talien
Community Supporter
Welcome to an experiment that turned out to be a lot longer than any of us any anticipated. This story hour takes place in Arcanis. If you're not familiar with Arcanis, check out Onara Online and LIVING ARCANIS Home Page to get an idea of how the world works. Hint: it involves lizard people, flintlocks, and Romans.
Our game, which started as just a handful of people, has expanded to encompass friends and relatives across three states (NY, ME, CT). The cast varies depending on where and when we play. You can read more about my experiences with role-playing in my National RPG column for the Examiner.
Most of the adventures are either from Living Arcanis modules, Cthulhu adventures, or Freeport adventures. We generally stay true to the material, but NPCs get switched out often, sometimes with PCs. Speaking of which, we don't usually include PCs whose players aren't present, unless it's to act as part of the plot (thus, Quintus and Kham have both been convenient plot devices when their players weren't present). That said, all of these adventures contain spoilers, so if you plan to play in Arcanis or Freeport, you might want to stop reading once you recognize the name of the adventure.
The story hour is now completely written, but I'm still posting installments of the full 66 chapters, one a day. It's recommended you start at the beginning (that'd be uh, here), which will ease you into the universe. If you want to be reminded of updates, I post a copy to my blog at michael.tresca.net, which in turn sends an email every night to my subscriber list.
The cast includes elements of the typical "five-man band" consisting of the Hero (Quintus), the Lancer (Kham), the Smart Guy (Sebastian), the Big Guy (Beldin, Calactyte, or Vlad), and the Chick (Ilmare or Bijoux). We also have the Sacrificial Lamb (Holden) and the Sixth Ranger (Nauris).
For more information about the campaign, see the Gonnes, Sons and Treasure Runs Home Page.
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This story hour is a home game from the tournament module, "So Shall Ye Reap," written by Henry Lopez, set in the Arcanis setting. Our cast of characters includes:
(Clarifying Note: Quintus does not normally use his first name with folks he doesn't know that well. That changes after the first adventure).
Our DM is the inimitable Robert Taylor, a gaming legend in his own time: Storyboardz.net
This is an interesting exercise in documenting what happened before as well as flexing my writing muscles so I can take a break from my novel.
What transpires below is very close to how the game took place, which does not strictly follow the adventure path. A lot of dialogue has been added as the characters were fleshed out later to help tie the plot together more tightly and extrapolate on each character's background.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed playing it!
Our game, which started as just a handful of people, has expanded to encompass friends and relatives across three states (NY, ME, CT). The cast varies depending on where and when we play. You can read more about my experiences with role-playing in my National RPG column for the Examiner.
Most of the adventures are either from Living Arcanis modules, Cthulhu adventures, or Freeport adventures. We generally stay true to the material, but NPCs get switched out often, sometimes with PCs. Speaking of which, we don't usually include PCs whose players aren't present, unless it's to act as part of the plot (thus, Quintus and Kham have both been convenient plot devices when their players weren't present). That said, all of these adventures contain spoilers, so if you plan to play in Arcanis or Freeport, you might want to stop reading once you recognize the name of the adventure.
The story hour is now completely written, but I'm still posting installments of the full 66 chapters, one a day. It's recommended you start at the beginning (that'd be uh, here), which will ease you into the universe. If you want to be reminded of updates, I post a copy to my blog at michael.tresca.net, which in turn sends an email every night to my subscriber list.
The cast includes elements of the typical "five-man band" consisting of the Hero (Quintus), the Lancer (Kham), the Smart Guy (Sebastian), the Big Guy (Beldin, Calactyte, or Vlad), and the Chick (Ilmare or Bijoux). We also have the Sacrificial Lamb (Holden) and the Sixth Ranger (Nauris).
- Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter) played by Joe Lalumia: A typical axe-wielding dwarf. Beldin tends to focus on defense, befitting his prestige class of dwarven defender.
- Bijoux (fihali druid) played by Melissa Tresca: A flying cat girl. You heard me, FLYING. CAT. GIRL. Only with fangs and wings.
- Calactyte (ss’ressen barbarian) played by Joe Tresca (eyeballistic.com): A member of the noble lizardfolk race, Calactyte's unstoppable battle rage often ends in a foe-tossing charge, swinging his huge axe and screaming, "MOMMA'S COMING!"
- Ilmarė Galen (elf bard/fighter) played by Amber Tresca: An emotionless elven bard. Her favorite weapons are the bow and the power of snark.
- Kham Val’Abebi (val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (jeremyrobertortiz.blogspot.com): A trenchcoat-wearing Byronic Hero. Frequently wields two or more of his throw away guns, such that he has been known to name them. Kham's burgeoning psychic powers inlucde precognition, bio-psychokinesis and later, teleportation. And how do you know Kham's using his psychic powers? His eyes glow. Of course.
- Sebastian Arnyal (dark-kin sorcerer) played by George Webster: A noble demon who is also a wizard. His deal with the devil (or more practically, his deal with his heritage) is a major plot point.
- Vlad Martell (human fighter) played by Matt Hammer: Just your typical fighter, really, who ends up with a lot more responsibility than he bargained for. His primary claim to fame is his really cool sword, which gets cooler (or hotter, actually) as the story progresses.
- Holden Ash’ur (human ranger/wizard) played by Robert Taylor (Storyboardz.net): Holden knows his way around a rifle, can cast spells, and throw grenades. He's a useful guy to have around. Which of course means he's doomed...
- Quintus Aurelius Ignatius (human cleric) played by Michael Tresca (michael.tresca.net): Quintus is a loud-mouthed authoritarian, combining the worst elements of strict military duty and fealty with religious fanaticism and an overbearing sense of morals. His weapon of choice is a spear.
- Nauris Drilian (human rogue/ranger) played by Mike Best: A loner who also happens to be a stone cold sniper who hunts "those damn dirty snakes."
For more information about the campaign, see the Gonnes, Sons and Treasure Runs Home Page.
==========
This story hour is a home game from the tournament module, "So Shall Ye Reap," written by Henry Lopez, set in the Arcanis setting. Our cast of characters includes:
- Quintus Aurelius Ignatius (human Clr1), played by Mike Tresca (that's me): michael.tresca.net
- Kham Val'Abebi (val Rog1), played by Jeremy Ortiz: Jeremy Robert Ortiz
- Ilmare Galen (elf Brd1), played by Amber Tresca (my wife)
- Vlad Martell (human Ftr1), played by Matt Hammer.
(Clarifying Note: Quintus does not normally use his first name with folks he doesn't know that well. That changes after the first adventure).
Our DM is the inimitable Robert Taylor, a gaming legend in his own time: Storyboardz.net
This is an interesting exercise in documenting what happened before as well as flexing my writing muscles so I can take a break from my novel.
What transpires below is very close to how the game took place, which does not strictly follow the adventure path. A lot of dialogue has been added as the characters were fleshed out later to help tie the plot together more tightly and extrapolate on each character's background.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed playing it!
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