GM Teleute's Curse of the Crimson Throne PFRPG

Game Master Kris Vanhoyland

I would like to continue as well.

Roran, Pia? I've emailed the Paizo mods to gain control over the campaign page. I'll re-open recruitment for at least 2 characters, depending if Pia and Roran are still game.

I will need a little bit of time to familiarize myself with at least the chapter of the campaign, but I'll get this on the road again soon.

For now, anyone who's still game should level up their character to level 2 so that any new players start off their career at the same point.

Will do... how many are we thinking that we will need?

At least two, one to replace me, and I'm thinking another one to replace Roran as it's looking now. I also don't mind running for six players, makes it easier to continue if someone drops out.

-Posted with Wayfinder

That works for me. 6 players seems to provide enough interaction to keep things moving along well without bogging down the combat too badly.

Recruitment is ended now, will be going over the applicants we have and picking 3-4 to invite in. PM's have also been sent to Pia and Roran, but have not heard back from either of them. Paizo mods have given me control over the campaign pages, so you might see some changes.

I'll get this game off the ground again by next week.

Okay, first off, welcome to the new players. Our first order of business will be to get you integrated into the campaign. Feel free to go through the gameplay thread if you want, but I'll summarize below.

Our current players have just taken care of Gaedren Lamm─Lamm himself is dead, two of his cohorts are alive, and the party have just delivered them to a guard post. The rest of the city is in a state of chaos, with rioting and burning going all around, since word has gotten out that the king has died.

Two of the party (my old character, Kamilla, and Pia) went to Old Korvosa to check on family members, but since it seems Pia won't be rejoining us again, we'll leave their fate in limbo for now.

I have a few ideas of my own already, but if anyone's got any suggestions on how to work their character into the game, let's hear it.

Hey all. Rebecca was leading Corwin, his daughter, and Roran (who also seems to have gone comatose) to drop off the goons. She also had most of the evidence. The plan was to meet up at Zal's old place to get answers as to how a dead woman could have sent all of us out to deal with Lamm in the first place.

Hey Rebecca. I've made a Shoanti native of Korvosa who's a Cleric of Pharasma. I'll put his brief background here again.

Hey all, Algund here, read through the gameplay thread during recruitment.

Algund's probably out trying to make some order in the city, but he'd be near the temple, which he could invite you back to. Even if he didn't, he'd look to join forces with any group of competent individuals, and he's always got his ears open for things like weird dead and vengeful women.

Let's say that that Algund was trying to hunt down Lamm, so that hearing of the man's death would leave him free to investigate other things.

Hey, folks. Cataria is a runaway from her life as a Magistrate's daughter. She's deaf, but I think I'm going to move a background skill point over to sign language/lip reading per the PFS rule on that.

She cares very deeply about Korvosa, especially the common people. I could join up as the result of a vision, or else, if we want to be less Deus Ex Machina about it, I could also be sent there by someone, who maybe needs a fortune-teller or even a translator for an illiterate deaf person?

Hello all.

Corwin and Wren are simply trying to keep the remnants of their small family together amidst the insanity gripping the city.

Hey y'all. Thorfinn is a Korvosa native of Ulfen descent. He's a young(-ish) member of the Sable Company marines. Let's say he's acting as an independent troubleshooter for Commandant Endrin and has met up with the group in that capacity.

Where is everyone in the city geographically? Algund is probably anywhere in the five corners section of North Point.

Gadren would most likely be near the Gray in the South of Korvosa though he could have been out almost anywhere in the city when things developed.

I like the idea of the party seeking out a Pharasmin cleric since they have the decapitated head of a woman long dead that they spoke to only recently, or they could possible seek your aid to take care of Gaedren Lamm's corpse. Kamilla was going to do that, but her fate will be unknown for now.

I already have an idea of putting Thorfinn in touch with the party.

Cataria: since I assume the party will be heading back to Zellara's place, who's also somewhat of an oracle/visionary NPC using harrow decks, perhaps they can run across you there?

Algund: No brilliant ideas here besides them meeting you in the street offering aid to people in need? I've added a green cross to the Korvosa map to show where they currently are.

I kind of want to get everyone together asap so we can get on with the game. Perhaps I'll do a montage of people meeting up. Thoughts?

Works for me.

It only occurs to me now that the game where the PCs were assembled to kill Gaedren Lamm was not necessarily the best one to use the name Gadren in.

It only occurs to me now that the game where the PCs were assembled to kill Gaedren Lamm was not necessarily the best one to use the name Gadren in.

Nah, it's okay. Your character is a cleric though, and I notice he has no last name. You should name him like, Gadren, Lamm of God or something. Maybe it needs a little work.

As for meeting the others on the street, that's not impossible, but somewhat implausible. Algund's temple is ~2000 feet to the northeast, which is pretty far. I think he'd need a reason to be so far out of the way.

Maybe he's chasing someone? Perhaps a thief or band of pillagers? After some though, that does seem like a simple option. What happens is, a fellow takes something valuable, gets spotted by Algund, and runs off. Algund is wearing armor, so he can't catch up, but keeps following where he thinks the man went. Maybe the something stolen was from the temple. Then the thief finds the party and sees that they're a decent group of people who will help keep him safe (and let's just say that he's far from his home, which is perhaps north of the temple). So he decides to stay with them, at which point Algund catches back up and recognizes him. Not sure if that seems reasonable.

All my ideas seem to revolve around chasing people, since that's the most reasonable way to get so far from the temple. Maybe a group of people who detected as evil and become violent somewhat near the others? I don't know if that's reasonable either.

Maybe I'll have some better ideas in a few hours.

Yeah, I had a better idea.

Algund was out running an errand, probably one which had the potential for violence, which is why he's in his armor, when the city lit up. He's on his way back now.

Let's say that he was talking to the father of someone whose child was taken by Lamm, at the Gold Market (S13 on the map). I think that makes sense.

Looking over the backstories, it occurs to me that Algund might know Rebecca, or at least know of her. Maybe he came by one day with some questions and got a few answers, maybe talked to some people who dropped by the temple in return, that sort of thing.

It's perfectly sensible for me to be at Zellara's with Anca (or maybe Anca dropped me off) to learn about the Harrow when the chaos started. I like it

Gadren wrote:

It only occurs to me now that the game where the PCs were assembled to kill Gaedren Lamm was not necessarily the best one to use the name Gadren in.

Nah, it's okay. Your character is a cleric though, and I notice he has no last name. You should name him like, Gadren, Lamm of God or something. Maybe it needs a little work.

I think I just went with no surname because I think I remember Shoanti getting their proper name after passing trials but since he's been raised in an orphanage in Korvosa probably hasn't undergone these.

That makes sense.

Wouldn't the people who named him have been Korvosan though? In which case they'd've just done the normal Korvosan thing, which I assume is give two names, unless Gadren let them know he didn't want a second one. But by that point he'd already have it, and it'd be on records like those of his birth, and he'd probably still respond to it, at least a little.

I think it was a bit of a situation where some exhausted person in an orphanage just gave up on a large toddler throwing a tantrum because he wouldn't accept a second name. He might have a second name on paperwork in the orphanage but he certainly doesn't care.

The party has met Thorfinn now. Algund, whenever you feel like, I'm okay with you jumping in with a chance encounter meeting them on the street, since their next few stops will probably not take them to Northpoint, and I don't want to take too long to get everyone integrated.

I assume Cataria will be at the party's destination in Northpoint, then? Or should I be jumping in before that?

Their intent was to regroup at Zellara's home (H15 on the Korvosa map), which is the home of a Varisian fortune-teller/harrower type. You could possibly meet them there. They recently figured out she's been deceased for a good while even though they interacted with her recently.

-Posted with Wayfinder

If no one decides to seek out a Cleric of Pharasma I'll introduce Gadren outside Zellara's home saying that he knew her previously and though he hasn't seen her in a while wanted to check in on her due to the growing tension. I think it would be reasonable for a Cleric of Pharasma to take an interest in the local harrowers. It might work out as easier admittedly.

That sounds like a good idea, it would mean we could continue with the actual campaign all the sooner.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Hey let me know if it's uncomfortable for you that Algund is clearly attracted to Rebecca. It's mostly really about her being a warm body, certainly not too important, and I want to be respectful of boundaries and whatnot. Doesn't seem too important to me, but maybe it could be.

Heh, its fine... she won't notice though, or at least she will pretend she doesn't. Algund ever gets really serious about it and asks, she will explain things to him.

So you have an idea, her family is nobility, though lesser these days. She was originally going to have an arranged marriage to improve her family's position, as well as ensure that she was "well kept"... but she didn't want to marry. She joined the Korvosian Guard, with her father's blessing, instead. One of the caveats that made things kosher with them was that she wasn't going to marry some non-noble while out there. She had no problems with this, even now, because the work has always come first for her.

Good to know, just didn't want to unwittingly write something that would tick someone off.

Are you guys waiting on Cataria to answer the door? I'm not sure she'd hear the knocking, and is probably in the back, with Zellara.

That would be quite the feat, Cat, as we quite literally have her severed head in our possession. ;)

And the rest of her was probably dumped in the river.

Gaedren was not a very nice customer.

That would be quite the feat, Cat, as we quite literally have her severed head in our possession. ;)

OH! Well then, in the back with Anca, trying to avoid the chaos outside.

There is no back, it's a single-room house :) Also not sure who Anca is?

Anca's in Cataria's backstory.

About a year ago, Cataria made the decision to leave her home for good for the hustle and bustle of Korvosan common-life. She consulted with Anca, the Harrower she'd become so fond of over the years. The older woman generously offered Cataria a place to sleep, provided she work as an assistant, and only dance outside the fortune-teller's tent.

Anca was, to Cataria, the mother that she always wanted. She met the old gypsy one evening, when Anca had commented on her dance in the town square – a slow, dreamy dance that had enraptured a dozen or so people for several minutes by the time Anca had arrived. After the dance, while Cataria was resting, Anca challenged her to do a faster affair, and produced a tambourine to beat a rhythm on. Cataria did so with pleasure, her hips and arms moving in perfect time with the rattling of the instrument, even when Anca began to play slightly faster with each measure. After the performance was done, the older woman invited Cataria to her tent, not far from the square. She made Cataria a hot, spiced tea as payment for the beautiful performance. Cataria accepted it graciously - Cataria was always gracious - and the two talked most of the night away. After that, it was common for Cataria to meet with the woman, and the two became fast friends.

There are some more details here and there, but that about sums it up.

Thanks, knew it sounded familiar.

The campaign description also has a link to a google doc file that I used to list all the loot we found when I was playing. Someone else is going to have to take it upon themselves to keep that updated now though. Feel free to make appraise and/or spellcraft checks to identify/value the items in there. I believe I set it so that anyone can edit it.

Wow, y'all stay busy on the weekends. Sorry about that, I was out of pocket all day yesterday and most of today.

Can't speak for the rest of us, but I certainly will, at least for the foreseeable future, unless someone tells me otherwise.

Hey all, wondering if you think it would be productive for us to comment on one another's writing and give compliments or make suggestions.

I don't know, for example, if my own posts are too verbose. I am interested in my character and want to give a sense of his thoughts and feelings, but if that's boring or being beaten into your skull too much, I'd love to know that. It strikes me that I might be doing very well at some things and very poorly at others, and I'd like to know which. I suspect this may be true for other people.

Is it?

I think it's a bit early yet to be commenting on writing style. Often, there's a bit of janky, over-expository nonsense at the beginning of a campaign. That's especially true when there are established characters meeting new ones.

I feel that my posts are fairly consistent with what they will be in the future, that is, long and full of my character thinking. Not necessarily true for other people.

Does that mean that you would like to not have commentary now, but in the future would? And at what point in the future would you know when you would?

Don't sweat the writing. As long as the sentence structure works and we can follow what you are saying, it works.

:)

In some ways I agree with you. But when I write five hundred words in a post, I want them to be the right five hundred words. I certainly don't want to spend an hour or two writing a post if other people think it's boring, and if that is the case I can easily change what I'm doing in significant ways.

Also I have a lot of free time right now, but won't in the future, so I want to make the most of my current ability to read and process critique.

In some ways I agree with you. But when I write five hundred words in a post, I want them to be the right five hundred words. I certainly don't want to spend an hour or two writing a post if other people think it's boring, and if that is the case I can easily change what I'm doing in significant ways.

Also I have a lot of free time right now, but won't in the future, so I want to make the most of my current ability to read and process critique.

I think the best thing for your writing is to just relax about it, friend.

Trust that you were chosen to join the game for a reason, and that your writing thus far has been sufficient.

Write to make yourself happy, and to flesh out the character that you imagine and want to play. It's our job to honor those decisions while we're doing the same for ourselves.

The "right" words are the ones that you think get closest to the character in your mind.

I certainly am quite relaxed about my writing. Actually, I think I'm relaxed about most things. And I agree that I would be doing worse if I were super worried about it. When you read the below, read it in the voice of a person who, if their friend walked through the door, would pause to say hello.

The "right" words are the ones that you think get closest to the character in your mind.

Also it's important to note that I don't really agree with this. That is to say, I don't actually think I am capable of writing the right words just by looking at the page and seeing what I've got. I really need other people to tell me what does and doesn't work, because I don't have the ability to look at what I've written through the eyes of other people, only through my own eyes. And I already know all of my character's thoughts and feelings, I know why he does the things he does, so when I read myself having written these things down, it's redundant. Many authors find in their first revision that their own favorite passages and characters are quite boring and uninteresting for readers. I don't know what you all think of my writing, but gaining that knowledge will probably be beneficial for me.

I want to emphasize that my disagreement is not antagonistic. It may be that what you said is more applicable to me at different times. But for the present, it's simply not how I'm looking at things, which does not reflect negatively on you at all. Indeed, that is a perfectly reasonable philosophy and if you follow it with your own character, I'm sure that I'll enjoy your writing.

Hey GM, little bit unclear to me how much we know about Zellera as a ghost. Should we just assume she explained everything that was under the spoiler?