Pattern Ghost

On things like spell or power descriptions, don't put down the game mechanics in standard format. Instead, write it descriptively, so that the player can picture what's happening. So, instead of Mystic Bolt: 2d6+1 RKA, Gestures (Two hands, throughout), Incantations (throughout), Full Phase, Concentration Half DCV, Reduced Range (25") you write, "Arcane Bolt: The wizard creates a bolt of pure magical energy, which strikes his enemies for 2d6+1 killing damage. This spell is slow, but powerful, using the caster's full action phase. The caster needs to make arcane gestures with both hands, and chant clearly while casting the spell, it will fail if he is prevented or interrupted. The caster will be at half DCV throughout the spell. This attack has a range of about 50 meters (yards)." Of course, you can just make a note of all of the common conditions for each spell, such as Gestures and Incantations at the top of the magic section on the character sheet, explaining that all of the spells require the caster to be able to make his G&I. And if you write a better spell description in that format, it'll have just as much "flavor" as any other game's spell descriptions.

I accidentally had another thought on characters: Don't use the big dumb strong guy as a type. Or any other type that encourages the lower common denominator for roleplaying. No need to get anyone off on a bad foot. Oops, just had another thought: Each character should have some unique ability. Whether it's a really great stealth roll for a rogue, or a wizard's magic, or a priest's ability to heal by his faith, or a demi-human's unique abilities (dwarven bump of direction, nose for precious minerals, or elven dex and spd, and keen vision and hearing, etc.) AND a chance to use them at least once.

LOL, that's pretty much all I've ever used. Call me clichéd.

I think Alibear hit the nail on the head, really. It's not the low power end that encourages sameness in characteristics, it's the "low-medium" end, the 75-75 or so, where you have NCM and enough points to both max out vital stats and buy all the things you have on your wish list for your character concept. With 25+25 or 50+50, which are more in line with gritty low-level adventuring, characters will be more forced to choose between stats and abilities. Besides that: How can characters created within a system with so many options really be "all the same" just because there's a clustering of characteristics around certain points? My 15 STR fighter and your 15 STR thief probably look a LOT different once you get down to the real meat of the characters, which are the sklls, special abilities, and background. Even at higher point totals, if your players are building to concept, you shouldn't have too much similarity. I have yet to see any two characters submitted with anything close to the same concept. In any game, by any player of any experience level. It could happen. It just isn't that big of a problem IME. Just my .02.

If it takes something as extreme as that to challenge your PCs, I'd love to see what they're capable of. OK, I know you didn't mean it exactly that way. But, do you really need to go beyond 12 SPD? Beyond 10, even? My game has a DEX range of 20 to 33 and a SPD range of 5 to 8. That's five players, three of which have DEX 20, SPD 5. The other two are the team MA and the team speedster. It's really not too hard to challenge this team. I don't think I'd have to go to any extraordinary means to build the bullet time type effect your describing at a challenging level. Buy a high SPD and a big gob of Lightning Reflexes. Buy him a movement multipower that lets him zip around. Buy another MP with various stock speed effects as already mentioned, or as written in some of the published characters. Desolid, with the FX affecting it being area attacks, area effect Hand Attacks, AE TK, missle deflection, skill levels to offset time penalties, speed reading, some small transforms, change environment, etc. Buy tons of DCV levels. Heck, buy tons of hardened armor and KB resistance and call it "Nah-Nah, Ya Missed Me" for SFX. (You could also give that one "all or nothing" so that if an attack penetrates the armor or does KB, it has full effect. Otherwise, a clean miss can be simulated.)

I'd go that one step further and say "Supers who are four-color don't get to act like characters from graphic novels."

This is a tough one. I'd say KISS is definately good advice. Let's see... Characters should: Be low points. Maybe 50+50 or so. Tough enough to get the job done. Simple. Don't load each one down with skills lists or custom powers for cinematic play. I'd even avoid martial arts at first. Everything that needs to be calculated should be pre-calculated. Each character should have a chance to use one or more skills in the scenario. Write some into the scenario if possible. Naturally, eliminate everything marked "optional." Use only the simplest powers, with basic limitations. You might consider only giving out 2 pt OCV-only levels and 8 point All Combat Levels. Saves some explaining about ranged vs. melee application of the 3 and 5 pt levels, but still gives them something juicy to play with. You can use the activation roll method for partial armor if you're inclined to use realistic armor. It's fast and reasonble. Have two of each archetype you're bringing to the table. This does two things: First, chances are if someone wants an archetype, they'll have a crack at getting the one they want. It's a one-shot, so it's cool to have some duplications. Second, it shows how two characters of the same basic type can be different. Should have interesting, but brief, background stories. Encourage the players to put themselves in the places of their characters. All I can think of offhand. Heck, I'll write up some sample characters if I get bored here tonight. Scenario: Should be straightforward. Might steal a fairly well-known plot. Examples: Seven Samurai/Dirty Dozen, the PCs have to save a town from an outside threat. Romeo and Juliet: Can the characters help the starcrossed lovers from feuding families find true love? Can they do it when the potential inlaws are using evil magic and demonic minions in their feud? (That one would be heavy on roleplay, with some swashbuckling, I think.) Harry Potter/Typical Teen Coming of Age: The heroes are the player's ages more or less, and have to deal with a threat while either gaining the respect of, or avoiding the scrutiny of, their elders. Or both. Uh. Some plots don't work b/c they focus on a single character too much. The classic dungeon crawl to get the maguffin that's needed to accomplish something else is always useful. Should have at least a handful of interesting NPCs filling key roles. For a short game, try to focus the interaction on key figures and on anyone the PCs chose to interview. Should have a three-dimensional antagonist with clear goals. Suppose the party is travelling, oh, say South. They hit the next little hamlet on their journy only to find out that a troll is holding the Southbound bridge hostage. Now, they've got to get rid of that troll. Of course, he's too tough to get rid of easily -- far, far too tough -- so it's time to negotiate. Suppose the troll has a legitamte grievance? What if he's a disgruntled veteran from the Dark Lord's army who got shafted out of his retirement and has no other way to make a living? Encouraging alternate solutions and RPing is cool, even with the villains. Should have at least one good fight. Any combat should support the story, though, and if the PCs avoid it through ingenuity, all the better. Umm, I'm out of ideas. Just figured I'd toss a few things out. Hope not too much of it was too obvious.

Definately! Harry does his blasting with curses!

I agree on the banality of comic book ethics, but if a group agrees to play within a certain genre (or subgenre), they're obligated to abide by the conventions of that genre.

Sounds like an interesting investigative scenario. You'll need to decide about how realistically you want to hold the heroes to any evidence they obtain by B&E, since in the real world, none of it would be admissible. On the authorities not trusting characters with killing attacks...how would they know the difference? KA is game mechanic distinction, and on average a normal attack of the same DC is just as destructive. Anything 10d6 normal and over has a good chance of killing or putting into critical condition an average normal, so as far as the authorities are concerned, all these guys are using lethal force. Now, if they've all gone to NNDs, AVLDs, Entangles and Ego Attacks and the like, and can't inflict BODY, then the authorities may notice a difference, since there won't be much if any collateral damage. It's probably safest for them to attack weaker looking opponents at less than full power at first if they don't want accidental deaths. (Or pulling a punch, though I don't see the utility of that maneuver, when you're only going to use it on weak opponents anyway and don't need to get full stun on the attack. The penalties aren't worth the trade off when you can just crank down the dice of the attack.) I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for, but hopefully some folks with better responses will wonder along soon. I'm glad you have your players back on track and into the game though. Best of luck.

Hey, that's me most days.

You can still change in combat, without any adders. It takes a full phase to change powers in combat and a skill roll. Out of combat takes more time, but no skill roll. Edit: The +1/2 advantage is to change in combat as a half phase action.

This is just a character concept I was dinking around with. I think for the extremely limited powers disad, I'd keep it within a set of dieties/spirits pre-defined at character generation, but each one would have a list of appropriate abilities. The lists might be expanded upon within concept, but everything should still be pretty tightly focused and not too powerful. An example might be Anansi. You'd get some spider powers, like clinging, 360 degree sight, an entangle with lots of limitations (good for tying up normals) on one side, then on the other side, you'd get wisdom/cunning related powers, maybe some mental defense, PER bonuses, stealth powers, or whatever's appropriate. I'm thinking in-game, you have two major limits with this: First, you only get to pick off of your pre-defined lists. Maybe there are other abilities available, but if they're not on the list, which is made out of game time, then your character simply doesn't know about them. Second, you have to swap out the entire pool to change powers to any great degree. You'd be unable to have your Chameleon totem's blending power and your Lion totems HKA and STR at the same time, for instance. This becomes more limiting if you want to (or need to) switch on the fly in combat, b/c it puts a big dent in your skill roll. I think those two reasons justify the -1 level of limited power selection, but in order for them to be limiting, each set of powers has to be tightly focused. Thing about this guy, is he's scalable. I could use him in a pulp type game, or in a supers game just by adjusting his skills and stats and the size of his pool. He's generally intended to be an occult investigator, inspired by the odd crew in the Hellboy series.

Bureaucratics, for manipulating the system. Bribery, ditto. SS: Political Science, ditto Breakfall, because I like the letter "B" and it's good to have. KS: Superheroes (if it's that type of world) Tactics, an essential for a master strategist PS: Instructor/Teacher: for training the minions. SS: Anatomy SS: Physiology (could combine w/Anatomy) SS: Metahuman/Mutant Anatomy and Phsyiology SS: Genetics SS: Biomechanics or Biophysics (need to know how the body works mechanically so you can beef it up. Sort of the way architects know how much stress parts of buildings can handle) Systems Operation: To run lab stuff and for hacking (oops, you already have this one) Computer Programming: ditto Cryptography: for making and breaking codes, maybe for hacking. Security Systems: for securing base and infiltrating others' facilities (a skill that lackeys can be taught too) Contacts out the wazoo.

Contacts would also be good. At a basic level, you might be able to get some useful research information (maybe worth a bonus to a skill roll, or some info about a villain that you can then exploit), while at higher levels you might actually get some material resources or very sensitive information resources.

It is possible to get into an MFA program with a bachelor's in something that's not strictly related, like marketing. Or he could be going for dual degrees.

I don't do spelling flames. My own spelling is pretty lacking nowdays. That was a grammar flame. Actually, it was the attitude I was commenting on. I think the guy has some interesting points, but they aren't being delivered very well with that attitude. It's one thing to say, "In my studies of..." to support an argument, another to disparage someone else's education (or presumed lack thereof) to do so. Wasn't there a saying about elevating yourself by putting others down? Not a good thing. I haven't really been the target of Galadorn's commentary, so I should really butt out, but...I didn't.

I'll second that.

OK, trying to build a small VPP here. This is the concept: The character can call upon the favor of a group of animal spirits and/or minor gods. Each entity confers a pre-defined set of abilities based on their nature. Each time the VPP is used, the character takes on some of the psych limits of the entity granting the power, and possibly other disads. (Up to here is easy.) Now, here's the catch: The character doesn't always get answered by the entity he's calling on. Sometimes, there's no answer, and sometimes another entity answers. For instance: If the character calls upon a warlike entity for some combat prowess, he might instead be answered by a trickster entity. Maybe the warlike entity is busy, or maybe the collective opinion is it's better the character use guile to escape. For whatever reason, the character doesn't always get what he requests in the form of aid, but most of the time he gets something. (Note: He doesn't get direct communication with these empowering entities. The concept I'm working with is that they are pretty non-verbal, either animal spirits or very primative gods who don't think in terms the character fully understands.) Here's what I have so far: Skill is PRE-Based. Pool Cost: 30 Control Cost: 15 Advantages: None. Disadvantages: IIF: Mask (-1/4); Side Effects (Minor, Always Occur throughout VPP Use. Psych Limits or other Disadvantages appropriate to entity.) (-1/2); Very Limited Powers: Pre-defined sets of powers by entity, no mix/matching, limited number of entities (5 max, haven't built these) (-1). Last disadvantage: Successful Skill Roll Might result in another entity answering. I'm thinking this is about a step below No Choice of How Power Changes (-1/2), so maybe put it at -1/4? The GM would decide which powers activate in this case, and on the one hand, they might not always be useful, but on the other hand, none of the power sets are likely to be totally useless. The entities aren't likely to hose them, as the powers are a gift from them, but they a) might not understand the situation, might be the only entity available at the time, so just don't have the power set the situation demands, c) might know something about the situation the character doesn't, but they can't communicate with him anyway, so he doesn't know that. Opinions?

I did a google for: office building square feet per floor I found this site, which might be handy. Has several office buildings this company owns and some stats on them, incl. square footage, and some have floor plans. Google is your friend. http://www.olympiadevelopment.com/properties.html

Trigger would be useful if it does work like a landmine.

So, your college doesn't have a requirement to master basic grammar before getting into grad school? Interesting. When you learn to use commas properly, then you get to be condescending about your education.

Don't forget Limited Range, Beam, and No Knockback (if not using NND option) modifires. OAF, of course, and probably charges.

Speaking of world building, here's an article by Patricia C. Wrede with a boat-load of woldbuilding questions. Might not need quite that many for your game, but it might be worth a perusal anyway: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/worldbuilding1.htm

Toadmaster: I can't believe you noticed KS's avatar with Black Rose's right above it.