sentry0

I've been playing with numbers a bit and have some interesting results. Essentially, I built a statistical model to calculate the number of Breaches based on the following: total Blooded population % of Blooded casting in a given day average spell power and skill penalties average number of spells cast per Blooded It's interesting, I ended up calculating on average 5.8 Breaches a day for NYC based on the following inputs... Breaches Per Day Blooded Population 450 % Casting 45.00% Avg Spells Per Blooded 1.2 Avg Skill Roll 18 Avg Active Points 47.4 Avg Skill Pen -4 Avg Failure Rate 9.26% Avg Breach Chance 25.92% Breaches per Day 5.8 It's not perfect but it does account for a number of factors and I think it's a decent first attempt at trying to understand just how many Breaches the Blooded could cause on average. I tried to be fair in my numbers...not too conservative or aggressive. Obviously, things can be tuned up or down but overall it's pretty manageable in my estimation between the Blooded knights and Breach Hunters and misc. agencies and organizations that would want a piece of the action.

Guilt Complex ?

I actually don't know much of anything about MHI other than the fact it exists so I don't know what a PUFF bounty is but I can imagine. I like the idea of having the government involved in some way...that's partly why I wrote up Mars Industries, they're useful to the government because the government can deny they new anything inhumane was going on with the research and walk away from it cleanly. The government doesn't have to deal with angry voters because they're spending money on good old 'Murican defense and not chasing fairy tales. Given that the average person has that Psy Lim I would speculate that majority of their voters wouldn't approve of spending money on monster hunters because they would deny the existence of monsters even when confronted with evidence to the contrary. I totally think that Mars would have hunters on the payroll though, teams of them in fact, which are trained to retrieve mythic creatures from the wild. They probably would even subcontract out work to private security firms, i.e. other groups of hunters, it's even better for deniability.

I couldn't sleep tonight and I was thinking about the conversations we had here over the weekend. I wrote up the following to talk about the effects of Mythic Breaches and how normal humans perceive them and the creatures that come through. I think I'm happy with this as an explanation as to how the Blooded world has evolved to incorporate the occasional encounter with mythic creatures. Encountering a mythic creature is still a very uncommon event and not something the average normal human would do, perhaps ever. ---- Mythic Rationalization The world of the Blooded is like our own world; there are subways that transport people beneath the city streets, people work day jobs, have children, and love one another. Where the world of the Blooded differs is that magic is real, not only is magic real but so are manticores, chimeras, and orcs. These Mythic creatures arrive via Mythic Breaches, tears in reality which gate in creatures from another time and place – these Breaches can occur when Blooded magic goes awry. The world is not overrun or inundated with these creatures as the Blooded themselves have laws and groups like knights and Breach Hunters to deal with Mythic Breaches and their results. Also consider the following when dealing with the fallout of a Mythic Breach: – The Lost Legion actively attempts to recruit Mythic creatures who arrive via a Breach – The Continuum hunts down Breach creatures an attempts to erase them from the timestream – The Crimson Cabal hunts Breach creatures for material components – The Clockwork Union collects and studies Breach creatures – Mars Industries is capturing Breach creatures for genetic engineering – Witch Hunters will gladly hunt a Breach creature Mythic Rationalization is something that almost all normal humans do when confronted with magic or a Breach creature, they rationalize the encounter away. It is the same mechanism that allows people to do seemingly irrational things like ignoring the evidence of the health effects of smoking or the impact global warming has on our planet. The human mind is a capable of rationalizing away a great deal of logical inputs and facts so that normally rational people can have quite irrational views. A normal human being in the world of the Blooded will go to great lengths to explain away an encounter with something mythical. They will convince themselves that there was a movie shoot nearby, that some guys were running around in masks, or that they saw a lion on the streets of Manhattan and not a manticore. This rationalization extends to photographic and video evidence as well as recorded audio. So powerful is the need for the human mind to rationalize away the encounter that a regular person will go to great lengths to explain what they saw in terms that make sense to them. In game terms almost all normal human NPCs have the following Psychological Limitation worth 15 Complication points: – Psychological Complication: Mythic Rationalization (Uncommon; Total) Obviously, there are exceptions to the above rule, Witch Hunters would not have this limitation nor would members of the Clockwork Union, Continuum, and so on. The vast majority of humanity does however posses this psychological complication.

I see, thanks for the clarification.

I hate to do this to you but I think there's still an issue with Time Limit and Costs Endurance (Only to Activate). According to the Time limit writeup (6E1 346), Time Limit should be a limitation when it's applied to a persistent power when that power costs 0 END or only costs END to activate. If you take Knockback Resistance as an example: Add Knockback Resistance to a character Add "Time Limit" to the power, note that it's correctly identified as a limitation at this point Add Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate) and Time Limit flips to an advantage I believe that this is incorrect behavior based on the Time Limit writeup.

Hehe...thanks!

Well you could always try it out and see what you think about it after. If you end up not liking it you can stop, no harm no foul.

You can communicate threats effectively if the villain has a rating (Alpha, Beta, etc) by having the PCs make a KS: Superhumans roll or equivalent. Telling a player that so-and-so looks tough is vastly different that saying "that's an Omega level villain". Unless the villain is a complete unknown most villains will have the rating so you may as well use it. You can always do a deep dive after session where you look at the NPCs to teach.

Officially, she has a hunted with The Lost Legion as her big hunted. I figure the Legion has been emboldened by their victory in Chicago and/or perhaps Queen Vulkers is sponsoring the resistance. I also bought her a 5 point hunted for "Various" to represent a general collection of orgs all wanting a piece of her. Politically, she is well liked but I could see Julia Seco making a power play. There were Manorial courts in the middle ages...technically we're missing Barons but Dukes would do just fine as hosts. Manorial courts were for the local peasantry and were generally for trivial crimes. There used to be a thing called a "tithing" where groups of 10 people would watch one another for crimes. Frankly, I've bastardized midieval hierarchies to the point that I'm wondering if local justice should fall under the knights job? Knights would become police in effect in addition to their charge of defending the kingdom. A knight could bring in a misbehaving peasant to the Manorial court or even the Kings court if the crime was serious enough. It's not like there are hundreds of thousands of Blooded in one place, even in a city the size of NY there's only a few hundred Blooded. You wouldn't need an army of knights to police that number. I'll think some more about your suggestion about flipping the segments column.

Only Blooded magic can cause a breach on a failure and only then is it a % chance to cause a breach. It's a side effect for how their magic works, they're literally tapping into a mythic force via their blood to summon forth magical effects...when it goes bad, it can go real bad. Here's the breakdown of how Mythic Breaches work for reference: Mythic Breach Probability Spell AP* Breach Activation Segments Limitation Value 1-10 N/A N/A -¼ 11-30 6- 2d6 -½ 31-50 8- 4d6 -¾ 51-70 11- 5d6 -1 71-90 14- 7d6 -1¼ 91+ Breach 8d6 -1½ *Spell roll failures of 5 or more are moved one row down the chart I like your idea about the government being part of a conspiracy, in fact I have written up a defense contractor that I already implicated in something just like you suggest. Maybe what I should do is write up the larger government conspiracy...honestly, I was just throwing down breadcrumbs for future me to use and to flesh things out a bit I keep coming back to Blooded magic being a choice...I don't see them casting Darksight when they go into the cold cellar for example. I actually imagine that many Blooded would live lives that are quite banal that wouldn't require them to cast magic on a daily basis. Peasants would be trained in Blood magic and know some simple incantations but wouldn't be living the life of a 21st century adventurer and not ripping holes in reality every other day.

This is a strange one, but it is reproducible...I'm not sure if it's just me using HD incorrectly or a bug but I figured I would report it. I also understand that Time Limit can be an Advantage or a Limitation depending on the power but this happens on the same power. For the record, I'm using the 20190210 build. Add the power "Knockback Resistance" to a character Add "Time Limit", note that it is a Limitation at this point Add the "Cost Endurance" Limitation (Only Costs END to Activate) Note the Active Points and Real Points of the power Save the power Open the power you just added The AP and Real Cost has changed because Time Limit has turned into an advantage Hit "OK" to save the power with the new cost Close the character in HD Open the character The cost of the power has changed again because Time Limit is now a limitation This also happens when adding powers built with Time Limit and Costs Endurance from prefabs. Time Limit will flip from a limitation to an advantage when adding the power to the character from the prefab causing point costs to skewed.

I don't think 100% Breach containment is realistic either, that's how The Lost Legion maintains it numbers...at least partially. There's lots of groups who would love to get their hands on what comes through a Breach. Lots more who would just as well destroy the Breach creatures and Blooded. The question becomes what do mortals do with stories of mythic creatures stalking the streets? Personally, the way I'm going to play it in my game is that those are tabloid stories and urban legends. If one of the myriad of interested parties fail to handle the Breach then what happens? The Breach creature may end up in the news. The Blooded need to cover it up ASAP and the manticore of the lower East side becomes public enemy #1. The Blooded have extensive NCI and would be able to manipulate the press, local police, even FBI and government wouldn't be beyond their reach. They don't have to mind wipe everyone in a quarter mile radius of a Breach because of they can control what gets reported on and what gets investigated. About cascading failures: it is a real possibility that the Blooded make things worse when covering up a Breach. The types of magic being cast by Breach Hunters would be quite a bit more powerful than what the average Blooded peasant would be casting. Overall, Blooded magic needs to be used like a scalpel, not a hammer...which I'm fine with. They're not Superheroes. Is it air tight? Absolutely not and that's part of the fun for me ?. If Breach containment was 100% I would argue it would make things a lot more boring. I like that Breaches add an element of risk to Blooded magic and makes casting a spell a choice and not a given outcome to a problem. As it stands, it's a delivery mechanism for mythical creatures into the setting that impact the setting itself in very tangible ways. That's exactly what I wanted them to be!

There's a couple of things at play here: Not all Blooded are PCs and casting spells frequently The Second law states that a Blooded are expected to deal with any breach they create Breach Hunters work to clean up the fallout of a breach, including dealing with cell phone videos, police, witnesses, etc There's also the Lost Legion who are actively recruiting the creatures who come through the breach for their own war against the Blooded. The Crimson Cabal would love to get their hands on the critters that come through. The Continuum would probably rather not have mythic creatures from the past in the present... Take your pick I guess. If you're not digging the concept then maybe take a pass on it???

I think you're fine to upload it, just give credit to the original author (if known) I would say.

I wrote up the Knights of Tuath spells last night...5 of them, all sensory in nature, I figure those types of spells would help them perform their tasks. I also did their package deal...it's modest but offers lots of flexibility. I added a couple of new Blood magic spells while I was on the spell kick...Sense Breach, Sense Mythic Creature, and Tenacity. I'm going to focus on writing up NYC for a bit and then I should be done in terms of things I wanted to accomplish.

OK, I just wrote up something...have a look and let me know what you think. ---- The Knights of Tuath The Knights of Tuath are an elite group of Blooded who have two important functions within Blooded society: enforcement of the Ancient Laws and finding new Blooded. They are considered to be outside the normal social constructs that the Blooded use to organize themselves and are free to come and go between Kingdoms with a minimum of difficulty. Because of this free agency, the Knights of Tuath are often called upon to mete out justice on Blooded who have committed crimes in one Kingdom but have fled to another. The Knights of Tuath are also charged with seeking out and finding new Blooded. They are expected to bring the new Blooded into Blooded society and place them under the care of their Bloodline. Usually this means they bring the newly awakened Blooded to their closest King so that a mentor may be found. The Knights of Tuath have been transformed by the waters from the Well of Segais and have access to magic that aids them in their tasks.

I like it, Danu has fertility and wisdom associated with her which both work for this order of Knights. According to this she's known to bring wisdom into the world through the Well of Segais...perhaps the ritual to join the Knights involve drinking from the well? I'm staying away from Asia mostly because my knowledge of Asian myths and pantheons is pretty abysmal. I imagine that Blooded exist is all cultures but am specifically focused on Western mythology for this mini-setting. It would be cool to write up Asian themed Blooded complete with their own culturally significant mythological hooks at some point. Who knows, maybe that's something that will happen in time.

I like the idea of having some sort of artifact being the source of their power...what about going back a bit further? I was thinking maybe we should tie it into an ancient pantheon. This order of Knights has 2 things on it's plate...enforcing the Ancient Laws and finding new Blooded. That makes me think of justice and hunting in terms of themes...that leaves some options open. Athena/Minerva - Greek and Roman gods of the wisdom and warfare Tyr - Norse god of war and justice Odin - wisdom, war...a bunch of other things Skadi - Norse hunting god Artemis/Diana - Greek/Roman gods of hunting, the moon, animals ??? I kind of like Tyr out of the list because there's already a Greek themed Bloodline with The Scions of Atlas and I like that he has justice in his portfolio. Odin and Skadi would work too but Odin is way overexposed because of Marvel and Skadi is kind of obscure. What do you think?

Instead of Watcher how about we call them something else? I'm thinking something like Paladin or Bloodguard (Blood Paladin?). This group would have two sacred charges: to ensure the Ancient Laws are observed/enforced and to find new Blooded. They would have ability to come and go as they please between kingdoms (within reason). I'm thinking they would be seen like champions and would have their own powerbase within Blooded society...enough power that even a King or Queen would respect them. Maybe they have a code of conduct that includes a non-interference policy in regional politics, unless an Ancient Law in broken. That would keep them beneign enough that a monarch would tolerate them.

I really think you're on to something with the Watchers being separate from Blooded society. They could travel between kingdoms as messengers and Bloodline houses as you suggest. They would have special rights and status within Blooded society. I think that the spell you wrote up is scoped differently than Second Wind. Second Wind is meant to be used in combat to recover STUN and END up to their starting values. The spell you wrote up will increase the top end of those stats, which is fine. I'm thinking that both can coexist for that reason...maybe it can be put into the Blood magic line of spells.

Watchers probably deserve a bit of a write-up. Perhaps they're in the peasantry and, like Breach Hunters, being a Watcher is considered a path to Nobility. At the very least, a Watcher would be above the peasant in station, if not true Nobility. Also, maybe it makes sense to give Watchers and Breach Hunters their own spells??? I suppose they could be just rolled into general Blood magic too. I want Breachers to be real mythic creatures so I don't see why they couldn't interbreed with humans. It does bring up interesting challenges but not insurmountable ones for the Blooded. I kind of like that Second Wind doesn't force you to have the side effects of taking a recovery in combat. Maybe the spell you describe is a general Blood magic spell instead if Battle magic, there's already precedent in Blood Magic for amping stats.

Firstly, check out this thread for the doc and the most up-to-date conversations about it. The short answer to your question is; they have laws forbidding them from revealing themselves to mortals. Long answer: during the middle ages the Blooded were decimated by the witch hunts. They realized that the mortals were capable of overpowering them and that they were severely out numbered so they created laws to hide their existence from mortals.

Your breakdown regarding the Limitation value seems logical to me...I'm just not looking forward to revising 85 spells and transposing them ?. Oh well, I'll suck it up and get it done at some point. I'll probably make the 1-10 point band -1/4 because, although tiny, there is still a chance of creating a Breach. Maybe the higher rungs will go below -1. I'm writing up New York City as the main city for the setting book which has about 8.6m people according to the 2017 census. That works out to roughly 430 Blooded in one of the most densely populated cities in the world. That's not a ton of Blooded but enough that it justifies having a local government. Also keep in mind that most Blooded are not PCs and won't be facing the hardships of adventure that requires more spellcasting and therefore more risk of a Breach. Most Blooded NPCs will know some spells, lower powered, cheaper ones, I would imagine, but they wouldn't be the mystical powerhouses the PCs will be. I wouldn't expect the average Blooded peasant to be built on nearly the same point values as PCs...sure they would be more than your average NPC but not even close to 275. Anyways, good stuff...thanks for the feedback and keep it coming if you are so inclined ?

I was thinking the Blooded population would be relatively small, something in the ballpark of 0.00005% which works out to 350k globally, large enough to require governing but statistically insignificant in terms of the humans to Blooded ratio. In regards to reincarnation, I was hinting that something like that was going on during The Reverie but I was approaching it from the other side, the Mythic side. I hear you on the cascading effects, I think Blooded magic will need to be carefully applied and if more than one breach open they will likely be in trouble. I'm assuming people will jack their stats so they can cast Blooded magic on a 19- base which means that a 50 AP spell should go off 90% of the time which seems fine to me in terms of a failure rate. It's when they start dipping into more powerful spells in combat that things get hairy for them...again I'm fine with that as a risk/reward element. I was thinking about the Breach mechanic a bit in the same terms as you...were it gets even muddier is the activation roll. Just because they fail a spell doesn't mean a Breach will open and it's even less likely to open on a less powerful spell. How do you cost that? I just picked -1 because I figured a tear in reality is a major thing...maybe I should reduce it to -3/4 or -1/2 to account for the activation rolls?