This thread is for welcoming new players, OOC questions, and the like.

First and foremost, thank you so much for co-creating with me! I am excited to get to know each and every one of you and hope you all thoroughly enjoy your stay!

First cup of tea/coffee is on the house, folks! ;p
This message was last updated by the GM at 16:57, Mon 09 May 2022.

Welcome to New York, Cassandra "Cassie" Webb! Pull up a chair, your first drink is free! ;p

Welcome, Malcolm Unsworth! Cup of tea or mug of coffee? :)

Welcome Hans Becker! Would you like to see our specials?

Welcome Juste l'Requête! Sorry the site won't let me use French letters. Welcome to the cafe. Menu?

Attention all players!: Please post here when your character sheets are ready for inspection!

It's pretty hectic today but I will get to checking them as early as tomorrow! :)

I've got a quick question!

Do we anticipate that all of our characters will begin play as members of the same Krewe? I'm still figuring out how to spend my Merit dots, and I know there's some shared merits like Haunt, so I was trying to get a sense of that before making final decisions on that.

In reply to Cassandra Webb (msg # 7):

Nope! I was gonna pair you off based on backgrounds in game. You will all be meeting in game unless you and another player decide you want to know each other previously.

There will also be an in-game social event once there are enough players ready.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I reserve the right to change my mind on this if needed due to lack of players lmao

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If you take Haunt or any shared merit and no one else wants to pair up with points, I will compensate you in some way for it in-game. :) just don't forget to remind me. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:44, Tue 10 May 2022.

Got it, thanks for the quick response! :)

In reply to Cassandra Webb (msg # 9):

You are welcome! Thank you for the question! :)

I'm about to sign off for the night but will be reviewing sheets tomorrow! When we have at least 3 pcs ready to go, I'll begin the first IC thread!

Welcome, Stephen Wiles! Take a load off!

How do all, looking forwards to the game.

Heyo! :)

My sheet is still a WIP at this point, although it is close to being done I think. Probably needs some minor tweaks here and there.

I am curious as to what other players are doing though! Are folks interested in sharing some about their character concepts?

Mine is Cassie Webb, an introverted young woman that spends a lot of time in front of a computer screen. A college dropout turned hacker, she is one of the Silent and a Bonepicker. She's resourceful and subtle, but not really of much use in a fight and has like no social skills given her background and general lack of social interaction IRL.

I'm still workshopping her Geist and her keystone, so not much to share in terms of that. Mechanically, I'm envisioning her as someone who is good at computer hijinks, as well as being sneaky. Like I mentioned, not really a social type, so not great in terms of those attributes and skills. Not much of a fighter either, with her physical skills focusing more on things like larceny and stealth. I'm gonna go with the Stillness and Industrial Keys, and in terms of starting Manifestations, I'm just going to invest heavily (read: all 3 of my starting dots) into Shroud so she can really excel at the whole being sneaky thing!

How about the rest of you guys?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:42, Tue 10 May 2022.

I may have to pivot a bit then... which is fine, I'm still at the feeling things out stages...

Juste is also a Silent, though Necronamcer, eternally asking why.  I envisioned him as more of PI, so investigative, but I can shift from non-social to social capable.  He's not-useless in a fight, but stand-up brawling was not going to be his forte either.

Aside from that I haven't had time to sit down and figure anything out, though so far favoring Stillness and Stigmata...

But hey, if we end with a whole pack of skulks, at least we'll be less likely to ever have a "I BLEW MY STEALTH ROLL!  EVERYBODY!  DID YOU HEAR ME, I FAILED MY STEALTH CHECK!" moments of team stealthiness.

In reply to Juste l'Requete (msg # 15):

Oh, no worries! I mean, it’s possible we may end up in different Krewes anyway! So we may end up as our own Krewe’s sneaky person ;-)

It's really interesting to see the purely coincidental overlap-- I'm playing one of the Silent, too, a master confectioner from Mott Hill.  He has an odd set of social skills to complement his cooking.
Supernaturally, he's all in on Boneyard, with the Industrial as his favorite key.  So he'd mostly do stealth by not being there in the first place.

In reply to Cassandra Webb (msg # 14):

I may have to pivot a bit also.  Mine's a hacker also.  Shy, painfully introverted, hacking was just easier than going in for an honest job/career.

Hah!  A bunch of asocial misfits who don't want to be seen... BEST KREWE EVER!

Haha, so true!

This is really a high degree of overlap. Silent introvert that can't fight here as well.

We just need Malcolm to reveal that he too is a Silent introvert and we have a full skulk party!

Okay, so regardless, unless Malcolm wants to be the face, I'll pivot to be the face, Juste's detectiving can all be based on talking to people and getting them to reveal themselves...

I might have a bit of social capabilities as well for choice of key that needs it and I am considering now if I'll add some physical prowess too.

Still not applying for neither "face" nor "arm"...

Wow! This is why I wanted to get us talking! Definitely a lot of overlap all around. I typically play either combat-focused or social characters in most games, so I wanted to try something different and push myself out of my comfort zone!

While I was tempted to combine your assorted posts and claim that was my character it's not.

Malcolm's an older sort and while not necessarily anti-social probably tends towards more towards irritable grunts where he can get away with it. Though the whole dying and coming back means he's getting out of bad habits more as part of that. He's not going to be a hacker though I might give him some low tech capabilities and I'd not especially considered a stealth focus so won't be treading on any toes there.

Well, I think I will rethink my character a little bit. :P

I've been thinking about some other concepts as well, to avoid so much overlap! Stephen, if you are sold on the idea of being a hacker, just stick with it.

I might go the old route and just come up with a combat character since we seem to be lacking in overall muscle anyway!

I am loving this. Thank you, Cassandra, for starting the convo.

Though if you all decided to stay similar and start a "The girl with the dragon tattoo" krewe, I would be all for that. ;p


Attention all players!!: If you have not done so, please select an avatar so that I can associate an image with your character.

Heya!

She beat me to it, but Welcome, Riley Mercier! Do you take coffee or tea?

Riley the other players were sharing character concepts to see if there might be any team ups before we begin. Feel free to join them. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:38, Wed 11 May 2022.

Sorry,  I'm really excited.  I haven't gotten much of a chance to play a chronicles game in some time,  and Geist is near the top of my favorite splats of the line.

I'll be playing Riley Mercier, she's a torn/reaper.

She probably doesn't stand out all that much,  fresh out of college,  life was just getting on track.  She met the woman of her dreams, and,  well,  their lives were cut short.  Riley, in a moment of rage accepted the pact.  Since than,  she's been doing her best to clean up the world one person at a time.


I'll probably be leaning social and than moving into combat as the character is a young sin eater.  Which I understand is kind of hamstringing,but,  I want things to make sense.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:07, Wed 11 May 2022.

I am happy you are excited! Geist is my fav splat too! :)

Hey all! I created an announcements thread. Please check it out.

Welcome Mordecai Fischer! Have a hot beverage!

Welcome Mordecai!

Also, say goodbye to Cassie and hello to Sandy! But really, only those closest to her get to call her that.

A Chicana from East LA, she spent some time up in Yosemite working for the US National Park Service. After a series of unfortunate events, she ended up having to make a bargain with some creepy ass thing to save her own life. She's one of the Prey and has found a new purpose as a Gatekeeper in her newfound life post-bargain.

To avoid overlap with other folks, I changed my original concept altogether. Sandy is a much more physical character, a bit rough around the edges, still not super social as she prefers to spend time alone or with animals rather than other people. She's quite handy with her pistol and drives a light pickup truck.

Mechanically speaking, she's definitely more of a combat character with some decent knowledge of the occult (thanks to her Abuela being a very superstitious woman), good survival skills and a mean stare (AKA some dots in Intimidation). As far as supernatural abilities go, I've invested all of my 3 starting dots into the Caul manifestation. In terms of Keys, I stuck with the two that are linked to the Prey Threshold: Grave-Dirt and Primeval.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Wed 11 May 2022.

Well you just went with a reasonable overlap of what I was considering Sandra so I'll rethink what I was going with a smidge :). Won't be too much given I'm not really planning a heavy combat sort but want to minimise the overlap.

In reply to Sandra Alvarez (msg # 35):

Welcome, new old person!  It's interesting that you've had a run-in with the National Park Service.  Do you still stay in touch?  Hans actually has a part-time job with them right now, taking care of a site on Liberty Island.

Are any character sheets ready for review?

I believe mine might be ready!

@Hans -- Yes, I do have a couple of dots of Resources, so she's definitely still got a job with them in some form!

Yes, I'm still wishing I had more skill points, but I ended up not moving anything.  My sheet is also ready for review.

My sheet is ready for review!

I'll be playing Mordecai Fischer, a Gamer who burned to death at Dragon-Con. He makes dice and GM's for a living (if a meager one) and spends lots of time traveling to gaming conventions. He's a Celebrant - happy to have 'Survived' his incident, and pushes other people to live their best lives.

Key and Threshold Wise, we're looking at Pyre-Flame and Phantasmal Keys with the Caul and Boneyard Thresholds. I look forward to playing with you folks!

I'm still trying to figure out if I want to go passion or stigmata.

passion I'll likely focus on curse,  while stigmata would likely be rage.

In reply to Mordecai Fischer (msg # 41):

Boneyard bros, represent!


Burned to death at Dragon-con, you say... were any large lizards involved?

Hi everyone!

Forgive me, it's been hectic and I must be slacking.


Welcome Linda May! Your first drink is free!

Can't find one that fits so i tossed a pick into the Character Description if that's okay for now...

The Avatar Submission team is super backed up so... it's going to be a long time before any new avatars get uploaded for use, but I'll be submitting it anyway, never know might get lucky and see it by next year.  ;)

Picked an icon, sheet still WIP. :D

In reply to Hans Becker (msg # 43):

Funny story... I was the large lizard.

I was just more flammable than I'd hoped.

Annnnd immediately picked a new one. :P

Have you changed your character concept or stuck with it?

Yes!

In reply to Sandra Alvarez (msg # 51):

Oh, you even changed your name. :O

Absolutely! A completely different concept altogether, so it made sense to change name and background of the character ;-)

How... how did that ginormous pic even get past the selection committee?  Right-click "Open Image In a new tab" and see what I mean.  Don't get me wrong, I wish they were all that large, so many pics it's impossible to see who the avatar is, it's squished so small and ends up muddy looking when enlarged.

Also, thanks, I didn't even thinks about checking Male Superhero... and then after re-re-searching through the male categories I realized, hey, wait, didn't I see a good "black female wearing a hat" pic that would work last time I was searching for a female avatar... if I just pivot to female...

And here we are.

[EDIT]
If someone recognizes her, let me know.  I like hunting down other pics to through int he Description, but my google-fu is not strong enough today...
[/EDIT]
This message was last edited by the player at 15:36, Thu 12 May 2022.

Is anybody else's sheet ready for review? I need one more approved pc before starting the IC social! Sound off! :)


Also, I have not received any confirmations about players wanting to team up so you will all be starting solo? ((I believe Sandy and Mordecai are the only exception-- just waiting on confirmation.))


Thanks all.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:43, Thu 12 May 2022.

I had a bit of a busy day yesterday,  and I didn't get my sheet done.  At lunch I'll get to work.

Yeah, I'll need a little longer for the sheet to be ready.

No pressure y'all! Just trying to be transparent as possible. Also, Please check out the latest post in the announcements thread. Thank you!



Edit: We now have 3 fully approved PCs. I will start the IC social thread asap. Please do NOT post if i haven't said you were fully approved.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:48, Thu 12 May 2022.

Rattled Malcolm into working condition now, he's a fellow affiliated with a fair sized part of the death care industry who recently retired following an altercation on a business trip. His new goals in life are roughly in the same field but with a very different customer base and much more benign motivation than profit.

On those Geist specific things he's a Torn Gatekeeper, all in on Boneyard with the Stigmata and Grave-Dirt keys. Mostly socially inclined mechanics wise, while he will be picking up wider skills given the new lifestyle it fits the most for the background.

Already confirmed with the GM I'd not fussed about needing solo play so happy to tag along wherever people need some extra numbers.

Sorry, must have missed this.  I just kinda figured we'd all end up getting lumped together by "circumstance" and "plot", but if someone wants to start already having met a young Sin-Eater who's been kicking around awhile but keeping their head down, I'm game.

I think we have enough players in the game that we'll likely end up in at least two Krewes? We could even end up in 3. Mordecai and I were talking about possibly knowing each other, because we are friends IRL and wanted to be in the same Krewe :)

But I'm open to exploring the idea of making other background ties with people and either starting in some established Krewes, or let the RP take us there.

I'm going to be honest,  having a hard time picking manifestions and the like.

As... they're all rather cool.  I think I might be going all in with a focus on curse... probably with phantasm/Passion.

But,  I also don't want to step on anyone's toes.

I don't know anyone else going that route yet. Can folks sound off?

Yeah, you're the first person to call out Curse.  We're had a lot of Shroud, some Caul, some Boneyard (I'm one of those).  No incipient witchdoctors with Oracle, Marionette, or Curse, though.

No Curse, Phantom or Passion here.

Even if there were overlap though Riley I'd say go with what you like. Geist's powersets tend to offer fairly handy options for a lot of situations and having more than person with that supernatural fix in their backpocket rarely hurts.

In reply to Malcolm Unsworth (msg # 65):

^^^ This.

And haha Riley. I totally understand! I love all of them too. I guess that's why I'm the GM lol

I'm going full Oracle, Stillness and Stigmata.

I think my character will be silent and stigmata shroud

I'll go for Shroud and Rage most likely (with a chance to mix in Caul as well) and as keys silent and idk I was going for Phantasmal before I discovered rage - have to check.

Character sheet added... and I strongly recommend adding word wrap to the Character Sheets...

I've got the basics done, but now I am stuck on manifestations and keys and all the other stuff and figuring out how they all fit together.  It's been about a decade since I've been in this book.  The layer of dust on it is proof. xD

It looks more and more like Anne is going to be quite good a combatant - focused on brawl and in particular grappling though. I didn't see that coming, but in retrospect this was not so unlikely to happen.

There are still some things to decide on, some derived values to calculate and all the background and personality I have in mind to be written down...

Awesome! Sandy is more focused on the whole "pew pew" from far away, so its nice to have someone that gets more up and close and personal with our foes ;-)

Riley has some gun focus,  but,  nothing to write home about.  She'll mostly succeed in combat by debuffing/buffing or altering her victim's perception of reality.

In reply to Sandra Alvarez (msg # 73):

Yeah, close and keeping them in place or take them with me as a cover,... I went for fighting style Qinna. Not sure if she'll be a very effective fighter, but it will be a lot of fun describing her fights I think.
That and a little Caul for better brawl or Rage for other damage and she will mostly come as a surprise thanks to Silent key and/or Shroud manifestation...

Okay, I was in the same situation, had to reread everythings to get it all back in there.

Take Juste, she has Stillness and Stigmata as keys and 3 dots in Oracle.  So she can Manifest up to a 3 dot Stillness or Stigmata Oracle effect, not at the same time though because you can only ever have Key effect from a particular Manifestation type going at once (Oracle, Rage, Boneyard, Caul, etc).  However if she had say Oracle 2 and Boneyard 1, she could have both Manifestations going at once, with either or both keys, so a Stillness Boneyard for sneaking with a Stigmata Oracle to interrogate some ghosts, or vice versa, or both Manifestations of one type, whateves.

Note, you can buy more Keys, 10 exp per Key in the future, not sure what else needs to go along with that (like searching for answers in the Underworld, eating another Sin-Eater's Geist, or what 'rp' excuses have to be made - I haven't reread everything yet).  I expect gaining new Keys to be more 'difficult' than learning new Manifestations.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:55, Fri 13 May 2022.

I've noticed a bunch of people have NYC in their descriptions, so have we decided we're int eh 'darker, spookier' NYC then?

Linda can do ugly things with her knives unseen.

In reply to Juste l'Requete (msg # 76):

To answer your implied question,

All Keys/ geist specific Merits not taken at character creation will include an RP element as well as xp cost. If you are planning towards something ahead of time, please let me know so i can incorporate it in your plot.

Also, yes. The game takes place in NYC.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:53, Fri 13 May 2022.

Changing Linda's fighting style to chain weapons

Anyone starting as someone on the streets/gangs/shelter?

Starting as a team might be fun!

Linda is a martially talented Silent Advocate who distrusts religions.

I think my character is reviewable now.

I'm out Larping for the weekend, and won't be back till Sunday afternoon, and will likely suffer from fatigue through monday. Put up a starter post at the gathering, but look forward to playing with you guys!

I will also be gone for the weekend, although won't be larping! So probably won't be responding much until Monday as well.

In reply to Sandra Alvarez (msg # 84):

It is ok, as i said in the announcements i will barely be able to post on weekends anyway. Have fun and be safe, you two.


And Linda, I will review tonight and PM you directly. Thanks.

Martially trained silent advocate is how you could describe Anne as well. And she had some experience on the street on her own. She now has some minimal wage job and a bed in a room she pays for.

But we could know each other well and still hang out together. Two Martially talented silent advocates that know each other well enough to coordinate their actions sounds like a dangerous situation for whoever steps in their way...

Juste also seems to have a gang background

Adding to that, I planned to have a one ● mentor for my martial arts trainer - was going for a Chinese or Japanese elderly man depending on whether it's rather Kung-fu or Karate... We could think about him as a shared background. WDYT?

If you two (or anyone else) wants to share a mentor, i will allow you to combine mentor dots so you share the cost between you and get an even higher level mentor.

With Plasma are we starting at half max?  Could also toss that info in the Bio lines like so...
<<<<<<<< See for example


So the first line is Plasma, Health, Willpower, and line two is Speed, Initiative, Defense, and Armor.

All things you might need when skimming a thread to target incoming head wounds.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:37, Sat 14 May 2022.

In reply to Juste l'Requete (msg # 90):

Yes, Plasm is 1/2 max.


And thanks! Great idea!

Oh damn you all getting sheets approved. Guess I should really hurry up to get Anne as well and join the party.

new announcement. please read.

I read the announcement. I'm not sure how people want to pair up/split up after the social scene once we get to chasing plot hooks. That said, I think Mordecai and Sandy will be in the same group given their background ties. Happy to have other people join us of course!

I feel like any associations would be pretty random on my end as well-- it's hard for me to gauge characters based on what, fewer than half a dozen IC posts?  Would it work to just dangle some hooks in the water and group people based on who bites which hook?

Hmmm... That's not a bad idea. One or two of you i have something specific in mind for, but when the time comes ill give the hook for the others and see who bites.

As far as team ups I meant for the decision to be made ooc. I know some of you have discussed knowing each other ahead of time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:18, Tue 17 May 2022.

Ok, Plot will be starting sooner than anticipated. It looks like I have 2 groups of teams made already. I am aiming to start Monday, but it depends how long you all take to decide where you wanna be:

Besides Juste/Linda and Malcolm (I have specific scenes for you three), does anyone else want to team up for any of the following vague hooks:

1.) A lawyer friend needs help with a woman claiming to see her dead husband. The husband's family is suing her for doing something... not appreciated.

2.) Ghost hunters! you catch wind of a few wannabe ghost hunters online agreeing to meet up to do something stupid. The worrisome thing is they seem to actually know what they are talking about...

3.) People keep sneaking into a national park to draw strange symbols. They all keep getting murdered by a bear. (Sandra, Mordecai?, Hans)- Full


Also, if you have a personal quest your character wants to do, I will happily discuss with you to make a scene from it. Please just let me know asap.


As a note, when plot starts, I imagine social will continue. There will be a bit of a time jump. The plot scenes will all happen about a week after the social thread you are all in.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:28, Fri 20 May 2022.

I was going to ask that :)

I'm actually away for work Monday/Tuesday, might get a post or so in but I also might not, depends on how busy we are.

In reply to Malcolm Unsworth (msg # 98):

No problem! You will be in a solo scene so there is no one to inconvenience.

The one about the bear mauling people to death at the National Park has Sandy’s name written all over it. If Mordecai and someone else wanna tag along, that’s what I would be interested in pursuing.

In reply to The Storyteller (msg # 99):

Runs Hans, they're sending me to a home. You'll be next!

Hans works for the park service, so he'd probably go with hook #3.

If that group gets too big, he'd accept assurances that some of these new folks would take care of it and go talk to the people in hook #1 instead.

Updated.


Also, Has anyone read the pre-made adventure "Through the Ebon Gate"? I'm thinking about adapting it for a scene.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:14, Fri 20 May 2022.

Nope.  All I've read is the Sin-Eaters 1st edition (which I keep rereading to get some info to sink in) and I'm taking peeks into The Book of the Dead when curiosity takes hold (and time permits)... which eventually I'll have to figure out what Juste knows about.

In reply to The Storyteller (msg # 103):

No, I haven't read it.  Geist isn't a system I dare run, like most stuff White Wolf makes, so I stay away from scenarios.

In reply to The Storyteller (msg # 103):

I have not read it or any other scenario as far as I recall. Come to think of it, not sure that I've ever ran any scenario in a game that I've been an ST/GM for White Wolf, D&D or Pathfinder, so I have like ZERO knowledge about what's contained in these xD

Big Same. In regards to white-wolf, anyway. I have definitely ran Pathfinder and D&D scenarios.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:50, Sat 21 May 2022.

Not one I recognise, had to blow dust off my one Geist book or this game though so I might have forgotten it if it's in the core book. About the only pregen adventures I remember easily are the Deadlands ones.

Has anyone been planning to approach the hooks 1) and 2)? I just see the 3) is full and skimmed over the social thread, haven’t seen anything related to story hooks, but might have missed it…

Both pull on different strings with Anne, so I’d be inclined to prefer anything that’s not going to be solo. If both will be, I’ll take another look and see which string is pulled stronger.

Pretty sure the bossman is going to do separate threads for those who bite on particular hooks, like he's doing with Malcolm.

What I meant with not seeing anything is that I haven't seen any hooks to bite IC, but I might have missed it by skimming over it too quickly.

Right, we post in here which plot hooks sound interesting (except for Malcolm, Juste and Linda - who have their own things?) and then the GM will craft an intro thread for you (and anyone else on the hook) and you get it introduced that way.

He's not introducing them in the social thread, that's just for this bunch of social misfits to stand around and awkwardly not stare at each other in.

(Did I get your intentions correctly there ST?)

I'm not on either hook 1 or 2, GM came up with a notion for me before posting those.

The social thread no doubt has or may have other hooks given we're interacting with one another and local Geists but the GM is keeping that thread running while we spin off in the others, they're not closing it as soon as we start on other zany adventures. As such I don't think they plan on putting hooks 1, 2 or 3 into that thread since they'll be starting them while it's ongoing.

And off the OC thread don't think anyone has expressed interest in 1 or 2 yet.

So, as nobody responded yet in terms of joining on either of the two hooks, I guess it's time for me to choose one nonetheless.

Anne's biting for the second one. Anyone hunting ghosts, there is no way she's letting this happen un"commented". Also, she has no lawyer "friends" whatsoever...

Hey all, quick post:

I assume you all saw my announcement; I have not been feeling great. Even now writing this, my head is heavy and focus is... difficult. I imagine I will be well enough to post tomorrow but no promises.

Yes, Juste. That is exactly my reasoning. ;p Haha no, in all seriousness the IC social thread is a place for you all to meet IC, meet certain NPCs that will be important later, and perhaps glean some upcoming plot hooks (one in particular has been given already)

That will take place separate from any of the IC plot scenes, which is taking place one week after the night of the IC social thread. So far, everything you all have said is correct.

I need more volunteers! Are we missing players? Is that why it seems so barren? I told you all I'm not fully lucid at the moment. Forgive me if I'm imagining some of you ;p

Also, thank you for answering my question about pre-made stuff. From what it sounds like, i'll be able to use a bunch of pre-made stuff to pad the run time as it were... ;p


I will begin the scenes for Juste, Linda, and plot point 3 as soon as I am well enough to do so (again, hopefully tmrw), anyone else NOT in a plot?

Damn? I knew I must have missed something.

Gets back to reading that thread again...

Yup, take your time, rest up.  Better to rest and get well than to push it and crash because you're pushing yourself.

Attention Riley Mercier and Stephen Wiles. You have been inactive way over the agreed time and have not posted in OOC. Please make a post here within the next week or you will be removed from the game.

What's an active defense?

It is the lower of your defense or wits, unless you have a merit that modified this. In addition, if you have an ability that gives you armor (e.g. the shroud) activated, add this to that number. I subtract the total from an enemy’s attack roll.

Not and fit Active Effects.  Not on the Bio Lines anyway.  I'll have to put Conditional Effects in a Spoiler tag at the bottom of the post.  Which honestly they'd be the most likely to be absent most of the time, so dropping it down there should be fine.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:59, Thu 02 June 2022.

Guess it might be the right time for Anne and myself to learn. Would the Stillness Caul be beneficial in this situation? The Stillness Shroud would make it six dice instead of five, but require an additional activation roll... Hard to judge for me. From Anne's perspective this seems to be worth the risk of sneaking closer, so that's what she will be doing - just not sure if she'll hear a whispered "let me help you with this" before...

This is a great question. I would ask you to keep in mind that the Caul says the following:



So I would rule that, with the stillness key, Anne's body would literally become shadowlike-- darker, transparent, and thin. So if you do it in front of Mortals, they will see it and react accordingly. However, if you do this out of sight and then approach a mortal, there would be no issue.

Conversely, the Shroud states the following:



So I would read this one as she would just start subtlety fading from any mortal onlooker's minds.


Does this help? We can discuss more if you like and anyone else is free to express their opinions. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:12, Thu 02 June 2022.

Oh yes it does help a lot. Caul is off the table in this case. And while I continue to doubt it is making up in difference for whatever it might call in cost - I guess she'll have that little whisper and will use the Shroud to conceal her eavesdropping and looking closer.

So I will roll Resolve + Stealth + 1 as an activation roll and spend 1 plasm (how does one get plasm back?), followed by a Dexterity + Stealth (+ 1; if activation was successful). Right?

I would read the section on Plasm in the Geist core book (page 81-83) this will answer your question as well as telling you what else you can use plasm for.

You're correct about what to roll. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:05, Thu 02 June 2022.

Manifestations are... weird and generally nowhere near as powerful as abilities in the other W/CoD genres... excepting for Hunters (and maybe others, I can't remember/never was arsed to bother reading some of them) which is slightly 'weaker' than Sin-Eaters.  But then Sin-Eaters are meant to generally be facing off against ghosts and mortals and having a rough time of it, not be 'super-hero' goths or furries (Vamp and Werewolf) or flat out gods (Mage), so the power settings are probably appropriate.

I've never played a long-term-enough game to know for myself, but I've been told that most WoD start at the power level they'll have for their whole lives, but Geists have an enormous curve that they move along as they gain XP.

Yeah, it went full steam towards the bin tray now, but the power level was never my concern. The trying out went badly, not sure when Anne will take offered help again ;)

Maybe in a PbP.  But in a sit-down (o LAPR) where exp flows freely, the power ramps up quite well in most of the genres (excepting a non-powered Hunters game, they just get more skilled, cautious, and knowledgeable).


All the genres have a ramp up.  Take the Domination power from Vampire, it starts small with simple one word commands (that require eye contact) and ramps all the way up to full conditioning and possession (the later being they will do what you say, and continue to follow your orders even if you're gone).


And actually rereading old 1e Vampire, yeah, Sin-Eaters can get tot he same sort of "power levels", just in completely different arenas.  It's Mages that are demi-gods once they really get rolling.

In reply to Juste l'Requete (msg # 126):

Partial disagree there Juste. Some Manifestations can get very broken very fast. Not even bothering to go deep into the collection of Manifestations Industrial Boneyard at rank 5 is "spend 5 plasm. Over a several mile radius you can send your senses anywhere within range and telekenetically manipulate all non-living objects in that area." While that's an extreme example of what they can do that's also not something that it needs a lot of xp to get to, isn't readily counterable since the Sin-Eater doesn't need to be near to their intended target and there's no Paradox as Mages would have to deal with for doing something that gaudy (and would also need multiple Spheres/Arcarnum to pull off) though any Mage who decides to go that route rather than the many alternatives they have is being silly.

It's not a combat trick since before quite high Psyche it takes multiple turns to do, it's a high Plasm cost but it's undeniably effective. If you're lucky enough to get to use it in a trainyard or harbour expect hilarity to follow.

I can't say Sin Eaters are as powerful in raw mechanics as Vampires, Changelings or Werewolves in this iteration, partially because their relative amounts of splats. Not even going to try to claim they get close to Mages. Depending on your Keys and Manifestations you might be of limited uses but I can't call them the weakest. You're definitely right though in saying that they're usually facing ghosts and mortals and their powers reflect that.

Hans - I think there's a few big curve things for them, which I agree with mechanically because another way of doing it would be silly. While unless I misremember you can only be using one version of a Manifestation at a time as it goes up you get it for every Key you have. And every time you acquire a new Key you immediately get access to your existing Manifestations at their current rank with that Key. So Geist tends to have moments where when new Keys are obtained and suddenly that Geist gets an entirely new set of tools to use which tends to feel like a bigger leap than most splats going up a rank in a specific Discipline or similar.

Yeah, a lot of Manifestations can get quite crazy at the 4th and 5th dot. But it does require some XP to get there since we only start with 3 dots in them :)

In reply to Sandra Alvarez (msg # 131):

True. I'm honestly torn on a mechanical perspective whether the min maxer route for Sin Eaters is a wide spread of Manifestations or maxing one out, think it depends heavily on the desired build and the Keys in use. Don't really play enough WoD to know for sure and far too singed from the Jubilee stuff so far to bother trying to do the maths.

Luckily I didn't think much about that for building Malcolm. I wanted Stigmatic Boneyard because it fit. Not even properly though about future Manifestations yet.

I went with three manifestations, thought that might be best fitted for incremental learning on my side. And yes, the matrix enhancements (up in manifestation is an up in all keys, up in keys is an up in all manifestations) sounds crazy and I am looking very much forward to it ;)

In reply to Anne Reed (msg # 133):

Makes sense. Also don't think I'd heard matrix enhancements outside of a business context before, nice use.

I would humbly also like to add a single sin eater could F*** up a whole lot of vampires at once: Boneyard at 5 dots and Pyre-Flame key. BBQ!

Also, you have to remember the merits that Sin-Eaters can get. Imagine having a trove of ghost spies... Not to mention that a SE can potentially keep pace with a werewolf if they have enough plasm and the right stats? That doesn't even take into account the Shroud or any broken Caul manifestations! And I don't even have to mention Curse/rage... ;p

Also, Anne, (someone correct me if I'm wrong) but if your roll is 6 die to activate your manifestation, since we're not in combat, you can try 6 times max per scene. As long as you pay the plasm, of course. You do not need to lower your roll by one die each time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:40, Fri 03 June 2022.

Pssst, ST, no need to put pics in a spoiler tag, the pic does not hide away, the text will, but not the pic.  Spoiler tags don't quite work right on RPoL.

Lol yes, sadly i have noticed this too late.

Awesome!  Take the time you need, I'll still be here.



Unfortunately, my schedule fits more in the "can check and post for a few minutes in the morning and evenings" and not "has several free hours on any given day".

Congratulations on the new job!

That being said, I put a lot of weight on long-term narratives and character trajectories, so I'm not that interested in slowly finishing a scene with a brand-new PC knowing that the game is essentially over.

When you're in a place where you can run a Chronicle, though, I'll still be around.  Take whatever time you need!  I'll send you a PM.

Understood, Hans! No problem. Honestly, the less work for me right now, the better haha.

And No problem, Juste! I totally understand. :)

Congratulations on the new job GM. Best of luck with the move and everything else.

I'm in a similar boat to Juste in terms of not really being able to make several hours, even more so given I'm in the UK so my schedule tends not to line up with all the world. I would say in general you're probably better not trying to force a wrapup of scenes if you're hoping to revive the game at some point, as you will likely find it easier to get them going again than start everything anew should you return.

Thanks, Malcolm! The scenes you are all in were planned to be shorter so i don't mind finishing the ones we are in. juste made it clear she didn't want that and I know Linda is busy too but I can at least finish the 2 other scenes if the parties are interested.

No, that was Hans, though since we replied close enough together in time I can see how that confusion could occur.  All I made clear is "take all the time you need, I'm not going anywhere" and "my schedule isn't Discord live chat friendly".

Though, having said that, I'm also fine waiting for you to get settled and hopefully Linda's time issues will be settled by then as well.

I am fine with finishing up as well as letting it sleep until you have time again to pick it up.

I'll be here, discord is an option I haven't yet considered. I haven't had time for synchronous RP since my eldest was born nearly 10 years ago. Work and family life are in balance but leaving little room for other parts of life.

Linda is still here. I'm willing to sacrifice sleep to play geist - but only if there is a perspective.

That said, life is changeable. At least you didn't ghost us (which I've seen happening before)

In reply to Juste l'Requete (msg # 144):

Ah, forgive me.


Actually, yes.the only time we could schedule the movers was a lot earlier than expected so i currently don’t have a computer (on my phone now). It seems i won’t be able to continue until after I’ve gotten settled which could take about a month. I will try to resume them. Thank you all. :)

I'll be writing up a response in which Anne will follow the portly old man.

I am currently not sure if I should use Shroud or Caul to help with that. To speed up - cause I don't know the usual turn-around times and would like us to have a quick re-start - I'll roll both and try to nail down the conditions under which I would consider what. Then I'll trust the storyteller to select the one best fitting.
The Keys will be Stillness in both cases.
If I get it right and following without being detected is basically going to be Stealth vs. Wits+Composure the choice would be easily Caul (penalty for the latter based on activation successes) over Shroud (additional Dice for the former based on dots in Shroud, i.e. 1).
If there's more to it and following might involve other uses if stealth or if the Stillness Caul is just too obvious to walk through the City - this would makes it the Shroud.

In reply to Anne Reed (msg # 148):

Storyteller will be able to give you a better answer, I'm near the book though so can give an answer on the obviousness front.

Shroud is specifically noted as invisible to anyone but a Sin-Eater or Ghost (and possibly other supernaturals depending on their abilities). Whatever form it might take it should be unnoticeable to the average person.

Caul anyone who can see you can see the unnatural appearance the power causes. However they do have to be able to see you, if your Stealth is good enough then all good, though if there's technological observation (such as security cameras) those might catch you anyway.

Malcolm is absolutely right. I also am assuming you still have the shroud up which is why the pawn shop owner didn't notice you.

Shroud it is then, makes sense.

It's been way too long since I've last used this system, sorry.  How do we do knowledge checks about the symbols?

Typically knowledge stuff is governed by Int + a suitable ability. So it might be Int + Occult (weird shit), Int + Academia (generic knowledge shit), Int + Streetwise or Politics if it's more specific stuff and so on. Not a concrete rule since sometimes GMs decide other Attributes or Abilities might be better but it's a good base.

In reply to Hans Becker (msg # 152):

NP buddy, me as well! You are looking for int+ocult if you just want to use your brain. You also have access to supernatural abilities to get more information though.


Keep in mind you can roll a max number of times based on your dice pool (e.g. if your int + occult is a dice pool of 5, you can roll up to 5 times, each roll representing a period of time-- in this example, 10 mins). For some analysis rolls, I set more vague/specific information behind higher levels of suxx. E.g., you get one piece of info at 3 suxx, another at 5, another at 9, etc. The higher the suxx, the more helpful/specific the info.

Not saying I did that for this specific symbol but something for ALL players to keep in mind.



Edit: Malcolm posted at the same time as me! Lol He is right. Int + Aca would be to learn about the symbol itself for example.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:39, Tue 22 Aug 2023.

In reply to The Storyteller (msg # 154):

Just Int analysis rolls or should I be rolling more social ones in the pawn shop? Or would you roll those yourself if PCs who continue to prod where you feel apt?

In reply to Malcolm Unsworth (msg # 155):

Oh sorry, those rolls i listed in the last post were answering Hans' question. You were good, Malcolm.

Unless you were trying to do something specific?

In reply to The Storyteller (msg # 156):

Nope, all good there. Just making sure I don't need to roll more.

Two quick questions for you GM, am I likely to get to the car park Anne is at in time and is there a shop en route where I can grab some paper and pen?

Related to that Anne, you more interested in tormenting the fellow to get results now or trying to do leg work without him around?

Let me give you three responses ;)

Anne would most likely prefer leg work with nobody around, feel free to call her Ms. Head down.

Her Geist however is all for tormenting and usually prefers now over later every single time. You can call him Mr. Rage if you want.

Closing as the player, I'd probably side with the Geist this time, just hesitated to take my chances alone.

What would you be up for?

If I can get there in time Grave-Dirt Boneyard with enough successes could make it very hard for him to get out of the car park and give you time to mess with him. But it could be trumped by him getting directions so not a guaranteed strategy.

If you're inclined to more certain actions we can skip it.

The main question though would be what we try to achieve. Anne is good with sneaking as well as punching (martial arts and manifestations) as well as taking a hit occasionally (Caul, Rage, Shroud | Grave-Dirt, Silent).

She is no investigator though so I don't know if we would get anything out of him other than blood and sweat... Would Malcolm be  a better interrogator?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:18, Fri 25 Aug 2023.

He's okay at it. But Boneyarding puts him out of action for that sort of stuff.

Mostly I was going to use that to keep him vulnerable and stuck in the garage for you to traumatise him. Then nick his wallet. But we have other options.

I might even keep him in check with my hands alone even..., but I might just as well overestimate my fighting style and he has a weapon...

In reply to Malcolm Unsworth (msg # 158):


Malcolm, Yes! The way I see it is that your posts are not in synch time-wise. The conversation you had happened while Anne was still following the guy (we can hand wave, is my point), however, if you want to get there in time you would not be able to stop for paper and a pen at another shop.

If you're not concerned with time, you can easily find a a small Japanese convenience store with a stationary section. Or, for sake of ease, I would allow you to have a notebook with you since you were originally going to a museum. I leave the choice to you. :)

Likely to be a non-issue GM, I think we're at the stage where other ideas are better. Thanks for the answer though.
Will try to get an IC post up later for that.

It seems we have lost Hans?


Malcolm and Anne, what is the actual plan for what you two want to do? Depending on what it is, we may do it 'off screen' and end the scene.

Hans might just be in a lag period GM, sure I saw them on the login.

On my side of things Anne with us functionally having lost the guy I was going to try to interrogate our ghostly fellows since we have what presumably are their anchors, see if we can narrow down where the fellow got their teeth from. After that I was going to likely get in touch with one of the NPCs for the rite to put them to rest, while I do have unspent merit points for group work that I could use for it using them mid-task seems off.

It might be better if Hans has hit a struggling to post patch to speed past that though and get other active PCs involved if that thread is going on hiatus?

Yeah, not much special that can be done. Anne saved a photo of the license plate - but she has o contacts that could make anything out of that.

Also, for all she has seen ghosts like forever - even before her Geist - she hasn't ever "handled" them much. So, she's curiously watching Malcolm and letting him lead though conversation and putting to rest.

My partner seems to have gotten lost.

ok great i'll message Malcolm and Anne later today with how the scene ends and we will close that thread and start a new one with the three of you that takes place after.

Linda, keep in mind that I will leave the bear pun scene open in case Hans comes back soon. If he does, we will have that scene take place 'in the past' (in relation to the new scene with all 3 of you).

Don't wait on me for the PM stuff GM, the individual in the scene we are in is not one I approached initially. While it might impact how I deal with him it's not liable to impact posting for a bit.

Copy that, Malcolm. This is my week with my daughter so I will try to post tmrw, if I have time.