Steve

Well, if something fatal happens to her, another time traveller loyal to her could try going back to an earlier point where she is still alive. Then things become interesting. However, even if that other time traveller warns her, it sounds like she wouldn’t be able to break free of her destined future death due to some kind of paradox lock built into her powers preventing her from splitting herself. If there can only ever be one of her, then maybe she can’t cross her own personal timeline either. Her perfect society would likely rip apart quickly without her controlling it. That chaos would be a time for heroes. Oh, I’m sure there would be many who would welcome her with open arms.

Actually, a campaign set in the days after she is gone could be very interesting. If there is a struggle for power, PCs could become quite important, what with Tyrannon and other multiversal threats pressing on the borders of the empire and all the internal chaos that would be going on. Yet, she is a time traveller. I can’t recall, do her powers render her always unique? Or might temporal echoes of her exist even after her supposed death?

I believe it followed the normal rules for Active Points. I don’t have my book in front of me right now.

How different is Lady Heart’s personality from the male one? Is it a case of multiple-personality disorder somehow? Or one person with two bodies to choose from? If the personality stays “male” then it’s kind of like Ranma 1/2. Revealing the truth to Sunspell might be strange for her, if they are that close. If there were sleepovers before that happened, not sure how she could react.

Since much of the discussion in the Pittsburgh thread is focused on the teenaged characters, I wondered about what it would be like if a city only had teen superhumans in it, heroes and villains. Perhaps due to some strange confluence or a controlling power dictating it, adults don’t get superpowers there and it is not a place where any adult superhumans ever seem to go. I was also wondering what a superhuman world might be like if people gained powers as teens but then lost them when they reached adulthood or at an arbitrary age like 20 or 25, so only young people had powers.

Ah, I’d don’t know that about the character, but it makes sense. So Mercedes is in the mold of a “shallow yet perky” sort of high school mean girl. If she follows a path like Harmony then she might end up as a replacement for a member of the Court of Hate, but she wouldn’t be very good at it. I’m now curious to know more about the girls behind the costumes in the Court of Hate. Are they all about the same age? Do they go to different schools? Do they have evil pets/advisors like morally inverted versions of Luna? Why did they join up? Do they all hate Lady Heart or are their others who arouse their ire?

Retired superheroes could still have their Hunteds strike at them, but it might be either a half-hearted one “for old times sake” or a deadly serious attack. If their enmity has cooled over the years, it could turn into a discussion panel reminiscing about their glory days and past superhumans that younger people in the audience wouldn’t know about unless they were really big fans of a certain past era of superhumanity.

For the skill roll, I like the idea of using the god as a Contact. Narosia used this and had rules for casting, and I like the logic of it. It gives a different feel than an INT or EGO-based skill roll. Using a skill roll feels more like a wizard thing, and a Contact feels more like a cleric.

True. I was picturing them as folding together though. I can’t picture a comic convention in a world of superhumans without them bringing in discussion panels and other displays involving actual supers. Some heroes might even appear as guests of honor. More publicity minded villains without current warrants out for them (Foxbat or Lady Blue) might also make an appearance. I could picture Foxbat staging an appearance at an event with a hero in attendance, maybe acting like a pro wrestling heel in some ways. Granted. They often aren’t too bright in fiction though.

That collection of otaku is doubtless drooling over there being local magical girls in their town. Even the members of the Hate Court might have fans depending on how sexy they are in costume. Come to think of it, there's likely a fan club for superheroes organized on campus. Maybe a supervillain one too. The adults in Pittsburgh probably also organize conventions celebrating the superhumans, replacing the comic conventions that we have in our world. There might even be superhero/villain collectables sold by enterprising supers cashing in.

Since the school likely has delinquents, they would provide a different sort of nemesis than Cordy and her crew (who would likely never physically harm someone, just make catty remarks about them). The son or niece of a teacher or the principal could be a dimwitted bully, roughing up anyone who gets in their way. This could be the Draco Malfoy sort, maybe with a couple of thugs to do the dirty work. A junior or senior rebel might have a 'Fonz' vibe going for them, but not become an outright delinquent if befriended by a PC. One kid might be a son/daughter of someone in the local mafia organization. While the Pittsburgh Mafia (the LaRocca crime family) died out in 2021, they could be alive and growing in a superhero universe. Pittsburgh's organized crime element might have to deal with costumed busybodies that don't have overwhelming powers like those flying overhead and may just be highly-trained normals with tech assistance. What goes on in the shadows of the city would be another aspect of its costumed crimefighters, from gunslinging, murderous vigilantes to preternaturally skilled martial artists who break bones but don't kill.

Teachers deserve some mention. There's a Principal mentioned but there's likely also a Vice-Principal who could be the dreaded disciplinarian of the school. Cordy and her crew answer to the cheerleading coach, who may or may not be an homage of the one from Glee. The football and wrestling coaches could be out and out thugs. A science teacher could be into Tesla and steampunk, and the History teacher could secretly be a witch alive since the Revolutionary War. What about the student body president and his/her cohorts?

Ray might have a lot of those KS abilities, and he was also a mechanic since he worked on Ecto-1. He seemed to be the most into that level of trivia. Egon was more the science/tech expert of the team. Peter would have the social skills the others do not. Winston was the everyman and could fill in empty skill spots. Being able to use a proton pack might qualify as a 1-point Weapon Familiarity.

Mercedes might have a sub-8 INT stat (perhaps EGO too) based on her description and use those saved points to invest in a 2-point or 3-point Striking Appearance. Even with 25 points to spend as Normals, Cordy and her crew could have decent social skills.

And let's not forget the Game Club or maybe RPG Club.

In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, it was mentioned that Egon left New York with sixteen ounces of fuel isotope, so fuel does seem to be an issue to consider. If done as a franchise operation like the old Ghostbusters RPG did it, getting fuel for the proton packs could be an issue. The original crew must have had some kind of source. You could probably write up a Ghostbuster on 50 points or possibly even down to 25 points, but that seems a bit light for a PC. Maybe as high as 100 points?

Are Cordy and the members of her crew part of the cheer squad? That is often a source of popularity. Of the trio following her, who is the "second in command" in their clique? Are the names given in order of social standing? That would make KC (Katherine) the gofer of the quartet. None of the trio of followers are probably allowed to outshine Cordelia, who might have as high as a 13 PRE and maybe a level or two of Striking Appearance to help maintain her social standing. Donna sounds like a potential Cinderella sort who could clean up to be dazzling at prom. Is there a Glee Club? Or is that what was meant by school choir? No Science Club?

Fear and Panic seem to overlap too much. How about Lady Loneliness or Lady Rage instead? Rage could be a lightweight brick melee type.

Cordelia Carpenter needs a retinue to help her rule the school with a well-manicured fist. Two or three girls should be sufficient. They shouldn’t all be vapid little twits, and one might be dangerously smart, smart enough to crack a secret ID with enough clues. Just for variety from the norm, perhaps a strong boxing team exists on campus that could provide some interesting NPCs, a break from the usual football or baseball jock sorts. They don’t all have to be bullies, but an homage to Kobra Kai might work.

I keep feeling like Thomas Avery needs a nephew (possibly with a high level of magical potential) to come live with him as his apprentice, and the boy could also start hanging around with the squad of magical girls popping up around town like Lady Heart and the Jewish Sailor V. He could be a possible love interest for one or both, but then there’s also the Court of Hate who can keep trying to entice him to the Dark Side, or perhaps Queen Nightmare lusts after him. The boy could be a first-class snarker with a shadowy edge to him like a young Professor Snape, or maybe brighter with a BTVS Xander sort of nerdiness to him.

Yeah, then imagine how things would be if Xander was the Secret ID and Buffy was the superhero ID of the same person. Wacky hijinks. All you’d need is a version of a Watcher to act as a mentor character to the young superhero and a Willow homage as childhood friend, and then things start becoming quite a twisted version of BTVS. It would then get even more interesting if the proud queen bee of the school becomes empowered and goes into full-blown arch-enemy nemesis territory. You could also throw in a teacher or two getting supervillain IDs from lab accidents or cursed artifacts and really start playing up that high school drama, bringing in a bit of Smallville to add to the fun.

I’m reminded of the webcomic “Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki” when I read this. I suppose it could be played for “Ranma 1/2” wacky hijinks. Maybe the snarky girl next door suspects something is off and keeps snooping around Robert like a cross between Lana Lang and Nabiki Tendo. The captain of the high school football team develops torrid feelings for the new girl seen around town. The queen bee of the school/captain of the cheerleading squad hates the new girl and wants to stomp her into the mud. A young superheroine from another town keeps dropping by with rivalrous intentions. You get the idea.

Abbot & Costello films from that era maybe? They met Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman. There’s also the Sailor Steve Costigan series of stories by Robert E. Howard.

Thinking some more about superhero bases. Would having one in an area cause its real estate values to rise (maybe due to added prestige from its presence) or fall (increased risk of damage from supervillain attacks)? Would the makeup of businesses around it change? Maybe a private school decides to relocate out, fearing for children’s safety, or a superhero-themed restaurant opens up nearby.

I always thought the destruction was because they missed. Due to their weight, they are likely giving an OCV penalty to most people. They could also have the Inaccurate limitation. Proton packs don’t seem all that easy to aim.