UNDER CONSTRUCTION

LAST UPDATED
2-28-10

OVERVIEW
- Geists in DC
-  Key Characters
.

RESTRICTIONS
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CREATING A G:tS-E CHARACTER
.

BOOKS IN USE
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GEIST THEMED MEDIA
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LINKS TO GEIST RELATED WEB SITES
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Geist: the Sin-Eaters

"What is the terror of death? That we die our work incomplete. What is the joy of life? To die knowing our task is done."

-- Dark Angels Space Marines Battle Litany from "White Dwarf #213" (Warhammer 40K)

OVERVIEW:

What would you do if you were returned from death's door? How would you spend your second life? This is the question all Sin-Eaters are asked just by virtue of the Event: a somewhat tongue-in-cheek term that is used to describe a near-death experience, or more frequently, a true moment of death. In a flash, an old life vanishes. And in a pause, a fragment of oblivion that lasts for moments and seems to last forever, a new life is offered.

The catch is that the thing offering that new life is not a god, or an angel. It’s something like a ghost and something unlike one, a specter that is as much the embodiment of a form of death as the remnant of a human consciousness... perhaps even moreso. The offer has come from a geist. And when its offer is accepted, everything changes.

With the return to life, you are now irrevocably tied to the world of the dead. You can see ghosts all around him - and you can hear their pleas for help or howls of anger. The geist within you can manifest its own sepulchral might to protect you, conjuring phantasms, smashing objects with terrible poltergeist strength, or forming even more surreal changes. You have power, although it's not entirely yours. And you have a second lifetime to do what you need to do.

Each geist thirsts to achieve things left unfinished. But what mortals are worth the intercession? Which of the restless dead need or deserve help most?

What is a second chance worth? And how do you keep from wasting it?

RESTRICTIONS: 

Restrictions are things that are legal by the book but for game balance or other reasons, the STs want more strict control over how much it is in play in this game. The below are not forbidden unless stated clearly otherwise, they just require additional justification to the STs before approval, and approval is NOT guaranteed if the STs feel there is not enough cause to allow it.

RESTRICTED BACKGROUNDS:

Hunters with Law Enforcement, Federal Agent or Military Employment (or anything related that might want an IC Background Check).

"No no NO NO!! What are you doing?! What did I say? Did I say there's a petting zoo in the basement? NO, there are ghosts in the basement, Arthur!"  

- Dennis Rafkin, "Thir13en Ghosts"

 

MAKING A G:tS-E CHARACTER:

[1.0 version. 2.0 is UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Using the Template that you can download HERE:

1. Name: Put the name of your character. Make sure it is not on the Blocked Names List.

2. Player: Put your name (and preferably also your email address).

3. Chronicle: Put "Washington DC By Night." (or DC By Night or 11th Hour)

4. Concept: This is open-ended, but you can see examples on pg. 34 of WW55002.

Concepts are usually a 1-3 word root-level label for who your character is at the core as a person (not in a supernatural sense), usually succinctly matching their personality and their function.

Examples might be: Ambitious Journalist, Angry Young Man, Drifter, Intellectual, Lost Waif, Party Animal, Politician, Misguided Prophet, Radical Politician, Socialite. These are stereotypes, and needn't be literal; details would be covered in your background.  

Example Concepts (1.0 version but still helpful):

http://www.virtualsolarsystem.com/venus/ladynightspirit/Concept.htm

8. Geist stuff TBA

9. Geist stuff TBA

10. ATTRIBUTES

**NB: For Attributes, Skills and Merits, there is no longer a 3 pt. max cap for stats in the "initial stage" (since there is no freebies stage in 2.0).

However, if you buy 5 dots of anything in Attributes, Skills or Merits at Creation, the 5th Dot costs 2 points, not 1. (See left side pg. 34, WW55002 for more details.)

Attributes are broken down into Mental, Physical and Social, but also across the other way, into Power, Finesse and Resistance. (See pg. 47, WW55002 for details.)

Starting dots for Attributes are 5/4/3.

11. SKILLS (Mental/Physical/Social): You will have 11/7/4 starting dots (+3 Specialties).

(See pg. 53, WW55002 for more info.) Mental skills you don't have dots in will cost -3 to your dice pool for a roll using that stat. Physical & Social are -1 for unskilled.

• Mental Skills: Academics, Computer, Crafts, Investigation, Medicine, Occult, Politics & Science.

• Physical Skills: Athletics, Brawl, Drive, Firearms, Larceny, Stealth, Survival & Weaponry.

• Social Skills: Animal Ken, Empathy, Expression, Intimidation, Persuasion, Socialize, Streetwise & Subterfuge.

12. MERITS (7 starting points) -- See pg. 34 (list) and pg. 108 (explanations) in WW55002

13. FLAWS

In WOD 2.0, flaws do not actually cost points, and are included more for optional character balance.

You DO get extra experience (*as the ST subjectively deems earned) for playing your flaws well in RP.

WHO APPROVES YOUR SHEET /WHO IS PRIMARY GEIST ST?:  TBA

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"Morals - all correct moral rules - derive from the instinct to survive; moral behavior is survival above the individual level - as in the father dying to save his children."

 

"Man is what he is, a wild animal with the will to survive [...] Unless one accepts that, anything one says about morals, war, politics - you name it - is nonsense. Correct morals arise from knowing what Man is - not what do-gooders and well-meaning Aunt Nellies would want him to be."

 

 -- Major Reid, Moral Philosopher, 7000 A.D.
Robert A. Heinlein's "Starship Troopers", 1959

GEIST SOURCEBOOKS IN USE:

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"Nature abhors a hero. For one thing, he violates the law of conservation of energy. For another, how can it be the survival of the fittest when the fittest keeps putting himself in situations where he is most likely to be creamed?"

-- Solomon Short

**NOTE: A PC may not assume to know the "aura" or reading of a Hunter until they have earned this knowledge IC, via RP, buying Hunter Lore, or info from an approved background. Otherwise, they may see the reading as stated, but it has no meaning to them.

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"Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind, it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate -- and quickly."

 -- from "The Notebooks of Lazarus Long" by Robert Heinlein

GEIST THEMED MEDIA:

BOOKS: "The Watchmen" by Alan Moore (DC Comics), "Dracula" by Bram Stoker [Van Helsing], "It" by Stephen King, The "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" Series by Laurell K. Hamilton, Hellsing (Manga), Swan Song by Robert McCammon

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LINKS TO GEIST RELATED WEB SITES:

Geist: The Sin-Eaters White Wolf Wiki: http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Geist:_The_Sin-Eaters 

Gnome Stew's Geist Review: http://www.gnomestew.com/specific-rpgs/geist-the-sin-eaters-preview-running-geist-which-is-not-wraith 

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All Gaming Sourcebooks & Materials for this campaign are © 2005-2010 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.