***KR's 10th Aniversary Event in April***

This thread will contain all the information regarding the special event in April.  We'll update it from time to time with new information as we can.

1) The April event will be a special event in which no one will be playing their regular characters.  Instead all players will be able to play a PC or their choice.  You get to pick your race/class combo.  It can be something you've always wanted to try, or it could be exactly what you are playing now. 

2) We will be asking for people to volunteer to NPC for the whole weekend.  Many/All will have weekend NPCs and perform some regular NPC duty at times too.  We don't need you to volunteer yet, because we don't have everything written up quite yet so we don't know exactly how many we need.

3) The PC characters for the April event will only be played at the special event.  You're more than welcome to recreate the same personality/race/class mix for a normal event, however, you won't be able to say you are X person from this event. 

This thread is locked just so it doesn't get cluttered.  Feel free to ask questions in another topic.  However, at least right now, we don't really have more information we can release.  Thanks all and we are really looking forward to this event!

The event will be the 2nd April event, April 25th-27th, 2008.

Some more info for everyone:

~ Level is set at 5th.

~ As mentioned, everyone will be able to choose the class they play.  Players won’t need to worry about generating their character skills/card.  We have created “packages” to help players customize the classes.  Most classes will have 2 to 3 options.  For example, all cavaliers will have the same starting set of basic skills that you would normally start with (hypothetically lets say they all get 1HE/B, Shield (M) and 18bp to start)  then there will be a couple options that people can select from to customize the type of skill path you’re cavalier would follow.  These packages will soon be posted, so that players can plan accordingly. 

- As mentioned, everyone will be able to choose the race they play.  The only exception is that Dark Elves will not be allowed.  All Races will get the “starting with” skills as defined in the racial section of the online rulebook.

~ Players are encouraged to bring their normal PC’s clothing.  At Period Change on Sunday morning, we will be reverting back to Travance.  This will allow people to learn skills and otherwise interact with their main characters.  We could end up reverting back earlier if….well I’ll leave that to the imagination…

~ It won’t be necessary to bring the normal amount of cabin decorations that players often do.  Our players do a fantastic job with cabin set-up at the summer camps, however, the Plot of the weekend will make having a large amount of props set-up in your cabin a bit unrealistic.  Of course, if you plan to play a character that simply won’t leave home without all its comforts, have at it.  This could or could not be to your benefit...

~ Characters will be able to resurrect the same number of times as a PC typically can.  We won't lie, the event will be lethal.

~ IG leadership.  There will be very few NPC leaders with the PCs.  Part of the purpose of this event is to play a game of KR unlike what we normally do.  The current KR weekend consists of a lot of established PC leadership; PC leadership mostly set-up by and arranged through Plot.  This won’t be the case.  If you currently play a character that isn’t in a position of authority in Travance, here’s the opportunity for you to take the lead!!!!

This all brings us to a better explanation of why we are having this event.  Well first and foremost, it’s the 10th Anniversary of KR…that in and of itself deserves something special.  But how this specific type special event was created was through a conversation Jeramy, Matt White, and I had when we were driving up to an event a number of months ago.  Many times you’ll hear some of the older players, especially those like myself who started during KR’s first year, wax philosophically about the “old school KR”.  Well, we wanted to bring back the feeling of “old school KR” for an event to show the newer players (and even the older players who weren’t even around back then) what KR was like back in the first year or so.  Lastly, we wanted people to have the opportunity to play a character without fear of losing all the time and money they invested into it.  We are creating an event in which the PCs will definitely have the chance to win...but they will also have a very real chance of losing.

Back in the early days of KR, the level disparity simply did not exist.  Everyone was within a few levels of each other which made fighting often times far more dynamic.  Brute strength only rare won out.  Rather, a good plan was almost always worked out before a fight, or people had previously actually sat down and made plans IG on how to react to different situations that might be thrust upon them.  Some groups of players quite literally would do drills. Attacks like Incap were awe-inspiring, not too mention highly feared, attacks.  Overall, being a PC was dangerous, very dangerous.  Characters died a lot.  PCs survived by forging strategic relationships with groups of PCs for mutual protection not by relying on ultra-powerful PCs (or NPCs for that matter) to save them.  Hell, level 20 was unheard of and many people never really thought characters would make it there, or if they did, they expected only one or two ever would. 

Cabin raiding at night was also something to be very much feared.  Everyone strategically arranged who slept where to give them the best advantage if suddenly attacked.  Many people also rigged “traps” to make nosie to help alert them to possible intruders.  If you went to sleep by yourself, you likely didn’t wake up in the morning. 

I could go on for awhile, but I wanted to give all of you a better glimpse into the purpose of this event.  I know those of us who are planning it are incredibly excited.  I think all of you will really enjoy it.

One last request before I end this already long post.  Its possible that some players might be tempted to act completely over the top because there are no long term consequences to what happens to these characters.  We’re appealing to everyone’s better nature to develop interesting concepts for their characters and to play them with conviction as if they’re real people whose lives and beliefs matter to them.  Basically, don’t be a dick IG just because your character is only being played this one event.  Treat it as if this was your main character. 

More Information to Come, including the Character Packages.

A little more PC background information for you, to help with concept development:

• Your PCs are taking part in an expedition led by Sir Terrance Putnam, an explorer and adventurer of fair reputation. His commission for this foray comes directly from the King of Kormyre. You have been told that the expedition involves sailing to a remote island.
• Given the above, most PCs will fall into general categories - those smart enough to understand the risk but who have a reason or need to take it, and those that are not smart enough to understand the risk. Please don't all jump into the latter category, humorous though it is.
• The recruitment drive for the expedition has focused on people who have some capacity for taking care of themselves, or who have a specific support talent that is good enough to overlook that first requirement. In other words, they don't want colonists, they want adventurers. A farmer that is embarking on a new life filled with hope and optimism would not be on this boat. A character looking to make a name for himself, or down on his luck with no other way out of his jam, or some other reason to expose himself to risk is the sort of person that fits in this context.

Some more background help:

The following announcement was posted throughout Kormyre and is what brought your character to join the expedition, or at least first exposed her to it. In other words, use this however you want to factor into your character's decision to go, but this is the first bit of information she knew about it. Perhaps it was all that was needed for her to pack her bags, or perhaps she wanted nothing to do with such nonsense but her best friend decided to go and she didn't want to get left behind. However you want to work it, feel free. Aaron will be posting more about the submission process soon. For now, here's that IG announcement:

Adventure!

His Honor Sir Terrance Putnam is assembling an expedition to an uncharted island off the shores of Kormyre, and adventurers of bold and determined character are being sought to fill the expedition’s roster! His Honor seeks a diverse assembly of personnel of varied skill and accomplishments. Any who are willing and able to undertake or support an expedition and sign an indenture with His Honor for a period of six months shall be considered for inclusion.

By joining this expedition, you could earn a share of treasure and profit, a distinguished and honorable reputation, and the gratitude of His Honor in the form of a life annuity of five gold pieces!

Factors representing His Honor have established offices in the baronial seats of Kormyre. Applicants will be expected to demonstrate or otherwise prove their skill in some art, practice, or trade that shall be deemed of use to the expedition.

Applicants who are offered a position shall sign an indenture for six months, which shall require the following – loyal service for the duration, the provision of personal arms and necessary trade equipment, and related supplies.

In return, His Honor will warrant passage by sea to and from the island, provisioning of food, access, to His Honor’s best ability, to support services to maintain arms and equipment, a two-thirds share of treasure personally discovered, and a one-third share divided equally among expedition members of any treasure found by the expedition as a whole.

In addition, His Honor shall provide life annuities of five gold pieces to ten members of the expedition whose service, in his sole judgment, prove the most distinguished.

Make haste and apply to join, for there is only room for so many, and the tide and fortune waits for no one!

You'll get more information as the event draws closer, including details of anything noteworthy that happened on the sea voyage.

An indenture is not as scary as it sounds, by the way. It's basically a contract, and in this case the contract is that you agree to serve the knight for six months, and you're expected to bring your own gear and supplies. OOG, this will work just as we normally do for starting PCs, in that you'll get cards for whatever phys reps you bring for arms and armor, and you'll get a starting set of money, component cards, compound cards, etc. Whatever you would normally begin play with, you'll get. This will effectively cover your end of the indenture.

As far as what your PC is getting, we're not going to worry at the event about the 2/3rds this, 1/3rd that bit. That's for flavor. If you want to RP trying to pony up your share as you go, more power to you. But we can assume that upon returning to Kormyre, everyone would be forced to give an accounting of what they earned on the island and pay up the required third then. Likewise, the annuities obviously don't mean much for practical purposes OOG, but let it drive your PC's motivation if he or she would be determined to win one of them.

Finally, regarding the maintenance of arms and equipment, the indenture basically says that he has to ensure that you have access to equipment repair / maintenance / replacement. He doesn't have to pay for it, just make sure that tradesman and supplies are available. Again, this will all work out more simply at the event, and we have no intention of leaving people weaponless in large numbers for long periods of time. I can't promise that none of you will have such trouble, but it's not our plan to inflict that on you and we'll be trying to prevent that from being a problem to the extent possible without downright spoon-feeding.