World Moved On (OOC) [Full]

[EnigmaticOne]

Brian Wilhelm



Honestly, Brian Wilhelm still wishes he could just go back to college Track and Field squad. Unfortunately, life seems intent on making sure he can not. Once he was just a Midwestern teen at college, and keeping up with the Joneses meant ordering a Kindle, for one.

It was the same day he stayed late for an extended Track and Field practice, and when his sister Arianna called, wanting him to pick her up from a nightclub, he insisted on her waiting a while. When he got there, the area was wrapped with crime scene lines and police. Arianna had been sexually assaulted and murdered.

Crushed, and blaming himself, Brian descended into a depressive slump, unable to focus on socializing, athletics, and academics. The investigation and looming trial did not bring him closure, for he surely felt none of this would have happened but for his carelessness. Then, his Kindle arrived, several weeks late.

Brian was surprised to see it pink, unlike every other Kindle in existence. After a bit of looking, he discovered another oddity. The Ur Search. It took him a while to comprehend what it offered, but he literally could access books and newspapers from other worlds.

The novelty of the thing was quite intriguing - enough to push away his malaise. A few days late, he was wondering if he should do something with that knowledge, when the strange Low Men came. They broke into the college, and went after Brian, who reacted out of bewildered self-preservation and ran, but with the Ur Kindle, which they did seem to want.

Then a corporate rescue, the weirdest gunfight kind. What they told him and wanted him to do was a bit hard to digest. Sure he tentatively had accepted that alternate worlds existed. Multiversal war though? Sauron-like Crimson King? Becoming an Agent for the Tet Corporation. A large pill to swallow.

What has distracted him from the lumps in his new job description, has been job training. I mean, what guy doesn't want to be able to do Matrix stunts? And furthermore, he has developed a radical theory from learning about the Dark Tower. If he could find it, might not he be able to rewrite the past and save Arianna?

Development
What Brian has to get used to is, losing the fish out of water-ness. That is, truly getting used to how serious this war is. The naivete needs to be smoked out of him, and when things get more and more rough, he's going to push towards wanting this war to end, and dealing with the Crimson King. Most importantly, finding the Dark Tower, as he probably will come to want to use it to erase his sister's death, and any other blames he puts on his psyche.

Powers wise, that I need to think about more.

The Ur Kindle
Though the exact nature of the artifact is up to RedBstrd, I do still imagine it has some manner of connection to the Dark Tower. It's being held by the Tet Corporation now.

Brian Wilhelm - PL 7 (110 pp)

Abilities: Strength 1, Stamina 2, Agility 3, Dexterity 3, Fighting 3, Intellect 1, Awareness 3, Presence 1

Advantages: Agile Feint, Beginner's Luck, Benefit: Tet Corporation Member, Defensive Roll 3, Equipment 2, Improved Initiative, Luck, Power Attack, Skill Mastery: Acrobatics, Skill Mastery: Athletics, Uncanny Dodge, Quick Draw, Takedown

Skills: Acrobatics 6 (+9), Athletics 6 (+7), Deception 4 (+5), Expertise: Multiverse 6 (+7), Insight 4 (+7), Perception 6 (+9), Persuasion 6 (+7), Ranged Combat: Pistols 8 (+11), Stealth 6 (+9), Technology 4 (+5), Vehicles 2 (+5)

Powers:
Array Movement Training
- Movement 2 (Wall-crawling 2: full speed) • 1 pp
- Leaping 2 (Leap 30 feet at 8 miles/hour) and Movement 1 (Safe Fall) • 4 pp
- Movement 1 (Sure-footed 1) and Speed 2 (Speed: 8 miles/hour, 120 feet/round) • 1 pp

Attack Effect Gun Kata - Perfect Shot (Increased Range 3, Quirk: Power Loss - Requires Pistol) • 2 pp

Enhanced Trait Ur Kindle Scholar (Advantages: Eidetic Memory, Well-informed; Investigation +8 (+9), Limited: Alternate Realities Only) • 4 pp

Equipment:
Tet Pistol (Damage 3, DC 18, Advantages: Improved Critical; Custom: Fingerprint Scan Lock, Increased Range: ranged) • 8 ep
Shoe Knife: (Strength-based Damage 1, DC 17, Custom: Concealed in Footwear) • 2 ep

Offense:
Initiative +7
Pistol +11 (DC 18)
Shoe Knife +3 (DC 17)

Languages: English

Defenses: Dodge 9, Parry 9, Fortitude 5, Toughness 5/2, Will 9

Power Points: Abilities 34 + Powers 12 + Advantages 16 + Skills 29 (58 ranks) + Defenses 21 = 112

Complications
Guilt: Brian feels a deep guilt over his perceived responsibility in his sister's tragic death, and will probably blame himself for others he lets down.
Hunted: The forces of the Crimson King, particularly the Low Men, are still searching for him as they believe Brian still possesses the Ur Kindle.
Responsibility: Tet Corporation
Fish out of Water: Brian just is having a hard time when it will come to adjusting to alternate worlds other than clearly modern Earth, and with combat.

[EnigmaticOne]

Anyway, I just want to say, this game has been epic so far from reading through it. And I can't wait to contribute to the Epicness.

[Lord Fell]

I'm familiar with Impeach the peach...

Anyway, more thoughts. My first reaction to the "Ur Kindle" was that it was a really clumsy literary McGuffin. To me, it seems the sort of thing a novice writer would fling at a young adult audience... it lacks sophistication because it's a Fad kind of gimmick (I doubt anyone will be using Kindles in a generation, and it probably won't rate as much nostalgia as Betamax). My first thought, when I was given to understand that this was actually a Stephen King related story made me feel better about it -I mean, if it's a Stephen King thing, then it fits better with what we're doing. The Second thought I had about it was that this must be a sign that Stephen King has crested, is going downhill, and has hit a point where it's noticeable. I say this without having any awareness of the story we're talking about, but I don't think I need to.

Anyways... with a bit of Red Bastardization applied to the character sheet and character concept, it feels more like something appropriate to what we're doing. I also think that the Tet Corporation brings something new to our group. I'm not sure what era Russ is from (I'm thinking 70s or 80s) but Brian seems straight-up modern.

The other thing I stressed that I would be concerned about was quality and consistency of the player, which is to say Enigmatic One, as opposed to Brian Wilhelm. I've been around ATT long enough to know most older players by their threads and posts. I don't have any sense that your posting lacks in quality. I do seem to recall that you dropped one of the games you were going to GM like a hot potato (what I heard through the grapevine was one of the players you selected refused to make reasonable changes to their character, and you didn't feel like dealing with the situation) and you've also taken breaks from ATT. For me, ATT is my break from other shit... although I would be lying if I said I never got depressed by how my games were (or more likely weren't) going. So... I'm a little bit concerned about reliability or long term commitment. I wouldn't say that this is a "deal breaker," just something that I'm aware of.

...I would still like to see other applicants, if for no other reason to establish a benchmark of quality.

[EnigmaticOne]

Understandable. I'm really coming to the conclusion that I'm not really cut out internally for the effort of GM'ing, atm. As for the breaks, I've decided to implement a plan. That is, next time I feel weak, I'll mention it in my games and request to be NPC'ed until I return.

[RedBstrd]

Jhondak is up next, followed by the forces of Arioch.

[Lord Fell]

@Enigmatic One
Sorry to be giving you the hard time... it is my nature. Having said that, I feel quite protective of this game, I just don't want to see additions that aren't going to match the quality, or will disappear as the players of Bron, Adrien Speck and Pablo have. You can be assured that any future candidates would receive equally close and critical scrutiny from me.

Regarding your "breaks" from ATT, seems to me that for the most part they have been when you were GMing a game, rather than playing? Running a game is clearly more work and commitment than playing in one. While it's not ideal (because it means your character is rudderless for a time) you have returned to playing on ATT.

I guess my final verdict is a Pass (not that I'm the last arbiter of such things, this is just my opinion). While I'd still like to see other applicants, this is more because I don't want to buy the first pony that trots into the yard.


@Red Bastard
A full on Transformed victim of Myron's spell Abhoth's Caress is going to become formless spawn, a tangle of tentacles, protoplasm, and eyeless polyps full of biting mouths. He'll randomly attack anyone nearby while slowly suffocating with gills not meant to breathe air. Attacking nearby targets, not because he's controlled, but because he's freaking out and all he has to work with are lashing tentacles and biting pseudopods.

[RedBstrd]

I'm familiar with Impeach the peach...

I'm lost on that one. There's not need to explain it to me, though.

Anyway, more thoughts. My first reaction to the "Ur Kindle" was that it was a really clumsy literary McGuffin. To me, it seems the sort of thing a novice writer would fling at a young adult audience... it lacks sophistication because it's a Fad kind of gimmick (I doubt anyone will be using Kindles in a generation, and it probably won't rate as much nostalgia as Betamax). My first thought, when I was given to understand that this was actually a Stephen King related story made me feel better about it -I mean, if it's a Stephen King thing, then it fits better with what we're doing. The Second thought I had about it was that this must be a sign that Stephen King has crested, is going downhill, and has hit a point where it's noticeable. I say this without having any awareness of the story we're talking about, but I don't think I need to.

Having only read the description online, it strikes me as very similar to Insomnia - which was crazy good. Since it has clear links to 11/22/63 and the Dark Tower saga, I imagine that the gimmicky framing of the story is just a way of popularizing his more ambitious projects through a short novella. The title itself is a little faddy, but sometimes authors use names like that to really good effect (I'm talking about you, iZombie).

I wouldn't say that Stephen King has crested. He's produced tons of trash across the decades but also tons of good stuff. I must say that I like some of his newer stuff better than some of the classics. Black House, the Dark Tower, and Insomnia were all great books. His contributions to American Vampire are really good too, but it's hard to know how much is King and how much is Snyder.

Again, I haven't read the book either but I'm of the general impression that King is how he always has been: a mixture of the genius with the utter crap. I don't think I'd expect Ur to be quite either; my guess is that it's simply useful for our purposes and may be entertaining for a general audience.

As for Kindles being a short term fad; I agree but only to an extent. I think the age of commercial books is pretty much over, having faced a losing battle to the internet and tablets (which offer the same portable entertainment). Tablets have largely been the death of Kindle, though, since they offer everything a Kindle does plus more (except the low price).

Anyways... with a bit of Red Bastardization applied to the character sheet and character concept, it feels more like something appropriate to what we're doing. I also think that the Tet Corporation brings something new to our group. I'm not sure what era Russ is from (I'm thinking 70s or 80s) but Brian seems straight-up modern.

Russ is from the 90s.

The other thing I stressed that I would be concerned about was quality and consistency of the player, which is to say Enigmatic One, as opposed to Brian Wilhelm. I've been around ATT long enough to know most older players by their threads and posts. I don't have any sense that your posting lacks in quality. I do seem to recall that you dropped one of the games you were going to GM like a hot potato (what I heard through the grapevine was one of the players you selected refused to make reasonable changes to their character, and you didn't feel like dealing with the situation) and you've also taken breaks from ATT. For me, ATT is my break from other shit... although I would be lying if I said I never got depressed by how my games were (or more likely weren't) going. So... I'm a little bit concerned about reliability or long term commitment. I wouldn't say that this is a "deal breaker," just something that I'm aware of.

I honestly haven't had a chance to look into EnigmaticOne's history as a player yet. I certainly won't consider a few failed GM attempts as a reason for discounting a potential player if everything else I want to see is in place... mainly because I've had a few games where I've had to stop and say, "Nope, this just isn't working. I need to try something else if we're going to enjoy ourselves."

...I would still like to see other applicants, if for no other reason to establish a benchmark of quality.

I too am hoping that the game generates interest from more than one applicant, just to ensure the best recruitment possible. Is anyone else looking over the thread and interested?

I'm still not sure what kind of time frame I'm looking at for recruitment. On Friday, I am going to check out Jaipur and then on Sunday we are relocating to Kolkata for October. It doesn't make sense to try bringing in a character before that point since the entire weekend will likely be chaotic. I did get my USB modem charged up so there shouldn't be any interruptions once I switch apartments. I may even have access on the train (if coverage extends between the cities), but we should probably plan on me having a rather full weekend from Friday to Sunday.

[RedBstrd]

A full on Transformed victim of Myron's spell Abhoth's Caress is going to become formless spawn, a tangle of tentacles, protoplasm, and eyeless polyps full of biting mouths. He'll randomly attack anyone nearby while slowly suffocating with gills not meant to breathe air. Attacking nearby targets, not because he's controlled, but because he's freaking out and all he has to work with are lashing tentacles and biting pseudopods.

You had me at "formless spawn"...

Note: ATT really needs an emoticon with little heart eyes.

[RedBstrd]

@Enigmatic One
Sorry to be giving you the hard time... it is my nature. Having said that, I feel quite protective of this game, I just don't want to see additions that aren't going to match the quality, or will disappear as the players of Bron, Adrien Speck and Pablo have. You can be assured that any future candidates would receive equally close and critical scrutiny from me.

I'm quite protective of this game as well. My goal is eventually to run only it and one other game (Ardent Legacy). I'm increasingly disillusioned with being a player due to slow downs in games I'm in, not to mention how difficult it is to find a game that lasts past the first scene without the GM going AWOL.

... and yes, I've even started crafting the opening scene of Ardent Legacy even though I won't run it until one of my other games ends.

[EnigmaticOne]

@Enigmatic One
Sorry to be giving you the hard time... it is my nature. Having said that, I feel quite protective of this game, I just don't want to see additions that aren't going to match the quality, or will disappear as the players of Bron, Adrien Speck and Pablo have. You can be assured that any future candidates would receive equally close and critical scrutiny from me.

I'm quite protective of this game as well. My goal is eventually to run only it and one other game (Ardent Legacy). I'm increasingly disillusioned with being a player due to slow downs in games I'm in, not to mention how difficult it is to find a game that lasts past the first scene without the GM going AWOL.

... and yes, I've even started crafting the opening scene of Ardent Legacy even though I won't run it until one of my other games ends.

Ah yes, I like the concept of Ardent as well. Something just screams enjoyable RP, like playing Silver/Modern Age heroes trying to reform an Iron Age time.

[Shock]

That was an fun battle.

[RedBstrd]

That was an fun battle.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Jhondak gets a Hero Point for killing the champion of Arioch on this world.

[Shock]

Sweet! Only 1...2...3... carry the 2... infinite worlds to go!

[Lord Fell]

I'm actually (swear on my Dice) that I'm going to do that Myron revamp this week.

I seem to recall having an unspent PP (111) and also that you were going to award 4..? at the end of this scene? Should I build on 115?

I also enjoyed the battle, and not just because I finally popped the cherry on my Caress of Abhoth and made me a pseudo-shoggoth. Fun times.

[Shock]

I'm actually (swear on my Dice) that I'm going to do that Myron revamp this week.

I seem to recall having an unspent PP (111) and also that you were going to award 4..? at the end of this scene? Should I build on 115?

I also enjoyed the battle, and not just because I finally popped the cherry on my Caress of Abhoth and made me a pseudo-shoggoth. Fun times.

I suspect using a head as a missile weapon also had something to do with it ;}