Common Armor and Shields of Martapa

Padded armor (basically quilted cloth armor)
Leather Armor (boiled leather)
Studded Leather (leather armor re-enforced with metal studs)
Scale Mail (this is armor made of overlapping metal plates)
Chainmail (Made of lots of interlocking metal rings)
Plate armor (armor made of metal to encase the body, each suit fitted to a specific owner)

Shields can be made of wood or steel and can be small, like buckler, or up to the size of tower shield.

Humans use everything of the above, as do dwarves. Elves are more likely to use chainmail or leather (both wood elves and ancient elves). Akicitia will use scalemail, though usually made out of overlapping leather plates, rather then metal. Ogres and Minotaurs use everything, though prefer the chain and half plate.

Extended Time Line 43

2193 PA (Post Avatar)
The ruins of Dragon's Fire, a legendary school for mages, is a found. Scholars, mages and looters head for the site. Mercenaries and camp followers are hired by the droves.

The Bridge over the River Thorns near Merryweather collapses and kills most of the royal family of Merryweather on their way to Stormvale. The heir, a mere five year old, and his lady aunt are the only survivors.

The Unicorn

The Unicorn is the most up scale tavern and inn in Bloodhelm. All the young nobles, and older nobles as well, go to discuss business and pleasure here. The finest fair is served here by men and women in the fine garb of gray and white. Wines from every corner of Martapa are available, especially since patrons here are not concerned with cost. Dinner parties are available and the tavern is open 24 hours a day.

A full stable with all the amenities is available at an extra cost. The tavern is lit by hundreds of magical stones or can be dimmed for those romantic moods. The inn rooms are all suites for 30 gold a night, meals included. Each suite has a fire place, two bedrooms and a central room. Private bathing rooms are also available. There are two floors of rooms above the tavern.

Kelly is the current owner and is beloved by many nobles. She is in her mid fifties, a widow for twenty years. Her three children help her with the day to day, though she employs twenty more people full time.

Common Mounts of Martapa

Mounts are always a good way to get from point A to point B in a timely manner. Here are just a few that can be found on Martapa.

Pony
Horses
*Salay Horses
War Horses
*Salay War Horses
Camels
Donkey
Elephants
**Dogs
**War Dogs
***Gryphons

*Humans only
**For the little people, Fey and the like or even very small humans. Dwarven children may also ride dogs.
***Winged Elves only

Common Weapons for Martapa

So there are some very common weapons for each race, here is just a sampling:

Common Weapons for Every Race: Daggers, Maces, Morning Stars, Spears, Quarterstaves.

Common Weapons for Humans: Crossbows, slings, battleaxes, longswords, scimitars, flails, shortbows, bastard swords, sabers.

Common Weapons for Dwarves: battle axe, throwing axe, warhammer, crossbow.

Common Weapons for Elves: Long bow, saber, shortbow, spears

Common Weapons for Akicitia: shortbow, spears, bolas, blowdarts, shortsword.

Common Weapons for Ogres: Greatsword, bastard sword, heavy crossbow, spear, club, heavy flail, two handed mace, great axe.

Common Weapons for Minotaurs: Great axe, Greatsword, bastard sword, battle axe.

Common Weapons for Skiegs: dagger, shortsword, blowgun, darts, shortbow, shortspear, javelin, sap

Common Weapons for Ancient Elves: sabers, long bows, bolas, scimitar, shortspears

Expanded Timeline 42

2192 PA (Post Avatar)
This year proves to be a quiet one with descent harvests, little bandit activity and few military skirmishes.

Several adventuring bands build a guild house in Merryweather. They hope to sign on many adventuring groups to fund training, medical attention, and a place to stay for those who want to see the world.

Starting Money

Many campaign settings have what is called "starting wealth", to give you an idea of how wealthy a character should be when they are created. Let's start with classes. Since I can't cover every possible class, because of different systems, here's some broad ones.
Mage: 2d4 x 10 gold ducats
Priest: 2d8 x 10 gold ducats
Fighter: 3d10 x 10 gold ducats
Thief: 3d6 x 10 gold ducats
Bard: 3d6 x 10 gold ducats
Knight: 3d12 x 10 gold ducats

Next there should be a modifier depending on position in society. This is something which should be decided with the background.
Poor: 1/2 of the roll
Moderate: Keep roll
Rich: 1.5 x roll

A GM can modifier even more by special background circumstance, but this should give a general idea about starting wealth

Master Carden

Almost all stable masters are Priests of Wesa or venerate her. Carden is no exception. He actually became a Priest of Wesa before he dreamed of becoming a stable master. But he found he loved working with horses and apprenticed himself under the previous stable master of Bloodhelm. He earned the respect of the home guard and many of the noble family. He treats each horse as his child, chiding soldiers that ride them hard, and even some of the nobles.

He is a big man and broad but always gentle with the animals. He is quiet, to the point and always looks people in the eye. His brown hair is thinning. His clothes are particularly spotless, but he works hard at every turn.

If encountered he will be brief, but will talk a person's ear off it someone wants to talk about horses, especially "his" horses.

Moonshade's Spear

Moonshade's spear was something special, just like the Clan Leader herself. She was the first female Wolf Clan Leader and bore a special place in Targon's heart. He presented her with a spear made of a dark wood, deep from the ancient forests of the Tsalagi Mountains in the north. The spear head, though made of flint, is as strong as steal. The whole spear glints with a bluish hue, sparkling even in the dimmest of lights. The magical properties of this staff are several, one of which is the ability to call forth arching lightning which can harm enemies but not the one holding the spear. Lightning is temperamental and so was a good fit with the temperamental Moonshade. There is protections from elemental magic, though not death magic. And the spear has the ability to be thrown incredible distances with accuracy and be recalled to the wielder's hand with a single word.

After Moonshade's death it disappeared for Targon wanted no one else to bare the weapon but Moonshade.

Extended Time Line 41

2191 PA (Post Avatar)
The mythical tomb of High King Peter is spotted outside of the Temple of the Gods. Though his tomb to memorialize him is in Stormvale, his body was taken away by someone after his death. It is rumored the Gods interred Peter's body in a magical tomb and temple which appears to the faithful where ever faith and honor are strong.

The Royal Bird Watchers discovered what may be the ancient nesting grounds of a long extinct magical bird who could make plants grow with their song, (presumably so they could eat the seeds). They seek adventurers to protect them as they examine the site.

The Battle Hardened Tavern

The Battle Hardened Tavern was founded by a squad of men who were the only survivors of the Seventh Battalion during the Mercenary Wars at the Battle of Northern Cole. They lived by blowing up the Mercenary-Lord Velax and his entourage with powerful magic. Because they spent so much time drinking afterwards they figured they would just buy the whole tavern.

This one story affair can seat fifty at tables and a bar. Bards are sometimes available for entertainment and ale flows from very corner of Martapa into this tavern, though at a price for some. Food can be bought, mostly stew and bread though sometimes chicken is available. Prices are reasonable and the place is always open, though much slower in the morning.

The current owner, Bix Tenderson, is a grandson of one of the original owners, six of which still live. When ever they come in they are given free reign over the ale and talk of days gone by for hours on end fill the air.

Master Flash

Master Flash is a big man for a mage, but a magic user and sword wielder combined. He stands tall for a human, over 6 and a half feet and broad at the shoulders. He's blue black hair is long and kept in a ponytail which reaches mid back. His pale skin bares one tattoo, a black wolf with emerald green eyes.

He wears soft hunting leathers and bares a two handed, platinum blue sword. His short cape of blue and gray is more decoration then practical. He also carries a short bow and quiver, though it clearly sees very little use.

Flash does cast magic during battle, but prefers his blade in times of stress.

Master Flash met Duncan when Duncan was nothing but a farmer, but saw great potential in the farmer. Since he'd made so many friends in his travels and Duncan endeared himself with the small act of bringing Flash in out of the rain he decided to pull some favors for Duncan. Though he spent little time with Duncan, Master Flash does inquire after him often.

Flash is not a people person, not wanting to talk much with anyone. He will help anyone in distress and expect nothing in return. But if he is crossed, beware!

Roleplaying Tips for a New Year

So here it is, a new year, and you are thinking, "Heck, I need to roleplay more!" But after school activities, work, and house work are getting in the way...darn it anywho!. Well here are some small things you can do to allow yourself to roleplay, even if it's just for a short amount of time.

My husband and I have two kids. Kids who have after school activities that constantly fill our calender, not to mention all the volunteering that we do on top of it. Our roleplaying friends are far away or just as busy as us. So here are some things we do.

1) Roleplay by email. It's slower and not as fun, because there isn't the social aspect, but at least you get some time in. What we did was the GM would email out the situation and descriptions and add in any dialogue anyone wanted to add then wait for replies to that certain situation and then bundle it back up again before adding some more to the situation. Conversations between PC's sometimes lasted far past the encounter, but that's okay.

2)Roleplay with the Kids. Ours are just about the right age to understand the rules and they love the idea of being dwarves and elves and orcs and the like. (My daughter loves being a dwarven Paladin in Pathfinder...) Some things you need to bare in mind is that kids can't sit for a long time. 2 hours tops. And you can't have a lot of adult subjects, so that does limit some roleplaying and scenarios. But we love setting our "Family Time" aside on Sundays to get a few hours in with the kids.

3)Just mark a time down on the calender and invite the friends over to play. If we want time for ourselves we write it on the calender...otherwise that day is likely to get filled with other things. Make it an event. Order pizza, get a movie for the kiddos who will probably be left out of the gaming. Make it a fun social event, even if it's only for a few hours and only once every other month or so.

Happy Gaming!

Basic Statistics

So every roleplaying game has a few basic statistics: Height, Weight, and Age. Here are some quick facts for the races in my world.

1) Humans: For Taina the average male height will be around 5'8", females 5'5". For Ariella the average male height will be around 6' and females around 5'6". Humans live, on average, to age 60.

2)Dwarves: Both male and female are around 4' in height and the average life span is 500 years.

3)Wood Elves: Both male and female are around 5' in height and the average life span is around 400 years (though they can live longer).

4) Ancient Elves: Both male and female are around 5'6" and live for thousands of years.

5)Akicitia: Males are slightly taller, but both males and females are on average 6'6". They live thousands of years.

6)Minotaurs: Males and females are both, on average, around 6'6" and live, on average, around 60 years.

7)Half-Elves: Males and females range between their elven parent and their human parent height. They live longer then humans, but only live on average 200 years.

8)Ogres: Males are 6 foot tall and females are just a hair shorter. They live around 40 years.

For those math geniuses in your life they can figure out a die roll to make it random for your stats, or you can just pick them in the appropriate range.
Happy Gaming!

Angel of Death

The Angel of Death is a rare, and unwelcome sight. Dressed in deep, enveloping robes, the apparition finds those near death to take them to Lokar's realm for judgement. Those who follow a God are sent to their God's realm for judgement if Lokar believes they should die. He can deny death if he believes it unfair, unjust, or untimely, but rarely does. If the person is important or has made a great sacrifice, Lokar himself will come and retrieve their soul. An Angel of Death is only seen by those who are about to die and those who are sensitive to reading magic auras.

Expectations for the New Year

Can you believe it's already 2012? Neither can I. All those projects I meant to get done still sitting on the desk or on a pile on a shelf. So I've made some goals for this year that may or may not get done, everything from saying "No, I will not do Cub Scouts again next year, my son is out of it!" (I have a hard time saying no to community projects....) to I will get an agent this year. (Haha on that one as well.)

So here are some writing goals I have for this blog:
1)I'd love to set this up like a Player's Handbook, with chapters and everything.
2)Go into more detail about how my world actually runs day to day, since that really is what player characters need as they adventure in a world.
3)Make sure I blog every week day...sort of like I should be writing every week day...we'll see how that goes!
4) Perhaps get a few more readers of my blog...that would be exciting!
5) Post more of my chapters!

I hope that your New Year is bright and full of promise! Enjoy every minute of it!