Talk:WHFRP Reboot

--Matts 16:33, 31 July 2007 (MST)Cleaned up the old discussion.

Two things: First, the group should have a relatively common goal, or better yet, shouldn't neccesarily have a goal. It's my job as the GM to ensure that the plot hooks the group collectively and the characters individually. It's your job when making a character to make my job possible. If your goal is "Rule the world", or "Turn the moon into my balls", then you'd better have ready for me more attainable short-term mechanisms by which I can hook your character, and you'd also better accept that such a grand goal may be out of the scope of this campaign (may be). If need be, I'll reccomend some Spiritual Attributes that make sense for your character and also hook in to the plot, though, you're free to change those at any point.

But I've got little tolerance for in-group squabbles, and the Western Empire, dangerous a place as it is, doesn't allow much room for discord. Fair warning; adventurers adventure together because the world is a dangerous place. Successful (ie alive) adventurers come to some base level of understanding quickly, because to argue a point about honor with bandits bearing down on you is as good as a buy-one-get-one-free coupon to Morr.

Second, you're all smugglers, right? Well here's your starting point, at least the starting point for the prologue: Wissenland is a haven for smugglers; ships that leave tilea are invariably taxed the ports they put into, but the passes over the mountains between Tilea and Wissenland and the Border Princes are innumerable. It's difficult, but sometimes worth it, to bring goods through the mountains rather than by sea, and it's also easier to avoid customs posts.

Kreutzhofen is a small town that serves as something of a smuggler's clearinghouse; goods are often purchased from freelancers here, or stockpiled by major operators, before shipping them downriver to Nuln and the large markets there. Word is, to anyone who listens hard enough, that there's a man there named Gunter Golbsfahren, and he needs some help working his ferries.

Feel free to riff on that stuff if working for a guy named Golbsfahren doesn't sound like what you want to be doing at the start of the prologue.

--Edmiao 10:42, 30 July 2007 (MST) Having not recieved any return input, I pose again the question of what kind of dudes are we?

• smugglers for illicit goods: really bad stuff like drugs and chaos artifact or chaos magic supplies.
• smugglers for illicit goods: not bad stuff, for example religous supplies from non-altdorf approved religions.
• smugglers of legitimate items avoiding tarrifs and taxes: fine goods from araby that are hard to find and taxed heavily, rugs, spices, jewelry.....
• Robin Hoodish: the noble smuggler bringing in some necesities of life to sell to poor folks who can't afford the huge taxes placed by the empire. medical supplies and educational materials are taxed at huge rates in order to keep the peasantry suppressed, and the group smuggles these and sell them at more affordable prices.
• dirty dock hands who will work for any old smuggler or pirate like Gunter Golbsfahren who will pay us coin, we care not for anything but getting a gold coin at days end.

--Matts 17:42, 31 July 2007 (MST)Illicit goods are:

• books of heretical or dangerous knowledge
• seditious letters or texts
• heathen religious items
• chaos artifacts(Though you don't want to smuggle those, believe me...)
• weapons(to ship weapons is something reserved only for the Imperial military; most weapons are smithed on-site in a town)
• psychoactive drugs
• poisons
• strange or exotic livestock (ie, baby manticores, tigers, crocodiles, etc)
• raw gold

Licit goods that generally get smuggled through Wissenland to avoid tarrifs:

• Wines (tilean wines are valuable and highly taxed to Reikland wines favored amongst the Inner Empire's nobles)
• Cheeses
• tobacco
• other spirits
• books (books are generally subject to thorough inspection at a customs point; the time of the scribe must be compensated, and sometimes the closest scribe is a week's journey distant)
• jewelry
• textiles
• livestock,especially horses (traditionally, the best horse from every 10 is the tax on horses; this keeps the breeding stocks of the Imperial Equites replenished)

--Dieter the Bold 11:04, 1 August 2007 (MST) I vote no animals, peoples, poison or chaos artefacts. I think a primary focus on 'licit-but-avoiding-tarrifs' smuggling would be nice, with a little of the illicit thrown in when the money's too good. Drugs and weapons seem like a (relatively) safe thing, gold and books seem like they could really call down the heat. I'm not too worried about dealing with the fuzz, but the Inquisition (heretical books) and Imperial spies (gold, maybe weapons) are more than I want to be tangling with. So I'd vote we're either an independent crew that engages in some collective bargaining to establish ground rules with Golbfahren, or we don't ask questions but discourage Golbfahren from using us to move certain items.

--Matts 13:49, 1 August 2007 (MST)To be clear, then, you're voting for "Smuggling but with scruples"? What sorts of scruples?

--Gdaze 14:27, 1 August 2007 (MST) Okay with everything under Licit goods. Others I am okay with raw gold, poisons (just as long as I don't have to put one in my pocket), books of heretical or dangerous knowledge, and psychoactive drugs.

Weapons seem too troublesome.

That is ver I stand.

Editted: But if we are gonna do animals I might have to redo a few skills...

--BenofZongo 15:52, 1 August 2007 (MST)[[Ignotus Peverell]: As far as I am concerned, and given the times, I believe it perfectly acceptable to transport whatever goods fetch the best coin for the lowest risk and time invested: a cost-benefit analysis is in order, I think. Regardless. I place my skills and services at the disposal of the Three Rivers Trading Company, LLC (aka, us) for whatever business, mean or grandiose, dangerous or bland, that the shareholders (aka, us) deem appropriate.

--Dieter the Bold 20:08, 1 August 2007 (MST) To be clear, I don't mean smuggling with scruples. Now, my views are currently being influenced by this game I've been reading a lot of, (Fading Suns), but I was thinking more along the lines of, if we get caught, what shit gets us jail time, maybe some lashings vs. shit that gets you killed or burned at the stake. Avoiding taxes, it's no joke, but they generally wouldn't kill you for that shit. Poisons, heretical works and currency manipulation, that shit will get you put in the Dead Book. If people want to roll that way, I'm down. But I'm just saying, after rolling with the big leagues in Gemini (jumpship) and having to swim with sharks like that, I wouldn't mind a little lower key kinda' crime. At least to start with. If we find tariff avoidance a fun, but not quite profitable enough endeavor, I wouldn't be opposed to upgrading. Just a little leary of jumping into the deep end right from the get-go.

So, having said I'm not avoiding shit out of moral concerns, what kind of moral course do we want to lay out? Some old lady sees us sneaking our shit through: Do we off her or not? We find out some weapons or poison we've brought in is going to a criminal element about to take out a local lawman and run wild throughout a village: not our problem? Town a few stops up river is starving, but has no money: do we drop 'em some food, ignore or make slaves of 'em? In short, are we Han Solo or Boba Fett?

--BenofZongo 20:30, 1 August 2007 (MST)I'd just like to point out that just like in gemini, I would wager that "big shit" will find us, rather than us having to go look for it. This is not, at least not beyond the prologue, going to be a game having much to do with us smuggling horses, or cheese, or whatever: at least that's my impression. I still think it's worth deciding on a feel for the group, of course, so it's still worth discussing the stuff you point out. I'm open to either interpretation: my character concept allows for either.