WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

[JeffreyWKramer]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

Depends on the SFX of the "Detect Lie." It would make sense for the character to buy the Sense Affecting Power vs. that particular sense' date=' the way someone might buy Images vs. High Range Radio, or Shape Shift vs. Normal Sight. As for where would I have it, probably as part of a trickster avatar's VPP or even normal suite of powers. I don't really think we need a mechaniced out example.[/quote']

 

Yeah, I'm sure Loki or Coyote - or Lucifer - would have an Always On Images to Detect Lie/Truthsense.

 

Good thinking.

[Chuckg]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

I think it would be' date=' actually. I'd have to consult his character sheet to be sure. For that matter, so would Daredevil's version of Detect Lie. However, a different character may have a Mystic Sense which Detects Lies, whereas another might have it as a Mental Sense.[/quote']

 

Well, as I remember it being originally designed, while his Detect Lies was limited only to people speaking in his presence (so as to avoid the In Nomine-import Stupid Seraph Tricks of resonating books, speech transcripts, TV broadcasts, DVDs, etc.), it was mystically based as being part and parcel of his whole "god of truth" heritage.

 

Remember, it comes from the same VPP that's also been used to give him ungodly PER bonuses to see through Images vs. Sight, and all the other 'penetrate lies and see the truth' things.

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

If I'm recalling the Detect rules correctly, it could still be a part of his hearing group even if the sfx was mystical power to detect spoken lies. It would get the modifiers for the Hearing group for free. If it was a totally new sense, I think he would have had to pay for everything (ranged, etc) but it would comparatively heard to use sense altering powers against it (They'd have to costumized against that sense group).

[caris]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

Yeah, I'm sure Loki or Coyote - or Lucifer - would have an Always On Images to Detect Lie/Truthsense.

 

Good thinking.

yeah, the big problem is that it would only really come to mind for the GM during the character creation phase of the NPC if it is a power that one of the PCs uses a lot.

[The Watcher]

Spectrum's Crossovers

 

And here's how Spectrum, the alt Sentinel made when the lineup for the actual campaign was still in flux. The team he would have been on would have included Horus-Re, Baron Darien, Psi-Legionaire (an extradimensional refugee from an Earth protected by a Lensmanesque psionic guard), and an unnamed speedster.

 

Like my post for Warp, and S7Michelle's post for Sailor Io, I'll be adding a few more heroes every so often.

 

Audra Blue: Seeing her panic attack Horus and Spectrum would try to calm her down verbally, while Psi-Legionaire might sense the source of her panic and provide a mental illusion of her base to give her a safe environment to recover from it.

 

Once she's over the attack the Sentinels will talk to her and find out what happened. Unfortunately for Audra (and everyone else who doesn't have the means to dimension travel themselves or team mates capable of rescuing them) the Sentinels have no way of reopening the portal she fell through so she will be stuck on their Earth for the indefinite future.

 

Spectrum and Horus will use their contacts to try to set up their refugee in a place she finds comfortable until they can figure a way to send her home, and to get whatever medications she needs to deal with her implants. The team will keep in touch with her, and would consult her when they have need of her information gathering and computer talents.

 

Anthem: After figuring out where she's from, what happened, and how her world is different the team will get accomadations for her until they can figure out how to send her home. Spectrum will also use his influence to get her DOSPA sanctioning quickly if she wants to continue her heroic career on their Earth while she waits for a way back to hers.

 

Uncle Slam: His level of power coupled with his background in the military would make him a prime canidate for Sentinels membership in Spectrum's eyes, once security concerns were satisfied. He'd try to recruit him to be a member for the duration of his stay.

 

Whatever Uncle Slam's decision, he and Spectrum are probably going to have interesting conversations comparing their perspectives on what it's like to serve their country as superheroes.

 

Starguard: This should be very interesting. Starguard will recognize Horus and Psi-Legionaire and be confused why they don't recognize her, as well as why Psi isn't back on his Earth. She won't recognize any of the other members at all, and when she sees Baron Darien her Soul Sense will reveal his true nature to her, which could provoke a strong reaction.

 

Thanks to Horus' truthsense Starguard's story will be confirmed to the satisfaction of even Baron Darien, and she'll probably help out these Sentinels until the week passes and Warp and the others come to rescue her. She'd probably be most comfortable with Horus the most, and feel uneasy around Baron Darien. Spectrum would get along with her for the most part, and try to help train her in tactics and other skills useful to the superhero profession.

 

Everyone would be fascinated about the similarities and the differences of the two worlds, but Spectrum would be particularly interested for security reasons about the supervillains of the other Earth and how closely they and their activities correspond to their versions. Isvatha V'han's possible activities on Starguard's world would especially concern them, and they would be on alert for similar incursions on their world.

 

At the end of the week, when the Sentinels come for Starguard and meet the Sentinels, Spectrum would propose that they try to keep the lines of communication open in better to deal with interdimensional threats to both worlds, and even the possibility of diplomatic relations between the United States of both worlds.

 

Dr. Pain: Once they figure out who he is and where he's from he should get along fairly well with most of the team, though Baron Darien would probably give him the creeps a little. As with Anthem, Spectrum will pull strings to get him sanctioned pretty quick if Dr. Pain wants to continue his super hero activities during his stay.

 

If he feels like it, Dr. Pain has the opportunity to have a secret identity again if he wants, and maybe start a new professional wrestling career.

 

Husky/Kenneth: Assuming he arrives in Husky mode he'll be stuck that way for a while if he wants to keep his id secret from the Sentinels. Unless Kenneth had built an auto-retrieval device in case he was lost in another dimension, Husky will be stuck on Spectrum's Earth for a while.

 

Outgoing and friendly, Husky should get along pretty well on the Earth with the help of Spectrum and the others. Due to Horus' truthsense, Husky's story about being the last survivor from a doomed planet will be seen through, thus saving Spectrum the trouble of asking NASA, UNTIL, and known aliens on Earth if they've ever heard of his world.

 

The Sentinels won't make an issue of the lies though to Husky's face, since they could probably deduce they were told to protect a secret identity. Baron Darien though, paranoid that he is, would be sure to keep a close eye on Husky, and might possibly discover his secret if Husky is able and chooses to revert to Kenneth to work on a way home. He'd probably inform Horus and the information wouldn't be brought up unless circumstances warranted.

 

If Husky shows the Sentinels Husktronian technology he brought with him or built secretly while Kenneth on their world Spectrum will be quite interested. As an astronaut, he knows a few science skills himself, and would be curious as to the principles behind his devices. Examining them might even stimulate the Progenitor Knowledge in his head to surface, helping him understand how the devices in question function.

 

Cannis: She's probably not going to give her self away immediately, but when you have both a God of Truth and the most paranoid bastard on the planet on the same team it's hard for secrets to remain secrets. Eventually the fact that she was a supervillain will come out, especially since that she's stuck on their world indefinitely (unless one of her team mates has interdimensional travel as a power, that is).

 

Since she didn't commit any crimes on their world, and once questioned about her past is confirmed not to be a murderous threat to the public they'll just help her get adjusted to her new home and tell her not to blow her second chance. Baron Darien at least will keep tabs on her through, suspicious guy that he is.

 

If she accpets there's no way to make it back to her world, Cannis might adjust quite well to life on Spectrum's. Anti-mutant prejudice, while still existent, is more on the fringe. And she no longer has a criminal record. Spectrum would offer to use his influence to get her a government job if she wanted to help keep her on the straight and narrow. If she declines, perhaps she'll end up hooking up with Ravenswood Academy.

 

If Cannis tells them about Adam and his whole future where the world has been invaded by aliens because there were no mutants to help repel them Spectrum will take a keen interest in her story. He'd want to know all Adam told her about the aliens and their military capabilities. He'd then consult NASA and UNTIL records, and cooperative aliens on Earth to see if the alien race in Adam's story also existed in their universe. If it turned out they did, Spectrum would try to use his influence to have Earth prepared to repel a potential alien invasion from them.

[Wormhole]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

I feel sorry for J-Walkers' date=' Prostitutes, and Speeders.[/quote']

 

Actually, Raider is quite content to let the cops deal with such trivial offenses.

 

As for litterbugs, if someone can persist in such behavior after being on the business end of a 7d6+ Fear-Based PRE Attack and getting pounded by a guy with Boxing skills on par with Apollo Creed, you've got to wonder just what their major malfunction is.

[SKJAM!]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

So, how many folks would feel compelled to try to interfere with history when visiting the Mask of Justice?

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

So' date=' how many folks would feel compelled to try to interfere with history when visiting the Mask of Justice?[/quote']

 

All of my characters would go for Hitler ASAP. Style would understand that there are many pasts and futures and look forward to changing this one, Flesh wouldn't think about it, AnimeGai wouldn't be able to "understand" that there was a problem.

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

So' date=' how many folks would feel compelled to try to interfere with history when visiting the Mask of Justice?[/quote']

 

Shidoku would be tempted, but would realize she's good, but not -that- good to go waltzing into Nazi Germany on her own.

 

Eve, after some angst, wouldn't since the Knight have encounted Captain Chronos and know how dangerous fooling with time can be.

 

Tao would. Her consious wouldn't allow her to do otherwise.

[Whitewings]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

Most of my characters would feel obligated to clobber the Big Four of the Axis: Hitler, Himmler, Goering and Goebels. The ones with a better knowledge of history would let Pearl Harbour happen - nothing else could get the US into war with Japan, and if the US didn't get involved, then Japan's expansionist militarism might very well have continued until they'd actually created their "East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere," meaning a Japanese Empire.

[Metaphysician]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

Microman II would probably favor the prudent course of minimal interference. . . in theory.

 

In practice, if he encountered, say, one of the Japanese POW camps, or Auschwitz. . .

[Guest WhammeWhamme]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

So' date=' how many folks would feel compelled to try to interfere with history when visiting the Mask of Justice?[/quote']

 

Flippant, having some idea of how many alternate timelines there are, would know that things could turn out any one way anyway.

 

'o course, he's roughly ON the Mask's power level, so there's not that much he could do (okay, okay, he could T-port his way to Germany and intervene directly... but this would likely take a long time). He'd probably simply share what he knows of his own world's future, point out similiarities, and ho the best.

 

 

Actuallly.... since the Mask is in the past, this is the one scenario where he's stuck, so okay, Flippant is going to try to strand Hitler (and probably the Russian leader too) somewhere unpleasant.

 

Estatua, in his own world's past, probably knows the quantum branching and trimming effect, but figures it can't hurt. KAPOW!

 

Rook (pending ap) - Already a time traveller trying to fix this world, would take a gamble that he could fix things from even furthur back... and he's powerful enough that he could brute force it.

 

Tane - N/A

[caris]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

So' date=' how many folks would feel compelled to try to interfere with history when visiting the Mask of Justice?[/quote']

Well, Adonis exists in a time line where super heroes didn't appear until the 1980s, so he knows he isn't in his past, but some other time line. Adonis would consider all his knowledge about WWII and the events before and after it of very little use to this time line. He would probably share what he knows, but be very clear he has no idea how much crosses between dimensions, and how as he understands things that his very telling people this stuff is changing history.

[S7Michelle]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

So, how many folks would feel compelled to try to interfere with history when visiting the Mask of Justice?

Sailor Io would be in an unusual position in that her home country, Japan, is actually one of the axis nations. The fact that I don't really know what Japanese students are taught about WWII, and as a culture what they think about the fact they allied with Hitler, makes it a little hard to be entirely accurate. However, knowing Io's personality, I am positive that she would agree that the things Hitler did were wrong. And of course, she would feel an urge to attempt to prevent Hiroshima. I'm fairly certain that Io will see enough differences between this world and hers to be fairly sure that she is in an alternate dimension rather than her own past, which would let her conclude that she can help without changing her own timeline. However, she would also realize that she will have a very hard time making a significant change, especially in just a week. The Japanese government is very unlikely to listen to a teenage girl, especially one that ended up in America. And, I sort of doubt the American government would listen either. Additionally, she has only a high school knowledge of history. And of course, since it is a different dimension, the history she learned won't be entirely accurate. Furthermore, I very much doubt anyone is going to be willing to put a sixteen year old girl in the middle of combat. Even if they did, while she is very effective against a single or small group of foes, her powers don't work well in an army type setting. (She's made with a different system than Hero. But assume powerful attacks that take a lot of end. Slow end recovery. Very high body and stun. But no armor.) And it would be next to impossible for her to get overseas to fight without help. Ultimately, I see her sharing information with Mask of Justice and helping him out while she is there. But I don't see her as making any huge changes. Still, Mask of Justice would be wise to keep her from finding out about the Japanese internment camps. The same would be true even if Io felt that this might be her own past. Keeping her life and the lives of her friends the same wouldn't be worth the cost of the thousands of lives that could be saved if she could stop Hiroshima, Hitler, etc. Cannis would be less certain about whether she was in her worlds own past or in an alternate dimension and as such would be a bit more wary about helping. She is trying to change her world's future for the better in her own time line and doesn't mind the fact that her group's leader is a time traveler from the future. But, she would just as soon not end up accidentally negating her own birth. Still, I think the thought of concentration camps and all the horrors she knows happened during WWII would motivate her to help after a bit of hesitation, especially if she was offered an incentive. Cannis wouldn't have the ability to get to the front lines on her own, and frankly would be poorly utilized in mass combat even if she was sent. While she could be very helpful in a war type setting (enhanced physical abilities and skilled with her staff), she doesn't have the pure power to make a definitive difference against an army. She would be much more useful at obtaining items or information. Ultimately, provided she was getting along well with Mask of Justice and everyone else there, she would share her knowledge of history and help if requested. Though, she wouldn't set out on her own to stop Hitler, etc.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

Sailor Io would be in an unusual position in that her home country' date=' Japan, is actually one of the axis nations. The fact that I don’t really know what Japanese students are taught about WWII, and as a culture what they think about the fact they allied with Hitler, makes it a little hard to be entirely accurate. However, knowing Io’s personality, I am positive that she would agree that the things Hitler did were wrong. And of course, she would feel an urge to attempt to prevent Hiroshima.[/quote']

 

Slightly off topic, but (having taught in several Japanese High Schools and one Japanese junior college) they're taught very little in school about the reasons for the war, and almost nothing about the Japanese atrocities. Pop culture's take is mainly "War is terrible, look what the Gaijin did to us", with some undercurrents of "Asia would have been better off under us". Just my take on it of course, but based on five years of direct experience and ten years total of involvement with the Japanese education system.

 

She'd know Japan was at war at that time, and she'd know Hiroshima and Nagasaki were coming. She might know about the American internment camps, and she'd probably have a patriotic-pacifist point of view. If she had fairly well educated parents, chances are she'd have a negative view of the Japanese war time government, but that isn't certain.

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

Slightly off topic, but (having taught in several Japanese High Schools and one Japanese junior college) they're taught very little in school about the reasons for the war, and almost nothing about the Japanese atrocities. Pop culture's take is mainly "War is terrible, look what the Gaijin did to us", with some undercurrents of "Asia would have been better off under us". Just my take on it of course, but based on five years of direct experience and ten years total of involvement with the Japanese education system.

 

She'd know Japan was at war at that time, and she'd know Hiroshima and Nagasaki were coming. She might know about the American internment camps, and she'd probably have a patriotic-pacifist point of view. If she had fairly well educated parents, chances are she'd have a negative view of the Japanese war time government, but that isn't certain.

 

I recall reading that awhile back that it wasn't an uncommon misconception among Japanese high school students that Pearl harbor was bombed in retaliation for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The chronology in their text books was just that muddy. They focused almost inclusively on the "atrocities" commited against the Japanese with no mention of any performed by the Japanese.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

I recall reading that awhile back that it wasn't an uncommon misconception among Japanese high school students that Pearl harbor was bombed in retaliation for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The chronology in their text books was just that muddy. They focused almost inclusively on the "atrocities" commited against the Japanese with no mention of any performed by the Japanese.

 

I never ran into that one, but then I was teaching English, not history. The teachers and students I spoke to and worked with had a fair idea that America had been attacked first, but the explanation for the attack was retaliation for our "interference" in the Japanese war effort. Those I spoke to tended to dismiss Chinese and Korean claims of war-time atrocities committed by the Japanese against civilians. However, it is important to note that there are Japanese that do know their history, and the majority of educated Japanese are very much pacifists.

 

Slightly back on topic, if my new Monkey King character were to be brought back into the WWII era, he would head for Shanghai or Nanjing and try to help push the Japanese out. Protecting the people of China is what he is all about.

[S7Michelle]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

Slightly off topic, but (having taught in several Japanese High Schools and one Japanese junior college) they're taught very little in school about the reasons for the war, and almost nothing about the Japanese atrocities. Pop culture's take is mainly "War is terrible, look what the Gaijin did to us", with some undercurrents of "Asia would have been better off under us". Just my take on it of course, but based on five years of direct experience and ten years total of involvement with the Japanese education system.

 

She'd know Japan was at war at that time, and she'd know Hiroshima and Nagasaki were coming. She might know about the American internment camps, and she'd probably have a patriotic-pacifist point of view. If she had fairly well educated parents, chances are she'd have a negative view of the Japanese war time government, but that isn't certain.

 

Sounds as if Sailor Io and Mask of Justice are going to have an interesting week.

 

Of course, since she will think she's in an alternate dimension, she could easily come out of it thinking that her view of history was still accurate and that this dimension was just different. This isn't the first dimension she's been to where things were backwards after all.

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

I never ran into that one, but then I was teaching English, not history. The teachers and students I spoke to and worked with had a fair idea that America had been attacked first, but the explanation for the attack was retaliation for our "interference" in the Japanese war effort. Those I spoke to tended to dismiss Chinese and Korean claims of war-time atrocities committed by the Japanese against civilians. However, it is important to note that there are Japanese that do know their history, and the majority of educated Japanese are very much pacifists.

 

Well, your information is first hand and mine is second hand at best.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

 

Well' date=' your information is first hand and mine is second hand at best. [/quote']

 

Well, to be fair, my info is probably slightly biased. There's a difference between what a person will say to a teacher or co-worker and what that person really thinks. I am however willing my observation-based theories on the Japanese mind over a beer.

 

Again slightly bak on topic, it's interesting that no-one has really bought into the whole "this is how history was meant to be" argument, not even most of those who would only minimally interfere. Maybe because dimension travel is built into the question? Would our characters be so cavalier about this if they knew it was there own time lines that they would be changing?