randomling
First Post
Terraism, if you're reading this, STOP NOW.
NOW.
Thank you.
Okay, I think he's gone.
I'm running a solo d20 Modern (over instant message no less) for my friend Terraism, and while I've got lots of ideas, I'm looking for some help piecing a few bits together, and some of your opinions.
The PC is Alex, a first level Smart hero, a graphic designer by trade. His story is that he lost his family to a car accident a few months back, and has moved from New York State (where Terra lives) to London (where I live - convenient) to get away from his past. On arriving in his new apartment in north London, he discovered the ghost of a girl trapped in his bathroom mirror.
The campaign plot as I see it goes a little something like this: A slightly crazed American guy (from Boston in fact) moved to London some years back. As well as being crazed, he's deeply into occult mysteries and very, very smart. For reasons of his own - which might mirror Alex's reasons for leaving the States, depending on how evil I'm feeling in the final confrontation - he's decided he wants to defeat death. Result: he's dabbling in dark sorcerous arts. One of the things that's helping him get near his goal is trapping the souls of the people he kills. This includes Anna (the ghost in his mirror), and the as-yet-unnamed ghost who he met at another address. (Long story short - Anna wrote the address, 7a Fairfax Road, on the inside of the mirror and Alex felt inclined to check it out.)
"Boston", as Alex has taken to calling him, is still occasionally using 7a as a hideout, which is why Alex found such things as an old spellbook and a drawer full of small change, bottle caps, and other circular pieces of metal. (I think these are material components for the trapping ritual.)
Last piece of the puzzle is the box Alex has found in his apartment: a music box, with some of Anna's things in it, including a gold pendant which has some minor magical power. (I'm thinking either a reduced protection from evil, or a +1 to Sense checks. No, I don't mean Spot and Listen - more on Sense checks later.)
I'm not stuck for things to do for the next few sessions as Alex has some researches to do regarding a symbol he memorized from the spellbook, and a few other bits and pieces. But the major question really is where am I going to get his next lead from? I want to lead him up a few garden paths, as any good DM should, if only to keep him from running into "Boston" just yet. There are mundane things related to this guy that he can try to combat - drug deals, trafficking, etc - but I'm not sure how to handle that really.
OK, so I'm looking for advice there, but also your opinions on something. Alex has an ability he's not aware of yet - it's psychic, but I'm treating it like a skill. It's called Sense, and it means he has a limited ability to detect presences and evil things, and I'm essentially going to give him an extra skill point a level to spend on psychic stuff. Although my current plan is to keep it hidden from him (spending the skill point for him) until he's aware of it, as a character. What do people think of that - good idea? Bad idea? How should I adjudicate when he's aware of it? (My current thinking is that when he tries to use it actively himself, rather than it passively activating, he's aware of it.)
Help?
NOW.
Thank you.
Okay, I think he's gone.
I'm running a solo d20 Modern (over instant message no less) for my friend Terraism, and while I've got lots of ideas, I'm looking for some help piecing a few bits together, and some of your opinions.
The PC is Alex, a first level Smart hero, a graphic designer by trade. His story is that he lost his family to a car accident a few months back, and has moved from New York State (where Terra lives) to London (where I live - convenient) to get away from his past. On arriving in his new apartment in north London, he discovered the ghost of a girl trapped in his bathroom mirror.
The campaign plot as I see it goes a little something like this: A slightly crazed American guy (from Boston in fact) moved to London some years back. As well as being crazed, he's deeply into occult mysteries and very, very smart. For reasons of his own - which might mirror Alex's reasons for leaving the States, depending on how evil I'm feeling in the final confrontation - he's decided he wants to defeat death. Result: he's dabbling in dark sorcerous arts. One of the things that's helping him get near his goal is trapping the souls of the people he kills. This includes Anna (the ghost in his mirror), and the as-yet-unnamed ghost who he met at another address. (Long story short - Anna wrote the address, 7a Fairfax Road, on the inside of the mirror and Alex felt inclined to check it out.)
"Boston", as Alex has taken to calling him, is still occasionally using 7a as a hideout, which is why Alex found such things as an old spellbook and a drawer full of small change, bottle caps, and other circular pieces of metal. (I think these are material components for the trapping ritual.)
Last piece of the puzzle is the box Alex has found in his apartment: a music box, with some of Anna's things in it, including a gold pendant which has some minor magical power. (I'm thinking either a reduced protection from evil, or a +1 to Sense checks. No, I don't mean Spot and Listen - more on Sense checks later.)
I'm not stuck for things to do for the next few sessions as Alex has some researches to do regarding a symbol he memorized from the spellbook, and a few other bits and pieces. But the major question really is where am I going to get his next lead from? I want to lead him up a few garden paths, as any good DM should, if only to keep him from running into "Boston" just yet. There are mundane things related to this guy that he can try to combat - drug deals, trafficking, etc - but I'm not sure how to handle that really.
OK, so I'm looking for advice there, but also your opinions on something. Alex has an ability he's not aware of yet - it's psychic, but I'm treating it like a skill. It's called Sense, and it means he has a limited ability to detect presences and evil things, and I'm essentially going to give him an extra skill point a level to spend on psychic stuff. Although my current plan is to keep it hidden from him (spending the skill point for him) until he's aware of it, as a character. What do people think of that - good idea? Bad idea? How should I adjudicate when he's aware of it? (My current thinking is that when he tries to use it actively himself, rather than it passively activating, he's aware of it.)
Help?
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