Topic: Masters of Manipulation - Multiplayer RPG (Accepting Applicants in OOC Thread) (Read 10033 times)

BFEL · « **Reply #45 on:** August 26, 2013, 08:36:48 am »

Quote from: gman8181 on August 25, 2013, 09:06:19 pm

I originally was sort of thinking this game would be more free form where you all do what you want and make your own quests but it's sort of seeming like you'd perhaps be more interested in a railroading/quest giver type of thing?

I could certainly hook you all up with quest givers if you're more interested in that than doing your own things.

Edit: This isn't saying there's a wrong way to play this game, it's just that I want everyone to have a fun time playing it and I'm not sure how fun it is when turns are just like "walk."

((I'm not a fan of the railroading, so far I've been in a bar (a place with lots of people) so not much to do there, and now I'm hearing an animal in pain, so my actions are kinda being forced already I would think

Two turns is a bit soon to be complaining about your players not going out on their own...I mean if it wasn't for the dog I woulda tried to get one of those ships I saw this turn.))

Go up to dog, put hand against it and pet it gently, then heal it.

gman8181 · « **Reply #46 on:** August 26, 2013, 10:36:28 am »

I really wasn't trying to railroad with those things. Just trying to add more interesting surroundings to your walking so it's not a boring post for you to read. Really the dog and those demon worshippers were just added fluff much like me describing the flying ships and the type of buildings or trees that are surrounding you guys. It's supposed to give you an idea of what the world around you is like. Instead of just saying "you walk outside" I was trying to describe what it is you see while your walking.

Also please don't think of it as me complaining. I was just making sure you weren't all bored waiting for me to set you up.

griffinpup · « **Reply #47 on:** August 26, 2013, 04:48:01 pm »

Well gman, I'd be willing to do my own thing, but I have no information to go off. What city am I in? How is it set up? Why aren't there any inns or hotels? What is the pervasiveness of evil and crime? Who is it led by? What interactions does this city/country have with things of the void? Have I been here before? Do I know the area well?

I need a lot of information if you want me to do my own thing.

gman8181 · « **Reply #48 on:** August 26, 2013, 05:20:08 pm »

Good point, excuse my lack of more in depth explanation for everyone's general location.

Griffinpup: Your in a sort of slum area that is more industrial than commercial which has something to do with the lack of inns/hotels. Crime is pretty prevalent mostly due to rampant starvation. You don't know exactly who the area is led by but most likely some local Manipulation Lord of moderate power. Likewise you are unaware of who runs the local crime gangs but doing some snooping or exploring would lend more information in that regard. The major void conflicts are seemingly over after the large wars that were in the past but there are still many smaller void cults popping up from place to place. Generally, the government takes extreme action when such a cult is located and puts the cult down with excessive force to prevent anything similar happening again. Think of a military type state with constant martial law. Still, there is a lot of dissent here because of how bad off the population is economically.

BFEL: You are in a city sort of similar to griffinpup. Main difference is that your city is slightly more commercial and has some stores and taverns which helps keep the local populace in a slightly better mood. Additionally there is a ship port (airships type of ship) nearby which helps draw in more people and income and a lot of people living in the city have jobs related to the port. The port is used for the storage of ships that transport goods across the planet.

LordBucket: Your in the forest right now but nearby is a sort of backwater town with lots of people who had trouble fitting into the bigger nearby cities. Because of that atmosphere it's easier for people like your old teacher and those "demon worshipers" to get away with stuff that the government normally cracks down on.

griffinpup · « **Reply #49 on:** August 26, 2013, 06:03:27 pm »

Well thank you for the information. Now I can actually do something. Are there cattle farms close to the city?

Find a very hungry person somewhere secluded. Tell him that I have a job for him, if he wants a lot of food.

gman8181 · « **Reply #50 on:** August 26, 2013, 08:22:04 pm »

"Cattle" in a loose form of the word.

I'm glad to answer questions you guys have and give you more information if your character would actually know it. Feel free to ask whenever you want about stuff. I'd prefer such questions in the OOC thread though.

LordBucket · « **Reply #51 on:** August 28, 2013, 06:39:15 am »

I note that once again we have turn submisisons from three players, and we've been waiting for days for a submission from escaped lunatic ppllmmqqaazz who obviously chose his name by mashing the keyboard and has not been online since he was last reminded to post.

gman8181 · « **Reply #52 on:** August 28, 2013, 09:27:01 am »

Year 100
Month 1 Day 1
22.30 Hours Galactic Time

Spoiler: BFEL (click to show/hide)

You walk up to the dog and lay your hands upon it lightly. (Manipulation roll 17+1=18) The dog is expertly healed using Manipulation, so well in fact that it costs you significantly less vitality than would have been expected. In addition because of still having the effects of alcohol in your system, you feel even less pain. (Situation Roll 1). The dog seems happy about its fixed leg and runs about cheerfully. After a few moments of this it runs off into the distance leaving you once more alone.

Spoiler: Griffinpup (click to show/hide)

You toss the man your coins and walk away. While walking you consider the information you currently know about the city you have around you. It’s certainly a slum which is apparent as soon as you take a good look at any of your surroundings. Broken boarded up windows, empty stores, thin frail people with vacant looking eyes. Crime is unsurprising prevalent and you don’t doubt that the recent mugging you experienced is not an isolated incident. With people underpaid and starving a lot of them are looking to do whatever they can just to obtain food. You also mentally search through your memories to see if there is a “cattle” farm nearby. There is one in South West quarter of the city not too far of a walk from the North West section you are in now. That area has factories similar to this one but they are larger and more spread out from one another. You distinctly recall the cattle farm being very close, possibly a part of the food processing plant, no coincidence.
(Perception roll 2+2=4+10poorarea=14) You go about searching for a poor person which you succeed at. You find a thin young man, seemingly in his early twenties searching through some trash cans. (Persuasion roll 10+2+4hungry-2stranger=14) After telling him about the potential job for food, he looks at you curious and hopeful but also suspicious.
“Alright I’m interested in your job but how about you tell me what exactly it is you want doing?”

Spoiler: Lord Bucket (click to show/hide)

You approach the group of people hiding in the trees and as you get near, give your speech while siphoning the animal and performing your Manipulation. (Persuasion roll 12+3+2gullible=17) (Manipulation roll 16+1=17) The three people stand back in shocked awe of your performance and kneel down before you while pulling back their hoods to reveal two young females and a young man probably around 17 years of age. One of the females who had been speaking before raises her head and looks at you,
“Our families have been poor all our lives and the world is run by corrupt jerks who use this blood magic stuff to stay in power. We figured if things are going to be run by crazy people using blood magic, we might as well try and summon a demon to take things over and serve them. At least that way we might have a little bit more power or influence or something!”

Spoiler: Ppllmmqqaazz (click to show/hide)

After a period of intentional silence, you ignore her question and resume your own. (Persuasion roll 1+2=3) She refuses to give information regarding her village (Persuasion roll 17+2=19) but you do manage plenty of information regarding the slave camp.
“I don’t know exactly where the slave camp is but I’ve been traveling north for a long time now, so I have a feeling it’s somewhere south of here. Some of the slaves were being kept to work in a large mine that they have there but a lot of the people captured were just taken into some huge structure where they would never leave. When I escaped I found out where they keep the food stores and some equipment in the far west part of the camp but that’s about all I can tell you.”

Turn is up, I'm not going to kick him out of the game but I'll start posting turns without him. I also might end up taking in another player.

Also, please use OOC thread for non character posts.

LordBucket · « **Reply #53 on:** August 28, 2013, 11:13:53 am »

Trisha

First, the energy that I extracted and held in a holding pattern the previous turn, apply it to restoring myself. I've just walked some distance, I'm not the most robust person in the world and I probably still have more walking to do. Replenish myself.

Then explain that I''ll need them to prove themselves if they want to serve me. Get their names, look each one in the eye in turn and ask if they really want to do this.

If the all say yes
Tell them where my former instructors shack is, then explain that their task to prove themselves is to kill the man who lives there. Go with them, observe them during the trip to get impressions. Let them go in and kill him. Drain the energy of anyone and everyone who died, apply it first to curing my anemia and the rest to increasing my manipulation skill. Then compliment the survivors for having passed the test, swear them in as per 'service' below, and take an inventory of the house, contents, vehicles, money and any other potentially useful assets.

If two say yes
Tell the two who agree that their task to prove themselves is to kill the one who didn't agree. If they refuse then shrug and tell them they're not worthy and keep walking. If they do it, then drain their friend and use his energy to cure my anemia. Then tell them that by killing their former friend they've proven themselves. Swear them in as per 'service' and then do 'shack.'

If only one says yes
Tell the two who changed their minds to say their goodbyes to the one who agreed and advise them to speak of this to no one. Then tell them to leave start walking with the one who agreed toward's the instructors house. Compliment the one who agreed for having the courage to say yes while others did not. Then explain that this was the test, and they passed it. Swear them in as per 'service' then do 'shack.'

If they all back out
Shrug and tell them the opportunity is unlikely to come again. Then keep walking.

Service
Whomever is alive and with me at this point, tell them they've passed the test and that I will accept their service. Have them kneel before me, look them in the eye and have them swear to serve and obey me forever and in all things.

Shack
Whomever is still alive, explain that we will need a temporary base of operations. Return with them to my former instructor's house. Observe them during the trip to get impressions. Talk to them, find out more about them. Ask them about their family, their personal interests, etc. Once we arrive, explain that there's an old man inside, and to go in and kill him. And to do it quickly, as he's more dangerous than he looks. Let them do their thing, drain the energy of anyone who dies and if I have not already cured my anemia as per above, do that first, then apply all extra energy drained to increasing my manipulation skill.

Then take an inventory of the house, contents, vehicles, money and any other potentially useful assets.

ppllmmqqaazz · « **Reply #54 on:** August 28, 2013, 01:01:35 pm »

After an incredibly long (and completely intentional) period of silence, I ignore the question about her personal safety, and ask where her village was, and about the slave camp. Where is it, what do they have the slaves doing, how many slaves and slavers are there, and if there is anything else of interest there.

griffinpup · « **Reply #55 on:** August 28, 2013, 05:35:03 pm »

"How 'bout you help me out, and I'll help you out. you see, I have interesting... Talents... Talents that you can and will benefit from. I'm quite good at... Growing... food very quickly. The only problem is that my... Growing process... has very specific requirements. Are you willing to find the necessary ingredients to produce my food?

BFEL · « **Reply #56 on:** August 29, 2013, 07:26:33 am »

Find some o' ye poor beggars what flock around hereabouts, then use mah powers to generate some coin for they pockets.
Imma' try an ingratiate em to me, get them on mah side y'hear?

gman8181 · « **Reply #57 on:** August 29, 2013, 02:17:17 pm »

Year 100
Month 1 Day 1
23 Hours Galactic Time

Spoiler: BFEL (click to show/hide)

(Perception roll 1+2+10poorarea=13) You set out to find some beggars which is accomplished quite easily. It’s not a huge group of beggars, just three of them total, but a group of beggars regardless. Having accomplished the first segment of your plan, you go about the second part; creating money. The actual metals copper, silver and gold have no real value but are the substances used in the forging of the coin currency used universally by the three great planets. Coppers being the lowest form of currency are also the easiest to make counterfeits of and so you begin doing so. (Manipulation roll 16+1=17) (Perception roll 7+2+5easycounterfeit=14) Your Manipulation is executed perfectly and you perform a decent enough job on the actual forging of the coins as well. They won’t fool a government official but they’ll do just fine with these beggars (+40 counterfeit coppers). (Persuasion roll 8+2+10hungrypoor=20) You give some of the coins you made (-30 counterfeit coppers) to the beggars which serves to quite effectively ingratiate them to you. You’ve got three new “employees” now who should be willing to follow you around and do as you ask assuming you continue to see to their needs in the future.

Spoiler: Griffinpup (click to show/hide)

“Eh okay, I’m still not entirely sure what it is you want me to do but yes, I’m willing to help you gather together your ingredients if you promise to pay me accordingly in either food or money” (Follower Acquired)
(You can give your follower orders and still take your own actions. Also you might get an extra turn before everyone else because this one is so short)

Spoiler: Lord Bucket (click to show/hide)

   You absorb the energy which reinvigorates your body making you feel stronger than you have in a long time (-3 anemia). That could easily get addicting…
   (Persuasion roll 8+3=11) (Persuasion roll 14+3=17) (Persuasion roll 9+3=12) (3 followers gained) The three cultists are all eager to follow you and prove themselves worthy, quickly agreeing to do as you ask. The male in the group seeming especially excited about the whole affair but you aren’t entirely sure why. You find out their names are Belle, Rosite and Zucht. After finding out information about them, you lead the group back to your master’s shack and wait outside while they go in to perform their mission.

(I’m not even going to roll for the combat because your teacher’s stats were so pathetic)
   The three cultists creep silently into the house, feeling along the walls in order to navigate through the unfamiliar darkness. Slowly working their way through the building, they finally reach the room where your teacher lays sleeping deeply and undisturbed. Nodding to one another the three hooded figures move about forming a circle around the sleeping man and drawing out their daggers. Brutally and messily they bring down their knives repeatedly cutting into the old man’s soft unprotected flesh, waking him but not with enough time to properly react. He weakly raises his hands trying to fend off the violently onslaught of knives that still come slicing into him over and over again until finally the knives land a killing blow. The cultists don’t stop the attack until he is completely unrecognizably butchered. They look at one another and laugh nervously as it finally dawns on them, just what they have done. There isn’t much time for consideration of the deed though, as you walk in and they all turn towards you.
   “Well boss, we did it… we passed the test.”
   You congratulate the three of them and go on to drain the corpse lying in the bed. (Manipulation roll 14+2=16) That’s enough to cure your anemia completely (-2 anemia). Unfortunately there isn’t enough matter left over to use towards doing anything else. You and your new followers go around the house looking for anything useful.

House Space: 2 bedrooms, common room, kitchen, washroom
House Inventory: 50 copper, 10 food items, 8 men’s commoner clothing outfits, 8 chairs, 2 beds, 2 tables, plates, silverware, 4 wooden logs

Spoiler: Ppllmmqqaazz (click to show/hide)

Added *followers:*. Also from now on, every turn that a player doesn't take damage, they heal 25% total health. Eating and drinking will also heal health.
In regards to sacrificing stuff to raise skills, it won't raise a full skill level, it'll go up by 1/# of a skill. I'm not going to allow creating items that boost full skill levels either (yet). The mechanic I'm considering is creating enchanted items that raise your skill by a percentage of your skill, so enchanted ring that boosts skill by 25% of total base skill. The max boost would be 100%.

Followers will not raise skills by using them. Their skills will be raised if you "train" them, either yourself or assigning a follower with higher skill to train a follower with lower skill. You can only train them up to half of your own skill level and you can only train one skill per turn.

LordBucket · « **Reply #58 on:** September 02, 2013, 03:07:47 am »

Trisha

General:
* Of Belle and Rosite, which is prettier?

Quote

After finding out information about them

I actually wanted to know about them. Specifically, what's their family situation? They're teenagers. Do they have parents waiting for them to come home? How wealthy are their families? Are they orphans? Where do/did they live? How far away is it? Do they all live within walking distance and they met for their ritual nearby, or did they all run away from home and home is miles or hundreds of miles away? If so, where were they living? Are they on good terms with their parents and would they be happy to see them survive and do well, or does one of them seriously hate their parents and would like to see them dead...their parents who happen to live in a big house more conveniently located that this house in the woods?

These are the sorts of thing I want to know, but the three important questions are:

1) Where/how far do/did they live?
2) Is there a settlement/houses that they came from that's much closer than I realized? After all, they were on foot wearing blatantly obvious cultist robes that probably aren't something they'd generally wear in public. They had to come from somewhere, and presumably they have a change of clothes within walking distance.
3) Is anyone going to come looking for them?
4) Do any of them have family with valuable assets (money/house/etc) that we could reasonably move to, take over and kill everyone, without unreasonably stressing our relationship? Just because they're unhappy with society and murdered a stranger doesn't mean they're ready to kill their own parents, and I'm not going to push my luck. But if one of them already hates their parents and would be happy to see it happen, I'm not going to turn down the opportunity to upgrade to a bigger house in a better location.

Trisha:
* Take a knife, cut the arm of each of my three disciples to fuel a simple 1 or 2 hp manipulation that causes them to feel a compulsion to obey my orders, and to take joy and pleasure in doing so. They're in for a bumpy ride, it may as well be comfortable for them.
* Get a price check on the house. Find out what I can sell it for, and find out what I could reasonably rent it out for.
* Find/acquire rope/duck tape/string/bondage restraints /handcuffs/superglue/etc anything that can be used to secure a prisoner.

Zucht, Belle and Rosite:
* Remove the body, bury it in the woods at least couple hundred feet from the house at least a couple feet deep in the ground.
* Clean the house, wash sheets, remove blood.

Once the above is done, sit them down and explain very simply that in order to do what we intend I need to first increase my power. Right now we're still low on the totem pole, and that needs to change. The method of accomplishing this is very simple: I require sacrifices. It's probably not going to be very glamorous for a while. Eventually we'll move into an office building or a high rise, but for now...basically their primary job is to bring people to me to be sacrificed, and to do it as discretely as possible. They can get creative with this if they need to. Maybe they can find homeless people and offer them a place to sleep for the night. Maybe they they know people personally they want to get rid of. Maybe they can say they have day labor jobs available. Whatever. Gender is unimportant. Age is unimportant. But get people here to be drained. And do it without arousing suspicion. Flirting with a guy and inviting him back to your cozy little shack in the woods where all the teenagers hookup, sure, that's an obvious way to go about it for Belle and Rosite. Clubbing someone over the head in broad daylight, bad idea. Going to a place where people are standing on a street corner looking for work, hand them 5 copper advance payment and lead them back to "the job site" where we drain them and collect back the copper we gave plus whatever they have, that's great. Calling a pizza delivery where there is an address tracked and a company that will wonder why their delivery boy never came back? Bad idea. Also, while it would be helpful to bring back people with money, it's more important to bring back people who will not be missed. Guy with a couple silver would be great. Guy with millions of gold who owns the city, very bad idea. Homeless drunken guy? Perfect. Nobody will miss him. Police or military officer? Very bad idea. Avoid bringing back people whose disappearance will be immediately noticed and investigated.

Give them 15 copper each for expenses. Ask them if they have any questions or suggestions, then send them on their way. While they're away, do a more thorough search of the house. Check under the bed, the cupboards, look for a basement, etc. I trained with this guy and lived in his home. If he had anything hidden I'd have a better chance of finding it than my followers. I probably also have a higher perception score. So do the search myself.

Then wait for my charges each to come back in turn, and get to draining.

gman8181 · « **Reply #59 on:** September 06, 2013, 12:48:05 am »

Year 100
Month 1 Day 1
24 Hours Galactic Time

Spoiler: BFEL (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Griffinpup (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Lord Bucket (click to show/hide)

   You look at Belle and Rosite, determining that Belle is probably the more physically attractive of the two girls although both would be considered pretty by the average male’s standards. Digging a little bit deeper for personal information, you manage to find out that all three of the individuals have been orphaned from somewhat sensitive events that happened earlier in life and were until recently living at a nearby facility for displaced children. Just let out to live independently, they had no real future prospectives and thus banded together in an attempt to eek out some sort of living. The three of them worked various odd jobs for a while before eventually getting desperate enough to attempt some sort of pact in the woods. The three of them share a small four room building about a thirty minute walk away at the edge of civilization. Assets that they own are pretty limited their to basic living materials such as what you’ve thus far found in your teacher’s house.
   (Manipulation roll 16+2+4willingtargets=22) You ritualistically cut the arms of your three followers, letting small amounts of blood pour out onto the ground in front of you. Using the blood as fuel you slightly alter the minds of your three cultists so that they feel an innate compulsive desire to follow your orders (3 Devoted Followers/+2 influence). Having finished that, (Perception roll 8+2=10) you go about acquiring materials that could be used for restraining prisoners. Two loops of rope and some adhesive tape are found which should serve adequately for now at least. While you are looking for those items your followers go about cleaning up the house of any evidence that might incriminate you should the government come snooping around. There is no body left over as it was consumed in the Manipulation and its unlikely the government would come out here very often but being careful can definitely pay off.
   A good amount of time passes while people go about tidying up the place and when that is finished you sit the three followers down and enlighten them somewhat regarding your plan of action and what you will be needing. You make sure to instill in them the importance of secrecy and not getting caught and afterwards make the additional request that they look into the potential value of your current assets. Before sending them off with 15 copper each (60-45=15 coppers), you ask if any of them have questions. They are curious if you have a preference for them working alone or in a group, as the three of them are very close and have long been accustomed to cooperating together to get jobs done.
   Answering the question takes just a few moments of your time (just include the answer in the beginning of next turn) and the small group sets off for town. You go about performing another look over of the building hoping that your advanced knowledge of the place and superior skills will aid you in finding something. (Perception roll 8+2+4familiarplace=14) While snooping around the teacher’s old room you happen to hear a suspicious creaking coming from a certain set of boards when you walk over them. Prying the boards off, you look down into what appears to be a large cellar like structure leading into a dark unlit tunnel. You don’t know why but a slight feeling of menace pervades out of the underground room and makes you feel uneasy about entering.

Spoiler: Ppllmmqqaazz (click to show/hide)

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Author Topic: Masters of Manipulation - Multiplayer RPG (Accepting Applicants in OOC Thread) (Read 10033 times)

BFEL

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gman8181

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griffinpup

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gman8181

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griffinpup

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gman8181

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LordBucket

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gman8181

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LordBucket

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ppllmmqqaazz

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griffinpup

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BFEL

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gman8181

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LordBucket

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gman8181

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