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> Throwing off the curse, getting rid of HMHVV
Mortax
post Mar 28 2005, 03:05 PM
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K guys, quick question. I'm starting a series of runs intermingled with other runs. The main idea is a guy with HMHVV who wants to cure himself, his son, and daughter. He's a mage, so he's going the magic rout and creating unique enchantmants and spell componenets. Ideas?

(note, whether or not it works is irrelevent. AH's dead man's grimore gave me the intial idea. Lost tome from the 4th age with knowledge blah blahblahblah. You get the point.)

I figured you all would have some great ones to get me creative jucies flowing. Thanks!
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Ancient History
post Mar 28 2005, 04:03 PM
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This is funny because I just wrote that section for my updating Infected page update last night.
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Wounded Ronin
post Mar 28 2005, 05:44 PM
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I'll bet you could do it with nanomachines.
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Smiley
post Mar 28 2005, 05:56 PM
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If he catches the infection within a certain amount of time (30 days, I believe), HMHVV can be medically cured. Krieger Strain, anyway. I'm not sure about the rest. Is your mage a human?

EDIT:
QUOTE (SRComp @ page 33)
The disease takes approximately 90 days to run its course, going through three stages of roughly equal duration. No outward signs appear during the first stage, but the virus can be treated if detected.
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Mortax
post Mar 28 2005, 06:04 PM
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Smiley, yes he is human, but he has had the virus for a lot longer than that. Also his goal is not just cure himself, but his whole "family".

Wounded Ronin: Yes, there is a decent chance of that. However he has a distrust of medical procedures and relying on doctors. (Sort of how he got here in the first place.) It's an old PC of mine.
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Smiley
post Mar 28 2005, 06:01 PM
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Does he have vampire HMHVV or ghoul?
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Mortax
post Mar 28 2005, 06:25 PM
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Vampire. And it was a PC with a couple hundred karma. I'm not sure if I'd let it succeed or not, I just think it would be an interesting plot device.
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Critias
post Mar 28 2005, 07:38 PM
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I wouldn't let it work, simply because it hasn't worked before (and it can't be the first time magic's been used to try and reverse it). It sets a precedent that would potentially unmake every vampire (and every other HMVV sufferer) in the setting.
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Nikoli
post Mar 28 2005, 07:44 PM
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Maybe the cure ultimately kills him, but at the moment of death, he's human again, then a pile of ash so no cloning.
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Fortune
post Mar 28 2005, 07:49 PM
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Maybe have the character do extensive research, then take himself (and his family) on a trip to somewhere like Tibet, after hearing rumors about a certain Guru there that might have access to strange and unique magics that might fit the bill. Getting there and getting access, first to Tibet, then to the Guru himself would be hard enough.
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Smiley
post Mar 28 2005, 07:57 PM
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QUOTE (Critias)
I wouldn't let it work, simply because it hasn't worked before (and it can't be the first time magic's been used to try and reverse it). It sets a precedent that would potentially unmake every vampire (and every other HMVV sufferer) in the setting.

Ditto.
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Aku
post Mar 28 2005, 08:07 PM
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heh can anyone say "insta-vampire killer"? curing those that dont WANT to be cured heh...
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Mortax
post Mar 28 2005, 11:55 PM
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IF (and that's a big if) it works, I was planning on making it something hard enough to do that it would be difficult to preform more than a few times, or even once. (That's an interesting delema, who to cure.) And, no, it wouldn't be something fast either. We are talking months, if not years. So it doesn't make a great weapon. He's lived with it a long time, and wants to be mortal.

The "it works, but he dies shortly thereafter" was something I was considering.

As far as the "it's never been done before, so no", um for a long time there was no such thing as a transistor, or space flight, or flight at all for that matter. In fact it was called impossible. Just because it hasn't been done before, doesn't mean it can't be done. I admit, some things should not be allowed, but I'm talking unique enchantment one shot PC's would find it nigh imposible to use magic here. Yes, they might figure out the procedure, but if you need 20,000,000 :nuyen: or so to do it, PC are gonna have a hard time.

The reason for this thread was more along the lines of "what would be in this kind of enchantment". Truth be told, it is unlikely any of the PC will know what is going on or whether it works. The could find out, but I"m not going to assume they will.

Fortune, I like the idea of them having to obtain something from Tibet. Any paydata on Tibet in 2050s? It sounds like an exciting run. ;)
Bwahahahaha.

Thanks all so far, I've got a while before this is essential, so keep the ideas comming.
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hermit
post Mar 29 2005, 12:23 AM
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QUOTE
Any paydata on Tibet in 2050s?

Has sealed it's borders and is extremely xenophobic.
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Sandoval Smith
post Mar 29 2005, 12:42 AM
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QUOTE (Smiley)
QUOTE (Critias @ Mar 28 2005, 02:38 PM)
I wouldn't let it work, simply because it hasn't worked before (and it can't be the first time magic's been used to try and reverse it).  It sets a precedent that would potentially unmake every vampire (and every other HMVV sufferer) in the setting.

Ditto.

It's your game, so if you want a cure to happen, it happens. Just because this guy is able to pull it off doesn't mean that events are going to lead to the rest of the world finding out how it works, and then suddenly, no more vampires. Or that it's so complicated or delicate that trying it with an unwilling subject is not going to work at all.
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hyzmarca
post Mar 29 2005, 12:44 AM
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After the difficult task of getting through Tibet's mystic barrier and finding the guru they are searching for the players and the vampire are told by this guru (a free spirit) that he doesn't have the answers that they seek, but he can point them to someone who does, for a price. After each of them hands over a buttload of karma the free spirit uses his astral gateway power to send them into a fairly unusual series of metaplanes.

The characters begin in Purgatory where the sould of the dead wait to be judged. Some of the dead they may know, some of them they may have made dead. After encounters with old friends and foes alike the players decend into the next metaplane.
This one, patterned after the First Circle of hell in Dante's inferno. After being ushered accross the river of Acheron by CHaron, they meet the likes of Virgil, Julius Ceaser, and Socrates.
As they continue going deeper they travel through all of the circles of Hell in Dante's Inferno intill they reach the Ninth. There, in Cocytus they meet a giant three-faced creature which eternally chews on three traitors. This being is a manifestiation of the Dark King Idol.
It has dominion over the souls of the dead, including the vampires who should be dead but remain alive by draining the essence of the living. As such, he can grant a reprieve from the living death taht vampires and many other HMHVV suffers experience. (Incidently, it can't cure ghouls. It can only cure those HMHVV suffers infected through the essence drain power.) The Dark King can be persuaded to restore the vampire to full life, but for a price. It is a heafty price that is paid in spirit, flesh, magic, and favor. Whatever the exact terms of that payment are left to the GMs imagination. However, it should should be very high.
For magic, the vampire may have to become a Dark King Shaman or he may lose his magic entirely. For flesh, he may return to his body to find an arm missing or his body may become so emaciated that he cannot even move on his own.
For spirit, he may have to give up all of his karma in the equivilant to a Hand of God or he may be left with a essence that is less than 1.
For favor, he would have to do one thing for the Dark King. This act could be anything that furthers the Idol's goals, whatever they may be. It may seem simple and insignificant or it may be momentous or difficult. Of course, the ex-vampire could enlist the runners to help with it.
Alternatly, the runners can elect to pay part of the price themselves. I don't know why they would except for the possibility of earning brownie points for the afterlife. Very possible considering the torturers they just waded through.

Edit: Note that it these metaplanes don't have to really be an afterlife and the souls of dead that they meet don't have to really be souls of he dead. Anything can happen on a metaplane, after all. Howeve it should be pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing untill you start asking philosophical questions like why it resembles a fictional account of the christian hell.
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Aes
post Mar 29 2005, 01:29 AM
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I'd say "it works, but then kills him" could potentially make for some very good narrative. If you've ever played Planescape: Torment, there's something similar to what you're trying to accomplish there. Just so I won't ruin the game for those in the middle of playing it:
[ Spoiler ]


It could make for a bittersweet ending, if the family truly didn't want to live like vampires. Even if they died, at least they died human and won't have to go to whichever theological version of hell your runners would condemn the soulless to. If you're afraid it'd unbalance things for vampires (IE: forced return to (meta)humanity), you could always let the final solution be some complex ritual that can only be performed by a willing participant.
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Tanka
post Mar 29 2005, 01:39 AM
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Aes: Play Planescape: Torment, recently? :P
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Charon
post Mar 29 2005, 02:52 AM
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Use cybermancy, genetech, Nanotech and the special ritual from your secret tome.

1 - Use modern nanotech medicine to hunt and kill every virus in the bloodstream

2 - I'm assuming HMHVV is the kind of virus that attacks the DNA in some fashion so you need genetech to purge the virus for good.

Now one could argue that this should kill the PC. Not necessarily, but let's do so.

3 - You need cybermancy ritual to keep alive that which should not be.

4 - Finally your secret ritual from the 4th world restore the lost humanity of the character.

There, that should keep a PC busy for a while. You need to find cutting edge nanotech that hunts down HMHVV viruses. Who does that? Where can it be found? Then you need genetech. Who would be equipped and willing to treat a vampire? Then you need cybermancy. Who knows the ritual? What do they ask as payment? (PS : don't deal with Ordo Maximus!) And then there is your secret ritual that could be as complex and requiring as many weird components as you wish.
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Mortax
post Mar 29 2005, 03:51 AM
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(Smacks hands and rubs them together.) Now we are really getting somewhere.

hyzmarca, Charon (ironic name in this instance), I really like you're sudgestions. They have given me the beguining of a plan.

hermit, yes, that I am aware of. :-) I meant what was going on inside of the closed boarder.

Hey tanka, no telling anyone what I'm planning. Chibu prommesed not to peak. :-) hehehe. If you want to contribut ideas to tourture you're friends though......feel free. Promise I won't tell.

Just to clarify something that I'm not sure was clear:
The vampire is an NPC based on an old PC. He is the Johnson hiring the runners. Has in fact hired them several times, they just don't know it. Just got the impresion some thought it might be a PC. If not, sorry, just wanted to be sure.

Thanks!
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Fortune
post Mar 29 2005, 03:49 AM
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QUOTE (hyzmarca @ Mar 29 2005, 10:44 AM)
After the difficult task of getting through Tibet's mystic barrier and finding the guru they are searching for the players and the vampire are told by this guru (a free spirit) that he doesn't have the answers that they seek, but he can point them to someone who does, for a price.  After each of them hands over a buttload of karma the free spirit uses his astral gateway power to send them into a fairly unusual series of metaplanes.

That's nice, and somewhat along the lines of what I was thinking, only a lot more detailed. :)

QUOTE (Mortax)
I meant what was going on inside of the closed boarder.


Not much info available. Brainscan might offer a little but of data, but if you can wait a few months, Shadows of Asia has been promised to flesh out Tibet in more detail. You could always drag out the research and dole out clues sparingly while the PCs do other jobs in the meantime.
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