(4) More than Meets the Eye

Game Master mdt

Status :

Fully Complete

None

Vehicle Forms made, waiting on Player to approve

Ulastron
Warhawk

Robot form Complete

Ulastron
Warhawk

Robot form made, waiting on Player to approve

Redshift

Robot form partially made, waiting on Player for additional input

Chatterbox
Skitter

I DO in fact have GURPS books (2nd, 3rd, and 4th eds). I'll peruse a bit and get some ideas

Ulastron Bike Mode

Ulastron Cheetah Mode

Ulastron Drone Mode

Note : I just realized I forgot to fix the height/weight for the different modes. I'll do that later.

And triple changers are why I went with MF instead of power arrays with limitations, about the same cost, but easier to deal with once you have the base form done.

Will review tonight, 13 hour day yesterday...

Status :

Robot form made, waiting on Player to approve

Redshift

Did you sub "Urban Engineering" in for "Urban Geography"? I would consider them two separate skills, but if you're okay putting them together as one skill, that's fine by me.

Ulastron Bike Mode

Ulastron Cheetah Mode

Ulastron Drone Mode

Note : I just realized I forgot to fix the height/weight for the different modes. I'll do that later.

And triple changers are why I went with MF instead of power arrays with limitations, about the same cost, but easier to deal with once you have the base form done.

OK, reviewed them, the Skills all have different point totals, is that normal? A bit tired so I don't have any further comments at this time. Still waiting for the physical copy of the Hero System to arrive in the mail, not a bad deal from DriveThru RPG - $40 for PDF and Physical copy.

Does Warhawk need any kind of power add on to carry the little bots when flying in Helicopter mode?

If not, vehicle mode looks good. Just want to make sure these smaller bots can be transported in my helicopter form.

I like the idea of unknown disads. I hate defining a character to the nines only to play it and realize it's not what I thought it was. I prefer to feel it out through play and conflict to see what feels natural for that character.

As for skills,
Combat Driving
Fast Draw
Navigation
Shadowing
Stealth
seem likely candidates. Also, what is a power trick?

@jemstone - No, I just got the skill mixed up. I'll reset to Urban Geography.

@Shadow - Some skills/abilities aren't usable in all forms. The drone and bike can't use Defense Maneuver because they are vehicles. They also can't use Ambidexterity (obviously). The Cheetah can use Defense Manuever, but not Ambidexterity. So skill totals will be slightly different.

@SuperTumbler - Nope, as long as he has the strength to lift them, he can fly them around. Just like you don't need a special power as a human to carry a baby around in a papoose halter or carry your pet ferret in your back pack.

@James - A Power Trick is where you buy the Power skill, and if you want to do something that's related to a power, but isn't exactly part of it, you made a roll. A good example would be Johnny Storm (the fire guy on the Fantastic Four). He might use a power trick to light a cigarette for a cute girl, or the Scarlet Witch might use a power trick to roll Sevens 7 times in a row at the craps table.

Thanks MDT, makes sense.

@jemstone - No, I just got the skill mixed up. I'll reset to Urban Geography.

I'm absolutely fine with having both of them. They go hand in hand, and really fit his character background.

Ok, Last Pass on Redshift, Robot Form

And, First pass at Redshift, F1 Form

Much like Warhawk, Redshift's primary mode is her car mode, and her robot form is the alt form. Obviously she can't use martial arts a car, so those go away, as do the weapons.

Ok, last pass at Chatterbox.

Note, he does not know he has any languages other than Cybertronian until exposed to them.

And here's the first pass at vehicle mode.

CB's one of the few who can fire weapons in vehicle mode, giving him some versatility. He's also capable of hitting almost 300 mph (460 kph).

Status :

Fully Complete

Ulastron
Warhawk

Vehicle Forms made, waiting on Player to approve

Chatterbox
Redshift

Robot form Complete

Redshift

Robot form made, waiting on Player to approve

Chatterbox

Robot form partially made, waiting on Player for additional input

Skitter

Sweet! I don't pretend to fully understand all of it, but I dig it!

Skitter disads- so the absent minded/ADHD thing; something like curious would make sense here as well
sense of duty(close friends and companions);
maybe something like charitable? like it's really hard to refuse a request for aid (i.e., he'll usually do it unless it directly will harm someone else)
how much would that be worth?

Absentminded/ADD : 20 points (Very Common, Strong)
Curious : 10 points (Common, Moderate)
Sense of Duty (Friends) : 15 points (Common, Strong)
Charitable : 10 points (Common, Moderate)

Note, you can only have 50 pts total in psych lims, and you already have 20 points of them, so you can only get 30 points more. I suggest Absetnminded/ADD & Curious. The last 10 points will have to come from something else :

Reputation
Hunted
Unluck
Accidental Change

ok, so go with the absentminded and curious. That works.
It sounds like unluck would be BAD. I'm not seeing hunted with this guy. A negative reputation... would that work with something like decepticons know he's not a killer and could take advantage of that?
That might be okay. But accidental change actually sounds like that'd be fun to play. Makes him a little were-wolfy. I had also been pondering the idea of suggesting his wolf form being a little more bestial anyway. Not like ravening mad-man, but prone to rages. Give him a Jekyll-Hyde vibe maybe. What do you think?

Ok, Last Pass on Redshift, Robot Form

And, First pass at Redshift, F1 Form

Looks good!

Much like Warhawk, Redshift's primary mode is her car mode, and her robot form is the alt form.

Red's male. ;)

Obviously she can't use martial arts a car, so those go away, as do the weapons.

FOR NOW. Mine is an evil laugh.

ok, so go with the absentminded and curious. That works.

It sounds like unluck would be BAD. I'm not seeing hunted with this guy. A negative reputation... would that work with something like decepticons know he's not a killer and could take advantage of that?
That might be okay. But accidental change actually sounds like that'd be fun to play. Makes him a little were-wolfy. I had also been pondering the idea of suggesting his wolf form being a little more bestial anyway. Not like ravening mad-man, but prone to rages. Give him a Jekyll-Hyde vibe maybe. What do you think?

I would suggest you just role play the jekyll/hyde thing. An actual enraged would take away your ability to control when you're being beastial and when not.

Accidental change would basically mean when a certain stimulus occurs, he has a change of changing to his alternate mode. He won't be 'in between'. Unless you pick up a 3rd form sometime.

Status :

Fully Complete

Chatterbox
Redshift
Ulastron
Warhawk

Vehicle Forms made, waiting on Player to approve
Skitter

Robot form Complete

Robot form made, waiting on Player to approve
Skitter

Robot form partially made, waiting on Player for additional input

And final pass at Skitter.

Added in the disads as we talked about, and also put in the vehicle/base that everyone has to have (10 points), accidentally left it off the first time.

First pass at wolf form.

Basic Synopsis :

Four legged wolf, can run 276 kph, has perfect balance on anything that's not a sheer or inverted surface (and can therefore run at full speed on a tension cable or bridge railing or anything that can hold his weight), Ultrasonic hearing, Nightvision, and Infrared vision in wolf mode, with a +6 to perception. Can transmit anything they see or hear. Specially trained to trip or charge in wolf mode. Can bite in wolf mode, or trip (special extra damage if successfully bit previous round), and charge attack.

Reminder : You are all in your cybertronian alternate forms right now. For Skitter, that means an alien animal that was brought to cybertron at some point during his life that is vaguely wolf like (could have been a reptile). Ulastron's animal mode is also an alien that's vaguely cat like, but not terran.

Chatterbox would be some sort of small Cybertronian light-cycle Tron thing, then?

both robot and wolf look awesome!

I'll update tonight.

@James - Yep, correct. Probably something like this.

I'm not able to post to Gameplay right now, but will have something later tonight.

Ugh, was hoping to get to this but fell asleep, too tired to post anything worth it, tomorrow is a light day kicking around the house with my daughter, will update latest tomorrow night.

I had a nice page of text on scales, and the website ate it. #$*#$&*#&

Short version (I'll do up a long version later), anything short of large scale anti-vehicle weapons are Terran scale, and do 1/5th the damage to Cybertronians (large scale AV weapons are basically hellfires, TOW missiles, M1 Abrams main rounds, anything designed to sink a battle ship, blow up a main battle tank, or bust a bunker). Terran weapons are 1/5th Cybertronian. Cybertronian is the 'base' for characters. Ship scale is designed for things smaller than the Ark/Dreadnought and bigger than a Warrior. Capital scale is basically Ark/Dreadnought and bigger. Titans are Capital scale, Combiners are usually Ship Scale (unless they're made up of microbots). Ship Scale is 5x better than Cybertronian, and Capital is 5x better than Ship Scale. Armor stays constant regardless of scale. That is, if a Terran APC has 15 points of armor, it has 15 points of armor. However, that 15 points of armor isn't doing much good against a 3d6 Cybertronian weapon (which does 55 points on average per shot against a Terran scale vehicle). By the same token, that 5d6 20mm vulcan minigun isn't doing much to a Scout with 15 points of armor when it's average body damage is 17.5/5 = 4 body. And that Terran APC's 15 armor does nothing when a capital ship's 3d6 main gun fires and hits it (or near it) and does 1375 damage on average to it (That scout's 15 armor isn't doing much when the same shot does 275 body to it!). The only real difference is the Scout might leave some debris behind.

When everyone gets a chance, please edit your profiles and add the following to the Classes/Levels entry :

{Spoiler=Stats} OCV/DCV ##/## | PD/ED ##/## | rPD/rED ##/## | Stun ## | Body ## | Energon ### | SPD ## | DEX ## {spoiler} <CLASS>

Where ## is the relevant number for the previous descriptor, and <CLASS> is your class (Minibot/con, Scout, Soldier, Warrior, etc). Replace the {}'s with []'s.

Then in the Gender entry, please put the following :

{URL=XX}Robot Mode{/URL} | {URL=XX}Vehicle Mode{/URL}

Where XX is the shared link I gave you to your character sheets. If you have more than one vehicle mode, keep adding them with ' | ' between the URL entries. If you run out of room, put the extras in the Race entry. Again, replace the {}'s with []'s. This will make it much easier to access your stats.

Remember, if you are a soldier, you have a -1 DCV that the sheet only shows in the disads. If you are a Warrior, you have a -2 DCV that the sheet only shows in the disads. So adjust your OCV/DCV accordingly.

test

Stats and shortcuts updated on my profile.

I always forget something.

On your stats entry, please also add ' | Per ##' to the end of the list of stats, with the ## equal to your perception number (it is on your sheets on the first page, in the characteristics section, on the same line as your INT score). If your vehicle mode has a different perception than your robot mode, please put it in like this : ' | Per R/Per V ##/##' instead. If you have multiple vehicle forms, put it in like this : ' | Per R/Per Drn/Per Cht/Per Bik ##/##/##/##' for example.

OK, posted and Captions updated.

Thanks Ula.

Game Info tab updated with some Tactics for everyone to live by (or die by).

Canon/Known Cybertronian worksheet updated.

For those of you who know the continuity even better than I do (*ahem* Jemstone *ahem*), if I screwed anything up let me know. :)

Canon/Known Cybertronian worksheet updated.

For those of you who know the continuity even better than I do (*ahem* Jemstone *ahem*), if I screwed anything up let me know. :)

You're the GM, so what you say about Canon for your game goes, but I promise to ask before scratching my head and going "Whaaaaaaaa?"

I'll go check it out now and let you know if I have any burning questions.

Though it's humorous you're using an image of Thundercracker from the Fall Of Cybertron/War For Cybertron series for his "Earth" form. ;)

Check This one out. He's bad@ss.

That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. :P

With regards to messing something up, I'm more concerned about things like the 'known Titans' page where most of them don't have a 'city name' vs 'bot name'.

I'll switch the two pictures around tomorrow to get the cybertron version to match and add the earth version.

BTW: Saw the preview for the Bee movie. Really jazzed about an actual G1 Starscream and Bee! :P Although it looks like he steals Hound's look about half-way through the movie.

That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. :P

I know, I know. I'll try to do better.

I've done a LOT of art-research to try and find an artist for when I finally get Novus up and written.

BTW: Saw the preview for the Bee movie. Really jazzed about an actual G1 Starscream and Bee! :P Although it looks like he steals Hound's look about half-way through the movie.

I don't know, man. I've been burned by the Bayformers, before. So badly.

You do realize Bay has nothing to do with the Bee movie right? It's Travis Knight (from Kubo and the Two Strings) who's directing it?

EDIT : And before you say it, yes, Bay is a Producer on the film. But that's a far cry from director or writer. And he's not even an executive producer, just one of 6 producers. After Last Knight, I think they'll take a lot more from Spielberg (exec prod) than Bay.

I intend to make this game as 'cinematic' as possible. That means, unless someone has objections, on occassion, there will be 'cut scenes' (such messages will be headed with [cut scene] in OOC at the top).

These cut scenes will fall, generally, into these categories.

1) Transitions : These are going to be scenes that transition the bots from one section of the story to another. I'll provide some dialog for both your characters and NPCs (heavily based on how you have been playing your characters, nothing about background stuff you haven't already posted, just to make the scene flow, so mostly commentary about things happening in the transition). If you object, your character will be silent during transitions. If everyone objects, then I'll just do the transitions without anyone saying anything (although I find that usually reads very dryly).

2) Elsewhere : These are going to be scenes that reveal things happening elsewhere that the protagonists can't possibly know, but that usually foreshadow things to come, without giving away the whole plot. For example, the PCs might have found a cache of energon material, and be talking about how good it is to have found some more energy. When they're done, an 'elsewhere' cut scene occurs where the view of the PC's is revealed to be on a monitor, and a shadowy figure watches...

3) Recaps : At the end of each combat turn (which is 12 seconds long), I'll do a 'recap post' that basically takes each of your posts, and my posts, in the combat, and turns it into a long fluid (and possibly expanded upon) post that reads like a story entry for that round of combat.

Hopefully you'll all find this a lot of fun, as intended, and not me trying to take away player agency or anything.

You do realize Bay has nothing to do with the Bee movie right? It's Travis Knight (from Kubo and the Two Strings) who's directing it?

EDIT : And before you say it, yes, Bay is a Producer on the film. But that's a far cry from director or writer. And he's not even an executive producer, just one of 6 producers. After Last Knight, I think they'll take a lot more from Spielberg (exec prod) than Bay.

Actually, no, I didn’t. I thought this was a full-on Bay piece.

I am now more optimistic about it.

Never did find a predator drone with a cheetah paintjob. But I did find a yellowish/gold one.

Did not load :-(

I am good with transitions and cut scenes, huge fan of them though I rarely use them when I DM.

Website

Note to Chatterbox. I apologize, I forgot to upload the latest Robot mode form when I posted earlier that I'd uploaded it. I didn't realize it until I went to check something on the skills and realized the bike mode and robot mode had completely different skills. I know someoen asked about it, and I should have checked the sheet versions then. I missed it, and my apologies for not paying more attention to when the question came up.

I've uploaded the correct robot version, and it should be visible in your link now. If you want to see the differences, and didn't download it, let me know, and I'll send you a link to the previous version.

Just a note to Ula, the space port, being underground, has atmosphere, but it's hard to breath and tainted. The longer she stays in biological mode, the more likely she is to take damage.

Noted, in case they start shooting I want to be able to get away quick and I think Cheetah is faster than Robot and more agile than bike :-)

I mean I know they won't OOG but can't play it as if all is well :-0

I've been having some internet problems. I'll get my alias updated as soon as I can.

Ok, I now have a permanently cramped right hand, but I think I got it recolored correctly. Or at least close enough.

Ok, I now have a permanently cramped right hand, but I think I got it recolored correctly. Or at least close enough.

Looks amazing!