Post Modern Magic Challenge

[gmurie]

I've always been a fan of the Unknown Armies and Over the Edge games. More for the background and weird noir feel of both games.

 

I've monkeyed about trying to translate an aproximation of the magic system from those games into Hero. Those games are very free form, so they resist conversion, but the themes can be borrowed. Dipsomancy (booze magic) and Plutomancy (Money Mages) were my two favorites.

 

http://game1.fennecfoxen.org/projects/magick.html

 

Recently, I put together a character who used a sort of post-modern take on magic with guns. Creating special loads for his bullets. I thought I'd start the challenge rolling with the two items I made for him. Let's see what the rest of you can come up with.

 

Here's that one:

 

20 Enchanted Handgun: Multipower, 60-point reserve, (60 Active Points); all slots OAF (-1), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4)

2u 1) Merciful Mother's Light: (Total: 60 Active Cost, 16 Real Cost) NND 4d6, (Being "pure of heart" or mystic ED FF; +1) (40 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 11) plus Sight Group Flash 4d6 (20 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Linked (Solar Blast; -1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 5) Made from leading of church stained glass windows, rosaries, and bathed in holy water.

2u 2) Rubber, Latex, and Leather: Entangle 5d6, 5 DEF (Stops A Given Sense Group Sight Group) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) Made from costumes used by a dominatrix and her slaves.

2u 3) Cripplers: Drain 3d6, STR and REC simultaneously (+1/2), Ranged (+1/2) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) Made from a barbell from a "real man" gym that's absorbed the fatigue poisons and injury pains.

2u 4) Storm God Ammo: EB 9 1/2d6, Indirect (Lightning, can arc twist or bounce; +1/4) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) Made from the nails of a building destroyed by lightning strike.

2u 5) Dum-Dum/Hollow Point: Drain 3d6, Ranged (+1/2), INT and PRE simultaneously (+1/2) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) Made from life tape recordings of politician's speaches and metal from an insanitorium bed.

2u 6) Rock Salt: (Total: 60 Active Cost, 17 Real Cost) Energy Blast 9d6 (45 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 13) plus Hearing Group Flash 5d6 (15 Active Points); OAF (-1), Linked (Energy Blast; -1/2), 8 Charges (-1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) (Real Cost: 4) Made from a speaker stack that blew out during a heavy metal concert

2u 7) Silver Ghost Ammo: RKA 2d6, Affects Desol Any form of Desolidification (+1/2), Indirect (Passes through non-living material; +1/2) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) Forged in a haunted house from silver passed through at least two generations.

2u 8) Heart Seeker: RKA 2d6, NRM (+1/2), Armor Piercing (+1/2) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), 8 Charges (-1/2), Limited Power Takes a half phase and gestures to change slots (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4) Made from bullets and shrapnel that have injured or killed.

 

And here's another powerset based on a keyring salvaged from a lethal car wreck. On it is a set of keys that fit no known locks, and are bathed in oils rendered from a locked wooden door with no known keys.

 

21 Keymaster: Multipower, 70-point reserve, (70 Active Points); all slots Limited Power Only works on or through doors (-1), 6 Charges (-3/4), IIF - Keychain (-1/4), Gestures - Put Key in Lock and Open Door (-1/4)

3u 1) XDM (Mystic Dimensions, Any Location), Safe Blind Travel (+1/4), Usable Simultaneously (up to 4 people at once; +3/4) (70 Active Points); Limited Power Only works on or through doors (-1), IIF - Keychain (-1/4), Gestures - Put Key in Lock and Open Door (-1/4)

3u 2) Teleportation 10", x16 Noncombat, Safe Blind Teleport (+1/4), Usable Simultaneously (up to 4 people at once; +3/4) (70 Active Points); Limited Power Only works on or through doors (-1), IIF - Keychain (-1/4), Gestures - Put Key in Lock and Open Door (-1/4)

3u 3) Teleportation 10", Safe Blind Teleport (+1/4), Usable Simultaneously (up to 4 people at once; +3/4), MegaScale (1" = 1,000 km; +1), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1km (+1/4) (65 Active Points); Limited Power Only works on or through doors (-1), IIF - Keychain (-1/4), Gestures - Put Key in Lock and Open Door (-1/4)

2u 4) Minor Transform 6d6 (A locked door into an unlocked door.) (60 Active Points); Limited Power Only works on or through doors (-1), IIF - Keychain (-1/4), Gestures - Put Key in Lock and Open Door (-1/4)

[sinanju]

Re: Post Modern Magic Challenge

 

Something I encountered in a long-ago on-line game:

 

Bug-Out Bottles: The character wears a tiny glass bottle with a cork stopper on a leather thong around his neck. The thong is attached to the cork stopper. In an emergency, one grabs the glass bottle and YANKS it off the stopper. The one-shot teleportation spell is thereby activated and you find yourself instantly transported to whatever safe place was specified when the spell was cast. All the members of the Secret Organization wore them.

 

It was great for "Marie Celeste"-style situations. The bad guys/SWAT/whoever kick in the door of the secret facility. If they're REALLY fast, they might hear a few pops, or maybe even see someone vanish. In mere moments, they're in control of an abandoned facility full of half-smoked cigarettes, cups of still hot coffee, etc.

[Beast]

Re: Post Modern Magic Challenge

 

and a count down timer on 00:02

 

Something I encountered in a long-ago on-line game:

 

Bug-Out Bottles: The character wears a tiny glass bottle with a cork stopper on a leather thong around his neck. The thong is attached to the cork stopper. In an emergency, one grabs the glass bottle and YANKS it off the stopper. The one-shot teleportation spell is thereby activated and you find yourself instantly transported to whatever safe place was specified when the spell was cast. All the members of the Secret Organization wore them.

 

It was great for "Marie Celeste"-style situations. The bad guys/SWAT/whoever kick in the door of the secret facility. If they're REALLY fast, they might hear a few pops, or maybe even see someone vanish. In mere moments, they're in control of an abandoned facility full of half-smoked cigarettes, cups of still hot coffee, etc.

[Curufea]

Re: Post Modern Magic Challenge

 

That was probably taken from the ankh necklaces warn by the assassins guild in the Poison Elves comic. Pull off the ankh - teleport back to the pocket dimensional base.