Goatwood - A survival Horror RPG - General Discussion and Infodump.

I would like to extend an apology to Faux. I was a bit crabby yesterday.

Now in goatwood: Creepy smiling ninja maids.

Okay, I'll admit that maid was creepy as hell. Also, ninja maid? Like, as in she is a master of stealth? As in we won't be able to tell if she's sneaking around us?

Naw. She's kinda a looker so you'll probably see her coming. Probably.

edited 12th Mar '15 4:52:25 PM by AtomicNut

Guys, I'm axing this rp. Sorry for not living up to expectation.

edited 16th Mar '15 11:32:00 AM by AtomicNut

You were fine. If anything, we should be apologizing for not posting as often as we should have. Therefore, I'm sorry.

It's a shame to see it go. It needed a better bard than I.

Stuff I'd like to tell regardless:

• The "fake monster encounter": It was done on purpose. I needed to evaluate your reaction and capacity to do so... let's say the result was not quite what I was expecting for.

• The first plotline: Depending on the characters reactions, but it would have been a simple "undead" encounter. But even a simple undead would be a dangerous thing, as it'd be a revenant. It really liked lamb in life, you see, and he would break free of his tomb and go snack on sheep. And it'd keep attacking you even if you beheaded him. The revenant would've turned to be the first Police Chief, which died in strange circumstances...

• The Traveler:...which would bring the figure of the Traveler into town. The Traveler would've revealed himself as a vampire. But not the sparkly kind, the classical Stoker and romantic myth one. Also known as Mayor Drake

• The Black Wolf:... It would likely appear in the storyline. Its true identity would be that of a skindancer, evil Werewolf whose modus operandi would be to kill animals to tan their hides and use unholy rituals to turn into them and prey on humans. Oh, and his human self (see the pattern yet?) would have been Albert Hills, the police chief.

• The Coven of the Moon: Albert Hills and William Drake would've aligned themselves with the coven of the Moon, and Belle would be involved with it. The other Coven members were killed during the Black Saturday and they'd been looking for replacements.

• The White Wolf: The protector of the Cairns and originally the overseer of Goatwood, it would've turned to be one of the last druids, a descendant of the original who survived the slaughter. You know him as Angus Mac Fergus. He would've spurned the Coven of the Sun and instilled the Black Saturday to get rid of the Earl.

• The Coven of the Sun: The more good-aligned people with occult nature, they would've roused the Serpent, a massive dragon living in the Pit (which is why dead sheep carcasses are sent there) to spearhead an assault on the Earl. They would've failed but the dragon's wake was what caused the fire.

• Snorri, Freyja and Eir: Okay, these three are tricky. Eir is the last surviving member of the Coven of the Sun, and also an elf that escaped scandinavia atop of the Serpent. Fittingly, she was disguising as old woman. Snorri would be one of the last dwarves and could've crafted magical weapons for you lot. And Freyja... let's say that as half elf she would have magical powers aswell.

• Father Renzi and Pate: The real reason why Renzi is in goatwood is that he's one of the best existing exorcists in the world, and he's given chase to a powerful demon. Pate is a demon hunter and his apprentice.

• Doctor von Pritt: This one's just a psychopath and would've tried to use corpses to make a frankenstein monster.

• The Earl: I lied. The Earl's proper title is Duke. Duke of Hell, Mephistopheles. He's the demon responsible for most of Goatwood's evil, and he's using the town as marshalling ground for hell, bringing souls with a considerable dark stain (hence why players needed a dark secret) to join him and the Morningstar. Belle and Barney would be a couple of succubus and incubus, whose real names would be Jezebel and Barabbas.

edited 16th Mar '15 12:03:17 PM by AtomicNut

Well then. That sounds like it would have been really cool. If ever you try your hand at running an RP again, I'll join up again. Hopefully it won't tank as well. Oh, and my plan for Kara was to have her join the Coven of the Sun.

edited 16th Mar '15 1:23:28 PM by Tojin

too bad the invitation was for the other coven.

Disappeared for a while due to craziness.

There was some pacing issues but introducing a mystery is pretty difficult for that. I think it might have helped if we were hired or brought there to figure out something very specific. Once players have a track, whether they stick to it or not, they at least know what to expect. The very quick Scooby-Doo style villain appearing and beaten in like two posts was sort of confusing but I can understand the intent.

If I were you and I planned on reviving this some day down the road; I'd start with a mysterious letter asking them so solve a very particular mystery (People disappearing in the night, for instance) in exchange for board and a handsome sum and then give us rumours and mysterious townfolk who won't talk much except a couple who may or may not be evil. Let us get dug in only to reveal a twist (say for instance, these disappeared people were actually willing participants in the Coven of the Moon, leading the party to either want to break them up and complete their job or help them in rebuilding), etc. As someone who's failed to include one myself in the past, if the game has no obvious long term hooks or goals, players kind of dawdle.

Just my bit of advice there as someone who's lead a couple games in the past with varying success.

Originally I had Willie reacting as he did because I wanted to show him as a grizzled Scottish bastard who was waiting for Alcohol to be spilt before starting a serious fight. Also because I mistook Wolf's comments as looking down on Scots, which obviously is a button for a guy based on Groundskeeper Willie. I didn't play for that to go down as it did and once it happened and ended, I felt a little bad for how it played out. So my apologies for being disruptive there.

Hopefully none of this comes off as backhanded but rather as a bit of sincere advice and an apology if I was a pain. All the best and a shame we never got to see the town as it was.

edited 22nd Mar '15 12:37:15 PM by Fauxlosophe

I was in some of those games, Faux.

The real issue here is that the people dropped to less the minimum player count -before- i properly introduced the hooks. And besides, I wanted to steer clear of anything that was formulaic or set for a more original survival, unexpected horror experience.

So yes, of course I could've -done- so it was Mysteries of Goatwood with investigation, and yes, I could've -included- the typical Lovecraft hodgepodge like some players coaxed, but I did not want to do that because people would have been -expecting- it. But I wanted to make it original flavor. And it crashed down and burned before I had an honest chance to even put a single hook.

edited 22nd Mar '15 1:45:34 PM by AtomicNut