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Roll To Dodge / COVEN: Gulled Goldsmiths and Lost Locomotives
« on: February 11, 2017, 12:14:15 pm »COVEN
A game about witchcraft, murder, and suburban delinquency
"Witches. You don't know it yet, but that's what you are. Your power comes from the land. And here, your power comes from this colossal and writhing jigsaw of a city, the death-energies of industrial districts keeling into ruin and fucking absence, the endless thaumaturgy of construction, the prayer-wheel revolving doors of the oiliest, fanciest cogs in the capitalist machine, the dignity of ancient inns of court."
"Your power comes from London."
"So you're going to channel the energies of the place through tools and catalysts, sending raw power through the stuff the city's built on and in and with and for and out of. You'll invoke the myriad could-be maybe-deities that lean half in and half out of reality on London, with talismans and idols salvaged from landfills and skips. And you'll call up the demons that lurk in janitor's closets and high-rises and gutters."
"You'll fly through the clouds on window cleaners and blast titans to ash with lighting conductors. You'll perform blinding miracles using bottles of bleach and summon flaming aberrations from the innards of cuddly toys. You'll conjure up glass swords the size of houses and shoot zombie fish from wooden clubs."
"You'll work for the Coven, and you'll become stronger than Gods. Provided you live that long."
Spoiler: what is this? (click to show/hide)
This is a rather bloodthirsty and occasionally humourous RTD about urban magic, set in our time. Player characters will start off as one step up above useless mooks, but over time may graduate to "serious nuisance" and even "major threat to themselves and others." It is set in London, England. Which for those of you that don't know is pretty much like any other city: poverty and gangs in the poorer suburbs, richer swanky suburbs, and a teeming, high-rise, brightly lit centre.
The main concept is that you steal, buy, find or borrow mundane bits of the city or objects inside it, then turn them into magical weapons with varying powers according to what they originally were. You can make wands and shoot people, staffs and hit people, talismans and pendants to perform the miracles of maybe-gods, and summon demons with unholy chalices. You can also turn any cleaning implement over a metre in size into a flying vehicle. And a load of other stuff.
You will be carrying out missions against various enemies of the Coven, menaces to society, and people that have stuff your superiors want to get their grubby paws on. After each mission, you will gain upgrade materials, and will be able to level up.
There will be a maximum of seven characters at the start.
Ask now in the thread or PMs if you have any questions or think I've missed something.
The main concept is that you steal, buy, find or borrow mundane bits of the city or objects inside it, then turn them into magical weapons with varying powers according to what they originally were. You can make wands and shoot people, staffs and hit people, talismans and pendants to perform the miracles of maybe-gods, and summon demons with unholy chalices. You can also turn any cleaning implement over a metre in size into a flying vehicle. And a load of other stuff.
You will be carrying out missions against various enemies of the Coven, menaces to society, and people that have stuff your superiors want to get their grubby paws on. After each mission, you will gain upgrade materials, and will be able to level up.
There will be a maximum of seven characters at the start.
Ask now in the thread or PMs if you have any questions or think I've missed something.
Spoiler: character sheet (click to show/hide)
Name: Your name here.
Backstory: You've only just become aware of the existence of witchcraft and other arcane things, through being recruited by the Coven. You've only recently entered this world inside the world, but are now permenantly part of it. You've already bidden goodbye to your ordinary existence, and any family, friends or colleagues will soon forget you ever existed, due to magic that does not require further exposition right now. But feel free to tell us all about your previous life! May decide which runes you get if you have points in Runic Sight.
Physical Description: May be important later too: a Chinese teenage girl is probably going to have a harder time than some disguising herself as a rabbi than some.
Stats: See below For statsheet. Six points allowed in total, with three for arcane stats and three for physicals.
Backstory: You've only just become aware of the existence of witchcraft and other arcane things, through being recruited by the Coven. You've only recently entered this world inside the world, but are now permenantly part of it. You've already bidden goodbye to your ordinary existence, and any family, friends or colleagues will soon forget you ever existed, due to magic that does not require further exposition right now. But feel free to tell us all about your previous life! May decide which runes you get if you have points in Runic Sight.
Physical Description: May be important later too: a Chinese teenage girl is probably going to have a harder time than some disguising herself as a rabbi than some.
Stats: See below For statsheet. Six points allowed in total, with three for arcane stats and three for physicals.
Spoiler: stats (click to show/hide)
Magical Stats:
Puissant fettle - Puissance (i.e. mana, focus points, the stuff you cast spells, though not miracles, with) regain speed, puissance max. The main dakka stat, and the main magical stat for a melee-based staff user too. This is VITAL for powerful or fast wand or staff based combat, and is a useful secondary attack stat for summoners. Goes well with aim or melee.
Ritual potency - How well you connect with otherworldy forces. How powerful the demons you can summon are, and how easily you can summon them. How many gods you can invoke with talismans at once. Summoner mainstat. Needed for making contracts with demons.
Runic sight - how quickly you discover magic runes, how well you percieve and use them. Runes can be used to enhance your character, or modify the environment, weapons, tools, etc. They can also be used in combat. Runic Sight also enhances your character's vision and detection of magical things. Secondary stat.
Banal combat - skill with non-magical weapons. Like firearms. And skill with non-magical use of weapon-shaped magical weapons. Like hitting people with magical swords. Nonmagical combat mainstat. Goes well with aim or melee.
And physicals:
Aim - ranged combat, firing point blank, parries
Melee - close quarters, parries (wands can be used to parry magic, allowing one to immediately gain puissance from the parried spell), firing point blank
Agility - dodging and jumping into cover, using broomsticks and other smaller vehicles. Fighting with agility (high kicks and acrobatics) might be possible on the back of a moving train or a zero-g environment or something, especially if you have a broom.
Practicality - Setting things up, crafting, operating systems/computers, driving HGVs, planting explosives, etc. Fighting with Practicality (McGyvering people), can only be done in tool-heavy environment
Puissant fettle - Puissance (i.e. mana, focus points, the stuff you cast spells, though not miracles, with) regain speed, puissance max. The main dakka stat, and the main magical stat for a melee-based staff user too. This is VITAL for powerful or fast wand or staff based combat, and is a useful secondary attack stat for summoners. Goes well with aim or melee.
Ritual potency - How well you connect with otherworldy forces. How powerful the demons you can summon are, and how easily you can summon them. How many gods you can invoke with talismans at once. Summoner mainstat. Needed for making contracts with demons.
Runic sight - how quickly you discover magic runes, how well you percieve and use them. Runes can be used to enhance your character, or modify the environment, weapons, tools, etc. They can also be used in combat. Runic Sight also enhances your character's vision and detection of magical things. Secondary stat.
Banal combat - skill with non-magical weapons. Like firearms. And skill with non-magical use of weapon-shaped magical weapons. Like hitting people with magical swords. Nonmagical combat mainstat. Goes well with aim or melee.
And physicals:
Aim - ranged combat, firing point blank, parries
Melee - close quarters, parries (wands can be used to parry magic, allowing one to immediately gain puissance from the parried spell), firing point blank
Agility - dodging and jumping into cover, using broomsticks and other smaller vehicles. Fighting with agility (high kicks and acrobatics) might be possible on the back of a moving train or a zero-g environment or something, especially if you have a broom.
Practicality - Setting things up, crafting, operating systems/computers, driving HGVs, planting explosives, etc. Fighting with Practicality (McGyvering people), can only be done in tool-heavy environment
Spoiler: waitlist (click to show/hide)
Oooo I want in.
[spoiler]
Name: Bob Howard
Backstory: Prior to discovering magic, Bob was a computer programmer. Bob is still a computer programmer, but his code now has things like import Shub-Niggurath; in it.
Physical Description: Your average nerd. Has good eyesight, surprisingly, but otherwise prone to xkcd t-shirts, pastiness, and generally being the kind of guy you expect to always have at least 1d20.
Stats:
Magical Stats:
Puissant fettle - 1
Ritual potency - 1
Runic sight - 1
Banal combat - 0
And physicals:
Aim - 0
Melee - 0
Agility - 0
Practicality - 3
Spoiler: weapons list (click to show/hide)
The weapons of the coven are usually assembled from mundane objects, sometimes with magical ones thrown in. They usually require puissant clots, little buildups of magical energy stuck fast to the lining of your brain, to create. New witches generally have two, but you'll gain more as you see strange and wonderful things, kill adepts and beasts, and penetrate occult mysteries. Or teamkill, that's pretty reliable too.
Wands: Your go-to ranged weapon for a wizard, wands can be made from anything solid, provided it's roughly between the length of a pen and your forearm. Wands generally shoot magical projectiles, though they will likely have other functions. Wands take one puissant clot to create, but can be made more powerful, and gain more functions, in tiers by investing subsequent clots. Tier two requires an additional 2 clots, from there to tier three takes 3, and the unholy power of a tier four wand needs 4 clots more to be unlocked. Wands can also be used to parry magical projectiles, gaining puissance and negating the occult missile.
Spells cast by wands consume puissance, which regenerates over time to one's limit.
Staffs: Staffs are the melee counterpart of wands. They can be upgraded in the same way, with the same costs for each tier. Staffs generally have aoe or defensive spells, or temporarily transform into extremely destructive magical weapons. Staffs can also be used to block magic. They must be at least a metre or so in length, staff-sized.
Chalices: Chalices are created using a base chalice (a container, or anything that can hold some liquid, such as a t.v. aerial), a banal medium (a non-magical liquid, such as oil, blood or lemonade) and an occult medium (a magical liquid or solution, such as the spinal fluid of a necromancer, blended sentient crab flesh, or yeti urine). Chalices can be used to form a contract with a demon, which the creator of the chalice will then be able to summon repeatedly, at a puissance cost that decreases exponentially with their ritual strength. Strong summoners do not need particularly large or quickly returning stores of puissance at all: summoning will cost very little for them. Note that especially reactive or potent mediums may bring up very strong demons that are excessively hard to control. The inverse is also true: use unreactive, weak, or barely-magical things and your demons will be apathetic.
The demon summoned will depend on the materials used. Notably, more powerful occult mediums will result in the summoning of more powerful, if more free-thinking, demons. The number of puissant clots used also greatly determines the strength of the demon. Though only one is required, there is no limit to the number of clots that can be invested at creation. Chalices cannot however be upgraded.
Inexperienced summoners are advised not to mix occult mediums in one chalice. Generally, demons can be banished at the summoner's will, though if this proves impossible, trapping them in a circle sprinkled with their banal medium will suffice to send them back. Demons can be summoned repeatedly even if destroyed, though some time may be required between summonings.
Pendants: These do not require puissance, and depend on the ritual strength of the user. Everyday objects roughly the size of a clenched fist, these require an investment of one clot, and can be upgraded once with two. Pendants cast a miracle performed by a maybe-god that half exists, the object functioning as a holy relic of the congregationless deity. Pendants, once used, must be replenished over time by their creator. The greater the ritual strength of the user, the more pendants they can restore at once, and thus the great the number of miracles they can perform over a given time.
Talismans: Ranged (or more likely to be) pendants. Do note that not all talismans are ranged: they are simply ranged where a pendant would have been melee. In all other respects, they are the same.
Brooms: Any cleaning implement over a metre can be turned into a flying vehicle. This costs one clot, though the speed, steering, duration of flight and ability to fly unaided can be enhanced in tiers requiring one clot each, from one to four. A tier-one broom can still hover and swoop short distances, though a tier-four one can fly through a lightening storm unscathed at hundreds of miles an hour even when the rider is unconscious and bleeding. Brooms are enhanced by the user's agility.
Rings/Gems: Magical events and substances often create occult gems of a certain element, such as fire, sleep, coffee or boredom. These can be used in the creation of weapons, chalices, etc to enhance them with that gem's element. The gem can also, with one puissant clot, be turned into a ring which grants the wearer resistance to that gem's element. Have a fire ring? Set yourself on fire and walk into battle unharmed! Have a salt ring? You could probably have used it better in a wand or a staff or something.
Caduceus: A healing tool created by wrapping two snake-like flexible things, such as showerheads or ropes, around a stick of over a metre. Caduceuses can be used to heal pretty much any injury, and cost two clots to create. They cannot be upgraded, and rely on puissance.
Magic Swords: Made from a valiantly retrieved material (steel bars snatched from the mouth of a dragon, a stone idol pulled from the stomach of a giant undead alligator, a pile of rusty doorknobs fliched from the private toilet of an evil psychic CEO) and a gem. These can be used by those with skill in banal weapons as swords, though also have magical effects not affected by one's banal skill, such as firing occult projectiles. The power of the sword scales according to the valiance with which it was retrieved. In this case, "valiance" means idiotic heroism and proximity to oversized and overarmed magical tossers.
Demonic Contracts: got something you'd like to do? A high rit stat? Something not listed here? How about asking one of Londond's many demonic business and community leaders for a demonic contract! PM me for more details, and to check if your ideas are feasible.
For instance, one witch might want to gain power through fame, attempting to attract viewers to his exploits, rather than by conventinoal Coven means.
Wands: Your go-to ranged weapon for a wizard, wands can be made from anything solid, provided it's roughly between the length of a pen and your forearm. Wands generally shoot magical projectiles, though they will likely have other functions. Wands take one puissant clot to create, but can be made more powerful, and gain more functions, in tiers by investing subsequent clots. Tier two requires an additional 2 clots, from there to tier three takes 3, and the unholy power of a tier four wand needs 4 clots more to be unlocked. Wands can also be used to parry magical projectiles, gaining puissance and negating the occult missile.
Spells cast by wands consume puissance, which regenerates over time to one's limit.
Staffs: Staffs are the melee counterpart of wands. They can be upgraded in the same way, with the same costs for each tier. Staffs generally have aoe or defensive spells, or temporarily transform into extremely destructive magical weapons. Staffs can also be used to block magic. They must be at least a metre or so in length, staff-sized.
Chalices: Chalices are created using a base chalice (a container, or anything that can hold some liquid, such as a t.v. aerial), a banal medium (a non-magical liquid, such as oil, blood or lemonade) and an occult medium (a magical liquid or solution, such as the spinal fluid of a necromancer, blended sentient crab flesh, or yeti urine). Chalices can be used to form a contract with a demon, which the creator of the chalice will then be able to summon repeatedly, at a puissance cost that decreases exponentially with their ritual strength. Strong summoners do not need particularly large or quickly returning stores of puissance at all: summoning will cost very little for them. Note that especially reactive or potent mediums may bring up very strong demons that are excessively hard to control. The inverse is also true: use unreactive, weak, or barely-magical things and your demons will be apathetic.
The demon summoned will depend on the materials used. Notably, more powerful occult mediums will result in the summoning of more powerful, if more free-thinking, demons. The number of puissant clots used also greatly determines the strength of the demon. Though only one is required, there is no limit to the number of clots that can be invested at creation. Chalices cannot however be upgraded.
Inexperienced summoners are advised not to mix occult mediums in one chalice. Generally, demons can be banished at the summoner's will, though if this proves impossible, trapping them in a circle sprinkled with their banal medium will suffice to send them back. Demons can be summoned repeatedly even if destroyed, though some time may be required between summonings.
Pendants: These do not require puissance, and depend on the ritual strength of the user. Everyday objects roughly the size of a clenched fist, these require an investment of one clot, and can be upgraded once with two. Pendants cast a miracle performed by a maybe-god that half exists, the object functioning as a holy relic of the congregationless deity. Pendants, once used, must be replenished over time by their creator. The greater the ritual strength of the user, the more pendants they can restore at once, and thus the great the number of miracles they can perform over a given time.
Talismans: Ranged (or more likely to be) pendants. Do note that not all talismans are ranged: they are simply ranged where a pendant would have been melee. In all other respects, they are the same.
Brooms: Any cleaning implement over a metre can be turned into a flying vehicle. This costs one clot, though the speed, steering, duration of flight and ability to fly unaided can be enhanced in tiers requiring one clot each, from one to four. A tier-one broom can still hover and swoop short distances, though a tier-four one can fly through a lightening storm unscathed at hundreds of miles an hour even when the rider is unconscious and bleeding. Brooms are enhanced by the user's agility.
Rings/Gems: Magical events and substances often create occult gems of a certain element, such as fire, sleep, coffee or boredom. These can be used in the creation of weapons, chalices, etc to enhance them with that gem's element. The gem can also, with one puissant clot, be turned into a ring which grants the wearer resistance to that gem's element. Have a fire ring? Set yourself on fire and walk into battle unharmed! Have a salt ring? You could probably have used it better in a wand or a staff or something.
Caduceus: A healing tool created by wrapping two snake-like flexible things, such as showerheads or ropes, around a stick of over a metre. Caduceuses can be used to heal pretty much any injury, and cost two clots to create. They cannot be upgraded, and rely on puissance.
Magic Swords: Made from a valiantly retrieved material (steel bars snatched from the mouth of a dragon, a stone idol pulled from the stomach of a giant undead alligator, a pile of rusty doorknobs fliched from the private toilet of an evil psychic CEO) and a gem. These can be used by those with skill in banal weapons as swords, though also have magical effects not affected by one's banal skill, such as firing occult projectiles. The power of the sword scales according to the valiance with which it was retrieved. In this case, "valiance" means idiotic heroism and proximity to oversized and overarmed magical tossers.
Demonic Contracts: got something you'd like to do? A high rit stat? Something not listed here? How about asking one of Londond's many demonic business and community leaders for a demonic contract! PM me for more details, and to check if your ideas are feasible.
For instance, one witch might want to gain power through fame, attempting to attract viewers to his exploits, rather than by conventinoal Coven means.
