Karma

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... The PCs are cops. VERY bad cops (not Dirty Harry bad, just ... well listen to this) A woman has been found at the door to the police station unconscious, it is obvious that a) she was attacked and she was beating on the door for a considerable time before she lost consciousness. The police were, at that point, 'doing other things' (mostly the weekly poker game). The doctor who came to help her is insensed: Doctor: My God man, why didn't someone do something? She obviously needed medical help. PC: That's why we called you. Doctor: The medical examiner was right here, he has medical training. PC: Yeah, well, he was busy "examining" his new assistant. Doctor: What do you mean by 'examining'? PC (looking at him pointedly): do I need to use medical terminology. Doctor: What...What ... He ... He should be charged. PC: We're not entirely sure she didn't. Like I said BAD cops (oh and 'mostly' poker (and yes I realize the pun).

Re: Balancing Mental Powers Apart from the 'HIT the bald guy... sorry mentalist' approach for the rematch. There are some other ways of coping. remember 'Alien' is a different subset of mind as are 'Animal' and 'machine'. While a brick can put an alien, bear or robot through the wall just as easily as each other a mentalist (unless he's bought additional classes of mind) is useless against them. Now I'm not saying make all your encounters with non-humans, but once the underworld realises that the team has a mentalist they might decide to bring along a few attack dogs trained to go after bald guys (or whatever is a 'distinctive feature' of the mentalist), or they might hire 'the Robot maker', or some Alien bounty-hunter. These are just good sense when dealing with mentalists not 'The GM is out to get me' (which a RKA Mental Damage Shield, would be, in case you want to know). Of course you should team these 'anti-mentalist protections' with humans for the mentalist to effect so that it becomes a case of 'protect the mentalist' for the rest of the team instead of 'stand back and let the mentalist handle it' (which it seems to have been up to now). Just some ideas. Heh heh Killing Mental Damage Shield "I make him think his team mate is the enemy" "Yes and meanwhile your head explodes." Heh heh.

Re: I Just Shoot Marvin In The Face Karma: Gibs-Slaps team-mate and tells them they will be cleaning the vehicle. Also refuses to ride in any vehicle with team-mate from now on, and constantly makes references to 'pointing that thing away from me' etc. (plus comments about being 'premature' etc. if team-mate is male) from then on until team -mate leaves team in disgrace. Fore-eyes - Having pulled Marvin out of the way at the last second tells team-mate to check his damn safety. Either that or he puts the team-mates safety on before they entered the vehicle telling them "Trust me, it'll be better for all of us". If for some reason he did not see it coming, reports insident and puts team-mate on suspention. (note Fore-eyes has team-members who this could happen to,even with their natural powers (NCC, ain't it a gas?), but they do NOT ride in the same vehicle with, well, anyone actually (They use the Gate after everyone else has gone first.) Hardball: If it was someone else see Karma's first sentence. Also treats team-mate to lecture about the difficulty of questioning the dead. If it was him: Apologises and promises to clean the vehicle (and thanks his lucky stars that it wasn't one of his baseball grenades that went off). Necrophage: Screams, grabs her head and lets the team-mate relive Marvin's last moments in living Mental-Illusion colour. Then continues to beat on them until someone pulls her off screaming "You stupid @#$%ing idiot, do you really think I want this @#$%er in my brain? Do you? Huh!? Soon as I find a way of shifting him out I'm making him YOUR brain-mate. Shut the Hell up Marvin! Marvin wants me to kill you...I'm trying really hard not to..."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

Re: What would your sidekick be named? Karma doesn't do sidekicks. Possibly because she'd insist on them being called Sutra, and no-one's going to be willing to go down that path. As for my other characters. Fore-eyes would probably let his sidekick name themselves, as it should be (heck the most famous dynamic duo was kind of non-sequiter: Batman and Robin? Really who would have seen that coming) Hardball has Pitch already. (He refused to be called softball, *very* vehermently) Most of my characters aren't really big on sidekicks. Team-mates sure but 'junior off-siders?', most consider them too much Hunted bait to try to have one.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Must spread Rep..yadda, yadda.

Re: Ideas for powers for child heroes... I can't help but think of Baby Geniuses (the movie) and the idea that children are actually hyper-intelligent before they learn to dumb down in order to fit in. When we think they are babbling to each other they are really having indepth philosophical and scientific discussions that 'we' are to dumb to understand. Baby X is just like this, however while he has a huge intellect he has very little actual world experience. THis is where Kid question comes in but has the advantage of being able to communicate telepathically with Kid Question. The reason that Kid Question is so hypermanic with the questions is his way of coping. By constantly firing off questions he is able to protect his fragile psyche from being overloaded by Baby X's intellect. Eventually Baby X will learn to control his abilities and KQ will become his mouthpiece and will be rewarded with the knowledge to create alot of cool gadgets (and what kid doesn't like toys). Baby X will become the mastermind behind the group (while keeping it a secret by using KQ). Unfortunately like all babies he will be forced to dumb down and learn English and then he will become just another kid (he knows this and he may become a supervillain attempting to find a way to keep his intellect intact). O.k. that's my idea anyway.

Re: Raw STR: Marvel Where is Molly from the Runaways? I know she's not one of Marvel's greatest bricks but she deserves to be on the list. I mean she can lift a car over her head, she punched Wolverine greater than the length of a church ("251 mutants left in the world and she had to be one of them!") and hit the Punisher hard enough that he needed to use all his willpower not to go down ("Will not be floored by a little girl! Will NOT be floored by a little girl!"). Give the girl some her proper respect!

Re: The fall of your character Fore Eyes: Wants to die happily surrounded by his family amny years hence. Likely will die when something he fails to foresee kills him or even his foresight is useless to stop the outcome, probably trying unsuccessfully to do so. Hardball: Wants to die frrom a bullet to the brain from ther gun of the Master of Crime at the same time as he puts something long, sharp and lethal through that person's brain. Likely will die from an assassin's bullet when he least expects it. Karma: Wants to die Rich beyond the dreams of Midas. Will likely die trying to become so.

Re: Dumbest Moment Ever in your games See that's how I would have played it. Even if he had the 'EVIL' Psych. Lims. Heck alot of my games have blatently evil PCs in them, as long as everyone accepts that when the *Heroes* realise that 'Dr. Death' isn't just playing it for atmosphere that they will take him down and the player will have to make a new character. Then again I'm in a game where my character is EVIL, but since his Evil is focused on the greater EVIL the do-gooders are willing to let him be (apart from constant attempt to convert him to the side of Good which he only puts up with because these guys are his friends and are affective in helping him kill his enemies). Then again it is D&D and killing of Evil snake men isn't just allowed, it's encouraged.

Re: Enter Fluffy (or "Aw, can't we keep 'em?") Apart from the fact that anything that makes Lovecraft monsters look like Care-bears would have us all gibbering on the ground... Fore-eyes: "You want him? Fine but if I get any inkling of him being unsafe he's to be put in a nice safe alternate dimension. Are we clear ladies?" Hardball: "Did you see that? I don't care if it's a defensive trait, so is a stone-fish's spikes or skunk's smell. All we need is for it to get scared again and it might kill us before it has a chance to calm down. Now put it down and we'll back away...stop following us... Nice Xenomorphic Alien ... we don't want to frighten you ... All right it's got short legs let's just RUN!!!" Karma:"Whose a nice monster? Whose a nice Monster? You are...Yes You are..." (she's 'the most appropriate person'). Sangina: (See Karma Above) Silvermoon: "O.k. I say we see if it's as good against Werewolves. If so I say we let her keep him and take him with us on hunts." Athame:"I understand where both of you are coming from. Yes he's cute, yes he might be of use to us, but until we are better informed about what he is and where he came from I thoink we should hold off on making a decision. ET's are not our bailiwick. Does anyone know whose they are? Maybe the astronomy club would know... All right I'LL ask them... Goddess you two are a pair of cowards. Killing Werewolves? Vampires? Things from Beyond? No problem, but ask you to speak to a bunch of science geeks..."

Re: What would your Character Be: Tiger Squad Fore-eyes: Would become 'Seer': Since he knows when (and if) Communism in China will fall, whether it will get better or worse, and how much influence the Tiger squad will have on these events he will use that information to make his decision. Hardball: 'Forest Demon'. Once his preternatural accuracy was determined he would be trained in (don't have UMA with me, so whatever the name of the Chinese Martial art that is refered to as 'Chinese Ninjitsu' is) and became a member of Tiger squad. Karma: Appeared in Tianamin Square. Went invisible when people with guns appeared. Was gone before Tiger Squad turned up. Now living in Tokyo. Thinks Communism is a great idea (having come from a world where True Capitalism was the order of the day) and when China actually adopts it she will be all for it, heck she might even join Tiger Squad (O.k. maybe not, they're likely to have a dim view of stuff like theft).

Re: The Death Of Vinnie The Viceroy Fore-eyes: Will put down 'Fairweather' as the newest Secret ID of the Shadow Lord. That'll be about it until The Shadowlord does something truly reprehensable (which he will most likely) then FE will know where to find him. Hardball: Torn, he made a bunch of Mafia goons die screaming, so that's good. But he also get them off when they get arrested, so that's bad. Given that he can shrug off damage like that HB will possibly hand it over to someone who can do something about it. Karma: "So the Fairweather guy is demon. He saved that girl from white slavery, puts him in the 'goodguy' column in my book. I mean it's not like I'm lilywhite.

I've looked at the Superhero Legacy thread, and there are a few people who say 'This only works for a narrow range of people" so new Scenario... You've retired. Maybe you felt yourself slowing down, maybe you don't get the thrill out of stoping crime like you used to, maybe the nemesis you set out to foil is finally dead, maybe you met you nemesis in 'the final battle' looked at each other in the eyes, realised how in love you were and got married, whatever. So a few years pass then suddenly your watching T.v. (or whatever they have in 'the future') and a story comes on about "The Return of (enter Super ID here)", someone wearing a costume like your old one or who looks like they have powers similar to yours is show doing something heroic. You have no idea who this person is... What do You Do? (as you character)

Re: Child of Mine . . . Lucifer (call me Lou) The grandson of the Fallen One and inheritor of the Shazam, Lou has pretty much given up on becoming the Prince of the world (I mean it's 8000 BC). While he very rarely needs the call on the Shazam, since he has his father's abilities, sometimes being able to fly is kind of cool. Plus there's that whole lightning thing which really kicks... Mostly he just hangs with his friends and helps out Dad and his crew when they get in trouble... Because it so wrong in so many ways: Wolverine and Pixie

Re: Superhero Legacy. Passing on a Name Not necessarily. Just because they don't have your powers doesn't mean they can't take you legacy, esp. if they can work out how to use gadgets and training to 'copy' your most well-known abilities. I can see someone finding Peter Parker's Web formula in the future (or him giving it to them) and using some special spider-gloves etc. to become 'Spider-man II' even if they never get bitten by a radioactive spider. Sure they won't have 'spider sense', but then few people really know about that.

Re: Superhero Legacy. Passing on a Name Fore-eyes: Whoever he has seen doing so (precogs! Gotta love'm). Hardball: Has already chosen his successor, she fights beside him as his partner. He knows deep down that he won't retire, his enemies will finally catch up with him. Once that happens Pitcher will be there to take up the fight. Karma: "Whoever it is need my keen fashion sense, my amazing looks, my subjective morality, my... Oh lets face it there's only ever gonna be one me." Later: "That's right dear, now when the tumbler is ... (alarm sounds) ... Time to go, meet grandma back at the hideout." (Really Karma wouldn't trust anyone to take up her mantle, but if there was going to be someone it would have to be family.) John Doe: First, he'd have trouble believing that anyone would want to follow in his footsteps. Once he got over that shock he'd have to make sure that the person was of the highest moral character and would not, ever, abuse their powers. This would be especially important if they had his power-set. He'd be more likely to take on a prodigy who had suffered horribly and yet kept their moral compass (too many people seem to 'go bad' when they are truly hurt, in his estimation). Tinker-Belle: Given that by the time she decides to retire she'll (hopefully) have grown up a little (personality-wise, she's an adult, just hard for people to believe that sometimes) she will most likely hand over the gadgets to someone who seems to love adventure and gizmoes as much as she did at their age. She will be unlikely to choose anyone that really reminds her of herself at that age unless she has decided to grow old disgracefully.

Re: What's in a Name? Because it seems to be the year of the resurrected threads I give you the Return of "What's in a Name". Resplenant Jade: He is a member of the PRC's super-team. A walking 8 foot green stone (not actual jade) statue whose loyalty to his country is unquestioned. His origin is an official government secret, but rumors have it that the Forbidden City is missing a statue. Next: Lupe (Tongan for Dove, Pigeon and poetically 'Beloved (F)')

Re: Character Background Usually: Name (super alias) then Powers (not point wise, just what sort). These can be swapped around, but it's usually that way (I love words and turning words into characters is a hobby (see my thread "What's in a name" from 2 years ago) Personality Background (it's good to know how a character thinks before you work out why (Villains usually have very different backgrounds from heroes) Stat out.

Re: Ultimate Suppresser I think we need a definition of what a superpower is: Something that a normal human cannot do. True the ability to create snowballs out of thin air is not an impressive superpower (compared to what most 'superheroes' have) and in the 'Wild-cards' universe would probably be classed as a 'deuce power', but it is a superpower. As for scaring people: True, if you were silly enough to say 'This is my only power, quake before me' most thugs would turn around and shoot you. If however you called it a 'warning shot' then most thugs (and possible some of the stupider super-villains (esp. the flame based ones) are going to try running and may (if they are really cowardly and stupid) surrender before they realized your warning shot was the whole of your powers. It aint how powerful you are, it's how you work it. See in worlds where supers exist people tend to lump all 'superhumans' together as, well, superhuman and someone who can throw 'harmless' snowballs as 'warnings' may be able to freeze your heart or something similar, do you want to test them? Really I think people have become a little jaded about what constitutes a superhuman. If someone created snow out of nothing in front of me I'd want to know what the trick was and if I found out there wasn't one I'd be bloody impressed.

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character) Fore-Eyes: If he went rogue then the one person who could stop him is the assassin Ambush (who is totally invisible to any form of precog/danger sense/etc, as are all his attacks). Once he's paid a simple sniper bullet to the brain. Note he would have to be paid for a clean kill, otherwise he is likely to 'play' with his target who, having been through this before, might use the opportunity to escape. Hardball: Really not hard. Single sniper shot to the head. It's only people's inability to find him which has kept this from happening sooner. Karma: If surprised fairly easy, very little actual armor. If aware (and she's pretty good at detecting traps) then catching her will be alot harder (invisible teleporter). Area effect (the larger the better) attacks will most likely hit her. Targeting based on other senses than sight or hearing will allow her to be targeted while invisible.

Re: Ultimate Suppresser

Re: What's the point? They're gonna escape anyways Why bother? Because somebody has to stop them from doing what they are trying. I don't know about yoyu but I'm not ready to live under Dr. D's rule or have myself and my loved-ones replaced by machines or ... whatever that plan is they are hatching this time. Sure they escape, but that's not the point. The point is that your country is still free, your friends aren't toasters, and ... well you've foiled their plans. Plus it's always fun to turn it back on them when they inevitably come back: "Oh please! This is how many times we've foiled your plans? Why do you even try? You know you'll loose. Yes you'll escape and come up with another scheme to take over the world/destroy organic life/whatever, but that's not the point. The point is that going on past experience your going to loose. Again! I mean, really, what's the point? It's not Heroes that should be asking 'what's the point?' it's villians. Heroes get what they want (adoration, the girl, the warm feeling that comes with a job well done) Villians get beaten up, made to look like fools (even when they are Megavillians) and have to run away with their tails between their legs. Even when they score a victory it never lasts, the world doesn't work like that. It's better to be a hero, that way you'll know that eventually you'll win (even if you must sacrifice everything to do it). Which is why so many of my villians think they are 'heroes'. "I'm only taking over the world for it's own good", "Humanity is the greatest threat this planet has ever faced it must be eradicated for the good of all life", "machine life is the next step in evolution and I am it's champion", etc...

Re: [Character] Taeser (minus the superspeed) Or that guy from Mutant X (damn I wish I had my DVDs with me), or Elle from Heroes. Actually Vulverability to Water in a Electricity EP is so common that it should be increased in frequency simply because people are going to try it more often (if they can). Kind of like trying Ice powers on a Fire User and Vice Versa

Re: Powers to make life better And you have, I assume, mozzies which do not threaten you with a disease nicknamed 'Bone-break fever' if they manage to bite you (and that's if you're lucky). Ah the pleasures of living on the equator (at least Tonga doesn't have any Malaria outbreaks, yet)