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.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Return of the Trip
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.).
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The Fall of Fairview Pleasant Pointe
[00:45:59] fennec: "This blog needs to be used more." -- alcar. mon, aug 10, 2009.
[00:46:07] * fennec reads the blog! :b
Kentari decided to make a BESM game also.
Go HERE for details.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Tales from Fairview: taken things
(This shall be updated as PCs are made and changed)
Taken:
Appearance
Chimera
Cthulhu kindred
Demon
Fencing
Fire [by Spark]
Luck
Mind Control/Telepath
Ninja
Pet Monster
True Swordsmanship without cheating
(Current as of: Dec 20)
Taken:
Appearance
Chimera
Cthulhu kindred
Demon
Fencing
Fire [by Spark]
Luck
Mind Control/Telepath
Ninja
Pet Monster
True Swordsmanship without cheating
(Current as of: Dec 20)
Monday, December 07, 2009
BESM Game?
ETA: Game will be titled Tales From Fairview
Okay! Here we go: a new game idea, reasoning(s) behind it etc. and so forth.
System: BESM 3e, ~450 points (stats, attributes, skills). Dynamic Powers'll be a no-go unless whatever the player has in mind (like a werewolf) can only be done via that. Power Flux is viable, magic as well.
Time: Mon., Thurs. or Friday night, ~7pm PST (10pm EST).
Setting: Earth, modern day, nameless large North American city. PC ages are entirely up to the players* but we've done enough college, school, etc. games that I'd rather this wasn't one. It doesn't mean pcs can't be school students, just that said things won't be a focus of the game.
* I'd personally be happy if some people want to tackle the 'playing relatives' idea we've bandied about.
Characters: Pick something you want to make and make it. The idea is to go for anime-style fun so being able to hold oneself in combat (both social and phsyical) is probably a good idea. Everyone should take at least one defect [curses are encouraged] and think anime when figuring out powers and the character.
The world: It's this world, only most people ignore the weird shit. People can only handle so much reality, and even less unreality: gas main explosions, drugs, kids being kids and such will be concocted to explain things. Or people freak out and then manage to forget whatever they saw quickly. The government is aware of such things, and the men in black (to say nothing of the men in mauve) are present and tend to quietly make sure no one rocks the boat too far.
Why these abilities exist and how people come into them are unknown, at least to the pcs. There'll be many theories, of course, from aliens to gods and even everyone being game pieces created by gods known as 'players'. It is NOT a superhero game and anyone trying to be one is liable to find a depressing lack of supervillains.
Despite all the awesome, the mundane still exists: family, taxes, jobs and so forth.
Note: How the players connect together'll depend on what you all make. You could all work at the same place, all be Freemasons, have some wealthy friend/patron/sugardaddy in common: it'll depend on what is made.
Note 2: If someone decides something is their schtick (i.e. their thing) then no one else can get it, or at least not be as good as they are. (No one should be obligated to have to get a schtick; it's just for thems who wants one.) If someone wants to be the best-ever master of telepathy, it's theirs, meaning that they can go to 6-7 in the power and no one else can. Chat with other players before taking something as a Big Thing in case it conflicts with someone else's idea. Being 'the werewolf' and such could also count as this.
Note3: Everyone gets 2 levels of mind shield and resistance for free.
Under the hood: This idea was based on me thinking about what made other games fun and a game with a lot of lattitude. Chaos's bdsm game, early lolad and some aspects of kbesm fit into this. Ditto with that you can play character you've made before, if you want to try them in another setting and so forth. Depending on how things go, multiple characters for players might get allowed if people are willing.
Keep in mind that this is a modern earth game. Characters from other earths/times are not encouraged concepts. (Half demons and such, sure, but Victorian Adventurer dragged out of time or dwarf from Fantasy World not so much). Characters should be human or at least able to pass for human under the right light. As well, most characters will just be coming into their powers and/or just aware of most of them. As pcs don't start with handbooks, most characters should have to discover the various abilities they have rather than just knowing they can do X, Y, Z offhand.
The nature of the setting will depend a lot on what players make. Give your character a nature and theme (sci fi, supernatural, magical girl, or whatever) and the game will synthesize all of that together. Keep in mind general anime ideas, fun, and what other people make: if everyone else makes supernatural-themed, and you go for a cyborg some rethinking could be necessary.
Toss thoughts here, in #game1 etc.
Start date: Early January. (Attempting to run games over xmas is fraught with peril :))
Attendance: Need not be Mandatory. If you don't think you can make certain sessions or times, build reasons into the character for it.
Summaries etc: Will be done on the forum rather than a webpage, unless someone else wishes to make one.
Okay! Here we go: a new game idea, reasoning(s) behind it etc. and so forth.
System: BESM 3e, ~450 points (stats, attributes, skills). Dynamic Powers'll be a no-go unless whatever the player has in mind (like a werewolf) can only be done via that. Power Flux is viable, magic as well.
Time: Mon., Thurs. or Friday night, ~7pm PST (10pm EST).
Setting: Earth, modern day, nameless large North American city. PC ages are entirely up to the players* but we've done enough college, school, etc. games that I'd rather this wasn't one. It doesn't mean pcs can't be school students, just that said things won't be a focus of the game.
* I'd personally be happy if some people want to tackle the 'playing relatives' idea we've bandied about.
Characters: Pick something you want to make and make it. The idea is to go for anime-style fun so being able to hold oneself in combat (both social and phsyical) is probably a good idea. Everyone should take at least one defect [curses are encouraged] and think anime when figuring out powers and the character.
The world: It's this world, only most people ignore the weird shit. People can only handle so much reality, and even less unreality: gas main explosions, drugs, kids being kids and such will be concocted to explain things. Or people freak out and then manage to forget whatever they saw quickly. The government is aware of such things, and the men in black (to say nothing of the men in mauve) are present and tend to quietly make sure no one rocks the boat too far.
Why these abilities exist and how people come into them are unknown, at least to the pcs. There'll be many theories, of course, from aliens to gods and even everyone being game pieces created by gods known as 'players'. It is NOT a superhero game and anyone trying to be one is liable to find a depressing lack of supervillains.
Despite all the awesome, the mundane still exists: family, taxes, jobs and so forth.
Note: How the players connect together'll depend on what you all make. You could all work at the same place, all be Freemasons, have some wealthy friend/patron/sugardaddy in common: it'll depend on what is made.
Note 2: If someone decides something is their schtick (i.e. their thing) then no one else can get it, or at least not be as good as they are. (No one should be obligated to have to get a schtick; it's just for thems who wants one.) If someone wants to be the best-ever master of telepathy, it's theirs, meaning that they can go to 6-7 in the power and no one else can. Chat with other players before taking something as a Big Thing in case it conflicts with someone else's idea. Being 'the werewolf' and such could also count as this.
Note3: Everyone gets 2 levels of mind shield and resistance for free.
Under the hood: This idea was based on me thinking about what made other games fun and a game with a lot of lattitude. Chaos's bdsm game, early lolad and some aspects of kbesm fit into this. Ditto with that you can play character you've made before, if you want to try them in another setting and so forth. Depending on how things go, multiple characters for players might get allowed if people are willing.
Keep in mind that this is a modern earth game. Characters from other earths/times are not encouraged concepts. (Half demons and such, sure, but Victorian Adventurer dragged out of time or dwarf from Fantasy World not so much). Characters should be human or at least able to pass for human under the right light. As well, most characters will just be coming into their powers and/or just aware of most of them. As pcs don't start with handbooks, most characters should have to discover the various abilities they have rather than just knowing they can do X, Y, Z offhand.
The nature of the setting will depend a lot on what players make. Give your character a nature and theme (sci fi, supernatural, magical girl, or whatever) and the game will synthesize all of that together. Keep in mind general anime ideas, fun, and what other people make: if everyone else makes supernatural-themed, and you go for a cyborg some rethinking could be necessary.
Toss thoughts here, in #game1 etc.
Start date: Early January. (Attempting to run games over xmas is fraught with peril :))
Attendance: Need not be Mandatory. If you don't think you can make certain sessions or times, build reasons into the character for it.
Summaries etc: Will be done on the forum rather than a webpage, unless someone else wishes to make one.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
And we're back(ish)!
November gives way to December. Games shall return. Exactly what, in terms of having more than 2 players, remains unknown at present.
Whatever runs'll depend on what people feel like, after general consensus.
About the only thing in my head at the moment is a very vague modern besm game, 450 points, make whatever you want, build game around what players make.
Whatever runs'll depend on what people feel like, after general consensus.
About the only thing in my head at the moment is a very vague modern besm game, 450 points, make whatever you want, build game around what players make.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
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