Questions about my Castle Dracula

[Zane_Marlowe]

Recently my Victorian Hero players reached the lair of the evil count (circa 1896) in pursuit of a MacGuffin thought to be in his possession. Of course, they don't have hard confirmation that there is a vampire there, but they're ready to act on the superstitions of the locals and be off castle grounds before night falls.

 

For my part, I want to keep them there long enough for the sun to go down and for You Know Who to make an appearance. Fortunately for me, not only am I the GM, but when building the castle (based on Castle Bran), I gave it a Base power of being able to create mental images in the minds of those who are within its walls. The original point of this power was to allow the creepy impossible stuff you'd expect to see there in an otherwise regular physical area. The purpose behind the Castle's power is to mislead and frustrate, but subtly so it maintains the sense of dread and mystery.

 

Of course, my players are newer to Hero than I am, so they didn't care, and the illusion I created was quite sufficient: while exploring the castle, the view out the windows continued to be late afternoon while the actual time outside elapsed past sunset. One of my players had Absolute Time Sense, so I gave him a perception roll to figure out that something was wrong, and he did. He broke a window, and the illusion shattered in all the unbroken windows as well, and they looked out into Transylvanian night. Then the count's servant appeared with a revolver in hand and ushered them to the Dark Banquet where the Count made his grand entrance.

 

So my question is whether I built the Base's Mental Illusions power more or less correctly, even though it worked satisfactorily for my players, myself, and the story. I wanted it to be subtle and gradually overtake the characters perceptions, almost without their noticing it, so I built it as a 1d6 dice effect + continuous, and just figured it was going to work on them while they were exploring so that by the time they woke up to the fact that they MIGHT be being deceived, the cumulative power had done its work. In hindsight, this doesn't seem quite correct given the Hero system's principles, but that's what I wanted to find out about.

 

How would you have built this Base power?

[Markdoc]

Re: Questions about my Castle Dracula

 

1d6 continuous gives you 1d6 mental illusion maximum - I'm guessing that's not enough for what you are after. I think a better build would be Xd6 (X being enough to fool your targets - that'll vary depending on the CHA level you plan to affect) gradual effect (which is a limitation) so that the illusion gets stronger as time goes by, eventually reaching its full effect. I'd also add area effect and Invisible power effects, so that the players would be targetted as soon as they entered the area - but at the same time notice nothing.

 

cheers, Mark

[Rapier]

Re: Questions about my Castle Dracula

 

You could stack Cumulative on it.

 

However, this is pretty much a plot device. I'm not sure I would bother even building it. Just include the effects.

[Midas]

Re: Questions about my Castle Dracula

 

Nice effect, however you do it.

 

You could stack Cumulative on it.

 

However, this is pretty much a plot device. I'm not sure I would bother even building it. Just include the effects.

 

Or buy it as an odd type of Change Environment.

 

Or just use Transform.

 

(Ducking and running for cover)

Midas

[Gadodel]

Re: Questions about my Castle Dracula

 

I was thinking that you should move past this as the effect has already been discovered. Instead, focus on how angry the Count might be for the acts of trespassing and vandalism!

 

Chide them like children, use overwhelming social skills to enhance a Presence attack. Meanwhile, Castle staff moves and shifts some walls so the intelopers can't quite escape as quickly as they would like. In addition, separating or trapping various party members should also show whom the master of the castle really is.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Questions about my Castle Dracula

 

I would have used either Change Environment or Images.

 

The problem with Mental Illusions: you will need to acheive the +20 Hide Effect level, or they automatically notice it's happening.

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Questions about my Castle Dracula

 

Great suggestions all! I think change environment is a good idea for walls moving and interior spaces shifting around. I also think Images is a good idea, and I'm not sure they need to be mental now that I think about it.

 

Thanks for the tips friends!

[Legendsmiths]

Re: Questions about my Castle Dracula

 

Since points aren't a limitation, the power would be 6d6 Mental Illusions (only for +20), 7d6 Mental Illusions 0 END, Continuous. The illusions could only ever be cosmetic, so every 5 points over someone's EGO (using standard effect it would be 21 points of effect) the breakout roll is -1. To represent the fact that it is not a continuous hammer against the characters you could either add Extra Time (interval between illusions) or No Conscious Control (at the -1 level).

 

Since it is continuous, and subtle, there's really no need for an initial breakout roll. Gamewise, if the players have reason to disbelieve (e.g. Absolute Time Sense), they get a breakout roll. Next phase, the effect is back on as appropriate.

[Clonus]

Re: Questions about my Castle Dracula

 

Dracula's castle has windows?

[Zeropoint]

Re: Questions about my Castle Dracula

 

I thought Dracula's castle was called Castlevania . . .