Yeah... I like the characters, but I lack the spoons to pick up running this game:-/
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Hayden smirks, "Eh, a 'god' by any other name might smell like feet. There's a lot of very old, very powerful things out there who love it when puny mortals no offense fall over themselves talking about alphas and omegas. Don't get too caught up in the theology of it all. It's just pacts and power."
Hayden smirked, "Ruling out Hecate already? Brave boy to snub Mommy Darkness herself, plus hexes are bestest imo." Her smirk broadened, "Nah, she's probably not listening. And I don't think anyone learned who Angel really is, but umm... I mean how many secrets are there really that are uncovered by knowing your name, Anj? Y'know?"
Hayden bites the corner of her lip contemplatively, "I could probably make the jacket work, if you wanted to offload some of the overdress. Not sure it's enough to salvage your look, but it definitely couldn't hurt. "I figure Angel's a good enough name for more than use... You've got those light-powers, right? Planning on using those to make a costume in the long-term? Especially if you add some, uh, flare to your appearance it should get you past casual un-masking."
Hayden walks over to the group with a handful of differently-colored borrowed bracelets, sizes up her companions and promptly tosses the non-matching colors into a nearby garbage bin. "Hi! I'm Hayden, deefinitely joining this team," she said, eyes sparkling. She's middling height and slender framed through her torso and limbs, but with a bit of flare to her hips. Her skin is tanned to a tawny gold, dusted with fine blonde hair along her arms and legs and in a light trail below the piercing in her navel. She's dressed in what is probably an outfit rather than a costume: A pair of lime-green high-waisted daisy dukes, an unbuttoned peach men's dress shirt that's been cut off somewhere around the 5th button, and beneath it all, some kind of leotard or swimsuit with the pattern of a vintage old paper cup. "Hey, I remember you guys. Pandaemonium, right? Big snake." She winces at Bastion, "Bigger dog."
Wound up Doomed. The WOTFCT Price that was Paid was the forced retirement/crippling//de-powering of Bastion. Relationships:
I told And I'll be giving two people influence because they matter for what she needs to do: Arcanum and ANGEL. Powerhouse and possibly proxy...
Let's see... we don't have a Mentor floating around... I like things that are a bit double edged - Phoibe, do you envision having any heroes that are kind of an opposite to any members of your Legacy that might be up and about? Kind of a 'Batman to your Superman' type? Could be fun to have made inroads with a rival of the Dodekatheon :-)
I'd vote for summoning up Cerberus, mainly 'cause it would at to a potential Huntsman of Hell kinda vibe. And I'm caught up with Dresden (and I think the short stories too). His fae are not a small influence on Hayden, even if I didn't take much from his conception of changelings themselves. I like the idea of Phoibe having recently been Phoebe Mitropoulos (or what have you), gives a good reason for her to be classed as a 'young hero' too :-)
Ha! I'm totally down for Pandemonium as a name. I'm a big fan of the Dresden Files take on immortals where the big ones have taken on a few mantles over time, and I'd headcanoned/carried over from Hayden's previous outing that her father The Goblin King had been known as The Great God Pan in the past/to different people. So whether or not Pandemonium is actually connected to/empowered by her father (I'd vote yes, but either way's fine), Hayden would definitely take his appearance as a sign that she needed to find a safer way to hide (i.e. among a bunch of other superpowered weirdos) Oh, also, planning on tossing Phoibe influence, wanting to kiss Joe (though Arcanum just got a pretty avatar too... Eh, I think I want to keep who she takes seriously (influence) and who she wants to kiss separate anyways), and probably telling Phantasm the Real Story about her doom.
So Phoibe, a lot of Legacy-style heroes have other members of their lineage veerrry much in the public eye. Do you envision other members of your pantheon having been recent heroes or villains? Also, I noticed that you're down as a University Instructor; one of the core assumptions of the game is that all the heroes are teens/mayyybe young adults who are, well the New Generation. That doesn't mean no immortal goddesses of course, but what are some ways you see Phoibe as still growing and finding her place in the world, or rebelling against parents, or other fun teen-drama stuff?
I'd lean towards college setting personally, though I think in that case we should pretty much all be freshmen to maximize the newness. Possibly in the setting they for real crack down on underage heroing? So (whether or not we've done stuff off the record) we're now taking our first really public steps into the Hero Life?
Colossus sounds like a good name :-) Really I meant High School v. College, but eyeballing other profiles it looks like folk're congregating around High School. Co-ed rooms don't sound wildly likely... Though Hayden would be such a terrible roommate that I'm admittedly rethinking how much I want her to be in a single ;-)
@Symbiote Sounds good! Hayden will definitely have feels and opinions about werewolves. She's met a fair number of wolfpeople (described to her as werewolves), and none of them were friendly. Doesn't mean that your werewolves are remotely connected to the Fae side of things, but definitely will color her responses. (Or it could mean that just the Big Scary Alpha of Halcyon has paws in both worlds...) @Gallant: That sounds like a good alternate form to me :-) @Arcanum: I could see Hayden being hurt by Arcanum; that would definitely lead to her deciding that he's powerful enough that she needs to stay close to him. Also, coming back to find out that board games got good while she was in Faerie is one of her biggest surprises :-p
@ANGEL: It occurs to me that Hayden could find simulacra that can have humanish personalities implanted in them very interesting, but that could definitely lead to a relatively predatory relationship between her and ANGEL (or others like ANGEL). That sound interesting? If not, happy to bark up another tree :-) I can't see Hayden telling her full story to anyone who she could think of as The Man, so Gallant's out... Maybe Watchdog? I feel like she's the kind of person who won't tell someone who has influence over her everything, so I'm planning on splitting those up.
I'm picturing Hayden being a pretty late add to the group, possibly not being a part of the WOTFCT excursion until everything went bad. Bonus points if big scary villain is from her side of the pond, or at least vaguely mystical. Hayden's inclined to play her cards close to her chest, so I'd rather have circumstances make it clear to folk that:
Oh, also, something I realized I wasn't positive of: Hero Highschool, or University of Powered Individuals? I've been assuming Hero High.
Hmmm.... interesting! The one concern I have is that getting unmasked is arguably more common for a Janus than any other kind of hero that bothers with a secret ID. So if people finding out that he's a werewolf triggers the revelation of other people's Big Secrets, then I'd make certain that that won't leave Joe hook-less once the pack's been discovered. Also (something I wish I'd done w/ Bran/Bron); when you're going substantially off-model from a Playbook, I'd recommend really reading through the Team Moves and thinking about how they might pop up. Otherwise it can be very easy to write yourself away from some of the levers that can help bring the team closer together.
Should be fine. How are you anticipating working Janus with the Super School concept? We tossed out thoughts earlier, just curious about direction :-)
They're more S.H.I.E.L.D. than Cadmus or Argus by default. The extent to which they're a sketchy shadowy organization is probably something that Gallant should have a lot of input on. Though of course, at least some corners of the organization should be able/likely to cause us problems ;-) So for a price we paid, I'm thinking that an established hero fell in that battle, and it's something we're not quite blamed for. I'm not picturing a death so much as them losing their powers/being forced into retirement. (Could be a Bane breaking Batman kind of thing too). Ideally this is still someone who's on staff at the school, serving as a crusty, crabby mentor type/warning of what can go wrong. Let's see, for people who Hayden needs for her plans, definitely going to put Arcanum on that list, so he'll get influence... I kinda feel like I need to see more of the other characters than a Playbook to make some of the other picks though :-) I think with a Transformed, it works better if he's not able to casually disguise himself. Though being 9' tall and super dense also works, especially if we highlight the whole "The World isn't built for people like me" aspects... What about - the school we're attending is all supers (though I think it should also be open to unpowered supers), but to make sure that we stay empathetic etc. we're frequently going on like joint class trips etc. with the local mundy school. Should allow ANGEL to act weird and learn stuff from people who have different baseline assumptions about how strange the world is, and for Slate to be able to come along to some things, and to be excluded and sulk from some others :-p
If you make the Alias as a Pathfinder Society Character, then it requires you to select a faction.
I figure Hayden's got a single. Partially cause she brought her own and stuck it to the side of the building... If we end up all being roomies or something I can tweak that though :-) Oh, do people have thoughts on how big we want the school to be? On the scale of 60's X-Men (Every student is a PC) to X-Men Evolution (Every powered student is a PC or a named villain, but eventually a new class joins) to My Hero Academia (There are enough powered students that when stories demand a new NPC can be added from the crowd), I'd personally prefer Academia, but as long as we've got some non-hostile powered NPCs to play off of I think we should be good :-)
Yeah, Hayden's magic in most playbooks is very narrow and focused. More based around specific aptitudes than the broad brush of Sorcery that a Nova can work with. As a Scion that might not be the case as much, so I'll cross that off the potential list to make certain... Actually since we're down to <8... I think I'll just angle towards Doomed. The Goblin King's a comin'! Look:
ambiguous, shifting, transgressing. Why pick just one? ;-)
White Laughing Eyes Garish clothing No costume (this could easily change) Abilities:
Body Transmutation (Aspect Shifting - Hayden can take on the form and a reflection of the abilities of different subjects of her Father's court), Memory Manipulation, Psychic Constructs (Living Dreams).
Playbook Choices:
Her Doom is brought closer by facing danger alone, or talking about it openly.
The Doomsign that she has already marked is Dark Visions Her Sanctuary (her dorm room, which is a single, and much larger on the inside than the outside). It has a scattering of ancient relics, locks and traps, and a teleportal. Unfortunately, its location is known to many, and of course, it is tied intricately to her Doom. Backstory:
When did you first learn of your doom? Haydne first learned of her doom when her father took her across the veil to his court.
Where did you get your sanctuary Her sanctuary was a gift from her father, feudally speaking. It's a tiny plot of his kingdom that she's been given domain over. He could still in theory revoke that gift, and make things quite difficult for her, but that would serve as an insult to her standing that would interfere with his plans for after he has brought her back to his world. She understands some of the dangers, but it was still too useful for her not to bring to school with her. Why do you oppose your nemesis? Because he isn't giving her any choice! He always talks about freedom, but she could see the web of obligations and duties that held even him. The fact that he's sending hunters out to find her just proves her point. Who, outside of the team, is crucial to defeating your nemesis? Hayden's not sure yet. The idea of finding someone spiritually similar to herself to serve as a hopefully willing sacrifice has struck her, but that's really a last resort. The other idea she has is throwing her lot in with the Duke of Frost, among the more powerful of her father's retainers. He's crueler though, and she'd rather not give him the power that he'd need to overthrow the Goblin King... Why does the team matter to you? Partially for brainstorming - Superheroes are weird! Hayden knows she doesn't have all the answers, and some weird power-set could be exactly the tool she needs. Aside from that, allies could be quite useful if she doesn't come up with anything clever. Standing next to a sorcerer who practically fills the air with magical chaff helps too. I'll hold off on picking Influence or WOTFCT things until the cast is finalized, but it'll be: We paid a high cost for victory. What was it? Relationships:
And I'll be giving two people influence because they matter for what she needs to do.
So in case of further winnowings I figured I'd toss Hayden out there :-) She's a bit of a refugee from a campaign that sadly ended prematurely, but who I think would make an interesting hop from Monsterhearts to Masks! She's got some flexibility with exactly what Playbook she fits into, so I'll start by describing her core traits and then talk about how those get tweaked depending on which Playbook she ends up in. Hayden's consistent bullet points:
*Hayden was raised by her mortal mother, but is the child of a wickedly powerful and dreadfully amoral Fae Lord. Something in between the Goblin King from the Labyrinth and the Goblin King from the Dresden Files with a dash of Bacchus thrown in for good measure. The keys are that he's old, wild, wicked, and capricious.
*Once she was grown and sought out her father, he gladly took her into her court where she was assailed by wonders uncounted as she fell into the pit of beautiful vipers that made up her father's court. As his daughter she was viewed as either a powerful new ally, or a perfectly honed weapon, and all her father's friends and foes did their best to ensnare her to their service. *The exact nature of any abilities she might have are **very** playbook dependent, but regardless, she is always substantially less mighty than the Powers of her father's court. *When she left she did so by doing the one thing that a full Fae could not. She lied. She lied often and viciously to win her way free. But while it was possible for her to do it, it has made her more vulnerable to many of her foes among the Fae, should they seek to exploit that link. *The Fae are pretty bad at distinguishing mortals from one another, and Hayden's halfbreed nature actually heightens this. The Fae place no stock in physical appearances remaining constant, and there are ways for Hayden to make other people seem like her. It's not easy, but if she ever really had to... *She is a total user. It is very likely that she is at the school for the perks and protection *She is endlessly sunny and quite charming, sometimes literally, and this helps her get away with being a total user. Possible Playbooks:
The Delinquent: With this one she really amps up the illusion and personal minor magic end of things, and while she should perhaps keep a low-ish profile, the Wyld Hunt isn't directly on her trail, and she's mainly just having fun with the whole Masks and Capes thing. In this one she didn't spend too long in her father's court, and has been back for long enough to learn some of the soft spots in the hero world.
The Outsider: With this one she has a fair bit of the Fae trickery, but it's more of a mix of a few powers and some particularly favorite artifacts that she brought with her. This one also brings in connections to two rival Fae Lords who have reasons not to see her found again by her Father's hunters, so she has some back-channels to the Fae. She also spent longer in the Court, and has only re-emerged into the Mortal world **very** recently, and is still getting re-acclimated. The Nomad: Related. In this one her time in the Court was even more hellish, and probably started when she was younger. I envision her as having very little in the way of innate powers with this playbook, but having a bag of tricks that she's not shy about going to. This one really highlights her nature as a user, but also has a lot of built in mechanics to encourage that to change over time... The Doomed: Daddy's coming. In this one, the Wyld Hunt is a constant threat in the back of her mind. Every use of her power carries with it the fear that it could be the clue that leads her hunters closer and closer. She is almost certainly thinking about ways to trick or bargain her way out of that inevitable confrontation. In this one the powers and relics are bigger and better, but she's less likely to use them frivolously. Scion: This one's a bit like The Doomed, except that her Father is essentially the Loki of the setting. He's known to be a magical big bad, and specifically that he cannot be trusted. This makes it much harder for Hayden to run her games on the established heroes, and makes her think twice about any moves she makes that are too obvious.I would definitely be putting together a Dr. Strange vs. Dormammu rivalry-type set up for some Big Hero to have against her Father. Also, just a thought, it's worth figuring out how big the school is. Is this a situation where the PCs are the only students? Are they half the student body? Or is this a bigger school where they might be 5-10 out of a hundred? If it's in the bigger school setting then I'd recommend adding a further initial question for the group, and then for each character For the group: What is true about everyone who got put in this class (i.e. are you the ones most likely to succeed? To turn evil and kill everyone? The ones who need the most help?)
Yeah :-/ Great gaming with all of you guys though!
"He killed him Ash. Why else would X be here? He killed him."
Hayden slips into the room, taking in the surroundings. Even banal as rooms like this are, often there are little touches that can reveal someone's true character. Pictures, books, how often are they visited, do their nurses hate them...
Oh. Great. Way to leave us lots of options to escalate. As Ashton careens into Xavier's new body, Hayden follows up after, eyes quickly scanning as she tries to see what Xavier's already done.
Hayden glances back and forth between Ashton and Deirdre, and just walks in. "Yeah visions and spirit boards are good for some things, but I'm betting right now all we need to do is follow the screams..."
Fine by me :-) Thinking about changing my Darkest Self into something sharper but shorter - otherwise with Deirdre's sex move it's hard to spend time outside of my darkest self. Still musing on the specifics of what that would be, but that's the direction I'm leaning.
Hayden sighed. "Okay, we can't let X get himself hurt. Or let him go too crazy. Bring the spirit board, Dee. If we need to do something drastic... Well, better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." "We should probably also bring some table salt I guess? I'm not really sure what else to prepare; once people are dead they usually don't have to worry too much about what they promised in life."
"Wait, Ash, are you holding?" "Might help with X too, if we're able to get him to calm down long enough to calm down."
"Okay Jayj, are we willing to count the disappearing ball of fire as a lesson in maybe not messing with things without doing your homework first?"
Hayden had been watching curiously, not feeling like this was anything she had to stop. Especially if this had actually gone to shirtless wrestling "I'm sorry, 'Dad'? Is that what you said, X?"
"I'm almost positive we said we wouldn't summon any demons, so what, did you trip or something?"
Hayden's eyes widen in shock and alarm. "Wow! That's.... that definitely counts as a surprise. So uh, how'd you pull off the body? And I guess how'd you make him corporeal too?"
"Oh no, not at all. But it's great that you made them anyways. Are those your favorite flavors?"
Hayden leans over to sniff Deirdre's muffin, slowly blinking as the whole experience washes over her. "So. Your own recipe, Eva?"
"So... there were no pics, disappointing. Whatcha got Jayj?"
Hayden: Sure thing - any sneak previews? If you zoom in really far in a picture you can barely tell what body part is in it, if that's what you're worried about ;-p
"None that turned back into a human."
"Knowledge and secrets are really all I need. Maybe I picked up a souvenir or two too, to toot my own horn."
"Not your type, and a monster too. Ash you sweet-talker, stop before I can't hold myself back." She rolled her eyes, but her voice was sincere as she continued, "I get it though. It sucks to be the only different one you know. It's easy to follow things you shouldn't, while you're looking for somewhere to belong. "So there you have it: Evil pixies want to drag me back to Neverland. Partly to have torment-y fun, partially because of some of the things I know. You'd think I'd have gotten to fly in the bargain, but somehow that wasn't on the table.
Hayden shrugged, Don't tell me if you don't want to. "So, you looking for a cure? Do you have a Van Helsing type looking for you? Or just using furry coin to trade for my secrets?"
"Just curious. After all, I'm much bigger than a cat, so that's probably safe."
"You flirt a lot for a guy who's sure I'm not his type. I can't figure that I'm a less scandalous person to be into than whatever your type really is, unless uh, is your type some kinda weird wolfy thing? If so I don't need details."
"Sounds like I was right to guess you had a super-snoot. If you're not all lune-y, what does turn you all tall, dark, and hairy. Or does it not work like that?"
"I was born here on Earth, but I trusted someone I shouldn't have, and followed a hunch and a whim to Faerie. I don't know how long I was there, but it was horribly beautiful, when it wasn't just horrible. I know my way around it, and I learned just enough about how to survive there, and made just enough friends with the right kind of monsters that I eventually escaped back home to our world. I just hope the bargain I made for your blood and wills won't draw more of them. I was a favorite. Some would return me just to get a favorite's-worth of favor. "So how about you. I know you're very tough; I know you're good at sussing out who belongs, when your temper doesn't get in the way. I know you're not hairy enough to be a bear." Hayden smiled mockingly, "Should I play 20 questions? Or are you going to tell me what's real and local to this side of the Veil."
Scottish, not Irish. Doesn't matter, we're not here to toady to them... "Well, first off, your grandma was right; faeries are real. Very real. Lucinda wasn't the first one I'd met either. Now I've got some guesses about you and what makes you... different, but I'll tell you now and tell you true that I don't know for sure." "I'm willing to lay my cards out on the table too, but only if this is a private game. There are worst thing in Faerie than Baobhan Sith, and I'd as soon not have my name and secrets ring out where they can hear."
Hayden: sigh
She was just going to have to torment Coral later, when Deirdre wasn't already bowing under the weight of new revelations. So she'd made nice, ignored the glares and passive-agressive snips and snipes about whether Hayden might be more comfortable in her own bed, or when Hayden ended up borrowing a shirt to sleep in from her instead of Deirdre. (The fit was better, and it was still borrowing if you were going to give it back, even if you hadn't asked) But right now she didn't have to worry about unanswered insults making her easier to find. She was going to be building a signal fire anyways. Later. Once Deirdre was thoroughly asleep, and Hayden had steered smiles into her dreams instead of the darkness that might have awaited her, she snuck out. Hayden: u up?
Yeah, sorry, I'm around. Just need to post something quick so I'm not the logjam :-/
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