|
click me for soundtrack For many days you’ve wandered west, to the rugged lands where the long reach of destiny made manifest by God begins to wane and that which your children will call Arizona. The journey was long and arduous, but finally you have found your way to the bustling streets of Redemption - a turbulent mining boomtown, wholly unprepared to face the fact how rapidly its reserves of silver are dwindling. But that's none of your concern. You’ve come to this place to search for a very particular man. The elusive Hangman, spoken about only in whispers and ravings of heedless drunks.  This dapper man of impeccable manners is known to resurface every few years to host the Tournament - a grand poker event, whose winner is said to be granted their innermost desire. Provided they’re able to beat the Hangman himself, of course. Many good men have lost their fortunes, lives or minds in pursuit of Hangman’s fabled gift. Even though the Tournament has a surprisingly cheap entry fee - a simple waiver of your immortal soul, in case you cannot return your chips to the house. But the red-gloved man has never been your concern, has he? It’s always been those fifty one other fools also willing to go all-in. Well, you’ll have to find a way to deal with them. You have to. You’ve already set your eyes on the prize and ain’t letting nobody snatch it from your hands. You straighten your hat and step through the batwing doors of New Jerusalem. After all, the only thing left between you and your wildest dreams is but a fistful of damnation. -----  A Fistful of DamnationHello and welcome to my little experiment in which I try to pull off a noir western game. If you’d like a chance to gamble your soul away in hopes of striking a deal with the devil himself, read on! The recruitment will be open for two weeks, until the end of September 7. With regards to time zones, this effectively means “when I finally wake up on Saturday, GMT+1”. The game is will be played on the forum, but we also have a place at a cozy little Discord server to shoot the poo poo or play out bits featuring heavy back-and-forth, like a prolonged dialogue. Hit up Virric or Peligin there (The Unlife Aquatic and 9IronSwingersClub on the forums, respectively) to ensure all your access permissions work as intended.  Style and expectationsThe game is planned to be somewhat improvisational and freeform, akin to how * World games are played. Namely, I’m armed in ideas and troubles for you to encounter, rather than a fixed, overarching plot. The players are expected to embroil themselves in entertaining troubles and every once in a while will be asked to fill out some blanks to flesh the world out. The intended tone is noir - cynical, but not grimdark. Virtue is the harder path, but if you grit your teeth hard enough, ultimately you’ll be able to make the world a slightly better place.  Are we a party, or is it every man for himself?The latter, with alliances and betrayals springing up as you see fit. PvP is allowed and even somewhat encouraged*. I mean, it’d be a bit of a shame if you gunned each other down by the third post, but working at cross-purposes and using others to achieve your goals is cool & good. Basically, if it’d fly in Apocalypse World, it’ll fly here. Lie, cheat, steal, kill, win. After all, it's the only thing that counts. … It is, right? ... Right? * You’ll find out mistreating other players and allowing yourself to be betrayed are actually very effective advancement and quality management strategies.  About the systemThe game uses Greg Stolze's ORE system, in the A Dirty World variation. If you're familiar with it - it's pretty much taken wholesale, I've only renamed professions to better fit the setting. If it's your first encounter with the game, don't worry - the second post contains a crash course in the system you should read before tackling character creation. Is this wild west or weird west?Uh, low-key weird? As of writing, the game's central premise is the only supernatural element I have planned. I’m fine with it staying this way, I’m fine with you spinning cool stories about how no grave can hold your body down until you avenge your killer. Just try to keep within realms of a fireplace tale, one that could possibly be disbelieved by other frontiersmen. This is a western, so should I make a shootyman? Is Deceit the required stat for poker bluffing?Don't you worry, it’s noir first, cowboy hats second. A gun is admittedly one of the finest solutions to dealing with unsavoury types, but the focus of this game is on the characters and their striding through a bog of sin and deceit, rather than your classic adventuring. Just go for something cool and interesting! As for the cardplay: as it is such a crucial part of the concept, there will be some proper gambling scenes - expect showcasing one or two key hands as a summary of given night’s worth of poker. These will work as competitive social-ish encounters where we’ll fly a bit fast and loose with stats to facilitate all character types. So while Deceit is obviously useful for bluffs, you’ll be able to leverage Courage to maintain a calm poker face, Observation to read your opponents or, gently caress it, maybe even Generosity to pressure with aggressive bets. Better yet, use your skills to stack the game in your favor. Slip in marked cards, cut a deal with an opponent or whack them in an alley. If you want to play your cards honestly, that’s not only fine, but commendable. As long as there’s something that could be considered an edge, the cards won’t be left to fate. So will this be hold'em, draw or stud or what?Goddamn, don't you have better things to worry about? It's all fixed anyway. Well, if you do need to know, it'll be the anachronistic pick of your familiar Texas Hold'em - it's just the best mix of drama potential and recognizability. Character CreationStandard character creation Rules apply: you get a free point of Vigor, one of the Professions below and then spend 40 points: - 1 pt per Quality point, - 3 pts per Identity point, - 2 pts per Specialty, - 3 pts for each additional Profession. Professions: Academic (generosity, demonstration) Ingénue (purity, honesty) Femme fatale (corruption, deceit) Don’t worry about formatting too much: chosen apps will be converted into a joint google sheet, as keeping track of their shifting state is so crucial. Additionally, pick a dangerous secret held by your character. At the very least it should be something embarrassing (drug habit! Forbidden love!), though more humiliating or damning ones will net you extra creation points, up to 3 pts for the kind of truth that would leave you disgraced, jailed or dead if ever revealed. DO NOT POST the secret with the rest of your application - ping me a private message on the forums or the provided Discord server and we'll work out its worth in points. Once the players are picked and the game begins, each secret will be passed to another player - and I sure as hell ain't telling how who gets whose. With the mechanics out of the way, please provide a short description of your character and answer these few questions: It's not that easy to learn about the Tournament, let alone weasel your way in. How did you manage that? How do you know this whole soul gambling and wish granting thing isn’t bullshit? Are you even sure of that? Just between you and me, what is it that you crave so badly to risk your life and soul for? Are you that bold or that desperate? (In the likely case this one flies really close to your secret, just be vague or say how it appears outwardly. Make it a tease for those trying to figure you out!) Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Aug 24, 2018 |
#
?
Aug 24, 2018 18:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 11:27 |
|
|
ORE Mechanics primer Grab the character and cheat sheets here. No, really, take a look at these. They’re only two pages to skim and that'll save me half the word count on explaining what’s an Identity and what’s a Quality. Also, the graphical layout of the character sheet makes it pretty clear how exactly things are connected. What’s on the character sheetWhen it comes to rolling the bones, you add the pips in a relevant Identity and Quality pair and roll that many d10s. For example, if you wanted to see through a bluff, you’d roll Understanding + Persuasion. The provided character sheets explains the most typical pairings. Qualities are linked into pairs - as your state changes, you’ll often be asked to ‘slide’ a pip to the opposing quality. The paired Qualities also serve as limits to each other - you cannot have more than seven pips in a single pair. Identities work pretty much the same way, but are somewhat more resilient - they only get messed with if you get hit really bad, or you’re forced to take a pip from an empty quality from the same group - leaving an empty dump stat will leave you vulnerable! How the empty qualities spill out should be fairly apparent from the character sheet layout - for example, empty Defiance grabs a pip from Grace, while Purity would be connected to Understanding. When you lose all pips in one of the left-side Identities (Patience, Vigor, Understanding) bad stuff happens (you go berserk, are dying or succumb into despair, respectively). Try to avoid that. Your character will also have a Profession and might have a Specialty. Profession is taken from a list and allows you to treat two otherwise unrelated Qualities as a pair. For example, an Outlaw forced to slide a pip off their Wrath could put it both in courage and defiance. Profession’s name is just a word - you don’t have to be a slave to it. Specialty reflects narrow expertise that allows you to do thing GM probably wouldn’t allow just anyone on strength of their stats - if you’d like to do a heart surgery or play a concert at Carnegie, you better take an appropriate Specialty. Specialties don’t affect the dice in any way - they just allow you to do/attempt things you otherwise couldn’t do. Oh, there’s also the Combat Potential - it’s simply a sum of your current Vigor, Grace, Courage and Wrath. It’s essentially a tiebreaker for when you face someone in combat and it is not obvious from the context who’s the advantaged side (like only one party being armed). This is important for determining whether Courage or Wrath is the appropriate quality in a given situation. Rolling diceSo we’ve rolled a bunch of d10s, what now? Now, we look for sets - several dice showing the same result. The amount of matching dice is called width and their value is called the height. Width shows how quickly and intensely something happens. It’ll define what’s essentially damage - whether you forcibly move someone’s pips around or maybe straight up erase it altogether. Also, in cases where initiative is imperative (winning a fast draw duel, ducking behind cover before the bullets start flying) widths will be compared to see if your action was fast enough to even matter. Height indicates how much circumstance favors the action, or how difficult it is to stop. Honestly, it’s more important in more simulationist versions of the system where it defines fancy stuff like which body part you’ve hit. Here, it’ll only really matter when trying to oppose people or maybe some tiebreaking. When acting with intent to stop some other action being rolled, you spend your set to remove dice from you opponent’s set, one-per-one. If you reduce them down to a single die, it’s no longer a set and therefore a failure. If not - well, a narrower set will hurt less. However, you can only do this if your set has equal or higher height than the one you’re trying to oppose (this can get juicy if there’s several things happening at once). In an unopposed roll, all you have to do to succeed is to get a set at all. I might add difficulty by requiring a minimal height of the roll, but that’s for exceptional circumstances. Oh, and you can voluntarily remove a die from you pool to either: make a called shot: set another die at a desired value instead of rolling it; multitask: for each die removed, you can use additional set from your roll for an extra, simultaneous action. Alternatively, if you take your time and do an action in twice the usual time, you get to add a single die to your pool. The other way to boost your roll is by using a weapon, exploiting a secret or springing a nasty surprise. These will be rated from 1 to 3 dice and may be used in two ways: add them to your pool to have a greater chance to roll a set, add them to a set you’ve just rolled, to increase it’s width. Change and advancementAt the end of every scene, you may slide a pip from a single Quality to its counterpart, as long as you can explain what prompted your internal change. At the end of each Tournament night (end of a chapter) you may either slide an Identity pip instead, or trade a pip from two Qualities for an Identity point, according to the following price table: Patience = Generosity + Demonstration Cunning = Selfishness + Observation Vigor = Courage + Endurance Grace = Wrath + Defiance Understanding = Purity + Honesty Persuasion = Corruption + Deceit As for gaining Quality pips, it’s a matter of taking particular actions specified in the cheat sheet: Generosity: Help the unwilling. Selfishness: Steal from the trusting. Demonstration: Understand something new. Observation: Get taken by surprise. Courage: Win an even or disadvantageous fight. Wrath: Torment the helpless. Endurance: Survive a physical confrontation. Defiance: Be scorned. Purity: Right a wrong at cost, without duress. Corruption: Torment on purpose, for no gain. Honesty: Suffer from being deceived. Deceit: Have your faith betrayed. You do that, you get the point, unless perhaps it was utterly, bullshittingly trivial. The only limit is that you can get a single pip per scene. PSA: Note that the mechanics are intentionally rigged so that it’s easier to descend into corruption than to crawl back up. Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Aug 24, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2018 18:09
|
|
|
poo poo this sounds amazing. I'll have to read up on the rules since I don't know that system at all but the setting is my jam. Could you give a broad estimate of how many players you are considering? I assume you're not going to run this with 52 people 
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2018 20:18
|
|
|
Your standard number, something around four? I'm one of those guys who tend to take on too many players and crumbles under their weight, so I want to properly mull over what I'm able to really tackle. Also, I expect to get a good estimation over the recruitment period of what my irl workload over the next few months will be, which could obviously impact the decision. PS. The 52 motherfuckers battle royale is obviously mostly a card deck thing, but also an acknowledgement of how quickly the contestant pool would melt, given most tables ain't exactly 1v1.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2018 20:35
|
|
|
Unfortunately, things didn't click into place like I hoped. Best of luck with the game, everyone!
Tricky fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Sep 3, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2018 20:49
|
|
|
Hop on the linked Discord channel! I'm glad to answer all kind of questions and post examples.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2018 21:02
|
|
|
 Lady Adelaide Von Beurwitz The train whistle screams. Adelaide pinches the bridge of her nose. She hates trains. Too loud, too noisy, too much shaking. Hard to watch the exits, people's hands, their expressions. She's a watcher at heart. Always has been. It's how she got this far, what's dragging her towards the edge of this continent. A hand on her shoulder. Adelaide spins around, almost expecting the barrel of a gun. There's only a smiling young lady. "Oh goodness, aren't you Lady Beurwitz?" She says nervously. Adelaide smiles. Yes, yes she is. She invites the woman to take a seat across her. Small talk, shared glances. She's a pretty one. Thinks she's the real deal, an actual magician. She keeps her feeling that way. "Lady" Adelaide offers her a discounted seance. The train stops for the night in some nameless town. The bar. Drinks. A room. Adelaide knows the girl won't forget this night, or the tab she racked up in their names. But she might forget about a few earrings, a necklace or two. She didn't really need that many, did she? Adelaide gets back on the train, alone, feeling much better. It's not that easy to learn about the Tournament, let alone weasel your way in. How did you manage that? Lady Adelaide is an "occultist" - swindling the idle rich men (and their beautiful wives) with stories of the supernatural, throwing around names the right names and terms like so much spice, hosting "seances". It's a good way to make a living back east, if you play it carefully. That's never been hard for Adelaide. She got word of the Tournament from some fop or another, paid the right people to learn more, and then paid even more for an invitation. How do you know this whole soul gambling and wish granting thing isn’t bullshit? Are you even sure of that? "Lady" Adelaide doesn't know, and she doesn't like that. Not at all. That's the problem with "magic" - nobody wants to tell you what's horseshit and what's real because no one wants to look like they've been hoodwinked. Just between you and me, what is it that you crave so badly to risk your life and soul for? Are you that bold or that desperate? Adelaide is addicted to the look on people's eyes when they think she has power. Real power - but it always ends up feeling hollow and cold. It's an act. Just another lie in the sequence of lies that make up her life. She wants the real deal, she needs the real deal. quote:Professions: Cardsharp/Femme Fatale The Unlife Aquatic fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Aug 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2018 23:27
|
|
|
Simon Jonah Alexandro Barrow-Cruz "Simon is plenty, thank you." "When I was young, my grandfather would tell me about that time when he, an humble employee of the local ranchero, walked right up to the local gold-seeker, a weezy old man with a huge grey beard that covered his chest, and said: 'I'll pay you one hundred dollars worth of equipment in exchange for three hundred worth of gold when you find it'. Everyone told him he was crazy, that there was no gold in California, that he was blowing his life's savings on a crazy old adventurer's ramblings. But grandpa, as it turned out, knew what he was talking about and soon enough the old man came back to him, laughing and crying and pushing a bag full of gold in his hand. That gold, clearly, was invested right away in more mining equimpent and so the fortunes of the Barrow family were made. (Dad later married a firebrand local ranchera so proud of her heritage that she would not simply accept her husband's name and we became the Barrow-Cruz family, but that's another story.) Well, the long and short of it is, by the time I was born we were an established and respected mining family, with the money to send their youngest scion to a fancy college back in London Town and learn engineering. Grandpa was tired of having to rely on others to know the details of the trade, and wanted someone who could make sure they were not skimping on us. And so off to London I went, my suitcase in hand and an head full of advice and recommendations and good wishes. I won't bore you with a recount of my school years. Let's just say that when I returned, I set out to work out how to improve our mining business. We dug deeper, we used more explosives, we hired two more shifts. My family was prospering, and so was the city. And then there was the accident. A collapse. Three miners dead. Five more survived only to be buried alive in the stone. We tried to get them out, to blow up the obstruction, but..." He looks regretfully at where his left hand used to be.  "It couldn't be done. We destroyed that rock and more just kept falling down. Poor bastards." He grips the edge of the table and clears his throat. "We had to close the mine. The families of the miners, they... they have it in for us. Me, especially. They say that it was my digging, my fancy city techniques that caused this. That I should have prevented it." His nostrils flare. "Maybe I should have. But I can make things right." It's not that easy to learn about the Tournament, let alone weasel your way in. How did you manage that? I heard of this tournament, of all things, through a letter. It arrived soon after the incident. At first I thought it was a joke in bad taste, but some of the details it mentioned were... unsettlingly correct. Details that are not publically known, you understand. The fact that I was personally invited to attend makes me especially nervous. How do you know this whole soul gambling and wish granting thing isn’t bullshit? Are you even sure of that? Having witnessed firsthand people of so many walks of life gathering for this tournament, I've come to the conclusion that if this is a scam, it is a very unusual one since not everyone who's come to participates is wealthy. And if this is a prank, well, it is a very strange, very well-organized one. And considering that letter I got... I think I'm inclined to take our host's word on this. Just between you and me, what is it that you crave so badly to risk your life and soul for? Are you that bold or that desperate? I want to undo the damage I've done, and possibly bring back my family's fortune. Perhaps there's a way to accomplish both if I phrase my wish just right... quote:Profession paradoxGentleman fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Sep 9, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2018 11:20
|
|
|
 Lenora Meinhardt Lenora dumps the bag of furs out on the countertop. A couple beavers and a female lynx. Tough old mother - one of Lenora’s charges thought it was a good idea to stray out of camp and near its kittens. He didn’t make it back in the end, nor should he have in her mind. Her job is to guide the cityfolk through the Yukon to whatever piece they want surveyed or claimed, not to babysit them and keep their fingers out of the stove. “We lost one this time, André.” Lenora says it in monotone. That’s just the way of things in nature, doesn’t do anyone good to pout about it. The old man of the sundries shop inspects the furs. “I’d have expected as much, this time of year. Don’t beat yourself up too much for it. I suspect you be having another contract right about soon?” “Not this time, I’m afraid. I came to say farewell. I’m going away for a bit and I shan’t know when I will be back. Down south a ways. Here’s the rest of the money on the traps, and I’ll take a gripper of whiskey for the furs.” “Oh, there will probably be a mean rumor going around I left one of the Holtzen boys, the mining family, dangling off a cliff by his finger for too long ‘intentionally’. You and I both know the truth of it, but the other surveyors should be aware. I don’t trust those gem-rakers to be grateful for getting out alive. Might try to cheat the payment on their next land deed as revenge.” quote:Profession: Lawwoman (Courage/Endurance) It's not that easy to learn about the Tournament, let alone weasel your way in. How did you manage that? “Some rich lechers couldn’t keep their mouth shut about such a secret. Guess they thought it was something they could brag about knowing, or want to convince others around them to be wary of entering. They want to think themselves strong and wise enough to win. Rumors become more or less substantiated with enough leverage applied. Whole lot of good their strength or wisdom did for them. It’ll take more to win. It’ll take keeping your drat mouth shut.” “And that I did, all the way to America and New Jerusalem.” How do you know this whole soul gambling and wish granting thing isn’t bullshit? Are you even sure of that? “I’ve had to take up more than my fair share of offers from landed thieves who had no intention of paying what is owed. I let it get the best of me once or twice before I understood the game at work - leverage. They thought I might have nowhere to go, no one to talk to, and that I’m just a mountain-addled hermit. So they don’t need to pay me. But out in the wilderness, it doesn't take long to instruct someone that whatever coin they wanted to keep from me isn’t going to follow them to the afterlife.” “If it does turn out to be bullshit, well - I’m still going to be compensated for what I’m owed. I’ll make drat sure of it.” Just between you and me, what is it that you crave so badly to risk your life and soul for? Are you that bold or that desperate? “Some peace and quiet would be nice. I like the forests. Wolves howling in the night. The tension of shining eyes in the dark, knowing they’re more afraid of you than you are of them.” “But someone has to finance my expeditions, and that’s where other people have to come in and bother me. It’s time to settle down and I don’t want to do it anywhere else. This will be my last time in civilization, one way or another.” 9IronSwingersClub fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Aug 26, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2018 22:57
|
|
|
 John Fleischer John Fleischer is a man in his mid twenties who looks like he is in his thirties or forties due to the weathering of his skin and face - which are leathery and rough. He has long greasy brown hair partially obscured by a beat up stetson hat. His eyes are green. He a great deal of beard stubble - it is clear he does nothing maintain his facial appearance, but he is unable to grow a real beard. Half his teeth are missing or blackened and dead. He is short and skinny. HIs clothes are unkempt and worn. He avoids eye contact habitually and looks at floor while he walks or in conversation, however seems to utilize his peripheral vision quite a lot. There is a dull thud and another dull thud and another. John can't remember exactly why there are two men kicking him in the middle of a muddy main street. He's pretty sure it has to do with something he has done - based on the strong smell of alcohol flooding his nostrils. There is another dull thud, John feels the shock vibrating through the bones in his face, but there is no pain just a weird feeling of being outside his own body. He can sense the man's boot coming around again and he makes a lunge for the other leg. The man collapses and John is on top of him in an instant, he rains blows down onto the man's face, he can feel the man's nose break under his fist and with another blow the man John is straddling goes limp. It takes a moment, but John realizes the other man has been screaming at John to get off his partner, a pistol in his hand leveled at John. John slowly begins to rise as he does so he notices a revolver still in the incapacitated man's hip holster, he dives for it clumsily, muddy nerveless hands snatching it out of its holster. There is an audible click - John looks up - the barrel of the man's pistol is jammed with a squid load. John calmly aims the revolver. He fires and the man sinks to the ground clutching his gut blood spurting from the wound. John considers putting another round into the man to finish off the man, but he has seen the agonizing way in which a shot in the gut can kill a man and has no interest in alleviating the man's suffering. Time to leave another town. quote:Profession: Outlaw It's not that easy to learn about the Tournament, let alone weasel your way in. How did you manage that? “When I came into town I had nothing but the clothes on my back.” “Went into the first bar I saw and inside some slick lookin fella offered me some drinking money - said all I had to do was enter some sort of competition and try to win it for him.” How do you know this whole soul gambling and wish granting thing isn’t bullshit? Are you even sure of that? “My soul ain’t worth spit. Already know i’m going to roast when I kick the bucket.” Just between you and me, what is it that you crave so badly to risk your life and soul for? Are you that bold or that desperate? "I've done worse for less." MinutePirateBug fucked around with this message at 11:04 on Oct 11, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2018 07:42
|
|
|
The assorted motley of saints, sinners and everything in-between steadily dripped onto the dusty streets of Redemption over several days, under the distrustful eye of sheriff Holt. The Hangman has spent most of this time meeting and greeting the newcomers - seemingly enjoying the process much more than setting the Tournament up, as all questions about the game to be played had been brushed off with a tired sigh, reassurance that all will come in time or simply handing over the more stubborn contestants to the stern-faced dealers. It seemed that some of the contestants he knew personally, some only by reputation and yet some others he only acquainted with as they arrived. Despite his friendly, outgoing demeanor, there was a slight undercurrent of menace to the man. The kind that's not easy to put finger on precisely. Was it his unshakeable confidence, as he remained jovial with the worst ne'er-do-wells? The subtle, yet piercing looks? The knowing way he seemed to phrase his words so precisely? When it was your turn to catch his attention, you were surprised to see his brow furrow quizzically, as if something about you truly surprised him. Yet, before he uttered a even a single word, the charming smile returned to his lips and you were reassured what a pleasure it is to have you participate. Somehow, you have the feeling the man already had the answer to whatever question he chose not to ask. --- The Unlife Aquatic - You're not the first Adelaide to bear the name of von Beurwitz - speaking of, you really have to visit that famed swiss manor one day. Why do you keep using her name, rather than making something up on the spot, like an honest-to-god scammer? paradoxGentleman - While the accident in the mine had left you in a state of disrepute, you take solace that you’re still far from the blackest spot on the esteemed name of Barrow-Cruz family. Why is your cousin Edgar forbidden from ever taking a step again within the walls of family hacienda? 9IronSwingersClub - What was the one time you faced wilderness alone and were nearly swallowed by it? What lesson did it teach you? Shouldn’t it have weakened your resolve to live in the wilds? Also, everyone tell me what was your first impression of the Hangman, as he greeted you? MinutePirateBug - I have not forgotten about you! However, since Fleischer is more of a general drifter impression than a character with some story behind him (and don't worry, I get it), I think I'd rather work out his secret before dropping a follow-up question. Hit me on discord or forum PMs and I'll gladly help brainstorm something up!
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2018 13:42
|
|
|
Howdy, partners! This is a friendly reminder the recruitment ends this friday - so if you're still loosely thinking about an app, it's best to get going, so we can still have plenty of time to negotiate a fitting secret and perhaps let me offer some friendly chargen tips. Also give my my goddamn follow-up answers.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2018 16:25
|
|
|
Adelaide still remembers the story she read once, about the great Swiss manor and it's inhabitant. She lived in defiance of every cultural norm of her day, flaunting her relationships with multiple women, leaving scandals and furious husbands in her wake. It was the first time Adelaide, a mangy little thing living in the slums, realized they were women like her. It was as if lock and key had come together. She was already a small time grifter, but the occultism fad was just taking off and Adelaide could tell which way the wind was blowing. It only took a few more stolen books to put things together... What was your first impression of the Hangman, as he greeted you? Another scam artist. Adelaide recognized the motions, but smugger, more arrogant. The Unlife Aquatic fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Sep 6, 2018 |
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2018 16:40
|
|
|
quote:While the accident in the mine had left you in a state of disrepute, you take solace that you’re still far from the blackest spot on the esteemed name of Barrow-Cruz family. Why is your cousin Edgar forbidden from ever taking a step again within the walls of family hacienda? Edgar's story is one that is sadly familiar if you happen to frequent rich young bucks. First it was the gambling, and the drinking and the loose women; then the cut-off from Grandpa, who refused to finance his lifestyle anymore. He had no way to cover his debts then, and so he started stealing little things, silver cutlery and cups and other portable, precious things. When he was caught, he was kicked out of the house; last I heard from him he's living as a desperado in a bandit camp an handful of miles west of here, robbing caravans and travelers. Poor Edgar. He's mostly done this to himself, but it is an unfortunate story.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2018 16:47
|
|
|
Randagio Hodge-podge. Mongrel. Mismatched. Some words just fit a person, and in Randagio's case, they are the only things that do. His clothes, his mannerisms, his accent, even his own given name aren't up to the task of surmising him, but we can try nonetheless. He's a vagrant, that much is clear, going from town to town and from seedy table to seedy table, eking out a living with cards, either by playing or by reading them. He carries around a deck as mismatched as he himself is, made out of cards either stolen or taken as a prize, and that is the one he uses to let curious (and let's face it, oftentimes drunk) bystanders know the portents that await them in the future. Obviously, it's all bullshit, or at least it is until it comes true, isn't it? Another conspicuous detail is the gun that hangs at his hip, a clean and shiny revolver. with silverwork on the handle. When he's not fiddling with cards or getting drunk, he's polishing it, and word is that he's very adept at using it. After all, how else could a mess like him not fall prey to this cruel, cruel world? quote:Profession: Cardsharp It's not that easy to learn about the Tournament, let alone weasel your way in. How did you manage that? You'd never believe how many things you can obtain by wagering a secret in a card game. True, usually the people that go for such a bet are either crazy or desperate, but the guy who told Randagio of the Tournament didn't look like either of those things. And Randagio can't shake off the feeling that he won a little too easily... How do you know this whole soul gambling and wish granting thing isn’t bullshit? Are you even sure of that? Everytime you gamble you offer up pieces of your soul, if you think about it. This is merely raising the stakes a little, and being refreshingly honest about it. Just between you and me, what is it that you crave so badly to risk your life and soul for? Are you that bold or that desperate? Direction. Purpose. Also the Ace of Spades of the deck used in the final match, once he wins it. LupusAter fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Sep 8, 2018 |
|
#
?
Sep 5, 2018 12:14
|
|
|
Lenora Meinhardt What was the one time you faced wilderness alone and were nearly swallowed by it? What lesson did it teach you? Shouldn’t it have weakened your resolve to live in the wilds? I usually don't go too far alone. Having other people is better because they can carry supplies. If they won't hunt, if they won't chop, then they'll carry. But there were a few times that I took only one person, and on one of those times they didn't make it back home. I took a canteen off the poor wretch and learned a day later why it was still so heavy - he had been using it to hold his tobacco spit so I wouldn't see it. Gross habit. Loses water. Not being able to contain his vice for a month probably got him killed, because he got dehydrated and became weak. The lesson I learned? Don't rely on someone to care about their own survival, let alone yours. what was your first impression of the Hangman, as he greeted you? Stuffy. Prim and proper. Has probably never held a hatchet or a shovel. Well mannered enough and that's fine, but I don't think he understands honest work. I can't imagine we'll have much to talk about, not at first, when it's all hello's and how-do-you-do's. But we'll come to an understanding, if he's who he says he is. Must have seen his fair share of liars and knifework, each time after the show starts. It'll be a process but we'll get along.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2018 03:10
|
|
|
It seems like a high time to ask the remaining players their follow-up question. Don't worry about the clock ticking - varios real life misadventures mean I'll probably only get to getting things started in the latter half of the weekend. MinutePirateBug: this new gig of yours is probably the closest thing to an honest job you've held in a while. When was the last time you tried to go straight and how did you inevitably get dragged back to your old ways? LupusAter: that deck of yours - it's not just replacements for worn cards, right? There's a reason each card earns its place in there. Tell me about the time you made a mistake and added a card that didn't belong in it. And, of course: what was your first impression of the Hangman, as he greeted you?
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2018 09:42
|
|
|
Randagio Tell me about the time you made a mistake and added a card that didn't belong in it. "You call it a mistake, I call it a learning opportunity. What hubristic folly was mine, to think that the ebbs and flows of fate should respect the rules of a game! I still remember the card, a six of flowers, black back with an honestly uninspired pattern, a dent in the corner. I don't know if I had lost the original one or if it never had been in the deck when I originally acquired it, but I noticed I lacked a six of flowers. So I swiped one from the inn I was staying at the time, and I think it did not take well to being stolen. It kept showing up in the most unappropriate of places, muddling what should have been clear reads, or refusing to appear when it simply needed to. I had to burn it with mint and sage, bathing the deck in the smoke to cleanse it. But now I am wiser. There's no limit to what can go in my deck, just as there's no limit to the whims of fate." What was your first impression of the Hangman, as he greeted you? An... unpleasant familiarity. I think I've known men of his ilk, or at least seen their shape in the cards. He didn't seem to recognize me, but then again, nobody does. That would have been strange. Steady hands, and his eyes always kept track of my fingers. He knows his way around a table, that's for sure.
|
|
#
?
Sep 6, 2018 15:04
|
|
|
Since I don't really expect anything to change with regards to apps, I'll call the recruitment over a few hours early. After some deliberation, I decided I should be able to handle all five of you! Congratulations! I've had my doubts, but I really like the characters and if it does turn out to be overwhelming, I can always push harder for having one of you murdered in cold blood anyway. Having said that, I've got some things going on* that I'll only be able to sit down to kick things off by sunday. LupusAter - since you've been pondering changes to your secret, I'm fine with you switching it out before Sunday - just drop me a PM if that would be the case. * Full disclosure: they mostly involve snuggling a cutie and partying with an ambassador. Elfgames can suck it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2018 21:38
|
|
|
Player header dump for easy copying:     
Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Sep 9, 2018 |
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2018 21:17
|
|
|
The game thread is up. Good luck!
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2018 19:09
|
|
|
How things are ran A collection of explanations both old and new 1. Mechanically, NPCs are built pretty much the same way as your characters. For the most part you can assume them being built with the very same strangling 40-point limit as yourselves, but particularly worthy opponents can get some sugar on top of that. The Hangman, being who he is, is pretty maxed out, but even he has to respect the pip limits. 2. As this thing is fairly improvisational and player-driven, you should feel free to introduce places or people around town if you need some rando for your fiction. I'll twist them to my hardboiled purposes anyway. 3. As a general rule, you declare actions and I do the rolling. This is mostly a logistical thing (results being easily gathered together, applying corrections and unexpected twists) so it's okay to type agreed upon rolls in livescenes if you like the thrill of rolling yourselves, but please refrain from it in PbP posts. 4. Here's ORE probabilities. You get even odds at four dice, at around seven you stop worrying about failure at all and go into weird tricks like multi-tasking and called shots and fishing for big damage. 5. For narrative effects, I'll go with Reign's way of mapping attack height to hit location:  This will not introduce any discrete wound/hp mechanics, but I'll take notice for it for stuff like shooting a gun out of someone's hand or maybe slapping a roll difficulty if a hurt appendage would stymie given attempt. 6. Player inventory is mostly a narrative thing - things matter once they matter, as per logical flow of the story. As a general rule, only weapons, secrets and damning evidence influence dice rolls, but who knows, if some item becomes key in a movie logic way there's nothing stopping us from having it work the same way. Everything pertaining to spend dollars and the quality of your stack management is done via Generosity - consider it your wealth stat. And as a friendly PSA, never forget the instant stat improvement triggers. Get into trouble and farm points like it's going out of style.
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2018 10:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 11:27 |
|
|
Being the friendly neighborhood GM, I've decided to copy the 20 Identity + Quality pairings offered in ADW rulebook. Perhaps this will help you wrap your minds around the admittedly unorthodox character sheets. If you're wondering how the author got to a given pairing, just shoot me a question!
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 13:44
|
|