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DFRPG / The Golden Strings (Puppeteer power)
« on: June 18, 2012, 12:32:36 PM »
I'm working on an Item of Power that will be important in an upcoming game. It's a set of strings made of pure gold that will fit on any stringed instrument, even if the number of strings is more or less than the four it seems to treat as average. The strings are originally from a certain fiddle made of black wood with golden strings (really, solid gold would sound terrible and weigh a ton).
In my concept, the strings are something like a lesser version of the Denarian coins, and have a built-in conflict with their own opposite in the form of John's Silver Strings. In the original Silver John story "Nine Yards of Other Cloth," the Black Fiddle gave its user the ability to control people's actions as long as he played. It wasn't really mind control since its victims retained their will they were just physically puppeteered.
How to represent this in game? Hellfire alone doesn't seem to cover mind or body control and Domination is way too brute force, but I'm wary of giving Evocation to an Item of Power.
Oh yeah, the current bearer of the Golden Strings is a mariachi. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Latest version of the signature power, as of 6/20
Puppeteer [-3]
Description: The most terrifying ability of the Golden Strings is the ability to directly take control of victims, moving them around like puppets as long as the bearer plays. In the past this has been used for everything from forcing people to commit crimes to making people work in a factory past the point of exhaustion. It is pure physical control and the victim knows they are not in control of themselves. This makes it no less terrifying, but ironically makes it cause (very slightly) less lasting psychological harm than true mind control.
Skills Affected: Performance
Effects:
Master of Puppets: You're able to do maneuvers at +2 to your roll (using Performance) to place a temporary aspect of control on characters (most often "Puppet on Golden Strings"), so long as you continue playing the instrument strung with the Golden Strings. The victim defends with his Discipline or Might. You can also prevent the victim from taking other actions as well if you do this as a block instead of a maneuver, or use this to establish a grapple. This power can be used as a spray, at a range of up to one zone away, or both. In some circumstances it may work up to two zones, provided the music clearly carries that far.
Pulling Your Strings: Whenever you maintain a grapple with this power-in addition to the normal options for a grapple-you can force the subject to take a single physical action of your choice (fire a gun, swing a knife, etc). If you succeed at the grapple roll, use the Effect of your roll (if any) as the skill bonus for any rolls necessary for the victim's action. If you choose instead to move the victim, you do not have to move with them. If you choose to inflict a hit to the target, you can choose for it to deal mental or physical stress.
In my concept, the strings are something like a lesser version of the Denarian coins, and have a built-in conflict with their own opposite in the form of John's Silver Strings. In the original Silver John story "Nine Yards of Other Cloth," the Black Fiddle gave its user the ability to control people's actions as long as he played. It wasn't really mind control since its victims retained their will they were just physically puppeteered.
How to represent this in game? Hellfire alone doesn't seem to cover mind or body control and Domination is way too brute force, but I'm wary of giving Evocation to an Item of Power.
Oh yeah, the current bearer of the Golden Strings is a mariachi. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Latest version of the signature power, as of 6/20
Puppeteer [-3]
Description: The most terrifying ability of the Golden Strings is the ability to directly take control of victims, moving them around like puppets as long as the bearer plays. In the past this has been used for everything from forcing people to commit crimes to making people work in a factory past the point of exhaustion. It is pure physical control and the victim knows they are not in control of themselves. This makes it no less terrifying, but ironically makes it cause (very slightly) less lasting psychological harm than true mind control.
Skills Affected: Performance
Effects:
Master of Puppets: You're able to do maneuvers at +2 to your roll (using Performance) to place a temporary aspect of control on characters (most often "Puppet on Golden Strings"), so long as you continue playing the instrument strung with the Golden Strings. The victim defends with his Discipline or Might. You can also prevent the victim from taking other actions as well if you do this as a block instead of a maneuver, or use this to establish a grapple. This power can be used as a spray, at a range of up to one zone away, or both. In some circumstances it may work up to two zones, provided the music clearly carries that far.
Pulling Your Strings: Whenever you maintain a grapple with this power-in addition to the normal options for a grapple-you can force the subject to take a single physical action of your choice (fire a gun, swing a knife, etc). If you succeed at the grapple roll, use the Effect of your roll (if any) as the skill bonus for any rolls necessary for the victim's action. If you choose instead to move the victim, you do not have to move with them. If you choose to inflict a hit to the target, you can choose for it to deal mental or physical stress.