Shra'kt'lor - A Githzerai city floating in the ever-changing chaos that is the plane of Limbo, and home port of the Void Skipper, an astral sloop. What brought you to the plane of Limbo and to the city of Shra'kt'lor? What events landed you among the crew of the Void Skipper? And what is it that you seek through the planes: Fame? Fortune? Revenge???
Make level 5 characters. Use point buy. Explain why they are in Shra'kt'lor, and how they signed on with the Void Skipper. And most importantly, what calls them to explore the incomprehensibly vast planescape?
I'm looking for a crew of about 4 to 6 players. This game is kind of an experiment, just as a warning.
My pleasure to introduce: Sweet James Arkanon, Tiefling Artificer and the new cook of the Void Skipper.
Sweet James's tale, relative to many other Tiefling's stories, is actually a rather boring one. His mother was a brothel owner in a sleepy island town (If describing this to children, or ladies, add in "infested by pirates!"). She never directly described his father, only going so far as to say that he was "a sailor of the furthest seas, beyond all horizons". Naturally bright and creative, Sweet James signed on to an old fishing scow (Pirate ship!!!) and frequently thought of home behind him (Never looked back!). Yet, his resolve to find his father overrode his homesickness - but even that resolve couldn't match the incredible blandness of the cook's maliciously tasteless creations. With a little cajoling of the captain, (And a vial of deadly, exotic poison!) he was able to hold a cooking competition, easily won through a basic understanding of how to use seasoning - in this case, largely sea salt and a dash of turmeric and curry from his private stock. He then became the new cook. 14 years have passed, and Sweet James has enriched the lives (and diets!) of half a dozen ships, eventually accepting an offer from a strange, saffron-skinned fellow in a Waterdeep dive. Drinks were had. When he awoke, he was signed on as a deckhand, working his passage to Shra'kt'lor. Naturally, once his other abilities were made known, he returned to the kitchens as soon as possible...
Arriving in Shra'kt'lor, he thinks that at last he may have found a place where his father may indeed have roamed, beyond the furthest of seas, and beyond every horizon. Eager to set sale, he made the acquaintance of the Void Skipper's skipper, presenting a folder of recommendations from his previous employers. With a smile and flick of his forked tail, he shook the man's hand and went aboard, all that he owned dangling in a few small bags at his side.
If you can't tell, Sweet James is a braggart, a showman, an inventor (And most importantly: Cook!). He has his dreams and goals, but is generally more wonderstruck by the incredible journey, rather than some abstract destination. He is tall for a Tiefling, and unusually broad, of a deep red skin-tone. While at once dark-and-brooding looking, his demeanor is ultimately friendly and outgoing. His common is deeply slurred with a somewhat exaggerated Russian-sounding accent. He has kept his inventions to himself, each item something connected to his past or, he hopes, his future. Being an artificer is something he has learned through many hours on his own, and from a thousand late nights spent at exotic ports around the world. During that time, he has crossed paths with more powerful adventurers who, after a few drinks and a bowl of ship-made curry, have allowed him to replicate a few of their magic items through skill and practical magic.
I used point buy for stats, and, clearly, would love to try the UA artificer class. Will gladly change things around (perhaps to wizard or sorcerer) if it would be simpler, but must (Must!) keep the cooking part.
Oh my, this is wonderful! And of course any ship needs a cook, haha. Thanks for reminding me to specify that I prefer point buy. Artificer is fine. Looking forward to seeing Sweet James sailing the Astral Seas!
Say Hello to Wihelm Abbendis, an Aasimar Paladin, the ship's chaplain.
Wilhelm is not the greatest cleric. He knows a number of prayers, of course, but if Paladins can be characterized as half-priests and half-fighters, his talents clearly lie more in line with the fighterly half. However, he's an Aasimar and a paladin, who's willing to serve as a ship chaplain, and since there are never a lot of applicants for such a position, he has been accepted by the Void Skipper's Captain.
He has been serving as the ship chaplain for almost a year now. His reasoning for keeping the position and continuing his service is to learn, in his own words, "Of the scum, from the scum", so that he can be better able to "walk the righteous path and drag others along".
However, Wilhelm has become quite friendly with the crew and, in private conversations, may even admit, that he no longer considers them to be scum. Going even further, since all he has previously known was discipline and strictness, the laid-back approach and friendly nature of the crew has made him feel something that he has never felt before - belonging.
So, while if anyone asks, he will reiterate his original mission, in his heart he knows, that he is on the ship, because he is happy there. This unnerves him and makes him feel quite guilty, but, so far, he remains home.
We have a cook and a chaplain now, we could still use a helmsman, a navigator, a captain or first mate, a gunner... Or something else entirely! Really happy to see the creativity shown so far.
I'm intrigued. I wanted to know a little bit more on your time requirements (post once a day? once a week? etc) about the concept before tossing something your way and seeing if it meshes.
Sure! I'd say once a day would be good, more if you feel like it, with understanding that sometimes you just can't post because life gets in the way.
As for the setting, it's a pretty standard D&D cosmology, bits and pieces from the Planescape setting where I can take them but I'm no expert on it. The concept is that you're a crew hired to sail a small interdimensional ship to different planes, transporting passengers and cargo while avoiding interdimensional piracy and worse. If you have any specific questions I'd love to field them, probably they will help me work out some details I haven't put together yet, haha.
- - -
EDIT: There was a question about just how big the astral sloop is. At a minimum, the ship needs a helmsman and a navigator to function (though in theory I suppose those could be one person multi-tasking); it can carry about a dozen crew total, but some of the room might instead be used for passengers or cargo storage.
She needed more thread and string. Always more thread and string. She'd take it from anywhere. Someone's quarters. A local shop. She tried to unravel her own familiar once... it did not go well...
"Breeze" as she's called due to her name being some odd sound of the Ocean on a warm summer day in the plane scape, is the Navigator of the hearty vessel. Someone possibly insane enough, or maybe just weird enough, to figure out how to navigate. Don't ask her to TELL you how to figure it out. She's not the brightest on the planar-verse and arcane formulas. No, this comes from sheer gut instinct. Or perhaps the alien, or dead god she decided to make a pact with for a bit more power.
She wasn't always this way. She'll recall stories of being on the material world. Learning how to sling some spells while working on boats. Getting into trouble with her sneaky little fingers that love to take objects and things. Learning the ways of magic. But there's a part the small, tattoo'd covered kenku girl doesn't say much about. The last crew. Being lost at sea. Finding something in the deep and her being brought here for some reason. That's what made her a bit mad. But in the madness there's the way forward. She's happy to be a part of a crew again. It had been her, and her little familiar (a pseudo-dragon that she calls Steve in the voice of some old woman) for far too long.
Besides. More crew and more people mean more threads. And. More string...
How does the astral sloop move is it through some sort of cosmic winds or force or just regular winds? if so I think i have an idea for a crew member :)
Dagnal (or "Dag") is one of many shield-siblings who were raised to be rangers for dwarven kings. Their responsibility was to scout the routes to the Underdark, assess possible aberrant threats to dwarven civilization, and be deployed as needed by royal command. Dagnal, however, in a chance encounter with eldritch horrors on the outskirts of his home kingdom, was shoved through a portal opened by the monsters and lost. Separated from his patrol, Dagnal woke up in another world, altered by the magic of the planar portal. Renewed by the touch of the weird and strange, Dag has pledged to journey along the planes to learn of the threats beyond the Material, hoping someday to return to dwarvenkind as a hero. He also wrestles with his burgeoning psycho-planar powers.
As a vagrant and sellsword, Dag has gone from job to job, doing what he can to learn of the Outer Planes. He would happily join the Void Skipper in whatever role they need. (Ranger: Horizon Walker, with City Watch background. I have tentatively set terrain as Underdark per backstory, but open to change if we had an idea of terrain likely to come up. Also, I have set "aberration" as favored enemy.)
Some consider Storms a curse, Aella on the other hand consider them a blessing.
A Helmsman like no other clutching tightly to wheel as the Galleon began to twist and turn, Sent spiralling through the void lightning crackling deflecting off the side of Starboard side. Thunder roars through out the plane shaking the vessel to it's core throwing it around like a toy and all she could was smile. Her whole life had been spent at sea rarely stepping off the boat due horrible land sickness that she contracted, her body so in tune to the rhythm of the waves the void and most importantly the storm. Her guiding hand had seen more than a dozen ships through some of the harshest weather however it was regretfully never without their fair share of casualties and losses. But in truth the Risk was always worth it and because of this there is no other place for her but here. "A ROCK!" crew members cried as debris and rubble swirled around the vessel but this was not to be the ships fate. the wheel spun quickly in her grip locking in hard right, causing it swerve violently whipping in the other direction whilst cursing under her breath she let out a gust of wind that filled ships sails propelling them forward, but it was too late. Scraping across the the rock it carved a tear in the hull as splinters or rock and wood flew and a tattered sail flapped helplessly in the wind they slowly came into port mostly in one piece. It was time to helm a new Ship something smaller and more agile much more to her liking
Aella Drakos A tall half elf woman leaning towards the more muscular side of the spectrum. A storm sorcerer ( 3) and Rogue (2) she wears a long red jacket with bandages wrapped around her wrists and palms a rapier hangs delicately from her hips and of course big leather boots.
she's a helmsman with a flare for the dramatic and thrill often taking risks and dangerous maneuvers in the hope to arrive at the location in the quickest time possible brought up on a boat she rarely sets foot on solid land so it's very weird for her much more enjoying the sea faring life that that of safety and security. she's looking for adventure and trouble wherever it lurks and seeks to make a legend of herself.
How does the astral sloop move is it through some sort of cosmic winds or force or just regular winds? if so I think i have an idea for a crew member :)
"It's Magic", but it has sails of some sort that allow aerial, astral and ethereal travel.
Welcome to the new crew members (I'm at work about to go to lunch so I don't have time to read the backgrounds carefully now but what I skimmed looked good.)
A helmsman, a navigator, a cook, a chaplain and an all-purpose crew member, I think we're ready to set sail! I'll leave recruitment open for one more slot though, I don't want the crew to get too large though so I'm capping the crew at 6 for now.
I'd be very interested to join this campaign but i dont have a character planned for it yet but I wanted to put myself down for a spot if theres still one available! wyldas brought this to my attention and I only thought it would be best to say hi before the slots went away!
At first glance Addison looks like any regular deck hand on any ship but what many don't know is he has a secret, he's a professional smuggler. Jumping from ship to ship Addison doesn't like to stay with any crew long as he fears he will get attached. Knowing he isn't in the most honest of trades he he justifies it with another secret he keeps locked deep down inside. While Addison isn't physically impressive he's anything but normal, he's quite intelligent, has a way with words and is talented with most instruments.
Ooo, I like that, so I'll make an exception to saying recruitment is closed and let you join. No more players though, it's a small ship, got to have some room for passengers and cargo too!
Oh, good question! That depends entirely on what plane you are in. In Limbo, gravity is subjective; it pulls with the same force as gravity on the Material Plane, but your mind chooses what direction you fall! In other planes, gravity might be similar to that of the Material Plane, or it might be something else entirely! I'm thinking of having you each start with a potion of feather fall so getting knocked off the boat the first time won't mean certain death in planes where you can't fly or control how you fall.
Please ask any other questions you may have!
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Shra'kt'lor - A Githzerai city floating in the ever-changing chaos that is the plane of Limbo, and home port of the Void Skipper, an astral sloop. What brought you to the plane of Limbo and to the city of Shra'kt'lor? What events landed you among the crew of the Void Skipper? And what is it that you seek through the planes: Fame? Fortune? Revenge???
Make level 5 characters. Use point buy. Explain why they are in Shra'kt'lor, and how they signed on with the Void Skipper. And most importantly, what calls them to explore the incomprehensibly vast planescape?
I'm looking for a crew of about 4 to 6 players. This game is kind of an experiment, just as a warning.
My pleasure to introduce: Sweet James Arkanon, Tiefling Artificer and the new cook of the Void Skipper.
Sweet James's tale, relative to many other Tiefling's stories, is actually a rather boring one. His mother was a brothel owner in a sleepy island town (If describing this to children, or ladies, add in "infested by pirates!"). She never directly described his father, only going so far as to say that he was "a sailor of the furthest seas, beyond all horizons". Naturally bright and creative, Sweet James signed on to an old fishing scow (Pirate ship!!!) and frequently thought of home behind him (Never looked back!). Yet, his resolve to find his father overrode his homesickness - but even that resolve couldn't match the incredible blandness of the cook's maliciously tasteless creations. With a little cajoling of the captain, (And a vial of deadly, exotic poison!) he was able to hold a cooking competition, easily won through a basic understanding of how to use seasoning - in this case, largely sea salt and a dash of turmeric and curry from his private stock. He then became the new cook. 14 years have passed, and Sweet James has enriched the lives (and diets!) of half a dozen ships, eventually accepting an offer from a strange, saffron-skinned fellow in a Waterdeep dive. Drinks were had. When he awoke, he was signed on as a deckhand, working his passage to Shra'kt'lor. Naturally, once his other abilities were made known, he returned to the kitchens as soon as possible...
Arriving in Shra'kt'lor, he thinks that at last he may have found a place where his father may indeed have roamed, beyond the furthest of seas, and beyond every horizon. Eager to set sale, he made the acquaintance of the Void Skipper's skipper, presenting a folder of recommendations from his previous employers. With a smile and flick of his forked tail, he shook the man's hand and went aboard, all that he owned dangling in a few small bags at his side.
If you can't tell, Sweet James is a braggart, a showman, an inventor (And most importantly: Cook!). He has his dreams and goals, but is generally more wonderstruck by the incredible journey, rather than some abstract destination. He is tall for a Tiefling, and unusually broad, of a deep red skin-tone. While at once dark-and-brooding looking, his demeanor is ultimately friendly and outgoing. His common is deeply slurred with a somewhat exaggerated Russian-sounding accent. He has kept his inventions to himself, each item something connected to his past or, he hopes, his future. Being an artificer is something he has learned through many hours on his own, and from a thousand late nights spent at exotic ports around the world. During that time, he has crossed paths with more powerful adventurers who, after a few drinks and a bowl of ship-made curry, have allowed him to replicate a few of their magic items through skill and practical magic.
I used point buy for stats, and, clearly, would love to try the UA artificer class. Will gladly change things around (perhaps to wizard or sorcerer) if it would be simpler, but must (Must!) keep the cooking part.
Thanks for your time!
Oh my, this is wonderful! And of course any ship needs a cook, haha. Thanks for reminding me to specify that I prefer point buy. Artificer is fine. Looking forward to seeing Sweet James sailing the Astral Seas!
Say Hello to Wihelm Abbendis, an Aasimar Paladin, the ship's chaplain.
Wilhelm is not the greatest cleric. He knows a number of prayers, of course, but if Paladins can be characterized as half-priests and half-fighters, his talents clearly lie more in line with the fighterly half. However, he's an Aasimar and a paladin, who's willing to serve as a ship chaplain, and since there are never a lot of applicants for such a position, he has been accepted by the Void Skipper's Captain.
He has been serving as the ship chaplain for almost a year now. His reasoning for keeping the position and continuing his service is to learn, in his own words, "Of the scum, from the scum", so that he can be better able to "walk the righteous path and drag others along".
However, Wilhelm has become quite friendly with the crew and, in private conversations, may even admit, that he no longer considers them to be scum. Going even further, since all he has previously known was discipline and strictness, the laid-back approach and friendly nature of the crew has made him feel something that he has never felt before - belonging.
So, while if anyone asks, he will reiterate his original mission, in his heart he knows, that he is on the ship, because he is happy there. This unnerves him and makes him feel quite guilty, but, so far, he remains home.
Wilhelm's Sheet
Welcome aboard, Chaplain Wilhelm!
We have a cook and a chaplain now, we could still use a helmsman, a navigator, a captain or first mate, a gunner... Or something else entirely! Really happy to see the creativity shown so far.
Hello there!
I'm intrigued. I wanted to know a little bit more on your time requirements (post once a day? once a week? etc) about the concept before tossing something your way and seeing if it meshes.
DM PbP Series (Completed) : The Blackmire Company, Voyage of the Windhook ,Shanty of Soulripper, The Streets of Dunnour
Sure! I'd say once a day would be good, more if you feel like it, with understanding that sometimes you just can't post because life gets in the way.
As for the setting, it's a pretty standard D&D cosmology, bits and pieces from the Planescape setting where I can take them but I'm no expert on it. The concept is that you're a crew hired to sail a small interdimensional ship to different planes, transporting passengers and cargo while avoiding interdimensional piracy and worse. If you have any specific questions I'd love to field them, probably they will help me work out some details I haven't put together yet, haha.
- - -
EDIT: There was a question about just how big the astral sloop is. At a minimum, the ship needs a helmsman and a navigator to function (though in theory I suppose those could be one person multi-tasking); it can carry about a dozen crew total, but some of the room might instead be used for passengers or cargo storage.
She needed more thread and string. Always more thread and string. She'd take it from anywhere. Someone's quarters. A local shop. She tried to unravel her own familiar once... it did not go well...
"Breeze" as she's called due to her name being some odd sound of the Ocean on a warm summer day in the plane scape, is the Navigator of the hearty vessel. Someone possibly insane enough, or maybe just weird enough, to figure out how to navigate. Don't ask her to TELL you how to figure it out. She's not the brightest on the planar-verse and arcane formulas. No, this comes from sheer gut instinct. Or perhaps the alien, or dead god she decided to make a pact with for a bit more power.
She wasn't always this way. She'll recall stories of being on the material world. Learning how to sling some spells while working on boats. Getting into trouble with her sneaky little fingers that love to take objects and things. Learning the ways of magic. But there's a part the small, tattoo'd covered kenku girl doesn't say much about. The last crew. Being lost at sea. Finding something in the deep and her being brought here for some reason. That's what made her a bit mad. But in the madness there's the way forward. She's happy to be a part of a crew again. It had been her, and her little familiar (a pseudo-dragon that she calls Steve in the voice of some old woman) for far too long.
Besides. More crew and more people mean more threads. And. More string...
ddb.ac/characters/12412450/rvCknC
DM PbP Series (Completed) : The Blackmire Company, Voyage of the Windhook ,Shanty of Soulripper, The Streets of Dunnour
Oh, lovely! Her being a kenku really threw me for a loop reading through her backstory, haha. You're in.
How does the astral sloop move is it through some sort of cosmic winds or force or just regular winds?
if so I think i have an idea for a crew member :)
I volunteer Dagnal Torevir, son of Dagnum Torevir, grand-son of Dagnet Torevir. (see: https://ddb.ac/characters/12416145/5RGeVD)
Dagnal (or "Dag") is one of many shield-siblings who were raised to be rangers for dwarven kings. Their responsibility was to scout the routes to the Underdark, assess possible aberrant threats to dwarven civilization, and be deployed as needed by royal command. Dagnal, however, in a chance encounter with eldritch horrors on the outskirts of his home kingdom, was shoved through a portal opened by the monsters and lost. Separated from his patrol, Dagnal woke up in another world, altered by the magic of the planar portal. Renewed by the touch of the weird and strange, Dag has pledged to journey along the planes to learn of the threats beyond the Material, hoping someday to return to dwarvenkind as a hero. He also wrestles with his burgeoning psycho-planar powers.
As a vagrant and sellsword, Dag has gone from job to job, doing what he can to learn of the Outer Planes. He would happily join the Void Skipper in whatever role they need. (Ranger: Horizon Walker, with City Watch background. I have tentatively set terrain as Underdark per backstory, but open to change if we had an idea of terrain likely to come up. Also, I have set "aberration" as favored enemy.)
Toremar, Paladin 6 / Dez, Gnome Wizard 5 / Perios, Elf Wizard 10 / Skadr, Dwarf Pugilist 7
Some consider Storms a curse, Aella on the other hand consider them a blessing.
A Helmsman like no other clutching tightly to wheel as the Galleon began to twist and turn, Sent spiralling through the void lightning crackling deflecting off the side of Starboard side. Thunder roars through out the plane shaking the vessel to it's core throwing it around like a toy and all she could was smile. Her whole life had been spent at sea rarely stepping off the boat due horrible land sickness that she contracted, her body so in tune to the rhythm of the waves the void and most importantly the storm. Her guiding hand had seen more than a dozen ships through some of the harshest weather however it was regretfully never without their fair share of casualties and losses. But in truth the Risk was always worth it and because of this there is no other place for her but here.
"A ROCK!" crew members cried as debris and rubble swirled around the vessel but this was not to be the ships fate.
the wheel spun quickly in her grip locking in hard right, causing it swerve violently whipping in the other direction whilst cursing under her breath she let out a gust of wind that filled ships sails propelling them forward, but it was too late.
Scraping across the the rock it carved a tear in the hull as splinters or rock and wood flew and a tattered sail flapped helplessly in the wind they slowly came into port mostly in one piece. It was time to helm a new Ship something smaller and more agile much more to her liking
Aella Drakos
A tall half elf woman leaning towards the more muscular side of the spectrum.
A storm sorcerer ( 3) and Rogue (2)
she wears a long red jacket with bandages wrapped around her wrists and palms
a rapier hangs delicately from her hips and of course big leather boots.
she's a helmsman with a flare for the dramatic and thrill often taking risks and dangerous maneuvers in the hope to arrive at the location in the quickest time possible brought up on a boat she rarely sets foot on solid land so it's very weird for her much more enjoying the sea faring life that that of safety and security. she's looking for adventure and trouble wherever it lurks and seeks to make a legend of herself.
"It's Magic", but it has sails of some sort that allow aerial, astral and ethereal travel.
Welcome to the new crew members (I'm at work about to go to lunch so I don't have time to read the backgrounds carefully now but what I skimmed looked good.)
A helmsman, a navigator, a cook, a chaplain and an all-purpose crew member, I think we're ready to set sail! I'll leave recruitment open for one more slot though, I don't want the crew to get too large though so I'm capping the crew at 6 for now.
More details about the campaign in a few hours!
Hi!
I'd be very interested to join this campaign but i dont have a character planned for it yet but I wanted to put myself down for a spot if theres still one available! wyldas brought this to my attention and I only thought it would be best to say hi before the slots went away!
Yes, I'll reserve the last spot for you; closing recruitment now, looking forward to seeing what kind of character you create! : )
At first glance Addison looks like any regular deck hand on any ship but what many don't know is he has a secret, he's a professional smuggler. Jumping from ship to ship Addison doesn't like to stay with any crew long as he fears he will get attached. Knowing he isn't in the most honest of trades he he justifies it with another secret he keeps locked deep down inside. While Addison isn't physically impressive he's anything but normal, he's quite intelligent, has a way with words and is talented with most instruments.
Ooo, I like that, so I'll make an exception to saying recruitment is closed and let you join. No more players though, it's a small ship, got to have some room for passengers and cargo too!
Aww fine, the ship's getting pretty full but you earned a spot on the crew; if worst comes to worst I'll just say the ship is larger!
(No more players though, for real this time.)
I have a couple questions about the setting.
What happens if you fall off the ship?
Oh, good question! That depends entirely on what plane you are in. In Limbo, gravity is subjective; it pulls with the same force as gravity on the Material Plane, but your mind chooses what direction you fall! In other planes, gravity might be similar to that of the Material Plane, or it might be something else entirely! I'm thinking of having you each start with a potion of feather fall so getting knocked off the boat the first time won't mean certain death in planes where you can't fly or control how you fall.
Please ask any other questions you may have!