Actors in History (Sandbox D&D 3.5 Game)(Open/accepting)

[Gabriel Lord of Flame]

Foreword:
Greetings all. I have been lurking around and finally decided I have enough free time on my hands to run a 3.5 game. Firstly, this game will be mostly core but I have several preferences towards certain house rules. I will list those as they come up as I can't really think of them in list form as of yet due to never really having to list them before. However I will say on a whole the rules I do change/use tend to allow for faster game play and smoother storytelling.

Secondly, I will not be using any of the established Campaign worlds like Ebberon, Forgotten Realms, or Greyhawk but I will be borrowing the Great Wheel Cosmology from the last example.

Thirdly, the purpose of this thread is to garner interest in the game. To that end I shall give a brief overview of the starting continent and inform you how I shall be starting this game.

Game world:
Mundesa. That is the name of the continent the Players will be starting on. This is a place of growing tension but also, strangely, peace. This peace is maintained by three Super Power nations who are in a constant Cold War like arrangement. These three countries dominate the northern half of the continent, splitting the territory between themselves.

These three nations are the Intheran Republic, the Kingdom of Ironbrend, and the Greywilde Forest. I will go over the relationships between these three nations later if others show interest however for now I shall not. Just know that the Greywilde is the realm of the Elves and druids, Ironbrend is the realm of the Dwarves and their smiths, and Inthera is much like the Rome of our world in its prime and is the realm of Man. All three allow anyone of any of the civil races to live within their respective borders. Inthera specifically allows even monstrous races and provides small preserves for such creatures/people.
I will provide more in depth information later if probed so as to aid in the creation of character backstories if it is wished to make a character heralding from any of these places.

To the south of these three nations is a hodge podge collection of small kingdoms and feifdoms that are collectively known as the Southern Lands. This is where most adventurers come from as this is the area most heavily influenced by the 3 northern superpowers in their bids to gain an advantage over each other and at the same time there are many monster raids upon the inhabitants of these lands

Even further south is jungle and ocean with a group of islands where pirates and a few other small kingdoms make their home. Not much is known beyond these lands. To the east there is a very stormy sea and a large swamp known as the Corrupted Wastes that has managed to stop all expeditions sent that way. To the west a vast ocean, again beyond the ocean not much is known.

Finally the nature of magic in this world. Magic has had thousands of years to be researched and thanks to the constant magical arms race between the three northern nations there are many new and interesting magical items that have found their ways around. One of these wonders has been the advent of magical firearms. I will touch more on these items later but in general the setting is fairly Magicpunk, like Ebberon up north and more traditional towards the Southernlands where the research/magical technologies have been mostly kept from the kings and queens of those lands, though powerful magical technologies do sometimes slip into the hands of resourceful adventurers/heroes/villains.

The theme of this game:
In short. Sandbox. Where you go and what you do will be up to each individual player. I will provide adventure hooks and there will be evil(or good if you prefer) to battle but mostly it will be up to you to decide what you want to do and what problems you wish to face. Mundesa is a place where history is shaped every day and even the smallest event can have huge ramification even if not immediately obvious. How will you effect it? Do you even care? Will you make a name for yourself, seek power for the sake of it, or simply hunt treasure? All are legitimate courses of action. All choices will have an effect even in a small way.

Metagame:
I will not be placing a max on the number of people involved but my preferred range is somewhere between 3-6 people per game. If enough people wish to play then I can open up room for multiple parties but we'll cross that bridge if and when we get there.

I will be starting the players at levels 1-3 as per individual preference. Why the range? Because I have experience handling mixed level parties and want to provide a sense of freedom in character creation.

Edit: As you will see later in the thread I forgot to mention that stats will be done with a "2 column Standard". Meaning roll 2 sets of 6 stats with one replacement roll for each, choose the better set. Each stat is made using the standard 4d6 drop lowest method. Please provide me with the numbers that were in each set.  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Wait, we will be playing alone, no group activity?  

[Gabriel Lord of Flame]

I will be starting the initial group of players within the same area and will provide situations that will more favorably lead towards party formation but I'm not going to force characters together ham-fistedly. I find players have more fun in parties that their characters would actually form friends in as opposed to simply throwing the party together.

If you wish to go it alone you can. If the reverse is more appealing then that is fine as well. My style of play is very loose to allow for whatever fun my players wish to have. Wana roleplay your character? Sweet, have fun. Just wana kill s**t? Also cool.  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Second, and final question....

is there any books you would allow outside of core?  

[Gabriel Lord of Flame]

Freedom is the word. Simply tell me what book you would like to use and I will give a yay or nay. More often than not I'll give you a yay sense I have almost all the books at my disposal and those I don't have I can quickly reference thanks to the glory that is the Internet and 3.5s Open Game License status.

Edit: Also Stats will be done with a "2 column Standard Array". Meaning roll 2 sets of 6 stats with one replacement roll for each, choose the better set.  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

4d6 droping the lowest one and do we get to re-roll ones?  

[Gabriel Lord of Flame]

Nope you get an extra stat roll for each set instead.

PM me your character sheets or post them here, matters not to me.  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

no no no.... I am trying to figure out what we roll. When someone says array it normally means the numbers are fixed.... say 18/16/16/14/12/10.... and the people just apply the numbers how they wish, and here you are saying we roll. Roll what, 3d6, 4d6, 5d6,,,999d100?  

[Gabriel Lord of Flame]

4d6 dropping the lowest roll. Sorry for the misscommunication.  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Roll 1-3 of set A  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Roll 4-6 of set A

6, 1, 6, 6,
3, 6, 4, 6,
6, 5, 6, 5  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Set A

6, 1, 6, 6, =18
3, 6, 4, 6, = 16
6, 5, 6, 5 = 17
1, 4, 1, 1, = 61, 1, 3, 3 = 7
1, 5, 4, 2, = 11
5, 2, 1, 1 = 8  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Roll 1-3 of Set B  

[Southern Cross Nemesis]

Roll 4-6 of Set B

6, 5, 1, 5,
4, 6, 4, 3,
3, 6, 4, 1  

[Gabriel Lord of Flame]

Roll 4 more and replace your lowest stat(replacement roll).