Silent Legions

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Silent Legions

Post by Bewilderbeast »

Hey guys. I'm interested in running a Silent Legions game on these boards. Silent Legions is an OSR (old school renaissance) take on cosmic horror. It is also heavily emphasizes sand box play; players get to decide what mysteries to pursue and which ghoulies to hunt, and the GM (me) has a bunch of random tables and charts to help me make stuff up on the fly.

The PDF is available for I believe like $20 right now, but if you don't have the sourcebook and aren't interested in buying it, it's fine. The game is simple enough to run (very similar to a blend of Traveller and 2nd Edition D&D) that you don't really need the book.

If you're interested in playing, post here and give me a brief personality/background for your character. The big decision to make with a level1 Silent Legions character is class. Choose one of the following:

- Investigator, whose skills revolve around stealth and perception, and who has special abilities to petition hints from the GM and ferret out clues.
- Scholar, whose skills revolve around technical skills and research, and who has special abilities for casting magic with (relative) safety and remaining sane in the face of eldritch horrors.
- Socialite, whose skills revolve around interactions and negotiations, and who has special abilities for manipulating people.
- Tough, whose skills revolve around combat, and who has special abilities that make them significantly more resilient and harder to kill that other heroes (important in a horror game, where combat can get lethal fast).
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Mr. Handy »

I'm interested in playing. I'll have to think about what type of character I'd play, but I'm leaning towards either an Investigator or a Socialite. In what era would this take place? That would be important in choosing a background.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Bewilderbeast »

Contemporary! Using cell phones and laptops to defeat evil, unknowable deities is something that amuses me and that I'm totally game for.

It's also set in the American Southwest. Your first investigation will probably begin somewhere in New Mexico, Arizona or California, depending on backgrounds and what makes sense.
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Mr. Handy »

Sounds good to me. In that case, I'd like to play an Investigator who is a reality TV ghost hunter, searching for evidence of the supernatural.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Bewilderbeast »

Cool, sounds good. I might have you start in Los Angeles. Instead of a reality TV show, maybe you're Youtube paranormal investigator trying to get a TV show?

I'd like to get at least one other player. I'll get a character sheet for you in the meantime. This is very old school, so I was just going to roll for your stats in order. Is there a preferred dice roller for this board? I can have you roll them yourself if you want, too.
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Mr. Handy »

A YouTube-based paranormal investigator sounds good.

I'd prefer to roll my own dice. We used to use Invisible Castle a lot, but it's been dead for quite some time. The board also has a built-in dice roller. You can find instructions for it here.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Bewilderbeast »

An in-board dice roller is nifty and perfect. I'm copy pasting this from my off-forum game... this is originally Sine Nomine Publishing material, but I simply re-wrote the quickstart rules. Anyway...
Character Creation
First things first. Roll for your attributes, in order. It's standard D&D attributes that have been around forever: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma. Roll 3d6 to determine your value in each. I will allow one reroll if your total modifiers are less than zero. You're stuck with the new roll, though.

From there, you choose a background, which essentially gives you your first three skills. Though players normally choose their own background, those without books will have a background assigned by me based on the character history you wrote. Don't worry, all the skills you get will be useful.

You then select your class.. You also get to raise one of your class's prime attributes to 14. If both of your prime attributes are higher than 14, you don't have to change one of them to 14.

Class also determines hit points. I'm starting you at maximum HP for level 1. This means Toughs get 8HP to start, Socialites and Investigators get 6HP, and Scholars take 4HP. Your class also gives you more skills.

Finally, everyone starts with 2 points of Expertise, which you use to fuel your more uncanny and heroic abilities (including magic if you learn it). In addition to their class-specific special ability, you can spend a point of Expertise to re-roll a failed skill roll, provided it was a class skill for your class. Toughs can use this ability to re-roll failed attacks, too.
Here's a brief primer on the rules:
Core Mechanics
The core mechanics are very similar to those found in Stars Without Number, a game by the same publisher that's available as a free PDF. But here are the important parts:

Skill checks are handled with a roll of 2d6, with the addition of relevant modifiers (skill and an attribute). You can use skills you're not familiar with, just at a -1 penalty. You need to roll a 6 or higher for fairly easy tasks a trained person could be reasonably expected to accomplish, while a roll of 9 or higher is required for something that requires real expertise. The "target number" can be anything from 0 to 12, though, and is something I won't reveal to your explicitly.

I will be personally ruling that the more you beat the target number by, the more impressive or effective your success is. Failures are still just failures, though; there's no special penalty for rolling snake eyes.

Saving throws are a lone d20 roll with no bonuses or penalties except those I give or impose. Each class has a table that determines its saves; as long as you roll higher than the number on the table, you save. If you roll lower, you fail and something bad happens, up to and including death. Class have slightly varying saving throw values based on their roll (Toughs have a very good Physical save, for example, but a very crappy Mental save). The various types of saves are Physical Effect, Mental Effect, Evasion, Magic and Luck. All classes are equally lucky or unlucky, for those wondering.

Combat
Initiative is a 1d8 roll, plus or minus your Dexterity modifier. You can take one action and move twenty meters during a combat round, or move forty meters if you take no action. An "action" is a very loose term. I'd allow a player to draw, load, aim and fire a pistol all as one "action," for example, so don't sweat it too much.

An attack is a d20 roll, adding your attribute modifier (most weapons use Dexterity, but some melee weapons use Strength), your skill modifier, a bonus based on your class, and your target's AC. Yes, that means that a lower AC is a better AC, making you harder to hit. If the result of your roll is 20 or higher, you hit. If it's 19 or lower, you miss. Natural 1 always misses, and natural 20 always hits.

Additionally, every type of weapon and attack has a slaughter die, ranging from d6 to d20. If you hit and do damage with an attack, you also roll a slaughter die. If your result is 6 or higher, the attack does triple damage. This is how PCs die fast.

Madness
Murdering people, encountering supernatural forces or entities, or enduring horrible pain will make your character gain madness. The exact amount is decided by a dice roll, with more severe actions or more severe exposure to creepy-crawlies resulting in higher dice, up to and including a d20. "Intentionally killing a human being for the first time" is an action that's listed as d20, but "killing additional humans not in self-defense" is a d6.

When you get to 100 Madness, that's it. You go all Event Horizon, and your character is a tragic NPC.

The only ways to reduce Madness are by leveling up; your Madness score is reduced by 10 each time you gain a level. You can also reduce your Madness by taking a Delirium. After taking a Delirium, roll a d20. If the result is equal to or greater than your total number of Deliria, you lose 10 Madness. If the roll is less than your total number of Deliria, you instead gain 10 Madness.

Delirium are character tics the player and GM decide upon together. If you decide to take one, I'll send you a few options in a PM that loosely relate to your character's recent experiences. A character that donned a disguise to accomplish a goal in a recent mission might gain a phobia-like avoidance of disguises or using a fake name, fearing the disappearance of his "real" self. A character that fought an insectoid monster might develop a phobia of all insects.

You don't have to always obey your Deliria, but if you defy them you take 1d6 Madness.
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Mr. Handy »

The dice roller has to be activated on individual forums, and it's specifically not activated on the recruitment boards. If we get enough players to start, then I can create a forum and activate the dice roller on it, and we can create our characters there.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Bewilderbeast »

Sounds good. I just wanted to post the rules for reference.

I'm running a solo game on another forum. I might invite him here after the current game wraps up. Otherwise, though, if you know anyone please feel free to invite them! Kind of new here myself, haha.
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Mr. Handy »

The character classes in Silent Legions are very similar to the archetypes in Scooby Doo, I've noticed. Fred is the Tough, Daphne is the Socialite, Velma is the Scholar, and Shaggy is the Investigator.
Doctor Who/CoC Campaign:
(viewforum.php?f=176)The Terror Out of Time
(viewforum.php?f=191)]The Ninth Planet
The Shadow Over Dunwich
The Brotherhood of Death
The Horror in the Blackout
The Masque of Nyarlathotep
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Bewilderbeast »

Heh.

Honestly? My mechanical opinion of the classes? The Investigator's special abilities are a bit weak. Like, giving players hints when they're well and truly stuck are something most GMs would naturally do, right? So why make them spend resources (Expertise) to do it? Their 7th level ability is basically unerring lie detection, however, which is super useful. And they have vital skills like Stealth, Security and Perception as class skills, so that might balance out what I perceive is weakness in their special abilities. Still though... a lot of their special abilities seem like stuff I'm naturally inclined to do as a GM anyway. I guess I'll have to deny those instincts unless the Investigator spends some Expertise!

"Generally useless" does seem to fit for Shaggy, though...

On the other hand, if the Investigator is a touch too weak for my tastes, the Socialite seems a bit too strong. This might be my personal tastes, though (I always used to play the face in Shadowrun), but their Expertise-fueled abilities seem very strong to me even at level 1, quickly veering into mind-control territory.

Toughs depend on the campaign. If combat is suicidally lethal, then Toughs are pretty pointless. If it's a viable but risky option (which I intend in my campaign, which trends pulpier), then they're a real solid choice. Again, "not dying" is a pretty vital skill in horror games... some might argue it's kind of the point.

Scholar is a great class, kind of designed to "soak" Madness, so if you have an eye for longevity in your character it's a good choice. However, your d4 hit dice and utter lack of combat or stealth-related skills mean you're unlikely to see that longevity personally. Your Research and Occult skills will be a boon to your team, though. I'm sure they'll mourn your death a lot.
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Re: Silent Legions

Post by Victoria Silverwolf »

Sounds like an interesting change of pace.

I wouldn't mind being a Socialite. How about a cable network executive? The YouTube Investigator could be trying to persuade her into producing a series.

Having you roll the dice or having me do it is fine with me.
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