I think the Rusalka (http://daedalumap.com/downloads/TheRusalka.pdf) is an interesting skin and I’d like to try playing it sometime, but I think I’m missing something about the move Water’s Wife (“If someone sees you bathe, swim, or wash your hair, it counts as turning them on”).
The way I’m reading it, it seems redundant with the good ol’ basic Turn Someone On move. The player could easily frame the bathing/swimming/hair-washing as Turn On-worthy even without Water’s Wife… so what’s the advantage/difference here? Does it grant the Rusalka the ability to turn on multiple people at once (despite the rule preventing doubling up on Strings in one scene)?
People who have seen a Rusalka in-game: how was this move handled?
For me it’s just a way to turn someone on easily in the fiction, without demonstrating any sexuality/sensuality, one that can be used unwillingly to give you lot of lovers/fascinated people.
By the way, it’s a skin I reworked a bit. I liked and understood the idea behind but the player who chooses it had some difficulty with it. Doe eyes was basically a manipulate PC, Tainted love made the other players avoid turning her on, etc…
Care to share a bit about how exactly you reworked the moves?
Working on it (I’m french, I have to translate it back to english)
Ah. En ce cas, j’attends patiemment 😉
Take Water girl and choose another one
>>two other moves was too powerful
Water girl : If someone sees you bathe, swim, or wash your hair, roll to Turn them on. Your target can choose to gain the Condition « Bewitched » instead of applying the consequences of your successful move. When a person who is Bewitched by you is injured, mark experience.
>>Bewitched (would spellbound be better in english?) because we wanted to insist on the magical part, the fact that the Rusalka wasn’t responsible for getting others in love with her. This way it could only be love who was responsible of pain, not the rusalka. Next we wanted to respect the fact that you normally don’t inflict emotional Conditions : you give the opportunity to take it to another player. Third, as making those who love you suffer is the theme of the skin, I included it in the basic move. And injured isn’t necessarily physical harm.
Love is in the air : you love to be desired. If someone choose to gain the Bewitched Condition, they get +2 to Turn you on.
>>Instead of Tainted love. Same thing than before, I give back the choice of gaining te Condition to PC, with a mecanical incentive
Doe eyes : someone with the Bewitched Condition looses it if they do something you ask
>>Once more, the PC can choose. The Rusalka needs to have the Condition « cycling », so PC should know they can have it, but can also lose it quite easily. Moreover, when the charm breaks after you obeyed, it can only have fictionnal consequences (« what did you do to me !? »)
Two faced : you’re more than just a pretty face. In a situation where you should roll to Turn someone on, you can instead choose to show your true face and roll+Dark. 10+ : choose 2. 7-9 : choose 1 and gain the Condition « Unmasked »
-Give them a Condition
-Do 1 harm
-They must Hold steady before reacting
Murena : when you have the Unmasked Condition, you can roll with +Dark to Lash out and Run away
>>Here I exploit the Unmasked/Exposed Condition (maybe you’re a sea monster, a bloated corpse, or just a real bitch) a little bit more
Going Down With Me and fanatics : unchanged except +Dark instead of +Hot for going down with me
Sex move : when you have sex with someone for the first time, it’s a beautiful moment and you both gain a string on the other. When your partner has sex with somedbody else, they looses a string on you or you gain a string on them, your choice.
Darkest self When you become your darkest self, you are revealed as the monster within. Take the exposed condition and do not lose it until you leave your Darkest Self. Anyone who sees you exposed for the fist time gains a string on you. When a person who is Bewitched by you suffer at least 2 harm by your fault, they loose this Condition and you exit your darkest self.
Your Backstory
One person has a crush on you. Describe how you met and take one string on them.
Someone scorned you after some passionate loving. They take a string on you.
You broke the love relation of someone. They take a string on you.
Hope this can help you or give you ideas.
http://mar1ahase.deviantart.com/art/water-nymph-III-171307473
When I originally wrote the skin, the intent was that it impacted multiple targets and that it was an act that avoided any specific flirting – if your hair gets wet, people are turned on by you, and you get the benefits of that.
When I played the Rusalka, I played a swim team captain. At one point she used Water’s Wife to “turn on” half a classroom by pouring water over her head to raise support for the swim team. Another time, she used it to make a rival angry by turning her on while goading her.
Brianna Sheldon, the Rusalka sounds like awesome fun to play, in a “dump a bucket of chaos” sense. I love the swim team fundraiser!
Michael Barry It is definitely a bundle of chaos. 🙂
I just recently played a Rusalka and had a blast with him. What we did was that using the Water’s Wife move just counted as an automatic 10+ toTurn Someone On. So when someone saw him wet, he didn’t have to roll, it just happened.
My advice for playing a Rusalka…
1) Be as slutty as possible. Getting someone “Fascinated” with you unlocks so many more options with what you can accomplish.
2) Don’t have regular sex with an Infernal. You end up with both of you getting way too many strings on each other because of your sex moves.
3) Use people. That’s what they’re there for after all. 😉
If anyone wants to see the digital character sheet I made for my Rusalka, the link is https://docs.google.com/document/d/17QdXIX1_VboqBy9UxIPziQKYrP6RuIbiHJOy34U8r_g/edit?usp=sharing
So , thank you Brianna Sheldon for creating this, because my Rusalka has been one of my favorite characters in an RPG that I’ve ever played. But while you’re here, can I ask a couple questions?
What did you envision happens when you inflict the Harm when using Two-Faced? Does that mean you do something to harm them when you show your true face, or does just seeing you cause them physical harm somehow? The one time I used that, I think we had them get scared and fall down or something, but it felt a little clunky.
What was your intent with the Exposed condition, especially in Darkest Self? Does everyone see you in your true hideous form, or they just glimpse it, or they just feel something weird about you?
Adam West Thanks!
With Two-Faced, the intent was that just seeing you would harm them – like a Medusa’s gaze only without the rockiness.
For Exposed, the idea was that there is a glimpse of your true form – kind of like the sort of thing you imagine in your peripheral vision, except it’s right in front of your face.
Thanks for the questions! I am super glad you’ve enjoyed the skin. 🙂
Interesting. I think the one time I used Two-Faced without actively trying to hurt them, we had the other character sort of stumble back, startled, and they hit their head. But I’ll keep this in mind for the future. (We’re on a season break right now.)