Sin City - Vialle's Tale

Random's annual poker game has been called to order, and you're invited. This year, as before, the host Shadow is an unusual one, at the outskirts of Things, and you are resting in a shady bar after an arduous journey here. Why does the star dancer seem so familiar...? Welcome to the latest episode of the Random Gambling series.

Mechanics/Restrictions: Contact me early if you want to utilize exalted powers, primal artifacts, innate abilities, and / or powers from the Merlin books.

Players must have e-mail access.

Notes: No previous experience with the Random Gambling series or the Sin City movie actually required.

Charcter Generation: Before Con based on 200 points

Play Level: Any

GM(s): David Vandenabeele

Daniel Howethorne son of Random
played by Simone Cooper

Psyche: 11
Strength: 14
Endurance: 24
Warfare: 101

CONTACTS: Ubiquitous in Shadow; bars, taverns, casinos, brothels, music clubs, etc.
TOTAL: 6

Partial Pattern: emphasis on minor local Probability Manipulation, Pattern Defense, and a rough, hard Hell riding style approximately the equivalent of Item transferred Hell riding but faster and more dangerous
TOTAL: 25

Personal Sword: deadly, unbreakable, better with Daniel's style than anything. (4 + 2 + 2)
TOTAL: 8

Pattern Words: Distance; Ambience; Pattern; Iron Curtain; Magic Bullet
TOTAL: 10

Good Stuff: 1

Daniel is a good stuff character, but only slightly. He's a gambler, but also a keen observer; a ruffian, but also a chess player; beer drinker and oenologist. Etc. etc. He's Random, if Random had time to sit back and think on something he wants to do for a long, long time.

--------------------------
Daniel / GM correspondence

Is your character's approach to mysteries cerebral and investigative or more of a "bait them into the open so I can beat it out of them"?

Daniel's had to play the waiting and information game so long, he's not sure what else to do. If someone's crossed far enough that there is going to be a beating, it is unlikely the person would survive for questioning. It does encourage the next guy in line to talk, though.

What is your character's altruism level? Do you help people who need it, even if they aren't Real? How would killing a Shadow cop or watchman rate on your character's moral compass? Would it matter if they were just doing their job or following orders? There are no wrong answers in Basin City. *eg*

Unfortunately for his own goals, Daniel is basically a Good Guy (tm). That his driving motivation for some years now has been blood revenge has not been good for his soul. He's an odd mix; he'd go through setbacks and convolutions to silence a cop or bystander --someone in the wrong place at the wrong time or just doing their job -- when they could more easily be killed, but he doesn't even feel it cutting down someone coming against him or at work for an enemy.

How does your character relate to the Amber elders?

Heh. Well, I'd love to know. I'd love to know if Random's told them anything about me, or if I'm just another threat in Shadow to them.

Apparently, if your name has come up in conversation, the Elders aren't hearing what you think Random would be telling them. Actually, I think Caine, Julian, and Fiona all contacted you by Trump some years ago, but refused to let the conversation pass beyond pleasantries and (creepy) well-wishing.

Do you as a player have a violence threshold that you'd prefer not to have exceeded in the course of the game? I rarely offend anyone, especially players who enjoy the genre I'm injecting into the Amber universe enough to sign up for a slice of Random Gambling, but I feel the question should be asked.

Go for it. As a player, I tend to give as I get. I think in this kind of story that graphic is useful, otherwise it comes out of noir into pure comic book.

If you've been in a previous incarnation of this series, do you want to carry over any events or minor items?

And, last but not quite least; if almost all color drained out of the universe, what about your character would still have hue? Your hair, your eyes, an item, something else? Or would you surrender to the surrounding noir?

It's in his eyes - his father's eyes - and in blood, of course. Sometimes his eyes are bright with hope or hate, and other times dull, almost dead. Hazel.

--------------------------

That Random hand-delivered Oshi's invitation does bring up a question, though. Would this imply that he sought her in Shadow?

He did. Random played it as if she wasn't out of his way, and given how far out in things you've been lately, that is possible, if unlikely.

Also, the fact that Random knew me well enough to let other Elders draw Trump(s?) of me is very disturbing, since it would imply he could contact me or sic any of them on me at any time, yeah? Creepy.

Oh, I was going to describe Daniel's Pattern Imprint as "a crippled version of Pattern interwoven with some other energy" - namely the Power Words bits - when giving our resident mystics a rundown of you. Does that sound accurate enough?

Sounds pretty much exactly right. The other energy being Daniel's personal... "force," for lack of a better term. Or whatever... since Daniel has no idea how it works, anyway (and, most of the time, even that it works).