Piece of Mind: a d20 Modern horror/sci fi campaign [METAGAME]

[Falkus]

According to the errata posted on bullet points, starting wealth for a level 2 heroic character is 8 + occupation + ranks in profession.

Edit: And here it is, http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/bp/20030304a

 

[James Heard]

Brandon Sharpe
Dedicated Hero 2

STR 10/+0
DEX 13/+1
CON 10/+0
INT 14/+2
WIS 13/+1
CHA 15/+2

Hit Points 11 [6 Max Starting + 5 Ded2]

Defense +3 [Ded2 +2 + Dex +1]
- Touch +3 [Ded2 +2 + Dex +1]
- Flat-footed + 2[Cha2 +2]

Initiative +1 [+1 Dex]

BAB +1
- Melee + 1 [Ded2 +1]
- Unarmed +1
- Ranged + 2 [Ded2 + 1 + 1 Dex]
- .22 Pathfinder revolver +2 Attack [2d4damage RngInc20ft]

Fortitude +2 [Ded2 + 2]
Reflex +1 [Ded2 + 0 + 1 Dex]
Will +3 [Ded2 + 2 + 1 Wis]

Reputation 3 [Renown +3]
AP 7
Wealth 13 [Wealth Roll+3 + 2 Investigate bonus +4 Ded1Profskill +5 Ded2Profsuccess -1 Purchase of 35mm Camera]
Allegiances: "the fans", family

Starting Occupation: Investigate
Class skills: Craft-Visual Art, Investigate
Bonus Feat: Personal Firearms
Wealth bonus +2

Skills- [28 + 7/level]
Craft-Visual Art +13[5 Ranks +2Int + 1Investigate +3Skill Emphasis +2Creative], Diplomacy +4[2Ranks +2Cha], Investigate +10[5 Ranks +2Int +1Investigate +2Attentive], Knowledge-Civics +3[1 Ranks +2Int], Knowledge-Current Events +4[2 Ranks +2Int], Perform-Sing +6[2 Ranks +2Cha +2Creative], Profession-Investigative Journalist +6[5 Ranks +1Wis], Sense Motive +8[5 Ranks +1Wis +2Attentive], Speak Language-English, Speak Language-Portguese, Speak Language-Spanish, Survival +2[1 Rank +1Wis]

Feats –
Simple Weapons Proficiency [Automatic]
Personal Firearms [Bonus Feat]
Creative (Craft-Visual Art & Perform-Sing) [Starting feat]
Renown [Starting feat]
Attentive [Ded2 Bonus Feat]


Talents –
Insightful Talent Tree
Skill Emphasis- Craft-Visual Art

Class Abilities –

Equipment –
casual clothes, driver's license, passport, registration license for handgun, day pack, Luxury photojournalist vest, light sticks (5 - in vest), digital audio recorder (left front vest pocket), luxury cell phone (left insidefront vest pocket), road atlas (day pack), Luxury 35mm Camera (on strap around neck), 50 rolls of film (day pack), notebooks and pens (day pack), pen light 9right front vest pocket), Pathfinder .22revolver (usually at home in the nightstand by the bed), memorabilia from The New Rebels (in his closet)

Background Information –
By the time he was three years old, Brandon Sharpe had his life outlined for him. His mother would take him to auditions in their clunky VW bus, brush his hair and tell him how special he was. When he was five years old, he landed his first acting job selling cereal. As he grew older the jobs became more and more prestigious, until finally he was approached by Kenneth Marcon and asked to join a new singing group called The New Rebels.

They were an overnight sensation. They toured Europe and South America, and sold out stadiums in the States at an ever increasing pace. Brandon spent most of his teenage years on busses and planes. His mother would call him from the huge house that he bought for his family to live in, and tell him how exciting it all was and how special he was. It was quite a ride, instant stardom and fame. Then, overnight, it all disappeared. He had to read about his mother's embezzlement of his fortune in a British magazine. Tony, one of the other bandmembers was arrested for raping a 14 year old girl after a concert in Finland. The bandmembers were growing older, and so were their audiences, and in the time it took to snap fingers he had turned into just another loathesome has-been from the entertainment scene. Tony fled the country, and the rest of the band spent most of the next half-decade checking themselves into rehab and being sued.

Eventually Brandon cleaned himself and decided to make himself a new life, something as far removed from the music industry and the stage as he could find. The problem he found, was that out-of-work ex-boy band members aren't given much credibility in the real world. He wasted another several long months filling out paperwork and job applications only to be told time and time again that his services were unwanted. Eventually Brandon sold everything he had, bought a camera, and went to Rwanda for what he initially thought of as a vacation. That was a few months before major hostilities broke out between the Hutu and Tutsis, and what followed is still a vague blur in Brandon's mind that only seems real when he looks at the pictures. Eventually he escaped through Virunga National Park with the aid of other refugees, and back to the States where he once again gained minor noteriety when his photographs of the conflict were published in Time magazine. Since then he's taken on assignments around the world, from photographing illegal fishing operations off the coast of Newfoundland to an extended stay in Brazil where he spent months living with Columbian rebels that operated from across the border.

Brandon doesn't really consider himself a performer anymore, though he's still got a stack full of memorabilia and gold records in a box in the closet. He's old enough now to realize just how much of The New Rebel's success rode on the production machine that drove it, and just now coming to terms with the idea that he just might be remembered for something else besides being a member of a forgotten band.

Besides himself Brandon regularly visits his parents and sister in Birmingham, where he tries to be "just Brandon" and play with his nieces. It's hard sometimes to describe what he does now for a living, perhaps even more so than it was describing life on the road with The New Rebels. He's more or less come to terms with his mother's misuse of his fortune, though he worries about her using drugs again all the time. What's left of that money and the royalties from The New Rebels tends to go to his family rather than vacations.

Physically Brandon is tall, almost with the body of a male dancer. The sort of build that someone only gets from performing on stage for nearly a decade every night and then drinking cheap tequila until it goes a little soft. If his face were cleanshaven would be astonishingly youthful, but he tends to keep a scrubby little beard to try and disguise that fact. His clothes are kept in a state of practiced disshevelment and he wears dark sunglasses underneath his faded ball caps. He carries an air of brash disregard about him, that sometimes turns to haunted silences. Even when he's dealing with corporate customers Brandon tends to be a "sports coat and jeans" sort of guy, and along with his ratty ball caps it's sort of become part of his mystique. He's been the clotheshorse before and jetted around the world in a private Lear, and he's got scars along his side where he crawled in the mud for three weeks trying to avoid being captured by Hutu death squads. He's not impressed with wealth anymore, and isn't about to pander to people who are without good reason.


Links to the rolls so far: http://www14.brinkster.com/nadaka/DiceboxDB.asp?Page=Find&By=Name&Value=Brandon Sharpe

OOC: REVISED Ok, looked him over and decided to see if I couldn't get something more to your liking. In this version he'd have needed a lot of help to have gotten radio air play, but that could be glossed over by the notion that there was someone else in the band that actually HAD talent. Now, as a dedicated photojournalist with a weird past, I think it might make more sense for someone to hire him on his own merits. He's still got to overcome the "Say, aren't you that kid from The New Rebels", but he's not going to be stopping for autographs all the time either anymore. His average quality (Take 10) Craft roll is Professional work (23), so maybe he's been sidelining for the company taking PR shots too. Plus, now he's got a +10 Investigate - which should be fairly convincing in the "We want you to find someone" thought process.

 

[The Shaman]

According to the errata posted on bullet points, starting wealth for a level 2 heroic character is 8 + occupation + ranks in profession.

Edit: And here it is, http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/bp/20030304a

In my book I have it penciled in as +6 for 2nd level, based on the Bullet Points article ("First of all, Table 7-2 is misprinted -- 1st-level NPCs should determine Wealth normally. For 2nd-level NPCs, the bonus should be +6.")

However, for our game, go ahead and take an 8 for your starting Wealth roll and add your Starting Occupation Wealth bonus and ranks in profession - just remember that if I'm giving you the max on something, it's because you're going to need all the help you can get...

Since we're on the subject, I didn't mention it, but you get maximum hit points for first level and roll normally for second level - you may re-roll once if you roll a one for HP (a second one is Fate telling you to keep your head down...).

James Heard...I've been looking over your character pretty closely. You've imbued Brandon with a lot of roleplaying potential, which is something I always like to see as a GM. I do have a question about how he fits into the campaign. Why would he be chosen to be part of a team of investigators searching for a missing person? From a metagame standpoint I see him as the party's "face" character of course, but for in-game reasons, from the perspective of the NPC who's organizing the group, I don't know why I would call on this guy. Putting yourself in the shoes of the NPC for a moment, what in Brandon's background would bring him to your attention as a potential investigator for a missing person and lead you to recruit him?

 

[The Shaman]

Is it okay that I've never played a PbP game before?

Absolutely! I look forward to seeing your character sheet.

 

[James Heard]

James Heard...I've been looking over your character pretty closely. You've imbued Brandon with a lot of roleplaying potential, which is something I always like to see as a GM. I do have a question about how he fits into the campaign. Why would he be chosen to be part of a team of investigators searching for a missing person? From a metagame standpoint I see him as the party's "face" character of course, but for in-game reasons, from the perspective of the NPC who's organizing the group, I don't know why I would call on this guy. Putting yourself in the shoes of the NPC for a moment, what in Brandon's background would bring him to your attention as a potential investigator for a missing person and lead you to recruit him?

He basically bribed his way onto the team. He's charismatic and enough famous that say, a former female fan who found herself in a position of influence, might hire him just for the nepotism of it all. But craft-wise Brandon's a pretty spiffy photographer, so really I was thinking that someone might pass it on their boss as getting a photographer perhaps. Once he's hit third level he'd have the Favor ability in his talent tree I think too, which someone astute might note. And oh yeah, you mentioned something about Psionic FX? I was looking at maybe taking Wild Talent as my third level feat and aiming for Telepath later on, and if that's an option then maybe someone knows something about Brandon that he doesn't even suspect. But yeah, a lot of why I chose the background was because it was such a hard fit- not being obstinate you understand, but it should be a natural question at all times: Just what the hell IS a former child actor and singer doing here in the middle of the gods-know-what?

On the other hand, maybe Brandon actually knew the person missing? Related to them? Is owed money by them? I'm not really grokking the tone and genre as much as I'm normally comfortable with, but after reading some of the other games you're involved in I decided I'd probably like to see if I had a shot in stamping a character sheet.

 

[kmdietri]

Sirk Decker
Tough 1/Smart 1

STR 10/+0
DEX 14/+2
CON 16/+3
INT 14/+2
WIS 10/+0
CHA 10/+0

HP: 17 (Smar 1 + 6 [max] + Tou 1 5 [Avg] +6 Con)

Defense +4 [Tou1 +1 + Dex +2, Equip +1]
- Touch +3 [Tou1 +1 + Dex +2]
- Flat-footed +2 [Tou1 +1, Equip +1]


Initiative +2 [Dex +2]

BAB +0 [Tou 1 +0 + Sma1 +0]
- Melee +0 [Tou 4 +3 + Wra 4 +3]
- Ranged +2 [Tou a +0 + Sma1 +0 + Dex +2]

Fortitude +4 [Tou 1 +1 + Sma 1 +0 + Con +3]
Reflex +2 [Tou 1 +0 + Sma 1 +0 + Dex +2]
Will +1 [Tou 1 +0 + Sma 1 +1]

Reputation +1
AP 7
Wealth 8
Allegiances: Family

Starting Occupation: Adventurer–
Class skills: Move Silently, Treat Injury
Bonus feat: Personal Firearms Proficiency
Wealth bonus +1

Skills- [44 Smart 1, 5 Tough 1]
Balance +2 [Dex +2], Bluff +0, Climb +0, Concentration +3 [Con +3], Demolitions +9 [4 ranks + Int +2 + cautious +2 + savant +1 ] Diplomacy +0, Disable Device +8 [4 ranks + Int +2 + cautious +2], Disguise +0, Escape Artist +2 [Dex +2], Forgery +2 [Int +2], Gamble +0, Hide +2 [Dex +2], Intimidate +0, Jump +0, Knowledge (current events) +7 [5 ranks + Int +2], Knowledge (popular culture) +7 [5 ranks + Int +2], Knowledge (streetwise) +7 [5 ranks + Int +2], Knowledge (arcane lore) +6 [4 ranks + Int +2] Knowledge (history) +6 [4 ranks + Int +2], Listen +0, Move Silently +7 [5 ranks + Dex +2], Navigate +2 [Int +2], Profession +5 [5 ranks], Read/Write Language (English), Research +2 [Int +2], Ride +2 [Dex +2], Search +6 [4 ranks + Int +2], Sense Motive +0, Speak Language (English), Spot +0, Survival +0, Swim +0, Treat Injury +4 [4 ranks].

Feats –
Simple Weapons Proficiency [automatic]
Personal Firearms Proficiency [bonus profession]
Heroic Burst [first level]
Cautious [first level]

Talents –
Remain Conscious [Tough – Unbreakable Talent Tree]
Savant (demolitions) [Smart – Research Talent Tree]


Equipment –

Wealth:8 [8 + 1 adventurer +1 lvl 2, -1 demolition kit, -1 Electrical tool kit(basic)]

Equipment:

Drivers License, Passport, Leather Jacket, Cell Phone, Casual Clothing, Contractor’s Field Bag, Binoculars, Penlight, Mesh vest, First Aid Kit, Electrical tool kit (basic), Lock picks (license), Demolition kit (license).

Background Information –
Sirk Decker was born on November 14, 1977 in Elmira Ontario. Sirk was the third of four children, 2 boys and 2 girls. His father Arthur was a tradesman while his mother Jean was a secretary.

Sirk’s early years were completely ordinary growing up like many boys in his town grew up. Winters spent playing hockey and summers spent camping and fishing with friends. Sirk didn’t excel in school but he knew one thing from a young age, and that was when he grew up he was going to be an archaeologist.

Sirk began his formal training in 1996 at the University of Toronto completing a bachelors of arts in 2000. With his undergrad complete Sirk finished his master’s degree at the University of Western Ontario and then returned to complete his PhD at Toronto.

A year into his PhD things looked pretty good, his future seemed all but certain, school was going smoothly, his family was healthy and happy, and he was engaged to a beautiful woman named Rebecca he’d met in first year at Toronto.

However in 2003 things would change. Sirk accepted an offer to do field work on a recently discovered Incan site in the mountains of Peru. Traveling with his wife to Peru Sirk had no idea what fate had in store for him.

Two weeks after beginning work on the excavation the camp was attacked by Marxist rebels. A group of rebels known as the Fourth Sword of Marxism and led by a man named Abimael Guzman attacked the camp and captured of killed most of Sirk’s colleagues. The northerners were taken prisoner to be ransomed back to their families in the States and Canada. On that day Sirk’s soul diead as he helplessly watched as many of the women, including his fiancée, were raped and murdered.

After three months of captivity in a mountain camp Sirk and his colleagues were finally rescued. Private contractors working on behalf of the victim’s families stormed the camp. There was a brief but intense fire fight, however with most of the rebel’s ‘political’ leaders away, the peasant fighters did not have the heart to die for the lives of seven foreigners and quickly retreated into the jungle. During the rescue Sirk had ‘handled himself well,’ or so he was told. The only thing he knew for sure was that he had killed, and that killing had filled a part of the vast emptiness witnessing Rebecca’s murder had created inside him. And so, shortly after the evacuation helicopter sped away Sirk knew he had found his second calling in life.

After that Sirk tried to return to his old life. But the ache inside him made everything seem so hollow and worthless. His head was filled with the horror of witnessing his fiancée’s murder and the anger and sorrow on the faces of her family. He kept the charade up for a few months but knew he had to fill the void inside him before it consumed him. He had been told in the hours following the evacuation, in those moments of instant camaraderie created by near death, that if he ever wanted a career change he knew where to look.

With that in mind he flew out to the west coast and presented himself at the offices of Archo-Tech Securities Corp.

A year and a half of training, traveling, missions, women, drugs, and killing had not filled the void. They treated the symptoms for a short period but the pain and self loathing always came back. If one thing was for certain Sirk needed to find his third calling in life…

 

[kmdietri]

Oops Double Post

 

[Falkus]

Here's the rest, let me know I missed anything.

Fast 2

Occupation: Rural (Personal firearms proficiency, drive, repair)

STR 8/-2
DEX 16/+3
CON 15/+2
INT 14/+2
WIS 10/+0
CHA 10/+0

HP: 17 (10 + 7)

Defense: 18 [10 + 4 (class) + 3 (dex) + 1 (armor)]
Touch: 17
Flatfooted: 15

Initiative +7 [+3 (dex) + 4 (full alert)]

BAB +1
- Melee +0 [+1(BAB) -1(str)]
- Ranged +4 [+1(BAB) +3(dex)]
- +2 Mastercraft Colt Python (+7 attack, 2d6 damage, 40ft range inc)
- Taser (+4 attack, 1d4 damage + paralysis, 5 ft range inc)

Fortitude +2 [+2(con)]
Reflex +5 [+2(fast) +3(dex)]
Will +0 []

Reputation +0
AP 7
Wealth
Allegiances: None

Skills-
Craft mechanical +7 (5 ranks + 2 int), Drive +11 (5 ranks + 3 dex + 1 profession +2 vehicle expert), Knowledge streetwise +7 (5 ranks + 2 int), Navigate +4 (2 ranks + 2 int), Pilot +10 (5 ranks +3 dex + 2 vehicle expert), Profession +5 (5 ranks), Repair +7 (5 ranks + 2 int)

Feats –
Simple Weapons Proficiency [automatic]
Personal Firearms Proficiency [bonus profession]
Point blank shot [First level]
Vehicle expert [First level]
Double tap [Second level fast bonus feat]

Talents –
Full alert (+4 initiative, from d20 Modern companion 2)


Wealth: 0 [8 + 1 rural, + 5 profession -2 colt python -2 nightvision goggles Acura 3.2 TL -4, GPS receiver -5 ]

Equipment:
Drivers License
Pilot’s license for all classes of non-restricted planes and helicopters
Passport
Semiautomatic pistols license
Acura 3.2 TL
Mastercraft +2 Colt Python (holster)
Taser (pocket)
Concealed carry holster (worn)
Illuminator (pocket)
75 lb Aluminum travel case (trunk of car)
300 rounds of .357 ammunition (Travel case)
6 .357 speed loaders (pockets)
Leather Jacket (worn)
Cell Phone (pocket)
Casual Clothing (worn)
Binoculars (Glove compartment of car)
Penlight (pocket)
First Aid Kit (trunk of car)
Basic electrical tool kit (trunk of car)
Basic mechanical tool kit (trunk of car)
Night vision goggles (glove compartment of car)
Snake eye lens (travel case)
Concealable video camera (travel case)
3 rolls of duct tape (glove compartment)
Multipurpose tool (pocket)
25 zip ties (travel case)
Road atlas (car)
Compass (pocket)
GPS receiver (pocket)
10 chemical lightsticks (travel case)
9 road flares (travel case)

Background:

Samuel Hawkins grew up on a farm in Iowa. His father was a retired US airforce pilot, and his mother wasn’t home often, as she flew passenger planes for a living. With a parentage like that, it was no wonder that Samuel took to studying airplanes with a lot of energy at a young age.

During his youth, he helped his father out on the farm during the day, and studied books on airplanes and the history of flight by night. He also showed a good aptitude for mechanics while he helped his father, soon becoming fairly proficient at fixing things.

His biggest heroes were the ace pilots of World War I and II, as well as General Patton Sam admired Patton’s direct and to the point behavior.

During college, Sam discovered another love. Fast cars. It was as if vehicles were an extension of his own body. He quickly rose to the top of the local street racing groups, beating all the competition that came his way.

When he finished college, with a degree in engineering, Sam, as everybody expected, enlisted in flight school, and easily aced the course. Then, came an enlistment in the air force. What nobody expected was him to bounce out of basic.

Sam loved flying, but he hated the aura of discipline and authority in the military. He was kicked out for repeated insubordination. After spending a month back home with his parents, his vanished down the back roads of the United States and sought excitement on his own terms.

For the next three years, he worked in South America and Africa as a professional mercenary. Handling mostly helicopters, he flew teams of mercenary commandos to their objectives, waited while they blew up/shot up/kidnapped/rescued/stole said obecjtive, and then flew them out, often being shot at. On two occasions, he handled a MiG fighter jet to level some hard targets, and on a third, he flew a Russian assault helicopter in a ground support mission.

He's also been doing a lot of work as an underground courier. When people needed something transported that was too hot or risky to use a regular courier service, he was there to answer the call. Packages, people, as long as it didn’t go against his code of morals, he would move it. He does most of his courier work in the United States.

 

[Bobitron]

Awesome, Falkus. +11 Drive at second level. I'll trust you to get my weak non-combatant out of danger in a rush.

 

[The Shaman]

I'm not really grokking the tone and genre as much as I'm normally comfortable with...

Hmmm...let me see if I can help with that.

The adventurers are being hired by the subsidiary of a major corporation, a Fortune 500-type company, so in assembling this team they're looking for people who are (1) professional in manner and appearance and (2) relatively cheap (for reasons that will be understood as we get into the adventure). Think of the characters in Sneakers, rather than The A-Team or Mission: Impossible - business-like rather than over-the-top.

As far as genre details, you've got horror, science fiction, and the possibility of psionics somewhere down the line - I could tell you more but then I'd have to kill you, which is something I generally try to avoid, at least until AFTER char gen is complete...

...but after reading some of the other games you're involved in I decided I'd probably like to see if I had a shot in stamping a character sheet.

Players, please take note: flattery WILL get you everywhere in my games.

Just what the hell IS a former child actor and singer doing here in the middle of the gods-know-what?

I think Brandon needs a sort of Bob Geldof moment in his background: at some point he is exposed to some ill of the world and really dedicates himself to its betterment - not in the flashy way of most celebrities, but by really working at it, getting in the trenches and doing things not for their P.R. value but for their human value. Instead of earning him fame and a spotlight, it earns him respect that's below the radar.

Does this help?