I'm still interested in horror / cthulhu-esque as that was a niche I was interested in dabbling in with the CC game, but I'm open to whatever you've got going on. Political intrigues also sound interesting.
The mention of Carrion Hill prompted me to read the blurb of the module with that name and there I saw Richard Pett's name on the cover. If our adventures in the area intertwined with whatever murderhole he's written up at some point, I wouldn't be sad. ;)
Btw- belated bonus GM points for bringing the hammer down with ghosts and burning skeletons on Halloween weekend. I think it was technically on Halloween for me since I'm 7+ hours ahead of most of you guys. :)
Well, it was a fun, if short lived campaign, with a great bunch of characters. Thanks for running it, James. As for what's next, I might be up for some more fun, if you're going to run something. I'm busy with work, and really shouldn't, be I'm certainly tempted. Carrion Hill, the adventure, would be interesting, and I'm a big proponent of a single adventure as pbp, rather than a AP, which takes years just to get through the first part. Of course, if you're thinking homebrew, that could be interesting too . . .
I feel a bit stupid with Aldous for intentionally starting him out more or less useless. I had this idea that he would come in completely out of his depth and with study start learning how to fight ghosts and other creatures rather than start out mysteriously capable of fighting ghosts because I knew the title of the story had Haunting in it. What I did not anticipate was not finding any amount of sellable junk that would enable me to learn a new spell all the way from L1 to L2. So I took things that would have been useful for his life in the city (non lethal, trickery, divination) and avoided things like magic missile which would have been damn handy towards the end. Ah well.
Btw James- I think I completely forgot to open it, btu what was Kendra's gift to Aldous?
As I try to wrap my head around the question, I go through the usual discussion on how a game scales up. The goals and styles of low-level play are vastly different of high-level.
That being said, and I speak only of preferences, Carrion Hill could lend itself very well to investigation of the paranormal themes. It would be fun if there was still a possibility to bridge back to the Carrion Crown AP.
I don't really like hack and slash, but I also have a hard time with full blown sandbox where we can run in circles. I like good roleplaying, but not long discussion whether we should go right or left or how to split the loot. I also have a preference for tactical fights. I guess it reminds me of chess.
Just some thoughts.
I feel a bit stupid with Aldous for intentionally starting him out more or less useless. I had this idea that he would come in completely out of his depth and with study start learning how to fight ghosts and other creatures rather than start out mysteriously capable of fighting ghosts because I knew the title of the story had Haunting in it. What I did not anticipate was not finding any amount of sellable junk that would enable me to learn a new spell all the way from L1 to L2. So I took things that would have been useful for his life in the city (non lethal, trickery, divination) and avoided things like magic missile which would have been damn handy towards the end. Ah well.
Btw James- I think I completely forgot to open it, btu what was Kendra's gift to Aldous?
The Professor's traveling journal/mapping kit. Basically a box that folds open and has a gridded viewfinder to copy down drawings or inscriptions, a few jars of colored ink in different spillproof jars and a drawer for finished notes/quills. Something with no real in-game benefit but something really in character.
At the very beginning, you guys found a lot of stuff in the false tomb- those arrows of undead slaying may have been helpful...
I was thinking of a more episodic thing- not really an AP since I feel like a lot of those end up with padding just to make sure there's enough experience to go from adventure/level benchmark to benchmark. Even at an actual table, I start getting GM fatigue from some of the AP adventures. Modules, on the other hand, tend to be a bit leaner and I feel like just linking up separate modules based on an overarching theme, maybe with a continuous plot here and there, will work better.
I also feel like I can tailor Carrion Hill more to my personal tastes of horror hierarchy- which goes Lovecraftian stuff (aberrations, ghouls, etc.)> Frankenstein-esque grotesquery > ghosts and hauntings > vampires/zombies > werewolves. And, of course, mysteries and serial killers and such.
I was just about to warn you that I've just run Carrion Hill for my local group last week, meaning that not only I do know the adventure fairly well, but it is very fresh in my mind. But if you are planning on running something else, that's great. I'd love to see someone else's version of Carrion Hill. I ran the module as a one shot, but some players have mentioned that they might like continuing on with their characters.
I'll have some background info on Carrion Hill (the city) soon so you guys can start thinking about PCs and why you want to live in such an unpleasant sounding town; I'll also have some house rules I've been thinking about for you to look at. Let me know if you guys want to recruit a fifth.
I've noted on all my pbps- I'll be traveling between Thursday and Monday but I should be able to check in.
A first thought: I have in mind playing a man in his forties who, up until now, has had very little care or concerns for greater things. Father of six, he's working as a town guard for years. He's a stiff and proud man who focused on doing its job, and only its job, staying out of trouble.
He's had a troubled youth bringing him to where he stands on things, but that past will unlock and force him to care and act.
Perhaps urban ranger, wizard, cleric even. (I'm open on class, don't want to lock the others out of preferences.) I'm thinking human, but I'm still thinking.
I prefer Core for races. It will be mostly urban/dungeon stuff but mixing it up with something in the countryside is also a possibility. I'd say a cavalier or mounted combat paladin will have some problems with the mount and the Summoner class seems sort of like a headache to me (but I've never actually played with one, either). I'd prefer not to have ninjas, gunslingers or samurai for this one- going for gritty urban adventure and horror.