On Kata's experiences: Go ahead. Your application is actually fairly accurate, especially for a kid's trauma-tainted memory of it, and we'll generally try to let Kata be an accurate source here. In fact, for basic reference:
As for traps: If you want to assume that Kata always searches doors and suspicious areas, I can treat it as a passive roll for her—representing that she always checks those areas first. What's your preference?
I would be good with using those rules. For what it's worth, I hate the sound of the word "taint" and would go out of my way to avoid using it, much less making jokes. I can't stand anything remotely approaching scatological humor anyways.
Dungeon Madam, Assuming Kata searches doors and suspicious areas and treating them as passive rolls sounds great. Thank you - I think that will speed things up considerably. If Kata suspects something beyond that may be trapped, I'll post accordingly.
Great to know about the memories. I'll incorporate those as we get into the Cairn!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, I prefer to just call it Corruption. Depravity—3.5's "madness" ruleset, if I remember correctly—won't be coming up, so there's no reason to not just call Taint Corruption. When I involve fantastical madness in games, I usually prefer to draw a line between mental illness and magically-inflicted "madness".
Not that it's a superpower, but that it's, well, a coping mechanism for a reason. Someone with dissociation isn't inherently more susceptible to cosmic horror; if anything, because they've already been coping with mental stress, they are more prepared to withstand what's coming than a neurotypical person who doesn't have any idea how to stop thinking about the shoggoth.
That said, it's not the kind of game we're running here, and I don't think you could encode it into a system like Pathfinder without it turning real-world disabilities into a weird minmaxing power game. Any representations of mental illness will be left up to roleplay, and ideally tagged so nobody's blindsided by potentially triggering content.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I have listened to Alice Isn't Dead! I listened to all of it with Jess (my wife) when they were getting me into podcasts. I highly recommend Within the Wires if you haven't tried it. The first, second, and fifth seasons are absolutely brilliant. The other two are solid, just nowhere near on the same level.
I think that's a really smart take on the subject of mental illness in horror. I'll have to pass that on to Jess, as they are the real horror connosieur amongst the two of us.
I've heard of Within the Wires! I still need to catch up on the White Vault and Thrilling Intent (two very different works of fiction, haha). I'm terrible at keeping up with podcasts, which is a shame, because I really do like them.
It's very good and very gay. Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor do Welcome to Night Vale together, and Fink did Alice Isn't Dead as a side project and Cranor did Within the Wires with Janina Matthewson.
If you like horror podcasts, I cannot recommend The Magnus Archives highly enough. It's almost done and I can't think of a single bad episode. There's some great insect/disease/corruption themed episodes, too.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I hear so much about The Magnus Archives, too. I'm pretty picky about my horror stories, I guess—I liked The Black Tapes and The White Vault, Alice Isn't Dead I was more in for the characters than the horror, and the first episode of Old Gods of Appalachia was just too much of a bummer for me and not character-driven enough. I'll tell people I love horror, but with little stomach for gore or unlikable protagonists, I haven't watched a lot of actual horror films outside of Babadook.
Honestly, I think I really like horror stories that follow the "creepypasta" genre conventions, though actual creepypastas are usually pretty weak. It's fun to have that uncertainty around just how bad things actually are and how much is in the character's head or the narrator's telling.
Maybe that's why I made the whole party stop to look at my Very Spooky Tree for an hour. :P
I liked what I heard of The Black Tapes, though the satanism/demonology stuff doesn't do much for me. My parents are not religious and neither am I so I just don't have the background to get freaked out by that stuff much (Jess was raised evangelical so has a VERY different experience of it). I haven't listened to The White Vault or Old Gods of Appalachia (Lovecraft doesn't do much for me, so I hear "Old Gods" and shrug). I do agree with that assessment of Alice.
Magnus Archives has a bit of everything, including gore, so I could see it not being for you. Part of the protagonist's project is categorizing and there are a not insignificant amount of, as he calls "meat" stories. The ones about the uncanny or enclosed spaces are the hard ones for me
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Alright, here's a casual guide to Diamond Lake, while my hyperfocus still has me hostage:
Map Key
1. The Emporium
2. Lazare's House
3. The Feral Dog
4. Church of St. Cuthbert
5. Tidwoad's
6. Sherriff's Office
7. General Store
8. The Hungry Gar
9. Jalek's Flophouse
10. Smenk Residence
11. Deepspike Mine
12. Garrison
13. Lakeside Stables
14. The Sunshade House (originally Midnight Salute, bought out, renamed, now defunct altogether)
15. The Spinning Giant
16. The Captain's Blade
17. Venelle's
18. Allustan's Residence
19. Tilgast Residence
20. Old Piers
21. Able Carter Coaching Inn
22. Parrin Residence
23. Greysmere Covenant
24. Gansworth Residence
25. The Rusty Bucket
26. Dourstone Residence (the map says Moonmeadow Residence)
27. Osgood Smithy
28. Smelting House
29. Diamond Lake Boneyard
30. Neff Manor
31. Moonmeadow Silver Mine (the map says Dourstone Mine)
32. Abandoned Mine
33. Menhirs (this way to the Bronzewood Lodge)
34. Old Observatory
35. Moonmeadow Residence (the map says Dourstone Residence)
Owned by Zalamandra, a tiefling sorceress with a great finesse for managing secrets. Its "Gallery of Science" offers employment to the many "curiosities" of Varisia, from an affable yeti named Shag Solomon to a two-headed calf named Esmerelda, while the upper floor offers access to a gaming hall, an exclusive entertainment club, and the Veiled Corridor.
The Emporium serves as something of a neutral zone for the power players of Diamond Lake, enforced by Zalamandra's half-ogre bouncer Kurlag, and the many secrets Zalamandra holds over aforementioned players' heads.
2. Lazare's House
A classier gaming parlor mainly used for dragonchess, Lazare's House has both a better reputation than the Emporium and a worse one. Lazare purportedly hates Balabar Smenk and the foul politics of Diamond Lake, and he tries to maintain an atmosphere of dignity and grace in his establishment... but this has the side effect of largely barring anyone of the lower classes from entering.
3. The Feral Dog
This sleazy tavern hosts dogfights, boxing matches, and dagger tossing contests. It's often considered to be Smenk territory. The owner owes Smenk a lot of money—but who doesn't?
8. The Hungry Gar
Guld Tortikan, head chef at the Hungry Gar, claims to serve the finest meal on the Vein.
Jalek's Flophouse
This old warehouse serves as squalid lodgings for upwards of a hundred families of Diamond Lake, and is managed by a mute man named Golot. He has an unearned reputation for cruelty—in fact, those who live there know him to be a fairly kind old half-orc whose hands are tied by the fact that Balabar Smenk owns the building, not him. He doesn't report any wrongdoing to Smenk, using his muteness as a cover, but he does as Smenk tells him when he must.
13. Lakeside Stables
While the common folk of Diamond Lake have plenty of reason to despair, they remain several times more fortunate than the community's horses. Lanch Faraday has an ugly reputation, but the half-elf never seems to get into trouble with the law, despite the way he mistreats any unhappy creature put under his 'care'.
14. The Sunshade House/Midnight Salute
The Midnight Salute was put out of business ten years ago, its well-liked and discrete owner, Purple Prose, rendered destitute and her brothel purchased by an unpleasant man named Harge. Harge recently died in an altercation with a customer. Most of his employees were promptly hired by the Emporium. The Sunshade House is now out of business, but some of the old employees are squatting here, as nobody seems to be sure who Harge owed money to—though everybody agrees he owed money to someone.
15. The Spinning Giant
A raucous two-story tavern favored by soldiers of the Garrison and not very welcoming to the miners of the town, nor the Sheriff or his deputies.
21. Able Carter Coaching Inn
The Able Carter Coaching Company connects Magnimar to its satellite towns via fleet of horse-drawn coaches and an inn positioned at every leg of the journey. It's a nice place, as places in Diamond Lake go, and the frequent place of lodging for newcomers.
25. The Rusty Bucket
This popular restaurant once specialized in fish, but since the lake went bad, it's had to adjust to a land-based diet. This restaurant is owned by Gelch Tilgast, and is extremely unfriendly to Balabar Smenk and his employees—the latter of which are barred from entry (Tilgast can't quite bring himself to risk banning Smenk himself).
The cantankerous gnome who runs this jeweler's shop (which doubles as a bank) is known for being extremely honest, extremely fair, and extremely unpleasant to talk to.
7. General Store
A human named Taggin runs this store. He's a handsome fellow, approaching middle name, and known for being extremely polite, extremely flirtatious with just about anyone who doesn't respond ill to it, and extremely uninterested in hearing about whatever illegalities his customers may or may not have been up to. He's discrete, and it's hard to find someone in town who doesn't like him. This is the best place to receive and send letters.
16. The Captain's Blade
The gossipy Tyrol Ebberly, who claims to have been a watch captain in Magnimar, sells weapons of all kinds.
17. Venelle's
Venelle is a curious but shy woman who sells weapons and armor—particularly bows and arrows, which she fletches herself. She has many friends in the Bronzewood Lodge, and has some distant elven blood. She was Caith's half-sister, but wasn't adopted by the couple that adopted Caith. Technically, Balabar Smenk owns Venelle's shop, but she's able to keep up with rent fairly reliably.
27. Osgood Smithy
Osgood is considered the best blacksmith in the region, specializing in armor and tools. He's an old friend of Luzarne Parrin's husband, and technically, she owns his smithy.
A repurposed Church of Aroden dedicated to the Cudgel, a god given his powers by the Starstone dedicated to common sense, order, retribution and the common folk. St. Cuthbert is Lawful Neutral, but less oriented around societal laws than around an "internal law"—in fact, St. Cuthbert has little patience for aristocrats, who feature often in stories about him. These stories usually involve a noble or landlord getting knocked on the head by the eponymous cudgel to teach them some sense and decency.
These worshipers are a bit more wild-eyed than most, though. Diamond Lake does that to people.
12. The Garrison
These soldiers are tasked with keeping watch on the Mistmarsh, protecting the town, and protecting Magnimar's interests in the region. They aren't allowed to do much about the town itself.
28. Smelting House
The only publicly-owned utility in Diamond Lake, purely because mine managers owning their own smelting houses encouraged too much sabotage and nearly brought the whole town choking to its knees. This is one of the few locations Governor-Mayor Neff actually controls, and he manages it bitterly, employing indentured criminals and charging mine managers through-the-roof sums for every job. This building is the chief reason for Diamond Lake's horrible pollution.
A talkative halfling named Benazel the Alchemist helps keep things running, though they also have their own side business selling alchemical supplies and medicines. They aren't known for discretion, however, nor awareness.
I don't currently have the Dungeon magazine that concerns the Cult of the Lady of Mint or the Bronzewood Lodge in detail, and I have therapy in three minutes, so this'll have to do for now! I know it's a tad overdue.
I liked what I heard of The Black Tapes, though the satanism/demonology stuff doesn't do much for me. My parents are not religious and neither am I so I just don't have the background to get freaked out by that stuff much (Jess was raised evangelical so has a VERY different experience of it). I haven't listened to The White Vault or Old Gods of Appalachia (Lovecraft doesn't do much for me, so I hear "Old Gods" and shrug). I do agree with that assessment of Alice.
Magnus Archives has a bit of everything, including gore, so I could see it not being for you. Part of the protagonist's project is categorizing and there are a not insignificant amount of, as he calls "meat" stories. The ones about the uncanny or enclosed spaces are the hard ones for me
Yeah, the Satan stuff wasn't doing much for me, either. The Black Tapes got less interesting for me when that stuff became more of a focus. I liked the early stuff where it was just creepy stories.
As for Old Gods of Appalachia, I don't think it's very Lovecraft. It's more "folk tale horror", I think, with the premise that cursed ancient things lurk beneath the titular mountains. It makes me think more of old mythologies around primordial spirits of the land, if anything—less "otherworldly" and more "more of the Earth than we are". That said, like I said, it wasn't for me. :P
Magnus Archives does seem neat! I might turn to it when I get to The White Vault.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Has anyone here ever played through or run through Age of Worms? I think I've gathered that most of you have only skimmed it at most, but I could be misremembering. It's no worries if you have, I just think it'll be interesting. I'm making lots of changes and tweaks this time around. I really like thematic consistency in a campaign, and one of the reasons I love Age of Worms is that it's really easy to implement a lot of thematic consistency.
I've played through about the first installment, to about level 3, and had read the next in Dungeon a long age before, but that's about it.
On the note of passive checks, Alaïs is a curious thing, so if ever a Knowledge or Lore check is called for that I haven't explicitly said I'd be interested in trying, feel free to roll it anyway. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, though, so it will be more of a back-up for when folks with more specialized Knowledges/Lores miss something or decide they might not be interested in XYZ.
That said, looking at how many skill points I have to throw around, it looks like Alaïs' interests might be more rarified, so we'll see how much she ever has to invest in the Lores especially, in case anyone's worried. I can imagine a shouted conversation in the heat of battle, "We don't care right now why so many undead drain life in all the ways they do, Alaïs! Is this thing going to suck our blood or does it just need to touch us?!?"
On a completely unrelated note, is the late, unlamented owner of the Sunshade House a Price of Salt reference? What a name to saddle a child with.
No worries about the delay, Alais, and I'm sure we all hope you feel better!
I kind of prefer that players roll the Knowledge checks, though sometimes I'll offer spoilered information so you can get the results of such checks immediately. It's a lot to keep track of to remember every Knowledge skill a PC has, much less remembering buffs, whether they want to spend Action Points, etc.
On a completely unrelated note, is the late, unlamented owner of the Sunshade House a Price of Salt reference? What a name to saddle a child with.
Wow! Good eye. I tried to think up "name for a shitty guy" and it was the first thing that came up lol.
My wife and I watch the movie version several times a year and we've both read it. It's basically "our" movie in the way that couples have "our" song. We always have mulled wine and watch it around Christmas.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I just wanna say, I'm really enjoying everyone's characters and interactions. I love how friendly all the PCs are being—a lot of games like to start with everyone griping and grumbling at each other, and fun as conflict is, it's nice to see a foundation being laid first of people getting along and being, well, pleasant to one another. The characters' unique personalities and struggles are coming through really well in everyone's posts, and people are being wonderfully proactive in giving each other things to bounce off of and bouncing off of what they're given. It's a blast to read.
I've seen a couple apologies about posting late, and I do think it's important to note that one of the greatest strengths of a six-person party is that when the focus is on roleplay and people are engaged, the thread can plug along at a lovely steady pace even missing a few players. Nobody's expected to be on the thread 24/7.
I kind of prefer that players roll the Knowledge checks, though sometimes I'll offer spoilered information so you can get the results of such checks immediately. It's a lot to keep track of to remember every Knowledge skill a PC has, much less remembering buffs, whether they want to spend Action Points, etc.
True enough! But if ever it looks like we might be about to miss something interesting/important, feel free to step in. I’ll add a bit for Alaïs’ bonus to untrained skills to her below the avatar summary, for that sort of situation, and we can adjust from there, if it makes sense to ever treat something as important as Knowledge as a passive thing?
Something like, “Alaïs takes 10 on bardic knowledge-y type things, so even if it’s something she’s not really into, she’ll start from a baseline of (*checks*)…”
Like I said, that might well be way too much or not actually make things any easier for our marvellous DM!, the latter of which is what I was aiming for. I blame whatever’s making my head fuzzy today.
On a completely unrelated note, is the late, unlamented owner of the Sunshade House a Price of Salt reference? What a name to saddle a child with.Wow! Good eye. I tried to think up "name for a s*~@ty guy" and it was the first thing that came up lol.
My wife and I watch the movie version several times a year and we've both read it. It's basically "our" movie in the way that couples have "our" song. We always have mulled wine and watch it around Christmas.
Totally understandable. :) It’s a lovely film, even speaking as someone that isn’t much for movies. I should reread the thing, but most of the books that I don’t need for school are back home, which is a ways away. *Aside, to herself:* Must resist gravitational pull to library! Be reasonable, look at all the books you have to read already!
Oh, I'm happy to prompt things like, "Knowledge (arcana) applies" from time to time, too. In the apparatus's case, I wanted to hold off until someone specifically said they were examining it.
I just wanna say, I'm really enjoying everyone's characters and interactions. I love how friendly all the PCs are being—a lot of games like to start with everyone griping and grumbling at each other, and fun as conflict is, it's nice to see a foundation being laid first of people getting along and being, well, pleasant to one another. The characters' unique personalities and struggles are coming through really well in everyone's posts, and people are being wonderfully proactive in giving each other things to bounce off of and bouncing off of what they're given. It's a blast to read.
I'm so glad! I'm having fun, too. I figure with us all being new to at least some of the people here, it makes sense to try to build some rapport. Conflict carries more weight when there's a groundwork anyways!
Also, aside from the obvious benefits to the story, I find players are more invested in the game the more their characters are invested in other PCs. And people who are more invested are more likely to stick around to the end :D
Totally understandable. :) It’s a lovely film, even speaking as someone that isn’t much for movies. I should reread the thing, but most of the books that I don’t need for school are back home, which is a ways away. *Aside, to herself:* Must resist gravitational pull to library! Be reasonable, look at all the books you have to read already!
I'm glad you agree :D My wife and I have three and a half full bookshelves in our 1 bedroom apartment, so I know the feeling!
Just as a random thought, would any of y'all be interested in a discord? I find having an IM program like that can be nice for some of the quick incidental questions or for just dropping in to say you're busy for awhile. Good for rules discussions and general chatting, too! I could set one up if y'all want.
Wow, y’all are chatty! I’ll tell you now, I won’t manage this kind of posting rate. Ever. But I won’t ghost on you unexplained, either, unless I get hit by a truck again. Long story, I didn’t miss more than a day on the boards, but I digress.
I have played through AoW many years ago in another PbP where I picked up an existing PC and played the last several books. I don’t remember enough to matter much and Edrukk will generally be close-mouthed, so feigning ignorance should be easy.
And the status line is coming soon.
My plan was to suggest a Discord server once we've been going for a while—maybe at the end of the first installment. That said, Discords are very handy, so I'm not opposed!
I'm open to a Discord server if you choose to use one. I might be able to respond more quickly there if you need a quick answer on Edrukk's part.
And I am absolutely open to someone botting Edrukk. If it appears to be necessary more often, I will put a playbook for him in his character sheet.
EDIT: Hopefully, the status line is more useful now.
My preference is to let other players bot PCs, as well as NPCs under their "control" like Leadership cohorts and hirelings and the like, purely out of petty GM laziness. A good rule of thumb is, if a player hasn't replied in over 24 hours in a combat, whoever gets to them first is allowed to take over if there's an obvious non-high-stakes option available to them.
That said, it really isn't a problem! I know we're moving fast (it's the first couple days, after all), but not everybody's going to post at the same rate. What's important is that nobody's kept waiting in confusion. I think everyone's posting rates have been stellar—everyone's being consistent, they're keeping people informed, and they're posting quality posts when they get around to it (as opposed to, say, a single line saying "yeah I do whatever Broccan said to do").
Also, thanks to Briar and Edrukk for the status lines. They make my job a little easier. :)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Credit should go to you as well, DM/KC. One of the things I've noticed over the years is that some GMs are better than others about giving the PCs something to riff off of in their posts.
I don't know that I could even specifically identify what makes one GM's post more effective than another's, but some GMs can describe an area or encounter very clearly, and as a player, I'll throw my hands up and think, Well, I hope there's another GM post coming, 'cause I got nothin'. Then, there are other GMs who could describe the same area or encounter just as clearly, but they give it that extra something that spurs the party to post their actions in immediate response.
I am happy to report that thus far, you have been one of the latter, hence our currently turbocharged post rate!
Aw, thanks! That means a lot. The Whispering Cairn is honestly a really well-designed adventure—every room has something to do in it, at least for this section. Plus, I have a lot of PC material to tie you all in with. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised at how much spoilered content I'm posting. Between Perception checks, languages, backstory knowledge and the Low-Light/Darkvision crew, this party operates at a lot of different levels of knowledge. It's fun, though I hope it doesn't make the posts too confusing to read. :P
It probably helps keep people posting, at least. There's more incentive to post when you're one of only two people who can report some key bit of intel.
@Edrukk Sorry for being so chatty! It’s partly that I am a chatty person by nature, especially when it’s text and I can plan/edit what I say, partly COVID isolation, and partly the excitement of a new character to figure out and new PCs to get to know. I’m also in a really fast moving Rise of the Runelords game that has absolutely spoiled me. We sometimes get through three rounds of combat in the same day :o
@Dungeon Madam If you’d prefer to hold off on a discord or etc for now GM, that’s chill with me. I do want to echo Broccan in that there is absolutely a GM skill in presenting the world in a way that inspires action from PCs, and you are exhibiting it! I know I’ve definitely fallen into the literary impulse to describe a scene and forgotten to invite players into it.
Oh, I'm up for starting a Discord—it would probably be pretty helpful. My current Discord username is Cattail#9036, if anyone wants to add me.
I’m Evie/Madame Knight#7397
Joined the Discord channel.
By the way, Kata, I have no issue with you going back and writing more about Kata's reaction to the alcove if you had more to say. It was a scene between her and Broccan, so it's not going to cause any continuity confusion to spoiler a little backtracking there. I know we sort of steamrolled on by.
Oh weird - I didn't get notifications for the last like 20 posts. I've got some catching up to do :)
EDIT: And of course I'm first in initiative. :(
Stuff about horror podcasts...
I used to really love horror movies, but as I've gotten older I have less patience for the really graphic, torture-porn style flicks. I still really love spooky, atmospheric, slow-burn horror.
I don't know anything about horror podcasts. Do any of the ones y'all have been discussing fit the description of spooky, atmospheric, slow-burn?
Horror Tangent
The White Vault does have body horror/gore in it, but I think it uses it pretty efficiently. The first season is really more about the fear of being trapped in an ice storm with a monster nobody's seen up-close that can fake voices and mess with the radio. I do have to skip some segments, but I regard it as being very focused on atmosphere and buildup. When gore surfaces, it's usually used to frighten the main characters. The real focus is on how they handle it, or, well, don't, depending.
The Black Tapes is a lot more reserved. Less "and then they took his APPENDIX and—" and much more on "spooky tall man keeps showing up in photographs following this guy and his family around". But it does get a little derailed around the devil worship stuff.
Oh, and Alice Isn't Dead is almost entirely atmosphere, but I also consider it more suspense than horror. The horror isn't in the slow discovery, or in the dawning realization that the character is doomed. It's really more about a tired anxious lesbian trucker driving around the United States musing about geography and worrying about monsters.
Anyways...
Nicely done with the first combat! It's always nice to see character moments shining through even in a crowded melee. I'm updating the party xp tracker now.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Magnus Archives def fits the bill there. The concept is an archivist going through and trying to catalog statements of various people about supernatural experiences they have. The “podcast” is him recording the written statements onto a tape recorder. Effectively, it’s a “horror story of the week” podcast, but if you pay attention, you start to notice connections between the various statements. It is definitely not super graphic or torture-porn esque. My wife and I hate those types of horror. It’s similar to The Black Tapes in overall tone, I’d say.
To give you an idea of how it handles gore, there’s a really good early episode that’s about Wilfred Owen in World War I and the horror comes from the war, not gore. There’s a recurring character in the story that is basically a walking body horror who never looks quite the same because he’s always *adjusting* his body, but you never get a full description of him. Just enough for you to fill it in.
Alice Isn’t Dead is about a lesbian long distance trucker whose wife, Alice, has disappeared. The unsettling liminality of rest stops and forgotten buildings, traveling alone without anyone that would be able to look for you, and that kind of thing. I personally thought it was a bit uneven writing-wise, but it’s still good. The actress who plays the protagonist, Jasika Nicole, you might recognize as Astrid on Fringe, if you ever watched that.
I mentioned Within the Wires, too, but that’s not really horror. More alternate-history sci-fi, though the first season def has more of a horror feel. Each season is done with a different metatextual device: the first season is relaxation tapes, the second is guided museum audio tours, the third is personal notes for a secretary to transcribe, the fourth is double sided cassettes from a cult leader to her daughter and the cult respectively, and the fifth is a woman leaving rambling messages on her girlfriend’s answering machine. It’s a podcast you definitely need to listen closely to and pay very active attention to because it’s about 90% subtext.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Alice Isn't Dead is neat, but I kind of see it as being more, like, a geography poetry thriller about a failing relationship with a big horror aesthetic. I focus on "geography" because I realized in college that 90% of political geographers talk like Jasika Nicole's character. I don't listen to it so much for horror, though there are creepy bits.
The White Vault is a very, very slow burn. It's a found footage-type series with an initial framing device of an expedition of researchers who got stranded up in Svalbard during a blizzard and discovered two things: That the caves near their outpost seemed to lead to the ruins of an ancient and terrible civilization, and that they weren't alone up there.
It also follows the affairs of the documentarian, who has unknown motives, and later, another expedition. Honestly, I think it's a fantastic work, so I got my friend to tell me when to skip segments while she recapped them to me. It doesn't have that much gore, but, yeah, there is gore.
Oh I totally missed you touched on Alice while I was writing my post! Sorry >_<
And yeah that’s fair. An interesting note about political geographers that I wouldn’t have picked up on. I did very little of the “harder” humanities.
The White Vault def sounds interesting. I’ll have to mention it to Jess.
Speaking of which, they mentioned a horror podcast I totally forgot! Pseudopod is a horror anthology podcast, so new material every week or so, and it has content warnings on each episode notes so you can skip anything that will be too difficult for you.
No worries at all! I like reading people's thoughts about Alice Isn't Dead. It's an interesting podcast.
Political geography is a lot like slam poetry: It's incredibly cool, it makes you think hard in ways you usually don't, it's really quite pretty when done well... and it is so self-indulgent and pretentious that the mere thought of actually becoming an expert on it gives me anxiety. All it took was a minor and now I'm permanently infected with the need to drop phrases like "ownership of space" in every conversation I get into. But it is very valuable as a lens, I guess. It gets you to look at the environment you live in very differently.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Some questions for our marvellous Dungeon Madam! No rush, of course, but just some things I’m thinking about as I try to imagine how Alaïs fits into the world, mainly to do with how elves work in Smolarion.
I’m really intrigued by your take on the drow: would it be right to guess that compared to out-of-the-box Golarion, they’re much more of an open secret as opposed to a “secret shame,” although most elves would probably not care to draw attention to the fact that there might be whole societies, such as they are, of skinhead elves, underground with spiders on or otherwise?
Given that on our rough concept map, Kyonin is on the Inner Sea, is it still quite so isolationist? (Oof, that’s rather topical.) If so, I imagine it must be or be trying to become quite a regional power – probably by magic, since elves, unlike Romans, probably don’t just pop out and/or conscript another generation of legions?
Or, if our elves are at least slightly less jerkfaces, but still as amusingly snooty princesses as I’d like to imagine them to be, what do open(ish) borders look like to them? Part of me thinks they’d be surprisingly nosy for chaotic folks in their zeal for protecting their forest and whatnot, and keep quite an intrusive eye on travelers and so forth:
“Welcome to Kyonin! For the duration of your stay, you will be assigned a personal Ministry of the Interior tour guide!”
“That’s … nice, I guess.”
“To help us preserve the unique ecosystems of the Fierani Forest, please confine yourself to the routes and trails approved for your visa and marked on your map and itinerary.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Wait. There’s only one road marked on this map?”
“Well, that makes it easier, doesn’t it?”
Not that we’re drawing on our parents’ experiences of visiting the Soviet Union back in the day, not at all. ;)
Now I’m imagining the horrors of elven bureaucracy: no one’s in charge, everyone’s making it up as they go along, and you’re bound to get dragged into their inter-office rivalries and tit-for-tats.
Maybe that explains House Thrune’s descent into diabolism. After a disastrous trip to elven lands, some ancient Thrune decided in despair that even the most cruelly arbitrary system, so long as in principle every freakish exception and detail could be looked up, was preferable to the well-intentioned but unfathomable chaos perpetrated by those impossible knife-ears. :/
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm attached to emphasizing the Chaoticness of elves. Historically, elves might call themselves a monarchy, but, at the risk of patronizing Golarion's most dignified aliens, it's been sort of like how kids declare leaders of a clubhouse. People would traditionally only really listen to the Queen when they already wanted to do whatever she was talking about. Rules of chivalry and honor were written up in very elaborate and complex texts, only to be largely disregarded as "guidelines" whenever they got inconvenient. A knight would be perfectly loyal to her Lady right up until her Lady gave an order the knight thought was wrong—then suddenly there'd be a scandal about the knight's desertion/betrayal.
In practice, what law there is in elven society is usually more based around good reputation and persuading others to your side. Which is to say, propaganda and gossip. The elves carry themselves like they're Athens or Camelot, but a pretty heiress who throws some good bacchanals and befriends half the other nobles will have an easy keeping the system under her thumb. It's definitely not perfect, but because the nobles don't really have a lot of control over Kyonin anyways, it's more just a source of amusement for the "common" elves. Luckily, elven society has always bent towards decency, so the "just ignore the rules and do what feels right" approach was generally ideal—if unbelievably frustrating for many rules-minded visitors.
It's been getting worse of late, though. Elven society in Kyonin has drifted from Chaotic Good to Chaotic Neutral over the last century, with rules and customs beginning to bend from "eh, they're guidelines, just don't be a jerk" to "eh, they're guidelines, just do what you want and take advantage of when they fit your purposes". The focus on etiquette and gossip has gone from mildly problematic and frustrating to outsiders to labyrinthine and stressful, enabling abusive and manipulative actors to rise to the top. The bureaucracy, once largely ignored when inconvenient, is increasingly wielded as a tool by the idle wealthy, with those who don't know how to weave it instead caught up in its webs.
Nobody really knows what the rules are in Kyonin. Just that you do what a few very powerful figures want. It's not as bad as Diamond Lake, but it's far from the idyllic society it once was. It's gone from effectively a light anarchy to a bureaucratic kleptocracy.
There are also rumors that the elven homeworld/homeplane has gone the opposite direction, taking the rules far more seriously now than they were ever meant to be taken—which has ill consequences, since those rules were never really designed to be interpreted closely.
Like I said in the Recruitment thread, I'm open to some collaborative worldbuilding. The above is what I had in mind, but what are your thoughts? Do you have a strong preference on isolationism? The only really important point is that throughout the world, things have been getting generally worse in various ways.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Horror Tangent
The White Vault does have body horror/gore in it, but I think it uses it pretty efficiently. The first season is really more about the fear of being trapped in an ice storm with a monster nobody's seen up-close that can fake voices and mess with the radio.
This sounds really fantastic. Isolation, an unforgiving environment, and an unseen/deceptive monster - I love all this.
And as for gore, it isn't so much the gore itself that is the turnoff for me, which I think can be used effectively to drive a story (your light gore spoiler was great IMO, GM). It is when it is purely a vehicle for purient purposes, and you can just sense that the creator is enjoying the act of putting their characters through suffering that I find really off-putting, and a lot of modern horror seems to fall into this trap from my perspective. (Weirdly and in total contradiction, I can rewatch an 80s/90s slasher flick without having these issues).
The Black Tapes is a lot more reserved. Less "and then they took his APPENDIX and—" and much more on "spooky tall man keeps showing up in photographs following this guy and his family around".
This sounds promising as well. I like horror that builds off repetition and mystery.
Oh, and Alice Isn't Dead is almost entirely atmosphere, but I also consider it more suspense than horror. The horror isn't in the slow discovery, or in the dawning realization that the character is doomed. It's really more about a tired anxious lesbian trucker driving around the United States musing about geography and worrying about monsters.
Alice Isn’t Dead is about a lesbian long distance trucker whose wife, Alice, has disappeared. The unsettling liminality of rest stops and forgotten buildings, traveling alone without anyone that would be able to look for you, and that kind of thing.
Suspense works too, and this premise is very cool. I love the idea of exploring liminality, and I love settings that explore places forgotton and overlooked. Using a trucker as a vehicle for this is really smart.
Magnus Archives def fits the bill there. The concept is an archivist going through and trying to catalog statements of various people about supernatural experiences they have. The “podcast” is him recording the written statements onto a tape recorder. Effectively, it’s a “horror story of the week” podcast, but if you pay attention, you start to notice connections between the various statements.
Oh, IRL I work in Special Collections (if you're not familiar, basically university-speak for archives). So this is going on the list too.
I mentioned Within the Wires, too, but that’s not really horror. More alternate-history sci-fi, though the first season def has more of a horror feel. Each season is done with a different metatextual device: the first season is relaxation tapes, the second is guided museum audio tours...
How wonderfully creative! I have some podcasts to download. Thanks for the recommendations and clarifications, Dungeon Madam and Briar!
Now I’m imagining the horrors of elven bureaucracy: no one’s in charge, everyone’s making it up as they go along, and you’re bound to get dragged into their inter-office rivalries and tit-for-tats.
I don't have much to say about elven worldbuilding, but I did want to chime in to say that I'd totally play this RPG.
It got me thinking about the Paranoia RPG, honestly. Except instead of gossipy elves and petty grudges, it's a bunch of greedy programmers and a massively flawed supercomputer. :P
(your light gore spoiler was great IMO, GM)
Thank you! Honestly, the more uneasy a PC is around killing, the more I want to emphasize the tactile horror of doing so—we can't let such interesting roleplaying challenges go to waste, after all!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Like I said in the Recruitment thread, I'm open to some collaborative worldbuilding. The above is what I had in mind, but what are your thoughts? Do you have a strong preference on isolationism? The only really important point is that throughout the world, things have been getting generally worse in various ways.
Oh, gosh, that’s great! I don't think I have strong preferences, I just thought I’d ask before I start spinning some nonsense in-character as Alaïs comments on where's she's coming from that would clash horribly with where you’d like to take things, the internal consistency of the world, and the themes of the campaign.
Especially, with where Kyonin is in Smolarion compared to Big Ol’ Larion, it just occurred to me that the whole “closed borders, we seriously consider shooting non-elves who don’t have the proper papers on sight” angle (which I never liked anyway) might not make as much sense with a centrally-located, easily accessible Kyonin, as opposed to a small forest closer to the middle of nowhere, unless the elves are sitting on a serious magical arsenal/army. And in a world where things have been getting worse and worse, that might start leaning more and more to cold war territory… (Gosh, who knows what Avalon is hiding behind those mists?) Which, possibly fun, but not sure that's where we/you'd want to take it this time around.
So how about, the elves are still immensely protective of their forest, but hey, if you don’t mind a bit of close-ish scrutiny you can go through and even stay awhile in the tourist-traps along the main road(s), have a good time too, and really, are a bunch of trees worth making more of a fuss over? (And, phaugh, you’d have to be dealing with what passes for serious elves the whole time then.) Better to just scoot over a bit and log the Fangwood or whatever.
Basically, more Mirkwood and the Road rather than Lorien and Doriath? Given how capricious elves are at best, and especially if Kyonin has shifted more to CN lately, turning up the “DO NOT step off the path!” vibes and really good but also maybe really dangerous parties. :)
Your take is pretty much what I’ve always wanted. I really like the idea that while there might be a theoretical monarchy in elven lands, that theory is mostly, “Yeah, I guess if anyone’s the Queen of Fairies, most everyone ‘round here would agree it’s probably her.” :)
I think entering Kyonin puts you under a lot of scrutiny, sort of like in Zilargo, if anyone remembers Eberron's "extremely polite gnome surveillance state". Just with more focus on elves trying to find out your business so they can gossip/befriend/manipulate/blackmail/help you as they feel appropriate. And yeah, there's definitely some Mirkwood/faerie angles going on depending on who you run into. Some elves might want to have fun with the newcomers and think the isolationism is super bogus, but their idea of "fun" might range from friendly revels and parties to mischief and pranks to drawing a good-looking trespasser into a love dodecahedron that the non-elf did not bargain for. And hey, there might be some embattled Chaotic Evil elves who will consider shooting loggers, especially nowadays with everything in such shambles.
There's no guarantee that you run into the nice elves, and even the nice ones might have not-nice friends, since it's a whole nation of gossiping cliques. CN and CG intermingle a lot. So you might be better off just doing what the government elves tell you and trying to avoid trouble altogether. Actually, come to think of it, maybe it's best just to go log somewhere else.
Broccan, the poor kid from a mining town who became a miner, has no art schooling or knowledge of light refraction.
Rosella also has no art training, but I'm going to assume she knows the colors of the rainbow. Anything more complicated will be left to those artistically inclined :)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Edited in a response to Briar's question, (which I'd meant to respond to but forgot).
Edited in a response!
I'm in meetings all morning tomorrow, so please bot if needed. In a fight, Kata will activate performance and reluctantly stab things.