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Messages - bibliophile20

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1
DFRPG / Re: Story Idea I need help pulling off
« on: July 25, 2011, 03:31:15 AM »
Here's a link to a description of the ultimate self made man - all because of a little time travel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%80%94All_You_Zombies%E2%80%94

Richard

A classic. 

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DFRPG / Re: Specialization vs Foci
« on: July 24, 2011, 04:58:45 PM »
Foci are nice because you need to stack specializations: you can't have a +4 Fire Power bonus without a +3 elemental bonus, a +2 elemental bonus and a +1 elemental bonus.  That's 10 points of specialization bonus, or 5 points of refinement.  

A +4 offensive focus, on the other hand, only costs 2 points of refinement.  

3
DFRPG / Re: Plot-N-Play: Story Concept: Financial Collapse
« on: July 23, 2011, 10:57:27 PM »
I'm remembering the magic for profit thread we had on here a while back. Really tempted to put: Step 3:Profit?
That part is easy: stealing from the original books, you buy up all of the art, precious metals, gems, jewelry, rare furs and such as you can, using your existing financial resources (which will soon be worthless anyway), and then press the button, destroying the world economy... and your recent acquisitions suddenly go up in value by an order of magnitude. 

4
DFRPG / Re: Flavours of Sponsored Magic
« on: July 23, 2011, 06:09:49 PM »
Ever seen a Denarian after being hit with a falling Hindu cow?  Not pretty
I gotta ask:
Was it the cow that jumped over the moon, or the herd shot 'round the world?  ;D

On a side note, I've got a mathematician NPC in my current game who is working on things such as probability theory, quantum mechanics and other such points... and who is Sponsored by Lady Luck.  As my players commented, "wait, so he's researching his patron?"

5
All things that could be compels, but I would not likely make those compels unless they related to another aspect or situation. It's usually best to assume that someone is capable of living as they have for years, unless there is something that says otherwise.

Otherwise you're just being a jerk (compelling for no real good reason and in a way that actually detracts from the story), and jerks don't usually stay GMs if your players have any alternative.
I was giving examples of possible complications, yeesh, not saying that I would just drop them for the hell of it.  I wouldn't make those compels willy-nilly either; I was just making some oddball suggestions for possible compels that would, of course, be used in a proper context.  It's no different than saying to the were-wolf that some hobo has made off with his spare clothing stash and giving them a fate point against their high concept for the complication--or giving a wizard a compel against their high concept for hexing the car--again.  In this case, the fact that the character has to function within a society designed for the sighted will cause them issues--on everything from the fact that US dollars are all the same size and texture, to the fact that people often treat the handicapped with reluctant reticence.   

(Sorry if I seem a little oversensitive on the "jerk" point, but it hit a nerve; going through some old emails recently brought up an old game that cost me my friendship with the GM and the other players precisely because of that sort of behavior). 

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DFRPG / Re: Plot-N-Play: Story Concept: Financial Collapse
« on: July 23, 2011, 04:54:37 AM »
@Sanctaphrax: glad you approve.  any thoughts on how you might use this or flesh it out?

@Mindflayer94: I think a new thread, titled in the same format, might be best; to mitigate confusion, if nothing else.

7
DFRPG / Plot-N-Play: Story Concept: Financial Collapse
« on: July 23, 2011, 03:34:29 AM »
A scenario/campaign idea, taken from the headlines and a favorite book:

Right now, the finances of most of the First World nations are something of a joke, and a bad joke at that.  It'll just take a little nudge to push them over, and there are all sorts of entities in the Dresdenverse who would do that for money, for sport, for a cause, or even just for the lolz. 

The basic idea comes from the Spider-man: Secrets of the Sinister Six trilogy: In this rather excellent but sadly hard to find trilogy, a villain named the Gentleman has a plan:
(click to show/hide)

Thinking on it, this general concept could be adapted for a campaign arc or a scenario in the Dresdenverse very easily, depending on where you set the opposition's preparations and power level. 

For preparations, a thaumaturgical ritual would need links to every kind of ink used within the target area--including the very hard-to-acquire U.S. Mint ink (which could be a scenario in-and-of itself).  Additionally, a method of powering a city-wide hex-blast would need to be done.

For antagonists, everyone from the Denarians to the Reds to a warlock cult are options, although this feels more like something the Denarians would try and pull.

And if the PCs don't manage to stop (or manage to pull it off, depending on personal tastes) this?  Financial collapse.  NYC would be in city-wide anarchy.  The dollar would likely fail, and possibly pull down other economies with it. 

So.  There's the idea.  Feel free to use it, abuse it and detail it as you will; as I've already said, it's not original to me.

8
Being actually blind with no alternative to sight would likely be a fate point gold mine, but that really would be balanced out by the fact that they are going to have difficulties a lot.

Resources compel: "Um, yeah, you mixed up your singles and tens last time you did the 'unique fold by value' thing.  You just overpaid by an order of magnitude."
Lore compel: "Two words: Braille.  Spellbooks.  Not. Common."
Contacts compel: "Uh, yeah, apparently your clothing clashes so bad that it can induce glaucoma at twenty paces.  Nobody really wants to talk to you."

9
Gives you the option, but it has to make sense, thematically, IMHO; Lore is for the more, well, Supernatural senses that don't have a corollary or link to an existing sense (think like a fish's lateral line, or electrical field detection in sharks, or polarized light, for bees, to give a few examples of stuff that we don't have, or the classic "My Spidy-Sense is tingling!").  Senses that are part of the human experience--however refined--still can be interpreted using Investigation and Alertness.

as for the numbers, mostly, I mostly ad-libbed them, with a guiding point that a single point of refresh is worth 1-4 shifts of ability, depending on circumstances.  So, throwing that in, I thought for a general +1 to Alertness (keeping in mind that the dominant vision sense was unavailable), threw on the penalty to Investigation to bump that to a +3 Alertness and -2 to Investigation, and added in the Stunt as a thematic feel, plus the idea for using Discipline for "refining" those senses.

10
Ah, the Disability Superpower.  Good to see that's being of use to someone.

Well, first off, when you define those other senses, make sure that they're defined in such a way that being blind is still actually a handicap, instead of just flavor, so that you actually get a refresh rebate from it.  Daredevil is a good example, so I'll go with that.  He's got a wonderful suite of abilities, but the downsides are annoying, to say the least:
Being able to hear with the fidelity of a bat is great--until you try to focus down to one thing and pick it out of the noise, or even just try to get to sleep.  Outside of a sensory deprivation tank, restful sleep isn't going to happen much.
Any strong smell will be incapacitating; you'll probably have to make Discipline rolls regularly when the skunks are marking their territory and before garbage day (or, alternatively, walking through a restaurant district will be... distracting).  

As for a suite of 12 powers, I'd suggest that you have the regular senses--smell, taste, touch, hearing--as "always on" with a "+3 to Alertness & -2 to Investigation" (your situational awareness of the environment is making it difficult to focus on any single thing) that can be swapped to "+4 investigation, Alertness drops to Terrible" in the vein of Listening (you're focusing on one thing and losing out on the situational awareness).

Then, for the other 8 senses, have them require some activation, like a Discipline check, representing the focus needed to take an already exceptional sense and refining it into something new.  Like Hearing becomes Ultrasound for a short period of time, or Smell/Taste becomes chemical analysis (with a Scholarship check, probably), or you manage to get the vestigial magnetite crystals in the human brain to work and suddenly you're a human compass (or GPS), or become the human lie detector (again, channeling Daredevil).

As for it being fun, that's really up to you and your GM; some GMs will go "Oooh, cool character, let's work together to make you awesome and epic and tragic" while some others I've played with will go "Oooh, guilt-free buttmonkey for me to abuse!"  The only solution there is to talk with the GM and find a consensus.  (trite and cliched advice, I know, but there's a reason for that: it's also true).

11
DFRPG / Re: Flavours of Sponsored Magic
« on: July 22, 2011, 02:58:18 PM »
I actually have a person sponsored by a prophecy in my game. I've kind of defined a prophecy in the game as an event that tries it's hardest to happen, this fits well with the method of making a prophecy an aspect and tagging it to get it to come true. A particular prophecy was integral to one of the characters and I put a spin on it that she wasn't expecting then told her if she wanted she could use it as a sponsor to add punch to her magic when acting in accordance with it and her debt will compel her to do things to make it happen.
Was the sponsored magic called the "Shades of David Eddings"?

12
DFRPG / Re: Aggregates, Mobs, Flocks, Packs, Clouds and other Masses
« on: July 18, 2011, 05:51:21 AM »
Looks great!

I suppose I should report on how the session went:
One character, after having spent the entire scenario saving up 14 fate points, walked up to the cloud of imps harassing the wizard, and with good choices of stunts and a good roll and after tagging:

Budding Marine Officer
"To err is human; to forgive, divine. Neither is Marine Corps policy."
Military Brat
"Hard things we can do right away. Impossible things may take a bit longer."
Something To Prove
Off The Edge Of The Map--Here There Be Monsters
There For Those Close To Me

Rematch! Rematch!
Infernal Pests
It Was A Monster Mash...

proceeded to destroy all of them in a single exchange.  :D

And then walked up to the other cloud of imps on the next exchange and made an intimidate roll, tagging "Wanna see me do it again?" 

They boogied.

13
DFRPG / Re: Aggregates, Mobs, Flocks, Packs, Clouds and other Masses
« on: July 16, 2011, 09:46:49 PM »
If you like, I can stat them up as a new creature.

I'm thinking a zonewide attack and a Dangerous Aura. That way, they can make oodles of attacks each turn, which I think helps model the "swarm" feel of the whole thing.
I think a "swarm" line of lesser creatures might not be a bad idea to put in your creation queue; everything from human mobs to army insects.  

But don't hurry on the cloud of imps; I've already got things set for my game for tomorrow in that area, pretty much in line with what I've got above.  

However, on the zonewide attack, make it weak; individually, the creatures making up a swarm aren't that dangerous--it's en masse on a single target that they're really dangerous.  A spray-attack is probably the best way of illustrating that spreading of limited lethality.  To illustrate, I have given my "cloud of imps" a Superb Fists and Claws, while the individual imps can only do one stress per attack--because all couple dozen imps are ganging up on a single target.

14
DFRPG / Aggregates, Mobs, Flocks, Packs, Clouds and other Masses
« on: July 16, 2011, 02:25:50 PM »
So, reached the climactic scene of a scenario; the warlock has been exposed, and it's time for the Monster Mash in the ballroom (literally!).  He's called in his entire little army of summoned and bound creatures (some demons, a shapeshifting assassin (think doppleganger), some manticores, and... a bunch of imps.)

Now, it's the imps that are a problem; I've adapted them from Sanctaphrax's imps (over on the wiki), but they're very weak individual combatants, better used for recon.  On the other hand, there are something like 50 of them (all shouting "Rematch! Rematch!" as the PCs have squashed their little forms before and as a nod to the Spectacular Spiderman's Mysterio) so a large flock (murder? cloud?) of imps still seems like a threat.

So, two questions:

First, more generally: how could you handle a large mob of weaker individuals in this system? 

Second, as an applied answer to the first question: How to handle the specific question of a flock of ~50 imps?

The answer I've been toying with is an aggregate "creature";

incomplete general idea:
High Concept: "Flock Of Imps"
Trouble: Rematch! Rematch!
Aspects: Mob Mentality
Infernal Pests

Great or Superb Fists (to illustrate the group maneuvering and aiding each other enough to add significant punch to their combined blows)
Superb Endurance (wow, there are alot of them...)
Fair Athletics (they're still a pretty big target)
Inhuman Toughness (they are still demons)
The Catch (in addition to Holy Stuff, AOE attacks affect them normally)


Thoughts?

15
DFRPG / Re: Potions... items... useable by others?
« on: July 16, 2011, 01:14:42 AM »
For PCs, I'd say it's fine as long as he's getting the potion from another PC.  That 'other PC' has already paid the cost.

For NPCs, do what you want.  They don't need to follow PC character rules.  That said, I wouldn't do it without a very good in-game reason for the NPC to have access to said powers / potions.  Even then I'd be wary of it.  Characters are often more memorable when they overcome weaknesses by working around them.  The 'every thief has an invisibility potion' trope gets old fast...very fast.

The NPC in question is a ROTC cadet with a fondness for pranks and letting the air out of overinflated egos.  His trouble is "Conduct Unbecoming An Officer". Giving him semi-regular access to magic items would make sense (he's made friends with a bunch of the local lesser practitioners), and doing it in line with wyvern's above example (taking a point or two of "refinement" to indicate/limit how much he can have on him at any given time, and a strength of his Contacts skill) would keep things reasonable.  And, really, it would just get him in deeper trouble further in, once he starts *really* upgrading his pranking...

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