.
Had an odd idea for our start. Say the heavy hitters of the league are all missing and so far some of the second echelon types have been holding it together (Question, Mr Terrific, Shining Knight, etc.-assuming JLU + years is the setting), but things have just gotten too hot for them and they need some firepower to step in and bail them out of a major threat which has come a calling.
This could both justify the infusion of a bunch of powerful characters and once, and leave us with the mystery of finding out where the original heavies are.
I kinda like that, but I think almost everyone was against a "catastrophic event" wiping out the current JL core members.
Tumbler: Minor change to my sheet. I made Swimming an alt power of Speed (I shouldn't ever need both at once, since I think Speed is halved underwater) and made myself better at Disable Device and Notice.
No, actually I don't mean a catastrophic event.
Say over time they have disappeared one by one. The lesser members of JLU fill the gaps, until the heavies are all missing. It could be a variety of explanations why each one is missing.
However as the burden has shifted to the second rate heroes, the ability to hold the line has slipped over time such that those among them that have been bearing the burden are starting to drop. Heck, it could even be that the second string has been faking the presence of the missing heavies just to keep up a deterrent.
The current members realize it's all going to collapse if they don't get some powerful reinforcements all at once.
We're the reinforcements, even if rookies.
Ah, so less "disappeared" and more succumbed to the natural risks and rigors or other circumstance over the years? That sounds good to me.
If you think about it, 3 of our bunch are unlikely choices for a League which had first pick of front line heavies.
Luthor's Daughter?
A Yellow Lantern?
A barely controlled blob of superhot plasma?
Yeah, they ought to have a reason for taking us, and all at once.
It seems there might be too many members and reserve members to have the JL just disappear, even over time.
And, while Capt. Robo and Fozare (even Sinter) are naturals for membership, calling in Luthor's daughter, a yellow lantern, and an alien college student implies great need.
Although it could be a secret test by an aging batman who wants to provide heroes for the future.
Of course, being DC, it might just be colliding alternate earths again.
I'm trusting tumbler with the set-up; I'm along for the ride.
(If I were really good with set-up, planning, and the big picture I would run more than I do rather than play.)
I am hoping for a big event where we can save the earth- maybe from invaders or kaiju or something.
You know, big time hero stuff to justify the PL.
I admit, I haven't come up with a likely secret, yet.
A thought.
What if the entire League was summoned to the satellite, it disappeared/ was blocked off or stolen.
A per-arranged signal goes out to the players.
"You have not been approached yet, but the JL has had it's eye on you.
Events now require your help."
Events could be the reason they were all called together, or if they're away dealing with that, the normal run of emergencies and villains.
I realize this in not really any different than the set-ups already discussed, but the concrete process of getting a 'we've been watching/ you're on our list for membership/ you've got to help' is firing my imagination.
"Batman and Superman need my help? But I'm just a kid and not even from Earth."
squares shoulders
"I'm in."
Also, if anyone knows of a better avatar image, I'm open to it.
I was hoping for something with goggles, but racially have blue skin and pointed ears, though not white hair.
(Also, from DC images, my people tend to the gorgeous end and the women, at least, have the same 'comfortable in minimal clothing' thing found among iconic sorceresses.)
It seems there might be too many members and reserve members to have the JL just disappear, even over time.
I'm not suggesting it has disappeared. My idea is that certain key members who are the most powerful have been dropping off over time. Say Superman, Wonder Woman, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Captain Atom are all gone (highest powered ones which come to mind). That would certainly put a crimp in the power level of the team. Yes, there are still plenty of members, but not a lot at that power level, and with the threats they face, things would get pretty tough for the remainder.
I don't mean to intrude on Tumbler's world building. I'm just tossing out ideas.
I'm thinking out loud, too.
Speculating about the world adds to my characterization (such as it is).
I see what you're saying about powerful members being off the table, but with all the other members on the roster, it might feel like auditioning for the team if front of more experienced heroes.
I once signed up for a supers game using Marvel where we built original heroes in a home-made world and the GM showed up in the first adventure as Batman as a mentor being condescending about our abilities.
I think that last a few posts further til he quit.
I don't expect anything like that from tumbler, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
I feel the same way about villains taking hostages in a supers game because of the situation having come up in another game.
Hostages with no way to beat the situation are a very, very frustrating occurrence.
I thought about going the audition route, but decided they probably wouldn't take some of you guys unless they were desperate.
A note about my GM style in general and for Supers games in particular.
I vastly prefer sandboxy non-railroad games where you guys control at least some of the motivation. Now, in a game like this, I'll be throwing things at you to punch and you will probably want to punch them, because that is the genre. That said, I won't have everything plotted out. I have found that in games where hero abilities are so varied as these, there is just no way to anticipate everything you guys will do.
So I will have opponents and allies for you, and they will have goals and agendas, but their responses won't be pre scripted. I'm open to you putting appropriate words in villains mouths or filling in the details of the world.
Ideally, the whole thing will unfold like an improvisation. I am a teacher, and one of the many things I have taught is improvisational comedy, and I find that the rules for improv work great in role playing. Here is a version of a few rules adapted to role-playing:
1. Don't Deny. If someone says something is true, try to accept it an add to it, rather than saying "no, that isn't true."
2. Don't use open ended questions. Offer opportunities. Don't say "What do you want to do?" Say, "Should we attack?" or "Should we attack or observe?"
3. Make your partners look good. Set up the goal with an assist, throw a block for your partner. Give everyone an opportunity to shine.
4. Tell a story. Advance the story, make it all make sense.
Also, just a note about Genre Conventions. It is sometimes hard to adapt to this coming from games like Pathfinder, but you are going to lose. In superhero comics, the heroes get their butts kicked, the villains get away, and things look really dark before good finally wins out. This is baked into the game. And you get hero points for it. And you can save those hero points up and use them to unload on the bad guys at the end of the session.
Full disclosure, I'm currently living in the general DC area (the Crofton/Gambrills/Bowie/Odenton area...technically four towns but you wouldn't know it the way they blend together). Know a lot fo people who commute from Glen Burnie to DC every day.
I've been unable to find anything about where the Hall is actually supposed to be within the area, just that it is there. But hey, this is not going to be a realistic game, and includes cities like Gotham (maybe Neo-Gotham, not sure yet) and Metropolis, so I'm not too worried about it.
Whoops, forgot to dot the discussion. Hey everybody!
Dot!
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Haha, haha, ha. Yeah, totes forgot to include the discussion. So, um, hi everybody!
Oh, yeah, for the JL, in whatever form they're in, to call on a psychopathic offspring of Luthor (and her space marines), depending on her innate altruism and hoping that it doesn't blow up in their face speaks of not only scraping the bottom of the barrel, but you've dug through the barrel, sold the barrel for parts, and are now digging a basement after you sold the land to a high-rise developer. =)
So, yeah, the "come help me--urghk!" line is totes appropo.
Ya, I'm just assuming that tumbler is caught up in holiday stuff and will be with us presently. =)
Also, I may have thought we were waiting for some other people, but maybe this will be it. If more come in, we can just toss them into the scene.
That's me. I'm still a-comin'. Sorry. Week before Christmas, and I'm sick to boot. Haven't managed to get my character done. I'll put some heat on it.
Man, this is a pretty big party. I was surprised there was no final cast list.
It looks like this melee is all about arriving-one-by-one.
"Come on in, waters fine!"
Imagine, I noticed this:
ALL-OUT ATTACK COMBAT
When you make an attack you can take a penalty of up to –5 on your
defense bonus and add the same number (up to +5) to your attack bonus.
Your defense bonus cannot be reduced below +0 and your attack bonus
cannot more than double. The changes to attack and defense bonus are
declared before you make the attack roll and last until your next round.
Minions (LexCorp Elite Security) stats: Attack: +4
And with a normal Def of 2, their present Def is either -3 or -2.
I'm guessing LexCorp won't be needing to pay out their retirement benefits, though they might have to pay off on their life insurance.
Hey people, sorry we are off to a bumpy start. My goal in this first scene is for everyone to show off and meet, maybe work together a little.
I like what Shadow Star is doing with his stat line under his name. I would love it if everyone would put there defense and saves, and especially notice and super senses. One of the hardest things to keep track of in this game is who can hear/smell/see what, so that would be really helpful.
And when you list your defense, put is as a static number, equivalent to your DC. I will do the same thing when I give you opponent stats, which I won't do all of the time.
Are we just waiting for Redwood in Gameplay? Rigor can come in whenever ready. If he stays connected to the martians, I have an easy hook for that.
Checking in
Sorry it took me so long to post. I just got back from out of the country and had to do a plethora of holiday preparations last minute. I was just inspired this go round.
No problem, and great post.
Thank you! They wont always be that long for brevity's sake but im enjoying the game already. Just let me know where I fall in the combat order. :3
How is it defective? Enough that it doesn't work sometimes?
Also, how well known is Shudder known as a hero?
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Well it's a reforged yellow ring. in my head canon this ring was made by Parallax to subvert Sinestro “reconditioning”. But he found out and destroyed it. Ganthet found it and in a experiment reform it with some modifications. One is to use fear to motivate and to seek someone with strong morals. He was inspired by Batman
On earth not that much. Due to the stimaga of the yellow lanterns.
I hope no one is troubled or offended by hero vs hero action. While it is generally off bounds in fantasy RPGs, it is almost a mandatory trope in superhero comics.
No problems here. It's as comic booky as it gets.
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*giggle* I think it's Hawt with a capital Haw. ;-D
Also, um, stopping that is, uh, kinda my thing. I mean, y'know, eventually. :p
No problem for me- it's literally a defining part of the genre.
It's coo'. Patrick is going to express his frustration, however.
Question for you guys: can you read my name? I ask as even though I can read it just fine on my home computer, I tried reading from my work computer, and for some reason the A came up as a blank box; the kind you get when a comp doesn't have a particular font character. When you look at it, does the A (or any other letter) fail to show up?
It should read SHALE, with a large capital S, then smaller capital letters for the next three, a small greek epsilon for the E. Like this: Sʜᴀʟε
It looks fine to me in Chrome on PC and Safari on iPhone.
works here
Hero points and Extra Effort are the heart of the fun in the system. Here is the text, but we can discuss more.
Spoilered because long:
Often, heroes are called upon to perform feats beyond even their amazing
abilities. This calls for extra effort. Players can use extra effort to improve
a hero’s abilities in exchange for the hero suffering some fatigue. The benefits
of extra effort are not limited by power level.
Using Extra Effort
Extra effort is a free action and can be performed at any time during the
hero’s action (but is limited to once per round). A hero using extra effort
gains one of the following benefits:
• Check bonus: +2 bonus on a single ability, skill, or power check.
This does not include attack rolls.
• Increase carrying capacity: +5 effective Strength for determining
the hero’s carrying capacity for one round.
• Increase movement: The hero’s speed for all modes of movement
doubles for one round.
• Increase power: Increase a power by 2 ranks for one round. This
only increases the power’s rank; you cannot apply power modifiers
(but see the power stunt benefit). Permanent powers cannot be
improved in this way.
• Power stunt: Temporarily add a power feat to a power. This includes
an Alternate Power of an existing power. The power feat must follow
the normal rules for adding a power feat. The temporary power feat
lasts for the duration of the encounter or until you choose to stop
maintaining it, whichever comes first. This includes turning off the
power or switching to a different Alternate Power. Power stunts cannot
be applied to Permanent powers via extra effort.
• Willpower: Gain an immediate additional saving throw against
a power with a Lasting effect, such as Mind Control or Nullify (see
Duration, page 70). You get this save even if the Lasting power has
a Continuous duration (which doesn’t normally allow for additional
saves at all). If you’re mind-controlled, the fatigue from the extra
effort doesn’t affect you until you’re free of it.
• Surge: Gain an additional standard or move action, before or after
your normal actions for the round (your choice). Using this extra
action does not change your place in the initiative order. You can usea standard action gained from extra effort to start or complete a fullround
action in conjunction with your normal actions for the round.
Fatigue from Extra Effort
At the beginning of the round immediately after extra effort, the hero becomes fatigued (see Fatigue, page 167). A fatigued hero becomes
exhausted and an exhausted hero becomes unconscious the round after
using extra effort. If you spend a hero point at the start of the round following
extra effort to shake off the fatigue, the hero suffers no adverse effects.
Yep.
Shale, I saw what you're talking about when I checked the thread from a friend's cash register/monitor, but have no problems seeing your name correctly from either work or home computers.
Thanks; it's probably just the occasional computer that has the problem, and my work computer just happens to be one of them. No big deal.
Was trying to read up on Captain Robo to see if had any Justice League affiliations. Found your initial pitch, but not much after that. If he was rescued by Superman (or perhaps Supergirl - that would make her loss quite personal for him), then I'm guessing he may have been inducted? Having him be a fellow provisional/junior member with Shale would give them some nice history and someone to trust; worked on the "B" team together for a while.
Given his history and powerset, Captain Robo seems very much like a Cyborg 2.0 - almost a legacy hero with a similar origin, excepting that he was the superscientist himself, instead of his father as was the case with Cyborg.
Honestly, I haven't given it too much thought.
From what I've pieced together of the character, he would have a relationship with Bruce Wayne (if he is still alive) as more than Employee/Employer, but not quite friends. Capt Robo would be the guy making the new generation of the bat family's technology.
His relationship with the Luthors is very strained, given his history with Kara.
I like the idea of Super Girl saving him, hence his focus on finding out what happened to her. We could be established buddies.
Yeah, I noticed that he comes across as Cyborg 2.0, though it wasn't intentional. Can't really figure out a way to differentiate him now though.
It wasn't intended to imply that he's derivative or anything like that. I enjoyed Techno-Priest. He came across a lot like The Question to me; a not-quite Rorchach level odd-ball, but still a bit of a weird conspiracy nut. Captain Robo already seems different from Cyborg in at least a few ways; Cyborg was an enhanced athlete, whereas you're part Tony Stark and part Lucius Fox, in addition to being an augmented invalid.
I just learned that the mesopause is 52 to 62 miles above the Earth's surface.
That's pretty high.
I'm guessing the view is pretty cool, though.