Kevin Schultz

Re: The Ultimate WWYCD: Ninja or Pirate! Jake the Troll - would be a troll ninja (trollja?), as they are the ninjas of the norse supernatural world. No, really: legends about their ability to turn invisible, hide in the forest, sneak into places, and play tricks on folks abound. A really big, green, scaly, norse ninja. Really. His mom would make him the outfit, and he would think it really cool. However, on occasion he would gouge his own eye out for wisdom/plot-points (stupid precedent-setting Odin), and while he wore the eyepatch (watining for his eye to regenerate) he'd cross over to being a pirate. Shinji Miromoto - would be one of those ninja from L5R, who gains their power through dealing with the mystical forces of darkness...which is what he sorta is right now, so the only thing he'd notice would be the manditory kabuki blacks. Icon - would be come a ninja, as she already has a pirate (The Buccaneer, her Year 1 Nemesis) to hate. But she would suck at it, as she's a big bright spotlight in the sky.

Re: The Munchkin Build Contest My usual stunt is to do the following: 16 Blasting Stuff (Multipower, 16 point) 1u Energy Blast, 1d6, Variable Advantage +1 (+2) (15 active) 2u Energy Blast, 1d6 AoE (64", 2-dimensional, +2 1/4) (16 active) 1u Ranged Killing attack 1 point, Variable Advantage +1 (+2)(15 active) 2u Energy Blast 1d6 (AoE Autohit +1/2, No Range Modifier +1/2, Autofire 5x + 1 1/4) (16 Active) 16 Ranged DCs' (4) 5 Offensive Ranged Strike (+8 DC) 5 Ranged Trip (+4 DC, Target Falls) This gets you fun stuff like a 64", 9d6 Disk strike and the 9d6 "Anywhere in Range 5x Autofire" strike. Unfortunately, for me, this is my default design style; it's completely within the design parameters of the game (75-80 Active, in this case), but it's just really cheap.

Re: WWYD - Marvel's Civil War Jake the Troll - is Canadian. "Eat my Red-leafed heinie, corporate stooges!" Then, he'd really not do much of anything, because he doesn't do much in the way of superheroing. (He just kinda exists, and things happen around him.) He also doesn't have a secret identity, so he doesn't really care much about that aspect of it. Shinji Miromoto - is already on the run and also does not have a secret idenity. So, no biggie. Icon - would go for it in theory, as this was the path she was on already; she was just doing the vigilante thing because there really WASN'T any way to register and get formal training while a teenager. (Her original goal was to do the vigilante thing up through college, then join the FBI team.) In practice, she would probably oppose it on the grounds that it was an unfair draft.

Re: WWYCD: Red Garden In reading up on Red Garden, it sounds like they're a bunch of normal heroes (75+75) with Unluck: get jumped by the supernatural, as well as GM-designed powers that they're granted. The things they go up against are tough, but managable for a group of 4 non-optimized PC's. Also, the group doesn't seem to exist in a "superheroes are known" type of universe, which kind of has their story working at cross-purposes with the traditional superheroic genre. But anyway... Jake the Troll - "Ladies! Wassup! Hey, nice baseball...stop that. No, really, stop. Would you cut that out? Hey, I liked that shirt! My mom made that for me!" Jake is a cosmic-level supernatural being, and as such would show up on any mana-radar any of them would have. After the initial (and inevitible) case of mistaken identities, Jake would let them pray to him if they wanted to, as long as they agreed to go to Mass and confession. (Which, if they're in New York and fighting the supernatural, probably isn't that bad of an idea to begin with.) If anything supernatural happend while he was around, he'd casually smack whatever it was into the ground. Shinji Miromoto - would simply fry whatever it is they were attacking, assuming it was malevolent. Unlike Jake, who merely LOOKS monsterous, Shinji actively gives of negative vibes. They'd probably attack him as well. But he's a professional, so he'd casually dance around them, disarm them, while spouting a combination of zen platitudes and villianous dialog. Then he'd ask one of them on a date. He'd probably end up as some sort of mentor/ally to the group. Icon - is a low-level cosmic energy manipulator/brick, and as such can innately sense all forms of energy (including magic). She is a well-known and well-regarded hero in the area. The teenagers would likely identify her, and ask her for help. If they told her their story, she'd try to hook them up with the Special Case Squad, her police contact for metahuman-related activities.

Re: (best ever...) reasons for becoming a superhero Because otherwise, a man would have been alive in my place, with my name, with my face, but I wouldn't have cared for him much.

Re: Code vs Killing (Total) That's the role Quakers tended to play in war; in WWII at least.

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game] And the 3rd time's a charm, hopefully - (If so, no biggie - t'was fun applying, regardless). Name: Emma Alexandra Hoffman Alias: Icon (350 pt. version) Concept: Flying Energy Brick Player: Kevin Schultz Rule of X: DC: 18 SPD: 5 (buffed) (PD+ED)/2 = (21+28)/2 = 24 (buffed) OCV: 5 DCV: 5 Skill: 3 Total: 60 Char Cost 50 STR -10 14 DEX 12 32 CON 4 33 BODY -20 19 INT 9 15 EGO 0 21 PRE 1 18 COM 4 10/21 PD 0 6/17 ED 0 4 SPD 6 16 REC 0 63 END 0 74 STUN 0 6" RUN 0 2" SWIM 0 10" LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 4 Power Energized Attributes 40 1) +20 CON 40 2) +50 STR (50 Active Points); Side Effect: Aura Flare when pushed (-1/4) 53 3) +33 BODY (66 Active Points); Side Effect: Bleeds cosmic energy (-1/4) 5 Cool Under Fire: +5 EGO (10 Active Points); Defensive Only (-1) 1 Strong Willed: Mental Defense (13 points total) (2 Active Points); Nonpersistent (-1/4), Does not provide Mental Awareness (-1/4) 5 On her Toes: Defense Maneuver I-IV (10 Active Points); FMove Maneuvers only (-1) 5 Fast: +1 SPD (10 Active Points); FMove Maneuvers Only (-1) 2 Supersuit: Elemental Control, 10-point powers, (5 Active Points); all slots Supersuit (-1) [Notes: Supersuit: All Powers OIF (-1/2), All Powers Cost END (Only to Activate, Must Activate All Powers at Once -1/2)] 2 1) Light Kevlar weave: Armor (3 PD/3 ED) (9 Active Points); Supersuit (-1) 3 2) Molecular Reogranization: Cosmetic Transform 2d6 (standard effect: 6 points) (Costume into any form of clothing), Improved Results Group (+1/4) (12 Active Points); Supersuit (-1) 2 3) On-board PDA: computer (10 Active Points); Supersuit (-1) 2 4) Lookin' Sharp: +10 PRE (10 Active Points); Offense Only (-1), Supersuit (-1) 2 5) Utility belt: +1 Overall (10 Active Points); Supersuit (-1) 14 Energy Aura: Elemental Control, 50-point powers, (25 Active Points); all slots Energy Power (-3/4) [Notes: Energy Power Limitations: Only in Heroic Idenity (-1/4), Extra Time (Extra Segment, Only to Activate, Character May Take No Other Actions, - 1/2)] 14 1) Empowered Defense: Force Field (8 PD/8 ED/8 Mental Defense/8 Power Defense), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (48 Active Points); Energy Power (-3/4) 11 2) Energy Sense: Detect All Forms of Energy (large class of things) 14- (Unusual Group), Discriminatory, Analyze, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Range, Sense, Targeting, Telescopic: +9, Transmit (50 Active Points); Energy Power (-3/4), Affected as Touch (-1/2) 7 3) Empowered Healing: (Total: 50 Active Cost, 14 Real Cost) Healing 1 BODY, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), All powers affected by damage, drain, transfers, supressions, or transforms (+2) (40 Active Points); Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12) (-1 1/4), Energy Power (-3/4), Self Only (-1/2) (Real Cost: 9) plus Can Heal Limbs (Real Cost: 2) 14 4) Empowered Strength: Variable Special Effects (Any Energy SFX; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) for up to 50 Active Points of STR (37 Active Points); Energy Power (-3/4) 14 5) Empowered Flight: Flight 16", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (48 Active Points); Energy Power (-3/4) 11 6) Energy Conservation: Succor 3d6+1 (standard effect: 10 points), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), REC, SPD, CON, and ED simultaneously (+1) (42 Active Points); Energy Power (-3/4), Self Only (-1/2) 20 Energy Manipulation: Variable Power Pool, 10 base + 10 control cost, Cosmic (+2) (25 Active Points); Energy Manipulation Only (-1/2) Powers Cost: 266 Martial Arts Maneuver 5 1) Flying Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +4 DCV, Dodge All Attacks, Abort; FMove 5 2) Passing Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 10d6 +v/5; Target Falls; FMove 5 3) Flying Grab: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Two Limbs, 60 STR for holding on; FMove 5 4) Passing Strike: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +0 DCV, 10d6 +v/5; FMove Martial Arts Cost: 20 Skill Federal Agent-in-training 3 1) Criminology 13- 3 2) Deduction 13- 3 3) Forensic Medicine 13- 3 4) Tactics 13- 2 5) PS: Federal Agent 11- Vigilante 3 1) Analyze: Energy Readings 13- 1 2) Navigation (Air) 13- (2 Active Points); Personal Flight Only (-1/2) 3 3) Teamwork 12- 9 4) +3 with any movement-based maneuver 3 5) Power: Energy Manipulation 13- 3 Scientist 1 1) SS: Criminal Psychology 11- (2 Active Points) 1 2) SS: Metahuman Powers 11- (2 Active Points) 1 3) SS: Physics (High Energy) 11- (2 Active Points) 1 4) SS: Psychology 11- (2 Active Points) 3 Scholar 1 1) KS: FBI Procedure (2 Active Points) 11- 1 2) KS: Federal Law (2 Active Points) 11- 1 3) KS: Metahumans (2 Active Points) 11- Skills Cost: 46 Perk 3 Reputation: Local Hero (Boston and Washington, DC) (A medium-sized group) 14-, +2/+2d6 (4 Active Points); Only In Heroic Identity (-1/4) 6 Contact: BPD, Organization Contact (x3) (6 Active Points) 11- 2 Fringe Benefit: Local Police Powers Perks Cost: 11 Disadvantage Truth, Justice, and the American Way 15 1) Psychological Limitation: Code Against Killing (Common, Strong) 10 2) Psychological Limitation: Code of Conduct: Truth, Justice, and the American Way (Common, Moderate) 5 3) Hunted: Minor Rogues gallery 8- (Less Pow, Harshly Punish) 10 4) Reputation: Hero of DC and Boston, 14- (DC/Boston Residents only) Recovering Victim of Parental Abuse 10 1) Hunted: Mother 8- (Less Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Capture) 5 2) Psychological Limitation: Recovering Victim of Parental Abuse (Uncommon, Moderate) 5 3) Accidental Change: Emotionally-charged confrontation with friends and family members 8- (Uncommon) 5 4) Enraged: Emotionally-charged Confrontations with family and friends (Uncommon), go 8-, recover 14- 10 5) Psychological Limitation: Uses Humor and Sarcasm to Cover Own Feelings (Common, Moderate) 5 6) Social Limitation: Sees a psychologist (Occasionally, Minor) Metahuman 15 1) Physical Limitation: Unusual Biochemestry (Frequently, Greatly Impairing) 15 2) Hunted: NCI 8- (Mo Pow, Kill/Capture) Living the Normal Life 15 1) Social Limitation: Secret Identity (Frequently, Major) 5 2) Reputation (Georgetown University): Doesn't deserve to be there, 11- (Known Only To A Small Group) 10 3) Social Limitation: Still in College (Occasionally, Major) 5 4) Dependent NPC (Friends and Family): Mike Hoffman, Ami Ziwinski, Lt. Elizabeth Price, Adam Jennings 8- (Slightly Less Powerful than the PC; Useful Noncombat Position or Skills; Group DNPC: x2 DNPCs) Quirks 1 1) Closet fangirl of Superman 1 2) Distinctive Features: Extremly large (but faint) energy aura (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable Only By Technology Or Major Effort) 1 3) Takes extremely powerful anti-depressants 1 4) Has rage issues, but is aware of and controls it 1 5) knows that she is a potential alcoholic, and will thus never drink Disadvantage Points: 150 Base Points: 200 Experience Required: 0 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0 BACKGROUND/HISTORY People in school thought Emma was doing fine: even in high school, she was an honor student, earned a spot on the Varsity cheer squad, and had the attention of several upperclassmen of appropriate gender and social standing. She was rich, pretty, smart, and popular. In short, she was living the dream of most everyone in the school. She was also living in despair. Her father, a systems administrator for a successful software company, was wrapped up in his work. Her mother, a defense attorney, drank heavily. When the two were in the house at the same time, they argued. The marriage had been over for years, but for some reason they never got separated, both being more afraid of being alone than of living in misery together. And then her mom started to hit her. Emma wasn't sure why; maybe a case went bad, or maybe Emma herself did something to set it off. It started with slapping. Oh, Jessica looked guilty when she was sober, and bought Emma's friends expensive things to apologize, but it didn't actually stop. Sometimes it would escalate, but not often. Mike didn't do anything, except look ashamed. She hit him too; screamed obscenities, mocked his manhood and inability to act, and he retreated to his work even more. And then Emma hit back. She wasn't sure why; maybe she just got tired of it, or maybe it was the pent-up rage. It started off normally, but by the end of the night, the side of Mike's face was a swollen mess, Jessica had started in on Emma, and suddenly it stopped. According to police reports, and later statements given by both parents, the argument had escalated until Mike had pushed Jessica away, causing her to pierce her gut with chair leg that had been broken earlier that evening. The hospital confirmed the existence of defensive wounds on both Mike and Emma, as well as signs of long-term abuse on both. However, while the doctors found no signs of wood in the wound, such evidence was later set aside 'for the good of the family.' The divorce was finalized two months later, with sole custody being granted to Michael Hoffman. He still has nightmares about trying to extract his daughter's fist from his wife's stomach. Throuhout high school, Emma and her father practiced keeping her powers in check. As a victim of parental abuse, she felt motivated to ensure that such victimization did not occur to others. Her own childhood superhero fantsiies had come true, and it had only taken the crippling of her mother and the dissolution of her family to make it real. In order to deal with that aspect of her power, (and in part to AVOID dealing with that realization), she became a full-time superhero in the Boston area, letting her schoolwork and social obligations slide. After barely graduating, she was able to get into Georgetown on the strength of her SAT scores, and on the hearty recommendation of the Boston PD Special Case squad (whom she had saved on several occasions, and whom she also internned at in her civilian guise.) Emma is currently a sophomore at Georgetown, majoring in Criminal Justice. After graduation, she plans on joining the FBI. PERSONALITY/MOTIVATION The happy, preppy, social butterfly at school that was Emma Hoffman was a mask for the scared, hurting Emma Hoffman that lived at home, who lived in fear of her mother's physical and emotional abuse, and in rage of her father's inability to intervene. The manifestation of her powers brought the dysfunction of her family to the attention of the authorities, which in turn was the beginning of the end of her family life, and a good portion of her social life at school. In years that followed, Emma went through severe bouts of depression, lost most of her friends, but managed to at least partially resolve her feelings towards her father. She is currently motivated by a desire to not let what happened to her happen to other people, as well as a desire to control both her power and her emotions so that she does not unintentionally cause harm, even to those that may deserve it. In public, Emma comes across as an almost stereotypicaly inane, vaguely sarcastic, college cheerleader, who uses her appearance and barbed comments to keep everyone at a distance. Among friends, she is still sarcastic, but drops the vapid aspect. The relationship she has with both her parents is somewhat complex. Her mother was wounded and partially crippled during the confrontation, but was still willing to hide her daughter's powers from the authorities. Although Jessica has not admitted any real wrongdoing in the affair, she has lost custody to her husband in the ensuing divorce. However, she still believes that she is a better parent than Mike, and will occasionally use her legal expertise to attempt to undermine her ex-husband's position as well as her daughter's extracurricular activities. She currently has a restraining order out against her from ever contacting her daughter. Emma has not seen her in over two years. Emma's outburst forced Mike to acknowledge the sad state of affairs with his wife, and has led to at least a partial reconciliation with his daughter. His main motivation in supporting his daughter's desire to become a superhero, alongside parental love and affection, is guilt and self-loathing, which manifests as overworking and a slight distancing from Emma "in order not to hurt her any more". The main bonding he shares with Emma, aside from superhero training, are the weekly sessions they have together with a family psychologist. (In fact, it was the psychologist who recommended that he be involved in her training, as an activity they both shared.) To support his daughter in her endeavors (and to get away from his ex-wife), Mike joined the Boston Police Department and got a job as the sysadmin for the city police department. After Emma graduated, he moved down to the DC area, and is currently employed at the DCPD in a similar fashion. QUOTE (in civvies) "I love how the orange in your purse draws attention away from the size of your hips. Ooh, did I just go there? I think I just went there." (In combat) "I'll take the flying squid-guy. You get the chick with the big gun." POWERS/TACTICS Emma's body emits a minor amount of cosmic energy, which radiates off of her in a very large but faint energy aura. In its dormant state, the energy enhances her strength and constitution. Emma can also collapse the energy aura on herself; in doing so, she can fly, resist damage, and regenerate from wounds. She also becomes slightly faster and more efficient in using her own energy, as being dormant is actually a slightly stressful state for her. Finally, she is capable of modulating her own aura, which then manifests as different forms of energy. Collapsing the aura on herself causes a bit of an explosion, as high-intensity radiation sheers through anything close to her skin. (This is also why she wears spandex - it's close enough to her skin that er aura actually manifests above it.) She will create a similar, if not nearly so obvious, electromagnetic spike if she pushes her powers, although doing so with anything but her strength is uncommon. She may also, on rare occasions, loose control and activate her energy aura unintentionally. This has happened a handful of times, all in cases of severe emotional trauma with her family: once when she first manifested, and twice more during counseling sessions with her father and psychologist. Note that Emma's body is slowly converting itself into cosmic energy; she has calculated that by the time she is 29, she will be a fully elemental creature. In addition to not having anything that resembles a human physiology, Emma "bleeds" primeval forces. This manifests as odd energy signitures, radiation burns, and similar events whenever she is even lightly injured. (her blood is also bright silver, and glows in the dark.) As an experienced metahuman, Emma has managed to gain access (through legal agencies) to a molecularly-bonded supersuit; the outfit has a variety of preset shapes, and is capable of being programmed to imitate other forms of clothing; however, in such a modified state, the suit is useless as anything other than covering her skin. CAMPAIGN USE Emma is a mid-level flying brick and low-level energy manipulator, with a movement-based martial art optimized for her flight capabilities. She works well solo or in small groups as the center hardpoint, going in first to grab the attention of their enemies and to take the initial hit. She is also an experienced, if only moderately-skilled, investigator. APPEARANCE Emma is a 19-year old American girl of Germanic and Irish descent. She is attractive in a vaguely Teutonic fashion, and has an athletic (if somewhat skinny) build, although her powers have made her body slightly more dense than the human norm. She has long brown hair, which is currently dyed blonde. For clothing, Emma is fairly successful at pulling off the modern vapid preppie look. This is a direct contrast to her custom hero outfit, which consists of silver spandex and a white cape. Emma's hair also turns black, due to an energy-reactive additive she uses in her shampoo. Emma's energy aura distorts her appearance enough that she can get away without a mask, as very few people ever get a clear look at her face.

Re: Not Quite Galactic... Ah - well, I was thinking more along the lines of a single meta who had one of those powers (perhaps the gateway one having the restriction "Only places I've been (-1)); they would be one of the resources to fight over in space, as they represent billions in saved transportation costs. Although geting a Meta who can do the gateway thing, but who must fully concentrate and focus (and perhaps make a skill check roll), to keep the gateway stable would be an interesting story. Yeah, it's a useful power, but who wants to conentrate on the same point for eight hours a day? that meta's arguably become the wealthiest person on the planet, but they'd become a prisoner of their own power, as too many people would have a vested interest in them doing nothing BUT that, on a regular basis.

Re: Not Quite Galactic... Yeah - 1" of FTL flight will mean billions. 1" of Teleport (Gate, 2 Floating Points, 0 END, Persistent, Inherant) will mean trillions.

Re: Around the World With A New Character Each Week Here's my submission (might be a bit long) Flagg – a Totemic metamorph, Joseph McKale had the power to manifest the ideals of visual symbols that he wore or carried; as his name implies, Joe got the most mileage out of national and state flags, due to their highly visible, yet very specific, meaning. Joe was based out of Vancouver, BC; the triads found him irritating, as “Strong and Free” (Alberta) and “One Defends, the Other Conquers” (Nova Scotia) were powerful ideals in his war on crime. Bounty was able to defeat him by tricking him into manifesting using the United States flag: “In God we Trust,” and “Out of many, one”. While useful in defending against supernatural threats and polymorphs, it was of limited value against a speedster. Bounty wears the banner that defeated Flagg as a trophy. EDIT - and may I say, the list of state mottos on Wikipedia is a kick-arse list of superpowers. I think I may write this character up...

Re: Multiple Characters per Player Sounds like McCoy is suggesting a variation of troupe-style play, which is the standard way myself and many of my friends play. I first encountered it in Ars Magica, and it consistst of the following: 1. Each player has a "main" PC - in AM, it was a mage. 2. Each PC player as an "Ally" PC, which is a competent (but not as powerful as the mage character) character that is somehow linked to another Mage character. These were the close friends, apprentices, or bodyguards of the magi. 3. There are a pool of "dependent" PCs, which are the chief cooks and bottle-washers, spear-carriers, red-shirts, mechanics, chauferrs, and so one. These characters are more-or-less disposable, and can be played by anyone at any time. In any given play session, only one or two "hero" players are actually involved; the rest of the players play their allies or else the grunts and minions that accompany said heroes. Occasionally all the hero/magi get together, but that's really only for big story arcs. We also had the rule that the low-level characters can be created at a whim, and that they could be improv'ed into a scene if a player not doing anything wanted to. The only real ristriction was that they had to be supporting roles in any given scene - they couldn't take the limelight away from the main PC's. As applied to Champions? This would probably end up being like the early Justice League, when a story would follow 1 character, but in the end they'd all get together for a massive team-up. Also, when you're tracking down those Soc Lims for characters, it allows some of the other players stuff do to. However, it does require that your players be comfortable picking up random characters on the fly, and playing them to the hilt.

Re: OIHID vs Multiform? Pesonally, I use OIHID as labeling a power that will break a SID - that is, using this power will uniquely identify the character as a specific superhero. Which is only an issue if you don't want to be identified, of course.

Re: Not Quite Galactic... Have you checked out GURPS Transhuman Space? If you move their timeline back 50 years or so, it sounds similar to what you've got here - no FTL tech, but humans are starting to get out into the solar system. It's also a good source for post-cyberpunk-influenced science fiction, with an emphasis on immersive AI and biotech (rather than cyberlimbs and whatnot).

Re: Skills a True Hero Must Have I've found that most of my characters end up with the "Universal Scholar: 14- (only regarding topics on the following list... (-1)), just to keep the point costs down. This allows the cahracter to have the KS: Superheroes, KS: Law Enforcement, etc, but also have things like KS: Tropical Fish and KS: Native Dances of Guatemala, that help define the character.

Re: WWYCD: Drumstick or Wing of Mutant? Jake the Troll - who, as a troll, who has been accused before of having a hankering for human flesh (he doesn't), would find this amusing, deeply ironic, and really, really gross. Insert standard superheroics here. Icon - well, the "aliens mussing with my ancestor's DNA" thing wouldn't be that big of a deal; she'd find THAT part of it vaugely interesting. The "and we're going to eat you" part that she'd have issues with. Insert standard superheroics here. Shinji Miromoto - "Right, I'm outta here." He'd probably sense the incoming danger via his daily precognitive rituals; assuming he got a good enough read as to the specifics, he'd jump the Dark Dimension until it was all sorted out. Then he'd feel guilty, and start waging a gurillia war from the other side of the dimensional barriers.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? Talking Timbuktu - Ali Farka Toure & Ry Cooder

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game] Name: Michael McAdam Superhero ID: Pulse, aka Special Agent McAdam, aka "that Fed geek" Player: Kevin Schultz Concept: Telekenetic superhero, as played by Marshall (from Alias) Rule of X: Main Power DC: 16 (Concievably) SPD: 6 DEF: (17+16)/2 = 16 OCV: 6 DCV: 10 Skills: 6 Total: 60 Char 13 STR 3 17 DEX 21 15 CON 10 14 BODY 8 18 INT 8 11/16 EGO 2 9 PRE -1 12 COM 1 5/17 PD 2 5/16 ED 2 6 SPD 13 7 REC 2 30 END 0 28 STUN -1 6" RUN 0 2" SWIM 0 18 1/2" LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 70 Power 5 Strong-Willed I: +5 EGO (10 Active Points); Defensive Only (-1) 3 Strong Will II: Mental Defense (8 points total) (5 Active Points); Nonpersistent (-1/4), Does not provide mental awareness (-1/4) 8 Burst Telekenetic: Elemental Control, 20-point powers, (10 Active Points); all slots Psychic Residue (-1/4) 6 1) TK Speed: +2 SPD (20 Active Points); Only for use with Burst Telekenesis (-1/2), Psychic Residue (-1/4) 8 2) TK Leap: Leaping +16" (18 1/2" forward, 9" upward), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (20 Active Points); Psychic Residue (-1/4) 10 3) Basic TK Burst: Energy Blast 2d6, Increased Range Modifier (500", +1/4), No Range Modifier (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), (22 Active Points); Psychic Residue (-1/4) 6 4) Burst Block: Armor (5 PD/5 ED), Hardened (+1/4) (19 Active Points); Awareness Only (-1/2), Psychic Residue (-1/4) 7 5) Always Moving: +4 with DCV (20 Active Points); Cannot Be Used With Dodge (-1/4), Psychic Residue (-1/4) 6 Supersuit: Elemental Control, 20-point powers, (10 Active Points); all slots OIF (-1/2), Real Equipment (-1/4) 6 1) Gadgets and Gizmos: +2 Overall (20 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Real Equipment (-1/4) 6 2) Kevlar Weave: Armor (7 PD/6 ED) (20 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Real Equipment (-1/4) 6 3) Telekenetic Augmentation: 20 points to reduce "Instant" or "awareness-only" to "nonpersistent" on Self-Only TK powers (20 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Real Equipment (-1/4) 6 4) On-board Computer: (20 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Real Equipment (-1/4) 65 Pulse Tricks: Variable Power Pool, 50 base + 16 control cost, Powers Can Be Changed As A Half-Phase Action (+1/2) (87 Active Points); Burst Telekenesis Only (-1), Cannot be used in MPA's with Burst Telekenesis (-1/4), all slots Psychic Residue (-1/4) [Notes: Psychic Residue: any push, critical failure, or critical success saturates the area with a psychic fingerprint that uniquely identifies the user, and gives a bonus to locating him via Telepathy. The signiture fades over time.] Powers Cost: 150 Martial Arts Maneuver 5 Basic Running Shot: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, Range +0, Strike, +7 DC; FMove 5 Ranged Running Trip: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, 0 DCV, Range +0, Strike +5 DC +v/5, Target Falls; FMove 5 Ranged Running Disarm: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, -2 DCV, Range +0, Disarm, +7 DC to Disarm; FMove 20 +5 Ranged Damage Class(es) Martial Arts Cost: 35 Skill Ex-Vigilante 3 1) Acrobatics 12- 3 2) Breakfall 12- 3 3) Concealment 13- 10 4) Defense Maneuver I-IV 12 5) +4 with TK 3 6) Paramedics 13- 13 7) Power: Telekenesis 16- 3 8) Stealth 13- 3 9) Teamwork 12- FBI Agent 3 1) Criminology 13- 3 2) Deduction 13- 2 3) PS: FBI Agent 11- 3 4) Tactics 13- 2 5) WF: Small Arms 3 6) Forensic Medicine 13- 3 7) Streetwise 11- 3 8) Security Systems 13- Skills Cost: 75 Perk 6 Contact: FBI, Organization Contact (x3) (6 Active Points) 11- 3 Fringe Benefit: Federal/National Police Powers 2 Reputation: Superhero & Geek (Geeks and Nerds) 14-, +2/+2d6 Perks Cost: 11 Talent 11 Universal Scholar 16- (23 Active Points); Limited to topics he has extensively studied - gains 1 per story (-1) [Notes: Covers various knowledges that Michael has obsessed over in the past. Currenly includes Big Band music, Comic Books, Crime Novels, Cryptobiology, Fashion Industry, Federal Law & Procedure, Girlfriend, Metahumans, Napoleon, New York, Sewer Systems, Road Building and Repair, Tolkien, and Tropical Fish.] Talents Cost: 11 Total Character Cost: 350 Disadvantage Really Likes his Job 5 1) Social Limitation: FBI Agent-at-Large (Occasionally, Minor) 20 2) Hunted: FBI 11- (Mo Pow, NCI, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Watching) 5 3) Distinctive Features: FBI Geek (Easily Concealed; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 5 4) Psych Lim: FBI Geek (Uncommon, Moderate) 10 5) Reputation: Gung-Ho about working for the FBI, 14- (Known Only To other LEO's) Living the Superhero Lifestyle 15 1) Psychological Limitation: Reluctant to Kill (Common, Strong) 5 2) Dependent NPC: Supermodel Girlfriend (who no one believes exists) 8- (Normal; Useful Noncombat Position or Skills) 5 3) Dramatic Lifestyle (Unluck: 1d6) 15 4) Psychological Limitation: Hero's Code of Conduct (Common, Strong) 15 5) Social Limitation: Public ID (Frequently, Major) 20 6) Hunted: PSI 8- (Mo Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Kill/Capture) Cinematic/Stereotypical Nerd 5 1) Hunted: People he's inadvertantly annoyed in the past 8- (Less Pow, PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find, Mildly Punish) 5 2) Psychological Limitation: Mild OCD (Uncommon, Moderate) 5 3) Psychological Limitation: Mild Asperger's Syndrome (Uncommon, Moderate) 5 4) Susceptibility: Highly Attractive (COM 18+) Women 1d6 damage Instant (Uncommon) 5 5) Enraged: People disagreeing with him about things he knows (Uncommon), go 8-, recover 14- Quirks 1 1) At peace with the fact that he's socially handicapped 1 2) maintains long-distance relationship with his mother 1 3) Very outgoing and excited about life in general 1 4) Internet addiction 1 5) A little awkward in non-superheroic situations Disadvantage Points: 150 Base Points: 200 Experience Required: 0 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0 Appearance: Hair Color:Black Eye Color:Brown Height:1.83 m Weight:82.00 kg DESCRIPTION Michael is a healthy, fit caucasian male in his mid 20's, with black hair and brown eyes. He has a squarish face, and is just shy of being "ruggishly good-looking", with a pronounced jawline and craggy eyebrows. He often has a somewhat controlled, intense look about him, as though whatever it is he's doing is the most interesting and exciting thing in the world. On the job, he wears the traditional FBI dark suit and sunglases. His superhero costume consists of A dark blue bodysuit with full cape, utility belt, and hood, with the FBI logo descretly emblazoned in yellow on his upper left chest. When speaking, he's usually intensly involved in whatever conversation he's having, although if he's not carefule he tends to drift back towards talking about FBI history or procedure, comic books, or his ongoing debate with a danish accountant about an obscure point of tolkien. Background Joan McAdam didn’t raise no fool, let me tell you none. No, that would have been easy. Dealt with plenty of fools though, from that fool of a husband to that fool of a stepdaughter to those fools living across the road with no momma of their own. Got a high tolerance for fools, got fool-raising was down to a science. But none compare with that boy, Michael; No, he done seemed determined to transcend the traditional notions of foolishness and bridge the divide to full-on Idiot. A sweet boy, of course. Full of the kinds of things that boys are full of: snakes and snails and industrial lubricants in the living room. (Never did figure out where he got that axle grease.) Chatterbox a mile a minute, he was, talking about his cartoons one second and outer space the next and Sally Mae’s new convertible the moment after. Still, I did what I could. Hurt himself jumping off the kitchen table? Time for a lesson in biology. Won’t read his primer? Read them funny papers instead. Got distracted counting the ceiling tiles? Well, seems a time as any to do arithmetic. One of his teachers laughed once, called it the Montessori School of Hard Knocks; all I knew that it worked, and it got my boy through elementary school. Of course, after the third time he came home late on account of forgetting to get on the bus, maybe I thought of getting myself some professional help. Had time to regret that decision. Sure, the names helped. Truth be told, I’d rather call him Asperger’s or Obsessive-Compulsive or Attention Deficit than That Idiot or Yarn-Head. But the zombie that got off the short bus every day, that sat at the dinner table, trying to push through the cotton in his head to read a page out of his comics? That wasn’t my boy. The drugs had taken him away, and I was dammed if I wasn’t going to bring him back. Maybe going cold-turkey wasn’t the best way to go. But by then, things had gotten out of control in more ways than one, what with the fight and the knives stuck full-through the refrigerator door and all. THAT took a bit of cleanup before Child Services arrived, but we made do. I got my boy back, and I won’t let no one tell me how to raise him again. Course, it would be the funny papers that stuck with him all through that time. Maybe that was the Lord’s own way of lighting the path to follow, or maybe it was just something that could keep his interest; but with the fight, Michael got himself a focus. He was all study, after that. Sure, it was studying upstairs and downstairs and under the bed and on the roof, but it was study. And when he started reading police procedure manuals and detective books and whodunits and them legal papers, it was still study. And when he started going to the gym to burn off more of that mental energy, staying up nights to jump around town and the like? Well, that wasn’t quite study, but at least it got him out of the house some. And after that? Well, you know it as well as me. Followed him through high school, out of college, just like I did! Taped the news on him just as well as I can, cliped articles just like everyone else on the block. Got himself a website, too - looked it up just the other day. Oh, he's living it up in the big city now, got himself accredidation! Moving up in the world, huh? Now he can call himself Special AGENT McAdams! You see him soon, you tell him his momma don't hear from him enough. And tell him to get a girl! Boy like him needs looking after some. -Joan McAdams, HeroTalk magazine, July 2005. Personality Michael is an outgoing, affable individual who just so happens to be a near-textbook case of "working-disabled". He has been diagnosed with high-level autism, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and probably should be on Ritilin. Manifesting his powers was probably the best thing that happened to him, as it gave him something besides his own brain chemistry to focus on. With that event, he (with significant help from his mother) managed to overcome his disabilities and was able to (over)focus his energies into being a successful superhero. And, much like Forrest Gump on crack, he has since galloped his way though life with a charming, manic sort of style that simultaneoulsy grates and endears people to him. Although he's embraced the superhero life with a vengence, he still has problems relating to people outside of his own competencies. For him, vigilante work and later the FBI gave him a framework from which to view the world; outside of that, he tends to get a bit lost. Quote "Hi! Special Agent Michael McAadam, FBI. But you could probably tell that, I mean, the FBI part, what with the big "F", the "B", and the "I" on the back of my jacket. What? oh, right. There it is, see? Heh, funny story. On time, at FBI camp...just kidding. But seriously, there was this one time I was at Quantico...Huh? Oh, right. You're under arrest. But anyway, when I was at Quantico..." "Yes, I have a girlfriend. Um...she's at a photo shoot...in the Bahamas...for Este Lauder. Oh, sure, here's her picture. Uh, yeah, I got it out of Cosmo, why? What, it was the easiest way to get one! Why would I lie about something like this? No, really, why?" Powers/Tactics Michael is a burst telekenetic: he has the ability to create powerful, microsecond-long pulses of TK energy. His signiture power is to throw small bubbles of TK energy at his targets, and has trained in doing so extensively. He also uses small bursts of TK energy to move quickly around the field of battle, and to deflect incoming attacks. Finally, he has a large repitoire of tricks that he's picked up over the years, including variations on his base attack, improved defenses, and temporarily increasing his own strength. His equipment is granted to him and maintained by the FBI, and is made of a psychokenetic-reactive fiber that keeps Michael's own energies from dissapating as quickly as normal. Thus, while wearing the suit, he's able to maintain a more-or-less constant charge around his body. However, even with the enhanced fibers, the dissapation is registered in seconds rather than microseconds, so any lapse of focus on Michael's own part will cause his powers to disspate. Note that Michael is something of a glass cannon; although he has powerful attacks, he does not have the fortitude to stay in a concentrated fight for long. Thus, he usually stays at range, firing his basic TK bolts at his foes, while assisting his allies with various tricks he's picked up along hte way. If necessary, he can act as the group hardpoint (increasing his own strength and defenses), but only for a limited time. And, despite his role as psychic, he has fairly little in the way of mental defenses. Campaign Use Michael is a thorough team player; he is one of the agents the FBI uses on a federal level to assist branch offices in investigating metahuman activity. In that sense, he's very good at his job: willing to work with any- and everyone to get a case solved, and has the practical experience to back up his fellow officers with either investigative support or metahuman firepower. However, his lack of social skills tends to prevent him from working solo or as the head of a team, as he tends inadvertantly grate people the wrong way.

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game] Yep, I'm resubmitting - I agree that the previous was a bit too Dark Anime/disad-heavy for what it sounds like you wanted, so I'm putting together more of a light-hearted Energy Manipulator with less disads. I'm currently still writing up the character history, though. Should have a rough draft done by tomorrow.

Re: Skills a True Hero Must Have One that many aren't mentioning, but I would consider essential: the Power skill. Because in many ways it represents the epitomie of "I am experienced in using my powers".

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game] Shinji Miromoto Player: Kevin Schultz Rule of X: DC: 15 (Martial arts + STR + naked Advantage) SPD: 7 Def: 20 OCV: 6 DCV: 6 Skill: 6 TOTAL: 60 Val Char Cost 13 STR 3 18 DEX 24 15 CON 10 14 BODY 8 19 INT 9 12/22 EGO 4 11 PRE 1 7 COM -1 12/20 PD 7 12/20 ED 7 7 SPD 2 6 REC 0 30 END 0 29 STUN 0 6" RUN 0 2" SWIM 0 2 1/2" LEAP 0 Characteristics Cost: 74 Power 1 [b]Personal Immunity[/b]: Power Defense (3 points), Hardened (x2; +1/2) (4 Active Points); Against Dark Energy Transformations only (-2) 10 [b]Strong Wil[/b]l: +10 EGO (20 Active Points); Defense Only (-1) 1 [b]Strong Will II[/b]: Mental Defense (13 points total) 9 [b]Dark Energy Melee[/b]: Elemental Control, 40-point powers, (20 Active Points); all slots Dark Psychic Power (-1 1/4) [Notes: Dark Psychic Power: RSR (-1 per 20 active points, -1/4); Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4); Extra Time (Full Phase, Only to Activate, -1/4); Vunerable to Emotion Drains (-1/4), Side Effect: Dark Aura Flare (-1/4)] 7 1) [b]Shadowstep[/b]: Teleportation 16", Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (40 Active Points); Dark Psychic Power (-1 1/4), Only Through Shadow (-1/2) 9 2) [b]Dark Armor[/b]: Force Field (8 PD/8 ED/8 Mental Defense/8 Power Defense), Costs END Only To Activate (+1/4) (40 Active Points); Dark Psychic Power (-1 1/4) 9 3) [b]Dark Maul[/b]: Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Area Of Effect (up to One Hex; +1/2), Variable Advantage (+1 1/2 Advantages; +3) for up to 10 Active Points of STR (40 Active Points); Dark Psychic Power (-1 1/4) 11 4) [b]Shadow Sense[/b]: Detect physical objects and dimensional power 16- (Unusual Group), Discriminatory, Analyze, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Perceive into a single other dimension, Range, Sense, Targeting (50 Active Points); Dark Psychic Power (-1 1/4), Visible (-1/4), Nonpersistent (-1/4) 8 5) [b]Moving at the Speed of Darkness[/b]: +4 SPD (40 Active Points); Dark Psychic Power (-1 1/4), Costs Endurance (Only Costs END to Activate; -1/4) 7 6) [b]Dark Taint[/b]: Major Mental Transform 1d6-1 (standard effect: 1 point) (Sane person to insane person), Indirect (Same origin, always fired away from attacker; +1/4), Inherent (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Damage Shield (+1/2), Penetrating (x2; +1) (40 Active Points); Dark Psychic Power (-1 1/4), Always On (-1/2) 49 [b]Dark Energy Manipulation[/b]: Variable Power Pool, 40 base + 9 control cost, (60 Active Points); Dark Energy Only Limited (-1/2), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4); all slots Side Effect: Dark Aura Flare (-1/4), Vunerable to Emotional Drains (-1/4) Powers Cost: 121 [b]Martial Arts Maneuver[/b] Dark Kempo 3 1) Martial Grab: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Two Limbs, 48 STR for holding on 4 2) Martial Strike: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 9 1/2d6 Strike 3 3) Martial Throw: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +1 DCV, 7 1/2d6 +v/5, Target Falls 4 4) Martial Dodge: 1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort 4 5) Martial Escape: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 53 STR vs. Grabs 4 6) Nerve Strike: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, 4 1/2d6 NND 4 7) Martial Flash: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Flash 9d6 4 8) Martial Disarm: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 48 STR to Disarm 20 9) +5 HTH Damage Class(es) Martial Arts Cost: 50 [b]Skill[/b] Dark Kempo Training 3 1) Breakfall 13- 3 2) Acrobatics 13- 10 3) Defense Maneuver I-IV 15 4) +5 with Martial Maneuvers 2 5) Meditation 13- 3 6) Tactics 13- 2 7) Weapon Familiarity: Common Martial Arts Melee Weapons Loyal Lieutenant Training 3 1) Analyze: Dimensional Energy 13- 2 2) Concealment 13- (3 Active Points); Only when using concealment powers (-1/4) 3 3) Inventor 13- 9 4) Power: Dark Energy 16- 2 5) PS: Lackey 13- 2 6) SS: Dimensional Engineering 11- 2 7) Stealth 13- (3 Active Points); Only when using concealment powers (-1/4) 3 8) Teamwork 13- 3 Scholar 1 1) KS: East Asian Magic/Psychic community (2 Active Points) 11- 1 2) KS: Federal Criminal Law (2 Active Points) 11- 1 3) KS: Federal Criminal Procedure (2 Active Points) 11- 1 4) KS: Magic Theory (2 Active Points) 11- 1 5) KS: Martial Arts (2 Active Points) 11- 1 6) KS: Psychic Theory (2 Active Points) 11- Good Student 1 1) Language: English (completely fluent) (3 Active Points); Fluent in listening only; basic in speaking (-1) 10 2) +1 Overall Skills Cost: 84 [b]Perk[/b] 2 Reputation (Psychic/Magic community) 14-, +2/+2d6 3 Fringe Benefit: Federal/National Police Powers 6 Contact, Organization Contact (x3) (6 Active Points) 11- Perks Cost: 11 [b]Talent[/b] 6 Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED) 4 Rapid Healing, Any reduced Characteristic, one at a time (+1/4) (6 Active Points); Requires A Skill Roll (Meditation; -1/2) Talents Cost: 10 [b]Total Character Cost: 350[/b] [b]Disadvantage[/b] 5 Distinctive Features: Dark Aura: (Not Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses) 20 Normal Characteristic Maxima 5 Enraged: Magical Girl/Sentai anime or fans (Uncommon), go 8-, recover 14- 5 Money: Poor 5 Physical Limitation: Nearsighted (Wears Glasses) (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing) 5 Rivalry: Professional (Devil Hunter), Rival is Less Powerful, Seek to Harm or Kill Rival, Rival Aware of Rivalry 10 Watched: Federal Law Enforcement 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching) 20 Hunted: Cult of the Red Banner 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Kill/Capture) 15 Psychological Limitation: Reluctant to Kill (Common, Strong) 15 Psychological Limitation: Hero's Code of Conduct (Common, Strong) 10 Psychological Limitation: Follows the Eightfold Path (Common, Moderate) 10 Reputation to East Asian Metahuman-watchers: Dark Magus, 14- (Known Only To A Small Group) 10 Social Limitation: keeps a low profile (Frequently, Minor) 10 Unluck: 2d6 Quirks 1 1) tries to keep clean 1 2) Likes loose, baggy clothing 1 3) tends to use villianous dialog, out of force of habit 1 4) Gets bitter and sarcastic when angry 1 5) Physically addicted to his own power (-1 to skill rolls, every 8 hours) Disadvantage Points: 150 Base Points: 200 Experience Required: 0 Total Experience Available: 0 Experience Unspent: 0 Background/History: Shinji Miromoto did not plan on becoming an anime villain cliché. In fact, he wanted to be a pilot. Or a mechanic. Or maybe an architect. To be honest, it really didn’t matter. What DID matter was that none of these dreams included him cackling malignantly, wearing a charcoal grey uniform straight off of the bridge of a Star Destroyer, while the greater Tokyo metropolitan area burned in flames around him. However, no one believed him. You see, Shinji was an meta, whose power manifested itself quite tamely, in the middle of the night, in his 13th year. This, in and of itself, was not the reason his family and peers viewed his existence with suspicion; many in Japan were meta-active, and many had gone on to national or international fame, brining honor on their families for their heroic deeds. No, the issue that was so divisive about the eldest Miromoto scion was that his power allowed him to access Dark Energy: the very force that every magical girl sentai team seemed able to sense and associate with evil, deprivation, and in one extremely odd case, tentacle monsters. After the 3rd time a devil hunter interrupted dinnertime to “slay the foul demon that dared intrude on our…oh, terribly sorry, have you seen an evil sorcerer around here somewhere”, Shinji’s parents insisted he stop doing whatever it was he was doing to attract such unwanted attention, and get a real hobby. As the only thing he could think that he was doing was breathing, or perhaps reading hentai manga, Shinji decided to get professional help. The local Buddhist temple didn’t help. The Shinto shrine was a wash as well, as was the Daoist priest he found in the phone book. (He briefly considered tracking down a Catholic church of some kind, but figured they’d try to crucify him, or something.) At wits end, he finally realized that the only people who knew how to control this kind of thing seemed to be, well, villains. With that in mind, seeking out a mentor was surprisingly simple: watching the news for the latest villain to attempt to destroy Tokyo Tower was easy enough. After that, it was mainly an issue of tracking down said supervillian, not getting killed, and convincing him (or her, as this was the 21st century after all) to become his sensei. After several embarrassing events, near-death experiences, and a firm reputation established as a complete weirdo, Shinji managed to gain an audience with the Ginshou, an upcoming villain whose last competent flunky managed to get himself incarcerated during a battle with the “Flower Petal Five”, or something like that. Shinji never really got the specifics, and Ginshou never really filled them in. Regardless, Shinji pledged his loyal service to Ginshou (as long as it didn’t interfere too much with his schoolwork), in return for training in the Dark Arts. As it turns out, Shinji’s mentor was not long for this world. While Shinji was able to make some progress over control of his powers, Ginshou became more and more obsessed with the discovery of the “Silver Queen”, who was some sort of being Ginshou claimed to have had a vision of. His plans for discovering this creature became more and more unhinged, and seemed to attract the kind of attention that Shinji knew entirely too well. Seeing the writing on the wall, Shinji began laying plans. When Sparkling Mystic Princess Mia managed to hit Ginshou with a Purifying Heart Punch during their climactic battle over Yokohama harbor, Shinji was quietly photocopying the spellbooks and shredding the evidence. When the police arrived, Shinji was “found” along with 23 other junior high students, who Ginshou had kidnapped to power his Dark Soul Ascension Process. Whatever that was; Shinji was never quite sure, and suspected that neither did the G-man. Regardless, Ginshou, who turned out to be a 42-year old accountant from Hokkido with a Sailor Moon fetish, slipped into a coma and died soon after, never revealing the name of his sometimes-protégé who had assisted him in his criminal endeavors. This process repeated itself over the next several years: Shinji would find himself a Dark Mentor, would study under them for some time while providing loyal minion service, only to watch as they undid all their carefully-laid plans in some foolish and unlikely scheme for power. In time, Shinji began to suspect that either people who used Dark Energy were inherently insane, or there was something about Dark Energy that made them such. This belief was confirmed by Red Witch Shiko, Shinji’s fourth Dark Mentor – she showed him several texts, when she wasn’t cackling on about her inevitable conquest over the Lovely Knights of Azuria, which discussed the nature of Dark Energy. As it turned out, there were two main schools of thought on Dark Energy. One theory was that the energy in question is simply an element native to one of the realms of Yetzirah, the Astral World. The name came from the idea that the energy native to that plane was easily controlled by the “darker” emotions: rage, anger, hatred, and so on. Thus, those with hatred in their hearts, as well as the magical or psychic means to access alternate dimensions, would naturally gravitate towards using Dark Energy in their rituals. The alternate theory was that the plane in which Dark Energy originated was quite easy to access, but the Energy itself caused malignant feelings in the users, thus driving such users insane even as they grow more skilled in the manipulation of its power. (The third option, that Dark Energy is simply another name for Qliphothic energy, is something Shinji quickly decided to forget he ever even read.) Shinji never asked why Shiko got into using Dark Energy; at that point, he was once again at Kinko’s while the Dark Mistress got her Dark Arse handed to her by the aforementioned Lovely Knights. Still, in the now-familiar ‘prisoner’ debriefing with Tokyo’s Metahuman Response Squad #3, Shinji pondered this new information. He still had no desire to set fire to Tokyo, and yet he had been steeped in Dark Energy for well on three years; according to Shiko, she had been playing with it for only seven months before their encounter. Thus, he thought as he sipped coffee in the stationhouse, it seems as though Shiko was at least wrong in some specifics. (As an aside, his claim to being kidnapped repeatedly by various supervillians was met not with skepticism by the Tokyo PD, but with reserved understanding and light-natured kidding – it seems that some people are, in fact, villain magnets, and Shinji was able to claim to be one of them.) Over the next two Dark Masters, Shinji put his theory to the test, delving more deeply into Dark Energy than he had before. And, while he confirmed that everyone ELSE was becoming unhinged in proportion to their use of Dark Energy, he seemed fine. In that, he realized what his power was: not to control Dark Energy, although he had that in moderation, but to be immune to its insanity-causing effects. Unfortunately, the experiments done to confirm this immunity were not without their costs. As it turns out, his last Mentor had boasted of the quality of Shinji’s service and loyalty at that year’s Dark Congress. So, in addition to having several Dark Generals vie for his service, (which was actually quite flattering, in a creepy “I hope they don’t torture my parents as an incentive for me to join” sort of way) he had picked up what he had longed dreaded: a rival. Fire-Fire Yuki was a Category 3 (personal vendetta against the forces of darkness), Power level 2 (could throw around cars and cut through plate steel), Power Source 4 (mystic artifact) Devil Hunter, at least according to the Shinji Scale of Metahuman Psychos. Her clever plan was to use a villain-magnet, such as what Shinji claimed to be, as a stalking horse, in an attempt to lure out villainy. Her theory was that such victims should be grateful for her protection, despite the fact that she was more destructive in her attempts to ‘save’ them than most villains ever were. (The traditional Dark Energy attack is to drain its victims of their life energy. In contrast, Fire-Fire Yuki’s traditional attack was to set her victim’s house on fire. Three guesses which one does less damage to property values.) The fact that Yuki was an arrogant ass, fully convinced of the righteousness of her cause, and a bully to boot, didn’t help much. Shinji had caught her attention in his dramatic ‘escape’ from The Rotting Hell (actually quite nice, as lairs go: the ventilation he helped install took care of the smell), and decided that he needed her protection more than most. The results were unpleasant. Everyone knew what happened; the news crew that showed up a third of the way through caught most of the fight. However, like many thing in Shinji’s life, it was depressingly anticlimactic. A stray fireball (the press would later call it “a near-miss”), a gas station already damaged by a mystic sword (a “noble blow that nearly felled the villain”) and a nearby high-tension power line (a “tragic accident”) resulted in one dead magic girl. Suddenly, it wasn’t funny any more. Shinji wasn’t the loyal flunky, or the humorous sidekick, or the constant victim, or the butt of the station houses’ jokes. He had been playing both sides for years, and now he was Response Squad’s #3’s number one target. He ran. The resulting investigation ultimately cleared him of the murder of Yuki Nakamura: it was fairly easy to reconstruct exactly what had happened, and the magical girl community was curiously reserved in their hunt for the ‘black sorcerer’ who had defeated one of their own. However, where he had gained such power to fight off a magical girl had come under scrutiny, and his secret life was laid open in the press. Several mid-level officials resigned over the resulting scandal, and Response Squad #3 was disbanded, their resources split amongst the other Response Squads. Shinji’s parents were disgraced, and had to move to Kyoto to get away from the press coverage. Shinji was never found. Two years later, Shinji Miromoto appeared on the files of the US Federal government as a naturalized citizen and federally-sanctioned metahuman. No one involved has mentioned how he was able to gain such status, and his file has been sealed. When asked, the case worker assigned to Shinji just grimaces and replies that is was "a technicality." Currently, Shinji lives in Seattle, and works full-time as a metahuman resource in the area, covering the Pacific Northwest up through Vancouver BC, down into Southern Oregon, and occasionally as far over into Montana. He also works in the regional mystic community, and is active in his local Buddhist temple. Personality/Motivation: Shinji Miromoto used to be a slightly-ironic, mildly-bitter, somewhat-petty, but mostly milquetoast Japanese teenager. He could have not gone back to his second Dark Master: he had already learned by that point how to shield his energies from casual detection. However, it gave him something do, and made him feel special and superior to his family and classmates. His own immunity also let him feel superior to the Dark Generals, as they went mad from the power and ultimately got themselves killed or captured. It was a youthful belief in his own immortality that blinded him to the dangers of associating with such unbalanced minds. Now, he knows better: a girl died, on national television, and his face was shown as the guilty party. Karma has turned its wheel, the damage has been done, and dharma must be paid. With that burden, Shinji is a much more humble and wise person than he was those three years ago. He believes himself culpable, if not directly for the death of Yuki, then for the circumstances in which they both found themselves on that day. He is still the slightly-ironic person he once was, but has had enough experiences to understand the suffering that pride brings about. He doesn’t believe that he has to make any great amends for his wrong-doings: Rather, it was the pride, pettiness, and arrogance that went along with his actions that he feels he needs to expound from his soul. He has thus turned to a form of pragmatic Buddhism, and seeks to address his karma by opposing the injustices caused by pride and arrogance whenever he can. He also tries to avoid angst or romantic posturing, as it reminds him too much of the overly-dramatic magical girls that he had to put up with in his youth. Quote: "Hey! You stop now! No make me open can of 7th Hell Withering Darkness on ass!" "Good lord, I sound like an idiot." Powers/Tactics: Shinji is an metahuman with the ability to manipulate Dark Energy, which is probably a significantly diluted form of quipthopic energy, filtered through a node in Shinji's brain. (Shinji really hopes it isn't.) He also is immune to the long-term side effects of exposure to having Dark Energy course through one’s brain, the most common of which include paranoid schizophrenia and brain aneurysms. His actual power level, compared to most Dark Generals, is actually middling; it seems that his native immunity to Dark Energy inhibits his ability to channel such energy somewhat. Even as someone who has been controlling Dark Energy for almost six years, he is only now approaching the same level as one of his original mentors. For Shinji, this is fine: better the slow road to excellence, even in something such as this, than the quick route to insanity. Shinji’s Spellbook Shinji Miromoto’s “spellbook” is in fact a series of books, treatises, photocopied grimories, scrawled notes, DVD recordings, as well as most of the back issues of “Dark Congress Quarterly”. (He got a long-term subscription as part of his incentive package on one of his Loyal Lieutenant gigs, and somehow, the current issues keep showing up in his bookcase. It’s actually quite informative, and it’s how Shinji keeps his relevant KS’s from atrophying.) Anyway, Shinji’s effects can be broken up into three categories: combat powers, rituals, and artifacts. • Combat powers are essentially modifications of his Dark Melee powerset: different hand-to-hand attacks, additional psychic shielding, and variations on his teleportation ability (group teleport, teleport foe, etc.). All combat powers have the same Dark Psychic Power limitation, which causes them to be ‘knocked down’ if he ever gets stunned. Powers which directly affect someone’s mind may also cause Dark Taint. • Rituals are primarily powers that summon or empower allies. Such allies are some sort of reflections of some of shinji's personality, and include loyal Pawns, intelligent Knights, or murderous Queens. They also include various command and control powers for these constructs. There are also some miscellaneous powers, such as Dark Reflections (a lengthy scrying ritual) and Feel the Master’s Hand (detects the amount of Dark Taint on someone.) • Artifacts are objects of psychic importance that have been empowered with Dark Energy. They act as circuit breakers and surge suppressors, and thus allow Shinji to empower others without the risk of Taint, or to use his own powers without worrying about loosing them due to getting bonked on the noggin. Shinji also uses Artifacts for large-scale defensive measures that he can power when he is nearby. (ie, temporary Base powers.) Such artifacts take time to create, and keying an artifact to another is often a painful process. (Such as embedding a piece of black quartz in the subject’s chest. Yes, it’s as painful as it sounds.) There is also a fourth category: the I’m not Dumb Enough to Try These powers. This includes powers that Shinji is fairly certain that he could perform, but in no way, shape, or form, is willing to try. This includes Empower Youma (change unwilling victim into insane berserker of destruction), Dark Haven (gate to the Dark Dimension), and Puppet Master (direct mind control). He hasn’t thrown these books away yet, as they contain information that is actually fairly useful in understanding how Dark Energy works, but that’s like saying that taking a hammer to an antique pocketwatch is ‘useful’ in determining how it operates. Sure, you can see the inner workings, but at the end of the day, you’re left with a broken pile of springs and cogs. In fact, the writeups of the powers themselves warn that the use of such powers very often results in the death of the psychic or mage who attempts such things. As each edition of Dark Congress Quarterly has a four-page section devoted to such rituals, Shinji is assuming that they exist to weed out the terminally stupid. Campaign Use: As someone trained to be a Loyal Lieutenant for a traditional anime villian, Shinji is uniquely qualified to work in teams with large, egotistical powerhouses: he's quiet, professional, and inventive in ways that get the job done. He's also fairly decent solo, as his summoning abilities allow him to create a small squad of cannon fodder for use as distractions and whatnot. In larger groups, he tends to hang back in the rear, covering the other mentalists while using his dark psychic powers to cause meyhem in the opposing side's ranks. Appearance: Shinji is an unassuming Japanese boy in his late teens. His athletic frame, still honed from the kempo he practices daily, tends to be hidden with the baggy clothing he now prefers. His once-close-cropped hair has grown out slightly, but is still fairly short. He is also compulsively clean, a habit he picked up from his overbearing mother. On occasion he may adorn the tailored grey uniform and black trench coat of his Loyal Lieutenant days. His face is rather blockish, and looks as though he's been punched in the face a few too many times.

Re: WDYCD: Secret ID That's really all she does - when she goes out on patrol and whatnot, she just wears a costume. Well, that, and she goes by "Icon", and not "Emma Hoffman". Other than that, not much. So far, she hasn't had any need to, as she does most of her crimefighting during the night, rather than during the day. As such, there's no real reason to get out of class or stuff like that.

Re: WWYCD? Culture Shock 2 Jake the Troll - while (#1) Catholic, is (#2) technically an elder god, and as such is unique across the multiverse. He'd get a mite peeved both for #1 and #2. "You're not a god! (Trust me, I have experience with these things.) And even if you are, so what! Get to church!" People worshiping him is one of his nightmares from early childhood made manifest. He'd probably start to get snippy about the whole assassination thing, as well. "If you're a god, what are you worried about? Can't you just bring yourself back to life? What, can't do that? Hm...not very GODLIKE, are you?" If people started praying to him, he'd start answering their prayers, directly, with things like "Go to Church!" and "Say Your Prayers!" and "Tithe, Tithe!" (One of Jake's powers is, in fact, the ability to hear and diretly respond to prayers. He sometimes accidentally intercepts prayers from people, just by being in the area.) Icon - is apathetic/agnostic, so would probably find the whole thing vaugely uncomfortable, and would use it as justification for thinking that people with religous beliefs are idiots. She'd tell the meta about the assasination, but probably try to stay as far away from him and his cult(s) as possible. Assuming she'd have a dimensional clone, she'd wonder how the heck her clone could justify being worshiped, as that isn't something Superman would do. Shinji Miromoto - is Buddhist, and would consider accepting or rejecting the worship based on how it would affect his walk along the Eightfold Path. As his dimensional clone has obviously chosen one way, he would probably choose the other, just to see how it turns out.

Re: WDYCD: Secret ID Jake the Troll - has a public ID, but that's really only for his hometown; kinda hard to keep the fact that you've been an anthropomorphic iguana your entire life a secret from your neighbors. However, when he has to, he can wander around in his trollknor form, and call himself Jay. Other than having a tail, Jay looks perfectly human. He doesn't do this unless he's going somewhere that people will really freak out about his normal form, though. Icon - teenager with a Superman complex. So, she's all about jumping into phone booths and tearing off her clothes...er, wait. While she makes do by wearing a costume, she's not too concerned about keeping her secret - she's planning on 'going public' once she graduates from college, anyway. It's really just a social convienence for her, rather than to 'keep her friends and relatives safe'. Shinji Miromoto - no secret here, either. He's just not too public with it, though.

Re: [interest in a HeroCentral game] Any types of generic package deals (via Ultimate Skill) available? I personally like the "expand the skill frameworks (3 pts, -1 per skill in the framework)" idea, but if not no biggie. Kevin "who just realized he had 80 points in skills" Schultz

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? The whir of my computer fan, by Fry's Electronics.