46
DFRPG / Re: Newbies ask the darnest things
« on: September 13, 2014, 11:17:54 AM »
Ok, thanks for the answer. Friday and Saturday are probably RL busy times :-) I'll wait.
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47
DFRPG / Re: Newbies ask the darnest things
« on: September 13, 2014, 08:36:29 AM »
Well, according to the registration date I'm not a newbie but I don't post much so I will use this thread to ask a practical question myself. How long does it usually take for a new topic to be approved by the mods? I started one yesterday and it's still awaiting approval, which means nobody can see it. The moderator of the DFRPG section LCDarkwood hasn't been online since the 25 June 2013. Shall I wait some more or shall I PM somebody? Thanks a lot!
48
DFRPG / Re: What's happening in your game then?
« on: July 23, 2014, 01:52:05 PM »
Brilliant, my dear Sir!
49
DFRPG / Re: On Angel(s) and Devil(s)
« on: July 23, 2014, 08:41:51 AM »
Melendwyr: Ok, I start seeing your point. That's clever, I must say. I'm not sure whether I'll use your approach in this particular case but I'm certainly going to look at things from such a perspective in our campaign. Thanks for your input!
50
DFRPG / Re: What's happening in your game then?
« on: July 23, 2014, 08:35:56 AM »
- A plot that involved Michael Dell selling his soul to the Devil and everybody who ever bought a computer from him being infernally influenced (caveat emptor!)
I really really like this!
51
DFRPG / Re: On Angel(s) and Devil(s)
« on: July 22, 2014, 09:45:56 AM »
Melendwyr: Well, you are right, of course. Ďáblice is actually a corrupted form of Davlici, meaning Davel's people, with Davel being a mediaeval Czech name. So the village got its name after its founder or proprietor - a long forgotten petty mediaeval noble. Just as approximately half of the other villages in this country. With Anděl it's similar. The place was a crossroads with a pub. In front of the pub, there was a statue of an angel (almost every major crossroads had such statues - crosses, saints, angels). So they named the pub after the statue. This is the true etymology but i find it kinda boring for an urban fantasy game...
Jreafman: We have similar thoughts :-) And someone trying to tap the power of the execution grounds and the devil trapped nearby would be a very good antagonist for the PCs. By the way I really like wordplay and hints for the players in the names. Recently I started making a Black Court noble modelled after a folk tale of a noble family of Gryspek. The Gryspeks were a real gentry, with the founder of the family, Florian Gryspek of Gryspach having been very close to the Emperor Ferdinand I. During the 16th century, however, they converted to Protestantism and just at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War their castle Kaceřov and all other property were confiscated by the Emperor Ferdinand II who was Catholic. And there is a folk tale about a mass suicide of the whole Gryspek family in 1620 (it's been already refuted by the archaeologists but I don't care) after they got the news about the confiscation. Their family tomb is in the church in Kralovice and the bodies are very well preserved (it's in Czech but check the photos and the video). So I made them to BCVs because it all makes sense with my previous thoughts. And now the wordplay - their castle in West Bohemia is called Kaceřov. In Prague we have a metro station called Kačerov. The pronounciation is very close to each other. So? An open gate for angry blackvamps who just got disturbed and awoken from a 400 years long slumber and who, when pursued, can vanish in the metro station without a trace. Some thinking stuff for the players :-)
Jreafman: We have similar thoughts :-) And someone trying to tap the power of the execution grounds and the devil trapped nearby would be a very good antagonist for the PCs. By the way I really like wordplay and hints for the players in the names. Recently I started making a Black Court noble modelled after a folk tale of a noble family of Gryspek. The Gryspeks were a real gentry, with the founder of the family, Florian Gryspek of Gryspach having been very close to the Emperor Ferdinand I. During the 16th century, however, they converted to Protestantism and just at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War their castle Kaceřov and all other property were confiscated by the Emperor Ferdinand II who was Catholic. And there is a folk tale about a mass suicide of the whole Gryspek family in 1620 (it's been already refuted by the archaeologists but I don't care) after they got the news about the confiscation. Their family tomb is in the church in Kralovice and the bodies are very well preserved (it's in Czech but check the photos and the video). So I made them to BCVs because it all makes sense with my previous thoughts. And now the wordplay - their castle in West Bohemia is called Kaceřov. In Prague we have a metro station called Kačerov. The pronounciation is very close to each other. So? An open gate for angry blackvamps who just got disturbed and awoken from a 400 years long slumber and who, when pursued, can vanish in the metro station without a trace. Some thinking stuff for the players :-)
52
DFRPG / Re: What's happening in your game then?
« on: July 21, 2014, 01:48:13 PM »
Prague, Czechia.
The game is not time-specified according to the books as I have made a lot of changes. There may be no Harry Dresden at all...
The PCs:
Werewolf
Minor Wizard
True Believer Nun
We started with Neutral Grounds and than moved on with a local internal RC conflict.
The PCs are currently working for a villainess (I redesigned Bianca for my needs) and will only gradually discover her true face. More bad things are on the way. On the other hand Bianca and her entourage are certainly not the biggest problem Prague and the PCs with it will have to deal with: this is going to be very interesting.
As a whole the most powerful faction is the Summer Court and the Summer fey are going to be the antagonists further in the campaign. The basic idea is that the spires and towers of Prague form a specific magical pattern that allows chronomancy and time travel. And the Summer fey know that.
Currently I am preparing yet another villain but am still unsure how to put him into the story. He and his scourge are based on a West-Bohemian folk tale of a group suicide of a whole noble family at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. And people are giving me some angelic-diabolic ideas in a neighbouring thread :-)
More info on some of the factions: Red Court, Black Court, Wizards.
The game is not time-specified according to the books as I have made a lot of changes. There may be no Harry Dresden at all...
The PCs:
Werewolf
Minor Wizard
True Believer Nun
We started with Neutral Grounds and than moved on with a local internal RC conflict.
The PCs are currently working for a villainess (I redesigned Bianca for my needs) and will only gradually discover her true face. More bad things are on the way. On the other hand Bianca and her entourage are certainly not the biggest problem Prague and the PCs with it will have to deal with: this is going to be very interesting.
As a whole the most powerful faction is the Summer Court and the Summer fey are going to be the antagonists further in the campaign. The basic idea is that the spires and towers of Prague form a specific magical pattern that allows chronomancy and time travel. And the Summer fey know that.
Currently I am preparing yet another villain but am still unsure how to put him into the story. He and his scourge are based on a West-Bohemian folk tale of a group suicide of a whole noble family at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. And people are giving me some angelic-diabolic ideas in a neighbouring thread :-)
More info on some of the factions: Red Court, Black Court, Wizards.
53
DFRPG / Re: On Angel(s) and Devil(s)
« on: July 21, 2014, 08:15:23 AM »
Gentlemen, those are some very fine ideas. Thanks a lot for them!
PirateJack: Hm, that sounds interesting. The WC are no newcomers in Prague but they can still benefit from the tension between those two places. In my plans, the WC is a major wild player, influencing the history of Bohemia heavily, but on a subconscious level. They feed on conflict and discord => catholics vs. hussites and protestants, Czechs vs. Germans, Nazis vs. democrats, Communists vs. democrats, etc. All nourishing food for the WCVs. Btw., there is a brothel one tram stop away from Anděl and its name is Lilith. I have discovered that yesterday when I was walking through the area. And ... there is an old disused cemetery just next to the brothel and on the opposite side of the cemetery there is a small baroque church. (click - the brothel is Erbenova Nr. 3 and on the south side of the cemetery in Duškova street there is a ventilation shaft pryed open) Ideas are flowing to my head :-)
Sanctaphrax: Yes, you are right, there is a major golem legend in Prague: click However, I haven´t decided on how to use it, yet. In one of Vampire: The Masquerade games I was a player in Rabbi Loew was the head of the Tremere and the Golem was his Gargoyle so I don´t want to push this stuff too much. But it certainly has a lot of potential.
Jreafman: I like your ideas. As for the towers - my basic idea is that they are creating a powerful pattern with Prague's Orloj as a centre point. This pattern, when complete and active, allows time manipulation. Click and click. And you are giving me more ideas. In Ďáblice there is an astronomical observatory (a tower!). Just next to Ďáblice is Kobylisy with a target range where the Nazis executed their prisoners. North of Ďáblice is Panenské Břežany, the seat of Reinhard Heydrich (click) during WWII and just south of Ďáblice Heydrich was mortally wounded and died in a nearby hospital (click). Both Anděl and Ďáblice have metro stations. I'm thinking about such a situation: there is a fallen angel in Prague. Not a Denarian, more like some of the characters from the film Wings of Desire (click). And there is a she-devil, his counterpart, too. Both beings are fallen, crippled, not able to return back from where they had once come. Maybe they crippled each other during a fight a long time ago. They still have some power but can't use it on their own. Only mortals can tap into that for a brief time. Maybe both are just semi-conscious, lying underground, mentally aware of each other. Maybe they have come to terms with each other somehow, because of their state and unability to change that. Maybe they are playing some mental game of wits, using the city as their chessboard, manipulating both mortals and supernaturals into being their pawns...
PirateJack: Hm, that sounds interesting. The WC are no newcomers in Prague but they can still benefit from the tension between those two places. In my plans, the WC is a major wild player, influencing the history of Bohemia heavily, but on a subconscious level. They feed on conflict and discord => catholics vs. hussites and protestants, Czechs vs. Germans, Nazis vs. democrats, Communists vs. democrats, etc. All nourishing food for the WCVs. Btw., there is a brothel one tram stop away from Anděl and its name is Lilith. I have discovered that yesterday when I was walking through the area. And ... there is an old disused cemetery just next to the brothel and on the opposite side of the cemetery there is a small baroque church. (click - the brothel is Erbenova Nr. 3 and on the south side of the cemetery in Duškova street there is a ventilation shaft pryed open) Ideas are flowing to my head :-)
Sanctaphrax: Yes, you are right, there is a major golem legend in Prague: click However, I haven´t decided on how to use it, yet. In one of Vampire: The Masquerade games I was a player in Rabbi Loew was the head of the Tremere and the Golem was his Gargoyle so I don´t want to push this stuff too much. But it certainly has a lot of potential.
Jreafman: I like your ideas. As for the towers - my basic idea is that they are creating a powerful pattern with Prague's Orloj as a centre point. This pattern, when complete and active, allows time manipulation. Click and click. And you are giving me more ideas. In Ďáblice there is an astronomical observatory (a tower!). Just next to Ďáblice is Kobylisy with a target range where the Nazis executed their prisoners. North of Ďáblice is Panenské Břežany, the seat of Reinhard Heydrich (click) during WWII and just south of Ďáblice Heydrich was mortally wounded and died in a nearby hospital (click). Both Anděl and Ďáblice have metro stations. I'm thinking about such a situation: there is a fallen angel in Prague. Not a Denarian, more like some of the characters from the film Wings of Desire (click). And there is a she-devil, his counterpart, too. Both beings are fallen, crippled, not able to return back from where they had once come. Maybe they crippled each other during a fight a long time ago. They still have some power but can't use it on their own. Only mortals can tap into that for a brief time. Maybe both are just semi-conscious, lying underground, mentally aware of each other. Maybe they have come to terms with each other somehow, because of their state and unability to change that. Maybe they are playing some mental game of wits, using the city as their chessboard, manipulating both mortals and supernaturals into being their pawns...
54
DFRPG / On Angel(s) and Devil(s)
« on: July 20, 2014, 04:34:27 PM »
Hey folks. Some of you might have noticed that I'm GM-ing a DFRPG campaign in Prague, Czechia. In this topic I would like to start some brainstorming. There is a very busy place in Prague which is called Anděl (Angel in English). I feel that it deserves to be an important spot for our campaign and I have some ideas but I would like to ask you for your ideas, as well. How would you handle a place with such a name in your game? The obvious thing is Denarians but it seems too straightforward to me. Some more information on the area: click and click.
This brings another idea to my mind. In a different part of the city there is a neighbourhood called Ďáblice. Ďábel is Devil in Czech so a rough translation could be Devilville (or even She-Devil as a different translation approach) or something similar. More info: click. I feel that there should be maybe some kind of connection or tension between those two areas but they are just half-baked ideas. Please, feel free to post anything that comes to your mind.
As for the general idea of our campaign: a common Czech epithet of Prague is stověžatá (with a hundred towers). I made the towers the central part of the campaign. Some of them work as nodes in a magical pattern (chronomancy and potential lawbreaking ahead) and the major baddies (especially the Summer Court) will try to capture them for their use.
Thank you for your input.
This brings another idea to my mind. In a different part of the city there is a neighbourhood called Ďáblice. Ďábel is Devil in Czech so a rough translation could be Devilville (or even She-Devil as a different translation approach) or something similar. More info: click. I feel that there should be maybe some kind of connection or tension between those two areas but they are just half-baked ideas. Please, feel free to post anything that comes to your mind.
As for the general idea of our campaign: a common Czech epithet of Prague is stověžatá (with a hundred towers). I made the towers the central part of the campaign. Some of them work as nodes in a magical pattern (chronomancy and potential lawbreaking ahead) and the major baddies (especially the Summer Court) will try to capture them for their use.
Thank you for your input.
56
DFRPG / Re: Order of the blackened Denarius Question.
« on: May 17, 2014, 08:41:01 AM »
Well, I would say you CAN torture even the player along with their character (uncertainty is one of the ways, even forcing something on the player/character duo might work sometimes) but it's necessary to know the player very well and work with the overall gaming atmosphere carefully. Otherwise, it's too easy to cross the fine line between "tension almost unbearable" and "our GM is a jerk".
In this case we lack the input from the other party but generally, either he is a bad GM or his style just doesn't comply with your style, Grasharm (it seems like the first option to me but I wasn't there so I don't want to judge). In either case, no fun => quit. Your life is too valuable to be wasted on unfunny leisure activities :-)
In this case we lack the input from the other party but generally, either he is a bad GM or his style just doesn't comply with your style, Grasharm (it seems like the first option to me but I wasn't there so I don't want to judge). In either case, no fun => quit. Your life is too valuable to be wasted on unfunny leisure activities :-)
57
DFRPG / Re: Order of the blackened Denarius Question.
« on: May 16, 2014, 09:35:35 PM »
It's always the result of a mix unique to each and every group. With one GM it feels like jerkishness and railroading, with another one it's just an unexpected story twist and good storytelling. Two players can feel and interpret the same thing in (at least) two ways. But I agree - if it's not fun there's no point in doing it.
58
DFRPG / Re: Red Court Infected, revisited
« on: May 13, 2014, 03:52:19 PM »
Well, being cursed with such an infection might mean you have powers of the being you don't want to become. The infection WANTS you to complete the change… It's useless because you are not meant by your condition to remain an RCI forever. You are meant to turn. You can see it either way, I think.
59
DFRPG / Re: Magically Burned-Out Character
« on: May 13, 2014, 01:12:24 PM »
What about tying your power to a mechanism similar to a sponsor debt? Ok, it's possible to go "full wizard" for a while but that won't last long and it will cost you later, preventing you from using it too often.
60
DFRPG / Re: Werewolf secret society
« on: May 12, 2014, 06:52:09 PM »
First, the existence reasons might change with time. Originally in the Stone Age it might have been mating (it can be even today), then during the Antiquity and Middle Ages the protection from persecution, and now e.g. environmentalism or other common interest. Second, I would consider the fact that nigh every organisation can be "hijacked" by its influential members/leaders to support their personal agenda instead of the original ideas (think of the church, states, etc.) And third, think of possible conflicting interests inside such a group originating from different background of its members. If your game takes place in the US I would spend some time contemplating the wolf and werewolf/shapeshifter concepts of the Indians and the white colonists (and maybe other ethnicities). Did both concepts really exist? How did such groups meet? Did they fight? Did they merge? What is the status quo today? This can give you a couple of ideas how the organisation might look like today.