Powerboy

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... My character, who had once been a villain and had a change of heart, was trying to get a date. "So, will you go out with me? I'm not the sadistic monster I once was, you know?" Another player said that should be immortalized in a RPG hall of fame somewhere.

Re: How to kill characters? I've been somewhat following this thread and I haven't been able to see any good ending to this scenario. If the players are not capable of understanding that, sometimes, a storyline ends and the best thing is to start a new one with characters that are an integral part of the new story, well... Eventually, the GM will get so sick of having to run the game that he'll just drop it. I've run into the old D&D mentality but usually in reverse. Its not usually a player wanting the GM to kill his character but rather the player intentionally suiciding the character to 'force' the GM to let him play a different character. I understand why some players do what they do. They get attached to the specific character they are playing and to the situations. Having to restart at a lower power level again and again is also part of it, especially when it is in the same game system. I personally can't think of a situation in any good game where the GM intentionally set up the players to be killed but then I can't think of one where a GM went on and on running a game he didn't want to run. Intentionally killing them can backfire obviously. One slipup, one suspicion that it was intentional and impossible to avoid and, if you are friends, it could lead to other things. I've seen GMs allow players to be killed for doing stupid things or because the player was only mildly interested in the game and was never really paying attention. The only suggestion I can think of is, make their deaths as heroic as possible. If you think the player would intentionally kill the character under the right conditions, give him those conditions. If its arbitrary and you kill the characters without the players' foreknowledge, play it as if the characters have become martyrs or heroes who will be revered forever. Then very quickly get them interested in another game.

Re: Forth wall perception? I'd say the same thing. People, intentionally or not, constantly break the fourth wall and use information the characters don't have or take risks that are beyond heroic and completely into suicidal because the attitude is, "Its just a character." Anytime someone is not playing completely in character, they are breaking the fourth wall. Personally, the reason I stopped reading She-Hulk is because of that. Its funny for a minute. But it makes suspension of disbelief and getting into the story even harder. The only reason I can see for it is if the entire point of the story from the start is to be comedy and likely almost slapstick at that. Of course, gamers tend to often not approach the story 'in character' to begin with. I find that most rpg's are already hard to 'get into' because of people doing things that are untrue to the setting. Personally, I'd find a character who walks around knowing he's a character in a story to be just an annoyance. Now, it would be different if it was a variation on that. Say, a "Princes of Amber" situation where a character who can travel dimensions believes he is from 'the true reality of which all others are a reflection' and has an attitude that all realities except his own are not quite 'real'.

Re: Time Attack - LOL This is cool. I haven't played Champions or any game for long time but one thing that occurred to me is that the simplst way to accomplish this would be a Transform. As I recall, the logic is that it works like a killing attack in the sense that it costs as much and if you could have killed them, you should have a lot of leeway in defining some other fate instead. 'Caught in a timeloop' or 'frozen in a moment of time' could be 'some other fate.' Of course, then there has to be a way out.

Re: When GMs Rewrite the rules The sarcasm was rather obvious. But I must reply for it was not I who got mind controlled. Lucky me. But yes, you have validated my feelings about games that are for the NPCs alone (ie. for the GM alone).

Re: When GMs Rewrite the rules There's a player I used to know that was often criticised for his bad and out of character playing. His argument was that he had been roleplaying for longer than any of us. Another guy I knew would wait until he was gone and then exclaim, 'No. He's been rolling dice longer than any of us. He never roleplayed."

Re: When GMs Rewrite the rules

Re: When GMs Rewrite the rules And the sad part is that as long as the advantages and limitations equaled out to zero, he was allowing stuff like that.

I'll preface this by saying that we all know GMs can rewrite the rules as they please. These are just a couple of examples of it getting ridiculous. I was in a game where one of the players decided to use mind control on one of the other players. He rolls and succesfully hits. Then the GM and the player with the mind control are acting as if that's it, he's mind controlled. I will mention that this GM was not some rookie, he was a veteran Champions GM. The other player says, "Well, roll your dice to see how many times you get my ego." The GM explains he doesn't have to because they had discussed it and its a 'zero dice attack'. We state that while a MC doesn't do any damage, the dice represent how much you got the person's ego by. The GM explains that he knows that but for an attack that does no damage, he's just up and decided that you just succesfully hit and that's it. To make it even more complex, he explains that only works if you buy it as a zero dice attack. It costs nothing to do that. You just declare that it is. If you decide to buy it as an attack where you have to roll dice to get the ego, that's your option. Then it won't automatically work if you make the initial roll. Why would anyone NOT choose his zero dice attack option? There's NOTHING to be gained by not choosing it and it made powers like MC and Mental Illusions almost invincible. I remember after the game, me and another player were out in the parking lot and we looked a each other and said, "What the h*** was that?" Another example, not of actually breaking the rules but abusing them. He had a tendency to make up villains that all has some 'superior' philosophical outlook. We would sit there and have philosophical debates with them. We might as well. The odds of beating any of his NPCs in a fight were approximately zero, just like his zero attack thing. He loved having NPCs on the team (somebody had to be powerful enough to beat his opponent NPCs if there was ever actually a fight). He had one NPC who he swore was made on less points than the players and who had no defenses. Well, if you don't count the fact that he carried a sword that, instead of being a focus, was a summoned creature. It could project a forcefield in an area and protect its wielder. But the character himself technically had no defenses. Oh and, of course, the one drawback of a summoned creature is that its an NPC. Even if the PC has the advantages to control it, its still played by the GM. When the character who can summon the creature is already an NPC, that drawback is rather meaningless. Needless to say, I didn't stay in that game for too long. Watching paint dry was more exciting.

Re: Star Trek's Q Revised Here's a revised version taking into consideration what some people here have said. Q REVISED STR 13 (3 pts.), DEX 14 (12 pts.), CON 30 (40 pts.), BODY 30 (40 pts.), INT 30 (20 pts.), EGO 33 (46 pts.), PRE 25 (15 pts.), COMM 10 (00 pts.), PD 8 (5 pts.), ED 8 (2 pts.), SPD 4 (16 pts.), REC 9 (00 pts.), END 120 (30 pts.), STUN 60 (8 pts.) TOTAL: 237 PTS. SKILLS Bribery 8- (1 pt.), Computer Programming 15- (3 pts.), Area Knowledge: Milky Way Galaxy 15- (3 pts.), Navigation: Space 15- (2 pts.), Navigation: Temporal 15- (1 pt.), Persuasion 14- (3 pts.), Power 15- (3 pts.), Science: Astronomy 15- (3 pts.), Science: Physics 15- (3 pts.), Systems Operation 15- (3 pts.), Transport Familiarity: Space Planes (Space Shuttles) 8- (1 pt.), Knowledge Skill: Literature 15- (3 pts.), Knowledge Skill: History 15- (3 pts.) TOTAL: 32 PTS. PERQUISITES Reputation as an extremely powerful entity over a galactic region (this works to his advantage as people tend to stay out of his way while he does as he pleases) 11- (2 pts.) TOTAL: 2 PTS. TALENTS Universal Translator 17- (24 pts.) TOTAL: 24 PTS. POWERS Damage Reduction 75% Resistant vs. Physical, Energy and Mental (180 pts.), Flash Defense 5 each versus sight, hearing and smell (15 pts.), Healing: One Body per turn (Heal Limbs; Resurrection: Can be killed permanently if slain by mental attacks but in the Star Trek Universe, only other Q or other ‘omnipotent’ entities would have that level in mental powers; No Endurance Cost. +1/2; Persistent. +1/4; Extra Time: One Turn. -1; Self Only. -1/2) (24 pts.), Life Support: Self-Contained Breathing; Diminished Eating: None; Diminished Sleep: None; Safe Environments: Low Pressure/ Vacuum, High Pressure, High Radiation, Intense Heat, Intense Cold; Longevity: Doesn’t Age; Immunity: All diseases and poisons in the universe (Megascale. +3) (70 pts.), Mental Defense 28 (21 pts.), Power Defense 20 (20 pts.) Multi-Power: Teleportation 800 pts. (800 pts.) Teleportation 20” (Increased Mass x32; Position Shift; No Relative Velocity; Safe Blind Teleport) (100 pts.) = u 10 pts. Teleportation 10” (362 pts.) = u 36 pts. (Increased Mass x30 million or 25 doublings; Safe Blind Teleport; Megascale. +1 1/4: Planetary distances per game inch) Teleportation 10” (399 pts.) = u 40 pts. (Increased Mass x30 million or 25 doublings; Safe Blind Teleport; Megascale. +1 1/2: Planet to moon distances per game inch) Teleportation 10” (471 pts.) = u 47 pts. (Increased Mass x30 million or 25 doublings; Safe Blind Teleport; Megascale. +2: Earth to sun distances per game inch) Teleportation 10” (580 pts.) = u 58 pts. (Increased Mass x30 million or 25 doublings; Safe Blind Teleport; Megascale. +2 3/4: Solar system distances per game inch) Teleportation 10” (761 pts.) = u 76 pts. (Increased Mass x30 million or 25 doublings; Safe Blind Teleport; Megascale. +4: One hundred light years per game inch) Teleportation 10” (797 pts.) = u 80 pts. (Increased Mass x30 million or 25 doublings; Safe Blind Teleport; Megascale. +4 1/4: 100,000 light years per game inch) TOTAL: 1477 PTS. POWER FRAMEWORKS Variable Power Pool: 400 usable pts. (Cosmic: Instant with no skill roll. +2 to control cost) (1000 pts.) Variable Skills Pool: 4 usable pts. (Cosmic: Instant with no skill roll. +2 to control cost; only for skills. -1/2) (8 pts.) TOTAL: 1008 PTS. GRAND TOTAL: 2780 PTS. DISADVANTAGES Hunted: Kaldamarane (or however you spell it; Less Powerful) 8- (+5 pts.), Psych Lim: Being sarcastic and annoying (Very Common but moderate) (+15 pts.), Reputation: He was mad, he was bad, he was an extremely powerful and dangerous entity that it wasn’t safe to know (Extreme) 8- (+10 pts.) TOTAL: +30 PTS. BASE: 100 PTS. DISADVANTAGES: +30 PTS. ALL-POWERFUL NPC BONUS: +2650 PTS. TOTAL: 2780 PTS.

Re: Star Trek's Q I would say that, in about two out of every three appearances, he was a plot device beyond the way in which characters are always plot devices. The episode where he lost his powers was probably the first one that was truly about him and not just about him getting the crew into some other situation. After that, the Voyager episodes that got a bit ino the nature of the Q were good.

Re: Star Trek's Q I wasn't sure on the SPD and DEX. After all, Sisko punched him. He just didn't seem to make himself all that formidable on a purely physical level when he took human form. I was thinking that, in terms of CON, BODY, PD and ED, I probably should have statted him up more. It was made clear that the idea of a Q being killed by physical means contradicted everything known about them. Of course, that's why I gave him resurrection, so the destruction of a corporeal form he created for himself would be just a momentary annoyance. I definitely agree with you that I should make the Teleportation separate from the VPP as almost everything he did directly or indirectly seemed to involve teleportation. In fact, the main reason the VPP is so high is to fit the teleportation ability into it. When going over things Q seemed able to do, I estimated his second most powerful feats as requiring about 320 pts. in the VPP. I will assume I overlooked some stuff and say I could easily drop the VPP from 1000 to 500 pts. and still cover everything he did except the teleportation. I estimated his greatest teleportation feat as requiring just over 1000 pts in Mega scale teleportation or exactly a thousand if I cut out some advantages when he uses teleportation on the mega scale.

Re: Star Trek's Q That would be the best comparison, Q to Mxyptlk. I always thought Q was fun but, in the early episodes, the Q really made little if any sense in the context of Star Trek. In ST, races that evolved that far (and the Q seemed way at the top of the heap in power) didn't just become more powerful, they were superior in outlook. The Q were a race of standup comedians. Even the other Q that appeared in "Deja Q" where Q lost his powers was just an omnipotent comedian. But in Voyager, we finally got some rationale for the Q. They had gone through all that 'superior outlook' stuff but they had reached the point where they could do anything so long ago that they were simply bored beyond comprehension. Because they could do anything, they did nothing because there was no point in doing anything. Q was simply trying to stay interested in his existence and force some life back into them.

Re: Star Trek's Q In the episode, "Deja Q", Q declared that he had an IQ of 2005. I thought about giving him a much higher INT, maybe 30. But the problem is he simply does not come across as being that intelligent. He knows a lot because of his powers, yes, he has knowledge of the universe because of his abilities. But, if you want to simulate the Q in another setting, just take a bunch of 20th century humans and make them omnipotent, sit back and see what happens because that's exactly how the Q are presented, as humans with all of our issues and resentments but omnipotent. They seem very different than the typical, "We have overcome all our negative qualities" aliens. His skills seem inconsistent. He knew exactly why a moon was out of its proper orbit but, when he gives the solution, "Just change the gravitational constant of the universe" and is asked how to do that, he responds, "I don't know how. You just do it." In other words, you just use your powers, you just will it to happen and it happens. He doesn't understand how or why it works. I could have given him all knowledges and sciences but I would imagine he uses his VPP to simulate whatever knowledges he needs. If you can't do that with a VPP, then I agree that just giving him all knowledges and sciences would be appropriate. All professional skills? That I can't agree with. Construction Worker, Dogcatcher, Fisherman, Knight, Laborer? I'm sure he can use his powers to attain the knowledge of any of these professions at need. Anyway, this was just for fun. On any writeup of an existing fictional character, people will have different visions of what he has and how it works.

I thought about posting this in Star Hero but the powers seem to make it more appropriate here. I just decided for the heck of it to make up the fun but annoying omnipotent alien of Star Trek. Well, okay, ST is known for all-powerful aliens but he's the top of the heap. Q IN HERO STR 13 (3 pts.), DEX 11 (3 pts.), CON 20 (20 pts.), BODY 20 (20 pts.), INT 20 (10 pts.), EGO 33 (46 pts.), PRE 20 (10 pts.), COMM 10 (00 pts.), PD 4 (1 pt.), ED 4 (00 pts.), SPD 2 (-1 pt.), REC 7 (00 pts.), END 100 (30 pts.), STUN 37 (00 pts.) TOTAL: 142 PTS. SKILLS Bribery 8- (1 pt.), Computer Programming 13- (3 pts.), Area Knowledge: Milky Way Galaxy 13- (3 pts.), Navigation: Space 13- (2 pts.), Navigation: Temporal 13- (1 pt.), Persuasion 13- (3 pts.), Power 13- (3 pts.), Science: Astronomy 13- (3 pts.), Science: Physics 13- (3 pts.), Systems Operation 13- (3 pts.), Transport Familiarity: Space Planes (Space Shuttles) 8- (1 pt.), Knowledge Skill: Literature 13- (3 pts.), Knowledge Skill: History 13- (3 pts.) TOTAL: 32 PTS. PERQUISITES Reputation as an extremely powerful entity over a galactic region (this works to his advantage as people tend to stay out of his way while he does as he pleases) 11- (2 pts.) TOTAL: 2 PTS. TALENTS Universal Translator 17- (24 pts.) TOTAL: 24 PTS. POWERS Damage Reduction 75% Resistant vs. Physical, Energy and Mental (180 pts.), Flash Defense 5 each versus sight, hearing and smell (15 pts.), Healing: One Body per turn (Heal Limbs; Resurrection: Can be killed permanently if slain by mental attacks but in the Star Trek Universe, only other Q or other ‘omnipotent’ entities would have that level in mental powers; No Endurance Cost. +1/2; Persistent. +1/4; Extra Time: One Turn. -1; Self Only. -1/2) (24 pts.), Life Support: Self-Contained Breathing; Diminished Eating: None; Diminished Sleep: None; Safe Environments: Low Pressure/ Vacuum, High Pressure, High Radiation, Intense Heat, Intense Cold; Longevity: Doesn’t Age; Immunity: All diseases and poisons in the universe (Megascale. +3) (70 pts.), Mental Defense 28 (21 pts.), Power Defense 20 (20 pts.) TOTAL: 330 PTS. POWER FRAMEWORKS Variable Power Pool: 1000 usable pts. (Cosmic: Instant with no skill roll. +2 to control cost) (2500 pts.) TOTAL: 2500 PTS. GRAND TOTAL: 3030 PTS. DISADVANTAGES Hunted: Kaldamarane (or however you spell it; Less Powerful) 8- (+5 pts.), Psych Lim: Being sarcastic and annoying (Very Common but moderate) (+15 pts.), Reputation: He was mad, he was bad, he was an extremely powerful and dangerous entity that it wasn’t safe to know (Extreme) 8- (+10 pts.) TOTAL: +30 PTS. BASE: 100 PTS. DISADVANTAGES: +30 PTS. ALL-POWERFUL NPC BONUS: +2900 PTS. TOTAL: 3030 PTS. SOME POSSIBLE USES OF THE VPP Aid (up to and including temporarily giving other characters powers less than but similar to his own such as giving Riker the power of the Q, which may have been giving him a VPP less than his own but still very powerful). Change Environment: sometimes permanent and with as much area as needed or possible. Clairsentience with Sight and Hearing, switching from Precognition to Retrocognition as needed and using remaining points for range. Desolidification with No endurance, persistent. This would most likely be his natural state when not in corporeal form. Invisibility with No endurance, persistent, no fringe. Again, this is most likely his natural state. Dispel: this could be used to overcome the effects of other Q and lesser beings. Detect (various) Entangle: although one cannot put limitations on a VPP to save points, I would still restrict this to forming barriers. Perhaps the Megascale advantage might be used to explain the sheer size of the barriers although I believe one cannot normally put Megascale on an entangle. Extra-Dimensional Movement with Time Travel and as much extra weight carrying capacity as needed. This is the catch-all that no other power can explain. It helps explain his reality warping powers. He just transports a few crew members to realities where he’s the Judge (maybe alternate pasts) or to a reality where the rules allow for things he can’t do in any other way. Force Wall or Force Field: Again, Megascale is very likely to explain a force barrier that covers light years. Healing: Can add healing limbs and resurrection and the ability to use them on others, although he rarely if ever is shown healing anyone. He probably wouldn’t but he could. Life Support: He could probably use an advantage to temporarily give other people LS abilities like his own. Shapeshift: any shape, cellular, versus all senses and either no fatigue cost or only to shift, not to maintain a shape. Summon: Can summon anything and they are slavishly devoted. Can summon up to 75 pt. characters and x32 in number. Teleportation: Normal with appropriate advantages and whatever range he can afford Teleportation: Increased Mass x one billion, No relative velocity, safe blind teleport, Usable as an attack, Megascale +4 or more. (His greatest witnessed feat was teleporting the Enterprise at least 3000 light years. With Megascale +4 or 100 light years, it would take 30 teleports to get there or he could drop some other advantages to increase the Megascale and get there in one teleport. Suppress: This could explain members of the Q Continuum getting their powers taken away though this is likely a combined effort of several or all Q against one.