Devaia - the Jewel of the West. A massive cosmopolitan metropolis on Vendalia's western coastline, it stands as one of the greatest trade centers in the western hemisphere. It's also one of the most gorgeous trade centers in the western hemisphere, sandwiched between the ocean, some of the highest mountains in Vendalia, and a sprawling pine forest.
Yes, Devaia is a wonderful city, filled with wealth, culture, and natural beauty beyond measure. However, it has a dark side. Like any great metropolis, it has it's share of crime. Magic may be able to bolster technology and vastly improve the life of the average citizen, but it can also be used to harm in some of the most horrible fashions imaginable. Standing between the average civilian and these horrors are the men and women of the Ministry of Magic's Ranger Service, an organization tasked with handling the most egregious abuses of magic and slaying dangerous magical creatures. Welcome to the beat.
Thirdly, werewolf powers always manifest at puberty, and werewolves can produce children together. Infection is unheard of. There are also werecats and werebears, which use all the werewolf attributes. They just look different. Werewolves tend to live in tribes (werecats and werebears live in tribes with werewolves, not separately, as shapeshifters are considered one race regardless of form) near but not in human settlements unless they are Iron Masters.
Vampires are not harmed by sunlight (this is a Hollywood invention that I never particularly liked, so I'm not using it) and get full vitae from animal blood regardless of power level. However, they get double vitae from human blood, and a human can be diablerized (this is treated as diablerizing a vampire of lower potency). Vampires are still undead and can embrace, but they can sire children. The vampire must spend vitae equal to his or her potency to conceive. A pregnant vampire must spend 1 vitae every day to nourish the fetus, or she miscarries. If one parent is human, the child has a 50% chance to be human and 50% to be vampire. If one parent is a mage or werewolf, replace the chance to be human with a chance to be a mage or werewolf. If both parents are vampires, the child is a vampire. A child born a vampire will grow until it reaches physical maturity, then stop growing permanently. It will be born undead. Vampires can go through their whole existence while never harming a human, but the benefits of drinking human blood instead of animal blood mean that plenty hunt people. It should be noted that the embrace is illegal without consent (though the law gets broken all the time).
This is a Dieselpunk setting. The technology level is 1940s with speculative technology.
I am using the rules for seasoned characters, so you all start out with 35 experienced points to spend.
You may be a vampire, werewolf/bear/cat, mage, or changeling. I know hunters would fit well here, but I don't have the book for them, so I can't allow them unless someone is willing to assistant GM and does have the book.
Stuff from the following books is allowed:
Core
Mage
Werewolf
Vampire
Changeling
Armory
You all all from Vendalia, which is a fantasy counterpart culture of Canada.
Questions? Comments? Interest?
Before I get to into this, there is one major question: Classic World of Darkness(Masquerade, Apocalypse, etc), or New WoD?(Requiem, Forsaken, etc)
I like the sound of it.
...I like it a lot!
I'm fairly rusty at WoD, but I'm looking to get back into it. Is magic in your setting moddeled after the Ascencion system, or Awakening (or something else)? Is it opposed by anything like paradox or hubris, or is it a more 'tame' force than normal WoD?
How does religion fit into your setting? Are vampires unholy?
And what about the changelings, where do they fit in? I don't see many attempts to mix the fey in with dieselpunk but it could certainly be interesting! Are there formal diplomatic relations with the changeling courts? Is the existance of fetches, the Fae, and other aspects of the changeling setting considered to be common knowldege?
Are all members of the ranger service 'special' in some way, or could we play a particularly experienced, well-equipped core book character?
I like the sound of it.
...I like it a lot!
I'm fairly rusty at WoD, but I'm looking to get back into it. Is magic in your setting moddeled after the Ascencion system, or Awakening (or something else)? Is it opposed by anything like paradox or hubris, or is it a more 'tame' force than normal WoD?
How does religion fit into your setting? Are vampires unholy?
And what about the changelings, where do they fit in? I don't see many attempts to mix the fey in with dieselpunk but it could certainly be interesting! Are there formal diplomatic relations with the changeling courts? Is the existance of fetches, the Fae, and other aspects of the changeling setting considered to be common knowldege?
Are all members of the ranger service 'special' in some way, or could we play a particularly experienced, well-equipped core book character?
Magic uses the awakening system. Hubris is still used, however, because magic, as useful as it is, is still a difficult force to understand and master, and mages who act too egotistical can damage themselves with it. However, most uses of magic in combat, unless particularly heinous, do not damage Wisdom, so the hubris system is loosened up a bit.
The existence of Fae and changlings is common knowledge, but the Fae are very good at stealing children successfully, and attempts to invade the Fae homeland to stop the abductions have come to naught. Just getting there is almost impossible, and the few military expeditions that managed it never returned. There are formal relations with changling courts (as well as werecreature packs, vampire covens, and the like), but not with the Fae. The Fae do not want such relations, and the people of this world loath them.
The Ranger Service likes to recruit people who can use magic, as they are the best people for going up against magic. That's why they tend to be vampires, werecreatures, mages, and the like. I'm not willing to allow a core book character, but if someone has the hunter book and is willing to be assistant GM (I don't have the hunter book, so I'd need an assistant GM with the book to handle anything a hunter character does), I will allow hunters, who, to my understanding, are extremely well trained humans.
Before I get to into this, there is one major question: Classic World of Darkness(Masquerade, Apocalypse, etc), or New WoD?(Requiem, Forsaken, etc)
New WOD. I never owned the classic books.
Count me in!
I'm not familiar with hunters either, so I guess that's not an option... I'm leaning toward either an illusionist mage (are there movie studios in Devaia?) or a winter court ogre private investigator for my character's background before joining the Rangers. I'll work on a writeup tonight.
Count me in!
I'm not familiar with hunters either, so I guess that's not an option... I'm leaning toward either an illusionist mage (are there movie studios in Devaia?) or a winter court ogre private investigator for my character's background before joining the Rangers. I'll work on a writeup tonight.
Yes. Devaia has a booming movie industry, just like it's real life foil, Vancouver, British Columbia (I'm basing Devaia off of Vancouver in many respects, and Vancouver is very much a movie and TV town).
Both these ideas would work in Devaia.
Does being assigned to the ranger service provide any freebies, or do we need to use XP for things like Status (ranger) to reflect our rank or resources dots to reflect our professional gear?
Does being assigned to the ranger service provide any freebies, or do we need to use XP for things like Status (ranger) to reflect our rank or resources dots to reflect our professional gear?
If you need something, you can borrow it free. You need not buy the weapons you start with (A service revolver and combat knife).
I had quite a bit of reading up to do- it's been quite a while since I wrote up a Mage! One of the things I love/hate about WoD character generation is there's always just one more thing that I wish I could afford, but I'm fairly happy with how he turned out... character description and background to come soon.
Tristan Walters (Obrimos/Free Council)
Intelligence •••• Strength •• Presence ••
Wits •• Dexterity •• Manipulation •
Resolve •••• Stamina •• Composure •••
XP: 3
Defense 2
Health 7
Initiative 5
Speed 9
Willpower 7
Wisdom 7
Gnosis 3
Mana 13
Crafts (Illusions) •••
Investigation (Crime Scenes) ••••
Occult (Magic) ••••
Athletics ••
Firearms •
Stealth •
Expression •
Persuasion •••
Subterfuge •••
High Speech
Familar (••••)
Hollow (•)
Prime ••••
Space ••
Matter •
Rotes: Dispel Magic (13), Counterspell (13), Celestial Fire (11)
Raven familiar (Rowdy)
Attributes: Intelligence 1, Wits 3, Resolve 4, Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Presence 3, Manipulation 1, Composure 3
Skills: Politics 3, Athletics 1, Brawl 1, Larceny 3, Stealth 4, Subterfuge 5
Willpower: 7
Initiative: 6
Defense: 3
Speed: 14 (flight only; species factor 10)
Size: 2
Health: 4
Attack: Beak, 1(L)
Influence: Trickery ••
Numina: Innocuous, Harrow
Ban: (chosen by GM)
A few questions:
Is there a lot of paperwork in this setting? Will I need status traits to reflect professional certification in geomancy/engineering (Prime 4)?
I didn't notice that it said for the GM to generate the familiar's traits until I was already pretty much done... edit at will. I had to do a lot of catching up on spirits and familiars, and I'm still not sure how numina works for manifested sprits. Harrow usually involves Power + Finesse for a spirit; would it be something like Presence + Wits, or Intelligence + Manipulation?
With Tristan's current abilities, he can imbue an item with an afternoon's worth of work. Could I start with a bulletproof vest imbued with magic shield and armor of the soul? Tristan would still be controlling the spell rather than relinquishing it, so it counts against my active spell limit.
Do you know how to format fixed width text on Paizo's forums?
I just noticed that I missed a dot in manipulation, there should be 2.
I did some more reading and discovered that there is no actual 'illusion' spell that does what I had in mind when I created this guy. There is a Mind 3 spell that creates figments for one person only, but wouldn't show up on camera. The Prime 3+ spells create objects with substance that are solid to the touch and (potentially) functional.
Would you allow Prime based illusions that are completely intangible for one dot less than normal? It helps to explain his backstory doing special effects for movie studios, and could be important for extended duration rules.
How likely is it that this game will happen? I don't want to overextend myself and apply for too many games at once...