What is this? Candlewick Manor is a premade setting for Monsters & Other Childish Things, in which you play quirky orphans adopted and brought to Candlewick Vale by Dr. Candlewick, a bleak and unsettling place of 1930-ish Old England draped with mystery, tragedy and dark humor.
Monsters & Other Childish Things? Monsters& is a game about playing kids with real-imaginary-monsters with the power of effortlessly ruining an entire army facing the everyday struggle and adventures of being a kid. It uses the One-Roll Engine, which is a d10 dice pool system. Although in this game, you get superpowers instead of having a monster companion.
Why would I want to play? Because you get to play socially ostracized orphans with reality defying powers in their journey of both internal and external discovery in one of my favorite roleplaying systems. You also get to help me on the road of gaining experience as a GM, which I sorely lack. Maybe that's a con.
How do I play? Here is a semi-accurate quickstart. I'll go into detail if there is sufficient interest, but some bulletpoints: Players are described through a set of 5 stats, 15 skills and a set of relationships, which are used when rolling dice. Results are determined by throwing up to 10 d10's, and picking a set of dice of the same number, minimum two. The numerical value of the set expresses quality, while the number of dice in the set expresses efficiency. (e.g., if you roll [3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7] to make food, you can choose 2×7 to make a better meal, or 3×3 to make a quicker meal.) Combat is seriously scary if someone is being serious, and you get experience to make yourself stronger by doing things I think are cool. Relationships your character has to the setting can be used to increase your chances of success, but failure creates tension in the relationship until you make efforts to repair it. Each character also has a supernatural ability, so if you ever wanted to play a little kid that teleports by walking through mirrors, carrying an arsenal of weaponized shadows appropriated from blunt and/or spiky objects, well, you can do that.
How many people? I'm a 3-4 people kind of guy. I can take a fifth one if someone gives their character concept right after the fourth guy shows up, and it's so cool that I have to let him in, but I don't have the heart to kick someone out in their place.
In contrast to a lack of player count. If there's anyone with doubts, I would like to hear it.
No doubts, but I'm not sure how we generate our characters. Is there a strict guide for it, or is it a bit more open? Also, since we're not gonna get a monster, what kind of special powers will we be able to choose from / make?
In contrast to a lack of player count. If there's anyone with doubts, I would like to hear it.
No doubts, but I'm not sure how we generate our characters. Is there a strict guide for it, or is it a bit more open? Also, since we're not gonna get a monster, what kind of special powers will we be able to choose from / make?
~SE++
I was going to wait until I knew the game was viable, but since Rubik is begging me to beg them to join, I suppose that gives us three. I'll do a writeup soon-ish, but for special powers, basically do whatever. I can give you the specific rules if you want, but if you just tell me what you want it to be, I can give you some suggestions. There are some limitations on what abilities can do in combat, but you have nearly limitless freedom outside of it.
Okay, seems like imgur isn't cooperating, so I can't upload the character sheet. I'll see if I can make an electronic template at some point for convenience, but you'll have to use imagination for now.
Orphan's Name, Age, Quote, Image and Personality are all fluff things that exist on your sheet.
There are five stats, and each stat has three associated skills, which are (typically) combined when making rolls. Face — Social actions -> Charm: Using your charm and appeal. -> Connive: Using deception and trickery. -> Putdown: Being menacing and insulting. Brains — Mental actions -> Notice: Being able to see things. -> Out-Think: Being deductive and logical. -> Remember: Being able to remember details. Hands — Dexterous actions -> Blocking: Using something to stop something else. -> Punching: Applying fists to faces. -> Shop: Using your hands for things that aren't punching and blocking. Gust — Endurance actions -> Courage: How good you are at not running to mommy -> Wind: How durable you are physically -> Wrestling: Overpowering people with your body. Feet — Mobility actions -> Dodging: Not getting hit. -> Kicking: Rigorous use of boots. -> P.E: Athletic stuff.
You can have up to 5 points/dice in a stat, and up to 5 in a skill. You get 10 points to distribute among your stats, and 12 to distribute among skills. Each stat starts at 1 (and skills at 0). You can have custom skills if you feel you need something outside of these categories, but they are pretty broad, so it should usually not be necessary. The average of a stat is 2. 1 is rather lousy. 3 is good, 4 is probably among the best in class, and 5 is a level beyond that. Unlike stats, the default state of a skill is 0. 1 means you have a slight interest in it, 2 is on the level of a casual hobby, 3 is something you are dedicated towards, 4 is something you try very hard at, and 5 borders on obsession and/or prodigy.
Unlike most other games, you don't have a background, for one reason or another. Instead, you have vague sensations of the past, called Echoes (10 points to distribute, max 3 per echo.) You can add dice from the echo pool to a roll if it seems appropriate, which can result in a Revelation, revealing a Relationship to someone or something in Candlewick Vale that you did not know you had. There's also an Illumination stat that ties in to Revelation, but that's just a mechanical thing.
I'm going to use some of the rules from Bigger Bads for creepy skills (a supplement that came after TDSoCM), which are the things that lets you break conventional expectations of normalcy over your knee (figuratively or literally). At the start of the game, you can take up to 7 dice/points worth of creepy dice to power your eldritch abilities, but each dice makes it harder to not be creepy. This primarily manifests as a drawback when trying to appeal to other people (If you take all seven, your rolls have a difficulty of 7, meaning your roll needs a height of seven to succeed.) Additionally, people close to you might not want to find out you are bordering on being a monster, so having more creepy dice makes it easier to people to notice when you are doing something unnatural. While Stats, Skills and Relationships are increased by xp, creepy skills are improved by ruining your Relationships.
I made a digital character sheet! It looks kind of pretentious, and I'll probably expand it with some convenience features, but it should work for now.
I'll upload one of the example characters so it makes some sense.
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
Man, I really want to play this, but I can't commit to anything these days (and probably not for the next 18 months), so I'll have to pass. Which stinks, because Monsters & Other Childish Things is one of my favorite systems ever.
Now that this poll is officially over, it's time to congratulate Aaarrrgh for designing Hill, which has been decided by popular vote to be the Card of the Month for October 2013!
Okay, let's do this! Well, er, assuming I'm doing this right.
Orphan's Name: Ezekiel Enoch Bartholomew "Zeke" Drake, Age: Somewhat Older (12-14?) Quote:"Wherever I go, the darkness has already been. I think it's everywhere. A nowhere that's everywhere." Image:A boy who is quite tall for his age, slender of frame and slender of limb. His skin is quite pale, and he has watery blue eyes and jet black hair with a high forehead. His clothes speak to antiquated sensibilities, and are always seemingly faded or dusty, while being entirely black and white. He always seems calm and deliberate in his motions, though when he's not reading his eyes usually wander, or focus on something seemingly far away. Personality:Zeke is usually quiet and reserved, but most of all he has an iron will and steely nature -- He is very, very hard to intimidate and almost impossible to frighten, though to most people he comes off more as detached than as courageous, since he isn't incredibly emotional. His mind is quick, and his nature is inquisitive -- he's always looking into what's hidden, which is perhaps why the shadows have attached themselves to him. His interest in darkness and hidden things makes him come off to most as obsessive and out of touch.
Creepy Skills (5) "When you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche Shadows respond to Zeke as something between a physical force and a living thing, as though the very absence of light were an entity. The Darkness exists everywhere and nowhere -- it can be anywhere, and when within it, Zeke feels he could be anywhere, too. Recently, it seems to respond more notably, almost intellectually to reach for something, or most horrifyingly to attack. In that, even a person's own shadow could be a weapon to use against them, and Zeke's own shadow, alone, would present a formidable offense. It would unnerve Zeke, but his general lack of fear, even when it's sensible, has lead him to simply find it fascinating rather than creepy or terrifying, and potentially explore how the shadows respond to him. Shadows Shift (2): Brains, Useful (Travel/teleport from someplace dark and shadowy to another, nearby dark and shadowy place) Shadows Strike (3): Brains, Attacks; Useful (Manipulate objects in shadows/darkness but otherwise out of reach)
Echoes Cold, Darkness, Emptiness - 3 A girl's faint voice: "I'll be waiting" - 3 An ornate, old-fashioned silver key - 2 A small notebook filled with ciphered text and odd illustrations, like a pocket Voynich Manuscript - 1 A Raven (or possibly Crow) - 1
_________________
"Enjoy your screams, Sarpadia - they will soon be muffled beneath snow and ice."
I'm a (self) published author now! You can find my books on Amazon in Paperback or ebook! The Accursed, a standalone young adult fantasy adventure. Witch Hunters, book one of a young adult Scifi-fantasy trilogy.
I'd like to note that I am very skeptical towards any +5, as you are effectively stating "I can't be any better at this". (Also, it's no fun to not be scared :q) Creepy skill locations are just assumptions on my part.
Like I said, I can offer you suggestions on how to implement your creepy skills if you want (although yours do work). However, I figure I could do a writeup, maybe it could help inspire some people, although I would suggest you do it top-down still.
Creepy Skills Creepy skills work like normal skills, in that they are tied to the body part, and you roll stat + skill when you want to use it. They don't work like normal skills in the sense that their nature are only limited by your imagination, they're more lethal that a radioactive chainsaw on fire, and they feed off your misery to become stronger. Each kid can start with up to 7 dice. You take less dice if you want to be less creepy, and more dice if you want to be more badass. The choice seems pretty simple to me.
For each "different" creepy thing your orphan can do, make a creepy skill out of it and assign it some dice. So since Dorothy has "See ghosts" and "Talk to ghosts", they are different things. If multiple functions are fulfilled by the same "creepy organ", say Dorothy's eyes let her both "See ghosts" and "Read minds", then just make it one skill, unless you have some special reason not to.
Each creepy skills gets one Quality for free; attacks, defends, or useful. Attack is for hurting people, defends is for not getting hurt, and useful is for everything else. You can buy extra Qualities for one point, reducing the number of dice in the skill, and consequently the potency. So if you jammed all your 7 dice into a skill and wanted all three Qualities, it would be "Aura of Accidents 5 (Attacks: Watch out for that truck; Defends: What is a banana peel doing there?; Useful: I wouldn't want to be you right now)". If you want to go all out, you can spend all your 7 dice on different Useful Qualities, for 8 in total with your free one. Do note that while a creepy skill can not have more than 5 dice, you can buy Qualities (and Extras) in a skill so that the amount of total dice used exceeds 5.
Did I say Extras? I think I did. Extras are performance enhancers. Instead of being descriptive of what your skill can do, they just make it better in some fashion. Like Qualities, they cost 1 dice each. Let me run you through them. And just so some things might make more sense, when you take damage, it is assigned to a part of your body. So the points you have in your 5 different stat also represents your hit points in the respective areas. Gnarly: Each point increases the damage of a successful attack by 1. (The damage of an attack is Width -1 of your roll if not contested) Sweet: Each point increases the Width of a Useful roll by 1 for the purposes of determining how well you do. It's like Gnarly for things that aren't attacks. Wicked Fast: Each point increases the speed of your action in combat by 1. (The speed of an action is equal to the Width of your roll) Awesome: Before rolling, you may set one dice to the number of your choice. If you have two points, you may do so afterwards, and an additional time for every other two points. (With awesome 5, set one dice before you roll, then change two of the dice in the result of your roll to the numbers of your choice) Tough: Each time you suffer damage on this skill's hit location, reduce the damage by 1 for each point of tough. Immunity: This skill's hit location is completely immune to something fairly specific, like Fire, or Yo Mama jokes. Area: Your skill is now AoE. Each point increases the radius by five foot. If it's an attack, it deals 1 Area damage per point to the things inside. Splash: Each point in Splash makes your Attack (or Useful action if appropriate) hit an additional adjacent body part. (Since people have 5 hit locations, you can hit their entire body with 4 ranks on a successful action.) Spray: When using a skill with Spray, for each point in this Extra, you may use an extra unused set. (So if you rolled the aforementioned 3×3 and 2×7, and have at least one rank in Spray, you can use both of them. You can use them for the same action, or another Skill with Spray, if you should have it.) Burn: Your attacks set things on fire, or possibly some other similar effect. There is no such thing as "more fire", it either Burns or it doesn't. Sharing: You can share your power with someone else. This is more of a Monster thing than a Weird Kids one, but it's still available. Bounce: If you Defend and completely block the attack (beating it in both Width and Height), you can reflect the attack back. Extra points in Bounce lets you deflect one additional attack, or apply one of the attacker's Extras when reflecting the attack.
So taking example in my previous skill Aura of Accidents, I can spend three points to buy 1 rank of Bounce (Your attempts at hurting me go awry) and 2 ranks of Area (That truck doesn't stop when it hits you). "Aura of Accidents 2 (Attacks; Defends; Useful: Cause misfortune; Bounce ×1; Area ×2)
Oh, I forgot to note, but you can choose to start out with fewer than 7 points, and add them later as you see fit, having your latent abilities show up when you deem it convenient.
Also, we should agree on an age range. I'm quite fond of ~13 myself, which is what Tevish went with. Anyway, posting all the premade characters for reference, since you should ideally be able to understand all of them now. Karl is kind of weird though, I think he actually has five separate Rhino Skins, one for each body part. He should, at least.
Doroty "Drotty" Druey
QUOTE: “Shuuuu! Stop talking! People will think I’m a nutter if you keep talking to me in class!” IMAGE: A huge-eyed girl who looks perpetually like a half-drowned cat, even when bone dry. She’s cutting her eyes to the left and looking quite worried about what she sees, invisible to everyone else. Her coat is much too big for her and the sleeves hang down well past her hands, making it look suggestively like an unbound straightjacket. PERSONALITY: Dotty seems crazy. She’s always starting and jumping because of people nobody else can see, and then shouting at them for frightening her. She has a firm policy that if persuasion doesn’t work, running away very fast is the next best option. She’s really quite nice, even if she comes over as morbid rather than crazy when you realize the stuff she sees, and the invisible people she’s talking to, aren’t just painted on the inside of her own skull but rather upon the thin membrane between life and death.
S TA T S A N D S K I L L S Feet 3 (P.E. +2, Kicking +0, Dodging +2 ) Guts 3 (Wind +0, Courage +2, Wrestling +0) Hands 2 (Shop +0, Punching +0, Block +0) Brains 3 (Out-Think +2, Remember +0, Notice +0, Twilight Eyes +2) Face 4 (Charm +2, Putdown +0, Connive +2, Graven Speech +2)
C R E E P Y S K I L L S Twilight Eyes 2d (Useful: see dead people). Graven Speech 2d (Attacks; Useful: harangue the dead).
Dotty can see dead people, and she can yell at them until they do what she wants. She’s quite persuasive, or at least her voice so annoys the dead that they obey her. There are usually enough aimless spooks around that in a tight spot she can demand that one conk a foe of hers in the head with a teapot or something. ECHOES: Old Photographs 3d; Smell of a Coming Storm 2d; Being Blinded by Her Own Hair 2d; Tinkling Music Box Song 2d; Wet, Squelchy Earth 1d.
Karl Krakov
QUOTE: “What are you staring at, smoothface?” IMAGE: Karl is a thick, wide-shouldered boy with short, prickly hair and jughandle ears. But his most notable feature is the thick grey skin that covers his whole body, giving him a rough, inhuman appearance. He’s ugly and thick and unsettling, and he’s glaring right at you like he knows it and he’s daring you to make a crack about it. PERSONALITY: Karl is an angry kid, and who can blame him? He looks like a giant calloused fist. Which is apt, considering how willing he is to get into fights, which he usually wins—not by being bigger or stronger or punchier, but by taking everything the other guy can dish out and not backing down ever.
S TA T S A N D S K I L L S Feet 2 (P.E. +0, Kicking +0, Dodging +0, Rhinoskin +0) Guts 5 (Wind +2, Courage +2, Wrestling +2, Rhinoskin +0) Hands 4 (Shop +0, Punching +2, Block +0, Rhinoskin +0) Brains 2 (Out-Think +2, Remember +2, Notice +0, Rhinoskin +0) Face 1 (Charm +0, Putdown +0, Connive +0, Rhinoskin +0)
C R E E P Y S K I L L S Rhino Skin 0d (Defends; Tough x5).
Karl is blessed and cursed with thick rough grey skin like that of a rhino, and it’s made him as thick and tough on the inside as on the outside. He’s got one rank of Tough in all his hit locations, and this makes him pretty dramatically resilient, even if it makes his life a steaming pile of cruel drama. ECHOES: Wrapped Up in Something, Almost Smothering 3d; the Scent of Drink on Someone’s Breath 2d; Tumbling So He Can’t Tell Which Way is Up 2d; Thornless Roses 2d; Whispered Promises 1d.
Pricilla Petty
QUOTE: “Why don’t you go stick your head in an anthill and die so the ants can eat your face off, because at least then you’ll be a use to someone!” IMAGE: Pricilla would be pretty, if she weren’t perpetually scowling like the whole world has disappointed her. She wears a dress (only a little bit patched) with sunflowers on it, and carries a dolly with only one eye. She herself has one eye closed tight, and the other is popped wide, veiny, horrible. PERSONALITY: Pricilla is all rage and spite and hate contained in a cute little girl body. She has a truly scandalous vocabulary, and a tongue so sharp the French would put it on crackers and serve it with a dry wine. While she does hate everybody, she recognizes the difference in “US” and “THEM” and reserves the extra special hate for “THEM.”
S TA T S A N D S K I L L S Feet 2 (P.E. +2, Kicking +0, Dodging +0) Guts 3 (Wind +0, Courage +2, Wrestling +0) Hands 2 (Shop +0, Punching +0, Block +0) Brains 3 (Out-Think +2, Remember +0, Notice +2) Face 4 (Charm +0, Putdown +2, Connive +2, Evil Stinkeye +2)
C R E E P Y S K I L L S Evil Stinkeye 2d (Attacks, Useful: inflict bad luck; Gnarly x2).
Pricilla’s power lets her bring misfortune and tragedy to people who annoy her. Which, considering just how many people annoy her, might make one wonder just how much of the tragedy of Candlewick might be her doing. Some of her curses manifest as lasting reductions in ability or immediate accidents (they inflict damage), while some are more circumstantial. The better the roll, the more precisely she can define just what happens to the people she hits with her whammy. ECHOES: Tears of Frustration 3d; Overhearing Bad Things Said About Her 2d; Shadows Hiding
Edward Pinkermine
QUOTE: “Sure, I’ll lend you a HAND.” IMAGE: A sallow, skinny boy in shorts with big boots. He wears a striped, bulky, oversized sweater in need of mending. In his left hand he’s holding a suitcase. In his right hand, a baseball glove. And peeking out from behind him, holding an apple up near his face, is one of his hideous hairy clawed spider legs. He has three more sprouting from his back, usually hidden under the sweater. PERSONALITY: Edward is so sarcastic, sometimes he finds it hard not to sass snidely, even when he wants to be sincere. If someone asks him if he wants ice cream, he’ll say, “Oh, ICE CREAM. Sounds GREAT. Yeah, SURE I’d LOVE some,” and then look worried.
S TA T S A N D S K I L L S Feet 2 (P.E. +0, Kicking +0, Dodging +0) Guts 3 (Wind +0, Courage +2, Wrestling +0) Hands 4 (Shop +2, Punching +0, Block +0, Spider Legs +3) Brains 3 (Out-Think +2, Remember +2, Notice +2) Face 3 (Charm +0, Putdown +2, Connive +0)
C R E E P Y S K I L L S Spider Legs 3d (Attacks; Defends; Useful: extra sets of hands).
Edward has four long, multi-jointed, hairy, hard spider legs sprouting from his back on either side of his spine. The clawed legs are dexterous, and Edward makes good use of the extra set of hands. This gross deformity can be hidden fairly well under a sweater or coat, but as Edward says, “Oh yeah, I LOVE being all knotted up under this thing. It’s GREAT FUN not being able to move properly.” ECHOES: Scent of Lavender and Sage 3d; A Man in a Dark Blue Suit 2d; Aching Knuckles 2d; the Taste of Really Sour Pickles 2d; Birdsong at Night 1d.
Howard ("H.P.") Pogue
QUOTE: “I made you a peekture.” IMAGE: A round, florid boy always carrying a lunch pail full of crayons and a notebook filled with scrap paper and doodles and drawings. His clothes are marked with smears of color from his drawing, his fingernails stained a rainbow with waxy scrapings. Even his lips are stained with color, because of his habit of absent-mindedly nibbling on his crayons while drawing. His eyes are mostly hidden behind big, thick, plastic-framed glasses that definitely make a certain statement. That statement is, “My eyeglasses were bought and paid for by a badlyrun charitable institution.” PERSONALITY: H.P. comes over as blithe and somewhat dim, but he’s not. He’s just good at deflecting people away from making fun of his glasses or weight by getting them to make fun of his intelligence. He knows he’s bright, so insults to his brain don’t bother him because he knows they’re not true. But when someone calls him “Fatty McFat Fat!” And asks, “What happened to your parents? Did you eat them?” It really hurts. When people make fun of his weight, he sometimes draws pictures of them. Pictures of them and sharks.
S TA T S A N D S K I L L S Feet 1 (P.E. +0, Kicking +0, Dodging +0) Guts 3 (Wind +0, Courage +0, Wrestling +0) Hands 3 (Shop 2, Punching +0, Block +0) Brains 5 (Out-Think +2, Remember +2, Notice +2, Crayons of Doom +2) Face 3 (Charm +2, Putdown +0, Connive +2)
C R E E P Y S K I L L S Crayons of Doom 2d (Attacks; Useful: drawn stuff happens; Awesome x2).
When H.P. wants to, he can draw things and make them come true. There are some limits to this, because the things he draws have to be at least possible. He can’t draw alien space invaders coming down and melting the whole town. Well, he can draw this, but it won’t happen. It takes him awhile to complete one of these drawings (5 – width hours), and the effects last until he makes another magic drawing or tears it up. ECHOES: Wavering Glint of Reflected Light 3d; Gasping for Breath 2d; Frying Sausages 2d; Smiling When It Hurts 2d; Ochre 1d.
Josie Wrough
QUOTE: “Growl! Bark! Woof! Pant pant! Ha ha, I’m just kidding.” IMAGE: Josie is a tall, fit, athletic, and good-looking girl. Except it’s hard to see how good looking she is, under all that hair. She could be The Wolfman’s daughter, except she’s not bothered by silver bullets (at least, no more than anyone else would be). She hunches a little, the way tall people sometimes do, and prefers trousers to dresses because they’re easier to move in. PERSONALITY: Josie is nice, which makes her sort of painful to be around. She’s so obviously different, so obviously a freak, and people are so blatantly cruel to her, you find yourself wincing and cringing sympathetically. Yet she always seems to smile, and never seems to get her feelings hurt. Of course, her smile is somewhat toothier than a normal smile, and people who make fun of her do tend to suffer a statistically-unlikely number of tragedies (missing pets, destroyed property, and the occasional midnight attack by wild dogs). Yet Josie smiles and sometimes seems simple to the point of idiocy. A smart observer might ask himself a question about wolves and the kind of clothing they might prefer, were they to mix with sheep.
S TA T S A N D S K I L L S Feet 4 (P.E. +2, Kicking +0, Dodging +2) Guts 3 (Wind +2, Courage +2, Wrestling +0, Thick Lustrous Coat +1) Hands 4 (Shop +0, Punching +0, Block +0, Claw/Claw/Bite +1) Brains 2 (Out-Think +2, Remember +0, Notice +2, Nose That Knows +2) Face 2 (Charm +2, Putdown +0, Connive +0)
C R E E P Y S K I L L S Nose That Knows 2d (Useful) Claw/Claw/Bite 1d (Attack, Gnarly) Thick Lustrous Coat 0d (Defends, Tough)
Josie’s Creepy Skills are pretty simple. She’s got hair all over, which on her torso (played here by the Guts hit location and stat) is thick enough to provide protection to the tune of Tough 1. Her nose is keen enough to track by scent, smell what you had for lunch last Friday, and know that you’re mad about something. Finally, those teeth and claws aren’t just for show. They can tear somebody up pretty badly. ECHOES: The Smell of Fallen Leaves 3d; How Good It Feels to Run 2d; Feeling Hot and Feverish 2d; a Pressure Around Her Throat 2d; Unabashed Stares 1d.
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