Supers! - Superheroes, Original Setting, System Game on Mumble

Started by Cassandra LeMay, July 12, 2016, 03:44:07 AM

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Cassandra LeMay

I am looking for a few players interested in playing in a superhero system game run on Mumble (or some other voice chat client agreed by the group, but why not Mumble?)

As the timeframe may be crucial for a voice-chat game, let me address that first:

I propose to play, Saturday or Sunday; session length about up to 5-6 hours maximum, session start at around 15:00 GMT (10am EST, which is 4pm for me). If we end up with a group all in Europe we might be a bit more flexible with the time, e.g. we could start earlier in the day and finish in time for everyone to still go to the movies in the evening or whatever else you might like to do on a weekend evening, but 1000EST / 1500GMT is what I propose for now.

The setting (and the characters' role in it):

This will be an original setting, so no, it won't be a DC or Marvel game. I started a thread with some background in the Worldbuilding board with some information for this game. It's more an outline than a detailed setting for now, but I intend to add to it now and then.

As the game will focus on one city, heroes will deal with local problems, i.e. bank robberies, the mafia, supervillains roughly the smae "power level" as the player characters. The stakes can still be high, but don't expect to be confronted with vast alien armadas bent on the conquest of Earth every other session. Saving the whole world (or the galaxy) isn't on the agenda. That may change over time, if the game runs for a while, but it's not what I would like to focus on.

I would also like to focus on the characters' normal lives now and then, play through some scenes where the characters are not in costume. For example, if your character has an infirm relative or younger sibling they have to take care of that will come up now and then, even without said relative being kidnapped by a supervillain.

If you are still interested, a few words about the game system we'll use:

Supers! (Revised Edition) is a fairly simple dicepool system. You roll a number of six-sided die corresponding to the rating of your skill, power, resistance and if you match the target number (or defense roll of your opponent) you succeed. The more you beat the target number, the better your success, meaning extra damage, more information gained, and so on. Where I think the system shines is that you can use almost any attribute for attack and defense, as long as you can justify it, almost regardless of what your powers are. No character concept has to be weaker or stronger than any other just because you picked certain powers.

Character creation might be a bit tricky for someone who doesn't know the rules, but I'll be happy to spend all the time needed on character creation and help you make a character that fits whatever concept you come up with. We can also have a character creation session on mumble and really talk about the rules and character creation. The key here is that you have some idea what sort of character you want to play. Putting that into game terms usually isn't all that difficult, but starting from "I just want to play, what are my options?" might be difficult as superhero games, by necessity, have to offer a whole lot of very different options.

A note on character concepts / style: I would strongly prefer characters who have at least some motivation to work with others and not be anti-heroes who don't care at all how much collateral damage they leave in their wake. Characters don't have to be "lawful neutral" or "lawful good", but I don't see this as a place for characters who are primarily evil or chaotic in their outlook.

Now, if you are interested in playing:

Just post your interest here. If you already have some idea what type of character you'd like to play, post that also (if not that's fine, we can talk about some options if you need a bit of inspiration first). All in all I am looking for 3 or 4 players - any more and things might become a bit difficult in a voice chat, but if more people express an interest I will reserve the final decision who gets to play, i.e. this isn't on a first come, first served basis.
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

HairyHeretic

Tentative interest, depending on the logistics side of it. I don't know that I could do 5-6 hours though ... around 3 would probably be a lot easier to work into my schedule.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Cassandra LeMay

Quote from: HairyHeretic on July 12, 2016, 03:15:00 PM
Tentative interest, depending on the logistics side of it. I don't know that I could do 5-6 hours though ... around 3 would probably be a lot easier to work into my schedule.
Okay, I guess 5-6 hours may have been a somewhat bad wording on my part. That's more like the maximum I figure I could offer and not a "must have" for me. I sure can live with shorter sessions, but what we aim for may depend a little on how often we play. For the moment I figure weekends and afternoons (European time) offers the most options for potential players, but I am happy to wait and see what develops.
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

HairyHeretic

Ah, that makes more sense. Probably best to see who is interested, what timezone they're in, and then work out a comfortable game lenght from there.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

AndyZ

I may join in on this.  Will have to think about it and see if I can get an idea.
It's all good, and it's all in fun.  Now get in the pit and try to love someone.

Ons/Offs   -  My schedule and A/As   -    My Avatars

If I've owed you a post for at least a week, poke me.

Cassandra LeMay

Quote from: AndyZ on July 12, 2016, 06:43:12 PM
I may join in on this.  Will have to think about it and see if I can get an idea.
Fair enough.  :-) If we get one or two more interested parties I'll start posting a bit about the rules and what options they offer, as I suspect not many people will be familiar with the Supers rules. Maybe that will help you form some ideas.
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

Cassandra LeMay

Okay, so maybe it will actually be better if I explain the game system a bit more before I wait for more interest, given that a system game might depend a good bit on the actual game system.  ;D But since I may be the only one who has the rulebook, lets see if I can't sum up a few of the more important points:

How does the Supers! system work in general?

The basic game mechanism is pretty straightforward. Everything has a rating of xD(6), be it Resistances (a combination of "attributes" and "hit points"), Aptitudes (mundane skills), and Powers (the super stuff). Collectively these three aspects of a character are called Attributes (so an attribute is pretty much anything that is expressed as an xD6 rating).

To do something you roll as many six-sided dice as your Attribute rating, total all the results, and compare that to either a Target Number (TN) or a Defence Roll by an opponent. If you at least match the TN/Defence you succeed. That's a "normal success". If your result is at least 6 points above the TN it is a "major success" that will deal an extra point of damage, provide a second piece of information, and so on. With a result of at least 12 points above the TN it is a "superior success" for another extra point of damage, very quick work, and so on.

There is an exception to this rule and that's Dice Caps: Aptitudes (the mundane skills) are capped at 3 dice. If you have more dice to roll for an Aptitude check you roll them all, but count only the best 3 and total those 3 results. That may sound rather limiting at first, but shattering brick with your (non-super) martial arts skill might have a TN of 9, disarming a bank's security system might be a TN 12. Even capped at "best 3 of X" those tasks are doable for a hero who has the right skills.

For example: Will Scarlet, bowman extraordinaire drives his motorcycle at high speed along a dark and icy road, to catch up with a fleeing gang of gun runners who have a good head start on him. The TN is 12. Will has the Vehicles aptitude at 3D and a Specialization in motorbikes of +1D. He gets to roll 4D6 and keeps the best 3. He rolls a 5, 4, 4, and 1. Totaling the three highest results he gets a 13. That's a Normal Success so he gains a little on the gunrunners, but doesn't catch up with them yet. Without his Specialization he might have ended up with a 5, 4, and 1, not matching the TN and being forced to slow down and lose sight of his target.

(If you really want to be super good with an Aptitude you can buy the "Super Aptitude" power. It works like a normal skill, but doesn't suffer from the normal dice cap on aptitudes. It will cost you more to buy during character creation, but it will allow you to add up all your dice and allow results above the 18 that is the maximum for a normal Aptitude roll.)

So the basics are pretty simple: Roll a bunch of dice and add the results, then compare to some other number.

How does combat work? Basic answer: Exactly the same. :-) Roll your dice pool, total the result, compare against a defence roll made by your opponent.

There are three important (exceptions not withstanding) notes about combat resolution:

One: You get to make one attack per combat round. (But as many defence rolls as you need.)

Two: You can use the same Attribute (Resistance, Aptitude, Power) only once per round. If you used your Super Strength to attack in this round you'll have to use something else to defend.

Three: But you can use almost any Attribute for attack and defence, if you can justify it in the way you describe your actions.

I know it may not always make complete sense, but the system is designed to get the creative juices flowing. It is also designed to level the playing field between characters who invest heavily in one or two attributes, and those who spread their abilities a bit wider.

(As always there are exceptions to the basic rules, but I'll get to them in another post. For now lets just stay with the basics of combat.)

If you are hit in combat, how much damage you suffer depends on the "success level" of the attack (see above). But no matter how much damage you suffer, it is subtracted from your Resistances.

Everyone has four Resistances: Composure (mental stability), Fortitude (physical endurance), Reaction (a combination of speed of mind and swiftness of body), and Will (your capacity to think clearly). An average person has a rating of 1D in each Resistance. Once a Resistance reaches 0D you are out of the fight. Maybe your Composure has dropped to 0 and you have lost your will to fight or are overcome with fear. Maybe you have been ensnared in a net and your Reaction has dropped to 0 as a consequence. Maybe you have succumbed to mind control and your Will has gone down to 0. No matter how it happens, if one of your Resistances reaches 0 (or lower) you can no longer fight effectively.

Where damage is subtracted depends on the type of attack: Social Attacks (seduction, intimidation, etc.) are subtracted from either Composure or Will. Mental Attacks (e.g. mind control) are also subtracted from either Composure or Will. Physical attacks lower Composure, Fortitude, or Reaction. There are a few exceptions, but that's the general rule that should hold true in 95% of all cases. If you suffer damage from an attack you decide where you subtract the damage – and you can split the damage between different Resistances how you see fit!

For example: Your character has a rating of 2D in all Resistances and you are hit by a punch (a physical attack) for 2D of damage (a pretty good roll on the part of your opponent, or a clearly superior opponent, if he beats your defence by at least 6 points). If you subtract those 2 points from a single Resistance it drops to 0 and you are out, so you decide to take one point at Composure and one point Fortitude. The blow hurt and you are not sure if you shouldn't quit the fight, but for now you hold on. The next attack hits you for 1 point and you subtract that from Reaction. Now your Composure, Fortitude, and Reaction are all at 1D. You are still in the fight, but the next solid hit will drop you.

And that is pretty much the whole core of the Supers! rules summed up in one post. :-) (There are exceptions and special cases, but they are just as easy to handle, trust me. I'll talk about Split Actions and the like in another post, but if you have read all this you know almost all you need to know to play in this game, once you made a character.)
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

AndyZ

I've got a couple ideas I'm playing with.  What are the rest of you considering?
It's all good, and it's all in fun.  Now get in the pit and try to love someone.

Ons/Offs   -  My schedule and A/As   -    My Avatars

If I've owed you a post for at least a week, poke me.

Cassandra LeMay

If it helps I could post a few characters here, for people who can't decide to take a pick from as their PC.
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

Hephaestus

To take it literally....YOUR INTEREST! he he

In all reality I love the genre and greetings.
Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.
~Peter Drucker~

Cassandra LeMay

Quote from: Hephaestus on July 27, 2016, 05:36:58 PM
To take it literally....YOUR INTEREST! he he

In all reality I love the genre and greetings.
As I never put quotation marks around "your interest" in the opening post I think you can't really claim that I literally asked for a post of those specific words.  :D

Joking aside - greetings. After all, you do literally love greetings, don't you?  ;)

Now, joking aside again, right now we have Hairy, AndyZ, you, and Muse interested in playing and I'd say that's definitely enough interest to get real about this game. But before roleplaying the gods have set character creation.

We can work out a time for a character creation session on Mumble, but it might be better if I went through character creation with each of you individually. 3 or 4 people all trying to figure out different aspects of their characters in the same session could end up a bit of a mess.

So here's how I propose we proceed:

1: Everyone who hasn't decided on a character concept or Archetype yet, please go through the list of Archetypes in the file I linked you to by PM. Pick whatever strikes your fancy. If you can't narrow it down to one Archetype, pick 2 or 3, but at least narrow it down a little. We might be able to combine two or three types into a single character, but we need a starting point.

1a: Don't worry what archetypes the other players might pick. If we end up with a group of four Sorcerers or four Bricks or fourWeather Controlers - so what? Every character is an individual, no matter their archetype. No two characters will have the same background or approach the same problem in the same way. That's what matters. Think about your own character, not the other player's character.

2: Once you decided on an Archetype, contact me by posting here or sending me a PM and let me know what would be most convenient for you to talk about your character and work on his/her stats. We can chat on Mumble, go about it by PM, or I can make myself available on Skype.

3: If you don't want to go through the process of character creation and just want to roleplay that's fine. I can create a character for you, or at least the bare-bones game mechanics side of a character. Give me a concept and a rough outline what the character is about and I can provide you with 2 or 3 character sheets to choose from.

4: Character creation can take a while, given that I am probably the only one with the rulebook at hand. That's fine, but we shouldn't drag our feet too long. Now that we might have a little bit of momentum, lets try to preserve that. Character creation will take some time, but I would love to have the characters finished by mid-August and schedule our first game session not later than late August or maybe the first weekend of September. That should still give us 4 weeks to get our act together.
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

Muse

  Figure I'm past due to be waving in here. 

  I'll need to go over that system again to see if a concept I want works.  :) 

  What time slots are we still looking at?

*  *  * 

  Are Friday's good? 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Hephaestus

Fridays are good for me. If we could have the game start at 8pm Central US time that would work for me. Because I am working before that time.As far as character creation I would work best on skype. Ill message you privately with my skype handle.
Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.
~Peter Drucker~

HairyHeretic

Anything that late would rule out anyone who wasn't in the US.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Cassandra LeMay

#14
Quote from: HairyHeretic on July 30, 2016, 03:44:26 PM
Anything that late would rule out anyone who wasn't in the US.
Including your lovely GM.

I'm afraid we will have to go for something around late morning/noon in America.

But before we worry about the exact time, maybe we could just see what days would be good or completely impossible for whom.

Are there any days for you when you won't have to work / study / something like that? Is someone here on a Mon to Fri work schedule with only weekends as a gaming option? Are you flexible with your schedule / flexible with your schedule but only if you can arrange things well in advance? Would be helpful to have some idea of that from everyone.

(Personally I a can make any day, at least for the forseeable future.)
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

HairyHeretic

Weekends are probably better for me, though I do have some stuff on at times on a weekend as well.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Cassandra LeMay

From some conversations I had it looks to me like a few people might have trouble coming up with a character concept to start on. So over the next few days I'll present you all with some of the NPCs I created as part of the "hero community" of Avalon City.

These characters are intended as both examples of what can be done and potential player characters for those who can not decide on a character concept/stats. But for the moment, just wait, see what I put up in the next few days. If you would like to base a character on one of those ideas - go ahead. If you want to use one of those characters as your own (at least for the first one or two game sessions) - that's fine by me too, and we can change a few details if you like. And if none of them gets picked up by anyone.... don't assume they will be exactly as I present them here if and when they show up in the game.

Now, here we have CRUSADER, a "blaster" archetype who has taken up the mantle of Crusader from a deceased relative. If he can live up to the name of Avalon's first high-tech hero remains to be seen...



Steven Willis is a student at the Avalon City university and one of the most important players on the university's football team where he earned the nickname "Stonewall". Recently he has inherited the Crusader armor and equipment from a relative who was the first hero to go by that name. He is a bit of a glory hound and finds it difficult to go into combat without posing at least a moment for any cameras present.

Occupation & Mental Hindrance: Occupation allows for some rerolls when his "real world" skills become important; it might also allow him to leverage his sports star status for access to places other people might not get access to. His Mental Hindrance means he has to roll his Willpower (2D6) against a target number of 10 to avoid posing for the cameras or going after an opportunity for publicity. If he ignores that disadvantage he will suffer a -1D penalty on everything he does in that scene.

Crusader is quite sturdy and agile, and also calm and strong of will.

Resistances: His Composure and Willpower are above average human; his Fortitude and Reaction are those of an elite athlete. He might not be at the Olympic medal level, but his physical resistances are well beyond those of an average human (without being superhuman).

Aptitudes:He is very athletic, able to run (at least for some time) at 20mph and lift 400lb/180kg. He knows a bit about using his body as a weapon (Fighting), can be charming (Presence) and knows at least enough about Technology to make routine repairs to his high-tech equipment. (Lacking the Academia skill he doesn't really understand much about the theoretical underpinnings of that equipment; he's more a mechanic than a scientist.

Powers: All of Crusader's Powers depend on high-tech equipment. They all have the "Device" Complication, which subtracts a point from their cost. A device can be taken from a character, but usually not during a fight. (You don't "disarm" a jetpack or the like.) But if Crusader ever gets knocked out or otherwise rendered unable to fight, his gadgets can be taken away from him.

Armor is a special case on how the rules work. Normally you can use an Attribute only once a round to attack or defend. Armor (and its equivallent on the telepathic front, Mental Shield) can be used more than once a round to defend, but every time the rating drops by 1D. So Crusader can defend with his Armor Power at 3D, 2D, and 1D in any given round.

Crusader's Flight has a Tradeoff. A tradeoff means one aspect of the Power (or Aptitude or Resistance) operates at one more die than the base rating, while another aspect operates at 1D lower than the base rating. In Crusader's case, his overland movement is treated as if his Flight was 3D, but when he tries to dodge or maneuver in close quarters he only rolls 1D. Clearly this guy is still very much used to having solid ground under his feet in many situations.

Super Weaponry: The arm-mounted blasters that came with the Crusader equipment allow for both rapid fire and wide-angle blasts. The former is represented by the "Split Action" Boost. For every 1D you take in that boost you can use the Power once more during the same round (while normally you are limited to one use of any Attribute per round). But (unlike Armor) you have to decide how many times you want to use it before you make your first roll with it in a round.

... And now I have to run to tend about some non-dramatic RL things, but I'll edit this post later today to talk about Split Action and Area Effect.
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

Cassandra LeMay

#17
Next up among the heroes of Avalon City is Harbormaster, a vigilante-type character wo has no real superpowers and instead focuses on his Aptitudes:



Calvin O'Dare was always a rough guy. He worked hard, partyed hard, and was the terror of many a barroom brawl around the harbor. He also saw much, but never got involved. He knew the mob was bringing in drugs through the harbor, but what did he care? All those drugs probably went to rich kids in their techno clubs uptown anyway. That was none of his business. And hey, if you get invovled with a dozen people all carrying guns you are not really smart, are you?

All that changed when his little brother walked into traffic in a drug-induced haze. That incident cost his brother the use of his legs and turned Calvin into a vigilante. Now, as Harbormaster, he busts heads, takes out drug dealers, and tries to work off what he sees as his own failure to protect his little brother on everyone he deems criminal scum.

Harbormaster's Resistances resemble Crusader's in many ways. Like him, Harbormaster is not above the level of a well-trained, fit human being.

His Aptitudes are where Harbormaster shines. He is very athletic, knows a lot about melee fighting, and knows the streets (and many of the shady deals) of Avalon City very well. His Specializations mean he can roll 4D in some situations, but, this being Aptitudes, he only counts the 3 best results towards his total and drops the lowest dice. A Tradeoff we have already seen with Crusader's Flight. For Harbormaster his Presence tradeoff means he has a hard time charming or persuading people (1D), but he sure can intimidate people (3D).

His only superpower is his Super Weaponry, his trusty crowbar that he learned to use as both tool and weapon working many years as a dockworker. Don't take the name of this Power too literally in his case. His crowbar is not magical, nor is it made from unobtainium or the like. It's classified as a Power because he is better fighting with it than should normally be possible. He's a hero, therefore he can be better than might be expected from another person.
His Super Weaponry actually comes pretty cheap, because it has a few Complications: 1) It's a device so it can be taken away. 2) Unlike many other devices, his crowbar can also be disarmed during combat ("easily taken"). 3) It's a Touch Attack weapon. He is limited to using it as a melee weapon - if he wants to use his Super Weaponry power. Doesn't mean the crowbar will drop to the ground the moment it leaves his hand - it just means he'll have to use another Attribute if he wants to throw it, most likely his Athleticism aptitude.

Now, lets take a look at Harbormaster's Advantages and Disadvantages: His Streetsmarts is essentially an Occupation by another name. It just sounded cooler to me than "Occupation: Crimefighter".  ;) His "Is That Your Best Shot" allows him to spend one Competency Die (more on them later) if one of his Resistances is reduced to 0 or below. When he does, that resistance will be restored to 1D the next round - he gets back into the fight where other people would be taken out of the fight for minutes or hours.
Harbormaster's "Dependent" disadvantage should be self-explanatory. His Social Hindrance subtracts 1D from his rolls when it becomes relevant. Enemy should also be fairly self-explanatory. It can be taken at 1D, 2D, or 3D. At 1D it's probably some sort of gang or criminal organization (or a single villain) that is essentially a mundane, non-powered group. At 2D it could be two supervillains each built on as many points as the hero or one pretty large gang with perhaps a supervillain as its head. At 3D it could be a world-spanning crime syndicate or villain league.

Competency Pool: Harbormaster has a pool of 2 Competency Dice (CD). CDs work like "hero points", "karma dice", "force points" or whatever they might be called in another system. Any dice not spent during character creation go into that pool. Experience earned through adventures also adds to this pool. In addition temporary CDs can be earned during the adventure, but they are only good during that session. Competency Dice have a number of potential uses, perhaps the most important being a boost to a dice roll. You can spend one (or more) CDs to improve the result of a dice roll.
As CDs also serve as experience points you can spend them to permanently increase your attribute ratings, by new boosts or advantages, or buy off complications and disadvantages. (Buying off disadvantages is costly; expect disdvanatages to stay with your character for a good long while.)


ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

Cassandra LeMay

#18
This next character is based on something I cooked up with one of my RL roleplayers for another Supers game.

Red Phoenix
is a martial artist powered by years of intense training and magic energy.

The man who now goes by the alias of Bob Freedom was but a small child when the Black Lotus sect took him away from his parents and raised him to become one of their agents. Over many years the boy was trained in the martial arts, his body and mind hardened by the cruel lessons of the Black Lotus, but deep down he preserved a shred of his humanity and independent spirit.

As the best of his class, this boy - now a young man - was selected for the "special training" of the Black Lotus and subjected to a grueling ritual that permanently infused him with magical energy that allows him to cloud his presence from the eyes of others and summon martial weapons out of thin air whenever he needs them.

But using those new powers, the young man ran away, abandoned his taskmasters and eventually ended up in Avalon City. Now he fights to protect the innocent from the cruel fate that befell him, while the Black Lotus are hunting for him, very much wanting their most successfull experiment back at all cost.



I think his Resistances, Aptitudes, the Tradeoff, and the Disadvantages should be fairly clear by now so I'll just hit the new stuff:

Drawback: Red Phoenix needs to change from his "normal" ID into his "hero" ID before he can turn invisible. You could say he has to supercharge himself with magical energy first, before he can use it to turn himself invisible, and that "supercharging" also transforms him into his "hero persona".
(And yes, it should be called a Complication, not a Drawback. I had too many game systems in my head when I wrote that character sheet and only noticed it when I had already uploaded this character sheet image. Sue me.  :D)

Advantage: When he draws magical energy to himself to "power up" he instantly changes. His martial arts outfit replaces his normal clothes, his features might change, and so on. He doesn't have to actually put on a costume, look for a phone booth or whatever. The moment he says "Red Phoenix" (or however it works) he changes into his "hero persona", just like Billy Batson changes into Captain Marvel the second he shouts Shazam.

Multipower: This is a new one, and it's a kinda nifty one, if you ask me. Multipower means that you spend points for a Power, then add xD for a Multipower. For every X in the Multipower you gain one other power at the same cost as the "base power".  The only problem is that you can not use more than one power combined in a multipower per round.
What Red Phoenix does is decide what he wants every round. If he wants to use Super Leap to move around he can not use his Super Athleticism in the same round to lift a heavy object (or vice versa), to give just one example.

Super Weaponry:
Q: Why does this not have the Device complication?
A: Because his weapons are something he creates out of thin air by manifesting magical energy in a tangible form. It's kinda like Iron Fist's "Iron Fist". You can't take that away because it's part of the character just like Superman's heat vision is part of who he is. That  Red Phoenix's "Super Weaponry" shows as various martial arts weapons doesn't change that. That's just a special effect. He can get a weapon whenever he wants, therefore there is no negative modifier applied to this Power.
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

Muse

Hi! 

This is a wave to say I'm still interested--and so is Hepahestus.  We're having a work-on-online things day on fridays now. 

So character creation in here is on our to do list.  (And I have us bookmarked onow.) 

I will do a proper read through soon.  One concept I'd like be interested in is a copper bending girl with a flying disk and form fitted copper armor.  She works great in Marvel Classic but I'm not sure if she'll work in here or not. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Cassandra LeMay

Quote from: Muse on August 05, 2016, 08:29:38 PM
I will do a proper read through soon.  One concept I'd like be interested in is a copper bending girl with a flying disk and form fitted copper armor.  She works great in Marvel Classic but I'm not sure if she'll work in here or not.
Shouldn't be a problem. The armor is an application of the Armor power. The metal control would be Elemental Control: Copper. A limited movement aspect is already part of Elemental Control. That would allow you to fly at speeds comparable to the movement speed others get from Athleticism, so essentially it's a normal speed in the 10mph to 25mph range or thereabouts. If you want to fly faster you should take the Flight power. If the disc is large enough that other people can ride on it with her we'll buy it with an Area Effect Boost to add additional "targets" to your Flight or Elemental Control. (With 1D in Flight you can fly at 25mph. That doubles for every extra D in that power.)
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

Cassandra LeMay

Before I present the next NPC/potential PC, ... while I like small groups (easier for me to balance and handle), I wouldn't mind a few more players for this game.  :-) If there are more players than I feel comfortable with in a single session we can run parallel sessions, have different characters in different games, depending who has time when, mix and match characters based on time schedules. The game can be episodic like that if that turns out to be the best way to give everyone a chance to play.

Now, the new entry in the NPC/potential PC field, Speed Star. Owner of a small but successfull fashion boutique by day, she becomes Avalon's fastest crimefighter by ... actually whenever she puts on her costume. Speed Star is a mutant; her powers are "active" all the time - but she isn't aware of that. She discovered her superspeed the first time while she was wearing a costume she had made for a Halloween party and ever since has convinced herself that her power rests in her costume somehow. It seems easier than accepting that she is not quite human; she could use her powers whenever she wants, but she just doesn't "want" to use them while she is not in her costume.



Most of her Attributes should make sense if you compare it with some of the notes on the previous characters. Regeneration allows her to heal damage to her Fortitude and Reaction once a round (without spending an action). (There is also a Healing power in the game that is more versatile, as it allows healing of all Resistances and healing other people, but that costs you an action.)
Only in Hero ID works similar to Device, but it has a ... different flavor. Her costume does not have any special qualities in itself so it doesn't really fit the Device category. The same Drawback could also be used for characters along the Billy Batson/Captain Marvel line who physically transform into a different body/shape.





And now that we have four NPCs/potential PCs, if anyone can't decide on a concept or powers for their character please PM me with your pick of those four (Crusader, Harbormaster, Red Phoenix, Speed Star). We can change a few details, background, whatever, but if you want to use one of them as a starting point for your own character - do so.  That's a major reason I posted them.  :-)

Also, we can just run a test game with those characters for everyone who doesn't have the inspiration or time to make their own character. Maybe just playing the game for a one shot session with pre-made characters will help get this show on the road?


Opinions?
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

Muse

A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Cassandra LeMay

I am sorry for not replying here for so long. I must admit I was a little distracted elsewhere, but could have kept a better eye on things here.

Now, as for this game ... I currently don't see it happen, and here's why:


I have started a Supers! game with some of my old RPing buddies in real life. And don't get me wrong! It's a ton of fun! The rules work very well and we are having a whole lot of fun. It shapes up to be a (semi-)regular game, but therein lies the problem.

I think I would have real trouble switching back and forth between an online game (in English) and a 'real life' game (in German) based on the same system and perhaps even rather similar settings. Knowing myself I think my creativity would try to run into ten different directions at once if I tried this, tried to juggle two similar campaigns and paying equal attention to all the characters involved in both of them. I can't quite see myself managing that. If I tried this my creativity would "get lost in the woods", would, most likely, not focus on anything productive.

So, as much as it pains me to withdraw from something I advertised, I will have to drop this ball and run with the game I already have going, least I end up running two similar games and doing none of them justice.

Again I am sorry, but I think it might be for the best.

(And the rules really do work well. If one of you gets a chance to play a Supers! game one day, go for it. I played dozens of systems over the years, and this one is one of the easiest to pick up and have fun with. (And no - I am not payed to say this.  :D))
ONs, OFFs, and writing samples | Oath of the Drake

You can not value dreams according to the odds of their becoming true.
(Sonia Sotomayor)

Muse

  It's all good, Cass.  Drop me a line next time you start something, okay? 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)