Yeah, I'll allow Craftsmanship to replace Lore for both, as long as it's applied to magnetic materials.

Expand on the bold bit when you have the time. First thing that came to mind with that city (beside the Horn...errr, Pelicans :facepalm) was Katrina. How would you guys connect that to the supernatural world? Would you want it to be connected, even?

Not sure if serious... but, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that anime. If you are serious and you think you could describe the place in a sufficient enough manner for me to be comfortable with it (or you think you could direct me towards someone who can), then be my guest. If you're joking, well... carry on, then.

 

Not much social conflict, there, though, eh Jon?

 

Alright, perfect then. I'f that's the case, I think I've got my character pretty well remodeled. A new version would be:

Power Level: Chest Deep (Refresh 8, Skill 30)
Name: -filler- (Depends on the city; he'll be a native)
Template: Emissary of Power
High Concept: Born of the Forge
Trouble: Fighting for Master's Favor

Background [Aspect 1]: Iron in These Bones
Born to a long line of blacksmiths and metal-workers, (insert name here) was always especially gifted, even beyond the abilities of the rest of his talented family. He was always the hardiest and strongest of them as well, which, combined with his supernatural abilities with a hammer, allowed (insert name here) to take on projects that were too difficult for most experienced craftsmen from an early age. As a result, the family business flourished, and ever more delicate work flowed in, allowing him to further hone his natural gifts.

Rising Conflict [Aspect 2]: Hardened for Revenge
One night, walking back home after dinner with his parents, they were accosted by two people. -insert name here- presumed he was merely dealing with a couple muggers, and he could more than handle himself in combat thanks to his physical gifts, so he decided to wait on the best moment to save them, hopefully at no risk to his parents. The moment never came. One moment everything was under control, and the next the creatures blurred forward, far faster than any human -insert name here- had ever seen, and transformed into some kind of misshapen humanoid bat. A fraction of a second later, his parents were on the ground, at the very least unconscious. He snapped to action in time to try and fight, and managed to slam one into a wall, but the other blurred into him and hit him so hard he skidded across the ground and landed in a bloody heap. It then walked casually towards him, seeming to relish his end, but then the other hissed something at him. They began some sort of nigh incomprehensible conversation, but it was all hisses and terror for -insert name here-; the only thing that he managed to understand and commit to memory was the word Hephaestus and something about a court of some sort. Then they blurred again and were gone, and his parents with them.

And that was it. He had no siblings, and his grandparents were either dead or lived so far away that they were of little real comfort. All he had was a word - Hephaestus. So he went looking for answers, and he found them. Associated with Hephaestus, god of the forge, was a symbol that - insert name here- was quite familiar with, a symbol that matched the birthmark on his shoulder. He learned about Hephaestus's characteristics and powers as best he could. He realized that perhaps he could be something -somebody- that could stop the monsters who took his parents. Not only that, but he could stop other things, too. His family was gone, but he could preserve others. In that moment, he hardened. He began to do research, explore the city around him, and he realized that what happened to his parents was not that uncommon. He scoured his house for any sign or mention of Hephaestus, and came up short, save one rotting book in his parents attic, describing some of his distant ancestors and their relationship with a patron god that they claimed to have met, and know. Unfortunately, it was of little use: there was no neat readout of his potential gifts, no way to summon the god assuming he even still existed. It did, however, give him a slight idea of what Hephaestus's champions were capable of, and that was enough.

He retreated from the world that he knew then, selling the business and the house, and moving just outside of town, where he could build a workshop and a forge, and test his power without interruption. He might have been bested, but he would make those monsters rue the day they left him alive. He would have his revenge. He would make Hephaestus take notice of his newest champion, if he still existed. And he would save -insert city-.

First Adventure [Aspect 3]: -filler-
Guest Star [Aspect 4]: -filler-
Guest Star Redux [Aspect 5]: - filler-

Skills:
5 - Endurance, Craftsmanship
4 - Might, Weapons
3 - Discipline, Conviction
2 - Resources, Athletics
1 - Presence, Alertness

Powers:
[+2] Toughness Catch: Ice
[+1] Toughness Catch: Researchable
[-2] Inhuman Toughness
[-2] Inhuman Recovery
[-2] Inhuman Strength
[-3] Born of the Forge
[-1] Marked by Power

[-7] Overall Refresh Adjustment

So yeah, the back stories are a little boring and melodramatic, respectively, but I think it gets across the basic point.

As for New Orleans, I figure Katrina could be tied into it through... I don't know, maybe a Fomor plot/intrusion. The time is a little wonky for that, but maybe New Orleans was an early attempt to become a major player. Maybe an old water god was pissed at the city. The Fomor would give more ongoing possibilities, but maybe the water god would make for an interesting influence? I don't know, you probably have a better idea of what would work than me.

As for supernatural stuff, I was just thinking it would make for interesting history/location (dark history of slavery? check. major port, so a great deal of travel? check. mix of several cultural groups through history? check. biggest river in the country runs through it? check. Mardi Gras for a big ass magical festival (maybe White Court affiliated)? check. Bourbon Street as a massive White Court run institution? check.). I don't know, there are just several things that make sense to me about using it. If anybody else thinks it's a good idea, I could try to put together a more organized/detailed case, but I'm calling it a night for now.

 

Everything looks good, backstory and New Orleans ideas included, but:

I'd like you to tweak these two a bit or, alternatively, to explain them to me in more detail. Remember that the High Concept should, quoting, "give you a good idea about how the core of your character can be a boon and a hindrance." Tell me how you envision the hindrance bit in your choice or modify it in that sense.

Your Trouble, too... I'd like it if you at least clarified it a little, keeping in mind that, at its core, the Trouble aspect is the answer to the question "what complicates your High Concept?" How do you think I should compel it?

As for the others:

Jon, sell me/us Roanapur.

Everybody else: what do you think of the two suggestions? Do you have some of your own?

 

Would you say that the main human powers in Roanapur are:

a) Unaware of supernatural powers
b) Allied with supernatural powers
c) Allied against supernatural powers
d) Infiltrated by supernatural powers
e) Controlled by supernatural powers
f) Unknowingly controlled by supernatural powers
g) Ignored by supernatural powers
g) A mix of the above options (in which case, specify)

 

Yeah, I wasn't terrible convinced of the wording on those either. I just wanted to throw that up, mostly to get the powers put together where you could see them, to throw out a backstory so you could kinda see the basis of the character, etc. Now that I have a little bit more time, though, I can make another stab at it, and at least try and clarify where I'm coming from:

High Concept: Self-Trained Son of Hephaestus
Trouble: Little Man Syndrome

That's not perfectly worded, either, but that's a better representation of what I'm planning. I imagine in maybe this guy's first adventure (or at least somewhere in his backstory) he managed to summon a weapon in a moment of extreme, and Hephaestus appeared to in the aftermath and basically informed of him his powers (what we agreed upon), and told him he had access to them as long as it didn't interfere with Hephaestus's will and he was willing to pay off the debt as Hephaestus saw fit (maybe with a little derision towards the idea that a boy like him could do anything particularly worthwhile even with his gifts, or maybe even simply perceived derision by the PC). And then he was gone.

Since then, in addition to trying to protect his city and seeking revenge on all supernatural threats to humanity, the PC has been out to prove himself to Hephaestus for two reasons: one, he wants to prove to Hephaestus that hi is worthy of the power he has been granted, and can be major asset to the god, and two, because the powers that he had access to paled in comparison to the stories that he had read in the book of his ancestors. He needed to impress Hephaestus so he could leverage that greater power against monsters.

So yeah, if you still feel the wording needs a tweak then I'll look at it, but that's the basics of where he's coming from in my head. Those are considerably more usable, I'd imagine?

Also, minor alteration to my Rising Conflict Aspect: I think I'd prefer to have it be Hardened by Tragedy. That allows us to set it post-Changes without neutering an aspect, and still keeps it more or less the same in terms of compels or invokes. Sound okay?

I'll probably throw up a better sketch of New Orleans sometime today, too. Maybe even in terms of the city creation stuff that Your Story lays out, if I have time to check against it.

 

Okay, still not really the post I was hoping for, but I don't really have time to do a full build of a city that we might or might not use this evening, and I want to put something up, so yeah, here's a solely city creation post.

Mortals (natives) - slightly more accepting of and willing to believe in the supernatural than the mortals of most cities due to the rich voodoo/mystical tradition of the city/South Louisiana, the natives of New Orleans are nevertheless largely unaware of the Supernatural. They assume the voodoo practitioners and monsters of South Louisiana lore to all be charlatans and wives tales by default, but are willing to change their mind with only a bit of proof. For other threats (vamp courts, fae, denarians), they are as unaware as residents of any other city.

Mortals (tourists) - much of the tourism to city is arranged around sporting events (something supernatural could own the professional franchises... I don't know, would it be too on the nose to have the Pelicans (and formerly the Saints, too, even) owned by a Skavis front? :awesome) and the annual Raith sponsored festival of debauchery known as Mardi Gras. These tourists are typically little more than potential food for the respective families of the White Court, depending on whether they are despondent fans or lustful young adults. Utterly unaware. (Oh, and Bourbon Street would be the headquarters for the White Court, or at least the base operations).

Side note: the Skavis-Pelicans thing was a joke, but I sorta like it now. New Orleans's sports teams are historically pretty bad, so far as I am aware, and that lends credence to a city with a huge White Court presence. Not only that, but the Saints recent success could be used as a plot device for some organization, whether a rival supernatural faction (probably red court or fae trying to muscle in on such a hub, or even fomor post-Changes) or mortals in the know (freeholding lord like Marcone, The Council, or independently wealthy, knowledgeable people), trying to break the White Court's grasp.

Slavery history - Agatha who? I think it goes without saying that while her story was tragic, something like what happened in Grave Peril happening with hundreds of ghosts of dead slaves, tortured and mistreated by their masters, separated from their families, etc. would make her look like a bitch. Plus they'd be even older than her ghost was.

Katrina - we either have a pissed water god (or at least something with seriously impressive supernatural power over water) or a Fomor incursion here. Why? Maybe they want to break the White Court's grasp. Maybe another reason. Maybe they wanted a foothold so they could have a shot at the (entirely made up just now to fit travel hub, bigass river, historical importance, etc.) huge conflux of ley lines at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Whatever the reason, there are some beings with serious mojo in the area.

Corruption - Louisiana politics are notorious for corruption. Whether you want to make that supernatural or just a mortal thing is up to you/the group, but it could easily be tapped as at least a minor plot point, especially if we had a PC in some sort of state-run job or office.

Necromancy/the White Council - Kind of a short hop from voodoo to Necromancy, so that's another power bloc involved. Even the least of the Kemmlerites(sp?) is probably beyond us at chest deep, but we could have enough warlocks flirting with Necromancy to have the White Council hovering over the city, ready to take out any lawbreakers.

In addition to all of the resident supernatural powers, there would obviously be mortal powers (we could figure something out; I'm not so terribly familiar with the city as to know the particular mortal "powers". There's definitely a mob presence there, but I don't know much more than that), and shoehorning in visiting players wouldn't be too hard due to it being a hub of travel, especially if we go with the ley line thing.

And... yeah. Nothing wildly specific, but that is a little more definite about what I had in mind. What do you guys think?

Edit: idea that seems really cool to me wrt Katrina and the conflux of ley lines (so probably not that great ) - maybe Okeanos (the water titan) or his analogue from some other mythology is imprisoned under the ley line intersection (powering it ala Demonreach), adjacent to New Orleans. And he's waking up. And he's pissed.

 

So, umm, did this just die, or is there still interest?

 

I'm still in, I was waiting for Stojil to give the ok to start crafting a character. usually we need a city first so we know what basis to draw character ties and ideals from.

 

Uhm...

 

Damn you, Obamaaaaaa!

I blame him.

 

Whoopsy, missed that in the flurry. However, I'm a-okay with the choice of city being Roanapur as the more illegal and bad ass things happening, the more chance for good story telling. I'll look back and add 2-cents in a bit when I'm not staring at the screen with bloodshot eyes and a coffee stuck to my face.

 

Your Story is eating my soulllll... XD

I think I might take a more learn-by-doing approach once my character is created.
I'm fine with the city, by the way. I was sort of expecting something more...relatable, I guess, is the word. Like, New York or Italy - a place in the real world.

 

Roanapur is in the real world.

>.>
<.<

Right Jon?

 

If so, my horrifyingly bad knowledge of geography has been outed for the world to see.
Oh, the shame.