Strange Background Complications

[Laundry Knight]

I am putting a game together and have two players lined. They both have interesting but strange backgrounds that I am having problems relating to appropriate complications.

 

The first is a scientist who invented a suit that was supposed to allow him to allow him to cross into other dimensions, but it failed, and instead, it caused an extra-dimensional alien to meld to him granting him powers of the temporal field. I've thought about a hunted representing that the being may have enemies who want revenge or friends who would like to free him. I have also considered having the character plagued with sub-conscious manifestations. The Hunted is easy, but what is the best way to represent the second, and are there any other complications you would consider.

 

The second was abducted by aliens in the early 1970s and received his powers through alien experimentation who recently released him from stasis. For him, I figure a Hunted: Watched by the aliens who are still interested in observing their test subject, and a Man Out of Time complication to represent the difficulty of adapting to the technological and social changes that would have occurred over that time.

[Christopher]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

The first is a scientist who invented a suit that was supposed to allow him to allow him to cross into other dimensions' date=' but it failed, and instead, it caused an extra-dimensional alien to meld to him granting him powers of the temporal field. I've thought about a hunted representing that the being may have enemies who want revenge or friends who would like to free him. I have also considered having the character plagued with sub-conscious manifestations. The Hunted is easy, but what is the best way to represent the second, and are there any other complications you would consider.[/quote']

Additional Hunteds:

Any Alienhunter Organisation (thinks he is the alien, that only took the normal guys Identity).

About any being that has some stake in interdimensional Travel or Timetravel. V'han (or some subordiante) could be interested, because the alien was a fugitive. Maybe somebody (tasked with keeping worlds seperate) actively interveened (leading to the current result). Mayb he wants to make certain the character never falls back to travelign Dimensions.

 

Subconscious Manifestations? What does that mean?

Does he has strange urges/insticts? Has he visions?

I always thought about adapting the Enrage mechanic for "tends to have sudden, uncontrolled visions that leave him incapacitated. As long as the result is "player looses control", Enraged is the Mechanic to use. The APG I has other nice example for using Enraged that way.

 

The second was abducted by aliens in the early 1970s and received his powers through alien experimentation who recently released him from stasis. For him' date=' I figure a Hunted: Watched by the aliens who are still interested in observing their test subject, and a Man Out of Time complication to represent the difficulty of adapting to the technological and social changes that would have occurred over that time.[/quote']

He also might be hunted by "Alien Hunters".

I would think he might have certain phobias: Doctors, height (from the abduction beam), cold (from the time in stasis). What a person was he back in 1970? What phase of his life was he in, that year? Does he have a completed education? was he declared dead and what is his legal status? What about his family?

[Laundry Knight]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

Additional Hunteds:

Subconscious Manifestations? What does that mean?

Does he has strange urges/insticts? Has he visions?

I always thought about adapting the Enrage mechanic for "tends to have sudden, uncontrolled visions that leave him incapacitated. As long as the result is "player looses control", Enraged is the Mechanic to use. The APG I has other nice example for using Enraged that way.

For this, inexplicable feelings of deja vu for when the aliens sees something he/she recognizes or occasional feelings of disappointment and approval for the actions of the controlling characters, and periods of emotional confusion to express that the alien sometimes comes close to manifesting itself during periods of weakness.

 

 

 

He also might be hunted by "Alien Hunters".

I would think he might have certain phobias: Doctors, height (from the abduction beam), cold (from the time in stasis). What a person was he back in 1970? What phase of his life was he in, that year? Does he have a completed education? was he declared dead and what is his legal status? What about his family?

 

For background, he gave me very little to work with, but I am thinking of making him a disc jockey and a minor celebrity in his own time. He'd be a big talker and would know how to be cool (for the 70's). He would be in his mid-twenties. I am not sure about his family background. I'm the only one in the group who thinks about stuff like that for character creation. Declaring him dead is something I have not thought of. Mainly, I am thinking about what kind of troubles a character from that period would have trying to adapt to a world where cellphones and PCs are so ubiquitous no one really thinks about them, like someone from the old west trying to figure out toilets or something.

[bigbywolfe]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

For this, inexplicable feelings of deja vu for when the aliens sees something he/she recognizes or occasional feelings of disappointment and approval for the actions of the controlling characters, and periods of emotional confusion to express that the alien sometimes comes close to manifesting itself during periods of weakness.

Are these things the Player wants to roleplay? Or just things you thought would match the Character's background? I think it's important to see if he's even interested in such personality/emotion altering issues before trying to figure out how to build them.

[Laundry Knight]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

I'm not really sure if they would want to play precisely. They are long term D&D players who aren't used to creating characters where background develop is part of the mechanic; so, they through some terms at me, and now, I am trying to connect the dots in a fashion that won't wreck my campaign and would be fun to play for the players based on what I know about them personally. I've played with the time manipulator's player for over 20 years and have good bead on what kind of characters he like to play. He tends prefer characters that allow him to act as a nutcase. The other guy I have known less than half as long, and he has a history of creating characters with little internal cohesion; so, he is a little tougher to create for.

 

Since this is their first rodeo with a game system like this one, I decided to go ahead and help them connect the dots by coming with suggestions I think they would enjoy and which they can veto, but before I make the suggestions, I want to make sure I can make it happen. If they like the system, I hope to have to do this less with any future characters they may want to make.

[Lucius]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

So you're starting them with Champions?

 

If they're accustomed to D&D, why didnt you start them with Fantasy Hero?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Palindromedary Hero

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

So you're starting them with Champions?

 

If they're accustomed to D&D, why didnt you start them with Fantasy Hero?

 

There's pros and cons to both approaches. With the familiarity of the Fantasy model comes a greater tendency to slip into old familiar play patterns. "Superheroes are different" can be a useful element in getting the players to see and play the game differently.

[Laundry Knight]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

I do not have the money to invest in another genre, and besides, they are curious about trying other things.

[Bolon]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

The subconscious manifestations would be using enrage or berserk as he loses control and need to do something to fight it like get away or focus or something. There would be conditions for such occurring and he would be affected by such. List how it would happen or what would trigger it. Instead of attacking, the character would be at a penalty or need to get away.

 

Both guys could take complications from any organization that researches aliens and would love to lock him up to "study" them.

 

For the guy who was abducted, watch The 4400 and see how they handled it and what kind of complications they came up with. The government would hunt him down just like "Starman". It sounds like he would be on the run or controlled by the government.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

If the alien has 'feelings' that affect the PC, then Psychological Limitations seem appropriate to influence the PC's behaviour (with SFX that the PC has a feeling or flashback that pushes him in a certain direction). If the PC occasionsally zones out, perhaps a Physical Limitation. Enraged/Berserk has already been suggested, although it may be a little extreme.

[bluesguy]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

I think learning Hero in a Superhero campaign - especially for D&D players - is a good way to go. There is such a huge break between the goals in D&D and Superhero.

 

I would highly recommend a Silver Age style campaign to reinforce the move away from D&D. Do Not go Dark Champions because they will fall into the D&D mode "See enemy. Kill enemy. Take loot." (I exaggerate).

[Laundry Knight]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

The campaign is an amalgamation golden age, silver age, and bronze age ideals, and I would like to avoid an X-Files type of anti-government paranoia. Apart from bureaucratic inefficiency people are mostly justified to trust the government. I am holding out the possibility of an occasional rogue cabal and the occasional implication that it can go all the way up, because I do not want to completely close myself off of those plot devices, but for the most part, I would want to save justified anti-government paranoid for a cyberpunk-style campaign should I try to run one.

[Bolon]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

If enrage or beserk is too severe, modify it to something that mechanically works the same but has a different effect, that is the point. Then work within that framework to decide rather than re-invent the wheel. THat is the point.

[Lucius]

Re: Strange Background Complications

 

I am putting a game together and have two players lined. They both have interesting but strange backgrounds that I am having problems relating to appropriate complications.

 

The first is a scientist who invented a suit that was supposed to allow him to allow him to cross into other dimensions, but it failed, and instead, it caused an extra-dimensional alien to meld to him granting him powers of the temporal field. I've thought about a hunted representing that the being may have enemies who want revenge or friends who would like to free him. I have also considered having the character plagued with sub-conscious manifestations. The Hunted is easy, but what is the best way to represent the second, and are there any other complications you would consider.

 

The second was abducted by aliens in the early 1970s and received his powers through alien experimentation who recently released him from stasis. For him, I figure a Hunted: Watched by the aliens who are still interested in observing their test subject, and a Man Out of Time complication to represent the difficulty of adapting to the technological and social changes that would have occurred over that time.

 

You really should tie these origins together.

 

Make them the same aliens. The man from the 70's wasn't "let out of stasis" (although he thinks so) he was accidentally propelled forward in time as a result of the same event that melded one of the aliens with the inventor. For whatever benevolent or malevolent or inscrutable reasons, the aliens did not want Humans to have interdimensional travel (they may be extradimensional rather than extraterrestrial) and the merger was the result of an attempt to stop the inventor.

 

In any case, try these Complications:

 

Unsuitable Results

15 pts Stumbling Through Time: Accidental Change (of temporal location): Unknown to player at start 8- 14- to return (Common), Bonus for Mystery Complication

For some reason, the inventor will occasionally "stumble" forward through time, appearing in a later moment. Figuring out what causes this could lead to a breakthrough - perhaps to an understanding of what happend to the bring the other hero forward

30 pts Visions of Another World: Susceptibility: Use of powers above a certain threshold 3d6 Mental Illusions per Phase (Common)

Are these sensations fragments of the alien's memories? An attempt to communicate? Glimpses of Earth itself, as the alien sees it?

30 pts An Alien Will: Susceptibility: Use of powers above a certain threshold 3d6 Mind Control per Phase (Common)

To make these worth the points, you should probably make them cumulative (i.e. roll 3d6, next phase roll 3d6 and ADD it, until you get an effective result.)

 

What Did They Do To Me?

20 pts Watched by Intellects Cool and Calculating: Hunted: Intelligences vastly different and perhaps superior to our own Frequently (Mo Pow; NCI; PC is very easy for them to find ; Watching)

"What do you mean, they put a transmitter in my visual cortex?"

5 pts Yeah Right, Aliens: Negative Reputation: Claims to have been abducted by aliens, Infrequently

"If you don't believe in aliens, how do you explain how I do THIS?"

15 pts Man Out of Time: Physical Complication: Unfamiliar with modern technology and culture (Infrequently; Greatly Impairing)

"A World Wide Web? We got invaded by giant spiders too? Hey, is that who destroyed the Soviet Union?"

5 pts We Have To Ask You To Submit To Strip Search, Sir: Distinctive Features: Alien implants (detectable by x ray, MRI, metal detectors) (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable Only By Technology Or Major Effort)

"What do you mean, they put a transmitter in my visual cortex?"

10 pts Asprin Makes You Hallucinate?! Physical Complication: Unpredictable reactions to medicines and treatments - biologically tampered with (Infrequently; Slightly Impairing)

"Yeah and sometimes my blood turns green"

15 pts Psychological Complication: Fear of Aliens (Common; Strong)

"Of course I'm scared, wouldn't you be?"

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Strange Background Palindromedary