WritesNaughtyStories

Might be best to keep the MC to character chat separate from the game posts. This thread won't see a whole lot of traffic, so we could use it.

Does Selene have one of Dylan's photos? Maybe the one of a mother holding a young child, The baby's face is blurred because they turned their head. but the young mother is clearly smiling at the baby.

The Hollow - Dylan (Potter) Harm: 0 / 4 Experience: 5 / 5 0/5 Look/Eyes/Origin: Dylan was made - by who or how they don't have any clear memory - to be enjoyed. That they do have memory of, Dylan assumes those who enjoyed them are the ones who made them, but they've gone. Leaving Dylan alone in a house that's always been abandoned since the beginning of summer. What's odder, or perhaps speaks to The Maker's desires, is Dylan is extremely androgynous and doesn't have a clear gender identity. They've cribbed together and awkward style that brashly displays their inexperience by watching Selene and the people on the Playland midway. After running into Robin Graham outside the abandoned house Dylan was kept in, they followed her to the midway and has become obsessed with the Corn Dog stand employee. Dylan's mysterious, deep green eyes look at the world, wide with wonder and anxiety. The other place Dylan likes to hang out is at the ice cream shop at the pier, where a girl at the shop has developed a bit of a crush on Dylan, though Dylan doesn't really understand. They just notice Ellie looks at them, a lot, and gets a little quiet when Dylan goes to the counter. Every time Dylan has bought ice cream though, Ellie has made sure she was the one to give it to them. Backstory: You’ve been taking your social cues from someone, and doing so has taught you a lot about them. Gain 2 Strings on them. Selene. Someone’s seen through your invented past, and realized it’s all lies. They gain 2 Strings on you. Robin, Hot 1 Cold -1 Volatile -1 Dark 2 Moves: [x] Sympathy is My Weapon (Mortal) Every time you forgive someone for hurting you, and excuse their base nature, gain a String on them. [x] Better Than Nothing When you gain a Condition, mark experience. [x] A Blank Canvas When you take an action that embodies one of your Conditions, allowing that Condition to alter your sense of self, cross it off and add 1 to your roll.. [ ] Try Harder Next Time When you screw up, give yourself an appropriate Condition and take 1 Forward. [ ] Fake Add 1 to any rolls you make while lying. [ ] Metamorphosis When you Gaze Into the Abyss, on a 7 or higher the abyss will also show you what you must become, and you can permanently swap two of your stats. [ ] Strange Impressions When a main character either harms you or helps you heal, you can respond by studying them with wide eyes. If you do, temporarily gain one of their Skin Moves and add it to your character sheet. It disappears once you use it. Darkest Self: Your body is a prison. You don’t belong inside of it. You need to put it in harm’s way, and make it suffer, just like it’s made you suffer. There’s got to be a way to cut yourself out of it. You need to meet your makers, and hold them accountable for what they’ve done to you. To escape your Darkest Self, you must come to see how someone else feels more trapped than you do. Sex Move: When you have sex with someone, both players secretly write down whether the sex was confusing or soothing for their character. If you reveal the same answer, both characters mark experience. Strings: 2x Robin - She is as obsessed with me as I am her. What could she she in me?0 1x Robin - I know her bike chain is broken but she "rides" it to work every day. Why? 2x Selene - I've been watching her as she walks on the beach. I have taken my social cues from her. Reference Portrait (SFW):

Yes, Velvet has 1 String on Dylan.

Basic Moves and Rules Reference Turn Someone On When you turn someone on, roll with Hot. On a 10 up, gain a String on them and they choose a reaction from below. On a 7-9, they can either give you a String or choose one of the reactions. I give myself to you I promise something I think you want, or I get embarrassed and act awkward. For rules on asexuality and non-attraction, turn to page 49. Shut Someone Down When you shut someone down, roll with Cold. On a 10 up, choose one from below. On a 7-9, choose one from below, but you come across poorly, and they give you a Condition in return. They lose a String on you, If they have no Strings on you, gain one on them, They gain a Condition, or You take 1 Forward. Keep Your Cool When you keep your cool and act despite fear, name what you’re afraid of and roll with Cold. On a 10 up, you keep your cool and gain insight: ask the MC a question about the situation and take 1 Forward to acting on that information. On a 7-9, the MC will tell you how your actions would leave you vulnerable, and you can choose to back down or go through with it. Lash Out Physically When you lash out physically, roll with Volatile. On a 10 up, you deal them harm, and they choke up momentarily before they can react. On a 7-9, you harm them but choose one: They learn something about your true nature and gain a String on you, The MC decides how bad the harm turns out, You become your Darkest Self. Run Away When you run away, roll with Volatile. On a 10 up, you get away to a safe place. On a 7-9, you get away but choose one: You run into something worse, You cause a big scene, or You leave something behind. Gaze Into the Abyss When you gaze into the abyss, name what you’re looking for and roll with Dark. On a 10 up, the abyss shows you lucid visions, and you take 1 Forward to addressing them. On a 7-9, the abyss shows you confusing and alarming visions, but you get your answer nonetheless. Experience Whenever you fail a roll, mark experience. Pulling Strings When you spend a String on someone, choose one: Tempt them to do what you want, Give them a Condition, Add 1 to your roll against them, or Add 1 to the harm you deal them. To learn about tempting someone, turn to page 26. Healing When you take time to tend to your wounds, once per session you may heal 1 Harm. If someone else is there with you, tending to your wounds delicately and intimately - and perhaps with erotic subtext - you may heal an additional 1 Harm. Skirting Death To avoid death, erase all harm and choose one: Become your Darkest Self, Lose all Strings you have on everybody. Conditions If you take advantage of someone’s Condition while making a move against them, add 1 to your roll. A Condition goes away when the character suffering it takes appropriate action to alleviate it. Gangs Gangs add +1 to your rolls and harm as applicable.

I think that works, but I think the fascination is reciprocal - the photo booth is by the corn dog stand. Dylan sees Robin a lot and thinks she might share their need to create a life - the broken bike chain feels like a similar deceit to the created parents. So, I know about your bike chain, you know my lie, and we are an odd kind of obsessed not-exactly-lovers. Our string are pretty tangled.

And my dumb ass didn't see it.

Should I open a character thread?

@DreamsnThings, I think @WickedCadrachmay be right. Dylan thinks they know something about escaping and thinks they can save Velvet. Where did they meet?

Dylan loves the ice cream.parlor over by the pier. They don't have much money so they don't often buy ice cream, but the couples, leaned close together, and families with giggling children is a strange, alluring sight. It is far beyond their experience - they were made to be used, and while they were, their place in the world was clear. But now, with the maker gone, the real world is very different. When they scrape together a few dollars, Dylan buys a single scoop of peach ice cream and eats it from a dish across the street, watching, confused and transfixed. Ellie, though her name tag say Elisa, is a tall, athletic girl who plays basketball at the high school has a crush on Dylan. She thinks Dylan looks pretty hot but is shy enough that he'd be loyal and compliant. But she hasn't said anything because she's not 100% sure Dylan's a guy - and she's definitely not, like homo, or anything.

That's the usual set up. I've never run or played with the existence of monsters being known by the public. Part of the drama is trying to hide your difference.

[Should smash and grab become a stunt? Roll notice and you could definitely use sophisticated sensor array for this.] The convoy scatters, vehicles skidding, crashing and trying to avoid your path. Their progress is broken but There Is No Military Response Followed by a strange, eerie silence as you dash towards the sea. You're lost in Scylla's fluid, loping gait, her hands down, tentacles propelling her forward. Her muscles don't ache. Her joints don't lock. She feels you, feeling her gallop and invites you deeper. At the first touch of the rocky beach, the BioFrame explodes towards the water. Huge leaps carry her out until she can dive into the deep water.

Pick a set of stats, choose your second move and two Bargains. Your stat choices are: Hot -1 Cold -1 Volatile 2 Dark 1 or Hot 1 Cold -1 Volatile -1 Dark 2 Hot is exactly what it sounds like, Cold is your ability to be snide, crafty and calculating. Volatile is your ability to melt down, scream, throw things and hurt people. Dark is your ability to brood thoughtfully and draw inspiration from the Abyss. Those are minus signs, not dashes. Then figure out your name, what you look like and hand out three strings. Then pick someone you think thinks they can save you from the Dark Power, you get one string on them. It's best to describe why you think that and describe how that came to pass. A string is some kind of emotional leverage the other person has. When someone has a string on you they can spend it to get a +1 on a roll against you by using that leverage. The idea is for them to describe what they do to influence you - threaten you, tease you, show you that smile - whatever their ability to coax or cajole you towards acting the way they want. For the Infernal, you also come with an NPC called the Dark Power, it gets strings on you by giving you powers. The MC can use this to stir up your life. Once the Dark Power gets 5 strings on you, you become Your Darkest Self: Some thoughts on how to play the Infernal:

As a devout atheist, I completely support this. Androgynous enough? Also SFW

This will give me two strings on you - is that an okay place to start?

Take two strings on Dylan. I particularly like the way you distilled this. Dylan was made for another's enjoyment - they reflect what's desired of them, but in a world of boys and girls, being both and neither doesn't feel like a choice they can make. Dylan slinks along the edges of the midway, near the Corn Dog stand, and more importantly to Dylan, the photo booth, They collect all the forgotten and discarded photos and keep them in a Marlboro Red box. Except for two older people. They're her "parents". Dylan has never had a corn dog, but they saw that bike chain.

I will, id there are no objections, take the Hollow, who has been kept in the empty house, overlooking the sea. When I creep out of the basement workshop where I was made and stare out across the glittering sea, dreaming - of what belonging? not being? dreaming of what it means to have dreams? - who do I watch as they walk the beach? Who saw me sneaking out of the place where no one lives, devoid of furniture, and looked back, up the road, lit in the too long, lingering golden-orange glow of evening, to the ever empty house, when I told them my parents had go to Greece on business? Hot +1 Cold -1 Volatile -1 Dark +2 I will definitely take Better than nothing. I'm undecided about my second move. I don't know if Dylan is male or female. I'd like some community input here, does Dylan know? The were made as a toy, that they do know. Is their gender actually a fluid thing, driven by what others want? Or simply by what they choose to wear? Do they exist in some space between boy and girl.

The Hive construction project has clogged the river with a shocking amount of silt in a surprisingly short time. If there was a deeper trench trough it, you can't find it, Scyllla is near panic as her head and back crest the surface. To her ears, and yours through the nerves that connect her to your brain, the splash is deafening. There is no immediate sign from the caravan that you've been seen though. As you scan the vehicles there are two things you can easily identify: there are no military vehicles and these are all full of people. Suddenly the convoy breaks, some vehicles accelerating toward the city, others veering away from the river. A few towards the back start to turn around. You can feel Scylla aching to explode out of the river and strike at the hated enemy but her senses also reveal deeper water ahead.

That's exactly the point of lingering attachments, your partner can get jealous, even though they're always there. But those frames you jailbreak remember that first intimacy, the first kindness - and you two mean a lot to them, even if your partner doesn't really like it. It's kind of asymmetrical - they get attached to you, and that can be leveraged as aid, insight or a favor from BioFrame or pilot, but you and or your partner may not want to interact when they want or need something. But, it's your character. As for gear apects - it doesn't have to be just a frame. It can be virtually any object, including and the personality of an a BioFrame bits of whom are embedded in you. It really needs to be custom and unique and can absolutely emerge in play.

Oh, and @WickedCadrach, can I get you to make a quick piloting roll to navigate these shallows - I should have put it in my post, but I' the second or third shittiest GM on the planet.

I can copy and paste a town from supplemental stuff I got in a bundle somewhere along the way. @WickedCadrach, The Hollow might be a good choice to work with - they're a vessel looking for content - it's the kind of disastrous codependency MH thrives on.

While @WickedCadrach was replying, I came up with polyamorous partner processor. But duel processed deprogrammer is clearer to the character concept. My only concern with that is that it is very close to restating Social 'engineer' with an open marriage and symbiotic disharmony. I might suggest that duel processed deprogrammer become the high concept, leave symbiotic disharmony as the trouble and recast 1st Adventure as Lingering attachments suggesting that Granite and Rosa are especially close allies and maybe BioFrames are a little attached to their lesbian liberators.

I am going to make an early request for The Hollow - the built by someone else, Frankenstein's creature feel is one I adore. I also think it makes them exceptionally well suited to being nonbinary, genderfluid and/or gender transgressive which is space I'm especially curious about.