Hmm... more PC interaction would probably help. As far as Paradigm is concerned, he is a part of this team because he was assigned by someone who appears to be able to get the job done and he realizes that without help, he can't work alone with the V'sori hunting every super down. His focus is technomagery. It's what he does. He is capable of almost anything, at least in theory and he aims to prove that theory in every way possible. He doesn't know who gave him his powers or why, but he is hellbent on learning their limits. The thing is, in order to test his powers to their limits, he needs to go out and do things, such as completely overwriting a bank's security system with a children's game, or landing in the middle of a group of mundane thugs and showing them up with his bulletproof shield and ability to will small things out of existence. Now, he sees an opportunity to build an Anti-Fin based on this body they mangled found. In order to have a safe place to do his research, he needs money and money comes from banks and other dupes that don't need it as much as he does. So he will go and reallocate the funds to building a bigger lair, to do his Science! He is more than happy to assist others in this matter as well, affording that some of the funds go to him to build his lab...
If you want a fictional reference to this character, think of Blaylock from the Babylon 5 Technomage Novel Trilogy, with a few changes of course.
Angel is not terribly sociable, though if addressed, she will answer. She considers herself "above" the level of humanity, superior to even her peers by virtue of her divine heritage. Even with the arrival of the fin, she is still dedicated to her "mission," to punish evildoers (remember that she doesn't see anything extreme about her methods; it's all perfectly black-and-white to her). It just so happens that the fin are worse than her current company.
Similarly, she has few needs. She doesn't need to eat and needs very little sleep. She has no use for money. The only reason that she is working for Dr. Destruction is that he freed her and he is the lesser of two evils. Rest assured that, given the opportunity, she will ensure that he answers for his crimes as well.
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I don't really have a good picture of the world we're living in, apparently, that interacting with "the neighborhood" is a thing.
I was imagining more Falling Skies style ongoing brutal war against the Visori.
Sorry guys i got stuff to post but work drained me today and i've spent all my time at home with the pup trying to just recoup. I'll post what i think kat has to say about everything.
But for short i can say she makes some spare cash(only a little) doing anti-fin underground concerts. One of her higher paying uh... jobs is stealing valuable vehicles. As for bank heists she hasn't ever tried simply cause she doesnt wanna kill innocents. She's here to cause chaos not death... well v'sori death is okay because of what they did to her xompanions at SIF.
anyways i'll post a bigger more detailed one when my brain is working proper.
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I don't really have a good picture of the world we're living in, apparently, that interacting with "the neighborhood" is a thing.
I was imagining more Falling Skies style ongoing brutal war against the Visori.
It's Shadowrun. We are Shadowrunners.
The V'Sori is the one MegaCorp and we are small fish trying to keep out of the spot light and do what little "good" we can, but we would all be mercilessly killed the instant the VSori decide we are becoming too much trouble.
Also, all the gangs are stronger than all of us. We would lose in a direct confrontation because they are fed technology by the VSori.
I once didn't understand that and tried to go big. It, um, didn't go well.
(Huh. I seemed to have posted with the wrong alias. That's...so weird.
It's almost as if this was one of my first characters and a NE game was my first game and it ended because we thought we were more powerful than we actually are. Huh.)
Alright brain's doing a bit better today. So I was waiting for us to get out of the 'mission zone' to start having more in-depth character interactions. Kat's serious about the whole, "We should go out and grab something to eat... together... as a ... team? Ya know since basically everyone i've worked with for the past two months just violently died."
On top of that she's more than up for a heist if someone assures her that no one will be seriously hurt, discounting Fins, cause she doesn't want normal people to die, hurt is okay but she'd rather not kill unless necessary. Robbing the fins of every last space-dime is 100% go in her book, she just doesn't know heisting.
I'd love to see everyone get back into the grove of character interactions rather than Monster of the week missions. A little banter in-between and during missions, Kat is literally the devil-er.. demons advocate in these situations and loves to cause light inner conflict. She's probably gonna try to find all of Angels' buttons just because she loves messing with other supernatural beings.
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On top of that she's more than up for a heist if someone assures her that no one will be seriously hurt, discounting Fins, cause she doesn't want normal people to die, hurt is okay but she'd rather not kill unless necessary.
Hey Kat!
This sounds great! I can tell you really put a lot of work and thought into this!
Hey, quick question. We talked about this earlier (indeed, quite a bit earlier) so it seems fair to give you a chance to answer the same question.
Hence: How evil are you?
And, this is just my personal addition: Why are you Evil? (Or, rather, what trait about you makes you Evil?)
Ugh, question the third: How much evil is too evil? (You seem to have answered this, but thought I'd put it here for clarity.)
From your character's data, you sound more like a Hero, so I just wanna make sure of your personal direction. =)
Angel is the same way. She will not harm innocents. That said, anyone who commits a crime is not innocent.
Thanks, guys, this is all great stuff! I encourage anyone who hasn't yet posted to put in their two cents' worth.
I'm playing Hrungir a bit like Angel, he believes himself superior. He doesn't concern himself with the welfare of lesser beings (supers aren't considered completely lesser....but then Hrungir doesn't think they are equal to himself of course). He joined the team because upon his waking from a deep slumber (he was defeated ages ago by a hero) he discovered that the world has been taken over by alien powers (he sees them as rival gods). Hrungir is Jotunnar, and so convinced of his own superiority. However, he isn't insane and knows that the only way to defeat these rival gods is to work as part of an army.
Villain Concepts
How did your character get his powers? Hrungir was born with them. He is a demigod after all. (He can just be a normal super that thinks he's a god...it doesn't really matter)
Why did your character become a villain? Hrungir doesn't think of himself as a villain. He is always simply defending his honor, or competing with others. Of course, his vanity, pride and foolhardy sense of rightness often causes him to take positions that others might consider "villainous"
Evil, not Psychotic! Hrungir certainly falls into that category. He doesn't pursue evil goals for evil's sake, he mostly opposes "good" guys as a means to compete and prove his own superiority. Hrungir's "evilness" is mostly just callousness and an uncaring consideration of collateral damage.
And, don’t forget to describe your costume!
Hrungir dresses like a god. Gold, silks, rings on his fingers. He wears a golden diadem on his head to show his noble jotun heritage.
Sorry for my lack of participation lately; aside from having no computer and only being able to post from my phone, I decided to accept a job offer and have been going nuts trying to wrap up all my old cases and get my paperwork in order before I leave, and starting to do training and orientation for the new job. It has been leaving me me with very little free time, and pretty exhausted when I do get some. Once the training is done in a couple weeks, I'm hoping I will start getting some free time again, particularly now that my kids are back to school. I dont know when I'll be able to replace my computer, but hopefully I can at least get a second hand clunker or something to fill the role for the time being.
It was raised as a question again as to whether Enkidu is a good match to the power level of the rest of the team. I'm always happy to make any needed changes to make sure everyone is having fun. Zen made some suggestions regarding some changes, but i haven't had a chance to look at the mechanics of implementing them because of my available time.
Play-wise, Enkidu was always intended to have that Achilles heel, that he is dying, being killed by the same thing that gives him his powers. When it comes to side adventures, his aims are obvious. He knows a cute for his condition exists, or is at least possible, but can only be accomplished through Technology and research the Visori have declared illegal (probably so they can maintain a monopoly on genetic engineering. For all the Firefly fans out there, what he really wants is a rendition of the episode "Ariel", where we bust in to a Visori medical centre and steal what we need to create the cure from under their noses. The flip side of that, is of course to die in a massive blaze of glory.
When it comes to his villainy, he was always more like a Spider-Man villain than a megalomaniac. His goal was just to steal enough money to hopefully buy what he needed on the black market to create his cure. Then the Visori came, and everything went sideways.
Crackerjack also believes himself superior to everyone else, but in a very human way. It's not because he's a god, or even just because he's intelligent, it's that he's a borderline solipsist, so everyone and everything else kind of exists only in reference to his own desires.
If somebody suggests a heist or something, Crackerjack would probably agree so long as it sounds fun.
On the scale of evil, Crackerjack definitely falls into the flamboyant comic book villain side of things, from some of the better written comics. He's not above killing people but he's not a sadist, and he prizes doing things "right"; basically if you need to kill a guard, it means you messed up somewhere along the way.
Having a "challenge" is important to Crackerjack, as is looking good while performing his crimes. He'll claim to value efficiency in one breath and then craft an overly complex plot the next, really meaning that absolute efficiency is required in the parameters of this complex plot for it to have any chance of going right.
Breaking into a Visori medical/research facility to steal medical equipment is something he'd be super on board with; it's something insane, it sands out, it might get a Wanted poster on their heads (he does so love being wanted!), and it gives us the chance o look into their sweet tech to boot. The fact that it helps Enkidu isn't even registered as a bonus, merely an excuse.
Hey Kat!
Hence: How evil are you?
And, this is just my personal addition: Why are you Evil? (Or, rather, what trait about you makes you Evil?)
Ugh, question the third: How much evil is too evil? (You seem to have answered this, but thought I'd put it here for clarity.)
Internet is down so can't type this up on the computer.
Answer the first: Kat is for well... kind of as evil as she needs to be for a moment. She's more along the lines of mercenary alignment. She'll kill people and all if she's paid or told to by a higher up, which is a big reason she follows Dr. D. But she doesnt see herself as evil, more of an ends justify the means thinker.
2nd: I think i said it before but she's more of a perceived evil. Kat causes trouble wherever she goes just for the heck of it, stirring up issues for the fins to pick up. This is because of how her powers manifest. Her powers are stronger when the area is chaotic(at least that's the ic background reason for her non-bloodline powers)
Lastly: Its hard to think if any... too evil things for her without them sounding generic so i'll have to get back on that one. But definitely killing lots of bystanders without a damn good reason.
I'd be up for robbing a medical facility, probably leave behind some presents for the fins.
Enkidu - so glad to hear from you! I figured it was mostly because of the lack of a computer, but life ganging up on you is a big double-whammy.
So, everyone's weighed in. It sounds like everyone wants more cash (can never have too much of that), and would be willing to help cure Enkidu. But since his player won't be able to participate too much in that endeavor in the near future, let's do a "robbery" scenario right now, and once Enkidu is back regularly, we can look at curing him in-between jobs for Dr. D.
Someone mentioned "robbing a bank" seemed rather dull, so here's the next thing I'd like anyone who wants to, to do : Come up with a short description of a "thing" your PC would know exists in Star City that you'd like to heist. It can be anything : information, the prototype of some new weapon, etc. The more details, the better. We could play this out in Gameplay, but I'm holding off going back there for a...surprise.
...here's a thought, let's role-play this in Discussion! You're all sitting around a table, discussing what to heist. If you don't have a suggestion, you can say how much you like or dislike other people's suggestions.
Minor clarification.
Just because it sounds boring when he does it, doesn't mean I don't wanna do it. Many times.Emphasis added.
TBH that sounds like something you could just say you do on your own between stuff with the rest of the party. Since it needs no input from us, and requires no input from anyone else, you can say it just happens any time the GM is cool with it.
Sorry, I could have sworn someone else said they thought robbing a bank was boring, I wasn't intentionally referring to Thomas. But I guess I had a memory glitch.
The problem with letting Thomas (or anyone else) just go on a robbery mission whenever they want is that leads to unlimited wealth without any risk!
If no one wants to role-play a discussion of what to rob here, I can move us back to Gameplay...
The problem with letting Thomas (or anyone else) just go on a robbery mission whenever they want is that leads to unlimited wealth without any risk!
I feel like in a world with Ghosts, Supers who can teleport/turn incorporeal, they're bound to have 'some' kind of defense against that. I mean look at all the ghost sci-fi where they've got certain fields that protect against that kind of stuff, or ghost busters where they use proton packs to zap em and trap em in the well... ghost trap lol.
So i wouldn't rule out that it's free unlimited money without issue.
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Also, (and this is important) I don't -want- unlimited money. I'd only do it a couple times to get right with my kit. (Also, Kat, we're far from the norm. The norm is that all the Supers are dead, and the populace is cowed. Hence, it would cost them elevnty billion times more to defend against someone like me robbing them than the actual robbery would cost.)
As the man once said, "I'm a guy of simple tastes...."
So, back to the topic at hand : anyone who wants to, please come up with a short description of a "thing" your PC would know exists in Star City that you'd like to heist. It can be anything : information, the prototype of some new weapon, etc. The more details, the better.
If people would rather do this in Gameplay than here, please let me know.
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The First Third Fifth Bank.
At the corner of Washington Street and Washington Avenue, it prides itself on having the STUPIDEST name in all of creation.
They lived in a nice house, once. Tom and his mom. Plush cedar bushes in the front, car-and-a-half garage in back, surrounded by hollihocks and blackberry shrubs. Sure the 2nd bathroom downstairs didn't "work" and the place was once flooded by the "start to repair the roof and then leave for a vacation so just cover it with a tarp and I'm totally sure that we won't have the heaviest rain that year while we're gone so we'll have to come back and try to dry out the -entire- family room" incident.
But it was nice and it was theirs.
They just went through a hard time and needed a little help to get by, so they went to the bank that had taken over the bank that had held their mortgage, which, itself, had taken over the Credit Union that they got the mortgage through in the first place because Mom was a friend with the manager--who had killed himself shortly after the first hostile take over.
The nice perky blond at 1st 3rd 5th had gone on and on about "bad credit" and "no prospects" and "a forth mortgage, really?" It was all very insulting, and Tom's cheeks heated with the flame of a thousand suns sitting there, being berated in front of Mother, impotent to do something Anything EVERYTHING to this sick, sick woman and her perfect smile and her perky breasts and the penultimate evil that she represented.
He had worked at a bank himself, once. A short stint as a disposable teller. So he knew that, even if a bank didn't have vault brimming with cash, they _had_ to keep several thousand on hand, just to hand out to customers.
They kept it in a vault, behind a locked door. That stopped him, once.
It wouldn't stop him now.
Before the V'sori came, there were others. Aliens that lived among the humans, sometimes in public, sometimes in secret, but they were there. Most of them, but for one or two small differences, were the same as the humans. Others, looked vastly different, but had similar intelligence to a human child. A small percentage however were evolved. Beyond the ken of most people or aliens, godlike in their power and wisdom, they at times would give a tiny portion of themselves to a lesser being. Whether it was for sport or some greater purpose, it didn't matter and Paradigm knew that there were others like him. The very idea that someone could do what he could was both frightening and empowering at the same time and he was determined to find them. While the source of his power comes from the alien tech that is symbiotically tied to him, he has spent many years perfecting his connection to it and its innate ability to alter reality to his own will. What he hasn't been able to do is find more of it, to make it stronger. So, when he caught wind of a museum unveiling several older books telling odd tales of people with similar powers, he knew he had to get his hands on them. They were the key to increasing his limited power. Now to get rid of these pesky night guards...
When Kat first got out from under immediate V'sori attention, around the time the invasion was ended and the new regime had properly pacified the majority of the population and set up power in major cities. She started getting into the underground rallies and parties though she herself stayed under the radar, she heard tale of a secretive complex on Earth, where the V'sori had torn out and replaced a military base. They tested crazy things in the new environment of Earth, since it was so different from their homeworld(DM Choice of course) they needed effective gear for pacifying this world. Months of trying to find more information turned to years, but finally she may have a lead on where to get the Co-ordinates to this base. If this was a success, the team and many members of the resistance could be looking at some brand new gear and vehicles, after a scuffle of course. If only she knew someone who could seamlessly extract information from top security buildings.
@Thomas, I think to finally kind of answer the what is too evil question. Kat won't kill Children or when they are present(crowds don't count unless it's all kids lol) Basically she won't knowingly kill anything in front of one unless the thing in question is deadly(such as a giant shark alien man or psychic jellyfish...stupid Hannar.)
Anybody else want to create something to steal? If not, please start discussing the pros and cons of each plan.
Uh I guess the pros of all the jobs is potential cash, Paradigm's sounds like a good way to get allies and help him get more powerful(and progress his story).
Thomas's sounds like a good story moment and to get at a bank with agreeably the stupidest name in existence, while scoring some massive stacks of dinero which can in turn be used to fund larger projects or upgrade our(as far as i'm aware empty base? We need to decide what's in the new lair, unless we're keeping the old one and i'm just dumb?)
Kat's would be a good way to introduce a bit more gear strength into the group, though it seems most folks don't rely on it too much, but hey power armor is power armor and power neutralizing handguns are... well.. beneficial if we have to take down our rivals or if someone gets MC'd or if we've gotta cap another super like Monolith.
Do the Visori have any kind of teleport tech? Stealing and reverse-engineering that would be rad.
Not that your characters know of (or have even heard rumors of).
If they did they'd be able to probably just warp right onto us once we set alarms off anywhere.
But i also realize i forgot to do cons of the jobs.
Thomas's is pretty low risk sounding, but that also means it's likely just money, which in a world like supers is a little easy to come by if you can handle security.
Paradigm I'm sure if they're guarding something they know is high-value it won't be easy, but by the sounds of it only you benefit directly. No cash prizes for your buddies.
Kat's is High risk in the long run due to experimental sites typically being heavily guarded. The reward is up in the air as well, since most of us don't use gear it'd be more of a to our fellow resisters bit if there wasn't some really good gear, which is up to Zen to decide in the end, but our characters wouldn't have any idea other than probably rumor as to what is in there.
Before I forget, did we get our next 'advance and 2 extra points' after the last mission or are we gonna do our heists first? Or will you simply be notifying us when we advance?
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Okay, I've read the three missions, and I have an opinion.
Mind sounds like the easiest, although with the lowest (comparatively) payout but also the lowest risk, since everything will almost definitely be of the mundane-defense variety. As the man once said, gold is but dross but the body must be sustained.
Hence, I think we should try that one first, as most of us could benefit from some better, mundane, gear. We can do this one first, and get a little better at what we do.
Kat's seems like the most dangerous, but also the most reward. A V'Sori base is gonna be the Big Banana any way you slice it. We should do this one last, as we'll need to be at our best.
Thus, Para-dig'em seems like the middle one. A Museum could have justifiably 'enhanced' defenses, both since they would, srsly, have more potable valuables than a bank, and they're a visible target. Especially since they might suspect that they'll have unique objects on display.
After we rob a bank and kit up, it seems like trying our skill at a museum sounds like a good next step, just before taking the Big Stage and going after a V'Base.
How's that sound?
Getting some cash first to better prepare for the Museum mission would probably be best and Paradigm would possibly listen to that idea, given the logic of it. Then once that's accomplished, a big base with alien tech sounds like just the right challenge.
The only issue with getting cash, and then going to the museum is that they'll probably tighten security if there has been a recent break-in.
I like the strategy though Tom. So you've got my vote on Museum then Base, even though we'll have to find the base location and then heist the base. It'll also give folks time to chime in. But before we do any of the heisting. Do ya'll wanna get take out to the new base and set that up first?
Yes to setting up the new base first. Angel did not chime in earlier because truthfully, common burglary is beneath her standing (in her eyes anyway). She's going to need convincing before she will join in a robbery.
Huh? What new base? The one that the older PC's have been in is set up to house 9 or 10 people, and I think there's 8 right now, and it's pretty well equipped. So no need to set up a new base.
Lol i've been asking who was moving in with who. Okay well, as soon as everyone is moved i to 'The Base', should really give it a name at this point, do we want to discuss our heists over dinner?
I'm sure Hrungir could be convinced that there was some artifact worth liberating from the commoners in a museum.
Ok, let's take this back to Gameplay to work out the details of the heists.
Any ideas about what to name the The Base?
It seems that two missions have gone by since the last advancement (saving the president's family and the sub base), so everyone gets an advancement and 2 more super PP!
Please post here what you're doing with them, thanks!
Okay, added a die to SpellCasting and upgraded Force Field to Level 4.
Are we still novice rank? I'mma bank my 2 points.
XP 20 is I think the threshold for Seasoned. AFB at the moment.
Has anyone read the rules for SWADE by the by? I picked up the book recently and it seems great from a quick read through. More streamlined but not less complex; it basically just cleans up a lot of the minor niggling mistakes from Deluxe Edition and does some cool QoL stuff like giving everybody a d4 in Notice and a few of the other most commonly used skills for free.
I'm actually enjoying the new version myself, with some cleanups and clarifications of things, plus with the updated version of Savage Rifts coming, I'm truly excited about it.
Bought into the kickstarter and got the deluxe box with all the trimmings. I've been playing tabletop with it for several months. For the moment, I'm banking my points.
Bossman, I don't usually do this, but... how much difficulty would it cause if I switched characters? As written, Angel has much different ideals than most in this group and I have an idea for a character that I originally wanted to run (when Doc Toxic was on the team). I think that he would be a better fit, as he is less concerned with innocent life (or any life for that matter).
If you would rather I not switch, then I will continue to play her. I just feel that if you don't ask, you'll never know.
I haven't updated anything or spent any advancements on Enkidu in a while, seeing as he is still generally our hardest hitter. I took a look at downgrading a few of his ablities, but to do that, I have to pretty much remake the entire build (since any change would change the stats on each and every one of the creatures he can change into, which I added into his write up).
As a result, I have been wondering if just making a new character would be simpler.
Anyone who is not completely happy with their current character is free to create a new one. But personally I'd be sorry to see Enkidu go, even if he does break most of the combats right now. Anyone have any ideas how to get around that without re-writing the character?
Also, I'll count how many advancements the characters have had tomorrow, I'm running short on time today. If this advancement is Seasoned, you can change your previously posted advancement changes if you wish.
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My 2 coppers is that I've been told by other veteran NE players that the two powers considered most OP and, thus, most ruled out by GM's are Mind Control and Shapeshift.
I've no idea how to get around it as, it seems (to me, IMHO, YMMV) that in order to challenge Enkidu, you would have to put up an enemy so overpowering that the rest of the party would be insignificant. (Which kinda happened.)
Otherwise, to merely challenge the party as is, would be to have en enemy that he can just run over, which might not be fun for all parties involved.
Biohazard
(pending advances)
Name: Biohazard
Race: Human
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d4, Streetwise d6-4, Thievery d4, Throwing d6
Pace: 6, Parry: 6, Toughness: 10, Charisma: -4
Gear: Unarmed Strike d8 (Str)
Special Abilities:
•Mean: Ill-tempered and disagreeable; -2 Charisma
•Ruthless(*): Will do most anything to accomplish goals
•Ugly: -2 Charisma; Shunned by opposite sex
•Super Powers: Gain the Super Powers arcane background
•Brawny: +1 Tough; Load limit is 8 times Str
•Killer Instinct: Hero wins tied opposed rolls
Super Powers:
•Decay•Midas Touch, Projectile (Throwing): Each round of contact destroys 10 pounds of matter. Living beings must make a Vigor roll or suffer a wound.
•Doesn't Eat•: The hero does not need to eat
•Doesn't Sleep•No Sleep: Requires half the normal amount of sleep
•Immune to Disease•: Your character is immune to disease.
•Immune to Poison•: Your character is immune to poison.
•Infection•Carrier: Requires a touch attack with a called shot to hit exposed skin. A target struck by the attack must make a Vigor roll.
•Poison•: On succesful Touch Attack, Vigor roll or Fatigue
•Regeneration(Lvl2)•: Make a Vigor roll every hour. If the roll is successful, your character heals one wound.
•Toughness(Lvl3)•: Toughness improves by +1 per level
Full description to come tomorrow. This is Biohazard as of the start of the campaign. I'll add advances when we figure out where we stand on that subject.
It's the Toxic Avenger! Anyone else ever see the cartoon, or even worse, the movie?
Now I'm feeling nostalgic.
Think I have an idea for a new character. I'm trying to piece it together in my free time. I start night shifts tonight, and those should be a bit slower.