Ivar and the Titan-Spawn Mafia, part 2

Continuing from where part 1 left off

Ivar's had a bad couple of weeks. As a result, he's been brooding and planning the PCs downfall.

He showed up as reinforcements at the end of their fight at the Hiram M. Chittendam Government Locks and Fish Ladder. The PCs escaped, and even managed to provoke a situation where Ivar went all medieval on the Merrow / Deep Ones failed to catch them.

It was getting to be too much for Ivar. He knew where one of the PCs lives (Omar Amin), but figured he couldn't take him alone.

Later a PC (Ashilda Helsdottir) got caught in a conversation with Hel, Loki, and Caponeson. This lead to a more solid truce with Caponeson.

I started the latest session with a cut scene. Asked each player to name a mythological creature they'd like to see show up in the game. In the scene, Ivar and those creatures were sitting around the back room at the seafood house, downing giant-sized shots, playing poker and BS-ing. Ivar starts bragging about how he's about to ruin the day of those Scion so-and-so's, when a Titanspawn says "But Caponeson made a truce with them. In fact, Helsdottir is gonna pilot one of the undead longboats at Ragnarok." Ivar coughs up ice-cubes.

Cut to Omar, stuck in a traffic jam a few blocks away from home. Suddenly a Centaurcycle being ridden by a Giant whizzes by on the sidewalk at 200 mph. Omar calls home to Cleopatra. "Honey, get out of the building. Take the fire escape, and make sure know one sees you. I'll-" BOOM! The building collapses.

Ivar was just a little too late to stop the bomb that interrupts the truce. He escapes in the debris cloud. Cleopatra jumps out the window and grabs the nearby crane, spending a Legendary Deed to do so. (Thereby finally telling the PCs that even if she isn't the real Cleopatra, she's at least special and probably supernatural.)

Mr. Caponeson's Assignment

I just posted this setting synopsis to the White Wolf Scion Wiki. I figure my players know a lot more about the setting and the badguys at this point, so it's safe to stick this stuff out there.

Seattle: Mr. Caponeson's Assignment
The city of Seattle, situated on the shores of Puget Sound, is well known for it's rain. More precisely, it's known for ever-present drizzle, the weak sort of half-committed moisture that obscures your glasses, promotes the growth of ivy, and annoys fire giants to no end. So why did an important Muspelhiemer like Mr. Caponeson set up his mafia ring in this of all places?

Could it be there's something under all that water that makes it worth a Fire Jotun spending time surrounded by all this water? Rumors say there's something beneath the city and the sound, something that Caponeson wants or needs. Some say it's an Ogdoad, others claim it's Dagon, or a part of Tethys. None would have particularly good repercussions for the region.


Locations

Free Ride Zone
The Free Ride Zone is squarely titan-spawn territory. Giants patrol the piers. Minotaurs control the market stalls. Titan-blooded witches slick the palms down in city hall. Aquatic Titanspawn are reared in the Aquarium. Creepy crawlies are raised at the Seattle Bug Safari.

The Free Ride Zone an artificially hilly place, built up by Dwarves after the city burned down a hundred years ago. Be prepared to make some Stamina+Fortitude rolls if you insist on walking everywhere. Luckily, the busses are free.

The Market
Located in the heart of the down-town Free Ride Zone, Pike's Market (just called The Market by native Seattlites) is firmly in the palm of Mr Caponeson, but it hasn't always been that way. In previous generations, Scions such as Guissepe "Joe" Desimone and Victor Stienbruek championed and defended the Market. But now they are gone, and Caponeson remains.

The Market itself is a maze. It changes daily. Every morning, the daily stalls are assigned to local farmers and artisans who sell their wares. Despite what may be said about the intention of this being to help tourism and enable Seattlites to "meet the producers", the truth is that this randomness is part of the ritual that preserves the Market's unique magic. This is a place where stores move, floors slant, and signs read "Door locked. To enter this business, please use the second stairway to the right."

The further down you go, the less hinged to reality the Market is. Walls shift behind you, and the posted maps are confusing inaccurate. Finding a store you've been to before takes a roll of Wits + Survival vs a difficulty equal to how many floors down the store is. How many stories are there? That depends on how you count, whether you consider the Sanitary Market and Post Alley shops to be part of the complex, and whether or not you know about the invisible elevator buttons.

Deep beneath the Market is a mine, vital to Caponeson's operation. Dwarves work it, and at the bottom of the shaft is a churning whirlpool with a flaming iceberg at it's center. Ole Djaedeluis, the Dwarf Foreman, says it's an Ogdoad they're digging for.

In addition to dwarven miners, other encounters at The Market include giants, minotaurs, ghosts, pixies, and flying frozen fish.

Beyond the artisan booths, grocers stalls, and gift stores, the Market also features a comic shop, art galleries, a brew pub, a day care center, music stores, import shops, metaphysical bookstores, a tibetan center, the very first Starbucks ever built. (Though it's worth noting Starbucks is the only major chain allowed in the district. They were grandfathered in.) etc. Pretty much anything you want to find can be found in this place, and that's just the touristy top floors. The further down you proceed, the stranger the shops get. Shops unique to this campaign include Cyclopean Cutlery, Gettysburg Civil War Souvenirs and Submarine Sandwiches, The Shuttered Window (selling only things by and about Lovecraft), and even an Egypto-Romano Slave Auction.

See also this post for further details about The Market in both reality and imagination.

Underground Tours
In Pioneer Square (and therefore within Caponeson's free ride zone) there's a bar that sponsors guided tours of the city's underground. Seattle used to be situated directly on the tidal flat, and massive sinkholes would open at high tide. After the city burnt down, everything was regraded to get above Puget Sound. The streets were raised artificially, and the lower floors of buildings dissapeared beneath the pavement. The space below is dirty, and exciting. The tours are fun. Just don't wander off from the group to where the Undead lurk. An episode of that ghost hunting show was filmed here.

The Jotunheim Bonfire
Mr Caponeson's nightclub and headquarters. Located within the free ride zone. This nightclub is known for it's extremely high ceilings, and the ever-burning bonfire between the bar and the dancefloor.
(The other locations are based on fact, this is the only one you couldn't actually visit in the real world).

Seattle Center and the Space Needle
A famous landmark of Seattle, the Space Needle and the grounds around it were once home to the world's fair. Nestled onto the land at it's feet are conference centers, auditoriums, sculptures, a nymph-controlled fountain, the Experience Music Project, Pacific Science Center, the Sci Fi Museum and the Seattle Monorail. Many festivals and outdoor movies happen here in the summer.

The Space Needle itself is 60 stories tall. It takes 43 ticks to ride the elevator to the observation deck, and the ticket costs about $15. Falling from that height would inflict 25 levels of damage. It's a heck of a place to stage a fight scene.

The flying-saucer shape of the space needle might have relevance. In '87 the Space Needle moved 300 feet southwest. It would take Epic Strength 9 to lift the needle, regardless of whether you first break it free of it's 6,000 ton foundation. Perhaps the same magic that keeps The Market in flux also moved the Needle?

The roof of the Needle has a nest - it's home to Harpies, a Benu, or a critter called a Wheedle, depending on who you ask. A powerful beacon is sometimes lit atop the needle, this is known as the Legacy Light.

Hiram M. Chittendam Locks and Fish Ladder
The government locks and fish ladder are a holy place to a family that relocated here from Innsmouth, MA, back in the 20's. The fancy brushed steel sculpture of tentacles just south of the fish ladder serves as their altar.



Major NPCs

Mr. Caponeson
A powerful Muspel Jotun, with an extensive mafia-esque network of business interests and Titanspawn. He rides in a Relic Limo, larger inside than out. It is rumored that his position (in the Titan's plans) is to Utgard-Loki's in the way The Director of the CIA is to the President.

He is the prime mover of Seattle, his control over local landmarks such as The Market, The Jotunheim Bonfire, and the Space Needle is easy for any Scion to ferret out. Less well known is his influence at most multinational corporations with local offices, such as Microsoft, Starbucks, and Hasbro (which he invested in so that a more sympathetic portrayal of Giants would show up in 4th Edition).

Caponeson knows he's in the spotlight, and it's only a matter of time before the Gods start to take an interest in his affairs. As such, his first action towards any interfering Scions will be to extend to them an olive branch. This is doubly true if they are Scions of Hel or Loki.

Caponeson is intended to be a challenge worth of high-Legend characters. A starting PC who tries to take him on personally likely won't live to regret it.

Maia Zipacna-Caponeson
She has no idea her husband is having an affair with her best friend.

Ivar
A frost giant, and lieutenant of Mr Caponeson, and also the owner of a series of fine seafood restaurants. Thick russian accent. Has a temper, and ain't afraid to fight dirty. Kills anyone who crosses him. Understands the benefits of modern technology, and isn't afraid to hire arsonists or bombers. Hosts high-stakes poker games in the back room of his Restaurant on the pier.

Joe Iron
A hill giant enforcer on Caponeson's payroll. Does a lot of the dirty work. Intended to be the first member of Caponeson's ring to fall to the PCs.

Barbarella Miller
Goth musician, and low-legend Scion of Tlazlteotl. Addicted to the blood of Joe Iron, though she could be "rescued from the dark side" by creative PCs and rendered into a sidekick.

Puck'o'Pike
Puck is a mischevious little scamp. He's a fey trickster who lives within The Market, picking pockets of mortals and Giants alike. He lives life on the edge, relying upon his various mental and social knacks to get himself off the hook repeatedly.

Ole Djaedeluis
Dwarven architect and foreman of the mine beneath The Market. He works for the Giants due to a sworn oath to serve the current protector and master of The Market. Too bad that's Caponeson right now.

Lena Djaedeluis
Cute little poodle-skirt wearing dwarven lass. Wife of Ole. She'll contact the PCs in an effort to free her husband from his servitude to Caponeson.

Narcissa Jones
Medusa. Manager of the Downtown Seattle Westin. Reports to the giants whenever someone books the lavish Presidential Suite. Her name tag reads "Hello! My name is 'Cissa." Her Relic keycard opens every hotel room door in Washington state.


PCs created for this campaign

Ashilda Helsdottir
PC Daughter of Hel. CIA wetworks operative. Divorced. Mother of little Gwen Inga Woodward. Birthrights include a cursed dagger, an enchanted horse, and Einherjar.

Omar Amin
PC bounty hunter and contract killer, Scion of Horus. Birthrights include a fancy magic business suit (armored, self-cleaning, and color-changing) and purview-granting cufflinks.

Federal Prosecutor Alyssa Cunningham
PC daughter of Nemesis, appointed to her position after her rival had angered Alberto Gonzales. Birthrights include a magic wristwatch and a belt that transforms into a whip. Never goes anywhere without her iPhone.

Defying your own Setting

The Scion RPG has a Knack called Regeneration. Basically, this means that for one sessions worth of XP, nearly any supernatural being can buy a power that fully restores a missing body part. They can activate this power for 1 temporary Legend point. A starting character can have 16 legend points, and easily restore 3 to 12 of them in a typical session. A God has at least 81 legend points, base.

Tyr's Hand
Odin's Eye
Hephaestus's Legs
Horus's Eye
Osiris's Schlong

Does anyone else see a conflict here?

Interpretatio Graeca

Just stumbled across this wiki page that has some interesting gaming applications. It discusses Interpretatio Graeca and Interpretatio Romana, two specific examples of Syncretism.

Most directly applicable to gaming is this chart that shows the gods held in common by ancient Greeks, Romans, and Etruscans. It's useful for Scion, GURPS Imperial Rome, Fulminata, etc.

Bemoaning the Loss of Lamarck

Sadly, I cannot seem to find any surviving internet mirrors of my old Lamarckian Shapeshifting system for Amber, and I don't seem to have it as a file on this computer. It may be lost forever.

Bounded in a nutshell, the system was roughly that each lineage or house of chaos had developed it's own unique version of shapeshifting. I think they were dirt cheap, like 5 or 15 points. They gave you access to forms related to the themes of your House. Bullheaded desire (and a few points) could broaden this for you and future generations.

So if you were from a House of trackers and investigators, you'd have forms based on bloodhounds and stealthy ambush predators. Possibly extra sensory organs.

A sorcerous house might draw from familiars and ephemeral pixie forms, perhaps with a tendency to multi-limbed and large-brained bodies.

Each House's version of shapeshifting resulted in a unique pool of forms to be taken, along with the ocassional minor power, if memory serves correctly. But you couldn't mimic a specific individual, couldn't knit-closed wounds, and only the House of Barimen could take a wholly human form.

For that campaign, we (for my co-GM also crafted several houses, and the players filled in some holes) worked up a complex of web of 20+ houses, each with their own specialties. A nice benefit was all the flavor it gave to the courts of chaos.

This was a limited-Logrus universe, but would have worked even better in a logrusless setting.

Oh, yeah, and it's got vikings!

A friend's post elsewhere reminded me of something I accidentally left off my list of things I liked about the Rune RPG.

• Vikings. By Odin's eye, I can't believe I overlooked them.

They're pretty damn cool. Both in the cinematic action-packed mead-swilling sense, and because of the context of some very neat cultural elements. Rune focuses more on the action and mayhem, of course, then on anything I could really refer to as my heritage.

I can still voice my long hidden love of the subject matter. Thor and Leif Erikson have always had a place in my heart, though I'm sure they'd be happier with that fact if I was the kind of guy who got plastered and sang their glories.

Ivar and the Titan-Spawn Mafia, part 1

My Scion campaign is set in Seattle. All the crime in the city is controlled by a mafioso named Mr Caponeson. He's a Muspel Giant, way bigger than anything my PCs could hope to deal with right now. But he has lieutenants.

In one session, the PCs were keepin' me on my toes, and I had to improvise. Caponeson was in his Relic Limo, and wouldn't deign to address the PCs directly. So I had to improvise a lieutenant who could act as intermediary. I made up a Russian Giant named Ivar.

There's a chain of seafood restaurants in Seattle named Ivar's. The reference wasn't intentional, but my players hit on it instantly. Since the Caponeson syndicate runs so much of Seattle's downtown distract, I couldn't really say "no". If the Giant didn't start the business, he'd no doubt claimed it as his own.

In my improvisations, I give him a thick Russian accent and a lot of bravado. He's mouthin' off, and my PCs know that his nearby Boss could dust them all. But Sarah steps up to the plate anyway. She identifies her character as Ashilda Helsdottir, and implies Caponeson is in danger of estranging a powerful ally (her mother, the Goddess Hel) if he lets Ivar keep giving her lip. She makes a killer Manipulation + Presence roll to back it up.

So, Caponeson makes Ivar apologize. He says that Ashilda can't have Ivar's life, but she can have a reasonable measure of his blood, taken in the method (and from the body part) of her choosing. She hands Ivar her Relic knife and demands one of his fingers. Since it'd never come up in-game before, I think Sarah had actually forgotten that her dagger was cursed to greatly wound anyone who used it (other than herself). I applaud. Sarah gets one of those "oh yeah" looks as I narrate what follows.

Ivar grabs the knife quickly, thinking he'll just drop some Legend to Self-heal and show her it didn't hurt him. He attempts to cut his finger, but the knife slips and slices his hand. Then he drops it, impaling his foot. He tries to pick it up, and bumbles further. He loses the tip of his nose in the process. Now ashen white, he finally succeeds in brutally hacking his finger off. Shaking, he hands her the cursed knife and a good deal of his flesh.

This makes Ivar look like a fool in front of his boss and half a dozen coworkers. Caponeson makes him walk home. Voila! Instant recurring villain! He's got a back story, a business portfolio, and a reason to hate PCs from here on out.

Syncretic Gaming

The Scion RPG, with it's sexapantheonic foundation (Greek, Norse, Voodoo, Japanese, Egyptian, Aztec) and tertiary embracing of urban legend and modern society as well as other myths and pantheons, is a robust example of Syncretism. That's my word for the day.

While the word is new to me, the concept isn't. I've often explored such a philosophy in my gaming, blending genres and picking tools from settings and systems (and movies) I enjoyed.

In short, I like to mix my metaphors.

For example, I once resolved an Amber DRPG campaign with climactic build to an apocalyptic endgame that drew equally from Jesus Christ Superstar and Aliens. (And Zelazny's Amber, of course)

And then there's the hatbox, which deserves it's own post some other time.

Chaotic vs Orderly Shapeshifting

This was one of the aforementioned old Amber pages that has long since vanished from the net...

"Chaotic Shapeshifting
Vs.
Orderly Shapeshifting
A study in Static Form, Dynamic Form and the nature of True Shapeshifting

It seems odd to me that a place so random and crazy that it’s commonly known as the Courts Of Chaos should be the part of the universe where the average folks have the most control over their physiology and anatomy. Shapeshifting as it exists in the rulebooks is a fluid, versatile power all about mastering and controlling the complex chemical reactions and physical structure of your body. So isn’t it a little odd that creatures of Chaos have this highly disciplined skill?
And when you think about it, what kind of shapeshifting do we see in the books? In the first five novels (Corwin’s Saga) there really is precious little shapeshifting done. Let’s count it out:

1. Dara shapeshifts uncontrollably while walking the Pattern.
2. Dworkin, embodiment of the Pattern, intentionally shapeshifts to look like Corwin.
3. Dworkin, as a result of the cyclical nature of his wounds (from the black spots on the pattern) loses control and shapeshifts in to something scary just as Corwin is trumping away.
4. Oberon, one of the greatest initiates of Pattern and order, shapeshifts into Ganelon.
5. Oberon, standing near the Primal Pattern, creates a bird from Corwin’s blood.

Only five major instances, barely one per book. Let's examine them for trends. What’s present in each of those examples? The Pattern. And what's missing that you might expect to find? Lords of Chaos with no Amber blood. Kinda makes me wonder...

Sure, Dara does say that her shapeshifting is a natural talent, a part of her birthright as a Lady of Chaos. But what’s funny is, we never see the various Chaosites in the first 5 books make full use of their shapeshifting. All the tricks that players use in the game - knitting closed wounds, growing wings to escape, taking better forms for combat - none of that stuff is done by Chaos Lords in Corwin’s Saga, and boy does it cost them.

Maybe this means that Chaosites don’t have control of their shapeshifting. After all, what could be more Chaotic? So here’s an alternate system for shapeshifters:

Static Form: 0 points:
This is the default for natives of Amber and most of shadow. Just like you and me in real life, a character with Static Form can’t change what they are shaped like.

Dynamic Form: 0 points:
This is the default for Lords and Ladies of Chaos, the creatures who serve them, and such beasts out of shadow as Werewolves. Any such character will have a large slate of forms they can assume, but little to no control over which shape they are in at any given moment. One you make a character with Dynamic Form, describe roughly a dozen different shapes you want them to be capable of, along with the triggers that send them into that shape. Your GM will have ultimate approval of the shapes and triggers, but here’s a few possibilities…
Emotional Triggers: You could have a form you take when you become angry, and another when you are sad, frightened, proud, aroused, or laughing.
Celestial Triggers: You change with the phases of the moon, the color of the sky, the arrangement of the stars or your proximity to Amber or to the Logrus.
Chemical Triggers: Your forms are determined by your diet, and/or what drugs you imbibe. Watch out for allergic reactions.
Magical Triggers: It’s possible that spells could be created to transform you into a shape of your choice, or hold you in that form once you’ve achieved it. Alternately, perhaps you could have specific Power Words whose purpose is to invoke specific shapes. Check with your GM to get their ruling on the limits of magic to affect shapeshifters.

So which of these [trigger] methods is supported by Corwin’s saga? We really don’t have enough information. Dara’s walk on the pattern could be an example of emotional triggers being struck by the memories that a Pattern walk brings to the surface, but on the other hand, Dara runs a wide range of emotions in the books without ever losing her shape.
I’d figure probably a complex mix of different triggers is involved, more than the casual observer is likely to be able to catalog or decipher. GM's and players will have to work out amongst themselves what sorts of triggers are active in their game, and how complex they want it to be.
In any event, this is a possible explanation of shapeshifting as Corwin describes it: when a Lord of Chaos chooses a battle it’s usually at the time and place that brings out their best form. If not, then they pay dearly for the mistake, like the cats in Guns of Avalon or Merlin’s friend on the skinless horse in Sign of the Unicorn.

Dynamic Form probably doesn’t confer any regeneration on its own since the shifting is so uncontrolled. However, a kind GM might let you give certain artifact powers and qualities to some of your shapes for free, provided you counter-balance them with drawbacks or only put them on forms that are rare for you to enter. Work it out with your GM.

True (Orderly) Shapeshifting: 35 points.
This is the power that Dworkin and Oberon use, and behaves just like in the rulebooks. The pre-requisite for this power is at least 50 points of Pattern. Once you have mastery over primal order, you may learn to develop mastery over your own body. Advanced Orderly Shapeshifting is possible too, with the cost and abilities listed in the rulebooks.

Dynamic Form and the Logrus:
Under this system, there’s no reason why the Logrus even has to exist, especially if you let shapes incorporate powers. Should you choose to keep the Logrus in your campaign, please bear in mind that invoking the Logrus is sure to trigger a flurry of Dynamic shapeshifting in the user.

All text © 2000 by Rolfe Bergstrom, with inspiration drawn from Roger Zelazny, Eric Wujcik, and others - thanks, Collin!"

My old Amber site

Long ago I had an site on GeoCities, where I posted a ton of Amber material. Even when I stopped maintaining that account, they were quoted and referenced all over the place. Just over a year ago, you could type in "Amber Bergstrom" or "Bergstrom Method" into google, and the top 5 or 6 pages listed would be people's mirrors of my old site. I remember the timeframe I last tried it because I used it in my "about me" essay for the Great Designer Search.

MaBarry's links still lists my Lamarckian Shapeshifting, Orderly Shapeshifting, Logrusless Chaos / Entropy, etc pages, but it's all deadlinks and 404 errors. The mirrors are all gone, too. Strange that everything hung around for 5 to 8 years without my support, then (apparently) vanished all at once.

I guess I'll have dredge up my old files and repost them here.