Rune Knight

Queen Heqet rolls initiative for the enemy team. She does so using the following Stunt: Ear to the Ground Whenever someone initiates a Conflict against you in an area where you’ve built a network of contacts, you use Contacts instead of Notice to determine turn order, because you got tipped off in time.

In a room dimly lit by a golden glow, a figure sat upon a tall, imperious throne; subdued chaos swirled around her as communications officers read from their command terminals, just trying to understand what was going on. She was the eye of the storm, silently watching an array of pseudo-holographic screens trapped in a vast glass prism on the war table before her. Seemingly overnight, everything had begun to fall apart. Her eyes flickered between images and videos: an entire album of leaked evidence revealing her secret plan. Recruiting soldiers and training them to fight. Hiring spies and assassins to make moves on key political figures... Even killing, if she had to do it herself. She saw the reaction from the public unfolding before her very eyes: conspiracy forums feeling validated that their theories about her seemingly innocuous tech company "Pharo" were finally proven true, murmurings in the underworld that working with a known terrorist group might not be in their best interests - even the government was responding, talk of investigations and possible arrests reaching her metaphorical ears through her network. A network she had spent decades cultivating. How long ago had it been when she had awakened to this strange new world? Her sorcerers had promised her that she would awaken to rule an Egypt at the peak of it's power - but instead all she had found was sand and desolation. And now, desolation came once again, this time for her New Egyptian Empire. "Initiate Project Sand Spider." She announced to the room, her exotic, alien accent unlike any other in the world. All at once, the chaos went still. Her officers looked at each other for a moment, then began to move with purpose. Standing up from her throne and moving around behind it, Queen Heqet stood with her hands resting behind her back. The entire lair began to rumble, and a sliver of light cracked itself open further and further to reveal the truth at the top of the pyramid-shaped glass building which was Pharo's headquarters. The tip of the pyramid split down all three sides, opening like hangar doors. All this time, they had been hiding a mechanical bird as large as the largest aeroplane the world had ever known - an effigy in the form of Ra, glistening black and elegant gold reflecting in the rain and the gray stormy daylight. "Queen Heqet, it won't be safe to fly in this weather!" A pilot warned. Just then, an alarm began to ding on the war table behind them; glancing back, Queen Heqet saw… that the elevator doors were opening. "We have no choice." Just moments ago, our team of intrepid "heroes" stood riding that very elevator the final few floors up to Queen Heqet's lair, checking their equipment as elevator music danced pleasantly in the background. So what if they were wanted criminals just like she was? There was a distinct difference between what they did, and Queen Heqet's desire to rule the world. And now it had all led to this. The reveal of Queen Heqet's mobile lair might have been a surprise to another crew, but professionals like you had found out about it beforehand and equipped yourself appropriately in weatherproof outfits and other gear. "Attention personnel:" a voice announced over the intercom, "prepare for takeoff." Ding! The elevator opened into a massive lobby, part of which was covered by a tower in the center of the room that rose up to the ceiling. Not far off, soldiers in sleek black-and-yellow uniforms with vaguely bird-like masks had been sparring and practicing their shooting at targets on the wall. They turned at the sound of the elevator, brandishing Khopesh swords or simple handguns, a round ballistic shield in their off-hands. At the center of the training-room half of the lobby, a man in a padded black suit much like a Formula 1 driver's suit had been sitting on the shoulder of what at first seemed like a tall obsidian statue, but which soon revealed itself for what it was: a black-and-green exosuit that shut closed like a Venus flytrap as soon as the pilot jumped inside. The exosuit struck the figure of a jackal-headed man, a massive kite-shaped tower shield in one hand and a minigun strapped to it's back ready to pull at a moment's notice. The lair lurched; lightning struck outside with a thunderous kra-KOOM!, the muffled sound of rain pounding outside as the lair began to move. OOC And the battle begins! Each of you may start combat on Zone 19 or Zone 18; alternatively, you can choose to start outside on Zone 33. I tried to keep the initial post as short as possible, so if there's any crucial information that's missing that you need in order to take your first few actions then don't be afraid to ask. If you would all copy your character sheets and post them into the Character Sheets thread, I would greatly appreciate it. , this would be a good opportunity for you to finalize your Stunts. , I assume that you are the initiative leader for your team; roll initiative, please. And last but not least, I realized where in the timeline of a hypothetical campaign this Scenario would be, and that you each would have gained about 4 extra Skill Points by now. I'm sure you'll all find somewhere to put those points. ;)

If poison were used to Create an Advantage, the point of an action like that is to inflict a poison status effect rather than to deal damage, in which case I'd say that would normally be defended against with Physique. An argument could be made for Athletics, but that would depend upon the method of deployment for the poison.

If poison is delivered as part of an Attack, Athletics would be the skill that is used to defend, yes. As for Chi, it's uses in Defense are rather niche; "mental attacks and intangible supernatural attacks", as I mentioned before. As such, the vast majority of defense rolls against attacks will be with Athletics. Oh! I hadn't realized that was you; my bad. Try to use the Discord from now on; you'll get faster responses from me. ;)

It's not often that one defends with Physique, actually: Athletics is for dodging all kinds of attacks, and Fight can be used to defend against melee attacks. Rolling to Defend with Physique would usually be for tests of fortitude, such as resisting poisons; even when breaking out of a grapple Physique isn't the only option, since Athletics could be used to represent slipping out of your aggressor's grasp. Btw, you see the invite link to the Discord, right? I'm just noticing I misspelled ManicPixieFatGuy's name in the "private to" code, so I want to make sure.

The time is upon us, ladies and gentlemen: time to decide who will be moving forward with us into the game. Tbh tho, it's really easy: I'd like to offer all of the applicants an invitation to the game! :) It's not quite as many as I would have liked, but we can still move forward with three. , and , I've included a link to my Discord server in this message. Once you're in, we can discuss a little bit, then it will only be a few short days before I have a post up to start the battle!

Let's see... I'll start with the simpler Stunts, then work my way up to the more complex ones. Boosted effectiveness with Physique v.s. barriers is super easy: I really love this Stunt for things like that Bend Bars, Lift Gates You may spend a Fate Point to automatically overcome a Physique obstacle - even if you’ve already rolled for it - provided you’re trying to accomplish something through brute strength. When it comes to primal senses, I think Take It All In would fit the theme quite well, though it may be difficult to actually make use of it in the scene. If that one doesn't suit your fancy, Keen Senses might have a better chance of being useful in this little game specifically. Take It All In Once per Scene, you may spend a Fate Point (and a few minutes of observation) to make a special Notice roll representing opening your senses to a location. For each shift you make on this roll, you discover or create an Aspect related to direct observation on the scene - though you may only Invoke one of them for free. Keen Senses Choose a physical sense (e.g. sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell). You gain +2 to Defend or Overcome with Notice when that sense is the primary one being used. There aren't any example Stunts for extra movement speed, but what I usually do is come up with a compelling justification for being so fast, describing it briefly in a sentence, then finishing the Stunt with "you may move 1 additional Zone per turn" or something like that. There are a few offensive/defensive success-with-style combat Stunts, so I'll just show you some examples. Flesh Breaks on Iron When you defend against a Fight attack with style, you may inflict a 2-shift hit instead of taking a Boost on your attacker. Tiger Rends the Flesh When you tie on an attack using Fight for defense, you can inflict a 2-shift hit instead of taking a Boost. Serpent Bites the Hand If you gain shifts on a defense, you can sacrifice your action next turn to immediately inflict an attack on your opponent, using the shift value of your defense as your attack result. "Some sort of arcane thing", though... you'll have to be a little more specific, I'm afraid. Generally, the "magic" of this world is in the form of subtle, mystical arts, so if it's too flashy it will have to be limited in how many times it can be used per day. Are you looking for a ranged spell attack? A buff? Some sort of esoteric curse/boon thing? I need a little more to go off of. And finally, a totem summoning Stunt. I think what I'll do is craft a prototype Stunt based on your description, then you can tell me what you do or do not like about it and if there are any changes you would like. Totem Warrior You can carve a spirit totem in preparation for an upcoming hunt. In combat, you can Create an Advantage with Chi to call on aspects of that animal spirit, earning an extra free invocation on successful rolls. Though vulnerable to being broken, stolen or disenchanted via Overcome actions, you can easily fashion and attune to a new totem in any scene after a battle.

Hey Starsign! ;) Glad to see you made it. Everything looks good so far, except Unfinished Business with the Merc. Did you mean to use that description for it? It doesn't seem to match the name of the Aspect. Also, your rank in Physique grants you 1 extra Stress Box.

Looks great! :) I would consider your application complete.

When it comes to creating Stunts, it's important to give a Stunt limitations that keep it from being used to often. If you can use a Stunt every time you make a certain skill roll or take a certain action, it's too broadly applicable. Bull Charge is a fine Stunt because it requires certain conditions; it just so happens that those conditions are very similar to The Tiger Moves with Purpose - the two Stunts are synergistic with each other. A Stunt that grants a bonus to Athletics against all attempts to Create an Advantage on you, however, is a little too broad. Think about all of the other Stunts you've seen: they aren't merely mechanical, they have a theme, they have a vibe, they fit an aesthetic. Essentially, there's got to be something fun and interesting about a Stunt.

It sounds like Hannibal is your favorite, so why don't we go with that? :) Avatar of the Predator King could be changed to Avatar of the Alpha King or Spirit of the Über Khan, and in my opinion, something like Predator Instinct would make more sense than Insatiable Prey Drive.

Bull Charge looks like your best bet when it comes to extra power on those Athletics attacks. You might rename it to sound more kung-fu, such as Raijin Tiger Strike. Alternatively, this one incorporates the environment around you as a method of striking harder: Leaves Like Razors When Invoking a situation Aspect or environment-based Advantage on an attack, you add +2 Weapon Rating to that attack. I can't find anything for a bonus to overcome obstacles like you've described, but it would be pretty simply to create one: something like Lightning Crosses the Sky, where you have +2 to Overcome with Athletics when you describe how you use parkour to defy danger and close the gap. No need to take all of these, of course. Make sure to keep in mind your Stunt/Refresh ratio, as always.

This character fits much better, tonally speaking. :) What role would you say she generally falls into on the team? The As Forceful As A Bear's Claws Stunt is a little OP, though. Might I suggest this Stunt instead? The Tiger Moves With Purpose Move at least 1 Zone and make an attack using Athletics or make an Athletics attack on a target that just moved into your Zone on their last action. Add 2 shifts to any Stress you deal with this attack. With this, you could discard both As Forceful As A Bear's Claws and Augmentation of the Feral Flower, then rename The Tiger Moves with Purpose to whatever you like. It has a fun movement-based limitation, and a bonus to damage as long as you can pull off the Stunt. And if you like that, then I can suggest another martial-arts-style Stunt. ;) Just let me know what kind of technique you're looking for.

Just a couple of quick notes in general: The Will skill doesn't exist in this game; if you're worried about mental assaults, don't be If you happened to read the Game Expectations, it mentions that I have an issue with mind control, which I would classify mesmerism as a category of We definitely can't do the brain in the jar thing, I'm afraid: as part of the heist aesthetic, it's important that your character is relatively inconspicuous and able to blend in among other humans. I do like Jack Spade and Hannibal Van Zant, though. If you go with Jack Spade, I'd like to see a little more character development, which you can probably achieve by answering the two special application questions in the Character Creation thread. If you go with Hannibal, I would prefer to come up with a different name for this spirit than "Predator King" - it doesn't sound quite right to me. "Alpha King", perhaps? "Alpha Prime"? "Über Khan"? I'm just spitballing here. Also, I don't understand what Insatiable Prey Drive means, so I'd like an explanation of that. Love your creativity, by the way. :)

This specific game - the one you are applying for - is a playtest which includes just a single combat situation. When I was referring to spirits, I was referring to them in the hypothetical sense, as in "this is how the skill would work if we were playing in a full campaign". Adding a spirit to this combat would probably overcomplicate things too much: the objective of this game is to playtest a mechanic, so the less complex the battle itself is, the better.