Horizon, I agree with Psyche about holding off on taking a mentor until later-- you'll get there eventually. It's a pretty huge thing, to take a mentor, so if you're interested let me know and I'll start seeding the story with that in mind. But it feels awfully soon to take such a big step. I'd suggest looking at the playbook moves that you didn't take -- that's probably a good place to start.
Did we ever really decide on a team name?
And for those who might be wondering, the Iron Federation is actually a relative of a homebrew fantasy campaign that went rather entertainigly out of control. Rather, that campaign led to the formation of a civilization that eventually became the First Federation, who's collapse left the Iron Federation as remnants. This is all completely unrelated to anything going on at the moment, but provides some context for why I have a lot of ideas related to a magi-hypertech civilization lying around.
The best laid plans...
I really had planned on a big post to push things along to the next scene, but today's been long and busy. I'm just out of gas tonight. So I'll let you all keep up the great rp and I'll hopefully get my planned post up tomorrow evening.
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My drama Muscles say for Holly to go to the interview, and either get ambushed with "damned if you do" questions, or say something innocently insensitive to the team... damn you drama muscles
Haha
I think I like the snow leppard better
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Btw Stalwart, I'm serious about looking for a job (perm or temp) with Infini-Corp. It could give me a chance to try my Straight Up Creepin' move...and eventually a chance to get in way over my head. ;-)
Hey,.. .I've been thinking about Scorch's powers and, if its OK, i'd like to retcon the appearance of her powers so that, rather than flames enveloping her whole body, they envelop her hands and arms. She remains able to fly / project flame... I'd like to do this for a few reasons:
a) Make her a bit more unique (less like the Human Torch).
b) Depower her (a little) to begin with.
c) Focus more on her "impossible fighting skills"
No probs if you prefer her powers remain the same. - Just a thought.
Gallowglass, that's cool, and I'll definitely put something together for you to do that.
Scorch, how your powers look is up to you, so that's fine by me. And yes, I'm excited to see your fighting skills in action.
FYI, I just came up with Blockbuster as the name of the computer since you're all underneath a video store. Feel free to change it if you can think of something better.
Now I wanna call it Redbox.
But let’s be real: we haven’t even formalized our own team name!
So let’s put it to a vote:
Team Name:
1) Legionnaires
2) Sentinels
3) Archons
I think those were the major players. Everybody pick your favorite and we will go with the majority and assume it was bashed out. Lol
I vote for number 2.
As for computer names: I think Blockbuster is funny and kinda like it.
Sentinels and Blockbuster work for me.
I'm cook with Blockbuster, but I have to say that I like the name Archons better. That's got my vote.
Archons blockbuster
Archons and Blockbuster are good.
Our team name will probably end up aquiring one or more adjectives at some point, but that can wait.
No, though there might be some residual effects upon nearby minds -- something that you could find out using social media to spot people posting WTFs and the like. That might get you a zone or area.
Basically, I want to make sure everyone's involved with investigations and puzzling out mysteries -- just blasting your mind out into the ether to locate the bad guy is not going to work very often and opens you up to bad stuff. Even Professor X needed Cerebro, and he gets taken down all the time. So I'd like for something like that to be used as less of a first resort and more of a last resort when conventional investigations hit a dead end. Cool?
Vote tally:
Sentinels - 2
Archons - 3
Yet to Vote:
Gallowglass
Scorch
Frostbite
I was mainly looking for her hit to do something more like getting an image that we can only run down using other investigative techniques, or some other clue that helps narrow things down between the list of four we have so far - getting another piece of the puzzle, rather than jumping all the way to the end by herself :)
The Blockbusters?
Sentinels, Blockbuster
Looks like the computer is definitely Blockbuster, but the team name is now a dead heat between Sentinels and Archons.
....And I've got to get my worldbuilding fix.
Isaiah's home is Shard 032 "Caesvol", the primary Iron Federation presence in the Milky Way galaxy. While there are a few other Shards around, Caesvol is the only one with a fully functional Gateway Nexus, and thus serves as the galactic hub for Iron Federation activity, while the other Shards have only subsidiary Gates connected to it. Caesvol contains one full star system, with no conventionally habitable worlds (not anymore, at least) and several space stations. Prominent locations in Caesvol include:
Shatterd World Habitats:
The Shattered World Habitats are a collection of habitat modules for the living population of Caesvol. They are built into the asteriod remnants of what was once the system's sole inhabitable planet, which took a direct hit during the Collapse Wars and was shattered into thousands of pieces. Still, the habitats occupy an orbit in the habitable range of the local star, and utilize sunlight for growing plants and helping to maintain their biospheres. Each habitat-rock is designed to meet the necessary living conditions of a different group of species, and as such the population is actually very diverse.
Narthashune Bastion:
The Narthashune Bastion is a large military station in Caesvol, charged with protecting the Gateway Nexus and handling any military excursions in the Milky Way. It also contains a training grounds for local peacekeeping forces, the local shipyard for both military and civilan vessels, factories for producing ground troops, and a Dispatch Gate for sending forces wherever they may be needed.
Veolus Research Station:
The Veolus Research Station is the central hub for exploratory missions, research operations, surveying, and other such tasks in the Milky Way. Ultimately, Isaiah/Inquiry reports to Veolus, though the main station AI gestalt isn't their direct superior. Veolus has a close working relationship with Narthashune, as when scouts dispatched by Veolus discover any major threats, such as Rogue Shards, or caches of First Federation technology, Narthachune is in turn responsible for responding to them.
P3rse1 Industries:
P3rse1 is the main manufacturing station complex in Caesvol, turning raw materials mined from the dead worlds of the system into finished products. P3rse1 is also the 'birthplace' of most newly-created AIs in the system, though the young intelligences soon move into the Shattered World Habitats to spend their formative early years learning in the schools there, taking the opportunity to spend some time around organics and learn from them, and trying out several different potential bodies and roles to figure out what they want to do with their existances.
Gael Trading Hub
The Gael Trading Hub is more-or-less exactly what it says it is; a central hub for trade and logistics passing through the Gateway Nexus. It is also the main stopping point for any non-Federation visitors doing buisness with the Federation, and as such has its fair share of hotels, resteraunts, and micro-habs built for a wide variety of environmental preferences. A constant buzz of activity and traffic, Gael is probably the most crowded space station in the system, and serves a very diverse clientele.
Sentinels
...or else we go for some variation of the First Watch, since we're in their old hideout...but I suppose no need to confuse things further.
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So far it looks like the vote is:
Sentinels - 4
Archons - 3
Frostbite, is “The Blockbusters” your legit vote or you wanna throw your hat in one of the other contenders?
And if it is a tie, I think Stalwart should break the tie, representing what the media gets behind the best ;-P
Rory hates all the names equally ;)
I guess we’re Scorch and the Sentinels then?
-_-
How much are we allowed to world build? Like creating NPCS to talk to based on the assumption that there must be such a person in the scene. Can we say stuff like 'He bumped into a janitor, excusing himself as he stepped past and now there's a janitor in the scene? Or something like 'He looked into the seemingly empty lab, only to turn on the lights and find someone being menaced by a hulking figure'? I'm not sure how much leeway we have. I assume we can't just say something like, 'He walked into the room and there was Warthog stuffing himself from a cafeteria tray'.
I'm also not clear on where my authority on Shin's future self and family ends, if he were to appear in a scene if I could dictate his actions, or if I can only dictate discoveries about his past actions, such as fighting heroes or committing crimes or just how powerfully he can wield his radiation control. As for family, would it be all right to say he found extended family, maybe even a grandchild of his future self?
I'm generally in favor of you doing some worldbuilding -- I'll roll with it as you create and flesh out the setting.
There's going to be lots of room in Shin's past/future to throw things in -- eighty years is a long time. So whatever you make up, I'll try to use.
Yes, I'll certainly balk at you just pulling a major hero or villain and sticking him or her randomly in a scene. When there's downtime and you want to write yourself a solo-type adventure, that's fine, though I prefer you make up a villain or threat rather than using one from the Campaign Info tab. Those characters have some sort of plot significance, so I'd prefer you leave them be (though the villains and NPCs you've created, I'll let you do things with them -- though you might want to ask permission from the other players if you're using one that they created).
Okay, okay - I want to see if I can guess these all:
The well-muscled bald man: Haymaker
The half-woman, half wasp: Vespid
The man made out of stone, big and bulky with chiseled angles: Cinderblock
Shard, the leader of the Chosen: Shard, the leader of the Chosen
The orangish-red humanoid amphibian: Salamander
The gray-furred man with membranous wings: Chiros
The female flyer covered in polished silvery metal: Attraction
The female flyer sheathed in violet energy: Ciandra?
Very close!
But no, these are all either members of the Mongrels or the Chosen.
Mosaic & Isaiah's Party Crashers: Correct
Shard's Squad:
The female werewolf -- covered in shaggy brown fur and with an elongated muzzle full of sharp teeth: Terrier
The man made out of stone, big and bulky with chiseled angles: Cinderblock Fossil
Shard, the leader of the Chosen: Shard, the leader of the Chosen
The Dynamic Duo's Dancing Partners:
The man in a bomber jacket with a pair of large machine guns on his back: Ballista Airfoil
The orangish-red humanoid amphibian: Salamander
The gray-furred man with membranous wings: Chiros
Scholastic Seekers:
The massive, humanoid warthog: Warthog
The female flyer covered in polished silvery metal: Attraction
The female flyer sheathed in violet energy: Ciandra? Ballista
Hey Stalwart:
Question about one of my advances, since my two recent blunder rolls has moved me so close to getting one. One of my options is “Unlock the remaining two powers of your suite” which for me would be eye beams and super senses.
I was wondering if instead I could take 2 from a different suite that fit the theme of Praetoria better, as well as make this forum avatar more applicable. Namely “divine armor and magic weaponry.” It would fit the theme for Praetoria better in my mind, while mechanically change even less than what the eye beams and super senses would. She’d basically be exactly as she is now, just look different in costume.
If not I understand and can roll with the eye beams and super senses, just wanted to check if you’d be okay with this request.
Let's see, Isaiah rolled low on Belong in Two Worlds, which means he's going to get an uncomfortable demand from back home. Considering his purpose here, it'll most likely take the general form of a reminder that he's supposed to be spying on people, not spending his time doing heroics, probably accompanied by a request for some kind of specific espionage (put a tracker on a Chosen, then let them escape. Plant a bug on Silver Shield. That kind of thing.). Of course, that isn't the only form it could take; he might be sent to investigate a specific energy signature, tasked to retrieve some piece of technology, or other things, depending on what pleases the GM.
Also, that pathetic roll means Isaiah can pick an advancement now. I'll have to decide which one.
Praetoria: Hmm. I think I'll allow it. I don't think that you're meant to mix and match, but doing it this way can let you move away from the fairly obvious source material and be something different. Go ahead.
Isaiah: I've got a couple ideas in mind. What you're suggesting is pretty good, though. Hmm. What to choose...?
ALL: This was an issue I identified during the first fight but then didn't get around to bringing it up here until now.
Near misses and the spending of Team. This is probably where the pbp format fails the system the most. Someone pulls off a Move, and has either rolled a 6, or a 9. They then assume it's a miss or a partial success, and act accordingly.
Then someone a post or four later says they'll help out by spending Team, and suddenly we're retconning.
I think the best solution is for whenever someone rolls a 6 especially, and there's Team in the pool, give your preferred choice of what happens in case it's bumped up to a success. If you rolled a 9, perhaps, but I think those'll be rarer than the 6's being kicked up to 7's.
For example: You announce you're going to Defend someone, and you roll a 6. Noticing that there's Team in the pool and one or more other characters are around, you decide what would happen if someone makes your move a success. In either [ooc] or [spoiler], you say you choose to expose yourself to danger, and take Influence over the person you protect, in case it later becomes a success.
That way, the game will be as smooth as possible so we won't be waiting for your choices to be posted later.
How does that sound?
Thanks boss. I’ll go double check my last roll. Not sure how close it was for success. Next question though:
If I roll a near miss, and someone uses Team to boost it to a success, do I still gain potential? I’d think not since the teamwork helped me succeed. But wanted to check in case it comes up later.
No, you only get potential when you fail. So, no potential when Team spent kicks it up to a success.
Yeah that’s what I thought. If GG spends team on my last roll I’ll remove a potential ticker then.
Part of me wants to get all science like with Horizon pointing out that her ferromagnetic powers should have had no effect on electromagnetic radiation from the visible light band, but I don't think she'd let him nitpick about the science and would b probably just hit him with a window frame.
That said, Golden Age heroes had some weird powers coming from the result of radiation, so who knows the extent of even Horizon's powers?
Perhaps, but Attraction is coated in reflective metal. Anything from the visible spectrum would have been reflected harmlessly away.
But yeah, this is comic science.
I've actually been considering the idea of a mentor character for Shin for his next advancement. Being someone from the past that wants to excel in science, but being behind the times by around eighty years, he's missed a lot of stuff that's now more commonly known. As such, a hero that's an eccentric genius and professor's type seems like he'd make a great fit for him.
The Silver Age had lots of fun and crazy powerful heroes, but my favorite science type has always been guys like the Atom and Ant-Man. So my idea is a Sikh scientist named Giaanpreet 'George' Bhatt, He's one of the leading quantum physicist in the world, mostly he's one of the few people in the world to have visibly seen sub atomic particles larger than himself. He's ridden photons to the edge of the solar system, has discovered civilizations living on atoms and has saved numerous lives after getting a second medical degree so he could explore human bodies.
All this has been made possible thanks to his invention, the Quark suit, which allows him to shrink to sub atomic size. As an inventor, he's also designed other strange and unique devices.
His interest in mentoring Horizon would be scientific in nature. He is curious about if his circumstances in being here mean he's in a stable time loop, doomed to go back and become the villain, or if he can change him for the better to be a paragon and end the threat of Dusk.
My powers failed and I'm taking a powerful blow on a 14?
Good point -- I didn't realize part of your Unleash was to keep the muscle away from you.
I've edited the scene, so he's coming for you now. Your powers were blasted by Harpy's move.
Hmm, what's our current Team pool? I've lost track a bit in all the fuss.
3. Stalwart puts it in at the top of his update posts
Bear with me gang, mega-posts require a keyboard. Can't pull them off at work on a phone.
Update will be tonight.
Okay, a couple things...
Praetoria, on the Never give up, never surrender move -- it's a tradeoff, since generally if you've got a lot of conditions, you can use that to avoid the take a powerful blow bad stuff and keep going in the fight, but at a cost of "going down hard" on a miss.
I've looked it up in the rulebook and there's no commentary on what that means. Therefore, I'm going with what I feel like it should be, and that's being taken out of the fight for at least a few panels. "Going down hard" does not mean standing back up and continuing the fight, otherwise a miss is as good as a success -- and better than a partial success (since you have to take a condition).
HOWEVER, I really love your scene, and I don't want to deprive you of that. But I think I'm going to play with your perception.
Isaiah, your Belong in two worlds move requires you to choose an ability from a playbook when you spend the hold. You didn't do that here. Now, paralytic gas could be a chemical expression of, say, biokinesis from the Nova or vitality absorption from the Doomed, so I'm not going to fault you on that. But try to keep that in mind in the future.
Also, you used Unleash your powers instead of something else. Unleash is to overcome obstacles, extend your senses or reshape your environments. It's not to take down enemies or defend people/things. There are already moves for that.
That being said, I like the "temporary" nature of the effect, so I'm going to roll with it here.
ALL:
By the way, this is a comic book! You don't always have to fight to the bitter end, the bad guys sometimes win (especially before the final battle), and the bad guys get away all the time. There's no "punishment" in store in case they do, or if you have a setback every now and then.
Ah, yes, sorry. I should have thought about that. I'll have to think of ways to explain things better next time. I'm sure I can magi-technobabble up explanations for all kinds of fun tricks.
That said, I think Unleash matches because he isn't directly attacking his opponents... he's reshaping the environment into one in which breathing leads directly to falling over. I can see the possible confusion though. Of course, since Inquiry rolls +Superior on all rolls, it doesn't matter as much which one it is exactly.
And yeah, I fully expect that the plan is for at least one of these gangs of villains to get away. Why else would we have a reason to chase them down afterward? How would we ever find out about their evil plot? Doesn't mean Isaiah/Inquiry is going to go easy on them, though.
Yeah, I wasn’t really picturing it as her getting back into the fight. I was going more for a cinematic action to go hand in hand with the Advancement. Unleash felt most appropriate, especially since it was a miss on the attempt.
Had I not advanced, she’d have likely just stood there clenching her stomach. But the rest of it was to give the Advance some oomph. I wasn’t trying to gimmick anything. By all means do with the scene and result what you want. I was just making a little cool descriptive to her new power.
By the way: but if world building stuff of my own while I’m here and at it.
The First Praetorian: A super strong warrior, able to clad himself in mystic armor and weaponry at will. The sword he called on could cut through any substance (think like Wolverine’s claws.
Praetorian 2 and 3 (Kayla’s grandfather and father): Also super strong, but were unable to call on the armor and weapon like the first one. Nobody knew why.
So Kayla is the first in the family since the Golden Age to be able to do so.
Is Attraction carrying/floating anything visible?
Actually, let me ask this with enough specifics so that you can actually answer with a single post :)
I'm assuming Attraction used her off-screen time to snag whatever they're here for.
I'd like to blow my Burn to Snatch whatever she took and then put up a Moat to wall them off so they can't just take it back. Should I roll an Assess to see what I could use to thwart their plan? Use Unleash to expand my senses and peek into her surface thoughts to see what she just took? Pierce her Mask and be really glad I'll get to ask a question on a miss ;)
There's enough assumptions going into this plan that I can't really write my turn without some ridiculous pile of branching spoilers, so I'd rather just check to see if this plan makes any sense :p