Probably just 4d6, pick best three, assign as necessary, or else some kind of point buy system. Haven’t decided yet.
Everyone else, chime in when you can, and we’ll start working on characters for you!
An obvious question-do I need a copy of the rules? If so a link would be helpful…
Brainstorming for my origin story-will get back. Thinking a Scandinavian druid who is on some sort of quest to regain his honor or somesuch…
Here’s a copy of the rules. As far as I can tell, it’s complete.
That Scandinavian Druid sounds like a great choice. Let me know when you’ve got a little more.
As far as I’m concerned, Bardic Performance works much the same way as Bloodweiser Babes do in BloodBowl : it doesn’t actually do anything, but the heroes fight and compete harder when they know someone’s taking notes for an upcoming saga 
Speaking of saga, I know I’m not making the cut right now but just in case : my prospective character would be a Norwegian human berserker with a little cleric splash for flavour (and improved ass-kicking :)).
I love it. I’m glad to know that you’re ready to jump in, seeing as you’re on deck to take the next slot that opens up.
I’ll follow the thread just in case a miracle happens and 3 more alternates get called up. Have fun everyone!
Upon reflection, I can think of two awesome backgrounds for that character of the top of my head. One is really obvious-- a Viking warrior, out to loot and plunder. The other is a little more involved. The Byzantine Empire employed one of the most famous bands of mercenaries in history, the Varangian Guard. They were a bunch of giant axe-wielding Norse and Anglo-Saxon berserkers from the North, and they were absolutely terrifying to the enemies of the Empire.
And Mosier, I will certainly keep your name in mind. Even in the best of D&D games, there are always openings for new players as the game progresses.
I’ve had several thoughts, but an alchemist sounds amusing and suitable for the setting. His name is Zachary Hawkins and as far as the world in general knows he is an English quack doctor peddling miracle cures from the back of a wagon. While the law regards him as a minor nuisance to be moved on when they get around to it, he appears to be mostly harmless and so avoids complications from those who regard actual alchemy with deep suspicion. Meanwhile, his public persona as a bumbling incompetent with a glib tongue conceals a formidable analytical intellect.
Sound OK?
Sounds great! Where did Hawkins learn the beginnings of alchemy? Has he always been itinerant like that, or did he have a home somewhere that he left to go on the road? Maybe he was driven out of his hometown by the mayor after some alchemical mishap? Does he have some more worldly motive or goal that wants to use alchemy to achieve, or is he a scientist type, pursuing knowledge for its own sake? Maybe his goal is to use alchemy for revenge, or to recover something that’s been stolen from him, or maybe the pursuit of knowledge to the exclusion of all else gets him into trouble.
The Varangians are possibly the most famous, yeah, but Northmen were pretty much the 12th century international standard of ass-kicking for hire :). The Russians had a standing contingent as well, and the Kingdom of Sicily was founded by a bunch of Vikings hired by mainland Italians to curbstomp the place.
But anyway, here’s the background I had in mind already :
Harald Ragnarsson started out as your typical tall, blond, muscular, bearded Viking sell-sword and sailor but quickly got disillusioned of the constant petty feudal warfare, the lootin’, the pillagin’, the burnin’. Not as fun as it was cracked up to be. More tragic and soul-numbing, really. And then there’s the fricking cold - what d’you think all that burnin’ was about ?
Thus, leaving the fjords behind with no pining whatsoever he set out to build himself a career as an independent bandit- and monster-slayer for hire in warmer lands, albeit with mixed success and never really managing to settle down anywhere in particular. So far, his adventures have followed a fairly strict pattern : mosey into town with a sales spiel along the lines of “Got goblins ? I got this here Danish axe. Let’s try and work something out” ; set out, kill stuff dead, get paid, celebrate at the local pub ; bask in the warmth, adulation and free drinks granted by these simple people of the land ; accidentally murder someone by going drunkenly berserk over the course of a routine bar fight ; get chased out of town with torches and pitchforks. Rinse, repeat.
So your typical adventuring murderbum, really 
Oh, and there’s also the fact that, despite being ostensibly Catholic much like everyone else, he still tends to say the odd prayer to the Old Gods or make a little sacrifice here and there when nobody’s looking because you never know, right ? Besides, it seems to help…
Naturally, this behaviour comes with its own set of social problems among the Common Clay of the New Christendom ;).
But he’s still convinced he’ll turn things around for himself, any time soon !
Ragnarsson? One of many sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, maybe? Sounds great to me. We’ll let him continue in his murderous rut for a little until he gets called up.
Couple of things, I haven’t played any non-computer rpgs. I am interested in learning but I don’t want to dampen anyone’s fun. I won’t take offense if you want me to bugger-off and just watch. I’ve been listening to some rpg podcasts mainly about Call of Cthulhu though.
That said; will I need dice of my own or is there a virtual equivalent? Does the group need to know everything about my character’s motivation’s and background? I’m not an a$$ or a jerk, I have a idea for the character that the in-game group may have an issue with. Nothing unsavory and not something I’m against revealing outside of the game world.
My basic idea is an African sorcerer raised secretly by a native sorcerer for reasons of his own. This will cover some of my ignorance of the setting and give my character some characterization 
I’m still reading the rules and revising my concept. I expect to have a better idea soon-ish.
Please feel free to suggest ideas (or tell me to wait to next time) or anything you think I should know.
It’s perfectly fine to be inexperienced. My first D&D game was right here on the SDMB, and Malacandra and a few others got me started. We’ll teach you what you need to know.
An African sorcerer is a fine idea. Did you have in mind someone from sub-Saharan Africa, or the Mediterranean coast? Either’s fine, of course. Can you tell me more about the concept? If it’s something you’d rather keep secret from the group for role-playing reasons, feel free to PM me.
Zachary Hawkins comes from several generations of rogues and vagabonds - some of his family have been petty thieves, some have been travelling players or sideshowmen, and so on. As a youngster he managed to help out another quack doctor who would otherwise have had a bothersome brush with the law, and in gratitude the older man showed him some of the tricks of the trade and so gave him the means to earn a nearly honest living. But Zachary had enough of a conscience to at least want to make sure that the “cures” he was peddling would do no harm, and possibly some incidental good even if no more than settling the stomach and keeping the bowels open. Still, the law is not over fond of his sort and he has had to keep moving over the years.
Looking for props to enhance the general air of mystery about his trade, Zachary managed to pick up a few pieces of unusual glassware and even a book or two as well as some more exotic reagents. And then things started to get interesting… To his surprise, some of the “cures” that he was compounding – which he always scrupulously tested on himself before selling to the general public – proved to have more effect than he had ever expected. These were not always harmless and sometimes he had to leave town even more rapidly than he would normally have been moved on. But, having begun by pretending to be a genuine scholar and doctor, Zachary was already in the habit of taking notes and behaving methodically, and he found that he was reaping unexpected benefits from this. Wherever he could, he paid for teaching that would help him understand the mysteries he was dabbling in, and he continued to invest in his store of exotic supplies.
There came a time when it seemed that the increasing attention that rogues and vagabonds were attracting in England, coupled with a growing scarcity of able and willing teachers, made a lengthy absence from his home country seem advisable. With enough “professional” Latin to make himself understood, usually through a local interpreter, Zachary has travelled through the Low Countries and France, and now decided that the Italian city-states might provide an additional source of income and learning. And meanwhile, through many miles on roads in foreign countries that are often beset with cutthroats, highwaymen, and worse besides, Zachary is beginning to grasp how his new-found science may help to keep a whole skin in hostile surroundings. Still and all, the company of a few good men at arms would be no bad thing…
Hmm. All this talk of Moors is making me thinky.
What stage is the Reconquista in during your time period? It might be fun to have my character be a Jew who fled Spain after the Christians reconquered whatever part of the peninsula he lived on. Not dissimilar at all to my own family history.
Also gives me more of a reason to fall in with this growing rogues’ gallery of misfits and vagabonds. 
Whatever stage you want, or you need for your character. Let’s say that it’s in progress but not complete. I think that’s a great idea. Being Jewish may mean that your character experiences some resistance from some NPCs of other religions, but you may also be able to find support in the Jewish communities of whatever city you happen to be in.
Sub-Saharan. I had an idea to use some of the Yoruba pantheon. It’s not really important to the character other than background.
The character (I going forward until I come up with a name) was raised in Italy, if that’s still the starting point, by a sorcerer who had been driven underground by the church. My mentor raised me basically from infancy. The mentor’s story is I was found by him in Africa after his group killed some crusader’s that had killed my family and destroyed the village where I was born.
The truer story is, though, the mentor’s group did kill some crusader’s but only because they were aimed at the same target. The mentor was in Africa looking for children with sorcerous potential so he could devise a way to rejuvenate his own failing powers. I killed my mentor in a rage and in self-defense after overhearing him (or her, not sure of that) conversing with a demon. My mentor taught me well in the areas (s)he valued but left me woefully ignorant in other areas. I’m not a well rounded sorcerer yet, I’m looking at the Draconic Sorcerer background, which would help explain how I was able to overcome a seasoned, though weakened, sorcerer.
I am ignorant of many of the greater workings of the world and try to hide my shortcomings behind sarcasm. I’m also beginning to question everything my mentor taught me. Because of being cut loose from everything I’m prone to mood swings.
I will pm you the other idea and leave it to you to decide if it’s viable.
Cool. I’ll go with that.
Johnny Bravo, that sounds fine.
G0sp3l, that sounds workable. I like the specificity of the Yoruba pantheon, that’s a good detail. Check your PM and get back to me.
OK, so we’ve got six characters well on their way. Larry Borgia’s rogue/assassin, Johnny Bravo’s Sephardic Jewish mercenary aide-de-camp, John DiFool’s Scandinavian druid, Malacandra’s English alchemist, and G0sp3l’s Yoruba sorcerer, with Kobal2’s Danish(?) Viking and axe-for-hire ready in the wings.
Calatin and Suburban Plankton, if I haven’t heard from you by midnight tomorrow (January 2nd), then I’ll go ahead and give your slots to Kobol2 and Miller so that we can keep the momentum here going strong.
Malacandra, Johnny Bravo, and Kobol2, you three seem ready to go ahead and deal with the nuts and bolts of your characters. I think we’ll play Pathfinder and use the Pathfinder point-buy system, for High Fantasy characters. That means you’ve got 20 points to spend. Here is the official rulebook page on how to do that, and here is a handy calculator tool to make it easier to play around with character build ideas. You three are all playing Humans (or at least you haven’t told me otherwise), so you get +2 to an ability score of your choice, an extra feat and some extra skill points.