Access

[Vestnik]

I've been looking at the little-used Perk Access (you know, which gives you knowledge of secret entrances).

I've been building a character -- mentioned elsewhere on these boards -- who is the greatgrandson of Pickman, artist-of-the-macabre and friend-of-ghouls of Lovecraft's short story Pickman's Model. I want the character to have knowledge of the network of ghoul tunnels that underlie the city (AK: Ghoul Tunnels), and also have knowledge of a number of access points to the surface that lead into useful places (forgotten basements in government buildings, for instance) or not-so-useful places (a graveyard, of course).

I've been thinking about using Access for this. What do you guys think -- would you allow this just with an AK, or go with the Perk?

[Lucius]

Well, I'm biased against perks, so I'd say the Area Knowledge. Possibly more than one; a basic AK: Ghoul Tunnels, and possibly a more specialized AK: Ghoul Tunnels to Public Buildings or something.

Of course, if the person running the game is likely to say that, by default, there ARE no tunnels to the really useful stuff, perhaps a perk can be used to guarantee that yes, there ARE. Of course, if you've got a Contact with ghouls or just knowledge of them and some means to persuade them, maybe they can MAKE you a tunnel where you need one.

Lucius Alexander

The palindromedary contemplates that idea of Contact with ghouls....

[ghost-angel]

AK: would let you actually traverse the tunnels and get where you want.

The Access Perk would let you go into them without the ghouls forcibly removing you (in as many pieces as they see fit).

[SSgt Baloo]

AK: would let you actually traverse the tunnels and get where you want.

The Access Perk would let you go into them without the ghouls forcibly removing you (in as many pieces as they see fit).

That's pretty much what I thought. Access doesn't mean you have the keys. It just means that when it's "Authorized Personnel Only", you're one of the authorized persons.

[Vestnik]

The palindromedary contemplates that idea of Contact with ghouls....

I actually bought it as this:

12 Contact: Ghouls of Boston, 8-, Contact Has Useful Skills or Resources, Good Relationship with Contact, Group Contact

He can also Summon ghouls with the Loyal adder, which makes me wonder about that 8- roll. I suppose the roll is to get the "organization" to do something for you, not the individual ghouls you have just caused to claw their way up from underground.

[pinecone]

I agree the AK is "I can wander around without getting lost" The perq. is "I can get into the medical examiners office (after hours) whenever I want to"

[Narratio]

Must agree with pinecone (hands out some rep).

Always remember that somebody is going to look at you and say something like "The ghouls have a tunnel into city hall? Why would they want one there?" To which the answer is that most government buildings basements are not forgotten, they're filled with filing cabinets and old hard copy. And possibly little old clerks who keep them in order... Ah ha! So that's why the ghouls have tunnels there. The little old clerks ARE ghouls! Whodathunkit?

[Vestnik]

Isn't ghoulish and cultic infiltration of society a Lovecraftian theme?