The Voyage of the Polar Star--OOC

[Trilobite]

Before Canterlot, before Equestria, before even the Princesses, ponies lived in a distant land now spoken of only in stories told at Hearth's Warming Eve and other holidays. Strife among ponies, and the cold fury of the Windigos, buried this land forever in ice and shrouded it in the mists of history.

Some say that this land is nothing more than a legend, a parable. But Cleverboots, once considered one of the brightest historians of all Equestria, is convinced that this land was--is--real, and that it can be found. Her peers may mock her, but Cleverboots is sure of the evidence she has gathered, and has staked what remains of her academic reputation, along with her considerable family fortune, on an expedition to the frozen north.

In this blasted, white wilderness, she and the brave crew of the revolutionary Polar Star search for secrets long lost, determined to uncover the truth for all of Equestria to learn from.

---

This is the OOC section for "The Voyage of the Polar Star", a place for table talk, banter, asking questions, making rolls (if we need to) and plotting against the GM. I'm your humble host, Trilobite.

The friendship bucket (see below) stands at 1D.

First up are the stars of our story, their characters linked to below:

[Emerath]

Hello everyone! I'm Emerath, playing Emerath the unicorn. Here is his story:

---

Emerath was taking care of his normal duties at the theater one day for his father, tidying up the place, taking inventory of props, and going about rehearsal with the actors of the theater, when a pony by the name of Cleverboots had come in. Being polite, Emerath excused himself from his rehearsals and went to go take care of the new arrival.

It wasn't the first time that Emerath had seen her, and he would learn it wasn't the first time that she had seen him. After they had a proper introduction, Emerath would discuss her appearance at the theater and learn that she wanted him for a sort of expedition. Wanting to get the details, Emerath took her to his study above the theater (which caused a bit of gossip among the actors and actresses) to discuss business.

A lengthy discussion would reveal that Cleverboots wanted Emerath as a pilot and navigator, as well as quartermaster of the ship, and Emerath was apprehensive to agree, despite how exciting the idea sounded. One, he'd never flown a ship before, and two, he hardly left home, let alone traveled halfway across Equestria.

He would send Cleverboots on her way, and explain that he would keep in contact, but he had to discuss matters with his family. And, upon doing so with his father, his apprehensiveness became an emphatic yes, as his father urged him to go on the adventure, telling his son, "I've run the theater since before you were born. I don't need you here to keep order." Emerath was still unsure, but he would contact Cleverboots the next day, agreeing to go.

He has since packed all his things and prepared for the trip, and spent the entire night reading about how to pilot ships and looking at maps of the northern areas in his vast family library. And now, he's on his way to the Polar Star, ready to begin his adventure into the unknown north.

-----

• Emerath's Duties (Helmspony) - 1

• Emerath's Profession (Timekeeper and Quartermaster) - 3

• Emerath's Talent (Organization and Planning) - 3

• Emerath's Unicorn Magic - 1

• Emerath's Logic (Thinking Through Encountered Problems) - 2

[tacobob]

I will be using the Unicorn, Pocket Change Here’s what’s going on with him:

Pocket and a small group of fellow archaeologists had been working near the entrance of a recently discovered temple during the week and had been confounded by an assortment of setbacks over the course of the dig. First they were forbidden to enter the temple itself due to reports of 'dark magics' that were detected in the area, along with threats of additional sinkholes that could have sprung up in the area. The temple itself had been discovered by three R.E.A officers who were spending time on old training grounds. A sinkhole opened up, they fell in, and eventually they came across the temple. The archaeologists were eventually permitted to set up a site near the temple, but poor weather and the opening of a second sinkhole prevented them from doing any more digging for the next few days. During this, the bored unicorn ended up foal-sitting a family friend's kid one day. During their little day together, the stallion stopped over at the bookstore, and while Wind Walker (the kid) sat through a reading, Pocket was able to enjoy one of his favorites (an extra-large white chocolate mocha Frappuccino, light blended with an extra shot of espresso, one pump of sugar free raspberry flavoring, and whipped cream (non-runny) on top.) while going through his notes. During this, he noticed the infamous "Crazyboots" going through the stacks, and being the friendly sort struck up a conversation with the pony.

During their little chat, Pocket learned of the scholar's little expedition and could not help but express his I (EXTREME) desire to go along. He was tired of the poor weather that the city was going through at the moment, and ofcourse the red tape he had been getting tangled in as of lately. While a switch from the cold and rainy weather to just cold weather might have seemed to be an issue, the idea of ADVENTURE was not. He also liked the chance of bringing along a trusted companion on this quest that he was suddenly a part of. Unfortunately his own little group of 'shovel-bums' had already snagged a new site, and most of his friends were busy this time of year. He had originally thought he could take a friend of his sisters along, who was a brave member (currently freelance) of the R.E.A, named Fire Walker, but she herself was busy on a job of her own. She suggested her young brother, a Pegasus pony who had just graduated school and was preparing to go off for military training. Sky Walker was young, rather clever for his age and ready to experience something new before joining the Royal Equestrian Army.

Before they were to head off to the air-ship docks (Or what location they were to meet up at), Pocket and Sky made sure to acquire whatever items (mostly of personal nature) that would not be provided by Cleverboots during the trip. From reports of the weather, they decided they would need something beyond a scarf to survive such a climate.

• Pocket's job on the ship (First Mate):1
  
• Pocket's background profession (Archaeologist):2
  
• Pocket's special talent (Finding treasures, both small and large):3
  
• Pocket's Unicorn Magics And Such:2
  
• Pocket's Charm (Aka wooing the lady folks):2
  

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

Hmm? Ember Spark you say? Yeah, I knew the mare, I reckon I might even call her a friend. Hmmm... no. I'd be lying if I said I took to her straight away. When first I saw her, I figured her daft, barging in on the captain and riddling her with inane questions like that. No, I couldn't tell ya what the captain thought 'bout all that neither. Ol' Cleverboots kept her cool, but since she let the mare on the expedition, I'm guessing she saw something I'd missed. Now, this is just a tired old stallion's opinion, but I tell ya that mare's got heart, and she had a smile warm as any coal. As for how it all changed, well, thats a whole story now, isn't it?

---

Ember Spark took a circuitous route to getting aboard the expedition, though perhaps that is not uncommon for an endeavor of this sort. It is somewhat dangerous and not particularly prestigious. She is working on a project of her own, crafting a pocket watch -an exceptionally complicated piece of craftsmareship- but before she can do that she needs to understand timekeeping better.

She heard about Emerath through the grapevine and his special talent for keeping track of time and set off to see if she could learn more about what it takes to keep time well from him. She didn't catch him at the theater, but she did hear about the journey he was about to embark upon. Letting the opportunity slip by was simply not an option, but lucky for her, Cleverboots needed skilled engineers to help maintain the ship and its steam engine.

As for ancient ruins and pre-history, she's not very interested in that at all. However, who's to say what unexpected lessons the past will be able to teach her about time.

• Ember Spark's Duties (Engineer) - 2

• Ember Spark's Profession (Inventor) - 2

• Ember Spark's Talent (Assisting Others' Special Talents) - 2

• Ember Spark's Earth Pony Magic - 2

• Ember Spark's Positive Attitude (Pure Concentrated Sunshine) - 2

[Trilobite]

Awesome! Very nice story-telling in the introductions. Thanks, gentlefolk!

First part of the adventure thread is up!

---

CREW OF THE POLAR STAR

• Salt Spray: Blue earth pony, experienced sailor, 3rd in command. Cutie Mark: a curling wave.
  
• Silver Lining: Grey-and-white pegasus. Ship's healer and counselor. Cutie Mark: a cloud with a silver lining!
  

[tacobob]

Here's the link BTW:

At the start of your first post..Where should our characters be located at that moment? Don't want Pocket to be somewhere he shouldn't be...

[Trilobite]

Thanks for putting the link up there.

As for locations--wherever you think your character ought to be is fine--make it someplace or some activity that tells us something about the character.

[tacobob]

Right, so the characters have yet to join up on the ship....Does this take place before our guys meet Cleverboots?

[Trilobite]

Oh! Sorry if I wasn't clear. We're starting during the expedition, about three weeks after the Polar Star set off.

[tacobob]

Meh. Just posted my first post..It's short..It's kind of crummy, but should improve as I get a feel for this RP. I just hope they all brought along plenty of long underwear.

Oh. OMT: Is this a turn based game when it comes to posting?

[Trilobite]

I liked your post. It totally says a lot about Pocket Change in addition to establishing his role on the ship. Me gusta!

And very nicely done to you all--those first posts really give me a feeling as to what your characters are like and what they typically do aboard the ship. Nice!

In answer to Taco's question: sort of turn-based. Try to let everyone go before posting, and I'll do the same. I don't think we have to worry about a particular order or anything. Sometimes exceptions will arise, and we'll get a feeling for that as we go on.

Oh! Here's where we get to start assigning some numbers to the characters to help with rolls if and when we need them.

You have 10 points.

Divide these points between:

• Your job on the ship
  
• Your background profession
  
• Your special talent
  
• Your species (this will be a general purpose role for 'the kinds of things a pegasus/earth pony/unicorn) can do' that aren't covered by other scores).
  
• Something else of your choice that helps round out or further define your character.
  

Ratings should be between 1 and 3.

1 is competent, you can do most stuff pretty well, but might make some small mistakes and need to be careful or get help with complicated or difficult things.

2 Is really good: the level of skill where ponies start asking "is that your special talent?" or "have you ever thought of doing that for a living?"

3 is exceptional, typically the result of experience, extensive training, or a great deal of natural talent.

When we roll dice, it will be 2d6 plus the most appropriate trait. Typical difficulty for a fairly challenging task will be 7.

I'll only call for rolls when there's an opportunity for interesting or meaningful failure. You want to jump across that bottomless chasm? You totally make it with style. Or maybe you barely make it, hanging on for dear life, before one of the crew hauls you up. It's up to you--no roll is needed, because would it be interesting if you plummetted to your doom? Totally not!

But suppose instead of a bottomless chasm, it's a crevasse that leads to a network of ice caves. Then I'll ask for a roll. Why? Because a band of explorers searching the ice caves for their lost companion is cool, and who knows what could be found down there?

Extra help can come from the friendship bucket.

• Dice are added to the friendship bucket when I think a character, or characters, really does something that reflects the spirit of cooperation so important to ponies.
  
• Any character can take dice from the pool at any time before a roll. These extra dice are then added to the roll. You can take dice to add to another character's roll, no problem.
  
• I'll track the friendship bucket on the first page of this here OOC thread.
  

When you have your 'character sheet', post it under your character description at the top of this thread. Thanks!

---

Okay, Ember Spark: Tell me if you know anything about this type of griffon (they're big, and have sort of snowy-owl colors as mentioned). In fact, feel free to make up facts, stories, or whatever else you might know! Unless it's something way out there, I'll accept it as gospel and it will be true in our story.

Pocket Change: Ditto for you on the tower. Feel free to describe the decorations and inscriptions, along with what you, as an archaeologist, may know, think, or have heard about the decor, or architecture, or even the tower itself! If I feel it's way outside the general mood, I'll ask for or create something else, but otherwise I'll be more than happy to have what you come up with be true.

Emerath: Once you have your helmspony score assigned, I'll make a roll for the maneuver you described. You'll get a +1 for your descriptions of getting the crew to help and from Cleverboot's assistance. That's +1 total, just to be clear.

Everyone: Y'all are owning your characters and running with this in a way I love. Keep it up!

[tacobob]

Gotcha. Stats up. For the tower, should I post a description here to see what you think of it first, or it should it be in the IC board? Also, will you be RPing the NPCs (Like the Griffons or any other non player characters we run into)?

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

Ember Spark's Duty, Profession and Special Talent are all sort of one and the same thing, so I hope you don't mind that I left my stats rather static. Its just the way things turned out.

I'm ok with Ember Spark mentioning things she has heard somewhere before, without making any claim on accuracy. However, you'll have to forgive me, but I'm afraid I'm not really comfortable with making up stuff in the mane RP. I've been down that road before and it doesn't lead anywhere that I care to go.

[Trilobite]

Hey Ginger Mint: no problem whatsoever. Think of it more as a chance to add something to the story if you want to rather than a commandment that you must. I guess the GM has to do some work, after all.

And speaking of work, Taco, I'll in fact be playing NPCs and others we encounter--though if you create a crewpony (as mentioned in our discusions before the establishment of this thread) you can freely describe their actions anytime.

As for the tower, sure, go ahead and put what you're thinking here first. It's a good idea, at least until we all learn more about each other's roleplaying styles.

[Emerath]

Alright, Emerath's stats have been updated. I REALLY hope that his low helmspony score doesn't make us crash. As interesting as that would be!

[tacobob]

I'll have Pocket describe the tower on the IC page...If you have any issues, you can tell me here, and I'll edit them. The others have been posting like clockwork, so I don't wanna drag the game down...

[Trilobite]

Taco, looks good to me!

Now, to pull out some dice for Emerath's piloting...2D6 +1 (Cleverboots helping) +1 (Ember Spark's awesome idea and its very nicely described utilization). Target number is seven.

Ooh! A 6 and a 5! Total is 13. Not only is it done, but done in style!

Ginger Mint, thanks for the warning--post when ya can. You set your character up nicely to be 'absent' for a post or to, too.

Everyone, I am really digging the eloquence and imagination y'all are putting into this!

I'll have my own post up after I deal with all this BBQ chicken...

[Emerath]

Just to make sure I'm not understanding wrong, but wouldn't it have been 14 total when you include Emerath's Helmspony score? I know it doesn't make a different for failure, but I'd like to make sure I understand the system we're using, and I thought you also added their score for checks.

Also, darn you for making me hungry. x_x I haven't eaten all day... and bbq chicken sounds really really good...

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

Sorry to make you wait, Thursday and Friday are a regular thing for me, but I will do my best to post on Wednesday and Saturday at the very least. Also, sorry I didn't have more to say, I have a feeling that the next post might be a bit more substantial though. If Ember Spark sees an opening, she might just go and show off how little tact she really has.

[Trilobite]

Oops! Emerath, you're totally right! 14. Thanky.

And Ginger, just post when the spirit moves ya.

[Trilobite]

Cleverboots refers to 'officers' in the most recent post--that's you lot, just so you know.

I've given the gist of the first environment you see. Feel free to create a scene moving through there-you can also embelish the environment--I trust you have the tone of the place. If you want to interact with one another, Cleverboots, or the griffons as you're moving, that totally works too.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

Just a little tidbit of nature knowledge to share. I did a little looking up for omnivorous birds, particularly omnivorous birds that live in northern climates. Not saying there's any relation, but who knows.

The Black-capped Chickadee while small, is an omnivorous bird that can survive cold temperatures and has white and black markings. But they're even more interesting than that. They have very complex calls, one of which is a very specific warning of danger. You can actually determine how big they think a given threat is by how long they extend the warning call. They also are capable of going into a form of torpor, where their body temperature plummets in order to survive cold temperatures. Pretty neat, huh?

The Dark-eyed Junco is a little sparrow that hangs out in northern climates. They come in lots of different shades of grey and white, an amount of variety that is supposedly perplexing to those who study them. During the winter, they form flocks and will sometimes even flock together with different species of birds (like chickadees, sparrows and nuthatches.) And they tend to form distinctive hierarchies while flocking together, and will sometimes stake out a bird feeder for their group.

(Of course, eagles and owls are strictly carnivores in real life, but hey, its magic. ) Also: Working on my post now.

[tacobob]

Yeah, I tried to leave it open...These Griffons are free to eat anything..Just as it's not Pony! Pocket and Sky's entire griffon culinary expertise comes from the fact that the younger pony knew a griffon in HS who liked Anchovies on her pizza. Yeck.

On a very cute note...I had mentioned in the past that Pocket had met Cleverboots when he was stuck babysitting a friend's kid sister...This one artist is working on a pic..Will have other characters in it, but I thought it would be fun to share this very rough pic.Pocket and Wind Walker (The kid is a Pegasus, but her saddlebag hides the view of her wings..)

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

Ember Spark probably knows quite a bit about griffins in Equestria anyway, probably had some as friends growing up. The problem is, nobody asked her.

It was always my intention to channel just a little bit of Pinkie Pie with Ember Spark, but seeing as how she's been up for a very long time, she's going to be a little bit extra random. At least until she starts getting to know everypony a little bit better.

Also: That is a super cute picture. (the pose reminds me a lot of Brianblackberry's art, though I guess the heads look like their own unique style. )

[tacobob]

Heh, I'm sure once they get settled down and comfortable, they'll be able to put their heads together and discuss more what they know about certain things..But for now..It's really really cold outside!