Alright comic fans, I’ve just finished binge watching Jessica Jones and can’t wait for the Defenders and Luke Cage in 2016. There appears to be quite an appetite for Supers games here on the Paizo Pbp site, so I’m starting to recruit for another one. I plan to use the game mechanic of BASH UE (Ultimate Edition). You don’t know about BASH? You should. It’s a super simple, Supers game mechanic (pun intended). Here’s the preview of the rules that we’ll be using. You don’t need to buy the game, because I’ll be making the characters to ensure power level playability.
SETTING
The game will be set in either Montreal or Chicago depending on the votes of selected players. The power level is the MCU interpretation of the future Defenders: Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist. I specify this power level, because I feel that it’s lower than some versions of Daredevil and Luke Cage who have run with the big boys on occasion. Maybe we can view them as the equivalent power level of Batman Year One, too. The setting will be MCU after Avengers 2 Age of Ultron, so people are aware of aliens and supers but not locally.
CHARACTER CREATION
Since I will build your characters after selection, your submission will be . I’m looking for four characters to work together against local super villains. If you need to see how the game mechanics work, in order to imagine how your character will be built, there are two links to follow:
- This is a detailed example of how to make a BASH character.
- This site has BASH builds of famous characters. When you look at these builds, please know that I will be building characters between 15 to 20 total points, so the power levels are lower than most builds. For example, I would build Luke Cage and Jessica Jones with Brawn 3. Luke would get Armor 1 maybe 2, and Jessica would get Super Jump.
For your submission, please include the following descriptions of your character:
- Summary Give me an overall description of the character is few sentences to set the tone. Feel free to use famous comic characters as a guide. For example, you could start with, “she’s Batman without the wealth.”
- Stats Use page 8 as your guide here. Remember think Year One characters.
- Powers Think of just a couple powers to identify your character as “gifted.”
- Skills What are they trained to do?
- Origin & Current How did your character become gifted? Feel free to use the IGH organization experimenting on them as children from Jessica Jones, or Inhumans from Marvel’s Agents of Shield. How are they planning to become a hero? Who else is in their life? How do they earn a living?
- Picture Worth a thousand words. Not required but very cool. You could say, she looks like this except with green hair.
- City preference Montreal or Chicago?
Now, repeat the process for a super villain intertwined with your character, e.g. Kingpin to Daredevil, Kilgrave to Jessica Jones, etc. Great villains, make great heroes.
POSTING FREQUENCY & MAPS
I prefer once per day, but games can get a bit slower especially around holidays. After a couple of weeks of silence, characters are written out. After a couple of characters are written out, I’ll reopen recruitment.
I’ll use Roll20 for maps and combat. Plus, the chat there is nice.
RECRUITMENT & SUBMISSIONS
I would like to set the deadline for Wednesday, December 23. It could change depending on the amount of submissions. I would appreciate a final post with your complete submission. Please link previous posts if you build the character in stages. We will start as soon as possible, but I probably will open the Gameplay sooner rather than later for you to start role-playing while I finalize the character builds with you.
Dotting. Will work something up.
Trevor, he doesn't use a secret identity, came upon his powers by, in his words, enlightenment through physical training, or in layman's terms, seeing through the Matrix. His utter devotion to control over his every aspect of his life led him to develop abilities beyond those of other people. He was lifting weights one day at exactly 5:14 AM, as he did every day, and he suddenly realized he was bending the dumbbell where he gripped it with his fingers. He ran through his footwork drills and it suddenly felt like the world had just come out of a fog. His sparring partners were slower, their holds as paper. His discipline had elevated his consciousness to a higher plane and enhanced his body on this plane because of it.
He started as a hero in a very typical way, by testing his relative invulnerability by running into burning buildings and rescuing property and people. Since then he has decided to go into the crime-fighting side of heroics. He figures violent crime to prevent can't be too incredibly hard to find in Chicago, after all.
Currently he pays for his apartment and food by selling stories and transcripts of interviews with his contacts in the hero community. His very public acts of superheroism have gotten others in the community to open up to him somewhat, allowing him face-to-face time that other freelance reporters can't necessarily get. He's been struggling to get in touch with Thor for a while, but Tony Stark isn't taking his calls right now for some reason.
Chicago.
Will do the villain tomorrow. I'm already thinking something like a semi-demonic pathfinder sorcerer type who uses raw chaos to contrast Trevor's hard discipline.
Hmm. Interest is thin. Maybe it's the time of year. Maybe it's saturation of Supers games. Maybe it's the unusual game mechanic. *shrug* We'll see.
If we only get a few volunteers, I'm thinking about running anyway to tell the story of the founding members of a "team." Maybe keep recruitment open while we play.
@Derz. That's a good start. I may put some dark insidious history to explain your powers of which either you are not aware or were forcibly given amnesia. This would still allow you to truly believe your Zen break-through and create team-linking drama in your past.
cheers
|
Hi there! =)
I like Super games, and I like learning new systems, so tally ho!
Mind you, I can't really explain the lack of interest. It might be the holidays, or it could be the "I'm gonna make your character for you" thing. Since we're low-level anyway, maybe take that part out, but insist on approval?
Summary: A very, very, low-level version of Deadpool. Or IronFist with weapons.
Stats: Brawn 2 Agility 3 Mind 1
Powers: Healing Factor (5? 5 points)
Some melee-based. Paired Weapons & Weapons Expert(?)
Skills: Athletics/Acrobatics, Stealth/Hiding
Of course he was the best. Everyone said so.
Of course he'd fade. Everyone said so.
Of course he was on the juice. No one said so.
"Hey, I got some good stuff this time, omae," his dealer said. [b]"Premium. Fell of a truck, ya."
He didn't question. He was past asking questions. Anything to stay on top. Whatever it takes.
Three weeks later he crawled out of a dumpster, the pain having subsided enough to finally see straight. He couldn't remember anything, but his pocket still held his cell. The text messages showed three weeks of a life burning itself up as fast as it could.
Yes, he was in better shape than he'd ever been. No, he did NOT understand.
He found his dealer. Violence might have been used.
"Hey man, alright. It was the Hunter, okay? He says LexCorp pays him a lot of money to test some stuff out, says to find some chumps on the juice. I'm just a middle man, a'ight?"
Yes, he knew the Hunter.
And so the Hunter became the hunted.
Picture: Workin' on it.
City Prefernce: Chi-town.
Nemesis: The Hunter. Pharma supplier to several weapons-technology firms. Specializes in the bleeding edge of tech. Prefers to big-game hunt with a bow.
I will try my best to submit for a spot. I am fairly novice to super powered games. The one time I tried something similar before, I picked a power that wasn't built into the system so it was a little wonky.
Name: Levi Parana
Alias: The Spectral Beam
Summary: Kitty pride + cyclops + I fly?
Stats: Agility = Brawn > Mind
Powers: Intangibility, energy expulsion, wingless flight, healing with resistances
Skills: Olympic gymnastics
Origin: After being busted for illegal substance abuse and losing nomination for the Olympics an anti-crime organization picked Levi up and conducted radiation experiments that gifted the powers. Levi ran away where harsh, unjust, and were driven by greed.
Day job: Personal Trainer
Plan to be a hero: Take on criminals and anti-crime org
Picture: Searching...
City: Chicago
Villian
Anti-crime org
More incoming on that
@ToxicDragon. Your character concept is too powerful for this setting. This game plans to be low level: a couple of moderate powers or one big power. Pick one of the characters that you are modeling.
Cheers
What are moderate powers?
Moderate level powers like minor super strength, super jump, minor flight, super senses.
Intangibility can be a moderate level or big.
Ok. Daredevil has senses and can fight. Two moderate level powers.
Luke Cage has strength and armor.
Jessica Jones has strength and super jump.
Batman year one can fight, is smart, and has minor gadgets.
Kitty pryde has intangibility. She would start without many of stunts that she does like partial phasing and shorting out electronics.
Cyclops has beams. He would start without the ability to shoot projectiles as defense.
Clearer?
Yes, Flight like Strength can be bought from low speed to high speed. With Gliding and Hovering being cheap version.
Reviewing Intangibility, the BASH power is Ghost Form at 3 point, which is a moderate level power. Then, you would need a little Flight to be able to move around more than sink through floors and walk through walls. These two powers would be an appropriate power level for this game.
On the other hand, a cyclops beam would cost 5-6 points, which by itself would be an appropriate power level for this game.
cheers
Gotcha, thank you both for the assist. It kind of looks like we have 2 fighty people so intangible might be a good fit or maybe something more mind and social focused. Tough call, but I'll get a revised concept up tonight.
Ok, so here goes...
I vote for Chicago.
Name: Daniel Dunsmore
Alias: None.
Summary: Sort of Captain America meets Question
Stats: All 2.
Powers: Skillful, Martial Arts Mastery
Skills: Science (Forensics, Physics, Chemistry), Extreme Sports (Parkour, Windsuit Skydiving, Rock Climbing), Computers
Advantages: Jack of all Trades
Disadvantages: Normal.
Mental Malfunction: Boy Scout.
Origin: Parents died in the plane crash on 9/11. His father being one of the passengers that tried to subdue the Hijackers. Losing his parents inspired him to be all that he could.
Employment: Works with the Chicago PD, part-time as a Forensic consultant, extreme sport instructor and high school tutor when not consulting.
Nemesis: Enzo Capote. Enzo blames Daniel for the loss of his brother Vincent, who died when Enzo tried to shoot Daniel during an attempted robbery of Chevron Gas Station, but shot his brother instead.
Picture: Not sure how to get a picture in here, but the actor Steve Bacic. How he looked as Telemachus Rhade on the show Andromeda.
** DRAFT **
Trevor Horton
Brawn 3 Agility 3 Mind 1
Powers:
- Fast: Your priority is based on your Agility+1. In addition, if you are knocked down, you can immediately get up (“kippup”) by making a 20 Athletics/Acrobatics check. It takes none of your movement to stand like this.
- Tough: Your Brawn is considered 2 higher for soaking damage and Knock-Back caused by unarmed attacks (to a maximum of 5).
- Grappling: You can more easily reverse an opponent’s hold and use their strength against them. You can get a reversal whenever you beat a foe in a grapple by 10, and you can achieve a reversal whenever a Brawn Contest is used by your grappling opponent (not only on your own panel). In addition, if your Brawn is equal or less than your opponent’s, it is 1 higher for resolving any wrestling actions.
Mental Malfunction: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Combat: 100 Hits, x4 Priority, x3 Defense, x3 Soak (x5 vs. Unarmed), x4 Wrestling (vs. Brawn 3)
Points: 19 Pts (14 stats +5 powers)
** DRAFT **
Atlas
Brawn 2 Agility 3 Mind 1
Powers:
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Mental Malfunction: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Combat: 100 Hits, x3 Priority, x3 Defense, x2 Soak,
Points: 20 Pts (12 stats +8 powers)
** DRAFT **
Daniel Dunsmore
Brawn 2 Agility 2 Mind 3
Powers:
- Fast: Your priority is based on your Agility+1. In addition, if you are knocked down, you can immediately get up (“kippup”) by making a 20 Athletics/Acrobatics check. It takes none of your movement to stand like this.
- Tough: Your Brawn is considered 2 higher for soaking damage and Knock-Back caused by unarmed attacks (to a maximum of 5).
- Defensive: Your Agility is 2 higher (to a max of 5) for defending against hand-to-hand attacks (fists, swords, etc).
skill instead of a -1 Multiplier Penalty.
Mental Malfunction: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Combat: 100 Hits, x3 Priority, x2 Defense (x4 vs. hand-to-hand), x2 Soak (x4 vs. Unarmed),
Points: 20 Pts (14 stats +6 powers)
To be completely clear, I would like every applicant to describe their villain in the same level of detail as their character.
Besides reviewing your draft characters, I need you to answer the Mental Malfunction question.
We have a lot of Martial Artists submitted. We can still build a Weather Controller at this power level, too. My point is that we can build most X-men at this power level, too, albeit, their early experience level version.
thanks
@Atlas Being armed with weapons leads to escalation and running afoul of the law.
You know the Untouchables quote about bringing a knife to a gun fight, right?
And Chicago is not an open or concealed gun carry city.
Hi Jubal,
Summary - Kestral (Katie Mistral) was born with natural athletic grace. She also always had a natural feel for getting something from one place to another. In school, she was a star on the girls basketball team, excellent at baseball, every ball she ever threw hit exactly where she wanted, and was an excellent pitcher. Darts, archery, everything she was a natural marksman. (Alternate explanation, Katie actually has a limited ability to see into the future. Only immediately and only to see what her actions do, so she can therefore optimize her actions, she always throws perfectly, etc, because she's thrown every possible way and just 'chooses' the one that hits the target. Ala the movie Next.)
Stats - Brawn 1, Mind 1 or 2, Agility 4+
Powers - Superhuman accuracy (never miss Katie!), supernaturally hard to hit (kinesthetic awareness of her own body and everyone around her and how any attacks might be coming in), (Alternately, some limited time sight, seeing what is going to happen and responding appropriately to minimize damage/misses).
Skills - Athletics, Acrobatics, Sports, target shooting, Boy Bands, dancing
Origin & Current - Kestral was always like this, she was born with these abilities. But, unlike other 'gifted' people, her abilities are subtle and can be explained away as normal by others around her, especially since she doesn't go out of her way to stand out (she does intentionally miss when it doesn't matter). She's recently begun to use wash out dye in her hair and contacts, along with some makeup, to do some low level street vigilante work, inspired by all the super heroes in the news. She can't do anything more than a normal human can do, for the most part, she just does it perfectly every single time!
Picture - All dressed up With a bunch of throwing knives Red haired with some guns she took off the street thugs
Supervillain
Summary - Bobby 'Beard' Bonnet was born in Louisiana, he grew up and joined a bike gang at a young age and left and never looked back. Over the years, Bobby did drugs, steroids, and ran both. He's been in and out of jail in multiple states, always making sure he avoids any '3 strikes' laws by not staying in any one state long enough to hit a 3rd time. He's recently developed some strange abilities, and has been moving up the ladder in the street thuggery in the city he's currently in.
Stats - Brawn 4+, Mind 1, Agility 1
Powers - Superhuman resistance to damage, up to and including shrugging off small arms fire. Rapid healing. Resistance to drugs, including poisons.
Skills - Bike riding, brawling, drug making, chemistry, underworld etiquette.
Origin & Current - Bobby was a typical thug, rising to his level of incompetence. Then, he tried some new experimental steroids he was hauling and while on them, also tried some new drug that was supposed to give you the ability to think clearer (NZT). The two reacted strangely with his body. Rather than expanding his mind, his body was permanently altered. He's desperate to get more of each, and is working his way up the food chain. His only issue so far has been some puffed up little girl who thinks she can hurt him by thumping him in the head with rocks and bricks and even small arms fire.
Picture - Walking around town
** Hi MDT **
Kestrel
Brawn 1 Agility 4 Mind 1
Powers:
Boost Mind 3 (Only Ranged attack damage) – 3 pts x4 Damage on ranged or thrown attacks
- Range: 1 pt = 5 squares, 2 pts = damage x5 squares, 3 pts = damage x10 squares, 4 pts = damage x20 squares
- Area Burst: 1 pt = 2x2 squares, 2 pts = 5x5 squares, 3 pts = 10x10 squares, 4 pts = 15x15 squares
- Area Line: 1 pt = 4x1 squares, 2 pts = 8x2 squares, 3 pts = 16x4 squares, 4 pts = 32x8 squares
- Area Arc: 1 pt = 4x1 squares, 2 pts = 8x1 squares, 3 pts = 15x1 squares, 4 pts = 30x1 squares
- Ricochet = This allows you to bounce your shot off one target onto another within 5 squares- as long as your previous attack hit its target. Each consecutive target you go for beyond the first 1 point. Thus, if you went for 3 targets, that would be 2 points. Each consecutive target also accumulates a -1 dice penalty to the attack roll. Thus, in the prior example, the first target would be at no penalty, the second at a -1 dice penalty, and the third at a -2 dice penalty to hit. If you miss a target, your attack is over- and you cannot roll to hit the next target in the order.
Skills: Athletics x6/Acrobatics, Perform/Dance, Deception/Disguise
Advantages: none
Disadvantages: none
Mental Malfunction: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Combat: 100 Hits, x4 Priority, x4 Defense, x1 Soak
Points: 20 Pts (12 stats +8 powers)
APPLICANTS - STATUS
- Derz / Trevor Horton - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction & villain description
- Atlas - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction & villain description
- Rio Wolf / Daniel Dunsmore - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction & villain description
- MDT / Kestrel - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction
- Toxicdragon - interested
- grimdog73 - interested
Mental Malfunction answers the question: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Katie's life was recently upended when her mother, for no apparent reason, attacked someone while at work. Even worse, after killing the woman, she committed suicide by throwing herself off a building into traffic. (Purple man on his way to New York to deal with Jessica Jones, needed his latest 'pet' disposed of so he could focus on Jessica). Since Katie has no idea what really happened, she's striking out at the world to make it make sense again.
Hmm. Possibly interested.
How's this for a concept:
Gothic
Summary A goth girl telepath. Her mental powers are as high as you'll allow, but she cannot turn them off -- meaning she's constantly picking up the surface thoughts of everyone around her. She's managed to stay somewhat sane, though she utterly refuses to speak except through her telepathy, and only then extremely reluctantly.
Brawn 0 or 1 Mind 1 or 2 Agility 1
Powers Full telepathy, mental blast, mental probe.
Skills Judgmental glare, since she knows what you are thinking
Drawbacks Psychological limitation: refuses to speak, antisocial.
_____________
Villain:
Ciandra
Summary A fine-control telekinetic. Her mental powers are less about throwing cars and more about removing the air from your lungs. She was a low-level telekinetic who used her gifts in casinos, turning craps dice and roulette wheels to her favor. She was found out, and beaten into a coma. When she awoke, her gift had grown exponentially.
Brawn 0 Mind 1 or 2 Agility 1
Powers Telekinesis, remote sensing (through mentally "feeling" objects)
Thoughts??
** DRAFT **
Gothic
Brawn 1 Agility 1 Mind 2
Powers:
* Boost Mind 3 (Only for Mental powers) – 3 pts Mind x5
* Mind Shield 1 – 1 pt Mental Defense x4
Mental Malfunction: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Combat: 100 Hits, x1 Priority (x3 vs. sentient beings), x1 Defense (x3 vs. sentient beings), x1 Soak
Points: 20 Pts (8 stats +12 powers)
Trevor's Mental Malfunction:
Let's say something like extreme discipline and ambition? He's achieved his abilities based on nothing but absolute self-control (or so he believes, maybe) after all, and that kind of focus and self-improvement only comes from a near-neurotic obsession with discipline. If the team has a base a la Avengers Tower, he probably demands that it be kept clean and that the team devote at least three hours a day to training. What about it makes him risk life and limb? It makes him reckless. He sees every crisis as a challenge to be overcome. Alien invasion? Let's take them down. Mob hitmen? They need to be taken down personally.
THE VILLAIN
Summary - Hiram Leftkobitz is a small wheelchair-bound man with magical abilities that allow him to bestow superpowers on other people. Think evil Professor X with Terrigen Mist-esque.
Stats - Brawn 1, Mind 4, Agility 1
Powers - Chaos Magic (bestows powers on others, based on touch).
Skills - Personal manipulation, mystic lore.
Origin & Current - Hiram was born with several different diseases and conditions that nearly rendered him unable to function. He was approached in a dream by a demonic figure who offered him power and some amount of recovery in exchange for being a servant of anarchy and destruction. Hiram had devolved into philosophical pseudo-nihilism because of how much of a bad hand he had been dealt, seemingly at random. He has since become particularly heated in his opposition to Trevor who he sees as naive for his love of self-improvement.
APPLICANTS - STATUS
- Derz / Trevor Horton - Build drafted. Any comments?
- MDT / Kestrel - Build drafted. Any comments?
- Stalwart / Gothic - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction
- Atlas - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction & villain description
- Rio Wolf / Daniel Dunsmore - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction & villain description
- Toxicdragon - interested
- grimdog73 - interested
Mental Malfunction answers the question: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Everyone's submission looks good. The draft builds worked into the target power level. I included the description of the powers to help you with the game mechanics. To give you a feel for scale x1 is the weakest and x5 is usually the maximum that you'll be rolling for your character. I've specifically limited attack and damage to x5. Please review the builds to see if they match your character concept.
It appears we might have more player characters than I can run, so please make your descriptions as full color as possible. Imagine a writing mini-series comic book to introduce the character. What would be the comic title? What would be the plot lines?
Oh, and to translate some BASH terms into Pathfinder:
* Issue = Module
* Scene = Encounter
* Page = Turn
* Panel = Round
* Priority = Initiative
cheers
Seems good. I have never played BASH though, so I'm just comparing it to the sample builds to get a feel for how strong he is.
Seems good. I have never played BASH though, so I'm just comparing it to the sample builds to get a feel for how strong he is.
I edited my above post to give you some scale. Cheers
BASICS
Skills work like this: Stealth/Hiding. Stealth is the skill and has many specialties, like Moving Silently, Shadowing, etc. With Stealth on your character sheet means they are trained and rolls their Agility in dice vs. difficulty levels. If you roll your specialty like Hiding, you actually roll twice and take the better.
Skills are either Agility or Mind related. There are no Brawn skills.
If you are untrained in a skill, you roll your Stat -1 dice. For example, with Agility 3 and you want to ride a horse without training, you would roll x2. This is called defaulting. There are advantages and disadvantages that change this like Jack of all Trades and Outsider.
Rolling dice. You always roll 2d6 and multiply your levels. For example that ride check above would be 2d6 x2. If you have a dice penalty, e.g. Paired Weapons always two attacks each with a -1 Dice penalty, the roll is (2d6-1) x3, if the attacks are x3. Get it? It's simple.
Combat: attacker rolls to attack and damage. The defender rolls defense and soak. If the attack is higher than defense, you hit. If the damage is higher than soak, you do the difference in damage. There's other stuff but that is the basics.
cheers
I'm going to be picking up a copy of BASH on PDF later today. By Monday at the latest, I will have a Daniel fleshed out more and his Nemesis.
Name: Levi Parana
Alias: Spectra
Summary: Kitty pride + fly
Stats: Agility = Mind > Brawn
Powers: Intangibility, flight
Skills: Stealth, Investigation
Origin: Picked up by an anti-crime organization promising a fresh start but the cost was too high. Experiments involving xrays and radiation developed her powers but the methods were inhumane. She escaped their labs but has dedicated herself to revealing the corporate evil beneath their mask.
Day job: College pre-Law student/Private detective/Photographer
Plan to be a hero: Levi uses her powers to work as a freelancer doing good deeds often working for whatever little her contracts can afford though she isn't above taking from the corrupt to pay her own bills. She is often investigating even the slightest clues into Swiftgarde. She picked up photography as a method to battle her hallucinations.
Picture: Processing
City: Chicago
Mental Malfunction: Hallucinations? (Since Levi's intangibility basically put her on two separate planes of existance at the same time she probably sees some bizarre things on the other side. Open to suggestions here)
Villian
Anti-crime org
Name: Swiftgarde
Summary: Countries have their own security contractors, Swiftgarde works for corporations and the corrupt under the guise of just cause. Their tact in getting attention on things they do right while getting their crimes overlooked is almost too good. Their occasional success at developing gifts in their experiments has given them the largest number of gifted employees in the world. Many of these people suffered in the process so their loyalty is questionable, but Swiftgarde manages leverage well with internal security forces.
Powers: Connections, influence and willingness to cross the line to get results regardless of cost. No one just quits Swiftgarde.
Gothic's mental malfunction
Having an insight (albeit unwanted) into the minds of people, she has a very low opinion of them. Hence her antisocial tendencies and refusal to speak.
However, the rush of positive emotions when someone experiences altruism is euphoric to her. It's almost enough to make her smile. So all to often to find that surge of gratitude, she has to go out and do it herself.
** DRAFT **
SPECTRA
Brawn 1 Agility 2 Mind 2
Powers:
Skills: Stealth x3/Shadowing, Investigation/Finding Clues, Social Science/Law
Advantages: none
Disadvantages: none
Mental Malfunction: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Combat: 100 Hits, x2 Priority, x2 Defense, x1 Soak, x2 Mental Defense
Points: 20 Pts (10 stats +10 powers)
Definitely looking forward to this game.
Is there anything else I can do?
Is there anything else I can do?
Yes. You need a mental malfuntion that answers the question above.
Flesh out your character and villains by describing a mini-comic book series starring your PC. How are they introduced? What is the series called? What are the early plot lines?
It seems consensus says that we'll play in Chicago, so finish the story there after Avengers 2.
Please spoiler your story to minimize clutter and practice pbp posting formatting.
Cheers
APPLICANTS - STATUS
- Derz / Trevor Horton - Build drafted. Any comments?
- MDT / Kestrel - Build drafted. Any comments?
- Stalwart / Gothic - Build drafted. Any comments?
- Toxicdragon / Spectra - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction
- Atlas - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction & villain description
- Rio Wolf / Daniel Dunsmore - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction & villain description
- grimdog73 - interested
Mental Malfunction answers the question: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Please feel free to flesh out your character and villains by describing a mini-comic book series starring your PC. What is the series called? How are they introduced? What are the early plot lines? It seems consensus says that we'll play in Chicago, so finish the story there after Avengers 2. Please spoiler your story to minimize clutter and practice Pbp formatting.
Question :
Athletics x6/Acrobatics, Perform/Dance, Deception/Disguise
I understand that Katie would roll 4d6 for perform, and roll it twice for dance. Same with Deception and disguise. However, Athletics has x6, does that mean she multiplies her 4d6 x6 and does that twice as well?
I assume she needs something, anything, to throw, similar to Gambit. Be it a bow and arrow (still her firing it), or a tomahawk, a deck of cards, knives, stones, baseballs, etc. Are there any special effects based on what she throws? IE: Baseballs (balanced and aerodynamic) go farther than stones (unbalanced unaerodynamic), where as a bar dart might be armor piercing, etc?
Question :
Athletics x6/Acrobatics, Perform/Dance, Deception/Disguise
I understand that Katie would roll 4d6 for perform, and roll it twice for dance. Same with Deception and disguise. However, Athletics has x6, does that mean she multiplies her 4d6 x6 and does that twice as well?
OK If Katie wants to Dance, she rolls 2d6 twice and takes the better, then multiplies that result by four (x4).
If Katie rolls Acrobatics to avoid an explosion, she rolls 2d6 twice and takes the better, then multiplies that result by six (x6), which is extraordinarily high.
If Katie wants to Climb a wall using Athletics/Climbing, she rolls 2d6, then multiplies that result by six (x6).
I assume she needs something, anything, to throw, similar to Gambit. Be it a bow and arrow (still her firing it), or a tomahawk, a deck of cards, knives, stones, baseballs, etc. Are there any special effects based on what she throws? IE: Baseballs (balanced and aerodynamic) go farther than stones (unbalanced unaerodynamic), where as a bar dart might be armor piercing, etc?
It's all just special effect, the way I've built it. Katie is not using the throwing rules. Katie has the same game mechanics as Cyclops, except she needs something to throw or shoot.
So if you use a piece of equipment like a bow & arrow, dagger, or rifle, I'll advise you what the base stats of that equipment. You will most certainly have enough range and damage to duplicate it, with leftover levels in your Variable Special Attack for extra Damage, Range, Ricocheting, or a Line to hit everyone with the same shot.
Clear?
Trevor Horton, On the Job; Issues 1-4, "What Makes a Man?"
Trevor is running down the street, having left his bike at home on the other side of town.
This wasn't supposed to be a day for this job. I was going to sneak into that Tony Stark press conference, but no. Some wacko super has to be taking hostages downtown.
He had seen the situation announced on the news in the small coffeehouse he frequented. There were several people taking over a bank downtown and they had blown out some windows with blasts of energy and were getting progressively more violent. The building's own security features were preventing SWAT from being as effective as they could be.
Got to love mob banks.
Not many office buildings sport security for a 220 lb guy who can clear an alleyway almost at literal bullet speed, though, so he crashed into a second story window from across a small alleyway where the dumpsters are kept.
Inside was madness. Trevor had assumed there was some sort of steroid or PCP alternative that was fueling the craziness of the criminals inside, but the first one he saw was clearly different. Horns protruded from his forehead, and his skin looked like heated metal. There were random fires burning all over and someone had punched a hole through the wall.
Trevor immediately jumped on the first one he saw. Thankfully the changes to their skin seemed to only be cosmetic. Cheap office furniture flew about the room as Trevor held the demonic-looking man's head and neck in a simple rear naked choke hold. The plastic furniture didn't have anywhere near the density it would take to hurt Trevor, so those psychic powers were of no threat.
In the next room were two more, one who shot fire from his hands and one who animated objects by yelling at them. Like the previous one, neither was really a physical powerhouse and thus easily dispatched by thrown objects.
Trevor made his way downstairs, and to the vault, figuring if demons tried to rob a bank then even they would go for where the valuables are kept, and there he saw a massive version of the people he had fought his way through to get downstairs. Easily twelve feet tall and even bulkier than Trevor, this thing looked ready to tear the door off of the vault.
Trevor runs, sliding under the thing's legs. He grabbed a pole from the length of velvet rope and swung it both handed at the massive monster's kneecap. Two, three, four times in the span of a second. The pole snapped in half, but the monster's leg buckled a little bit. Not enough.
Oh cr- Trevor's curse was cut off by being thrown up through the ceiling and onto the first floor. He rolled over.
Ok, new plan.
He rolled onto his feet and looked about. It was time to focus. There was a potential weapon to be found here somewhere. The robbers had driven a truck in through the service entrance, tripping the alarms and security systems, keeping SWAT from going in that way by physically blocking the entrance, and causing the security doors to close as if the building were under siege. The truck posed an interesting option. The thing was utterly immobilized, making one wonder how they had ever planned to leave with their money, but there was something else in there that could be used. It was time to take a leaf out of Power Man's book.
A pulley cable from the front end, pulled and folded to three-ply strength would still be long enough, and hopefully strong enough. Now, to just get that thing out of the narrow vault chamber. Nothing some of the robber's old guns couldn't fix. Firing bullets seemingly at random down the stairs, Trevor provoked the creature into coming charging out. Just as planned. One wrap around the thing's neck and about two minutes of painful thrashing about later, and the giant was down.
Trevor was beaten badly, and the police were undoubtedly not going to be able to handle this perfectly, so it was time to get information and go home. There would be other opportunities to get close to Stark to ask why he wasn't taking his calls right now. Find one of the normal-sized ones. Check their pockets for clues. Telekinetic's clothes were relatively intact. Back upstairs. No pain now, focus.
Good. His pants are still here. Who goes to rob a bank and carries their wallet with them? Questions for later. Time to grab all the wallets he could find and bail.
Two days of ice baths and a bedrest later, Trevor finally got to looking at the wallets he had taken from the scene. All the robbers were from different places in Chicago, and they only had cards from one place in common. No name, phone number or anything else. Just an address.
That's where Trevor had to go next. The address was a small townhouse that seemed abandoned from the outside. Trevor waited for hours waiting to see if someone was going to come in or leave the place, but there was no activity. Eventually, Trevor decided that the only way he was going to get anywhere was to enter himself. He did and what he saw inside was disturbing.
Inside the townhouse a group of people sat in a circle, holding hands and chanting as a man in a wheelchair was in the middle, with his hands upon the forehead of another man, speaking his own incantation.
Bring us to the embrace of chaos, let us serve your will our Lord of Anarchy. Help us, dread Mephisto as we spread discord in your name.
As Trevor watched in horror, the kneeling man's shaped twisted and his skin changed to that same orange-black color the robbers had been. Not waiting to see any more, Trevor ran in and kicked the kneeling man's head nearly as hard as he could, knocking him out instantly.
Two of the men in the circle picked up knives and attempted to attack, but they were too slow for Trevor to even be threatened and were dispatched quickly. Unfortunately the man in the wheelchair grabbed Trevor's arm.
I have heard of you, Trevor Horton. You claim to have achieved power through discipline and order. Let us see what random circumstance will reduce you to, and what power you may yet achieve by embracing the fact that chaos is what controls our lives!
Trevor's head swam. There was fire. And lightning and madness there. The little man in the wheelchair. He has a loud voice. Spread mayhem. Play cards with the dead. Start fires.
No.
What?
NO. I am my own master, and I am that way because of my own discipline. There will be no service to chaos here. I rule my own mind.
Trevor shakes his head. The man in the wheelchair is utterly baffled. He looks terrified. You should be transforming now. How is this possible? The insanity should be getting to you now.
Trevor had the man in the wheelchair arrested, and informed the men to not touch the man in the wheelchair's hands. He then went back home to watch the TV broadcast of the press conference he meant to go to. Figures. Tony wasn't even there, it was just two hours of Pepper Potts dodging questions.
Yep, so, closer to Gambit then. Doesn't matter what she uses or how she uses it, she's as dangerous with a dart or shard of glass as she is with a 9mm. Which also is somewhat like Bullseye (one of, if not the best things about the Daredevil movie with Affleck).
I'm a little bogged down today. I like what Derz did for Trevor with What makes a man. If I don't post anything else today, I will be posting in detail tomorrow.
Yep, so, closer to Gambit then. Doesn't matter what she uses or how she uses it, she's as dangerous with a dart or shard of glass as she is with a 9mm. Which also is somewhat like Bullseye (one of, if not the best things about the Daredevil movie with Affleck).
Bullseye and Deadshot were my models. With her low strength, using the throwing rules didn't work well. Then, when I built the power it was already stronger than mundane equipment. Bottomline, it gives you tremendous flexibility.
@Derz Your mini-series is great! It's giving me ideas how to start your character in the game. In addition, your draft build is one point short of everyone elses: 19 instead of 20. You've two options:
1. Think about another power/skills that you might want Trevor to have.
2. Run as-is. You will play with an additional Hero Die (singular of Dice, and not foreshadowing), which is similar to Pathfinder hero points. The other players will play with 1; Trevor starts with 2.
@Rio Wolf, looking forward to it.
cheers
APPLICATIONS
Selected Player Characters
* Derz with Trevor Horton - Good job. Please create an avatar with your build in the profile. Please pick an actor to play your character to get a good picture.
Applicants - Status
- MDT / Kestrel - Build drafted.
- Stalwart / Gothic - Build drafted. Any comments?
- Toxicdragon / Spectra - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction
- Atlas - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction & villain description
- Rio Wolf / Daniel Dunsmore - Build drafted; needs Mental Malfunction & villain description
- grimdog73 - interested
Mental Malfunction answers the question: what drives this character to risk life and limb?
Please feel free to flesh out your character and villains by describing a mini-comic book series starring your PC. What is the series called? How are they introduced? What are the early plot lines? It seems consensus says that we'll play in Chicago, so finish the story there after Avengers 2. Please spoiler your story to minimize clutter and practice Pbp formatting.
NOTE - Went kind of dark with Katie's comic, as you said this was based off Jessica Jones, which was pretty dark and bloody...
@MDT The dark tone is near where I imagined the campaign. Challenging plots with silhouetted or off-panel ugliness.
Your first issue is good. Makes me want to read more. Are you continuing for couple more issues to land into what Katie is doing now in Chicago? I'm struggling with ideas to connect Katie to superheroing.
cheers
I can, when I have the energy. I've been sick with the flu all week, which is making it hard to GM my PBP games. I can't sleep because when I lay down my lungs clog up from congestion. I had to sleep sitting up on the couch last night. If I get enough energy I will put up another chapter of her a few weeks later.
Gothic sat in the Chicago L, warding people away with her demeanor. Her heavy, well-worn jacket and black floor-length skirt disguised her body shape. She stared straight ahead, keeping her arms crossed as she slouched in the seat. Any time someone's attention drifted her way, she would meet their eyes with a challenging glare which usually turned them away.
The constant susurrus of thoughts of the people on the L assailed her. Though she was not able to block them entirely, she usually managed to ignore them and only took interest if they took interest in her. While most would find it a horrible invasion of privacy, Gothic would simply answer that most people's thoughts were nothing all that unique and universally offensive. Everyone has ugly thoughts and evil temptations.
::Oh, God. I falsified the report. I had to. It's my job on the line, and no one will believe the truth anyway::
Gothic didn't react to the panicking thoughts that rang in her head as loudly as if the woman sitting across from her were shouting. She heard too many internal confessions to be surprised. But she listened a little closer, since the raw horror of the woman was radiating off her like a stench.
She picked through the thoughts and was rewarded with a startling revelation. The woman was an assistant with the Cook County coroner's office and had discovered the decedent brought in that morning had its brain rotated 180 degrees inside its skull, with no sign of outward trauma. Then she caught the face of the decedent, and Gothic nearly gasped, since she recognized it: Vincent Marcini, a mob enforcer. Seeing the still, ashen face in the woman's mind brought back memories.
It was stupid how intensely people focused on trying to win the cheapest of objects. The young woman at the claw game strained so much that her body nearly shook. Gothic rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the woman's thoughts.
An audible squeal and a surge of pleasure interrupted and Gothic looked up to see the woman pulling out a fuzzy plush cartoon character. She stared for a moment with disdain for the meager accomplishment until she glanced at the game itself. It was inert.
"What?" the woman said. ::Little emo freak, what are you looking at?:: her mind continuing to comment.
Gothic didn't answer her, but studied the young woman. She looked about twenty, had thick auburn hair, and had one hand firmly on her hip in a defiant pose. Her stance shifted slightly under Gothic's stare, and her mind started getting suspicious. ::No way she saw me take that bunny without the claw. Who would believe her anyway?:: She scoffs.
Gothic arched an eyebrow and made a decision. ::Like I care whether you stole a stupid stuffed animal from that machine:: she projected into her mind. ::But it's interesting you used your mind to do it::
The woman's jaw drops. After a few seconds of stunned silence, she thinks, ::No way that came from me, did it come from her? Is she hearing my thoughts?::
::Yes::
::No way! You-- you're talking to me? With your mind?::
::Sigh. Yes::
:Omigod omigod, this is amazing. I can move things with my mind and you can read minds? How cool is that?::
Gothic shrugged.
The woman moved to sit next to her and leaned in to whisper, "Are you like, going to try to join the Avengers?"
Gothic scowls, rolls her eyes and folds her arms.
::Well, excuse me, Miss Emo bi--:: she stops that train of thought at Gothic's venomous glare. ::You heard that? Are you listening now? How can I tell if you're hearing me?::
Gothic listened to the paranoid thoughts for as long as she could stand, then interrupted. ::I can hear you. I can't turn it off. Go ahead and freak out. Everyone does::
The woman studied Gothic for a while as her mind whirled. But she decided not to freak out. ::I'm Ciandra Lake. I can move things with my mind. Little things, but I'm practicing. I'm planning on going to the Grand Victoria Casino and work the roulette wheels:: Then her face brightened. ::You should come too! You would know what everyone has at the poker table! You'd be awesome!:: Images of casinos and gambling flashed in her mind as she thought of the possibilities.
Gothic shook her head. The idea of being around all that despair and desperation made her nauseous. ::Not interested::
Despite her refusal, Ciandra and Gothic continued to learn more of each other, each finding some fascination in the other's mental abilities. Ciandra even accepted Gothic's dour persona and refusal to speak. And Gothic endured Ciandra's constant disdain for her emo appearance.
A few weeks after their chance meeting, Ciandra made her first attempt at working the Chicago casinos. She had texted Gothic after that night about her winnings (since she never answers her phone), saying that her gift was working, and she had been able to turn a hundred dollars into a thousand. She was excited, and planned to try again the next night.
Several nights later, Gothic got an urgent text that she was being pursued by some goons from the casino and she needed help. Despite feeling like Ciandra had gotten into this mess on her own in the first place, she went to Ciandra's old place as fast as she could.
When she arrived, she was too late. The goons had bust in and were viciously beating her. Gothic stunned the lookout by the door, then moved past him and mind blasted the next one she saw. The one standing over the broken form of Ciandra caught her movement and spun, wielding a police-style baton. He lifted it up and stepped toward Gothic as she tried to blast him as well. He shrugged off her attempts to stop him and looked over her. She could hear his thoughts, brutish and cruel, curious about how the other thugs were dealt with but not enough to stop from bringing the club down on her. But his arm paused where it was, poised to crush her skull. Gothic could feel that it wasn't his own doing, and she looked down at Ciandra. She was bloody and beaten, but her face was a mask of concentration as she focused on the man's arm. The thug followed Gothic's eyes down to Ciandra, then lashed out with a booted kick to her temple. Ciandra collapsed and Gothic unleashes a silent scream into the goon's mind, dropping him to the ground.
A hasty text to 911 brought the paramedics and got Ciandra to a hospital. However, her head trauma caused swelling in her brain and put her into a coma. Gothic sifted through the minds of the goons before leaving the apartment, learning their identities and who ordered the hit on the closest thing to a friend Gothic had. Jimmy Spence. Vincent Marcini. Frank Di'Amato. All enforcers for the Maggia.
As it became apparent that Ciandra was not going to wake up anytime soon, Gothic stopped visiting the hospital. There was too much despair in the minds there. She went back to her usual life on the outside of society, trying to block out the constant drone of the minds she passes by.
Ok, Chapter two (The Garden of Evil) on the google doc.