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If the GM allows that the university (or at least certain people at the university) -- which deals with questionable materials and artifacts that can't always be obtained legally -- would have shady connections, then the first option (representative of a connected organization) would apply. That's the one I assumed I'd be going in under. If not, then option five (using falsified papers/sneaking in) would probably have to do. Based on what little I know of Allison, she likely could arrange a pretty convincing fake ID.
Thanks for the reply, and no worries on the timing. As for "Magic", Earth does not support magic as it supports fundamental physics. However Cyphers can do magical stuff as its powered by energies of the Strange. For short amounts of time magic users and magic using creatures can also survive on earth if they use an In-opposite Gate although at best they'll eventually lose their abilities or at worst die as Earth cannot support them. Yep, I was aware of most of that from having read the Player's Guide. As I said, Denny never did any magic (no humans did; the setting was basically modern-day Earth), and most of the things we fought in that game were just abominations. I wasn't aware that magic from Ardeyn et. al. could function short-term; that could explain the one beast that radiated sort of a "fumble field." And I framed the tomes as being vehicles for Cyphers with the "no magic" thing in mind. As for your background you aren't going to start out as one of the Quickened. You are perfectly able to have maybe studied some unusual things but you aren't going to start the game as a Recurser or knowing about the Strange. Understood; you'll note all the stuff specific to being quickened is "ghosted" (OOC) on Denny's profile, because they won't apply at game start. (I did leave "Expert Cypher Use," only because of the presumed Cypher/tome crossover.) Anyway, if I somehow implied that Denny is one of the Quickened or understands any of this I apologize, as that's totally off the mark. He has a natural aptitude and a strong sense that something's "off," sure, but that's as far as it goes. He's fought monsters (mostly using a stick) and occasionally got his tome to do something useful, but that's it. So, while he might've had slightly more exposure to bizarre stuff than the man on the street, rest assured he's merely a smart college kid harboring an unhealthy fascination with crackpot pseudo-scientific theories. You're basically going to be dropped headfirst in the first session into the Strange and become Quickened and then going to have to figure out things from there of what to do. Haha... and this is a great example of why continuing his story makes sense to me. That's pretty much exactly what happened in the other game. He got a scholarship for a school he didn't apply to, on the train someone shoved a mysterious book into his hands, he arrives for an Orientation-related meeting and suddenly there are explosions and fires and he's in the basement battling strange creatures. And through a big part of it he thought it was some kind of fraternity hazing. So this game will be, "Here we go again..." :o) Let me repeat that the connection to the other game is not a necessity. I just think it'd be great continuity, it gives him a richer background, and if you'll trust me with it I'm confident I can make it flow smoothly if not fit seamlessly. But I'll ditch it all if it makes you uncomfortable. Anyway thanks for signing up Denton. Looking forward to playing. "Dude," he says, extending a hand, "only my mom calls me 'Denton.' And pop when he's pissed. It's 'Denny' for regular people. Pleased ta meetcha."
Okay, my first glimpses were intriguing enough that I purchased the .pdf player's guide. I've reworked Denny's profile as a Strange Paradox who Works the System. It's only a first cut, but I believe I got most everything. And since I used the official chargen it should be "technically correct." If you're willing, I'd like to try approaching this game as a continuation of his earlier incarnation. Why I think it's a good fit: He's studying at Lovecraft's Miskatonic University in Massachusetts, but he was born and raised in a bad neighborhood in New Jersey right across the river from NYC. So attending a black-market auction will be like coming home for him. He was at MU to research his own crackpot theories based on Maxwell's Demon, so he's already digging in and trying to understand entropy and some of the finer-grained details of reality. He's primed to soak up anything about The Strange that comes his way. He's never cast any magic personally -- he's an everyday college student -- and the mystical stuff that happened was courtesy of the tome he was given. Said tome has pages missing that can be added back... which seems a perfect vehicle for occultic cyphers. (Not to mention a nice prop; he's usually going to have his tome with him, probably with screen prints, code snippets, sticky notes scribbled with physics equations, and so on jammed in between and spilling out of the pages.) He was given that tome because someone sensed that he was one of the rare people who could do something useful with it... in other words, someone with a strong natural inclination to quickening. And he's already had to tangle with strange entities that could've easily been critters from fringe recursions. He doesn't understand how or why it happened, but it's obvious to him that there's something freaky about reality. Once he becomes quickened, things will suddenly make more sense. I absolutely don't need any of that. It has no mechanical benefit, and probably won't even come up in the game except for possible passing references. But it makes for an expanded backstory, and it's a nice bit of continuity from his origins through to this game. I fleshed out the basics (adapted slightly for this game) and can/will expand and clean it up eventually if I get GM approval. Let me know what you think. On another subject, I hope you don't mind providing a little extra guidance as I (we?) get the hang of this system. It looks pretty straightforward but I know I'm going to forget/overlook/misunderstand stuff at first. tl;dr: "Denny's ready, let's play!" :o)
Hehe... "Sliders the RPG" sounds tasty. I enjoyed the show when it was on. Plus I like "off the beaten path" stuff, which this certainly is. I might have a go at respinning Denny here as a paradoxical. He's orphaned from a GM-aborted Lovecraftian campaign in which he was a student at Miskatonic University. And it's not horribly far from Arkham, MA to NYC. ;o) (I'm not suggesting a Cthulu crossover. He came in as a normal college kid with a science bent who got an unexpected acceptance letter to MU and was sucked into the bizarre happenings there. The Strange could go a long way towards explaining how some of the weird stuff actually happened. It just seems like a good fit for the existing "mental model" of the PC, even with the Lovecraft angle completely stripped away.) I'm totally unfamiliar with The Strange, but I'm off to do some research and play with the character generator a bit. tl;dr: "Dot."
I think Denton will take the semester off, then. :o) And since you're looking at a small group, I'll step back and let someone else have a go. It sounds really interesting though, and I'll probably lurk the game. Here's wishing you better luck with this one!
Ah, so you're not going Regular Joe/Lovecraftian on this new one, then.
That sounds seriously great; I think you should continue to develop it. Definitely don't let it die. And the bit about Allison... holy cr*p, haha! Very cool, Rednal. Very cool. For what it's worth -- and for whatever reason -- Allison reminded me a little of Glynda Goodwitch. Take that as a compliment. :o)
Hmm... if you don't tell us you have the option of reusing some aspects of the idea(s). But I'm fine either way.
Fair enough. Denton will be waiting! :o)
I'm not sure why things petered out but I'd be interested as well. Maybe we'll have better luck next time.
"Sonofa..." yelps Denton as the creature strikes and -- ignoring his new wound -- he immediately counterattacks.
Michael shouts out in anger. "What are these things!?" "UGLY!" gibes Denton as he takes a step back, twirling his hanbo and watching for another opening.
"HEY!" he shouts at the head-thing. "Leave the new guy alone! Fight ME!"
Denton leaps forward, spinning his half-staff over his head before launching a downward stroke with both hands... and misses completely, thudding his hanbo into the floor beside the thing.
Aw man, I hate that we're losing you. I liked "the Sarge." Try to check in when you can!
Denton and Rory still need to roll recharge... Nope. Mage Armor is a fixed six hour recharge (ouch).
Are you waiting to close out rolls for the surprise round, or are you needing initiatives for the first full round now?
Startled, Denton briefly pulls his book tightly to his chest, which seems to be a reasonable substitute for a spell invocation gesture.
Denton steps in immediately behind Aiden, hanbo at the ready. "Got your back," he says quietly.
"Maybe it's not the room that's magical," says Denton as he looks around. "And maybe it's not a pocket universe so much as a piece of another universe that's been pulled into ours. And the magic vibe you're getting is from however the bubble was formed here." "There was a Doctor Who arc about a rift," he muses. "Very bad juju." "Speaking of The Doctor, maybe there's some wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff going on here too," he adds as he prods one of the chairs with his hanbo. "This furniture all looks like it's from another era." Deep in thought, he absently follows the others through the door.
At Walter's remark about explosives being used at an inopportune moment Dneton mutters, "Or someone pulls a Metsu," before following him down the ladder. A few rungs down, he pauses to look up at the professor and say, "Magic is just science we haven't figured out yet," before continuing down the ladder.
What do dragons even eat?
"A pocket universe," Denton says, a bit awed. "Some variations of Maxwell's Demon thought experiment predict pocket universes." He eyes the ladder. "On the other hand, other interpretations say it's turtles all the way down." He looks at the professor. "And that symbol, that's like an SEP field? Ordinary people just don't see it?"
What do dragons even eat?
Denton laughs and answers back with a gravely "Rut roh!"
Denton climbs in and heads to the back of the van to sit next to Allison, trying to inconspicuously look past the last seat to scope out the "supplies."
Yeah, that was it. I'd tried that several times before (it shows that glaring red error status until it's fixed, so I kept going back to it). But the drop-down was always empty (even after I'd created the Legendary Item). Thinking back, I don't believe I ever saved the portfolio after adding the Legendary Item, so maybe the portfolio has to be "refreshed" for it to show up? Anyway, when I reloaded him this morning, there it was. All's well now. Thanks!
Just a quick update. I probably won't get the Paizo alias updated for a day or so, but Denny is now "mythicked up" in Hero Lab. For the Mythic Feat, I'm going with Mythic Toughness. Given his penchant for stupidly jumping in with a close-range physical attack, that should at least give him a fighting chance to stay alive. By the way, when I set up the Legendary Item in Hero Lab, it complained about Flexible Bond. Without it, it said Denny still had an item ability he could use, but that the magic item couldn't take any more abilities (it auto-assigned Legendary Power, Legendary Surge, and Mythic Bond). If I add Flexible Bond (or any ability, actually), it's happy with what Denny can use ("Abilities Usable by a Tier 1 Character - 1 of 1 (0 left)" but complains I've added too many to the item ("Abilities allowed on a Magical Item - 1 of 0 (1 Overspent)". I don't know if that's a Hero Lab glitch, the item (or his tier) isn't spiffy enough to support it, I'm doing something wrong/misunderstanding something, or what. I've left it off for now. Oh... since it's a neck-slot item, the item's surge goes towards saving throws. Another safety net for the leaping-into-the-fray thing.
"Well I'm not happy about all the vagueness and confusion, but I'm with the Sarge. We're all here to learn, right?" Denton pulls out his hanbo and twirls it as he grins. "This is kinda like OJT. So let's do this!" "And can we make it snappy? I'm freakin' starving!"
Sorry, yes: General feats was what I meant since, without those, meeting the mythic feat prerequisites would be an issue. You confirmed it mostly works the way I'd presumed, so that's all I needed; thanks! I'll lock down a mythic feat this evening.
... don't forget that you also get a Mythic Feat. I'm not clear on how that would work. Virtually all the mythic feats have prerequisites, and I didn't think commoners gained feats? So unless we happen to have taken a prerequisite in the initial build... shrug. Or is this an exception situation?
Denton stares at Walter. "You mean like a test? A trial by cold fire? Dammit, I knew that hazing vibe was there for a reason!" He shakes his head. "So it was some sort of freaky shared hallucination. After the dream I had last night... yeah okay, I can believe that. But where'd it come from? Our books, the professor, whoever or whatever created that thing Allison was fi..." His eyes narrow. "Wait, was that part of the shared illusion too, only she got sucked into it somehow?" "No, it couldn't have been an illusion, our books got new pages. Unless they were already there and just..." Denton facepalms. "Ah, not enough facts, gotta have a basis, I'm too fried to think through this right now." Then he looks at Walter. "Except for the cannon fodder angle. I was thinking the same thing, but was trying to be polite." He looks at Freeborn pointedly. "And okay, we're new. We have no clue what we're doing, and our -- well, at least my book seems to be having a ball freaking me out. But dude, 'stuck with' the people you have? Really? While you're asking for our help? Etiquette 101, okay?"
"Strike force?" Denton repeats in astonishment, his dream-induced funk finally shaken off. "In what universe are we any kind of strike force? And I'm with Aiden: What the heck's going on around this crazy place?"
At Allison's knock, the door is opened by one very bleary-eyed Denton Salpicadera. He groans and leans one cheek against the edge of the door. "Ung... talk about a crap night for sleep. I think my book's enjoying jerking me around. And then there was the..." He pauses and shudders. Allison -- and the others she'd gathered by that point -- finally register with his foggy brain. "Oh. Hey. What?" Then it starts sinking in that it's dark outside of the windows. "Wait... what?" He turns and looks behind him, out his room window where it's also dark. "Don't tell me some uber-evil freakazoid thing has brought darkness upon the worl..." He trails off as his eyes fall on the clock. And he realizes he's ravenously hungry. "Aw man, is that... PM? I know I was fried after that freaky dream and... stuff... but did I honestly sleep through the day? What time is it, really?" Eventually Denton focuses enough to take in what Allison is saying, and he retrieves his book, backpack, and hanbo before following, trailing along silently at the back of the group.
Really sorry about my lack of participation, guys. Stuff went totally off the rails for a while. Fortunately this is the last crunch week at work for now. Though I haven't been active in the game, I've been grabbing five minutes here, ten there to try to work through the mythic stuff. Here's what I'm thinking, GM; does this work for you? I wanted a path that ties in with Denny's thirst for quirky knowledge and crackpot theories, but nothing fits directly. Falling back to his secondary characteristic of ersatz martial arts stuff and an inclination to jump into the fray physically -- and presuming we will all gel as a team and become friends -- the Guardian path looks reasonable. Plus it has a knowledge-related ability that'll tie in nicely later. Sudden Block for the Guardian's Call. Since this whole book thing is kind of freaking him out (in the back of his mind he's still clinging to the hope this is all just some elaborate hazing setup), I figure his Grimoire's attempt to "help" should further shake him up. So I'm thinking of going with a neck-slot item that has for a pendant, a mummified hand. Yeah, he'll be real thrilled to hang that around his neck. Hand of the Mage (CL2) which bestows at-will Mage Hand... pretty innocuous stuff. For the item's ability, while it probably won't get used much if at all, Flexible Bond fits thematically with the Guardian path. Like I said, I've never done Mythic before, so let me know where I screwed up. Regular PC level-up info to come (I wanted to focus on the new-to-me stuff first). I'll try to get a (non-commital, until GM rules yay-or-nay on the item, etc.) Gameplay post up in a bit.
Sorry all, totally slammed schedule-wise right now and I've never done mythic stuff, so I need time to study up on how it works. Things should ease up in the next few days so I can return my attention to important stuff. :o) GM, feel free to DMPC Denton if necessary to move things forward. Though hopefully it won't come to that.
Mike, Rory, you lucky dogs... join the game and almost immediately jump a level. Good stuff! GM, how do we handle the HP level-up? Average/half hit die, full hit die, roll 'em with a 50% safety net, raw roll...?
Sorry about going quiet for a while. I relocated over the weekend and ran into some problems getting my computer set up, connected, and working again.
"I speak and write just fine, thank you," Denton mutters quietly to himself in response to the Professor's remarks. He raises his hand when his name is called but doesn't speak up. Not quite passive-aggressive, but given her 'holier-than-thou' approach, no reason she shouldn't be made to work for her pay. Time in the class seems to crawl, the feeling exacerbated by Denton's book gnawing at the base of his brain with... impatience? Wanting it to be later. "You and me both, Lassie," he stage-whispers to his grimore.
"Yeah," says Denton as he pulls out his class schedule cheat sheet. After studying it briefly, he hefts his backpack, grabs his walking stick, and heads to his first class.
I actually got to use "There can be only one" in the Mummy Mask AP game I'm in. :o)
"Yeah, Supernatural. And Buffy the Vampire Slayer might not be a bad idea either," says Denton with a grin.
"Sounds good to me. What time?"
"Hey, thanks dude," Denton says to Rory as he hands over his plate. "Maybe there's some range limit? Anyway, getting terror vibes from a book... be glad you missed it. Seriously." He looks over at Michael. "Yeah, I got a very strong feeling of mine wanting me to succeed, too. We kind of reached an agreement, I think; I promised to get it out of there and try to keep it safe, and I guess it's helping me learn how to use it." "So, classes," he says to Allison. "What happened... was that just, like, par for the course around here? Extra-dimensional creepy-crawlies pop up, earthquakes, fires, people die, and the next morning it's class as usual? Or did you do some Jedi mind trick so nobody else even knows what's going on?"
Never rely on him for anything requiring exact pronunciation. Love it. :o) As to posting schedules, for about six weeks starting Monday, I'll only be posting mornings/evenings/weekends. I'll still be able to read and keep up during the workday, but won't be able to post as a rule. Enjoy the con!
Denton likewise leans towards Rory...
... but can't make out what's whispered over the general background noise. He mouths "What?" with a quizzical look on his face, but Rory just chuckles and gives a "Never mind" shake of his head. Denton nods once at the newcomer. "Hey," he says around a mouthful of food. "My book was scared too," he says to Allison. "But it calmed down completely when we saw that last weirdity stuck in the floor. Like, 'Oh, is that all,' or something."
"Well I hope 'Original Recipe' is more pleasant than 'Extra B!†¢╫y', but you can kinda be excused, considering. I don't think any of us were at our best last night. How about we all just wipe the slate and start fresh?" "Besides," Denton says with a grin as he takes a bite of food, "you're too damn cute for me to stay mad at. Unless you really cheese me off."
"Rory Dunne, friends call me Rory, or just R if they're feeling lazy." Denton laughs. "Or if they're pirates, yeah? "Missing something? Well, you missed a whole heapin' helpin' of bizarre monster madness last night. Be glad you did, it was like living inside a 'B' movie!"
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