Jump to content

Trinity Universe: Trinity campaign musings

Heritage

By Heritage,
in Games

Recommended Posts

Heritage Veteran

Heritage

Posted
Posted

Tooho, apparently quite accidentally, gave me an idea for a new Trinity game setting that would combine the future of the War Journal world with the one briefly glimpsed in my 'Tomb of the Guardians' story, which was in turn based on my first online Trinity campaign.

This idea has literally just occured to me, so it's only the vaguest of vague ideas. There might be considerable deviation from both War Journal and Trinity canon, and I would definitly be going for a fairly scuzzy version of the future, as befits my scuzzy nature ::tongue In effect, the story would begin right were my short little piece in the Fiction Database ends, though we'd obviously be changing all the details that led up to that with people's character intros and such.

Anyone interested? I have no idea how soon such a game would take to set up, probably a month, bare minimum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
tooho Rising Star

tooho

Posted
Posted

*tenses... stares at screen*

Shouldn't.. really really shouldn't..

*sweat beads her brow*

Fire and brimstone!

I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I'm in!

::rolleyes There. I feeeeeeeeeel soooooo much better!

Shoot.. is it a bad thing I can't withstand temptation? ::blush

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ezekiel Veteran

ezekiel

Posted
Posted

Okay...I think I'm in...so dibbs on one of the spots.

I have to read the fiction thing and think of a character...I'm a bit bushed tonight (Its Moon Festival today so I was out all day, and now fireworks are going non-stop in the city...) so I won't think about it for another couple of days I think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Heritage Veteran

Heritage

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Okay, a quick post before I dash off to work. A few points:

1. Starting year will probably be 2121, so the Upeo have returned and are playable.

2. All player characters will be independant contractors working for Sunset-Kalkay, an interplanetary conglomerate.

3. Secret allegiences are okay.

4. The focus, at least initially, will be within human space, i.e. the Sol system.

That's all for now!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Heritage Veteran

Heritage

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I'd like to play if ya' still got any room... ::lookaround

Okay, Prof, in your case, I'll make an exception ::sly

So we're at seven, and we're locked - the only way anyone else will get in is if someone leaves. You guys are all pretty good posters, so we should do okay.

And Zeke gets to play the Upeo....though there's no law that says we can't have two, right? ::tongue

So here's who we've got:

tooho

Prince of Boredom

malkboy

ConcreteDragon

Ezekiel

Asbjorn

ProfPotts

.

.

.

.

I am so dead ::rolleyes ::laugh

BTW, Mr. Asbjorn asked if he could bring in a PC from the late-lamented Holo Lives game - having never read very far into that game (sorry, Knave! ::blush), I see no reason not to do so, and I offer the opportunity to others as well, or from Dreams of Dragons, too, I suppose.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ezekiel Veteran

ezekiel

Posted
Posted

One good reason not to allow characters from Holo Lives is that the characters were very powerful. My character had 5 dots in one mode and two dots in the two others...

DoD was normal but their was some experience doled out as well...and the characters were lost in the unknown...and the ship's tesser became suicidal and crashed into the system's sun.

at least that's my theory.. ::smile

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Heritage Veteran

Heritage

Posted
  • Author
Posted
What books and sources can we draw from?

(Asia Asendant, India Underground, etc...)

One good reason not to allow characters from Holo Lives is that the characters were very powerful. My character had 5 dots in one mode and two dots in the two others...
I was going to ask about that, too... What skill level do you want the characters to be, Heritage?

Jeez, already with the big questions!

Okay, let me make one thing clear - I don't know where my corebook is, so I have to buy a new one. This might take a bit of time, which is one reason I said it will be at least a month before we'll be up and rolling. I know where to get one, but I'm fiscally challenged right now, so we'll see how soon I can pick one up.

As far as books go, for now I'm saying only official and semi-official books, so bootleg copies of Asia Ascendant are fine. I still have to read IU, so I don't want to greenlight that yet, but I may allow IU as well. In fact, it might be a good fit, if I think the powers are balanced - history is going to be a big part of this game, and chibs are sort of a living reminder of how folks fvck up ::devil

I sort of have to relearn Trinity, since I haven't read it in a while, but I have almost all the books - not including my missing corebook, I have everything but Shattered Europe and the adventure books (I think I have Alien Deception or whatever it's called). That being the case, I'm not sure how powerful I want people to be. Let's say for starters everyone makes their characters as newbies, and I might give you guys some XP to spend, since I do kinda like the idea that you've all been around the block a few times, but that's not set in stone yet.

So Asbjorn, I'd say at this point if you want to make a 'new' character based on one from Holo, that would be okay, and I might let you bump him/her up a little bit, but might be easier to just start from scratch - I've made a few 'dialed-down' characters in the past, and have found it very frustrating ("Dammit, why can't she have both Shapeshift and Density Decrease? Maybe if I buy a couple more flaws....")

(note: I've never tried to make said PC, but I can now picture myself doing so ::rolleyes)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Heritage Veteran

Heritage

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Uh, why would you want both Shapeshift and Density Decrease? ::blink
To be like the T-1000

Zeke's reason is far too logical for me - I just like both powers, and can see myself being a silly twink and trying to have both, even though they are both "core concept" powers.

But enough references to games that are not Trinity - keep the questions and (hopefully soon) character concepts coming! ::thumbsup

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Asbjørn Mentor

Asbjørn

Posted
Posted
So Asbjorn, I'd say at this point if you want to make a 'new' character based on one from Holo, that would be okay, and I might let you bump him/her up a little bit, but might be easier to just start from scratch - I've made a few 'dialed-down' characters in the past, and have found it very frustrating ("Dammit, why can't she have both Shapeshift and Density Decrease? Maybe if I buy a couple more flaws....")

I had a feeling you'd say that... ::wink I'll go for a new concept, then. Trying to make an enjoyable 'twin' never works, in my experience.

Does the esteemed ST have any other preferences or no-nos? Any character types that would be particularly useful? Or completely useless?

I'm getting an image of Indiana Jones anno 2120 here... ::sly

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ProfPotts Elite

ProfPotts

Posted
Posted

I'd quite like to try my hand at a Psychokinietic (Legion-style, basically) - but I'll need to go (re-)read the fiction again to see where this is all coming from first... ::lookaround

Okay, forgive my cuttin' & pastin', but is this the relevant bit we're to be thinkin' about?:

He leaned forward and addressed them directly.

"What I am about to say cannot leave this room, which my security people have repeatedly assured me is the most secure on all of Fuyoushi." He glanced nervously around the large chamber, then continued.

"Ms. Trask has a rather unusual…hobby, I suppose you could say: collecting pre-War technological artifacts. Now, as you can imagine, this sort of thing is frowned upon in modern society, but I don't think I need to remind you that our employer is very wealthy, and therefore operates in a more rarefied environment, both legally and socially, then most of us."

"She has several purchasing agents who scour the markets throughout the System, chasing down rumors and making discreet inquiries in the hope of find some new piece for her collection. Many times these items turn out to be clever forgeries, or of significantly poorer quality than we've been led to believe. But every once and a while, they turn out to be something like this -"

And with that, he turned and reached into a black case.

... I.e. we're to be a bunch of hired operative working on a somewhat 'grey'-legality mission to search for 'item X'? Or something along those lines in any case? I'm getting something of a 'Jason X' vibe about the story - is that along the right tracks?

If so, I'm thinking ex-Legionnaire psycho(-kinetic ::wacko ::lookaround ) mercenary type: heavy on the (combat) bio-apps (probably a pair of enhancer gauntlets), smokes dog-end cigarettes & drinks too much (al la John Constantine) & is part of th' ol' 'trenchcoat brigade'. Not sure whether to go for a male or a female character though. Somewhat cynical & sarcastic, but good in a fight & with a cool head. Does any of that sound like it'd fit, or am I totally off-track here?

Also - you mentioned any books being possible - does that mean we'll be using Merits & Flaws from the TPG? Plus - will you be going for the 'normal' or the 'freeform' Psi system?

Cheers ::thumbsup .

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Heritage Veteran

Heritage

Posted
  • Author
Posted
... I.e. we're to be a bunch of hired operative working on a somewhat 'grey'-legality mission to search for 'item X'? Or something along those lines in any case? I'm getting something of a 'Jason X' vibe about the story - is that along the right tracks?

Yeah (or should I say 'yeh' ::wink), that's about the size of it - when we actually play, things might be a little different (i.e. different names for NPCs is a possibility). The feel of the campaign will be something between William Gibson-style cyberpunk and the Alien Quadrology: dirty, manufactured, yet profoundly human.

And here's a fun tidbit - biotech based robots will be around! I love the robots in Alien and it's sequels, and there was a bit about them in the 'Corporate Life' ebook (which I somehow lost, BTW - anyone else have it?), so I'm putting 'em in. Heck, you might be able to play one, though I totally have to work out the system for them.

If so, I'm thinking ex-Legionnaire psycho(-kinetic   ) mercenary type: heavy on the (combat) bio-apps (probably a pair of enhancer gauntlets), smokes dog-end cigarettes & drinks too much (al la John Constantine) & is part of th' ol' 'trenchcoat brigade'. Not sure whether to go for a male or a female character though. Somewhat cynical & sarcastic, but good in a fight & with a cool head. Does any of that sound like it'd fit, or am I totally off-track here?

That sounds cool. Either sex is fine, but if you go female, Jenny Sparks from 'Stormwatch' is probably the way to go ::tongue

Also - you mentioned any books being possible - does that mean we'll be using Merits & Flaws from the TPG? Plus - will you be going for the 'normal' or the 'freeform' Psi system?

Yeh, up to ten point of flaws is fine with me, and go nuts with merits - more than ten is proabaly just dumb/expensive. I know freeform psi is really popular with people, but I've never quite figured out how it works, so I'm going to go boring and traditional ::confused

To clarify some points, here's a bit from a IM with Zeke:

Zeke: And i read the story...am I assuming we'll just sorta pickup where the story left off? and get to know what's in the box...

H: well, we're gonna backtrack a bit, since none of your PCs were there. Some dialog will change, based on what you folks do, but yes, we all see what's in the box, but I don't want to be locked in by the fiction

So we're not gonna start at the end of the story - we're going to forge a new and unique path to get to that same spot, and then go from there ::thumbsup

(edit: Zeke reminded me that the proper term is 'androids' - w@nker! ::tongue)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ProfPotts Elite

ProfPotts

Posted
Posted

Well, while I like 'FreeForm' in theory, in principle it's a huge pain in the ass on-line when a) no-one has the rules (the TPG being the rare artifact we're looking for in the game in the first place!), & B) since discussion by PM is about a million times slower than face-to-face it can take forever to actually use a power in a way the player & ST both agree on...

... Traditional is just so much easier.

IMHO, natch. ::tongue ::wink

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Heritage Veteran

Heritage

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Are psions the way to go in this story, Heritage? Or are neutrals just as fitting? How about other character types? I have no idea what they're all called, but aren't there a bunch of 'inspired-clones' character concepts as well?

I'm still trying to work this out, actually - obviously psions are the safe way to go, but I've always like the idea of neutrals and psions (or baselines and novas) working together, so I will allow neutrals as playable characters. We might want to do something like in War Journal where you get some extra bonus points or something as compensation.

I'm also psyched by the idea of allowing android characters, ala the type seen in the Alien films - I'm watching them now to get ideas (and just enjoying them immensely!). I think androids would basically get to buy Mega-Attributes using Aberrant rules, but be limited to one dot per M-Att, limits on enhancements and number of M-Atts. Plus we'd have to figure out a non-quantum based pool to draw upon, possibly an 'Energy' stat bought as per Quantum.

We're also still pre-Process 314 (or whatever the number is), so no Adventure-type characters yet. I also haven't read most of the Asia Ascendant 'bootleg', but Nippon Aberrants might be possible, but might not fit my setting ideas; I'm leaning towards a 'no' on that one. Psychmorphs (using the Trinity-based model in APG) are another possibility - so many options!

So here's where we're at right now:

1. Psions. Of course.

2. Neutrals. Yes, probably using the 30 bonus points rule from WJ, or maybe the optional rules in TPG.

3. Androids/biotech robots. Yes! Still pending my rules adjustments, which will arrive shortly - of course, if no one is interested in playing one, I'll put that on hold for a bit ::wink There also are 'personality' issues to work out, possibly through the application of various mental/social flaws

3. Nippon Aberrants. Most likely not.

4. Mesmerists, Stalwarts and Daredevils. Nope.

5. Psychomorphs. A possibility, but I'd only allow one in the group due to they're extreme rarity. Also have to go back over the rules to make sure they aren't unbalanced, so they might be ruled out completely.

6. Latents. You bet - see 'neutrals' above.

7. Chibs/Quantakinetics. I really have to read IU! ::blush I just find reading ebooks a massive strain on the eyeballs, and I don't have any toner in my printer. ::rolleyes These are possible, but I don't know what I'm getting into just yet; the ramifications on inter-PC and NPC relations will also be profound, obviously. Good chance of a 'no', but we'll see.

And then:

A. Up to ten points of flaws.

B. Up to ten points of merits.

More to follow!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ProfPotts Elite

ProfPotts

Posted
Posted
I'm also psyched by the idea of allowing android characters, ala the type seen in the Alien films - I'm watching them now to get ideas (and just enjoying them immensely!). I think androids would basically get to buy Mega-Attributes using Aberrant rules, but be limited to one dot per M-Att, limits on enhancements and number of M-Atts. Plus we'd have to figure out a non-quantum based pool to draw upon, possibly an 'Energy' stat bought as per Quantum.

Sounds cool - a quick suggestion would be to think about just using Adventure! Stalwart rules for androids, instead of limited Mega-Attributes - since that's, essentially, what Dynamic Knacks are in any case (& it would save you headaches when it came to trying to decide which Enhancements & the like are too powerful & which aren't - since Adventure! is already pretty balanced). E.g. all 'droids could have Optimised Metabolism & Man of Many Seasons to represent their artifical durability, whilst other Knacks could represent different types of 'droids - Piledriver & Body of Bronze for a combat 'droid for example, or Sex Symbol for a 'recreational' model... ::blush ::wink

Just an idea - use, abuse, or chuck as the whim takes you. ::thumbsup

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Heritage Veteran

Heritage

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Sounds cool - a quick suggestion would be to think about just using Adventure! Stalwart rules for androids, instead of limited Mega-Attributes - since that's, essentially, what Dynamic Knacks are in any case (& it would save you headaches when it came to trying to decide which Enhancements & the like are too powerful & which aren't - since Adventure! is already pretty balanced). E.g. all 'droids could have Optimised Metabolism & Man of Many Seasons to represent their artifical durability, whilst other Knacks could represent different types of 'droids - Piledriver & Body of Bronze for a combat 'droid for example, or Sex Symbol for a 'recreational' model...  

Just an idea - use, abuse, or chuck as the whim takes you.

I really like that idea! This may be the way to go, except the one person interested in playing an android doesn't have Adventure! ::confused

BTW, to clarify something:

1. Nippon Aberrants. Right out! No sir, no way! ::crazy

2. Nippon Superiors. A strong possibility, as soon as I finish reading AA ::tongue

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ProfPotts Elite

ProfPotts

Posted
Posted
This may be the way to go, except the one person interested in playing an android doesn't have Adventure!

Easy solution would be for you to determine the capabilities of different 'droid types & just let the player pick from the list: e.g. combat, worker, teacher, recreational, etc.. After all - if your character is an android then, technically, he/she/it has been built by someone else... ::wink

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Heritage Veteran

Heritage

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Easy solution would be for you to determine the capabilities of different 'droid types & just let the player pick from the list: e.g. combat, worker, teacher, recreational, etc.. After all - if your character is an android then, technically, he/she/it has been built by someone else...

Using Nippon Superiors has also been suggested - some cobination of these various ideas will be used, but players might be allowed to make custom models for ther PCs. Standard models are going to happen, though - thanks for that!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ezekiel Veteran

ezekiel

Posted
Posted

Millenium's edge had creation rules for synthetic characters...

but its dead...

*sigh*

or is it?

Muahaha! I rule! My geekometer rang bells and I remembered the almighty Wayback Machine and grabbed a 2002 archived version!

See it here!

Character creation rules are here!

The site is dead...long live the Archive!!!

Muahahaa! Wayback is so cool...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ProfPotts Elite

ProfPotts

Posted
Posted

Of course, another way to build an 'android' character would be to treat any android-based features as an appropriate Device & / or Merits / Flaws. E.g. grant them the basic 'powers' (armour, strength, life-support, etc.) of a bio-VAS or human-sized VARG (for an appropriate Background cost), add in any other features (Devices & Merits) you wanted, then toss in a few Flaws to represent the 'three laws of robotics' or whatever their limits happen to be in the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...