Oh, my, go AFK for a couple hours and suddenly everyone's ripping your door off.
Lol!
Side note: since I didn’t stay per Psyche’s Provoke, I mark another condition. Insecure seems appropriate. But I believe breaking the elevator down to the base would count as breaking something important, so I’m am going to clear Angry.
I only had a 9 and was going with the carrot instead of the stick, so I think you're good on conditions.
Okay, despite the current spat, I think Psyche's big growth is how much she already trusts Horizon, so I'll Grow Closer to the Team and give him Influence. I'll clear Insecure as part of that.
Praetoria: Well, I see this as a perfect example of growing away from the Team. Utterly failing their first organized outting and then being berated by Horizon has kinda made her feel a bit of an unwanted part of the Sentinels. She is beginning to understand why her parents never formally joined the Alliance. Horizon loses Influence over her.
I leave you guys alone for 1 afternoon!
Right?! I had to scrap three posts 'cause by the time I'd be ready to hit submit, a whole new fight had started! :p
Can I get a quick TL;DR
Also, Holly totes grew closer to the team. Isaiah, take some influence. marking potential because I' clear out of conditions
and, because I hadn't said earlier, I'm gonna take "are you watching closely" from the delinquent, as my advance
D. None of the above?
I think he grew into his vision of himself despite several set backs and internal party conflicts. He had some success duking it out with the bad guys and such.
+1 Danger, -1 Superior
The TL:DR version:
-Kayla is emotional
-Shin confronted her about knowing secrets about him
-Kayla denied
-Shin pushes
-Kayla pushed back
-Rory got in Shin’s face
-Shin got in Rory’s face
-Kayla left
-Psyche tried too late to stop the fighting
Did I miss anything?
Umm, I think Dusk just got on our comms...
well, emotional teenagers, yay
Sorry about that. I wanted to play into Horizon's potential to go dark here by having him get worked up about secrets. He's scared of what else the Alliance and the team might be keeping from him and pushed him to push Praetoria and Frostbite. Made for a good bit of role playing though when Rory failed his provoke.
As for Shin, surprising he does feel closer to the team after this fight. Because to him, you only fight like this with people that you care about, friends and family. He'll give Influence to Psyche, because he cares for her in a confused, unsure way, He'll mark potential as well.
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Nothing to apologize for! A good RP scene is always fun!
Psyche will definitely use Dusk's hackery as an example of why psi-comms are the better way to go :)
Isaiah/Inquiry will probably also grow closer to the team. As awkward as it was, Mosaic treated him like a living being.
Now we just have to sort out the resultant label-shifting due to already having mutual influence.
I also find it mildly amusing that Isaiah/Inquiry appears to be the most emotionally stable of the entire team. He only had one condition during that whole session, and he's already cleared it. The alien robot is moderately confused at all the moody teenager stuff going on.
Wait, When did you get influence over Holly?
I gave Gallowglass, Praetoria, and Rory influence at the start... did I just forget something?
….Hmmm, when did Isaiah pick up influence on Holly? I'm pretty sure it happened in gameplay somewhere....
Shin got Influence over Holly during the Crab Fight for defending her from the bomb, I know that much.
Speaking of Influence though, never did find out who in the patient wing Horizon saved he got influence over. I suppose that'll just hang there for a bit for potential shenanigans.
Edit: Also, we're pausing story posts until we start the second issue, right? Probably with Dusk preparing some grand gambit and Horizon freaking out because apparently anything he learns in this future his other self already knows.
A quick search of our profiles posts turns up nothing on Isaiah having influence. Holly will shift isaiahs mundane up, and freak down
Added one more post to end the fight - fortunately both checks came off so if the boys agree to back down its a good conclusion to that.
Scorch will grow into her own image of herself because she successfully fought a number of superpowers threats but caused massive property damage.. Shifting Saviour down and Danger up.
Alright. Well, I suppose Isaiah has influence now then.
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I just wanted to share a story of another supers game I played in that had some PC vs PC conflict. The setting was Necessary Evil, using the Savage Worlds rules. Anywho:
Setting synopsis, very summarized:
Modern world where Earth was attacked by aliens, and all the heroes were killed off in a surprise attack. The aliens assumed control of the planet. The villains had to band together to try and drive them off because “Hey! This is our world to rule. GTFO!”
The PC’s played the Super Villains.
__________
The Key Characters of the Scene:
Darknaut: the leader of our villain cell. Basically an evil Green Lantern, but his power was channeled through oversized gauntlets.
Judge: a mentalist. Loved to mind control people. Was in a constant power struggle with Darknaut.
Profit: a mercenary villain that could go invisible as well as shoot blasts of energy.
”Dervish”: a speedster swordsman who the PC couldn’t settle on a name, so we named him. He to this day refuses to accept that the character’s name was Dervish.
Inventor: an invention/crafting PC whose name has been long forgotten.
_________
The scene:
Judge had crossed Darknaut and the team one too many times, and at the start of the game night, the character had to go off in hiding. So to give that player something to do, they made an invented character to take part for the bulk of the night. Aside from that, the player of Judge was passing Sneaky Notes to the GM regarding Judge’s off-screen preparations.
Judge had made prior business partnership with Profit, who had to date maintained neutrality in the quarrel.
Dervish and Darknaut loathed Judge. As the last scene of the night, the big confrontation was going to go down.
Judge had already made preparations, basically sending his mind controlled henchman to go by some cyanide and wine. A room was already prepared in a high rise apartment building with a poisoned glass set aside.
Darknaut (who had commissioned the temporary Inventor to make him a helmet to resist mind control), Dervish, and Profit come to the scene to find Judge. But they went to the wrong high rise. They went to the one across the street. Judge spies them and mind controls Dervish from afar.
Profit, meanwhile, spotted my henchman and followed her to the scene and watched her prepare the wine. He wasn’t sure whose side to take, so he was just waiting and watching invisible.
Darknaut locates Judge and attacks, but Judge managed to mind control him before he could do anything else. Judge then commanded him to stop resisting the control, remove the helmet, then answer his questions honestly.
Judge offered a truce. Darknaut could lead, Judge would not Mind Control the team members ever again. And they could get back to trying to kill the aliens. Darknaut agreed. Dervish refused, saying he’d kill Judge the first chance he got. So Judge, being unable to kill Dervish himself, made Darknaut do it. This enraged Darknaut, who now refused to do the deal.
Judge then said ”Fine. Let’s settle this like gentlemen then. A fair duel. I will release you and we will then resume our battle. But first...a toast to the victor, who ever it may be.” as he picks up the non-poisoned glass. Darknaut, without being controlled to do so, willingly picked up the poisoned glass and prepared to drink...
...only to be stopped by Profit blasting Judge in half with an energy blast. To this, Darknaut said ”Well done Profit!” and started to drink again. Profit dove and slapped the glass from his hand. The player literally had no idea about the poison until after the session.
I played Judge and the Inventor. Yes, I made a helmet for the guy to come try and kill me. After all was said and done, we all laughed and thought it was one of our best RP sessions ever.
_________
Side note: this Judge is basically the “What If” version of that Judge, where this is the Good Guy version.
Seems like we are stuck in a holding pattern until we get a green light from Stalwart. To pass the time:
Praetoria’s views on the other characters:
Rory: Basically unchanged. Still thinks he’s cute, but also frustrated because her Family has basically forbidden her to date unless they directly approve of the individual. She’s worried that he may be interested in someone else on the team since he hasn’t made anymore moves since the park, but she doesn’t know who.
Scorch: Kayla thinks she’s finally starting to warm up (hehe) to her. Maybe she will stop being so hard on her for being attracted to her brother?
Gallowglass: Kayla is starting to see her less as a Fangirl and more as a colleague, especially after the last fight.
Isaiah: she still basically sees him as a thing rather than a sentient being. Also still clueless to the relationship to the Inquiry.
Mosaic: Kayla is concerned about Holly keeping her distance from the team. When the idea of this team was being formulated, Kayla felt Holly was the one person she could trust and be friends with on it, but Holly has kept herself a bit separate from it. Now Kayla is confused as to where their friendship stands.
Psyche: Kayla has grown to trust Psyche more, despite still not being thrilled about her tiptoeing around inside her head. There is definitely a part of Kayla’s mind that is being heavily protected from Psyche and any other telepathic curiosity, but Kayla is starting to assume Psyche has been rummaging around everywhere else in her head, which leaves her a little nervous.
Horizon: Kayla was actually starting to like you, despite what the other you had done to her and her family. She felt that you were both like alternate reality versions of someone, and if nothing else, Halcyon has seen its fair share of villains being alternate dimensional versions of Halcyon’s Heroes. So she believed you were nothing like Dusk. But after your recent spat with her undid all that. Now, she isn’t quite sure.
Okay, if we're doing storytime/relationships, i'll hop aboard:
important to note, is that Holly is pretty sure that she's a bad superhero. the past two fights (with the villain taking her out both times) have pretty much killed her confidence, but she's not able to give up. this is the root of a lot of her stuff.
Rory & Scorch: (still a unit, as she hasn't interacted with them much ) She thinks they see right through her. they're trained, talented superheroes, and she is both scared to be around them, and wants to learn from them
Gallowglass: Holly still want to support her, and let her follow her dreams, but she's... scared, for herself and Ness, as they both have... less than combative powers, and she doesn't want her to get hurt
Isaiah: he's... safe. safe is the best word for him. She doesn't know his big secret yet, but she knows he isn't... human. he's inhuman enough that she can feel okay kissing or dancing with him, but real enough that these acts are comforting and a taste of physical affection.
Praetoria: She... holly knows she sees though her, but Holly opened up to her. Holly honestly wants to spend more time with her as well.
Psyche Mind stuff scares Holly... she really doesn't like the idea of someone reading her mind. and Kylee is always watching her surface thought. she tries to keep her distance... which probably doesn't help much, and might be hurting Psyche
Horizon He is still her teammate. She gets his frustration, his fears. she also gets the others position... she's probably gonna try to play peacemaker... that is the little sister's job, isn't it?
Praetoria: Well she is pretty and he likes her but seems to constantly running away from him...
Scorch: Oh my sweet little building destroying sister, trying to be supportive with out being overbearing.
Holly: Who? She the one on TV? Haven't had lots of interaction.
Gallowglass: She seems very excited about everything which is nice there seems to be enough angst going on.
Isaiah: Hopefully he can fix my truck, good guy also haven't had a lot of interaction.
Psyche: A bit closed off and stoic, kinda freaked out by the brain talking.
Horizon: F this guy (this is purely the in game perspective of a fictional teenage superhero of another teenage superhero and is in no way reflects the opinion or feelings of the play directed at the other player.)
My turn for current impressions, for fun!
Rory: He's not sure if he can get along with him at all. He reminds him too much of the jockish boys that would hassle him when he was younger. He'll try not to get into fights with him for his sister's sake.
Mattie: She's starting to become a replacement goldfish for his own little sister in his mind, though it's still awkward when she gets physical with him like hugging. His family was not huggers.
Holly: The damsel in distress. He thinks that Holly is mostly flash, the movie star version of a hero rather than someone on the frontlones. Her conversation to him about putting up appearances to the public has strengthened that view.
Ness: He thinks it's cool that there are still people without powers ready to rush into the fray, even against people with powerful abilities. He wonders why she keeps her identity a secret though and wonders if she can handle living two lives.
Isaiah: He wants to spend more time with him and learn more about his technology, but he doesn't know as much about him as he thinks. Since Yeoman was a favorite part of his life, he's convinced Isaiah is a person, not a thing.
Kayla: He thought that she would be a strong fit to be a leader for the team. He admired her great-grandfather after all. But learning her family's history with his future self makes him think she might not be able to separate him from Dusk. He wants her to trust him. He's sure she has the power to stop him from becoming Dusk.
Kylie: He's not sure why he's drawn to her. He likes Kylie, but he's confused as to the extent of it. He's certain they're friends, and he's getting over his psychic phobia with her. Maybe he'd feel more certain if she opened up more.
Stalwart, btw, these are my current Drives:
□ Help a teammate when they most need you
□ Earn the respect of a hero you admire
□ Travel to an incredible place (or time)
□ Reject someone who tells you “you shouldn't be here”
I'm on the fence about if I achieved #1 when I defended Praetoria when she was stoned.
Thoughts?
(Or for that matter, thoughts from Praetoria?)
Current impressions:...
Rory: He's still annoying as hell.. She feels like she's developing more independence from him having worked a bit with the others.
Holly: Still thinks she's a bit of a poser. Reminds her way too much of the 'cool kids' at school. They don't seem to have much in common.
Ness: Seems nice enough, just hope that she can keep up now that they're facing powerful enemies.
Isaiah: Still not really sure what to think about him. Can't figure him out at all. Seems helpful though.
Kayla: Not nearly as bad as she thought - she's not really like the 'cool kids', even if she puts on that facade. Underneath she's pretty cool. Mattie can relate to Kayla's loss of her parents and hopes they're still alive.
Kylie: She's not as bad as Mattie first thought but she still doesn't like the idea of her mind being read. Quite arrogant - seems like the type who's be a cheerleader.
Shin: He saved Rory from her so she can't believe he'll become Dusk. At least she hopes not.
Frostbite: Kylie feels like she hasn't really gotten to see him at his best yet. She knows he's worked with Silver Shield, but that's starting to carry less weight with her. She's got no reason to think he's not a proficient hero, but she's starting to fear he's a bit of a dude-bro.
Gallowglass: Kylie's a little embarrassed here. She was definitely expecting that Gallowglass would get beat up and quit, but after hearing what went down with Fossil and Shard and Praetoria... She's eating mental crow, and very glad she never told anyone.
Holly: Kylie's hurt. She and Holly had gotten along a lot better than Psyche and Mosaic do. It seems like being reminded of Kylie's powers has made Holly really uncomfortable, and... well it hurts.
Isaiah: She's still not sure what to make of Isaiah. She finds that potentially very interesting, but a little uncomfortable.
Kayla: She can still see the girl who knew she was going to save the world, but it's increasingly clear to Kylie that Kayla's in danger of coming completely unmoored - and that's the kind of thing Kylie really doesn't know how to help. She can't decide if stepping up to the mantle will be the thing that saves Praetoria or dooms Kayla.
Mattie: Kylie's getting kinda protective of Mattie - something about her makes Psyche want to act all big sister-y.
Shin: She kinda likes him... She hasn't really been looking for anything romantic, but he's cute, and in a back-asswards way, Horizon makes her feel like she doesn't have to turn into the monster everyone's afraid she'll become.
So quiet today...
I'm waiting for Gallowglass. if she hasn't by morning, I'll continue.
Last I talked to GG (we play a few games together and talk on Google Hangouts), they were very busy today.
sorry, yes, I *might* be able to tonight. Tons of work writing I'm trying to finish first.
Wish me luck!
Herzlichen Glückwunsch
Alright, potentially relevant piece of world-building!
The Iron Federation does not engage in time travel. As a collective whole, it has witnessed far too much damage done because of it, with far too little concrete gains, and temporal paradoxes tend to leave behind nasty hyper-dimensional whorls that interfere with Iron Federation hyperdrives (among other things). This does not mean that they are not prepared to deal with others using it, though; Achronal data storage insures that in the event of temporal shenanigans, important information is not lost even if it was deleted by the divergence, and a wide variety of chronal sensors allow Federation stations to detect temporal disturbances, often long before they actually occur, letting Federation forces work to prevent damaging acts of time travel, or simply brace themselves to avoid the worst of it.
The Iron Federation is not particularly worried about its foes trying to retroactively remove it, because they know that travel to the times of the Collapse wars is a suicidal proposition; various factions in those viscous intergalactic conflicts were much less scrupulous about their use of time travel... which led to other factions developing defenses against it. As a result, time travel to or through the time period of the Collapse Wars, or even in their general temporal vicinity, tends to result in the travelers spontaneously exploding as they are interdicted by a Temporal Disruptor. The Iron Federation doesn't have any Temporal Disruptors because they were invented due to an act of time travel that they later blocked, and as such never actually existed, and so no plans for them survive. Though that doesn't stop them from vaporizing any would-be time scholars looking to see what the First Federation looked like in its prime.
Just wanted to make sure that everyone's all right with the spotlight hogging that Horizon's getting, because, you know, time travel shenanigans. I'm hoping that after the lighthouse we'll be able to focus on some other characters. I'm looking at Gallowglass in particular, because she needs an adventure to strut her stuff!
I'm all good :)
Also as a PSA - apparently the recent update broke the PM notifications. So it's worth doublechecking every so often if someone's trying to reach you, and not getting irked if someone's not responding.
Its alright, though it is making Isaiah/Inquiry antsy, if you haven't noticed. They don't like dealing with timey stuff, because it always ends up really complicated.
So should we await a scene-setting post of our return, or should we assume that nothing unexpected awaits us and take it away ourselves?
Post is incoming. Please stand by.
I don't have much for Psyche before she heads to bed, but I'm holding off on that post till after Praetoria makes (or doesn't make) her announcement.
Spreading this to all my games:
Sorry guys, planned on some substantial posting today. But upon return from a weekend trip, discovered some house chores that were in desperate need of no longer ignoring. So I’ve been occupied there today. I’ll post something of decent size as soon as life allows. Will continue smaller posts from mobile for now.
OK,... so, another question about The Joined. This one relates to the team move:
When one of you shares moment of vulnerability or shares a triumphant celebration without the other one present, mark a condition to mark a potential.
So, I can read this in two ways. Either Rory can use it too, or I get to use it (if i want) whenever he shares moment of vulnerability or shares a triumphant celebration without me around (or i do when he's not around, obviously)... I *think* the second but not sure... Thoughts? Am I reading this right? How would Mattie know if she's not around? Does she have to know about it?
The way I read it, as the Joined, you get the Team moves of your Twin, so in your case, you have the Team moves of the Protege.
When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, ask them if you’ve been a good leader or effective teammate. If they say yes, your mentor loses Influence over you and you mark potential. If they say no, your mentor gains Influence over you, and you take +1 forward on using the Label your mentor embodies.
When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, tell them a secret about your mentor (including your feelings towards them). Give them Influence over you and add a Team to the pool.
So, whenever you (or Rory) share the Team Move with someone and he (or you) are not around, you can mark a condition to mark potential.
The problem is, you need to also share a secret about your mentor and your feelings towards your mentor. So that last "share a vulnerability" move was not complete.
However, that was a strong share and good drama, so I'm going to allow it now. But going forward, you'll need to use the Protege move.
OK, thanks for the clarification.
So my intent here is for them to go make out and fall asleep in Rory's room leading to the awkward moment when people come looking for us realizing the last place anyone saw them was the couch or she can wake up before him and try and sneak out.
I was actually about to give the "curtains and veil please" talk
but seriously. I doubt I'm alone in wanting us to be sure to draw curtains on scenes before details begin getting too graphic. And I've found its better to talk about it before it comes up, so no one thinks its in response to something they did "wrong"
Something sort of interesting layout-wise, going by our descriptions, I'm pretty sure the guys have their own rooms, but the girls have a shared dorm space that used to just be Mattie's room. I guess she really liked to spread out her stuff :p
Oh and yeah, PG-13 seems like the call
Good calls, everyone. I'm not intending this to go to the Vertigo imprint.
By the way, I'm planning on pushing things along this evening, so wrap up the nighttime posts if you can. Anything leftover can use spoiler tags.