The Strange: Realms Beyond Reality (Inactive)

Game Master Darkfire142

This will be the location of Out of Character conversations, info dumps and background information.

By the way folks, I was checking the Kickstarters and learned about a new Cypher System game being advertised called "The Vurt".

Looking at it, it seems to be pretty similar to the Strange in many respects. Its based a few decades in the future into a cyberpunk world where a new technology called "Dream Feathers" allows people to tap into Collective Dreamscape called you guessed it, "The Vurt". The Vurt is shaped by the dreams and nightmares of the world and is where anything is possible but is also is as real as it is dangerous. Those who tap in the Vurt can bring things back with them as well in the form of Cyphers and Artefacts to the real world. Of course Dream Feathers and things taken from the Vurt are highly illegal due to their awesome power but when has that stopped anyone. I suggest you check out the link below if it interests you.

The Vurt

Remember folks, all Human PC's get a "Flex Skill". At the start of each day you can chose a non-combat skill you are trained in. It must be a skill you don't already have training or specialization in and it cannot be used to "Specialize" an existing trained skill. This is my "Balancing Factor" as in other recursions you might become, elves, robots, werewolves etc.. which give "Racial" benefits thus humans need some racial benefit to balance out with other races. When you do change "Race" however you trade out the Flex Skill ability for the racial features of your new race.

All ready with backstory now.

I wasn't aware that we had started. I'll post something here in a bit.

I am going on vacation. I will be out of town from Thursday until Sunday. Unfortunately, I will be able to post erratically at best.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

I am here of course! Just waiting on some responses

Oh geez are you waiting on me? I thought the 'every one goes downstairs ' was set up for another post

I am very sorry. My internet has been wonky lately, but things should be fixed now.

Welcome back to the intarwebs

Will be away from computer for most of tonight, and tomorrow. Will be able to post very late at night maybe.

If combat is needed, Marcus fights defensively and sticks with someone who is more competent at battle.

just poking here since we haven't had an update in almost 2 weeks.

I'd still love to continue if it's still possible. I want to learn more about the system.

I'ed love to continue but we'ed need to recast. Do you have any idea of who might be interested in joining?

Switched the Focus to "Looks for trouble." Closest thing that came to my PC concept.

Starting Link:
One of you was nice to me and I'm paying you back by watching your six at the Auction.

Connection:
Pick one or two other PCs. They seem pretty tough, and you’re secretly hoping that at some point you’ll see who’s tougher—you or them.

I'd choose both of the current PCs.

As to how I came upon the Auction. It fits with the above, watching your back and/or being related. Or just a friend.

I'm sure this Auction was the kind of thing I'd be looking to attend, knowing their would be trouble...Or it just seemed off and knew my "charge" was going into danger and I didn't want them to have all the fun and leave me behind.

If those work, I'll add it to some history I'm coming up with. I've still got to choose my equipment and maybe a few skills, but other than that, its pretty much done. I'll update appearance too.

Posting here so it comes up in my campaign threads, if not, I'll post over in Gameplay in OOC chat.

Like what I've read and am very interested in learning more about the game, I like this approach where we are ignorant of Strange and will be introduced to it by the GM, this approach by GMs in a new games (to PCs) has always been very enjoyable.

If you use weapons that you are not proficient with they have a higher difficulty to hit with. As a Paradox you are proficient with Light Weapons (Which includes fists, knives and other weapons that do a flat 2 points of damage). If you use a Medium Weapon the difficulty of the attack is increased by 1. So for instance a Skeleton requires a 9 on a d20 to hit (6 for its level and 3 for the asset on defense for having a shield). Because you are not proficient with Medium Weapons you need a 12 to hit a skeleton. If you use a heavy weapon its 2 steps more difficult meaning you need a 15 to hit.

woop

I chose onslaught and resonance field from adept abilities. I'll get my weapons chosen and do what you asked in game play. A light ranged and a light bladed. I'm thinking when s%#~ hits the fan the field activated to protect me, next turn I'll just attack and let onslaught manifest a bit later. Sound ok?

Edit : reviewing gameplay seems Julian /Armond unleashed his ranged intellect attack, we can call that my onslaught?

Do I need to dodge? I will, jus to keep the story flow. Resonance field will manifest soon, ok?

Other xp goes to the lady.

Ok, Equipment and abilities sorted. Will post my actions tonight after work.

Well to fit the narrative we'll say that Onslaught activated first as that is what happened earlier as one of the skeletons got damaged. The resonance field can activate in future rounds probably as a response to an attack.

As for "Dodging", that is already covered in the system. When a creature attacks you you can either Dodge (Using Speed) or Block/Take it like a boss (using Might). Intellect is used to defend against mental attacks but with the resonance field you can use Intellect as a defensive method as well. Humm you seem to have taken powers from the Adept power list. Nevertheless I will allow it as it seems like an abilities that a Paradox might be able to use. You might want to consider taking Exception instead of Onslaught as personally I find it a better power due to its ability to stun targets but its up to you.

I could switch to Exception, I just though you said Paradox may take adept powers, so I figured it was ok. I thought the ability to choose to mindslice was nice and the stun only works once..Though that may be all that is needed to do in this game for combat to seriously damage an enemy...I'm unsure. If you recommend it, then I'll take it instead.

Anyways, gonna double check on dodge/block and post now.

So i quickly reread the rules, but they didn't seem to answer my question specifically and/or provide some examples on dodge..maybe I missed it..

Not sure what DC 6 means for the speed check I have. Does that mean its a Difficulty 6 (18 on the dice) or does DC 6 mean I need to roll higher than 6 on the dice?

I'm ready to post, but I'm unsure. I got the attack part down, so I can do that without a problem (I think), but need to resolve the attack first before I do.

If this is too slow and everyone is ready to act, then I'll just take the damage and we can begin the next round. Though it seems I'm first?..So people still waiting on me? Sorry guys, I'm trying.

It means you have to roll a 6 or more on a d20 to succeed so 10 on the d20 avoids the attack

In this system, bonuses/penalties up or lower the difficulty of the check. The Target Number (TN) is 3 times the creature's level modified by any adjustments. So to hit a skeleton on base is a 9 due to being a level 2 plus one for having a shield so its a Level 3 when defending, meaning you need a base 9 to hit.

Now lets break down what you did. Armand tried to kick the skeleton. Its a base level 3 with the shield advantage, meaning he needed a 9. Because Armand was using a light weapon (A kick), it reduces level of the skeleton to a 2, meaning a 6 to hit. Armand rolled a 5 so he fails to do damage to the Skeleton.

Now if he did hit the skeleton, he would do a base 2 damage, +1 for his type so 3 damage. However the Skeletons have 1 armor so it would inflict 2 damage. Hope you understand what that does.

Got it, thanks.

Just wondering why paradox has only one edge. I know there's a 3rd cypher slot that others don't have, but is that it? Maybe that's balanced and I've yet to recognize it. Only proficient in light weapons, but I know there's some nice ranged intellect attacks. Guess I'm the lore monkey? Not really sure if he'll be such a proficient melee fighter, Better to stay at range? Just trying to figure out my role, as I noticed others seemed to have less focus in might /melee, which is where I hoped to pick up slack being "strong" but if that's not suitable for a paradox, let me know now.

Paradoxes have only one edge to start with as they are purely mentally focused characters and probably have the most overt powers of all the three types able to literally alter physics to their will with their Revisions, something that the Vector can't do and the Spinner can do to only a limited degree. The extra Cypher Slot is also a big deal as Cyphers are very powerful items and many of them can be game-breaking in an encounter so being able to hold more is a dam good thing. Paradoxes are more of the "Wizard" type of this setting, but that's not to say you can't use combinations of Descriptors and Foci to be a more combat oriented type. The thing is that Paradoxes are more geared towards using magical/technological abilities rather than direct combat. Still if it what you want you can built a Warrior-Mage type character with a good combination of factors.

Just gonna assume we don't know each other and I followed you into the room on a whim, my nose for trouble? Almost got my history done, I'm not mob affiliated, hope that's fine.

You probably followed them into the room because the previous areas are assaulted by guys with explosives, automatic weapons, gas masks and full body armor. Currently they are in a shootout with the other auction attendees and the auction guards. It is only a matter of time before the soldiers will kill the entire room though as they are better armed and armored and putting down huge amounts of gunfire.

OK, so you can use effort to increase damage, and the effort you use is reduced by your edge in a stat, am I correct?

So if I have an edge of 1 in speed and intellect, I can spend effort for free?

No, that lowers the cost. It costs at base 3 stat points to use effort. If you have edge, you reduce the cost by that value. So 1 speed edge means it costs you 2 for effort instead of 3 for instance.

for tracking purposes, what are we calling this recursion?

Due to events you have translated into a different recursion and not in the normal method. I will give you a choice if you want to pick your race and Focus or if I should generate it with random rolls. Here is a breakdown of the races you can be.

As for your recursion, you are currently in Ardeyn.

1. Human: Pretty much a human being although somewhat of an idealized fantasy human, so a great physically fit body.

Racial Ability: Flex Skill

2. Basmu: Lizard like scaled humanoids with fang mouths and horned heads. Appear much like Dragonborn.

Racial Abilities: +1 Natural Armor, advantage on resisting grapple attempts.

3. Kusarikku: Humanoids with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a bull or cow. They also have bull-like horns on their head, with males having more pronounced horns than females.

Racial Abilities: +4 max might points and an advantage on lifting and carrying tasks.

4. Girtabliu: Have the upper body of humans but the lower body of scorpions, so basically Scorpion-People.

Racial Abilities: Advantage on balance checks (Due to having multiple legs). They have a scorpion tail that does 2 damage and injects a poison that does 1 damage around for 1d6 rounds (It costs 1 speed to use the tail)

5. Ugallu: Lion man. Furry humanoids with muscled bodies and heads of lions.

Racial Abilities: Bite attack that counts as a medium weapon. They also can spend 1 might to have themselves crackle with electricity for a minute, adding +1 electrical damage to all their natural attacks.

6. Qephilim: The oldest race in Qephilim. The Qephilim appear as hyena headed humanoids with very long ears. If you take this race you MUST take the focus "Embraces Qephilim Ancestry".

Racial Abilities: The Qephilim has keen senses, all perception based checks have an asset. In addition the Qephilim are respected by most intelligent races in Aryden so have an asset on all social rolls.

Focuses:

You should chose a focus that will function in a fantasy setting. The only Earth Foci I'll allow is "Needs No Weapons" and "Throws with deadly accuracy" as those function well enough in most recursions.

Let's see what non human thing I am
1d5 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Looks like I'm a Basmu!

I'll do a random race as well:

1d6 ⇒ 3

Ah yes, also forgot "Steals" or "Works the back alleys" also works. After all a Rogue Class is a staple of a fantasy setting.

So our talker is a Lizard-Man and our bruiser is a female Satyr. This should be interesting. :-)

Lets see what a random race looks like.
Magical Species Machine: 6 = 6.. Quephilim, interesting.

Are we switching to the base equipment of our new Focus?

Yes, take the equipment if your new focus.

I'll be a strong Ugalla who abides in Stone.

The focus says I'm humanoid in appearance or Qephilim, does my new race supersede that and I'm a lion looking golem?

Also, because I use my fist as medium weapons, does that mean I can block with them like a medium weapon?

You get the racial abilities of the race as abides in stone is a focus, not a race. So your fists and bite count as medium weapons which you are proficient with. Because you are a stone statue, I will say you can block with your stony fists as well as you have hardened skin.

Profile updated, though I was tempted to make separate profile for each recursion.

I get an armour of my choice as part of my Qephilim ancestry foci, would it be an abuse to claim a Qephilim-Craft-Coat as armour choice?
It gives 1 point of armour (as light armour), but counts as no armour for the purpose of penalties. (p91)

As a house rule I don't give armor penalties for light armor as light armor can be something as light as a leather jacket so you won't have to worry. The Qephilim coat is worth a s%$@load of gold so no unfortunately as you'ed probably try and cash it in for money.

Fair enough, the massive discrepancy in prices is why I asked, I'll stick with the Jerkin as already noted in my profile.

Other than picking my new gear, I'm updated.

Sorry I'm just a bit confused on how to convert my equipment to the new universe.

If I don't choose a different focus, does anythign change?

Weekends are my busiest time, I'll try to find time to update, but it'll probably have to wait until lunch or after I'm off. (morning now)

Ok Marcus if the focus lacks a list of equipment you get the following.

Bag of Light Tools, Light Armor, two weapons of your choice, explorer's pack, rope and grapple, Ardeyn Clothing and 200 Gold Crowns.

So I have Cassie completely updated. I assumed it was alright, but I took a shield instead of armor since she is speed defense focused instead of armor focused.

So our guns from the previous revision, do they carry over, as well as any light armor? I'd imagine the guns become bows or crossbows, just wondering if I already have one or I should choose one as my weapon choice from new Focus.

I believe any "armor" I'd have would be stone and "carved" into my appearance right? But then you said I could put clothes on?...Not sure if these guys typically run around naked or do they attempt to cloth themselves...Don't want to double up on armor by trying to do both, just wondering which one I should/normally have so I can picture my PC correctly.

Also I have a hammer and chisel, what would my PC know what to do with those tools..Is that something I'll just have to figure out or do I have some knowledge or understanding already of what I could do... Not sure if its for working on myself or I'm a stone mason..or use it to just build general things...