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Gaming Outpost Discussions » Tag: undeath - Recent Topics http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/tags/undeath Gaming Outpost Discussions » Tag: undeath - Recent Topics en-US Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:06:35 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/search.php Tadeusz on "Verser Vampire" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/verser-vampire#post-1188 Sat, 27 Oct 2007 13:34:18 +0000 Tadeusz 1188@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Happily, I'm maybe 85%, and my cough is sorta under control without having to mainline Vicks 44D benzocaine throat drops. I didn't laugh when they said 'only once every two hours', and 'don't exceed dose', but that might have been because laughing would have brought on a coughing fit of several minutes. Anyways, in my current RPOL game, one of the villains is Devlin Smith, the Verser Vampire. Obviously, to long-term Outposters, he's inspired by Gavin from Philly 2011 as I didn't want to do a straight rip on Gavin. Devlin Smith aka Maurice Lancaster as he was christened in 1805 in Yorkshire was an unremarkable lad known for pub-drinking and petty clerical work until one night he met a beautiful woman who seemed interested in him. Not questioning his luck, he followed her outside the pub. "I do so love a good drink of beer." She murmured, and he turned perplexed in his drunken state back to the pub from whence beer came. She ambushed him from behind, bit him, and began to have her supper with a beer. He might have been just another victim of the cold winter, a poor drunk who lost his way in the alleys, and froze to death, but a cry of a bugle was heard. The Wild Hunt was in the air, and seeking those alone, and no one is more alone than a vampire. Vengefully, she ripped out his throat, and then she took a crossbow quarrel to the chest. He fell dying. She fled, but not before a fatal drop of blood from her chest hit his open throat. A question swam in that blood as it penetrated to his dying brain. *Do you want to live?* He gasped assent. *Forever?* He agreed. *Then swear eternal fealty to the Six Beasts Who Sit in Shadow and Gnaw at the Roots of Heaven. Swear that they alone are your master, and none other shall stand before your imperial will.* He paused, dimly realizing that Sunday School did not equate with this. But he had found the notions of sin to be silly, anyways. "I swear." He spoke from his newly healed throat, and then he rose as his new patrons cloaked him from the Wild Hunt which clattered by. A new clarity of purpose filled him. He could do as he wished without constraint. He would give the freedom of mind and soul that he now felt to everyone who labored under the dark superstitions of the Protestants, the Catholics, and the Baptists. And to the chosen few, he might give the gift of true power. And for himself, he would make himself unassailable. And somewhere in a twisted and barren section of the oververse, maniac giggling greeted his grand plans, but he could not hear it. And so he ruled in the north of England for well over a century until one time he met a man who sought for him, laughed at his threats, evaded his traps, and finally met him atop a manor with a sword that was impossible. The redheaded, almost child, with the crystal cold blue eyes evaded his strikes, and swung a sword made of light. "I am immortal." Devlin cried (for he had changed his name on that snowy night of doom). "So am I, and I didn't have to sell my soul and the sun for it." The blade chopped his wrists off, and Devlin stared in horror as the blade came at his heart. He lunged forward in insane fury, and bit the man, Captain Chris. And he died. And woke in another world. Under the sun. He died again, and again. He thought he was in Hell. He woke in night, and was safe. He lived, but it was the year 2290. And no vampires walked the night. His powers were faded. But he could feed, and he found in his extensive researches in the 'Internet' a reference to the 'Verse Project'. And then he began to understand what had happened to him. Unfortunately, the trail of bodies of the most infamous serial killer of the 22nd century was being followed by advanced science. And when he refused to surrender, they fired their UV laser blasters at him. It was over very quickly. Three more worlds (or eleven if you count the ones where he arrived, and was shortly burnt by the sun, or in one case by a giant, four-footed Magical Sentinel Beast made of square-dressed stone that breathed sunlight and guarded the passageways between worlds), and he has started to get the hang of things. Unfortunately, in his last world he met a Hawaaian shaman who figured out his true nature, and could not figure out a way to permanently kill him. But the shaman did curse him before summoning a volcano's fire to burn him. The curse was that he only could wear a tanktop and Hawaian shorts. This bothers Devlin as he really is a suit and tie kind of guy. And now he's ready to arrive in your world, and make a complacent verser unhappy. Persuasion 2@1 Charisma 1@8 Animal Magnetism 1@7 Strength 2@6 Stamina 2@5 Resistance 2@1 Density 1@3 Flexibility 1@6 Agility 1@10 Hand/Eye 1@8 Intellect 1@8 Intuition 1@7 Education Level 2@1 Willpower 1@9 Target Value 1@7 Damage Value 1@10 Ranged Strike Value 1@8 Martial Strike Value 2@1 Damage Rider: If a Fire or Sunlight attack hurts him, it automatically adds a non-blocked Lethal damage rider as the fire burns unnaturally in his corrupt flesh. I'm not quite sure how to do this in Multiverser. In Champions, it would be a Vulnerability probably. Always on, Does 2d6 Killing Damage or something like that. I'm also not sure if this works in a low magic world...could he walk in the sun in a flatlined magic world? Cursed: Must wear Hawaian shorts and tanktop at all times. May not cover them. Failure causes Difficult Stamina checks. Failure to pass stamina checks causes painful convulsions that increase in severity until the clothes are put on, or the Vampire breaks something vital in his convulsions. This curse may not hold in a low-magic world, but the shaman who cast it (anyone got a good Hawaaian name?) was very powerful, clever, and quite angry at Devlin. The curse retakes effect once he passes into a magical world. However, Devlin is not aware that he would be safe in a non-magic world from the curse. Skills: 1. Heal Self with Excess Blood: Body 2. Move Superfast by Expending Blood:1@7. Body 3. Drink Up: 2@1. Body. Bite does Annoying Damage. Each turn he does Dangerous Damage until victim is dead. Victim is held, and physical escape is at a -10 DR due to difficult position. 4. Paralyze Victim with Sedative in Fangs:2@1. Body. Victim must make Difficult Willpower check to resist. This skill may be used as a rider for #3. Occasionally Devlin doesn't as he likes to hear them scream. 5. Immunity to own Sedative.: 2@5. Body. His body is immune to his own sedative. 6. Dominate Will by Eye Contact: 1@9. Magic 7. Animate Corpse: 2@7. Magic. This applies to his own self, or to raising other vampires. It requires the near complete draining of the new vampire, their mental assent to the Six's plans, and a drop of his blood. For himself, it requires that he hunt daily, and sacrifice one to the Six, and that he renew his pledge daily. 8. Shoot .38 Revolver: 2@7. Tech. He is an extraordinary shot who trained in one world with Capone's gangs as a gunman. 9. Use Gold Knobbed Cain as Club: 1@8. Tech. Items: 1. Tank top. 2. Hawaiian Shorts. 3. A metal flask with liquid nitrogen cooling that contains an emergency supply of concentrated essence of blood that is enough to refill him. However, he cannot make more. 4. A leather bag of 8 gold marks, 4 silver dinarii, and a few -3- diamonds of one carrot size. 5. A .38 revolver, and thrirty rounds of hardball ammunition (six are in the gun, and the others are tied into the waistband of his shorts. Damaging: Repeat Factor 3: 3'/10'/20'/40'/60'. 6. No shoes. 7. A walking stick with a gold knob on the end. Damaging: No range: RF 2 (Annoying if the knob end is not used.) Its not entirely done, but close... johnosevens on "Power with drawbacks?" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/power-with-drawbacks#post-6306 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:32:04 +0000 johnosevens 6306@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ We've all seen them in fantasy literature. Ancient wizards, their bodies worn away by the use of their powers. People like Darth Nihilus, so consumed by their magic that they literally radiate an aura of pain and disease. How does Multiverser handle things like that? Is it possible for a Verser to be consumed by magic? We know from previous discussions that lichdom is not closed to Versers (and indeed is a good way to prevent Versing out), but what about a permanent condition that continuously kills you? Is it possible to damage oneself so badly with effects like that that no Verse can sustain you, effectively trapping you in the ether between Verses? Tadeusz on "Gavin the Vampire--David Marcoe's Variant" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/gavin-the-verser-vampire-david-marcoes-variant#post-1499 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:06:05 +0000 Tadeusz 1499@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ One of the beauties of the Multiverser system is that it fully justifies having the same character, but with multiple variants across similar, but not identical timelines. And these variants can add a lot of interest, and uncertainty for the player. And they can hit an unwary player like a rabbit punch out of the blue. Maybe your tough-as-nails dragon-killing, star pilot, and sidekick to a superhero verser is not impressed by being hunted across an island by a madman out for sport. Make that madman a werewolf, or in light of this thread--a vampire, and things change radically. When your 'inescapable' booby trap is evaded by the vampire turning to a bat, and flying above the logs rolling like an avalanche down a hill--then you will know fear and dismay. When you realize that the Great White Hunter with the hounds is really the Fanged Death and the hounds are from Hades, then shock will war with terror in your mind. Lets see another set of variants. In one world, Gavin and his vampiric cohorts struggle to corrupt Humanity from Philadelphia in the year 2011. In another world...well, wait and see. Marcoe's Variant ================ **note: this vampire is not a verser. Gavin had been a Communist subversive in the US in the 1930s, feeding intelligence to Stalin. He wrote small-time detective fiction which would not have been published except his editor was also a Communist. He joined the CPUSA, sided with the Nazi's until Hitler betrayed Stalin, and invaded Russia. The day after that he joined the cry of the Right in the US to 'do something about Hitler NOW!' Hitler had attacked the Motherland, and Gavin had received his marching orders from the chiefs of the CPUSA. And they were the sort of people who caused 'accidents' to happen if you displeased them. Fearful, Stalin struck up a deal with a ring of Leningrad based Russian vampires. He supplied them anonymity and protection for their international network, unique resources, and the opportunity to gain "super soldiers" and spies by having them turned. In return, they were supposed to use these for Stalin's benefit. In the meantime, Gavin had been drafted into the US Army. Gavin was the only American chosen, as he was already an off-duty bartender at the largest nightclub in Manchester, Britain which in this timeline anyways had a large Army base. He got notice by passing information gleaned off-duty soldiers and civilian employees, and even bringing a couple into an ad hoc spy ring he set up to impress his Soviet bosses. Once turned, though, he was with the vampires, not the Soviets, which the vampires knew all along would happen. And thus it was to every spy they turned. The vampires extended their own network and infiltrated the Soviet regime. Thus allowing the vampies to pull the strings and protect themselves even further. Gavin continued to feed information, and began using his abilities to infiltrate the base directly. He gathered even more valuable information and positioned himself to demand a "pay raise." They agreed, and quite gladly, as what he was supplying them they weren't getting anywhere else. Flush with cash and vampiric abilities, he bought the nightclub and offered as a secure meeting place to local crime bosses (who did a healthy business in gun-running, being near an Army base), along with further protection for their operations. He was true to his word, though he was careful to gather sensitive information from them to protect himself and put them over a barrel, so he could take a slice of their business. With in a matter of months, he was now the head crime boss of the region as the war finally ended. There had been the matter of blackmailing a general, and killing a too inquisitive captain to avoid D-day, but that was a small matter for one of his abilities. For several years he kept supplying valuable intel to the Soviets and using the money to expand his criminal empire. He also spent time building up a private army of ghouls and a network of spies and informants. About this time, he began challenging his Russian masters openly. They tipped off a couple of vampire hunters in his area to send a warning to him. When he didn't back down, then sent their best ghoul assassin, "The Cossack." The Cossack had been recruited, and en-ghouled (a magical transformation process giving great length of life, and power, and corruption, but not neccessarily damnation) during the Napoleonic wars, while serving in a Cossack calvary unit. From that point, he served as a mercenary in every major European conflict through the end of the 1940s, taking the opportunity to recruit other soldiers into his masters' ranks, either as vamps or ghouls. By this time, Gavin had partnered with an American vampire hoodoo mage who brought his own ghouls with him, in particular, the head of his personal guard, who was an Indian scout turned back in the late 1860s. After his master was killed shortly after his turning, he also plied his trade as a mercenary, serving in dozens of bush wars before coming into the mage's employ. The Cossack came over with a group of handpicked men, very nearly succeeded, but was intercepted and dispatched by the by the Indian ghoul. This sparked a full scale war between Gavin and the Russians, which he quickly gained victories in, but there was ebb and flow in the conflict over the decades, and subsequent battles cost him dearly. After his organization had reached a zenith in the 1970s, having killed several members of the Russian vampire inner circle, the Russians struck back hard, changing from their careful and secretive tactics to messy attritional warfare. Each victory was simply followed by more attacks and the outer edges of his organization began to fray. By the end of the 1980s, and the fall of the Soviet Union, he had lost nine/tenths of his organization, but the Russian vamps had lost the political patronage that they come to rely on, along with a severe disruption of their financial resources. Being both exhausted from the forty-year war, they came to a truce. Gavin the Vampire ================= Persuasion: 2@2 - Having run a criminal empire for seven decades means that people listen to him and his orders get followed. Charisma: 2@2 - Aided by his inhuman nature, his experience with coaxing secrets and making allies leaves him with a polished image. Animal Magnetism: 2@1 - Less practiced than other vampires, in seventy years he has still made thorough use of his supernatural sex appeal to bed many women (and a few men). Strength: 2@10 - It is beyond that of any normal human. Stamina: 2@10 - The undead do not normally tire. Resistance: 3@1 - Normally immune to any disease or poison, only radiation has a moderate effect (by attacking the flesh directly), but can be healed by his vampiric abilities. Density: 1@3 Flexibility: 2@1 Agility: 1@10 - The hundreds of men who have died by his own hand means that he has learned to kill with ease. Hand/Eye: 1@10 Intelligence: 1@10 Intuition: 2@2 - Decades of experience have taught him to trust his gut and he is rarely wrong. Willpower: 2@1 - Gifted with a vampire's predatory nature, he loathes to give up his quarry. Education Level: 2@4 - Seventy years of having his hands in so many pots means that he knows quite a bit about a lot of things. TV 1@8 DV 2@6 RSV 2@1 MSV 2@4 Skills: Gavin is a rebel against Lawful Authority and Purity. Therefore symbols of Lawful Authority and Purity repel him. He has to make a Difficult Willpower check to approach them. Wedding Dresses, Holy Water, and Garlic all act as attacks on contact. Respectively, they do Damaging, Dangerous, and Annoying with Damage Rider of Pain Incapacitation vs. Simple Willpower for all of them. Gavin is permitted a Resistance check to avoid damage, however with Holy Water, he still take Damaging damage. This is a natural effect, and requires no skill roll. Sunlight is similar. It does Fatal damage every six rounds, but there is no pain incapacitation. In this case, the Sun is a symbol of Lawful Authority, and Purity. Clear streams, home thresholds, and church property lines all act as barriers. The strength of the barrier is based on a relative success roll between respectively 1. the nearest neighbour to the stream 2. the homeowner 3. the pastor with the defender having a +20 Situation Modifier. The roll is based on Religion skill. Any Alliance Magic attack that does actual damage does a Lethal damage rider intrinsic. Writing Psi Skill at 2@1. Use Teeth to Drink: Bod Skill at 2@5. It starts out as Damaging, but with a 2@ skill it shifts up to Dangerous, and Strength is more than 1@10 so the total attack damage is Dangerous + 5 Damage Point Bonus. Shapeshift to Bat: Mag Skill at 2@1. Low-Light Vision: Bod Skill at 2@7. Heal Self: Mag Skill at 2@1. Animate Self: Mag Skill at 2@8. This spell is cast on the night preceding the rise. Without it, the vampire will not be able to rise the next day. It requires 1--Coffin (+3 and +2 for bulky), 2--Native Earth in Coffin (+5),3-- Blood of a Human in Body (+7 which is destroyed X2 for +14 for Blood). It must be cast laying down with full body involvement, and arms crossed over chest (+15). 4--It requires eight hours of waiting after it is cast before the animation takes effect (+10).