Kevin Schultz

Re: WWYCD: The New Recruit. . . Jake the Troll - N/A - he's pretty big proponent of not killing stuff, but he's got the power resources to have that option. But he's not really a team player, and is more a reserve guy anyway. Icon - She's on a teen squad, so we're talking about a teenaged killer. At that point, she'd realize that this dude has WAY more issues than she does, and probably would not want him around. Shinji Miromoto - has something akin to a CvK, but it's more of the "follow the Buddhist tennents of enlightenment", which includes pacifism. Shinji is also highly trained in working with psychotic loonies (he was formally trained in how to be a Loyal Lieutenant to various supervillians), so someone this controlled is actually a pleasent change of pace. Widower - N/A - doesn't have the CvK.

Re: Need to get the Creativity Flowing... Gunn - (weaponmaster) gun-toting badass who just happens to be a nerd. Works as a high school janitor, and can't figure out why people think it's wierd for him to do so: doesn't have a secret identity, as no one can concieve of him going out to fight crime with paired .45 semi-automatics. Actual powers are gun-fu: ranged martial arts plus gun tricks. Mister Trick - (metamorph) there is only one Trickster god; he just convinced every pantheon that he was THEIR trickster god. Unfortunately, he was so successful that no one believes him when he tells them about what he's doen. Powers of each form are the powers of the trickster god of the pantheon he is emulating: Raven, Coyote, Loki, Puck, etc. Note that even if he changes right in front of someone, they won't believe that he's the same deity: he's just that darned good. Variable X (any - likely brick/weaponmaster) - has a polymorphic aura that always returns "yes" to any metaphysical query. As a consequence, he can use any piece of magical equipment he comes across, as it always considers him to be its rightful owner. Also has a large number of magical animal mascots, each convinced that he's their One True Hero or Destined Reincarnated Prince(ess) or whatever. Occasionally is approached by additional magical animal mascots who know the truth, but who would rather work with a professional like himself, instead of the self-centered teenagers they usually have to deal with. Jean-Reneau du Baptiste - (Energy manipulator/weaponmaster) New Orleans-born military chaplin with the metaphysical power of Water; he can basically do everything BUT summon water blasts: purification, fluidity of movement, fortune telling, ressurrection/rebirth, etc. Also has a great deal of incidental power over women. Uses a shotgun for actual offensive power. Citadel - (paragon brick) - member of a galalctic-wandering Dragonball-Z type species whose power comes from their powerful psychic flight-or-fight response. Turns out this power is killing them, but they can't turn it off because it's an environmental trigger. So, they fly around the galaxy in spaceships, in suspended animation 99.99% of the time, looking for someplace they can relax. Earth is the only planet that that matches up with their (destroyed) homeworld's ecosystem, and thus is the only place they can live. Citadel was the first to discover this, and is thus the most relaxed member of her species. Her main duty is to subdue any of her people that shows up, and then take them to Florida, where they can chill out. The Killer Frogbot - (brick battlesuit/mentalist) - Synthetic genius clone-child inherited her creator's wealth and technology after he went missing and presumed dead. Wanted to do something for society, so she put together a military-grade battlesuit. However, her psychic abilities are the powersource for the suit. The suit itself is more of a small mecha than a suit of armor, and it's somewhat bulbous; hence the name. Anansi Goodfellow - (holy mage) daughter of Mr. Trick and Citadel; when the Trickster boasted that he could get the most powerful mortal to fall in love, he didn't realize that the aforementioned mortal was 1) and alien, and 2) female. After a series of encounters found only in a Shakespearean comedy, he ended up marrying her. Anansi (named after her paternal grandmother) is the result. She's technically a diety and high priestess in her mother's species' pantheon, as they had killed off all of their previous gods with the destruction of their planet. (Which, as it turned out, was a bad idea; without gods, they became much more vunerable to magical attacks.) At the moment, she's really just a half-alien goddess trying to live a normal teenaged life as the daughter of two of the world's most powerful beings. Who, unfortunately, are more than delighted that their daughter is taking up a life of crime-fighting. They consider it their job to be the 'normal parents' of a teen metahuman, and think it delightful to be kidnapped and held hostage by c-rank villians. Needless to say, Anansi is terminally embarassed by them.

Re: Need to get the Creativity Flowing... Some neat ideas I've had in the past, but haven't written up: Flagg - (metamorph) a totemic metamorph: he has the power of any symbol or icon he wields. His suit has a chameleon effect that, rather than lets him blend into his surroundings, lets him manifest different powers based on flag designs. For example, if he programmed his suit to display the US flag, his powers would have something to do with multiplicity ("e pluribus unim") and supernatural power ("In God we Trust"). As he is Canadian, he tends to use the regional flags from that country. Sabbath - (mage) Quabbalistic sorcerer whose power is limited to abilities displayed in 80's Saturday morning cartoons. Summoner - (mage/summoner) psychic who can create psychic constructs to emulate the powers of various collectable card games. However, he actually as to have the cards laid out in a game, which makes his powers somewhat disruptable. So, he tends to set up various games beforehand (in his bedroom), cover them in plexiglass, and then leave them there while he goes out to fight crime. The Unbeliever - (energy projector) militant athiest whose power was manifested when she was accidentally caught in the crossfire between a couple of metaphysical metahumans. Now, her ability is to actively disbelieve in something, thus causing it to cease to exist. However, it's only temporary, because she is aware that it really DOES exist, and it's only her power that is temporarily cancelling it out. Herr Docktor - (gadgeteer) aging supervillian who really does have a master plan to conquer the world, but it'll take a couple of decades to culminate. So, his daughter Becky (created via cloning in a moment of alcohol-induced weakness) convinced him to do the superhero gig for a while to pass the time. Is assisted by his monkey minons (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Dave) and his lovely assistant Miss Zee.

Re: WWYCD: Harem Comedy from Hell Jake the Troll - is actively looking for a girlfriend of this power, and so would think it to be extremely cool. His parents would not agree as much, but would put up with it out of respect for their son's well-being. (It's kind of hard for him to date normal girls.) However, one of his criteria for marriage is "must be Catholic". Also, he has been worship on occasion by pagans and whatnot: his normal response is "as your deity, I command you to go to repent of your sins, take up your cross, and go to Mass!" which usually is something of a letdown. Icon - on one hand, she'd appreciate having a boyfriend that wouldn't freak over her going to save the city on a regular basis. However, the inevitable brawls that would disrupt around it would be irritating. Her teammates would find it highly amusing. She'd probably call the cops on them if it got to be too much of an issue. Also, she has a good deal of experience with people hurting each other in the name of "love", and has no taste for it. Shinji Miromoto - one he realized that he was in a harem comedy, he'd blow his top: he had an issue with magical girls, which harem comedies fall into often. Widower - assuming he wouldn't be still mourning the death of his family, he'd probably find it amusing. He's actually a good team leader of teenagers (he was a successful little league coach), and this action is nothing if not juvenile. If they ever started blowing up the landscape, he'd beat them down, though.

Re: Schtick Skill: That Thing You Do I use a variation of the Skill frameworks from Ultimate Skill for this: a given skill framework gives you 1 point in every single possible thing that could ever be associated with the framework: contacts, weapon familiarities, background skills, normal skills, etc. A focused framework (New York teenager) will cost 3 points; a broad one (FBI agent) costs 5. Basically, this gives you an 8- roll to do anything you didn't specifically spend points on in the framework. You can increase that skill by purchasing skill levels: 3 points per level for the focued one, or 5 points per level for the larger one. This does not affect CV, but it does affect everything else.

Re: My Damage Shield, too much? I wouldn't have a real problem with this power, simply because PC's aren't dumb enough to crowd around a single target that obviously has a Damage Shield. Thus, this is really just an "auto-hit the single target that is in melee with me" power. In general, I would see this power as a threat, rather than an action: it's so obvious that the PC's aren't going to bother engaging in HtH more than once while it's up. Thus, it's kind of hard to get full point-use out of it. In many ways this power is really just a a variation of "Mind Control: Don't engage me in HtH".

Re: WWYCD: The Nightmare on Hero Street Jake the Troll - "Yeah, whatever." One of the aspects of Troll is 'nightmare under the bed'. That, and, well, the whole regeneration thing kinda prevents this from being a major issue. Icon - the teen version is actually kinda horked; she's got no real mental powers except for a low-level "strong will". It's enough to take the edge off most mentalists, but is by no means a full defense. She also sleeps an hour a week, so she may not actually notice this for a long time. She may end up sleeping while powered up, as her aura gives her some moderate mental defense as well. But at that point, she'd try to contact Whisper (the only telepath she knows) to see if she can do anything. Other than that, she'd probably run to the Argonauts and let them know what happened. Adult Icon is a federal agent, has some pretty hefty self-only mental powers, and doesn't sleep at all. So no luck there. Shinji Miromoto - his mind is poisonous; (Damage Shield, 1 point mental transform, 3x penetrating, continuous). If he's in Shinji's mind long enough to have a dialog, he's already hosed. Widower - completely blindsided by this. Doesn't know any telepaths or mystics, so he's horked. His only saving grace is that he also sleeps only an hour a week, so it'll be hard to find him. Try to track him down by whatever means he can, and hope his 5 minutes of sleep a night isn't enough to get himself killed.

Re: WWYCD: Out of Focus, in the know Jake the Troll - walks up to the ghost and asks what it's doing. (Supernatural/Transdimensional stuff is pretty darned instinctual to him.) Icon - check to see if the entities in question show up on her "detect all forms of energy, including inter-dimensional energy, psychic energy, and magic energy" scan. If so, go from there; probably could figure out how to smack one of them, but it would take some experimentation with her powers. Shinji Miromoto - another person with "detect inter-dimensional energy" - would treat it as a form of possession, which he actually has a good deal of experience with. Like Icon, could probably whip something up out of his Dark Energy VPP. Widower - Not a clue. Wouldn't know how to handle this one, as it's completely outside his experience.

Re: WWYCD: A Damsel Who Doesn't Want To Be Rescued... The dress threw me off.

Re: [CHAR]The Green Knight I was assuming it was a literary reference to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sounds fine to me!

Re: Prison facilities for super-human criminals in your Campaigns? "Sunspots, sir. Sunspots. That radio interference you just detected was most certianly NOT a black-ops tactical nuclear strike going off. Can you look at this, please?" *FLASH*

Re: [WIYCT] Icons Jake the Troll - Masculine power of Earth. Icon - Slightly off-white Knight. Shinji Miromoto - Dark Magician. Widower - reluctant Hero.

Re: Calling all lawyers--Supers and unique legal issues Oh - and on the "is it a person?" question. We actually had this as a question for a report in one of my philosophy classes: we had to argue whether or not HAL, from 2001, was a human in the moral sense. The general consensus was that he was a 'limited person', as he had free will, but was required to perform certain actions as due his programming. Thus, in a legal sense, he would be treated in many ways like a child: while he had legal protections as a thinking being, he wouldn't get certain rights, as he was in many ways still under the control of his parents/programmers.

Re: Calling all lawyers--Supers and unique legal issues Hm...I may have mentioned this before: In other superhero books, I've seen used the "Three telepath" system; if a defendant wants to use telepathy to show evidence for their innocence, it requires 3 (licensed and bonded) telepaths: one for the prosecution, one for the defense, and one for the judge. They ALL get into the subjects mind and analyze the memories. If their three reports match up, then the evidence is presented; if any of the three are off in anything other than insignificant details, then the evidence is inadmissible.

Re: Superhero! Heh - I was thinking that he would have to use something at least symbolic of the show - he'd carry a 'charm' bracelet around (with the symbols of each care bear on it) to use as his energy blast, and actually use a sword for the Thundara thing. But your way sounds much more amusing. Maybe the way I think of it is how he'll be in a couple of years, but for now? He's stuck in the bear suit!

Re: City of Heroes - Online Hero Game My thoughts: Still not going to go back until they add in something substantially more (like an out-of-combat skillset), but most of these things seem to be a good idea: Time Travel - that's pretty neat, and a response to a request that's been around for a while. Cool. Weapon Customization - another Quality of Life thing that's been on the request queue - good for them for getting to it. New Inventions - meh. I like the invention system as a thing to do, but I feel it breaks the idea of a superhero game. A couple of concepts can use it, and I think it's fine for supervillians, but I don't see it working for most character concepts. Thus, any addition here is a "good for the game, bad for the genre". New Powersets - dual swords has been on the queue for a while. I'm guessing it'll be fine. Willpower seems like an odd powerset, but I guess it's in the vein of "defensive psychic" or "two-fisted hero", so I suppose it'll be ok. My main 'hey, neat' thought was that they're adding in combos: powers that get better if you use them in combination somehow. That's a neat thing, but I don't know if it's just for a single AT or if that's true overall. Regardless, it seems like a neat thing to do.

Re: Suggestion Box: name our Teen Champions team Another possible one, given to me by an officmate: Plan B - because they probably weren't your first choice.

Re: Superhero! Heh - I can add in some of my personal "I've never played them, but it would be fun if I could" characters... Retro - mage whose power constructs are limited to 80's Saturday morning cartoons: Care bears, Smurfs, Thundercats, and so on. Would actually be fairly competent (the Care Bear Stare is actually a decent Positive Energy blast, and the sword of Thundara grants clairsentience), if he just got over his humiliation over the limits of his powers.

Re: Help with CoH name Meh - looked at a couple of the screenshots, read a couple pages of the discussion thread. Looks neat enough, but not enough to get me to re-up my account. I'm honestly not interested in new powersets; I'd rather have a non-combat skill game expansion. Really, that's probably what it will take to get me to re-up my account. (And no, Crafting/the Market doesn't count - it was a fine addition as far as MMORPGs go, but ultimately violated genre conventions for me to enjoy as part of a supers game.) EDIT - sorry, forgot to answer the question - Black Jack - Minor tarot reference: Swords correspond to Spades, and Jack is basically 11: 1+1. Also consider variations on Deuce (2) King Suicide - reference to the King of hearts, aka the Suicide King. Called so because it looks like he's stabbing himself in the head with his sword; however, the traditional drawing of the King of hearts has two swords. Not in each hand, unfortunately, but rather in the reverse image. That's close enough for most comic book names... Ring 5 - Miyamoto Musashi was the original dual-sword wielding badass, and actually wrote a book (Book of the Five Rings) on how to do it. Gorin Nosho - the Japanese for "Book of the 5 Rings", pushed together to make a first and last name. Heiho Silver - Heiho is "the way of the strategist" from Book of the 5 Rings; adding in Silver! is just a funny way to turn it into a name. Bryce - the name alliteration of "Brace", which in western fencing refers to two rapiers designed to be used together (ie, specifically designed for the left and right hand.) Sinawali - the name used in Phillipino stick fighting for the dual-stick practice drills; however, the sticks themselves are just practice weapons for actual blades. Other possible related names would be Kali, Arnis, or Escrima. "Kali Sinawali" sounds like a woman, but might work.

Re: Teen adventure ideas? Oh, Peety, where art thou? - the school mascot (Peety the Peacock) has been kidnapped. Twist - the peacock was under the authority of one of the PC's or a DNPC at the time of the kidnapping: this was a power play against a rival (who normally is responsible for taking care of the ol' Petester), and thus they're under the gun to not screw it up. Twist II - there's a time limit: the kidnapping hasn't been discovered yet, and there will be significantly LESS trouble if they get him back beforehand. Twist III - After the GM throwing them a bunch of red herrings, the PC's have to break down and go back to the rival for help. Much to their chagrin, the rival quickly finds Peety, under the porch, asleep. Whooops! Caught - A locker search is going on, and the PC's have to figure out how to clean out their lockers (with their superhero equipment in them) before the drug-dogs get there. Twist - something is preventing them from using their powers to full effect: the cops are already right in front of their locker, or they can't easily get out of class, or something. Twist II - they're not in time. One of the PC's is caught having a super-suit inside their locker. What to do? Twist III - Everyone in the school completely misses the point, and assumes that he PC is just an incredibly geeky fan.

Re: Superheroes, Power and Responsbility From what I understand of evolution, hereditary cancers exist not because they serve a purpose, but becuase the change to DNA that causes the cancer doesn't kill the carrier off before they have kids. It's like bad eyesight: it hinders, but does not prevent, the individual from reproducing. However, there is no 'benefit' to bad eyesight: it's just not bad enough to get culled from the gene pool through natural selection. Kevin Schultz, who is looking forward to gene therapy for stuff like that.

Re: People with Powers Hence the necessity of Inherant (+1/4) on the wealth. No Recession for me! though admitadly, I don't have it on more than 1 point of wealth. That being said, I can probably justify buying a naked advantage "Inherant, wealth, up to 10 points" for 2 points instead. I earn enough money by myself as it is; with this variation, I can't actually LOOSE any due to economic misfortune.

Re: WWYCD:The Artifact Jake the Troll - "Hey, I thought I had lost that thing. Thanks!" Icon - Give it to the ACPD Special Cases squad, or else hand it over to the Argonauts. If that option is unavailable, store it under her bed for the time being. Get the good folks at BobCo ("Tomorrow's half-baked ideas, Today!") to have a look at it. For her power level, they've got the best (read "most annoying") security around. Shinji Miromoto - Probably the most qualified to analyze and deal with stuff like this. However, he's employed by the Municipality of Denver. Assume that there's some sort of connection with the federal government, and thus the feds would likely end up with it. Widower - "Oh, great. More pseudo-Kryptonain crap." Jake already knows his plot line, and so would probably have some sort of simple solution in hand for when he gets his hands on something like this. Which wouldn't work, as his plotline is immutable (to his chagrin), but he'd give it the old college try before grumpily going off and using it however he's supposed to.

Re: Dancing with the Heroes Hm...none of my characters would do well at ALL, actually - other than Widower; and that's because he's likely the only one ever to have even watched the show, and he's got a 38 DEX.

Re: Superheroes, Power and Responsbility Ha! No threadjack ending for you! Anyway, I was reading up on a thread a couple of years ago, and this point came up; however, several US ex-soldiers piped up and commented that while dehumanizing your opponent is ONE way to make it easier to kill, modern western armies don't teach it. Instead, they claimed that there are three ways to get a soldier to override the flinch response and to get them to kill: 1. intensive training - so that when the right combination of stimulus occurs, the soldier automatically pulls the trigger. This is one of the biggies in the US military. 2. Acceptance of consequences - this includes accepting the necessity of killing your enemy, and understanding why it is you're killing them: basically, ideology training. This also includes accepting your own mortality, and being at peace with your own death: religious training. Both are used in the US military, but not as much as the first. 3. Dehumanization of your foe - so that you don't consider them human, so that you can kill them more easily. This is actively NOT used by the US military, as the consequences are too difficult to control in a post-war scenario: ie, you don't want a bunch of soldiers thinking that group X isn't human, when group Y looks and talks a great deal like group X, but group Y is a significant minority in your country.