Dumpshock Forums > Trans-global Ghost Cartels campaign

Knight Saber

Nov 4 2009, 06:45 AM

QUOTE (pbangarth @ Nov 2 2009, 10:00 PM)

I have created a Campaign, Trans-global, on Invisible Castle for those few rolls I would like to see pertaining to actions in the IC thread. So, for example, should Lamia take the big step, go through that front door and try for membership in Survivors of the Sixth World, she will have to make an Arcana + Logic Success Test. This would be an occasion to use Invisible Castle.

Speaking of which test, Knight Saber, I see Lamia has no Arcana Skill. Seeing as this is not strictly a Skill Test, we won't worry about defaulting, and just use her full Logic of 5. The threshold for the Test will be 2, and she needs at least 1 net hit, so I suspect you will be using a point of her Edge for this test. The ratio of dice pool (5) to Edge pool (2) is right at the breakpoint, where it doesn't much matter whether you choose to use the point of Edge before the roll to get exploding 6s, or after to reroll the failures. This will be a close Test, and Lamia may not get the requisite number of hits. But if she doesn't, she will have one more chance, in a month of game time, to try again.

You've seen the spectacular botches I've rolled for Lamia... I've got a baaaad feeling about this!

pbangarth

Nov 8 2009, 06:57 PM

Knight Saber, I took some liberties in the description of the investiture, speaking for you on occasion, just to move things along, rather than waiting for in-thread answers to questions you would have to answer in the affirmative in order to join the group. If this is not how you prefer to do things, let me know, and I won't do it again.

Knight Saber

Nov 9 2009, 09:10 AM

QUOTE (pbangarth @ Nov 8 2009, 11:57 AM)

Knight Saber, I took some liberties in the description of the investiture, speaking for you on occasion, just to move things along, rather than waiting for in-thread answers to questions you would have to answer in the affirmative in order to join the group. If this is not how you prefer to do things, let me know, and I won't do it again.

No, no, it's OK, since what else was she going to say?

And it looks like she did well on the roll, spending Edge up front.

7d6.open(5)=48

7d6.open(5) → [[6, 4],1,1,[5, 5, 3],[6, 3],3,[5, 5, 1]] = (48)

pbangarth

Nov 10 2009, 02:16 AM

QUOTE (Knight Saber @ Nov 9 2009, 04:10 AM)

No, no, it's OK, since what else was she going to say?

And it looks like she did well on the roll, spending Edge up front.

7d6.open(5)=48

7d6.open(5) → [[6, 4],1,1,[5, 5, 3],[6, 3],3,[5, 5, 1]] = (48)

OK, that should be 7d6.open(6), as only sixes are rerolled. And if you type 7d6.hitsopen(5,6) it will do the rerolls and tabulate the hits for you.

But that's alright, because you still get 4 successes which is more than you need. Well done!

pbangarth

Nov 14 2009, 01:33 AM

OK, Knight Saber, you are now a full-fledged member of Survivors of the Sixth World. Feel free to role play with the party goers and explore the facilities and resources. I will give you a more detailed document about the benefits and duties of membership presently.

Now you can build up your Karma again and do cool stuff like Initiate through the Group.

pbangarth

Nov 24 2009, 04:06 PM

I'm going back to Alberta. I should be there by Sunday. I'll try to connect to Dumpshock once a day. Once I'm back there, I will try to set up a MapTools game, probably for January.

Knight Saber

Nov 26 2009, 05:46 AM

QUOTE (pbangarth @ Nov 24 2009, 09:06 AM)

I'm going back to Alberta. I should be there by Sunday. I'll try to connect to Dumpshock once a day. Once I'm back there, I will try to set up a MapTools game, probably for January.

Excellent! Can't wait!

pbangarth

Dec 12 2009, 07:57 PM

Email has been sent to all regarding the next game.

pbangarth

Dec 21 2009, 06:25 PM

I haven't heard back from anyone. Is Christmas that distracting?

pbangarth

Jan 12 2010, 06:58 AM

So, who is still interested?

Knight Saber

Jan 13 2010, 03:08 AM

QUOTE (pbangarth @ Jan 11 2010, 11:58 PM)

So, who is still interested?

The holidays on top of some family health issues were plenty distracting, but I'm still here and ready!

ChiPsiUp

Jan 13 2010, 03:20 AM

I'm still here! In theory.

Horsemen

Jan 20 2010, 02:55 AM

Forgive me if I am breaking a forum rule or etiquette by asking the following questions, just not sure where to ask.

Is this game closed or is there a possibility that there is room for one more presuming you are between contracts?

pbangarth

Jan 20 2010, 05:06 AM

Horsemen,we have two players who are confirmed interested still, Knight Saber and ChiPsiUp. Octopiii still would like to play, but is having trouble getting time on the weekends when we have traditionally played our MapTools sessions. Vice versa, the rest are having trouble finding a time during the week to play because of other commitments. As things are turning out, weekdays are filling woth work for me as well. Damn that need to eat! Karoline has indicated interest in playing, and would be the fourth (or third) player. I am happy with adding one more, and would have to introduce Karoline's character into the established team anyway.

If two new people joined, it might be cool to have the two of them play a session to get a feel for how I play a game and to let the established players see how the newbies work. I have several threads I could have the three (or two) established players follow, and maybe one of those would link the two teams into one.

So, Karoline and Horsemen, if you want to play, show me a PC. Construction guidelines are in post #2 of this thread, but basically, regular construction rules with 450BP to start, all books (but please lets not get too freaky), and have a look at the existing PCs to see how you might fit in. You can get intro information for the campaign from the cover of Ghost Cartels.

I had suggested earlier that I wanted a game in January. I better get my ass in gear!

Karoline

Jan 21 2010, 09:42 PM

Sorry, half forgot I'd even spoken up on this. Had I said what kind of character I'd make? If not is there anything the team is lacking?

pbangarth

Jan 22 2010, 02:50 AM

Knight Saber plays Lamia, a mage with a checkered past and a passion to keep ... checkering. She may or may not be aware of a big problem that has just landed in her lap.

ChiPsiUp plays Skullcraka, a rigger/techie with attitude and toys. The loneliness of a strange place with no contacts is beginning to wear on him. He soon may turn to chemical (or virtual?) friends.

Octopiii plays Fishbreath, ex-military from the far north who discovered the wonder and profit of switching sides. He may soon discover the cost of doing so.

Karoline, (and Horsemen, too!) see THIS POST and ensuing ones for character generation info.

Knight Saber

Jan 22 2010, 07:21 AM

QUOTE (Karoline @ Jan 21 2010, 02:42 PM)

Sorry, half forgot I'd even spoken up on this. Had I said what kind of character I'd make? If not is there anything the team is lacking?

We could definitely use a face type to do the talking and an infiltrator type too. Lamia's more of a combat mage, so investigative or stealthy mages wouldn't cross into her niche at all.

Karoline

Jan 22 2010, 12:45 PM

QUOTE (Knight Saber @ Jan 22 2010, 02:21 AM)

We could definitely use a face type to do the talking and an infiltrator type too. Lamia's more of a combat mage, so investigative or stealthy mages wouldn't cross into her niche at all.

Hmm, lots of different ways to tackle that one. I'll see what I start to come up with. Horse, any idea what you want to play?

Karoline

Jan 22 2010, 03:59 PM

Oh, and something I'd never thought of asking before, but since it came up on the main forums: Does the 'free' genetic modification that you get from Genetic Heritage (augmentation) come without essence cost?

pbangarth

Jan 22 2010, 10:54 PM

Genetic Heritage costs no money but does cost Essence.

Karoline

Jan 22 2010, 11:04 PM

So same idea I go off of, good to know.

I'm uncertain about what I have so far... I'm working on a face/infiltration mage. Seems a little odd so far.

pbangarth

Jan 22 2010, 11:10 PM

If it helps, the GC cover text hints at unsavoury jobs for even less savoury employers.

Karoline

Feb 3 2010, 01:22 AM

Free contact BP = 2x Cha?

pbangarth

Feb 3 2010, 01:50 AM

Nope. Within the 450BP there is room for contacts. The 2X CHA thing started with various Missions or RPGA games, and is kind of a good idea, but I didn't do it with the other players, so I will keep it consistent.

Karoline

Feb 4 2010, 02:57 PM

QUOTE (pbangarth @ Feb 2 2010, 08:50 PM)

Nope. Within the 450BP there is room for contacts. The 2X CHA thing started with various Missions or RPGA games, and is kind of a good idea, but I didn't do it with the other players, so I will keep it consistent.

Perfectly fair. I'm finding mages eat up more BP than I ever remember. I suppose 55 BP spent on getting a decent magic score and another 36 on spells and the 100ish BP of magic skills makes that kind of a given, but I hadn't realized it was quite so tight. Getting a bunch of Foci isn't helping either. Should be set though. Sorry it has taken so long, done a bunch of changes here and there and got ill over the weekend.

Anyway, just need to finish shoring up equipment and a few other incidentals. Should have a sheet in a few hours when I have time between classes. Should I PM it to you or just throw it up here?

P.S. The reason my last question was so sucky is I was trying to do it with my broken keyboard.

pbangarth

Feb 5 2010, 12:25 AM

You really should get a new keyboard... that thing has been plaguing you for a long time.

Knight Saber

Feb 27 2010, 07:43 AM

So, what's up with the new characters?

pbangarth

Feb 27 2010, 05:33 PM

I haven't heard much from anyone. I am ready to play. Maybe we should switch to PbP here on DS for a while till we settle into a new team. I really like the MapTools format and hope we can get that going, but timing seems to be a real issue. This makes sense when players are dotted around the continent, if not the world.

Hmmm... maybe I can start the ball rolling with a post for Lamia.

Karoline

Feb 27 2010, 06:39 PM

Sorry. Combination of the character sheet being lost about 3 times due to computer crashes and going back and forth on the character. Finally got around to finishing up the character sheet to my liking.

[ Spoiler ]

Would like to ask that the raven air spirit bonus be changed to something else since I don't have access to air spirits, and it doesn't make a ton of sense in the first place, as other than flying, raven has nothing in particular to do with the air.

I figured other possible bonuses would be counterspelling/banishing (Like adversary which is largely similar), con (To represent trickery and manipulation), illusion spells (Once more, trickery). Possibly something like spirits of man would work, sure you could think of other things as well. If you don't approve of the change, I'll likely switch to the adversary mentor, but I just prefer the feel of Raven for this character.

As another note, the Voodoo she practices has much less to do with the real religion of vodun with the loa and such, and much more 'this is what I learned from watching movies/shows/cartoons that include voodoo'. For instance her fetishes are small voodoo dolls made from cloth.

Just realized she should really have ritual spellcasting... I'll have to look into that. Maybe pull back to a sorcery group of 4, but need to drop some spells to manage that. See, this is why it has taken ages.

As for background, I have one roughly mapped out in my mind, but haven't put it to 'paper' yet.

pbangarth

Feb 27 2010, 09:21 PM

First quick pass at the character sheet:

Karoline, without having a look at Nell's background, I don't know what 'feel' Raven has for you. Trickster? Opportunist?

How about Shango, the Loa of Thunder (Street Magic p. 184) in the guise of Sky Father (p. 183)? He would give Nell the bonuses to Manipulation spells, which by the spell selection must be part of your 'feel' (

). He also gives bonuses to Detection, and gives me a hook (pride) to toy with Nell. If that doesn't work for you, then I offload onto you the task of generating a Mentor in the Voodoo tradition that is Raven-like. (Seems to me there even could be a Raven in that tradition. Do some homework!)

I notice a heavy reliance on fetishes for limited spells. This is an awful temptation for the GM to mess with the PC. I would like your opinion on how areas of background count affect fetishes. (I know fetishes do not have a Force per se.) I haven't figured this out for myself and would like input.

I look forward to your justification in the back story for Sensitive System and Sensitive Neural Structure. I'm fine with them, even for mages, as long as the reason shows up in the story.

Knowledge Skills are important.

This is cool! I get to be on the receiving end of a possession mage! Woohoo!

Karoline

Feb 27 2010, 10:57 PM

QUOTE (pbangarth @ Feb 27 2010, 04:21 PM)

First quick pass at the character sheet:

Karoline, without having a look at Nell's background, I don't know what 'feel' Raven has for you. Trickster? Opportunist?

Ah, opportunist. Nell is often a very much a sit back, wait for stuff to happen, and then swoop in when the pickings are good (Which is actually how she got her power focus, it'll all be background once I manage to write it up)

QUOTE

How about Shango, the Loa of Thunder (Street Magic p. 184) in the guise of Sky Father (p. 183)? He would give Nell the bonuses to Manipulation spells, which by the spell selection must be part of your 'feel' (

). He also gives bonuses to Detection, and gives me a hook (pride) to toy with Nell. If that doesn't work for you, then I offload onto you the task of generating a Mentor in the Voodoo tradition that is Raven-like. (Seems to me there even could be a Raven in that tradition. Do some homework!)

As I said, she doesn't really follow real vodun, and so doesn't know about the Loa. I went back and forth on having her drop spirit access entirely, but eventually decided that she views them much more as what makes voodoo work. Basically using a doll of someone and having them be possessed by a spirit are one and the same for her. The person does what the doll does because of the spirit possessing them, at least when she doesn't have a link to them. If she has a link then it would be ritual spellcasting. Spirits are impromptu dolls

QUOTE

I notice a heavy reliance on fetishes for limited spells. This is an awful temptation for the GM to mess with the PC. I would like your opinion on how areas of background count affect fetishes. (I know fetishes do not have a Force per se.) I haven't figured this out for myself and would like input.

Well, partially did that because alot of her spells are very high drain since I didn't go with the 'stunball at -2 drain to wipe out every enemy in the building' route. It was also done to create situations where her spell selection would be limited (Like if she was captured or something). Basically (perhaps unwisely) creating a weak point for the GM to potentially take away her fetishes (Though she is careful with them, given how vital they are to her spells)

QUOTE

I look forward to your justification in the back story for Sensitive System and Sensitive Neural Structure. I'm fine with them, even for mages, as long as the reason shows up in the story.

I always presumed those things were something you were born with, like gremlins or allergies, not something that would occur because something in particular happened to the person.

QUOTE

Knowledge Skills are important.

Knew I'd forgotten something. I was so happy that I'd gotten the crunchy bits basically done that I forgot to double check that.

QUOTE

This is cool! I get to be on the receiving end of a possession mage! Woohoo!

I thought you'd enjoy that.

pbangarth

Feb 27 2010, 11:15 PM

OK, well pass your Mentor Spirit concept by me and let's see what you can come up with.

Knight Saber

Mar 11 2010, 07:19 AM

Dang, I didn't see the calls from Johnson on the IC thread... The threads sink to the bottom so quickly when there's not a lot of posting.

I'm still game for the game, how can we do it? I prefer chat-based for pacing, but if it's here and by-post, I can get by with that too.

pbangarth

Mar 12 2010, 02:20 AM

QUOTE (Knight Saber @ Mar 11 2010, 12:19 AM)

Dang, I didn't see the calls from Johnson on the IC thread... The threads sink to the bottom so quickly when there's not a lot of posting.

I'm still game for the game, how can we do it? I prefer chat-based for pacing, but if it's here and by-post, I can get by with that too.

That's what I prefer, too, but at the moment you are the only player who is in any way shape or form participating in the game, so I am biding time by posting tidbits by PbP.

Karoline

Mar 12 2010, 02:24 AM

I'm keeping an eye open. I thought I'd gotten my character in and everything.

pbangarth

Mar 12 2010, 02:26 AM

Sorry, I was talking about the old gang. Didn't mean to leave you out. Sorry. Beg forgiveness. I will get back to you on your PC shortly.

pbangarth

Mar 12 2010, 04:41 PM

QUOTE (Karoline @ Mar 11 2010, 07:24 PM)

I'm keeping an eye open. I thought I'd gotten my character in and everything.

OK, so I am getting myself back up to speed here. I need Knowledge Skills, a description in the SR format of the Mentor you would like Nell to have, and a backstory that includes some hook as to how Nell would know not to implant stuff in her meat. Something as simple as a test implant commonly done to check for allergies etc. would do. I use that ploy myself.

I like the 'doll == possessed puppet' idea. Flesh that out in the backstory too. I want something fun to read in between writing justifications for why I think the Mesoamerican Classic to Postclassic transition happened earlier than everyone else says.

pbangarth

Mar 22 2010, 10:47 PM

Five of my six game threads are at the front of Welcome to the Shadows, so I went for the sixth. This is it. Rapid fire, multi-tasking Gm/PC goodness.

pbangarth

Mar 31 2010, 02:04 AM

Maybe I should open this thread up...advertise for some new players. What do you think, Knight Saber and Karoline?

pbangarth

Apr 9 2010, 01:06 AM

I've advertised for more players in the Johnson Memorial Career Center.

pbangarth

Apr 11 2010, 03:29 AM

Alright.

I have a dissertation to finish, and a conference paper to present at the end of April. So, let's take a hiatus until May 3rd, when I return from the conference, and we'll take another stab at this. Maybe by then whatever has drawn some of the players away will have been dealt with. Here's hoping.

And if I am doing something wrong or scaring people away, or whatever, let me know please. I am at a loss.

Mawootad

May 3 2010, 06:15 PM

If you're still looking for more players, I'd be happy to join. I'm pretty new, but my college's summer break will be starting at the end of this week so I'll have plenty of time. I have a character sheet that's currently 410BP (needs a bit more stuff added, basically), but I need a GM ruling and haven't done much of the biographical info. I'm planning to do a TM/rigger, but I'd like to have a couple of free sprites as contacts to pilot my drones (and I understand that I would have to both convince them to act and supply favors) and I wanted to know if a) that's okay and b) what connection ranking the sprites would have to be.

pbangarth

May 5 2010, 01:49 AM

QUOTE (Mawootad @ May 3 2010, 11:15 AM)

If you're still looking for more players, I'd be happy to join. I'm pretty new, but my college's summer break will be starting at the end of this week so I'll have plenty of time. I have a character sheet that's currently 410BP (needs a bit more stuff added, basically), but I need a GM ruling and haven't done much of the biographical info. I'm planning to do a TM/rigger, but I'd like to have a couple of free sprites as contacts to pilot my drones (and I understand that I would have to both convince them to act and supply favors) and I wanted to know if a) that's okay and b) what connection ranking the sprites would have to be.

Yes, still looking for players. Check the start of the OOC thread for details on BP, etc. Also note the modification I make to the Hacking rules (I use LOG + Skill, hits limited by program rating).

Interesting concept about the contacts. Yes, there would have to be negotiation and payment and/or favours. This could be fun for me! Connection/Loyalty as per the contact rules. Rating of the sprite would determine how expensive/difficult/available its services would be. ("Sure, you can have Lofwyr as a contact. Make an appointment. He should be free next month sometime.") If you make them tough, it will be unlikely you can get them on a moment's notice to pilot your drones. It may behoove you to use sprites of your own.

I am not that familiar with the Matrix rules, so I would be a little slow on the adjudication of tricky stuff as I figured it out.

pbangarth

May 11 2010, 03:09 AM

Anyone interested in playing, answer soon. Knight Saber and Karoline have characters, Mawootad is interested, but needs to get me a character. Karoline, I need those details about Nell I asked for earlier. If all I have is Lamia and Nell, then I'll go with them. If all I have is Lamia, what the hell. She's expendable.

We can do a lot of the preliminary meet and legwork here before we get onto MapTools, so there is time for the new ones to get up to speed on that software.

Octopiii and ChiPsiUp... I miss you guys. Come back. I have cookies!

pbangarth

May 21 2010, 03:44 PM

Internet access spotty for next two days.

pbangarth

May 26 2010, 02:33 AM

Knight Saber, you wanna play just you and me on this thread while we wait for others to show up? I have a side story cooking up as I speak.

EDIT: Actually, it would be in the IC thread.

pbangarth

Jun 27 2010, 04:31 PM

I'm travelling across the continent to Ontario, so my connection will be spotty for the next week or so. After I am settled, I hope to find a way to resurrect this game. Suggestions would be appreciated.

kxU

Jun 27 2010, 05:06 PM

hey hey, still looking for players? i would love to throw my hat into the mix if you'll have me.

pbangarth

Jun 29 2010, 04:32 AM

I will have to check back through the posts to see who is in line. Hang in there.

Karoline

Jun 30 2010, 07:21 PM

*cough* sorry, I am still around. Let me see if I can even find my stuff for this game.