Yaarrr! what's not to like? I found a rather nice mini by Andrea for the beginning of a crew of space faring nere-do-wells. http://www.historexagents.com/shop/hxproductdetail.php?ProductCode=PC06 (http://www.historexagents.com/shop/hxproductdetail.php?ProductCode=PC06) but I was trying to think of a reason for him to carry the chest around all the time.
Fluff background - space pirate, dodgy deals galore, met all kinds of aliens etc - ends up after one trade or boarding action, with an object he slowly cannot bear to be parted from until he has to be in constant contact - mysterious, eh?
Rather than some form of demonic possession I have come up with the idea of a previously unknown Xeno parasite who feeds off the psychic emanations of the Captain, in return protecting its host. Obviously of great interest to virtually everyone in the galaxy, plot and scenario hooks galore...
Can't quite decide how to best rule for this - so have a choice of two approaches;
a) the parasite would have strong telepathic powers in order to form the bond, and as part of its feeding process it reduces the host's psychic signature - turning him into a virtual blank/pariah as long as contact is maintained.
or
b) it provides a (total?) immunity from Telepathy discipline attacks specifically targeting the Captain and increased difficulties for other discipline targeted attacks - add 10 or 15 perhaps, maybe more?
Should this also extend to providing a lesser protection against area effects?
Personally prefer the immunity/protection version, as I imagine being a pariah makes being a leader of an independently minded crew of cut-throats and acting as a successful trader a bit problematic – or not maybe? Perhaps his unsettling presence quietens his crew and intimidates his business partners?
In return, the Captain suffers major problems if he is separated from the parasite. So if he should be separated at all, he becomes frenzied, gains nerves of steel and true grit and must spend all further actions/turns attempting to regain possession of the parasite by any means possible.
If the separation is for an extended period of time and distance, perhaps more than 5 (?) turns, or the parasite leaves the board, the Captain develops a form of narcolepsy (i.e. there is a 20% chance he will become unconscious at the start of each turn, increasing by 10% each subsequent turn). If the Captain looses contact for longer than 1 game, he falls into a coma; if contact is lost for the length of, say a campaign, there is a possibility of the dependency being broken/permanent mental damage/death.
Thoughts, suggestions and improvements most welcome
I like the idea of him needing to get it back, he's like a Space Pirate Gollum :D, though i'm not sure i'd go for the narcolepsy idea, i mean, maybe more him sitting in a corner shaking and twitching, so i suppose it'd act in the same in game terms...
Also, i think total immunity is a bit strong, though doubling the difficulty of the powers makes it doable, yet pretty damned hard.
How are you going to do his pegleg? Or are you gonna give him a bionic (coughimplantedweaponcough)...
I like the background a lot (what little of it is there) and think it's about time we got more pirates. Personally I think the second option you offered is the better choice and I will point you over to my current threadhere (http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=733.0) (if you can call it a thread) for further inspiration as the idea of the chest is eerily close to my terribly titled "spirit guide" familiars.
Using modified rules from what I suggested in the thread you could have a couple of the captain's mental stats permanently raised when he's around the chest and have his baseline stats lowered (due to lack of usage and over-dependence on the chest). Perhaps the chest itself has taken over as the captain's soul (per say) and he acts like a blunt/pariah when he isn't around it? There's a kind of romance in the old, soulless (space) pirate idea.
Speaking as the father of small children, I can't help but think of this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/spacepirates/
A war party based on Captain Deejay, Honk, Tonk and the Jingles would be beyond awesome.
R.
I like the idea of the parasite,sounds cool. Only recently I was roleplaying some of the Rogue Trader stuff with a group of friends and we had a laugh when a metallic worm-like parasite latched onto a Navigator on a ship we were exploring. That thing was a monster to kill (mostly because I was playing a missionary with a flamer who basically spent the whole time keeping a horde of zombie crewmen away from the other 5 members of the group who were frantically trying to stop all the air being sucked out the room, and trying to kill the navigator).
Interetsing ideas there...
Quotei think total immunity is a bit strong, though doubling the difficulty of the powers makes it doable, yet pretty damned hard.
Yep, after some (brief) thought immunity is way overpowered - doubling difficulty sounds like a better start.
I think I shall stick to doubling difficulty on any telepathic attack that directly targets the Captain, and perhaps have a percentage chance (25% to maybe 50% chance, GM discretion/house rule) that it does the same for any other discpline. I want to produce an effect similar to a psychic conversion field.
QuoteHow are you going to do his pegleg? Or are you gonna give him a bionic (coughimplantedweaponcough)...
I think it would be impossible that a character like that wouldn't take the opportunity to have a one-shot-wonder stuck up there somehow. Cant quite decide what at the moment - I think it needs to be unexpected, if not massively strange/bizarre... fires zombie kittens, that kind of thing.
QuoteI like the background a lot (what little of it is there) and think it's about time we got more pirates.
Cant agree more with Mr Wick, as I'm a firm believer that there is (virtually) nothing that can't be improved by adding a touch of pirate in some shape or form. I do have a proper fluff background, which I will hopefully post once the mini is done and I can tie the two together.
Haven't delved into your Spirit Guide idea apart from a brief scan of the post - but I like it a lot, especially the ability to customise. I wanted to get away from stat changes with this though, as thats a fairly common way of treating anything daemonic - and I want to draw attention to the parasitic aspect.
QuoteA war party based on Captain Deejay, Honk, Tonk and the Jingles would be beyond awesome
That is a totally impressive hat on the Cap'n! , but not overly fond of singing rats - although, as I shall be no doubt forced to watch that sort of stuff in a year or two, Im very glad to see kiddies TV has improved on the Teletubbies...little round, monosylabic, sun worshipping, custard eating freaks!
-
I always loved the idea of a Rogue trader gone more . . . well, rogue, becoming a pirate. My idea had a bionic-power hook, though. And a parrot servo skull.