I'm super excited that you're doing a campaign and I'd love to be a part of it. My plan would be to use the character that I've developed for your universe.
Smyrna Stephanides:
Fortunately for Smyrna, during high school she worked part time at her uncle's P.I. firm as a secretary. While taking calls was never her strong suit, Smyrna used her intelligence along with an online copy of "Hacking for Goblins" to gather info for her uncle and create programs to do all of the tedious tasks for her.
Unfortunately for Smyrna, Columbia's firewalls are much stronger than those of the basic comm units of blue collar adulterers. In an ironic twist, they also turned out to be much more literal, as the mainframe that Smyrna tried to corrupt burst into flame. Expelled from Columbia with a permanent mark on her record, and too disgraced to return to her parents who've sacrificed so much for her, Smyrna decided to find her own apartment in Harlem. To afford her forced independence, Smyrna got her position back at the only job she knows: her Uncle's failing P.I. agency.
Smyrna comes from a family that is poor but not struggling. Due to her independence, she feels a strong obligation to do well in life financially.
2. What does your character look like? Describe their fashion sense, their hair, their eyes and skin. Is there a reason they dress or act the way they do? How do they carry themselves when they don’t think anyone is looking?
Smyrna is a young, light-skinned woman with dark hair and makeup. Her face has been set into a vague grimace that she's practiced since she was four years old. Even though she's petite, she carries herself with the confidence of someone who's used to being right.
Her fashion choices tend towards metal and leather, the analog of which is an odd sight to the bright technofashion popularized by her generation. Though she did go through a body modification phase: she has a comm implant in her right eye and a set of custom, extendable rigging tools that she keeps hidden under her black, immaculate fingernails. She also wears an all-black second skin under her clothes, another odd choice when most people spend so much time finding armor that exactly matches their skin tone.
Altogether, Smyrna strikes people who meet her as apathetic, rude, and incredibly competent.
3. Where was your character born? A Space Station? Old Earth? An offworld colony? The Moon? If they aren't from Old Earth (which is most likely if they are an alien) why did they move to Old Earth? Feel free to do some invention here. There's a whole galaxy out there, and a whole range of places to be from.
Smyrna was born on Old Earth and has spent her entire life there.
4. How did your character become whatever class they are or learn the skills they have?
Smyrna is self-taught in her hacking skills, which explains why her methods are often ratchet. She has had a formal education to support her medical knowledge.
5. What does your character do for a living? How did they get into doing that?
Smyrna currently works part-time at her Uncle’s PI firm. She is always looking for better opportunities though.
6. What is their personality like?
Smyrna can be abrasive in her confidence, but her personality is evened out by her level-headedness. She’s also very empathetic, though she’d never openly admit it.
7. If your character is religious, explain why and how. If not, there may be a reason for that as well.
Smyrna is not religious at all. Her family is a part of the now almost extinct Greek Orthodox church, but Smyrna was far to contrary and questioning to commit to her family’s religion.
8. Explain what your character’s alignment means to them. Something like “Jessica is lawful good because she wants to stamp out evil and eradicate it. She would sacrifice herself to attain her goals.”
Smyrna is true neutral because she prioritizes her own happiness highly. Smyrna naturally has rather rigid morals, but she follows them for her own emotional health. Smyrna will almost definitely prioritize her life over the mission, but she’d probably sacrifice herself to save multiple loved ones because it’s a net gain.
9. How does your character feel about technology? About trans-humanism? About other races? Some people will always be conservatives, but some embrace technological advance wholeheartedly.
Smyrna is alllll about technology. She shows neo-anarchist tendencies in her belief that technology should be a wild, unregulated market for the smartest to take advantage of.
Right now mechanically, Smyrna fulfills an engineer/medic role. If that place in the party is saturated, I'd be happy to tweak Smyrna to make her something different. Specifically, I could see her acting as a party face, a utility character, or a combat character by messing with her stats and maybe switching her class perk to having a drone. I'll keep following this post, love the universe!
@ Amaryst Geil - Do you still wish to connect our characters?
Korvan's Connections (Thus far):
...
Amaryst Geil
While not exactly close, Korvan and Amaryst have frequented many of the same locations throughout the years and are on at least friendly terms, be it working for the same employer on various jobs or just hanging out at the same dive bars sharing a drink or three.
...
That's perfect, although I see her as being on earth just over a year or so, but it's really perfect. Cheap smoky bars, working at the fringe of respectable society. Amaryst would really value a dependable colleague. They could have met while working security for a wealthy family. Amaryst pulling guard duty and evaluating physical security, Korvan setting up the electronic security systems. They could have made a game out of brainstorming vulnerabilities and inventing stopgaps.
Yeah, and I bet he took a shine to her so he probably kept in touch and hired her from time to time up until she struck the jackpot with the dude who ended her up here. His family wouldn't have minded the protection and they would have compensated her well.Yeah! That's the obvious hook -- Jin was an old client. Maybe his contract was the one that first got her off Castrovel?... I could see that, or maybe even she worked for Jin as a bodyguard at some point while he was travelling? He's really laid back and im sure he'd be delighted to chat and talk during the trip. Regardless i'd be happy to go for the friendship angle, since a party of complete strangers is kinda boring.
As for the current situation, he would be glad to have a person he can trust in this madness because he's just as likely as you to get hunted down and he'd rather stick to strength in numbers, especially given he's completely unarmed. If we could get ahold of your ship and get the gang off-world? Even better!
As long as the money was good -- :-) More seriously how about this? Jin was her first client off Castrovel. He'd been visiting one of the big bio-companies there. They advised him that a competitor was "aggressively trying to alter the market conditions" and that he might consider precautions for his personal safety. Amaryst had just worked her way into one of the premier security companies, owned by a relative of a major financial officer in the bio-company. So not only was Jin her first off-world connection; he was also her first job in the upper economic strata. She's been grateful for that break ever since. And she was well paid, and they hit it off too and have kept in touch. I'd like to keep the engineering angle as their first personal bonding point. It would be natural for her to look him up once she reached earth, to renew the friendship, and maybe seek a little financial help, although she's been shy about mentioning it.
@ Amaryst Geil - Zenvisk would definitely appreciate having a person to converse with telepathically, but the question would be how would they meet? Zenvisk is not particularly the kind of person who would hang out at the locations Amaryst seems to. However, they could know each other through Jin.
...
I like that angle. Leinathan has said the connection doesn't have to be strong historically, it could be more in the future. Does Jin throw parties? (We won't know until Harond returns Monday.) Amaryst met Zenvisk at Jin's whether at a party, or they had contiguous appointments with the witchwyrd. Zenvisk and Jin immediately started talking about their favorite subject, gaming -- in particular a new interstellar game. Feeling a little left out, Amaryst would mentally comment on game mechanics v. real life space ships -- just funny little jokey jabs. By itself, not much of a relationship, but at other times Jin has told each about the other -- so they've a good idea of what the other is like. Zenvisk would know and expect her to be handy in a tight spot. Amaryst would know Zenvisk is a go-to guy for computers, engineering, and a wide range of (cultural) information.
Or maybe Zenvisk is a racing fan? Maybe after seeing each other at Jin's they met accidentally at a track ...? Interest in engines and high velocity vehicles is an easy route to Amaryst's friendship.
Looks like we have 11 submissions so far.
Cross - male android ghost operative
. . . illegal street racer, former asteroid miner, cored human
Korvan - male human exocortex mechanic
. . . hacker-thief, orphan, street rat
Jin - male witchwyrd exocortex mechanic
. . . biomedical savant, regretful psionics researcher
Zenvisk - host shirren drone mechanic
. . . vidgamer star, strandee
Brox - male vesk solarian
. . . former mercenary, reluctant raider
Amaryst - female korasha lashunta soldier
. . . former bodyguard, unlikely heir
Quark - male human telekineticist
. . . righteously angry science experiment
MLE-1138 - female human empath mystic
. . . test tube baby
Maldor Brock - male human healer mystic
. . . psionic street rat stolen from his family
Mabel Goldman - female human envoy
. . . medical savant
Smyrna Stephanides - female exocortex mechanic
. . . sci-fi receptionist
@Cross I've got an idea for a connection with Amaryst. She's into fast vehicles, engines and drives. She's floated on the edges of the local street racing scene and has seen Cross drive. She's never approached him, but is impressed.
Late coming applicants In case you missed it, leinathan has requested that all applicants propose some kind of connection, past present or possibly future tense with at least two other applicants.
@Single Mothers It's possible that Amaryst might have met you as a temporary worker at your uncle's PI agency. A is a professional bodyguard, down on her luck.
Good night everybody! If I don't get back before leinathan closes submissions, Good Luck to you all.
As long as the money was good -- :-) More seriously how about this? Jin was her first client off Castrovel. He'd been visiting one of the big bio-companies there. They advised him that a competitor was "aggressively trying to alter the market conditions" and that he might consider precautions for his personal safety. Amaryst had just worked her way into one of the premier security companies, owned by a relative of a major financial officer in the bio-company. So not only was Jin her first off-world connection; he was also her first job in the upper economic strata. She's been grateful for that break ever since. And she was well paid, and they hit it off too and have kept in touch. I'd like to keep the engineering angle as their first personal bonding point. It would be natural for her to look him up once she reached earth, to renew the friendship, and maybe seek a little financial help, although she's been shy about mentioning it.Yeah, and I bet he took a shine to her so he probably kept in touch and hired her from time to time up until she struck the jackpot with the dude who ended her upYeah! That's the obvious hook -- Jin was an old client. Maybe his contract was the one that first got her off Castrovel?... I could see that, or maybe even she worked for Jin as a bodyguard at some point while he was travelling? He's really laid back and im sure he'd be delighted to chat and talk during the trip. Regardless i'd be happy to go for the friendship angle, since a party of complete strangers is kinda boring.
As for the current situation, he would be glad to have a person he can trust in this madness because he's just as likely as you to get hunted down and he'd rather stick to strength in numbers, especially given he's completely unarmed. If we could get ahold of your ship and get the gang off-world? Even better!
Sounds like a great plan! I like it. ^_^
Also, for Leinathan's ease I'll summarize Jin's connections.
MLE-1338: He was one of the scientists who created her and treated her and the others he was assigned well, the night of the attack when he got word of what had happened he went to search the area near the lab for survivors and found her. He feels responsible for her as he was (partially) the one who created her.
Amaryst Geil: Jin was one of her earliest major contracts and they took a shine to one another during the trip. They remained in contact and when they both ended up stuck on Earth they decided now was a good time to reconnect. Jin probably would have been a little loose with his cash covering her for things but that is because she is a good friend of his.
Zenvisk: A close online friend that Jin moved in with on earth. The two get along well due to similar skill sets, interests, and taste in games and like to tweak one another's setups. Jin also spent a significant amount of the money he brought to Earth on Zenvisk (similar to Amaryst).
Brox & Korvan: Both came to Jin for his medical expertise and ability to create and install cybernetics, while his relationship with them is less personal he still enjoys their company and is happy to chat and lend them his assistance from time to time.
Also, due to Jin's spending a lot of his money on his friends (Zenvisk and Amaryst, and also maybe Emily) without too much second thought he currently is a bit short on funds. But he doesn't mind too much and if you asked he'd say that seeing them happy is worth it.
Does Jin throw parties? (We won't know until Hazrond returns Monday.)
No but he does actually room with Zenvisk, so if they were hanging out in person at Jin's place then the two probably would have met a few times, maybe the three bonded over racing movies or something? (Also, Jin might have got Amaryst's attention recently when he let slip that the Witchwyrds have a special type of top-secret starship drive, maybe he even toyed aloud with the idea of hiring her more permanently so she can try it out, after all only the most trusted of non-witchwyrd pilots have ever even gotten to see it [/fauxseriousface])
...bump. Also, any answer for that question I had?
Would you be willing to allow Necrografts to be crafted as Biotech or Cybernetics for an upcharge? The rules mentioned making cheaper versions of Biotech and Cybernetics for only 90% cost but nothing about crafting Biotech or Cybernetic versions of Necrografts. (Maybe have an upcharge of 10% similar to Adaptive Biochains?)
...bump. Also, any answer for that question I had?
Would you be willing to allow Necrografts to be crafted as Biotech or Cybernetics for an upcharge? The rules mentioned making cheaper versions of Biotech and Cybernetics for only 90% cost but nothing about crafting Biotech or Cybernetic versions of Necrografts. (Maybe have an upcharge of 10% similar to Adaptive Biochains?)
Oh, whoops!
I meant to look those up earlier, but I've just done so and I'm struggling to see how you could change the flavor (not-undead flesh) without changing the mechanics on any of them. They all have disgusting drawbacks, including the idea of the "necrosis score".
It does seem strange that there aren't augmentations already that increase your carry capacity like the necrograft does, though. However, I'd probably want it to be something like 150% cost of the necrograft because of the lack of drawbacks.
It doesn't seem like you'd have the money for either of them at character creation anyway, so it's something we can handle for real later on, yeah?
...bump. Also, any answer for that question I had?
Would you be willing to allow Necrografts to be crafted as Biotech or Cybernetics for an upcharge? The rules mentioned making cheaper versions of Biotech and Cybernetics for only 90% cost but nothing about crafting Biotech or Cybernetic versions of Necrografts. (Maybe have an upcharge of 10% similar to Adaptive Biochains?)Oh, whoops!
I meant to look those up earlier, but I've just done so and I'm struggling to see how you could change the flavor (not-undead flesh) without changing the mechanics on any of them. They all have disgusting drawbacks, including the idea of the "necrosis score".
It does seem strange that there aren't augmentations already that increase your carry capacity like the necrograft does, though. However, I'd probably want it to be something like 150% cost of the necrograft because of the lack of drawbacks.
It doesn't seem like you'd have the money for either of them at character creation anyway, so it's something we can handle for real later on, yeah?
"Necrosis score"? Are you looking at the official Necrografts in the Splintered Worlds book? Mostly I was just curious but... honestly reading over them the only one that I'd be interested in would be the Black Heart (it gives Environmental Protections like armor) and that's a bunch of work for only a single thing, just forget I asked it's no big deal.
Oh wait, I guess I looked at a Pathfinder thing for some reason. Whoops!
I don't have that book, so I'm relying on the SRD... which it doesn't seem contains the necrografts.
If what you want is an augmentation that makes you immune to vacuum, that's certainly possible at some point.
@Single Mothers It's possible that Amaryst might have met you as a temporary worker at your uncle's PI agency. A is a professional bodyguard, down on her luck.
Amaryst that's a good idea. Working together, Smyrna would appreciate Amaryst's working attitude, and also connect with her over music. Smyrna's more of a mosher, but she'd definitely be down to party.
@Hazrond If you're alright with it, I think that our characters would have a connection through their shared interests in body modification and technology. Something like sharing notes on science and anatomy to build better rigs.
There's a pretty good chance that I'll switch to a drone mechanic to keep the class features more spread out. I'll work on it and have it to y'all.
@Hazrond If you're alright with it, I think that our characters would have a connection through their shared interests in body modification and technology. Something like sharing notes on science and anatomy to build better rigs.
There's a pretty good chance that I'll switch to a drone mechanic to keep the class features more spread out. I'll work on it and have it to y'all.
Something a little more professional? Sure. I feel like her personality might be a bit off putting to someone like him, given her abrasiveness.
So, to finalize Zenvisk's connections,
Jin One of Zenvisk's closest friends, who he met through online vidgames. When Jin came to Earth, he moved in with Zenvisk. Jin has gotten Zenvisk horribly addicted to the MMOVRRPG Warcraft.
Amaryst Geil Zenvisk knows Amaryst through hearing Jin speak of her, and through the occasional meeting when Amaryst came by their shared apartment to meet with Jin. They have bonded through their ability to easily speak mind-to-mind.
@Zenvisk and @ Hazrond, the two of you living together makes Amaryst meeting Zenvisk easy logically. I think we're set.
@Hazrond -- HA! that super secret drive would be just like candy to Amaryst!
@Single mothers -- agreed. Smyrna and Amaryst met through work and like parties and dancing. Amaryst might be given to more free moving dancing, but could also appreciate a good mosh pit.
Hey all, I'm here to say Recruitment is closed. I doubt anybody else is going to apply to this, and I'm already having trouble narrowing you down to 5 or 6 people.
I'm considering opening two tables, but we'll see whether I have the time and attention for that.
I will get back to you as soon as I am able to with a final decision. I don't feel any further need to test you, and have some questions that are better off waiting for the actual final party.
Okay, I've done some thinking and I'm ready to do the selection: It's a bigger than normal party, but I've cut who I could stand to cut.
If I ever have need of another, I will be PMing some of you to extend an invitation :)
Those that will be joining me are:
escaping from the station together after the failed lashunta raid,
MLE - 1138, psychic empath engineered from birth
Maldor Brock, street rat stolen from his family and forced to undergo brutal training
rescuing the psychics off of the street out of a sense of self-shame,
Jin Larson, witchwyrd biomedical expert
Professionals who will become involved through a sense of friendship, self-defense or some ideological matter,
Cross, human core in a cybernetic body, illegal street racer
Korvan, professional (and largely illegal) hacker
Amaryst, professional lashunta bodyguard and soldier
Smyrna, science fiction receptionist punk
Please check into the Discussion thread that I have created, make a final few arrangements for the beginning of the game, and get ready for a sci-fi adventure!
Good luck all! I hope whoever makes it has a fun time.
Edit: Whoops! Didn't see the post, grats all, can't wait to see how the party plays out. ^_^
Whelp, my internet dies in a few minutes, see y'all tomorrow.
Good luck guys!
Ah, well. Have fun guys!