Kevin Schultz

Re: People with Powers heh - well, not that noticable in the outset; but give the fictional me (and my 12 million best friends) a couple of years to not aging, along with the magic of compound interest, and suddenly we own the world. Kevin "looking to found the first AARP billionare extreme sports club in 2025" Schultz

Re: A Pattern Savant This is functionally precognotion; to use the example given, the knowledge necessary to throw a marble to destroy an airline can be achieved either by looking at the billions of possible futures and backtracking to see what the act was that caused the future you want, or else calculating the actions necessary to achieve the desired outcome. Thus, you can likely just go into the precog section of the SPDB and look at the precog powers.

Re: People with Powers Instinctively, I'd likely have the following: 1. Financial Security - yeah, it's boring, but money worries are what drive a lot of folks, including me. 2. an easy time finding the perfect wife/spouse/girlfriend/SO - I actually don't want to change myself, as I have enough comfort with who I am. But it would be nice if Mrs. Right would fall out of the sky at my feet. 3. Be in better shape/be better at the martial arts - which is actually not a real big thing: I already know what I need to do and how to do it, so it's really just the issue of having the discipline to do so. With that in mind: No money worries: Wealth (1 point, Inherent +1/4, Useable on Others (Mrs. Right)+1/2; 2 active, 2 real) Finding Mrs. Right: Luck, (3 levels, Only to Find and Keep Mrs. Right -2, Uncontrollable -2, romantic Comedy side effects -1/2: 15 active, 3 real) Long Life: Life Support (reduced aging/1, reduced sleep/1: Usable Simultaneously (on Mrs. Right) +1/2; 3 active 3 real) Good health: Health (Regeneration, Any characteristic 1 at a time +1/4, Usable on Others +1/2, Decreased Time 1 hour; active cost 13, real cost 5) Self-Discipline: EGO +2 (Defensive Only -1, 4 active, 2 real)

Re: WWYCD: Out of cash Jake the Troll - has the financial reserves of a teenager from rural Vancouver, BC. I guess this means someone stole his allowance... Icon - is another teenager. Finances are totally not an issue, unless her dad looses his job, or something. Shinji Miromoto - is financed by the City of Denver. If they go belly-up, it's time to talk to the feds. Widower - wow, I play in a lot of teen games...

Re: Suggestion Box: name our Teen Champions team Alternately, go for a name that has been forced on them via tradition: it probably sounded good back in the day, but has since changed connotations - this is what we did in naming the high school mascot in the Argus High PBeM game. We ended up officially as the Argonauts, with the mascot of a peacock - the compromise ended up being a cartoon peacock in hoplite armor, named Peety. Having a name that sucks may be bad in-character, but usually provides good role-playing opportuinties. 90's - Iron Misfits 80's - New Generation 70's - Youth Force 60's - Freedom Club 50's - Kid Patriots 40's - Junior League of Justice 30's - Phantom Brigade

Re: Suggestion Box: name our Teen Champions team Supercool Hero Team Alpha - for that anime vibe. Team/Squad/Company X - or whatever number is meaningful to them - may use the greek letter eqivalent: Theta Company, Gamma Squad, etc.) Guardians of All That Breathe, And Some That Don't, Like That Rock Over There, Yeah That One - if they want to make complete fun of their name, and yet take themselves seriously. The Urban Distaff - going for the outcast feel The Urban Harriers - which is really what a superteam tends to be - heavily armed and trained urban soldiers The Wasteland Kings/The Hollow Kings - for that ts elliot feel. Stormcrow United - a bit more goth, plus the soccer reference. Sacramento United - if they were put together from several other teen teams. Troll Kings of Scotland, West Coast Branch - for the indie punk band feel Mischief, LLC - because Mischief Inc. was already taken. Urban Architects for the sheer amount of rebuilding they force House of Cards - another self-effacing name The All-Jacks - play on the New Zealand All Blacks, combined with the symbolism of the Jack-as-wildcard Holding Center - A challenge to "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold." yes, in fact it can, and we will; if used as a proper noun (The Holding Center) can also refer to high-school-as-prison.

Re: Help: Two Dimensional Characters Variation of Shapeshift, if they can roll themselves up like a map. uncontrolled Gliding - it's like dropping a piece of paper. As Comic Said - Enter the 2nd Dimension! may be considered an attack. I do recall it being really freaky, from Madeline L'Engle's "a Wrinkle in Time". (there's a quick scene where the protagonist is traveling through the tesseract, and they make a brief stop in a 2D world. It lasts for only a paragraph or two, but it really freaks her out.)

Re: WWYCD: "I" in Team Jake the Troll - Power of Earth incarnate; point cost is irrelevant. Probably would fill the Superman role if he felt like it. But he's by no means a lead. He'd probably be a reserve on-call, to help if the team actually found something dangerous. Consider him for the Reserve SatNuke role. Icon - teenage energy/strength flying brick. 250 points, but borderline min-maxed. However, she's extremely good in teams, and is going to grow up to be a federal uberhuman. Likely would be 2nd in command, except she's the youngest and least experienced in the team by about 10 years. Would cede to both Shinji and Widower, just because they're more experienced, more powerful, and older. She is more photogenic and has a greater PRE/COM, though, so she might end up (literally) as the icon of the team. Shinji Miromoto - mid-20's martial artist/dark sorcerer/investigator, built on 350 points. Has all the skills needed to do a lot of stuff, and the experience to put it to use. Definitely leadership material. Only issue would be is that he likes to be underestimated, and tends to put on a buffoonish attitude to throw people off. Widower - Spiderman homage (martial arts demi-brick with a bit of gadgeteer). 700 points, but only has a max DC of 14. Could be a leader, but only if others couldn't handle it. Knows the value of teamwork, so doesn't sweat it. May end up being the lead, but once he got to know Shinji he'd try to push it off onto him. Would also try to convince Icon to hang up the cape for just a bit, as she's 1) Too young (in his mind), and 2) reminds him too much of his deceased daughter.

Re: (SoloUber) Webs of the Widower Web of the Widower, Chapter 2 Poster Rollins smiled in the back of the jeep, white teeth in a round face, head almost shaved. Jason didn't know the other two passengers like he did Poster, and he didn't know Poster all that well. Two females, one a blond, the other a red head. One of them had to be the one that called. "Hey, Jason." The red head waved a come-on gesture. "Come on. We're the welcoming commitee." "Ah, right," he said, stepping up through the rear passenger door. After confirming that his somewhat battered trench coat wasn't caught in the door, he glanced towards the one person he vaguely recognized. "Hey Poster." Then he turned towards the two in the front. "Hey, people I don't know. Thanks again for the invite." he gestured vaguely towards the barn as the jeep rolled off down the driveway. "I figured the woodpile deserved a break from my cutting wit." With that, Jason tried to keep up as the talk flowed only slightly awkwardly around him. However, one thought kept rolling through his mind. Holy %$#!, these kids are young. In retrospect, he was probably fooled by Hollywood; most actors who play teenagers are in their early 20's. These kids, on the other hand, actually looked their age: 16, maybe 17 at the latest. The trio hauled Jason Jones to the Falls Church Mall. Essentially it was a strip mall with two floors. Metal spiral staircases on either end allowed you to get to the top floor. Fifteen stores covered the spectrum of what you might need from Tractor Supply to Baskin Robbins 31. Along the way, Jason learned the red head's name was Lorna Luna, she ran track, and worked part time afternoons and nights at a Taco Bell. The other girl was Callie Lowe, she worked on the school paper with Poster, and dreamed of working on the Washington Post, or even the New York Times, or Wall Street Journal. Jason listened to the groups self-description, nodding when appropriate, mentally creating a backstory checklist for each person. However, when the subject of school sports came up, he smiled a bit. "Neat - used t'train with the sprinters," he said to Lorna, "for football." Upon further inquiry, he shrugged. "Eh, I was OK. Got a tendon thing, now," he said, tapping his knee, "So it's a no-go anyway." Which had the advantage of being technically true: his ligaments, like every other part of his body, was preternaturally strengthened, and thus disqualified him from competing in high school athletics. Yeah, and it's not a lie, so if I figure out how to tell 'em all later, it'll be ok. Oh, what a tangled web we weave... Thank you, Sir Walter Scott. Upon reaching their destination however, Jason almost blanched. This is a mall? I thought anything with that name had food courts and fountains and stuff. However, he managed to control his expression as he stepped out onto the parking lot. Well, we're relatively near DC. What's that got to do with anything?, he thought, following the rest of the group towards one particularly large clump of buildings. Maybe the National mall sucked all the mall-osity out of the surrounding region, leaving naught but skeletal remains behind. Um...no. "Not what you expected, Jase?" Poster watched the girls lead the way, hanging back to talk to the new kid. "Falls Church has a lot of commuter traffic to DC. Most of the country side is rural, suburban. I'm surprised that they would let a city kid stay out here with the rednecks." "I'm takin' it as an opportunity to delve into my surplus of nervous sheep jokes. Not much of a call for those back in the urban jungle," he said, slouching along side the other teen. "Seriously, though, I haven't really figured it out, either. I should have gone to an orphanage in Iowa, not to a foster family in a different state all together." With that, he shrugged, digging his hands into his pockets. "Maybe parental authority got switched across state lines through a surviving relative, or something. Didn't want me, maybe, so I got tossed into the system." And thank God for THAT, he thought. Putting up with a fictional relative or, God forbid, one of my ACTUAL relatives, would have been just too weird for all involved. During this time they had trailed after the girls, and were a couple of steps behind them as they traversed the parking lot. "Yeah...so on that really, really depressing thought...The Mall." Jason's spider sense started tingling. It lanced through his scalp like fleas. The parking lot has some pedestrian traffic, but nothing looked out of place at a glance. He slowed for a moment, scratching his head in a subtly vain attempt to get the metaphorical fleas out. Great, what’s supposed to happen, I rescue someone from a car accident? Could very well be. Or it could be about ducks, or something about the sun shining. Both Iziz and May were suitably prophetic this afternoon. Yeah, but her name’s May, not Cassandra. Besides, that seer chick doesn’t show up until mid-season. He glanced around. I need a tool. A tool? Yeah. Better to plan than to improvise, prevention vs. cure, all that stuff. Anyway, here goes. “Ah, crap,” he said, fishing around in his pockets. “I think my funds went walkabout. Hey, Lorna,” he called out. “Can you beep the Jeep? I think my money slipped out of my pocket – be right back.” With that, he jogged back to the vehicle, and made a show of fishing around. Ah ha! he thought, spying a full-sized tire iron behind the back seat. Thank god for rural over-engineering. Reaching under the seat, he grabbed the tool and slipped it into his right-side trench coat interior pocket; while the pocket was deep enough to fit the tool, it was more than slightly uncomfortable as the wrench head jammed up into his armpit. Also, it made his jacket hang oddly. How those Highlander guys do this is beyond me, he thought, closing the jeep door. Dimensional storage. Really? How should I know? They’re just characters on a low-budget syndicated fantasy show. Jason snorted, pushing his right hand deep into his outside pocket. Think where you are, and think about what you just said. OK, good point. But they really are TV. This is real life. Uh, huh. Through the coat lining in his pocket, he grabbed the side of the iron and lifted slightly. This allowed his jacket to hang more naturally, although it required that he keep his hand in his pocket. He smiled towards the group of teens, holding the folded dollar bill in his left hand, then scooted his way back towards them. Jason spotted something moving back and forth in the game shop on the bottom floor. It looked like a giant glowing marble. It bounced back and forth between the two side walls, speeding up every time it hit. He frowned, then started to jog back to the group. OK, that's kinda weird. Indeed; objects tend not to speed up, even in perfectly elastic collisions. Actually, I meant the fact that it's a giant glowing marble in a game store. Running, he pulled the tire iron out of his jacket pocket. Any port in a storm. Whatever. Sprinting past the kids, looks of confusion on their faces. This is what I signed up for, isn't it. Yep. The store was closer. Fine. He vaulted a shopping cart nest with the ease of an Olympic hurdler. So, it's probably got some sort of power source... Or else it's magic. Which still means it's probably got a power source, but yeah. Buoyant, too. Ah - noticed the lack of broken interior walls so far, have you. Over the road separating the parking lot from the mall, and onto the curb. Yep. I'm thinking an uber with some sort of kinetic amplification power, just getting started on a mall destruction attempt. How do you figure? Occam's Razor: rolling yourself up into a ball is less weird than summoning bouncing spheres. At the window, looking into the game store. The giant marble seemed to have someone floating inside it. Jason could see the velocity continue to build, actually inflicting impact damage every time it hit. Unless something happened, it would punch through the wall and into another store. Looks as though your fears were well-founded. They were founded on you putting imaginary ants in my hair. You never know. I could have been warning you that it was about to rain fish. Hey, that actually happens sometimes, with tornadoes. He paused before the store's main window. Actually...weather prediction would've been pretty useful back home. Thunder, lightning, and hail: it's not just for the Discovery channel any more. Whatever. Y'know, he thought, quickly observing the scene, I'll be wearing the Stupid Hat if this was just some guy trying out his ginormous hampsterball. A counterman was on the right, cash register and display counter next to the door. Several long tables, with chairs. The ball is rolling down the central aisle between the second and third table, about twenty feet from the front door. Some kids stood to the far left, keeping away from the glowing juggernaut while hugging the racks of games and books that hadn't been knocked to the floor yet. Judging by the wreckage, I find it unlikely the proprietor would care either way. Good point. Time to screw myself over, then. You have a plan? Yes, I do. And with that, as the ball passed near his position, he leapt, swinging the crowbar with one hand while protecting his face with his free arm. Jason landed perfectly after crashing through the window. His iron handle hit the six foot ball as gently as possible. The light orb hit the ground outside as Poster Rollins stepped inside the shop's door. The blue marble hit the ground rolling away. "What was that?" Poster turned to look at the marble heading toward the road. “Extreme Pokemon taming,” he said, quickly checking the store. “Lemme tell ya, sometimes Furries are weird, even for me. Be right back.” And with that, he leapt out the window, hot on the trail of the now-dubbed Marble Man. That’s a little sexist. It could very well be a woman with a Hamtaro fetish in there. I’m going for alliteration. In this group, it’s all the rage. Jason sprinted through the parking lot, quickly matching speed with the rolling vandal. “OUTTA THE WAY, FOLKS!” Ah. How about The Marble Maniac? Spherical Sadist? Globular…Goober? Now you’re just being inane. Running right behind the sphere, he reached out with his iron, using the L-shaped wrench to hook the front of the orb, trying to gently nudging the sphere down the middle of the parking lot, while using his other hand to lightly brush the spinning sphere, gently robbing it of its kinetic energy. Hey, look out, new kid!" Callie's voice was high enough to break glass. A car pulled into the lot, aiming for the rolling sphere with its front bumper. "Son of a $#@!" Jason yelped. "Watch out!" Whether that was shouted at Callie or at the driver of the car will forever be unknown, as Jason sprinted over the broken window and out into the parking lot after the now-dubbed Marble Marauder. The Spectral Sphere ran into the front bumper of the car as Jason ran toward it. There was a moment when he almost had his hands on the slick cling free surface. It rebounded like a cannonball directly at Jason. He could see lightning trace its surface as it rolled right for him faster than it had at first. If it collided with him, he could expect the impact would be like being hit by a fast Volkswagen. Well, not quite what I was hoping, but I guess I can grab it now, Jason thought as he frantically backpedaled back up towards the mall. Grab it? That’s your whole plan? Grab it?! Now is not the time, Dr. Venkman. Just as it was upon him, Jason ‘stumbled’, gaining a few more precious yards, and landed on his back. He brought his legs up into a defensive position, and just as the sphere rolled over him, caught it with his feet and palms, absorbing some of the force and pushing the sphere back the direction it came. Jason caught the slippery orb on the palms of his hands and feet easily. He could feel it start to roll over his face when he decided to throw it. It landed in front of the car, and bounced at an angle when it hit the lot. It started rolling away to one side, toward the front of the mall again, but Jason' left. Well, that worked, in a ‘let’s give away our secret identity to the entire parking lot’ sort of way. Yeah, let’s see if I can do it again. Jason performed a quick kipup, bringing himself to his feet. As he leapt up, he snatched his crowbar off the ground, dropped in his own mad roll. A secret identity is like virginity, Jason – you can’t loose it more than once. He jogged further back towards the store, positioning himself for another throw. I’m hoping that the gross violation of several Newtonian Laws will obscure that particular tidbit of information. Ha! Trust the invisible voice in your head: if it’s a question between “contradiction of something boring I slept through in high school”, and “new uberhuman drops his metaphorical trousers in mini-mall’, the average American is going to go oogle the naughty bits.

Re: Who is the Greatest Detective of the Champions Universe? Hm...yeah. While there's a lot of ways to make a "World's greatest detective", especially using the builds out of Dark Champions, I don't offhand recall any of the CU folks actually having powers/skills like that.

Re: My First Game of Champions! Unfortunately, Champions is the LATEST game I play, rather than my first; I got into it a couple of years ago. The group I was in was founded for the express purpose of playing different games that we hadn't before, and when 5th Edition came out, we decided to give it a try. Thus, by the time I cracked open HERO, I was already an accredited rules lawyer for GURPS, Mage, Changeling, Legend of the 5 Rings, Deadlands, and Ars Magica. In my first game session, everyone assumed that I had already read the rules and understood it, and was asking me for help designing their characters. Which was actually true, so we did fine. I ended up playing Anansi Goodfellow, child of the universe's Greatest two heroes, and reluctant teenage deity to an otherwise atheist alien race. I still like that backstory - the premise was that there was only one Trickster god - he just played a great trick on all the other pantheons, and convinced them that there was more than one of him. However, the trick backfired, and now no one will believe him when he tries to tell the truth. Thor - "So, Loki. You're telling me that you're actually that Raven fellow, as well as Robin Goodfellow?" Trickster - "yep. Good trick, huh!" Thor - "Sure, pull the other one." Trickster - "dang it." The other trick he pulled was that he boasted (one drunken night) that he would trick Earth's mightiest Hero fall in love. Unfortunately he forgot to check who that was. Turned out to be Citadel, kind of an armor-clad Superman homage. Also, no one knew that underneath the armor Citadel was, in fact, a female of her species, and her species had killed off their gods a couple of million years ago for being too weak. Thus, the Trickster fell into his own plot, and after a series of coincidences found only in Shakespearean comedies, ended up married to her. Anansi (named after her grandmother) was the product of their union.

Re: Humanity Rating? The most recent (ie, year 2000 or so) game mechanic that I've seen that handles stuff like this well is the Stress/Hardened mechanic from Unknown Armies. It works as follows: 1. You have a number of mental attributes: Violence, Unnatural, Helplessness, Isolation, and Self. These attributes have a ranking of 1-10. 2. Occasionally you will be tested against these attributes. Tests are rated 1-10 as well. If your attribute level is higher than the test, you don't need to make the test. If it's lower, you have to make the test as an EGO check. 3. If you fail one of these tests, you start picking up disadvantages based on the failure. (You also run away screaming, or go bezerk, or any other short-term consequences of failing an EGO check.) If you succeed in the tests, your attribute improves and you start picking up disadvantages based on the success. Note that you can have disadvantages based on both failure and success. Yes: it sucks either way. It's a game mechanic that punishes you for putting your character into psychologically damaging situations. It's actually a bit more involved than that, but that's the basic gist. Here's an example of the "Violence" attribute Test 1 - you're attacked in a fight. 2 - you see someone get tortured. 3 - be tortured (briefly), or get shot. 4 - kill someone. 5 - be directly involved in a massive land battle. 6 - perform torture. 7 - deliberately kill someone who is helpless. 8 - long-term torture (1+ hour) 9 - be involved in a mass execution. 10 - watch a loved one be tortured to death. Consequences of having failed (number of times) once - superficially fine. twice - starting to get quirky. (gain a -5 point disad about violence.) three times - start to become uneasy around symbols of violence (-10 point disad) four times - phobic about violence (-15 point disad) five times - you've gone crazy. (-20 disad, plus you automatically fail any EGO checks when tested against Violence) Consequences of success (aka: becoming hardened): 1-3. superficially normal 4-5. attitudes towards violence show up in conversation (-5 quirk) 6-7. Stop showing reactions towards violence and pain (-10 disad) 8-9. Your attitues towards violence are easily seen (-15 disad) 10 - Life, violence, and death mean nothing to you (-20 disad). For example, someone with a Violence rating of 5, and who has failed the test twice would likely come across as a professional soldier: they could kill people in fights and not crack, but they don't talk about their experiences in combat at all, and tend to be a bit jumpy. (both -5 disadvantages.) Most Superheroes would probably sit at 3, with 1 failed test. EDIT - you can buy down your ratings, if you want to - via medication, psychological counseling, or (I suppose) Mental Transformations.

Re: People with Powers True, but point cost is separate from Active cost: you can have a character that can do a lot (have lots of different powers), but still have a max DC of 14. Spiderman and Batman (the non-BatGod version) are both good examples of that - an experienced writeup of either can easily hit 700+ points, but neither is controlling the forces of the universe. Well, unless you start getting into editorial content...In the same vein, Superman can be written on 1800+; he's got a big VPP. Yeah, you can do it on less, but to hit everything you need those extra points. So I suppose that's another question: how does the AP cap increase along with the point cost?

Re: I have created a Regulation Act At this point we'd probably have to get more information on what the source(s) of metahuman powers in the given game-world are.

Re: I have created a Regulation Act Ooh - just had a thought: 1. Science/Technology-based heroes - don't bother trying to register them. Ultimately, their powers are controlled by the patent office. The fact that they're considered superheroes is a game mechanic thing: we can see the points on the character sheet, so we know they're a meta. But to everyone else, he's just using a gun, and as such he's covered by whatever regulations there are on that kind of gadget. EPA, FAA, whatever. Put together a task force version of the agency that focuses on vigilanties, and you're set. 2. Martial Arts - not an issue. Yeah, they can punch through steel. But ultimately, unless their powers start becoming magical (and yes, chi-based effects are magic: they're just chinese magic), then they're not enough of a problem to deal with. However, this implies a mega-game agreement that the "intense training" SFX can't go beyond a certian value without moving over into chi magic. Personally, I'm fine with that, but I suppose that may depend on your campaign. 3. Magic - already regulated by the federal government. What, you ask? Yep: interstate/international commerce. You're pulling power from beyond the boundaries of the country, and in that sense it's just like buying electricity from Canada. I think there are a couple types of powers which are traditionall called 'magic' which don't actually cross interdimensional boundaries, but they're relatively few. Even chi-based effects have a spiritual component to them, and in a comic book world that implies a form of supernatural energy, albiet one described differently than in the west.

Re: I have created a Regulation Act I think Trebuchet's idea below is probably a pretty good idea regarding the vigilante laws - voulentary registration for increased legal protection, on par with Concealed Carry permits. Further making a use of a metapower in conjunction with a crime also seems like a reasonable law, inasmuch as you can identify exactally what a meta-power is. However, the 'manditory registration' part is ultiamtely a constitutional issue: it violates the 14th Amendment. (See below.) 14th Amendment - Equal Protection clause. If someone is required to register with the government for what they are, then they have less legal protections than others: at the least, they have less privacy, which is considered a constitutional right. Again, I'd go with the carrot approach of "voulentary registration gets you increased legal protection" , and the stick approach of "use of a meta power in commission of a crime aggravates the offense".

Re: People with Powers Which they, the player or the character? I base the belief that a player is aware of their character's power on the assumption that the player as looked at the character sheet. While "Luck, No Concious Control" can certianly exist, that's not what were're talking about here - we're talking about the base power. That's why I specifically call out "no concious control" in the second part of the post you quoted. I base the belief that the player uses luck due to the words written in the rulebook about how luck works and how often it can be used. Of course, player may choose NOT to spend their luck in a given scene, but that's part of the perception process: they percieve no need to spend luck in a given scene, and so they don't. I base the belief that the player spends luck for his character's advantage on the assumption that the player has enough rational self-interest to do so.

Re: I have created a Regulation Act I believe the main constitutional issues is the whole "one king, one law" idea - that you can't legally descriminate/segregate people (ie, write laws that specifically target a certian group) on the single basis of what they can do. A quasi-real-life version would be requiring that all martial artists register their hands as "deadly weapons". Any jurisdiction that attempted to do this would rapidly find itself in trouble with the ACLU. You CAN have a registration act that defines certian powers as deadly; as a consequence, anyone using them in commition of a crime increases the severity of that crime: ie, assualt->aggravated assualt. Similarly, you can put together a database that has the MO's of various criminals in it. If those MO's include the use of metahuman powers, that's just part of the information. But putting together a database which specifically targets a group for registration is unconstitutional, in the same sense that requiring a specific religous, political, or racial group to register would be. I beleive the 'handwave' option is usually includes clairifying what counts as a justified use of force in crime prevention and aprehension by non-police agents (ie, civilians), and what the procedures are for testifying in court as a consequence. Such laws may affect people with metahuman powers, but they don't specifically target those that have them.

Re: People with Powers Heh - I'm reminded of an observation made in (I think) GURPS Ancient Greece: "In terms of game mechanics, one of the reasons the greek phalanx was so superior was because their swords were an inch longer than their opponent's." That is to say, when it comes to statistics, even a little bit (such as up to 10 extra points for 10% of the population, or one side of a major battle having swords that are an inch longer than their foes) is going to have a major effect on large patterns.

Re: WWYCD: Nestleader: The Game Jake the Troll - would play the game, think it to be kinda fun, but would get turned off by having to play a bad guy. He'd cancel his 30-day account, completely miss any sort of connection with the real world, and go back to making fun of WoW as 'unrealistic" as compared to the real-life simulation of CoH. Icon - doesn't have time for video games. Would be mildly disgusted that people would WANT to play criminals. Wouldn't catch the link. Shinji Miromoto - Would probably notice the kharmic corruption involved in the process. Widower - is more likely to come at it from the other end, whereby he notices a marked increase in the efficiency of the Viper nests in his home town. Backtracking along that, he'd find the video game servers.

Re: [Critique] Sample Mental Powers Reminds me of a power is in Deadlands: Hell on Earth. If you held a certain relic (Templar sword, I think), you could state someone's full name, and start reading off their crimes. By the time you finished a recitation of their sins, they'd die. The trick is that, regardless of where you or they were, they'd know where you were and what you were doing. Of course, as a Templar relic, they actually had to be guilty of a crime worthy of death, so it was actually relatively safe to use. Except for the whole "they know where you are and are coming to get you" aspect of it...

Re: Creative or merely munchkin I'm in the 'it's unnecessary' camp as well - abort to Dodge can use any form of movement, anyway - flight/leaping/swimming/running, and yes, teleporting. The game mechanic is the same. The issue of an abort to Dodge is whether or not you reacted fast enough to get out of the way; even with teleport, there's still a chance of getting shot before you hit the TP button. Just purchase the Flying Dodge martial art, name it "teleport outta the way", and call it good. For a variant effect: Combat Teleport: DCV +6, nonpersistent (-1/4), costs END (-1/2), AoE (1 hex, +1/2) leaves psychic residue (-1/4). 45 active, 23 real.

Re: I have created a Regulation Act Make it an in-game plot point (rather than a plot hole) that the database is secure, AND NO ONE CAN FIGURE OUT HOW THE FEDS DID IT. Current theories are as follows: 1. Relevant super-genius hackers already work for the government, and have designed the system with people like them in mind. 1a. A dedicated, Borg-like individual is permanently jacked inot the system to monitor it. 2. The information is stored in an alternate dimension. 3. Someone in the government made a deal with an obscure god of Secrets. 3a. there is a literal Deus Ex Machina in there; one of the metaphysical heroes (godling, Sorcerer Supreme, whatever) used a Divine Word as a password, and it secured the entire system by accident. Sure, you can hack it, if you can guess the True Name of the 8th Ring of Xin Shao's favorite Pet from the Dynasty of Broken Jade... 4. It's not really secure, but the hackers aren't letting anyone know until the time is right. 5. It has been successfully hacked, but the individuals used a social hack. But even with a success, the information seemed...tainted, somehow. Everyone involved in the social hack has come to ruin, and the information has been mysteriously lost. 6. the database is actually a giant Rabbit Garden: something to give super-hackers something to aim at. The real information is stored offline in a cell structure, with only the specific case handlers for specific metahumans knowing their real identities. EDIT - in short, it's easier to hire a telepath and pry it out of the hero's brain than it is to get it from the MetaDB.

Re: Jedi Mind Trick? (Emphasis added) - in the case you describe, the SFX defines the group, and the GM should require that the player take the "flashed as the appropriate sense". It's not a required rule because it's possible to take a SFX that doesn't link the new/unusual sense to any of the traditional 5 sense groups. For example, I can concieve of a power that emulates the ability of sight through physical material, but isn't actually part of the character's optic system - maybe it's a Thundercats-style "sight beyond sight", or something. If that particular SFX was game-specific (and thus had various counters already built into the campaign) then I'd be OK with leaving it as Unusual: the bad guys will likely have similar senses that are in the same Unusual category, so everyone's on a more-or-less even playing field. But if it was in an anything-goes Superhero game, I'd proabably require that they link it to a normal sense (probably mental) unless they gave a really good reason for it not to be.

Re: Jedi Mind Trick? You can't take invisibility vs. the Unusual group - just specific powers in it. Which is one of the reasons why GM's need to watch out for the Unusual group - it tends to completely invalidate powers like Invisibilty. One way to keep that from happening is to require that sensory powers link up with one of the 'normal' sense groups, unless they have a really, really, REALLY good reason for them not to. In contrast, taking Invisibility vs. Combat Sense and Danger Sense and Precognition tend to be a munckiny thing to do, as well. Re: the cost of "human mind only" as a disadvantage - how common are non-humans as plot elements in the story the character is going to be in? I'd argue that force powers tended to work on "humanoid" rather than "human", though - they worked fine on most alien species except for those specifically resistant to them. "sapient biological only", maybe? (for -1/4; doesn't include cameras, animals, and robots.) EDIT - I'd also add the "only when not attacking" limitation on invisibility, as the Jedi Mind Trick didn't seem to be a combat power.