Agreed. In some ways, MM is tricky for an 'on-the-rails' style of game, particularly in PbP where characters may have days or even weeks to come up with a plan, when they'd have mere minutes at a game table.
If I were you, I'd suggest a bit of a hybrid approach, like tumbler is suggesting. Come up with your list of events, and the actions the villains are going to perform, and then just stick to them. If the players ignore the plot hooks and 'rails', as it were, then they will perpetually being doing mop up, only reacting when the bad guys actually act openly. If they (we) don't adapt and start following the clues, we're going to be behind the 8-ball from the start, and either be really lousy heroes, or we will learn to start following clues.
(As an aside, personally I love maps, especially in a super-hero game where speedsters can have combat over huge distances, and tanks can interact with the environment by ripping out lampposts and picking up semi-trailers to use as improvised weapons. Of course, that's just me. I'm totally aware how labour intensive that is (particularly online - irl I just use a bit white board). Impractical sometimes, but oh so awesome...
Quark is not at molecular size, but am very small. I want to still be big enough to interact with the world.
[dice=Stealth]1d20 + 4 Hide in plain sight
Dr. Quark slips behind the display mount (whatever was holding the mask up), hoping he can avoid the gaze of the supervillains.
Given that I couldn't see you, and you were in the display, you'll presently be separated from the rest of the room by the force field I just threw up, so at least you're safe...
A portal open within the treasure room, swirling with mystic energies. The figure that steps through is tall young black man, with a shaved head, and wearing a oddly flowing clothes covered in mystic symbols, and bearing a somewhat Egyptian/Near Eastern feel.
The man's eyes glow with mystic power, and glowing wisps of magical energy trail from his hands and fingers. The magic gathers and swirls back into him as the door hanging in the air suddenly vanishes.
When he speaks, his voice is surprisingly soft, for a resonant baritone, but he speaks with a confidence that suggests he has addressed crowds of onlookers at some point before. "I had a feeling someone might express interest in some of these relics; individuals that have no business messing with things they do not understand. Now, you'd best stand down. Surrender, flee, it makes little difference to me, but in either event, you'll not be leaving with the items you came for."
Given that he is stepping through into the unknown, he'll shift his priorities to defense. Using a Defensive Posture, for a +2 Dodge bonus for the round. His major magic array will be set to Telekinesis.
He reaches out a hand and a nearly invisible wall of mystical force springs up, separating the occupants of the room from the entire wall/side of the room on which the mask's display case (and presumably other treasures) is located.
Minor Magics Array wrote:
Wall of Force (Create Object 9) (Array; Max Size: 9x 10' cubes, DC 19; Limited (Simple Shapes); Progression, Object Size)
Unlike the default assumption of Pathfinder and 3.5, merely having no Con score does not make you immune to Fortitude saves; it's more like having a Con score of '0'. I had thought that having no Con left you with a -5 on Fort saves, but I think someone on here said it results in an auto-fail instead; either way, anyone hits him with a Fort effect and he's pretty much toast.
Not having a Con score shouldn't affect his "defenses" at all, as plenty of corporeal but otherwise non-living heroes or villains might lack a Con score, such as undead or robotic creatures. Of course, pretty much all of those are going to take Immunity: Fortitude effects in order to represent the fact that they can't be affected by things intended to harm living creatures.
It's not a feat, it is a +0 Extra, as long as the effect does not typically save vs. Toughness (if it does, then it is a +1 Extra). Basically, if you think that you would always want it to work against Will instead of Fortitude, you could change that without any actual cost.
Found this over on a thread on Atomic Think Tank and had to share:
Regarding Game Room Rules:
Batgirl III wrote:
1st Rule: You do not talk about Game Room.
2nd Rule; You do not talk about Game Room.
3rd Rule: If someone says "stop" or goes lurker, or quotes Monty Python the campaign is over.
4th Rule: Only one Wolverine expy to a campaign.
5th Rule: One post at a time.
6th Rule: No pouches, no shoulder pads, no Youngblood's Disease.
7th Rule: Campaigns will go on as long as they have to.
8th Rule: If this is your first game in Game Room, you have to game.
Hey, the bail out is a time honoured comic book tradition, and one that has good potential to help ingratiate me to the team. Doesn't have to be the true intro; could be a teaser that primes the pump for our next encounter.
ok, but seriously, porting him to prison sounds like a good idea, until he rages and breaks everyone out. port him to captain thunder's.
Now that would be funny; especially after the dressing down in front of the media. However, Thoth wasn't a part of that, and would have no reason to have a beef with Thunder at this point, so it might be a hard sell to get him to do that...
Any abandoned salt mines in the area with tunnels 5 miles underground?
Thoth's Portal is limited to 200 miles without power stunting, but that altitude easily counts as space/vacuum. Anywhere within 200 miles of Freedom City that makes a good villain dumping spot? The yard at Super Human pen?
The Ocean probably makes the most sense as it as I doubt he'd drown or die of exhaustion swimming back, and swimming powers don't seem likely to be a part of his repertoire.
The power is Accurate though, meaning that since a power stunt would boost his range up to 200,000 miles, he could open a portal to anywhere on Earth that he is personally aware of (even if he's never actually been there), or anywhere out in space to around Lunar orbit. Hell, opening a portal to the moon itself might be possible. However, I don't think any outer space options are wise, since it would be hard to predict what a hole of sudden explosively decompressive forces would be like in the middle of a major population centre. At the least we'd run a strong risk of Invictus being sucked out in to space along with him.
I'm fully open to it. Where is Aegis HQ? I'm usually at my shop in the Theatre District during the day, but I had actually had the thought the other day that while he hasn't tended to get involved in super heroics too much so far, he might be inclined to show up to such a place under a cloak of invisibility in order to extricate any bystanders in danger...
Hopefully leaving enough signals that this was voluntary and intentional, so the party doesn't go on a wild goose-chase trying to figure out who might have kidnapped him.
The first idea I've had for a street level guy is actually a version of a character that has been percolating in my mind for some 20 years. The game I was playing back then (Heroes Unlimited from Palladium Games) didnt really have a way to handle the concept, so I had to back burner it for a while. After that, he just seemed a bit dark fr most games. I'm a chil of the nineties, and as much as people decry that era as the Dark Ages of comic books, I did pretty much all my comic collecting during that decade, and I have a lot of fond memories of the 90's antihero.
The idea would be this: an ex-soldier who was traumatized when something went wrong in his life. I'm picturing a punisher style origin where his family was wiped out, or a mission gone wrong where he was the only survivor. However, in his case, whatever the event was, it was completely his fault, or at least he believes it was. As a part of the incident, whether by mystic, supernatural, technological or chemical reasons, he gained the ability to heal; not just heal a little, or quickly, but from pretty much anything, and pretty much instantly. Other than that power, he'd probably be something of a super normal. Psychologically, he is all kinds of messed up; though he was a bit of a badass once (SAS or SEAL, or some such), but now, he pretty much lives as a hobo. In addition to PTSD and depression, he had a massive dose of survivor's guilt, and as a result of all this, is pretty profoundly suicidal. However, do to the powers he developed, he can't seem to die! No matter how severe the injury, from decapitation, to dismemberment and more, he is healthy as a horse a roun or two later. So, he has no idea what to do with himself, he wants to die but just can't, and has basically nothing to live for. Within this context, he sees his other homeless companions getting roughed up by these guys or those, he's started acting out to defend them. He never thinks of himself as a hero, but rather just a nobody, trying to help out the most neglected people in society.
The Dresden Files have to be my number one favourite book series. I've looked at the set up in the Fate system, and it is very interesting. However, I tend to like something a little meatier in the rules department , and Fate is definitely very a very rules-light system. It has actual struck me before that Mutants and Masterminds might be a good alternative system...
A guy who no one can remember. Not sure how to build the powers, but experiences with him can't be stored in long term memory. Sort of like he turns everyone into the guy in Memento.
Anonymous (Transform 9: Mental) (Area: Burst 45 ft Radius, Continuous, Independent; Limited to erasing memories, Limited to erasing memories of himself, Permanent)
No saving throw would be cool too, but jump the cost from 9pp to 27.
Something I never noticed before, but the symbols that show up to cover up profanities are randomly determined, every time you load the page. Hit refresh and they change every time.
S&##
F++~
Of course, no system is perfect, and eventually someone is going to figure out how to just bypass that shіt altogether...
Broadway: Power Contests are usually a contested roll, yours vs. his; not a DC. So his +10 vs. your +9. That still leaves an 8 out of 20 chance that you could beat him on such a check. 40% is not terrible odds...
The following is a bit of a metagame suggestion, since my character is not there, of course, but I thought I would offer it as Broadway is sounding a little discouraged. It also seems like the kind of things that would be apparent to a sound manipulator...
Broadway:
I don't know the exact nature of the Silencer's powers, but it seems that you might be able to batter your way through them, overpowering his ability to dampen sound.
Nullify wrote:
Make a ranged attack roll to hit the target. Then make an opposed check of your Nullify rank and the effect’s rank or the target’s Will save, whichever is higher. If you are targeting the subject of an effect rather than the effect’s user, make an opposed power check (Will save is not a factor). If you win, the targeted effect turns off, although the user can re-activate it normally. If you lose the opposed check, you do not Nullify the effect and trying again against the same subject in the same encounter requires extra effort.
Ok, so given how Nullify works, it doesn't sound like it would be Nullify Sound Effects. Dazzle (Sound) is probably out since you weren't deafened. It could be an Illusion of silence, but that is usually considered an alternate Obscure effect under Illusion, so Obscure seems most likely. Obscure works by creating concealment for a particular sense, so how you would counter it (story-wise) would depend on what the in-game explanation was, but the mechanics of Countering the effect would be the same regardless.
Ultimate Power wrote:
HOW COUNTERING WORKS
To counter an effect, take a ready action. In doing so, you wait to complete your action until your opponent tries to use an effect. You may still move, since ready is a standard action. You must be able to use the countering effect as a standard, move, or free action to ready it. Effects usable as a reaction do not require a ready action; you can use them to counter at any time. Effects requiring a full action or longer cannot counter another effect in combat, although they may potentially counter ongoing effects (see the following section)
COUNTERING ONGOING EFFECTS
You can also counter a maintained or lasting effect, or the lingering results of an instant effect (like flames ignited by fiery Damage). This requires a normal use of the countering effect and an opposed power check, as above. If you are successful, you negate the effect (although the opposing character can attempt to re-establish it normally).
There are two or three plausible methods for creating silence that come to mind: Either, somehow he keeps the molecules of the air from vibrating, eliminating the conduction of sound through the medium, it's a neurological effect of some kind that keeps people from perceiving sound, or more likely, he emits some sort of soundwaves of his own in a direct inverse to the waveform of the extant soundwaves in the air, in the same way that Noise Cancelling Headphones work (and some of the quiet heavy machinery like jackhammers coming onto the market). Of course, to work as completely as it does, it would have to be way more advanced than the present tech, and have some way of predicting or scanning the soundwaves travelling throughout the area.
Seems to me like some massive emissions of soundwaves from within the zone could overpower the effect, or overload the tech, or whatever is causing it, by exceeding the capacity of what the power can Obscure; basically, a straight forward Power Contest.
Another thought occurs that if he is emitting soundwaves of his own to counter the sounds in the area, that an interesting Power Stunt, performed by a master of sound of some sort, were you to happen to know one, would allow said sound guy to home in on the source of the effect, and reveal the Silencer's exact location.
Over Watch runs the risk of coming across rather Big Brother/Secret Police-ish; sounds a bit distopian. I like the New Guard though! Sounds perfect to me.
Where's Riggs? He stay in L.A. when Murtaugh decided to take a desk-job retirement out in Freedom City? Or is he going to be causing trouble around here too?
Cool. Most of the expies do a reasonably good job of capturing the general feel of the big Marvel and DC characters, or create an interesting amalgam of similar characters from each setting. However, I'd agree that sometimes the originals just have something to them that the expies just can't imitate.
I noticed a couple of DC characters in the O.P. site; Deathstroke and Vandal Savagespecifically. Are they being included in our version of the setting? I know DC is one of the officially supported settings for 3e, but out of curiousity, is there a reason these two were included instead of the usual Freedom Universe expies?
The Upstarts?
Stormwatch
The Troubleshooters
The Troublemakers
The Guardian Angels
The Crusaders
Guardian Force
The 'B' Team (A self depricating pun about being under the shadow of the more established Freedom League)
The Protectors (Simple, and to the point. Can't believe that one hasn't been well used before)
Freedom City riffs (Though most are a bit aggressive sounding):
Freedom Legion or Legion of Freedom
Freedom Fighters
Freedom Force
The Freedom Knights or Knights of Freedom
Drawing on Ancient Legends:
The Argonauts (Greek)
The Immortals (Persian)
The Myrmidons (Greek)
Einherjaren (Norse - Brave warriors that fell in battle, and therefor proven worthy to be taken up for the endless wars in Asgard.)
@ Thoth. Much cleaner character, I like how he compliments the team, covering some of the bases we lack. One note though, you may need to change your history slightly. According to the Timeline the Terminus Invasion happened in 2000, and Claremont wasn't opened until 2004. As you weren't empowered at the time of your enrollment, you could most likely just substitute another prestigious prep school for Claremont. I made the same mistake in Invictus' initial history! :)
Glad this version works better. As for Claremont Academy, actually, I was taking the timeline into effect, and it is completely necessary for what I have written to work. The New Claremont Academy, as it functions now, was opened in 2004, as a school for superpowered youth. However, it wasn't build from the ground up. Rather, the Claremont Academy was a pre-existing prestigious private school before terminus. This version of the school was damaged to such a degree in the Terminus Invasion that it was unable to afford the repairs, and closed down. Summers was then able to buy the now-defunct school in order to establish his version.
Freedom City, pg 39 wrote:
The Claremont Academy is a prestigious private school in Bayview Heights.
The Academy, founded in 1871 by Dr. Charles Claremont, has maintained a small and exclusive student body. In recent years, attendance at the Academy slowly declined as students attended newer private schools in the Freedom City area.
The school was forced to close its doors in 1993 due to severe damage it couldn’t repair from the Terminus Invasion. It was rebuilt and revitalized with money from Duncan Summers, who also became the school’s new headmaster when it reopened. Unknown to the world at large, Summers was once the masked hero known as the Raven, a role now assumed by his daughter Callie and the Claremont Academy now serves as a school for young superheroes-in-training.
With the adjusted time-line, Claremont Academy was destroyed in 2000, instead of 1993. At that point, Elijah was an ordinary (though precocious) kid, attending the most prestigious local prep school available. It actually has nothing to do with his becoming a super-hero later, as such, but just serves as a tie to the setting. Given that it was an area where heavy fighting obviously had to have occurred, it also made a significant impact on Elijah, given the trauma of seeing people he knew killed, and then seeing the Centurion sacrifice himself mere minutes later.
To reiterate, he didn't attend Duncan Summer's Academy for super powered youth; he attended the school whose grounds would go on to be used for said school.
I have been following the game since the beginning, and you probably recall me as The Imaginator. I loved the idea of that character, but when it came to the reality of making him work, he was just too much. As a result, I was forced to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new idea, and try to find something that would complement the team as it is now.
I decided to go with a mystic, as there is very little in the magic in the party so far, but enough mystic flavour, with an ancient god and an undead spirit, that a wizard wouldn't be too out of place. There was another character after the Imaginator, but his theme and background turned out to be more Urban Fantasy that Four-Colour comic, and as a result didn't seem to be a strong fit for the present campaign. So, this guy is definitely a stronger comic book fit.
Feel free to have a look at the character, and give me feedback on flavour or mechanics. In regards to superheroes, he's more similar to Dr. Fate than your Dr. Strange types, as his magic is basically a boon provided by an artifact.
I set him up with the intent of complementing the existing team, and filling in some of their weaknesses without retreading familiar territory or infringing on anyone's role. As such, he has a lot of mental abilities, Mind Reading, Mind Control, and Astral Projection. As well he brings some more Healing (Healing never goes amiss), and while he can't heal at range like Techno, he can heal a wider array of conditions. For battlefield control, he has a pretty potent illusion power. And last, and possibly most useful, Teleportation portals. He'll be able to get the whole team anywhere they need to go extremely quickly, or extract them just as quick. Fighting wise, he's on par with most others, as long as it's against sentient creatures, but he's limited on options against machines or constructs, as he's kind of a psychic mystic type. In some ways, that seems like an interesting counterbalance to Techno, who has limited options against non-machines; the other side of the same coin.
If you have suggestions for any final rounding out or changes, please let me know.
