SKJAM!

Re: Help Me Build A Super-Spy Team The Mask of Justice or Argus' "sees all" power suite is a useful tool for spies and counterespionage types. Add a really high Cryptography roll, Speed Reading and Eidetic Memory for the fellow who can read the secret documents inside the safe just by staring at it for a minute.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor Talion would even in the revised description have to regretfully decline staying. It's a secret powers world, and in such a situation, Talion would inevitably end up killing a police officer. One game that'd be fun for the Senshi and Talion to play: Baddie sees apparent normal wandering around battlefield, takes Talion hostage. Senshi continue fighting anyway. Enemy "kills" hostage intending to guilt Senshi. Enemy discovers Talion's powers the hard way. Calculus is more super-detective than gadgeteer. He'd try not to be too overbearing; he remembers some of the adult mentors of his team doing that. He'd certainly be glad to suggest tactics and strategy (and handy tips for keeping Secret IDs secret.) Hmm...Cannis has Wheeler on speed dial, right? Something to do with the more goody two shoes type heroes.

Re: WWYCD #124 or so:Peace on Earth Mask of Justice: Would be trying to convince the Faceless One to either turn himself in or turn his mastery of disguise to the war effort against the Axis. Since the Faceless One really gets off on being a criminal mastermind, neither is likely. And the Mask is all too aware that the Faceless One commits crimes because he *likes* comitting crimes. Calculus: Would be thrilled to discover who his archenemy is, finally. Would spend the day trying to gather clues so he can put an end to this annoyance. Rock Bottom: Doesn't have an persoanl archenemy as such. And the Blood Red King isn't exactly the sort one builds bridges with (and is powerful enough to possibly violate the no violence rules.) Kira Midori: Would end up with the Terminator-style robot who she followed from her future. It would be happy to explain its vision of plunging the human world into eternal war. Thus, it would never be put in mothballs again. Talion: Takes one look across the room at She-Cat and sighs. She-Cat has no clue why she's here and babbles uselessly the entire time.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor Depending on the area the fight is in, the Mask might not even recognize it as Japan at first, long enough to get things explained to him. (Large areas of Tokyo, for example, look nothing like they did before WWII.) And if I'm reading correctly, the Senshi have an international cast. That will go a long way towards convincing the Mask of Justice that the war is over. Hiroshima will sound bad to the Mask, but he was at Pearl Harbor, and he understands that bad things happen in war. And if he can find an English-language text on history, you bet he's going to read the spoilers. Note that while the Mask can easily spot disguised Mah-Ki and the like, in civilian guise Nick Philips doesn't have quite that capability. And given his background, the Mask of Justice is likely to be overprotective of these superpowered children. In his day, teenagers were sidekicks. If he bought some more Life Support, Rock could simply take off his clothing and hide out at the local museum of art with no one the wiser. And he's closer in age to the Senshi than many of the possible visitors, having just graduated high school last year.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor *Bang* "Well, that's another repeat litterer down."

Re: "You're not a REAL Hero!" In one short-lived campaign, I played a mind-controller/illusionist who posed as a Captain America type. He used his abilities to make it look like he was using high PRE and martial arts that took down the villains, but it was all a lie. His poorly-kept secret identity was a right-wing political commentator.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor 1. Talion's primary power is that anything you do to him, happens to you too. If you sink a knife into his gut, you get a wound in your gut of exactly the same damage. If you chop off his head, your head falls off. If you mind control him to jump off a bridge, you too will feel an irresistable urge to jump off a bridge. On the other hand, if you hit him with a spell that increases his strength, your own strength will increase by the same amount. The power ignores armor, forcefields and other defenses, though Personal Immunity will work against it. It also doesn't work against inorganic beings such as robots or golems. His secondary power is that he heals very, very quickly, including regenerating limbs (and heads) and returning from apparent death. He's come back from being burnt to ash. In the original campaign (using DC Heroes) Talion did not have Unluck listed on his sheet. Bad things just always kept happening to him, and the GM kept "forgetting" any long-term actions that Talion was taking to try to improve his life. That, and She-Cat's player would insist on having his character horn in on any scene where Talion seemed to be making some progress. 2. Standard Iron Age campaign that went wrong. Most of the characters were loosely based on the players. The GM, while he had a vivid imagination and great descriptive skills, had a very specific storyline for his universe, which we were simply guest-starring in. Among other things, he had a "don't hurt my babies" syndrome as regarded his megavillains; nothing player characters did would ever stop them or prevent them from fulfilling their destinies. And he played favorites among the characters. Sadly, this was "the only game in town" at the time. My GMing was too Silver Age for the group's taste.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor Talion Talion's world is rather Iron Age, as you might have guessed from his habit of killing people. The rest of his team is only less lethal by a combination of more flexible powers and incompetence. Other team members include: A Batman obsessed character who dresses and talks exactly like the Michael Keaton version of Batman, drives a Batmobile and has Batgadgets in his utility belt, but no fighting or detective skills, relying on his elemental transmutation powers; the weather-controlling leader who looks good on camera and is excellent at schmoozing but horribly inept in combat (more likely to hit an ally or innocent than an opponent, *if* he can get his powers to work at all); the White Wolf-style shamanic werewolf who poses as a mutant (there's anti-mutant prejudice, but the anti-mystic prejudice is even worse); and...She-Cat. To describe She-Cat...take a furry porn version of Marvel's Tigra. Have her played by a munchkin who must be involved in every single scene and plotline, regardless of the laws of physics or causality, and a gift for honking off authority figures. Also, she has horrible taste in sexual partners, preferring sleazeballs, criminals and players. Oh, and she used to be a man. Like Sailor Io's world, some visitors will start by fighting the locals over killing their enemies. Sadly, one of the things this world is short on is Tony Stark types, and thus prisons that can safely contain superbeings. Talion's team does accept surrender when it's offered, but most of their opponents are casual killers at best, and more often psychopaths. Talion will do his best to keep any CvK types alive in this fight; he'd rather be in a Silver Age world himself, despite the nature of his powers. Presuming the visitor doesn't leave in disgust, Talion will be dragooned into putting them up at his place. (Yes, even underage girls. The team may never listen to him on tactics or morality, but they trust him absolutely on statutory rape.) It's an efficiency in the bad part of town, but it's home. Talion would be thrilled by the presence of any competent hero, particularly if he or she is also powerful. Inventor types will be begged for information on building superprisons, making lethal tactics less necessary. If the visitor is particularly powerful, Talion may ask about putting away one or more of the world's megavillains. "Batman" will fanboy any dark knight detective types. The werewolf would be interested in trading esoteric knowledge with other magical characters. Some well-meaning visitors might try to help the weather controller out with leadership advice, but he won't listen. Wanderer's character, Nova, might attempt to harangue the local team about being more proactive about using their powers to make the world a better place. Being highly intelligent, he'll soon realize they're not anyone who should be running a small city, let alone the world. Flesh Gordon would probably enjoy She-Cat's attentions at first, depending on how he feels about "I used to be a man." Cannis, Menagerie, Sludge and other less-than-heroic types would also come in for very unsubtle comeons. Conversely, uptight authority types will get She-Cat's patented insolence. Cannis would probably also be approached by the werewolf, "She likes canines, but isn't a were herself." (Important to White Wolf game based weres.) If an adult female visitor actually found herself attracted to Talion (miracles happen), he'd be very willing to reciprocate in tiny baby steps. He's gotten burned a lot. And if they appear to be hitting it off, bad things will start happening, starting with She-Cat inviting herself along on a date. Many visitors will doubtless be thrilled to leave at the end of the week.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor Well, as Death on two legs, Talion isn't going to bug the Senshi about killing their enemies. And he'll refuse the money, as he's pretty good at living on the street. (He doesn't actually *need* to eat, and it's not as though street thugs could kill him. Permanently, anyway.) Concealment isn't really much of a problem either--in the "hidden magic" world, no one's going to believe what they see of his powers. Say goodbye to some street crime, though.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor Kira Midori Instead of the fairly generic superhero world she's an exile in, let's return Kira to her home timeline before having the visitor come by. Of course, this will require a little explanation of said timeline. Kira's society is post-scarcity, with the few crimes committed being those of passion, or teenaged thrill-seeking. Racial and gender discrimination are things of the past. There hasn't been a war in over a century. The small but well-equipped police force mostly deals with traffic violations, lost children, and other public service matters. Psionic ability is fairly common, with around 10% of the population endowed with at least minimal telepathy. Politeness and thorough training restrict the use of psionics somewhat, but espers don't feel overly oppressed. For the few crimes that do occur, rehabilitation and restoration are the primary goals of the penal system. A person criminally insane enough that they cannot be reformed is sentenced to "personality death." Use of the personality death penalty is politically controversial and provokes lively debate among the population at every election. The mores of the society are somewhat puritanical by 21st Century standards. Clothing tends to conceal the body, extramarital sex is severely frowned upon (and there is no double standard) and entertainment is rather bland, with little violence or sexual content. Genetic engineering and cybernetic prostheses are well-developed, but social pressure keeps them subtle, primarily used to correct deficiencies rather than add new abilities. Robotics and AI reached their peak during the last war, with disastrous results; research into creating artificial lifeforms is strictly regulated. Time travel is in its infancy, with only one-way trips possible, and low accuracy. The shiny new technology is the hyperspace engine. Many young people have joined the Explorer Corps to escape the boredom of Earth. No aliens have been found yet, but three or four habitable planets are preparing for colonization. History as it is taught in school visibly diverges from "mainstream" sometime in the 19th Century, with a very different WWI, no WWII, but the first of a series of Atomic Wars in the late 1980s. There is no record of costumed superbeings, or verifiable metahumans prior to the emergence of psionics in the mid-21st Century. Kira will remember her own experiences as a time-lost stranger, and try to be a good host to any visitors. Her police duties are fairly light, and she's one of the few people on her world who's had experience with superbeings, so she'd be assigned as tour guide in any case. Female visitors will be invited to share Kira's apartment; male ones will have to settle for being put up in a hotel. Obviously non-human or brightly costumed types will get a lot of polite but intense attention. Obvious robots will be given a lot of elbow room by the locals until they prove non-hostile. Many visitors will probably find Kira's world a pleasant vacation. Violence-craving types will no doubt find it boring, as those who like bedding any new women they meet. A few might want to take advantage of the advanced medical facilities, (though cures for bad side effects of superpowers aren't going to be easy, they don't have the experience) or build up credit to purchase advanced technology. Iron Age types might spend the entire stay looking for the "catch" in this seemingly utopian society. Known criminals will be warned to stay on their good behavior, and certainly not allowed to take any technology home. Those that go ahead and commit crimes are likely to discover just how efficient the legal process is. And personality death is no fun. Special Agent Trent, alas, will need to spend his entire stay in a special psi-proofed room for his own protection, sorry.

Re: AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED opinions A. People *like* Luke, and he hasn't been overexposed lately. B. He's easy to justify. With a new baby on the way, Mr. Cage needs a steady paycheck, and the Avengers provide that. Plus, despite perhaps not being the most powerful guy around, he's got years of superheroing experience under his belt, and has Streetwise at a very high level. C. It's kind of interesting to have a brick as the "underpowered" member of the team.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor Calculus Being a paranoid sort, Calculus will attempt to get as much information about the visitor's world as he can without divulging anything about his own. Given that he has a jealously guarded Secret ID, Calculus would in most cases prefer for one of his allies to take on the task of playing host. The big exception would be underaged heroes (and villains.) Remembering his own days as a superkid, Calculus would be keenly interested in giving them the benefit of his experience (and setting teens headed for trouble in the right direction.) From the visitor's perspective, the main feature of Calculus' world is that it's the GGU in the 1980s. With a bit of foreknowledge, certain visitors could do quite well for themselves in a week. Again, there's no real anti-mutant prejudice movement as such. There's an undercurrent of anti-metahuman resentment, however, that will peak at the end of the decade. (Then die down again.)

Re: AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED opinions At the time he joined (founding member), Hank Pym was one of the most stable and respected heroes on Earth. Reading the Essential Ant-Man volume, it struck me just how respected Ant-Man was in his own title. Perhaps the best example was when he went up against the fellow with the hypnotic voice, who declared "If I can defeat Ant-Man, then there is no opponent who can stop me!" (paraphrased) It was when he lost his own book and only ever appeared as an ensemble character in the Avengers that he started developing cracks.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor Rock Bottom Rock would defer to team leader Thunderfist in most cases, after all RB is still pretty much a rookie. For folks who make a decent first impression, the New Guard has guest rooms at their HQ. (Maybe even for some marginal types, as that's the best place to keep an eye on them.) Rock is reasonably easy-going, and will try to be a good host. He'll flirt with attractive male visitors if he gets the impression they'd be interested. The GGU doesn't have a major anti-mutant prejudice problem, and is generally Tarnished Silver to Bronze Age in tone.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor The Mask of Justice would also be especially interested in comparing notes with Argus (vision powers, ho!) and Horus-Re (truth sense and allegedly a god, which brings up the possibility that Nick's family heirloom actually has a divine origin.)

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor The Mask of Justice can see both outer appearances (including illusions) and what lies beneath. What he *can't* do is see through plastic. So a simple layer of cellophane or a Pyrex® face shield will protect your character's identity. As for Adonis? I really don't know. That would be one of those "these powers contradict each other" moments that would really freak out the Mask the first time it happened. He'd probably be suspicious that Adonis has found some way of tricking the Mask's vision.

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor Mask of Justice: The primary thing that's going to impress the Mask is that most of these people are from a future. I do not say *the* future as some of them can't actually come from the Mask's timeline. Nevertheless, he'll be very interested in what they can tell him about near-future events. The Mask won't really have much trouble accepting future technology, even if it doesn't really look much like the pulps predicted. He'd be more concerned about certain future trends, such as anti-mutant prejudice. The Mask's powers will allow him to see the visitor as they truly are, but he's not going to share his own secret identity if they don't already know. He'll try to find the visitor a boarding house or other place to stay that owes the Mask a favor. This will be more difficult for obviously non-human visitors, and non-whites may also be difficult to find a good room for. Germanic and Italian accents will cause problems as well. For those visitors who are able to pass as normal humans, the Mask of Justice will arrange for his "contact" Nick Philips, ace reporter, to show them around town, maybe get a suit of "local" clothing for the visitor and interview them. Nick is likely to flirt harmlessly with attractive adult female visitors; the Mask of Justice doesn't flirt while in costume. Indomitable Will might enjoy the vacation in a time closer to his home, even if the heroes do seem to pull their punches too much. Sailor Io might find the odd combination of being able to operate openly and yet constantly being assumed to need protection baffling. Our mutant supremacy advocates find little love here, as most people haven't even *heard* of mutants, let alone consider them different from any other mystery men.

Re: Warp's Crossovers The Mask is from the GGU (Worldmaker's timeline), and I have no idea what the GM of the Golden Age campaign is cooking up to keep the PCs from one-shotting Hitler. And I'm pretty sure The Mask of Justice would be thrilled with a little help.... Microman II should be able to deal with him. Does anyone on the Sentinels have Personal Immunity on their main attack? SKJAM!

Re: WWYCD #122 (or so): Strange Visitor

Your character (and allies, if applicable) is fighting a powerful enemy, when suddenly a side-effect of the battle opens a hole in the air, and someone pops out. The enemy attacks the newcomer out of reflex, and said newcomer helps you to defeat/drive off the enemy. It turns out that this visitor is a WWYCD thread regular (read previous threads if you're new at this) who doesn't have a counterpart in your character's world. It's quickly established that heavy "weather" in the space-time continuum will prevent said visitor from leaving this dimension for at least a week. What would your character do? Naturally, this depends quite a bit on which visitor your character got. Which ones would be especially welcome? Which ones would grate on your characters' nerves, or be contrary to the campaign tone? Which characters would be killed outright the moment your character found out who they were?

Re: Character monologues Talion I have a recurring dream. Have had, for years. In the dream I'm on stage. It's a huge auditorium, filled with people. I can't see their faces, because I'm in the spotlight. I bow, and the people call my name. They call my name, and I can hear the love in their voices. The auditorium shakes with the echoes. At last I am recognized for who I truly am, and my heart soars. Then I wake, and am a monster. Today, I will wade ankle-deep in blood, much of it my own. There will be a few more evil men dead tonight, of an inexhaustible supply. I kill and kill and kill again. I look like a nobody, but I am a monster. Pray for me, the monster in human form. And pray for the dead, whom I envy.

Re: Alternate Earth #24: Iron Age Mask of Justice: Carries guns with real bullets, and has no compunction about using them. Then again, his enemies are much, much more likely to be the sort who would casually kill thousands of people to get their way. (See any of the old Spider pulps.) Rock Bottom: Goes to leather bars, and squishes opponents' heads. Calculus: Uses his powers to manipulate the stock market, and generally uses killing blows in combat. His wife and child left when he regained his superintelligence and became borderline abusive. Kira Midori: The future she came from is an oppressive police state, and she acts a lot more like a Psi-Judge from Mega-City One. Talion: He already kills people by the dozens. There's really nowhere to go but up.