I'm looking to start a pulp horror SD in a similar vein to the Hellboy stories. The SD will be set in modern times and center around some of the more backwoodsy areas of Europe. I'll write up a more detailed begining plot if enough people get interested. The monsters and supernatural elements will be modified classic folktale creatures and the overall mythic structure will be a modified juedo-Christian one, with a poetically licensed "God" at the top. Non-European elements will be worked in if needed. I'm going to try to expunge all Lovecraftian influences, we'll see how that works out. For the SD I'll need a vetern SDer to act as an assistent GM in case I get too busy to check in regularly. For those who are intested, a few basic rules: No using of established characters or bringing in things like the BPRD or Hellsing Organization. All posts in the IC thread must be made IC and must be written properly. (I don't want to see short posts saying thing like "*the character did stuff*" with the idotic use of *.) Vampire players cannot be related to Dracula. Players should be expected to try and work in classic mythical elements and understand when people use them. You all have access to Wikipedia. Respect backstories on monster types by other players as canon. So if a player creates a werewolf character, any other players using werewolves must follow the same rules. Same deal for when monsters are encountered as NPCs. And, as always, no nano technology because it pisses me off. A summery of the SD and index of confirmed monsters. **** SETTING: Europe, Modern Day PLOT: Elizabeth Bathory made Dorottya Szentes into a vampire. They were "killed" in 1611. Elizabeth's head was taken by the Russian Orthodox Church to Russia, while the body remained buried, but unsalted in Romania, making her unable to rise. Szentes head was also seperated from her body, but was reunited in 1939 by the Thule society for an unknown purpose- they possibly suspected she held or knew of great power to help control the world. However she was able to convince them their goals could only be fulfilled by Bathory. A project to retrieve Bathory's head was authorized by the Thule society, but was stopped by British Commandos, French resistence, and an American specialist known as Hammerfist. Szentes was once again "killed", crushed to death in ruins in France. She has recently reformed and now seeks her master's head to reunite with the corpse. She has a small following of Nazis and hypnotized servents. CHARACTERS: Dorottya Szentes: Vampire, disciple of Elizabeth Bathory. Reynaud Gachon: French mentalist and magic user, part of a French paranormal investigation unit. Suzana Kromfberg: Enchanted Ex-Nazi. Searches out and destroys Nazis. Franz Walpot von Bassenheim: German holy warrior Titus C. Geist: Member of an American paranormal society, gunslinger, some magical ablity. Karl Magnus: Werewolf, criminal, Nazi. Gail Jackson: U.S. Marshal, illusionist, escape artist, achelmist, other small magics. Grigori Sobolev: Callous undead interested in magical and arcane knowledge. He can create illusion. ORGANIZATIONS: Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire: French paranormal agency, a division of French intelligence. Frontier Society: Organization dedicated to controlling the Mythological population in the American-midwest MONSTER INDEX: VAMPIRES: God created Lilth, who rebeled and became the first vampire, roaming the earth create all following vampires. All vampires are women, and to become a vampire is done by willingly drinking blood offered by a vampire. To become a vampire a woman must both have a desire for evil and power and must be a virgin. Vampires roam the earth looking to create more of their kind and to do whatever greedy thing is in their nature. They must bathe in blood to keep a youthful appearence, otherwise their body ages and eventually if they do not get blood for hundreds of years their body will wither and they will die. Vampires do not need to drink blood, but they enjoy the taste and seek out victims. The more pure the person they better the blood tastes, so virgins, children, and babies are the most sought after targets. Vampires love that baby blood. vampires can smell out those qualities, along with being able to smell nearby vampires. Vampires can achieve hypnotic powers over men by biting their necks. A vampire that is "killed" by conventional means will reform. Sliver, crosses, garlic, running water, and daylight do not kill vampires, though they prefer the night or overcast and rainy days. Vampires do not need to breathe. The only way to kill a vampire is to use a holy object(as in, something actually blessed by someone important, not just rinky dink crosses) to kill them, place the head between the legs and then to salt the body and place it somewhere for a few hundred years to let the whole thing decompose. Vampires do have reflection, and are in fact often very vain. They do not cast shadows. There are very, very few vampires. No exact numbers can really be formed becuase they are so stealthy, so hard to kill, and many people are falsely accused of being vampires. SPIDER-SPIRIT: Known to live in the American mid-west. Aggressive. WEREWOLF: Can transform at will between dusk and dawn. Strength varies, and werewolves are strongest on nights with full moons. Werewolves are known to lift objects such as cars and dumpsters and have extremely sharp claws. Werewolves are agile and have excellent climbing ability. Sliver is the only weapon that can consistently harm werewolves. Werewolves regenerate all wounds but those in which silver remains (such as silver bullets.) GHOSTS: GHOULS:
nice.... So it woul be possible to have some old classic horror creatures and turn them into modern-day versions? If so, the Phantom of the Opera AKA Eric would be a Artemis Fowl-kind of character.
ATTENTION NEWCOMERS Due to requests, this thread now has some OOB information. Refer to Page 15 for information on characters, creatures, and organizations.
Name: Inspector Reynaud Gachon Nationality: French Age: 37 Height: 178 cm (5'10") Weight: 68 kg (150 lbs) Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Distinguishing Marks: Left eye green (glass replacement), protection sigil tattooed over heart Languages: French, English, Latin, smattering of others Affiliation: Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire, Division Spéciale Talents: Expansive magical knowledge, mentalist training, prestidigitation Hobbies: "Gambling," collecting books Equipment: .357 magnum revolver, magic chalk, consecrated knife, "pocket book" of spells and incantations (written in code), templar cross on silver chain around neck Reynaud is an agent of the division of French intelligence responsible for supernatural events, and has a somewhat mysterious past. His records are sealed and no one but his highest superiors know who trained him or how it was done, but he is a dedicated civil servant of France and his effectiveness speaks for itself. He is a trained mentalist, granting him a smattering of psychic powers; he is also a well-read and experienced magician. He has exceptionally dextrous hands, and is skilled at performance magic like card tricks, pulling rabbits out of hats, etc. He likes to "gamble," which with his talents is more like simply stealing money, but he is careful to do so sparingly and never to win too much. He has police training and is competent but not exceptional in marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat. However, he has a great advantage in combat from his mentalist training, and when in a firefight or entering a room he always knows where his enemies are, regardless of visibility. Powers (mentalist) Passively (without special concentration), he possesses a sixth sense that allows him to "see" his surroundings if blinded, and to locate intelligent creatures in his immediate vicinity. With concentration, he can undertake remote viewing, read surface thoughts, detect emotions, and hypnotize people with eye contact. Occasionally he experiences sudden flashes of insight, simply realizing deeply-held secrets or important clues to a crime. Also by concentration, he can narrow his focus, to refine his five physical senses, decrease his reaction time, ignore pain, or steady himself for more accurate shooting. Use of this ability can greatly aid him in a dangerous situation but diverts his attention from other threats and causes him to tire rapidly. With physical contact and concentration he can initiate post-cognition (i.e., by touching a murder weapon he can divine the identity of the parties involved and the circumstances); with physical contact, concentration, and the cooperation of the subject, he can experience memories--even suppressed memories--carried by the subject. Powers (magical): A complete catalogue of what he knows how to do would be too long to list here, particularly when his collection of books of magic is taken into account. He tends to shy away from direct "strong-arm" magic and uses less obvious spells (his favorite schools are scrying, true direction finding, tracking, and divination). However, when necessary, he is capable of using dangerous and deadly magic, such as manifesting balefire, summoning spectres, and pronouncing curses.
Hmmm... Werewolves, Vampires, aliens.... What are we missing? Oh, of course, Nazis. Name: Suzana Kromfberg Nationality: German Languages: German, English, Russain. Age: Technically (Assuming this takes place present day) 64. Frozen at age 22 Height: 158 cm Weight: ask and die Pic: Equipment: Suzana wears what you see in the pic, except that she wears a heavy raincoat over her uniform. So far as anyone knows, she's never taken the uniform off. Abilities: Cold Blooded: Suzana's body temperature is roughly 43 degree F. She is relatively uneffected by weather. Outsider: Despite never showering and not changing clothes for the past few dozen years, Suzana maintains a pristine appearence. Bound: Suzana is magically bound to the black ribbon in her hair, and it that is damaged in any way, it hurts her. Furthermore, Anyone possesing the ribbon has control of her. This grants her the advantage of greater endurance as far as her body goes, even though she can still very much feel pain, although the only way to truely kill her is to destroy the ribbon. Wounds she recieves will heal quickly, anywhere between 2 and ten minutes. Other than that she bleeds just like a normal human, and is often mistaken for dead. (Because, technically, she is.) The Ribbon: is fairly resistant to the elements, magic, as well as physical damage than it should be. The easiest way to destroy it would be to shoot it, or put a torch to it. Glacialis Kinetic: Suzana has limited control over water molecules, espicially in their solid state. She can turn Water to ice at a rate of 2 sq. inches per second, manipulate it enough to form ice shards, and make it stronger than it should be. Bio: Suzana is a former citizen of Nazi Germany and was very proud of her country. She rose into the SS as Hitler rose to power, and was good at her job, testing magics, investigating ruins, dissecting bodies, and searching for proof that Arians were the master race. Unfortunatly, her consience was to strong for her position in the SS to last. She protested loudly when the Jews were deported to the camps, and more so when they were killed. Eventually, she was relieved of her position and became one of the occult test subjects. She doesn't remember much from her days in the lab. They were terrible to say the least. There was much experimentation on her soul and body, the last of which involved the forming of a hybrid between her and an ice spirit which had been perserved. The experiment ended with the removal of her soul from her body, and the combining of it and the ice spirit's soul and hers, and it attatched to the nearest physical object, her ribbon. During the first few moments, the ice spirit went berserk, and froze the entire lab. For some 5 years, the ice melted incredibly slowly, until Suzana woke up being the only living being in the compound. Reclaiming the uniform she was entitled to, Suzana proudly walked out of the compound and to civilization. Shortly afterward, she was arrested for wearing an SS uniform. She escaped from the holding cell, and quickly found a change of clothes to put over her uniform. Slowly she learned what she had missed, and began rebuilding her life. She is wholeheartedly devoted to trying to destroy any Nazi remenants she finds, and she lives to this day looking for ones she missed.
Ty, i got two questions. One: Can my char and your's belong to the same organization? Unless she isn't with any organization of course. Two: IS THERE ANY END AT YOUR COLLECTION THE NUMBER OF PICS OF ANIME WOMEN?
Well, the New Ahnenerbe Forschungs und Lehrgemeinschaft is the reincarnation of the old Mystic Ahnenerbe department of the SS, also known as the Thule Society. Here's their entry on wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnenerbe They were the ones who sended out expiditions throughout the world, and they were used as the base for the occult Nazis in Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Hellboy.
Hmmm. I'm going to have to decline on your offer assuming you mean she's still associated with the Thule Society. Although if your character has access to information on that topic he may recognize her. Character finished
Damar: The phantom of the opera is out as a character, becuase he is an established fictional character, and not part of any myth that people actually believed in. What you can have though is a pulp hero inspired by the POTO, but he must acknowledge that in-universe. Tyrael: A similar character is fine, but no established characters. Damar again: Yes, guns are allowed. Pablo_Sanchez2000: Heightened senses are okay, but no pre-cognition. Also this character is on the upper limits of what I want to allow powerwise for this SD. I'll approve him, but he has to be more than a 2d badass.
I've got a question.. what time frame does this take place in? Also though it takes place in europe I assume we don't have to make a European character correct?
Time frame is a generic "present day" though I'd prefer characters to not be tied too strongly to anything recent (sych as the War in Iraq or Enron or whatever) Any yeah, whatever nationality is fine.
I edited out the precognition. If you're worried about him being overpowered, there's two things: first, although he can cast dangerous magic, he's going to be rather weak in a stand-up fight compared to more physical characters--especially since danger sense has been ruled out. Second, I'm not intending to play him as a violence-based character.
Have no fear, she's completely original. If that pic is actually from a series, I've never seen it. I think it's just random though.
Hm, another undead/Horror SD, how could I not join? Name: Franz Walpot von Bassenheim Nationality: German Age: 33 Height: 184 cm (~6'00") Weight: 89kg (~197 lbs) Hair: Black Eyes: Hazel Languages: German, Latin, and broken English Affiliation: Teutonic Order Talents: Mainly marksmanship with some training in swordplay Equipment: H&K MP7-PDW, Templar Sword, Bible, Templar Cross, Holy Water Powers: Blessed: Franz is able to channel the Holy Spirit to protect him in times of need. This mainly takes form in being able to shield himself from harm rather than using it offensively. Bio: If one looked at Franz's life they could tell that he was born to be a Holy Warrior. Even as a young boy he knew that he was descended from the first Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. Combined with being raised in a very pious, Catholic family it was no wonder that he joined the order as young as he did. It was there that he discovered that while the order looked like a charitable organization on the outside they still maintained a small warrior group meant to combat the supernatural. Franz was soon inducted into those few. Since then he has learned his own innate abilities, and has become a seasoned and experienced warrior for the Order.
Name: Titus C. Geist Nationality: American Age: 34 Height: 190 cm Weight: 68 kilograms Hair: Black Eyes: Green Distinguishing Marks: Withered right hand. Languages: English, German, French Affiliation: The Frontier Society Talents: Thaumaturgy, Gunmagery Hobbies: Reading, Entymology Equipment: Colt Peacemaker Buntline Special (12 inch barrel), a collection of exotic insect venoms, assorted magical odds and ends (components mostly), cartridge manufacturing Bio: A tall, gaunt figure perpetually shrouded in black, Titus is the Frontier Society's representative in Europe. Fascinated by insects and arachnids from an early age, this was quickly joined by an interest in the occult. It wasn't long after he got out of college that one of his cave-diving expeditions brought him upon a meeting of the Frontier Society, an organization dedicated to controlling the Mythological population in the American-midwest. Long story short he gained membership after driving off a spider-spirit that had been prowling the tunnels of a nearby coal mine. However a bite from the apparition has left his right hand permanently withered. The next 10 years were a string of battles broken occasionally by long periods spent recovering medically and studying magic until eventually his achievements resulted in his being assigned to Europe as a contact for the supernatural agencies on that continent as well as an on-call agent to lend aid when neccesary. Powers: Minor enchanting ability, usually used in the manufacture of the specialized rounds he uses hunting those things out of myth that stalk humanity. Using this magic in conjunction with a wide assortment of supernaturally potent ingredients he can produce shells for his long-barreled revolver.
Vampires and werewolves can get sorta boring. Here's a list of some lesser known folkloric "entities" that could make some interesting appearances with enough creativity added. This is just a quick list, trust me, there's a lot of weird stories out there. The Count of St. Germain Spring Heeled Jack The Beast of Gévaudan (The most famous werewolf story in the world, the basis for "The Brotherhood of the Wolf) The Monster of Glamis Castle The Mad Gasser of Mattoon [2] P.S. If I join this SD, I'm taking Jack
Good, the more obscure beasties, the better. Though for an introductory adventure, I'm going to use (my own interperatation) of vampires. The plot: Elizabeth Bathory made Dorottya Szentes into a vampire. They were "killed" in 1611. Elizabeth's head was taken by the Russian Orthodox Church to Russia, while the body remained buried, but unsalted in Romania, making her unable to rise. Szentes head was also seperated from her body, but was reunited in 1939 by the Thule society for an unknown purpose- they possibly suspected she held or knew of great power to help control the world. However she was able to convince them their goals could only be fulfilled by Bathory. A project to retrieve Bathory's head was authorized by the Thule society, but was stopped by British Commandos, French resistence, and an American specialist known as Hammerfist. Szentes was once again "killed", crushed to death in ruins in France. She has recently reformed and now seeks her master's head to reunite with the corpse. She has a small following of Nazis and hypnotized servents. This mission might not be an "end of the world" situation, but vampires running around is a bad thing and creates a good adventure. Plus it's a race to find a head.
While we;'re on lesser known paranormal we can count a few more Mothman Jersey Devil Can they be a Danpir or part Vampire? Guy I usally have in stock for this is part vamp because of who is Grandfather is and he extended his life by injecting Vampire blood. Nathan Christopher Van Helsing.
Name: Karl Magnus Nationality: German Age: 82(but looks like an man in his late thirties) Height: 186 cm(240 cm when transformed) Weight: 79 kg (180 kg when transformed) Hair: Black (also when transformed) Eyes: Green(Yellow when transformed) Distinguishing Marks: Sharper than usual teeth, heavy eye-brows Languages: German, English Affiliation: The New Ahnenerbe Forschungs und Lehrgemeinschaft, Europan criminal organizations. Talents: Advanced hand-to-hand combat training, weapons training, superior tracking skills Hobbies: Watching movies, archeology Equipment: Walther P38 9mm, G-36C(both weapons use hollow point bullets filled with silver nitrate and <to be inserted in the future>) silver-lined knife, black spandex pants beneath regular clothes. Bio: Karl Magnus was born in 1919 in the Bavarian province of Germany, as the son of a farmer. Magnus grew up as a boy under the Nazi regime, and in 1939, joined the Waffen-SS where he was quickly promoted to Feldwebel because of his emotionless way of following orders, even if they were against humanity itself. During Operation Barbarossa in 1941, Magnus and the Einsatzgrupp to where he belonged were send out to eradicate a band of gypsies who were spotted near Khursk. But when they arrived, and began ordering the gypsies to line up, the gypsies soundly transformed into large hulking man-beasts or "Werwolf" and started slaughtering the SS Einsatzgrupp. Magnus was the only SSer to have survived the massacre, but was bitten by one of the gypsie-werewolves in the arm. Magnus was later found and brought to a field hospital by a Wehrmacht platoon. When he wrote a report of what happend, his superiors believed he was either lying or had gone insane. But suddenly a SS General of the Ahnerebe section of the SS, and had Magnus transferred from the Eastern front to the Ahnerebe's headquarters in the Scharzwald, a old ancient keep. There was discovered that Magnus, due to his bite-wound from the gypsies, was also slowy turning into a werewolf. But instead of curing Magnus, or even put him out of his misery, the Ahnerebe made Magnus their prime operative in their operations. In fact, after the change was complete he was ordered to bite a select group of SSers, while in werewolf-form. In the years following, the Allies recieved reports of gruesome killings at battlefields like Monte Cassino and Stalingrad. The same thing happend to Allied archelogical expiditions in Iceland, Brazil,Iraq, Tibet and Africa. When in 1945 Nazi-Germany surrended and Adolf Hitler shot himself in the head, Karl Magnus went underground in the new Warshaw Pact, and spent his time through the following years with taking on jobs for criminals. But in the nineties, Magnus was approached by a fellow Ahnerebe werewolf operative, and he brought Magnus to a reincarnated Ahnerebe organization, who is funded by hidden stores of Nazi gold, and primairy goal is toa create a Fourth Reich with mystical means. Magnus once again serves as their prime operative, and currently is stationed in Berlin. Powers Human Form: In Human form, Magnus is as strong as a Oylmpic weightlifter and has also the speed and agility of Olympic athelete level. His senses like hearing, smell and eyesight are heighted beyond that of normal humans. Powers Werewolf Form: Magnus can only change into a werewolf between dusk and dawn Magnus can lift up a normal-sized car, and slam his fist through a thin brick wall. His strength varies, with being the strongest with a full moon and the weakest with none(but still strong enough to pull a human apart). His claws can cleave through most organic,non-organic and metal subtenaces. Magnus can leap about twelve metres into the air and has excellent climbing capability. He is as fast as leopard when running on all four limbs. Magnus's cannot be seriously harmed by anything but silver to either heart or brain or any vital organs and massive trauma(meaning head chopped, reduced to a bloody pulp, heart ripped out of chest). He can heal about twenty times the normal human, but if the wounds have silver in them, he cannot regenerate until they are removed.
