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Anyone interested in a Trinity campaign? Have you even heard of it? As the tagline says, it's epic science-fiction. And as the lady in the picture shows, it involves some wicked paranormal powers.
I post this with some doubt but the hope that I can find four to six interested players. Since this has nothing to do with D&D or D20, I post with some trepidation. Trinity is a discontinued (as of 2001) Sci-Fi game from White Wolf first published in 1997 and it is their finest effort IMO. In particular, the series Darkness Revealed is the most fun I ever had with somebody else’s story as a GM. So much fun, that I would like to run it again as PbP.
Wikipedia gives a very cursory presentation of the game.
I don’t expect the players to own the books, obviously. It is unlikely that there is another Trinity geek on the board who owns all the books like I do. The rule system is a variation of the ubiquitous WW D10. I’ll design the characters in cooperation with the players and I expect no one will have trouble understanding the basics: roll as many D10 as you are allowed and if a lot of them show up 7 or better, you are a happy camper.
In fact, not being familiar with Trinity is a plus. After all, the Darkness Revealed trilogy is the iconic Trinity campaign (It better be, it’s the only one!). I expect all fans of the setting already know the story and probably have played through it. There is too much mystery and intrigue in that story for me to accept players who are familiar with it. That’s the main reason I’m not doing this on a White Wolf forum. The other reason is that I’m lazy and don’t want to multiply needlessly the number of Forums I subscribe too.
I love 4e D&D, but be warned that Trinity is the opposite. It’s not a tactical board game in the least. Fights are to be avoided and when they occur they will be run Feng Shui style (minus the flying monkeys). This is very much about roleplaying. Therefore, I am looking for players who are capable of embellishing their posts a little. No need to be a professional writer, but a certain flair for storytelling is required. Ideally, I’d like to be able to collect all the posts made for a scene and edit them in a single narrative. On the other hand, since I’m more interested in quality than quantity, I don’t really expect daily posts. Three or four solid posts a week is enough.
Still want more info about the setting? You're a brave soul. I couldn't find a decent briefing online so I wrote one. Rushed it a bit, don't be too harsh.
So... any takers?
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 11th October 2008 at 08:12 PM..
I do own the book. . . or at least I believe I still do. I'll have to check around. But I never got a chance to play a game at all, so I never played the campaign. I'd love to get a chance actually put my love of the setting to good use.
Woot. At least one potential player. Come on everyone else, don't be shy.
I trust that you don't know too much about the Darkness Revealed trilogy, frogman.
As a heads up, I use the player guide's optional freeform power rules, in case you what this is. It's more fun (and more versatile) than the predetermined powers from the core book.
I have the non-d20 books. What system do you use? I think the storyteller, but the picture is from the d20 book.
It's the same cover as for the original, though. I don't own the D20 version. That's really not a game that fitted D20 IMO.
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I've got Adventure! D20, does that count?
Hell, no!
But as I said, I accept players that don't own the books.
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As far as character concept goes; They are all characters who just starteted working for Aeon Trinity, either as full operatives or associates.
Operatives have left their orders and work for Trinity full time while associates are the equivalent of the army reserve; they still are full members of their order but donate some time to Trinity. Obviously, Trinity prefers full operative, but psions are such a valuable ressoruce that they accept and use associates routinely.
Since WD mentionned Norca; You don't leave Norca in good terms... If you do, you must swear secrecy on the work you did for them or be hunted down. And you don't become an associate without Del Fuego's (the Proxy) personal blessing and the understanding that you will be debriefed after every Trinity mission. In fact, a Norca might be ordered to become an associate for the express purpose of keeping tab on Trinity. Biokinetics are so rare (2000 worldwide) that Trinity accepts that a necessary evil but you can't raise much in the organization as long as you keep your tie to Norca.
Game wise it means that an ex-Norca who became a full Trinity Operative can have no background that relate to keeping good terms with the Norca (allies, contact, mentor etc.). While if you are an associate, you can't have much background that relates to having influence within Trinity.
The other orders are far more relaxed where Trinity is concerned.
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 25th August 2008 at 02:20 PM..
Perhaps we could discuss my characters loyalities in privat
If a norca would really kill the mood, I would go with the docs (vitakinetics), but be warned, my native language is German (Just a joke, the smily, not the sentence)
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Perhaps we could discuss my characters loyalities in privat
If a norca would really kill the mood, I would go with the docs (vitakinetics), but be warned, my native language is German (Just a joke, the smily, not the sentence)
Norça doesn't kill the mood, too much PvP does.
When I ran the campaign live, the Norça player was an associate loaned to Trinity for goodwill. It was always understood where her ultimate loyalty lied and so her (extremely) shady ways never caused a problem and we could focus on the story.
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Trinity... feh. 'round 'ere, we call it Aeon.
Still got the original with the posted on sticker that WW was forced to put on after MTV sued them.
Excellent. If it is the older version, it probably doesn't have the last three pages that reveals most of the metaplot including events that unfold during the Darkness Revealed saga...
When I ran the campaign live, the Norça player was an associate loaned to Trinity for goodwill. It was always understood where her ultimate loyalty lied and so her (extremely) shady ways never caused a problem and we could focus on the story.
No problem. The player should always be willing to play and have fun with the others. The character can be shady and with hidden motives.
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Excellent. If it is the older version, it probably doesn't have the last three pages that reveals most of the metaplot including events that unfold during the Darkness Revealed saga...
Ok. I got also the Norca netbook, some other organisation books, the player's guide and the technic manual.
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Hi I'm a comic and rpg nerd. Don't hurt me, please.
So it looks like I have sold or lost my book. I may be able to borrow a friends, but for now I'll be without. I'm leaning towards a clairsentient, with a precognative bent. Probably an Trinity Operative.
So it looks like I have sold or lost my book. I may be able to borrow a friends, but for now I'll be without. I'm leaning towards a clairsentient, with a precognative bent. Probably an Trinity Operative.
Cool, I love ISRA.
It's basically just a big wacky University with its hippies, Bahá'í mystics, stuffy intellectuals and even jocks. They are the most relatable order as far as I am concerned.
They are also the easiest order to 'leave'. It is after all a university. Sooner or later you graduate. And go on to work for Trinity in your case. I assume you have something like a detective in mind? Investigative skills with some fieldwork skills.
Precognition as such isn't a mode of the Clairsentience aptitude. Visions of the future is common amongs cogs, but it's more a plot device than an actual power. It comes at the GM discretion and no precog that I know of (except probably Herzog himself) are in control of their visions, though they are recorded and acted upon if possible.* In fact, such a vision plays a minor role in the first adventure.
The closest thing to player controlled precognition comes through Psychometry. It allows the clear to see the links between things. It works much better with past links but it can also see future links in terms of probabilities.
I remember an exemple of application of psychometry from the Player's Guide where a clairsentient used it to pick up a chick; he could foresee which pickup lines would have the best probabilities of success. Lol.
*It is also an ungoing metaplot point at the time of Darkness Revealed that no precog, including proxy Herzog, can see visions past a specifc (and fast approaching) point in time. This lead most to speculate that a highly chaotic event is almost upon us. It's on every ISRAns mind at the time the series begins.
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 26th August 2008 at 08:04 PM..
Looking into a power list helped me clarify what I was thinking of. Telethesia has a few precog type powers I seem to recall. Not visions of the future, but rather applied precognition.
"We're going to be attacked."
"When?"
". . . Now."
Stuff like danger sense, and a few of the powers from the Luna Rising book.
Psychometry: Studies points of interactions between things in the past and to a lesser extent in the future.
Psychonavigation : Locate things and evaluate the path between them.
Telesthesia : Discern the physical propertier of things over a distance.
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Okay, in terms of predictive abilities, a seer can start to get an idea of probable outcomes betweem two things at Psychometry 3. That's the closest to precognition a players can get under his full control. Outright visions are at the GM whim. I could throw some your way. Psychometry 3 also allows, for example, to establish previous ownership of an object or review its recent thistory (Such as determining how the date of your daughter went down; Seer dads must be a pain in the rear end to their offspring!).
Danger sense is simply an application of Telesthesia. He's not really predicting the future in this case; he is simply very aware of his environment and constantly scanning it for danger. It only requires Telesthesia 1. Mechanically, it translates to automatic successes on awareness rolls when rolling for surprise and initiative. Telesthesia 1 also allows you to heighten or tune out your senses, such as seeing in the dark or filtering the sound of a crowd to hear a specific conversation.
So by what you told me, I would guess you would need Psychometry 3 and telesthesia 1 (which means purchasing one point of mode through freebie).
Anymore details on the kind of character you want so I can give you a first draft?
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 27th August 2008 at 03:26 AM..
I have a potential idea: A TK assassin of the Second Legion on loan to Trinity for special ops. Uses TK to manipulate little things---you know, arteries, hearts, etc. Would need some medical training to know where to "look" and "Remote Manipulation" and lots of Psi to overcome the added difficulty of not seeing things (and perhaps Subterfuge or such to make it look like their not doing anything). Loosely based on JMS' telepaths, especially Laural Darkhaven from his comic Rising Stars.
Thoughts?
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
I have a potential idea: A TK assassin of the Second Legion on loan to Trinity for special ops. Uses TK to manipulate little things---you know, arteries, hearts, etc. Would need some medical training to know where to "look" and "Remote Manipulation" and lots of Psi to overcome the added difficulty of not seeing things (and perhaps Subterfuge or such to make it look like their not doing anything). Loosely based on JMS' telepaths, especially Laural Darkhaven from his comic Rising Stars.
Thoughts?
Interesting.
The Legion doesn't have 'assassins' as such, though you can call him 'special force' and end up with pretty much the same set of skill (with less street savvy and more survival training).
The mission starts as a routine investigation though it is about an aberrant attack and the control agent is suspicious enough that dipping in his budget to loan a mercenary from the 2nd can make sense.
On the other hand, Psychokinetics are the most numerous psions to work full time for Trinity. There are 25,000 PKs in the world, almost half the total psion body count. When the legion recruit you, they train you and after a 4 year term of service, you can leave, which almost 25% of legionnaire do. Considering Aeon Trinity does more dirty work than the Legion, it might be more plausible if you were one yourself. They got a higher demand for that skill set.*
The only problem is about the type of effect you want to do. TKs aren't seer; they only affect what they see. In Trinity they can't subtly stop the flow of blood to the brain by pinching an artery. Break the guy's neck, sure. Punching him in throat from a distance, yes. But not affect what's inside, even if they know exactly where everything is located. Well, in theory, if a clairsentient sensed the artery to pinch and a telepath mindlinked him to the TK, it would work. It's how teleporters jumped to area they had never seen, before their disparition. But it's not exactly convenient for assassination, eh?
The kind of thing you describe are more along the lines of what a Vitakinetics with good training in Algesis can do. By the book, when a vitakinetics mess with the body of someone, it's fairly obvious during the autopsy, but I'm more leniant in that regard. You might look in that direction. Be warned that outright killing someone by stopping his heart or something similar is rank 5. There's good game balance reason for that! It's extremely hard to protect against.
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PS : Rising star rocks!
*The Legion is by far the most straightforward order. General Larssen sees her army as the first line of defense against aberrant. Most of her planning goes toward that end. That's why I say it has less use for assassin than Trinity. You don't assassinate an aberrant. You seek&Destroy it. There's no need to do it subtle, to make it look like an accident or avoid getting caught in that act. You just take it down. Trinity on the other hand plays a far subtler game. After reading various sourcebook, I'd rank the likelyhood of using assassins of the various orders this way:
From most to least likely:
Norça
Aeon Trinity
Orgotek
The Ministry + The Aesculopians (tied, can't decide)
The Legion
ISRA
Last edited by Mal Malenkirk; 27th August 2008 at 06:57 AM..
What I stated is the overall concept---sort of an TK experiment done by Trinity after the character mustered out of the Legion. The goal would be to do something a little more 'discrete' via TK than the more common VitaK; the current reality of the "experiment" may not be quite as successful yet. I'm not trying to subvert the rules, just play with them. I was thinking (at least at 2--3 Dots) akin to the power of Contusion or the other 2 Dot TK powers but at a higher difficulty (due to the "not being able to see" +3 mentioned on pg 193 of my book). Thus the need for training in medicine, etc.
If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I'll think of something else.
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
Anymore details on the kind of character you want so I can give you a first draft?
I think I'll drop the precogg angle, psychometry never really grabbed me.
So Telethesia + Psychonavigation. . . maybe 2+1
Attribute Priorities
Mental (fairly balanced)
Social (appearance and charisma over manipulation)
Physical (shifted towards speed over strength)
Maybe some of my freebie points towards my lower attributes, to shore up weak points.
Skills as you see fit for someone who has been with ISRA for a few years, but eventually left the moon, seeking a more active role in the world through Trinity.
Formerly Known As Frukathka 
(Just a joke, the smily, not the sentence)
