GM Wolf's Carrion Crown the Bard's Epic!

Game Master BloodWolven

Temple of Pharasma: The temple of Pharasma has
extensive notes on the town’s history, and is perhaps the
best site for research. Using the temple’s records grants
a +4 bonus on all Knowledge checks made to research
Harrowstone, the Five Prisoners, or the Whispering Way.

Yup sounds good Ramada.

GM Wolf and Børak, the posters were the ones Ramada made earlier in the day

Before setting off for town, Nikolay spends some time creating a number of similar-looking posters on sheets of paper

and didn't remember any crafting rolls or anything like that.

I was just confused, because you two left so much earlier than us two that we missed the fight. So, I was trying to figure out when you had the time to make posters.

No big deal, I'll try and remember your described actions and if I have a question about time frame, I'll try and ask then in stead of several posts later.

Yeah the time frames likely got jumbled.

Sounds good Borak when I have access to a computer tomorrow I will change what you found.

---

shall we move to dinner time, i forsee naps to be well rested for the late night event!

Sorry folks first days of school have been crazy and time consuming. I hope to catchup today.

Ok folks you have me tonight, well sort of. I am cleaning my house, doing chores, and packing for the weekend. We are off to Packwood and Randal area for the flea markets, internet might be choppy. I plan on posting when I can but with no wifi, we will see.

Have a good time shopping for fleas?

Magdali, you still with us?

So, the start of the new school year is right on top of us here. I'm new to working in a school rather than a branch office (I work for the Oregon Department of Human Services) and the frenzied pace has caught me by surprise. Things will settle down, but I don't know exactly how long that will take.

For safety's sake I'm going to say that I'll be very busy for the month of September. I'll try to keep up on posts, but if you need to bot me to keep things moving along.

Oh yeah! I found many bargains!!! I am back now! School has been kicking my butt. :(

Okay thanks for letting us know Magdali!

We were there for Professor Lorrimor's funeral, remember? It's the town graveyard - a logical "hangout spot" for a group of necromancers.

Now you know how much I pay attention. Normally I'll search for stuff so my character seems to have an identic memory, but I was tired enough that I didn't bother. I was going to say just to put Borak on the map, but I wasn't sure we'd have one.

Yeah I will have a map ready!

On a side note I am looking for interest in a post apocalyptic zombie outbreak game. Nothing is solid yet looking for players and you will help me develop what we plan to do!

Here is the link if you are interested!

post apocalyptic zombie outbreak game? Sweet, PF1 rules or something else? I'm really only familiar with PF 1, D20 modern and apocalypse world Yeah, still not sure how that one happened :)

Are you thinking alt earth or something else?

Yup that is the plan unless someone shares a PDF with me. D 20 modern didn't work for the last one. Pop into the duliscussion thread! Oh I have so many ideas!!!

Anyone else going to act?

Waiting to see what the hooded figure does other than walk by.

Like Nikolay, I should probably offer my sincerest apologies to you all - I thought we were doing an ambush, and I apologize if I did something I shouldn't have.

Something you shouldn't have? Not sure what that would be. We may have been planning an 'ambush' (not entirely sure, if my character isn't involved in a conversation then I tend not to read it to prevent metagaming on my part) and it feels like we accomplished that.

I think if it had been five suspicious looking people it may have gone differently. But one? I think confronting is fine.

What did you expect to happen that makes you feel like you may have been in error?

Edit: Out of curiosity, that makes you assume this was an acolyte?

Doctor Ramada wrote:

Like Nikolay, I should probably offer my sincerest apologies to you all - I thought we were doing an ambush, and I apologize if I did something I shouldn't have.

Something you shouldn't have? Not sure what that would be. We may have been planning an 'ambush' (not entirely sure, if my character isn't involved in a conversation then I tend not to read it to prevent metagaming on my part) and it feels like we accomplished that.

I think if it had been five suspicious looking people it may have gone differently. But one? I think confronting is fine.

What did you expect to happen that makes you feel like you may have been in error?

Edit: Out of curiosity, that makes you assume this was an acolyte?

I don't know what we were supposed to be doing exactly, but no need to aplogize. Magdali just tends to think of Ramada as putting the "mad" in "mad scientist".

No worries Ramada, everyone interprets it differently. What if he was a necromancer, cultist, or worse?!

Quite frankly, I half expected him to respond to the question about "suspicious strangers" in town by talking about the four maniacs skulking around the graveyard at night and threatening to immolate random acolytes.

Nikolay would likely have began to search for these mysterious madmen.

Ramada I'm a little confused, you write this huge monologue attempting to engage Borak in conversation.

As he walks back, he addresses Børak. "Do you ever have nightmares, Børak? I understand that for many, their nightmares often vary, each one showing a different aspect of their subconscious fears - one night, it may be falling, the next blood loss, and so on." The young scientist shudders. "Mine are always the same thing. Tell me, Børak, have you ever thought about being buried alive? Being stuffed into a wooden box with barely enough room to breathe, dumped into a ditch, and covered with enough dirt that you will never escape? If you're lucky, the gravediggers will seal the box tight. Then, you would run out of air and suffocate in a matter of minutes. Otherwise, it would be several long, agonizing days before the water would run out." He seems to rally. "Fortunately, nightmares are rather rare for me. Most nights, I dream of machines I'm working on or formulae I need to adjust. I find joy in my work, so...

N Børak shares. "I often have nightmares, they vary in detail, but it is always nighttime and there is always a full moon." His voice lowers to almost a whisper. "They are worse when the moon is full and lesser when it is waning."

Bu there was no more conversation.

Are you playing Ramada as the 'absent minded professor' type, or just forgot to look at what was posted. You type a lot of stuff, but it doesn't seem that you communicate much to other characters. Even in you last post, I thought the open ended

He does not awaken during the night, but any still up in the early hours of the morning (perhaps due to their own nightmares) can hear the faint sound of terrified sobs from his room....Anyone else already awake notices his haggard, disheveled appearance,

If nobody stops him, he dashes back outside...

Do you want someone to stop him, thus negating what you wrote?

If someone is narrating their actions where they can be observed, I may comment, or make a mental observation, but I won't interrupt the flow of their narrative. If someone asks a direct question I try and recognize it and respond, either with speech or action, involving that in the narrative. Maybe if you expect people to respond you pause in your narration? Also, if people respond to your conversations or questions, you acknowledge there response?

My sincerest apologies, Børak. I'm not very used to the PbP system as of yet, so to some degree, I'm still trying to figure out how things are generally done. I've been feeling guilty about not writing with as much detail for this game as I do for my other campaigns, so I've been trying to aim for longer and more content-filled posts. My character's various actions are intended to allow for multiple different opportunities to interact, giving other players a choice of whether to engage or not in several situations so they aren't forced to either engage with something their character wouldn't logically engage with or be bored. You can feel free to interact with him or interrupt him at any point - I will work his actions around those of others as appropriate.

As for the discussion about dreams, I misinterpreted your answer - I thought that the discussion was done, and so did not post further. The fault lies with me, and I apologize. I'm trying my best to get acclimated to this system of roleplaying, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. As such, I appreciate any advice you have for how I can improve my skills in this area.

Cool, obviously your character is well thought out, but I was surprised when you apologized for the 'ambush.' I wasn't sure how comfortable you were. I'm ok with the conversation about dreams being over. I just don't want you to feel like you have to apologize for something.

I don't want to assume, but let me share a couple of 'articles' that helped me.

DHs-Guide-to-Play-By-Post-gaming

Building-a-Better-Doomed-Hero-Painlords

My favorite advice is to leave hooks and to respond to what the other characters are doing.

I tend to play characters one of two ways, either talkative, or more reserved. I try to share a little of how both are thinking and how they respond to the things around them. I try not to write fields of texts, but I try to interact with the character themself and the others in the game. But please write/play how you feel is best for you or your character.

I was just trying to explain how I perceived your post. Like I said, I don't want you to feel like you have to apologize, but if we talk about the posts we can prevent that.

People play PBP for different reason, I've got a friend who plays to practice writing. She an english major who has amazing characters each with their own speaking style. I know a lot of people who seem to play because they like to build mechanically sound characters and test the build. Most of us are somewhere between those. I like to build sound interesting characters and learn about them and their companions as we experience the adventure. Anyway I ramble.

In my mind the deathknell of a game is reduction in posting rate. Whether it's caused by a busy RL, loss of interest, Depression or not feeling comfortable with the game. Anything we can do to help you feel comfortable will help keep the game moving :)

Edit: As for 'quantity' of writing. Write enough that your familiar with your character while letting the other players know your relating to theirs. But think of it like a novel, early while we're learning the characters we share details that come back later. But as the plot thickens, the 'color and texture' of the green beans you had for supper becomes less and less important to moving the plot forwards. We're still in that 'learning about each other phase' but we still want to move the game forwards.

My sincerest apologies, Børak. I'm not very used to the PbP system as of yet, so to some degree, I'm still trying to figure out how things are generally done. I've been feeling guilty about not writing with as much detail for this game as I do for my other campaigns, so I've been trying to aim for longer and more content-filled posts.

If you feel like it post more, but if you're not feeling it don't think you must. Remember PbP campaigns are marathons, not sprints. When you have a hook to work with great! But there's no need to post long just to post long and in detail. Burnout is a player thing too.

My character's various actions are intended to allow for multiple different opportunities to interact, giving other players a choice of whether to engage or not in several situations so they aren't forced to either engage with something their character wouldn't logically engage with or be bored. You can feel free to interact with him or interrupt him at any point - I will work his actions around those of others as appropriate.

In case it helps, A reminder that not all character reactions mirror the player's thoughts. I find Dr. Ramada fun and amusing in his wackiness. Magdali just thinks he's probably crazy.

I find Dr. Ramada fun and amusing in his wackiness. Magdali just thinks he's probably crazy.

I'm trying to make sure his usefulness and willingness to help outweigh his... eccentricities. As for Magdali's impression, nobody's saying he's not. Certainly not the voices in his head, and definitely not the invisible shadow assassins.

In my opinion, quality of posts is always more important than quantity. Remember that if you feel like you're on the brink of burnout because of posting, having to read and comprehend walls of text is also exhausting.

Since Børak has been to town before would he be able to roll knowledge local to identify a store that might have the items. He has no nature knowledge so he can't get a 15 and sense motive and diplomacy are thin...

Part of why I had Nikolay volunteer to help find the herbs was his claustrophobia, but he is also quite well-suited to the task, as he comes fairly close to auto-succeeding on the rolls to identify the herbs - if he uses Knowledge (nature), he succeeds at everything above a 3 on the die. If he uses Heal, he succeeds at everything above a 2! Of course, he only has Diplomacy at default level.

Hmmm, I was waiting to see if anyone was going to post before I had Borak respond to Nikolay. I'll wait a bit longer and respond.

If I get any response from the other players in the other game I may be bringing those who respond over here. It might be a moot point as I heard one of them on the 2nd and the other far more!

If I get any response from the other players in the other game I may be bringing those who respond over here. It might be a moot point as I heard one of them on the 2nd and the other far more!

Pity the other game is dying, I see no reason why they can't jump in here. Will we just assume they were here from the beginning?

I agree with the observation you made in one of your other game's discussion thread. That posting daily helps keep things moving strong. I just try not to sandwich someone's posts between two of mine, unless it feels like the person is waiting for my answer before they post an action. When I first started, I'd post with GM's several times a day with no one else posting. Looking back, I think it discouraged other people's involvement instead of encouraging it. So now I try to post slightly faster than the games average.

Will the remaining players from the other table be joining us? I'm fine either way with it, just curious.

They finally made a post for three of them... so letting them cipher a bit more.

Hope it works out!

At this point the other game is dead... so I invited them over to join us. After a few days will prove their choice of joining or not.

Lectrum slips through the portal between worlds and looks around. "Looks the same, but different...What do you think, Sly?"

A small lizard pops up out of Lectrum's backpack.

Greetings Lectrum!

So I see a couple of easy options for entering the new players from the other game. We can assume they've were pallbearers as well and have just kept to themselves. Or they could also have been folks mentioned in the will but were delayed, and have just arrived in the night. Ready to join us heading towards the prison. Obviously, there may be other choices, I just thought those were easy.

I considered that they may already at the prison, but that would not necessarily mean they are 'with us' where the other two options would make it clear.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Actually I just came from there. It's a very spooky place. Do you know what a haunt is?

Actually I just came from there. It's a very spooky place. Do you know what a haunt is?

Since Børak archetype is Spiritslayer, I am hoping he may have a clue :)

I suspect that Nikolay and Lectrum should synergize well - Lectrum's fire resistance is sufficient to render him immune to the splash damage from Nikolay's bombs, so setting each other on fire may in fact be a valid battle strategy.

From a role-playing perspective, Nikolay has a fascination with electricity, which will likely extend to an interest in the electrochemical processes behind Sly's shock abilities. This attitude is unlikely to be reciprocated by the shock lizard, given that Nikolay has the Warded Against Nature drawback and is at least partially insane.

Also, a quick question for Lectrum - what was his link to the Professor? Given his statements in the other campaign, I was under the impression that both him and Nikolay were Lorrimor's students (albeit at different levels), so that might be a hook for role-playing.

"Yes, same but different!" The little shocker lizard replies as he scurries around and checks out the new places!

Lucky for you I am a magical beast! Are shocker lizards normally just animals?

Greetings Lectrum!

So I see a couple of easy options for entering the new players from the other game. We can assume they've were pallbearers as well and have just kept to themselves. Or they could also have been folks mentioned in the will but were delayed, and have just arrived in the night. Ready to join us heading towards the prison. Obviously, there may be other choices, I just thought those were easy.

I considered that they may already at the prison, but that would not necessarily mean they are 'with us' where the other two options would make it clear.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah the later options likely would work the best!

---

Yes Borak should know what a haunt is... a simple spirit like a ghost but barely harmful in comparison. Though only after certain parameters have been done will the haunt be permanently removed.

Ugh! Many apologies for the lack of recent posting. Work emergencies and a few other things have been leaving me with almost no free time.

No worries, I am just glad to see you posting as the other game is dead. Just keep us in the loop if possible.

To the Restlands then to find the false vault or to the prison?

Just dropping in to say I'm reading the posts. Instead of retconning Borak getting ready and joining in the conversation, I'm going to leave him at the door waiting for you all to be ready to go. I don't mind the retcon, but I don't really have anything to add.

Edit: It sounded like we were headed towards the prison.

Lecturn how do you want to come in?

Lectrum was struggling to learn how to read, having mostly been taught how to fight, and the professor kindly helped him overcome his traumatic fear of books. (To the point where now they just intimidate him.)

Perhaps Lectrum brings the straightjacket back to town and runs into the others?

"This straightjacket was haunted!"

Does anyone have the ability to heal fatigue?

Coming over from the other game. Will read and catch up!

Sure Lectrum, you can come in that way. You may have been one that watched from afar. Now having defeated the straight jacket you head to town but then see the pallbearers walk along the edge of the inner prison wall.

Valiard, how do you want to come in?

Another option is when they 'teleport' some magic is used thus bringing you over to this parallel world. Yet even with that a latent ability it tells you that your loved ones have transfered too!

Does anyone have the ability to heal fatigue?

Magdali has Lesser Restoration, which would do it. But she doesn't have enough castings to cover everyone, even using all her 2nd level spell slots for the day.