Status Update – Characters
Well, just want a status update from you about how you feel about your characters and the group and so on. You could say that this is a post for criticism and complaints as well as positive feedback. But mostly for me to check how you feel over your characters and the group right now.
I will give you a little how I feel about my characters too to get this started. I also can understand if Ankan don’t have much to say since he’s newly introduced with Jake again and haven’t had much time adjusting but maybe he’s gotten something from these past two sessions (or three, depending on when he writes his answer).
Handler Aender
This NPC hasn’t been introduced yet. Even so he’ll be mostly a background character and maybe I’ll use him to play bigger parts later. He won’t get a formula and mostly be a name. It’s a heads up for PB and you so you know what to expect.
Aender is a Priest of Darkness and a half elf1. He has the holy addendum, is a Ki Striker of Accomplished level and is a Tekkan. His rank is 18 within The Eye. He is cool and calm is one of the handlers for Vampires. He’s from either Aguin or one of the Grooves is Katia. He’s also a first grade immortal granted by his ascension to priest so not to worry that he’s somebody special. Even so he’s an expert on Vampires and will only be of use to Katherine. He might help in very rare cases. But mostly he will ignore you and leave you to die and not take part in anything directly. His role is to control and make sure to help Katherine survive and to keep to her vows. He will also be armed with weapons which can instantly kill a vampire if he’s fast enough, and believe me, he will be fast. Anyway, he’ll mostly be talking and helping the young baby vampire become a grown vampire.
Doken
I like to push forward one of the standard Warrior Caste Lantorian dwarfs. The group has seen too few dwarfs since I’ve deepened the lore of Nianze and the one we’ve seen was brief and not that well played, Karnak. The main purpose of this straightforward, warrior brute of muscle and bone is actually to give insight in Lantor and Dwarven behaviour. His initial role in the group was kind of a mood changer and someone to laugh at and with plus someone who annoyed everyone but in the end were the strongest link in the group because he’s friendly and charming in his own very special Lantorian way. He’s a stereotype though of the Warrior Caste. I like him though and I think I’ve succeeded to get him his role.
Ivan
I do not like this character yet. I would have preferred Foppa playing his Orc but since Foppa is trying to get to Umeå it’s no use for him to start playing. I don’t really feel like playing a Halor since that would almost certainly mean I needed to lead the group and that I’m not up for right now. And playing a skilful master warrior was out of the question since that would also dominate this part of the squad. Thus I introduced one of the inborn Eye Soliders to be a tag-a-long and also a way of giving you insight in the histories of The Eye and various places. He’s lore is mainly focused around history and strategies and he’s a warrior who can take a few (a lot) of blows before going down. His personality is okay, but I still feel like it’s bothersome to play him. Maybe if you start prying more into The Eye itself and not be such focused training bots he would be of more interest.
Langler
Langler is an elf from Aguin. Unlike Owenalh he’s a real elf and takes pride in his heritage. He speaks and writes mostly in Ayum even though he will also be the master linguist in the squad since he can speak and read most languages and he’s in training to learn a new language when he joins the group. I won’t spoil his speciality or orientation before tomorrow but he’s a gentleman in most ways and is more rhetoric and devious than Owenalh. He dislikes humans also somewhat because of their folly which has put tension between Humans and Elves for the last fifty years.2
He’ll join the squad of Owen and the rest but it’s possible he’ll work with the rest of you as well other than on Squad Missions.
The reason to why he joins the party is quite simple. Robin has nagged him to join since his last party died on a big quest. He’s also lured him with some mysterious promise of something which made him accept. This character I’ve thought to introduce for a long time. Before I created Mio I knew I would introduce this character in the future when you became Soldiers. One of the reasons for it is because he can’t be below the rank of 8 with his skills and age. Well, look forward to this elf, because he will be a valuable ally and a ferocious enemy.
Oh yes, as a side note. Langler has a Second name. Langler Heed is his full name. Just to let you know.
Mio
This character is based on a person from my dreams which I think originated from a game plus a book plus from my own vision of Littlemen – Panlings as they now are called. Mio is an energetic person and she’s quite old actually. She’s older than most of the group even though she doesn’t look like it. Her skills are quite good too but she’s a panling with a history, a long history. Actually this character is full of secrets and possibilities, which has also something to do about Robin and Robin’s past.
I put her in the group to get an even better tie and someone to help Robin’s storyline along, to tease a little about who Robin actually am, and have been. And why the hell he’s in The Eye and not to mention why The Eye seems to let him get away with all his corruption. Because there’s no other way too look at most of what Robin does, he spreads corruption. Mio though has a very interesting past and insights and a big secret of her own which in itself is something quite interesting. I strongly like her even though she’s quite draining to play since he’s so happy and energetic all the time.
Owenalh
Owen is a city elf born and raised in Katia by elves living in the society of a normal city as Strömsund. At a young age his parents discovered that he had the latent magical ability which if stimulated early could make him into a Mage of real power. They entered him in the Mage’s Guild where he soon started his carrier. He quickly though reached his limits in power there and discovered that growing in the Guild took time, too much time. His options then were to go to The Eye or Magicka. Since Magicka was too far away and cost too much to enter into their Magical Academy at his age he decided for The Eye. Plus that in The Eye his advancement was more personal than it would be in Magicka where he would have to play the politics game there and he wasn’t certain he would gain any years taking that path. So The Eye it was.
So after several years as a bureaucratic slave within the workings of the Guilds he joined this solider oriented heroic military organization with the simple reason of becoming a stronger and more powerful mage. He wishes to accomplish new things and reach new heights of power and to become a renowned and powerful mage and maybe even make something new. He’s quite egoistic but still friendly but arrogant and single minded. He also has the bad habit of judging people and making too hasty decisions even though he’s very clever and intelligent. His years in the Mages Guild have taught him how to use and bend rules so he is obsessed with rules and how to use their weaknesses and holes.
I like Owen quite much. He’s an arrogant elf but with more feelings than most give him credit for. He’s in some cases more reckless than anybody else and also he’s a good friend when needed and he has valuable insight in much. He is not a normal elf, but he is a normal case of power-hungry Mage which is walking the border of risks. I have him as an alternative to a leader in some situations plus his intellect can be used both to confuse and mislead as well as to help and aid the group in situations to make the game more interesting.
Robin
My dear Robin. He is the deepest character in the group so far and in the beginning I planned everything to revolve around him. Now with a Star Crossed that might not be quite as possible, but still possible that his past and his history will be somewhat tied to the destinies your Star Crossed will draw out. Well, Robin is not really first generation Eye-solider but he joined The Eye before it became the military organization it is today. He’s been with them for quite some time and knows many people. He’s quite mysterious human which seem to be the very image of what The Eye doesn’t stand for.
His methods are off, his way of dealing with things wrong, and he often uses shortcuts and cheats not to say that he’s sometimes deadly efficient. He has many talents and many strange things about him. His gear is special and he himself is quite a different person. He is a hero, but hasn’t achieved his immortality nor his second name. He seems to know a lot, and be an expert in areas which is most surprising. He is in some ways precisely what everyone joining The Eye wants to be, an heroic strange individual with both strengths and weaknesses, but in other ways he’s precisely not what you want to be or expect of someone of his stature.
I created Robin at first to make an interesting Squad leader to instruct and lead you in the beginning and also be very strange with a history which smelled fishy. He was supposed to be a trigger for you to try to find out more about him and take some interest but you all seemed like you started your bot-mode and totally lost interest as characters in your own strange leader. You laughed and shake your head out of game but in-game you mostly just nodded. So I guess I failed making him as interesting as I thought I’d made him. Anyway he’s also the first and most powerful contact you’ll have in The Eye, and soon he’ll have achieved his goal with your Squad. Robin originally took Mission Assignment to be a Squad Leader for young Recruits because he needed that merit badge to be able to advance past Corporal. When he’s done this, one of you in your squad will become Squad Leader or the Squad will be labelled independent or even disbanded and you’ll have to decide by yourself what you’ll do and how afterwards. This will probably happen after the next Squad Mission.
Anyway I like Robin, he is a success in my own eyes even though you didn’t seem to catch the bait with his story and contradictory behaviour in the beginning. He will still be part of The Eye and I hope that he’ll become a person you’ll go to for help even after he has left your group. Like a contact or a brother within the organization which you’ll always trust and have faith in.
So, well… what do y’all want with your characters right now? What is your goals and wishes? How do they feel and how does The Eye feel? Let’s hear some feedback and complaints now!
There are lots of things I need to improve on to make Jake into what I intended him to be. Can’t say that I have done him justice so far. A few things went quite well, but I haven’t really gotten into character yet. In hind sight I should have done a few thing differently, but it’s always like that. You don’t come up with the good things on the spot, at least I don’t. But I try to act a bit more impulsively.
So this new round of RPG began when Herid asked me if I was interested in playing the what-if ending campaign of AFC. At first, I wasn’t really that keen I must admit, but I agreed. I thought, maybe I could give it another chance. The interest grew a bit the following weeks. I don’t remember in exactly what order everything happened now, but a discussion got us into the subject of when the campaign should be played, and it all got speed boosted since the group was right at a big finale and a separate campaign fitted in really well.
Discussions with Herid led to the following options for a character; Rokash, Jake or a new character. The reason for going with Jake here is that I didn’t like the idea of just jumping right back in with Rokash and having no idea of anything. Rokash was a good character, and now after hearing about the situation of the group I think he might have strategically fit in better, but that’s not really what is most important. So no regrets there.
I didn’t really feel like creating a new character either and I knew that at some point I wanted to bring Jake back. If now now, I don’t know when the next opportunity would be and for me it’s not such a good idea of leaving a character on hold and bringing it back years later.
The basic idea behind Jake when I created him was to make a more socially apt character than I usually play. I created him as a little bit of a challenge to myself to try to improve that part of my role playing. Otherwise I have played them more like I am myself. Silent, listen and observe until I feel confident. From an out of game perspective I think I did at least a decent job of that with AFC, but from an in game perspective it might not really have been that successful. I failed a bit there since I didn’t really come up with anything good to say. No explanations, more like mad rambling. I fell back in the same behaviour a few times, but I did a decent job.
In this group, I almost managed to get the first conversation in the same way, but after that it has been more of a failure. I haven’t played him the same, not that it has to be the same. But I fell back into the old mannerism and lately I have been acting a bit strange. I hope I will get better at this in the coming sessions.
Jake is a bit of an odd character as you have probably realized. There are some similarities between him and a certain time travelling dwarf that we all know about; as he in the beginning can be put into almost any group and have a reason to be there.
He has an unknown past and that is the main motivation of the character. To fulfil the rules of the game as he knows them and unlock the past. He is a big wildcard mostly, a Hannje that is focused around sound for combat purposes and a more social persona than my usual characters (if I can manage.)
So right now I want to get started and get into character, in game the main goal right now would be to become a part of the group as the rules of the game currently states so. Jake feels like a character that has lots of possibilities that I want to develop, I felt sorry to leave him like that back in Taraien when you started to kill each other.
Well, first of all when we started this I was pretty motivated even though it was just after the big “crash”, back in the eye again and probably a pretty new eye structure and stuff like that, and it was pretty exciting in the beginning, although when we started playing and after some sessions I started to feel that it went pretty slow and I must say I thought the cadet part was pretty boring, that plus my motivation for my character dropped abit somewhere along the way, most likely because I didnt really get into the char. as much as I wanted.
However, things changed and when we started to get closer to soldier rank I started to feel more comfortable with my character and I felt that we were atleast progressing somewhat.
Then after much time, we became soldiers and things started to look good and finally the missions/quests I wanted to play started coming(aka missions that are more mysterious and about exloring things or just other things that doesnt feel so mundane), but then things went south directly on our first soldier mission, one died and one became a vampire….ME!.
Now I know that I dont mind playing a vampire but I kind of didnt want Katherine to become one since now it will change alot of things and I must re-evaluate alot of stuff. But I also thought of it as an interesting twist and im still looking forward to it.
Although I dont know how well I will really fit in this group, I feel kind of like the odd one out, that will join on some missions now and then, and I dont really know how much I will contribute to the group, but I guess time will tell. But as a fledgling vampire its not like I will be some sort of power house to depend on and im not a leader material anymore so… well we will see.
Goals for the character in itself right now, well except those goals I mentioned to you yesterday over MSN, I guess its to find some place in the world, going back to the eye, and then see what happens from there, I dont really know much at the moment since I dont even have a stable persona anymore and I dont really know exactly what I wanna do with this character. I guess I will have my standard goal of seeking out something mysterious and unique to make her into a more unique vampire or atleast something special which then later can become something worth noting in the history.
When it comes to the other characters and the NPCs I regret abit not socializing more with some, in particular robin then I guess, I thought of doing it now and then but it never happened. But I guess its not impossible to do something like that at this stage either.
I think most of them are interesting and fun even though Doken is a pain in the ass with his remarks and such thing. Now I dont even know how some of them will view me, being a vampire and all or even how much time I will have to interact with them… or how to interact.. I mean.. they are cattle afterall?
As for the npc that will be my babysitter I guess it will be interesting in some ways.
So if we are going to sum up some things then.
complaints – I think the cadet system were abit too dull, yes some of the things are up to us, but sometimes when you tried doing out of the ordinary like trying to get some sort of different assignment you got this silly memory test, I thought that was abit.. weird. I also felt that it was dragged out abit to much, too many sessions doing nothing basically.
positive feedback – Well, I like what you have done with the eye and the things ive seen so far I like, it seems like a more structured place now than before and it gives a better impression.
I also think you have done a good job with the npcs so far.
constructive criticsm(will probably be viewed as whine but w/e) –
When we talked yesterday and from what ive gotten to hear before, some of the vampiric abilities seem really.. silly? I dont know but the system there might need some overlooking, for example bloodpyre doing 1 fire dmg? thats kind of… unimpressive for being a vampire even if it is a young one, atleast in my view an vampire is something supernatural and mystical and something that should be feared?
Then I had some thoughts about the appetite system, I mean I see how it works and how you want it to be, but its kind of weird that you have to drain a full grown human to gain 1 BP, 1 BP is like a fish in the sea if you take in regard that that BP you can lose in tons of different ways(spending abilites, getting hurt, time passes etc). I really dont want to play a vampire that raids whole villages to satisfy me for one day. I dont think thats very stylish.
And then I had some thoughts about the general gameplay, Is soldier missions supposed to be -that- hard everytime, people die, you lose half the squad(sure that situation got out of hand), and then sending them out almost instantly on some paranormal phenomena, I guess I just feel sorry for the guys, the eye seems kind of pushy there.
Well well, just putting some thoughts out there. see you later today!
Vampires are strange and can be quite powerful creatures. But young vampires aren’t that more powerful than their human selves. A vampire though can boost him or herself which is the point, their power isn’t stable and they are supposed to boost it in some ways.
Blood Pyre though is no mistake. It’s a red fire which isn’t bigger than a small flame in the palm of the hand on the vampire. It’s an annoying red fire which isn’t that powerful. Even Fire Bolt is more powerful in essence. This fire though will be stronger plus it has a special effect of not being that easy to quench. It’s more a mysterious fire meant to spook and to be annoying to the prey of the vampire. And since many speciality abilities only does 1 in DMG this isn’t that bad I think.
Yes, draining a whole village is not good, this is right and I’ve been thinking about that. I will change how the hunger is affected but when it comes to the BP-farming it will probably be the same. I will change though so it will be the CC and not the Constitution of the victim which will affect how much possible BP a vampire can get out of a victim.
My thought though is that a vampire always has this hunger to deal with except on very rare and few occasions. So the appetite meter will mostly be a difficulty monitor for resisting in tempting situations. In my eyes this fits. A vampire will never be “full” until he’s completely full with BP. So in essence there will be two hungers. Plus a vampire actually doesn’t really need blood to survive. Only for the usual regeneration and some minor vampire abilities to take effect.
You need to drink blood at certain times and certain situations will be tempting even though you’ll be craving blood almost constantly the first few decades of your life. This though will only be another trait of the vampire’s life, hehe. Drinking distilled blood will be able to temporary quench your thirst, same if you drain a human it will temporarily do the same. But only for a moment. You’ll be even worse then I am when it comes to hunger. But it’s only one of the curses a vampire learns to live with over time.
As I’ve said, there are Solider Missions and Solider Missions. The general rank missions are more than dull to most Soliders. They seldom include fighting and is often routine missions or very short quest and requests of minor value. The Solider rank III missions though are this hard often. Or maybe a little bit easier, a lot shorter, and more rewarding than the others. But in essence your time as cadets was meant to give you a feel of these missions. They aren’t much to hang in the tree but they are something and can sometimes be interesting.
As Robin said, the real solider missions are the Special Rank missions, and the mission taken, given and found personally. Torshäll, the Phenomena and the next Squad Mission are all missions Robin has rooted out for each and everyone of you in the squad to show The Eye what you’re made of and give you good opportunities to grow, get a good line into your file, plus maybe find some interesting options.
The Eye is pushy though. They are training Solider Heroes and not just a military cleaning organization.
Well, just wanted to post an update since yesterdays session.
I was abit surprised of the size of that crypt I must admit and it seemed like a decent enough place. The other vampires I dont have much to say about yet except they all seem abit more relaxed than vampires outside the eye, but we will see, for the moment I think I enjoyed that it was actually not that many vampires in the eye yet and it gave abit more personal atmosphere.
just curious how much 300 blood is really? did he mean BP or something else. just wanted to hear if he screwed me over there, seeing as the others get 1500creds for this mission =).
Well,well looking forward to the next quest and I hope we all can get along!..
300 blood is 300 BP, yes.
Wow, quite alot then, err I guess they have some sort of bloodbank which keeps tabs how much we have, since I dont think I can stomach 300bp =)
Yes, just as you have some of it there now.