Dramatic Editing: VPP/Transform set.

[ParitySoul]

I was tinkering around with a Star/Pulp Hero idea of a character who could make minor edits to the existing plot and pull allies, items, etc out of nowhere to save his hide at just the right moment.

 

All 1 time ues kinda stuff. If he drops the gun, says good bye to the contact, etc, it just goes away. (Maybe the GM can pull out the contact again, but the PC can't as an action.)

 

Then I started thinking about a negative version of this were he could apply disadvangtes and flaws as a transformation with No Visable Effect. Gun jams, foe is spotted by police, etc.

 

Is there any way to make a small version of this cost effective for a 200 point game?

[OddHat]

Re: Dramatic Editing: VPP/Transform set.

 

Luck, if the GM is willing to play along with it. He rolls his luck at the start of each session. Every point of Luck allows him to make one edit, with the GM's permision.

 

Summon works well for these effects, with the appropriate limits.

 

Inflicting disads is, by the book, done with Transform, but you could make someone's gun jam with a Dispel Technical Device.

 

Take a look at the Luck Powers in the USPD. As to how you'd mke this cost effective in a 200 point game, a small MP of Edit effects, with 1 charge per slot or Increased END Cost should do it.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Dramatic Editing: VPP/Transform set.

 

All I can say is, I would HATE GMing for that character. Where the heck's the challenge if he's just going to HAPPEN to pull the right thing out at the right moment?

 

Where's the mystery in that? Where's the fun in playing that kind of character?

 

Or am I misreading your intent?

[ParitySoul]

Re: Dramatic Editing: VPP/Transform set.

 

All I can say is, I would HATE GMing for that character. Where the heck's the challenge if he's just going to HAPPEN to pull the right thing out at the right moment?

 

Where's the mystery in that? Where's the fun in playing that kind of character?

 

Or am I misreading your intent?

 

 

Never played in the Adventue! game/setting did ya? All the characters had the dramatic editing power set. The limitation was in the number of points they had to edit with. I could maybe simulate a limit to this power with uses per day, etc.

[sinanju]

Re: Dramatic Editing: VPP/Transform set.

 

All I can say is, I would HATE GMing for that character. Where the heck's the challenge if he's just going to HAPPEN to pull the right thing out at the right moment?

 

Where's the mystery in that? Where's the fun in playing that kind of character?

 

It sounds a lot like coincidental magic in MAGE The Ascension. The mage can cast spells to affect the world around him, but doing so overtly can have awful consequences eventually (and sometimes immediately), so making the results look like natural (albeit unlikely) coincidental effects is a better way to do it.

 

That's my favorite kind of in-game magic. It's both fluid--no pre-set spell lists to make magic seem as cut and dried as math--and it requires the player to think fast and come up with useful dodges on the fly, which I've always enjoyed.

 

Using a VPPP to simulate that could be highly entertaining. I've run several games in which three out of four players were mages of that sort, and it can really throw a monkeywrench into your plots...but since I _enjoy_ on-the-fly scheming, I didn't mind. I just had to adapt my plots to the players' efforts.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Dramatic Editing: VPP/Transform set.

 

All I can say is, I would HATE GMing for that character. Where the heck's the challenge if he's just going to HAPPEN to pull the right thing out at the right moment?

 

Where's the mystery in that? Where's the fun in playing that kind of character?

 

Or am I misreading your intent?

Per the genre it can only be at an appropriately dramatic point.

 

After our hero was captured with no hope of escape it turns out he just happened to save the guards life once and the guard, paying his debt, "accidentally" drops the keys or manages to let our Hero out so the adventure may continue. Our Hero and The Guard will likely never meet again (it was a one shot cameo in the series).

 

That's the intent. A series of uncanny coincidences.

[ParitySoul]

Re: Dramatic Editing: VPP/Transform set.

 

Per the genre it can only be at an appropriately dramatic point.

 

After our hero was captured with no hope of escape it turns out he just happened to save the guards life once and the guard, paying his debt, "accidentally" drops the keys or manages to let our Hero out so the adventure may continue. Our Hero and The Guard will likely never meet again (it was a one shot cameo in the series).

 

That's the intent. A series of uncanny coincidences.

 

THat's a very good break down of how it is to work. Serendipity as most. Not game breaker, but a super lucky break.

[garou]

Re: Dramatic Editing: VPP/Transform set.

 

Dark Champions has several abilities that mimic parts of what you want:

 

I've got Just The Thing - it's a VPP gadget pool, with Focus and 2 charges. That way, the character can only have "the right thing" twice a day.

 

Just What I was Looking For: 12d6 of Luck, but it takes extra time, and only to find desired, noncombat, non-valuable object (so you can find a rope, but not a gun). There is a "Combat scrounging" variant, where you could manage to find weapons or ammunition (if appropriate to the setting - ie, very few churches will have a handgun, many stores might have ammunution in stock).

 

I Know Someone Who Can Help - it's a summon of any person, up to 200 pts, who arrives under their own power and requires a persuasion roll. If you're only worried about normal people, you could reduce it to 100 or 50 points, and the PC happens to know a lot of people who might be able to help in a given situation.

 

I suppose you could always just get a lot of luck, and then put limitations like Only in non-combat situations and the like.