PCs, Professions and Themes

A board to post ideas and stuff. Rules proposals, half-finished characters, or just random chatter.
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Joshua
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PCs, Professions and Themes

Post by Joshua »

If you've seen Penny Dreadful, that's fairly similar to the feel I'm going for.

Big things in the city:

Rich vs Poor: The industrial revolution happened. The aristocrats own the factories that produce Tok’l and the education to work with it. The poor mine, and handle food and agriculture. Cults draw from each for different reasons.

Insanity and Cults: The city is big enough to have more than one insane asylum. But, I was thinking one big one, with a few smaller ones that use alternate treatments. Also, near the plate corners are often small 'mad towns' of insanity and cults.
Cults are a double-edged sword in this game. Most of the old ones hate the mi-go, so are more than willing to corrupt and help that destruction. However, this is by human sacrifice, by attempting to end the world, and worse. On the plus side, these vile cults do take the mi-gos attention away from the normal citizens... usually.

Secrets: This is chthulu. The main reason the mi-go and such are kept secret is people would all go bonkers. On the plus side, most typical people live fairly normal lives if they avoid going out at night.

Mad Science and Mi-Go:
Tok’l devices spin up slow, but once they're in motion, they stay in motion. They produce a moderate amount of free heat, and must be regularly cooled with water, that becomes steam. Basically, they are perpetual motion machines that need to be drained of energy or they explode. They're hard to start and hard to shut down, thus, they're mostly used to generate electricity and to power trains (which don't have to stop).
Other uses are possible, but we did mention mad science...

Bioengineering is mostly a mi-go thing, but occasional bits of stuff is recovered. Most of those researchers go mad or die, but that's after a few years.

Mi-go love to bioengineer and experiment on people. That's probably why the city exists, because the trip to earth takes too long. They have lots of advanced stuff that you're not going to see, but the lingering effects of their bio-manipulations can be seen here and there in the city.

Psychics and Magic:
Psychic phenomenon and powers are rare, but not unheard of. Mostly in the range of ESP and Mediums. They're not showy, but... they're relatively stable.

Actual sorcery and magic is the domain of the cults and mostly the cult leaders. Occasionally a researcher can gain some knowledge, but magic is fueled by things man was not meant to know, so... you can't cast magic and be sane.
Last edited by Joshua on Fri Feb 01, 2019 10:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Joshua
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Re: The People and PCs

Post by Joshua »

So, some archetypes (more to be added and details edited in):

Mostly Human:

Agriculturist, Working Class
Alienist, Working Class (That's psychiatrist...)
Aristocrat, Rich
Artist (with patron), Working Class
Artist (without Patron), Poor
Collector, Rich
Con Man, Poor
Craftsman, Working Class
Doctor, Working Class
Engineer, Working Class
Factory Owner, Rich
Factory Worker, Poor
Farmer, Poor
Magician, Working Class: This is STAGE magician. Basically a well-to-do con man.
Minor, Poor
Nurse, Working Class
Orderly, Working Class
Politician, Rich
Researcher, Working Class
Teacher, Working Class
Union Boss, Working Class
Last edited by Joshua on Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Joshua
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Re: The People and PCs

Post by Joshua »

On the Fringe:

Abductee
Broken
Cultist
Cult Leader, non-magic
Escaped Inmate
Failed Mi-Go Experiment
Newcomer
Inmate
Psychic
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Joshua
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Re: The People and PCs

Post by Joshua »

Off the Deep End:

Archanist
Cultist, Ritesmaster
Created
Mi-Go Experiment
Mi-Go Infiltrator (Liberated)
Deep One Hybrid
Nyarlathotep Infected
Sorcerer
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