OOC and Character Generation

CHARACTER GENERATION INFO

—Characters start as Novice
—Names should be German. Common German surnames here but more Gothic or fanciful ones welcome. —Languages. We’ll apply the Multiple Languages setting rule which gives characters SMA/2 languages. Everyone starts with Local German. Common additional languages will be High German, Italian, French, Latin, NT Greek, Ancient Greek, Hebrew.
—Resources. We’ll also use the Resources die option, so that we do not need to keep track of money in detail. Most characters will be humble villagers starting with d4 as a Resources die. d6: wealthier characters (with a profession, trade or land), d8: a minor aristo.
— Starting gear. Assign your character the clothes and items they need to perform their trade. Those with a resource die of d6+ can own a farm or business and will have better clothing, equipment and animals ( a good horse for example) that matches their resource die type.

—Combat capable male characters need a reason not to have been carted off to the Wars.

—The adventure takes place during the Napoleonic Wars so think tricorn hats, overcoats, coach and horses, etc. Common weaponry includes cudgels, black powder pistols, swords, sabres. Black powder rifles are expensive, high tech possessions. Poorer characters can start with a pistol but not a musket or rifle.

— Armour. Characters wearing stout clothes, an overcoat, etc can gain a +1 Toughness bonus.


SETTING EDGES

Devout (N). SPI d6. The character receives a +1 bonus to SPI rolls to resist fear, wield a crucifix or resist evil effects.

Learned (N) SMA d8. You roll +1 on most Common Knowledge rolls and may use Common Knowledge in place of Occult.

Prepared. (N) repair d6, SMA d6. The character carries an array of small items (tools, keys, trinkets) to deal with a variety of situations. The player can declare the character has any common mundane item (a candle, some rope, a whistle) in their possession even if it is not listed in their equipment. For a Benny, something more obscure (a particular coin, silver bullet, an appropriate key) can be declared at the GM’s discretion.

Sense evil. (N). SPI d8. The character can use notice rolls to detect strong motives or alignment in others.

Silver bullet (N). The character possesses an heirloom dagger, bullet or other ancient implement which does additional damage (one additional shift) to supernatural creatures. If lost/ destroyed / expended the item can be recast between adventures.

Night vision. (N). Notice d8. The creature can see in all but pitch darkness.

Luck of the Devil (N). SPI d6. Once per adventure, the number of wounds removed by a soak roll is increased by one.

Animal Empathy (N). SPI d6, survival d4. The character can use persuade to calm or even win over animals including — as difficult or very difficult rolls— wild creatures.


SETTING HINDRANCES

Sympathy for the Devil (Major). At some level, the character pities the plight of the monstrous and undead. They must make a SPI roll to deliver a killing blow to a significant (wild card) enemy.

Craven (Minor, Major) The character rolls courage rolls based on SPI at -1, or -2 if Major.

Sneak Thief (Minor, Major). If you encounter valuables while unobserved ( or able to filch them easily) you struggle to resist taking them for yourself. As a major hindrance , you will do so even when might this be detrimental to your party or in conflict with your usual ethics.

Please post characters using the guidelines provided above . Any questions welcome.

I’ve set the post rate as daily but I can negotiate this to once very other day if players prefer.

@RageRed How about these as Edges for your taxidermy hobby:

Absorbing Hobby (N) SMA d6. The character finds consolation in a demanding pastime. If they are able to find a few hours of downtime during an adventure they may either remove a penalty due to fear effects or recover a spent Benny.


Taxidermist (N) SMA d6 AGI d6. The character works to master the art of taxidermy, restoring the likeness of creatures killed in the hunt. Trophies provide a source of revenue to sustain a d6 lifestyle and +1 to survival, Common Knowledge, etc rolls for hunting, tracking, etc.


Trophy Maker (N) SMA d6 AGI d6. As well as producing mundane hunting trophies, the character maintains a secret, deeply macabre collection of mounted monstrous enemies. Once a type of monster has been added to the collection, the character’s fear of them is reduced, providing a +2 bonus to fear-related rolls in future encounters.

Alternatively, Taxidermy could be a Quirk, a messy but absorbing hobby.

@Orangetree,

Thanks for the invite. Those Edges look pretty cool to me. Let me get started with the basics and see which fits best.

You're welcome!

And yes , let's see which (if any) looks fun. Open to player suggestions , too.

Last name: von Schwarzenwolff

Great!

Submitted Bernadette Bauer for you to check over. Used the guidelines, so am pretty sure I matched the requirements.

Pfarrer Cunimund Schweiger is a priest with an issue (alcoholism; Major Habit) that he tries desperately to keep hidden (Major Secret). He has taken vows of both celibacy (not a Hindrance in game terms) and poverty (represented by the Poverty Hindrance, though he gets no points for it). He will have the Devout Edge, of course. He will speak Latin, naturally. Beyond that, I'm still working on him.

Okay, Pfarrer Schweiger has been submitted.

Looks like fun, Drakis. An interesting character concept. Can you just tackle a couple of small background things? I suggest taking High German as well as her local dialect so that she can communicate with social elite, read/write well. Also ‘scale down’ the settlement description from town to hamlet (as you can see from the map).

How did she become an expert in the occult?

Are you sure you don’t want more Edges? Just to make sure it’s clear, yiu can take any Edges and hindrances as well as these Setting ones.

It looks interesting if a bit minimal. Could you let us know a bit more about his background, gear, etc?

From a rules perspectives I’d prefer if his drinking was either a major habit or a major secret, rather than getting double mileage. If it’s a major secret what would the serious consequences of discovery be—being defrocked? Placed in a monastery?

Great news. Now she is approved I will add in background details, and cover those points you mentioned :-) Should get that done today hopefully

Sure. I'm still working on it. Okay, how about this... his drinking is a major secret, but he is not a drunkard, by any means. Still, if it were to be discovered, he would definitely be shamed (and probably defrocked). That way, I can make Poverty a Hindrance and take another minor one. Let me think on this.

Sounds good.

Just personally I would make it a habit? If only cos I’ve known a few priests who were quite boozy and they didn’t seem to get in trouble for it :). But up to you how you roll with it.

Sounds good, I can go that route. I've only known one priest, and he wasn't Catholic and was a teetotaler, so I admit to being undereducated in that respect.

@Orangetree, Still adding details and possessions, but submitting my character so you can see where I'm at so far.

Looks good RR.

Ctme has confirmed that he’s also playing but may need time to get things going. Looks like we got ourselves a gothic horror game!

To help me tailor the ‘tone’ of the test adventure, can you indicate which of the following elements are of real interest to you as a player. Please try not to select more than half so I can pick out patterns in preferences!

ctme has yet to provide his school teacher, but he might well cover some of the same bases regarding knowledge and lore. That might work anyway if it’s more of an investigative game. i’ll see what happens with @ctme2000 ‘s votes in the survey.

i’ll vote myself so I get a bit of choice in the flavour of play.

Hey all, sorry for the late reply. Vote submitted. Threw a yes to village building, mostly to see if maybe we can implement something akin to headquarters building that the fantasy companion has, but not necessary, just a thought.

I'll be on vacay this week, but will try to post/submit character tonight

Ok thanks for letting us know. I’ll start without your character for now and we can have him appear later in the action.

Votes are in on the survey. There are some useful points of agreement but obv need for a little bit of compromise in one or two areas.

Okay, removed Secret and added the minor Hindrance Pacifist. I also fleshed him out a little more. That should make him pretty much finished.

ok, looks good!

@WhtKnt,@Drakis2,@ctme2000,@RageRed

Just a bit more meta stuff.

We've voted for an investigative game which can be a lot of fun. But ime, pbp investigation can take a couple of forms and I'd like us to be on the same page. Please choose ONE of the following (I've disabled the 'multi' option so you have to pick one or the other):



There are other options--e.g. the players ask a general question and GM writes a lengthy detailed account that contains some relevant info. I don't have time for this and I know players can be quickly overloaded with reading, so this is off the table :).

@Orangetree,

Lest we forget, Engel has Healing, which includes forensics, and has an Edge of cutting things open and creating taxidermy from monsters. I'd think seeing a dead body wouldn't bother very much.

It’s a good call. i don’t want it to be a complete pass—it’s the expression of horror and inexplicable manner of his death that makes the scene unnerving. I think rolling at +2 is a decent concession.

Rage, could you vote in the recent poll?

Character submitted. Still have to finish backstory, weapons/equipment, but just wanted to get it out there. OT, let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Looks like we’re all for a sleuthy type game. Thanks for voting.

@ctme2000 Character looks interesting as expected. A couple of thoughts:

1. I like that he has a good research die, making him distinctive from the other brainy types. I think we need to have a library for him to pick through. This could his own small but well selected collection of texts. Or perhaps the church or schoolroom has a neglected but surprisingly good archive. Or both? Any opinion/ suggestions on these ideas?

2. Good to see the silver bullet edge and I think your wording of the edge mechanic makes sense. However, I wonder whether he has much chance of landing a decent attack with a dagger given his low fighting skill. Would this alternative be more or less appealing? : Silver Dagger (N). You possess an heirloom weapon, a silver blade fashioned by melting a crucifix blessed by an arch-bishop. When wielding the weapon in combat (with supernatural evil), use SMA or SPI in place of fighting and throwing.

It removes the bonus damage but gives him some combat ability against monsters. It’s balanced since the dagger only inflicts d4 damage—to sweeten the deal I could go for d6?

what do you think?

just in case it’s not clear, I’ve taken careful notice of the number of successes and raises on the investigation rolls. Those were big rolls! Hence , lots of extra info.

1. Agreed, initially I was thinking he would have a personal collection of material to peruse, but I like the idea of both. How about the schoolroom has a more general collection of texts, maybe even a storage room converted into a library of sorts, where the school children can check out books for their studies and general pleasure. (He's still pondering whether to expand it to the local villagers). On the flip side, locked away in a chest in his home office is a much smaller, much more esoteric collection of occult books he's picked up over the years from markets, travelers passing through, etc.

2. Yup, lol, well aware of my fighting being zilch w. that edge. The thought was that I'd use the jack-of-all-trades edge to (hopefully) give myself Fighting when needed. However, I didnt think about athletics, and with my limitations there this would certainly help with that too. And d6 damage you say? Sold!

Let me know how you'd like to introduce me into the game. Perhaps the group stops by the local school to get educated on the legend of the vampir? ... I'll see myself out. Or however you see fit.

@ctme2000
1. Cool, that sounds plausible and fun.
2. Ok- so we’ll go with the new wording!

I’ll intro Leopold as the expert in occult matters who might be able to help out…after this round or so I think….

Sounds good, in that case, I'll switch Scholar from Academics to Occult.

Ok—we can switch that back at the next refresh/level up if it’s not working out.

Just fyi, traveling back today, will post later tonight.

Safe journey!

Oh what a day. Bad news: delay after delay; good news: finally submitted my first post.

Thanks for your patience y'all.

@Drakis2 can we increase the damage die for the sabre to d6? It’s a pretty heavy blade.

Could you say a bit more about your code of honour? Is the standard ‘ keeps her word, won't abuse prisoners, gentlemanly or ladylike behavior’ or do you want to a particular gloss…

I have spent the weekend deciding if I want to continue in the game, and I do not think I can keep with the pace, but also the style isn't quite working for me. So, rather than limp along trying to make it fit I will retire Hilda, leaving it up to you @OrangeTree on how you want to narrate that to keep your story "clean".

Good luck everyone.

I totally understand.

Very hard to get fit with a game like this, even with a poll!

I am ok to continue the game with three players. But I’ll understand if this is the end of the line for other players, too.

I’ll see if players keep posting, I guess … :).

I'm perfectly game to continue, or if you would like to recruit some new blood.

Thanks WhtKnt. The game stayed open in the Games Tavern and didn’t seem to gain further interest.

I am happy with three players, in some ways it’s a good number for a fairly fast game?

Sorry to see you go drakis. I'm good to continue as well.

Phew. I’ll run this first adventure if @RageRed is still ok to go. Then we can talk about whether we want any changes to the play style.

Sorry, for the delay. I'm still in.

Great!

The site is really messed up for me right now. I'll try again tomorrow.

Oof, hope it hasn’t swallowed a post. V frustrating…