Scott - If you choose to use this backstory, it is important to remember that these villages are *tiny* a couple dozen people, at most. They are supported almost entirely by the Clergy, who have the ability to create/purify water. The villages would have been holding on by the most tenuous of threads for quite some time, but their existence is, to me, on the questionable side. I'd need to see a convincing reason why they didn't join together as one village, or even join a larger city.

The self-imposed exile is good, and the idea of bandits is solid. Remember any travel over land necessitates preparation. Water must be packed - the rain and what little standing water you find is poison.

By the time the game begins, your character will have found his way to Lake City - he is listed among those who stood for the quest.

I was thinking that the availability of rescorces such as arile land, might have nesciated it.

just brainstorming here .. .

Perhaps one is near a cave system where edible fungi are, another near a very small spring with blind fish untouched by the world blight . . .

The clergy travel from village to village, sort of like the Methodist preachers did in 17th to 19th centuries. The would tend to the individual needs of the villagers.

The "Wolf pack", or the 'previous adventuring party' if you will, of Geoff consisted of the best of the best of all of the villages who banded together for their mutual defense, and the clergy gave their blessing.

Ok, the brain storm has now blown itself out. calm thought skies now.

I have a question that may lead to more questions. are the chat rooms and ICQ type of chat? I have concerns due to an injury to my left arm that makes my typing slow and often needing corrections. I also have the need to stand and walk about for other injuries.

I can certainly accept the edible fungi idea - that would make a great trade item and if properly tended could keep a village thriving. I'm going to mull over the idea of untouched water. It rings true, but I'm not fully sold on why it would remain pure, and I want to provide an internally consistent world.

You don't need the water to create a strong idea though. The fungus is a great start. Maybe there is a village harvesting that, while another lives near the dry lake and harvests the silty bottom for clay.

As mentioned, I was just brainstorming, so the water thing was just an idea. perhaps the water came from deep in the ground . . .*shrug*

A note on soil: I have academic knowledge on soil composition and for the record, clay is one thing, silt is another.

I can see clay being rather valuable as that would be a major building material due to the scarcity of wood.

Oh man, I think I just got scienced.

On the subject of chat, I don't think you will have trouble joining in. It's usually pretty slow in there - most of us are chatting while doing other stuff. Text does drop off eventually but it takes quite some time.

You guys still looking for players? I have a few hundred hours of 3.5e experience, but always as a DM, lol. Never had a chance to be a player before.

"Yes, but" is the classic DM response to questions of "Can I do X."
Dox, I would love to have you as a player. The game has already begun, but only just. Get me a sheet ASAP, and once I approve it you can get a post going. I'll find a way to work you in.

Holy wow, I HAVE EIGHT PLAYERS! I am now going to actively seek a second DM, ideally to help run a split campaign wherein one party of four goes one direction while another party goes another.

I advise going over the character with a fine tooth comb.

I am thinking my character is in the monastery doing menial work in exchange for room an board. He would hear of the call and answer immediately. is that ok to start?

The background is a great place to start, post away sir!

Wahooooooo! ! !

China/porcelain is a very fine clay and would be in the crust of the dry lake bed. Because of the high resistance to corrosion, it would be a very valuable resource to more affluent regions to make tile for the their roof to prevent the acid rain from destroying their homes.

The more common and heavier clay would be used for building bricks and roof tiles found in Mediterranean environs and used by the common folk.

Since the game has started I'd like to move all further discussion to the q&a.

I've had a player disappear on me, so I have a spot open.

The character Athelia Moonstryker is currently available. If you want to play but don't want to be this character, message me with a concept and we'll talk.