Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
It is the first day of Moons in the 720th year since the founding of the Tarsisian Empire. It is raining in Ptolus.
Those that make their living on the Whitewind Sea had hoped that winter would bring relief. It was a rough summer: Unusually warm weather meant more Nallsman longboats than normal raiding up and down the coast, along with increased pirate activity. The dwarf pirate Firebeard sacked and burned a ship moored in the Bay of Ptolus. And the neighboring sahuagin kingdom beneath the waves used summer storms as cover for yet more raids on coastal settlements and sahuagin were repeatedly found within Ptolus itself.
But in the Docks quarter of Ptolus, winter has brought no relief. Savage murders are taking place and the dockworkers, shipwrights, fishermen and prostitutes are all saying the same thing: After more than 100 years, Longcoat is back.
In IA 596, a serial killer killed five prostitutes living and working down on the Docks. Dubbed "Longcoat" by the city's broadsheets after the description of an alleged eyewitness, Longcoat was never caught and, after the fifth murder, vanished without a trace.
The shade of his last victim, Coraithe Whitetree, has been known to wander Salt Spray Street near her now-empty hovel, but of Longcoat himself, there never was any sign.
But when the savage attacks began over the last four weeks, his name was the first to spring to many lips.
The City Watch can't be bothered to do anything about it: "It's just whores," they say. But this time, the murders haven't been confined to prostitutes. Others are dying as well and even the rowdy crowd at the Savage Shark stagger home in pairs.
"Someone" has to do something about it, everyone says.
That someone is you.
The Legend of Longcoat is a Ptolus adventure for six first-level characters. It's going to be tough, so six alternates will also be chosen and called up if the first line die.
The adventure based on Goodman Games' The Legend of the Ripper. A number of elements have been changed to fit the adventure into the Ptolus setting (and for my personal tastes), but even so, if you own, have read or have played the Goodman Games module, please do not submit a character.
The Ptolus Players Guide is mandatory reading and is available as a free PDF file at DrivethruRPG or for a modest sum at many game stores. All player characters are presumed to be natives of the city, although if someone wants to play a non-native, come up with a plausible reason for the outsider to be living in the Docks quarter. Non-Ptolus characters do not get the free skill bonuses listed in the Player's Guide, though.
Character Creation:
Characters for this adventure are 25-point buy.
I'm looking for mostly an old school feel here. All the classes and races from the Players Handbook are allowed, although please see the Ptolus Player's Guide for tweaks to elves in particular. For those wanting to go beyond the core books, the Darfellan race from Stormwrack is available, as are spells and feats from the book. Rogues also get automatic proficiency with cutlasses from Stormwrack.
For both the main party and the alternates, I will be choosing one fighter, one cleric, one wizard or sorcerer, one rogue and two additional characters of other classes. (Sorry, no urban rangers or urban druids this time around.)
Although this is an urban adventure, it is based on a Dungeon Crawl Classic, so expect dungeon crawling of a sort at some point. Do not make characters whose sole area of expertise is social interaction, as they'll die horribly early on.
Your characters start with maximum hit points and average gold for your class. Should you level up (and those that survive should), you will gain average hit points for your class, rounded up to the next nearest whole number.
Any alignment is available, but a focus on cooperation will be necessary. No Chaotic Disruptive characters: Your goal is to stop the killings on the Docks and you will need to be able to work together to get that done.
For clerics and other characters that need a religion, Lothian or any other god from the setting is available. If you do not want to choose Lothian (detailed in the Players Guide) but don't know what god you're looking for, let me know what sort of god you're interested in, and I'll provide several appropriate choices to choose from.
Don't go nuts making a detailed background -- the focus here is on playing, not crafting a novel-ready background -- but do establish how your character would be likely to know the others, including the alternates.
You also need to know why your character would be one of those stepping forward to uncover the truth about the murders and put an end to them. Maybe you know a victim, maybe your gang gets protection money from the prostitutes, or maybe you're one of the few truly dedicated members of the Watch.
I'll be picking interesting characters that have a Ptolus and/or Docks "feel" and my knowledge of how prolific a poster someone is (some people from other boards might also be peeking in here) will also play a factor.
Even if you have a copy of your character stored somewhere else online, the official characters for this adventure are to be posted in the Rogues Gallery thread.
This is not a first come, first serve character selection process. Character sheets will need to be pasted into this thread by November 27. (I will post the simplified format I'm looking for in the next day or so.) I will make the selection of the six characters and six alternates by December 1 and begin the game that weekend. Everyone should be prepared to hit the ground running by December 4 so that the adventure can be underway in earnest well before the height of the holiday season.
House rules:
We will not be using a battlemap, or a grid or any similar tools. Any maps you make will be your own and will be your responsibility. If a description is unclear on my part, ask me to clarify and I'll gladly do so.
We will be using almost no Attacks of Opportunity, other than moving through an enemy's space or casting spells within melee range.
Initiative order is based on how fast you post: By the time I return to the post to add the enemy's action during combat, anyone who posted will be going first and in the order that they posted. If you didn't get there before me (and I will be allowing a few hours between combat posts, except when everyone has already posted), then your action will take place after the enemy's. This isn't intended to penalize people who get busy in their offline lives, but it's to encourage people to check regularly. Empty placeholder posts don't count as posts, although posts consisting of readying an action do.
Wizards and sorcerers can have their familiar for free, including any of the ones from Stormwrack but penguins. (Sorry, penguin lovers.) I advise against choosing a familiar that can't leave the water.
I will do all the rolling and post successes and failures, along with a running damage tally.
Posting:
I'm looking for everyone to post at least once a day on weekdays and to try and post at least once every weekend and at least every other day during the thick of the holidays. This is not going to be one of those ENWorld pbp games that never reaches the end. The party, possibly with alternates having swapped in, will reach the end of the adventure.
Although we're still playing by D&D rules (as modified in the House Rules above), coolness counts. If you come up with a cool way to describe what your character is doing or you come up with a clever solution to a problem (including in combat), it will result in a bonus (normally +2, but if you dazzle me, it could be much higher).
If you want to use colored dialogue for your character, as per ENWorld convention, knock yourself out, but please make sure it reads clearly on a dark background.
This isn't a paper for English class, but use whole words in all posts. This isn't an IM conversation with your buddies.
The characters
FIGHTERS: Jossen Vanter, Ada Lichtermann
CLERIC: Maugra Ironcrane, Milana
ROGUE: Garn (Grant MIA in the haunted house)
SORCERER/WIZARD: Garnet, Yaztromo Denmel
OTHER #1: Jarem Thurinor
OTHER #2: Vanden, Aramil Nailo
MIA: Grant, Akilu
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