Wild, superhero fun (MnM 2e)

[Sally Aces]

Hello everyone.

I'm opening this up for us to discuss the particulars of the campaign officially. Know that I'm a flexible, creative GM who likes taking a lot of input on y games. The rules are there to enable great storytelling, not constrain it. I welcome experienced MnM gamers, lovers of the G R.R. Martin Wild Card Series, and anyone who loves superheroes grounded in the realities and complexities of life.  I put this game in Exotic, because I welcome wild and wonderful Jokers as well as Joker-Aces, Aces, Normals and Duces.

Let's make wonderful stories together.


Initial RP Setting ideas:

• Wild Cards 'world' information can be found here
• Time Period: Modern Day
• Starting Location: Ne Orleans, LA
• Power Level: 6
• Power Points: 110
• Trade-Offs: +3/-3
• Joker Package: TBD will end up giving 10 pp
• Pertinent detail: 5 years ago, then again last year, there were new recurrences of Wild Card Virus exposure.

No one knows why or how this happened. (It's so not everyone had to have grown up with their powers/afflictions, but could become a plot point if players decide to investigate this)

Why isn't this PL 10, glad you asked. Referencing the Wild Card scream sheets I came across this:

Ace-in-the-hoLe                            Power LeveL 6
This power level is sufficient to create full-fledged aces with fairly powerful abilities who are otherwise ordinary people. If the GM wants a “wild cards are just people with powers” type of game, this is a good place to start. A power level 6 ace can have damage capabilities to equal decent military hardware (more with some trade-offs), and be tough enough to withstand similar amounts of punishment. It’s also a good power level for joker-aces with a few tricks up their sleeves, like enhanced strength or the like.

Note that trade-offs become fairly common by this power level, as wild carders tend to have more in terms of damage and toughness than they do combat skill, unless they have particular training or talent in those areas.
Wild carders at this power level tend to focus on a particular power or ability, although it might have several different facets or effects in game terms. You can expect to spend 20 to 40 or so of your starting 90 power points on powers, which is a fair amount, particularly for effects not limited by power level, such as movement or sensory effects; a PL 6 ace can still have the power to teleport (or see) across the world or transform into a beam of light and fly through space, for example.

I've upped the Power Points to allow more flexibility and YES I am thinking of rewarding people for taking on being a Joker, both to keep an important element of the game in play and to give some structure to the social stigma and the hatred they face in society.


Proposed Characters

|	PROPOSED CHARACTERS	|
|	Player	|	Faction	|	Description	|
|	LordRod	|	Joker	|	Telepathic Joker who transforms into an Ace via formula	|
|	Valerian	|	Joker	|	Living Mannequin with issues	|
|	Open	|	Joker/Ace/Deuce/Nat	|	Note	|
|	Open	|	Joker/Ace/Deuce/Nat	|	Note	|
|	Open	|	Joker/Ace/Deuce/Nat	|	Note	|
|	Open	|	Joker/Ace/Deuce/Nat	|	Note	|

[/list]

[Sally Aces]

Hi hi everyone,

This game was born out of a GM reqeust, and I have 2 players already working on characters. We'd like to open this up to more people who are interested in playing and exploring people with superpowers, superafflictions, normal people trying to live life and everything in between. No prior Wild Card knowledge or MnM 2e experience required. Just a willingness to write wonderful stories and share in taking on the troubles in our times.

[LordRod]

Hi. :)

[AribethAmkiir]

Interested, but trying to follow that link from my phone is a little difficult.  It just sends me to a Rogue's gallery.  When I get home, and to a computer, I will use my Google-fu to learn more, cuz right now I don't even know the difference between an Ace and a Joker.

[Sally Aces]

Yah, there's an OOC thread up but now thing else. The link is to the rogues gallery of existing Wild Card characters, not the other game thread. I figured recruit here, talk character details there with folks wanting to partner on making the game great.

[Valerian]

*waves*  Luckily there's quite a lot of good info online, though I also highly recommend reading the stories if you get a chance.  :)

[LordRod]

The first series of books are the best but they're all good.

[Pumpkin Seeds]

:: peeks::

[Caradoc]

I'm a huge fan of Wild Cards. I think I have all but the most recent two books. I might be interested in this, although fair warning that

1) Every group game I join dies a horrible early death

and

2) I don't seem to do as well with character sheets like this for some reason. But, if those are acceptable flaws, I'll ponder on a character idea or two.

[Sally Aces]

Hi Pumpkin Seeds, hey Caradoc,

Thanks for popping in, hope you stay a while. Have any question, P.S.?

I'm a huge fan of Wild Cards. I think I have all but the most recent two books. I might be interested in this, although fair warning that

1) Every group game I join dies a horrible early death

and

2) I don't seem to do as well with character sheets like this for some reason. But, if those are acceptable flaws, I'll ponder on a character idea or two.

I'm willing to break the curse you spoke of in point 1. As for point 2, are you asking if if you cam play without submitting a sheet, or that you'll need help with one?

[Caradoc]

Oh, asking for help. I wouldn't expect a special exception for me.

[Sally Aces]

Just checking, and of course I am happy to help where I can. Please start with a concept that'll make you happy to play.

[eternaldarkness]

MnM 2E AND Wildcards? I'm in! (If you'll have me) I don't have a concept yet, but i'll brainstorm and shoot some tentative ideas to the GM.

[Sally Aces]

Yay! Feel free to discuss things here or In a PM to me, eternal darkness. We have 2 jokers so far, a living mannequin and a Janus like metamorph (A scientist Joker who created a formula that transforms him into a bigoted Ace).

Everything else is open.

[Caradoc]

Ok, working an idea with our illustrious Game Mistress. I hope to have something posted soonish.

[Sally Aces]

Yes we've had a couple of yummy new Ace concepts I'm happy to see how things are shaping up.

Still, tell your friends, enemies, cuddlebunnies and paramours to come check this out and play with us.

[TFcommando]

Big Wild Cards fan here, and experienced with MnM.

The tricky part is coming up with a character concept, since the setting is so wide open.  Will there be something to draw the PCs together?  I wouldn't want to be the Ace Guardian of New Orleans and have everyone else  in roles where they'd never want to fight crime or meet a crimefighter, for instance.

A few notions though:

A tantric sorceress, someone whose power was inspired by the same source material as Fortunato.  Possibly one whose card turned in the 60s and who came forward in time through some mishap with her powers/fighting some other-dimensional evil/ace, ala Captain America.  Living in New Orleans because it's the most relaxed and least hung up about sex, like the 60s were, and maybe because someone/something's preying on the residents of the city with a mystical Ace bent.  A strictly modern-day one might be a Joker-Ace who also became a satyr/nymph or naga, with the deep symbolism of "I like those looks." :)

Speculation: Jetboy wasn't the only colorful hero of the war or pre-war era, just the most prominent.  The character is an urban archeologist or history student/teacher with an interest in pre-ace heroes, found one's hidden lair/old journals/what-have you and that's what turned her card, giving her something thematically related to (that hero)... one idea might be shadow control/darkness creation/shadow teleportation, something darkness themed.   Also sets out to fight crime in the way her inspirational figure did, out of the public eye, a shadowy urban legend vigilante, at least at first... that can be a hard act to keep up.  Or someone with subtle, funky precognition... only able to see a couple seconds in the future, for incredible reflexes and danger sense.  But she's asleep, she can sometimes get glimpses of further ahead, seeing crimes she'll try to stop.

In the "neat power" idea, a mechamorph, someone who can turn cars and motorcycles into robots/power armor and back.  A car-loving person with a sense of duty to use her powers for good/against the awful crime in NOLA... and to keep a secret ID, as she'd be quite vulnerable outside a vehicle and have pissed off a lot of people with guns.  It could be just the special car she worked on or any vehicle she's driving, or a mix... a car customized to be a better robot in robot form, but any will do for the basics of armor and strength. 

[keyotess]

Hello Sally Aces, is there still room open here for another player? :)

[Sally Aces]

DEFINITELY!!! Hi hi sweetie.

This story is getting support, the thread is quiet but my PMs are blowing up. Feel free to discuss character concepts here or in PM, sweetie.

I'll put something more cohesive in this thread later this week, so everyone knows whose who :)

[keyotess]

Okay, Great! :)  I will dust off my MnM 2e books and start thinking about a character concept! :)

[Sally Aces]

TF, any of your notions could be good... but in some ways your Mechamorph sounds like lots of fun. She's a neat riff on The Great and Powerful Turtle and Modular Man. I feel she can be a good update to the setting.

Weird thought... maybe the Wild Card virus was dormant in her until the day she was almost run over by street racers but she managed to Morph the oncoming car into a Mech she was piloting, ejecting the driver from it comically.

"hey! That bitch stole my... car?"

That racer could have Been Somebody Big and Bad_(TM) thus starting their enmity

Nothing you have to go with, just something I'm spitballing

[TFcommando]

I am a big fan of the Turtle and Modular Man! :)  The tricky part is having a total secret ID when not everyone else does... if your normal ID hangs around with the same normal people that the costumed one does, it won't be a secret for long.  There are solid reasons for keeping a secret ID if you're a shadowy vigilante crimefighter or even a public one.  All the assassinations on Wild Cards Day in 1986, for starters, and the Jumpers after that.  But then you're not hanging around with the rest of the party and playing an antisocial loner, which isn't conductive to good gaming.

Also, there's a bit too much of a swingy thing going on with a car-using hero... great if she's got a car, terrible if not... and it's hard to drive a car inside a building (at least for very long).  Something to mull over.

Is there anything you have planned for the crime or "superhero" scene in New Orleans?  The city was nearly destroyed by the Radical's actions and very publicly saved by the Amazing Bubbles, who had a shrine built around her as she recovered.  That might have swung public opinion one way or the other with regard to Aces fighting crime and evil aces.

While we don't see "typical" hero versus villain fights much in the books, they do happen, as witnessed by the prison full of very dangerous Ace criminals, who committed crimes and were arrested by Ace heroes.

More ideas... a hero using the motif of famous local pirate Jean Lafitte in some way, maybe even the Ghost of Jean Lafitte.  Some sort of energy blast, fired through model flintlock pistols for style, or a ghostly blade power, or intangibility. 

An electrically-powered super speedster. 

[Angie]

I do like superheroes...I'm not super familiar with the setting, but I can probably give one of the books a read and get an idea. I have an idea in mind already, actually, though I'll have to give the setting a once over to see if "Arcane Heroes" are a thing.

[Sally Aces]

All powers are possible, so yes, Arcane Heroes are a thing. One caveat, although you'll be using magic, all powers have the same source, the Wild Card Virus. In a nutshell, aliens much like us genetically, decided to test a new weapon on us humans to see if they could safely induce superpowers into people. So they dropped a bomb that released the virus which is an airborne pathogen, so folks all over the world started to 'draw their Card'.

Draw an Ace - welcome to the Superhero club
Draw a Deuce - minor powers are yours to command
Draw the Joker - you're twisted into something horrible to behold
    There are Joker-Aces, monstrous individuals whose deformities afford them useful powers.

[Angie]

All powers are possible, so yes, Arcane Heroes are a thing. One caveat, although you'll be using magic, all powers have the same source, the Wild Card Virus. In a nutshell, aliens much like us genetically, decided to test a new weapon on us humans to see if they could safely induce superpowers into people. So they dropped a bomb that released the virus which is an airborne pathogen, so folks all over the world started to 'draw their Card'.

Draw an Ace - welcome to the Superhero club
Draw a Deuce - minor powers are yours to command
Draw the Joker - you're twisted into something horrible to behold
    There are Joker-Aces, monstrous individuals whose deformities afford them useful powers.

Sounds like the craziest game of Deadlands ever played (anyone ever played that besides me?)

I can either go with "arcane" (energy blasting) or a more draconic bent. Both work for this particular character. Is it possible to do an Ace whose body has been altered by the virus, but not enough for full Joker status?