ctrlsaltdel

The Wild Beyond Witchlight

Rearden Keane

Rearden leans in to examine the potions for herself, then looks over to Aurora, peering into the next room. Free for the taking, I guess. She stores the potions labeled "Grow" and "Vanish" safely, then opens the one labeled "Shrink" and takes a whiff before storing that one as well.

(Of course, actually drinking the potions would be unwise, but it's better to have the option than not. Sometimes, even in Faerie, things just are what they appear to be... right?)

Scum and Villainy - Plentiful Bounty

Id like to try and create a parallel AI core in my ur bot so I can save the mind of of Cho's ur bot. That is why I wanted to talk to it first.

@Penny

Well, it looks like the sourcebook actually has rules for more or less this--page 288. Removing the AI core from an Ur-bot requires an Attune roll if you want it to keep its memories and personality, and then a Rig clock to install the core in a new body.

But the other thing I'll say--and we can play this out if you like--is that the Ur-bot you found with Cho is not going to agree to let you transplant its brain into another body for, well, various reasons, unless you hit it with something compelling.

Blood Under Moonlight - A Mecha War Story

Ok, here is the OOC: roleplayerguild.com/topics/195487-blo…

@RickyG85 and @Birdboy, you're good to post in the Characters tab.

@Digmata, finish your pilot description and you're good as well.

@Rin and @Flarbinia, if you're still interested, get me character sheets and I'll look over them; feel free to shoot me any questions or thoughts you have. We're not starting right away, and even if you don't have the interest/time/energy/etc to get one out now, we can work you into the story later on easily enough.

I'm working on a first post, but I'm also heading out of town for the weekend, so it's likely still going to be a bit until we start up. That said, I'm pumped to get this going 🦾🤖

Blood Under Moonlight

Reserved post, just in case.

Blood Under Moonlight

Reserved for first post.

Blood Under Moonlight

Reserved post, just in case.

Blood Under Moonlight

Blood Under Moonlight

It is the year 91 of the Age of Exodus. On the planet called Elysium, mankind has taken the next step into space. The discovery of Chrona on its moons in the last century has made possible the construction of extra-terrestrial habitats--and the colonization of the planet's satellites.

We have seen the promise of a new home for mankind. On those bright lights in the sky, people are born and raised.

And die.

Thirteen months ago, the lunar colonies Ephyra and Athens formed the Lunar Alliance and launched a war of conquest against the rest of the Elysium sphere. Their aim was control of both the supply of Chrona and the natural resources of the planet itself. The intensity of the fighting in those first months came as a shock to everyone, and almost a third of the system's population was lost.

Talks were held, and treaties were signed between the two sides to limit the destructiveness of future battles. Desperate for a new weapon that could turn the tide of the war without reducing the entire Elysium sphere to inhabitability, both the Lunar Alliance and the Elysium Board looked to walkers--humanoid robots made possible using the Chroma Effect, and employed in the harshest conditions for the mining of that valuable resource.

Outfitted for war, these machines have various official designations. The soldiers who ride them into battle call them Myrmidons.

You are an Elysium Defense Force soldier assigned to Myrmidon Task Force Xyston-02. Your mission is to strike deep behind enemy lines, halt the steady advance of the Lunar Alliance, and give the EDF the time it needs to turn the tide of the war.

Between sorties, you will have for support the armed carrier Phillip and its crew, as well as the cooperation of any EDF forces you might encounter.

In the heat of battle, you will have only each other.

Resolution System

The mechanics here have been adapted from both Eidolon: Become Your Best Self 2E and FATE Accelerated.

BASICS

Each character has five stats, rated from 1 to 3.

• POWer is brute force, of either arms or will
• ELEgance is graceful movement, pinpoint accuracy, and perfectly timed counters
• GENius is computer-like analysis, anticipating the enemy's next move
• COMradery is inspiring friends, supporting allies, persuading enemies
• FLAsh is the gift, the sixth sense, moments of inexplicable insight

When your character does something where success is uncertain and failure would be interesting, I'll pick the stat which is most relevant and draw that number of cards from the play deck. You will pick one card which determines the success of your action; that card will be discarded, and the others will go to the bottom of the deck. When no cards remain in the deck, the discard pile is shuffled and becomes the play deck.

The play deck consists of the 22 Major Arcana of the Rider–Waite Tarot. Each card has been assigned a polarity and a forecast.

The polarity of your chosen card determines the level of success:

• Positive means you succeed and things go well.
• Neutral means that you can still succeed, but there are complications.
• Negative means that things go badly for you--either you fail, or success comes at too high a price.

The forecast of the card helps further determine the nature of the result. Sometimes, this will have a major effect on the outcome; other times, it might not.

Play Deck

• The Fool - Neutral - You become who you are needed to be in this moment
• The Magician - Positive - You achieve the impossible
• The High Priestess - Neutral - Intuition guides your actions
• The Empress - Neutral - You create something
• The Emperor - Neutral - You break something
• The Hierophant - Neutral - You discover something
• The Lovers - Neutral - You are faced with two paths
• The Chariot - Neutral - You exceed your own limits
• Justice - Neutral - The situation becomes more fair
• The Hermit - Neutral - Your actions isolate you
• The Wheel of Fortune - Neutral - You are at the mercy of the fates
• Strength - Positive - You triumph through force
• The Hanged Man - Negative - You must make an impossible choice
• Death - Neutral - Something ends, and something else begins
• Temperance - Neutral - You are met with an equal and opposite reaction
• The Devil - Negative - You get what you want at a price you can't afford
• The Tower - Negative - Something terrible happens
• The Star - Positive - A new path reveals itself
• The Moon - Negative - Something unknown or unknowable interferes
• The Sun - Positive - You are given cause to celebrate
• Judgment - Negative - Your past mistakes catch up to you
• The World - Positive - For a single moment, the world bends to your will

Pushes

Pushes are a consumable resource players can earn by accepting negative consequences and spend to avoid them.

Characters start each scenario with three Pushes. You can spend a push to:

• Discard the entire spread and take the next card in the deck as your result.
• Explain how one of your aspects helps you in this moment. Increase the polarity of your chosen card by one step.

Pushes can be generated by:

• Picking a negative card.
• Picking a neutral card when a positive card is available.
• Explaining how one of your aspects causes you to fail in this moment, and decreasing the polarity of your chosen card by one step. (Must choose a positive or neutral card for this.)

Character Sheet

'Blank' Sheet

Pilot Name

Biography
Age:
Gender:
Physical Description:
Backstory:

Stats
Distribute the following values among your stats: 3, 2, 2, 1, 1

• POWer:
• ELEgance:
• GENius:
• COMradery:
• FLAsh:

Aspects

High Concept: A short phrase that sums up your character's whole deal.
Strength: Briefly, something important about your character that works in their favor.
Weakness: Reverse of the above; a important factor working against your character's goals, either internal or external.

Myrmidon Name

Description:

Aspects
Strength: Briefly describe the thing your machine is best at/designed for.
Weakness: Reverse of the above--describe a design compromise or other drawback of your mech.

Example Character

Remy Greene

Biography
Age: 31
Gender: M
Description:
A tall, athletic, square-jawed man with broad shoulders, Remy looks like he stepped out of a recruiting poster for the EDF. His black hair has been cropped short, his rugged face is clean shaven, and he has the posture of someone with a steel rod instead of a spine. Ice-blue eyes move in that face like gun turrets, rarely showing any emotion except dedication to the mission.
Backstory: Remy joined the Elysium Defense Force almost as soon as it was founded; he was among those prescient souls who saw lunar aggression as a when, not an if. When the war did start, his family--parents, husband, and children--were killed in one of the first orbital strikes. His already notable zeal increased as he threw himself into his work, and for his sins, he was quickly elevated from his original non-commissioned rank to become a Lieutenant. With nothing else left in his life, he was almost eager to accept command of Xyston-02. He'll get payback for his family or die trying--and in the moments where he's most honest with himself, he admits that either outcome sounds pretty good.

Stats

• POWer: 3
• ELEgance: 2
• GENius: 1
• COMradery: 2
• FLAsh: 1

Aspects

High Concept: Unit commander with a death wish
Strength: Utterly dedicated to the cause
Weakness: Doesn't care if he lives or dies

AW-323 "Pellato Custom"

Description: The Pellato is a short machine, but wide enough that it is nearly square. Originally intended for combat in the confined quarters of a Chroma mine, it is heavily armored from the front, at the expense of its backside armoring, and mounts a pair of extra arms tipped in powerful crushing claws for close-range combat.

Remy has customized his machine with the addition of two large beam cannons mounted on the sloping shoulder armor. Additionally, a fin has been mounted to the head module; where the head itself sits between the massive shoulders of the Myrmidon, this communication antenna pokes out, almost three times the height of the head.

Aspects
Strength: Frontal assault in confined quarters
Weakness: Weak armor on the back

Setting Info

Elysium is an Earth-like planet orbited by three natural satellites, each roughly the size of our own moon.

The three moons are called Sisyphus, Theseus, and Orpheus. Each is home to a large, man-made colony that uses the Chroma Effect to generate artificial gravity and retain a breathable atmosphere.

Inter-orbital travel is common, and travel times between the planet and the colonies are measured in days to weeks, depending on the relative position of each body.

Physical Details

The Elysian Board is a transnational government coordinating the efforts of smaller nations on the planet, including the space program, trade policy with the lunar colonies, and the Defense Force.

Argo is the name of the lunar colony on Orpheus. It is a semi-independent member of the Elysian Board which has its own internal self-governance, but which supplies Elysium with Chroma and puts its military under their jurisdiction.

Ephyra is the colony on Sisyphus. It is nominally a democracy, but in practice its government has been captured by a plutocracy and is ruled by a President-for-life.

Athens is the colony on Theseus; it was formed as a constitutional monarchy, with a strong aristocracy.

Major Powers

Chroma is a mineral found on all three moons of Elysium; it must be mined from the ground, and the areas where it is present are subject to dangerous, unpredictable gravitational effects.

Chroma Reactors use small amounts of Chroma to generate large amounts of electrical power.

Chroma Effect is the name for a particle wave given off by Chroma Reactors, which affects local gravity in different ways depending on how the reaction has been tuned. In large installations, such as on Elysium's lunar colonies, this enables practical artificial gravity. The reactors in walkers are tuned to produce a low-level antigravity effect that counteracts their weight and provides a level of protection for the pilot.

Walkers are large machines which were developed for mining Chroma in dangerous and hard-to-access areas. Made possible by the power generation and anti-gravity capabilities of the Chroma Reactor, they are vacuum-capable and generally humanoid in shape.

Myrmidons are walkers which have been adapted for combat, typically utilizing a mix of built-in and hand-held equipment.

Technology

AE -42
- Establishment of the Elysian Board, including a unified space program among the various nations of Elysium

AE 0
- Founding of colony on Sisyphus

AE 11
- Founding of colony on Theseus

AE 20
- Founding of colony on Orpheus

AE 32
- Sisyphus colony declares independence from Elysian Board; new government calls itself Ephyra

AE 35
- Theseus colony declares independence, calling itself Athens

AE 61
- Ephyra and Athens institute higher tariffs on the export of Chroma
- Orpheus colony declares semi-independence, calling itself Argo

AE 83
- Relations between Elysium, Ephyra, and Athens deteriorate; the latter cut off supply of Chroma to Elysium completely
- Elysium Defense Force, Ephyran and Athenian armies founded

AE 90
- June 15: Ephyra and Athens establish the Lunar Alliance and launch a surprise attack on the Elysian Defense Force's main headquarters
- November 4: Both sides sign the November Treaty, outlawing the use of orbital strikes and munitions above a certain threshold

AE 91
- July: Present Day

Age of Exodus Timeline

Endless Autumn (A Savage Worlds Adventure Edition Horror RP)

Allyn poked his head out of the caretaker's cabin, listening to make sure he'd heard right. Sure enough, that was a bell. He reached in a pocket and dug out the now-crumpled letter.

Above a few of the graves, you may notice bells hung up, and a string that goes underground. These are remnants of an old practice from hundreds of years ago, invented as a safety measure for those who had been buried alive! The body would move, the string would be pulled, and a watchman, such as yourself, would know to dig them back up!

These bells now serve a different purpose.

If you hear a bell, encircle the headstone of said grave with salt, and then keep away from this grave, too.

Well, he hadn't expected that to actually happen. Had Marcus rigged the bells to go off somehow? What was the "purpose" they were supposed to serve? If they were some kind of security system, Allyn sure wished that the old man had been less cagey about it.

Really, though, there was nothing for it. He wasn't going to just let the thing ring. Allyn set off down the row of graves, headed towards the sound.

"If he uses this much salt every night, he really ought to start keeping a bucket around," he muttered as he walked towards the source of the sound. "Maybe get a driveway salt spreader, or one of those things they use to draw baseball lines."

It didn't take him too long to find the grave; sure enough, the little bell mounted next to it was ringing, the string pulled by some underground force. He stared at it, watching it move. This was some haunted house shit. Allyn did not care for haunted houses, and he was not going to be happy if Marcus had invited him here just to mess with him.

Once again, he made a thick circle of salt around the headstone. That done, he turned his attention back to the bell. He gave it a look-over, not sure what he expected to find, then pulled on the string, testing its weight.

Daggerheart: The Witherwild

@Guardian Angel Haruki, one of my class questions is "How did I save your life the first time we met?" I don't think it necessarily has to be on the first meeting, but what danger did Hasdrubal save Pepper from on their way to Alula, and how did that influence her perception of him?

@rush99999 I like this one for Dimple--"What lie have you told me about yourself that I absolutely believe?"

@Randomguy, I don't particularly care for the third Guardian question in the book, but given that Hasdrubal and Arnannel both fought in the Havenite war of conquest, I think an interesting question might be something like this: "We once stood on opposite sides during a battle; what happened there, and which side won?"

Daggerheart: The Witherwild

@ctrlsaltdel
Many guards who have served on the walls of Haven have stories of a Syndicate of travelers who call themselves the Road Court. Did Hasdrubal ever encounter them during his time on the Godless Gate? If so, what stories did he come away from these encounters with?

@rush99999

Though he obviously encountered a lot of travelers, the arrival of one of the far-wandering members of the Road Court was often an occasion for the guards to gladly offer food and lodging in exchange for stories of what was happening in the wilds, which were sough after both for practical purposes and for entertainment. Hasdrubal has vivid memories of being a child and watching one of those wanderers put on a shadow puppet show in the guardhouse, and (before he became quite so full of anger for the gods) he learned a lot about how to placate and avoid the wrath of minor deities from these visits.