Doctor Agenda

Re: Your "2010" Pet Gaming Projects

For me:

 

Animated JL for 6th (Big 7)

Vigilante's Guide Book (Coming off of my batgear thread)

6th Update (No way will I finish it, but it is putting all of the characters from the hero books into 6th edition)

 

Recently added Thudercats for 6th

A Vigilante's Guide Book? I'm looking forward to that!

Re: Your "2010" Pet Gaming Projects

I just found out (The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project) that Greys are also known as 'Zetas'. Totally by coincidence, the bounty Challenger's crew is going after is the leader of the Mexican Drug Cartel called 'Los Zetas'. I must find a way to tie the gang in with the Greys. Maybe the leader, El Verdugo, is a Grey hybrid who uses his psionic powers to stay a step ahead of the DEA, the FBI, the Mexican National Police, and the local authorities. Or maybe the original band of GRAFE soldiers the Gulf Cartel hired as enforcers who later became their competitors discovered a crashed UFO in some remote area and have been using salvaged Grey technology all along to get an edge...the FBI describes Los Zetas as the most high-tech Mexican Drug Cartel, they might not know the half of it!

Re: instead of Flying Cars, how about Flying Tanks?

OK, now that's just awesome!

Re: Your "2010" Pet Gaming Projects

That last one has my full attention...

 

"Aliens, why did it have to be Aliens?"

 

QM

It's only just started. A grizzled vigilante has gathered a team to help him defeat his super-powered foes, but first they must collect a $5 million bounty to finance the venture. Everything still seems fairly standard Iron Age fare. But: The paranoid electro/cyberkinetic and the psychokinetic arms and steed summoner are amnesiac escapees from Army psychotronic experiments and got their psi potential from Gray alien DNA spliced into the human genome before the dawn of civilization. The bug guy isn't a guy who turns into a giant bug, he's a giant bug that mimics humans and escaped from Dulce. The dumb brick NPC isn't so dumb, and he's secretly from a subterranean enclave of advanced humans with access to ancient Nordic technology. The one non-alien origin guy in the group, the low-powered vigilante NPC/patron, I have slated to be infected by a piece of invasive technology used by the Reptoids before the rise of mammals.

Re: Who is an Empyrean?

Anyone known by only one name or with 'the' as part of their name: Madonna, Prince, the Rock.

Re: Original Characters

Brute has a normal characteristic maxima' date=' Dr. Agenda. So he has to pay double for anything above 20.[/quote']

 

Gotcha! Thanks for 'splainin'.

Re: Talislantan Hero?

I was very fond of Talislanta, once upon a time, and unusually for me, never converted any of it to Hero. I decided to let this one alone. However, the racial package deals needed could be fun.

No elves, but just about every-damn-body has pointed ears.

Re: Your "2010" Pet Gaming Projects

This year's pet gaming projects are the campaigns Under a Broken Moon, inspired by the Thundarr the Barbarian animated series and HP Lovecraft; and Justice Asylum, a conspiratorial Champions game where aliens and secret races are responsible for super powers and technology in a setting superficially similar to the typical superhero world.

Re: Dulce Base: The new Area 51?

All the cool kids believe reptoids secretly rule the earth. I was just looking at Susano's Montauk Project thread in the Pulp forum, and the next place I look I find another thread with more stuff I can use for my conspiratorial Champions game.

Re: The Montauk Project

Sorry to be a threadromancer, but I've recently started a conspiratorial Champions campaign (no mutants, and radiation accidents are never really accidents), and this stuff is gold. Off to find out more about the Orions and Sirians.

Re: Original Characters

Well, that looks terrible, despite looking fine on edit, which makes it too tricky to fix in a reasonable amount of time. Hopefully it's not too hard to decipher.

I was hoping with the new look, this problem finally got fixed.

Re: Original Characters

Challenger (Jay Anders)

Value Char Base Cost Characteristics: 80 Abilities: 124 Total: 204

15 Str 10 5 Base: 100 Disadvantages: 100 XP: 4

18 Dex 10 24 Points Disadvantage

15 Con 10 10 5 DNPC 8-: Ex-wife (Marlene, two kids in college)

9 Bod 10 -2 10 Hunted 8- by Criminals He’s Put Away

18 Int 10 8 15 Hunted 8- by Agents and Villains

15 Ego 10 10 5 Monitored 8- by Authorities

20 Pre 10 10 10 Psych Lim: Dedicated to Fighting Crime

12 Com 10 1 15 Psych Lim: Driven to Overcome Limitations

5 PD 3 2 10 Psych Lim: Protective of Innocents

5 ED 3 2 10 Psych Lim: Won’t Murder

4 Spd 2.8 12 5 Reputation 8- as B-List Masked Crime Fighter

5 Rec 6 -2 15 Soc Lim: Secrets (Identity and Line-crossing)

30 End 30 0 Damage: 3d6 Str, 5d6 Punch/Kick, 10d6 ‘Thump Punch’

25 Stn 25 0 CV: 6, +1 with Martial Art

Cost Ability Born: 1961

2 Running: +1” to 7” at 1 End Career: FBI Agent (Retired)

14 Martial Art (Dodge, Fast Strike, Joint Lock, Eyes: Dark Brown

Leg Sweep) Hair: Brown

1 Use Art with Clubs Race: Caucasian

9 Acrobatics 13-, Acting 13-, Break Fall 13- Height: 5’7”

6 Bugging 13-, Climbing 13- Weight: 165 lbs

12 Computer Programming 13-, Concealment 13-, Criminology 13-, Deduction 13-

7 Electronics 13-, Forensic Medicine 13-, KS: Law Enforcement World 11-

2 KS: Organized Crime 11-, KS: US Criminal Law and Procedure 11-

10 Interrogation 13-, Language: Spanish (Idiomatic), Lockpicking 13-

9 Paramedic 13-, PS: FBI Agent 11-, Scholar, Scientist

3 Sciences: Criminal Psychology 11-, Kinesiology 11-, Medicine 11-

12 Security Systems 13-, Shadowing 13-, Stealth 13-, Streetwise 13-

6 Systems Operation 13-, Tactics 13-

5 WF: Common Melee Weapons, Karate Weapons, Small Arms

3 Combat Level: +1 with Eclectic Martial Art

10 ‘Thumper’: +5d6 HA (-1/2), at 4 End w/ STR, OAF-Wonder Tech Baton (-1)

10 Ultra-flex Battle Armor: 5rPD/5rED, OIF (-1/2)

3 Visor: Night Vision, OIF (-1/2)

Notes: For years, Anders used masked vigilante identities to get evidence against or stop criminals he couldn’t touch within FBI procedure. He used performance-enhancing drugs until they took too great a toll on his health. His recent resignation was clouded by suspicion both of drug use and illegally obtained evidence. He now fights crime full-time under his most reputable costumed persona, but has suffered setbacks to his operations due to his enemies hiring supers to eliminate him, including loss of arsenal, base, contacts, crime lab, deep cover, most of his gadgets, safe house, and souped-up car. He should retire from crime-fighting completely, but he won’t. He just needs backup.

Re: Original Characters

Shouldn't Brute's Str be 40?

Re: Who is an Empyrean?

Dennis Rodman

Re: Who is an Empyrean?

Brad and Angelina

Re: How to Build: Team Communicator

Thanks for the input. If one of the players wasn't running a cyberkinetic, I wouldn't give them a chance of this working when in RL the FBI is after this guy and can't find him. OTH, a gang this size operating in the field can't be entirely restricted to narrow beam encrypted transmissions. I figure even with their limited resources they can get intercept on guard #3 using a walkie talkie to check in.

We have an acrobatic detective, an ex-special forces guy who summons a psychokinetic medieval armory and horse, the cyberkinetic, an alien bug guy with scent tracking, and a brick. They've already rescued a couple of kidnaped girls from a Los Zetas party out in the desert, and have captured one of their soldiers for interrogation. I figure clever interrogation of the prisoner (maybe let him get to a radio and see what he does), the cyber guy gets some kind of read, we find a place where El Verdugo has been and the bug guy gets the scent, and eventually they get him after a couple more fight scenes.

Or maybe one of the players will get an NSA contact after tomorrow's adventure, after a day of lousy rolls.

I was with that particular agency my last year of service, although I wouldn't have been worth 3 points as a contact. I had a t-shirt that said 'In God We Trust, All Others We Monitor', until my CO made me throw it away.

Re: How to Build: Team Communicator

True that, it's a GM build, so ymmv.

If radio does not have directionality assumed, it is the only detect for which that is the case. It's built as a detect, detects give you a general direction for the source.

I'm not sure if range is 'built-in' to the Radio sense group, I don't have a book handy, but I'm thinking it isn't and in the case of Radio Listen/Transmit and HRRP the person is noting radio transmissions that are 'impacting' the receiver, which may be a good reason for not being able to determine how far away the source is. The only reason we can guesstimate the range for sound is knowledge of how loud the source 'should be', but it's hard to know for sure if a sound is faint because it's far away or because it's weak, without using a hearing sense that's 'active'.

Unusually, this stuff actually matters for the next couple of adventures. The crew is brand-new, recruited by a grizzled vigilante who has lost the war on crime because his enemies started using metahumans (ultras in this game) against him and was not only badly injured but lost almost all of his resources. So he decided to recruit his own ultras. Unable to finance the team, he is leading them on an undercover mission to capture 'Z-3', the head of the notorious Los Zetas drug cartel, on whom the USA has a $5 million bounty. Los Zetas have a sophisticated communications system and military training, and the team is trying to communicate without their transmissions being intercepted while also trying to use the gang's radio communications to locate their leader, who moves around constantly, including border crossings.

Re: Using Current events: The Gulf Oil Spill

Why cave in to Teleios? Real superheroes will find a way to cap the spill themselves!

This would make a good premise for a new team, too: We need an oil hydrology expert, a deep sea diving expert, a brick who can stand super high pressure, and a telekinetic who can work with liquids....

Re: Avatars: The -other- Patriots

I love Gestalt, it was a great inspiration to my Alts campaign, but I would really love to see a The Ultimate Avatar book.

Re: How to Build: Team Communicator

Perfectly valid build. I'd suggest No Direction (-1/2) also applies, unless the gadget lets you determine what direction the signal is coming from. This would mean that all you would know about the location of a radio signal is that it is in range, which is all most radios will tell you. That would take it down to 5 points. This is a fairly trivial gadget that is useful in moving the plot along, so why make it pricy?

All an Audio-Only HRRP gets you is more channels: Shortwave, TV (audio), military frequencies, cellphone band, etc. Also for 5 points, though even reducing the Audio-Only limitation to (-1/4) still yields 5 points (5.33). My somewhat more useful version costs the same, which maybe it shouldn't. Maybe because I'm speaking 5th and you're speaking 6th (let a new player borrow my 6th). I don't mind saying they cost the same number of points but the advanced (HRRP) version costs much more money.

BTW, do you have a background in radio, too? You sound like you know what you're talking about.

Re: Gestalt: Architects of Change: What Would *You* Like to See

I'll definitely be buying Architects of Change.

Re: How to Build: Team Communicator

Good point about the fuel charge, thanks! I thought a fuel charge would be appropriate because only the time it's in active use would count, and that probably works for a cell phone that sits in your pocket when you're not using it to talk to someone-mine lasts 2 or 3 days on a charge-but a set like this would see more constant use and the limited charge would be more of a problem.

Re: How to Build: Team Communicator

Thanks for the input, gentlemen.

Re: How to Build: Team Communicator

If Audio Only was only -1/4 though, then a video headset would cost the same, which seems wrong.

I'm split on No Direction. On the one hand, most HRRP devices lack direction. On the other hand, nothing in the sense group specifically denies directionality, and I could see someone with an innate ability to sense radio signals being able to tell the direction, so I guess a limitation would be appropriate. Not sure of the exact value, but at this point we're talking +/- 1 RP, so it's fine.

Exactly, it has to make at least a little difference on cost since it's a significant difference in functionality.

Re: How to Build: Team Communicator

where did you see lack of directionality? I am not familiar with this' date=' and would assume that HRRP would already be non directional by nature. I could be wrong, audio only at -1/2 seems high, maybe -1/4. I think you might be analyzing it a bit more in depth than you need, however having said that your game, if you like it this in depth go for it, I would however put most of the lims together as a single "Team Radio limitations" limit to put on the character sheet as a space saver.[/quote']

 

Page 166 in 5th Ed, Revised. So, if HRRP is non directional by nature, how would you go about getting directionality for it? A radio direction finder is not an unusual military gadget.