Character and World Creation

The Morrigan is the Goddess of the hunt in Celtic myth and legend. Basically the Hunter group she’s part of are all following Celtic mythology. Her parents and the hunters believed that her birthmark is a sign that Rhiannon is special and so she ended up loosing her childhood to training.

We’ll stick with College and yes it’s okay to use Rhiannon’s ex.

Cool.

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Glancing at your sheet:
Note that the others can not see it till you Add it to the Library.

Don't forget to add 1 to a Stat and add 1 to a Circle Rating.

We will need to improve the Arsenal area of the sheet, it needs to be replicated three times, once for each weapon, though that is really once for your Ranged weapon and twice for your two Hand weapons, so a little hard to do before the character is made :(. Maybe the checkbox format does not work here? For now, add a summary and itemised list of your weapons along with descriptions to the top of that section.

We also need more place for general character descriptions and details. These issues will becomes clear as we make and meet characters.

I can fix the weapons and just put a basic description of them and their properties instead of the check boxes. I’ll also add 1 to a stat and circle tomorrow.

We will find what works before thinking about releasing the sheets to the rest of GP. I just scraped the book and used their formatting/layout to guide things, but clearly the Arsenal is not a checklist, it is a 'pick from this list to construct...' type deal.

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The checkboxes are useful, though, as the player can use them to mark which options they have picked while making the weapon, but they may be more of a distraction, and there are only three picks, so not really needing that aid.

Did you find being able to check-off item useful? Would you have preferred it if it was just a list you had to pick from? Would it have been more clear that you had to do more than just check the boxes (I am sure it became so while making your second Hand weapon:)?

Do you think it could use a 3column layout with three whole sets of picks? (That could get messy when the Character Advances and adds two more weapons, but Advancement is always a problem that needs sheet editing.) I have added 3 columns to the Character Sheet test 1 sheet and it looks like a good solution. Let me know if you want me to edit yours with this change.

The University district would fit perfectly well with my bookshop idea, so I'm all in for it.

I'm just waiting for confirmation of which City we are finally settling on to start drafting some background for my Imp.

I put a spoiler in for the choices and created 3 lines for the actual weapons with their full features.

The University Hub is fine with me! I've written up a general introduction for my vampire:

Let's go with London. I was waiting for the characters before deciding, but that leaves us at an impasse. :)

Objections, anyone? Speak now. (Or speak later and we can adjust, now is just easier.:)

That works. I do think I will go with the three column layout for the choices for the default sheet, it can help visualise the choices. They should then be moved into a spoiler after use, as you did.

Nice stuff. Though I never understood this site's habit of tucking the important information away in a spoiler.

OK. Settled, The University Hub it is.

London has one of the largest concentrations of universities, with between 40 and 90 (depending on how/which you count).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_and_higher_education_colleges_in_London

There is an apparent cluster in the middle, allowing a merging of The University Hub with the Downtown Hub:
https://www.google.com/maps/search/universities+in+london/@51.4874639,-0.4678526,10.26z?entry=ttu

This area is also well fed by Public Transit for our Vamp:
https://www.google.com/maps/search/universities+in+london/@51.5103999,-0.2652409,11.79z/data=!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu

It is all working out.

@oopsylon:

Is Benji's deteriorating mental state something we need to address in the game? Do you have ideas about why it is happening or what can be done? It is equally fine to just leave it a thing we don't try to solve in the story, up to you.

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Maybe take a look at the MC's Behind the Playbook section on the Vamp, on page 225. Remember that the Playbook is ultimately one of manipulation, so your persona of affable friend can work, but the underlying mechanics push something more sinister.

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Your Hunger drives you to be a bit of a monster.

How do you feed? We can work out details together if you like. I came across the Blood Bikers as an interesting idea, something like that might play a role, or not.

@Ysolde:

• Your Society

You mention you have been in the city for ten years.

Where did you come from?

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• Why London?

Where you sent here by Your Hunter Society? Why? To get and education? On a Hunt? Why did you stay?

Or did you flee in rebellion, in an attempt to exert some control over your life? Do you even know yet that this is where you were destined to end up? (The last point may not be true, but there may be assumptions.)

Did Fierna lure you here? Or was she the target you were sent to hunt? Or was she secondary to your target and grabbed the opportunity to have a go a at a irresistibly tasty morsel? How long were you two 'involved'/an item?

This are more 'things to think about' then actual questions. We can chat about them as you like.


Does The Imp know that their Ex-Leige is the same person you have baggage with? Do you know there is a connection there? Talk to each other.


Are your local supporting Society the same ones who trained you, or are they other Hunters that took you in after you came to the city? Do you know the extent of their connection with those back home?

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• Age

You say you are 26, but that you came here 10 years ago when you were 18. Strange as our world is, I don't believe maths works that way here. :)

Let us know which numbers we are correct.

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• Infamy

The Starting Question asks:
What impressive kill are you infamous for?

What about your kill on Eligos was so impressive that it gained you a level of infamy?!

It could be something subtle, like that you saw through the deception at all; or something bloody, like how you ended the duke's 'life'; or something orthogonal, like how you coped with it afterwards. Or you can ignore this if noting comes to mind.

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• Wounds that Haunt You

You say "Fierna left a wicked scar on Rhiannon's right hip." Is it a physical scar from a fight, or... maybe, a tattoo that you tried to (or need to) erase? :)

The wound can be non-physical. That might fit this situation.

But a scar is equally fine. This just seemed a little out of tone with the rest you wrote. Do with this what you will.

@Stalker05: We have not heard from you in a while. How are you doing? Do you need anything from us? Do you want to introduce your character or do you have questions first? Do you want me to look at your sheet, or do you still want to finish it first?

It is largely a function of time—Benji has forgotten his human life over the centuries much as a human forgets their childhood memories as they grow up. In forgetting, he has become increasingly disconnected from his own humanity and he now occasionally behaves in strange, inhuman ways (the Cold Blooded move) and has trouble controlling his Eternal Hunger because it has become more difficult for him to view mortals as anything but prey. He is trying to cling to what little humanity he has left because that is what has kept him safe and secure for centuries and he knows that if he were to completely surrender to his true nature, it would not be long before some vampire hunter decided it was time to put him down. This corruption/deterioration likely happens to all vampires over time but manifests itself in different ways. Some become cold and detached, while others are driven completely feral. I was thinking of it mostly as an in-fiction way of representing the corruption mechanic, if that makes sense to you?
Oh yes, that’s sort of what I was trying to get at. Being outwardly sinister is not especially conducive to manipulation. It’s a lot easier to manipulate someone who actually likes you. He’s genuinely very nice and that makes it easier for his human friends to forget that he’s also a bloodthirsty parasite.
Benji drinks blood. As for how he gets the blood, one of his starting debts is "Someone makes sure you get fed regularly, without attracting too much attention. You owe them 2 Debts." so I figure I’ll sort that out with whichever other player wants those debts.

Cool. Noting that down in the Lore.
Absolutely.
Perfect. I should look at the sheets and make sure they have not already asked the questions that come to my mind. :)

Good, good.
You still need to add 1 to one of your Circle Ratings.

You don't start with Eldritch Blast, you earn the Corruption Advancements during play.

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• Your Ward

Tell us a little about your Ward, and maybe the S3 who charged you with taking care of them. Who are they, how long have they been with you?

Do you 'plan' to have the Ward stay on your sheet, or are you wanting to resolve that situation and replace that mechanic? It might not be possible —anything is 'possible'— but are you wanting to play towards that end, or wanting to avoid such a story-line or outcome, or ambivalent?

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Cool.
Names are hard. What you suggested sound pretty good. Names can also change, and if you find you don't like one of them, you can just say "let's pretend we always called them < ... >" or have them get angry when you use their old name and remind you that "we are now called < ... >, and don't forget it!"

@oopsylon:

Benji, what do you know about the S3 Vampire Lord whose territory your Harbour and Haven are in? Do you deal directly with them? Maybe not since you suggest you try to fly under the radar, so do you they normally reach out via a S2 intermediary? Maybe the S2 looks after the trains and stations in the area, while the S3 (whom you may never have met in person?) operates above-ground (as well)? Or are even the top-tier Vampires confined to the underground most of the time?

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If we assume we are in the general area I linked above (which is close to the palace and a lot of famous London landmarks:), do you know yet which station you would like to call your home? Right there is King's Cross (with its hoards of tourist looking for Platform 9¾), and Waterloo (with its sheer size), and massive junctions like Tottenham Court Road (with people mixing from different lines, and getting lost), and other names we have all possibly heard of.

https://www.google.com/maps/search/universities+in+london/@51.5178039,-0.1609357,13.88z/data=!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu

There is a chance we might not locate ourselves there, but we can start thinking about it.

"Don't even dare to come back without the book, and before the offender is dead". Jacob will always remember these exact words. Word for word. What seemed to be a worrying threat from an archdemon turned into his passport for freedom.

The offender was a faerie knight, one who had dared to steal the Akhal'baum from his demonic master. That old tome of forgotten lore included dark rituals for summoning and binding demons, so it could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. Jacob's master, a duke from Hell, commanded him to recover the book and kill Maels, the faerie knight.

When he finally tracked him down, the fight had an unexpected result. Maels' magic misfired, and he was turned into a black raven. Then, Jacob realized he had found a loophole in his orders. Nobody could force him to come back to servitude unless Maels was dead, so he just trapped the raven and stole the Akhal'baum away for his own profit. He decided to open a bookshop to hide both.

Today, what started as a cover, has resulted in a profitable business. Jacob sells antique books and magic relics to the supernatural entities of London, and nobody suspects that the yellow-eyed black raven in a golden cage is really a trapped fae. And Jacob is the first interested that the raven is well and alive, as he's the only assurance for his liberty.