James Keegan's page

Thanks!

I'm in Gowanus now, not far from the F train.

Ah, fun. Do you have stairs or small elevators to contend with at either end?

Stairs at both, both curving and narrow. My bedframe didn't make it, box spring almost didn't either. I'm hiring movers from now on.

Staying in Brooklyn, I hope.

Yup, just a few blocks away. On the very day that everyone in the borough is double parked while it's raining. But it's done. Let us never speak of it again. We'll wrap up this fight shortly (even carrying a coffin you're more than a match for a bunch of farmers) we just have to see if we run the risk of tipping over the professor.

Congratulations, Jamie!

The move was painful and long. But it got done. Let us never speak of it again.

Thanks for the invite! I'll restat Pavel soon to fit character creation guidelines.

Good luck with the move. How far are you going?

Just a few blocks away, but my roomate and I are renting a truck and doing it ourselves.

Moving in the morning, so it may be tomorrow night or Friday before I can update.

Moving in the morning, so it may be tomorrow night or Friday before I can update.

I have a character from another pbp that fell apart a few years ago that I'd like to use. Pavel is another ranger (though I could alter him to be a cleric or paladin of Erastil if that works better). He would likely take the Rostlander background, very much a country bumpkin. Though he stutters a lot in conversation and is bound by quite a few superstitions, he's a capable woodsman and takes his duty to his community and country seriously. (Naturally if he were switched to paladin or cleric his stutter would go away with his greater charisma.) I can adjust his stats and show you what he would look like in 20 point buy.

Thanks DW, I appreciate the kind words. Obscuring mist does indeed center on the caster.

I would assume that it's another benefit of being in the mysterious "Pen 15" club.

Game Thread

I have a question for folks who know more about Golarion than I. What university would Arasmes have attended? I imagine that he is from Taldor with a Katapeshi ethnicity, thus the name. But I mainly picked the name because it sounded like Erasmus

Well, there are several named in Ustalav itself and given Arasmes' studies, this is the country to carry them out. Ustalav has been fought over in ancient times between Varisians from the West and Kellid tribes from the East. Many of the ancient Kellid tribes were part of the Old Cults and left menhirs and monuments throughout misty Ustalav. Around here there is the University of Lepidstadt north of Ravengro (the opening town), the Quarterfaux Archives south in the capital Caliphas and Rozenport's Sincomakti School. In Absalom, there is the Forae Logos the great library- Arasmes may well have studied or worked there. There is also the Arcanamarium and the College of Mysteries, but those are arcane magic schools. I couldn't find significant colleges in Taldor or in Katapesh, but feel free to make them up.

I'll see if I can put something up tonight, if I can find the time.

All the more reason to hope the professor left you something in his will!

I prefer James; my last name just completes the alliteration in the title.

As for Arasmes' access to cure or inflict spells, it's really up to you and what you think best fits the character. But the Old Ones are inscrutable, after all- maybe your cure ability manifests as ethereal fingers that reach into your (or a comrade's) wounds to knit the flesh back together. Or perhaps his ability to heal is his own nature (and sense of self-preservation) exerting itself over the powers he's been given.

Just the way I like it!

Here's the ooc/character tuning (if necessary) thread. I'm currently in the process of moving and finishing some freelance work, so it may be about a week or so before we get rolling. I will be available to answer questions and discuss things in the meantime, though.

We have a ton of great characters here and I honestly have had a very tough time choosing the group. Thanks to all of you for putting your characters up for submission and I hope that there are other people thinking of starting a game so that you'll all get the chance to play them! But I had to choose five characters, trying for a party with some degree of balance. With that, here's who I'm going with:

-Trevor the Yellow (Dreaming Warforged) It's a horror themed campaign and having a character with a strong fear theme (that he can eventually triumph over when that immunity to fear comes in) was a selling point for me.

-Arasmes (lovelydwarf) This was a decision of mostly having a background that really appealed to me more than a matter of class choice. Maybe we can tune him a bit- an oracle of lore may be a good choice depending on the mysteries you choose or an aberrant sorcerer if you would prefer that. Or if you really like the Heavens mystery, we can go with that too.

- Alison Crane (Jormungandr) Either as alchemist, bard or witch- I assume we can fine tune her to work best with the rest of the group. The changeling race has grown on me and I think she can be an asset to the group no matter which class you pick.

- Gareth Hillen or Luka Katic (Billzabub) I like both concepts and both alchemist and magus are classes I've never seen in play before, so I'll let you think about what you'd rather play and what would be best for the group.

-Evelyn Stormbow (PrinceofDarkness) Given how many back rank characters we have in the group, I think going for a second warrior with stealth and investigative skills is a good idea and Evelyn (who is pretty no-nonsense) can be the "bad cop" to Trevor's "good cop".

If this were a typical game, I would want to take a more focused healer type but I think the horror aspect may be helped along by having the healing abilities spread out among multiple characters.

Discussion Thread

Again, thanks to everyone for putting together such great characters: it's been really tough choosing between all of them!

Good news! I've finally learned/remembered enough basic stuff about Adobe Illustrator to put together accurate combat maps! Max, you don't have to do my work for me anymore!

Heh, after Taric my write up feels fairly light on :)

Hey, you also have 2 characters written up. Did I mention this will be a tough call? I'm going to take a little time to think it over and maybe let the other DMs starting games have a say on who they're taking of the folks that have posted to multiple threads.

So far we have 4 warrior types, 3 oracles, 2 alchemists (or 1 inquisitor) and Wander Weir's sorcerer.

James,

I've fleshed out Taric's background in considerable detail. In it, I've included his background and campaign traits where they apply.

Thanks for considering my submission!

** spoiler omitted **...

Can you give me a quick run-down of the Orc bloodline? I don't need the whole thing (and I don't want to make you type that all up) just a general idea of what it gives you.

I'd like to offer a character for this AP:

Arasmes, a Human Oracle with the Clouded Vision curse and the Heavens mystery. Here's his background:

A star pupil of Professor Lorrimor, Arasmes was the scion of the wealthy family who used his familial resources to research into dark and sinister secrets, seeking out knowledge of aberrations and things from the beyond the stars. His friends before his slide into decadence and dissipation were never certain if he took his researches seriously, or if he was simply trying to rebel against his respectable family and impress his friends at the university. Being able to imply dark, terrifying knowledge always seemed to give Arasmes an edge when attempting to seduce one of the female students.

And so Arasmes made his way through his university years, spending his days in seemingly earnest research into bleak secrets and his nights partying, dropping a few hints about unspeakable secrets to give his conversation an irresistible allure to his fellow students.

Then, Arasmes discovered shiver, a drug that provided him with potent hallucinogenic dreams. To some, he would say that the drug just provided him with another way to party. To others, he would indicate that it was part of his research, that ingesting the venom of dream spiders allowed Arasmes to see beyond the fabric of reality, into the black spaces between.

Whatever the reason, Arasmes shattered his life. He dropped out of the university. His family disowned him. He fell deeper and deeper into the drug, thoroughly addicted. When he ran into his former friends or colleagues, he would beg them for money, for the chance to get one more fix of the drug. Those friends and colleagues would, later, tell of running into poor Arasmes, a cautionary tale, or a fool.

It seemed that Arasmes would disappear into the drug, wasting his potential, wasting his life, dying somewhere on the street. But then, one night while dreaming under the influence of the drug, something reached out for him, something cold,...

Do you think he would also work as a sorcerer with the aberrant bloodline? A "bloodline" doesn't necessarily have to be inherited. I'm asking because I like the background and the character, but we have two more oracles submitted and I think the Heavens mystery may end up feeling like a poor choice mechanically during Harrowstone just because it seems illusion focused.

Thanks, Moth. There are some great PCs here, it's gonna be tough to make the call!

Hi James,

I'd be very interested in getting into a game, I'm familiar with Carrion Crown though if that's a negative. I'd like to have a go at playing a Changeling Alchemist if you'd be interested in having a changeling in the game or barring that a human inquisitor. I'm a bit burnt out from writing today (did my first full turn of 4E by PbP today, am starting up my own CC game and continued my Serpent's Skull game :P ) but tomorrow morning I'll write up either the Changeling or Inquisitor depending on whether you'd be interested in having the Changeling in the game.

Edit: Also no pressure to allow the Changeling if you'd prefer it not to be in the game, I'm just liking the background for them :)

As long as you don't think you'll be bored running and playing the same adventure for weeks, I'll be glad to hear your character concepts. If you have the time, I would like to hear a little about each concept- just a brief idea of personality, alignment and background- a paragraph for each at most.

I'm interested in running The Haunting of Harrowstone for a solid group of 4 (maybe 5) characters- possibly the rest of the AP if things go well. I'm currently DMing The Godsmouth Heresy and Tatters of the King (Call of Cthulhu) as play by post games if anyone would like to have a look at my style. I'm not always the fastest DM- I'm an illustrator as well as holding down a day job, so sometimes I may (after announcing it first, of course) take a short break to handle a pressing project. I'm happy to extend the same understanding to my players as well, of course.

I'd like to start this game in 2-3 weeks to allow character creation and for me to handle some preparation and other business.

What I'm looking for are characters made with the Carrion Crown player's guide in mind that will fit nicely with the theme and mood of the game. I'm a bit hesitant of non-core races and classes (meaning outside of both the Core and APG) but I'm willing to consider them if they come with a strong hook.

Creation: 1st level, 1 campaign trait and 1 trait from the core rules web enhancement (or a supplement on a case by case basis), 20 point buy, random starting gold.

As far as player selection goes, I feel bad rejecting people as in the submission model but I'm also not sure how well I like first come/first serve. So I suppose I'll try selecting a complimentary group from interested players. Even if we fill up quick, I know there are bound to be more of these starting any day.

Thanks for the game, it's been great!

Davi's posted a message in the connection section to say he's going on hiatus for a little while from the boards. So I guess someone needs to run him during this combat.

I'd love to start a Carrion Crown pbp, but I run two games already and I'm wary of spreading myself too thin. Maybe I will once things calm down- I've learned that these are ultimately a matter of pacing yourself. You're running a marathon with a pbp, not a footrace.

I'd be interested in checking this out. I own several of the Vampire books but never got a chance to play (due to my typical players' disdain/previous bad experiences with the people that usually played Vampire in our area) so I'm a bit on the fence as to whether or not it would be a purchase for me.

Alright, I think that since it sounds like I am gonna be a catman with electro powers who is good at science and mechanics I might be able to link a backstory to Eyeball Larry.

How does Buttons, a lab animal in Larry's laboratory whom was being tested on with a form of gene splicing between a man,cat,and electric eel. Bit by bit he became more and more intelligent and his body became more man like. Standing about 3'6" and looking a bit like one of those wierd, hairless cats, but with blue-black skin and whiskers that have a constant Tesla coil effect occuring between them. He has a British accent, is given to wearing a monocule, and smoking a pipe. Shortly after his metamorphisis he became Larry's lab assistant.

Sounds good to me! Especially since Buttons has much better stats than Larry and thus is likely much more capable.

Reading through it again has alleviated some of my issues with this book, but I still feel like something like a timeline, some more plot hooks and more information on the culture of the autocracy would be helpful.

I picked this up because it sounded like an interesting premise, despite the fact that I don't have use the BRP system (beyond Call of Cthulhu)- but I feel disappointed with it. A lot of proper names are thrown out there without much explanation (like the different nationalities of humans vs. the near humans vs. the non-humanoid races) beyond a sentence here and there with the side effect of just not having enough strong information on one group or another.

I understand that my utility for the rules sections for new spells and powers and demon summoning rules will be very limited since I intended to use this for a different system but things like an average person's life in the city of Korudav (the kind of thing that would be really helpful for presenting the world to the players) aren't gone into in detail. In character creation it's stressed that you're supposed to choose a house and a bloodline (and legion or church) and while that does dictate your starting money and your social status, the book doesn't go into specifics about what that really means. What are the political powers of the houses? How do they interact with each other? All we know is that there was enmity between the Storm God worshippers and the evil Fire God worshippers, resulting in conquest by the fire worshippers and the storm people's ruler being imprisoned in his ally's own city (the main city of Korudav). No mention of why that is and why the autocrat in charge allowed it when the storm people were such important allies. There are also (what seem to me to be) contradictions- at the beginning of the book, it says that Hivernians never forget about the Chaos wastes in the north yet it's stressed during the adventure in back that no one should know anything about what they're truly facing when they confront creatures of Chaos. It also seems like setting it on Earth is sort of beside the point- it occurs so far into the future with no recognizable landmarks that it may as well be Mars or a completely made up fantasy world with bits of ancient technology worked into it. Saying it's Earth, I expect a few more things to be recognizable than just the Mediterranean.

Maybe I'm expecting too much or missing out because I don't have the core rulebook, but it seems like the author took a very detailed world and just threw a lot of surface information and proper names into the book without much in-depth explanation. Beyond the scenarios in the back, there aren't suggested campaign ideas or story hooks for how to take this into a campaign. I would have rather seen tighter focus on a few important things, rather than one or two sentences about everything in the world. I don't feel like I could take this and run it without investing a lot of time developing it further.

I'm still looking for a DM. I'm sure this well organized party is interested in pushing through with the game... but if not, let me know. :)

Thanks Arazni, I'm certainly still interested if you can find someone. Or if your uncle is sure he wants to come back to this in two months.

Cool, thanks Smerg. Are attribute bonuses the same as in Pathfinder/3rd edition?

Bonus skill: 1d10 ⇒ 8

My mutant will be Lightbulb Larry. He's a gangly former scientist (or maybe just a janitor in a laboratory, but we'll go with scientist since that sounds better and he can't really remember). Well, anyhow, he looks his name- his frontal lobe is grotesquely swollen, often pulsing or flexing like a muscle and his skin has a nice healthy green glow- you can see straight through to his circulatory system when it's dark. When he uses his radioactive eye attack his right eye bulges out like it's ready to burst . But his newfound precognitive powers must have pushed something off in his motor functions since Larry finds it difficult to perform even the simplest tasks without dropping something, tripping or just completely missing what he was reaching for.

I'm going to use this thread for the moment. It well help people interested but not committed to see what is involved. A thread with new posts gathers momentum.

Sounds good Aardvark.

Radioactive

Mutant Type: Con and Dark; +2 to Dark Overcharge
Skill Bonus: +4 Science
Fort +2
Resist 15 Radiation

Radioactive Eyes
At Will
Standard Action
Range 5
Target One Creature
To Hit Con Bon + Level vs Fort
Hit 1d10 + Con Bon + x2 level Rad damage and target -2 to all defenses until end of your next turn

Hypercognitive

Mutant Type: Wis and Psi; +2 Psi Overcharge
Skill Bonus: +4 Insight
Ref +2
+8 Initiative

Uncanny Strike
Encounter
Standard Action
Melee or Ranged
Target One Creature
To Hit Wis Bon + Level + Weapon Accuracy vs AC
Hit 1(W) + Wis mod + level phyical damage and the target grants combat advantage until the end of your next turn

Due to your origins

Con is 18 and Wis is 16.
Roll 3d6 for Str, Dex, Int, and Cha

Okay, rolling the rest-

Hmm. Let me think about what I can come up for that.

First roll: 1d20 ⇒ 15
Second roll: 1d20 ⇒ 10

That sounds good. I want to run this for my group since it sounds like they would really get a kick out of it, but I'd also really like to be a player. I won't have the box until next week and I'm only passingly familiar with the 4E rules, but if you're
willing to work with me I'd be happy to join.

I'm currently waiting for my copy to arrive from amazon, but I'd definitely be interested! Are you planning to run the adventure it comes with? I was planning to run it IRL for
my players at some point, but I can separate player and character knowledge.

It seems like we're all set with the visit to Mr. Estus, right? So the next "landmark" is Dr. Highsmith's visit to London in 10 days. What would your gentlemen like to do during that time? Lucian already rolled a great Art roll, so I assume he'll be painting away and studying The King in Yellow? Perhaps another production will require Victor's talents in set design, unless he has other plans. Spencer, you want to keep seeing Jean?

Martin:

Looking forward to this one- whenever it starts. Dragon Age 2 is giving me my fix at the moment!

I think the easiest is for Rylan and Calder to have known each other as kids, probably from the same village before Rylan was taken to the Circle. Calder has a superstitious streak and is naturally wary around mages, but a familiar face may break him out of it.

Okay, as long as you know you can jump in whenever you like.

Martin shortly hears his front door bell sound shortly after he finishes dressing and eating his breakfast: his good friend Spencer has arrived for a social call and, most fortuitously, inquires about meeting Talbot once more about the play. Seeing as the author lives but a short distance from Mr. Poole in Belsize Park, the two resolve to walk the short distance after Martin gathers his heavy coat and hat.

I thought I had written that you went and saw Martin, who was just getting ready to visit Estus then you all ran into each other on the author's block. Let me look through the game thread for that.

Feel free to jump in if you like, Spencer- you're all there meeting with Estus.

Good, I'm really glad you guys like it so far. This is easily the most character-driven campaign I've ever run in that the authors really try to tie the investigators to what is happening in the story and leave a good amount of open time between new pieces of information falling into place. It's a slow start to allow you to get into character so that once things start escalating there's a clearer notion of who your character is and how they react when things start to really take a turn for the worse.

Just looking to poll you gentlemen on how things are going. It's building slowly (which is how the campaign works, really) but I think it's going well so far. Any questions, complaints, concerns?