phoenix240

Man, I thought the original looked like a variant picture of Wolverine/Logan.

Its a good picture but speaking for myself, I'm just been a little writer's blocked lately.

Its not the food. Its the ad.... https://www.avclub.com/halo-top-is-not-fucking-around-with-this-horror-movie-o-1802708269?utm_content=Supper&utm_campaign=SF&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing

The 90s comic version would be the costume of many pouches.

Allot of right at wire entries this time, good to more people tossing their hats in the ring.

Got some good competition *crosses fingers*

Colt 24 Malt Liquor Target Character becomes extremely drunk though there are no mechanical changes alterations are role play driven (however the character would act when drunk to an extreme extent ) and cosmetic(they look and act drunk to observers ). The lack of physical impairment can be a boon or a drawback. Using any Old wive's drunkness cure will snap the victim out of it immediately otherwise the effect ends in 24 hours. Doesn't effect nonliving beings such as undead and robots (including A.Is). Effects are Invisible to typical sight, hearing, smell, etc but senses which detect magic or demonic energies could detect the initial "attack" and its lingering effect. There is no limit to the number of being that may be cursed at the same time but the gestures must be repeated for each one. User must pantomine (or actually take one, there is no effect but its very good Malt liquor) taking drink then "pour one out" for the intended target or get them to take a drink. The do not have to speak or directly indicate the target in anyway and can give drinks to bystanders which will tasty (if they like Malt liquor) but completely mundane. The bottle is normal and can be broken normally but will reform in the owners back pocket a day later. It never runs empty but the user is immune to intoxication from its contents. The contents are always pleasantly cold. The label is a common type of brand of Malt Liquor but worn and torn as if very old so difficult to read. The proof number might be 666 but its hard to tell.

Next up: a bottle of Malt liquor that can get anyone drunk for 24 hours straight.

Brickhouse: The woman now known mostly as Brickhouse was a highly skilled thief for hire, Tamara Johnson. She specialized in acquiring high end, high tech items and industrial espionage often contracting to various criminal organizations and shadier corporations. Hired to steal information on a genetic enhancement project from a lab that turned out to be a Viper front, She was captured and rather than waste such potential, the head researcher used her for their experiments. The torment was excruciating and seem to go on and on. Brickhouse doesn't full recall most of he experience or much of her life before, just a blur of hazy images and flashes of pain and experimentation. After some unkown period the experiments ended. Brickhouse was transformed: her former slim athletic physique filled out with over a hundred pounds of muscle and over a foot in height. She had superhuman strength and endurance and more her body could adapt to almost any environmental conditions and trauma. The experiment had also conditioned her mind and left her programmed to obey her creators but notably not their Viper backers. She was allowed to do Viper's bidding for awhile but then her creators decided to go on their own. When Viper tried to reclaim their investment Brickhouse attacked them under her masters orders, destroying most of the Nest in the process. The facility's power core was damaged into the fight, flooding the area with intense radiation, powerful enough that the pain of adapting knocked Brickhouse unconscious and forced the scientists to abandon their creation. Brickhouse awoke. days later. buried in radioactive wreckage. She freed herself and, naked, faintly glowing (fortunately a largely harmless side effect of her adaptation) and lost in a haze of half memories, stumbled around downtown Bay city, instinctively lashing out if threatened before Myriad and her follow heroes intervened. They calmed her down and helped her including draining off the excess radiation in her system and partially restoring her memory. Brickhouse is currently serving as a member of the Defenders and is quite enamored of her new powerful form so, despite the ordeal, has few regrets and is content to leave her criminal past buried. Though it likely won't stay that was for long since both her life as a thief and brief stint as a Viper enforcer have left a substantial history of ill will in the underworld.

The binary aspect does make it more difficult. It comes down a judgement call. There's definitely a range. I'd say if the wand doesn't light up, glow or in some way indicate that its something something, its not Obvious. IPE makes its easier, perhaps much easier to conceal use of the ability so it doesn't automatically give away its use and the attacker's position or provide direct evidence. If it just looks like a stick than apparently the user has the power or doesn't need it to generate the effect to casual observers with no extraordinary ability to tell otherwise. The setting matters. In a world were magic, curses, etc are common knowledge the Colt or the wand might be Obvious. The Col's appearance is going to problematic in some settings and situations. But if an Obvious Focus that provides Invisibility stays visible when the Power is activated even if 'logically' hat would in part or totally negate the Power I lean on the side of Inobvious in this context and combination of mechanics (IPE, Delayed Effect) and desired effects. The Colt 24 isn't, IMO, as limited as silenced and flash suppressed pistol. A wand or cursed remote control would be less obvious but the choice is binary. But those would be less able to be use for intimidation in most cases. IMO

I think its a case of reasoning from effect and sfx. I'll lay out the details so everyone can see where I'm coming from and in case I left anything out. The setting is the modern world as we know it. Magic is generally thought to be the stuff of myths , entertainment, conman and the mentally ill. It doesn't function as a gun but can be mistaken as one on a superficial examination with mundane senses and abilities. It has no bullets and couldn't fire them it it did. There is no muzzle flash or even the most quiet of discharge or even recoil when used.to connect it to the user. it can be disarmed, stolen, dropped, etc in the course of fight without unusual effort. A metal detector would pick it up. Anyone can use it once they figure out how. Once its used on a target it has no further effect until they are injured/killed, no more than any other detailed replica/toy. One could stick it in their mouth and repeatedly pull the trigger and nothing will happen until the effect resets when the victim is effected. If some one looks at it, as its used or even immediately after use there's nothing about it that hints at what will happen in 24 hours to mundane means. 24 hours later the target suffers injury and when it happens there is only the most tenuous connection to the item in question.It can be deduced, assuming anyone thinks too. The injury inflicted when the target dies is resembles a bullet wound but there is no shell, no casings, no forensic links to the Colt 24, just a hole in the victim that looks like a gun shot. Which would be weird but I don't think it would be enough to make the leap of logic obvious. But that would be situational. The ability the Colt 24 provides is essentially "The Evil Eye" with a Focus. Since so much depends on the situation and context, I'd call the Focus Inobvious and its appearance a slx. It reminds me of thr old "Thor's Hammer" or Iron Man's suit "A Focus isn't always a Focus" discussions. To some degree it varies depending on GM preference on how much the mechanics will shape the narrative or vice versa.

If they intend to use it on them, I'm imagine so. at least for most types and sfx of Danger Sense. Though some forms of it might now or not as well.

In our campaigns, people got Killing Attacks because they thought that's what fit their special effects (Claws, bullets, high intensity focused energy beams, etc). The most mechanical it usually got was that a bit more body was useful against inanimate objects, automatons, entangles and such.

But in those situations is it obviously magical weapon that can invisibly kill people a day later or obviously something that looks like a fire but is a non firing prop gun on further examination which would produce the same reaction an ordinary realistic prop gun? If you pull out a realistic (or even somewhat unrealistic) ordinary toy gun in a sensitive situation, its going to cause alarm thought its a harmless object. The Colt isn't, innately going to cause a bigger reaction as described. That its really deadly isn't immediately obvious even when its used thanks to IPE and the time delay. I always consider the Obvious tag to be mean "does the item clearly produces the effect and/or can be easily traced to the user" For example, If I have a focus that give me +20 Intelligence but looked like a broadsword, is that Obvious? It would be difficult to get through metal detectors and people would react strongly if I whipped it out at Debate Club. But if it produces no observable effect when working its IAF. So pointing the Colt at police officer during a traffic stop is a bad idea but not due to nature of the power but due to the superficial appearance otf the Focus. The character could possible get some benefit from that. For exmaple, a character night be able to use the Colt to bluff an attacker that doesn't know he gun won't affect them for 24 hours. The Colt's power isn't visible and difficult to trace in most games. If you got off a "shot" at the president and nothing happen aside from you being tackled and beaten up by the USS and likely arrested. When they examine your weapon its a prop, no one saw or heard anything happen. You look like some kind of nut or bad practical joker. Then the president dies of a gunshot wound a day later. In the context of a modern world setting will they assume some bizarre coincidence or that the loon at the rally had a magical gun? If you point it at the cop and he shoots you away when the gun is later examined does it look like the cop was actually in danger from the cursed gun or like he react to an idiot that pointed a fake weapon at him?' You get shot either way but the consequences would be signficantly different in the former case. If the Colt gave the ability to fly (with no visible sign that it was doing so) but was otherwise harmless. Would the reaction be any different in any of the hypothetical situations? The Limitation value seems very context dependent. In some games, it might be Obvious (magic is well known, for instance) but I was thinking of it in the context of the "real world". where things like that were widely known to be impossible. Context aside, I think the question comes down to is it Obvious as a focus for what it does, the Power it grants. It looks like a gun and people will, logically react to it as gun which is going to have repercussion in game, some positive, some negative, but I'd call its appearance SFX. And I thought it was delayed death that would be the tricky part. My Hero muscles are rusty. But my call is that to be an Obvious Focus for the delayed death effect there would have to be some immediately clear (to the most people) sign that it had done something to cause the person's later death to the observing its use. If no one saw it, the Powers effects would be invisible. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the victim was doomed to die (or suffer grievous injury) in a day, at least not easily, if they weren't there to see the initial use. Which is easier to conceal, downplay or use without drawing attention since its completely quiet and invisible.

He can change to three different forms: man, wolf, and wolf-man. His mass is constant, so he’s a very large wolf. Not freakishly so, but still large. He heals quickly, is not affected my moonlight, and wounds from silver heal much more slowly than normal, though all injuries will heal without scar. As a wolf, his thoughts are much more instinct-driven, but his sense of hearing and smell are vastly sharper, and he’s a much faster runner. The wolf-man is about halfway between in both abstract reasoning and sensory acuity, and speech is a bit more difficult; he mostly uses it for intimidation. He can change just a part of himself, but it’s very difficult, requiring a great deal of concentration. Also, he can cast a few minor spells, mostly wards, especially against scrying so his apartment and office are very secure places as far as eavesdropping and extradimensional intrusions go.

Mileage will vary. There's allot of attire in comics that wouldn't stand up to a vigorous workout let alone a fight. It would depends on exactly how she fought... or if she cared about potentially exposing her goods at all. Allot of non bullet proof super dudes show off their rippling pecs, after all,

But if you see it happen, its possible you can relate allot of not obvious effect to the item. If someone had remote control that did the same thing: they point it at someone and a day later they appear to be shot its possible someone might connect the effect or, in the context of a modern day setting with no knowledge of magic are they going to assume its some kind of odd accident. I wouldn't rule it much different from a role playing perspective than "Harvey pointed that fake gun at Ralph and a day later (if they even know the exact time) Ralph got shot." If they even think of that, I don't see most people jumping to the conclusion that Harvey must have some kind of magical gun that invisibly silently shoots people a day later. It feels like assuming a bit of genre/medium savvy. "The GM mentioned him doing that, it must be important". When those sorts of coincidences happen all the time in the real world. Even if Harvey had a grudge against Ralph. it seems likely you'd assume he might had something to do with Ralph getting shot (like hiring a killer) than he has an evil magical gun.

This picture didn't generate as much interest unfortunately . But once again both entries were well done and stuck close to the image as presented. The similarities were interesting, neither was a hero or villain in the traditional sense but more social tertiary characters. Was it her outfit that made her seem less like an active character? I wonder if I had posted another version of her in a more subdued outfit would the outcome have been different? I was expecting some magical/sorceress types as submissions. The dancer angle surprising and shared assumption her extra limbs were pointless. But I must choose a winner so I think I'll give it to Weaver. Her background had more meat to it and, IMO, more to hang scenarios and encounters on. It provides an interesting rationalization for certain genre tropes too. It reminded me of Eufiber from the Aberrant game but with a more palatable origin. Good Work! Christopher, you're up.

In fairness, that is essentially what the Colt 24 is doing: cursing its target to die in 24 hours in a very specific way this would allow a person (say a PC) that discovered the nature of gun to find a way to save a target that had been "shot" before their time was up. But it does seem to violate the guideline that Transform shouldn't directly emulate other Powers. Edit: and it does handle some other issues like what happens in the attack misses or is directed at something other then a living person.

Yeah, similarly you can conceal an ordinary gun but even if this weapon is discovered, it doesn't look like a functional weapon. Its not immediately plain that its a infernal magical weapon that invisibly curses its targets to die a day later. At least in most settings and to most people. I remember a thread along time ago about "deceptive sfx" possibly being an Advantage. This seems like one of those odd situations. Edit: To muddy the waters even further, what if the phantom gun shot left forensic clues? There was a bullet that matched the caliber of the pistol and, despite it being a replica/prop, did match up to ballistic (somehow...) and/or there is evidence that they fired a gun on user. This hypothetical as I don't remember if that was the case with the item.

It looks a lot like a real gun until examined. The user can demonstrate its "not real' in a number of ways. And unless the person using has demonstrated hostility to that person in some fashion is that target automatically going to assume you're intend to murder them? As I mentioned, you could let them panic, dodge as you pull he trigger and absolutely nothing happens. Laugh about having got them good, then shoot them with it. I've seen people laugh off someone pointing fairly realistic looking guns at them because the idea that was real was just so completely out of context. This artifact wouldn't be something you'd use in a combat situation on someone that would have reason to believe its real. There is no connection to the gun. visible sign of it at. and that target doesn't take any effect for a day. If the would be assassin did draw and "fire" it at someone, possibly while saying "Bang" the officer would see nothing happen. Cops don't instantly shot people. If they take the weapon. its a prop gun. A day later, the target suffers a mysterious gunshot wound. If those particular officers hear about, the reason explanation is a weird coincidence unless these kind fo delayed effect weapons and magic are fairly common.

I'm still torn. It looks like a weapon initially bit its easy to demonstrate that its not and no one that seriously looks at it will know its a magical weapon . Heck, let them dodge the "attack" laugh it off as a joke when absolutely nothing seem to happen when you pull the trigger then use it again fire it into the air or at something or something or even let your target examine it. Or point it at them from behind or a similar situation.Though allot of that is part of the IPE Advantage.... The trick issue the context. Its a murder tool not a combat tool. In a way its similar to some issues I've run into with mental powers. They're not at their best in straight forward combat but in other contexts they can be really nasty.

Would the Focus be obvious if it looks like a prop gun when examined and the attack of essentially undetectable and doesn't take effect for 24 hours? Its weird. Some investigating the deaths might draw the connection intuitively but still seems like wouldn't be obvious. And proving it wthout killing someone would be difficult., This s one of those odd situations where a Limitation and a hefty one functions like an Advantage due to how the item would usually be employed and how Hero System's costing is generally focused around usefulness in fairly straightforward combat.

Stonewall grew up with her grandmother in Arizona, her family had come north from Mexico when her father was a child, and made their place in the new country, while her father married an American woman. Her parents died in a car accident when she was five, and she was raised by her grandmother. SHe was something of a tomboy, hanging out with the guys most of the time, and rougher crowds as she got older. She got a job as a mechanic to help make ends meet, and that worked until someone at the bank decided to walk off with money, and lose alot of people their savings. The bank was goign to foreclose on her grandmother's house, and the only way Stonewall could figure out to stop it was to get in on a bank job. SHe was just supposed to be the driver, but when the shooting started, she headed in to help. Then her 'partners' tried to blow the vault. One shot guard and a collapsing roof later, and Stonewall got left behind, not willing to let people die. When the cops got there, they took her in, and she took the fall. She couldn't face her grandmother after she was sent to psion, so she avoided things, and slipped out of town when she served her time. Of course, a super-criminal didn't get many job offers, so she fell in with the only people willing to take her in, and started her career as a professional super-villain. She sends much of her earning to her grandmothr but otherwise contact between them is limited. Why did she decide to go straight? In her own words: So, you want to know why? Geez, you want some big inspiring speech about how I’ve seen the light, and I want to contribute to society? Nah… I guess I’m tired. Oh, I love the fighting and stuff. But I never set out to hurt regular people, folks that don’t deserve it. And it seems more and more that’s what the job was about. And most of the ***holes who deserve it will just get it back from the little guys eventually. Lilly thinks I can do it. And it was nice to help out when those bots attacked. People seemed to like me. Probably just didn’t recognize me. But eventually I’d go down. Probably get my face all over the place and give Gran a heart attack. Guess I want to see if I can do this or not. Stonewall really hasn't forgive herself for letting down her Grandmother. She didn't really want to leave, but couldn't face her. The fighting/drinking/sex was a way to distract herself, but eventually she kind of hit rock bottom, and after meeting the Strykers and then Gaia and Crystal, she's giving herself a chance at redemption. Personality: Stonewall is bold, confident and a little rough around the edges; perhaps masking an inner softness, reserved for a very select few who've earned her trust and affection. Basically a good person at heart, life had hardened her but that core is still there and since meeting Gaia and becoming a parent more of that soft side is showing. She loves them both dearly an would do almost anything to protect them. She wants to reunite with her grandmother but the shame of what she became and the fear of how it would effect her grandmother has so far prevented her from making the step.

Crush: Angela had a fairly normal childhood. Not completely normal. Her parents were both scientists, part of her home was a lab, and while she went to school with normal kids, home usually involved at least a bit of extra education on science, technology, and philosophy. Then the Nazis showed up. As in super-villains, swastikas, and mad science. And it turned out her parents had worked with them, been part of it. And Angela was a...project. So she ran. She'd learned enough to hack into computers for a new identity and documentation. And the school records to get her into college across the country from her parents. She didn't know enough to figure out what she was, and how to hide and protect herself, so she tried to learn all she could in college. Most of that was kind of a moot point once her powers flared and she figured out what kind of project she was. The super-soldier kind. She finished up her studies, and worked on mastering her powers, then tried to figure out what to do. The Capes auditions seemed like a sign. Be a hero, maybe learn more about she was up against. And if all the publicity drew her parents and their friends to her, she'd have backup and contact with the authorities to help stop them.