..so yeah.. no updates this week either.. I do apologize for that.. on the upside, the damned sick spell is about mended it seems. Thank gods.
In better news.. the weather's been down-right pleasant here of late, barring the rain earlier tonight. It's a ncie change after the harshest winter in fifteen years, let me just say that...
Be excellent to each other.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
What a bloody week....
...severe sinus congestion, and a short weekend due to make-up time for work that it necessitated. Regrettably, I'm simply too fatigued to get a character post done on deadline, and for that dear readers I apologize. The Little Fears character will in all hopes be posted sometime before next week, as my health is slowly but assuredly showing signs of improvement.
Be excellent to each other, and party on.
Be excellent to each other, and party on.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Char-Gen Orgy '10 -Savage Worlds
The Game: Savage Worlds
The Publisher: Pinancle Entertainment Group.
Degree of Familiarity: Extensive, though more as a Game Master than a player admittedly
Books Used: Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition.
Well, since I chose two hours before I need to be asleep for work.. it's a damned good thing I'm doing Savage Worlds this week. I'm quite fond of the system -- a two-generations-removed simplification and re-tune of the Deadlands rules -- for just that reason: the game's tagline is "Fast! Furious! Fun!" and it tends to deliver in spades; I run no other system in live tabletop, due to the ease of use and excellent flexibility.
It's also the start of the month, so that means female character (if the pattern hadn't become obvious yet). So our first notion is to choose a genre.. for lack of anything better (and that we'll be hitting most of the other "main" Savage genres with SaWo-powered specific settings (Deadlands, Necessary Evil, etc.) we'll borrow Black Hat Matt's decision and go with something.. pirate.
Also, as an aside / note, female pirates were not, historically, very glamorous -- despite all media portrayals otherwise -- so no Attractive edges or ridiculous tight bodices or any of that nonsense. Just a ruthless pirate lass.
First step is Race, which is going to be Human, and that grants us a free bonus Edge -- which we'll get to that in a minute. First we have Traits -- raw physical abilities, divided into Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength, and Vigor; each starts at d4 and we get 5 Points to assign to them to raise those die types. At the expense of "weaker sex" controversy, I see a focus more on shooting than stabbing, so we'll put everything but Agility and Strength at a d6 (human average) for 3 points, and put the last 2 into Agility for a d8, leaving Strength at d4 -- which doesn't hurt us so very badly in raw talent, as we'll have the d6 Wild Die to fall back on anyhow.
That was quick! Now, onto Skills -- we have 15 Points; raising a skill costs 1 point per die type up to a rating equal to its linked Trait, and 2 points per die type after that. We'll go with the basic "pirate" skills first -- things no pirate should be without -- and assign d4s in Boating, Climbing, Fighting, and leaving us with 12 points; we'll put a d6 in Notice, Taunt, and Throwing for half of those remaining points, leaving us with six unspent; we'll sink five of those into raising Shooting to an impressive d10 and use the last to give ourselves some character color with a d4 in Gambling. Skills done -- gods I love Savage Worlds.
Now we're at Edges, and we get one for free... we may want to use this for a Background Edge (they're available, generally, only at character creation).. and indeed.. the sea gods help those who shoot first, so we'll take Quick, allowing our pirate lass to discard any Initative card lower than a 5.
Now, we get to the fun part.. Hindrances! Hindrances are divided into both Major and Minor levels, and we can take up to 2 Minor and 1 Major Hindrance; those who know me by now will know that we'll be taking our full load naturally.Going with our hint of character development above, our lass -- we'll call her, I think, "Black Mary" Corbin, and make her Irish (just a whim) -- has two serious problems. One.. she gambles to excess. and is always chasing the next big score -- usually bankrupting herself in the process (You ever see Cowboy Bebop? Think Faye, here); the second is she's both female and Irish, which are probably going to put her at odds with most pirate crews on one count or the other. This adds to a total of Greedy (Major), OutsiderPoverty (Minor) for Hindrances, and gives us 4 Points to work with; we'll use two of those to raise our Strength back to a basic d6, and then buy the Acrobat Edge since we now apply for it.
(Minor), and
All that's left at this point before we calculate final Derived Traits is Equipment, and we'd normally get "$500" to spend on it, but due to our Poverty Hindrance, we reduce that to "$250". We'll spend "$150" of that on a Flintlock Pistol, $50 more on Leather Armor, a Dagger for $25, and 10 SHots and Powder to fire them for $30, leaving Mary with $5 in her pockets -- for now.
And all we have left is to calculate our Derived Statistics; Pace is Human average, so 6", Toughness is one-half Vigor +2 and therefore 5 (with an additional +1 from our armor making it a modified 6), and Parry is equal to one-half Fighting +2 and is thus a 4. Since we have no Edges or Hindrances affecting it, Charisma is the default +0
..and, there we are. "Black Mary" Corbin was a spirited Irish lass accustomed to poverty but not accepting of it, so when she got a lucky break she ran away from her family in Eire on a ticket won in a card game and through various misadventures found herself pirating and seeking the big score -- she's not cruel or bloodthirsty, but she is an unrepentant bandit and has no moral qualms about it -- and even less sense of proper sue of what monies she *does* gain -- with Mary it just never seems to last, and if her own greed isn;t enough to get her adventuring again, it's not unknown to cause her to make a quick exit from a port with those she owes after a failed game (card *or* con) catches up to her. That said.. let's see the sheet!
And there we are, done for another week. Tune in next time.. same bat time, same bat schedule!
The Publisher: Pinancle Entertainment Group.
Degree of Familiarity: Extensive, though more as a Game Master than a player admittedly
Books Used: Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition.
Well, since I chose two hours before I need to be asleep for work.. it's a damned good thing I'm doing Savage Worlds this week. I'm quite fond of the system -- a two-generations-removed simplification and re-tune of the Deadlands rules -- for just that reason: the game's tagline is "Fast! Furious! Fun!" and it tends to deliver in spades; I run no other system in live tabletop, due to the ease of use and excellent flexibility.
It's also the start of the month, so that means female character (if the pattern hadn't become obvious yet). So our first notion is to choose a genre.. for lack of anything better (and that we'll be hitting most of the other "main" Savage genres with SaWo-powered specific settings (Deadlands, Necessary Evil, etc.) we'll borrow Black Hat Matt's decision and go with something.. pirate.
Also, as an aside / note, female pirates were not, historically, very glamorous -- despite all media portrayals otherwise -- so no Attractive edges or ridiculous tight bodices or any of that nonsense. Just a ruthless pirate lass.
First step is Race, which is going to be Human, and that grants us a free bonus Edge -- which we'll get to that in a minute. First we have Traits -- raw physical abilities, divided into Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength, and Vigor; each starts at d4 and we get 5 Points to assign to them to raise those die types. At the expense of "weaker sex" controversy, I see a focus more on shooting than stabbing, so we'll put everything but Agility and Strength at a d6 (human average) for 3 points, and put the last 2 into Agility for a d8, leaving Strength at d4 -- which doesn't hurt us so very badly in raw talent, as we'll have the d6 Wild Die to fall back on anyhow.
RACE: Human
TRAITS
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d4
Vigor d6
TRAITS
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d4
Vigor d6
That was quick! Now, onto Skills -- we have 15 Points; raising a skill costs 1 point per die type up to a rating equal to its linked Trait, and 2 points per die type after that. We'll go with the basic "pirate" skills first -- things no pirate should be without -- and assign d4s in Boating, Climbing, Fighting, and leaving us with 12 points; we'll put a d6 in Notice, Taunt, and Throwing for half of those remaining points, leaving us with six unspent; we'll sink five of those into raising Shooting to an impressive d10 and use the last to give ourselves some character color with a d4 in Gambling. Skills done -- gods I love Savage Worlds.
SKILLS
Boating d4
Climbing d4
Fighting d4
Gambling d4
Notice d6
Shooting d10
Taunt d6
Throwing d6
Boating d4
Climbing d4
Fighting d4
Gambling d4
Notice d6
Shooting d10
Taunt d6
Throwing d6
Now we're at Edges, and we get one for free... we may want to use this for a Background Edge (they're available, generally, only at character creation).. and indeed.. the sea gods help those who shoot first, so we'll take Quick, allowing our pirate lass to discard any Initative card lower than a 5.
EDGES
Quick
Quick
Now, we get to the fun part.. Hindrances! Hindrances are divided into both Major and Minor levels, and we can take up to 2 Minor and 1 Major Hindrance; those who know me by now will know that we'll be taking our full load naturally.Going with our hint of character development above, our lass -- we'll call her, I think, "Black Mary" Corbin, and make her Irish (just a whim) -- has two serious problems. One.. she gambles to excess. and is always chasing the next big score -- usually bankrupting herself in the process (You ever see Cowboy Bebop? Think Faye, here); the second is she's both female and Irish, which are probably going to put her at odds with most pirate crews on one count or the other. This adds to a total of Greedy (Major), OutsiderPoverty (Minor) for Hindrances, and gives us 4 Points to work with; we'll use two of those to raise our Strength back to a basic d6, and then buy the Acrobat Edge since we now apply for it.
(Minor), and
HINDRANCES
Greedy (Major)
Outsider (Minor)
Poverty (Minor)
Greedy (Major)
Outsider (Minor)
Poverty (Minor)
All that's left at this point before we calculate final Derived Traits is Equipment, and we'd normally get "$500" to spend on it, but due to our Poverty Hindrance, we reduce that to "$250". We'll spend "$150" of that on a Flintlock Pistol, $50 more on Leather Armor, a Dagger for $25, and 10 SHots and Powder to fire them for $30, leaving Mary with $5 in her pockets -- for now.
GEAR
Flintlock Pistol
Dagger
Shot & Powder x10
Leather Armor
$5
Flintlock Pistol
Dagger
Shot & Powder x10
Leather Armor
$5
And all we have left is to calculate our Derived Statistics; Pace is Human average, so 6", Toughness is one-half Vigor +2 and therefore 5 (with an additional +1 from our armor making it a modified 6), and Parry is equal to one-half Fighting +2 and is thus a 4. Since we have no Edges or Hindrances affecting it, Charisma is the default +0
PACE: 6"
PARRY: 4
TOUGHNESS: 5 (6)
CHARISMA: +0
PARRY: 4
TOUGHNESS: 5 (6)
CHARISMA: +0
..and, there we are. "Black Mary" Corbin was a spirited Irish lass accustomed to poverty but not accepting of it, so when she got a lucky break she ran away from her family in Eire on a ticket won in a card game and through various misadventures found herself pirating and seeking the big score -- she's not cruel or bloodthirsty, but she is an unrepentant bandit and has no moral qualms about it -- and even less sense of proper sue of what monies she *does* gain -- with Mary it just never seems to last, and if her own greed isn;t enough to get her adventuring again, it's not unknown to cause her to make a quick exit from a port with those she owes after a failed game (card *or* con) catches up to her. That said.. let's see the sheet!
* * * * * * *
NAME: "Black Mary" Corbin
RACE: Human
TRAITS
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d6
Vigor d6
PACE: 6"
PARRY: 4
TOUGHNESS: 5 (6)
CHARISMA: +0
SKILLS
Boating d4
Climbing d4
Fighting d4
Gambling d4
Notice d6
Shooting d10
Taunt d6
Throwing d6
EDGES
Acrobat
Quick
HINDRANCES
Greedy (Major)
Outsider (Minor)
Poverty (Minor)
GEAR
Flintlock Pistol
Dagger
Shot & Powder x10
Leather Armor
$5
* * * * * * *
NAME: "Black Mary" Corbin
RACE: Human
TRAITS
Agility d8
Smarts d6
Spirit d6
Strength d6
Vigor d6
PACE: 6"
PARRY: 4
TOUGHNESS: 5 (6)
CHARISMA: +0
SKILLS
Boating d4
Climbing d4
Fighting d4
Gambling d4
Notice d6
Shooting d10
Taunt d6
Throwing d6
EDGES
Acrobat
Quick
HINDRANCES
Greedy (Major)
Outsider (Minor)
Poverty (Minor)
GEAR
Flintlock Pistol
Dagger
Shot & Powder x10
Leather Armor
$5
* * * * * * *
And there we are, done for another week. Tune in next time.. same bat time, same bat schedule!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Char-Gen Orgy '10 - Big Eyes, Small Mouth
The Game: Big Eyes, Small Mouth (Revised Second Edition)
The Publisher: Guardians of Order, Inc. (may they rest in peace)
Degree of Familiarity: Extensive, both as a player and a storyteller.
Books Used: BESM Revised Second Edition Core Rulebook
Big Eyes, Small Mouth is a game I have a lot of affection for; a fellwo gamign cousin introduced the game to me at a family reunion, and over the enxt three days, the kinfolk gaming group put it through its paces in extreme fashion, trying all manner of madcap concepts with the rules -- and always finding them to be equal to the task, handling whatever mad fancies were thrown at it with grace, dignity, and a subtle twist of humor. Horror, drama, comedy, Mythic Age prequels to Changeling: the Dreaming games that spread far beyond those roots and into a vaguely-inspired megaverse all our own? BESM did it all, and even though I have mostly moved on to other games (and looked at the new, sadly final, Third Edition), in part due to the lack of popularity of the rules system with my usual crowd, the Revised Second Edition of the poor, battered little paperback rulebook is still near and dear to my heart, a fondness made sadly poignant by the untimely death of the very talented publishing house -- Guardians of Order -- who produced the game.
But enough of bittersweet yesterdays... you folks came here for a character, right?
Fiorst step is, of course, figuring out what genre of anime our 'campaign' is going to be based on, as that will guide creative decisions, and also influence our skill costs. We'll be doing plenty of fantasy and modern horror, and there are better games to come for cheap laughs... so, these facts coupled with the Mass Effect bender I've been on of late, and I think we'll be making a character for a Space Opera!
With genre decided, we'll move on to a concept.. and although it may slightly be cheating, I am thinking I'll actually remake an old character I have played in numerous space opera games before, Captain Jack Vandal! (...yes, you must say it with an exclamation mark! After all, he is Captain Jack Vandal!), privateer Lothario of the stars, gentleman space pirate, and general pain in the ass to the authorities he (technically) works for but even worse a foe to those who offend his sense of honor and good. There's ourselves a concept -- now al lwe need is a power-level.. I see this as strictly an average-powered game, so we'll go with the high end of that, giving us 35 Points to build with.
For the uninitiated, BESM runs on GoO's "Tri-Stat" system, which, as one might guess, has three Stats -- Body, Mind and Soul. These three, broad categories cover a lot of ground, and run from 0 (complete and utter ineptitude) to 12 (best in the universe), with the human average being a 4. Jack's in good shape, despite getting on in his years, so we'll put a 5 in Body; Age and treachery win every time, so we'll add a 7 in Mind, and the old cuss is nothing if not iron-willed, so a firm 6 in Soul rounds us out there, and leaves us with 17 points unspent. Moving on.
Now, the fun part -- Character Attributes! Attributes, essentially, are what knacks, skills, and gear a BESM character can rely on on hsi or her colorfully-aniamted adventures. There's is a staggering amount of choice, but we'll keep it simple -- Jack is a Badass Normal, and therefore has no flashy supernatural tricks to see him through.. just skill, guts, and guile. We'll add 2 ranks of Attractive off the bat -- he's a charming old rogue -- for 2 points, leaving 15 to spend (though we'll be exceeding that, if only because I adore Defects, as we all know, and BESM has some of the best ones ever). Next comes 2 ranks of Art of Distraction to best represent his fast-talking style and charisma, which leaves us at 13 points. We'll also take 2 ranks each of Damn Healthy! and Divine Relationship to make our old space pirate both tougher than the young turks might expect, and luckier to boot -- a scoundrel can never have too much good luck. We're down to 9 points, and still going. A single rank in Focused Damage (Sword) makes his fencing attacks have more bite and leaves us with 8 Points unspent; we'll put 2 of them to work on 2 ranks of Gun Bunny to buy a couple pistol-related special abilities -- in our case "Lightning Draw" (Jack does shoot first) and "One Bullet Left" (Don't even bother counting his shots, because when it counts he's always got one last round in the chamber), and another 2 points in 2 ranks Highly Skilled -- never underestimate the use of age, experience, and practice. That leaves us at 4 Points, and 2 of them will go into Kensai (the melee-weapon equivalent of Gun Bunny), purchasing the special abilities "Judge Opponent" (got to love the Warrior Therapist gimmick, and Jack's seen it all) and "Precise Stroke" (the better to do showy, swashbuckling stunts). With the last 2 Points to our name, we'll take 2 ranks in Personal Gear, and with that we're officially buying on credit from here on out. Going back a bit in the book we'll go ahead and buy 2 ranks of Organizational Ties (at the 3-point version) to represent his status as an ally of the "Federation" (all space sagas have one after all, and Jack tenuously works for them), putting us at -6 Points and counting; We'll also spend 4 points on a rank of Own Big Mecha (Or, if you prefer, "O.B.M.") to represent whatever ship Jack is possessed of these days. That puts at -10 Points, and leaves us with the following Attributes
So far, so good; time to pay back our bill and take a few Defects! We need 10 points worth in all, and in BESM, the majority of Defects are scaled to give back either 1 or 2 Points. Right off that bat we'll take a 1 point Attack Restriction Defect to represent Jack's scruples and the Federation's orders to not attack noncombatant civilians, and Jack's own moral high-horse about harming the innocent and those less competent than himself. In the anime tradition, Jack is a bit of a lech, and so he has a 1 point Easily Distracted Defect, triggered by attractive women -- he's a sucker for a pretty face -- and in another tradition, it's mutual, and since this is one of the most comical and greatest Defects ever put in a game, we'll take the full 2 point extreme version of the Girl Magnet Defect -- and if anyone's ever seen a harem anime, they know just what sort of special Hell poor Jack's being set up for, here. A one-two punch of a point each in Owned by a Megacorp and Red Tape represent the unpleasant controls put on the old renegade by the Federation to keep him (*mostly*) in line, and going back we'll round our requirements out with a 2 point Nemesis (an old enemy from his pirating days) and 2 points of Wanted (Federation-licensed agent or not, several governments and a large number of criminal interests want the old troublemaker brought down). That's got our scales balanced again, and our Defects list looks like this:
All that we have left besides derived values is Skills, and with our basic allotment of 20 points and the 20 more bestowed by our ranks in Highly Skilled we have 40 to spend; Skills are ranked 1-6, with 3 being hgihly competent, and each skill has a varying cost per rank based on setting utility, and each one must select a Speciality to indicate the main focus of the character's competency. We ourselves are using the Space Opera skill costs, and with that said.. off we go.Combat first; we'll take a level of Gun Combat (Heavy Pistol) for 5 Skill Points ("SP" henceforth), and 16 more SP for 2 ranks each in Melee Attack (Sword) and Melee Defense (Sword), leaving us at 19 SP unspent. Moving into our Non-Combat Skills, we'll spend 10 SP on 2 ranks of Piloting (Spacecraft), and to aid in the conquests of green-skinned space babes, the last 9 SP wil lbuy us 3 ranks in Seduction (Female). That was blessedly brief...
All that's left now is to determine our Derived Stats; Our Attack Combat Value (ACV) is equal to (Body + Mind + Soul / 3) and thus equals 6, and our Defense Combat Value (DCV) equals (ACV -2), for a total of 4. Health Points (HP) are equal to (Body + Soul) x5 with any modifers for Damn Healthy!, and so for us equal 75, and our Energy Points (EP) are equal to (Mind + Soul) x5 with any mods -- none in our case -- so a flat 65.
And there we have it! Jack's final sheet looks like this:
Seeya next time, space cowboys!
The Publisher: Guardians of Order, Inc. (may they rest in peace)
Degree of Familiarity: Extensive, both as a player and a storyteller.
Books Used: BESM Revised Second Edition Core Rulebook
Big Eyes, Small Mouth is a game I have a lot of affection for; a fellwo gamign cousin introduced the game to me at a family reunion, and over the enxt three days, the kinfolk gaming group put it through its paces in extreme fashion, trying all manner of madcap concepts with the rules -- and always finding them to be equal to the task, handling whatever mad fancies were thrown at it with grace, dignity, and a subtle twist of humor. Horror, drama, comedy, Mythic Age prequels to Changeling: the Dreaming games that spread far beyond those roots and into a vaguely-inspired megaverse all our own? BESM did it all, and even though I have mostly moved on to other games (and looked at the new, sadly final, Third Edition), in part due to the lack of popularity of the rules system with my usual crowd, the Revised Second Edition of the poor, battered little paperback rulebook is still near and dear to my heart, a fondness made sadly poignant by the untimely death of the very talented publishing house -- Guardians of Order -- who produced the game.
But enough of bittersweet yesterdays... you folks came here for a character, right?
Fiorst step is, of course, figuring out what genre of anime our 'campaign' is going to be based on, as that will guide creative decisions, and also influence our skill costs. We'll be doing plenty of fantasy and modern horror, and there are better games to come for cheap laughs... so, these facts coupled with the Mass Effect bender I've been on of late, and I think we'll be making a character for a Space Opera!
With genre decided, we'll move on to a concept.. and although it may slightly be cheating, I am thinking I'll actually remake an old character I have played in numerous space opera games before, Captain Jack Vandal! (...yes, you must say it with an exclamation mark! After all, he is Captain Jack Vandal!), privateer Lothario of the stars, gentleman space pirate, and general pain in the ass to the authorities he (technically) works for but even worse a foe to those who offend his sense of honor and good. There's ourselves a concept -- now al lwe need is a power-level.. I see this as strictly an average-powered game, so we'll go with the high end of that, giving us 35 Points to build with.
For the uninitiated, BESM runs on GoO's "Tri-Stat" system, which, as one might guess, has three Stats -- Body, Mind and Soul. These three, broad categories cover a lot of ground, and run from 0 (complete and utter ineptitude) to 12 (best in the universe), with the human average being a 4. Jack's in good shape, despite getting on in his years, so we'll put a 5 in Body; Age and treachery win every time, so we'll add a 7 in Mind, and the old cuss is nothing if not iron-willed, so a firm 6 in Soul rounds us out there, and leaves us with 17 points unspent. Moving on.
STATS
Body 5
Mind 7
Soul 6
Body 5
Mind 7
Soul 6
Now, the fun part -- Character Attributes! Attributes, essentially, are what knacks, skills, and gear a BESM character can rely on on hsi or her colorfully-aniamted adventures. There's is a staggering amount of choice, but we'll keep it simple -- Jack is a Badass Normal, and therefore has no flashy supernatural tricks to see him through.. just skill, guts, and guile. We'll add 2 ranks of Attractive off the bat -- he's a charming old rogue -- for 2 points, leaving 15 to spend (though we'll be exceeding that, if only because I adore Defects, as we all know, and BESM has some of the best ones ever). Next comes 2 ranks of Art of Distraction to best represent his fast-talking style and charisma, which leaves us at 13 points. We'll also take 2 ranks each of Damn Healthy! and Divine Relationship to make our old space pirate both tougher than the young turks might expect, and luckier to boot -- a scoundrel can never have too much good luck. We're down to 9 points, and still going. A single rank in Focused Damage (Sword) makes his fencing attacks have more bite and leaves us with 8 Points unspent; we'll put 2 of them to work on 2 ranks of Gun Bunny to buy a couple pistol-related special abilities -- in our case "Lightning Draw" (Jack does shoot first) and "One Bullet Left" (Don't even bother counting his shots, because when it counts he's always got one last round in the chamber), and another 2 points in 2 ranks Highly Skilled -- never underestimate the use of age, experience, and practice. That leaves us at 4 Points, and 2 of them will go into Kensai (the melee-weapon equivalent of Gun Bunny), purchasing the special abilities "Judge Opponent" (got to love the Warrior Therapist gimmick, and Jack's seen it all) and "Precise Stroke" (the better to do showy, swashbuckling stunts). With the last 2 Points to our name, we'll take 2 ranks in Personal Gear, and with that we're officially buying on credit from here on out. Going back a bit in the book we'll go ahead and buy 2 ranks of Organizational Ties (at the 3-point version) to represent his status as an ally of the "Federation" (all space sagas have one after all, and Jack tenuously works for them), putting us at -6 Points and counting; We'll also spend 4 points on a rank of Own Big Mecha (Or, if you prefer, "O.B.M.") to represent whatever ship Jack is possessed of these days. That puts at -10 Points, and leaves us with the following Attributes
ATTRIBUTES
Attractive 2
Art of Distraction 2
Damn Healthy! 2
Divine Relationship 2
Focused Damage (Sword) 1
Gun Bunny (Lightning Draw, One Bullet Left) 2
Highly Skilled 2
Kensai (Judge Opponent, Precise Stroke) 2
Organizational Ties ("The Federation") 2
Own Big Mecha 1
Personal Gear 2
Attractive 2
Art of Distraction 2
Damn Healthy! 2
Divine Relationship 2
Focused Damage (Sword) 1
Gun Bunny (Lightning Draw, One Bullet Left) 2
Highly Skilled 2
Kensai (Judge Opponent, Precise Stroke) 2
Organizational Ties ("The Federation") 2
Own Big Mecha 1
Personal Gear 2
So far, so good; time to pay back our bill and take a few Defects! We need 10 points worth in all, and in BESM, the majority of Defects are scaled to give back either 1 or 2 Points. Right off that bat we'll take a 1 point Attack Restriction Defect to represent Jack's scruples and the Federation's orders to not attack noncombatant civilians, and Jack's own moral high-horse about harming the innocent and those less competent than himself. In the anime tradition, Jack is a bit of a lech, and so he has a 1 point Easily Distracted Defect, triggered by attractive women -- he's a sucker for a pretty face -- and in another tradition, it's mutual, and since this is one of the most comical and greatest Defects ever put in a game, we'll take the full 2 point extreme version of the Girl Magnet Defect -- and if anyone's ever seen a harem anime, they know just what sort of special Hell poor Jack's being set up for, here. A one-two punch of a point each in Owned by a Megacorp and Red Tape represent the unpleasant controls put on the old renegade by the Federation to keep him (*mostly*) in line, and going back we'll round our requirements out with a 2 point Nemesis (an old enemy from his pirating days) and 2 points of Wanted (Federation-licensed agent or not, several governments and a large number of criminal interests want the old troublemaker brought down). That's got our scales balanced again, and our Defects list looks like this:
DEFECTS
Attack Restriction 1
Easily Distracted (Attractive Women) 1
Girl Magnet 2
Nemesis 2 (Shady Rival from the Past) 2
Owed by the Federation 1
Red Tape 1
Wanted 2
Attack Restriction 1
Easily Distracted (Attractive Women) 1
Girl Magnet 2
Nemesis 2 (Shady Rival from the Past) 2
Owed by the Federation 1
Red Tape 1
Wanted 2
All that we have left besides derived values is Skills, and with our basic allotment of 20 points and the 20 more bestowed by our ranks in Highly Skilled we have 40 to spend; Skills are ranked 1-6, with 3 being hgihly competent, and each skill has a varying cost per rank based on setting utility, and each one must select a Speciality to indicate the main focus of the character's competency. We ourselves are using the Space Opera skill costs, and with that said.. off we go.Combat first; we'll take a level of Gun Combat (Heavy Pistol) for 5 Skill Points ("SP" henceforth), and 16 more SP for 2 ranks each in Melee Attack (Sword) and Melee Defense (Sword), leaving us at 19 SP unspent. Moving into our Non-Combat Skills, we'll spend 10 SP on 2 ranks of Piloting (Spacecraft), and to aid in the conquests of green-skinned space babes, the last 9 SP wil lbuy us 3 ranks in Seduction (Female). That was blessedly brief...
SKILLS
Gun Combat (Heavy Pistol) 1
Melee Attack (Sword) 2
Melee Defense (Sword) 2
Pilot (Spacecraft) 2
Seduction (Female) 3
Gun Combat (Heavy Pistol) 1
Melee Attack (Sword) 2
Melee Defense (Sword) 2
Pilot (Spacecraft) 2
Seduction (Female) 3
All that's left now is to determine our Derived Stats; Our Attack Combat Value (ACV) is equal to (Body + Mind + Soul / 3) and thus equals 6, and our Defense Combat Value (DCV) equals (ACV -2), for a total of 4. Health Points (HP) are equal to (Body + Soul) x5 with any modifers for Damn Healthy!, and so for us equal 75, and our Energy Points (EP) are equal to (Mind + Soul) x5 with any mods -- none in our case -- so a flat 65.
ACV: 6
DCV: 4
HP: 75
EP: 65
DCV: 4
HP: 75
EP: 65
And there we have it! Jack's final sheet looks like this:
* * * * * * *
Captain Jack Vandal!
STATS
Body 5
Mind 7
Soul 6
ATTRIBUTES
Attractive 2
Art of Distraction 2
Damn Healthy! 2
Divine Relationship 2
Focused Damage (Sword) 1
Gun Bunny (Lightning Draw, One Bullet Left) 2
Highly SKklled 2
Kensai (Judge Opponent, Precise Stroke) 2
Organizational Ties ("The Federation") 2
Own Big Mecha 1
Personal Gear 2
DEFECTS
Attack Restriction 1
Easily Distracted (Attractive Women) 1
Girl Magnet 2
Nemesis 2 (Shady Rival from the Past) 2
Owed by the Federation 1
Red Tape 1
Wanted 2
SKILLS
Gun Combat (Heavy Pistol) 1
Melee Attack (Sword) 2
Melee Defense (Sword) 2
Pilot (Spacecraft) 2
Seduction (Female) 3
ACV: 6
DCV: 4
HP: 75
EP: 65
* * * * * * *
STATS
Body 5
Mind 7
Soul 6
ATTRIBUTES
Attractive 2
Art of Distraction 2
Damn Healthy! 2
Divine Relationship 2
Focused Damage (Sword) 1
Gun Bunny (Lightning Draw, One Bullet Left) 2
Highly SKklled 2
Kensai (Judge Opponent, Precise Stroke) 2
Organizational Ties ("The Federation") 2
Own Big Mecha 1
Personal Gear 2
DEFECTS
Attack Restriction 1
Easily Distracted (Attractive Women) 1
Girl Magnet 2
Nemesis 2 (Shady Rival from the Past) 2
Owed by the Federation 1
Red Tape 1
Wanted 2
SKILLS
Gun Combat (Heavy Pistol) 1
Melee Attack (Sword) 2
Melee Defense (Sword) 2
Pilot (Spacecraft) 2
Seduction (Female) 3
ACV: 6
DCV: 4
HP: 75
EP: 65
* * * * * * *
Seeya next time, space cowboys!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Char-Gen Orgy '10 - Exalted
The Game: Exalted (Second Edition)
The Publisher: White Wolf Game Studios
Degree of Familiarity: Played in a couple short games, read extensively of the setting.
Books Used: Exalted 2nd Edition Core Rules
Ah yes, Exalted -- White Wolf's high-power, high-octane, grown-up fantasy game, drawing influence from everything from anime and manga to the epics of the ancient world to the Christian Bible. It's an eclectic mix, but somehow the madness of it all blends together into a cohesive world where powerful demigods wage epic war and epic love alike, with the fate of a vast world of immense size and scope hanging (quite tenuously, in fact) in the balance. It's epic stuff, and possibly my second-favorite game universe (after, of course, Deadlands and its three epochs).
For those not enlightened, Exalted is the story of the.. well, the Exalted, mortal men and women chosen by various Celestial powers (or their less savory opposing forces) to recieve the power of demigods in service to said celestial powers, originally to wage war on the Primordials, ancient entities that sired said celestial beings. Long story short, they won said war, but as they went down the Primoridals direly cursed all Exalted... which lead to their downfall, the Usurpation by their servants the Dragon-Blooded, and the imprisonment of most of the power of the chief amongst their number -- the Solars, chosen of the Unconquered Sun.
Too bad the Dragon-Blooded weren't up to the task they took for themselves, and Creation soon fell apart in no short order under force of various threats and enemies of its existence (of which there really are no shortage). The future looks bleak.
Until a dire plan goes (partially) awry, and those shards of glorious, Exalted power are released into Creation again to do what they were designed to do -- seek out heroic mortals and make them into heroes of epic power.
So it begins again, as brave men and women suddenly awaken to ancient, glorious might and find themselves the only ones who can save a world that largely despises their demonized names... they are the *Solar Exalted*, champions of the Unconquered Sun, and they have a Hell of a mess to clean up.
Good thing that if anyone can save Creation.. it's them.....
Hey ho.. let's go!
Mechanically, Exalted operates on something thats not utterly unalike the old Storyteller system the original World of Darkness games utilized, so the framewrok is quite familiar, even if we have a lot more chunky substance to work through.. and we need a niche... what is our Exalt good at? We need to know this because whatever an Exalt is good at, they're really damned good at. So far, I've dabbled in conniving types, gearheads, smooth-talkers.... I think this time we want something. .a bit more blunt. Sometimes.. you just want to kick some serious ass, and if there's a game for that.. that game is Exalted. So.. screw subtlety this time out... we're makin' a mean motherfuckin' blunt object to direct against the enemies of Creation and the Unconquered Sun!
In playing with the warped and amusing names that Creation's resident's tend to have.. we'll dub our Exalt -- who, for no real reason we'll say is from the forested Eastern area of Creation... we'll dub him....Towering Oak. Yes, for the unitiated.. thats the sort of names you end up with if you're born in Creation.. moving on... step one is Concept, and we have the first part of that alrady.. 'Boisterous Bruiser' is our concept, and as for our Caste (the equivalent, though far mroe loose, to D&D's classes), we're going with Dawn, the warrior elite of the warrior elite. We'll now need a Motivation.... something heroic for Towering Oak to strive for in his epic journey throughout Creation, something, per the book's instructions, big. Towering Oak.. well, I think its safe to cal lhim a simple soul... but since he's stil la heroic one... his Motivation shall be "Prove Myself the Strongest Man in Creation". Not the most altruistic of aims.. but since most strong things in Creation terrorize those weaker than them... we'll call it at enlightened self-interest.
That's done.. moving on to stage two, we're now dealing with our Attributes, which are the standard three groups of three, priroritize and assign points setup we should by now be used to. Physical is obviously going to be our primary category, and we'll but Social in second place, leaving Mental in third place (as if this could go anywhere else with Oak...). Well, Oak is tough and, of course, phenomenally strong.... he's likable and handsome enough though not particularly guileful.. and though he's no genius and not the quickest on the uptake, he's got a good sense for hsi surroundings from living in the woods of the East... that said... we'll assign his Attributes as follows:
There we are.. now, for Abilities, our third stage.. first, we note the abilities that our caste favors, and for Dawn Caste warriors, those abilities are Archery, Martial Arts, Melee, Thrown, and War. Now we customize that lsit a bit by choosing our own favored Abilities, of which we get five, and none of these can belong to our Caste's favored list. These are the areas where Oak excels outside his Dawn Caste purviews, and scanning the list, we'll choose Athletics, Integrity, Presence, Resistance, and Survival -- Oak is a athletic, strong-willed, imposing, durable fsort who knows hsi way around the woodlands of the world. That decided, we'll now choose our Abilities; we have 28 points, 10 of which must go into Caste or Favored Abilities, and we must have at least 1 dot in each Favored Ability. I naddition, we cannot have any ratings above 3 in an Ability at this step. We'll go ahead and spend 15 of our 28 to max out our Favored attributes right up front at 3 dots, and we'll add a 3 in each of Martial Arts, Melee, and Thrown as well for nine more, leaving us with 24 of our 28 points spent. We'll add two dots to Craft (Wood) to represent a certain ahndy knack at woodworking and the like, and we'll wrap up with a dot each in Medicine and Linguistics -- live in a verdant woodland long enough and you'll learn how to use certain herbs to best effect, and it always pays to be able to communicate beyond your native tongue, so a dot of Linguistics to let us pick up Riverspeak (the tongue of the nearby Scavenger Lands) seems a fair investment.
Abilities done, so now we move to our next step, Advantages -- our Backgrounds, Charms, and Virtues. We have 7 Background points to spend, and right off the bat I'm going to sink 3 (the limit, at this point) into Artifact to purchase ourself a Orichalum Grand Goremaul.... a huge, heavenly hammer capable of dealing absolutely crushing blows. 4 left to spend. We'll say that Oak's legend is spreading, the "Hammer of the East", and so after a few early misadventures a small Cult has formed around him at 2 dots, and that the more dedicated of these followers (likely the pretty and capable women) have been elected to follow him, keeping up his legend and providing for his needs -- he's obviously not going to earn much upkeep himself, now is he? -- and earning a hardscrabble living for themselves and their idol, so a dot each in Followers and Resources
Next are our Charms, our impressive, flashy, superhuman abilities, the benefit of being an Exalt; we get 10 of them, and at least 5 must come from our Caste or Favored Abilities -- which shouldn't be a problem. As others may note elsewhere, Charms are a rather intricate thing, even if they seem simple up-front, and finding the synergy is what we're aiming for -- and keeping outselves alive too, preferably through at least one Perfect Defense, or to those unfamiliar, tap two Blue and kiss that attack goodbye -- this is the sort of thing that Exalted combat is based around, and you're suicidally foolish to not have one. Our main focus here is going to be on being tough and hitting hard, so we're starting with Resistance and Melee Charms. From Resistance, we'll take Durability of Oak Meditation (allowing us to shrug off lesser blows), Spirit Strengthens the Skin (to reduce damage that does get through), and Iron Skin Concentration (Either ignoring attacks from foes outright, or failing that, granting hefty resistances), all leading up to Adamanat Skin Technique, which we must choose a Virtue to attach to; we'll choose Valor, meaning that when he uses this fourth Charm, Oak must move toward the enemy he considers most dangerous and seek to engage them, the tradeoff being that we can use this Charm to flat-out defeat any attack aimed at us -- we're that epically tough! That handles defenses, and leaves us six Charms left; it also will mandate raising our Essence to 3 and our Resistance to 5 with Bonus Points later on, so we'll make a note of that. Now.. let's get to the best defense.. and look into our Offense. First off, we'll need to start our ass-kicking with any Melee Excellency Charm.. we'll take the First, allowing us to spend motes (our mojo, basically) to improve Melee attacks, forming the foundation for other Melee Charms; we'll round out our offensive melee abilities with the Hungry Tiger Technique (to allow us to double our extra successes on attacks) and Fire and Stones Strike (adding extra power to attacks after the enemy's shrugged off -- "soaked" -- some of the damage) Charms, which couple with that Grand Goremaul to inflict some seriously traumatizing strikes. We don't need to adjust our Melee dots for any of those (though wwe probably will anyway), and we have three Charm selections left.and rather than be fancy, we'll go back to Resistance Charms and buy 3 doses of Ox-Body Technique, purchasing ourselves three extra -1 Health levels and six more -2 levels -- Oak is a tough, tough sone of a gun to bring down!
Virtues will wrap us up for Advantages, and we have 5 points to spread amonmgst them -- they all start at 1, and none of them can be raised above 4 at this stage. Compassion... well, its not our style, and so that stays at 1 -- Oak will do well for people, but he's not altruistic enough to go for more than that, and Temperance is, likewise, not a strong suit, so that will stay at 1 as well. That leaves 5 dots to spend between Conviction (emotional endurance) and Valor (courage and bravery), and we'll put 2 in the former and 3 in the latter, meaning our Virtue Flaw -- the manifestation of the Primordial's Great Curse -- should come from Valor; scanning the options, we'll go with Foolhardy Contempt -- no one is stronger than Towering Oak!
Whew, that was the long slog!
And now we're in the home stretch! Finishing Touches has us slowly wrapping up our design process and getting a few derived values jotted down; Our Essence is currently 2 (the Default), our WIllpower is the sum of our two highest Virtues and therefore set to 7 at current, our Personal Essence is [(Essence x3) + Willpower] or 13, our Peripheral Essence [(Essence x7) + Willpower + the sum of all Virtues] for a total of 30, and we have the base 7 Health Levels of all characters plus nine more gained from Ox-Body Technique, for a final total of 16. All that's left now is to spend Bonus Points, 7 (of our total of 15) to raise Essence to 3 (raising our Personal Essence by 3 motes and our Peripheral Essence by 7 motes in the process) and 2 more to raise Resistance to 5; we've got 6 BP left, so we'll go ahead and add a dot to our Stamina for 4 of them, and max our Melee to 5 dots with the final 2.
And... there we go! We'd normally establish Intimacies, maybe buy some equipment, but at this point I'm not too worried about Social Combat as we're in a vacuum at current, and all Oak really needs to get by is that big old Hammer of his.
...and there we go, a warrior of *Sol Invictus*, prepared to take Creation by storm and prove that he's the strongest, hardest-hitting badass in existence.
...and probably get his head busted a few tiems for the trouble, but such is the way of Exalted -- it's larger than life, and so are it's heroes!
See you folks next week!
The Publisher: White Wolf Game Studios
Degree of Familiarity: Played in a couple short games, read extensively of the setting.
Books Used: Exalted 2nd Edition Core Rules
Ah yes, Exalted -- White Wolf's high-power, high-octane, grown-up fantasy game, drawing influence from everything from anime and manga to the epics of the ancient world to the Christian Bible. It's an eclectic mix, but somehow the madness of it all blends together into a cohesive world where powerful demigods wage epic war and epic love alike, with the fate of a vast world of immense size and scope hanging (quite tenuously, in fact) in the balance. It's epic stuff, and possibly my second-favorite game universe (after, of course, Deadlands and its three epochs).
For those not enlightened, Exalted is the story of the.. well, the Exalted, mortal men and women chosen by various Celestial powers (or their less savory opposing forces) to recieve the power of demigods in service to said celestial powers, originally to wage war on the Primordials, ancient entities that sired said celestial beings. Long story short, they won said war, but as they went down the Primoridals direly cursed all Exalted... which lead to their downfall, the Usurpation by their servants the Dragon-Blooded, and the imprisonment of most of the power of the chief amongst their number -- the Solars, chosen of the Unconquered Sun.
Too bad the Dragon-Blooded weren't up to the task they took for themselves, and Creation soon fell apart in no short order under force of various threats and enemies of its existence (of which there really are no shortage). The future looks bleak.
Until a dire plan goes (partially) awry, and those shards of glorious, Exalted power are released into Creation again to do what they were designed to do -- seek out heroic mortals and make them into heroes of epic power.
So it begins again, as brave men and women suddenly awaken to ancient, glorious might and find themselves the only ones who can save a world that largely despises their demonized names... they are the *Solar Exalted*, champions of the Unconquered Sun, and they have a Hell of a mess to clean up.
Good thing that if anyone can save Creation.. it's them.....
Hey ho.. let's go!
Mechanically, Exalted operates on something thats not utterly unalike the old Storyteller system the original World of Darkness games utilized, so the framewrok is quite familiar, even if we have a lot more chunky substance to work through.. and we need a niche... what is our Exalt good at? We need to know this because whatever an Exalt is good at, they're really damned good at. So far, I've dabbled in conniving types, gearheads, smooth-talkers.... I think this time we want something. .a bit more blunt. Sometimes.. you just want to kick some serious ass, and if there's a game for that.. that game is Exalted. So.. screw subtlety this time out... we're makin' a mean motherfuckin' blunt object to direct against the enemies of Creation and the Unconquered Sun!
In playing with the warped and amusing names that Creation's resident's tend to have.. we'll dub our Exalt -- who, for no real reason we'll say is from the forested Eastern area of Creation... we'll dub him....Towering Oak. Yes, for the unitiated.. thats the sort of names you end up with if you're born in Creation.. moving on... step one is Concept, and we have the first part of that alrady.. 'Boisterous Bruiser' is our concept, and as for our Caste (the equivalent, though far mroe loose, to D&D's classes), we're going with Dawn, the warrior elite of the warrior elite. We'll now need a Motivation.... something heroic for Towering Oak to strive for in his epic journey throughout Creation, something, per the book's instructions, big. Towering Oak.. well, I think its safe to cal lhim a simple soul... but since he's stil la heroic one... his Motivation shall be "Prove Myself the Strongest Man in Creation". Not the most altruistic of aims.. but since most strong things in Creation terrorize those weaker than them... we'll call it at enlightened self-interest.
Concept: Boisterous Bruiser
Caste: Dawn
Motivation: "Prove Myself the Strongest Man in Creation"
Caste: Dawn
Motivation: "Prove Myself the Strongest Man in Creation"
That's done.. moving on to stage two, we're now dealing with our Attributes, which are the standard three groups of three, priroritize and assign points setup we should by now be used to. Physical is obviously going to be our primary category, and we'll but Social in second place, leaving Mental in third place (as if this could go anywhere else with Oak...). Well, Oak is tough and, of course, phenomenally strong.... he's likable and handsome enough though not particularly guileful.. and though he's no genius and not the quickest on the uptake, he's got a good sense for hsi surroundings from living in the woods of the East... that said... we'll assign his Attributes as follows:
ATTRIBUTES
PHYSICAL
Strength 5
Dexterity 2
Stamina 4
SOCIAL
Charisma 4
Manipulation 2
Appearance 3
MENTAL
Perception 3
Intelligence 2
Wits 2
PHYSICAL
Strength 5
Dexterity 2
Stamina 4
SOCIAL
Charisma 4
Manipulation 2
Appearance 3
MENTAL
Perception 3
Intelligence 2
Wits 2
There we are.. now, for Abilities, our third stage.. first, we note the abilities that our caste favors, and for Dawn Caste warriors, those abilities are Archery, Martial Arts, Melee, Thrown, and War. Now we customize that lsit a bit by choosing our own favored Abilities, of which we get five, and none of these can belong to our Caste's favored list. These are the areas where Oak excels outside his Dawn Caste purviews, and scanning the list, we'll choose Athletics, Integrity, Presence, Resistance, and Survival -- Oak is a athletic, strong-willed, imposing, durable fsort who knows hsi way around the woodlands of the world. That decided, we'll now choose our Abilities; we have 28 points, 10 of which must go into Caste or Favored Abilities, and we must have at least 1 dot in each Favored Ability. I naddition, we cannot have any ratings above 3 in an Ability at this step. We'll go ahead and spend 15 of our 28 to max out our Favored attributes right up front at 3 dots, and we'll add a 3 in each of Martial Arts, Melee, and Thrown as well for nine more, leaving us with 24 of our 28 points spent. We'll add two dots to Craft (Wood) to represent a certain ahndy knack at woodworking and the like, and we'll wrap up with a dot each in Medicine and Linguistics -- live in a verdant woodland long enough and you'll learn how to use certain herbs to best effect, and it always pays to be able to communicate beyond your native tongue, so a dot of Linguistics to let us pick up Riverspeak (the tongue of the nearby Scavenger Lands) seems a fair investment.
ABILITIES
Athletics 3
Craft (Wood) 2
Integrity 3
Linguistics 1 (Foresttongue, Riverspeak)
Martial Arts 3
Medicine 1
Melee 5
Presence 3
Resistance 5
Survival 3
Thrown 3
Athletics 3
Craft (Wood) 2
Integrity 3
Linguistics 1 (Foresttongue, Riverspeak)
Martial Arts 3
Medicine 1
Melee 5
Presence 3
Resistance 5
Survival 3
Thrown 3
Abilities done, so now we move to our next step, Advantages -- our Backgrounds, Charms, and Virtues. We have 7 Background points to spend, and right off the bat I'm going to sink 3 (the limit, at this point) into Artifact to purchase ourself a Orichalum Grand Goremaul.... a huge, heavenly hammer capable of dealing absolutely crushing blows. 4 left to spend. We'll say that Oak's legend is spreading, the "Hammer of the East", and so after a few early misadventures a small Cult has formed around him at 2 dots, and that the more dedicated of these followers (likely the pretty and capable women) have been elected to follow him, keeping up his legend and providing for his needs -- he's obviously not going to earn much upkeep himself, now is he? -- and earning a hardscrabble living for themselves and their idol, so a dot each in Followers and Resources
Next are our Charms, our impressive, flashy, superhuman abilities, the benefit of being an Exalt; we get 10 of them, and at least 5 must come from our Caste or Favored Abilities -- which shouldn't be a problem. As others may note elsewhere, Charms are a rather intricate thing, even if they seem simple up-front, and finding the synergy is what we're aiming for -- and keeping outselves alive too, preferably through at least one Perfect Defense, or to those unfamiliar, tap two Blue and kiss that attack goodbye -- this is the sort of thing that Exalted combat is based around, and you're suicidally foolish to not have one. Our main focus here is going to be on being tough and hitting hard, so we're starting with Resistance and Melee Charms. From Resistance, we'll take Durability of Oak Meditation (allowing us to shrug off lesser blows), Spirit Strengthens the Skin (to reduce damage that does get through), and Iron Skin Concentration (Either ignoring attacks from foes outright, or failing that, granting hefty resistances), all leading up to Adamanat Skin Technique, which we must choose a Virtue to attach to; we'll choose Valor, meaning that when he uses this fourth Charm, Oak must move toward the enemy he considers most dangerous and seek to engage them, the tradeoff being that we can use this Charm to flat-out defeat any attack aimed at us -- we're that epically tough! That handles defenses, and leaves us six Charms left; it also will mandate raising our Essence to 3 and our Resistance to 5 with Bonus Points later on, so we'll make a note of that. Now.. let's get to the best defense.. and look into our Offense. First off, we'll need to start our ass-kicking with any Melee Excellency Charm.. we'll take the First, allowing us to spend motes (our mojo, basically) to improve Melee attacks, forming the foundation for other Melee Charms; we'll round out our offensive melee abilities with the Hungry Tiger Technique (to allow us to double our extra successes on attacks) and Fire and Stones Strike (adding extra power to attacks after the enemy's shrugged off -- "soaked" -- some of the damage) Charms, which couple with that Grand Goremaul to inflict some seriously traumatizing strikes. We don't need to adjust our Melee dots for any of those (though wwe probably will anyway), and we have three Charm selections left.and rather than be fancy, we'll go back to Resistance Charms and buy 3 doses of Ox-Body Technique, purchasing ourselves three extra -1 Health levels and six more -2 levels -- Oak is a tough, tough sone of a gun to bring down!
Virtues will wrap us up for Advantages, and we have 5 points to spread amonmgst them -- they all start at 1, and none of them can be raised above 4 at this stage. Compassion... well, its not our style, and so that stays at 1 -- Oak will do well for people, but he's not altruistic enough to go for more than that, and Temperance is, likewise, not a strong suit, so that will stay at 1 as well. That leaves 5 dots to spend between Conviction (emotional endurance) and Valor (courage and bravery), and we'll put 2 in the former and 3 in the latter, meaning our Virtue Flaw -- the manifestation of the Primordial's Great Curse -- should come from Valor; scanning the options, we'll go with Foolhardy Contempt -- no one is stronger than Towering Oak!
BACKGROUNDS
Artifact 3 (Orichalum Grand Goremaul) [Speed 5 / Accuracy +3 / Damage +16L/ 5 / Defense +0 / Rate 2 / Minimum Str. 5 / Attune 8 / 2, O, P, R]
Cult 2
Followers 1
Resources 1
CHARMS
Durability of Oak Meditation
Spirit Strengthens the Skin
Iron Skin Concentration
Adamant Skin Technique (Valor)
Ox Body Technique [3] (three -1 & six -2 Health Boxes)
First Melee Excellency
Hungry Toger Technique
Fire and Stones Strike
VIRTUES
Compassion 1
Conviction 3
Temperance 1
Valor 4
LIMIT BREAK
Foolhardy Contempt
Artifact 3 (Orichalum Grand Goremaul) [Speed 5 / Accuracy +3 / Damage +16L/ 5 / Defense +0 / Rate 2 / Minimum Str. 5 / Attune 8 / 2, O, P, R]
Cult 2
Followers 1
Resources 1
CHARMS
Durability of Oak Meditation
Spirit Strengthens the Skin
Iron Skin Concentration
Adamant Skin Technique (Valor)
Ox Body Technique [3] (three -1 & six -2 Health Boxes)
First Melee Excellency
Hungry Toger Technique
Fire and Stones Strike
VIRTUES
Compassion 1
Conviction 3
Temperance 1
Valor 4
LIMIT BREAK
Foolhardy Contempt
Whew, that was the long slog!
And now we're in the home stretch! Finishing Touches has us slowly wrapping up our design process and getting a few derived values jotted down; Our Essence is currently 2 (the Default), our WIllpower is the sum of our two highest Virtues and therefore set to 7 at current, our Personal Essence is [(Essence x3) + Willpower] or 13, our Peripheral Essence [(Essence x7) + Willpower + the sum of all Virtues] for a total of 30, and we have the base 7 Health Levels of all characters plus nine more gained from Ox-Body Technique, for a final total of 16. All that's left now is to spend Bonus Points, 7 (of our total of 15) to raise Essence to 3 (raising our Personal Essence by 3 motes and our Peripheral Essence by 7 motes in the process) and 2 more to raise Resistance to 5; we've got 6 BP left, so we'll go ahead and add a dot to our Stamina for 4 of them, and max our Melee to 5 dots with the final 2.
ESSENCE
3
PERSONAL ESSENCE
16
PERIPHERAL ESSENCE
37
WILLPOWER
7
HEALTH
16
3
PERSONAL ESSENCE
16
PERIPHERAL ESSENCE
37
WILLPOWER
7
HEALTH
16
And... there we go! We'd normally establish Intimacies, maybe buy some equipment, but at this point I'm not too worried about Social Combat as we're in a vacuum at current, and all Oak really needs to get by is that big old Hammer of his.
* * * * * * *
Name: Towering Oak
Concept: Boisterous Bruiser
Caste: Dawn
Motivation: "Prove Myself the Strongest Man in Creation"
ATTRIBUTES
PHYSICAL
Strength 5
Dexterity 2
Stamina 5
SOCIAL
Charisma 4
Manipulation 2
Appearance 3
MENTAL
Perception 3
Intelligence 2
Wits 2
ABILITIES
Athletics 3
Craft (Wood) 2
Integrity 3
Linguistics 1 (Foresttongue, Riverspeak)
Martial Arts 3
Medicine 1
Melee 5
Presence 3
Resistance 5
Survival 3
Thrown 3
ADVANTAGES
BACKGROUNDS
Artifact 3 (Orichalum Grand Goremaul) [Speed 5 / Accuracy +3 / Damage +16L/ 5 / Defense +0 / Rate 2 / Minimum Str. 5 / Attune 8 / 2, O, P, R]
Cult 2
Followers 1
Resources 1
CHARMS
Durability of Oak Meditation
Spirit Strengthens the Skin
Iron Skin Concentration
Adamant Skin Technique (Valor)
Ox Body Technique [3] (three -1 & six -2 Health Boxes)
First Melee Excellency
Hungry Toger Technique
Fire and Stones Strike
VIRTUES
Compassion 1
Conviction 3
Temperance 1
Valor 4
LIMIT BREAK
Foolhardy Contempt
ESSENCE
3
PERSONAL ESSENCE
16
PERIPHERAL ESSENCE
37
WILLPOWER
7
HEALTH
16
* * * * * * *
Name: Towering Oak
Concept: Boisterous Bruiser
Caste: Dawn
Motivation: "Prove Myself the Strongest Man in Creation"
ATTRIBUTES
PHYSICAL
Strength 5
Dexterity 2
Stamina 5
SOCIAL
Charisma 4
Manipulation 2
Appearance 3
MENTAL
Perception 3
Intelligence 2
Wits 2
ABILITIES
Athletics 3
Craft (Wood) 2
Integrity 3
Linguistics 1 (Foresttongue, Riverspeak)
Martial Arts 3
Medicine 1
Melee 5
Presence 3
Resistance 5
Survival 3
Thrown 3
ADVANTAGES
BACKGROUNDS
Artifact 3 (Orichalum Grand Goremaul) [Speed 5 / Accuracy +3 / Damage +16L/ 5 / Defense +0 / Rate 2 / Minimum Str. 5 / Attune 8 / 2, O, P, R]
Cult 2
Followers 1
Resources 1
CHARMS
Durability of Oak Meditation
Spirit Strengthens the Skin
Iron Skin Concentration
Adamant Skin Technique (Valor)
Ox Body Technique [3] (three -1 & six -2 Health Boxes)
First Melee Excellency
Hungry Toger Technique
Fire and Stones Strike
VIRTUES
Compassion 1
Conviction 3
Temperance 1
Valor 4
LIMIT BREAK
Foolhardy Contempt
ESSENCE
3
PERSONAL ESSENCE
16
PERIPHERAL ESSENCE
37
WILLPOWER
7
HEALTH
16
* * * * * * *
...and there we go, a warrior of *Sol Invictus*, prepared to take Creation by storm and prove that he's the strongest, hardest-hitting badass in existence.
...and probably get his head busted a few tiems for the trouble, but such is the way of Exalted -- it's larger than life, and so are it's heroes!
See you folks next week!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Char-Gen Orgy '10 - Star Wars Saga Edition
The Game: Star Wars Saga Edition
The Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Degree of Familiarity: Read the core book, that's about it. Fairly good grasp on the setting, though.
Books Used: Star Wars Saga Edition rulebook
Not a lot of preamble here, as this is one I have rather minimal experience with... none, in fact, though I ran a couple one-shots under the old d20 (*shudder*) ruleset, and have the knowledge of the setting you'd expect of a geek from the Eighties. I'm not big on d20, if I'm being honest, so I never had much love for Wizards' previous edition of the property, but Saga is not too bad -- in fact, it actually was one of the early test-runs for several of the mechanics introduced in Dungeons & Dragons' Fourth Edition rules, and I am a fan of D&D 4E.
Was quite the fan of Star Wars once too, but.. George Lucas failed me. However, my dissatisfaction with two of three entries in the prequel trilogy is a topic I may address at some other time.
Anyway.. I've not got a lot of inspiration for this.. so I think I'll do this old school: Roll the stats and let them fall where they may, and see what that results in. That said, off to Random.org...
...well, not terrible, really.. one good stat, and another above the curve. Lets see what those stats can enable... reading over the stats, Wisdom has an effect on Force powers, but those physical scores are a bit low for a Jedi.... the Charisma ability also boosts Use the Force checks, though... hrrr... possibly. We won't be a brawler, that's for certain... moving onto our Species... and, as this is a Star Wars game, of course there are a lot to choose from... and now, as one must do when rolling stats randomly.. one must decide whether to choose a race that complements existing strengths, or helps shore up one's weaknesses. Looking at our options, we'l lgo with the former and thsu decide our hero is an Ithorian ("Hammerhead"). and looking at sample names, we'll mash things up and dub our Hammerhead..... Morntor. Creative, I know, but I suck at naming Ithorians. Looking at the book, Ithorians add +2 Wisdom and Charisma, but at the same time suffer a -2 penalty to Dexterity (..that squares it, no getting into fistfights, and put the damned blaster down, we'll just shoot our foot off); they also gain the ability to Bellow with those big, honking-loud (literally) four throats of theirs, a +2 bonus to their Will Defense, the ability to re-roll Survival checks, and if they have the Knowledge (Life Sciences) skill, they gain Skill Focus in it as a bonus. More mundanely, they are Medium creatures with a speed of 6 and start play with the abilty to speak Basic and Ithorese, and on that subject our Intelligence Bonus (+1, as our Intelligence is a 12) entitles us to an additional language...we'll take Huttese, there. And with that done, we move on to choosing a Class.
Okay, lets see.. given our strengths, and our weaknesses physically, the only two Classes we have the raw chops to make work with any sort of luck are Jedi and Noble, and honestly, poor Morntor doesn't belong anywhere near a fight with those stats, so Noble it is.... looking to the class description, we start out with 19 Hit Points (Base of 18, +1 for our 13 Constitution), 5 Force Points, a +1 bonus to Reflex Defense and a +2 bonus to Will Defense, and Weapon Proficiency with Pistols and Simple Weapons (for all the good it will do us); we also get to choose 7 (6 base +1 for our Intelligence modifier) Skills to be Trained, and looking at our list, we'll take Gather Information [Cha], Initiative [Dex], Knowledge (Life Sciences) [Int], Perception [Wis], Persuasion [Cha], Treat Injury [Wis], and Use Computer [Int]. That decided, we'll note that our Attack Bonus is +0 (so, with our dazzling array of physical capability, we'd be likely to hit the broad side of a bantha at five paces on a clear day), and now.. we must choose our 1st Level Talent. Now, what do we want to go with, here? I sort of like the image that Morntor is a generally peaceful, nice sort of Hammerhead, a quiet doctor really, but that when he gets angry, those bellowing throats can be rather intimidating.a sort of "daddy voice" he can bring to bear that, though he wouldn't hurt a fly himself, is frightful enough that the opposition doesn't necessarily have to know that to be the case, and so we'll take Presence from the Influence tree, letting us make a Persuasion check to intimidate an enemy into surrender as a Standard Action, as opposed to taking all Round. That done, we'll roll 3d4 for... 8, so we have 8 x 400, or 3200 Credits to buy equipment with. That takes care of Class-specific concerns; moving on, we'll take the next step and choose our 1st level Feat... well, we may as well play to our strengths and go with Surgery Expert, which allows us to perform surgeries ib ten minutes instead of an hour -- not earth-shattering, but.. useful.
And lastly,we have to purchase our equipment, which isn't going to be a long list: 315 Credits for a Sporting Blaster Pistol and its associated License, 600 for a Medical Kit, 1,000 for a Surgery Kit, and another 1,00 for a Datapad; we'l lfinish with two Medpacs at 100 Credits each and 25 more for the Power Pack to actually power the Sporting Blaster Morntor's family insists he carry even if he's useless with it, and we'll bank the last 60 Credits
And, that'll finish up with our Ithorian medic. Let's recap...
Morntor never asked for adventure, he was a simple, if wealthy, Ithorian doctor on a quiet world in a galaxy far, far away a long time ago... but when destiny called, he reluctantly fell in with whatever band of misfits fate conspired to leave him in the company of, and lent his skillful medical and biological knowledge and his stern, thunderous voice to the group's heroic endeavours.....
Yeah, not much of a backstory, but we're working in a void at 1st level here so it will have to do.
And that's a wrap, space cowboys. See you lot next week.
The Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Degree of Familiarity: Read the core book, that's about it. Fairly good grasp on the setting, though.
Books Used: Star Wars Saga Edition rulebook
Not a lot of preamble here, as this is one I have rather minimal experience with... none, in fact, though I ran a couple one-shots under the old d20 (*shudder*) ruleset, and have the knowledge of the setting you'd expect of a geek from the Eighties. I'm not big on d20, if I'm being honest, so I never had much love for Wizards' previous edition of the property, but Saga is not too bad -- in fact, it actually was one of the early test-runs for several of the mechanics introduced in Dungeons & Dragons' Fourth Edition rules, and I am a fan of D&D 4E.
Was quite the fan of Star Wars once too, but.. George Lucas failed me. However, my dissatisfaction with two of three entries in the prequel trilogy is a topic I may address at some other time.
Anyway.. I've not got a lot of inspiration for this.. so I think I'll do this old school: Roll the stats and let them fall where they may, and see what that results in. That said, off to Random.org...
Strength 11
Dexterity 12
Constitution 13
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 16
Charisma 14
Dexterity 12
Constitution 13
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 16
Charisma 14
...well, not terrible, really.. one good stat, and another above the curve. Lets see what those stats can enable... reading over the stats, Wisdom has an effect on Force powers, but those physical scores are a bit low for a Jedi.... the Charisma ability also boosts Use the Force checks, though... hrrr... possibly. We won't be a brawler, that's for certain... moving onto our Species... and, as this is a Star Wars game, of course there are a lot to choose from... and now, as one must do when rolling stats randomly.. one must decide whether to choose a race that complements existing strengths, or helps shore up one's weaknesses. Looking at our options, we'l lgo with the former and thsu decide our hero is an Ithorian ("Hammerhead"). and looking at sample names, we'll mash things up and dub our Hammerhead..... Morntor. Creative, I know, but I suck at naming Ithorians. Looking at the book, Ithorians add +2 Wisdom and Charisma, but at the same time suffer a -2 penalty to Dexterity (..that squares it, no getting into fistfights, and put the damned blaster down, we'll just shoot our foot off); they also gain the ability to Bellow with those big, honking-loud (literally) four throats of theirs, a +2 bonus to their Will Defense, the ability to re-roll Survival checks, and if they have the Knowledge (Life Sciences) skill, they gain Skill Focus in it as a bonus. More mundanely, they are Medium creatures with a speed of 6 and start play with the abilty to speak Basic and Ithorese, and on that subject our Intelligence Bonus (+1, as our Intelligence is a 12) entitles us to an additional language...we'll take Huttese, there. And with that done, we move on to choosing a Class.
Okay, lets see.. given our strengths, and our weaknesses physically, the only two Classes we have the raw chops to make work with any sort of luck are Jedi and Noble, and honestly, poor Morntor doesn't belong anywhere near a fight with those stats, so Noble it is.... looking to the class description, we start out with 19 Hit Points (Base of 18, +1 for our 13 Constitution), 5 Force Points, a +1 bonus to Reflex Defense and a +2 bonus to Will Defense, and Weapon Proficiency with Pistols and Simple Weapons (for all the good it will do us); we also get to choose 7 (6 base +1 for our Intelligence modifier) Skills to be Trained, and looking at our list, we'll take Gather Information [Cha], Initiative [Dex], Knowledge (Life Sciences) [Int], Perception [Wis], Persuasion [Cha], Treat Injury [Wis], and Use Computer [Int]. That decided, we'll note that our Attack Bonus is +0 (so, with our dazzling array of physical capability, we'd be likely to hit the broad side of a bantha at five paces on a clear day), and now.. we must choose our 1st Level Talent. Now, what do we want to go with, here? I sort of like the image that Morntor is a generally peaceful, nice sort of Hammerhead, a quiet doctor really, but that when he gets angry, those bellowing throats can be rather intimidating.a sort of "daddy voice" he can bring to bear that, though he wouldn't hurt a fly himself, is frightful enough that the opposition doesn't necessarily have to know that to be the case, and so we'll take Presence from the Influence tree, letting us make a Persuasion check to intimidate an enemy into surrender as a Standard Action, as opposed to taking all Round. That done, we'll roll 3d4 for... 8, so we have 8 x 400, or 3200 Credits to buy equipment with. That takes care of Class-specific concerns; moving on, we'll take the next step and choose our 1st level Feat... well, we may as well play to our strengths and go with Surgery Expert, which allows us to perform surgeries ib ten minutes instead of an hour -- not earth-shattering, but.. useful.
Class: Noble
Level: 1
Hit Points: 19
Force Points: 5
Base Attack Bonus: +0
Reflex Defense (10 + Character Level / 2 + Dexterity modifier + Class/Race bonuses): 11
Fortitude Defense (10 + Character Level / 2 + Constitution modifier + Class/Race bonuses): 11
Will Defense: 10 + Character Level / 2 + Wisdom + Class/Race bonuses): 18
Skills (Character Level / 2 + Stat Modifier +5, for trained skills, + any modifers for Feats or other circumstances): Gather Information +8, Initiative +5, Knowledge (Life Sciences) +11, Perception +9, Persuasion +8, Treat Injury +9, Use Computer +6
Talents: Presence
Feats: Skill Focus (Knowledge [Life Sciences]), Surgery Expert, Weapon Proficiency (Pistols), Weapon Proficiency (Simple Weapons)
Level: 1
Hit Points: 19
Force Points: 5
Base Attack Bonus: +0
Reflex Defense (10 + Character Level / 2 + Dexterity modifier + Class/Race bonuses): 11
Fortitude Defense (10 + Character Level / 2 + Constitution modifier + Class/Race bonuses): 11
Will Defense: 10 + Character Level / 2 + Wisdom + Class/Race bonuses): 18
Skills (Character Level / 2 + Stat Modifier +5, for trained skills, + any modifers for Feats or other circumstances): Gather Information +8, Initiative +5, Knowledge (Life Sciences) +11, Perception +9, Persuasion +8, Treat Injury +9, Use Computer +6
Talents: Presence
Feats: Skill Focus (Knowledge [Life Sciences]), Surgery Expert, Weapon Proficiency (Pistols), Weapon Proficiency (Simple Weapons)
And lastly,we have to purchase our equipment, which isn't going to be a long list: 315 Credits for a Sporting Blaster Pistol and its associated License, 600 for a Medical Kit, 1,000 for a Surgery Kit, and another 1,00 for a Datapad; we'l lfinish with two Medpacs at 100 Credits each and 25 more for the Power Pack to actually power the Sporting Blaster Morntor's family insists he carry even if he's useless with it, and we'll bank the last 60 Credits
INVENTORY
- Licensed Sporting Blaster
- Power Pack
- Medical Kit
- Surgery Kit
- Medpac x2
- Datapad
- 60 Credits
- Licensed Sporting Blaster
- Power Pack
- Medical Kit
- Surgery Kit
- Medpac x2
- Datapad
- 60 Credits
And, that'll finish up with our Ithorian medic. Let's recap...
* * * * * *
NAME: Morntor
SPECIES: Ithorian
CLASS: Noble
LEVEL: 1
ABILITY SCORES
Strength 11
Dexterity 10
Constitution 13
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 18
Charisma 16
HIT POINTS: 19
FORCE POINTS: 5
BASE ATTACK BONUS: +0
DEFENSES
Reflex: 11
Fortitude: 11
Will: 18
SKILLS
Gather Information +8
Initiative +5
Knowledge (Life Sciences) +11
Perception +9
Persuasion +8
Treat Injury +9
Use Computer +6
TALENTS
Presence
FEATS
Skill Focus (Knowledge [Life Sciences])
Surgery Expert
Weapon Proficiency (Pistols)
Weapon Proficiency (Simple Weapons)
SPECIES ABILITIES
Bellow
INVENTORY
- Licensed Sporting Blaster
- Power Pack
- Medical Kit
- Surgery Kit
- Medpac x2
- Datapad
- 60 Credits
SPECIES: Ithorian
CLASS: Noble
LEVEL: 1
ABILITY SCORES
Strength 11
Dexterity 10
Constitution 13
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 18
Charisma 16
HIT POINTS: 19
FORCE POINTS: 5
BASE ATTACK BONUS: +0
DEFENSES
Reflex: 11
Fortitude: 11
Will: 18
SKILLS
Gather Information +8
Initiative +5
Knowledge (Life Sciences) +11
Perception +9
Persuasion +8
Treat Injury +9
Use Computer +6
TALENTS
Presence
FEATS
Skill Focus (Knowledge [Life Sciences])
Surgery Expert
Weapon Proficiency (Pistols)
Weapon Proficiency (Simple Weapons)
SPECIES ABILITIES
Bellow
INVENTORY
- Licensed Sporting Blaster
- Power Pack
- Medical Kit
- Surgery Kit
- Medpac x2
- Datapad
- 60 Credits
* * * * * * *
Morntor never asked for adventure, he was a simple, if wealthy, Ithorian doctor on a quiet world in a galaxy far, far away a long time ago... but when destiny called, he reluctantly fell in with whatever band of misfits fate conspired to leave him in the company of, and lent his skillful medical and biological knowledge and his stern, thunderous voice to the group's heroic endeavours.....
Yeah, not much of a backstory, but we're working in a void at 1st level here so it will have to do.
And that's a wrap, space cowboys. See you lot next week.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Char-Gen Orgy '10 - Orpheus
The Game: Orpheus
The Publisher: White Wolf Game Studios
Degree of Familiarity: Played a couple abortive games, tried to run it once or twice to doomed results. Still bloody love it, though, and it wasn't the GAME's fault there
Books Used: Orpheus core rulebook, Crusade of Ashes (Merits & Flaws), Shades of Gray (Roles), and Shadow Games (Stains)
Ahh, Orpheus. Great game, one of those (and that is admittedly a long list) I wish I'd had more chance to play in its heyday, and one I'd run again if I could ever find the group to do it... alas, other days..
For the uninitiated, the story of Orpheus somewhat ties into both the past and the (then) future of the World of Darkness; it was an unofficial sequel of a sort to the discontinued Wraith: The Oblivion (which I also absolutely adore -- I'm a ghost enthusiast, yes), and was also patient zero for the "limited run" games that would become popular and prevalent in the WoD's current incarnation, and saw the first hints of a few changes made to the core Storyteller system that would become standard features of the revamped Storytelling rules. However, we're getting a bit far afield, so I digress....
Orpheus starts out on a simple premise: in the 1980s, a cryogenics company (the titular Orpheus Group) deiscovers that some of their patients are actually 'projecting' from their frozen bodies and out into the world again -- only they're discovering that they are not alone: the shades of the restless dead wander about in a strange, purgatorial world...
Fast forward to the present (the far-off year of 2003!); and the Orpheus group has found a new corporate niche -- hiring out its agents to play Ghostbusters on the books, and off them... well, a lot of shady stuff on the side, from espionage to theft to assassination, and even ironically a few boo jobs of their own. Of course, the plot grows tenser and much more epic than these beginnings as the series progresses -- the storyline itself is worth the books' price alone in my honest opinion, with a lot of twists and turns as the Orpheus Group's checkered past comes due and the stakes of the at-first mysterious events that started with the enigmatic "Maelstrom" in 1998 become deadly-clear, as Orpheus' Spooks eventually cross the Shroud and the Stormwall alike to face....
..well, that would be spoiling, and I don't care if the game's over six years old at this point, if you like the whole conspiracy genre, ghosts, or thrillers.. you ought to pick it up at your local shop should they still have it, or shy of that order it online in PDF format. Great stuff that deserves to be read.
Anyhow, rambling again.. the first decision we have in making an Orpheus character is where to set ourselves in the series' ever-expanding metaplot, but for simplicity's sake we'll go with the corebook's assumptions and say we're new hires for Orpheus, fresh out of orientation.
Step One is to work out our Concept, which is a bit more involved in Orpheus than in some other games; I think I want a little something edgy here, something that can pull the occasional 'wisdom from the gutter' trick. All Spooks have survived (or, not, in some cases) various brushes with death, and I have cheated a bit and already know what Shade we're going for (more on Shade below), I know what sort of character we need.. a bit controlling and. take-charge. The signature character for the Shade in question is a tough, crusty old war vet, but I want something a little more sleek, a bit more elegant. Someone slick. My main inspiration suddenly comes to fruition, basing our fledling Spook around Lady Heather, Gil Grissom's somewhat-recurring contact and at times confidante, from C.S.I., so since none of the Roles (templates defining yoru character's life and brushes with death prior to joining the Orpheus Group) in the core rulebook fit, we'll pop open the Shades of Gray supplement... ah, there we are.. "Sadomasochist"... fun stuff, no? Not precisely what we're looking for, but it suits us as well as we can hope.
As hinted above I already have a Shade in mind -- our fair lady is a Skinrider, a Shade of strong will who can use that strength of personality to overtake the bodies of others, or even force their will upon the physical world by refusing to acknowledge their own limitations. That decided, we now look at Laments -- if Shades are 'classes', then Laments are our 'races', of which there are four total: Projectors (living men and women who, as it may suggest, project their souls out of their mortal bodies) are divided into Skimmers and Sleepers, whereas Ghosts (and yes, Orpheus Group is an equal opprotunity employer and does not discriminate based on one's pre- or post-mortem status) are either the traditional Spirits or the souls of the departed who sampled the hip new street drug known as Pigment during life, the Hues. Liking the image of "mind over body" that a dedicated enthusiast of the dark side of erotica could well possess, we'll go with a Skimmer here, a Projector who uses yoga and mediational techniques to go into shamanic-like trances to project.
The next step of our Concept stage is to choose our Nature; Skinriders tend to have a Nature of Autocrat, Bureacrat, Competitor, Director, Leader, Mentor, Pedagogue, or Traditionalist, but we're not bound by that in any way. Let's have a look at the recommended options... let's stay within usual bounds and go with Mentor -- our Mistress genuinely wants to spread on wisdom and help others learn to succeed and unlock their true potential, but is not above a firm hand and a bit of practical experience being brought to bear. We'll also decide our gal's Demenor, the face which she shows the world most often... in this case, she outwardly revels in her illicit pleasures, making her firmly a Rake. That has us done with the Concept
ROLE: Sadomasochist
SHADE: Skinrider
LAMENT: Skimmer
NATURE: Mentor
DEMEANOR: Rake
Okay, that done, now we move onto Attributes, which is Step Two; we prioritize Physical, Mental, and Social, then assign a total of 6 Dots to our primaries, 4 Dots to our secondaries, and 3 Dots to our tertiary Attributes, all of which start at 1. The Sadomasochist Role recommends a setup of Social / Physical / Mental, and thats fine for our purposes; we'll go for above-average competency all across the board socially, with two dots into each of Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance; two dots into both Strength and Dexterity and three into Stamina sort out our Physicals -- our girl's used to taking a beating and dealing with pain, and it shows. Lastly, we're strictly all-around average in the Mental department, with a dot into each of our Perception, Intelligence, and Wits. That's Attributes done...
Next is Step Three, Abilities. Consulting our Role again I see a recommendation of a Skills / Knowledges / Talents split, but this time I think I'm inclined to disagree with the set template, setting Talents first, Knowledges second, and Skills in third. With 11 Dots to spend in Talents, and nothing allowed to go above a 3, we'll put 2 dots each in Empathy, Intimidation, Intrigue, Intuiton, and Leadership, and our last dot into Streetwise -- our mistress can work people like a pro and despite what some might think, she's a great choice to take control when the shit htis the fan. Moving onto Skills, we have 4 Dots to distribute; we'll set up an even spread of 1 dot each into Etiquette, Meditation, Melee, and Security -- good at dealing with high society, Skimmer training, able to play with her wicked toys, and not a stranger to the odd lock or restraint. Lastly we finish with our Knowledges, of which we have 7 Dots' worth: two dots each into Academics and Medicine, and a dot each of Finance, Law, and Politics -- she managed her own books, and can occasionally surirpse other Spooks with her insight into various sort and sundry topics from theology to Shakespeare. That has step three done...
Step Four is Advantages -- our legs up on the world, both supernatural and mundane. Backgrounds first, which are a little wonky in Orpheus, divided into Mundane and Orpheus Group backgrounds, and we have 2 dots in each. For our Orpheus backgrounds, we'll take a dot in Arsenal -- our dominatrix has an extensive collection of wicked melee weapons, restraints, and chemical aids of questionable legality, all of which might prove useful in her new vocation -- and a dot of Health Insurance -- given her proclivities, its probably recommended. For Mundane backgrounds, we'll go with a dot of Influence -- favors and secrets of past clientele -- and a dot of of Resources -- she was a small-time operator, but it paid the bills with a bit to spare. Our starting Horror (Spooks' ghostly powers) is Puppetry, and as for our Stains (the marks of our dark emotions -- usually hidden but as our our Spite grows they can become more prominent and, eventually, permenant) the only two in the core book that suit us is Martyred and we need two more; we'll crack SHADOW GAMES and take both the very evocative Hypnotic Markings, as well as the suitably subtle Stinger. That has our Advantages finished!
Step Five is our last, Finishing Touches. We start by calculating our Vitality, Willpower, and Spite, which are affected by our Shade and our Nature; Skinriders start with Vitality 4, Willpower 6, and Spite 2, and Mentor adds Vitality 3, Willpower 1, and Spite 1, so our (current) totals are Vitality 7, Willpower 7, and Spite 3. Now for Freebie Points, and although its not covered in the core book, the game's first supplement, Crusade of Ashes, gives rules for Merits and Flaws, and as this is the part of the OWoD system I miss most, bet your ass that we shall partake. Cracking CoA, we'll start with Flaws... our gal will start with a 2-point Weird Appearance Flaw -- she's got that spooky, tatooed goth thing going, and hot as that can be it's going to freak out conservative types. We'll compound this by having a 2-point Criminal Record Flaw -- maybe a few busts for minor drug possession, solicitation, or public indecency when some kinky game went too far? No matter, just like our source material, the law doesn't have much trust for our mistress. We'll also take Bully as a 1-pointer; she tries to be noble and even lies to herself about it, but if our girl's being honest, she enjoys power over others, and sometiems her games just go too damned far. Lastly, try as she might to deny it, another part of this gig is that, society be damned, our lass just enjoys her bedsports a bit too much, and so sometimes can get hoisted by her own petard as it were; we'll take Lustful at 2 Points. That gives us 7 dots to play around with for Merits before our basic 15 Freebie Points are affected; we'll thus take Enchanting Voice at 2 Points, Smooth for 1 Point, and both Flirt and Sexy for 2 Points each -- when our girl sets someone in her sights, she doesn't even need her power to control others while projecting to wrap people around her fingers like twine. Merits and Flaws seen to (and we'll stop there, with those), we'll move on to our default 15 Points of Freebies; we'll go ahead and buy our Shade's next Horror, the physically-potent Juggernaut, for 7 of those, then add a dot into each of Empathy and Intimidation, and add two dots into Subterfuge
...aaand, there we go... 'Mistress' Elisabeth Coventry (yeah, that's a real name) is a recent hire of the Orpheus Group, and some wonder if she's worth the trouble she causes, for all her talents at pulling people's strings both in the flesh and out of it. Still, ever since she was recruited by an Orpheus headhunter who happened to be a client of hers, she's proven quite adept and.. enthusiastic about her work, even if the intensity sometimes makes people a bit uncomfortable -- and thats if the tattoos and piercings don't do the trick. Still, despite all her games, she's loyal to the Crucible, and does genuinely want to help them be all that they can be.. even if her methods are... a wee bit eccentric.
...and there we are, our newly-minted Spook readied to go out and get her feet wet and her hands dirty.. which, honestly, sounds kinda kinky in it's own right...
..yeah, I'm terrible, I know. Don't act so damned surprised.
The Publisher: White Wolf Game Studios
Degree of Familiarity: Played a couple abortive games, tried to run it once or twice to doomed results. Still bloody love it, though, and it wasn't the GAME's fault there
Books Used: Orpheus core rulebook, Crusade of Ashes (Merits & Flaws), Shades of Gray (Roles), and Shadow Games (Stains)
Ahh, Orpheus. Great game, one of those (and that is admittedly a long list) I wish I'd had more chance to play in its heyday, and one I'd run again if I could ever find the group to do it... alas, other days..
For the uninitiated, the story of Orpheus somewhat ties into both the past and the (then) future of the World of Darkness; it was an unofficial sequel of a sort to the discontinued Wraith: The Oblivion (which I also absolutely adore -- I'm a ghost enthusiast, yes), and was also patient zero for the "limited run" games that would become popular and prevalent in the WoD's current incarnation, and saw the first hints of a few changes made to the core Storyteller system that would become standard features of the revamped Storytelling rules. However, we're getting a bit far afield, so I digress....
Orpheus starts out on a simple premise: in the 1980s, a cryogenics company (the titular Orpheus Group) deiscovers that some of their patients are actually 'projecting' from their frozen bodies and out into the world again -- only they're discovering that they are not alone: the shades of the restless dead wander about in a strange, purgatorial world...
Fast forward to the present (the far-off year of 2003!); and the Orpheus group has found a new corporate niche -- hiring out its agents to play Ghostbusters on the books, and off them... well, a lot of shady stuff on the side, from espionage to theft to assassination, and even ironically a few boo jobs of their own. Of course, the plot grows tenser and much more epic than these beginnings as the series progresses -- the storyline itself is worth the books' price alone in my honest opinion, with a lot of twists and turns as the Orpheus Group's checkered past comes due and the stakes of the at-first mysterious events that started with the enigmatic "Maelstrom" in 1998 become deadly-clear, as Orpheus' Spooks eventually cross the Shroud and the Stormwall alike to face....
..well, that would be spoiling, and I don't care if the game's over six years old at this point, if you like the whole conspiracy genre, ghosts, or thrillers.. you ought to pick it up at your local shop should they still have it, or shy of that order it online in PDF format. Great stuff that deserves to be read.
Anyhow, rambling again.. the first decision we have in making an Orpheus character is where to set ourselves in the series' ever-expanding metaplot, but for simplicity's sake we'll go with the corebook's assumptions and say we're new hires for Orpheus, fresh out of orientation.
Step One is to work out our Concept, which is a bit more involved in Orpheus than in some other games; I think I want a little something edgy here, something that can pull the occasional 'wisdom from the gutter' trick. All Spooks have survived (or, not, in some cases) various brushes with death, and I have cheated a bit and already know what Shade we're going for (more on Shade below), I know what sort of character we need.. a bit controlling and. take-charge. The signature character for the Shade in question is a tough, crusty old war vet, but I want something a little more sleek, a bit more elegant. Someone slick. My main inspiration suddenly comes to fruition, basing our fledling Spook around Lady Heather, Gil Grissom's somewhat-recurring contact and at times confidante, from C.S.I., so since none of the Roles (templates defining yoru character's life and brushes with death prior to joining the Orpheus Group) in the core rulebook fit, we'll pop open the Shades of Gray supplement... ah, there we are.. "Sadomasochist"... fun stuff, no? Not precisely what we're looking for, but it suits us as well as we can hope.
As hinted above I already have a Shade in mind -- our fair lady is a Skinrider, a Shade of strong will who can use that strength of personality to overtake the bodies of others, or even force their will upon the physical world by refusing to acknowledge their own limitations. That decided, we now look at Laments -- if Shades are 'classes', then Laments are our 'races', of which there are four total: Projectors (living men and women who, as it may suggest, project their souls out of their mortal bodies) are divided into Skimmers and Sleepers, whereas Ghosts (and yes, Orpheus Group is an equal opprotunity employer and does not discriminate based on one's pre- or post-mortem status) are either the traditional Spirits or the souls of the departed who sampled the hip new street drug known as Pigment during life, the Hues. Liking the image of "mind over body" that a dedicated enthusiast of the dark side of erotica could well possess, we'll go with a Skimmer here, a Projector who uses yoga and mediational techniques to go into shamanic-like trances to project.
The next step of our Concept stage is to choose our Nature; Skinriders tend to have a Nature of Autocrat, Bureacrat, Competitor, Director, Leader, Mentor, Pedagogue, or Traditionalist, but we're not bound by that in any way. Let's have a look at the recommended options... let's stay within usual bounds and go with Mentor -- our Mistress genuinely wants to spread on wisdom and help others learn to succeed and unlock their true potential, but is not above a firm hand and a bit of practical experience being brought to bear. We'll also decide our gal's Demenor, the face which she shows the world most often... in this case, she outwardly revels in her illicit pleasures, making her firmly a Rake. That has us done with the Concept
ROLE: Sadomasochist
SHADE: Skinrider
LAMENT: Skimmer
NATURE: Mentor
DEMEANOR: Rake
Okay, that done, now we move onto Attributes, which is Step Two; we prioritize Physical, Mental, and Social, then assign a total of 6 Dots to our primaries, 4 Dots to our secondaries, and 3 Dots to our tertiary Attributes, all of which start at 1. The Sadomasochist Role recommends a setup of Social / Physical / Mental, and thats fine for our purposes; we'll go for above-average competency all across the board socially, with two dots into each of Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance; two dots into both Strength and Dexterity and three into Stamina sort out our Physicals -- our girl's used to taking a beating and dealing with pain, and it shows. Lastly, we're strictly all-around average in the Mental department, with a dot into each of our Perception, Intelligence, and Wits. That's Attributes done...
PHYSICAL
Strength 2
Dexterity 2
Stamina 3
SOCIAL
Charisma 3
Manipulation 3
Appearance 3
MENTAL
Perception 2
Intelligence 2
Wits 2
Strength 2
Dexterity 2
Stamina 3
SOCIAL
Charisma 3
Manipulation 3
Appearance 3
MENTAL
Perception 2
Intelligence 2
Wits 2
Next is Step Three, Abilities. Consulting our Role again I see a recommendation of a Skills / Knowledges / Talents split, but this time I think I'm inclined to disagree with the set template, setting Talents first, Knowledges second, and Skills in third. With 11 Dots to spend in Talents, and nothing allowed to go above a 3, we'll put 2 dots each in Empathy, Intimidation, Intrigue, Intuiton, and Leadership, and our last dot into Streetwise -- our mistress can work people like a pro and despite what some might think, she's a great choice to take control when the shit htis the fan. Moving onto Skills, we have 4 Dots to distribute; we'll set up an even spread of 1 dot each into Etiquette, Meditation, Melee, and Security -- good at dealing with high society, Skimmer training, able to play with her wicked toys, and not a stranger to the odd lock or restraint. Lastly we finish with our Knowledges, of which we have 7 Dots' worth: two dots each into Academics and Medicine, and a dot each of Finance, Law, and Politics -- she managed her own books, and can occasionally surirpse other Spooks with her insight into various sort and sundry topics from theology to Shakespeare. That has step three done...
TALENTS
Empathy 2
Intimidation 2
Intrigue 2
Intuiton 2
Leadership 2
Streetwise 1
SKILLS
Etiquette 1
Meditation 1
Melee 1
Security 1
KNOWLEDGES
Academics 2
Finance 1
Law 1
Medicine 2
Politics 1
Empathy 2
Intimidation 2
Intrigue 2
Intuiton 2
Leadership 2
Streetwise 1
SKILLS
Etiquette 1
Meditation 1
Melee 1
Security 1
KNOWLEDGES
Academics 2
Finance 1
Law 1
Medicine 2
Politics 1
Step Four is Advantages -- our legs up on the world, both supernatural and mundane. Backgrounds first, which are a little wonky in Orpheus, divided into Mundane and Orpheus Group backgrounds, and we have 2 dots in each. For our Orpheus backgrounds, we'll take a dot in Arsenal -- our dominatrix has an extensive collection of wicked melee weapons, restraints, and chemical aids of questionable legality, all of which might prove useful in her new vocation -- and a dot of Health Insurance -- given her proclivities, its probably recommended. For Mundane backgrounds, we'll go with a dot of Influence -- favors and secrets of past clientele -- and a dot of of Resources -- she was a small-time operator, but it paid the bills with a bit to spare. Our starting Horror (Spooks' ghostly powers) is Puppetry, and as for our Stains (the marks of our dark emotions -- usually hidden but as our our Spite grows they can become more prominent and, eventually, permenant) the only two in the core book that suit us is Martyred and we need two more; we'll crack SHADOW GAMES and take both the very evocative Hypnotic Markings, as well as the suitably subtle Stinger. That has our Advantages finished!
BACKGROUNDS
Arsenal 1
Health Insurance 1
Influence 1
Resources 1
HORRORS
Puppetry
STAINS
Hypnotic Markings
Martyred
Stinger
Arsenal 1
Health Insurance 1
Influence 1
Resources 1
HORRORS
Puppetry
STAINS
Hypnotic Markings
Martyred
Stinger
Step Five is our last, Finishing Touches. We start by calculating our Vitality, Willpower, and Spite, which are affected by our Shade and our Nature; Skinriders start with Vitality 4, Willpower 6, and Spite 2, and Mentor adds Vitality 3, Willpower 1, and Spite 1, so our (current) totals are Vitality 7, Willpower 7, and Spite 3. Now for Freebie Points, and although its not covered in the core book, the game's first supplement, Crusade of Ashes, gives rules for Merits and Flaws, and as this is the part of the OWoD system I miss most, bet your ass that we shall partake. Cracking CoA, we'll start with Flaws... our gal will start with a 2-point Weird Appearance Flaw -- she's got that spooky, tatooed goth thing going, and hot as that can be it's going to freak out conservative types. We'll compound this by having a 2-point Criminal Record Flaw -- maybe a few busts for minor drug possession, solicitation, or public indecency when some kinky game went too far? No matter, just like our source material, the law doesn't have much trust for our mistress. We'll also take Bully as a 1-pointer; she tries to be noble and even lies to herself about it, but if our girl's being honest, she enjoys power over others, and sometiems her games just go too damned far. Lastly, try as she might to deny it, another part of this gig is that, society be damned, our lass just enjoys her bedsports a bit too much, and so sometimes can get hoisted by her own petard as it were; we'll take Lustful at 2 Points. That gives us 7 dots to play around with for Merits before our basic 15 Freebie Points are affected; we'll thus take Enchanting Voice at 2 Points, Smooth for 1 Point, and both Flirt and Sexy for 2 Points each -- when our girl sets someone in her sights, she doesn't even need her power to control others while projecting to wrap people around her fingers like twine. Merits and Flaws seen to (and we'll stop there, with those), we'll move on to our default 15 Points of Freebies; we'll go ahead and buy our Shade's next Horror, the physically-potent Juggernaut, for 7 of those, then add a dot into each of Empathy and Intimidation, and add two dots into Subterfuge
MERITS
Enchanting Voice 2
Flirt 2
Sexy 2
Smooth 1
FLAWS
Bully 1
Criminal Record 2
Lustful 2
Weird Appearance 2
VITALITY: 7
WILLPOWER: 7
SPITE: 3
Enchanting Voice 2
Flirt 2
Sexy 2
Smooth 1
FLAWS
Bully 1
Criminal Record 2
Lustful 2
Weird Appearance 2
VITALITY: 7
WILLPOWER: 7
SPITE: 3
...aaand, there we go... 'Mistress' Elisabeth Coventry (yeah, that's a real name) is a recent hire of the Orpheus Group, and some wonder if she's worth the trouble she causes, for all her talents at pulling people's strings both in the flesh and out of it. Still, ever since she was recruited by an Orpheus headhunter who happened to be a client of hers, she's proven quite adept and.. enthusiastic about her work, even if the intensity sometimes makes people a bit uncomfortable -- and thats if the tattoos and piercings don't do the trick. Still, despite all her games, she's loyal to the Crucible, and does genuinely want to help them be all that they can be.. even if her methods are... a wee bit eccentric.
* * * * * * *
NAME: Elisabeth Coventry
ROLE: Sadomasochist
SHADE: Skinrider
LAMENT: Skimmer
NATURE: Mentor
DEMEANOR: Rake
-=ATTRIBUTES=-
PHYSICAL
Strength 2
Dexterity 2
Stamina 3
SOCIAL
Charisma 3
Manipulation 3
Appearance 3
MENTAL
Perception 2
Intelligence 2
Wits 2
-=ABILITIES=-
TALENTS
Empathy 3
Intimidation 3
Intrigue 2
Intuiton 2
Leadership 2
Streetwise 1
Subterfuge 2
SKILLS
Etiquette 1
Meditation 1
Melee 1
Security 1
KNOWLEDGES
Academics 2
Finance 1
Law 1
Medicine 2
Politics 1
-=ADVANTAGES=-
BACKGROUNDS
Arsenal 1
Health Insurance 1
Influence 1
Resources 1
HORRORS
Puppetry
Juggernaut
STAINS
Hypnotic Markings
Martyred
Stinger
MERITS
Enchanting Voice 2
Flirt 2
Sexy 2
Smooth 1
FLAWS
Bully 1
Criminal Record 2
Lustful 2
Weird Appearance 2
HEALTH: 7
VITALITY: 7
WILLPOWER: 7
SPITE: 3
* * * * * * *
NAME: Elisabeth Coventry
ROLE: Sadomasochist
SHADE: Skinrider
LAMENT: Skimmer
NATURE: Mentor
DEMEANOR: Rake
-=ATTRIBUTES=-
PHYSICAL
Strength 2
Dexterity 2
Stamina 3
SOCIAL
Charisma 3
Manipulation 3
Appearance 3
MENTAL
Perception 2
Intelligence 2
Wits 2
-=ABILITIES=-
TALENTS
Empathy 3
Intimidation 3
Intrigue 2
Intuiton 2
Leadership 2
Streetwise 1
Subterfuge 2
SKILLS
Etiquette 1
Meditation 1
Melee 1
Security 1
KNOWLEDGES
Academics 2
Finance 1
Law 1
Medicine 2
Politics 1
-=ADVANTAGES=-
BACKGROUNDS
Arsenal 1
Health Insurance 1
Influence 1
Resources 1
HORRORS
Puppetry
Juggernaut
STAINS
Hypnotic Markings
Martyred
Stinger
MERITS
Enchanting Voice 2
Flirt 2
Sexy 2
Smooth 1
FLAWS
Bully 1
Criminal Record 2
Lustful 2
Weird Appearance 2
HEALTH: 7
VITALITY: 7
WILLPOWER: 7
SPITE: 3
* * * * * * *
...and there we are, our newly-minted Spook readied to go out and get her feet wet and her hands dirty.. which, honestly, sounds kinda kinky in it's own right...
..yeah, I'm terrible, I know. Don't act so damned surprised.
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