The Harbinger of Ferocity

There Are No Heroes

The majority of players will have a d20 Modern class on both sides of their gestalt is what I am alluding to there, @Hekazu. For example, in place of being a Smart Hero 2 / Fighter 2, it is far more likely a player will be a Smart Hero 2 / Dedicated Hero 2, or even a Smart Hero 2 / Dedicated Hero 1 and Fighter 1. More or less, Third Edition classes are miniature prestige classes because they are direct upgrades to the d20 Modern classes. A Strong Hero, the fighter archetype parallel, is still far weaker than just a fighter from Third Edition. It is more or less a selling point to try and argue how or why someone would qualify for them; of course as the game goes on this becomes far easier as they can simply level in what they believe to be the most appropriate class based on their experiences.

Sanity score is tied to Wisdom, giving you a bonus to it in the form of adding to the total maximum as well as acting as "resistance", essentially Damage Reduction for incoming sanity damage. Ability scores however, are going to use, likely, a 21 point buy. A player will assign their ability scores appropriately, with nothing below an 8, and it should reflect the whole of their character. Each player will then fill out their own assessment of that person's ability scores, based on the character profile they read over, then they will then be totaled and averaged out.

There Are No Heroes

This post is relevant as an overview for those who were interested before when I spoke on it off the cuff in the Roleplayer Guild Discord. As such, those being mentioned here, this is mostly for your notice as a courtesy for your interest and hopefully a further explanation beyond the brief bits you received, as well as a place for you to pose your questions for all to see and have answers to.

• @Silvan Haven
• @Hekazu
• @catchamber

There Are No Heroes

There Are No Heroes

d20 Modern - 3.5e Dungeons and Dragons

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Concept

The pitch and concept is simple, your character is yourself in an alternate version of reality. Not just any reality, but one where the world is not quite as you know it here, a grim-dark, twisted reflection of itself. It is not pleasant, it is not kind, and it is most certainly not safe. Why, you might ask? Because if the greatest economic recession in history and rampant, unchecked crime and corruption were not enough, there are more disturbed, more frightening things in the darkness; the things people either will not or cannot regularly see or experience. Man is a monster already, the sort of creature that will kill you for the few dollars you have in your wallet, but what is worse is that not everything is just a man. There are monsters here and they are unquestionably more dangerous, more devious, and more destructive than any world rife with poverty and illness alone... at least individually. You have to do battle with them both.

How you ended up in this situation is up to you, but one way or another our timelines diverged. Yet fate now seems intent on bringing you and a few other seemingly random individuals together in an opportunity to do something about the bleakness of the future, however small and insignificant it might be. You are not heroes, the things you are going to be tasked with doing at times not heroic, but if you do not do them, who will? Perhaps you might just succeed or perhaps you all might just die trying. Either way, whatever you pursue or however you pursue it is up to you and your company. All I need know is, would you take that gamble? Are you willing to test yourself, even if that means you might actually lose?

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Information

Yes, you are playing yourself, you read that correctly. All we are going to do is file off the details of who you really are. You will recreate yourself using the d20 System rules, namely those found in a hybrid Third Edition and d20 Modern game. How, you might ask? You will pitch what you can for your character, the other you, based on your background and other associated information. Why you have the ability scores, the skills, the classes, and feats you do. This character for all intents and purposes is yourself, other than details such as personally identifiable information, of which are removed; name, birth date, residence, et cetera. All of those are irrelevant, but for the better I assure you. But... what about magic and exceptional classes beyond the default ones in d20 Modern?

There best be an exceptional reason you can call yourself a "ranger" or think you have the background to be so much as a "fighter". As it is, you are playing a gestalt character one way or another, but consider anything from Third Edition to be as elite as it gets. Unless you are an actual black belt in any of the martial arts, or its equivalent, do not bother with "monk"; unless you have spent your life dabbling in the occult and strange, you are certainly not a "warlock" or a "wizard". So on and so forth, but the good news is, is that you start at 2nd character level and take the best of both d20 Modern classes. If you so happen to die, let us note fate is not so forgiving; death is permanent and a new character is just a regular person.

I digress, for one reason or another you will begin in the northwestern tier of the United States, either the states of Washington or Oregon, to be determined at a later date. You and your companions-to-be are brought together under unusual circumstances. You certainly do not have ties to one another or your past, but your options are clear; either work together for the best or work apart and hope for the best. After all, this game includes everything from supplementary sanity rules to massive damage rules and is played with a tactical mindset. It is dangerous and it is gritty, so if you cannot handle either, I recommend staying far, far away. Speaking of...

If you cannot commit, fully, to a complex edition as this game and its rules, in addition to its supplementary ones, let alone being consistent in activity and posting, do not bother. We do not want players who cannot learn, will not learn, will not post, or will not be proactive. No ifs, ands, or buts. We need four absolutely dedicated players. If you are inexperienced or have a "busy" lifestyle that does not allowed reliable posting and game execution, you are not the audience being sought out, do not waste my time or that of other players.

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Rules

The first rule is that what the Dungeon Master says, goes. I have been a Dungeon Master for years in this edition and I have run this setting two other times at actual tables; I know what to expect and I have largely refined it down to a science. Exceptions will arise of course, but at the end of the day I retain executive power. If you are not certain what I mean by something, ask, never assume.

The second rule is, is that there is not mercy here. If the dice land where they land, that is what happens. If you become inactive, you are gone, no more of this nonsense about being "busy" or "things came up". You either tell us all and best get working on a solution, fast, or you are out and are likely not coming back. Expect to post, at least, once every three days; the more the better. Consider the quality expected at minimum casual posting and at maximum anything advanced. At the bottom of your posts, you will have a section containing the mechanical effects of your actions, assuming you did anything that requires rules applications, be it rolling a Diplomacy check to persuade the police that you are not responsible for something, to running thirty feet, crouching, taking a shot, then dropping prone.

The third rule? This is a game in a world where everything is terrible, people are still using tape-based devices and flip phones, most cars are from the 1980s through the early 2000s, crime, poverty, addiction, and all equally twisted things are common. This is a mature game but not an adult game. I might imply certain things, but under no circumstances will we make the leap. Violence, limited gore, and other associated ilk are going to be present. Terrible things are going to happen here and a large component of the game is a "What would you do?" scenario, that is the reason you are playing yourselves; please do not lie about that and be dishonest. This game is far, far more entertaining to learn about one's self and others around them when put in hypothetical and stressful, at times disturbed, scenarios. If that is not for you, then this game is not for you.

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Requests

If you have questions, comments, concerns, the like, post them here in this topic. I will be working on the actual post and eventually a Discord. The game itself will be played predominantly on the Discord to better simulate a live experience, with each chapter being played out here on the forum at its closure; I will write an overview of the events as a narrator, then ask you to portray your character's recollection of them and opinion on it in their own posts. Much of it will be "mission" based, meaning each instance of events is a small chapter over a large arc, so do expect to write several in-character pieces for the chapters. Recall this might be as simple as a day in the life to something outrageous such as having narrowly avoided death against a cult that is attempting to learn actual dark magic.

Ask the Person Below You a Question

I have been involved in roleplaying one way or another for approximately nineteen or so years, so long that I cannot definitively name it beyond that. It was crude and simple in those initial stages of course, as goes with being young, but having greatly advanced with the flow of time. Uniquely, my character and persona have always been the same, only refining rather than undergo any actual or overt change, @Exit.

For the next person to follow, what is the one character you most regret making and playing?

Why do you RolePlay?

Yet another reason I delve into roleplaying is that frankly, stores by themselves are entertaining and all in some cases, but having the dynamic of another independent agent with free will is far more exciting, namely so if there is more than one variable. Now, this obviously can range from a non-factor, such as players who contribute very little in terms of character, involvement, or development, to outright frustrating by those who are too overbearing or problematic. The fine niche in between is the rarest and most difficult, where it is a pleasure to be awaiting a response because it shakes up and alters the chemistry and dynamic, but at the same time is not based upon waiting too long and does not consistently or continually disappoint.

While writing along and alone I can always invent a plot or story that plays by itself quite well, it hasn't that true depth of freedom another player, or rather players, afford. The downside is, is that one becomes reliant on them to actually participate. Admittedly I would much rather have a mediocre partner who posts frequently than an amazing partner who posts rarely. Why? Because one I can work with - with an average company who is consistent, I can still keep the story flowing and twist, bend, turn, and change it as I whim within my limits. With the other I spend days, weeks, perhaps even months awaiting something I now need deconstruct then continue with again, then find myself in a void awaiting another reply.

That is another reason I so choose to roleplay rather than write alone, to get that social dynamic going. Sadly, that is all too rare.

D&D 5e -- The Lost Children

I meant more that we are stumbling on to other random people who so decide to join us on this adventure, @ihinka. Sort of, "Where do all these people keep coming from? They're everywhere!"

Dungeons and Derps - The D&D Experience

They were furious, @Metadude. They knew appearances to be deceiving, but it was one of those moments where reflecting they could not help but wonder... did they get the right route? The right truck and cargo? Was the rock it or was it in the other unopened crate? No time to think, the police are coming in a few minutes. Then they drag this petty little not-so-precious stone back to their hideout and keep prodding it, all the while not able to figure out what it does or how it does until the specialist arrives. Even then they are all skeptical about the rock he can't prove does anything. Cue the next story involving dream sequences and dealing with memory tampering, oneiromancy, dreamwalking, and nightmares, but that is a story for next time.

Dungeons and Derps - The D&D Experience

Another grim tale from days gone now, that same urban world where the unnatural and strange lurked just within reach but out of sight for most. This one is perhaps just as strange, maybe not as amusing, but it was a crucial point for an extended period and lives up to the mantra of, "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong." It begins simply enough with the players, some of whom I have noted are quite dangerous people in reality and others not so, receiving their mission.

A private security agency was preparing to move a high value asset, believed to be a supernatural artifact, from one location or another. There was virtually no way for them to acquire it head on - both facilities were too heavily guarded, had too many security measures, and would attract far too much attention if attacked. Sneaking in wasn't an option either, given the storage facilities for valuable goods were, as one imagined, designed to protect their client's most valuable items, some worth millions of dollars each. The weakness they found through research, between probing everything from the blueprints of the vaults and the like to attempting to feign being prospective members who wanted to keep their assets safe, were that the armored trucks were their weakest point.

Three armored trucks, three routes the couriers were going to take. No one would know which was which; they had no way of knowing what was loaded into each because the cargo was sealed in impact resistant containers. That made things bad, worse was that the only had so many people to complete their mission. They had the aforementioned ranger, another ranger, a specialist, a psychic, an occultist, and an actor. As one can imagine, they quickly determined which route the actual truck was going to take by observation, but the deadline was cutting it close; they near missed it. Thinking they had this in the bag, they installed remote hubs that tapped into the traffic lights and could control them along the route the truck was going to go.

Their plan was simple, force the truck to divert from any of its routes until it had to make one, one where less people were around, then hijack the truck. Simple, right? They even managed to wiggle their way in to the company and replace one of the security agents and a driver of the truck, leaving only two bad guys; the actual driver and the other guard in the back of the truck. They even pooled all of their money together to buy an identical armored car and paint it to match. But when they arrived with their crew for their day of work and the armored car they bought, the occultist had a brilliant idea when the actual driver told her to go let them know they were ready to load the truck.

She went and knocked on the high security door, not using the intercom everyone had noted was important.

She was then, in very short order, put in handcuffs by all of the guards who did not know her and replaced, carted off by the police who were summoned to figure out who in the hell this was and how she got in here or why. This left the one alternate driver with three bad guys. Fortunately the alternate driver was the psion, also the same one who hacked all the lights and would be able to trip the signals and carry out sending messages via his very expensive, very rare mess of wires he hid on himself to do it.

But it got worse.

He failed every single roll to hack he made, despite having a +10 or so to the associated skill. Nothing but terrible luck and now the truck was on the highway. But they had three lucky breaks, one which was the form of a police car they had stolen a few weeks back, as well as two other vehicles, all so they could try to drive the truck off the road and encircle it after. Solid back up plan, but the bad luck did not end there. When the ranger attempted to pull the truck over and stop it, the ranger and the actor showed up at the same time. The guards knew this was wrong, fast. The psion attempts to short circuit and seize up the truck with an hidden electrical outburst.

The next thing that happened was, was that the ranger got peppered by automatic gun fire and the second car hit the truck as it came to a sudden shutdown. The psion, using his psychic abilities, knocked out the two guards in the back, but the driver witnessed something clearly unnatural happen and the psion do it. Now this one guard is fending off enemies from everywhere, all of who are shooting him, but cant hit to save their lives; the actor isn't a prime tier shooter and the other ranger can never roll. The psion is trying to get out of the truck and sneak up on the driver, but of course fails his Hide check.

The other ranger and actor attempt to breach the containers in the truck, only to realize they're impact resistant and weigh a ridiculous amount. So between being shot at by the one (un)lucky guard holding them all off, they are in their futility fumbling with the cargo. Eventually the truck catches fire, they eliminate the guard, and save the original ranger who had nearly died on the side of the road. In the process they blew their cover, lost tens of thousands on the armored car, narrowly avoided two members dying, and barely escaped the police. All for what you might ask?

An unassuming pink quartz crystal the size of a palm. Of course a very plot relevant crystal, but at the time they legitimately broke open the correct crate at last (the others had all been empty and decoys), recognized it, and snatched it. That moment of, "We did all of this for a rock?"

If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. That was how their game played, no matter how well planned it ever was.

D&D 5e -- The Lost Children

More random surprise guests? This might end well, rather, perhaps not at all. Let us hope they do return soon enough.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

While the woodsman wasn't certain of what at all was taking place now or how it fit into the plan, he complied with the guard's almost humane order. Driving the crude, wooden shovel back into the churned, sickly earth with one great hand where it gave a just as ghastly sound, he looked the guard over once and issued a casual, but most realistic response.

"You needn't tell me twice."

Plainly said as it were, the distraction dealing with the enemy prevented him from largely knowing what was taking place with the crestfallen sailor and his druidic outbursts. It was not for lack of hearing, the wilder's ears were one of the most sensitive things of his person in terms of observation, but processing it among attempting to feign knowing nothing of his allies just within reach. So he was left little option but to shrug the great mountainous shape that his shoulders made and step forward, bindings swaying. Off again were they to all disperse, but at least something of great use had been passed on beside the deadly bone he had been gifted with and its crude, vicious edge.

The old man had taken a plunge into the deeper, darker side of his being again, almost as though he were so utterly lost in it. What bits of the conversation he overheard as he kept in line with his captor told him very little, as cryptic and as bizarre as ever, but that something had inflicted him personal harm and brought up this other side of him once more.

Effects

Brannor follows the guard, not wanting to raise suspicion and having no real interest in doing meaningless work if it endangered the ruse.

@Hekazu@Ryonara@Lucius Cypher@Gordian Nought