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.

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.

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 ...