Bloody Rugburn's page

No, honestly, there was no expectation of getting in. I was just poking fun, and it seems to have gone off-course. Sorry!

Email sent. If you still have the same email address at better novel writing dot com.

*AHEM* Where's my email, silly DM?

Changed my mind. I made an institutionalized old man. Sheet sent with a mini-background, let me know what you think.

It would be an interesting mechanic to all be prisoners of some kind, especially if we don't know what crimes were committed by the others. Long-term prisoners might not have talked about their crimes, alleged or actual, and the trust in the group only goes as far as the secret that they're all escapees. Rumors say that Black Bart burned down an orphanage? Is it true? All you know about him is that he had no problem breaking that guard's neck on the way out.
As far as prisons, I'd bet that Cassomir would be easier to get away from than Absalom. Since concepts have been submitted for a rogue and a sorceror already, I'll look into making an oracle or something capable of healing.

I'm interested, my concepts are sent. If anyone's interested in putting together a party concept, my two ideas were:
* A wizard, probably Conjurer, who is also a bureaucrat, micromanager type. A junior politician with mixed motives to attempt the expedition.
* An escaped convict who jumped on the first boat he saw to stow away from the city. Alternately, he could have been assisted in his escape by friends or family, with passage paid for or arranged otherwise to get away from the mainland. This screams rogue, but almost anything could fit.

Hi, I'd be interested in playing if there's still room. I'll take an alt-list spot if that's the case, though.

Yep. More GMs next year are totally needed. It was nuts when my table went from 6 to 8 to 12. It was awesome that Derek split off and started another table on the fly. Next year is going to be off the hook.

Edit: Also, thanks to James (I think that's his name) for co-GMing with
me. Not having to mess with math was awesome and really let me just tell a story.

Thanks for having us New Orleans folk. It was good to meet all of you.

Dundjinni's my favorite. It's so damn easy and looks great. Way back when, before I realized that DMing a PbP was hard work, I used that in combination with Photoshop to move tokens around with initials on them and such. I'm sure there's a less convoluted way, but people seemed to like that.

I like your style, both gameplay and narrative-wise. The only thing I'd like, and I know it's a pain in pbp games, is maps. I like tactical combat and maps of the area, but it takes time that you might not have available to get too detailed with that stuff. I'm happy with the game and its DM, as well as the players. Speaking of, how long are we waiting for Jylan before we pick up another player?

Tin doesn't have any notable pieces of equipment. His armor is the most noticeable, but his equipment was all purchased second-hand and not acquired through any heroic means. His adventuring career is virtually nonexistent, and he simply bought everything using funds given by the community for his mission and donated by the old scholar who taught him what he wanted to know about Tsar and Arden.

Thanks for going over the ruling. The dude abides.
As far as the question on waiting, I'm fine with it to a point. Like you said, absence and inactivity can kill a PbP and this is a good group. I'd hate to be once-again gameless!

Good idea. I'll try to keep something like that in my profile as well.

Maybe we've been artfully dodged. I haven't seen the other player around either. It'd be great if you picked up and DM'd man. I'll stay attentive.

Varthanna wrote:

jjaamm wrote:

how about a cleric, for me to play. what does it take to play this way?

Can you elaborate?

And glad to hear there is interest!

is there any software i would need? some games require things like maptools, ect... I would like to play a cleric if there is room and i dont need anything else except this old computer. i havnt figured out yet how to load and use the software programs like maptools. i have a mac G4.

For Play-by-post, you don't need any kind of software. All you really need is patience and imagination.

I'm interested. I'd probably go for a monk, if possible, or a sorceror if not.

Kind of long, sorry. I'm going for Tinthariel, an elven priest of Arden. I don't know the deities very well, and took some liberties, but hopefully this will be a good fit.

The room was large but sparse, with comforts that were few and hoarded like treasures by the room’s inhabitants. The dozen or so elves therein tightly clasped blankets and cushions as they stared off into space, some muttering to themselves, some weeping, each an island. The room was lit by the sunlight streaming in through the windows through the iron bars designed for safe enclosure. From the second story, one could hear the sounds of voices as two individuals approached the building, and a watcher could see the pair, one troubled and confident, and the other in an awe-inspired confusion.

Calylimnia was an elf, possessing the ageless fey appearance of his kind while still exhibiting the subtle signs of age. He was dressed in plain robes, though his station as a priest of Nethys would afford him richer garb if he wished. His companion was a human who also exhibited age in his worn, scruffy features, but did not do nearly as well a job of hiding it as the elven priest beside him. His jaw hung open as they approached the stone structure’s large wooden door. Finally, he champed it shut and tried to voice his thoughts, “… what…?”

“All questions will be answered in due time, Master Treyus.”

The human seemed nonplussed at both the elf’s controlled demeanor as well as the feeling of foolishness he presently harbored for no apparent reason. He felt that he was being made fun of. Nevertheless, he continued with his attempt at understanding. “What is this place? The elves are known for constructing in synch with nature, even in other prisons that I’ve seen in my travels. I’ve never seen you build with stone before.” Calylimnia glanced sideways, looking at the old human scholar without moving his head. He opened the wide doors and allowed the man to enter, then followed. “This is not a prison, Master Treyus, not quite. It is more of a… sanctuary.” The old man didn’t understand, and his face indicated such quite apparently. Still, he held his tongue.

The pair climbed the stairs, passing several other elves in similar simple garb. They approached a room which contained a large square of glass that allowed one-way viewing into the chamber that contained the Strangers. The old human’s jaw hung slack again, his brow furrowed, as he studied the sad individuals he saw. Slowly, he turned to the priest. “What is going on?”

Calylimnia stood next to the human, his hands clasped behind his back. “I am about to tell you something that has been a secret of the elves for a long, long time. My history with your family, and the dignity and integrity of your forebears, coincidentally assisted by your chosen field of study, has allowed you to be one of the few I trust with this information. Your first question was why we built this place of stone. The original housing that contained these souls was built the best we knew how, containing the soul of nature and growth as all our structures do. It only served to further disturb our patients.”
The scholar looked aghast. “Patients? This is an asylum?!” He looked at the elves on the other side of the glass with renewed horror. One of them was across the room, tapping on the walls, his ear close to his fingers to hear the noise. “Can they see us?”

The priest shook his head. “The glass is hidden by an illusion. The other side looks no different from the surrounding stone. The one trying to find us was once a respected magi. These pitiful creatures are here because they all suffer from the same sickness. They are called Strangers. Each one of the souls in that room lived a healthy, happy life at one point. They all had families and were blessed with children, more than one child in most cases; a rare blessing for the elven people. They lived well, loved well, and then broke. The condition occurs nocturnally. Their hair turns white, their eyes lose all color, their skin pales. They forget who they are, they forget who their families are, and they begin wildly destroying any living thing that they can. After this wild burst that almost always ends in the horrible murder of the ones closest to them, they shut out the rest of the world, only barely able to hold a conversation or to self-sustain.”
He paused as the ancient elf on the other side of the glass tapped on the wall right by the human’s head. Dmitri Treyus would swear that those empty eyes gazed directly into his, but the elf only chuckled and continued his circuit around the room, tapping away. “This is… Why are you showing me this?” The priest continued his tale. “The affliction is one of the soul, Master Treyus. Magic cannot cure it. Strangers do not ever recover. The sickness is affecting more and more of us as time progresses. It is a troublesome worry that disturbs all of my people, so you must understand that it is desperation that drives us to find a way to heal this, no matter the cost or the sacrifice. Do you see the one by the window? The one staring out at the yard? The others shy away from the sunlight. That one, once called Tinthariel, basks in it. The windows are normally shut, and the patients would resist when we open them. But that one opens the windows with no resistance from the others. He is more mentally capable than the others. He speaks to them, cries with them, holds them when they become violent and abusive when others try to do the same.” The priest was speaking with an intensity now that the old scholar found unnerving. The entire situation was enough to unman him, to send him screaming out into the sun, all the way back to Bard’s Gate. The scholar in him forced him to stay, thirsty for the knowledge, hungry for discovery, even if the new experience was a savage bludgeon in its speed.

“I still don’t-“ The priest cut him off, the momentum of his speech an unstoppable force. “He enjoys the sun, Master Treyus. He claims that it speaks to him. He claims that he hears the voice of Arden, Master Treyus. He remembers his crimes, remembers the bloody murder of his wife and twin daughters. Tinthariel exhibits small miracles that he claims stem from a divine connection to the sun. He has told us that he can cure the elven people of this sickness.”
Arden. Now the old scholar understood. “Arden is a dead god, Caly. His followers are scattered to the winds. It’s impossible.” Calylimnia shook his head. “I believe him. Call it a leap of faith. Call it desperation, call it what you will. Tinthariel has been called by Arden, or another deity of benevolence, or madness, but he has been called. The proof is in his power to heal the sick and ease their suffering. I mean for you to take him with you back to Bard’s Gate. Do this, and your family’s debt promised long ago will be considered fulfilled.”

The scholar frowned. He felt disgusted that the elf would call the debt, sworn by his father to the priest who saved his life, so blatantly. But he would honor it. Caly had proven to be a friend time and again, but now Dmitri Treyus felt that he just wanted to be away from the elf. “I’ll take him. I’d like some time to talk to him alone, to find out what he knows on the dead religion he claims to now be a part of. Whatever the outcome, I’ll take him.” Dmitri turned and walked out of the room, determined to be away from this place as soon as he was rested. Calylimnia stared through the glass, watched his son tapping away at the stone, looking for the window that he knew was there, muttering quietly. Whatever the risk, he had to know if there was a cure. If it proved that Tinthariel was a murderous lunatic like the others, then he would know he was wrong, and hopefully the human authorities in Bard’s Gate could put him down before he harmed too many.

fanguad wrote:

The party's paladin (aka "soon to be fighter-without-bonus-feats unless he atones") willingly participated in this murder, so we'll have to have some fallout from that. He also had no qualms about hiring an evil cleric to fix the mage, so we've got a strike against both Law and Good.

First off Paladin does not mean lawful stupid. Rolth is a necromancer who has murdered for his trade and willingly worked to spread a plague that is going to kill thousands. He has also demonstrated at least once his ability to escape when his defeat seems emminent. To call his death a "murder" because the party refused to take him prisoner when they got the drop on him is completely disingenuous and sounds more like sour grapes from you for them killing Rolth. The fact that you are deciding to retcon his...

It doesn't seem like the guy's out to get his paladin, it's more like trying to get the player to think more about the sacrifices necessary to be a paladin. Lawful Good inclines mostly toward what would be best in contribution toward a benevolent society. Even America's laws have use-of-force guidelines that allow for a change of heart through imprisonment and atonement. Lawful Good won't sneak up on someone and kill them right out. It's hard to be Lawful Good, and it should be, especially given the new strengths of the PF Paladin.

Bloody Rugburn wrote:

Jeez these games fill up fast. If you're going in order of who posted, I imagine there's no room for me, but if you're doing otherwise, I'd like to be considered. I've been working on a concept for an old, grim paladin for a while now.

BR

I make you number nine on the list. If you want, you can remain on the reserve list and if a space becomes open, you'll move up the list. Is that OK?

That'll be great, thanks.

Jeez these games fill up fast. If you're going in order of who posted, I imagine there's no room for me, but if you're doing otherwise, I'd like to be considered. I've been working on a concept for an old, grim paladin for a while now.

A cool idea that I do with my group is that I write a little fiction to go with the adventures, like a little 'behind the scenes' thing. My group's always been good about not mixing the information (what the player knows vs. what the character knows) so when I do it, it works out well. They'll appreciate the villain a little more if it's not their first time encountering it in their mind, even if it's the first time on paper.

I think I was "that guy" for another thread. I won't be this time though! I'd appreciate a shot at a spot. Thanks.

Is it too late to throw my hat in for this? I'd love to play and can get a character concept going by tonight. I'll play whatever's needed. I have the player's guide for Legacy of Fire, also.

I'd like to play in a 3.5 or PFRPG game as well. Maybe even 4e since I have yet to try it.