Chromatic

Re: When your superhero group became powerful enough to rule the world? Speaking here as the player of Hamlet Laughton, I put in a great amount of thought about how the PC would work to set up this benevolent dictatorship. There are some interesting bits of character background that Zornwil didn't bring up this time (he or some of us in the past have though when discussing the Justice Squad): 1) In addition to being omniscient, the character also has super anonymity. (game mechanics: invisibility w/ invisible power effects) This certainly allowed for greater flexibility in becoming the enigma behind the root of all conspiracies (which he was somewhat of an expert on being a paranoid conspiracy theorist). 2) The PC is not human, but maintains his own humanity as a base form, and has over the course of the campaign's eight years never looked into his own background--scratch that, has actively made decisions to avoid getting involved with anything around his background or the alien race which he is actually a member (including never looking into the rumors of a brother on Earth). The race by the way is suspiciously evil, highly suspect, capricious to the point of willful deviousness, and widely feared throughout the galaxy as destructive manipulators. The PC's belief in free will and freedom of choice rightfully extends to his own self persecution and that he should not be judged by the reputation of a race of beings but by his own actions. 3) there have been multiple sessions were indentured or enslaved groups were freed or fought to be defended by the PC's, and even though there is a clear delineation in the beliefs of the PC's (Laughton sees the world in shades of gray, uses plausible deniability as a tag line, and has no qualms about manipulating others for the greater good. While Nexus (the other uber-brain) is definitely a four-color hero, performing good for good's own sake) the team has always been consistent and shown great umbrage at any kind of reduction of rights. This lent towards the PC's actions to build a power base where the citizens could experience a world better than they alone could create, and a sense of foster-ship of the Earth. After all, when you have the intellect of Laughton, even the smartest human is but an insect. His ant farm just happens to have 6 billion+ sentient beings living on it. 4) The PC has extensive resources for monitoring and surveillance (think Eagle Eye) combined with financial influence on a multi-national scale (willing puppets acting as rulers/leaders in dozens of nations) before the attempt to take over. All in all, it was a concerted effort of at least a game year or more (and two or three years in the making in campaign time) planning and setting up the possibility to allow for Laughton to become the defacto ruler of Earth. While I don't approve of the actions of the PC (!yes I play him!), there was never any doubt that the actions and incidents that lead up to this result were all manipulations for the greater good. It also tied up the Earth in a nice neat package that can be viewed from the perspective that we just twisted the zoom function back an order of magnitude (or two) to have the campaign deal with bigger problems.

Re: "I shoot the escape pod!!!" Those were red herrings? I thought they were pickled herrings and delicious!

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game With my excessive travel schedule the past two years (1,040,000 miles in the air in 26 months) to mostly places without regular high speed internet connectivity, I haven't been able to play much of anything. I logged in for the first time in about three months this past week, created some dual blade and will power power sets, checked out the Creepy Baby Jesus missions, and ran through the new addition in I11: the Orobouros portal which lets you redo past mission arcs for the badge collector. Tankers need damage. That means picking either a secondary that can dish it out, rely on being in a group all the time, or taking advantage of the veteran awards at 12 and 33 months. Obviously the last option is unavailable to a new player. Due to connectivity issues on the west coast servers, our regular play group moved most activity to Infinity. I've got characters on Justice and Guardian like Lemming does. (Justice=coH, Guardian=coV)

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. Me likey too. The color version has a lot more imagery than the black and white. I think I'll have to jump into Storn's queue for a couple of commissions....

Re: Your Character's Room at the Base The base is actually part of the Laughton Detective Agency (in a 4 story tall building next door to Sihntek Tower). Here's the link: http://www.realschluss.org/x-champions/x-champions_issues/justice_squad_base.htm

Re: Your Character's Room at the Base Hmmmm. Hamlet Laughton - His room at the base is his office. It's hermetically sealed, lined with lead, which is lined with aluminum foil, which is lined with an opaque electrically conductive lcd paneling, which is in turn lined with a laser grid, and then sound proofed. The door is only unlocked by a combination of voice print of a spoken pass phrase (changes every use), a 80 character password, and a DNA test taken at the same time as the retinas are scanned. If security is breached, there are a number of incapacitating systems setup, along with the chlorine gas filling the corridor and all rooms in a 150' radius (he put this in after a alternate dimentional Laughton complained about its lack of existence....long story). Inside the office is his large desk piled with organized stacks of folders on the cases he is working on, a huge plasma display hangs on one wall that functions as the console for his secure computer. He also has a food replicator on one wall, but it only dispenses balogna sandwiches (on white wonder bread, no condiments) for those long, long sessions of deep concentration. There is also a public office upstairs on the main floor--this one is used for meeting with clients, and when he doesn't mind being disturbed. It's furnished in typical cheap Office Depot "executive" mode. Looks ok, but obvious to anyone its just vinyl covered pressboard. Lots of filing cabinets filled with pseudo fake files and high-tech locks. Laughton also has a room at the Unicorn Motel--one of those scuzzy little spots that rent rooms by the hour or the month. He changes rooms there about once a week. He doesn't actually sleep there, just has some junk mail sent to the front desk, in that room he keeps some emergency situation type things hidden--a spare gun, some cash, false ids, change of clothes. He also rents out an apartment across the street from the detective agency. It is empty. However the front windows have a good view of the street and the Sihntek executive offices. Laughton actually lives in a nice cardcoard box--an Amana 28 cu ft refridgerator box, lined with tar paper and covered with duct tape and black plastic garbage bags. It's lined with aluminum foil. He tends to move it around depending on what he has under surveillance at the time. Hey, when you're the world's greatest detective, you make a few enemies, gotta be prepared, ya know? The Goshawk - Here's a description of the lovely pad Peter lives in. Hopefully, when he gets a real job, he can hit Ikea and get something better. Coriolis - has the unfortunant luck to have the room next to Blazing Arrow's. The good news: being a master of the winds, he rarely has any issues with smoke from the squirrel cook outs next door. His room has plenty of publicity photos and laminated newspaper articles about his favorite hero--himself! There is a large beanbag in one corner set up to watch movies or surveillance films, and a floor to ceiling glass trophy case filled with momentos and knick knacks from his adventures. There is also a large framed poster of Coriolis advertising for Burgerville. The caption says "Save a squirrel, have one of our tasty burgers instead"

Re: Solara's flight speed Maybe at 60 active points. Try expanding to 125 and see what happens in combats.

Re: Enter...The MACROVERSE!!! What, sixty something viewers and no one makes a comment about the ultra cheezy use of Megascale on stretching? Ha, El Giganto is so huge, he stomped this thread!

Re: Enter...The MACROVERSE!!! OK how's this: El Giganto Height: 4000.00 m (yes 4 kilometers) Hair: Black Weight: 900000.00 kg (heavy) Eyes: Brown Appearance: El Giganto is huge. Larger than anything you've ever seen. Really. Personality: El Giganto just wants to be left alone, and get a nice meal without being shot at. Quote: "Yo Quiero Taco Bell!" Background: Juan Gomez was always big for his age. It was natural that he became a wrestler, after all what else are you going to do when you are nearly 8 feet tall and weigh 450 lbs? It was too bad he was only 14 years old. When he continued to grow people began to wonder, is this kid a mutant? As he passed 9 feet around his 16th birthday, all doubts were erased. However, he had a huge following of fans, mostly children. Sadly, on the eve of his 21st birthday, Juan had another growth spurt. This time when he woke up he found himself laying out in the open. With his parents goats crawling over his chest. The local police report states that Juan's feet destroyed the neighbor's barn, and his arm caused a traffic jam for over an hour that morning. Unsure of what to do, Juan headed for a less populated region, and attempted to live off the land. Powers/Tactics: He's really really big. And strong. And did we mention his enormous size? Yeah, all that and a bag of tortilla chips. Campaign Use: Use him for a one shot encounter of a really Humongous guy Val Char Cost 80 STR 40 14 DEX 12 30 CON 40 21 BODY 10 11 INT 1 8 EGO -4 25 PRE 15 6 COM -2 20/40 PD 10 20/40 ED 14 4 SPD 16 16 REC 0 60 END 0 61 STUN 0 6" RUN 0 2" SWIM 0 16" LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 152 Cost Power END 30 Humongous!: Elemental Control, 60-point powers 32 1) Area Of Effect (up to 5" Radius; +1) for up to 50 Active Points of Strength, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (62 Active Points) 2 20 2) Growth (+30 STR, +6 BODY, +6 STUN, -6" KB, 5.76E7 kg, -4 DCV, +4 PER Rolls to perceive character, 4,000 m tall, 2,000 m wide), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (60 Active Points); Always On (-1/2) 0 30 3) Tremendously thick skin: Armor (20 PD/20 ED) (60 Active Points) 0 24 4) Grows to Humongous size: Stretching 4", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Megascale (1" = 1 km; +1) (60 Active Points); no Noncombat Stretching (-1/4) 0 30 5) Running 0" (6" total), x128 Noncombat, Noncombat acceleration/deceleration (+1) (60 Active Points) 6 24 6) Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75% (60 Active Points); Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) 6 24 7) Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75% (60 Active Points); Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) 6 Powers Cost: 214 Cost Martial Arts Maneuver Wrestling 4 1) Choke: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +0 DCV, Grab One Limb; 9d6 NND 4 2) Escape: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 95 STR vs. Grabs 3 3) Hold: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Two Limbs, 100 STR for holding on 4 4) Reversal: var Phase, -1 OCV, -2 DCV, 95 STR to Escape; Grab Two Limbs 3 5) Slam: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, +v/5, Target Falls 3 6) Take Down: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +1 DCV, Strike; You Fall, Target Falls Martial Arts Cost: 21 Cost Skill 3 PS: Wrestler 25- 2 KS: Mexican Professional Wrestling 11- 0 Language: Spanish (idiomatic) (4 Active Points) 2 Language: English (fluent conversation) 3 Streetwise 14- 3 Demolitions 11- 3 Contortionist 12- 3 Survival 11- Skills Cost: 19 Cost Perk 2 Reputation: Adored my millions of kids (A large group) 8-, +2/+2d6 Perks Cost: 2 Val Disadvantages 25 Physical Limitation: Humongous! El Giganto stands nearly 4 kilometers tall (All the Time, Fully Impairing) 20 Physical Limitation: No delicate/fine work: El Giganto has huge hands (All the Time, Greatly Impairing) 25 Social Limitation: Humongous size (Very Frequently, Severe) 25 Distinctive Features: El Giganto is larger than anything on Earth (Not Concealable; Extreme Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 30 Hunted: US Government 14- (As Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Capture, It's the fricken Government!) 20 Psychological Limitation: Hates being HUGE (Very Common, Strong) 20 Psychological Limitation: Acrophobia (Very Common, Strong) 10 Unluck: 2d6 Disadvantage Points: 175 Base Points: 200 Experience Required: 33 Total Experience Available: 35 Experience Unspent: 2 Total Character Cost: 408

Re: Enter...The MACROVERSE!!! 12,000 feet is what airlines typically determine is safe for passengers to not have to use oxygen masks. Probably go higher than that, say 20,000 feet. I've been at 16,000 on a mountain, and had noticable trouble breathing after exertion. That's about 6000 meters. So call it 35-36 levels of Growth (36 gets you 8192 meters tall) that's not even a 200 strength! the wimp.

Re: Enter...The MACROVERSE!!! ew.

Re: Ay Yi Yi! GM advice needed! Possible solution to problem #1: Just how powerful is the spell that "erases" memories? It would have to be rather extreme to effect an entire nation. Perhaps the complete ramifications of this spell are not completely known? The spell doesn't just quash memories, perhaps it also can alter perceptions and even pockets of reality. The team's evidence would be subject to this spell as well. As long as it remains in the realm of effect, the evidence could be changed by the spell. Once the evidence is brought out of the realm (perhaps the portal to Hell reopens?) it reverts to its natural state. Now the heros are faced with a choice: risk going back to hell or even worse holding a portal open so that the evidence can be seen for what it is, or leave things as they are--fairly safe from Hellspawn, but having to deal with followers of Belaal. The alteration of perceptions and reality could be hinted at, perhaps one of the heros manages to get near a portal or other reality warping device/situation/fiat and notices that the photo on the wall of Manhattan from four years ago actually does show the Belaal temple sitting right where they destroyed it. Only everyone else is under the impression that it never existed and has no recollection of the fact that it did exist (though with probing and perhaps hypnosis, they can recall dreams/nightmares of the game happening.) Hope this helps

Re: Things to Do With Hunteds For long term campaigns I think its entirely reasonable for a PC to just take a fairly generic disad: "Hunted by various goons under the GM's whim" assign a level of frequency, power, and lethality to suit Then when the PC's accidently piss off the wealth industrialist with a secret defense contract by breaking into his corporations head quarters, well, you have it covered. Having the Mad Bomber show up week after week after week can get old really fast. Especially if he is gaining exp just as fast as the heros are.

Re: PBEM - RDU: The Mavericks - Example & Discussion It's been almost a month. I know there's more. Here's a poke and a bump to coerce you Neil.

Re: Write-up by a player - our campaign in the sit-com dimension... Well his office _is_ hermetically sealed. No one ever bothers to look in there anyway, they all just assume that he's out in some back alley hiding in a cardboard box and spying on ABC corporation.