Karma NE's page

I could reskin this PC, which I played in the early days of this campaign. Or I could create one from scratch. I don't mind doing that, as I perhaps enjoy creating characters as much as playing them. Karma has some overlap with Fortune, so I'd perhaps go for more flashy abilities such a master of control of matter and energy.

Feel free to advertise for another player. I know Discord has boards that are about roleplaying and some for PBP games, but I can never navigate Discord very well but if someone is more familiar with how to do a search that could turn up groups that discuss SW, it might bear fruit.

I'll work on a concept and post something when I can. If anyone has a power they think would complement the current group that we don't have, suggest away.

Where can I find the description of Rashomon?

I'm looking the other PCs over now. Will announce my PC choice once I've seen Rashomon.

I'll look over everyone's character and make a decision as soon as I can. I'm struggling a bit to keep up with my workload and keep up with my PBP games at the moment. I'm still not quite over the COVID, which limits my time a bit as well.

I'll add three skill points worth of skills to my characters. I'm still waiting to get a sense of the strengths of the other characters before deciding which concept to go with.

In the build I did for Karma (see this PCs profile) I gave her edges of Martial Artist and Martial Warrior (using a super edge). Then I used a minor hindrance to add to her initial wealth and used it to create some super powered melee weapons. See the section on combat for the dice combinations to hit and damage. I never had an opportunity to use them in the limited time I played the character, so I'm not sure how effective they are.

I am working on a revised version of Karma as a potential PC and I'm now working on the weapons again. She has other options for attack that are her primary mode, but I figured having some martial arts and super weapons could be a cool alternative for enemies who are not too jacked up with armor and toughness.

What is starting wealth? In the previous game (PWGM), we started with $1000.

Fortune Bravo V2

Lu Yan Immortal V2

I adjusted toughness down and added 4 points of Parry and Dodge each. Derived stats now listed, including RATN.

Thanks for all the analysis. I will consider the suggestions.

I still could go with a revised version of Karma, the character I ran in the previous Necessary Evil SW game. She needs to be toned down to just 40 power creation points.

Her main mode is intangible and Invisible, which means she is mainly vulnerable to energy attacks. Her main concern is therefore concealing her presence and moving after attacking to avoid retaliatory attacks with energy powers that have an area effect.

Using the phasing attack (part of Intangible), she can cause a wound without regard to armor or toughness. She has some conventional martial arts + potent magic weapons she can fight with if the enemies are not presenting a threat of energy attacks.

She is excellent for scouting, getting past security, collecting intel, etc.

As for the standard RATN, Lu Yan Immortal relies on high toughness means a lot of damage will be needed to have the chance of causing a wound. If it is an energy power type, it will be reduced by 4. Backing that up is hardy, which means a second shaken result will not cause a wound.

I don't know if I could raise his RATN without sacrificing other aspects of his defenses. He also has the chance to heal wounds that get through all this, although that is getting into last resort terretory.

I don't think any build can be air-tight with regard to taking damage. That is where player decisions play a role in avoiding the things that can cause harm.

I'll look at Fortune Bravo to see if there is a way to improve her RATN. My goal with her is to make her relatively secure with some conventional attack possibilities, and then rely on the Super Sorcery for situations where she needs something extra. If I run her, I'll work out some possible "spells" and clear them ahead of time to make sure I know how they work and if they are legal. Does the Super Sorcery spell require using just one power with a limit of 13 points or could one combine two or more powers whose total does not exceed 13. I suspect the former, but just want to be sure before I put anymore thought into options.

I'll hold off on deciding which character to run until I know who else is in the mix. I could enjoy playing any of the ones I've got, plus I'll have two back-ups should the worst happen. I'll work on Karma 40 next.

I watched a Jackie Chan movie, The Forbidden Kingdom, where he plays Lu Yan, loosely based on legends from China. Several characters are motivated to receive an elixir of immortality. He is, of course, showing off mad martial arts (Kung Fu) which my version will not have. It might be fun to see what kind of pure martial arts super one could come up with.

Over the weekend, I viewed an exhibit at our local art museum that had many examples of Samurai armor. Makes me curious what kind of Super Samurai I might be able to develop.

Below is a link to a document on my shared drive with the stats I've worked out for my 2nd character idea.

Fortune Bravo

Anyone can look at it and let me know if there are any issues or make any suggestions. The character is described above.

I'm working on my 2nd character idea, with a Tarot Theme.

The rules for one power seemed odd. The power is Object Reading, p. 78 of SPC2. The cost is 2, with a modifier of "Requires Touch" which modifies the power by -2. If correct, that would make it a free power. Maybe the Requires touch should only be -1.

I'm still juggling powers, but I've chosen the hindrances and edges and one important power.

It will be a human female with the Young (minor) hindrance, basically a teenager. Poverty is the other minor hindrance, which makes sense for a teenager. I'm thinking her mother was her sole parent who was a super who got taken out by the V'sori, so her other hindrance is Vengeful (major), particularly wanting revenge on the V'sori but also anyone who takes away her Tik Tok app. Her mother was a sorcerer with a special Tarot deck that was the source of her powers. The daughter has inherited the deck and her mother taught her the basics of sorcery.

I would like to give her super sorcery and the edges Luck and Extra Luck, which gives 2 extra bennies each time they refresh. That way she can have some options that simulate spells. I might have some questions about what the limits are on that. For example, does it have to be just one power using up to 13 points or could it be two different powers combined with no more than 13 points?

I'm not interested in playing a villain, but since it was required in the first game I played, I wanted to see if it was still expected.

I worked up a first draft of a character. See the linked document from my Shared Drive. Anyone is free to look and give advice and/or point out problems. I have a second character idea I hope to work up a draft for today.

Lu Yan Immortal

I have not selected gear nor thought much about background. I don't have anything in mind at the moment that will have a significant game effect. The link in the document is to a Wikipedia page about a legendary figure of Chinese folklore. The character is often depicted as fond of drink (source of some of the Drunken Master Styles of Martial arts), so I might add the edge Liquid Courage after an advance. He is also depicted as a ladies man. A certain inspiration for this character comes from the character of Egg Shen from Big Trouble in Little China, although he was a sorcerer. Jackie Chan played a version of this folk hero in a movie but I have not seen it yet.

Karma - there are so many options in Ch. 3 that it would take me a day or two to go thru them well enough to understand their impact on the game, and even then one of them could become unbalanced. After a *very* quick glance, I'd say "for sure" :

Combined Attacks
Knockback
Large Improvised Weapons
Death & Defeat
No Finishing Moves
Never Surrender
Throwdown
I'm not going to pick a Super Style

Regarding Power Stunts, I'll allow them until someone figure out a way to abuse one, then that one's gone. :)

I just realized something. When you say the list is "for Sure", is that for sure included in our rules or excluded?

Since the rules in chapter three are characterized as options, I expect the default is that they are not in effect unless the GM says they are. So at some point, it would be good to take the time to read through them to select those that are in play, so we know what to expect.

Thanks. I just didn't want to put time into a character only to learn one of those setting options would force a redesign.

In the original Necessary Evil, the PCs were expected to start as villains who thereby avoided the purge of supers. Is that still the expectation or now that the V'sori are gone, or are regular good guy supers coming forward again?

The following are spoilered just to reduce the length of the post. Anyone can read and give feedback.

Third option
Keep Karma with some changes to reduce her initial power points, maybe change her hinderances to be less villainous.

I just skimmed chapter 3 of SPC3. Is there a particular set of options included or excluded?

Greetings! I (the player, Clebsch73) am an old friend of ZenFox (I won't say how old, but older than some players). He invited me to consider joining this restart of the NE game world, after the fall of the V'sori.

I played this PC in another version of SW NE PBP campaign that has died. I could adjust this to fit the current new PC character creation rules or come up with something different. I could go either way at present.

Karma is based on a Dark Horse Comics character called Ghost, published 30 years ago. Karma can go intangible and invisible and so is a great character for gathering intel. She could also be a super thief if she wasn't generally morally opposed to stealing, unless its from the rich and obnoxious. In the other game, the GM allowed her to just make a gun or other weapon go substantial for a moment to allow a physical attack without dropping her ghost-like abilities. The game ended before she had tested her combat abilities much.

I'm not a comics superhero nerd. A while back I collected some eclectic comics like Gen 13, Witchblade, and others, but I'm not a fan of most of the DC and Marvel line-up, with the possible exceptions of the Birds of Prey team. I like strong female supers, but could do otherwise if there is a preponderance of that.

One drawback at the moment: I'm a bit overextended in PBP commitments. I'm cutting back some games as they end and may drop out of one that's on hold that I've never had a chance to play my character in. That should help. I GM one game. Fortunately, my work is only part-time and I usually have plenty of time to post. I'll be retiring in a few months so that will open up some time.

This is a vacation week, so I'll put some time into considering a new character.

It's been three weeks without a post from the GM. As much as I like this game world and my character and the system, the extremely long periods when no posts happen is draining all the fun out of things.

We started this encounter back in August of 2023, so that is nine months and we're still in the thick of it. Most games would take at most a month or two for a major conflict. I'll hang in there but I really would like things to get back to everyone posting every day or two.

I've started joining more campaigns just so I have something to post to as many of the games I'm in have been likewise slow. I check for posts every day, but as days stretch into weeks, I'm losing interest.

Karma draws her Glock, points it at what she hopes is a vital organ of the closest v'sari, and concentrates on phasing the pistol into tangible form long enough to pull the trigger.

Spirit: 1d8 ⇒ 6
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Shooting: 1d8 ⇒ 5
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11
Ace: 1d6 ⇒ 1
AP 1

While Karma is not there to witness it, did one of their drones just use a grenade to get Psichops and then take out itself and three others?

Since it has been a while since my last action, can you confirm that Karma is still in the elevator intangible and invsible with the 3 scientist k'tharins?

I'm back. Danced on a Moonshadow! Saw the total eclipse through a nifty small reflecting telescope given to me by Psyclops player years ago. Awesome!

My work schedule has changed. For the next five weeks, I'll be unable to post generally after 3 PM (same time zone as New York City) on Monday through Thursday. I'll check games in the morning and make what posts I can.

Also, I may be traveling on April 6-9. I should have some access to Wifi and a laptop, but if a post is needed in this period, please
'bot my character. It's possible the trip will not happen, in which case I'll let you know. (I'm hoping to see the total solar eclipse on April 8 in Ohio, USA.)

Where are we in the initiative?

As Marvin said, Real Life! Don't talk to me about real life!

Karma NE wrote:

Karma was going to go for the V'sori next if she took the big dog down. I think she has enough movement to follow them into the elevator.

Karma sends a telepathic message to her allies in range, Two dogs down. Three V'sori in elevator going down. I'm with them now.

You may have the movement but it is no longer your card so you cannot normally move at the moment. There is a way though, take a look at the Interrupt power stunt on pg 31 of the SPC3. If you spend a bennie you can take take another turn, starting as if you were on hold. You could technically do this as many times as you have bennies making for ONE VERY big turn. You would even get to keep the Joker bonus through all the extra turns. There is a small additional downside though. As soon as you activate this power stunt you immediately become Distracted and Vulnerable as you have all ready acted normally this turn.

I have moved you back to where you killed the dog. Let me know if you are going to spend a benny to Inturrupt and then you can move and act again.

In my post, I indicated OOC that Karma would move after her attack but I was waiting to find out what the outcome of the attack was. My plan was to have her move toward the V'sori to set up an attack on them next turn if the attack on the dog took it out action. When you posted the results of the attack on the dog, you also went on to start the V'Sori's turn, so I did not get a chance to complete my move. If she cannot follow them into the elevator, she at least gets close to where they were before they moved. I'd rather not spend a benny with only two left. Do let me know if the elevator the V'Sori got on has started to descend or not. She hopes to tailgate into the elevator at the start of her next turn and follow them as best she can.

Karma was going to go for the V'sori next if she took the big dog down. I think she has enough movement to follow them into the elevator.

Karma sends a telepathic message to her allies in range, Two dogs down. Three V'sori in elevator going down. I'm with them now.

Back when we were divvying up the loot from the Slasher transport bust, Karma claimed an H&K SMG. I then forgot to add it to her weapons and gear listings. I'm doing so now.

Here is the post where I made the claim. I don't think anyone else claimed the SMG, so she had one as a back-up weapon.

Edit: If I might, I'd like to change that choice to one of the Glock pistols, as they do the same damage and she's mainly interested in the weapon for use with her phase in ability.

Another Canine Horror near the north end of the cages on the 5th floor.

This one has been dispatched.

Karma calmly ignores the canine horror trying to sink his big teeth into her, rotates the gun's cylinder to chamber the armor piercing round (Type A). She tries to position the gun barrel into the head of the dog, phase the gun in, fire it, and phase it back out, hoping to blast its brains from the inside out. After firing, she will move. Where moves will depend on the effect of the attack. I'm hoping this will give her both the bullet damage and the phase in damage, but I'll take what the GM awards.

Shooting: 1d8 ⇒ 8
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Shooting, ace: 1d8 ⇒ 3
Modifier +2 (joker)
Result: 8 + 3 + 2 = 13

Focus: 1d8 ⇒ 6
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Modifier +2 (joker)
Result: 6 + 2 = 8

Damage, AP bullet A: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5
Modifier +2 (joker)
Result: 5 + 2 = 7
Raise damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Does the raise bonus damage die also get +2 from the joker or is that just added to the total damage?

With some trepidation, Karma agrees to the telepathic request to override.

She was worried that if the expected explosion was too extensive, she might be too close, but the explosion is satisfactorily focused on the remaining dog and drone.

damage: 5d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 1, 5, 1) = 10

The explosion does not do as much damage as she hoped, but still it is satisfying to see. If nothing else, it may draw some threats on Psiclops and the others back to this area.

Karma moves through the remaining big dog into the cage area until she is about fifty feet from the dog. As she moves, she draws the fancy revolver she picked up earlier and adjusts the cylinders to place what she thinks, hopes, is the explosive round. She points the weapon at the dog, phases the pistol into tangible form, fires the round, and reverts it to intangible form.

Shooting: 1d8 ⇒ 4
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Wild, ace: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Result: 6 + 3 = 9

Focus, phase: 1d8 ⇒ 2
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 5

GM will have to roll the damage. This was round C.

Given how outnumbered we are, I'm thinking our best strategy is guerilla tactics, hitting and trying to kill the big dogs and then moving before the swarms of soldiers and drones can surround us.

Go get 'em Psycholps!

Sorry for your loss. Hope things improve soon.

I've been hoping that Karma, Savant, and Doc could create enough distrations to draw some of the 4th floor baddies away from Psyclops, but things precipitated too quickly around him. Good luck. My advice is to use some of the options from the GM and make a beeline down to force the enemies to divide their resources and hopefully allow Psyclops some time to get away or get to a good defensible spot.

Karma has some good options to do some damage to the Vsori on floor 5, which might cause them to call for support from those deployed downward. But that will take a turn or two.

Previous text should read: She aims a fist at where the heart of the dog outside the cage should be red and phases it into that position.

Karma flinches at the sight of the big dog's teeth closing around her torso, but relaxes when they cannot affect her. She allows herself a slight smile as she thinks, They can't touch me but I can touch them.

She aims a fist at where the dog outside the cage should be red and phases it into that position.

Focus: 1d8 ⇒ 2
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 5

The dogs just released on on the 5th floor. Karma intends them to be distraction #1. She's working at drawing more resources from floor 4 back up to floor 5. I think the dogs on the 4th floor are likely the creatures we are tasked with eliminating. They are modified and much more dangerous than the dogs Karma just released on floor 5.

Hoping for the best.

Focus: 1d8 ⇒ 3
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Karma phases her invisible hand long enough to unlatch and open the cage door, answering a musical question.

Karma moves in ghost form toward the dog cage with the thought of opening the cage door to let the dogs run wild, which will hopefully cause some distraction. She can get to any point along the west or north side.

What does it look like it will take to open the cage? Is is a straightforward latch or a lock requiring a key or some kind of electronic pass key? If it looks like she will require a key of some sort, she'll look to see if the drone standing north of the cage appears to have something. She'll phase attack the drone if she can't see an obvious way to open the cage at first glance.

Sorry to learn of your illness. We appreciate any efforts you can make to keep playing, but there's no shame or blame if you can't continue or have to be absent.

Can I get a description of what else Karma can see on the 5th floor besides the 5 alien troopers? I'm looking for ways to cause a distraction and draw some combatants from the lower areas back up to the higher floors. Depending on what other enemies might be in the room, she is thinking of just moving in and taking a shot at the K'tharen from ghost form, using the "phase" rules to phase her handgun into tangible form just long enough to fire the gun and then back to intangible.

Between the drones, the dogs, and the K'tharen, I think our best plan is to use guerilla tactics and hit and move, rather than trying to attack them all at once. Karma, Psiclops, and Doc Toxic can all either fly or move in ways that could elude attacks. If we're lucky, one of us might be able to find something that can go boom and start a fire to do more damage to more individuals.

Hey Karma, would you be so kind as to create some tokens for the players/ I could also use 2 dog-horrors and 5 shark-men. Goblin dogs and lizard men would work fine for these unless you get lucky. Oh I will also need five blue people to represent actual V'sori. Thank you.

Done. New figures are to the lower right.

I will work on it soon.

As soon as Karma sees the K'thren, she relays their descriptions to allies via telepathy.

I'll post Karma's next actions Friday.

I'm reading the new posts tonight and will post something Friday.

I hope your mother is okay. Family comes first.

While we're waiting for the GM to return, here's something to think about. I'm considering moderating a campaign with a Steampunk theme. There are a number of possible systems to use, including Savage Worlds.

There is also an interesting GURPS sourcebook based on the Graphic Narrative (comic book) called Girl Genius. I've played GURPS and like what it tries to do in principle, but in practice, it tends to get tedious during melee and complicated to create characters. Savage Worlds has its own melee complications, such as the soak rolls and Benny re-rolls. In PBP these can cause it to take days to discover the outcome of one solid success. In other ways, however, I think SW is cleaner in melee and definitely simpler to create characters.

There is a Savage Worlds Steampunk sourcebook called A Widening Gyre that was published before the last edition update to SWADE, but it has the basic character creation options and a few new skills and edges. The campaign ideas are serviceable but I much prefer the Girl Genius sourcebook as a campaign basis.

So I may modify the SW Steampunk sourcebook to fit the Girl Genius world and modify what the sourcebook has from GURPS to SW. Also, the Girl Genius Sourcebook is expensive and only available in paperback, so people on a budget would have a hard time affording the sourcebook. The Widening Gyre is available in pdf for under $10 US, so that would be a cheaper way to go.

It will be a while before I make an official post to start the campaign, but if anyone is interested, I'll keep you posted. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know via PM. In the meantime, if you haven't read the Girl Genius books, they are all available on line at https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php.

Since Doc Toxic is moving through the pipes, I suppose he would arrive in either a washroom or a lab sink or kitchen area. Is the map of the next floor up the same as the one we have? It might help to mark where Doc Toxic is on that map.

That's why I'm staying close to the wall. If they sense me, they can sense any of us. But they may have other tech ways to monitor the entrance area.

Drone reinforcements arriving. Looks like we're expected. We could fight through them, but I'd suggest Psi and Sav hang back while the Doc and I get above them and create a distraction to draw them off.

Karma will move up one floor, moving up from the stairwell where she has been watching the drones. She'll stay near the exterior wall in case she needs to make a quick exit.

I'm back.

Sorry to be absent recently. My wife was hospitalized a few days last week (she's okay and back home now). Between visits to the hospital and finishing my class for the term, I've been distracted from posting.

I'll also let everyone know now that I'm going to be traveling later this week and again toward the beginning of next week. I don't know my access to WIFI although I will have my laptop so I can post if I have time and access. I'll be attending my HS 50th anniversary next weekend.