Applicant questions

[Neopopulas]

So you are looking for 3-6 players, there are more than enough playbooks to go around but do you want one of each (or at least, no doubles) or are you okay with doubling up? I think most of the time playbooks are one-and-done but with Monster of the week each playbook has a lot of variety.

For example you could have multiple Monsterous - werewolf, vampire, fey, frankenstein. Or multiple Spooky pretty easily.

[Knave]

I'm happy to select players with duplicate playbooks if the builds are different enough.

I will probably ask for Playbook moves to be unique, at the start and going forward, so if you select Berserk as the Wronged, no one else can get it through advancement, even if they are also the Wronged.

Initiates and Professionals - I would probably ask for them to be part of the same Sect / Agency just to keep things clean

The exception is The Chosen, for obvious reasons (plus 2 of their moves are non-optional). There Can Be Only One. No Faiths or Kendras :)

[Neopopulas]

I love the buffyverse reference.

I'm looking at Spooky or Spell-slinger myself, just having a better look at the playbooks.

[Shen]

6 hours ago, Neopopulas said:

I'd just suggest a foreign student, a non-english first-language student would do even better because then you could play even more fish-out-of-water and not worry when you don't know something.

My actual first thought was "professor of something mundane quits his job at one university to start working at Oxford, only to almost immediately get caught up in supernatural shenanigans and end up joining the monster-hunting society with the students."

Though an alternative I could also do is an older man who managed to get into an Oxford college to try to get into a new profession, who similarly finds themselves drawn to the club after a monster encounter.

[Knave]

2 hours ago, Shen said:

My actual first thought was "professor of something mundane quits his job at one university to start working at Oxford, only to almost immediately get caught up in supernatural shenanigans and end up joining the monster-hunting society with the students."

Though an alternative I could also do is an older man who managed to get into an Oxford college to try to get into a new profession, who similarly finds themselves drawn to the club after a monster encounter.

Both these concepts work. You often find mature students doing Medicine or Law as a career change.

However, as I mentioned to matt_s in his thread, I did imagine the society to be primarily undergrad students, so if a lot of applications are faculty or mature students, not all of them may make it.

Edited June 7, 2023 by Knave (see edit history)

[Shen]

12 minutes ago, Knave said:

Both these concepts work. You often find mature students doing Medicine or Law as a career change.

However, as I mentioned to matty_s in his thread, I did imagine the society to be primarily undergrad students, so if a lot of applications are faculty or mature students, not all of them may make it.

That's entirely fair. These are just my first thoughts. I tend to enjoy playing characters closer to my actual age than 18 year olds, is why I'm favoring them.

How about someone who never graduated university, and now, a decade or more later, got into an undergrad program? They'd still be an undergrad student, they'd just be older and a bit more world weary.

[Knave]

8 minutes ago, Shen said:

How about someone who never graduated university, and now, a decade or more later, got into an undergrad program? They'd still be an undergrad student, they'd just be older and a bit more world weary.

I get that, and I definitely want people to have characters they relate to and feel comfortable playing.

I'm totally good with a c. 30 year old undergrad or grad student, that would be a student in my book

[Shen]

1 hour ago, Knave said:

I get that, and I definitely want people to have characters they relate to and feel comfortable playing.

I'm totally good with a c. 30 year old undergrad or grad student, that would be a student in my book

Awesome, that helps a lot! Once I'm done with my real-life finals I'll start working on my fictional late bloomer. 🤪

[Knave]

6 minutes ago, Shen said:

Awesome, that helps a lot! Once I'm done with my real-life finals I'll start working on my fictional late bloomer

Good luck!

[Neopopulas]

Quick question about magical stuff.

So the playbook for Spell-slinger has a move that is Arcane Reputation. You get to be in good standing with three groups. I thought one would probably be O.U.M.H.S but i was wondering what you might have swirling around as other options or suggestions that might exist in the world? I was thinking maybe some underground magical circles or creatures, the fey maybe, maybe some cults, but i wan't to know if you had any specifics in mind.

[Knave]

• There will definitely be secret societies of practising spell-casters / magic experts at Oxford. If you want to choose that and give some flavour, that works. You have had some secretive run-ins or dealings with one group of them. The exact agenda of the group, I will hold back.
• You can choose any monster breed from the Monstrous Suggestions list. No guarantee it will come up as a primary adventure though. If you want to choose Fey, and potentially tie into Sophie's backstory, I'm of course fine with that.

In each case, give me a sense of how you think your reputation was established with them / what connection you have, and I'll add details you know about the group in the setting, or amend it as necessary

 

As an alternative, and to make this a more active move, if you want you can leave some or all of these selections undefined, and play this as an active move. When you encounter or seek out a group or type of monster, if you choose, you can tell them your name and roll luck. On a full or mixed success (i.e. 7 and above), they have heard of you and become one of your selections for the purposes of this Move (still maxes out at three groups though)

Edited June 7, 2023 by Knave (see edit history)

[Gregorotto]

Suppose I'll throw my hat into the ring, the posting rate is a little scary but I can probably pull it.

How free are we to toy with ancient history? I'm going to probably go Initiate or Professional, maybe Expert, potentially the Divine, with a combination of Arthurian and potentially Brythonic Celtic mythology. I was thinking Irish originally but I think Welsh and Cornish way work for me. Barring that, a kid from the American South.

Any of that sound ok or problematic?

[Knave]

All sounds great.

How do you mean toy with history? You mean to create a tradition for your powers / character? Generally accepted history as taught at the University will stay the same. But you can say that's wrong, and create an alternative magical history or occult tradition, no problem.

 

Am I on the right lines here?

[Gregorotto]

[Discussion held elsewhere]

Planning on making a (maybe) Divine kid from Wales.

[Intro]

Yeah, I was also thinking a "retired" Erinyes could be a fun Divine classicist, maybe as a "family member" that pops up as a lecturer at Somerville every other generation or so, with a weapon and partial panoply on permanent loan to the Ashmolean that occasionally is "removed for cleaning". But that felt more like an instructor than a student, so I've been letting other ideas rumble around.

Edited June 7, 2023 by Intro (see edit history)