LFP, Houses of the Blooded, UTC+10, weekday nights (flexible)

You have what you can take, and you own what you can hold. That's what ven law boils down to, and that's what's been holding you down and breaking your grasp since you were old enough to harbour ambition. Because your family connections will only support you on the little island where you were born... and every inch of land there has an old ven's claws dug in deep. It was getting to the point where you would have to decide – spend your life as a minor, landless noble, or strike out without support to live the life of a roadman and hope for the luck of the suaven to boost you to the position you deserve – when your guardian angel came in to your life. An old Fox Marquess, seeking to make some new and drastic moves in the political game for their own sake, has sponsored your bids for Baronies. An island once ruled by an eccentric Serpent sorceror and wild with ork and magic-born abominations has just now become accessible – likely with the doddering old wizard's death. Whole vast stretches of wild are open and available, as long as you have the Cunning to find them and the Strength to hold them, even when the rest of the land rush turns up. Because you have what you take, and you own what you can hold. Don't forget it. Looking for players to play a loose alliance of ven nobles who have to set up their empire on the new island - facing the threats of the island and its history, as well as those of the other nobles who are shifting in to claim unclaimed lands. Looking for a good balance of politicking and adventuring, with a focus on building from 'nothing' to a grand kingdom. Intra-party backstabbing level set by whatever everyone's comfortable with, from Everything Is Fair Game to We're All Permanent Best Friends Who Will Only Backstab The NPCs. I'll be using the base rules primarily, though with the Coronets but Never Crowns and Wilderness expansions available. Characters or regions can be built up using the CbNC season actions method or the basic book. Wanting to start before the end of the month; campaign to extend as long as there's interest. (True, this is not my usual time. But, hey, that means there's more time to investigate, right? Right.)

I'm new here to to Roll20, but I'd definitely be interested in a game of Houses of the Blooded.  Let me know when you want write-ups.

Oh, I'm entirely new to everything. We can fumble at the interface together. From what I've seen, it looks like an excellent interface to fumble at. I would want to start by the end of the month, so just about any time before that would be good. Shall we say by Monday next week? That would give me some time to personalise some story dangers and hooks. I'll probably be asking some in-person friends tomorrow if they'd like to join in; if there's no more interest, though, I'm perfectly happy to start with one player. Though I might not have a mic, so the first session may have to be text heavy.

I can do that... Wait, I know I should have noticed this before, but UTC+10?  That's 15 hours ahead of me, I'm not sure if that's going to be doable.  My apologies.

I had really thought that I'd responded to this by saying that this was understandable, and no problem! But I hadn't. So that is understandable and no problem! I have two possible players through other sources; still looking for more.

Australia/Pacific time in the evening?   Interested but day and actual start time would be a factor

Well, at the moment, I've got absolutely nothing set, so if you nominate any times that are good for you, I'm pretty sure we could find something that works. I could force it on the others. That said, Tuesday evening is not good - so apart from that.

This still open?  I've never played the game before but I like the idea of building an empire from nothing. 

Absolutely. Not a big group yet. I'm thinking Wednesday or Thursday evenings for time, but that's not decided yet. If you want to build a character but can't get the rules, let me know and I can guide you through it.

If you can just give me the exact name of the book I can probably figure it out on my own.  I think your thursday evenings are my wednesday nights and as of right now I can work with that.

Well, the main game book's just called Houses of the Blooded, and we'll be using bits from the expansions, Coronets but Never Crowns and Wilderness, but for the most part you'll only need the original. I'll put down some buy links below. In PDF form they're pretty damn cheap, to be honest. <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/61061/Houses-of-the-Blooded" rel="nofollow">http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/61061/Houses-of-the-Blooded</a> <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/93409/Houses-of-the-Blooded-Coronets-But-Never-Crowns" rel="nofollow">http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/93409/Houses-of-the-Blooded-Coronets-But-Never-Crowns</a> <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/109905/Houses-of-the-Blooded-Wilderness" rel="nofollow">http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/109905/Houses-of-the-Blooded-Wilderness</a>

Okay, how long do I have to read this? &nbsp;When is the first game?

I might have to back out of this. &nbsp;I've only read the introduction but the entire point of the game seems to be self sabotage which, to me anyway, is not fun. &nbsp;I'll read a bit more before I decide though.&nbsp;

I'm about 50 pages in and I've got to say I really like it. &nbsp;Is making stupid decisions really the only way to get more powerful or did I misinterpret it and it really just meant take risks? &nbsp;I can work with risks. &nbsp;Deliberate sabotage not so much,

It is interesting to say the least. &nbsp;I've only started reading it as well......feels a lot like Game of Thrones in some aspects. &nbsp; &nbsp; The system is interesting though.

On the notes of Tragedy, there's going to be a certain amount of that in the rule system - every Aspect, after all, gives you a Tag and Compel as well as an Invoke, you've got that one Virtue that's your Weakness, and sorcerous artifacts come with DOOOOOOOOM!. But it's not something I intend to play up much in the game. It'll be less "the ven are doomed tragedy-mongers" and more "the ven are cunning and triumph over adversity, even though that adversity is often other ven". I mean, I do hope for socialising, plotting, conniving, and possible backstabbing, but you're probably more likely to shine than to burn out. I don't have John Wick's overarching fondness for "hubris, hamartia"... uh, havoc. There's not a very good word for 'downfall' that begins with H. (The Aegis Project, for example, is another excellent John Wick RPG with wonderful, HotB-similar mechanics, and which inevitably involves with the tragic fall of humanity .) As to character advancement - you can &nbsp;get Style from making stupid decisions, if they're beautifully stupid. But you can also get Style for awesomeness, hot-bloodedness, and scheming. As well, lasting character advancement comes from Season Actions, mostly, and those you get whether you self-destruct or not. So, yeah, just to reinforce, we won't be going for hardcore self-destruction as a game mechanic. Playing to fatal flaws can be fun, but mostly so that you get yourself into a hole to dramatically claw yourself out of, you know? Timing: it's basically you two and a friend of mine in England, which I think is more than enough to start. And I'm unemployed with few current prospects, so that makes me very flexible; anything but Tuesday evenings (again, UTC+10) is fine by me. Weekday evenings would be best, but not required. So do tell me what times are good for you, and we can pick one. (It does have a lot of similarities to Game of Thrones, I think, but with more micromanagement possibilities, and it lacks the pooled House creation. I wouldn't be surprised if GoT had some inspiration from here.)

um, it sound interesting and might join.&nbsp; let me download the PDF and read it first before I decide.&nbsp; can I reserve a spot plz?&nbsp; I'm living in Hawaii, so I think is 4 hours ahead, which is no problem for me.

GoT came first by a decade. &nbsp;I do see the similarities though. &nbsp;I would certainly be interested if you aren't going to enforce the self destructive aspects. &nbsp;My skype ID is sadpuddle

Lap: sure thing. I think I'd cut off the number of players at 5; we're not in much danger of reaching that yet. Kenneth: oh, I meant the Song of Ice and Fire RPG - the Green Ronin one, which came out in 2009 - might have been inspired by this mechanically. Absolutely; when it comes to settings and personalities, Houses of the Blooded is definitely the recipient of inspiration, rather than vice versa. (Noticeably because, as you say, ten years.) I haven't got Skype fully set up yet; I'll post my ID when I have. I think I've transposed a Messenger account from <a href="mailto:quilld20@live.com" rel="nofollow">quilld20@live.com</a>, but I might try to get a more accessible username.

How big is this island we're colonizing? &nbsp;Is it about the same size as the other islands everyone is on or is it massive? &nbsp;What kind of island? &nbsp;Temperate? &nbsp;Jungle? &nbsp;Do we know where the resources are? &nbsp;Is it just a massive forest region with tons of boogeymen and ruins? &nbsp;How much of it has already been explored?

First and foremost, I'm gonna have to ask for suspension of disbelief here. When it comes to concrete&nbsp; spatial &nbsp;numbers, I am approximately as skilled as my adorable cat over here, who has two brain cells, both of which he shares with his brother. Okay. Thinking mostly abstractly, the Serpent island is 175 miles east to west, 200 miles north to south. That makes it slightly smaller than Switzerland, for a real world comparison. I got this after trawling some GURPS forums and decanting some overland movement speeds from the arguments therein: 15 miles per day in a full caravan; 25 miles per day in a small, less-laden group; 40 miles per day on horseback; 60 miles per day on the back of a fast horse you're pretty much willing to ride to death. Assuming these numbers, a small group - like the nobles in a party, or a single noble's Personal Guard and Roadmen - could trek from the north to the south point of the island in just over a week, and pretty much exactly a week east to south. It's obviously not a big square. But assume it's a big square. What we lose in the capes we'll gain in the headlands. (Again, we're thinking abstractly, in case anyone who likes maps is grinding their teeth at this point.) That makes it about 35,000 square miles, which is much BIGGER than Switzerland. But the majority of the ven Republic, again thinking mostly abstractly, probably covers the majority of Europe, and there are a few Switzerland-sized islands out there, many unexplored. Shanri is the Great Enemy, after all, and only Falcons and Boars would rather risk the Storm than stay in proven territory. Speaking of whom, the Boar lands are probably separate entirely, and would encompass a reasonable chunk of 'Africa' and 'Asia', landmass-wise. But there's more land than people to hold it. I'm going to assume that Shanri is mostly archipelagos, big islands 'connected' by small islands. And the Serpent island is one big island off to the side, where no one's really cared to go so far. You and a few other nobles who got into the land rush early are up in the northernmost part, and your domains are pretty much the only part that have been explored (other than by the crazy old Serpent who used to live here). Everything else is&nbsp; considered &nbsp;to be forest, jungle, ruins, and ork, but that's not clear. If one of you ends up getting a Domain and saying "this Domain? ALL DESERT AND VOLCANOES, BRO", that's fine. Everything past that, I'll probably either ask for Wisdom risks, or just say you know. I think any more discussion of the actual setting should probably happen on the game page. Which I just realised I haven't linked. GREAT JOB, PATRICK.&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/146175/the-serpents-land-rush" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/146175/the-serpents-land-rush</a>

Have to invite us to the game. &nbsp;

...in my defence, I'm incompetent. Thanks for pointing that out; this might have taken a long time otherwise! You should have just gotten messages inviting you to the game.

Giving this one bump because we've set a time; so anyone who was interested but didn't want to commit to "some time", now there's a time!