Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Thoughts after session #1 ...

1. Player count is at max. No new players will be added, even if one player drops for RL. (If two drop, one could be added.) PCs may die in this game; if so, the player has the option of making a new character or saying "OMG! You all suck!" and someone else joining.

2. If people wish (see 1) I could rub sessions more like movies. Stuff. Stuff. Cut to other group. Stuff. Etc. I'm not sure if this would be better, but it could be vs a bit of a laggy response time.

3. All rules questions should go into #game1-ooc. Not me. I don't have time for it, with 2-3 channels and the same for msg going on sometimes.

4. Yuki should have adapted to Rei's demon bit by the next morning, in game. Sophie is, of coure, another kettle of fish, but he doesn't much like kettles and is only a fan of fish that isn't messy when you eat it ....

5. Now, insanity wise, Kage has stepped up to the bat. Rather handidly. *cheers from the audience*

6. For reasns of time, sessions will be no longer than 6 hours (6pm - midnight PST, 9pm - 3am EST). This is to allow players to not have to leave early and miss out on stuff that they would reasonably have involved themselves in.

If you do have to leave early, make up an in-game reason, and use it. If you're going to be late for the next session, ensure your PC is away from the others at the end of the current sessionn if possible.

8. Let's see if we can leave Trail intact for more than a week, eh?

9. Give thought to what your PC will do for a job. Kage had the interesting idea of the PCs owning a bar*. The circus also needs people, and will be stuck in Trail for a while (and seriously strapped for cash) trying to repair the ferris wheel :P Toss others ideas onto the table.

And try not to get your face ripped off during the dicussion on jobs you are suited for.
*Insert your own obligatory Artimus reference here :)

9.2. This is added because of the law of fives.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Haunted Sample PC

Name: Darryl Hannigan
Player: Alcar (Sample NPC)

Summary: Drifter with strange talents he doesn't understand looking for the meaning in his life.

Description: Darryl is a tall, lithe man in his late twenties in excellent shape with African-black skin and black eyes and hair. He is NOT a basketball player, and is wearing jeans, a sweater, a jean jacket, sneakers, and gloves.

Personality: Darryl is a normal, regular person trying to cope with a gift he doesn't understand.

Trigger Event(s): The deaths of a lover and a friend later changed his life in mundane ways. Later, seeing signs and having visions when he touched people.

Obsession: Being the best that he can be (Parkour)

Wound Points: 50

STIMULI
Rage: People who do drugs.
Fear: Being trapped in one place (broken bones)
Noble:

STATS
Body: 60 (lithe)
Speed: 50 (quick)
Mind: 50 (college schooling)
Soul: 70 (observant)

SKILLS
Body:
*Parkour*: 60% [Obsession]
Beat The Shit Out Of Nasty People: 35%

Speed:
Dodge: 25%
Driving: 10% [Only got a license recently]
Initiative: 40%
Knives and their friends: 30%

Mind:
General Education: 20%
Notice: 25%
Conceal: 15%
Map places: 35%

Soul:
Charm: 15%
Lying: 15%
See Signs: 20%
Psychometry: 50%

Map places is a mental aid in Parkour, helping him figure out the quickest way to get from A to B. It also helps ensure he seldom gets lost anywhere, and is useful in getting a "feel" for a place.
See Signs: This ability is passive, working only when the GM feels like having it happen. It basically is "signs" that Darryl sees, often real signs or paper headlines that change. The effect IS visible to others, if they look, but most people seldom do, and the sign isn't for them, anyway. The source of them is unknown, but they act as guides and hunches, directing Darryl places or giving him hints. He doesn't always get them, of course, and sometimes the signs are just a feeling: keep moving, you haven't found what you're looking for yet. (This, of course, would be more useful if he knew WHAT he was looking for.)
Psychometry: Darryl gets visions of things when he touches them. It doesn't always happen with objects, and almost always with people. Generally he only gets one a day from one person, and from things - well, it depends. If his car is low on gas and needs a tune-up, it could give quite a few. He's slowly coming to terms with the idea that cars and the like are as alive as people, but isn't sure what it all means, if anything.

INVENTORY
- A long volkswagon with a big trunk and, when the back seat folds down, enough room for two (or even the) people to sleep in it quite comfortably. Fake wood paneling, all of that. It's from the early 90s :)
- Clothing, duffel bag of more clothing, credit cards.
- A nice nest egg (at least $80K) in the bank. He works odd jobs for people as he goes to pay for gas and basic expenses.

BACKGROUND

Darryl had a very normal, boring childhood as far as such things go. He had loving parents, an adopted sister he got along with rather well, and some friends. Sure, he was chubby, but he didn't let what people say bother him (he seldom has) and life was pretty much normal. Then came high school, and girls who didn't like the geeky kids who played computer games and looked like they avoided sunlight as a plague. He was 15 when he decided he was tired of being himself and decided to become someone else.

The next year was hell, but he survived. His grades nose-dived, but he ran, did track, played in sports, and confused the hell out of his old friends and family. He got a girlfriend, began to do better in school again, and then one night three years later he went to her place to find she'd OD'd. He never did find out on what Karen had took, or why. He knew she had some problems with her family, but he'd been waiting for her to open up about them herself. Instead she'd opened her wrists and then her mind.

The doctors had tried to comfort him at the hospital, saying she'd at least bound her wrists, probably changed her mind, but with the drugs and blood loss hadn't been able to call 911. He listened, he heard: it didn't matter. Sometime during that night, he left his old life behind as well. He waited a week for the funeral, saying all the right things to all the right questions. Graduation was in one week; he left the next day, unable to stay any longer.

He found refuge on the east coast, in New York City, reasoning that if California was Heaven, NYC had to be hell. It was just his bad luck that the mayor had gone on a "clean up the streets spree", but some parts of the city never listened, and he ended up in them, trying to understand why Karen had destroyed herself, why people did that, and what kind of lives they led. he ended up in a gang, and a leader eventually since he never did drugs and rarely drank. He was death on anyone who did drugs, once literally, but even though he was somewhere near the bottom, he knew there was no way he could fall far enough for it to matter, for him to understand.

So he left that, when he was 22, and enrolled in some cheap-ass college courses to become an assistant gym teacher at the less savoury schools in the city. It was there that he met Kelly, who was the other assistant gym teacher. She was big into parkour, and street fighting, and used to be a guy (a fact she told him when, one night while drunk, he asked if she'd like to get to know him better: he'd sobered up really fast). They got along well as friends and she introduced him to the sport. He turned out to be really good at it, a natural even, and won the local city competition the next year.

He and Kelly moved in two years later, just as friends. They scrimped and saved for more courses, to try and become real gym teachers, and though money was tight, life was good. Darryl was even thinking about calling home, since he couldn't stay "trapped in the local parkour scene for long," as Kelly put it. He waited, unsure what to say, until six months ago he was walking down the street on the way home from school and the local movie theatre sign changed into "Don't Call Home Yet". Darryl thought it was just a freak occurrence, until signs continued to "speak" to him, words in the paper moving. Sometimes other people saw them, sometimes not; the message was always for him.

[The day of "the signs" day is the exact day Karen died. This is just a coincidence, of course.]

He thought he must be going mad, but managed to start ignoring them, even though sometimes it was hard. Then one evening he came back from work, went to take a plate from Kelly, and their hands touched. And he saw into Kelly's soul. Images, thoughts, knowledge. He knew the cancer she was dying of, and the terrible fear of dying alone she had. He'd blurted out "You have cancer?" in surprised, and she'd been shocked, confused. He'd tried to explain, failing, and left the room, unable to deal with her fear.

She died two months later, after they'd come to terms with - well, It. He was wearing gloves, and the only person who came. There were no signs, but there was also nothing holding him to the city anymore: the bureaucracy hindered his advancement (he tried not to think it was racial; but it was hard not to: the scorn of white people was an old memory). He sold the apartment and bought a volkswagon, putting the money Kelly had left him in her will into a savings account and leaving the city.

Since then, he's just wandered, never staying for long in one place, pulled hither and thither by hunches and signs, and touching things, understanding them, and doing what he can to make sense of this strange gift and the world as it now is to him. He's wondering if it's time to go home now, but hadn't seen a sign telling him this yet and has no desire to go on his own. He keeps telling himself he's not afraid, and doesn't have answers for questions. He's turning 27 in three days, and wondering what his life will be like now that he's crazy ...

FAMILY

Frank Hannigan (Father, 58) - His father was a doctor, and still is. Just a GP, but it's been enough for the family to do moderately well, and they've not moved from their house, just added a pool and helped fund the local park down the road (firmly refusing to have it put in his the family name, and the donation was anonymous). He wishes he knew where his son was, and often checks obituaries of national papers, but has done nothing towards finding Darryl, figuring his son will come home when he wants to, and holding to that.

Mary Hannigan (Mother, 56) - Mary loves her sons. Darryl's room hadn't been changed since he left it, and a part of her died when he left as he did. Oh, she knows he has his reasons, but even so - it's been almost 10 years, and she's afraid he's died, or something worse has happened, and doesn't understand how things ended up as they did. She loves her other son and husband, and can go for almost a month without wondering where Darryl is sometimes, but she cries more in private than she should. She knows she should move on, that this isn't healthy, but there's a hole in her heart that nothing can fill, except answers. IN her normal life, she works as a secretary for her husband, and helps out at a local soup kitchen.

Chris Hannigan (Brother (adopted), 26) - Chris was always welcomed in the family. His childhood before he was adopted (at age 6) isn't something he ever talks about, and he loves his family, and adored his brother. He tried not to hate Darryl for running away, but part of him still does, knowing that no matter how hard he tries, he can't fill the gap in his parent's lives. He is, currently, finishing a business major at the local university and unsure what to do with his life after that.

FRIENDS

None, at present, besides the car he's named Bessie. He had a few in NYC, other teachers, some students and their parents, a few of the gang members who'd reformed, but no one he was really close to. His childhood best friend (before he got into Sports) was Harry Blackmore, who is likely a computer hacker with the NSA or something. His friends after that were some guys and girls in the track team. Many likely stayed in town, but he never kept in touch with anyone from home. (That being [Some town below Seattle], Washington].)

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Lirk and Orgg chat

Lirk and Orgg chat. Orgg is explaining hisn feelings for Lirk. Lirk is saying he understands if Orgg doesn't want anyone to know he's the king, and Orgg doesn't know he is the king ...


<AlcarDM> Likr just looks at the floor after Lee leaves :)
<AlcarDM> Lirk finally stops blushing and looks up.
* Orgg leans forward and looks at lirk
<Orgg> "I had hoped the girl would agree to become baron, to spare you the trouble. But it seems it comes to you after all."
* Orgg looks regretful
<AlcarDM> Lirk nods, a bit hesitantly. "I - I guess so."
<Orgg> "At least this marriage will take that pressure off of you."
* Orgg pauses, looking awkward.
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "But .. it won't be to Tamil. Asd marriages have to be...."
<Orgg> "Have to be?"
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "Uhm .. " he frowns. "I don't know a polite word for it."
<Orgg> "Oh... oh. I didn't think about that."
* Orgg scowls
<Orgg> "Not a good solution."
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "Oh! Right. not a .... uhm ...but .... " he takes a quick, nervous breath "Does the - the Code cover it?"
* Orgg shakes his head
<AlcarDM> Lirk squirms a bit, looking uncomfortable. "Do you .... know about it? I mean ..... I don't .. not that stuff..." he trails off
<Orgg> "The code is mostly concerned with honour and battle, neither of which come from exploits in the bedroom." Then: "Unless they involve killing somethiing."
* Orgg nods
<Orgg> "Up north we do not conceal things, so much. What is it you wish to know?"
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "I mean ....." he takes a deep breath, refusing to loook at you "I think Lee is going to disguise himself as Tamil. And .. and that would mean marriuage, I guess.."
<Orgg> "Lee will what!? Oh. I see." Orgg looks thoughtful, then a little angry, and a little confused. "I saw you... looking at him. I would think you'd be happy." snappishly.
<AlcarDM> Lirk blinks and looks at you, looking shocked. "I ....I .......I.....I do ......n't.,..." he stops, gulps a breath. "I .. " and looks away. 'I've never .. never lived, until I got healed. al my time was just the present, always. No past, no future. I doin't know. I don't know .. I'm sorry?"
* Orgg stops scowling, a shocked expression on his face.
<Orgg> "No, I am sorry. I spole in haste." a pause. "I was... jealous?" quietly.
<AlcarDM> Lirk makes a startled sound and looks at you ..... "because you're my friend?"
* Orgg stares at the ground for a while before answering
<Orgg> "No." He says, not looking at Lirk.
<Orgg> "I'm sorry. I will go."
<AlcarDM> Lirk touches your arm, hsitantly. "No .. I ...." he kneels on the floor quickly. "I don't want to dishonour you...."
<AlcarDM> (( he thinks you meant because you're his king :P ))
<Orgg> ((lol))
<Orgg> Orgg is just plain taken aback
<Orgg> "Dishonour me? How?"
<AlcarDM> LIrk: "When .. when you made me baron...."
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "I don't want to .. to ... tarnish that?"
* Orgg scowls, looks confused, scowls, looks confused. Then:
<Orgg> "What do you mean?"
<AlcarDM> Lirk blinks and looks up, startled. "Oh, I'm ... sorry." and scrambles to his feet. "I didn't mean to.."
* Orgg waits for Lirk to finish his sentence.
<AlcarDM> Lirk doesn't. "I shouldn't have said that, I guess. Sorry. I guess you don't like people knowing?"
* Orgg starts to nod, then looks confused again
<Orgg> "Knowing something that would tarnish my honour?"
* Orgg starts to look worried, and thinks *really* hard about the ceremony in which Lirk became baron.
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "No! Just ... you made meBaron. I .. I want to live up to that."
<Orgg> "But what does that have to do with...?"
* Orgg trails off, then just looks frustrated
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "With what?" looking confused now
<Orgg> ((lol, this is the most horrible conversation I have ever had =P))
<AlcarDM> (( LOL. ))
<Orgg> "With what we were talking about!"
<AlcarDM> (( Confusing pcs is fun :) ))
<Orgg> ((*laugh* indeed. An npcs, too =P))
<AlcarDM> Lirk: ".... making me baron? But I guess you don't want to"
<AlcarDM> (( oh yeah, of course :P ))
<Orgg> "What are you talking about!?"
<Orgg> Orgg is exasperated now =P
<Orgg> "You're already baron, aren't you?"
<Orgg> and confused, horribly =P
<AlcarDM> Lirk blinks, then nods.
<AlcarDM> he looks as confused as you are :)
* Orgg nods
<Orgg> "Okay. So you are Baron." *trying to get a grasp on things*
<Orgg> "But what does that have to do with dishonour?"
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "I ..I wouldn't want to . .to dishonour you. I want to be worthy of you!" then quickly: 'as a baron"
<Orgg> (lol)
* Orgg nods
<Orgg> "Oh. You follow the code; you have brought me only honour."
<Orgg> still, confused about where this came from =P
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "oh......."
<AlcarDM> He nods.
<Orgg> "Did you worry about dishonouring me somehow?"
<AlcarDM> Lirk nods again
<Orgg> "How?"
* Orgg lightbulbs
<Orgg> ((lol, this is truly awful =P))
<Orgg> ((now he thinks that lirk thinks that he is dishonouring orgg by spurning him =P))
<AlcarDM> (( LOL. Isn't it, though? ROFL! ))
<AlcarDM> Lirk; "By ....by not doing what's right?"
<Orgg> (loL!)
* Orgg pauses, and after an obvious emotional struggle, just says:
<AlcarDM> Lirk is looking ashamhed at having brough up the kingship at all .. obviously you don't to mention it....
<Orgg> "Wherever your heart leads you is the right choice in this. It is no dishonour in this choice."
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "But ... but what if .... if the choice isn't good for the Barony?" nervously
* Orgg mutters under his breath about no contest when a half-breed competes with an elf in these matters, then looks surprised at himself
<AlcarDM> (( ROFL ))
<Orgg> "Whatever you choose, we will make it work for the Barony."
* Orgg is confused by the question, though =p
<AlcarDM> 'lol.
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "Oh."
<AlcarDM> Lirk is silent, then gives one of his beautiful grins and looks happy. "Thanks!"
<AlcarDM> He hugs you
* Orgg hugs him back, somewhat hesitantly, smiles at the grin, then looks confused again, as he has no idea what just happened.
<Orgg> "Uh. Sure."
<AlcarDM> Likr steps back, looking a bit hesitant. "I .. I think I could do the ... marriage, for the barony. It's being loyal to my people."
* Orgg nods, looking a little disheartened. But a barbarian is ever-hopeful =P
<Orgg> "But?"
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "Duty's not the same as ... as love would be."
* Orgg nods
<Orgg> "You could still love... The marriage is just politics." he waves his hand at the word, to show how little he thinks of it =P
<Orgg> <AlcarDM> Lirk grins at that and nods. "I guess so. I just.. wasn't sure you'd approve."
<Orgg> * Orgg laughs
<Orgg> "Of course I approve."
<AlcarDM> Lirk looks a bit startled, and maybe .. hurt? "You .. do?"
<Orgg> "What is wrong?"
* Orgg becomes totally confused, yet again
<AlcarDM> Lirk: "Oh. Nothing."
<AlcarDM> There is motion in the doorwat as Tamil steps in
* Orgg starts and makes a Bad Time face
<Orgg> "Hello."
<AlcarDM> Tamil: "Lee sent me back. He's doing some ritual.'
* Orgg grimaces
<Orgg> "What sort of ritual?"
<AlcarDM> Tamil: "I don't know."
<AlcarDM> Tamil: "he plans to disguise as me so I can leave."
<AlcarDM> and as lee comes back, we end the session :p

Sunday, March 12, 2006

LOLAD Casting Call

THE CAST

Cecil - St. George the Dragonslayer, turned into a dragon for his crime. One of the last dragons in the world.
Dalv - See Kara.
Danric - Were raven (10 of them), eventually host of Dream and Memory and currently training the W-Men, a group of weres who will with Faline when she returns.
Erwin - The vampiric kitten.
Faline Blackstripe - Weretiger. Christian priest. Mother was eaten by a werewolf, and she was okay with it.
Jane - Environmentalist. Daughter of Cecil.
Kara - See Milenko.
Milenko - A fairy, often confused with a vampire.
Rei - Weretiger, in were form permanently. Possibly temporarily died opening the gate to the Winterland.
Salem - Necromancer who fell in love with the Reaper. Destroyed the Summerland by accident.
Simon - Were golden retriever.
Vaj - Werepanther speed racer, killed by mages.
Yuki Takuri - Werefox

NPCs of note

Baal - Minor weather god, former landowner.
The Changer - Former vampire, time travellers, was once Poisedon.
Edward DeAth - Former master vampire of San Fransisco. Former vampire.
George - Son of Cecil. Probably insane. Wants to confront his father on the Jerry Springer show.
Old Rabbit - Obscenely powerful insane were rabbit. Pack leader around Trail.
The Reaper (aka Tommy) - Death. (Custodian of, at any rate).

... let me know who/what I missed, or what should be changd/updated. Am ignoring some ofthe early characters (the sorcerer, the AI etc.)

lolad bit written yesterday...

I wrote it just after I came home from work. Add thoughts in comments :)

Lords of Life and Death:
The Retconning

For many centuries, mankind did not know what walked among them. Shielded by religion and science, by the twin comforts of Faith and Rationality, they forgot the world they'd known, save in myths and legends that seldom did more than offer faint warnings. Then came the year 2001. The real new millennium, in point of fact

What changed? Only people. Only children who didn't want to hide in shadows. People who wanted to be "famous". The children of this age, the age of denial, who neither understood nor were willing to take responsibility for their actions. This was nothing new - the supernatural community polices itself with a brutality that would leave human rights tribunals stunned in silent horror - but none of you are human, are you?

There have emerged several truths in the weeks following the Trail Incident and others like it: that no pebble feels responsible for an avalanche (whether it SHOULD is another matter entirely) and that people only believe what they want to. Yes, the supernatural community was, in theory, outed. But people see better effects on movies, and most copies of the tapes have "vanished", and people developed spontaneous amnesia and - well, you get the picture.

Locally, of course, it's another kettle of fish entirely. People can no long entirely disbelieve the reality around them, and no one is certain what to do. Fear leads to panic, panic leads to irrationality, and irrationality leads to stupid mistakes and potentially a body count that would appal Rambo.

There is safety in the Winterland, but prisons are always safe - and a storm is coming.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Lolad ..... again?

Based on thoughts in chat:

LOLAD 1, continued roughly where it left off (with edits by all concerned for plot/advancement things). LOLAD 2 and 3 don't happen, though references to LOLAD 2 (and characters from it) could crop up as fun in jokes.

System would be BESM. Because it's anime-oriented, very adaptable, and just plain fun. PC conversion would be done on a case by case basis - what you think PC should have, total cost .. then comparing tghe players totals and coming up with a general point base. Some PCs, like Cecil, would probably have more points, or at least free skills.

Err, and as per chat now ... NO Own Big Mecha. No Mechas. Unless, say, it's a mecha dragon and wants to mate with Cecil. Then it's okay.


Of the old players: Ideally, Caltak, Keith, and Chaos, as those were the 3 core at the end (with Yuki working her way up...). This game will, most likely, run after Haunted ends.

New players are welcomed. PC idea has to be cleared with Alcar, but I'm open to pretty much anything :) A vampire might be nice.... few have played one in LOLAD. Or human magician. Or tentacle monster alien .... whatever works. Integrating new PC into the old plot will be done by a tacit understanding that the onus is on the PLAYER to make their pc fit/adapt/be useful. Plots will be developed that "need" them (i.e. Kuth with La Fin :)) but beyond that it's up to you to make the pc fit.

More later. Probably.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

THE NEXT GAME

Haunted Houses, #game1 Style!

This is going to be a character-driven game. The Gm expects GOOD backgrounds (along with family members etc. on them) and they will come into play during the campaign.

Setting:

Earth. The real world. Except, you're a bit different. You can do something other people can't, or see things they can't, or just know things, or odd things happen around you .... it's just you*, and you have left your hometown because of it, or in spite of it.
* And/or family or some stranger who Taught You Things. This page is guideline, not gospel.

For whatever reason(s), you left home and took to wandering. You ended up [here], drawn to the small town by luck, chance, a premonition, or your Talent. (Or, say, getting kidnapped by drunken midgets. Whatever works :p) Depending on pasts and what everyone makes - for example one PC could live here as their home town and not have Run Away From It All - you'll meet up and be drawn to a house in the middle of the suburbs.

A haunted house, with a ghost....

And from there, we'll see :)

Themes:

- The Trouble With Normal (i.e. passing for it)
- Family, and the fact that we all betray our parents within us - both their strengths and weaknesses. It's about the characters coming to terms with who and what they are, and where they came from.
- Finding the magic in the mundane.
- Plus lots of others, I imagine. The goal is for a character drive rather than plot driven campaign. The characters, at some point, come to terns with what they are, what it's done to them and everyone else, and decide what they'll do with the talent they've been given.

System:

I was considering BESM, since I've never ran it, but UA is likely a lot more suited to this game. Potential players, comment here or in channel or wherever about which one you'd like to use.