Villainous

Kiel over at the awesome Dungeons & Donuts blog came up with a pretty interesting villain questionnaire. He said it was more D&D focused but I found it fairly system agnostic which is good because that's not what I've been running recently.

My campaign has a couple of villains I'm fairly proud of. Many of them more of a threat and possible more interesting than the guy I talk about below, but he's coming up sooner so I've thought about it more recently.

1. What's her/his name?

Nicholas R. Nero

2. What's her/his race and class?

He's a human CEO of the Nero Corporation. A New York based company with ties in all sorts of black market magic. He's also a Wanderer, a wizard with time and space magic who collects realities to use as weapons.

3. What, if anything, inspired you to create said villain?

I knew I wanted a power hungry corporation for the players to deal with. I wanted the leader to represent everything about the corporation: ambitious, strange magic, eccentric, and a little sadistic.

4. What was her/his main goal? Did she/he accomplish it?

To awaken a group of extra-dimensional titans called the Slumberers. But that's really just a side effect of summoning  and attempting to enslave Eschaton

5. What in their history made them pursue "evil"?

Most people look at everything the worlds have to offer and are filled with awe, Nero looked at it all and got greedy.

6. What was their relationship like with the PCs?

They've yet to actually meet him but he's going to be their opposition. Probably for a while too since he's much more powerful than they are. It could be interesting though if they manage to kill him.

7. What, if any, was one of their fiendish plots that stands out in your mind? Also, how did the PCs overcome it?

Again this hasn't happened yet, but the players are planning to break into his corporations main headquarters while they are having a fancy masquerade party. He's going to turn the building itself into a Slumberer while they are in it.

8. How did your villain dress/talk/present themselves?

Nero is well dressed, but flashy and kind of tacky. He's so full of himself and fairly crazy that his fashion sense is a bit extreme. Think like a brightly colored suite and wearing a lot of rings. He speaks loudly and moves with purpose

9. What was your villain's greatest secret or weakness?

There are definitely ways to exploit his insanity and his magic is rather unstable. The players can find ways to make it all backfire if they seek them out.

10. If applicable, how did your villain die?

The players blow stuff up a lot so that seems likely.

The Gods are Watching

Shrines to various Gods are built throughout the world. These serve as overlaps between our world and the next one. A crossing point of divine power.

Those who pray at a shrine can enter into a contract with the God there- receiving a temporary benefit based on the God's domain in exchange for service, sacrifice, or obedience.

The God of war may help your success in a coming battle but he may ask for you bloodstained weapon afterwards or to taste the heart of your foe. Likewise, running from a battle while under his guidance will not only remove the benefit but could result in moral backlash from the divine. Expect further loses as the fate of your fights turn against you.

Mechanically speaking the boons can vary from straight bonuses to different die rolls, the ability to reroll unfavorable results or it could something more interesting like being able to use mundane items as effective weapons, never being without light, or really anything.

Generally speaking the Gods do not prefer those who ask for too much or too often unless the person is very loyal. The greater the boon the greater the cost and, as the petty things they are, Gods often refuse service for past transgressions or working for their rivals. Divine characters who are devout to the particular God will have an easier time negotiating but will also suffer a greater backlash if they go back on their word.

Finally, here's some shrines. I was going to make this a multi-level chart with items that can mix and match, but I'm tired so that might come later. Feel free to use these to dress up your dungeon a little.

Instead:

1- A trickster God, one must put on a jester's hat and say there prayers in the forms of jokes in this shrine.
2- A statue of the God/Goddess of love, lust, and sex. Prayer consists of sexual favors to be performed on the statue.
3- A statue with a gaping mouth represents the God sustenance. One must "give back" to the God by vomiting their stomach contents into the statue before prayer. Where the vomit goes, no one knows.
4- A shrine of the God of drink and brewing- do not even think of entering here sober. Be prepared to do shots. Feel free to pair this with 3 since people will probably be puking anyway.
5- The God of flame is represented by a bonfire that must never go out. Staring at the fire allows one to enter into communion.
6- Killers who enter into the God of life's shrine must have their hands and faces painted red for a day before entering the shrine so all may know of their deeds.
7- The God of death does not enjoy birth, those with children must cut their hands on his scythe.
8- Those praying to the God of the hunt must shoot targets while doing so.
9- They say the rain God's shrine can only be found while water falls from the sky and sometimes just afterwards while the air is filled with petrichor.
10- The God of conquest also doubles as a prison. Those there are actually praying and submitting themselves to their lords will. They do not know when they will be released and must trust him.
11- The Goddess of the wilderness does not enjoy shrines. But any hallowed tree is said to house her. Her followers often prayer there and leave her gifts.
12- You will never walk out of the shrine of the God of change the same.

Yup, you only get twelve right now because I'm going to go to bed.

"This sounds like an epic dream."

This is what a friend of mine said when me and my girlfriend first introduced her to our game.

It was really difficult to tell her about it as well. Not a single adventure could really be explained simply, there was always more to talk about. We had to talk in a breaking and self-interrupting fashion so that she could understand everything the party had gone through. All that they had achieved, and lost.

As a GM this is possible the highest compliment she could've given me and she didn't even realize she did it. Until she said that I never realized this is pretty much exactly how I want my game to be.

Of course I have my players to thank for that. Obviously I couldn't even run a game without them, but they do so much more than act as an audience for whatever I've created. They're just as responsible for many of "the plot's" twists and turns. Their decisions make the game so much better than if it was just me writing out events.

I want my game to be fun (of course) but also cool, and extreme. It should be bizarre, beautiful, creepy, deadly, and rewarding.

I've wanted to achieve all of these things in past games I've ran, but I've never been satisfied with how it played out. Until now.

I'm not sure if it's my current group, the different system, the different genre, reading so many blogs, or my growth as a GM. I don't really care though, I'm really happy with how things are going.

This is the best campaign I've ever ran, and I feel blessed because of it.

Season 2 and stuff I plan to do

So break is winding down and I'll be getting back to school soon. This means a lot of things but one of the things I'm looking forward to is picking up with the gaming group I've set up there.

We left off on a pretty epic, holiday-themed adventure. It kind of served as a season finale episode and I was pretty happy with it.

But now we're coming back so I thought I would list some things I want to introduce or move forward with. I find it nice to have some clear goals to keep campaign momentum going.

• Their Modern Fantasy adventure is heading to New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world. I'd like the magic their to reflect that. There should be magic from all kinds of cultures.
• A few places in the city should reflect this magic taking hold. This can get weird, strange gravity, mutations, people talking backwards, whatever. Everything's strange but no one notices. It's a dark secret people sweep under the rug. Like stereotypical New Yorkers when most normal people see something strange they ignore it and keep on about their business.
• The player's are investigating a dark and mysterious business called the Nero Corporation. I should make ways for them to infiltrate the place. Something like a fancy party filled with intrigue, masks, and assassins.
• I kind of want the players to get betrayed, arrested, and taken down by someone with no visible powers but can exploit their weaknesses. Maybe all at once? hmm...
• There's a drug called Läesh they've run into before. It has varying effects, one of which is boosting the crap out of supernatural abilities at a cost. There should be something with this in the bad parts of New York, or the good parts.
• One of the players has a weeping angel trapped in his visual cortex so that's gotta change. Maybe he can make a deal with it?
• Another player has a burning hole of the apocalypse in her brain. This has to do with the Nero Corporation as well so that can probably come up then.
• Maybe something with New York's art scene?
• All the players just got new powers which they still need to pick.
• I might be getting a new player, she wants to be a belly-dancing Gypsy pirate which sounds like it could be the coolest thing ever.
• One of the players wants someone from her past to show up. She's an experienced treasure hunter and ship sinker (siren) so maybe something like from Indiana Jones where they are allies/rivals/enemies all simultaneously for the same artifact.
• One of the players has family in New York, they are not on good terms, something about stolen technology.
• I think some sort of fish king might show up demanding the fish-person in the party be his bride.
• The mad scientist should show up again.

Okay that is a lot. More than I expected I guess, I've got some planning to do. But I'd love to here your thoughts.

Evil Christmas and Adventures within New York City

Last game the players ended up saving Christmas. The holiday is still a week away but it was our last game together so I made a holiday themed adventure on the epic side of things.

Santa was for some reason in the Appalachian mountains, corrupted by the Book of Terrible things (or the Naughty List as most might know it) which has been recording the sins of humanity for so long it seems to have gained sentience.

The players fought some giant toy tanks and life-sized tin soldiers with permanent stuck on smiles. They did pretty well, though known of them can pilot a tank for shit and this almost got them blown up several times.

Santa's elves were building these war machines because of all the evil corruption going and the players decided it might be a good idea to stop this. That, and they discovered that Santa planned on shifting the poles which would have nearly destroyed the magnetosphere, which would have been bad for pretty much the entire planet.

Other highlights of the adventure include the players narrowly escaping a weeping angel made of ice, befriending a top hat-wearing ice elemental named Frosty, and getting there names written in a book that messed them up pretty bad.

The final fight with Santa included mind control on both sides, homicidal knife-wielding elves, flying reindeer, and two characters nearly dieing. This battle was made even more complicated by the fact that the players were getting dose with magic that increased their powers. But also made their bodies pour out energy and their abilities go haywire. Think telekinetic storms, swarms of summoned spiders, and floods.

Most of the time the players looked like this. I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who recently.

They ended up surviving the process and freeing Santa from his possession. As a reward he offered to teleport them and the car they are so fond of to wherever they wanted to go. They recently found out about a shady business called the Nero Corporation in New York City so that's where they chose to go.

It was an incredible session. Several of the players told me how it was out best game yet and ended up being quite epic. We won't play again until after our winter break so that was basically a season finale for us.

And I could not have a better option for a season premier. Throughout this campaign I've had vague ideas about what can be found throughout this semi-magical Earth I've been building. I've tried to keep most of these ideas loose so I can easily respond to the players.

New York is a big place even without supernatural elements. It's safe to say a lot goes on there. You could spend an entire campaign in the city in a variety of genres. I'm not sure how long the players will want to stay in New York but getting into the Nero Corporation won't be easy so chances are they'll be spending at least a couple sessions there.

I'm trying not to let myself get overwhelmed with what all I could put together but there are a few things I want to focus on. I'll probably expand on these in a later post:

-An area of decadence: The upper crust of society hiding out in high-rise penthouse apartments. Making multi-million dollar business deals and spending the gains on often times corrupt hobbies. This could include personal armies of adventurers to gather artifacts for them, dealing with expensive, and often times enchanted, artwork, throwing elaborate parties, and secret murders or potential rivals.

-An area of delinquency: Like the show misfits minus the accents. Everything is punk rock, recreational drug use, one-night stands, and superpowers. Nearly everyone in this area has a criminal record of some kind though it's often. Everybody is scrounging around to make a decent living but a select few have a wish of theirs answered by a gaining a superpower one day. This of course creates quite a bit of chaos.

Not sure yet what all this is going to entail but I'll try and keep posting about it. Let me know what you think especially if you have any ideas of your own.

It's nearly 2 a.m. here and...

I'm bored, I feel like writing some campaign stuff before sleep, but I'm not sure of what. I think I'll just start listing some ideas I have for coming up adventures

• Extreme Demolition Derby- I'm thinking this will be in Texas, I'm not sure why it just seems like a good place. The players want weapon upgrades for their van and this seems like a good chance for them to earn them and test them out. The other competitors will have super-powered vehicles and bigger-than-life names.
• Blood bank is robbed- obviously by vampires but it won't be vampires. I'm thinking Blood Demon (I might write about him later) There will be a coven of vampires in the same town but they won't be involved in anyway. I hope they players feel tricked.
• Insane asylum- maybe abandoned, this is scary anyway. I'm not sure what will be here, but I like how dead island has guys in straight jackets that can level you. They don't have access to their arms but they just repeatedly headbutt you and tackle you to death.
• Something to do with diners- I don't know why, but diners seem awesome to me. Like pit stops in adventure, but they still seem like a place where adventure can happen. I should have a campaign that's starts at a diner. I once tried to start a campaign that revolved around one diner, it never took off. I obviously use them a lot here.
• I've been posting links a lot, is that annoying? Let me know, anyway...
• I've been thinking about villains. Overarching villains can be fun, but you have to be careful. I've tried to force long-lasting villains on players and they don't seem to take well. The best ones I've used seem to develop naturally, like a minor villain that disturbs the players just so and manages to get away, perhaps multiple times.
• There should be a group of politicians in D.C. who are all warlocks. Some dabble in dark magic and get possessed so now there are demons controlling Washington. Now this seems like a good place for a villain, perhaps I'll put the bait out there and see if my players bite.
• The voodoo priestess from the last game got away, along with her pet alligators. She totally freaked out the player's. They totally thought they killed her, but her whole origin is that she died and came back so it's not that much of a stretch to have her reappear. But to what end? revenge? maybe...
• So I guess there are two options for some bigger, boss villain types I'm so fond of. I don't have much of an overarching story for this modern America + the supernatural game I've started. Right now I'm more interested in player choice, which I guess is important but direction ain't bad either, still I don't want them to feel forced into something, hmm. Maybe I'll just hint at some stuff, whatever it may be, hell if I know for right now but If i figure it out I'll let you know.
• So far, I've been a big fan of the modern fantasy setting and making a game for it has been easier than any other game I've worked on. I have some ideas why, but maybe I'll write about it later.

Well that was a rant, and it feels good to put some of that stuff out there. If you have any thoughts/suggestions I'd love to hear them. Anyway, maybe it's time for bed.

Saponmancy

Numerous magicians have learned to use their alchemical knowledge to create soap and bathwater in the same way one would brew a magic potion.

These "Saponmancers" will often combine a variety of salts, soaps, perfumes, and powders to create concoctions that can bestow many possible effects for those who bathe in them.

Saponmancy can be a very lucrative, and secret college of magic. Well trained practitioners will often start their own bathhouses or spas and keep their recipes well hidden, for fear of competitors. Admittance to these businesses is often very expensive, and as such are mostly used by the wealthy and noble class.

Very rarely, these spas will become a visiting place for creatures from higher planes looking for a place of magical rest, very similar to the bathhouse in Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away." These creatures could be anything from local spirits to angels or demons. Because even the Lord of the Nine Hells needs a break now and then.

Saponmancers are trained magic users and alchemists. As such, many are familiar with ways to use their powers in deadly ways. They are often skilled at creating explosives using the highly combustible fats and oils used in making soap, and many specialize in poisons that can affect entire water supplies and that are absorbed through the skin.

Some even delve into necromancy using grave wax, or the soap made from the fat of corpses for their bathes.

Gaining the effects of a Saponmancy bath usually takes at least 10 minutes of soaking as the ingredients used are diluted. The effects last 24 hours unless stated otherwise. Higher concentrations or certain catalysts allow the bather to absorb the effects more quickly and even instantaneously, but usually with harmful side effects.
 

Saponmancers use several specific ingredients for the water to achieve certain affects. Usually many other secret ingredients are required as well.

Here's some options for random Saponmancy baths or soaps

1- Blood Lily, gives the bather a d4 increase in Strength or a similar stat
2- Catnip, gives the bather a d4 increase in Dexterity or a similar stat
3- Ginkgo Biloba, gives the bather a d4 increase in Intelligence or a similar stat
4- Whitestripe Bamboo,  gives the bather a d4 increase in Constitution or a similar stat
5- Cherry Blossom Petals, gives the bather a d4 increase in Charisma or a similar stat
6- Vanda Orchid, gives the bather a d4 increase in Wisdom or a similar stat
7- Ginseng Root, gives the bather a faster reaction rate, any reflex save or something similar such as a roll to dodge will increase by d8.
8- Dong Quai, gives the bather an increased resistance to disease, any save against disease is at a plus d8, the bather can also save immediately on any disease they have already contracted. If this does not cure the disease it will not worsen for 24 hours.
9- Venus Fly Trap, the bather gains a "trap sense" within 15 feet of them. This is a general feeling of unease, but the player may not necessarily understand what the feeling is about. Rolls to find traps are at a plus 10.
10- Valerian Root, puts the bather in a deeply relaxed state but inattentive state, this acts as a sleep spell and lasts just as long. High concentrations last longer, even to the point of putting the bather in a coma.
11- Devil's Mint, puts the bather in a highly suggestive state, they will do what is commanded of them by anyone for the next hour. They get saves against anything they would not normally do. Skilled Saponmancers can even concoct a bath of Devil's Mint where the bather will only listen to them.
12- Crane Flower, gives the bather a general proficiency with "Eastern" weapons such as katanas, shurikens, nunchaku, bladed fans, sai, etc. If the bather already knows how to use these weapons they get a decent bonus.
13- Rue, the bather breaks out in painful blisters all over the exposed parts of the body, the bather loses roughly 10% of their health and can not gain it back until after 24 hours. This health cannot be recovered by any other way accept by Sopanmancy.
14- Aloe, the bather recovers all lost hitpoints
15- Sea Salt, the bather gains waterbreathing for d6 hours
16- Grave Wax from an individual, the bather gains memories as if they drank from a Goblet of Atli
17- Grave Wax from numerous individuals, if the bather is living this has no effect, if the bather is a corpse they rise as a zombie after an hour of total submergence.
18- White Lotus, the bather gains an aura of nobility for d4 hours, others will instantly recognize the bather as a member of some higher order or class depending on the local society, how they react is up to the individual
19- Grey Ooze Soap, the bather's flesh and bones melt away and they take on a semi-liquid state for d4-1 hours, while in this form they can not carry equipment and can generally only interact with the environment by making slam-like attacks. But, they can squeeze through the smallest cracks and take no penalty for doing so. When the user reforms they will be naked as they will have dropped all of their equipment.
20- Hydra Oil, the bather cannot be killed by decapitation for the next d4 hours. Instead when their head is cut off they will grow three new heads, these new heads will also be affected by the Hydra Oil bath. After the bath wears off, excess will shrivel away leaving the bather with a single head again.

Tell me what you think of this Campaign idea

Summer approaches, and while I'll be working (probably washing dishes so that's awesome) the lack of school means my friends and I should have a lot more free time and thus more time to game.

James is working on a post-apocalyptic psy-GURPS campaign that is partly based off of the webcomic Freakangels. It sounds really cool, I'm excited about it. And if you don't know what Freakangels is you need to.

There might be a few orgies.

I think some of my other friends are considering possible D&D campaigns, which is great. I of course have a lot of fun with that game. But I also have a current D&D campaign going, and while I love the world I've been building I can't help but think things would be better with a little more variety in our gaming selection.

So I'm looking at other options, but I don't want to half-ass this and I really want to get some feedback.

There's an idea I've had for a while for an urban fantasy setting. The time period is contemporary but the characters would be dealing with the supernatural. They players would be free to create wizards, sorcerers, or any other type of spellcaster but they could also be pretty much any supernatural race. It would be to their benefit to play something that can easily blend in with normal humans, but If they want to just be a winged serpent or some giant sentient beetle or something I'm cool with that.

Here's the twist, if you want to call it that, the campaign is going to be tied to a restaurant all of the pc's work at. So in addition to being a devilish fireslinger, they'd also be a part-time fry cook, or something like that. But they're far from the only restaurant in town and I'm thinking they might spend a lot of time dealing with their competition.



If they want to do this legitimately that's fine, they're are adventures for that. Questing for rare ingredients is a staple for any fantasy adventure. But I'm guessing things are going to get underhanded. Sabotage, kidnapping, curses, illusions, maybe even outright murder all seem like some excellent fun.

I'm sort of in love with this idea. Mixing the mundane with the fantastic is to me the heart of urban fantasy. These wizards, selkies, and demons are all trying to just earn a buck and live like the rest of us but they do so with magic, and that's fun.

I'm sure there's game systems out their that are built for this type of role playing and if you know of any of any feel free to let me know along with why you think it's good. But I'd prefer not having to buy or learn something new. So right now I'm looking at Villains and Vigilantes.

It's a superhero rpg and it has sort of vague, rather underdeveloped rules for spellcasting characters like Dr. Strange. But my group has used it for supernatural campaigns before and it works well. Mechanically there is no real difference between pyrokinesis as a super power or as magic so using the regular super powers would work fine for our purposes.

V&V offers some serious variety. Most of it is developed randomly, but from that entropy you can really develop any theme and it will work in game fairly well. Plus the benefit of playing with your friends is often trust. I trust my group enough to forget about acquiring their powers randomly. If they really want to play an ice mage I'm okay with just giving them ice powers instead of them having to roll for ice powers.

But if you think there's something that is going to work better, let me know. I'm open to trying something new.