Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

DT · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:51 pm Post subject: ***SPOILER*** Unity Engine

I'm interested to see how marshals that that have run the Unity handled the engine room sacrifice. Did you require a sacrifice as state in the book? If not what did you do instead? In either case how did your players react?

P.S. Brain Glom = Very, very, very, very cool.
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Ray · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:43 pm Post subject:

I had fun with my group. One PC (Who wore Power Armour) had "Intolerance: Chinese", and another was playing a Jet-Li Lookalike (Who was a Gun Fu-ist) and RPing him *REALLY* annoying.

They get to the Engine Room (With the NPC Pilot character in tow) and find out they need a sacrifice.

Eventually, there was a fight that broke out that the Power Armour guy had to break up, and he took the question out of everyone's hands.

He turned to the Chinese PC, and just said, "I hate you so much." and then crushed the skull of the pilot.

I was *SURE* that we were going to have a PC death. Oh well.
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Father Wendigo · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:52 pm Post subject:

Choosing who bites the bullet isin't the problem.

The ensuing argument over who gets to kill said person; that's a problem.

Fated2Die · Novice Joined: 01 Sep 2004 Posts: 29

wow...

Played the adventure online a while ago, The party templar (Harrowed) basically stabed the doomsayer in the head, and used a martyr's blessing to bring her back. Legend chip right there, now I'm the marshal, and hopeing to run it if our templar comes back this summer
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Demon · Seasoned Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 126

I havent run it yet, but I asure you that i will do everything in my powert to prevent them from brining an NPC along, I will be requiring a sacrafice, and I will give them as long as it takes to hash it out. I cant pass up the opertunity to see the fireworks. Will someone be noble and volenteer, will they make an attemp to decide among themselves who is most expendable, will the expendable one fight back. Will a simple slugfest ensue and the first man down becomes the sacrafice? I dont know, but I sure as hell cant wait to find out.

RedFox · Seasoned Joined: 09 Nov 2003 Posts: 424

What's folks' thoughts on bringing the victim back? I honestly think it loses impact / sting if they can just use a Blessing or something and ressurect the poor brainer.

I'd probably have the demonic engine consume the deader's soul or something. Dead is dead.
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Elijah Pact · Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:18 pm Post subject:

I haven't run it....yet. I plan to though. I also plan to eliminate most of the easy (and that is *very* relative) ways of ressurecting the sacrifice, the grit house rule won't count, most powers won't count (for one reason or rational), and I want make sure they don't have any blessing or legend chips by the time they get on board the Unity. I was thinking that if say someone was expecting favored of heaven, or the greater reward of surivor (least i think its survivor) to come into effect it will negate the murder (because they wouldn't have died) unless perhaps they came back harrowed as that is the second option in that power.

If Charlie is still alive by that time, he might consider using his fairly costly shaman power to ressurect the poor sod, but I hope he won't.

I rather like the idea that the sacrifice is totally consumed by Apostos (or what ever the entities' name is). Actually, I was considering having their spirit forever bound to the chamber as its ghost or as a spirit 'glom abomination made up of all whom have been murdered to activate the Unity (part of a story idea I've been working on).

Really, I was thinking of having the A____'s chamber be a pocket dimension where nobodies powers work, and when you leave the body disappears or they have to watch it be consumed by this hairy spiderlike demon mouth that forms in the floor of the scaly red room, or possibly the body immediately reanimates as a walking dead and tries to annihilate the posse only to be killed again thus destroying any chance at a ressurection (at least in his own body). obviously I'm not sure yet, but its certainly nice to see other peoples thoughts on the subject.

I especially await running this adventure because our posse consists of a Blessed, and a Shaman who isn't supposed to kill at all. We don't have any other long term characters anymore (their all dead, or undead horrors, or the player is a difficult to get on short notice and isn't really a long term character anyway), I would prefer that who ever reaches the sacrificial chamber be of strong moral fiber and have definate compunctions about cold blooded murder because of the fun roleplay that would result so I might even conspire to elminate any bloodthirsty PCs from even reaching the Unity (there are lots of oppertunities for this, thankfully).

EDIT: if one of the party happens to be harrowed by this point, I'll be sorely tempted to ignore the suggestions, and have his manitou take over to try and protect itself from anhilation, the same goes double for a cyborg.

DT · Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 8:54 pm Post subject:

CtB · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 9:52 am Post subject:

Like DT i haven't run it yet but surely it's not a sacrifice if you resurrect them? like how harrowed shamans can't scar themselves because it's not a true sacrifice. up to how you see it and how it's described the the book i guess...

Ray · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 9:59 am Post subject:

I've run it, and I have to say that someone has to *DIE* and lose their soul.

I just consider it that the Demon uses part of the Murdered Soul as fuel for the jump (And to torment for the rest of eternity as well. Everyone has to have a hobby!).

They're dead, Jim. Do not pass "Go", do not collect 200 Widgets. No power in the 'Verse can bring 'em back as anything but a Walkin' Dead, as the Soul (Which is the most important part) is no longer available.
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Teller · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 1:19 pm Post subject:

As one of the original playtesters, I can assure y'all that Shane required a PC sacrifice. Since I was playing myself, "I" was too important to sacrifice, so I kinda looked at the floor and scuffed my toe long enough for Zeke and John Hopler and Jason Nichols to attack each other. It was pretty sweet.
And since the soul is used to feed/power the engine, I don't see how the sacrifice can be brought back (unless something else comes to fill the shell. Twisted Evil

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Psykoguy · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 5:28 pm Post subject:

King Snarf · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 6:39 pm Post subject:

Well, there HAS to be a way to bring the poor dope back, otherwise there wouldn't be a Bounty Point award for doing so. Having said that, I would say that bringing 'em back would require a little something above and beyond normal. For example, if using a spell or favor, an extra raise would be required.
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DannyboyO1 · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:56 am Post subject:

Well, actually, it doesn't say anywhere in there that the soul is lost. It says the price is a murder. Technically, it's a matter of damning yourself to get the demon to power the ship. Only way I know of to rez someone in any portable fashion... is through a martyr's blessing. In which case, I should point out... it costs a legend chip. So, really, that legend chip reward equals the cost.
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Teller · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:59 pm Post subject:

RedFox · Seasoned Joined: 09 Nov 2003 Posts: 424

Asmodai · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 6:46 pm Post subject:

Pure Evil Model: D · Heroic Joined: 28 Oct 2003 Posts: 1053

oh it was beautiful..... we ran an 18 hour game.. by the time we got to the engine room, one character had 4 wounds EVERY where and was barly remaining conscience, no healer around, and he still tried to convinve everyone that he was to valuable to be sacrificed. so he and his chosen sacrifice had a little fight. not contest. he was restrained and another PC took the oppurtunity and blasted him in the head.

... then he went and pouted all for the rest of the adventure....
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El Diablo · Seasoned Joined: 16 Jun 2003 Posts: 296

To make the sacrifice very powerful, don't let the players bring back the sacrificied back. It would lost his impact....in the short term. But to even more power and impact to the sacrifice, plane to let the character get back in the long term. Just think about it and I can assur you that it will made the sacrifice even more memorable.

First, if the character sacrifice himself willingly, it could became an excellent candidate to return as a gardian. Or if is soul is consumed by Apostolos, what would be an eternity of torment for someone who has done the ultimate sacrifice (and his, in a way, the Ultimate hero). Maybe he could temporarily win over Apostolos and created the famous timegate between the weird west/the wasted west/banshee. That would be an interesting explanation that would give more power to the whole story.

And if the characters was sacrificed unwillingly, maybe it could return as an undead or an abomination, a past sin continually hunting the heroes. Or simply a tool in the hand of Apostolos.

One thing is sure; an event like that should not end with a simple sacrifice because it could be a lot more...

Gassire · Novice Joined: 01 May 2004 Posts: 21

I didn't rule out the option of ressurecting the sacrifice. But there wasn't any real need to. To set the story, the two pivotal pc's were two friends playing brothers who grew up on tales of chivalry and all that. The older brother became a templar and the younger a librarian(non arcane type); bascially a knight errant and his chronicler. When we were making their characters they wanted to make them naive and slowly crush their optimism with reality.

So we get to the engine room, I convey what the demon wants and added a bit about it doesn't care how it's done all it wants is a soul. The group starts arguing except for the brothers, after a minute or two the brothers' players look at each other and the templar nods his head. The librarian declares that he draws his gun and shoots his brother, never very good with guns the librarian ends up only fatally wounding his brother and holds him for about 5 painful mins as the templar bleeds out. The rest of the party is shocked and starts asking him how he could kill his own brother. The librarian smirks, and says, "I've read enough of these stories, there's always a way around. You can never truly kill the hero, I'll bring him back even if I have to rip his soul back from this cocksucker." Seeing the perfect opening I laugh in the demons voice and say "You've killed in MY name little bookworm. I don't get his soul, I get yours". The looks on their faces were priceless.