Hey, G-man, my Sundays will be free for the next few weeks, so what say you to finally running this next scene over Skype? Lemme know when you're available.
News and Recent Posts
June 14, 2010
This weekend saw the unexpected debut of Incongruity, in the form of a quasi-impromptu game of Maid: The RPG. Thanks to Canonet for running this madness, and to Doc and Aknorals for pulling a late-nighter to play it. Here's to many more sessions of weekend insanity!
June 6, 2010
I started doing some long-overdue spring cleaning around the site, including consolidating some of the old Jerware stuff and making space for our latest RPG experiment: Incongruity. Experimental rotating GM PBP/VoIP hybrid madness is imminent! Stay tuned.
May 11, 2009
It's official: please welcome your new GM, Tiger_Bomb. I will be stepping down from my GM-ly duties to join the game as a player. Hopefully a change of the guard will give this game the shot in the arm it needs.
Recent Posts
So do we plan to use this board for the VOIP game, guys? The way I see it, we've been using running Skype conversation topics as an ad hoc board of sorts anyway, so should I just bulldoze this one and leave it exclusively for the NCS Cyberpunk game?
Here's my god - Boozlebub. He's a pretty cool guy. I'd do a shot with him. Avatars to come.
Boozlebub - Chaotic Good god of Distilled Spirits, Revelry,
Gelatin, and Haberdashery - Ethereal
Formal Name: Boozlebub, Lord of the Golden Still (4d20), the Drunken
Prankster (4d10), the Bringer of Men's Fineries and
Accessories (4d10), and the Crimson Translucence (5d8)
Portfolio - For the sake of ease in game, I'll be using the shorter
descriptions for any checks instead of the lengthy titles.
Distilled Spirits (4d20): All things Alcohol, transference of booze
Revelry (4d10): Carousing, Partying, Dancing and singing poorly
Practical Jokes
Haberdashery (4d10): Creation and sales of men's fashion accessories
Gelatin (5d8): Being neither a solid nor a liquid
Basics
As an Ethereal, Boozlebub's goal is to enjoy the blessed revelry and dynamic ebbs and flows to the party. Joy is found, lovers meet, stories told. Yes, heartache is found and lovers part in the party, but that is all part of the grande tapestry. For when at a party, eventhe strongest of heartache may be blunted by a stiff shot and a shoulder to cry on forging a new connection, be it friend or lover.
Gelatin is formless, adapting to its surroundings and taking shape as necessary, as is Boozlebub's way. In every wedding, at every wake, in every banquet, The Lord of the Golden Still tends to his flock. Haberdashery rarely completely chances the outfit, only enhances it, and as a nice top hat and cane does not change the clothing, Boozlebub does not change the reality, merely accents it. Makes it but a little better.
While the Lord of the Golden Still enjoys good natured carousing and practical jokes, he abhors the ruining of the mood of a good party by aggressive and angry drunks. Ruining another's buzz by instigating a fight on Sacred Ground (where alcohol is served or drank) is amongst the greatest sins.
Boozlebub's lover and consort is Ashtar, the goddess of Tobacco and Intelligence Gathering. The two are often celebrated together. His natural form is a bright red translucent humanoid in a big hat with a monocle and a cane with a pocketwatch and flask suspended in his body by his chest. His holy symbol is a flask emblazoned with a silouhette of a human drinking from a bottle and his sacred Weapon is
a sock with a rock in it. His calling card is graffiti of a penis on an object or person.
Relations
Although both Ethereal, Boozlebub and Douchur, the god of bar fights, popped collars, and calling guys "faggots," obviously don't get along. Douchur promotes the use of potent energy whilst drunk not for building but for destruction. That mere fact makes him a heretic and heathen in Boozlebub's eyes. It is said that the two were brothers and friends. One night, Douchur drank far too much gin and tried to attack his drinking brother for putting his hand in warm water the previous night. Instead of dodging, Boozlebub turned to a gel and endured the beating for seventy days and seventy nights. He could no longer turn back and the incident hurt the two's relationship, turning once brothers into bitter rivals.
Douchur is a tall humanoid, muscularly built and powerful. His eyes glow a deep vermillion, and his spiked hair has frosted tips. The collar is constantly popped. His formal name is "Douchur, Popper of Collars, The Vermillion Scourge of Taverns, The Drunk of Burning Hatred." His followers are generally associated with the "Vermillion Scourge" moniker. His sacred weapon is a Broken Chair, and his Holy Symbol is Brass Knuckles.
Another of Boozlebub's greatest rivals is Bumblebore, the Underworld god of Boredom and Condescention. This rivalry simply erupted out of starkly differing mindsets. Well, that's what started this rivalry. What kept it fun was how pissy and butthurt Bumblebore would get. That just made it fun. In fact, the actual incident for starting this seething war is actually forgotten to the ravages of time. All that is
remembered is that Bumblebore is fun to fuck with.
Bumblebore is a thin and frail human-looking man. His formal name is "Bumblebore the Superior, Proclaimer of Dry Facts, the Greater of All." His followers are called Superiorites, and are encouraged by their religion to treat every one else like shit, as their god is truly better than all the others. His Sacred Weapon is the Pen-Blade, and his Holy Symbol is a crest of crossed arms.
Boozlebub's relationships with the other gods are varied, but not overtly antagonistic. Most just regard him as good dude to party with, or just a bit of a idiot, but harmless. Of course, his relations with lover and consort Ashtar is well, or at least it was before the cataclysm.
Ashtar appears as a lithe yet surprisingly sturdy looking Elven female dressed in a red doublet. Her long blonde hair seems to almost radiate. Ashtar's formal name is "Lady Ashtar, Knower of Divine Secrets, Bearer of the Sacred Zippo, Lady of the Smoke Break." Her Sacred Weapon is the Chain Whip, and her Holy Symbol is a Zippo Lighter emblazoned with a Book.
Worship
The Lord of the Golden Still's formal worship takes place at a specially consecrated bar with stain glass windows. The Cleric preaches of the sanctity of the ground where drinks are shared with friends, old and new. Throughout the service, drinks are served, brewed through the church's blessed distillery. Towards the end of the service, the Cleric addresses the congregation.
"Boozlebub turned to his flock and said 'Take this Jello Shot and Drink of it, for this is My Body. With this body ye are to remember, life is but a party. When thy room party closes for the night, may ye find the true way to the the after room party, such that I may party with my flock for all time." At which point the Children of the Golden Still form lines, tipping the waiters and waitresses as alms, and take the
Sacrement of Jello, and turn back to the bar area where they eat have pretzels and peanuts.
Birthdays are very important dates for the Children of the Golden Still, as they mostly lack any real organized holidays. These are treated as Feast Days where the practicioners enter invite their fellow congregants either to their abode or to the nearest bar. It is customary for the guests to give the one whose birthday it is bottles of hard liquor or drinks at the tavern. Much carousing and revelry is to happen. Any quarrels are to be dealt with before or after the party itself.
Weddings are amongst the most high occasions for the Children of the Golden Still. At these times, the extended families and friends of both sides of the party are gathered to join the two souls in holy wedlock. At which point both sides get drunk. Some are getting drunk out of happiness or out of "why did this happen?" but either way, these foibles again are not to aired or argued.
Wakes and funerals are to be preformed including the "One for my Homie" Ritual by friends and family, and drinking to the departed, that he or she may find his or her way to Boozehalla. As with any Children of the Golden Still ceremony, the ritualistic shots are performed as well.
There is the Sacred Rite of drawing dicks on passed out buddies' faces, as the Lord of the Golden Still adores a good joke. While most heathens view this as insult, the believers view the marks as though in his own way, Boozlebub has touched their face too, drawing penises and "Cock Goes Here" with an arrow going to their mouth. It is thought that doing such acts and performing such acts to their friends and fellow believers is both paying reverence to Boozlebub and the response is viewed not in shame or anger, but in a good hearty laugh. Should the response be anything
but, it is clearly not a Child of the Golden Still.
The only Feast Day for Boozlebub occurrs on different days in different towns. On these "Breathe Togethers," the Children of the Golden Still all rent out an entire inn and proceed to drink excessively, talk about stuff, and roll dice while pretending to be wizards. Oftentimes, Clerics of Boozlebub will visit several of these "Breathe Togethers" all around the region to properly show their gratitude to the distilled bounty from on high. During these events, it is not uncommon for attendees to dress up as assorted avatars of Boozlebub and Ashtar in reverence to the pair.
At this time…
Upon waking up, Boozlebub feels confused, he knows not where he has been how long he has been out, where his friends, lovers, and the like are. With the Great Cataclysm, countless gods had been struck down where they stand. "What did I drink last night?" he muses aloud, confounded and disturbed. Surely, he is concerned with his lover and consort. He can not feel her around him.
When things seem the most bleak, he hears a voice from the Mortal Realm. "My Lord, Lord of the Golden Still… Why have you not answered my prayers?" A… follower? Quickly, Boozlebub peers through the Ether to the Mortal Plane. What once was a fertile land, teeming with life and things that can be fermented into alcohol is now a broken waste - he can even feel that from this far…
Seeing the disaster, he realized that many of his flock need his guidance. Distilled Spirits may just be spit polishing a turd, but it's the best he can think to blunt living in these magically devastated wasteland would be to return to his faithful and get them back on the right path.
Well shit, does next sunday work for you guys? Something has come up.
Oh wait, 1030 AM or PM? PM, right?
Do we just skype? How long are you guys available during that window? I'm up for late night thrills but I don't know if I can start right at 1030. Is it a window even?
Tentative: yes.
Also, a word on god cliches. I see them as taking the form "Nouner of (Adjective) Nouns." So like "Eater of Sleeping Dogs" or "Dispenser of Foul-Tasting Beverages" would work. This way, if a god wants to introduce him/her/itself in full glory, he/she/it would read off each of the cliches like a title, ala Vigo from Ghostbusters II. Powerful gods might have names that take up entire volumes and would require hours to fully recite.
No, Avatars, being technically mortal, are limited to d6's, and they cap at 20-point characters. However, a character with a high Faith Pool can perform Miracles (channeling your True Form's stats for one-time actions), or Manifest (appear in your True Form for a limited time). So if two high-level gods decide to fight each other's Avatars, they'll probably be burning Faith Points like mad, but doing spectacular things in front of any awed mortals who might be watching.
So I'm guessing that Faith is going to be used somewhat as the dice pool for your avatar, right (acting like Funky-dice where ya can buy dice at 6 a pop…)?
Either way, I'm in the process of thinking of my character and avatar. While I do like my god of jelly and haberdashery, I am half considering bringing in good ol' Boozlebub, the chaotic neutral god of drunken revelry, hedonism, and bloated livers.
Okay, here's what I've got so far. Number-crunchy systems stuff and example characters to come, but for now, chew on some storyline and basic game concepts, probably replete with plot holes and spelling errors since I wrote this up in like, 15 minutes:
The Gist
You're a god. Your realm got into a Great War and was trashed, ripped from the Great Pattern, doomed to drift until it decayed into nothingness. For some reason, though, some of the mortals awoke, most of their memories wiped aside from some clinging fragments of the past. Their world, being on the brink of oblivion, sucks, so they started to pray (even post-apocalyptic amnesia can't make mortals forget how to complain). Their prayers brought you back to start the Cosmic Game again. Lucky you!
The System
Standard RISUS Funky Dice rules, 200-point character. For a god, this isn't that strong, but by human standards, it's fucking amazing. Also, your power will grow later, so chill out. Besides, you're the only game in town… for now.
The Gameplay
As a god, your main goal is to amass Faith Points. These are the measure of how much you're worshipped by the mortals (gods are an insecure lot). Faith Points fuel godlike abilities; more on that later. The best way to do this is to meddle with the world of mortals and try to shape it in your image. But meddling isn't as simple as it seems! To explain why, let me first break down the Four Realms:
The Ethereal Realm
This is one of the two places that gods live. Gods of the Ethereal realm are advocates of Free Will and Dynamism, and they get miffed when those Underworld folks try to take that away from the mortals. That being said, they're not a bunch of goody-two-shoes types; on the contrary, some are straight-up wackos. The setting here is really loose and conceptual; players and GM's alike should describe surroundings to fit the mood of a scene without much regard to physics and the like. The Possible Police hold no sway here! If an Ethereal god is killed here, he/she is Annihilated (Dead with a capital "D").
The Underworld
Like the Ethereal Realm, gods live here. Unlike the Ethereal Gods, the gods of the Underworld advocate Control and Stability; this can manifest itself as a simple desire for order, or power-hungry megalomania. Like the Ethereals, don't be quick to typecast the Underworld gods. Some of them want hordes of mindless servants, sure, but others just pine for the good old days when life wasn't so complicated. Narration here should be stark and hyper-realistic. If an Underworld god is killed here, he/she is Annihilated, do not pass Go, do not collect 200 Faith Points.
The Mortal Realm
This is where mortals live. I don't need to say much about this, as I assume you can just go outside and look around if you don't know what I'm talking about. Of note is the fact that, after the Great War, the world is more or less a barren wasteland, and the mortals are finding it hard to survive there. This is something that, as a higher power, you may wish to address. Just saying. Narration here is standard fantasy fare; more or less realistic, but feel free to bend things to fit the genre.
The Battleground
This is where the gods go to settle disputes. Since both Ethereal and Underworld gods alike can manifest at full power here without Faith Point expenditure, things are liable to get messy really, really fast. Narration here should be epic to the nth degree; every slash, parry, and grope should be world-shatteringly awesome. Competition here is not limited to the violent sort; on the contrary, many gods have settled disputes with cooking contests, riddle contests and the like. The winner gets to choose the loser's fate; this could be Annihilation, or something even more sinister…
On Avatars
Avatars aren't necessarily catpeople with blue skin or bald kids with arrows on their heads (though, at your option, they might well be). Avatars are something of a… loophole. The problem is, existence is supposed to have been designed in such a way that Ethereal Gods can't go to the Underworld, Underworld gods can't go to the Ethereal Realm, and neither can go to the Mortal Realm. However, gods being gods, they craved meddling, and then it hit them. It's a relatively simple matter to make a mortal shell, send it to the Mortal Realm, then infuse it with enough of one's own essence to take control of it. After perfecting this technique, gods rejoiced, then quickly went to work on Avatars that could to the Ethereal Realm and Underworld so they could meddle with each other as well.
Avatars can take any form (subject to GM veto, but only in the most ridiculously game-unbalancing cases). You have to spend Faith Points to make one, but if you go out of your way to meddle effectively, you can easily recoup what you spend with interest if you sway more mortals to your cause. Once an Avatar's form is set, it's set, and it can't be changed without going back to one's home realm and creating a new Avatar. Gods use them to watch the mortals, and in many cases, to intervene directly in their affairs.
However, use of Avatars is a risky proposition. Being mortal shells, they're not nearly as powerful as a god's True Form; this isn't as much of a problem in the Mortal Realm, where an Avatar can still be about as strong as highly competent mortal. However, when crossing over to the Underworld from the Ethereal Realm or vice versa, being in an Avatar form while one's potential enemies are in their True Forms is a little one-sided, to say the least. Faith Points can be used to channel one's True Form for one-time actions (somewhat expensive) or to manifest in one's True Form for a limited time (holy crap, expensive!), but it's still an uphill battle. This "homefield advantage" is why gods don't like to invade each other's realms unless they're really, really angry or really, really outclass their enemies.
The good news is that killing an Avatar isn't the same as killing a god. However, since it's imbued with some of the god's essence, Avatar death does one point of "stat damage" to each of the god's Cliches, s don't go around getting your Avatars killed for no good reason!
For the purposes of speeding up gameplay, it's highly recommended that you prepare Avatars' stats ahead of time; no one wants to wait while you hash out exactly what an Avatar can and can't do. There's nothing wrong with re-using the same Avatar stats over and over, either; on the contrary, most gods like familiar Avatars the same way mortals like a comfortable pair of shoes (and the smell is usually better).
(I think that'll be like around 10:30 Portland. I'm both eager and nervous…)
(2:30 pm, Taiwan time, is when I'll be free. That's like, 12:30 am Central time. I'm too lazy to find Portland time atm. Also, Gary Bruckheimer returns!)
"What time on sunday?," Gary asks, lubing the barrel of his death machine.
(Next Sunday should work - I'm holding off on giving full plans until the thick of it. I'm mostly thinking of Chippy-rigging a gun to a camera to have it distract the enemy. Well, that and rigging a portion of the ceiling to collapse on them with a few of the directional charges as well as making a few IEDs to chew through dues in a few hallways, but I need more proper input for the plans.)
(Remember that whole bit I said about possibly having more free time in the summer? Yeah, that's out the window. I started Kendo, and I have trouble saying "no" to people when it comes to teaching English, shame on me. Sundays are all I've got now, and this Sunday is reserved for the Maid coup de grace, but the following Sunday could be hashed out at the regular time. Steve, does that work for you too?)
(What's everyones availability for skype in the next two weeks? Big combat action bruckheimer setpiece coming that would work better that way. I've got most late nights, other than tuesday/wednesday/thursday and some not so late nights and monday/tuesday afternoons, all pacific time)
Dan smiles, seeing that Mac is already off to a good start, as he starts to change into his body armor. "Whatever you've got planned, Mac, it's gonna have to be quick. Misdirection could buy us some more time, so if it's fast, I'm all for it."
Karl, what have you gotten yourself into? What have you gotten all of US into? Dan's worked for the guy for a long time, and never had any reason to distrust him personally. NCS, on the other hand, he's not exactly been sure about since all this started. Is the t-mail Karl's own doing, or is he in NCS's pocket? He remembers the words of the smart-mouth they captured back at Fuchi.
If anyone's got answers, it'll be Karl. But if he's leading them into another ambush, he decides, Dan'll take care of him personally. And it won't be pretty.
(I clarified Karl's letter a bit. You know who Rob and Jackson are. They're co-workers, other salvage guys. Whether they were under helmets in your convoy or if they were on another run, you don't know. The "they" is referring to the actual "they" he talked about in the letter.)
in discussion Incongruity / Maid: The RPG » Maid Cyclons and other absurdness
Seriously guys, I really had hoped to make this game a one-shot. That was my primary aim. But given the fact that we're going to be on session 3, and we've just now come to dinner…. yeah.
I have some plans on how to end this badboy as soon as I can, I think I'll just make it more of a "day in the life" style story unless some of my plans come to fruition. If not, I'll just roll with it. But yes, I certainly hope come hell or high water that I am able to play a game soon. GMing is fun and all, but I need some good ol' fashioned PC Logic.
Mac's mind flips back and forth between concern for Mike and laying the hurt on those who plugged Mike. He turns his attention towards the goodies in the room. Letting Chippy free from his leash after giving Chippy a few parameters, mostly involving the messy and hopefully painful death to the enemy.
Acting not fully over his own accord, Mac finds directional charges, remote detonators, IR LEDs and IR receivers. "Always with the explosives, Chippy. Anything else? Yo Loki… Ya know if dere's only one way in or out of our little cubbyhole?" I've got a good start 'ere."
Chippy also throws up schematics over his field of vision involving the surveillance cameras and the mounting of a nice SMG to the housing, mocking up a trigger finger to a motor that is remote controlled. "An' DD, Chippy's got a idea. How long ya think it'll take the baddies to visit us? If we gots da time, we could misdirect them a little, too."
page revision: 27, last edited: 14 Jun 2010 00:01
