Eldritch City (3E MM)- OOC

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Doctor Malsyn
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

The slaugh?

I can't see Layla being more then a casual coworker unless she's drawn towards him for some reason, unless they were aware of one another. Oddness though? Definitely.

Sidenote; apologies for my various typos and bad autocorrection implementation. I'm typing from my phone and started to get a bit ahead of myself. (By dread I meant dryads- other forms of nature spirits and the like)
Am I dead? Am I alive? The answer may surprise you!
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EpicEclipse
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by EpicEclipse »

Well, won't lie, I like combat and I like using unique combat mechanics. I mean, I really don't mind being the muscle, holding off a rampaging troll while the other puzzle out another solution. It's simply a team dynamic.

That having been said, I'm coming up with some other ideas right now that should bring the combat threat level down a bit. I may switch back to the other idea with one of the ideas I thought up if I can work out the mechanics for what I want (And let's be honest, if I can't, it probably can't be done :P)
Heritage367
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Heritage367 »

Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:03 pmHeritage- what do you think about focusing more on telepathy rather than telekinesis? I have some ideas on how to spin that.
Okay, I'm not opposed to that; could I keep a low rank version of Precise TK for more mundane stuff, like opening locked doors? I can happily ditch the Flight and switch to Defensive Roll from Protection.

If we go more telepath, I'd probably want to change the range on her Affliction array and take off the Limited so that becomes a beefier attack. Also add Mental Communication and maybe Mind Reading.

What ideas do you have?
Heritage367
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Heritage367 »

Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:37 pm Darlene Lampwick pt 2-Please define Night Breed. That means something specific to me that it might not to you.
All that stuff was on the old sheet, left over from another campaign. I PMed you her current sheet to hopefully avoid further confusion.
Flynnarrel
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Flynnarrel »

revised Phillip
Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:32 pm Phillip K. Dremmond, Paramedic/EMT

Background looks good. Who are the people around him? Please add to character sheet to keep things together.
Added to sheet
Complications- not getting a good sense of them. Do you want any of them to be a sometimes thing that occasionally comes up or major rings in his nose?

Major some sort of complication about him being outside vampire society? It might be nifty to set things right after he was Turned.

Tell me more about how you see his need for blood- in story rather than mechanical terms. Does he Hunger?

Any other vampiric limitations? Maybe something he has wrong?
Updated Complications trying to explain them better.

Complications:
Needs Blood: Phillip needs some amount of blood daily to function. If not sated the temptation and Hunger grow, slowly eating away at his rational self until the Need to feed is overpowering and dwarfs even his paramedic vow to 'Do no Harm'.
Vulnerabilities(Vampire): Depending on how Vampires are set up in the Eldritch City world Phillip could take damage and/or be weakened in the sun, be unable to cross running water, not show up in mirrors, etc. [LET ME KNOW].
Vampirically Apolitical: Phillip tries to remain neutral and apolitical in the drama-rich world of the vampire courts. Unfortunately others seem to want to involve him / use him as a pawn when he just wants to coast under the radar.
Secret (Undead): Phillip has no pulse or body heat, dead for all intents and purposes. He's been keeping that a secret for now. He's got a job to keep.
Soft-Hearted: Phillip is not a bloodthirsty (well, you know what I mean), kinda guy. His vow to 'Do no Harm' is something he takes seriously. He'll try to protect life/minimize violence as much as possible.
Jodi Milhouse: Phillip's partner also went missing on the night he was turned. He's been quietly searching for her at least wanting to know if she is still alive or... otherwise. (He'd had a crush on her that he tried to keep secret).

What do you see the paramedic benefit doing? I want to make sure that we're on the same page.
Paramedics have access to crime scenes (at appropriate times). They also have the ability to own bumpkeys (lockpicks)
Array is wider than I'd like but see notes below.

Dark vision vs low light vision? Noticeable red eyes? Note supernatural darkness could still be an issue. Obtenebration!

Animalism- I like. I'd probably throw a quirks in there about the range of effect/ need to have some connection to the rat. What about other 'creature of the night' *insert buwahahhahahahahah*

Dominate- maybe work up to being able to control masses of people.

Protean- claws ok, I'm twitchy on anyone having insubstantial at this time. Permeate? Animal shifting?

Obsfuscate- twitchy but yes
Phillip just has access to rats, there may be others as the game progresses but we'll see.
Dominate is limited to one target.
Mistform changed into an ability to take on the form of a rat - Shrinking and Morph mostly.
Removed Obfuscate.


Take a look.
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pathfinderq1
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by pathfinderq1 »

So how much of the setting do you have defined, and how much can we define as part of our backgrounds? Does it have a zoo, a good library system, useful public transit?

Is Eldritch City a major city (Chicago/New York/LA), or a smaller city (Hartford/Indianapolis/Sacramento)? And mostly for weather/climate, approximately where is it (East coast/midwest/west coast/etc.)?
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Psistrike
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Psistrike »

Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:13 pm Lexi the Dazzling-

I generally like things.

Is she the type to use a pistol or maybe something fancier- like randomly assorted items with throwing mastery?

How does precise work with illusions?

What does it do to the character concept to go with create rather than illusion?

I would suggest looking at the burglar advantage from the Gadget guide. Improvised tool might also work with this character.

What do you think of having a feature with a variable descriptor to give you a small number of magic tricks?

One big concern is that in Neotropolis you often gave me 'ditto' posts which drove me crazy. How do we avoid that in this game?
Hhhm, randomly assorted items with throwing mastery does sound more like something a stage magician would incorporate as part of her skill set. Guess I can juggle some points to get that.

I figured precise would be needed for illusions which perfectly replicate things, like paintings, statues, the exact appearance of a person and such. If it isn't required and just part of the Illusion power, I can drop the Precise.

Create would be a conjurer, able to make things appear out of mid-air or hidden with sleight of hand. She would be able to create barriers, drop things on others, create cages and bubbles to entrap others, and with precise can create more complex objects. With illusions, she can trick others in various ways, create simple prestidigitation for entertainment, disguise herself, and so much more. But if it would be easier for you to deal with in game, I could change her to using create instead.

Ooo, forgot about Burglar advantage, need to juggle some points to fit that. And Improvised tools, hmmm, could work for her.

A feature with variable descriptor to give a small number of magic tricks, please explain, I'm interested.

As for the last concern I didn't know I drove you crazy with that or even what you mean by 'ditto' posts, you should have told me sooner. Please explain what you mean by 'ditto' posts and I will do my best to avoid them.
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Psistrike
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Psistrike »

Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:01 pm EpicEclipse distracted me *grin* so I tracked this down.

Originally from 'The Other 100 Points' from 7th Sea Game Master's Guide (AEG, 1999)

Areas of Campaign Interest: Intrigue, Action, Romance, Exploration and Military. I'm going to throw clarify Exploration for this game to Mysteries and Military to Supernatural. Each player can spend 100 pts among those categories to show where their interest lies.

Okay, distraction satisfied.
Intrigue 20
Action 15
Romance 10
Mysteries 30
Supernatural 25
Last edited by Psistrike on Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
EpicEclipse
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by EpicEclipse »

Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:01 pm EpicEclipse distracted me *grin* so I tracked this down.

Originally from 'The Other 100 Points' from 7th Sea Game Master's Guide (AEG, 1999)

Areas of Campaign Interest: Intrigue, Action, Romance, Exploration and Military. I'm going to throw clarify Exploration for this game to Mysteries and Military to Supernatural. Each player can spend 100 pts among those categories to show where their interest lies.

Okay, distraction satisfied.
Intrigue 10
Action 35
Romance 10
Mysteries 20
Supernatural 25
RainOnTheSun
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by RainOnTheSun »

Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:55 pm RainOnTheSun- haven't heard from you for a while. Did I miss seeing you? Are you still interested?
Sorry about that. I had a lot of things to deal with at once over the holidays, and you said that the game likely wouldn't start until the new year, so I let the idea stew in my head for a while. Here is what I have for it, though:

"Well, Johnny, here's another fine mess you've gotten us into."

Johnny had a terribly unpleasant childhood, and nobody to talk to to make it easier. So he talked to himself, or at least, he talked to someone like himself. The other Johnny wasn't different from him--he was stronger, smarter, and the more Johnny talked to the other Johnny the stronger he got. So the two Johnnys worked together until they were strong enough to get away from all the bad people who were giving them trouble, and then they moved to the big city to really make something of themselves.

That's a pretty vague history, but Johnny usually doesn't examine his origins very closely. Sustaining a delusion powerful enough to warp the physical world nearby is like walking on air in a cartoon: if you think too closely about what you're doing, the entire thing falls apart. What's more concrete is that a strange man with a habit of talking to himself got involved in a nasty bit of paranormal business that no outsiders should have been able to find, and the resulting violence got him a couple years in jail. He made friends in jail that explained to him how things worked in the big city, and when his sentence ended he had a new job as a fixer for the powers that be. There are a lot of dangerous, unpleasant things going on underneath the surface in this city, and Johnny helps make sure they stay quiet and don't disturb people. He has a new name now, too: Janus. He likes it, but the other Johnny isn't quite sold on it yet.

JOHNNY JANUS, Power Level 8

Strength 1, Stamina 3, Agility 1, Dexterity 1, Fighting 8, Intellect 2, Awareness 1, Presence 2
* 38 points

Advantages:
Benefit 2 (Ambidexterity, Cipher), Connected, Contacts, Diehard, Equipment 2, Ranged Attack 7, Quick Draw, Second Chance (mind control), Takedown, Uncanny Dodge, Well-Informed * 19 points

Equipment: Two semi-automatics (Ranged Damage 4, Improved Critical, Split Attack)

Skills:
Deception 3 (+5), Expertise: Criminal 6 (+8), Expertise: Politics 3 (+5), Expertise: Streetwise 6 (+8), Insight 3 (+4), Intimidation 12 (+14), Investigation 3 (+5), Perception 3 (+4), Persuasion 6 (+8), Sleight of Hand 3 (+4), Stealth 3 (+4), Technology 3 (+5), Vehicles 3 (+4) * 19 points

Combat Skills:
Ranged Combat: guns 4 (+12) * 2 points

Powers:

"Over there, Johnny? Well, I trust you." Senses 6 (vision counters illusion and invisibility, magical and mental awareness, Limited: "secondhand") * 3 points

"You're watching out for me, right, Johnny?" Subtle Protection 5, Sustained Immunity 3 (poison, critical hits), Sustained Immunity 20 (direct psychic and magical attacks, limited to half effect), 1 Alternate Effect * 20 points
"Maybe you should handle this one, Johnny." Subtle Ranged Damage 8, Affects Incorporeal 2

Offense:
Initiative +1
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 1)
Pistols +12 (Ranged Damage 4)
Johnny +8 (Ranged Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 8, Toughness 3/8, Fortitude 7, Will 9 * 19 points

Complications:
Reputation - Criminal Record
Responsibility - The Authorities. Johnny works freelance when he has the time, but the biggest power players in the underworld demand his loyalty and know where to find him.

Total: Abilities 38 + Advantages 19 + Skills 21 + Powers 23 + Defenses 19 = 120

Its a pretty rough sheet, but it has all the basic ideas for him. I might try to remove some Advantages to free up more skill points, and I've left it vague who the authorities in Eldritch City really are: it could be a crime boss, a politician, a vampire lord, a fairy queen, or anything. Whoever has a lot of influence and wants the supernatural out of the public eye. The secondhand limitation on his senses means that the information he gets from them is filtered through his split personality. It's normally just things like "hey, there's something interesting over there. Let's go over there."
Heritage367
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Heritage367 »

Sorry, missed this bit.

Intrigue 20
Action 20
Romance 10
Mysteries 25
Supernatural 25
FuzzyBoots
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by FuzzyBoots »

Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:01 pmAreas of Campaign Interest: Intrigue, Action, Romance, Exploration and Military. I'm going to throw clarify Exploration for this game to Mysteries and Military to Supernatural. Each player can spend 100 pts among those categories to show where their interest lies.
Intrigue 15, Action 10, Romance 5, Mysteries 40, Supernatural 30
Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:15 pm Joshua "Binder" Lopez

Comprehend (Spirits) or Comprehend (Spirits) limited to ghosts? 1 rank? 2 ranks so that they can hear you back? If ghosts, does having points in other languages make sense? Limited to English speaking ghosts?
Huh. I could have sworn that was built differently where the first rank was the "you can talk to ghosts and they can talk back" and the second was more or less "and others can hear them through you". Depending on how you define how ghosts work (I think Comprehend was more or less assuming they existed only as background, as with things like Comprehend (Plants)), I could pretty readily do the Comprehend 2 and take off the Senses part where he can see ghosts despite them normally being invisible. As regards languages, I figure he'd be as baffled as anyone else if he encounters a ghost that speaks another language.
Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:15 pm Contacts/connected with proper limitations to show you have friends in (dead) places?
It's possible. :)
Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:15 pm Will want to explore how you defined the summon more. I like the idea but it could be tweaked.
Honestly, I'm sort of iffy on the Summon. I took it out in some of my builds. A lot of it depends on whether you see the ghosts as mechanics or individual characters. My Remote Sensing power already handles the "go out and look at this for me" and the "Ghostly Feedback" handles a lot of the supporting role. Arguably, I could just buy an attack and define it as "I ask a nearby ghost to scramble the electronics" or the like. It would probably reduce costs.
Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:15 pm What is the narrative on see through spirits? Again spirits vs ghosts.
It basically involves the ghost going out, checking things out, and coming back to relay what it's seen. And I'm not entirely certain where you see the distinction between spirits and ghosts.
Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:15 pm Can you step across or is that in the future?
In the original Freedom City heist game, we were required to have a "secret motivation" that only the GM knew about until it came up. His was that the reason he could see ghosts was due to a near-death experience that was nearer than he made public, to the point where he could shed his mortal form and go ghostly. The one game I got a chance to play him in had that happen when they needed a way to get past some enemies.
Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:15 pm Are you familiar with Wraith the Oblivion? How do you see the world of the dead?
Not really. I played a little bit of Vampire back in the day, but not really the other systems. I had figured that the afterlife is the sort of thing that people, when they move on, are seldom seen again. Ghosts are those who cannot, or won't, move on.
Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:15 pm How much a criminal is he? Is he taking that direction because its fun or because its easy or doesn't know a different direction at this point?
He's involved in crime because he has med school debts, he can't pursue his chosen profession due to being known as "the crazy psychologist who sees ghosts" and the ghosts disturbing him to try to get him to solve their problems, and because solving ghostly problems isn't nearly as profitable as you might think. It started out as someone asking if he could ask a ghost about something and moved on to him actually directing ghosts to case places. He's been on-site a few times, but he generally tries to avoid being in the thick of the action both for purposes of legality (since most authorities don't believe in ghosts, they really don't have much of a basis to accuse him of being part of the crime, since there's generally no other link between him and the target) and for safety (he doesn't particularly like being shot at).

Honestly, the crime part is partly an artifact of the earlier setting, where everyone was criminals, and partly because I'd read a few books about people who could talk with ghosts (I highly recommend Jim Bernheimer's Dead Eye series, with Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper not being bad either) and their discussions on how, due to the extra-normal aspects of the profession, there wasn't much legal protection from getting outright denied recompense for your finds.
Spectrum wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:15 pm Once we work together to define the world of the dead, we can talk about your ghost build.

Odd thought... (original) Ghostbusters really didn't bust ghosts.. lots of demons and other spirits, but very few ghosts.
I dunno... it was about 50/50, and you have to figure that a lot of the ghosts were off-screen because the others were more interesting to show.
Last edited by FuzzyBoots on Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Heritage367
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Heritage367 »

Dang it! I did a new build for Darlene (which I sent to you, Spec), forgeting that Close Rage Affliction means you have to touch your opponent; not sure if I want that for a mental power.
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by Flynnarrel »

Intrigue 20
Action 20
Romance 5
Mysteries 25
Supernatural 30
"Something pithy this way comes."
pathfinderq1
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Re: Eldritch City (Recruiting, 3E MM)

Post by pathfinderq1 »

I have narrowed the concept list to 3, focusing on the 'minimally powered' ideas. At this point I am doing rough drafts of builds, to see whether I can make the character I want in a 120 pt budget. then I'll do a bit deeper draft of background for each, to see how they are evolving in my brain.

In terms of the 'point distribution' some of that is character determined, but I can do a rough estimate, based on my usual styles.

-Intrigue 15 Gwen; 15 Tessa; 20 for Tasha/Artifact
-Romance 5
-Action 30 Gwen; 30 Tessa, 15 for Tasha (Artifact)(Not just fighting- heist/chase stuff for Tessa, hunt'chase/fight for Gwen)
-Mysteries 25 Gwen, 25 Tessa, 30 Tasha
-Supernatural: 25 Gwen (Monsters!); 25 Tessa; 30 Tasha
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