Ghosts of Gauntcliff: OOC

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

I know I'm making a lot of Deadwood references lately, but:

[ewancummins]

Dorgio sense motive result= he seems in earnest

[ewancummins]

Fear check Jonas
[dice]0[/dice]
Fear check Charlotte

[dice]1[/dice]

[Ail]

Eustace also casts Remove Fear on the group.

[ewancummins]

Okay check out the IC, guys.




Then read this:

VIEW CONTENT:

XP thread and epilogues forthcoming

[steveflam]

Suck an elf! It is over? Wow..................... Ok ewan. You gonna answer questions, right?


What are Gruz, Smezel and Jürgens goons exactly? Who or what were the lost princes? How will the gang get off the island? Yadda yadda yadda..........

Will there be a suite to Gauntcliff? Meaning, can the pc's who survived play in a future game? (Jürgen excluded)

[Adam]

*PHEW*

Another game I really didn't think I had a shot at surviving. Ewan, you are a master at walking the line of keeping it lethal but not so much that we all give up hope.

I hope Benn doesn't get home and find an eviction notice on his office now...

[ewancummins]

Thanks, Adam.

[ewancummins]

Suck an elf! It is over? Wow..................... Ok ewan. You gonna answer questions, right?


What are Gruz, Smezel and Jürgens goons exactly? Who or what were the lost princes? How will the gang get off the island? Yadda yadda yadda..........

Will there be a suite to Gauntcliff? Meaning, can the pc's who survived play in a future game? (Jürgen excluded)

Q & A Time

---

Gruz, Smezel, and the other monocular morons-
These are 'boogeymen' adapted by me from the Palladium Fantasy Roleplay Game. I gave them all monkey grip feat, because of their disproportionately big hands and unusual STR ( no penalty on the 3D6 roll).



The Exiled Princes-
Custom designed outsiders (inspired by Ninguable and Sheelba among other sources)
They needed the Silver Key (H P Lovecraft reference) to get back to their plane.

Getting off the island-- This will be handled in the epilogue.

Sequel-

I'm taking a nice long break from Ravenloft. I have a lot of studying to do, stories I want to write, travelling, summer outdoor activities, and even some other gaming stuff on the agenda.

That said, I plan to revisit Ravenloft in a year or so.



XP and rewards- preliminary outline
This leads me to the next big item: XP and other rewards.

I'm editing an XP post now. Basically, you should all expect a fairly big chunk of XP. Not everyone will get exactly the same amount, but everyone will get a lot. It may not level everyone up, though. This is normal. Level progression is supposed to slow down a bit at the mid-levels.

Aha, but if it’s not enough, there is a way you can get MORE. I've decided to award XP for archiving threads, going all the way back to the very first post in Mists over the Musarde.
This bonus XP may be transferred to NPC allies and minions who somehow helped you in the game (not to other PCs), or converted into treasure for your PCs. So, even if you leveled up, it may still be worth your effort to archive. You get loot for it!

Of course, a little backstory on new treasure would be needed. Something like ‘’got lucky in a faro game in Nova Vaasa and won a fine stallion’ or ‘captured a notorious felon and collected a 500 gp award from the City Council of Pont-a-Museau)

[Ken of Ghastria]

Ewan,

Very cool. Thanks for the excellent story. Yeah, there were a bunch of times where the lives of several characters -- if not the whole party -- seemed to dance on the edge of a pin.

It's always good to take a break now and then. At whatever point you decide to continue, I expect Primeiro will be waiting to join. He's been a lot of fun to play. For now, he's going to canoodle lustfully with his maid, likely ditch her after a few more nights, and write a long letter to Dad.

[ewancummins]

Thanks, Ken.

And thank you guys for the excellent story. So many things depended on player choices, right up until the very end scene. IMO, all RPGs should be like that-- player choices should be matter. The backstory and some events were preplanned, and I did a some contingency work. I tried to avoid 'railroading' as much as it could be avoided in this PbP format.
You guys were always free to investigate, fight, attempt to flee, etc. as you liked.

In retrospect, my idea of using a small island setting worked out nicely. At least, I think it did. It constrained choices enough to make the game manageable, but it also left plenty of freedom for exploration, side adventures, etc.



.

[ewancummins]

Credit and Dedication
This game is dedicated to my good friend Robert, known to most of you as ‘JMaytr’, player of Jonathon Maytr.

Robert is the guy who got me into Ravenloft, back in 9th grade. I had game a little before that, but my really serious gaming began then.


Dodds was based on a dark lord sketched out by Robert, years ago. Yes, he was based on Freddie Krueger. We really liked Freddie, especially when we were about age 14. In Rob's original notes, Dodds was a 'bastellus' (Ravenloft monster). He preyed on kids, but he haunted a tropical paradise island inhabited only by grownups. I don't think Dodds or his domain of 'Gaunt' ever saw play. Rob may have note someplace, but probably not. It was a long time ago.

I took the name and the basic concepts for Dodds and Gaunt, altering things as I saw fit. Dodds became a Ghastrian in my version. I added backstory, fleshed out the domain, renamed things, etc. I wrote up an original, deeper history for the island, involving an old order of heretic monks and the bastelli. I also tried to add a minor sympathetic element to Dodds, despite him being such an intentionally horrible villain.
You guys managed to figure pretty much all the important parts of Dodds’ history out in play. Congrats!

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Hell of a campaign, many thank all around! This is seriously the most dedicated group of people I've ever RPed with.

So Elianna is the werefox, right? I find it kind of endearing how inept Dorgio is around women, so it was a lot of fun to play completely clueless around her.

Also, where there any times that we did something you weren't anticipating, or was there anything that really altered the course how you expected things to play out?

[ewancummins]

I described her once as sort of 'angular, foxy' in a post from Juergin's POV because she was a half-elf and he was not used to seeing demihumans. He’s from Lamordia, were demi humans are considered freaks. He’s also only 12 1/2. There was something subtly nonhuman about her, but the boy didn't quite get what.

You guys latched onto that, mainly because Tarlyn kept making OOC comments about it.) Tarlyn assumed she might be the 'dog headed creature' he spotted on the docks. Pretty soon, it seemed, several of the players ( not PCs) were convinced that she must be a monster.

In fact, she was just a woman of loose morals.

One really funny part was when she had been humping Diggory (a servant) in the hallway boom closet and Primeiro broke into her room. That's why she showed up in the doorway behind him, sweaty and in a nightgown.

Shortly after that, when she cried for help, Diggory came out of the closet with a broom, pissed off because he thought Primeiro had attacked the woman.

Primeiro and Eustace seemed to assume that was Dodds' doing, but the villain had absolutely nothing to do with it.

[ewancummins]

I planned for several likely courses of action. That planning paid off nicely. Knowing the players and the PCs fairly well helped.

Juergin’s sudden tilt towards ‘EVULZ’ in the ‘shark feeding ’ scene might have surprised me if it had happened a few years ago, but I'm used to Tarlyn's impulsive and violent characters by now. LOL
Now, to be fair to Stevil, he never once complained about either the powers checks or the alignment shift that Jürgen suffered as a result of his choices. No argument. He went with it. He also tried to role-play his guy a little more consistently after that.


There were the usual minor things that aren’t really predictable, like Dorgio going to pick flowers & forgetting to leave a note...


Some of that small stuff was important because it shaped the way the whole party reacted to certain NPCs. Imagine how most PCs would have got on with Griffith if he’d never taken credit for the flowers? Up until that point, he seemed like a pretty nice guy, if rough around the edges. After that, PC solidarity seemed to kick in. People saw him for the heel he really was and felt sympathy for Dorgio.