Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Call for Players for a NWoD Mortal Game

[Dawn OOC]

I am starting a new game. This one is a NWoD games, using those rules. The setting is my own, however, so please leave preconceptions about possible supernatural groups and types at the door. The posting speed for this game will depend on the PCs, largely. I’m setting it up in “missions-style” chunks with time passing in between them. Fictions will be worth xp, and are where personal interactions and stories can be the focus. “Missions” (and let me state that they aren’t missions, just what I’m calling them ATM) will be where major plot happens. This will let people build their own story, while having directed plot. Fictions will be woven into the main story as much as possible; therefore, while I’m not building the fictions, I reserve the right to edit or adjust the fictions as needed.

Participation in “Missions” is not required. If you want to immerse yourself in school life and not mess with the missions that is your choice. The missions will largely be exploring new areas, and once I’ve closed the plot for an area, PCs are welcome to return to that area in fictions. After things are rolling, there will likely be more than one mission at a time to encourage people to spread out some. No one should expect to participate in every single mission - time-wise, it just won't be possible unless you want your character's grades to slip or their job to suffer.

IC Setting

The IC conceit is that your characters are located at a boarding school, the Trevor Dalton Academy located near Estes Park, CO, in the Rocky Mountains. The academy, called the Dalton by the townies, stresses leadership and excellence, both academically and in extracurricular activities. The school has a football team, a baseball and softball team and two soccer teams. It also has several non-athletic clubs that are designed to encourage and inspire leadership. It has a top-notch teaching faculty, as well as an excellent support staff. When the Dalton is in session, there are roughly 300 students, 20 full-time faculty and 10 full-time support staff (3 janitors, 3 nurses, 1 office secretary and 3 grounds staff). Students must remain on-campus unless given a pass. They are allowed to remain at school during breaks, for a housing fee. Fish and plants are the only allowed ‘pets’ for the students and care for them must be arranged during break.

The House System

Dalton has a house system, with six houses with roughly fifty residents to a house, divided based on gender. Due to the flux in students, there is occasionally a co-ed house, and one Dormitory is set up into two wings to separate the sexes internally. Houses have mascots and a friendly rivalry is encouraged, with the leading house earning perks. Points are gained through weekly games – quizzes, races, etc – by volunteering to help the faculty and staff and by participating in charity events in the community, such as blood drives, clothing drives, etc. Students are not required to participate in the events, but there is pressure to not earn demerits that will drag everyone else down. Houses often have internal perks for their top earner. Each house also has a senior faculty member who has a suite of rooms in the house. Students share rooms though a student can have an expensive private room (there are some rooms held as private every year just for the extra tuition they generate). Each dorm has its own dining hall, but students are not restricted to their own hall. There are also study rooms in each building, which have study materials and books, though the campus has a consolidated library rather than each house having one officially.

PC requirements

Experience to start: 20 xp

PCs will start as normal students, staff or faculty mortals with no specialized knowledge of the occult (general knowledge such as what would be found in the real world or fiction is fine). As students, the PCs need to have a reason to be at the academy, such as scholastic aptitude, athletic ability, wealthy parents or have your parents working at the school. Faculty should have at least 3 dots in their relevant area of expertise (the computer teacher should have at least 3 dots in computer). Staff should have appropriate skills to match their backgrounds and jobs.

In addition to a character sheet with at least 15 xp spent and a background, I need each character to designate their “special” thing. Your imagination is your limit in this situation. The last time I ran a game like this, I had one PC want to become a were-panther; the other was a half-angel. One was obviously “by the books” and the other had to be created. Rules needed for specialness will be created by me.

Role-play will be emphasized over roll-play. The game will start with individual or linked small-group threads. They will close after their introduction and the fictions will be free-form.

Experience

Fictions will be worth 1 to 3 xp each, depending on length and character development. Missions will be worth 3 to 10 xp each, depending on length, character development and danger level. Xp will also be awarded at my discretion.

I have three players already: Sarah/Ptesan-Wi, Malachite and Joani.

Questions?

[Adrian Moss]

Count me in.

[jameson (ST)]

I possess interest and willingness.

[Jess OOC]

I'm game.

[Dawn OOC]

Here is part of the OOC FAQ for character creation and the game.

What kind of character should this be?

Start with an ordinary person; the supernatural aspects will be added in-game, though you might see clues immediately. I think that the best word to describe what your special thing should be is “destiny.” What is your character going to become that is beyond the mundane? Ideally, all the players should, once fully ‘empowered’, have the equivalent of a major template. Adjustments will be made as needed, and if something is granted to your character but proves to be unbalancing or problematic, it will be replaced with something more appropriate.

Can my special thing be a “thing”? Like a laser pistol?

Yes, I foresaw it as something you are born to become or get changed into... but if you want your "destiny" to be to have a tool or weapon, we can work on it. But no laser pistols. Really.

How young can I be?

You can be as young as 7th Grade. I don’t recommend being younger than thirteen, even if you are a wunderkind. Stick to the teens as far as age, and you should be fine. If you want to be younger, you’ll start with fewer skills than the other kids. To be faculty, you should be at least 22, to account for attending college for 4 years to gain an advanced degree. Members of the staff need to be old enough to have earned their position - i.e., the nurses are at least 21 to have earned a three-year nursing degree and obtain registration. The janitors and groundsstaff can be 18, as an alternate example, so long as they can do the job.

Where do I submit the character?

To my Dawn, OOC account; please add a [Mortals] tag to the entry.

What should I know about the game?

The general theme is one of exploration; being a teenager is naturally a time when boundaries expand and new things are found. In this case, the boundaries in question are beyond the normal. The mood is meant to be dark, even if it is not THE World of Darkness. Things outside the school are very normal – and that might become an issue for the PCs, if school becomes a more interesting place than home. The theme song for the game is Right Where It Belongs, version 2, by Nine Inch Nails. The linked video is actually very appropriate for displaying the mood I’m striving for (for once).

How detailed should my background be?

As detailed as needed. While family will not be around much, you will have interactions with them over time. And if you tell me that your father is overbearing and your mother coddles you, expect them to visit to loom and spoil you, respectively.

Will you allow reboots of other characters?

Yes, on a case-by-case basis. I will require that players put identifying information in their signature, however, so I urge new accounts for the characters.

[Justin OOC]

Me too

[Glacier]

Whoah, this sounds really fun. I want to play!

[Dawn OOC]

We're still open for players.

[Emily Silsbury]

I'd like to play, if you'll have me.

[Dawn OOC]

Cool, Emily.

We probably need people to start announcing basic concepts - not necessarily the supernatural stuff, since those can overlap since we'll have missions occurring at the same time - but especially those planning to play the teachers and staff need to be careful. We have the history/social studies teacher claimed, as well as the science guy.

Our resident Mean Girl position is still open, though.

[Dawn OOC]

Also, I'll be camping in chat until obscene hours of the morning, so if you guys want to talk to me face-to-face, I'm out there (login is Carver).

[Emily Silsbury]

Funny you should mention the 'Mean Girl' position...

My concept is 'The girl who...'

Emily is an overseas student from the U.K. who has been sent away by her bored, rich parents. She is too smart for her own good, but very little in the way of morals. She is the girl who can get it for you, for a price (or perhaps a favor). She is a leader of the "cool" crowd, but hated and feared by the masses.

I'm sure that you recognise the stereotype. I will try, however to add a few twists to her persona that will keep her from being two dimensional.

[Dawn OOC]

Originally Posted By: Emily Silsbury

I'm sure that you recognise the stereotype. I will try, however to add a few twists to her persona that will keep her from being two dimensional.

Most excellent.

[Justin OOC]

Well Rounded Rich kid though abit eccentric here...

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Concept: Friendly, Canadian Jock

Sean is the good-looking athlete, who's willing to be friends with anyone. Though a member of the cool crowd, he doesn't really care about being that cool, and he does try to curtail their behaviour towards the coolness-impaired.

He has dual citizenship in Canada and the States. His parents are divorced, and he was living with his dad in Whistler, BC. Dad got a new girlfriend, so shipped him to his mom and his two sisters in Denver. Mom, not wanting to deal with a boy in the house, sent him off to boarding school.

But he's not bitter.

Much.

[Thomas Burke]

Concept: Biology/Sciences teacher

This is Thomas' first job out of college, were he had a good time, but managed to get a good education anyway. He is one of the more popular teachers in the school, known as a friendly and out going sort who isn't afraid to verbally challenge students on a variety of subjects.

It doesn't hurt that he is stunningly handsome.

Somewhat curtailing his cool image is the fact that his parents stop by ever so often and he is usually bummed about it afterwards. This has actually earned him some sympathy from kids in parentally-challenged relationships.

[Dave ST]

I'm in.

Be ready.

[Glacier]

Rachel Morning

Rachel is a recent graduate of a small liberal arts college in New England, graduating with a 3.95 GPA and a strong record as a varsity bowler. She now teaches Civics, History, and other Social Studies courses at the Trevor Dalton Academy, mostly to 9th grade students. She is physically fit and highly intelligent, and has developed a reputation for sharpness with students who fail to keep up. Still, she's a good teacher, and instills her students not only with historical or civic awareness, but an understanding of critical thinking, lateral thinking, and the myriad uses for both. I'd like her to be a RA or a head of house or something, if this is a possibility in this game.

[Deacon Knight]

Deacon Knight

Parents are filthy rich so they don't have time to take care of their child, all they do is pay the bill every year. Been living at the school since he was 10 years old Deacon was accepted after skipping three grades and later tested as having an I.Q. over 160. By the time he was 13 his intelligence was at a level most people couldn't imagine and he was dubbed a child prodigy when he 'whipped up' a hydrogen engine 'because he was bored'.

Suddenly though his studies started to falter and perfect marks dwindled into Cs and Bs... just enough to stay in the school. Over the last four years his studies have suffered, his slacking has escalated and he's pretty much become the life of every party. The faculty wish they were as smart as he was and feel he's nothing but wasted potential.

There is no living soul on campus that does not know Deacon Knight, or 'Deek the Geek'. Tales of his exploits, from revenge pranks to wild parties, have reached the ears of every student (or student to be). (Fame 2)

List of alleged exploits:

1. Hacking the webcams of every female dorm room and distributed the addresses to the guys on campus for a nominal fee.

2. Hacking the webcams of every male dorm room and distributed the addresses to the ladies on campus for a nominal fee (he refused to charge for his own address, ladies deserve his awesomeness).

3. Added a compound to Miss. Dorn's coffee that turned her tongue black for a week.

4. Channeled a low level of sub-harmonics through the P.A. system of (House Name) that attracted cats... lots of cats.

5. Hacked their tour schedule and arranged for the local Hooters Girls to show up for (House Name) last X-mas party.

6. Arranged for (Band Name) to perform at the years homecoming after he rigged an MTV concert so the school couldn't lose.

7. Has a whoopee cushion that moans like a porn star while it's making it's gassy sound... and he's not afraid to use it.

8. Rigged every faculty member's car's GPS unit to spew hurtful things as it coaxes them to their destination.

9. Sold (House's Name) mascot on e-bay.

10. Raised over $10,000 for a charity of the schools choice with "Here, Dance In This" day, where, for a small donation, he'd run about the town or campus and dance wildly in the outfit of the Donor's choice (they supplied the outfit).

Despite his long list of offenses and pranks Deacon has never been threatened with expulsion... and no one (even Deacon) knows why.

[jameson (ST)]

Name: Ryan Jackson

Weight: ~175 lbs

Height: 6’1”

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Auburn

Age: 18

Appearance: Tall and somewhat good looking with auburn hair and blue eyes. Ryan possesses a thin wiry frame that allows him to move swiftly with superb agility.

Ryan Jackson has been many things; champion snowboarder, motor cross racer, stunt biker. The descriptor of thrill seeker is more than appropriate. He has toyed at Parkour, base-jumping, free climbing and other extreme sports; all before the age of fifteen. Never staying with any given activity amongst the various thrill seeking subcultures looking for something to grab his interest and hold on to it.

Nothing ever did stick long enough though; the least of which was school. Mom & Dad had given Ryan more than one chance to straighten himself out and more than once he had tried and gotten bored. Having finally gotten sick of Ryan's consistent failing grade and the expense of buy new equipment and training for his sport of the season Ryan's Parents shipping him out to Dalton Academy hoping that the isolation would force him to settle down enough to at least graduate.

In the past couple of years Ryan has managed to avoid getting expelled for poor grades though some accuse that his parents' money or via connections within the student body and/or faculty. Ryan manages to sneak off campus multiple times a month, sometimes multiple times a week, to continue chasing the thrill of extreme sports. Last Thanksgiving he made his way to Aspen and entered himself in the the Winter X Games where he earned a gold in the freestyle snowboard half pipe before his parents and the school found him.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Concept: Social Studies Teacher

Name: Sylvia Dorn, PhD (Anthropology, History)

DoB: 12 Apr 1973

H/W: 5'5"/122#

H/E: Dark Brown/Green

Appearance: If someone with fashion-sense and a bit of self-esteem could get her hands on Sylvia's slender body, she could be anywhere from pretty to almost exotic. As it is, the body is in Sylvia's hands, and that means that she looks somewhere between schoolmarmish and downright mousy. Dark brown hair is generally pulled back in a severe bun or left to fall straight and unstyled, glasses to correct her 20/50 vision are kept in place with a cord, and her choice in clothing screams "librarian!" Still, the green eyes that peer out from behind those lenses aren't entirely listless; the realities of life have failed to entirely remove a glint of emerald wildness that has sparkled there since childhood....

Background: Randolph Dorn forced a smile when his beautiful baby girl was held before him for the first time. She was a perfect little thing, hair the colour of dark chocolate already toping her little head as she looked up at the blonde man to be listed on her birth certificate as "Father". Margaret Dorn, heavily drugged to get through the rigors of childbirth, was too far from the really-real world to see the anguish writ across her husband's face. A gentleman to the end, Randolph would never once voice question over what had really happened during her research trip to the Amazon not quite a year before. And Margaret never breathed a word beyond the script.

As little Sylvia grew, she did so in the shadow of ancient cultures. Margaret was well-established in the anthropology community, her work renown amongst her peers. And as Randolph was a somewhat emotionally-distant father, the girl followed close in her mother's footsteps. Unfortunately, emotional distance wasn't physical distance; while Randolph never breathed a word of doubt to his wife, he poured his derision with stern and disparaging words upon his daughter (at least, what derision he could spare from John, her painfully gay brother). A girl who wanted nothing more than to please Daddy found that nothing was ever good enough... and eventually that she was simply not worthy of his love. For lack of warmth, she dove into academia.

By age 22, Sylvia had her Masters in Anthropology. A Doctorate followed the next year, even as she began to work on a Masters in History. By 26, she was a dual-Doctorate, and set out into an associate professorship at Colorado State. And that is where she stagnated. Tenure passed her by again and again in the small and deeply entrenched department, and finally budget cuts brought on by an economic downturn saw her dismissed in early 2004.

After a frantic search found that her name had somehow been quietly blackballed through the university network, Sylvia settled for a position as a Social Studies teacher at the Trevor Dalton Academy in Estes Park. Overqualified, it was all she could do to convince the board that she wouldn't jump at the first chance to leave. She even agreed to be a House Mother, hoping that final demeaning step would prove her lack of external ambitions. It was enough, and "Miss Dorn" has been a fixture on the campus ever since.

She's the quiet one, the precise and correct teacher who doesn't go out for drinks with the other faculty, who doesn't joke with the students, who makes sure the rules are followed and the lights are out on time. But when those lights go out and stillness falls over the dormatory - and if you look just right - there's a tiny glint of green fire in those eyes.

Click to reveal..

Name: Sylvia Dorn

Player: Jessica Orsini

Virtue: Fortitude

Vice: Wrath

Concept: Change of Life

***ATTRIBUTES***

Mental

4 Intelligence

3 Wits

2 Resolve

Physical

2 Strength

3 Dexterity

2 Stamina

Social

2 Presence

2 Manipulation

2 Composure

***SKILLS***

Mental

4 Academics (History, Anthropology)

1 Computer

1 Crafts

1 Investigation

1 Medicine

1 Occult

2 Science

Physical

1 Athletics

1 Drive

1 Stealth

1 Survival

Social

1 Animal Ken

1 Empathy

3 Expression (Teaching)

1 Intimidation

1 Persuasion

1 Socialize

***MERITS***

4 Beast-Kin

2 Eidetic Memory

1 Language (Greek)

2 Resources

***OTHER TRAITS***

7 Health

4 Willpower

7 Morality

5 Size

5 Acting Speed

10 Running Speed

3 Defense

0 Armor

5 Initiative Modifier

5 Perception

***CREATION LOG***

Attributes (5/4/3)

__Primary Mental: 3 Intelligence, 2 Wits

__Secondary Physical: 1 Strength, 2 Dexterity, 1 Stamina

__Tertiary Social: 1 Presence, 1 Manipulation, 1 Composure

Skills (11/7/4)

__Primary Mental: 4 Academics, 1 Computer, 1 Crafts, 1 Investigation, 1 Medicine, 1 Occult, 2 Science

__Secondary Social: 1 Animal Ken, 1 Empathy, 3 Expression, 1 Persuasion, 1 Socialize

__Tertiary Physical: 1 Athletics, 1 Drive, 1 Stealth, 1 Survival

Specializations (3)

__Academics (History), Academics (Anthropology), Expression (Teaching)

Merits (7)

__4 Beast-Kin, 2 Eidetic Memory, 1 Language (Greek)

***XP LOG***

Date_________Trait/Exp. Type__________Rank __Gain/Cost__Balance

03 May 2009__Creation Points_____________-______20_________20

03 May 2009__Skill: Intimidation_________1______-3_________17

03 May 2009__Attribute: Resolve__________2_____-10__________7

03 May 2009__Merit: Resources____________2______-6__________1

[Dawn OOC]

If you have an approved character, start making seperate profiles. I know that things will be a bit cluttered until we earn our first forum (which will be a character info subforum). I'll be posting information about the school over the course of the next few days.

Also, you don't have to post character sheets. Sylvia just jumped the gun.

[Rorx]

Thinking of a support staff member who lives on site, not sure whether to go with the chef or groundskeeper yet. In any case it will be male, late 20's and has been with the school for only a just a year.