Abyss Powers (unofficial)

[RPGPundit]

Ok, so if we list a power breakdown, it seems that Abyss Diving grants the power to enter the Abyss unprotected, and to have some supernatural sense about the abyss and maneuvering through its dangers (possibly based on Psyche?).

The risks are fairly obvious, apparently; what would be the benefits, though?

Also, how do you as GM determine when an abyss dive is dangerous or takes a dangerous turn?

RPGPundit

[Croaker]

Also, how do you as GM determine when an abyss dive is dangerous or takes a dangerous turn?

Simple, he uses the usual GM tools.
Meaning he has had a bad day, or feel like being sadist

<= Leaving

[Lorrraine]

Ok, so if we list a power breakdown, it seems that Abyss Diving grants the power to enter the Abyss unprotected, and to have some supernatural sense about the abyss and maneuvering through its dangers (possibly based on Psyche?).

The risks are fairly obvious, apparently; what would be the benefits, though?

Also, how do you as GM determine when an abyss dive is dangerous or takes a dangerous turn?

RPGPundit

Some background may help answer the first question.

According to the mythology of Chaos the Abyss stands as the origin of all things. Everything in all of existence emerged from the Abyss, descended from someone who emerged from the Abyss, or came into existence as a reflection of someone or something that emerged from the Abyss. The strongest of the Chaos Lords, the founders of houses, emerged from the Abyss millenia ago and slowly grew in power. Most current Lords of Chaos descend from those founders. A few Lords started as demons, but gained sufficient power to win a place among the lords.

Beings and items that come into spontaneous existence within the Abyss vary wildly in terms of power. Acquire the right being and you may have a future Lord. Acquire the right item and it may have a use that will increase your own power or the power of your house.

The great Houses of Chaos build as close to the Abyss as they can both as a demonstration of their power and in order to maintain access to the Abyss.

At first the Houses would station their servants on the edge of the Abyss to grab whatever emerged. The advent of Abyss Divers meant the Houses could snag these spontaneous creations without waiting for them to emerge. This also meant they could retrieve far more from the Abyss since most spontaneous creations also spontaneously uncreate in relatively short order.

Even a seemingly useless item retrieved from the Abyss has value due to the uniqueness of the item and the possibility it may have undiscovered potentials. Having Abyss Divers and their retrievals adds to the prestige of a House. And of course over the long haul items and creatures will get retrieved that will add to the power of the House.

As to your second question, every Abyss Dive has dangers. Not even an Abyss Diver can enter the Abyss without some risk. I try to keep the danger level somewhat unpredictable. Degree of potential reward based on what the Abyss Diver might retrieve can also serve as a rough guide to danger level although I definitely make the occasional exception. Poor choices by the Abyss Diver will almost always make the situation worse. Background machinations by certain beings of power can also make Abyss Diving much more dangerous.

[RPGPundit]

I see, and how does an abyss dive actually play out? Did any of your PCs have this power? How were they able to make choices, or judge risk involved?

Also, what kind of items did you have coming out of the abyss? Could you describe some of them?

RPGPundit

[Lorrraine]

The actual text I used for the power follows.

Abyss Diver

Resist Dissolution- All life emerged from the Abyss and anything within the Abyss will dissolve entirely sooner or later. The Abyss Diver can hold off that dissolution for a time and harvest the Abyss for new creations. When an Abyss Diver focuses on maintaining the integrity of their form almost nothing can alter it in any way. This includes a functional immunity to all conventional energies including kinetic. Note that the Abyss Diver cannot shapeshift while using this ability. The Abyss diver can also empower their equipment or a willing target with this ability by touch. This will require psychic contact if empowering a sentient.

Free Movement- Abyss divers have an unerring sense of direction in multiple dimensions. Furthermore they can maneuver themselves without regard for environment or lack of same. Note that this provides no particular ability to bypass obstacles, only the freedom to move where no obstacles exist.

New Bits of Creation- All Abyss divers have access to New Bits of Creation. While most such thing go for sale, Patron, or house, any experienced Abyss Diver will have one or more unique items or allies, with specifics subject to GM approval.

[Lorrraine]

I see, and how does an abyss dive actually play out? Did any of your PCs have this power? How were they able to make choices, or judge risk involved?

Also, what kind of items did you have coming out of the abyss? Could you describe some of them?

RPGPundit

I had one PC take the power. She/Ze (Female player/Gender ambiguous character) has only spent a fairly limited amount of time in the Abyss although the power has proved useful in a variety of circumstances.

An Abyss dive plays out first by emphasizing the isolation and sensory deprivation as the character enters and becomes disconnected from conventional senses and outside contacts. Jumping in the Abyss for example will break a Trump contact in my game. Then an amount of time impossible to measure passes. Timekeeping devices do not work in the abyss and the sensory deprivations reeks havoc with personal time sense. If the player finds something I describe that. Otherwise I might say something like, "You have not yet found anything, and you feel yourself starting to fatigue. Press on or resurface?" If the PC encounters any special difficulties I will describe those. If the PC reemerges then a flood of sudden sensory input that they know to brace for once more floods their senses. Once clear they have the option to relax and let the power ebb away once more. If pushed to the limit they might emerge only to scrabble past the edge and fall into unconsciousness.

As to how the players make choices. I don't worry about that. Players will do what players will do. I judge the player's choices on a few criteria. Do they show self confidence? Given that their very survival depends on will a failure of confidence can prove fatal. Do they rationally address the obstacles they face? Do they have the stats to succeed in what they attempt? Does their answer square with my understanding of the cosmology and workings of the Abyss? And finally for the more random questions, does their answer match whichever answer I have predetermined as more correct?

Yeah that last criteria may not seem fair. I have to model an insanely dangerous random ubernatural phenomenon. Fair does not enter into it.

Items from the Abyss fall into three distinct categories.

1. Something that fell into the Abyss and temporarily resisted dissolution. A greatly empowered item such as a Spikard could do this for a time. A mere conjured item would disintegrate quickly. Availability depends on who and what fell into the Abyss recently. Werewindle would serve as an example if Brand fell into the Abyss.

2. Items from another iteration of existence. In my Chaos existence cycles. Eventually the Abyss swallows everything. Slowly new existence emerges from the Abyss yet again. Very few beings, Suhuy primary among them, have learned how to survive this cycle. Because the Abyss touches every iteration and swallows every iteration, Items from other iterations can emerge. Many seem mundane, but even the least can provide clues to these alternate Chaoses. A coin pitted by the energies of the Abyss, but which still clearly shows the face of a monarch who has not existed in recorder history would provide an example of this type.

3. Items or beings generated from the random energies of the Abyss itself. Each such item or being has a unique nature and often takes a great deal of time and work to figure out. Any resemblence between such an item or creature and something that the pc may know of has more to do with coincidence and a limited descriptive vocabulary than fact. For example a small item, less than half an inch in the largest dimension which seems to have seven, eight, or nine sides as you turn it about without ever seeming to actually change shape. Sometimes it hums faintly while at other times it remains silent. Figuring out when and why it hums will require experimentation.

[Croaker]

Seems very fun and interesting.

What about people coming out of the abyss? Did you have any actual exemples in play? How did it work out?

[Lorrraine]

Thank you. It has not happened in play yet. It could happen.

[RPGPundit]

I agree that this is very interesting.  So were those examples you gave above actual items that were obtained by the PC or others in your campaign? If not, can you give us some examples and how they ended up affecting the game (I'm interested to know if the PC's investment turned out to be worth it; generally with the kind of powers similar to what you described its been my experience that either players are ultimately disappointed because the power turns out to be not worth the trouble, or they end up being vastly overblown in value as the character ends up benefiting from the power in a way disproportionate to the investment or the relative value of other powers).

RPGPundit

[Lorrraine]

Items have not significantly impacted the campaign yet. The main benefit the PC has derived from items thus far has come from the fact that in my campaign items from the Abyss have a great deal of value in the barter and favor based economy of Chaos. The game only meets once a month and we have only recently passed the six month point so that may change. My player seems satisfied with the power so far.

[RPGPundit]

OH, I see, so this is for an ongoing campaign!  Well, we should think up interesting things that could happen related to this power, or interesting stuff that could come out of the Abyss, in that case!

RPGPundit

[AshenHaze]

I've run an Amber Campaign with the Abyss playing a large role, it was my first game and was called Rise of the Abyss.

The foes were "Knights of the Abyss" Who wore black armor and were distinguished from each other initially by various colored eyes.  The abyss gave them several abilities...

They could Rip to and from the Abyss with ease, tearing a literal hole from one location to another.  This acted similar to trump, and allowing them to also follow a trump that happened in there vicinity.

The Abyss itself would constantly attempt to "decay" or degrade the items within it, those with Abyss powers were immune to that decay, and could extend that protection to others.

Space was less...defined in the Abyss, and so Abyssal characters got the ability to manipulate distances, causing a running character to arrive more quickly than he should have, or make nearly no progress at all.  This caused alot of havoc when combined with troop movements in battles against the Amberite characters.

Inside the Abyss was the "Void Sea" which could be formed into a variety of creatures and monsters.

I'll admit, the powers grew ..as I needed them, they usually involved travel or manipulating distances, in my game the Abyss existed outside of shadow but connected, and could reach any point in the universe relatively easily.  With that and the great difficulty in resisting its decaying effects the Knights were a difficult foe for my characters for some time, able to strike anywhere and almost always escape.

[Evermasterx]

I've run an Amber Campaign with the Abyss playing a large role, it was my first game and was called Rise of the Abyss.

The foes were "Knights of the Abyss" Who wore black armor and were distinguished from each other initially by various colored eyes.  The abyss gave them several abilities...

They could Rip to and from the Abyss with ease, tearing a literal hole from one location to another.  This acted similar to trump, and allowing them to also follow a trump that happened in there vicinity.

The Abyss itself would constantly attempt to "decay" or degrade the items within it, those with Abyss powers were immune to that decay, and could extend that protection to others.

Space was less...defined in the Abyss, and so Abyssal characters got the ability to manipulate distances, causing a running character to arrive more quickly than he should have, or make nearly no progress at all.  This caused alot of havoc when combined with troop movements in battles against the Amberite characters.

Inside the Abyss was the "Void Sea" which could be formed into a variety of creatures and monsters.

I'll admit, the powers grew ..as I needed them, they usually involved travel or manipulating distances, in my game the Abyss existed outside of shadow but connected, and could reach any point in the universe relatively easily.  With that and the great difficulty in resisting its decaying effects the Knights were a difficult foe for my characters for some time, able to strike anywhere and almost always escape.

very interesting. ideas to steal...

[RPGPundit]

I've run an Amber Campaign with the Abyss playing a large role, it was my first game and was called Rise of the Abyss.

The foes were "Knights of the Abyss" Who wore black armor and were distinguished from each other initially by various colored eyes.  The abyss gave them several abilities...

They could Rip to and from the Abyss with ease, tearing a literal hole from one location to another.  This acted similar to trump, and allowing them to also follow a trump that happened in there vicinity.

The Abyss itself would constantly attempt to "decay" or degrade the items within it, those with Abyss powers were immune to that decay, and could extend that protection to others.

Space was less...defined in the Abyss, and so Abyssal characters got the ability to manipulate distances, causing a running character to arrive more quickly than he should have, or make nearly no progress at all.  This caused alot of havoc when combined with troop movements in battles against the Amberite characters.

Inside the Abyss was the "Void Sea" which could be formed into a variety of creatures and monsters.

I'll admit, the powers grew ..as I needed them, they usually involved travel or manipulating distances, in my game the Abyss existed outside of shadow but connected, and could reach any point in the universe relatively easily.  With that and the great difficulty in resisting its decaying effects the Knights were a difficult foe for my characters for some time, able to strike anywhere and almost always escape.

So this wasn't something the PCs had access to as a power?

If it was, from the sound of it, would it not have invalidated some of the value of Trump? How did you handle that? How did use of the power stack up vs. Trump, Logrus or Pattern?

RPGPundit

[AshenHaze]

It was not available to the players till late game, only one player took it and was killed by the party shortly there after (for completely separate reasons) so I didn't have to deal too much with the interactions.

I had a sort of rock paper scissors game for powers...

Logrus > Abyss > Trump > Pattern > Logrus ...

Each power was equal with one, weak against one and strong against one, if those powers came into contact.  The Abyssals ended up being very weak against the Logrus, so Logrus users and Logrus powered sorcery worked very well on them.

Some clever players utilized the Trumps to lay traps for the knights, allowing themselves to be followed into a position in which they had set up an ambush.