One-Shot: Family Reunion

newbis, hot493 and hellgirl5 played their characters from this one shot (that'd be Felix, Gina and Mariah), while docelboze played a Tammuz named Joshua Stone and Cory (he of no LJ) played Steve Barnes, a Frankenstein who'd worked as a mercenary in Africa after being created in Chicago. anaka played Miriam Sachs, just a normal human...but with some relevant history.

The Promethean characters met up north of Memphis. Joshua had instructions from his creator, a Tammuz named Josiah Stone, to go and visit this fellow named Zaib Al-Ahmed on May 3, 2006. It was important. He was also supposed to bring along any other Prometheans he could find. So the group of them headed out to this place in Memphis, Felix a little nervous about the whole thing (Cuprum, you see).

On the way into the house, they saw Pilgrim Marks indicating that something important was about to happen at this house. They met Zaib and his assistant, Miriam. Zaib, upon hearing Josiah's name from Joshua, took the characters into his study and played them a recording that Josiah had made. It told them that a Centimanus named Charles Bowde (you can find him in Pandora's Book) was going to visit and kill Miriam, to turn her into a Promethean, and he wanted them to stop him. There was some history there, but he didn't get into it in the recording. Zaib also showed them a letter that Stone had written to his throng, talking about the Tree of Life and qlippothim as those concepts related to Prometheans (which you can also find in Pandora's Book.

The characters looked around the place. Steve found a fresh grave in the woods, and some weird tracks that didn't look quite human or animal. Miriam went to the store to buy ice, and Felix and Gina tailed her (and talked about bugging out, but then realized they hadn't brought Mariah along). Mariah talked with Miriam for a while, before she left, and definitely was working on figuring out human interaction. Didn't quite have it...

Joshua talked with Zaib, who revealed that he'd attempted to create a Golem once, but it hadn't gone well. He'd tried that, not to make a slave, but out of piety and love for the whole of Creation. Zaib, by the way, was blind and confined to a wheelchair, and when his glasses came off there were chemical burn scars around his eyes. He mentioned that Josiah (Joshua's creator) and Miriam's mother (also blind) had been good friends, which was the reason why Josiah had arranged to protect Miriam, even if he couldn't make it back.

Why did Miriam go and buy ice? Today was her 21st birthday, it seems, and there was a party coming. The characters weren't thrilled initially, but they did realize that this would stave off Pandorans, should Bowde bring any. The party started and they hung around trying to avoid engendering Disquiet, except Mariah who was having a grand old time talking with people. She asked about Zaib's eyes, and learned it was an accident involving a bottle of cleaner, which didn't sit right with the characters (they never did learn the truth, though).

Miriam, walking through the house, smelled smoke, and found a man out the side door, smoking a cigarette. He put it out, and revealed that he'd known Miriam's mother...and father. He asked her to take a walk, and she was initially hesitant, but then he gazed into her eyes...and well, that did it.

He told her that her father was, perhaps, selfish, and that was why he'd run out on her mother. She had never known him. They got to the edge of the woods and saw the grave, and some hideous dog-things crawled out. And then Bowde opened his sleeve and half his left arm folded out into a tentacle, and grabbed her...but not before she screamed. "Now," he said, "you'll be my daughter again."

The characters came running and fought the Pandorans and Charlie, and freed Miriam. Charlie did some damage to them, between his acidic touch and his tentacle (and his acid-spitting Pandorans), but in the edge, he took one too many bullets in the face and they dumped him into his own grave, and then got the hell out before the police showed up to investigate gunshots, Mariah, Felix and Gina going on their way together again.

Down in the Underworld, Charlie Bowde sits on the edge of the River, stewing, swearing revenge. A tap on his shoulder.

"Been waiting for you, you son of a bitch," says Josiah Stone.

Soy Histamine: part 2

Marie was beginning to feel uneasy about the state of the apartment she had seen earlier. A queasy feeling was building up within her and she felt compelled to return to the building and explore further. Marie, Luke and River arrived at one of their makeshift lairs, an abandoned railway car, to explain what had happened that evening to the final member of their throng, ( Joe, an Ulgan following the Stannum refinementCollapse )
They proceeded to return to the apartment building, where Frannie had been left alone.

Meanwhile, Frannie was lucky enough to intercept one of their targets, Bartholomew, as he left his apartment and proceeded to lithely question him. He seemed to instantly detect her inhuman nature and, having also discovered that there were dead bodies within his apartment building, was about to call the police when Frannie suggested finding one of her throng members who could speak to the dead.

Elsewhere, Oscar and Jack had began to travel back to the scientist to give him the piece of meteorite they had recovered from the museum. Coincidentally, the paths of all of the throng members converged again upon the brownstone apartment.

The prometheans discovered that Bartholomew was not entirely human, but was not like any of them either. He called himself an elemental, which meant nothing to them. He offered to give them the ring they wanted if each of them gave him something in return, he didn't care what but acted offended when offered money. Luke refused to give him anything, and so a debate ensued as to whether these items should all be retrieved.

Bartholomew spoke of the dead bodies (that he could sense) on the first floor of his brownstone. The throng then decided to inspect the apartments of the cultists, finding the original occupants all to have been killed in multiple manners of gruesome and vicious endings. Only one occupant was still alive, she was wearing the necklace that the throng sought, which Jack quickly took from her languishing body. As Oscar tried to apply first aid to her gouged flesh, she gasped out "he killed... my cabal... his name... is Toy... Calvin Toy." and then she died.

Sensing that the list of items might now require a sense of urgency to recover, the throng chose to go after the first item on their list: a flower they knew to be growing out of a corpse. As the throng proceeded to the house where the flower was growing, Frannie decided to stay behind with Bartholomew.

A raucous party was occuring in the house when they arrived and motorcycles were parked along the lawn and sides of the house. Most of the throng snuck around to the back of the house, while Oscar and Joe kept watch at the front of the house. Joe attempted to sabotage one of the bikes propped up on the lawn of the house, only to be discovered by the partyers inside. A large brawl began to ensue, which ensured the success of the prometheans sneaking into the basement. Jack made it into the basement first and found the flower. With Luke and River directly behind him, he plucked the flower out of the corpse and ran for the exit only to find his way blocked by a tall, luxiarantly-dressed woman. He pushed her aside and felt his strength leeched away, but continued to run.

While Joe and Oscar fought mercilessly, the woman began to interrogate those left behind at her home. She didn't seem bothered by the loss of the flower and seemed only mildly annoyed by the assault on her person by Jack. She offered a truce to the throng members in her home and revealed herself to be a vampire. She asked only for a few pints of their blood, which River excitedly volunteered. After reaching an accord, the throng left. Only in exiting the house did those inside see the violence that Joe had unleashed upon the bikers. Two of them lay dead, their necks broken, while four others were fleeing battered and bloodied.

The throng collected themselves together on the street corner, then reviewed the items they had collected so far. The meteorite seemed to create a buzzing, almost intoxicating, sensation in whomever held it. The necklace held a symbol of illumination and enlightenment, though nothing obvious was revealed to whoever wore it. The flower had its own personal aura, giving fortitude to whoever held it. The only items left were Bartholomew's ring and the corpse of a pandoran.

The throng then began to debate their next course of action...

changelings vs prometheans

Do you think its possible that a changeling could receive Glamour from a promethean?
Could a changeling get Glamour from a promethean's emotions, even though they aren't human, or they might be "faked" emotions?

Also, I don't remember reading this in any of the promethean books, but do prometheans dream?

These are probably questions that have no answers, or are left open deliberately so individual GMs can come up with their own answers, but I'd like to know your thoughts/ideas on the subject.

x-posted to wod_changeling

Soy Histamine: my Promethean three-shot

Originally planned as a one-shot, its going to be longer because my players are good at role-playing and get into their characters really well - but that also means it takes longer to play, and I predict it will last three sessions total. Here goes...

I wrote mini-backgrounds for a number of pre-generated characters. My players chose a background and I then wrote the character up. So the players did not know what their stats would be before they started playing. They did not even know what Lineages or Refinements the backgrounds were, all they had to go on was the descriptive text and the quotes.

( The backgrounds...Collapse )

I borrowed heavily from the adventure presented in the core rulebook, but I changed the scavenger hunt into a more literal shopping list of items.

The game is set in the Milwaukee of early October, 1948

The Prometheans are all a part of the same throng, with no fixed lair or permanent home, but have been living in Milwaukee for the last several months (unless their background stated otherwise). They were spread around town doing different things when they all felt the call of a very powerful Azoth. Frannie was busy trying various pies at a local diner, attempting to discover if they really tasted any different; River has only been alive for a little over a week, so she was still busy investigating her origins; Jack was talking with a priest, and being very confused about who this Christ person - "how can a man be both dead and alive? perhaps he was another Promethean?"; Marie and Oscar were busy discussing the properties of a soul at a local park, and debating about whether or not birds have souls; only Luke resisted an immediate urge to investigate as his job as a part-time gas attendant was keeping him busy in the role of a mortal.

The Prometheans soon made their way into the southern end of downtown Milwaukee and to an abandoned warehouse next to a prominent brewery, where the source of this new Azothic Radiance was emanating from. After examining the outside of the structure and realizing that their strongest member, Luke, was still not present, Jack took it upon himself to sneak into the warehouse and survey who this Radiance was coming from.
Jack easily made his way in and found a man working feverishly on some sort of alchemical elixir. Though the man had no Azoth, instead the Radiance was coming from an amulet on one of the tables the man was working at. Taking this news to the rest of his throng, they proceeded inside to question the man while Jack remained in the shadows.

The man, Dr. Colin Clive, was overjoyed at their appearance. Though he seemed very nervous and excited at the same time, he spoke quickly and eagerly about trying to help them. Dr. Clive had met another Promethean ten years ago and was not able to help her before she left him, so he dedicated his life to finding an elixir that would allow a Promethean to become mortal. His searches were fruitless and he had to take jobs to support himself, he had been part of a research group studying new radioactive elements and the head of the research project had, in fact, discovered a new element that Dr. Clive believed was the key to an instantaneous Promethean transformation. The element was highly radioactive however, and Dr. Clive had been exposed to it for too long. He only had a month to live, so it was vital that he get assistance from them to complete his elixir.
The throng bristled with anticipation at the probability of becoming human. Luke, having arrived while Dr. Clive was explaining his history with Prometheans, voiced concerns amongst his throng about why this man might really be doing this. Jack was knowledgeable about Azoth and the milestones of personal experience required to complete a pilgrimage, and was skeptical that an elixir might not do more harm than good if it worked. Frannie sensed Dr. Clive was earnest and proceeded to question him about what kind of help he may need.

He presented a list of items to the throng. Each had its own unique challenge to acquire, and each was in a separate location.
- the first item was a plant, growing in the basement of a house in northern Milwaukee, the house belonged to an eclectic gardener who also happened to be married to the head of a very violent local biker gang, members of the gang were always present at the house and Dr. Clive admitted that the people there may have committed murder
- the second item was a sulfuric meteorite housed at the local Geology Museum, held in a case on the second floor, the only challenge would be getting in and out without anybody noticing
- the third item was a necklace, it was rumored to have magical properties and the owner was a woman who was part of a local cult living on the first floor of a brownstone apartment building downtown, Dr. Clive didn't go so far as to call them Satanists, but he suggested as much
- the fourth item was ironically in the same building as the magical necklace, a Celtic ring with supposedly transformative properties for the wearer, it was worn by Bartholomew Berkowitz a night-time taxi driver and drunk
- the fifth item was simple, the corpse of a Pandoran, Dr. Clive gave details of a farm several miles northwest of town where a Promethean had unsuccessfully tried to create another of his kind last year; River became particularly interested in checking out this farm as it may have been the same Promethean who successfully created him

Luke expressed grave concerns about completing the list in a timely manner. Referring to stealing the meteorite, he protested "Does it make sense that we show act inhuman in order to become human?" Several members of the throng were nonplussed. "I've seen humans steal. It doesn't sound inhuman to me."
The throng investigated the brownstone, and though they smelled smoke and saw scorch marks on the walls inside of the first floor apartments, nobody trespassed into the homes of any of the cult members. Frannie decided to wait outside and watch for Bartholomew Berkowitz, Jack and Oscar both travelled to the Geology Museum and the rest of the throng retired for the evening to rest.

At the Museum, Oscar planned on waiting until the Museum opened in the morning, but Jack couldn't wait. He snuck inside and found the meteorite in its case. Breaking the glass and snatching the rock, Jack was suddenly tackled to the ground by a gigantic ferocious beast. Hairy and snarling it bit into him, only to howl in agony and draw back at the taste of Jack's blood.
Soon a showdown was taking place between Jack and Oscar and two werewolves, one huge and brown and the other blackish and scarred, who both seemed to be just as interested in the meteorite as they were. The smaller werewolf managed to grab the rock away from Jack's grasp and flee, but Oscar stayed hot on his trail. As Jack was being ripped apart by the bigger of the two, he did manage to reach a dialogue with the blackish, scarred werewolf. They stood outside of the Museum, panting and bleeding, while Oscar explained why they needed the meteorite.
The werewolves contained their bestial fury and returned to their human forms. They introduced themselves as Tony (the scarred werewolf) and Gordon (the giant werewolf), and proceeded to explain that their tribal totem instructed them that they would need this rock in order to fashion a leash for an unruly spirit they had not been able to harm.
Oscar suggested breaking the meteor in half so that they might both have a piece, and Tony did so, suggesting that if their elixir didn't work, they should find him for the other piece of the rock at a bar in southern Milwaukee - Whistler's Pub - both Tony and Gordon intimated that their biker gang hung out there.

The night seemed to pass uneventfully for the rest of the throng, except for Marie, who was tormented by an uneasy feeling that she had somehow forgotten to do something...

designing a one-shot [advice needed]

Actually, it will be more of a three-shot.
Gaming group: Our gaming group switches GMs in a round robin kind of style. As soon as one game ends, everyone pitches ideas and we vote on whose game gets played next. Each game usually lasts for a few weeks... anyways, I suggested a game of Promethean and everyone bit. Now I have two weeks to prepare.
Premise of adventure: The characters are going to be 'hired' by a wizard who is interested in studying them and offers to use whatever knowledge he acquires to assist their search for souls. I borrowed the initial opening of the first Promethean adventure, which I feel kind of lame for doing. In truth, he is going to use whatever knowledge he gathers to create his own promethean monster, which is actually going to kill him in a dramatic and gory fashion - but leading up to that violent finale the adventure has to be riddled with some set pieces for the players to work their way through. Preferably about 5 chapters.
I've got an idea that the characters will have to acquire (steal) a few artifacts either through stealth, diplomacy or force - but I haven't worked out the details of exactly what those items will be or who will have them. And frankly I'm at a loss for some ambiguously appropriate items. The PCs are being fooled into believing they will attain new souls, so the items need to seem like life-giving or restorative items - magical and otherwise.
I also want the finale to involve the characters deliberating using their own promethean energies to create a storm - how to justify it is easy (the storm will supposedly transmute them but will actually give the wizard's monster sentience) but how to create it is the main problem. I was going to just use some of the ideas for creating a firestorm, but one of my players has all of the Promethean books so I want to deviate from what is written in those sourcebooks.
So all I'm really lacking are finite details. Ideas? Suggestions? Comments?
A few other details: Some hints will be available for the players that the wizard is not working towards their best interests. His name will be given as Dr. Colin Clive - a reference to the Hollywood version of Doctor Frankenstein. Several books that will be 'readable' by the characters in his lab are "The Road to Xanadu" (an analysis of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's works), "Bioelectromagnetism" (a 1995 textbook), and "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell
Yeah, I know my hints are hard to discern. ;)