All right gents opening post. We will be using Swords and Wizardry with Akrasia's house rule document. I really like the feel those rules give and they match pretty closely a lot of things I have been doing in my home games for a few years now.

As for character creation, generate scores as according to the house rules document, The classes we will be using are Fighter, M-U's, and the Thief class from the house rule document. Note that I do not mind players using a priest type character, I just see them in this settings as being a magic user with religious trappings, or a fighter even. All the standard races are available, I am also open to just about any other humanoid , well except for maybe Titans or Liches but I think that goes without saying If you decide on something outside the norm we will work it out.

Also give a simple sentence or two about the background of your character, who are they and what might they have done before adventuring.

Other than these things Character creation is as per normal.

This is the dying age, the long dusk of civilization ere the sun sets and the endless night begins. Who knows exactly how long it has been since the skies lit up with war, the great iron airships spewing white hot death at each other? The old world died in a maelstrom as the sky rained fire and pestilence. The veil between our realm and the ether was rent open as mighty sorcerers turned their arcane might toward war, and the horrors of the outer dark came spilling through. The empires of the old world drowned in blood as the world they made came undone in their bitter final battle for dominance.

The world that has emerged from the ashes of the old order is strange and cruel. The invisible poison, that toxic remain of the great cataclysm renders creatures abominations, twisting their limbs and minds. Whole forests have taken lives of their own, coated in pulsing roots of strange flora from beyond the stars. Great wastelands howl obscenities to the heavens as haunted winds caress their dunes. Mangled ruins of the once great wonders of civilization are now brooding tombs that issue only uncertainty and unnerving tales. New and hostile man like creatures roam the earth in their gibbering hoards and seem drawn to evil like moths to the flame.

Men have forgotten much, but that which remains is turned always to the grim struggle for survival. Old sorceries have melded with the remains of once new technologies, men grow new limbs in vats of flesh and iron automatons powered by the trapped souls of the unwary guard the towers of mad wizards. Crystals of rare radium, dug from poisonous pits by forlorn slaves power strange machines and strike men dead when hurled forth in smoking blasts from decrepit relics or cheap imitations made by half mad worshipers of the gods of technology.

Every day the already scarce numbers of men dwindle even further as the world marches ever on into madness and barbarism. The race of men finds few friends now as those they term demi humans hold their hubris against them and find them to blame for the slow damnation of them all.

P.S.
Hopefully that should give enough of a feel for the setting to get something of a mental picture going.

I set up a Dice Room on //www.rolz.org for this game and named it:  Arkansan's Game.

I also figured out a formula for rolled Attribute Scores with one throw:  repeat 7 reroll=1 3d6.  Just copy and paste it into the top window and hit the 'Roll' button to the right.

If it's cool with you Arkansan, I am going to create a humanoid raccoon.  I read this cool book years ago called the Architect of Sleep where a normal dude from earth went spelunking and found himself in an alternate earth where the intelligent specie that evolved was raccoon and not ape.   I really liked the author's vision of an anthropomorphic raccoon in that book.  They are tall, lean, and mean.  The warriors of that society use a metal claw as their weapon of choice and dye a strip(s) in their fur on their heads.  Here is an image of the cover which shows what they look like:

Rolling in order (the way the good lord intended ) I get:

strength 16, intelligence 10, wisdom 13, dexterity 10, constitution 11, and charisma 11

I rolled aristocrat.

What this guy seems like to me is the descendant of the class of people from the old days who genetically engineered their children to be Better Than You (with a few regrettable bugs...) and he's trying to hold onto some remnant of the old days before everything went to shit. He looks like He Man because of course he does.

Probably fighter, not sure which fighting style, maybe weapon master in whatever is the most old fashioned/aristrocratic weapon available (sword?).

Sounds good to me Drohem, I am not familiar that book but the concept is cool. Any obvious ability modifiers that apply or would they be fairly analogous to humans in that regard?

Welcome aboard Daztur! Sounds good, swords are a common weapon. The common tech level would be high medieval with an infusion of Barsoom style technology, most of the high tech is leftovers with only small amounts being currently produced. However there is still enough around, mostly in the hands of the powerful, to make an impact and who knows what may turn up in play Anyway cool character concept, glad to have you aboard.

Quote from: Arkansan;737300Sounds good to me Drohem, I am not familiar that book but the concept is cool. Any obvious ability modifiers that apply or would they be fairly analogous to humans in that regard?

Well, they are high dexterous, quick, and agile.  In the book, they don't use vocal speech but instead use a complex sign language since they have long and slender fingers.  However, in this version I am going to want him to be capable of vocal speech.  So maybe a +1 to DEX might be in order, but I am cool with no modifiers to stats too.  I rolled a really good set of stats so I am happy with my character as is.

Quote from: Arkansan;737300Sounds good to me Drohem, I am not familiar that book but the concept is cool. Any obvious ability modifiers that apply or would they be fairly analogous to humans in that regard?

Welcome aboard Daztur! Sounds good, swords are a common weapon. The common tech level would be high medieval with an infusion of Barsoom style technology, most of the high tech is leftovers with only small amounts being currently produced. However there is still enough around, mostly in the hands of the powerful, to make an impact and who knows what may turn up in play Anyway cool character concept, glad to have you aboard.

Looks like a sword specialist then with perhaps an ancient flak jacket or something along those lines (counts as chain?).

What does my aristocrat background skill get me concretely? Would like to have an ancient knick knack or two even if they're not useful...

I'm thinking this guy's ancestors were a bunch of morally dubious overly-enthusiastic eugenicists so he doesn't have any genes that correspond with "neurosis" or "anti-social behavior," which has left him with the equivalent of wonder bread between the ears.

I'm thinking his culture (or whatever is left of it) is a touch Numenorean in that they're humans who think they're superior to common people and have a bit more memory of the old ways (and corresponding bloated egos) than the average humans in the setting, or at least that's what they think...

For name, perhaps John Doe, will think on it.

Drohem; Sounds good to me, go ahead with the plus 1 to DEX, and of course vocal speech is a must.

Daztur; Sounds good to me, sure we can say that he as ancient breastplate that is actually a shit of high density cloth armor counting as chainmail. I can see that coming in handy if you were ever to end up somewhere you couldn't be obviously armored for whatever reason. As far as having an aristocratic background; It has been a long time since the age of catastrophe so it seems to me that most of what your family would have preserved would have been an outlook on the world, mannerisms, and a few baubles. So I would say your background would give you a bonus to rolls in situations where you needed to interact with other supposed nobility or understand courtly intrigue and a slightly better understanding of old technology. As to equipment that may or may not be useful given you stated pictured the family being descended from eugenicists I would say that you have in your possession a single syringe of a blue-gray liquid, you are unsure of its function exactly but know that it could be either very helpful or horrendously deadly. Also if you can come up with some knick knacky type things just describe them as long as they aren't powerful or problematic I will allow them, especially if what you mean are items that are more along the line baubles.

pbj44 you still interested man?

Also like I said before anyone is welcome to join in on this, I would like to have at least three or four people in on this, though I could work with more or less than that.

Are we using these House Rules?

• Dexterity for AC
• Ascending AC

yes to both.

Anything to know for buying equipment?

Starting equipment can be bought from the list a per usual, I want most of the high tech stuff to be found in play. Everything on the gear list is available and would fall within what is common technology anyway.

Name: Merko Bloodtooth
Level: 1
Class: Fighter
Race: Raccoon Humanoid
Background Profession: Gambler, Sentinel
Fighting Styles: Swashbuckler, Unarmed Combat
Experience Points (+10%): 0

===  ATTRIBUTE SCORES  ===

[16] - STR (+1 to-hit/damage melee)
[16] - DEX (+1 to-hit ranged)
[15] - CON (+1 hit point)
[13] - INT (+3 languages)
[14] - WIS
[11] - CHA

===  COMBAT STATISTICS  ===

[13] - Hit Points (6 + CON + Fighter + Akratic House Rule)
[15] - Armor Class (Leather armor + Swashbuckler Style + DEX)
[16] - Saving Throw (+1 vs. Death & Poisons)
[+0] - Base Hit Bonus
[12] - Movement Rate

===  MONEY  ===

[05] - Gold coins
[09] - Silver coins
[10] - Copper coins

===  EQUIPMENT  ===

• Fighting Claw, x2 (1d6; 2-lbs; 3 gp)
• Leather Armor (AC +2; 25-lbs; 15 gp)
• Sling (1d6; RoF 1; range 30-ft; 1-lb; 2 gp)
• Pouch and Stones, x20 (2 gp)
• Backpack (5 gp)
• Flint & Steel (5 gp)
• Mirror, small mirror (5 gp)
• Rations, trail x5 days (5 gp)
• Torch x6 (1 gp)
• Waterskin (1 gp)

===  DESCRIPTION  ===

Merko Bloodtooth is a raccoon humanoid who stands at 6'3" tall and weighs 180 pounds.  He has dyed a bloodred strip of fur on the top of his head and down to his neck.  He wears leather armor and is a two-weapon fighter who wields a retractable forearm claw on each arm.  (See picture below for his looks and weapon concept).



===  BACKGROUND  ===

Ever since he was a small kit, Merko has always been curious, inquisitive, and looking for the 'action.'  As a kit he loved all kinds of games, both physical and mental, and excelled at them.  He is very intuitive and in touch with his instincts and relies on his 'gut' feeling to guide him along through life.  As he matured it became clear to himself that he was an adrenaline junkie and lived for the thrill of the action.  He enjoys social situations and hanging out in bars and taverns.  When he was old enough he started gambling to make a living.  He got into a lot of scrapes and fights as a result and this how he eventually earned the moniker 'Bloodtooth.'  He was involved in a nasty bar fight over a card game and he bit off a man's nose and since then he was known in the gambling circle as Merko 'Bloodtooth.'  He took the moniker on and made it part of his identity.  In order to supplement his income as a gambler he also started working as a bouncer in bars and taverns, and then he eventually branched out into hired guard work.  He is not one for a sedentary lifestyle and he enjoys the carefree lifestyle of a gambler and adventurer.

Hmmmm, Drohem and I seemed to have used different stat gen methods.

I've been looking at this doc. Is it out of date? http://akraticwizardry.blogspot.kr/2009/07/swords-sorcery-house-rules-index.html