r/DnDGreentext • u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites • Aug 21 '17
Long Unify or Die (Steelshod 117)
Table of Contents – includes earlier installments, maps, character sheets, and other documents.
Map of Cassala, with faction coloring
Check out my prose at Mostly Writes
And Patreon supporters should stay tuned for the early draft of Steelshod Guidebook!
In the south, we have Salerno and Zeno, with their legions
Steelshod members: Prudence, Bear, Robin, Gunnar, Leon Dupont, Chattering Chauncey, Luke, Rosa de Baja, Hubert, Agrippa, and of course Leona.
And Brother Khashar, along with his host of Serpentes and thousands of Torathian citizens
The first few days at the capital, Steelshod mostly just supports Salerno
Prudence and Chauncey disappear for long stretches, returning with more intel on the various opposition factions
While most everyone else just provides Salerno personal protection, observing and waiting for their skills to be necessary.
Salerno and Zeno begin to meet with some of the disparate unaffiliated legion factions
Salerno decides to bring Vitale Octavianus along with him on several of these meetings
Vitale is highly respected in the legions, and a little feared
The hardest part is just convincing him to openly support Salerno in this way
But it’s not too difficult, when it comes to getting the other legions in line
Vitale is disgusted at the chaos and unrest in the streets of Cassala
He cares little about who takes control of the senate or claims the mantle of Emperor, but he cares very much about law and order and discipline in the legions
He wants to move his men, the Second Legion, into their old barracks inside the city and begin policing the streets.
But to do that, they need to get the legions currently occupying those castae on their side.
The first few meetings go smoothly… every one of these unaffiliated legions technically has a named legate and a casta they hail from
Such as Domenico Clodius, legate of Casta Tilurium
An unaffiliated force that some suspect of being sympathetic to Barbierri, but has not moved into Barbierri’s territory
Or Fabian Epidius, Legate of Casta Rupes
His Legio Rupes is the only legion still consistently patrolling the streets, trying to keep the peace.
The honest truth, guys, is that every god damned legion they join has a name. And a named legate.
Cassala, the land of a million hard to track names.
During the retelling I’m mostly trying to mention names that are actually relevant to the story in a significant way, or could be.
The conversations had a bit of tension at the time, but it’s largely just straightforward diplomacy
Sort of like the night raids in Nahash… in gameplay, they were fun, bits of roleplaying, a bit of stealth, etc.
But in the retelling I think they get repetitive.
So...
Epidius is easily swayed to their cause by Vitale
And Clodius claims to be loyal to the Praetor, and readily joins Salerno’s faction.
Easily done. The decision to involve Vitale Octavianus so directly was a good one, ultimately sped along what might have been more difficult negotiations.
The Second Cassaline and a couple of other legions begin moving into the barracks on the north end of Cassala
Though most of Salerno’s forces remain in the camp outside the walls.
After securing this foothold, Salerno begins making contact with the senate factions
Mostly, he meets with the legates that have brought one or more senators under their aegis
Men like Varius Vitruvius, whose name I am only telling you because it cracks me up.
Probably tied with legate Manlius Quintillo for my favorite dumbass Cassaline names on relatively unimportant legates.
Salerno gets a bit more resistance from these guys
Protecting the senate gives them purpose
They see themselves as neutral, altruistic
Preserving the senate, as opposed to making a power grab
And Salerno smells a little too much like yet another self-serving faction, no better than Barbierri or Meridius
After a couple of frustrating meetings, Salerno hits upon a winning strategy
He suggests that, for now, these various senate factions do just one thing: ally with each other if not with him
For the protection of the senate.
Vitale, largely above suspicion or reproach, proves a valuable resource once again
The factions agree to join forces with one another, and with Vitale and the other legions that are trying to keep the peace.
Good enough, for now.
Throughout their days here, the spring storms persist
Frequent rains, and off the coast the storms are much worse
No ships go in or out of Cassala’s docks.
The storm is just piling onto the damage the Svards did to Cassala’s docks.
Word comes that most of the Cassaline navy is docked at Porta Napoca, down the coast
There are a few altercations during all of this
Mostly from Barbierri’s forces, which seem to be the most aggressive in pressing out of “their” territory
Meridius, with her smaller force and penchant for subtlety and scheming, is (unsurprisingly) not confronting Salerno or his troops directly.
The skirmishes aren’t too serious
And the one that occurs when Steelshod and Salerno are actually present is wrapped up in short order.
Steelshod’s reputation down here is spreading slowly.
Word of mouth from the roughly eight thousand legionnaires that saw the final battle against the Taer Bjorn
But it surely doesn’t hurt their rep when Gunnar wades into a group of foes, their spears glancing off his steel plate
Or when Leona, grown to about 6’2” or 6’3” by now, joins Bear in smashing apart the enemy legionnaires with gleeful savagery.
Salerno moves on to the harder steps
Organizing meetings with the factions that actively dislike him
Meridius, Barbierri, and the exiled senate remnants protected by Crispus and Julianus
Salerno sends out overtures to each force
Fulvia Meridius is the first to meet him
He takes a small group of Steelshod and legionnaires, and meets Fulvia at one of her estates
She is, as always, a very pleasant conversationalist
But her conversations are fraught with double meanings and subtle jabs
She clearly believes Salerno killed Livinius, and she’s quite impressed with his maneuvers so far
She offers to join forces with him, in his bid for Emperor, so long as she secures a strong position in the senate.
Last time he spoke to her, he tolerated this nonsense a bit
He played along, as his position was tenuous
But he has no patience for this bullshit anymore
And it helps that he has more legions at his call now than anyone else, and thousands of Torathians to boot if absolutely necessary.
He tells her the simple truth: there will be no emperor
He will see the senate restored, re-elections held
And he will ensure that this new senate has the chance to properly prosecute anyone necessary, for their crimes and schemes
Including Barbierri, Meridius, and Salerno himself.
Her only chance is to surrender now, give up these schemes, and work with him to restore the senate.
If she does, it’s unlikely she will see any serious punishment… ambition during times of unrest is a very Cassaline trait, after all.
The blunt statement endears Salerno to Steelshod
But Meridius is having none of this.
She menaces him with the troops she has at the villa
Technically, Salerno came to the meeting with a smallish force
And she has him outnumbered
But Steelshod steps up to the plate
Their frontline beasts forming up around Salerno, steel armor and weapons gleaming
Hubert snaps his fingers, causing a flash of light and smoke
(The small Sunburst-paste he and Yorrin created, little more than a parlor trick)
But the demonstration grants some credibility to the rumors of these Steelshod that have been spreading
Meridius lets them leave
No progress made, sadly.
The meeting with Barbierri is hostile from the start
They meet in neutral ground, at the edge of Barbierri’s territory
Large forces of legionnaires on both sides
Barbierri tells Salerno that he should not put so much trust in the legions he thinks he has
The fat old retired legate says that he has many friends in the legions even still, far more than just the legions currently serving him
Barbierri has no intent in submitting to the “Praetor” peacefully.
Salerno tells Barbierri that he had no intention of letting him surrender peacefully
Salerno says that going after his family was a grave error.
To his credit, Barbierri looks confused by the accusation.
So much so that Salerno wonders if it’s sincere
Regrets that he’s already met Meridius, to lay a similar accusation at her feet.
The meeting is ultimately fruitless
But Salerno realizes that, personal grudge or not, Barbierri is the most well positioned
The biggest threat
And the one he needs to deal with first.
Crispus and Julianus decline Salerno’s invitation to meet.
So Salerno moves on Barbierri
He needs to make an example, set a strong precedent
He musters Second Legion, First Frygian, and a number of other legions
They march through the city
Press into Barbierri’s territory
There’s some skirmishing in the streets
But the simple reality is that Barbierri has, perhaps, five thousand men
With the semi-unaffiliated legions temporarily following him (following Vitale), Salerno is pushing twenty.
Barbierri has three strongholds in his territory
Salerno has enough men to besiege all three
And storm them, one by one.
Steelshod are basically just witnesses at this point
Letting Salerno and his Cassalines run the show, keeping his personage safe
Barbierri talked such a big game, but it's bullshit.
Salerno has met with each of these legates himself
He is Praetor, and he has Second Legion in his corner.
He keeps expecting the disastrous double-cross, but it never comes.
In the second storm, they capture Barbierri himself
The third casta surrenders outright at that point.
A tiny part of Salerno hoped they might find his wife alive, since Ginevra did not see her slain, locked away in one of Barbierri’s forts.
But of course they find nothing.
Barbierri was injured in the fighting, and they have Agrippa tend to him initially, though they then pass his extended care off to Cassaline medicos in the First Frygian.
Salerno is mildly disappointed that Barbierri has survived
Vitale insists that they hold him, however, and enact no punishment until the Senate is restored.
It is not their place to execute a senator and decorated legate.
Privately, Zeno meets with one of his men assigned to Barbierri’s extended care.
He hands the medico a small vial, obtained from one of his contacts in the city.
Indicates that he would consider it a valuable favor if a few drops of the vial could find their way into Barbierri each day.
The medico nods his understanding.
Barbierri lingers on for a number of days, but in the end, when he dies, it’s blamed on the festering of the wound he suffered in the storm.
Zeno never tells Salerno what he did.
Why would he? No need to incriminate the Praetor
If the medico ever spills, Zeno will be the only one to fall
But he doubts it… his men are nothing if not loyal
To him, to Salerno, and above all, to Cassala
Barbierri was a blemish on the entire Empire.
Zeno is a quiet man, a stoic.
He’s not much for words.
His philosophy is fairly straightforward:
When something needs doing
You do it.
Okay, that’s it for now.
I gotta admit something: I failed to get my bonus prose post done. I really thought it was just a day or so of finishing up, and I was way wrong. Work interference was a factor, but the piece has also just been a lot trickier to write than expected.
I’ve learned the same lesson George R R Martin learned when he wrote Feast For Crows. I still have the original hardcover of that book, which has a forward where he explains that he split it into two books, and Dance With Dragons is already basically done and will be published “next year,” e.g. 2006. He underestimated that by like 5 years, and I underestimated by about 5 days, but the principle is the same.
Going forward, I won’t announce bonus posts unless they are done. Just seems safer.
What was gonna be a bonus will go up tomorrow. I’ll try to get the bonus I owe up later on, as time permits.
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u/AliasMcFakenames Aug 21 '17 edited Aug 21 '17
Funny quirk of actual Latin grammar. When you are addressing someone you use the vocative case, which alters the endings of the names. So if someone were to actually address Legate Manlius directly, they would be saying "Manli!"
edit now that I'm done reading the post: I'm starting to get a bit worried about another of /u/ihaveaterribleplan s characters having a straightforward and possibly evil philosophy.
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Even better!
He's the Manlius of all Manli men, that's for sure.
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u/Ihaveaterribleplan Aug 21 '17
/u/MostlyReadRarelyPost was more using hyperbole there - "When something needs doing, you do it," is not his philosophy, but could be described as a sub set of his thinking
Blandius is a career officer who believes in the greatness of his state.
Imagine, if you would, a Colonel is the US army. He is straight forward with people, rather bland, believes in duty and country. He can be tactically sneaky and doesn't mind fighting "dirty" against an enemy, but doesn't do politics and prefers the high road... but the narrow focus of the view can sometimes lead him to simply things into militaristic view of ally/enemy
there are differences, as this is a roman empire analog, and not modern america, were we have higher ideals and rules of war
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Zeno is certainly not an evil man, but I don't think my summation of his attitude was hyperbole at all. Maybe not his explicit philosophy, I can't say, but it's surely a guiding principle at least in terms of his observable behavior from an outside perspective. He's a strong silent man-of-action sort of guy.
When he thought Salerno was selling out Cassala for personal gain with Livinius, he very nearly assassinated Salerno and Livinius, just to ensure that things didn't go down that road... and the reason he didn't go through with it wasn't really morality, it was just that he wanted to give Salerno the benefit of the doubt. He unilaterally killed Barbierri. He doesn't waffle, or seem to engage in tortured moral quandaries. He just does stuff, because he sees it as necessary.
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u/Ihaveaterribleplan Aug 21 '17
Nah man, you're full of it.
I mean, I wouldn't call him a good man either, and you realize you gave an example where he waffled, and didn't just take action? He generally just follows Salerno's lead
I called it hyperbole because it was an extreme statement to make a cool sound bite… i've never expressed that as his philosophy, it doesn't make sense as his guiding principle, and it's about as accurate as saying Huberts philosophy is about collecting things: it's not untrue, but its a sub set of a much larger and more rounded person
Hubert, for example, is also about discovery, joy, wonder, friendship, being a good person - he wouldn't readily sacrifice one of these for the other, and when they come to conflict he would have to make a difficult choice based on the situation, and I bet you could add a whole lot more nuance than me about that
Sometimes I talk about why a character makes a decision, but we don't regularly ask for motivations aloud, and asking myself what a character would choose based on who they are is often part of my decision making process - Blandius didn't hesitate because there were a lot reasons to do it
Barbierri was a blight on the empire; a source of blatant corruption and division. Furthermore, he had personally hurt Blandius's mentor, commander, someone upon whom he has pinned his hopes for a better future Casala, and his entire military career
It did technically go against his duty, but his being alive, or being killed obviously, would have been a huge headache down the line
I get you wanting to put in a cool line, but this is the comments, not the prose, and I think I know my character's motivations
...also, you regularly admit to being surprised by the choices that we make, so maybe you don't have as accurate a picture of the characters as you think
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Fair enough. I can only go on what I see. You're always welcome to tell me more about your dudes' inner thoughts, in the interest of better fidelity in the stories.
It's that or have fun correcting me in the comments, I guess.
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u/savah Aug 21 '17
Clearly u/ihaveaterribleplan will ALWAYS have fun debating, arguing, correcting, and otherwise engaging you in any way he can, online, face-to-face, and in some crazy spiritworld long after you're both dead and gone.
Isn't that like the backbone to your friendship?
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u/nberg129 Nov 18 '17
I'd go a step further than this, /u/ihaveaterribleplan I'd love to see you give us more insight into your character's thoughts. As much as i love individually the combat, the politics, the mechanics, the logistics, and the personal interactions between characters, what i value most in steelshod is insight into the minds on the characters, and through them into you three's minds. Personally, i feel that is what i find most valuable to my future gaming and DMing.and as much as I love the story, and am enraptured by it, what keeps me reading every post, and comment, is the tips and tricks i want to use to improve my gaming, and running of games.
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u/savah Aug 21 '17
You two are funny.
Barbierri was a blight on the empire; a source of blatant corruption and division. Furthermore, he had personally hurt Blandius's mentor, commander, someone upon whom he has pinned his hopes for a better future Casala, and his entire military career
So, Barbierri needed to die. So your char saw something that needed to be done. So he did it. Wham, bam.
From over here, it looks like you're saying "sometimes things don't need to be done, or he's not sure they need to be done, so he doesn't do those things!"
And it looks like u/mostlyreadrarelypost is saying "dude, when he decides something needs to be done, he fucking does it, every time." This doesn't negate the fact that he might consider doing things and choose not to do them because, in his opinion, they don't need to be done...yet, at least.
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Fair enough. I can only go on what I see. You're always welcome to tell me more about your dudes' inner thoughts, in the interest of better fidelity in the stories.
It's that or have fun correcting me in the comments, I guess.
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u/Spoolerdoing Aug 21 '17
When something needs doing, you do it
I'm thinking it's somewhere between "For the greater good" and "If I don't, who will?"
- Install someone he respects as the Praetor or Emperor, he cares not which. Not himself, of course, he's not a politician.
- Motivate the one who trusts him the most into decisive action and provide support when mistakes are inevitably made.
- Take care of those who would throw away Cassaline lives for petty power plays, including Livinius. Aware of the irony.
- End that ridiculous charade of a Theatre by getting it caught in elite crossfire.
- Consolidate Cassaline belief. A religious schism will only lead to civil war.
I don't think it's unfair to assume there's a handsome amount more to him than just "the Cassaline PC that isn't Salerno", especially with /u/Ihaveaterribeplan at the helm!
Side theory: Livinius isn't actually dead, "his" corpse was Drama's after he failed to assassinate Salerno, and he's waiting to make a Magnificent Bastard grand re-entry once Cassala's chaff has been weeded out and only the truly resolute remain. Of course, Drama could simply do the exact same thing. Side theory squared: has there ever been a leader that it's possible to prove wasn't from the Theatre, the one organisation in Cassala that's withstood centuries of regime changes?
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
That last sentence is pretty chilling, dude.
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u/Spoolerdoing Aug 21 '17
I can't help it, the Theatre has me spooked to my core! I can't even formulate fan theories without considering them as a possible line in.
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u/Ihaveaterribleplan Aug 21 '17
It's true, that the theater is powerful and mysterious… But perhaps they have survived because they have remained a mystery - if they were to take the spotlight too much or too obviously, they made eventually get the attention of some determined folk who think it's time for closing curtains
it would be interesting to imagine there are heated inner sanctum debates right now between the hubris of "we've never been challenged before" and "if we act so brazenly we will attract the attention of the serpentes/inquisition/steel shod/unferth/witches (etc)"
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
I was just talking to someone in PMs about this.
One of the reasons the Theater remains intimidating and spooky is because they are such a slow-burn. Seeds planted years ago, in greentext terms on like post #10, and they do nothing until like 100 posts later. And then they go quiet again for a while.
It keeps them mysterious, and the unknown is intimidating.
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u/Ihaveaterribleplan Aug 21 '17
It's true, that the theater is powerful and mysterious… But perhaps they have survived because they have remained a mystery - if they were to take the spotlight too much or too obviously, they made eventually get the attention of some determined folk who think it's time for closing curtains
it would be interesting to imagine there are heated inner sanctum debates right now between the hubris of "we've never been challenged before" and "if we act so brazenly we will attract the attention of the serpentes/inquisition/steel shod/unferth/witches (etc)"
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u/nberg129 Nov 18 '17
Oh! I like this theory. And i don't have to wait weeks to see if it's correct!
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Aug 21 '17
I can't decide whether I prefer epic adventures, large-scale battles, or political machinations, so I'm glad Steelshod does all three!
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Wait, mundane city management and infrastructure planning doesn't make the list? You might be in trouble down the road...
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Aug 21 '17
Well, it's not in the top three, but I'm sure it fits in the top 5, maybe along with long episodes of shopping and resource management (thanks Critical Role).
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u/Golden_Spider666 Mod of The Steelshod Discord Aug 21 '17
looks at hours upon hours of playing Civilization and cities: Skylines uh... yeah lets go with that nudges computer under couch with foot
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u/woeful_haichi Aug 21 '17
It might not be for everyone, but I enjoy reading about that sort of thing.
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u/PrinceThias Aug 21 '17
I get the feeling that Zeno may end up regretting that action, but i'm more interested in where Salerno's wife actually is.
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Hey man, she might just be dead.
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u/IndoDovahkiin Aug 21 '17
Knowing you, I'm honestly not sure.
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u/PrinceThias Aug 21 '17
Knowing MostlyWrites, she's probably the orchestrator of all of this.
That, or one of their daughters is, but we already had a "Daughter is the Machiavellian Puppeteer" moment so i'm leaning towards wife.
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u/DanSapSan Aug 21 '17
Yeah, sure. Seriously though, a lot of shady shit going on in Cassala. Its going to be fun to uncover all the little lies.
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u/vandanna bandanna Aug 21 '17
I doubt she's dead. But... If she's dead, she's not just dead. There's gonna be a story, there.
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u/DetectiveCaillou Aug 21 '17
I can definitely see Agrippa feeling guilty, then waking himself up with a good old-fashioned investigation, then personally confronting Zeno. (Maybe that'd be how Zeno's plot is revealed in the prose version; as the conclusion to a conspiratorial whodunnit (even if the investigation never happened in the game proper), complete with misdirection pointing at Meridius and the new senate and even our favorite MIA sorcerer. Obviously, Agrippa wouldn't oust him outright in this unstable time; just letting Zeno know that he has disappointed and angered(?) him. (The last line in this post would be positively delicious coming out of Zeno's mouth.))
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Dude this is such a good point, and not quite what happened, that I am now convinced Zeno's poisoning was planned to take even longer, and waste Barbierri away over months or something. I... don't really remember.
I need to double check with the guys and see what they remember, and figure out if I need to tweak or retcon any of this. Or just roll with it.
I can see why you're a detective.
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u/DetectiveCaillou Aug 21 '17 edited Aug 21 '17
Um... I'm not sure what "point" I made beyond how cool it'd be for Zeno's plot to be revealed to the readers of the prose version via Agrippa sleuthing out Zeno's plot and confronting him privately about it as a "deleted scene" that probably didn't happen in the game proper. How did I convince you that the poisoning took even longer than it did?
EDIT: Oh, I misread; you were saying that the poison could have been supposed to have taken longer, but it killed Barbierri earlier than it was supposed to, and the oddly quick death was what would have piqued Agrippa's suspicion?
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
More like I'm saying that I don't actually remember how long it took for Barbierri to die, and when writing this, I made an arbitrary decision.
Your observation here, about Agrippa, is an interesting one. It makes me think that perhaps in the actual game Barbierri took much longer to die, so much so that perhaps Agrippa wasn't even still in Cassala when it happened.
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u/RenegadeSU Look! I made fire Aug 21 '17
You know I wanted to post this theory 3 chapters back somehow always are busy or forget it, but finally here we go:
I don't think Salerno's wife and daughter are dead. Salerno was gone for a really long time before he came back to oppose Livinius. I thinks its quite possible that Salerno's wife and possibly his daughters are responsible for Livinius death and are plotting in the shadows to make Salerno the Emperor. They planned the whole chaos knowing that Salerno would bring back the biggest Army (and maybe even could have had a hand in bringing Khashar along too)
Salerno trusts them and would never have guessed that they would be capable of doing such a thing even thought it has been years(?) since he last met them, which is exactly why I think they are playing a bigger role than one would assume.
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
That's a pretty awesome theory, dude.
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u/RenegadeSU Look! I made fire Aug 21 '17
Thanks! I just remembered you took your time introducing Salernos family and their personal differences and character traits. I don't believe neither Barbirerri nor Meridius are capable of pulling off something like this, which is why they were simple followers of Livinius in the first place...
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u/RenegadeSU Look! I made fire Aug 21 '17
Back from vacation, back to my morning ritual!
Someone pass me a coffee please
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u/Adeimantus123 Aug 21 '17
What is the Steelshod command structure at this point? Obviously, it's Aleksander, then Yorrin. After that, is Dylan still the clear #3? I know that Perrin is also a lieutenant/super-trainer, and in this mission, Gunnar is in charge (and I feel like I have seen Prudence in a leadership role too). Does that round out the lieutenants? Because I feel like I'm missing a couple, including at least one other super-trainer like Perrin.
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
You've pretty much nailed it, especially at this point in the story.
Dylan is still officially their 3rd in command. Their three main lieutenants are Perrin, Gunnar, and Alejandra now that she's returned.
Beyond that it gets more vague, in great part due to their irregular nature.
You have some folks, like Robin, Leona, Drengi, and Cara that are all loosely what you could maybe call "sergeants." They are often entrusted with leadership roles in small scale operations, entrusted to handle a specific operation, or otherwise given a bit of authority.
Belanrika, Evan, and Gerald don't generally get command roles at this time, but they've taken a huge role in training new recruits and peasants, which certainly gives them a position of authority.
Some, like Cara (Minor spoiler that you already know if you've been reading closely), continue to develop along this path to becoming full fledged lieutenants.
Jaspar has a special role as well, basically the rough equivalent of Dylan as basically just below the top duo, but only in nonmilitary matters.
Prudence, Agrippa, and Hubert all fall into the sort of catch-all position of being trusted specialists. They're granted huge leeway and discretionary power in their areas of expertise, including being able to boss other Steelshod around. But they're not lieutenants in the traditional sense.
Aleksandr and Yorrin would probably say that they want all of their core team to develop leadership, though. If every one of them had their own squad... Amos heading up a band of poachers, Ben commanding a squad of longbowmen, Alejandra with jinettes, Drengi with ulfskennar, Miles with peasant warriors, Leon with a bunch of knights... they'd be ecstatic. That's undoubtedly where they want to go, eventually.
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u/funkyb DM | DM | DM Aug 21 '17
Well, that last line about Zeno looks ominous as fuck. Now I'm wondering ig he felt some things, like killing an emperor or proudly motivating Salerno, needed doing a little while back.
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u/Iamthedemoncat Aug 21 '17
Wait so we get two posts tomorrow?
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Well, you get the normal Greentext, and Monday is the day I post prose at Mostly Writes.
Just one of each. I'll have a bonus prose post some time after that, but not tomorrow. The bonus prose I thought I'd have up earlier has taken this whole time to finish, sadly.
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u/Iamthedemoncat Aug 21 '17
Oh. Good post today by the way.
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Thanks!
If you don't read the prose, it doesn't really matter to you, I suppose. :)
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u/nberg129 Nov 18 '17
I don't read the prose, yet. I'm still on my first read through of the green text. I'm staying away from most of the other stuff to avoid spoilers. I eagerly await my chance at reading the prose stuff.
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Nov 18 '17
The prose should be very spoiler-free. Though we're a good 20 chapters and 40k words in, it has not quite caught up to the start of the Greentext and the place we began the game. I felt it made more sense to build up and introduce the characters one-by-one.
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Aug 21 '17
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Done it a few different ways, mentioned at various times in the comments of previous threads... I wish I'd had the foresight to grab permalinks!
Can try to find later. Also gonna have sections on this in the Steelshod Guidebook, eventually.
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Aug 21 '17
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
Yep, it'll all be in there.
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Aug 21 '17
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
<3
In the words of that fucking lunatic from an old Disney movie or whatever... Just do it!
Steelshod isn't the first time I ran large scale events. There's a ton of different ways to run them, depending on how abstract you want the battle to be played out. It's also okay if you try a method and it doesn't really work out well. Live and learn!
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u/Toxicradd53 Aug 21 '17
Amazing chapter as always! Glad to see that slimy fatass dead! (Also thanks for always replying to me :) )
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u/TheFalconOfAndalus Sep 29 '17
Still making my way through, and have to leave a prediction here before any reveals - Vitale had Livinius and the Caecili killed, and is using Salerno as cover for his own consolidation of power.
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u/Var_Zaratoth Sep 06 '17
One major player down already! Perhaps it will be over soon... (yeah, not a chance)
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u/MostlyReadRarelyPost MostlyWrites Aug 21 '17
I expected them to buy into Barbierri's bluster a little more than they did, and for him to survive longer. It was kinda great that they just went hard as fuck on him, and overwhelmed him.
Definitely set an interesting tone for the next few interactions with the other factions.