Upcoming Game: Engines of Chaos Redux

A little over a month ago, I submitted a poll to see which of a handful of game ideas would be the most popular (link to post here) and the winner was rebooting Engines of Chaos. Since then, ConnorCandy, DaMasterT, Esimed, LucienNepreen, and I have been working to flesh some ideas out for that game, focusing heavily on coming up with the characters we want to use. That done, we wanted to share with you guys what we’ve got, what EoC Redux is going to be about, and we wanted to see if any of you would be interested in joining the team.

Engines of Chaos (EoC) was a game about an eclectic group of heroes from all around the “multiverse” (with each individual “universe” being a separate setting that the heroes and support cast came from and would visit) assembled at a strange dimension called the Crossroads by a mysterious entity known only as the Being and given the monumental task of saving the multiverse from the wiles of various factions (such as the Syndicate, the Arbiters, and the Imperium of Zakar, and the Empire of Hont). In classic TV show style, the heroes were to enter various universes, beat the bad guys or some other objective, then in the next episode go onto another universe and save the day there, all the while learning more about what it means to be Awakened (a gift that allows the heroes to speak all languages, gives them immunity to foreign pathogens, and grants other gifts that allow the heroes to successfully navigate the multiverse).

That was what EoC was supposed to be about, however, I quickly became overwhelmed and the game stalled out. The original EoC was a game designed to support our interpretation of TheHeroUp’s “Come Together” (link to idea here) concept, which did manage to bring together a team of us that probably would not have tried to work together otherwise, but unfortunately I was not prepared to handle what the game became in a way that would be sustainable. As such, when at last WritingBug and later ConnorCandy mentioned ending the long hiatus that I had put EoC on, and when DaMasterT, Esimed, LucienNepreen, TheHeroUp, and Blitzen expressed interest in participating in the game if it were to be rebooted, I decided to give it a shot, but this time we would do it differently, in a way that ideally wouldn’t overwhelm me and stress me out as much as the original Engines of Chaos did. Thus, instead of picking up where we left off, we will relaunch the game as Engines of Chaos Redux, a game designed to make the EoC concept work instead of focus on the Come Together concept.

One of the more immediate ramifications of that objective adjustment is that, at least initially, all member characters will be soon-to-be Awakened Heroes who will be brought to the Crossroads. As I mentioned earlier, we have been putting a lot of thought into the characters we wanted to use, and I will present what we’ve come up with so far.

When we were discussing these characters, we set up a skills matrix with the intent of highlighting the things our team has and finds lacking. We then had the skills ranked 1-3 with 1 being on par with that of a professional who uses said skill, 2 being well above what the average person can do, and 3 being something the character super-specializes in.

Combat Skills
- Melee Fighting
- Mid-Ranged Fighting (Throwing Weapons and Handguns)
- Long-Ranged Fighting
- Blaster Casting
- Support Casting
- Debilitation/Illusion Casting
- Tanking
- Animal Riding
- Vehicle Driving/Piloting

Utility Skills
- Computer Hacking/Programming/Interfacing
- Fixing Vehicles
- Healing People
- Healing Animals
- Utility Casting
- Persuading
- Managing/Leading
- Deductive Reasoning
- Sneaking
- Acrobatics
- Sleight of Hand (eg. Pickpocketing)

This list is far from perfect, so if anyone has any thoughts on how to improve it or is confused about something, don’t hesitate to comment.

ConnorCandy

Primary Character: Geb

23, Male, Human

At a young age, Geb encountered a man who sensed Geb’s childish sense of wonder in a world that was nothing but dark. The man, who called himself “Sandy”, took an interest in Geb and spent some time observing the boy. Despite the fact that his world was corrupt with evil, Geb seemed to be one of the few who were still bright and wanting to make the world better. Sandy decided to approach Geb and offer him a chance to make the world a better place. Geb accepted and was granted abilities similar to the mythical Sandman, such as flight, sleep inducement and dream manipulation. Geb became nocturnal as well, spending his time traveling across his city granting people good dreams and filling their heads with hopes for a better future. Of course, this influenced his personality a lot. He loved seeing someone sleep happily, but became terrible at communicating with a conscious person. He hates conflict situations but is definitely not defenseless. He can manipulate what he calls “Dream Sand” and is also skilled at archery since there’s many creatures of the night who wouldn’t like him flying around.

Combat Skills:
Long-Ranged Fighting (Bow) - 2
Debilitation/Illusion Casting - 3

Utility Skills:
Utility Casting - 1
Persuading - 1
Sneaking - 2
Acrobatics - 1

Personality Traits:
Shy, curious, tired, nerd, master of references.

DaMasterT

Primary Character: Horns
22 yr old Half-Tor

Ever since that first day in the woods, Horns would know that life was cruel and that nothing would be handed to him. He embraced this truth, using it as the backbone for his entire being. As a Tor, even if mixed, he had to be strong. You either live by blood, blade, and fire or not at all. Horns is hard-boiled due to living a hard life, he is no stranger to pain nor hard work, and finds it hard to stay away from both. After fighting off a number of attempts on his life in the wilds and cities of Lodrun due both to his race and his associations with the raiders of the land, Horns found himself swept away into one adventure that would change him forever.

Combat Skills:
Melee Fighting (Nbv Chkri Improvised Brawling) - 2
Mid-Ranged Fighting (Throwing Weapons) - 1
Debilitation Casting (Stagger Spell) - 1
Tanking (Natural Regen, Elemental Resistance) - 2

Utility Skills:
Persuasion (Intimidation) - 2

Personality:
Reserved, Introvert, Cautious, Loyal, Fiery Temper

Secondary Character: Yonnathan Calloway
25 yr old cybernetically enhanced human

Yonn was raised by the Hub's neon streets. He knows every corner like the back of his hands and the quickest route to almost any location. But His knowledge extends beyond its streets, he knows the people too. In a place like the Hub, simple survival skills and strength won't be sufficient, So Yonn has become skilled in the arts of both the tongue and the trigger, usually using a mixture of both to get what he wants. It isn't that he likes manipulating people (much), but allowing his cold-blooded image to falter is deadly where he's from. Beyond this, Yonn has strived to learn almost every skill and trade applicable to his life, he can bypass low-level security in a bind and has become rather sufficient in repairing circuitry and both repairing and piloting machines. Should his cybernetic arm leg or AR vision implants bug out, he can tell you how to fix it if he can't do it himself. He holds himself at the center of his world, longevity is practically his middle name.

Combat Skills:
Melee Fighting 1
Mid-Ranged Fighting (Handguns) - 2
Long-Ranged Fighting (Sniper) - 1

Utility Skills
Vehicle Driving/Piloting - 2
Computer Hacking/Programming/Interfacing - 1
Fixing Vehicles 1
Deductive Reasoning 1
Sleight of Hand (Pickpocketing, Planting) - 1

Personally:
Bold, Playful, Fearless, Rebellious, Cold-Blooded

Backup Character: Ponce de Gezzadro
22 yr old Human Spell-Sword

Ponce de Gezzadro was raised as a soldier. He was taught the code of honor, the Verden Army's pledge was drilled into his memory. But among all of it, Ponce felt something more for him than to be simple sword fodder to be thrown against the "enemy" for the meaningless purpose of acquiring a few more miles of territory. He would sneak off to the other side of the border, to Dalen, and he would watch amazing performances that centuries ago wouldn't have been possible. These people used magic to infact do the impossible, and Ponce was absolutely enraptured. It was years later that the soldier would learn that he was so much more than that, that these impossible feats were within his own scopes. Most magic users studied hard for their unearthly power, Ponce was born with it. After a series of unfortunate events, and one really bad day, Ponce was pushed to his breaking point, and his magic was unleashed upon his former comrades. They didn't stand a chance. Now, he need only control his power. Easier said than done.

Combat Skills:
Melee Fighting(Swordplay) - 1
Blaster Casting (Lighting Spell) - 1
Animal Riding - 1

Utility Skills:
Sneaking - 1

Personality:
Strong-Willed, Caring, Vengeful, Seeking Wisdom

Esimed

Primary Character: Kasmia Dragomira

20 year old undying Draemorthan female from 400 years in the past

Kasmia was born into the life of a vestal priestess, charged with preserving the temple, scrolls and rituals in the service of her family’s patron demon, Yeknekhoth. When the villagers turned on her kin she fled into the frozen wastelands of the north where she perished in the elements. 400 years later Yeknekhoth resurrected her body with a mesh of qualities associated with vampire and zombie, but without the actual fangs or rotting flesh. After many years of a complicated duty and union to the demon, Kasmia has recently forsaken him and most of the powers and abilities he’d bestowed upon her. She’s taken refuge under the protection of The Being and undergone a difficult adjustment to an alternate source of nutriment and influence.

Combat Skills:
Melee Fighting (1)
Animal Riding (1)
Tanking - Healing Self (3)

Utility Skills:
Persuading (2)
Deductive Reasoning (1)

Personality:
Arrogant, Manipulative, Observant, Zealous, Mischievous

Backup Character: Zubrette Aldeen

33 year old human female possessing the X-Gene on her 23rd Chromosome

Zubrette Aldeen was a thief, swindler and worse before she reformed her ways and became something of a hero. Known as Vex in some circles, she is a mutant with the gift of telekinesis. Those powers developed at a young age and a life spent refining them makes her decidedly dangerous as she sabotages enemies and the battlefield itself.

Combat Skills:
Melee Fighting (1)
Mid-Ranged Fighting (1)
Debilitation Casting (3)
Vehicle Driving/Piloting (1)

Utility Skills:
Acrobatics (1)
Sneaking (1)
Sleight of Hand (2)
Computer Hacking/Programming/Interfacing (1)
Persuading (1)

Personality:
Flirtatious, Boisterous, Inquisitive, Impatient

LucienNepreen

Primary Character: Tek-Neshal

18 year old Male Lizardfolk

Being the only survivor of his clutch and showing great skill in shamanism early on, Tek soon became a prodigy under the tutelage of his tribes shaman. He fervently worships the Ancestors and is able to deftly wield his kinds ancestral scale magic.

Combat Skills:
Melee Fighting - 1
Support Casting - 2
Debilitation/Illusion Casting - 1
Animal Riding - 1

Utility Skills:
Healing People - 2
Healing Animals - 2
Animal Communication - 2
Utility Casting - 1
Sneaking(Lizard folk are naturally stealthy) - 1
Acrobatics - 1

Personality:
Quiet, spiritual, wise beyond his years. Comfortable being alone and in the wilds.

Backup Character: Andrew Salivan

35 year old Male "Human"(convergent evolution in a different Galaxy.)

Raised as a soldier since his youth, Andrew has known war his entire life, proving himself as a fearsome warrior and a competent leader. When his world was invaded by a conquering force, Andrew earned their respect as he thwarted them in multiple battles with savagery and cunning, though he was often among the soldiers fighting on the battlefield.

His people bear a striking resemblance to Terran humans, with differences in size and the chitinous armor that covers most of their upper bodies and legs.

Combat Skills:
Melee Fighting - 3
Mid-Ranged Fighting - 1
Long-Ranged Fighting - 1
Tanking - 1
Vehicle Driving/Piloting - 2

Utility Skills:
Managing/Leading - 2
Acrobatics - 1

Personality:
Hot-headed, stubborn, decisive.

Nim

Primary Character: Rin

25 year old female human sorceress

Raised by a family of hermits, Rin ran away and managed to eek out a living by convincing people that she was a spirit medium (which she wasn't) by making clever use of her psychic abilities. A drifter and a con-artist, Rin traveled around her part of the world a fair bit before she eventually fell in with a caravan that she joined up with due to her desire to fulfill one of the visions she often saw that always seemed to happen whether she wanted them to or not. This journey was supposed to be the subject of the game Heart of the Purple Storm, but unfortunately that never really got off the ground, so now Rin gets a second (or third) chance in this game.

Combat Skills:
Debilitation Casting (Psychic) - 2

Utility Skills:
Healing People (Apothecary) - 1
Utility Casting (Telepathy) - 1
Persuading - 2
Acrobatics - 1

Personality:
Introverted, Reserved, Mischievous, Observant, Manipulative, Surprisingly Caring and Compassionate.

Backup Character: Alejandra Casoza

27 year old female human witch

Alejandra was a Procurer assigned to find suspected witches and bring them to LaFey Conservatoire for Girls for proper education in the use of their magical abilities. Equipped with the abilities to hear the memories of a person who's voice she hears, teleport to places she's placed sigils at, and make magical suggestions that the subject is usually inclined to follow, Alejandra was very capable at her job. For the few occasions in which she found herself in a scrap, her cryomancy spells and regenerative magic would usually see her through, but her shooting skills with a handgun would save her on the occasions when her enemies were immune to magic.

Combat Skills:
Mid-Range Fighting (Pistol Shooting) - 1
Blaster Casting (Cryomancy) - 1
Tanking (Self-Regeneration Magic) - 1

Utility Skills:
Utility Casting (Clairaudience, Teleportation) - 2
Persuading (Magical Suggestion) - 1
Deductive Reasoning - 1

Personality:
Free-spirited, suspicious of authority, honorable

=============================

Our current plan is to run with only one team of characters if nobody else feels inclined to try Engines of Chaos Redux out, but if several people would like to join, ConnorCandy will lead a second team of characters. We will be gunning to try to let everyone post at least once a week. If that is a manageable post rate for you and you are interested in participating in this game, let me know as soon as you can so I can bring you in on the planning.

As you probably noticed, most of us listed a backup character. This character is someone who we will be willing to use in place of the primary character if it turns out that the primary character doesn’t appear to fit in the team. So if you have a character in mind that you are worried might overlap too heavily with an existing character, don’t worry, we can be flexible. However, we are missing characters from the following archetypes that could be a valuable addition to the party:

Ranger,
Knight,
Paladin,
Cleric,
Alchemist

Mechanic,
Commando,
Doctor,
Combat Engineer,
Mad-ish Scientist

Characters can come from almost anywhere, which is one of the major beauties of this setting (although they will get pulled out of their native setting if they are going to be a part of this adventure). For me, EoC has been a great way for me to reuse some of my favorite characters from old OW games whose stories were tragically cut short to the whimsical nature of Ongoing Worlds, however, if anyone wants to create an original character for this setting, there is nothing wrong with that.

I will plan on launching EoC Redux within the next few weeks. After that, we will have a team building/training segment during which our characters should start to get to know each other and form teams. When this segment is concluded, our heroes will embark on their first missions and I will then close the game to further application, so if you are intrigued by this idea, you have a month and a half or so to join.

Questions, comments, concerns, suggestions? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below!