Awake(working title) - The Sign-up Thread

[Overcast]

In the end it seemed Don't Rest Your Head got the most positive response from the two ideas presented. So here we get our start.

Note: There will be a small delay between the sign up closing and the start of the RP due to the fact that the plot line typically should be built around the characters and their problems rather than just set to one big problem(which may be there anyway) and forcing the characters along it.

Glossary of Terms

Protagonist: The most important character in a Conflict and the primary dice roller, all other players helping will only chip in their Discipline Dice.
Conflict: A situation that requires dice be rolled to resolve the situation.
Awake: This is you. You've stayed up for God knows how long and have somehow broken the regular cycle of sleeping and waking. With this break from common human health you have developed a strange power and access to a strange land known as The Mad City. You are still human...to a degree. Until you lose your mind one couldn't really notice anything wrong at all. Though you are different. Very different. And as The Mad City begins to haunt you eventually you may end up losing it all.
The Mad City: The new world that the Awake are given access to. A dangerous place between here and somewhere else where dreams and memories can be bought and sold, stories printed can immediately come true, where no door seems to ever lead the same way twice, and for some reason a place you will frequent often.
Asleep: Normal people. They inhabit The City Slumbering. They are all the people you have to deal with when you aren't dealing with terrible clockwork officers trying to arrest you for not walking in step with the city. They don't know about The Mad City. They don't know anything about living as one of the Awake. But sometimes there are things you just can't solve by staying in that mad world, and since you are still human these people will still bother you, let it be taxes, ex girlfriends, or really anything. Regular people still exist.
The City Slumbering: The real world as we see it. No matter how often you spend in The Mad City all the problems of reality will remain, and more often then not you will have to find some time to deal with them. It is a burden all must face, but your detachment may make it one worse.
The 13th Hour: In The Mad City time goes just one hour past midnight, and if you are in The Mad City when that hour strikes expect to be stuck for a while. During The 13th Hour all exits from The Mad City to The City Slumbering are sealed until it is over, making it a great time for Nightmares to go hunting, in fact some of them even get stronger during this time. If you happen to be outside The Mad City when this occurs then you will notice nothing at all, so that when you re-enter it will be 1 am, just as it should be.
Locals: The relatively neutral members of The Mad City these folks are typically those who almost became Awake but never pulled it off, the Awake who resigned themselves to this position, or Awake who signed up for this service with a Nightmare. They are a bit like average workers in The City Slumbering, only they never stop doing their job. The end result leaves them shallow of personality, anything that doesn't have to do with their work worn away till they are very two dimensional. They are useful but can be dangerous, as said before some are in service to powerful Nightmares and some may even be Nightmares in disguise, waiting for a chance to spring.
Nightmare: Natural enemy of the Awake, these are creatures of The Mad City who were once Awake but lost themselves in the city. Now they follow whatever agenda their madness decides is most important which more often than not may need the creation of more Nightmares. Which can only happen one way...
Discipline Dice: All characters start with three, but if they earn a bit of Permanent Madness due to a Snap they will lose a discipline dice and have it replaced by Madness. Lose all three and the character becomes an Nightmare. They are the safest dice to roll for when they Dominate a scene it stays in relative control and will allow you to earn back Responses or remove a dice of Exhaustion.
Exhaustion Dice: You start with none but can add one every roll and may gain one if you lose a roll or if Exhaustion Dominates, which causes the Conflict to seriously tire your character out inching him closer to. As they increase your Exhaustion Talent becomes more powerful. You can only have up to six, accidentally pass six and you will Crash.
Madness Dice: You have the ability to use six of these at once, but can use as many as you find necessary. The more of them you use the better your Madness Talent becomes, but if it Dominates you lose control of the situation and are forced to check off a Response. Run out of Responses and you Snap.
Pain Dice: The GM dice, this represents the difficulty of the current Conflict. If it Dominates then something bad happens, even if the Protagonist wins he will find it bittersweet. This also grants the GM a Coin of Despair.
Degree: Or degree of success, it is the amount of successes you had on your roll. A dice earns a degree by rolling 1,2,or 3. If the player earns more successes than the GM he wins the conflict. If the player loses he will either lose a Response(of the GM's choice) or gain a die of Exhaustion on top of failing the conflict.
Domination: Domination is decided by which die type had the die with the highest number, if they tie they go to the next highest number die, if by some miracle all the dice rolled ended up the same number or there are multiple ties all the way down to the lowest number then Discipline beats Madness; Madness beats Exhaustion; Exhaustion beats Pain. No matter what the result of the conflict is the dominance will occur, allowing certain situations to be awesome(success and Discipline), neutral(failure and Discipline), bad (failure and Exhaustion or Madness) terrible(failure and Pain) or bittersweet(success and Pain).
Responses: Activated when Madness dominates and a character loses control of a situation and begins to panic. Essentially they will stop acting rationally and respond in either a fight or flight manner. Each character will have three responses, when all three are used up and Madness Dominates again a character will Snap.
Snapping: When a character runs out of Responses they will Snap, gaining permanent madness in the form of one of their Discipline die becoming a madness die. Also their personal character will now be slightly colored by their madness talent. Also their madness talent may slip a little bit into every day situations.
Crashing: When a character goes above 6 Exhaustion die they will fall asleep. Their Exhaustion die will be reset, their Responses will be reset, and they will sleep at LEAST one day, but could be out a while. While asleep they will become a magnet for Nightmares and will be unable to defend themselves thus relying on their team mates to keep their catatonic form safe. When they wake they will have only one discipline die and no access to their Talents until they stay up as long as they were asleep.
Coin of Despair: One of these little creeps is given to the GM when Pain Dominates a scene. This allows the GM to "cast a shadow" over any roll he desires. What this means is he can either remove a rolled six from play, or add one to an active dice type(save for Pain). This cannot cause Pain to Dominate. Once spent the coin will change to a Coin of Hope.
Coin of Hope: Gained when a Coin of Despair is used this allows a character to get a little break when he is not actively involved in a situation too stressful to take one. After being spent the characters will be able to restore a Response or remove a die of Exhaustion. It can also be used to remove Permanent Madness, the cost being 5 - their remaining Discipline die. Finally one coin can be spent to add a degree of success to any roll.
Exhaustion Talent: An Exhaustion Talent is something any human can do but an Awake can now do VERY well. They can be just about any act humanly possible from breaking things to sex to shooting things to talking. It can be applied in two ways Minor and Major. Minor applications allow the player to automatically get at least a degree of success equal to their current amount of Exhaustion die. Major applications increase the degree of success by their current amount of Exhaustion die but require that the character take another die of Exhaustion.
Madness Talent:A Madness Talent is an Awake's super ability. Something that no person should be able to do rationally. This can be ANYTHING, from cutting things with your mind, summoning ninjas, being able to hail a cab no matter where you are, turning into a giant lobster, the possibilities are literally only limited by your own imagination. It requires at least one Madness die to work, but the addition of more makes it more potent, which may be necessary to even use it to a minimum efficiency. In the end the player will say what they want to do with their talent and the GM will say how much that is going to cost to do and what sort of Pain they will be facing to try to pull it off.


Skeleton
Biography
Name: Pretty self explanatory.
Occupation: Are you a failed rock musician, a cut throat lawyer, a reckless thug, we all were something before we woke up...and to a degree we still are these things.
Past: Nobody stays up as long as you have without something seriously messing with you. Here we get to ask what it is and what your life was before you changed.
Appearance: What you look like, common items you keep with you, and how people in the normal world might interpret that as.
Personality: Beyond your appearance what are you really like?
Goals: Often tied in with your inspiration for waking up, your goals are what you personally know must be done to fix yourself. Even if you would never admit it out loud.

Responses
Fight: React recklessly, offensively. Lash out, physically, mentally, emotionally. Lose track of your friend and foe lines. Fight, without proper thought of what kind of shit it is getting you into.
Flight: React defensively. Panic, lock the doors, run away, hide behind stupid phrases like "I know you are but what am I?" Faint. The key is to try to get away to somewhere safe. Even if it is just your own mind.

Talents
Exhaustion Talent: One human thing that you are exceptional at. Which you will become strangely even better than before, particularly as your exhaustion grows.
Madness Talent: This is your ability. It can be anything from being followed by a random clan of ninja or basic teleportation. There are no notable limits other than your imagination.

[phil_]

Hey, Overcast, what exactly causes a dice-type to dominate a scene? Number of successes? Total value? Should I just acquire a copy of the book?

[Overcast]

Ahh I knew I forgot something, but I did include it in my last explaination of the dice in the interest thread.

Domination is decided by which die type had the die with the highest number, if they tie they go to the next highest number die, if by some miracle all the dice rolled ended up the same number or there are multiple ties all the way down to the lowest number then Discipline beats Madness; Madness beats Exhaustion; Exhaustion beats Pain.

Feel free to ask more questions if necessary.

[phil_]

Feel free to ask more questions if necessary.How hard are you going to stomp on the person whose Madness Talent is some version of Unblockable Spear/Unbreakable Shield/Speedforce?

[Overcast]

It will be relative. I may force them to take a sliding scale, or force them to use 6 madness dice whenever they use it so they constantly risk their character just to have it(and even then the spear can miss or the shield will need to be maintained for every strike against it). Even worse I could take a character with the speed force and have them deal with a primarily psychological problem that their quickness is absolutely useless against.

[Dauntasa]

Abilities are sort of supposed to be on a sliding scale for this. When you use an ability, the more successes you get, the more powerful the effect. So if you have shield as your ability, and get one or two successes, then you get a decent shield that will block a few things. If you roll a whole bunch of successes, then you get your totally impenetrable shield. And then probably go insane.

EDIT: Hey, Overcast, do you have the supplement, Don't Lose Your Mind?

[Overcast]

Yes I do, hence why most of my examples are stolen rather than made. Though I should probably put on that little add on there that you can use some of your madness abilities as metaphors, thus making them more versatile. Like they did with weight control, which became more than just gravity but also influence.

[phil_]

Right, so, I got the books, I read them last night, then read them again on the six hour trip home. I think I'm ready to introduce a character that totally doesn't appear to fit the setting and you'll just have to trust me.

Biography
Name: Wesley Becker
Occupation: Former auto-mechanic
Past: Nothing really bad ever happened to Wesley as a kid; he won't be bringing up any horrible childhood trauma. He was just a quiet, self-isolated kid who stayed out of trouble. He went through school with decent grades, graduated a little above the median of his high school class, and went to college to study electrical engineering, since he thought it would let him invent things. It was a bad choice on his part, and the larger workload, along with the isolation of moving away from home with no idea how to make friends, lead him to drop out from stress after a few semesters. He returned home and got a job in a garage through a friend of his father. He worked there for several years and into his thirties, renting an apartment in the city. However, management changed, and, for whatever reason, Wesley was fired a few months ago. His unemployment checks are about to stop coming, and his savings... well, he made some poor investments. With no current job prospects, things look bad.
Appearance: Wesley has short, dark hair and keeps his face smooth. His face is a little doughy, giving him a childish, unreliable appearance. He used to wear nothing but his work uniforms (a blue, button-up shirt with coarse material and black slacks), and continues to do so, since he rarely leaves his house and it's what he has in his closet. He tends to keep a small screwdriver and a pen in his shirt pocket, and a small keychain of a popular harvest god in his pocket.
Personality: Wesley is horribly shy. He's the type that will suffer an awkward silence rather than try to break it. This is largely due to an unwarranted self-loathing that he keeps bottled inside. Nothing he ever says could be interesting, no one would ever like him, etc. Of course, it's bottled up because no one would care, obviously. Until recently, every night was an endurance test; how long could he keep flinging hate at himself before sleep caught up with him? Since he lost his job, sleep hasn't caught up with him again. However, Wesley finds some solace: Japanese cartoons. He's a disgusting Japanophile, and his apartment is filled with figurines, model kits, posters, DVDs he never watches because he just bought them to support the industry; the whole nine-yards. He even has a kotatsu and sleeps on a futon. Only one corner of his apartment doesn't look like Comiket threw up on it, and that's his workbench. Taking apart watches, putting them back together, building small motors and useless gizmos; it's very engaging and takes his mind off of his endless fount of self-hate for a while.

As for why he hates himself, the best answer is because he hates people who hate themselves.
Goals: Wesley wants, above all things, to not hate himself. He wants to be a normal person, instead of an unemployed thirty-somthing who's never even hugged a girl besides his mom or made a single friend. But, to not hate himself, he feels like he needs to do something so amazing that he can forgive himself for the sin of wasting his life hating himself. It's a rather difficult circle to break.

Responses
One Fight Two Flight

Talents
Exhaustion Talent: Tinkering. Through his work as a mechanic, as well as his training as an electrical engineer, building RC planes and such, and general interest in mechanical things (a guy can have two hobbies), Wesley was familiar with a variety of mechanisms and gizmos. After becoming Awake, it's like he has schematics of almost anything he's ever built in his head. When he's really tired, sometimes the schematics of things he's never seen before also bubble up. He can fix just about anything with the proper tools and enough effort, and almost as often even without the proper tools.
Madness Talent: Sakura: It started shortly after he stopped sleeping. He would lay down, and in the middle of a soulful internal monologue about what a horrible person he was and how he should just kill himself in the morning, he'd almost hear something. Eventually, it was like someone was calling his name. Then, "I love you, Wesley."

Wesley's isolation from the world and obsession with 2D has become real in the form of an illusory "waifu" by the name of Sakura (His madness wasn't very creative in that department). She looks straight out of an anime, giant bug-eyes, pink hair, and all, which is pretty gross to most people. She's beautiful to Wesley, though. Did I mention she's also a robot? A robot made of madness? With MADNESS BEAMs and INSANITY DRILLs? She's not always there, but she's there when he thinks about it, and he "knows" that she's a figment of his imagination ("Figment of his imagination" as in "symptom of madness"). Wesley also knows that he's never going to become the man he wants to be with it around, but, when monsters are chasing you and an imaginary woman is fighting to protect you, it's hard not to slip just a bit into thinking, "Maybe being crazy isn't so bad."

In "What can this do?" terms, Wesley can summon a killer robot to crush his enemies with beams, drills, swords, flame throwers, horrifying bioweapons; all that jazz. The more he gives into madness, the stronger her love grows and the stronger her weapons and abilities become.

---

So, yeah, it's a little cutesy right now. It'll be all guts and blood and brains quickly enough, however. Like I said, trust me.

Also, should we be giving you a "What Just Happened to You?" It sorta fits into Past here, but I thought I'd check.

[Overcast]

Yeah basically every part of the skeleton is a part of the original character sheet so I wanted the count for Fight or Flight.

Meanwhile, I was debating with myself if I should have everyone hold onto the "What just happened to you?" until we get in game, for a flash back or first post depending on what you want to do. Since I'm unsure whether or not people will be able to put it down as dramatically here on the character sheet.

After all it is the first huge thing your character does as an Awake. So if I have any second opinions I'd like to hear it.

The character looks good though, it may seem cutesy right now but I can definitely see some dark potential as the madness takes over. If it takes over. Approved.

[phil_]

Hey, Overcast, are our dudes all from the same city in the real world, or are we from different places in The City Slumbering?

[Overcast]

I was hoping they were all from the same city, it makes it so if they have to escape I don't have to force everyone to try and find a different door plan and if they need to try to help each other to solve some of the less adventurous but ultimately still real issues of The City Slumbering it pays to live in the same place.

Added The 13th Hour, The City Slumbering, and Locals to the glossary.

[Overcast]

Alright, seems like this isn't going to be going anywhere this time. Might give it another try in a couple weeks, for now though this one seems better off going to the trash bin.

Requesting deletion.

[phil_]

I think we might get some more players if the opening post wasn't so daunting. Folks get discouraged, thinking they need to learn this big system, even when the only choices for this RP that have any mechanical impact are the choice of Exhaustion Powers and Madness Power. Maybe next time just explain the setting really quick and ask people to choose something mundane they're really good at and then a super power. Reel'em in like that, then dump the dice on'em.

But, yeah, it looks like this go's a bust.

[Overcast]

I found myself getting incredibly caught up into trying to simplify the system down in the opening post since it was pretty much the only thing asked about in the interest thread. I guess I scared people off trying to preemptively strike at all their questions.

[krogothwolf]

I was interested but got confused by the whole thing so was kind of waiting for more people to sign up to get a better understanding of everything.

[Dauntasa]

I was interested, but I never post the first character.

[phil_]

I was interested, but I never post the first character.The first character's been posted for a week. Go ahead and make a dude.

Heck, if you guys want to see more sign-ups, I could write out another guy who fits the setting more cleanly. Would that help anyone?

[Overcast]

I could even write out a person or two if necessary. I am open for questions if you are confused about anything. Ultimately I just need to know more people are coming, so put down a placeholder and work on the skeleton because every character that is involved will modify the way the plot goes down.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Name: Edmund Rawls

Occupation: Junior year High-school student. .

Past: Edmund's life is pretty empty. His mother had passed away shortly after he was born, and he lives with only his father. He has no siblings or friends to speak of. His dad is typically off at work, and commonly goes off on business trips for quite a while. As far as school goes, Edmund is pretty average academically, and really doesn't stick out much at all. He isn't interested in anything, and nothing seems interested in him.

Its only been getting worse to. He realizes he is getting closer to a point in life where he will have to put some effort into things to make it in the world. But he keeps asking himself: why? What does it matter? These questions about life have been bothering him more than things typically do. He wonders about the life he has led and may lead. And the more he wonders, the more he is plagued by these questions, because he is at a loss of for any answers. Edmund's lack of social skills have made it difficult to seek help to. He is convinced that he is on his own, and that self imposed isolation makes things only worse. His lack of motivation and nihilism are leading him on a path of self-destruction. It has gotten to the point of depression and insomnia. That's right, he's an emo.

Appearance: Edmund has blue eyes and light blond hair that stretches to the bottom of his neck. He is 5'11 and is of an average weight and frame, and has a light skin tone. He wears gray pants and a brown polo shirt.

Personality: Edmund mostly seems silent and indifferent, but he is really rather depressing and nihilistic. He lacks motivation, and has pretty bad social skills. He also seems to not be trying to hard to gain social skills or make acquaintances. He's just a despressing and boring guy.

Goals: To find some meaning to his life, and an actual reason to try hard at things. He sees it all as pointless and meaningless, and he truly wants a reason to think otherwise.

Responses
Fight: 1
Flight: 2

Talents

Exhaustion Talent: Stealth. Through no real effort, like usual, Edmund has gone through his life unnoticed. While that was really because he never tried, he has found that he can hide himself pretty well when he actually does try. People who do know him have said that he could go unnoticed in a white room with only one other person in it. That may be an exaggeration, but he can nevertheless remain unseen and unheard very well.

Madness Talent: Removal. Edmund has always thought about the significance of existence, and what it means to others, and the world. With his madness talent Removal, Edmund can go through with seeing this firsthand. Through almost complete silence, a mob of white, crow-like birds descend upon his target. These birds silently follow through with whatever he commands, and can attempt to 'remove' the target from existence by tearing them apart and leave nothing behind. Just their presence alone can instill a sense of eeriness and emptiness.
__________________

[phil_]

Er, actually, I have a guy in mind who I might rather play than Wesley. Wesley... I just kinda want him to die a horrible death. While his descent into madness and subsequent Nightmare-hood would be a cool story, "guy I haven't posted" would probably be more fun to play with, both for the other players and myself. If I write him up, could I switch? Or maybe play both?

[Overcast]

Complaints are coming. You can only have one exhaustion talent. Pick one thing he is good at that will be made beyond good by his change to one of the Awake.

God Speed is a type of power that was complained about earlier. In order to use it the way you want to expect to use all six madness dice so your mind can comprehend the temporal display you are forcing yourself to convey. I'll also allow the 1-2 option of slowing the situation, but forcing himself to be slowed as well so he can better gauge the situation. Then the 3-4 option to speed yourself up, but not quite control your personal perception of time making it like trying to operate when you set the frame rate too high.

This is just a rough outline of what I may eventually do with the power after thinking for thirty seconds. Understand I may do more to it just to make it reasonable. I myself would just scrap it and think of something cooler and more connected to the chaotic nature of madness.

On your story it should be understood that The Mad City and The City Slumbering are separated by big walls of perception. This is a totally different dimension, whose doors are only visible by super powered insomniacs, and simply do not pass into the eyes of normal people. The common world is The City Slumbering, for that is where everyone who isn't Awake still make all of their lives. You aren't likely to stumble in there in an ambulance.

Finally(and this is my fault for not putting it in the glossary) but your character isn't Awake. The Awake are not born of regular physical exhaustion, they are born of absolute insomnia. They transcend sleep and then turn into what they are now. You wouldn't get there by running yourself ragged, and you definitely wouldn't get there by passing out.

And to Phil, yes you can play both. And if you want me to wreck Wesley with an incredibly unfair storyline so we can demoralize the rest of the characters that would be fun for me.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Hmmm... I'll just leave a few things blank for now then, and I suppose fix them up when I get a chance. I'm also willing to accept any suggestions as to how Clyde could go about being an awake, or a better madness talent I suppose. Nonetheless, Ill keep thinking it over tonight.

[Arcanum]

Ok this has me interested, but I warn you that I have exams coming up this month so I dunno exactly how active I'm gonna be. Also I dunno when I might have a character up. Also my ability to keep up with RPs has been deteriorating recently so if this moves at a fast pace I might fall behind and/or drop out, if I even find the time to sign up in the first place.

So put me down as a "maybe" :).

[phil_]

Ok, I've been drinking, so I'll only put up a quick and dirty version of another guy, but I do like his powers, so I'll edit this to a useful state throughout my stressful, stressful weekend (there's a Tyler Perry movie coming out; I'm-a be busy). Done.

Name: Joe Robby Blake, goes by Rob
Occupation: First-year college student
Past: Rob is an overachiever. He got straight As, did charity work, and was second string quarter-back on his High School's football team. All in all, he's pretty proud of himself. However, taking 18 credits on his first semester at university was probably biting off more than he could chew. Sleep time has become study time. While he's a bit frazzled these days because of his lack of sleep, he's still doing ok. That is, until he went home today to find someone else living in his apartment, all his stuff mising, and all memories of his living there seemingly erased from his neighbors' brains. So, right now, his main concern is figuring out what that's all about.
Appearance: Short, straight, black hair. Square glasses. A little pale. Typically wears solid polo shirts and loose jeans.
Personality: Rob is a hard worker. He got his grades by diligent studying, not by being particularly smart. He's fairly outgoing but not the type who tries to be the center of attention. God, this kid sounds like a Gary Stu.
Goals: Wants to get out of school with a 4.0. Wants to figure out why he's been forgotten and lost his apartment.

Responses
Fight: 2
Flight: 1

Talents
Exhaustion Talent: Studying. He can glean an absurd amount of info from anything if he's tired. A note tells him how the author was feeling. A building tells him how many kids the architect had. A face tells him the wearer's deepest secrets.
Madness Talent: Swap. Can switch the positions of two things. Makes parallel parking a cinch. Makes getting info from someone a matter of what knowledge he's willing to trade for it. Limited by distance to and familiarity with the swapped objects.

I'll expand upon this later, especially the bit about no one remembering him. Oh, and his deep, dark secret that the book suggests is that he enjoys Lady Gaga unironically. I'm not a big fan of everyone having a deep, dark secret.

[Overcast]

Indeed, I figure the secret is typically just there to force some added depth into a character's background so that my job gets easier. As long as they have a reason for their insomnia or an even more serious problem I am fine.

[krogothwolf]

Name: Sam McLeary
Occupation: Security Guard
Past: Was going to law school hoping to become a prosecuting lawyer till a car crash changed everything. A drunk driver took the lives of his mother and father and left him in a coma for 3 months. Unable to continue school and massive debts piling up. sam was firced to work 2 jobs to pay it all off.
Appearance: Undecided.
Personality: Downtrodden, but with a strong sense of justice.
Goal: Pay off his massive debt and get back into law school.

Responses:
Fight: 2
Flight: 1

Exhaustion Talent: Charmer. Sam is a smooth talker and has a knack for nearly talking himself out of any situation or convincing others to help me.
Madness Talent: HERO!, this one works like this.
For 1-2 dice you get to have a lower hero. Think Daredevil, Spirderman, ect. The folks who aren't the kind who end up major players in crossovers, but can carry their own storyline very well. (Red)
3-4 gets you medium level superhero abilities. Think healing factors type heroes and abilities that are far more than just a little superhuman like strength and agility. (Green)
5-6 gets you world changers. You have the absolute of superhuman capabilities, grand healing factors, insane power.(Blue)
Colour of wrist guards indicate which Hero came about.

[Overcast]

Hmm, I'm willing to mess with this a bit.

Lets give him the ability, HERO!, this one works like this. For 1-2 dice you get to have a lower hero. Think Daredevil, Spirderman, ect. The folks who aren't the kind who end up major players in crossovers, but can carry their own storyline very well. 3-4 gets you medium level superhero abilities. Think healing factors type heroes and abilities that are far more than just a little superhuman like strength and agility. 5-6 gets you world changers. You have the absolute of superhuman capabilities, grand healing factors, insane power.

That sound nice to you?

[krogothwolf]

Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

[phil_]

Lets give him the ability, HERO!, this one works like this. For 1-2 dice you get to have a lower hero. Think Daredevil, Spirderman, ect. The folks who aren't the kind who end up major players in crossovers, but can carry their own storyline very well. 3-4 gets you medium level superhero abilities. Think healing factors type heroes and abilities that are far more than just a little superhuman like strength and agility. 5-6 gets you world changers. You have the absolute of superhuman capabilities, grand healing factors, insane power.Jut thought I'd point out that this is pretty much how I see Sakura working, too.

[lazy man]

I've become interested in this little thing here, and may try to make a character soon. Classes have left me a busy (and tired) lazy guy. But maybe by tomorrow I'll have something? Weekends and all.

Also, just a question (and if it's been asked, I apologize for being repetitive): Are dice rolls handled by the GM, or the person making the roll? Just wondering, because die are pretty much nonexistent at college, and I don't really know any reliable net dice rollers. And yes it's a stupid question, but it deserves being asked!

[Overcast]

No worries I have actually thought of that. After experimenting with many net dice rollers I came to the same result as you, and so out of frustration I went online and got myself a dice cup and enough dice that I could play as GM and roll for characters as well.

I'll handle all dice rolls, but let you know when they happen just so everything is clear for spinning out of control.

[Bard The 5th LW]

I just went through and completely rewrote my character sheet. I like Clyde as a character, but I just guess I don't see him working out in this sort of RP. I still don't entirely understand how this works out, and the new madness talent was a bit forced due to some writer's block. If you have any suggestions, throw them in. And keep in mind, when I was writing Edmund, I basically wondered to myself, 'What characteristics do I dislike most in a person?' It turns out to be depression and nihilism.

[Overcast]

I am willing to accept this character, but I hope that you have the wherewithal to actually play him. There is nothing worse than trying to play something that makes you sick just to be around.

Other than that I'm figuring he is going to need his team to survive in The Mad City because his willpower and his personality are weak and he seems like he'll be easily swayed down the way most nightmares want him to go. This isn't a bad thing, at least not for me since I am so keen on putting my characters through the ringer.

If you want some suggestions on a Madness Talent I can think up one fitting to your character, but they probably will be only slightly like the one you have now. So unless you are particularly unhappy with what you are using I figure I should keep my personal creativity for the plot when I close signups (not quite yet I should note so keep jumping in if you'd like).

Also I want people to get that just about any character can make it here, they just need a reason to stay up. This is their issue, and combined with any more immediate incarnations of said issue(desperate to get a 4.0 in school-that incoming test whose information was just stolen by a nightmare) or even separate problems altogether(realizing nobody knows you exist) help make up where they will be led in the plot and what might try to haunt them.

New Edit: Currently in an absolutely perfect mindset to start writing some plot for this stuff. So if our last couple of placeholders can find it in their hearts to get their profiles in I would love to start connecting the dots while I still feel lost. Cause this never lasts that long.

[Overcast]

And the actual forum is back, so as a matter of precaution I'm sending out the signal and seeing if everyone is still fine to be involved, after all a week or so can cause some life events to occur. So changing your mind or telling me you are still around, and for a couple of you sending in them profiles, I'd love to get a proper grasp of where I am at right now and how longingly I should be staring at the dice.

[phil_]

I'll get on giving my swap guy a proper profile right now.

Edit: There. He is Rob now.

[Arcanum]

Well I have my last two exams on Monday and Tuesday, so on Wednesday I'll actually be able to put some time towards making a profile. So Wednesday night I'll have something up for you to criticize :P.

[lazy man]

I'm definitely still interested, despite all the craziness of classes going on. I'll finish my character's rather incomplete profile in a day or two (tomorrow?) and try and see if I can keep up without being overwhelmed by everything.

Oh, and my character's a crazy insomniac photographer. That should be interesting.

[Overcast]

So on the definitely still here list is Phil, who I thank for being consistently awesome, Arcanum and Lazy.

Three is more than enough, but if any of you guys from before want to show you are still here I'm listening. Let me know within the week though because my anticipation in getting started putting the story together is starting to mess with me. I already got a primary antagonist for the characters I have put into the, "Losers" category. Which really may just be Wesley if the dropout rate is as high as it seems.

[Bard The 5th LW]

I'm still in this, so sign up Edmund as a loser.

[krogothwolf]

Sorry I'm still here!

[Arcanum]

Working on my character at the moment. It looks like he's going to be an ex-doctor with a god complex, though I'm still ironing out the details. Also, Overcast, what's your opinion on a Madness Power that gives an inanimate object temporary life?

[Overcast]

It seems reasonable and has a lot of potential for both small useful things and ungodly huge crazy things. So yeah, go on with your bad self and show me what you had in mind.

[krogothwolf]

i just realized why I never saw you reposting in here. For some reason this thread never shows up as having a new post in it so I didn't know anything was going on till I checked the date of the latest post.

[Arcanum]

Yeah, I know, I said I'd have something up Wednesday, but I have a (somewhat) good reason! While writing my guy's past I kind of wrote myself into a corner while simultaneously giving him a background that would result in a personality that I would hate to actually play. So long story short I said "eff it" and decided to get back to it later, which is what I'm doing now. Will (hopefully) have something up tonight, but it all depends on my brain and if it wants to be a jackass again or not.

[Overcast]

It is fine to me, I'd rather you have a character you could stand to play than to see you suffering and eventually ditching us mid way.

[Overcast]

I will be closing signups on May 1st and begin working on the basic ideas of plot, and may allow you guys to explore a little bit and get familiar with the setting and each other(if you find the time) in the first thread since I'm feeling guilty about letting this just stagnate here so long.

[Arcanum]

You feel guilty? I'm the guy who said he'd have a character up last Wednesday and has still failed to provide said character. On an unrelated note, here is said character.

-----

Biography
Name: Gregory "Greg" Fitzmund
Occupation: Ex Med Student
Past: Greg has always been an eccentric person and has never been considered ?normal? by anyone, not even his parents. Fortunately his personality didn?t get in the way of his life, and he made his way through it without any remarkable incidents. Well that is until he decided to become a doctor and enrolled in medical school. Everything was alright until the first time he saved somebody?s life. The act triggered something in his brain, and at first it seemed like he disconnected with reality and started living in his own personal world. He dropped out of school and lived with his parents like this for a year and a half, until one day he just snapped out of it. At first his parents were thrilled, but Greg was furious at losing the world he had been living in for the past year and a half. He had built up an imaginary society along with new friends, new family, and a new job. He was crazy, to say the least. That was when Greg started to lose sleep. He was trying everything he could to get his world back, but his imagination alone wasn?t enough. He knew deep down that something in his brain had to change for him to be back the way he was. His parents tried to stop him of course, they tried to call professional help, but Greg ran away and started living in a cheap apartment. He hasn?t slept for the past couple of weeks, and he?s still no closer to finding the world he wants to live in.

Appearance: Greg is a 5'11'' skinny 32 year old man, with messy red hair that always looks like he just got out of bed (he has made several attempts to tame it but to no avail). His recent poverty and insomnia is the reason for his skinny appearance, as well as the shabby clothes he wears, which usually consists of worn out jeans and a dirty t-shirt.

Personality: Greg is friendly and cheerful, when not consumed with finding a way to regain the world he has lost. He is a bit odd as well, often finding peculiar interest in things that would bore others, or just stopping mid-sentence to re-think what he is saying or who he is talking to.

Goals: Greg is trying to induce his mind back into the peculiar kind of madness that allowed him to live in his imaginary world.

Responses
1 Fight
2 Flight

Talents
Exhaustion Talent:
Diagnosis: During his time as a med student Greg learned how to properly diagnose patients. No as an Awake he can tell what is afflicting someone with a simple cursory examination. As his exhaustion grows Greg will be able to diagnose someone by just looking at them, and when his exhaustion is at the most extreme he will even be able to figure out the best way to cure/help them.
Madness Talent:
Life to the Lifeless:Greg can give life to any inanimate object simply by touching it. This will allow the object to move in ways that it couldn?t before (i.e. a chair able to bend its legs in order to walk) and talk if it has something that could vaguely resemble a mouth.


-----

Sorry it took so long.

[Overcast]

Alrighty it is the first and all entry is now closed. The profiles are saved and examined. All folks who are here shall soon be directed to the opening thread. There you may frolic about the mad city and force me to have to think up reflex situations. You may play out that initial moment that turned you from regular person into Awake, you may even show the first manifestation of your madness ability. I don't mind any of them because until I get the proper enemies together I can't well lead you guys anywhere. Get familiar with the place, or as familiar as anyone can with an ever shifting nightmare world where everything can become literal.


Here it is. (http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=37792)

[Bard The 5th LW]

So is there any place our character are/n't supposed to be right now? Any actions we are supposed to take?

[Overcast]

Truth is you are entering out of hindrance to myself. I have some of the pathways of how I want to torture all of you thus far, but I don't have proper enemies other than the most famous. I would figure Rob would be around the Bizarre Bazaar, the place plays to his madness and also would be the best place to start trying to gather information on why his home would be so messed about.

Wes might just be trouncing around this strange new world as an escape of that crapland he is stuck in back home, your character might be doing the same(even if comparably he isn't as deep in actual problems as Wes). See you two have no direction whatsoever. This place opened up not quite as an answer to something back home, but as an alternative. It is up to you to see if it is worthwhile. The same can be said for Doc Fitz, but it isn't that his life sucks but that he wants so much more than what he has already.

If I was putting Sam anywhere I'd put him in District 13. Dangerous as it is it seems like the place a hope to be vigilante hero to show up. After all the place is like a totalitarian madland of law and order held over by the big bad and unusually powerful Officer Tock(6 Pain Dice on a good day).

But I wouldn't say you can't be anywhere. If I would tell you to stay away from certain places it would probably be District 13, since it is so easy to attract trouble, and most of all the High School. The place is just filled with bad and if you ever come face to face with Mother When(Pain 12) you will find that the rumors she is the personification of Death itself is well founded.

[phil_]

I think I'll take your advice as to where my folks are, but I'm-a wait 'til tomorrow to write something. I'm beat from work right now.

[Bard The 5th LW]

So what you're saying is, I should be at the high school?

What about those roof things mentioned, where are those?

[phil_]

The rooftops are on top of the buildings, silly. Perhaps some more setting info should be dumped for those who don't have the books, Overcast. I mean, we've stuck with you through all this, one more info dump can't hurt.

[Overcast]

Alright then.

INFO DUMP

Today's Topic: People and places in the Mad City everyone is aware of.

The Bizaare Bazaar: Welcome to the shop boys. Around here is the general Market for the Mad City where the common currency is that of the Wax King(wax coins minted by the man...wouldn't suggest counterfeiting.) but currency isn't often traded here. Rather they like to barter, and seeing as the primary sale is in intangible goods(while services are sold this typically means emotions, memories, sensations, ect) you can expect that they may want something intangible from you in return for something they happen to have. The place is chaotic, and while nightmares frequent they aren't typically the ones that will take your soul by force like the Tacks Man or Officer Tock, but rather would enjoy swindling it out from under your nose(so pay attention to what you are trading, because it may just be worth far too much). Along with the other awakened it makes something of a haven. It isn't perfect, but you can't really expect anywhere in the Mad City to be perfect.

Visit if you will, more often than not the start of something will be bought or sold here.

District 13: This place at one time existed in the City Slumbering. Though long ago a push by the Tacks Man and other nightmares swallowed the area whole, and it fell into the Mad City. Of course back home it was explained away as some great fire. People built over it. People forgot. But you don't want to forget this place when you are here. It is the center of law enforcement and order. Though this is order by the ideals of two batshit crazy Nightmares so you can already figure that it isn't quite order as usual. The laws are an every shifting bureaucratic wet dream that only those who live there long enough to be part of it could possibly have the instinct to keep up with. If you happen to be lucky enough to obey the laws properly you have nothing to fear here, and in fact it may even be considered relatively safe. But really no one Awake ever really is. Once you break a law you are subpoena'd by Officer Tock to show up to court and prove your case. Don't expect a fair trial if you do show, you'll lose, be thrown in prison and live a life of terrible misery until you finally tun nightmare when everything in you snaps. The little clockwork gears showing you another minion of Officer Tock. But skip it and they come for you, and then prison is the last worry as you notice the blood stain on Officer Tock's clock hand shaped billy club.

To explain the two Nightmares in charge are Officer Tock and the Tacks Man.

Officer Tock lives to try to maintain order, if you catch him at his weakest he might be take able(pain 6) but catch him in District 13(+2) at the 13th Hour(+2) and he has a warrant for your arrest(+2) and you'll be begging he gets distracted(pain 12). Which may happen. His obsession with order is most prevalent in keeping time (Pretty typical for a man with a clock for a face) and if he sees a calender off, or a watch, or a cell phone, really anything just wrong time wise he may completely blow off his duty just to take care of it. Consider it your last shot on getting away, because when it comes down to it he is the reason order maintains in District 13.

Assistants: Clockwork Lieutenants(pain 1): Police officers powered by windkey.
Deputized Locals(pain ?): Anyone blackmailed into working under the circumstances.

The Tacks Man is the leader of the bureaucratic side of things in District 13. If anyone is to blame for the laws here it is this plastic push pin headed jerk. He will not often be seen around and prefers to stay back and maintain business as is his way. If you see him and he is coming for you it is because you have something he wants. And he only really needs to get close to get it. With his pin tipped fingers he just takes one out and tacks you to the wall, or tacks the memory of your daughter being born to the floor. He doesn't work very fast, preferring to kill by degrees. More money in that. He is a tough fight(pain 8) but if you are running the most you'll have to deal with is not getting stuck by his fingers(pain 5) not easy, but better than fighting the creep.

Assistants: Pin Heads(Pain 3): Reporters with pins for heads bent on getting the good news to the Tacks Man. Even if it means changing what actually happened.
Needle Noses(Pain 3 fighting 5 tracking): Hounds with needles for heads and a thread to hold you down with and get you taken down by whatever took it out for a walk that day(pain 4 to escape form Needle Nose "stitch down" technique).

The High School: The Finishing School from Hell. Here little boys and girls that end up in The Mad city are taken to get their education. Either when one pops up by some odd orphanage or if District 13 refers them this way. Once you are here you are schooled to assist Mother When, the headmistress and rumored personification of Death(Pain 12). Boys are not known to pass these trials, as of yet we have no idea why, but it just never happens. All that eventually come out are the Sisters in Hating, and all you might get a chance to see are the Promising Students.

Mother When: Looks like a pleasant country schoolmarm, but has black-within-black eyes. Wields a yardstick. Pain 12. Run if possible.

Ladies in Hating(Pain 1-2): Graduates from the High School.Teach there. Made of Spite, Malice, and Jealousy particularly of youth. Keen on eating children. Blood changes young girls into them, or kills them

Promising Students(Pain ?): Those terrifying local girls that actually want to be a Lady in Hating

Rooftops: Everything about the Mad City is unusually crowded. All the buildings are typically close enough together you can go from one to the next without even jumping that hard. Anything that doesn't have a place at the bottom goes to the top. This crowds neartly every inch f space with doorways, windows, and nightmare maws disguised as such. If you know away around(like the Paper Boys) it can get you just about anywhere fast, but if you don't...well the risk may just be worth it if you really have to get out.

In there is the Air Fort where every plane that comes into the Mad City decides to crash. None explode though, but just slam into the architecture and become part of it. The end result is a mess of wings, cockpits, and so on that tend to hold within them Roof Rats, little bullies keen on taking the lunch money of the significantly more dangerous Paper Boys.

Paper Boys(Pain 2): Little boys made like oragami who deliver and print the news of The Mad City. Trouble lies not in ever facing them, but if they take an interest in you and decide to write a story about you. For better or worse that story tends to come true, even if completely false(Pain 10 to try to make them wrong).
Roof Rats(Pain ?): Groups stuck as 12 year old bullies. Incessantly bully the Paper Boys when they can. Somehow are still alive.

The Warrens: Under the streets of the Mad City lie a network of tunnels that lead to a thousand nowheres and the Kingdom of Wax. The Kingdom lies at the center of it all, where the Wax King sits on his throne watching his wax slowly flowing out to anywhere it can reach. If it gets to you it will start crawling up your legs, until soon enough it covers your face and you become one of his. Needless to say some resist this transformation, and these neighboring kingdoms(known as nowheres) try to keep themselves apart from the Kingdom.

The Wax King(Pain 10): Lord of the kingdom he is not so keen to direct attack and prefers to use people in long Xanatos Gambits built up through favors you owe him for not whipping your ass. More important than petty squabbles is his eventual victory.

Blind Knights(Pain 4 +2 for each additional rather than multiplying): Wax covered individuals with candles for eyes which unlike their name tend to wear clothes from just about any period. Enforcers for the King.

Smothered Folk(Pain 1): Serfs of the kingdom, faceless servitors that make the coins from wax and memories and whatever other work need be done.

Nowheres: Everyone is trying to not be part of the Wax Kingdom because it really seems to be a bit of a buzzkill. Nowheres are everywhere else in the Warrens that happen to still lack wax shells. Included are The Nightly Revealer, a Paper Boy branch that gets by publishing many stories about the death of the Wax King, which he typically has to try very hard to make untrue before they become true and all that circular logic. Most Puissant Black Wind's nowhere which has constant winds that keep the Blind Knights out(note these are particularly hard gales, do not try blowing out a Blind Knight's eyes yourself. You will get hurt.) And the land of The Mad Howler, where all the warriors of the past and present who have been forgotten fall to and let out all their senseless rage, collected by the pipes to help keep the place too hot for wax to do anything but melt.

Apologies if it is a bit confusing but I have wanted desperately to go to sleep since I started it and I wrote it all in my own words(as usual) to avoid the good ol' copyright infringement. So yeah, tired and own words may have caused serious issues.

[phil_]

That's a pretty good info dump, man. It should at least get people started on the right track, or, as right a track exists in the Mad City.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Thinkin' up a post now. Edmund will probably be waltzing 'round the roofs with nothing to do.

[Arcanum]

Thanks for the info dump! I'll have a post up either tonight or tomorrow hopefully. The Halo Reach and StarCraft 2 betas have been consuming my life since last Friday.

[Bard The 5th LW]

OK, since I flopped on my last promis, I will try my best to post tonight.

[Arcanum]

Something's better than nothing right? I plan on writing a bit about Greg exploring the Mad City, but I figured that I'd post that introduction bit first instead of waiting till i wrote the whole thing. I'll edit in his explorations later if nobody else posts.

[Overcast]

It seemed a bit like an invitation when I read across it, but if you would like to maintain control over where in the Mad City he ends up that is fine by me. I do hope this helps to build a bit of momentum though. I'd like to see how all these characters look in practice.

[Arcanum]

Well actually if you want to use your magical GM powers and throw Greg somewhere that would work out nicely too. I was just going to have him kind of meandering about, maybe check out the Bizaare Bazaar, but unknown mystery location works too.

[Overcast]

And I stuck you on the roof. I admit it isn't anything new yet, and I'll likely be sending him elsewhere very soon, but I guess I want all of them to be aware of the rooftops, and possibly get a view of the rest of the city above the crowded streets.

EDIT: Bard. Just as a note I already hate your character. This is amusing since one of the primary goals of the game is for me to be constantly thinking of ways to send most of you up shit creek. Expect the emo to have his own grand Nightmare in his business.

[phil_]

While considering routes for replying in the game, it struck me how different Overcast's style seems to be from most other GMs here. Normally, I feel like I'm writing part of a narrative with moving the story along a plot arc as my aim. With this, I think my goal is just writing anything, and leaving it to Overcast to throw me something to write about. It's strange and kinda nice being relieved of the responsibility of trying to "move the story along."

[Overcast]

I guess I'm trying to lead the story to some particular points if I can, no need to make your own points when I am trying to think up the whole plot like a choose your own ending novel.

Stick with it and I'll lead you somewhere. Which is good because I haven't even gotten to the truly bastardly nightmares.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Bard. Just as a note I already hate your character. This is amusing since one of the primary goals of the game is for me to be constantly thinking of ways to send most of you up shit creek. Expect the emo to have his own grand Nightmare in his business.

Bring it on. I'll have more to write for him if he is forced to do stuff. Because he ain't doin' shit on his own I'll tell you that.

[Arcanum]

Sorry I haven't posted since that first one, and thus stopping Bard from posting unless he wants to go ahead and make it seem like my character ignored him for the time being. Been busy, real world stuff, had an epiphany followed by a revelation followed by a revelation that the last revelation and epiphany were nonsense, killed a cat, etc. You know, the usual reasons why people don't post for prolonged periods of time.

Anywho! I'll have a post up tonight (where tonight is loosely defined as anywhere between 8pm and 5am). See ya then!

[Overcast]

Blame this one on impatience. The dice are getting dusty and nothing was happening as of yet between the two of them. This won't happen often, but this early on I just got that itchy feeling in my palms.

[Overcast]

Alrighty, looking over stuff I already completed the dice roll for Phil, but I ought to make sure I am right about both Bard and Arcanum.

From the way it looks the emo left the doc hanging so no Discipline dice added from him. I wasn't told that the doc's roll had any extra dice added so I figure he just went through discipline. So we have 3 D vs 6 P. If this is proper the roll will come and I will be honest...not looking good for you Arcanum.

[Bard The 5th LW]

I'll leave up a post some time, if I don't just assume that Edmund is fleeing the scene with Arcanum's guy.

Edmund did give the doc some info however, he told him that the paper boy's were probably no good for him to be around. That's something.

[Overcast]

True, enough that he will get a chance to roll for escape. On that note I do mean roll for escape, this one little dice item will constitute all the amusing dramatics of how you two get away.

So win or lose have fun with the result as best you can.