Roanoke: Lost Colony

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Contents

[edit] Introduction

This page is the discussion, actual play, and record-keeping page for an on-going Roanoke game.

[edit] Premise

The mood of the game is "Brotherhood of the Wolves" meets "Lost." This is an episodic, on-going campaign running about once a month at the local game club in Seattle. Everyone who walks in is welcome, so different players may be there at any given game. Here is our actual play thread on RPGNet.

[edit] Characters

See also the Relationship map.

[edit] Player Characters

[edit] Simon Black, Blacksmith and Closet Alchemist

(Michael)

Alchemical Metallurgy 5, Strong as an Ox 4, Gruff 3. Fear: Being caught and executed as a heretic. (Episodes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

He is a craftsman first and a sorcerer and scientist a distant second. When Simon was a young man his common law wife Elizabeth charged with witchcraft and executed, and while he was cleared of all charges he fears the same thing happening to himself above all other things. He joined in this expedition because the man who had levied charges against his wife had been snooping around some of Simon's suppliers for his experiments. Right after that Simon went and to join up with the expedition and was given his shares because the colony still needed a smith.

Simon is most certainly not the most pious of people and drinks a bit much when he has nothing else to do, though he is very industrious when there is work to be done. Simon probably likes Briath Madog well enough though he thinks he needs to loosen up a bit. Because Miss Emme Merimoth is a herbalist she reminds him of his dead wife so her company both comforts & torments him so he just try's to avoid her. Simon more fears then dislikes the Reverend Ezekiel Parris though he does remind him somewhat of his father and so will in most cases tend to obey him. Simon probably likes Haunce Walters well enough, and thinks he is a fine enough sort to sit about with and shoot the breeze, though has no strong feelings toward him one way or the other. Simon probably likes Thomas Vessel and while the man doesn't tend to stick in his mind part of him recognizes his own secretiveness in the man and while he finds him standoffish would also feel a strong desire to come to the man's defense. Simon doesn't really know Charity yet and has yet to make any firm opinion's about her.

[edit] Lady Charity de Warwick, Pirate Hunter

(Sophie)

Pirate Captain 5, Sharp As A Tack 4, Would I Lie? 3. Fear: Betrayal. (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Charity's father was the famous captain Robert de Warwick, a privateer and pirate hunter. When he was killed in a boarding action a year ago, she picked up his sword, taking over his ship and mission. She's been hired by John White to find and fight the threat to the colony, be it savages, Spaniards or, as some whisper, the devil himself. Alas, her party was drowned when their pinnace sank in sight of the island, and now the weather is too rough for the ship to come back and send a boat through the Outer Banks until next spring.

Lady Charity can speak English, Spanish, and a coarse smattering of Italian and French.

And her secret: Capitan Caridad de Villaguerra may or may not be Warwick's illegitimate daughter; it's hard to tell. She was raised as a little sea rat in the Caribbeans and fiercely hate the British who always treated her as a mongrel half-blood. She became a crew member on a small Spanish raider, worked her way up to officer, then managed to take control. She led the vessel on a few expeditions against the British; they wouldn't have objected to pillaging Spanish treasure ships, but those were too heavily defended. She killed Warwick herself in battle then, claiming he'd been her long-lost father and the man who abandoned her mother.

Then along the Spanish Main she heard the rumour that an Irishman who had jumped ship from a British privateer and defected to Spain claimed that England was establishing a secret New World colony in order to better mount expeditions against Spanish convoys. The reward for anyone who could find the English privateer base or, better yet, destroy it and bring proof, was substantial. Caridad decided to go search for the secret base, leading a crew of scurvy dogs, but as a woman could not keep them in check and they eventually mutinied.

Fortunately for her, she had led them to enough plundering that had some supporters and they manage to secretly free her at night, rowing her ashore in a dinghy. Her loyal crew was trying to get the boar through one of the breaks in the barrier islands, when there was an accident; she got knocked on the head, and knew no more.

[edit] Alice Langston, Feisty Widow

(Meg)

Busybody 5, Manage the Household 4, Defend the Hearth 3. Fear: Isolation. (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Alice is a self-reliant widow who bosses her son Richard and her daughter-in-law Molly to within an inch of their lives -- for their own good, of course. She also has a firm grip on the rumour mill of the colony.

[edit] Braith Madog, Unhangable Loner

(Johnzo)

Cannot be harmed 5, Meant for Great Things 4, Carpenter 3. Fear: The Drink. (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6)

A Welsh laborer working in London, Braith was condemned to the gallows for beating a noble to paralysis while drunk in a tavern. However, he could not be hung -- three times they tried, and three times the rope broke before his neck did. Even the most expert hangman in England could not kill Braith.

Word of his plight reached John White as White was mounting his Roanoke expedition. White purchased Braith from jail and decided to bring him along to Roanoke as a good-luck charm. If God refused to take this man by hanging, Mr. White reasoned, He certainly would also refuse to take him by storm or scurvy. His faith in Braith was justified when the flyboat commanded by Edward Spicer, abandoned by Simon Fernandez in the Bay of Portugal and on which Braith had been traveling, reached Roanoke safely in 1587 with all souls and supplies intact.

Braith has repented his sins and is terrified of relapsing. He is very quiet and keeps to himself. When the drink gets into him, though, he changes completely, becoming boisterous and aggressive. Luckily for him, the colony is a dry place...

Note: the Cannot Be Harmed is more of a luck thing than an Unbreakable kind of thing. He's not physically invulnerable, he's just supernaturally lucky.

[edit] Miss Emme Merrimoth, Dorset Farmgirl

(Laura)

Herbology 5, Archery 4, Storytelling 3. Fear: Emotional confinement. (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Excerpts from the Journal of Emme Merrimoth

"April the first in the year of our Lord 1587

"I have decided to start my journal now, while I am waiting to board ship. My aunt has gifted me with a leather journal. When she learned that I was literate, she thought it would be the best gift she could give me. She wants me to write my adventures down to preserve them for posterity. I suppose I can’t argue with that, even though I will never marry and have children of my own. The other colonists’ descendents might enjoy reading the history of their ancestors from my point of view.

"Well reader, whoever you might be, you must be wondering how a young farm girl from Dorset learned her letters. It was all thanks for my father’s brother, my uncle John Merrimoth. He is the vicar of Melcombe, the town where my father has his farm. He held the odd belief that anyone who was willing to learn should be taught their letters.

"My uncle had been favored because of my mother’s connections. She was the local squire’s daughter and could have married much higher than a farmer. Her family didn’t approve of her choice, but they did not entirely cut off relations with her. Her father saw what a fine mind her new brother-in-law possessed and decided to sponsor him in the church. John could have risen much higher than a vicarage in Melcombe, but he loved Dorset and had no desire to leave. Before my mother died she asked her brother-in-law to teach her daughter and he kept that promise.

"May the eighth in the year or our Lord 1587

"We are under way at last. My aunt, my mother’s windowed sister, and my cousin, her son saw me off in Portsmouthe when we left on the six and twentieth of April. I am certain my cousin was happy to see me go. I sometimes thought that he guessed that I had run away from my father, but found it too much trouble to try and send a messenger to Dorset to find the truth. My aunt was just happy to see her sister’s child and kept telling me how much I resembled my mother. Aunt Elisabeth married much more appropriately than my mother. I never learned if she led a happier life because of it. Judging by her son’s character I would think her husband was not easy to get along with. Perhaps she would have been sympathetic to my running away before my father forced me to marry our neighbor’s son.

"It is not any great hatred for Master Harold that caused me to flee from the home I have known all my life, but rather the fear that my own father helped create in me. My mother was with child seven times in the seven years she was married to my father. Of those seven children, I, the middle child, was the only one to survive. When I was only four years old, my mother died giving birth to her seventh stillborn child. The infant was a boy, who my father called Jacob and buried in a tiny grave beside our siblings and my mother. I have no desire to share her fate. I will not become a brood mare and die giving birth to one too many children for my husband.

"The midwife, Janice, who is the one who taught me the ways of herbs and medicines, told me that it was unlikely that I would have the trouble giving birth that my mother did. She, it seems was a tiny weak little noblewoman, while I’m a fine strong Dorset girl. That may be true, but if God saw fit to take my mother at the tender age of four and twenty, I don’t see why he should spare me if I followed her same path.

"I was tempted to flee to France and join a convent. Uncle John would be horrified to hear me say such a thing. To him a Catholic is the only thing worse than a Puritan. I decided against this course because I just don’t have it in me to be obedient to authority. There it is, another good reason for me never to marry even with the son of God as my groom."

[edit] Michael the Miller

(Peter)

After disappearing in the first few days after landfall, Michael the miller, also called Michael Miller, has now returned more than two months later. He emerged from the woods dragging a heavy millstone which he says he'd been carving.

[edit] Paiyn, Runaway Slave Child

(Kevin)

Wilderness Survival 5, Trustworthy 4, Spear Throwing 3. Fear: Isolation. (Episodes 1, 2)

Paiyn is a small African boy who was captured off the Gold Coast and kept as a serant and cabin boy by Captain Ferdinando. When he saw his last chance to escape the cruel man, just as the Tiger was sailing away from Roanoke and the doomed colony, Paiyn jumped off and swam to the island.

[edit] Reverend Ezekiel Parris, Fire-and-Brimstone Preacher

(Cain)

Fire-and-Brimstone Preacher 5, Ex-Soldier 4, Confess Your Sins 3. Fear: Loss of faith. (Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Reverend Parris is coming to the American colony after a colorful life as a soldier. On the Battlefield, he had a vision, and later resigned his commission to become a Puritan clergyman. He has come to the new world to find a place to practice his faith without hindrance; but why he's not ministering to the Puritans of England is something of a mystery.

The real reason the good reverend left England was because he was involved in a scandal. Amidst rumors that he had mistreated a girl accused of posession, it was quietly agreed that he would never minister to an English congregation again. Rather than make a huge affair our of the deal, he was simply asked to move to the Americas.

[edit] Thomas "the Butcher" Vessel

(Taylor)

Knife-work 5, Butcher 4, Leaves no Impression 3. Fear: Being Discovered as an Escapee. (Episode 3, 4, 5, 6)

Trappings: Lower-Class Clothes on back/ Tools-of-trade (Knives, Salt, Etc.)/ Ratty Bible / Bag

Thomas Vessel was born in to a tailoring family in England. Trained up as a butcher, he worked a shop in London, having a family and children. after his 31st birthday, his shop was closed by a wealthy merchant for redevelopment. Without any money, he watched as pox ravaged him and his family. He was the only one to survive, and he blamed the wealthy for the death of his family. He began systematically entering the homes of the rich and killing them with his butcher knives, starting the scare of the villainous "Butcher" After killing half a dozen wealthy families, he met a little girl who looked like one of his own, and realized the air of his ways. Leaving the child alive, within a day he hopped on a boat as a laborer, to escape his frightening past and to seek salvation.

Thomas proves to be a very pious individual. He almost always does what he's told without fuss, and is constantly flipping through his bible when nothing is going on. He isn't Catholic, or Evangelical, and thus unlikely to confess to anyone who he is. It may become apparent with time, especially to those with suspisions; however, he would never say that he is the Butcher.

Although Thomas died a heroic death at the end of Season 1, saving the boy Paiyn from a fate worse than death, Thomas has now returned as a ghost; only Goody Alice appears able to see him.

[edit] Haunce Walters, Devious deck hand and opportunist

(Mark)

Shooting 5, Bullshitting 4, Sailing 3. Fear: Getting caught. (Episodes 1, 3, 4, 6)

Haunce is a merchant sailor from Portsmouth, whose father was a wealthy businessman from Bavaria, who ran afoul of the local Lutheran church, and had to emigrate to England. His sons "Hans" and "Willhelm" eventually became known as Haunce and William.

Haunce's father used the last of his fortune to start a merchant transport business before he died, but unfortunately, William and Haunce ran the business into the ground.

Their maritime connections allowed them to join the colony, just in time to escape from their creditors, to whom they owe a rather large sum of money. They had duped their creditors into financing and insuring a venture to import beer from Hannover. They claimed that the ship sank, and the cargo was lost, and therefore the creditors should recoup their losses from their insurers. The insurers however, were more diligent in their investigation than Haunce and William would have liked, and discovered that in fact there never was a cargo of beer nor even a ship. The insurers refused to pay the creditors. Naturally, the creditors are keen to prosecute the brothers Walters, and get whatever satisfaction they can.

The New World offers them a bit of excitement, escape, and the opportunity to screw someone else out of their hard earned money. Er, I mean offer sound investment advice.

[edit] Non-Player Characters

Arnold Archard 
one of the advisors to John White.
Jane Archard 
wife of Arnold Archard.
Diego 
notorious Spanish pirate. He is known for a decidedly cavalier attitude towards such things as the continued life of his prisoners.
Edward Chelsea 
captain of the fifteen-men garrison previously left on Roanoke.
Simon Fernandez (a.k.a., Ferdinandez, Ferdinando) 
captain of the fleet that brought the colonists to Roanoke. He has since sailed off for England.
Thomas Harris 
colony doctor. A fussy and fastidious man who apparently never quite realized how difficult it is to remain properly groomed and dressed in a colony until he got here.
George Howe 
one of the advisors to John White. Killed while crabbing soon after landing on the island, he was shot with arrows and had his head beaten in. He returned as a ghost, though this only become clear in Season 2.
Richard Kemme 
leader of the colony militia.
Molly Langston 
daughter of Alice and wife of Richard.
Richard Langston 
husband of Molly. A cooper by trade. Went missing during the search for the grain and possible Indian thieves; returned with Hugh Taylor, and a story of having been taken to an abandoned Secotan town on the mainland and tortured by Indians.
Manteo 
Croatoan Indian. Traveled to England with previous expedition and now returned. Currently acts as colony’s intermediary with the Croatoan.
Henry Payne 
one of the advisors to John White.
Rose Payne 
wife of Henry Payne
Sir Walter Raleigh 
Patron of John White and of the colony.
Rodrigo 
Capitan Caridad de Villaguerra's trusted man, now presumed dead from drowning in the storm that left her stranded on Roanoke Island.
Hugh Taylor 
gentleman farmer. Went missing during the search for Richard Langston; returned with Richard, and a story of having been taken to an abandoned Secotan town on the mainland and tortured by Indians. Revealed to be a traitor in Walsinham's employ in the last episode of Season 1, just before being killed when his pistol malfunctioned.
Tesena 
daughter of Winshoa, just recently converted to christianity and baptized by Reverend Ezekiel.
Philip van der Hooke 
Dutch sailor who was cheated by Haunce out of a lot of money. Recued from a beached whaling ship, but now dead.
Sir Francis Walsingham 
Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, and Raleigh's rival.
John White 
governor of Roanoke colony. Currently traveling to England to secure more supplies.
Winshoa 
current chief of the Croatan, just recently converted to christianity and baptized by Reverend Ezekiel.

[edit] Sets

[edit] Roanoke Village

A small village built mainly of wood. A partial stockade surrounds it. Evidence of the prior burning is evident in some of the houses and parts of the stockade. There are small garden plots for winter vegetables, but no large scale farming.

Church/meeting hall
Ezekiel Parris holds frequent services here. It is a small, rough hewn and rather dark and drafty building lit by a few lamps. It is packed daily, morning and evening, with colonists desperate to hear a word of hope in their dire situation. When town meetings are called, this is where they are held.
Haunce Walter’s hovel
Located towards the back of the stockade, near a pile of burned timbers that the colonists have been piling up, Walter’s hovel is barely worthy of the title of "dwelling". Its actually much more snug below than above, as the crafty sailor has built it on top of the excavated cellars of one of the former buildings, but from above it looks to be a ruin.
Emme Merrimoth’s hut
The only structure so far located outside the stockade, Merrimoth’s hut is built just inside the edge of the forest along the trail leading south towards Dasamonquepuec. It is a small, but trim building, looking like a frontier home from the outside, but the interior is very reminiscent of a Dorsetshire farmhouse.
Braith Madog’s home and workshop
One of the best designed and sturdiest structures in Roanoke village, Madog’s carpentry skills are clearly demonstrated in its construction. Attached to the house is a small shop where Madog does his carpentry work. It is filled with carpentry tools and partly completed projects.
Braith Madog’s raft
Initially little more than some partly burned wood scavenged from the former colony site and lashed together, over time Madog’s pole raft becomes nicer as the carpenter works on it, adding an additional feature here and there, sealing the wood, replacing some of the more damaged pieces of wood as more becomes available, etc.
George Howe’s Grave
located in a small plot just outside the front gate of the stockade, overlooking the sea. Colonists must pass it when entering or leaving the stockade.
Thomas Vessel’s smokehouse
A small, but sturdily built structure located somewhat apart from the rest of the village, but inside the stockade. There is usually smoke coming out of cracks in the walls, as well as a deer carcass or two hung for dressing outside. Vessel is usually out here working on cleaning or salting something down. There is a copious supply of wood stacked to one side, and several barrels for offal.
Croatoan Village
A small, impoverished Indian village built near the sea. There are many canoes on the beach, and life here, though not rich, is vibrant. The Croatoan tend to be suspicious when colonists are around, and it is not uncommon to see women grasp their children protectively and men eye the English with suspicion. Still there is no overt violence and even some friendship.

[edit] Dasamonquepuec

Former village of the Secotan on the southern tip of Roanoke Island. Now deserted and partly burned.

[edit] Roanoke Cave

A small cave set into a hill towards the middle of the island. It has about the area of a small house, but a fairly low ceiling, and is somewhat damp. The colonists have not really taken much of a look at it so far, but it is rumored that the first colony found some Indian tools here when they explored the island.

[edit] Status

Doom score
12 points
Population 
117 left + Paiyn + Lady Charity + 2 newborn + 13 soldiers - 6 dead (5 of which are walking again!) - 3 captured by Indians - 1 captured by Jumlin's children - 1 eaten by a giant shark - Kemme - Hugh Taylor = 121

[edit] Funnies and Out-Takes

[edit] Roanoke: Grindhouse Version

Edmund 
Having just seen Grindhouse this weekend, I got to thinking - what if Roanoke was done as a B-grade slasher flick? The result -


FADE IN: Medium boom shot of Roanoke colony on the shores of Roanoke island

VOICEOVER: "They were stranded on hostile shores, a thousand miles from home. Everyone expected them to die.

CUT TO: Rev. Ezekiel leading prayers in church.

REV. EZEKIEL (solemnly) : "And they shall know that I am the Lord, and I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them."

VOICEOVER: "But what they DIDN'T KNOW was that THESE Puritans... were PURE SAVAGE FURY!"

(As Rev. Ezekiel speaks a zombie rises up behind him).

REV. EZEKIEL: "And thus sayeth the Lord - SMITE WITH THINE HAND..."

(Ezekiel spins and delivers a punch to the zombie's face, knocking out most of its teeth)

REV. EZEKIEL: "... and STOMP WITH THY FOOT!"

(Ezekiel delivers a spinning back kick to the zombie, knocking its head flying. The zombie collapses and Rev. Exekiel straightens his vestments)

REV EZEKIEL: "And say - 'alas for evil abominations!'".

(Cue Grindhouse music)

VOICEOVER: "Deadly blades!"

CUT TO LADY CHARITY, dressed in slinky faux pirate bustier, holding a cutlass in either hand and killing Spanish pirates by the score

VOICEOVER: "Fast boats!"

CUT TO: BRAITH and PAIYN frantically poling their raft while behind them a giant fin gets closer and closer

VOICEOVER: "Powers from a realm beyond knowledge!"

CUT TO: SIMON BLACK working on a blade at his forge. He places the red hot metal on his anvil, then pours a strange liquid over the blade, which begins to glow with blue light.

VOICEOVER: "Non-stop action!"

CUT TO: THOMAS VESSEL, soaked in blood, pouncing on a CROATOAN indian and slitting his throat, laughing maniacally the whole time.

VOICEOVER: "And SEXY hoes!"

CUT TO: EMME MERRIMOTH and ALICE LANGSTON, in full Puritan garb, each hoeing a row in a field. Several CHILDREN OF JUMLIN burst out of the brush and charge towards them and they use their hoes as quarterstaves, doing acrobatic flips a la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to fight them off.

VOICEOVER: "It's a black powder EXPLOSION of terror!"

CUT TO: HAUNCE WALTERS firing his arquebus, filling the screen with powder smoke.

CUT TO: BRAITH AND PAIYN running towards the camera with hundreds of CROATOAN indians behind them

CUT TO: REV. EZEKIEL leading prayers in the main square. Everyone is ragged and covered in dirt, and several bodies can be seen scattered around. The group is lit by flames from the burning stockade.

CUT TO: LADY CHARITY, dagger between her teeth, swinging from the rigging of a ship to land on the quarterdeck and engage CAPTAIN DIEGO in a sword fight.

CUT TO: EMME MERRIMOTH in the forest at night. She is backed up against a tree, while from the darkness hundreds of yellow eyes stare at her.

CUT TO: SIMON BLACK, standing on Braith's raft,. with a blacksmith's hammer in each hand, swinging at hundreds of tentacles that are emerging from the water.

CUT TO: ALICE LANGSTON opening an old chest found buried in the forest. A golden glow emanates from inside. Behind her a shadowy figure rises, holding a sword.

CUT TO: HAUNCE WALTERS. One arm has been severed above the elbow, and SIMON BLACK has just finished mounting Haunce's arquebus in its place.

HAUNCE: "Groovy"

VOICEOVER: "ROANOKE! ISLAND OF BLOOD! Coming soon to a theater near you! This film is not yet rated."

(I'd run it in octaNe)

[edit] Resources

Roanoke - The game
Roanoke Colony and Virginia
John White art and prints
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