Nucleon

Nucleon now feels polemic... Alex Ross... Realism, bah. Nucleon does not place Alex Ross in His favorite drawers; Althought He admires his poses and textures, Nucleon does like a bit of fantasy in the Comic World, therefore the sight of well-fed men in discoloured costumes with stitches and wrinkles He would appraise as ridicule, like on some sort of All Hallow's Eve. Plus, the guy is definitely average on tech details, like guns. He is good, but more suited to heroic stuff rather than superheroic per se. Still, he makes good covers, mainly if one needs a good facial expression, as to impress the reader to the humanity of the character sort of thing, once in a while. Do you feel as polemic as Nucleon do about Ross?

Re: Another Brick in the Wall (Tell me about your Brick!) As He is mainly a GM, Nucleon did put many bricks into play... His recent revision of the stuff He created revealed that Bricks are probably His favorite type, it seems. Of these, the one that makes the most lasting impression on Nucleon's players is probably the most un-PC Mass. The Mass is a Blob-like character, exept she is bigger and meaner. She's always have some food in her pockets or around her mouth (the oily kind) and when she speaks (or rather shouts), she spittle the stuff with liberality. She's is quite the un-moveable object, easier to hit than a truck at DEX 9 and SPD 3, but she gots loads of Damage Reduction, Absorption and Knockback Resistance. Two attacks are at her disposal, one where she hurl herself to the ground (No Range Explosion, double knockback), and one where she wallops them away, the "meaty arm". But what makes her so loveable is her temper, which is akin to a whiny, spoiled child in a tantrum. She hates herself and everybody, making it very hard to be her company. Of course she eats all the time (she needs to do so at least once an hour), she sweats, she whines, she calls everyone "skinny", "slim" or "bones" (even the beefiest heroes)... She is quite the event.

Re: Who are your favourite Superhero Artists? Among a multitude, Steranko is the one who influenced Nucleon most.

Re: 'Ki Disruption' NND -- Defenses? Power defense seems it, but Nucleon say: Instead of a NND, have thou considered a (Stun) Drain? Ki powers scream Adjustement powers to Nucleon.

Re: Villain Campaign: need help Oh, how Nucleon empathize with thee, mortal. Thy campaign outlining seems promising. And if thou really have players who can be proactive, that might be workable. Initiative is the only quality a vilain need if he does not want to be a mere pawn -and this kind of game gets old fast. Nucleon would add that, with all the Civil War, Thunderbolts and Secret Identity stuff, this type of game becomes more and more commonplace. Here are, in all cosmic modesty, some of the guidelines Nucleon applied in his last vilain campaign, in no particular order: - Make them feel the pressure; The villain underworld is a nasty place, as many of them is ready to sell you for the least favor. Make good use of the player's hunted & watched to put them on alert at all time. Create factions; Put many toes to step on on their way. This will likely instill some team spirit in them, in a "us vs them" way. There is honor even among thieves. The real psychopaths there needs to be though, or else they rapidly become scarce. - Give them a leader at first; a guy/gal with a plan. And some advantage on the players, be it a threat, corruption or raw power. This leader's task will be to show the way, give a haven for the PCs and introduce them to the machiavelian world of villain politics. This leader might well be authoritative or even abusive, uniting the player against her after a short while. Or he might be a secretely heroic person, with real emotions however deeply buried. - Play with values. Face them with "heroes" who are nothing more than glorified thugs; Show them dirtier than they are, by twisting Karma in a vindicative way. Tests their limits, provoke debates, as new ways will open to them. - Finally, make a system where game money earned will equate points for bases/instalations & vehicules. The most important part, once again, is focus; A medium-to-long-term plan is essential. Make it big, and Godspeed! :saturn

Re: The things I learned playing a power armor junkie

Re: The things I learned playing a power armor junkie By the Thousand Suns of Shrika, take a pill, mortal! Nucleon cares little for your uncouth manners. He just does not allows said rule, as He allows or disallows other rules. What's the matter with you?

Re: How important is presentation... At first glance, Nucleon would advance that the first player is not as versed in the super-hero style as the second was; all of his exemples were very mainstream ones, exept maybe for the bizarre substitution of the Flash for Quicksilver. Nucleon would have helped this first player making a concept; obviously he didn't knew where he was going. The "friend of a friend" type of player, He would guess.

Re: Advice for a team of unfortunate supers Magnificent characters. Who should Nucleon rep for these? Nucleon cannot think of a mission such a group couldn't do, as long as Professor Paisley leads them well. His advice? Pool team perks point to buy sidekicks.

Re: The things I learned playing a power armor junkie Use your Un-Powerarmored form more often. You will attract sympathy, both by the GM and the other players, more easily. Even moreso if you can still make yourself useful while you're out of it, of course...

Re: The things I learned playing a power armor junkie Not with Nucleon as GM; Power armors are neither retainers nor vehicules; As long as it doesn't have any of the nasty limitations (like "Difficult to Obtain"), He assumes, maybe wrongly, that the character have a spare or the capacity to build one fast enough... ... with a little bit of sweat, maybe a little bit of blood...

Re: Iron-Man Movie! Iron Man is perfect for today's CGI grandeur and technological heroes, Ã la Sky Captain. An Iron Man movie should stay on the tech side, avoiding overly costumed and fantaisist vilains. Nucleon would imagine that as a superpowered 007 adventure, substituing governments for corporations. It would make sense to picture Stark as a capitalistic weaponmaker. Both Spymaster and War Machine (the one from volume II was awesome) could make excellent vilains. Maybe also Madame Masque as an ambiguous romantic interest. The armor should stay the same, albeit with a darker shine, of course. It should be destroyed towards the end of the movie to leave place for a dramatic, spectacular prototype. Verily, this movie could rock IHO.

Re: The things I learned playing a power armor junkie The golden rule; Sometimes you will get caught while your armor is further then you'd want it so don't be such a shrimp while you're out of it. Plus... Know how to make your own equipement Obvious, neh?

Re: Help Nucleon Build a 200 Pointer That Can Kick A... Well Arkham, this is a most fine character, one who comes with a well-known model. Players are more at ease with that. Taking your base, Nucleon tweaked it a bit (more CON, less BODY, plus other minor details according to the type of game that we play down here), and it ended up a very playable character. It's definitely a containder.

Re: Namedropping Michael Jackson; An over-sensible artist's soul longs for eternal youth and develops techo-necromantic techniques to graft other bodies, younger bodies, onto his own, thus gaining artificial life. No codename yet. Now, Nucleon feels somewhat ill...

Re: The Things I Learned Playing A Villain... Excellent thread already; Allow Nucleon to pontificate. Have a middle- to long-term goal otherwise you're a mercenary, a tool. Take the initiative; Put your master plan into work: Kidnapp scientists, steal technologies, highjack orbital launches, the works. Do not lose your time being hired by individuals with delusions of grandeur that might interfere with yours, or by being hunted down by heroes.

Re: Need help with interdimensional adventures a) Does the veteran know where in the multiverse are the other part of the team? If not,The veteran mentalist happens to make a "Mind scan" in a mystical place (a ley line?) that provides the extra-dimensional advantage. Now to get there; How about capturing a supervilain that actually has the power, such as Timemaster, preferably an old ennemy; This could imply coercion, or a deal of some sort (that will turn sour, of course).

Re: Help Nucleon Build a 200 Pointer That Can Kick A... As per the book; 100 pts (included in the 200), 25 pts max in any given category.... all of our characters have 150-250 pts disavantages, thought that doesn't give any additional bonuses.

Re: Help Nucleon Build a 200 Pointer That Can Kick A... In all fairness, said group is based in Phoenix, Az. But still:

Re: Help Nucleon Build a 200 Pointer That Can Kick A...

Re: Single Green Superhero seeks.... (personels for your characters) @SCE (Single Cosmic Entity) seeks Celestial Avatar to Join Inner Macrocosm and to be remade as One. Allergic to cats. Smokers please don't apply."

Re: The Things I've Learned Playing Team Leader... Aaargh! Verily, Nucleon does have a lot to say on this subject. Wrestlingeek, you're repped, my friend. Encourage Co-ordination by buying co-ordination only Find weaknesses on two others (or more) and such sweets. Coerce other players to buy co-ordination CSLs. Practice against gargantuan odds to squeeze it out. Put the team before you unless you're leading super-vilains. If that's the case, promise them riches and glory while using them like the disposable tools they are. State the Obvious: No, wait; That's the team's yesman's job...

Re: Thanks from a GM Well, thanks a lot, says He with humility. (Running away...)

Re: The Things I've Learned Playing Team Leader... Yes! Leaders! The rarest breed of players. Nucleon would really like to have a couple in his games; When He plays, it isn't long before everybody looks to the floor... time to shout orders, then. Nucleon's got a few tips, but they're all about His type of leadership. He hopes he won't offend anyone by cramming many comments in a single post about this rarity. Here we go: Be Firm! Take Charge! Even when you're not so sure. The apparence of being a leader is more important than the leadership itself. Get to know all of your team mates' capacities! To use them at their full potential. Delegate! Nothing pleases a non-leader like being temporary in charge of something. See them accomplished said task with zeal for you. Underline their successes. Know how to pilot the damn plane and operate the consoles! If you don't, nobody will. Organise wrap-up sessions after an adventure to pick and correct the team's mistakes, as well as to congratulate individual actions. Force all the others to voice their opinions, beginning by the most shy. Take the blame! Not only it is leader-like, but tragically heroic as well!

Re: Playing with characters provided by the GM The use of GM-created playing characters are common in tournament, trials and when a particular player has no or few knowledge of the superhero type. That being said, Nucleon, in the rare occurences where He plays, prefer a character of his own, and by far. However, Nucleon's gaming bunch is now trying out a new system; non-exclusive playing character pool: That means you make a character, and put it in the pool for another player to play, if he desires so, for the session (see Nucleon's thread to that effect if you will). And from the short time we've tried it, some players told Him they actually prefer characters who were not made by them! Its fun; Playind another's character is a refreshing role-playing challenge. Everbody wins.