Road Kill 6th ED Conversions

[Enforcer84]

As I mentioned, I've only featured them in my games a few times.  Mostly they're background noise - a news item here or there, mostly for comic relief. 

 

However, I am starting a new Champions campaign.  One of the (female) PCs is in a band, and another one owns a bar/night club where that band frequently performs.  All of the NPC members of the band have (relatively minor) powers.  So you can bet Road Kill is going to put in an appearance, purely to be irritating.  (cracks knuckles)  Looks like I need to write some more Road Kill lyrics.  How does You Make Me Wanna Hurl sound as a song title?  Or how about Bite Me, You Skank?  (Yeah, I know those both sound punk rather than heavy metal.  See my prior comment on Road Kill not even getting the concept of heavy metal right.)

 

Many thanks, rjd59, for updating them.  I'll likely make changes so they can more properly irritate my players, but even so this saves me a ton of work.

Those are good song titles.

[Enforcer84]

Glad I could help BoloOfEarth!  Welcome bluesguy!  I am glad to see that my work is helping someone or making someone enjoy them.  Tweaking converted characters to your own liking is absolutely permissable! I do it when I download one someone else has done sometimes.  

 

I agree that the band doesn't look like they fit together, but according to the book, they've become a multi-million dollar sensation. In the true meaning of rock and heavy metal as it started back in the 60's, (yeah I'm showing my age) non-conformity was the basis for it all. So I just chaulked it up as they were showing their roots and where they came from. I just always like the fact of a band with powers!

Actually, their "not fitting in" that I was complaining about would make them the perfect "Pop Act" trying to be something for everyone. I could totally see them becoming HUGE with the right push. 

[SteelCold]

Yes like the Jonas Brothers, the Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the block.

[Lord Liaden]

I did use Road Kill a few times in the past myself, but modified them heavily, in their powers, and often their names to create a stronger music motif. For one thing, I wasn't happy with the members' repetition of the sonic powerset. I turned Heavy Metal into a mentalist, code-named Headbanger. I used "Heavy Metal" for Screech's code-name, since his technical prowess goes well beyond sonics.

 

The Axeman's guitar was built around the heirloom Viking axe mentioned in his past history, which has magical properties activated when he used it to murder his manager. That includes his unusually high physical Characteristics (for a normal human). Boomer struck me as a bit lackluster in both his name and his abilities. As a former VIPER agent, I had him volunteer for experiments which made him a superhuman with snake-themed abilities and a somewhat "snaky" appearance, including a long forked tongue (which goes over well with audiences). I named him Pit Viper.

 

"Ted" is just such a mundane name to me, and doesn't fit the motif of the rest of the band. Since his real name is Ted Granger, I changed his code-name to Grunge. Sparks I renamed Livewire, and incorporated her effects equipment into the Hovervan so she could provide mobile support to the team.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

I like some of the changes you made to the group, LL.

[rjd59]

Love the changes Lord Liaden, those are awesome in my opinion! Very fitting!

 

Thinking my next project might be "Atlas Unleashed"!

[Lord Liaden]

Dang, I forgot one big modification: their agent. Damon Falmier was indeed going nowhere as a music agent, so he tried to summon a demon from Hell to strike a deal. Like most things he did, he botched that too. The demon possessed him, and has gathered Road Kill together to do what many adults have accused rock and roll of doing for generations: promote sin and chaos among the youth of society.

 

(C'mon, with a name like "Damon Falmier" you can't tell me the implication didn't cross your minds.)

[Acroyear II]

Thank you for the update of these characters! And the color pictures and game pieces ROCK (see what I did there?)! I am actually using Road Kill for the first time in my campaign next month, so your write-ups of the characters could not come at a better time. I am using 5th Edition and will have to modify them slightly, but your write-ups have still saved me a lot of prep time.

[ghost-angel]

There's a few more, I'm not as in to metal post 80's but still know of some:

 

Slash of Guns N Roses and Slash's Snake Pit - African-American mother, British father.

Howard Jones (no not the skinny white fellow) for bands Killswitche Engaged and Blood Has Been Shed - no haven't heard of them either...was a google search

Lajon Witherspoon - Sevendust heard of them at least.

 

Adding some punk to the the Mix, there's 70's Punk Darlings "Death" three brothers from Detroit who's only album was shelved by their management but were still influential and their album is on youtube in its entirety I've listened, it's not bad. 

 

Another band, Bad Brains out of Wasthington DC area were seminal but their anger was directed at the wrong targets for the punk crowd and they kind of fell out of favor (according to my limited research) 

 

And if you just go straight Rock/Soul.

Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Ben Harper, Tina Turner, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly...

 

Of course after reading this it's kind of true that white boys took over metal. 

 

Death has a resurgence currently, thankfully.

 

Bad Brains was part of the reason the DC Area had a hardcore punk movement at all, but they pretty quickly switched to reggae almost exclusively, and are still around (and their most recent album a "Into The Light" from 2012 brings a lot of punk back in without throwing out the reggae).

 

Sepultura is a thrash metal band from Brazil, and though their original members are all but gone, their current lead singer is black.

 

Here's a big list of Metal, Punk, Goth, Industrial, and other alternative styles with People Of Color:

http://danasdinnertable.tumblr.com/post/106907563016/pocs-in-goth-punk-alternative-music-masterpost

 

In case you needed some more completely awesome music in your life.

 

--

As for the builds here... I noticed that Heavy Metal has insane defenses (in a standard 12DC game most attacks are going to straight up bounce off him) and the rest of them have almost no defenses at all - most are going into GM Sleep Land with 1-2 hits.

 

As for the premise, I'm going to echo just about everyone else - who thought of this and who actually thought this represented the genre in any way??

[SKJAM!]

For more inspiration, see the manga/anime/live action guest-starring Gene Simmons  Detroit Metal City.  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/DetroitMetalCity

 

While that page is mostly safe for work, the music is most assuredly NSFW, so use caution on Youtube.

[BoloOfEarth]

Ghost-angel has a fair point about the disparity of defenses.  However, in fairness to rjd59, the original writeups were similarly broken.  Heavy Metal had decent defenses (20/10 PD and 16/10 ED), Screech's were insane (38/30 PD, 37/30 ED force field from stage keyboards, or 23/15 PD, 17/10 force field from portable keyboard), Axeman and Boomer had no resistant defenses at all (if they didn't deflect a ranged attack, they'd be toast), Ted was brick-tough (36/18 PD, 20/10 ED), and Sparks was one superhero attack away from the ICU (6/0 PD, 5/0 ED).

 

I got the impression that the original writer of Road Kill had very little sense of character balance, but this wasn't unique to that module.  There were several modules that suffered from poor grasp of the rules (I recall a character, I think in European Enemies, who had an Energy Blast with an Increased STUN Modifier) or game balance.  As with any published group, I used Road Kill's writeups as mere guidelines and redid 3/4 of the writeups myself. 

 

Critiquing the defenses in rjc59's writeups presented here, I'd replace Heavy Metal's Damage Negation with straight Resistant Protection; Screech's force fields really shouldn't be bought as Barriers but as Resistant Protection (though I'd add a Barrier slot into the Stage Keyboards as that is totally fitting); Axeman's defenses (or relative lack thereof) are completely true to the original character but I plan to boost them some; Boomer's VIPER force field fits the background (and I plan to include that in my version) even though it wasn't in the original writeup; Ted's Damage Negation is over the top (I'd go with a mix of Resistant Protection plus Damage Negation, though much lower than rjc59 has), and my comments on Sparks' defenses would be exactly the same as for Axeman.

[rjd59]

I've made some changes in accordance with what BoloOfEarth has suggested above. He makes a ton of sense to me, especially since I'm still trying to figure out converting 4th, and 5th edition characters to 6th. I hadn't even realized about Resistant Protection, and thought Barrier was just a name change for force field. Anyway here are the characters I've made some changes to.

 

 

BTW: Thanks BoloOfEarth! Appreciate the constructive critisism, will help me create better character conversions!

Heavy Metal v2.hdc

Screech v2.hdc

Ted v2.hdc

[The Arc]

Bring on the C.L.O.W.N.S.

[Lord Liaden]

Bring on the C.L.O.W.N.S.

 

And Steve Long just left the thread.

[rjd59]

I never liked that module either. But have seen them asked for a couple times now. Working on "Atlas Unchained" right now, maybe in the future....

[pinecone]

I suggest multiple viewings of Spinal Tap, and give them super powers....Brak out album? "Smell the Glove".

 

Location of big "boss battle" Stonehenge! (Preferably a "fake" reconstruction )

[Christopher R Taylor]

Their powers go to 11.

[The Arc]

I never liked that module either. But have seen them asked for a couple times now. Working on "Atlas Unchained" right now, maybe in the future....

 

Seriously, I certainly wouldn't mind a fresh take on Scourge from the Deep.

[BoloOfEarth]

Bring on the C.L.O.W.N.S.

 

I never liked that module either. But have seen them asked for a couple times now. Working on "Atlas Unchained" right now, maybe in the future....

 

Hermit had an excellent idea in the SAT, WITCH, CLOWN, and Other Forgotten Orgs thread (http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/90124-sat-witch-clown-and-other-forgoten-orgs/) for updating CLOWN:

 

 

 

A group of talented but frustrated individuals TRIED working with the system only to realize the system is stacked. Corrupt corporations do all sorts of unethical things and even when 'caught' they're charged with fees so relatively small they would rather keep paying them than stop.  Under flimsy excuses, some Law Enforcement agencies seize private property or terrorize people but are all but immune to prosecution for it.  Civil Rights are seen as optional.

 

At least, that's the realization they came to. Said group of civic minded folks, frustrated by complete failure and injustice at every turn stumble onto each other and have a good gripe-fest about it.

 

(snip conversation between CLOWN founders)

 

In the following months, CLOWN made itself known.

 

A police sheriff who had been committing highway robbery in the name of 'civil asset forfeiture' came back to where his house should have been only to find it gone, completely and utterly removed down to the plumbing. It was being sold on ebay with proceeds going to the dozens of folks he'd taken cash and goods from on car stops.

 

The directer of an intelligence agency who had lied to congress and was twisting the laws to spy on millions found footage of his affair with a secretary put on a time lapse to the theme of the Benny Hill show on video sharing sites.  Also, numerous files of data had been replaced with multiple copies of 'Steal this Book', the bill of rights (With parts underlined) and truly bad poetry that the director had written in his teen years and thought destroyed.

 

The CEO of a car company that had been complicit in a defect cover up found her car suddenly appearing to lose control and going down a road that lit up with the fires of hell. All holograms and FX, of course, but as the fake 'gate' opened up before her, she begged God for forgiveness and confessed everything, never realizing someone had put recorders and camera in the same vehicle. This video was also released on the internet under the tag 'CEO LOSES HER ####"

 

Things did not always go smoothly. Alan was expelled when he crossed a line, but Andrew had been right. More and more people across the country, some with very special gifts, were inspired, and some were invited to join CLOWN'S ranks.

 

And the reaction of the superhero community varied from attempts to bring the troublemakers in to laughter and outright applause.

 

I'm putting Hermit's idea into effect in my game.  I've already added a news item about CLOWN to my in-game newspaper:  after a major identity theft of account holders' private information from a major bank's credit card division, CLOWN covers the bank's skyscraper with pasted credit card applications during the night -- and then, while people gather to gawk the next day, CLOWN performs a fly-by and air-drops hundreds of credit card applications filled out with the personal information for the bank's major officers.

 

I don't want to hijack this thread for CLOWN; I'm just pointing out that, with the right approach, a lot of unpopular groups (like CLOWN and Road Kill) can be perfectly useful in a game.

[BoloOfEarth]

I've made some changes in accordance with what BoloOfEarth has suggested above. He makes a ton of sense to me, especially since I'm still trying to figure out converting 4th, and 5th edition characters to 6th. I hadn't even realized about Resistant Protection, and thought Barrier was just a name change for force field. Anyway here are the characters I've made some changes to.

BTW: Thanks BoloOfEarth! Appreciate the constructive critisism, will help me create better character conversions!

Right after 6th Edition came out, I did a handful of character conversions.  And I recently looked back at them and had a few "WTF Was I Thinking Back Then" moments.  None of us are immune from the learning curve.

 

And you're very welcome.  Keep up the good work.

[pinecone]

Their powers go to 11.

"My Power goes up to Eleven!" +30 active to main power, charges, full phase action (adds a 1/2 phase) ???

 

"I am Val Hallan! The Rawk Gawd!"

[BoloOfEarth]

Some more hopefully constructive feedback - on Heavy Metal:

 

His Multipower has a Limitation of "Invisible to sight, not underwater or in vacuum".  Invisible to Sight would be an Advantage, not a Limited Power.  I dropped that part entirely and made the limitation "Does not work underwater or in vacuum".  One could easily make the argument that sound still travels through water, so that should actually be two Limitations:  Does not work in vacuum (-1/4) and Half damage when underwater (-1/4).

 

His Mental Blast really should be bought as Alternate CV:  OCV vs. DCV (+0).  No point difference, but OMCV vs. DMCV doesn't really fit for a sonic attack. 

 

I added a slot:  Ballad of Insanity.  Basically the same as the Song of Insanity, but with AoE Cone.

 

Moan of Death, as written you forgot the All or Nothing part if having deafness as the alternate defense.  Personally, I'd make keep it an AVAD (vs. Flash Defense [Hearing], so Very Common > Uncommon), not NND, and add a Limitation that it doesn't work at all vs. deaf / deafened people.

 

For the Roadkill Grenades AoE: Explosion, you should increase the radius to accommodate the decreasing damage.  So, for an 8d6 Blast, that would be 18m radius.

 

As to Complications, there's nothing saying you have to cut them down to 75 points or so, but that's all a 400-point character needs, and I've found that converting characters from 4th or 5th Edition to 6th Edition is a good excuse to get rid of some deadwood in the Disad department.  So I'd drop at least the Hunted by father and the Addiction, if not others.

[rjd59]

Some more hopefully constructive feedback - on Heavy Metal:

 

Absolutely! Like I said before, makes me a better character builder!

 

His Multipower has a Limitation of "Invisible to sight, not underwater or in vacuum".  Invisible to Sight would be an Advantage, not a Limited Power.  I dropped that part entirely and made the limitation "Does not work underwater or in vacuum".  One could easily make the argument that sound still travels through water, so that should actually be two Limitations:  Does not work in vacuum (-1/4) and Half damage when underwater (-1/4).

 

Not sure what I originally did there. Took you're advice, and made the changes.

 

His Mental Blast really should be bought as Alternate CV:  OCV vs. DCV (+0).  No point difference, but OMCV vs. DMCV doesn't really fit for a sonic attack. 

 

Never even thought of this. Added it in.

 

I added a slot:  Ballad of Insanity.  Basically the same as the Song of Insanity, but with AoE Cone.

 

Like this, added one too!

 

Moan of Death, as written you forgot the All or Nothing part if having deafness as the alternate defense.  Personally, I'd make keep it an AVAD (vs. Flash Defense [Hearing], so Very Common > Uncommon), not NND, and add a Limitation that it doesn't work at all vs. deaf / deafened people.

 

Had no clue on this! Took you're advice.

 

For the Roadkill Grenades AoE: Explosion, you should increase the radius to accommodate the decreasing damage.  So, for an 8d6 Blast, that would be 18m radius.

 

I'm still thinking in hexes, gotta stop that. Have made your suggested change.

 

As to Complications, there's nothing saying you have to cut them down to 75 points or so, but that's all a 400-point character needs, and I've found that converting characters from 4th or 5th Edition to 6th Edition is a good excuse to get rid of some deadwood in the Disad department.  So I'd drop at least the Hunted by father and the Addiction, if not others.

 

This is a good point! I have reduced his complications down to 75. However, I strongly feel that the Addiction complication is fully realistic, we are talking about a "Rock Star"!  LOL

 

Anyway, here's what he looks like with these changes.

 

Heavy Metal

Val      Char   Cost   Roll     Notes

15        STR    5          12-      Lift 200.0kg; 3d6 [1]

21        DEX    22        13-      OCV:  7/DCV:  7

22        CON   12        13-

15        BODY 5         

13        INT      3          12-      PER Roll 12-

13        EGO   3          12-      ECV:  3 - 3

30        PRE    20        15-      PRE Attack:  6d6

 

 

10/20  PD      8          Total:  10/20 PD (0/10 rPD)

10/18  ED      8          Total:  10/18 ED (0/8 rED)

4          SPD    20        Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12

10        REC   6

44        END   5

34        STUN 7          Total Characteristic Cost:  164

 

Movement:   Running:       12m/24m

            Leaping:        11m/22m

            Swimming:    4m/8m

 

Cost   Powers          END

50        Sonic Pwoers:  Multipower, 75-point reserve,  (75 Active Points); Limited Power Half damage when underwater (-1/4), Limited Power Power does not work in vacuum (-1/4)

7f         1)  Song of Destruction:  Blast 12d6, Alternate Combat Value (uses OMCV against DCV; +0), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (75 Active Points)         3

3f         2)  Song of Insanity:  Mental Blast 5d6 (50 Active Points); Limited Power not vs deaf or ear protection (-1/2)        5

3f         3)  Ballad of Insanity:  Mental Blast 4d6, Area Of Effect (4m Cone; +1/4) (50 Active Points); Limited Power not vs deaf or ear protection (-1/2)            5

3f         4)  Moan of Death:  Blast 6d6, Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Deafness or Ear Protection; All Or Nothing; +0) (30 Active Points)     3

             

20        Roadkill Grenades (Flat Animal Bombs):  Blast 8d6, Area Of Effect (18m Radius Explosion; +1/2) (60 Active Points); 4 Charges (-1), OAF (-1)        [4]

17        Darkness to Sight Group 7m radius (35 Active Points); 4 Continuing Charges lasting 1 Turn each (-1/2), Linked (Roadkill Grenades (Flat Animal Bombs); -1/2) [4 cc]

18        Armored Costume:  Resistant Protection (10 PD/8 ED) (27 Active Points); OIF (-1/2)

4          Superleap:  Leaping +7m (11m forward, 5 1/2m upward)         1

            Dirty Infighting/Fisticuffs/Cinematic Brawling

            Maneuver     OCV   DCV   Notes

4          Block/Chin Block     +2        +2        Block, Abort

4          Disarm           -1         +1        Disarm; 25 STR to Disarm roll

4          Eye Gouge    -1         -1         Flash 4d6

5          Hoist 'n' Heave         -2         -2         Grab Two Limbs, 20 STR to Throw

4          Kidney Blow -2         +0        HKA 2d6 +1

4          Low Blow       -1         +1        2d6 NND

4          Punch/Backhand    +0        +2        5d6 Strike

5          Roundhouse/Two-Fisted Smash  -2         +1        7d6 Strike

3          Tackle            +0        +0        +v/5; You Fall, Target Falls

 

            Perks

10        Money:  Wealthy

 

            Talents

3          Perfect Pitch

 

            Skills

6          +2 with Sonic Multipower

             

7          Acrobatics 15-

3          Streetwise 15-

8          PS: Rock Singer 17-

5          PS: Guitar Player 14-

5          PS: Musical Composition 14-

5          KS: Rock Music 14-

3          KS: Literature 12-

4          AK: New York 13-

5          Oratory 16-

3          Persuasion 15-

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost:  230

Total Cost:  393

 

400+   Disadvantages

20        Vulnerability:  2 x STUN from EGO attacks (Common)

5          Distinctive Features:  Registars as a Mutant on scanners (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

10        Psychological Complication:  Overconfidence (Common; Moderate)

5          Dependence:  Drug Addiction Powers Gain 11- Activation Roll (Easy To Obtain; 1 Day; Addiction)

15        Negative Reputation:  Rock Singer, Frequently (Extreme)

15        Dependent NPC:  Damon Falmier Infrequently (Incompetent)

5          Social Complication:  Public ID Infrequently, Minor

 

Total Disadvantage Points:  393

 

Background/History:  Born in New Jersey, Neal Basman was a young punk, spoiled by his mother. After his mother died, he discovered his father's true disgust for him. Carl Basman, a wealthy but alchoholic businessman, did not approve of his son's obsession with songwriting. He considered Neal nothing more than a lazy brat.

 

 One day when Neal was fourteen, his life changed. His father was yelling at him once again for being lazy, but this time Neal yelled back. The force of his voice nearly killed his father. Though he did not realize it, Neal's mutant power had mementarily burst free in that second of anger. Afraid and confused, Neal ran, leaving the state in order to lose himself in Manhatten.

 

 While making a living as a sidewalk singer, Neal met Mark Kowalski (Screech), who soon became his best friend. Mark introduced Neal to the evil of drugs and to his black market friends who could get him plenty. Neal became a thief to support his habit. Hunted by the police, Neal began to move around from place to place. Then he was discovered by Damon Falmier. Falmier made Neal the singer of his new conception, Road Kill, and gave him the name of Heavy Metal.

 

Personality/Motivation:  Heavy Metal is nothing but a scheming, selfish bully, showing off when he's ahead, running when faced with a real threat. He is a very angry young man, wnating to get back at a world he feels should be catering to him.

 

Quote:  "You see before you the lords of the new order of youth - an order that facist oppressors like you don't fit into/"

 

Powers/Tactics:  Heavy Metal's powers, his Songs of Oppression as he calls them, come from his mutated larynx, which allows him to alter his voice to extreme, even ultrasonic, levels. By altering the waves of his voice, he can cause a variety of sonic attacks from wide and painful to concentrated and deadly. When Heavy Metal makes his attacks, he often sings, fitting his attacks into lyrics ha makes up on the spot. His general attack, the Song of Destruction, throws wide sound waves into a damaging force (12d6 EB). His second attack, the Song of Insanity, is a mental one (5d6 EGO attack). His final vocal attack, the Moan of Death, is a concentrated assault against the nervous systam (6d6 EB, AVAD). Heavy Metal also carries grenades styled in the group's trademark - flattened animals. These critter crepes detonate and generate dark smoke to cover an escape.

 

 In combat, Heavy Metal is a performer. His comments, rude behavier, and dinging act to distract heroes. He prances around stage antaganizing heroes into attacking recklessly, then will dodge or roll with the attack. He then feigns cowardice and surprise attacks the hero when they are off guard.

 

Appearance:  Heavy Metal stands 6 feet tall, weighs 182, and is 20 years old. His eyes are hazel, and his hair is cut into a red and white mohawk. He also weras war paint on his cheeks and nose. Looking like a post-apocalyptic warrior. Heavy Meatl wears black leather clothing and boots, chemically treated to resist damage.

Heavy Metal v3.hdc

[The Arc]

If this is more of a general discussion about super-powered rock bands, in the Uberworld Universe I created a band called Demonbait... I never completed all of the characters, but here's a link if anyone is interested.

 

http://www.uber-world.com/demonbait.htm

 

They're all 5th ed if anyone is interested...

[BoloOfEarth]

Some feedback on Screech (pun fully intended):

 

First, a heads-up on something in Hero Designer:  for the Endurance Reserves, you have to put Limitations on the REC separately, or you're paying full price for the REC. So for the Stage Keyboards, I put the END Reserve with an OAF Bulky limitation, and the REC with a Requires Electrical Outlet limitation on it, and for the Portable Keyboard, I gave the END Reserve an OAF limitation, and the REC has the Requires Electrical Outlet limitation.

 

Second, by adding a Barrier to the Stage Keyboards, I realized that would get in the way of his own attacks, so I added Indirect (Source point the same, direct to target; +1/4) to all of the Stage Keyboard attacks.  My thinking is that he spends the END to create the Sonic Wall, and then modulates his attacks to pass through it.  (Note that with Barrier, you don't have to spend END every Phase and keep that slot active in the Multipower unless you give the Barrier a Costs END to Maintain limitation.)

 

Also, on both keyboards, the book writeups had a mix of ultra and multi slots (fixed and variable slots in 6th ed.) but frankly their choices of which were fixed and which weren't seemed f---ed up to me.  I see you had all yours as fixed slots, which is usually how I do Multipowers.  For the Stage Keyboards, I bumped the pool up to 76 points, with the Barrier using the full pool when it's created.  Then most of the rest of the powers are approx. 60 points, with the Darkness to Hearing at 15 points.  Oh, and I moved the Force Field Usable by Other into the Stage Keyboards, since that made more sense to me.  For fun, I also added an Images to Hearing group (AoE 32m radius) as a variable slot.  At 16 points, it's only +/- 1 to PER, but at full it's at +/- 15 to PER, so he can do intricate orchestral scores and incredibly convincing sound effects.

 

For the Autofire Blast, as with Heavy Metal you need to add the All or Nothing to the AVAD.  In addition to Indirect, I also added Half END and bumped the Autofire up to 5 shots.  That costs 10 END total but you can potentially hit multiple individuals, or hammer one person.

 

On the Darkness, remember to change from hexes to meters. 

 

As to the Gadget Pools, note that 6th Edition allows you more freedom with VPP Pool and Control costs.  I made the Stage Keyboard VPP a 48 point Pool + 60 points Control.  With the -1 1/2 Focus limitation on any powers, the max pool cost for any 60 AcP (active point) power would be 24 points.  So he can create two 60 AcP powers (24 + 24 = 48).  For the Portable Keyboard, I made it a 15-point Pool + 30 points Control, and added an Advantage that he can change the pool as a Half-Phase action (+1/2) with at Gadgeteering roll.  Since all powers in there have OAF (-1), the max pool cost for any 30 AcP power is 15 points.

 

Speaking of Gadgeteering, you should have that as a Power skill, based on INT rather than a Custom Skill.  Much, much cheaper.

 

When I've got my HD version finished, I'll try to remember to post it.