Do you feel that we should actually change monikers?
If you mean avatar names, no. That's a bit much.
After what seems like an eternity waiting for the technology to come in, I finally got some dynamic hair for Violet, and it looks great.
Check it.
Yeah, hair!
If we had doubles, did they register themselves?
No. They just pretended to be normal humans while keeping your cover's alive.
BTW : Just waiting on Blaze to respond IC at this point.
Sorry I didn't push the game harder, been having horrible insomnia last two weeks (several 72 hour periods with 4-6 hours of sleep total). Had to start meds, increase meds 3 times, switch meds, increase new meds, and just the last two nights I've averaged about 4.5 hours of sleep per night, so finally feeling normal.
I'll poke him. Again.
Glad you're getting more sleep, boss. As someone who's had severe insomnia problems in the past, I feel you tremendously.
Ok, so, IC, we have 3 moves, one prefer not but talk me into it, and one 'good with whatev'.
OOC, does anyone have a preference different from their character?
Also : Will update before end of week. Just got back from Rampage. Surprisingly good, and the effects are awesome. Jeffrey Dean Morgan stole the show, although Dwayne was good too. All the actors gave really good performances (other than the bad guys, who just kind of chewed the scenery and then met deserving ends). All in all, if you're looking for a good monster movie popcorn flick, see it on the big screen. Lot's of good fun was had all around (even my 76 year old mother loved it).
Pulse is against it. She knows better, but she's sentimental.
I think it's probably better to move, but would prefer to go with in character sentiment :)
I don't get out much, but I'll keep in mind that it was good :)
Violet is pro-moving because the memories involved in this place are now 100% painful and she is the type to pack up and move when painful things happen. However, she now has a "family" and thus wants to keep them all together.
She also understands that if they stay here and start doing things like their Old Selves used to do, someone's going to put their numbers together and realize that "Black Lightning is back!" as it were.
So, for their own safety and their own ability to actually do what they need to do, the concept of moving is very much what she thinks they should do.
The player is also of these thoughts, to answer the "do we have a different OOC vs. IC preference" question.
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Unrelated: the new Netflix "Lost In Space" program is quite good. I called a few of the reveals early on, but that's because I'm a giant nerd and can put two-and-two together and come up with plot.
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On that note, Black Lightning went from kinda campy to probably my favorite Live-Action DC show over the course of season 1. Mostly, because I like the setting changes.
Not gonna lie, Black Lightning rapidly outpaced Luke Cage on my "holy crap, that's good" meter. And I loved S1 of Luke Cage. The use of music in Black Lightning alone added so many layers to the show - and Luke Cage used music in a similar fashion, but not nearly as well.
1) I really like the new Lost In Space. However, with the caveats that (a) I do not like the mother, however the character is a very good character (as in, I do not like her as a person, but as a character she's very well executed), (b) All the children are both good characters and well executed, (c) I like the father but he's horribly executed and very meh (as in, I like him as a person, but as a character he's very two dimensional and not portrayed very well), (d) I don't like Don West, but he's very well executed (again, don't like the person he is, but like the way he's portrayed and think he's fairly well rounded so far), (e) I absolutely hate Dr. Smith and she's horribly executed and abysmally written (as in, I hate the person, hate the way the actress portrays her, and I think she's a horribly written character and a basic two dimensional cookie cutter villain more appropriate to the 1950's than a real person, she has utterly no redeeming features, the actress is horrible in the part, and she provides nothing to the show, and detracts from the rest of the show). The special affects are very well executed. The robot, and that whole sub-plot around the destruction of the main ship, is very well handled and I'm looking forward to seeing if my idea of what happened pans out (I'm about half way through). I hope they fire Dr. Smith out of an airlock, along with the actress that portrays her, and replaces her with a new 'villain' who's a more rounded character.
2) I like black lightning, but the social commentary got so thick that I finally quit watching it. Yes, I know that stuff is based on real life, but when you're hitting me with it with a sledge hammer show after show as if I'm a moron, it get's old. You made the point, move on with the story. Luke Cage did the same social commentary, IMHO, but without turning it on like a tactical nuke over and over again, and while still telling a good story. So I still keep LC above BL.
Oh, and: new skin shader and dynamic hair in wind stuff for Violet. Also, a rare sighting of Violet in pants.
Nice hair wind, but she looks very pale, almost corpsish? Could just be my monitor though.
Sallow is the correct word, methinks.
Luke Cage was my favorite so far. I wasn't a huge fan of the villain is the reason it got pegged a bit.
I'm not a huge fan of the sledgehammer approach, either... but the use of metahumans and green light and stuff creating a dynamic world just seemed head and shoulders ahead of what the other series are really offering (like... constant resets, sledgehammered glass ceiling stuff, and I haven't watched arrow since I fell behind on it.)
Probably your monitor - I'm using the same skin texture as before, but with Subsurface Scattering and Translucency turned on (and adjusted for the iRay render engine - perhaps unsurprisingly, the default settings for these don't actually optimize themselves for clear renders, which is part of why her skin's been coming out so dark in other renders - the new Altern8 tool fixes a lot of the problems).
My one regret is that I don't have a skin builder program for Genesis3 skins like I do for Genesis2 skins. Then I could give her her freckles.
It probably is the missing freckles. Without those to offset, she's just sort of pure white with hints of yellow-green. :O
It only shows up heavily on the upper body to me, though, which may be the absense of the vibrant purple, like my brain color-correcting.
It's funny, because on my monitor, there's a whole bunch of pink highlights wherever the light filters through her skin (like her nose, her fingers, her elbows and ankles...), which is exactly what the SSS is supposed to do, and hasn't been in previous renders.
May be Sunday before I can get us up and going again. I've had 3 hours of sleep in the last 55 hours. Hard to do long post things when you have trouble keeping a thought in your head more than 10 minutes at a time.
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Ok, good news.
New meds, and I'm now sleeping at night, and not waking up with splitting migraines (at least I didn't today). So I should be able to get us going again shortly. Working today, so will need a day or so to get back on track. Apologies for the delays.
On a different note, if anyone likes GURPS and/or parallel world games, there's a recruitment here for such a game.
I don't really know a lot about Gurps. I know it's really flexible, and given the setting, it's got a lot of flexibility on backgrounds as well, but it looks -really- ... I dunno... overdetailed? I'm really leery of the 'sci-fiction' v. 'sci-fantasy' distinctions, now.
And I'm not sure Sliders is gonna be my thing, anyway. :O
GURPS is like HERO, only more so. HERO was made by one of the main develoeprs for the original GURPS who didn't like the complexity of GURPS. He expanded the stats out, and streamlined the powers, but if you know one system, you can follow the other fairly easy.
Same die rolling, same 'skill based off stat', advantages, disadvantages, powers, etc.
On that note though, yes, you should probably avoid it Hotaru-face. I don't think it would be your cup of tea.
GURPS is like HERO, only more so. HERO was made by one of the main develoeprs for the original GURPS who didn't like the complexity of GURPS. He expanded the stats out, and streamlined the powers, but if you know one system, you can follow the other fairly easy.
That's not true, though. George MacDonald and Steve Peterson worked out a new system based on Superhero:2044, which was produced in 1977. Champions was produced in 1981, and GURPS didn't hit the market until 1986. Steve Jackson was working at Metagaming at the time. Neither MacDonald nor Peterson had worked with Jackson before or after.
I used to have lunch with them when they were based in Emeryville back in the 90's, after splitting from Iron Crown. We talked a lot about the differences and history of each system, and (at the time) how lucky SJG had gotten in their victory against the Secret Service following the GURPS Cyberpunk debacle.
It's when we developed the phrase "Friends don't let friends play GURPS."
And I'm not sure Sliders is gonna be my thing, anyway. :O
When you said Sliders I got my hopes up for wacky cross-reality adventures but it went all militaristic and my face went from :D to :(
Yeah. I think military hurts the tone a lot for me in most games. Wrath of the righteous has been really good, so far, despite that. I think it's just that I associate military with heavy realism. Not super sure.
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Ah, odd, I'd heard other stories.
Anyway, the two systems are remarkably similar. Fundamentally. GURPS is more mathy and bigger.
George MacD worked on several other games that might have been peripherally related to Steve Jackson in his pre-SJG days, and both George and Steve P worked at video game companies that SJG licensed with, but I'm not aware that they ever did any work with him directly.
But yeah, fundamentally similar, definitely. I've found it's a lot easier to play a completely unbalanced character in GURPS than it is in HERO, though. I once played in a 300-point GURPS Supers game, where one character was completely immortal, had the ability to view all of the events in a 10-mile area back to 1000 years in the past, and could convince anyone of anything, while another character simply couldn't resist even the most basic attack. HERO makes it a lot easier to stay balanced and keep that balance.
Yeah, HERO is easier to keep balanced, which is probably why you guys chaff a bit at the restrictions on some of the powers you'd like. :) I have to restrict them because if I don't the game will get unbalanced really fast.
Ok, so, on that note, I'm ready to get us back on track, but before I do, I want to ask you guys what you'd like to do/see going forward. You've got a new world to explore. I can move you forward with several types of games from this point.
1) Local Hero For the State - For this type of game (think of Batman & the Bat Brigade with respect to Gotham, occasionally spreading out, or crossing over with other teams, but mostly in one state, centered on a city), you're basically officially a team in a specific state and city, and your charter is to keep that state safe. You'll need to deal with local politicians and such, as well as local news outlets and the people on the street.
2) Forest Fire Brigade - For this, think of X-Men, they are based out of a specific place (X-Mansion, or in your case, the St. Louis Base), but they end up going all over the country, and even the world, to deal with specific issues. This would be a lot of travel, and it would be hard to make lasting connections with any NPCs, but by the same token, your game would be constantly changing.
3) International Response Team - In this case, you would actually resign from Sanctions group, and take up a job with the UNIT (United Nations International Teams Division), a UN mandated team who responds to everything from Natural Disasters to military outbreaks (Syria for example) to security for diplomatic summits, as well as dealing with international threats from major supers.
4) You Tell the GM - If you have a different take youd' rather do, tell the GM.
Violet has essentially been used as a meta-spy once her "liberation" from the lab occurred, so while it's not exactly the most palatable to her, she's especially equipped to be a targeted UN asset.
She could do the local politician PR thing, but she's not got much in the way of flowing cape and domino mask mentality.
Violet's still of the mind that moving digs would be a suitably good idea, but as a people pleaser she'll go with whatever the majority vote is.
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I personally prefer Forest Fire Brigade, other than wanting lasting contacts and connections. :) It seems the 'biggest' scope, which gives you the most room to control and change things!
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I like Forest Fire Brigade
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I'm not really up to learning a new system right now even if it is 'this but harder' and I do not join games without Hotaru so going to pass as well but thanks for the offer.
I think Local Hero is more our power level but I'm fine with Forest Fire Brigade as well.
Ok, seems like we're doing the 'fire fighter brigade then', I got one vote for 'whatever', two votes for 'fire fighter' and one for 'Local Her or Fire Fighter'. That makes 3 (+1 whatever converted) and a majority for fire fighter.
I'll get up a post shortly.
I'll poke Blaze tonight at our regular remote-call Pathfinder game and make sure he's reviewed and posted on the thread.
No need. I'm voting "fire fighter" too.
No need. I'm voting "fire fighter" too.
Posting without me poking you?
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MATT?
MDT
Just so we’re clear, how does Muds abilities destroy clothes any worse than Blaze? Why wouldn’t the special effect absorb and cover with a new exterior? Then when he stops paying END the clothes become the exterior? Please describe how this works.
Thanks
His strength is more than they can really handle, and his shapeshifting lets him exert it anywhere over his body (that whole undifferentiated thing). They can handle it on Aegis because she's still human, and can only exert her strength like a human can. She can't punch a fist-arm out of her chest like Mud can.
You'll note Blaze's doesn't give the same benefits as others. His has to handle high temperatures (note they do NOT know about his turning into other elements yet, expect his suit to end up trashed the first time he does!).
Mud could probably control it by sucking it into himself and balling it up in chest ok (although adding in all the stuff that the others have would make that more difficult, as it would make it bulky, and make it harder for him to ball it up inside). However, he'd be more likely than anyone else to leave it laying around.
If you really want the same suit, I can give it to you, but I'll then ask you how you're keeping the suit from getting damaged when you do things. Up to you. Also note, when he's desolid, the suit *isn't*, since he didn't pay CP for it, so he'd leave it behind then. Since a 'normal' suit costs 0 CP, he can desolid it (or at least carry it around in him).
That's fine.
Will Augis get nekkid when she desolids, too?
No, but only because of her special effect of her armor basically coating what she's wearing.
Like I said, I'm ok with you having a full on suit like everyone else, it's just bulky enough that taking it into yourself is hard to keep is all.
That's probably covered by Aegis's clothing transform. :)
Basically, because she transforms, technically she's not wearing it any longer when she's in hero id. So she only gets the defenses out of hero id.
Soooooo.... Violet and Blaze get +Defenses that stack with their normal defenses.
Mud gets +Defenses that he has to be careful not to leave behind.
Aegis gets +Defenses when she's not using her defenses.
Is that accurate?
Basically. Hotaru doesn't get anything because of her buckyball suit. Sorry. :(
You forgot : Blaze gets defenses that he rips apart when he changes into something other than fire. :P
Yup. BUT WE DON'T KNOW THAT YET.
I figure it's something we'll address in character. :) We have an AEGIS who is FULLY CAPABLE of making us full-on Fantastic Four outfits. Not these half-bothered K8 knockoff brand outfits. :P
Expect Pulse to be a rebel, and stick with the color scheme and the nifty badges, but otherwise make no effort to stick to dress code. :P
As long as Violet doesn't get the Sue Storm "Cutout" uniform from The Wedding Special.
You're the one that wants wardrobe malfunctions and boob windows. :|
What's wrong with this uniform?.
You do realize they were aiming these comics at the time at 13yo boys right?