Adventure! RPG: Dark Tidings - Table Talk

[Lee Deity]

So, the most important question, I should think - Two character concepts arise fully formed in my mind.

The First, the venerable Locky McKenzie, Thief-Acrobat extraordinaire, and general mobility expert.

The second is Jack of All Tongues Benjamin Abel, Master of Languages both Ancient and Modern and Scholar of the Humanities.

Which, my good GM/Players, would people prefer to see/would be more appropriate for this game?

[jameson (ST)]

ST says that Ben Abel would likely possess skills in great demand during the course of the game

ST also says that sometimes when you need to get something money and kind words don't always work

Ha! Take that as you will

[jameson (ST)]

A note to players:

Although the Hammersmith Event reinvigorated the magical engery of the world it was hardly the first spark. Indeed the Hammersmith event was simply fresh fuel on a dying fire. As such the optoin for players to create old characters via the Stalwart Dynamic Knack of Optimized Metabolism and/or the superscience longevity drugs is perfectly reasonable. You won't have access to more dots than your peers but it may provide you interesting background options.

[jameson (ST)]

Borrowing Shamefully from Revenant here.

I don't expect you to fill ALL of this in but it ought to help you to fill in detail and background on your PC hopefully breathing life into your concept.

CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

Introduction Questions

======================

Character’s full name:

Character’s nickname(s):

Character’s title(s):

2-3 word description of character concept:

Character’s most obvious blessing/strength:

Character’s greatest perceived blessing or strength:

Source/Cause of aforementioned blessing or strength (if applicable):

Character’s most obvious flaw/weakness:

Character’s greatest perceived flaw or weakness:

Source/Cause of aforementioned flaw or weakness (if applicable):

Physical Traits

===============

Age:

Gender:

Race/Subrace:

Height:

Weight:

Frame or body type:

Skin color:

Eye color:

Hair color:

Tattoos/Birthmarks/Scars:

- Purpose/significance of above markings (if applicable):

Facial hair (if any):

Handedness:

Physical description:

Vocal type (shrill, booming, musical, etc.):

Accent (if any):

History

=======

Hometown:

Location of hometown:

Traumatic or defining childhood experiences (if any):

Effect on character’s personal life (if any):

Effect on character’s professional life (if any):

Brief description of childhood:

Description of any childhood friends/enemies:

Current location/status of aforementioned friends/enemies:

Stupid childhood mistakes:

Important notes on childhood toys:

Dark secrets from past (if any):

Possible conflicts due to past:

Criminal record (if any):

Public identity (if different from actual identity):

Views on history/legends of homeland:

Family

======

Father’s name:

Father’s age:

Father’s profession:

Father’s current status:

Description of father:

Mother’s name:

Mother’s age:

Mother’s profession:

Mother’s current status:

Description of mother:

Character’s childhood guardian (if not mother and/or father):

Guardian’s current status:

Relationship with guardian:

Guardian’s perception of character:

Description of any siblings:

Relationship with siblings:

Birth position (first, second, third, eldest, youngest, etc.):

Description of early family life:

Mentor(s) within family (if any):

Enemy within family (if any):

Black sheep in family (if any):

Brief family history:

Character’s marital status:

Offspring (if any):

Description of current family life:

Status of spouse/offspring:

Important notes regarding any family members:

Relationships

=============

Relationship to any PCs:

Close NPC friends:

Status of such friends:

Reason for association:

History:

NPC enemies (Nemesis):

Status of such enemies:

Reason for enemy status:

History:

Other NPC contacts:

Relationship:

History:

NPC sweetheart(s) past or present:

Current status of sweetheart(s):

History:

NPC Allies:

Reason for alliance:

History:

How the character feels others perceive him/her:

Loyalties:

Generally trusted people:

Generally despised people:

General relationship with peers:

General reaction to attractive members of the opposite sex:

What the character would kill for:

What the character would die for:

Greatest sin ever committed against the character:

Special group involvement (if any):

Personality/Beliefs

===================

Role models:

Contemporary heroes:

Legendary heroes:

Disillusion of any heroes:

Dreams or ambitions:

Reason for dreams or ambitions (or lack thereof):

Short-term goals:

Long-term goals:

Plans to fulfill these goals:

Fears or phobias:

Possibility of overcoming:

Possible methods of overcoming:

Reaction to such fears:

Willingness to discuss or admit to fears:

Attitude regarding material wealth:

Level of greed/miserliness:

Level of generosity:

General attitude toward others:

Requirements to gain the character’s trust:

Introverted or extroverted:

Brief description of personality:

Biases or prejudices (for or against):

Habits:

Contradictions in personality:

Personality “hot buttons” (actions that provoke anger, embarrassment, etc.):

Religious/spiritual traits and tendencies:

Reason for such traits:

Level of piety:

Views on the supernatural:

Taboos or superstitions:

Tendencies/attitudes toward killing:

Most likely reaction to an attack:

Most likely reaction to theft:

Most likely reaction to public insult:

Views on government:

Most treasured possession:

Lucky charm (if any):

Career/Training

===============

Description of education:

Important educators (if any):

Honors/awards/special considerations:

Profession:

Reason for profession:

Skill descriptions and purpose/reason for them:

Professional history:

Honors/awards/special considerations:

Views of friends or relatives on profession (if any):

Lifestyle/Hobbies

================

Usual mode of travel:

Chance of sea/motion sickness:

Travel fears (if any):

Usual travel gear and/or dress:

Hangouts:

Description of home:

Cleanliness/prestige of home:

Description of servants, roommates, etc.:

Description of neighborhood:

Miscellaneous

=============

(OOC) Desired goals for character:

[jameson (ST)]

Further note to players - just a reminder that Appearance in Adventure! does not work the same as it does in Aberrant or other WW games. In Adventure! the higher your dots the more memorable you look either Ugly or Attractive - this means that finally the ugly guy gets a good dice pool for intimidation. It also means that 1 dot isn't ugly it is in fact neutral, plain Jane, un-noteworthy.

[jameson (ST)]

Should have asked for this ahead of time, but everybody please submit an accounting of thier BP and TP expenditures with their PCs. Thanks.

[Katalyst]

What's the status look like for players?

[jameson (ST)]

I have recieved Character submissions from:

Katalyst (in review)

Janos (accepted)

Lee (in review)

I am expecting characters from:

Lily

Joani

There were 3 or 4 more who were interested but I have not heard further from them one way or the other. I'm on vacation at the end of this week into early next and would like to launch the game starting June 9, possibly sooner if everything falls into place.

[Count Janos Rakozi]

Woot!

I'm interested in knowing one or more different PC's, if that's okay. Janos has only been concious for a short time. Before that, he was in a combat-induced coma since October 1918. He is an expatriate nobleman from Hungary and interested in finding his siter, Ammura. Ammura was/is an occult research and trying to work with the Arkham Historical Society and other occult sources in the Boston area.

[jameson (ST)]

Two things folks.

Some of you are already approved and I am in the process of taking care of the last few people. If you want to write fictions to detail backstory events and downtime events feel free to do so, I encourage it. Fictions will be awarded a small EXP bonus depending on length and quality (i.e. really good but short is equal to long but only ok)

These awards are for me to determine and will likely be no more than one or two EXP per story, mostly to reward the extra effort you put into creating the character and game world. If you have doubts about how I intend to handle certain creatures or concepts please PM me and we can discuss prior to your writing.

Also, I know some PCs have connections established and others do not. While it is not required if it suits the PC it would add depth and realism to the game and so I encourage that as well. PCs should detail their connections in their descriptions in the Characters Thread.

[jameson (ST)]

time's running down folks, Monday morning (assuming I don't fine free internet this weekend) I'll be posting the first post of the Prologue. THe prologue will serve a couple of purposes:

• Gather together the PCs
• Allow you to test drive the PCs
• Allow you to test drive the setting
• Allow you to test drive the ST

During an after the prologue I will allow minor tweaks to the PCs. Once Chapter 1 starts the PC sheets will be set in stone. This will allow you all to get comfy with your characters and allow those not familiar with A! and specifically my setting to get comfy with it. It will also allow those who have not RPed with me to see how I run my games.

[jameson (ST)]

Lifted (mostly) shamelessly from Carver's Changeling game

Abandonment and Rolls

Should a PC stop posting, after 7 days they will fade into the background and I will assume they add no meaningfull skill use or other mechanical benifit; if, after 30 days of inactivity, a player continues to be inactive, I'll write them out of the game IN MY OWN WAY. All Abandoned PCs will be come ST owned meatpuppets NPCs. If you know you will be out for more than a couple of days let all of us know in Table Talk, this will offset the timetables above according to when you expect to return.

Should a character die, the player may remake another at 90% of earned xp. This is to encourage "smart play." Not metagaming, but the character who checks doors before opening them, and knows when to flee from Satan is engaging in smart play. Should someone decide that they want to reitre their character and remake it, they can remake it at 80% exp. This may not be an issue, but it has happened before.

Rolling often gets in the way of ROLE-playing, notice the spelling there? As such I will perform all relevant rolls for PCs, or as I see fit, simply declare Success or Failure in order to best suit the story. When a PC needs to engage a skill please make an OOC note at the end of your post with whatever roll or rolls are needed indicating the base dice. I will modifiy as needed and then update accordingly. In order to encourage interesting and descriptive posts I will also apply a rule similar to the "stunt" rule from Exalted that rewards players for a nice description of their action and penalize those who write, "I translate the runes using Lingistics." This will be minor at most 2 dice added or removed and will not apply to all posts only those that are truly great or plain old lazy. This goes especially for combat where description of action can make or break the combat being interesting or just an exercise in boredom.

[jameson (ST)]

OK folks - thr prologue went up early go to it and have a ball, I'll update scenes individually as needed until timing and locations start to converge ... Enjoy!

[jameson (ST)]

Hey kids, I need your opinion on something...

In Adventure! the Lethal Soak provided by Stamina is up to ST choice. In this case I don't have a preference either way so I am putting it to the table for a vote, luckily there are 7 of you so no ties. So what do you think? Do you want PCs to have 0 Lethal soak without armor or knacks or would you rather they get the minimal amount provided by Stamina?

Stamina/Leathal Soak

1 / 0

2 / 1

3 / 1

4 / 2

5 / 2

[Katalyst]

I'm placing my vote for getting the min provided by Stamina

[Joani]

I vote against it. No Soak

[Count Janos Rakozi]

Stamina provides Min soak. I would rather have bullets 'graze' me occassionally than always putting a hole in my hide.

[Charlotte]

If I had to choose, I'd go for minimal lethal soak.

[jameson (ST)]

OK Here's the skinny folks.

I'm going to wait for Lee/Ben to post again then I can synch Mia, Ben, and Arch. Similarly I'm going to let Joani/Catori update and then synch Janos into that scene as well. All will happen come morning (well morning for me).

In the mean time the vote is 3-1 for Stamina soak vs lethal. All we need it 4 votes one way or the other so once Ben/Marion/Daphne vote we'll have our answer.

[Lee Deity]

I vote for Lethal Soak - I see no harm in it, personally.

[jameson (ST)]

OK that puts it at 4-1 and so we will use the Lethal Stamina soak values. Lily and Carver can still vote for what its worth but the majority has already weighed in.

I'll be updating shortly ...

[jameson (ST)]

posted for both groups - I'm in training for most of the day but if possible I will check in an update again at day's end.

[jameson (ST)]

Two new topics for you to consider ...

1) Fictions - While I hope I don't need to give people permission to write a fiction I do want to go ahead and confirm that fictions will be worth a small amount of bonus Exp. Perhaps 1-3 points perhaps more.

2) New Knacks - I didn't mention this during Char Gen because I wanted to stick with the book but I am open to new Knacks. This is not to say I will allow any old broken garbage into my game, I am final arbiter of what comes in and further I think that I will allow your fellow players to vote on your proposed Knack both to help "break" it and to help keep everybody involved.

Questions? Comments?

... Tips?

[SalmonMax]

*drops a quarter in your hat*

I propose the following Knack:

"Win."

Description: You win.

Effect: You win.

System: Spend an Inspiration point, and win.

As for fiction, I'm considering trying to write up her quest for the Grimoire...though that'd likely be a pretty big fic. Maybe separate chapters for each stage...I will think on it.

[jameson (ST)]

Hmm not bad but I propose the following minor edits:

"Fail."

Description: You fail ... always.

Effect: You always fail... always.

System: Constant effect, you fail all rolls and if any 1s are rolled it counts as a botch.

I think that would play as much more interesting ...

[jameson (ST)]

I will update for the group on the dock this afternoon or after Mia updates, whichever comes first.

[SalmonMax]

How does stunning work? Do I automatically come out of it after a turn, or is there a roll or...not sure if I need to post is all.

[jameson (ST)]

Umm, upon further research it would appear that there are no specific "Stun" rules in A! ... whoops

for the purpose if this incident assume it wears off after 1 turn.

In the meantime I'll try and read up on stun in the other two games and decide how to handle it moving forward ... sorry

[SalmonMax]

Hah! Ok. So I'm stunned this turn. I will post next one.

[jameson (ST)]

Originally Posted By: Lily

Hah! Ok. So I'm stunned this turn. I will post next one.

Ok that's my fault. For future reference any descriptor that I add to a PCs current status is merely there for description so that you can react accordingly. The in combat I will note the penalty (i.e. loss of 1 turn, -3 init, or -2 on all rolls), out of combat the only thing that will prevent you from posting would be being rendered Unconscious.

I'll try to be better about that in the future...

[jameson (ST)]

Lee - Dramatic editing denied, I'll not have you off after a red herring in the prologue, besides Car Chases in Boston are best left to the pros...

Catori - 3 successes on Rapport

[Lee Deity]

*shakes fist* damn you! I was all up for a wild car chase! Ah well. Back to the Chapter, I s'pose...

[jameson (ST)]

no offense but your "massive" dice pool of 3 for drive wouldn't have taken you far anyways

[Lee Deity]

That's not the point!

[jameson (ST)]

Assume Marion finds a suitably sized Maid's uniform.

[SalmonMax]

Yay!

We can probably have the next person to post narrate through the awkward but necessary business of dressing, bathing, etc...during a scene change.

The question is: Where shall we go? Daphne's house?

Also, Marion, Janos and/or Catori need to talk with someone in the Arkham Estate about the dead body down there. Lest we forget.

[Lee Deity]

Completely out of character, but... Marion and Ben have a couple of spare rooms at their place, and our parents certainly don't begrudge us visitors... ;-)

[jameson (ST)]

Hey folks!

I wanted to drop a line that the Prologue will be closing on Wednesday Morning. Thus on Wednesday the 25th at about 8 am EST I'll close that thread and open up Chapter 1.

I need a couple of things from you folks between now and then:

- If you wish to manipulate any of your dots around I need you to PM me your changes no later than 12pm EST on the 25th.

- I need you all to close out your posts in the Prologue. I understand that we are kinda cutting off in what seems the middle but trust me it'll be fine.

- Chapter 1 will pick up about 2 months later in December 1928, so I would also ask that you post into TT what you want to do with your downtime. If you need to you can PM me anything that shouldn't be common knowledge.

That should do it. Chapter 1 will begin and for the first time (in game) all the PCs will be together in 1 location (yay!).

And as always if you have any Questions, Comments, or suggestions/requests please let me know in either TT or via PM. I can't make the game better for you if I don't know what you need/want.

[jameson (ST)]

Exp Drop:

Also despite the shortness of the Prologue I want to award 4 Exp to all players for a good job in setting up their PCs and getting the foundation of the game started.

[Katalyst]

Ben has just doomed us all by opening the box! All inspired please exit the building thru the nearest door/portal

Heh sorry couldn't resist!