Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

[AlHazred]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

And, really, what creepy hotel would be complete with a few Poe references?

[Revenant]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Exactly what I thought.

[bubba smith]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

the married archeologists

an american ex-soldier and his wife a former brittish librarian who movie in after joining archeaolical trips to both egypt and china and ending up battling madmen oneach trip who believe they are reincarnated mummies of respectfully an egyptian high priest and a chinese wrlord

[Curufea]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Backward Dog

 

Sometimes confused with the Hounds of Tindalos because it doesn't quite live in the same dimensions as humanity. Whereas the Hounds track through corner space, seeking prey in different time periods in curved space and are numerous in number, the Backward Dog merely travels backward in time and as far as anyone knows, is unique.

 

No one knows what it preys on, but one of the long term residents of the hotel reckons it seeks those out of time. Any unfortunate who somehow isn't living in their correct time.

 

The Unstalking.

 

The victim will first know they are doomed when they see the dog in some dark corner licking its lips while saliva drips upward from the floor into its mouth.

 

Sometime in the near future for the victim, they will see the dog again as it regurgitates meat in a back room that no one goes to.

 

The victim may then see the dog a few days later as it pushes a headless half-eaten corpse into one of the more travelled corridors of the hotel, where it will then start regurgitating more meat onto it, until it is a completely whole (but headless) corpse.

 

The last encounter the victim will have with the dog, is when the victim sees something rolling down the corridor towards them. It stops several meters away and by the time they realise its their own head, the dog has leapt backwards through them as the head rises up to the victim.

 

Both the victim and the dog then disappear into causality.

 

----

Now added to the wiki here

[Basil]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Of course! What other time should things go bump in this hotel?

 

THIS hotel? Constantly, I would think.

[Curufea]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Quarter Past, Quarter To

 

At a quarter past the hour and at quarter to the hour, all conversations pause in the hotel. No matter who you are talking to or whether it is over the phone or through any other communcation device. For exactly8 23 seconds, there is a pause of complete silence in conversations.

 

 

(NB - this phenomenon has been observed in real life and remarked on by friends )

[Lucius]

Re: Help Me Populate A Mystery Building

 

In honor of one of my favorite imaginary places: The Creepy Hotel

 

and in honor of one of my favorite songs, Sarah McLachlan's Building a Mystery

 

(Which if you've never listened to, go find it and listen to it now. It's a wonderful song. Besides, this won't make any sense if you haven't heard the original. You really should be listening to the music while reading this....)

 

Lucius Alexander presents

 

A Mystery Building

 

You come for a night, but then the energy comes

And the dark side's light, and the vampires roam.

It could be anywhere; it's a suicide's home,

It's a shrine to a faith that died before Jesus came

 

It's a Mystery Building

 

It stands like a church, where the saints are voodoo dolls,

And you can't give up the search, for the ghosts in the halls.

Strange tracks in the snow, a stain that won't wash away,

Can you look out the window without your shadow getting in the way?

 

It's so beautiful with an edge and a charm,

Be so careful, lest you come to harm

 

Cause it's working, it's a mystery building

Holding on, Holding you in

Yeah it's working, it's a mystery building

You're chosen so carefully

 

You woke up screaming aloud, a prayer from a secret God

It feeds on your fears, so hold back your tears.

A poltergeist tantrum, a terrible din,

Just when you're anxious and your nerves are thin.

 

It's so beautiful, a beautiful f cked up place,

Have you seen the razor wire shrine?

 

Cause it's a Working, it's a mystery building

Holding on, Holding you in

Yeah it's a Working, it's a mystery building

You're chosen so carefully

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Did the palindromedary eat u?

[Lucius]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

I loved "Building a Mystery" so much, I based a character on the song.

 

Crossposted from Susano's truly excellent thread for song-based characters:

 

 

 

“Uh oh – as if actually discussing the possibility that we're up against a vampire weren't surreal enough, here comes that crazy poet.”

 

The group looked up to see it was so. But before anything could be said, the mysteriously smiling poet held up his sketchpad and arrested their attention. It displayed the very man, if man it was, that they sought, standing at an intersection with the names on the street signs clearly visible.

 

“This should be helpful – in more ways that one,” said the subtly musical voice with its hard to place accent.

 

Before their eyes the picture moved and changed, as the thing they knew only as Mr. Rice crossed the street...

 

 

 

 

 

Mystery Man AKA Haile DuBois

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

11 STR 1 11- Lift 114.9kg; 2d6 [2]

14 DEX 12 12- OCV: 5/DCV: 5

13 CON 6 12-

10 BODY 0 11-

13 INT 3 12- PER Roll 12-

14 EGO 8 12- ECV: 5

18 PRE 8 13- PRE Attack: 3 1/2d6

18 COM 4 13- (Yeah, he's beautiful)

 

3/6 PD 1 Total: 3/6 PD (0/3 rPD)

3/6 ED 0 Total: 3/6 ED (0/3 rED)

3 SPD 6 Phases: 4, 8, 12

5 REC 0

20 END -3

23 STUN 0 Total Characteristic Cost: 49

 

Movement:

Running: 7"/14"

Leaping: 2"/4"

Swimming:3"/6"

 

Cost Powers END

1 You wear sandals in the snow: Life Support (Safe in Intense Cold) (2 Active Points); Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (Modify by Temperature Category, not Active Points; -3/4)

 

2 Building a Mystery: Change Environment: Sanctify 1" radius, -1 to Necromancy and Demonology rolls, Time Delay (+1/4), MegaScale (1" = 10 km; +1/2), 1 Continuing Charge lasting 1 Season (+1) (14 Active Points); Window Of Opportunity (once per Month; window remains open for 1 Week; -1 3/4), Extra Time (20 Minutes, Only to Activate, Character May Take No Other Actions, -1 1/2), No Conscious Control (Exact size, duration often less than max) (Only Effects cannot be controlled; -1), No Range (-1/2) [1 cc]

 

“Window of Opportunity is actually not one week out of a month; it's several days and nights scattered across the month, including always the full moon, new moon, and usually times of occult ritual significance such as solstices and equinoxes. Mystery Man isn't always aware of why a given date is significant, but he will sense when it's coming (“I'll be able to do it in another eleven days.....around noon I think....”) and know when it's here (“The hour is come....”) Building a Mystery: Sanctify is mainly meant to trigger weaknesses related to being on “holy ground” but does carry a penalty to certain skills.

 

8 Holding on, and holding it in: (Total: 91 Active Cost, 8 Real Cost) Suppress BOD 1d6+1 (standard effect: 4 points), Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), MegaScale (1" = 10 km; +1/2), No Normal Defense (Possessing holy relic, or holy powers; +1), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Day; +1 1/2), Invisible Power Effects, Hide effects of Power (Fully Invisible; +2) (47 Active Points); Window Of Opportunity (once per Month; window remains open for 1 Week; -1 3/4), Gradual Effect (1 Day; -1 3/4), Limited Power Only vs Undead, Demons, and similarly evil occult creatures (-1 1/2), Extra Time (20 Minutes, Only to Activate, -1 1/4), No Conscious Control (Only Effects cannot be controlled; -1), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), No Range (-1/2), Activation Roll 14-, Burnout (-1/4), Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (No Active Point penalty to Skill Roll, RSR Skill is subject to Skill vs. Skill contests (Necromancy, Demonology, or similar magic skills); -1/4), Physical Manifestation (symbol inscribed on wall or pavement, small shrine, painting, etc.; -1/4), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/4) (Real Cost: 4) plus Suppress 1d6, all Necromantic or Diabolical powers simultaneously (+2), Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +1/2), MegaScale (1" = 10 km; +1/2), No Normal Defense (Possessing holy relic, or holy powers; +1), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Day; +1 1/2), Invisible Power Effects, Hide effects of Power (Fully Invisible; +2) (44 Active Points); Window Of Opportunity (once per Month; window remains open for 1 Week; -1 3/4), Gradual Effect (1 Day; -1 3/4), Limited Power Only vs Undead, Demons, and similarly evil occult creatures (-1 1/2), Extra Time (20 Minutes, Only to Activate, -1 1/4), No Conscious Control (Only Effects cannot be controlled; -1), Concentration (0 DCV; -1/2), No Range (-1/2), Activation Roll 14-, Burnout (-1/4), Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (No Active Point penalty to Skill Roll, RSR Skill is subject to Skill vs. Skill contests (Necromancy, Demonology, or similar magic skills); -1/4), Physical Manifestation (symbol inscribed on wall or pavement, small shrine, painting, etc.; -1/4), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/4) (Real Cost: 4) End Cost:16

 

Both more tiring and more directly effective than Sanctify, this power actively suppresses the forces of evil. Fortunately it's totally Invisible and leaves the monsters baffled – if they even realize they are less powerful than before. The Physical Manifestation is usually some work of art – from graffiti on a wall to a “razor wire shrine” set up on a rooftop to a painting. If he has time he'll take extra time to get a bonus to the skill roll.

 

5 Building a mystery: Invisibility to Sight, Mystic and Hearing Groups (30 Active Points); Limited Power Only Vs. Undead, Demons, and occult or otherworldly beings. (-1 1/2), Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2), Only When Not Attacking (-1/2), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Restrainable (-1/2), Limited Power May only make half moves (-1/2), Requires A Mystic Skill Roll And A Stealth Skill Roll (No Active Point penalty to Skill Roll; -1/4) End Cost 6

 

Has saved his life more than once by allowing him to sneak away quietly....

 

2 Building a Mystery: Mental Defense (8 points total)

 

Mystery Man is hard to read

 

3 A prayer from your Secret God: Force Field (2 PD/2 ED/3 Mental Defense/5 Power Defense) (12 Active Points); Only Works Against Undead, Diabolical or Necromantic powers (-1), Only When Not Attacking (-1/2), Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 20 Active Points; -1/4) END cost 2

 

Some prayers are answered.....

 

Perks

5 You live in a church: Base

3 Builing a mystery: Anonymity

10 A prayer from your secret God: Contact (Contact has extremely useful Skills or resources, Contact has significant Contacts of his own), Spirit Contact (x2) (10 Active Points) 8-

 

Often a valuable source of information. And sometimes “equipment” as the Secret God may inspire the Mystery Man to craft items of power for specific limited time uses...

 

Talents

12 And a cross from a faith that died before Jesus came: Turn Undead

 

Pedantic note: I suspect the song means the Ankh. But the Egyptian religion did not in fact die until a few centuries after Jesus came. (some claim it never died, but that's another issue.)

 

2 You come out at night, that's when the energy comes: Rapid Healing (5 Active Points); Limited Power Only at night (-1)

10 a prayer from your secret God: Divine Favor

3 And the dark side's light: Magesight, Telescopic: +1, Tracking (11 Active Points); No Conscious Control (-2), Only When Serving The God's Purposes (-1/2)

 

Tracking on Magesight helps to spot where malevolent influinces emanate from.

 

3 A prayer from your secret God: Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED) (6 Active Points); Requires A Mystic Skill Roll (Active Point penalty to Skill Roll is -1 per 5 Active Points; -1), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4)

 

Skills

3 Cause you're working, building a mystery: Power: Mystic 12-

 

3 And your suicide poem: PS: Compose Poetry 12-

3 you're setting up your razor wire shrine: PS: Artist 12-

 

These PS skills probably won't be complimentary to his “Working” skill. However, they do make it more likely he can sell his Physical Manifestations, or that they'll be accepted as gifts.

 

3 You're so beautiful, with an edge and a charm: Seduction 13-

3 Give us a tantrum, and a know it all grin: Oratory 13-

3 Just when we need one, when the evening's thin: Conversation 13-

3 And choosing so carefully: Deduction 12-

3 Building a mystery: Concealment 12-

3 Building a mystery: Stealth 12-

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 96

Total Cost: 145

 

75+ Disadvantages

5 You woke up screaming aloud Physical Limitation, Nightmares: (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)

5 Oh you're so beautiful, a beautiful focked up man Reputation: 8- (Extreme; Known Only To A Small Group)

20 you won't give up the search, for the ghosts in the halls Psychological Limitation: (Very Common, Strong)

5 But so careful, when I'm in your arms Dependent NPC (Variable – friends, lovers, innocents caught up in machinations of dark forces): 8- (Slightly Less Powerful than the PC – because he only gets involved with people who can take care of themselves)

10 And the vampires roam Hunted by creatures of the night: 8- (As Pow, Non Combat Influence, Limited Geographical Area (Not usually by day, can't enter holy ground, etc.), Harshly Punish)

15 Can you look out the window without your shadow getting in the way Psychological Limitation: Amnesia: doesn't remember clearly past the last couple of years, and is disturbed by that fact. (Uncommon, Total)

5 you strut your Rasta wear Distinctive Features: Looks like a “usual suspect” (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

5 And a smile that won't wash away Distinctive Features: Haunting smile (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

5 you feed off our fears, and hold back your tears Dependence: -20 Active Points from Affected Powers (Common: Make at least 1XPRE on a PRE attack to inspire fear or awe., 1 Day)

 

Total Disadvantage Points: 75

 

Background/History: No one knows where the Mystery Man came from, how he got title to an abandoned church, or what he's talking about half the time. Even he doesn't know who he really is, and much of what he does know - such as the Name of his "Secret God" - he will never repeat where mortals may hear. Rumors say he came from, or has traveled in, exotic lands like Jamaica, Haiti, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

 

Personality/Motivation: The Mystery Man is almost literally a man possessed. Haunted by memories, and by darker things deep in his mind beyond the light of (waking) memory, he is driven to combat the lurking evils he sees in his world. Guided by his inscrutable divine patron, he is a stalker of shadows, vampire hunter, exorcisor of haunted houses, bane and occasional target of monsters most people dismiss as the stuff of nightmares.

 

Quote: "Funny how often our monsters are actually terrified of US...."

 

Powers/Tactics: What powers the Mystery Man has are mostly weak or unreliable. He will almost always avoid a direct physical confrontation, instead following the promptings of intuition or of his secret God as to where, when, and how to sanctify an area and protect it from these abominations. His audience need never know that an incomprehensible but strangely moving poem recited at a coffeehouse, Egyptian heiroglyphic graffitti in an alley, and an unauthorized "art installation" in a park, are what pinned a vampire in his coffin until it could be found and destroyed. He often presents his art as gifts to people he knows will keep them somewhere in the city - indeed, he has been known to hand his work to complete strangers in the street. This makes it harder to find and destroy all the Physical Manifestations of his power.

 

Campaign Use: Even if the Mystery Man has tracked something to its lair and managed to, over the course of a month, stack a few successful Suppressions on top of it, he may well look around for help finishing the monster off.

 

Appearance: Tall, lean, bearded, and dark, the Mystery Man wears his hair in dreadlocks. He often dresses like a "hippy" or "Rasta man" or just a homeless bum, and draws a certain amount of police attention both for that and for his tendency to "hassle the straights" (his powers require him to inspire a certain amount of "fear or awe" on a regular basis to keep working. Normally he does that with things like PRE attacks from stage while reciting poetry in coffee houses, but that's not always possible....)

 

 

“Building a Mystery” song by Sarah McLachlan. Mystery Man character by

 

Lucius Alexander

 

copyright Palindromedary Enterprises

[Susano]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

That's "Susano."

[Lucius]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

That's "Susano."

 

I am mortified, my Lord.

 

My deepest apologies, and the error has been repaired.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

If I find out the palindromedary ate that letter, I'm going to kill that ridiculous beast.....

[Burrito Boy]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

I was reading The Count of Monte Cristo today and came across this:

 

In the hotel in the Rue Saint-Germain-des-Pres which Albert de Morcerf had chosen for himself and his mother, the second floor, composed of a small apartment, was rented to a very mysterious personage: a man whose face had never been seen when he entered or left the hotel, even by the concierge, for in winter he buried his face in a large red scarf and in summer he always blew his nose just as he was passing the concierge's window.

 

His visits were usually quite regular: it was nearly always toward four o'clock that he took possession of his apartment, in which he never spent the night. Twenty minutes after his arrival, a carriage would stop in front of the hotel and a woman, dressed in either black or dark blue but always wrapped in a flowing veil, would alight, pass before the concierge's window like a shadow and mount the stairs without causing a single step to creak under her light footsteps. She was never asked where she was going. Her face was therefore also completely unknown to the concierges, perhaps the only members of the vast brotherhood of Paris concierges who were capable of such discretion.

 

It goes without saying that the woman never went any higher than the second floor. There she would scratch on the door in a certain way; it would then be opened to her and closed tightly behind her.

 

The same maneuvers were employed for leaving the hotel. The woman, always veiled, would leave first, climb into her carriage and drive off, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another. Twenty minutes later the man, his face sunk down into a scarf or hidden by a handkerchief, would come out and also disappear.

[csyphrett]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Cosplayer:

People dress up as their favorite fictional character from the Elvis Storm Trooper, to Sailor Moon and her fellow scouts. Bart Dinkley does this too. People can spot him crossing the lobby day or night, wearing some outlandish costume. He even adds some authenthic touchs like slime on a ghostbusters uniform, Cloud Strife's seven in one sword, even a stake with blood on it as Van Helsing.

 

Then there's the people who show up looking for Bart. They also seem to be cosplayers, but they always seem to need help for one thing or another.

 

IF asked, Bart will make some remark about a problem with the princess's plumbing, or Stay Puft's refrigerator was on the fritz.

 

CES

[tkdguy]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Music Room

 

This large room has a piano, a drum set, and a couple of guitars. Anyone is welcome to play the instruments.

 

The strange part about this room is that when people talk in the room, they burst into song and finish their conversations that way. Nobody understands why, and people hardly ever remember the tune or the lyrics for long.

[bschrempp]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

And of someone sits down and tries to play any of the insruments, they play and play wonderfully, but everyone plays the same song, over and over. You can try to play anything you want, but only one some comes out. So what is the song?

 

Bob

 

The Music Room

 

This large room has a piano, a drum set, and a couple of guitars. Anyone is welcome to play the instruments.

 

The strange part about this room is that when people talk in the room, they burst into song and finish their conversations that way. Nobody understands why, and people hardly ever remember the tune or the lyrics for long.

[Curufea]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Gun

 

(inspired by The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold)

 

This is a last resort weapon used by the desperate who have no other hope and are willing to give their lives for a cause.

 

It sits by itself in a case in an empty room on the least used floor of the hotel. No one is ever seen going into this room and everyone avoids even approaching the room.

 

The gun is in pristine condition and lies in its case without any external ammunition. The gun can kill anyone or anything. It never misses, it always kills, and no skill is needed to use it. There is enough ammunition in the gun for two shots.

 

The first shot can only be used to kill the previous user of the gun. If they are already dead, the gun only contains one shot instead.

 

After the previous user is dead, the gun can be used to kill the victim intended by the new owner.

 

After the victim is dead, the gun returns to its room. It disappears when either the current user sleeps, or it is not observed by anyone.

 

It cannot be picked up by anyone who does not intend to kill someone. It cannot be fired at anyone or anything other than the person's intended victim and the previous user of the gun. It will not fire unless it will hit the target.

 

The gun has many names.

 

(note - this is similar, but not the same as Vengeance)

[tkdguy]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Deja Vu Room

 

This room is not particularly remarkable. But guests who check into this room always recognize it immediately. They seem to have been here before in a dream.

[Lucius]

Welcome to the Hotel California

 

Cross posted from Susano's excellent Song-Based Characters thread -

 

Presented for your approval, a song-based base.

 

The ORIGINAL creepy hotel.

 

Hotel California

 

Tiffany Twisted

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

 

14 DEX 12 12- OCV: 5/DCV: 5

20 INT 10 13- PER Roll 13-

21 EGO 22 13- ECV: 7

4 SPD 16 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12

 

 

Total Characteristic Cost: 60

 

Cost Powers END

49 Then she lit up a candle: Telekinesis (15 STR), Fine Manipulation, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (49 Active Points)

44 she got the Mercedes Benz: Sight, Hearing, Touch and Smell/Taste Groups Images - objects and people about the Hotel 1" radius, MegaScale (1" = 1 km; To cover building and grounds; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (44 Active Points)

 

Perks

40 Welcome to the hotel california: Base

 

Skills

7 Mirrors on the ceiling, The pink champagne on ice: Seduction 11-

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 140

Total Cost: 200

 

200+ Disadvantages

20 Psychological Limitation: Her mind is tiffany-twisted - No longer remembers what she - or he, or it - is, who built the hotel and left her in charge, or what her purpose is (Common, Total)

25 Psychological Limitation: Relax, said the night man, We are programmed to receive. - Compelled to lure travellers in and trap them (Very Common, Total)

20 Dependent NPC: She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends - becomes attached to long term residents, once their minds have broken and they become passive drones, and will actually protect them from other "guests" 8- (Normal; Group DNPC: x4 DNPCs)

 

 

Hotel California

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

 

4 BODY 2 10-

 

48 we are all just prisoners here, of our own device: 8 DEF, Cannot Be Escaped With Teleportation (+1/4), Hardened (+1/4), Affects Desolidified Any form of Desolidification (+1/2) (48 Active Points)

 

Total Characteristic Cost: 68

 

Perks

10 On a dark desert highway: Location: Distant

0 How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.: Grounds (x1 Base Size)

 

Skills

7 I saw a shimmering light: Seduction (To lure travelers in) 11-

 

Talents

2 I heard the mission bell: Absolute Time Sense (3 Active Points); Visible (audible) (-1/4)

 

 

Cost Powers END

20 this could be heaven or this could be hell: Extra-Dimensional Movement (Any Dimension Intersecting the Twilight Zone, Any Location) (30 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-1/2) 3

 

53 My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim: (Total: 55 Active Cost, 53 Real Cost) Transfer 1d6 (END to END), Ranged (+1/2), Line Of Sight (+1/2), Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; +1) (45 Active Points) (Real Cost: 45) plus Endurance Reserve (50 END, 5 REC) Reserve: (10 Active Points); REC: (5 Active Points); Limited Power Only when Transfer END is used (-1/2) (Real Cost: 8) 4

 

5 Some dance to remember: Eidetic Memory, Usable Simultaneously (up to 2 people at once; +1/2), Area Of Effect (8" Radius; Courtyard; +1 3/4) (16 Active Points); Activation Roll 11- (-1), Some dance to forget: Side Effects (INT Drain; -1/2), Limited Power Only works on those dancing (-1/2)

 

8 Plenty of room at the Hotel California: +2 Size, Invisible Power Effects (+1) (8 Active Points)

 

29 They livin' it up at the Hotel California: Life Support (Some of those dimensions are very....alien) (Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing)

 

2 So I called up the captain, please bring me my wine: Life Support (Room Service) (Eating: Character does not eat) (3 Active Points); Limited selection we havent had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine (-1/4)

 

60 And in the masters chambers, They gathered for the feast They stab it with their steely knives, But they just cant kill the beast: Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75%, Usable Simultaneously (up to 2 people at once; +1/2) (90 Active Points); BODY Only (-1/2)

60 And in the masters chambers, They gathered for the feast They stab it with their steely knives, But they just cant kill the beast: Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75%, Usable Simultaneously (up to 2 people at once; +1/2) (90 Active Points); BODY Only (-1/2)

 

18 And in the masters chambers, They gathered for the feast They stab it with their steely knives, But they just cant kill the beast: Healing 3 BODY, Can Heal Limbs, Resurrection, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (110 Active Points); No Conscious Control (-2), Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12) (-1 1/4), IIF Immobile Unbreakable (Focus (The rooms and halls of the hotel itself); -1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2)

35 Equipment Doubling for Healing power: all 125+ rooms (35 Active Points)

 

39 I had to find the passage back To the place I was before: Shape Shift (Sight, Touch and Hearing Groups, limited group of shapes: Any Hotel), Instant Change, Costs END Only To Change Shape (+1/4) (39 Active Points) 3

 

4 You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave!: Life Support (Longevity: Here for a long stay..... 1600 Years)

 

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 352

Total Cost: 420

 

372+ Disadvantages

10 Distinctive Features: There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say... (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

10 Physical Limitation: And still those voices are calling from far away, Wake you up in the middle of the night Just to hear them say... (Frequently, Slightly Impairing- lost sleep)

25 Accidental Change: Any attempt to escape. Last thing I remember, I was Running for the door. Always (Common)

5 Reputation: Any time of year, you can find it here - like Shangri La or Brigadoon or Irem, a place said to appear and disappear mysteriously., 8- (Extreme; Known Only To A Small Group)

5 Reputation: are all just prisoners here, of our own device, 8- (Extreme - place of no return; Known Only To A Small Group)

 

Total Disadvantage Points: 420

 

Background/History: Hotel California is but one of its names. Eagle's Rest, Fort Nonsense, Sterling Inn, are but a few of the names on the sign in different times and places. Usually it appears at twilight, or whenever a traveler's head grows heavy and sight grows dim...

 

More than a building, it is an entity, ancient and alien. The mind that inhabits this phenomenon – which for now thinks of itself as “Tiffany Twisted” - no longer remembers its origin, if indeed it had a genesis and is not an eternal manifestation of the powers of dream and nightmare. It could be the product of some primal magick or of an unimaginably advanced technology. Or as the Guardian of Forever said, “Both. And neither.”

 

It will appear in some lonely place, perhaps beside a dark desert highway, in the form of some inn or hostel, castle or convent, usually as something that looks as if it belongs – indeed, as if it had stood so for years or centuries – and welcome in some traveling band or solitary pilgrim. Once admitted, the new “guest” will find it very hard to depart – and if someone does escape they may find they are no longer in the world or time they knew....

 

Not all of the guests are Human – or recognize one another as such – and many of them are insane, sometimes violently so. Sometimes a gang of them will focus on the one they perceive as strangest and blame that person for their situation, accusing them of being the evil force in control. Lacking the ability to destroy or escape from the Hotel itself, they turn savagely upon a chosen scapegoat, and are only likely to be confirmed in their delusion if they “just can't kill the beast.”

 

No matter how many are already resident, it seems there's always vacancy at the Hotel California. Perhaps after centuries of being drained for power, the guests simply fade away, becoming the ghostly images sometimes seen haunting the halls.

 

Powers/Tactics: "This could be heaven or this could be hell.”

 

It is possible that, in the myriad rooms of the Hotel, lurk people who are both happy and still sane. After all, the Hotel will provide for your basic needs for food and shelter (even if you do have a few sleepless nights listening to the other guests.) No one here grows old or gets sick (except for those occasional dizzy spells and mild headaches.) Nothing from outside can harm you, and the Hotel even acts sometimes to protect the guests from one another – or themselves. If you're on the run and can't go home again anyway, checking into the Hotel California may be the best thing that can happen to you....

 

Except that there is no way out. One day the view out the window may make you shudder and draw the curtain, and the next it may be breathtakingly beautiful – but either way, it is out of reach. The Hotel itself changes constantly, and is bigger than it looks – but is still finite. To many guests, it seems to combine the monotony of prison with the terror and confusion of an unstable and unpredictable environment. People go crazy here.

 

Tiffany will appear “in person” (Image combined with Telekinesis) to welcome new guests, and will usually have hit them with the END Transfer even before they reach the gate. At first she will be welcoming, perhaps even seductive, as long as no one tries to leave or do anything hostile. Anyone trying to retrace their steps will find that the architecture has changed.

 

If someone tries to attack another “guest” the Hotel will probably extend the protection of its Damage Reduction to the target. Anyone who seems like a possible troublemaker will get multiple doses of the END Transfer, and anyone who attacks the structure of the Hotel itself will become the target of both the END Transfer and Telekinesis. If someone seems too dangerous to handle, the Hotel will actually let them escape – after having moved to a dimension where the environment is suitably hostile.

 

While it is possible to break out by main force, doing so should be a challenge even for a superhero. A Killing Attack with two levels of Penetrating is probably the best bet to breach a wall – and the Hotel will probably put several walls between the character and the outside if it can.

 

On the other hand, if the players figure out that the Hotel can be communicated with, there may be a way to talk or trick their way out. Perhaps Tiffany will offer a bargain - “I'll let you go if you bring me one person (or two, or three?) to replace you.” Might the character try to find someone who would welcome the chance to check in? Or refuse the bargain as dishonorable? Or simply promise and not return? Ah, but what if it's “Bring me four more guests and you can all go. But remember that your three friends remain here. They will be my guests forever if you fail to return with the four.”

 

Finally, escape could be a matter of solving a puzzle or mystery of some kind, a matter of exploration or observation. Secrets could be hidden about the Hotel or learned by talking to other guests. Perhaps a key hidden in the Master's Chamber will allow someone to return to the time and place from which they came. Perhaps a complex computer terminal behind the front desk will allow someone with the right skills to reprogram Tiffany Twisted. Maybe an incantation found in the library or dredged up from some scholarly character's memory has the power to force Tiffany to obey three commands. Or there is a window of time every 13 hrs when the front door is visible and unlocked....but does not necessarily lead back to your own world....

 

Campaign Use:

Depending on the abilities of the player characters, checking in could be the beginning of a brief surreal vacation, or the start of an entire campaign. If one or more characters have means of interdimensional travel, the Hotel could get them temporarily lost; at the other extreme escape could be the long term goal of a game including dozens of adventures centered on exploring the Hotel and interacting with its residents or with whoever - or whatever - comes in from Outside. It can be the plot device powering a crossworlds game in which the characters visit one world after another, probably just trying to get home. And what if it's the character's DNPC that was spirited away?

 

 

Quotes: What a nice surprise

 

You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave!

 

[ATTACH]31106[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]31107[/ATTACH]

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The song "Hotel California" is by The Eagles. Character sheet copyright Palindromedary Enterprises.

[Nothere]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The nice guy of doom

 

Well dressed and polite, he's very friendly, but keeps mostly to himself. Whenever anyone talks about any occurance past a week, he tells them it won't matter. When asked why he says they won't be there then. He won't say where they'll be, just wherever they plan to go they won't reach. Whatever their worried will happen won't affect them. Perhaps the should take in some sight seeing, while they can.

[5lippers]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Hi All,

 

First a confession: I haven’t been through all the posts so apologies if these are similar to previous entries…

 

Coat Guy

Coat Guy can usually be found in the hotel bar until 11:03 pm each evening, when he retires to his room. He seems like a normal enough fellow: friendly, approachable and with a vast repertoire of outrageous stories which he’s more than willing to tell to anyone who’ll buy him a drink. No tale is so outrageous as to be patently untrue though – they’re always about unlikely things that could have happened.

 

No matter the weather, Coat Guy always wears his coat (indoors and out). At first glance his coat seems to be some sort of leather, but no amount of forensic analysis or investigation will reveal from what animal hide it is made. Coat Guy also has a seven-dial pocket watch which he checks occasionally. None of the dials look like those on a ‘normal’ watch.

 

Occasionally, after 11:03pm, Coat Guy will have visitors who always go straight to hotel reception and ask after him. Upon asking, Hotel staff can be seen giving directions to the visitors, who then proceed to Coat Guy’s room (you presume). The strange thing is that, when asked, no one (including hotel staff), seems to know in which room Coat Guy is staying…

 

Music Box Man

One evening the players witness an anxious gentleman rush into the hotel and ask for a room for the evening. When told that the hotel is fully booked, the gentlemen becomes more agitated and says that he has to stay here because he has a really important meeting tomorrow! Reluctantly, the receptionist tells him that they do have a spare room. The room in question is 176 and the players are aware that this room has a dark and ugly reputation.

 

The man is slightly overweight, but otherwise non descript. He clutches a music box close to his chest. If the box is opened, the players will see a pirouetting ballerina which rotates in time to the music.

 

The following morning a woman turns up, asking after Music Box Man. He’s not answering the door and the hotel staff have to let her into the room. The room is empty apart from the music box that sits on the bedside table. The woman takes the box, claiming that it was being delivered to her.

 

Opening the box will reveal that the box no longer contains a figurine of a ballerina, but that of a pirouetting old lady (possibly Bag Lady – see below). Come to think of it, the new owner of the music box looks very much like the ballerina in the box…

 

Bag Lady

Outside the hotel the players often bump into an unkempt lady who carries a mangy cat around in an old hemp shopping bag. She has little to do with the players other than shout nonsensical and stomach-churning abuse at them from time to time.

 

One day, she sidles up to the players and tells them, conspiratorially, that she knows a secret before wandering into a nearby alley. If the players choose to follow her, the alley will be empty when they get there. They never see the old lady again.

 

Sci-fi Geekette

The Players seem to keep bumping into Sci-fi Geekette in and around the hotel. Sci-fi Geekette is very frail and extremely myopic but, given the opportunity, she’ll happily bore the players with sci-fi factoids. One evening she’s talks passionately about George Lucas being a prophet of a higher power, claiming that the force as shown in Star Wars really exists.

 

The following morning, the players enter the foyer of the hotel just in time to see her forcibly eject a trouble maker out the hotel doors, from ten yards and without touching the trouble maker. Whilst the players stare agape, Sci-fi Geekette runs out of the hotel, giving the players the feeling that they’re not going to see her again.

 

A day later, a lady called Antoinette Fhey greets the players, explaining that they’ve been the victims of a new hidden camera TV series called “Effing X!”. She gives each of the players £100 and thanks them for being such good sports before disappearing.

 

The trouble is, no ones ever heard of Antoinette Fhey or a new TV show called “Effing X!”.

 

Who is Antoinette, what channel does she work for and why has no one heard of her or her show?

 

Willing Pawn

The Players meet Willing Pawn in the hotel and before long he’s drunk and telling them how he’s a living game piece in a competitive game of mind-boggling complexity and scale. The only sense the players can make of Willing Pawn’s babbling is that The Game is played by the fabulously rich and powerful, he is a living piece for someone called Rook (the highest scoring player of all time) and that points are awarded to each player by The Watchers.

 

The following morning, the players discover that a piece of essential evidence form an ongoing/current investigation has been stolen. In the place where the evidence is usually kept there is a message from Willign Pawn which reads:

 

“Thanks Man! This is going to be HUGE! Rook owes you one but watch out for Beatrix – she’s going to be p*ssed!”

 

Uh-oh, that doesn’t sound good…

 

What is The Game? Who’s Rook and can the players call in their favour before Beatrix exacts her revenge?

 

Knows-Where-You-Are-Girl

Knows-Where-You-Are-Girl always seems to know where the players are, turning up at the most inopportune moments. She’s tall, moderately intelligent and could have gone far but for a narcotic addiction.

 

The problem is, she’s addicted to a substance that a large crime syndicate monopolises; it wouldn’t be so bad but you are on the syndicate’s most wanted list. Things could get very messy if they found out about the girl’s uncanny ability…

[5lippers]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Disappearing Guests

The players leave one of the hotel rooms to discover that the hotel is completely deserted. Staff and guests alike are missing and even those rats (rats!! rats!!) seem to be quiet.

 

Helloooooooo! Where’s everyone gone?

 

After a period of time, the players discover that all guests and staff seem to have reappeared and are going about their business as if nothing untoward has happened. The players somehow failed to notice the exact moment when everyone reappeared. When questioned, guests will look at the players as if they’re crazy.

 

Dark Marks

The players are in a room when there is a power cut. They’re plunged into both slinence and darkness but, oddly, the electronically locked door will not open: it’s stuck fast and amount of effort will open the door. The silence is occasionally punctured by the subtle but disturbing sound.

 

After a very short period of time the lights come back on and the doors are unlocked. The players emerge into the hotel corridors to find the walls, floors and ceilings of several of them smeared in blood, filth and excrement.

 

No one seems to know what happened (they were also locked in or elsewhere in the hotel) and all guests are accounted for.

[5lippers]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Other Hotel Guy

Other Hotel Guy, a crass cockney salesman with a penchant for loud, stripy shirts, can be overheard happily - and loudly - telling anyone who will listen:

“You think this place is full of freaks? You should go check out The Four Seasons on the other side of town! Makes this place look like an accountancy firm full of the terminally normal I’m telling you! Me and [insert oddball of choice] decided we’d high tail it out of there pronto before things got really weird!”

A bit of investigation will reveal that the The Four Seasons Hotel is owned by the same company as this creepy hotel, but unlike creepy hotel, the Four Seasons is actually turning a profit.

[5lippers]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Gun

 

The first shot can only be used to kill the previous user of the gun. If they are already dead, the gun only contains one shot instead.

 

After the previous user is dead, the gun can be used to kill the victim intended by the new owner.

 

After the victim is dead, the gun returns to its room. It disappears when either the current user sleeps, or it is not observed by anyone.

 

 

Nice!

The Window

The room with the gun contains single, shuttered window. There are tales of hotel staff who, standing outside the room, have heard the shutters rattling as if something is trying to get in. This is another reason why few people enter the room.

The shutters are locked but also look like they’re stuck fast. Apparently, no one knows where the key is or has ever managed to open them. Investigation will reveal that the window looks out onto a side alley in which can be found a crazed man. The man claims to have worked as a cleaner for the hotel in the past. If asked about the shutters he will fly into an incoherent panic but, once calmed, will claim to have opened the shutters in the gun room. Apparently, the window doesn’t look out into the alley but somewhere else entirely…

Key Boy

Key Boy always carries an old door lock and key around with him in a battered satchel. He’s very cagey about the lock and key but, if he trusts someone enough, he will tell them that the key & lock allow him to open any door or window. He even claims that he can use the key &lock to open doors where none exist. When asked where these doors go, he clams up and changes the subject.

Perhaps Key Boy’s lock & key would open the gun room shutters?

[Hierax]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Amazing thread guys!

 

Some I didn't see mentioned but I'd love to see what your massive collective creativity could come up with:

 

• Doorman
  
• Revolving Door
  
• Cabdriver
  
• Shoeshine guy/kid
  
• Window Washer guy
  
• Chimney Sweep guy
  
• Fireplace
  
• Bugs (flappy like flies/mosquitoes/bees or crawly types like ants/cockroaches)
  
• Food delivery guy/kid
  
• Ambulance and/or Firetruck arrival
  
• Fire Alarm
  
• Ceiling Fan
  

[Nothere]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Late one night at the bar the bar keep tells an old ghost story about a carriage driver who would appear to help stranded or people in a hurry. He would never charge for assisting them saying they could pay him later. Invariablly they who accepted the ride died in a week. That night or shortly after they realize their late. Rushing to the front of the hotel they are lucky enough to spot a cab leaving. Waving it down they realize they don't have their wallet, and ask the cabbie to wait. The cabbie gestures for them to get in.

"It's not like I don't know where your staying. You can pay me later."

[Lucius]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75469

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says what, you're just going to post a link with no explanation?