Added a couple of NPCs to my profile. Tweaking numbers a bit, but won't make much difference in the long run.
So today is the day that the final characters start to pour in so lets see who we all have
We Have
Legacy Hero Paragon
Sonic Energy Projector
Ghost and Brick
Summoner of Heroes
Techno Savant and Gageteer
Armored Hero Inventor
Earth Based Energy Projector
Water Based Energy Projector
Darkness Based Inventor/Energy Projector
Cold Based Energy Projector
Melee Combat "god"
Shrinking Super Fast Brick
Shape Changing Infiltrator
Shrinking Energy Projector
I think that is it everyone else has either bowed out or didn't enter a character yet.
So building our super hero team Im typing up some stuff on team roles that I will be using when making my choices
Every character brings something different to a team. A member’s contributions differ based upon his or her abilities, temperament, and style, but one can safely assume that everyone adds something. Every character on a team plays at least one role, based upon the individual’s particular abilities. Characters possessing immense strength and melee combat skill may be the “Infantry” capable of dishing out large degrees of punishment, while characters with firearms or energy projection abilities may function as the “Artillery,” ranged fighters who attack opponents from a distance. Even characters with seemingly minor abilities, such as healing or “supercharging” other characters, may be considered “Psi-Ops.” In short, every character has a place on the team.
Although some individuals who make up superhero teams may possess similar abilities, most differ greatly in their primary focus, characters play both primary and secondary roles. Every character should have at least one primary role, the defining quality their teammates most associate with him, though they may be capable of playing other, secondary roles. While a hero may be capable of flight, the airborne role may not necessarily be central to their performance on a team. In this case, Airborne is a secondary role, and a more pertinent power determines their primary role. When determining which role is a given character’s primary role, it might be helpful to consider which is most integral to their concept. The abilities and powers that more or less define particular characters may safely be considered primary roles
Airborne characters use their aerial movement abilities to aid their teams. They provide teammates with support from above, frequently by raining projectile attacks on foes, carrying allies to safety, or distracting larger, earthbound opponents.
Armor characters are the most resilient members of a team, and are often found at the forefront of battles, drawing attacks to protect other, less sturdy allies. The Armor character absorbs damage. This is the individual whose job it is to take the hits from attacks, environmental effects, etc. The Armor role’s advantage lies in its ability to endure abuse and adversity for far longer than any other character. He stands firm where others would fall. He will not be stopped by collapsing buildings, heavy gunfire, or speeding trains.
The Artillery character is a combat-oriented individual whose expertise lies in fighting at a distance. Such as force blasts or ice beams, to combat their opponents, so long as they are capable of regularly making ranged attacks, they may be considered Artillery. This character is often quite effective at ambushing opponents, as escaping notice is much less difficult from a distance, and an unaware target is an easy target. Movement is important to the Artillery character, as their advantage relies greatly on his ability to stay out of opponents’ range. Usually, he must be confronted by another ranged fighter, but super-fast characters and flyers can also be effective, as their abilities may allow them to quickly close in and rob him of his tactical advantage.
Infantry characters are melee fighters whose powers or skills afford them a substantial edge in close quarters. The Infantry character focuses is on melee combat. They may be supernaturally strong, acrobatic, or simply well-armed. Perhaps the character does not possess any powers at all. Whatever the nature of their abilities, the Infantry character’s primary combat function is to close with an enemy and attack. While extremely limited in function, Infantry role remains one of the most versatile available to a team. Although at first glance, characters capable of flight, ranged attacks, and superhuman speed might have a distinct advantage over a melee combat specialist, but a resourceful Infantry character can perform feats of strength, speed, and wit to even the odds.
The purpose of Psi-Ops characters is to enhance a team’s performance, often through protective or augmentative abilities, effective combat strategies, or good leadership qualities. These individuals are the cheerleaders, the strategists, the communicators, and the enhancers. The role of Psi-Ops is one of the most important a character can play. Despite the name, Psi-Ops does not necessarily imply psychic abilities so much as a gift for bolstering the team’s morale and performance. Regardless of whether the character’s abilities are obvious or subtle, they are a psychological asset to the team. This role serves to enhance a team’s capabilities, strategies, or chances of success. Every team leader should, to some degree, be able to function as Psi-Ops, even if he simply calls out instructions or heartens his comrades. Unlike other characters who can, with a little ingenuity, use their respective abilities to protect, enhance, or encourage teammates, the Psi-Ops character’s abilities are specifically geared toward one or more of these ends. Often viewed as weak or useless by the unwise, characters playing this role are undoubtedly appreciated by the teammates who benefit from their abilities.
Special Forces characters possess a number of abilities that enable them to play more than one or two primary roles. Although functional in a number of roles, the character might be somewhat more limited in their performance than others. The Special Forces character often plays a Psi-Ops role, but this need not be the case. All the same, the role’s versatility is their primary advantage, and their ability to perform a number of functions can catch unwary opponents off guard. The Special Forces character is often underestimated by her foes, and as a result, they have many opportunities to prove their worth.
Specialist characters are exceptionally skilled in a particular field, the Specialist character uses a specific body of knowledge or area of expertise to aid the team, pertinent to a particular situation. This role is somewhat inconstant in relation to the others. A character who plays the Specialist role on one mission may not qualify to be a Specialist on the next. The Specialist role is actually quite limited in that it does not always come into play. The character’s particular skills may or may not be useful on every mission. Most Specialist characters compensate for this limitation by choosing a large number of skills and fields of knowledge in which to excel.
The Support character enhances the team’s effectiveness by limiting the capabilities of their opponents. While other characters may also seek to weaken the opposition, the abilities of the Support character are geared specifically towards this end. Though their abilities rarely cause harm directly, they frequently pave the way for other dangers posed by the environment, their comrades, or something else entirely. The Support role is often unwisely ignored in combat, at least until it becomes obvious that such abilities can make a significant difference.
The Transport character is capable of some form of supernaturally fast movement. Few can keep up with them, save another Transport character. Any individual with a movement speed significantly faster than that of a normal character may be considered Transport. The Transport character is capable of a wide variety of feats, most of which involve avoiding danger and hazardous situations. Their teammates can also benefit from the incredible speed and maneuverability of the character, usually capable of both protecting weaker characters and drawing attackers’ attention.
Not every team has all of the bases covered. Some teams must do without Airborne or Artillery characters. The trick is to use sound tactics to make up for such deficiencies. When pinned down under the Heavy fire by opposing Artillery, a team with no Artillery of their own might be able to have two Infantry characters perform a “Fastball” Special maneuver to reach the target. Or perhaps, a Transport character may use their powers to carry or teleport Infantry to the attacker’s position. This is the essence of teamwork. Individual strengths should be used to overcome collective limitations.
Everyone on a given team should play one or more roles, though certain characters usually fit more snugly into particular roles than others. A heavily armed government black ops team of psionic mutants may contain a number of people who could qualify for the Infantry, Specialist, and Artillery roles; however, it may be helpful to view the characters comparatively in order to properly gauge their potential as a team. The most skilled ranged combatants with the most effective attacks should probably be established as the “main” Artillery. The best close-quarters fighters should be the “main” Infantry. And the characters with the skills most pertinent to the current mission should be the “main” Specialists.
When creating a team, the roles members play become especially important. While a team does not have to possess a member for every possible role, it is undesirable to have only one or two roles available to a team. A group of five Infantry characters is likely to be ineffective in any situation other than a brawl. Limiting the skills available to the team limits the team’s versatility, and as a result, its strength. Five close-combat specialists aren’t much better than one in a battle against flying, armored, robot wasps with minigun attachments. It is not, however, inadvisable to have more than one Infantry or Specialist or Airborne character, so long as the team has a pool of potential roles to draw from, as opposed to just one or two.
I have some complications listed in there for Amalgam, I think I just didn't call them out as well in their own header. I'll update it so it's clearer
So uhhhh, why don't we have some minor cataclysmic event and have all the heroes who made the deadline participate and then pick from those? Could work to tie people in later on if you end up re recruiting. Just an idea I had on my drive to work.
Thats a good Idea but I am not a good enough GM for my first PBP to do that with.
So I made a score for each character a score of 1 to 10 on each of three things.
The Story how is there story tie ins and all the sort of thing.
The Build what does the build look like is it a good and solid build.
The Player by talking and checking posts on this thread and other threads do I think they would be a good player in this game.
By the score I have 9 players that are still in the running.
These are the Nine still up for the team
A clean slick black SUV merges between lanes in a busy downtown city street.
"This is ridiculous Susan. He didn't come home last night, hasn't called me--His campaign has been going so well! If he's out gallivanting-- oh, I can't even think straight. What if he gets caught up in a, in-a- SCANDAL of some sort. Wouldn't that be great--"
"I'm sorry Susan, thanks for letting me vent but" "my GPS is acting up and lord knows getting lost is the last thing I'd need right now."
"I heard you, you stupid piece of cra-"
A crackle comes on over the woman's Bluetooth device, her GPS screen shimmers.
Remain calm, Detective Rosemary Alcorn. To ensure you maintain a speed of 45 miles an hour, I've gone ahead and engaged your cruise control.
"Wh-what the hell? You've got to be kidding me... O'Malley, is that you? How'd you hack into my Bluetooth?"
No ma'am, I am not O'Malley. I require your full trust and understanding, Det. Alcorn. You're being followed. Followed by the same men who came for your husband last night. Malagrossos, mafia affiliates looking to buy out Dr. Harrison Alcorn and have him pull out of the running.
"Oh my god is Harrison all-"
He is safe and you will be too if you trust me. Tailing two cars behind you is another sports utility vehicle like your own, two cars beyond that another, and yet two more, another. From my estimates there are.... 6 men total looking to kidnap you and hold you ransom.
As the voice said, three cars similar to her own trail behind her at the described interval.
"How do you know all th-- how are we getting all these green lights?"
Consider it a talent, Detective. We don't have time for specifics. If you'll remove your hands from the steering wheel and relax, I can take it from here. Thank you. Detective Rosemary's seat slides back, the steering wheel stays animated, driving through the oddly changing cross lights.
The car turns off the main road and makes it's way towards an industrial area.
"Where are you t-"
--The Old Docks
"Why?"
There's plenty of fun stuff
"Plenty of 'fun stuff'?
I'm sorry for my shortness Detective, but my attention is diverted.
The trailing cars are now obvious and have taken a more aggressive stance, gapping the distance. Ahead of them lies the old docks, an old shipping yard currently undergoing reconstruction. Various cranes loom over the site.
Detective, I am disengaging your seatbelt. I ask that you relax as much as possible, limber up.
"Limber up, relax? Really at a time like n--"
A wrecking ball wooshes by, swiping the end of the last mob car, knocking them out of commission.
"-SERIOUSLY?! Ohhh myy-"
Detective, please. We will be taking a sharp turn, your door will fly open and you will be ejected towards the water. If my calculations are correct, you'll land on a motorized raft.
"You've gotta be kidding me, this CAN'T be happening."
Gunshots zip by, and the 2nd car gets slammed by a bulldozer.
"O-ok. Wow. Ok all right all right. Here we go."
3....2....1
Detective Alcorn's SUV hits a sharp drifting turn, and just like the voice said, her door flung open and she was ejected onto a raft.
Your fitness watch telling me you're alive. Not bad. Now lay down and relax. Let's get you to the safehouse.
"This... This is ridiculous. Who are you? Why are you helping me?"
The motorized raft kicks to life and makes its way into a tunnel.
I'm glad to see someone who cares take action, who would rather help the greater good than line their own coffers. I am Techno Priest
Hey, what does Harrison like on his pizza? Maybe we can have ourselves a movie night or something while this blows over
I suppose besides a specialist, Techno Priest would serve as support.
I want to thank all you guys I didn't pick it was very close you all made great characters and I wish I could run a game for all of you, and I will keep you all in mind if something happens and we go below 6 heroes.
This is the list they are in alphabetical order
So here is the 9 I was thinking about taking 7 or 8 in case of drop outs I'm worried that 9 might be to many, what do you 9 think.
If you want you can PM so you don't upset someone in the group if you think they should be gone or something like that.
Ares is primarily infantry, but can do artillery, too with weapons he summons. He can be the muscle/powerhouse and do the heavy lifting, if needed. And, he's got some battlefield control and support with his fearsome presence and Inspire.
his knowledge of history and tactics may prove useful in combat situations, as well. As he grows, I plan on having him become better at tactics and strategy.. not necessarily following Athena's works, but definitely a support/buffing role as an inspiring warrior and battlefield commander would.
I am honored to have made it. And I hope I don't get voted off the island.
Broadway is primarily artillery, but with some mobility, and with his stun, vertigo and force wall powers, offers some support and crowd control.
I think 9 is workable, I've run a group of 8 pbp, but you have to make sure the people are dedicated to posting at least once a day or more. Then stick to that. If someone skips several days, without some sort of warning either to you in a PM or on the discussion tab, they should be removed. Otherwise, you'll get bogged down in waiting for responses from people.
As far as we players, we would then have to accept that if a good number of people decide on an action, Watcher should have the right to move the group in that direction. Again, so that we don't spend a lot of time waiting for a few people to post. I also think that we as players should let Watcher roll things like perception, initiative, saving throws, and probably a few other things, so we aren't hung up waiting on someone to post. Also as players, we should use conditional actions if there *may* be a chance that someone else would act before us, or something happen that changes things. That way, you can post out of turn, but have options. Example:
Some of you may already know this stuff, but it's still good to have it said.
Thank you and I'm proud to be chosen. There was some stiff competition here.
One way that a large group could be integrated is that sometimes there are multiple problems that come up at once, requiring the group to split into teams.
@Kelarith, good advice. Running combat in initiative order always seems to end up with one person logging off just before the person before him posts. By putting alternatives, it helps compress things.
Excited to have made the cut. Congrats to the 8 others, and I hope some of those who didn't make it will stick around to make a cameo or two.
Congratulations and this should be a lot of fun.
Golem will probably have two roles in the group first his Spirit form is an excellent scout along side or in different ways than Quark when needed.
Second he is built to be a Powerhouse, lots of Strength, Toughness and Regen, damage is ok but he is a pretty good Grappler. He can also Create Objects when needed to provide utility or protection, keeping in mind it take him extra time because he has to make them works of art.
Look forward to getting this going and getting to Play, thanks again Watcher for recruiting us for the Star League.
Eyyy, congrats to those who made it! It honestly just a good experiance to actually build a m&m character so if anything, thanks for that opportunity Watcher!
Be looking forward to seeing what comic book hi-jinks you guys get up too.
(Still want that Golem & Imaginator sitcom damn it)
This is looking great! 9 can be a lot, but in PbP it can still be possible to give everyone opportunities. Splitting the party is a useful option, but only if the GM has time for it, as it effectively doubles the amount of description and interaction he has to account for in his posts. The other suggestion of being strict about posting time is also a good one. People have 1 day to post an action or reaction (or whatever Watcher feels is a reasonable interval), and then he can DMPC that player, or proclaim they did nothing that round, due to distraction, indecision, inattention, confusion or what have you.
I'll be taking a look at the remaining PC's later to see what sort of build I should use for The Imaginator's prime Hero personality.
Watcher, do you want to create a Discussion forum for this game so we can start planning our party in earnest?
w00t! 'grats to all who made it!
And, dude, all the options were awesome! I read the PCs and thought "whoa... sooo wish I'd thought of that"
and now I have an Alias
"Hi, citizens!" T.I.G.H.T.S. waved awkwardly. "I'm your Science Hero, here to save the day with the power of my Total Integrated General Hero Tactical System. You can call me T.I.G.H.T.S."
"You know I'm a hero, because I'm in T.I.G.H.T.S.! Everybody who wears T.I.G.H.T.S. is a hero, from male ballet dancers to steroid-abusing professional wrestlers! Would you like to know more about my T.I.G.H.T.S.? Are you really inappropriately curious? So am I! I got bit by a radioactive nerd and this is what happened. I think he had some really specific things he was into."
T.I.G.H.T.S. looked around.
"Usually someone has told me to leave by now. I'm...not sure what happens next. Are any of you evil? Because I can blast you with my plasma beams if you are. If not, I think maybe I'm going to carve my initials into the moon."
I need emails PM me so I can invite you to the obsidian portal
PM sent, profile created. It is a little messy and needs some cleanup. I'm not sure how much attention people are paying to each other's builds, but I wanted to point out what a wimp Dr. Quark is. He is hard to see and hard to hit, but he has no saves or immunities to speak of. He does have improved evasion, so he will be fine against explosions or whatever, but when it comes to mind control, sleeping gas, or just a kick in the face, he is going down. I see this as evidence of his newness. He is prey to almost anything because he hasn't seen it. As he gets more points to spend, he may develop some defenses or at least some saves to represent his experience.
so.. i think ares looks like this... i guess. I might go with a different pic, but I'm trying to find something that isn't like Ares from either DC or Marvel
@Invictus, I feel that you are our build guru. Can you give Techno Priest a look over. I'm concerned that I have a few redundancies, mainly datalink, communicate with machines/electronics and mind control.
Also, is mind control even viable against robots, or is there a better course to take in order to take over someone's robots?
I have began to send out the portal invites
On your character portal please place your choice of art for your character, on your description place your stats character sheet and under bio place your back ground.
Make sure once I open the discussion and gameplay pages you only use your alias and please select a picture for your alias.
Please get any last minute finishing touches down tonight or in the morning.
Under Campaign info I put some leads for your heroes if you want to start thinking about them.
I'm going to start the discussion tonight or in the morning for some game play talk and ideas.
Discussion is now open please only post in your proper alias.
@Invictus, I feel that you are our build guru. Can you give Techno Priest a look over. I'm concerned that I have a few redundancies, mainly datalink, communicate with machines/electronics and mind control.
Also, is mind control even viable against robots, or is there a better course to take in order to take over someone's robots?
I'd be happy to take a look! Remember that not all robots are mindless automatons, it's a descriptor. Vision, Ultron, Deathlok, Machine Man, Doombots and those are only Marvel.
Machine control only applies to Machines. ie. We're fighting in a foundry and you activate the controls to dump molten steel on Ultron, and then Waveform blasts him with water to super cool it and hopefully immobilize him. You're mind control would let you (attempt) to take over his mind and make him dance a tap dance.
He could make machine control and mind control only vs robots as alternate powers of each other