<div align="center">(https://i.imgur.com/qXOaDz0.png)</div><br/><span class="bbc_u"><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br/>Related Links</span></strong></span><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li>Recruitment Thread (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=297324.0)</li><li>Character Thread (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=298025.0)</li><li>IC Thread (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=298243.0)</li></ul><hr/><span class="bbc_u"><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br/>Welcome</span></strong></span><br/>Welcome one and all to the Red Hand of Doom OOC thread.  We're going to start off with a little meet-and-greet and making bonds between your characters who have been adventuring together now for a good while. Feel free to ask any questions. An IC thread coming some time between the 27th and the 29th December 2018 - This is a little later than I'd originally planned but the greatest monster of all,<em>Real Life</em>has reared its ugly head and delayed things a bit. I hope you can forgive me for the delay.<br/><br/>Some of you may also have noticed in the Character thread I've changed things from the initial recruitment templates. These are mostly the same, just expanded a little and have come about mostly because I liked Kalon's edits to the one I originally posted, she did it much better. So you can blame her for any inconvenience~<br/><br/><hr/><span class="bbc_u"><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br/>In-Game / House Rules</span></strong></span><br/>Please be sure to read up on the house rules, particularly the<strong>Initiative </strong>and<strong>Reactions </strong>rules.<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body"><em><span class="bbc_u">Magic Item Costs:</span></em><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">There won't be many places early in the game in which you can by magic items and towns in the module have a specific amount of cash in their individual economies.<br/>That said, we'll be using the Sane Magical Item Prices guide by Saidoro (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XAiXpOfz9cMWt1RTBicmpmUDg/view) for this in order to link fixed costs to items rather than the oddness that is the weird haggling table in the DMG.<br/>This does not mean there will be a magic mart in the game, nor a Resident Evil 4 merchant. Each town is described as having a specified amount of wealth in the module and certain shops at which to purchase or sell items during your down time.</div></div><br/><em><span class="bbc_u">Bonds:</span></em><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">An additional bit of background. Basically I'm stealing this from <em>Dungeon World</em> and similar systems with the caveat that rather than awarding XP for fulfilling your bonds you may gain Inspiration (ie Advantage that you can bank, then use yourself at any time on any one roll or grant to another player on any one roll). This stems from my desire to want the party to have been travelling together for a while and having connected in some way. More on Bonds will be discussed when players are chosen.<br/>In the meantime you can look up examples of class-based bonds over at the Dungeon World Play Kit (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8_Fz4m5hcoieW1GRVVaNnRfbnc) (as Dungeon World uses more or less the same classes as D&amp;D</div></div><br/><em><span class="bbc_u">Levelling:</span></em><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">For this adventure we will be using the Story-Based rules for leveling rather than XP, so after certain pivotal moments in the plot. The adventure is expected to run from level 5 to level 10.</div></div><br/><em><span class="bbc_u">Initiative:</span></em><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Group Initiative will be in use here. Initiative will be rolled for enemies first and an average made. Those players who roll higher than the average go in a block before the enemies, those who roll lower go in a block after. Each character in a block may post at any time within their block, but if no post is made within 3 days you will be placed into the next block. If a player from the second block (ie, the group after the enemy's turn) is moved to the first block due to this, if they then do not post within 2 days they will be moved back to the second block.<br/>If for any reason you are unable to make a post during the time frame or if you will be unable to post for a while please let the group know and actions will be made on your behalf as though your character was an NPC until such time as you are able to return. During this period no consumables or spells higher than cantrips may be used without your consent so as not to screw you over on your return.<br/>If you are unable to roll initiative within 24 hours of the initiative call it will be rolled for you.<br/><br/><strong>All of the above are in place to keep the flow of the game going and in no way intended to take control away from players. It's perfectly understandable if you're unable to post for a while as real life comes first, we are all adults here and all understand this. But games are fragile things and can die very easily to inactivity so it is my intent to keep the ball rolling for as long as possible. As with anything else I am willing to discuss amending anything to suit the group</strong><br/><br/>Personally I think this is an improvement over my tabletop DM's habit of saying those who weren't able to attend were turned into a duck or a lamp for the session.</div></div><br/><em><span class="bbc_u">Reactions:</span></em><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">With D&amp;D 5e come <em>Reactions</em>, actions taken after an enemy or ally has made an action of their own. I've been considering the best way to run these in-game and the easiest way I can think of would be to use the spoiler tag at the end of each post you make in combat, stating what Reactions you have available and under what circumstances you would want to use it.<br/>Example with a College of Lore Bard;<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Reaction</div><div class="spoiler_body"> Bardic Inspiration - Roll 1d6 = 4 to reduce attack roll by this much<br/>Circumstance: If &lt;Monster B&gt; attempts to attack &lt;Ally 2&gt; and rolls 18 or higher, if &lt;Monster C&gt; attempts to attack &lt;Ally 1&gt; and rolls 16 or higher, else not used.</div></div><br/>This will (in theory) allow me to know in what situation you would use your reactions and weave that into any enemy turns, rather than making that post, a player posting their reactions in OOC (for example) and then going back to edit the original post.</div></div><br/><em><span class="bbc_u">Character Death / Bad Ends:</span></em><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Is a possibility, this shouldn't be sugar coated as sometimes a character may be overcome by their foes. However if this occurs a player may make a choice, either create a new character who will be introduced to the group at the next convenient story location or you may instead choose to keep this character alive to be kidnapped by the enemy, ravished and rescued by your companions in the next convenient location. If this second option is chosen you will permanently receive -1 death saving throw (minimum 2) representing the character's quite possibly possibly shaken nerve from the experience.<br/><strong>Again this is open for discussion based on player preference</strong></div></div></div></div><hr/><span class="bbc_u"><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br/>The Timeline</span></strong></span><br/>Keeping track of PC progress and events that transpire - Will become more relevant later. As mentioned in the Adventure Outline of the recruitment thread, the game revolves around the players stemming the advance of an invading army. Actions taken will slow the horde's advance buying your allies precious time to mount defences against portions of the army a plucky band of adventurers are unable to defeat. This will be anything from gathering allies or killing enemy generals to causing routes the horde may wish to take to become impassable forcing a detour.<br/>Once you get to a specific point of the story your characters will be made aware of exactly how much time they have.<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Day 1</div><div class="spoiler_body"></div></div><br/><hr/><span class="bbc_u"><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br/>Bonds</span></strong></span><br/>Okay! So to get us started on helping define linked backgrounds we have<strong>Bonds</strong>. These are taken from Dungeon World which has more or less the same classes as D&D<br/>I'll be posting the ones relevant to the classes we have here, please take your time to go over them, discuss who in the group might be relevant for each of them. I'd like each of you to take at least one, but you don't have to do more than that if you don't want to.<br/>Fulfilling a<strong>Bond </strong>(and stating that you have done so) through role playing or actions will give you<strong>Inspiration</strong>, allowing you or the character linked to the bond you have fulfilled (one or the other, not both) to gain<strong>Advantage </strong>on any one roll you or they make in the chapter. You may bank as many points of Inspiration as you have bonds fulfilled.<br/><br/>Think of it like an extra bit to the Backgrounds that you normally pick from in 5e, but giving you a continued stream of Inspiration rather than something you normally only get at the start of your career.<br/><br/>Please note that some classes have a smaller number of Bonds than others in Dungeon World and how bonds are fulfilled, especially as some are a little abstract, are up to interpretation. If you wish to have extra Bonds or different ones than those listed here, please feel free to discuss it in this thread.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Bard</div><div class="spoiler_body">This is not my first adventure with _____<br/><br/>I sang stories of _____ long before I ever met them in person.<br/><br/>_____ is often the butt of my jokes.<br/><br/>I am writing a ballad about the adventures of _____.<br/><br/>_____ trusted me with a secret.<br/><br/>_____ does not trust me, and for good reason.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Bladesinger / Arcane Duelist</div><div class="spoiler_body">_____ broke up a fight I was involved in. I was probably going to lose, but they don’t need to know that part.<br/><br/>_____ and I are regular training partners.<br/><br/>I may have killed a relative of _____ at some point in the past.<br/><br/>_____ seems like they would fold at the first sign of trouble. I don’t trust them.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Cleric</div><div class="spoiler_body">_____ has insulted my deity; I do not trust them.<br/><br/>_____  is a good and faithful person; I trust them implicitly.<br/><br/>_____ is in constant danger, I will keep them safe.<br/><br/>I am working on converting _____ to my faith.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Paladin</div><div class="spoiler_body">_____’s misguided behavior endangers their very soul!<br/><br/>_____  has stood by me in battle and can be trusted completely.<br/><br/>I respect the beliefs of _____ but hope they will someday see the true way.<br/><br/>_____ is a brave soul, I have much to learn from them.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Ranger</div><div class="spoiler_body">I have guided _____ before and they owe me for it.<br/><br/>_____ is a friend of nature, so I will be their friend as well.<br/><br/>_____  has no respect for nature, so I have no respect for them.<br/><br/>_____ does not understand life in the wild, so I will teach them.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Wizard</div><div class="spoiler_body">_____ will play an important role in the events to come. I have foreseen it!<br/><br/>_____  is keeping an important secret from me.<br/><br/>_____ is woefully misinformed about the world; I will teach them all that I can.</div></div>