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>1st level characters are rolled up according to what they did >before Faction recruitment. At 2nd level, (Which will be >reached once the Little Brother/Sister has passed their >initiation rite,) then they gain 1 level in "Faction Cousin" and >the feat "Sombras Que Cortas."

I'm not sure I'd make "Sombras Que Cortas" a mandatory feat. "Book of the War" suggests that some Faction agents have them, implying that by no means all of them do. I'd be inclined to make it a 1st level bonus feat for the "Faction Cousin" prestige class (possibly borrowing the Fame/Infamy Feats from the SW game, maybe along with the Alertness, and Persuasive Feats as alternatives.)

The whole would read something like:-

Bonus Feat - At first level the Faction Cousin selects a Bonus Feat (subject to meeting the prerequistes) selected from the following list - Fame, Infamy, Persuasive, Sombras Quel Qorta, Time Sensitive.

I'm not sure that assuming Play Characters should be able to emulate Justine's feats in the audios is entirely adviseable - Justine is kind of a "special case" by Faction standards so I'd be loath the extrapolate from her. But then I don't think Sombras quel Qorta are very important to creating the Faction Aesthetic for an RPG. You'd be better off concentrating on the Gothic trappings - emphasising the twisted family atmosphere of the cult, the constant sense of the Spirits being arounbd and within everything (maybe have the Spirits confront a PC during their initiation with some event or decision that weighs on them that no-one else saw or knows about. Open up the question of whether the Spirits are real or constructs of the characters mind. Then never answer the question. Force them to create their own answers. But then, I've always been a character interaction based Roleplayer rather than an Action based one anyway....)

Karl


(but that's my viewpoint, for whatever it may be worth)

<Before I begin, Karl. The ideas you've presented are great, and for the most part, I agree. Most of the following is a clarification on my previous post that yes,
I had thought of what you've said, and THIS is how I've addressed it. For the most part, not incredibly differently than you have suggested>

Fair enough - they were mostly thoughts off the top of my head anyway.


<Allow me to clarify. EVERY Faction agent gets something bound to them in their initiation ritual. It's not necessarily a Shadow "Weapon." One guy in my group had a quill pen bound to his shadow. >

Now that I like - its not a bad riff on the idea of the Sombras Quel Qorta. After all what is a weapon but a tool for doing a particular job. And who's to say that in some situations another tool might be far more deadly. The Pen can indeed be mightier than the sword - ask one of the ancient Dukes of Norfolk or some of Henry VII's wives.

<But Justine is only a special case because she has Witch Blood, and continues to be a special case only because she now carries the Grandfather's Shadow, (Spirits maintain us.) Eliza was doing her fair share of Sontaran filleting as well. Those shadow weapons are just plain nasty. Now what Justine did to the Peking Army soldiers and to the British Servicemen. That wasn't typical. PCs won't wield that kind of power.>

Fair enough - I've had one too many powergaming refs over the last few years, and one two many powergaming players. I've got used to the cry of "Captain SpaceCaptain can do that why can't I". The answer of course is "your not Captain SpaceCaptain and don't have script immunity - you should therefore maybe come up with a better plan than him". Makes sense to regard Justine as a "priviledged case" - making that kind of capability something for some PC's to aspire to. Always good for them to have goals - even ones they can't quite reach.

And for the record I'm in agreement that the Sombras Quel Qorta are very nasty little weapons - try defending against a sword that you can't actually see......

<but as far as game mechanics goes, I dont think she was much more able than any other Faction agent until she and Morlock's little trip down to the Stacks. >

I'd tend to agree. Something about Grandfather's Shadow has made our little Justine far more than she was before.

<As far as Time Sensitivity, that is a biproduct of having time-active biodata, which is covered in the feat "Witch Blood." Human/Posthuman PC's can start with that feat as one of their two starting, (just having it inherantly,) or not. >

<nods> Pretty much how I'd have done that.

<It can also be developed as one is exposed to the upper orders of the Spiral Politic, (or is exposed to chronospectrum radiation from HEM, or Yssgaroth tainted materials-like say Faction Armor-for long periods of time.) It is automatic for those who are biologically Great House members or House Military, (as some of the Faction are.)>

Makes a lot of sense certainly. It would be something you can spawn a nice little sub-plot out of - especially with a cooperative player who's willing to take the Feat and then have his character "discover" this capability over the course of a few sessions.

(We seem to be very much in agreement as to our approaches to the material <checks to see that none of his Bio-data has been half-inched and doubled back on itself when he wasn't looking :-) >)

<My game's characters are all multiclass. They started out at 3rd level with whatever mundane skills would come with their time period and their trade. When they pass initiation, they gain a level in "Faction Agent." >

Giving them enough ability that it actually makes sense that they might become Faction recruits rather than starting them off as complete no-one's. Whilst at the same time not making them too capable, so that the situations they find themselves in still provide considerable challenge. A good starting point.

<I'm with you there. I loathe "Rollplaying" myself. The new little brothers and sisters in my game really have yet to deal with the Spirits directly. We just started in full this week, and I don't want them to have nighmares right out of the gate. >

And lets face it the Unkindnesses alone would be enough to rattle people - without great spectral presences within time and space to add to it. Besides, better to establish the millieu and the ambience, giving the spirits more impact when they do appear.


<As it goes, they were giving me that "Seen too much...twitch-twitch" look that UNISYC officers develop after a while when we wrapped up at 2AM.>

Ah. What one of my groups dubbed the "Delta Division three-light-year stare". Admittedly that was the campaign where I discovered my affinity for the espionage genre and the deeply-layered story (and also the one where I threw the players in without any conception of who to trust and then started to undermine their assumptions about how the setting worked.....)

<I want them to feel like they have a handle on things before I pull the rug out from under them. >

Awww. Where's the fun in that. :-)

<They will be hit full force during next week's exciting episode when the 11 Day Empire falls, >

At which point you will be able to identify the players with an overdose of common sense and the natural leaders. Because they'll both have the same plan - run away very quickly!

Karl