Bloodstone + Dark Tower

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

I've painted the illusion that a group of survivors may be holed up in one side of the Manor's curtain wall. I haven't decided if they actually survived, or not. Thus far, I haven't said exactly how long it has been since the Quake. Nor the distance to Ground Zero.

 

If someone survived the curse, I may have to describe that more closely...

 

I won't start the next chapter until they finish this stop at Sommerset Cove. I've come up with a way they can end the curse, but they're on a timetable. The way the contagion is built allows a character their BODx2 before succumbing to the transformation to zed. When that happens, your dead.

 

I'm going to have Maester Stefan have a journal/diary in his study that speaks of his sanctorum. There, will be the culmination of this chapter.

[zornwil]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Pretty cool setting, are you going to post a site collecting the basic info?

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

I hadn't planned on it. I don't really have a site, nor the expertise required to gather the information... This is all I gots.

[zornwil]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Just wondering, this thread is cool.

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Just wondering' date=' this thread is cool.[/quote']

 

Thanks!!

 

I'm still taking ideas as to what the culminax of this chapter will entail. is there some ritual that is required to nix the spell created by Maester Rennik? Is there a BBEG in the sanctorum that our heroes need to dispatch? What sort of information can be found in the journal/diary? Should there be survivors in Rennik Manor? These questions and more need to be answered and dealt with before Thursday's game!

 

You can help decide!!!...

[RPMiller]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

I think there is a great moral dilemma to be had when the players stumble on some women and children that have been infected, but not yet turned and the beg the players to help them and take them with them. This before they find the cure.

 

Then when they find the cure they have even more reason to do whatever it takes to help these people not only for the sick but also for themselves.

 

Oh, but what if the cure kills all those infected... that would be evil.

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

That's a great idea. Too bad I can't be too cruel. Bad enough one of the players has already been infected. Had that not happened, though... Would be a nice maleable plan.

 

Still, I wonder if I can't use some of it. The players mentioned I was missing the scantily-clad zombie/survivor.

[RPMiller]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

You could still use it. They would jut have to find the cure for the cure.

That would explain why the cure wasn't actually carried out much sooner. Perhaps the creator became infected and didn't want to kill himself... and is a zombie now!

"Wait," cries the woman, "that is my husband. You can't kill him!"

[zornwil]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Thanks!!

 

I'm still taking ideas as to what the culminax of this chapter will entail. is there some ritual that is required to nix the spell created by Maester Rennik? Is there a BBEG in the sanctorum that our heroes need to dispatch? What sort of information can be found in the journal/diary? Should there be survivors in Rennik Manor? These questions and more need to be answered and dealt with before Thursday's game!

 

You can help decide!!!...

Maybe a sort of scavenger hunt, the diary directs to the sanctorium, the notes in the sanctorium direct to find a survivor..

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

We STILL haven't played out the rest of the first chapter. Currently, it is scheduled for next Thursday, but we'll see.

 

I'm letting you all know I've started up another story in this setting, though I believe it takes place before the EVENT. Though, the EVENT will likely take place fairly soon to keep it real...

 

A solo campaign at hero Central with my good pal Mastermind. He's playing a sort of Soloman Kane clone. Making me think a bit more about religion. I'm basing his first story heavily after David Duncan's, A Gilded Chain.

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Still haven't played out the next (last?) chapter of the Up River game, but we're scheduled for Thursday. I do have a couple threads in the Fantasy section concerning this game if you're interested in helping out, or simply reading.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1289526#post1289526

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54040

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Only one more week before we actually play Age of Reason again!

 

W00t! This is your teaser. Be prepared to be astounded!

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

I'm working on adding another player at Hero Central for the online campaign. He'll be solo as well and the story will likely dwell on the Maruudian Peoples of the Great Trade Route.

 

Here is a piece I wrote a long time ago vaguely detailing this area of Aerth. (Remember, this was before the Purge.)

 

The Great Trade Road

 

 

 

At the time of creation this whole area was given to the Maruudian people. It was a place of soft rolling hills covered by chest high grass. The people of the area called it the Savannah. In time, the travel bound Ossenese travelled across the scrub and found the highly fertile Amroth Plain. There, some people stayed. It was only a matter of time before a Trade Route was created between Amroth and Ossen. It is a great work of art crafted by stone mined in the mountains west and south of the Savannah. The Ossenese have a name for the Savannah as well, Grassea. Many an unwary traveller was swallowed by the sea of grass just as they would upon a sea of water. The Grassea holds as many dangers as well as mysterious unexplored locations. The Maruudians are an ancient people though, relatively unchanged from when Braxis first sprinkled them across the Savannah.

 

The building of the road was an undertaking in itself. Eventually, the road was created by a vast number of small blocks of granite fit and mortared together. Towns were founded with a day’s walk betwixt them. And the largest number of people stopped and decided to take up a living in Pinnacle. The town eventually grew to a city in its own right. Cities and towns along the Great Trade Road are primarily stop over points for the many caravans that trek back and forth along the road.

 

The Grassea is truly not conducive to a menagarie of plantlife and therefore not good for farming land. Many of the Maruudian tribes have also taken up raiding the towns for food and bartering goods. The actual people living within the cities are started by selling goods and services to the transient caravans. Until, of course, there were enough permenant population to need goods and services for permenant townspeople. Those with enough business savvy to strike it rich also created a new pasttime to enjoy and use their vast fortunes on, Pitfighting.

 

Okay, all that said, I've considered the various changes a few hundred years of history and progress would have heaved upon the Grassea, the indigenous people, and the upstart folk of the route itself. More on that later...

 

Oh, a FTF Age of Reason game is scheduled for tomorrow.

[RPMiller]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Oh sure, add another solo player and don't invite me. I see how you are!

 

j/k

 

Sounds very Romanesque.

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

You don't hang around in Hero Chat while I'm carping about being bored.

 

On another note, I found a bunch of old word/text docs of notes and tiny articles about the various Aerth locations and settings. They're kind of embarrasing but intriguing at the same time (yeah, maybe like a train wreck).

 

Anyway, I'm considering mightily if some of this can't be fodder for fleshing out Contemporary Aerth in the Age of Reason. I'd written all these myths and detailed how the people of Aerth thought about Religion and their place on Aerth... Knowing all along that it was no where near the truth, which was much more mundane than gods and creation mythos...

 

And that, loyal readers, is what makes it all so damn worth it.

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Well...

 

Game just got over and we really didn't get very far. Kenn was on call and had to work in the middle and another 50% was table talk. The last 25% was pretty fun, though.

 

Ever notice zeds can get into pretty strange place before they go dormant? Ser Byrd noticed to, just before one fell on him!

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Campaign Setting: Age of Reason

Book One: Voyage of the Oberron

Chapter One: Knight of the Living Dead (session 2)

 

The intrepid heroes of the Oberon, Ser Jahn Byrd and his faithful companion, Maester Aleron Kehm, find themselves in dire straights. They've been dispatched by Chancellor Oberon, by order of Queen Elspeth to travel by the steamboat Oberon up the Adriach and learn what has caused their beloved Ossen such turbulence and despair.

 

Their first stop has been a longtime last bastion protecting Ossenhaven from any attack down the mighty Adriach, Citidel Rokell. It has been many years since the Citidel saw battle and a peaceful town has sprung up nearby called Sommerset Cove. Their findings have been dismal and previously recorded and now they ponder their options along with two privates of the Valiant Osseneese Navy, Privates Marik and Delivan.

 

The four men find themselves in the upper story of the Gatehouse of Rennik Manor deliberating their next move. They must explore the Manor and rescue any survivors, the priority being the Maester Stefan Rennik, Master of the House. If any have learned anything of the strange malady affecting the soldiers and populace of Sommerset Cove, it is the elderly retiree of the University of Reason.

 

Ser Byrd hatches upon the plan of sequestering rope from the Armory below and scaling down from the Gatehouse to the Courtyard below and entering the Manor through the front entrance. It seemed the best choice of many and the four quickly set upon the idea and made their way to the main door.

 

With muskets ready, they entered the Entrance Hall, finding it in shambles like the rest of the areas they'd searched. The shambling zombies were here and could be any or all of the corpses visible about the Hall. Maester Aleron led the way in, taking Pvt. Marik towards one of the dual staircases leading to the second floor balcony.

 

Ser Byrd decided to investigate the corpses against the warnings of Maester Aleron. He advanced cautiously with Pvt. Delivan offering rifle support. As he advanced he felt a dripping upon the back of his neck and checking it found a dirty smear of blood. He gazed towards the rafters and chandelier above to find a corpse already tumbling towards him, its features a riktus of mindless hunger and aggression.

 

The battle had begun and the half dozen or more corspes all moaned to life, dull eyes staring and bloody mouths and fingers groping for purchase and a warm taste of flesh.

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

As previously mentioned we had a lot of interruptions and not much got done. We had to stop in the middle of the battle. Even with all that though, we had a blast. The players are playign wonderfully and not immediately taking the tactics of a lifetime of movie zombie watching. Perhaps too much!

 

The zombie builds are extremely slow and ponderous, but they can take an iordinate amount of damage before being too destroyed to continue their mindless attacks. We fought upwards of six rounds, me continually hoping they would realize they cannot possibly win this fight and create an urgent, harrowing flight through the manor looking for survivors or clues to what has occurred.

 

I mentioned as much OOC as we began to clean up after it had gotten too late to contiue. Hopefully, we can return to the adventure sooner than 2.5 months RL. Much of the hints I'd offered had been forgotten and it took as much time to get back into the swing of the game as any actual playing got done.

 

Oh, here is a link to the post with the maps of Rennik Manor. They are still in the Main Hall with the dual staircase leading to the balcony and bedchambers above.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1259268&postcount=68

[Mastermind]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

cool

 

In my experience, it is a rare player that has his PC run.

[RPMiller]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Play Call of Chthulu enough times and you'll learn that running is many times the best option.

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

This chapter is an obvious nod to Romero Zombies. I'm not sure if I'll do it in all the chapters or not, but I'm liking the idea of nestling even other genre tropes and stories over top of the Age of Reason setting and this campaign in particular.

 

During the fight, Kenn (pof Maester Aleron) thought to run up the stairs to the balcony above, hoping to get the others to follow him. Kehm's Mal'Karta abilities include a joint/lock throw in his MA and he hoped to keep tossing them down to the floor below and have the others shoot at their leisure. It wasn't a bad idea, but I had more zombies hanging about upstairs.

 

I've since decided I may have acted too hastily. Is it not in genre for the protagonists to defeat a wave of zombies before moving onto the next location, only fleeing when overwhelmed. The zeds I've used thus far only have 1" of running. I've halved their rDEF and still it takes quite a few blows to to finish them.

 

Perhaps, I'll use a different sort once they reach the location of the Bloodstone and the horrific spell that has been cast. They may be stronger there, more tenacious, or closer to their living memories.

[Emperor Xan]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

Hope your version has a better ending then the Dark Tower series did.

 

I know this is coming nearly a year after the fact, but the series is a metaphor for the journey of the writer. No matter how close you get, the answers from each story you write leave you dissatisified and the journey begins once more, albeit this time with a little something extra to show you've gained more insight.

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

I know not of what you speak. Welcome to the forums.

[Emperor Xan]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

One of the things that writing has taught me is that no matter how much one tries to divest himself of the material, the search for some answer is hidden in the work.

[Savinien]

Re: Bloodstone + Dark Tower

 

We STILL haven't played out the rest of the first chapter. Currently, it is scheduled for next Thursday, but we'll see.

 

I'm letting you all know I've started up another story in this setting, though I believe it takes place before the EVENT. Though, the EVENT will likely take place fairly soon to keep it real...

 

A solo campaign at hero Central with my good pal Mastermind. He's playing a sort of Soloman Kane clone. Making me think a bit more about religion. I'm basing his first story heavily after David Duncan's, A Gilded Chain.

 

Here's a bit of an update:

 

We still haven't had an opportunity to play the third session of the first chapter of the Up River campaign, but I've posted a campaign thread for my Hero Central game with Martin von Remmen played by Mastermind.

 

I'm hoping to get the other game moving again as I miss FTF.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1401852#post1401852