The Outsiders: Generations

Game Master Echos Myron

Ted's dead, baby. Ted's dead.

He's back, actually. Mentoring Jaime now.

Booster Gold is no gadgeteer, he stole all his tech.

For general gadgets Ted Kord was probably the best bet, but as mentioned, he is pushing up daisies.

Ted Dugan (Stripesey or Star Spangled Kid) did build his own powered armor, so he might be a good bet.

There was Starman, but that's had several iterations after which weren't tech based.

OK, finished up the alias and character stats. Couldn't find a good picture though.

I find that putting the character's full name, followed by the alias makes for a much better looking alias than something like that. Not an indictment, just advice.

As I don't even remember his civilian alais offhand, I'll stick to my method. Remember the last name is Palmer of course, and was always too tempted to name him Arnold.

...Do it. Lots of good comedy out of that. Bring some much needed levity to the game. =)

Actually I can probably get away with it since he had his mother's name as a kid and there was no big deal being named Arnold in that case.

He only changed the last name later when he found out his actual background.

Even better.

"Wait, you actually CHOSE that name?"

Maybe he really likes lemonade and iced tea.

On the topic of inventors: Mr. Terrific is a strong choice, and connected to my Roulette, of course. John Henry Irons/Steel made a suit as tough as Iron Man. It isn't talked about much, but Black Manta generally is portrayed as inventing the tech he and his minions use.

You could always be a Braniac, or have a fragment of one.

How did I forget Steel and Mr Terrific? Sheesh, I must be slipping.

Ooo, I like the idea of a Braniac connection; that's pretty classic. According to that one Justice League: Unlimited episode where Supergirl goes to the future, Braniac has descendants at some point, and they are part biological. He could be either a traditional offspring, or perhaps an early attempt/experiment to reproduce by infecting a human with a nanite organism.

FYI, I'm out of town this weekend, and so I'll be unable to post for a few days.

That was a crossover with the Legion of Superheroes. There's been a Brainiac 5 in that group for a very long time. He's not actually related to Brainiac, but rather a Coluan who's ancestors had served Brainiac and had their brains boosted.

Of course there's also Vril Dox, from L.E.G.I.O.N. a more recent comic which was supposed to be the first of that line (more or less).

There was also the whole plot with Luthor being sort of blended with Braniac. Something similar could be going on.

Ooo! A Brainiac connection! I like that!

I have an idea for a character.

This is something that I once made, a long long time ago, for a HEROES system game.

Basically he's a training robot...that gained sentience. He's very easy to damage, and every time he gets hit, he spouts encouragement to his attacker. =)

To give you an idea of what his thing is, I have a question: What's the maximum level of a Power?
I can't find an answer to this. I look on page 25 and I can't find an answer to this. Does this mean that you could take a non-attack, non-defensive power (like, say, Illusion, or, Regeneration) and take 20 ranks in it?

I don't mean to sound dense, I just don't have that much experience with M&M and a few things yet elude me.

There are no limits on powers unless the campaign sets them. So you can take 20 ranks of speed, shrinking, space flight, or whatever.

What tumbler said.
A training robot that's gained sentience? Do go on

Why would it be a part of a black ops team though?

Which is the question everyone should be asking regarding powers and power levels. Dick Grayson wouldn't use a nuclear weapon when a dagger does the job just as well.

In regards to the training robotI pictured something like the xmen's Danger, who was a sentient robot from the Danger Room. Either way, I'd entertain the idea as long as it fits the black ops, covert theme.

As a wide-range training robot, Golem (working title) was given a gradually expanded roll. He started off as simply a target dummy, but as the IT team was ordered to continually improve the training regimen for incoming supers, they began to upgrade their training environment, and the training robots therein.

His entire chassis was upgraded with the latest in nanobot innovation, and his AI was consistently expanded. His roll often varied from from either opposing or enabling one side or the other, from Battlefield Superiority to Recon, to Infiltration and Neutralization, helping to educate new trainees not only how to defeat evil, but also how to work with others. (He also made a good substitute when the day's schedule called for a 5 on 5 exercise with only 9 supers present.)

During a routine upgrade, Golem began acting odd. He was administered a Turing Test and passed.
(I'm trying to think of a way to not just say "He got infected by some nanobots from Captain Robo," but I think I'm just gonna plant my flag on that and have done. =) )

Since then Director Grayson has been using him as an independent operative in an increasingly varied number of missions. Dick has found that as long as Golem is given explicit orders, and is assigned to a team that understands his way of thinking, there are few issues with his programming.

The constant encouragement of the enemies he's fighting can get a bit annoying, though.

(I'm actually thinking of him as more like a good-aligned Nimrod. ^_^)

I'm going to need to see a quick powerset write up to get a better grasp. Just a list of powers, like you'd see on a wiki page or something.

The Outsiders are:
Knightingale, bat family protégé
Tech Head, gadget-crafting ex-SEAL
Iota, size-shifting infiltration expert
Golem, sentient robot/motivational speaker
and Gravewound, nanite-enhanced criminal

Let's try to get everything tidied up and ready to go. I'm looking to have the first game post up by Thursday.

Some facts:
This is the third mission as a team for The Outsiders.
The Duke, gunslinging Outsiders leader, was murdered during the last mission.
Knightingale, Gravewound and Iota were former Titans(?)
The original Teen Titan's Beast Boy/Changeling died.
Tech Head has a dropship. (I think that's frickin' sweet)

Some questions:
Is anyone aware that little Lance Harper is now Gravewound?
What are your relationships to one another? Are you all familiar with one another's civilian identities, or hell, are you familiar with one another's hero identities?
Are any of you heroes using alternate identities?
Any arch-nemeses?

My build and Avatar are good to go. I'm sure as soon as I play them, I'll disagree with that statement, but that is the way this game works, sometimes.

What are people thinking for Complications?

I'm thinking:
Bat-family: Knightingale is obligated to assist and engage with the various members of the Bat family.

Enemy: Jokerz gang. A group of villains who pattern their appearance and behavior after Batman's most iconic foe.

Reputation: Martial Artist. Dinah is known as one of the best fighters in the world. (powered down a bit here from her Justice League version). She is vain about this reputation, and will do stupid things like dropping her weapons or not using her Cry if she is facing a foe worth meleeing with.

Disappointment: Dinah's parents are frustrated by her allegiance to Grayson and Wayne. They have a more adventurous, free wheeling approach to crime fighting.

Former sidekick: Dinah served as a sort of sidekick to Nightwing as the teen hero Canary. Some older villains will know this and use it to goad her (may not apply if her ID is more concealed in this campaign)

Lost power: As Canary, Dinah could use her vocal powers to fly (like Banshee from X-men). Overuse of her voice led to the loss of this ability. Dinah secretly longs to fly again, but the tug of the bat suit doesn't really cut it.

Enemy: League of Shadows, Talia al-Ghul.

Rival: Barbara Gordon. Let's just say that Dinah has some Electra issues with her father figure Dick Grayson, and has always subconsciously considered Barbara/Oracle/Commissioner Gordon a rival for his affection.

Iota would have been in Young Justice, and if most of his buddies graduated to the Titans, he would have followed.

Given that he's was deceived so egregiously by his mother, he developed a deep seated paranoia which meant he had to know everything he could about everyone around him. Hence, he will know Lance is Gravewound.

Owing to his paranoia, he knows everyone else's identities (voluntarily or not). The rest know his name because there was a rather dramatic scene when the Atom had his mother committed and there was a big argument/superhero fight. The rest of the Titans broke it up and found out he was actually Arnold Palmer.

He does have an alternate identity, Arnold Loring (Ray Palmer being his father is not general knowledge, so he generally doesn't suffer from being confused with the deceased golf legend. This does not stop his teammates from razzing him about it.

His arch nemesis would be Chronos, the time bandit, who has achieved a form of immortality from all his time hopping and tech. Chronos managed to finally off the Atom (Ray Palmer) only to find a successor hounding him (Iota). Arnold bitterly wants revenge on the slayer of his father.

Word as to my wearabouts: I've moved city. From Alberta to British Columbia (from western Canada to even more western Canada). The weekend was all packin boxes, loading the truck, driving, unloading the truck, and so on. Right now I am up to my eyeballs in boxes. I've finally got Wifi hooked up, but time is still at a premium due to all the work.

I'll try to get some time to dedicate to the game, but I hope you can be patient with me. I'll be copying this message over to my other games as well.

First post is up for those who've not yet dotted. Feel free to roleplay and set up some sort of plan.
Iota, Tech Head, Golem and Knightingale: You've all worked together before in the past as The Outsiders, so you're familiar.

Gravewound, you are out of the action for now, but feel free to come up with a fever dream, perhaps a vision from your past.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Did one minor revision to Iota's powers. I made it so he doesn't have to breathe when shrinking. The idea that someone who can get smaller than an oxygen molecule still has to breathe never made a lot of sense. Didn't change much, just cashed in a couple of points on saves to buy it.

Just spending the last few points.

Golem has only even known conflict in the name of improving one's self. Despite having been on a few missions, his internal programming still thinks he's just running a training sim. He has trouble dealing with negative emotions, and, really, doesn't take life all that seriously since, what does it matter? Winning simply means life is too easy, and losing just means that you learned something for next time, when it really counts.

Also, his voice sounds like the host of this program. (He starts talking at 4:18. Basically everything you ever imagined an East German personal trainer would be. =)
(Blargh, I couldn't find the episode that really wanted. Two guys are doing 20 reps of just a MASSIVE bench press, and he keeps walking around saying "Yes! Is very light weight!" and "Don't make me lay down and do it for you!")

I really wish you hadn't said that, because now all I'm going to hear is Hans and/or Franz.

Or an even faker accent.

Edit: Also, Echos, when does all this take place? Days, weeks, months after our break-out attempt? Immediately after?

I tried to leave that as ambiguous as possible. With Knightingale's transitional piece, I'd say this is probably a week or so after the break out and the current JL stuff.

Golem, you actually have 16 points left to use. Though power level 10 gives 150 power points, I threw in an extra 15pp, y'know, because I'm a nice guy and all.

ALSO!
That guy in the work out video reminded me a lot of Overwatch's Reinhardt

Reinhardt is awesome! I'm totally using that "Again! Again!" in game!

Alright, I'm gonna some of those new shiny points to upgrade my charisma! (I don't know why that's suddenly so important, it just is. =)
(I'm also gonna get Ambidexterity, because it's been my mission in life to prove that's a useful feat, ever since someone said that they've never seen it used ever. =)

I take Ambidexterous on the majority of my M&M characters that fight with weapons.

It's not that it never gets taken or used, it's that it's never USEFUL.

Made some changes to the build. Realized that the cry couldn't be "kept on" the way Black Canary uses it, so I had to go back and change the duration to concentration. Took physical stats down a bit, she was a little close to super. Improved some skills.

I've been thinking about our team's fictional publication history, and my character in particular. Wanted to share some of the backstory in case anyone wants to riff on it.

I'm imagining that the publishing history of the character involves lots of tragic power loss and rehab. As a teen hero, she had a lot of control over her voice and was able to fly, create aural illusions, make precise attacks, stun people, all kinds of things. She debuted as Canary with a black and mostly yellow costume. At this point, she was a bright eyed optimist. Black Canary and Green Arrow enjoy life, and their daughter reflected that.

An encounter with Deathstroke left her damaged, and she turned to training and made herself more of a Gotham vigilante. She did manage to rehab enough to use her voice as a weapon, but lost the flight and most of the subtlety.

Of course, other authors have tried to give her back those powers they fell in love with as teens, so she has had vocal implants and what have you at different points to restore her powers.

I'm also thinking that as the only girl on a teen team, there have probably been a lot of romantic complications. Not sure about that.

I made a rookie mistake. This should be the surprise round, and everyone should've taken either a move or a standard. Womp womp. How about I call it a learning experience and count it as a surprise round still? Enemies will take their turns next round.

I've rebuilt this thing three or four times over the weekend. A few changes to skills and feats, but most of the changes are in her Strike power.

I took away its link to strength, because she isn't that strong and it should really reflect training, not power.

I added a couple of alternate powers to let her make area attacks against minions representing either throwing a flurry of batarangs or flipping around and kicking ass.

To the main strike power I added variable, currently with the descriptor Highly trained, though I really mean something more like "Bat stuff." So the strike can just be applying a dose of Kung Fu to the problem, or a batarang, or some plastique applied to a door, maybe a plasma cutter.

Let me know what you think about that.

All right guys, sorry for the hold up. Play the scene out as a cool, ass-kicking montage.
For reference:
The guards are ARGUS soldiers wielding sonic-based rifles.
The Airbus is traveling through west Texas. If it does go down, it will be over a desert.

then seeing that robots actually don't worry about mercy,

Your sniping comments are not appreciated. Stop it.

I didn't considering that sniping, I thought it an observation. You left him to die.

I will, however, avoid comments in the future.

An update: I'm buying a laptop from a friend tonight, so we'll be moving on soon. Sorry for the hold-up. Hopefully Tech-Head will be able to catch up soon.

HEY!
Life got serious for a minute, got hit with a pretty bad hurricane, and then had to work to make up for the loss. Hope you're all still on board.

Doing okay Echo?

I'm sorry guys, life came at me pretty hard and left me burnt out on gaming. Everything's settled down now, but the passion to actually run a game via PbP isn't there for me. The realization that PbP GMing isn't for me has sunk in. I'm sorry for keeping y'all hanging, but it's just not for me.