Spooky's Carrion Crown

Game Master Jonas El 'Adan

Go for it. Gameplay thread is up. You can make any last-minute tweaks to your sheet up until your first die roll of the game.

Checking in. Thanks for the pick!

Checking in. Hello!

Dot ditty dot. Checking in as well. Thanks for the pick and hello all!

Checking in! I'm at work, but should be able to bang out my intro post during some downtime.

Oh, and thanks for taking me on! Really looking forward to adventuring with this crew.

So, I always ask this whenever I start a new PbP...

Where in the real world is everyone located?

I'm in central New York State, USA, south of Syracuse. I'm currently on Eastern Standard Time (UTC -0500).

I'm in Sydney, Australia, on Eastern Standard Time (GMT+11). :)

California Bay Area. I live in Oakland and work in San Francsico.

Pacific Standard Time (GMT -0800).

Im in southern California, San Diego. Also pacific time.

Montreal, Quebec, Canada. EST.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada. EST (Well EDT). I'd say as a region, North East US + Central Canada has the edge! California comes in a close second and Australia a strong third. :)

Drusilla, can you please format your race field to have info along the lines of everyone else's? I need it for quick reference, so I can make the throws for you and s*&&.

As for some general rulesey things:
-If you take longer than ~24 hours to post a combat turn, you're skipped.
-The way I handle initiative is as such. Everyone who moves before the enemies makes their turn in whatever order they get to it. Then enemies move, usually on the same initiative (only special fights ever deviate). Then everyone is free to make their post, and once either 24 hours have passed or everyone has posted, the enemies make their next turn. It helps keep things fluid and ensures that one round will generally be handled within one day, rather than potentially five.
-I handle Initiative rolls and saving throws. Perception may be done by you manually, otherwise I'll make secret unlabeled rolls to determine surprises as they arise. Know that from time to time I will make secret unlabeled rolls for nothing at all, just to add a layer of unease and security to the matter.

Has anyone played/GMed/read through the first book? Not necessarily to accuse anyone of powergaming since we're all (presumably) grown-ass adults, but just because I'm curious as to whether the stuff I'll be adding to Ravengro will be noticed or not.

Those rules sound great to me. Nope, never been to Ravengro before :).

If we give you heads up then we will not be able to post for a few days is it ok for some minimal botting to take place instead?

The rules sound good to me! That's how most PbP GMs handle things, at least in the games I've played in.

I don't own Carrion Crown, and have never read it. I have never played this campaign in an IRL tabletop setting.

This is my third attempt to play a Carrion Cronw PbP with the same character. The other two campaigns fizzled out on the second game day of the campaign. Neither group every actually got to Harrowstone.

That first day played out extremely differently in the two other campaigns, and I have no idea which of the GMs (or both!) decided to deviate from the printd material.

On another note, I will say that I checked out everyone's character sheets-- there are some very interesting concepts here!

Is anyone interested in possibly intertwining our backstories a bit? The players did that in one of the earlier campaigns, and I thought it gave a somewhat richer playing experiene. Alternatively, we could all be meeting for the first time at the funeral and take it from there.

Profile updated, GM.

I am okay with your rules, GM. And I haven't read/played/GMed through the first book.

@Stefan: Re intertwining stories, the idea has merit and I've seen it done before with varied success.

Ileana hasn't been allowed to wander freely around Calipha City in Ustalav due to a cruel, haughty grandmother who didn't want the girl's strangeness to reflect poorly on the Cercel name and reputation.

Ileana had many home tutors/teachers ... and occasionally went out on "excursions" around the city - mostly with her tutors as "chaperones"/"guides". So having a past link to Stefan (or the others) doesn't seem feasible unless the good doctor was a friend of her merchant father, Gavril, and visited his house/home?

I am open to intertwining, if you think there is some plausible link but somehow having had Ileana removed from most people makes sense as she is considered to be "afflicted" and "inferior" by her nasty grandmother (and equally nasty stepmother before she died). And going to Ravengro on her own and meeting new people is a very different experience for Ileana.

@Ileana: In that other game, the five PCs had all independently written backstories that connected them to the city and/or University of Lepidstadt. Especially with the connections to the Professor, it made senst that they had all had met each other (at least briefly).

If that isn't obvious from everyone's character concepts, I'm fine with role-playing meeting everyone for the first time.

I'm imagining Kith as being pretty naive about the reality of Ustalav at the moment. He's spent most of his growing up years at the Kitharodian Academy in Taldor. Kith and Stefan are both pretty academic so maybe one of Kith's teachers gave him some material or some letter to deliver to Dr Stefan since Kith was headed to Ustalav anyway?

@Stefan: Ileana has never been to Lepidstadt and with the campaign trait I chose for her (Making Good on Promises), she only ever interacted and saw Professor Lorrimor just the once before his death (and he visited her at her home).

So I think the doc and Ileana would be meeting for the first time. :)

I wouldn't mind intertwining either, but like Ileana, I'm not sure how feasible it is. Drusilla has spent nearly her whole life in the forest and has met very few outsiders, the Prof being one of them.

@Spooky Gm:Also, I've nevet played or read Carrion Crown either.

Now, we just have Maryska to make her introductory post ...

:)

Hey everyone, sorry having some internet issues. Typing this out on my phone. Working on retying my intro post up but doing it on mobile with all the formatting is taking forever. Just letting you know I'm not dead!

Sorry about the internet issues, Maryska. Good luck with the phone posting -- empathise with the formatting hassles.

Net problems are incredibly frustrating. One thing I've done is type out my post on a laptop then quickly share my data plan from my phone over wifi, make my post and shut the internet sharing down to preserve bandwidth. Typing on the phone is never fun.

And there! Finally. I changed things around to explain my brief early absence and to not bog us down in what was happening a handful of posts ago.

Let's do this!

@Maryska: Ileana is from Caliphas City in Caliphas. I wasn't aware our characters were from the same place.

@Ileana: She isn't. Her childhood was spent on the road, and her job takes her all over the greater Lake Encarthan area. She just happened to be in Caliphas when she received word of Lorrimor's death and the will.

I didn't have the chance to flesh that out before we got going, so there it is!

(Ooof, should probably copy/paste my background from the recruitment thread into my profile!)

Sorry for the inconsistent replies and weird post times; I'm deathly ill and thus sleeping bizarre hours.

Sorry for the inconsistent replies and weird post times; I'm deathly ill and thus sleeping bizarre hours.

Hope you're feeling better!

This is my third attempt to play a Carrion Cronw PbP with the same character. The other two campaigns fizzled out on the second game day of the campaign. Neither group ever actually got to Harrowstone.

That first day played out extremely differently in the two other campaigns, and I have no idea which of the GMs (or both!) decided to deviate from the printd material.

Yet another variation of the first day! In one of the games, we ended up having a fight with the rubes who interruped the funeral procession. In the other, a skeletal champion interrupted the funeral, cast a spell, and three skeletons clawed up from the graveyard and attacked the guests. The PCs (and Grimburrow) had to defend the assembled mourners from the walking dead. This is the first version with no fight before going to Ms. Lorrimor's home.

I kinda like this start. Keeping Kith a bit oblivious for a little longer is good for his character I think.

BTW Spooky, what would be better for Kith to do with the book he has. He's going to try to give it to Kendra as a gift to the Lorrimor estate.

Gah. I just spent the past day and change in a hospital for emergency health things I won't be going into, but effective Tuesday after my anthro final I am going to be on some very heavy medications for pretty much the entirety of my winter break that are going to mess me up a fair bit. I'm very sorry, but as a result, I don't think I'm going to be able to run a game--even play in one, by the looks of it. I hate to do this given we just got started, but this is some serious stuff that is putting me so far out of my head that the game would become steaming hot garbage if I tried to keep running it.

Don't worry about this. Worry about your studies and then your health Spooky.

Guys, do you want to try and find another GM? I like the group.

Sorry to hear of your medical/health troubles, Spooky GM. Take care of yourself. Good luck with everything and thank you for telling us you that won't be able to continue.

Kith: I'm open to finding a new GM. We've only just started, so a new GM could take us on with very little hassle. I'd like one who enjoys rp/storytelling since that was one of the main reasons I applied for Spooky's game.

Yikes! I certainly hope you're okay!

I'd be up with trying to find a new GM. However, the last three times I've been in a PbP where the GM had to resign, we weren't successful finding a replacement GM.

Sorry to hear that, Spooky. I'm sending positive vibes your way in the hopes of a speedy recovery. Thanks for bringing together such a good group of folks for this campaign!

I am also rather fond of our crew, and would also be open to hunting down a new GM. I realize that's usually a long shot, but it couldn't hurt to try.

Sorry to hear that Spooky, I hope you feel and get better soon.

I be willing to give looking for another Gm a shot as well.

Alright I will make a thread. Let's see how it goes. Again best of wishes to Spooky.

Edit: And here is the thread. Please chime in there if I've missed anything. I'll bump it if needed till Wednesday.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rre4?Fresh-new-Carrion-Crown-campaign-looking- for-GM

Thanks, Kith. Nice post to seek out new GM.

I will keep an eye on it and hopefully someone may be interested. :)

@All: There may be a GM willing to take over the game. It's not definite, but they are interested and are going to look over the thread and characters. Will keep you posted, if that is okay? :)

Sounds more than okay Ilena. Let us know what the prospective GM thinks.

Wow. Fast response and good on you, Ileana.
Definitely ok. :)

Hello all Ileana suggested I should pop in. I am interested in stepping in to take over for Spooky. Hope he feels better soon by the way. I am currently playing in a different game with Ileana and Drusilla. Some things that might be different with me GMing. I personally prefer working combats and movements on a map to help visualize and track actions.

I know that spooky encouraged using the Occult Adventures Play test materials. I do not have any experience with the material so I might need help with them and directions to the pertinent materials for your specific character would be appreciated for those making use of them. In general I am open to pretty much any Paizo (not third party) materials that can be found on d20pfsrd or the Paizo PRD itself.

I am thinking that we will likely start up after Christmas/ New Years at the latest. I will be reviewing a lot of material and writing up notes on them which I think will take 10 days or so and have a concern about restarting the game itself in the height of the holiday season but am willing to hear what others have to say about it. During that time I would be asking questions to get a better grasp of characters and encourage discussion on this board between now and then to keep interest piqued.

I encourage players to add to the game itself and except good ideas that can enrich play. I ask you try to keep player and character knowledge separate as best you can in game. It can ruin some peoples enjoyment of the game if they are made aware of certain things so I only ask that those ideas be spoilered for them.

In the time suggested I will look over the AP and your characters back stories to try weave in bits of your histories. As well as add to the AP and balance it for the numbers and abilities of the group. I think that's about it for the moment.

Hi, Narrator!

I didn't use any OA playtest materials for Dr. Von Herzog. In fact, with the exception of traits, I think he's completely Core.

It's good to see you, Narrater. :)

I did not use the OA Playtest materials for my char creation. I don't think there is anyone in the selected group who did.

Thanks very much for taking us on Narrator. Really appreciate it. Didn't use and don't plan to use any occult material. Also I don't have any issues with starting up during the holiday season but certainly if it's better for all of us overall to wait until the next year then that is fine by me as well.

Are we good to go? If so I will post on the GM search thread to shut it down.

@Kith: I spoke to Narrater (via PM) this afternoon and he is good to go if we are happy for him to GM. So, please shut down that thread and thanks again for posting it. :)

@Maryska: You still in? Just checking in with you. :)

Stuff I noticed about characters and some ideas on going forward.