Carrion Crown Blues: Broken Moon

Game Master Kartari

This is how this will go. Over the next week, I will be posting bits of information as I finalize my setup for the adventure. I need to digest the whole module in about a week... :S

I need to post some rules and preferences I have, and I would like to get the players' answers to a few questions. The truth is that I have small and old experience with GMing. The modules make it easy to manage the campaign, lucky me.

The first question I have is: how do you feel about your character dying?

Permadeath would be devastating, others not so much.

I feel that there should certainly be some events that pose a significant risk of character death. An element of risk keeps the players on their toes, feeling fear for their characters' lives (especially important in a horror-themed game) and keeping their interest piqued.

But it should be an uncommon occurrence in practice. Too much death leads to player frustration, particularly so in roleplaying games where you're deeply invested in a character you've spent a lot of creative energy detailing. It encourages power gaming, too, whereas I prefer to roleplay my character fully in lieu of always making optimal mechanical decisions.

So I'd say, absent of repeated player stupidity, character death should only be a serious risk during major encounters, important plot events, perhaps during back story completion quests... as opposed to getting killed by a random small lizard thanks to cruddy dice rolling, or other equally silly things.

Agreed with both of you. (Though devastation can be an interesting effect...)

Here's what I want: I want characters to be prudent, and I want to create tension. If there is any sense that characters can get away with anything, I think the mood of the game will go down the sink. I know how frustrating an under-leveled character can be, so I will avoid that. In fact, I will avoid frustration.

Here is what I will do: your character may get killed and it will not be frustrating, you'll have to trust me. (If you're curious, just get your character killed :D ).

If the characters are reckless, they'll get themselves killed. I do not want life/death situations that depend on a single die. If events lead up to that, then it will be fine, but not like "Oh, Mr. Lvl 1 Character, you failed the DC 40 reflex save against this Damageball trap at the front entrance of the Jolly Unicorn Tavern on a Karaoke Tuesday, so you are targeted by four balls of damage, dealing you 16d6 damage of raw damage."

I am doting. I am sorry I am not posting much right now. My brother is dying from cancer, but I am paying attention.

Whoa, a lot if things to digest in this first adventure! That's fine, though, as I will probably have enough time given the recruitment.

So, I have a few house rules I would like to suggest, and they are largely based on my positive experience with Burning Wheel. I do not know whether this will work.

To summarize, I am not a big fan of dice rolls, most especially perception checks that detect nothing when there is nothing to be detected. So I am proposing the following:

• Whenever you are going to roll dice, you state what you want to achieve in case of success and how you want to do it.
  
• I will give the DC of the check and say what will happen if you fail (typically, your intent will fail, even though you may partially perform at the task).
  
• You only call for a check when the outcome will create a fork in the story. You may take 10 or 20 whenever the result of the check will not create such a fork.
  
• Retaking requires a substantial change in circumstances.
  

I hope this will not slow down the game, but if it does I am open to falling back to standard rules.

I also want to implement a Burning-Wheel-based variation of Knowledge. The usage is as follows: you can attempt a Knowledge(appropriate type) check as a way of shaping the world around you. We will proceed as normal for rolling a check, and in case of success your statement becomes true. So, for example, you can make statements about the existence of a bakery in the city by being successful at a Knowledge(Local) check. The DC will be based on how reasonable (or far-fetched) your statement is.

I hope this does not ruin the game either, as I am a master of complication.

What do you think?

Also, I have put some randomly generated tarot in the description, but I am not sure I will use them or not to affect the characters, or give a flavor to the events.

I just noticed that the party is now formed only by women, since the two men left one way or another.

I'm good with the house rules.

Yeah, seems okay to me.

I'm still just a lurker, but I like the knowledge idea. I think it could be very interesting and quite fun.

Sounds good to me.

Zelda... so sorry to read about what must be a real nightmare of an experience for you and your family. My heart goes out to you.

Ulrik, sounds very interesting. I'm down with it.

I'm going to send you a PM in a bit, btw. Some things you need to know about my character before we proceed... ;)

We need to recruit :O What do you think of opening now, closing it down on Sunday and making the choice on Monday?

Sounds good Ulrik.

Ditto.

yep :3

go for it :)

Oh, yes, what do you expect to get from this game?

An enjoyable experience? :)

Specifically, what I enjoy most is a fascinating story that really draws me in and makes me feel like we're really in this alternate fantasy world. This includes a focus on roleplaying all around, of course.

I also enjoy other facets of the game as well, but if we can all pull off the previous paragraph (and from what I've seen, I don't foresee any problems), I'll be a happy gamer. :)

I agree with Aliseya. I'm looking for a good story that can be used to develop rich role playing and character interaction.

Hello, folks! I've got a question for you all.

I've got a pc I'm wanting to submit. But he's in another CC game that he's 6th level in. Now here's the catch: The DM hasn't posted since Feb 28. Like anywhere. I'm of the opinion that the game is probably dead. Obviously, he could show back up at any time; you just never know.

So my question is: Would any of you have a problem with me simply submitting him? Obviously as a 1st level character of course.

So, if no one minds then I'll submit him in the recruit thread. But if so, then no worries. I at least had to ask.

Javell

Fun. Excitement and an interesting story. I hope everyone is here to role play and watch how their character develope.

Yep :3

Javell - Hate it when that happens. By all means, go for it.

So, I am almost done eating the first Carrion Cake, so I think we'll be able to start by the time we get the new recruit.

I recalled that I have to add two remarks. One is about rules: the way I see Pathfinder and other similar RPGs, is that mechanics should only be lightly coupled with RP. So you could have a shark bard walking around in the desert, and for all I care if you used, say, orc stats for it, it would be fine. The point of expanding the rules is to adapt the mechanics in a more realistic way to what people want to role-play, but it's all abstraction at the end of the day, so we can just make do with whatever rules we have. Then this rule is a backend into the game that allows things to be levelled. So you can add as much combat fluff you want to your full-round action of attacking your opponent.

The other is that I will travel maybe once or twice a year, and during my trips I tend to limit my presence in front of computers. I will let you guys know in advance, but we may end up being slow-paced (one or two posts a week) for a month or so. Please don't see this as a "he's going to abandon us". I want to stick with the game and try to break the tradition...

We still have the submission by TheCelticCircle coming up, but I think I have collected everyone else's. Please take a look at some of them, but bear in mind that there is still time for them to implement corrections/modifications, so maybe you want to look at the complete ones or wait until we close recruitment tomorrow...

I have collected the recruits' profiles in the campaign page.

Everything sounds great, Ulrik. I will endeavor to give my feedback to the candidates tomorrow sometime.

Okay, so shall we discuss here whom we want to vote for? I have five more applicants to read (I will be able to do so later tonight), but I definitely have a few favorites so far.

Ok I will start. I think Andras the wizard and Mirelinza the paladine would be a good fit for our group. What does everyone else think. Do you have others you prefer?

There are actually many interesting character concepts here. But I'm torn between my three top picks so far: Mirelinza, Andras, and Brother Kye.

Personally, I think the party needs a paladin or cleric. I think both Mirelinza and Narah would be good fits.

Briar Zendlebiddle's background is awesome. My vote definitely goes for her.
Given that Mirelinza has three votes, I am guessing she's in :)
I think it will fall upon Naught to decide the second person!
My second vote goes to Narah. I like the character and her personal issues can be worked upon throughout the campaign.

I liked all characters. They have great potential. For example,

• Brother Kye will surely be a good fit for Carrion Crown,
  
• and so will Viktoria be.
  
• Ioann is an interesting character, with a possible strong connection to later parts of the campaign. His nobility is definitely a strong card in the table that a GM can work with.
  
• Ulam just needs to be an orc interested in people to create enough friction with Ustalavic people.
  
• Andras is a great nationalist, so he would be great to play with too.
  

Hmmm after going through the applicants I think I'm gonna place my bet with Briar, her use of big words won me over :3

But seriously I do like her backstory and the fact that she's pretty much a salarian scientist, just adorable due to Gnomeness.

(On a side note: I will get the campaign started tomorrow. My hands are tickling already. There will be some talking to be done early on that the new players will be able to join.)

Woot!

I'm hoping I'm not hexing anything or jumping the gun, but I read into the above posts that Mirelinza has someone to travel to the funeral with.

Can't wait to get started - I'm really glad to have been chosen. I'll work up Mirelinza some more - especially around the Professor's link.

I'll clarify my spend and would appreciate some advice on any languages to choose.

Aklo, Sylvan, and Necril I bet would come in handy.

Please vote for the second round as well, Ms. Player-Characters :)

It is very tough since there are a lot of good character concepts here. I did notice that Briar's back story is exceptional. I caught the strong salarian influence as well, lol. And I got a good feel for Narah as well.

Between Andras, Briar, and Narah... I'm going to stick with Andras as my official vote. I get a great feel for him in the group, and having a man in the mix might prove handy. However, I am very tempted to go with Briar just as equally... that back story is simply very well done. So if the two end up tied, I'm fine going with Briar as the tie breaker. :)

It appears that Briar has the majority which is fine with me.

Ok, so let's do this: Mirelinza, Briar and Andras. Narah seems to be going into another game already, so I do not need to worry. The reason I want Andras, besides him being voted, is that he seemed committed to being in a long term game. Managing 7 players will be a bit of a juggle, but I will be able to pump up challenges a bit, and in case people need to drop occasionally because of real life they can come back at will without the group suffering.

Since I am not experienced as a GM, I could be making a mistake here. Do you have any big objections?

Seven is fine with me. Your reasoning is sound.

So then... Andras gets to team up with six lovely ladies. Pretty good odds, I'd say. ;)

Last guy I heard had these many girls ended up in a coffin in the first scene. Not so very good a fortune.

I'll clarify my spend and would appreciate some advice on any languages to choose.

Celestial (which I see you already picked) is certainly a good choice for a paladin. Perhaps either Infernal or Abyssal may come in handy as well. Skald makes sense for someone who has traveled throughout Ustalav, since Skald (along with Varisian) are popular tongues alongside Common in that realm, though it might not be of much practical use since Common is commonly assumed as known for all humans.

Last guy I heard had these many girls ended up in a coffin in the first scene. Not so very good a fortune.

Lol. :)

I have no idea why they decided to make Golarion spin around its sun for exactly three less hours than the Earth spins around the Sun every year.

Not sure where you saw that, but the Pathfinder Wiki indicates 24 hours to a day. I am not surprised you found contrary information, however... Paizo tends to have its share of editing discrepancies in my experience.

EDIT: Oh, you wrote per year. Nevermind... sounds good to me what you wrote. :)

Aklo, Sylvan, and Necril I bet would come in handy.

Handy is not quite as simple, since Aklo, Necril and Abyssal are not straightforward languages like Varisian or Skald.

Learning a language requires a great deal of practice. Can you imagine yourself leaning over texts for over three hours a week every week to the point you become fluent in it? Not to mention, can you imagine what a tutor of Aklo would be like?

Speaking these languages will create a lump in your faith and your morals. For what gain, in fact? Eavesdropping or negotiating with ancients, necromancers and denizens of the lower planes? Most of these would speak common, for starters. Second, by the time you will have the guts to get close enough to one of these, you might as well resort to arcane means of understanding what they say, and to the bliss of ignorance that comes when the spell dissipates... You would still have a bad feeling as if you were dirty inside, if you spoke these languages, even with the arcane aid, but at least there would be more control over how tormenting it would be.

I find it reasonable for Mirelinza to get one of these languages, so that it emphasizes or ties to why/how her faith faulters, but two? Well, it's her choice how much she wants to delve into the dark arts...

Not to mention, can you imagine what a tutor of Aklo would be like?

*waves happily while jumping up and down*

Just jumping in to say hi! I actually haven't picked languages either, and I get a bunch of 'em. I could also see Briar having learned something like Necril out of a combination of caution and pedantry. So if you don't feel up to taking it, let me know.