Cosmic Marvel Superheroes (Full for Now)

[LunarSage]

"In the wake of the Annihilation Wave, the Marvel Universe is in turmoil. The Skrull have been decimated and the Kree struggle against the malevolent collective of the Phalanx. The Nova Corps have been all but destroyed... pirates and worse roam the galaxy preying on the weak and wounded. Earth has it's own concerns and can't be bothered with matters beyond what it's citizens know. The galaxies need heroes... those who would do what they can to defend the downtrodden and helpless from their potential fates.  Or perhaps you are doing what you know is best for the innocent with a heavy iron hand.

Cosmic adventure awaits you"!

This will be a group game using the old TSR Marvel Super Heroes Advanced System and is of an epic scale.  Earthly concerns are nearly beneath characters of this magnitude.  This is not, however an excuse to powergame as everyone should end up on relatively equal footing.  Your characters will be exceptionally powerful.  You'll be the Thors, Silver Surfers and Gladiators of the Marvel Universe, but there are many things which can be perilous even for beings such as you.

A few things...

1.  Yes, there will be plot.  Oh will there be plot.

2.  Your characters may not start in the same places.  A given character might find him or herself in their own thread for awhile before they interact with any fellow PCs.  I'll start your character out where it makes sense for them to start out based on the plot and your character's history.  I promise you will have plenty to interact with if you begin the game in your own thread.

3.  We will be using character sheets to give us an idea of character capabilities.  Sometimes dice may be rolled, but usually they won't.  This is semi-freeform.  I trust PCs to be able to work it out amongst themselves who would win in a conflict between them.  With PCs vs NPCs, I will either have dice rolled or discuss with you via a PM how the fight is likely to go based on the comparison of stats and the tactics used in the battle in character. 

4.  Knowledge of the Marvel Universe is not required but it helps a lot.  If nothing else you can always play a character who has no knowledge of the galaxies outside of his or her own planet.

5.  Feel free to be creative in your character backgrounds.  Don't be afraid to tie into existing canon Marvel characters.  I will have the final say whether a concept will work in my setting, but don't be afraid to ask!

6.  We will be using the old TSR Marvel Super Heroes Advanced rules to create characters.  I suggest going to this site (http://www.classicmarvelforever.com/cms/) to download the books.  They're free and I think it's a great system for superheroics.  Click on "Other Stuff" then "Downloads" then "Advanced Game and Modules".  I suggest DLing the Advanced Player's Book, the Advanced Judge's Book and the Ultimate Powers Book.  Then click on "Other Stuff" then "Downloads" then "Netbooks and Enhancements" and grab the Ultimate Talents Book.  That should be everything you need. 

7.  We will not be using the standard rolling method for generating characters.  Instead, we will be using a point buy system.  I will elaborate more on this once I have solid interest.  I do want people to create their own heroes rather than use existing canon Marvel characters.

8.  I want to see well thought-out posts.  No one-liners please.  If you're not willing to be descriptive in your writing, this game may not be for you... but if you like the cosmic hero genre and are willing to put your best writing foot forward, let me know and I'll do my best to help you realize the awesome concepts you no doubt have.

Approved Character Sheets

Preludes and Cutscenes

(IC) Effigy: Hell on Earth (Josietta)

(IC) Lost in Space

[Josietta]

*Is all over it with a xman child from an alternate universe destroyed by sentinels* mwahahahaha....

Do we PM you bio's or do you want them posted here?

[Kolbrandr]

Sounds fun, though I recall needing a metric ton of points in classic Marvel to be capable of the stuff the cosmic heroes bust out in the comics.

[Josietta]

I think he mentioned to me before it was going to be a 2000pt  point buy system with some stipulations and freebies in terms of travel powers. But he'd have to detail that out for us.

[LunarSage]

Thank you, Josi!  I'm glad to see you decided you'd like to play. 

It will indeed be 2000 points, which isn't a metric ton, but it's still a conventional ton of points. 

I'd like interested folks to PM me their concept first and then once that's ok'd you can make a sheet or I can help you make one. 

The creation rules are thus:

Many thanks to a friend who helped to make this creation system, and who runs quite an awesome game himself.  I've slightly modified his system to work for this game.

CREATION
This creation system was derived by a really cool guy by the name of Carlos aka The_Rook (from offsite) from the creation system from the Marvel Phile article written by Dale Donovan. In my opinion this is a much better system than the random creation system as you can tailor your character absolutely to your concept.


THE CREATION POINTS
Or CPs as I’ll refer to them from here on out is a point buy system with a value given at the beginning of a game for the players to work from that is appropriate to said game’s level of power. In the case of this game the points given will be 2000 as this is a cosmic level adventure. I have found this number to be more than adequate to create a VERY powerful character.  The max rank you can purchase for any trait, whether it be a Power or an Attribute (FASERIP) is Shift X.  Note that if you feel a very high rank like Shift X is appropriate for an attribute or a power, there should be justification for it.  Abilities like Reason in particular I'm really going to watch like a hawk.  The smartest people on Marvel Earth (Reed Richards and Doctor Doom) have Amazing Reason.  The smartest people in the galaxies (Thanos and the Watcher) have Monstrous to Unearthly Reason.  Shift X Reason would be insane.  I'm not saying you can't have it... but keep in mind what a Reason that high would mean.  When you're that smart, everyone else can seem less than intelligent to you.


CHANGES
The MSH rpg standard rules for creation do not apply when using the optional CP creation method: to whit, if a character was rolled up as a Random Mutant the typical +1CS (Column Shift) to Endurance and –1CS to Resources no longer apply.

The same goes for selecting body types that normally have assumed powers or limitations with that form. Example if you were to choose an Ethereal Form as your body type as per the UPB you must purchase powers like Intangibility which would normally come for free with such a character. Essentially you pay for everything! There are no freebies, that’s just the price of total creative freedom.


FASERIP
Now its time to buy your physical and mental stats. This is a point for point buy, in other words if you want 75 (Monstrous) Strength you’ve spent 75 CPs to get it. Adding up your Health and Karma will allow you a quick count of how many CPs you’ve spent thus far. But I caution you not to blow all your CPs here, there’s still a lot of character creation yet to be done. Note there will be a cap of 150 for any stats or Power Ranks (Power Ranks will be discussed further down).


RESOURCES
Resources are a very versatile asset in this game, so keeping that in mind Im going to make you pay for the privilege. Resources will cost double CPs. For example 50 (Amazing) resources will cost 100 CPs.  Note:  If you want to own your own starship you'll have to have at least Amazing Resources.  Ships costa a lot of galactic credits to own and maintain.


POWERS
Now to the good stuff eh? Ok all powers in the Advanced Players Book, Ultimate Powers Book and its Addendas are fair game. Also if there are any powers from any of the supplemental material, Marvel Philes or even the original Players Book that interest you point them out to me and I’ll make a ruling on whether or not you can use them or not. The same goes for any “original/custom” power you might have in mind. Run it by me for pre-approval. Now each power costs 10 CPs just to buy the power itself (we’ll get into Ranks in a bit). If a power is starred * that power will cost you double or 20 CPs and 2X the rank (this is because starred powers as rather powerful and even in the standard creation rules accrued an additional cost to purchase). Powers that have no Rank attributed to them (like Circular Vision) will cost a flat 30 CPs to purchase.

One more point, this in conjunction with your FASERIP stats are the heart of your character, try not to be random in your selection just for the sake of being a super powered Swiss army knife (unless that is your concept), go for a theme here, make your character make sense. As an RPer and for me your GM it will make the game run far more smoothly as we’ll both have an idea of what you are going for in the long run with your character. I find it helps to create your origin first and go from there


POWER RANKS
Now that you’ve got powers, just how strong are they? You decide but remember the is a point cap of 150 per power. The rank like your FASERIP is a point for point buy so if you want Fire Breath at 100 (UN) you’ve already payed 10 CPs for the base power purchase and now you pay 100 more CPs for the 100 (UN) rank.


TRAVEL POWERS
Given the epic nature of this game Travel Powers may be purchased at Shift Ranks for 20 CPs + 1/10 the Rank number. For example 500 (Shift Z) Hyper Running would cost a grand total of 70 CPs.

Class Rank Travel Powers will cost 20 CPs + 1/10 the Rank number. So Class 3000 Flight would cost a total of 320 CPs.

This is a VERY generous ruling, don’t abuse it! Don’t take every Travel Power in the book, pick ONE. Additional Travel Powers will be paid for in the usual manner. So don’t think you can buy a Shift Rank and a Class Rank Travel Power without paying through the nose for one of them!


UNIQUE WEAPONS & EQUIPMENT
The cost structure for creating unique items goes as follows:

10 CPs base cost plus 1.5 CPs per rank number of the item’s highest rank.

Say you want to create a blaster rifle that has the following attributes:

Range: 20 (EX) Damage: 100 (UN) Material Strength: 50 (AM)

You would pay a total of 160 CPs (10 base cost plus 100 x 1.5 for the UN Damage)

Items with multiple powers will have to pay an additional cost per power: ie; a gun that that fires radiation beams and lightning bolts would pay an additional 1.5 CPs x the Rank of the extra power.


COSMIC WEAPONS & EQUIPMENT
Due to the nature of this game Im going to deviate from the normal CP method of creation here as this is a cosmic level game. Ok so you want Thor’s Hammer do you? Or Cap’s shield or maybe Wolverine’s claws/skeleton or any other impossibly strong or enchanted item that has a Class or Shift Rank to it here’s how you pay for that.

Base cost is 20 CPs plus 2x the cost of any powers the item possesses. In addition you will pay 1/10 the cost of the Material Strength of the item be it a Shift Rank or a Class Rank.

For example an unbreakable sword (Class 1000 Mat. Str.) that does 100 (UN) Edged Damage and shoots lightening at 50 (AM) rank would cost 20 CPs base plus 100 CPs for the Class Rank 200 CPs for the Edged Damage and 100 CPs for the lightening. That’s 420 CPs!!! But hey, that’s the price of power. Thor’s hammer don’t come cheap kiddies.


LIMITATIONS
Ok things are looking grim, you’re running out of CPs but you want some more powers of higher power Ranks, what are you to do. Well you cripple yourself of course! Note this is COMPLETELY optional. However if you choose this option you can recoup some CPs. Now the amount is dependant on the severity of the Limitation/Weakness/Quirk chosen. For example a power that only works during the daytime is an 20 (EX) Limitation and will recoup you 20 CPs for your trouble (the EX rank for that limitation comes straight from the Advanced Players Handbook). Weaknesses and such not covered in the core books will be assigned a Rank by yours truly. Feel free to PM me about any questions regarding this.  Note, you can give yourself as many Limitations as you want for character flavor but you will only be getting points back for the highest ranking Limitation you’ve saddled yourself with. So be creative and make it a good one.


TALENTS
Talents can be very useful attributes and are CHEAP! Combat Talents (Fighting and Weapon Talents) will cost 10 CPs each, all other Talents will only cost 5 CPs.


CONTACTS
Who do you know? Contacts can be used to both flesh out your history and can even serve as a useful tool in certain circumstances. Contacts will cost 5 CPs per contact with a maximum of 5.


ORIGINS
Ok now its time to tell me just who and or what you are. Cosmic beings run the gamut from incredibly powerful mortals to aliens and even gods! Be creative! You can be as brief or elaborate as you like just as long as you accept that the less you put in here the more free reign I have in interpreting things in game for your character to have experienced. That doesn’t mean I'm going to bend them to my will by any means but it gives me some sway. If you don’t flesh out your character in time I will. So if you don’t like that idea be comprehensive, plus I’ll award Karma for well written or compelling histories.


SUBMITTING YOUR CHARACTER
Ok so now that you’ve finished all you have to do is PM me your character for my final approval.

[LunarSage]

CHARACTER SHEET

Name:

Nom De Guerre:

Sex:

Height:

Weight:

Hair:

Eyes:

Place of Birth: 

Current Nationality:

Known Relatives:

Current Occupation:

Current Place of Residence:

Affiliations:

Hobbies:

Quote:

Origin of Powers: 

Strength Level: 

FIGHTING: 
AGILITY: 
STRENGTH: 
ENDURANCE: 
REASON: 
INTUITION: 
PSYCHE: 

HEALTH: 
KARMA: 

RESOURCES: 
POPULARITY: 

COMBAT STATS:


POWERS: 


LIMITATIONS:


UNUSUAL FEATURES:


EQUIPMENT:


TALENTS:


HISTORY:

[Cassiopeia]

This looks really interesting, and as a Superhero fan it seems like it would be a real blast ... especially given the free reign we have within the creative process     I just need to look over the info to make sure it's not over my head.  If I think it's doable I already have a character I'm mulling over in my head.  I've just never done anything like this before <.<

[LunarSage]

I'd love to hear about your concept, Cassiopeia!  Just shoot me a PM when you feel you're ready and I'll tell you how doable it is with 2000 points.  (Note:  2000 is a lot of points, so it'll probably be alright) 

[Aether]

I am looking for a heroes game and one other I checked on earlier today was full, alas, so I checked in groups wanted  ^.^

I would not say that I know a whole lot about marvel universe, so not enough to be largely proficient navigating canon material.  Therefore, I may just create an extraterrestrial or alien so I can, as you say, develop kind of my own flavor for whats happened with the character and come in from the outside and do his/her best to adapt.

Is there a wiki time line that can be read concerning the time fram in the universe that you are speaking of?

[Jefepato]

This sounds interesting.  I have the books sitting around somewhere, I think, but I'm not very familiar with the system.  I'll try to come up with a decent concept after I look through the books again...

[LunarSage]

The only real timeline you should be worried about is the events of the recent Annihilation Wave event, which you can read about here.  I can see about creating a psuedo-timeline of the world I will be using.  Mind you, this will not be the 616 universe.  Small or large things may be different, but for the most part it will be the same as in the comics.  For example, I have not read any X-Men comics in over a decade, so my knowledge of the events involving the Shi'ar past when Lilandra was empress are limited.  Thus, in my Marvel Universe 3113, Linandra is still the Majestrix of the Shi'ar.  Make sense?

[Cassiopeia]

I'll be sure to PM you my ideas as soon as I get a chance, LunarSage.  Thanks! ^_^  Sucks that work has to get in the way of RP >.>

[Aether]

You know more than me, LS, lol.  Definitely chalk me up as a candidate and I am looking through source material to help flesh out a concept  ^.^

[LunarSage]

This sounds interesting.  I have the books sitting around somewhere, I think, but I'm not very familiar with the system.  I'll try to come up with a decent concept after I look through the books again...

Glad to have your interest! 

The system is really very simple, especially since it's going to be semi-freeform.  The character sheets are there to give you and I an idea of your character's capabilities, not to get bogged down in excessive dice rolling.  I'm very excited by this idea, myself.

I'll be sure to PM you my ideas as soon as I get a chance, LunarSage.  Thanks! ^_^  Sucks that work has to get in the way of RP >.>

Sounds like a plan.  I look forward to hearing from you! 

You know more than me, LS, lol.  Definitely chalk me up as a candidate and I am looking through source material to help flesh out a concept  ^.^

*Admits he's definitely a Marvel guy*  Sweetness.   

Awesome.  So far it looks like we have 2 girls and 2 guys, assuming the characters will match the players' genders.  If that's the case, we have room (at least for now) for 1 more guy and 1 more girl.

[Vergil1989]

I will say I am very intrigued by this idea but I have nowhere near enough knowledge about Marvel to do a good character on my own most likely.  Still, I'll see what I can do.  I have yahoo and a Chatango ready to go if you want to talk on either one, just send a PM and I'll be glad to share.  For now, count me in.

[LunarSage]

Sounds good.  That leaves one female spot open. 

EDIT:  I have created two threads in the NC System Games Small Group section. 

Out of Character Section

Approved Character Sheets

[Aether]

So, there is no limit to the number of talents I select?  I am limiting them to what makes sense based on what I am putting together.

Also, there seems to be powers in both the players book and the ultimate book that are not quite the same, so I build from both?

[LunarSage]

Nope, no limit on the number of Talents.  The Talents in the main book should be in the Ultimate Talents book as well.  If there are some that aren't in the other, use both books.  If there are two different versions of a given Talent, ask me on a case by case basis and I'll tell you which will be used for this game.

[Aether]

Excellent.

I am closer to the completed nuts and bolts.  I wont get it done before work though.  There is just so much info to peel through  ^.^

[LunarSage]

No worries at all! 

As a side note, future questions and other OOC comments and the like from folks who have already claimed spots should be directed here.

[yasarra]

Ah!  I love the old MSH system.  The books can be downloaded from http://www.heroplay.com/features/rules/marvel.php

You have room for another female?  I'd like in.  Might be able to whip up a character in a day or two.

[LunarSage]

Awesome!  We'd love to have you!  I'll send you a PM and we can discuss things further there or on the OOC thread. 

[LunarSage]

This plot-driven semi-freeform game has slowed down considerably, but we're still trucking along.  It's definitely not a fast paced game but that doesn't make it any less awesome. 

We need two more cosmic level heroes (canon or homebrewed) to help save the world devourer Galactus!!! 

[EbonyQueen]

This plot-driven semi-freeform game has slowed down considerably, but we're still trucking along.  It's definitely not a fast paced game but that doesn't make it any less awesome. 

We need two more cosmic level heroes (canon or homebrewed) to help, begrudgingly, save the world devourer Galactus!!! 

Fixed!

[LunarSage]

Ha!  True enough.