Weylan

Re: Arcane Thanks, will explore that one.

Re: Arcane Thanks for the suggestions. The GM decided the high levels of Luck would be close enough.

Re: Arcane What about some sort of Change Environment relating to penalties for identification of the hero?

I'm exploring having a power similar to the World of Darkness background "Arcane": "A mystick with a high Arcane may simply "slide away" from view and memory or appear to ordinary to notice. This ability is not invisibility per se and does not conceal a sorceror during combat. If someonw searches for the mage, however, they'll find it a frustrating experience. Somehow, things just happen to cover their quarry's tracks: cameras malfunction, sources disagree, and clues the investigator just knew were in that file no longer exist. " Anybody have an ideas?

Re: New campaign, new member here...

Re: Stupid firearms question Beat me to it. I could see space troops in 0g practicing shooting from mid torso or possibly along the body. Another option include some very advanced muzzle brakes. As mentioned earlier, a gyrojet (preferably one that leaves the muzzle before main ignition sets in) might be better.

Re: New campaign, new member here... I suppose she could have just had a strange green meteor skip through the atmosphere, bringing about a world of superpower do-gooders who have free-run of the planet, but I thought a little bit of real history mixed in made the setting more interesting. There are some pretty darn silly notions in your standard superhero comic, after all. Geez, Basil, don't you think that was a bit harsh?

Re: New campaign, new member here... There are several points (about the law and other things) that still need to be worked out before things really get going. But I agree that A) otherwise-normal looking folks with superhuman powers C) representing a tiny minority of the population could be enough to scare the general population to committing some very unconstitutional actions. And since the GM knows how I feel about insurmountable odds, I expect she'll be gentle in the beginning. Anyway, the current two characters are basically Zeds (unknown, unregistered) to the government. There are rumours coming from the local criminal community about the shadowy Nemesis but he hasn't made enough of a nuisance of himself they haven't pushed to nab him. The other character, a Ninja-type, is new in town and not on the registry either.

Re: Classifying Supers I like Meta myself.

Re: Classifying Supers I considered using the colors, and may yet. I think one reason I didn't is because while the US uses a color system for the terrorist treat, I don't think the UK does, and this particular scale was designed by the Brits and adopted by the Yanks. As I said, the colors would certainly work, and I may use them. The Greek letters were a function of wanting something different for each classification so there wouldn't be so much confusion. If the level was a letter, and the power type was from one to four letters, and. . . well, you get the idea. Which of course would make the colors even more logical. . .

Re: Classifying Supers Thanks, everybody, for the comments and suggestions so far. Here is the link for the draft of the classification:the Masters Paranormal Classification System. The cliff notes version of the setting: a secret nuclear reaction experiment in the late 1930s released a type of radiation that activated a dormant set of genes in a number of individuals, inducing superpowers. In the 90s, the Owen Parr Act banned the use of superpowers in the US; paranormals are required to register and either wear tracking implants or take a vaccine which shuts down the relevant genes. Sorry if the page has format glitches; the serve is fritzing and I won't be able to reload until the end of the week.

Re: Classifying Supers I perused it; it seems to be a good setup. In general, it won't work for our game because while powers vary, they are all (as far as researchers can tell) the result of mutation -- genes switched on due to a specific band of radiation -- so aliens, mystic forces and such wouldn't enter their calculations. However, I talked with the GM and we likely will use your idea of a Threat Level to represent a combination of dangerousness of powers and percieved willingness to use it. Again, this classification is strictly in-setting, so it isn't as useful for gamers as the CKC system.

Re: Classifying Supers Good point. They can in fact run more than 3 spaces if necessary; that was one reason only the power types were western letters, so there wouldn't be confusion if someone was a Gamma-ECM-3. Government being what it is, it is possible ratings may not take into account minor powers, just the obvious or dangerous ones. Also, a number of paras (mostly unregistered) a Zed in one or more slots, Z being "unknown". My character at this point would be a triple-zed since the government only suspects that there is a para in town. Looks cool. I've printed it out so I can study it over the weekend.

Re: Classifying Supers The reason Alpha is at the low end is that the folks developing it don't know what the high end could be. They've never recorded a Theta, but it could happen. For all they knew, paranormals could evolve to the point where there's a universe-altering Omega.

We're about to crank up a campaign. In it, all supers are required to register. The US has pretty much banned paranormal activity unless the government is in charge; other countries may be a little looser with their policies. It seemed logical that there would be a standard classification system as part of the registration. I looked all over but couldn't find one that would work for me. Ended up making one up whole cloth, but would still like to know if there is such a beast in the books, or if a gamer has already tackled the problem. What we came up with is a three part code. The 1st is general power level, represented by a Greek letter (running from Alpha, "augmentations minor and not considered appreciably useful" to Theta, "Augmentations potentially acts on a global scale."), followed by a letter code for power type (ex: T for tranformative, S for superhuman movement (high speed, teleport, flight) and so on), and a number for legal status (from 0 -- no criminal record -- to 4 -- transfelony (ex: genocide)). The PCs will probably be Betas. So the ninja-ish guy who can turn invisible in shadows might be a Beta-C-0 ("augmentation near human maxima, or simulate use of tools; Exceptional physical combat abilities [martial arts, stealth]; No criminal record"). That's what we have so far, but I'm certainly open to improvement ideas from you all. What have folks been using? PS, I'll probably be away from the computer from tomorrow afternoon until Sunday, so don't be annoyed if I don't get back on here this week.