Work out character concepts/history here. If you have something you absolutely must keep close to your chest, PM me, but generally keep everything in the open.

Crossing histories would be good, and reasonable. Most of you are going to be either survivors of the original Age of Inspiration, or you will be the descendants of such survivors. Many of you have probably met before.

I'll be throwing up a game thumbnail and some notes on the setting in a little while, but I'm putting this up now so that you can start getting your ideas out there. I tend to do character-driven plots, so what you write right now might guide what I end up doing with that thumbnail, etc.

What's been said before:

Also:

Actually, if there's anything in particular you want to see in the setting, feel free to talk about that too. I know what I want to do with Dr. Zorbo, and I have some ideas about the Aeon Society in general, but other than that, I'm still quite fluid.

Well since I don't plan on taking any sort of Cipher here's the dirt on ... Professor Raphael Gregory Bradford ScD, PhD, MD

Current and Past Positions:
2007-current - Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Tenured Professor of Engineering and Chemistry
2004-current - Advanced Technology Inc.; Founder, CEO, and Senior Research Fellow

Education:
2004 - Doctorate of Science in Bio-Chemistry; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2003 - Doctorate of Science in Chemical Engineering; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2002 - MD Internal Medicine; Harvard Medical School
2000 - Masters of Science in Advanced Materials and Chemical Synthesis; California Institute of Technology
1999 - Bachelors of Science in Mechanical and Chemical Engineering; California Institute of Technology

*****

Background:
The Great-Grandson of the famous adventurer Jameson Bradford and the renowned scientist Katherine Schafer; Raphael comes from a lineage of extraordinary adventurers and scientists. He completed dual Bachelors Degrees in Mechanical and Chemical Engineering at the age of 20 and quickly achieved master and doctorate level degrees in the next few years.

After getting his degrees he founded the research think tank, Advanced Technology Inc. He has worked as their senior research fellow developing cutting and bleeding edge technology and maintaining a astonishing number of patents.

Five years ago he was offered a Tenured Professorship at his alma mater of MIT which he accepted. He has since hired some of MIT's best and brightest into his company building it into a world powerhouse of engineering and technology advancement.

Now 31 Raphael is looking for more, some adventure to spice his life up. He recalls the stories which his great-grandfather entertained him with as a child and wishes that he too could have those kinds of adventures.

At the very least Raphael possesses among the keenest minds on the planet with ability mastery in Science, Medicine, and Engineering. He maintains a great wealth both inherited and self made and is well know within his fields as an unparalleled expert.

Raphael is going to have minimal knacks, possibly none. Instead he will have multiple Background Enhancements representing his massive wealth, reuptation as a scientist, and his holdings and control of A.T.I. one of the (if not the) most respected Think Tanks, and technology development firms in the world.

Raphael's mental and social attributes are the most advanced, combined with a great aptitude for picking up skills Raphael has the talent and skill to think or talk his way into or out of whatever situations he ends up in. Push comes to shove a personal bodygaurd is often at his side to keep him out of any trouble he cannot get himself out of.

I've got no Cipher planned for Regan either, so here are the basics.

Regan McLachlan is one of the finest academic minds in the world (Academics Mastery) when it comes to the metaphysical subjects of philosophy and religion. Yet paradoxically, she is almost unknown amongst her colleagues in her chosen fields of study, gaining more of a reputation as a cloud-chaser than a serious scholar. The fact that she is blindingly intelligent, with perception and wits almost the equal of her thought processes, does not endear her to the more staid professors and doctors who remain in more sedentary positions. Toss in a caustic sense of humour, the tendency to treat many a less intelligent person like an idiot and her inability to stop trotting out pieces of information when it is not called for, and there is no explanation needed for why Regan is singularly unpopular with her fellow academics.

The only thing swhich have saved her from being ostracised by her colleagues are her membership in the Aeon Society and her ability to acquire information from sources which are unavailable to the typical academic. She rushes in where angels fear to tread, proving as comfortable swapping urban myths in a bar on the wrong side of the tracks as she is discussing the number of circles in Hell with a Catholic priest in a cathedral.

Regan's sheet is still being finalised, but she already has Mastery in Academics and five dots of Linguistics. She will also have dots in Investigation, Etiquette, Savvy and Subterfuge at the very least.

Mentals are obviously her Primary Attributes, but she has Social as her Secondary.

She's a bit more like Wildstorm's Savant (think a chirpy Lara Croft) without the archaelogical stuff than I intended.

If anyone wants to tie in with her, please PM me.

I plan to play Janos, who has had a long, up and down road over the past 80+ years.

A few questions:
What happened to King and King's business interests?
Janos fought for the fascist cause in WWII (he was Hungarian after all) and ended up being a part of the SS during that war (22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division "Maria Theresia"). He committed not atrocities, but I wanted to know; does this would bother anybody?
Janos remains a dedicated anti-communist, just so everybody knows.

\As a player I wouldn't be offended. As a character I am sure that Raphael' opinions will be colored by his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. Jameson and Kate would probably have not agreed with Janos working with the Germans regardless of his reasons. This assumes that they kept in contact with Janos during and/or after WW2

I plan on playing Misha Valyenko, a russian immigrant and quite a dedicated anti-communist and equally dedicated capitolist. Not dim or slow, he just realizes his natural skills and talents lie in such activities and professions as bodyguard and muscle. Featured at one time on "The World's Strongest Guys" he stunned the audience and TV not just by his incredible size and physique but also by tearing a penny in half and taking a straight kick to the chest from a mule and not moving or even flinching.

He's a happy individual with good manners and a taste for expensive suits and cheap Vodka. His skills in Russian Sanbo wrestling make him one of the most dangerous men in the world. He's a devoted servant and guard to whoever he works for, and makes a fine consort even in high society.

Actually, I'll go ahead and start dropping relevant bits of information on the resolution of the Roaring Twenties game. I'll do it in a different thread, though. At the moment, it'll be fragmentary, with me throwing in stuff that I'm sure about and leaving the rest for later.

My concept is for a character who is just a little less accomplished. He has cipher, but his past is as much a mystery to him as it is to everyone else.

Background:
Robert Fulke is an orphan who spent most of is life going in and out of various foster homes. At eighteen he went out on his own and, despite his staggering intellect, began working at a variety of dead end jobs.

He recently met someone(another pc?) who recognized him as the spitting image of his father. He learned that his parents were members of the Aeon Society (or whatever organization a pc may know them from). They went missing, along with their 4 year old son, 15 years ago. Robert is now 20 and continues to investigate his past and the fate of his parents.

Personality:
Robert is exceptionally intelligent but socially awkward. He has incredible insights into a variety of problems, however, this is often overlooked as he doesn't always express those insights with confidence. This lack of confidence seems to vanish is physical situations. He is more than willing to get into a fight for the most minor of slights.

He is almost completely focused on his past. As he learns more about his parents he will likely begin to follow the same heroic path that they did.

Mental will be primary, followed by physical and then social. Abilities will focus on linguistics (he already knew many languages when he enter the foster system), stealth, investigation. Maybe savy due to his troubled upbringing.

willpower 3 or 4

backgrounds will be
-cipher - bad record keeping of state child services and no documentation before entering foster system.
-resources - an inheritance
of some sort. not sure on the details.
-mentor - someone who knew his parents. maybe another pc?

This is what I have in mind.

Jim Tanner is a decicated ex Police Detective who is throughly deciacated to insure that the common man is safe from the dangers of society . Lured from the police force by the Aeon Society Jim found his place among other of his ideals. Charming, trustworthy and loyal to a fault. Did some training w/ the FBI and CIA and maintains contacts within both organzations, as well as his former department

Mental, Social and then physical for Attritbutes. Some skills include Awareness, Intergation, as well as rapport and subterfuge.

Backgrounds will include
contacts -buddies in the CIA/FBI
Reputation -fairly well known Det.
backing- Police Department

some knacks include
Heightened Senses, Indisputable Analysis, Resllient

one last thing, what kind of transformation points we looking at?

Blaine/Misha how would our characters have met? Did I hire you for protection or do we know each other some other way? How good is our relationship?

I think our characters can fit, we just need to work out the details a little better.

I'm not sure to be honest, you and one other have expressed interest in this relationship (Regan McLaughlin). Not sure how I should choose on this, maybe leave it up to Alex?

I'm not up on the Adventure rules, though I have the Storyteller ruleset. If there's room for a Shadow or Green Hornet style character, give me a shout.

Further information on Regan:

She will have dots in Athletics, Legerdemain, Martial Arts and Computer or Science (to simulate basic knowledge).

Furthermore, two of her Knacks have already been decided - Brain Skimming and Jack of All Tongues. Other possibilities include Perfect Translation and/or Indisputable Analysis.

Robert, Regan can certainly be a person to help you out if you wish. Her secondary special is Linguistics (though three of her dots are dedicated to Classical Greek, Latin and Tibetan) and she has Contacts.

PM me if you are interested.

Blaine, I'm willing to relinquish Misha's character to Raphael if you so wish.

OK, I apologize upfront for this. Blame yellowparis (or whatever handle he uses here), he invited me (well, kinda). Very unfamiliar with game system but here it goes...

Mark Cobb, great nephew of the previous generation of heroes (whomever is appropriate), unlike his siblings and other relatives, Mark hasn't exactly lived up to the family ideal. He is their black-sheep.

What it comes down to is that he is stubborn. With everyone pushing for grandness and heroism, Mark rebelled to the petty and short term. He can, he just doesn't want to.

To date the most he has achieved was the rank of Cpl in the Army before he was given a Regular Discharge (his CO REALLY want it to be Dishonorable Discharge). Basically he was promoted 8 times and demoted 7. His has a long list of of commendations but his reprimand list is just as long (if not longer). But that was all a while ago.

His current (or most recent) gigs were as a taxi driver and a night security guard... for a mall.

What he really has going for him is his stubborness because once he's going he WILL NOT STOP. Even if he's losing. It's just hard to motivate him. Backing his willpower is his general toughness. He's not strong or very skilled in combat (he get's beat more often then not and he starts 85% of the fights) but his ability to absorb damage and keep going is phenominal if not legendary.

He is also marginally clever but not smart enough to see when he's outclassed by those more intellegent than him. He also has a handfull of broad and unusual skills (1 advantage to bouncing around, I guess).

As for tie ins he is related to some kinda notable people. I can see them taking pity on him and trying to find a place for him to work with-in their various areas. I can also see him failing a lot and bouncing from place to place (Sorry guys you lost the bet, you get him). But once he finds his niche, well, when he's focused he's unbeatable (or, that's what his father keeps telling himself...)

Mark Cobb is loosily based on:
Jane Cobb; Firefly
Ash; Army of Darkness
Jack Burton; Big Trouble in Little China

Alex Reid was only eight years old when his father, Sgt. John Reid, was killed in the line of duty. At the time, it was chalked up to a gangland hit, and left at that. The elder Reid's death had been a warning that City Hall and the Police took to heart.

John Reid had made sacrifices, investing his hard-won salary to make a better life for his children. Alex was able to attend college. But he then sought an appointment to the police academy ...

And was denied, despite exceeding many of the physical requirements. In a relatively short span of years, graft and corruption had worked its way into the city's heart.

He took a job as a newspaper reporter, was fired after six months and several articles where he posed hard questions for elected and police officials.

Alex knew he couldn't fight the system from within.

Thus, he donned the black coat and hat of The Phantom, fighting crime in his father's memory. He has made off with payments on several occasions, turning the money to charitable efforts. (Most people believe Reid has made shrewd investments, nothing more.)

=====

John Reid's death, however, could be far more than a gangland hit. The elder Reid could have been involved in something less than honorable, forced into it by circumstances or a threat. Revelation of the truth could shake Alex's faith.

(Astute readers will note that John Reid was the name of the Lone Ranger, created by George W. Trendle and Fran Stryker.)

Halo, Janos could be your mentor (thus you wouldn't have to invest those dots), if you like. After all, he is a man in need of some redemtion and helping out the lost children of former associates would be right up his alley.

Raphael, I'm sure their parting would have be sad, Janos knowing that he would have to follow his country into war on the side of the nazis and Jameson and Kate knowing eventually they would have to aid the forces of democracy and freedom in opposition to the nazi menace. Such is life and loyalty sometimes.
Of course, then we also have the US failing to support the Hungarian uprising against the Communists in 1956 to think about. Interesting times.

Okay so this is a very rough write up, so please be gentle with critisism...

Playboy Carter Hollis is not all he seems to be. While much of his sordid past is out in the open there are certain questions that even he doesn’t have the answer to. Carter seems to have been destined to “live in interesting times” from birth. His parents were adventurous and globetrotting explorers who continued their odd lifestyle even after Carter’s birth.

At the age of 4 Carter was kidnapped by persons unknown while on an expedition to China with his family. He was sold on the black market to a man he would come to know only as Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu was a Chinese-American businessman and, it is rumored, the head of an assassination cult known only as “The Grey Society.” From the time Mr. Liu “acquired” Carter he had the lad trained in the deadly arts, honing the boy into a living weapon even as he taught Carter to enjoy the finer things in life.

Years later, during a confrontation with members of the Aeon Society he was convinced that the man who had raised him was truly an evil man and in the ensuing conflict, he ended his mentor’s life. Unbeknownst to Carter, another of Mr. Liu’s protégé’s witnessed his betrayal and has sworn vengeance.

Carter is currently a resident of San Francisco’s Chinatown and has come to be called “The White Dragon” by local residents due to his rousting of members of the “Grinning Demon” tong, showcasing some of his martial prowess. He’s also begun to look for his parents and continues to work with the Aeon Society.

Further on Mark:

He is looking for something (spiritually). He is trying to find himself after many years of living moment to moment. Maybe his chance to "fight the good fight."

Possibly, Jameson asked him to look in on his grandson or help him tie up some other loose ends.

Mark is in his late 20's more likely in his 30s.

Tanner and Reid could have crossed paths somewhere - perhaps at the police academy. If Tanner is older than Reid (20's), then he could be one of his father's contemporaries, or perhaps a newer officer cognizant of the graft and corruption taking over the department.

My initial workup of Reid has him with a Cipher of 5. He's a pretty stock masked crimefighter, with a pair of trusty .45's.

Also, I haven't placed Reid in any particular location, so he could cross paths with Carter in SF, for example.

hmmm... what's the timeframe/year?

I could go with Tanner and Reid having meet each other at the police academy. They could have competed against each other for top grad at the academy, or just been in differnt classes, and knew each other by their reps.

My Character is going to be Fuyuko Morita, granddaugher of the founder of Sony, who became an Inspired at a young age and thus helped bring about the great technological innovations in Japan. Fuyuko is deep into super science. She began designing advanced robotics for (Some Weaponry company) by the time she was 7, and was developing some robotic weoponry when it was sabotaged by her competitor, Takao Ibuka, another inspired with skill almost equal to hers. Fuyuko lost her right arm in the plasma cannon explosion, and it took about a year to build her the new mechanical arm she now sports. After this time she conducted an investigation and found the cause of the failure. Takao is now on the run, and quite likely doing evily science things with bad people now, attempting to get revenge on Fuyuko for ruining his career by exposing his sabotage. She has since left the company for personal reasons.

I'm thinking Fuyuko is probably 19 or 20 at this point, She's a rebel, especially so for a Japanese girl, but with the environment she grew up in, her english is good, and she found out about being inspired at an early age, and studied the exploits of the Inspired from the earlier era. She's a bit of a grease monkey, however, preferring to deal with machines, as opposed to people. as she's into robotics, I'm thinking of lots of cool attachments for her arm.

concise commentary on characters thus far ...

Dr. Raphael Bradford

Seems pretty together. I'll ask for a focus on his super-scientific leanings, since it's easy to get a lot of overlap between scientist characters, otherwise. However, it does look like he has something of a focus on chemistry/materials science, so maybe that's already there.

Also, if he is to be Knack-light, that allows for more generality than someone with Mad Scientist, or something like that, since he won't be able to produce new stuff quite as quickly.

Seems to check well with the game direction I have in mind, so no fear there.

Regan McLachlan

Also quite together, and also checks well with the game. Given her established position (and her lecturer's personality) in the Aeon Society, she'd probably end up being one of the organizers of the movement your characters represent.

Janos

We can shake out more history over in the Roaring Twenties thread, and I'll have a few more suggestions once I get a setting timeline up.

Misha Valyenko

Don't look at me - it's totally up to you. I'd guess that Raphael is more in need of a bodyguard than Regan, and he'd fit the 'Race Bannon' idea better (if that's important to you). Regan strikes me as more independent, I suppose. But yeah - that's up to you folks to sort out.

The concept works, but make sure your personality doesn't get too passive - the bodyguard archetype can get to doing a lot of sitting in the background and doing nothing, which might get tedious.

Robert Fulke

Probably too low-level - I'm thinking of somewhere between thirty and fifty transformation points, which this concept seems ill-suited to go into. You could emphasize the prodigy aspect by focusing on developing ranges of skills, but that would probably require some change to background, just to justify gaining those skills.

Jim Tanner

Also, possibly, too low-level on the surface, but probably easier to build up. Could go anywhere from 'master investigator' to 'security expert' to 'James Bond look-alike.' Seems solid, and it's likely for the game setting.

Mark Cobb

Game begins in 2010.

You need something to set him off. The nature of the game makes it so the group members need to be fairly self-directed, and probably rather passionate.

It could be that he simply allows himself to get caught up in the others' excitement, or he might be attached to another character. He might have a relationship with another PC or an NPC (friendly, familial, or intimate) which draws him in, also.

However, it might help to just wait until I get up the setting information tomorrow - I can think of a few ways to integrate him with some of that stuff. I won't go into it just now, though, since then I'd have to type up the setting information now, which ... isn't what I'm doing. Still. Keep an eye out. (c:

Alex Reid

Strong character, and I do like the allusions. He's probably a shade underpowered, but that could be fixed, I think, by either making him extraordinarily skilled (a la Batman), or just giving him some superpowers ... the power to 'cloud men's minds' comes to mind, but that's just a classic example.

The other thing is that he strikes me as too much a loner, when I judge him in the light of similar characters. Convince me he can fit into a team? This, too, might benefit from seeing the setting information, so give it a day before thinking about it too hard.

Carter Hollis

Ah, kung fu. ( :

I don't know how he became a 'playboy,' exactly - did he take over Mr. Liu's resources when he won his freedom? Solid concept, and you can work with the Aeon Society link to work pretty well with the setting/game concept.

Fuyuko Morita

Eh ... we've talked already, so I won't repeat myself.

I was thinking Rafael also, or at least that's how he's introduced into the group at any rate. There's a definite possibility he could be relegated to the background, but I doubt it when he's likely to be the most physically capable in the group. Race (or even Brock Samson from The Ventrue Bros) is definitely in the foreground.

OK Rafael I'll send you a PM or two and we'll put together some history.

30-50 Transformation points?! Holy crap! Wow we've got points to burn. Well I'll start with 30 and see what he looks like. And from what you said we can buy from different knacks correct?

I am working on a character, but it is bloody impossible to talk with Janos OOC. Grrr.

30 - 50? Holy Crap is right. When I hear high powered Adventure! I think 20.

Let me think about this.

I'm definatly gonna need a rules primer (I downloaded both character sheets so I have a very rough idea on how things are supposed to look).

Mark cares more about others and ideals then he likes to admit. I'll wait for the set up info then play with it. Maybe I'll have him get sweet on someone...

Wow! 30 Transformation points at least?

Your exactly right Mr. Craft. Carter inherited much of Mr. Liu's legitimate assets. I haven't decided yet what the basis of those assets are but a classic example might me an import company bringing in goods and relics from China.

Carter was raised on the finer things in life in addition to his martial training and uses his inheritence to maintain that lifestyle. I'm figuring that the Vice part of his nature will be Hedonist.

Reid and Carter could easily have crossed paths if Reid has ever had a "case" take him into Chinatown. Also, Carter doesn't have to be based in San Francisco (I just picked it 'cause I'd been watching "Big Trouble in Little China" the other night). Any large metropolis with a distinctive "Chinatown" would be appropriate.

OK, I made a new login for Misha, who do I go to to get one of those Chibi avatars? I think the person I got Blaine from is gone.

Avatar Creation:

Chosen (site admin, for the new arrivals) has added the dookyweb flash program to our site. Check the sidebar on the left - it is the very last item, reading 'Avatars.'

You can build an avatar for your character with that, and then