Welcome To Shearport

The Fuzz

The Fuzz

Staberinde
This is the Out Of Character thread, for discussing random crap, commenting on the events of the game, and shameless metagaming.


Seeing as this is the first post, I think I should probably put some useful information here where it can always be found.


Character generation as standard, plus 20 xp. If you want to drop Clarity for 5 xp per dot, you can, but to no lower than 5.


You may also start with one (1) Pledge in play.


If you want to buy attributes and skills up to 5 at character generation, that's cool. The fifth dot will not cost double.


I'm ok with starting with a Contract at 5, but it might make your character a bit of a one-trick pony.


If you want to trade four three Merit dots to start at Wyrd 2, that's fine.


Specialties do not stack. Only one specialty can apply to a dice roll.


Also, I'd really appreciate, before starting the game, if everyone could post a real brief (like, a couple of paragraphs) description of your character and how they came to be in Shearport, how they got involved in the hostel, etc.


Then, it would be super cool if everyone could just have a simple statement for how you guys ended up working the B&B together. I'm not, like, asking for how everyone ended up all living in the B&B like a big happy family, mind. A couple of folks have specified that they will be involved in other local businesses. Just, you know. I'd like to start the game with the basic assumption that you guys know each other and at least sort-of get along.


EDIT: Whoops! Thanks to risa for reminding me, raising Wyrd at character creation is three Merit dots, not four. Always remind me if I have something wrong, it's not fair to you guys otherwise.
 
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Um... well I guess if I get the ball rolling...


My idea for my character is a Fireheart Elemental, early 20's, lanky, loves metal bands. Used to be a firefighter before he was taken, but upon returning from his durance had the urge to take up cooking instead.


Immediate family is a bunch of worthless scumbags who won't lift a finger to help him, and thus turns to his Grandmother who lives across the country in Shearport. She teaches him food making deliciousness the way only grannies can, and puts in a good word to the B&B to hire him as a chef. Afterall you need someone to make the breakfast in bed and breakfast...


So in need of a place to stay, he rents one of the umpteen rooms in his grans giant house and pays for it with the job he now has for the B&B, making pancakes that are simply divine.


So yeah... if that fits, I'll continue statting him... if anything seems like it needs changed, I'll get right on it...
 
PixelWitch said:
Um... well I guess if I get the ball rolling...
My idea for my character is a Fireheart Elemental, early 20's, lanky, loves metal bands. Used to be a firefighter before he was taken, but upon returning from his durance had the urge to take up cooking instead.


Immediate family is a bunch of worthless scumbags who won't lift a finger to help him, and thus turns to his Grandmother who lives across the country in Shearport. She teaches him food making deliciousness the way only grannies can, and puts in a good word to the B&B to hire him as a chef. Afterall you need someone to make the breakfast in bed and breakfast...


So in need of a place to stay, he rents one of the umpteen rooms in his grans giant house and pays for it with the job he now has for the B&B, making pancakes that are simply divine.


So yeah... if that fits, I'll continue statting him... if anything seems like it needs changed, I'll get right on it...
Click to expand...
Sounds good to me. Nice.
 
Who do we want more - Wizened barman and pledge-crafter who thought this was a nice place to settle down and serve cold ones (and Wyrd help him it'll stay a nice little place to settle down) or Draconic/Woodblood Park Ranger who moonlights as a guide through the forests and such for tourist. Bit full of himself, mostly able to back it up, sees himself as the one responsible for making sure local 'lings fucking well behave.
 
I'm on my phone on the morning commute, so I can't go into full detail on Sackcloth here. Short version: Wizened Artist handyman who fixes everything and anything. More detail when I get home.


Wanted to ask while I remembered, though: Merits. Are they the usual (2 x new dots) or 2 per dot? It's a common enpugh house rule that I felt the need to ask. Asked before but it got lost in the flurry.
 
Lita the Magpie, Windwing Beast:


Randomly appeared in town about a year ago, has taken up residence in the old abandoned lighthouse. She hangs around the B&B doing odd jobs and errands. Mostly she collects objects and secrets and is very useful if you need something. She probably has some bit of loyalty to the owner of the B&B, probably because of something that happened soon after she arrived, which is why she sticks around and is maybe a little less likely to pilfer from his guests. She looks to be about early to mid teens, but has a demeanor and priorities that much more resemble those of a young child. Oh yeah, and she likes shiny things.


Grey: I like your bartender concept
 
Alright, I am home and it's time to outline Sackcloth!

Sackcloth would've appeared about a year ago in town, fresh from the Hedge, homeless and destitute. He'd have lived on the street a while, maybe stealing a little bit, just enough to survive, but not for long. Eventually, he'd have spotted something at the B&B: A broken chair on the porch or something similar. Unable to stand the sight of something broken and sympathetic to the chair's plight, he'd take it, repair it, and return it better than new. This would happen any time someone left something broken out. Eventually, he'd have been caught - deliberately or accidentally - and offered a job and a room, which he happily accepted.


Ever since then, Sackcloth's been the caretaker. The inn's gotten remarkably prettier since his tenancy; the roof much more durable, the woodwork inlaid in intricate patterns, the furniture upholstered to the utmost heights of comfort, and so forth. It feels like a fairy-tale cottage; warm, inviting, and yet strangely otherworldly.


Sackcloth himself is rarely seen inside the inn. A part of this is because he works better when he's not seen ("Keeps down on the distractions", so he says), a part because he's not very good with people, and a part because he can be a rather territorial little puck. When Sackcloth is working in a room, it's his room while he's working there. When he's in the kitchen, it's Sackcloth's kitchen. His workshop is damn well his at every and any hour of the day. Even the inn is his, in his mind. Someone else's property, certainly, but Sackcloth's inn just the same.


If his presence is felt most often, it's in the little niceties he offers. Anyone who leaves a broken possession out somewhere Sackcloth might find it, perhaps with some cookies or a mug of beer, it'll be fixed and back by morning along with the emptied plate or mug. Someone who's had a rough day might find a carefully baked treat or a new outfit waiting for them outside their room.


Sackcloth's ire is most felt by his absence. If someone is cruel or haughty, or perhaps just too effusive in their praise of him (he's not a fan of feeling obligated), they don't suffer any direct maliciousness... But isn't it frustrating when your car takes five turns of the key to start? Or when you rip the leg of your favourite pair of pants and no-one's there to fix them? Sackcloth doesn't hurt or chastise for people forgetting their manners; just lets them reap what they've sown... And maybe tweaks their spark plugs or loosens a thread if the reaping needs helping along.


As for how Sackcloth gets along with other people...


Pixelwitch - Feels like Sackcloth wouldn't have a hard time with your elemental; the two could swap recipes. He's got a bit of a natural sympathy for elementals, too, and a love for magic, which elementals seem to have in spades...


Grey - I could go for either. Barman sounds like it might be the most fun to my mind but I could easily be wrong, whereas the park ranger sounds like they'd have some very useful skills to bring to the table. Everyone needs some goblin fruit, after all. Sackcloth has an odd relationship with the woods. With the barman, they might butt heads a good bit, but that can be plenty of fun as long as it's done right.


Risaphoenix - I can imagine a big sign saying "STAY OUT!" and a few dozen locks on Sackcloth's door, etched with images of magpies impaled on thorns. If she has secrets and interesting knickknacks, though, can't afford to alienate her. Sackcloth needs bits and bobs for his special creations, after all, and stolen things often have more magic than things rightly bought.


Not sure if this is the exact opposite of "No need to explain how you're all a happy family" or not.
 
Both looks rather pretty... I'll toss this on the list of possible looks. I suppose an outright manor would be a tad excessive.


Name suggestions:


-The Fallen Branch


-Stag's Antlers Inn


-The World's End (tee hee)


-Last Call Inn


-The Lost and Found


-The Shear Crag


-A Port in a Storm


-The Fairy and the Firkin


-The Fiddlin' Fae


-Llareggub


-Seelie House


-The Twilight Hour Inn


-The Witching Hour Inn
 
Ok guys, I've been prevailed upon to let a seventh player into the game. Inari has an idea for a dude relatively recently escaped, getting used to being a human and not a wolf anymore. He'll post more about it himself.


Also, when posting up your character threads, could you guys keep track of xp expenditures? Including your starting 20? It'd just be handier.


Something like:


XP: 20


Spent: 15 on Dexterity 3


Banked: 5


I also like both "The Black Lantern" and "Last Call Inn".
 
Should we include backstory/stats there? I don't really have anything I need to keep private but just wondering if you want us to do so.
 
Things I would like to see in character threads: both your character's stats, and their backstory. If there's stuff in the backstory that you want kept private, put it in a PM to me.
 
Also! The Merits question, about xp costs and whether it's per dot, or whatnot.


It's like this:


If a Merit has a fixed rating, like, it is specifically a three dot Merit or a two dot Merit, then you pay the dot rating x2.


If it's one of those Merits which comes in stacks, like Resources or Fighting Styles, then you buy each dot sequentially, so that Resources 1 costs 2 xp, and going from Resources 1 to Resources 2 is 4 xp.


Effectively, if a Merit is bought all at once, then you just pay two times its dot rating. If a Merit is bought sequentially, you pay for each step.


A Retainer is considered a single, fixed rating Merit. You cannot have a dog rated at Retainer 1 and then increase the rating to Retainer 2 and swap the dog for a butler.


Sufficiently clever in-game actions should result in small amounts of bonus xp towards gaining appropriate Merits.
 
Actually going with Park Ranger/Pledge Enforcer, partly because I usually play arrogant academics rather than belligerent pretty-boys.


EDIT: Can we please use the God-Machine Virtue & Vice method? It doesn't require any mechanical change other than allowing more specific options.


EDIT 2: Castlerock Inn, oh yes. Or Black Lanten/White Ash.


Is it cool if Lucas considers himself THE LAW and isn't affiliated with a Court? I can see him harvesting Glamour by telling horror stories to tourists around a camp fire one night, and goading someone into a barfight for anger another.


Giving serious thought to him having made every new 'ling swear on a nemesis emblem not to cause harm to Shearport.
 
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Many thanks for the answer. I don't really have any other pressing questions. Looking forward to game start!


Edit for Grey's edit: I'm happy to go with Black Lantern. Castlerock's fine, too, if the inn resembles a castle.


As for the nemesis oath... He can try. Can't see many taking kindly to it. Imposition of such a broadly termed oath by a courtless one would likely rankle something fierce. Can't see too many agreeing....
 
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I'm pretty sure Maine doesn't have any castles... I just put that in there for the reference. *Smirk*


I'm not myself familiar with the God-Machine splatbook... will it change things substantially?
 
The GMC will not be changing things, because I am not using it. Nice and simple.


Although.....Ok, I'll go look over the Virtue/Vice system again, I do recall it being a bit more flexible and less daft.


Also, Grey, your character can demand things, but everyone else is freely entitled to consider your character a dick.
 
Ok, on consideration from Yim, I will actually be ok with using the Virtue/Vice system from GMC. It's like this:


You still have a Virtue and a Vice. When your actions in a scene reflect your Virtue, regain all your Willpower. When your actions in a scene reflect your Vice, regain one Willpower.


Your Virtue and Vice do not necessarily have to be from the list of the seven sins and seven virtues, as presented in the original core. Instead, pick a personality trait to represent a Virtue, something your character believes in and views as good about themselves, something that when you do it, you feel a renewed sense of your own worth and place in the world. For your Vice, pick a behaviour or personality trait which is a petty or short term comfort, something your character does that makes him or her feel better, even though they know they shouldn't.


The elegance of this is, if you had already picked your V and V by the standard rules, and you like them, you can simply keep them, because it's the same system! Or, you can refine/define them differently. Up to you guys.
 
Obviously I'd tie him up in a Pledge not to abuse the position, if he could aim to maintain law and order.


Anyway, character Monday. Convention nao.
 
I kind of like the Nestlewood B&B. Also on terms of Nemesis Oath thing: Lita probably would not take kindly to that. Also I can see our characters (Trickster and Law Man) not getting along too well (which is fine and potentially amusing, though something to keep a bit of an eye on).
 
Sorry I'm a bit late to the game, but it's good to be here! My character is Reed Remington, a Hunterheart with a lupine bent. Early twenties, disarmingly handsome, and actually a familiar face around town, sort of. He used to visit every summer as a boy, and he was fairly well known since his family more or less founded Shearport way back when and his grandfather was still pretty influential. Some people still know him, but I'm debating whether that's enough to justify Contacts or Allies; I'll work out the details. He prefers to be called Red, courtesy of this bright red jacket he always wore as a kid and still has now. Anyway, his grandfather died during Red's durance, however, and he stumbled out of the Hedge a few weeks (maybe a couple of months) ago to find he was the sole inheritor to the estate. Red's been trying to get used to living as a human again, but he's got it better than most of his kind since he has a place to live and a trust fund to support him. He owns a portion of the B&B, and I was thinking he acts as a host if it's big enough to warrant something like that. He's useless at crafts and computers beyond the most basic tasks, and he's rough around the edges still, but he's got charisma in spades. He's taking an interest in making the place busier as well as revitalizing other businesses that have been stagnating since his grandfather's death. Red is also an initiate of the Autumn Court; he's not as scholarly as most of those members, but he knows fear.
 
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Sorry for getting in late, had a crazy busy week. I just posted the character concept there, the waterborn/airtouched fisherman. I imagine he'd get along pretty well with all the characters so far, and is generally pretty happy to just chill on the b&b's front porch and smoke his pipe. Until someone threatens the safety of the town's mortals, of course, at which point he takes down the glamour-infused harpoon he took back from Arcadia with him and puts an end to the problem. Still undecided as to whether he'd be more likely to fall into the Summer or Autumn courts.
 
Liam and Sackcloth will get along just fine, I imagine; I've been researching sea shanties because of this game and they are surprisingly complex...


Does Liam have a boat? I can see the brownie gladly helping keep it nice and secure... And maybe improving it if he's allowed. Maybe even if he isn't. Everybody likes a ship powered by an storm in a teacup!
 
Liam does indeed have a boat. She's third hand, a bit battered and not much to look at, but she's reliable and has both a sail and an outboard motor.
 
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