- Location
- Windspear Hills
I have this plot bunny I might develop into something (so this is mostly, hypothetical scenrio), but my imagination fails me, when I try to think of clever way to use it.
I have sorta OC, made for a tabletop game, that didn't get used. It was supposed to be Whateley Academy & Worm inspired Superhero/ Mythos grimdark mash-up, where my character was supposed to be Rumpelstitskin/Faustian Devil Expy player character. He had charisma, cunning and ruthlessness to use his power for his own goals — to barter abstracts with other people. Concepts, like capital letter "Love", "Wealth", "Charm", "Glory" or more precise abstracts, like "your Loyalty to me", "one unspecified service at first request".
Rules and limitations were this:
— Rumpel Expy can trade with another person or be a middle person between two people.
— Person, who makes a deal has to be alive and willing to receive/give up on Objects of the deal. Not mind-controlled, etc.
— Power can't barter two things back and generally works as a probability manipulator, so sold Objects won't return back.
— Usually power doesn't simply warps reality, but rather subtly manipulates people's minds and events to make the exchange happen. Like, your money won't disappear, if you run away without paying. You'll just suffer a property damage of equal amount. In some case, power can manipulate memories and fully modify physical world, but the bigger is change, the more profound are collaterals. They might be nasty.
— Rumpel doesn't have to 'get' all of the things, he bought. He can store it to a vessel — handcrafted talisman, a fetish, created explicitly with that purpose — to barter it to someone else.
— There is no hard limitation on how many abstracts can be bartered per deal.
— It's magic.
— It requires chanting and sometimes other ritual actions to specify conditions of the deal on magical lawyer-speach dialect.
— The more complex the deal is, the bigger is a chance to squeeze in some nasty loopholes and limitations, unintentionally.
— He can squeeze in some loopholes and penalties deliberately, but it's risky by default.
— No subject can barter what he doesn't "possess" in legal and/or common and/or metaphorical sense, depending on object in question. (You don't posses the apartment you live, but don't own legally, yet you do possess [stolen] brilliant or support of your fans).
— At the start Rumpel doesn't have a bag of fetishes to barter, but has an acquired feature of making good first impression.
All, in all it is a powerful and interesting ability. I just don't know how to use it. What I want to ask you to help me with is to look for some immediately visible flaws in this rules, maybe to add some limitations or specific clarifications ("OP! Nerf please! This here can create a stable loop..." and so on).
Also, I have any ideas how to leverage this power in actions, expecially, when I can't just easily pull any of Gambit plots out of my butt, unlike this character theoretically should (he might be not as good at it, as he wants, but still).
So I want to read your suggestions. Non-specific road to power, how to abuse the hell out of it, or maybe more long-and-hard way to glory. What kind of deals you'd suggest to canon characters/non-canon, but implied (like president, etc.) and how'd you get what they want.
For the purpose of this thought exercise, let's suppose, that thinker and precog powers simulate this character very unreliable at first, but gradually get better and better over time.
I have sorta OC, made for a tabletop game, that didn't get used. It was supposed to be Whateley Academy & Worm inspired Superhero/ Mythos grimdark mash-up, where my character was supposed to be Rumpelstitskin/Faustian Devil Expy player character. He had charisma, cunning and ruthlessness to use his power for his own goals — to barter abstracts with other people. Concepts, like capital letter "Love", "Wealth", "Charm", "Glory" or more precise abstracts, like "your Loyalty to me", "one unspecified service at first request".
Rules and limitations were this:
— Rumpel Expy can trade with another person or be a middle person between two people.
— Person, who makes a deal has to be alive and willing to receive/give up on Objects of the deal. Not mind-controlled, etc.
— Power can't barter two things back and generally works as a probability manipulator, so sold Objects won't return back.
— Usually power doesn't simply warps reality, but rather subtly manipulates people's minds and events to make the exchange happen. Like, your money won't disappear, if you run away without paying. You'll just suffer a property damage of equal amount. In some case, power can manipulate memories and fully modify physical world, but the bigger is change, the more profound are collaterals. They might be nasty.
— Rumpel doesn't have to 'get' all of the things, he bought. He can store it to a vessel — handcrafted talisman, a fetish, created explicitly with that purpose — to barter it to someone else.
— There is no hard limitation on how many abstracts can be bartered per deal.
— It's magic.
— It requires chanting and sometimes other ritual actions to specify conditions of the deal on magical lawyer-speach dialect.
— The more complex the deal is, the bigger is a chance to squeeze in some nasty loopholes and limitations, unintentionally.
— He can squeeze in some loopholes and penalties deliberately, but it's risky by default.
— No subject can barter what he doesn't "possess" in legal and/or common and/or metaphorical sense, depending on object in question. (You don't posses the apartment you live, but don't own legally, yet you do possess [stolen] brilliant or support of your fans).
— At the start Rumpel doesn't have a bag of fetishes to barter, but has an acquired feature of making good first impression.
All, in all it is a powerful and interesting ability. I just don't know how to use it. What I want to ask you to help me with is to look for some immediately visible flaws in this rules, maybe to add some limitations or specific clarifications ("OP! Nerf please! This here can create a stable loop..." and so on).
Also, I have any ideas how to leverage this power in actions, expecially, when I can't just easily pull any of Gambit plots out of my butt, unlike this character theoretically should (he might be not as good at it, as he wants, but still).
So I want to read your suggestions. Non-specific road to power, how to abuse the hell out of it, or maybe more long-and-hard way to glory. What kind of deals you'd suggest to canon characters/non-canon, but implied (like president, etc.) and how'd you get what they want.
For the purpose of this thought exercise, let's suppose, that thinker and precog powers simulate this character very unreliable at first, but gradually get better and better over time.
Last edited: