Dark Pages Imprint: Zeppelin City Set-up

[Judd]

A few friends of mine are moving back into town and I was excited to read that DarkPages prefers a GM and one or two players.  I have been enjoying those smaller groups lately quite a bit.

So, I jotted down notes on an old idea, Zeppelin City and modernized it, taking the optimistic Spirit of the Century shine off of it.

Rather than Z.C. being a place of gleaming super-science and post WWI hope, it has become a floating slum where the various over-used comic book tropes rub up against one another.

There are four boroughs:

Mutant Ghetto (5) - a decaying slum where the mutants relocated after the Mutant Massacre"Mutie Scum!" scares of the 80's.
Elements: Community (0), Racism (0), Poverty (0)

The Docks (2)- this is where all of those violent post Dark Knight Returns psychopaths ended up, the place where Z.C.'s black market thrives due to its place above international laws.
Elements: Violence (+1)

Pulptown (3) - this is not only where the newspapers and books of Z.C. are printed but where the mad scientists, two-fisted adventurers and mad vigilantes have retired.
Elements: History (0), Science! (0), Imperialism (0)

Heavenside (5) - this is where the gleaming paragons of the caped and cowled community reside, in the highest, still gleaming art deco skyscrapers above not only the other Z.C. residents but the rest of the world.
Elements: Elitism (+1)

I believe that I need to make an NPC for each concept and I didn't have that done.  My basic conceit is that the super-heroes of the world have been aging since their first appearance in whatever comic book was their first issue.  I am going to DarkPage folks up and make them up based on that.

This might have meant that my PC's didn't have enough to work off of; we might have benefited from those NPC's but as it is, I think we did alright without it.

I communicated the above to my buddies, Pete and Aaron.  Pete and I have been gaming together for over a decade.  Most recently we played Burning Wheel and Dogs in the Vineyard.  Aaron and I have been gaming for five years or so.  Most recently we played Burning Wheel, Dogs in the Vineyard and some Riddle of Steel, I think.

We went out to dinner before the game and just shot the shit, which was a nice prelude to gaming.

Next up: The Creation of The Revenant ("The only good cop in this town is a dead cop.") and Sgt. Coopersmith.

[Jared A. Sorensen]

I believe that I need to make an NPC for each concept and I didn't have that done.  My basic conceit is that the super-heroes of the world have been aging since their first appearance in whatever comic book was their first issue.  I am going to DarkPage folks up and make them up based on that.

One per archetype (so 8 characters per imprint). These can be NPCs, adversaries or even the PCs.

[Judd]

So, Pete and I are comic book fans and can sit around and talk about comics until the sun comes up.  Aaron digs comics but isn't as rabid as me and Pete.

Pete rifled off two ideas for characters and both me and Aaron kind of gave lukewarm responses, not entirely digging either one.  Aaron gave some suggestions, showing a kind of lean towards the Beast concept.

Then Pete brought up an old idea he had years ago.  When he said the words, "Revenant, the only good cop in this town is a dead cop," I knew we had our first PC.  Aaron made his character a fresh-faced, naive second or third generation cop just out of the academy and we were off to the races.

The Revenant
Ghost - 7
The Sun

Issues: Obsession, Loss
Drives: Law, Tradition
Bonds: Lt. Coopersmith (3), Grandma (5)

Mark: Slowly Decaying

Motifs:
Dread (6)
- Be Afraid (+1)
- Deadeye (0)
- Somethin' not right (0)
Relentless (7)
- Shrugging off (+1)
- Stronger (+1)
- Individual Parts (0)
Ectoplasm (1)
- Reattach (0)
Possession (0)

Artist Guidelines: Shadowy, Slightly Decaying, Disheveled.
Writer's Guidelines: Obsessed, Clever, Merciless

Codes
1 - Clear my family's name no matter what.
2 - Show my enemies that no one escapes justice.
3 - Safeguard my brother of the shield from the corruption of our fallen fellows.

Next up: Sgt. Alex Coopersmith

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Edited the write-up a bit... you needed to mention the type of mark and you should describe the relationship of the character to his bonds.

The Revenant
Ghost / The Sun (7)

Artist Guidelines: Shadowy, Slightly Decaying, Disheveled.
Writer's Guidelines: Obsessed, Clever, Merciless

Incarnation: Premiere
Issues: Obsession, Loss
Drives: Law, Tradition

Marks
Shadow - Slowly Decaying

Motifs
Dread (6)
- Be Afraid (+1)
- Deadeye (0)
- Somethin' not right (0)

Relentless (7)
- Shrugging off (+1)
- Stronger (+1)
- Individual Parts (0)

Ectoplasm (1)
- Reattach (0)

Bonds
Relationship? - Lt. Coopersmith (3)
Relationship? - Grandma (5)

Codes
1. Clear my family's name no matter what (obsession/loss)
2. Show my enemies that no one escapes justice (law/tradition)
3. Safeguard my brother of the shield from the corruption of our fallen fellows (Lt. Coopersmith)

[Judd]

Edited the write-up a bit... you needed to mention the type of mark and you should describe the relationship of the character to his bonds.

Bonds
Relationship? - Lt. Coopersmith (3)
Relationship? - Grandma (5)

I'll look it up in the book to see what different types of Marks do.

And the relationships are things we talked about but just didn't make it onto the sheet.

Lt. Coopersmith is not only Aaron's character's father but is also a cop whom the Revenant respects and his grandma, besides just being his dear old grandma, is also the member of his family who did dark magicks and brought him back from the dead for revenge.  I love the idea of this hard cop with an old witchy immigrant to a floating city for a grandma.

[Judd]

Sgt. Alex Coopersmith
Vigilante / The Warrior (4)

Artist Guidelines: Uniformed Dress, Unimposing Features, Sharp Eyes
Writer's Guidelines: Hopeful, Black & White, By the book

Incarnation: Premiere
Issues: Justice
Drives: Vows

Marks
Shadow - The belief that people are inherently good.

Motifs
Mania (2)
- "I have to save this town." (+1)

Prowess (6)
- *adjective I can't read* Revolver +2
- Doesn't miss a thing. +2
- Winning Smile

Presence (2)
- "He's a Coopersmith, alright." (+1)

Territory (4)
- Pearly Gates Diner
- 32nd Precinct

Bonds
My dad (3)
The Force (5)
Agent X (1)

Codes
1. Everyone gets their day in court.
2.  Every time I take this badge off I see what this city really is.
3. Get this place back to the city my fire retired from.

[Judd]

At this point, it was getting kind of late and we had some swank characters and were excited to play.  But it was then I realized that I had to make up one or two adversaries for these folks and wasn't ready to do that just yet.  In the time it would have taken me to make an adversary, we would've lost our evening's momentum, I think.  Best to save it for another night and start fresh, having re-read the rules a bit.

It felt like the questions on pages 44 and 45 should have been the first bits of the chargen section, giving an overview with more specific stuff after it.  We started making characters on page 22 and when I got to 44 it felt like that was the easier way to go.

So, I've got an imprint, two player characters.

I need to make six or so NPC's based on the archetypes and either find an adversary in there or make one based on the Revenant and Sgt. Coopersmith.  I will read over their characters, paying particular attention to their codes and their archetypes and make an adversary I can really use to sink my teeth into them with.

[Spooky Fanboy]

I am interested in seeing this progress, and I'm very interested is seeing how conflicts play out.

[Judd]

I am interested in seeing this progress, and I'm very interested is seeing how conflicts play out.

Thank you for your interest. 

It seems like conflicts lead to pain and pain leads to the character mutating and evolving, so you end up with different era's of the character's development playing out at the table, like seeing the Bob Kane to Frank Miller to Grant Morrison takes on Batman play out at the table through pain intake.

[Spooky Fanboy]

The good news is: now that I have the Darkpages ashcan myself, I'll be able to follow along and not ask stupid questions.

[Judd]

There was an instinct to go ahead and make up some fast adversaries and get on with the game the first night we got together.  Having just made up my first adversary, I am really glad I didn't do that.

I think my first instinct for Revenant's adversary would have been a crooked cop or the mayor of Zeppelin City, up to his elbows in grift.  That might've been really boring.

Instead, I made up the following, who isn't necessarily a mustache-twirling villain but is going to clash with Revenant and clash hard.

Stephen Strange, M.D., P.I.
Adept / The Moon (6)

Artist Guidelines: Blue suit with red pinstripes, red eye on gun handle, pencil mustache
Writer's Guidelines: A broken man who has lost everything, still a commanding presence, reasonable to a point

Incarnation: Premiere
Issues: Hubris
Drives: Chaos

Marks
Shadow - His hands shake since losing the Supreme Mantle.

Motifs
Art (5)
- Exorcism (+1)
- Sanctum (+)

Craft (2)
- Pistol of Agamotto (+1)

Ritual (4)
- Astral Projection (+1)
- Inward Eye (+0)

Status (1)
- Black Sheep of the Supreme Council

Bonds
The Revenant - Nemesis

Codes
1. Despite my shaking hands and horrific past, I will heal the world's wounds and set all ills right.
2.  Even if I no longer wear the mantle of Supreme, I will show any witch of chaos a darker night than their most ancient demon ever dared dream.
3. The dead must not walk amongst the living: I will shepherd this Revenant to his much needed rest or banish him to the darkest of hells.

I'm not sure I understand the difference between Craft and Ritual.

I wonder if all Adversaries should have an adversarial archetype match.  Because I'm looking at Aaron's Sgt. Coopersmith and thinking of another young hotshot cop who is all Fool, all the time to counter his Warrior.

Oddly, the adversary I have made (and the other who is forming in my head) are pretty damned likeable and not in the way you like Dr. Doom.

I have some more thoughts but that will be it for now.  I'm going to marinate on how that process went for me while I drew up the newest up and coming hotshot detective who may very well be a Vampire/Fool.

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Craft is physical manifestations of the adept's studies, while ritual represents the work. The main different between art and ritual is in time... art is spontaneous and inspired, ritual is practiced and time-intensive.

[Spooky Fanboy]

Craft is physical manifestations of the adept's studies, while ritual represents the work. The main different between art and ritual is in time... art is spontaneous and inspired, ritual is practiced and time-intensive.

That is something to explain more fully in the full edition, because I was hazy on that, too. In fact, I think I said something about that on your forums when you still had them.