Rifts: Grandpa's Story (epic sci-fi, players wanted, expanded description)

[anna77]

                                                                                      GRANDPA'S STORY


The group of children played in the large, brightly lit  room, running around the highly stacked plastic crates that form paths along the floor. There cries of laughter echo on its once smooth concrete walls now rough and aged. One of the older children jumps out from behind a row of large, dark boxes as the rest of the group rounds the corner ahead, the tall blond boy shouts,

"Roar! I'm a vampire!" he squints his tiny eyes and waves his hands in a threatening motion

The group screams and scatters, all but the little, stark white bald girl who grins and snarls, pulling a sharpened pencil from her back pocket and brandishing it about.

"Oh come on now Sara, I said VAMPIRE, what are you going to do with that!" the boy scoffs folding his arms.

"Grampa said back in the old days he killed one with a stick!" the girl shouts back without missing a beat, wrinkling her brow as she does.

"HA!" he exclaims, "You probably believe all his crazy stories," he circles his finger around his temple as he speaks, "And besides, my dad says his mind is slipping 'cus he's too old."

"Is not Tom!" Sara explodes, her eyes go dark as she shoves the much larger boy, "Take it back!" she demands as he stumbles back.

The rest of the children start to slink back to watch the confrontation, with a half quadrupedal sprint a little dark furred pup steps up between the two, his head bobs back and forth eying them, his ears flop as he does.

"Now listen guys," he says softly, his paw like hands separating the pair, "We all know Grampa's a hero, and he's the way he is 'cus of his saxrifises," the pups words stumble.

"Yeah, and my mom says if it wasn't for him, none of us would be here." a dark haired thin girl chimes in from the crowd before turning to look back over her shoulder.

"Okay okay, whatever." Tom says sharply adjusting his shirt and  stepping back from the girl and pup.


From across the room a door opens with a hiss, A lady in white calls to the group,

"Children, grandpa's awake, would you like to visit him?" She asks, stroking her cropped black hair.

The situation is diffused with cheers of glee from the pack of young ones, like a herd of beasts they scurry to her. They travel through the maze of tunnels, giggling with excitement along the way, before long they come to grandfathers chambers. There keeper pauses at the door and kneels down to there level and speaks softly,

"Now children, you know your grandfather is VERY old and that you must be very nice to him, he cares for you all very much." A worried look crosses her angelic face.

She stands, her hands find there way to her face for a moment, they gently sweep her eyes before opening the door. The heavy door swishes open, reviling a small equipment filled room, all sorts of consoles and mechanisms line the walls with many tubes, wires and pipes leading back to the far wall of the softly lit room and down into the large, chair like perch of the elder figure.

Slumped in the chair lays a body, now more metal and plastic than man, pitifully tethered to the tentacles of the room, with patchwork cybernetic limbs and body, some shiny and new, some scorched and rusted. His only visible sign left of his humanity is his withered face, neck and portions of chest, all spotted, scared and aged. Only a few strands of his now white hair remain, and his eyes barely contain the spark of life.

"Grampa!" The little ones shout in near unison as they flood the room, each finding there place on the floor around the sad hulking man.

With the hum of spinning servos the old man comes to life at the sound of the children, a smile forms across his dry lips as the crowd settles in. His deep, jovial voice booms,

"Well hello children, and what brought you here today?" he asks slyly, slowly and feebly crossing his mismatched arms.

"We want to hear a story grampa!" Sara shout tugging on one of the tube connecting to the old borg.

"Yeah a story grampa!" the group whines

"A story 'eh" he says gruffly,  rubbing his chin, "What about the tale of the android and the dragon?"

"Noooooooo" the children moan, "We heard that one too many times grampa." Sara adds sadly.

"Oh, okay, ... well what about the one with the," the old man is interrupted by youthful shouts,

"No grampa! We want to hear 'The Story'" the children giggle all together, sitting neatly on the floor.

"Yeah grampa, tell us 'The Story'," the little pup says laying on the floor, his head propped up on his bent paws, ears perked and eyes wide, "Please.." he pleads flashing his best puppy dog eyes.

"Again!" the old man chuckles loudly, "The story of the how we came here it is then," he leans in closely to the group and looks into there wonder filled eyes and knows it will be the last time he tells this tale....

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I'm looking for six or more players for a character driven,  more freestyle/storytelling Rifts rpg, with focus on character/story development.


The players will be the heroic characters of Grandfathers final tale.  As reflected in the intro above, I would like this game to tell a story of human* emotions and humanity* on a long term scale, and will be filled with danger, exploration, romance and intrigue.

I've got a pretty good outline going now, and I am open to any other good ideas or personal story lines to interweave. I plan on using a simplified rule set to cut down on the record keeping and to keep the emphasis on the role-play (not the roll play), but am open to changing that to freeform if enough interest is shown .

For anyone not familiar with Rifts it's a catch all science fiction/horror/fantasy rp set on a far future, shattered post apocalypse earth as humanity* is still crawling  back out of the ashes of 'the great cataclysm'. Any previous experience is very helpful, but in the true spirit of the game and the megaverse, not required.

(*  I use these words loosely, as several of the main npc'c and most likely some players as well will be far from "human")

Just about any RCC or OCC (race or class) can be used, but should at least posses the ability to 'do good' (doesn't have to start as a "hero" but should become one over time, and in such dark times a 'hero' doesn't have to be a goody-too-shoes either)

This game will most likely end up in extreme due to it's extremely dark and violent nature and I feel that it's the best place to openly express such a tale, I should stress that, although sex will occur in this game it is not a free for all sex sim and the details of such encounters will be left to the individual players in question.
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Character Sheet

Name(s):
Sex:
RCC/OCC/Archtype:
Description: (You can use a pic, but please include at least a couple of lines of flavor)
Personality:
Quote:

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Main 'in party' npc's, left nameless and only outlined for now in case anyone finds them appealing to there tastes or play style;

Young "Grandpa" : An experienced, gruff headhunter/merc type, who  is feeling deep pangs of guilt over the brutal acts of his past and looking for a way to make up for it.

The Dog Boy(or girl, as the name is race descriptive) : A friendly and energetic but scatterbrained scout, young and unsure of them self. Lacks focus in everything but the hunt.

The Juicer: a chain smoking, hard drinking, party person with a death sentence that's close to being up, looking to go out with as much style as possible, preferably with lots of pretty explosions.

The Full Con Borg: A comical, wisecracking, sarcastic persona encased in big, black borg body. sometimes deeply regrets the loss of his physical flesh body (depression).

The Good Doctor: A psychic posing as a real medical professional to avoid persecution. Over inquisitive at times, often paranoid, but always helpful.

The Psi-stalker: Savage and uncivilized, strong willed braggart. Follows there own code of honor and would go the distance for a friend or there word.

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Additional starting background so far: 

The game takes place well before the intro and will start just outside of the Chi-town Burbs (formally north central Illinois), headed south in a convoy the party has been hired to protect or support/work for. The trip is headed and sponsored by a rouge scholar anthropologist, who wishes to travel outside the CS (Coalition States, the ruling, oppressive government that controls much of central former United States)  boarders to better study and document extra-dimensional life from the rifts.

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Simplified rules so far:

I'm thinking something like this,

A D6  based system with just three stats;

Combat:(Replaces the majority of combat stats such as, initiative, to hit, dodge, Roll, physical saves and more)

Skilled:(Replaces the majority of % based skills and powers, too lengthy to mention here and mental saves as well)

Mystic:(Replaces many factors of magic, supernatural, and physic power such as isp, ppe, magic and psi saves more )

A character receives one positive point, +1, and one negative point, -1, that they must place into two of the above stats, with the third reviving a no bonus or penalty, +/- zero, as well as a bonus point based from the character type. As an example, Young Grandpa, a mercenary warrior, would receive a bonus  +1 to his Combat stat, he then chooses to place his starting +1 in combat as well, and then the  -1 to his Mystic stat, leaving it looking something like this:

Combat: +2
Skilled: +0
Mystic: -1


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Any one interested in joining or have any questions/comments please chime in  ;D

[leechtamer]

I am assuming we would be playing the characters in Granpa's story?

Sounds pretty fun. I would be interested.

[anna77]

Your correct leechtamer,

I've since updated to help clarify and expand  ;)

Any input or further questions?

[anna77]

Updated/Expanded description and summary  ;D