July: Ships and Mod Cards and Sealing Wax — Things of Importance

[llywelyn]

Death's Islands is located in the far southeast of the map of Acarthia and is not part of the Kingdom of Acarthia. It is a very large set of islands with only partial representation of the major landforms on the map. There are no navigators who actually know the waters of Death's Islands themselves in Acarthia, though some are capable of getting you into the surrounding territory (your guide to the Islands is aboard The Lagarde Salty Vixen II).

Ships

The previous ships you were on have gotten an upgrade in terms of their size in order to make the trip and to accommodate the fact that you will be sleeping aboard these vessels (unless you choose not to).

We will be defining four areas around camp as your ships that encompass the major camping areas (so an area of Larkspur, Lyra, and the tent camping area) and marking them with tape. These do include the cabins/camping area and will define the four ships. If you are within the marker tape then you are on board the ship, if not then you are off of it. There will be a gap in the marking tape that represents a gang plank with several extra strips of marking tape. If you are on board the ship then you can "raise the gangplank" by tying off the marking tape, a process that should take at least 10 seconds during which time you cannot use any IG abilities.

Boarding the ships over the railing requires a 3 count.

The ships are as follows:

• Larkspur - Dawn Pride
• Lyra 1/2/3 - Salty Vixen
• Lyra 4/5/6 - Shadow's Watch
• Tent Camp (in the region between Lyra and Larkspur around/near that fire circle) - Crimson Sunset

The Salty Vixen and Shadow's Watch are docked very closely together. We'll mark the boundary between them and they probably have planks between them for easy crossing, but that part is up to the PCs.

If you are camping in a tent outside the marked ship areas, you are camping on land and not on a ship. If you put your tent in one of the marked ship areas, you are on that specific ship.

There are NPC crewmembers aboard each ship who are responsible for crewing it. If you have OCS: Sailor you might be able to help out if something nefarious were to happen to them.

If you choose to sleep in any other area you are "sleeping on the land" which may have advantages (we will get to those in a moment) and disadvantages (if, say, you have to leave an island in a hurry… in which case it might have been a good idea to at least stash your personal belongings on the ship).

Swimming

Much like last time: there won't be effects that knock you off of ships (death effects in play: repel will take you to the edge of the ship but not throw you overboard unless for some reason you want to go overboard), but you can be charmed/dominated off of a ship if your character strips first at which point, like the ghost ship mod from last month, you are kind of helpless in the water but are at least not sinking.

You do not necessarily know exactly where you are going, but your starting island in the Death's Islands is the recommended starting point that the navigator aboard The Salty Vixen II will take you to.

Lay On

You will start aboard the ships and you do not need to be aboard the ship you will be sleeping on. We will be doing a soft layon at 9:00 PM, at which time (give or take) a member of plot or a senior NPC will provide some context around the experience of coming up and some notes for the island and will then act as a crewman for any questions or further interactions. Once the initial announcements are covered the ship will be considered "docked" and you can disembark.

After that hard layon will be at 10:00 PM or whenever you leave the ship. All terrain that is not aboard a ship is considered in "hard layon" at 9:00 PM.

On Wards and Wizard Locks

These can only be put onto immobile structures. Your cabins aboard the ships do not count as such.

Island Changing

If at some point the PCs leave an island and you want to stay on it and hang out with the locals, you get to come portray/NPC with us. We'll give you some background information about your stay while waiting for the PCs to return.

If you are accidentally trapped, on the other hand, there may be other ways to get together with your party again… which you can find out details for if anyone is accidentally trapped.

Mod Cards

This will be a "mod card light" event as well due to the nature of the event, though somewhat heavier than last month.

Pay close attention to the mod card hours posted on the cards this event.

 

[B.Barber]

... Im really not excited about any of this : /

 

[Graham Wolsey]

Thanks for the information! Sounds like it is going to be another fun event.

 

[meirya]

As a note: Choose your camp preferences per normal, don't worry about matching bunks to which ship you were sorted onto in June. The ships pull alongside each other in travel to pass communications, dinghies sometimes travel between ships, etc so you all may well have rearranged yourselves between ships in transit. It's not a big deal where you camp as a result.

 

[Val McManamy]

What are the rules in play for creating Warded enclosures on the islands? (i.e. what is the minimum requirements to create a warded space)
Can secondary ships be "rented" for getting stragglers (left behind, stayed behind or not staying the entire event) from one location to another?

 

[Val McManamy]

And cuz it just came to mind:
With the tabins and fire pits in the "ship" areas, does this mean we won't be able to have the evening fire/gatherings? After all, no ship would have a firepit on it.

 

[Cedric]

Also questions! If we want to use the showers, or get our food from the birdhouse, but are in Meeker, how do we accomplish this? White headband it?

 

[PirateFox]

@Val McManamy Pretty sure my ship can't sink, unless it wants to. C'mon over for fires. ;-)

 

[Eadar]

How often are we being forced on and off the boats during the event? (Changing islands)

Can charm and dominate be used to cause self harm?

Gangplanks: Can the NPC crewpeople raise and lower them for us? Put down a rope?

Can we still tie ourselves off as to not fall overboard?

 

[Eadar]

@Val McManamy Pretty sure my ship can't sink, unless it wants to. C'mon over for fires. ;-)

Not what we had in mind Jim

 

[llywelyn]

What are the rules in play for creating Warded enclosures on the islands? (i.e. what is the minimum requirements to create a warded space)
Can secondary ships be "rented" for getting stragglers (left behind, stayed behind or not staying the entire event) from one location to another?

Ward requirements are the same as in the book (ARB 1.2 pg 125). The islands can be considered solid land.

Renting other ships is a FOIG since you aren't there yet to see what the situation is with respect to buying, selling, and renting.

And cuz it just came to mind:
With the tabins and fire pits in the "ship" areas, does this mean we won't be able to have the evening fire/gatherings? After all, no ship would have a firepit on it.

Early exploration ships had fire boxes on the open deck for the purposes of cooking and wood stoves have been very common on sailing vessels. At least when not under sail (with canvas everywhere) I'm not particularly worried about a fire on the deck and think we're all okay with bending historical accuracy in order to have a better time.

 

[llywelyn]

Also questions! If we want to use the showers, or get our food from the birdhouse, but are in Meeker, how do we accomplish this? White headband it?

Yup.

 

[meirya]

How often are we being forced on and off the boats during the event? (Changing islands)

This is something of a find-out-in-game situation unfortunately.

Can charm and dominate be used to cause self harm?

Charm cannot be used to cause self-harm. ARB p. 112: "A direct attack by the caster will always break the charm, as will attempting a Killing Blow. An order to kill yourself would also break the spell. A victim of this spell will not do anything absolutely contradictory to their own race or nature (such as cast necromancy). If given an order to attack their own party, the victim would have to also be given a very good and convincing reason. (The victim will, however, protect the new “friend” from attacks, no matter who from.)"

Dominate is a fuzzier situation. You can only make very specific commands with dominate: "Defend me," "Follow me," "Give your <item> to me," "Heal me," and "Return to normal". The dominated person is in a trance state and is a bit like a robot. So there is the possibility that the dominate would lead the person into harm if they followed the caster into a dangerous environment or situation--but as David said in their initial post, a Dominate command to "follow me" off the ship would allow you to take off your armor before jumping in the water, so you wouldn't drown. Also it's not possible to give a direct command to harm yourself (e.g. "kill yourself" is not a listed command), as the only commands you can give with dominate are the five listed above. See ARB p. 115 for the entire full description of Dominate.

Gangplanks: Can the NPC crewpeople raise and lower them for us? Put down a rope?

If they are on the deck (aka: an NPC portrayer is representing the NPC on the ship at that time), then yes, certainly! If there is no NPC crewperson represented on deck, then they are sleeping/gambling/drinking/busy belowdecks or on shore leave and can't help you.

If you leave the ship and put up the gangplank before leaving, then you'll need to "jump" from the dock to the boat... aka board on a three-count.

Can we still tie ourselves off as to not fall overboard?

Yep! Please have rope on hand for this purpose. While you will not actually tie yourself off for safety's sake OOG, the rope you have physically represented is the amount of rope you have IG.

 

[Eadar]

This is something of a find-out-in-game situation unfortunately.

I want to however, find out OUT of game, to find out if I'm interested in attending the event. Essentially I do not want to be on a railroad plotline that continually requires getting on and off boats logistics where I lose too much liberty and stop enjoying myself. This is a pretty hard stop point for me here. I'm fine with a private message and being sworn to secrecy. But I want to know if this is a 1-2 times, or what.

Charm cannot be used to cause self-harm. ARB p. 112: "A direct attack by the caster will always break the charm, as will attempting a Killing Blow. An order to kill yourself would also break the spell. A victim of this spell will not do anything absolutely contradictory to their own race or nature (such as cast necromancy). If given an order to attack their own party, the victim would have to also be given a very good and convincing reason. (The victim will, however, protect the new “friend” from attacks, no matter who from.)"

Dominate is a fuzzier situation. You can only make very specific commands with dominate: "Defend me," "Follow me," "Give your <item> to me," "Heal me," and "Return to normal". The dominated person is in a trance state and is a bit like a robot. So there is the possibility that the dominate would lead the person into harm if they followed the caster into a dangerous environment or situation--but as David said in their initial post, a Dominate command to "follow me" off the ship would allow you to take off your armor before jumping in the water, so you wouldn't drown. Also it's not possible to give a direct command to harm yourself (e.g. "kill yourself" is not a listed command), as the only commands you can give with dominate are the five listed above. See ARB p. 115 for the entire full description of Dominate.

Okay then how can either of those be used to get me to jump off a boat, especially if I can't swim?

 

[llywelyn]

Okay then how can either of those be used to get me to jump off a boat, especially if I can't swim?

You will go into scenarios that are not instantly fatal for you to go into. You will not follow a will o' the wisp off of a cliff, but you will happily follow one through a horde of zombies or off the path in the fae realm.

 

[Eadar]

You will go into scenarios that are not instantly fatal for you to go into. You will not follow a will o' the wisp off of a cliff, but you will happily follow one through a horde of zombies or off the path in the fae realm.

So jumping into a water area full of bad guys intending to do us harm - we would not do then? Or we would?

 

[meirya]

So jumping into a water area full of bad guys intending to do us harm - we would not do then? Or we would?

Under a Dominate, you definitely would. Under a Charm, you most likely would.

Full text of the Charm spell in the rulebook:

This spell makes the victim view the caster as his or her best friend in the world. No amount of logic or role-playing will convince the vic- tim that they are indeed charmed, and any order given will be justified and make perfect sense in the mind of the victim. The victim will not remember the casting of the spell.

An attack on the victim by the caster’s companions will not immediately break the charm but if the caster does not attempt to stop it and if no good reason is provided for the attack, the charm may be broken. A direct attack by the caster will always break the charm, as will attempting a Killing Blow. An order to kill yourself would also break the spell.

A victim of this spell will not do anything absolutely contradictory to their own race or nature (such as cast necromancy). If given an order to attack their own party, the victim would have to also be given a very good and convincing reason. (The victim will, however, protect the new “friend” from attacks, no matter who from.)

This spell only works on creatures that have a mind as defined by the game. Many creatures (such as lesser undead, golems or insects) do not have a mind that can be affected by this effect. Further, the victim must understand the language of the caster in order to follow the orders.

Unlike Dominate, this effect does not turn the victim into a mindless robot, but does require the victim to stay by his or her new “friend” and follow all “suggestions” given by the caster. Unlike Enslavement, the victim is unaware of the effect.

Victims cannot refuse to obey orders with the explanation that they “wouldn’t do that even for my best friend.” This spell overwrites the logic of the brain. If your new “best friend” tells you to hand over all your items, you will do so without question.

When the spell’s duration ends, the vi tim remembers everything that happened except the actual casting of the Charm spell, and will almost always realize that he or she had been charmed.

This effect can be removed by an Awaken, a Break Command, a Dispel, or a Purify. Note as well that only one Command effect may be active on the victim at any one time. The most recent Command effect takes precedence. This spell is not strong enough to override any Greater Command effect such as Enslavement.

Full text of Dominate:

This effect makes the victim subject to specific commands of the person who administered the effect. For the elixir, it would be the person who administered the elixir, which would include placing it within food or drink, even if that person is not in view at the time.

The target of a Dominate will not attack the person who administered the Dominate while it is in effect.

The administrator can give the target multiple commands within the ten minute period, but the victim will only follow the last one given.

While following these commands the target is in a trance and performs the last order until that order has been completed. Afterward the target will stand and await the next order.

After ten minutes (or after the effect is countered), the victim comes out of the trance and acts as normal, and has full knowledge that he or she was dominated and what was done during that time.

While dominated, the victim must perform actions to the best of his or her ability and knowledge, including the use of spells and skills. The victim does not have the ability to pick and choose less effective abilities to use, nor may they choose to not perform certain commands due to their personality or race. For example, if the victim knows that the person who Dominated them is undead, and that person commands the victim to heal them, they will not only cast necromancy on that person but will not be able to choose to use less powerful spells if they have more powerful ones available that are needed. Similarly, if a Flame Elemental Dominated someone, and that char- acter knew that Flame Elementals are healed by Flame, they would do their best to use Flame to heal the Elemental if commanded.

The victim can defend themselves from any attackers, but if the caster attacks the vic- tim the Dominate effect ends.

This effect can be removed by an Awaken, a Break Command, a Dispel, or a Purify. Note as well that only one Command effect may be active on the victim at any one time. The most recent Command effect takes precedence. This spell is not strong enough to override any Greater Command effect such as Enslavement.

The death of the administrator will not nec- essarily end the Dominate. For instance, Darlissa is Dominated to Vorin who commands her to heal him. She stands behind him and throws healing into him as he needs it in battle. Vorin is killed by Rendal, and Darlissa imme- diately throws a Life spell at Vorin and then heals him up. Vorin’s death did not stop the Domination.

This spell only works on creatures that have a mind as defined by the game. Many crea- tures (such as lesser undead, golems or insects) do not have a mind that can be affected by this effect.

The only valid commands that a caster can give a target while they are dominated are listed below. Note that the wording of a command does not need to exactly match the following but it should be similar enough to it so that the target can understand what is meant.

Defend me: The target must protect the caster from all attacks to the best of their abil- ity, even if it requires using spells and magic items. During this time, the target will not at- tack anyone who is not attacking them or the caster.

Follow me: The target must follow the caster. The target will not attack anyone who is not attacking them.

Give your <item> to me: The target must give the named item to the caster.

Heal me: The target must make every at- tempt to heal or Life the caster. During this time the target will not attack anyone and will do everything possible, including fighting their allies, to prevent the healing from being stopped.

Return to normal: This command ends the Dominate effect.

 

[Val McManamy]

More questions!

What is the logistics of the tavern? Since getting to other areas is out of game, does that mean meal time is an out of game area? I understand the nature of Find Out In Game but that does bring in the logistics of "how am I getting food".

Will we have NPCs portrayers assigned to the individual camp sites? I noticed there was a comment that if the portrayer isn't there then the NPCs are not there.

With on-land locations, the use of Wards, Wizard Locks and even good old fashioned Traps has left a general feeling that it was safe to leave your clothing/bedding/Out-of-Game gear stowed while going on mods, role playing in large groups or dealing with the big wave battles (rifting not included). With this new "style", the NPCs, food stuffs, general gear and the way home is at risk being totally destroyed. While interesting to drama, it does present an issue... a group will have to remain "on ship" at all times to protect from random encounters that climb up. It creates a series of events where there is the setting up camp and then a group or rotating groups being forced to remain at their camp for sizable sections of game time because the alternative is a note on a tree describing what was destroyed. After such a ramble, the question is: Will Plot have set times that the ships should be protected or will they provide for those that stay behind to protect everyone's assets?

 

[llywelyn]

More questions!

What is the logistics of the tavern? Since getting to other areas is out of game, does that mean meal time is an out of game area? I understand the nature of Find Out In Game but that does bring in the logistics of "how am I getting food".

The tavern will be IG and on the shore in one capacity or another.

Will we have NPCs portrayers assigned to the individual camp sites? I noticed there was a comment that if the portrayer isn't there then the NPCs are not there.

Sometimes yes, but it depends on resources on our part. Hence why sometimes they may be sleeping below decks ^_^

With on-land locations, the use of Wards, Wizard Locks and even good old fashioned Traps has left a general feeling that it was safe to leave your clothing/bedding/Out-of-Game gear stowed while going on mods, role playing in large groups or dealing with the big wave battles (rifting not included). With this new "style", the NPCs, food stuffs, general gear and the way home is at risk being totally destroyed.

No, your "clothing/bedding/Out-of-Game gear stowed" and food are off-limits, as always (see ARB 1.2 pg 147). IG items are the only area of concern, so pack accordingly.

If we sink a ship you'll have to trust that we'll provide an alternative means of transportation off the islands… or that the Salty Vixen really will sink only if it wants to. (Also that we would not do that arbitrarily just to get rid of your stuff in any circumstance: we're aware that you won't have wards if you are on the ship and will write accordingly). We do not intend, out of game or in game, to strand anyone permanently on Death's Island (unless you want to be stranded, in which case feel free). Nor do we intend to have everyone shuffle their OOG gear mid-event.

You can also assume that there is sufficient crew that knows their stuff that the ship itself won't be stolen.

 

[Val McManamy]

Unwarded/protected cabins have been ransacked with bedding and items moved in previous games. Clothing, bedding, decorations and weapon props are in game as is anyone sleeping in said cabin unless totally out of game.

While as a player, I'm sure there will be alternative methods. IN GAME that assurance doesn't exist. The ships are effectively beached with gang planks and easy to climb hand holds while manned and carrying people who just dealt with humaniod fish creatures who can board ships and regularly attacked at night and during odd daytime hours. There's more reason to stay on board while sending scouting groups than just offload onto land and hope the crew isn't killed.

Also, if there is sufficient crew to keep a ship safe, why are we staying on said ships when shelters can be constructed on land (and thus given Wards)? We did a 3-day transitional hike (each way) with plenty of hand waving on the process. Is there no way for the ships to remain sea anchored in safer waters awaiting signal fires to come to shore to pick up everyone and move to another location (should the need arise)?

Please know this isn't a matter of "trust the staff". It is a matter of what works in game and explains things well enough to make sense to the in-game thinking that occurs. We had shadow creatures coming out of the fallen that were only kept back somewhat by light. Doesn't matter if the staff wasn't going to send that after me when I was in Bayenna, the character slept with candles burning in key areas to keep shadows at bay.