OOC ThreadPlayer: Dorsidwarf
Luck: 10
Class: Driver (Cars): +2 to driving cars.
Spells:
Boar's Roar. Using this, you can temporarily turn yourself into a building-sized boar for a short period of time (four turns).
Kit:
The Bootlegger (Car). A lovingly maintained muscle car you've had for years. Seats four people, unlike most muscle cars. Takes a lot of damage, giving -1 to enemy attacks.
Lifestyle: Lowlife. Rent is $20 a week.
Job: Pays $5 per successful working day.
Cash: $10.
Burden: You haven't made any progress in getting revenge.
Challenge Rating: Speed Junkie / Level 1.
Player: Dwarmin
Luck: 10
Ritual: 10.
Class: Driver (Cars): +2 to driving cars.
Kit:
Tetsuo (Motorbike). A Japanese motorbike you stole as a way of escaping captivity but ultimately decided was well worth keeping. Goes fast, is a nice shade of red, and is just generally fancy. +1 to outrunning other cars.
Lifestyle: Lowlife. Rent is $20 a week.
Job: Pays $5 per successful working day.
Cash: $10.
Burden: Your mother Ashley is okay. Your father hasn't made any demands so far.
Challenge Rating: Speed Junkie / Level 1.
Player: Tiruin
Luck: 10
Ritual: 10.
Class: Robber (Stealth): +2 to sneaking.
Kit:
Tear-Gas Sprayer. Homemade tear gas in a spraycan. When sprayed in someone's eyes, stuns them for a turn if they don't dodge it. Three uses before it needs recharging.
Lifestyle: Lowlife. Rent is $20 a week.
Job: Pays $5 per successful working day.
Cash: $10
Burden: Your sister Rachel is okay. You haven't made any progress in figuring things out.
Challenge Rating: Petty Thief / Level 1.
(GM's notes: Spells are randomized, I'm afraid.)
Player: Wolfchild
Luck: 10
Spells:
Trail on the Wind. When in a dangerous situation, you can transform yourself into a trail of fabric which is shot up into the air, then floats away into a less dangerous area. However, this causes one point of luck to be knocked off.
Class: Hacker (Long-Range). +2 to hacking long-range.
Kit:
Overclocked Computer. You modified this computer to do things operate faster then suggested. You can activate overclocking to get a +1 to hacking. However, every turn it is on, a roll is made for damage. If the roll fails, the computer shuts down and the overclocking stops.
Lifestyle: Lowlife. Rent is $20 a week.
Job: Pays $5 per successful working day.
Cash: $10
Burden: Your sister Darla is okay. You haven't made any progress in finding out what's going on.
Challenge Rating: Script Kiddy / Level 1.
Player: Tsuchigumo550
Luck: 10
Ritual: 10.
Class: Hacker (Long Range). +2 to hacking long-range.
Kit:
Elaborate Proxy. You have a lot of links to a lot of servers, throwing off tracing. -1 to rolls to trace you.
Lifestyle: Lowlife. Rent is $20 a week.
Job: Pays $5 per successful working day.
Cash: $10
Burden: Your friend Leon is doing okay. You haven't made any progress in figuring things out.
Challenge Rating: Script Kiddy / Level 1.
Player: Lawastooshort
Luck: 10
Ritual: 10.
Class: Thug (Firearms). +2 to using firearms.
Kit:
The Homebreaker. A sawn-off shotgun. Short range, but does a hell of a lot of damage. +1 against people up close.
Lifestyle: Lowlife. Rent is $20 a week.
Job: Pays $5 per successful working day.
Cash: $10
Burden: Your daughter Chloe is doing okay. You have not made any progress in your vow.
Challenge Rating: Scumbag / Level 1.
Player: Flying Dice.
Luck: 10
Spells:
The Red Death. For a turn, people are affected by a very nasty plague that gives -3 to all activities. However, you will lose one luck point from the plague, as it's damn lucky that you aren't hurt by it.
Class: Robber / Stealth. +2 to sneaking.
Kit:
Forget-Me-Stick. A pipe that is particularly heavy. When it gets a major success (18-20) or if the target is unaware of you when you strike, then the target is instantly knocked out for 1d20 turns.
Lifestyle: Lowlife. Rent is $20 a week.
Job: Pays $5 per successful working day.
Cash: $10
Burden: Your little sister Elizabeth is doing okay. You haven't made any progress in securing your family's future.
Challenge Rating: Petty Thief / Level 1
Player: Harry Baldman
Luck: 10
Ritual: 10.
Class: Dealer (Supply). +2 to finding supplies at cheap prices.
Kit:
Modified Mobile. A phone that has been modified to be hard to trace. Talk all you want about illicit deals and drugs on this phone, the cops just can't hear you.
Job: Pays $5 per successful working day.
Cash: $10
Burden: Terrace is doing okay. You have not made any progress in getting a decent life.
Challenge Rating: Back-Alley Dealer / Level 1
Chapter One: Bad DreamsStagelights flick on above you. Below you the wood is stained with foottracks. This stage has been obviously used a lot. You look out at the audience, and see eight people on the front row, the only visible part of the stage. One of them is paying particular attention to you. You are not sure if you should feel good about this.
Stage left, four people enter. One wears a long black cloak with a bird mask of bone. One is all pale, in trenchcoat, in pallor, in hair, but he has the greenest eyes you have ever seen. One wears a blue t-shirt with reddish hair and brownish skin and rather frightening eyes. One wears a gasmask and a hoodie: nothing else is visible.
The green-eyed one speaks up first, and smiles at the audience. "We do apologize for the delayed start, there was a bit of stage fright before the opening... you know how it is. Bear with us, ladies and gentleman and all those in-between."
He looks at you. "And now you, of course. If you are confused as to your identity, this is perfectly fine. It will all become clear. For now, you are a player. An actor, the lead. The director told you the basics, but he didn't tell you everything... how like him. He likes keeping people in the dark. A problem of his."
The cloaked one says, in a pious and monotone voice, "We all have to bear our judgments. Such is the way of the light. But a helping hand is not heretical. What you see here is the truth. This world is a stage, and the people you will meet are simply shadows and tricks. However, seven are real. You'll know who they are when you see them."
The girl steps forward. She pulls out a gun and holds it. "I bet you're wondering who we are. I'm Farah, the others won't give you their names. They're pretty fucking big on the whole mysterious advisor shit. Me? I'm going to give it to you straight unlike these other assholes. I'm going to teach you how to kill people." She holds the gun to her head, and she grins unpleasantly. "If you can't kill someone, in my book, you're not a man. People were born to kill. That's just how it goes."
The one in the hoodie holds up it's hand, then a ball of flickering blue fire appears above it. It hovers in place, clear magic. The audience is obviously interested in this. It closes it's hand, and the flame is snuffed out. There is a light smattering of clapping, and the hooded one looks at the audience with an aura of distain.
Farah walks over and holds out a workman's hammer, grip first, to you. You take it. "You're going to do some pretty fucking bad things when this all plays out. Don't feel bad. That's just how it goes. I'm going to be the only one who tells you that what you are going to do is alright. Everyone else is going to hate you. But you and me, we both know we're the only people who matter in this situation. Everyone else is just fucking dust and shadow and tricks of the light. There are three things that matter: you and the other seven, the director, and random chance. Random chance comes with twenty possibilities, but really it boils down to six. You can have a major failure, a bad failure, a minor failure... then a major success, a good success, and a major success. As an actor, you know that kinda shit backwards, at least I hope so. Kill this fucker for me, will you?"
The lights focus on a patch of dirt on the wall. The dirt floats up and with the shadow, and the light, it seems vaguely humanoid. Then it is, a real human being, just an ordinary person. Farah pushes you forward, and you hold your hammer carefully. [20/Major Success+1=OVERSHOOT]You rush up to them and smash them in the face, causing them to fall over. It shudders and twists on the ground.
Farah says "Nice. Okay, now you're in an overshoot. That's what happens when you do your best, and your best is assisted by your skills. When you overshoot, you can finish the fucker off... But you gotta do it fancy. Do it cool. Make the audience gasp and wet their pants in pure spinecrawling motherfucking fear. Try it."
You lay your foot on the chest of the shadow, then stamp down on it. It gasps in pain, it's lungs unable to cope with the strain. You bring the hammer down on it's face, smashing it's nose. You feel the shock up your arm from the impact. Blood runs down it's face in rivers. Disgust at the sensory and moral implications of what you've done coldly pools in your stomach. You finish it's stupid, pathetic life by stamping down hard on it's throat, breaking something badly. The audience gasps in horror. Farah gives an encouraging little clap. "Awesome. You're just a natural born killer, aren't you? Just like me."
Farah Tips
This operates on a D20, but the results are separated into six result categories: Major Failure, Bad Failure, Minor Failure, Minor Success, Good Success, Major Success. In combat, minor success does one damage, good success does three, major success does five. Enemies typically have ten health.
When you get a major success but your modifier makes it go over 20, then you trigger an Execution. Your post will then describe the specifics of your success. If your prose is good, then I will make it the official result. If I don't think it's good, then I'll just roll for the attack. This applies to all skill rolls, including combat, speech, and other such things.The cloaked one steps forward while Farah steps back. He looks at you with glass, unseeing, unfeeling eyes. He says "As you grow in fame and skill, so shall your challenges. Things below you will be easier, and the only threat from them being numbers. However, challenges above you are more difficult and will provide a larger threat. The reason for this, I believe, is that you should not bore the audience with minor problems like battling a single enemy, and that growing skill is not adequately portrayed when the hero is halted by one solitary problem. I do not speak the language of theatrics. In theater, there is a chance for ambiguity, but there is only the light and the darkness. I do not speak lies, and thus I do not speak theatrics. Now. These shadows are below your skill level. Dispose of them."
A group of threatening people step towards you. You feel frightened for a moment, but then you realize that they're handling their weapons badly, and they leave themselves open to attack. You toss your hammer up and catch it on the way down, then smile. This is going to be fun. [8/Minor Failure] You smash their heads open, but more just keep coming. They keep piling up on you and slicing at you with knives and trying to break you with pipes. It seems like you're outnumbered... until it stops, and they are revealed to be dust and tricks of the light. The cloaked one says "You may be wondering why, despite killing several of them, you lost. Even though you are guaranteed to kill several of them, you have to think tactically. The fight is not about pulverizing your enemies. It is a question of tactics. Who is better organized? Who has more men who are ready to fight? You see why many warriors find the business too complicated and keep to killing low amounts of wildlife with excessively forceful weaponry. Now, when dealing with problems above you, you will be at a serious disadvantage. They will gain bonuses while your attacks will seem almost tender. However, you might still have an advantage. And now we move over to stealth."
Another figure forms. Now this fellow is threatening. You feel a low fear as you look at it. However, it doesn't seem to be aware of you.
"Watch him closely. He is
Unaware of your presence, but that may change. If you make too loud a noise, he will become
Suspicious, then if you reveal yourself he will be
Alert. Try going past him without alerting him."
You carefully crawl past it, where the light does not cover. [4/Bad Failure] However, it turns around and raises an eyebrow. You realize he's
Suspicious and he will be looking out for you. Thankfully, he disappears before too long.
Angel Tips
Challenge Ratings are ways of measuring your characters ability. It applies mainly to fights, though it also applies to talking, constructing things, farming, etc. For non-combat activities, it generally means that you can take on bigger problems: at Challenge Rating 1 convincing one normal person to do something simple is rolled for. At the end of the Challenge Ratings, convincing politicians that their whole rhetoric is bullshit is rolled for. You start out with a Challenge Rating of one and gain it when I decide it would be appropriate. When fighting those below you, they are rendered as crowds because that would be the only thing that could stop you. Fighting those above you gets you a negative modifier while they get a bonus.
Meanwhile, while sneaking around, it is measured by awareness. Awareness goes up when you get successes, and goes down when you fail. When someone is Unaware, they do not know you're there. Suspicious, however, means they will actively seek you out giving a -1 to further sneaking. Alert means they are fully aware of you, meaning you are unable to sneak.The green eyed man steps forward, nodding to the audience. He knows how to play the crowd. The cloaked one looks at him with an air of dislike.
"Well, then! I see that you haven't decided to gain skills in conning people. Not unreasonable, but you will find that talking to people will in fact be of note within this play. I imagine that in future you will be regretting not having one grifter on your list. Such is life, I'm afraid! I suppose I should introduce the basics of talking to people, as you do look quite socially inept. The mechanics work like this. When convincing someone, you are adding numbers to a total. That total is how convinced they are. You roll the numbers, you see, and... well, demonstrate it yourself."
You think, and ask him if he could jump a foot into the air.
[7] [0%] "Badly put, I'm afraid! I am not convinced to do so. However, in a context within the play, you could keep going. However, you see, you are on a time limit. Most people have a tendency to get bored of you asking questions. Hence, their composure forms a limit on the convincing. This is usually about ten minutes [turns] of time. at the end of this period, they will stop the conversation. Hopefully you shall have it completed by then... but then again, you might not."
He steps forward and points to a figure forming. You recognize it... it looks just like someone you know. "As you aren't precisely sure of your identity, let me fill you in on who this is. This is your sister, your mother, your darling, whatever. Assign whatever role you like. Just know this: they are really bloody annoying. They need things like food and rest that cost money, they need problems solved, such and such. I don't know why you bother, really, but I suppose you have your reasons. Now, in a play, it isn't like reality. Time is dictated by how appropriate it would be. After you do a certain amount, not number, of activites the week comes to an end. If you spend what seems like a few hours of building things, you will be surprised to find the week is up for you, but if you spend ages fighting one single enemy you will be interested to know the week isn't finished. And you will find some people aren't even finished with their weeks. Time is a precarious thing around here. Good thing too. At the week, you have to pay your rent. And this one has to be fed too, so that costs you ten pounds extra. I bet you just miss being a bachelor now."
The green eyed man smiles devilishly, then steps back.
Green Eyed Tips
When talking to someone, you are adding to a total. The amount you add is rolled for. When it reaches 100%, then you convince the person. However, you are limited by their composure. If you cannot reach 100% within ten turns (Or whatever their composure limit is), then the conversation shuts down.
At the end of the week, rent has to be paid. Along with this, you also have to spend ten dollars extra for your burden. Luckily, the end of the week comes only when you have done actions that would reasonably take a week, and isn't decided by a time limit.The one in the gasmask steps forward, leaving the others behind it. It looks at the ones behind it, shakes it's head, then points downward.
Stranger Tips
The Stranger is mute. Do forgive it, it would like to tell you about things, but alas...
Rituals have ten uses. After this, it is depleted and you must recharge it. Spells, however, can be used constantly but are limited by their strength. Do note that spells are random and often won't suit your needs entirely. Finding the right spell is sort of like finding the right set of clothing: it never happens, and even when it does it is disappointing."Well, that's all we can reveal for now." says the green eyed man. "It is time to begin."
Farah rolls her eyes. "Yeah, keep fucking talking." She walks off into the darkness. The gasmasked one nods, then follows her. Then the cloaked one goes. Just before the green eyed man goes, you call out and ask just who he is.
"Me? Call me an observer. You may encounter me again. Though, if things go differently, maybe you won't!" he grins, then heads off into the darkness. "Break a leg!"
Before you can call out again, you open your eyes. And the dream dissipates like wet tissue paper as the morning sun glares through your window.
It is morning in your apartment at the beginning of the week.
What do you do?