Drhoz

Re: WWYCD: The Dark Side. hmm. Truman Golightly/Zero would lose all hismother-instilled inhibitions. He'ld quite happily use all hismind-control powers in as brutal a way possible. For example, ratherthan simply gathering insider info on the stock market, he'ld activelydestroy companies by getting inside their heads, etc. He'ld probably beviolently misogynistic too...Vitus came pretty close to losing everything already. His entirelife was dedicated to saving his homeworld, and when that was erasedfrom reality, and given his lack of interest and increasing frustrationwith Earth, he came very close to snapping entirely. He also spent overa year enslaved to a very powerful vampire, and if the vampire haddecided to infect Vitus to make him easier to control, then KingdomCity would have been in a bit of trouble. Vitus's motivations wouldhave become personal survival at any cost, as opposed to returning toAura by any means neccesary. And he's already a casual killer...

Re: How often is the Skill: Acting used by your characters? My wife's character 3 uses it regularly. But then again 3 is a professional courtesan. "Yes! Yes! You're the best I've ever had!"

Re: WWYCD if their reflection suddenly winked at them? Vitus would give a good hard look.. and then ignore it. Ever since he found himself on Earth it's been nonstop teams of raving sociopaths, invading fairies, extradimensional scouts, Great Old Ones, super-science weapon merchants, toxic waste spills, kidnappings, bank jobs, press packs, shanghai-ings, vampire hunters, hurricanes and mostly dead wizard-lords - a mere winking mirror isn't even worth mentioning to my neighbours. Zero would cautiously check for an actual mind... and then go lock himself in the wardrobe and quietly gibber for a while.

Re: WWYCD: Discovering the nature of reality? My wife's response to the question when I read it to her: "We have hot sex. And invite you to join in" Vitus's response to the same situation would not be so happy. (for that matter he wouldn't be too happy about 3 messing around with anybody else, either) He's suspicious enough about obvious gods manipulating his life as a tool against great evils, parasitic Apparati, etc. If he found out the truth he'd have me up against a wall by the throat and snarl "You made my life unremitting misery for ENTERTAINMENT??!!" To which my babbled response would be "Nonono, that was the GM."

Re: DOLPHINS! How would you GM them? DOLPHINS! How would you GM them? As indescriminately sex-mad carnivores. (If I was going for realism) translation spells would be a bitch - sonic holograms are a tad difficult to translate

Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? Hell, research Nikoli Tesla - he's the closest thing to a Technomage this planet has ever had, even AFTER to ignore the bulk of the rubbish written about him since his sad death

Re: Seeking Concept Help - Magical Technologist? I was thinking the same thing, in case Vitus ever gets killed, or more likely just locked up for being a danger to himself and others. My Technomancer (inspired by a 1959 Astounding Science Fiction! cover for a Jack Vance story called the Miracle Men) would be a worshipper of all the old Blacksmith gods - Haephastus, Vulcan, Ogun, etc, etc. His main defensive power and strength would come from a Density Increase dependant on the mass of machinery within a kilometre, as he calls on the spirits of the machines to strengthen his arm. Mostly shamanistic, with elaborate robes embroidered with circuit diagrams, and masks modelled after, say African blacksmith gods and made from random mechanical and electronic junk. One possible ritual out of his VVP, or Multipower, could involve a long communion with the spirit and body of John Logie Baird's original prototype television, that would work as a clairsentience acting on any area in few of an electronic camera (which is most areas, especially in these days of mobiles with built-in cameras.) Or he could rob the strength of an opponent with a single touch - after all, muscles and bones form levers, and levers are one of the Simple Machines...

Re: WWYCD: The True Champion has Arrived! Vitus would look him up and down in contempt, tell him exactly was a gonad-driven moron he is, and henceforth ignore him completely. Unless he threatened 3, in which case it would become a rabid fight to the death, starting off with SPD drains and finishing with a Promethean Spear thru the roof of the mouth.

Re: WWYCD: The Darkest Hour Wooo... this is going to get ugly... not only does Vitus have Casual Killer (altho he protests that he's NOT a casual killer, he's an extremely deliberate killer) he's not very fond of humans, and especially Earth humans, at all. Add to that mounting resentment ever his he found himself trapped on Earth, the grudges he'sd barely holding in check against his own teammates, the way they keep telling him he has to give up his concubine 3... It's probably going to significant carnage until they call in the UNTIL swat teams...

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... exactly

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... makes more sense you think - Vitus is desperately lonely, romantically naive, never had any consentual sexual experience, is currently the honoured guest of alien carnivores that are highly sexual and highly attractive, and that as a matter of course offer courtesans to visiting alien VIPS. Being from a bronze age, slave-keeping culture himself, Vitus gratefully accepted and soon fell completely head-over-heels in love. Third Daughter of the Last Ka's Second-favourite Concubine, of course, was just being professional. (Proffessional courtesan, spy, and if neccesary assassin, that is - Vitus wouldn't believe that even if anyone told him) Plus, my wife wanted to join the game full story here - http://drhoz.livejournal.com/116845.html 3 joined us at the battle because, we decided, her race needed some-one of their own species to ensure the telepathic communication between ourselves, and the command post stayed strong and reliable. That and the mission accomplished, he's asked the Ka for her as a reward. He said sure. Now Vitus just has to put up with his human colleagues telling him repeatedly and pointedly that slavery is illegal.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... "real inches or game inches?" And that demon didn't take kindly to being knocked back, either. Altho he did seem to enjoy having Orca on top. (what sluts these demons be) and don't forget another quote from Concubine 3, when we discussed the plan to bring her along as a auto-translating communication relay between the Skeleton Crew and her alien race. "Boobs are multilingual" (Having Desiree in this game is going to be deeply distracting, I suspect)

Re: WWYCD? "You are on a path..."

Re: WWYCD? "You are on a path..." This time I'm going to put Vitus through it. Admittedly I can't guarantee how spontaneous this will be, given I know how the test works now, but I'll try to be a honest to the character as possible (actually, it's a little scary how easily I slip into Vitus's mindset) The other question would be why is he doing the test in the first place? Maybe he's undergoing psychological assessment after finally snapping and melting a bus-load of nuns, or something. You are on a path - picture it in your mind and describe it to me. *narrowed and suspicious eyes* And this will tell you what exactly? Very well... The Caravan Route from Heiropolis to Phoenix Oasis. I'm just outside the place of my birth, the sun is beginning to rise over the dunes, the sand is hard-packed beneath my feet and the dawn breeze is stirring the leaves of the palms. The sky is a beautiful deep purple, washed with gold. As you walk along the path you find a cup - describe it, and what you do with it A baked clay beaker, glazed inside, painted red outside, in triangles.... just like the one my grandmother gave me when I learnt to walk. She made it herself, baked it herself, and it still bears the mark of her paws beneath the decoration. Further down the path you find a key - describe it, and what you do with it Strange.. there isn't much to lock in the village. I'll have to examine it more closely - gnollish workmanship would be obvious, from the quality. Presumably some visitor dropped it, if it isn't. Take it with me to find the owner, first - somebody will know what to do with it. You continue down you personal path and encounter a bear! How do you deal with the situation? What's a bear? ( about the only mammalian species on Aura are the intelligent ones and the horses used by the Heiropolian cavalry ) Ok... so it's not an intelligent species... examine it for residual summoning energy, in case it's been deliberately called up. No? then it's a chance creation of an Aurastorm, and probably starving to death after days in the desert. Blind it with the first spell, then hit it with the lethal magics, then poke it with a stick to make sure it's dead. Beyond the bear you reach a clearing The rocky hill above the village - where the old stone watchtower ruin is. Big. Old, so old, block of yellow sandstone, and the stairs that wind up the inside and look out over the desert. On the far side of the clearing fallen trees block your way - how do you deal with them? Who knocked them down? We need those trees! Phoenix Oasis might have thousands upon thousands of palms, desert plums, and sand date, but that doesn't mean we can let them be knocked down for no good reason! Were they diseased? Dry Blight? Giant woodwasps? Are they ready to be burned? Why leave them over the road like this? Or were they smashed down? Is there a crater? (the crater he caused himself upon his return to what he thought was Aura doesn't even occur to him) Do bears knock over trees? How big are these bear things anyway? I'm going to find out who's responsible and have a piece of their hide. You continue on your way and come across a body of water - describe it, and tell me if you drink from it. Hmm.. that would have to be the Second Pool. Cool and shaded under the Great Palms. It's got a low stone wall, oh, generations old now, and stairs, and a drinking trough. There should be people about. At the very least a merchant's cargo-geckos lined up under the trees. I wouldn't be thirsty that early in the morning. When the sun comes up later, certainly. (now that's he's met Concubine 3 the answer will probably be 'drink deeply with both paws, throwing my head back to enjoy the cool clean water flowing down my throat, and the feel of the droplets on my muzzlefur') Your path reaches a fork - one branch leads to a village, the other deeper into the woods - which do you take? The village *shaking with emotion by this point* Definitely the village.

Re: WWYCD? "You are on a path..."

Re: WWYCD? "You are on a path..." interestingly proasic

Re: WWYCD? "You are on a path..."

Right! Psychology test time! This is one of the classics, and about as believable as any of the others (i.e, not very) It's an interesting test, specially when you interpret your own results at the end of it, and certainly worth doing for yourself. But it's not yourself that we're testing here today (but feel free to write them down somewhere before you do it for your character - it's worth it) Your character has been sent to, interviewed by, or gone to for his or her own reasons, a practising psychologist (hell, maybe even Dr Blink, Superhero Shrink). The brain-doc leans across with a well-practised expression of neutral concern, pen and notebook in hand, and explains the exercise as follows... "You are on a path - picture it in your mind and describe it to me. "As you walk along the path you find a cup - describe it, and what you do with it. "Further down the path you find a key - describe it, and what you do with it. "You continue down your path and encounter a bear! How do you deal with the situation? "Beyond the bear you reach a clearing - what is it like? "On the far side of the clearing fallen trees block you way - how do you deal with them? "You continue on your way and come across a body of water - describe it, and tell me if you drink from it. "Your path reaches a fork - one branch leads to a village, the other deeper into the woods - which do you take?" Write up your responses, post them below... Once you've done that you're supposed to reflect upon how your replies might correlate to the events and what they're supposed to symbolise. In this case we're imagining how your character responds to this bit of self-analysis (I can here smell the neurons frying from here) Most of the correlations are fairly traditional and widely used, or obvious in hindsight, which may well add to the effectiveness of the actual test. You're then supposed to consider how your responses correlate with your attitudes, which turns it back into "My god! That's just like me!" regardless of what you actually said, but never mind The Path - Just the set-up really, but it could be interesting The Cup - Knowledge! An old sort of symbolism, but an appropriate one The Key - Wisdom! An important distinction, too The Bear - Adversity & how you deal with it The Clearing - General outlook on life The Fallen Trees - Obstacles and problems - I'm not sure how this differs from the bear, but at least the trees won't eat you. The Water- This one usually raises a few protests. The water, appropriately, is quite an old symbol for your sexuality The Fork - They don't explain this one in the comic below, but it's meant to represent your views and attitudes towards other people. If you want to see how the Knights of the Dinner Table handled it, then go read this. (Altho it's rather dial-up unfriendly) So post your character's results and analysis below, and lets see if it gives you more of a handle on them

Re: Would you like your character? Hmm.. I don't think I'ld like either of them. Vitus would be initially fascinating - an alien magician? But as I learnt more about him my fascination would become pity. Not just at the appalling personal losses he's faced in the past, but at how utterly miserable and bitter he's become as a result of everything he's tried to achieve. And Zero is just creepily paranoid and under the thumb of his late mother. Some encouragementto stand the **** up for himself and grow a spine would probably be order before Icould find the patience toeven talk to him again.

Re: Your personal comic book origins

Re: The Brown Note: Not as funny as you think.

Re: WWYCD: Quantum Leap whee! Vitus gets to eliminate another world from reality by screwing around with time travel! (the last one was his home universe) Vitus's main problem in these circumstances would be his rather conspicously non-human nature. In most parts of Earth history he'd get killed as a monster. That might give him a horrendously egocentric idea 1) Arrange for himself to be used as the basis for a new genetically diverse group of his own species - he knows a few likely geneticists that might be able to pull it off. 2) gather them together along with tools, books, maps, magic components, mining equipment... 3) Open a time gate back far enough to given his artificial children a chance to flourish (20 million years should do it) 4) start a technologically skilful magic-using society of gnolls, long before the rise of the hominids. After all, no-one is going to miss Homo sapiens - they turn up *everywhere* anyway. And the civilisation of Auran Gnolls will be born anew!

Re: WWYCD: The Nebula Affair Vitus - "suits me. Know where Eurostar hang out? Altho I'ld apreciate 30 minutes alone with Scorpia and a cheesegrater, if you've got the time."

Re: Your Character: The Series (Not exactly WWYCD...) Hmm. Truman Golighty/Zero is too paranoid and shy to make a good character. Vitus, on the other hand... Given Vitus's recently published autobiography and complete ignorance of such things as "Protection of Likeness" and copyright laws, would soon be the subject of a cheaply animated fantasy cartoon series set on his home planet. Indeed, the Storm Lord, an actual colleague, would probably have something to do with it as part of his ongoing economic revenge against Vitus, for the Eurostar incident. I suspect it would have the same production standards and maturity of plot of, say, He-Man. Very likely Vitus wouldn't find out about it for months, either. (He dropped his last TV on a mugger's head, from 7 stories up) When he did find out, he'd actually feel quite flattered that someone evidently feels that his life is worth preserving in "Visual Epic Poem" form.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Actually, that would have been Orca - internal genitalia, after all...