BoloOfEarth

Okay, we've all run agents and other mooks, but most of the time they seem to be two-dimensional props thrown in. "Okay, VIPER agent #3 fires his blaster rifle at you..." How do people here give them some personality, some life? I've done the following: 1) A PC hero breaking into a base belonging to the Ultimates overheard a discussion between some hired thugs on the various supervillains they've worked for. "If you gotta hire on temp with a cape, go for a fanatic. They're more interested in some 'loftier goal' and generally let you have a bigger cut of the cash." "Yeah, but avoid the psycho ones. I worked for Black Harlequin once. Once. Never again. That psycho gutted Ralph as a lark!" I can't claim credit; I think I got this idea from an article in Digital Hero, or maybe a post on these boards. 2) A PC hero overheard two thugs talking, and one managed to mix up half his words. "What am I, some kinda persona au gratin? They treat me like I'm some kinda idiot. I know how to read, I'm not illegible!" When the thug mentioned the new supervillain group he was working for, the hero had to translate the names from "Phil-speak". Can't claim total credit here either. It's a variation on a Capitol Steps comedy routine. 3) A mook about to get pounded by a male hero asked him to "cut him some slack" so he could look good in front of the hot supervillainess. Basically, take into consideration something going on at the time. So, what have you done to make your mooks a little more interesting? Any tips I can steal... I mean, borrow?

Re: How to start one off with a bang? Okay, off the top of my head: "Psych" is outside an office building, waiting and looking for a friend he's supposed to meet for lunch. (If he has a DNPC, it could easily be that person.) He decides to use Telepathy to "tap into" some random guy standing with a better view to see through his eyes (using most of the effect to make the effect undetectable by the target). In the process, Psych gets the following surface thoughts: "Man, just 48 hours! It's gonna be beautiful! That building's gonna come down, and nobody's ever gonna rat out VIPER again!" Unfortunately, he immediately loses the guy in the crowd so he can't hit him with any other mental power. The guy gets onto the subway / bus / into a car and speeds away, so Psych can't get more information from him. All he knows is that VIPER is going to level a 20-story office building on Thursday afternoon, but he doesn't know how, or exactly when, or why. About the same time, a powerful subsonic wave generator/amplifier is stolen from a lab near where "Black Hole" works, and a security camera caught a group of VIPER agents loading it into a truck. The news doesn't report what was stolen, only that VIPER was involved, though BH finds out details from a friend who works in that lab. The former MARS agent is on hand when VIPER tests the generator on a nearby construction site, causing the half-completed building to collapse and necessitating the rescue of several construction workers. The amplifier is hidden in a city utility truck so the former agent can't capture it. (VIPER was verifying the harmonic frequency of the support columns, which are the same material as those in the office building. It's also a dry run for the real deal.) Without knowing more on the last guy, I can't suggest specifics for him. But he could catch some VIPER agents stealing blueprints of the target office building's support structure. Or he might learn that the company that owns that building is under investigation for possible dealings with VIPER and the CEO is now cooperating with PRIMUS. Or stop a scientist from being kidnapped -- an expert that can tell the heroes that to use such a device to generate harmonics to level a building, VIPER would need to get the generator within 100 yards of each of the four main supports of the building, and each time keep it going for 10-15 seconds (in effect, 1 Turn). If all else fails, he might just get pointed toward "Psych" by the Velvet Phantom, based on info gleaned by the tarot deck. They could have the battle outside the office building (a VIPER commander jumps the gun when he sees the heroes sniffing around just before zero hour, and sends in the troops), or if they're really good follow leads back to the VIPER's nest and take them on there before the big bang gets set into motion. [Edit: That isn't the order I'd run the encounters. I'd probably go Theft, Kidnap, Test, Eavesdrop, with Psych knowing the target and therefore the one to call on the other heroes and bring them together.]

Re: How to start one off with a bang? That first PC looks like a possible catalyst to bring the team together. Before being disgraced, the psychologist may have been called in as a consultant to do a psych profile on the agent after the accidental shooting, and thus knows about her powers. He might also know the astrophysicist, or at least know of him. If that player were willing, I'd enlist his help in getting the team together. Maybe he accidentally picked up a stray thought and knows VIPER or DEMON is planning something huge, but he doesn't have enough details and neither PRIMUS nor the cops will listen to him. I got my current heroes together through a bunch of seemingly unrelated crimes that ended up tying together into one big plot. This is one example, though I'm sure you could come up with something similar that fits your world better: Synergy interrupted a pair of makeshift robotic constructs (created by Artificer) stealing bags of laundry from a company that he later learned had the contract to clean PRIMUS uniforms. Sentinel ran across a supervillain (Dr. Discus) and some hired thugs purchasing a bunch of weapons from VIPER. (They got away with most of them, which were actually stolen PRIMUS blasters.) Serendipity fought two supervillains (Fractal and Beamline) breaking into a bank after hours to clear out the vault. Squeeze captured Ogre, and while waiting to testify at his trial, witnessed a bunch of dogs (robotic followers of ROVer) somehow steal the waiting prisoner transport vehicle while almost all the PRIMUS agents were inside; the vehicle had hologram generators to disguise it during transport. Styx overheard a hired goon trying to recruit his younger brother as a driver for a "big job" coming up, involving among other things the theft of a dozen UPS trucks. Styx had overheard the goon mention the new team of supers he was working for, though the goon mixes up words constantly, so he called the supers Artificial, Dr. Disco, Fracture, Beeline, and Roper, as well as Soundcheck (actually Soundwave) and Psycho (Psyche). Styx figured out who the actual villains were, noted that some local solo heroes had been mentioned in the news having dealt with some of those villains lately, and contacted them to compare notes. They figured out that the villains were going to try to break Utility out of PRIMUS custody during prisoner transport. Their plan involved swarming the transport convoy with UPS trucks, remotely triggering the actual transport vehicle's hologram generator to make it also look like a UPS truck, then forcing it down a side street to break Utility out during the confusion. The heroes ended up keeping Utility from getting free, and in the process set up a nice enmity with the villain group as well as with Utility. And the heroes naturally decided to stay together as a group afterward.

Re: Concubine Seeks New Position I also would move away from the typical seduction-type powers in general, though I guess one or two would be okay. Looking at the sheet, I see she has 4 Overall levels, plus a bunch of skills suitable for espionage and personal interaction, Jack of All Trades, and Universal Translator. I had two thoughts. 1) With just a PS and some enhanced PER, she could make one heck of a bodyguard. And the GM might make some of her clients be less than upstanding citizens, putting her square in the thick of things. I don't see "Public Identity" on her sheet, so the clients may not even know she's "3", though I could be wrong there. [Edit: DT beat me to the punch on the bodyguard thing.] 2) I keep seeing that whip on the sheet, and thinking of "3" seeing a fun series of movies and deciding to become a hot female version of Indiana Jones. Buy some archaeology skills, a gun, Swinging, DCV levels, some fun Knowledge Skills (areas, cultures, history, etc.). Maybe Speed Reading and, if the GM allowed it, Eidetic Memory.

Re: Hero vs Hero combats: Fun Stuff! Generally, the hero-vs-hero fights I've run have involved mental powers used on one or two heroes (usually the combat monster PC) and the others have to restrain him. Once, I did the opposite, though, and it led to an entire story arc. I had an adventure where the heroes were going after the Destruction Company (armored battlesuit types from 4th edition, led by Power Tool, a gadgeteer/inventer). During the battle, Power Tool hit my friend John's PC, Hybrid, with some sort of dart. I asked John if Hybrid had a certain Life Support (knowing beforehand he did), then said "Okay, the dart apparently had no effect." The thing is, the dart had nothing to do with Life Support. It injected a genetic compound that caused Hybrid to generate anti-pheremones -- anyone spending any time with him got more and more irritated with him. Over the next few sessions, I surreptitiously told the other players that their characters were getting angry with Hybrid, and to play it out. Things got to the point where they had a big battle and Hybrid temporarily left the team. (Prior to the fight with Destruction Company, John had mentioned he might take a break from gaming to help care for his new baby, allowing his wife to play more, so that's what he did.) When things with the baby calmed down enough that John was going to come back to the game, I ran him through a solo adventure where Hybrid figured things out and got help to stop his body producing the anti-pheremone. All along, John knew *something* was going on in-game, but not exactly what it was or why his teammates were acting so hostile.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat When I, Ultron, take some down-time to archive older memory files, I like to enjoy a good case of Valvoline 10W30 motor oil! (pours glass) Just look at the way it glistens in the sun! And boy, does it go down smooth! (glug, glug, glug...) NT: "I know we're out of bullets, but don't let it stop you, lads! Ready! Aim! ______________!"

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Why does your nuclear bomb only have a 3-foot blast radius? A: Only when pig fly, cats and dog live together in harmony, and Rush Limbaugh tongue-kisses Hillary Clinton.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat YOU SMASH HULK'S CRULLER! HULK SMASH YOU!!!!

Re: seeking the seeker Having trouble hearing... that's another sign...

Re: Shard On the Missile Deflection question, I would first go with Log-Man's second suggestion: give him a bunch of DCV levels, only vs. light-based attacks. However, I would also consider buying Missile Deflection for those times he wants to stand in front of a laser blast (aimed at a teammate, for example) and cause it to go astray. That one, I wouldn't make automatic, however. As to the Damage Shield, you need to add Continuous, and I think you should keep it Persistent if you want it to work even when he's stunned or unconscious. If it's something he can't control (IOW he can't touch someone without hurting them), you could add Always On to the mix. Regarding the breaking glass sound, I'd agree that a Physical Limitation (and a Distinctive Feature) would be in order, though I agree with gmurie that it's not All the Time. Also, a +2 to others' PER to hear you may or may not be Greatly Impairing; that's a GM call.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Buying 400 tickets to the policemen's ball.

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Real world plot seed. It's a few years old, but the Italian town where things spontaneously combust is also a potential real world plot seed.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... In all fairness to that individual, in Night Watch, Vimes does contemplate that passwords are always "Swordfish". I might have done the same thing (though I might have looked at the underside of the ouiji board, as it was the closest thing available to a keyboard).

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Tony Stark dancing around his workshop / garage in women's clothing singing "I Feel Pretty!" NT: Most obscure and controversial feature in the Iron Man armor.

Re: Looking for a good name As a toddler, William's mother called him "Newton" (after Sir Isaac Newton) due to his penchant for testing the laws of motion and his seemingly endless energy making him seem like a perpetual motion device. When he began to demonstrate his mother's gadgeteering expertise, being nicknamed after such a venerated man of science seemed doubly appropriate. A decent number of Newton's gadgets alter a target's force, mass, and acceleration (for instance, his force field stops bullets in their tracks, and his Vector Gun can either stop a speedster in his tracks or redirect and accelerate his movement into another, uncontrolled, direction). A large bully at Promethean Academy learned of William's nickname and took to calling the diminuitive teenager "Newt", which got under his skin like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Where is this "Big Bang Buffet" I keep hearing about? A: Crazier than Tom Cruise, stupider than Britney Spears, and more attention starved than Paris Hilton.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: How is the government going to pay for the latest tax breaks? A: By steel cage death match, naturally!

Re: All Your Base Belong to Us

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "My favorite part is when all of the giant balloons in the parade disperse their gas, generating the largest mobile fuel-air explosive east of the Mississippi!"

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat "Why wouldn't you use a microscopic black hole as the central component of your trash compacter?" NT: Best things overheard at the Mad Scientist Convention.

Re: All Your Base Belong to Us Okay, revising my earlier writeup: This one doesn't split evenly among five heroes as-is, but if everybody puts in 7 points you should have enough for a basic computer to help run things. This sea floor habitat is not mobile and includes no cost savings due to the original structure. I removed the external cameras and sonar, dropped the marine biology lab, reduced the skill rolls for the remaining labs, and lowered the damage from the blasters. I also added internal cameras and moved the blasters inside. IMO, this base retains some utility while remaining fairly inexpensive. It has a farily handy med lab, decent criminology lab, and the machine shop can be swapped out for some other lab that better fits a hero's skills. And there's room for expansion if someone wants to donate more points later on. If the GM says that the shed and tunnel aren't part of the Size, each floor is 13" radius. Otherwise, I went with a 10" radius, plus a 2"x2" shed and a 113" long, 1" wide tunnel. That's not very long (only 0.15 mile), but making it longer will seriously cut into the size of the base. If I were GM, I would throw in the shed and tunnel for free, 'cause I'm a nice guy. Cost -- Characteristics 21 -- DEF 9 6 -- BODY 8 20 -- Size 16x32=512 hexes (22,036 sq ft), DCV -10 25 -- Location (Distant, Underwater) Cost -- Equipment [END] 7 -- Micro-Fusion Plant and Batteries: 70 END Reserve, 10 REC/turn; OIF: -½; Immobile, -1 7 -- Rebreather: LS: scb; Costs END: -½ [1] 7 -- Filters: LS: Disease/Toxin/Poison, All Diseases & Bio Agents; Costs END: -½ [1] 1 -- Temperature Control: LS: Envir - Intense Cold; Costs END: -½ [1] 1 -- Structure: LS: Envir - High Pressure 1 -- Food Supplies: LS: Diminished Eating (once/week) 10 -- Internal Cameras: Clairsentience, 200", Sight Group, IIF -¼; Immobile, -1; Blind Spots (Activation 15-, -¼) [2] 4 -- High Range Radio; IAF: -½; Immobile, -1; Micro-Fusion Plant must be operational: -¼ 20 -- Pop-Up Sonic Blasters: 8d6 EB; IAF: -½; Immobile, -1 [2] 10 -- Additional 3 Sonic Blasters (4 Total) [2 each] 7 -- Regen Tube: 2d6 Healing; Any one physical characteristic at a time, +½; Half END: +¼; OIF -½; Immobile, -1; Extra Time: 5 min., -2; Requires Paramedics roll, -½ [1] Cost -- Labs/Skills 15 -- No Records: Concealment, 15- 7 -- Barnacle-covered: Disguise, 11- 7 -- Machine Shop: Mechanics, 11- 7 -- Med Lab: Paramedics, 11- 7 -- Crime Lab: Criminology, 11- 190 Total Base Cost 160+ Disadvantages 5 -- DNPC: Caretaker (Normal, 8-, Useful Skills) 15 -- Hunted (8-) by ??? (Original owners are as powerful as PCs, have no NCI, and the base is easy for them to find) 10 -- Mystery Disad (for GM to decide) 200 -- Disadvantages Total Cost: 160/5 = 32

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Sell my blood. And my wife's blood. And my kids' blood. NT: Appropriate ways the common man and woman should "reward" oil executives for another quarter's record profits.