Steve

1 hour ago, bluesguy said:

The idea of Holy is that God's "otherness" is so pure and otherworldly causes mortals to be overwhelmed leading to the feelings of fear.  The disciple Peter has a fear reaction to Jesus at one point in the New Testament (Luke 5:1-9).

While I get what you’re saying about angels appearing in all their glory and majesty, that’s not what happened here.

Verse 5 is more about Peter expressing his respect for the Lord (who had been teaching nearby for a while) than fear of Him and verse 8 is Peter declaring shame at his own sinfulness after realizing who Jesus was.
 

There’s not really fear involved in this encounter, the one where Peter pulled in so many fish after putting in his nets again after already having an unsuccessful night fishing, and he was amazed that his nets were breaking and he almost sank his boat.

She’s kind of a cross between a Princess of Amber and a Time Lord, so yeah, alien.

4 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

“Unlimited power is the ideal thing when it is in safe hands. The despotism of heaven is the one absolutely perfect government, and earthly despotism would be the absolute perfect earthly government if the conditions were the same; namely the despot the perfectest individual of the human race, and his lease of life perpetual; but as a perishable, perfect man must die and leave his despotism in the hands of an imperfect successor, an earthly despotism is not merely a bad form of government, it is the worst form that is possible.”
― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

9 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

I haven't read Book of the Empress, but this passage in CV1 imight be worth remembering:

 

"Istvatha V'han carries herself with a regal grace at most times, but her facade sometimes cracks when her followers let her down, or someone challenges or insults her. She doesn't tolerate frustration well, and if sufficiently angered may lash out in a fit of destructiveness that obliterates entire planets." (CV1, p. 60)

 

I think a reasonable person, even seeing all the benefits that Istvatha V'han's rule brings most of the time, might balk at having the survival of their entire world in the hands of an absolute monarch with no curb on her temper tantrums.

 

Though for some people, that erratic temper may enhance their reverence.

 

Dean Shomshak

She is an absolute despot, and she does not tolerate any challenges to her rule.

Any. Challenges. At. All.

She has destroyed entire worlds full of people out of frustration. That’s pretty scary, and it puts a serious damper on this whole benevolent ruler facade she wears. She is only benevolent as long as you toe the line and obey.

14 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

I was waiting for someone to bring that one up.

 

That's Old Testament wrathful God. For the God of love that Jesus promulgated, believers go to great lengths insisting that God does not seek to inflict suffering.

That’s not quite accurate. God will chasten even His most devout and pious followers, which can involve suffering, but it’s to try and instill greater humility and holiness within them. People also often get into trouble all on their own due to their own poor choices and then blame God for their problems.

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

One of V'han's defining qualities is that she's "multiversally unique." Neither she nor her followers have ever encountered an alternate version of herself.

 

Another quality is that she's sterile, so a dynasty born of her flesh isn't in the cards. She could always adopt, or maybe clone herself, but BOTE says neither option appeals to her.

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.

1 hour ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

The expression "the fear of God" comes to mind...

 

She could certainly put some moral dilemmas into the game.  What if Earth wants to accept her rule?  What if, overall, Earth does, but some current leaders do not, clinging to personal power?  How much freedom does one sell for her benevolence?

 

In the source material, these characters generally prove to be less benevolent than they claim.

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?

22 minutes ago, Mr. R said:

 

I am curious though.  Is that a straight roll (IE Contact at 14-) or is it modified ( IE Contact 14- with a -1/ 10 points it the spell) or do you do a third alternative?

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

On 5/13/2022 at 11:56 AM, steriaca said:

Rob knows Tab from his acting circles and dancing circles. Rob doesn't know Tabitha is Sunspell, nor does Tabitha know Rob is Lady Heart...yet.

 

Lady Heart and Sunspell's relationship is more like close sisters. Both have the same goals and both magic is of a similar source (not exactly the same, of course). If they could they would go to each other's sleepover parties. 

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.

5 hours ago, Mark Rand said:

Mercedes Kendall is based on Harmony Kendal from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  The Buffyverse wiki says about Harmony, “Beyond her shallow yet perky personality, Harmony’s defining characteristic, from her high school years up to her employment at Wolfram & Hart, was that she always tried to associate herself with what she perceived to be the most powerful and/or popular (Cordelia, Spike, Angel Investigations, Doug Sanders, Wolfram & Hart) in order to ensure her own social status and, later on, survival.”

 

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?

26 minutes ago, steriaca said:

It should be noted that Comic Conventions wouldn't have superhero guest of honor. One, superheroes attract supervillains and when and where they clash are called super battles, and super battles usually cause injury at best, and death at worse. And no convention center wants to be in the center of a law suit. And if you point to the "not responsible for injury or death" clause, that won't mean anything in certain law suits.

 

Second, such guest of honor have to have leave to take care of emergencies during said conversations. They can't be sued for not showing up because the fate of the world stands in the balance after all.

 

That doesn't mean that a retired superhero can't be a guest of honor. In fact, that is more likely than an active hero.

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.

16 hours ago, steriaca said:

I wouldn't say "replace" more than "supplement".

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.

14 hours ago, dmjalund said:

the bully wouldn't have to be dim-witted

Granted. They often aren’t too bright in fiction though.

6 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Robert's horse is named Shiro (Japanese for White). At least on camera...

 

Beyond the drama club, Robert is a member of the Anime and Manga club.

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?

2 minutes ago, Jhamin said:

 

I never saw Ghostbusters: Afterlife.  I suppose I would if this got past just a forum thread.  Egon likely needed that to keep operating his experiments, but was their any indication that amount of fuel was only good for X long or was it more than you could only power Y things with it?  If it's the latter, it isn't that it is a fuel charge, it is that it represents a semi-inexhaustible power source but can only power so many things at a time at such a level.

I just checked & It appears the proton packs are good for 5000 years, not millions.  Either way, I'd buy them 0-end and call it a day.

 

I'd have to see how many points makes sense.  Their total lack of physical ability, their general inaccuracy with their gear (low OCV), and buying "Parapsychology: 15-" instead of 1 dozen different specialty skills (KS: Cults, KS: Psychics, KS: Ghosts, KS: Spirits, KS: Sumerian Gods, KS: Atlantis, etc) would let you get their point totals down pretty far.  It would be about figuring out where they are playable while still reflecting the movie source material.

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.

57 minutes ago, Mark Rand said:

Cordy and her crew are cheerleaders.  They're not listed in any order.  However, Mercedes is her best friend.

 

There are five levels of both Choir and Orchestra with A level being the highest, and the ones that perform for the school.  The Glee Club members are in the A Choir.

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.

1 hour ago, steriaca said:

I'm sure there is a science club. But it is probably not popular ("yeah sports...boo nerds... "). Same with glee club/school theater club.

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

16 minutes ago, Jhamin said:

I agree with Chris Goodwin.  If I were going to run a Ghostbusters game I wouldn't use any of the stuff earlier in this thread.

 

- Not only are the Ghostbusters Heroic PC, they are actually pretty low point total PCs.  Nobody had a 14 Str, 14 Dex, and a 12 Con.  They just aren't that physically impressive.  In the second movie they do a big heroic shoulder-to-shoulder "we're the Ghostbusters!" and Peter looks them up & down and tells everyone to suck in their guts.  These guys aren't the kinds of Heroes that justify a Swat Team writeup. 
--Physically I'd give them all 8s in Str/Dex/Con/Body. 
--I'd say Egon has the best Int & Int Skills with some basic mechanics, research, and inventor

--Ray has a very good Int & Int Skills while also having good mechanics and probably the best research and lore skills.

--Peter needs to be a lot more charming and a lot less skilled than the writeups showed.  Sure, he had a degree in Parapsychology but Ray & Egon had to explain everything too him, so it looked to me that he may have had the degree but not a skill roll any higher than 8- or 11-.  I'd also say Peter has the best Ego and Pre of the group (he always recovers from weird effects fastest and deals the best with the weird scary stuff)

--Winston, as presented in the movies, is not as good at anything as the other Ghostbusters but has a player that is a lot more focused on survival for his PC than the others.  Writeup-wise he should be fewer points.

- The Proton Pack writeup is really all over the place.  Once again in the 2nd movie someone asks if the Proton Packs are still good and Egon comments that their fuel source lasts for millions of years.  The Ghostbusters are NOT conserving them at any point so I don't know why the early thread writeups had fuel charges.  I would probably define how you want them to work (I'd say a RKA vs non ghosts linked to a drain vs ghosts movement or maybe even a affects-desolid body drain), call it equipment, and then not worry a lot about the real point cost.

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?

4 hours ago, Mark Rand said:

Cordelia and her friends, Mercedes Kendall, a real twit, Gwen Winnicki, and Katherine Chester, whose nicknames are “Kate”, “Katie”, and “Kat-woman”, love to call the school choir, Drama Club, orchestra, and Stage Crew “geeks”.  One favorite target is Donna Gray, an African-American member of the Stage Crew, and a skilled draftsman, who likes to dress in black, standard stagehand garb, and, due to an to a severe allergy to nickel alloys that cause rashes, always wears gloves.   

 

The school principal tolerates, to a certain extent, the name calling.  When it gets out of hand, he assigns the offender to work as part of the Stage Crew until the next big production is over.  For the first time, they will get a tech pack, a tour of the auditorium from one of the Stage Crew, and a set of stage keys that must be returned.  Mercedes, to quote her, “Puts my foot in my mouth,” and often gets assigned to the crew.

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?

1 hour ago, steriaca said:

411 on Queen Nightmara 

 

Note: the "a" at the end of her name.

 

Queen Nightmara: A powerful mystical being who feeds on dark emotions.  She increases dark emotions in a dimension she wants to conquer. She gives corrupted Godstones to four teenage girls (through one of her agents which CAN enter our dimension without any sweat), and the four become her Court of Hate.

 

Lady Sorrow: A magical girl who uses the corrupted Godstone of Joy, called the Godstone of Tears. All of her magic deals with sadness and in lesser amount water.

 

Lady Pain: A magical girl who uses the corrupted Godstone of Health, called the Godstone of Pain. She is able to use magic around Pain and sickness. 

 

Lady Fear: A magical girl who uses the corrupted Godstone of Bravery, called the Godstone of Fear. She can cast magic based on dark emotions including Fear.

 

Lady Panic: A magical girl who uses the corrupted Godstone of, well, unknown thing. She has the Godstone of Panic, and controlled magic around panic.

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.

On 4/24/2022 at 11:27 AM, Mark Rand said:

As far as the occult world goes, Thomas Avery is an occult expert and retired mystic whose power has waned and has health issues.  He can provide background info and serves as a contact with the Trismegistus Council.  He shares his house with Marie Wells, his housekeeper, who might be a witch, Christina Valentine, a computer genius, Phoebe, his familiar, an orange tabby cat, and Muffin, Marie’s pet calico cat (her familiar if she’s a witch).  (It’s the GM’s call as to whether or not Marie’s a witch.)  There are also astrologers and occult bookstores in the city.

 

 

 

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.

8 minutes ago, Mark Rand said:

The queen bee of the school is probably like Cordelia Chase from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, who enjoys ridiculing those she saw as inferior and dismissing some of her classmates as “losers”.

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.