Lord Wraith

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

_{There once was a woman who lived a life so strange it had to be true...
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^{╚════════════════════════════════════════════ J Ä G E R B O M B ═══════════════════════════════════════════╝}

_{Location Tír na nÓg - Milk Street}

Post #2.06: Activated

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| _{Interacting with @Junkmail & @SepticGentleman}

You’re a Jäger, son. Just like your father, and his mother before him. You have a responsibility to not only your ancestors but to the world, to protect it. Only we can see the darkness in people, the monsters that hide within. This is our calling, our duty…

The faint voices echoed inside Ellara’s head as it began to pound again. Images of a young male appeared in Ellara’s mind’s eye. The boy was standing before a much older male. The elder kneeling down to the boy’s height as he extended his arms, holding out a large leather bound book. Image after image burned in the recess of Ellara’s mind concluding with the rotting visage of the woman before her.

Reaching a hand to her throbbing temple, Ellara could barely keep her eyes open as she backed away from the bar, the woman in front of her continuing to speak in an accusatory manner.

“I said Jäger. German for hunter, but a special type. Not for normal game. They’re like us, going for the more… monstrous type.”

“Get the fuck out!” Ellara snapped, stumbling backwards as she tried to fight back the images in her head.

“I don’t know what you’re fuckin’ talking about, just leave me alone, Ich spreche kein deutsch!” She screamed, her voice echoing over the entire bar as a sudden hush fell over the crowd. Horrified, Ellara scrambled out from behind the bar, disappearing into the kitchen as she made a beeline for the backdoor.

“Lass!” Paddy’s voice called out as Ellara ignored it, reaching for her jacket instead only for a firm hand to land on her shoulder. Shrugging it off, Ellara stepped forward only for Paddy to place his hand on her again, this time pulling her backwards as he turned her around to face him.

“Mind telling me what the bloody ‘ell all that was, lass?” He asked as Ellara turned her head away, struggling to take a step backwards before finally snapping as she pulled his hands off of her.

“Nimm deine Hände jetzt von mir!“ Ellara snapped back at Paddy who gave her a look of further confusion. “Geh mir aus dem Weg!” She screamed as Paddy stepped back, allowing Ellara to leave as he shook his head in bewilderment.

“Ellara, lass,” He pleaded taking a few steps after her. “I cannae understand a bloody word yer saying, maybe if ye come, sit down, it’ll help calm yerself.”

“Folge mir nicht, einer von euch!” She retorted climbing onto her motorcycle before driving her foot down hard on the kickstart as the engine turned over and roared to life.

“Lass, I’m trying to help!” Paddy yelled over the roar of the revving engine as Ellara peeled out of the alley. The sounds of drivers angrily honking their car horns echoed from the adjacent street as Ellara recklessly merged the motorcycle into the moving traffic.

Pulling a cell phone out of his pocket, Paddy unlocked his screen before bringing up his messaging as he inputted a number and began to type a quick message, clicking send as he finished.

______________________

^{9:46 pm}
Me: Ellara has been activated. Tourists were here.

______________________

Moving to return the phone to his pocket, Paddy jumped as the response was almost instant, feeling his phone vibrate in his hand before he brought the screen back up, looking down as he read the response.

______________________

^{9:46 pm}
As I suspected. Keep me updated. :Unknown

______________________

Sighing, Paddy watched towards where Ellara had left as he put the phone back into his pocket and headed back inside. It wasn’t the first time that Ellara had needed to leave to clear her head, and Paddy had no doubt that it would be the last. She would return once she had finally calmed down.

And regained the ability to speak English.

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

Again, if you think it's too powerful I'll happily nerf it.

@thewizardguy

I think @Junkmail, @Hillan and I are unanimous agreement that we see the ability as too powerful in its current state. From a conceptual standpoint, the three of us preferred Joshua's original ability and really only had an issue with how it worked and the maximum output. This new ability, however, has left us scratching our heads more than not. If you wish to continue tweaking this ability that's fine, but we think it's the weaker concept of the two you have provided thus far.

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

So here's another attempt at a power for Joshua. How's this one sound?

GUARDIAN

Superhuman Ability | Protector's power takes the form of a mysterious humanoid figure, about 2.2 meters tall. This figure looks as if it's made of glass, fully transparent but ever so slightly distorting the images behind it. Only it's eyes are fully visible, being glowing purple slits of light. Joshua refers to this power as 'Guardian', and can summon/dismiss it at will. Guardian possesses notably superhuman physical attributes and a toughness comparable to steel, although it's body is long and slender. It's fingers can cut like a knife, when held at the right angle, sharp as a glass razor. While Joshua is capable of controlling Guardian, the figure also has it's own intelligence, and it's own plans. It cannot refuse Joshua's mental commands, but it can... interpret them. And it's a lot more vicious than he is.

It's when Joshua enters battle that the true nature of his power becomes apparent. For every opponent who possesses the intent to harm Joshua, another Guardian is created. So long as that opponent maintains conscious and present, that extra Guardian remains active. Up to twenty different Guardians can be created at a time using this ability, not including the original Guardian. Even if the original Guardian is destroyed, another existing Guardian will be set as the 'original'. Destroyed Guardians will naturally 'regenerate' over the course of 12 hours, after which they can be summoned again.

Limitation(s) | Only up to ten Guardians can be summoned at any one time, not counting the 'original'. The Guardians are under Joshua's control, and so long as he's directly controlling them they're fairly incompetent fighters. If he allows them to act on their own they're much more capable, but he's unlikely to do this as it also makes them much more vicious. The more Guardians are active the more effort controlling and managing them takes, to the point that he's likely to have a couple just standing still waiting for orders. The Guardians also can't move more than 100 meters away from Joshua.

Weakness(es) | While Guardians are terrifying combatants, they're not individually as strong as most proper supers. That counts double when it's combined with Joshua's relative lack of skill. Furthermore, additional Guardians are only summoned when someone intends physical harm to befall Joshua. As such if someone exclusively targets his Guardians they can disarm him without summoning more enemies. Joshua is also unwilling to kill, and as such putting yourself in harm's way will usually cause him to recall the Guardians, often leading them to leave themselves open to a counterattack. This is risky, however, as if Joshua doesn't react fast enough the Guardian will gladly take the opportunity to kill an enemy.

@thewizardguy

Just a couple of questions regarding this new power:

-Where do the Guardians come from?

-Superhuman physical attributes, you mention a toughness comparable to steel and knife-like fingers. What other attributes do the Guardians possess?

-The Guardians have their own intelligence, are they therefore sentient?

-In the abilities, it's mentioned Josh can summon up to twenty-one Guardians but then in limitations you only say ten, is this a case of 'ten at a time and as each one is destroyed he can replace them', meaning he can replace every Guardian at least once over the course of a battle?

-"The Guardians are under Joshua's control, and so long as he's directly controlling them they're fairly incompetent fighters. If he allows them to act on their own they're much more capable, but he's unlikely to do this as it also makes them much more vicious.", I really wouldn't consider this a limitation.

-How specific is the intention to cause physical harm? If someone is mad at Joshua but not actually acting on their feelings despite thinking about hurting him, will the Guardians be summoned? If a woman slaps him across the face, does this trigger the Guardians?

Outside of those question, the durability of steel seems like a bit much when most supers in the RP have been capped at a one-tonne deadlift outside of Natalie who only has superstrength and has been allowed more. Meaning that one of these Guardians on its own is pretty powerful and able to tank most foes on durability alone, let alone in the numbers described. That's not including the other superhuman attributes which have been alluded to.

Wraith's Little Workshop of Horrors

Deleted

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

@Lord Wraith

Thanks. I must admit, I was beginning to grow a tad worried.

If there's anything particularly bothersome about him, I could change it. I had a whole sleuth of ideas for character concepts, so I'm not likely to run out any time soon. Worst case, I steal something from Worm.

@thewizardguy

It's the ability section, we like the overall concept of the character but ability itself is the hold-up. We just don't think it's workable in a public RP due to the need to constantly quantify Joshua's attributes based not only the population within his radius but also who is within that radius due to the way some superhumans interact with his abilities. We had additional issues with his maximum being at 320x as by our math, that'd be 320 times the average human deadlift of 155lbs which over 22 tonnes. That would make Joshua eleven times stronger than our resident 'super strength' user.

The idea of a Hobo Superhuman is really cool and all three of us like it, but we'd like to see the ability be based more on Joshua opposed to external influences if only for the sake of simplicity in the IC.

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

To the point of a player loss

@DC The Dragon

Not your fault by any means!

@Lord Wraith

I gave myself a few days to wind down from the burn out I was feeling this week, so I'll be starting on my sheet. Hopefully, I'll have something to post in the next couple of days, the upcoming week being the absolute latest.

@Altered Tundra

I'll be looking forward to it.

@thewizardguy, your CS isn't being ignored, it's just given Junk, Hillan and myself a lot to talk about in order to present the best feedback. Sorry about the delay, hopefully will have a response to you soon.

Santa Celia: Coast to Coast

_{There once was a woman who lived a life so strange it had to be true...
╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗}

^{╚════════════════════════════════════════════ J Ä G E R B O M B ═══════════════════════════════════════════╝}

_{Location Tír na nÓg - Milk Street}

Post #2.04: An Odd Meet Cute

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| _{Interacting with @Junkmail & @SepticGentleman}

The bar was busier than usual, the crime scene down the street had attracted quite the crowd as the city followed the still developing case with morbid curiosity. More than a handful had turned away from the grisly scene, entering the Nog in order to find something to raise their spirits after seeing a man whose own soul was not allowed to go gently into the night.

Ellara had heard the murmurings of the patrons as she poured drink after drink from behind the bar. For every additional detail she heard, a nagging feeling formed in the back of her mind. Something about the murder felt familiar to Ellara, and it wasn’t just due to it being the latest in a spree across Santa Celia. Pushing the feeling to the back of her mind, Ellara approached the next customer along the bar.

Something about the man put Ellara off however as she neared him, her stomach turning as a wave of nausea passed over the young woman causing her to nearly double over in discomfort. Wrapping an arm around her abdomen, Ellara braced herself against the solid oak bar as she moved to speak to the man. Peanuts were spilled across the bar top as the man sat across from her, frantically counting them as he returned them to the bowl. Ellara felt her nose crinkle in disgust as she spotted a red bandanna wrapped around the man’s wrist.

The bandanna was a sure sign the man belonged to none other than the 6^th Street Blood Cult. No one in Santa Celia would dare wear their colours otherwise, the only thing worse than being a part of the Cult, was pretending to be. Leaning over the bar, Ellara’s cleavage nearly spilled out of her cropped black tank top as she forced a smile and addressed the man.

“What can I get you, love?” She asked as the man continued to lift one peanut at a time, placing it in the bowl as he muttered the next subsequent number under his breath before repeating the cycle. Clearing her throat, Ellara repeated the question.

“Eh, fuckface, what’s your poison?” She pressed her tone less than impressed. Rolling her eyes as the man continued to ignore her in favour of counting the spilled nuts, Ellara curled her lip in disgust as she straightened up and adjusted her shirt. Shaking her head as the man continued to ignore her, Ellara angrily slapped the bowl across the counter in annoyance. The previously counted nuts spilled across the counter, flying in all directions and even onto the floor while the bartender watched with smug satisfaction.

“Fuck you, buddy.” Ellara muttered only to jump back in shock as the man looked up at her. His pale complexion emphasizing the frenzied red eyes as long incisors dripped from beneath his upper lip. His brow was furrowed and his nostrils were flared as he exhaled in frustration before Ellara blinked and it was all gone, the haunting visage replaced by a man in shock as he bowed his head and returned to counting the spilled nuts.

Trying to shake what she had just seen from her head, Ellara opted to move on to two new customers who had taken up a seat at the end of the bar. The feeling of nausea continued to attack her stomach as she neared the pair, biting her lip to try and distract her mind from the pain before putting on yet another fake smile.

Opening her mouth to speak, Ellara met the female’s eyes, watching as her pupils turned black before sinking back into her head, her eyes becoming no more than empty sockets that stared right through her. The woman’s face continued to change as her skin turned a pale shade of green, her cheeks becoming taunt and her lips black and thin, barely hiding the decayed teeth that filled her mouth.

Recoiling in a combination of horror and shock, Ellara nearly fell into the shelf behind her as her hand found its way onto a tall bottle of rye. Spinning the cap off the bottle with only her thumb, Ellara quickly lifted it to her lips as she took a long, deep swig before looking back at the pair before her. In the second she had looked away, the woman’s face had seemingly returned to normal and Ellara allowed herself a small sigh of relief before slamming the bottle on the counter, dragging the back of her hand across her mouth before she finally addressed the pair.

“Welcome to the Nog, now what I can I get you two to fuckin’ drink?”

Word association Game!

Libation

The 'Character Sheet' as we know it needs to die.

I've been both roleplaying and GMing for a while now, and I've done the Bloated Character Sheet numerous times, I've tried having players replace a Character History's with a Writing Sample and I've been experimental and done a proof of Concept Sheet. I also could have sworn that I have done a sheet where players provide basic information and then link posts they're proud of in lieu of a bio, but I couldn't find an example of that.

The point of this is, I don't think there's one 'character sheet' that works for every game or GMing style. What one GM sees as superficial, another might see as essential. You mention sexuality in your opening post, and while sexuality might not matter in say a fandom RP, it could be a necessary detail in a slice of life or romance RP. While an arbitrary weight may not be important, a general character description and build are. A character sheet at the very minimum should include enough details that I can interact and accurately describe your character from mine's point of view.

Could these details be described in the IC? Absolutely, they could, but not every writer is going to go through the morning montage of getting dressed and describing their character in detail. A novel gets away with vague character descriptions because all the characters are created by the same author, they know what Hank looks like compared to Harriet. But in roleplaying, we're collaboratively writing and I need to know at least an overview of your vision if you want me to reply and react to your character in an accurate manner.

Should character sheets be all telling? No, absolutely not, you need to be able to have things to flesh out in the IC and work towards. The length of the first CS I linked is largely due to build a world and its history within in the context of the RP, which again comes back to my original point, the RP should determine the CS. Using one template over and over, will not work unless you solely GM the same genre and even then shifts in the story telling might require a different template. For example, an RP which features characters on the run might require an inventory whereas another where characters are free to go to and from their homes does not as characters can regularly retrieve and exchange items on their person.

At the end of a day, a character sheet is just as much for you as a player as it is for the GM. You should be using a character sheet whether or not the RP calls for it if only to keep your character consistent. Whether the GM asks you to specify that Arthur is 5'-10" or not, I should be able to ask and you should be able to tell me immediately. Like many others pointed out, it protects against on the fly decisions and power gaming. While some might argue it promotes meta-gaming, I honestly have no problem in players having a public CS and a private one for their own reference so long as the two don't contradict or mislead.

Really, all of this is a long winded way of saying, no I don't want to see character sheets abolished, just adaptable.