[Marvel Superheroes Play-by-Post] Big Darn Heroes: Recruitment/Introduction

[dsmiles]

"So, you wanna be a superhero? Well, let me tell you something, kid, superheroes are a dying breed here. The Mastermind sees to that. Someone has to stop him, and even our best and brightest have died trying. What, you think you can succeed where the rest have failed? You've got guts, kid, I'll give you that. I'd hate to see 'em splattered all over the street."

That was a week ago, and he's dead now. He was the last. There is no one else, it is all up to you now. You're all this city has left, and you're nothing more than a half-trained bunch of rookies. You don't even know how to work, let alone work together. But the city needs you. Will you be the answer to its prayers?

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Big Darn Heroes is a campaign based on TSR's Marvel Superheroes (now out of print). It's going to be a little more cinematic, and a little less reliant on die rolling. It is intended for 4-6 players.

Here's how it's going to work (and you're going to need percentile dice for this bit):

Step 1: Choose an Archetype (yes, there can more than one character with any given Archetype, and yes I am letting you choose). The available Archetypes (with examples) are: Alien (Beta-Ray Bill, Silver Surfer), Altered Human (Captain America, Spider Man), High-Tech (Black Panther, Iron Man), Mutant (Cyclops, Wolverine), and Robot (Adam Warlock, Vision).
Step 2: Generate attributes. The basic attributes are FASERIP, for those familiar with the system. Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche. Secondary attributes are Health, Karma, Resources, and Popularity.
Step 3: Generate special abilities. The special abilities are Powers, Talents, and Contacts.
Step 4: Fill in the blanks. Name, background, etc. Details are good. A 15-page thesis is not.

Become familiar with the system, as the (little bit of) die rolling will be consistent with the game. On that note...THE HONOR SYSTEM APPLIES any time I ask a player to make a die roll (which should be few and far between).

Please be patient with me, this is my first play-by-post gamemastering attempt. I will post pretty regularly, and will let you know in advance when I won't be able to post for extended periods.

Feel free to PM me with any questions or concerns.

Player limit has been reached. If you are still interested, feel free to PM me and I'll put you in the queue. If you're in the queue, don't run off, I'll have jobs for you. (Plus you'll need to know when a character is irrevocably removed from the game, so you can jump in.)

Current Players:

• Auberon (Aegis [Ethan])
• Unit04 (Type Zero)
• Aard_Rinn (Salamander [Lee Waits])
• Ludo (Mace Ember)
• Dilvish the Deliverer (Cambion)
• Qwyksilver (Ghost)
• SparksMurphey (Slingshot)
• NightyKnight (The Surgeon)

Current Queue:

1.  
2.  
3.  

 

The Setting:

"Broad, quiet, shady boulevards lined with birch trees." That used to be how people described Silver City.

Broad boulevards have given way to narrow streets lined with towering skyscrapers, high-rise apartment complexes, cluttered shopping malls, and the accompanying dark alleyways. PTA meetings have been replaced with AA and NA meetings. Pleasant neighborhoods are now run-down slums, with prostitutes on every other corner. Once, people used to stop in Silver City in the autumn to watch the leaves turn. Now, people drive hours out of their way to avoid it.

Gang violence runs rampant, and the three major gangs have their run of the city. The police are near-powerless...if not corrupt. From north to south the gangs are: The Frontrunners covering 1st Street through 52nd Street, The Midtown Maulers who claim 60th Street all the way to 100th Street, and The Southside Stalkers claim 103rd Street through 120th Street.

This is the home of The Mastermind, as notorious a hero-killer as there ever was. Even the League of Law, the Silver Sentinel, Captain Power, and the alien known only as Vaxx have fallen before him. The most powerful heroes in the world are either dead, crippled, or serving life sentences for crimes they most likely didn't commit.

Into the midst of this steps the entrepreneur Gina Roosevelt, and Heroes, Inc. A smart, classy, and not unattractive businesswoman, Gina knows that Silver City can get better. Must get better. Make no mistake, she's no philanthropist. She is a businesswoman, pure and simple, and a clean, crime-free city is good for business. And good business is her bottom line. Heroes, Inc. operates out of one of Gina's less-used warehouses outside of Silver City. Gina supplies the money and the tech, you supply the bodies and willpower. Lately, it's been more of the former, and less of the latter.

The Rules of Posting:

• Subscribe to the thread, and post when you can. Let me know when you're going to be unable to post for long periods (more than two days, or so), and I'll do the same for you.
• Please try to check in at least once on the weekends, as I'll be handing out 'session' Karma. I'll probably be handing it out on Saturdays, unless we're in the middle of a combat sequence or something that can't be interrupted.
• Please keep the chatter in here.
• Nominate a 'speaker,' and for group actions, and actions each combat round, discuss them in here. When you're finished discussing them, the speaker will make one post for all of you, so make sure the wording is absolutely correct before the speaker posts.
• Remember to speak in 'voice.'
• If you have a long post to make, initially post "bookmark," "placeholder," or something along those lines. Then edit that post. Remember, actions will take place in time-stamp order (unless it's during combat, when they take place in initiative order).
• I will make all the rolls, except for special situations and during character generation. For all rolls made by players, the honor system is in effect. If I can prove that you are cheating (which I don't believe any of you will), you will be penalized for the first instance, and thrown out of the game for the second.
• If you decide to run a Karma Pool, choose someone to manage it, it's all on you.
• REMEMBER, DEATH IS PRETTY PERMANENT. Unless you're a Robot, have some pretty powerful regeneration, or are effectively immortal, death is a permanent thing. Don't get upset if you die, you've all read what's been happening to the world's most powerful heroes, and there are likely going to be fatalities. I will not mitigate them, if the dice decree that your character dies, well, there are ways to come back. You just might not like them.

 

The Characters:

Aegis

Altered Human

Secret ID - Ethan

F - Amazing (Rank 46)
A - Good (Rank 8)
S - Good (Rank 8)
E - Excellent (Rank 21)
R - Excellent (Rank 16)
I - Remarkable (Rank 26)
P - Incredible (Rank 36)

Health: 83
Karma: 78

Resources: Remarkable (Rank 26)
Popularity: (5)/(5)

Powers: Raise Lowest Ability (E+20)
Telepathy - Incredible (Rank 36)
Stunt - Mind Link
Body Transformation Self - Amazing (Rank 46)

Talents: Acrobatics
Guns
Weapons Master

Contacts: Dr. Stevans (Ethan)

Equipment: Tonfa (club stats)
Stun Pistol
Power Pack [Pistol] x 3

Background:
Ethan was born with a weak constitution and unable to even play with other children his age. He spent his time reading and staring out the window, wishing he could move around freely like other people seemed to do. Fortunately for Ethan, his familiy was well off so he lacked for little even with his disability.

As he grew older, his father, Hayden, became determined that no son of his would be so weak. Hayden rubbed elbows with some of Silver City's elites and secretly managed to get Ethan enrolled in a trial to recreate the famed super serum. While the serum failed to work for most of the test subjects, some quirk of Ethan's makeup resulted in a sucess. He became healthier with every given day. Hayden was overjoyed.

The serum project was run by a Dr. Stevans. Dr. Stevans monitored Ethan's progress but so far has been unable to determine why the serum only worked once. He keeps an eye on Ethan and checks to make sure no abnormalities have developed. Overall he is friendly, but can get lost in his own world. So far, he is unaware that Ethan has developed into something more than an exceptionally healthy human.

Now healthy, Ethan was able to attend school and truly see the city for the first time. It was sadly quite different from what he had imagined. With youthful exuberance, he resolved to do something about it.

In spite of his vastly improved condition, Ethan was smart enough to know that he still wasn't all that special physically. He could go toe to toe with the average joe, but even though he could probably land a hit on the superheroes he'd seen on television, in his estimation they probably wouldn't even feel it. He decided to compensate for this by secretly learning how use weapons, and due to his altered physique was able to pick it up unusually quickly.

Now a commuter student at one of the local universities, Ethan is dissatisfied with how far his city has fallen. He has decided to approach Heroes Inc under the secret identity of "" and find out what is being done to fix it.

TYPE ZERO

Robot

Type Zero was crafted in a black program by Sony at the bequest of the United States Army as a training drone for infantry. While the truck transporting Type Zero was driving through Silver City on its way to the Silver Plains Armaments Testing Facility, it was hijacked. Sgt. Wilkinson, riding in the back with the experimental cargo, activated the robot and the two of them quickly subdued the attackers.

Afterwards, however, Type Zero refused to be shut down and displayed sentience that was unexpected. In addition, the military was coming under fire for "unleashing" an experimental weapon in the middle of a city, and for owning a sentient being. That is when Gina Roosevelt stepped in. The local businesswoman offered to take responsibility for Type Zero by integrating him into her new Heroes, Inc. team, which and allowed the military to put a positive spin on the events. In return, the military has access to any and all combat data produced.

Sgt. Wilkinson was assigned as Type Zero's liaison for the military, and the two of them have formed a strong friendship. The police have also asked to be kept in the loop, and Lt. O'Leary of the SCPD has spent a lot of time with Type Zero so they can monitor him. Gina's computer wiz niece, Suzy, has also taken a shine to "Uncle Zero" and loves to help out with all the crime fighting "fun".

Type Zero is a sleek android who's head appears to have a helmet with a black face shield. The face shield is actually a display that he has tried to use to appear more human. However he has settled on a simple circle display after several other designs had unintended effects.

It was the officer's fault for choosing this particular route. Sgt Wilkinson was protecting the cargo. Of course, the poor Sgt is the one who would be taking the full burnt of the blame if things didn't turn out well. As it is, his current position is a bit of a "We don't want to promote you, but we can't quite get rid of you" spot.

The MADmen (sic) are an eclectic group who seem to specialize in crazy weaponry, the more unique the better. Their outfits tend to be leather and have lots of spikes, though no two outfits are the same. Blue seems to be the reigning color among the gang. The leader is a beefy, though not too bright, thug known as MAD (sic). MAD seems to enjoy being in a melee, and has been known to eschew guns for a baseball bat or 2x4. It is suspected that MAD has powers relating to cold, but the extent of those powers is unknown.


Fighting - Incredible (36)
Agility - Poor (3)
Strength - Remarkable (26)
Endurance - Remarkable (26)
Reason - Good (8)
Intuition - Remarkable (26)
Psyche - Good (8)

Health - 91
Karma - 42
Resources - Good (8)
Popularity - 0

Powers
Energy Sense (LIMITATION: Electricity only) - Amazing (46) (originally Poor)
-Can sense and track electricity with Amazing (46) power
Energy (Electrical) Touch - Good (8)
-Can inflict Good (8) damage on the Energy column, with a bullseye being a stun. Can reduce the damage or effects of the attack.
Extra Attacks - Amazing (46) (default)
-Fights at Amazing (46) when making multiple attacks. Failure reduces the attacks to 1, but no other penalty.
Electrical Manipulation - Remarkable (26)
-Resistant to electricity at Remarkable (26)
-Can absorb electricity at up to Good (8) level, allowing him an extra (8) Temporary HP
Force Field Generation (Personal) - Remarkable (26)
-Absorbs Remarkable (26) energy damage
-Absorbs (16) physical damage

Talents
Military - +1CS to military matters
Martial Arts B - +1CS for unarmed fighting

Contacts
Computers - Niece Suzy
Law Enforcement - Lt. O'Leary
Military - Sgt Wilkinson

Salamander

ID - Lee "Lili" Waits
 

Lee Waits was sixteen when he and his girlfriend Arianna spied two brilliant meteors while out stargazing. The pair rushed towards the crash site, and upon reaching the craters, they encountered the elementals known as the “Phoenix†and the “Kirinâ€, interstellar wanderers responsible for controlling the Entropic and Syntropic forces of the universe. Though they settled for mere moments on the earth, their very presence destroying the ground on which they stood, the two gods chose to grant the mortals in their presence great power – as “anchors†for their corner of the universe, embodiments of chaos and order that would allow the gods to return to their travels and attending the vast span of the universe.

The gods departed, fire and ice and wind and thunder, and left the two there, alone. For the first few months, they trained together, jubilant in their new powers – Lili in his new-found flight and the fire that now burned in his veins, and Arianna in the ice that slipped from her fingers and the lightning that sang to her across the plains.

And then, six months later, Arianna was gone.

She left without a trace, and no one noticed her leaving; one day, she was there, and the next, she'd simply left – no note to her beloved, no message left in the howling winds to her power's other half. Lee looked for her, of course he did – her loss ripped at him, ripped at his mind, tore at his sanity, and Entropy roared loud in his ears, uncontrolled and unchallenged, and so he searched. But he found nothing, and bound his powers tight around him, and pretended he was only human. When he didn't call the fire, claim the sky? The voice was quieter, then.

He lived like that for three years - until he saw the picture. A girl, on the TV, 5'9†and silver-haired and gleaming with ice and the crackle of sparks. He, too, left then – to follow her, and find her... It's been three years since Lee last saw Arianna... Now, in Silver City, he's finally found hope.

Mace Ember

Altered Human

F (89) Incredible 36
A (85) Incredible 36
S (32) Good 8
E (51) Excellent 16
R (21) Good 8
I (60) Excellent 16
P (21) Good 8 (Used Altered trait to up a level) Excellent 16

Health- 96
Karma- 40
Resources- (75) Excellent 16

(88) Powers 4/4
(18) Matter Control: Fire Control (87) Incredible
(77) Body Alterations / Offensive: Corrosive Touch (17) Typical
(90) Body Alterations / Offensive: Extra Attacks (56) Excellent (Increased to Amazing per power description)
(13) Movement: Leaping (6) Poor

Limitation: Can only use Leap power when yodeling.

(65) Talents 3/4
(75) Physics
(53) Profession - Pilot
(08) Oriental Weapons

(27) Contacts 1/4
SGT Wilkinson was Mace's military liaison during some experimental upper atmosphere flights. During one of the flights there was an unexpected solar flare. All contact with Mace's craft were lost. Mace was found a week later wandering the desert with no apparent memory of the time during or after the flight. SGT Wilkinson was transferred to escort detail while the incident underwent investigation.

Additional info:
Aside from being an experimental pilot, Mace Ember enjoys most of the typical thrill seeking activities. He is also an accomplished nun-chuck practitioner. In his travels for his martial arts studies he was granted the knowledge of an ancient chant that allows him to jump great distances.

Dark Magik

Secret Identity Miranda Sinclair

Alterd Human

F 85 Incredible (36)

A 25 Good (8) trait raised (16) Excellent

S 79 Remarkable (26)

E 65 Remarkable (26)

R 86 Incredible (36)

I 14 Typical (5)

P 46 Excellent (16)

Health- 96
Karma- 57
Resources- 5
Popularity- 5

Power- 5/5 (100)

Distance- Dark Force Generation (64) Remarkable
Stunning Missle (12) Typical

Energy Control- Dark Force Manipulation (95) Amazing

Body Alterations- Blinding Touch (52) Remarkable
Solar Regeneration (11) Typical

Talents 1/6 (11)

Sleight of Hand

Contacts 0/4 (15)

Place: Horizon Labs (Manhattan NY) Time: 6 Months ago

Research Assistant Miranda Sinclair- Antimatter Propulsion Systems
Miranda always figured harnessing antimatter from the Negative Zone, could create something positive. So when she was offered an assistant job studying just that, she jumped at the chance. Sure, her days were filled with piles of paperwork, computer screens streaming with data, crappy hours, little recognition and very bad coffee but she was part of something big. Something life changing, something that could change the world. To be honest, she told herself, she preferred the background. Then it happened, another late night, like any other, then a flash followed by the dark. When she woke, she was somewhere unknown, strange. She thought of home and she was there standing in her living room as if she was there all along. Sick, scared and shaking she looked around her, everything seemed normal. What the hell just happened? she thought, sinking to the floor. She passed out. When she woke...well that's when the real fun started. Too afraid to think straight she fled, back to the known and the comfortable, her home town Silver City.
Time: The Present
Miranda has had a few months with her new found powers. They are more controlled, but still damn scary. Still, something good should come from it all. While she's waiting for that something, she figures she'll just work on her card tricks.

Cambion

Alien
F (46) Excellent 16
A (37) Good 8
S (93) Amazing 46
E (90) Amazing 46
R (40) Good 8
I (22) Typical 5
P (35) Good 8

Health- 116
Karma- 21
Resources- Poor


(99) Powers 5/5 (modified to 4/4 due to alien)
21 Talents 2/6

Powers:
(81) Body Alterations Offensive Health Drain Touch (02) Feeble
(86) Body alterations Offensive Health Drain touch
(59) Distance attacks Fire Generation Generation (14) Typical
(85) Body /alterations Offensive- Extra Attacks (46) Excellent (Increased to remarkable per power description)

Talents:
(04) Guns
(48) Profession - Pilot

Cambion's people hail from an unidentified dimension. They were a peaceful people until the dimension hopping conquerors know only as the Masters arrived. . The Master's enslaved his race and forced them to serve as soldiers in their conquests. Some of these slave soldiers were experimented on and developed powers and enhanced abilities. Cambion was one of these. He was trained to pilot one of the Master's dimension hopping assault craft.
During an assault on another of the Master's enemies, his craft took damage and went through a series of random dimensional shifts. His vessel crash landed outside Silver City and he was the only survivor.
Cambion looks vaguely human with demonic traits. His skin is ashen grey with dark orange eyes. His teeth and fingernails are pointed, and his hair short and spiky. He has only recently learned English and uses broken syntax.

 

Ghost

 

 

Backstory:  Beat cop that had swiftly risen to Detective.  Had an uncanny ability to get perps to confess with even the slightest pressure.  Unconsciously using the Fear power.  During a shoot out, he unconsciously phased to survive the hail of bullets.  His partner and a civilian took the bullets and were killed.  Witnessed reported the bullets passing through him.  He was outed as a Mutant.  Wracked by guilt, and facing the inevitable persecution and discrimination, he resigned in shame.  But he was still a cop and still believed in justice.  Now he does the work the police can't do.  And he doesn't need to worry about procedures and warrants.  He ostensibly works as a PI to pay the bills., and maintains a few connections with a couple guys on the force.  Real friends, that wouldn't turn their back on him.  He's going to help clean up this city, or die trying.  But now he's a ghost, because of his gifts he's practically dead to the world.  He's learned to control his gifts.  Doors can't be locked against him.  And you'll never see him coming.  There's always a mist or fog seeming to linger in the air.  If you do see him, the hairs on the back of your neck will rise, and you will feel fear.  You'll be jumping at shadows.  You'll hear footsteps from behind you and turn, but no one will be there.  People used to say there was no such thing as ghosts, but Ghost is real.

 

 

Hero’s Name:       Ghost                                     Group Affiliation: Heroes, Inc

Hero’s Identity:                                                Age: 25       Origin: Mutant

 

Primary Abilities:                                               Secondary Abilities:

Fighting (92)        Incredible     36                        Health (F+A+S+E):  134

Agility(88)            Incredible     36

Strength (52)        Excellent      16                        Karma (R+I+P): 70

Endurance (85)    Amazing       46

Reason (37)          Excellent      16                        Resources: Good – 8

Intuition (97)         Amazing       46                       Popularity: 0

Psyche (31)           Good           8

 

Special Abilities:

Powers: (4/4) +1 Power (Mutant)  

• Energy Control (Sound Manipulation) – Excellent
• Body Control (Phasing) – Incredible
• Matter Control (Weather Control) – Good
• Mental Powers (Emotion Control – Respect/Fear) – Remarkable

Talents: (4/4)

• Professional Skills – Detective/Espionage
• Professional Skills – Law Enforcement
• Fighting Skills – Acrobatics
• Mystic and Mental Skills â€“ Occult Lore

Contacts: (1/4) +1 Detective; -1 Mutant

 

Slingshot

Character Name: Slingshot (or, as the tabloids would have it "Gravity Girl")

Player Name: Sparks Murphey
Identity: Elizabeth Ehmann
Group: Heroes, Inc.
Base: Silver City

Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Light Brown
Weight: 162 pounds
Height: 5'5"
Skin: Bronzed

Archetype: Mutant

Fighting: Incredible (36)
Agility: Excellent (16)
Strength: Incredible (36)
Endurance: Amazing (46)
Reason: Excellent (16)
Intuition: Excellent (16)
Psyche: Remarkable (26)

Popularity: -5 (Slingshot)/0 (Elizabeth Ehmann)
Resources: Good (8)

Health: 134
Karma: 58

Powers (4/4):
Gravity Manipulation: Incredible (36)
-Power Stunt: Excellent Flight
Paralyzing Touch: Remarkable (26)
Gravitic Detection: Typical (5) 
Extra Attacks: Amazing (46)

Talents (2/5):
Physics
Thrown Weapons

Contacts (1/4):
Dr Richard Prather - Chemist (as Slingshot only)

Background: Straight out of college with a degree in physics, Elizabeth joined Panaural Telecommunications as a research assistant. Panaural were developing new communications technologies and it was through this that Elizabeth gained her powers. No, not through a lab experiment gone horribly wrong, though accident was certainly involved. While working on a broadcast tower in remote Arizona, she fell. As the ground rushed towards her, the innate mutant power she was born with manifested for the first time, halting her descent mere inches from the ground. As Elizabeth checked herself over, she discovered the flip side to that: the gravitational force she had countered was not destroyed, but merely left charged up, waiting for her to touch something and discharge it. The resultant dump of a substantial amount of gravitational energy knocked her out.

When she came to at the hospital, Elizabeth discovered that Panaural were firing her for failure to follow safety procedures (her harness should have caught her, after all). Her powers had significantly increased the density of her bones, muscles and skin, and it wasn't long before she found herself fighting crime and righting wrongs in her hometown of Las Fortunas. After she saved Dr Richard Prather from the tender attentions of some casino enforcers, however, media opinion turned against her at the behest of the people he owed and Slingshot (or "Gravity Girl", as the tabloids smearing her name preferred) was run out of town. She's moved to Silver City in the hopes of avoiding the negative press back home, as well as earning something more than pizza delivery money.

 

The Surgeon

The Surgeon
Alien
Fighting 27 Typical
Agility 15 poor
Strength 75 Incredible
Endurance 71 Incredible
Reason 59 excellent
Intuition 39 good
Psyche 4 Feeble
---
HP-188
Karma-102
Resorces-poor (2)
Popularity(10)
---
Powers roll 99 5/5 Changed to 4/4 because of alien
Health Draining Touch (99)
Regeneration (12)
Power Absorption (78)
Water Control (94)
Talents 63 3/4
Martial Arts E
Medicine
Language
Contacts 1/4
Medicine-Dr.Sanders (Mentor)
No Secret ID
Genderless
6" tall
Semi Solid water like ballistic gel
Wears a lab coat and his water controlling bracers
On the run from a distant planet of sentiant water creatures, he was a rebel on his home planet who stole a piece of technology that allowed for the control of water water. He fled to Earth where he met a surgeon known as Dr.Sanders where he learned his trade as a surgeon and has been living in silver city ever since.

[Auberon]

I remember walking by this book all the time at the FLGS back in school, but we never did give it a try.  You've got me curious enough to at least flip through it once I get back from work.

[Unit04]

This is very tempting. I remember playing this game with my brothers a long time ago.  I made sooooo many characters.  Maybe I can make one more...

[Aard_Rinn]

Ooo, this sounds fun...

 

My other games seem to have dissolved, so may I give this a crack? I have an old copy of Silver Aged Sentinel somewhere that I've always wanted to play, and this sounds fair close...

 

I'll pop down a preliminary backstory FTM, but it'll probably change a lot...

 

Lee Waits (Lili, to his friends) was 16 when he and his girlfriend first encountered the mystical beings known as the "Firebird" and the "Kirin". Those two beings, elementals of the highest order, imbued the pair with their powers and named them the earthly Avatars of Chaos and Law, respectively, telling them that their powers together could help maintain the universal balance between order and chaos, staving off the coming of the End of Time.

 

That was three years ago, and Arianna is gone, gone, gone, vanished somewhere far away where even Lili can't find her. That doesn't mean he's stopped searching, of course... but there's work to be done, and he's had to move on with his life. That doesn't stop the pounding in his head, though, or mend his steadily slipping grasp on his powers without her to anchor them... And now, he's heard stories of a new villain in XXXX City, a young woman with eyes like lightning and a touch like ice who leaves her enemies shattered in her wake... 

 

I'm thinking some kind of pyrokint, if the rolls favor me, very young & very friendly, but not hot-headed at all. He's an outsider who's pretty much just rolled into town, and while he'd rather not involve himself in any superheroing (he really just wants to find out if this is where his girlfriend went!) it seems every day he gets sucked deeper into the superhero underground... All while his powers, berift of any sort of balance, slowly begin to shred at his body and his mind, slowly (but inevitably) turning him into a mindless creature of chaos... He tries not to worry about that too much, though (but secretly, yeah, it scares the hell out of him. A lot. And to think about Arianna, alone with nothing but the powers of Order to keep her company... well, Lili spends a lot of time trying not to think, these days...)

 

Got to go to class now, but I'll take another look at the rules when I get back.

[dsmiles]

Additional data: Chatter can stay in this thread, and the technical aspects of your actions during gameplay can be worked out here as well. That way we can keep the main thread for role-play only.

 

I'll post a write-up on the city this evening, so you have some pre-existing fluff to throw in your backstories.

 

Good luck, and I hope the dice do your characters better than they ever did mine.

[Auberon]

Since I didn't really have a concept in mind, I broke out the d100 and randomly generated a character as I was reading through the first part of the book.  Given that it's the first time I've used the system, I'd like to make sure I haven't made any mistakes.  If we are to give you the character sheets by PM rather than posting them in this thread, does that mean you would like character creation details done by PM as well or just do it here and have the stats out in the open?

[dsmiles]

If we can promise to be civil and not turn this into a game of "who's got the cooler powers?" we can do the character sheets/generation here. I wanted to do it by PM to avoid that little meta-game.

 

EDIT: Friendly chiding is acceptable, and normal. Insane jealousy and anger are not. Remember folks, sarcasm is purple.

 

Also, feel free to generate more than one character to put in the queue as a backup. My supers games have been known to get a little more lethal than my fantasy games. I have no idea why, the dice fall the way they fall.

Edited October 10, 2014 by dsmiles

[Unit04]

I promise that will not happen.  My power is TOTALLY the coolest anyway so no one else needs to bother.    

 

Anyway, I read the book when I got home.  They seemed to have tweaked the rules a bit since I last remember, but for the better I'm sure.  I had some ideas in my head but the dice demanded otherwise.  Once I get a background together I'll post something more substantial.  

[dsmiles]

Since you last remember? This version was published in '86, though there was the Basic Set that came out in '84 or '85...

 

EDIT: So I suffer from nostalgia...sue me.

 

Also, let me get my City info up before anyone writes any concrete background info. Give me about 15 minutes.

Edited October 10, 2014 by dsmiles

[Auberon]

I'm good either way.

[dsmiles]

"Broad, quiet, shady boulevards lined with birch trees." That used to be how people described Silver City.

 

Broad boulevards have given way to narrow streets lined with towering skyscrapers, high-rise apartment complexes, cluttered shopping malls, and the accompanying dark alleyways. PTA meetings have been replaced with AA and NA meetings. Pleasant neighborhoods are now run-down slums, with prostitutes on every other corner. Once, people used to stop in Silver City in the autumn to watch the leaves turn. Now, people drive hours out of their way to avoid it.

 

Gang violence runs rampant, and the three major gangs have their run of the city. The police are near-powerless...if not corrupt. From north to south the gangs are: The Frontrunners covering 1st Street through 52nd Street, The Midtown Maulers who claim 60th Street all the way to 100th Street, and The Southside Stalkers claim 103rd Street through 120th Street.

 

This is the home of The Mastermind, as notorious a hero-killer as there ever was. Even the League of Law, the Silver Sentinel, Captain Power, and the alien known only as Vaxx have fallen before him. The most powerful heroes in the world are either dead, crippled, or serving life sentences for crimes they most likely didn't commit.

 

Into the midst of this steps the entrepreneur Gina Roosevelt, and Heroes, Inc. A smart, classy, and not unattractive businesswoman, Gina knows that Silver City can get better. Must get better. Make no mistake, she's no philanthropist. She is a businesswoman, pure and simple, and a clean, crime-free city is good for business. And good business is her bottom line. Heroes, Inc. operates out of one of Gina's less-used warehouses outside of Silver City. Gina supplies the money and the tech, you supply the bodies and willpower. Lately, it's been more of the former, and less of the latter.

 

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Let's do character sheets and backstories here in the thread. It will be easier for me to keep up with, if I only have to reference one place.

 

EDIT: Huh...I made Silver City sound kind of like Detroit, didn't I? 

Edited October 10, 2014 by dsmiles

[Ludo]

Gotta get some sleep. Will have a character rolled up tomorrow. 

[Aard_Rinn]

I'm still trying to figure this out. Is there a character sheet I can use?

[ub3r_n3rd]

I'm still trying to figure this out. Is there a character sheet I can use?

Page 96

[Aard_Rinn]

Oh man, just got around to reading the Powers entry for Water-Breathing.

 

 

Water Breathing: This is a wimp Power.

Face it. When the great hero parties take

place, and Ulterior-Motive Man asks you

what you do, if you say, "I breathe water"

you end up wearing a full fishbowl. This

Power allows you to breathe water (fresh or

salt) as if air. No Power rank is needed for

this Power. In addition, this Power allows

the hero to see underwater as if on land

(vision is reduced in the underwater realm),

and survive at great depths. The hero's next

Power may be either Swimming or Animal

Communication and Control (Sea life). The

hero may choose both, but then only

breathes water, and will "drown" on dry land

(reverse of characters drowning in water).

 

I mean, that's a bit harsh, surely? I mean, any kid who picks this power is already stuck being the sort of kid who would pick this power. Surely there's no reason to rub it in further, now?