Kevin Schultz

Re: Always On.... Actually, I believe the default build (Healing+Ressurrection, 0 END, Persistant, Self Only, Extra Time (post 12)) works without being Always On. The decision to turn it on or not occurs while the character is concious. If they choose not to have their healing ability turned on, then if they die they don't come back. Thus, Always On is not assumed, as it's possible to turn it off and have it not work.

Re: WWYCD: The Nebula Affair Jake the Troll - "Um....ok." Then he'd go to English class with some super-powered chick following him around. Then to social studies. Then lunch. Then PE, in which he sits on the sidelines and watches everyone else play football. Then Math. "Um, I'm going home now. If you're gonna follow me home, I've got to get permission from my mom. You're a girl, and all." Goes home, does his homework, plays some video games. "G'night, wierd psycho-hose beast alien woman." Wash, rinse, and repeat for the next month. Shinji Miromoto - probably one of the 'villians' she would be trying to send to an alternate dimension. If he knew about it, he'd probably be able to whip up an dimensional stabilizer (40 point dark psychic dimensional energy VPP) to keep her from doing anything, then get the rest of the Outsiders to help administer a beat-down. Icon - Emma would do a similar "stare at the freaky alien in disbelief", then call up the Special Cases squad of the Argus City PD. They'd probably try to contact the Argonauts (the premire supergroup team - Emma's in the minor leagues) while Emma just hung around.

Re: Galactus! Hm... I tend not to stat up plot devices, unless their stats are necesssary to the plot. For Galactus, what aspects of him are necessary for PC's to interact with? I know of Galactus only as "that big pink guy that eats planets, and occasionally has his minions beaten up by Spiderman".

Re: Honey, where's my supersuit? The Extra Time (activation) I had on this originally was 1 Minute; I suppose the suit could be (literally) ripped off her body in a turn, assuming the remover in question had a blade or sharp claws available to them. I think the OIF description assumes the remover has the item in reasonable condition and the original wearer undamaged, though. Otherwise, removing Green Lantern's ring would take take 1 phase, but require a blade of sufficient sharpness. I believe this is the definition of IIF: an item that can be removed only with the appropriate skill roll or specific situation; for the suit, the situation is "unconcious/restrained hero and enough time to remove a spandex bodysuit: 1 minute". I'll probably go with a combination of "Real Equipment" and "IIF/OIF", to indicate both the necessity of taking realistic time to put the suit on, and the difficulty someone would have in taking it off (or ease, in the case of the belt.)

Re: Honey, where's my supersuit?

Re: Honey, where's my supersuit? Yeah, that's kind of what I had figured as well. It doesn't really stand up to actual analysis, but for the purpose of genre convention, that seems to be the case - ducking under the table, into a phone booth, etc. Mainly due to the game mechanic definition of OIF - it can be taken from the character in 1 turn if they are unconcious or otherwise restrained. I was thinking that a spandex bodysuit, that takes a minute to put on, probably couldn't be removed quite that quickly. Yeah - that was my main justification for taking the Extra Time for this stuff - she wouldn't nornally wear it to school, as wearing it under her clothing is a justification for the GM to hit me with the Soc Lim: Secret Identity. However, I wanted the character to be able to wear the outfit under normal (if heavy) clothing if she had to.

Re: Always On.... To try to answer your question - how is having Always On a limitation? That implies that there is some circumstance that they would not want to ressurrect themselves, but they are forced to. Caught in a death trap and forced to die 9 times in a row, unless their allies save them? Eh, maybe. Let the character take it, with the PROMISE that they will face exactally that situation, if they take the limitation. That's how I like to view limitations: not as a way to get more points, but as a request to the GM to create plots which play to those limitations. EDIT - Taking Always On also implies that people with the ressurrection power have a choice as to whether or not they ressurrect; although I don't have the book in front of me, I don't think the power is written that way. Or rather, if it IS written that way, it's a choice only the living character can have: to turn the rez power on or off. If they die with it off, then they simply don't ever come back. Thus, I don't really see that as being a -1/2 limitation, as it implies that the ability to make your character stay permenently dead is somehow an advantage. Other than GM-enforced death-traps (as above), I don't see this as being true. If they wanted to talke Always On/Inherant, I'd let them, though, if only for the death-trap threat. Plus, it ends up as being at best a -1/4 limitation, which, when combined with the OTHER lmitations already on it, is probably trivial.

Re: Honey, where's my supersuit? Because it begs the question: how long DOES it take to put one on? That being said, the original reason was that it's a full-body spandex bodysuit (which takes time to put on in and of itself), and has a bunch of equipment that goes along with it (ceramic inserts that need to be put in, utility belt that needs to be attached properly, communications device that needs to be activated/powered up, etc.); if other people don't have that limitation, then their suits are better-designed than this one is, and aren't as difficult to put on. Which was kind of the point - although it's not a BAD supersuit, it's not the latest and greatest in superhero gear. Note - I had thought that OIHID would be the appropriate thing to take, but I didn't actually want to take it; I already designed her core powers (an energy aura) with that limitation, and wanted a more layered approach to her build; something that would make her equipment be out of reach at times, but for reasons OTHER than her secret ID. In thinking about it more, I may take it as just the -1/4 limitation, as it's funtionally as limiting as OIHID. Of course, this tells me that "Extra Time (only to activate)" seems to be a bit too useful for any power that you can concievably turn on out of combat, and then use IN combat. It implies that you don't get up in the morning and turn your powers on, but instead wait until you get attacked, and only THEN turn 'em on. I can see in-game reasons for not doing so (like having a secret ID, even if you don't take OIHID), but even still that just means that you won't have the power available for those times in which you get jumped while in civvies. Which, admitadly, is part of the genre, but it's not THAT much of the genre.

So, I've got 10 points in a "development pool" that I can spend for my character, after we complete the first story in the PbeM I'm in. I was planning on having my character finally get her hands on a decently-build supersuit - kevlar weave (armor), basic utility belt (skill levels), built-in communicator (radio transmission), that sort of stuff. Obviously, I can't get a lot for 10 points, but I figure I can get the basics, especially as the GM allows for non-END powers in EC's if they've got a tight concept. That being said: how reasonable is "Extra Time, (only to activate), Concentration" on a supersuit? My thought is that, as it's essentially a spandex bodysuit, it takes time to put on, so therefore this is a reasonable thing to have. It's not something you casually wear underneath clothing, and it's not high-tech enough to be simple to put on. However, I'm trying to figure out what the default is for a costume, and I'm coming up blank. I know that there's the Instantaneous Transformation power, which implies that a normal superhero costume takes at least SOME time to change into. However, all the rest of the discussions I could find in the book were about costumes as genre, rather than as game mechanics. So - any thoughts? My other concern is that for limitations like these, a minute is sometimes as good as an hour; that is, you either need your suit right away (in which case it doesn't matter how much time it need: you simply don't have it), or else there's no real rush (like going out on daily patrol), in which case it isn't actually a limitation. Thus, the limitation really seems to be a variation of "Limited Use" or "only activatable in the base" (both of which aure usually in the -1/2 range), rather than Extra Time (which is more around -1).

Re: Length of Background/Origin My current character (Icon) has a background of 20+ pages; however, the 'traditional' background writeup is only a couple of pages long. The rest of that is me outlining the first year (24 issues) of her crime-fighting career. Each issue is described as a paragraph outlining the plot, the subplot, and any important events that occured. The reason I went this route is that the GM (Ben) wanted us to have been superheroes for up to a year, in order to establish ourselves as a team before the game started; we're in a PbeM, and he didn't want to deal with the inevitable "everyone introduces themselves" part of the game. So, I took it upon myself to write up all of our background continuity.

Re: Uhm... ouch? Eh - I'd say "sure, if you don't mind it being used on you," and then have a villian use the exact same justification the character used to create a similar effect, and use it occasionally on the hero in question. EDIT - alternately, I'd consider the two powers to be part of the same compound power, in terms of determining active cost caps.

Re: VPPs active cost slot limitations ...make it a Base power, and then use the VPP to purchase Base points? From what I recalll, you can put base and vehicles in a VPP, as long as you can justify your base suddenly not having certian pieces of equipment when you swap 'em out. Personally, one of my characters uses his psychic VPP to create 'empowerment crystals' - basically Base defense powers that only he can activate when in the base. EDIT - that won't get it all, but it will get you the (physically) big stuff that could concievably be part of someone's lab.

Re: Find Weakness in a multipower I assume you're asking if you would loose it if you swapped it for something else in the multipower, right? I seem to recall looking this up once, and not being able to find anything either; as such, I'm guessing this is one of the times that it's a GM's call. the rules pretty much say "you shouldn't do this" - if you're still doing it, then you're (by definition) already out in the deep end. That being said, I'd say it could go either way; damage doesn't go away when you swap out a multipower attack, summoned creatures don't go away either, so there's no reason why the information you gained should go away, unless there's a SFX reason. That being said, as a GM I'd probably require that the PC put a 1/4 limitation "only when active in the multipower", or else have them buy it separately.

Re: Your Character: The Series (Not exactly WWYCD...) Jake the Troll would have some sort of live-action teen drama a la Smallville - he's not a superhero yet, so his life (other than being a supernatural entity who can step onto the spirit world and was raised by Catholic parents in Vancouver, BC) isn't all that interesting. If it was 'spiced up' to MAKE it interesting, it would be TV-PG or TV-14. Jake himself would be CGI, but most of the shooting would be done in his trollknor form, played by some 21-year-old waif model pretending to be 16. General plots would probably be more along the lines of Eerie Indiana or Amazing Stories, as Jake (and his family and friends) straddle the line between the natural and the supernatural, while dealing with the everyday events of growing up in rural Canada. Controversy in that would be probably the gender-bending aspect of Jake's life, and the tension between his Catholic upbringing and his Norse Pantheon heritage. There might be fantasy violence, (stepping into the spirit world and beating up dragons and the like), but the community he was raised in really didn't have much excitement going on in it. Jake himself is a pretty relaxed guy, so there would be an ongoing joke about how he DOESN'T react like you think a troll would to most situations, but instead reacts like a normal teenager who is very aware of the relative fragility of the world around him. His show would probably go for 2 years; if successful, it would spin off into This Mutant Life, a teen drama set in Australia (of all places) where Jake would go to school to learn how to be a superhero. Needless to say, due to the locations, this would probably have been put together by the CBC. Shinji Miromoto - He'd be part of an ensemble cast in Outsiders: Life Under the Street. It could be live action via Beauty and the Beast or Buffy; Shinji's own special effects would be CGI (dark energy aruas), but most of the 'everyday' non-human people would be actors in makeup. TV 14 for content in the adult crime drama vein - seeing (but not participating) in prostitution, drug activity, gang wars, and the like. The main characters try to be heroes and stick together, but mainly it's a show about survival in an urban jungle. Controversies would be a milder version of the Sopranos - the Outsiders is basically a group of petty criminals, some of whom try to be vigilanties in their spare time. Shinji is also a practicing Buddhist, and so there would be some explicit Asian religous references for him. finally, Shinji is a Dark Psychic, which means his powers work off of and affect 'dark' emotions; thus giving him an insight into the negative aspects of the human condition. Icon - Another Live-Action series, although mainly aimed at the younger teen side of things: PG for superhero violence, moving up to PG-14 for some episodes that deal with 'real' crime (like the near-successful assassination of Icon). The show would focus on Icon's attempt to become a superhero in her hometown while dealing with the fallout of her parent's divorce, and her subsequence emotional breakdown she went through before the start of the series. The twist here is that it's not presented in a dramatic, angst-filled way; rather, the writers are almost clinical in showing the damage such actions cause, and how she and her dad are dealing with it. Like in Alley McBeal, the family psychologist would feature fairly regularly, offering advice and a sounding board to Emma and her father. Controversies would include flashbacks to verbal, emotional, and phsical abuse (from her mother, who shows up in camo appearences), and the passive nature of her father who didn't prevent the abuse. As I think about it, the entire 1st season of the show would probably be a gradual uncovering of the past actions that led up to Emma choosing to become a superhero; very similar in structure to Veronica Mars, in fact, only there's no investigation or question to be answered by the characters; it's all there fore the viewers, instead.

Re: WWYCD: The Breakup For Jake the Troll, it woud probably be a Teen Champions sort of thing, so it'd probably be a girlfriend of some other teenaged superhero at the same school he goes to. At that point, he'd probably wonder why she hasn't taken it up with the administration, as such stalkery behavior is probably at least a bit illegal. If he can figure out why she hasn't or why it isn't effective (maybe the actual behavior hasn't crossed the line yet, but the gal can see the writing on the wall), he'd take her home to his parents, who would immediately turn her over to something like Social Services or Catholic Community Services. For Shinji Miromoto, this would probably be the girlfriend of someone in the Outsiders; for that, it means that the situation needs to be dealt with by the group as a whole. They're a bunch of mutants living under the streets of Seattle, so something like this can very well lead to a bad situation for everyone involved. As a dark psychic, Shinji is actually fairly familiar with the inner workings of the depraved mind, and is pretty knowledgeable in how NOT to handle these situations. If necessary, he could psychically destroy the 'love' the stalker has for the gal, but that would be a last resort. He'd take it to the group, and offer suggestions on how to deal with it, but would go with the will of the group as a whole unless it was really wacked-out. Icon - Emma has Contacts (Uncontrollable, -1), so she's actually fairly familiar with random people trying to get ahold of her and asking her to do superhero-y stuff. She was also witness to an abusive co-dependent relationship (her parents - mother was the abuser of both her and her dad), and so would actually empathize with the guy who is trying to get away from his freaky girlfriend. She'd pass him off to the Argus City PD's Special Cases squad, who are specifically set up to deal with crimes involving uberhumans. Then, she'd work with Lt. Price (her contact on the squad) if they needed any assistance.

Re: WWYCD for a klondike bar? (humorous please) Jake the Troll - The announcer would hold up a bikini, and say "we expect you to wear this". Jake, not wanting to be cheesecake in his trollknor form, would look at him like he's crazy, and say "No way!" Then, he'd try to steal the klondike bar from the fridge. (Trolls are actually very sneaky, in most stories). He'd go in "Mission Impossible" style, only to discover that the fridge is standing in a beam of sunlight, meaning he can't get to it. Then, he'd sigh. Cut scene to Jake, in his troll form, wearing the bikini, munching on the Super Klondike bar. Various parts of his anatomy are censored out, for obvious reasons. In the background, you hear the announcer scraming "That's not what we meant!" Jake has a smug look on his toothy face. Shinji Miromoto - sings kareoke with his psychic ghost slave, Yuki. Icon - can't really think of anything for her yet, as she's fairly new to me.

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game This is pretty much where I'm at as well - I've been playing since the week it came out, and I've canceled a couple of times. I enjoy the game, but it's gotten repetitive enough that I'll probably cancel once I get my 5th archtype up to 50. (I've got a blaster, defender, tank, and controller up there - I'm working on scrapper now). After this, I'll come back only if they add in stuff that significantly alters the game - gadgeteering and crafting, or skill-based stuff, most likely.

Re: Titles for your character Emma Hoffman - preferred name is Icon, but also has been called Neo Fanari ("Young Beacon" in Greek) and Fulcrum, in op-ed pieces. Admitadly though, I made all those up as part of the backstory (and to use the names I had researched but not used), rather than the GM.

Re: WWYCD - The Night of the Dead Jake the Troll would probably be visited by the person he might have been. Jake's a changeling, and as such technically isn't Jake - he was swapped out by faries when he was but a fertalized egg, in the fertility clinic his parents went to. Unfortunately, faries don't know how to take care of fertalized eggs; they're more familiar with live human children. So, while Jake's parents got a troll, the farie side of the equation got...nothing. So, Jake would have to deal with what amounts to the ghost of an unborn child. Jake's Catholic, so he'd probably find this kind of wierd. But he's been able to see into the spirit world for a couple of years now, so it's not like he's completely unused to such things. Shinji Miromoto would probably get the ghost of Yuki, the magical girl that died in a fight he was in. She died due to an accident (gas station + fire-based magical girl), but it was the fight that forced Shinji to flee Japan. Shinji would find this kind of odd, as he has the ability to call up a dark reflection of her spirit anyway; however, that's essentially a 'fingerprint' of her mind the moment she died, as opposed to her actual soul. In the actual conversation, Shinji would ask forgiveness for his actions that led up to her death; he's practicing Buddhist, and is attempting to resolve his kharma. However, he's pretty sure that Yuki would not forgive him, as she was a jerk in life, and he doesn't really expect death to have changed that. Emma Hoffman - maybe a grandparent who died when she was really young, but nothing of any particular interest in terms of story or plot development.

Re: Practical Costuming (not quite a WWYCD) Yeah. It totally depends on the powers of the user. For example... Jake the Troll - owns a suit of replica sci-fi armor (basically Star Wars storm trooper armor; made of plastic and the like), which he proceeded to enchant to it could actually stop bullets and change size when he changes shape. The suit itself was purchased by some friends of his at a sci-fi convention, because they knew he liked stuff like that. Shinji Miromoto - just wears regular clothing (jeans and a sweatshirt), because he's mainly an undercover/stealth kinda psychic ninja person. Icon - her energy aura is a fraction of an inch off her skin, so she really DOES need to wear a spandex bodystocking; her dad bought her one from a martial arts store. Basically it's one of those 'friction sheaths' that exists mainly to prevent mat burn for wrestlers or UFC-style fighters. Later on, she'll probably try to get heavier-duty one (PD3/ED3), but anything more bulky would just get blown off her body when she activates her power. Emma also has a cape, mainly because she likes Superman. however, she uses it, to an extent, like a Renesiance fencer would use their own cloak; as a weapon-parrying device, a distraction, and an accessory to grappling.

Re: How to block the "unblockable" punch? Note that hitting the hex next to you is DCV 0. Hitting that same hex at range is DCV 3. Also - yeah. I own UMA, and I've always used the "Unblockable = Indirect, Undodgable = AoE" rule. That being said: my personal defense is a naked modifier: "AoE (one hex, +1/2) on up to 50 points of DCV. Active cost 25 points."

Re: Your PC's DNPC? Jake the Troll wasn't allowed, due to campaign restrictions, to start with a dNPC - the campaign necessarily started with everyone away from their family and friends. If he did have 'em, though, he'd have his parents and friends from Vancouver. Shinji Miromoto also doesn't have any, due to campaign style and character concept - everyone is new to Seattle, and he didn't brind anyone he knew with him. Icon, on the other hand, has boatloads of 'em. She's got her dad (Mike Hoffman), who is a semi-retired computer programmer. He took a pay cut to become the the sysadmin for the Argus City PD, so he could help his daughter in her crimefighting career. This was partially a suggestion by their psychologist, who recommended he get involved in his daughter's superhero career as a way of mending the broken relationship they had before she manifested. She's also got Ami Ziwinski, one of her few friends. Ami is a cheerleader at St. Benidict's, and was one of the first people Emma saved as a superhero. She's Emma's confidant and occasional moral compass. Her dad is a supervisor at The Hammerhead Energy Corporation (read: nearby nuclear plant), and her mom's on the local Arts and Recreation Comission. Finally, she's got Lt. Elizabeth Price, one of the cops on Argus City's Special Case Squad. They're the ones that cover the superhuman incidents, but they also do the high-profile kidnappings and the like. She's been Emma's contact on the police force ever since her first sighting, and they get along pretty well. Lt. Price is also the only person that has figured out her secret ID - Ami was told, and her dad was there when she manifested. All of these dNPCs are "slightly less powerful" - I figure that Icon is a 250 point character, and so these folks are 150-200; mostly from social backgrounds, skills, and mundane equipment.

Re: Would you like your character? Jake the Troll - isn't really a superhero yet, and is pretty much a smart jock who hasn't been able to go out in the sun his entire life, so he's developed a lot of "indoor" hobbies - video games, reading sci-fi, and the like. So, I'd probably really like him as a neighbor or cousin or something. He just discovered the ability to turn into a hot chick who CAN go out in the sun, so I'd probably find that a little off-putting; I'd make sure not to let it show, though. Shinji Miromoto - eh, probably not. He's an ex-quasi-villian who's only 16, and he's a sorta-wanted criminal. I'd probably turn him in to the feds. In terms of personality, I'd appreciate his focus and martial arts training (it's realistically high) and his dedication to working off his kharma, but I'd find his powers (dark psychic energy) to be really freaky. Emma Hoffman - she's a teenager as well, and the product of an abusive mother, but has managed to get herself out of the situation and is is rebuilding her relationship with her dad. I'd feel really bad for her, but she's not the most fun person to be around; she's got a bit of the "fight crime to avoid looking too closely at my own internal life" thing going. I'd wish her the best, but I've heard enough through my parents about long-term effects of of child abuse to really not want to get to know her. If she can claw her way out of THAT pit, then I would really respect her; but I probably wouldn't want to stand by during the inevitable name-calling, shoplifting, discipline problems, and authority-spiting phases. heh. In looking at this, I've determined that 1) Heros are usually more fun to read ABOUT than to actually get to know, and 2) I play a lot of Teen Champions games.

Re: Free Will One of the issues that is raised by this is the definition of "better for everyone"; ie, the theory that the lives the people are living are better because they aren't fighting anymore. However, one could argue that this is a disconnect, because the people they were don't exist any more. Essentially, in order to achive this goal, the mentalist has to (effectively) kill everyone telepathically and leave drones in their place. Also, it seems that he is being inconsistant in his application. If it's better for everyone, then he ought to have done it to himself. But if he does it to himself, then he'd probably be horrified at what he did (stole something, in this case free will, from the rest of the population), and therefore undo it. Otherwise, you'd have to argue that someone who was truly benevolent would take away the core aspect of someone's identity, effectively killing that person and leaving someone else in their stead. EDIT - another thought - the assumption here is that anyone currently under the effect of the mentalist wouldn't try to undo it. I'd disagree, for reasons stated above. If I was truly benevolent, but realized that my existence hinged on someone else (the person I used to be) being mentally imprisoned, then I'd do whatever was in my power to undo that effect, and thus freeing my previous self from bondage. The fact that the person-I-am would die is not ultimatly enough to prevent me from doing so; I am benevolent, and therefore I sacrifice my life for the other.

Re: "I teleport the criminal's gun out of his hand"... That's also the definition of "OAF": you can physically take it away from the user with a grab maneuver or something similar. The definition of OIF is "you can figure out that the power is coming from a given object, but you can take it from the user only if they're unconcious or otherwise restrained." The definiton of IIF is "you can figure out how to take the power from the user only if you have the appropriate skill or circumstance". Thus, I agree with you - teleporting a focus away from someone with Teleport UAA, in terms of game mechanics, would work only if it was OAF, OIF (and the target was restrained), or IIF (and the skill necessary for taking it was "teleportation").