Fredrick

A Character for Banduni Junglelands - 5E One Shot on The Facebook  Tabletop RPG One Shot Group.

By Hamenopi

Brought into the Holy Order of Knight Protectors at a young age, he excelled at combat and was clearly favored by the god(s). This brought him much praise, admiration, and attention. His youthful outlook and hedonistic demeanor proved too much distraction from the pious ways of the Holy Order, and despite his strengths, it was decided the best way for him to serve the god(s), was through stewardship and domestic service.

Shame however, brought him no humiliation. He continued to practice and train at night with, a family heirloom great sword, secreted away in a small cave system not far from the Holy Barracks.
Years passed and few in the barracks, surrounding
farmlands or nearby towns knew of, or recognized him anymore, before long his story faded from memory.

Obscurity proved worse for him than youthful indiscretions ever could of been, and he took to drinking, heavily. Still driven by a sense of justice, and a need to "do the right thing", he found himself in countless bar brawls in the nearest city, where he eventually wound up, penniless. Begging and hard labor jobs provided just enough money to subside, intoxicated, spending the vast majority of nights "sleeping it off" outside, he eventually found comfort in nature, and came to prefer a simple, natural life, in the worship of his god(s), to that of a busy life in the city, or the sheltered existence in the Holy Order.

original image

Years, and a lifetime of change later, he longed to visit his old barracks, to once again gaze upon the Holy Icons which resided within the Orders fortified Churches. He made his way to his childhood home only to find it a smoldering ruin, having just been razed to the ground by some passing force. The presence of evil blanketed the ruins in a palpable darkness which made it's trail easy to follow. Retrieving his heirloom great-sword from his training caves, he followed the dying light into the hillside, finding the butchered remains of The Knights of the Holy order surrounding the twisted, hulking form of a beast most foul. Beyond it, lay the eldest, most venerated of the Order, who recognized his savior immediately, crying out for him by name, betraying the secret he had kept for so many years.

Raising his family blade pridefully above his head, he charged the beast, intent on rescuing his one time Knight Brother. The resulting battle was a one sided slaughter in which not only did his Knight Brother get twine asunder, and the heirloom sword shatter, but the creature's jagged claws raked across his own face, taking an eye, and leaving a terrible scar.

The failure was finally enough to humble him and set him back upon the path of his god(s). Not sure of what's in store for him, he's found new faith in his old god(s), and accepts the path on which they've placed him, intent on bringing justice and order to the world where they see fit.

Meanwhile, on Earth... Eclipse Phase - Post 1

My friends and I have been playing some Eclipse Phase lately, and having a good time hacking at the setting, making it our own. There has also been a little bit of rules hacking, from trying out the new Fate conversion, to our own short lived, in house, Fate-like version. Thus far, I like the original rule set the best. It has the right amount of crunch for the setting, and does a decent job at marrying the simple, roll under percentile system to the setting's hard science fiction hacking, virtual environments, and character progression. Combat, while not a huge part of the game, does exist -- often enough that a solid grasp of it's somewhat simple concepts is needed by all. There is a lot for the GM to track during fights, and a short series of rolls before an action is resolved. It defiantly helps if players know the rules, what to roll when, and how each roll defines part of the outcome. I think for this game to be experienced at it's max, everyone will have to shoulder some of the rules, especially if it only applies to their characters, such as any kind of hacker.

Here is a little section I wrote for a complex left on Earth worthy of exploration.

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The Pearlman Institute

Created post-fall, by survivors organizing an effort to regain control of the planet while escaping detection from remaining TITAIN threats, the Pearlman Institute's primary functions were to produce biomorphs from harvested chemical bases, and produce AGI's with which to implant them, that were indoctrinated in such a way, to be indistinguishable from natural born human egos. It has been abandoned by any and all caretakers, for reasons unknown.

Through a series of recursive simspace environments, housed on impenetrably closed, non-networked, super computers, the egos are conditioned/raised to believe they live free from the TITIANs and the effects of the fall, in a deep space observatory, far from the edge of civilized space.

The simulated life in/on the Pearlman is based around the rather outdated, bioconservative idea, that a portion of humanity needed to remain pure, both genetically and free from cybernetic implantation. Ego's are taught that the lag they experience when interacting with the mesh is due the Pearlman Station's great distance from the rest of transhumanity, who suffer a similar lag when interacting with the Pearlman residents, thus their general indifference to any social news and happenings occurring on the station. It is in this way, egos are exposed to the harsh realities of the universe around them, without having to suffer them first hand.

Communication from the institute's residents is interpreted by a closed software system on the same main frame on which the ego resides. After some rather lengthy computations by the relic systems and software, relevant incoming mesh transmissions are modified and stored for read only access by the AGI's. One could imagine this process would take some time, growing exponentially complex with time, causing a great deal of lag, and causing more and more computing power to maintain the ruse.

Lack of maintenance, and diminishing computing power has left The Pearlman Institute in a horrible state of disrepair. No longer are the elemental material gathering systems functioning, this has resulted in not only a complete halt to morph production, it's resulted in the rather unwholesome recycling of incompletely developed morphs into based compounds to feed the remaining complete morphs. This too, is changing with time. The incomplete and flawed are running out, and complete morphs are beginning to be sacrificed to feed the dwindling masses.

How much longer will The Pearlman Institute operate?
How many morphs will be available for the egos?
What of those egos left behind?
How will the egos react to their new truth?  -- Will they kill the man who shows them they've been looking at shadows?
Who Built The Pearlman, and why?
What are the morphs being created there?
Is there escape from Earth?

Social Justice Ain't for Wizards

Autocratik's #RPGaDAY

August 18^th – Favourite [Favorite] Game System

Love turns to pain. Pain to anguish. Anguish give way to anger. And anger, properly channeled, becomes change. The clarity this process provides is invaluable.

Had this been the topic a couple of day ago, my resounding answer would've been White-Wolf's Storyteller System (cWoD). Hell, it was the first system I really loved. My young mind didn't care about the statistical problems at higher levels, in the beginning, I couldn't even comprehend them. The grand joke here is, now, that I can see the mechanical difficulties, I don't care about them. Not at all.

Every system is flawed. No system caters to roleplaying, and no system prevents it.

Ask my cousin, he's my primary board game partner. Go ahead, ask him how many times he's told me to shut up, as I describe, and play out the events I imagine to happen over the course of a game of Carcassonne. It positively infuriates him. But then again, I wouldn't call him a roleplayer.

Life works in funny ways. Maybe I was to attached to White-Wolf as a product. Maybe I had crossed the line from enjoying something, to becoming a fan of something. That doesn't sit well with me. A fan had clouded judgment, branded blinders, and a full morral.

Their nose firmly in the bag of oats to which they've become accustom, and their eyes shielded from the wonders around them, fans deviate little from the vision presented to them by somebody else. Be it of an author, publisher, developer, or even a game system, a fan is a follower.

I do not want to be a fan.

Today, my answer, for the purposes of Mr. Chapman's exercise, is Numenera's Cypher system. I don't own Numenera, and I don't think I'm interested in The Strange. I'm currently playing in a Numenera game, and loving it. I think I'll pick up the core book, eventually. Maybe.

I'd hate to become a fan, they usually blow.

THE I'M NO LONGER A FAN SALE

The following books are for sale or trade --- make me an offer!

Vampire The Dark Ages

Umbra The Velvet Shadow - WtA

The Sea of Shadows -WtO

The Risen - WtO

Wraith Players Guide

World of Darkness Hong Kong

The 1000 Hells - KotE

Kindred of The East Companion

Kindred of The East

Mummy The Resurrection

Project Twilight

The Inquisition

Dark Colony - VtM

Midnight Siege - VtM

Vampire Storytellers Handbook Revised.

Guide to The Camerilla Revised

Guide to The Sabbat Revised

Guide to The Anarchs Revised

The Hunters Hunted

Vampire The Masquerade Revised

Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - PoD Black and White

A World of Darkness 1st Edition

nWoD the World of Darkness

Changeling: The Dreaming Second Edition

Changeling Storytellers Guide

Book of Storyteller Secrets - CtD

Dreams and Nightmares - PoD Black and White - CtD

The Bygone Beastary

The Autumn People - CtD

Players guide for Changeling The Dreaming

Clanbook Lassombra

Book of Lost Dreams - CtD

Mummy Second Edition

Blood-Dimmed Tides

Clanbook Tremere

Clanbook Assamite

Gehenna - VtM

World of Darkness Time of Judgment

Gypsies

Orpheus

Rage Across Appalachia - WtA

Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition - PoD Black and White

In which the gates are kept closed for our hero, but he doesn't lose hope.

Autocratik's #RPGaDAY

August 17^th – Funniest Game you've played

The day's been long, hot, unrelenting. No time for lunch today, the schedule was just too full to make time. There'll be no dinner waiting either, there's no one who cares enough to make it for you. Might as well stop for a beer, maybe chat up a barfly, break the monotony, kill the loneliness, if just for a few hours. Maybe someone will remember you this time, probably not. You know them, you see them every day, know each of their names, and what most of them do for a living. They've told you time and time again, a skipping record of conversations, a repetition of false bravado and candid failures. They don't know you though, They don't remember your name, they don't remember what you do, they don't remember having talked with you the night before. They never do. You are nothing. What you do doesn't make any difference, you don't matter.

You'll open up that sad and sorrowful door, step through the threshold, and nothing, nothing, will ever be the same again.

Your depressing watering hole will be gone, replaced by the strange and unusual. Standing out among bipedal dogs in overcoats, Elves, Dwarves, and Disgustingly Cute Furry Things, is the ugliest C.H.U.D. you've ever seen pass for human. Almost seven feet of scales, bumps, humps, warts, and scars. It'll be behind the bar, it'll notice you, it'll approach slowly and say, “The house specialty is the Singularity. What'll ya have?”

Welcome to Tales From The Floating Vagabond, a game of trans-dimensional hi-jinks, where up is down, and left is yellow. It's hard to know exactly what you'll get with a game this purposefully whacky.

The primary mechanic is the 'Shtick'. This is basically a super charged, comedic version of a trope, common to popular media.

There's The Rambo effect, with which, no projectile weapon fired towards you at close range will hit, ever. No matter what.

Then there's The Trench Coat Effect. It lets you conceal any number of absurdly large items within your overcoat, and gives you a chance to have anything anyone happens to ask for, randomly in your pockets.

Just two of the many, mad effects available to characters in this over the top laugh fest of a game.

Really it's fun. Relax, have a smoke, a few beers, and go with it. You won't be disappointed.

Wish In One Hand

Autocratik's #RPGaDAY

August 16^th – Game you wish you owned

This might, for me, be the toughest question yet. The list of games I'd like to own in near infinite, unfortunately, space and money are not.

For simplicity's sake, I'll ignore the games I'm planning on getting soon, Numenera, and D&D 5e. I'll also leave out the hard to find Deleria supplements, Everyday Hero’s – Adventures for the Rest of Us, and Goblin Markets: The Glitter Trade. I'll also leave out Within the Ring of Fire, because I can't decide if I want the beautiful hardcover copies, or if the game line will be my first digital only game purchase. (Not entirely true, I just got the MOBI file of FAE, and I love it. I'm just not 100% on PDFs yet.)

                     

          



I'll also leave out all of the awesome things that are getting announced each day a GenCon, there are just too many to list, and honestly, I want them all. (Looking in your direction Onyx Path Publishing... I see many great things on the horizon.)

Now that I've managed to manipulate the topic into Every Game I wish I owned, I should probably get to the question at hand.

Nobilis. I wish I owned Nobilis. Not a PDF, but a nice, hardbound, beautiful copy. Ever since I read Deleria, I've been fascinated with resolution systems that were not standard dice rolling. I've also found myself attracted more and more to rich and detailed settings, rather than mechanically perfect, or sound even, systems.

Maybe I'm crossing over to “story gamer”, but I'd prefer not to label things, that really don't need it. I am a gamer, pure and simple. We all are, we all like games. Simulation, story, and hyper realistic, it's the games that bring us together, labeling them, or ourselves, just serves to inflate the importance of an artificial division.

To quote a space squid, “It's a trap!”    

Feels Like the First Time

Autocratik's #RPGaDAY

August 13^th – Most Memorable Character Death

Vald Tepes, Anarch, Nosferatu, biker, animal lover.

Vald was my first character in Vampire: The Masquerade. He was a good character, well, no he wasn't, but he was my first character, so I loved him.

He was the kind of character that makes veteran Vampire players cringe, a leather clad, katana wielding, badass, who lost his taste for bubble gum, the moment he was embraced.

Vald was part of a motley crew of Anarchs, hell bent on replacing the powers that be with 'our man', a price for the people. It's funny, looking back I think we'd have played Carthians in Requiem, had it been available at the time.

As with many second edition games, our primary struggle was with the Sabbat. The zealots thought our city easy pickings, as they do most cities with an Anarch infestation, and they were right. Infiltrating both the movement (I told you Requiem has been creeping in), and the existing Camerillia power structure, they successfully played both side off of one another, eliminating the most powerful kindred, and keeping many others distracted.

The final assault, split the coterie, seeing each of us protecting our own territory, and eventually falling to the fangs of the Sabbat. It was a fitting end for a chronicle that had lasted almost two years, and saw much in fighting, both in character, and unfortunately, out of character.

Each of us had our own figurative, 'moment in the sun', dying hero's deaths. My moment in the sun, however was much more literal. Vald was defeated in a city park he watched over, and staked on the top of a gazebo, left to greet the morning sun. The final words of the chronicle were spoken to me, delivered in an emotionless deadpan.

“You're burning, you're burning, you're dead.”

A HOL Other Kind of Game

Autocratik's #RPGaDAY

August 11^th – Weirdest RPG owned

This topic is great! Today I've seen all sorts of weird and wild games, most of which I've never seen before. The games themselves don't look that great, and I suppose given the title of 'weirdest' RPG owned, the probably shouldn't be.

There are a few exceptions. One of which springs to mind is, Ghost Dog: The RPG. This is one of those games so specific, it's a wonder any sold at all. I've read on others post's about how niche the movie, from which the game was based, was, and how little exposure that it ultimately had. This doesn't change the fact, I know know this RPG exists, and I want it, terribly.

Another RPG I've seen mentioned at least a couple of times, is HOL. Human Occupied Landfill. It is the parody game to end all parody games, irreverent, over the top, and downright offensive. (In the best possible ways)

Initially this was to be my choice as well, but as I looked over the core book, and the supplement Buttery Wholesomeness, I was reminded, that indeed, I owned an even stranger roleplaying game. Freebase.

This parody within a parody, mocks Live Action Role Playing with a crude style and disgusting panache, usually reserved for more starting bar fights, than a sardonic parody.

The game itself is everything Live Action shouldn't be. Within the rules, are guidelines for dealing with, what are referred to as 'Non Players', that is all of the 'extras' around you, who are so committed to playing the game, that they won't even admit to be playing a game, and will react as though they are not, by not breaking character yourself, and attacking them.

Obviously the thought that anyone would take this little pamphlet seriously, and attempt to 'play' this game, is sickening, and despite the fact that the cover art is a huge, repeating disclaimer, there is still a very strongly worded, and clearly written disclaimer on the back.

This is the world in which we live.