[OOC] Horror High - Freshman Year

I'm going to give GMing another go (with apologies for the last aborted attempt). Going back to my love of horror with a touch of camp. This game is heavily inspired by Buffy: The Slayer and Cabin in the Woods as well as many, many other horror movies and shows.

Belmont High, located in Belmont Massachusetts, a Boston suburb, has an unfortunate nickname - Horror High. The high school is infamous for a number of unsolved murders, with local legends saying they were supernatural in nature.

The new principal, Belladonna Jameson, intends to put a stop to all that nonsense. The new freshman class has heard all the stories, but Principal Jameson has promised a safe, nurturing learning environment.

We'll see how long that lasts...

Characters may be any class and start at level 1. The following roles are available...

Student (any number allowed) - A relatively normal student at Belmont. Starting Occupations are limited to Adventurer (someone in to extreme sports or just a general thrill seeker type), Athlete (someone involved in school sports teams, a jock), Celebrity (someone who comes from a wealthy family and has a measure of local fame because of it), Creative (someone who is a writer, artist, computer whiz, or other "nerd" type), Criminal (someone who has had some run-ins with the law), Rural (someone who grew up on a farm or ranch and probably just moved to Belmont), Student (catchall for any other student type). All student characters should be 15 years old unless they've been held back a year for some reason (explain in background).

Mentor (one only) - This is an older, more knowledgeable character who is aware of the occult and supernatural to some extent and takes the other character's under their wing, though they still start at 1st level. This character should be working toward the Occultist or Acolyte advanced classes. Starting Occupations are limited to Academic (a teacher, librarian, or other school official), Dilettante (a wealthy individual, perhaps a relative of one of the students, who dabbles in the occult), Religious (someone with a rank or position within a local major religion, probably one that one or more of the student characters belongs to).

Potential Shadow Slayer (one only) - This character has a destiny to become a member of the Shadow Slayer advanced class. This character may have any starting occupation listed above for Students, but they should have a particularly violent or odd event in their childhood.

Potential Witch (one only) - This character should be working toward the Occultist or Mage advanced classes, but otherwise may have any starting occupation listed above for Students. The character should have a magical event of some sort in their childhood.

Potential Psychic (one only) - This character should be working toward the Telepath or Battle Mind advanced classes, but otherwise may have any starting background listed above for Students. The character should have a strange, unexplained event of some sort in their childhood.

Potential Critter (two only) - This character either already is or is fated to become a werewolf, vampire, or other supernatural beasty. Pick a Student starting occupation. The character's advanced class options will be replaced by a custom class designed to emulate a supernatural critter. If there are two potentials they must be different critters types.

Adult Investigative (one only) - This character is an adult (though young), who works in a law enforcement or emergency services capacity and, either through choice or circumstance, ends up at scenes involving the Students and supernatural phenomena. This is a guest character, meant for a player who doesn't have quite as much time to post as others, or someone who wants to have a small starting role that builds in to something more. Starting Occupations are limited to Doctor, Emergency Services, Investigative, and Law Enforcement.

I will edit a link to the D20 Modern SRD a little later. In the meantime, start posting character concepts!

This sounds really cool. I will brainstorm and assess.

Potential shadow slayer would be cool, but I kind of have that groove going in another game now. I think a potential witch or critter would work better for me.

Anybody else want to enroll in Horror High?

I haven't watched Buffy, but I have been to high school.

I haven't played d20 modern (nor Pathfinder, just D&D 4 and 5e), though looking through the SRD, it doesn't seem impossible to keep up with. Would that be an issue though?

Macv12 said:

I haven't watched Buffy, but I have been to high school.

I haven't played d20 modern (nor Pathfinder, just D&D 4 and 5e), though looking through the SRD, it doesn't seem impossible to keep up with. Would that be an issue though?

Click to expand...

Perfect. Welcome aboard. Post a basic concept and we'll go from there.

This sounds like fun,how does a student who has kind of an obsession with the supernatural and the occult. He could be into rpg's maybe read some fantasy. What do you think?

Thanks!

Well, I always go for werewolves. Not sure what it is exactly. If I were to go that route, I'm thinking a girl from Eastern Europe whose parents immigrated here to save her from pitchfork mobs after she started transforming. They lived out in the sticks at first, and taught her survival skills (Adventurer occupation) to take care of herself if she woke up in a strange place after transforming. She's gradually taken control of herself and has recently started going to school. Presumably, she would have some ability to invoke transformation or something at will, or develop it eventually with the advanced class? I'm flexible to change whatever doesn't fit with the lore of this universe.

If no one jumps for the Mentor and we need one, I could also be the eccentric janitor who secretly stashes occult stuff in the closets and vents all over the school. (Probably Academic occupation, gunning for Occultist.)

By the way, what should be done about weaponry? I assume, for instance, that any kind of firearm used on school grounds would be a poor choice. Would gun use be a wasted concept, or should we go for whatever? Or is combat even a major focus?

Dang it, [MENTION=6755061]Kiraya_TiDrekan[/MENTION] , you always have the most interesting premises and I've been hungry for a Buffy-style game for _years_...

But I've also flaked on a few of your games over the years, so I'm not sure if you'd like me on board. If so, I'd be interested in either the potential Telepath or the Adult Investigative... unless you'd consider a potential Telepathic Student working to become an Law Enforcement/Detective guy?

[MENTION=6801673]Alizaar[/MENTION], are you thinking of taking the aspiring witch role?
[MENTION=6801600]Macv12[/MENTION], Is the setting is high school, guns won't be showing up a whole lot. We will be using the D20 Modern wealth bonus system, but the student characters will also have to deal with parents, though you can define those as part of creating your character. A werewolf would shift during the three nights of the full moon (and have little memory of what they did when they wake up in the morning) and then, as you develop the Advanced Class for it, will be able to take control of their transformations and use it to their advantage. I also really dig the janitor-mentor. If no one takes the mentor role, I might steal that concept for a NPC.
[MENTION=36150]Herobizkit[/MENTION], I have a history of flaking out on my own games, so don't sweat it. Let's both see if we can avoid the flake-out curse. As for the telepath or the investigator, it depends on how much screen time you are ok with initially.

Hm, if you want the witch, I could go psychic...that would be cool...

Or I could just go shadow slayer. Tee hee.