sinanju

Re: Character Post: Cassandra Sugarbaker

Re: Character Post: Cassandra Sugarbaker

Re: Character Post: Cassandra Sugarbaker [Cassandra] Geez! Get over yourself! The only person I've suggested killing is Richard, and it's not like I actually _tried_! [/Cassandra]

Re: New Campaign Start Idea - Critiques Wanted I've run several FUDGE games using an optional rule where the players design their characters during the first game session (or two). They decide on a basic one-line description of the character at the beginning, but their stats, skills and abilities aren't defined. As the game progresses, they come to points where a stat/skill roll is required--and the players must decide then whether the character has that skill (at all) and, if so, at what level. They spend the points to acquire it then and there; if they decide the character doesn't have that skill, that too is written down. They can't change their minds later. You might want to give your players a pool of Stat points and a pool of skill/talent points. Then run them through an adventure with lots of different challenges. Let them decide where they want these points to go. Pretty soon, if it goes like my games, personalities and skill focuses will begin to emerge pretty quickly. (It may also keep them focused on this part of the character design and avoid them planning for their inevitable ascension to superhero status.) Once they've finished nailing down all these points, THEN you spring superpowers on them.

Cassandra SugarbakerPlayer: Mark Jones Val Char Cost 30 STR 0 14 DEX 12 13 CON 6 10 BODY 0 13 INT 3 14 EGO 8 13 PRE 3 14 COM 2 7/17 PD 1 3/13 ED 0 4 SPD 16 10 REC 2 40 END 7 40 STUN 8 6" RUN02" SWIM06" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 68Cost Power END 25 Touch Telekinesis: +20 STR, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (25 Active Points) 2 50 Telekinetic Powers: Multipower, 40-point reserve, all slots Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (50 Active Points) 8m 1) Flight 15", Position Shift, x4 Noncombat (40 Active Points) 2 8m 2) Force Field (10 PD/10 ED/10 Mental Defense/10 Power Defense) (40 Active Points) 2 2u 3) Telekinesis (25 STR) (38 Active Points); Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2), Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2) 2 1u 4) Telekinesis (20 STR), Fine Manipulation (40 Active Points); Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (0 DCV; -1), Requires A Skill Roll (-1/2), Limited Range (-1/4) 2 Powers Cost: 94Cost Skill 3 Acrobatics 12- 1 Combat Driving 8- 6 +2 with Dodge, Grab, and Strike 3 Conversation 12- 1 CuK: Atlanta High Society 8- 3 High Society 12- 2 KS: Ballroom Dance 11- 2 KS: Make-Up & Fashion 11- 1 Mechanics 8- 3 Persuasion 12- 3 Stealth 12- 1 Streetwise 8- 5 Power 13- 1 TF: Small Motorized Ground Vehicles, Two-Wheeled Motorized Ground Vehicles 2 WF: Small Arms Everyman Skills 0 1) Acting 8- 0 2) Area Knowledge: Atlanta 8- 0 3) Climbing 8- 0 4) Computer Programming 8- 0 5) Concealment 8- 0 6) Conversation 8- 0 7) Deduction 8- 0 8) Language Skill: English (Native) 8- 0 9) Paramedics 8- 0 10) Professional Skill: Debutante 11- (Custom Adder) 11- 0 11) Shadowing 8- Skills Cost: 37Cost Perk 1 Custom Perk Perks Cost: 1Val Disadvantages 10 Physical Limitation: Crushing Grip (Infrequently, Greatly Impairing) 10 Physical Limitation: Nearsighted (Infrequently, Greatly Impairing) 10 Psychological Limitation: Adventurous & Funloving (Common, Moderate) 15 Psychological Limitation: Overconfident (Common, Strong) 15 Psychological Limitation: Secretive (Common, Strong) 10 Psychological Limitation: Stubborn (Common, Moderate) 1 Quirk: Aggressive in Combat 1 Quirk: Disdain for Authority 1 Quirk: Smartass 1 Quirk: Speaks in a strong Georgia accent 1 Quirk: Hedonist 5 Social Limitation: Minor (Occasionally, Minor) 10 Social Limitation: Seen as a Troublemaker (Occasionally, Major) 10 Social Limitation: Jerk Magnet (Seen as Easy) (Frequently, Minor) Disadvantage Points: 100Base Points: 100Experience Required: 0Total Experience Available: 7Experience Unspent: 7Total Character Cost: 200 Height: 1.75 m Hair: Black Weight: 70.00 kg Eyes: Green Appearance: Slightly above average height for her age, with long dark curly hair, green eyes and a round face. She's got an hourglass figure and appears very comfortable in her body, though she's heavier than is currently fashionable.Personality: Cassandra is extremely confident in herself--though perhaps not quite as confident as she likes to pretend. Nonetheless, she's fairly certain of her ability to handle any situation, however daunting it may appear. She's also supremely unconcerned with the opinions of authority figures, and isn't shy about saying so loudly and often, and as a result has been marked as a troublemaker. Her casual disregard for laws about underage smoking, drinking, sex, and pretty much anything else she wants to do that doesn't directly affect anyone else has marked her as a delinquent in the eyes of authority figures and as "easy" in the eyes of many of her teenage peers, leading to frequent confrontations--which add to her reputation as a troublemaker. If there's trouble and Cassandra is anywhere around, she's likely to be blamed for it whether she was involved or not, which only feeds her disdain for authority figures. Cassandra is stubborn and secretive, and will either remain mulishly silent or cheerfully make up lies in response to nosey questions, depending on her mood.Quote:"How hard can it be?"Background: Cassandra grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of wealthy parents. She was raised by very proper parents and taught how to get along in high society, but learned at least as much--and probably more--from her favorite aunt, the black sheep of the family. Her aunt taught her self-reliance, critical thinking, and to pay only as much attention to decorum, social mores and the opinions of others--including the law--as required to avoid serious trouble. Cassandra was grief-stricken when her aunt died three years ago, but her life truly changed when she and her parents were involved in a serious traffic accident only months ago. Cassandra's parents were killed in the crash; Cassandra was pried out of the crumpled vehicle without a scratch on her, and wound up in the care of her only living relatives--distant cousins with several well-behaved children of their own and little patience for a delinquent, even one who came with a very large trust fund to cover her expenses. She spent the intervening months grieving and acting out. Her previous calculated disregard for stupid rules was nothing compared to the hardcore delinquency she engaged in after her parents' death. She frequently sneaked out of the house to vanish all night or all weekend, drinking, smoking, shacking up with various boyfriends, or going on road trips at high speed. One such road trip resulted in another crash. Again she was unhurt--but it was when she tore herself free of the vehicle that she realized something had changed in her. She also realized it was sheer blind luck that nobody else was injured or killed by her recklessness. Cassandra returned to her new home and confessed her fears and unhappiness to her guardians, and even revealed what she'd learned about her inexplicable new abilities. Her guardians listened in stony silence and then sent her to bed. Two days later, Cassandra came home from school to find her belongings packed up and waiting in the family's limo. The chauffeur drove her to the airport while she read a letter explaining that things just weren't working out, that she was too troubled and too dangerous to the other children, that her guardians loved her...but they couldn't deal with her. They were sending her away to a school for teens like her. The letter also revealed that the trust fund left for her by her parents gave her guardians authority over the fund until she turned 18--but that so long as she remained in Redwood Academy, they'd continue to allow her to spend the money as she wished. Cassandra crumpled the letter. She'd been exiled. She was a remittance woman. It hurt to be thrown out of their home, even if she didn't particularly know or like them. On the other hand, she had money--and "teens like her?" That was promising. Perhaps she wasn't the only freak around. Powers/Tactics: Cassandra has a powerful but limited telekinetic ability. She can employ it with little or no difficulty to manipulate objects she touches, or to defend herself against attacks. Attempts to manipulate items at more than arm's reach require a great deal of concentration, and frequently fail even so. As a result, Cassandra tends to prefer to be up close and personal in combat, using her apparent superhuman strength and toughness to best advantage.Campaign Use: Cassandra is a housemate of Stopwatch in the Red Raptors pbem game. She is one of the "psychopaths" whose casual mention of killing drove Stopwatch to flee the school. Cassandra thinks she's overreacting, frankly. It's not like she actually _tried_ to kill anyone. She'd just feel safer--a hell of a lot safer--if Richard were no longer polluting the communal oxygen. Cassandra began the game knowing she had superhuman strength and resistance to injury (she's survived two serious car crashes and kicked her way out of one wrecked vehicle), but only recently discovered her ability to fly, and is enjoying it thoroughly. She has still not yet realized that she possesses any sort of ranged telekinetic abilities.

Re: Character Post: Stopwatch Comments? I'LL give you comments! Freaks? Junior Psychopaths? Geeze, you mention just _once_ that you'd feel a lot safer if someone was dead, and you get branded a psychopath! You've seen how Richard's power works. Of _course_ Cassandra would feel safer if she knew he wasn't sleazing his way around, willing and able to take over her body like a puppet.

Re: Unusual Character Ideas Hmmmm...let's see. An NPC I invented many years ago. Power Man aka Derek Wright...aka Leah Wright. She's a genius, but convinced that she never gets the respect she deserves because she's a woman in a sexist world. So she's created an exo-droid (a fantastically realistic android form that you wear like powered armor). In her "Derek Wright/Power Man" persona, she's become rich, powerful, respected. She also tends to behave like the worst of the sexist pigs she abhors, because that's "in character" for a man like Derek Wright.... She's one screwed-up woman.

Re: The Event Yes. I was running a cyberpunk game and decided I wanted to change it into a supers game. So I had the PCs get involved in a desperate race to find the last invention of the late, lamented Dr. Saburo Pak. Dr. Pak was a supergenius who'd revolutionized genetic engineering, and now he was dead--murdered, his latest top secret project stolen. EVERYBODY wanted it--corporations, governments, yakuza, mafia types, everybody. And everybody had a different story about what this last project was and what it was supposed to do. It turned out to be the Wild Card virus. The cannister was punctured during a rooftop confrontation between several rival groups as they fought for possession of it (and boy did _that_ take some doing to pull off). The cannister exploded, scattering spores all over the city and, eventually, the world. The PCs, of course, survived and gained a varieyt of weird powers.

Re: Reccomended Champions Library How about a radioactive Kodiak bear? I had a villain in an early Champions game called THE MURDEROUS MAN-BEAR! He was an arrogant and rich guy who was out hunting one day when a radioactive* kodiak bear bit him. He gained KODIAK BEAR POWERS! Which is to say, he was HUGE! And FURRY! And had nasty, sharp pointy claws and teeth. And a high-tech pegleg because, well, a radioactive BEAR bit him. The pegleg had a swivel base so he could do spinning back kicks with his clawed foot, and a jumpjet with limited charges (Superleap) for making getaways. As you may have gathered, it wasn't an entirely serious campaign.... *I'm showing my age here. He was in Canada, where a Soviet satellite had recently (at the time) crashed to earth and scattered radioactive fuel about (for real). The bear was nearby, see....

Re: Does your character blog? Cassandra (same campaign as Katherine's "Stopwatch") isn't a superhero (or villain) per se, just a teenager with powers. She has no personal webpage, probably doesn't blog either, but surfs the internet. Hell's Angel (in the GGU Golden Gate Guardians game) is a newby superhero, so--again--no fan webpages, no personal webpage. She does maintain a blog in her secret ID (and is toying with a blog in her hero ID if she can figure out how to do it with no chance of having her ID discovered). She also writes fanfic and corresponds on numerous mailing lists and forums. Le Fantome (another GGU character) corresponds via email with friends all over the world, but probably doesn't do much netsurfing and definitely no blogging. He's a people person; he'd much rather talk to someone face to face than spend his time in front of a monitor.

Re: Origin suggestions needed ASAP

Re: How to kill a PC? Hmmmm.... 1. A new (and very powerful) superhero shows up--and he thinks all the other superheroes are either a) slackers or corrupt, and that they have to be eradicated. And he's just the guy for the job. Call him...Nomad ("You are imperfect. You must be sterilized!") 2. Orbital battlestations start popping into existence over earth. The genetically-engineered supersoldiers of a parallel universe have marked the campaign world for colonization. Individually, they may be no match for any single superhero, but they're all superhuman and they have fantastically advanced tech (weapons, armor, etc.). Think of the Draka. They kill off a lot of heroes in the initial invasion, and the new characters have to both a) avenge the fallen and fight off the invaders.

Re: Help with Japanese villains I suggest Kami Kaze, a weather-controller. Kami kaze means "divine wind," after all, from the very fortunate typhoon which prevented an invasion of Japan. If the player characters misinterpret the villain's name and make assumptions about him (or her), well, too bad for them....

Re: Murderous intent Yep. That's why (in the GM style thread) I noted that my approach to plotting a game is to decide who the bad guys are, what they want, what resources they have, and what they'll do both a) in the absence of interference by the PCs and if the PCs DO interfere. Will they go to ground? Try to scare/bribe the PCs into leaving them alone? Throw a false trail? Try to kill the PCs? Once I've worked out these things, I know how the PCs can find them--so when the PCs start investigating, even if they take an unexpected approach, I know what they'll find (and can throw a clue in their path if they're clearly stumped). My games also tend to have superpowered characters, but not costumed superheroes and villains for just this reason. Superheroes can "patrol" a city til the cows come home, but the odds of them actually stumbling across a crime in progress are considerably worse than those of the cops who are both far more numerous and have dispatchers (and a 911 call center for crime reports) to guide them. It just doesn't work for me.

Re: Ok...Ummm...What Now? I joined a new gaming group after moving cross-country and started an "Expendables" campaign once. The PCs were all scouts on an STL "sleeper" ship (rather like Aliens). When the ship got to a planet, they were awakened to explore and either approve or reject a planet for colonization. I gave the players the option to be either volunteers or draftees; most chose to be draftees. They arrive at the first planet and I first realize what sort of people I'm dealing with. The level of paranoia and caution they exhibited (first, we hover the drop ship over our chosen landing site to fuse the soil into a meters-thick plate of glass, we seed the area with sensors, begin erecting our temporary fortifications while the other guys back in the ship's machine shop start turning out the REAL stuff....) completely derailed all my campaign ideas. I simply wasn't prepared for their style of play. On the other hand, the paranoia, personality conflicts and backstabbing amongst the PCs was highly entertaining anyhow. The alcoholic dropship pilot nearly killed them all on their first landing. One PC punched him out. While he was unconscious, the PC doctor implanted a remote-controlled "wondergland" that dispensed sober-up drugs. From then on, whenever they got ready to fly, the doctor zapped the remote and the pilot found himself "so sober your teeth hurt." Two other characters commandeered the ship's com laser to send a message to their lawyers back on earth trying to get their convictions overturned and, failing that, get a restraining order against the NPC Captain and First Officer (Captain Stern and Hanover Fist) to keep them 100 yards away at all times. Douglas "Strangely" Brown, another PC, made a habit of going where no man had gone before in the realm of seeking out new taste treats on every planet...which entertaining results. Alas, the game folded shortly since I was out of my league. But rather than flee the group, I hung around, learned how to work with them and launched a revised Expendables game. This one was eerily reminiscent of Stargate (before the movie, mind you) down to the big metal ring, the metal walkway leading to it, the underground, heavily-defended base, etc. The gate took them to alternate dimensions, but they couldn't get any info about the other side short of stepping through. Nor could they take anything they couldn't carry with them. I promised the players I wouldn't put them into a lethal environment, but no promises otherwise. The players got together and calculated just how much weight 12 men could (barely) lift and shuffle through the gate with in the 30-second window. Then they presented me with a multi-page list of everything but the kitchen sink, starting with an inflated liferaft (in case of water landing), to which they were all clipped by climbing harnesses. The raft contained food, water, medical supplies, cold/desert gear, weapons, ammo, toolkits, survival equipment, climbing equipment, scuba equipment, mountain bikes, etc etc etc. Once they stepped thru the gate, they dropped the raft, surveyed the area for threats, then determined what equipment they actually NEEDED for the next three days, detailed some NPCs (half the team was NPCs) to watch the raft, and the PCs did the exploration. This was not at all what I'd had in mind, but they'd beaten me fair and square, so that became SOP. That game lasted considerably longer than the first one.

Re: The Destroyer (Remo Williams) Sorry, no. I'm sure it's packed up with all the others in the basement, but....

Re: The Destroyer (Remo Williams)

Re: Villian Planning Session

Re: Need clues and style of lackeys for a kidnap plot If they need someone for a nefarious cult ritual, then the obvious choice for lackeys is...cultists. They could appear in full cult regalia if they're feeling feisty, or they could wear normal clothes, or disguise themselves as orderlies/nurses/doctors. If the Mastermind wants to send any pursuers off on a wild goose chase, they could dress as Viper agents (or some your-world equivalent). Or mafia thugs. As for clues: fingerprints, shoeprints, distinctive accents/voices or appearance (gathered via interviews with witnesses or security cameras), license number of vehicle(s) used, etc. INTENTIONAL clues could be any or all of the above (except fingerprints), left behind to send the PCs after some convenient mark while the bad guys laugh.

Re: WWYCD #91 - A matter of Family Cassandra: "Wow, grandma was quite a hottie in her day. As for grandpa--well, that's life in the big city. That's the thing about being a supervillain, you never know when being a bastard is gonna come back and bite you in the ass." Le Fantome: Considering that all of his family has been dead for twenty years to the best of his knowledge, this would ALL come as quite a shock to him. He'd probably agree to the transfusion despite considerable misgivings because family is family--especially when you thought you had none anymore. Hell's Angel would be thorough pissed off to find out that one of the bad guys she's been fighting for the last couple of years as a newbie superhero turns out to be her own grandfather--and a right bastard, too! Given her background, however, she'd agree with Cassandra: you never know whwn being a bastard is gonna come back and bite you in the ass. No transfusion for _you_, pops!

Re: Die, Customers, Die!

Re: Die, Customers, Die! This was in GURPS, so no particular alignment. We started the campaign intending to be the heroes. But the cumulative frustration eventually drove us to turn on our "clients" with malice aforethought.

Die, Customers, Die! We were playing a fantasy game. The PCs were employees of a large caravan company, fairly powerful. We were troubleshooters, sent to handle special problems. We were assigned to help defend a town which was being victimized by unreasonably successful bandits (since our caravans were getting munched on a regular basis). The GM had a history of turning every game into a GM-vs-Players contest. We spent quite a few game sessions struggling to get the people we were trying to help to give US some help. But they were, every one of them, mulishly uncooperative. At one point my character, a samurai far from home, discovered that the miners (who were supposed to provide us with material) had decided to strike. I traveled to the mine where I sought out the guy in charge. "Go back to work," I told him. He refused. I'd had enough. "Obey or die," I said. He refused. I whacked off his head. I turned to the new leader. "Obey or die," I told him. HE refused! Whack! I did this twice--TWICE--more, before they finally went back to work. I'd had enough. The other players had had enough. Next time the bad guys attacked the town, we didn't lift a finger except in self-defense. One of our (elven) mages had previously cased the Mayor's office; before we left town, he teleported in to steal the jeweled bad of office. Then he and the other mage in the party raised a huge earth elemental and a huge fire elemental and razed the town. The elven mage/player was heard to comment that his elf had decided that the Dark Elves were right after all--humans were stupid and wretched and didn't deserve to live. So...a few years later, the primary bad guy in MY fantasy game was Yade (Yet Another Dark Elf), essentially that PC (now an NPC) after he'd spent a few years gathering resources for a genocidal crusade against humankind....

Re: Murderous intent

Re: Monster Squad Ideas