Marco, a noble slinger

[Korbel]

Marco Acerbi is a son of a powerful merchant, he lives in Venice. He is not really interested in taking the power and wealth (being a kindhearted, naive and slightly retarded man). Now his father wants him to finally become a real man and orders him to work with sell-swords.
When Marco was a kid he read about David killing Goliath with a sling, and later that night he was dreaming that God told him to only ever use slings in combat.
Marco is not a heavy thinker. He's often staring bluntly at various objects in the distance, or throwing small rocks at chosen targets - for fun. He's small, agile as a wild cat and has a great distance judgment.

A - Proficiencies:
Slings 8
Crossbows 6 (4D+2)
Brawling 6 (Emphasis: Grabbing)
Daggers 5 (3D+2)
Sword/Buckler 5 (3D+2)

(Agility + Cunning = 9)

B - Edges and Flaws
(one Major Edge is replaced with two Minors):
Dead-eye, Animal-kin (minor), Wealth (minor)
Vow (minor, I can only use slings in combat)

C - Social Class:
High Freeman (second son of a lesser noble, cash out)

D - Attributes:
Strength 3
Agility 5
Stamina 2
Speed 2
Acumen 1
Cunning 4
Willpower 1
Social 2

Feat of Strength: 5
Balance: 9
Health: 3
Knockdown: 8
Knockout: 4
Memory: 2
Perception: 5
Reflexes: 6

Blood: 8

Wounds
no wounds

E - Skills:
Athletics (sprinting, swimming) 4
Language (Latin) 3
Merchant 3 (trade)
Stealth (city) 3

Story Aspects:
"To honor my father, I will make the Acerbi family the most powerful" 0
"Who has poisoned my father?" 3
"I cannot stand cruelty against animals" 0
"Protect Francesca from harm" 0
"Thou shalt not kill" 1

Karma 11

Equipment:
brigandine - 20 sk
doublet (AV 1, fancy) - 5 sk
gambeson (long) - 8 sk
boots and gloves (thick leather, AV2) - 3 sk
rapier (fancy) - 20 sk
cinquedea - 4 sk
sling and 10 bullets - 7 sk
two sets of fine clothing - 12 sk
padded coif - 1 sk

savings - 3 sk


Slings:
- One attack per round
- Base Cost Sk6

Short sling (close/medium, instant)
Long sling (short/medium, instant, ambushes at d6, can reach up to long range in a volley)

Sling ammo
lead bullet: 4p (acorn-sized)
clay bullet: 4b (egg-sized)
crowbane: 2b (acorn-sized clay bullet; yes, I made that term up)

Rocks: Treat as clay bullet at +1Cplx

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OK, I hope everything is fine and Marco is ready to play. If not, just let me know!

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Edit: I got rid of one of my SAs.

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Added a character sheet!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/stxrg3c1ay3y4 ... t.pdf?dl=0

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2 points added to my second SA
1 point burned for narrative effect

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Money spent! 3 sk in fencing school

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Added a Wound and a new SA

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Blasio added to my second SA

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1 SA point added

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I think I'll "buy" me a padded coif for 1 sk. Oh! and I need to erase the cinquedea.

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Wound healed.
Won two SA points!

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Adjusted the price of sling, bought a new cinquedea.

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SAs edited, Flaw bought off

[thirtythr33]

What is Marco's father's name and the family's surname?

[Korbel]

What is Marco's father's name and the family's surname?

Claudio Acerbi.

[Korbel]

For example, in the Floating City game, we discussed the setting and the players wrote up their SAs. I then constructed a scenario with the intention of trying to get many of the players SAs and Flaws to be applicable as possible. As it turned out, the game has very much become focused around Marco, who has 3 SAs which are very applicable to the main goals of the story and is triggering one any time he has to roll dice. The other players only really have 1 applicable SA, and sometimes none. I would expect this to remain true until they have completed their current goals and brought to justice the villain they are tracking down, and then Marco will clear out 1 or more of his SAs and the players will adopt a new quest which will revolve around a different character's SAs. Things have gone slowly for PBP, but I would expect this quest line to take 3-5 real life sessions.

Well, the third SA applicable to the story ("protecting Francesca") was only recently added, more like an additional option for you when designing future adventures. It was not used in the game and sits at 0.

When we complete our current goal... Well, my two SAs ("obeying father" and "give Giacomo a lesson") will probably be changed. There is an option like "I will help Giacomo make the Acerbi's the greatest house in Venice", or maybe he would become my greatest enemy, or maybe they will be a dramatic twist... I don't know. And then I would probably think about a fourth SA (having the new one, "protecting animals" and "protecting Francesca") to give you and me more options (if we play that long).

[thirtythr33]

That's kind of exactly my point. Marco is clearly the centre of it at the moment, he has a lot of options. Giorgio for example has all this story about Eleanora and the Landsknecht to explore, but it all kind of has to go on hold until Marco has finished the rape investigation. It's not anyone's fault; it's just not really possible for me to jam every Story Aspect into the same plotline without it turning into a mess.

[Korbel]

Well, it was Alex or Danny who suggested this scenario with a raped woman and wrote a corresponding SA. I don't really know why it is me who ended up as a "center" of everything. I'm involved because my father wanted me to be. Yeah, there's this Giacomo and Blasio case, but I think they could step in to the shadows for a moment, to give other players more breathing space.
(so if I'm involved only because of my father, it gets quite balanced... Cirillo wants to protect us and Rocco is his enemy; Karl has got a direct SA; Ferran is curiuos and wants to make a name for himself and wants to help women; and Danny... hmm, Danny, maybe you need a new SA? unless "stick up for the little guy" is going to fire often)

I'm thinking about getting a Conviction type SA in the future, so it would come into play when we move more towards other player's bussiness. But for now let's finish the raped woman case and see, what future brings.

[thirtythr33]

I don't really know why it is me who ended up as a "center" of everything.

I think it's because Marco is a noble and everyone else is lowborn. Perhaps it was a mistake to have the other characters directly in his employ. Anyway, I think it is totally manageable. Each character is going to have a time to shine, Marco just happened to go first.

[Korbel]

OK, I've added a fifth Story Aspect. Conviction type.

[Korbel]

OK, so what did I do with Marco's sheet? After winning the last 2 SA points, he had a total of 11. 10 were spent to buy off his Flaw. The SA about Giacomo and Blasio was changed to "Who has poisoned my father". Marco has a whopping total of 1 Story Point now. Not really enough to avoid a killing blow, but I hope this situation will not last long.

[Korbel]

For the purposes of conversion, though, I expect that ThirtyThr33 will give people some wiggle room to make the characters fit in the few cases that they don't.

This.

Well Marco is Tier 4 in Edges&Flaws, Tier 3 in Social Status (second son of a lesser noble).
Edges are Deadeye, Animal-kin (minor), Patron (minor).
I could just switch him to Tier 3 Edges and Flaws, Tier 4 Social Status.
If Patron is still required, then we scrap Deadeye - if not, Animal Kin. This way Marco fits into Tier 3 in Edges.
Done.

[Benedict]

Edges & Flaws will be point based. Confirmed by Agamemnon himself.

Edges and Flaws are very dump-staty in the current draft. I seem to remember one of Higgins or Agamemnon saying that they would be reworked in the upcoming release.

I can see the former and can confirm the latter. It was one of the sections I found more annoying to rework and rewrite.

I've heard the Flaws are going to work differently now, under S&S. How will it change this situation?

Personally, I like the Burning Wheels approach of just giving you trait points, and you can spend them how you want; if being blind or having a nemesis or what have you is really important to the character, then spend the trait points just like anything else

Which is exactly why we went the trait point route this time. This is for three major reasons. First, you have people like me who actively like playing flawed characters, and thus a low-priority pick in the existing category is actually an incentive rather than a discouragement. Next we have the problem that flaws are actually very beneficial, because they offer you a constant source of SAs if you are playing them right. Finally, the issue where there's a lot of cross-over between flaws and edges. Honorable could really go either way, as could any given reputation/infamy inthe right context. Thus division between what is an "Edge" and what is a "Flaw" seemed to arbitrary for comfort.

This time around, the category gives you access to points that can be spent on different things. A low Trait pick now doesn't force a bunch of flaws on you, it simply leaves you with fewer points to spend -- which effectively makes you lonely and boring. Further incentivizing the thing, traits plug in nicely to the tapping system, they still can get you SA points, and they are basically where your character goes to establish anything about themselves that isn't numbers or your social status.

Speaking of social status, we've been juggling this weird overlap of "what if I want to play a noble but don't necessarily want to be the head of the household?" In the coming build, this line gets cleaner. Social status confers increased wealth and the legal rights associated with someone of your blood status. By default you are now assumed to be a second son or some forgotten cousin or an otherwise well-off but minor part of the house to which your noble backside would belong. If you want to be the head of the house, you'll create said house as a faction and like all player-associated factions, it is built with trait points.

So better wait for that draft.

[Korbel]

Edges & Flaws will be point based. Confirmed by Agamemnon himself.

Yeah you're right. But the principle will stay the same, I believe: I'll just give Marco a lower Tier for Edges. Up to this moment, he has only benefited from Patron, I've never used Deadeye or Animalkin.

[Benedict]

Edges & Flaws will be point based. Confirmed by Agamemnon himself.

Yeah you're right. But the principle will stay the same, I believe: I'll just give Marco a lower Tier for Edges. Up to this moment, he has only benefited from Patron, I've never used Deadeye or Animalkin.

Lower Tier = Less Points = "which effectively makes you lonely and boring"

Imo you should wait for that Edge/Flaw master-list first.

[thirtythr33]

Marco gains 1 SA to "Who has poisoned my father?"

[Korbel]

Sorry to say that, guys, but I'm going to quit the game. Obviously I won't leave right away, I'll just follow roughly up to the point, where 33's plans regarding Marco have already crystalized. You should all know that, I guess.
Not saying "bye" and "thanks", there will be time for that