.

• The character has a precious item, a coin, this coin is unique at least to him even though it may appear like an ordinary coin to everyone else. It would have world appropriate images on the heads and tales side.
• Everytime he tells the story of why the coin is important to him, it changes and is never the same twice.
• The character is good at close quarter magic, this is even more impressive with the coin. He's able to run the coin over his fingers, toss the coin between everyday actions and make the coin dissapear from one place and reappear in another. Whether this is only sleight of hand or there is also some element of sorcery involved I will leave to GM discretion.
• Sometimes he will allow the coin to make his decisions, although he may be able to force the coin to land in the way he determines using his slight of hand.
• The coin could be used as a distraction to others in combat.

I'm going to give some throught to his background and try to find characters or personalities to reference for his mannerisms, behaviours etc.

Thanks Laurent - didn't see your post until after I posted mine. I'll see what access I have re game pages, calendars etc.

Shame you won't be able to join us - you'll be missed. But I wouldn't expect you to make the commute, not even every fortnight. Not even for one of my games

@Ding - that sounds good. Probably we need to talk about sorcery - it's not something I've mentioned much because it's complicated and I'd rather not have too many magic users. One thing to think about is whether the coin is a "magic item/intelligent item" that your character found, or whether it's more like a totem or focus. The Avalonian (English) form of sorcery is "Glamour", which might lend itself to the latter. Some Avalonian characters can also have unusual heritages (fae/seelie blood, that kind of thing). Glamour tends to be subtle (to the point where it's possible not to know you even have it). But because it's a homebrew game, the character needn't be from Avalon and might actually work better as a kind of gypsy character, perhaps with Avalonian heritage, perhaps not.

A wandering to-all-appearances-human-but-not-quite wandering the world determining choices by chance would make an interesting character because it's got a kind of fairly tale/mythical/legend feel, but I wouldn't want too many like this in a single party. I know it's a bit of hack plot device, but perhaps he has some form of partial amnesia?

I think my friend will be joining us, and probably another player wouldn't go amiss....

Hello.
I am the elusive friend of Adam's that has been mentioned.
I will indeed be joining you and reprising a character I've played in this adventure before: a Castillian dancer with a great ability to fascinate but a terrible habit of overcomplicating matters. Quite handy with a dagger too.
Looking forward to gaming again and meeting new people.

hi adam, managed to "borrow" a few of the books and have an idea or to going to take a couple of days to flesh it out and have look at some of the background stuuf from the books i have "borrowed" and will get back to you on a character concept

Excellent. I'll try to be early (6ish) for the LoF game this Wednesday to discuss character ideas further.

The adventure (and possible directions for further adventures, if people want to play them) are coming together nicely.

Right then... Dramatis personæ so far...

James - Castillian monk/physician/healer
Ian - Castillian actor/swordsman, former theatrical fight choreographer
"Lightning" - Castillian flamenco dancer and spy
Ding - TBC, but something involving a coin (see above), very likely sorcerous
Kieran - Eisen (German) mercenary, probably heavy weapon
Possibly one spare place - happy to run for five, but six is a nice round number and gives a bit of scope for absences etc

In addition to the five things I requested above, if you have time, can you also:
6) Think about the connections your character might have with a wealthy aristocrat called Don Bosco (to be played by George Clooney in about 10 years) - most likely he's a patron or employer
7) Sketch out a few NPCs who are friends/family/rivals/enemy/whatever and will start in the same city
8) Throw me an adventure hook or two from your character's background

First session will be next Wednesday (3rd April) at Vague Connections, let's say 6:30 for 7:00. There will be some system explanations and some character finalising to be done, but hopefully we can make a start.

I can't see how to add anything to the calendar - perhaps I don't have access yet, or perhaps I'm just not very observant....

have put up games on the calander for you on the 3/4 and 17/4.

I'm happy with the idea of amnesia.

Appearance

Barrel chested, bald headed, thick twirly moustache. For reference see Tom Hardy in Bronson but with a bigger moustache.

Character

Due to his amnesia, he is often found to say the wrong thing, to the wrong people at the wrong time. However, he hasn't forgotten all his dirty fighting techniques. Doesn't normally use a blade but is good with his fists and anything else that's to hand: a tankard; a chair; a table; a plate.

He has his coin, the only thing that he had with him when he woke up from some event that caused him to loose his memory. He is capable of many tricks of sleight of hand especially with this coin and often uses it for distraction. (Adam, I do not mind if the abilities related to the coin are from magic or just skill, in fact I'm pretty happy for it just to be skill)

A passion for fine clothes and shoes, but his size makes them difficult to find. So he is slightly obsessed with keeping them clean.

Story so far

After waking up with no memory in an alley, the unknown man went in search for a drink. Butt naked, he walks into the first establishment he comes across. Slightly dazed he is unaware of all the gasps and shocked faces that surround him. At the bar he simple states, "Drink" in his apparently hoarse voice. The bar tender looks him over and asks him, "Who do you think you are, coming in to here, dressed like that."

For the first time, this unknown man realises not only that he hasn't got any clothes on, but that he doesn't even know who he is. Feeling a coin in his hand, he runs it across the back of his knuckles and says, "I have money. I can p..."
There is a tap on his shoulder a past memory flashes quickly through his mind with a sense of dejavu. The memory is disturbed before becoming fully formed by the sound of swords being drawn. Three finely dressed men stand behind him each with a sword in hand.

Before the first finely dressed man had uttered the first syllable of his first word. The head of the unknown man smashes into his face and grabs the sleeve of his jacket, spinning him away whilst simultaneously removing the jacket and whipping it in front of the other two mens' eyes before putting it on.

After they recovered the two remaining men continued their attack. It's not clear what happened next but they both ended on the floor one without trousers the other without shoes. The unknown man, now dressed in their ill fitting clothes stands unscathed.
Chairs scrape back as numerous men stand to join the fight. A voice shouts out, "Stop!" And everyone freezes like statues.
This new man introduces himself as Don Bosco and says to the unknown man, "I could use a man with your particular set of skills." The unknown man tosses his coin in the air and catches it without breaking the stare of Don Brosco. He briefly looks at the result, nods and follows Don Brosco out of the establishment grabbing one of the fallen men's drinks from their table on his way out.

I have a friend who is interested in joining as the sixth player, if that's ok with everyone. Will get him to sign up on the site.

Excellent. He's welcome to come up with his own character idea, of course, but I think what would fit quite well would be a second scholarly type character. By my reckoning we've got one character (James) who could be eligible for Invisible College membership, one other who has a clear reason to dislike the Inquisition, and three who are fairly unaligned other than through their employer/patron. So we could do with one more who has a clear reason to oppose them to balance things out a little. Though there's no reason why the game has to be entirely "Invisible College vs. The Inquisition".. but expect the Inquisition to feature...

Options might include.... a character with some kind of sorcery (not a requirement), perhaps an Indiana Jones-style archaeologist and member of the Explorer's Society, or another scholar. Alternatively, we don't have anyone who's a firearms specialist. But again, it's not Pathfinder and we don't need "one of each" of a number of types for a rounded party.

If he'd like, I can probably find a temporary character for the first adventure who he can either keep or replace. Or I can try to put one together to order, and then tweak later...

Here's an approximation of Chris's character concept.

Character

Something like David Wenhem in Constantine or a nerdy/stuttering/shy Giles type from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Likes to make sure he has all the information beforehand and is deep into research.

He has lots of low level contacts in many different places. The modern equivalent would be Junior Town Planner in Sunderland, or a customs package handler. These people may not be able to help him directly but can point him in the right direction. They also share the Character's interest in interesting artifacts.

Interest in Artifacts

The Character is a collector of interesting mundane artifacts that are linked to important/interesting/strange events. For example these could be: a collection of sale clothes that belong to merchant vessels that have otherwise disappeared; the nails used in crucifixions. If not tied to the events these items would be of no interest to anyone, and because the link to the event is most likely difficult to prove, worthless to the majority of people.

Well that's what he has so far. He can probably explain it better himself on Wednesday or when he is signed up.

Both those references are lost on me (*hands in geek card*), and youtube can only provide me with Buffy/Giles montages, but I see he's played by Anthony Head, so I think that gives me some idea.

There would be minor official roles in the Vaticine Church (perhaps something to do with messengers/communications), or Customs and Revenue, local government, the university, the docks, or managing some aspect of Don Bosco's affairs. Some kind of minor supervisory role around communications (Vaticine Post Office?) would give the character a broad range of contacts. But perhaps, while gifted, he doesn't have the patronage required to further his career, and perhaps there's something of a black mark against his name (possibly memorabilia related) blocking his progress. I haven't really fleshed out much about the starting city yet or even named it, so it's all fairly open. The idea of an early memorabilia collector is an interesting one.

What's not clear is why he's a hero, or why he'll become a hero (if he doesn't know it yet). One way to build the character might be to give him little in the way of special or unique skills, but give him better stats and skills as a consequence. Another might be to build a form of sorcery or power from the items. Glamour (the Avalonian sorcery) is based around legendary figures and their supernatural abilities, and it wouldn't be a stretch to have a character who can do similar things based on memorabilia.... or to believe that his strange powers result from possessing certain things. Perhaps that might be a correct belief, or perhaps he's half-Avalonian, a fact that's always held him back. (Avalon not only has its own heretic church, but its pirates are plundering Castillian merchant shipping in the Western Isles - the armada was fairly recent).

"Collector" is a really good arcana, and I like the idea of a character who's more "Administration and Accountancy" than "Dungeons and Dragons", but we need to know what kind of hero he's going to be, even if he doesn't yet.

Hello,

I must say, I do not understand.
I was expecting to read about people suffering from depression, attempted suicides, you know, things like that after my leaving Nottingham.
And what do I read about? People having fun with a new campaign?

Well, I hope you all fail in that poxy campaign of yours!

Anyway, I do not even know why I bother posting here, you people live outside the M25, bunch of peons...

Laurent,

Well, you know how things are. Sometimes you've just got to put on a brave face for the world, and carry on regardless even though your heart is breaking. It's the British way. Probably 7th Sea is against your urban sophisticated principles.... I bet you've even got then fancy plastic dice, rather than ours which are made of coal.... or something....

Either way, I think the first part of the pilot episode of "7th Sea: For Science!" went reasonably well. An interesting cast of characters - an amnesiac brawler, a former cloistered monk, an actor and fight choreographer, a dancer and spy, an Eisen (German) mercenary, and introducing the world's newest superhero - Middle Management Man!

What have this desperate band have in common? They share an employer or patron, in the form of Don Bosco, who has sent them to alert Professor Roberto Rios, a geologist of some renown, that the Inquisition are on his tail. Their mission? To take him and his family safely to a fishing village from whence they can be spirited away, beyond the reach of the Inquisition. Our heroes are on their way to the Professor's camp, after travelling through the night and making short work of a fearsome Black Wolf, a creature driven crazy by the porte sorcery of the invading Montaigians, and now out of all control....

See you all on Wednesday, I hope....

Session 2: Featuring the skull of a triceratops, a cavern-based ambush, and some muskets.

The air in the cavern is acrid from the musket fire, and you can almost taste the sulphur. Your ears are still ringing a little from the shots and the echoes, but as the smoke continues to dissipate, you can see that the Inquisitor's 'Defenders of the Faith' are dead, injured, or fled. You hold the field, though a couple of brutes and the so-called research assistant have fled down the side passageways. The Knight Inquisitor herself took no active part in the combat and appears to be long gone, and a few others of the surviving host have fled back into the canyon. You have an unconscious henchman (the crossbowman, and most likely a number of brutes too) on the field of battle. There is no sign of Professor Rios or his family, but you've not had time to explore fully - or at all.

We'll restart from that point next time, flesh wounds and dramatic wounds still very much in place. We'll drop out of combat rounds (for now) but you might want to think about who will do what next.

I thought our heroes did really well this session. Your caution/paranoia/bravery in splitting the party and leaving two people near the cave entrance made things easier, and could have paid off further with better wits rolls to hear the ambush being set, and perhaps springing a surprise of your own. It also felt to me as if you're all starting to inhabit and own your characters, which is excellent, and I thought good use was made of your respective special skills. Happy to discuss or explain those further next time if that's helpful. You all also seem to be picking up the system (or my version of it) pretty quickly, which makes my job a lot easier.

Thought I'd mention that there are copies of the 7th Sea Players' Guide and GM Guide for sale on ebay at the moment. They're out of print, but show up on ebay every so often. I've managed to pick up many of the supplements from ebay, though because they're much cheaper to post they often go for higher prices.

PDF copies can be obtained fairly straightforwardly I believe, but I know some people prefer the original hardbacks. As I'm sure I've mentioned, I'm running a heavily modified version of the rules, especially around character creation, but a lot of the background/world stuff will be similar.

The books are listed separately with starting price of 99p plus £2.60 postage each. If anyone wants them, probably best to let others know so you don't end up bidding against each other.

Session 3:

In which our heroes interrogate the captives from the previous week, obtaining vital information from self-confessed con man Gerardo Florres, who had posed as Professor Rios' "research assistant" to lead our heroes into an ambush. He said that the Inquisition had saved him from the noose, and had evidence of his further crimes which they held to ensure his continued rejection of Legion and of his Evil Ways (tm). He willingly gave up information about the location of the Professor, and about the fact that the Professor seemed only of secondary interest to Knight Inquisitor Isabella. Our heroes arranged things so that Gerardo's cover wasn't blown, and deliberately tied him up loosely to allow him to escape and free the others once they'd got away.

They then rode hard to catch up with the prison convoy, and noticed a cloaked figure that also appeared to be tailing the convoy. This turned out to be Natalia Rios (played by Nadine Velazquez), the Professor's daughter, who had escaped from the Inquisition. Ignoring her father's request to recover his notes and get to safety, she instead followed the Inquisition, hoping against hope that an opportunity would arise to rescue her family. With her help, our heroes now have an idea of the enemy they face.

• Knight Inquisitor Gaspar - an older man, and probably of limited use in a fight, with a bodyguard who never leaves his side.
• A cruel jailer, armed with a brace of pistols who travels in the prison carriage with the Professor, his wife, and young son.
• Two squads of Defenders of the Faith, armed with muskets
• Four DoF Sergeants
• Natalia thinks they're complacent and arrogant, but it's possible that's changed since her escape, especially if news of the failed ambush has reached them

Our heroes - accompanied by Natalia - are currently trailing behind the prison convoy. It's late afternoon, and it won't be long before the convoy stops for the night - most likely close by a coaching inn. In this part of Castille, inns largely take the form of a stables and an outdoor cooking/camping area. The Inquisitors are likely to make their own camp fairly close by, but away from the main camp. The beginnings of a plan are coming together, but with two players absent there may be more input to come on that.

Next session will be continuing with planning, and then (probably) the fight itself. We're probably not that far away from the end of Pilot/Adventure 1, so that might be a good time to think about what everyone would like to do next. If people want to continue, I've got some ideas about possibilities for future adventures and the Pilot will end with some adventure hooks sprinkled around the place. I've also had some really good ideas from some of the players about adventure hooks from their characters' backgrounds, some of which I'd like to think about using at some point. If there is an appetite for more, it's also a good time to consider whether the characters/abilities are working, to reflect on what you want your hero to be/do, whether you feel that things are properly balanced, and whether everyone is having enough fun.

I don't have GM access to the calendar - 15th May will be the next session.

Adam i have posted the next 2 game sessions on the calender until get GM access to do it yourself. i have spoken to Keiren and he is like me happy to carry on with the 7th sea game if you are willing to carry on running.