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On the surface, the world looks just like our own. But hidden battles rage where normal people can't see them. Dark, terrible, and sometimes mind crushing monsters. A motley collection of forces fight for humanity. Wizards Councils, secret government agencies, professional bounty hunters, and even some of the monsters themselves.
This is an interest check for a campaign mashing up urban fantasy settings. The prime directive of the setting is that magic is hidden, so Harry Dresden, BPRD, and Monster Hunters International are in, but settings where there are open magic users or public debates about weathermancy are out. I am happy to smooth out continuity issues between whatever settings we include.
Characters would be original and, ideally, not step on toes of whatever we decide is in universe. So, for example, if you want to be a werewolf, you have to deal with the fact that Earl Harbinger is the king of werewolves. You probably aren't better at mind magic than Molly Carpenter. And you aren't the Harbinger of the Apocalypse or Frankenstein's Monster. That isn't to say you would ever encounter any of those people or it would ever come up.
I'm thinking we start at PL 7 and 20 powerpoints per level. That allows characters with a variety of powers but nothing earth shattering. I tend to think of PL 6 as super cop/super agent level, so you should be roughly equivalent to a character from early Harry Dresden. Equipment would be allowed to break power level limits, but would be limited to real world items.
I would want to have 4-6 characters. Looking to run recruitment next week and then start the game on September 20th.
Posts: 1 per day would work, 2 per day would be great.
Dotting for interest ;) there's quite some time I don't play MM though, but I used to love it back then
Are the 2e rules available online like the 3e ones are?
The thing about MM is that character creation is rough but play is super easy.
Right but I kind of need the rules available to do the former especially. =)
Ryngin, I didn't see your post when I posted.
There is no OGL site, but it isn't too hard to find the rules online. I would use 3e, but there is way better support for this type of campaign in 2e.
You all enjoy. I'd be all over this but I've never played this system before. Sounds awesome.
I would try to get in, but I'm not sure what rules my books are for, and I'd have to dig out my external for them anyway. Besides, I'm trying to get in on like 5 or 6 other games, and I don't want want to get too clogged up. Depending on how many I actually get in, and if recruitment is still running, I might put up a character. I hope you don't mind someone who's never played before ^.^
I don't at all mind working with people who have not played with the rules. Resolving almost any action is just a matter of rolling d20 and adding a number. And Pbp makes it easy to take time to look at rules.
I also don't mind helping out with builds if it comes to that.
I'm very interested.
I have an idea for a character who goes by Wisp. He's descended from two of the elder elemental clans. Fire and air - so his powers are based on smoke.
Dotting for interest. Sounds very fun! I own the rulebook, but it's been a while since I read through it. Never played with the system.
Let me refine my concept and I'll post it soon.
I'll see if I can find the 2e rules online.
I made this character for a 3e game set in the amalgam universe, as a combo of Deathstroke and Taskmaster (more neutral than evil, he worked for the SHIELD analogue), but the GM shut it down before it could really take off.
May use something like this. An urban commando of sorts. He was PL 14 though, and it was already hard to build, so maybe not.
If I may - Hero Lab has MM3, and it should be easier to find rules for it online. Couldn't we try this version instead?
I missed that this was actually a setting mash-up. Well that means now I HAVE to do something Dresden-y.
But yeah, from what I hear 3E isn't too much different than 2E (have only played the former), but it' a hell of a lot easier to reference. I found a 2E PDF, but it's about as easy to reference as most PDF rulebooks, which is to say: Not at all, especially with such a complex character creation process where you're going to be hopping around between Effects and Advantages and Skills and Equipment and back again to get everything tweaked just right. Whenever I use a PDF version to build a character rather than an SRD or a physical copy I always end up missing a bunch of easy stuff.
Color me interested.
I've got both editions.
If asked, I'd say 3E is a slightly better system, but unless you're going full-on supers it won't matter.
I'd prefer whatever the DM is most comfortable using for his setting.
Besides I have a bunch of 2E books I never got to use.
The difference in building characters would happen before play, so if we help each other with builds and rules auditing, we negate the difficulty.
Full on Dresden or Monster Hunter or combo with other stuff added?
What power point to skill ratio?
(There are recommendations that you change the skill points per power point ration for games with more emphasis on lower level powers, though 140 points at R7 should mean we don't need to worry about that.)
I'd like to make a character with an interesting background who ties into the lore of the world or someone with new-found abilities who's a bit freaked about finding out what's out there.
I've played (in a variety of systems) Kid Frankenstein (son of the monster and carnival strongman), John Little the latest (descendant of Little John and an English staff expert), various supers in M&M, and others.
I can make a character to fit the party if needed but I'll look back over the occult book to see what's calling to me.
I haven't played in a PBP since Paizo upped the system some years ago, so I might need help from someone familiar with the modern version if I am chosen to play;
niel
If I may - Hero Lab has MM3, and it should be easier to find rules for it online. Couldn't we try this version instead?
Hero Lab also has MM2 .
I am very interested Tumbler. You mentioned this in the MM2 game we share and yeah, I'm still interested.
I have both versions on herolab and most supplements for both. My main reasons for using 2e are that it has books to support magic, fantasy, and agent level heroes, all of which seem helpful here. I also prefer a few of the quirks of 2e, but that is less important.
I've played both. One big difference is that non-damaging attacks actually matter in M&M2. I see that as something I'd prefer for urban fantasy where a lot of the conflicts should be less clear cut then "I pound him into the pavement".
Ok, I have my concept in mind, so I'll be eagerly on the lookout for the Recruitment thread. I'm assuming having a monstrous humanoid as a PC wouldn't be a problem for this campaign? You listed BPRD as an inspiration for the setting, and Hellboy and Abe Sapien are presumably running around doing their thing, after all.
I honestly don't care which ruleset we use, but that's just me. I never stress about the rules so long as the GM isn't pulling houerules out of his pocket on the fly (as opposed to stating them all up front). I just enjoy roleplaying. 2E is fine with me.
I was doing a bit of thinking about a character- probably to no use since we don't know details of what kind of group we'll be asked to make characters for- and one concept (of several) I had was to be half-Fae per Dresden Files. (where you need to choose your Fae side or your mortal side)
I drifted into thinking about the way Changeling from White Wolf treats fey.
If you're not familiar with the setup for the game, your character was stolen by the mysterious Fey for something they saw in you.
You are changed/mutated/taught to fit the role they wanted you to play (whether it to be beast, worker, entertainment, etc.) and kept for years.
You have escaped, crossed the middle world, and returned to mortal earth.
Only to find they replaced you with a fake when they took you and no-one missed you.
Good luck building your life again- and while your old masters may come looking for you, first you'll have to deal with your replacement and the other changelings who can see you as you have become even if normal humans can't.
If you are not familiar with the setting, tumbler, it seems like something you might like (and might want to add to your world).
While it was long past the time I wanted to play a White Wolf game, I enjoyed reading about the types of creatures you might become, how each of them might act, and the sub-types of each.
There was also a bit about the things you could find in the middle world (I think it was referred to as the Hedge) and the Goblin Market (which reminded me of a Neil Gaiman setting).
niel
I am familiar with Changeling. I never played a changeling character, but I've seen them in World of Darkness campaigns. I mostly played Mage characters.
I thought I would see what sorts of things came out in this thread before I decided what sort of characters to look for. Interestingly, most people chiming in are wanting to play somewhat monstrous characters. I don't have any problem with that, but people are pretty opposed to monsters. In Dresden and BPRD, most monsters are expected to be monstrous until we see otherwise, and in MHI all monsters have bounties on there head unless they have worked for the government and are exempt.
Those ideas could be massaged. I would see the government as pretty hostile to monsters, which doesn't preclude monster characters. In fact, it probably makes things more interesting.
There are also all of the new Wardens that have been trained up on the Dresdenverse.
I don't particularly want a game where the team are agents or the White Council or the Feds. I would prefer a more freewheeling team where I can use those other groups as allies and adversaries.
Also, it looks like I accidentally turned this into w recruitment thread for an unnamed campaign, so I may just transition from here to recruitment. I plan to start recruitment Thursday.
Okay, gonna give then a tentative submission. Going for a pure human detective. No powers or magic items or anything. Just his skills and his trusty shotgun. Presenting Detective Jarrod Liam Jackson, detective of the local police department. You said power level 7, so I got 105 power points to get stuff. I think I'm a little low on his equipment points spent from the Equipment feat, but otherwise I think I have him finished. Like I said before, I never played in an M&M game, so I hope I got all his crunch done correctly.
Deko, you get 20 points per level, so 140 points instead of 105. Also, we will do 3 skill points per power point instead of 2.
I will take a deeper look at the character as well.
Also, since a lot of people are new to the system, realize that powers don't have to be "powers." Batman, for example, would be built with powers (At least I would), even though he is a "normal." So if your character is a human but is just really good at something, he or she might have some powers. Luck, divine grace, a curse, fey friends, all could conceivably be powers, for example. I'm sure people would be willing to help out as we get the ball rolling.
Well, now it's Thursday so here goes.
I've got a couple of concepts.
The first is the fey character.
As a changeling style fey, he would have been taken from his home as a child, altered by his time with the fey, escaped to return, found his precise memories of the years gone are faded, be trying to fit back into his life, and have powers related to his alterations.
He would appear normal to normals unless he uses his powers, but non-normals would know there was something about him supernatural.
Powers would be chosen to fit the party.
This would work best if it fits tumbler's ideas about the fey in his world.
Another fey concept was to take something like the Redcap presented in the Magic book and broaden it out to a full PC.
Second was more specific about powers.
I was thinking a transmuter, someone who could alter matter into other types of matter.
Basic idea was someone who could change his bullets into the specific bane needed versus a monster he was trying to stop, but I started thinking about the true story behind the fable about spinning straw into gold and how the poor Rumpelstiltskin was controlled by his true name and forced to work himself to death transmuting gold and how his captor bred him to human woman hoping for a child with his powers.
I like all three, but the redcap would be easiest to fit into pretty much any campaign.
The changeling would be affected by tumbler's world's fey.
And the transmuter would be the most potentially damaging to the campaign in terms of power.
I'll see what everyone thinks and narrow things down later.
niel
In the rules, it says 4 skill ranks per power point. Are you homeruling differently? Also, I didn't realize that we were starting at level 3. If we get 20 points per level, wouldn't we start with 145 instead of 140?
We are starting at Power Level 7, and 20 points per power level. So 140 points to build your character, but everything still capped at PL 7.
4 skill points per power point is good. Makes the math easier anyway.
Hi tumbler! I pm'd you ;)
Oh, Wisp is mostly human. I'm thinking that his appearance will be based off of Taye Diggs.
There was also a bit about the things you could find in the middle world (I think it was referred to as the Hedge) and the Goblin Market (which reminded me of a Neil Gaiman setting).
Yes, I thought of Wisp for a Neverwhere PBP that died early.
Ok, here's my pitch:
Deep in the woods of , sat Gemert Manor, which lay long-abandoned for decades. Gemert manor was a grand, three story house built in a quasi-Gothic architectural style: flying buttresses, tall spires, high windows that once-held stained glass windows, and a smattering of gargoyles. Most significantly, it was haunted. Any visitors curious about this old house overgrown with weeds and cobwebs would inevitably flee in terror in the night (somehow, always in the night) never to return, if they managed to emerge from the house at all.
Developing in the collective consciousness of nearby communities as a place to be avoided, Gemert Manor's solitude was eventually ended by the relentless spread of urban sprawl. Man's fear of the unknown was repressed by the forces of supply and demand. By the time the wrecking ball crashed through the first wall, any communities that knew of the legends that surrounded Gemert Manor had long since been paved over. One of the few pieces of the old house to survive was a gargoyle with the short snout of a beast, deep set eyes, and large bat-like wings that somehow survived the demolition intact. The gargoyle was incredibly surprised when, under the dim light of a crescent moon, it climbed out of the rubble of what was left of the grand house and skulked off into the night.
*********
The gargoyle is possessed by one of the ghosts that haunted the house. All (most?) of the other spirits were destroyed, but once ghost found itself inside a somewhat humanoid form, and not having the rest of the house to return to, it has stayed. The "structure" of having a body again has suppressed the mindless rage of the ghost, leaving a confused consciousness in its place with no memories, but a few impressions of both its former life and its time spent haunting Gemert Manor.
I'm very familiar with the Dresden Files, moderately familiar with Hellboy, and not at all familiar with Monster Hunter International. My concept isn't something that's directly inspired from any of those works, but it fits thematically, I think. I seem to recall from my limited experience with M&M that I had trouble building a character that was too narrowly focused, so my possessed gargoyle will focus mainly on the strength and toughness (and flight?) of a gargoyle, but will also branch out into some sort of ethereal powerset for the ghost aspect. I could perch on a building and possibly recon a limited area as a ghost, leaving an inert statue behind.
tumbler's point above about monstrous humanoids is well taken, so I also have a half-developed concept about a college student that went backpacking around the world for a summer, disappeared for a few years, and when he returned to the world, he had learned the basics of shamanism or maybe some sort of psionics.
Having too may monstrous characters limits interactions with the mundane world. Being too human removes the problems with having to hide your specialness. Is that what you're shooting for Tumbler?
If so a good rule would be that your character needs to be able to at least pass for human in a trenchcoat and hat on a city street at night. That would allow some non-humans, but keep out the dragons and cthuloid tentacle monsters.
Pretty much yes, Philo. I'm fine rolling with the idea that Hellboy can roam the streets in a hat and trench coat, but that a real encounter with people will lead to complications.
In Dresden, there are crazy powerful demons who can cloak themselves in people suits and smart dogs. In MHI there is an agent who is a demon possessed flesh golem. And orcs who wear goggles or face masks.
I'm happy following the crowd on those trends with whatever direction the group takes.
The character I'm designing is humanoid in general and can pass as human, even though he is nothing like the such. :)
Cornielius, I like the fey idea. The human made into a monster is a nice theme, and the built in adversaries and complications are useful.
Managed to untether this thread and create a new recruitment thread. Not a huge amount of interest so far but enough, I think. I like the character ideas I am seeing so far.
New thread is called monsters and men.
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I'm definitely interested in something like this, I love both 2e M&M and Dresden, so 100% down with that. I have two ideas in mind.
First, a sort of awakened mathematician/physicist. Someone who studied the physical laws governing the universe before his own magical potential was awakened, and can now manipulate matter by altering the states and properties of matter. Raising and lowering acceleration, or mass, or inertia, as if adjusting an equation to get the desired result.
Second, and I'm being 100% derivative here, would be a sort of magical gadgeteer. Independently powerless, but with a collection of magical artifacts, and a decent mind for magical theory.
Managed to untether this thread and create a new recruitment thread. Not a huge amount of interest so far but enough, I think. I like the character ideas I am seeing so far.
New thread is called monsters and men.
Video geek, we moved recruitment to this link above.