Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - FHRegulus

Pages: [1]
1
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Red Markets Alpha Playtest
« on: January 21, 2016, 11:51:38 PM »
So we're gearing up for our Red Markets minicampaign and we put together our Enclave, the surrounding areas and two characters. The concept was put together by Kat as a "Latent Hospital/Society" so we built on top of what she had and I think it ended up really cool.

Latent Mercy General
Latent Mercy General is located in what was once the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. The surrounding buildings have been rolled in to LMG's territory to make for a considerably sized enclave. The vast majority of the population resides within the hospital proper.

2. Location
Salt Lake City.

3. Defenses
The strictest of quarantines helped LDS transition into LMG. Add to that the barricading of the surrounding area comprised of the many, many vehicles people drove their loved ones to the hospital in and LMG's autowall is more than enough to keep the majority of casualties at bay. The buildings that were brought into the fold of LMG are connected by bridges that allow its inhabitants to walk from building to building without ever having to head to ground level.

4. History
LMG has its roots with the Latter Day Saints. When the Crash came they were prepared. The hospital fell fairly quickly during the chaos with a handful of doctors and other staff barricading themselves in the upper floors to protect themselves from the vectors. One of these doctors believed he received a vision from Jesus instructing him to find a cure for the disease ravaging the world.

Little did he know that it was simply the fever dreams of a man going septic after a scratch from a vector. The greatest miracle came soon after the others realized he was infected. He didn't turn. The doctor was what would later be referred to as a latent. The others took this as a sign from God on High. They held on long enough for a group of travelers desperate for medicine to clear the hospital. It is from these two groups that the LMG was formed.

5. Top Exports
Medicine and medical training. LMG is known around the area as the place to secure new meds. They produce them in-house and medical supplies make up the vast majority of their income. Also of note is that they aren't above training outsiders in the medical arts for the right price.

6. Top Imports
Medicine isn't grown on trees. It takes raw materials to manufacture them and the LMG is happy to buy what they need from outsiders.

Additionally, due to their unfavorable location in the city they import a great deal more water than others with direct access to the springs or Salt Lake.

Finally, weapons of all manner are in short supply within LMG. Guns, crowbar, and crossbows are all highly sought after goods within the enclave.

7. Competition
Salt Wave Station is a rival enclave built around a local radio station that is still broadcasting. The people of SWS are almost all young and headstrong. They watched their friends die just like the rest of us but it lit a fire in them. They're more than willing to provide free entertainment to the city but distributing actual, important information through them comes at a high price. Additionally, they employ an incredibly dangerous group of Takers, The Risk Jockeys, who undertake incredibly dangerous jobs and then tell stories about them on air (with an Ubiq simulcast).

The Station is a strange group of survivors that have made a portable enclave. Built on the skeletons of train cars, the Station dominates the rails of Salt Lake City. Some cars have been converted into what can only be described as mobile weapons platforms while others are open air agricultural boxes. It is thanks to the completion of many proposed lines that the Station is able to circle Salt Like City without having to reverse and they've engineered a machine/system to 'quietly' move the trains with man-power (in order to save their fuel reserves for when they really need to boogie). The Station is known as a large trade hub that services any group in the city with enough bounty to barter and follows a schedule of where the will be. Nothing prevents the Station from arriving on time. They also employ the Taker group known as The Rail Walkers to those willing to pay.

The Repository survives in the re-purposed Salt Lake City Library and is an incredibly technophobic organization. They believe that Ubiq and those who use it (namely Takers) are criminals who must be punished. For a group run by former librarians they are incredibly cutthroat but their well-learned nature gives them an edge over others as they possess a great deal of information not on Ubiq that they withhold from others unless bribed. Many traps built around the city are the result of someone from the Repository trying out something they've learned recently (like a homemade claymore or ankle-catch).

8. Social Structure

LMG runs in complete contrary to almost every other enclave in the Loss. It is ruled by the Latent and being a Latent is considered an honor within its walls. The Convalescence are a group of willingly Latent doctors and researchers that shroud themselves in simple robes detailed with black lines while they pursue the ever mythical cure for the Blight. The society as a whole has adopted a bastardized evolution of the conservative ways of Mormon culture. All members of the Convalescence remain covered up while in public (making things like gender and race irrelevant) and are convinced that if there is a way to force the virus into latency then there must be a way to cure it. The final task for a doctor or researching seeking to join the Convalescence is to willingly infect themselves with the Blight and then inject themselves with Supressin K-7864 to become Latent themselves as "only those truly invested in finding the cure have any hope of doing so."

The Convalescence is opposed by the other major party within LMG. The Claim consists of uninfected members who act as the driving forces behind LMG in order to ensure its continued existence. Run by a former health insurance specialist, the Claim is an absolutely cutthroat organization dedicated to "the Bottom Line." They higher Takers, they arrange trade, they direct the vast majority of the Orderlies, and they make sure the Convalescence can continue to pursue a cure that most high ranking members of the Claim are sure is never coming. Just like insurance companies in real life, the Claim is a group dedicated to taking every piece of Bounty they legally can from the working man.

On hand to prevent the spread of infection and to put down Vectors are the Orderlies, the security forces of LMG. The Orderlies answer to both ruling factions and are split by those who are and aren't infected so it is rare that a Latent Orderly will ever interact with an uninfected Orderly. To become an orderly you must be "processed" by the Claim. Individuals undergoing processing are bunked up in the Evaluation Room (or ER) over the course of their trial period.

The vast majority of the population are Latents and are known as "Patience" (something they must show and a clever play on words). They live above the non-infected individuals of LMG. Many of the uninfected brought their loved ones here believing that LMG would be the best chance at a cure they could find. The uninfected live in the areas collectively referred to as "The Waiting Room."

Anyone who is unable to work in LMG is "Discharged" from the hospital and released into the world.

9. Neighborhoods
The Morgue: The area directly outside the barricade. Casualties are few and far between but it is a stark reminder of the dangers outside LMG.

The Waiting Room: Comprised of the uninfected that wait to hear if the cure has been found for their loved ones. Also individuals with no interest in the cure live within the sprawl of ground level buildings.

The Adjustment: Where the Claim exists. It's next on the upward stack of locations after the Waiting Room.

Pediatrics: Where the large orphan population lives. They are required to work the bridge farms and perform other tasks in order to prevent themselves from becoming discharged.

ER (Evaluation Room): Where Orderlies in training live. Many Takers also make use of the ER as their home.

The Walkways: The Walkways contain many rooftop gardens and the bridges that connect the various buildings to LMG proper.

The Quarantine Zone: Where the Patience and the majority of the Convalescence live. Higher quality of living for Latents than for the uninfected.

The Operating Room: This is where the Convalescence and Caduceus do their good work. Almost no one has ever been this high up. The rooftop of LMG is a large rooftop garden where the Convalescence can go to calm their nerves without interacting with the uninfected.



10. VIPs
Caduceus: The doctor who was the first Latent. Extremely reclusive and utterly devoted to finding the cure.

Chester Ploughman: The head of the Claim. A stubby fat man who has a nasty attitude.

Selene Winter: An uninfected engineer responsible for maintaining the security the carpool perimeter affords LMG.

The rest are TBD.




Finally the first two characters of the Taker group known as the "Hearse Practitioners" are:

Tristana ? (Kat): A Latent who just recently became a member of the Convalescence. Her official appointment was to the Takers as a liaison between the Convalescence and the Claim. Occasionally she is tasked with recovering certain things while on a run. A very eccentric young woman, Tristana is easily excited by the prospect of Aberrations being real. Though she has never seen one she is very sure she will be just as enthused if she manages to confirm the rumors. We'll see about that...

Seung Eom-Dae (Kyle): A 12 year old child who was "conscripted" by a "general." Served as a soldier for three years before his "general" was summarily killed in an operation gone bad. Several of the surviving children were badly wounded. Seung Eom-Dae came across LMG while looking for medicine for the others. Due to his lack of education and his only applicable skill being murder, he volunteered to perform the duties of a Taker in order to support the others until they grew. He's armed with an incredibly poorly made zip-gun rifle.

Super pumped to play.

2
RPGs / Re: BaseRaiders
« on: August 11, 2015, 05:57:08 PM »
The player's reason was that since Starlight Siren (someone he came up with on the spot) could apparently shoot moonbeams from her mouth and eyes that the memorabilia should do the same thing. Then of course once he sketched the flashlight we all started laughing about how it could also scream if you pressed a button on it. Superhero merch in a superhero filled world is truly terrifying.

3
RPGs / Re: BaseRaiders
« on: August 11, 2015, 02:10:24 PM »
Haha, sadly it was not. Carmine was very pure-hearted about his love for superheroes. At some point I plan to put together the layout of the base and it the events in it into a .pdf file if you want that too?

4
RPGs / Re: BaseRaiders
« on: August 10, 2015, 06:25:01 PM »
So we ran Base Raiders last night and the group had a lot of fun with the whole idea. We played a very light game (something fairly unusual for us) where the players were powerless high school seniors in a small American town four months after Ragnarok. Our group artist ended up sketching these completely normal kids and adding things as they found more powers.



Claude Spencer: Resident rich pretty boy, Claude loves the finer things (including flying and boating) and made sure to buy a gross amount of random, hi-tech doodads that might help the group in the base.

Carmine "Big Time" Azzarello: The loveable Carmine runs a fairly large supers dedicated blog. Due to his love of superheroes and the internet he heard about "base raiding" well before most people did. Equipped with some rations, a baseball bat, a headset camera, and a replica domino mask Carmine wants nothing more than to "accidentally" become a superhuman.

Uisce "Fish" Beatha (Pronounced Ish-kay): Carmine and Claude don't know what Uisce is. Despite knowing this person for their entire lives no one has ever asked if Uisce is a he or a she. Growing up in a large, criminally-oriented Irish family taught Uisce a lot about lockpicking, sneaking around, and shooting. Uisce pocketed his/her father's .38 revolver before heading out to meet at the base.

The group originally found the base while on a camping trip in the mountains. During a lightning storm a stray bolt struck something in the ground close to their tent. The next morning they found a hatch made of a strange metal that led below ground. The lightning bolt fried the electronic lock, which caused the dormant hatch to open. The kids decided cover the hatch and come back next weekend to properly investigate.

Overall we had a LOT of fun playing. I decided to roll random powers on the Superpower Wiki and put them in the game in some way. I wanted a healthy mix of power sources and ended up with:
1.   Liquid Transformation: Can turn liquids from one thing to another (like Water to Wine). Came in the form of a clear fluid cocktail made from diluted alien blood. No one chose to take this power because you had to inject it. Everyone was REALLY squeamish when it came to needles.

2.   Speed Cancellation: The ability to negate movement (including super speed, though this strains the device). Came in the form of a modified Ideal Stun Cannon used by a powerful human soldier who worked with the Ideal (Cpt. Winter). He was right on the cusp of "Is he or isn't he a superhero?" and no one has seen him since Ragnarok. Attaches at the wrist and folds out into a Megaman-esque armcannon. Seen on Carmine in the picture but later given to Fish after gaining...

3.   Copper Mimicry: A solid orb of copper was held in a stasis bubble in a repair bay. Fish thought it would be a good idea to undo the stasis and touch the orb because she had yet to get a superpower that didn't involved injecting a needle into herself. The orb fell apart like sand. Turns out it was actually a nanoswarm that burrowed into her bones, muscles, and skin. His new shiny copper body scared him at first. She attempted to return her skin to normal but could only make his face return to flesh. When the Speed Cancellation ISC was attached to Fish's body they melded with the cannon as well, allowing Fish to fire copper flechette and turning it a interesting silvery/copper color.
 
4.   Weapon Hands: A symbiotic purple parasite that can absorb mundane weapons and tools. The user can then transform their hands into a chitinous nightmare version of one of these held weapons. Found on a skeleton in a hardlight jail cell. Only the fleshy tendrils of the symbiote remained on the bones. Carmine tripped and fell on to the skeleton and the alien creature quickly attached itself to him.

5.   Elemental Blade (Lightning): A blue crystal from another plane of existence that can be grasped to create a crackling blade. Used by Carmine and then given to Claude.

6.   Psychic Bomb Generation: By entering a machine that performs a brain modification (read: automated open brain surgery and drugs) Carmine gained the ability to create small psychic grenades and other explosives. Unfortunately, this power came with the side-effect of intense headaches and pain in the finger joints unless bombs were generated and released (read: you must explode things).

7.   Strength Manipulation: A needle labeled “Strength Giver.” Not super-strength as the kids originally thought. When injected with this failed super-soldier serum the subject would gain the ability to instill great strength in others with a simple touch. Because it was a needle the players thought I was doing something evil and didn't use it.

8.   Electroreception/Electric Speed: I rolled Electroreception and then rolled Electric Speed one after the other so I decided to combine them. By reading passages of this grimoire you bind an extraplanar entity of electricity to your nervous system. The plus side is that you can now sense things around you as if they were part of your nervous system AND your legs tingle with electricity which, when released, grants to bursts of great speed. The downside is, you bound an extraplanar entity to your nervous system and it's going to make some suggestions on what it thinks you should do in the future. Claude, resident idiot, decided to read the book because he was bored.

In addition they found some mundane things. Fish can be seen wearing a mesh undersuit that they believed might have been the base layer worn under a suit of power armor, some tranq guns, and a bulletproof vest. As for the flashlight... face... thing, Carmine's player loves superheroes and is great at improv. It was a piece of officially licensed memorabilia for Starlight Siren. Also it could scream if you pressed a button. Similarly, the fish head/mask was a replica of the mask used by Manfried Manfish from '98 to '03. The weird crotch thing is a censor blur to conceal Fish's gender in the skintight undersuit. We all got a kick out of the joke.


The base itself was an Ideal facility known as "The Vault." The general idea was that the base was autonomous and staffed almost entirely by robotic personnel. Unknown materials of all manner were sent to the Vault for preliminary testing. The one superhero in the Vault would then decide if things should be stored, destroyed, or sent to another facility. So when Ragnarok came around quite a few things were left unsorted.

Most importantly was the system that ran the Vault. A skilled technopath whose body was broken in a battle with a supervillain volunteered to have his brain installed in a supercomputer which ran the vast majority of the robots and store vital information. In the event of his death or disappearance much of the data would go with him. The technopath got along quite well with the other hero stationed at the base but both vanished during Rangarok. The players found it very strange that the supervillain in the jail cell with the Weapon Hand Symbiote would remain while the brain in the jar was taken. In true Base Raiders fashion I just shrugged at them and went "Who knows?"


tl;dr: High school kids livestreamed their adventures fighting robots, gaining superpowers, performing sweet power combination attacks, and discovering secrets in Base Raiders. We're totally playing again soon.

5
General Chaos / Re: Hastur reading list
« on: March 06, 2015, 01:34:58 PM »
Awesome list. Thanks!

6
General Chaos / Re: Hastur reading list
« on: December 05, 2014, 04:50:01 PM »
This is great. I've been looking for a list of Hastur stuff. Thanks!

7
General Chaos / Re: What Vidja games are you playing?
« on: December 05, 2014, 04:49:32 PM »
I've been playing Crypt of the Necrodancer, The Banner Saga (again), and Isaac Rebirth. They're all incredibly fun games for totally different reasons. Necrodancer is one of the cutest interpretations of a rhythm game I've ever seen, Banner Saga is a fantastic tactical game (even though there's no real terrain or elevation which is a bit of a bummer), and Isaac Rebirth is just as grueling as the first one. I am absolutely awful at it, haha.

8
General Chaos / Re: Costumes and Cosplaying
« on: December 05, 2014, 04:46:04 PM »
Worbla is expensive as all hell but it is FANTASTIC for what you want to do. I like using it more than foam because if you really need to you can reheat it and use it again. I've helped my wife and friends with some of their cosplay stuff and holy crap that stuff is amazing.

Your progress pictures look great. Definitely layer paint and seal it up because it's going to look awesome.

9
RPGs / Re: Road Trip
« on: December 04, 2014, 04:21:24 PM »
I taught my group to play MaoCT with Road Trip. They'd always wanted to try the game and I loved Cool Rat so much that I had to run Road Trip. The group really liked the adventure too and now we're playing MaoCT as a Jojo styled game. It's getting weird.

10
General Chaos / Re: What are you reading?
« on: December 04, 2014, 04:10:57 PM »
Currently I'm reading Dune for the first time and it is certainly a book... Also I've been digging into Mouse Guard. I'm super late on both of these but I'm really enjoying Mouse Guard.

Pages: [1]