| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Everyone knows their names: Dracula. Frankenstein. Wolfman, Jekyll/Hyde. Or sometimes their titles: Bride, Creature, Invisible Man/Woman, Mummy, Phantom. But almost everyone also knows that those are just fiction, right? Old hokey black and white movies. Modern remakes, reboots, re-imaginings, even Broadway musicals. What almost no one knows is that they are real. The darkness is real. And beyond the darkness, there is something even worse…
Welcome!
Almost exactly a year ago, I shut down my PbP games due to ongoing physical and mental health struggles. A year later, I’m in a much better place and ready to get back in the game.
This recruitment is for a Mutants and Masterminds 3rd Edition game.
Campaign Information: This campaign is a pretty tight niche. You are a team of super powered characters powered by the monsters in the Universal Monsters series of movies and tie-in media, remakes, etc. You will be part of a team, and the tone will be pulp adventure with a hint of horror. You can be a monster. You can be cursed. You can be an anti-hero, or a reluctant hero, or a tragic hero, or a villain with a heart of gold. Adventures will involve fighting things that are even more of a threat to humanity (and existence) than you are. BPRD and Creature Commandoes capture the tone I am aiming for.
Character creation: PL 10, 160 power points. 4 skill points per power point. Characters should be inspired by and powered by concepts from Universal Studios monster movies, various media tie-ins, the original stories that inspired these movies, and other interpretations of these characters. Characters should be, in some way, monstrous. At the same time, these characters are more powerful than what we see in the movies. They are fully super heroes.
Inspiration and Sources:
Obviously the Universal Monsters. Take a look. [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Monsters] Universal Monsters[/url}. Also BPRD (movies and Hellboy comics) and Creature Commandos.
Posting my intent to play a childe of Dracula, possibly with some magick ability. Unsure what the exact power set will be.
Aside from the iconic Universal Monsters being real, are other beings from mythology/folklore also real? Ie, does the Devil actually exist, are the gods real, was King Arthur an actual mythic knight of antiquity?
The setting, much like the source material, is pretty half baked. Other folklore and myth might be real. We can make whatever real that we need for stories and backstories.
I’d say everything that is touched on by sources definitely exists. So gods and devils, folk magic, Egyptian magic and gods. Anything else can exist if we need it.
I definitely have ideas about opponents drawn from myths, folklore, and fiction.
|
Is the following acceptable? Details to be determined, of course.
The character is an archaeologist who was uncovering an ancient temple. The temple was most recently (still thousands of years ago) a temple to Bastet but it actually dated back before that and was originally a temple to Sekhmet.
She uncovered a hidden compartment in the temple that led to a shrine to Sekhmet within which was an amulet that contained the essence of a priestess of Sekhmet. Touching the amulet released the spirit which partly merged with her.
Not quite sure how I'll build her but she'll be mostly a Lion/Human martial type with some lion/cat themed powers (maybe able to change into a cat, talk to cats, that kind of stuff). Healer as well as a warrior.
She has some of the mythological weaknesses of Sehkmet. Great anger when roused, susceptability to alcohol (especially beer), etc.
I the following acceptable? Details to be determined, of course.
The character is an archaeologist who was uncovering an ancient temple. The temple was most recently (still thousands of years ago) a temple to Bastet but it actually dated back before that and was originally a temple to Sekhmet.
She uncovered a hidden compartment in the temple that led to a shrine to Sekhmet within which was an amulet that contained the essence of a priestess of Sekhmet. Touching the amulet released the spirit which partly merged with her.
Not quite sure how I'll build her but she'll be mostly a Lion/Human martial type with some lion/cat themed powers (maybe able to change into a cat, talk to cats, that kind of stuff). Healer as well as a warrior.
She has some of the mythological weaknesses of Sehkmet. Great anger when roused, susceptability to alcohol (especially beer), etc.
That works for me. Reminds me of the RKO movie Cat People. Maybe throw in something about cats having 9 lives and reincarnation.
Welcome!
Almost exactly a year ago, I shut down my PbP games due to ongoing physical and mental health struggles. A year later, I’m in a much better place and ready to get back in the game.
Welcome back! I was in the Everyday Heroes campaign that you were running then. I'm glad to hear that things are working out better for you now!
I'm interested in developing my "Son of the Invisible Man" or my "punk anarchist Werewolf" ideas mentioned in the interest check thread. I'm spending the day between chores reading the Wikipedia plot summaries of those film franchises for inspiration.
This campaign is to be modern day, right? Not mid-1900s?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yes, it will be set in the present. Both of those ideas sound great.
As mentioned, am interested. I've got two ideas, the most prominent of which is something like "Bride of the Mummy." In the original film and some variations, the Mummy tries to kill and mummify the woman who is the reincarnated soul of his past love. He nearly succeeds but she calls upon Isis to stop him. My thought is what if he really did succeed in killing her but Isis resurrected her a la how Osiris was reborn, and so she is now herself undead, able to manifest some sorcerous ability, and trying to be sure her "fiance" who she hates is destroyed for good. My one concern there is trying not to pile on too big a grab bag of powers.
The other option is going Frankenstein/flesh golem route, and I'm wondering if it's in modern day if some cybernetics would qualify as an option for that or would it take it too far into a different genre.
I like both of those options.
The Mummy, The Mummy’s ghost, and The Mummy’s Curse at least had the lost love angle. And of course the Brendan Fraser version had that as the Mummy motivation.
I’m not opposed to some implants for a Frankenstein. The DC comics version has had some.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Could also be interesting if The Mummy resurrects her and she is like “Hell no.” And she is a woman out of time. Just ideas.
So a sort of gadgeteer? We can explore that.
|
|
Can I please get some guidance as to how broad and, well, point optimized I should make my character? Unfortunately in M&M it is often the case that one persons twinked out monstrosity is another persons underpowered character :-).
I can easily build a character based on a Lion fighting power. Melee sort, maybe +12 or so to hit for +8 damage, 12 or so active defences with 8 stamina, some superleap and lots of senses. A bit of regeneration and healing and some appropriate skills.
Is a fairly simple character like that both viable and what you're looking for in this campaign?
Or should I embrace the "mythological cat" theme and give the kinds of powers attributed to cats in fiction and fable? Things like teleportation, ability to walk through walls, vanish from sight perhaps leaving a smile behind and the like.
I think this campaign will be more fun if individual characters don't have a wide array of abilities that can solve any problem.
I think a sort of Lion themed melee/martial artist type would work well. That wouldn't preclude some cool cat moves like "steal breath" as an affliction from a strike, super stealth, super leaping, maybe limited wall crawling. You can always power stunt to weird cat powers.
You could broaden you abilities some with the ability to turn into a housecat like you mentioned. Alternate form with better stealth, squeezing into small places, not looking like a scary cat person.
Ultimately I'll design adventures and encounters around the PCs we end up with, so don't fret about it too much.
|
Concept is Dr. Victor Frankenstein has learned to clone/implant himself into new bodies over the years. First being transplanted into a new Strange and wonderous. Learning from other mad scientists over the years like Moreau, Jekyll, and more.
A gentleman and scholar who has a cane, and special suit, mask and special balls.
thinking mixing Mr.Terrific, Dr.Doom, Mr.Sinister, as well as Bruce Banner and Hank Pym
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Concept is Dr. Victor Frankenstein has learned to clone/implant himself into new bodies over the years. First being transplanted into a new Strange and wonderous. Learning from other mad scientists over the years like Moreau, Jekyll, and more.
A gentleman and scholar who has a cane, and special suit, mask and special balls.
thinking mixing Mr.Terrific, Dr.Doom, Mr.Sinister, as well as Bruce Banner and Hank Pym
Pretty sure the part I bolded violates Paizo's TOS, LOL
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
I have a bit of wonky concept for my PC:
There was an idea/meme I've seen float around the intrawebz that suggested a TV show based on all of children or young variants or whatever of Dracula all being one big family. Ie, Alucard, Draculaura, Mavis, etc are all siblings.
And my PC would be related to all of them(either another sibling, or maybe some other close relative?).
Hopefully that's not too silly for the theme you're goin with? Obviously, none of them need to make actual appearances 'on screen', just though it would be fun for backstory.
As in the Interest Check thread, I'm looking at an auto-frankenstein - a brilliant young scientist who is constantly replacing damaged or sick parts of her body to the point where essentially nothing from her original body is still attached.
Powers: Strength, Durability, Radical Bodily Autonomy (hot-swapping body parts, and independent movement of detached extremities). Maybe some sort of Masque-esque hands-on alteration of others? I'll see if there are points for it
Persona: gothy, deadpan, self-destructive in a fun way
Concept is Dr. Victor Frankenstein has learned to clone/implant himself into new bodies over the years. First being transplanted into a new Strange and wonderous. Learning from other mad scientists over the years like Moreau, Jekyll, and more.
A gentleman and scholar who has a cane, and special suit, mask and special balls.
thinking mixing Mr.Terrific, Dr.Doom, Mr.Sinister, as well as Bruce Banner and Hank Pym
Critzible, I like the implant himself into new bodies. I think mixing all of those characters is a broader range of powers than I was thinking for player characters.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Getting close to finishing the actual character. Is there a deadline for submissions (gaming tonight and tomorrow, so probably won't get to it until Thursday)?
I feel like it takes a while to get some concepts together in this game. Let's say the 15th.
I have a bit of wonky concept for my PC:
There was an idea/meme I've seen float around the intrawebz that suggested a TV show based on all of children or young variants or whatever of Dracula all being one big family. Ie, Alucard, Draculaura, Mavis, etc are all siblings.
And my PC would be related to all of them(either another sibling, or maybe some other close relative?).
Hopefully that's not too silly for the theme you're goin with? Obviously, none of them need to make actual appearances 'on screen', just though it would be fun for backstory.
Sure, Dracula is pretty old and can have all manner of "children." I should note that in this setting, Dracula is not the first vampire, and there are other vampires and vampire lords around.
As in the Interest Check thread, I'm looking at an auto-frankenstein - a brilliant young scientist who is constantly replacing damaged or sick parts of her body to the point where essentially nothing from her original body is still attached.
Powers: Strength, Durability, Radical Bodily Autonomy (hot-swapping body parts, and independent movement of detached extremities). Maybe some sort of Masque-esque hands-on alteration of others? I'll see if there are points for it
Persona: gothy, deadpan, self-destructive in a fun way
That sounds weird and good. Pretty sure the detached extremities exists in one of the Power Profiles.
I have a M&M character that sadly never really got played much, that I would like to try and possibly reprise here:
She's a mutant(obviously that would probably change here, lol) who has both Darkforce and Lightforce powers(ala Cloak and Dagger).
Would that be okay, or is that too superheroic/powerful for this game?
I have a M&M character that sadly never really got played much, that I would like to try and possibly reprise here:
She's a mutant(obviously that would probably change here, lol) who has both Darkforce and Lightforce powers(ala Cloak and Dagger).
Would that be okay, or is that too superheroic/powerful for this game?
What's the tie-in to Universal Monsters?
She's still going to be a child/grandchild of Dracula, and related to all the various siblings like I mentioned above.
I was just asking if her powerset was acceptable or not.
I can see the darkness part. Dracula and his shadow are often up to things in different depictions. So a character who uses their shadow to create effects could work a lot like a Darkforce user.
What are you thinking about the light part? I'm having a hard time seeing how that ties into Dracula.
I've gotten my concept somewhat fleshed out. Gist is character is linguist who is reincarnated soul of priestess of Isis. The Mummy (the priest Kharsis) who courted priestess millennia ago used magic to lure her to him and began a ritual to transfer her soul into the mummified body of her past life and she would be bound to serve him for eternity. Her present self and past self united to nope out on that and used a spell from Isis to stop the ritual and destroyed the body of her past self, but the disruption of the ritual was imperfect. She began to die and used the magic that resurrected Osiris to restore herself--basically, embalming herself in the process--and has survived now for decades in a state of undeath--though like many of the Mummy characters in the various films, she can pass herself off as human as long as no one gets too close. What's more, her past self remains awakened and they sometimes fight over control of her body or disagree on a particular course of action.
What I'm not sure of is how to focus the build power-wise. I'm figuring some usual mummy stuff like regeneration/resurrection and maybe a desiccating touch. I don't want a ton of magical skills but if connected to Isis probably some healing and death magic. Don't want to spread her too thin. I'm thinking the dual identity is more of a complication, though there could be something of an alternate form tied to that where she can only use magic when the priestess is in control.
I can see how the lack of focus could be a problem, there. Isis is so many things across so many time periods.
As for a build, I would imagine the mummy physiology and immortality would probably burn through quite a few points.
Maybe using the ritual magic could be interesting? So you could have a broad power base but it would take time to implement? Or unreliable to reflect that you are basically asking for divine intervention and it doesn't always happen.
What about a sort of horrifying appearance/gaze (Affliction: Dazed, Stunned, Paralyzed?) Could also be that she is so beautiful that she is mesmerizing.
As a linguist, maybe she uses verbal spells or words of power of some sort.
I'm interested in developing my "Son of the Invisible Man" or my "punk anarchist Werewolf" ideas mentioned in the interest check thread. I'm spending the day between chores reading the Wikipedia plot summaries of those film franchises for inspiration.
I'm going with my Invisible Man idea. He's a descendant of someone who underwent the procedure to become invisible (there's been more than one in the movies), and it turns out this condition can be hereditary (this also happened in one of the movies). When he first becomes invisible as a young man, he learns of his legacy and feels that he ought to right the wrongs committed by his antecedent relative. He turns to vigilantism and other means of social protest. However, the madness that occurs for every Invisible Man starts to take effect, and... I'm still trying to decide if the madness is already starting to take its toll, or if he is dealing with the fact that he's waiting for the madness to start.
For the build, I'm thinking that I'll first get the Concealment power set, and then use the leftover points on skills that make sense for running around naked and without any weapons or armor: hand-to-hand fighting, acrobatics, dodge, stealth, etc. I might also build up whatever his job or interest was from before he first turned invisible if that's something that could be useful for play. Accountant, probably not; hacker or academic, maybe!
Anyway, not that I had a claim to it, but I'm not touching the Wolf Man if anyone is interested in that.
GM, will the campaign begin where we're already part of this supergroup, or will we start the game as individual operators?
Anyway, not that I had a claim to it, but I'm not touching the Wolf Man if anyone is interested in that.
Wolf Man? I'll bite ;)
Sorry ST - just noticed the interest thread and recruitment. Definitely interested.
For my Wolfman concept I'd like to tap into the Welsh origin of Larry Talbot in the original film and tie that into British myth and also the industrialism of Port Talbot for his family's wealth.
He'd be a wealthy heir, troubled by his bestial alter-ego and the mythos around it.
Will dig into some source material and see what percolates...
|
|
I've got a version of the character almost ready but I thought I'd make sure that I'm not going too far before finalizing it. It uses metamorph which I know some people see as a huge Red Flag.
She was on a dig in Egypt when she uncovered a door lined with Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Her long study of ancient Egyptian magics enabled her to realize that this was a spell, a spell that she perhaps foolishly decided to cast (What Could Possibly Go Wrong?)
The door opened and inside was an ancient necklace and torc. She felt compelled by some strange force to put them on.
When she woke up several hours later she found that she had been transformed both physically and mentally. She now had the head of a Lioness and some of the memories and personality ot something. She isn't quite sure if it was an Avatar of Bastet/Sehkmet, the spirits of ancient temple guardians, or what.
But she is now forever more a lioness headed woman with strange feline urges and instincts. In her base form she is a formidable fighter with some magical abilities but she can also transform into two different forms. One is a large, somewhat bestial form that is incredibly strong and nearly immune to most damage, a form that is very quick to anger and that will blindly attack when angered.
She can also change into the form of an Egyptian cat.
In all 3 of her forms she can change into any feline or feline headed person with her body (Note, Morph so this is purely cosmetic).
To her regret she discovered that when sufficiently hurt or angered she will manifest in the form that she calls The Lady of Slaughter
I ended up creating a character with morph and 2 metamorph forms. She can morph into any female feline or feline headed person with her old body.
She has 3 forms
1) Her main form - A lioness headed woman (can appear as a small lioness, tiger, etc via morph). Decent in single combat. Attacks and Defences and defences at +12, Damage of +8
2) The Lady of Slaughter - A 9 foot tool Lioness headed woman (often taking the appearance via Morph of a normal huge Lioness or Tiger) who is sort of almost capable of taking on small armies. Str, Stamina of 12, Impervious Toughness, Takedown 2.
3) Pussy cat. While still has the defences of a PL10 character has the offences of about a PL8 character. But good at stealth, getting into places, etc.
One important thing to note - while in general she can choose to change form she has complications that mean that she can get stuck. Especially likely to become basically a berserk killing machine as The Lady of Slaughter. She most certainly IS a monster at least some of the time.
I'd started with a character with Alternate Form and it costed out about the same. The metamorph mostly made it a lot simpler to make sure all 3 forms were legal, point balanced, etc. And at a cost of 12 points I think I'm not getting too much. But I AM both a brick and an agile martial artist with considerable stealth ability, at least while I have control of myself.
|
|
Ignore the previous post (too late for me to delete it). I realized that I'm creating a character who is far more a normal super hero than an actual monster with redeeming values. And its too flexible. And a bit too complicated. I'm going to lose the morph.
Will still be able to change into a normal cat, though :-).
Lord Hathaway Donnachaidh
I would Love to play something even older, something from, the Darker Fiery tails. Part Dorian grey/Orlando/John Constantine as a PC, He has Fey blood, from Celtic times, so he is old, His 'Father' left him his wealth A very private, Old Money Scottish nobleman living in his Family country Keep in the highlands, But he spends more of his time "overseas". In Truth he walks some very dark alleyways under the hill.
His pact is not with any darkness form the Abrahamic faiths but come thing much much older.
Powers, Fey, {The Green man, the Dark Fey in the woods} aspect, that touch of the other world, Glammers and illusions, The twisting of minds. The old ways and paths, He is mostruses because that is what he projects into the minds of others. The thing in old woods, the knocking of trees on windows at night. The old wilds. His real is the horrors of old fairy tales. He hides his true form behind a glamours.
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes”