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Likewise, Twig and Fingus, let's take tomorrow off as well. I'm still trying to prod at Saturdays to see if there's something to do there (another Hunter group, a game of Pathfinder, etc.) or see if Andre from the mages wants to join the hunters by next week. Sorry for any undue pressures in the meantime; everything OK until then?

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No worries! I'm willing to switch back to Saturday (and shift a little later in time slots) if it makes it easier for people to join. Although I'm sure Fingus would rather shift earlier. :P

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So, the last thing I'm going to do is give anyone more homework, but in the midst of the good news of one (or two) new people joining the Sunday group, I homed in on exactly what players should read when preparing to make a hunter. I'd like to place it here for reference and just in case any of our current hunters feel like taking a look at the bolded bits (and possibly reallocating dots now that they have some play time in).

 

smartjason [4:05 PM] 
There's a lot of lore in there that put off the first batch of players and it's really not something you have to know.
 
I should've been a lot more circumspect with what I asked people to read.
 
lansbury [4:06 PM] 
Yeah. I figure just scan through it to get a flavor for the larger themes and mechanics, then drill down on a concept that interests me.
 
easier to roleplay not knowing anything when it’s true ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
smartjason [4:09 PM] 
OK, so what I recommend, and you know, whatever, but what I recommend is:
 
Read Hunter: The Vigil starting at Chapter One (PDF 17), Besieged by Hidden Threats, stopping at History of the Hunt (PDF 20).
 
Then, still in Hunter, skip to Willpower (PDF 66) read about the benefits of Willpower, spending it, and the unique Hunter skill of risking it. Continue on and read about Hunter-specific Merits (PDF 69) and then Professions (PDF 76 through 97). There's a ton of writing in that last section so you'll be skimming through that as by then you'll be thinking of a few ideas that might be interesting to play.
 
After that, you're done with the Hunter book.
 
In Chronicles of Darkness, start reading at Anchors (PDF 28) to read about Virtue, Vice, and Aspirations. Stop when you read Breaking Points (PDF 30).
 
Skip to Mental Merits (PDF 45) and read through every category of Merit - Mental, Physical, Social, Supernatural, and Fighting. These, along with the ones in the Hunter book, are going to be your only source of innate "powers" so to speak, so it's important to be familiar with them all and make an informed decision. That will take you to the end of the chapter (PDF 66).
 
Finally, go to Violence (PDF 87) and read through all the various rules and basic techniques of combat. It helps to be familiar with what you can do and what stats are affecting which aspects of it. Stop at Sources of Harm (PDF 97).
 
And that's it.

 

So, with the perfect vision of hindsight, this is what I wish I'd said to all of you weeks ago before I'd bogged you down with the general direction of "the first three chapters." Totally my fault (I've excised any parts of the conversation with Lansbury where I said the players made their decisions in haste for fear it sounded unwarranted and cruel) and, as I said, you are totally free to check the books now and redo your Merits, knowing what horrors are lurking out there for you.

 

Likewise, while the section on combat in the Chronicles book may look overwhelming at first (I'm getting better and better at committing it all to memory so I can simply function as a flash conduit between your impulse and the mechanics), the Combat Summary Chart (PDF 92) and the General Combat Factors section (PDF 93) are useful, not to memorize, but to give you an offhand idea of what's built into the system (know the value of dodging, going into cover, doing an all-out attack, charging at your opponent, aiming at a specific body part, etc.) - or learn it so that you know precisely why your character would rather avoid combat altogether.

 

Finally, Twig, Fingus, forget about the questionnaire. I trust you guys.

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I'll probably do the questionnaire anyway, since there's some interesting details in there I'd like to resolve.

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So this is a list of people who are, at the moment, ostensibly playing in the Hunter group:

 

1. Twig

2. Fingus

3. Lansbury

4. Coaxmetal

5. SuperBiasedMan

6. Cleinhun (?)

 

I welcome other volunteers and other suggestions from those above on who else I could personally invite.

 

(Regarding anyone besides Thumbs, Andre was going to join the hunters after quitting the mage group, and even made a comprehensive character, but it turns out he can't make the sessions; Corey, I think, I am going to speak to tomorrow and push him toward some other, more casual game with me in the future and lead him out of this one. There are several reasons why. For all intents and purposes, this is now a Thumbs-only game, which I'm fine with.)

 

At this point, though, because everyone's so universally busy, only the first three on that list have actually made characters for the game.

 

Coaxmetal and SuperBiasedMan have explicitly told me he won't be available for the next session, which, at minimum, will run with Twig, Fingus, and Lansbury (assuming those three can make it). If anyone else would like to play this Sunday, please PM me on Slack - that's the best way to get in touch with me. I'll be around all day tomorrow, Saturday, in order to make characters with people.

 

aight bros?

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I am actually available tomorrow after all. Sorry for the late heads up, sudden change of plans.

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Here's a spoiler-free Players' Map for the game so far (with location descriptions). There'll also be a non-interactive one in the Roll20 game as well to reference. I think I'll also devise some kind of Players' Screen for Roll20 just so everyone can keep a few fundamental things in mind (rules for failure, rules for Conditions, etc.).

 

SuperBiasedMan is due to make a character tomorrow if all goes well. Coax and Cleinhun, how are we doing? Remind me if we've already spoken.

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All right, so currently:

 

Twig, Fingus, and SBM are good for this coming Sunday. Lansbury is busy.

 

Coax and Cleinhun are unfortunately out.

 

The map is here. The quick reference players' screen is here. If people have time, please peruse the latter and learn some things you may not have known about the game system before we continue next session.

 

I'm going to make a post in the Plug thread as one last call for players before we say that's it for the time being.

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Hey, if by coming Sunday you mean tomorrow I unfortunately can't make it. I'm outta town until Monday and the current internet situation is limited at best, and frequently non-existent. Case in point I'm posting this on a 2G connection while hanging out of a window in the attic.

Sorry about the late reply! Didn't realize it was the weekend already, and I had hoped internet access would be better.

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Ah, damn.

 

Well, I consider our quorum to be three players, so it sounds like we'll postpone again until next week. How is April 2 for everyone?

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April 2nd is a Saturday, did you mean the 3rd (a Sunday)? Either is good for me, though I generally prefer Sundays.

 

The break also gives me time to watch a full session to get a better idea of the game too.

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I'm good waiting a week. Maybe we should do biweekly anyway, unless we get more people? Hard to commit a four hour block every weekend for most people. (Not me, because what is social life.) Doing it every other week allows for some time off and the ability to plan more solidly ahead of time. Or maybe not! I dunno!

 

I'm cool either way. U:

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I hear you, but I'd really like to run every week, which is one of the big reasons I'd like to get more people involved, so that it's easier to meet the three player minimum on any given Sunday.

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I'm on for tomorrow! I might have some minor questions about the mechanics but I'll just catch you on slack for those.

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My friend won tickets to a Sunday night show and invited me to go with her. Any chance of starting earlier? I'll need to bounce between 5:30 and 6:00 eastern, so an hour to an hour and a half early.

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I think I might need to be late if the session starts earlier. But it entirely depends on someone else's schedule that I can't predict yet so it's probably best to ignore me when deciding this.

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As of right now, plan on 11AM PDT, 6PM GMT, 8PM CET, then?

 

And we'll probably finish early as well so Lansbury doesn't have to drop suddenly near the end.

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So, like I've said in the chat and wherever, are we all going to be good to go this coming Sunday? It should be (the start of, at least) a big end point.

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