[stmercy2020]

Hm. Just noticed- no links page… Not necessarily a tragedy, but it was a nice feature on the occasions when I wanted to visit a site that I don’t check on regularly…

[stmercy2020]

I like it, chief, although I’d like an option to mark everything as read, too, for those rare occasions when I can’t get back to read stuff for a few days and want to start with a clean slate…

[stmercy2020]

I’m reasonably familiar with White Wolf- I’ll admit it’s been a while (last time I played, the Gangrel were still part of the Camarilla and Lodin was still the prince of Chicago…); the 7/5/3 system works okay as a base, although it works best if you include talents/skills/knowledges as well (13/9/5) and freebie points (21 for mortals, if I remember correctly). In other words, 7/5/3 arranged in the three areas of Physical/Social/Mental attributes and 13/9/5 arranged in the three areas of talents/skills/knowledge abilities. Then, as part of the customization process, you get 21 freebie points. Attributes cost 5 freebie points to raise by one, abilities cost 2 per point. As lefred pointed out, you start out with a base of 1 in each attribute; you start out with a base of zero in each ability.

The abilities (taken from White Wolf’s Dark Ages: Inquisition supplement purely for convenience- we’re dealing with mortals in a fantasy setting, after all, right?) would consist of:

Talents: Alertness, Athletics, Brawl (including martial arts), Dodge, Empathy, Expression, Intimidation, Leadership, Legerdemain(think sleight-of-hand), and Subterfuge

Skills: Animal Ken, Archery, Commerce, Crafts, Etiquette, Melee (using weapons as opposed to fists/feet), Performance, Ride, Stealth, Survival

Knowledges: Academics, Hearth Wisdom (common sense, basically), Investigation, Law, Linguistics, Medicine, Occult, Politics, Seneschal (business and property management), Theology

White Wolf also embraces a fairly robust system of merits and flaws, backgrounds and virtues that I would recommend using sparingly if at all (while some of the merits/flaws/backgrounds can be fun, they also add a lot of bookkeeping for the GM). With all that in mind, I would submit Danae (I’ve created 2 versions- one using strict 7/5/3 attribute assignment a la lefred and a second using the expanded rules I mentioned above, named Danae (simple) and Danae (eek!) for clarity 🙂 )

Danae (Simple)
Strength: 3 Dexterity: 4 Constitution: 3
Charisma: 2 Manipulation: 1 Composure: 3 (didn’t this used to be Appearance? When did it get switched?)
Intelligence: 2 Wits: 3 Resolve: 3

Danae (eek!)
Strength: 3 Dexterity: 5 Constitution: 4
Charisma: 3 Manipulation: 1 Composure: 3
Intelligence: 2 Wits: 3 Resolve: 3

Talents: Alertness: 3 Athletics: 3 Brawl: 3 Dodge: 2 Empathy: 1 Expression: 1 Legerdemain: 2
Skills: Animal Ken: 1 Archery: 2 Etiquette: 1 Melee: 4 Stealth: 2
Knowledges: Academics: 1 Hearth Wisdom: 1 Linguistics: 1 Medicine: 2

Description: Danae is tall and powerfully built, just short of six feet and close to one hundred ninety pounds in weight. She has a deep tan with freckles across her nose and dusting her cheeks, red hair, and brilliant blue eyes that vary in depth and intensity from light and serene to royal blue and hard as agate. She is quite strong, although there are stronger men and women, and her grace seems nearly inhuman- as if every step and every pause is part of an internal dance that she is moving to wholly unconsciously. While she is both good-natured and very, very still, she has no gift for misdirection; when she wants yo to do something, she tells you so, and she doesn’t have the time or the inclination to be particularly gentle with people who haven’t earned her respect. Although she isn’t brilliant, she’s also not a dummy, and her combination of decisiveness and stubbornness have served to see her through places where her intellect was insufficient.

History: Danae was a foundling taken in by a tribe of nomadic warriors; their culture was fairly insular, valuing strength and independence from the more ‘civilized’ settlements that they traveled through. Danae was almost certainly a child of one of those settlements, with her blue eyes and red hair- utterly unlike the nomads’ coarse, dark hair and eyes- and, initially they left her alone, having nothing to do with her. Despite their neglect, Danae attached herself to the tribe, doggedly following along with the pack animals and stealing what scraps she could until, finally, one of the herd-mothers, impressed with her determination, took her in.

From that day on, Danae grew quickly, eating much more than other children her age and, consequently, also growing much faster. By the time she was in her early teens, she looked like a young adult and was as strong as many of the older boys. At the same time, she found she had to be very careful around the smaller children; where other children often experienced a period of gawky clumsiness as they adapted to their bodies, Danae disciplined herself to be fully aware of herself and her environment at all times, becoming incredibly graceful even as she approached six feet in height.

Naturally, Danae’s size and elegance provoked some jealousy and competitiveness among the young hunters and huntresses around her; for the most part, Danae’s basically calm, good humor served to defuse situations before they could get ugly, but when she couldn’t, she also proved to be nearly preternaturally gifted in virtually all physical endeavors, but especially in combat. It quickly became apparent that Danae could best anyone her own age- often several people at once- and she was placed under the tutelage of a master, Jared Kaine, who was known as the most fearsome warrior and hunter in the tribe. Jared was gruff and had a low tolerance for foolishness, but still warmed to Danae, being largely responsible for shaping her into the warrior she is now.

A pilgrimage is a rite of passage among the nomads- when a child is ready to assume the rights and responsibilities of adulthood, she is turned out of the tribe for a period of not less than six months. The child must show resourcefulness in surviving in the hostile world outside the tribe while, at the same time, upholding the honor of the tribe. It is not a task undertaken lightly- some members of the tribe never go on their pilgrimage, preferring to live out their lives as unvested members of the society (never permitted to marry, raise children, or hold positions of authority)- but most, eventually, do. Not all return, and some return after a period of years or even decades, only to be told that they have not yet earned the right to full citizenship. Danae has just turned eighteen, having lived with the tribe for fifteen years; she is two years older than most young warriors are when they choose to set out on their pilgrimage, but, finally, she has been deemed ready by Jared and the council of ancestors that rule the tribe.

Edit: Just reread another earlier post and I wanted to clarify something: I don’t really have a preference for normal human, per se- just for starting out at normal human levels. I tend to think that having the characters gain into their powers (if they get them) during the course of the game makes for the most interesting role-play. I’m not married to the idea, though, and I’ve played umpteen billion superhero games, so I’m just fine playing superpowered characters from the word go, too.

[stmercy2020]

Well, in my case, I'm finishing up a semester (you think students work hard at the end of a semester? Try being a prof…)  As for why things may be a little slow…

Um.  It might help if you offered a bit of direction for character creation and campaign direction- here's what I mean: what IS an appropriate power level for characters given your campaign?  I agree that low-level can be a bit dull (fewer options), but over-powered is also pretty boring.  If there's no sort of challenge (I don't necessarily mean direct, physical challenge to the PCs, although- for a physically themed adventure- it would be both appropriate and necessary; but how about challenges to ethics/honor, threats to family and friends, et. al.)

I'd prefer to keep the sex content limited to private messaging- I frankly get a little weirded out doing R/X-rated stuff with a bunch of other guys…  Call me crazy, but my suspension of disbelief only goes so far.

As regards campaign: how much magic?  How much power (beyond just skill)- are characters actually superhuman, or merely pinnacles of human development?  Any recommendations for a particular genre/author to suggest theme (eg: Belgariad by David Eddings, Dragonlance by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Tolkienesque, Discworld by Terry Pratchett…)?

In any case, I have some character ideas to write up, but… first things first: I have to finish giving final grades to about three score students…

[stmercy2020]

I'm assuming DnD (AD&D, DnD 3.x, DnD 4.0) is acceptable; do you have any preferences at all in order to make your life easier?  Also, should we be creating (essentially) starting characters (no powers, superhuman skills, limited outrageousness for stats) or should we be aiming for more advanced bad-assery?

Because I can't help myself, I'll chime in with my personal preference that all characters (or, at least, all player-characters) start off as normal- maybe slightly above-average- peoples with little or no experience.  Puts us in a good position to learn about the world as we go along and nobody ends up being too uber when compared to other characters…

[stmercy2020]

How about something some what dark; such as Fantasy Flight's "Midnight." setting. I've always been a closet fan of the whole Revolution/Evil Empire(or Evil Deity, wahtever) bit.

I'm not familiar with Fantasy Flight… can I ask for a little clarification?  Are you talking about a revolution against a just/basically-good kingdom, or revolution against an Evil Empire/Deity?  That is, PCs as heroes or as villains?  My personal preference is for PCs as heroes, incidentally, despite the somewhat more limited range of choices that can present (a moral compass means having to consider more than just the practical outcomes of any given course of action…)

I'm happy to come up with all sorts of background stuff, but it might be useful if some general guidelines were tossed out…

[stmercy2020]

Just back from visiting my folks for the holidays and I see this… it's like Christmas came TWICE!

I'd be interested in doing some sort of more serious amazon RPG (not a pure fluff/how-many-times-can-I-bed-the-buff-chick game).  As an aside- PBeM has the advantage of not needing everyone logged on simultaneously, but it loses a bit of the flavor of tabletop RPGs- have you considered setting up a server via RPTools and, maybe, teamtalk or Skype as well?  I'm playing a biweekly Pathfinder game that way and it's working very nicely…

Oh, and if it wasn't clear- I'm interested, especially in a superhero or high fantasy game…  and I got lotsa ideas for characters, too…

[stmercy2020]

I'm definitely interested in a Martial Art that will teach to defend against multiple attackers from behind.  I had a bad experience walking home late at night, so I'd definitely want to learn something that let's me take on people trying to attack from behind.

One of the first things you learn in almost any martial arts (every one I've studied, anyways) and every self defense course is something called situational awareness; beyond that, though, the next step is making yourself a less inviting/tempting target.

When dealing with multiple attackers, the trick is to control their approach so that they can't, essentially, dogpile you.  Aiki styles teach a variety of ways of dealing with multiple attackers, some of which are rote and some of which are more freeform.  The karate I study also does 2-on-1 improvised self-defenses.  The biggest problems with being attacked from behind are (1) you have reduced mobility and (2) you don't really know what, exactly, you're facing.

Taekwondo is more a sport than self-defense.  I would rcommend traditional Karate if you like striking.

Tae Kwon Do is, generally, taught as a sport form in the US and even, to an extent, in Korea, but it is, in fact, a complete martial art.  I personally prefer karate (the style I got my first black belt in), but I respect the skill and discipline of TKD practitioners as well.

Muay Thai or if you can find a trainer Muay Boran (hardly tought anyware, though some claim they do) are probably the most effective fighting styles. Very effective in that one doesn't need much raw strength to knock out an opponent with your elbow or knee and it's offensive nature means you do not wait for an attack to counter.

Krav Maga is good for training real life situations and teaches some easy and extremely effective techniques to really hurt someone. I wouldn't call it a martial art in the strict sense of the word, but if you only want to defend yourself and not show off to anyone, it's probably the way to go.

I will confess to not being as knowledgeable about Muay Boran or Krav Maga- I've worked with a guy who studied Krav Maga once or twice; I couldn't say how skilled he was, but most of the principles he used and worked with seemed sound.  I question the utility of Muay Thai in self defense situations- in competitions, it has not proven to be as effective as traditional karate unless very stringent rules were applied.

It really does depend on your goals and then finding the right instructor. Attitude is very important in your self-defense goals. I recommend you learn the local laws before you consider any lethal action. Even a good hit could be enough to scare away an attacker but really need to consider your goals first. 

Holiday makes a good point (something I was discussing with my students today regarding knife and gun laws, actually)- if you are studying a martial arts for self defense, you need to be aware of your local and state laws regarding the use of force.  Every state permits the use of lethal force to protect yourself if a reasonable man, placed in a similar situation, would have cause to fear for his life.  Once you get beyond protecting yourself, though, and if you have rendered an opponent harmless by other means, then there's a lot more grey area.

[stmercy2020]

It depends on the goals of your training.  As a clarification- Jujitsu is a good self defense martial arts; judo is a simplified form taught primarily for sport.  It still teaches a lot of good techniques and information, and if the amount of time it takes to become proficient is a concern, it is also faster than jujitsu to learn, but jujitsu is more well-rounded.

I would also recommend looking at how you are already comfortable fighting; if grappling isn't your thing, consider a martial arts like karate or tae kwon do.  If you are concerned about your attacker being considerably stronger (and most martial arts will address that issue in several ways) look into aikijujitsu or aikido (similar to jujitsu, aikido is not as complete a style as aikijujitsu.)

Ultimately, I would strongly recommend observing a class or two at any dojo/dojang that you are thinking about training in- see what they do, ask them for some information about their style, and determine if you think it'd be a good fit.  Any school that won't let you observe a class is not a school you want to attend.

I currently hold black belts in three distinct martial arts; feel free to PM me if you have any further questions (there's a bunch of people around here with martial training- ask around and I'd bet others would be happy to help out, too.)  You might also consider checking out Martial Arts Planet- I don't remember if it's dot-com or dot-net- as there are a whole bunch of people there that are extremely knowledgeable.

[stmercy2020]

No, Captain, you aren't the only one; my personal criteria for attractiveness tend to include the face as well as the body; I can be a bit of a judgmental bastard when it comes to assessing beauty…

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