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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:12 am 
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Just checking interest, but what with FB and Skitz being busy with real life a lot of the games that are currently being run have either slowed down to a grinding halt or are dead in the water, not currently sure which. So, in light of the fact that the RPG boards are suffering from a chronic lack of activity, I was thinking of trying my hand at being a GM. It's something I've always been interested in doing, but due to general lack of competence on my part most games I've tried to run have ended in colossal failure.

But anyway, I'm thinking of running a game. Nothing fancy, just a straight up fighting game with minimal plot. I set you down in an area like say a mansion on the outskirts of town, populate it with random baddies like maybe gangsters or vampires, and give you an objective to accomplish such as rescue a mother and child being held hostage or a group of enthralled vampire wannabes about to have their blood sucked dry and/or turned into more vampire baddies.

The system will be Fate. Specifically the Dresdenverse rule set. I start you guys out relatively weak. Five or six refresh with skill points to match. Then I'll put you in a relatively straightforward encounter where you beat up a bunch of baddies. When the task is complete I'll give you more points to spend on skills and maybe an extra refresh point to build your characters up. You'll also be adding aspects to your characters as you go along in order to flesh them out a bit and see if you like where they're going. As you guys flesh out your characters and they become stronger, I'll start fleshing out the surrounding world, giving you tougher ordeals and adding a bit of extra complexity to the stories and situations as we go along. Once we've gone on long enough to flesh out the world and work the characters up to maximum starting refresh (10), skill points (35), and character aspects (7), the game will officially 'start' and I'll give you all your first major campaign.

How does that sound? You guys interested? I think I can work with anywhere between three and seven characters to start, though I'm hoping to run with a group of five when the game officially opens. Hopefully that would allow for previously uninterested players to join or players who have lost interest to drop out.

EDIT
Going to keep the current character sheets here.

Quote:
Name: Charles Cane
Fate Points: 1

Skills:
Presence (+4)
Deceit, Fists (+3)
Scholarship, Athletics, Rapport (+2)
Drive, Stealth, Conviction, Burglary (+1)

Aspects:
Stage Mage Changeling
Cog in a Faerie Plot
Strange Luck

Stress:
Physical: [] []
Mental: [] [] []
Social: [] [] [] []


Quote:
Name: Brecon Sagar
Fate Points: 0

Skills:
+4: Weapons, Conviction
+3: Discipline, Lore
+2: Athletics, Alertness
+1: Endurance, Stealth

Aspects:
"My Powerful Ally, The Force is."
"Guardian of Peace and Justice."
"Silver Spoon? I'd rather a Sword."
"Nomad Jedi."

Stress:
Physical: [] [] []
Mental: [] [] [] []
Social: [] []


Quote:
Name: Ozymandius
Fate Points: 2

Skills:
+4: Deceit, Discipline
+3: Endurance, Fists
+2: Athletics, Conviction
+1: Resources, Presence

Aspects:
Prince of Wails
Look Upon My Works, Ye Mighty
Shall I Give You Despair?
Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain
And Your Little Dog, Too

Stress:
Physical: [] [] [] []
Mental: [] []
Social: [] []
Hunger: [] [] [] []


Quote:
Name: Neil Hewlett
Fate Points: 2

Skills:
+4: Athletics
+3: Endurance, Burglary
+2: Deceit, Presence, Fists
+1: Contacts, Conviction, Alertness, Performance

Aspects:
Journey to the West
Demon Days
Punk
November Has Come

Stress:
Physical: [] [] [] []
Mental: [] [] []
Social: [] [] []


Quote:
Name: NPC-Felix False

Fate Points: 3
Skills: [Currently Unknown]
Aspects: [Currently Unknown]

Physical: [] [] [] [] | [] []
Mental: [] [] []
Social: [] [] []
Hunger: [X] [] [] []


Last edited by Kajin on Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:01 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:04 pm 
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Big question. Is this game set in the Dresdenverse?

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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:39 pm 
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Yep.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:23 pm 
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Cool. I'm in. I'm going to need some help building my character though. I haven't used the Dresdenverse fate system before and my concept is kind of complex.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:48 pm 
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Alright, then. What kind of character do you want to create? Give me a description of the character you want and I'll use the ruleset to write up a character for you, or if you want to write up the character yourself I can send you a pdf file of the rulebook through email.

Please refer to this site for descriptions of the most commonly found types of characters. They aren't by any stretch of the imagination the only types of characters you can play, though. The DFRPG was designed with an emphasis on story telling and customization. Writing up a custom character type requires a fair amount of effort but it isn't impossible by any means.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:05 am 
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Hmmm. Looks interesting. However, I have a few questions, before I decide on a character...

- How do glamours work?
- Are visual illusions in the Dresdenverse more usually psychic illusions ("you believe that you see a tall man") or manipulation-of-light illusions ("light is bent to create the illusion of a tall man")?
- How does magic work, in general?

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:49 am 
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Glamours are basically the fairy version of mortal illusion magic with the addition of being able to create illusory emotions in humans. Fairies are not allowed to be Player Characters on account of their monstrous nature and general lack of free will. Changelings, however, would be capable of fairy glamour and are perfectly acceptable as they are part human and thus possess a modicum of freewill.

On mortal illusion magic. An illusion spell is really just a very very very good lie. The spell caster envisions the image of what they want in their mind, engaging all five of their senses in the object's theoretical existence before filling that image with their will and projecting it into realty. This is arguably more difficult to do than the psychic illusion you're thinking of, where you send the image of what you want into the minds of the people who will witness it, but most human wizards don't do that because it comes very close to violating the third and fourth laws of magic. Violating any of the seven laws of magic warrants an automatic death penalty if caught. The Seven Laws of Magic.

Also it's worth noting that illusion magic is entirely worthless against any spellcaster type opponents because of the Wizard's Sight ability that most powerful magic users have access to. This ability shows the flow of magic as it truly is, effectively allowing any competent spellcaster the ability to see through any illusion you might try and throw at them.

On how magic itself works? Magic is all about intent. You imagine the effect you want to create. This creates a magical construct through which willpower can flow, thus creating the desired result. Magic is typically separated into two major categories, depending on how that construct is created. The first is Evocation magic, which is fast and dirty combat magic. In evocation, you create the construct for the spell entirely through the sheer force of your concentration. You're a lot more limited in what you can do, and your spells are restricted entirely to what you can see in front of you, but it takes next to no time at all to cast. Evocation is further divided into the five elements of Spirit, Air, Earth, Water, and Fire. Upon creation, a spellcaster type character is allowed to select which elements they wish to specialize in. A Wizard who specializes in Spirit and Fire magic will most often use those types of spells in their fighting style because they can most quickly bring them to bear and cast them in pitched combat.

The second main category of magic is Thaumaturgy. In Thaumaturgy, the spellcaster uses various items and ingredients as symbols in order to reflect the spell that they want to create. Such a process takes a lot longer to pull off, from minutes to hours. Sometimes it can take several days to cast such a spell. The results are worth it, however, because the effects are arguably more powerful or of much more use than Evocation which is only good for combat. The items required vary in complexity depending on the spell. If you want to create a tracking spell so you can follow and find someone, you'd need a piece of them like some of their blood or maybe their hair. The spell itself also only takes a minute or two to cast. Brewing a potion requires seven ingredients that reflect the nature of the potion being created. One ingredient each to represent the five sense plus the mind and body as well as an appropriate base liquid to brew it in. The process to create a potion generally takes an hour or two. If you want to do something more flashy, like say assassinate a Vampire Warleader by pulling a deactivated Soviet spy satellite out of orbit and dropping it on the bastard's castle, you'd need a far greater investment of time, energy, and materials.

Any questions?

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:15 am 
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Okay, a few more questions. First, on illusion magic; it sounds like the mage is, basically, lying to the observer's senses. So, can a mage trick a sense that he does not have and has never had? For example, can a blind-from-birth wizard create a convincing visual illusion (assuming that the observer is an ordinary non-spellcasting mortal)?

Secondly: A werewolf transforms by use of magic. If he kills someone while in wolf form, using only the natural abilities of the wolf, is that considered a violation of the first Law of Magic?

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:27 am 
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No, and No, respectively.

In order for the blind wizard to trick the visual senses of another individual, he'd have to know what the object in question looked like to begin with. Theoretically speaking, the wizard in question might be able to convey the concept of the idea directly to the mind of the person in question. The person knows what the object is supposed to look like, so their mind fills in the gaps of knowledge by connecting the image of what that person knows to the concept the blind wizard is trying to convey. Like I said before, though, that comes close enough to violating the third and fourth laws of magic that you'd be better off not trying. You can still do it, mind, but your character would be risking a swift death sentence by the Wardens if caught.

In regard to the werewolf, you'd be abusing a technicality in order to avoid violating the first law. Your teeth are inhumanly sharp and powerful because of the magic, but it's still those gouging teeth that would be the cause of death. The Wardens of the White Council, the ones who actively enforce the seven laws, abuse such a technicality all the time. The swords they wield are magically enchanted to be strong enough to cut through a hundred year old oak tree in a single strike. The sword itself might be magically strengthened, but it's still just a sword.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:12 am 
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Okay, thanks. I think I have a few vague concepts, then; I'd like to know what you think of them (as vague concepts).

Vague concept 1: A focused practitioner, specialising in self-transformation into various animals. Sometimes has trouble using a new body.

Vague concept 2: A changeling, able to cast glamours. Working as the special effects coordinator for a small theatre company; he's very good at mundane illusions (sleight-of-hand and so on) to which he generally adds the far more powerful magical variety. In a sign of his half-fae heritage, his hair is naturally bright purple; he conceals this with black dye. (I assume that glamours don't show up on camera).

Vague concept 3: A were-bat, who is most insistently NOT a vampire, and does NOT want to be confused with vampires. As a bat, he can fly and his echolocation bypasses virtually all illusions, but he does not like transforming in front of people because of the whole 'vampire' association. (What makes this worse is that the one type of bat he can transform to is, to his continual embarrassment, a vampire bat. He never eats in bat-form). Has a grudge against vampires.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:55 am 
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First Concept: It's doable. You'd have to take the Modular Abilities power, which costs two refresh points plus however much refresh you wish to spend on Form Points. This essentially allows you to take on a vast array of different powers, but you'd be severely limited in how many you can actually use at any given time. Spend two form points on inhuman strength and you'll be a lot stronger, but if those are the only two form points you have and you want inhuman speed you'll have to sell inhuman strength first to get it. Whatever form you choose to shift to would be a purely aesthetic choice. You might choose to shift from a wolf to a cheetah, or you might simply choose to shift from a large and brawny looking wolf to a smaller and leaner looking wolf.

I will note that shape shifting would be the only form of magic you'd be capable of and you would thus count as a shapeshifter instead of a focused practitioner.

Concept 2 is also doable. You'd have to specify what manner of fairy your nonhuman half is. You'd also have to have a high enough deceit skill in order to use makeup to conceal the oddities in your appearance. Depending on the kind of fair you choose, you may also be able to spend extra points on certain other powers like Inhuman Strength or Claws.

Concept 3 is fine too. Basically the same as the first concept except a bat is the only thing you can turn into. You'd need to take the abilities Wings, Diminutive Size, Echoes of the Beast, Human Form, and Beast Change.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:58 am 
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Okay. A few technical questions, then; how many refresh points are available to spend? Also, I see that this system is based on FATE; may I take stunts from the original FATE system?

Finally, how many Aspects may I select?

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 7:33 am 
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I'll be starting the characters off with six refresh points, twenty skill points, and three aspects. The game will officially start once the characters have all come into there own and are powerful enough to be recognized as major players in the supernatural community. From a gameplay perspective, that would be when they've all obtained ten refresh, thirty-five skill points, and seven aspects.

All characters must start with a high concept aspect, a trouble aspect, and a background aspect for a little extra flavor. The point of starting the game half finished like this is to allow the game and the characters to develop their own personalities as things move along. Get a feel for things, if you will. If you want, you can go ahead and fill you're two guest star aspects with other characters to establish preexisting relationships for a total of five starting aspects. Otherwise, just limit yourself to the first three.

The DFRPG is really just an overhauled version of the normal FATE system in order to accommodate the feel of the Dresden Files way of doing things, so skill stunts from the original FATE system should be fine.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:31 pm 
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Definitely in! Just need to dust off the old PDF and make myself a character.

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 Post Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:55 pm 
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Awesome! Six refresh, twenty skill points, and three aspects. Remember that, there'll be room for more later.

Three characters for the time being is enough for us to get this thing underway. Once everyone gets their character in we'll see if we can't get rolling.

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