hfergus

I'm almost afraid to start this thread, but here goes. Is there politics in your campaign, or they ignored? Does your character get involved and if so how much and why? I do not want to know right, left, up, down, back, forth, to or fro. Just if. As to why, it could be power ,sex, fame, money, or "I can make things better", or any combo or subset. Example:

In my campaign, politics pops up every so often, but it does not rule things. The bigee is a super registration act that expired 3 years ago, much like the Clinton gun ban. Some heroes want it back, and some think it was one of the stupidist laws ever enacted.

Volt's politics is fairly well known, due to his being too honest for his own good and expressing his opinion when he really probably should have said "No comment." He'd never run for anything as Volt, unless the world or the U.S. relied on it. He'd then resign as soon as possible in favor of someone he considers better. Anymore he tries to answer these questions with "I'm Volt. Not Super "party of my choice" Man".

In his secret ID his politics is well known, but he'd never run for anything more than school board, if that. His motive would be to improve things, but he's an intensly private person.

Olorin has a "unfamiliar with modern culture" disad, so he'd be politically incorrect. As he learned more, he'd be very politcally incorrect on purpose. He'd point out hypocrasy with both (all) parties, being a gadfly. He was a king at one time (resigned once sucession was ensured) and would not want to do anthing like that again. Both parties would hate him and love him, depending on whose ox is being gored. Eventually, he'd choose a party and be a spokeman, still pointing out their problems and inconsitencies. With a over 30 int, 10x reading speed, only 4 hours sleep needed per week, and eidetic memory, he'd have his facts correct and at his fingers most of the time very quickly. He'd only do politics to improve things. He loves to "prick the episcopal behind".

Black Tiger trusts no parties, but trusts one a little less. If asked, he'd say "Not going there." and scowl. Would not get involved.

Futurian would say "Oh, you still have politics?". He'd say this with a smile in such a way that you would not be sure if he is serious or not. If pressed to elacborate, he'd say "Can't tell you. It would mess up the timeline. Or not. Whatever." and change the subject. He'd try to stay out of things, never run, and rarely comment, prefering to support his like minded teammates.

Leadman would stay out of politics. "Nothing ever changes, no matter which party is in charge. Except to get worse." Avoids politics like the plague.

Re: WWYCD: Halloween From Hell 2007

Olorin would go trick or treating as a medieval mage. Oh wait, he is one. He'd be out and about trick or treating as himself; really. He have some detect spells active (detect evil) and wait for chaos - other than holloween itself. He'd love the holiday. If nothing happened, he'd have a ball. If it did, well, undead, monsters, demons, etc. are not exactly foreign to him. His comment would be "Can't kids have fun without evil showing up? Man, this wouldn't happen in the 'good old days'. Someone hold my candy while I deal with this."

Volt would be home handing out candy and waiting for any emergencies, as would every other character I have except Black Tiger.

Black Tiger would be one patrol, botherinf those who looked too old. "Oh, sorry Olorin. I thought it was just a costume, not you."

Re: What Are Your Hero's Most Embarrassing Moments?

I am going to have to think about what my characters did, but here is one.

D&D campaign, we are looting a palace. We have killed most of the baddies and are gathering up treasure and trying to find the best for the first trip out (We hope there will be more trips with more treasure). When suddenly, the last two guards show up. The mage, who is a firebug, casts fireball. Whoosh! Two dead guards. - And a castle on fire. We grabbed the nearest treasure chest and booked it out before the place burned down around our ears. The chest had almost no magic items and mostly silver. We would have been almost set for life if we had totally sacked the place. (The GM would have allowed at most one other trip before someone else sacked it - or occupied it.) The chest with the best we had found up to that point was not on our way out. Sigh. (And this was after our prankster gnome left practical joke booby traps all over for sackers other than ourselves. He was more upset about the traps being burnt up than not getting the treasure, and chastised the firebug at every opportunity afterwards.)

Re: Wwycd Oops!

Volt - Encourage them, maybe take them under his wing "You messed up not letteing us know. Congratulations, you are human, and now more experienced. The only way to never make a mistake is to never do anything, and that is the biggest mistake of all. Do not make another by giving up or getting vengeful. Learn from your mistake, do not let the dead die in vain."

Olorin - Probably the same as Volt, if finally not so ignorant of earth culture, he'd almost certainly take them under his wing. He'd also heal any near death. "Son (or daughter if talking to a female), you done messed up. Welcome to the human race. Do not get depressed and with draw. I did, and thousands died because I did, including my third wife. I am 747 years old and have made many mistakes. I have lost everyone I have ever loved, and will do so until I die, either by finally aging or being killed. Notice I am almost always smiling. Life is a gift, do not waste it. And now you have more experience, and we need that. Talk with me, and I'll let you know more of my big mistakes. Once you feel up to it, let's plan how to get the bad guy, ok?"

Black Tiger "I wish you had told us; this probably would have ended better. Stop felling sorry for yourself and buck up. If it helps, consider "Vengence is a dish that is best served cold."

Futurian would be encouraging overall after he had his say, but would not take them under his wing. "Knowing what is going to happen isn't all it's cracked up to be, is it kid?"

Re: WWYCD: The Nightmare on Hero Street

Most of my heroes would be in trouble and have to go to a mystic or menatlist - like.....

Olorin, who would enter wherever the bad guy came from and wreak havoc. If he was really mad, he'd cast his "pain special" on the guy. It causes excruciating pain that woul leave you screaming in a second, except you can't scream; it hurts too much. It lasts a year. You cannot die in that year (even if you do not eat, etc.; it supports you), you cannot pass out, it does not lessen and you cannot withdraw into insanity. (For those who wonder, I came up with this before Harry Potter ever was written.) Volt has called it "Hell on earth." He is 747 years old and has cast it all of 4 times. He normally just kills the baddie.

Re: WWYCD Genocide - or Genocide?

There's a considerable amount of room between "never come up" and having a Disad dominate the character's entire life. Even if the CvK is bought to the Total level it's only worth 20 points. That's 2/15 of a typical PCs Disad points; or less than once every seven adventures even assuming you simply apply it mathematically.

 

There's simply no reason for any GM to go about it in a hamhanded fashion when CvK is in constant play (or is by any good roleplayer). Now, if a character takes CvK (Total), buys his EGO up to ludicrous levels, and proceeds to kill every villain he encounters because "I made my Extraordinary EGO roll" then the player deserves to be tossed (none too gently) from the campaign.

One of the best balanced insights on paying for disads vs not I've seen here. If they are not a disad, they should not be worth points. If they never come up, they should not be worth points. If the GM is "in your face" with them all them time, you've got a bad GM. If they never come up, you still have a bad GM, just in a different way. They player can make it come up themself by good roleplaying; in that case GM intervention is probably unecessary. I've got good players, they stay in character even when the character does something they would not (or doesn't do something they would.) They expect to pay for their disads occasionally - even ones like "fear of spiders" ("Facing Doctor Destroyer, a spider lands on their shoulder. They freak out. The Doctor gets away." I actually have a player character with this disad, and they will pay for it eventually, but not necessarily this way, it's just an example.)

Re: WWYCD Genocide - or Genocide?

There's no reason to assume that even such a character can't be gainfully employed in a massive war for human survival. Mohandas Gandhi carried stretchers for wounded soldiers in World War One even though he was a legitimate conscientious objector. In the American Civil War many Quakers and other pacifists tended to the sick and wounded in field hospitals at the front.

This is one of the things that I thought I would see for CVK heroes. Instead this has turned into a debate over disads are too cheap or too hard. (Depending on the Gm, either could be.)Not my intent. I wanted to see the creative ideas of CVK characters and personalities of others.

I like the idea of "off switch", turning the leaders, or even turning the whole 100,000 into humans. Creative solutions. For what I had in mind, there is no "off switch" unless you turn the race into something else; it is genetically coded, like ants killing ants from other nests because they smell different. (of course, you could turn them into the same race without the "kill everything else" code, but are they then the same race? Hmmm.....)

As to making them all human, they are alive, but in a way you still have committed genocide. The race, if this is all of them, no longer exists. Turning off the gene would take a massive transform. Good idea if you can do it. Spraying half with a "other" scent would take the blood off of your hands, but still result in genocide.

On another note, walking out on a game you no longer like is valid, especially if you have talked to the GM and you are not agreeing. I can never see literally turning over the table as anything other than childish, even if the GM is being childish themselves or a total jerk (or other harsher word). Try to be a mature adult and just walk out if the GM is that bad. Try not to lower yourself to their level. Just my 2 cents worth.

Re: WWYCD Genocide - or Genocide?

A couple of things- my campaign is not gold age, and only has bits of silver age. (most heroes are not "grey", but some are and pretty bad things can happen to the world and the heroes. ) Call it bronze in general.

It is correct that swithing to iron from gold is an offense they probably be walked out on - but if the disad is too easy it is no disad. Batman knows the Joker will kill and some part of him knows he's partially responsible. That's the disad. Also he will put himself in mortal danger to save even villians.

I mainly wanted to see what you would do if A) reason doesn't work and you can't count on others (the military for example) to do it for you.

I have always found my players to be ingenious. They come up with ways out I had not thought of. Most of the time (80% or more) if it makes sense, I allow it, even if my plans go kerplooie. I can never remember an idea that could would that I totally shut down arbitrarily. (It just did not work totally the way the players planned either in the 20% of the time it did not work the way the players wanted.)

Re: WWYCD Genocide - or Genocide?

Doctor Sanguine Would find the leaders of the aliens' date=' and change them into human beings.[/quote']

 

That would work - sort of. They'd then kill the leaders and keep coming. If you could turn half of them into "others" by their thinking, they'd start killing themselves and you would not have to do the dirty work. This is a type of thing I wanted, a third option. Of course, some heros would only kill or be killed since their powers are too limited. (Most of mine, and the one who could, wouln't. If he had a disad, he almost be "way too willing to kill." (He's a medieval, where life is nasty, brutish and short.) Knowing him, if he thought of it, he'd turn half into friendly "others" and then help kill the other half of their kin, making human casualties low.

Re: WWYCD Genocide - or Genocide?

Boy, did I kick up a hornets nest. - As was intent, sort of.

As to the "flipping over the table" that seems to be a bit petty. I have a policy of at least once, and every so often, making sure you pay for your disad by making them, well, a disadvantage. If you don't like that, why are you trying to get power for free? Again, very petty. My players know my rules.

Note that my Volt, who would kill is uncomfortable with that fact. He has a small "Hesitiates to kill" diasad, that well, is a disad. He let people live that ended up killing many more. It also had them knock him out, capture him, etc. He paid for the disad more than once.

I was expecting, at least once, a code versus killing person to say something like "I stand in front of the innocents to sheild them while my teammate kills the alien." I would want to hear more like that.

I also expected some to circumvent the whole situation. "Into the phantom zone". Ever hear of beings escaping from there? I have. Good temporary solution, however. Note my Olorin says even killing them all may only be a temporary solution, but still endorses it.

As to the "all sane would kill" comment, I agree. However some would say killing is not sane. Dying as a species seems more insane to me however, unless you think your whole species is a blot on the universe and should all die. My comment on that is normally "You first. - Or are you a hypocrite?"

Thanks for the replies, and I look forward to more.

Ok, here's the scenario. Aliens have arrived and are beating the world's military - badly. They are utter xenophobes. If you can reason, and are not them, you must die. All of you. You find this out from themselves or friendly aliens. They cannot be reasoned with. They will keep coming until every one of them, or all of you are dead. They do not take captives - except to devise traps for the heroes. I am interested in whether their genocide would be be an option and what actions would be considered - esp. by heroes with code against killing. There are at least 100,000 of them. Unless you have very unusual powers (or munchkin powers), it's kill or be killed. They will fight to the last being.

My characters take:

Olorin: I have no problem killing them all as they started it and determined the rules. Trouble is, do you have any idea how hard it is to do genocide in practicality? Leave a breeding couple and they'll be back - eventually. Might take centuries, but they will be back. Ask me about orcs on my world.

Volt: I hate this. Killing them is necessary, but distastful. Maybe we could kill all but a couple and "convert" them. This still disturbs me however.

Black Tiger: They made the rules and they are the enemy. Kill them as quickly as possible.

Futurian: They still around? Oh wait, this is my past; your present. Oh good, I get to see how they were destroyed; that was an unanswered question where I came from.

Leadman: I guess I kill them all and hope we win. The world may never recover however.

Re: GM's - putting one over on your players

I did the "you are still in the holosuite" once with the danger room involving a character who is very suspicious. He knew he was going in and had participated in a very satisfying conspiracy he saw through. Then he exited - He thought. He spent some time lving what he thought was normally (days. yup. days. It was rigged this way by others and they would have yanked him out if necessary.) Then he fought a villian and got trapped. When he got out of the trap, it seemed he had been missing for 60 years! Everything was changed. It took him quite a while (more days) to "solve" it and get out. He loved it. Fed his paranoia twice, and allowed him to see through it. The depth and work involved impressed him deeply. It was a present from the rest of the team. "Best birthday present I ever had."

Re: WWYCD: Out of Focus, in the know

Only Olorin, of my heroes, could do somthing about this easily by himself. If an another dimension or desolid, he could get to these guys and find out what is going on and deal with them. He could bring others along as backup. He has dimension travel, but kinda has to know where he is going - most of the time.

Re: WWYCD The aliens are here

Another point to make about what I mean as to normal tech. The tech supression effects mainly computer chips. Try to shoot down something in orbit with tech from the fourties and fifties. Can be done, but 1) Who has a missle that still has tech from this period? It would be hard to make a new one with computers not working. 2) Unless you are lucky or can swarm the enemy with many missles, they'd shoot em down. Hand guns work fine. RPG's, ok. Stingers? I think they use computers, besides, these guys are in geosynchronus orbit and the ships that are not have good speed and defenses. Cruise missles? Forget it! They have an armada they can use, but it is not nearby as they are confident their tech supression and few ships to do what they want. ("Friendly" aliens are keeping the armada busy, but we are behind enemy lines and they can't get to us before millions die and many resources disappear.)Normal computer tech could take down these few ships - if it were working. This is what they are counting on.

Most power armor heroes would be fine, I just wanted to make sure the worlds military would be mostly useless - it's up to the supers!

One more thing if you think it through with this effect (and I did in my campaign) is - people are dying just due to no computers working, an addition to the ones the aliens are actively killing. They don't care, they want resources, and slaves are one minor resource (and we have plenty of people - in fact too many; most must go in their opinion.)

Re: WWYCD: A Damsel Who Doesn't Want To Be Rescued...

Olorin would see if she is mentally controlled. In any case any of my heroes would point out her nice life is about to be ruined, as the baddie is in for a thumpin' and loss of position (if not his life.)

Re: Your characters, favorite by Archetype

My favorite is Olorin, a mage. He is a mystic with a big VPP (almost acted like a gageteer) with a heavy preference for energy attacks.

Volt, my first character, was pretty much a pure energy caster.

Re: WWYCD The aliens are here

This one's easy' date=' get a mac laptop, definitely not normal. Upload a computer virus because obviously they use the same OS that's why the Mac still works. Then have Lonestar jam them with raspberry. Biggity Bam the aliens go down just like the death star at the end of jedi.[/quote']

I like the mac comment, even though I am a windows user. See my previous quote as what I mean by "normal" tech. Operating systems are not the problem here; it is the hardware (Oddly enough, old vacuum tubes may still work here.) Windows ,Mac, Unix, Posix, Solaris, Linux, OS/2 and even OS/390 (a mainframe [now enterprise server] operating system) and all other "normal" operating systems would not be working, as the chips are very similar.

Re: A couple questions.

How did they neutralize it? Did they detonate nukes in the upper atmosphere to fry all electronics?

 

Did the GM wave his wand of GM fiat and every piece of technology from handguns to AIs inexplicably stopped working?

 

 

Which tech is normal? Which tech is abnormal enough to still function? If I paid points for it, does it still work?

 

Why is Dr. Destroyer's technology still working?

 

 

Based on your post, I can't even figure out which of my heroes can still function.

It was GM fiat of course, but explained by 4 ships in orbit at tetrahedronal points emitting a "tech suppressor". Think a sort of emp that does not fry chips, but interferes with them. As to what I mean as normal - non super tech. That is why the doctor has tech that works. If you are using normal tech with high skills or just barely cutting edge, you are out of luck. If you have unique or nearly unique tech, you are in business.

Re: WWYCD The aliens are here

"You passed more water in the Oort cloud than is on the entire Earth. No one in their right mind would travel intersteller distances for water. What are you really after?"

Note for one I said espcially water, not exclusivly. Another is that if you do not care about the gravity well problem, just put a big hose in the ocean and suck. For fresh water, use lakes. The Oort cloud would take time to roam around and get the same amount. And why make it from hydrogen and oxygen when you have the hose?

As to why the Doctor took over the former Yugoslavia: 1) He did not have time to take over a bigger and more difficult target (By the way, he renamed it "Excelsior", meaning "higher" and not "wood shavings." Also a dig against some New York heroes") 2) Most of Europe breathed a sigh of relief, as he took a problem off their list as they saw it. (Most of Europe did that same thing when Hitler marched into, I believe, Chech territory. Not sure of where Hitler went, but most of Europe was relieved when he did it.)

Here is a scenario: Aliens have arrived and neutralized all normal tech, and are destroying, killing, and have stated they want slaves and to strip the world of all resourses (esp. water). You may have one ship that works (or not), but Doctor Destroyer (or big, bad tech bad guy in your campaign) has at least one that works. Do you work with him? What limits do you put on him? He will help because he want to rule, not the aliens, and you are good candidates for helping.

My heroes made an arrangement; they had a ship that functioned but had no weapons, they got weapons from the Doctor. They made an agreement for him to not rule the world... He ended taking over the former Yugoslavia instead... but that's a different story.

Here is a scenario: Aliens have arrived and neutralized all normal tech, and are destroying, killing, and have stated they want slaves and to strip the world of all resourses (esp. water). You may have one ship that works (or not), but Doctor Destroyer (or big, bad tech bad guy in your campaign) has at least one that works. Do you work with him? What limits do you put on him? He will help because he want to rule, not the aliens, and you are good candidates for helping.

My heroes made an arrangement; they had a ship that functioned but had no weapons, they got weapons from the Doctor. They made an agreement for him to not rule the world... He ended taking over the former Yugoslavia instead... but that's a different story.

Ok, since Dancing With the Stars is back - HWYCDODWTS? (How would your character do on Dancing With the Stars?)

Rules - No powers. Skills and stats are ok. (Prevents flying and stretching to "boost" abilities.)You can shape shift, but have to take one shape for the whole contest. Other ways of granting skills - probably banned. Rememer, DEX is not the be all on this show. Style, grace, chemistry and panace is what counts. Example with my characters.

Volt - 62 years old, arthritic, hates to be in the limelight. Has rhythm, but...

He would not be the first out with a 23 dex and putting effeort into it. Probably would be about 3rd gone unless the audience feels sorry for him, or votes because he is popular. At the halfway point he probably would ask to be voted off if he made it that far "To make way for the truly talented."

Black Tiger - a martial artist, Very high dex. Would probably go about halfway. He would be technically proficient, but is somewhat of a cold fish. No chemistry, no panace.

Olorin 23 dex and - would surprise everyone. He's quite a good dancer. He has passion, chemistry, panace, style, etc. Would almost certainly be in the final 3. Ballroom, latin dances, - he would wow them. Cha-cha, two step, other not so passionate - he would be a bit weak in those. He could win if the dances went to his strength, but not if they went to his weaknesses.

Re: WWYCD:The Artifact

Olorin would go "Not another one! >sigh<" Back in his dimension, where he can't go right now, he'd protect it and use it as necessary. Lots of luck others would have getting it there. Where he is now, he'd put it into a pocket dimension and use it if necessary - and pray it can't escape on its own.

Every other character I have would go "What do I do with this?" and try to find somewhere safe to stash it until needed.

Re: WWYCD: "I" in Team

Easy. Olorin the medival mage and large, oddly limited VPPer would be the leader, as non of my other characters would want to be unless absolutely necessary.

Volt, an energy caster with organic chemistry and programming skills (age 62)would be backup if he must, and probably be the "conscience" of the group.

Leadman gloomy brick and PI in secret ID. "Leader? Ya gotta be kidding! I'd mess it up for sure!"

Futurian (who I "borrowed" from someone else and will play shortly)- tech and anti-tech (He either controlls machines, destroys them, or slows them down to the point of immobility) would not mind being backup lead, but would defer to Olorin and Volt at least until he got more experience as a hero. At that point Volt would step down from lead backup.

A fairly balanced team, if a bit weak on skills. Olorin can "Spell up" some, but very few. They'd get along quite well. The man from the past (Olorin) and the future (Futurian) would ge along very well, and would be fascinated by each others abilities. (Olorin loves computers and is learning to program. Takes "computer wizard" a whole new direction.) And, of course, any sufficiently developed technology is indisquinguishable from magic. _ and that works both ways.

Re: WWYCD: Collected

This is why you should never let overweight' date=' balding people anywhere near you. [/quote']

Probably very wise since I am overweight and balding.(You never know what I am going to do. Heck, a lot of time I don't know what I'm going to do.)