SKJAM!

Re: Master List of Distinctive Features

Subtlely Wrong Features: While individually each of the character's physical features is within the standard parameters for his species, the totality of them is somehow...wrong. Standard adjectives for the look are "unwholesome", "slightly creepy" and "degenerate". (See, for example, the "Innsmouth Look." ) This distinctive feature is often associated with the Social Limitation: Attainder/Corruption of the Blood.

Re: WWYCD popularity poll

Husky.

Re: Tactical Question: How would your characters deal with these villians?

(Thanks to Doug Macrae for the character ideas!) Assume these characters are made on world beater levels.(estimated 900-1000+ pts) They have effectively taken over their world and have access to global resources and can easily handle modern military forces so they aren't pansies. They act as a team and cover each other combat. They also have NOTHING agianst using lethal force (very Authority like).

The only ones Talion couldn't take are Adam Farpoint and possibly the neutron star matter guy.

Every other character would be more or less completely useless against these folks.

SKJAM!

Re: Please help me with "The Star Chamber"

Another historical bit to be considered: the original Star Chamber had the authority to impose any sentence *except* death. And some of the verdicts that have come down to us indicate a pretty nasty sense of humor/poetic justice as a result.

So the Star Chamber might have a member who specializes in transformations/mutilations. "Mr. Greedo, you have been found guilty of harming the environment to enrich yourself. The Star Chamber hereby sentences you to life as a...what's today's endangered species again?"

Re: PLEASE ! No more 'What would your character do ?' threads

Personally' date=' I have two I would like to post and I've been waiting until the current three drop off before putting them up. Seems to work.[/quote']

 

Much the same here, though only one waiting in the wings from me. The "Once a week" thing's real major problem is, who gets to pick which one? If half a dozen people are all composing their messages at once, are the folks who didn't hit "post" first required to delete their threads? Suppose someone sees a thread, is inspired, but hasn't read this thread to know that he's not allowed to post unless it's been a full week since the last of that type? Is he to be punished?

 

"Use moderation" is the best you can hope for in a semi-free market situation.

Re: WWYCD #100: IHA Attack!!

Mask of Justice: If he's still alive by the time this scenario takes place, he'll be in his nineties. At home and cheering on the heroes from his recliner, no doubt.

Rock Bottom: Public ID, but bricks tend to do well against robots and agents. Plus, he belongs to a team that can back him up. Discovering that TAROT is either backing up Bulwark or infiltrating it (those are the GGU equivalents of the listed entities) would confirm many people's suspicions.

Calculus: Will let the rest of his team run interference with the IHA forces, while he figures out where the enemy HQ is so they can short-circuit the Bulwark/TAROT plan.

Kira Midori: Is Public ID and useless against robots (and if IHA has the brains God gave carrots, any agents sent up against her will have Mental Defense helmets.) Will need to quickly hook up with her team to coordinate their efforts and switch off prepared opponents.

Talion: Public ID, useless against robots. Gets clobbered fairly early on, but no matter what the Minuteman does, nothing actually *kills* Talion. Any human agents foolish enough to attack Talion die.

Re: Death with Dignity : An examination of the Golden Age

I think the publishers saw the writing on the wall pretty clearly and did to themselves pretty much what they knew congress was going to do.

 

KA.

Well, that, and certain publishers saw the chance to cripple their competition. For example, the code outlawed certain words in titles specifically because titles containing those words were huge sellers for EC. (Similarly, the banning of vampires and werewolves was aimed straight at them.)

Re: PLEASE ! No more 'What would your character do ?' threads

The last WWYCD thread was posted sept 3rd It's now sept 5th if someone has a WWYCD questions they'd like to ask I think it would be fair to introduce a new one afterall not only have all the WWYCD threads migrated from the first page but even this thread has as well.

Let's make it a full week, and since it's going to be #100, it had better be one that's really worthwhile to post.

SKJAM!

Re: Tactical Challenge: Eurostar

Presumably, Metaphysician meant your standard player character/player character team, with their campaign-standard capabilities.

Or, if you don't have anyone suitable, assemble a team from published materials/the various threads on the bulletin board.....

I'm going to need more time to think.

Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share you ideas!

The Faceless One

Recently up on the Character Posting Thread (see there for full details), the Faceless One is a Golden Age villain, mastermind and disguise expert.

Saturday Morning Serial : Professor Bright, a scientist working for Biggco, has developed a Molecular Agitation Ray. It will have many useful industrial applications, as soon as the professor gets rid of that annoying "anything the ray is pointed at blows up" side effect. However, the Faceless One thinks the ray is fine as is, and has his minions steal the plans. Now the heroes (low powered pulp adventurers would be best) must stop the Faceless One before he can assemble his own copy of the MAR and use it to commit crimes and/or sell it to America's enemies. In the serial tradition, the Faceless One will need the special metal the ray projector is constructed from, a portable power source for its enormous energy needs, the professor's beautiful daughter Star so the Faceless One can force Bright to give him technical assistance, etc.

I Did What? : The most respected and morally upright hero in the city (player character, by preference) walks into the First National Bank and explains that he's discovered that all the cash and valuables in the vault have been contaminated by an invisible, odorless poison. In order to cleanse these items, he'll need to take them back to his secret headquarters. Naturally, the bank president agrees, since Upright Man is known never to lie. But several hours later, the hero has still not returned. Has he turned evil? The papers and radio sure seem to think so.

Naturally, it was actually the Faceless One in disguise with a few hidden gadgets to simulate any trademark powers. The heroes must track down the villain and clear the hero's name.

Miss Campaign City : A beauty pageant is in town, and a DNPC has been invited to compete (or even a player character if she would be likely to accept.) But there's a series of bizzare accidents and attacks, very flamboyant ones. This has all the earmarks of a Faceless One plot, but what's his motivation for attacking the pageant? And who's he disguised as? Surely even the Faceless One couldn't pass as a beauty queen....

Re: Character Posting Game.

Gernsback: Wow. You really went to town on this one, OddHat. I'll definitely have to see if I can use this one.

Re: Character Posting Game.

Can you post an URL to that list? I can't find anything but dead links.

http://www.globalguardians.com/masterlists/masterlistindex.php

Did so much work on it (including writing up the "Angel of Death" Limitation) that I'd like to show the thing off.

Re: Character Posting Game.

Here's a fellow I created as an archenemy for my Golden Age character, the Mask of Justice, who sorta fits Synergy's challenge.

THE FACELESS ONE

Real Name: Unknown (uses many aliases)

Concept: Master Villain

Affiliation: Leads own gang, archenemy of the Mask of Justice

Hair: Bald, black eyebrows

Eyes: Pale gray

Height/Weight: 169 cm/64 kg

Nationality: Believed to be American

Place of Birth: Unknown

Date of Birth: Unknown

Creator: Scott K. Jamison skjam@yahoo.com

Background: The Faceless One's true identity and history are unknown. From hints dropped in conversation, it is believed that he was a minor criminal during Prohibition. If his story is to be believed, he was doublecrossed by his gang and left for dead. But he found a convenient corpse to substitute for his own body and fled the country. For over a decade, the man who would become the Faceless One toured Europe, learning the arts of disguise and showmanship. Eventually he returned to the United States and resumed his criminal career, but this time as the leader none dare cross.

The Faceless One first crossed paths with the Mask of Justice when the latter foiled the "Dead Presidents Robberies", in which the Faceless One's minions were costumed as deceased former chief executives to rob banks. The MoJ quickly realized that the banks being robbed were on streets named after presidents, and were being robbed in chronological order of presidency. It was then easy to trace the gang back to its lair. The Faceless One apparently died when he set off explosives in an attempt to stop the Mask, but in reality survived.

Since then, the two have clashed several times, each seemingly ending with the Faceless One's death. But the Mask of Justice knows better now.

Personality: The Faceless One embodies two conflicting impulses. To live a life of luxury and ease, with no one pursuing him; and to be recognized as the most brilliant crimelord of all time. Thus his double life as a "respected citizen" (which one is not known at this time), and as the bizarrely-garbed Faceless One. Perhaps the Faceless One's greatest weakness is his tendency toward theatricality. It is not enough for him simply to shoot a downed opponent; they must be placed in an elaborate deathtrap. He doesn't just rob banks, they must be robbed with flair.

Despite, or perhaps because of, his melodramatic ways, the Faceless One is a natural leader, and is easily able to recruit new thugs to replace any lost in previous plans.

Quote: "So, Mask of Justice, we meet again...for the last time."

Quote About Him: "Hey, remember that time the boss made us kidnap that scientist with the shrinking formula? That was a lot of fun, except for the part where the police kept me in a birdcage. The Faceless One is a real hoot to work for."--Joe, low-life thug.

Powers and Tactics: The Faceless One is a master of disguise, able to use makeup and accessories to change his appearance completely in a matter of minutes. He's also an accomplished escape artist, and a miracle worker when it comes to avoiding certain death. As well, he's very cunning, and fancies himself a master planner. While the Faceless One has no actual superhuman abilities, he can often lay his hands on experimental weapons or exotic creatures to help him commit crimes.

The Faceless One prefers to avoid direct combat, as that is what he has minions for. If cornered, he can use his holdout pistol or flash bombs as a last resort. His plans tend toward the elaborate, even the Byzantine, often involving the Faceless One impersonating a public figure or a government official.

Appearance: Under his many diguises, the Faceless One is a slim man of average height. He's bald, and has unusally small ears and nose. His flat face makes it easy to add distinguishing features. In his full glory as the Faceless One, he wears scarlet and purple robes with a hood, and a gauze veil allowing him to see without being seen.

Campaign Use: In the Global Guardians world, the Faceless One is meant to be a recurring foe for a player character, reasonably easy to foil, but difficult to put away permanently. He's meant primarily for two-fisted adventurer types to battle, and would be suitable for wilder pulp genre campaigns. If he's not powerful enough for your campaign, add more/tougher followers, and perhaps another permanent gadget or two that he can use to disable/distract foes with, in addition to increasing the size of his "master plan" pool. As a Hunter, the Faceless One tends to overly complex revenge schemes, and his ego makes it difficult for him to conceal his handiwork for long.

Cost Characteristic Value

0 Strength 10

6 Dexterity 12

4 Constitution 12

0 Body 10

6 Intelligence 16

8 Ego 14

10 Presence 20

0 Comeliness 10

0 Physical Defense 2

0 Energy Defense 3

8 Speed 3

0 Recovery 5

0 Endurance 28

0 Stun 21

OCV 4 DCV 4 ECV 5 Phases: 4,8,12

STR Roll 11- DEX Roll 11- CON Roll 11- INT Roll 12- PER Roll 12- EGO Roll 12-

PD/rPD 2/0 ED/rED 3/0 Running speed 6"/12"

Cost Powers END

50 "Master Plan" 50 pt. Variable Power Pool

14 Control Cost for VPP (25 AP); only changes between adventures -1/2,

only for Followers, Vehicles, Bases and Foci -1/4

11 "No one could survive that!" +10 BODY (10 AP), no figured characteris-

tics -1/2, only to not be dead -1/4

6 "The body was right here!" 6" Teleportation (12 AP), only when no one 1

is looking -1/2, Requires Contortionist Roll -1/2

5 "Holdout Pistol" 1d6 RKA (15 AP), OAF pistol -1, 6 charges -3/4 0

4 "Flash Bombs" 2d6 Flash vs. Sight Group, Explosive +1/2 (15 AP), OAF 0

flash bombs -1, 2 charges -1 1/2

Cost Skills

3 Acting 13-

3 Area Knowledge: New York City and environs 12-

3 Area Knowledge: Europe 12-

3 Breakfall 11-

7 Contortionist 13-

3 Conversation 13-

9 Disguise 15-

0 Everyman Skills

Acting 8-

Area Knowledge: USA 8-

Climbing 8-

Concealment 8-

Conversation 8-

Deduction 8-

Language Skill: 4 pts. of American English

Paramedic 8-

Persuasion 8-

Professional Skill: Bootlegger 11-

Shadowing 8-

Stealth 8-

Transport Familiarity: Small Ground Vehicles

3 Gambling 12-

3 High Society 13-

3 Interrogation 13-

3 KS: American Underworld 12-

3 KS: Circus Life 12-

3 KS: European Underworld 12-

4 KS: Famous Plays & Playwrights 13-

3 KS: Who's Who 12-

9 Languages: Idiomatic French, German, Spanish

1 Language: Can imitate dialects in English

5 Lockpicking 12-

5 Mimicry 13-

4 Professional Skill: Criminal Mastermind 13-

3 Security Systems 12-

3 Stealth 13-

3 Streetwise 13-

Cost Talents

4 Double Jointed

5 Simulate Death, +2 to EGO Roll

Cost Perks

3 Anonymity

4 Contact: Fence 13-

20 Followers: 8 25-pt thugs

1 Money: Well Off $100,000/year

150+ Disadvantages

15 Hunted by Mask of Justice 11-

20 Hunted by Police 8-

10 Psychological Limitation: Greedy

20 Psychological Limitation: Compulsively melodramatic, must be larger than life

15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity (unknown)

10 2d6 Unluck

18 Unbalanced

Point Totals

42 Characteristics

90 Powers

89 Skills

9 Talents

28 Perks

258 Overall

Still with me? The challenge this time is: A character with the Social Limitation: Angel of Death and at least one other limitation from the Master List of Limitations that you've never used for a character before.

SKJAM!

Re: Character Posting Game.

Naturally, Vash's archenemy is bound and determined to make Vash break his CvK by any means necessary. (Telling more would be a spoiler.)

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

Mask of Justice: Is now not nearly intelligent enough to be an investigative reporter, let alone a detective superhero. Unfortunately, his psych lims wouldn't let him stop. Things will get messy very quickly.

Rock Bottom: Becomes your stereotypical big dumb brick, unless the City of Baltimore is willing to spring for whatever superhealers exist in the GGU.

Calculus: "NOOOOO!!" His superintelligence is his power; reduced to merely "very smart", he'd devote all his resources to restoring his powers. (It happened once, it can happen again.)

Kira Midori: As a psychic cop, her powers are all INT- and EGO-based, so she's sidelined and....

"Being on medical leave sucks. Let's see if there's anything good on television."

"Wow, I never realized how fascinating reality shows were before. Hey, what's QVC?"

"Ooh, what a pretty necklace! And it's 50% off, so I'll be saving $500 dollars! That's a third of my rent! Two more necklaces, and I'll be saving a whole month's worth!"

"How can I be out of money? I still have checks!"

"So, you'll give me all that money just for posing for some pictures? Neat! Hey, wait a minute, why am I not wearing any clothes in your mental image?"

Talion: Is reduced to a drooling idiot. But at least he isn't whining about how miserable his life is for as long as it takes his regeneration to fix the damage.

Re: Wwycd #99

Mask of Justice: Okay, he needs to know if this is an angelic-type critter from the Greek pantheon, or a Judeo-Christian angel, or a generic "well, there's an afterlife, but it's kinda non-denominational so we don't endorse any one religious standpoint" angel. Purely for his own curiousity, of course. The "angel" and the little girl are wearing their actual appearances, because if the "angel" is trying to borrow the Mask's powers, he pretty much has to know what they are.

Nick would insist on speaking to the girl himself, finding out what her motivations for wanting to be a masked adventurer (and given the nature of the powers, she *would* be masked) are, and whether his powers would be a good match for her. If he's firmly convinced of her and the "angel's" sincerity, he'd allow the transfer. Then, as Nick Philips, two-fisted reporter, he'd be sticking around to help the girl under the mostly true excuse of writing a human interest story about her. He'd also have the Junior Justice Club help her out, as they're closer to her age.

Rock Bottom: "So, Heaven is as inept as I've always suspected? Sorry, but I have a contract with the city that says *I* have to protect Baltimore. No substitutions."

Calculus: "If you are what you appear to be, you must know that I can't agree to give her my powers. However, given the nature of my blood, a transfusion might give the child her own powers. Would that work?"

Kira Midori: After establishing that the "angel" is a good guy, really, and what it's saying is true--"I'm sorry, but I have a job to do that I need my powers for. Would you like a 'Junior Officer' badge?"

Talion: "Hahahahahhha! *gaspwheeze* Oh, that's a good one. Do you even realize what my powers *are*?" If he can be persuaded, the little girl has Talion's *and* the "angel's" powers for a month. The "angel" has to move in with Talion for that month, as it has no way of getting home now. Cue the Odd Couple theme.

Re: Wwycd? #97

While reading the newspaper one morning' date=' you find something shocking in the comics section: some smartass has created a comic strip featuring an EXTREMELY unflattering characture of you. Disgusted, you toss the comics in the trash. As if you're not incensed/depressed enough already, a certain segment of the population starts publicly mocking you and the offending comic strip soon becomes so popular it's slated to be published as its own comicbook. What do you do?[/quote']

 

Mask of Justice: Actually, this makes a certain amount of sense in his milieu. The most likely reason for it is a newspaper war; the paper Nick Philips works for gets all the good Mask of Justice scoops (strange how that happens), so the sleazy rag across town is running this comic strip as a circulation-building stunt and a direct slam at the other paper. While the Mask pretends indifference at first, he will come to realize that the strips contain coded messages revealing that the cartoonist is being held against his will and forced to produce this drek. The Mask of Justice rescues the cartoonist, who reveals all, and the opposing paper's publisher swallows his lit cigar in anger.

 

Rock Bottom: Doesn't have to do anything. Baltimore's GLBT community will be picketing for him in no time flat.

 

Calculus: Will check carefully to determine if there's any criminal involvement. If not, shrugs and goes back to trying not to get into the papers any other way. (If the strip makes villains underestimate Calculus, so much the better.)

 

Kira Midori: Seethes, but does nothing beyond making sure there's no criminal involvement. She'll save the world again soon, and her reputation will be back to 'beloved."

 

Talion: Is only surprised it took this long for people to find this new way of picking on him. Will volunteer to pose for publicity photos with the writer/artist, in the full knowledge of what happens whenever he tries to get publicity.

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

I think the question was meant as" what would you character do if his int and ego were permanently halved " would he still fight crime or give up.

 

Healing was specifically denied.

Unless, of course, the campaign contains someone whose character concept is such that they *can* fix permanent brain damage, and in that case they're only gone for a week. (And not even that when the character herself *is* the superhealer. *Any* situation simply doesn't hinder *some* characters.....)

Re: WWYCD #95: Leaden Curtain

Starguard -- just went from being brilliant to being INT 10 average. Fortunately, she's not in a role on the team that requires heavy thinking, so she'll just cling a little tighter to the team leader and follow more orders until she can get it fixed.

.

Actually, Starguard was the character I was thinking of in the "I can get out of this no problem" category, as she *is* the team's superhealer, and thus only needs reminding to apply the "Cure Brain Damage" power to herself (at least that's the way I've been reading her character....)

Essentially the reflection of the "Brainwave" question....

While your team's superhealer is off-planet or otherwise unavailable for a week, your character is drawn into battle with a powerful supermenace (or supervigilante, if your character is a baddie.) In the course of said battle, the character takes a really bad shot to the head. (Or CPU, or wherever the brain is kept.)

When your character comes to, he/she/it discovers that it's harder to interpret sensory data, more difficult to grasp complex concepts, and his/her/its thinking seems much, much slower. Also, the character finds it far more difficult to summon willpower, the mental discipline of years stripped away in moments.

In game terms, your character's INT and EGO have been chopped in half; any powers or talents that are defined as being based on mindpower are also at half effectiveness. The brain damage is diagnosed by a reputable physician as being irreversable without superhealing.

What does your character do, short term until superhealing can be located, and long term for the few characters who do not have access to such?

(Naturally, what most *players* will be doing is extracting a promise from the GM that he is not hosing their character over permanently.)

SKJAM!

("how my character can get out of this no problem" solutions are also okay, of course.)

Re: WWYCD #94: The Nar Cola endorsement

Mask of Justice: Clearly, this is happening sometime after Lawdog of Boston makes the first commercial endorsement in the Global Guardians universe. "I endorse justice, not sugar water."

Rock Bottom: "Let me check my contract with the City of Baltimore. And I'll need to see your prospectus, especially anything to do with your company's anti-discrimination policies."

Calculus: "All the effort I go to to convince people I'm an urban legend, and this sort of thing keeps happening. Go. Away."

Kira Midori: "I'm sorry, but it would be unbecoming of a police officer. Besides, I think cola tastes yucky."

Talion: "You want me? What the heck market are you trying to reach? I want half the money in advance." Shortly after the commercial is finished, but before it airs, Nar-Cola is discovered to cause testicular cancer, and is pulled from the market. The check the company gave Talion bounces due to them having to spend all their money fighting lawsuits.

Re: WWYCD #92 - Zero Sum

Mask of Justice: No. After all, superpowers give their recepients options *other* than killing. Normal humans are perfectly capable of being violent all by themselves (Points to WWII, going on as he speaks.)

Rock Bottom: "Uh, I notice you didn't say anything about superpowered aliens, or robots, or personifications of evil...." No.

Calculus: "Most certainly not." He just got his superintelligence back, he's not giving it up.

Kira Midori: "No!" She knows that her utopian future can only come about if mankind comes into its psychic potential.

Talion: "Go ahead. Cure me if you can. Sucker."

Re: Painting the PCs as villains in as few sessions as possible

If you are an evil media master, editing real footage of the heroes with nearly untraceable other footage to make it appear that the player characters are acting villainously, then playing it every ten minutes on the news channel, along with experts proclaiming "We don't know if the Champions have truly become criminals who hate America and should be shot on sight, but this footage certainly is damaging."

Re: WWYCD #92: Back to the Future

I'm going to presume you meant a thousand years, circa the 31st Century, since the Galactic Champions are mentioned downthread.

Mask Of Justice: His powers are nigh-useless for superheroing in the heavily synthetic materials future. But with a little catching up, he can resume his career as an ace reporter. Or perhaps he will become an explorer of new worlds. He'll waste little time moping about the past.

Rock Bottom: Is a bit puny as bricks go in the future. Time to get an education--in Science! He'll miss the New Guard, but obviously the world survived.

Calculus: Will be feverishly researching temporal science in an effort to find a way home. He has a wife and kid to support, after all.

Kira Midori: "I'm home!" Or as good as, since they'll surely have the equipment necessary to get her to her home timeline from here. She'll be a little sad to leave her 20th Century friends, but hey, home!

Talion: "Dammit, too many robots!" Will see if the future has found a cure for his condition.

Re: WWYCD #91 - A matter of Family

Oh, yes, I should emphasize that Calculus will make very, very sure the blood recepient is in fact related to him, as Calc's blood contains a unique contaminant that could possibly *kill* the villain if he's not the right tissue type.