I don't really care who rolls, it's the same random number generator after all.
Same here.
First off, just a heads up for everyone that May 13th to the 17th I'll be attending a leadership conference and my posting ability will be severely limited (good chance I might not be able to, for which I apologize now).
Secondly, I'll go ahead and roll damage resistance checks then to get those out of the way to keep the game moving on.
Fourthly, if I forgot anything, sorry!
what about the foundry?
what about the foundry?
Not quite sure if I'm missing something. Foundry? If it's spoilerish, please free to PM me.
I'm not quite sure how the Grapple rules work.
Could I have grabbed her with that attack and taken her with me into a shadowed area?
I'll look into that when I get home, but I believe you can. Please don't hold me to that until I look it up.
No problem. I'm learning too.
Just a note, at the end of this first combat I'll be giving everyone a chance to look at their builds and see if their's anything they would like to change, since hopefully we'll understand mechanics a bit better.
On the grab scenario, for future reference...
You can drag a restrained or bound target along with you
when you move. The target gets a Strength resistance
check against your Strength. If it fails, you move and the
target moves along with you. If the target resists, you are
immobilized that turn unless you release your hold on the
target.
If anyone else has any questions or asking how rolls are working, let me know.
I posted a list of actions and maneuvers on the campaigns tab to assist with actions. I also posted a link to that section of the SRD for easy reference. For commonly used ones, I'll try to copy them into the campaign tab for quick reference. If there's anything people would like to see, let me know.
Ooo, that's a good idea, DM. Gracias.
Phone post. I had a rather unexpected weekend in prep for my trip. I'll try to update tonight, but this week will be spotty.
Phone post. I had a rather unexpected weekend in prep for my trip. I'll try to update tonight, but this week will be spotty.
So you said :) no worries, I am sure we all know that weekends can be the worst in terms of keeping commitments, since all kinds of family stuff etc pops up. Besides you had warned us that posting would sometimes be sporadic ;)
Back from my trip. Going to go back through the thread here shortly and try to get things moving again.
Just want to apologize for being unable to give a real update while gone. It was a fairly intensive trip.
Glad you're back, hope the trip went well. Now it's time to get the energy back, but I'll be gone for most of the rest of today. I'll check before bedtime, that may be mightnight though.
Glad to have you back :)
I'll move the game forward tonight. Sorry for the delay, work issue disrupted my not-go-insane schedule. Just wanted to give a quick heads up.
great! I wasn't sure what exactly we were suppose to do etc. so if you could update us about where we all are, who's turn it is (if we are still in combat) and so on it would be awesome.
With that the first combat is over.
Sorry if things became a little confusing there. I'm highly accustomed to using battlemats or spreadsheets or something to keep track of movement and position and was attempting something new with a more narrative approach. I'm not sure how well it worked and would like feedback from people. If it's preferred, I can start using maps. My biggest concern was how effective it would be when you have people that can run several hundred feet in a single round.
In fact if anyone has any feedback, positive or negative, about how that played out, please let me know. I know of a couple things I need to improve on for this system. For starters, at first I was counting each degree of failure on a toughness roll as -1, not just a flat -1 with a condition. Which I ended up adjusting halfway through. I also am going to see about a different way to track 'damage' and conditions. Not quite sure what yet, but I'll let you all know when I figure something out. I can use Hero Lab to do it, but when I'm at work I don't have access to it.
Also at this time if you see something about your character you'd like to change or adjust, please let me know and we can see about getting things worked out.
I think it well pretty well overall, DM. My lack of familiarity with the rules is holding me back a bit, but I think you did a good job of keeping things flowing.
Mapping will be tough with the speeds as you noted before. Not sure how to 'fix' that.
The fix would be relative positions instead of gridded mapping. Using the map as more of a tool to indicate "here is Death Magnetic, here is Prime, here is Straightjacket" to give an idea, maybe include some kind of scale to it. But I wouldn't be holding people to "move 30 feet and make an attack", going with the M&M rules on movement and keeping it loose.
Of course two speedsters in a battle could end up fighting all over a city by the time it's done, and flying heroes add another dimension to things. Throwing someone into a building and then having two heroes duke it out in the bathroom is easier in narrative than trying to find an apartment bathroom map (though I'm sure I could do it pretty easy). Might just make a box and say "These two are duking it out in the bathroom here (x on map) represented by this box.
I think it went well all things considered. A lot of us are unfamiliar with the rules (myself included), so there is going to be an adjustment period.
I really have no good suggestions for dealing with the mobility issues other than to simply wing it. I don't really care that much about precision in the gaming as much as reasonable challenge, and fun.
It seemed to flow pretty smoothly to me, especially considering how many rules questions there were.
It may be possible to use an overhead map of some suitable city from Google Maps. Adjusting the map size down to near street-view would give a localized map that would provide a loose idea of our surroundings. We might not need more than that.
This would be common enough knoweldge (like knowing of the FBI or CIA), but AEGIS (the American Elite Government Intervention Service) is a government organization that handles rogue supers. At least from what I can tell thus far. I'm thinking there must be a setting book I don't have yet, so I plan to look for that and try to catch up on some more of the information that isn't included in the adventure.
For now, unless I can find something else that makes it clearer, it seems like the best analogy is CADMUS from the Justice League show, only slightly more overt.
That might be the group Nightstrike used to work for, assuming they handle all kinds of super threats, not just domestic terrorism.
I do need to rebuild there are problems with my character that need fixing, I'll post revised build in a day or two. Need to transfer some backups.
The play went OK for a first time out. A lot of movement is a main characteristic of Superheroic fights, you can't ignore it but it can be done free form, with practise I'm sure it'll become easier for you.
As to setting, the Freedom City sourcebook for second editon is the only setting book they have as far as I can tell. Emerald City needs one but I think Green Ronin's resources are tied down with the DC adventures license and they haven't done it yet, if they ever will. For local stuff what's in the adventure is all you get, AFAIK. FC sourcebook would have stuff on the national and world scene. But it seems to be Marvel with some minor stuff. AEGIS is this world equivelent of Marvel's SHIELD.
From what I was able to learn, Breakneck has it about right. SHIELD is a better analogy than CADMUS to what AEGIS is.
According to Amazon.com, there is an Emerald City sourcebook coming out in January of 2014, but unless everyone wants to wait that long, I doubt it'll be much use anytime soon (an no, I am not recommending we wait).
I'll grab the Freedom city sourcebook and see about reading through it for some more details of the world.
@ Nightstrike, it does seem to be a reasonable organization for you to have worked for.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As far as the mapping goes, I'm going to try something for the next fight, see how it works. If it goes well, awesome, if not, we can easily drop it.
Not that it particularly matters since no one has really seen him so far, but I just realized that Nightstrike isn't actually Nightstrike yet. He hasn't picked the name and he doesn't have a costume. He's just a guy in sunglasses and a slightly oversized coat.
So, all the times I referred to my character as Nightstrike during description, please retcon all that to "Dan" instead. :)
In revising Breakneck I had a couple of problems to solve. One was that his inefficient build was also somewhat ineffective, his attack roll was too low for the kind of super he is. More important he had no distinctive role in the group, most to all of his abilities were duplicated by other characters leaving him with out any place to standout. So I made changes the, justification for the increased abilites is that he didn't know what he was doing at first, it took a while for him to not hold back.
Briefly I made changes.
The pre -storm Tyler goes from PL4(60) to PL5(75) This consolidates some stuff and if chi-less he still can be somewhat effective against low scale threats.
He loses a few thing like Defence roll and attractive.
He gains a ton of speed and quickness, he is now not a half-speeder, he is a super-speedster that is good at MA.
The cheesest point is where I use alertnate powers to save points. I don't think I was abusive just that need to be judged. When he is approved and after we stop fighting/rescuing/needing to be super I'll adjust the profile, if you want any changes, GM, just let me know.
Witout further ado:
Here's my 2.0 attempt, questions/comments are wanted from the GM and others as well.
Hero Name: Breakneck
Secret I.D. Tyler Terry "Tee" Thompson
Player Name: Veshly
Group:???
Base:???
Role: Melee Combat
Type: Martial Artist/Full Speedster
Format stolen from The evil eye.
About Breakneck
"Breakneck"
Tyler Terry "Tee" Thompson
Human Male
Age 25
Height 6'
Weight 180 lbs.
Hair Brown
Eyes Brown
Base of Operations: Emerald City
Power Level: 10 Limit:20
Origin:Training, Silver Storm
Source: Chi
Initiative +8/21
Abilities 50 + Powers 0 + Advantages + 7 + Skills 12 + Defenses 6 + Offense 0 = 75. Pre-Storm
Abilities 50 + Powers 75 + Advantages + 7 + Skills 12 + Defenses 6 + Offense 0 = 150. Post-Storm.
Limits:
Pre-Storm PL5 Limit:10
Attack Bonus and Effect Rank : Fgt + Str = 6+4 = 10
Dodge & Toughness: 6 + 4 = 10
Parry & Toughness: 6 + 4 = 10
Fortitude & Will 5+5 = 10
Post-Storm PL10 Limit:20 Only when chi is active.
Attack Bonus and Effect Rank : Fgt + Close Attack Advantage + Str = 13 + 2 + 5 = 20
Dodge & Toughness: 13 + 7 = 20
Parry & Toughness: 13 + 7 = 20
Fortitude & Will 8 + 8 = 16 Not at cap, a point of weakness.
Strength 4 Cost:8
Stamina 4 Cost:8
Agility 4 Cost:8
Dexterity 2 Cost:4
Fighting 6 Cost:12
Intellect 3 Cost:6
Awareness 2 Cost:4
Presence 0 Cost:0
Chi Enhanced
Strength 4 + 1 = 5
Stamina 4 + 3 = 7
Agility 4 + 1 = 5
Fighting 6 + 7 = 13
Dexterity 2
Intellect 3
Awareness 2
Presence 0
Ability cost:50
Cost:6
Dodge:4 + 2 = 6 / 5 + 2 + 6 = 13
Fortitude:4 + 1 = 5 / 7 + 1 = 8
Parry:4 = 6 / 13 = 13
Toughness:4 / 7 = 7
Will:2 = 2 + 3 = 5 /2 +3 + 3 = 8
Cost:0
Initiative:+8/21
Close Combat: Unarmed +6/15 Damage: +4/+5
Rapid Strike: Close Combat: Multi-attack on STR damage Unarmed 15 Damage: 5
Whirlwind Attack: Close Combat: Burst Area on STR damage, Selective Unarmed 15 Damage: 5
Acrobatics/Athletics check Trip: +10(as Tee)/+11(as Breakneck) vs target Acrobatic/or Athletics check attacker chooses. Effect Level: none; Result: Target falls prone.
Powers:75
All powers have Chi as a descriptor, some have Speed as well.
Chi Focus: Enhanced Traits: 35
Strength:1 Cost:2
Stamina:3 Cost:6
Agility:1 Cost:2
Fighting:7 Cost:14
Dodge(Agl): 6 Cost:6
Will(Awe): 3 Cost: 3
Enhanced Advantage: Close Combat Rank 2 Cost 2
End Chi Focus.
Speed- All these powers have the speed descriptor as well.: 40
Fast Healing (Persistant) Rank 5 Cost:10
Wire-Fu Leaping Rank 1 Cost:1
Speed: Ground movement 4 miles/move action, 2,000 MPH, Rank 10, Cost:10
Run Up Walls: Movement 2 (Wall-crawling), Limited to while moving • Rank 2 Cost: 2 (Base 2 pt/ rank -1 pt/rank for limitation)
Run On Water: Movement 2 (Water-Walking), Limited to while moving • Rank 2 Cost: 2 (Base 2 pt/ rank -1 pt/rank for limitation)
Faster than You: Enhanced Advantage: Improved Initiative Rank 3 Cost:3
Main:Whirlwind attack: Burst Area on Strength Damage, Selective •2 points per
rank up to Strength rank, 3 points per additional rank. Rank 5 Cost: 10
*Alt:Quick: Quickness 10, Rank 10 Cost:1
*Alt:Rapid Strike: Multiattack on Strength Damage •1 point per rank
up to Strength rank, 2 points per additional rank. Rank 5 Cost: 1
Instant Up:1 Cost 1
Benefit: Minor security clearance Cost:1
Benefit: Wealth: Well-Off Cost:1
Improved Initiative: Cost1
Improved Trip: Cost:1
Move-by Action: Cost 1
Uncanny Dodge: Cost:1
*
Costs: 12
Acrobatics(Agl):6 Cost:3 Roll:+10/+11
Athletics(Str):6 Cost:3 Roll:+10/+11
Expertise(Int): Physiology 2 Cost: 1, Roll:+5
Insight(Awe) 2 Cost:1 Roll:+4
Perception(Awe) 2 Cost:1 Roll:+4
Treatment(Int) 4 Cost:2 Roll:+7
Stealth(Agl) Rank 2 Cost:1 Roll +6/+7
Motive:Do Good
Secrets: Secret I.D.
[spoiler=Background]
[spoiler=Background]
Tyler Terry "Tee" Thompson was born to an ordinary middle-class family, living with his parents Thomas Thompson and Theresa Thompson (nee Tyler). Tyler is a good student and athlete, A martial arts flicks and "Buffy" fan this sparked interest in gymnastics and the martial arts, with him taking a black belt while attending high school. His life became marred by tragedy when a drunk driver and his parents crossed paths. After the funerals, the insurance paid off the modest home near the University which he shares with his hyper busy sister. Since the parents worked for the University, tutiton is free or very low. He is a grad student in physiology having completed undergrad studies in rehabitilitation therapy. He faculty advior and favorite teacher is Professor Martin Van Buren, who has heard every joke already. The lab he studies/works at has a grant for some classified studies of SPBs(Super-Powered-Beings) trying to figure out what causes these "Superpowers". Tee needs low-level security clearance for this as he has access to government files on many SPBs, supervised by the Prof. His five-years older sister is completing her residency at the teaching hospital. He doesn't like being bound by schedules much so he works with a medical temp agency filling-in as needed and when he wants to. He also sometimes works at a martial sport studio (gymnatics and martial arts) and the occasional bit part in action shows/movies. With low expenses, he's reasonably well-off. His life went on until one fateful night ...
Tee is locks the door to the Emerald Dragon Dojo closing it down for the day. A strange silver storm hits, and is followed by an explosion at the gas station causing havoc. He goes over to help and then is attacked by a supervlillan,. He heals quickly, too quickly and soon discovers he has superpowers. In the course of the battle against the villians that appear he rescues the Prof. who was at a party for his birthday. He grabs the Prof. and carries him away quickly to the dojo for safety. The Professor notices, before Tee does, that being carried away by someone at car speeds is a bit freaky. The Prof and Tee decide to keep this a secret for now.. He grabs some lab googles and his new helmet from his motor scooter and runs back to the dojo. He buys a box of Gis that he was sending back to the supplier because it was black with red trim rather than white with green. He put his improvised costume together and leaves locking the door. He notices that doing all that took a ridulously short time. A bare few minutes after the silver storm hit, Breakneck is looking around his city seeing the havoc unfold, time to take action ....
This is a basic idea of my character in costume:
Revised Image of Breakneck coming soon!
Comments on my background.
It's written pretty generic. I've left open what town/city we are in the names of the University and hospital, other locations, etc. When it's time let me know and I'll make it less vanilla.
I've added some specific people and places to my background. Open to change as needed.
Rehabilitation Therapist
EMT II
Securtiy Clearance: Confidential - Access to Threat Reports, Power Profiles, data on SPB's, many research reports on super-human abilites.
Important NPC's Possible contacts.
Martin Van Buren, Professor of Phyisology at the University.
Tina Theresa Thompson, Big Sister, Senior Resident Obstetrician at the Hospital.
Sensi Rocco Rocatti - Owner of Major Marial Arts Dojo and store. Master of Dragon Style Kung-Fu, a Hard but balanced MA style.
Locations:
Emerald City University(ECU): Tee's a grad student here and works sometimes as Lab assistant and TA.
Emerald City Hosipital(ECU): A teaching hospital affiliated with ECU. Sister works here.
Emerald Dragon Dojo: Owned by Rocco Rocatti, Master of Marital Arts, Tee is a student and sometime instructor. Though known most for the Dragon Style, teaches a number of other styles as well.
Emerald City Healthcare Staffing Agency. Medical oriented temp job agency. Tee sometimes uses this to get short term jobs as a rehab therapist or some sort of Medical Aide.
Are we using skill challenges? Is that a M&M mechanic?
I assume you know the math on those is pretty wonky.
Regarding challenges. Challenges are a mechanic in the M&M 3e book. They give a variety of ways to implement and use them, the one I'm doing being one example. Not all of them are the make x successes before y failures. And not all require skills to be used. For example, removing debris blocking a path could be done by using an attack power to remove it, or a movement power to move it, or a teleport power to get people around it.
Regarding this scene. I chose this particular type as I felt it would give some RP options available to people and it gave a pretty easy to read format. The adventure itself gives this as an opportunity to show yourselves as superheroes to the community, which is what it is without being just beat up the baddies team.
Now if people do not enjoy challenges like this, that's fine. I will certainly adapt the adventure as best able to the expectations of the players. But I can't do it if I don't know it. So if you don't like something (or you do!), please tell me either by PM or here in OOC. Such as challenges.
Personally I adore challenges like these, also enables us to remember things we would otherwise not (like the crowd).
I have no issues with the idea of using skills in such an ad lib fashion. That's a good thing. I just don't like the math of x successes before y failures. If you're looked into the math on those they end up compounding the advantages of specialization (and hence penalizing a broad but shallow skill set). I think it's one of the worst mechanics they cooked up for 4th ed.
I run a living campaign in my local area, and had one of my authors try to introduce skill challenges into one of the modules (the campaign uses a variant of Spycraft 1.0), and I didn't like the feel during the playtest. Upon research I found analysis for the math online which confirmed my disfavor-able reaction.
However, I don't really care enough for it to get in the way of anything. The campaign is running well so far IMO.
If I might suggest an alternative mechanic, do a linear combination of skill results for us to get past an aggregate DC. That way everyone can have some measure of contribution even if not overly talented in a particular area. You might set a limit on rounds employed by the PCs to get that aggregate, or come up with some other method of penalty for taking too long. This linear method avoids the multiplicative problem of the skill challenge mechanic.
But again, this suggestion would be for future encounters if you are amenable, I don't have an issue with the current scene.
"Hey, where'd the GM go?"
Sorry guys about the disappearance. Just a bad work week. Had a couple not much sleep nights dealing with not just 1, not just 2, but 3 freezer emergencies at work (medical related freezers, not food related). And I'm the lucky guy that gets to document the reports of what happened, what we did, figure out what to do with the contents, blah blah blah.
Combine that with the tornado and storm last night (and my internet not working a good portion of yesterday), plus covering for a co-worker's vacation means this week kicked my butt.
I'll try to move us forward either during lunch break or if I can this evening when I get home (if my internet there is up).
Take your time, DM. Real life happens.
No kidding. It's all been great so far. I'm fine with any timeline so long as you let us know when the breaks in posting might be.
Its fine I think most of us were just waiting for the indicator if we are talking rounds or what? and since we are we can continue :)
No worries.
I'm sorry I been a bit absent here the last few days and ahven't responded or rather briefly if I have. A lot of bad stuff came crashing down last week and I been trying to get back ontop of things, anyway all this means I will see if I can't get a post up tomorrow.
No worries. Life happens! If you need some time away, please take it. The game will still be here :)
Checking in here since I'm playing the antisocial one. I'm sticking near-ish to Gumshoe and the detective, dropping some eaves.
Just so it is known, I'm kind of waiting to see who all has gone to the factory and if anyone who is more of a 'face' wants to do the talking.
Sorry bit under the weather lately. I'm not very social a character either so Breakneck doesn't know how to approach the situation. Maybe Gumshoe with his skills can show us the way. ;)
<-- Not a Face.
DM, the Astral Projection power, is the projection form visible or invisible? If invisible, I might snoop around a bit, but if visible that wont work here.
Reading through it, I would say yes it is unless someone has the ability to sense magic. Then they could detect it.
In post #131 above I posted my attempt at a 2.0 revision of Breakneck and the reasoning behind it. It seems that the timing was bad on it as it passed by without comment. But now I need GM Xzarl, at least, to say what he thinks about it and if it is an acceptable revision so I can determine how to play him from this point forward. I still invite everyone else to comment as well. Of course if any changes are needed I'll work on them and resubmit. Thanks.
Fluff wise it looks fine to me. I see no issues.
Mechanics wise, it looks like your short 1 power point. It seems to be from your Chi Focus, as Close Combat is 2 points for 1 PP.
Breakneck 2 - PL 10
Strength 5/4, Stamina 7/4, Agility 5/4, Dexterity 2, Fighting 13/6, Intellect 3, Awareness 2, Presence 0
Advantages
Benefit, Security Clearance: Choose Clearance, Benefit, Wealth (well-off), Improved Initiative, Improved Initiative 3, Improved Trip, Instant Up, Move-by Action, Uncanny Dodge
Skills
Acrobatics 6 (+11), Athletics 6 (+11), Expertise: Physiology 2 (+5), Insight 2 (+4), Perception 2 (+4), Stealth 2 (+7), Treatment 4 (+7)
Powers
Chi Focus
. . Enhanced Trait: Enhanced Trait 34 (chi, Dodge +6 (+13), Will +3 (+8), Agility +1 (+5), Fighting +7 (+13), Stamina +3 (+7), Strength +1 (+5), Close Combat +2 (+15))
Fast Healing: Regeneration 5 (chi, Every 2 rounds; Persistent)
Faster Than You: Enhanced Trait 3 (Advantages: Improved Initiative 3)
Movement: Movement 4 (Wall-crawling 2: full speed, Water Walking 2; Limited: Only While Moving)
Speed: Speed 10 (Speed: 2000 miles/hour, 4 miles/round)
Whirlwind Attack (speed, chi; Burst Area: 30 feet radius sphere, Selective)
. . Quickness: Quickness 10 (Alternate; speed, chi, Perform routine tasks in -10 time ranks)
. . Rapid Strike (Alternate; Multiattack)
Wire-Fu: Leaping 1 (Leap 15 feet at 4 miles/hour)
Offense
Initiative +21
Grab, +15 (DC Spec 15)
Throw, +2 (DC 20)
Unarmed, +15 (DC 20)
Complications
Identity
Motivation: Doing Good
Languages
Native Language
Defense
Dodge 13/7, Parry 13, Fortitude 8, Toughness 7, Will 8/5
Power Points
Abilities 50 + Powers 72 + Advantages 7 + Skills 12 (24 ranks) + Defenses 6 = 147
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