OOC thread

So the first scene is a slow one to explore the setting and the game system. Feel free to create places and memories as you require as I'll leave it mostly unfinished until I need specific locations (advantage of PbP I guess :D )

@Cettish- Since we're playing brother & sister, would you be up for my character picking you up and escorting you to the ceremony?

I swear, most of my posts won't be even half that long. I've just been super excited for this game <.<

Certainly! Claire is somewhere on a boarding school like thing or something along the way :) shall make a first post on it

fixed a name mistake in Roderick's post - must remember Elias is the soldier, Nathaniel the doctor!

ahah I still get everyone confused as well. It will probably be easier when we actually see them in action :D

Holy...

@Dr_B
Grandfather RR already gives me the creeps! Love it! :)

secrets are out it seems 😂

Ha! The game is set to be super fun, looking forward to the collision of such interesting personalities

they were!

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So, I'll split the party now so Elias can pick Claire and presumably meet Alexander at the inn afterwards.
Roderick is at his place I assume. I'm thinking Nathaniel going straight to the Manor, but just wanted to double check that.

Roderick is home. Come, children

Never give the GM the opportunity to mess around :)

Is the manor we are all going to Rodericks home?

Should Alexander's ex be added to the NPC list? I don't know if she's coming back

The players' main residences are not the Manor for this game, but of you all, Roderick would be the one visiting it more often, and probably feeling more responsible for it.
yeah, right. That's a good idea. I'm listing people you mention just in case. I guess most of these don't really have any reason to show up again so far

Roderick right now

lol - indeed. Hey, GM, can Roderick have two minion eels following him everywhere? 🤣

The curse of the eels is yours! 😆 you can now roll supernatural singing and underwater dancing when the two eels align. If you fail, you get an Octupus limb !

So the game has taken a bit of a slower pace than the originally aimed for (2-3 times a week). I just want to check everyone is ok with the pace it seems to be settling in instead of the expected. This happens all the time on PbP, so totally fine for me, but just in case :D

This game is very high quality. I love the settings, characters and everyone's posts.

That it goes a bit slower than intended is okay.
Sure, a bit faster posting pace would be nice, but RL always comes first. I am very happy with this game either way.

Apologies for the late post, had quite an eventful couple of days. I don't mind a slower pace if we manage to keep the story going, and to maintain the level of the narrative so rich!
As for me, I know that I personally prefer to wait to have sufficient time to sit down and craft a meaningful post, than to reply in haste at the detriment of the story.

I'm ok with speeding up a bit. The post here are a bit more dense than I am used to, in the most wonderful way though. I've read most of them a few times. But I think it'll be easier to increase post frequency now that I don't have to constantly remember who is playing who :D

Yeah life does get into the way :( I just wanted to check with you guys. See like the current pace isn't too bad, but I'll try to speed up a little in I can (particularly if the party has split)

Apologies for the late reply. Every now and then my job slaps everyone with extra hours. The past few days seemed to be my turn, I'll have a post up for Elias by tonight.

No problem. It’s a bit of individual introduction scenes now so we can run at different speeds. It’s easy to say the trip took a bit longer and you get later to the manor for example 😁

I'm a little confused on how and when we should use this?

Oh it’s mostly a tool in case you think you have waited enough for the next post 😆

The idea was to distinguish between inactivity because you’re busy from inactivity because you’re waiting for something to happen 😁 there’s a record of who flips it (that’s why I reset the counter) so I can check it if someone is not posting.

For example, I’m going to let you guys interact with each other for a few days so if you think you have nothing more to post, it’s actually useful to let me know Claire/Elias or Nat/Alex are done and ready to go 😄

As a note, the game actually as a "card" to avoid dragging on a scene or a discussion for too long that anyone can use!

OK, thanks

Cool let's see how this works them :D

So from what I understood you don't roll the bonus reserves and you're going with a moderate 1d6 Guile (let me test it and see if the colors work). Setting the scale for PbP is probably not relevant, but the roll will be for the entire conversation I guess.

For the stakes "the players should say what they want to achieve and what potential drawbacks concern them, then the Chronicler should enumerate the stakes." So I think you guys can just add this to an OOC comment when you declare the roll. The question is What do you want to learn and what do you think may go wrong? I have some ideas, but let's try having your input first. If anyone else has some cool idea, fell free to suggest that as well :D I have a feeling this part is supposed to be a very interactive negotiation around the table :D

So, for example "I don't think the guy feels right talking about his betters." could be a risk.

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You can also declare 1 success by burning the bonus reserve before you roll, or you can keep it to avoid damage (which is unlikely for a moderate chat at a tavern).

I don't know why, but I find it hilarious that the guy loves to talk and loves to drink, and assumes this is some drinks for gossip situation. Then he's always trying to find Alexander and give him info.

ahah you mean one of the risks is that Alexander gets a comic relief talker? 🤣

ahah right. so... we didn't actually defined the risks and rewards 😅

To try to streamline this step: (@Dr_B,@KingHotTrash,@Cettish,@Squadfather44,@crazybirdman )

1. Let me know what you hope you may get and what you fear may happen when you declare you are going to roll. Add an OOC to the post
2. Everyone can suggest other rewards/risks in this thread to help (here just in case some back and forth happens)
3. I'll let you know which rewards/risks I think fit the situation best and, if that sounds ok, you can roll. Otherwise, we can reviews then briefly.

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So, for this one, I like crazybirdman's and KingHotTrash's suggestions so there are two risks:
- He might not talk because one does not talk about their lords (the default "you fail")
- He might see this is some sort of deal and stalk you

No explicit rewards. Crossing out not fail, means you succeed as far as I understood. (The mood is awkward for a reason that is beyond your control: it's just strange you barge in asking about your grandmother really.)

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If that's ok, I assume you'll use your 2 successes to remove both risks?

So, there are a few relevant time cues in the game already. It’s not relevant and I’m just letting things flow but inc see you didn’t notice.

Roderick starts by hatching the thunderstorm which delays Elias/Claire for one night. This mean their scenes are at night. However, Alexander/Nathaniel are sort of midday since the farmers are having lunch before the afternoon work.

Now I think the easiest is to say that Alex/Nathan are already "in the next day"’ when everyone arrives at the manor and will likely get there first.

@KingHotTrash,@crazybirdman

Ahah going for the bone already :D So, just as a clarification of how skeletons work.
They are basically used to create tension and conflict, but mechanically, they are your "healing potions".

So as you pursue them, talk about the little hints, look for clues, try to figure them out, you restore the dice you lost to "damage". This helps with blowing up the drama later on but kind of makes it difficult to justify fully exploring this early on :D

Also just clarifying that you did not trigger any bone, so you're safe ;)

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@Cettish,@Squadfather44

Ahahah, yes it's a bit passive perception, though I'm not sure there is such a thing in this game. It's mostly an excuse to get some initial rolls :D

So you both suggest (in general terms) that something might go unnoticed (that looks like a regular fail) and that you could notice if there is something to be noticed. Just to clarify that these two are mutually exclusive: if you manage not to fail, you succeed. So we only really need to risk here. I said I'd make it a bit more difficult since there are two of you.

That means I'll go for 3 Stakes. I will also have some depend on others to introduce that concept
- You might not notice this person
- You might scare this person
- You could recognize the person (requires noticing them)

So, the importance of setting the stake before rolling is that you can gauge the difficulty of the situation. If you both do moderate efforts, you will have to live with one of those risks or give up your reward. Which is perfectly fine, but I think this is an extra level of planning that the authors added to the game :D

Well... actually, Claire got a 6 of the right color, so that count's as 2 success, so you can actually solve all the stakes. Just let me know if they look ok :D

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@Dr_B

So... you suggest that old Roderick is going crazy... a bit distracted ;) I think the suggestions generally work, the reward being like a critical and the risk a fumble. However, this would make the action too difficult, since you can't know which books are missing and grill the staff if you were the one who forgot them. The way you put it implies some sequence: first you need to not have forgotten the books, then you can blame the staff (though technically, you can always blame the staff 🤣)

Since the default "you don't notice anything" is meaningless (you already did notice something), what about:
- You might remember you took some of the books recently.
- You could notice there is a theme connecting the missing books.

The important thing to keep in mind, if I interpreted the rules correctly, it that if you remove any risk saying you can't do it, you actually succeed automatically. In this case, Roderick is trying to remember which books are missing and there is no risk of failing. He remembers.
Though you failed, so... you get the risk but not the reward :D

It is good indeed to do a few test rolls like this. The system is a bit different with its rolls, so we'd need to get used to it.

I like the idea of setting the risks and rewards but I guess a bit more practice on using 1 or 2 dice and pushing and setting appropiate results. So please toss in a few of those test rolls.

I think these stakes would work fine. I could imagine risks could be getting surprised in a combat situation, but I quite much assume no one in Riverlight has murderous intentions :)

Which kinda brings me to the passive. When you actively do something, you know the risk. I ignore the traffic lights; I might get to my destination faster, and/or I might damage my car. With a bit more passive rolls I guess I still need a bit practice to set stakes :)

Yeah, I don't think the game includes passive actions because of that. Maybe these can be framed in an active manner? I'm thinking Roderick's roll could be an alternative, he didn't check if the books were missing, he trying to figure out which were missing.
Ahah yes and it is working very well :) I just wanted to point out again how those work given the opportunity. It's probably good to keep pointing out and refreshing these rules as they are all new to us

That sounds good to me. As you say, he failed, so... he doesn't remember a thing, the senile old crank.

Do we narrate our own failures/Successes in this game?

I think that would be a nice idea since you know the risks and rewards. You can just pick those you want and narrate the result. Though in these test cases, it was sort of a passive roll, so I did a bit of that :D

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Also... I have some important deadlines coming up, so I may be busy for a couple of weeks, but I'll try to keep the game running as unaffected as I possible :D

Ah no! I see your question now! I forgot to post what I wrote 🤣

So I have crazybirdman and KingHotTrash as waiting (though it may have been for the last short post) :D

I think Dr_B is probably done soon as well, so we can start a new scene with you guys already at the manor. Just to check, do you guys want to post something in response to the current "bait" and wrap up to make your way or just time skip?

Claire and Elias can do a few more posts and join ... fashionably late

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Suuureee... blaming mysterious forces... not senile at all 🤣

Roderick is in denial! 😁

No pressure, just the time stamp on the wait token is like 2h before I posted, so just wanted to make sure you weren't waiting anymore before I reset the counter

My internet is currently suffering a big outage so I'm stuck on my phone. Bot me as necessary and I'll get back as soon as I can.

No worries, I actually got a busier week than expected so this may go a bit slower :D
sorry about that

Not much for Claire to add in there for a moment. Leaving it to @Squadfather44 to respond there.
Personally, I wouldn't mind a little forwarding and starting to see when the whole family gets together.

No worries :D All running according to the Plan xD

Also, I've played a bit with the zoommap options and added some maps to the setting/locations thread. These are not the precise map of the Manor or the Town, they are more of a visual aid to get a feeling of where things are, in case that helps.

that went far worse than expected.... maybe I need to make the stakes easier xD

oh wow, nice move :D I haven't consider how long a session would be actually... I split the "story" into days, so maybe you get your resources back when you sleep? Just in principle, so we have a guideline

hey folks, do you think we could keep the number of threads, subforums and nested threads to a minimum?
There are already 12 threads in this game nested in various subforums, and over-splitting this way ultimately makes retrieving the right information very difficult, at least for me... just wondering if we need that many?

Maybe I am a simple guy, but I tend to get lost, when info is scattered around like this...

You have discovered the true horror of this game: CESN's organisation!

What does drB mean by 12? I count at least 436 🤔

To be fair, I take a lot of notes, so most subforums can be safely ignored and you can focus on the main page threads only. That will be 2-3 at most.

The question of needing them probably depends on the person. You can do without the complete list of NPCs, but sometimes (for longer games), that could be useful, and I feel it's good to have it if/when we need it. I can hide the "public notes" if that is a bit too much

I'd say keep the ones you have, but maybe let's try not to create many more... or we will need at least two detailed maps: one for the Manor, one for the Forum!

been there, done that ... actually 🤣

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just to clarify that the manor map is just a visual aid, we don't have to name every room :D

ok, so we're waiting for @crazybirdman's roll right? Let's just check if you need any help with that since the whole thing is new.

@Squadfather44's can answer Claire, but I can also move that if you guys want :D

Roderick refuses to be eaten by whatever evil walks the graveyard 🤣 We can get to that on scene 2 (after sleeping) and get that Caretaker sorted :D

I thought I didn't need to roll since Alex was successful? but I can gladly throw a couple guile dice at Gunther

Ah right I see what you mean. Alex did put Nathan in the spotlight, so Gunther's reaction will mostly depend on how you react to that. Alexandre's roll is just a little helping hand.

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Just to clarify, in this game do don't succeed like you would in most games (doesn't quite feel like fail-forward to me as well).

I think it may be best to think it as you roll to gather "points" (successes) which you can use to "buy" Stakes (avoid risks or get rewards).

For example, lets say you are rolling for something with 3 risks and 3 rewards and roll 3 successes. In same cases, you could just get all the rewards and still suffer all the risks. It would be a clumsy job, but it would get you all you wanted. Something like searching an office in a military facility you infiltrated secretly and manage to find all the documents you were looking for, but you were very loud and left all sort of evident behind.

I'll be very busy this week. I'll try to posts when I can, but it will probably be mostly short ones to keep the game moving :D

So I should be back to normalish tomorrow. Hopefully can post something 😁 I think there’s still @Squadfather44,@crazybirdman to go right?

Hope you got everything umder control the past week!

thanks! It wasn't really out of control :D just one of those weeks where you know you're not going to have much free time xD let's see if I can catch up quickly

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just a quick reminder about the OOC note regarding the family resources, in case you missed it:

So in this scene you basically have the opportunity to find the family resources and trigger your curses (finish the character/family creation basically). I have the Family resources defined, but some slots are flexible in case you guys find something you thing can be useful. For example, the way Squadfather44 described the armory gave it a feeling of usefulness so it could be a family resource. You can always use anything narratively, but resources gives you better changes at succeeding some rolls.

Just keep that in mind in case you want to flag something as a resource :D

Is teddy standing in front of the mirror?

so I forgot to clarify that a supernatural effort requires rolling a 3d6 :)

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@Dr_B, Roderick only has one weird die, but you can roll any dice to make up 3, they don't need to match the "challenge type"

I like the risk being that you might be noticed with these women, which could be a problem down the line depending on how things play out. It just works nicely against Rodericks efforts to keep the Rookwood name an example. The other fears are reasonable, but I don't feel they would apply here as much as becoming the village talk :D 1 success and you avoid that.

Now I was thinking you can get two rewards so... you can either 1) remember old rumors in town about a cult or 2) figure out their question (Are your dead at peace?"), or both, if you get enough successes.

If that sounds good, you can roll the 2 missing dice :D

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@Cettish, I was thinking on top of a closet facing the mirror, but that doesn't have to be right in front of the mirror. So I'll leave that up to you and how if fits your description better. Is it weirder to just have the teddy looking in the direction of the mirror, foreshadowing something in the unseen reflection, or to be staring straight into it, maybe even with an imaginary expression on its face?

A few things I am not clear about: when I roll a die from any of the stats, I tick the box next to it in the character sheet, right?
Does it then mean that that die becomes unavailable until refreshed? (like 'tapping' a MtG card).
And when do the ticks refresh (are unticked)?

ok, so that's not exactly why the ticks are there for ... I probably didn't explain that 😅 So you start with a pool of 5 dice. You can roll any combination of dice up to 3d6 any time you want to do something. You don't loose any die by rolling, so your pool doesn't change just from using it.

However, your dice pool sort of works as your "health" as you can loose dice from your pool either as consequence of failing a roll or if you roll the same number of different dice. So you can play it save and always roll 1d6, which has no chance of doubles, or you can take risks. The ticks on the character sheet are basically how many dice remain in your pool. Each time you lose one you can untick one box :D (also see in game post xD)

You can recover the lost dice by causing trouble to the family, mostly by using the skeleton mechanics or following your desires. "Healing" is the core way of the system to generate drama mechanistically.

Oh, so the 5 dice we start with are all we have? We set them at character creation, (I picked 1 Brawl, 3 guile and 1 weird) but can they ever be changed?

I don't think it can be changed as the rules only mention recovering dice that were lost. There's the possibility that you carry on the same character to a different generation and then it can be adapted to being younger or older. But since you can use any die for any roll, it's not as important where you put them as it would be for other systems.

ahah, it's probably not staying this dark for now, just trying to use the curses to set the mood ;)

With all that, I have enough info now. Thanks.
Will put up an IC post in the next few hours.

Hey guys! sorry for the delayed post. I was letting you play out your encounter and then the end of the week just got super busy. I'll try to post something tomorrow, but I think squad hasn't played yet, right?

Right, I'll post today. Work has been rough the last few days.

no worries, I guess we can wait a few more days for you (and me) to get back to full speed :)

@KingHotTrash is this something new for Claire?

Yes! It was lost after he left the family estate.

ah! I can't believe this. I was just finishing squad's part of the post and accidentally left the page and lost the entire post because I forgot to save :( It's too late clearly. First think tomorrow I'll re-write it. Almost there, I didn't forget about it :D

yes that one. You said that she thought it was roderik at first, so I sort of just interpreted that as the possibility she thought "someone" may have been upstair. Basically, if you don't want to check elsewhere, you got some excuses :D

This is a copypasta so I apologize if you've already read this somewhere else. I've started my new job today, which means my posting will now likely be once or twice an evening rather than the more frequenting posting it has been. Just a heads up!

ahah no problem. I think the pace has slowed down during the summer and I'm going to have a hell of a month as well.
If we manage once or twice a week would be great already :D

Congrats on the new job by the way!

Yeah you can use any combination of dice you want :D if you want to roll a 2d6, you can roll one brawl and one guile, but only the brawl will count twice on a 6. You don't need to match your approach to the roll, but it could use it to help guide how you describe it. You could decide 2 brawl is ramming the door open, or try maybe that adding one guile reflects you trying to find a way to protect yourself from the cold with some sort of tissue or towel. Weird could be a gut feeling of how to avoid getting frost bite.

You loose one die each type you get "exhaustion", so it a risk only if you fail some rolls, but not all. To recover them, you need to use the skeletons and desires, so basically, increase the family drama :D

All. Due to real life changes I will be available a whole lot less on GP.
I am cutting down on games I play in, but I really love this one, so I'd love to stay in this game.
So if you play with me in another game which I dropped from, please know that I did so because I can keep my focus on this game then.
Making only 3-4 posts a day is easier than keeping up with 10 games. I hope you understand.
I need to do a bit of catching up and will post in character in the coming hours.

Feel free to be all "Yo, fuck this Alex. Let me touch the door!" I make no means to try and stop other people from doing things unless they want me to. <3

Well, Claire would be too polite for that language I think.
But it's ok. It kinda was the excuse I needed to pass one round as I am cursious to see how this plays out :)

Oh the pressure now 😨 need to honor all those dead games 😵

Don’t worry, I think the game is settling into 1/2 power per week. I hope all is well with life 🤞

Ahah true. Perfect opportunity to use the skeletons and cause trouble if Claire needed to recover doce

Okay, just making sure it is known is all. I'm all for characters doing troublesome things and this system practically demands it.

I know that struggle. I love playing bossy characters who try to act as leaders. But I'm always scared people think that I OOC expect them to follow my orders while I'm actually super happy to have people call me out or fight me on it 😄

yes! I'd just add, just to keep remind you guys of the options (new system 😅), that you could have used your Individual Asset (Dancing Prodigy) here to guarantee a success or re-roll one or two dice if you needed. But you didn't :D

Up to you (or KingHotTrash). You were younger so I'm ok if you just called her Aunt or Auntie or some other familiar term like kids do. Sometimes those can be kept through adult life I guess
ahah just thought it would be interesting to have you fail in front of Roderick 🤣 To be fair, you didn't have any tools for the job, so its understandable.

If it was physical, we'd say you hurt your foot or something... for guile, I'm guessing you are distracted/confused about how the handle was that could with the room being just a bit chilly. You can interpret it differently of course :D

🤣

Since this is the family first time together, I'll let you guys RP as much as you want. You can also add any elements to the room you want to "remember" or "notice". We still have one family member that is not cursed ;)

ok, so that everyone as been cursed (except non pure blood Nathaniel), I think it's a good time to remind you most of your characters have no clue what this means. Figuring out the curse is part of the game, but it is an open ended part you can play as you want.

Is it accidental events that make you figure out your powers? Are you kept awake all night by cursed nightmares? Do you search for information in books or esoteric societies? Do you just feel it when you need it, like a raw animal instinct? Up to you how you figure out how it works.

The price to pay will probably become clearer as you gain marks are become more are more consumed by the curse.

Interesting. I guess having opium is reasonable as it was used to treat many common things. He wouldn't know what it is in character and drugs are always the answer xD I'll need to check with @crazybirdman about what's in the bag.

The way you put it, there's 2 risks: being caught now and leaving track of someone going through the stuff, and 1 reward: opium. You have one success so you can only avoid one of the risks or pick the reward. I like those but lets see what crazybirdman has to say. you may consider pushing that roll a little bit for extras once we get info on the bag ;)

and one more to sort things out :D

I love that idea, maybe something like a letter to them begging for entry or from them, reminding Nathanial he isn't actually licesned here, or possibly anywhere

Hey guys! I’ll try to post something today, but just an heads up that I’m away for 2 weeks so it may be slower than usual

Ahah sorry. I wrote the draft but didn’t have time to review it yet 😅

I was just about to asl where all the PCs were currently at. And did Gunther take Alex to the library? I thought he was showing Alex to his room?

oh yeah, Alex changed ideas last minute and Gunther took him to the library.

ok, so some updates: @Cettish is zzz at the moment and squad had to drop the game because some life changes as well. I'll RP Elias so we can keep going. I hope Cettish can make it back soon.

Oof, both of my main connections to my bones and skeleton are not available. Things will be rough :(

Cettish may make it back but I’m considering checking if there are other players around interesting in covering for them. It’s not easy as it’s to take over characters though. If you guys know of someone ;)

Unless I missed it @crazybirdman didn't post what Nath is doing so i'll thinking about my post and move it forward tomorrow or Monday to give them some more time. Also, I may decide to skip @Dr_B if Roderick is a "bit ahead" of the others as he is already at the mausoleum.

Ok so Risk:
1) You might will look senile to the others
2) You might caught unwanted attention with your use of supernatural powers <- added this one
Rewards:
1) You could sense if your sister is entombed there and if/how she died
2) You could get a revelation about what her (or someone's plan)

If you have a suitable resources (including the family's) you can try to re-roll any number of dice. Otherwise, if you are ok with these, you got two successes, so there will be choices to be made. You also rolled doubles on a supernatural effort,so you are exhausted (loose one of the rolled dice) and gain a mark of your curse.

I figure Nathan would take a more investigative approach, (examine the gravestone, compare it to others etc) but wanted to see what the old man came up with first. Sorry but that, I'll stop lurking and be more proactive about posting. 😅

I will keep those dice rolls and advance the curse!

Do the 2 successes mean he learns both 1) and 2) of the rewards?

Ahah no problem. I'm just making sure you guys get the time to post anything if you want. Because Dr_B is a bit ahead of the others I just moved them a bit to keep the game going.
You will need to buy out the risks or buy in the rewards. You can use each success to cancel a risk or get a reward, so if you get both rewards, then you have both risks left to deal with.

Gotcha.
Let's go for attracting attention to his supernatural abilities (so I cancel the other risk), while learning something about the master plan (so not buying the Lilith body presence in the Tomb).
Risk 2, Reward 2 bought.

I'd better stick around the graveyard, then 😁

This game is full of foreshadowing >_<

I can understand those ideas from the character perspective but, given how the supernatural is real in this setting, I would suggest having as risk that you are further convinced that it not real and reward finding evidence to make you start rethink. Mostly the reward is you accepting the events and the risk is being in denial, making it easier or more difficult to deal with what is to come. If that is ok with you then,

Risks:
1) You might actually convince someone you're not that smart
2) You might became even more convinced this supernatural non-sense is just that
Rewards:
1) You could find something that makes you rethink the supernatural (even though you can still believe it is grounded in unknown, but explainable scientific truth) - you need to cancel out the second risk
2) You could Have noticing something crucial about what is going on in the graveyard - you need to take reward 1, that is, believe in the supernatural
Cool, so your supernatural powers will attract unwanted attention, and you get some idea of what is going on.

Oh, that does make sense. So if I got this right I succeeded on the roll, don't lose any die, and pick a reward? If so, then I think reward 1 works best

As sad as I am to say it, I think unfortunately I need to pull back and drop out. I started a new job and the schedule is far more demanding than my old one used to be. I can already feel myself getting burnt out on gaming and I've cut a lot of fat away from it as it is.

CESN, thank you for the chance to play and thank you everyone for the exquisite roleplaying. You've all been wonderful and I hope to play with you all again when things are less chaotic and stressful.

So you rolled a 6 on your weird die. We didn't really declare the type of roll, but there is weird stuff all over the graveyard so that gives you 2 successes. Given how I wrote the rewards, you need to use the extra one to buy out risk 2, so not only your convictions are not strengthen, you are now reconsidering what you know and the current limits of scientific knowledge (though we discard it now, supernatural has been taken seriously as a subject to scientific research).

Hey KingHotTrash, thanks for letting us know. Yeah, starting a new job is a tough time and definitely more important to focus on :D I hope things settle down quickly and we get to play again soon!

@bowlofspinach,@Dr_B,@crazybirdman I just checked and you guys are on each other's skeletons so we can still continue (even with 3 players down). I'll post on the recruitment thread again, just in case, but another option is to just short-cut the story and just to the end instead of having the 5-chapter slow investigation with red-herrings ;)

considering the high dropout rate we've seen in this game, I think shortening a little would be best

As long as we still get to the part where Claire turns into an omnipotent evil witch and summons hell to earth

But yes, I agree. Probably makes sense to shorten the game a bit

I guess we can just have the showdown now, instead of having you came back later 🤣

Yeah I wasn’t counting on the first scene and these things always look faster in my mind 😅 probably good for a real live campaigning but too long for PbP

We're the 5 chapters going to be different generations or all the five chapters for these current charaters?

😅 same characters … this was supposed to be a one shot or maybe "two" shots 😆

Well, I'm enjoying it, however many shots it ends up being 😁

ahah thanks! quick check on how @SavageBob is feeling about it after the weekend. Let me know if the summary was ok :D

OK indeed! I'm happy to jump in as Alexander. The length has no doubt been influenced by the players' desire to practice their creative writing chops, so I also wonder if the pace will quicken now that you have folks here like me, who are fathers of young children, and thus people without lots of time to write elegant prose. :D

haha, yeah, kids yelling in the background taught me not to use voice to text anymore.

Roll results are out!

@crazybirdman: Nathaniel got no success so his curse attracts danger

@bowlofspinach. Same for Claire so the supernatural gets her

@Dr_B: Roderick uses the family's name to call out the intruders. 2 success from that 6 on the guile die. You can get both Stakes so you find the trespassers

@SavageBob Alexander has 1 success, so you're the only one that has a decision to make. Do you spend it to avoid the risk (you fall on the grave) or get the reward (find one missing piece for your starting mystery)?

Oh, interesting! Let's go with the mystery reveal, then. So I fall in, but I see something interesting...

Yeah , it's a cool mechanic being able to use successes to buy out of trouble and buy in some extras.

So you can decide to roll 1,2 or 3 d6s, depending on the effort you're putting on the action (moderate, extraordinary, supernatural). The more you roll, the more likely you are to loose a die.

Now which dice you roll is up to you. The only thing that changes is if you roll a 6 on a die matching the action, it counts twice. But can you can roll one of each if you want. The type of die you roll is more of a role-play guideline. If you want to smash the creature's skull will the bust, it makes sense to roll all brawl, but if you want to be a bit more nuanced and maybe distract it, you could roll one guile and one brawl. You don't have to, but if you roll 3d6, it is sort of assumed you are using your curse as well.

just a quick shout to @SavageBob as we are missing the roll for this action.
Probably a very brawly one .

Let us know if you have questions :D

This is a hilarious reaction 😆

what if he attends a ballet? how will he applaud?
hopefully hi fives haven't been invented yet

Yay, floppy high five

Damn it! I need to change the final boss weakness to some other esoteric invention now 😱

I will try to get something tomorrow or Thursday but both days are a bit busy :(

Thanks much for the recap! I'm catching up. Work's pretty busy, but things should be cooling off for the holidays, so I should be able to post soon.

so we've all still forgotten about Claire? Does she know, that we don't know her?

also, if I try to activate my curse powers and fail, do I still lose that die?

You havent forgotten that she exists, just that she was ever outside in the graveyard with you. Which she doesn't know

Only if you roll doubles. It could be a Risk if it really makes sense you getting hurt for example, but otherwise its not related to the outcome. You can regain lost die by picking on the other characters (skeletons)

daaang. when will other discover the statue?
should Alex & Nate still post their thoughts for the evening?

Roderick, more like Roderock

Yeah go ahead. You don’t know what happened yet 😈

Hard act to follow,lol

Ahah try not to die 👍
The idea is mostly to startle focusing on the things you guys want

So we're missing savagebob, but given the season I guess we can all use a little pause to worry about other things.
I'll keep doing the summary while we wait :D

Sorry for the delay! Things have been crazy. Hoping they settle down so that only the holiday weekend slows me down.

No worries, I’m assuming everyone will be very busy these days :D

Happy holidays 🎉

If you want people to post, maybe don't lock the IC thread

That is a good point 🤣 I probably clicked that thing accidentally because I was using my mobile

So, I'm not sure what my goal should be, do I want to keep my secret a secret. Or is it better for it to get out in the open?

In your specific case, since Roderick is gone, you can't get his approval (maybe in writing somewhere). You can get someone to praise you for something you're good at or have Alexander mention your secret to pull bones from your skeleton (and get a bonus reserve). I guess waiting for him to spit it out is probably better mechanistically, but it's up to how you see it going down :D

I feel like he hasn't been lucky lately, I like the idea of him coming into the room, seeing Claire has the letter, then blurting out the truth . . lol

Oops… where did you come from little girl? 🤣

@SavageBob Do you want to have Alexander try talking to the bird, or someone else?

I'll introduce some drama tomorrow if I manage to. Alexander can still communicate with the bird after :D
Anyone wants to be the victim looking outside the window? 😈

Sorry, I've been under the weather. :( Trying to catch up now. I think Alexander would rather talk to a person than a bird, so he can call out to the caretaker.

No problem. the rate for this one is "slowly finishing" now so we can wait :D

This weekend I'll be gone for a two week vacation. I'll most likely be unable to post, so the GM can play as Nathaniel for a while so the game doesn't slow down. please don't un-alive him, lol

ahah, should be ok. the games has taken a nice relaxed pace, so I guess we can easily have Nathaniel "following" the others in the background for two or three posts if needed. Enjoy your vacation :D

Thanks!

No, Alexander! Don't just sign random things. You have to read them first 😱

😆😆😆

quick check... going to the manor, cutting down the tree or waiting for Alexander to do something? xD

Well, I was waiting for Alexander to respond. After that, probably the manor, unless he wants to do some chopping

Sorry; my wife's grandmother is not doing well, so we've been traveling. I may be a bit touch and go over the next week or two while the family sorts things out.

No problem! I hope she gets well soon!

I was mostly checking if it was "my turn" and I didn't notice xD We're slowly ending the mystery so take all the time you need.

did the men follow Claire? Did she go outdoors?

Up to you 😁 if you want to keep grilling the caretaker you can 👍

She will be just by the main door

ahaha yes, the entire game is cutting clue streams 🤣
Actually, it might be a good time to think how all the clues can fit together to figure out what is going on, so feel free to discuss your theories and ask for any clarification OCC.

It has been a long game so there is a lot that was probably forgotten by now :D

Oh no, Nathaniel's getting cursed 😄

guess he's gonna see the old man sooner than he thought

How are we ever going to pull those bones if no one can find the evidence xD
Maybe Claire's diary just flies over and hits you badly in your head, explaining the exhaustion and the extra mark 🤣

man, and Nathaniel is supposed to be the smart one

🤣🤣🤣 I guess his curse is very clear to everyone now

That was a really nice scene between Claire and Alex!

Waiting to see whether the witches let Alex leave before posting again. Claire would let him leave and take a moment.

Agreed! I'm still getting a feel for a character I didn't really "create," but I think Alex has always seen Claire as something of an annoying-but-loved little sister. I understand that these betrayals are baked into the backstories, and Alex's had to do with a character who is no longer in the game, so it's nice that this one is getting to play out.

Yes, I'm glad that Alexander is still in the game, even with a different player. When I took over Claire, I thought her betrayal was really interesting, so I'm glad we got to have a scene for it. It's a shame that that doesn't really work with yours.

Sorry guys a bit of a busy week. I'll try to post tomorrow :D
Oh yes! this game can't have characters just disappearing since they are all connected somehow. I agree you guys got very nicely into someone else's character and its working great :D

Ah right, just to clarify since it's the first one @SavageBob (and the other) you always have all the gifts, which are like magical powers you can use anytime. Your "HP" is specific the curse marks

quick check if @SavageBob wants Alex to do anything for now, mostly because Bowl said Clair is waiting. Otherwise, I can have the witches replying :D

Ah, sorry -- I missed that! Let me post now.

I was waiting for Alexander to post something but I could also do something later today

I'm not clear on Alexander's curse ( even though my character might be) but I'm sure I'll figure out as we go

Who is this Claire you speak of? 😄

good point. I forgot to check my notes before postin' 🤦‍♂️

So Alexander has three marks so far:
- Independent Shadow
- Photosensitivity
- Light dies around you

Another two and he is lost to the darkness of the abyss

---

Maybe its a good idea to review the others as well

Claire has two marks:
- My reflection has disappeared
- Everyone Forgets your Name.

Her existence will be forgotten once she is lost from the curse

Nathaniel has one mark?(they are all ticked in the sheet)
- Skin becoming loose and pooling in places

Who is Claire?

I don't know. It was in my notes. Probably a player who quit at some point. Can't think of anything else to explain it. Just ignore that.

Nathaniel has rolled poorly and has all the marks. (Dead eyes, stink) He's one set of doubles away from joining the old man

AhAh I was afraid of that (just checking!)

Alexander's curse all has to do with light - currently, he can control his shadow and light dies around him. There may be another piece I'm forgetting, as well.

That can work well. It also leaves it to Alexander to decide what to do, so it adds some possible character conflict/drama down the line given the skeleton and the letter he found.

We crossposted right at the page break, so I don't know if you saw it.

I saw :D The cross posts are almost in the right sequence actually:

Annabelle: Curse you girl!.
Girl: Yeah sorry about that. I love you.
Annabelle burns.
Witch: oh real evil stuff here.
Claire: What sorcery was that?

They are. Just wasn't sure if you'd have seen it

if you guys want to go different ways, as this seems to be nearing the end, we can do an epilogue scene with the party spitted :D

Fine staying together, Nathaniel is still pretending he's a leader

I'll go with whatever you think makes the most sense, CESN

Ditto.

Alexander would actually like to burn the old tree. Are there torches and oil around? If not, he'll excuse himself to fetch them.

as long as the house isn't burned down. Don't want to give up a house in this economy. Nathaniel would want the books to besafe

ahahah yeah totally can burn anything you'd like. You have a full mansion of stuff to use. yeah, some of the stuff in the house is valuable so I can see a Risk to add to that roll :D

Damn it! I revealed the final boss by accident!

Is there a way to stop the house from burning? I don't think Nathaniel would shrug it off, but I don't think he'd risk his life to save the books

well I don't anything in mind but if you came up with anything plausible (assets, action or supernatural), you can surely stop the fire as it is just starting :D

Hmm, the only useful asset he has is Connections. Not super useful. I guess we'll call in the fire brigade, and ask for any books to be forwarded to him.

🤣 well it’s still starting so a blanket or a bucket of water might do it. Depending how bad you roll it. I think the risk of spreading and the reward of putting it out works perfectly. It might keep you frustratingly busy for many turns while the others deal with darker things 😁

thanks?

final boss is up. I hope things are making at east some sense now 🤣
It was a bit of a hurried final chapter

I interpreted it as healing your own wounds, but that sounds like an cool idea to merge the curse and the background!

If you're using the curse, you will have to roll 3 dice. I'm not going to have a risk because you're very close to dying, so it's already a really risky Supernatural roll:
* 1 success she is stable
* 2 successes you manage to transfuse blood (magically merging tissues I guess)
* 3 success she regains conscience.

You have one bonus supernatural die from your last 6 (which I forgot to mention)

Thanks! So it's okay if I roll one of my guile, one of my weird and a bonus supernatural die? Does that count as three dice?

It is. Any 3 dice make a supernatural roll, but only your weird dice can "explode"

Well, that's a dramatically appropriate roll result 😅

It is! Loose one die, gain a mark (you have the list?) and be hypnotised by the creature! On top of that, it’s goal i not quite that one so there’s still a bit of the puzzle missing 👌

I think we said that if I lose more dice, it'll be a problem because I won't be able to make supernatural effort rolls anymore, so I'll lose my last asset instead. Let's say Claire's glasses crack from their staring contest.

Also, for my next curse mark, I'll go with ethereal body parts as the girl begins to fade away.

That matches the start of the ritual very nicely 👌

oof, well, it was nice kind of knowing you. I suppose the tombstone can say '? Rookwood'

Well, she did reject her family name, so I think it would just be "? X" 😄

And technically, she's not dead yet. You guys just need to stop this ritual.

Just something like "we think it might have been human"

Just something like "we think it might have been human"

That's perfect 🤣

sure, sure, sure. . . . uh how?

I have to think how that result goes, but Twilight might have the answer after crushing the thing 4-2 xD

(also, "The Mjöllnir! Dusk has it. The Strigoi will weaken" )

I was hoping the NPCs would die to make it clear how bad and deadly the situation is... and maybe fill the gaps in the lore (as Roderick died before reveling the hidden library he knew about). I hope they are not taking the spotlight away from the PCs

no way man, this game is amazing. You're doing great!

I think it's nice that we're managing to save the NPCs

Yep, absolutely not an issue. :)

It double posted. I deleted the second one, but both results were the sameLooks like Claire gets to wake from the trance, not be possessed and her curse doesn't overtake her.
Pretty good outcome.

So, maybe just a post from each of us on what our characters get up to?

Yeah, if everyone is happy with the way Scene 3 ended and we'll just move one to get the PCs some closure. Just need to make sure there are no burning questions or very obviously loose ends before that :D

One thing I might need to know for my epilogue: What was the terrible thing Claire's vision predicted if she left her family? Was that just the ritual (which was actually barely an inconvenience in the end) or something else beyond that?

😈 that goes to the core of the mystery and curse actually. It's a lose-lose scenario actually.

---

I guess you mean this one?So Elias was basically a puppet for the family by now. Going with him meant Claire would be sacrificed and possessed by the family progenitor. Happens every 3rd generation. The progenitor is Lady Greyrose, the one unnaturally attractive (and murderous) one that Claire saw in the mirror. She made a pact with the Lord of Ashes, an ancient god that has been all but forgotten. Alex actually got a vision of the last ritual (your grandmother's and Roderick's sister) . She was the final creature (vampire) by the way ;)

---

Not going with him means the Pact was broken. That is the price to pay (and the open end for follow up generations). In exchange for enough power to free herself from those who forced married and killed her lover (her family basically), Lady Greyrose promised the Lord of Ashes she and her descendants would care for the dead, secretly growing his the ancient god's influence. If used properly, the family's curses (or blessings?) are manifestation of the power over darkness and death. However, that knowledge disappeared with your parents' "missing generation". Technically, Roderick knew about the curse, but not the ritual.

Breaking the pact means the dead are uncared for, so zombie apocalypse incoming (the weird vampire was a fake final boss originally).

The epilogue probably should include the PCs reaction to the rise of the undead. Will you run for a safety place? Try to fix the pact once you realized what happened? Feel responsible for this mess and lead the fight against the dead (like those two poor lost farmers)? How do you feel about what you did? Would you still do it again, change anything? Will you (alex probably) drown in regrets?

---

With Claire joining them it might be worth knowing the lore from the original book:They senses something around the time the "generation went missing" and traced it down to the Manor, where they found the dead were not at peace, they did not know why, so they did what they could to put them to rest. It will remain unclear if that was the right thing to do

So what was up with the bust Alexander found? And something about the library we never figured out?

Oh yes that one. The whole missing generation was a disagreement between two factions of the family over the ritual. Somewhere around that time, Roderick killed his brother (this was the skeleton he was hiding). Claire saw it, but as a little child, she didn't understand it. He used that bust to do it and then buried it in the graveyard. So that whole thing was a clue to get some bones picked. By the way, the guy trying to kidnap Claire at that scene, he was the dead brother (only Roderick could have recognized him), so no coincidence the murder weapon showed up at the same time.

Roderick also got into a secret room at the beginning, which was the occult library where a lot of this forbidden information could be found. Skipping to the end sort of made finding it more difficult, specially with a dead Roderick xD

Yeah, how inconsiderate was Roderick?!?!

So this generation broke the pact? Does that mean they lose the curse? does it continue to pass on to their kids?

Is Nathaniel alive or a zombie?

oh great questions!
I think this would be decided at the start of the next generation. We skipped that part to get into the action, but the system has a very structured session 0 where everyone goes through some questions and decide what the generation is up to. What do you guys think would the next generation look like? Or maybe this would be the last generation of Rookwoods, and all other games would explore only what came before?
This is totally a question for the epilogue. All surviving character have the opportunity to close any open ended questions and pick any left over bones. It is possible Nathaniel just rots and dies again as the curse doesn't keep him alive anymore? Realizing that, maybe he just walks into his grave and waits for the moment. Or maybe his body regenerates as the curse fades and he is given a second change? Would he remember his first life if so? Maybe the Lord of Ashes controls him and he is forced into some undead hivemind? Maybe he gathers the undead and leads them? After all, the farmers were just doing their thing and not bordering anyone. Could the dead be with the living? Maybe his soul finds a new body. His cousin is an empty shell now. Would that make him alive? The witches might be a problem, since whatever happens to him, its not going to be natural...

I think it would be more like what you feel is right to close Nathaniel's story arc :D

it may be overly dramatic, but I could maybe see the lord of Ashes offering Nathaniel a chance to finish ou his life as a human if he keeps the rituals and stuff going. He'd probably have to offer a lot of knowledge though.

Nathaneil might even have the hubris to think he could outsmart him. Or add some fine print.

That could work. someone in the family continues the pact. Traditionally, the progenitor reincarnates (the two Claires), but with Lady Greyrose dead, the ritual can become something else. You will likely have the girl trying to kill you since she's with the witches now.

outsmarting the lord of ashes is a good plot hook for a later generation as well, so it sounds like a good ending for this one :D

Posted a bit of an epiloge for Claire.

I hinted a bit towards Lich King Nathaniel but kept it vague enough to hopefully not interfere with @crazybirdman 's plans.

That's so cool! tough act to follow. Is it okay if Nathaniel takes the library books? Including the secret ones?

Yeah, if he stays around he will eventually find them. There were some notes Roderick left behind which a lot of secret information... since one of his powers was to see through stone statues. Any time spent reading them would point out of the old man theories and some recent events, including books in the secret library

Preparing the new evil HQ I see 😂

It's actually explains why Eclipse wouldn't know where the new power is... It would be too easy to find if it was in the Rookwood Manor again :D

Finally got Alexander's epilogue posted. He basically succumbs to his curse, and is doomed to haunt Rookwood Manor as a shadow-bound wraith of sorts. But at least he'll be able to haunt Nathaniel. :)

That's a great ending!

lol, I'm not sure which Nathaniel would hate more, Alexander jumping out at random times to scare him, or subtly moving his belongings around.

This was fun. Brings my total completed games on GP up to two!

Yes, three satisfying codas all around!

Agreed. This was fun. I was confused for much of the early run due to coming in late, but I really enjoyed the ride and figured things out by the end. :) Thanks, CESN, for letting us come along for the ride.

Cool, those were really some nice wrap ups for the PCs :D A new undead lord, an immortal shadow haunting the old manor and a new undead hunter witch. This actually sounds like a recipe for a new adventure 🤣
Well thank you guys for stepping in and keeping it going (and kudos to crazybirdman to holding on to the end). The game itself was a slow planned as burning mystery so I think it was simply confusing by design xD

Glad you guys enjoyed it :D It's a really cool system actually (I might make the game public after cleaning up the proprietary stuff, if you guys are ok with it).

I'm okay with that

Yes, please do.

sounds good, thanks for being such an awesome and patient GM

Just curious, will you be retiring this game?

That is a good question. I was ignoring it until the holidays 😅

Can it be public and retired?

Yes it can be

Then retired it shall be :D