Tock Chandler
First Post
Lucy was going to be a long-running semi-antagonist for Tock as the one girl in town that didn't fawn all over him, even when/if they fooled around. That is, before everything changed.
Ptolus: Midwood - "The Dark Waters of Moss Pond"
- Thread starter Whizbang Dustyboots
- Start date
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Hmmm, now that gives me some ideas.Tock Chandler said:
Tock Chandler
First Post
Whizbang Dustyboots said:
Ha! Watch out, Good Guy Gang!
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Renraw is many things -- a human supremacist, for one thing -- but possessed of nerves of steel, he is not.
notker biloba
First Post
I've been enjoying reading this story hour, reading from beginning to end (up to this point, off and on), and I've just noticed that this discussion thread was here. I was suspecting that there was a lot of out-of-session play, based on the dialog; now I find out it's all out-of-session. That must be incredibly difficult, what with seven or eight PCs and the pbem and all. I mean, they're all PCs, right? I was finding it hard to believe, considering all the in-fighting and such.
I don't suppose you have a rogue's gallery for this campaign? It would be interesting to see their attributes, feats, skills, weapons, etc. Also would be interesting to know in the story what classes the characters have and are working on. E.g., Emus kinda came outta nowhere with the whole druid thing.
I didn't quite get Emmerson's resurrection. Was that just straight-up deus ex machina, or what? I mean, is it possible for characters to die in this campaign. Just wondering.
I like that the narrative is descriptive without being overly fantasy-novelesque. Did you get a lot of that from modules, or are you writing most of that?
Again, very enjoyable. Keep up the good work!
NB
I don't suppose you have a rogue's gallery for this campaign? It would be interesting to see their attributes, feats, skills, weapons, etc. Also would be interesting to know in the story what classes the characters have and are working on. E.g., Emus kinda came outta nowhere with the whole druid thing.
I didn't quite get Emmerson's resurrection. Was that just straight-up deus ex machina, or what? I mean, is it possible for characters to die in this campaign. Just wondering.
I like that the narrative is descriptive without being overly fantasy-novelesque. Did you get a lot of that from modules, or are you writing most of that?
Again, very enjoyable. Keep up the good work!
NB
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
There was a Rogues Gallery thread that got eaten by the Great Board Crash of 2006. I can recreate it if you like.
But at this point in the campaign, here's the character classes and levels, as I remember them:
Tosh Bergin - Gnome Rogue 2
Tock Chandler - Human Bard Bard 2
Ragglus Chaplin - Human Fighter 2
Vonmora Farrin - Grailwarden Cleric 1
Tucker Gallaway - Human Fighter 2
Emmerson Grant - Human Paladin 1/Cleric 1
Emus Graymullet - Graildwarden Dwarf Barbarian 1/Druid 1
Renraw Kem - Human Wizard 2
Katadid Leach - Human Wizard 1
Ebuferpaly Potentloins - Gnome Cleric 1/Rogue 1
Hazel Sawyer - Human Ranger 2
Stotch - Human Rogue 1
Emus' druid thing was something he'd wanted to have be more part of his character from the beginning, but as he was thrust into a dungeoncrawl immediately, we didn't have any time to deal with his druid buddies before he leveled.
At this point, everyone but Bufer, I think, are third level. The only surprise class anyone's picked up is Tock Chandler taking a level of human paragon.
Emmerson's resurrection was sort of a tricky situation. He was brand new to playing D&D and as you may have noticed, these guys roleplay even when their metagame knowledge is screaming at them not to be idiots. And, as you saw in this discussion thread, he ended up in a fight that I had designed for, frankly, the more experienced folks to be involved in. So yeah, I was inclined to fudge a tiny bit in this situation.
But I didn't really need to: I had designed the Maidensbridge campaign to be a sandbox where folks would follow the threads they found interesting and others would just go by the wayside. (The mysterious mirrors aren't addressed again until a year later in the campaign, for instance.) I'd known since Day 1 what the bishop's ambitions were regarding Maidensbridge and that, at some point, there would be a new priest he'd be introducing to the town. When Emmerson went down, getting himself a new priest who would be beholden to him who was also a player character seemed like the best way to resolve the death while also advancing his agenda.
After that point, there haven't been any deaths, but most of the player characters end up unconscious repeatedly. I think we recently had the first fight where Emmerson didn't end up in negative hit points. Katadid also came one round from death the other day as well.
Everyone knows that, from here on out, death is a pretty serious matter and they come very, very close repeatedly. There's only two clerics in the setting capable of raising the dead, and both the bishop and Barennackle have their own agendas and won't just raise anyone. (Emus, for instance, is probably out of luck with both of them if he dies.)
And yes, it was a nightmare at the time juggling so many player characters. After the current adventure, it's not an issue, though, as you'll see.
The vast majority of the players have been participating in collaborative fiction together for more than a decade, so the writing style, the willingness to set up conflicting agendas, and the like, all springs from there. I'm doing a pass-through to clean up the grammar and spelling and do minor retcons (Kramer, who owns the general store, was only named recently, so Kramer's General Store replaces the references to the Maidensbridge General Store, for instance). I'm a professional newspaper writer, so my preference is less flowery language, and I wanted Midwood to feel more like Appalachia by way of the Swiss Alps than Ye Olde Generic Fantasy Lande, so the language is more naturalistic, with the addition of folks spitting tobacco, dwarves wearing overalls and a banjo-playing bard.
I'm glad you're enjoying it; from here on out, the action picks up quite a bit, as the campaign plot lines become clear to everyone (including me) and it becomes a runaway mining cart racing down the hill.
But at this point in the campaign, here's the character classes and levels, as I remember them:
Tosh Bergin - Gnome Rogue 2
Tock Chandler - Human Bard Bard 2
Ragglus Chaplin - Human Fighter 2
Vonmora Farrin - Grailwarden Cleric 1
Tucker Gallaway - Human Fighter 2
Emmerson Grant - Human Paladin 1/Cleric 1
Emus Graymullet - Graildwarden Dwarf Barbarian 1/Druid 1
Renraw Kem - Human Wizard 2
Katadid Leach - Human Wizard 1
Ebuferpaly Potentloins - Gnome Cleric 1/Rogue 1
Hazel Sawyer - Human Ranger 2
Stotch - Human Rogue 1
Emus' druid thing was something he'd wanted to have be more part of his character from the beginning, but as he was thrust into a dungeoncrawl immediately, we didn't have any time to deal with his druid buddies before he leveled.
At this point, everyone but Bufer, I think, are third level. The only surprise class anyone's picked up is Tock Chandler taking a level of human paragon.
Emmerson's resurrection was sort of a tricky situation. He was brand new to playing D&D and as you may have noticed, these guys roleplay even when their metagame knowledge is screaming at them not to be idiots. And, as you saw in this discussion thread, he ended up in a fight that I had designed for, frankly, the more experienced folks to be involved in. So yeah, I was inclined to fudge a tiny bit in this situation.
But I didn't really need to: I had designed the Maidensbridge campaign to be a sandbox where folks would follow the threads they found interesting and others would just go by the wayside. (The mysterious mirrors aren't addressed again until a year later in the campaign, for instance.) I'd known since Day 1 what the bishop's ambitions were regarding Maidensbridge and that, at some point, there would be a new priest he'd be introducing to the town. When Emmerson went down, getting himself a new priest who would be beholden to him who was also a player character seemed like the best way to resolve the death while also advancing his agenda.
After that point, there haven't been any deaths, but most of the player characters end up unconscious repeatedly. I think we recently had the first fight where Emmerson didn't end up in negative hit points. Katadid also came one round from death the other day as well.
Everyone knows that, from here on out, death is a pretty serious matter and they come very, very close repeatedly. There's only two clerics in the setting capable of raising the dead, and both the bishop and Barennackle have their own agendas and won't just raise anyone. (Emus, for instance, is probably out of luck with both of them if he dies.)
And yes, it was a nightmare at the time juggling so many player characters. After the current adventure, it's not an issue, though, as you'll see.
The vast majority of the players have been participating in collaborative fiction together for more than a decade, so the writing style, the willingness to set up conflicting agendas, and the like, all springs from there. I'm doing a pass-through to clean up the grammar and spelling and do minor retcons (Kramer, who owns the general store, was only named recently, so Kramer's General Store replaces the references to the Maidensbridge General Store, for instance). I'm a professional newspaper writer, so my preference is less flowery language, and I wanted Midwood to feel more like Appalachia by way of the Swiss Alps than Ye Olde Generic Fantasy Lande, so the language is more naturalistic, with the addition of folks spitting tobacco, dwarves wearing overalls and a banjo-playing bard.
I'm glad you're enjoying it; from here on out, the action picks up quite a bit, as the campaign plot lines become clear to everyone (including me) and it becomes a runaway mining cart racing down the hill.
Last edited:
notker biloba said:
Hey there. I'm Kat's player.
Yeah, believe it or not we do most of the conflict all via PbP. Some of us are professional to amateur writers, and we enjoy fostering that sort of thing. Renraw and Tock have been a delight to bounce off of, as they are absolute bastards.
Kat's a diviner specialist. I'm planning on mixing that up down the road. But can't really tell you since that's part of the surprise for fellow players.
A big part of this is the Private Message feature. Most of us were unaware of Tock and Renraw's trickery with the letter till now. That whole thing was done via PM's away from the boards. It makes for a much better Roleplay experience than the DM passing a note to the player. This way, no one has any clue what any player knows or not. If they make a spot check, they don't have to mention that to others...
notker biloba
First Post
Holy smokes! Twelve PCs?! How did you ever get anything done?Whizbang Dustyboots said:
I would, in fact, like to see in-depth character sheets, and know if they were point-buy, rolled, etc. -- when and if you're willing. It certainly doesn't hinder my enjoyment of the story to not know that stuff, but I find it enjoyable to see the numbers, and to see how they progress over time. (Especially since I don't have my own game, and can only live vicariously -- hmmm... living vicariously through other people living vicariously ...
)Similar Threads
