group composition

[TheMouse]

This is sort of the offspring of the "what would  you make" and "what's your first story" threads. The basic idea is this: What do you think your group will make for its first round of characters? Do you think they'll all end up with the same character type? For the GMs out there, do you plan to try to convince your group to play a certain thing, and if so, what?

My game group is really dynamic, so I'm not sure who's going to be involved. As such, I can't really answer my first couple of questions.  For the last, I'm going to try to convince them to play humans with whatever degree of magical potential. Whether that be wizards, focussed practitioners, or emissaries of power, I'm not too picky.

So, how about you?

[prophet224]

Hmmm... let's see.  My group is pretty tight, and we've been playing together for years.  I think I can give a good accounting.

- One will be a changeling, I can say that for sure.
- Another will likely be an PI of some sort, probably without powers.
- One will fight and fight to be the upper limit of whatever she thinks is "cool" at the moment with no downside and as many powers as she can possibly squeeze in. (a la http://www.angelfire.com/rpg/michelle/, and yes it's worth going to look.  Funny!)  She will be disappointed; I'll make sure of it.
- Another will probably also be a mundane PI/Agent... possibly government agent
- One will be some form of Warrior of God, possibly who is an elementary or Sunday school teacher... lots of good options when there are kids around.  BWahahahaha...

Of course, any of them may spontaneously decide to be a mage instead, or throw in a minor talent or something, but I'm pretty sure the above is a close approximation to what we'll get.

[Diebdazar]

so far in the home version of sotc that I've compiled and am running online on a forum (I'm also using dark inheritance's titan legacies for plot reasons):

- A white court vampiric sorceress
- A strongly prescient wizardress (unknowingly of the Hidden Key legacy)
- A Valkyrie
- A Void Phoenix legacy with the shadow of a denarian in his head
- (maybe) A red court infected who "can make big boom booms with lightning"
- (maybe) An ectomancer who is a former surgeon
- (maybe) A true believer/Warrior of God type
- (maybe) "Something mundane, like a cop, hacker, PI, or the like"

yes I may or may not end up with a big group, and the majority of players are female.

[DDR]

My group has started to play around with the Dresden universe using the Spirit of the Century Rules.  So no heavy magic.   The game kind of centers around the down town homeless shelter at this point.

We have:

An ugly semi-brick with unusual powers (the usual for this player)  He is a changeling that looks like the kid from the movie Mask.  16 years old and homeless, he does what he can to help his friends.

A screwed up high class hooker with powers that frighten her; she can’t control and does not want.  (The usual for this player)  A high class hooker has a near death experience and since then she sees dead people who plead for her help.  Sometimes she sees how people are going to die.

A social outsider who heals people (the usual for this player)   A Native American who was raised in the white world until his parents died and then given to his medicine man grandfather who taught him of the magical world.  Not at home on the reservation because he likes the conveniences of the white world.  Not at home in the white world because he knows too much of the old magical ways.  He has unwanted visions that lead him to action.

A gumshoe investigator that sometimes has headaches that lead to visions.  (not the usual for this player)


We are waiting for the magic rules so that these characters can grow some into full powered characters.

[TheMouse]

Out of curiosity, what are the point totals you used for char-gen? That is, how many skill points, what distribution for them, how many Stunts, how much refresh, and do Stunts reduce refresh?

[lokisdottir]

*chants an incantation of threadcromancy*

I plan to have a big character pool instead of staying with one group of characters. For instance everyone makes a wizard, White Court vampire, a mortal cop, a werewolf, a minor talent and so on, then they show up in different combinations as our mood or the story takes us. This way the players get to try out various character types and each group will have some kind of balance and reason for that particular grouping.

Plus, having different characters for different adventures will make for a broader, maybe even epic, story. Different sessions could flesh out different sides of a conflict or plot, the play could flash to a cut scene (meanwhile, in Baltimore...) with the players actually forming the cut scene, and so on. Another benefit is that it's fairly easy to bring on guest players, since I often have an irregular player or two who is unable play regularly but likes to join in the fun when s/he has time. I'm also thinking about having off-screen growth in the form of player-written short stories, and will be shutting up now because I am way too excited at the prospect of my future campaign using a game that's not out yet.

[iago]

*chants an incantation of threadcromancy*

I plan to have a big character pool instead of staying with one group of characters. For instance everyone makes a wizard, White Court vampire, a mortal cop, a werewolf, a minor talent and so on, then they show up in different combinations as our mood or the story takes us. This way the players get to try out various character types and each group will have some kind of balance and reason for that particular grouping.

I love this idea.

[TheMouse]

That actually sounds pretty cool. It's like Ars Magica style troupes, but taken up a notch.

[lokisdottir]

You're right, it's inspired directly by Ars Magica. I've experimented with various forms of troupe play the past few campaigns, and this form is both closest to its original roots and the largest in scale.

And Fred likes my idea? I just may have to go die of fannish cardiac arrest...

[iago]

You're right, it's inspired directly by Ars Magica. I've experimented with various forms of troupe play the past few campaigns, and this form is both closest to its original roots and the largest in scale.

And Fred likes my idea? I just may have to go die of fannish cardiac arrest...

It also vibes with some of what we were trying to do with Spirit of the Century. That's a good vector to take, especially if you're approaching your game with the notion that the *setting* is the real star here.

[skakid]

. . . if you're approaching your game with the notion that the *setting* is the real star here. . .

With a bestselling novel series as your setting I'd be afraid to try to make anything else the star. 

[iago]

With a bestselling novel series as your setting I'd be afraid to try to make anything else the star. 

Oh, I wouldn't. We put some real time in the game into making it clear that folks are supposed to take over the setting and make it their own. If you have to run around dodging the events that Harry's undergoing at the same time, it can feel like a straitjacket.

[Bosh]

Hmmmm, knowing my group:
-An insane wizard.
-A drunken shaman named Gary.
-Something well-meaning but ineffectual.
-Something serious who tries, with varying success, to keep the rest of the group pointed at something vaguely resembling the correct direction.

[iago]

I was looking over an internal playtest report today. This was the group's composition:

- A were-fox trickster
- A former lucha champion
- Knight of Thorns
- Hard-Boiled Vampire Detective
- White Council Summer Liaison
- White Council Warden to Seattle
- A Rhyming Troll of Summer (possibly a changeling, possibly a faerie, hard to say from the sheet right now)

I thought that looked pretty hot.

[blackheart]

I'm curious Fred. Is Warden status going to be an official title, skill, or stunt, or just taken as an Aspect?