Paradox Redux Interest, the Overcast Version

[Overcast]

Something is happening to you. You cannot be absolutely sure when it started, the days have begun to melt together and you may be trying to forget what is left behind after it leaves. The monster, the alpha predator, the beast that takes over when the hunger becomes too much to bear. Not just figurative, a true modern horror, a bodily shift into some new incomprehensible form. It cares little of the occasion, of the time of day, it only cares about the hunger. Some new and terrifying need that gnaws at the back of your mind till there is nothing but the beast. Something is happening to you.

And you are not alone.

Welcome to Paradox! A game of horrific transformation. Once belonging to Toasty(aka Toastburner B) I participated in it once and almost took over the plot after he had to abandon it but unfortunately not before it had already died. Still I had enjoyed my time in the game enough that I knew one day I'd have to try again. In this game you are a regular human being, who has recently come upon a very uncomfortable ailment. You change into a man eating monster. Not during any specific time, but when the hunger that monster has grows beyond your ability to hold it back.

The first major step of the game will be building the city the game will be in, I want everyone to have a personal interest in the landscape since it will be what you will be interacting with most of all so I hope to schedule a world building session with the players sooner or later. Likely along with some baseline character creation. For now I have an edupad open here so we can work out preliminary kinks and get familiar with one another.

On the subject of monsters(You), the Paradoxes are not a uniform group. While those that hunt them tend to have categories based on some more frequent powers and the strengths and weaknesses they come with, the form of these creatures can change wildly from beast to beast. At a baseline you should be considered exceptionally powerful, about on par with a cheap sci-fi horror monster flick. Capable of running into a room full of armed men and reducing about all of them to death in a very short amount of time. Your greatest risk in the world should be when you are not a monster, when you meet another monster, or if you happen to be facing off with those who have been specially trained to kill you. Otherwise you are practically a demigod, with skills and abilities that may be considered unnatural or impossible for whatever form you happen to take.

A very good example of this kind of thing is the Wolfman, the Wolfman is not an alternate personality and neither will your paradox be, it is the person whom is cursed with the lycanthropy. When he changes his darkest elements come out along with a bestial need to kill and consume. The beast is neigh impossible to kill for the conventional man, and if any man tried to face it one on one they would die almost immediately. It is a transformation that is completely out of the ability for the cursed one to control, at least at first, and while early on it would be easy to delude yourself on what is happening in the hazy memory or vivid nightmares in time it becomes clear that you are in fact a man eating monster.

As of right now I intend to begin the game after your third feeding, which for a lot of you may end up your third killing. The idea being to begin when you are already familiar with your own monster to a degree, what it needs, and the cost that comes with holding back. Moreover how you as a person have decided to color the morality of your misdeeds, what delusions you may have come up with, and perhaps how much you've looked into the background of your problem.

I'm still debating with if I want a greater tactical element by adding basic stats to both your humans and monsters, but I hope to hash that out with early character management. Feel free to post your interest here and on the pad!

[Astral Harmony]

Update: Now presenting a full-on character sheet, including that Paradox Statting thing I saw on that thar edupad.

Human Characteristics
- Name: Penelope "Penny" Barton
- Age: 11
- Gender: Female
- Appearance: Short blonde hair, bright blue eyes, round-rimmed glasses, one-piece blue denim strap dress, a white long sleeve t-shirt underneath, and brown sandals.
- Personality: Nervous and passive, tending to avoid crowds and anyone she considers to be "big and scary". Not very capable at making friends and has often been the victim of bad luck and bullying, which hasn't been helped by her parents who are generally nice but not involved with her life due to their work and hobbies. She's learned to take care of herself, even becoming a decent cook and skilled at maintaining a house.
Now aware of the Paradox just waiting to break out at any time, Penelope spends much of her days being confused and afraid and avoiding any kind of confrontation she can before she ends up killing someone else.
- Backstory: Your average budding, socially-awkward middle school student, her first transformation occurred when being bullied at school. All three of her tomentors died horribly. The police reported it as just a freak murder and are still looking for a possible suspect, never finding Penelope at the scene.
Her next transformation killed her parents when they were fighting in the house. Now she lives with her aunt Hilda and Hilda's boyfriend David in some decent apartment complex in the city. Penelope likes the both of them, and thus tries to stay away from the apartments as much as she can until she is certain that she has control over her Paradox's hunger.

Human Statting
- Cool: 0 DP ~ Penelope can keep her cool under pressure, but persistent pressure is eventually going to exhaust her thought processes.
- Hard: -3 DP ~ As an eleven year old girl, any attempt Penelope might make at using violence or force is almost cute, if not irritating.
- Hot: +2 DP ~ Cute as a button and bleeding innocense from every pore, nobody would ever believe there's a terrifying, murderous beast just beneath her skin.
- Sharp: +2 DP ~ It can't all be bad luck. Sometimes Penelope is able to find a solution to problems that she can solve in her human form.
- Profile: Penelope is almost always unarmed (+0), but is small, light and flexible (+1), and is possessed of innocent charm (+1), allowing her to perhaps temporarily confuse others into providing help of some kind (+1). Total Profile is +3.
- Synch: 0 DF ~ Penelope tries to resist the Paradox's will whenever in human form, but allows the Paradox to go wild when transformed in order to help it sate itself quicker.

Paradox Characteristics
- Name: Seglegs
- Appearance: Seglegs resembles a stick bug, but without the long body. Eight long, segmented legs are connected to a small body roughly the shape of a bull skull with two big green eyes, one on top of the body and one underneath. Each leg is about six feet long with two joints per leg equally spaced two feet apart. The whole body is the color of human flesh except for the spikes at the end of each leg, which are jet black and shiny like obsidian. Overall, Seglegs' entire body weighs about 600 pounds.
- Hunger: Blood (preferably human)
- Paradox Trigger: Fear and stress
- Paradox Main Theme: "Monster" by Skillet
- Other Paradox Themes: "Battle For Survival" by Digital Devil Saga 2 OST / "It's Construction Time!" by Dungeon Keeper OST

Paradox Combat Characteristics
- Optical Mimicry ~ Able to change its fleshy coloration after about twenty seconds of remaining stationary.
- Leg/Claw Attacks ~ Swiping with the legs can fracture bones. The claws can cause brutal gashes by being raked across the victim, or can impale the victim with ease.
- Parkour ~ Easily capable of scaling walls, ceilings, and leap great vertical and horizontal distances. Can also breathe underwater, though not a good swimmer, often using its legs to crawl on the ground.
- Resistances ~ Electricity and high radiation
- Weaknesses ~ Fire, cold and blunt trauma

Paradox Statting
- Ferocity: -1 DF ~ Less aggressive in a fight than perhaps all other Paradox, and will prefer to reposition for a ambush when confronted with several opponents.
- Terror: +3 DF ~ While technically not a spider, Seglegs easily inspires terror when it hops down from the ceiling and impales its first victim.
- Cunning: +3 DF ~ Preferring to engage targets from stealth, Seglegs will go as far as to make certain that it can quickly hide again after a skirmish.
- Undaunted: -2 DF ~ Quick to disengage from just about any sign of coordinated resistance, if only for the purpose of finding a better means to thwarting her enemies.
- Paradox: +1 DF ~ Even though she is aware of what triggers her Paradox shift, Penelope's bad luck and any number of stupid people will easily produce more victims.
- Synchronicity: 0 DF ~ Penelope tries to resist the Paradox's will whenever in human form, but allows the Paradox to go wild when transformed in order to help it sate itself quicker.

----------------------------------------------

- Mortal Move 1: Little Angel ~ Penny uses her adorable nature and perhaps fakes a few tears to convince someone, perhaps even an enemy, to help her out, such as opening a locked door for her or reaching an item that she can't reach in her diminuitive body.
- Effect: When Penny encounters someone who can help her with a specific task, Penny can roll for Hotness.
10 +: Gain 3 Holds.
9 - 7: Gain 2 Holds.
Miss: On a complete miss I am either shunned, shouted at, or if the target is a PC then they may gain 2 Holds on me under the same circumstances.

NPCs ~ Holds may be spent one for one on any of the following:
• Receive something that I want
• Act as my eyes and ears
• Fight to protect me
• Follow a given order
As long as I have my hold on them, they cannot act against me.

PCs ~ Holds may be spent one for one on either of the following:
• They distract themselves with the thought of me. They must roll for Acting Under Fire.
• They inspire themselves with the thought of me. They take +1 right now.

- Mortal Move 2: Childhood Innocense ~ Penny, despite just being a little kid, is kind of a little thief. Not that she knows any better, she just finds things interesting and has a habit of putting them in her backpack on a whim.
- Effect: When Penny or anyone she is helping at the time needs something, Penny can roll for Sharpness.
10 +: I find the exact item I need or one that functions just as well.
7 - 9: I find something that comes close to what I need, but is fundamentally flawed.
Miss: I may have had the item at some point, and even stashed it away someplace, but it isn't with me now.

- Paradox Move 1: Macabre Theatre ~ Using its hideous body and its large green eyes, Seglegs stares down its opponent. The legs are extended as far as they can be to give Seglegs a frightening appearance. In order to increase the disturbing nature of encountering Seglegs, the Paradox will usually take any corpses in the nearby area and display them in a grotesquely artful form if it has the time to do so.
- Effect: When Seglegs finds a suitable location and has sufficient time, Seglegs can roll for Terror to prepare a Macabre Theatre to stall enemies or dissuade them from chasing it down.
10 +: Creates such a perfectly disturbing scene that Seglegs is not required to be present. I may carry one forward on any roll against the target.
7 - 9: I cannot abandon the Macabre Theatre in order for it to have any desired effect. The target must roll for Acting Under Fire and, if unsuccessful, I may carry one forward on any roll against the target.
Miss: I am still setting up the Macabre Theatre when encountered and the GM may decide the result of my failure. If I use this on a PC, I must roll for Acting Under Fire.

- Paradox Move 2: Damage Shield ~ Using one or perhaps two of its claws, Seglegs impales a nearby object and uses it to provide mobile cover for itself against incoming assaults, like a shield.
- Effect: When rolling for Acting Under Fire, I may roll for Cunning as opposed to Undaunted whenever it is feasible.

[Girasol of Chaos]

Character
Name : Beatrice Jayme
Age: 21
Appearance: 5'5", Beatrice has naturally reddish-black, untamed hair that seems to get rather oily if not cared for properly. She seems to have olive skin and brown eyes, but it can be difficult to observe this if it has been a while since her last bath. Normally seen wearing worn jeans, a t-shirt and dirty tennis shoes, it seems she sometimes swaps these out for stolen clothes and old scrubs. In her home area if anyone has observed her they will find she often lounges in an aged lab coat, complete with questionable rust-colored stains.
Personality: Bea is a bit of a quiet young woman with questionable sanity and intent. In the rare case she takes to someone it typically is a front to use them in some way. Best described as a 'crazy cat lady' type, Bea is prone to driving off people in favor of animal company. Other homeless individuals speak little good of her, some claim that she 'reeks of death'. However, outside of the reputation with that group she remains out of sight and mind. Intelligent, logical and cold she rarely shows the ability to enjoy herself outside of being left alone or up to no good.
Backstory: Once an aspiring young woman pursuing her dream of becoming a veterinarian, Beatrice enrolled to train as a tech first to get a feel for the field she was heading for. She moved away from her home city and was rather new in town when she started her program, living in a cheap studio that she could barely afford. Her faith in humanity, already low, took a dramatic turn for the worse. Bea's first transformation was on a particularly slow work day, leaving only mangled remains behind as she broke out of the rather small and low-tech facility. Having been assumed dead, Bea took her situation as a sign that her path should change and she embraced living on the streets. The city has a large population of rowdy stray animals, something that sparked an idea for protection.

Beatrice wanders the city in the slums and squats in abandoned homes, businesses and the like with her pack. If killed they are quickly replaced and trained. Washing in bathrooms and safe houses around the city, Beatrice attempts to keep herself somewhat clean looking so as not to rouse suspicion. Any base she settles in quickly attracts all sorts of wee beasties, becoming a nest of spiders, canines, felines and occasionally crows due to the amount of rotting flesh (and flies) that accumulate in the den. Beatrice herself will spend her time in a separate area, either a room or a chamber of sorts where she makes a bed of stolen blankets, mattresses and goods. Strangely enough her area seems free of bedbugs and fleas.

Human Stats:

Cool: 1 Although stubborn and full of willpower, Beatrice is prone to lose her temper badly once her fuse has been lit.
Hard: 0 Bea is willing to resort to violence but lacks the confidence to attempt to be threatening to someone's face. When challenged as a human if her pack isn't present she will undoubtedly back down and look for a way out.
Hot:1 - Despite being able to talk her way out of suspicion, being homeless and living among strays has left her appearance a little to be desired. Still, she manages to keep herself sanitary when presented the opportunity and most of her clothes are dark to hide the dirt.
Sharp: 2, Beatrice is well-studied, observant and has adapted to thinking on her feet.
Profile: (4-5) - Beatrice is typically unarmed (+0) but on her territory she keeps a stolen shotgun (+1). Her history in behavioral training for dogs has led to her leading her own pack of 5 strays who can and will fight for her when at home or roaming. They are trained to kill on command.(+2). Beatrice has no home, no surviving coworkers and does not speak of her family, so she seems to have nothing to lose(+1). She will actively scout and sometimes stalk as a human and is an unrepentant murderer (+1)
Synch: 0 - Although Beatrice was disturbed with her first transformation, having nothing to lose at this point means the demonic form can only give her benefits now.

Moves: Murderous Hounds: When Beatrice is with her dogs player may roll Sharp instead of Hard to Aggro.

Paradox Ability: Sightless Understanding
Roll Paradox On a 10+ ask 3, 7-9 ask 1, below you just ate some weird shit.
• who handled this last before me?
• who made this?
• what strong emotions have been most recently nearby this?
• what words have been said most recently nearby this?
• what has been done most recently with this, or to this?
(Beatrice does not take damage from her Pica)



Rift:
A deep purple creature with mixed traits, Rift is a Paradox that stalks the shadows of the crumbling city. The cold violet colored areas appear to be semi-flexible plates. Her flesh and skin are very pale-almost white and between her leathery plates there are lines of large, visible pores that eject toxins locally, secreting either as a liquid or a gas. The skin is somewhat elastic, stretching and folding in order to properly allow the plates a degree of flexibility. Armored portions exist as the mandible, on the knee joint in all limbs and three chest plates. All but the chest plates have a metallic luster, where the two 'breasts' and what appears to be a stylized extension of the sternum. The chest plate area is the white of skin and flesh. Scapulas on both sides match these and although are more rigid than the purple plates, they still have a degree of flexibility.

Her translucent spines act both as shields and weapons-they can begin to fill with toxins and secrete them at the blade edge or tips and are also hard enough to deflect almost any attack a mortal could throw. Although semi-elastic as well these can break if given enough crushing pressure.

Abilities:

Biohazard - Rift can alter compounds she ingests and inhales in order to produce a plethora of poisons throughout her body and administer them via bite, claws, pores and blades. As she becomes more familiar with various compounds Rift can produce more elaborate toxins that attack the blood, flesh, nerves and mind.
Springheeled - Climbing on a variety of surfaces leads to the jumping off of said surfaces. Rift can twist her spine like a cat to align herself after jumping in order to best rebound or roll during a fall.

Moves:
Creeping Death: Rift releases an irritating poison cloud. All humans grow incessant boils and vomit and void themselves. Paradox must roll as if under fire, if failed Rift gets a full success on going aggro, if partial pass rift rolls cunning to go aggro, if 10+ the Paradox shakes it off.

Unseen Path: Rift rolls +Paradox on a 10+ Rift becomes effectively untrackable as any pursuers eyes betray them, on 7-9 they must roll as if acting under fire, below the GM responds

Hunger: Flesh, muscle mass preferred.

Stats: A limber and sightless hellhound, Rift is an ambush striker who relies on her other senses to target prey.

Ferocity: -1 - Rift can handle herself in a scuffle just long enough to flee, but her physical attacks would be laughable to other paradox. A well prepared human could survive her frontal slashes if there was no venom involved. She relies on her abilities instead.
Terror: 1 Her movements probably remind people of those Alien movies, but is otherwise as subtle as a brick once seen.
Cunning: 2 - With heightened heat sense, hearing and visualization with echolocation and vibrations, the sightless Rift is more aware of her surroundings than a fish in water. Her gecko-like footpads allow her to move quietly up along walls and for a limited time, on ceilings. If there is no cover it's incredibly easy for Rift to spew mist to create it for herself.
Undaunted: 1 Rift is tough, but not invincible. Most scratches, slashes and bites will skitter off her metal and plate-like portions harmlessly, but her pale skin is only as durable as leather.
Paradox: 2 Rift's venom arsenal include Hemotoxins, neurotoxins and Necrotoxins. When spewing poisonous gases she tends to stick with a harmless mist, neurotoxins or anesthesia.
Synch: 0 Beatrice embraces her new form, but has absolutely no communication nor unity with Rift.

[batgirl]

I remember being a part of I believe the second incarnation on this game. I'll dig up my old character and post it later on.

[mauve]

Oh hey I remember this one! I'm interested!

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Man, I have not RP'ed in such a long time, but Paradox was by far my favourite RP. And what would Paradox be without an insane, hulking, raging fire demon?

Ifrit shall live again.

[Overcast]

Interest is still being gauged but I have met my minimum by a significant margin. So you can expect this will definitely happen, feel free to post any floating questions in the pad or here and I'll get on answering them. If you happen to catch me in the pad I am also open to stuff.

Also chat clients for anyone who feels better about bothering me there.
My AIM is: syrenkai
My MSN is: syrenkai@msn.com
My GIM is: narusynkai

I think because adding people is still something I fuck up on.

Meanwhile, I have questions for you all.

I will have some basic statting of your monsters and even your mortals. I plan to keep it to myself and use it as a means of reflexively deciding if things go well for you, badly for you, or some middle margin of Pyrrhic. I have posted at least the monster stats as I have them now, most will be rolled along with a 1d10 and compared to a little chart I have. What I wonder is if you are interested in being fully aware of these stats or if I should hoard them.

They are mostly a minor hack on the Apocalypse World stats for those of you who are familiar with that, and a lot of my power as a GM is going to be based on that game. Human stats are based a bit more on a game called Poison'd, with a few shifts because it is a vulgar game about pirates and not all people are pirates.

Meanwhile I also wouldn't mind hearing how the interested parties feel about morality in this game. To quote Krylo from the Toasty redux he wasn't interested in playing a pity party, and the longer I've stared at the premise of the game before the more that seems to be legitimate. From what I can gather it is harder to maintain a game where your character hates his/herself than if they are greedy terrible people, or at the very least trying to use their monstrosity to their advantage.

Finally expect me to take a harder look at all your monsters later on, mostly to make sure we are starting balanced in relative power. You are all effectively newborns in the Paradox sense, so it gives you room to grow and knowledge that unless you are really not playing right that Ifrit will in fact not tear you in half like a phone book.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Originally Posted by Overcast

Ifrit will in fact not tear you in half like a phone book.

But, Ifrit tearing things in half is like, a staple of the series man! It's not a Paradox adventure until Ifrit has brutally murdered a variety of monsters.

Also how far into the negatives can we go on our skills, cos I have an absurd idea in mind that will probably break the game if you don't stamp on it right now.

[mauve]

that thar edupad.

...There's an edupad for this game?

[Overcast]

There is! I may have been slightly too subtle about it in the main post but it is

HERE.

Made some minor edits including showing off what stats look like for regular people if we end up forcing you folks to be responsible for them. Also updated some limitation in the spread of stat points to add a bit more strategy to how you put together your monsters. Any further complications(if you folks desire to go statted) will come into play after character creation when I scrutinize your monsters and discuss their abilities. Also as a reminder, the Hunger is distinctly attracted to a human material, if you hunger for blood it MUST be human blood. Any other kind of blood just tastes like blood, but human blood for a monster that Hungers for it is a living rush.