Qstor's Modern d20 Horror (Inactive)

Game Master Qstor

I have a GM question about the Acrobatics skill (combination of Jump and Tumble). Grace has put 6 skill points into acrobatics, but I need to know what ability the bonus is based on and whether or not it is a class skill of the Strong hero. Jump is based on strength and is a class skill of the strong hero but tumble is based on Dex and is not a class skill.

Thanks to Stringer's comment, I've decided she should have a fake ID to get her into places that might consider her under age. The rules say the GM rolls the forgery skill check and keeps track of the result to use when the ID is presented. She'll want to get the best she can with Wealth Level 13. I'll add it to her equipment list and leave the rest to you.

I have a GM question about the Acrobatics skill (combination of Jump and Tumble). Grace has put 6 skill points into acrobatics, but I need to know what ability the bonus is based on and whether or not it is a class skill of the Strong hero. Jump is based on strength and is a class skill of the strong hero but tumble is based on Dex and is not a class skill.

Assuming it's based on the Pathfinder Acrobatics skill I'd guess it's Dex.

It would be my vote for GM to get more heavy-handed with saving throws and fear effects.

Maybe I was overplaying it mechanically but as the PC who got 3 levels deep into Fear effects I think we're doing alright on that front. ;)

16 Str on a teenage girl is like, uhh okay, I guess you do a lot of pushups.

Heh. She can lift 230 pounds over her head. With that, she's not winning the Olympics but she's in contention in the women's weightlifting arena. And deadlifting 460 is enough to get her in the powerlifting news.

That's a strong 16 year old girl. Stronger than Mick, our local child soldier turned war-weary adult mercenary.

Oooh, I wonder if that would make Stringer wonder if she's the product of some kind of corp genetic manipulation project. Especially with the special school for the gifted thing. Interesting. :)

Maybe that's more Dark Angel than Dark Conspiracy, though (if anybody even remembers that show).

Great content, Mick!

Agreed. That was good stuff. It's really cool you were able to contribute to the system back then, Mick.

I do remember Dark Angel. Sorry it did not run more seasons.

Grace is definitely muscular. I think it would be a part of a martial arts regimen to get as strong as possible. Grace obviously has pushed that farther than most female martial artists. But she is fighting men in her street fights and so she has to be able to compete with their levels of strength. She does a lot more damage than one might expect because her martial arts training has honed her technique to deliver forces more effectively than a typical fist fighter. Her talents boost her damage with unarmed strikes by 2. She also does 1d4 basic unarmed damage compared to 1d3 normal. And she can do lethal damage. And that's before she gets serious and draws her katana.

Regarding genetic manipulation, a less extreme explanation might be getting experimental steroids that increase muscle mass but perhaps without some of the usual side effects. There might also be a cybernetic way to increase strength. I haven't checked for that.

Just some random thoughts.

In the original DC source material there were groups of street kids known as Nukids. Many were mutated and had strange abilities, due to various pollutions, toxins, and experimentation including radiation

I am in no way suggesting Grace is one of them. Just says those kinds of things are out there.

In fact I get kind of a Buffy vibe from her. DC empathy could be magic-like on occasion. Maybe she is being trained by some minion hunter group in the hope of using her skills against the darkness.

If the mystical Slayer isn’t to taste or the setting. Then going off mutations, what if she was manipulated genetically or super-soldered (ala captain america) By oh say, the bad guys. Would explain any special gear. She somehow escaped or was misplaced. And maybe they want her back. Goes off the original DC escaped cyborg class, powerful but with problems.

Anyway, welcome to the game.

I would stay if I had a sense that this was more than a dungeon crawl fif which Pearl is ill-suited. If there's going to be intrigue with other human npcs that would be more her skilkset.

There's no more "dungeon crawl" parts. It's investigation and some combat. Plenty for a face to do!

Grace obviously has pushed that farther than most female martial artists. But she is fighting men in her street fights and so she has to be able to compete with their levels of strength. She does a lot more damage than one might expect because her martial arts training has honed her technique to deliver forces more effectively than a typical fist fighter.

That's a hook. A katana-wielding child street fighter with almost superhuman abilities and skills would be urban legend in New Orleans, especially in the darker reaches of the city where we all operate. 0 Reputation doesn't make sense.

We would all know who you are and what you're capable of. What we don't know is if all of that childhood trauma has severely damaged your psyche and made you a lethal and unstable adolescent, which would make for compelling rp while we try to figure out how dangerous you are.

Like, "Holy s%&@, that's Grace." Otherwise I'll be like, Is this chick for real?

Regarding genetic manipulation, a less extreme explanation might be getting experimental steroids that increase muscle mass but perhaps without some of the usual side effects. There might also be a cybernetic way to increase strength. I haven't checked for that.

All 3 of which could point at corp shenanigans and conspiracy theory stuff. Stringer loves that stuff.

As for cyber, we're PL 6 so there are some interesting things you could do with cyberware, like implanted weapons or body armor or nightvision optics, but the strength enhancer is still in the future at PL 7 (or GM fiat).

There's some interesting mutations, too, but I don't see anything that increases strength.

Grace "Kat" Shannon wrote:

Grace obviously has pushed that farther than most female martial artists. But she is fighting men in her street fights and so she has to be able to compete with their levels of strength. She does a lot more damage than one might expect because her martial arts training has honed her technique to deliver forces more effectively than a typical fist fighter.

That's a hook. A katana-wielding child street fighter with almost superhuman abilities and skills would be urban legend in New Orleans, especially in the darker reaches of the city where we all operate. 0 Reputation doesn't make sense.

Wow, Strong hero doesn't get any reputation bonus until level 5? Geez. I guess the first rule of fight club really is we don't talk about fight club.

There's no more "dungeon crawl" parts. It's investigation and some combat. Plenty for a face to do!

Cool. Are we waiting on the new characters to settle in or can we move ahead with the neighbor, if there's anything to that?

I'm ready to jump in. I still want the GM to answer some of my questions about the level of mastercraft katana she can obtain and about the cost of relatively low-tech set of wheels, something like an electric powered skateboard with special wheels that help it run over rough surfaces (a la YT in Snow Crash).

I've written a lengthy background for Grace, indicating how she came to have her skills and modest powers. Since it does not seem likely that she would know any of the other PCs, I said that someone in her school network got one of Lou's letters. A food riot in a neighboring ward had drawn away the more experienced members of the community who might normally be given the assignment to investigate, so it fell on her to seek out the address and investigate.

Unless anyone wants to suggest anything different, Grace will show up at Lou's to investigate and will meet the others and things can roll from there.

To the extent that she needs any special explanation of her powers, I've chosen to go a quasi-mystical religious explanation, drawing on traditions like Candomblé, Santeria, or Voodoo. Her extraordinary strength could be explained as an augmentation from Shango, a deity of lightning, thunder, storms, and tempests. These religions believe in something called ashe, which is similar to the Chinese concept of Chi or the Japanese equivalent called Ki. This is what she will marshal as she develops her Battle Mind powers.

As for reputation, we might utilize a concept from GURPS, that the cost of a reputation is proportional to both the level of reputation and the percentage of the population who recognizes you. Someone who gains a reputation at the kind of fight club I'm imagining would not necessarily extend beyond the people who attend such fights. She might have a +3 reputation among other participants, but not enough people outside of this group would have heard of her. In GURPS this could be handled as a quirk of a low power feat.

I don't want to spend a feat to increase her reputation, so let's just say that when she fights, she wears some kind of mask and costume that makes it hard for others to recognize her when she is not wearing these disguises.

Are you sure you don't want the name on her fake ID to be Mary Sue, just to shoot the universe a wink?

Clever idea. I'll think on it. :)

Anyone know a resource for coming up with slightly cyberpunk city speak slang? I'm familiar with the Shadowrun substitute swear words, but I'm looking for clever ways of saying straightforward things teenagers might come up with.

...I'm looking for clever ways of saying straightforward things teenagers might come up with.

Take the word (Ex. "Cool")

Insert a rhyme before/after any of the steps.

Currently, Julian is attending to Wraith. She's paid him a lot over the years, so keeping her up and going equals money. He'll join in a bit.

Check this site out for local slang.

https://www.whereyat.com/nawlins-slang

Thanks.

I've been using a combination of Shadowrun slang and Expanse Belter creole to approximate a Bladerunner-esque cityspeak. But Stringer is old and out of touch at around 8 years older than Grace. :D

I've researched New Orleans version of Creole for some local slang and expressions. I'll probably make up other terms as I go along for elements of the near-future technology and culture, as well as sprinkling in ideas from Shadowrun and Cyberpunk games.

If she has to, Grace can speak in 'normal American English', which is what I expect is the common language of the realm. But she can speak as her community speaks as well, since I put a point into speaking and understanding the local Creole. So she'll probably speak as spoken to, for the most part.

@GM:

Before Grace gets into combat, I'd like to establish if she can get a mastercraft katana (normally adds 3 to the purchase DC and gives a +1 to the weapon). A +2 mastercraft adds 3 to the purchase DC and a +3 item adds +6.

Grace could afford any of these so the question is what is the best she can locate? The rules are vague on whether a mastercraft weapon bonus adds to attack and damage or just 1 or the other. In 3.5 and PF1 a masterwork weapon adds to the attack roll only.

There is also an option to make the weapon magical with a bonus to hit and damage. Grace could can probably afford at least a +1 magic weapon if that if it is available.

Do you need to approve of any of this or can I assume if Grace can afford the purchase DC, she can get it?

I'd also like to know if the skateboard I described in her entry is available and what the Purchase DC would be. It is self-powered with a rechargeable battery. It doesn't go real fast but has special wheels that adjust to match the terrain to make it possible to skate over most surfaces. If that's to out there, I'd settle for an electric bicycle or moped or even just a non-powered mountain bike.

Well for what it’s worth, I did a little research (I geek out on stuff like this).

A high end off-road powered skateboard is between 3 and 4 thousand dollars. Figure and extra 1000 or so for the special effects. So say it costs about $5000.

Now I found this online.

https://d20modern.fandom.com/wiki/Wealth

$5000 would be a 23 purchase DC

Thanks. I'd like the GMs blessing before I assume anything about equipment.

Honestly, it would be good to get more from GM in general. This group of players is rp-ing the hell out of this game. It would be nice to feel rewarded for that time and effort.

He seems to have slow moments, as I do (sometimes weekends are the only time I have to make big updates), so I don't start worrying right away with them quiet. But yeah, have some cool characters bantering well, like to move forward some lol.

Honestly, it would be good to get more from GM in general. This group of players is rp-ing the hell out of this game. It would be nice to feel rewarded for that time and effort.

Sorry. I got over taken by real life! I'll push onward tomorrow! My bad.

Looking over equipment, I realize now that Kat cannot wield nunchuks. I was intending on using the stats for a metal baton and just describe them as nunchuks to give the flavor of a martial artist. I just noticed that nunchuks are in the equipment list as exotic weapons.

All the stats of the metal baton and nunchuks are the same except the purchase DC, which is higher for the baton. The baton can be retracted and more easily hidden and has a 19-20 crit range.

I'd like to say Kat is using nunchuks but treat the weapon materially as a metal baton. It's strange to have a weapon that requires a feat to wield properly that is otherwise the same as a simple weapon. If this is a problem, let me know.

If the skateboard purchase DC of 23 (suggested above by Salvo) is acceptable, I'd like to have Kat take 10 to get that, which will reduce her wealth by 1.

Then I'd like to take 20 to get the katana (DC 12) with +2 magic enhancement (+15), with special abilities Keen (+1) and Thundering (+1) for a total purchase DC of 29.

The Keen and Thundering magic weapon special abilities listed in Urban Arcana on page 125.

Here is the roll for reducing her wealth: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 3) = 4
So her wealth drops from 12 to 8, which seems about right for a student.

Let me know if any of these items are unavailable.

.

Let me know if any of these items are unavailable.

That's all fine!

I've had some problems at work that will be requiring my attention for the rest of the day. I'll post as needed starting Wednesday.

'Bot me if necessary until then.

Sorry my computer crapped out on me. I should be back to posting now though.

I’m on a short vacation. I’ll be back Sunday evening. ‘Bot me as needed.

I'd like to ret-con something specified earlier. At one point, the plan was to go straight to the Corporate HQ. For that, Kat returned to her home to stash her katana in a safe place so she would not risk losing it if it was left in a car/truck that then got broken into or stolen. She also got some clothes to allow her to pass for a young professional.

Since then, the plans have mutated and now we scouted the HQ, then went to a bar. I think if she were aware of this plan, she would not have left her Katana behind. She would keep it with her, and if a trip inside the HQ happens eventually, she will stay behind to watch over the vehicle and therefore keep her weapon with her.

She would have left the katana in the truck for the bar visit, but presumably the work truck is reasonably secure, and if there is a lockable chest big enough to hold the sword, she'd leave it in that.

Let me know if this is okay. Since it seems likely we may end up fighting monsters in the swamp before we do the corporate visit, she should have her best weapon available. If the security is high at the HQ, we might not be able to go in at all.

Let me know if this is okay. Since it seems likely we may end up fighting monsters in the swamp before we do the corporate visit, she should have her best weapon available. If the security is high at the HQ, we might not be able to go in at all.

That's fine!

I guess Julian is taking care of Wraith, lol.

Exactly.

I'm thinking that puts the character in terms of "Nothing to see here, just an NPC now", but that seems to be the read, since Wraith was his common ground. He's not exactly equipped/trained for whatever they encountered in the sewer, let alone what they're likely to encounter in a less populated area.

So if there's chemical analysis, (limited) medical treatment, and research that needs to be done, drop him a file, send him a sample, or direct him to where it can be picked up. Wraith didn't strike me as the type that would give up on a request from Lou, so you could maybe consider them an offscreen "after incident" team, to get some info that everyone might not be able to get in the middle of things.

Works for me, except that I think I'm the closest thing to a medic now. On that note, is it okay to assume even though I didn't specifically say so, that I have one of my first aid kits on me? On my character sheet theyre isted as "in trunk" so I could have retrieved one before we take our night hike.

I haven't heard from Julian?

Me'mori, who posted above, is Julian's Player. Sounds like Julian is being offered as an NPC but the player will not post anything more in this game. Seems a shame. Utility characters may not have much to do in some fights, but they round out a party well.

The next three days are going to busy with a variety of tasks that will interrupt my usual posting times. I'm getting a new computer and remodeling the room where I keep the computer. In addition to my school duties, I have a dentists appointment Thursday. I'll try to post sometime in the next few days, but it will not likely be every day.

'Bot me if necessary.

The next three days are going to busy with a variety of tasks that will interrupt my usual posting times. I'm getting a new computer and remodeling the room where I keep the computer. In addition to my school duties, I have a dentists appointment Thursday. I'll try to post sometime in the next few days, but it will not likely be every day.

'Bot me if necessary.

Will do

Sorry gang, a little extra stressed and distracted hy RL stuff. Everything is fine, just keeping me from being active on these boards. I am working to be back to a normal posting schedule, so expect an update from me in 24-48 hours. Apologies to those seeing this copy/paste more than once, lol!

Sorry gang, a little extra stressed and distracted hy RL stuff. Everything is fine, just keeping me from being active on these boards. I am working to be back to a normal posting schedule, so expect an update from me in 24-48 hours. Apologies to those seeing this copy/paste more than once, lol!

Hope everything is OK

sorry was out of town for my wife's birthday update tomorrow

I was down with a mild case of the flu over the weekend. Feeling better now.

Pearl

The Fatigue jacket Salvo gave you should count as a Leather Jacket. Which will grant a +1 equipment bonus to Defense. It grants this even if you are not proficient with light armor.

FYI - my work went bonkers and we are doing way more OT this week than usual so my posting may be slightly delayed for a few days/into next week. I'm here, but might be slow, thanks in advance for your patience!

Side note: would folks be interested in joining a Discord server where I can type messages like the above once instead of copy/pasting to each individual game I'm running/playing in?

I'm on Discord. My handle is Clebsch73#2206. Send me an invite to join the server you are talking about.

FYI - my work went bonkers and we are doing way more OT this week than usual so my posting may be slightly delayed for a few days/into next week. I'm here, but might be slow, thanks in advance for your patience!

Side note: would folks be interested in joining a Discord server where I can type messages like the above once instead of copy/pasting to each individual game I'm running/playing in?

yeah sure!

Sorry for the delay, real life slammed me.

I'm on there as Dickie#4462 and am working on creating a server with an open lounge as well as separate channels for different games. Hopefully back to normal levels of overtime lol!

Sent you a friend request Kat.

I always have trouble with navigating Discord. I don't see any invite to respond to. Where should it be found?

Stringer you still here?

Ping?

Sorry been highly distracted, I don't know discord that well yet either, lol!

Sorry for the unannounced absence, we had a small emergency I had to go out of town to deal with.