New players, new steading

New Players
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Hello all. A couple friends and I have been looking at joining Empire on and off seperately, and we finally have a chance to join next year. I’m currently reading at the wiki and have become a little overwhelmed with the amount of information on how to start, but also amazed with how in-depth some of it is. We’re looking to be a group of around 6-12 people who all play ttrpgs together (though have never larped). We’re not very interested in combat, so any tips on how to get more involved in the rp aspects and events would be amazing. Bonus if there’s reasons to visit other groups (IC tourist!).

With what I’ve read, I have a little bit of a concept, but need some help fleshing out. I was thinking of a steading that formed outside of Anvil, but has travelled into it to learn more and do trading. We were thinking of being called Bladeroot’s Round (or Tootroot), after when a group hid in a glade of whispering bladeroot that sheltered them from the Vallorn. From then, they honour bladeroot by creating items out of it, like whistles and alcoholic drinks that they trade. We’d have a banner and also a coven, though I haven’t decided on Day or Night.

Would there be anything else that I could use to flesh out background, or what I could include to make it feel more cohesive as a group?

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Hi Epo, welcome to the forum - and Empire!

I’m not Navarri, so can’t help with regards to nation specifics, but I do think your group concept sounds good. To be honest, I’m not sure you really need more to flesh out your background as a lot of the game revolves around what you do once you hit the field, rather than what you did before getting here. To me, your group has a cohesive theme; they’ve been through something difficult or traumatic, and have come out of it with a shared interest and goal. That sounds good to me, but no doubt others here will be able to offer some advice!

As far as rp on the field goes, there is a lot more available than combat. There are two big battles (one Sat morning, one Sun morning), and a number of skirmishes/encounters scattered throughout the event, but not all of the latter are combat-based (that information becomes available in updates before the event). As someone who doesn’t fight, I always have more than enough to do with my time, such as trading and magic. There is also religion/priesting, medicine/hospital, and politics, plus any amount of special interest groups and sodalities. A lot of this you can find out about once you hit the field as people LOVE to talk about what they’re doing and drag other players in!

Being traders is a great way to wander about Anvil - you don’t need a reason to visit the other nations, but it can make it feel easier to walk up to existing groups. Honestly, you can literally tell people that it’s your first time in Anvil (this is a type of ‘code’ phrase for new players!) and they will mostly happily chat about what they’re doing or what’s going on.

Anvil itself, and the Wiki (as you’ve discovered!) can definitely be a bit overwhelming as there is SO much. I would recommend having a look at this guide for what new players should know Amy's guide to the minimum your character should know to help you get an idea.

I hope this has helped a little, if you have more questions on anything specific, or in general, then please ask! We’re a friendly bunch here :slight_smile:

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Navarr tends to get members from other nations, so maybe you could be an ex-highborn or ex-dawnish and draw some kit and ideas from that.

Day is a lot less represented in Navarr in my experience, (though i am not Navarr, I’m a highborn who has lost 3 members of his chapter to Navarr) so if you want to go for a niche, thats probably the way to do it.

Have any of your group expressed interest in the healing and/or artisan sides of the game? that would help us get a better idea of how to help out. Also, Navarr is a nation with a strong newbie inclusive brief, and it is getting an update (hopefully!) over the gap between now and next event.

Do note a couple of things before going to the event:

  • The best way to get involved is to volunteer for stuff! A senator needs a message delivered? DO it for them! It will get you notoriety and a chance to speak to an important character!
  • You wont be powerful as a group for a few events, as stockpiling resources is difficult without time to do it. Give it a couple events, and you will be able to make big splashes in the koi pond that is Anvil
  • There will be stronger covens, as many people have 5 levels of mastery (Thats nearly 40 events worth of XP) so focus on a niche that your group can do. Where there is a product, trade will eventually come its way)
  • If the combat sides do interest your group, put a post up on the FB to see if anyone has got some spare gear to lend out, as ideally you don’t want to splurge on weapons and armour if you are going to wear them one
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Thank you for all the advice. I think we’re settled on being more artisans. (Personally the herbalist/vate route interests me from what I’ve seen, but I’m not too sure if it does for anyone else) A couple people are interested in combat - though not too many. I’ll let them know it’s possible to borrow gear!

From what you said about finding a niche, I think a Day Coven would be excellent, and hopefully generic enough for the rest of the group. The idea of being ex-dawnish is really good too, since it was our second highest option on what nation to be in! Lots of fun costuming to play about with, with nice base layer fabrics.

I think it makes sense to be located between Brocéliande and the Barrens, as a little hidden steading. One thing I noticed is that the Barrens has quite a bit of history associated with it. Is there any recent history we should be aware of when getting out there, or is most of it things we can pick up as we go along?

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Barrens history, Broceliande end… condensed version.

It used to be Dawnish, with the large town of Drycastle and the castle of Dawnguard standing there. Then after a messy war with several tribes or orcs, it was overrun by the Druj, along with all other Dawnish holdings in the Barrens. Despite several attempts, the Dawn didn’t get it back…

…until last summer, when Dawnish and Varushkan armies smashed their way into the Barrens from north and south to meet in the middle.

The Druj still hold the Barrens. But the western end, caught between the Imperial lands and the new beachhead, is looking very nervous. We await the latest news…

As a group-building note, this recent turmoil is good as you could easily be displaced or rescued or released by the recent to-ing and fro-ing of armies.

Would you like further details on this, or indeed on the artisan game?

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Welcome fellow painted one(s)!

Of possible backstory interest and/or motivations for coming to Anvil, Broceliande was recently subject to a year-long assault by the eternal, Yaw’nagrah and it’s mortal followers that stirred up the vallorn to attack the entire territory. Most all of the Empire’s nations directly assisted Navarr in holding onto the regions we control. So did some Druj, which made a lot of people unhappy and your steading may have heard about. The imperial victory has involved laying a 30-year curse across all Broceliande, which has angered some steadings and caused them to at least consider leaving the territory.

Currently there is a grand expedition/adventure going on into the heart of Broceliande, trying to reach the ruins of Terunael city. While being a part of the expedition itself required joining a specific downtime action after the last event, your group could claim to have been involved in supporting the organising stages, or be attending Anvil in part to find out what has been discovered or (especially for artisans) retrieved.

With Dawn being of interest to some of your group, backstory links to Greenstead in the Boar’s Dell region of Broceliande might work - it’s a steading with strong links to and a history of inter-marriage with Dawn. Plus Boar’s Dell borders the Barrens to boot. As far as I’m aware, Greenstead is an NPC steading created by PD rather than players but if any of your group use Facebook then it would be worth joining the group, Empire LRP: Navarr and asking if anyone knows of Greenstead player characters. It’s also a good place to find other PCs willing to have backstory links with your group. Don’t be shy about approaching the Empire LRP: Dawn group either for cross-nation links, as they give you people to visit when you reach the field.

Pure tourism is a valid reason to go visiting any nation; Anvil is the only place where all ten nations (or nine-correction-ten if a character has trouble remembering to include the Imperial Orcs) gather reliably, so is a person’s best chance to glimpse the wider Empire. I think Wintermark, Highguard and possibly the League have major festivals going on at the first event of 2023 if you decide to attend that one, but asking every nation if they have one that summit gives you a topic of conversation as you tour Anvil. Navarr waits for better weather and celebrates Spring with the Welcoming at the 2nd event each real-world year.

There is an Artisans’ Guild at Anvil that is a cross-nation sodality, good for rp with any nation. Trading your wares or for resources is another good reason to visit all of Anvil, so don’t feel that you group needs to have a source of every crafting material among you - aiming for self-sufficiency can become a trap I’ve seen ttrpg groups (mine included) fall into.

If you’re interested in becoming a Vate, it is perfectly possible to join a Coven outside of your steading or striding (which is most often made as a Banner for games-mechanics purposes); your character just won’t see much of their fellow ritualists outide of Anvil summits. There is also a magic item called the Volhov’s Robe that allows a ritualist to support a coven’s casting without joining it.

Hope some of this is useful, and welcome to Navarr!

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Here’s a few general threads of advice on things to think about when starting a group that might be useful :slight_smile:

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Ooo, sounds like tensions are perfectly high in that region. It makes sense to me being people recently freed from the region. I’ve reached out on the Discord (since I’m not really on Facebook anymore), so hopefully will be able to have ties to some Dawn houses.

I’ve had a look at the guides, and one of the recommendations I’m a little stuck on is a reason for the group to stick together, or a group goal. Is there anything in the turmoil that you’d recommend as a hook for this? Unslain mentioned that things could be discovered in Broceliande - what kinds of artifacts would these be?

All of us are long time friends, so we also don’t mind a bit of internal conflict (from knowing how they play tabletop games), as long as it doesn’t go too overboard to the point where the group has no reason to stick together.

Thank you for all the links! Lots to explore there. We’ll most likely be joining at the Summer or Autumn event, since that’s when our group have time.

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The artifacts are described as “relic ribbons” by PD and in the best case scenario, there will be some representing items belonging to previous explorers into Broceliande, others will be recovered from the Heirs of Terunael and a number which promise to be genuine objects from the lost Terunael Empire itself (so approximately 1000 years old). There is also mention of a unique consumable for each explorer, though whether that means unique to each player or unique to this plot/opportunity isn’t fully clear.
Finally there is mention of a singing stone, only one functioning portable example of which has previously been recovered by the Navarr nation (and then stolen at Anvil, unfortunately). That one allowed multiple covens of Vates to collaborate on a single ritual, which as far as I’m aware has never otherwise been possible.

Barring some of the consumables being used, I would expect most of these items will still be valid for study by the time your group rocks up, standard magic items having a 1 year life span but we’ll have to see what turns up, since we won’t know how well the adventure turned out until April 2023. As an artisan-heavy group, examining as many of these artifacts as possible may be one of the aims of your group, maybe with a view to trying to replicate some. Tracking down the lost singing stone could also be a long-term goal if you’re all up for it.

On reasons to stick together, the default assumption of a steading is as a settlement that either offers some kind of support to the stridings travelling the trods, holds back the vallorn in their vicinity, or both. So unless you have something different in mind, your whole group are already neighbours living together in a single community, every adult member of which has sworn their Binding of Thorns oath to combat the vallorn and restore Terunael in some form. As the movers and shakers of that community (Anvil being akin to an EU/G20/COP summit) and having multiple artisans among you, your steading might well be placed at a location of great mineral and/or natural wealth (if several of you take mine or forest as your personal resources, for instance) that allows you to produce magic items that support that unifying goal of all Navarri.

On a pragmatic level, being useful to one another is a good way to stick together so perhaps be mindful of overlap in resource choice - unless you have some eager traders among you, in which case you could go all-in on green iron (an example only) and have to trade for other materials. Selecting different big-cost items for your known recipes is another one.

Some ideas of long-ish term goals:

  • You could all be coming to Anvil to broaden your knowledge/repertoire of items you can make collectively, or to trade for materials that aren’t otherwise coming your way.
  • A political cause such as making one of you a Senator or having input into whether the Great Forest orcs living in Therunin will be given their old home in Peytaht Forest (which is in the Barrens and borders Broceliande) when the Empire inevitability takes the territory from the Druj.
  • Secure a Bourse seat to bring you wealth that can be ploughed into more materials for item crafting or Ambitious projects like the Great Library that is underway or the expansion of Seren city.
  • Immortalise your names by creating an artifact (permanent magic item) each and swear an oath to assist one another.
  • See another former Terunael territory claimed for the Empire. The Barrens border both Broceliande and the recently discovered ruins of Beantal Dol. Northward up past Ossium, the Thule hold the remains of Emrys while Cavan lies south of Druj lands in Axos’ Visukoma Forest.
  • Recover the stolen singing stone, study it and find a way to replicate it’s powers.
  • Put one of you on the Imperial Throne.
  • Are you into history? Axos records suggest that during the Doom of Terunael, refugees from Cavan fled toward what is now Tsark, a very private nation that neighbours the Empire. Maybe you can convince them to open up and learn what became of those ancient refugees.
  • Destroy the Vallorn once and for all! Yes that is our nation’s founding oath but with recent opportunities around the Great Library, we may be on our way to learning how to do that when your group puts boots on the field.
  • Work to assist the nation’s vates with finding a way to break the curse, Wither the Seed that was used on Broceliande and Liathaven both in order to fight Vallorn expansion in recent years. It’s making life more than difficult and has around 28 years before it runs it’s course.

I may have got carried away there but those are some ideas. You are practically guaranteed to find new goals once you enter play too, for your group and for individual characters. Trying to prioritise those goals will be where most internal conflict arises. But then that’s the game in a nutshell.

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This is all excellent. I think we’re all setup on a group background now, so hopefully can just wrangle some people there! Thanks for all thr help!

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