lazulin's Carrion Crown (Inactive)

Game Master lazulin

I definitely agree-going out at night right now is just a recipe for disaster.

This next post will be a bit long, so sorry for the delay. I will hopefully get it up soon

Don't worry, keep up the good work!

Next post is up

I've got to say, I really enjoy seeing how you all react to the stuff I put in the game

And I'm loving this game, today I kept refreshing the page to get my fix :)
PbP really allows to get deep into the story, something I never managed to do in real life games, I'm really worried about Kendra's safety now...

Thanks laz! I'm enjoying the story a great deal, as well as enjoying having Ilystria react to the things you throw our way. I don't know what it is precisely, but she quickly becoming the favorite of all my characters.

In anticipation of Hurricane Matthew, I feel I should warn you all that my posting may be interrupted for the next few days. If so, please feel free to bot and/or carry on without me, and I'll look forward to resuming when I can.

Oh man, I hope you are okay! Stay safe!

Thanks! I'm a little nervous (I've only lived on the east coast for a couple years, so this is my first hurricane), but my fiancé has been trying to assure me that we're prepared for it. Still, we're being told to expect power outages, service disconnections and all that rot. Guess I'll have time to read my Lovecraft book.

Keep out of danger, Lily, this is not Skulls and Shackles ;)

Yeah, stay safe Lily! Let us know once everything's over.

What do we want to tell Father Grimburrow? I'm getting extremely paranoid. Should we risk more rumours about necromancers?

In the service of keeping things moving: you rolled an 18 on the sense motive. Grimburrow is unlikely to be hiding anything.

Oh, alright, I just wanted to be sure that we were all on the same page. I'll update as soon as I get to my computer.

Phew. I did not want to start my day by murdering a member of the clergy.

Romulus, Mathias, please push a bit the story, we are a team (and my only social skill is Intimidate, I can't go around shouting to all of Ravengro)

I have to agree with Nasrin on this. I understand that enthusiasm will wax and wane, and that real life will sometimes intervene or you'll feel that your character has nothing to add to a scene, or there will occasionally be days when you're just not feeling up to posting, but to have so few posts from two players this early in the game is rather disheartening. At the very least, seeing an explanation in the ooc would be nice, even if it's just "I don't really have anything to add to this scene". I just want this game to be enjoyable for everyone, and if there is something that is hurting your enthusiasm that I can rectify, please let me know. I hope we can see a higher posting rate in the future!

First, I would like to be very clear that my enthusiam has not waned at all, and I am very excited to be a part.

Sorry if I have given the impression that I am not interested. Twice I have written a post and gotten to preview, only to find someone has posted before me, negating the intended post. Rather than try to cram in a communication out of sequence and derail the flow, I have opted to delete them. Moreover, working in the hospitality/communications industry, I tend to go for organic conversation and so try not to overwhelm ingame conversations with multiple PCs talking to a single NPC at the same time. While beneficial in real-time play (whether in person or via skype), I can see how that can come across as being uninvolved. As such, I will change my posting structure appropriately.

I'm back, everyone, and not a moment too soon, it seems. Perhaps a little too late, if anything. Anyway, thank you for all the well wishes. I'm looking to have a post up shortly.

Don't worry, Mathias, it's just that I felt a bit uncomfortable making choices without being sure that you all were on board.

Welcome back Lily, I hope the hurricane didn't do too much damage!

Yeah, I understand that getting ninja'd happens. One thing to keep in mind for pbp is that conversation has to be abstracted/non-linear to a certain extent--as my upcoming post is about to demonstrate. But stuff like your last post with Nasrin is a good way to get involved--offering alternative opinions and talking to your fellow PCs. No hard feelings, I was just worried I wasn't engaging people properly

Ilystria--I'm glad you are okay!

How did I not find anything in the library, I haven't even rolled a knowledge check yet?

I assumed you weren't going to make a check, but you are welcome to do so if you want to

Thanks guys! I'm glad to be back!

Just so we're on the same page--and now that there's enough of us here to have a majority vote--what is the plan? Assuming Ilystria stuck around the library enough for Mathias & Nasrin's tête-a-tête, she would also be hesitant about breaking into the crypt. Her vote would go for asking Father Grimburrow for permission, especially considering he told the group he was going to see about getting guards posted at the graveyard.

If she doesn't hear their discussion, though, I'll just say she grabs the items Nasrin requested and blithely goes along with the plan, thinking they asked permission while she and Romulus were in town.

Mathias, do you need me to pick up a set of lockpicking tools, also?

Oh, I had forgotten about the guards. My only reason not to mention the crypt to Father Grimburrow what that Lorrimor didn't, but if we want to trust him I'm all for it. Afterwards, I'd say we head for the Restlands, then if we get back safe and sound we might keep gathering information.
Also, the children's rhyme was uncannily creepy, kudos.

You know, I think I might have been overly cautious regarding these trust points we've been accumulating. As players, I feel it's important for us to discuss things that may cause us to lose these points, as they're essentially like a shared resource. On the other hand, it's equally, if not more important for our characters to respond to situations as their personality dictates.

Any thoughts on how we should handle it going forward?

By the way, I agree; to the Restlands next.

I'm trying to balance the options: for example, snapping at the villagers was an action that could have cost us and did not do me any good, but I felt that Nasrin would have done so. As well as that, I believe you were acting in character when you brought me away from the folks.
However, she is quite responsible, so when speaking with Grimburrow I waited until I had some opinions on what to say (paranoia growing), then when Mathias gave good arguments she was convinced (although she is quite headstrong, and does not like being wrong, she is fundamentally honest).

tl;dr: I say we act in character, since we are not murderhobos we should not lose much and we can correct each other.

I would not get overly worried about trust, especially not to the point of it being detrimental to role play; I am going to be fairly forgiving with the system.

It's good to know we'll have a bit of leeway, then. My main concern was making sure I didn't step on anyone's toes if Ilystria happened to do something which makes the townsfolk lose trust in us.

Now that you've said that, I feel a bit compelled to explore the differences between fey morality and human morality.

Phew. The trust system as written is...ridiculous, if I remember it correctly. Can't wait to hear what you think about fey morality, Ilystria-might help me play my Gathlain a bit better.

I can't wait to hear what I think about it either. =P

Seriously though, trying to wrap my head around something humans by nature aren't meant to understand is proving a bit of a challenge. A fun challenge, but a challenge regardless.

So far, all I've come up with is that Ilystria wouldn't agree with breaking into the crypt, but she also won't feel badly about claiming the tools in there either, since Father Grimburrow can't own something he doesn't know exists. It's a bit underwhelming, but you can believe I'll be brainstorming better ways to roleplay her "otherness" for the next few days.

i also want to sound off that the murderous nursery rhyme sets an awesome tone!

I'm increasingly thinking of dropping the Trust system entirely. I didn't realize how haphazardly implemented it was before we started playing, and if it's getting in the way of you all roleplaying than that's just another reason to get rid of it; as my diatribe about alignment in the recruitment thread indicated, I like characters who are ambiguous, who don't always do the right or nice thing, who aren't just taking actions based on what two letters on their character sheet say they should do. With all that in mind, what do you all think about dropping the trust system?

Unless there's some compelling reason to keep it that I don't know of, I would vote in favor of dropping the Trust system.

I also appreciate you sharing your thoughts on alignment; knowing I don't have to keep Ilystria in a CG box will definitely help me to better establish her own strange morality.

Absolutely play Ilystria the way you think would be most interesting. Well written characters can't be reduced down to two letters on their character sheet--they are complex, contradictory, and ambiguous. If you wanted to reflavor her to take advantage of this--by changing your patron or by rewriting Cernunnos to be more ambiguous, for example--feel free to do so.

I vote for dropping it as well. You can easily have a general idea of how the locals like us without needing to get a score. Also, this way they may, for instance, like Romulus (the local man who is kind to children) better than me (the crazy foreigner who shouts at people)

Roll20 map is updated.

Also, it looks like we have a consensus for dropping the Trust system, so I'll be dropping it moving forward.

Guess I can cross centipedes off the list of things to threaten the party with...

Guess I can cross centipedes off the list of things to threaten the party with...

Why did I feel a chill down my spine?

Btw, can I use Linguistics to check if I recognize the handwriting?

I'm loving Ilystria's newfound duplicity, btw.

Yes, you can attempt a Linguistics check to see if you recognize the handwriting.

Thank you, thank you! One of the characteristics I've always loved about the fey is their tricky bargain-making ways. I didn't think I'd be able to incorporate that with Ilystria, though, until we had the discussion on alignment.

I am sorry for the lackluster post; I may be slow responding today

No worries, laz. I hope everything is okay.

My assumption is that Nasrin and Mathias went to the schoolhouse while Ilystria; Romulus, feel free to pick which group you went with (or if you went somewhere else let me know)

*sigh* and here I thought that showing sincere passion would win me some points with the schoolmaster...

I suggest that tomorrow, if nothing weird happens during the night, we either go scout the Harrowstone or ask if anyone has something that needs doing. Is there any sort of notice board in Ravengro?

There is, in the town square.

Town square notice boards, the classic crux of every great campaign!

is the location of Harrowstone clearly known? Could we simply ask Kendra to point us in the right direction, or will we need to research that as well?