Alverant

Re: Your Bearded Duplicate

Since Snark-E is a robot, he would be very surprised to have a duplicate with a beard. And since he is planning vengeance on the human race for centuries of robot enslavement, his "evil" duplicate would probably be closer to Tony Stark than Ming the Merciless.

Re: The Snow Storm

Smokin' Ace (who is presently based in Chicago) would render assistance where possible. He has electronics skill and could probably work on the downed power lines.

Divine Wind would stay at home, play games and see if there's any beer around.

Snark-E would laugh at the stupid humans. Unless he was ordered to help clean up. Then he'd grumble at the stupid humans as he cleaned.

Re: 'Registration' as training card

Perk: Government Approved Superhero(ine) 1pt

Skill PS:Superheroing 11- 2pt

Professional skills IMHO are meant to cover all the skills you use as part of a profession and what you described sounds like being trained as a superhero. The perk is showing you passed and you can increase the perk and skill as gaining "rank" in the organization. Perhaps at a high enough level, teaching the course yourself.

Re: How to deal with a "remote control" Superhero (or Villain)?

In 5th edition Arcane Enemies, there's a villain who does pretty much the same thing (he knows a spell that sends his soul into a statue) which was written up as a duplicate. A summon would work as well (if bought at +1 slavish devotion) and a limitation that the summoner was KO for the duration.

To keep the hero from being unfair to the other players, I would require the robot only works in a given range, could be hacked, and have low defenses. The last would make it damaged easily so people would realize it's just a robot being controlled (maybe even find a way to destroy the robot each session like Kenny in an episode of South Park). And when something is being controlled, there's a controller. A nice vulnerable controller ready to be ambushed.

Re: Need help fleshing out a campagin idea

With a public' date=' US government-sponsored superteam that large, there will inevitably be a supers "arms race" with other nations unwilling to allow America to have total supremacy on the superhuman battlefield. If your PCs have to travel outside North America to deal with international threats, they should expect to come up against supers acting on behalf of China, Russia, possibly the European Union, and so on. They may also have to deal with "rogue states" trying to develop their own superhumans, analogous to the development of nuclear, chemical, and biological WMDs.[/quote']

Wouldn't a large US government superteam also make the natives restless? The people who fear the "ebil gubment" (unless their party is in charge) might call for more independent and local superteams to supplement the police.

Re: Need help fleshing out a campagin idea

The superhero population would have to be pretty high to have potentially hundreds of members in the gamma squad. It almost sounds like a superhero version of GIJoe in terms of membership. One change I would make is to expand their duties to include stopping drug and smuggling operations since terror cells are often funded by illegal drugs and bootleg items. I would imagine in a superhero world where there's already a Primus, Homeland Security/Homeguard would already be part of it.

Re: New Look for Defender

At least the helmet covers the face and is attached to the armor. The "powering up" reminded me of Transformers Animated.

Re: Why A.I.s want to kill all humans

A terrorist just killed over 30 innocent people at an airport and wounded over 150. Thirty families with someone missing from their lives, can no longer talk with, or hug ... forever. Five times that scarred for life. And a major city terrified with the realization that it could have been them.

The AIs don't have to kill us. They just have to wait.

Re: Skills. How much is too much? What did you start with?

I don't have the book with me, but here are some skills characters should have if you're looking for 25 points.

Deduction +1

Language: Spanish 2+ points

Language: Russian 2+ points

Language: Arabic 2+ points

Language: Chinese 2+ points

Language: Japanese 2+ points

Breakfall

Acrobatics

Conversation

Charm

Electronics

System Operations

Mechanics

KS: Criminal Organization

KS: Supervillains

KS: Superheroes

KS: Superpowers

KS: Current Events

KS: Campaign City Restaurants

KS: Smells

KS: Car/truck models

KS: Campaign City Politics

OK having all of these make you look like Batman, but this list let's you pick and choose. One of the new things in 6th edition is that the skills you buy have to be useful in the campaign or else they're free (so having KS:Tolkin literature is free unless the GM plans a lot of Middle Earth themed adventures). All of these skills are useful in different ways. If it's a more street level campaign, understanding what the different gangs are saying would help. Being able to identify the make and model of a car is good when your character witnesses something. And being able to know that the building you just entered has a gas leak ... it goes without saying that's important.

Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora?

First off' date=' nearly any 'alien' flora or fauna will (I'm 99.999% certain on this) contain bacteria or other microbes that will be hazardous or fatal to the imbiber.[/quote']

Why? Experiments and research appear to indicate the basic amino acids used for life on Earth can occur on other worlds. And with proteins being made from amino acids, there's no reason to assume that any alien food would automatically be of 0 nutritional value to humans. As for the bacteria, I'm inclined to think that with amino acids and DNA evolving in other parts of the universe, any illness would be like the ones we have on Earth and would be fought in the same way.

 

That's not to say it's impossible that a microbe would evolve in such a way that it would cut through our defenses like a hot knife through butter, but to assume that it automatically will is a bit much IMHO.

 

That being said, it may not be the food itself but stuff on the food like spores on the underside of a leaf. Or the plant matter might be too fiberous like eating a tree branch or have sharp bits (think the kernels of corn after being popped). We eat a lot of plant seeds, what if the seed survived being through the digestive system and starts growing in the sewers?

Re: Party design trouble with small group

I don't know much about football, but if the player threw passes I could see him as a energy projector. Or if he was defensive player give him force fields and barriers. I'm trying to give alternatives to the stereotype brick.

For a unified theme, they could be telekinetics. The technopath manipulates the physical parts of a computer, the speedster moves himself, and the football players moves larger things (good if he throws passes during the game).

Re: Viper: From Hydra To Cobra?

Depends on which version of Cobra. The one in the cartoon was pretty laughable, but it was a kids show. The comic was something like that until the cartoon ended then took a more serious turn around issue 110 where Joes started getting killed (yes, the permanent kind) starting with Doc. It's final issue with Marvel was a letter from Snake-Eyes to a teenager thinking about joining the military talking about his experiences in Vietnam. Then the continuity shifted to two other companies which continued to keep it serious. The second one kept focus on a core group of Joes and ended with a 12 part story line "World War III". Cobra Commander really came into his own in that series and in WW3 even slowly killed his own son with poison and hung him from the flagpole just to show what a ruthless SOB he was and demonstrate he was capable of anything. Nothing before or since has done that kind of justice to GIJoe.

Re: More City Books

A Babylon book would rock. Maybe there will one day be an expansion on the material in Mystic World' date=' maybe called Mystic Places, with more information on other dimensions. Though I belive the management has said that the setting stuff doesn't sell as well.[/quote']

Actually the setting books are the ones I flip through the most. But I can understand why they wouldn't sell. Why plunk down the money for a book you're not really going to use. I'd love an expansion to the Mystic world giving more information about the other dimensions. Don't think it would sell well. Maybe if there's a 6ed version of Mystic World they can add a few more pages like show us one of the larger island city-states in the realm of Hod. Maybe take it a step up and give an example city for different genres. Like the main city in the Fantasy setting, an alien city in Star Hero, etc.

Re: Finish the team

I have to wonder why they're in the US and haven't tried to take over Iran. According to what I heard, Iran is still trying to "reclaim its glory days" which is the Persian Empire despite being pretty much gone for thousands of years (yes, I know they changed names to Ottoman Empire, but the Persian Empire was at its height before Islam was founded, much less dominated the region). I think his best strategy would be to try and carve out a small kingdom out where the borders aren't clearly marked and improve it as much as possible (using weather control to bring the rains and restore the land) then expand when people immigrate.

I can think of one other team member based off the Persian Immortals. He wouldn't be an impervious tank tank, he'd just have a really high recovery that only works when at negative stun. So you can strike him down, but soon gets back up and always keeps coming. (Also give him regeneration to bring him back after death.) He wouldn't have much defensive or offensive powers except for being persistent.

Mevlevi is a mentalist who's powers focus on the pleasure and emotional centers of the brain. Powers would center around putting targets in euphoric trances and illusions. There wouldn't be actual seduction but people experiencing his powers would imagine their own unique "happy place" in their own mind until shaken out of it (sometimes painfully).

Re: Would your hero register his Secret ID with Primus?

It would depend on how Primus is run and if they can keep a secret. Most GMs don't run things as the book describes. In the main campaign I'm in, Primus is there to take away the captured villains and eat donuts. Not always in that order either. So probably not unless it became a really important issue.

Re: You ARE Dr.Destroyer

To answer my own question, I would use it to take down the other supervillain groups and claim it was part of the "master plan" to the minions to keep them from suspecting. Demon would be first. Dr.D would probably know about the Nazi bunker 13 used as a base for one of Demon's tier 2 leaders and from there trace the money lender in Brazil and the Shiva worshiper in India (I forget their names). If he could find out about the Nocturne "base" (the mind of a psychotic child), he'd send Destroyer's own psychics out there to take care of the problem. Finding out about the Inverted Trinity is probably too much to expect but with Destroyer's resources put to good use and add a willingness to work with heroic mystics it may be possible to not only discover the Inverted Trinity but how to destroy them as well.

For Viper, he would retrieve the Serpent Lantern then arrange for Viper to steal it back in such a way they know Destroyer is "letting" them have it. This will make them go nuts over whether or not it was booby trapped. It won't be, but Viper won't believe that and spend more time looking for a nonexistent trap. The war on Viper would be a war against their resource transportation system, the means in which communications and supplies go between bases. Isolate each next for local hero groups to bust so the organization as a whole with suffer.

Re: Where do gangsters get pool babes?

Filthy lucre. Power. Exclusive circles. Protection. Flouting society's rules.

 

Women also have base motives.

 

Not just men.

I may regret asking this, but what's "filthy lucre"?

Also I was referring to the make-believe world in the TV shows and movies where women having a harem of men is nearly unheard of.

But to be fair, you have a point we just don't see it as often. Those few times I have seen it, it was done in the context of being a control freak with S&M overtones instead of a "look at how manly I am" machismo.

You and your team are captured by Dr.Destroyer. Instead of his usual interrogation and brain washing techniques, he decides to honor you by making you the first subject of a mind control power he built into his armor. Then something goes wrong. Your character's mind is pulled from his/her body and into Destroyer's and his mind goes away. So now your character has all of Destroyer's powers, knowledge, skills, stats (including the heightened intelligence, ego, and presence), etc and can flawlessly act like him whenever you want him to. Your team has a mentalist or mystic who can confirm that you are in the metaphorical driver's seat.

What does your character do with all this knowledge, power, and resources while being one of the most hated and destructive man in history?

ETA, I left out one important detail. This is 5th ed Dr.D from Book of the Destroyer without the 6th edition version. I don't have all the 6th ed setting books so I can't really include that as a factor. But if you want to assume 6th ed, that's fine.

Re: What comic book villains would make cool heroes, and vice versa?

Thanatos from Marvel has been on the side of heroes occasionally (mostly when there's a threat to the Multiverse itself). I'd like to see him reworked as a Master level Hero, someone who is more proactive in fighting villains and has his own grand plans but with more benevolent goals.

I'm not quite sure how you can get past the "worships Death" thing. Maybe he wishes every soul who dies would be one who has led a full, satisfying live and every happy soul Death receives makes her a little bit happier in turn.

Re: VIPER help needed.

Serpent Lantern was also wanted by Dr. Destroyer' date=' to extend his age (or make him immortal). It was lost in space I thought.[/quote']

It was in 5th edition. Not sure about 6th. I haven't gotten many books about it yet. My gaming group has yet to convert. In any case Dr.D got rid of the Lantern because Viper depended on it. He has a distrust of magic and his ego won't let him become a servant to anyone even a god. (Plus the whole "betray us and die instantly" catch will turn most master villains off.)

 

In one of the campaigns I'm in my character killed Dr.D. The team committed a galactic faux pas which eventually led to a Persid warfleet being sent to Earth. Dr.D was already in custody due to the actions of the major hero teams and agreed to defend the planet if he was let go. To insure his cooperation he allowed a cortex bomb to be implanted in his head. Triggers were given to the two team members without Code vs Killing Total and willing activate the bomb if/when we were betrayed. Of course we were eventually betrayed. Of course Dr.D removed the bomb from his skull. After the team escaped my character said, "Well, this won't do anything. But it will make me feel better." and detonated the bomb. What we didn't know is that the bomb was enchanted to return to Dr.D's noggin if it got removed. So he's making his "I am your ruler! Bow down before me!" speech to the world when his head becomes the consistency of store-brand chunky salsa with a muffled "boom" inside his armor and he slumps over.

Re: VIPER help needed.

I have always like massasauga for an exotic sounding snake.

What do crazy Yiddish people have to do with Viper?

Oh wait, that's meshugeneh. Nevermind.

Re: VIPER help needed.

The Serpent Lantern didn't grant immortality, but it did greatly extend age and give other health benefits.

Also, an oath of loyalty given with the Serpent Lantern was binding. Break the oath, and you die. The original 30 Founders (the high council of Viper) all took loyalty oaths with the Lantern, so they all trust each other. Since the loss of the lantern, Viper's central leadership has been weakened.

I thought it did grant immortality provided they do the ritual once a year or something. Too bad. I thought a pro-active superhero team could get it back for Viper as part of a long-term plan for destroying the organization. With their immortality back the 30F would stay in charge and become stuck in their ways. Thus they would be unable to adapt to a changing world and loose power to rivals.

Re: Where do gangsters get pool babes?

Let's see, she's 24 and he's 84. Her mother could be 42, her grandmother 60. He's old enough to be her great-grandfather. Either she's resolutely digging for buried treasure, or she has serious "grand-daddy" issues, or both.

 

Or maybe it's True Love...

Re: Where do gangsters get pool babes?

Well, there is the "TV reality vs our reality problem". I have no idea how accurate "A-Team" was, but I'm guessing not very.

 

I do know of one instance of intentionally stocking a party with beautiful women. Muammar Gaddafi, an important man in Libya, put out a request to a hostess agency for 500 beautiful young women. He only got 200. Essentially, he put out an ad and promised €50 for showing up.

The question has less to do with Real World reality as it does with Game World "reality"; a world where a bunch of vigilantes can kill dozens of criminals and no one seems to mind and where the job title of Henchman is more commonplace.

I figure this is the best place to ask. In the 80s TV shows and movies showed gangsters, drug dealers, and assorted powerful criminal types lounging around a pool with a dozen or so women in bikinis sunning themselves, swimming, and lounging around.

So who hired them? Was there an application? Do they get a salary with benefits? Was there a sheet on the bulletin board at a strip club? "Wanted, attractive women 18-24 to sit around pool and make boss feel important despite being on his 3rd by-pass surgery and needing heart medication. Non-disclosure agreement mandatory. Good pay. Dental and cosmetic surgery covered. No law enforcement or brunettes. Equal Opportunity Employer."

Seriously though, I saw the Bond films and A-team episodes and wondered how those women got there.