Interest check - 1930s Scion (Pulp)

[HairyHeretic]

Play me before reading on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bTpp8PQSog

"And has his holiness managed to produce anything of worth for us?" The tone was biting, the harsh Prussian accent easily recognisable as an aristocratic one, if one knew how to listen.

"The Fuhrer believes he is useful. Until that changes, we carry on as we have been. If nothing else, his hatred of the Bolsheviks makes him a willing tool. But to answer your question, yes, he has. Watch."

The lights in the room dimmed, then an explosion of light filled the air, streaming upwards and outwards from the centre of the table, forming a world that looked much like out own, but with one significant difference. A massive island, or perhaps a small continent, sitting in the Indian Ocean.

"Mein Gott!"

"Has he found it? Has that lunatic of a Russian actually found the location of Atlantis?"

"No." The tone held profound disappointment. "It may have been there millennia ago, but it's not there now."

Fireflies of light began to appear on the map, dotting around Africa, South East Asia and further afield.

"But while it may be gone, perhaps its outposts, its colonies, remain, lost to time and waiting for us to find them. The Fuhrer has decreed that we will seek these lost places out. We will find them, recover what we can from them, and perhaps they will lead us to Atlantis itself. If nothing else, their technology was supposed to be far in advance of anything seen before, or after. And it will be ours!"

"Signal the Werewolves. We have a go."

The year is 1936. Assisted by the legendary Mad Monk Rasputin, the Thule Society and Ahnenerbe Institute are searching the globe for secrets of lost Atlantis, determined to find it, unlock it's secrets and usher in the Third Reich's thousand year reign.

Opposing them are scattered individuals, drawn together by Fate and secret origins unknown to the rest of the world ...

Scion meets the Pulp Era. The Scions are dashing adventurers, femme fatales, plucky reporters, cocky smugglers, masked avengers and with the aid of intrepid sidekicks, mad science and a talent for trouble, they'll be taking on the nastiest that Nazi occult-science can produce, lost cities, ancient curses, legendary monsters, and perhaps the lost technology of ancient Atlantis itself.

   

So, anyone interested?

OOC thread

Prologue thread

Game thread

[Joel]

YAAASS!!!! me me memememememe
also what the hell how can you NOT be interested when you mix:

indiana jones + more nazis + fuckingwerewolves + pulp supernatural !!!

[HairyHeretic]

It's a universal rule, everyone likes punching Nazi's :)

[Joel]

Seriously, I demand details now!
givemegivemegiveme (at your earliest convenience)

seems to me the game might be organized around different factions?  or perhaps different agendas.

[HairyHeretic]

Well, that depends on the players and their characters. Scion gives a lot of freedom in terms of backgrounds, and moving it from a modern day setting to a pulp one isn't too big a stretch of the imagination.

Fate will ensure that they're drawn together where they need to be to get things started, probably somewhere in South East Asia.

I had an idea for a son of Mannanan MacLir, an *ahem* acquirer of hard to find artifacts, a smuggler, and one who was shot and left for dead after being double crossed by the Nazi's and rather than being drowned in the ocean he received his divine visitation and found out he was the son of a God. His old life ruined, he adopted a masked avenger persona to strike back at the Nazi's.

[Lustful Bride]

*plants interest flag* Though il need ot have a good long thought on how to make a character for this.

[HairyHeretic]

If I can be of any help, let me know.

[Joel]

*reads up on scion and already has several ideas....*

i guess, what would be helpful now is if we know more about the Nazi group looking for vestiges of Atlantis.  What sort of actions have they made, what sort of effects are there from these actions. 

[HairyHeretic]

Both the Thule Society and Ahnenerbe Institute are historical, though most people wouldn't know much about them. The players themselves, unless they have first hand knowledge (sorcerer or spy type backgrounds) probably wouldn't be aware of them. Keep in mind, no internet in this era, so information would be slower and harder to obtain.

Besides, if I tell you everything from the background, you lose out on the fun of discovering things in game and in character. :)

[Joel]

gotcha, so the nazi occultist group is not something that you can make a character for?

[HairyHeretic]

I'm afraid not, they're the bad guys in the story.

[Joel]

first off when you say, werewolf, do you literally mean werewolf?  and also, what if a werewolf under their control escaped from them?

[HairyHeretic]

You'll just have to wait and see, won't you? :)

[Foxy DeVille]

Sooooo down for this. Already got a few different character ideas bouncing in my noggin.

[Bloodied Porcelain]

Tentatively interested, pending some discussions with the illustrious GM ;)

[Lustful Bride]

If I can be of any help, let me know.

What would be kind of acceptable in this setting? I haven't read many pulp fiction aside from an issue or two of The Shadow and seeing the movie.  :P

[HairyHeretic]

What sort of characters, or .. ?

[Lustful Bride]

What sort of characters, or .. ?

Characters and gadgets/powers I mean.

Lasers would have to be 'Ray guns' right?

[HairyHeretic]

Well, powers would come from the regular Scion rules.

Characters, again, start with the base Scion rules, figure out what you want the character to be, and see what sort of adjustment might be needed to fit it to the era and theme.

Any kind of gadget that would fall outside of 'normal' tech of the time would either be a magical artifact, perhaps a lost piece of Atlantean magitech, or some weird science invention.

[Joel]

alright, im thinking maybe a son of Ares for this one if it's not totally lame to pick such a mainstream deity.  and it'd definitely be ares versus mars.  certainly -not- the heroic, roman deity.  i imagine the scion character would be some sort of mercenary without allegiances.  or he might be locked up somewhere.  he wouldn't have the sort of personality that fits modern society.  i'm still pondering the details of this. 

*edit* also staking claim on mr. t hardy for this role.

[Chulanowa]

Holy shit, LOVE me some pulp action. This kinda makes me want to pick up some scion books and learn the game.

[HairyHeretic]

If not knowing the system, or not wanting to use a system, is a problem, freeform is an option as well. I'm quite comfortable with system play, but happy to go with the majority.

A mercenary would be perfectly fitting for a son of Ares. Anywhere that you have combat, you could fit the character in.

[Tinkertoy]

Mister Hairy, I am staking a small claim with the proposal of a daughter of Hecate....more details to follow as I dork out on research. Tentative Bryce Dallas Howard faceclaim also.

Tinker out...

[HairyHeretic]

Quick show of hands from those interested ... freeform or system?

[Joel]

freeform based on a system. dice and numbers *hissss*

[Tinkertoy]

*raises hand* Freeform preferably by a mile, but reluctantly cool with system if the majority rules.

[Ixy]

Hi Hairy-- if this stays a relatively small group (like, no more than 5 players or so?) I would love to take part.  I still, yes, want to recycle the daughter of Artemis from your wild west game that kinda was but went poof.  I'm still open to other character concepts, so not trying to jump the gun here. 

I would, also, prefer freeform, but perhaps we'd start with sheets (of some sort, even if just descriptive... hint hint) just to give us an idea of what our characters can do, and to keep them balanced.  You would need to be the arbiter in some cases if we go that route, but I expect that with the right group of players, it would be mostly group-managed and we could keep drama and story as our goal without munchkining out on you.

The fear is that this thread will soon be swamped with zomgs and wonky futa shit, but if you decide to select some players and I'm one of them, I'd be glad to take part.

Rough concept at the get-go...

vanity post

   

Kate has vague dreams of the wild west, of the harbors along the Aegean, of the grit of horse-drawn New Orleans, but one thing never changes-- the intimate awareness that her hand is not complete without the grip of a weapon.  From one stormy-gray eye she stares into the world, but its missing twin's silver-orb surrogate sees so much more through its luminous lens, staring inexplicably into the depths of darkness, seeking the glinting truth of spirit in form... sighting the barrel of a .45.
Born in Gravesend, England, she was lucky enough to leave it behind for London-- just before the Blitz, of course.  After so many losses and so many nights on the streets, Kate's life has been a riotous thrashing spiral to the surface, from Government service to agent-out-of pocket, and she balances the rights and wrongs of a chaotic world on the knife's edge.

[Senti]

May i slip in I have played this game table top.
I am interested. I will look out the books. And my characters if thats ok?

Also have another game set in this era so checking on that (Heroes)

[Muse]

  Hi, Hairy!  This looks awesome, am I too late? 

  It looks like I might not have been fast enough... 

[Chrystal]

WOW, I'm in. Even if you do a system thing on this, I'm still in although I'll probably need a LOT of coaching because I hate systems with a vengeance.

But the idea is too good to pass up.

[HairyHeretic]

General consensus seems to be a preference for freeform, so that should make it easier.

I'll likely use the rulebooks for background material, and help designing powers and relics that people would like to use.

We seem to have a good crowd interested, so I'll set up an OOC thread and we can discuss details there. I'll update the thread once I have it set up.

[Kadigan]

This looks really interesting, and I generally prefer freeform.

[Phaia]

I claim responsibility  :o :o  for giving Hairy this idea!!!!  O:)  >:) >:) >:)

If ya need another person or an NPC!! Let me know!

Phaia

[HairyHeretic]

It's true, blame Phaia :P

I think we still have room for you :) If there are sufficient large numbers of players, it would always be possible to have two (or more) groups running, with players crossing paths as Fate decrees it :)

OOC thread is up

[Ixy]

I claim responsibility  :o :o  for giving Hairy this idea!!!!  O:)  >:) >:) >:)

If ya need another person or an NPC!! Let me know!

Phaia

ltns :)

(beckoning finger) Ve haf vays of meking ju talk...

[Muse]

  Ack... 

  Um, if youre doing two groups, I don't suppose you'd consider one freeform and the other system? 

[HairyHeretic]

I'd prefer a single group, but depending how many people want to play, it may be easier with two groups. That's not set in stone.

Trying to mix system and freeform for separate characters in the same game would be a massive headache though. I'm sure any system gamer would be able to write their character freeform, keeping to the guidelines the system would have though.

[Muse]

  *nods*  I only mentioned it because ou mentioend two diferent groups. 

  With a group this awesome I might even play freeform. 

[HairyHeretic]

No worries :)

[Chrystal]

Sorry, this has turned out to be too complicated for my feeble mind.

I am withdrawing.

[HairyHeretic]

Hi Chrystal

I'm afraid I was busy elsewhere and didn't get a chance to reply to your posts til now. If you're still interested I'd be happy to run through whatever you wanted to discuss.

[Joel]

hey harry.  i'm being all extra-curricular and made up a rough scion sheet to just get a sense of the system/attributes.  my question though is, how uniform do you imagine the starting characters to be in terms of 'level'.  or put another way, do you imagine that the characters have only recently been visited by their divine parent or might that have occurred sometime in the past for some of the characters.

[HairyHeretic]

I've just put a post sort of along those lines in the OOC thread. If you want to go game terms, we'd probably be talking visitation in the last year or two, and the characters themselves in the Legend 3-4 range, enough that they'd have some variety in power level, abilities and so on. I'm keeping it fairly generic since we're going freeform.

[Phaia]

Heya Ixy...I posted in OOC

Phaia

[Bloodied Porcelain]

After putting some more thought in to it, I don't think I have the time to research and brain storm or required knowledge of the Scion lore to be a part of this after all. It looks like a fabulous idea, but I'm not in a place or time irl to be able to devote the effort to really get comfortable enough with the game's lore to pull it off.

Have fun guys, and Hairy, thanks for the invite and entertaining my pestering questions.

[Garuss Vakarian]

YAAASS!!!! me me memememememe
also what the hell how can you NOT be interested when you mix:

indiana jones + more nazis + fuckingwerewolves + pulp supernatural !!!

I also sense a bit of League of Extraordinary gentlemen in there. Is that just me? None the less :P I am very much interested. Start that Indiana Jones theme again, cuz I'm jumping in. lol

[HairyHeretic]

After putting some more thought in to it, I don't think I have the time to research and brain storm or required knowledge of the Scion lore to be a part of this after all. It looks like a fabulous idea, but I'm not in a place or time irl to be able to devote the effort to really get comfortable enough with the game's lore to pull it off.

Have fun guys, and Hairy, thanks for the invite and entertaining my pestering questions.

No worries. If you change your mind, you're welcome to pester me with whatever questions you like :)

I also sense a bit of League of Extraordinary gentlemen in there. Is that just me? None the less :P I am very much interested. Start that Indiana Jones theme again, cuz I'm jumping in. lol

No, the LoEG would also work pretty well as a part of this setting. :)

[Joel]

this thing is so awesome you know you want to join!

[Crash]

Are you still accepting Hairy?

[Crash]

I was thinking of playing her....

Name: Ami Ellison
Calling: Librarian
Nature: Pedagogue
Pantheon: Pesedjet
God: Thoth

Age: 26
Build: Slender
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 115 lbs
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Brown
Languages: English

Willpower: 6

Legend: 3
Legend Points:   9/9

EXP    0/0

Attributes

(0BP)
Strength:    2   
Dexterity:   2
Stamina:    3

Perception:    2
*Intelligence:    5**
*Wits:      4**

Charisma:      2
Manipulation:    4*
Appearance:    3

Abilities

Abilities, Favored (4BP)
Academics: 5
Investigation: 3
Integrity: 3
Occult: 5
Politics: 1
Science: 3

Abilities: Other (2BP)
Animal Ken:
Athletics:
Art (History): 2
Awareness:  2         
Brawl                 
Command               
Control: Automobile: 2
Craft:       
Craft:
Empathy:       
Fortitude: 2             
Larceny
Marksmanship                   
Medicine
Melee: 3           
Politics
Presence: 4           
Stealth
Survival                 
Thrown                   

Virtues

Conviction: 2                   
Harmony: 3   
Order: 3   
Piety: 1

Birthrights

(4 BP)

Blessed Khopesh of Khonsu (Relic ••)
Accuracy +1, Moon Purview

Book of Ogdoad (Relic •••)
The precursor to the Book of Thoth it holds the same curse towards thieves (Pg 165).  The book gives access to Mystery, Magic

Canopic Jars (Follower ••, Relic •)
Summons 5 mummies

Boons

Magic (••)
THE UNLIDDED EYE (•)
Dice Pool: Perception + Occult
Cost: 1 Willpower
This spell allows its caster to see magic and supernatural powers that are normally invisible to mortal sight. It also faintly reveals the threads of Fate that entwine people, revealing strong or thick threads and allowing the caster to determine a Scion’s or other supernatural being’s Legend score.

EVIL EYE (••)
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Presence
Cost: 1 Legend
The caster curses a single target with a withering glance or insulting gesture. Success levies a dice penalty on the dice pool for the target’s next action (i.e., the next action for which dice need to be rolled). One die is subtracted per dot of the caster’s Presence (or one die if the caster has no rating in this Ability). Each success on the casting affects one additional roll. For example, if the caster rolls three successes, he affects the next three rolls made for the target.

Mystery (••)
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Mystery
To use this Purview, the Scion clears her head and looks at the World around her without analysis or expectation. Based on what she sees, the character makes heretofore-denied intuitive leaps of logic as objects in the World around her spark off subconscious connections. The player then rolls her character’s (Intelligence + Mystery), without adding bonus successes from Epic Intelligence. The player may then ask her Storyteller pointed, specific questions about various events that have occurred in game—one question per success on the roll. The Storyteller need not expound upon his answers (they can be quite terse and to the point, in fact), but he must answer them as honestly and directly as he can.

Using this Purview cannot reveal facts about things that will happen in the future, nor can a character use it to gain insight into events that don’t concern either her or the members of her heroic Band. The player can use this effect to gain knowledge only once per story. She can reroll a failed roll until she gets a success, but on a botch she gets no information and she cannot use Mystery again until the next story.

Smoking mirror (Moon •)
Dice Pool: None
Cost: 1 Legend
By looking up at the moon and spending the requisite Legend point, the character sees reflected in it a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding terrain. This perspective allows a clear view of a radius in miles equal to the Scion’s Legend. The Scion may focus on any point in the reflection and see it clearly, but he can’t see through physical objects or change the angle from the top-down perspective. This Boon doesn’t function on new moon nights, but it can see down through thick clouds on any other night. If the moon is visible during the day, the Scion can use this Boon then as well.

Knacks

(6BP)
Language Master
Cost: N/A
Learn a language by hearing a few sentences.

Fast Learner
1/2 xp to learn Academics, Medicine, Occult, Politics or Science.

Instant Translation
Cost: N/A
Read anything

Jack of all Trades
Cost: 2L
Add Epic Wits dots as bonus successes to abilities with no dots in them.

Instant Assessment
Cost: 1L
Instantly assess another's combat abilities in relation to your own.

Talent Mirror
Cost: 2L/Pool
Copy someone else's dice pool or DV. Usable once plus once per extra Legend spent to activate. A DV may be copied up to (Legend times).

Overt Order
Sometimes, the direct method is more effective than the cleverest of intricate schemes. With this Knack, a Scion barks out a command that the target must obey. Doing so costs one Willpower, and the command must be one the Scion can give and the victim can perform in a single action. “Freeze!” is acceptable, as is, “Don’t shoot!” or, “Shoot him!” Ordering someone to go home and shoot his wife won’t work because doing so would take longer than a single action.

Combat

Unarmed Heavy:
Speed        5
ACC (+0)        -1   
Damage        +2B
Defense (-2)   

Unarmed Light
Speed        4   
ACC            +1
Damage        +0B
Defense (+1)

Blessed Khopesh
Speed       5
ACC (+)     +1 
Damage   +4L
Defense  +2

Dodge DV: 3

Parry DV: 4

Soak (Piercing):
Bashing: 3       
Lethal: 2
Aggravated:

Health:
-0            ( )
-0            ( )( )
-0            ( )( )
-2            ( )
I                      ( )
D                    ( )

Goddess of Librarians and Hidden Secrets
Favored Abilities: Same as Thoth
Associated Powers: Epic Intelligence, Epic Wits, Mystery, Magic, Heku, Moon
Rivals: Hecate


Ami was the result of her mother’s fling with a visiting professor during her final year as a graduate student at Oxford.  She had no idea that the dashing Professor of Archaeology was actually the Egyptian God Thoth.  He was vacationing for a decade or two touring universities for excelling students to teach and Ami’s mother caught his attention.   She has a brilliant mind and went on to being one of the leading Scientist in her field.  She married a scientist and they raised their precocious young daughter Ami who appeared to be smarter than the both of them.

Ami’s parents continually offered metal stimulus for their daughter, but little loving contact.  They were extremely busy professionals and placed her intellectual well-being before all else.  It appeared to be a success as Ami was by far the smartest girl in school and excelled at any academic subject placed before her.  She graduated high school at the age of 10 and the sky was the limit.

It came as a shock to her parents when she chose Library Science as her major.  Ami could have been a world class doctor or scientist and her parents couldn’t understand why their daughter would throw those careers away to be a librarian.  They tried threatening, bribing, cajoling, anything to get her to change her mind but she was a stubborn young woman and her parents gave up on trying to dissuade her from her choice figuring it would simply be one of many degrees their daughter would achieve.  They failed to understand the depth and breadth of Ami’s insatiable thirst for knowledge. She would stay at a library only long enough to squeeze every ounce of secret contained in its dusty tomes and then move on to the next.

It was at the Oxford University Bodleian Library that she met her real father in the guise of an old librarian who was hired to see to the restoration of new found collection of ancient Egyptian documents found at Hermopolis.  He guided her towards the mysterious Book of Ogdaod, the precursor to the cult of Thoth and the exploration of the spells and incantations within.  It was then that he revealed himself and told her about her divine heritage.  It almost drove her mad.  She had been wrapped in logic and reason from a child and existence of Gods and magic torn at everything she knew to be real.  Thoth cured her building madness and placed her on her current path giving her tools to help protect herself from titanspawn and charging her with gathering any information she could find to defeat and imprison the titans and their spawn once more.

Ami knows she is no physical match against the titanspawn so she fights from behind the scenes, digging up information that other heroes can use in the fight against the titans.  She still craves knowledge and is willing to place herself in danger to get it, something that concerns her real father who would rather she continue to work behind the scenes and use others to do the dirty work for her as her mind is much too valuable to lose.

[Joel]

awesome!

[HairyHeretic]

Are you still accepting Hairy?

I am. It's a freeform game though, so you don't need to worry too much about the stats. Have a wander over to the OOC thread and you can see what people have got so far.

[Crash]

Sounds good!

[Tinkertoy]

I just wanted to give this a big old bumpity-bump!

Also, I am SOOOO close to having my character finished, only 900 words of history and I'm 2/3 of the way through it....I am so sorry, Hairy. You're going to get this thing and be like, "Urrrgh...TLDR, honey...APPROVED ANYWAY!"