OOC Section

Placeholder for out of character information section. Let me know if you want a fancy picture (ok, maybe not so fancy given the others are hardly 'art') to jazz up the titles like the other forums.

The pictures are plenty fancy for the other sections! Thanks for getting me set up over here. Only trouble is coming up with a name for the game.. hmm. For some reason that's always the hardest part I find.

So, moving the conversation about this game to well, its proper section. I'll start the ball off with SJs character here.

Non Statistical Stuff

Name: John Gibbs

Physical Description: John is athletic, but not lean not bulky. He is of average height. He is handsome in a plain looking way, with blond shoulder length hair (which he gets teased about repeatedly since returning from Switzerland some years ago) and green eyes.

Occupation/What they do: John is a Engineer, staring out in the Steele industry he moved across first to oil rig platforms before moving onshore spending several years working in Switzerland and other countries finding new ways to drill for oil in an environmentally conscious way.

Relations: John isn't married, but came close. His financee (Lucy) called off their wedding, when he took the posting to Switzerland. She is in a stable long term relationship, but John never really got over her.

John is very close to his Dad, Johann, (he is swiss, hence the connection to Switzerland earlier) and his mum (Lorrie), who is recovering from cancer. He Skypes them most weekends when he is on a rig or when he is in some country or another travelling. He is looking for someplace to settle down and has been looking for a more settled position, perhaps in research so he can go back and do a PHD.

History:


Stats
Dex 4 Int 6 Inf 4
Str 4 Will 4 Aura 5
Body 4 Mind 4 Spirit 5


Skills:
Close Combat: 5
Computers: 4
Technology: 3
Engineering: 5
Running: 5 (John runs Marathons for fun)

There's only two problems with the sheet so far. First, running is a function of your physical attributes so it doesn't need to be a skill. Second and more importantly.. your numbers are incredibly high. As it stands John is capable of lifting 250 pounds over his head, as agility that wouldn't be out of place in competitive gymnastics or martial arts, endurance on par with your average triathlon or iron man competitor, mental capacities on par with Einstine, and personal charisma on par with most world leaders. As far as his skills go, he's a world level martial artist in addition to being a computer programer of exceptional talent and a leading expert in his field of Engineering.

It's a pretty exhaustive list of things he's extremely good at. Not to say you cant be good or even great at things, but the average trained professional will have 2 in a skill like Engineering, possibly 3 with considerable talent. 3-4 would be your general masters degree or equivalent and 5 would represent a doctorate. Having something up to a six is typically reserved for exceptional training combined with great talent for a subject.

In the realm of attributes you can use strength as a comparative scale, it's the most easily measured after all. It looks something like this

1: up to 50 lb
2: up to 100 lb
3: up to 175 lb
4: up to 250 lb
5: up to 625 lb
6: up to 1000 lb

With those guidelines could you trim some things down? Or alternatively develop Johns background to support his abilities at the level that they are at currently?

Critique aside, I like what you've come up with. Particularly the bits your PMd to me. There's lots to work with there. Twisted Evil Very Happy He should also make for a compelling character.

dunecat wrote:So, moving the conversation about this game to well, its proper section. I'll start the ball off with SJs character h
ere.

Ok so I find average to always be 10-11 so I struggle a bit with these lower figures.  6 sounds feeble!  And I thought I was playing it safe. 

As regards to the stats, don't mind if you drop them all down to average, really average save intelligence and atheletic ability, otherwise he can be totally normal. He runs, he's bright and does a good job with his Engineering, and that is it.  As far as he has been thus far in any case.  

Hope that makes it easier.  

Sj

Gotcha. I'll play with a little bit tonight and throw something back at you. Otherwise he seems ready to go.

Hopefully in the next day or two Paul and DaveM will get to this point with their characters and I'll be able to get things rolling. I'm already starting to pull together some ideas on how to start things off!  

Name: Damon Sands
Background: A British Army veteran who served several tours/terms and left after being somewhat disillusioned. Protecting his country he understood. Going to other countries and stamping the current government of the days' values on them, not so much. Because of his excellent service record and the fact he was well liked and respected, he was allowed to muster out after an altercation with a bone headed superior officer. On the quiet he was asked to take the tests for the Special Air Service, but declined. He'd had enough of killing.

Civvy street was hard. Security guard jobs and shelf stacking rotted the brain, city life started the process of dissolving an iron hard body built over years of brutal exercise and pushing to its limits. He needed a change, and it needed to come fast, before he vanished into the great urban sprawl of apathy that hung like a cloud over the 9 to 5 army that swamped the streets every day.

Damon joined a gym , found it hard, pushed himself, started to enjoy it more. And yet it wasn't enough. His friends were all still in the army, his family scattered to the four winds. He wasn't married, had never held a girlfriend for more than a few months... He needed... what? When you look out of the window and feel that there's something out there that you need to do, but don't know where, when, what or how, you feel... lost. He took to walking the streets at night, and stopped a mugging. The next day he woke up to find his car had been smashed to bits. The gangs sent a message, so he sent another back, with steel toe capped boots and a ski mask. Later that day he moved, just to be on the safe side, but it felt right to do something. Evil wins when good men stand idle... or something like that, he figured.

Damon takes security jobs (in Supermarkets chasing teenagers down or night jobs with surly german shepherds for company) and when he's not working he trains, and sometimes patrols the streets, looking to make them safer. He carries a home made cosh and a ski mask, and isn't scared of meting out rough justice.

Damon is in his mid thirties, shaves every few days, stands around 6'2 and is pretty chiselled. Fit, strong, he bears a few faint scars on his face from tussles in the past, and has a bullet wound from old in his back above his right hip where he took a hit in Afghanistan. He's fit, and can run with a loaded pack for a steady gait rather than being all out fast. He has strong, calloused hands and the kind of wiry strength that is really hard to pin down, but knows when and where to pick fights - he's not suicidal.

Dex 4 Str 3 Body 4
Int 3 Will 4 Mind 3
Infl 3 Aura 3 Spirit 3

Skills:

Martial Arts (Ju Jitsu mostly): 4
Weaponry (Rifles, Machine Guns, Pistols, Thrown weapons, Knives, weapon repair): 4
Military Science (Tracking, Camouflage, Tactics, orienteering): 3
Survivalist (foraging, shelter, finding water, plants, traps): 4
Cooking (more of a hobby, but he watches the odd cooking show then slaps stuff in the oven. Still learning...): 2
Vehicles (Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, use and repair): 3

Pretty well perfect Paul. A touch on the higher side over all, but it's all well justified in your background and there's plenty of stuff to pull out drawbacks if we need the extra points once I settle on a point budget.

If I'm not mistaken you were thinking along the lines of some kind of elemental manifestation powers right?

Yup think sandman or hydroman, both same thing. Sandman can harden or disperse, strong etc so maybe him, and hydroman has that whole growing in water thing, so there's stuff to go for (Growth, dispersal, or just fluid form, strength, body, dex etc) Anyway, that's your call

Updates later today for all - rushing kids off to school shortly then going to work, back in 11.5 hours or so then updating.

Here’s my shot at my PC. Adjust as you think fit.
James Brooks – famous writer

Non Statistical Stuff

Name: James Brooks

Physical Description: Thirty-ish, Brown Hair, Brown Eyes. “Average to decent” looks according to past girlfriends. Medium build. He is in decent shape but nothing like military or athlete level shape.

Occupation/What they do: James is a successful writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy instead of a teacher of classical languages, which he is more than qualified to become, because he didn’t want to get into the “publish or perish” rat trap and university politics that come with being a university professor. He is well verse in old Aramaic, Latin and Greek. He has had a couple of his books made into movies which has made him wealthy though not over the top rich.

He has a passing knowledge of the old Norse languages, written and spoken. A lot of his stories are based off the old myths and legends that he read in their original languages.

He also enjoys driving very fast cars and owns a couple of nice ones. He is an amateur racer racing at all the local small tracks when he finds the time.

Relations:
Edith Baumberg is his literary agent. Janice Grenowski is his publisher at Iron Horse Publishing. He has had a couple of girlfriends in the past but nothing steady right now. There are a couple of girls he calls up once in awhile for dates. He is also part of a writer’s group, helping out other young would-be writers learn to write for publishing and to get feedback on any stories he is in the process of writing. He also belongs to a professional writer’s group – meets online and in person from time to time. His parents are alive and well and travelling the country, seeing the sights, in their retirement. He has one married older brother who is a political radio commentator with a small but growing number radio stations that carry his program.

History:

A Secret your character knows: (This is optional and should be sent via pm if you decide to post your form publicly)

A Secret your character does not know: (Also optional, this is something important to your character that they do not know about but that you and I will. This should also be kept to pms if your form is filled out publicly)

Any other problematic things:
Being somewhat famous, James is bothered by stalkers from time to time. Either stalking fans who think that they understand him [and the girls want to marry him and take care of him] or disappointed would-be writers who stalk him to get him to co-author books with them since they know “that they will make a great writing team”.

Stats

Attributes:
Dex 4 Str 2 Body 3 [racing is physically exhausting so I’m guessing he needs a good body]
Int 4 Will 2 Mind 3
Inf 2 Aura 3 Spirit 2

Skills:

Technology
Computers
General Knowledge (specifically lets you ask me questions about what's happening in the game)
Vehicle Operations/Handling
Social Skills
Business Skills
[not sure what levels to put into these. Guy has to have business skills or he would lose his money fast. Social skills also important for dealing with agents, publishers and working the cons. Obviously, he needs to use computers to write. He also would have knowledge of other technology that would help in information gathering.]

Looks good. It's nice to have a full cast to work ideas over with.  

Running through your skills based on the background I'd say they should look like this:

Technology 1
Computers 1
General Knowledge 2-3
Vehicle Operations 3
Social Skills 4
Business Skills 2
Writing 4

Breaking that down, you don't need a lot of Tech or Computers to be an end user of them, simply having 1 in both lets you do basic upkeep on things and implies a moderate knowledge of how they work. Computers 1 is roughly the same as a computer engineering student. General Knowledge is reflective of your characters education in some respects, as a learned writer I could see him knowing a lot of things in a wide range of topics. Specialities here would likely include european mythology and fables. Vehicle Operations is somewhat self explanatory, thought it will have a limitation preventing use of aircraft and you'll take a penalty with water craft until you get some experience on them. Social Skills covers your languages, as well as representing someone fluent and used to dealing with people. You'll be able to bypass some situational penalties in social situations with this skill. Business skills at 2 is about average for your normal sucessfull business person, and is plenty enough to navigate interactions with a manager/publishing company when paired with your higher Int. Writing 4 is obvious.. your playing a writer!  

I'll get full sheets tweaked and balanced against each today and post them back, along with a section for the rules that are in use with your characters. Over the course of the game as you pick up more abilities or encounter different situations I'll add to that section and fill you in on how different stuff works. That way you don't have so much to learn all at once.

Would general knowledge be a bit higher?  He is a PHd in ancient languages, which I guess I didn't make clear, since he could teach them at university level.  or is 3 about right for that?

I figured Technology would contain things like I-Pads, I-Phones, PDAs and other such stuff that wouldn't actually be covered by computer use.  So 1's in those two make sense if that is basic use level or a bit more.  

He would obviously be very skilled at spreadsheets, word processors, perhaps Speech to Text functions and things like that.  He's probably a master of MMOGs too.    
But programming?  Nah.  Not really.  Probably can handle video chats well though.

Were stats okay?

Well I'm off to play Wizard101 for most of the rest of the night. Just waiting for next week to start and the beginning of Agents of SHIELD to start on the 24th!!!!!!!!!!  

BTW, where are we going to be adventuring? England? US? Real city? Made up city?

We'll be adventuring primarily stateside, however I'm working out how to start everyone up whereever you happen to be starting. Pauls in England, and Dave E is in Switzerland and you can be where ever you'd like. These will be ficticious representations of those locations though.. I'm not a native after all.

Hopefully I'll be able to get everything rolling this weekend. That's the goal at the moment at least.

dunecat wrote:We'll be adventuring primarily stateside, however I'm working out how to start everyone up whereever you happen to be starting. Pauls in England, and Dave E is in Switzerland and you can be where ever you'd like. These will be ficticious representations of those locations though.. I'm not a native after all.

Hopefully I'll be able to get everything rolling this weekend. That's the goal at the moment at least.

If it makes it easier start me in England, job came to an end suddenly or something.  New opportunity Stateside etc.  

Sj

I'll stick state-side. Preferably not starting in New York City. Lots of writers live in the South - North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Virginia. So stick me someplace there.