Justice League Generations (Inactive)

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Hey, can Combo attacks break the PL barrier?

Yes! That is a definite feature of the game. Opponents like this require the use of things like Set Up, Combined Attack, Aid Anothers, and the like. Teamwork is a must.

1. I'm not at all sure I can pull off a plot involving The Question.

2. I'm going to try.

3. I am considering doing a recruitment drive. We seem to have lost everyone but Dolnam, Sinter, and Shale. I feel good about how things are going, but I think we could beef up the roster a bit.

And Imagine, don't forget.

I forgot to post a little interlude for Forzare: I still see him as being around, but acting mostly as mission control and pilot (when and if needed), or for any "all hands on deck" situations. He'll be spending a lot of time on the Watchtower as well.

Of course, Imagine. Forzare is probably briefly trapped in his room during the power outage.

OY! Yeah! Don't you dare forget about me!!! =p

So we've established as cannon that Forzare (and another alt character(s) of our choosing) are back at base/mission control watching over things?

Sweet.

*mischievous grin*

"FOOL!" he shouts as Forzare zooms along in some critical task. "Do you know how much of a vacuum follows you? If the air differential does not remain stable this souffle will not rise properly! And may Dargor and the seven Emerald Swords help you if this souffle does not rise properly!"

Also, yeah, MM2 is kinda hard to recruit for. I'm in favor of a Recruitment.

We have 4 active players who have been consistent. Do we really need more? I mean, we just splatted Starro in a couple of rounds, which has always been trouble for the full JLA.

Unless we can find people we know to be regular, I'd rather not randomly cast a net and get more sporadic people who will just slow things down.

I'm a touch swamped at present. Checking in, but I probably won't be able to post till tonight or tomorrow.

And that is what we call role-playing. =)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled plot. ;)

Um, Shale, feel free to tell us the important stuff you learned about the martian manhunter any time. =)

That was all fabulous.

Question for Kara; I noticed it once earlier and got distracted and forgot to ask. How is your TK attack damage exceeding Power Level caps like that? With an Attack bonus of +12, the damage should also be limited to 12 (for a DC of 15+12=27). Exceeding the DC is possible, but usually involves Power Attacking, Rapid-Attack, All-out attack, or something similar to temporarily push a given attack over the usual limit.

The short answer is: I have no idea. =)

The rules, here, break themselves. The STR for Telek is 5 * Power. My Telek is 12 (the PL limit). 5 * 12 = STR 60. The damage bonus for STR 60 is +25.

Several times I've said that is GMST wants to nerf that down to the PL limit, he's fine to do so. I'm just writing what t3h MATHS! are saying. If I'm wrong, then let me know and I'll write it the part of my char where I C&P that attack. =3

Oh I see! I believe you misinterpreted one of the rules; the difference between Strength and Superstrength.

I think what has happened is that you didn't notice that TK counts as Superstrength, and not as regular Strength. A regular strength of 60 would indeed have a Damage bonus of 25. However, very few characters bother to have an actual strength of 60, since it is both expensive, and would exceed even the highest PL limits. What they would have is Strength 35 (+12), and Superstrength of enough ranks (5 ranks in this case) to take them up to an equivalent lift weight of a Strength 60, even though their actual stat is only a 35. Superstrength increases your max lift weight, but does not increase any of the other aspects of Strength, such as Damage. The power exists basically to allow comic-book style feats of strength, like lifting a battleship, without allowing game balance destroying tactics, such as beating someone over the head with said battleship.

So, in your TK power what you have is a +12 Strength, with an equivalent max lift of a strength 60, but you do not have a strength 60, you have a Strength 34ish (+12), since that is the campaign PL limit.

In other words, any time you attack with your TK, by squeezing, throwing something, creating bolts of force, or what have you, the Damage is always +12, not +25, unless you Power Attack, Power Stunt, or what have you, in order you to allow that one particular attack to exceed the usual PL limit. In those cases, it would be 12+ whatever you add to it, but 25 would never be the base damage, as that is not actually your strength, just the payload equivalent.

I think the only work around to that limit would be the one case where you lifted an object that weighed exactly as much as your max lift with Strength 60, and then dropped it on them. Though I would imagine that working with such a weight would be so slow and difficult, that the opponent would basically have to be immobile or incapacitated for you to be able to hit them with it.

Yep, that's pretty confusing. =)

Can you site that so I can read and re-read and obsess over that?

Mind you, the power itself says "strength" and doesn't say superstrength, so that's probably where I got confused. It just says two things(pg105):
1)"Your effective Strength for lifting and moving objects is 5 times your power rank"

2)"Objects thrown as weapons base their damage off your Telekinesis rank as if it were your Strength bonus."

So if they meant what you're saying, there certainly did it as obtusely as possible! =p

I think you quoted it right, you're just looking at it slightly skewed. And rereading it, I don't see a mention of Superstrength in the description, but it basically works the same as Superstrength, so perhaps I just made that connection on my own. However, I think the example holds true given the way the power is laid out:

1)"Your effective Strength for lifting and moving objects is 5 times your power rank"
So as in Superstrength, this is lifting and moving only.

2)"Objects thrown as weapons base their damage off your Telekinesis rank as if it were your Strength bonus." (Emphasis added)
Your Telekinesis rank is 12, not 60. Your Strength equivalent for lifting is 60, but it doesn't say "Objects thrown as weapons base their damage off your Telekinesis Strength as if it were your Strength ability score."

Your TK power is Rank 12, meaning Damaging attacks work like a +12 Strength (which would be a Strength 34, which is actually irrelevant here). Your "Lifting and Moving Strength" is separate from Damage considerations, and therefore also irrelevant in this case, just like it would be with the Strength 35, Superstrength 5 character I mentioned in the example above.

BTW, Shale is a Strength 42 Character, with Superstrength 5, giving him a max lift weight of Strength 67. He has a reduced attack to make up for his +16 strength (42), but he doesn't hit with a full Strength 67 either (that would be +28).

As an aside, I like Imagine as a character and your depictions of her; she's a lot of fun. The rules this is meant to be an FYI, not a confrontation, and the stuff on the Watchtower is meant to be logical in-character stuff, and in no way an attack. I like Imagine, and don't want her to go anywhere.

This is usually obvious, but since you can't use 'tone of voice' in written text, it usually seems a good idea to spell these things out when there is an appearance of confrontation within a group in a PbP game.

I think that SHALE/Rigor has the right of it there. I've been trying to tweeze that apart for a while and haven't been able to figure it out. Imagine and I have even talked about it, I think.

Kara, have you put out a Justice League distress call(™)? I've been watching for one, so unless I missed it... Suspicions or no, you're Justice League, so Shale would be there in seconds.

Where do you live BTW; I'm guessing Metropolis?

I kinda of imagine that Imagine (see what I did there? =3) has a luxurious penthouse apartment at or near the top of at least one building in every city that LexCorp has a skyscraper in. For a large city like Metropolis, I'm thinking that she shared Lex's personal digs for awhile, until, just to be rid of her constant annoyance, he gave her living quarters nearly as opulent as his own in a building nearly as tall as the one he lives in.

I will be on a trip till Sunday evening without much time for the net and no laptop. Please bot me as needed.

So... what's happening?

Was just looking at our character roster... looks like we're down to just Imagine, Sinter, and myself. It's crazy how many we've lost...

Shudder
Captain Robo
Forzare
Redwood
Dolnam
Shadow Star

It's a shame we've been having so much turnover; it's a great campaign!

Do we want to revisit opening recruitment?

I miss Redwood. I loved that concept.

I'm up for whatever.

Probably need to. I'd ask in my games, but I don't know about how popular M&M is with Pathfinder people.

I miss Redwood. I loved that concept.

I'm up for whatever.

Oh really? Alright, I'll kick it off. =)

Got the one-two punch of slammed at work and sick kids this week. Will make every effort to post today.

Sinter is a very much 'I have a hammer' kind of guy. He's also not the sharpest tool in the shed, so even his one other trick (blinding) isn't always that handy. He is close to indestructible, which is nice. He's been stymied a few times before.

Hey Sinter, serious question: Do you want to make a different character? In the Recruit thread you've got so many interesting ideas, but I feel, from what I've seen, that you've kinda taken Sinter as far as you want to. I could be wrong here, I've been wrong many times, but your brief, terse posts with Sinter seem to hint at a desire to take something in a different direction?

I might be off base here, but it seemed like a good time to bring it up, with new people soon to join. IMHO. YMMV. =)

No, I like Sinter as he is. I'm not one for long exposition no matter the character. I like playing the comic relief dunce for a change.

Howdy folks.

Hello!

Coming in with Proxy, will get her alias fully up and running and post in the gameplay thread tonight.

Apparently "Proxy" and "Pr0xy" were already taken as usernames (probably for someone's joke account, which annoys the heck out of me), hence the + symbol. She doesn't really have an alter ego so I wasn't sure what else to use. Proxy Gordon? (Since Babs took her in?)

Yeah, I can understand that. I'm constantly surprised by what names I can and can't get away with.

SHALE, I feel like that last post was a little weird. I don't quite want to say incendiary. I know what you were going for, but it feels passive aggressive in a player vs player sense. I know that it has made Imagine feel like you stepped over a line.

I'm also confident that you were playing that moment in character, but I want to make sure everyone is on the same page as far as feeling comfortable in the campaign. Some amiable player vs player seems wholly appropriate in this super hero genre, but the purely thought based post about dismantling her ship has left her feeling uncomfortable. As I'm sure that isn't your intent, I'm hoping we can smooth everything out and continue as a happy family.

To be clear, I don't care if, in character, SHALE comes after Imagine and takes he ship apart. The only thing that concerns me is that Imagine feels like the rules of PbP have been overrun.

I'm probably screwing up this explanation.

Sorry if I offended anyone, that was definitely not my intent; what was posted was meant to be strictly in-character. I'm not the type to take anything going on in-game personally. I think Imagine is being very colourfully played, and out-of-character I am enjoying the performance. Please believe that I feel no real-life animosity for either Imagine or her player.

The intent of the 'vindictive fantasy' he was playing out in his mind was only meant only to convey the frustration that he, the fictional character portrayed here, was experiencing in the situation. I've been viewing this game as pure fun, and surely don't want to spoil that for anyone.

I have been envisioning Shale as basically a knight in shining armour, swords and chivalry type, so what I thought was going on was just a variation of the typical Paladin vs. Rogue rivalry that happens when those character types occur within the same party.

I may also have misunderstood, but I had the impression that a intra-party squabble was something that was intended by you as the GM, as per the accusations leveled by the Question. My sense was that particularly given the accusations, Shale has been trying to walk a narrow line: pressure to apply extra scrutiny to Imagine's actions, but a simultaneous effort not to allow himself to be manipulated. That is why he basically took it personally when she tried to do something very clearly illegal (kidnapping and theft) right under his nose. The fantasy was what he felt like doing, but what he pulled back from because he was afraid he might be getting manipulated into it (by the Question, et al), in order to escalate a difference of opinion into an outright fight.

PbP (or any text-only medium) can make things hard as you never get to see the other players. Sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek, or the fact that I was typing with a smile on my face does not convey. I've seen misunderstandings occur occasionally, but it has been a long while since I've been involved in one. For that, I apologize.

Please let me know how you would like to proceed.

(Huh. This was so civil and prompt I'm surprised by how civil and prompt this was. =p)

First off, there's no issue with the soft-core PVP that we're doing/headed for. Indeed, I'm fully prepared for a little fisticuffs. (Also, we all have 8 billion regeneration, so there's nothing we can't break that we can't fix. ^_^)

That said, it wasn't "what" you did per se, but "how" you did it, Shale. In PbP, it's always important to not only think about how a post can affect another character, but also what their options to respond are.
To say "Imma break you face!" is not only vague, and short, but, since it's out loud, it gives the other person a chance to respond.
To think "I thought about breaking his face' -doesn't- let the person openly respond. Hence, it's very powerful. By keeping it short and vague, the impact can be minimized. Maybe a safer play would've been, 'If her actions continued, I may have to consider more dire actions'. That's obviously just bluster. Again, at least its vague.
But...to go on and on (you used the word "childishness" 3(!) times) and with explicit detail, takes away the interplay, and my only open avenue of response is to do the same thing: 'Imagine didn't like how Shale was looking at her, so she imagined punching him over and over again until he bled. Until he cried....'" But then where does that leave us? Do we descend into an infinite loop of unanswerable threats?
(Unless, uh, unless you are going into a character arc where you are actually descending into madness. But that should've been made more clear. =p)

Anyway, yeah, so, just try and be more aware, I guess?

At the same time, I don't want to quash internal monologues. While Imagine was left out of the loop as far as being able to respond, there was useful information there for me as a GM. It gives me a sense of how well I'm pushing buttons. It is a tightrope to walk with this kind of conflict, but I think we are all mature enough to have a good time with it.

Since I'm just coming in here, it may not be my place to say (but I'll say because I'm a loudmouth): as a mostly total outsider and observer at this point, I read Shale's post as totally IC, and while perhaps it was oddly graphic, I personally wouldn't have read it as a veiled threat, but as the fantasy it was described as. This isn't to say I don't understand why Imagine would have felt targeted--I do, and it's scary to see something important to your character threatened, however indirectly. Mostly, I am actually really glad to see folks willing to talk these kind of issues out openly. But just for whatever it is worth, from my perch, IC appeared to be well separated from OOC, as it should be.

It's very hard in inter-party conflict not to take stuff personally even when it isn't supposed to be. And sometimes there is stuff that IS personal or crosses acceptable boundaries--the only thing to be done is talk about it, with the GM and/or each other as appropriate, and it's good you're doing that.

Otherwise, personally I find chanting to myself "Pretendy Funtime Games" over and over again to be helpful. I don't mean to be flippant here: it really helps. Even as amazingly dramatic and intense as RPs can be, they're still games that we play pretend in to have fun, and I find it therapeutic to remind myself of that.

I'm sorry if I'VE crossed a line by saying something--and if I feel prompted to, it's probably because it's intimidating to come into this moment as a new player. I trust that if we newbies have concerns about coming into a tense time for the existing team, we are welcome to discuss it with GM and/or players as is appropriate.

I was actually just coming here to post some minor updates about my character sheet, but as that seems to not be the order of the day, I'll just spoiler them.

Absolutely, Proxy. It's great to have your perspective. It isn't like you are stepping in as an outsider. We invited you into the game. It would be weird to ask you to keep your opinions to yourself, I think.

Proxy 2.0 sounds great.

I working on a challenge to bring all of these characters together.

I don't have a whole lot to add to this drama, except that I agree that a little good-natured pvp is actually more common in superhero games than any other. So I agree that as long as everyone is having fun, some measure of inter-party conflict should be embraced.

I mean, how often do heroes fight each other? It's a recurring theme -- BvS, Civil War, all the times the X-Men got mind controlled -- so I'm not going to mind one bit joining a team that has some internal strife. It makes for a much more interesting situation.

If there is no objection, I would like to actually introduce Clayten to the group for the first time with this encounter. Would have been visiting the museum to learn more about what it is to be a hero.

This would also allow for the common trope of initial misunderstandings. I mean, I am a large clay monster that looks a lot like a known villain.

If our gracious storyteller is fine with this, I will post a reconstituting near the explosion scene.

That's good Clayface.

Slight aside, but I am wondering if there is an active version of the flash in operation at the present time. I mentioned him as a mentor when I first got to this dimension, and as well as an instructor for the whole superhero gig. I am imagining this was Bart Allen (former Impulse/Kid Flash) as Barry would be pretty old at this point, and Wally West was killed in Young Justice. Shale has been in-universe a few years now though, so he could have since retired from active duty, gotten killed, or gone missing like some other JLA members.

Edit: Just read Tumber's intro which describes Shale as the only active Flash. In that case, I'll amend my question to be "is there a living inactive Flash in the world at present?

I have been thinking over the whole interaction with Imagine and Atlas2112, still trying to figure out what I did to offend, and I think I've finally put my finger on it. I have been trying to figure out how to state it, and apologize without inadvertently causing yet more offence, so here goes.

(Rabbit-hole warning; contains links to TVTropes.org)

When Imagine was talking about her legal precedents and Diplomatic Immunity, I instantly looked at it and assumed that it was intended to be more Imagine shtick as neither law nor diplomatic immunity actually work that way. As a result, when I insulted Imagine for being immature I was unintentionally calling Atlas2112 immature, as Atlas was just intending to invoke some Comic-book law to escape the situation without having to back down.

I've read up on some aspects of law, and on Diplomatic Immunity before (I can't remember why, but it was a passing interest) and so when I read Imagine's claims, I automatically dismissed it, and didn't even consider that it was being offered in good faith, as creative roleplaying. I assumed it was more of the off-the-wall antics of Imagine, who has been wonderfully portrayed, and it seemed fully consistent with her character that she would spout a bunch of rationalizations that would never work with real-world law. Because of that assumption, I didn't hold back in Shale's rebuke of Imagine, because I thought she was knowingly being silly. What I did not consider is that not everyone has read up on how Diplomatic Immunity actually works, and so that to most people, going with a Hollywood interpretation was perfectly reasonable, as that is the frame of reference that most individuals have to work with.

In essence, what I think happened was that I misunderstood someone's genuine intent towards creative roleplaying with an entirely different form of creative roleplaying, and then bashed that person's ideas because I improperly assumed we were both "in-on-the-joke." This is in turn why I was confused, because I thought you must clearly know the law doesn't work that way (which you may have had no actual way of knowing), in which case you would know I was only mocking Imagine, and by no means intending to mock the player.

If this explanation makes sense, please let me know, as if it is, you definitely have my apology. If it's not, and I've misinterpreted things again, let me know, and I'll try to figure out how to make certain I don't make the same misstep again.

In our timeline, Bart Allen is probably only around 40, based on his appearances in Young Justice. I'm pretty sure we never saw Barry or Bart on JLU. That isn't probably old enough for him to be retired for age related reasons, but maybe he suffered some sort of injury, or just decided to be only a sometimes Flash in a sort of Jay Garrick role.

Ya, so he's potentially an emergency back-up superhero.

Young Justice did a bit of a bait and switch with Flash, basically treating the older Flash of the JLA as if it had been Barry, even though in the show it had been Wally. That freed up Wally to join Young Justice as Kid Flash. Or maybe Wally was just so fast he could be both Flashes at the same time.

Young Justice is clearly not the same timeline as JLU.

The "oops, the heroes are fighting each other" trope is alive and well. :)

@Shale: That...is an extremely reasonable, lucid, well thought-out and introspective explanation. I'll try to reciprocate. =)

Um, yes, it was actually at that point, when I was indeed trying to do Hollywood Law, when Shale, someone who doesn't have a lot of skill points in Knowledge(obscure legal rules) just rolled over that that, I thought that maybe this was starting to spiral into something else. Like, it didn't feel "Shale vs. Imagine" anymore, but LastNameOnEarth vs ...something else. I kinda thought that we weren't playing a game anymore, but you were trying to... Idunno? Prove something? Get back at someone? Express that you maybe had a bad day? Anyway, it reminded me of my conflict resolution training, and I started to think you were in an "Elevated" state, so shortly thereafter I just conceded the point, worried that I might make you no, srsly, angry if it went on much longer.

I thought that when I tipped over my king you'd be happy. Kinda nod and be satisfied at a crises averted. But you seemed so angry even _after_ you had won anyway. Yeah, it was jarring.