82 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
82 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
Title: Emerald Flame
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Description: bss's play by email TTRPG meta-campaign.
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# Emerald Flame
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Emerald Flame is a PBEM Cypher System campaign set in my "house" setting of [Etravar](/etravar/). I run my campaigns
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pretty free-form, with setting details filled in by everyone as we go, so there's no premeditated plot to start with,
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other than exploring a high fantasy game and seeing where it takes us.
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I'll fill this page in as the game progresses, but for now, here's some starting and organizing information.
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## Etravar
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|> [](mystvil.png)
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|: The starting area in Emerald Flame, the Mystvil region of Trezuria.
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{: .right }
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I have successfully run games in established settings, such as the Forgotten Realms, but I tend not to hew too close to
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the setting canon, so for this campaign, I'm going to use the setting that I have just started putting some bones
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together for, and as we play, we'll provide more detail based on our wants and needs. The link above includes said bones
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and whatever else we've defined to this point --- at its briefest, Etravar is a high fantasy campaign setting, with some
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in-world justification for embracing weird stuff to encounter and explore.
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We'll start in a small town in Trezuria, which we can figure out the details of as we start creating characters with
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backgrounds. Assume there's a new weird anomaly in the area that you're interested in for whatever reason.
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## Play By Email
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I have started an [Emerald Flame mailing
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list](https://lists.incorporeal.org/postorius/lists/emerald-flame.lists.incorporeal.org/) for people to subscribe to.
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Both players and readers/lurkers are encouraged to subscribe, and can do so via the web form (known/interested players
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should further send an email to the list and/or ping me off the list, so I can set up the moderation settings
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appropriately). The list will be moderated to allow only the current players to post to the game, but anyone is welcome
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to read, and there will also be a public archive if people would prefer to read that way. The archive [is
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here](https://lists.incorporeal.org/hyperkitty/list/emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org/) if you need to go back to
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refer to an old post in order to read and/or reply to it (which you can do from inside the web interface, if you are
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logged in).
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A draft of thoughts on how to conduct our game over email is available [here](/play-by-email). These are some things
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I've learned from similar ventures in the past, and also some ideas that I think should be good --- but they are just
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guidelines, and of course malleable to our group's needs.
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### Reminders and Pings
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I've also started an IRC channel, #emerald-flame, on [Randomus](https://randomus.net/), my IRC network. Players are
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encouraged to join for reminders and other out-of-game conversations ([web IRC
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link](https://webirc.randomus.net/#emerald-flame), or ask me for access to [persistent web
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connections](https://lounge.randomus.net), or see the Randomus site for client setup info), but it is expected to be
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very low traffic, and optional.
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## Cypher System
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I love [the Cypher System](/cypher/). It's a flexible system with a lot of room for homebrew and game-specific rules,
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with rich character customization options, and yet the core game mechanic is pretty simple and well-suited for
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asynchronous play. There's a great rendering of [the Cypher System Reference
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Document](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/) that I suggest reading if you are not familiar with the game, and I
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also have some ever-expanding [set of homebrew and house rules](https://orb.moe/cypher/#homebrew-and-house-rules) that
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will probably be relevant to the game.
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### Character Creation
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Firstly, I encourage talking through any ideas and questions you have on the mailing list (I'll start a thread after
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some signups), so folks can see them and build ideas around the group. But, if you're still interested or on the fence,
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feel free to just ping me with any questions.
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[Old Gus' Unofficial Cypher System Player's Guide](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/og-cspg.html) is a really
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good starting point for getting into the system and character creation in a guided way, if you want to just take a crack
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at it on your own or get a feel for it. I have some homebrew character options and house rules, as linked above, that
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I'm working on integrating into my own copy of the CSRD, but for the moment you can just refer to that above as you're
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building a character.
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Things to be sure to look at:
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* [How to play](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/#this-is-how-you-play-the-cypher-system)
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* [Key concepts](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/#key-concepts)
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* [The fantasy genre in general](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/#chapter-13-fantasy)
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* [Common foci](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/#fantasy-foci)
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* [Options in building common concepts](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/#fantasy-character-options)
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* [Species](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/#fantasy-species-descriptors)
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* [Types](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/#chapter-5-type)
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* [Examples of character arcs](https://callmepartario.github.io/og-csrd/#sample-character-arcs)
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