Harem Topic Finale (Rather Long)

[MistWing]

Hi there.

 

After all of the comments made regarding my ‘Harem topic’, I thought I would let you in on the background of what was going on and what and why I needed the help. Please forgive the length of this. I tend to be a bit long-winded once I get going. Also, bare in mind that most of what happened here, happened while we were all very tired, having finished a very long game session. So we weren’t thinking too clearly.

 

A good while back, our group was in the middle of a multi-session adventure. This particular session was a day-and-a-half affair. Needless to say, we were very tired and not thinking all that clearly. At the end of that session, George (our GM) mentioned that he wanted to take a GM-break at the end of the adventure. He wanted to be a player for a game or two. So, one of us would have to take up the GM mantle for a little while. Tia volunteered.

 

Tia had in mind to GM a “Supers in Space†game. She had worked out the basic outline and just needed a bit of time to get things finalized. She felt that she could get everything finished by the end of the current adventure. Unfortunately, RL had other ideas. There were some problems at her job and she had to devote extra time to it. So, she wasn’t able to do any work on her game. Tom wound up being the interim GM. However, Tia was still interested in trying her game and now has more time to devote her game. So, we are working on our character again, but more slowly (since we have more time).

 

Back when she first announced her idea, we started to do some minor work on it. Basically, for most of us, it was an exercise in trying to stay awake. Some of our comments were only semi-serious. But they all stuck.

 

Tia wanted one of the characters to own the starship we were going to use (pay points for it). This would be both an advantage and a disadvantage. I thought it would be fun and so I volunteered. Laura also wanted the starship and so we entered a discussion on who should get it.

 

Laura won when she suggested I gain a harem instead of the ship (which surprised everyone, considering Laura’s personality). Her suggestion of the harem wasn’t really unusual since, in the session we just finished, I freed the Evil-Doer’s harem when I got separated from the party. And that happened very close to the end of the session. While I objected to it (on the grounds that I couldn’t run a large number of characters at the same time), everyone else thought it was a great idea. They countered my main objection by offering to run one character each. So, Tia had me roll 2d6 to see how many harem members I would have, and I wound up with 8 of them.

 

Even though she suggested them, Laura did have a request for when I built the harem. George then spoke up, making a request on them as well. This spread until everyone had a request on what to include in their construction. And it’s these requests that I had (and still am having) problems with. These requests are:

 

Laura: She requested that each of the harem members had actual personalities, complete with likes and dislikes

 

George: He wanted everyone to have a unique ‘primary power’. Most of their other powers would derive from this.

 

Tom: He wanted a physical description of them (he got pelted with paper cups for that one)

 

Tia: She wanted each of them to have their own, unique Entangle power. It’s a long story, but basically, her character kept getting cocooned by my character. It started a long time ago, but became a staple in our game. Every time I rolled an 18 on an Entangle to-hit roll and she was in the vicinity, she got cocooned. Occasionally, it was funny (once, when we were exhausted and Saturday morning cartoons were on in the background, she got chased by an rogue entangle) and once, it was actually rather useful (Tia had to leave the game for a few weeks and, rather than stopping the games until she returned, the GM ruled that one of my entangles cocooned her (without me even rolling to hit). The bad guys then stole her cocooned body and we spent the next few game sessions trying to find her... succeeding only when Tia was back)

 

Me: I decided that they should each have Shape Shift powers (since my character did) and that each of them should have a favorite form that they liked to change into. For example, one of them likes skunks and so, changes into one frequently. And, when she needs to be in human form, she often changes into a humanoid skunk, combining aspects of both.

 

Sabrina: She thought that each of them should have a good variety of skills. These included professional skills, hobbies, artistic skills, as well as combat skills

 

Bill: He wanted to get some sleep actually. He decided that they should each have a different style of wings and a tail, since my character had one and they could use this as an indicator that they belonged to me. It wasn’t until later that we realized that only my character in George’s game had the wings and tail. But his idea stuck.

 

 

So, sorry for ‘talking your ear off’. Anyway, this is the background of my harem idea request. I could still use any assistance with this.

 

Thanks

MistWing SilverTail

[Sociotard]

Okay, each character has a main power, an animalistic shape shift (will any of the harem members turn into a goat? because that would just be wrong), a set of unique wings with accesorizing tail, and an entangle. *thinks*

have you looked at the digital hero column about the totem animals? It was free, so I did. It would be a good way, I think, to lend an air of unity to your harem. Since it's a scifi campaign, you won't even have to stick with earth animals. The only problem with that is the "unique wings, tail, and entangle". Unique? with 8 women, that becomes a real pain. After all, how many kinds of wings are there? I can only think of birdlike, batlike and insectoid.

As to their descriptions, grab 8 different female musicians, from a variety of styles. Say they are genetically modified clones of those stars. nice and easy.

[altamaros]

Here are some ideas but frankly your people really like complicated issues !!

 

#1 : wasp-oïd

inspirations : real world ichneumon.

Wings : wasp wings

Tail : articulated tail with venomous sting (HKA)

animal form : giant wasp

entangle : paralyzing poison injected through sting. (common way for the real world wasps to paralyze a prey before laying an egg inside)

 

#2 : moth

inspirations : real world silkworm/silk moth

Wings : butterfly wings

Tail : worm tail, can be used as a third foot (knockback resistance)

animal form : giant butterfly

entangle : silk cocoon

 

#3 : worm-oïd

inspirations : caterpillars, sea cucumber, some kind of weird african worm i once saw in a documentary, a kind of missing link between worm and insects

Wings : ?

Tail : prehensile tail with suction cups (clinging)

animal form : giant worm/caterpillar

entangle : project a sticky goo from its mouth, sea cucumber alternative : projects some parts of its internal organs (intestines) on the target to entangle it (yes, it's disgusting)

 

#4 : reptiloid

inspirations : real world indonesian flying dragon, cobra, stegosaurus, ankylosaurus

Wings : retractable gliding membrane (see flying dragon)

Tail : "spiked mace" tail (a la stegosaurus/ankylosaurus : HKA or HTH)

animal form : giant lizard-like creature

entangle : hypnotic gaze (entangle w/LOS and need eye contact, use EGO instead of strength )

 

#5 : eeloid

inspirations : electric eel, exocet (flying fish)

Wings : exocet "wings"

Tail : fish tail or a flipper (swimming)

animal form : giant eel

entangle : paralyzing electrical shock (entangle w/no range)

 

#6 : batoid

inspirations : bats, marsupials

Wings : bat wings

Tail : short bat tail (levels of manoeuvrability in flight ?)

animal form : giant bat

entangle : wraps its opponent in its wings (entangle w/ backlash and no range)

 

#7 : squirreloid

inspirations : flying squirrel, skunk

Wings : patagium (gliding membrane)

Tail : squirrel tail (COM ??)

animal form : flying skunk

entangle : paralyzing toxic spray (see slunk spray, but paralyzing AND stinky)

 

#8 : spider-oïd

Based on real world spiders and scorpions

Wings : errr ... i knew there was a problem; maybe beetle wings ?

Tail : scorpion tail ?

animal form : giant spider

entangle : spider web.

[J4y]

I think I saw a hentai like that once or three times.

[Fuzzy Gnome]

Canards and catsuits

 

If you need to make wings and tails distinctive, play around with number and positioning and stuff. For example, Morrigan from Deathstalkers has batlike wings near her center of gravity at her waist and smaller ones on her head. Princess Kurama from Urusei Yatsura has just the head-wings. She uses them mostly for expression, but she probably can use them for balance or cooling, too. Mink from Dragon Half has "retractable" wings via a limited shape-changing ability.

As for tails, if one tail is good, more tails are better! Load 'em on! Also check out Jone in ClanBob. She has a "prehensile" tail with a vaguely birdlike taloned claw on the end.

[Vondy]

I think it sounds convoluted and over-complex.

 

I recommend, instead of followers, that you buy:

 

10d6 Luck (only with women -1): 25 points.

[MistWing]

Hi there. Thanks for all the various input.

 

Sociotard: Thanks for the Totem Animal reference (It took me a while to find it). I looked it over and it seems to have some useful ideas. Regarding the types of wings, the 'types' we were looking at was a bit looser that what you're thinking of. For example: Insect wings could be 'Butterfly' or 'Dragonfly', etc. As long as they look significantly different. One problem I was having was that I was focusing exclusively on avian wings, and they tend to look somewhat alike. I never thought of bat or insect.

 

Altamaros: Thanks for the suggestions. I can definately use some of them (probably most of them). Regarding the seemingly over-complication, I think it's just a case of my trying to explain in words something that's actually simple in concept (and I do tend to be wordy). For example, Any character you run has a distinct personality. This is simply what Laura wanted, not 'cookie-cutter extras'. The others are similar... simple things you have in a game.

 

Fuzzy Gnome: Thanks for the ideas. Definately something I hadn't thought of.

 

D-Man: I think you missed the point. This isn't a case of my having 8 'generic women' and generally being 'lucky with women'. It's a case of my having 8 specific secondary characters. They are more developed than your standard 'generic NPC'. As to it sounding convoluted and over-complex, chalk that up to my trying to explain it. I have a knack for explaining things in more detail than needed.

 

Again, thanks all for your help

MistWing SilverTail