Grau's Great Tabletop Venture

[DaveYanakov]

I have been asked to narrate/GM a D20 game by Grau and so far have received interest from seven people in participating. System will be the Spycraft 2.0 version of the D20 rule set. Setting will be the mid-1880's North America centered on the riverboat trade and a slightly altered history.

What I need from people who wish to participate are characters. Your story, background, desires, etc are more important than stats on a character sheet and I can use that information to help get a sheet drawn up. Any assistance will be suggestions, not requirements, as I do not want to make people play pregenerated characters. I do reserve the right to reject characters in part or in full based on the fact that telling a shared story is more important than powergaming.

Play will be facilitated by the Roll20 virtual tabletop. Grau can help with familiarization with the application as he knows it far better than I do at this point.

If a freewheeling romp through a frontier experiencing a shift based on the introduction of electricity transmission and near instantaneous telephonic communication sounds interesting, send me your character concepts, times that you would prefer and times that you absolutely would not be able to play adjusted to GMT in either private message or post form. I will attempt to accomodate as many people as possible but at least for the pilot portion group size will be limited. If I cannot fit you in as a party member, I will try to find a major NPC role for you. Possibly even the main antagonist.

Thanks go to Gil for pointing out that most of the character creation process is available in wiki format at http://spycraft2.wikia.com/wiki/Characters

[Detritus]

Well, you're already aware that I'm doing this, so I'll update this post with my character as soon as I'm done creating it! :)

[Kaitocain]

You sure as the earth is solid know I'm in. I'll update this post with my character sheet soon!

[Gilberreke]

Gilbert
Code Name: The Doc
Caucasian male, grey hair, glasses
Age: 65, Height: 6'2, Weight: 165 lbs
Goal: To become a successful inventor, market the Airboat

Attributes
Rolls: 9 9 11 13 15 16
Str 9 -2(Age) = 7 (-2)
Dex 16 -2(Age) +2(Talent) = 16 (+3)
Con 9 -2(Age) = 7 (-2)
Int 15 +1(Age) = 16 (+3)
Wis 11 +1(Age) -2(Talent) = 10 (+0)
Cha 13 +1(Age) = 14 (+2)

Origin
Talent: Gonzo
Dex +2, Wis -2, Interest +1, Wound points +1
Specialty: Motorhead
Base Class: Wheelman

Skills
Profession - Inventor (Career lvl1)
Cultures - America, North (Career lvl1)
Science - Fabrication (Career lvl1)
Drive - Personal Watercraft (Career lvl1)
Drive - Standard Watercraft - Forte Airboats (Motorhead +2)
Mechanics lvl3
Acrobatics lvl3
Security lvl3

Feats
Speed Demon (Motorhead)
Drive skill focus +2
Daredevil (Wheelman)
Custom Ride (+1 mission Calibre for Vehicle Gear Picks)
Explosive Basics (Career lvl1)

Wealth
Wealth: 1(Class) +2(Cha) +1(Motorhead) = 4
Lifestyle: 3
Possessions: 2
Spending Cash: 2 ($400)

Home: A Rickety houseboat, with docking facilities for the Airboat
Vehicle: The Airboat, Caliber I Standard Watercraft
Appearance: Big coat, goggles, average mechanic look

Possessions: 1/II, 3/I
Smoke Grenades (x5), concealed (Caliber II+I)
Wrench, Tool (Caliber I)
Goggles, Protective eye wear (Caliber I)

Interests
Propellers
Gimmicks
Engines

Derived Values
Vitality: 1d10(Class) -2(Con) = ?
Wound points: 7(Con) +1(Talent) = 8

Stress damage thresholds: 10(Wis)
Subdual damage tresholds: 7(Con)

Unarmed attack bonus: 1(BAB) -2(Str) = -1
Melee attack bonus: 1(BAB) -2(Str) = -1
Ranged attack bonus: 1(BAB) +3(Dex) = 4

Fortitude saving throw: 0(F) -2(Con) = -2
Reflex saving throw: 2(R) +3(Dex) = 5
Will saving throw: 0(W) +0(Wis) = 0

Defense: 10 +1(Def) +3(Dex) = 14
Iniative bonus: 1(Init) +3(Dex) = 4

Knowledge check bonus: 1(Career) +3(Int) = 4
Request check bonus: 1(Career) +2(Cha) = 3
Gear check bonus: 1(Career) +0(Wis) = 1

Reputation: 2
Net Worth: $100,000

Concept:
Doc Gilbert is an eccentric character known by many as a weird old buffoon that speeds along the river in a weird propeller boat. He calls it the airboat and says it's the future. Most of the time it just explodes or breaks down though, much to the enjoyment of the other river traders.

Doc Gilbert is a self-proclaimed inventor. He's actually pretty good, though his inventions have a propensity for breaking down in hilarious fashion. Most of his inventions are gimmicks, like the electric fork (who needs that anyway?), that provide him with just enough money to get by. One of these days his miniature airboat engine will make him filthy rich though! Yeah right...

He's not much of a shot, so he prefers explosions. Most of them are detonated way to close to his person, so most people stay clear. It doesn't help much that his memory fails him more than it serves him, so he usually forgets he even has the darn things on him.

Money is usually an issue, so lately, the Doc has been driving his airboat as a profession. He's one hell of a reckless driver though, so watch out.

Subplots
Nemesis: Doc's Miniature Airboat Engine is marvel of engineering. It's an airboat engine that can propel small toy boats! There is a man though, Alva, who sees the potential of using it as a device to blow your hair dry. What a waste of engineering! There's no way Doc will ever let the device fall into Alva's hands. Alva is a sly business man that likes to take other people's inventions and make a fair bit of money out of it. He usually doesn't buy ideas as much as... acquire them.

Notes to the GC
You might want to go over all this, I was confused on more than one occasion. Tell me if I need to redo anything. Possessions felt a bit OP, so I went for some in-character items there. If you need more info on the character, I could write you a small novella, but I kept it brief for now :p.

[CycloneSP]

Oooo, this sounds rather interesting. I've never played a D20 table top game before, tho I've been wanting to try one out recently. So yeah, count me in.

Also, is this gonna have lots of steampunk elements/fantasy or more along the lines of the actual 1880's?


Oh, and if I'm adjusting EST to GMT I add 5 hrs, right?

Like the others, I'll update my post with my character.



EDIT: Okay, since I am completely new to the whole world of table top rpg's I'm not gonna pretend like I know what I'm doing and post something like gil. Besides, dave, you said you wanted stories and backgrounds, right? I can give you that.

Name: Warp Timer
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Race: Caucasian (tho, it's rumored he has some native american in him. He always did tan very well)
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 135
Build: Thin, somewhat lank. He has little muscle, but what can be seen is very well defined and cut.(dem six packs man ;) )
Facial hair: None, nor has he ever needed to shave.
Hair color: Golden brown
Hair style: Messy unkempt hair that comes just past his ears.

Personality: Bright, cheerful, intelligent. Warp is always thinking, always learning, always screwing up. While he has a genius intelligence when it comes to mechanics and electricity, he has a natural proclivity to bring misfortune upon himself or those around him. Not through malicious intent, mind you, but from sheer oversight or negligence.(some say he's just down right unlucky) But despite it all, Warp is continuously optimistic in spite of all the odds, and more often than not is capable of succeeding where most fail or stop trying. While Warp has intentions of one day settling down with a wife and kids, right now, he finds little romantic interest in women, and would rather see a woman engage him in an intellectual conversation about theoretical mechanics that try to court her in the hopes of sleeping with her that night. While Warp can always be seen smiling, he has a signature grin and glint in his eye that always surfaces when he's got a brilliant, foolproof plan.

Background: Warp was orphaned at a young age. Most say it was due to a river boating accident, they say the boilers blew causing the ferry to sink. But Warp always knew, in his heart, there was something greater going on. Warp was saved from the fate of living at an orphanage all his life by a man questionable character. With this man, Warp traveled all across the eastern coast and interior. They traveled by whatever means they could, be it steamboat, rails, or on foot. Due to their constant travelling, Warp gained a great dislike for the outdoors. During their travels, the man(let's call him Cross, I don't have an official name for him tho) taught Warp many things. One such thing is the ability to pick locks and sneak around undetected. Both of which Warp picked up easily and excelled in. Cross also trained Warp in Chinese kenpo from an early age, making him an veritable master in the art at his present age. Often when Warp and Cross were in town, Warp could be found in a basement practicing kenpo or experimenting with electricity or mechanical devices while Cross was spending their hard 'earned' money at the local saloon or bar. (by 'earned' whatever Cross stole, or Warp earned from odd jobs or won with cards) At the age of 18, Warp had finally grown sick of Cross, and in an elaborate display of cunning, faked his own death and managed to escape to a busy city where he resides to this day.



Tell me if this was enough or not. Also, questions/critique are welcome as well.

[Utterbob]

Used to play a regular weekly game with a groups of friends (we all used to crash at one guys place after clubbing on Sat night and start DnD as soon as enough of us were awake and just play until late Sun night.... ahhh good memories).

So yeh I'd love to get involved, my only issue is the copyright, I have no idea how it stands with this sort of thing. While sharing one copy of each book was fine for personal use, as we were doing back then, sharing over the net is a whole other can of worms! So is this a commonly avaliable rule-set? Alternativly can someone provide some material within copyright?

Lastly I might have issues with time zone but otherwise if we can get past the first point I'm keen!

[MrGrau]

Naturally, I'm in. And I'll update this post with stuff

[DaveYanakov]

Check the wiki link. Most of the information in the rulebook that is relevant to players is on there. For stats, we will be rolling those up in Roll20 partly because I dislike the build point system but mostly to make sure everyone is able to log in and make use of it.

[DaveYanakov]

Just as a heads up, please post your character bio and roll your stats on Roll20. If you need an invitation to the campaign, send me or Grau a PM for the link. I would like to have character biographies from everyone participating my Monday if at all possible.

[CycloneSP]

Sounds good. I think I'll also use this as an opportunity to post my times of availability.

I am almost always free from 10:00 pm to 2:00 am EST (3:00 am to 7:00 am GMT) every day of the week. Starting next week, I'll be beginning online summer courses, so anything before that will be touch and go. But I should be able to manage anything after 5:00 pm EST (10:00 pm GMT) That is, not including dinner and/or anything else that may pop up.

[Gilberreke]

I'm able to fit almost any time slot in, given it's not the middle of the night. It's very hard to pick one, so I'm just going to wait for the proposed hours and say if it's possible.

[Kaitocain]

My Character sheet pre-vet by the GM :P

Name: Kai Mar Rynolds
Nickname: Mar
Ethnicity: Caucasian
3 Traits: Cunning, Loyal, Strong Willed.
3 Hates: Backstabbing, Zealously Religious, Stupidity
Northern US Born, Lives on his boat “Serene” on the river moving Items, Passengers, and other “goods” for various jobs. Will take any job, big or small, as long as it pays.
Origin:
Talent: Vigilant - +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma
+1 to skill checks to determine surprise
+ 1 Notice Threat Range (+1 at 5,10,15,20)
Specialty: Serviceman
Feat: Officer
Handgun and Rifle Proficiancies
+1 Attack Checks for Suppressive Fire (+1 at 5,10,15,20)
Class: Explorer
The Explorer reacts quickly to danger and possesses
a knack for confronting the unknown. His seat-of-the-pants
daring and enthusiasm ensures that his team can make the critical
leaps beyond logic that often make all the difference

Trained Skills: Athletics, Blend, Cultures, Drive, Investigation, Notice, Resolve, Science, Search, Security, Streetwise, and Survival

Skill Points: 6 + Int Modifier x 4 (6 + Int Modifier)

Core Ability: Connected

Class Abilities: See Book

Skills = 2 points in every trained skill (3 in Streetwise, Survival, Security, and Notice.)

All Else can be decided at Rolling, including equipment (assuming we are also rolling for wealth and such). My only request is a boat named the Serene, and a pistol named Red. Simple as that :D

Bio: Mar was born into a military family, with his father serving in the Cival war as he was entering his teens. He was drug around the torn apart country, as his family moved to deal with his father being stationed at different locations during the war. As soon as he was old enough, he joined as well, and he quickly learned his way around the ships he was stationed on.

As he was out at sea during what would be his last voyage with the navy, he was stationed in the pacific fighting off Pirates that were threatening the nations interests as the first mate of the vessel Martin around the same time that the Battle of Boca Teacapan was taking place elsewhere. As a great majority of resources were put towards that battle, his own vessal was overtaken by pirates, and though he and the crew fought with the best they could, the couldn't stop from being overrun. He narrowly escaped via a liferaft and was able to make his way to a neighboring island, cursing the US for not assisting them in there own battle.

From there on, he moved to working for steamboats on the great river, and eventually was able to purchase his own, and has been transporting and taking jobs from the towns on the great river ever since.

(Feel free to modify that history, as it was sorta quickly tossed together.)

[CycloneSP]

Welp, it's monday. So I thought I'd let ya'll know that I'll just be afk'ing in the chat room/game area checking up on it periodically. If I see anyone else in there, I'll see about starting up some conversation. :)