Cams Unknown Armies Character

Highlights.....


Changes.....

That nasty Mr Liam suggested... 

Message 3: Tue Aug  8 11:40:20 (read)
From: caligari [To: korg]
Control: you don't seem to be too controlling of the character; I'm
right with you - I have done this sort of thing with characters before,
and can see what's going on in your head. I have no problem with it. Just
be prepared to relax away from it a bit and let it steep in the brew of
the rest of the game as we go. :)
 
Pets: no problem. Just noticed a lack of mention and was seeing if
there were sparks there. A friend of mine had snakes in Chicago. Dustin
(at Chaosium) keeps spiders.  And wilder street pets like cats can be
fun. But if its not there, its just as well, as keeping up with a pet
in a roleplaying game can be a real drag ("we are going for three weeks
to Spain... Uh, I'll leave out a bag of cat food...").

Having questioned the group-focus of Cas, I went on to describe her to
my father last night and when I got to that very question I noticed that
she has been cast as someone
who needs a family, and forms groups to giver her that support and
eventually pushes them away when they get to close to her personally. Its
not that hard to see that she could easily fall in with a different
group (the PCs) and indeed be a unifying force for the group, given how
important families are to her. And leaving her current group might be
possibel by sowing some seeds of that in her recent background (I'll
think about that) or by taking her out of their orbit in some way (GM
wheels turning).  Either way, I'm not really concerned.
 
I should be, overall, though. I mean, looking at your character,
Narelle's and Judy's for starters, they are all loners of one type or
another. And Andre has it written in that his character, while positive,
can get wearing. And Jo's character is a definite lone wolf. Not that
all that cannot change, but it doesn't exactly make it easy to build a
coherent group easily... :)


Message 3: Tue Aug  8 12:21:07 (read)
From: korg [To: caligari]

Control: Yeah, ive got this idea/background/way of thinking for the 
character and where it goes from there is up to the game :). Im happy
to drop/change stuff (most of the time ;) as the game goes along. :)

Pets: I dont see her as the warm fluffy type ;)

Group focus: ill go and redo the character fears and wants but now,
but 100% agree with the forming groups thing. Form groups for support,
take take take from them, start to grow attached, start to need them,
push them away because 'I dont need anyone'. Flee. :)

I think that she would try to be unifying in a group where (she thinks)
she gets stuff from them. If the group have a better life style ($$)
then she will want to make herself indespensible, if they have skills
that she wants to learn then again she will do that.

There is also the 'big stick' approach. :) Saftey in numbers to keep
people together. :) :) (I mean big stick from your point of view, of
'the ninja's will pick you off one by one if you split')

I like some of her background characters (DMS/ice and fixer especially)
but only from the point of view of they actually are a problem/challange
for her. If the characters in the group offer the same then ditch em
;). Or they can be Evil DM puppets to manipulate me ;).

I think Cas is more of a "User" so she needs people to use ;).
Insert other players here ;).

Jo: Russian Jane Bond. Has cash. Has skills for making real money and
getting real respect. Respect? Want to be like.

Naz: Freaked out weirdo. You can push protective buttons here. Young
and picked on is probably something like her noble trigger.

Andre: Mysic Doctor. Has cash. Maybe needs physical protection.  Learn how
to be rich (what to say, who to not beat up).

Judy: mysic exploring cop. Errm.. more trouble here. ?!


I changed her as follows: 
Obsession:   Never need anyone 
Fear:        Own weakness/failure *SELF
             If you fail, others will use you.
Rage:        Being bettered or used.
             Never be vulnerable again.
Noble:       Protecting the weak.
             Reminds her of herself as a child.

Message 2: Tue Aug  8 14:04:48 (read)
From: caligari [To: korg]
You have to work out what you r Cherries are for the Gunna Hurt You 
skill are. You get a special effect at each double under your skill:

11 Ugly Wet Snap (next attacking limb is grabbed, twist and popped)
22 Knocked Down.
33 Big hurt (Ouch! 33 points)
44 Another Attack
55 Take weapon.

Some ideas from the book include: Big Hurt (firearms damage); Blind (no
damage but can't see for some time); Dazed (normal damage and penalty for
a while); Take Weapon if one is there; Knocked Down; Monkey Dodge (next
round you miss me and hit who I say); More Damage (roll another dice and
add that to damage); New Damage (roll dice again for damage rather than
using this); Another Attack (immediately make another attack); You Lose
(target loses ability to use their doubles).

You need to assign one to each double. I tend to like them to be different
for each, but you *could* use the same one for everything, I guess. If
you come up with other ones (or want to change names) let me know and
we can talk mechanics.

Flying Woman gives you the following benfit at the moment: Any failed
Stress check on Self, Helplessness, or Isolation can be flipped, if the
result will be under your Flying Woman skill. So if you roll a 90 you
can read it as an 09 (and succeed). This should be pretty useful for you,
actually - makes you tougher in the face of this stuff.

Stress checks are mental checks. same thing. Can be used in combat. Can
be used when tortured, etc. (not that that would ever happen in my game,
no way). Can be very useful if your fear is one of those (which it is),
as you will much more rarely have to suffer from your fear. Any time roll
use those mental areas your Flying Woman will help. You are infused with
(a bit) of the power of the independent woman who needs no one else
to survive.
 
Big Hurt on 55 is a mess of damage. Perhaps it is too much, perhaps it'd
be nice to put your hand through someone's head every now and then. When
it happens you will *not* get a chance to do less damage. So if you want
to avoid leaving a really messy corpse behind, only put that one on a
lower pair... :)

I'm going to dictate that Renee did cast a protection-style spell that
*might* have resulted in giving him a protector of some sort. Shortly
after that Cas will appear on the scene. It'd be nice if it was not clear
whether Cas was the result of the summoning or simply takes to protecting
Renee for her own reasons. Perhaps she is not even sure herself, as if
she is moved by deep reasons that her conscious mind cannot fathom. Until
there is a reason to have a clash, this will work fine. And at the point
when it becomes an issue leave it to me to determine whether she can
leave him behind, or hurt him, or fail to follow the general tone of
his orders, or whatever.
 
Message 1: Tue Aug  8 14:29:47 (read)
From: korg [To: caligari]
Thats cool. It'd be better if he didnt know and either did she :). :) 
 
Im not thinking of that as a 'must obey' sort of thing, but more a
'must keep safe' type thing. I think she can bully and threaten and 
push him round, steal his stuff, piss him off, but she wont 
let him get into trouble (well what she considers trouble, she may 
not understand all the trouble he could get into). If she forces her
way into his life, house and bank account and just wont leave then he 
is still being protected (just not from her ;).
 
I think she would be really narky if/when she finds out. If she would 
believe that she could be controlled like that. Im sure she would 
be convinced she was there for her own reasons. By the time she finds 
out hopefully we will be a 'scooby gang'.

Cool?

So if I am in combat and getting beaten, then I can call on my
helplessness or something and flying woman helps here?

Message 4: Tue Aug  8 14:47:17 (read)
From: caligari [To: korg]
how about
Snagged Ya - you have a limb of your choice (within reason) and are
set to dislocate it.  you do normal damage, and then, if you elect to
dislocate it next round, you win innative (relative to the target, at
least) auto matically, and roll your damage, but cannot fail (ie any
roll is a suceess). then the limb is useless until dealt with.
 
Yes, as long as it is GM allowed (which is the rule anyway - the GM has to say 
yeah that target is OK at the moment).
 
Message 3: Tue Aug  8 15:06:30 (read)
From: korg [To: caligari]
:) Yeah. :) Im more than happy for you to narrate combat effects over dice
rolls. :) 100%.
 
:) I love that move. It seems so much intune with the character ;)
May even move monkey dodge to 11 and make 44 another one ;)

(i mean it suits the character because its a 'i got you sucker' sort of 
move which I think would be what her style was about (not neat and artistic
but more physically intimidating/topping).
 
I think may need to do some tuning once we start playing, eg i have a 
hit two things at once skill, but im not sure if that should be a skill.
*shrugs*

Message 1: Tue Aug  8 15:11:46 (read)
From: caligari [To: korg]
Hit Two Things at once is a shift on Do Two things at once, which 
allows you to use a Speed skill and any other skill at the same time 
as long as the speed skill is below the Do two things roll. So I'm 
assuming it would allow you to make a second
attack if your first attack was under the Hit Two things roll.

Another possibility would be to have a similar skill that worked with
initiative - if your initiative was under the skill then you could make
two attacks rather than one.
 
What do you think?
 
With the Snagged Ya skill - its not obvious, but the target may get
a chance to act after you, and may thus get a chance to try to break
free... so its not guaranteed.

Message 1: Tue Aug  8 15:18:03 (read)
From: korg [To: caligari]
snagged ya: chance to get free. Yep. Is cool.
makes sense.
 
My attack is a physical not a speed skill. Still I have dodge, throw, shoot
in speed. Should I just keep it as 'attack two things' or change it to
Do two things and specialise it combat or allow it to be used on comabt too?
(or does that over balance?)
 
Dont know which one makes sense most for the system. I guess Id see it as
a do two physical things at once skill. *shrugs* 
 
We could try it each way. 1 sesson on init and the other with roll under. 


Message 2: Tue Aug  8 15:22:34 (read)
From: caligari [To: korg]
I'm happy for Hit Two Things to be a Speed skill that only works 
with combat actions, whether they are Body or Speed skills.
 
Using it on initiative means that when you roll low on 
initiative (and go later) you will get the chance to hit twice. 
I'm not upset about that, as I think going first is its own reward, 
and failing your initiative (and going last) is its own
penalty. In a way I think this way of doing things makes the most 
game sense, as it keeps the Speed skill to a Speed thing (initiative 
is a speed thing).
 
You asked about Helplessness in combat a while back and I forgot 
to answer. Well its not that you get to use it for you. Its that 
if things are going way wrong for you *I* might *force* you to use 
it, at which point you'd want to make the roll and keep your head, 
rather than wig out.


Message 1: Tue Aug  8 15:30:31 (read)
From: korg [To: caligari]
hit 2 things: cool. 
 
(that leads to a possibilty/probablilty of going last which would be 
good for the 'snagged ya' skill ;) :) :) *gee im am powergamer ;)*
 
*nod* so it helps avoid wigging out in combat. 
I was wondering if it helps heal damage too or I may be spending 
1/2 the game in hospital ;) :)