New to empire, looking for advice

[MrCoppers]

Hello!, Im currently making plans and preparations to make next year my first empire event, even though I’ve been a larper for years I’ve decided to make a switch due to another system becoming stagnant.

I’m looking forward to joining you all in the field (unfortunately that may be in 2020) but starting a whole new system on my own seems a bit daunting.

So I was just looking for some advice, my character concept is a suaq hunter / pathfinder / monster hunter, but I’m unsure what archetype that really falls under when I’m looking at the wiki.

My skills are-
Ambidex
Marksman
Endurance
Chirurgeon
Resource- military unit

As much as I like to find out things in game, is there certain things I need to avoid with being a suaq or any other things I’d need to adhere to or be aware of what isn’t particularly mentioned on the wiki?

[Knave]

Hey, welcome to Empire. First thing’s first, you don’t have to slot neatly into an archetype, or have an archetype at all, but if you take chirurgeon then you can happily call yourself a grimnir, I’d imagine.

Coming as a solo player can be very difficult at Empire. I play a groupless character, but there’s lot of things that people come to Empire to do that I’m not very interested in, so your mileage may vary. It might be a good idea to put feelers out either here or in the appropriate facebook group to see if any groups might accept you as a member before arrival, or make finding a group to join an IC goal for your first event. Otherwise, I think being solo might exacerbate one of the problems of joining Wintermark, that being that it’s the largest nation by far and so getting a slice of the game can be hard.

If you’re open to altering your choice of nation, the Varushkan Warden archetype is all about hunting and warding against monsters, the Marcher Beater archetype similar is about ranging the wilds to keep folk safe (but with less monster hunting), and Dawnish knights are known to hunt out glory in the form of monster slaying (although tend not to have much of a pathfinder flavour, and Dawn is the second-biggest nation and very group-focused from what I can tell). Navarr are known generally for being rangery types who go about with a blade in each hand or a bow slung over them, but I don’t think they have an archetype that evokes the flavour you’re after. If you’re already dead-set on Wintermark, though, pay me no mind.

Also, I don’t take the battlefield myself, but Ambidex and Marksman strikes me as an odd combination, if only because it seems logistically awkward, but I guess ask some soldiers about that one.

[Geoffrey_Willoughby]

Firstly, welcome along! To the game and the forums!

You don’t need to fit into any archetype. Think of them as Prestige Classes (for a D&D reference).

As an experienced Larper you probably have some practise with larp archery. I’ll point out of many systems I’ve played in, archery in Empire is among the hardest hitting and most lethal

…I’m typing at the same time as Knave…

In some circumstances, you may want to use ambidex more than marksman, for instance in poor light, high winds, or when you just want to bash things. It’s not a bad combination, just unusual. Remember that “wear any armour” is a free skill you get as well.

Military Unit as a resource will get you the chance to stick your oar in to a variety of strategic plot events, and courted by all manner of folk who just need a few more soldiers on this downtime mission…

I heartily reccomend joining a group, either before or during the event (to give you some friends to hang with and show you round). The game does tend to focus more on the groups in play, as well as them being force multipliers in everything. I’ve said that the greatest cheat for Empire (and indeed life) are “good cardio and a group of friends”.

The Wintermark in general, and the Suaq in particular, have specific styles of costume and naming traditions. As with all the nations, stick to those as a default.

What you might miss is the stuff currently going on in the Suaq lands of Semersuaq: the Jotun orcs invaded in force, and the Empire is currently pushing them back in a long slow war of honourable combat… watch the Winds of War for more on that.

Happy to answer further questions!

[MrCoppers]

Thanks for the quick reply and clearing up the archetypes thing for me, didn’t know if it was important or not to the whole thing

Ive had experience with archery in the past but the system I played in is very restrictive for what you get out of it. But as its the thing I’ve never fully commited to as a character, Empire seems the best place to do it. But I do see it does still have some restrictions so using ambidex as my fallback as it is my normal go to fighting style. Plus I cant think as to what different skill to take if i didnt (If you would have any different suggestions?)
Armour isnt a huge problem as I still have bits and bats laying about.

Although I can see the merits of joining a group before play I do like the idea of throwing myself in at the deep end and just turning up and going from there… But as a new player to Empire Im not sure how efficient a way that would be. Plus I wouldnt want to commit to a group and not enjoy it. If you see my predicament.

[MrCoppers]

Addition- Also after playing a range of characters over the years the Suaq hunter seems like one of those niche things I think would be enjoyable

[Geoffrey_Willoughby]

Skills is fine, as a new player you can reroll stuff and swap things round and PD will be very understanding. Try things out. Note however that in Empire, you can only inflict 1 point of damage per blow, and 1 point of damage per second per opponent. So with ambidex, you can strike two foes at once, or fight with one defensive and one offensive weapon simultaneously, but you can’t hit a single opponent twice as often.

Armour rules can be a little tricky in terms of coverage and type, final judgement is made by a referee looking at it, but feel free to run things past us here. “Does this constitute a full suit of X?” is a common question.

Now, re groups:
You can join the Facebook group for Wintermark and get recruited (pretty easy), and then spend a while seeing if they seem like nice folks. Ditto for these forums, if you announce you’re looking for one, you’ll get offers.
Empire players are (I believe) pretty laid back, so if you join a group and then find it a bad fit, they’ll send you off amicably. I have taken a good look at the groups that I’ve joined down the years, before joining any.

You can wait till your first event: There are new groups forming regularly, there are new players rocking up by the dozen, and if you turn up well before the game starts (camping opens Thursday, game starts Friday evening), you can certainly wander round, socialise, chat, discuss, and maybe join or not.

I have only played in Dawn, which has a very strong group structure. Wintermark is (I think) a litle looser, and given the chaos in Semersuaq, you could easily be a wandering hunter (heck, leader of a group of hunters given your military unit), resting with a specific Hall at Anvil, but only loosely aligned with them. Allowing for your character to be camping with a group, but not necessarily a member. Yet.

Heck, you could take a leaf from the book of the Dawnish Knight Errant, visit all the Halls and see which one is most suitable for you and your weary hunters to join… and do so entirely in up-time, which would certainly be a way for you to meet all of your nation… (Warning: Wintermark is LARGE. A social visit to every group may well take your whole event. And there’s a LOT more to see out there. )