Welcome to DragonClaw Security (GURPS 4e Urban Arcana)

Started by Soveliss, April 24, 2016, 09:17:18 PM

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Soveliss

So this would be a game about facing a conspiracy to take over the world, in the modern world where the magic is coming back and with it, elves, dwarves, halflins, orcs, goblins, and so on. I'd like to have a mixed party (some humans and some non humans).

Under the cover of a private security firm, DragonClaw Security trains and maintains a police of sort for the supernatural. And you might just catch their eye and be proposed a nice job with plenty of benefit and on the job training opportunities... But first, how your story started...

If you are human, it was just a normal night with you eating out at this new medieval fantasy themed fast-food chain. The food was said to be pretty good for a cheap fast food, and indeed it is, with options for vegetarians and vegans, as well as more healthy fare than most fast food if you're willing to go for things less tasty than greased fries and bacon burgers. Though the usual options are still there. Then the place gets robbed by little people who trigger the alarms and start to try and kill everyone inside. You help protect the patrons, though some of them aren't as helpless as the masses... Is that a sword? Was that a... Lightning bolt?!?!? Did the bodies of the little people just disappear?!?!?

If you are not human (also known as a shadowkind)... You were living an adventurous life in a world full of magic, where battles are solved with swords, spears, maces, bows, crossbows, black powder guns, and spells... Orc pillaging bands, goblin raiders, you dealt with it. And one day, you just woke up in a whole different world. You remember closely held beliefs and memories of things you have personally experienced, every other historical or geographical information is just a blur... (Say, unless you have personally met the king, you don't remember anything about him.) This world is full of horseless carriages, always full of noise and light, and full of strange tools made of a magic you have never seen before... You find out soon that you legally don't exist, communities form in the slums, taking in the new arrivals and protecting each other... But some things never change. Orcs robbing stores, goblins smashing closed shops and looting everything shiny... You have become a mercenary of sorts, flushing giant spiders' nest out, rescuing hostages from goblin street gangs, and that night, you were enjoying a nice treat (like some "ice cream", it's very tasty) at the Prancing Pony. The humans there call it a "fast food" and they are right, food is served very fast there. But more importantly, it is where every mercenary hangs out, just like the taverns where you came from, so gossip and employers can be found if you know where to look... And goblins were stupid enough to try to rob the tavern, full of mercenaries, and trigger an alarm spell. They decide to kill everyone inside, so you have to protect the people. Most of the humans seem not to be really combative, but a few of them are actually putting on a good fight... And like every one of those who come from your world, the bodies of the dead are reclaimed by their world... Most humans seeing this try to convince themselves that it didn't happen. You know they don't want to accept magic as real. But a few are willing to accept it.

So if I could find 4 people willing to post 3 times a week that would be great. I'll post details for character creationlater, but I would like human characters to be "virgins" around magic and shadowkinds characters "virgins" around modern day technologies. Not to say they can't learn and become experts just that they don't start with the knowledge. :)
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Soveliss

And since we can't edit posts on E and I forgot to post that, I'll add that I would be tempted to classify it as Extreme due to the sometimes brutal injury rules of GURPS. Like, getting your arm ripped off by a 12,7 mm bullet brutal.
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Muse

A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Soveliss

Quote from: Muse on April 25, 2016, 06:43:32 AM
  oh, hey.  May I play?  :)

Sure. So I would like to have a team of decent main characters (anti-heroes are fine, but no scum bag please), but what do you wanna play? Ordinary human who want to become a wizard/witch? Shadowkind priest that will learn how to add modern medicine to their repertoire of healing abilities? Army veteran, or your (mostly) typical shadowkind rogue who is good at stealth, fast talking and blending in with the bad crowd?

I guess I could set the point value at 120 points, plus 60 points worth of disadvantages possible, plus the following disadvantages (and the bonus points that go with them):

For human characters, Mundane Background (they didn't know about magic until recently).
For shadowkinds, Low-TL 4 (DragonClaw Security has a good legal team and your characters will spend nearly no game time before they can get a visa, so I won't even count it).

and as a houserule:

At least half of all character points earned must be spend on buying off the campaign disadvantages (Low TL and Mundane Background).

For those who are confused by what I just said, GURPS uses a point buy system where you can spend points to buy your abilities (like shooting guns, being a combat veteran and thus not "freezing" in life or death situations, being in good physical health, having a good hearing, or anything that opens up options for you), and you can earn more points by taking disadvantages (always forgetting stuff like what day it is, being physically unfit or weaker or not the sharpest knife in the drawer, being unprepared to take a life or being too honorable or anything that limits your options in some way).

Also, I will confirm it will end in extreme because GURPS rules for injury can be quite detailed and nasty, even though most of it probably won't be sexual in nature. Be prepared for a headshot dealing massive damage splattering brain matter all over the wall, flamethrowers potentially burning people to a crisp if the damage roll is high, that sort of stuff. There will also be mentions of sex because after all it is an human (and shadowkind) drive, but unless you bring it in the forefront (no problems with that, I encourage you to do so if it makes sense (and unless you all take the "Neutered" quirk , it will likely make sense at some point :P ) ) it will be background color like crashing into a gang fortress and trying to fight the gangsters while avoiding shooting the prostitutes they hired by accident, that kind of stuff.
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Muse

  Heh.  :)  Well, I do seem to be your first aplicant? 

  I could play a guy--a pony tailed gamer geek/computer nerd who has studdied martial arts and gotten rather good at it?  It keeps him physicaly fit in an otherwise none too physical profession and hobby set? 

  His motivations for joining up are two fold: 
  A. He's xenopheliac and has always dreamed of a lover--or perhaps even harem--of fantasy girls. 
  B.  Upon discovering that magic is real you'll be hard pressed to keep him away!!! 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Soveliss

Quote from: Muse on April 25, 2016, 08:56:09 AM

  I could play a guy--a pony tailed gamer geek/computer nerd who has studdied martial arts and gotten rather good at it?  It keeps him physicaly fit in an otherwise none too physical profession and hobby set? 

  His motivations for joining up are two fold: 
  A. He's xenopheliac and has always dreamed of a lover--or perhaps even harem--of fantasy girls. 
  B.  Upon discovering that magic is real you'll be hard pressed to keep him away!!!

You've been spying on me haven't you? Except for the pony tail, the fact that I'm only a beginner at Krav Maga, and that I would not limit myself to fantasy girls, because fantasy boys are just as hot as fantasy girls, that would describe me pretty well. :P

Yes, I'm a chemistry geek, a gaming nerd and Linux nerd, and yes I do go to Krav Maga classes. :P

On a more serious and less personal note, a wizard/hacker combo could be useful... Especially since in this setting there are ways to combine magic and technology... Like creating your own drone/golem hybrid that can plug in to anything electronic it has access to and allow you to hack it with your mind, but if it gets destroyed there's a backlash...
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Muse

*Grins*  Very nice.  :) 

Shall I start him up then?  Or wait 'til you have a few more aplicants? 

<--could dig up Urban Arcana. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Soveliss

I'm running a GURPS conversion, because Urban Arcana was originally a D20 Setting, so there's gonna be a few approximations... Scratch that, there's gonna be a lot of approximations when converting the D20 classes... But right now I won't be able to help you, but feel free to start a first draft, I'll give you some pointers about how to adjust it for the campaign... All I can tell you without spending hours in my books is that I'm using a conversion that turns clases into "Paths", which means a series of abilities with the previous one as a prerequisite, that one can take in addition to other goodies...
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Muse

Oh..  Are you wanting us to mimic the d20 modern classes?  *Sweat drop* 

Kind of takes the fun out of using GURPs.  ^_^;;
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Soveliss

Quote from: Muse on April 26, 2016, 06:24:47 AM
Oh..  Are you wanting us to mimic the d20 modern classes?  *Sweat drop* 

Kind of takes the fun out of using GURPs.  ^_^;;

Mimicking them isn't so hard or cumbersome, and deviations are much easier and customization more extensive. Plus, it's just for the unusual abilities that it requires any mimicking (say you want to do gunplay? Fine, you have nothing to mimic, just build some GURPS gunslinger. Mages in D20 get many special abilities, most of which would be optional (you'd be fine picking only the spells and ignoring the rest (like potion crafting and scroll writing for instance) for instance), but a Speed Demon is defined by their unusual abilities (making a vehicle go faster or driving it without being at the wheel is something only them could do)). Plus, mix and match or deviations are much more easy with GURPS. You want a sniper mage in D20? Well too bad the Base Attack bonus of the mage is too low for that. You can't sacrifice the skill list to get it either. In GURPS, you pick spells, you sacrifice making potions and scrolls, you skip on the skills you don't want, and you buy Stealth and Guns (rifles) instead. But I feel there is the need for the option to send spells through wiring that the Techno mage class gets (the Techno-Mage can see a camera, cast "Sleep" on the camera and have the sleep spell travel to the security station to the operator watching the screens.) I want the possibility to be there. :P

TL;DR version: classes are fully optional and only account for unusual D20 Modern class abilities.
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Muse

  Okay.  :)   I understand now.  That works nicely. 

  *Cracks open his books* 

Edit:  Should I take the Magery talent starting off even though I don't know of magic's existence yet?  :) 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Soveliss

Quote from: Muse on April 26, 2016, 07:24:22 AM
  Okay.  :)   I understand now.  That works nicely. 

  *Cracks open his books* 

Edit:  Should I take the Magery talent starting off even though I don't know of magic's existence yet?  :)

Glad I managed to communicate clearly enough to get you to understand.

As for Magery starting off, no, sorry. But it's gonna be a fast buy, especially since I plan on restricting Magery with the Gadget limitation, you need a spell book (that can be in electronic format) and access to it to use magic. It would easily be a -40% discount on Magery since a spell book can be forcefully taken, destroyed (make backups kids! :P ). The loss of the spell book would not immediately prevent someone to cast spells, but I plan on something like roll IQ every day where you can't access your spell book or lose access to a (few) random spells if you fail it until you can get your spell book back. An actual book would be heavier, and harder to copy (both by an enemy or for making backups) but an electronic spell book can be knocked down by hacking (if it's on a device with network access) or EMP (and there's an EMP spell. :) ), so I think a -40% discount is fair.
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Muse

  Oh!  :D  Don't apologise for letting me take Magery in play!  That gives me MUCh more points for my starting character.  ^_^;; 

  The digital spellbook idea sounds pretty awesome. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Lynx181

Um hello, my friend muse showed me this thread and I figured I should leave a message saying I'm certainly interested in playing, as I do have a curiosity with gurps, and wouldn't mind being a cleric shadowkind trying to adapt to the new technology around him/her, and possibly discovering a way to use her spells in a more post haste sort of fashion.

Muse

A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

wigglebiscuit

What do you say about a drow who sees this as an opportunity to lay her past to rest and he wicked ways with it? Except maybe she gers stabby sometimes and occasionally forgets that what's yours does not automatically make it hers?

Muse

A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Soveliss

Hello all! My mom's dog just had to get euthanized, so I'll have to extend my leave of absence for a few days as she'll need me. It's odd to see how the dog got euthanized, a quick shot to put him asleep, and then the lethal dose, it's over in a minute and the dog looks like he's peacefully asleep... My mom is devastated, and I cried since I liked that dog.

See you after that!
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Muse

  *Hugs*  Take care of yourself and your family.  We'll be here when you get back. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Soveliss

I'm back to my old self again, so if anyone is still here and wants to play the game, feel free to PM me with a concept and I'll find a way to make it work.

Thanks for the support, and take care okay?
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Muse

Hi there!  Welcome back.  I'm still interested! 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)


Soveliss

Well, I guess we need a last human character to round out the team, since we have already one human (already built), two shadowkinds (discussing build), feel free to organize amongst yourself to make a party that works together okay?
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Soveliss

Also, to everyone, I'll give you the first rank of the Luck advantage as a freebie, because GURPS can be quite a lethal system so Luck could give you some protection against bad dice rolls.
Winning against depression is possible, I know it, I've done it! I had help, sure, and couldn't have done it without help, but I still won!

"Work together as a team
Download douchey hats on Steam"
                                                        Brentalfloss

Starting an IC on E forums OOC on Discord experiment. If you're okay with discussing plot details and exchanging status updates on Discord while keeping RPs on Elliquiy's forums, you can ask me for my Discord ID.

Marie Reynolds

Just got a call to cover a shift so i probably won't be able to start my character till tomorrow.