New player popping over from NERO

KyleSchmelz

KyleSchmelz

Elite
I've been playing NERO for almost four years now, but having recently moved to Minnesota, I find myself without a chapter - the closest one is NERO Chicago, which is about 5 hours away from here. I would love to keep getting my larp fix, though, so I was thinking about trying out Alliance. I don't know when I'll actually make it out to an event - that's probably dependent on my finding a job - but I thought I'd come out and NPC an event or two sometime in the next few months.

I see that Alliance recently updated its rulebook - is everything in there finalized? NERO's 9th edition book, which just came out, suffered from a sort of "extended rollout" and I just want to make sure I'm getting the final version before I put any money down. Also, I know the games split years before I started larping, but I'd imagine the basic mechanics are still roughly the same. If there's anyone around who plays in both systems, are there any major differences between the two games that I need to keep in mind before showing up? Is weapon construction roughly the same?
 
First let me say, welcome to MN! It's usually not this hot!

Having played both systems myself (i used to play in nero chicago when I lived in Chicago), I figure I might as well chime in :) Although I havent played international since 2002, so... :D

The boffer weapon construction is the same. Latex weapons are relatively new and each chapter has the discretion to approve/not approve latex weapons. There are several players in MN who have them, but just wanted to throw out that its not a blanket approval on all latex weapons. Mainly its for safety, it does get cold up here (its hard to believe on a day like today) and some of the older latex weapons would literally freeze when it got cold, thus you were being hit with something hard versus squishy. :)

The combat mechanics are the same, no physical contact (unless agreed upon first).

The spells and effects do vary. Some effects from NERO do not transfer over to Alliance. I dont have the international rule book in front of me, so I can't name any specifics right now. There are celestial, earth, & chaos spells. I know that some spells are different, for example there is no magic missile. Spells are done via packet delivery.

The classes are pretty much the same: fighter, scout, rogue, adept, scholar, templar, & artisan.

Each chapter has variations on monsters, but are all roughly similar. A kobold is a kobold (generally) :D

The experience system is the same, except there is no maxing out at the end of an event by buying up with gold. If you attend an event, PC or NPC you get full exp without the buy-up.

The rulebook is rolled out, there were a few addendums, and every once in a while a rule is clarified, but the system by all means is done. Its a good read. :)

I would urge you to come on out and NPC, there are more than a few of us who would welcome you to come play with us! The events that are posted are current.

Again, welcome to MN!

-Ryan
 
If you download the pdf version of the rulebook make sure to download version 1.1. That is the new and fully up to date version with the latest changes. It only costs about $6 to download and there are links on the official announcement section of the national boards. Also I suggest trying to contact Stephen Stana about the differences between switching from NERO to Alliance. He is a veteran NERO player of more than 10 years I believe and has risen to be the Head of Plot here in SoMN so he might be of help. It's always great to have new bodies! :)
 
Thanks for the quick responses! I don't have any latex weapons, but I can see why they may have some problems in the Minnesota winter. I did notice they got pretty hard playing in the snow in Indiana and Ohio. Thanks for the note about the rulebook - I'll probably download the pdf sometime this week and give it a read. I don't know for sure what my plans will be that weekend, but I think I'm going to try to make it to the September event. I may be able to convince my fiancee (another NERO player) to come along, but she'll probably be busy with grad school.
 
I was going to try to resist making another character - I already have a Human Earth Templar and Chimp Scavenger (Chimpkin) Celestial Scholar in NERO with a third character on the books that I haven't played yet - but I really want to play a Dryad now that I've read through the book a bit. I can probably recycle some of my Human character's costuming, use the Chimp's makeup for some bark skin, get some plant stuff to put in my hair, and make a couple maces or hammers or something for when I do decide to PC... :whistle: The restriction against metal armor will be a little annoying - I have a steel scalemail shirt and leather bracers with inlaid steel plates that I really like - but it's fully understandable given the fluff behind them. Alliance has cooler racial bonuses than NERO, which has me half-tempted to play another scavenger, but dryads seem like more fun.

Are there any PC dryads at this chapter? I've been trying to find some pictures of dryads on the forums for inspiration, but there aren't a lot that I've been able to find. The only ones I can find are the first four dryads that popped up at a national event a while back and one seaweed-inspired dryad. Considering dryads are traditionally female by definition, there's not a lot of artwork I can look to for inspiration, either.

Do Wild Elves exist in Alliance? There's not a description of them anywhere, but there's a reference to them on page 29 in the "Discrimination" section. I'd imagine that' section is probably just an artifact from back in the day (NERO International's rulebook has a very similar section), but I like Wild Elves, so I thought I'd check.

Are ultralight weapons allowed? I have a longsword made with a straight kitespar core, standard foam, and duct tape. I probably won't bring it into game since it's a magic item rep from the other game, but I thought I'd check.

I was going to ask something about claw reps - whether or not they're required to have waylay tips - but it looks like my claw reps are too long anyway. Mine are short sword length and I guess Alliance has them at dagger length with longer blades. Come to think of it, that longsword might be considered a two-hander in Alliance - NERO International's max length is one inch longer and I'm pretty sure it's max length. I'll have to measure it.

It seems like build progression is a little slower in Alliance. In NERO International, you start at 30 build and you can buy 1 goblin blanket each week. If I'm reading it right, for Alliance, you start at 15 build, you get 1 goblin blanket each month, and you can pay goblins to get experience for events you don't actually attend. Is that correct? Also, do goblin stamps transfer from chapter to chapter? If so, what's to keep someone with a bunch of goblins from getting event blankets almost every weekend? It seems like you could just get event blankets from New Hampshire, Arizona, and Michigan to fill out the month, but maybe I'm missing something.

Thanks in advance!
 
Welcome to Alliance!

I'll just run down through your questions.

Yes, we have at least a couple PC Dryads currently. One is a male player, so don't read too much into the actual terminology, as Alliance sometimes takes words and re-defines them for our own use.

You are welcome to play a Wild Elf in dress and history, but by the racial rules, you'd be considered an Elf. There is no separate Wild Elf.

Ultralights are definitely allowed and most players use them. Additionally, ultralights are preferred for any weapon donations to the chapter.

Make sure your weapons are the appropriate lengths and other specs, but you seem to already have that covered.

For blankets, you have it correct. No, Goblin Stamps do not transfer. You can blanket in other chapters based on those chapters' policies. Check out the Goblin Blanket FAQ from our website: http://mnalliance.com/new-players/faqs/goblin-blankets

Welcome again and I hope to see you at an event soon!
 
If memory serves me right you can donate to any chapter, store gobbies with them and then blanket their events you can't attend. Thus, you could get xp for 4 events a month and go up quick that way. I know some people who do that and level up really fast. I tend to just stick to going to SoMN and Chicago and those 2 gets me plenty.

A PC Dryad at this chapter, and a male barskin? Haven't seen him! j/k. I play an Earth Scholar Barkskin and it's really fun. There is another PC Dryad here that plays a spore dryad.

There should be pictures in the SOMN OOG forum from some events that shows what I used for armor/costuming (https://picasaweb.google.com/1047108265 ... 4012447314) and (https://picasaweb.google.com/1047108265 ... 1831672946). Going Scout/Fighter I can see being very hard with only 2 per location, but for rogue/adept/scholar ect, I can't see it being a hindrance. You can probably get away with Templar/Scout if you go full armor everywhere.

Costuming I used about 40 references until I made one my own style. I basically use Dreads for my wig that I had from a cosplay to look like branches, with leaves hanging from certain parts. I use brown makeup which I apply a watered layer vertically on my face and hands and then a less-watered layer vertically to appear barklike. My coat is a japanese style coat all green with dark velvet trim, sleeveless. Under that I wear a brown sweater with leaf vines along the arms. Then I just use brown leggings(triple layered) and leather boots. For armor I use a 2pt suit and on a good day end up around 17 armor(armor, in genre, boots) but can only use the 15 from Scholar.

Edit: Go onto the main forums and type in the search box "Dryad costuming" or "Dryad" in general and you'll see a lot of examples(though not too many) of people doing the various types. Here is a picture I used as reference for the "sweater with leaves" type look:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lassila.kat ... 9438427634
http://picasaweb.google.com/lassila.kat ... 7636215378

Hope that helps.
Ryan
 
I would recommend taking a look at the SoMN Player's Handbook, if you haven't already. There are short overviews of the 4 types of dryads that can be found in the Sheltered Lands included. The handbook may be downloaded at: http://mnalliance.com/members/phb/

We have done a few dryads as NPCs in the past, usually using a mask with either moss or leave as well as some paint to give the desired leafy-ness. I have a wig made of fake floral grass for one of the NPCs I played, it makes awesome swishy nature-y noises when in motion. For costuming, I use natural tones, rough edges, and lots of mix-and-match texture. Barbarian gear goes well.
 
How is the campsite? Can I assume there are cabins and beds and what-not?
 
there are cabins and beds, and a shower
 
To be more clear, our current site at Tanadoona has a full tavern building that bunks 32 as well as a large number of open air raised cabins, All the bunks have clean, fairly new mattresses, and the bath/shower facility was finished last year and has a few shower stalls.

I'd personally suggest making a new toon/concept for our game simply because it's usually very difficult to recreate the same experience as before, although similar styles work just find (I'd suggest at least a new name/background story.) Experience in our game does tend to ramp up a bit slower, very few people are crazy enough to travel 3+ weekends a year (like me) or donate to more then a chapter or two for some extra blankets. We are a newer chapter, on our full third year of running under our own name, but we took over from a now defunct chapter that had been running an extremely light schedule for about a decade.

To give you an idea on power levels, our build cap (goes away at the end of this year) is currently 255, and aside from some travelers who have enjoyed playing some new toons out here in boonies with us, the number of people close to it can be counted on one hand. Our usual APL runs between 7-9, and creeped up to just under 10 during a recent no-cap special event. Which means it's a great time, especially for an experienced player, to jump in and become part of the game.

If you can, I'd suggest trying to make our event this weekend, we give you your first event free so you don't have to sweat being past the pre-registration dead line, and we can definitely get you up and running with a card easily enough!

(They tell me the fancy orange name means I'm the boss around these parts, but I'm not sure I believe it)
 
Lurin said:
I'd personally suggest making a new toon/concept for our game simply because it's usually very difficult to recreate the same experience as before, although similar styles work just find (I'd suggest at least a new name/background story.)
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I don't intend to recreate a character from the other game. That would be rather silly. I was initially hesitant to start a new character at all and thinking about NPCing full-time, but now I'm kinda excited about playing a Dryad character. I can recycle most of the costuming, make some new weapons, and pick up some greenery for the costume down at my local Hobby Lobby.

Our usual APL runs between 7-9, and creeped up to just under 10 during a recent no-cap special event. Which means it's a great time, especially for an experienced player, to jump in and become part of the game.
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Neat. I'm used to playing a level 23-ish character at a place with an APL in the high teens and a level 11-ish character at a place with an APL in the low teens. It'll be fun trying out a lower level chapter. That said, I still think I'm gonna NPC a couple events before I jump in - I just can't imagine it would be very much fun to play a 15 build character. Hey, I have one handed blunt, florentine, one resist binding, and... Well, that's actually most of my build. Fear my flurry of two normals!

If you can, I'd suggest trying to make our event this weekend, we give you your first event free so you don't have to sweat being past the pre-registration dead line, and we can definitely get you up and running with a card easily enough!
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I'm busy this weekend, but I fully intend to be at the September event. I look forward to being your lackey and dying many, many times over the course of the weekend.

is there anything the chapter is desperately lacking and would need from donations? Is there a particular weapon type you guys need more of or anything like that?

Edit: I can does grammar!
 
Staffs!
 
So assuming I NPC my first few events and I come in with, for example, 45 build, how does that work with teaching? Would I only have my first 15 build worth of skills "taught" to me, or is it assumed that a character knows any skills they have the build for at their first event?

Do back attacks and backstabs need to be taught separately? Critical attacks and proficiencies?
 
You'd have a "blank PC" card until you decide to PC, so you can have fun with that 45 build without worrying about teaching. Back Attacks and Backstabs and Critical Attacks and Weapon Profs do need to be taught separately, but again that's only something to worry about after you start PCing.

Additionally, you get one free "re-write" ever as a player after your first PC'd event (but before your second event) where you can completely change everything and keep the same amount of build.
 
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