BTS skills for the late 1920's

[Todd Yoho]

Dude, you're actually running that? Awesome!

[Guy_LeDouche]

Hmm. I love the idea of 1920s-1930s style adventure. Two fisted adventurers, manly explorers, big game hunters, daredevil pilots, damsels in distress, intrepid reporters, the possbilites are endless.

Here's a few skill recommendations:

Hand-To-Hand: Brawling
Bureaucracy (Both legal and illegal. Pay offs, kick backs, bribes)
Business (we are talking about the time of the stock market crash, Great Depression, Rockfeller, J.P. Morgan, steel barons, etc.)
Diplomacy
Field Biology
Animal Handling (circus performers, African Explorers, etc.)
Thrill Seeker
Linguistics
Fame (actress, famous explorer, captain of industry, etc.)
Fast Talking
Interviewing
Intimidation

[Guy_LeDouche]

Thrill Seeker is a skill?

Now that I think about it, that is more of a trait than an actual skill.

[Vidynn]

I want to run Dreams of Glory from the Rifter Nr. 20 (with sourcematerial from Rifter Nr. 17) - has anyone around here played it? what were your experiences as player or GM with the scenario? thanks!

[Todd Yoho]

I want to run Dreams of Glory from the Rifter Nr. 20 (with sourcematerial from Rifter Nr. 17) - has anyone around here played it? what were your experiences as player or GM with the scenario? thanks!

I ran it before I wrote it. All of the Last Street material was from a BTS campaign I ran...wow...9 years ago or so. Dreams of Glory relies on tension and the escalation thereof. For the players it's like being pulled further and further into a house they quickly realize is haunted, but the only way out is to endure the horror until they find the back door.

[Lord Z]

I used the Dreams of Glory as a side-adventure in a Nightbane game about three years back. I had a lot of fun with it. There were some problems with the conversion: the PCs were a little over-powered even after adjustments, and the PCs found these events confusing in the context of everything else which was happening in the campaign. I strongly recommend the adventure itself.

[Vidynn]

thanks to both of you for your answers. I read thru both the setting and the adventure now. I really love the Last Street-setting - I wish it would have been used more for Dreams of Glory, interconnecting setting-ideas and the adventure proper in more ways than "just" the book and bookstore. Also, I think I will adjust the adventure some: first of all, the idea that caught me the most is D-Day in a 1920s/1930s setting, so I will have Normandy as the toughest part for the PCs. Also, no offense Mr. Yoho, it seems a little dull with dream-battle after dream-battle. And Im not sure the presumption that more than one or two characters in a group are drawn into the book (the dreams) might not work for my group, so it could be a session were some groupmembers are involved in the action and others are not, so I gotta give the rest of the group something to do. Also, design-wise, is there an alternative route other than fighting and surviving (in) the dreams? I also think that the detective shouldnt really know about the connection between certain recent incidents and the book - why would it, if that were the case, be "back" at the bookstore anyway? Mr. Yoho, did you develop more on the events in the future leading to the book being back in the 1920s/1930s? Cause thats an intriguing idea.

[Todd Yoho]

thanks to both of you for your answers. I read thru both the setting and the adventure now. I really love the Last Street-setting - I wish it would have been used more for Dreams of Glory, interconnecting setting-ideas and the adventure proper in more ways than "just" the book and bookstore.

I'm not sure what you mean here, since if the adventure is ran as written, it's pretty much assumed that the characters are affiliated with the university and the Last Street community. If they aren't, they will likely be drawn, or directed there, in short order. The setting is used as much as the player characters interact with it.

Also, no offense Mr. Yoho, it seems a little dull with dream-battle after dream-battle.

No offense taken, since it's one of my earliest writings and does have its flaws. Mostly that it's not, as some people have asked for, a scripted adventure to run. As designed, the dream battles are only half of the adventure. The other half is what the characters do during the day. Like I said, it's not a completely scripted adventure. It's a fleshed adventure outline. I don't play those, and this isn't written as one. From the standpoint of the design, it's up to the GM and the players to fill in the events of the daylight hours.

The adventure can be ran as the most important plot point, with the daylight hours investigating and tracking down research on the book. Or it can be a hell of a nuisance while they are dealing with other in-campaign issues. I mean, if some of the characters are students or faculty, they still have to go to class that day, suffering from the fatigue of living through the Battle of Gettysburg the night before. Or it could be sprung on them by one of their enemies as a distraction, allowing some nefarious plot to slip by the player characters while they are concentrating on the dreams and the book.

And Im not sure the presumption that more than one or two characters in a group are drawn into the book (the dreams) might not work for my group, so it could be a session were some groupmembers are involved in the action and others are not, so I gotta give the rest of the group something to do.

Who gets drawn into the book is up to the Game Master. Unless someone has some sort of specific rule or plot-immunity to being supernaturally summoned by a friend's subconscious mind to help with this physically, mentally and emotionally crippling ordeal of fighting some of history's bloodiest battles, then I would consider anyone fair game. But if there are characters who aren't going to be part of the action, that doesn't mean they have to be excluded from the plot.

Also, design-wise, is there an alternative route other than fighting and surviving (in) the dreams?

Page 26, Closing the Book, #2) The Protection of the Phoenix.

I also think that the detective shouldnt really know about the connection between certain recent incidents and the book - why would it, if that were the case, be "back" at the bookstore anyway?

That depends on how you use the introductory story; if at all. It's not necessarily "part" of the actual adventure canon. It can be used as a tone piece to set the stage for the GM, or it can be a prelude to the adventure that the characters can investigate and provide clues.

As to why it's back at the bookstore, it's a supernatural item with a semi-mind of its own whose express purpose is to have as many people read it and get trapped by its spell as possible. I all but explicitly state that the book "...moves about of its own free will" on page 26 under Closing the Book.

Mr. Yoho, did you develop more on the events in the future leading to the book being back in the 1920s/1930s? Cause thats an intriguing idea.

I'm sure I did, but they're buried somewhere in my old handwritten game notes, or on a floppy, both of which may or may not still be around.

But I am totally thrilled that you like the setting.

[Vidynn]

I'm not sure what you mean here, since if the adventure is ran as written, it's pretty much assumed that the characters are affiliated with the university and the Last Street community. If they aren't, they will likely be drawn, or directed there, in short order. The setting is used as much as the player characters interact with it.

first of all, thanks a lot for your answers, sure cleared some stuff up for me!

well, what I meant is, that I had hoped that more locations and/or NPCs from Last Street other than the bookstore and the University play a major role in the adventure proper. of course, as the characters explore Last Street or are looking for clues they could stumble into more locations and meet the interesting residents of Last Street. but I had hoped for more plot-wise conjunctions between setting and adventure.

oh, and yes, I want to incorporate the intro-story, but I'll adapt it, so that the characters can find out about the incident during their own investigations surrounding the book.

thanks again for your time and advice on running the adventure.

[jedi078]

If the PC’s are going back in time I wouldn't change their skills one bit. They will just have to adapt to the lack of tech, and as others have said once the juice is gone form some of the PC's laptops and so forth they are useless.

I for one would not have told the PC's about the travel back in time, and surprise them with it.

Last if the PC's advanced weapons and equipment has you worried have them arrive in the 1920's stark naked, just like in Terminator.

....so if they don't know how to actually CLEAN a gun they're gonna get b0rked eventually...

Not to nitpic but knowing how to use a firearm (i.e. you have the WP for it), means knowing how to clean and care for it too.