A Familiar Adventure

Dustland · Post by **Dustland** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:51 am

I'm looking for a player that is willing and able to participate in a pbp here on a regular basis (I check the site daily, but would be happy with ~3 posts a week).

The Setting: A high-fantasy realm where magic wielding magi and iron clad knights battle dragons and trolls. Think D&D but the majority of the "good guys" are humans.

The Character: The player will create a wizard's familiar with 25 pts and I am open to ideas; anything from the typical black cat to a small elemental to a diabolical imp. In the game, the character's size will be considered "normal" and I will adjust other critters' sizes appropriately (humans will be considered quite large; a dragon would be, well, bad news!)

The familiar will be bound to it's master and will view their master in the most favorable light possible (think about how a dog loves its master and you're getting close to your level of loyalty).

Anyhow, first good idea gets the gig and we'll get the character created and the game rolling!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:39 pm

I am intrigued.

I have a few questions. Is this a single-player game? In other words, once you get one player, casting is closed?

Do potential players get any clues as to the wizard' personality and outlook? That could affect aspects of the character submission.

What's the general feel of the game? Light-hearted adventure? Grim and gritty skullduggery? Are we talking Myth-Adventures or The Black Company?

And finally, I just picked up BASH so I'm not incredibly fluent in the system (yet).

Dustland · Post by **Dustland** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 4:33 pm

Heya Nestor, glad you're interested.

Yes, I'm only looking to have only one player; I've run a few pbp games elsewhere and I hate having a game bog down because someone drops off the face of the earth for a while.

Actually I will create the wizard based around what is submitted!

As to the tone, I think the premise of the game lends itself to some comedy, but the plot and encounters will be deadly serious. Does that help?

Oh and don't get hung up on rules; if you want to submit just a few sentences to describe what he/she is and a general personality, I can help stat out the character and I'm not a rules lawyer by any means!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 4:50 pm

Thanks for the quick reply!

Let me cogitate on concepts for a bit. The first thing that comes off the top of my head is an old English sheep dog (the original Shaggy Dog) with an overprotective attitude towards his master.

Dustland · Post by **Dustland** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 5:35 pm

First off let me say thanks for making me look up a word today. Cogitate? Really? Are you an English teacher or something!?!

If you decide to go the animal route, I figure it will be capable of bipedal movement and have fully functional hands but humans will largely view him as simply being an intelligent dog, their minds not willing to accept a walking dog that carries or sword or some such.

Oh and * Sheepdogs, you gotta go Great Pyrenese, that's what I have! 125 lbs of white fluffy furry.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:12 pm

Heh. I know you won't believe it, but English is actually my second language. I just happen to be a voracious reader, so vocabulary's never been a problem for me. Pronunciation? Well, that still trips me up once in a while.

You have a Great Pyrenese? Righteous wicked cool! I'm very much a dog person, although I tend to prefer mutts rather than purebreeds.

Ooh! A dog with opposable thumbs. A big dog with opposable thumbs. Sweet.

I will confess that the idea is inspired by Mouse from the Dresden Files books.

Dustland · Post by **Dustland** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 11:31 am

If you need help stating up the character, let me know! You may want to look at page 72 at the first animal entry for a basic wolf's stats (10pts). Add another 15pts worth of powers, attributes, and skills and you're ready to go!

Also if anyone else is interested, please let me know!

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 1:42 pm

Yeah, I was looking at that. Sadly, I don't have a copy of BASH Fantasy so I'm not particularly familiar (Dear God! A pun! RUN AWAAAY!!!) with how to apply the rules in a fantasy setting, in terms of such things as skills and abilities.

Some questions: As a familiar, what are the range of applicable skills and abilities available? Would the familiar be able to wield magic himself or just assist the wizard's spellmaking? Is he expected to be combat-capable? And does the dress make him look fat?

I guess that the answer to your question is yes, I am in need of help in statting Kirby up.

Oh yeah, that's right, is Kirby an acceptable name for the familiar? It's a time-honored appellation for beloved canines.

Post by **BASHMAN** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 5:26 pm

I don't think he means for BASH! Fantasy Edition- just use the Fantasy section from BASH! UE, I think.

PS- fun concept

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 7:04 pm

Yes, I see that now. After I posted, I got far enough in the book to find the fantasy section.

Thanks! I await the answers to my other questions with worm on tongue. Bated breath.

Dustland · Post by **Dustland** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 9:21 pm

Ooh, a pun, +1 hero points!

I am just using Bash UE so no worries about the Fantasy edition. To help simplify things, how about this:

Order your attributes from greatest to least: Brawn>Agility>Mind, or Agility>Mind>Brawn, etc. Don't worry about the numbers. If you want them equal, just indicate your preference.

Give me 3 physical skills and 3 mental skills you see your familiar having: most skills are still applicable at some level.

Next give me 3 "powers" you'd like to have; skill in combat, excellent senses, ability to turn invisible, etc. the sky's the limit, just come up with 3 broad abilities and I'll help define them within the rules.

Hope this helps!

Oh and thanks Bashman! I've really enjoyed using the rules to create non-super settings. Hey, if you want to give it a go, I'd love to run this game for you! I'd be willing to run the game twice, slightly altering plots, encounters, etc.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:06 am

Perfect. I just woke up, so a fully thought out response will have to wait until my brain catches up with reality as we know it, but I should have the information forthwith.

Would you prefer for me to post it here, or should I send you a PM?

Dustland · Post by **Dustland** » Sat Jul 17, 2010 3:08 pm

Just post here if it's all the same to you.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:08 pm

Roger wilco.

So I'm envisioning this being a situation where our yet-to-be-named wizard is looking for a little brawn to compensate for his brain, so to speak. Unfortunately, the likes of a powerful demon familiar were a bit beyond the means of our wizard, so he had to content himself with Kerbi.

Now it's not that Kerbi isn't a capable canine familiar in his own right. It's just that... well, when he was conjured, they got a little more canine than familiar in the mix. Not that that isn't an asset, especially when there's a squirrel to chase off the lawn.

Hopefully that works as a start for a background.

As for stats, I guess I'll go for the expected order of Brawn->Agility->Mind, with the request that he's at least normal intelligence (1).

I actually had a hard time coming up with three physical skills, being that the list is rather sparse and some of the selections aren't very applicable. I'm certain he'd have Athletics/Running and Sealth/Move Silently; I'm stuck for a third though (maybe some sort of Craftsmanship?).

For Mental skills, let's go with Occultism/Rituals, Outdoor/Tracking and... Hmm, this is harder than I thought. Any suggestions?

Powers? Ah, there's no problem there. Either a touch of Armor or Healing/ Affects Self Only. He takes a kicking and keeps on licking... wait, never mind.

He has a Keen Sense of smell and Super Sense of hearing, able to hear frequencies beyond that of humans. There's additional stuff I could see him getting but those three fill up the quota.

Hope this fits the bill for you, sir.

Lindharin · Post by **Lindharin** » Sat Jul 17, 2010 10:33 pm

For skills, remember you can take a second pick in the same skill to get either different specialties, or to increase your multiplier with that skill. So for example, if you aren't sure of a final Mind skill, you could take Occultism +1 (Rituals) - costing 2 picks - plus Outdoor/Tracking (or vice versa).