Ogres & Oubliettes & The Mystery Of All These Dice... (Open)

[303SeeOther]

 

 The classroom was different.

 

 Gone were all the instruments and accoutrements associated with learning and education, banished to the sidelines of the room. In their place, right in the centre of the room, stood a low table, borrowed from the library. Surrounding it sat a collection of pillows, cushions and blankets, which would hopefully keep everycreature comfortable. The table itself bore all the things necessary for the game; stacks of paper, dice of every conceivable size and shape, a brand new copy of the Ogres & Oubliette rulebook, candles, pencils, yet more paper and an assortment of wooden figurines to represent- well, it wasn't clear what they were supposed to represent, but imagination was the most important component in this game.

 

And then, with the curtains closed, and the few candles carefully lit, the transformation of the room was complete. The rest of the room was plunged into darkness, camouflaging the furniture she'd pushed aside to make room for everything and everycreature. Not only did this help hide the fact that the room was still a classroom, but it helped create a sense that they could be anywhere. The darkness and the shadows could contain anything and, with the help of imagination and sugar, it presented the perfect backdrop. 

 

In the flickering candlelight, Yona sat by the table. In much the same way that she needed to transform the classroom into a room that was suitable for imagining terrifying dungeons and snowy peaks and pirate ships, she felt that she needed to really dress the part of the Game Master. The rulebook - the one that she'd been excitedly reading every night for the last two weeks - didn't offer much in the way of guidelines for how one was supposed to look. The young yak had experimented with wearing a blanket over her head like a hood to seem extra dramatic, toyed with the idea of wearing an eyepatch, but had finally settled on letting her hair down, and decorating it with ribbons. Hopefully that was the proper attire. 

 

All there was to do now was wait, and for Yona to try and contain her excitement. 

[SteelEagle]

 

What was a role-playing game? Gallus didn't understand the appeal or the need for it, especially in a land full of magic and mystery. Why spend your time talking about adventures and pretending like you were little kittens when you could go have them if you so desired? Honestly, it seemed an activity designed specifically to target his favorite place in the world: Inside, with a roof over his head, sleeping lazily. It seemed like such a nerdy thing, too. When Yona had breathlessly explained it, Gallus couldn't help but think it sounded like a campfire story with a lot of unnecessary math. And unnecessary camp fire stories to boot, though he didn't have the heart to tell the overly excited Yak that. Not that he would ever want to play it....

 

...Yet here he was, walking into the empty classroom with some paper, a pencil, and some weird dice. Uggh. He couldn't say no to his friends, even he really wanted to say no, even when he thought the activity was kinda lame. Of course, just because the activity was lame didn't mean the company was. Yona made most things fun and he was sure that she would work her yak-fur off to make this fun. The others? Eh, he didn't know who else was invited to this little party of theirs. Probably other students. Was Silversteam going to be here? Sandbar? Ocellus? Smolder? Who knew. He had trouble imagining any of them here. Then again, he had an even tougher time imagining himself here. Guess his imagination, or theater of the mind for roleplaying purposes, wasn't all that strong.

 

"Hey Yona," he said aimlessly as he took his seat. The room was dark and atmospheric, he'd give her that much. "Nice ribbons," he jabbed in a friendly manner as well. It was true, she always did her hair well, but he wondered why the ribbons considering the atmosphere of the place. They weren't spooky ribbons. Was this supposed to be spooky? Huh. Was role-playing spooky or fun? He didn't know. Both? Neither? Gallus was less interested in coming to a conclusion than he was in hanging out with his friends, so he was just happy she seemed to be excited for it. Somecreature had to be! "Looking excited over there. I got my character ready, I think. Who else is supposed to show up?" Gallus asked as he put his stuff on the table, complete with a terrible drawing of a yak in heavy armor wielding a greatsword.

 

[tacobob]

 

 

Smolder was feeling rather high in the clouds today.

 

She managed to finish every single bit of her homework! Every bit! And just in time to see what Yona had planned for the rest of their day.

 

The yak had left her a rather odd little message that said ‘DRAGON COME TO BEST GAME EVER!’. This also included an small book-shaped package and an extra note to bring some snacks, along with an 'Ye Ol' Map To Ye Ol' Place'. 'The package was not to be opened until BEST GAME EVER started. If she headed this warning, she would be cursed by the ' Wondrous Winds of Watoomb' and the 'Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth'.  Smolder had no idea what those were, but they did not sound good.

 

Since her friend’s tender little tummies or brittle little teeth could not handle a dragon’s preferred snack of gems, she had stopped at the local mini-mart for a twelve pack of neon green ‘Hoot’n’Holler’n Jump'n Joy'Juice’ citrus type soda and a very big bag of 'Huff Puff' cheese flavored puffs. Her drinks did not contain a single once of citrus, nor did her cheese puffs have actual cheese. How odd. She also brought along an small pack of Ammolites that the good Dragon Lord had sent her along with her monthly care package. The multi-colored gemstones tasted like pure happiness. She made sure to leave Spike a small bag considering the poor little guy had to fend with Equestrian rocks all his life. These little babies are gonna knock his scales off!

 

Smolder cautiously entered the room. It was dark. Would she be eaten by a Grue? Thankfully, the darkness was pushed back by some candle light. There were plenty of pillows about. Were they having a sleepover in one of the classrooms? Weird. Then something else dawned on her. There were books. Paper. Pencils. Did she forget an homework assignment? Or were these guys doing EXTRA homework? No. The books had colorful illustrations of heroes and monsters. Damsels and demons. There were also dice.

 

She quickly tore open her package, and sure enough, there was an well used copy of the same book Yona had on the table, along with a bag of her own dice. Apparently the book had been owned by someone named Pocket Change. A few sheets of paper fell from the book. They each had a different name labeled along the tops, and some interesting information....Sir Gallophoof the paladin....Lord Majesty the caviler. Sunglory the cleric. and Half-Note the bard. A final sheet was quickly scooped up for someone called 'Fast Paw'. An Diamond Dog monk. This all finally dawned on her. This was an 'Role-Playing Game'. She had heard Spike mutter something about 'Boy's Night' and 'O&O' to the big red stallion he would sometimes be seen with.

 

She had something very snarky to say, but she could not do it. The yak obviously spent a good amount of time working on this, and anytime a yak does something beyond SMASH EVERYTHING, it was a modern miracle.

 

"Hey  Yona..... Gallus...", Hopefully the others would be showing up soon. After placing her things on the nearby table, the dragon found herself a seat, "I have an general idea what this is...", she glanced up at her fuzzy big friend with a grin as she flipped a few pages, "Oh, and nice ribbons by the way.."

 

 

[szalhi]

Sandbar did a bit of Tabletop Roleplaying back in Seaward Shoals. An old stallion back there was into it and tried to drag him into it. He couldn't really get into it properly, it was a bit complicated even when they tried to dumb it down. However, that was back then and now he was certainly smarter and he was pretty sure that the newer versions were designed to be less complicated to get into. Of course, he couldn't remember much properly from the game, and he wasn't sure if the changes were drastic enough. He would probably be learning it completely again. He didn't need to give it much thought when deciding to join the game, it was clear how much Yona wanted to do it and he couldn't let her down. He couldn't let any of them down.

 

Walking into the room, he saw that the place had basically been transformed. It wasn't meant to be a classroom anymore, it was more of like a blank slate. Perhaps to distract them from the educational mood and to put them more into the world of imagination. He would say it was a bit excessive, but he appreciated the amount of effort Yona put into this so he didn't say anything negative about it. "Hey guys, sorry if I'm late," he said before looking around. He was the fourth one there. On the other half of lateness but not the last one. "Guess I'm okay. Nice work on the place Yona. It was all you right?"

 

He went over to the table and took a seat. "Those ribbons Yona, they're in theme right? Might give us a bit of a hint, although I'm not getting much of a complete idea yet." He pulled over a character sheet. He remembered his old character. A level four Paladin. That was all he made it up to before quitting back then. The GM was probably being nice back there with the Experience. Well, he kind of had to finish what he started, so his character here would also be a Paladin. He couldn't remember much else about the character. He didn't really care what his race was, so he would probably do that at the last second. "I still have to create- well, recreate my character from back then. None of you are Paladins right?" Not that he minded if any of the others were, he just wanted a bit of a diverse team. 

[Pretzelparty]

 

Ponyville was so interesting and there were so many generous souls filling it. Just from playing in the town square recently, Yama had been able to buy a big breakfast for himself and even a lunch! Food couldn't satisfy all his needs, though. He needed some recreation! What could he do in a town so generous as this? He could visit that apple farm and see if he could volunteer his services... but that dog of theirs might be a bit too curious about him.  Maybe all of that Hullabaloo at that school could present an interesting opportunity. He'd paid his brother a visit the other day and he said something about a game of O and O  being played. 

 

Yama had watched his brother play that game a couple times... and even joined in once! back when it first released (boy how long ago was that?) he played a cleric. Maybe this was the chance when he could play her again! Or maybe he could be a diamond dog rogue of somekind. The possibilities were endless!

 

As the bouncing ball of blonde energy cantered through the hallways he noticed the distinct smell of yak coming from one of the doors! This must be the place! He remembered Yona from his time at the running of the leaves in the stands. One day  had to see if he could get her to be the lead vocals for a band. Well, those were ideas for later. Now it was time to throw some dice!  The second he popped his head in the door he noticed a couple fascinating knew faces! 

Hoping to make a good first impression, he hung his intrument on the coat-rack by the door with its strap. He dipped his head in greating in spoke up in his usual cheery register,"Hey there, Everyone! Is this really  just welcoming anybody in  to play? I'm a little rusty but I'd love to get a chance to roll some dice with all of you!"

 

 

[Hippo]

 

The pink hippogriff slammed the door open after Yama walked into the room. As she hovered in the doorway she squealed. "Best game ever!" she flailed her claws a few times and then landed softly on the floor, folding her wings to her back, and quickly trotted over to where the others were. It was the usual gang, except for one creature, the one who came just before her. Silverstream immediately had flashbacks of the first day of school at the academy when she learned about so many different creatures she never knew existed. She zipped in front of Yama. "Hi! What are YOU?" Silverstream curiously looked around his features, noticing the subtle differences in his pelt texture, the lizard-like spots on his back, and his long flowing tail, just to name a few oddities. It made Silverstream smile. "I've never seen a pony like you before." She hung a talon on her chin and her eyes shrunk with astonishment. "It's like there are sixty different kinds of ponies!"

 

Before Silverstream could take the time to listen, she was reminded of the reason she came. She was really excited about what Yona seemed to describe as a game involving imagination. She jumped towards Gallus and stood next to him. She gave him an excited eye, but did not say anything. Instead, she turned to Yona. "If we can pretend to be anything we want this game, can I be whatever he is?" Silverstream pointed towards Yama.

[303SeeOther]

 The little beginnings of a smile on Yona's face quickly turned into a fully-fledged and beaming grin at the arrival of friends and, although the Ogres & Oubliettes rulebook made some mention about how they were players and she was the Game Master, Yona preferred to think of them as friend-players. Or player-friends. Either way, she promptly abandoned her spot behind the table to greet them all, because regardless of what the book said about roles and who had to do what, hospitality was important.

 

 And with what she had planned for the game, Yona wanted one last opportunity today to be herself, before unleashing menacing monsters, terrifying traps, plucky princesses and troves of treasure. The game required a yak who could stand firm.

 

 "Griffon! Not sure who else turn up. Yona invite everycreature," which was true, insofar as she had spent just about every available minute of the last few days leaving rather vague and cryptic notes about the game. And, just to be sure, she'd spread the message via word-of-mouth, which presumably Yona had taken to mean 'shout loudly about Ogres & Oubliettes to anyone who was unfortunate to stand still for long enough for her to shout at them'. She was about to say something about what the character Gallus had created was, but then she spied the masterpiece of a picture on his character sheet (there was no such thing as a terrible drawing of a yak, Yona considered, because by definition all drawings of a yak are the best), and so rather than whatever it was she was planning to say, she simply - and, unsurprisingly, loudly - exclaimed "ADVENTURE YAK!".

 

The happy grin remained. If anything, it grew as Smolder arrived; she had brought snacks. While the rulebook did not make any mention whatsoever of snacks, the few ponies she'd spoken to about the game did seem to spend a lot of time talking about the importance of food. Food with mysterious names and equally mysterious ingredients. What was a huff puff? Didn't she see one of them in the list of monsters at the back of the rulebook?

 

 "It best game ever," Yona explained, sort of, as Smolder got herself settled, "Friends play and they explore scary dungeon! Fight monsters! And ribbons! And roll dice! Make characters and snacks and Yona hope everycrea-"

 

The excitement that she'd been carrying with her for the last week threatened now to break free, in much the same way that a beaver's dam could only hold back so much water, as Sandbar arrived. Fortunately she'd moved most of the wooden furniture to the sides of the room, because at this rate, the young yak couldn't exactly be held responsible for any smashed furniture. The low table, now freshly laden with snacks, might be the first casualty of the game.

 

 "-all Yona! And pony not late. And ribbon important. And can play pal-adin," she'd stressed the part which seemed to be the most important, "or anything! Imagination best part of game! Pony can even be a yak like griffon. Like saying goes, one yak best, two yak best, three yak best, four yak best, five yak best, six yak best..."

 

 The arrival of Yama mercifully cut what may very well have been a very long saying short. It was one thing, and a wonderful thing at that, for Yona to see her friends from school getting themselves settled around the table. It was quite another thing, quite an exciting thing, to make a brand new friend with the help of the game. After he'd safely stowed away his strange instrument, Yona carefully trotted over to him and gestured back at the still intact table.

 

 "Everycreature welcome! Especially new friends. Even rusty new friends," Yona nodded enthusiastically. As she was entirely new to the game, she knew it'd be very helpful to have somecreature who was familiar with how the game was supposed to work at the table. Even though it stood to reason that she would be the best at running the game, the stakes felt that much higher now she had a new friend to impress. "Come sit. Yona got good cushions from all across school! Not as comfy as sleeping hay but less mess. And introduce self to friends!"

 

 Speaking of friends, another had arrived, and not only did Silverstream seemingly share her excitement for the game, she expressed it in a way that Yona could easily understand and appreciate. While there was a time and a place for subtlety amongst yaks, a loud proclamation of something - anything - being the best made things very clear. While Silverstream inspected Yama with her usual irrepressible curiosity, Yona carefully went back to her spot at the table, her hair brushing against the ground as she went. Once she'd successfully made it back to her own cushion, she addressed Silverstream properly. It was time, after all, to start trying to put her serious face on, even though she was still grinning uncontrollably.

 

 "Hippogriff can be anything! Even not a yak," she refrained from saying aloud that this would be a very strange thing to do, but she thought it loud enough that it wouldn't take some kind of mind-reading magic to pick that up, "but Yona think you should ask new friend. Yona happy if new friend happy. In fact, we make characters now! Or if have character ready, show it to everycreature! Starting... now!" 

[SteelEagle]

Gallus was shameless. He didn't know much about roleplaying games but he knew he wanted to be good at them if he was going to so much as roll a single die today, so he had done some reading of the rules. Yaks were strong (not too smart) and Berserkers were good at dealing damage and all that seemed simple. More importantly, he knew who the GM was and wanted to get on her good side. Gallus knew Yona and knew what Yona liked, and that was Yaks- so it was easy enough to decide what he wanted to do. Some creatures might call it a shameless move and they were right, but Gallus wasn't above cheesing his way to victory. Besides, this was a cooperative thing. His cheesing was really more like the group's cheesing. They should thank him. "Good choice, right? I think that if anycreature could rock an adventure, it would be a Yak. So his name is Smasher, and he is a Yak Berserker who swings a big axe. Pretty cool right?" Gallus asked, showing off his poorly drawn picture. It worked because it worked.

 

Gallus kept a smooth face on as Smolder came in. She was a cool customer when it came to what was considered more or less acceptable for self-respecting kittens, dragons, and otherwise to do and she didn't look like a dragon who had spent time reading the feat list for level one Berserkers. Not that he did...intentionally. She also brought all the snacks they would need. Neat. He had gained a few pounds since he had moved to the school and it felt like if there was one thing ponies had excelled at without debate it was in sugary snacks and leisure foods. He would partake, gladly. "Hey there Smolder. Good thinking on the snacks. I didn't know whether or not I was supposed to bring something...anyway, yeah, its pretty easy. Easy enough even for you to grasp," he said, sticking his tongue out churlishly. He liked kidding with his friends and with Smolder it was fun to be a bit rough. She didn't hold back, so why would he?

 

Sandbar took his attention next. Good colt, good friend. Kind of the perfect representation of an Equestrian, wasn't he? He was always so understated and calm that it could be hard to remember that he knew more about what was going on than the rest of them. He also seemed to know a bit more about the game too than the rest of them. He wanted to recreate a character? Heh. He was having a  hard enough time making a character, let alone recreating one. Good for Sandbar, and of course he'd be a Paladin, the goody-four shoes he was. "Nah, I'm a Berserker. You should be fine as a Paladin. You've played before?" He asked rhetorically. This would put him in the position of party leader. Was he ready for it? Likely. Sandbar could surprise a lot of creatures, especially himself. "Paladins do some cool stuff, right? What do you think Smolder would like to play?" He asked for the dragon's benefit. She'd never ask and sometimes you had to rip the bandaid off, but if anycreature could answer and help, it'd be Sandbar.

 

And he could probably tell Gallus who the stranger was. Gallus was far past his grumpy, non-talkative stage but that didn't mean he would leap to meet anycreature new...especially ones that looked a little old to be playing in a game being played by students and ran by one. What was it they said- young in heart something something? Gallus looked at the stranger as it bounced and talked and generally just seemed rather excited to play. Whatever. The more the merrier? Seemed harmless enough. He also seemed to know a little bit about playing the game. Cool. Well, at least a growing number of them understood the concepts. "Hey," Gallus said laconically. Not distant, not rude, but definitely not very engaging. He didn't know this stranger yet. Keeping your cards close to the chest was a time-honored tactic. 

 

His claws stayed close to his chest as Silverstream came in, a single claw lazily playing with some of his chest feathers as she decided to spend all her time talking to and about the stranger. What was so interesting about the stranger? He wasn't so interesting. Not that she was wrong in saying there seemed to be like sixty versions of ponies. He was always told there were three, maybe four, but it seemed like the list grew and grew. She gave him an excited eye and after he remembered to breath and stop playing with his chest floof he smiled and then looked nervously away, back at his character sheet. When she asked whether she could play as the stranger though..."No! I mean, umm, pretty-pretty sure there are only certain options, hehehe, sorry. In the book, since- I leafed through it, you know, I was too busy- flying not...reading the books, you know, working on my wings. Because. I fly, you know."

[tacobob]

 

 

The young dragon ran her claws through a few pages of the handbook’s ‘character creation’ rules. She decided against using any of the characters that had been left in the book. She would make her own. And since the whole idea of playing Ogres & Oubliettes was to play a character different than the player. She was mighty dragon! She could fly and breathe fire and had sturdy scales. She needed to go opposite!

 

Her eyes briefly fell upon Sandbar as he entered the room....Ideas formed in her head, and note-pad. She would play a little pony! A elf-unicorn*! Powerful in magic, but weak as the local diner's coffee. She would need a strong character to hide behind. And a familiar....Every good wizard needs one....She pictured an dumb bright blue kitty who she would call....Gall? Luss? Lucy...Yes, she will be named Lucy. Lucy the dumb blue cat. She was dropped on her head at an early age, and while she was dumb as a rock, she was really good at following her master's commands.  And if necessary, she could be thrown at the group's foes for 1d4 damage.  And her wizard would be an evoker. As she was going to 'voke' some monsters up real voking good.

 

As she doodled in her pad, a rather unique looking fellow entered the room. He almost looked like a half-dragon, half-pony! Was that possible? She tried not to think of such things..Maybe he was an 'Kirin'? Professor Fluttershy mentioned something about a race of unique people she and Professor Applejack discovered in an placed called 'Kirin Grove'. Peaceful creatures who turned into fiery rage-monsters known as 'Nirik' when angered. Imagine playing an Kirin pyro-mancer? That would be fun, but Kirin have to be mad to go from lame to awesome and there were intelligence penalties for doing so and also fire spells kind of stunk in O&O  as every other monster was immune to fire based spells. Buh.

 

Sometimes when Ocellus was in one of her moods, she liked to shift into something..unique. She would have learned about the Kirin with the others during Fluttershy's class. Apparently Silverstream was asleep during that class. And speaking of the her....Instead of a can of ‘Hoot’n’Holler’n Jump'n Joy'Juice’, it would be better that she had an bottle of water instead. The bouncy Hippogriff did not need caffeine and whatever Brominated vegetable oil was to get her 'Hoot'n and Holler'n. She was already that way. A nice bottle of 'Peaceful Grove' artesian, locally sourced gluten free water would be far more suitable.

 

Smolder could not help but grin as Yona got into her role as the 'Game Master'. Yaks were usually stern faced creatures, but when they were happy, few species could match their giddiness.  Oh sweet mother of Torch! If her family knew she was thinking of giddiness, they would disown her...Again! It was bad enough she couldn't stop looking at the Kirin as he was kind of cute. And then mostly hot when mad. Which was not bad. Unless he was Ocellus. Hmmm. An Barbarian Yak with exotic weapon proficiencies in an double-bladed axe. Now that would be deadly...Unless they were all stuffed into a small dungeon. Then that would suck. "Seriously bird-brain.", she glanced over at her beaky, cheeky friend. "Go with a double-bladed sword or axe. He could hold the hilt in his mouth and just charge into stuff while bezerking. Slashing at foes at both sides." He would even be deadlier with a support mage. Haste and strength spells would make 'Smasher' into an unstoppable juggernaut! But nobody wants to play a support character. They're boring and they don't get any glory. And then 'blue bird of sappiness' dared to mock her!

 

"Apparently not easy enough for you to grasp.", she teased the cat-bird as she turned the invitation over. There was a crude drawing of an very happy Yak that was obviouslly supposed to be their host. Little pink hearts emerged from the yak's head as she bounced about in yakky-happyiness. Next to the sketch was the words BRING BEST FOOD! Would these imitation cheese-like puffs cause such an display from their O&O Overlord? Only time will tell.

 

 

"I'm playing an elf-unicorn evoker named...", She had not though of a name! Crap! Ponies usually had silly names. Princess Shiny-Butt. Bubbles. Seawinkle. Tootsie. Ugh. Her eyes quickly scanned the room. Her character was a mage...That Kirin has a cute hinder..And bouncy girl is from the sea...Mag-Butt-Sea?  "Majesty...she has a familiar named Lucy and while she normally sticks with combat spells, I'll give her a support or buff spell or two, so you dumb warrior types don't die right away."

 

She looked rather pleased with herself as she showed off her character. Complete with an decently drawn orange mare clad in a wizard's robe and cap. She was accompanied by a somewhat familiar, derp eyed blue cat with stink lines coming from her mouth and a couple of swirly lines over her head. Smolder also made sure their 'Game-Master' got a good look at the sheet for approval.

 

 

Spoiler

 

* This is actually a thing in O&O

 

 

[szalhi]

"Alright, so I'm definitely being a Paladin then," He said as he started to build the rest of his character. "I played the game a while ago, but like I said, that was a while ago. I haven't really read through the recent rules thoroughly, so as far as I know, I'm basically on par with everyone else." He probably sounded really modest, but it was kind of true. After some deliberation, SandBar decided that his Paladin would be a minotaur. He thought that the race best fit the role while not being a pony. A big tall stance to protect others, and with dextrous hands to hold equipment. Minotaur's weren't very fast creatures so there would be some penalties there, but it wouldn't be his key strengths anyway. Minotaur's were normally an isolationist species, so a Minotaur to be away from their group would be quite deviant. Maybe, their tribe doesn't exist anymore. That's probably why they became a Paladin in the first place. What about a name? The only minotaur name he really knew was from his teacher's recollections of one named 'Iron Will'. It didn't sound like his actual name, so he bet that their names were short and probably didn't need to make sense, kind of like Yaks. Why waste time on meanings? Maybe... Marcol. Yeah, he guessed that would work. 

 

While he was thinking of his character, two more creatures walked into the room. Silverstream and... no wait, that wasn't Ocellus. Unless it was, but wasn't Ocellus supposed to be doing something around now? No, it wasn't Ocellus. It was somecreature he had never met before, and he was uncertain of their species. It didn't really matter to him though. In her trademarked excitement, SilverStream marked this game as the best, although he knew for a fact that there was no way she could have played this game before. "Hey Silver, it really is a good game, if you can get a Good GM and can understand the rules good enough." 

 

So Smolder was playing a wizard as her character. Quite the contrast against herself, but he guessed that was kind of the point. If he put the same treatment on himself then he would probably be a dragon Barbarian or something, but it wasn't really something he felt like playing. He didn't want to force himself to not have fun. "Hey, you don't really have to worry about that Smolder. No one will be dying when I'm around." It would probably be him that died first, knowing his nature.

 

"Alright, so my character is Marcol the Paladin Minotaur. He is the sole survivor from his tribe and rather than risk trying to join one of the other tribes at the thought that he could be seen as abandoning his original tribe, he decided to adventure out to try and help other creatures," he explained his character's simple backstory. "He doesn't get spells until level 2 so I haven't really thought of what I could use, although Lay on Hands is a pretty cool action. If Smolder is going to go support, then maybe I can focus more on Divine Smite, Although I kind of want to go defensive with Oath of the Ancient and Protection." He hadn't drawn his character yet, Minotaur's were differently shaped then ponies so he didn't really want to attempt it yet.

 

 

[Pretzelparty]

 

 

Yama was always eager to meet new creatures himself so as soon as Silverstream zipped back over to him he mirrored her words with perfect intonation. "I'm a w--- I'm a Kirin! From the eastern lands of Neighpon! I've never gotten to meet a bird um... pony?" The stallion paused a moment to ponitficate what exactly made a pony a pony (one of life's deepest philosophical queries) but then perked back up and bowed his head in greeting. "I'm Yamakara no Ongaku! Means "music of the mountains" back home but my friends all call me 'Yama' for short! It's nice to meet you and it wouldn't bother me if you played  a kirin!" 

 

Him not actually being a kirin probably made that call so much easier to make.

 

Gallus' little "Hey." managed to catch Yama's attention very easily, "Hey there! Nice to meet you, stranger!" Yama didn't say anything, but watched as the peppy Hippogriff shared a couple words with the griffin. His brow arched a moment and his eyes widened when he saw the blue birdcat fluff up and took note of him catching his breath. A small smile came to his face as Gallus stumbled through a response to SIlverstream's question. Yama was not a stallion who was good at concealing his feelings so his gleeful smile as his eyes bounced between the two feathery friends might seem a little out of place. Realizing that this thing between the two of them probably couldn't benefit from his excitement right now he brought his attention back to the game... then made his way over to the table across from the orange dragon.

 

He gave Smolder a cheery smile and wave from across the table, "Hey there! I like your horns! Maybe one day I can grow mine to be as long and shiny too!" Was that an insensitive thing to say? Yama hadn't met many dragons but from the stories he heard they sounded really cool if a bit rough around the edges when it came to friendliness. But he came from a family where play wrestling was common. Had to be tough to live on the mountains after all! Oh! Was that common ground for them? He heard Dragons often lived among mountain peaks...maybe that could be a conversation topic later!

 

Hearing Smolder elaborate on her character and the spells she'd use he grinned, "Thanks for making my job a little easier! I'm gonna bring in a cleric character I made a loooooooooooong time ago." The stallion took in a deep breath and exhaled some wisps of green flames... although they didn't set fire to the table. Instead they picked up a pencil and drew out a simple but decent doodle of a dragon in what seemed like to be clerical vestments and holding a hammer. "Her name's Lamplight and she's a a good natured dragon whose left her homeland in the far mountains to spread the word of her faith mostly through healing but other times by smashing if the need arrives." He looked up to smolder, "When i first made her up I actually pictured her around your size! She didn't turn out as cool looking as you did I think." 

 

"Thanks again for the seat and sheats, Miss Yona! I do have some questions though? Are the racials and stats for dragons in the game still the same as I remember?" The stallion scoured his brain for the text he recalled reading all that time ago, "If I remember right was like a plus one to physical and magic for every ten gold pieces on you? Having to role for constitution every turn when battle is going on around those red and orange trees? The ability to fly a short distance?" To any of those familiar with the game some of these might sound familiar to varying degrees... but the odd thing was that the bonuses he listed were from an older edition of the game. About at least forty years old. Maybe his first game was just with a really old set. Sure. That's it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hippo]

 

Silverstream was a little dejected by Gallus' shortness on the validity of being about to play as a kirin in the game. But soon into his rant, she realize he was being a little presumptuous, and Silverstream swapped attention to the others before she could even muster the discipline to figure out why his blue feathers were so ruffled. Yona and Yama gave Silverstream the approval of being able to play a kirin. So she replied her intention. "Grrreat! I'll be a kirin and I'll be named..." Silverstream scratched her beak for a few fast seconds and then her eyes lit up with an idea. "Todd!"

 

Silverstream took notice of the others who seemed more experienced with character creation. She didn't really know what she was doing, but she was ready to attempt blending into the setting by observing how others were making their case for their personas. Gallus was playing a berserker yak named Smasher, probably to gain favor from Yona. Smolder created what she said was an elf-unicorn evoker named Magesty who apparently had a pet. Sandbar was going with a paladin minotaur named Marcol. Yama brought an old character of his, a cleric dragon named Lamplight. While listening to all the characters, Silverstream became overwhelmed. She had no idea there was this much detail in creating characters for a game like this and that several of the others had their information prepared. She was a little lost. "So what are all these titles for? What would Todd's title be?"

[SteelEagle]

 

That Kirin was too damn happy. It was freaky. It was like Professor Pinkie Pie in kirin form. It just seemed strange. Gallus had a pretty good radar for this kind of stuff to. They all did, it was why Cozy Glow had no chance, but his had been honed in Griffonstone where you had to be on your talons at all times. He sincerely doubted that an adult Kirin was just wandering around Ponyville and heard about an O&O game being played by students and was just waltzing in. Something was...off. He didn't know what it was, though. Maybe he was just paranoid. Equestria was a weird place and maybe this was normal and he was the strange one. "Welcome to the game, Yama. I'm Gallus," the griffon replied, more guarded in spirit than word. He'd give this strange Kirin a chance.

 

But he was still strange and he didn't know why everypony was so into him. Especially Silverstream, but then again she just liked new things and experiences. He didn't He liked the same perch and the same comforts. Or at least he pretended to. That was perhaps one reason why he didn't understand why she would want to play a strange species when she could play a normal one...but she would probably be creative enough to pull it off.
Kirins weren't in the book! Like, what, they could just start making stuff up now? He had read the player races and there wasn't a thing about Kirins in there. What, were they going to take dragons and unicorns and smash them together? Ugghhhh. Fiiiiiinneeee. How would they even go about it? Gallus flipped through the race selections and started talking under his breath. Finally he spoke. "Okay, well, if we're going to just start making up races to play that aren't in the book, then look at unicorns, look at dragons, and then we can make a level adjustment. Take some traits and come up with something. Kirins have a draconic breath attack that follow a half-level progression and can cast spells at a half-level progression? I don't know. Maybe a ranged character of some kind? Todd the Kirin Ranger has a..theme, I guess" he said, leaning on his right talon arm and looking away from it and instead focusing on something slightly less awful.

 

Only slightly less. Smolder  returned his jabs with a character and everything. Lucy the kitten, the smelly kitten familiar. Gallus cocked a grin. "Not a bad picture, for a dragon at least. Needs more stink lines. Also, a longer tail. You know, to trip your enemies whe you throw it," he shifted in his chair, looking over his character. "I didn't want to use a double bladed weapon. That could hurt friends in close quarters, and as a Berserker, Smasher already has trouble when he is raging trying to not hurt friends. Don't want to double that up, right? Otherwise it would easy for Smasher to put just about anyone down by accident. Don't want that do happen now, do we?" He looked around, "not that I've thought about it or anything. Just looked at the book for a moment," speaking of looking at things, he took another look at his invite. The back of it, namely. Not a drawing there for him. He showed it to Smolder. "Looks like Yona knows who has the better sweet tooth between us. Guess she didn't want a repeat of the fish incident," he said with a nervous chuckle. He was an omnivore shaded carnivore. He knew ponies didn't eat meat, how was he supposed to know who else didn't?
 

Speaking of not eating meat, Sandbar had a good diea on what he wanted to do. A Paladin certainly seemed cool. Frontline fighter with healing was always good and it seemed like he wouldn't be alone up there. Not that Smasher would mind, Smasher loved action. Sandbar also came up with a story. Sounded pretty cool. Did Minotaurs have tribes? Were there more than, like, three or four minotaurs? Oh well. Fantasy game and all that. "Marcol sounds like he has a lot going on, Sandbar. What tribe was he? Good character," Gallus said as if he knew half of what Sandbar was saying. Only half- he couldn't let on that he knew every word that came out of Sandbar's mouth. Bad for business.

 

*The game will start whenever we are ready. We will be vague on what is happening until Yona returns, and just focus on our interactions in the gaming circle. :)*

[tacobob]

 

 

 

As the others continued to work on their characters, Smolder ran through a list of spells. “Mmmmm.”, she found something that caught her eye, “Sounds nasty, but they have this grease spell. You can use it to make your enemies slip and drop their weapons and even set it on fire to cause even more damage. There’s also enlarge which I would use on Sir...Marcol?”, that was an odd name. “And make him even deadlier. Magic missile and color spray....” Ponies loved their rainbows...Now they could get one up the snout...”Wow....” The spell did all kinds of fun things to their foes. She would just need to make sure to keep away from danger! This was an elf unicorn! A feather could kill her! “The Marvelous Miss Majesty The Magical Mare went to magic school and just graduated, being first level and all..Being so puny, she needed lots of big ol’ meat shields to stand in front of her to take all the damage while she hurled all kinds of spells at her foes...."

 

She glanced up at the odd-pony guy..A kirin....That would be something to play...A barbarian Kirin as their natural ability to rage and get all flamey would probably double the barbarian class rage ability itself. Double power. Flame-Ouches to those who stood near. Which would probably also fall on friends along with foes. Ugh. She better stick with what she had. "Of course she didn't come out as cool as me as there an't nothing as cool as me.", she added with a wink.

 

Smolder really wanted to say something when Silverstream mentioned the name of her character. Todd? Seriously? Not Bornwendir or Tho'uilas? Todd would be a better rogue name considering its foxy origins. "Don't worry kitty....My character is pretty balanced...She has great ranged spells and some support, but if anything pointy gets near my mage, she'll pop like a dirty bubble." This team would need to work together or they won't end up seeing the end of the module.

 

"Bah. Double weapon are awesome...And you wouldn't be hanging around us during the battles, but ahead..Drawing attention from our foes..Taking the hits because you can while the rest of us throw spells and arrows and possibly a cat at said enemies..", she waved her claws about, "Zap...patoo...glam!" But maybe he was right, "Of course we might end up stuck in tight quarters like an dungeon or tight hallway..And a big weapon would be more of an hindrance..." She slowly cracked open a can of her  ‘Hoot’n’Holler’n Jump'n Joy'Juice’ Citrus Type Soda(tm)' and took a sip. "Maybe you can have two weapons? Regular weapons for close battle and a bit one for away?" This might be an idea for the 'future' as starting characters got crap for bits.

 

There was equipment she needed....Wizard robe...crappy dagger she'll never use. torch...saddlebags. Kibble for cat. Maybe a steed. Oh wait.

[PlanckHorseshoe]

*Fearing that is too late to enter the roleplay,and in order to justify the entry, I’ll describe how Forged Horseshoe get there, and he’ll act in a way that can be invited or denied for the game*

 

Forged Horseshoe was out of the vile, doing an research for his work. He must find cobalt ores, so that he’ll can build a metal product that was ordered by a costumer. He was looking around not so beyond the limits of Ponyvile, what would make his job easier, not needing to travel far to get ores. He took with him a pick, a shoulder, a bottle with coffee, some nuts and a bag. Didn’t bring the wheelbarrow cause before extraction of ores he would discover if the ore contains cobalt for real, so he’d just need a bag to put the samples. So, he dug in a probable cobalt deposit place and found some stones with blue details. He extracted some samples, then took a way to the vile. In the way he was about to pass through the school. As he was getting out of term, needing to finish this work fast, he decided to enter the school seeking for a chemistry or geography professor, so that they could confirm if that was a cobalt ore for real.

 

The secretary allowed him to enter, so he got inside and sit waiting to talk with some professor. While he was waiting, he noticed a classroom with a closed door, and a showy paper with something written. He went to the door and read that, and it said “BEST GAME EVER HERE!” He perfectly knows it would be very inconvenient to enter that room, mainly cause he wasn’t a student of there. The curiosity was strong, hence he decided to enter and take a look to check out what was going on. There he noticed an unusual furniture organization for a classroom including gloomy details like candles. Also he saw they in the desk with books and dices, so his nerd sense rapidly associated this to a Roleplay Game. He didn’t know the game but was interested, so he got closer enough to see and listen the game without being so perceived. He wanted to ask to enter the game, but did’t have the guts, so stayed close watching it. He feared his bad appearance too, due to the day of work, his shoulder, pick and the dust on the body.

[Pretzelparty]

 

 

"Nice to to meet you, Gallus!" Said the peppy kirin as he offered his hoof for a shake, "How long have you been playing this game? I've only played once or twice in the past. you seem to know way more about what your doing than me!" If Gallus accepted the proffered hoof he'd find his arm being shaken eagerly and with an impressive energy behind it, The griff could feel it in his shoulder he could.

 

"Hmmm..."  Yama looked back to his sheet as she started filling it out, "I don't suppose you might know about any changes to the racial traits of Dragons in this edition?" His question poised at Smolder, hoping it wasn't terribly presumptuous to ask of her. Yama was stlll figuring things out in regards to interaction with non-equine races and was trying to understand the subtleties of it. You'd think being around Kirin might give him a bit of insight, but as he'd learned it was very different with western dragons. 

 

The Kirin flinched a moment and sniffed at the air then turned towards the Dust covered stallion in the room who hadn't spoken yet, "Hey, stranger! Did you come to play to? Ya need some help cleaning up first though? I'm sure there are some towels around here some, right?"