The Twenty Palaces is a novel series blending fantasy and mystery and written by Seattle author Harry Connolly. Ray Lilly, the series’ first person narrator, and protagonist recounts his adventures working for the Twenty Palace Society. Their aim appears to be using any means necessary to keep magic out of the hands of anyone other than their own members. Their primary concern is with spell books, which are the source of magic, and with preventing magic users from summoning creatures known as predators from an otherworldly dimension known as the Empty Places.
Spells are commonly placed by spell casters on their servants or followers by means of spells inscribed on them by tattoos and are generally meant to last but can be inscribed in henna for temporary effectiveness.
• Closed Way: Provides impenetrability on the covered area, and is one of the more common spell tattoos – However, for spell casters who are weaker, the tattoo becomes visible (allowing knowledgeable individuals to target exposed areas), and the area becomes less and less sensitive, until it becomes completely numb.The spell tattoo isn’t an absolute protection; “Tattoo,” an infamous enemy of the society, was almost completely covered in them, but was ultimately wounded by the blast from a backfire of his pistol, allowing Ray to finish him off magically. In practice I would assign a 1 or 2 armor bonus to a player with this type of tattoo.
• The Twisted Path: Appearing as a tattoo on an individual, this spell allows many beneficial effects for a criminal or outlaw. One “on the twisted path” leaves no accurate forensic evidence. Fingerprints won’t match, DNA won’t come back to you, and witnesses may even identify someone else in a lineup. The spell tattoo is apparently powerful enough to subvert digital photography or any form of electronic surveillance.
• Golem Flesh: Golem Flesh provides an added degree of protection from damage; however, more importantly, it also provides a healing factor that allows for the bearer of the spell to regenerate damage rapidly, provided that they take in fresh meat. However, as a trade-off, the spell requires the consumption of red meat daily, and it is best if the meat is fresh and uncooked, which is disgusting to new recipients of the spell, and takes time to get used to. Until such damage is healed, however, the body of a golem flesh recipient is able to survive long periods of time with horrific injuries – Human flesh works well. In addition, should one consume meat properly on a regular basis, the spell can artificially extend one’s natural lifetime – the traditional expectation is often put at “five hundred years,” but no one knows exactly how long it would last. I would allow a bonus the same as the Slayer’s Resilience ability. (Slayer Resilience: You heal faster than normal people. Any time your harm gets healed, heal an extra point. Additionally, your wounds count as 1-harm less for the purpose of the Keeper’s harm moves.) For Slayers with resilience I would increase the ability with tattoo to allow 2 point extra heals a day and your wounds count and a 2-harm less reduction for the purpose of the Keeper’s harm moves.
• The Iron Gate: Protects one from mental influence both from spells and predators. The spell throbs or even screams with unbearable agony depending upon the severity of the invasion, providing both a warning and something to focus upon to resist the intrusion. This tattoo prevents mental control or scans of the bearer at the price of making the subject paralyzed with pain while such abilities are focused on the player with the tattoo.
So I am working on a Preacher/Iman/Rabbi playbook and just want a bit of feedback on moves, please tell me what you…
So I am working on a Preacher/Iman/Rabbi playbook and just want a bit of feedback on moves, please tell me what you think!
Confession: You are a man of god, that is going to unnerve some folk. Sometimes people aren’t going to open up to you about their darker sides but if you manage to get a damned soul to openly confess and apologize for their wrong doings mark one experience and take a plus one forward to your next charm roll.
Then pick two of these:
Thou shall not kill: Now you know some of these rules are open to interpretation but a couple of them are quite clear, you get a plus two bonus to protect someone rolls provided they are human.
Exorcism: You can see and communicate with spirits and demons… they might not like you much though.
Healing hands: If you are using magic to heal someone you may heal one additional harm.
Against the night: You can use the manipulate move against minions.
You wouldn’t hit a priest, would ya?: Normal people aren’t going to view you as a threat, unless you are somewhere you shouldn’t be or are acting suspicious.
Followers: Gain one or two followers, devotees to your cause. Give them names and descriptions, they will enact the spirit of your instructions.
Demagogue: You craft words like a silver tongued creature. If you are addressing a large group of humans you can either attempt to calm them down or form a mob, you’ll need a convincing reason though. Roll + Charm. On a 12+ pick three from the list below, on a 10+ pick two, 7+ pick one and on a miss pray for your life as their focus turns to you.
Your mob is aggressive/calm
Your mob does exactly what you ask
Your mob won’t work out you manipulated them later
Other hunters will be safe from your mob
Your mob will inflict fear/calm on others around them
Been playing this system for a few weeks now and I only now realised that the spellslinger isn’t explained in terms of bases and effects. E.g. one of our party members is a spellslinger and has the base magic missile but applies 4 different effects to it. This sounds a little broken, but we’re unsure of the mechanics so we’re unsure what to do. Any suggestions/information on this topic?
So I could use some help finishing off my character. I’m playing Adam Winters, the Chosen One
So I could use some help finishing off my character. I’m playing Adam Winters, the Chosen One
He is a descendant of Cain, the first murderer. Abandoned at an orphanage as a baby he’s was adopted by the Winters who raised them as their own.
He got accepted to Boston University with a sports scholarship. The night before classes start he sees some guys mugging some old man. He goes to chase them off but they are hideous monsters. The old man gives him a weapon and tells him of his “heritage” then flees into the night.
Because of all of this Adam is late for class sign up and is forced to take a weird sounding course of paranormal lore. This is where he meets our flake and expert.
So basically what I need help with is choosing my weapon, and maybe my hero and doom tags. I’m thinking for hero tags maybe “you are the champion” and either “end of monsters” or “you can save the world”.
Me and my DM agreed that a good destiny would be for me to defeat Cain. Would that require me to take nemesis as a doom tag?
For doom i was also thinking ” you can’t save everyone” and either “hosts of monsters” or the end of days.
I just got the book and I’m digging all the different playbooks.
I just got the book and I’m digging all the different playbooks. I read on the Barf Apocalytica website about other custom playbooks one of the posters wanted to see. One of the was the Risen (an Revenant of sorts, like The Crow). I am working an a draft. I borrowed heavily from other RPGs. I don’t know what I’m doing. So any help and feedback would be appreciated.
Thinking on how to do Saber(Arturia Pendragon) of Fate/Stay-Night and Fate Zero.
Thinking on how to do Saber(Arturia Pendragon) of Fate/Stay-Night and Fate Zero.
She’s the King Arthur of her universe and lived as a man for most of her life. Helped by the magic that kept her looking young and the fact she mostly was seen in armor or bulky robes. At the end of her life she made a deal with one of the spirit of Nan’s collective will to survive to serve as an eternal spirit guardian if she was given the chance to correct the tragedy her kingdom ended with. That was how she came to be one of the Heroic Spirits available to summon for the Grail Wars. Unlike the other spirits however, she is continually pulled forward from that last point of her life where she lies dying. Her body is repaired and she still has a lot of the power of a heroic spirit but can’t do things like become a total spirit. Also she’s not a copy of the original heroic spirit (the world refuses to risk the loss of the actual spirits so it only sends out copies of the heroes from those within the Throne of Heroes) she is the original. If she ever manages to win a Grail War and realize her wish then her deal with Alaya will complete and she’ll become a counter guardian (similar to be not quite the same as a heroic spirit).
I could do her either as a Chosen, an Exile or a Divine. If I wanted to stretch and deal with the hate-corrupted Saber Alter from one timeline I could even go monstrous. I think the Exile presents the best match for what I’m thinking.
Charm -1, Cool +2, Sharp +1, Tough +2, Weird +0
Technically, Saber has the heart of a dragon due to the magics involved in her conception so she could be a great magus but she has never showed an interest in that. Her high power levels show in her monstrous resistance to magic and in her fighting style. So Weird +0, Tough +2, and Cool +2 since that is used for Act Under Pressure. She is also supposed to have exceptional Charisma, but functionally she is rather demanding and occasionally awkward she also developed a detached attitude that eventually caused trouble in her reign. So Charm -1. She was an intelligent general and leader though so Sharp +1.
The how she got there is easy, she was summoned by the Master-Servant ritual.
For Moves she gets Warrior and Immortal Name.
For weapons she gets Big Sword, Spear and Martial Arts. (There are actually at least three swords, one spear and one witch-slaying knife connected to Arthur in RL. In F/SN only Excalibur and Caliburn come into play and Caliburn was broken in the course of her normal life.
If I were to Advance her I’d add Hearty Constitution and Learned from Exile, Smite from Divine and Immortal from Monstrous.
Ideally she would get Advanced Kick Some Ass, Advanced Use Magic (representing Heroic Spirit weirdness and Exaclibur’s powers rather than actual spell casting), Advanced Act Under Pressure and Advanced Protect Other.
Her use of Excalibur as an anti-fortresss level phantasm would be a use magic move. I know it seems odd to relegate something she used to kill what was implied to be Cthulhu to use magic, but in the stories it is usually accompanied by a high cost of mana or requiring her to be have both hands and some time to set it up.
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For more fun, plotting her back story and role in F/N
Arturia begins life raised as the brother and squire of Sir Kay but is made aware of her heritage before the prophecy of the Sword in the Stone is made public.
Then she goes to pull the sword out of the stone knowing it is meant for her. Merlin appears and warns her to think it through and that she would be abandoning her humanity to pull the sword out. She accepts that with the idea that a king must not show human emotion and that she had been raised since a child to accept that she would have to conceal her gender and always act the proper king.
At this point she is the Chosen.
Stats:
Charm +1, Cool +2, Sharp +1, Tough +1, Weird -1
Moves – Destiny’s Plaything, I’m Here for a Reason, Dutiful
Heroic Fate: Sacrifice, Mystical Inheritance
Heroic Doom: No Normal Life, Treachery
Caliburn: Handle, Artifact, Heavy Blade, 3 Harm Hand Balanced, Magic
Over the course of her early adventures she takes the following Improvements:
Ally (Adoptive Brother Sir Kay – Confidant)
Tough +1 (+2)
Cool +1 (+3)
Devastating
Resilience
Then Caliburn is broken and she gains the replacement in the form of Excalibur and its sheath Avalon.
For Avalon she takes Immortal (Monstrous)
For Excalibur (and the development of her mana-driven swordsmanship) she takes Advanced Kick Some Ass and Advanced Use Magic and uses the same weapon stats as Caliburn
She also takes +1 Charm (+2)
Soon after gaining Excalibur she decides to switch over to the Leader playbook (which I need to find a picture I have rights to for and put on my drivethrurpg page currently its unavailable).
She has accomplished the unification of Britain and so her destiny is played out and she loses the Destiny’s Plaything and I’m Here For a Reason moves from Chosen. However, she remains Dutiful, Devastating, Resilient and Immortal.
For Leader she gains the following moves:
At My Command, Inner Circle, Motto
Her recruitment method is a Cause.
As a strength her minions have great Battle Experience
As a flaw her minions have poor Unity and there are many factions. (This is a morphing of her Treachery Chosen doom)
Her Kingdom has a Rigid and Specific Hierarchy and her followers have High Personal Initiative.
Her item of authority is the sword Clarent (2 harm hand messy authority)
Mordred (a homonculus cloned from her) is already in the Round Table at this point but has been rejected by her “father” and has become bitter.
As improvements during her kingship she takes:
+1 At My Command Hold per session
+1 type of Minion, her second recruitment model is Reputation
Lead from the Front
Tough +1 (+3)
Smite (Divine Move)
However, through some event, she loses Charm 2 (taking her to 0) due to being perceived as lacking human emotions.
Then comes the Guinevere and Lancelot affair followed by civil unrest and the Battle of Camlann where she kills Mordred with Rhongomyniad (The Spear that Shines to the Ends of the Earth) and is dealt a critical blow herself.
She looks about and sees the despair and devastation that afflicts her kingdom and blames herself. She makes a deal with the World (specifically, Alaya…humanity’s will to survive) to become a Counter Guardian if the timeline can be altered so that someone else took up Excalibur who would not lead Britain to this chaos.
Since the deal is not complete until the wish is granted, Alaya causes her to be eligible for the Grail War allowing her to be called an infinite number of times to an infinite number of Grail Wars across alternate timelines.
She is first canonically called to battle in the Fourth Grail War by Emiya Kiritsugu with whom she has a conflict of personality.
Her new playbook is Divine and she keeps a great amount of her power due to the fact that Kiritsugu’s innate mana fuels her quite well.
As the Divine She loses: At My Command, Inner Circle, Motto, Lead from the Front, all her minions, her ally sir Kay
She keeps: Dutiful, Devastating, Resilience, Immortal, Smite, Advanced Kick Some Ass, Advanced Use Magic (which allows her to do various Heroic Spirit things like supernaturally upgrade a motorcycle so that it can handle her level of riding skill without falling apart)
Smite is a Divine move already so she takes two more Divine moves (effectively she “lost” Smite and then took it as one of her base three Divine moves).
She takes Soothe and Cast Out Evil
Her mission is to obey her Master and to acquire the Grail so that both her and Master’s wishes might be enacted.
Over the course of the series she gains:
+1 Weird (0) (because of Heroic Spirit weirdness…even though she’s not a conventional Heroic Spirit)
+1 Sharp (2) (because of dealing with Kiritsugu’s tactics)
+1 Charm (1) (due to some of the social matters she involves herself in and recovering some emotions)
Never Again (Wronged)
Suspicious Mind (Flake)
Then Fate/Zero ends and she is commanded to destroy the grail.
Ten years later, she comes back summoned accidentally by Emiya Shirou. Due to Shirou’s low mana and the improper nature of the summons as well as the amount of betrayal and psychological trauma she suffered, she comes back as the Exile described above at at base starting levels and Fate/Stay Night begins.
