There may be no update tonight. Not really sure how Bryan can get out of this. I'm somewhat tempted to pull a deus ex machina to save him. But I'd prefer if he could get out of this on his own. Problem is, I'm not sure how he could possibly be saved with that plant golem still... not destroyed.
Speaking of which, I decided to update the plant golem. Originally, I gave it a custom disadvantage about being flammable, but I decided to remove that. Now, I decided to just give it a damaging weakness to fire. I did originally intend for it to be weak to fire anyway. Not sure if you can give weaknesses to minions, but why not? Besides, it may help Bryan get out of this anyway. I also lowered the point value of the golem by 2 because of the weakness:
Golem, Plant, 16 pts
The plant golem is grown rather than built, unlike most other golems. A benefit of this is that they can actually heal themselves, given sunlight and water. Though technically alive and organic, plant golems are still mindless and are made of plant matter rather than flesh thus they still benefit from the unliving advantage. Creating a plant golem requires one to pour specific alchemical potions onto mundane plants as they mature. This means that a plant golem's appearance can vary widely since they can be made from pretty much any species of plant. Plants can even be fused together to give the final golem many advantages.
B3 A3 M0
60 hits/20 soak
Attack 21/Defense 21/Grab 30
Armor 1 (thick bark), 1 pt
Damage Aura 1 (giant thorns), 1 pt
Heal 1, enhancement: affects non-living, limitation: needs sunlight, water, and fertile soil, 1 pt
Extra limbs 3 (vine tendrils), 3 pts.
Advtanage: Unliving (occultism/alchemy to heal)
Damaging Weakness: fire
If you care to know what the original disadvantage was, it was something like 'flammable: If this character is hit by any attack that can start a fire (including fire, electricity, or any other source that can ignite something), this character will begin to burn'. Or I could just have be part of the package of well, being a giant plant monster.
Oh, and another problem I'm having, and one I kinda foresaw, was that the plant monster felt like a final boss fight. I have an idea on how to save Bryan, but it just doesn't feel as epic as the fight that got him into this mess in the first place.
I'm still thinking about it. It may take me a while.
xBlackWolfx wrote:Oh, and another problem I'm having, and one I kinda foresaw, was that the plant monster felt like a final boss fight. I have an idea on how to save Bryan, but it just doesn't feel as epic as the fight that got him into this mess in the first place.
I'm still thinking about it. It may take me a while.
Hi I understand this correctly..
The Plant monster needs to be under control!
Controllers have to sleep and do other things.
So Bryan only has to escape the room etc he is in and avoid waking any one who can control the monster.
So he escapes and then can spend time thinking about how to defeat the monster in the future..
He just came into his powers. It is possible that he might access some powers he didn't know he had until now. This can be justified as a power stunt. BTW how did he get his powers?
Solarblast wrote:He just came into his powers. It is possible that he might access some powers he didn't know he had until now. This can be justified as a power stunt. BTW how did he get his powers?
I never really thought much about his origin, and honestly now I think its kinda stupid. Essentially, he ran away from home because his father treats him like crap, and he fell into a cave where he found some ancient ruins. Inside, he found some tablet which he touched and gained his powers. I don't know exactly what happened after that, but I like to think it happened 3 days before this story began.
And I have thought about power stunts, but I really couldn't think of anything with how limited his power set really is. I guess he could perhaps power stunt a higher-level of invisibility so he can actually move around while using it. Or maybe dimensional teleportation.
Very interesting gameplay so far. And hey, if you guys ever need players for a game online, consider me! I don't have a camera but I do have a microphone, and I'd trust the Narrator to do the dice rolls for me.
Really all I've done for this campaign is attack and damage rolls. Besides a few rolls for fall damage (which my character has mysteriously managed to soak each and every time), and some wrestling rolls, there's really not much diversity going on. I'm just trying to make it all sound fancier than what it is. At one point, the monster missed an attack roll and I succeeded immedietly after, I decided to right that down as him managing to get in a blow while it wound up an attack or something like that, causing it to miss.
The gameplay itself was getting very very repetitive to be honest. Attack roll, miss, attack roll, miss, and even when I did hit the thing would just soak the damage anyway.
I've actually been wanting to be a professional novel-writer for years and years. Kind of nice to know I do have some skill. Kinda had my confidence shattered after taking a writing class online, with a teacher who was obviously a far better writer than me. She actually made me feel inept with her examples, though that wasn't her intention.
Yes, I know this has been a long time coming, sorry. Bryan got himself into quite a predicament and I just couldn't come up with an epic way of getting him out of it. And besides, other things came up to distract me. Anyway, here is the next chapter of Bryan's story:
.............................................
The Black Chameleon
Chapter 5
Bryan felt some sort of liquid being poured onto his head. His vision came back as he woke up, though everything was still blurry at first.
"Heh, so he can absorb the tonic through that suit." An unfamiliar voice said.
"You're lucky, punk", said John, "We couldn't get your mask off to pour the other tonic down your throat."
"Yeah, how do get in and out of that thing? There's no zipper or anything!", one of the thugs interjected. At this point Bryan's vision started to clear enough so that he could see a group of people standing infront of him.
"Really," John continued, "The mask is actually a part of your shirt, infact, nothing about it comes apart! And its like its stuck to your skin."
Bryan's vision finally cleared completely. A huge group of gang members stood infront of him. Infront of him was a buy with short red hair and a leather Jacket, this must've been John. But standing next to him was another guy wearing a strange green outfit that looked like something from a fantasy game. It actually reminded him of the costumes that The Guardians wore. They were a group of superheroes, all with magical abilities, who took care of all the supernatural problems the city had. However, they never paid much attention to the non-magical threats, like the local drug gangs. A distance off the to right, he could see the plant monster that he battled earlier, along with 3 more of those clay monsters.
Bryan tried to move, but he couldn't. He was seated in an old metal chair, and there were thick chains wrapped around his arms, legs, and torse, and giant padlocks stuck out everywhere from the tangled mess. They obviously went overboard to make sure he couldn't break loose. The only thing he could still move freely was his head.
John came up and put his hands on Bryan's arms so his face was about a foot away from his, "Do you wanna know why we woke you up?" Bryan didn't respond. "You put 6 of my boys in the hospital, the cops now have all of them and it appears one of them may have snitched on me to get a reduced sentence"
"And besides that," spoke up the guy in the strange outfit, "You destroyed one of my clay golems. It literally takes months to build those things!"
"You're going to suffer for everything you did," John continued, "Magic-man here-"
"It would be nice if you could actually remember my name.", the mage interrupted.
"It would be nice if you had a name that wasn't ten-miles long, and was actually something I could pronounce! Now shut up! Don't interrupt me!" John turned back to Bryan. "Magic-man here told us he has a special potion in mind for you. Its like ligher fluid, but you can absorb it into your skin. Then we can set you on fire, and you'll burn like a candle. He says it'll take hours for you to die."
The mage then took a large bottle off a stool set next to Bryan. The liquid in the bottle was dark red and rather sinister looking.
Bryan panicked, he went invisible, which prompted laughter from the crowd infront of him. Really, what good was invisibility when he was chained to a chair?
Bryan wished he wasn't there, but as he remained invisible, the room started to get darker. But the thugs all acted like they didn't notice this. The mage had now opened the bottle and was proceeding to pour it over Bryan's head. But then everything went black, the laughter faded. Then suddenly, Bryan fell backwards, as if the chair he was chained to had disappeared!
Suddenly, everything turned white. Then, everything slowly faded into focus. He was now outside, and it was broad daylight, even though moments earlier it was the middle of the night. Around Bryan were tall trees unlike any he had seen before, and he was sitting on the forest floor, which was covered in bright green grass.
Bryan stood up. He had no idea what had just happened. Was he dead? Did one of the guardians come in and save him? But if he did, why would he end up here?
He walked forward about 12 feet, looking around, when he suddenly heard huge thrashing in the forest infront of him. Bryan stopped in his tracks, unsure what that noise was. Then suddenly, a huge reptilian animal's head slithered out of the foliage.
It was a dragon, like you saw in far eastern folklore. It was green and had antlers on its head, and dark red eyes like rubies. Bryan thought it was an animal of some sort, until it spoke to him. He had no idea what it was saying. The dragon suddenly lunged a bit and spoke more loudly. Bryan got the impression that the thing wanted him to speak.
"I...", Bryan stammered a bit, unsure what to say to this thing, "I have no idea what you're saying!"
The dragon looked at Bryan, then came much closer. Bryan stepped back, unsure what the thing was going to do. It stopped about 2 inches from his face, and starred directly into his eyes for several seconds. After this, it spoke on plain English.
"I've never encountered your language before, luckily for you I can just pull it out of your mind." Bryan said nothing. "Why did my monks let you touch the tablet? I have seen your exploits, and you are obviously not worthy to be a Dragon Master. You act like you've never been in a fight your whole life!"
"Uh, what monks?" Bryan was obviously confused.
"The ones in the temple, the ones that guard the tablet."
"Uh, you mean those ruins?"
"Ruins?"
"Yeah, I...I fell into a cave and found some old ruins. I don't know what they were, but there was no one inside. It didn't look like any had been there for a while."
The dragon moved back a bit, and took a few seconds to speak, "Well, that explains why no one has touched the tablet in centuries." It paused for a moment before continuing. "That temple you found used to belong to the dragon monks. They were...martial artists, like that girl you met before you came here. I would grant your powers to the best of them, to make them even more effective at combatting the evil they trained to fight. However, I would only give it to those that were deemed worthy. The sole reason I gave it to you was because it had been so long since any had touched that tablet. Obviously, time made me impatient. You don't deserve to be a dragon master.
Bryan stared at the dragon for moment before responding, "But...Why?!"
"Why? You continued a fight you obviously could not win. And for what? What would you have gained if you had won? What would you have prevented?" The dragon gave Bryan a few moments to answer, but he could not. "You had nothing to gain from that fight, but could've lost your life if you lost, which you did. That was foolish. Your panic caused you to start to fade into my realm. That was all that saved you."
"So...Am I still on earth?"
"No, you're in another realm, you wouldn't understand. Anyway, I should just take your powers away from you and send you back to your home realm. I will wait until a more worthy fighter comes along."
Bryan panicked, this thing was going to take this powers! "But..." Bryan tried to think of a way to convince this thing to not take his powers. "What makes you think anyone else will find that tablet?"
The dragon took a moment to respond. "I do not know what state my temple resides in. I can only see our of your eyes when you're in that suit, and you didn't use it while you were inside the temple. Enlighten me."
"I...ran away from home. Because my father treats me like garbage. I entered a cave outside the city-"
"There is a city near the temple?"
"Uh, yes, its been there for a while. I don't know how long. Its probably home to over 10,000 people or something. It used to have a lot higher population than it does now."
The dragon just stared at Bryan for a few seconds before speaking again. "Much has changed in the time since the last dragon master. Does anyone else know of the sacred temple?"
"I never heard of it. And while I was exploring the cave, there was a cave in and I fell into a hole. I guess the entrance had been sealed up to that point. I'm probably the only person who knows about it."
Again, the dragon took a few moments to respond. It obviously preferred to take a moment to think before speaking. "Then I guess there is no way I can convince you to lead someone else to the temple?"
"No. And besides, if I did reveal it to someone, archaeologists may block of access to the site."
"Why would they go that?"
Bryan then remember that this thing just said that it hadn't had any contact with Earth for centuries. It probably knew nothing of modern society. "Archaeologists, and people who study old abandoned ruins and such. They try to understand the past, parts that have been forgotten. If they know about that temple, they'll prevent anyone from entering it just to make sure no one alters it or anything. They may even put up like a metal gate to keep people out."
"...I sense you are telling the truth...This is most troubling. You are not worthy, but its possible there may be no more dragon masters after you." The dragon remained silent for several seconds, obviously mulling over its options. "Explain to me what I just told you?"
"About what?" Then suddenly he remembered. "Oh, you told me that I should've run from that fight, because there was no benefit to it. And admittedly, you were right. I shouldn't have continued that fight. But, I can't stand to see evil go unpunished. I couldn't just leave that thing!...That's why I stayed and fought."
"Would you do this again?"
"What other options could I have had? I had no idea what that thing was or what it was used for. All I know is it belonged to...a group that sells...'drugs'. They're...poisons that make you want to take them over and over again. People die because that stuff all the time. It ruins lives. My own mother got into drugs after she divorced my father. I haven't seen her since."
"...Then you have good reason to be ridding the world of these people...Your heart is obviously in the right place, but you lack the skill and knowledge to accomplish what you want...That girl, her...fighting style is foreign to me, but she's obviously effective. Perhaps you can convince her to teach you how to fight?"
"I, don't know. I just met her that fight. And she thought I was an idiot!"
"She did have reason to think that. You just admited yourself what you did was foolish."
"Yeah..."
"Listen, you are willing to learn, and honestly, perhaps I shouldn't blame you for your ignorance. Listen to my advice, think before you act, and try to get that girl to teach you how to properly fight."
"I, I will. Besides, I feel like a clumsy idiot fighting anyway. I wouldn't mind learning to be more...effective."
"You can return to my realm whenever you want. But, if you come back here again, and you haven't achieved my approval, I will see you as hopeless and remove your powers. So make sure you actually learn how to fight. No doubt you will need to return to my realm again some day, like you had to today just to save your own life."
"I will do that. Uh, can I return home now?"
"You can't leave my run with your own power. I have to send you back myself."
"Uh, how about not putting me back where I came from? I was in a pretty bad situation..."
"I won't, even though I could. I would normally send you back to the temple, since its the place I'm most familiar with. But I did just send you on an errand to find that girl, didn't I? I guess I will place you back ontop of that building, the one you started from right before your futile struggle."
"Okay, but it may take me a while to find that girl. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Hmm...the city you came from sounds large. And you didn't even see her face. Hmmm..." The dragon took a while to think up a solution. "Perhaps she followed you to where those men took you?"
"I was unconcious when they brought me there, I have no idea where it is." Then suddenly, Bryan had an epiphany. "If she followed me there, she may have called for help. It appeared to be the gang's lair. Maybe there's a huge police force infront of that building right now! Or maybe one of the guardians went in there and its now on fire or something."
"Do what you must to find this girl. Or someone that can teach you. I will take your powers from you the next time we meet, if you are still unworthy." And with that, the world started to go dark again as Bryan was transport back to Earth.
Commentary:
There was no actual gameplay here. I just wrote out a story that would both get Bryan out of his situation, and lead him on the right path. I did think about doing a bluff check with the dragon, but that thing probably has a mind of 5 so Bryan couldn't possibly succeed anyway. And besides, I didn't feel like stating out that dragon anyway.
And looking at my posts, I've noticed that the forums haven't been using all my editing. I've put things into italics and indented all my paragraphs, but none of that is transferring to this forum. I'm actually typing all of these into word pad and copy-pasting it all here once I'm done.
As for the story itself. I actually intended this to be the final chapter, but it obviously didn't work out that way. I had to kinda cut it short too after I realized that their little conversation had taken up 5 pages (the other chapters took up 3 or 4). So yeah, this isn't the end like I planned. There will be another chapter, possibly more, in the future.
As for what I've learned playing this: I've done a lot of attack and damage checks. Also got to use a lot of wrestling moves in chapter 4. I would like to actually do other checks too, like skill checks for instance, in the future.
So yeah, anyway, now Bryan has to try and track down Vagabond (still not 100% sure how he's going to find her), and try to convince her that he's not an idiot, even though he kinda is. Perhaps we'll also see some of his non-superhero life.
This took an interesting turn. Your writing is pretty good (a few typos aside) I really liked the conversation with the Dragon. In particular I liked the variation of the "Chosen One" archetype- in fact I prefer it when the hero is more moved by coincidence (and his own conscience) than Fate.
Btw, yes doing copypasting on Wikis often removes setups such as Italics, that's why you should always see the Preview of the post before Submitting it. You can then modify it using the Board options.
Its been more than a week since my last update, so I decided I needed to post something.
I haven't actually been working on the next chapter. Mostly because, I'm not finding this as entertaining as I thought I would. I just don't feel like continuing, even though I hate the idea of leaving my story unfinished.
Maybe it was because I was playing too frequently? Or maybe tabletop roleplaying just isn't meant for me. I once played a game of VtR through email about 8 years ago, but I grew bored with it and quit responding. Before that I played on a NWN roleplaying server, but now I seem to recall admitting once that I roleplayed more for social activity than for the sake of doing so.
I hope to finish this eventually, but I really just don't feel the drive to right now. Really, I feel apathetic and unmotivated most of the time. I'm starting to suspect I may have depression.
So yeah, still no next chapter, and I have no idea when it'll be up. Like I said though, I hate the idea of leaving my story unfinished, so I will hopefully continue it soon. It may or may not actually involve any rolling of dice, like my last chapter, but I will hopefully continue this and conclude it eventually. Of course, superhero stories by their nature never really conclude, but oh well. And besides, Captain Chris went for nearly a month without updating his actual play, so I kinda feel like I don't really need to rush.
