About the RPG campaign and other stuffs
OK, finally had a little time to sit down and write this out.
Some years back (1999, if I remember rightly), our regular RPG group ended an adventure and was ready to start something new. We regularly switched off GMs, and sometimes genres, just to keep things fresh and give the main GM (
lcowper) a break. Our usual system of choice is GURPS, although we have also taken turns with In Nomine and Bureau 13.
I volunteered to take over for a while, as there was this idea that had been plaguing me for a while. I wanted to run a modern-day campaign,
but not limited to just one genre. The best umbrella I could come up with to give people an idea was... Illuminated. Aside from the non-existence of the classic traditional Illuminati, the campaign does fit most of the other requirements for this, well, over-genre. The basic idea is that there is a whole lot more going on here and now than any normal person knows, or could even imagine. Magic? Yes. Psionics? Sure. Time travel? Uh-huh. Space aliens? Of course. Government plots? Absolutely. Shady dealings of all shapes and sizes are just par for the course in this setting.
The PCs are all employees or associates of a detective agency headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Starting play year was 2004, but since resuming last week, we have jumped ahead five years to 2009. The agency has acquired a reputation for handling weird cases and investigating strange phenomena. They didn't start out that way, but in game terms, the agency is sort of a big Weirdness Magnet. This includes, of course, the PCs, who are all somewhat... odd, to say the least.
The creation of the PCs is where my GM style (in this case) diverges from the norm. I gave each player a "secrets pack", which consisted of some back story and a few advantages and disadvantages to suit. The list of what they had is down below. Beyond those basics, the players had free rein to develop the personalities and skills as they saw fit, pending, of course, my overall approval. We went with a base of 125 points (100 is standard for startups), and a disadvantage limit of -50 rather than the usual -40.
Although I should have known better, they still managed to surprise me with what they came up with.
Anyway, we played for several months and completed phase one of the campaign. By then, someone else was ready to take over for a while, and we all figured we would come back to mine again later. So now, eight years down the line, I finally got enough people together to start it back up again. Only problem is, I only have one of the original players in this new group. Everyone else is new to this campaign, although some have played other games with me before.
Some of the highlights that happened in phase one:
They PCs were assigned to investigate the disappearance of a prominent computer expert, on behalf of his two children. The grown-up offspring lived in other parts of the country and had not been able to reach their father for over a week. Wen the PCs arrived at his home in upscale Scottsdale, they found a high-security setup with dual electric fences, code pads, and guard dogs. The mail had not been collected in several days, and only one dog, looking half-starved, was visible. Of course, no one answered their hails.
Eventually they got in to find no one home, some missing computer equipment, but no obvious signs of struggle. Also, the house was impressively set up for wheelchair access (the missing man was a paraplegic). Investigation yielded few clues, but eventually led to a radio transmitter tower on South Mountain, for KRUZ, the Santa Cruz based NPR outlet. Why that station had a tower outside of Phoenix remains a mystery, but inside the small maintenance building there, the PCs found some advanced technology of apparently alien origin. They also met a federal agent who seemed to know one of them, and was helpful in chasing a fugitive.
The name, or acronym, KRUZ, kept popping up in odd places... the radio station used to employ the missing man's late wife as an on-air personality; he had named his own personal computer Operating System that he had developed after it; it was later revealed that Kruz was the racial name of one group of aliens who were present on earth.
Yeah... one group. There are actually three. The Kruz are joyriding parasites who take over human bodies and use them until they burn out, usually going on crime sprees and partying hard. The Ooriaq are their foes, sort of a galactic police force who hunt them down and capture or eliminate them. These two races were inspired by the SF movie "The Hidden". The third alien race are your standard Greys, known as the Fuffen. They have some sort of secret dealings with some agencies or agencies within the US government.
Still with me? Good.
Later the team was contacted by someone claiming to have info, who asked them to meet him out in the desert. When they arrived, he attacked them with magic, using a whirlwind to created storms of sand and dust. They managed to defeat him, but he took poison before they could get anything more out of him than a name. "Ramon will get you." From the mage's corpse, they retrieved an odd ring, shaped like a silver hawk with a ruby in its beak. Analysis of it led nowhere during that phase, but two characters recognized the style, for different reasons. This was not revealed to the rest.
Eventually, the hunt led to a house in suburban Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the PCs arrived just in time to meet the missing man, who was WALKING out of the house. His supposed kidnapper, Ramon, was still inside, hooked up to some strange machines in the basement.
The two men had made a deal: Ramon would cure the Doctor of his condition, in exchange for uploading his consciousness to the Internet.
The Doctor, you see, was a leading expert in both AI and VR. He did not know for sure if the procedure had worked, but knowing that Ramon was a bad guy, he didn't much care if it had failed. Ramon, meanwhile, lay in a coma, his body still living but brain dead.
End of phase one. Now, five years later in game time, there is reason to believe that the transfer just might have worked after all.
Here are the character secrets from phase one. Bear in mind that only one of these is still active. I'm using some of the others as NPCs.
1. An undercover government agent MIB-type, with access to Warehouse 23. She remembers seeing a similar style ring, a silver badger with an emerald in its mouth, in the warehouse.
2. A time traveler from the far future, stranded here because her time machine is broken and has been seized and hidden.
3. A fledgling mage, stranded here by a freak accident at his college graduation ceremony; his type of magic is very weak here and he has only a few minor spells at his disposal.
4. A Native American were-coyote, who view his ability as a curse. His grandfather is the tribal shaman, and wears a silver ring shaped like a wolf with a sapphire in its jaws.
5. The last survivor of the vanished Roanoke colony, who were all abducted and experimented on by the Fuffen. He is now unaging and practically immortal due to their tampering, and hates them with all his being.
6. Two characters in one, a human playing host to an Ooriaq.
7. A rogue psionic, bred and raised in a secret government lab from which she escaped a year or two earlier.
8. An expatriate Russian mobster and weaponry expert. He's the closest thing to normal they had.
Most of these secrets came out during play, at least to other members of the team. Now we have a new group, and their secrets and abilities rival those of the original group.
As phase two begins, a strange outages and odd responses from the internet are making world news headlines. The FBI and CIA, along with many other world agencies and corporations, have publicly denied any involvement. Meanwhile, a series of violent crimes has been working its way westward across the US, beginning in Washington, DC, and most recently connected in Oklahoma City. Into this mess our heroes boldly leap.
On a non-RPG note, tomorrow is not only the anniversary of the WTC and Pentagon disasters, but also my sister's third wedding anniversary. She and her husband decided on that date as a counter-balance, to provide some good memories to set off the vast sadness of 9/11 that we all share.
Time to get back to work now. Be well.
Some years back (1999, if I remember rightly), our regular RPG group ended an adventure and was ready to start something new. We regularly switched off GMs, and sometimes genres, just to keep things fresh and give the main GM (
lcowper) a break. Our usual system of choice is GURPS, although we have also taken turns with In Nomine and Bureau 13.
I volunteered to take over for a while, as there was this idea that had been plaguing me for a while. I wanted to run a modern-day campaign,
but not limited to just one genre. The best umbrella I could come up with to give people an idea was... Illuminated. Aside from the non-existence of the classic traditional Illuminati, the campaign does fit most of the other requirements for this, well, over-genre. The basic idea is that there is a whole lot more going on here and now than any normal person knows, or could even imagine. Magic? Yes. Psionics? Sure. Time travel? Uh-huh. Space aliens? Of course. Government plots? Absolutely. Shady dealings of all shapes and sizes are just par for the course in this setting.
The PCs are all employees or associates of a detective agency headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Starting play year was 2004, but since resuming last week, we have jumped ahead five years to 2009. The agency has acquired a reputation for handling weird cases and investigating strange phenomena. They didn't start out that way, but in game terms, the agency is sort of a big Weirdness Magnet. This includes, of course, the PCs, who are all somewhat... odd, to say the least.
The creation of the PCs is where my GM style (in this case) diverges from the norm. I gave each player a "secrets pack", which consisted of some back story and a few advantages and disadvantages to suit. The list of what they had is down below. Beyond those basics, the players had free rein to develop the personalities and skills as they saw fit, pending, of course, my overall approval. We went with a base of 125 points (100 is standard for startups), and a disadvantage limit of -50 rather than the usual -40.
Although I should have known better, they still managed to surprise me with what they came up with.
Anyway, we played for several months and completed phase one of the campaign. By then, someone else was ready to take over for a while, and we all figured we would come back to mine again later. So now, eight years down the line, I finally got enough people together to start it back up again. Only problem is, I only have one of the original players in this new group. Everyone else is new to this campaign, although some have played other games with me before.
Some of the highlights that happened in phase one:
They PCs were assigned to investigate the disappearance of a prominent computer expert, on behalf of his two children. The grown-up offspring lived in other parts of the country and had not been able to reach their father for over a week. Wen the PCs arrived at his home in upscale Scottsdale, they found a high-security setup with dual electric fences, code pads, and guard dogs. The mail had not been collected in several days, and only one dog, looking half-starved, was visible. Of course, no one answered their hails.
Eventually they got in to find no one home, some missing computer equipment, but no obvious signs of struggle. Also, the house was impressively set up for wheelchair access (the missing man was a paraplegic). Investigation yielded few clues, but eventually led to a radio transmitter tower on South Mountain, for KRUZ, the Santa Cruz based NPR outlet. Why that station had a tower outside of Phoenix remains a mystery, but inside the small maintenance building there, the PCs found some advanced technology of apparently alien origin. They also met a federal agent who seemed to know one of them, and was helpful in chasing a fugitive.
The name, or acronym, KRUZ, kept popping up in odd places... the radio station used to employ the missing man's late wife as an on-air personality; he had named his own personal computer Operating System that he had developed after it; it was later revealed that Kruz was the racial name of one group of aliens who were present on earth.
Yeah... one group. There are actually three. The Kruz are joyriding parasites who take over human bodies and use them until they burn out, usually going on crime sprees and partying hard. The Ooriaq are their foes, sort of a galactic police force who hunt them down and capture or eliminate them. These two races were inspired by the SF movie "The Hidden". The third alien race are your standard Greys, known as the Fuffen. They have some sort of secret dealings with some agencies or agencies within the US government.
Still with me? Good.
Later the team was contacted by someone claiming to have info, who asked them to meet him out in the desert. When they arrived, he attacked them with magic, using a whirlwind to created storms of sand and dust. They managed to defeat him, but he took poison before they could get anything more out of him than a name. "Ramon will get you." From the mage's corpse, they retrieved an odd ring, shaped like a silver hawk with a ruby in its beak. Analysis of it led nowhere during that phase, but two characters recognized the style, for different reasons. This was not revealed to the rest.
Eventually, the hunt led to a house in suburban Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the PCs arrived just in time to meet the missing man, who was WALKING out of the house. His supposed kidnapper, Ramon, was still inside, hooked up to some strange machines in the basement.
The two men had made a deal: Ramon would cure the Doctor of his condition, in exchange for uploading his consciousness to the Internet.
The Doctor, you see, was a leading expert in both AI and VR. He did not know for sure if the procedure had worked, but knowing that Ramon was a bad guy, he didn't much care if it had failed. Ramon, meanwhile, lay in a coma, his body still living but brain dead.
End of phase one. Now, five years later in game time, there is reason to believe that the transfer just might have worked after all.
Here are the character secrets from phase one. Bear in mind that only one of these is still active. I'm using some of the others as NPCs.
1. An undercover government agent MIB-type, with access to Warehouse 23. She remembers seeing a similar style ring, a silver badger with an emerald in its mouth, in the warehouse.
2. A time traveler from the far future, stranded here because her time machine is broken and has been seized and hidden.
3. A fledgling mage, stranded here by a freak accident at his college graduation ceremony; his type of magic is very weak here and he has only a few minor spells at his disposal.
4. A Native American were-coyote, who view his ability as a curse. His grandfather is the tribal shaman, and wears a silver ring shaped like a wolf with a sapphire in its jaws.
5. The last survivor of the vanished Roanoke colony, who were all abducted and experimented on by the Fuffen. He is now unaging and practically immortal due to their tampering, and hates them with all his being.
6. Two characters in one, a human playing host to an Ooriaq.
7. A rogue psionic, bred and raised in a secret government lab from which she escaped a year or two earlier.
8. An expatriate Russian mobster and weaponry expert. He's the closest thing to normal they had.
Most of these secrets came out during play, at least to other members of the team. Now we have a new group, and their secrets and abilities rival those of the original group.
As phase two begins, a strange outages and odd responses from the internet are making world news headlines. The FBI and CIA, along with many other world agencies and corporations, have publicly denied any involvement. Meanwhile, a series of violent crimes has been working its way westward across the US, beginning in Washington, DC, and most recently connected in Oklahoma City. Into this mess our heroes boldly leap.
On a non-RPG note, tomorrow is not only the anniversary of the WTC and Pentagon disasters, but also my sister's third wedding anniversary. She and her husband decided on that date as a counter-balance, to provide some good memories to set off the vast sadness of 9/11 that we all share.
Time to get back to work now. Be well.