The Seekers: A Paranormal Mystery: Interest and Signups

I looked under chairs. I looked under tables. I tried to find the key to fifty million fables.

The time is the present. The place is a world that, on the surface, looks a lot like our own. In this world, however, there are countless hidden secrets.

About one month before our story starts, a wealthy land developer by the name of Jason Williams was visiting a small town in Arizona. He was scoping out the land for a new project, which was unfortunately derailed by the events to follow. One night, approximately twenty minutes after midnight, he saw a horde of pale riders on pale horses ride past his window. Although they were swift and great in number, they didn’t make a sound. He watched in silence as they rode off into the distance, although he did have the presence of mind to take a few photographs. However, when he tried to share what he saw the next morning, no one else seemed to have witnessed it. There was no sign of the riders on the ground outside, and his photos showed only blank landscape. The hotel’s security cameras showed nothing. To make matters worse, the story leaked. Williams was ridiculed in the media. His childhood mental health problems, long since overcome, were brought up again.

Williams knew that what he witnessed must have been some sort of a paranormal event, and that the only way to restore his reputation was to prove that such a thing could happen. While it was too late to learn anything about the phantom riders, there were tons of other oddities in the world to investigate. As such, he hired an elite team of investigators to perform this task. This is where you come in.

Player characters will all be “investigators.” This doesn’t mean that they are all professional detectives or anything, but merely that they are very skilled at gathering information. However, all PCs work in the field. Mission Control is handled by an NPC. When you submit your request for a character, please include the following information:

• Name: This should be fairly self-explanatory.
• Age: I would prefer to keep ages at least somewhat realistic. Characters should be at least “adults.” They do not need to be old enough to have reasonably gained a reputation as a skilled investigator. Jason Williams has an unusual way of finding the best.
• Appearance: What does your character look like? Let's keep things fairly realistic here.
• Personality: These are people who were chosen to work as a team, so I’d prefer to avoid anyone outright antagonistic. However, it would still be nice to get a variety of personalities. In particular, it would be nice to have at least one token skeptic. Williams knows full well that if you put a bunch of paranormal enthusiasts in a room, they start calling every funny sound a ghost. He wants to avoid that particular pitfall.
• Backstory: I would prefer that each backstory provides a plausible reason as to why the character is a skilled investigator. However, not every character needs to have the experience under their belt that proves they’re the best. As noted above, Williams has an unusual method of finding the best.
• Skills and Resources: What does your character have available to help him/her with investigations? Mention everything that you think might be helpful, including things like contacts. Keep things reasonable here.
• Powers: Many of the investigators will have minor paranormal abilities of their own. These will all be small things that are impossible to prove (otherwise that would make a major part of the plot far too easy). The first level of “Supernatural Sensitivity” is kind of a freebie ability. It’s expected that anyone with another power will also possess that one. Maximum starting power is either two levels of Supernatural Sensitivity, or one level of Supernatural Sensitivity, and one level of something else, although powers can be improved as the game goes on. A list of possible powers is provided below.
• Other: If there is anything important to your character that doesn’t fit into any of the above, please include it here.

Secrets: Characters may keep secrets from each other. Any aspect of your character that is intended to be kept secret from the other characters should be sent to me by PM. For example, if your character used a cover story to hide their real background, you would list the cover story in the “Background” section of your post, and send me the real background by PM.

Powers:

• Supernatural Sensitivity:
  • 1: Supernatural objects jump out at you. When near a supernatural object, something will “feel odd,” and your attention will often be drawn to the supernatural thing. In addition, you can determine whether or not something is supernatural by focusing on it. However, some things are “masked,” making this ability less effective.
  • 2: You are better able to overcome Masking, and are more easily able to detect things. In addition, by focusing, you can also learn something of the function of a supernatural object.
• Passive Precog: You have an uncontrolled ability to see the future. You sometimes get dreams or visions of plot relevant things. All dreams or visions will be communicated by PM.
• Active Precog: Weaker than Passive Precog, but more controlled: You can occasionally ask a question that is either yes/no, or has a small pool of possible answers. It grows less reliable if you use it too much. The first time you use it in a given “chapter,” it is guaranteed to succeed unless blocked by Masking. Each subsequent time, success rate goes down by 25%. If it fails, you don’t know that it failed, and are instead fed a random answer. You may still get a correct answer even if your precog fails. For example, assume you have used you Active Precog twice already this chapter, and are using it to predict a coin toss. Your precog says heads. If it succeeded, then the coin will certainly come up heads. If it failed, then the coin has a 50% chance of coming up heads. Overall, there is a 75% chance of the coin coming up heads.
• Danger Sense: A more reliable but specific version of Passive Precog. You can almost always detect when something is about to harm you. This can be blocked by Masking.
• Empathy: You can read the emotions of others. This can be active or passive. Either way, you can only read simple emotions to start out, and only if the target is close to you. This can be blocked by Masking.
• Masking: You are more difficult to pick out. Normal people are slightly more likely to overlook you, and you are harder to pick up with most supernatural powers. Masking can be active or passive, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
• Spectral Punch: You can punch ghosts, spirits, and other incorporeal things.
• Other: Create your own power. It must not be stronger than the ones here, and it must be impossible to prove. Just describe it to me and I may or may not approve it.

Additional information: Story arcs are divided into “Books” and “Chapters.” Chapters are arcs, while Books are meta-arcs. One chapter is an individual case or investigation. Books are a bit harder to define. Book One will last until the moment that the existence of the paranormal is revealed to the world. While my current plans only go through Book Two, I can continue this as long as there’s interest.

This is a very story-driven RP. If you are expecting to power-game some crazy combat game, you're probably in the wrong place.

If you have any interest, questions, or characters, go ahead and post them.

Discussion page

The RP itself

edited 6th Mar '13 4:44:13 PM by CompletelyNormalGuy

Oh, you got my interest. I'll get to work on something.

Reasonable age?

...so I can't be a teen girl who punches ghosts?

(cough) I'll think of something.

Interested. Especially since it seems really story-oriented.

Interest.

Oh, man, I'm interested too.

• Name: Anders Andersson
• Age: 25
• Appearance: A slender and serious man with refined features and a sharp, aquiline nose, Anders is slightly shorter than average and hovers on the edge of being underweight. He keeps his brown hair tied into a short ponytail to keep it out of his eyes, and silver-framed glasses rest over his deep-set eyes. He usually wears work boots, jeans, and one of his eternally slightly rumpled button-down shirts.
• Personality: The word that best describes Anders is 'driven'. He's very organized, and likes to see life as the same - any complicated situation, thing or person can be handled by studying, breaking down and solving the composite little problems. When he gets his teeth into something, he doesn't like to be interrupted, but he has no problem working with others as long as they meet his standards. A self-perfectionist, anything going wrong that he "should have" caught can severely impact his mood. Anders does not believe in the supernatural, and he can perform the role of skeptic if you need him to; he's come across a few things that have set off his Supernatural Sensitivity in his time, but with no idea how to go about testing a "hunch", he's learned to ignore the feelings more often than not, and has learned not to mention them to people.
• Backstory: Born in Sweden and raised in the US, Anders attended high school and university in Maine, impressing teachers not so much with his grades, which were high but not spectacular, but with his eye for detail and meticulous, comprehensive note-taking, both for classes and about classmates, faculty and the interactions between the two. Graduating with a degree in history and an intention to study law, he put off his plans when his younger sisters entered college, instead renting a small apartment in the city and taking what work he could find. A job offer from a Mr Williams, while far away, promises to be the sort of steady employment he's been looking for.
• Skills and Resources:
  • Meticulousness: When working on a project, Anders keeps very close track of what's going on and how things are progressing. He keeps his notes and references neatly organized for quick double-checking, both for him and for others he agrees to show them to.
  • Skepticism: Anders doesn't believe in the supernatural, but nor does he hold a fanatical belief against. Rather than jumping to conclusions one way or another, he prefers just to look at the facts, even if the information the team uncovers starts not to fit within his usual definition of 'fact'.
  • Handgun License: Anders owns an old revolver given to him by his grandfather. He doesn't carry it normally.
• Powers:
  • Supernatural Sensitivity, rank 1
  • Passive Precog, rank 1
• Other: N/A

Anders is accepted, but I'd like a little bit more information about him. First of all, you mentioned that he studied history. What geographic location and time period? Second of all, is he particularly athletic? Does he have any hobbies? Finally, how are his people skills? Often times people with that level of perfectionism and attention to detail have trouble dealing with people.

Also, a few rules things that I forgot to mention in the OP (1300 words, and I still manage to miss some things):

• I would prefer to limit meta-gaming.
• Dreams: If characters are ever sleeping during a case (or even occasionally between cases) they may have dreams. These may be plot relevant clues, or they may be red herrings. Characters with Passive Precog are more likely to have plot relevant dreams, although anyone may have one under the right circumstances. Either way, you will learn about any dream by means of a PM.
• PM etiquette: As you may have noticed, a lot of things in this RP are conducted by PM. This represents the fact that, at the time, this information is known only to your character. This information can be revealed to anyone at any time as long as it's done in-character. Revealing this information out of character, unless it's already known to everyone, will be considered meta-gaming.
• A note about Active Precog: Active Precog will also be conducted by PM. Just send me a PM with the Active Precog question, and I will respond. As an added benefit, I will keep track of how many times you have used it each chapter, and I will give you the probability information regarding how reliable the information received via Active Precog is.

I'm interested; already have a character in mind. Just give me a bit to whip him up.

Name: Raymond Reynolds

Age: 34

Appearance: Raymond is a tall, well-built man, 6'1. He has black, slicked-back hair, and is dressed in a completely white tuxedo, together with white gloves, white socks, white shoes, a white tie, and a white fedora. His left eye is brown, but his right eye — or a lack-thereof — is covered by a black eyepatch, the only colored part of his outfit.

Personality: Raymond is... peculiar. More then half the time, he has a sly smile on his face, and his lone eye appears calm and relaxed. He prefers to act suave and 'gentlemanly'. However, he can be distant and abrasive at times despite this outward behavior. He's nearly constantly thinking of what's going on around him; of what he wants to do, and how to use who and what is around him to get it, in whatever way possible. However, these plans he comes up with can be so off-kilter, and occasionally even reckless, that they can put him at odds with those around him, or at least those who don't follow his line of thinking, even if those same plans get results. Thankfully for everyone else, he is willing to tone down his 'behavior' when working in a group, because he recognizes that if he doesn't do so, no-one will want anything to do with him.

Backstory: Raymond Reynolds used to be a detective working at the local precinct down in Chicago. He had an accomplished career, but his superiors still had their doubts. He was quite capable and accomplished, capable of seeing pieces and patterns that others just weren't able to make out. However, he wasn't always good at playing well with others, nor did he care much for having a 'clean record.' However, he still had his job, for the time being. Unfortunately for him, in a series of events that he prefers to keep to himself, he lost his eye, though he gained strange powers as a result; this led to him quitting his job and getting a job as P.I, though again, for reasons he will not disclose easily. Since then, he's gone through quite his share of cases, worked with several interesting individuals, and acquired his share of resources, while trying to properly explore and harness his powers, and in his spare time, attempt to theorize just what it all means. One day, he gets yet another case, concerning a group of pale, ghostly riders...

Skills and Resources: Raymond is a fairly decent shot; not the best, but he gets the job done. However, he prefers using his wits and special abilities to get himself out of tricky situations as opposed to brute force. He always carries a pick in his pockets in case he needs it, along with a fairly decent handgun, and various fake ID's. He has more ID's at his apartment, and he'll switch them out with the ones he has on hand (up to five,) either because the case requires it, or simply on a whim; the only reason he doesn't carry them all is because he has too many. (15, give or take.) He also has his share of resources. He's in an on&off relationship with one Desdemona Valerie, owner of a small bar called 'The Demon's Nest.' It's a particularly useful bar for Raymond, as all sorts stop by; not just to have a drink, but also to share information. Because of this, 'The Demon's Nest' is a great place to go when you need some info, but don't know where else to get it.

He's also good friends with Victor Marcha, owner of a weapons store, though he has a mysterious past of his own. His store in particular deals with weapons of all kinds, from handguns and rifles, to flamethrowers and bazooka's, and even in swords, daggers, and other old weapons.

Finally, he has Vanessa Williams, a sultry middle-aged woman that he used to know when he was on the force. Occasionally, Robert gets involved in cases that concern the police department. If the department actually got involved, the next headline on the Sunday paper would put up some sort of scandal or another concerning the department. Therefore, Vanessa tends to give him as much information and resources that she can provide him when such a case comes up, and in return, he takes care of the case as clandestinely as possible.

Powers: Supernatural Sensitivity, Rank 1. Empathy, Rank 1

edited 2nd Mar '13 11:24:48 AM by kkhohoho

As I said in my PM, I need to see the secret backstory stuff before I decide whether or not to approve your character.

Finally, some things that I either forgot to say before, or wasn't clear enough about (judging by the fact that there have already been mistakes):

• You will not be investigating the ghost riders (who aren't in the sky no matter what Mr Cash says) directly at all. Williams is of the (correct in this case) belief that there really isn't anything more that can be learned from them.
• While Arizona was mentioned in the backstory, Williams is actually based in San Francisco, California. However, the investigations themselves will take you to a variety of places. Even if your contacts seem to be far away from the action at first, you will most likely have the opportunity to use them at some point in the future.
• This is a big one: No character should start the RP having any sort of definitive proof of the supernatural. Finding such proof will be a very important part of the plot, so we can't start with that plot point solved.
• Finally, if your backstory involves prior contact with the supernatural, I may end up asking you to change things. As this is ultimately a mystery RP, there is a ton of backstory beyond what I'm telling you, and I want to avoid any conflicts.

Sounds good! Sorry, I was running on not much sleep when I typed the profile up. Let me run down those points.

Anders majored in Heian-period Japan, up to the start of the shogunate in 1185. He's not particularly athletic at all; he's in pretty terrible shape because of his diet, which is pre-packaged and microwaved when he remembers to eat it at all. In terms of hobbies, he mostly just plays computer games, though he spends a lot of time reading, too (science fiction for the most part). His people skills aren't fantastic; he's polite to people, mostly because arguments are annoying, but he's never been very close with classmates, mostly because he doesn't feel like he has much in common with them. I expect that'll change once things start getting interesting for the Seekers, though.

Interest sparked. We'll make a sheet next weekend for this.

Seems good.

Raymond is accepted.

edited 24th Feb '13 6:58:39 PM by CompletelyNormalGuy

• Name: George Bronson
• Appearance: Slightly chubby, 6 ft tall, brown curly hair, usually found wearing the most in fashionable clothing possible except when he's trying to go unnoticed.
• Personality: George is and always has been a big believer in all things weird and supernatural. He is likely to be sympathetic to the creatures, more likely to call them Nessie than the Loch Ness Monster. He has a varied habit, going from working 24 hours nonstop to getting almost no work done in a few weeks. This usually depends on what information he is given on his task because he needs a leader to tell him what to do next. He would make a terrible leader. He is usually a nice guy, but there are times where he can get moody and will refuse to talk to anyone. When he doesn't have mood swings, he's one of the nicest people you could meet, always ready to crack a joke, especially if it's at himself. He's more of a glass half full kind of guy(if that were scientifically possible) so he isn't much of a Deadpan Snarker.
• Backstory: George used to work at a local newspaper where he was in charge of the supernatural research stories, since no other coworkers saw it as a serious gig, but the readers found it entertaining. This was where George put his cryptozooologist studies to good use providing detailed analyses of eveery creature from Bigfoot to Martians. Unfortunately, George never really found any real supernatural specimens and was eventually fired due to budget cuts. After he tried to get a job at his father's university, he heard about Williams and was interested at the prospect of putting his skills to good use.
• Skills and Resources:
  • Cryptozooology: George has an encyclopedia of almost every supernatural creature related to cryptozoology and even has a few sections memorized. However, some of the more spiritual creatures, such as ghosts and succubi, aren't included.
  • Contacts: George's dad is a biology professor at a local university, so he can call him if he needs help with any scientific data. He can also contact his dad's fellow professors if he needs help with any other subjects.
  • Positivity: George brings enthusiasm to his job caused only by a love of the supernatural.
• Powers: Supernatural Sensitivity, Rank 2.

edited 24th Feb '13 10:55:18 PM by TricksterCal

Barring a few things that are being worked out over PMs, George will most likely be accepted. I guess we have our Agent Mulder.

Also, one more thing. Just a minor thing that doesn't actually impact the character at all, but you don't "hear about" the job that Mr. Williams is offering. He contacts you directly.

Edit: George is accepted.

edited 25th Feb '13 1:27:58 PM by CompletelyNormalGuy

I have an idea of a power, I ripped off from Vento Aureo, though I need confirmation on whether it's a possible Story-Breaker Power or not.

The ability to "playback" events that have passed in enclosed spaces, in his head for five minutes. He can choose a certain time, and place. However, he must be near the place, the area of which he can view the past is only limited to ten square feet, and if he also wants audio, the time limit will be halved.

In its present state, yes, that power is a little bit too strong for the RP in its early stages. The biggest issue is that it is far too easy to confirm this power in a laboratory setting, which is obviously a big no-no given the goals of the player characters. What we could do though is nerf it a ton until it fits the setting, so that you have a power with appropriate power level that has the potential to grow into the power you described as time goes on. The write-up for the power would probably be something along the lines of:

• Read the Past: Events leave a mark on their surroundings, and you have learned to read those marks to an extent. By observing a location, you can learn some of what happened there. Initially you are limited to events that involved strong emotions. The magnitude of the emotion involved determines how long the imprint lasts. For example, a brutal murder can be picked up years, if not decades after the fact, while the imprint from a paper cut will fade away after an hour or so. This power can be blocked by Masking.

Does that work?

That's better than the original power. Give me a day or two to make the form...

Posting interest. I'll try and formulate a full character for when I get home.

@TC: So... Any idea when we're going to start?

edited 27th Feb '13 4:33:05 AM by kkhohoho

• Name: Greg Myers
• Age: 20
• Appearance: A some what feminine looking man, 5'9, light brown skin, black hair, brown eyes, with questionable taste in wardrobe(Skin tight jeans, sleeveless turtle necked shirt, with a picture of a butterfly, magenta cardigan, along with a heart-shaped wrist watch).
• Personality: Greg is a somewhat naive, though somehow at the same time, savvy being, that enjoys watching things in motion. Given the motivation, he will take charge and lead the team, but otherwise, he would much rather help his comrades from the sidelines, with either advice or through his ability, rather than being the first to volunteer to jump in the driver's seat. He tries not to fall into the stereotypes often associated with fashion designers, but his flamboyant mannerisms, and aforementioned taste in wardrobe don't help at all.
• Backstory: From a very young age, he had dreams of becoming a fashion designer; often spending most of his weekend nights keeping to himself, sketching dozens of concept arts and inking his final products (Video games, TV, and the like were done in advance, of course). While he continues to aim for the stars, due to a string of coincidences, back fires, that ultimately led to his bringing down of a mass murderer, he had gained a reputation as a godly detective in several parts, despite having no prior experience with forensics. And though a part of him was somewhat offended by the invitation, sent by Mr.Williams, who is he to pass up a chance at getting some cash?
• Skills and Resources:
  • Crowbar efficiency: For reasons unknown, He is strangely proficient with a crowbar at hand, though he rarely brings it up. Even stranger is that he is absolute shit at items similar in practice, such as pipes, and baseball bats.
  • Makeup: Give him a couple of minutes, and a make-up kit, and he could make you look like a "brand new you!".
• Powers: Read the Past: Level 1
• Other: N/A

edited 13th Mar '13 4:30:12 AM by eternalNoob

Sounds good. Greg is accepted.

I'm going to wait a bit longer. There are only four characters so far, and there are a number of people who have expressed interest but haven't made a character yet. While the setup will allow for new characters to be added after the games starts with very little trouble, I still don't want to start with less than five.

Ah, I'd like to withdraw my prospective joining... ness. I'm a bit swamped with college right now, and while I love the concept, I don't think I'm mentally up for creating a character fitting to the setting. I'll probably still follow along, but I won't be joining anytime soon. Sorry.

It seems to me that you are sorely lacking a token female. I don't do well with brevity, though, so this is a bit of a wall, I guess.

Name: Ruthie Goldstein

Age: 22

Appearance: Ruthie has grey eyes, glasses, a strong nose and a gap between her front teeth that she insists isn't that big. She wears her dark, curly hair in a 20ies inspired pin-up style (on good days) or in a bun fixed in place with whatever offered itself to the purpose as she raced out the door five minutes too late (on bad days). She usually dresses in coarse, battered ankle-boots, button-down shirts, waistcoat/jersey and skinny ties of various intense shades, which she claims to be a 'statement'. Her dark eye make-up has an unfortunate tendency to run. At 5'5'', she is athletically built

Personality: Ruthie is smart and very focused...unfortunately, almost always on the wrong thing. When she ought to be concentrating on a homework assignment on rationalism, she somehow winds up being most intrigued with genetic engineering for a week or so, when she ought to be meeting a friend, she might have forgotten all about it over this fascinating book she's reading and when you might expect her to sit an exam, she might be on a road-trip to New York. Somehow, time has developed a nasty habit of getting away from her. Her chronic mismanagement of it usually has her all over the place and has given her a reputation for being flighty and irresponsible.\\ She has a habit of taking refuge in sesquipedalian loquaciousness, references to foreign media and random trivia whenever she's nervous. Combined with her reserved body-language, she often appears aloof, or even arrogant.\\ She can talk to random strangers with little problems, but feels awkward with closer acquaintances and never quite knows what to do with friends – or when she's supposed to consider a person a friend, in the first place. She talks a lot when it doesn't matter, but she might not be confident enough to be very vocal about her thoughts when it does.
Ruthie doesn't believe in the supernatural, per se, though neither does she categorically deny its existence – she approaches both God and any other supernatural phenomena with an agnostic mindset.

Backstory: Ruthie was born to an English opera singer following an affair with a Jewish-American entrepreneur during her engagement with an American opera house. She spent the first four years of her life in London, where her mother met and eventually married a visiting Russian musician. In the following years, Ruthie called Moscow, Vienna, Milan, Dresden, Munich, and Berlin her home at various points in time. From an early age, Ruthie's mother tried to train her in the performing arts, but unfortunately, Ruthie had neither talent nor inclination for learning them and eventually she gave up.
With her father, Ruthie had a mostly e-mail and holiday relationship until she was sixteen, at which point her mother decided that it was time they got to know each other better and sent her to live with him while she accepted a contract in Australia. This decision led to Ruthie spending three years in Genoa, Italy, where her father was currently 'expanding onto the European market'.
Upon her graduation, Ruthie travelled Europe for another year and then went on to a brief stint of trying to study 'something decent' like maths, before switching to the 'soft subjects' of cultural anthropology and political science. At that point, her father was involved in an affair of political, economical and criminal dimensions which he might or might not have actually participated in – nobody ever knows who's done what in Italian politics, after all, and nobody ever got to ask Mr. Goldstein, since he disappeared the day after the scandal broke. Neither the Carabinieri nor the American embassy seemed particularly keen on doing anything to figure out what had happened, so Ruthie made a couple of tentative attempts at figuring it out for herself. She never found out where to or how Mr. Goldstein had vanished...but she did manage to raise some Italian hackles. Her decision to accept her paternal grandparent's invitation to come live with them in California might have been influenced by that. Thus she wound up living in the US for the first time since she was a toddler.
Currently, she is employing the trust fund that her father set up for her when she was born to set a new record in ditching classes at SFSU and set out on road trips to whichever destination interests her at the time, documenting the places she visits, the people she meets and the stories she collects on her Vlog.

Skills and Resources: Having been raised outside the US and dragged from one place to the other her entire childhood, Ruthie has a mindset that allows her to approach things from very different angles and think out of the box. During her travels and her studies of cultural anthropology, she developed an interest in oral narratives and folklore and she enjoys hearing about urban legends and documenting them in her Vlog. Since she likes to couch-surf during her road-trips, she has amassed a fair amount of casual acquaintances all over the place. She also likes to research...though whether she'll wind up researching what you told her to research is another story.
Bred in Europe, she finds the idea of civilians carrying guns absurd and a whole bit very discomforting and probably wouldn't know where to put the bullets...on the other hand, she holds a brown belt in Judo and a green belt in Karate.

Powers: Supernatural Sensitivity L1, Spectral Punch


(Which is to say...I did understand that correctly, Supernatural Sensitivity L1 for everyone and then one more? Since everyone seems to be treating it that way?)

edited 2nd Mar '13 7:45:03 AM by montmorencey