Magic...It can get a guy killed. Dresdenverse/Modern fantasy Rp Idea.

[Cuchulainn]

Howdy folks,

So yes I am currently quite in love with the dresdenverse I absolutely love the books and am quite happy to sit and read them over and over again. Well, actually that's a lie, simply reading the books is no longer enough so I wish to roleplay in the setting.

What's that? You don't know anything about the Dresden files? You only came here because because you saw the words Modern Fantasy? Have no fear! This paragraph is specifically for you as, to the best of my abilities, I will attempt to explain to you the wonderful world of Mr Harry Dresden. Basically it is a world almost the exact same as ours except for the fact that magic exists, there are wizards, vampires, fey, ghosts, werewolves, gods, angels, demons all manner of supernatural beings. But this universe is different to say Laurell K Hamilton's or the True Blood ladies in that all these supernatural beings and creatures are hidden from the mortal world i.e. Normal every day humans. Hope that gives you the gist of the world I hope to set this roleplay in. I will go into a little more detail on some of the creatures later in the post and any other questions feel free to message me.

Time for a summary...

THE ROAD SO FAR


Kansas Carry on my Wayward son A little theme music.

So, our story is set in modern day London during the war between the Red Court and the White Council, although even at this time there is talk of peace between the two factions. Very little chance of characters from the books taking part in our story but who knows there could be a few cameos. As for the plot of the story it's quite simple, a young, charismatic, billionaire philanthropist (at least that's what his press release says) has recently inherited his grandfathers estate. His grandfather was an avaricious collector of historic curios and so the young philanthropist has decided to donate a great deal of his collection to the London museum. The museum was so pleased they have decided to throw a charity gala in his honor, and why wouldn't they be pleased with the items they have recently gained. Extremely rare pottery belonging to Chinese emperors, golden statues of Inca gods, and one rather strange item a beautifully hand crafted wooden box, inscribed with various rune's and sigils. Contained within this box, in a soft cushion of crushed velvet, a single roman denarius in pristine condition except for a strange symbol burned into one side of the coin.

Does that summarize everything?

So if you fancy having a go, just leave a wee post saying so, maybe include a character idea and what you think the setting etc. should be. As for character ideas be creative I would prefer if it was a bit more of an alternate universe so I would like some Knights of the Sword or maybe even a member of the Order of the Blackened Denarius my favourite bad guys of the series.

Now for those of you unfamiliar with the series I'm going to give you a brief overview of some the various creatures and supernatural beings you can be for the roleplay.

Humans - Thought I would start of with an easy one. Humans. I would imagine you guys are already pretty familiar with their general abilities. So there you go you could be a standard every day human, maybe they are are aware of the supernatural world, maybe it will slowly be revealed to them over time, up to you.

Practitioners - These guys are pretty much human but just with varying degrees of magical ability. In this section I'm going to cover the low level abilities. So even low level magic users can still use a lot of spells, just since they don't have much power they have to make up for it by making sure none of said power is wasted this means that they need a lot of focus and concentration when casting. This means that your most basic form of magic, evocation, which is kind just flinging magic around with out any real ritual or magic circle is very awkward. Of course the magic can affect them in other ways though. For example certain werewolves get their ability from being pretty basic practitioners with pretty much only one trick in there repertoire. Other examples of similar situations in the book are someone who can see a few seconds into the future. Or a man adorned in mystical tattoo's who uses his meager magical ability to increase his speed to super human levels.

Witches/Wizards - These guys are the 1%, the ones with all the magical mojo. This is what Mr Dresden is, a wizard. They are neither late or early and always arrive precisely when they mean to. These guys are pretty much your high level practitioners, but aside from being able to use magic, to bend the raw forces of nature to their will they have a couple of other nifty little tricks. The first is the sight, the third eye, whatever you want to call it. Basically when they open this metaphysical eye they are able to see everything for what it truely is. The can see magic, they can see through veils, if you looked at someone with alot of emotional scars you would see those scars. Jim Butcher describes it a lot better than me and all this typing is messing with my brain a bit so lets just say it lets you see magic and be done with it. Oh and whatever you see with the third eye you never forget, so if you see something horrifying...well your stuck with it so use if sparingly. Next is a soul gaze, now this is very interesting and it is why you should never meet a witch/wizards eyes or if you are a witch or wizard you should avoid looking people directly in the eye because of this. If witch or wizard meets someones eyes for to long then the basically see the other persons soul, and that person sees theirs. They see there essence, they see what they are, they get to know that person, sometimes better than that person knows themselves. Again very complex if you want more detail about it feel free to message me. The final little wizard trick I'm going to mention is that they live for a very long time. Their lifespan is usually a good few hundred years. Although you do age, so you will look old. Unfortunately its not all sunshine and rainbows. Technology does not get on with wizards and witches, things tend to break around you. Clocks, computers, cars, lights, refrigerators, heaters...it sometimes sucks to be a wizard.

Vampires - Time for everyone's favourite, vampires, not my favourite though. I hate them, nasty blood sucking things, should kill them all. So the dresdenverse is quite interesting in that they have 3 different kinds of vampires, black, red and white court.

Black court - These guys are pretty nasty, they look like corpses, they smell like corpses, generally pretty corpsey. Also generally one of the strongest and rarest kind of vampires. Their very fast, very strong, very hard to kill, but they do have their weaknesses. Stabbing the heart of lopping off the head would do it, as would burning them, they don't like garlic, or holy water, or anything with faith behind it really religion doesn't matter to much. A couple of them have some powerful magical mojo and they are capable of creating "Reinfields" Who are basically humans turned into mindless slaves. Drink blood, pass on the curse through a bite...oh sunlight is not good for them either. They are rare because the wizards wiped a lot of them out.

Red Court - In red corner we have the red court! These guys don't look like corpses, no they look like large slimey bat like creatures with large swollen stomachs. Thankfully though they can change their appearance to look like your average every day, extremely attractive human. They also are very strong and very fast like the black court, the have alot of the same weakness although faith doesn't affect them as badly and they don't care about garlic one way or the other. They also drink blood and they saliva is like an addictive drug that makes you feel wonderful. Pretty much paralyses their foe with pleasure so yea, pretty nifty. When someone gets infected with red court venom them become a half vampire so still human, but superhumanly strong and fast but with a strong thirst for blood. The minute the drain someone of blood the conversion is complete.

White Court - Finally the runts of the litter, the best way to describe these guys is sex vampires. Yea you heard me they feed on sex...well they feed on desire and lust stealing a bit of your lifeforce along with those emotions as well and the best way to feed is through sex. The pretty much are like normally human beings and can be killed liked normal human beings. Although to my knowledge they don't age and they don't get sick. What makes them different from normal humans apart from their breathtaking good looks, is that they are also very strong and very fast...not as strong or fast as the other courts but still pretty superhuman can also heal themselves rapidly as well. The only problem is using these super human abilities burns through the lifeforce and energy they had consumed when feeding on people through sex and so they get pretty hungry. These guys aren't created either they are born. If either parent is a white court vampire they are born a regular human. Then the first time they have sex, if it isn't with someone their and truly in love with and who truly loves them back. The kill them and steal their life force becoming a vampire. Otherwise they stay human.

(Ugh starting to regret this)

Faeries - These guys are pretty much what you imagine, beautiful, magical, fast, strong, immortal, allergic to iron. You get the picture two different courts, winter, summer ya da ya da.

Changling - These guys are half faerie half human. Pretty much all human up until they hit puberty then Bam! their body starts changing, mood swings all that jazz. How they are affected comes down to what kind of Faerie their parent was. For example a troll...well put on a bit of weight, become a lot stronger, a lot more aggressive. When these changes come about you belong to whatever court your parent was from until you choose to become either fully human, or fully faerie.

Werewolf- There wolf, there castle. So Werewolves. Their are quite a few different types of werewolves so lets see if I can cover them.

Werewolves - Okay as a mentioned these guys have a bit of magic but only can just that magic to turn into a wolf. That's pretty much it, have to undress though before they change or they'll get tangled up in their clothes. Turn into a wolf, with a humans brain so usually to start with don't have the instincts of a wolf just the awesome senses and body.

Hexenwolf - These are people who turn into a wolf through another persons magic, usually through the use of a talisman i.e. a wolf belt. Stealing the next bit from the wiki "At the same time, the talisman provides an anchor for a "spirit of bestial rage" from the Nevernever, which wraps itself around the human personality. The spirit provides an insulation to keep the person's spirit from being destroyed, as well as helps control the physical wolf-body. Through this protection, the person's human intelligence and reason remain intact; at the same time, the person loses their human inhibitions, making them prone to act on their conscious and unconscious desires without doubts." These belts can be addictive and you can loose yourself a bit to the animal in the belt.

loup-garou - These guys are the dangerous ones, people cursed to turn into a large wolf like demon, think your standard half man half wolf werewolf. They are a near unstoppable force. When transformed the person has no control and just begins a rampage, destroying everything in its path. The transformation usually occurs around the full moon. The only way to kill a Loup - Garou is with inherited silver, yea I pretty specific weakness.

Lycanthrope - These guys are weird, they don't turn into anything instead they act as a channel which makes them beast like but only psychologically. When filled with this rage, they are stronger, resistant to disease and injury and heal very rapidly. Pretty much basically the old viking Berserkers.

That is all I'm gonna post for now, if you have your own idea drop me a message and I'll give my opinion on whether or not it would fit in with the dresdenverse.

[Caela]

I do love Mr. Dresden! Not been on a Modern Fantasy kick with my reading of late but did so enjoy his world the last time I was and would love rp'ing there. :)

I have a bit of an idea for a Witch but it'll be hard to flesh her out until a setting and time period is determined because those will effect her background and family history. Am thinking she'd be from an established family of Witches/Wizards, perhaps even having one, or perhaps both, parents on the Council.

[bubby]

If the time period chosen captures my interest, I would love to play The Leanansidhe, if she could fit into the story.

[helvorn]

I love the books as well and am working my way through a second read in preparation for the newest book to come out.  I have a couple of ideas for characters any of which would work out equally well.  A Warden, a werewolf (like Billy's band of happy shapechangers) or a White Court vampire.  Any of the above would be fine with me and can be modified to suit the GM's game.

As for time period I think that modern fits the Dresden 'feel'.  I would like to set it while the Red Court is still in play.

[Cuchulainn]

Okay lets see I prefer to answer posts in one so lets go.

Caela - Well so far we've only had a vote for modern modern as in present day so unless anything dramatically happens to change that. No one has mentioned anything for geographical setting so I'm going to suggest London. Love a bit of London me. Again waiting to see what characters people suggest before getting anything set in stone story wise and if anyone has any suggestions feel free to give them. But currently leaning towards Order of Blackened Denarius, Necromancers or something to do with the war between Council and Red Court.

bubby - Well as I said to Caela seems to be heading towards modern day, has this piqued your interest or is it too predictable? As for Leanansidhe, do you mean you want to get Mr Dresden himself involved in the story perhaps making a cameo with you coming along and making sure he goes to the ball, or that you just want to be the character and be a really powerful faerie lady causing havoc or that you want to be somebodies faerie god mother?

helvorn - Defiantly while the Red Court is still in play, preferably while they are at war. Can give it that all's fair aspect. Honestly play whatever you want powers and abilities don't matter that much expect for affiliation. For example the Warden doesn't necessarily need to be on council business to get involved. etc. The characters motivations and views are what matter. Consider Morgan and Dresden, both wizards, both wardens, both very different.

[helvorn]

@cuchulainn - Do you intend to have us interact with Dresden, Murphy and the other characters of the book or would we be working in parallel with them? 

Hmmm... Warden, White Court vampire or werewolf?  So many choices. 

Are you going to use the Dresden RPG rules or play it more sandbox?  Personally I prefer the sandbox as I am very vague on the Dresden RPG.

London as a location works fine for me.  Any of the main plot ideas work fine.

@bubby - Personally I'd love to see the Leanansidhe played.  She's not all that busy with Harry so she'd have lots of time to mess with mortals and non-mortals alike.

[Caela]

I wouldn't mind setting it a little bit in the past (maybe back a few decades) but wouldn't want to lose some of the fun feel you get from the fact that a lot of modern tech doesn't work well around the magically inclined. Some of the fun in the books is the way they get around the fact that things, like a modern oven, don't really like to work for them. Ex: Harry's Beetle constantly breaking down on him, at the worst times, always amused the heck out of me in the first books. It's minor, but it adds charm to the story and to the 'Verse as a whole.

London works fine for me too. I'm thinking my girl will still be American, but from a wealthy Council family so studying abroad would be both easy, and expected.

[Caela]

Just a rough draft of a character in my head. She's been sort of raised to be "off the radar" since her folks were trying to keep out of all the scheming, backstabbing, and politics that is everyday life in the magical world and give her some form of a "normal" childhood. She's totally tweakable though so let me know if she works for what you are thinking, Cuchulainn.

CS Rough Draft

Name: Emilie "Em" St. John
Age: 24
Classification: Witch

Magic: Em has a natural affinity for evocation and her greatest learned skill is Versimilomancy (illusion magic), the latter is helped by the fact that much of her life among the magical community is a type of illusion. She's shown an aptitude for learning new types of magic and enjoys studying even just the theory behind those magics she finds most difficult. The hardest branches of magic for her are Thaumaturgy and Psychomancy and no matter how much she studies spells involving them have her lowest success rate as well as draining her faster than any others.

With her skill at Evocation, she has the raw ability (though not the training yet) to be a Warden someday...if they ever realized she was more than she seemed.

Magical Focuses: She has a protective amulet that has been in her family for centuries and is, traditionally, passed down from mother to oldest daughter when that daughter either married, or struck out on her own. Em's mother gave it to her when she moved to London for school.

Like most Wizards she has a staff that she carved herself with runes and sigils for protection and defense and aid in her evocations.

She also has an interest (hobby, not an intense area of study) in magically charmed items and a few small pieces that she charmed personally. Her favorite, and most successful and useful, being a pair of leather gloves that she spelled to always keep her hands warm. Less successful spells include a ring that squeezes the wearer's finger when someone around them lies. It sounded good in theory, but when her finger went numb from the number of times it got squeezed but of all the socially acceptable lies swirling around her, she dropped to the bottom of a box and never wore it again!

Personality: Having grown up with money, and the comfort and luxury that it brings, Em can seem to be a bit haughty and arrogant at times. She doesn't actually believe that her parents money makes her better than anyone else, but she does take for granted a lot of things that other people don't. At her core she is kindhearted, loyal and clever but she's also learned to play those things close to vest because many people in her world would see them as weaknesses to exploit. When in public, she will often play off being pretty but vapid. Only those truly close to her know she isn't the brainless socialite sucking off Mommy and Daddies money that she often seems to be.

Background: Born the daughter of Kassandra and Rupert St. John, Em was being taught how to shape and use magic almost as soon as she could speak. While other children were learning to read with "Dick and Jane" books, her tutors were teaching her both English and Latin translations of her parents varied collection of spellbooks. She took to learning magic as naturally as some children take to music or art and took just as much joy in her craft as any artist ever did their own.

She also learned to hide the true scope of her knowledge and skill. Her Mother made it clear to her that there were many in their world who would exploit and use her gifts if she wasn't careful about who she trusted. Her Father also talked to her about the manipulation and Machiavellian scheming that often went hand in hand with a certain level of power. Not wanting their daughter to fall prey to such things too early, they did their best to keep her away from many of their own "kind". All contact couldn't be avoided of course, not with Kassandra being a member of the Council, but what little there was, was minimized and highly supervised and most of her parents peers ended up thinking that they were hiding Em away because she was either not magically powerful or because she was vapid and foolish (a belief they all encouraged) and that they were ashamed of her.

To further the belief that she had little in the way of magic, they decided that she would go to a "normal" University in Europe and she decided on King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry. It wouldn't further the idea that she was vapid in any way, but it was easy for people to believe the only reason she got in was because of Daddy's money. Though anyone who did their research on her would find that she was in the top 2% of her classes. Even with her grades, a future in medicine easily furthered the idea that she would need a job in the mundane world.

With prior beliefs about her filtering through the magical community, few would stop to think how the deeper knowledge of psychology, biology (classes she took by choice since there was simply no way to be a medical doctor when few, if any, modern medical devices would work around her!) and science would actually add to her understanding and abilities with magic.

Misc.: While she's a Witch, she is not Harry. Em doesn't seek out attention, trouble, or the darker side of their world. She grew up in a mostly happy, if somewhat cloistered, home, showered by love and affection from her parents; not with an Uncle seeking to use her. She's not battle tested, most of her skill comes from hours of practice and study, not actively battling evil. She doesn't have any enemies, that she's aware of, because most of the magical community think she's not worth being an enemy or ally and being genuinely kind most normal humans don't take issue with her either.

[bubby]

Okay lets see I prefer to answer posts in one so lets go.

bubby - Well as I said to Caela seems to be heading towards modern day, has this piqued your interest or is it too predictable? As for Leanansidhe, do you mean you want to get Mr Dresden himself involved in the story perhaps making a cameo with you coming along and making sure he goes to the ball, or that you just want to be the character and be a really powerful faerie lady causing havoc or that you want to be somebodies faerie god mother?

Modern works just fine with me. It's the Dresden verse I know, so my mind can wrap better around it. As for the rest, I know you said this 'verse would be more AU, but do you plan on having Harry in it at all? It would be great if there was a Harry to play off of, but I am very much leaning towards the true Lea. Second only to Mab of the Winter Court, playing havoc upon any or all characters.  >:)

[Cuchulainn]

So many woman...

...Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods.
Where's the street-wise Hercules, to fight the rising odds.
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream
of what I need!

Ahem...yea.

So! Q&A time.

Well folks looks like we have someone looking for a slighter older feel to it. Someone want to cast the deciding vote? Although I could be mean an make technology be fine and demand all witches have warts. Hey its canon.

So Ms. Caela what timezone where you thinking? Prohibition time? bunch of guys and dolls? Or perhaps the 70's white court vampires with Afro's hanging out in roller discos. Bio's fine, just a few questions, does she do anything with her magical talents or just study magic? Did she pick up a job in one of those fields or is she just living off Mummy and Daddy? Finally what kind of magic comes most naturally to her? Is she a magical wrecking ball like mister Dresden? Master of mental manipulation like are darling Molly? Perhaps another area? Defensive magic? Warding? Shape changing?

Helvorn -  I don't know anything about "conventional" roleplay with the dice and the structure and all that. Very competitive, I just enjoy the story aspect. A story where I contribute and can shape but at the same time there are bits I have no control over and can still leave me jumping for joy or crying out with despair at the plight of the characters. Is that sandbox?

bubby - The Faeire wild card? I like it, really hope some one is naive or desperate enough to make a deal with you, that would be very interesting. Most likely there will be no Dresden. In fact almost none of the characters from the books besides so of the Faeries or Nickleheads or members of the Council. You know the characters who tend to be left in the side lines a bit.

[Caela]

I don't have a specific decade in mind, just that I would like it to lean toward more modern because I think that would give more the feel of the Dresdenverse than making it a period story would. If someone has a specific time period they're jonesing to write in I am cool. :)

As for Em, she will use her magic but I haven't decided how, exactly yet, or what she'll have the strongest affinity for. Right now I am thinking that she will be a jack-of-all-trades but not the "wrecking ball" that Harry is. Since she'd have a different background, and will have been taught in different ways her methods won't be as off-the-cuff as Harry's often are. She'll be more precise in her casting. Sort of the difference between the wrecking ball you mentioned and a surgeons scalpel. She would be the sort of student that Bob often laments that Harry isn't! lol I think what I end up making her major affinity for though, will sort of depend on what time period we settle on and what is going on in the magical world at that time. After all if the Council were at open war with one, or more, of the vampire Courts than her family would have focused on things like defensive/protection magic and Warding so she'd be able to protect herself while they might be more lax in those areas if it's more a time of peace and just the normal internal infighting to deal with.

Like I said, she's a rough draft right now. I was really just getting some thoughts out more than anything.

[Cuchulainn]

Well Ms Caela it definitely seems like its going to be set in modern day to day. As for the vampire war the maximum that would be going for would be 5 years, although personally I don't think it would affect her affinity to much. That someones affinity is just sorta the way they are wired, its a good bit of nature not nurture. Its like say someone was born with a natural affinity for a certain sport, they could spend time learning other sports but they would always have that instinctive grasp of the one they where born for. That's how I sort of see it. As for the scalpel metaphor, so she may not be in the same power league as Mr Dresden but she makes up for it with skill and focus. Her magic is power saver the right amount of energy applied at the right spot rather than Harry's throw in a lot of power and see what happens.

One other thing you need to consider for a witch. Foci? Focuses? I want to see some interesting trinkets, don't want everyone running around with a blasting rod and bracelet. Let's see some creativity!

[Caela]

She is definitely more with the thoughtfully applied pressure than just blasting away at things until they break! I wouldn't necessarily say that she has less power then Harry, just that she's been taught to use it differently and she doesn't go out looking for trouble like he does so she's not had reason to try spells of the same magnitude. In truth she wouldn't really know where her limits would be energy-wise, because they haven't been tested that way.

Focuses...will have to think about those. Definitely not a blasting rod but I was actually thinking she might have a couple pieces of jewelry.

She'll have a natural affinity for Evocation and learned skill at Verisimilomancy (Illusion magic), the latter being helped by the fact that much of who she appears to be in her everyday life is a type of illusion. She'll have minor skills with other magics but Thaumaturgy and Psychomancy are particularly difficult for her and spells using them may not always turn out as intended.

[helvorn]

I like keeping the modern feel of the Dresden books.  If we are set in London then there is little worry about bumping into Harry.  We might run across the other two Knights of the Cross, Morgan and some of the Wardens from the books.

I'm thinking I would like to run a white court vampire after all.  Will that be a problem with people?  I'll sort of be the enemy... :)

[bubby]

We need more dudes in this game for it to work.... >.>

And no Harry works fine too cuchulainn, I have ideas a-brewing already..lol. At least for the little witch.. *Winks at Caela*

But seriously... we need more men...

[HairyHeretic]

I could maybe give things a go, but I warn you, my muse has been sucking pretty hard this last while, and I haven't been able to write much. I'm still hoping I can find something that will spark me back up, but so far it still hasn't happened.

Character-wise, my DFRPG character (my local pen and paper group) was Conor McCloud, a somewhat grumpy Scottish wizard. Freeform I've also had a member of the Venatori Umbrorum, an ex military black ops guy rescued from a Red Court lair in South America, and an assassin turned monster hunter in a different urban fantasy game.

I have another character, originally created for a Buffy game that might work well here. He's a sort of possessed, unwilling monster hunter. He was a small time thief who stole a sword that happened to be the home of a demon. The demon had been bound into the sword (Chinese broadsword) centuries before and held in a Buddhist temple. Surrounded by monks, immersed in Buddhism, it sort of .. went a bit strange. It decided to seek it's own Buddha nature, and repented through extreme violence towards other demons. If you're familiar with Journey to the West, and Sun Wukong becoming a better, well, demon, it's a similar idea.

During WW2, the sword was taken by a Japanese officer, retaken by an American one, and eventually stolen by our reluctant hero.

At any rate, it kinda .. compells him .. to fight demons, whereas putting his ass in danger is the last thing he wants to do. Unfortunately, if he doesn't, it can possess him, and he ends up doing it anyway. At least this way, he gets to fight on his terms, though with demon boosted physique.

I'm using demon here in the Chinese sense of the word, as opposed to the Western one.

[Cuchulainn]

Caela -  That all seems perfectly fine.

Helvorn - Yea it will most definitley be modern day by the looks of things. Not going to use Shiro, although his sword will most likely come into play. As for Sanya...I may keep him as a knight he is quite interesting. Also go ahead with the vampire I don't necessarily want everyone on the same side anyway, the general idea I have at the minute is a powerful artifact that everyone will want for their own reasons.

bubby - I know we need more men, hence me singing Bonnie Tyler. Go out and shake that booty, entice them in.

HairyHeretic - Who knows maybe a Dresdenverse filled with women will cure what ails you? As for the characters ideas, sure I could see a lot of them working. Although I would be slightly wary of the human turned monster hunter...that ain't an easy gig, sure look at Murphy the most competent human character in the series and she still struggles often enough but hey, up to you. As for the Chinese sword, again sure but would he still be compelled if he just let go of the sword? Would the sword still compel him to fight Judeo-Christian demons what with the fact they where once angels or is it merely the Chinese variety?

[bubby]

*Shoves Caela out to shake the booty cuz her own never really draws them in.*

[HairyHeretic]

HairyHeretic - Who knows maybe a Dresdenverse filled with women will cure what ails you? As for the characters ideas, sure I could see a lot of them working. Although I would be slightly wary of the human turned monster hunter...that ain't an easy gig, sure look at Murphy the most competent human character in the series and she still struggles often enough but hey, up to you.

Yes, but as you say, Murphy is pure human. This guy isn't, not any more.

As for the Chinese sword, again sure but would he still be compelled if he just let go of the sword?

Yep, he has a demon inside of him now. He doesn't know how it got there, what he did to let it out of the sword, but it's there now and shows no intention of leaving.

Would the sword still compel him to fight Judeo-Christian demons what with the fact they where once angels or is it merely the Chinese variety?

Any evil really.

[Cuchulainn]

and an assassin turned monster hunter in a different urban fantasy game.

Sorry though that was a human.

Anyway so sounds like you'd really prefer to go with magical sword guy, well to me he sounds a little like a white court vampire with the demon being fed by the desire to vanquish evil rather than steal the life force of mortals. So would his powers be similar to there's? The healing and the enhanced strength and speed?
Also anything evil, is evil defined by the wielders beliefs or does the demon have a clear cut view of what is evil perhaps based of the Budha's teachings? Would this give him a desire to say kill petty criminals such as himself and he would have to struggle against this? Also with the fact he is possessed, even if it is by a free formed demon that is quite happy to ride shot gun as long as he is going in the right direction, would he have some of the weakness of demons? Would holy places make him uncomfortable, faith, holy weapons, etc. Would crossing a threshold uninvited significantly reduce his powers?

[HairyHeretic]

Sorry though that was a human.

That one was. The closest fictional character I can think to compare him to is Edward in the Anita Blake books.

Anyway so sounds like you'd really prefer to go with magical sword guy, well to me he sounds a little like a white court vampire with the demon being fed by the desire to vanquish evil rather than steal the life force of mortals. So would his powers be similar to there's? The healing and the enhanced strength and speed?

The demons desire doesn't feed the power in the same way white court get. Think of it more like a weaker version of the Denarians (assuming you've got that far in the books).

In terms of powers .. mostly physical I would imagine, possibly a version of the Sight (though that might require the demon coming to the fore, with associated shapechanging going on), and an occasional bit of demonic information dispensed.

Also anything evil, is evil defined by the wielders beliefs or does the demon have a clear cut view of what is evil perhaps based of the Budha's teachings? Would this give him a desire to say kill petty criminals such as himself and he would have to struggle against this?

Probably not so much kill as receive a lecture on the need to rid the self of desire in order to obtain true happiness. At least if the mortal can't distract the demon with a nice, shiney 'much more evil thing' instead.

Also with the fact he is possessed, even if it is by a free formed demon that is quite happy to ride shot gun as long as he is going in the right direction, would he have some of the weakness of demons? Would holy places make him uncomfortable, faith, holy weapons, etc. Would crossing a threshold uninvited significantly reduce his powers?

Entirely possible. The threshhold affects all magical powers, innate or otherwise (as I understand it). The demon would probably be affected by some other stuff, but I'd need to check up on the weaknesses of Chinese demons before saying exactly what.

Here's a couple of possibilities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ox-Head_and_Horse-Face

or for something played more for amusement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huli_jing

The latter would probably need a bit of refining of the backstory somewhat .. or at least be a lot less concerned about obtaining a Buddha nature ;)

[Cuchulainn]

"And so it came to pass that the players took there final places,
Making ready the events that where to come..."

That all seems fine HairyHeretic, just make sure you note all this abilities in the bio.

So, a Sidhe lady, a witch, a white court vampire, and a possessed thief.

Still hoping to see a few more.

[bubby]

*Sends out her sirens song to get more TESTOSTERONE in the game.*

[Anon315]

I have an overabundance of that hormone, and am a fan of the Dresden books (MONTH AND A HALF). I could work up a character, given time.

[bubby]

WOO!