I'm currently having major issues with Diablo 3... Not with running the game, but connection frustrations and the latest patch...
Which give me time to come back here...
And (with apologies to a certain author), a criminal who's magical powers are just another tool in his criminal bag of tricks...

Name: James Abbot Leeson Spenser Davis Jones Smythe Baskcomb Manning - but call me Jim
Template: Sorcerer
High Concept Aspect: Stainless Steel Sorcerer
Trouble Aspect: I Do What I Do

Background:
When most people think of crime, they miss the obvious benefits.

Benefits?

To quote an expert:
"Plenty of excitement for the populace, increased sales of newspapers, exercise for the sedentary law enforcement officers--and that is an interesting story in itself--as well as field maneuvers that were a pleasure for everyone involved. Far from being annoyed they should pay us a fee for making all these exciting things possible."

Jim's parents lived that philosophy.  Grifters, con men, thieves, robbers - name any mostly non-violent crime and they've done it.  The pair of them were like Bonnie and Clyde, but more versatile and much less violent.  They joked that they never met a crime that they didn't like.  They tunnelled into banks, broke through the walls of jewellery stories, and conned countless people - always with the idea that if they only took from the rich (or large corporations) that they weren't really hurting anyone.

Jim's birth came as a surprise and a complication.  Since his parents were always on the move he went through many names - usually being told that his old last name was 'just a middle name, your grandmother's maiden name'.  At least that's what he was told until he was old enough to understand things (which is how he ended up with so many names).  Raised in that life, Jim never thought twice about conning or taking what he needed.

Background Aspect: Born To The Life


Rising Conflict:
One day, when Jim was in his teens, his happy little family fell apart.  His parents took off running and didn't meet Jim at the agreed on spot.  Or the backup spot.  Or any of the other pre-arranged meeting points or make contact through any of the dead drops.

Old enough to fend for himself, Jim fell back on the con to support himself.  Going to a speciality store, Jim picked up the uniforms for all the city's best Prep Schools.  Those clothes transformed him from a street kid wandering to a rich boy playing hooky, which opened all sorts of the right doors.

As Jim was enjoying his life of petty crime he conned the wrong person; or maybe it was the right person.  Jim's con brought him (and his budding mystic power) to the attention of a sorcerer, Leonard Cattrall, who saw Jim as a fitting apprentice and psychological experiment.  Cattrall took Jim under his wing and into his house.  Any knowledge that Cattrall wanted to hide was placed on bookshelves that Jim was encouraged to read.  Any books that Cattrall wanted Jim to read were carefully concealed in a hidden safe, one that was always kept locked.

It was good system, one that took Jim years to unravel.  Once he realised he had been the one being conned his education progressed in leaps and bounds - and he soon left his mentor.  Less than a week later someone in a Grey Cloak was explaining a few facts of life to him.  That while he might ignore the laws of the land, the Laws of Magic were to be Obeyed.  Since the "Or Else" was a permanent one that didn't seem to involve a trial, Jim decided that some laws were worth obeying.

Phase Aspect: I Stole A Mystic Education


The Story: The Big Con
Armed with mystic powers, Jim had the world by the tail and he knew it.

That's when it started to fall apart.

There were other things out there, bigger than mere sorcerers.  Jim thought that he had everyone fooled, which was when he discovered that the mark wasn't human. 

The White Court Vampire thought it was funny that a Sorcerer hadn't spotted what it was.  That, and that Jim would be a tasty snack.  If <guest star> hadn't been there to help, Jim's story might have ended there.  Once Jim realised that his emotions for the Vampire weren't real, that he had been conned at a very deep level, he cracked.  He went from using magic as a tool to using magic as weapon.  A short while later, Jim was running from a collapsing building and there was one less White Court Vampire in the world.

Aspect: Ready to Rock and Roll


Guest starring sections depend on who (and what) you want to link him to.  Sample Aspects include "You Think I'm Who I Say I Am", "If I Can't Find The Backdoor I'll Make One", "Let Me Make Your Mind Up For You".  One of the stories should explain how he got his Lawbreaker Stunt.




Power Level: Chest-Deep
Skill Cap: Great
Skill Points: 30
Starting Refresh: 8
Adjusted Refresh: 1


Burglary: Great - Those early lessons sank home

Deceit: Great - He's so good that even he believes his lies.

Performance: Good - The Play's the thing - except when it's a Con

Stealth: Good - You didn't see him there

Discipline: Good - He always sticks to the job at hand

Alertness: Fair - He's always aware of his surroundings

Conviction: Fair - It should be higher, but there are times that he doesn't even believe himself

Lore: Fair - Jim should have stayed with his mentor for a couple of extra years.  He didn't steal as much of an education as he though he did

Rapport: Fair - he uses this to get the Marks to open up

Contacts: Average - he knows people in most walks of life

Endurance: Average - he keeps himself in shape

Fists: Average - for when his words can't keep him out of trouble

Investigation: Average - for casing the target (building, mark, whatever)

Resources: Average - he steals and cons, but somehow the money doesn't stick to his hands


Stunts & Powers
Invocation (-3) (Speciality Spirit (power bonus), Air, Earth)
Thaumaturgy (-3) (Photomancy)
Lwbreaker: Fourth (-1) - from going too far in changing someone's mind.

Items
Invocation:
Ring of Illusions (Focus for Spirit (Control, defensive) +1) - for when you need a veil now, right now.

Amulet of Good Times (Focus for Spirit (Control, offensive) +1) - See Rote below


Thaumaturgy:
Amulet of Centring (Photomancy Focus Lore +1)
- for longer term illusions.

Enchanted Items
Container of Sight Ointment
- since he lacks the Sight, Jim needs this to See.  Technically it could be a potion but having it as an item means that he always scrap the bottom of the jar (incurring a point of mental stress for an extra daily use) for another dose.

Potion slot


Rotes:
Name: It's Because I'm Black, Isn't It?
Type: Spirit Evocation, Defensive block "Veil"
Area: Self
Power: 3, Targeted with Deceit, not Discipline.
Effect: When Jim gets into a sticky situation, he preys on social awkwardness.  He ducks behind cover and moments later appears as a large black male.


Name: Laughs For All
Type: Spirit Evocation, Offensive maneuver
Area: A person
Power: 4 - 3 for the maneuver, 1 for duration
Effect: Places the Aspect "Laughing your Head Off" on a target.  Note: This is on the borderline of the Fourth Law.


Thaumaturgy:
Veils.  Illusions.  When he is on the job, Jim rarely leaves home without them.  He'll often set up an illusion that will (with luck) last a week or longer.  Of course, that means he has to worry about thresholds, holy places, rainstorms, and other things that could degrade the illusion.

Beyond those Veils and illusions, Jim has a few rites that he likes.  He uses them enough that they are almost his trademarks.  Many times he'll often have one of these stored in potion form for quick use.

Diarrhea
It targets a victim's bowels.  No, it doesn't kill anyone, but it's hard to chase someone after you've had that sort of accident.  It's embarrassing most security guards aren't trained to deal with something like that happening to them.

6 to overcome the best Endurance roll that the average man can make
3 to fill the stress track, doing a takeout
2 for the mild social consequence of "Just suffered a bout of diarrhea"
For a total of 11 steps

Or, if you feel a maneuver placing the Aspect "suffered from diarrhea" will do:
6 to overcome the best Endurance roll that an average character can make, placing the Aspect "suffered a bout of diarrhea" on the character.


Vomit
The same as above, but targeting the stomach - giving the mild physical consequence of having vomited.  It does no real harm but again it's a major distraction.

Same rolls as above.


Laughs For All
Places the minor mental consequence or Aspect "Laughing your Head Off" on a character.  Again, no real harm - but a serious distraction.  Yes, this is on the borderline of the Fourth Law.


Of course he can't really do any of these at the drop of a hat; he has to generate aspects to tap for the prep work, but given enough time he can flood a building with enough magic to affect everyone in a building.


Mundane Magic:
Jim routinely uses minor magic to disrupt his fingerprints; not erasing them, but leaving unusable partial prints behind.  Mild drafts follow him, scattering any hair follicles or other DNA leavings.

He'll also do minor things to misdirect.  Someone walks by a vase and it falls, becoming the focus of everyone's attention as Jim pockets something shiny.


Notes:
Jim isn't much of a mage.  In his mind (and with his skills) it's clear that he's a dare-seeking criminal who uses magic, not a sorcerer who dabbles in crime.  His magic is used mostly to aid his con jobs and other criminal acts while hiding his identity.  Fake IDs, phoney papers, priceless artefacts - between illusions and the occasional conjured item he makes the props he needs for his crimes as he needs them.

Because that's what is important - the crimes.  Not the gain but the thrill of the job.  Robbery, burglary, grifting, whatever the crime the money is secondary to the thrill of hunt.  All the loot he gets is spent on good living, passed on to a good cause, and otherwise gone in a flash.  But what a flash! While the money lasts the good times roll.  Sometimes he uses some of it to set up the next job but most times the money becomes nothing but a pleasant memory.

When it comes to conflicts, Jim prefers to disable rather than harm.  (See the "combat" spells above.)

While on the job, Jim is usually in disguise.  That's either a mundane disguise, a magical one, or (often) both.  Illusions will generally fool most people but there are time when using a spell attracts too much attention.  Many mystically inclined people (and beings) look for illusions and become suspicious when they see one - and Jim doesn't want them to become suspicious.  Other times Jim will wear an illusion that he expects the mystically inclined will see through and think that they've seen his real face - with a mundane disguise under it.


Using Jim in play:
The PCs come across Jim in the middle of one of his jobs.  Maybe they notice him using magic, maybe they don't, but Jim is unlikely to notice them (not unless one of them is obviously supernatural).  What will happen to the PCs' carefully laid plans when they find themselves in the middle of a crime scene?

The PCs are hired to investigate one of Jim's crimes.  No one was hurt during the job and if they track down Jim they'll find the loot is long gone - spent on a week of fine living.  Jim treats the whole thing as a prank - how to the PCs react to that?

The PCs need something stolen, someone con, or another type of crime committed.  One of their contacts puts them in touch with one of Jim's contacts.  As long as the job seems fun and no one is really going to get hurt, Jim's fine with it.  Can the PCs work with this unconventional sorcerer?

The PCs are in the Nevernever when Jim burst in on them - running away from a crime gone wrong.  He's willing to work with them as long as they help him back to the real world.  The thing is, he doesn't want to kill anyone along the way.

Jim blunders into something major (maybe Fairy Noble, Demon, Beastie from the Nevernever) but his lack of Sight means he doesn't notice anything wrong until it's too late.  When he does notice he's up shit creek and is looking for a paddle - and he wants the PCs to be that paddle.  He'll offer them loot from his most recent scheme or promise to help them at a later date if they'll help him now.

Jim needs the PCs as part of a con - and he might or might not tell them that he's using them.

Someone calls in a favour and sends Jim after the PCs in a non-fatal scheme (Jim wouldn't have it any other way).  He humiliates them, takes something they value, or otherwise does something that's half crime and half prank.

Someone involved in the rackets (Marcone, a local version of a Marcone wannabe) is offended that Jim isn't kicking up.  That, or Jim targeted the wrong the wrong mark.  Either way, Jim has problems and needs help from the PCs (or the PCs are sent after him - this works either way).

Jim's parents open up a raft of idea.  Jim has never used his magic to look for them because he fears what he might find.  As long as they are missing he can think good thoughts, that they are still off having fun and missing him - where's the drama in that?

Jim's parents make contact and they need help; Jim becomes desperate for a big score so he can help them.  In desperation he drags PCs into his scheme.

Jim's parents make contact and they want to work with him again - what will happen when Jim reveals his magical powers to them? How will they react when Jim tells them about more of the magical world, including the PCs?

Something makes contact and reveals that he/it has Jim's parents.  He/it wants Jim to do a job that is clearly beyond Jim's abilities.  Needing help, Jim approaches the PCs with his sob story.

Jim inherited his talents from somewhere - one of his parents is a warlock that has gone out of control.  How does Jim deal with a reunion gone bad?

Jim inherited his talents from somewhere - one of his parents is a warlock that has gone out of control and the PCs about to deal with them when Jim finds his parent.  Of course Jim won't accept that one of his parents is dangerous criminal and takes a stand against the PCs.

The PCs put away a middle aged couple for a con job gone wrong.  Then things figuratively hits the fan as Jim discovers what happened to his parents and goes after the PCs.  Not physically, but socially.  Their property goes missing, someone plants drugs in their car/house/office, photos are taken of them doing embarrassing (or illegal things) - Jim won't stop until the PCs are ruined, in jail, or his parents are out of jail.  Jim doesn't think that he can't get his parents but if the PCs put them away then maybe the PCs can get them out.  If not, hey, does your dad have a grow op in the basement of your childhood home? You don't think so, your dad doesn't think so, but the police just stumbled over it.  Sucks to have a parent in jail, doesn't it?

DFRPG, since it is based around the DV, does not handle generic Urban Fantasy all that well.  True, the mechanics of DFRPG aren't covered by the OGL, but since they do encourage you to make custom rules, I thought maybe it was time we had a thread looking at using DFRPG outside of the DV.

Personally, one thing I see as a flaw in the current system is the costs of things.  Everything costs 0, 1, 2, 3, etc refresh.  Looking at some of the powers, it's hard to saw "this power is as good as that power" when they cost the same.

My proposal is to multiple by ten and go from there while assuming that all current powers round to their current value.

For example, instead starting with 7 refresh a PC would start with 70.  Stunts would cost 10 refresh each, and as for powers... something like Cassandra’s Tears would probably cost 2 or 3 refresh.

The way this system comes to life is with powers like Claws.  Currently we only have non-concealable Claws (because that's what is found in the DV), but in an expanded system we could have:
Claws (non-concealable): 8 refresh
Claws (concealable): 12 refresh.

Or add an optional trapping to Claws:
Concealable [-4]
Your Claws can be easily concealed.  Maybe they can retract like a cat's or maybe you and the GM will work out another explanation.  Whatever the case, you can appear unarmed when you choose to.


Of course, at some point we'll have to look at sex as it applies to Urban Fantasy.  Or we could leave it at:
Sex can be a primal force.  If the table is comfortable with using it, it can be used to declare aspects that can be tagged in ritualistic spell casting.
Example Aspects: "Puppy Pile Power", "First Time Jitters", "It Was Magical", "It Was Magical For Me Two", , "It Was Magical For Me Three".
Such declarations can be made using Discipline (focusing while being very distracted), Conviction (because you are doing it for power, not pleasure), or Endurance (stamina).  If the group allows, a Performance based Stunt "Bedroom Olympian" could allow Performance based declarations.

Which is a PG write up of the Anita Blake / Paranormal Romance flavour of Urban Fantasy.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Richard

I think that it's been mentioned before, but they have added a hug number of new extras - including the ability to join via paypal.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns

It looks like it will be a good game.

Richard
(who only joined at the $15 level)

During a couple of discussions some of us have referenced large LARP organisations.  When you belong to one of those, it will have an impact on how you view rules.  A good impact, a bad impact, or just an impact? Shrug.  That's the ultimate "your mileage may vary" thing.

When you belong to those groups, you show up at a game and there's 20+ people there.  Some games routinely have 30+, others have 50+.

Who are these people? Some of them you know well.  They are the friends that drew to the LARP or the friends you've made since you joined the LARP.

Others - you may only know their character's name.  You wouldn't recogise that guy when he's out of costume.  You have no real connection to him.

Different RPers try to get different things out of RP.  There are the "I'm in Character" types who get together to act like their PCs.  They are there to talk, to scheme, and rarely enter challenges (i.e. rarely have physical conflicts or use their powers offensively).  Then there are those who like throw down with their enemies.  And then there are some who want to WIN.  Yes, I used all caps.  There's a reason for that - they don't want to win, they want to WIN and rub losing into the loser's face.

The people running the game try to handle all styles of play, but there's nothing stopping someone from making a new "I'll play him for tonight and see if I like him or want to keep playing my old PC" type character, making him a one trick combat pony, and trying to kill the character that someone has been playing for the last three years (with XP being spent in ways that increase his RP, not combat, potential).  The in game fallout from that death would be great, but the asshole is really only planning to play the PC for one night so he can spoil someone else's fun.

When you look at the rules the group uses, you have to look all those players - including the ones you would never invite into your home for a table top game.  At http://wiki.white-wolf.com/camwiki/index.php?title=Global_Addendum you will find page after page after page of house rules for WW's LARP games.  They have undergone countless revisions, and (with very few exceptions) every one of those rules exist because of a problem that came up.

One of those rules is:
If you know that something is not the intent of the Camarilla’s interpretation of the books, departs drastically from common sense, or is otherwise wrong but appears to be technically possible due to vague wording or legal loophole, don’t do it. Don’t be that guy (or gal).
---

Because it had to be spelled out.  Funny thing - that's not the original wording of the rule.  The original one didn't mention the group's name so someone showed up at a game with an email from a freelancer that worked on a book, claiming that a power should work in a power monkey way.  After the wording was changed that author (who was on one of the lists) sent the original, non-edited email to a few people, mainly to show that he wasn't a crackhead tripping on acid.

Yes, to get around a "don't exploit something when you know it's not the intent" rule, someone contacted an author and "edited" the answer he got.

You play with a group like that and for a while and you start seeing how rules can be abused or misused because you've met people who want to misuse rules so that they can WIN at role playing.

Being involved with that, it has an impact.

Richard

This poll will stay will on April 18 my local time.  10 days from this posting.

At the end of that time I expect we will have two (maybe three) different consensuses.  Then we can walk away, secure in the knowledge that we've made our various points.

Richard

Just want to draw everyone's attention to some of the other forums here - especially the WoJ one.

And I can't say why without giving spoilers - but since some of the information can help world build for our games I'll post in the RPG spoiler sub forum with some mind blowing information.

Richard
Edit: There's a reason why I'm not posting the thread here.  When Jim gets talking he gives hints for the entire series - and sometimes that includes the trilogy he plans to end the series with.  Any WoJ can include an offhanded remark that could spoil parts of the series - which is why there are spoiler forums on this board.

Here's an example: Jim said that his most recently published book, Ghost Story, is set
The mind blowing stuff in the thread in the spoiler forum is, well, mind blowing.  Off the cuff comments that refer to an IoP that is about the equal of one of the Swords of the Cross, info on Harry's mom - stuff like that.  If you don't want to risk reading what may be series wide spoilers, don't enter the spoiler forums (which include the DF Spoilers, WoJ, and DFRPG Spoilers forums).

Note: This character was inspired by the "is using a veil when killing breaking the first law" discussion.  When I started this I was using the name "Doomkiller" as a placeholder - and never thought of a better one.  It probably should be replaced... then again, since the entity is petty and small minded, a melodramatic name like "Doomkiller" could work.


Name: Nelson Gordon (Silent Night)
Template: Scion
High Concept Aspect: A Made Bastard Of the Nevernever
Trouble: Hi, My Name is Nelson and I'm An Addict
Background:
   Nelson Gordon grew up without a home.  He was dropped off at an orphanage in 1946 when he was about a year old; more or less.  Papers left with him provided his name but not his age.  It was assumed that Nelson was either abandoned by his parents (perhaps by a war widow) or was illegitimate and thus an object of shame.  Maybe it the possible stain of illegitimacy or just the abundance of younger babies but he was never selected for adoption.  Then again, maybe it was the ... it was hard to put words to it, but there was a kind of shadow over the boy's life.

   Not that this taint was always a bad thing.  Back in those days orphanages often attracted predators and at Nelson's orphanage there was a janitor who liked taking kids down to the boiler room.  One day that janitor invited Nelson down there but before the man was able to make an issue of it that janitor disappeared.  As did any who presented a real threat to Nelson.  No one made anything of it at time but they might have it things were more pronounced.  Nelson suffered the normal traumas of youth (schoolyard fights, the usual types of beatings from the staff) without any sort of guardian angel intervention but threats that were more serious than those were neutralised.

Background Aspect: Touched by Shadows


Rising Conflict:
   Nelson was strange boy growing up, but things became stranger as he began to mature.  Like that time when he hit his early teens and looked across the orphanage yard.  He had seen Mary countless times growing up, but this time he noticed how nice her dress looked.  How shapely it was.  His mind was filled with the idea of walking over to her, of getting her some place alone, of running his hands over her dress - working their way to her lovely neck and squeezing it and squeezing it until her face her turned blue and purple and...

   The other boys talked enough for Nelson to know that it was normal to want to touch Mary but not normal to want to kill her.  Very not normal.  Then the dreams started, dreams were filled with darkness, blood, and death.  That and a majestic figure cheering it all on.  Nelson began to fear night, to fear his dreams, to fear the feelings that girls were awakening in him.

   One night things got too much to bear and Nelson ran from the orphanage.  Not that he was leaving all that early; it wouldn't have been long before he was kicked out to do farm work or otherwise forced into gainful employment.  Because of that no one really looked for him.  Well, no one but his father and his father was the being in the dreams.


   Many dreams and some experiments later, Nelson was standing bodily in the hall of Doomkiller.  Soon after meeting him, Nelson concluded that his father was a mortal who had somehow achieved power - that no real god or godling could be such a petty being.  Doomkiller might be all-powerful in his hall but Nelson soon learned that Doomkiller never left that hall.  Never dared to face other powers that might equal or surpass him.

   The more Nelson learned about the being that had sired him the less respect Nelson had for it.  Doomkiller wasn't just a murderer, he was a rapist who murdered.  No woman survived him.  Either they died in his bed or months later, when they gave birth.  The child swelling within them would leach their life energy, taking the last of it at birth.  Doomkiller bragged that no woman was ever with him twice or with another man after him and that he had dozens of sons scattered around the world, each of them killing and raping in his name.  All of them armed with Doomkillers 'gifts'.  What gifts? That depended on the son.  Some were given physical powers and others mystic one while all received the darkness.

   When he asked about his mother, Doomkiller was frank - he didn't remember the woman's name or what she looked like.


   Nelson chose the mystic path.  Powers were granted to him by this father, through blood and deed.  As he claimed them Nelson felt a part of himself changing and ... Something happened to his eyes.  Since then some people had said that they caught glimpses of his eyes when they looked like cat's eyes, or solid black, or red, or... Whatever the case, Nelson now wears sunglasses all the time. [Note - this change to his eyes isn't constant enough to be an aspect on its own but is part of his Scion high concept for compells.]


   It was only after he returned to the real world that Nelson learned of the other powers that existed in the world.  Of the White Council, their Laws of Magic, and their Wardens.  Nelson decided that since he wasn't human those laws didn't apply to him - but was quick to realise that if he went around killing people the Wardens would probably track him down and kill him.  That he might have power, but they had more and if he went mad dog then they would kill him - as they had killed countless of his half-brothers over the years.
Aspect: Inhuman Sorcerer


First Story:
   Nelson had a need to kill and inflict pain, he had the means to do it, but he also had the brains not to.  He was smart enough to recognise that if he was a mad dog killer someone bigger would come along and put him down.  The White Council, another predator, or that the cops could get lucky.  That he needed to control his urges before they got him killed.

   He stumbled on part of the answer while sleeping in a park.  While he was staying there he ran into a man who smoked constantly - smoking so he wouldn't start drinking again - and another who chewed gum to keep from smoking.  Later he met another man who drank to control his heroin cravings.  From them he learned the concept of sublimation of addictions, support systems, and 12 step programs.  Of course there was no group called "Killers Anonymous" but Nelson found that if he kept his wording vague he could fit in with the drug addicts.  Especially if he focused on the RUSH of feelings and energy and pleasure and...

   After he started to attend meetings on an irregular bases, Nelson searched out ways to dull his needs, to sublimate them into something vaguely more acceptable.   Nelson had grown up hearing about mob hit men and that seemed like a good place to start in his quest to find a way to kill without becoming a mad dog.  As he began to move in criminal circles, Nelson found a place where his creepiness was more of an asset than an hindrance.  Joining the fringes of that world, Nelson was shocked to learn that (with very rare exceptions) bruisers and hit men didn't enbjoy inflicting pain or killing people - that it was generally just about the money.  Sometimes it was about money and respect but mostly it was the money.  A man didn't pay you what he owed you? Then you threaten him with a beating.  Sometimes you have to beat someone, just so the rest of the people who owe know that you're serious, but most times you just threatened because, well, how is the guy going to pay you back if he's in the hospital? Someone owes a hell of a lot and won't pay? Threaten to kill him but he can't pay if he's dead now can he?

   Of course examples needed to be made and problems "dealt with", but there was far less violence in the criminal underworld than Nelson had been led to believe.  Luckily there was friction between various groups; Nelson got his start as hit man dealing with various ethnic groups whose gangs didn't "respect" the Don.  Even then it was often about money - whether it was a drug debt or protection money, the victim could have bought his way out.

   The first time that Nelson was trusted to deal with a "make him pay or make him go" situation on his own he knew this might be his one chance to impress people.  Using his powers to veil himself, Nelson ramped the spell up to the point where it could survive passing uninvited through a threshold.  Then he snuck into the man's house and took pictures, lots of pictures.  Pictures of the man sleeping, of the man's wife sleeping, pictures of the man's children sleeping, and (just to avoid confusion) a picture that showed a gun and a hand-written note.  The note said simply "Pay your debts" because Nelson couldn't think of an "or else" he could add that wouldn't subtract from the impact that the pictures would make.

   The man paid and Nelson was noticed.  He was given other work.

   A few mouths later the job was a man named Maritti and that man ignored the photos. Maritti had buried a couple of corpses in shallow graves and decided he was tough enough that no one could force him to pay what he owed on a 10 kilo shipment of smack.  Nelson took another set of pictures, this time including photos of the Maritti's wife as she ran errands and Maritti's kids as they played in their schoolyard.  He gathered the photos, added a note reading "Three Day Grace Period", and left it by Maritti's pillow.  The morning of the fourth day, the Maritti's wife awoke to discover that she was sleeping with a corpse - that someone had used a silenced pistol to put two bullets in the back of her husband's head while he slept.

   That got him noticed more.  Getting in, not making a fuss, getting out - that impressed the people who mattered.  As for Maritti's family, there had never been a serious threat against them.  You threaten to kill a man's children and he pays but if you actually kill a kid, that's when things fall apart.  That was when the target either tries to kill you or talks to the cops or otherwise doesn't pay you - and getting payment is what matters.


   Becoming a trusted enforcer for the mob was good for him.  Nelson knew that he would never be a made guy, that he didn't have the right ethnic background for that, but now he had someone deciding who he should kill.  As a bonus, the mob rarely involved civilians in its business - meaning that the bulk of the people Nelson killed were murderers and virtually all of them were criminals who even other criminals agreed needed killing.

   Killing with a gun didn't feed his cravings, but it dulled them enough to keep Nelson from killing with his bare hands.  He now had rules and there was a structure to his life that he could use to fight his urges.  He wasn't some mad dog killer but the enforcement arm of a business - and that's was what counted.
Aspect: It's Always About The Money

(Note: there's no guest star here.  This part of his story happens in the 60s so unless you have long lived characters it's a bit early for a guest star.  If you do then you can work in a character running into Nelson while he's working.)


Guest Star roles should be fairly recent ones and based off his normal activities, which have changed a bit over the years.  He has worked for decades for the Palladino family but over those years the world has changed in ways that no one could have expected.  The 60s involved a struggle with other ethnic groups, but after that came the bikers and more ethnic competition.  The Haitians, the Vietnamese, the Triads, and an endless supply of bikers have tried moving in on the Palladino family's operations.  When possible Palladino family work out a profit sharing arrangement, when that wasn't possible, well it was always about the money.  That and respect, which meant that Nelson has had quite a bit of work over the years.  Always striking at night, always using a silenced weapon, Nelson has become the legend known to organised crime experts as Silent Night.

   Of course, he's never been made a full member of the group so he can't work on Made Guys, but there are few people who remember that.  Old Man Palladino knows, him and a few other Old Timers, but most assume that Silent Night is a Made Guy.  That or a crew that all uses the same methods.  The local version of Murder Incorporate.


   As Nelson grew into the role of a mob extortionist and murderer, he developed other skills.  Photography, stalking targets, following people.  Sometime in the 70s he developed another source of income - working as professional dominant brings in money while sating part of his appetite for pain.  He has also gone a number of monster hunts, protecting his boss' territory from other predators - during which time he may have crossed paths of PCs.  Not that he hunts monsters for idealist reasons, he does it to protect his boss.  Nelson needs someone else to decide when to kill, someone to pick his targets, and that someone can't tell Nelson what to do if some Red Court vampire has its claws into his boss.

   His boss, Old Man Palladino, makes the decisions for Nelson.  Who lives, who dies, when, and how.  Old Man Palladino knows who and what Nelson is, about Nelson's urges to murder with his bare hands, and how tightly Nelson keeps those desires under control.  That he's the one who gives Nelson the permission Nelson needs to kill.

Sample Aspects could include "Hungry for Pain", "Just Doing My Job", "The Old Ways Are The Best", "Family Comes First"

Power Level: Submerged
Skill Cap: Superb
Skill Points: 35
Starting Refresh: 10
Adjusted Refresh: 2

Skills:
Guns: Superb - he kills with a gun; it's not how he wants to kill but it's how he allows himself to do it.

Discipline: Great - he needs this keep himself from killing without orders.
Lore: Great - he's studied what he is and what else is out there.

Burglary: Good - he routinely breaks into homes.
Conviction: Good - years of self-examination has left him in the position where he knows who he is.
Stealth: Good - he knows how to sneak even when he's not veiled.


Alertness: Fair
Deceit: Fair
Fists: Fair - he's ready to kill with his bare hands, but doesn't.
Resources: Fair - his job pays well he spends enough to indulge in every vice except the one he wants most.

Contacts: Average - organised crime.
Craftsmanship: Average - makes his own silencers.
Endurance: Average
Investigation: Average - finding information about his targets,
Performance: Average - photography (including developing the photos).

Oddly enough, he lacks Intimidation.  His methods speak for themselves and he rarely gets in close and personal with his targets.


Stunts and powers
Lore: Finely Tuned Third Eye
Stealth: Swift and Silent

Wizard’s Constitution [-0]
Cloak of Shadows [-1]
Sponsored Magic: Doomkiller Kin [-4] - magic dealing darkness, death, deception, illusions, veils, and things of that nature.  Sunlight is anathema to Doomkiller's power - washing away a step every 30 minutes the spell is in direct sunlight.

Item of Power: Doomkiller's Amulet
Description: A metal amulet that "glows" with a faint darkness.
Musts: This is one of several amulets forged by Doomkiller for his by-blows.  To date they have only been used by his descendants.  Perhaps they can be used by others, perhaps not.  In either case Doomkiller might send agents to deal with any non-relative who tries to use this.  Or he might not.
Effects:
[-0] It Is What It Is.
[-0] Unbreakable. Doomkiller's Amulet cannot be destroyed save by an impressive ritual of the Light.
[+1] One-Time Discount.  Doomkiller's Amulet is easily concealed.
[–6] Mythic Recovery
[+4] Catch Sunlight (common, easy to discover).  Sunlight is the antithesis of Doomkiller's power. Injuries suffered under the light of the sun can not be healed by the amulet.  Exposure to sunlight renders the amulet useless for up to five minutes.
Net Cost [-1].
During the late 70s, Nelson was involved in a "misunderstanding" involving a debate over whether a couple of kids should die gruesome deaths because their father gave state's evidence.  His disagreement over that happening (and refusal to do the job) resulted in Nelson being shot in both kneecaps.  Crawling away, Nelson was forced to return to his father for aid.  Doomkiller offered aid but not until Nelson "proved" that he truly wanted it.  Seventeen kills was the task that Doomkiller deemed an appropriate show of devotion.  Shattered kneecaps didn't make it easy and no one was giving him orders (or permission) but 17 killers died under Nelson's gun to show that he really wanted to be able to walk without crutches.  Now he generally wears the amulet under his shirt.
Note: since he can lose the IoP it doesn't replace his Wizard’s Constitution.
Second Note: This only really has to grant Inhuman Recovery but the gamer in me couldn't help but notice that it would only cost -1 regardless of whether it was Inhuman Recovery, Supernatural Recovery, or Mythic Recovery so went with the most powerful option.  Feel free to downgrade it in your games.

Items
Thaumaturgy:
Ring of Veils (Focus, Lore +1)
Nelson's standard methods depend on his Veils.  He's become very good with them.

Six "potion" slots:
Nelson likes to keep his options open.  True, he can cast a limited form of Thaumaturgy at the speed of Evocation, but sometimes he doesn't have time to manage that so prepares tricks ahead of time.  Some of them are actual potions while others are disposal charms.  He generally has two backup veils prepared and something to open a way to the Nevernever.  Lore rolls can determine the others.

Magic:
In addition to veils, Nelson does what he calls "EMP".  He claims to have a series of small devices that generate powerful EMP fields, the perfect way of foiling bugs and other surveillance devices, but in fact he just casts powerful hexes (destroying tech is destroying, so it's something his magic can do).  Powerful enough that they fry the listening devices that have taken down so many in his profession.  Of course the "EMP" also destroys the electronics of his allies (including digital watches, smart phones, etc) but Nelson views that as an acceptable loss.

Using him in play:
   He's not a hero but not really a villain.  The mob never sends him out to deal with civilians so Nelson knows that he "deals" only with criminals.  Criminals who have come up short either in respect or cash (and cash is a sign of respect) when dealing with the Palladino family.  He thinks that a few of his targets might not have been killers but knows that few men have the balls to stand up to the Palladinos without first having made their bones.  He's a killer killing killers, nothing more.

   Nelson and his controller follow the old code.  No killing cops, no killing civilians, no killing Made Guys, and no killing without the boss' say so.  At least that's how Old Man Palladino sees thing.  Occasionally Nelson will allow something to become personal (i.e. terrifies or kills without orders) but even when something's personal Nelson won't allow himself to kill anyone he considers an innocent.  Doing so might be the thin edge of the wedge that turns him into a mad dog and he doesn't dare risk that.

   But Nelson's way of life is shifting, introducing chaos where Nelson needs order.  The main problem is that Old Man Palladino is now an old man.  His sons, well, in that business the end is usually prison or death and the Palladino boys didn't end up in jail.  The good news is they left him with grandkids.

   The bad news? Those grandkids.
(continued next message)

Just a bit of a thought about Thaumaturgy.  Rules wise anyone with it can (in theory) do practically anything - yet in the books Harry is always going on about its limitations.  How your magic can't don't anything that isn't somehow part of you.  For example, no one can summon a pain demon unless they have that pain inside of them and can envision the demon, at least not instinctively.  There are books and such that contain rituals, names, etc, to summon demons - allowing you to do things that aren't necessarily part of you - but for the most part if it's not part of you then you can't do it.  Mr. "Happy Go Lucky" Wizard isn't going to start throwing pain curses any more than Mr. "Sour Because the Red Court Bit My Girlfriend" Wizard can do something cheerful - like capturing sunlight.

Just wondering if we shouldn't advise people to sit down and work out, well, call it a personal paradigm of what their magic can do.  What sorts of Thaumaturgy they can do without a teacher, rare books, or expanding (or shifting) their worldview.

Just a thought.

Richard