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[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

ALLRIGHTY THEN.

This is something i've been thinking about doing since toady mentioned flesh golems in the dev log. a few people have come up with other games which fell through. So i'm taking a swing at the whole GM forum suggestion game thing. First time blah blah you dont care.

 Now the starting premise is that you the players are a flesh golem. Or rather the swirling phantoms of death and darkness that lie at the heart of all necromancy. You are just now being animated by a necromancer. In this game you get to describe chosse two characters.

THe first is the necromancer. The skill of said necromancer determines how powerful You the golem are and how much control you have over the necromancer and how much control he has over you. The personality which you choose determine the actions of the necromancer and s/he in turn commands you to do thier bidding. You the players can choose or suggest how to fufill said tasks or whether you will outright rebel and try to kill your master. Conversly you the golem can attempt to corrupt or influence the necromancer in the manner of whispers. But a skilled or willful necromancer is harder to influence.

in short a weak necromancer makes a weak golem, but is easy to kill or influence giving the player more control.
a strong necromancer makes a strong golem, but is harder to kill, betray or influence.

Choose the necromance first so I can figure out how powerful your golem can be.
secondly try to makethe necromancer interesting, you know avoid the cliches if you can. I'd rather not write a shallow character, but it's up to you inbred swineherds.

note: I'm not using or experienced in any kind of Game system so i'm kinda making it up as I go.

[GlyphGryph]

Dothki Nathul was not famous. He was not terribly skilled in his art, not particularly intelligent, verging on ugly, and had problems keeping his emotions in check.

He was, however, ambitious.

They pushed him out, tried to deny him that which he rightfully deserved, and he wasn't going to just sit by and let that happen, no. So he'd stolen the book, a simple book, as he left, retreated to a long abandoned family manor, and set to work. The book contained only enough knowledge for him to craft a creature of flesh and nightmares, a golem or corpses, but it was a start, and it certainly wasn't a bad one.

If they would not give him what he deserved, and he would take it by force, and the village near the manor would be the first step on his road to revenge.

[Armok]

Oooh, nice! I suggest a powerful necromancer, because it's not like any given player will have much control anyway and these kinds of game tends to lack structure so even aside from the more powerful thing it might be good to have one with lots of control.

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

This is where i'm blindsided by my inexperience. I should have mentioned that I wrote out a rough outline of a couple plots. Which starts with the necromancer in a major city.

 Also if your necromancer has any skills apart from necromancy they can use them in buliding the golem, making the monster stronger then their skill in necromancy would otherwise allow. for example a blacksmith bolting iron bands over the ribcage or a leatherworker/clothier replacing skin with stronger materials. any justifiable advantage some other skill set could bring  to the golem would be allowed.

If i don't get another necromancer submission in an hour or so i'll go with glyphgryphs fellow.

[GlyphGryph]

This is where i'm blindsided by my inexperience. I should have mentioned that I wrote out a rough outline of a couple plots. Which starts with the necromancer in a major city.

Yep, you probably should have. Remember that you're telling a story here, and sure its pretty difficult to introduce things when you want some reader involvement, but as much as you can get earns you more relevant responses. It's also a lot more fun to read - your initial post right now is pretty weak. Its not showing us anything, its not even talking with the audience, its just telling stuff AT us.

Something like

"The swirling powers of necromancy bring you to life with a jolt! Your new master, the necromancer who created you, stands over you with a frightening grin. He'd been in the city almost a week now preparing for this; finally, his greatest creation is complete. YOU are complete.

But who is this necromancer? What drives him? Is he a mewling neophyte with ambitions beyond that which he can control? A seasoned necromancer applying his decades of experience to hone the perfect golem? What does he need you for, and what has he done to make you special? How has he strengthened you, improved you, made a step and a half above your average flesh golem?"

And then you listen to suggestions and include them (you don't need to follow them exactly to include them!) in the next page of your narrative.

[Armok]

Ok, how about this:

Relatively strong necromancer, but not a true master by any means. Other skills include being a great watchmaker and a bowyer.

We have the body of a gazelle with the head of a human. From our sides hang the arms of a gorilla, with the hands able to fold back and great switch-blades launch out, either to be used as sables or launched as projectiles. Our tail is an elephants trunk, with arrays of steel spikes coming out the sides. Our lower jaw is replaced by a repeating crossbow. We have an extra brain in our bowels, giving us two minds able to act independently. On our back is a large box of clockwork connected to both our brains, giving us faster reflexes than anything natural, photographic memory, and making each moment geometrically precise, as well as allowing him control over our thoughts and emotion. All our joints are connected with strings to a central flywheel, allowing energy to be pumped up by any repeated movement, and then released in a motion vastly faster and stronger than our muscles alone could accomplish.

 

EDIT: someone needs to draw this.

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is where i'm blindsided by my inexperience. I should have mentioned that I wrote out a rough outline of a couple plots. Which starts with the necromancer in a major city.

Yep, you probably should have. Remember that you're telling a story here, and sure its pretty difficult to introduce things when you want some reader involvement, but as much as you can get earns you more relevant responses. It's also a lot more fun to read - your initial post right now is pretty weak. Its not showing us anything, its not even talking with the audience, its just telling stuff AT us.

Something like

"The swirling powers of necromancy bring you to life with a jolt! Your new master, the necromancer who created you, stands over you with a frightening grin. He'd been in the city almost a week now preparing for this; finally, his greatest creation is complete. YOU are complete.

But who is this necromancer? What drives him? Is he a mewling neophyte with ambitions beyond that which he can control? A seasoned necromancer applying his decades of experience to hone the perfect golem? What does he need you for, and what has he done to make you special? How has he strengthened you, improved you, made a step and a half above your average flesh golem?"

And then you listen to suggestions and include them (you don't need to follow them exactly to include them!) in the next page of your narrative.
[/quote]

Yeah. well I never said I was good at this. Practice makes perfect. Anyway continueing with the horrible train wreck that this is sure to be.


Dothki Nathul A fledgling Necromancer of middling skills He was never appreciated in his home town of Kruldskav. Orphen brat they called him Worthless, whoreson and bastard. And worst of all THEY CALLED HIM DOT! But now, Now He'll prove them wrong. He'd studied for months from dark tomes stolen from secret libraries, And now he was ready to Craft the insrument of His vengence! All thats left is to choose the Parts to be used in his foul construct. Shall it be an invincible hulk capable of tearing men apart with it's bare hands or shall it be a quick stealthy assassin Striking terror into the hearts of all who dare cross you? Whatever It is it must be finished quickly before The holy knights Discover your lair.

Stats
Dothki Nathul
Necromatic Mastery: average
Skills

• Limb overhaul: _{Allows you to replace human limbs with animal parts(gorrilla legs or arms made out of anacondas)}
• Bone augmentation: _{Strengthen a section of bones.(torso/head/limbs)}
• miscellaneous replacement: _{replace teeth eyes fingernails with appropriate substitutes such as metal claws or venomous fangs}

You have 5 skills available

[Armok]

Wait, so my golem design can't be used? D:

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

A master necromancer and a Grand master clockmaker couldn't make your golem. It's just too intense. Also just a little too steampunk.

 And i feel I need to clarify how golems work. They don't need brains hearts lungs or anything like that thoug they do get benifits from such things. They run on the tormented souls of those who linger beyond death. Unlike zombies a golem will keep moving even if chopped into tiny little bits until it runs out of energy. as in you cut off its head and the head will try to bite you as the body blunders around breaking crap. Without a necromancer supplying energy to the golem it will "die" in a few days... Unless it finds an alternate source of fuel. The second thing is that a necromancer could make your golem but they would have to add each improvement bit by bit so the chained souls can get used to moving it. You can't build a legendary flesh golem from scratch you see.

[Criptfeind]

Get rid of limb overhaul, dumb idea. Gain the skill to inscribe runes on flesh. Gain the skill to enchant shit (laser gem eyes? Yes please!) Spend another point in that enchanting because it is so very useful.

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

Because you asked armok. It didn't need to good did it?



(sorry I forgot the tail)

[EveryZig]

Get rid of limb overhaul, dumb idea. Gain the skill to inscribe runes on flesh. Gain the skill to enchant shit (laser gem eyes? Yes please!) Spend another point in that enchanting because it is so very useful.

I like this.

Dothki would show the other apprentice mages who belittled him who was the true master of magic. They talked about how they were better mages? He would build a better mage than they! While Dothki obviously could not create a true undead mage, he persisted, instead turning to his other skills as an enchanter and artificer to create a twisted caricature of one, with runes and magic devices sewn or bolted into its flesh to act as 'spells'. He was so close to the day when they finally realized that they were the insignificant ones compared to his powers.

(Abilities include:
-The ability to use integrated magic items as a part of its body (such as wands built into the lower arms). We will start with fairly few of these but the necromancer can add more as he acquires them.
-Assorted runes stiched into the skin providing various useful effects.
-The ability to slowly unravel nearby spells and gain energy from them (reduced or no effectiveness against powerful magic).
)

{Does this setting have decanters of endless water? Because I want to use several of those in unison to function as a jump jet.}

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

you're all forgetting one important thing: Dothki is an average necromancer. He can't do enchanting yet. I do have plans for runes and enchantment and golem based abilties but you have to build a golem first. I haven't gone into all the things you can do with the golem only the thing you can currently do. A lot of other option come up after you have a solid base to work on.

 Enchantments drain energy from the golem in order to function so when you start putting enchantments on a golem before it's built and then try to bring it to life it's like using a sieve as a bucket. The magic just leaks out and you make a big mess. A master Necromancer could pour enough souls into a newly made golem in order to offset the drain but Dothki is not a master Necromancer.  Right now Dothki can only use biological enhancement that don't give Power drain.

 As I see it death is universal and part of golem making is bringing the deaths of multiple creatures in harmony to create a greater whole.

Make a basic golem with what you have then you can worry about making it into a invincible servant. Or having it kill Dothki and go on a terrible rampage.

This also seems like a good place to explain Power and souls. THe flesh golem is powered by tormented, lost and hateful souls which for whatever reasons ranging from curses to unfinished business have been lingering in the world unable to cross into the after life. THere are exceptions but for most uses each dead soul has 10 power points. As an average (level 5) necromancer Dothki Nathul can control up to ten souls.

A living soul has roughly 100 points on average much of which comes from the ego and experience of living, so Dothki can kill one person using pure necromancy and can create a ten soul Golem which has the same strength as your average human. The difference is damage immunity and support. Obviously if a human loses their head they die regardless of the state of thier soul but a golem will continue moving until it runs out of power points.

 And with a supporting necromancer replenishing the souls in the golem it becomes very hard to kill. The amount of souls a golem can hold is determined by it's basic parts. The more innately magical the more souls it can hold. for example a wizard corpse hold 150 souls whist a peasant corpse holds 90 and a dragon corpse holds a metric shitload since mass also plays a part. right now Dothki only has acccess to mundane creature such as wild animals, which hold less souls then humans.

[EveryZig]

So magic items in this system draw power from the user rather than being self-powered? I guess I should have asked about that beforehand.
Some other questions that are relevant:
With the souls bit, do only intelligent beings count, or could we harvest dozens of rats for half a soul point each?
With a human head and a shape that is close enough to human, can a flesh golem wearing a robe pass as human?

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

Some magical items are inherently magical providing their own power source, these are all rare artifacts made by dwarves, gods, great mages and preists or natural wild magic which occurs randomly in nature. In addition to powering themselves some of these can provide power to magical objects in lieu of a user.

Souls are universal. from trees to ant to dragons. But to leave behind a spectre one needs to die with something holding it back from the after life. Your average rodent isn't likely to come up with a reason to hold onto life after death where as a mother bear might try to in order to protect her young. But all things have power points which under the right circumstances can be use to rejuvenate souls already in possesion of your golem or necromancer. Which is to say the necromancer could charge a human soul of 1/10 to 6/10 by killing a lot of rats but those rats wouldn't leave any souls behind. You can encourage people and animals to leave souls behind by torturing them as this inspires hate and fear and a thirst for revenge. Only the rarest of tree leave souls behind- they arn't known for intellegence.

Yes as long as it is accustomed to the body and is humoniod. Necromancers are also wizards and could cast basic illusions to help hide the golem. Golems due to the spells on them don't rot or decay and as such don't smell. However Most Golems can't talk beyond a Hum or grunt or moan.  After animation a flesh golem needs a certain amount of time for the souls which, provide the ego to align to the body, which provides the corpus. Until then the golem moves with jerky puppet like actions which smooth out over time. The more souls put in a corpus the longer it takes to align. Also when significantly more souls are added to the corpus it resumes the jerky movements though these added souls align faster then the originals.