Kevin Schultz

Re: The Toyman...a new look... Alternately - Video Games: 1) Game Controller - normal Mind Control, (for the wireless versions) or Limited Range (for the controllers that you have to plug in) 2) Memory Cartrige - lets you go back in time, but only to the point in which you 'saved your game'. Does not work in combat ['cuz you can't save your game during a fight, of course!] 3) Region-less console - Universal Translator 4) Vibrating controller - Earthquake, or stun effect, or even just a PRE attack.

Re: WWYCD: Your Fav C and Team, are outlawed Jake the Troll is a minor, and is currently attending a school for uber-humans. As this is a 'classic' example of something that will probably happen to him later on in life, he'd consult with his instructors, and ask them how THEY handle stuff like this. He'd also talk to his parents, and ask them what he should do. However, worst comes to worst? He goes to juvie for a year or two, and then his record gets sealed. Shinji Miromoto is currently on the lam, and is probably guilty of whatever it is that he's being accused of; the rest of the team probably helped him do it. However, assuming that he needs to prove his innocence, he'd point out that, like others in this list, the victims of his 'crime' haven't gone insane due to the Dark Taint, and thus he couldn't possibly have done it. If that didn't work, he'd probably get assistance from the Dark Congress (a contracting agency for east asian supervillians, specializing in providing Loyal Lieutanants and administrative facilities; Shinji is an Associate Member in absentia) about getting some legal help.

Re: WWYCD: Dare to be Foxbat Jake the Troll would seriously freak, especially if Foxbette was involved - he's a 16 year-old, and after the realization that this WASN'T a wet-dream, he would leap out of bed and probably hit his head on something. Then, he'd call his parents and explain the situation to them. It would probably take a couple of minutes to convince them that he wasn't a crazy psychic that had read their child's mind, but he'd probably perservere. He'd probably do what they suggested, which would include calling the relevent federal agency. After doing that for an hour or so (and waiting for the feds to show up an arrest him.) he'd realize that he probably should have called his private school FIRST, as that's where he was. Meyhem would then ensue. Foxbat as Jake - Jake's a troll, but is in school in his trollknor form, which appears as a (mostly) human girl. As any form Jake can take is as natural as any other, Foxbat probably wouldn't realize that he's in a metamorph's form. (It took Jake 10 years to realize that he could do that drastic a shift.) So, Foxbat would wake up as a pretty teenager with mild healing and luck-granting powers. Other than the obligatory "I'm a hotzor chikzor", I really don't know what the F-man would do. Shinji Miromoto - Shinji's mainly a psychic/martial artist, who has a native immunity to using Dark Dimensional energy. So, he'd probably still have access to the Dark Dimension (most people can access it), but he would no longer be resistant to it's insanity-causing effects. This would really suck. He'd try to get his own body back as quickly as possible, as it was only his training that was keeping every magic and psychicly-sensitive individual in the Puget Sound region from knowing exactally where he was. Foxbat as Shinji - In all likelihood, Foxbat would get himself killed, or at least run the risk of getting killed, simply out of ignorance. However, Shinji's teammates would know something was up when Foxbat started talking to them in idiomatic English.

Re: I need a function! The Scythincus Seal is a stuffed animal created by noted toy manufacturer Roger Scythin for the 50th anniversry of Greenpeace. The Seal has no known magic or technological powers. However, it is so insufferably cute that anyone in the vacinity must take an EGO check or be forced to pet, stroke, or otherwise admire the Seal. Note that the Seal cannot be destroyed, as no one would want to. Next: The Rain Schtick

Re: The Toyman...a new look... Either that, or that big rubber ball with a handle on the top, that you can sit on and bounce around. I forget the name, though...

Re: Jimmy Olsen's Watch I'd say add on a naked advantage of "Invisible (Ultrasonic Perception)" to the Signal Watch, with the "Selective Effect" advantage affecting the naked advantage.

Re: Boogiemen that are actually /scary/... Another RPG that has done this is "Little Fears" - it's a game explicitly about childhood terrors. I own a copy and played it once at a con, but it can be a bit TOO intense, IMO - essentially, it's about the Boogieman coming out and taking children to Closetland during the night, returning them in the morning, and about how none of the adults will believe them. The 'dark' aspects of this game come from the fact that the Boogieman is essentially Satan, and Closetland is Hell. It's like "Nightmare on Elm Street: the RPG", only with children aged 6-14.

Re: Advice for a team of unfortunate supers Unless the power requires that the target hear her, she could wear some sort of mask that would muffle her shouts. Ie 7 Sealed Mask: Invisible to Hearing (Sfx Only, +1/4) on up to 60 point's worth of Power Word: Swear, OIF (-1/2) EDIT - and that's what I'd suggest for her - as JK mentioned above, her power is one that would quickly become tiring for her teammates to listen to. If she can muffle herself without significantly restricting her power, I'd recommend that. If her powers require that her targets hear her, I'd recommend either getting a group with some people who don't mind her language. Alternately, go research some swear words that aren't commonly known (like naughty, which in the original context literally meant "you are nothing" - actually a very nasty insult.) And this is why I'd consider her power to be one of the more dangerous of the group - many traditional vulgarities were curses - this power (potentially) allows the character to curse her enemies in a vareity of EXTREMLY nasty ways - the "g-d damn it" one being one of the more nasty ones.

Re: Advice for a team of unfortunate supers This one is EXTREMELY versitile. Consider the following: 45 Multipower, 60 active cost "Power Word: Swear", Requires Incantations (-1/4) 1) "G-d Damn It!" - Interdimensional Movement, Useable as attack, One Dimension only (Hell) 2) "Mua'dib" - 4d6 RKA 3) "F-uck!" - Mind Control, 12d6, Required Effect (Sexual congress) 3.5) "F-uck!" - Energy Blast 2d6, +1 Variable Advantage (+2) (It's an extremely versetile swear word) 4) "Up Yours!" EB, 7d, Indirect, Penetrating 5) "A$$hole!" - Major Transformation, 4d6 6) "Ni!" - 6d, NND (Hearing Flash Defense +1) 7) "Get your ***** over here!" (Teleportation, useable as attack) ... and so on. The GM may allow the character MPA's from the same multipower, if they are able to creatively string various insults together in a coherent sentence. All backed up by.... 20 Trained by a Drill Sergant (5d6 Martial Arts Ranged Attacks, Vulgarities Only) I would SO play this character, except I'd get bored (and mildly embarrassed) by the sheer amount of swearing it would require.

Re: Yet ANOTHER WWYCD: Against your team Jake the Troll, at least before the GM asked me to re-design him, could probably tank the entire group. For the current incarnation, he'd be a bit more hesitant to take on some of them, as most of them have practical range and whatnot. Also, he's been trained his entire life NOT to hurt the people around him, so he's really not all that good at it. His one advantage is that, like some others who have already posted, he's got regeneration and ressurrection. If necessary, he'd just let them kill him, just to get it over with. Shinji Miromoto is one of the few ubers in the Outsiders that has several years of practical combat and logistical experience in fighting teams of heroes (he was a professional Loyal Minion to various stereotypical Japanese anime villians before coming to Seattle), and whose powers optimize on darkness, teleportation, and powerful martial arts attacks. To be honest, he'd probably pwn the entire group. Also, he has no real compulsions against beating up his own teammates - he's studied kempo for several years, and as such is used to attacking people as practice - as long as they aren't seriously (physically or psychologically) injured, he doesn't consider it an issue. Finally, he's already developed strategies to take on others on his team (based on what he knows about them - the group is fairly new), Just In Case Something Goes Wrong. The main constraint would be his own nature - to win the battle, he would have to show that he is capable of taking on the entire team at once and winning. He would be hesitant to do so, as this would give away his own capabilities. Doing so for such a petty reason would violate Shinji's on tactical philosophies, which emphasize misdirection and having his opponent underestimate him. So, he'd probably do so, but make it look like he just BARELY was able to succeed by luck and careful planning as by straightforward power.

Re: WWYCD: The rest of the world's Supers just changed sex. Jake the Troll - has discovered recently that his birth gender was more-or-less arbitrary - he can shapechange, and that the resultant form is just as 'normal' as the one he grew up in. One of the forms he can take is that of a trollknor, or female troll. As such, I'd guess that this particular change would manifest as everyone thinking that the trollknor form was the form he grew up in, and his Troll form was something he recently discovered. However, Jake can also step into the spirit world, and has gotten lost coming back before. So, he'd just sigh, explain things to this dimension's parents, and look for the way back, while looking for this dimension's "Jake". With regards to the 2nd version - if it was discovered that it really WAS his dimension that had somehow been modified, he'd probably agnst over it and consult a representative from the Catholic Church, as ultimately it affects the spiritual nature of everyone on the planet. He'd go with whatever they'd suggest. If it turns out that he should go through with the ritual, he'd probably do so, but spend just as much time in his Troll form as in anything else. Shinji Miromoto - would also assume that he got lost coming back from the Dark Dimension, and would actually be mildly thankful at the chance to start over - Shiiko Miromoto would have killed a mid-level national hero on Japanese television, but Shinji Miromoto is completely unknown in Japan. This would allow him to go back home. However, after a copule of days, he'd probably start to feel guilty, and look into seeing if it really WAS his dimension. If the 2nd option is available, he'd probably end up doing it, after a LOT of meditation and self-reflection; he's buddhist, and as such believes in reincarnation, and as such the gender change wouldn't phase him TOO much. He would mumble about being caught in an anime cliche, and would find it highly ironic that his kharma is forcing him to become that which he hates most: a magical girl.

Re: Western Champions, Redone Sounds like Deadlands.

Re: Anyone have solutions for the Stun Lottery that a high dice Killing Attack create I think the issue is that the stunning rules only take into account STUN done in a single hit. Thus a random STUN multiplier between x0 and x5 is more likely to stun a foe in a single hit than an attack with a constant x3. Therefore, while the averages are slightly less for the first, you are more likely to gain a beneficial result from the random STUN modifier. Or, to put it another way: A 12d6 EB will stun someone only if the average (42) will stun someone - while it's possible to roll well, for the most part you really aren't going to roll anything but average with that amount of dice. In contrast, a 4d6 RKA will stun someone 1 out of 6 times, assuming you roll average (14) on the damage dice - when that x5 multiplier shows up, you end up wholloping your target for 70 STUN, and no one but the heaviest brick (40 ED + 30 CON) is going to avoid being stunned from that.

Re: WWYCD: Illegal Worker Being in a given country without the proper paperwork is the superhero eqivalent of speeding: most do it on a semi-regular basis, and no one really cares. In particular: Jake the Troll is Canadian, and would probably shrug, mutter something like "Well, you should probably work on that, eh?", and go back to school. Shinji Miromoto is an Japanese national, and an illegal immagrant himself. He'd try to avoid the conversation entirely.

Re: Single Green Superhero seeks.... (personels for your characters) Single Male Troll seeks female member of Norse pantheon. Must be Catholic or willing to convert.

Re: question about Israle soldier character. Another good resource is GURPS Special Ops, as well as the Call of Cthuluu sourcebook Delta Green (considered by many to be the best RPG supplement ever put out for any game, ever - it arguably has TOO MUCH information about how to play an X-Files style modern conspiracy game.)

Re: One-Trick Pony Campaigns I think a nice variation of a OTP campaign is just that, but have them be 350-point experienced PC's - equipment, Tactics/Leadership powers, allies, low-end superheroic martial training, etc., can thoroughly round out a character, even if they originally were only 'I shoot laser beams from my eyes" lad. It would probably be something like "you have one 60-point power or multipower. That one power can be anything, but probably should be magic or mutant-based. Everything else has an active cost of 30, and should reflect intensive training and experience." You can do a LOT with that, if only with a Martial Arts EC, an Armor EC, a gadgeteering multipower, and the Ranged MA DCs.

Re: Anywhere but your own country Japan, mainly 'cuz I lived there for a couple of years and I've watched a lot of anime. I don't know nearly enough to get a 'real' feel for the place, of course, but I do know enough to BS my way through the genre conventions.

Re: tactics as a power Hm...well, I looked in SpyCraft - there were a couple in there, but not as many as I thought. So, I made up some as well. Note the following powers all have Tactical Advantage and Tactical Limitation, and in general have a base cost of 10, and an active cost of 25. Tactical Advantage (+1 1/2) = Useable by up to 8 others simultaneously (+1), Ranged (+1/2) Tactical Limitation (-1) = Only when going with the plan (-1/4), only with others who have teamwork (-1/4), does not work solo (-1/4), Only when in communication with each other (-1/4) Fire on my position - +5 to Teamwork, Instant (-1/2), Extra Time (delayed phase, only to activate, -1/4) Esprit de Corps: +10 to PRE Good Communications: Mindlink, 4x, specific group of minds (teammates), only to supplement other forms of communication (-1) Cover me! +2 DCV, only if attacker was attacked by ally in the last phase (-1) Watch your six: Defensive Maneuvers I-IV Moving as One: Lightning Reflexes +6, only up to maximum in group (-1/4) All together now: SPD +1, only up to maximum in group (-1/4) Rally Point: Teleportation: floating fixed location, trigger (no action to activate, 0-phase action to reset, +3/4), must travel through intervening space (-1/4), only up to personal maximum non-combat move per phase (-1/4) It's a good plan! +1 to all skill rolls

Re: tactics as a power When I design characters like this, usually to describe experience working in a superhero team, I use the limitation "Only with others who have teamwork" (-1/4) and "Only when in communication with teammates" (-1/4) - the latter being so low because there's usually some easy way to communicate via radio or built-in cell phones or telepathy or whatever.

Re: tactics as a power If you own AEG's Spycraft, there's a lot of feats in there that are (essentially) powers based on Tactics. I'll try to take a look in there to see if there is any easily-portable powers.

Re: WWYCD 101:A question of faith Well, actually, it's "after this second, you step outside of this life and into the next, which just so happens to exist outside of your current understanding of space and time." The implication is that heaven is with God. God is outside of time. Therefore, heaven (and by implication) hell is also outside of our understanding of time. As such, saying "before/during/after" when discussing one's relationship with God is a bit of a sticky wicket. Concievably, I am in heaven right now, and have always been in heaven, and will always be in heaven, understanding that the sum of all my actions is "Lord, thy will be done," and that I am unaware of this due to my current perspective. Or, I am in hell right now, always been in hell, and always will be in hell, understanding that all my actions ammount to "No, MY will be done." It's a single choice, but it's a choice that was made/is being made/will be made throughout my entire existence, because I am the one always making it. Is this official theology? Well, to my knowledge it doesn't contradict what I know of various Lutheran and Baptist theology. There may be some denominations that disagree. Infinity is a temporal concept: essentially, a number line stretching on forever. By definition, God is extra-temporal: He's not even ON the number line (or if He is, He's also off it as well, as well as under it, beyond it, and through it.). As such, defining God in terms of when something occurs is somewhat restrictive; so is claiming that something which occurs outside time lasts forever. In terms of biblical imagry that discusses the length and size of heaven? I can forgive the authors for not having a post-Einsteinian view of the universe. I'm sure my understanding is off and limited as well - I just don't think it's off in that particular fashion.

Re: WWYCD: A Bomb for Two Cities Well, Jake is a troll - as such, that would imply that the widget is some sort of mystic gizmo designed to drop the barriers between this world and valhalla, and to create some sort of post-Ragnaroc paradise, or something. Now, with that in mind, Jake is just a little bit torn - he's never met another supernatural being before, so he actually woudln't mind if there were a few more of him around. However, he'd shrug that off, and realize that whatever benefit to him would be more than outweighted by the panic and destruction that such an event would cause. So, he'd probably grab one bomb, then use his Nightmare form (Troll as "monster that lives in my closet" power - he can teleport anywhere a sleeping child believes a monster lives.) to travel cross-country to snag the other bomb. Then, he'd sink straight down into the bedrock and let the bomb detonate literally in the ground. Shinji, being a dark psychic, has the sole ability of not being affected by negative psychic energy - his actual mental power comes through training that anyone could do. Thus, if a bomb was designed to go off so that people would (more or less) become like him, he wouldn't be all that worried - while Seattle and New York would end up having a large concentration of potential Dark Psychics, it's not an inheritable trait - thus, at worst it would cause moderate upheval in the psychic and magic communities. However, if it were shown that people would inevitably abuse the power, in greater numbers of bad ways than of good, then he'd probably try a Dark Transition ritual to bring the two identical Dark Ascension Crystals near to him, then step into the Shadow Dimension with them. They'd go off, but the only thing IN the Shadow Dimension is Shadow Energy (plus Shinji), so everything would probably be fine. (He'd make a KS: Dark Energy check to make sure of that, though.)

Re: WWYCD: Flipside I liked the White Wolf/Abberant take on this - once you start getting into high-level meta-intelligence abilities, the thought processes are so beyond the player and the GM that you really can't roleplay it out all that well: they become Sphinxes, manipulaters of the world stage so subtle that PCs simply can't percieve their mechanations, much less do anything about them. Which isn't specifically relevent to this character, of course - mainly it's theorizing on what a +75 INT would actually mean.

Re: Brainstorm: The Black Paladin Recruits! Humerous suggestion - have one of them say "ni!" occasionally, only to get beatedn down by his fellows, as the rest of them hate Monty Python references. Slightly more serious suggestion: if you want to go with the original definition of "black knight" (a knight errant who painted his armor black so as to not have to spend time polishing it, as his squire wasn't available), they could quite simply be modern mercenaries, complete with heavy weaponry and the like.