Genius: The Transgression

[Azahul]

I've been running a World of Darkness game lately, using the Genius: The Transgression ruleset, and it's got me thinking. When it comes to enemies, allies, friends, and the general setting, the game is amazing flexible. You have basically anything your mind can think of to draw on, and I've been having a load of fun coming up with various characters for my game. So, in the interests of mad science (and possibly to see if I can gather some good ideas to add to my own story), I'd like to see what you lot would come up with if you were running a game in this setting.

For those that have no idea what I'm talking about, Genius: The Transgression is a fan-made supplement for World of Darkness. The rules (for Genius at least), can be downloaded as a PDF at http://sites.google.com/site/moochava/genius

For example, the game I'm currently running has the players (mad geniuses all) living in a mansion that used to be the home of a fellow Genius. In the basement there's a machine that opens a gateway to an alternate reality. The mansion also has a mummified corpse/robot rooted to one place in the foyer that speaks with a terrible British accent and is mostly just there to freak everyone out, and a few other odd things. There's a bad guy trying to merge the realities together in the hope it'll give him mastery of all space and time, although he's a few screws short and may or may not really be as big a threat as he appears.
Not only that, but as a result of the machine in the basement places in the house (particularly the kitchen and dining room) sometimes flicker over into that other reality. Sitting down to eat dinner in this place is a risky prospect, especially since the food could change half-way to your mouth. The machine is also affecting the whole mansion and surrounding area (including a nearby village), causing the occasional appearance of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. like anomalies.
Then there are the players, who are respectively a racist robot builder, a genius with a hatred of intelligence and a weird preoccupation with jellyfish, and the head of a large eletronics firm with a car that seems to distort the space around it. They're a hilarious bunch.

So yeah, that's my campaign as I'm running it (I've left a few things out, but that's the gist of things). There's a big focus on a rather confined area, namely the manor and the nearby village (although what with the alternate reality, there's technically two manors and two villages), and a handful of characters.

So, I challenge you. Genius, as I see it, could potentially be about anything. The rulebook (and compliments to the writer here, I love the rulebook, it's good for a laugh even if you don't want to use the rules for anything) has dozens of different possibilities for a game based on mad science, and the possibilities truly are endless. If you were to design a character, a setting, an enemy, or all of the above for this sort of game, what would it be?

 

[Azahul]

I didn't read the whole text. This came out of nowhere.

Is this some kind of mod for some kind of game?

Hence why it's in Off Topic. World of Darkness is a table-top RPG system for running games of supernatural horror, generally set in the modern world. There's a number of supplements for it, allowing people to play as vampires, werewolves, faeries (well, more or less), and so on. Genius: The Transgression is a fan-made supplement for playing as a mad scientist with a bunch of crazy gadgets, half-mad robots, death rays, and/or mutant servants. For a fan-made ruleset, it's pretty well done, and the possibilities for games (at least in my mind) are staggering. And that is why I was interested in what other people could come up with for it.

 

[Dyp100]

I didn't read the whole text. This came out of nowhere.

Is this some kind of mod for some kind of game?

You know you should really research the topic instead of just posting willy nilly. Google is there for a reason.

Hmm, is this rulset for old or new WoD?

Either way, IDK, the X: The X is almost infinite, the WoD setting seems very flexible. Right now I'm just rather happy looking at the Vampire: The Reqium Rome supplement. Kinda cool since I like the WoD universe and LOVE Anicent Rome.

 

[Azahul]

Hmm, is this rulset for old or new WoD?

Either way, IDK, the X: The X is almost infinite, the WoD setting seems very flexible. Right now I'm just rather happy looking at the Vampire: The Reqium Rome supplement. Kinda cool since I like the WoD universe and LOVE Anicent Rome.

It's for New, sorry for not mentioning that earlier. Pretty well put together for a fan-made ruleset, and the author has a bit of a flair for comedy that I quite like. For example, a short piece about the Klagen (a subsect of Geniuses):

"When I was in high school my teacher told me that there are more people alive today than have ever lived. Don't worry: she lied, then got cancer. (Not my fault.) We live atop a mountain of corpses. The Earth is swimming in humans, above and below the ground, so when I see you trying to raise the dead, I'm torn. On the one hand, I recognize your despair. On the other hand, do you really want to spend the rest of the week fending off a zombie apocalypse as the Earth vomits up her dead? AGAIN? Come on, man, think this through: every time you try this, we end up fighting zombies. I hate zombies. Just put the syringe down."

It's good for a read even if you don't plan on playing it.

 

[Tanakh]

If you were to design a character, a setting, an enemy, or all of the above for this sort of game, what would it be?

Fast, outa my ass suggestions, the tree are related:

Character - A guy whose craft is inventing new ways to love a girl, you know, can he invent really amazing new ones? Is love stall? Does he really love the girls he is with or he is just using them? Will he actually fall in love?

Setting - A semi anarchic world where ideas were the currency, the one with the craziest, most extravagant or just plainly more innovative ideas are the wealthiest. But those that have em must never let the "core" of the idea be known (the core being the 1 thing what makes it work), for then they become widespread and totally worthless.
Wold based on deception, secrets and ingenious.

Antagonist - An anarchoterrorist guy that wants to end the current system and create a new world akin to ours. He wants to introduce currency based on gold! Preposterous!!! And something called copyright? WFT?!?! But, he also wants everyone to have human rights and not be worth only based on what's in their heads.



Anyway, i dont like the concept of Genius, but it seems fun, GL with it! And i dont like it because every time i have played stuff of the sort i have babbling morons in the table trying to roll a toon with supposedly the brains to make Einstein look like a baboon -.-
And i rage!!

 

[Tanakh]

Double post.

 

[MagicBullet]

Maybe it's because I've been replaying Arcanum (alot) recently, but I think that this would be a really good rule-base for a tech-oriented steampunk game.

Setting: A Victorian-esque world, full of high magic and mechanical contrivance - to quote Arcanum's tagline, a world of Steamorks and Magic Obscura. The important thing to note here, for those who haven't played Arcanum before, is that Magic and Technology don't play well together. Magic attempted in the presence of high concentrations of technology tend to make it weak, washed out and sometimes dangerously unstable - and on the other side of the coin, complicated technology being operated in areas of high magic tend to break down, misfire and become dangerously unstable. (You do NOT want to operate a grenade launcher in an Elven city. Besides all those horribly angry elven warriors bearing down on you, sharpening their pretty swords, you'd probably already blown yourself and/or your companions into itty bitty pieces before the elves can make their displeasure in you quite distinctly clear...)

Characters: While magic characters can be interesting, this rule-set would be a positive boon for tech characters. So, why not have player characters as members of a Society of Adventurous Gentlemen or undergraduates from a distinguished university out researching their thesis? For even better effect, having a mixed party of Magick (Snooty Elven Wizard, quote: "Could you PLEASE take your abominable arachnid contraption in hand and keep it away from my equipment madam! I am TRYING to align the Astral forces of the Vestigial Vortex!"), Mundane (Big Half-Ogre Mercenary, quote: "Gruh? Shiny thing!") and Tech (Absent-minded and over-curious technologist, quote: "I wonder what would happen if I fired nitroglycerin out of a rifle...")

Antagonist: Well, in the above example (and from my experiance as DM) I would probably say that the antagonist, and certainly the most clear and present danger to the player characters (not to mention everything else) are the players themselves. Of course other dangers could be present - a pseudo-religious assassin-cult bent on eliminating all (or just one, to maximize internal backstabbing and hilarity within the PCs) of the group; a neighbouring country declaring war (to give it an almost WWI feel, you know "The Hun; The Great Enemy" and all that); it could be something as mundane as a deadly plague spreading in the big city, requiring magical and technological specialists to put aside their differences to combat the plague; or it could be something as cliche as a great and evil coming back from the dusty annals of history to destroy the world; or, for the hell of it, all of that and more AT THE SAME TIME!

Heh... It sure would be fun to be able to hobble together a robot out of some wire, bits of old metal and a miniature steam engine, fit it with a magic inhibitor and send it after the party mage just to mess with him...as he's about to summon some greater demon from some nether hell for a little chat, no less. [Wicked Laughter and Much Hullabaloo Ensues]