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[LuckyDee]

This thread, named after the pub which will feature in the Hidden Hands of the Aether campaign, is meant for discussion of the campaign, of roleplaying and PBFs, of steam punk, and any other related topics.

Admission is free for everyone, but there's a three drink minimum.

[S.K. Ren]

Just read through your setting and all I can say is props. I tried running a custom system once and collapsed under the weight of not enough preparation so good luck. I might pitch in depending on how your system fleshes out. Hope you don't mind me posting here since the interest thread seemed to have moved on to PMs

Also, I'll take a Rusty Cog on the rocks.

[LuckyDee]

Thanks for the support; as I wrote down in the main thread, the system is heavily borrowed, but the setting is all being drawn into existence as we speak. I've been both a player and a gamesmaster in a number of winging-it pen&paper stories (currently overseeing a story in Vampire: The Requiem set in Chicago; all I did was establish some basic facts and I'm making up the rest as we go along. Hell, I haven't even set a goal for the players, they're doing that themselves. Great lot), so on PBF, where you have chances aplenty to just take a moment and gather your thoughts, it doesn't seem so daunting to me.
I'll just have to work out the last bits of setting and come up with a good plot or two.

Feel free to drop back in when the story's running, we'll see what can be arranged.

As to your drink...

[LuckyDee]

Pop quiz: for the 1899 world, I'm looking for 2 words to replace the terms 'Western world' (to be more or less synonym with 'known world') and 'Far East'. I've come across 'Occident' and 'Orient' already, but they don't quite fit what I have in mind. The words don't necessarily have to be related and can be based on anything - as long as it sounds good and more or less speaks for itself, I'll give it a shot. Feel free to dump your ideas on this thread, thanks.

[Klear]

Hmm.. that's a tough one. The only idea I've had so far is First/Second world, though that would really work only if something similar to the Cold War was happening between these locations, so I'm guessing not.

Just a little note - I believe what you're searching for is a name for these parts of the world as used by people living in the Anglican Republic. So they'd for example call the Eastern area Orient, because it is East of them, but calling themselves Occident would be much more rare, since the Anglican Republic isn't to the West, it's here.

One more thing to add to brainstorming... what's the situation with colonialism? Couldn't that be used as a basis for making up a name? Hmm.. but then, America is already colonized, so the Old World/New World dichotomy belongs probably there...

[LuckyDee]

Just a little note - I believe what you're searching for is a name for these parts of the world as used by people living in the Anglican Republic. So they'd for example call the Eastern area Orient, because it is East of them, but calling themselves Occident would be much more rare, since the Anglican Republic isn't to the West, it's here.

Sharp as always, although IRL the Western world in fact calls itself the Western world on a regular basis. Interesting observation though.

[Klear]

Yeah, I realized that as I was posting that. Still, I believe that it might either be a sign of the modern politically correct times, or something caused by the need to include the USA in the term. What struck me was that while Orient was/is used relatively frequently, Occident isn't nearly as prominent as a descriptor.

[LuckyDee]

Right. Since it'll be another while before I have all the details cooked up, I'm going to skip the less important parts and complete the bits on religion, life in England and the missing bits from the system info (health, damage and willpower). Shouldn't take me too long, and all the other stuff can be filled in as we go along.

Meanwhile, I want to see some characters. I know Klear has already made good progress, with a great background story. I need another PC to act as his 'mentor' - in some ways you could say he's actually the biggest lab monkey anyone's ever seen - with a scientist/alchemist/Mage background. Any takers?
Besides that, I could use a cop (inspector or some such rank), simply because that'd be an easy character to hook adventure type stories on. If no one wants to play him, no big deal, I'll make up something else.

On the outset, I'd like to give the following mild restrictions to the characters: you all have decently operating moral compasses, even if they don't always point exactly due north (or South, as is more appropriate in this setting), and your characters know each other at the start of the story. If you can't come up with an elaborate background for this, simply being regular visitors of the Lock and Feather, where you found out you could easily have a good talk with each other, will do.

Ready, set, ponder.

[LuckyDee]

Aight; things are going as smoothly as I'd hoped, but let's continue anyway and start building characters. Klear, thelaptop, bfg9001; please reply on the main thread and post your character. Doesn't matter if it's complete, accurate or final yet, anything that shows what we'll be dealing with is great. We'll get some discussion going, have questions answered and ultimately have the posts updated to definitive character sheets.

Fire at will.

[Klear]

I'll see if I can do it in the evening. I know it's a matter of copy-pasting it, but I have work to do right now unfortunately.

[LuckyDee]

Found Hugo :)

Since I don't want to clutter the main thread with discussion, please find my response:

* Skill specialty for Alchemy is something we'll work out; let's at least wait and see if someone will be taking the bait of being your mentor, which might fill in the blank for you; otherwise we'll find another solution.

* You listed Carpentry under both Physical and Mental skills. Since I consider this a Physical, please think of another use of the Mental skill point this gives you.

Looking good, besides that. Size 6, as previously discussed, is agreed. According to the nWOD rulebook, this makes you as tall as a gorilla, which turns out not to be that big, really. Turn one 90° clockwise, however, and now we're talking. About up to 9 feet :S
If we translate this to human proportions, let's say you're about 7 foot and a couple of inches tall, which would be bloody huge by 19th century standards.

[Klear]

Damn, I fixed that before, but I used an older source for the post. I'll change it to something else when I have the time.

BTW, a friend linked me to a nice text-based online game. The setting seems to be somewhat similar to this, so you might want to try it to get the feeling for the victorian London ambience.

http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/

Edit: The more I see of the game, the more I think it's probably not so close to what we've got here, but it's intriguing nevertheless. Also, it seems it would be better for me if I linked you through my profile, since it's in part that kind of game. It doesn't seem to hinge on bothering everybody to join at least, I hope it won't come later in the game, but so far it looks like an almost single-player experience.

[LuckyDee]

@Klear, sounds interesting, I'll check it out.

@thelaptop, good start, looks promising. Now to flesh it out some more.... what makes Frank tick? What's he trying to get out of life? What has he been doing?
If he was born into money, his specialties may stem from hobbies and pastimes; if not, he's bound to have had a job or two. Based on your story, the latter sounds more fitting.

I'm curious as to how you arrived at two points of Survival though. The scope of this skill, according to the book, runs from pitching a tent to Gryllsian depravities, which at the moment don't quite add up to the rest of the picture painted. Maybe you interpreted the skill differently though.

[thelaptop]

Ah, where are you getting such detailed information from?  I don't really have "the book" and I don't think that you linked to something that detailed.  I'm basing it on what I thought to be an interpretation from the Wiki.

[LuckyDee]

I don't really have "the book" and I don't think that you linked to something that detailed.

I understand, hence my inquiry. But please do give your interpretation, so I have an idea of what you're aiming for.