♱ Introduction ♱
This World of Darkness is... not a pleasant place. On the outside looking in, which is the perspective of most who actually inhabit the world unfortunately, it's no different than what we know of our own lives. Governments squabble and bicker, corporations amass riches, people go about their day to day lives concerned with work and the mundane, and assholes on a Late Night show get up and crack terrible jokes about it all. These people are what we call sleepers.They don't know what really inhabits this world. They don't know that they walk the same planet with an untold number of beasts waiting for an opportune moment to end their lives and feast on their souls. Vampires, werewolves, malignant spirits, and worse... it all exists and walks this very world right under everyone's nose. The Vampires, well, they call this the Masquerade. They let us go about our daily lives, work our jobs, have our homes. Meanwhile they herd us like cattle. And make no mistake fleshbag, that's what you are to them. A walking sack of meat and fluid.
Oh, you've probably met one already and didn't even know it. Or at the very least, an agent of one. People just like us, although they're firmly under the control of their masters and many of them don't even know it. When and if you do meet one, with an untrained eye you won't be able to tell. They might look like you. They might talk like you. They might even put on a show and make you believe they're just like you at heart, still human. Then the moment you let your guard down... turn your back... They're not human. That might look like a teenager to you, but it's a ravenous beast waiting to rip your fucking heart out and drain you dry. The rest of the world might be asleep. Hell, the poor bastards would probably prefer to stay asleep if they knew. Knew about them.
They're the stalkers. The apex predators. Our malevolent shepherds with eyes and ears everywhere. They have their fingers in every pie - every government and every business, pulling strings behind the scenes like twisted ventriloquists while they operate the largest human trafficking market on this planet behind the stage curtains. But us... we're the hunters.
Or at least, that's what I'm going to turn you into. I'm going to train you, teach you, and give you the skills you've been desiring. You are all here for a reason. I found all of you, and I found you because something happened. Something happened which woke you to the horrors of this world, brought you out of the sleep you've been under for so long. You all know why you're here, and what you desire to do. But before we begin... you need to know two things.
It's not deer we're hunting. What we'll be doing is jumping in a shark tank. The sharks, they'll be able to sniff you out from a mile away, and once they have your scent it's over. They'll be stronger, faster, and make no mistake - a single one will always be a hell of a lot more dangerous then all us together as a group. What makes a hunter isn't necessarily his skill. It's his wits. If you try to go toe to toe with a grizzly bear without the tools, without preparation... you'll lose that fight every time. But if you stalk it... find it's lair... prepare a trap... you might just have a chance.
The second thing... forget who you were, or what your life was before this. Did you have a career? That's gone. A house? Might as well torch it and collect the insurance. Family? Not anymore. That's all over. The rest of your life is going to be spent going to ground, and you need to learn how to blend into society and stay hidden just as well as the creatures you hunt. If they find you before you find them: your hunting days are over. One mistake, that's all it takes. One slip up, one loose word spoken in public that shouldn't have been said.
And above all else, remember: the hunt costs us everything.
~ George
♱ Background ♱
The year is 2010. Your character is going to be a hunter when you begin, that is a given. But when the game starts, you will have not yet had a single successful hunt.Rather, you are a brand new cell, put together and trained by an NPC - George. At least, that's what he calls himself, he's changed his name so many times in his travels as a hunter, this is the latest in a string of name changes. George is... getting old. He won't tell you how old he is exactly, but he'll be quick to point out that he is old indeed. If you had to guess, you'd say he's pushing early 60's. He may be fit, but he's fit for his age. Rather, what makes George an adequate hunter is the knowledge he's accumulated over the years. And the fact that he's survived long enough as a hunter to even grow old. He knows his time is almost up. His last hunt is going to be very, very soon, he can feel it. He's trained you up as his latest cell, after operating by himself for the last five years or so. (If you're picking it up, it's my goal to have George act as "training wheels", and he's not going to be around forever).
Each of you have known him for at least a few years (time may vary between you), and that time has been spent getting you ready. Yet in all the time you've known him, you still know little about him. You know he fought in Vietnam. You know he's pretty damn good with a rifle, and is extremely experienced in hand-to-hand combat. You also know he's a very skilled tracker and scout.
Exactly what he's taught you thus far, what you've spent your time training with him in - that's up to you during your character creation. Spend your points wisely, as they'll dictate how you've been trained.
The actual start of the RP will be your entire cell, all of you, in a car. You will be on route to your very first target, your very first hunt, a suspected vampire masquerading as a upper-middle class businessman living in a gated community. You and George have spent the last six months tracking him down and now you have finally found the bastard - and have surefire evidence of what he is. George finally thinks you're all ready. Ready for your first hunt. We'll get into details and set the scene when we're there however, after character creation.
♱ Character Creation ♱
Your character creation is going to consist of three parts.The first is your personal background. This is all fluff. The things you'll need to think about: your age, sex, where you grew up, how you grew up, what your first exposure to the supernatural was and how that led you into meeting George (you can set the circumstances of this meeting as you like. What part of the world did you meet him in? How'd it happen? Hell, you can even say he was going under a different name when you met him). How long have you been training under him (generally I'd say one to four years would be good, but I'm going to leave this entirely up to you. If you want to say you've been shadowing him and his previous cell for ten years you can).
The second part of the character creation: SPECIAL
Yes, we're using special because we're all familiar with how it works. Some things have minor changes, I'll give a quick break down:
Strength: Your characters strength, rather self-explanatory.
Perception: Your senses. All six of them. What do I mean by this? Well, this will track your ability to perceive the normal and the supernatural around you. For example: a character with a high perception skill might be able to immediately tell there's something invisible nearby, they just don't know what or where right off the bat.
Endurance: This one will be a little bit different. It's not just how physically fit you are and how much punishment you can take, but also included is your personal willpower. How much of a beating you can take physically AND mentally.
Charisma: More or less the same - your ability to talk to and influence folks with one addition: this will also include your ability to resist some of a creatures more supernatural abilities that might affect you mentally/characteristically, like their attempts to hypnotize you.
Intelligence: Think of this as both your street smarts and your books smarts. It will include both how knowledgeable and practically smart you are, and being able to figure out what some key lore points mean might be bounced off this stat (for example if someone mentions a vampire clan, how much will you know about that?)
Agility: Your ability to move and groove. Dodge, balance, the usual works.
Luck: What it says on the tin. I might randomly throw a curveball your way that relies on a luck roll.
So how does this work? Well, all of your SPECIAL stats will start out at a baseline 5. For each tick you put into one or take away from one, it will effect your roll. Example: If you have a strength of 5 and I ask you to make a strength roll, you'll just roll a normal D-20 and give me the result, no bonus or negative. If you have a strength of 4, you'll roll a D-20 and then subtract one point, and that will be your result. If you have a strength of 6, you'll roll a D-20 and ADD one point. So on and so forth.
For your HP, it's going to be Endurance x10. So five endurance = 50HP, 6 = 60HP, 7 = 70, and so on.
You'll all start with a baseline of 5 on each stat, with five extra points to distribute. Taking points away from one stat to give to another is allowed. Classic Fallout style. But, you may want to save a point or two, because you can also spend a point on a trait.
TRAITS:
I've created a small list of traits here that you can use a SPECIAL point on to take. You can take a maximum of TWO TRAITS, no more. Each trait costs one single point. Here are the traits:
> True Faith: You are a true believer in one of the world's religions, your faith rings with such strength that it can have an effect on things around you. Your character will naturally include a religious symbol with them. They can use this symbol, such as a cross, to stun and even harm supernatural creatures.
> Learned: You've spent a lot of time studying the supernatural under George. Any time you might need to roll for a lore check on something, you automatically receive a +3 to your roll.
> Psychic?: You don't know what the hell it is, but it's something. You seem to have a knack for naturally detecting when something supernatural is around, giving you a +2 bonus roll to perception for this purpose.
> Imbued: You were visited in a dream by one of the last remaining angels, or maybe you saw it in a really old book. Either way you discovered the existence of a symbol, and the very next day you went out and got it tattooed onto your body, giving the tattooist a special ink to use that you concocted as per instruction. The rest think you're crazy when you tell them, but you know. This symbol gives you protection from many supernatural attacks, such as attempts to hypnotize or mind control. When you need to make a roll to resist such attacks, you receive a +3 bonus.
> Stronk: "Willpower training" from the old man. Hah, to hell with that, you don't need it. You're strong, and you know it. If you receive damage which normally would render you unconscious, you resist automatically and remain on your feet. If you receive damage which normally might be a killing blow, you survive. This ability only happens ONCE per combat.
> Hate: You fucking hate them. You hate all of them. In fact, you'll tell them just how much you hate them. There are nearly forty five miles of nerves that run throughout your body, enough to stretch across an entire city. If the word HATE was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those forty five miles worth of nerves it would not equal one-billionth of the amount of hate you feel for them. (When in combat with a supernatural creature, the damage they deal to you will always have a -2 negative applied to it).
> Marksman: You prefer using firearms, and the time you spent learning them in your training has shown that. +2 to all combat rolls when using firearms.
> Warrior: You spent a lot of time learning melee combat under George. In fact, that's probably what you spent most of your time doing. You're definitely more than proficient at this point. Any combat roll you make in melee will gain an automatic +2 to combat rolls.
> Stalker: You were taught to find them. You were shown how they hide, taught to track them. Any roll you make for this purpose is granted an automatic +3.
> Trapper: George showed you a couple tricks, taught you how to tie his personally created and tested "special knot" in rope. Showed you how deep to dig the hole, which way to lay the wooden stakes and the perfect amount of dirt and leaves to cover it with. Any time a trap is set for a creature or person, it is guaranteed to do at LEAST some damage based off a D20 roll.
> Computer Nerd: They used to call you nerd, but you didn't give a damn. You've always loved technology, and have had a knack for it. Computers, phones, hell if it has a board you can probably figure it out. This trait works towards whenever anything the character needs to do regarding electronics, they will receive a +2 to the Intelligence stat for that purpose.
ABOUT SKILLS:
I decided to forgo skills in regards to this RP, just because I didn't want everything to be bogged down in being too technical all the time, as the actual WOD RP system is far from that. So anytime you need to make a roll for something, it'll either be a normal D20 roll or it will be a d20 roll against one of your SPECIAL stats.
HOW YOUR CHARACTER SHEET SHOULD LOOK:
Name:
Age:
Sex:
Background Story:
HP: (Your endurance stat x10)
SPECIAL:
TRAITS:
EQUIPMENT: (What weapons you might have. Firearms, wooden stakes, knives, bulletproof vest, trenchcoat of reinforced leather, et cetera. I'll leave this up to you, just don't go absolutely crazy with it).
LAST THOUGHTS: The only thing you'll really need to do is make d20 rolls. There are several free sites online that simulate these rolls, but I can help you find one if you need help with that. The group and I, are going to trust that your rolls are really what you say they were, a sort of "you're on your honor" thing.
Annnd, I'll leave you too it. Go ahead and make your character sheets, and once everyone has submitted theirs I'll make the IC thread and we can get started. If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask.
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