Insight The Outer Sanctum Rules and Roleplay Q&A

[The Narrator]

If you have questions about Outer Sanctum rules or how to get started and roleplay in the world, please post them in this thread.​

 

[The Narrator]

Question from Character Creation Q&A:

I'm not sure if this is necessarily the right place to ask this but - after our character is approved, what is the best practice for our next step? Do we create a thread in Tethis/Khare/Infinite Wilds, and try to lure a partner? Should we approach each other OOC to check interest similar to how one might respond to a RT?

This question would probably be a bit more related to the broader setting as opposed to character creation, but since we seem to have missed the Rules Q&A thread (which will be addressed momentarily), I'll answer the question here and then also include the information in that thread.

There are a few different answers to this question:

1. One option would be to reach out to someone you want to RP with and bring them over to the setting. Because the setting hasn't technically been released yet (though by the time many people read this it will be out), there aren't a ton of people who have made characters yet. Encourage your friends to come over to the setting (where they too can participate in stories and earn badges).

2. We expect that, at some point, people will start to update their request threads to reflect that they have characters in the Outer Sanctum. While we expect this to take time, it would be another way for people to know that you're open to RP in the setting.

3. While the beginning will be a bit slow (people still have to figure out what it is and what they want to do), there's no reason why you can't start to establish your character in the world by starting a thread, marking it as [Open] in the heading and seeing who shows up, you never know who will.

Such a thing might look like this:

View attachment 114055

Once you have a partner (or someone pops by, or you change your mind), you can then edit your thread to be [Closed] and reflect the participants that joined, as an example.

View attachment 114056

4. Finally, The Narrator is able to assist with some of this, though as with most things, if too many stories require The Narrator, then resources will be stretched thin.

 

[ZAlcyoneus]

How far in miles and/or days are the cities from each other on foot and carriage/wagon or by horseback?

 

[The Narrator]

How far in miles and/or days are the cities from each other on foot and carriage/wagon or by horseback?

In many respects, the answer to "how far are cities away from each other" is "however long they are necessary for a roleplay". There are a few key locations that do have slightly more specific and tangible answers.

Khare to Tethis is roughly two weeks on foot.
Tethis to the Eternal Wilds is less than a week (though the Eternal Wilds is massive so getting anywhere could take days, to weeks, to months, to years, depending on narrative needs).
Khare to the Eternal Wilds is a little over a week.
Tethis to the borders of Sha'Yogeth is approximately a month on foot.

Because time-skips can happen, you can get from "Point A" to "Point B" relatively quickly, but if you have a traveling companion, you are encouraged to roleplay your way there (judicious use of time skips would make sense).

At it's basic level though, travel is not the most interesting part of a story, and so there's some amount of handwaving that happens. There will be, however, certain cases where this sort of travel is not possible. For example, for narrative reasons, characters are not able to simply walk into Sha'Yogeth.

But these examples are far apart and few between.

We hope that this helps. If you have more specific questions, please feel free to reach out.

 

[Rimechapel]

Am I allowed to participate in multiple simultaneous roleplays with my character?

And, if I happen to be in the same area as someone, and we work out a temporary appearance for my character (one or two posts to, say, provide medical aid, or supplies or something) is this allowed?

 

[The Narrator]

Excellent questions,

Am I allowed to participate in multiple simultaneous roleplays with my character?

Because the setting has a "continuous timeline", this is very strongly discouraged.

And, if I happen to be in the same area as someone, and we work out a temporary appearance for my character (one or two posts to, say, provide medical aid, or supplies or something) is this allowed?

A character could "drop by" in a thread to deliver things like medical supplies, the caveat is that parties in the existing thread should be okay with this as this can create an unnecessary "break" in the flow of roleplaying if a character shows up seemingly at random and then leaves.

 

[Praxis]

I've looked about, and can't seem to find anything. So, I wanted to ask:

Is there a map (even a vague one) of the landmasses in play here? And, if not, are there any plans to incorporate one, or are there resources I could consult to help paint an image in my head?

Thanks!

 

[The Narrator]

I've looked about, and can't seem to find anything. So, I wanted to ask:

Is there a map (even a vague one) of the landmasses in play here? And, if not, are there any plans to incorporate one, or are there resources I could consult to help paint an image in my head?

Thanks!

We will have a map shortly, it's a matter of cobbling the time together to sit down and take care of it. Broadly speaking, the geography of the areas are:

Khare has a number of deserts around it, and to the East and Southeast there is a sea/ocean. Tethis is about two weeks on foot to the Northeast and is in the mountains. The Infinite Wilds are to the East of both and take up a vast area.

 

[ZAlcyoneus]

Are there eventually going to be more areas:major cities discovered? Like, a hidden city in the wilds or something.

 

[The Narrator]

Are there eventually going to be more areas:major cities discovered? Like, a hidden city in the wilds or something.

There is so much to discover. :)

 

[humon]

This question just occurred to me: Does Khare have taverns?

The city seems to be styled after 1001 Arabian Nights, ie. the Islamic world of the high middle ages, and of course Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol. But there is no mention in this setting of Khare being a theocracy with such strict rules (rather, it is presented as a liberal place in contrast to the theocracy of Tethis). So on the one hand, thematically it would seem out of place to have a tavern in Khare with people getting drunk, but on the other hand what in-setting reason would prevent that from being the case? Competition with coffee shops and opium dens, perhaps? Or city laws to prevent public drunkenness? If there were laws against alcohol, would speakeasies exist, where people can drink out of sight of the authorities? Or effectively private parties where everything forbidden happens behind closed doors?

 

[The Narrator]

This question just occurred to me: Does Khare have taverns?

Khare's aesthetics are based on Morocco/Marrakesh styles, but the broader comparisons end at the aesthetics for the most part. The setting remains a "fantasy" setting, so it has taverns and bars, and shacks that sell hooch, and sketchy vendors on the street that sell knives out of their coats. If you need it for a story, the city can almost certainly provide it. As with all things, however, we ask that players use common sense when exercising this creative freedom.

There's no store that just gives away magic potions. ;)

The political structure is council-based governance. I refer you to the article about the city for more specifics.

 

[ZAlcyoneus]

Hello Narrator,
Whereabouts may players keep track of things concerning their characters? Do we just edit our character sheets with stories involved in?

 

[The Narrator]

Hello Narrator,
Whereabouts may players keep track of things concerning their characters? Do we just edit our character sheets with stories involved in?

That is the most sensible place. You can keep a document if you like, but having it somewhere visible and that you (and others) can reference easily makes the most sense.

 

[ZAlcyoneus]

Okay

 

[humon]

This may come up pretty soon for me (and technically has already come up with regards to my descriptive text): What forms of currency are used in this world, and what is the purchasing power of them? For example, if the Ravencloaks are offering a reward of 50 gold for information about a missing princess, is 50 gold a lot of money? How much can 1 gold buy, in terms of food, lodgings, basic equipment, etc? Are there silver and bronze coins too, and if so what is the exchange rate? (The relative value of silver to gold by weight seems to stay consistent historically at around 100 to 1). Do Khare and Tethis have different coinage with different heads of state stamped on them? Are there any other power centers where their currency is valued in many places as a reserve currency, for its stability and the military might of the king or emperor who issues it?

Touch points I always consider in a medieval context are the gold solidus issued by the Byzantine empire, the gold florin issued by the city of Florence, the silver denarius and brass sestertius used in ancient Rome, the silver rupee in various Indian empires, the gold dinar and silver dirham of the Islamic world, and various bronze coins denoting different fiat denominations, like the as in Rome and nummus in Byzantium...

 

[The Narrator]

This is a good question, but needs to be addressed in parts:

What forms of currency are used in this world, and what is the purchasing power of them? For example, if the Ravencloaks are offering a reward of 50 gold for information about a missing princess, is 50 gold a lot of money? How much can 1 gold buy, in terms of food, lodgings, basic equipment, etc? Are there silver and bronze coins too, and if so what is the exchange rate?

The world operates on a "Gold/Silver/Copper" system. Silvers and coppers being the most common, rare being more reserved for expensive purchases. An amount of 50 gold is not a lot of money, but it is also nothing to scoff at either. An amount of 50 gold could purchase you a decent horse, a good (but not magical) weapon, or could put you up in a very nice inn for a couple of months. It is "a fair bit".

(W)hat is the exchange rate? (The relative value of silver to gold by weight seems to stay consistent historically at around 100 to 1).

10 copper to 1 silver, 10 silver to 1 gold.

Do Khare and Tethis have different coinage with different heads of state stamped on them?

No. Neither city has a head of state and both are very much linked to each other in terms of trade that they run on the same currency systems.

Are there any other power centers where their currency is valued in many places as a reserve currency, for its stability and the military might of the king or emperor who issues it?

If there are other power centers, these are not known to the characters at this time. As far as the currency is concerned, no.

A relevant note about money in the Outer Sanctum.​

Money largely doesn't matter in a meaningful way.

If you're broke, you aren't going to starve and die on the street. If you're extremely rich, you still can't buy an armory full of magical weapons. Money is an RP tool, not a mechanical system in the Outer Sanctum.

To use a dungeons and dragons analogy, money doesn't tend to matter when characters "go buy rations" or "stay in an inn", but do matter when buying magical items worth several thousands of gold. Your character should largely be dictating what their purchasing power looks like. If you are a slave, peasant, or farmer, you will probably not be staying in really posh places. Your descriptions and the decisions your character makes should reflect this. If you come from a wealthier family, dropping 20 gold for a round of drinks at the local pub might not be a big deal.

The point about the "value" of currency is similar to the value of many things in an RP—they are tools to tell a story, and as such, you have it when it makes sense and you don't have it when you shouldn't.

 

[GremlinSage]

For establishments, if the characters are 'not working' at a particular time and visiting others, or even going on a journey elsewhere for one reason or another, should the tag change to 'closed expedition' or something more akin to a note on the first post like Food Stall: Open for business/Closed?

On that same note, if they aren't 'working' and gone from the establishment, would a new thread be needed for when they are away?

 

[The Narrator]

For establishments, if the characters are 'not working' at a particular time and visiting others, or even going on a journey elsewhere for one reason or another, should the tag change to 'closed expedition' or something more akin to a note on the first post like Food Stall: Open for business/Closed?

On that same note, if they aren't 'working' and gone from the establishment, would a new thread be needed for when they are away?

This would be fine to do.

In such a case, you might want to consider a "closing down" post (RPing the end of the work day), and moving any ongoing RP to a separate thread (if you are continuing a story with someone), and then putting up a "opening up for the day" post (ostensibly "the next day of business"). That way your thread will not become unnecessarily cluttered (or confusing) if your character moves to a different location.

Just remember that you need to remember to "open" again for others to realize it's safe to join.

 

[The Stranger]

I apologize if this is written somewhere, but I went over the Sanctioned Stories thread twice and still couldn't find it.

Who starts a Sanctioned Story thread? Can anyone start one and a Narrator will jump in, or do we wait for Narrators to start one and then apply?

I see a lot of threads with Narrators, but I don't see where these threads were organized. Would it be rude to just send a message to the Narrator account with a roleplay request?