The Pitch (Mostly Taken from the Website)
You live in a city where anyone could be a legend in disguise. King Arthur, Alice in Wonderland, or Tlaloc the Aztec Rain God could be living within any regular John or Jane. And like everyone else, they have their problems, passions, and vices. The difference is they have powers.
It's all true, but nobody can remember. A strange force, the Mist, covers up all evidence that legends are everywhere in this city. It's only when a legend awakens in you that you begin to see what is really going on.
What will you do with your newfound legendary powers? What will your legend want in return? And most importantly, can you hold on to your ordinary life or will you let go and become its unstoppable avatar?
Overview
Your Mythos is the living legend inside you. Perhaps you find that for some reason you can cast spells taught from the fictional Hogwarts and can start speaking to snakes. Or maybe you find by kissing others you bestow on them shameful realizations like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Another example is having your Mythos being Cinderella, and summoning a jagged suit of dense glass armor as you search for your hated “step-mother”. (Didn’t expect that last one, eh?) How you interpret your mythos is up to you, but it should always reflect a large unknown about your character’s life.
Your Logos, on the other hand, is your character’s everyday life. It’s what grounds them in reality and the part of them that resists the pull of the Mythos. Your Logos is defined and reliable. It could be your day job such as a High School Teacher that gives you a basic understanding of most subjects. Maybe its your Extremely Blunt Personality that puts people off guard or lets them trust you. Or you could even have it be a the relationship between you and your spouse.
I have to be clear here. City of Mists is a words over numbers game. Do not try to make your character all powerful or infallible. The majority of the mechanics are focused on the struggle between a character’s mythos and logos sides. And even if we’re comparing gods incarnate to a guy who speaks to animals, both characters have the same amount of narrative power to change the story.
Character Creation
Some terminology for you:
Sleeper: Someone who does not manifest their inner legend and is unaware of what goes on in the Mist.
Avatar: Someone who has given in completely to their Mythos, almost unheard of.
Rift: Everyone who manifests their inner legend in the Mist (this includes all players).
- Touched: Someone who has 1 Mythos theme and three Logos themes. They are the closest to reverting to Sleepers.
- Borderliner: Someone who has 2 Mythos themes and two Logos themes. Balanced, but at risk of tipping to either side.
- Legendary: Someone who has 3 Mythos themes and one Logos theme. More powerful, but has only one lifeline to their humanity left before losing themselves and becoming an Avatar.
Each character has four theme cards in a mix of Mythos and Logos.
The ADAPTATION theme type represents powers that can change according to the situation or a powers with many different uses such as sorcery, shapeshifting, or gadgeteering.
The BASTION theme type represents powers that allow you to survive harsh conditions and protect yourself and others from harm, such as a body made of stone, invulnerability, or magical protection.
The DIVINATION theme type represents powers that allow you to know or learn things beyond normal perception, such as special senses, the power to read minds, or the power to communicate with the dead.
The EXPRESSION theme type represents powers that you can project or unleash to affect or influence the world, such as a warrior’s rage, blasts of ice, a healing touch, or mind control.
The MOBILITY theme type represents powers that allow you to move easily, fast, and unobstructed, such as the power to fly, to turn your body into water, or to miraculously escape confinement.
The RELIC theme type represents an object in your possession that channels the powers of your Mythos such as a magic ring, a flying broom, or a diabolic mask.
The SUBVERSION theme type represents powers that allow you to act discreetly and hide your intentions and deeds such as trickery and illusions, invisibility, and the power to beguile others.
The DEFINING EVENT theme type represents a pivotal moment or period in your life that has changed you irrevocably, such as a near-fatal accident, an earth-shaking revelation, or time spent at an orphanage.
The DEFINING RELATIONSHIP theme type represents a relationship with a person, a group, or an organization that is at the center of your life, such as your mother, your mentor, your gang, or the cult you belong to.
The MISSION theme type represents a goal you have set for yourself and that you strive to achieve, such as finding a cure to a disease, avenging your brother, or bringing a killer to justice.
The PERSONALITY theme type rep- resents your character, temperament, or personal style, such as being charming, hard-boiled, flamboyant, or paranoid.
The POSSESSIONS theme type represents anything important you have in your possession, such as your fortune and assets, your old car, or an arsenal of firearms.
The ROUTINE theme type represents your main everyday activities such as a job, caretaking duties, going to school, doing research, or just bumming around.
The TRAINING theme type represents the expertise you have acquired in a given field, such as medical training, martial arts, or cooking.
While I want to provide enough information to make the game acessible to those who don’t have the source matieral, I also realize that just posting a ton of stuff from the book may be unwise. Therefore, when the player’s have been chosen, I will be messaging the players the questions needed to create power tags and weakness tags.
The Recruitment Proper
Whew! A lot of text to introduce a new game, but if you aren’t scared off yet, here’s what to do if you’re interested in playing.
As a majority of the character creation will be done after the recruitment is over, what I need from potential applicants is a strong concept. You should have a full name, a codename(optional), category of either Touched, Borderliner, or Legendary, and a decent length bio describing your character and how they relate to their Mythos, and if you’d like, possible ideas for mythos and logos themes.
Full Name: Damian Mercer
Codename: DM
Bio: Growing up in an abusive household wasn’t great for Damian’s mindset on life. He spent his early childhood with his face buried in fantasy books. Eventually, he transitions to tabletop gaming, falling in love with the creative storytelling of a group of friends rolling a dice. That is, he imagined playing games like that would be great if he had anyone to play with. With his meek personality and shame of his family situation, he stands on the sidelines hoping game would suddenly come to him.
And then it does.
It started with strange noises of beasts lurking behind the next corner. Then, he would notice completely different people would be looking at him when he glanced in a mirror. The final straw was picking up on the outcome of events before they happened, as if he was reading along some script before reality came to pass.
He had always wanted to be someone different, someone more exciting. He craved the danger of braving the unknown, but lacked the actual courage to do so.
Something was different. Something amazing was happening. He just didn’t know what.
Possible Mythos: SUBVERSION (NPC Gallery), ADAPTATION (Bestiary)
Possible Logos: DEFINING RELATIONSHIP (Abusive Parents), PERSONALITY (Loner)
By wanting more control over his life, more agency in things, Damian has awakened his inner Mythos which is the conceptual Dungeon Master.
I do not mandate everyday posting but encourage frequent posting. For those who love to write narratives and characters, this should interest you.
For some additional info and examples of what kind of characters you can make, you can visit the City of Mist Website and download the starter kit.
Hey there! Got the rules when they came out, but haven't really delved into them. Looks like a good time to finally give them a thorough read.
I'm interested, but out of town until this weekend, so I may miss the boat on this one.
I may keep recruitment open if interest is minimal, but a few players really want to give it a shot.
dotting. Are there playbooks for this, by any chance, that you could linky link?
EDIT: NM, found the link.
To better understand the general sense of the game - What's the time period - 30s, 60s, present? Or are we, the players, are going to decide?
In City of Mists, the players make their own playbooks in a sense.
As for time period, I would place it in mostly modern day, sorta that half the city is still a few decades back feeling.
@ Jace
If you have any expereince with Powered by the apocolypse of FATE, then you'll partially know some of the rules. Otherwise, you're welcome to make a character concept.
I'm interested. I've got several ideas, I just need to decide which to go for.
Interested! Been hyped for City of Mist for a while, since the setting and rules are really simple yet interesting. I'm thinking something along the lines of a thief, but how my mythos will interpret that and my logos will need consideration.
Glad to hear interest is going up. Just remember that the character and their method shouldn’t be so clearly related (such as an old general incarnating sun tzu). It’s fun to have your mythos and logos pulling at you to separate sides, sort of like your inner and outer personality.
Hmm.
So, here is an idea, but not sure if it would work, since I don't know the game.
Could you have someone with a subversion theme that was mostly focused on yourself? The idea is a character who is a writer, who tries to convince herself that the things she does in the mist are imaginary... part of her great imagination that allows her to earn a living as a novelist.
So, like adaptation/subversion where she can imagine things into being, and routine/personality where she writes it all out each day, which helps her climb back into her skin and seal the self-deception. It was just a weather balloon, but she *imagined* a fight with aliens, which makes a great story, and her overactive imagination sees wonders all around, which is amazing and cool, but she often has to write it all down and get it out of her head to be sure it is just the story and she isn't going crazy.
Could that sort of thing work, or am I thinking in the wrong direction?
I'm currently leaning towards this idea of an older man who is obsessed with flying, because he dreams about it, but in his Logos is a rather poor pilot. He has tried multiple times to get his pilot's license but failed.
In his mythos, however, he can indeed fly.
I'm currently leaning towards this idea of an older man who is obsessed with flying, because he dreams about it, but in his Logos is a rather poor pilot. He has tried multiple times to get his pilot's license but failed.
In his mythos, however, he can indeed fly.
Sounds pretty cool! Maybe have your Mythos be Icarus, who seems pretty thematic for someone who keeps failing to fly.
Anyhow, this is PixelsAreGods' submission, Luke Read, who channels the Mythos of Arsene Lupin, the gentleman thief.
Full Name: Luke Read
Codename: Kleptomaniac
Category: Touched
Luke was a child born with a silver spoon, his parents accomplished engineers who worked steady jobs. Luke was encouraged only for one goal: to become a doctor, and whatever that entailed. The idea became more and more important to Luke when his father perished to a brain tumor while he was in high school, and Luke swore he would become a doctor to try and cure such diseases. While his years in med school were difficult, Luke graduated, and immediately received a job offer as a neuroscientist at a local hospital. Luke accepted it, eager to begin his work with the other professionals of the world.
Yet his idea never came to pass. Each doctor did not wish to collaborate - rather, they competed, each trying to surpass the achievements of the others. Such efforts escalated, to the point to which a particular doctor wrote that he had completed a surgery that Luke had done himself. Shortly after, the doctor was promoted.
Luke, outwardly, felt nothing, and convinced himself that it was simply a fact of life. Yet somewhere inside him something disagreed. Things around the workplace - particularly of the doctor’s - began to disappear. First it was pens, then keys, then even tools - all the scalpels in one of the operation rooms ended up missing.
To most, these abnormalities were felt as either mistakes or pranks. But Luke knew better. All the missing items, no matter where they were from, appeared in his left hand. Sometimes it was when he willed it. Other times, they simply appeared in his grip at random, forcing Luke to quickly put them in his pocket.
Luke almost doesn’t want this power, but its relevance appears more often than not, and it's all too easy to get used to it. When everything is in the grasp of your hand, there is nothing you can’t get - but there is everything to lose.
From his desires to take back his deeds, Luke has awakened his inner Mythos of Lupin. It is a fickle and mysterious Mythos, but helpful nonetheless.
EXPRESSION(Hand that Wants)
DEFINING EVENT(The Medical Theft), PERSONALITY(Passive Exterior), TRAINING(Neural Expert)
I'm pretty willing to change the backstory and such depending on the rest of the group, since I structured Luke on being pretty new to the world of Rifts and Mythos. If the group is going to be more experienced, then I can put a bit into the backstory to fill hat out.
@ Zanbebe
The better way to think of things is of two halves of one person coming together, a normal everyday half, and the legendary fantastical half. And these halves don't have to be entirely related.
For example, one of the premade characters is an undead mercenary. Her normal half is Flicker. Her normal half is a hipster hacker girl. Her legendary half is capable of bending space and time in small bursts. Not really related, but a connection can be drawn that she wishes to have more time in the day or get places faster.
So far your concept, your writer could be the normal half, and the legendary part could be almost anything else. You could make it in line with your character, such as a legend of a great storyteller, or perhaps the fireman from Fahrenheit 451 that seemingly comes from an anger of established works, and jealousy that he can't reach those heights.
The themebooks come second. Really. It is common in this game for you to change themebooks by dropping one and creating a new one. This'll happen as you're forced to make choices. Get a handle on a character concept first, then you can brainstorm ideas for some cool related abilities.
@ Vrog and Pixel
I like the Icarus idea, or you could go Red Baron or something. Perhaps even a Amelia Earheart or one of the Wright brothers.
As for your concept Pixel, I like it. We'll flesh out the themebooks after recruitment and you're free to change things up or come up with different ideas.
I narrowed it down to two concepts - a police detective with Mythos of huli jing (chinese fox trickster spirit), or a professor of (field tbd) with Mythos of Morrigan (Irish goddess of war, fate, protection and fertility). Decisions, decisions.
I just realized I screwed up the example above. The undead mercenary is not the hipster girl. Whoops.
All right, the choice is made.
Wade Walton, a borderliner police detective with illusions and premonitions coming soon.
The concept I'm currently leaning towards is a someone who is reborn every time they die. They are always born and grow up without any memory or recollection of their past, but when they hit 18-20 years old, they begin to remember their past lives and other abilities. However, they almost always die tragically before they can learn how to use them and protect themselves. In this incarnation they are desperately trying to survive after having just got their memories back, constantly paranoid they are going to be killed and trying to master their powers to defend themselves.
@ Madcaster
Very nice. You might wan to reference Declan L'estrange from the starter set. Would probably give you some ideas on possible ways to go about themes.
@ BeastMasterFTW
So the Mythos is reincarnation. Tbh, there are multiple ways you go about how this manifests on your character. There could be a powerful Mythos of Reincarnation that serves to tether the lives it consumes to its newest hosts. Or it could be your character is hosting a smaller Mythos of Reincarnation, which moves to another person on your death.
City of Mist is weird about keeping Logos and Mythos separate but combining them. For instance, there are clear sample characters that are human (Flicker and Declan), but there are also physically changed humans (Post-Mortem and Mitosis), and then the messenger from the gods (Kitsune).
From my reading, we're going to assume everyone is baseline human, though each person's Mythos has the capacity to make very real physical changes to them allowing for life after death or bodily and mental changes. In Kitsune's case, he's actually human, but at the point of being delusional.
@ Everyone
Only one with a full submission is Luke Read.
Only a week left. If there are more than 5 submissions, I'll go by official submissions and then by concepts I like better.
If
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I was trying to decide on a character concept. I have finally settled down to deciding between two of them. I do not have full bios for either of them, as I do not wish to have to entirely plan out the bios for two characters when I only get to play one. I will try to post short bios for them however, and will do longer ones if needed.
Codename: Drake
Classification: Borderliner
Bio: In his late mid-fifties, Fredrick Stern is currently living a somewhat quite life in the his house in the Gentrified Old Quarter. Having retired from his job as a bank teller years ago, he now mostly just sits around his house admiring the various antiques he has collected over the years. However, this sitting around looking at what some would call his 'treasures' sparked something inside him, something tracing back to his Germanic ancestry. For a week he had nightmarish dreams that featured a great dragon, approaching ever closer to him. Awakening from one of these dreams, he discovered that he had gained tremendous strength and the ability to grow wings of flame from his back.
Possible Mythos: Expression (Might of the Dragon), Mobility (Wings of Flame)
Possible Logos: Defining Moment (Nightmarish Dreams), Gear (Antiques Collection)
Codename: Piper
Classification: Borderliner
Bio: Having managed to scrape by with A's and B's in his previous year of High School, Jackson knows that he will very likely be able to pass school and get his diploma at the end of the year. However, after joining the school band, mostly due to his fathers urging over the summer, he discovered that he was remarkably good at playing the flute. However, this did not go perfectly well, as in his audition he managed to make the group of band directors stand up and leave the room, eyes glossed over. Since then, he has only played in groups, denying any solos that are pushed by him. However, at night when he practices, he sometimes goes outside and makes the birds fly in patterns through the sky, or the ants to write out words on the walls. His ability to do this seems to come in part from the family flute that his father gave him, as he is able to do these acts much easier with it than with his school-issued one.
Possible Mythos: Expression (Control the Masses), Relic (Enchanted Flute)
Possible Logos: Occupation/Routine (High-School Senior), Personality (Carefree)
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I've read through the Dresden Files FATE rules, FATE Core, and FAE but haven't had very much experience (I once ran one of the sample one-shots for the Dresden Files). I got into PnP games through D&D 3.5 so most of my experience is pretty simulationist, but I really like FATE and similar narrative focused systems, its kind of how I like to run my pathfinder games at home anyway, but I like the idea of a lighter, more fluid system.
I took a look at the starter set. It says OCCUPATION instead of ROUTINE in the Logos part of the starter rulebook, which should we use?
I hope you don't mind me muddying the waters between human/nonhuman some more. I got a little carried away.
Just as I hit preview I looked up and realized someone else was planning a detective. Well, hopefully we're different enough.
I was kind of thinking about giving him the ability to tinker with his physiology, maybe we can work with that after a backstory edit. I'll see after Madcaster posts his Gateway.
NAME: Detective Leighton Wise
BIO: Leighton's memories are a bit fuzzy.
CLASSIFICATION: Borderliner
He remembers being an only child with a loving father. They played and watched baseball together. They lived off in the country somewhere far from The City. There was a camping trip, his clearest memory where they goofed about in front of a fire and the next morning they were attacked by a bear who smelled the food.
He sometimes remembers the smell of the flowers out there, he learned the names later. He has some dry flowers in a picture frame box on his apartment wall as a reminder. A childhood baseball glove sits somewhere in a cardboard box
He doesn't have family pictures. Not real ones.
Leighton remembers his childhood, and moving to the city to become a cop. He had friends, his college roommate Jason, other people he met at university. He became a detective recently, it was his dream to protect and serve. To catch the bad guy. He was a cop for... three years, two hundred six days, six minutes and forty seconds before he realized... what he's always been.
By a fluke accident, Leighton's thirteenth homicide investigation led to his awakening. The body was strange, he couldn't put his finger on why until a man in a lab coat showed up in the morgue after hours and woke up the frosty corpse. Leighton, ever the workaholic, showed up in the middle of the night, just in time to see the corpse marching behind its master. Lab Coat touched something on his fancy tablet and said a phrase-a-a phrase-phrase-phrase a phrase. Stop.
His mind was unshackled by the petty emotions he'd been simulating. He understood precisely how dense his body was and the speed and strength at which he could move.
Decommission the revived android and subdue the man in coat.
Fear left him and he destroyed the worker android handily with his combat module and sturdier frame. Worker android, huh that was new. Why did he know that? It appeared to have flesh and blood, but somehow Leighton knew it was a robot. The perp was just as surprised and tried to issue a command, but he didn't know the serial number and would have had no time to input before he was apprehended.
After he arrested the perp, his emotions returned to him. A pit developed in his stomach. He was shaken with dread. The dry heaves didn't help, they were fake, he- he knew. It wasn't real. He wasn't real. Serial number ZELOS-74123-9874123. He was made of 1s and 0s. His memories were implanted and made up just like his feelings.
He couldn't remember the phrase which set him off like some kind of battle computer. A built-in safeguard perhaps. Then why wasn't there a safeguard to prevent him from attacking the perp?
He needed to get into a room with Lab Coat but before anyone else. But by the time Leighton opened the holding cell, the man had died. Multiple organ failure. Autopsy revealed a contusion in his neck which concealed a corrupted microchip. No way of telling what was on there. Nanites, he could see the little microscopic buggers with access to his enhanced senses. He burned the chip.
No leads other than the pharmaceutical company that the man worked at, Oceanic Pharmaceuticals (Or something else? That was just a placeholder name).
DIVINATION (ANDROID BRAIN COMPUTER) -"Am I a person enough to count?", BASTION (NOT A REAL BOY) -"Who made me and why?"
@ Jace Nilo
I like them both to be honest. Both are broad ideas that you can have a lot of fun exploring.
@ Kubular
There were changes made since the release of the quickstart when making the core rules. Routine is the more current term and covers a wider array of subjects including occupations.
I'm also learning the system, so you're all good for pushing boundaries. However, I'm not sure what your core idea is here.
@ Kubular
You know, I guess I'm going to have to make a call whether an android has a soul/persona/spirit that can contain an inner mythos.
Yeah, makes sense.
So just to be clear, the full sentience on your robot is the mythos and his life as a working detective is the Logos?
Also, give it a catchy phrase. City of Mist loves one-word summations and catchy phrases.
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Yeah that's exactly it. Self-awareness is Mythos, life as an ordinary detective is Logos. And the way I could see it going down is that even relics and places can have a mythos, so why not a robot?
In that vein, maybe the powers should be a little more overt. Maybe we borrow a bit from pathfinder and give him glowy circuitry on his skin when he uses his android powers?
Catchy phrase hmmmm. Wait like not Android Detective right? Something like Excalibur?
How about Zelus? He's the god of envy in greek mythology but also an incarnation of emulation.
@ Kubular
We can particulars after recruitment ends. It also lets the chosen players bounce ideas off each other.
You can choose either, but remember that the choice reflects the central tendency of the character, from which themes stem.
Here is my submission:
Jacob Simpson
Theme One: City of Doors (Mobility Mythos: Can open any door to any other door he's ever been through in the city)
Theme Two: I was never here (Subversion Mythos: He is invisible to electronic devices of all kinds)
Theme Three: Man of The Man of The People (Occupation Logos: Works as fixer for the wealthy and powerful)
Theme Four: Never Again (Defining Event Logos: Lost his father when he died from Cancer that he got from the unsafe mine he worked at.)
Jacob has always been bright, ambitious, and wanted to be seen as rich and successful. He discovered that he had a natural talent for wheeling and dealing on the playground, where he ran quite the exchange among the other kids. While he eventually got busted, he learned a few valuable lessons that he still takes to heart today: Don't get greedy, Always have a plan, and Never rely on anyone with more wealth then you.
Jacob worked on several political campaigns during high school and college, and it was at college where he made important contacts that would eventually become his customers.
Once out of school, he started his own "Consulting" firm, specializing in dealing with embarrassing or disasterous situations.
While Jacob has several employees, he does most of the work himself, as it's his reputation on the line.
Recently, however, Jacob has had a change of heart. He worked for a client to keep a mine open, unaware that his estranged father worked there. The mine was unsafe, and Jacob covered up the safety reports with bribes to keep the mine open.
His father was recently diagnosed with Cancer, and Jacob learned that the mine he kept open was the likely cause.
While his father was dying, Jacob heard his voice, calling him to come home. He opened the front door of his house and found himself in his parent's living room. He rushed upstairs just in time to watch his father's spirit leave his body.
After the funeral, Jacob started to notice more unusual things going on in the city, but no one around him noticed.
While we'll work out the details after the recruitment, I'm pretty set on Subversion theme and both Logos themes.
Wade can work as a PI with some minor changes in the background.
Codename: -
Bio: How do the stories usually start? "He always knew he wanted to become a policeman." Or "his father was a detective, so he continues the legacy." Or maybe "his parents were killed and that's when he decided to fight crime."
Well, nothing that fancy for Wade. He had pretty average grades at school, and (barely) got a bachelor's in a law university. He worked as a paralegal for a bit, but it didn't worked out. Not Wade's cup of tea. So he entered a police academy. Long story short, he's in his thirties and a police detective in the City.
That's great and all, if it weren't for those things that happen all the time but no one seems to notice. But, let's rewind a year, back when it all started. The visions. People mistaking Wade for someone else. People obeying something he said as a joke. Sleepless nights as he thought he's going crazy. Until he met someone else who could do some strange things, and who for whatever reason explained a few things to Wade.
Back to the present. The upsides are great, for sure - literally feel the danger, trick someone to confess, stuff like this is priceless for a detective. Downsides however, are heavy. Who knows what the price is. Or who gave him the powers. Or thousand other things he doesn't know about.
Mythos: SUBVERSION (You sure you don't mistake me with someone?), DIVINATION (Dark Forebodings)
Logos: TRAINING (Your Average Detective), POSSESSIONS (Trusty Gun)
Four official submissions
Luke Read - Kleptomaniac
Jacob Simpson - (codename?)
Wade Walton - (codename?)
Leighton Wise - (codename?)
@ Vrog
I'm having trouble picking up the specific mythos that you're building your Mythos theme off of.
@Madcaster
Same as Vrog, a bit of trouble figuring out your core Mythos. L'estrange (the example character) has his Mythos based on Dreams. What's yours?
Huli jing (chinese fox trickster spirits) - according to myths they can use sorcery, take other people's appearance, possess people and see or sense the future.
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I have decided to go with the first concept that I had, Fredrick Stern.
Full Name: Fredrick Stern
Codename: Drake
Classification: Borderliner
Bio: In his late mid-fifties, Fredrick Stern is currently living a somewhat quite life in the his house in the Gentrified Old Quarter. Both of his parents died several years ago, and as an only child, he was left with a quite sizable inheritance. This allowed him to retire from his job as a bank teller several years ago. In this time, he has spent some of this money on a large collection of antiques, which do not necessarily have any connection to each other. He simply acquired things he found interesting. Nowadays he mostly just sits around his house admiring the various antiques he has collected over the years.
However, this sitting around looking at what some would call his 'treasures' sparked something inside him, something tracing back to his distant Germanic ancestry. For around a week he had recurring, nightmarish dreams that featured a great dragon. In these dreams, he was surrounded by darkness, standing on a mountaintop, with a vast field of stars in the sky. The first thing he would notice were the beasts massive, burning wings approaching from the horizon. It would then land on the slopes of the mountain below him, turning its large head to stare at him before beginning its assent. Approaching ever closer to him, its massive body would crush the rocks beneath it. When it finally finished ascending, it would lower its head to be on eye level with Fredrick's. It would open its mouth, as if about to speak, and then...
He would wake up.
Awakening from the last of these dreams, and seeing that it was only 4 am, he realized that he would be unable to sleep any more that night. Once he worked his way to his bathroom, he had to do a double-take when he saw himself in the mirror. He was not a bodybuilder, but had kept himself in shape as he had aged. However, he had never had muscles like he saw now in the mirror. Deciding to test his new strength, he found that he was even stronger than he appeared, able to easily lift massive weights off the ground. During this, he also discovered that he had gained the ability to grow a pair of large, flaming wings from his back.
Possible Mythos: Expression (Might of the Dragon), Mobility (Wings of Flame)
Possible Logos: Defining Moment (Nightmarish Dreams), Gear (Antiques Collection)
It was my understanding from reading the quickstart rules that the mythos doesn't need to be based on something that exists. If that is not the case, I can certainly change up his mythos stuff to someone like Rasputin. I just really liked the idea of having doors connect to each other within the city.
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I think the Mythos does sort of need a unifying theme though. For Declan its Dreams. For Mitosis its adaptive mutations. For Post Mortem its being a bioengineered undead.
Mine is a Recently Self-Aware Android. Doesn't really roll off the tongue yet. I'll work on it.
I like Doorman or City of Doors as a Mythos. "You are the Gateway to every door!" But I think the confusion comes in with the "invisible to electronics" theme. It doesn't feel like an extension of the first theme. I can kind of see a through line between them, but I don't really know how to articulate it. Like a Lone Wanderer sort of vibe? Someone Ephemeral Like a Ghost, who goes from place to place but is never remembered.
Four official submissions
Luke Read - Kleptomaniac
Jacob Simpson - (codename?)
Wade Walton - Huli Jing
Leighton Wise - (codename?)
Frederick Stern - Drake
@ Madcaster
Sounds good.
@ Jace Nailo
They actually mention this idea in the book, but never elaborate. Great idea with lots of potential to play with.
@ Vrog
Most (if not all) characters have a unifying theme, idea, concept behind their powers and abilities. It's by playing with interpretations of those ideas that allow players to create interesting themes. Creating a character works a bit smoother if you find a mythos concept you love to mess around with and reinterpret.
I would much rather you fit theme ideas (which don't have to be done yet) to the character, rather than finding a character to fit the powers. This game involves losing and gaining new themes all the time.
@ Kubular
Android Awakened? We'll work on it.
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I can dig that actually. I like the alliteration.
Is it necessary to have a codename? Some of the pregen characters like Le'strange don't have one but Post-Mortem and Kitsune seem to be all codename and no regular name.
(Also your post header says Four official submissions instead of Five)
EDIT: I'm also thinking maybe to make Wise start as a Touched instead of a Borderliner.
Okay, how about this for a theme then:
I've had this idea for a character for a while (including for a quasi-super hero team TV show a friend and I were working on for about a year) that there would be a line of these people, one per generation, who are the most naturally gifted killers of their time. They use different methods of killing people (some are good with knives, others with their bare hands, some with guns), but the big thing with them is that one day they just awaken to these abilities and they don't know why: for example, one day someone gets robbed, and the person is the killer for this generation and a switch flips and then all of their instincts are geared towards killing people. They can read people's body language, notice weapons or danger, and react in such a way that they have killed someone before they think about it.
They also would lack the guilt associated with such an act, as it would feel natural to them.
The idea is similar in theme to the Wanted movie (with James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie) where McAvoy's character works a 9-5 job and thinks he has anxiety disorder but it's just him suppressing his senses and emotions.
Codenames aren't actually necessary, but they are useful for encapsulating a Mythos.
@ Vrog Skyreaver
Interesting angle to work from. Mythos-wise, maybe something like Natural Born Killer, might be apt, somewhat in the vein of those Halloween movies.
As for the themes that you want, I'm not sure if we can work those in, but it is about the interpretation. So for your dodging recording equipment, A subversion Theme named "The Perfect Crime" could allow you to disrupt recording devices, haze people's memories, or make evidence disappear. Of course it'd have a weakness, but if this idea works for you, should be alright.
That is correct. I'll think about mythos and logos when I get home and repurpose them.
Oh gotcha. Good to know.
As most folks that were interested have posted (I think we're missing one or two submissions), I may just try and run this as a larger game.
I'm still trying to ingest the background information before trying again with a better concept. Sorry for the delay.
Quick question: I know the setting is "modern day", but it seems like they are going for a more Noir style of atmosphere. roughly what time period are you planning on shooting for? I ask so I have an idea of both historical events and levels of technology.
@ Zanbebe
No rush. I know its hard to make a character when rules allow for most, any kind of concept.
@ Vrog Skyreaver
The "City" in City of Mist is pretty malleable in terms of concept. Here are some key things you should know.
1. The City is massive. This is a place with food factories, subways, multiple districts and cultural diversity.
2. The City is a mix of both old and new. From the gentrified Old City District with its eighteenth-century streetlamps and historical re-enactments to the hip and neon Downtown district where the college students hang out, The city has plenty of room for those who look to the past and future.
3. You guys help make the city. If you want your downtown office to have a sub shop next door, its there. If you need to pick up your daughter from school on the West-side which happens to be dangerous/full of office buildings/ almost abandoned/holds China town it can happen. The only caveat is that when someone declares something, you should play along unless it goes against something really important or makes an issue. Redacting takes time, so adept.
Okay, I just wanted to make sure it was only to reference cellphones and computers in my character's backstory.
Donovan Craine
Theme One: Saint of Killers (Expression Mythos: Donovan is a divinely empowered killer. He is stronger, tougher, and more agile than the strongest, toughest, and most agile human, but not supernaturally so (he's basically at the top end of the human spectrum); Tags: Enhanced Strength, Enhanced Toughness, Enhanced Agility; Weakness: nly human)
Theme Two: Eye of the Tiger (Divination Mythos: Donovan has heightened senses of sight, hearing, and smell; Eyes like a Eagle, Ears like a Bat, Nose of a Bloodhound; Weakness: overpowering stimuli)
Theme Three: Caring Sibling (Defining Relationship Logos: Donavan's only living relative is his older sister, Cassie, who is a fantasy author. Tags: a shoulder to lean on, a theoretical expert, someone to borrow money from; Weakness: wants to know everything going on with me)
Theme Four: Working for the man (Occupation Logos: Donovan works as a data entry specialist at the social security administration; Tags: access to mundane information, the ability to create false identities, skilled with computers; Weakness: takes up my days)
Donovan is a the inheritor of a generational ability set that comes about once in a generation. During the ancient days, when monsters hunted humans openly and the night was long and full of dread, each of the archangels empowered a champion to fight back the darkness. Azrael created the saint of killers, someone for whom the taking of life is the most natural thing in their existence.
As time went on, the champions eventually drove back the night, and humanity began it's reign over the planet. The powers of each champion, however, was not tied to a specific bloodline, but was instead passed to a randomly selected individual upon the death of the previous holder. It then lurks just beneath the surface, waiting for a triggering situation to prevent itself.
For Donovan, that situation was the night that he and his sister were walking home from eating at their favorite restaurant when 4 men surrounded them, each armed with a pistol. One of them shoved the gun in his sister's face....and then next thing he remembers is his sister on the ground and then men dead around him.
His sister was unharmed, but she claims she doesn't remember much of the fight.
Since that night, Donovan's anxiety has been worse (dealing with the police can do that) and Donovan's sister has been trying extra hard to make sure that he is ok. All of this on top of the fact that he's noticed quite a few weird things going on with himself: He's in great shape, although he hasn't started exercising at all. He's stronger than he has ever been, and he is much more aware of his surroundings now.
Theme: Divine Teleportation
Mobility Mythos
Mystery: Where is the greatest need?
Myriad can travel anywhere to help others in need. Her goal is to help people learn to transcend mortality and evolve into higher beings, as she has, but because of the hierarchy of needs, she often has to ensure their survival before they will listen to her higher message.
Power Tags: Can teleport / time travel, can sense need
Weakness Tag: Can only travel where she is called/needed to assist. Can't travel to anyone against their will. The stronger the need, the harder it is to resist. Distance and time make it harder to sense.
Theme: Shapeshifting
Adaptation Mythos
Mystery: If I can become anything, who am I?
Myriad can appear as anything or anyone, but only on the outside. The inside is always her... an immortal higher being, whose knowledge has yet to catch up with her physical transcendence.
Power tags: Can shapeshift, can mimic voices and sounds perfectly, she is immortal (doesn't need to breathe or eat when she is disguised as a box).
Weakness Tag: She can look like and sounds like anything, but she doesn't always have the knowledge or the ability to be those other things. For instance, she can look like a ninja, but she can't fight like one. She can look like a bird, but unless she takes the time in that form to learn to fly, she can't just instantly do it.
Theme: Transcendance
Defining Event Logos
Identity: Powerful Imagination
Zenna, a struggling Sci-Fi and Fantasy novelist, during her extensive research for a Sci-Fi thriller, came across Max Markel who offered to teach her how to transcend her body. She, curious, agreed, and over the course of just a few days of his tutelage, somehow connected to a deep yearning that she had felt for a long time, gaining control over the very particles of her own being, and becoming (or remembering?) Myriad. Waking up to that advanced physical side of herself though caused her some deep emotional trauma as she questioned who she was and the very definition of self when she could suddenly "be" anything. Her new friend wasn't sure how to help her adapt, so he helped her to forget by writing out what she had "imagined" under the influence of "suggestion" and told her that it would help her to be a better writer, now that she could imagine the impossible. He was right. Her career blossomed, and she hit number one on the city's bestseller list in no time.
Power Tags: Ally Max Markel, who taught her to transcend, and to forget. Can forget things that trouble her by writing them down. Max is researching how to help her further.
Weakness Tag: She can't adapt to her new reality if she continued to sublimate it.
Theme: Popularity
Occupation Logos
Identity: Bestselling Novelist
Zenna writes out what she thinks are her imagined adventures after getting pulled into another adventure.
Power tags: Flexible schedule, moderate wealth and freedom, easy access to most information sources.
Weakness: Popularity is its own downfall. People know who she is and might recognize her almost anywhere. Privacy is a concern, as would be any extended disappearance.
Not sure if that works better, but hopefully it is more defined. Still kinks to work out though.
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So if you were to put a label on it, Myriad is sort of the Mythos of Fantasy Adventure? Go anywhere and be anyone. I like it.
Azrael is a neat concept. Are you thinking of running anywhere with the Hebrew mythology of that?
I think I want to tie Leighton Wise a little closer to Golem mythology. He's still an Android functionally, but a Golem needs a purpose, usually to protect. I think the identity of his creator should be shrouded in conspiracy. Maybe it doesn't even matter?
I think it would be more neat if the reason he couldn't discover his own identity earlier was because of the mist. He looks human enough, even his blood, but he's made from dense prosthetic parts and a false biology. He can eat and sleep, but he no longer requires it. Acting more like a human grounds him in reality, using his full capabilities makes him more powerful as an AI.
I'm kind of thinking that Wise looks more like a Touched class Rift something like this. I changed a few things.
Mythos: BASTION (Android Physiology) - Mystery: "Who made me and why?"
Power tags: Dense Body, Predictive Programming, Needs no sustenance or sleep
Weakness tags: Makes me emotionless
Logos:
PERSONALITY (Constant Improvement) - Identity: "Never do anything in halves."
Power tags: Rising star, Community activist, martial arts
Weakness tag: prone to burnout
DEFINING RELATIONSHIP (Homicide Squad) - Identity: "I defend this city from monsters."
Power tags: Squad has my back, Weapons training, Cunning Investigator
Weakness tag: follow the letter of the law
DEFINING EVENT (First Contact) - Identity: "I know what lies beyond the Mist."
Power tags: Disillusioned veteran, occult research, knowledge is power
Weakness tag: I've made enemies