Superteam Radios

[Silbeg]

The players in my Champions game have devised "closed circuit radios" as such:

 

13 Closed Link Radio: Mind Link , Human and Machine Class classes of

minds, Any Willing Target, No LOS Needed, Number of Minds (x8) (50

Active Points); Only With Others Who Have Mind Link (-1), OAF (-1), Does

Not Provide Mental Awareness (-1/4), Sense Affected As Hearing (-1/4),

Sense Affected As More Than One Sense [Radio] (-1/4)

 

There has been some question as to the utility in spending 13 cps on such a device (all characters have them, plus some of their contacts, and their AI, as well as the autopilots on their vehicles). It has been mentioned that in previous games (and editions) that radios that would cost 5 points (or less).

 

My question is, what do you all do for your characters communication devices?

 

Thanks!

 

Silbeg...

[phydaux]

7 Radio Perceive/Transmit OIF Headset

[Ghost who Walks]

Well, I think buying it as a a mindlink will give you a range of anywhere on the planet. May not be needed in some campaigns.

 

If you players like cheap stuff, try this:

 

Radio Perception/Transmission

OAF (Headset) (-1)

Not Underwater (-1/4)

Not in Intense Magnetic Fields (-1/4)

Incantations (-1/2)

One Frequency Only (-1)

Full Phase (-1/2)

1/2 DCV (-1/4)

Activate <14 (-1/2)

Side Effects (Gets AM Radio), (-1/2)

Active Points = 10

Total Cost = 1

 

I tend to just allow players to have anything "off the shelf" for 0 points, they pay for it with the money perk.

[Blue]

Mine are part of the gadget pool available in one of the Base's labs. Mind you that means they should technically not be allowed outside the base, but I don't mind so much.

 

If they want to use things like cell-phones, I let them at 0 cost with the disclaimer that it will fail (whenever I want it to fail) and will likely be damaged first time the character takes damage or rolls unluck.

[Trebuchet]

Cost 2: Team Radio (Earbug): Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group); Team Discount (-1 3/4), IIF Fragile (-1/2), Limited Frequencies (-1/2), Flashed as Hearing (-1/4)

 

We use the above setup in our game. The radios use cellular frequencies, and are line of sight only unless the characters are in a cellular network. (They work very poorly underground and not at all underwater. Since they are Fragile, they'll pretty much fail whenever the character takes a good hit to the head or gets zapped with electricity. The team bonus is to keep the radios at the same cost as they were in 4th Edition. These have only two preset frequencies and cannot be used to scan. They are encrypted, but with nothing that can't be cracked by any competent police or military signals types. That's worth -0.

[zornwil]

For communication we have a mentalist who does the Mind Link herself - though she has it bought so it can continue on when she's knocked out in combat, her mind basically just stays "open". In a prior game it was similar as a magician whipped a spell up that allowed everyone to Mind Link.

 

The other posters here basically have it right. Bear in mind what is not like a radio about what you wrote - if it's not really a mind link, it should require speaking, for example. Does it require power, what are the END limitations on it? Stuff like that. Ghost who Walks has what may seem like a pretty munchkin-like setup but 90% of it is real-world and justified (a -1/2 for "gets AM radio" seems a tad generous, but, hey, I'm splitting hairs here) - it's a good template.

[loraxxx]

jeez louise!!--

 

in the games i'm in we simply HAVE radios--0 pt cost--for simple communication, in and out of combat....

 

anything more sophisticated requires the spending of points, but that's usually by our tech characters....

[Trebuchet]

Originally posted by loraxxx

in the games i'm in we simply HAVE radios--0 pt cost--for simple communication, in and out of combat....

 

anything more sophisticated requires the spending of points, but that's usually by our tech characters....

I think charging a few points for radios is appropriate. Good communications is a tremendous tactical edge in a fight, and it should cost something IMHO even if the cost is largely symbolic. A hand set is not all that handy when your PC is locked in mortal combat and needs both hands. Our team's powered armor guy has the High Range Radio at full value. His doesn't break or get jammed all the time.

 

We permit the PCs to carry satellite cell phones with GPS trackers in their secret IDs for 0 points. That seems reasonable considering such devices exist in the real world and are inexpensively priced. Of course those free devices also have all the flaws of the real ones, including fragility and an irritating habit of running out of juice just when you need them most.

[freakboy6117]

teh first write up is much more like The Authority's radio telepathy than a simple communicator of course yhat allows images and fully imerrsive VR to be sent as well wonder what that would cost

[zornwil]

Originally posted by Trebuchet

I think charging a few points for radios is appropriate. Good communications is a tremendous tactical edge in a fight, and it should cost something IMHO even if the cost is largely symbolic. A hand set is not all that handy when your PC is locked in mortal combat and needs both hands. Our team's powered armor guy has the High Range Radio at full value. His doesn't break or get jammed all the time.

 

We permit the PCs to carry satellite cell phones with GPS trackers in their secret IDs for 0 points. That seems reasonable considering such devices exist in the real world and are inexpensively priced. Of course those free devices also have all the flaws of the real ones, including fragility and an irritating habit of running out of juice just when you need them most.

 

Another reason to charge for in-combat communication (to me) is that it helps to explain the high degree to which PCs can (in most campaigns - a few GMs I've heard of contain this) collude in the midst of combat. I agree it's worth a few points. As Treb says, real-world devices should be as flawed appropriately, so it's also worth a few points for that super-reliability.

[CrosshairCollie]

I just said 'here, here's some radios', no cost. I was considering making them pay for it because of the tactical advantage provided by battlefield communication, but then I remembered that not a bloody one of 'em has the tactical sense to outmaneuver Bulldozer.

 

And, sure enough, they've got the tactical unity of the Three Stooges.

[Ghost who Walks]

The other posters here basically have it right. Bear in mind what is not like a radio about what you wrote - if it's not really a mind link, it should require speaking, for example. Does it require power, what are the END limitations on it? Stuff like that. Ghost who Walks has what may seem like a pretty munchkin-like setup but 90% of it is real-world and justified (a -1/2 for "gets AM radio" seems a tad generous, but, hey, I'm splitting hairs here) - it's a good template

In a past life, I was a Rules Rapist.

 

Reliable communications can cause problems for the GM.

1) How do you have a decent deathtrap, when the player can call for help?

2) Heroes on patrol become cops walking a beat. They see one mugger and summon the entire team to beat him up.

3) Heroes encounter guy with a gun, and call the police. Heroes encounter Dr. Destroyer and call the Avengers. Heroes encounter Galactus and call NASA...it goes on, and on, and on...

$) Any decent techno villain can trace the signal from a communications device. This makes maintaining a secret identity difficult.

 

In the current campaign I am running, all the PC's have these little televisions that transmit the team leaders image to their homes. Several of them have secret identities, and the team leader is an NPC. This allows the team leader to summon the team, should something happen.

 

The team base has a dispatcher/receptionist, who handles incoming calls. At one point the team had personal radios, but a couple were lost to a villain, who kept making crank phone calls to the base. Since then, radios have to be "signed out". All the vehicles have them.

 

I did it this way because I wanted to have the heroes do things by themselves, just like in the comics. The NPC leader works well, because the players often leave him in the dark on what they do (just like you don't tell a supervisor what you are doing).

 

One other thing the base contains is a private line for each hero. This allows them to call to maintain a hotline, voice recording, and informants. Useful for secret IDs.

 

It all depends on the campaign. I played one (as a player) where my super-patriot for the past 50 years had the President on his speed dial. Useful when you needed an airstrike.

[JmOz]

This is how I do it for the centurions:

 

7 Centurion Radio Link: Mind Link (Specific Group of Minds), Number of Minds (x2), Radio not Mental (+0) (15 Active Points); Only With Others Who Have Mind Link (-1), IIF (-1/4)

 

Okay, now let me explain how it works in mechanics:

 

Each Mind Link is to a different channel, as all the members are keyed to this channel they are all in a "chat room" type encviroment (If you must have direct accountability consider it a link to there base computer or something, I allow for the links to be to a fictatious mind). Now they can "dump" the codes, this means that they turn off the mind link, after they do this, they will need to return to base, or aquire the codes off of someone else (Making contact should have No range, but I do not feel that comes up enough to be worth points) before they can join the communication (note that I do not consider being flashed enough to loose the link, you still have it you just can't use it). Also note that mind Link is Persistant. This is why I do not consider it needing the No LOS adder

 

Also it is not ANY willing member because the radios are a controled item, not everyone has them

[ChuckB]

As a GM , I normally don't charge points for real-world items (although some stuff might cost more) , but there's an understanding that the items aren't necessarily as power-friendly , durable or reliable as similar items paid with by points.

[Silbeg]

To being things back to another level, I will say that the team used to use cheaper (2 pt under 4th) radios, but they decided that they wanted to use a mind-linked based product to simulate the encrypted radios.

 

I am going to add "Incantations, -1/4" to the power, as speaking is required... Kind of fudging the numbers, as it is not required throughout (you need to be able to listen!), but only to be heard (i.e., speaking).

 

This does end up saving the team a point on their radios. I am going to discuss with them dropping the number of open channels (Number of Minds)... four would probably be enough out of combat, but they would need the 8 to handle "in combat" situtations.

 

Silbeg....

[Silbeg]

Originally posted by Ghost who Walks

Radio Perception/Transmission

OAF (Headset) (-1)

Not Underwater (-1/4)

Not in Intense Magnetic Fields (-1/4)

Incantations (-1/2)

One Frequency Only (-1)

Full Phase (-1/2)

1/2 DCV (-1/4)

Activate <14 (-1/2)

Side Effects (Gets AM Radio), (-1/2)

Active Points = 10

Total Cost = 1

Ghost, I think you have your calculations incorrect...

Using HeroDesigner, I come up with the following:

2 Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group) (10 Active Points); 
 OAF (-1), Limited Power Set Frequency (-1), Incantations (throughout; -1/2), 
  Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Concentration, throughout (1/2 DCV; -1/2), 
  Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), Side Effects (Gets AM Radio; -1/2), 
  Conditional Power Power Does Not Work In Water (-1/4), 
  Conditional Power Power Does Not Work In Intense Magnetic Fields (-1/4)

Not a big deal, but it is a difference of a point! (Damned rules lawyers! HDv2 gives 'em even more power!)

However, I would make the following observations...

• the side-effect is trivial, and probably isn't be worth the limitation, and since the radio is already defined as only having one frequency, how does this happen?
  
• Incantations throughout is a little limiting on the conversation. Incantations (only to send) -1/4 would make more sense to me...
  
• The activation makes using the radios a little risky when the heroes need them.
  

Removing the above still leaves the real cost at 2. In fact, you can remove either the concentration or the extra time (I would remove the former), and it remains at 2 points...

2 Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group) (10 Active Points); OAF (-1), 
 Limited Power Set Frequency (-1), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), 
 Conditional Power Power Does Not Work In Water (-1/4),
 Conditional Power Power Does Not Work In Intense Magnetic Fields (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4)

 

Just my humble opinion...

 

Silbeg...

[RDU Neil]

Originally posted by phydaux

7 Radio Perceive/Transmit OIF Headset

 

It was easier to convince players that radios were worth the points when they only cost 2 under 4th.

 

7 under 5th is a jump... though High Range (which includes video, etc) is only 8 pts OIF now. In the past the difference was 2 or 5.

 

I like the High Range... because with those points spent, I justify my players having HUDs with full satelite feed, etc. They can send images to one another, and all that fun movie/heads up display stuff.

 

One team has a 600 pt mentalist, so he has just set up Mind Links with all the members.

[zornwil]

Originally posted by Ghost who Walks

(snip)

Reliable communications can cause problems for the GM.

1) How do you have a decent deathtrap, when the player can call for help?

2) Heroes on patrol become cops walking a beat. They see one mugger and summon the entire team to beat him up.

3) Heroes encounter guy with a gun, and call the police. Heroes encounter Dr. Destroyer and call the Avengers. Heroes encounter Galactus and call NASA...it goes on, and on, and on...

$(sic)) Any decent techno villain can trace the signal from a communications device. This makes maintaining a secret identity difficult.

(snip)

 

Just a few additional comments on how to counter these problems, if necessary:

 

1) Most deathtraps come complete with various communication suppressions, as communication devices have SFX that may be countered. However, sometimes it's good to go ahead and leave this "loophole" as an escape valve - the real pressure will be on the players to get out of the deathtrap "in time" and even if help is on the way, can they make it in time?

 

2) I would hope the PCs wouldn't bother to do this with small fries, but this particular one doesn't bother me as a GM. I usually want the players together, and if I need to keep them separate, usually just ensuring they're far enough apart that response times are slow is good enough.

 

3) One good thing is that the Avengers and NASA are often too busy doing their own thing.

 

4) This is one part fudge to me and one part in-game. In some part, secret IDs are always going to be easier to find out in real life than in the comics. For the villain to trace back the communication, they do have to be actively looking for it. I think it's fairly rare they'll catch it at the right moment and be able to trace quickly enough. However, for those who may, the hero may have Invisible Power Effects added or may otherwise do some things to make it less traceable.

[Farkling]

I let them carry cell phones for free, since you can buy them on any street corner (at Circle K). The only character who has a cell phone with survivability so far, is the character with the "protects carried objects" adder on his force field.

 

A pair of the players buy walkie talkies off the rack when they patrol. They pretty much accept that they'll need new ones by the end of the night.

 

One player has full HRR, and flaunts it. He talks on the cell phones, satellite frequencies, calls the base computer, monitors police bands, recieves feeds from computer expert, describes his analytic/detect powers as HUD displays, etc etc etc.

[Ghost who Walks]

Originally posted by Silbeg

Ghost, I think you have your calculations incorrect...

Using HeroDesigner, I come up with the following:

2 Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group) (10 Active Points); 
 OAF (-1), Limited Power Set Frequency (-1), Incantations (throughout; -1/2), 
  Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Concentration, throughout (1/2 DCV; -1/2), 
  Activation Roll 14- (-1/2), Side Effects (Gets AM Radio; -1/2), 
  Conditional Power Power Does Not Work In Water (-1/4), 
  Conditional Power Power Does Not Work In Intense Magnetic Fields (-1/4)

Not a big deal, but it is a difference of a point! (Damned rules lawyers! HDv2 gives 'em even more power!)

However, I would make the following observations...

• the side-effect is trivial, and probably isn't be worth the limitation, and since the radio is already defined as only having one frequency, how does this happen?
  
• Incantations throughout is a little limiting on the conversation. Incantations (only to send) -1/4 would make more sense to me...
  
• The activation makes using the radios a little risky when the heroes need them.
  

Removing the above still leaves the real cost at 2. In fact, you can remove either the concentration or the extra time (I would remove the former), and it remains at 2 points...

2 Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group) (10 Active Points); OAF (-1), 
 Limited Power Set Frequency (-1), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), 
 Conditional Power Power Does Not Work In Water (-1/4),
 Conditional Power Power Does Not Work In Intense Magnetic Fields (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4)

 

Just my humble opinion...

 

Silbeg...

I knew there was a reason I didn't use Hero Designer.

 

Actually, I just give the players stuff for free that they can buy off the shelf. At one time however, I had players paying points for everything. That got to be tiresome, because players would forget about much of the stuff they were carrying.

 

AM radio can be pretty annoying, when you accidently start broadcasting on it.

 

Originally posted by zornwil

Just a few additional comments on how to counter these problems, if necessary:

 

1) Most deathtraps come complete with various communication suppressions, as communication devices have SFX that may be countered. However, sometimes it's good to go ahead and leave this "loophole" as an escape valve - the real pressure will be on the players to get out of the deathtrap "in time" and even if help is on the way, can they make it in time?

 

2) I would hope the PCs wouldn't bother to do this with small fries, but this particular one doesn't bother me as a GM. I usually want the players together, and if I need to keep them separate, usually just ensuring they're far enough apart that response times are slow is good enough.

 

3) One good thing is that the Avengers and NASA are often too busy doing their own thing.

 

4) This is one part fudge to me and one part in-game. In some part, secret IDs are always going to be easier to find out in real life than in the comics. For the villain to trace back the communication, they do have to be actively looking for it. I think it's fairly rare they'll catch it at the right moment and be able to trace quickly enough. However, for those who may, the hero may have Invisible Power Effects added or may otherwise do some things to make it less traceable.

1) I find blocking the SFX a bit forced, if they actually paid points for it. I don't use deathtraps that often, but when I do I allow multiple ways out of it.

 

2) I've started some scenarios with a mugging, where the hero stops the mugger, and finds some alien gizmo in the purse. When he turns around to find the victim, they are gone. Thus the scenario is to find the victim. Another time, the heroine went to stop a mugging, and it turned out it was her archnemesis who was being robbed. THey got into a big fight, and the mugger got away.

 

3) Or they just leave their phone off the hook...

 

4) What can I say? I have some paranoid players.

 

Originally posted by Farkling

I let them carry cell phones for free, since you can buy them on any street corner (at Circle K). The only character who has a cell phone with survivability so far, is the character with the "protects carried objects" adder on his force field.

 

A pair of the players buy walkie talkies off the rack when they patrol. They pretty much accept that they'll need new ones by the end of the night.

 

One player has full HRR, and flaunts it. He talks on the cell phones, satellite frequencies, calls the base computer, monitors police bands, recieves feeds from computer expert, describes his analytic/detect powers as HUD displays, etc etc etc.

 

The following is a random thought, purely to make this post longer.

 

If Superman flies faster than a speeding bullet...and the Flash is even faster...wuldn't their sonic booms take out the villains without them having to lift a finger?

[zornwil]

Originally posted by Ghost who Walks

I1) I find blocking the SFX a bit forced, if they actually paid points for it. I don't use deathtraps that often, but when I do I allow multiple ways out of it.

 

Well, depends on the SFX. I think most villains are going to block electronic communications, though, so I don't find that forced at all. Also, if the villain is used to fighting the team, he'll know, for example, to dampen their salient powers if he can. So that's what I'm talking about, and I would not advocate forcing it.

 

Actually I don't build multiple ways out of a deathtrap. Normally I build none at all as players are pretty clever and get to put their heads together. I just make sure I know the trap well enough to respond "realistically".

 

If Superman flies faster than a speeding bullet...and the Flash is even faster...wuldn't their sonic booms take out the villains without them having to lift a finger?

 

Isn't a sonic boom the same volume according to the mass breaking the speed barrier? Of course we could resort to comic book physics, but I think in this case there might be a real answer.

[Trebuchet]

Originally posted by Ghost who Walks

If Superman flies faster than a speeding bullet...and the Flash is even faster...wuldn't their sonic booms take out the villains without them having to lift a finger?

The effect of a sonic boom is a function of both the size and shape of the object breaking the sound barrier. That makes sense when you think about: Bullets commonly break the sound barrier, yet you don't see windows shattering every time someone pulls the trigger.

 

A friend of mine was involved with supersonic sleds at White Sands Missile Range a few years ago. They had a truck sized mockup of the Space Shuttle on a rail which they could accelerate to well over Mach 5, but when I asked him about the boom he said it never caused any problems with nearby windows.

 

That being the case, I suspect a character would have to be moving very fast to break windows, well over Mach 5. Typically, I just do it when it's genre, because it's cool.

[drrushing]

character radios

 

7 Centurion Radio Link: Mind Link (Specific Group of Minds), Number of Minds (x2), Radio not Mental (+0) (15 Active Points); Only With Others Who Have Mind Link (-1), IIF (-1/4)

 

I like this general set-up. I think I would add the "Subject to Range Modifier (-1/4), after all a world wide radio might be a little too helpful. I think I would also leave out "Incantations", this could allow you to simulate something like a "throat mic". The character could remain relatively silent while communicating with teammates. Maybe worth a few minuses to PER rolls to detect them.........

 

And these team radio's cases are made from the latest super-titanium alloy.............

[Silbeg]

New Idea

 

Rather than the rather expensive mind-link radios, I am suggesting the following now. I think this may do what we want. However, I am not sure this works for the encryption idea... should this be an advantage?

 

 

3 Standard Secure Radios: Radio Perception/Transmission (Radio Group)

(10 Active Points); OAF (-1), Sense Affected As More Than One Sense [Hearing]

(-1/2), Incantations (-1/4), Extra Time (Full Phase, Only to Activate, -1/4),

Limited Power Encrypted Only With Encryption Key (-1/4)

 

1 Perk: Encryption Key

[JmOz]

Re: character radios

 

Originally posted by drrushing

I like this general set-up. I think I would add the "Subject to Range Modifier (-1/4), after all a world wide radio might be a little too helpful. I think I would also leave out "Incantations", this could allow you to simulate something like a "throat mic". The character could remain relatively silent while communicating with teammates. Maybe worth a few minuses to PER rolls to detect them.........

 

And these team radio's cases are made from the latest super-titanium alloy.............

 

I did not give it Incantations