is coming upon us again. During which time all games will likely be suspended while I wander off and write absurd amounts of words in a vain attempt to find meaning to my existence and stave off acknowledgement of how hollow and empty life is.
Or something like that :p
Friday, October 08, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Side Games...
What i call the 'side games' continue, with Prototype X. There have been a few now over the years since La Fin de Siecle, some successful, others not so. One or two have even had another player playing an NPC as a secret PC, which was all kinds of fun to gm.
For the most part, they tend to be modern games that lean to an anime feel, largely because it requires less prep and such on the part of the gm. The main character has knowledge of fighting, gathers up allies and weapons and so forth. With few exceptions, said games have been designed with one player in mind from the get-go and tend to be built on a spur-of-the-moment aspect around the character concept.
So far only Chaos has done these, but the offer is open to other regulars in game: sometimes a game idea simply works best with just one player, no matter what the idea may be.
Ones done thus far:
* La Fin. The first one and arguably the best thus far. spawned 2 sequels that should, ideally, have not existed, but were still fun regardless. To clarify: the setting had done all it needed to by the end of the first game, so the stuff after that never had that spark.
* Plague of Demons. This one was odd: RL got us for awhile and he game never took off again; it was approaching the final act of the plot. My original idea had been to wrap up the first game quickly, have the necromancer win (!) by losing and then set up a second, modern, game in the same world, with the PC having the advantage of the players knowledge of the setting. Could still happen, at some point.
* 'mgame' (One with Ericka as a teacher, never titled). A flawed idea of a PC as teacher of magical students that never quite worked. It did have another player play an npc, which did make for interesting fun.
* Succubi game. Run by chaos, and ran into the same problem as the above in principle: a character meant to know the setting/be a power in it prior to game and a PC whose player knows nothing of it (since it's often made on the fly) seldom works in the long run. Flawed PC concept for such a setting.
* The Book of Going Forth. Another odd one; it was meant to work in a more episodic manner, a la tv show seasons, but the player never did find it quick enough. Which is a pity: I may be tempted to revisit the setting with multiple players at some point.
For the most part, they tend to be modern games that lean to an anime feel, largely because it requires less prep and such on the part of the gm. The main character has knowledge of fighting, gathers up allies and weapons and so forth. With few exceptions, said games have been designed with one player in mind from the get-go and tend to be built on a spur-of-the-moment aspect around the character concept.
So far only Chaos has done these, but the offer is open to other regulars in game: sometimes a game idea simply works best with just one player, no matter what the idea may be.
Ones done thus far:
* La Fin. The first one and arguably the best thus far. spawned 2 sequels that should, ideally, have not existed, but were still fun regardless. To clarify: the setting had done all it needed to by the end of the first game, so the stuff after that never had that spark.
* Plague of Demons. This one was odd: RL got us for awhile and he game never took off again; it was approaching the final act of the plot. My original idea had been to wrap up the first game quickly, have the necromancer win (!) by losing and then set up a second, modern, game in the same world, with the PC having the advantage of the players knowledge of the setting. Could still happen, at some point.
* 'mgame' (One with Ericka as a teacher, never titled). A flawed idea of a PC as teacher of magical students that never quite worked. It did have another player play an npc, which did make for interesting fun.
* Succubi game. Run by chaos, and ran into the same problem as the above in principle: a character meant to know the setting/be a power in it prior to game and a PC whose player knows nothing of it (since it's often made on the fly) seldom works in the long run. Flawed PC concept for such a setting.
* The Book of Going Forth. Another odd one; it was meant to work in a more episodic manner, a la tv show seasons, but the player never did find it quick enough. Which is a pity: I may be tempted to revisit the setting with multiple players at some point.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Who Killed Cristal McIver?
My notes for that plot ....
This is basically going to be the Twin Peaks plot of the campaign. Cristal planned to bring Roy back, aided by Andy (magic) and Peter (arranging things in the club so she could make the ritual space). And then she died. Possibly murder, even though it’s somehow been arranged to look like suicide. [Of course, one PC knows she did it and another player knows OOCly but that’ll just add to the fun of it.]
Fact: Cristal is dead, and planned to bring Roy back.
Fact: someone made it out to be suicide.
Fact: Ike is certain someone tampered with the ‘information’ at the scene
Fact: Cristal had John (whose parents own Solomon Security Solusions) disable the cameras and such at her home last year, so parties could be more .... interesting.
[Theories, arranged by Ike from most-least likely]
Conjecture: Andy (who has used magic to try and kill Brodie) blames her for his failure(s), kiilled her.
Conjecture: Peter was sick of being second-place to Roy.
Conjecture: Harley killed her because Peter would be heart-broken and he’d get the club.
Conjecture: Brodie killed her, because all of this was her fault.
Conjecture: Matt has gone nuts because of the angel. Maybe crazy enough to kill the person responsible for it.
Conjecture: Rei killed her because she doesn’t want her brother back (or to protect Roy)
Conjecture: John supplied Harley with the info. about the cameras and such. John is a privacy-nut who hates his parents business and spies; perhaps unstable enough to kill Cristal himself
Conjecture: Her parents hired ninjas to kill her because she spent too much money.
Conjecture: Joni, or any other Popular Girl, did it out of spite that Cristal achieved her status via wealth.
Conjecture: The Coven wanted info on Andy/the rituals Cristal learned and went too far. (Other magicians could fall under this, or people trying to prevent Cristal from doing the Necromancy Ritual again.) And yeah, this one includes Ike himself.
Conjecture: Depending on her influence on the kendo club, the fencing club seeking students may have tried to prevent the kendo club from expanding itself, which is possible thanks to money Kevin got them. Taken to a further extreme, Kevin figured this might happen and arranged her death via proxy.
Conjecture: It *was* suicide, and someone is trying to make that it could have been murder. Parents, possibly for insurance.
Conjecture: Roy killed her for daring to attempt to bind his awesomeness.
This is basically going to be the Twin Peaks plot of the campaign. Cristal planned to bring Roy back, aided by Andy (magic) and Peter (arranging things in the club so she could make the ritual space). And then she died. Possibly murder, even though it’s somehow been arranged to look like suicide. [Of course, one PC knows she did it and another player knows OOCly but that’ll just add to the fun of it.]
Fact: Cristal is dead, and planned to bring Roy back.
Fact: someone made it out to be suicide.
Fact: Ike is certain someone tampered with the ‘information’ at the scene
Fact: Cristal had John (whose parents own Solomon Security Solusions) disable the cameras and such at her home last year, so parties could be more .... interesting.
[Theories, arranged by Ike from most-least likely]
Conjecture: Andy (who has used magic to try and kill Brodie) blames her for his failure(s), kiilled her.
Conjecture: Peter was sick of being second-place to Roy.
Conjecture: Harley killed her because Peter would be heart-broken and he’d get the club.
Conjecture: Brodie killed her, because all of this was her fault.
Conjecture: Matt has gone nuts because of the angel. Maybe crazy enough to kill the person responsible for it.
Conjecture: Rei killed her because she doesn’t want her brother back (or to protect Roy)
Conjecture: John supplied Harley with the info. about the cameras and such. John is a privacy-nut who hates his parents business and spies; perhaps unstable enough to kill Cristal himself
Conjecture: Her parents hired ninjas to kill her because she spent too much money.
Conjecture: Joni, or any other Popular Girl, did it out of spite that Cristal achieved her status via wealth.
Conjecture: The Coven wanted info on Andy/the rituals Cristal learned and went too far. (Other magicians could fall under this, or people trying to prevent Cristal from doing the Necromancy Ritual again.) And yeah, this one includes Ike himself.
Conjecture: Depending on her influence on the kendo club, the fencing club seeking students may have tried to prevent the kendo club from expanding itself, which is possible thanks to money Kevin got them. Taken to a further extreme, Kevin figured this might happen and arranged her death via proxy.
Conjecture: It *was* suicide, and someone is trying to make that it could have been murder. Parents, possibly for insurance.
Conjecture: Roy killed her for daring to attempt to bind his awesomeness.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Notes on the Prototype ...
what has come up thus far with regards to Kadmon:
As Kadmon proper:
When engaged or not, Kadmon is invisible to almost all video, audio and other forms of scanning. This ability cannot be turned off but does make it much harder for VC to find him.
* Kadmon's non-engaged persona was intended to spy, so he's very good at reading body language of humans and figuring out if they are lying to him or not.
* Is stronger and faster than humans, though it takes more energy to access functions when not engaged.
* 'skin' can't get dirty or harmed; Kadmon obviously has no blood, so being stabbed and the like would give up the disguise.
* Weighs 152 lb, can alter that to +/- 50 pounds.
* Can heal damage via electricity, over time.
* Senses are more than human in this form as well; has photographic memory and can record and play back events on other media if needed.
* Lastly, Kadmon can lie extremely well, even going so far as hiding the extent that certain things (like removal of a 'rib)actually cost from his host.
Engagement: Nik is able to do this by touch, regardless if Kadmon wants to or not. It's also been possible when the prototype is stuck on a rebooting cycle via thought rather than contact.
Abilities once engaged:
* Enhancement of Nik's regular senses.
* Access to radio waves, infravision, some degree of x-ray vision and so forth: basically a rather wide sensory array filtered through Kadmon and accessed as needed. Kadmon has noticed that his sensors do not extend to low-earth orbit.
* Increased speed, strength, and so forth. A physical high in some respects. Actual limits unknown thus far.
* Armour, the limits of which are untested. Kadmon is able to protect the host from feeling the effects of damage to an extent but Dr. Ledwin did die from being hit by a car during escape from VC.
* Increased speed, enough to seem to be a blur to even people in vehicles. Can be faster for short periods, but the limitations of the host (such as breathing) come into play.
* The armour is able to change appearance and become visible or not at Nik's discretion.
* Electrical absorption, which ca shut down technologies around Kadmon.
* Seeing electricity in power lines, people's brains, etc.
* Ability to zap people with electricity, including directed neural storms to the brain to cause strokes.
* Kadmon also seems able to absorb tin (and possibly other things) after running electricity through them.
Due to Nik's modifications, Kadmon can pick up wifi, access the 'net and hack. He's also been able, with great effort, to split off a part of himself and resist direct orders.
Potential: The ability to split parts of himself off means it should be possible to create duplicates, or at least a host for Pandora. Since Kadmon was intended to be able ot think and adapt, the end-limits of what he is capable of under Nik's guidance remain unknown.
Personality: Created to be a weapon used by a host, Kadmon defaults to doing what the host asks, though he has learned to ask 'why', a fact that horrifies Pandora. All things being equal, he would rather someone say, 'go do this' than go do something himself, which probably makes Pandora a back-up host as well in some situations. In Kadmon's case, this doesn't seem to be a desire to avoid responsibility as much as simply being how he was made, a fact he has defended when pressed by Nik.
Kadmon also views his memories/data as 'himself' and the loss of those to be a loss of self, something he abhors given the effort he has gone to acquire a sense of self. He has successfully refused direct orders to erase memories but later recanted and, presumably if pushed on the issue further, would have given in at the end.
Sexuality: Having been created as half a mated pair, Kadmon is not asexual when it comes to his own kind. Of which only he exists. Humans, on the other hand, so not seem to elicit any response at all.
Pandora: Originally intended to be a mate to Kadmon, she was shelved and turned into a AI to take over if Kadmon was damaged and was intended to be removed prior to the project being finished. She is a quantum computer and has limited use within Kadmon but has fun being an AI on the internet despite the existence of other ones.
Pandora is more mature than Kadmon, in many ways, and does seem able to treat certain orders as guidelines but lacks his ability to flat-out change and grow and has been shown to want to repair Kadmon, considering him to be damaged in his present state. On the plus side, she does have more of a sense of humour than Kadmon does.
As Kadmon proper:
When engaged or not, Kadmon is invisible to almost all video, audio and other forms of scanning. This ability cannot be turned off but does make it much harder for VC to find him.
* Kadmon's non-engaged persona was intended to spy, so he's very good at reading body language of humans and figuring out if they are lying to him or not.
* Is stronger and faster than humans, though it takes more energy to access functions when not engaged.
* 'skin' can't get dirty or harmed; Kadmon obviously has no blood, so being stabbed and the like would give up the disguise.
* Weighs 152 lb, can alter that to +/- 50 pounds.
* Can heal damage via electricity, over time.
* Senses are more than human in this form as well; has photographic memory and can record and play back events on other media if needed.
* Lastly, Kadmon can lie extremely well, even going so far as hiding the extent that certain things (like removal of a 'rib)actually cost from his host.
Engagement: Nik is able to do this by touch, regardless if Kadmon wants to or not. It's also been possible when the prototype is stuck on a rebooting cycle via thought rather than contact.
Abilities once engaged:
* Enhancement of Nik's regular senses.
* Access to radio waves, infravision, some degree of x-ray vision and so forth: basically a rather wide sensory array filtered through Kadmon and accessed as needed. Kadmon has noticed that his sensors do not extend to low-earth orbit.
* Increased speed, strength, and so forth. A physical high in some respects. Actual limits unknown thus far.
* Armour, the limits of which are untested. Kadmon is able to protect the host from feeling the effects of damage to an extent but Dr. Ledwin did die from being hit by a car during escape from VC.
* Increased speed, enough to seem to be a blur to even people in vehicles. Can be faster for short periods, but the limitations of the host (such as breathing) come into play.
* The armour is able to change appearance and become visible or not at Nik's discretion.
* Electrical absorption, which ca shut down technologies around Kadmon.
* Seeing electricity in power lines, people's brains, etc.
* Ability to zap people with electricity, including directed neural storms to the brain to cause strokes.
* Kadmon also seems able to absorb tin (and possibly other things) after running electricity through them.
Due to Nik's modifications, Kadmon can pick up wifi, access the 'net and hack. He's also been able, with great effort, to split off a part of himself and resist direct orders.
Potential: The ability to split parts of himself off means it should be possible to create duplicates, or at least a host for Pandora. Since Kadmon was intended to be able ot think and adapt, the end-limits of what he is capable of under Nik's guidance remain unknown.
Personality: Created to be a weapon used by a host, Kadmon defaults to doing what the host asks, though he has learned to ask 'why', a fact that horrifies Pandora. All things being equal, he would rather someone say, 'go do this' than go do something himself, which probably makes Pandora a back-up host as well in some situations. In Kadmon's case, this doesn't seem to be a desire to avoid responsibility as much as simply being how he was made, a fact he has defended when pressed by Nik.
Kadmon also views his memories/data as 'himself' and the loss of those to be a loss of self, something he abhors given the effort he has gone to acquire a sense of self. He has successfully refused direct orders to erase memories but later recanted and, presumably if pushed on the issue further, would have given in at the end.
Sexuality: Having been created as half a mated pair, Kadmon is not asexual when it comes to his own kind. Of which only he exists. Humans, on the other hand, so not seem to elicit any response at all.
Pandora: Originally intended to be a mate to Kadmon, she was shelved and turned into a AI to take over if Kadmon was damaged and was intended to be removed prior to the project being finished. She is a quantum computer and has limited use within Kadmon but has fun being an AI on the internet despite the existence of other ones.
Pandora is more mature than Kadmon, in many ways, and does seem able to treat certain orders as guidelines but lacks his ability to flat-out change and grow and has been shown to want to repair Kadmon, considering him to be damaged in his present state. On the plus side, she does have more of a sense of humour than Kadmon does.
Friday, August 06, 2010
Fairview: the August Update
As of last night's ~7 hour session, the game has hit 58 official sessions (76 including the side-ones and so forth) and been going over six months. Given players dropping out and vanishing and other players switching characters, this is rather impressive. It's also survived a 3 week hiatus with Gm and then a player being sick, school, people moving ... so something is going right.
Currently, plot wise, the Grey Man's storm has been destroyed, the consequences of which have yet to be felt and the White Lord, one of the major magicians in the city, has been sealed in his place of power by the PCs and is unable to escape. Various NPCs have announced themselves in favour of Joni's plan to make the supernatural community in the city have a sort of oversight organization to keep things in line but thus far none of them have real power to help enforced that.
Character-wise, Alex is working on her plan to get free of the Shadow King, and Emma and Trevor are trying to figure out why it makes any sense that magicians don't make the world a Better Place(tm) and Joni's own plans are proceeding quite nicely. NPC-wise, El Nino/Scry and Eugene Stoffel are sort of getting along, Helena has yet to kill Ike out of sheer frustration, Cristal and Peter (the real ones) are actually beginning to get along, Pierce Chevalier is planning to betray the Grey Man and the Grey Man is finding everything so very amusing.
In terms of dangling plot threads, there is the question of what the other major players (magician-wise) in the city will do following the death of one of their number: the PC s will, unquestionably, have made an impression so what follows from this should prove interesting.
30 XP was given out after this session, making it 60 in total thus far. Investing in health/regen is probably a good idea at this point ... unlike the White Lord, the other magicians are not going to underestimate the PCs. Well, probably not too much. With great power comes great arrogance :)
Side-note: there are a lot of NPCs now running about that the PCs have met: most are off doing their own things, connecting with the PCs as and when PCs seek them out or they need help. That being said, if players -- or their characters -- want to make use of certain NPCS (Please, don't pick Cristal, don't pick Cristal) or have them play a bigger role in their plans, let me knows.
Currently, plot wise, the Grey Man's storm has been destroyed, the consequences of which have yet to be felt and the White Lord, one of the major magicians in the city, has been sealed in his place of power by the PCs and is unable to escape. Various NPCs have announced themselves in favour of Joni's plan to make the supernatural community in the city have a sort of oversight organization to keep things in line but thus far none of them have real power to help enforced that.
Character-wise, Alex is working on her plan to get free of the Shadow King, and Emma and Trevor are trying to figure out why it makes any sense that magicians don't make the world a Better Place(tm) and Joni's own plans are proceeding quite nicely. NPC-wise, El Nino/Scry and Eugene Stoffel are sort of getting along, Helena has yet to kill Ike out of sheer frustration, Cristal and Peter (the real ones) are actually beginning to get along, Pierce Chevalier is planning to betray the Grey Man and the Grey Man is finding everything so very amusing.
In terms of dangling plot threads, there is the question of what the other major players (magician-wise) in the city will do following the death of one of their number: the PC s will, unquestionably, have made an impression so what follows from this should prove interesting.
30 XP was given out after this session, making it 60 in total thus far. Investing in health/regen is probably a good idea at this point ... unlike the White Lord, the other magicians are not going to underestimate the PCs. Well, probably not too much. With great power comes great arrogance :)
Side-note: there are a lot of NPCs now running about that the PCs have met: most are off doing their own things, connecting with the PCs as and when PCs seek them out or they need help. That being said, if players -- or their characters -- want to make use of certain NPCS (Please, don't pick Cristal, don't pick Cristal) or have them play a bigger role in their plans, let me knows.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Prototype X
A modern earth side-campaign intended to have an anime feel, Prototype X is about a regular kid (Nik) who ends up bonded to a prototype armour devised by the multi-national company VeriCorp. VC wants their wayward weapon back, Nik wants his life back and Kadmon wishes to be used soley as a weapon -- something Nik is not in favour of. At present, Kadmon is living with Nikolas, Nik having lied to his sister (and guardian) Anna.
So far the only attempt to retrieve Kadmon has been via an ancient satellite that read dreams (which Nik easily hacked and disabled via Kadmon) and several SWAT-members who were easy to harm and run away from. Kadmon is aware other weapons have escaped, but not what ones nor where they are. At present, Nik is hacking the quantum computer backup AI (Pandora) in Kadmon to allow her internet access and learning about such technologies.
For his part, Kadmon seems horribly eager to please Nik, going so far as to offer access to pandora and connecting to the internet, both of which were apparently forbidden. What either of them will become as VeriCorp continues the search remains an open question, as is what other weapons exist and what their own goals are ...
So far the only attempt to retrieve Kadmon has been via an ancient satellite that read dreams (which Nik easily hacked and disabled via Kadmon) and several SWAT-members who were easy to harm and run away from. Kadmon is aware other weapons have escaped, but not what ones nor where they are. At present, Nik is hacking the quantum computer backup AI (Pandora) in Kadmon to allow her internet access and learning about such technologies.
For his part, Kadmon seems horribly eager to please Nik, going so far as to offer access to pandora and connecting to the internet, both of which were apparently forbidden. What either of them will become as VeriCorp continues the search remains an open question, as is what other weapons exist and what their own goals are ...
Friday, July 16, 2010
Ramble on rpg design bits
Two posts in one day?! That's a record for this blog. Anyway, I've been reading a fun horror rpg but ran into interesting problems:
* 16 stats. With different abbreviations for each. And using non-'standard' ones, like INL for intelligence. I find nothing throws me off a game faster than a giant pile of abbreviations to memorize.
* Disadvantages. So, it's horror. It lists AIDS and Alzheimer's. And being a virgin. At which I went 'uh, what?'.
At which point it occurred to me that I've yet to find a game system with disadvantages that do NOT feel like pandering to min/maxing. BESM actually does pretty well in making (most) of them real disadvantages that cost to take, save for -ism and the like. It's probably a personal preference, but I'd rather people took such things for RP value and the like rather than for, well: "Omg! I must balance out ze point costs! Quick, Bad Temper!"
I suspect it would be interesting to make an rpg where character point totals didn't have to match so stringently. Or allow other methods of balancing than disadvantages, perhaps something like Hooks and Tails in other systems or stuff that encourages background and complications. No firm ideas as yet, just some thoughts.
* 16 stats. With different abbreviations for each. And using non-'standard' ones, like INL for intelligence. I find nothing throws me off a game faster than a giant pile of abbreviations to memorize.
* Disadvantages. So, it's horror. It lists AIDS and Alzheimer's. And being a virgin. At which I went 'uh, what?'.
At which point it occurred to me that I've yet to find a game system with disadvantages that do NOT feel like pandering to min/maxing. BESM actually does pretty well in making (most) of them real disadvantages that cost to take, save for -ism and the like. It's probably a personal preference, but I'd rather people took such things for RP value and the like rather than for, well: "Omg! I must balance out ze point costs! Quick, Bad Temper!"
I suspect it would be interesting to make an rpg where character point totals didn't have to match so stringently. Or allow other methods of balancing than disadvantages, perhaps something like Hooks and Tails in other systems or stuff that encourages background and complications. No firm ideas as yet, just some thoughts.
Dresden Files game
DRESDEN FILES - DETROIT. (No campaign name as yet.)
The following is a summary of the initial chats on the city, as I recalled them, and some additional bits and ideas. Nothing of it is set in stone.
Detroit is, in practise, a hell on earth. Half of its population has vanished in 50 years, entire subdivisons are deserted (over 30K empty buildings) and the employment figure is between 25-34% depending upon the source. Half the schools have closed, it's 'ground zero' for education and jobs and essentially an American Mexico City -- this is how bad things can get when they simply keep getting worse.
THEMES
Urban Decay
This is the biggy. The city is falling into the abyss and no one seems able to stop it. Weirdly, the people who seem most willing to stop it are the Canadian government, via Windor .. a city that thrives while its sister city fails. Bail-out money and the like has been offered but to what extent the tide can be held back is an open question.
Things to explore:
* Why has Windor succeeded? Magically, it could somehow he considered to be 'stealing' Detroit's potential. A coven of magicians? I imagine there would be some interesting conspiracy theories about this. Perhaps the area they link to in the Nevernever influences things?
* Twin it with Mordor? :)
* The places it leads to in the Nevernever would be BAD places. And a lot of things can leak through: you have a city with shit police protection, urban jungles gone wild and areas more fitting for the third world than first -- a perfect feeding ground for nasty things, and for finding people desperate enough to make any kind of Pact.
* Some of this can be linked to the demise of the auto industry, leading to a competing theory to the above: magicians hate Industrialization, so they broke Detroit as a warning/lessson to the world. Things have fallen apart, the centre hasn't holded, people in the city are probably more aware of magic ... and scared people make leaps of logic others wouldn't.
Racism
This isn't a theme we've much explored in Game1, but Detroit is almost a poster child for it. The population is 80% black, 20% white (for all intents; other minorities are seriously minor). The average income is ~28K for a family. The math isn't pretty.There's a lot of anger and resentment boiling away that's one wrong word from exploding.
Things to explore:
* The music scene. Seriously, this is Motown and yet most of the famous rappers are white. What the hell? Seriously, what the hell?
* White Court vampires are into Sex and Porn. Black Court vampires have been destroyed by a Book/White Man's Education. The White Court is huge (in most cities), The Black Court is nothing. The parallels would be interesting for people to draw even if they have no real basis in reality.
* The sane folk. The city hasn't fallen apart, and some of that is because people don't blame it on race and so forth and actually talk to each other. While this theme is dark, there's some counterpoints to the urban decay in that the shit has not hit the proverbial fan.
THREATS
Save With Magic
Basically, at least one clued in Wizard willing to break the laws of magic to alter minds and enthrall people to create a better world. It's blatantly ignoring the fact that magic doesn't solve anything as miuch as make things more complicated but a desperate activist watching their hopes for the future crash and burn again is liable to ignore than and try and fix things in any way possible.
Things to explore:
* The domino effect. Lies beget other lies: You make one person Change, and others wonder why, begin to question, and you have to control more minds to stop those questions until it spirals out of control.
* To what extent does/can this work, short term? If it has actual tangible benefit -- short or long term -- then it could be worth it. If one has made the world a better place, then what purpose are the laws of magic actually serving, and whose ends?
GM Thoughts
I don't want this to be Harry Dresden in another city. As such, both the police and the mob are kept in the dark about Weird Shit as much as possible. (An ex-police officer investigating things they shouldn't is fine, ditto with minor criminals trying to make use of magic and such to have it backfire.)
I want the general populace more clued in, at a basic 'weird shit happens' level. Dresdenverse has no Illuminati, no Sleepers or WOD Veil -- and yet magic has, despite being real and powerful, somehow been forgot. Who benefited from this and/or arranged it? Such questions, of course, assume anyone deliberately did. (For my money, the first theory is closer to an in-game truth.)
The Eugenics Theory: The White Council dooms magic. Magic is inherited, and every warlock who dies reduces the amount of potential magicians: the rise of the internet (and people realizing their potential/heritage) has slowed what was becoming an obvious trend, but has not eradicated it: magic became rare because magicians did, and the extermination of warlocks does more than the Inquisition ever did.
The Conspiracy Theory: The Council encouraged science etc. because their magic is better than it (e.x.: electronics -- some 'coincidence') and if kept in a few hands, magic is safer and less dangerous. Letting people become convinced magic wasn't real prevented great harm via magic.
Differences from Dresden Files: The red court have NOT been wiped out; the vampire war ended as a cold war stalemate a while ago.
Also, I'll probably make use of/throw in things from the Nevernever a LOT. It's s fascinating aspect of the setting that is seldom touched on and there's a lot of interesting places to go with it regarding Faerie, Hell, Heaven, God(s) and so forth.
CAMPAIGN
Power level: Starting as Chest-Deep seems viable (8 refresh, 30 skill points, cap at Suberb) seems viable.
Players: Ideally, 3. More or less are possible.
"And if in the end, there is only darkness? If the world is meant to end in darkness?"
Jilly shook her head. She refused to believe it.
"How can you deny it?" he asked.
"It's just . . . if there's only supposed to be darkness, then why were we given light?"
For a long moment, he sat there, shoulders drooped, staring down at her hands. When he finally looked up, there was something in his eyes that Jilly couldn't read.
"Why indeed?" he said softly.
- Charles de Lint, "The Buffalo Man"
The following is a summary of the initial chats on the city, as I recalled them, and some additional bits and ideas. Nothing of it is set in stone.
Detroit is, in practise, a hell on earth. Half of its population has vanished in 50 years, entire subdivisons are deserted (over 30K empty buildings) and the employment figure is between 25-34% depending upon the source. Half the schools have closed, it's 'ground zero' for education and jobs and essentially an American Mexico City -- this is how bad things can get when they simply keep getting worse.
THEMES
Urban Decay
This is the biggy. The city is falling into the abyss and no one seems able to stop it. Weirdly, the people who seem most willing to stop it are the Canadian government, via Windor .. a city that thrives while its sister city fails. Bail-out money and the like has been offered but to what extent the tide can be held back is an open question.
Things to explore:
* Why has Windor succeeded? Magically, it could somehow he considered to be 'stealing' Detroit's potential. A coven of magicians? I imagine there would be some interesting conspiracy theories about this. Perhaps the area they link to in the Nevernever influences things?
* Twin it with Mordor? :)
* The places it leads to in the Nevernever would be BAD places. And a lot of things can leak through: you have a city with shit police protection, urban jungles gone wild and areas more fitting for the third world than first -- a perfect feeding ground for nasty things, and for finding people desperate enough to make any kind of Pact.
* Some of this can be linked to the demise of the auto industry, leading to a competing theory to the above: magicians hate Industrialization, so they broke Detroit as a warning/lessson to the world. Things have fallen apart, the centre hasn't holded, people in the city are probably more aware of magic ... and scared people make leaps of logic others wouldn't.
Racism
This isn't a theme we've much explored in Game1, but Detroit is almost a poster child for it. The population is 80% black, 20% white (for all intents; other minorities are seriously minor). The average income is ~28K for a family. The math isn't pretty.There's a lot of anger and resentment boiling away that's one wrong word from exploding.
Things to explore:
* The music scene. Seriously, this is Motown and yet most of the famous rappers are white. What the hell? Seriously, what the hell?
* White Court vampires are into Sex and Porn. Black Court vampires have been destroyed by a Book/White Man's Education. The White Court is huge (in most cities), The Black Court is nothing. The parallels would be interesting for people to draw even if they have no real basis in reality.
* The sane folk. The city hasn't fallen apart, and some of that is because people don't blame it on race and so forth and actually talk to each other. While this theme is dark, there's some counterpoints to the urban decay in that the shit has not hit the proverbial fan.
THREATS
Save With Magic
Basically, at least one clued in Wizard willing to break the laws of magic to alter minds and enthrall people to create a better world. It's blatantly ignoring the fact that magic doesn't solve anything as miuch as make things more complicated but a desperate activist watching their hopes for the future crash and burn again is liable to ignore than and try and fix things in any way possible.
Things to explore:
* The domino effect. Lies beget other lies: You make one person Change, and others wonder why, begin to question, and you have to control more minds to stop those questions until it spirals out of control.
* To what extent does/can this work, short term? If it has actual tangible benefit -- short or long term -- then it could be worth it. If one has made the world a better place, then what purpose are the laws of magic actually serving, and whose ends?
GM Thoughts
I don't want this to be Harry Dresden in another city. As such, both the police and the mob are kept in the dark about Weird Shit as much as possible. (An ex-police officer investigating things they shouldn't is fine, ditto with minor criminals trying to make use of magic and such to have it backfire.)
I want the general populace more clued in, at a basic 'weird shit happens' level. Dresdenverse has no Illuminati, no Sleepers or WOD Veil -- and yet magic has, despite being real and powerful, somehow been forgot. Who benefited from this and/or arranged it? Such questions, of course, assume anyone deliberately did. (For my money, the first theory is closer to an in-game truth.)
The Eugenics Theory: The White Council dooms magic. Magic is inherited, and every warlock who dies reduces the amount of potential magicians: the rise of the internet (and people realizing their potential/heritage) has slowed what was becoming an obvious trend, but has not eradicated it: magic became rare because magicians did, and the extermination of warlocks does more than the Inquisition ever did.
The Conspiracy Theory: The Council encouraged science etc. because their magic is better than it (e.x.: electronics -- some 'coincidence') and if kept in a few hands, magic is safer and less dangerous. Letting people become convinced magic wasn't real prevented great harm via magic.
Differences from Dresden Files: The red court have NOT been wiped out; the vampire war ended as a cold war stalemate a while ago.
Also, I'll probably make use of/throw in things from the Nevernever a LOT. It's s fascinating aspect of the setting that is seldom touched on and there's a lot of interesting places to go with it regarding Faerie, Hell, Heaven, God(s) and so forth.
CAMPAIGN
Power level: Starting as Chest-Deep seems viable (8 refresh, 30 skill points, cap at Suberb) seems viable.
Players: Ideally, 3. More or less are possible.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Low Life
As noted on the forum, Low Life is going to exist. As a game using the Amber system. The basic idea is on the forum and is essentially:
1) It's the 80s (reasons for this on forum) and
2) You are pretty much the first people in the world with abilities past the human. How these manifest depend on what you buy, in terms of actual powers, increases in stats and so forth.
The core concept is that the PCs become more (and maybe less) than human, them finding out what was done to them and how they go about changing the world. Up until the PCs, the world is normal: how the dominoes fall after that entirely depends on what they do.
1) It's the 80s (reasons for this on forum) and
2) You are pretty much the first people in the world with abilities past the human. How these manifest depend on what you buy, in terms of actual powers, increases in stats and so forth.
The core concept is that the PCs become more (and maybe less) than human, them finding out what was done to them and how they go about changing the world. Up until the PCs, the world is normal: how the dominoes fall after that entirely depends on what they do.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Ah, unknown armies
Came across this in my notes for the Apotheosis game:
A collection of fictional books.
The History of Psychology by Tom Cruise
Why Hitler Was a Boddhisatva by the Dalai Lama
The True History of Magick by James Randi
The Autobiography of God (Reader's Digest condensed version)
Voynich Manuscript, translated by Edward Fitzgerald
How I loved My Mother by Sigmund Freud
Shattering of the Glass Family by J D Salinger
The Cruel Ones and You by Dr Seuss
I See With My Other Eyes by Hellen Keller
A collection of fictional books.
The History of Psychology by Tom Cruise
Why Hitler Was a Boddhisatva by the Dalai Lama
The True History of Magick by James Randi
The Autobiography of God (Reader's Digest condensed version)
Voynich Manuscript, translated by Edward Fitzgerald
How I loved My Mother by Sigmund Freud
Shattering of the Glass Family by J D Salinger
The Cruel Ones and You by Dr Seuss
I See With My Other Eyes by Hellen Keller
Monday, May 31, 2010
Return of the Trip
I would have brought this up earlier, but... well... I kept forgetting to. My bad.
For anyone who's interested, I'll probably be making regular posts on my twitter account, complete with Geotags.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Fairview: May Update
Somewhere, east of the sun and west of the moon, a place without east nor west nor even suns and moons, protean creatures who seem to be the love child of a spider-goat and a rabid lawnmower move through deep dark shadows that absorb the echoes of their feet, chittering prayers in voices that have never known fear before. On the throne of cartilage and cast-off nightmare foam a figure sits, a gun in one hand and courage in the other, adjusting her crown as things circle in the shadows, looking for weakness, waiting for a moment to strike even as other things move towards the throne with wounded limbs to offer sacrifices to the new queen, Rei ....
Well, no. Or at least not yet. To sum up: Rei decided to end suffering quite visibly, attempting to kill one person and use their body to kill another. Peter died, Snaketongue was very annoyed the plans for Kevin being president could have been derailed at all and Rei ended up being banished Outside the universe by Joni. Despite the above, it is unlikely Rei shall return.
Plot wise, Emma woke up from a coma and is adjusting to life several years after her coma and events are slowly pulling her towards the other PCs. Being a healer (and a helper!) shall no doubt aid this as the game goes on. Alex is trying to work on destroying her family curse, Karl is balancing two very different jobs and Joni has collected even more Items (including a school).
As Alex's fencing school and the high school have pretty much done their job of connecting PCs and NPCs together at times, they're more or less becoming purely background now. Alex's grandfather is dealing with the day-to-day aspects of the school, Karl has been asked to do a new assignment (Vericorp having decided he's more useful than Shell and, probably, more able to destroy Brodie if their newest employee turns out to be a problem) and Joni is trying to deal with various magicians, keeping friendships and dealing with the ramifications of having beaten up the antichrist and prevented it from being born.
NPC wise (in no parrticular order and probably missing more than a few):
Well, no. Or at least not yet. To sum up: Rei decided to end suffering quite visibly, attempting to kill one person and use their body to kill another. Peter died, Snaketongue was very annoyed the plans for Kevin being president could have been derailed at all and Rei ended up being banished Outside the universe by Joni. Despite the above, it is unlikely Rei shall return.
Plot wise, Emma woke up from a coma and is adjusting to life several years after her coma and events are slowly pulling her towards the other PCs. Being a healer (and a helper!) shall no doubt aid this as the game goes on. Alex is trying to work on destroying her family curse, Karl is balancing two very different jobs and Joni has collected even more Items (including a school).
As Alex's fencing school and the high school have pretty much done their job of connecting PCs and NPCs together at times, they're more or less becoming purely background now. Alex's grandfather is dealing with the day-to-day aspects of the school, Karl has been asked to do a new assignment (Vericorp having decided he's more useful than Shell and, probably, more able to destroy Brodie if their newest employee turns out to be a problem) and Joni is trying to deal with various magicians, keeping friendships and dealing with the ramifications of having beaten up the antichrist and prevented it from being born.
NPC wise (in no parrticular order and probably missing more than a few):
- The Grey Man is free again, though what the entity in Kyle plans remains unknown, as if whatever he did to Ike and Denice as 'payment' for being kept captive for a weekend.
- Helen and Thomas, agents of the Shadow Walker, are preparing to deal with Pierce Chevalier, who seems to be worried that the Shadow Walker is still manipulating him and that Alex is a trap/trick.
- Julius Gull and Drake Hakurei are trying to find out what Emma is, in their own ways.
- Helena is friends again with Joni, so everything is OK.
- Dennis is trying to prevent the flaw Joni discovered in his metal from working and is being Mr. Grumpy over the issue.
- Alex's sister and mother are on the run, though from whom or why is unknown at present.
- The Scry is considering recovering his t-shirt from Emma and pleased Alex is helping him not have to learn to use a sword.
- Brodie is now working for Vericorp, who really should have insisted on a psych test beforehand.
- Blot is killing rats and being very bored.
- To continue with B's, Brandon is fine now, sans headaches and unsure why. His parents are worried that the miraculous recovery can end as quickly as it came about.
- Tyrell is coming to terms with the knowledge that the Grey Man toyed with him for centuries for no other viable reason that 'just because'.
- Eugene Stoffel is trying to find ways to spite his father and make use of the family estate. This can't end well.
- Bea's mirror-self is getting worried about losing her job for hitting on her boss.
- Father Brownwell is finishing translating Enochian for Joni and getting worried that it is later than anyone thinks.
- The White Lord is debating steps to take against Joni
- Kevin has decided to embrace his power rather than allow others to be hurt because he didn't use it. The school might well get its own helipad.
- The werwewolves in the park are debating steps to take against the animal control officials.
- Mr. Stuffins has decided that if people keep trying to put him on a diet, the end will be very, very nigh.
Saturday, May 01, 2010
And #game1 turns 12 ....
So ... 12 years. For a channel created to run a one-off D&D session with 3 people, I'm astonished it's lasted this long. (Two of the first players, for the record, never returned: D&D murder mystery is not to everyone's tastes.) The channel has seen many, many GMs and games throughout the years and had a lot of players, some of whom have been around, off and on, for over ten years. To say this is a surprise to all concerned underestimates it, to say the least :)
A few milestones that come to mind:
Sparkie, who came into existence as a joke NPC during the 'generic D&D games' that compromised the first months of Game1 and eventually turned into the Wasted World. When the time came for a dicebot, Sparkie got upgraded.
Wasted World. Spanning Three campaigns (for reasons of time travel, the second campaign and half the third technically never happened), it was the first real game1 setting and included everything from wizards with magic shops and pet Otyughs to gods among the PCs. A personal favourite highlight is the attempt of level 1 thugs to mug the PCS, en route back to the city they had acquired during a war. The players were convinced it couldn't be simple ruffians and the encounter lasted over an hour.
It's also the campaign that introduced Jeramias to D&D. He and a friend had browsed the books in a store, he ended up on game1 that night and his pc existed as an idea without stats for a whole campaign as he learned the game on the fly.
Callaran, a year-long D&D campaign that involved kender convincing evil clerics to be good and a vampiric halfling, among other highlights. Ended when the halfling killing other PCs for their attempted murder of him when he became a vampire and the bard being the only survivor.
LOLAD began life as a 'finish that character, a game will fun' incentive that ended up being game1's first foray into modern earth. (D&D 2e being used to run a modern game with vampire and werewolves. Insanity.) It had PC romances, AIs, werepanthers, necromancers, The Faline, dragons, werecows and lasted six months, spawning 2 sequels, another game set in the same world and the lolad 1.1 sequel that ended up being ran by Alcar and then re-envisioned by kentari in the game crossover idea*. It ran in D&D (2e and 3e), besm and a custom system at differing times. Confusing but fun :)
Hubris was the first truly insanely gm-intensive game that began the game1 superheroes games, spawned a sequel set 20 years later and ended due to GM burnout, which is still a regret. Probably the single most in-depth game I've ever done, in terms of the sheet amount of work put into both Hubris and Aftermath.
Shroomform. Just ... shroomform. (This sentiment can probably be applied to the Amber games as well.)
The Lands of Blood games. Aka: death gods without power, a succubi drunken master and a jedi knight, among other things. Stormtroopers and Sith crash-land on a D&D world with Cthulhu waiting in the wings. Probably even crazier than that makes it sound.
Several demented unknown armies campaigns have run, but trying to summarize them up would probably lead to this blog getting a mature warning label. Caltak's PC Hugh was in at least 2, maybe even 3, campaigns, making him one of the only pcs to do that trick.
Ios, a cliche-driven fantasy game in D&D that marked Game1's last 'serious' foray into D&D. To this day I am never quite certain how the hell the Lee/Lirk/Orgg love triangle really came about, but I think Theliar can be blamed.
kbesm, a modern besm game that got a sequel run by kentari and then by alcar*. Crazy-awesome fun all around. Generally any game that spawns sequels enters the pantheon of game1 awesomeness.
Unstrung Heroes deserves a special mention for having run since 2003. The first two sessions were six months apart, long enough that one player had forgotten he'd played in the game. It's ran off and on since them, often with a few sessions close together and a year (or more) gap between sessions.
* Alcar and Kentari ended up not wanting to run/continue sequels to lolad and kbesm, despite requests, so swapped settings. Dunno if it will ever be done again, but it was a lot of fun to run and the cross-over between both settings would have been epic had it ever come to fruition.
A few milestones that come to mind:
Sparkie, who came into existence as a joke NPC during the 'generic D&D games' that compromised the first months of Game1 and eventually turned into the Wasted World. When the time came for a dicebot, Sparkie got upgraded.
Wasted World. Spanning Three campaigns (for reasons of time travel, the second campaign and half the third technically never happened), it was the first real game1 setting and included everything from wizards with magic shops and pet Otyughs to gods among the PCs. A personal favourite highlight is the attempt of level 1 thugs to mug the PCS, en route back to the city they had acquired during a war. The players were convinced it couldn't be simple ruffians and the encounter lasted over an hour.
It's also the campaign that introduced Jeramias to D&D. He and a friend had browsed the books in a store, he ended up on game1 that night and his pc existed as an idea without stats for a whole campaign as he learned the game on the fly.
Callaran, a year-long D&D campaign that involved kender convincing evil clerics to be good and a vampiric halfling, among other highlights. Ended when the halfling killing other PCs for their attempted murder of him when he became a vampire and the bard being the only survivor.
LOLAD began life as a 'finish that character, a game will fun' incentive that ended up being game1's first foray into modern earth. (D&D 2e being used to run a modern game with vampire and werewolves. Insanity.) It had PC romances, AIs, werepanthers, necromancers, The Faline, dragons, werecows and lasted six months, spawning 2 sequels, another game set in the same world and the lolad 1.1 sequel that ended up being ran by Alcar and then re-envisioned by kentari in the game crossover idea*. It ran in D&D (2e and 3e), besm and a custom system at differing times. Confusing but fun :)
Hubris was the first truly insanely gm-intensive game that began the game1 superheroes games, spawned a sequel set 20 years later and ended due to GM burnout, which is still a regret. Probably the single most in-depth game I've ever done, in terms of the sheet amount of work put into both Hubris and Aftermath.
Shroomform. Just ... shroomform. (This sentiment can probably be applied to the Amber games as well.)
The Lands of Blood games. Aka: death gods without power, a succubi drunken master and a jedi knight, among other things. Stormtroopers and Sith crash-land on a D&D world with Cthulhu waiting in the wings. Probably even crazier than that makes it sound.
Several demented unknown armies campaigns have run, but trying to summarize them up would probably lead to this blog getting a mature warning label. Caltak's PC Hugh was in at least 2, maybe even 3, campaigns, making him one of the only pcs to do that trick.
Ios, a cliche-driven fantasy game in D&D that marked Game1's last 'serious' foray into D&D. To this day I am never quite certain how the hell the Lee/Lirk/Orgg love triangle really came about, but I think Theliar can be blamed.
kbesm, a modern besm game that got a sequel run by kentari and then by alcar*. Crazy-awesome fun all around. Generally any game that spawns sequels enters the pantheon of game1 awesomeness.
Unstrung Heroes deserves a special mention for having run since 2003. The first two sessions were six months apart, long enough that one player had forgotten he'd played in the game. It's ran off and on since them, often with a few sessions close together and a year (or more) gap between sessions.
* Alcar and Kentari ended up not wanting to run/continue sequels to lolad and kbesm, despite requests, so swapped settings. Dunno if it will ever be done again, but it was a lot of fun to run and the cross-over between both settings would have been epic had it ever come to fruition.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tales from Fairview: House Rules
This is a revision of the previous house rules (since that one lacked clarity). "Funky stuff" is a technical term for weapons doing other effects than just damage.
Critical Hits
As per the normal rules, difference of 12 between attacker and defender nets double damage for the attacker. 12 more is triple and so forth. Rolling a 12 to hit (and not getting that difference) only nets double damage if one has Critical Strike. The GM confused the two as the same thing.
The Dreaded 2
Rolling a 2 to attack or defend. If you still win the attack or defense, you do so very poorly and, if it is an attack, funky weapon stuff doesn't work at GMs discretion. Perhaps more importantly, your opponent realizes how badly you stumbled and may get a bonus to their next attack or defense. For the most part, it's intended to be RPed as situations dictate.
Rolling a 12
If you roll a 12, you hit. If the defender still wins the roll, attackers damage is limited as equal to ACV (and, at GMs discretion, no funky stuff). If you get a 12 and win, the opponent may suffer a morale loss and so forth based on how awesome you were. On the flip side, they're also aware of what your limit for 'best' is.
Both the 12 and 2 are meant to be largely RPed in terns of story effects. If you succeed because of a 12, it looks really awesome. If you fail because of a 2, it looks that much worse. If either results in critical hit/failure, you screw the pooch badly or open up a can of awesome.
Ties
This is the real rules revision: Ties now go to the defender in a battle, not the attacker.
Divine Relationship
A few things: it can only be used once per round and the total refreshes every day, not every game session. Also, if you do use it in combat, this is noticed by the foe. You almost fail, manage to recover at the last moment and so on. This will get noticed if it happens more than once in the same fight, and if the battle is anything Official, cheating may be called :)
Critical Hits
As per the normal rules, difference of 12 between attacker and defender nets double damage for the attacker. 12 more is triple and so forth. Rolling a 12 to hit (and not getting that difference) only nets double damage if one has Critical Strike. The GM confused the two as the same thing.
The Dreaded 2
Rolling a 2 to attack or defend. If you still win the attack or defense, you do so very poorly and, if it is an attack, funky weapon stuff doesn't work at GMs discretion. Perhaps more importantly, your opponent realizes how badly you stumbled and may get a bonus to their next attack or defense. For the most part, it's intended to be RPed as situations dictate.
Rolling a 12
If you roll a 12, you hit. If the defender still wins the roll, attackers damage is limited as equal to ACV (and, at GMs discretion, no funky stuff). If you get a 12 and win, the opponent may suffer a morale loss and so forth based on how awesome you were. On the flip side, they're also aware of what your limit for 'best' is.
Both the 12 and 2 are meant to be largely RPed in terns of story effects. If you succeed because of a 12, it looks really awesome. If you fail because of a 2, it looks that much worse. If either results in critical hit/failure, you screw the pooch badly or open up a can of awesome.
Ties
This is the real rules revision: Ties now go to the defender in a battle, not the attacker.
Divine Relationship
A few things: it can only be used once per round and the total refreshes every day, not every game session. Also, if you do use it in combat, this is noticed by the foe. You almost fail, manage to recover at the last moment and so on. This will get noticed if it happens more than once in the same fight, and if the battle is anything Official, cheating may be called :)
Friday, April 16, 2010
Fairview: some meta notes
Session Complications: Generally, what we end up with is four players, their pcs sometimes at four different times, doing different things. (Monday's session even had Joni doing things Sunday and then finishing up Sat. night stuff.) Add in combat, trying to keep notes, spark's quotes and trying to somehow keep continuity together* and things get, well, complicated. Fun, but complicated.
The downside of that is that sometimes one character will get the short end of the attention stick, as it were. Generally speaking, the player who arrives last tends to have this problem, mostly because everything is in full-swing with everyone else. To try and alleviate this, some thoughts:
1) Get in touch/involved with the other PCs. (This is, generally, a good idea all around.)
2) If the plot doesn't really allow for that -- say, Karl waiting on the inquisition -- poke me in channel a few times if/when you find it too slow. A lot of players are playing to rather late hours in their timezone, and I'd rather not have any of you feel the time was wasted. So nag if need be :)
* This has held together shockingly well, often thanks to players taking broad hints, like Leon insisting Alex join him for lunch since other PCs and NPCs had broken into her office in an event playing out before Alex arrived at said office. Ah, the joys of time.
Side sessions: These will mostly be for single-player plot bits that mostly just involve that character. Rei taking Dennis to the vet was the most recent one and gave them some RP time as well as allowing Rei to figure out more about what went down Thursday night. Karl will be taking more steps to find his computer this weekend and so forth.
Sheets: Everyone has 30 XP right now. Modification of character sheets is allowed, within reason. (If you want to stop having/using a major ability, say it burned out ... though your character won't know that, and may well try to use it again.) Send me updated sheets, preferably before Monday.
The downside of that is that sometimes one character will get the short end of the attention stick, as it were. Generally speaking, the player who arrives last tends to have this problem, mostly because everything is in full-swing with everyone else. To try and alleviate this, some thoughts:
1) Get in touch/involved with the other PCs. (This is, generally, a good idea all around.)
2) If the plot doesn't really allow for that -- say, Karl waiting on the inquisition -- poke me in channel a few times if/when you find it too slow. A lot of players are playing to rather late hours in their timezone, and I'd rather not have any of you feel the time was wasted. So nag if need be :)
* This has held together shockingly well, often thanks to players taking broad hints, like Leon insisting Alex join him for lunch since other PCs and NPCs had broken into her office in an event playing out before Alex arrived at said office. Ah, the joys of time.
Side sessions: These will mostly be for single-player plot bits that mostly just involve that character. Rei taking Dennis to the vet was the most recent one and gave them some RP time as well as allowing Rei to figure out more about what went down Thursday night. Karl will be taking more steps to find his computer this weekend and so forth.
Sheets: Everyone has 30 XP right now. Modification of character sheets is allowed, within reason. (If you want to stop having/using a major ability, say it burned out ... though your character won't know that, and may well try to use it again.) Send me updated sheets, preferably before Monday.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Fariview: Hope's Poems
For Rei, because she dared read poems by a girl who lost her brother. (Alas, the GM was not in a really gothy mood.)
i.
there are no words
no words to say
grey emptiness within
blank smiles without
all I do is grasp edges
thought is stained with grief
I miss even hating him
we are the total of our regrets
ii.
We never talked as strangers do
My brother, he and I.
The silences are deeper now
And all his words a veil.
We never spoke as friends do,
Trading light grey lies.
All my thoughts have weight now
I whisper lest I wail.
iii. [This one is crossed out savagely, but readable]
Sometimes the strong are O! so weak with secrets they can never keep
One wrong word and panic leaps 'til only death alone can reap;
It's only love I want to speak, but his fears sweet silence keeps
Grey truth and lies slowly creep while loss hides hope and weeps
iv.
They told me you were dead and gone
And that alone I must continue on.
They told me you have gone away
To a place I may visit yet someday.
But all I saw and all I know
Is they put you in the ground.
Tell me that it isn't so,
That gravestones are fairy mounds.
I wish that I could believe
That some part of you hasn't forgot,
I wish I could deceive
Myself that death's not our lot
I wish I could feel relief
If we just lie there and rot
But I can't help but believe.
All the empty words that people say
Can't bring you back to me today,
I waited here until grey dawn
But the day has come and gone.
v.
when I think of death I think
of silence and the end
of empty halls and laid-down burdens
grey gardens we no longer tend
And when I life of life I know
that all things must break
and heart's lessons are scar's
tissue and all we forsake.
vi.
Each word I write is poor and fettered.
Pictures found worth untold worls.
The truth is a liar, the wise man says.
All I know is what is gone.
All I feel is hollow and grey.
All I wish is for an end.
i.
there are no words
no words to say
grey emptiness within
blank smiles without
all I do is grasp edges
thought is stained with grief
I miss even hating him
we are the total of our regrets
ii.
We never talked as strangers do
My brother, he and I.
The silences are deeper now
And all his words a veil.
We never spoke as friends do,
Trading light grey lies.
All my thoughts have weight now
I whisper lest I wail.
iii. [This one is crossed out savagely, but readable]
Sometimes the strong are O! so weak with secrets they can never keep
One wrong word and panic leaps 'til only death alone can reap;
It's only love I want to speak, but his fears sweet silence keeps
Grey truth and lies slowly creep while loss hides hope and weeps
iv.
They told me you were dead and gone
And that alone I must continue on.
They told me you have gone away
To a place I may visit yet someday.
But all I saw and all I know
Is they put you in the ground.
Tell me that it isn't so,
That gravestones are fairy mounds.
I wish that I could believe
That some part of you hasn't forgot,
I wish I could deceive
Myself that death's not our lot
I wish I could feel relief
If we just lie there and rot
But I can't help but believe.
All the empty words that people say
Can't bring you back to me today,
I waited here until grey dawn
But the day has come and gone.
v.
when I think of death I think
of silence and the end
of empty halls and laid-down burdens
grey gardens we no longer tend
And when I life of life I know
that all things must break
and heart's lessons are scar's
tissue and all we forsake.
vi.
Each word I write is poor and fettered.
Pictures found worth untold worls.
The truth is a liar, the wise man says.
All I know is what is gone.
All I feel is hollow and grey.
All I wish is for an end.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Fairview March Update
So. We're at 22 official sessions (34 in total) in 4 months and things are going pretty well. Two weeks have passed in game-time and most of the current major players on the stage have made their various moves and now the PCs get to ruin all of that in the way that only PCs can. Charcter-wise:
Alex is preparing for the big fencing tournament Sunday in game. As Chaos is busy this month with classes, this is pretty much largely an Alex-centric background event which works fine as is.
Bea's player is MIA, so Bea's mirror-clone has taken over but has yet to interfere with the other PCs. Yet.
Joni is trying to deal with the Grey Man via the kids in comas and has gained access to a lot of magical books that she and Ike are in the process of translating.
Karl, newly arrived to Fairview, is dealing with attempted (and successful) mind control by students at the IT lap and currently attempting to get his company to contain the thing that Brodie has become. What Vericorp will do with their own weird monster remains to be seen.
Rei, for her part, thinks the scientologist hospital sicked the Grey Man/Kyle on Fairview General and is planning to use them against the Grey Man. Somehow. That or burn the hospital down.
Sparkie is rather miffed that, on the rare occasions he does side with an NPC, PCs keep winning the dice contests anyway.
NOTE: PCs will get 30 experience once we hit session #30 [Karl shall get his at ~session #40]. This was planned since I figured by then a lot of PCs and NPCs would be aware of each others powers and limits, and this gives them another edge (or two or three) to surprise with. It can be spent or saved as needed.
Alex is preparing for the big fencing tournament Sunday in game. As Chaos is busy this month with classes, this is pretty much largely an Alex-centric background event which works fine as is.
Bea's player is MIA, so Bea's mirror-clone has taken over but has yet to interfere with the other PCs. Yet.
Joni is trying to deal with the Grey Man via the kids in comas and has gained access to a lot of magical books that she and Ike are in the process of translating.
Karl, newly arrived to Fairview, is dealing with attempted (and successful) mind control by students at the IT lap and currently attempting to get his company to contain the thing that Brodie has become. What Vericorp will do with their own weird monster remains to be seen.
Rei, for her part, thinks the scientologist hospital sicked the Grey Man/Kyle on Fairview General and is planning to use them against the Grey Man. Somehow. That or burn the hospital down.
Sparkie is rather miffed that, on the rare occasions he does side with an NPC, PCs keep winning the dice contests anyway.
NOTE: PCs will get 30 experience once we hit session #30 [Karl shall get his at ~session #40]. This was planned since I figured by then a lot of PCs and NPCs would be aware of each others powers and limits, and this gives them another edge (or two or three) to surprise with. It can be spent or saved as needed.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tales from Fairview: the end of February thing
Okay. February has ended, It is Wednesday of the second week fo the campaign. We've had 20+ sessions and are now up to 5 players. Current plot threads include: The Grey Man, The Grey Men, the Stoffels, ninjas, school and work, other magicians and possibly werewolves being beaten up for justice. Other plots include Leon finding a BF for his daughter, what is happening to Joni's foster brother the slow destruction of Peter Danier the kendo club president and the utter apathy of the police force in responding to anything at all.
Upcoming plots include a Praetorian Academy-sponsored fencing tournament (This weekend in game: mark it on your calendars!) and presumably Eugene Stoffel either going right around the bend, clinging to the shores of sanity or taking a long vacation.
So far the overall linking plot is the Grey Man's threat to destroy the city (somehow) and that the Grey Men, who claim to be watching events, seem to find most of the PCs worthy of study and examination. That the self-called watchers have taken to using guns and knives and trying to kill for information just makes things more interesting.
Things to keep in mind:
Plots will NOT come looking for PCs that often. If you want your character to be involved, get involved. They need to go out and do things. Visit and/or spy on NPCs and PCs, get to know people outside a school/work setting, meet people, make use of their weird abilities to find out what they are capable of, etc. Go to work or school, fine. But your character can go out after, have dinner, visit a bar or pub, go for a walk in the park, meet their neighbours. Boring characters make for a boring game, after all. If you feel the character needs to be pushed out of their comfort zone to do so, chat with the GM and other players for ideas.
Upcoming plots include a Praetorian Academy-sponsored fencing tournament (This weekend in game: mark it on your calendars!) and presumably Eugene Stoffel either going right around the bend, clinging to the shores of sanity or taking a long vacation.
So far the overall linking plot is the Grey Man's threat to destroy the city (somehow) and that the Grey Men, who claim to be watching events, seem to find most of the PCs worthy of study and examination. That the self-called watchers have taken to using guns and knives and trying to kill for information just makes things more interesting.
Things to keep in mind:
Plots will NOT come looking for PCs that often. If you want your character to be involved, get involved. They need to go out and do things. Visit and/or spy on NPCs and PCs, get to know people outside a school/work setting, meet people, make use of their weird abilities to find out what they are capable of, etc. Go to work or school, fine. But your character can go out after, have dinner, visit a bar or pub, go for a walk in the park, meet their neighbours. Boring characters make for a boring game, after all. If you feel the character needs to be pushed out of their comfort zone to do so, chat with the GM and other players for ideas.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Fairview: 9 sessions in
To date: 3 presessions and 4 official sessions (really 6, counting the other-night ones). Currently all the PCs have met each other*, if only briefly, and have yet to get along. I suspect that running presessions where pcs do not meet is not something I shall do in the future and that, ideally, everyone will know everyone else before a game begins.
* Bea excepted, since Fen is away for a couple of weeks.
Plot wise, there are grey men (who seem to have something to do with dreams) following certain PCs, a man called the Grey Man who seems to wish the destruction of the city, a cult centred around Roy's brother who seem to have summmoned an angel and several other things that have been hinted at. PC-wise, there is Leon's quest to get his daughter married, Alex's quest for more students and funding, Joni dealing with her foster family and the odd friends and enemies she's developed and Rei's quest to find her brother and not get fired from work. (For her part, Bea is looking for a teacher of magic and has claimed an otherworldly entity as her servant, by its choice, which seems to be connected to a Mr. Stoffel, a rich man who owned a lighting company and is now quite dead.)
Some plots are connected, others are not: unlike other games where X is solved and the game ends, this game has been designed with several plots going on at once and each PC knowing things the others do not about some of them. The PCs shall naturally create new plots, adding complications and generally make life for the inhabitants of Fairview quite interesting.
Lastly, a list of NPCs has been put up that is semi-complete.
* Bea excepted, since Fen is away for a couple of weeks.
Plot wise, there are grey men (who seem to have something to do with dreams) following certain PCs, a man called the Grey Man who seems to wish the destruction of the city, a cult centred around Roy's brother who seem to have summmoned an angel and several other things that have been hinted at. PC-wise, there is Leon's quest to get his daughter married, Alex's quest for more students and funding, Joni dealing with her foster family and the odd friends and enemies she's developed and Rei's quest to find her brother and not get fired from work. (For her part, Bea is looking for a teacher of magic and has claimed an otherworldly entity as her servant, by its choice, which seems to be connected to a Mr. Stoffel, a rich man who owned a lighting company and is now quite dead.)
Some plots are connected, others are not: unlike other games where X is solved and the game ends, this game has been designed with several plots going on at once and each PC knowing things the others do not about some of them. The PCs shall naturally create new plots, adding complications and generally make life for the inhabitants of Fairview quite interesting.
Lastly, a list of NPCs has been put up that is semi-complete.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
The end of presesssions
Game time has been set at 9 pm EST, Monday and Thursday nights.
So far, plot-wise, we have 4 PCs, all female (which is new) and three out of four of them have been followed and/or stalked by mysterious parties. Session #1 and on will be party-based and most sessions take place, in the game world, as afternoon-evening, since the pcs have work and/or classes during the day.
Current connections between PCs:
Alex: Has been trying to get students from the HS to her fencing school, has students from it. (Including probably Joni's foster brother).
Bea: has adopted some magical stalker who has gone out to see interesting things for her. Currently fixated on a house in the wealthy part of town. And if any PC needs someone to do do taxes, perfect!
Joni and Rei: Both go to the same school.
There are others, of course, but will not be given away at present (Hint: everyone is connected to Roy.).
So far, plot-wise, we have 4 PCs, all female (which is new) and three out of four of them have been followed and/or stalked by mysterious parties. Session #1 and on will be party-based and most sessions take place, in the game world, as afternoon-evening, since the pcs have work and/or classes during the day.
Current connections between PCs:
Alex: Has been trying to get students from the HS to her fencing school, has students from it. (Including probably Joni's foster brother).
Bea: has adopted some magical stalker who has gone out to see interesting things for her. Currently fixated on a house in the wealthy part of town. And if any PC needs someone to do do taxes, perfect!
Joni and Rei: Both go to the same school.
There are others, of course, but will not be given away at present (Hint: everyone is connected to Roy.).
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