Turning Tides: Adventures in the City on Water [3e]

Azerian Kelimon · Aug 17 '10, 8:37pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaitou Kage

First, why these kids didn't become a gang or turn totally to crime? My character may need a good role model to follow. Not a Batman and Robin set-up. Rather, something that has a presence in my character's life. A hero or an idol that he can look to often and say "I want to be like him." Someone that he sees as a guiding light in tough times. It could be someone as extravagant as Superman or someone local that my character respects but has no other link to. Is there anyone established that you GMs think would fit this bill?

If you mean any sort of superpowered individual, there's absolutely none and I must insist on not introducing one that made it past the first real gig (in other words, no local supers unless you want a tragical and dead mentor). If you mean principled individuals, we have a couple ideas in the bucket.

Illien · Aug 17 '10, 8:40pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaitou Kage

My character may need a good role model to follow.

The city lacks such figures, unless you go for an uncle ben type of thing. It is, however, the DC universe, the blue/red boyscout and his gang have been around saving the day (and on the news) for decades now.
If you go for an uncle ben and he/she is part of clergy/police/politician/martian, i'd suggest you to keep said npc on the low ranks of such organization.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaitou Kage

What these kids did to stay alive and how they avoided notice.

I would suggest that the facility was somehow rogue (and thus nobody outside knew about the experiments), the persons in the know died in the accident, and/or the records got burned with the facility

Kaitou Kage · Aug 17 '10, 8:49pm

Azerian Kelimon · 8:58pm

Quote:

I would suggest that the facility was somehow rogue (and thus nobody outside knew about the experiments), the persons in the know died in the accident, and/or the records got burned with the facility

*Has horrific flashbacks of Weapon X: Teen Edition*

...Yeah, we'll have to work on this.

Drakos · Aug 17 '10, 8:59pm

Ok, I'm thinking that I would like my character to be a local politician of some sort. Is there a position that you think would be available without to much problem for the setting?

So far I’m thinking that he is a local war hero having served several tours of duty in the military and returned then returned home. He used his popularity to get into politics to try to clean up the corruption from the inside. He also takes the fight to the streets as a costumed crime fighter.

I was thinking he would need Expertise: Military, Expertise: Law. Expertise: Politics. What other things would you suggest?
Probably need a few benefits to represent the clout of a politician as well as mabye a little wealth.

Kaitou Kage · Aug 17 '10, 8:59pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illien

The city lacks such figures, unless you go for an uncle ben type of thing. It is, however, the DC universe, the blue/red boyscout and his gang have been around saving the day (and on the news) for decades now.
If you go for an uncle ben and he/she is part of clergy/police/politician/martian, i'd suggest you to keep said npc on the low ranks of such organization.

The JLA could work in the end. I won't exclude them as options, but I wondered if there were local and perhaps darker options. There could be drama if my character finds out his childhood hero is nothing like what he seemed.

Quote:

I would suggest that the facility was somehow rogue (and thus nobody outside knew about the experiments), the persons in the know died in the accident, and/or the records got burned with the facility

Sounds like a plan to me!

vingolf · 3:53am

I think it's about time I returned to the forums, and now the school is here and I'm no longer breaking my back working two jobs, 3e will be a good start. I hope you like the name I generated for the local hospital.

Name: Sam Kwon
Alias: Ouroboros
Age: 25
Occupation: Nurse Practitioner

Born to Jung and Anna Kwon, Samuel Kwon was an ordinary kid. He had wanted to be a policeman, then a firemen, and by the time he graduated high school, medical school was in his sights. He became a nurse practitioner and was soon back home at City on Water breaking his back at the CoW Hospital. Nurse practitioner had not been his first ambition, but Sam did not complain. What he did complain about was his unexpected kidnapping.

An ambitious and low level gangster named Simon "Sugar" Smith had looted and murdered an old eccentric man, and in the man's bag had been translations and books of arcane power. Sugar was drawn to a particular ritual that promised great power. Of course, it required a human sacrifice for which Sam had been volunteered. Sugar tied the unlucky Kwon to the makeshift altar, raised the bone knife, recited the incantation and then stabbed Samuel forty times. Sam died. Disgusted about the mess without gaining so much as an iota of power, Sugar lit the old book on fire and left the place to burn.

Unbeknownst to Sugar, the ritual had worked but not on him. From the deep darkness and cold of death, Sam heard a hissing beckoning him back to life. He could feel warmth, and then it was hot. Really hot. Sam woke up just in time to witness the inferno that was threatening to kill him a second time. Sam instinctively pulled on the restraints. Black snakes sprouted along his arms and broke the rope. Too panicked to question it, Sam escaped and hid in his apartment, testing his newfound power.

Sam feared his power, and he feared the ever present serpent watching him in his dreams. Eventually, perhaps inevitably, Sam accepted it, but he resolved to master it. Donning a simple smiley face mask with a forked tongue drawn on it, Sam began his career as Ouroboros.

Jung KwonJung Kwon is an immigrant circa 1976. Originally born on Jeju Island in South Korea to a family of fishers and dockworkers, he came to the United States to start a restaurant. He had to work up to it - City on Water was the only city Jung could afford, and he began as a busboy until he met Anna Kwon, a business graduate who helped him realize his dream.

He's short, fairly histrionic, and proud of the food he prepares for his restaurant (Kwon's Korean BBQ). He no longer has a heavy accent but his sentences can run-on every now and then. Of the two parents, Jung was the one Sam asked for ice cream but not for advice.

Anna KwonAnna Kwon, formerly Anna Christiansen, was born to realtors in the suburbs of City on Water. She grew up to be a tall blond and blue-eyed woman, she attended Metropolis University where she received her MBA. She returned, meeting Jung Kwon where Kwon worked as a busboy and the two immediately hit it off. Anna found Jung's romantic antics endearing and bold, especially for a woman of her imposing figure and strong will, and she returned several times until they eventually tied the knot and started their own business together. She wants to move up in life but knows City on Water enough to know she can't do it there, and saving up money for moving out has been a slow process.

Sam is more likely to ask his grounded mother for advice than his father, though she's a firm believer of 'spare the rod and spoil the child.'

Simon 'Sugar' SmithSimon 'Sugar' Smith was born into poverty and crime and has grown into poverty and crime. He's young and foolhardy - he knows he's just fodder for the meth kings he works for, but he has the ambition and the motivation to usurp them.

Has no relationship to Sam except that Sugar once tried to kill Sam for power.

Old ManAn old man who used to live in a small house down a quiet street in the City on Water. Though dead, his home held a great many artifacts of occult and arcane nature, and maybe even a backup plan for the unexpected.

Has very little connection to anybody else except Sugar, who murdered the old man.

Hm, does 3e give penalties for using a ranged attack in melee? I don't see anything about it, but I wouldn't object to circumstance penalties if you decided to do that.

Azerian Kelimon · Aug 17 '10, 9:04pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakos

Ok, I'm thinking that I would like my character to be a local politician of some sort. Is there a position that you think would be available without to much problem for the setting?

So far I’m thinking that he is a local war hero having served several tours of duty in the military and returned then returned home. He used his popularity to get into politics to try to clean up the corruption from the inside. He also takes the fight to the streets as a costumed crime fighter.

I was thinking he would need Expertise: Military, Expertise: Law. Expertise: Politics. What other things would you suggest?
Probably need a few benefits to represent the clout of a politician as well as mabye a little wealth.

Well...getting much done just through "legit" means will be rough to say the least, but I do believe the Darlington Projects could afford to have your character as their representative for the local mayor. They're the quintessential "nice neighborhood", kind of like the one that old ladies always talk about in fiction, except they haven't gone completely wrong just yet. Crime is at a pretty high rate, but the people haven't lost all hope yet.

Azerian Kelimon · Aug 17 '10, 9:09pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by vingolf

Hm, does 3e give penalties for using a ranged attack in melee? I don't see anything about it, but I wouldn't object to circumstance penalties if you decided to do that.

Not that I know of, so you should be clear there.

That aside, interesssssssting concept (if you'll forgive the snaketalk). I can't help but get

Chainsaw Vigilante vibes here, though. :P

Illien · Aug 17 '10, 9:12pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azerian Kelimon

*Has horrific flashbacks of Weapon X: Teen Edition*

*shivers*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakos

Ok, I'm thinking that I would like my character to be a local politician of some sort. Is there a position that you think would be available without to much problem for the setting?

Remember that being frustrated for not being able to clean up the city (or not fast enough) through regular means is a valid motivation to go vigilante.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakos

I was thinking he would need Expertise: Military, Expertise: Law. Expertise: Politics. What other things would you suggest?
Probably need a few benefits to represent the clout of a politician as well as mabye a little wealth.

Expertise: Law is not required depending on the brand of politician (many politicians don't have a law-related degree, particularly on the local scene).