[OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents

[Icelander]

I had a temporary interruption of Internet service, but am back online now. I am also in the process of making characters, which means that I'll need everyone's prefered method of receiving their modified version.

Do you want to get an e-mail with an attached GCA file, an attached .rtf or Word-file or do you want a private message with the character laboriously copied into the body of the message? Do you prefer to see the character on the OOC thread, where every player has access? Or should we rig one of these wikia things that Brett likes for the game? I don't know how yet, but I figure I'll be able to find out over the weekend.

Anyway, anyone who wants to receive their character sheet by e-mail best send me theirs by PM, mail or Skype.

And since I'm making the characters now; any comments on each other's concepts, anything missing from your own, any small details and anything you think needs discussing or would like to add, would be real welcome around now.

[sir_pudding]

GCA by email, although having it here would also be useful.

[Anders Gabrielsson]

I PM'd about getting mine as a GCA-file through e-mail; I'll post it here myself when I get it.

[Þorkell]

GCA file by email, please!

[Icelander]

Here is a useful thread to read. I don't necessarily have the exact same GMing style, but it's similar and I think I agree with everything in the character design part. In particular, I'd like players to take a look at the concept of grommets.

After you've done that, please give me at least three and preferably more grommets to attach to your characters. This can be a restatement of something already said in the thread, for example Capt. Marten's desire to find out what happened to his family, but I'd also like things that serve to get PCs involved in events on a daily basis. Even if they are assigned a mission by their theoretical superiors, that mission may not turn out to be the 'adventure'. The adventure is whatever happens to the PCs, not something I set out with from the start. So it helps is the PCs are designed to either draw all sorts of interesting things toward them or seek them out.

A grommet might be a knight-errant complex, so that any damsel in distress will draw the party into her problems. One grommet that I expect all PCs to share, of course, is curiosity about the supernatural, but one or more PCs could have it at full-blown Curiousity Disadvantage levels.

If the grommets you want fit GURPS Disads or Quirks, by all means say so. If not, say so as well.

Also, how do people feel about me taking stuff from your character's backstories and making it plot-relevant? Can I latch onto anything that looks vaguely like a loose end? Can I decide that what is written in the bio is what the character knows, but things actually turned out differently, so that what looks like a closed chapter is actually a loose end? For example, a relative thought to be dead is not quite as dead as you believed or an old enemy who you thought was just this guy you made up named X was actually someone else, conveniently fitting into the setting, who was using a false name back when you knew him?

How does jmurrel feel about Dr. Villeneuve being a Weirdness Magnet? I was thinking about how all the PCs with their independent supernatural experiences had gotten to know him, specifically, and that maybe he is a nexus for this sort of thing. In that case, he'd not have one supernatural experience so much as many. Jeff could come up with some and leave it open for me to detail some others, when it mattered. But only if he likes the idea.

What about other PCs? Would anyone be in favour of their character having a secret gift, bloodline, prophecy or plot-relevant thingum that they didn't know about at the start of play? Had dreams that turned out true? Saw visions? Had the potential to learn magic? See spirits? Etc.

Things like this can be very nifty grommets for a GM to use in a wainscot fantasy world. But I'll not use them if nobody likes them.

And yes, I am aware that I ought to have finished the character sheets a long time ago. But with Jeff clearly away, I didn't see that much urgency, since we couldn't start yet either. But I'll be better in the future. You'll see.

[Anders Gabrielsson]

I will post a reply later, probably before the end of the weekend but maybe on Monday. I'm pressed for time and focus right now and I want to give this all the attention it deserves.

[Anders Gabrielsson]

Okay, taking this bit by bit.

Grommets:

* Jacques likes the ladies. Not to the point of stupidity, but definitely enough to be reckless or a bit careless. He likes to show off.

* Jacques is curious. Not quite "press the red button just to see what happens" curious, but at least "that guy's acting weird, if I follow him down this dark alley maybe I'll find out" curious. He's also pretty clever, and likes to show off his cleverness by figuring things out.

* Jacques has a hard time resisting a challenge. He's quite young and a bit cocky and thinks he's clever enough and good enough to figure out a way to beat most people and most things. He doesn't resent losing, as long as he wasn't cheated.

Pulling stuff from backstories: I love that. Go ahead and plunder all you want.

Secret gifts etc: I'm cautiously positive. Mostly I'd like to get a good feel for the world and my character before anything like this is put in, and even then I'd probably like to have the option to decide if it was a one-off thing or something more permanent.