Ghosts of the Five Fishermen (nWoD, Mortals/Hunters, Recruiting)

[Dakkon]

April 15, 2012



As the capital of the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia, the City of Halifax is something of a hub, even if a modest one compared to the other provincial capitals and the cities that lie to the American South. Still, it is one of the oldest modern cities on the Atlantic Coast, giving its culture and history a depth that can be felt on every corner. When it comes to fine dining, one of the best restaurants in the city is the Five Fishermen. While pricy, the food and ambience are excellent, and price is more than compensated by an all-you-can-eat salad and muscle bar. For these, and many other reasons, you’ve decided to make you evening here.

Of course, the place is also haunted.

The building, and the city that surround it, have deep and old histories. As one scholar of the occult once pointed out “That which is dead may forever lie, until some strange day when even death may die.”

Turns out that life and death are as separate as you thought they were.



One of the benefits of a modern RPG game is that you can set it in places you’ve actually lived in. Halifax is like a second home to me, and I’ve long wanted to give it the World of Darkness treatment. The theme of this game is primarily focused on History coming back to life. I have a history degree from one of the Universities in Halifax, so I associate with that city a lot, and I’ve been following the Dark Eras Kickstarter with baited breath. It looks like an awesome books, and I can’t wait to receive the final product (side note: If you haven’t backed it yet, go do it so that we can add more chapters! It will be worth it!). What I’d like to do is bring together a group of PCs who haven’t really dealt with the supernatural before and toss them backwards in history a bit through the spiritual connections the Five Fishermen have worldwide. In particular I plan to focus on two events: The Halifax Explosion (and through it WWI), and the sinking of the Titanic. There is a story to take place in the Five Fishermen that I don’t plan on taking forever. Once I’ve told that piece, we will move on to the greater Halifax area to explore the deeper history of the World of Darkness. At this time, the game will become a bit more Hunter focused rather than straight up Mortals.

Setting: The World of Darkness - Modern Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
System: 2nd Edition nWoD Mortals, as outlined in the God Machine Chronicles. This game will use several heavy dashes of Hunter the Vigil, and will crossover with the other game lines eventually as part of a shared world.
Genre: Modern Horror, with a side each of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
Number of Players: I’m looking for about three players who can post regularly. 
Experience Level: Starting (0 experience), but each character gets one free dot in Professional Training.
Character Age: 21+, no exception.
Posting Rate: I don't expect daily posts, since I know few people who can keep that rate up, however if you are gone 72 hours without posting in the game thread with no prior notice, I'll be checking in via PM. If that's going unanswered, or happening multiple times, I'll be opening the game back up to someone who can post more regularly (much like this). I don't want to be a hardass, but that's what it takes to keep forum games going I'm afraid.
Character selection: If enough people are interested in this game, I will post a countdown timer until I select the three players. It will be about a week and a half to two weeks from now.

The Fluff

Rating: This game will Exotic, Non-Con. While everyone in the story will start off as human, there are definitely monsters in this world, so I want to preemptively have my bases covered. Likewise, I’m placing this in Non-Con just in case elements of that appear in the stories we tell. Just to be clear, however, I am under no circumstance okay with any type of non-consensual sex on the behalf of the players. I have very, very strong feelings on this, and if the story goes that way I will make attempts to portray possession (more likely) and rape (less likely) realistically, and absolutely not as a turn-on.
Background: Your character’s history can be as detailed as you like, but there are a couple of things I need to know at a minimum before we start.

• The reason you are having dinner at the Five Fishermen.
• What NPCs, if any, are with you.
• Answers to the five breaking point questions in the God Machine Update.

The PCs may know each other when they start, but this is basically chronicling their first full encounter with the supernatural, and the formation of their Hunter Cell.
Personality: Everyone in the group needs to be able to get along. Things that would end up with you being called asshole evil, preachy good, lawful templar, and chaotic jerk characters should be avoided. Your character needs to be trusting enough to work with others without trying to screw them over (… screw them on the other hand…). Keeping a game cohesive on the boards is hard enough with characters and players getting sarcastic with one another. Likewise, I respectfully ask people to avoid "lone-wolf" or "reserved" personalities in their characters. Those can and do work for in person games, but on boards, I find that it leads to a lack of participation, intentional or not, when not in combat.
Appearance: As you please, although a picture is required so that I can use it with our maps, although it doesn’t have to be a perfect representation of your character.
Sexuality: As per my other games, I prefer storytelling with the option of sexuality when appropriate, so don’t expect sex to be a given here, you will have to work for it a bit, just like real life. That said, feel free to create NPCs that you already have a connection to in your background in any manner, including sexually! I am open to telling a story with any genders/orientations.

The Crunch

Books: To start things off, I am going to limit things to the Core Rulebook, The God Machine Update, Hunter: The Vigil core, and Heirs to Hell (I love the ideas of Offspring, Latents, and Fractals that don’t really know what they are). This will expand as the game progresses and as new games link in, but I just want to keep things manageable in the begining.
Merits: As mentioned above, everyone gains one dot of Professional Training for free. Supernatural merits can’t be selected at the start of the game, although they can be opened up with the right justifications in-game later on. If you want to aim for them later, please let me know so that I can plan for that.
Initiative: Similar to my pathfinder games, I will use a version of initiative where everyone roles Initiative, but then the first person to post each round acts at the highest Init rolled, the second at the next highest and so on. I find this speeds up combat considerably.
Practical Experience: A big part of this game is the discovery of the history of the supernatural. I’ll keep track Practical Experience to encourage players to go out and discover more about the supernatural. If you don’t have Hunter, don’t worry! This is basically a pool of experience that anyone in the group can tap into to regain Willpower, or to purchase Skill/Merits.
Compacts and Conspiracies: This is going to start out as a Tier One game, so no one will have compacts or conspiracies (or even really know about the supernatural) but I do intend for them to get invited into both eventually.

I greatly look forward to seeing the types of character ideas that get submitted. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Happy Hauntings!

[KirbysFolly]

I'm definitely interested in this. I've got an old college athlete character I never got the chance to play that I could dust off and modify for this.

Are you okay with male players playing female characters? Or would you prefer to avoid that?

Edit- Oh man, that Dark Eras book sounds amazing. Colonial frontier Hunter setting? Heck yes.

[Dakkon]

I'm definitely interested in this. I've got an old college athlete character I never got the chance to play that I could dust off and modify for this.

Are you okay with male players playing female characters? Or would you prefer to avoid that?

Edit- Oh man, that Dark Eras book sounds amazing. Colonial frontier Hunter setting? Heck yes.

Just like any other roleplaying, as long as its respectful, I'm okay with it, although I do admit that I feel more comfortable with females playing females lately.

And yeah, that chapter basically sold me on the entire idea of Hunter: the Vigil on its own. I'd never really gotten into it before then. I just wish we'd managed to pull the vote for the expansion detailing the First Nations Hunters as well.

[nailcrosser]

I'm up for this. I think I'll make some kind of slacker in his late 20s, like a younger Dude from The Big Lebowski

[Dakkon]

I'm up for this. I think I'll make some kind of slacker in his late 20s, like a younger Dude from The Big Lebowski

Cool, I'm glad to see that there is some interest!

[Zeth]

I'm interested if you are still recruiting.

[ChaoticSky]

Likewise. It would be fun playing a character who doesnt fit in that era at all.  ;D

Does Hunter have a GMC update already?

[Zeth]

Likewise. It would be fun playing a character who doesnt fit in that era at all.  ;D

Does Hunter have a GMC update already?

Sadly it does not.

[Dakkon]

I'm interested if you are still recruiting.

I am! What I need from people at this point is character sheets if people are really interested rather than just saying "I'm in!" I'll try to set a deadline for when I will pick later today.

Likewise. It would be fun playing a character who doesnt fit in that era at all.  ;D

Does Hunter have a GMC update already?

Not officially, but from what I've read of Hunter, it doesn't really seem to need one that badly. The Hunter specific aspects of the game translate to GMC very well, and everything else is covered by the 2e update. That said, Mortal Remains is post GMC, and while it's not a full update, it shows that things remain usable.

Very glad to see that people want in on this, now hit me with those characters! If you've got any questions about Halifax,
Nova Scotia, or future plans for the game that you think my help with character creation, hit me up!

[Zeth]

GMC doesn't really come up until you get into the conspiracies where the order background powers clash with the GMC. Since we are starting at cell level no need to worry.

[Zeth]

Can I play a cop in the local police department?

[Dakkon]

Can I play a cop in the local police department?

Yup!

[nailcrosser]

Virtue: Temperance
Vice: Apathy

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Composure 3

Mental Skills: Investigation (Body Language) 2, Occult 2
Physical Skills: Brawl (Dirty Tricks) 2, Athletics 3, Stealth 2
Social Skills: Empathy (Motives) 3, Expression 1, Subterfuge 2, Socialize 3, Persuasion 2

Merits: Danger Sense 3, Direction Sense 2, Fast-Talking 2

Health: 7 Willpower: 5 Integrity: 6 Size: 5 Speed: 10 Defense: 3 Initiative: 6

Yorick “Ick” Barker is an aimless 27-year-old manchild who lives in Chicago. His interests include getting stoned and watching Unsolved Mysteries, getting stoned and skateboarding, and getting stoned and dreaming about turning his life around. He had loving but very liberal parents (he could have used a little more structure and discipline), he played baseball in high school, he’s talked his way out of being arrested a couple times, and ambition never gripped him until it was too late: he became a wastoid and bad habits die hard.

He has worked at the same Office Center since high school and was recently promoted to assistant manager. With this opportunity comes more responsibility, which he isn’t ready for. But he wants to be. His abundant number of friends are growing up and moving on. Careers, families, houses, and happiness. They don’t want to hang out with their goofy stoner friend anymore. He wants what they got.

Ick feels trapped by his persona and thinks it is time to make something happen. Get some perspective. Naturally, he calls up his hippie friend Carl and proposes a road trip through Canada. Ick has never left the country and only left Chicago a handful of times, so Canada seems like an exotic paradise that will enrich him spiritually. Or so he hopes.

Next stop is Halifax. Ick heard about a great little haunted restaurant there on TV once that he's been dying to try.

[Dakkon]

@Everyone:
Here is a countdown to tell you how much time you have to get your character sheets in before I make a decision about characters. It should be plenty.

@nailcrosser
Two quick questions.
1) Is Jessie supposed to be a guy or a girl?
2) Do you (or Yorick) have an idea of what "spiritual enrichment" may look like to him? I can work with that idea in a number of ways, both material and supernaturally, but a little more guidance would be helpful.

[nailcrosser]

@nailcrosser
Two quick questions.
1) Is Jessie supposed to be a guy or a girl?
2) Do you (or Yorick) have an idea of what "spiritual enrichment" may look like to him? I can work with that idea in a number of ways, both material and supernaturally, but a little more guidance would be helpful.

Male, changed his name to Carl to keep it clear. As for spiritual enrichment, Yorick is hoping to purge his bad habits. He is hoping for some epiphany that will make him a productive, efficient, and enlightened member of society. These traits are far from his grasp. He thought he had the world figured out as a teenager but the first hint of maturity just caught up with him and he has no clue where to go.

I guess this could come in the form of him realizing his purpose. He wants to be more than an Office Center assistant manager, he just doesn't know what. I think this would most likely come from a supernatural source. Temptation to stay with the ghosts, or be driven to purge the world of bad spirits or monsters, something like that.

[Zeth]

Are you using the God Machine Rules Beats system instead of standard experience system?

[Dakkon]

Are you using the God Machine Rules Beats system instead of standard experience system?

Yes, that would be the standard for Second Edition, so that does actually mean I need Aspirations as part of your character sheets too, along with the five breaking point questions since we will be using Integrity.

[Zeth]

Jack Swift
Virtue: Courageous
Vice: Hasty

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Investigation 2, Academics 2 (Law), Occult 1, Computer 1, Science 1
Physical Skills: Brawl 1, Athletics 2, Stealth 1, Firearms 3 (Pistol), Larceny 1 (Security Systems), Drive 1, Stealth 1
Social Skills: Empathy 1, Streetwise 2, Intimidation 1

Merits: Status Police: 3, Professional Training: Cop 2, Quick Draw: Firearms pistol 1, Firefight style 2

Health: 8 Willpower: 4 Integrity: 6 Size: 5 Speed: 10 Defense: 5 Initiative: 5

Jack Swift is a 24 year old beat cop in the Halifax PD. He dreams of solving a big case and making detective. He has both formal training and hands on experience with gun fighting. Jack has been investigating strange rumors going on in Halifax and feels he is about to uncover a major case.

[Zeth]

Yes, that would be the standard for Second Edition, so that does actually mean I need Aspirations as part of your character sheets too, along with the five breaking point questions since we will be using Integrity.

Then how would practical EXP work? They added professions to the GMC under merits and changed how they work them some. Jack is kind of rough, I'll hve to add aspirations and breaking points.

[Dakkon]

Then how would practical EXP work? They added professions to the GMC under merits and changed how they work them some. Jack is kind of rough, I'll have to add aspirations and breaking points.

I'm going to go through the entire practical experience system this weekend and make a detailed GMC version of it. It will generate some form of beats though.

[Zeth]

Well the general idea is Hunters can't heal insyantly like vampires and mages so they suffer a lot of downtime. To combat this they get butt loads more EXP and it evens out. The hunter book explains it better.

[Zeth]

Well they DID make a new Hunter game using the God Machine Rules. Hunter: Mortal Remains.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/129193/Hunter-Mortal-Remains

[Dakkon]

Well they DID make a new Hunter game using the God Machine Rules. Hunter: Mortal Remains.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/129193/Hunter-Mortal-Remains

Mortal remains isn't really a new game, just some minor updates and ideas in line with the new addition. I would be drawing on it though.

That said, I'm thinking this will be a no go. People don't seem that interested, and I'm not ready to put the time and effort in if the desire isn't there.

[ChaoticSky]

I am interested for my part, work has just been reaming me in a way that has been eating my my free time for the last couple weeks, should pass off next week, but its making this hard at the moment.

That said, I'm kinda surprised theres so little interest, NWoD is usually pretty popular, GMC more so. Maybe people ignored it because its listed as a Mortal game?  :-\

[Zeth]

I am interested for my part, work has just been reaming me in a way that has been eating my my free time for the last couple weeks, should pass off next week, but its making this hard at the moment.

That said, I'm kinda surprised theres so little interest, NWoD is usually pretty popular, GMC more so. Maybe people ignored it because its listed as a Mortal game?  :-\

That is probably it Darkling. If we were doing say Vampire, Demon, or Mage there would of been more interest.