# [recruiting maybe] Simple Superheroes  - Artifice City



## Thondor (Apr 4, 2013)

If you've always wanted to make your own Superhero - This Game is for You.

_Recruiting? Well this is an old thread, and I primarily wanted to let everyone know who was interested in the past that Simple Superheroes is now on Kickstarter. But if there is a bunch of interest . . . who knows? Maybe I'll consider reviving it, or running a new one._

*Who is Thondor?*
I am the designer of Simple Superheroes. I’ve been around ENworld for a while, and played in a few PbP games here and even run one (briefly).

[Sblock=Who are the Players]
Fireinthedust - Doctor Nexus - Maj. Sir Nethaddeus Cavor, MD, PhD etc (mutated Genius in armour)
Mark Chance - American Dreamer - Aiden O'Leary (Former police officer with uncontrollable pre-cognition)
Walking Dad - Yarko the Great - real name? (Master of Magic)
Zerith - Zeta WiP - Zeta (A living locomotive - Steam)
HarryBModest - ? - ? (Teleporter)

Rogue's Gallery for character write-ups.
[/Sblock]


*What is Simple Superheroes?*
A structured free-form Superhero Game in Pre-release. (Now on Kickstarter).
You can download The Heart of Simple Superheroes for free which lays out the majority of the rules of the game.

*What are the Assumptions for this Play-by-Post?*


Your character will be a City-level hero. Meaning he can have pretty wacky powers, but there will be notable limitations.
A friendly, bantering, not particularly high realism game. Your costumed heroes out to foil the villains diabolical plot ‘nuff said.
All players are on a Team. Team name TBD.
Scenario’s/Issues will be short. I’m hoping to have a short quickly resolved story or two. Hopefully this will fit in well with the drop-in drop-out nature of PbP.

[sblock=The Universe: Post-War - Artifice City]
I've outlined the answers to the questions. At this point I am open to feedback and suggestions.

*Spinning a Universe questions:*


_1. How long have there been people with superhuman powers?_
 - Since the close of WWII. At least this is the commonly held belief. 

_2. Did and does the emergence of people with powers meaningfully affect the world?_
- Not a lot. The main result has been creating one more thing for the news to report about. Heroes are pretty well balanced by villains.

3. Will the events of the story that will be told significantly change the status quo or do things mostly return to normal between story arcs?
 - The status quo returns at the close of story-arcs. 

4. Who was the first superpowered individual? Are they still around?


5. Is there a dominant source of powers, or banned sources? 
- The Enhanced Soldier program (Project 33) or its ‘spin-offs' is a common source. 
- All sources are welcome.

6. Does any of the following exist, and if so how prevalent is their presence and are they known to the public? 
- Aliens: unknown 
- Other dimensions/planes: unlikely. 
- Alternate realities and alternate Universes: unknown. 
- Time travel: No. (Not this time .) 
- Real pre-cognition or post-cognition: Yes, though it is not widely known.

7. How does the media and government treat those with powers? Are they even aware of meta-humans? 
- The government mostly ignores meta-humans. The media regard heroes with a bit of awe. 

8. How prevalent are super-powered individuals in the developing world? 
- irrelevant all conflict will be home-grown.

9. Does the Universe use real cities and geographies or fictional locations? 
- The Universe is primarily set in Artifice City. A name that embodies the booming and innovation of the 1950's with the possibility of deception.

10. What are the Moods, themes and levels of realism?
 - Cheesy Plans, Monologues, fairly low ‘realism.'

11. Do people die? And stay that way?
 - It can happen, but is rare.

12. How do powers affect national and international politics?
 - We could introduce Communism into the mix here, but I think we won't really focus on it. Unless someone is keen?     

 13. How does all the collateral damage from superhuman battles get repaired? Who foots the bill and how do they keep up with the work?
 - In this booming economy? No problem.

14. When is the story set?
 - 1950's

15. What other things besides being a criminal or hero do superpowered humans use their powers for?
 - People with powers wear costumes. They either fight the good fight or the bad one, ‘nuff said.

16. How did the heroes (the player characters) come together
- To be Determined.

[/sblock]

*Character Creation*
This is outlined in detail in Heart of Simple Superheroes. 
Note that making your character should feel like Brainstorming. I’ll probably discuss at least a few points for each players character to make sure we are on the same page.

Example Characters:
There are two example characters on the website; and a couple more in the forum.
Below is a straightforward example formatted appropriately.

[sblock=Pacifier]
Example character using Standard array

*Pacifier *
Identity: Gregory Barnes

                              Talents 
Accurracy:    2- quick-silver blows [O]
Mobility:       2- quick-silver step [F] 
Toughness:   4- titanium body [D], 2- larger than life [F]
Might:          4- iron blows [O], 3- strength of iron [F] 
Brains:         3- diamond mind [D]
Senses: 

Superpower Finesse: 2- strong, 2- fast, 2- resilient 

Weakness: Made of metal.

Lifepoints: 7
Strainpoints: 6

Relations: 2- Mandy (gf), 2- Truth, 1- Ted's sports bar

_Now the above is all that is really needed to play Pacifier. However, some discussion "with the GM" is warranted._

*Description of Talents:*

Quicksilver Blows (accuracy -2): Pacifier can stike fast with accuracy. While his "iron blows" is more potent, he might use this in combat to try and smash something, grab something or similar actions requiring precision.

Quicksilver Step (mobility - 2): Pacifier is fast. He could have just as easily called this talent "run." 

Titanium Body (toughness - 4): Pacifier's body is completely metallic making him highly resilient to physical trauma. 
_Note that this does not protect him from a large number of attacks including energy (things like acid, fire, cold, lightning), magic, mind-effecting, or anything that simply needs to touch him like a net._

Larger Than Life (2- toughness): This gives Pacifier an extra positive Lifepoint and an extra negative Lifepoint. His negative 1 repeats.

Iron Blows (4- might): Pacifier hits with impressive force. He can use it to smash foes, walls and even steel (his Titanium Body keeps him from hurting himself).

Strength of Iron (3- might): Pacifier is inhumanly strong. He uses this Talent to lift bend and twist, really anything where raw strength is called for. He can easily lift a motorcycle.
_Note that without this Talent Pacifier would not be any stronger than an average human._

Diamond Mind (3- brains): Pacifier knows and protects his own mind. This protects him from all sorts of mind-affecting Talents, including persuasion, mind-control and fear. 

*Personality and Background*
_This is where a player writes about the characters origin, motives, interests, personality_

[/sblock]
[sblock=Character Creation Tips
First find a hero and power concept.

Defenses: There are a lot of forms of defenses.  You won’t have enough Talents to defend from all kinds of attack. That’s what friends are for.

Usually specific Talents trumps generic ones

Talents are meant to be narrow - a single ‘fire’ talent does not give you ultimate control over fire. In fact if you only have one fire Talent you may not be able to light a cigarette, instead you might light your head on fire.

The above is why Superpower Finesse is good.

Spending Strainpoints and pooling Talents are you friends. 
[/sblock]

[sblock=Combat Example

This is to illustrate how the die mechanics work.

A gunman attacks Pacifier. The gunman gets 2 d6. Pacifier uses his Titanium body to resist, which is rank 4, giving him 4 d6.

Gunman's Attack
1d6;1d6 → [2] = (2)
1d6;1d6 → [3] = (3)

[link to roll]  [link to character]

Pacifier's Titanium body vs gunmanPacifier's Titanium body vs gunman
1d6;1d6;1d6;1d6 → [5] = (5)
1d6;1d6;1d6;1d6 → [6] = (6)
1d6;1d6;1d6;1d6 → [5] = (5)
1d6;1d6;1d6;1d6 → [1] = (1)

[link to roll]  [link to character]

2's and 1's are completely ignored. 3's and above are considered basic sucesses.
The highest die of each contestant is compared. Then the next highest etc.

The Gunman's 3 does not exceed Pacifier's 6, so the bullet deflects harmlessly off his steel flesh.
[/sblock]

_------------Some new details_

[sblock=Talents Intent]
The 'letters' next to the Talents are the talents Intent. The standard intents are as follows:
_Offensive [O]
Defensive [D]
Functional [F]
Reactive [R]_ - reactive Talents respond to a Trigger, allowing the character to cause something to happen 'out-of-sequence'. The Trigger by definition should be narrow.

Non-standard Intents:
_Time [T] 
Potency [P]
Hard-Tech [H]_

Time and Potency are often used for characters like Yarko the Great who can 'cast any spell' or gadgeter characters who can 'build anything.' Its also how you can handle a green-lantern type concept.

Hard-Tech is an additional designation. A Talent will have one of the 'standard' intents as well as the Hard-tech intent eg [FH]. Hard-tech Talents cannot be pushed by Strainpoints and are more likely to be damaged or malfunction. They do however have one situation where they excel; such as body-armor being especially good at blocking bullets. In this one situation they gain a rank/die.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Defenses]
Generally speaking there are several forms of defenses that don't overlap.


Physical resilience
'Energy' resilience
Mental resilience
Dodging
Magic resilience
Minor overlaps in the above are possible, but it wouldn't cover all cases. You might have 'arcane shield' that protects against magic and mental control, but doesn't protect against persuasion, intimidation, and fear.

*CornerCases
*
There is also a whole bunch of cornercases, or odd situations that a character might not be protected from.
Sonic, gases, injections or intoxicants, being blinded, and probably a few other things I can't think of.
Usually a hero can be effectively immune to a cornercase if they have a rank 3 talent that would protect them. Having 3- sonar makes a character effectively immune to blindness.
[/sblock]

[sblock='Narrowness' of offensive Talent example]
We'll start with a one shot wonder, someone with a single powerful Talent. Let's call this character Bob.

*Bob v1 *
_Might 5- Telekinetic Blow [O]_

Now Bobv1 can hit things with a massive amount of force with his telekinesis. It is an almost instinctual blast of power that is over a very short (close) distance. He tends to make dramatic hand gestures (like punching the air) when he does so. He can smash large objects with it (like doors).

_What can't Bobv1 do?_
He can't hit a small target with it.
He can't hit someone who is far away or deliberately keeping their distance.
He would probably hit both people in a grapple.
He can't lift things. (He can only knock them over or break them.)
He cannot lift himself into the air.
He can't defend himself at all.

In short he has no Finesse.

So ... Let's add a few Talents

*Bob v2*
_Accuracy 3- Telekinetic Manipulation [F]
Mobility 2- Telekinetic Stability [F]
Might 5- Telekinetic Blow [O]_


_Telekinetic manipulation _gives Bobv2 the the ability to pick up small objects, or flip a switch across the room, or pull a gun out of someone's hand (if he's lucky).
It also makes him a little more flexible with his Telekinetic blow, he should be able to effect things slightly further away from him.

_Telekinetic Stability_ is used to 'push off' of surfaces to keep Bobv2 light on his feet. he might aslo try to break his fall using this Talent. If he advanced this Talent further he might be able to levitate.

So how about the restrictions on _Telekinetic Blow?  _They are still largely the same, but a Game Master 'Judge' should be a little more lenient since Bobv2 has several Telekinetic Talents, meaning that he has 'Finesse'.

[/sblock]


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## Jemal (Apr 5, 2013)

Is this just an official recruiting thread for the other thread we've been discussing your game in, or were you planning to run a second game in the system?


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## Thondor (Apr 5, 2013)

This is the 'official' thread for the game. As the GM, having the first post is very helpful.


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## fireinthedust (Apr 5, 2013)

Here's Doctor Nexus, what I have so far.  Based around the Iron Man, but I'm re-working him.  I've lowered some numbers, but it's very basic right now. 

EDIT: fixed it up somewhat, added a rough history.  The armor strength is there because, well, he's in power armor.  

[sblock] 
Doctor Nexus
Identity: Maj. Sir Nethaddeus Cavor, MD, PhD, ESQ, MA, MSc, CRA, MDMA, ABC, CPR, IOU and MRS.

Accuracy: 3- Stun Blasters [O,H]
Mobility: 3- Cavorite Flight [F, H]
Toughness: 3- Artifice Armor [D,H], (?) Morphic Reformation [D]
Might: 3- Armored Strength [F,H]
Brains: 4- Super Genius [F], 3- invent suit-enhancements [F,H],  
Senses: 2- Sensor Suite [F,H]  

Superpower Finesse: 3

Weakness: Morphic Form: if not in his suit, Dr. Nexus transforms into a morphic mass of proto-matter, a stretchy form of himself.  This would be handy if he could control it better, and in private he practices, but for now it is a challenge his genius is working around.  His suit’s coherence field keeps him together, so long as the power is active in his suit.    

Strainpoints: 6
Lifepoints: 6

Relations: 3- Man of Science, 2- Lady Livinia, 2- Alien Morphology


Description of Talents:

Artifice Armor:  Doctor Nexus’ suit of power armor is quite resistant to the rugged lifestyle of a man of action and super science.
Sensor Suite:  Using his armor’s scanners, he can analyse various substances, structures, machines and life-forms.  His genius may then postulate what it is he’s discovered.
Super Genius:  Arguably his greatest weapon: Doctor Nexus is a man of science and vision, such that important persons including the Queen and the President often call upon him to solve various important problems.  It allows him to look at a problem, such as rewiring a giant robot, creating a cure for the disease from dimension X, to piecing together a working understanding of an alien language.  Roll successes to determine if he can solve a problem using his inimitable genius.
Create Suit Enhancements (3- brains):  Doctor Nexus can invent things from his suit by re-routing power, polarizing and re-polarizing the probability streams of the flux reducers, and other similarly indescribable processes.  This gives Doctor Nexus a chance (rolled) to have enhanced his suit to have a particular ability. The GM sets the difficulty of the challenge to have the desired enhancement. Enhancements act as rank 2 Talents.


Cavorite Flight:  The rare substance allows Doctor Nexus to defy gravity, currently making a giant suit of armor fly.
Stun Blasters:  Damage is effective but non-lethal, as he is not merely a man of science... but a man of peace.  (ie: he blasts you, you’re not dead when you go down)
Morphic Reformation:  When unconscious or dead, Doctor Nexus’ body reforms itself; eventually he will regain consciousness, and either make his way to his armor, or find a way to build another coherence field (however slowly).


Group: TBA
Orientation: Hero
Role: Smart Flier

Doctor Nexus is a brave and accomplished scientist, part of the Manhattan project, and many other such government taskforces for years.  He has pioneered a number of fields, including Xenobiology, advanced robotics, theories on time travel and the existence of other dimensions.  (His family is a long line of heroic aristocrats, doctors, scientists and landed nobility, the good ones who you'd want to have be your aristocrats even if you don't like the concept of an aristocracy or class system.)  Nethadeus is incredibly brilliant, and had collected every available title and distinction before he was twenty, when his family moved to America to work on defenses for the great war, settling in New England and Manhattan.
Most recently he himself was drawn into the world of super science as a subject rather than an observer, when he was singled out during an alien attack towards the end of WW2.  His brain was to be added to their collective morphic mind computer, but he broke free and helped to turn back the tide of the invasion.  His new form means his entire body acts as a brain, every fibre of the morphic mass being able to compute and store information despite whatever punishments it may undergo; yet without help he loses his human appearance.  His Lady Livinia at his side, faithful despite his physically being a giant glob of goo, he invented his mighty power armor and coherence field, which allows him to maintain his human form.  His inventions are more fantastic than ever, but he has begun to spend time fighting the rising menace of super villains alongside his never-ending quest to discover and improve mankind.
[/sblock]


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## Mark Chance (Apr 6, 2013)

This looks rather nifty. Here's a stab at a character:

[sblock=American Dreamer]
_Identity:_ Aiden O'Leary

*Talents*
_Accuracy:_ 4 Like Castor & Pollux [O]
_Mobility:_ 3 Olympian [F]
_Toughness:_ 3 Tough as Nails [D]
_Might:_ 3 Powerhouse [F]
_Brains:_ 2 Investigator [F], 2 Police Procedure [F]
_Senses:_ 2 Precognitive Dreams [F], 2 Sense Danger [D]

*Superpower Finesse*
* Perfect Athlete 3
* Precognitive 2
* Former Policeman 2

*Relations*
* His Family 3
* Truth, Justice, and the American Way 2
* Rizzo the Snitch 1

*Lifepoints:* 6
*Strainpoints:* 6

*Weakness:* American Dreamer cannot fully control his precognitive powers. Often, his dreams are partial or vague, and infrequently he suffers from "waking visions".

*Description of Talents:*
* _Like Castor & Pollux_ (Accuracy 4): American Dreamer is a highly skilled boxer and wrestler as a result of intensive training.
* _Olympian_ (Mobility 3): American Dreamer could qualify for the U.S. Olympic team in track & field and gymnastic events as a result of intensive training.
* _Tough as Nails_ (Toughness 3): American Dreamer is a well-conditioned athlete and fighter as a result of intensive training. He can really take a punch, resist pain and fatigue, et cetera.
* _Powerhouse_ (Might 3): American Dreamer is a first-rate powerlifter and strongman as a result of intensive training.
* _Investigator_ and _Police Procedure_ (Brains 2): American Dream is trained in criminal investigative techniques and police procedures.
* _Precognitive Dreams_ and _Sense Danger_ (Senses 2): American Dreamer often has dreams that warn him of impending dangers and/or point him in the direction of helping others, solving crimes, et cetera. These precognitive powers can alert him about immediate danger in time to react, sometimes before the danger happens.

*Personality and Background:* Aiden O'Leary comes from a family of cops. His grandfather was a cop. His father is a retired cop. Both of his brothers are cops. So, naturally, Aiden wanted to be a cop as well, and, for a time, he was. He served with pride and distinction on the city's rough streets. When he took a bullet to the head trying to foil a hold-up, Aiden's life changed in more than one way. The injury somehow unlocked precognitive powers over which Aiden has only some control. His "waking visions" proved particularly troublesome. He couldn't be a cop suffering from this sort of "brain damage". So, Aiden resigned and became a private investigator. When the situation calls from it, he dons his fedora, domino mask, and red-white-blue trenchcoat to fight crime as the American Dreamer.
[/sblock]


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## Thondor (Apr 7, 2013)

@_*fireinthedust*_: 
Four points:
1. Doctor Nexus has one to many rank 3 Talents. It should be a rank two. Keep in mind that rank two doesn't really allow for inhuman traits.

2. Morphic form is primarily a weakness, you can probably have a two there. I would suggest something like 'alien biology' which would protect you from things like intoxicants and similar, particularly if they are designed to effect humans. The idea you currently have of 'reforming' after anything (eventually) is probably a little strong.

3. We may wish to discuss the hard-tech designation a little more. Each hard-tech talent needs a narrow circumstance where you get a bonus die for each. So do you have some ideas for these?

4. At 3 cavorite flightshould befairly limited, so what are it's drawbacks? slow? actvation round,etc ?


Mark Chance: 
Welcome aboard. At first blush looks pretty solid. You've classified two Talents as Reactive and this is probably not appropriate. I'll follow up more soon.


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## Thondor (Apr 8, 2013)

I'll help each character with a superpower finesse rating once we have settled their final set of Talents.

*American Dreamer:*
1. I'd encourage you to take at least one Relation to a person or people. Its good to have some variety here. His siblings and Dad are good candidates. Taking all Values gives me/us a little less to work with as storytellers.

2. How did he gain his enhanced strength, resilience and skill? Training? A mysterious side effect of the head trauma? 

3. Reactive - _Precognitive d_reams and_ Sense danger _are probably not reactive. Reactive talents are meant to respond to a trigger that isn't an attack on you. a)If you are using _Sense Danger_ to protect youself then it is probably just Defensive. If your using it to protect others is could conceivably be reactive.

b) I would probably just make _Precognitive Dreams_ functional. For it to work he would need to be asleep or possibly in deep meditation. ​You can take a look here for a longer discussion on Reactive Talents.


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## Mark Chance (Apr 8, 2013)

[MENTION=31955]Thondor[/MENTION]: Changes made.


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## Thondor (Apr 8, 2013)

@_*Mark Chance*_; nice! Two comments:

*Pre-cognitive.*
 Normally we don't have traits which are clearly inhuman at rank two. I am happy have you with this Talent at rank two with the understanding that it is a strongly mixed blessing. The dreams will sometimes be mis-leading, prevent your character from sleeping properly, and happen at inconvenient times -- like in the middle of a fight.
In short I get to give you a hard time with it. If you want me to give you a little less of a hard time you should up the rank.


*Relations & Ally's*

You have 'Rizzo the Snitch' as a Relation. It's important to note that an ally -- eg someone who will go out of the way to help you, or is particularly useful, should be reperesented by a Talent. (Moon Knight's moon-copter pilot Frankie would be a Talent that Moon Knight has, Frankie would probably also be a relation.)
Mechanically what you are expressing with the Relation is that your character enjoys spending time with Rizzo and cares about him. The Rizzo Relation doesn't give you any mechanical benefit to finding information, although as GM I may well choose to provide information through him. 

Finally
*Superpower Finesse:*
If you keep the Talents as is I would say he has the following Superpower Finesses:
3- perfect althlete
2- Pre-cognitive
2- Former Policeman


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## Mark Chance (Apr 8, 2013)

Thondor said:


> *Pre-cognitive.* Normally we don't have traits which are clearly inhuman at rank two. I am happy have you with this Talent at rank two with the understanding that it is a strongly mixed blessing. The dreams will sometimes be mis-leading, prevent your character from sleeping properly, and happen at inconvenient times -- like in the middle of a fight. In short I get to give you a hard time with it. If you want me to give you a little less of a hard time you should up the rank.




That's pretty much what I'm envisioning, which is why I described it under the weakness. American Dreamer's fugue states can be a liability, especially for a police officer, which lead to his resignation from the force.




Thondor said:


> *Relations & Ally's* You have 'Rizzo the Snitch' as a Relation. .... Mechanically what you are expressing with the Relation is that your character enjoys spending time with Rizzo and cares about him. The Rizzo Relation doesn't give you any mechanical benefit to finding information, although as GM I may well choose to provide information through him.




That's cool. I'll flesh out a bit more about the relationship between Aidan and Rizzo after a while. I'm picturing them as having been best friends as children who made rather different decisions about how to get by in life.



Thondor said:


> *Superpower Finesse:*
> If you keep the Talents as is I would say he has the following Superpower Finesses:
> 3- perfect althlete
> 2- Pre-cognitive
> 2- Former Policeman




I'm not sure what that means, but okay.


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## Walking Dad (Apr 9, 2013)

I will bow out of this. To much stuff I just don't get and my RL group is switching to another system I have to learn, too. I wish you all the best and good gaming.


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## Thondor (Apr 9, 2013)

Walking Dad said:


> I will bow out of this. To much stuff I just don't get and my RL group is switching to another system I have to learn, too. I wish you all the best and good gaming.



 [MENTION=59043]Walking Dad[/MENTION];
Hmmm, I am happy walk you through any questions you may have. In the hopes of peaking your interest, here is a rendition of Yarko the Great.
The Mystic/inventor/green lantern type character who can do almost anything they can imagine is a more complex character to model. If your still having trouble groking the system a simpler achetype might be easier.

[sblock=Yarko the Great]
_Identity:_ Yarko the Great

*Talents*
_Accuracy:_    2- nimble handed and footed [F]
_Mobility:_ 
_Toughness:_ 3- Mystic shields [D]
_Might:_
_Brains:_            4- Cast a Spell [T], 5- Spell Potency [P], 2- Mystic energy (extra strain) [F]
_Senses:_         3- Mystic Sight [F]

*Superpower Finesse* 5- Mystic

*Relations:* I am leaving this blank
* 2
* 1
* 1

*Lifepoints:* 6
*Strainpoints:* 7

*Weakness(es):* 
If Yarko cannot see then he is unable to cast spells. 
To cast new spells he must be in his primary form.
 Yarko requires artifacts to cast complex spells. The Gem in his Turban is his primary focus. If he is without mystic artifacts he suffers a die penalty.

*Description of Talents:
*
* _Cast a Spell_ (Brains 4): It normally takes Yarko 1-2mins to cast a spell. He can cast a spell in one action if he spends a Strainpoint. He can prepare spells ahead of time to be released as an action. He can maintain 4 spell effects at once. 

* _Spell Potency_ (Brains 5): Yarko can mimic the effects of almost any potential Talent as if it was Rank 4 (he could roll 4 dice). One of his favourite spells is to shapechange himself. But he can perform a huge host of other incantations such as enchanting a carpet to fly, or invisibility, intangibility, telekinesis etc.
Spells can last for an entire Scene or confrontation at which point they fade away endless Yarko casts them again or expends Strainpoints.

* _Mystic Energy_ (Brains 2): Yarko has a deep reserve of mystic energy which he uses to boost his spellcasting. This gives him one extra (positive) Strainpoint. His negative 1 repeats.

* _Fleet handed-and-footed_ (Accuracy 2): Yarko can perform classic stage magic and circus tricks. Such as making things dissapear and reappear, as well as walking on a tight-rope or similar tricks.

* _Mystic Shields_ (Toughness 3): Yarko is shielded from hostile magic and mind-control.

* _Mystic Sight_ (Senses 3): Yarko 'sees' and feels magic. 



*Personality and Background:* 
Yarko is a stage Magician who is also a True Mage. 
[/sblock]


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## Walking Dad (Apr 9, 2013)

Thank you very much. I will happily play this character after adding the relations. Let's just hope I will not be too annoying with my questions during play.


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## Zerith (Apr 11, 2013)

I'm wondering what you think of this character concept :3

[sblock=Harbinger]
Identity: Alexander Ravensworth

Talents
Accuracy: 2-Defiler’s Grace[F]
Mobility: 2-Feind’s Fleet Feet[F]
Toughness: 5-Immortal Defiance [D, R], 4-Death Defied [D], 3-Wrath of Madness[O, A], 2-Ichor of Undeath  [O, R, A]
Might:
Brains: 3-Terror[C, F, R]
Senses:

Superpower Finesse: Pending

Weakness: Harbinger is unable to cross the threshold of hollowed ground without being invited by an authority to do so.

Inchor of undeath is involuntary, and he may not chose to ‘not’ use it, placing anything, friends and foes alike, nearby him in peril if he comes to harm.

Lifepoints: 6
Strainpoints: 6

Relations: 2-Remediation, 1-Truth/Truth sayer, 1-Revenge

*Description of Talents:*

Defiler’s Grace[Accuracy-2]: Harbinger has never been one to avoid dramatically walking into ‘peril’, but he is able to sneak his way by when so he chooses.
Fiend’s Fleet Feet[Mobility-2]: Harbinger is fleet of foot and able to move swiftly*.*

Immortal Defiance[Toughness-5]: Harbinger is, arguably, Immortal, recovering from wounds that sunder flesh and bone without breaking stride, knitting himself and his attire until whole.
Immediately at the end of his turn, and after being harmed, Harbinger rolls to regain LP up to his max LP.
Rolls 2d6, 5+ to regains a LP

Death Defied [Toughness-4]: Harbinger’s body is not made of mortal flesh and bone, when ‘gravely’ wounded his interior is exposed, appearing as a hellish ether that steams and smolders out of the wound until it closes, it smells of brimstone.
Harbinger treats Death Defied as a rank 3 talent vs physical harm, but treats all attack attempts (successful or not) as if he was harmed for the purposes of Immortal Defiance and Ichor of Undeath.

Inchor of Undeath[Toughness:-2]: Harbinger’s body reacts violently to harm; creating a spray of thick ichor whenever he is harmed, the Ichor is highly acidic and gnaws through whatever it lands on.
[Harbinger, and his wardrobe, are immune]
-Wrath of Maddness[Toughness-3]: Harbinger ruptures his form and envelops an area with his inner ether; cording it away within the miasma; The action is is not without respite, however, Harbinger is harmed and loses 1 LP doing so.

Terror[Brains-3]: Harbinger is frightening to behold, when he so chooses, he sheaths the air in a miasma that causes a deep sense of foreboding in those who beholds him.
Those who look at him must either focus their actions on him, getting away from him, or roll to overcome the fear.

Group: TBA
Orientation: Anti-Hero
Role: Bullet magnet/Distraction[/sblock]


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## Thondor (Apr 11, 2013)

Zerith said:


> I'm wondering what you think of this character concept :3
> 
> *Harbinger*
> _snip_
> ...




Honestly, he's a really neat character and I like how you have worked the Talents. There would probably be some small tweaks. I can tell you put quite a bit of work and creativity into him.

My concern is that his concept is pretty dark, and that's a poor fit for the particular Universe that we have been planning. It's not a poor fit for the game system, but for 1950's lighthearted _Artifice City_ its not so great.

I tried to convey this in my OP with comments like



Thondor said:


> *What are the Assumptions for this Play-by-Post?
> *2. A friendly, bantering, not particularly high realism game. Your costumed heroes out to foil the villains diabolical plot ‘nuff said.




So the question is, are you comfortable tweaking him to be a little less 'dark' and a little more of a team player who would be happy foiling a bank robbery?
He doesn't need to be the kind of character who rescues kitten's out of trees for old ladies and little girls, but he needs to be able to work with heroes who do exactly that.

I want to make sure that there is consensus between players (including myself) on the kind of game and its tone that we are playing. Because otherwise it can lead to a lot of dissonance and  disappointment for the participants.

If you tweak him so that he views his current state as some sort of curse but has pledged to help the common man with his abilities until Dr. Nexus and/or Yarko the Great can cure him then it might work.
You may also want to add some sort of 'manifest' weakness, which means he is a normal human until he chooses to 'manifest' which takes an action on his part. He won't be able to use any of his inhuman talents until he 'manifests.'

Think about it. And feel free to propose a new character if you wish. I'd love to have you onboard.


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## Zerith (Apr 12, 2013)

I love feedback ^_^
Critiques as well 
But yeah, he is a bit…  Black… much less dark :/
His motive is more to do good things for _his own_ benefit then the benefit of others, that their helped is a worthless note to him “There all dead in the end anyways.” Basically, from his point of view, he Knows there is a heaven and a hell: he dos not want to go to hell(who would?), thus he will do whatever he can to make the world better: so that all his deeds are ‘good’ and he gets to go through the pearly gates when he finally is ended; thus working as ‘a good guy’ is his means and getting an infinite reward is his ends. So he is a bizarrely heroic anti-hero… but also a royal jack ass ^_^;
As for not liking his state? He enjoys it to be honest, the circumstances that caused it? He loathes, the ends though? He likes.

As for weaknesses: they were thrown in, I did not spend much time on them. I like and dislike the idea of him having “mortal time” but he has no reason to change out of his ‘super’ form. Though I was thinking about making him weak to magic/mystic/arcane powers (as his body is basically made of arcane energy…)

I would have used another version of him that is a caster, but we had one so meh; no further point going into that. And I was a bit worried he would not fit (given that he is themed to basically get cut in half and then corrode everything around him, without caring) but I do have a few others I could bring in.

Basically, right now, I'm pondering a nature user, a steam powered bot, and... another manna being, though more myth themed and less demon themed ;3
Basically they are, in order: AoE  damage/crowed control, Tank, Generalized combatant.


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## Mark Chance (Apr 12, 2013)

Zerith said:


> ...though more myth themed and less demon themed




That reminds me of years ago when I statted up Clio, the muse of history, as a superhero. She had a "history touch" power and could turn into a column of water.


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## Jemal (Apr 12, 2013)

Reasons, intentions - the WHY behind actions - is what makes a person Good or.. not...
If your only reason for doing something is the reward (or avoidance of punishment) then you are most decidedly NOT good.  That's my problem with the majority of religious views, the conceit that without the carrot and stick we are inherently evil when in fact it is quite the opposite.
But that's just my opinion, I have no desire to start an argument.


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## Jemal (Apr 12, 2013)

OK, I've dropped the idea I was discussing earlier, I just don't see it being doable to my satisfaction in this system, and I have an opportunity to play her in an M&M game.

So, I'm going instead with a telekinetic 'superman' style.  By superman I mean both in demeanor and power set.   He uses his telekinesis to duplicate superstrength, invulnerability, flight, etc.  

For background/personality, I want to try something much different from my usual snarky/witty Spiderman/tony stark style and go straight Cap America/Superman goodie good guy.

Lincoln is a an African American who joined the army at a young age to help protect people.  He was in the war for 4 years, until he was crippled saving his entire squad in 49.  Because he was black however, it was THEM who got the medals for bringing back his broken body, but he didn't care. 
When he got back to the states, he moved in with his brother Abraham - a professional Football player - and took up writing.

One day several years after the war had ended, he found himself - through a series of what he would later realize to be incredibly contrived events - in a most peculiar situation where he was faced with something terrible about to happen.  Given his conditions, there was only the most remote possibility that he had even a tiny chance of stopping it, and even if he succeeded nobody would ever know.  On the other hand, he could benefit greatly by letting it happen, and nobody would know that either.  He of course chose to sacrifice himself, despite knowing his actions were most likely futile.
At that point, it was revealed that he was being tested by a powerful cosmic entity (watcher/guardian/etc) who had been watching the planet - and him - for some time.  Lincoln was told he had proven himself 'worthy of the gift', and that it was hoped he would inspire others to be as virtuous as him.  
They unleashed his mind, expanding his intelligence and unlocking powerful telekinetic powers which continue to grow.  He uses these powers under the super-name "Paragon" to fight crime, hatred, and injustice. Much of his telekinetic power is actually used to keep up the appearance that he is a strong, fit, NOT CRIPPLED young man, to help hide his secret identity.

*ASIDE: My first concept was slightly different and fed a bit off Harbinger's semi-religious theme, but I wasn't sure how deep you wanted to get into stuff like that considering this is supposed to be a fairly light game, and I'm already throwing in a crippled black super-hero in the 1950s.  SO, I'm offering it here as an alternate in case you DO like it and want to pursue it (And nobody else is offended).
Basically, in the first draft Lincoln was an atheist, and the 'cosmic entity' claims to be God, giving Lincoln a side of wondering "is it really God, and does that change how I act at all?"
I thought it might create an interesting dichotomy with Harbinger - A demonically fueled hero who is absolutely sure of heaven and hell and does 'good' things just to stay out of heaven, despite the fact that he has no morals... and an atheistic hero who supposedly got his powers from "God" but does what he does simply because It's the right thing to do, regardless of heaven/hell.

So whadaya guys think, do you want a crippled black atheist who was turned into superman by a cosmic entity that may or may not be God?  Or should I stick with the alien thing?


NOW, Rules Questions for Thondor: 
First off, I notice most characters have letters next to their talents (Emphasis mine)


> Accuracy: 2-Defiler’s Grace*[F]*
> Mobility: 2-Feind’s Fleet Feet*[F]*
> Toughness: 5-Immortal Defiance* [D, R]*, 4-Death Defied *[D]*, 3-Wrath of Madness*[O, A]*, 2-Ichor of Undeath *[O, R, A]*
> Might:
> ...



So.. what up wit dat?

Second, I view Lincolns Telekinesis as being kind of a 'pool' of power that he draws from when he needs to enhance one thing over another.  Could that be represented by buying my 'main' powers (Strength, force field, flight) as talents, and then assigning the rest to just 'telekinesis A, telekinesis b' or some such, and having a lot of pooling options, or is there another way to represent that?

Third, What exactly is the superpower finesse about? 

Fourth, how do we represent non-power abilities (What other systems tend to call SKILLS, like technology usage, knowledges, acrobatics, etc).. They're not all just talents are they? That would seem to indicate a VERY focused system with no room for heroes that are good at more than one or two things.  If I was to use the 'standard' array, I'd probably have something like 'strength 4, Force field 4, Telekinesis 3, Flight 3' at the very least to represent my actual powers, which would only leave 3 2-ranks for utility and skills..


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## Zerith (Apr 12, 2013)

By that logic, it is most decidedly not good to go to work for the simple and sole reason of getting paid.
I'm  not saying he is a great guy because he dos good things for selfish  reasons, but history judges on actions and when it comes down to it, how  do we know who was truly a good person and who just wanted to be known  as one? And most good people get enjoyment from helping others; their  getting rewarded by doing so and that is their motive, and that is  selfish when you think about it.

In my book, good comes down to: do you pray on others to get what you want or do you choose to work for it without doing so?
___

Anyways, what shall I bring? The plant, the robot or the Manathingy?


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## Thondor (Apr 12, 2013)

Jemal said:


> So, I'm going instead with a telekinetic 'superman' style.  By superman I mean both in demeanor and power set.   He uses his telekinesis to duplicate superstrength, invulnerability, flight, etc.
> Paragon



Neat concept.



Jemal said:


> So whadaya guys think, do you want a crippled black atheist who was turned into superman by a cosmic entity that may or may not be God?  Or should I stick with the alien thing?




I could go either way on this. I would be slightly concerned that we might be touching some 'real world religious issues' that might offend some folks. I believe we are supposed to avoid this on these boards . . .
I'm pretty religious and I'm not at all easy to offended, but I'm not sure that's what is relevant here.



Jemal said:


> NOW, Rules Questions for Thondor:
> First off, I notice most characters have letters next to their talents (Emphasis mine)
> _snip_
> So.. what up wit dat?




The 'letters' next to the Talents are the talents _Intent. _The standard intents are as follows:
Offensive [O]
Defensive [D]
Functional [F]
Reactive [R] - reactive Talents respond to a Trigger, allowing the character to cause something to happen 'out-of-sequence'. The Trigger by definition should be narrow.

Non-standard Intents:
Time [T] 
Potency [P]
Hard-Tech [H]

Time and Potency are often used for characters like Yarko the Great who can 'cast any spell' or gadgeter characters who can 'build anything.' Its also how you can handle a green-lantern type concept.

Hard-Tech is an additional designation. A Talent will have one of the 'standard' intents as well as the Hard-tech intent eg [FH]. Hard-tech Talents cannot be pushed by Strainpoints and are more likely to be damaged or malfunction. They do however have one situation where they excel such as body-armor being especially good at blocking bullets. In this one situation they gain a rank/die.





Jemal said:


> Second, I view Lincolns Telekinesis as being kind of a 'pool' of power that he draws from when he needs to enhance one thing over another.  Could that be represented by buying my 'main' powers (Strength, force field, flight) as talents, and then assigning the rest to just 'telekinesis A, telekinesis b' or some such, and having a lot of pooling options, or is there another way to represent that?
> 
> Third, What exactly is the superpower finesse about?




I grouped these questions together because they are sort of related.

It really depends on what exactly you mean by "enhance one thing over another." There is already a mechanic in place that serves as a 'pool' of energy that you can use to boost your existing abilities, or to do something that you don't really have a Talent for. It is called Strainpoints. You could take a Talent that boosts your Strainpoints, or even add a new telekinesis pool (based on a Talent) that functions like strain but points can only be spent to  boosts your telekinesis.

When you don't really have an appropriate Talent, but your 'power' suggests that you could maybe do something, you can 'exceed your limits' by spending Strainpoints (2) and rolling your Superpower Finesse.
A Telekinetic who can't normally block out air (they have no Talent indicating they can do so) might try to do so by 'exceeding limits'. 
The short version is Superpower finesse rates how many closely related Talents a character has. This is a guide to how flexible the character is in general with their power and allows them to 'exceed limits'.

Why did I group these together? Because the solution for your character is probably spending Strainpoints to boosts existing Talents as well as to exceed limits.

Are there other possible ways to  "enhance one thing over another?" Yes . . .




Jemal said:


> Fourth, how do we represent non-power abilities (What other systems tend to call SKILLS, like technology usage, knowledges, acrobatics, etc).. They're not all just talents are they? That would seem to indicate a VERY focused system with no room for heroes that are good at more than one or two things.  If I was to use the 'standard' array, I'd probably have something like 'strength 4, Force field 4, Telekinesis 3, Flight 3' at the very least to represent my actual powers, which would only leave 3 2-ranks for utility and skills..




There are only Talents. A rank 2 displays significant professional skill or Olympic level physical ability. You can always role 1 die for anything a (average) human can do, you do not need a Talent to do so.

The system leaves lots of room for character advancement. You are meant to be left wanting more, you aren't suppose to have enough Talents to cover everything.


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## Thondor (Apr 12, 2013)

Zerith said:


> By that logic, it is most decidedly not good to go to work for the simple and sole reason of getting paid.



Doing something for the sole reason of its benefit to you is not good. 

The Ultimate Good Act requires sacrificing something (often just your time) for the sole purpose of benefiting someone else -- with an important caveat -- no one besides yourself can be inconvenienced or hurt by your action.

The altruistic joy found in performing Ultimate Good Acts, does not lessen the fact that it was good.

Are there lots of actions that don't quite reach the status of "Ultimate Good Act" that might still be considered good? Sure. But you are going to get debate on any of those.

Anyway . . . 



Zerith said:


> Anyways, what shall I bring? The plant, the robot or the Manathingy?




It depends if you want a team full of conceptual diversity or you'd like some common themes. The plant would be diverse. The robot would have some commonality with Dr. Nexus, while the Manathingy would have some commonality with Yarko.


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## fireinthedust (Apr 13, 2013)

Thondor said:


> 2. Morphic form is primarily a weakness, you can probably have a two there. I would suggest something like 'alien biology' which would protect you from things like intoxicants and similar, particularly if they are designed to effect humans. The idea you currently have of 'reforming' after anything (eventually) is probably a little strong.
> 
> 3. We may wish to discuss the hard-tech designation a little more. Each hard-tech talent needs a narrow circumstance where you get a bonus die for each. So do you have some ideas for these?
> 
> 4. At 3 cavorite flightshould befairly limited, so what are it's drawbacks? slow? actvation round,etc ?




1.  Done.  Lowered Strength.  I kind of want to change it to "tractr beam", so he's not "sullying his hands".  What do you think?

2.  Reformation:  Well, I figure it's a slow regeneration, but outsideof combat.  Maybe not "anything", like Lava or major energy, but something like being punched by the hulk and he'd sloooowly reconstitute.  

3.  Hmmm, can I have some examples?  Like, the strength (or tractor beam) could have a bonus die for lifting?  

4.  Flight:  Cavorite, as everyone knows, is pushed away by gravity (see League of Extraordinary Gentlemen tpb 1... because it's great).  Therefore, maybe strong force can knockback very easily while he's flying: his mass is compensated for, and while small thrusters can adjust his movement, a big push wil treat him like he's much lower mass.  So if he gets hit, he'll probably fall or crash (thus having reconstitution will be a very handy trait).


Zerith's Anti-hero:  Like Thondor said, you've done a great job with design, and the mechanics make sense (the Ichor would be a reaction to being attacked, nice thought; I'd say use a Strain point to activate, I've found in my own system design that reactions are powerful (ie: you're getting a free attack anytime someone tries to hit you, not just if they do hit you, which is way more than one attack on your turn)).  he looks fantastic... but imo not for this game.  I, as a player, definitely want good guys with a strong superhero theme.  Dr. Nexus is more along the lines of Mr Fantastic than Superman, but he's definitely pro-humanity. 

Jemal:  Love your hero.  I'd go 1950s: cosmic radiation, accident of science, 5th dimensional imp, struck by lightning, found the helmet of mercury... Dr Nexus was grabbed by mars attacks aliens and transformed.  Heck, your guy could have been part of a WW2 super soldier program and experimented on.  I'd prefer we stay away from religion, as I'm also religious and aside from the Diablo series of video games, it's tiresome playing games with too strong a heaven/hell theme (but I totally am all Voltaire on up in your right to free speech/beliefs/etc.), but that's me.


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## Jemal (Apr 13, 2013)

Thondor said:


> Neat concept.
> <Snip>
> I could go either way on this. I would be slightly concerned that we might be touching some 'real world religious issues' that might offend some folks. I believe we are supposed to avoid this on these boards . . .
> I'm pretty religious and I'm not at all easy to offended, but I'm not sure that's what is relevant here.





			
				fireinthedust said:
			
		

> Jemal: Love your hero. I'd go 1950s: cosmic radiation, accident of science, 5th dimensional imp, struck by lightning, found the helmet of mercury... Dr Nexus was grabbed by mars attacks aliens and transformed. Heck, your guy could have been part of a WW2 super soldier program and experimented on. I'd prefer we stay away from religion, as I'm also religious and aside from the Diablo series of video games, it's tiresome playing games with too strong a heaven/hell theme (but I totally am all Voltaire on up in your right to free speech/beliefs/etc.), but that's me.



Thank you both for the compliments 

As stated, if there was any opposition to the Religious thing I'd drop it, so consider it dropped.  

I do like the "Cosmic Entity" background, anyways.  Makes it feel like he was 'chosen' for being super-good despite all the crap life's thrown at him, like the Superman(Planet dun blowed up) or Cap America vibe.  I wanted to stay away from the super-soldier serum b/c that's a bit TOO Captain for me, plus being the 1950's and him being a "Colored Cripple", I don't see him getting chosen for such an Honor by the guv'ment.




> It really depends on what exactly you mean by "enhance one thing over another." There is already a mechanic in place that serves as a 'pool' of energy that you can use to boost your existing abilities, or to do something that you don't really have a Talent for. It is called Strainpoints. You could take a Talent that boosts your Strainpoints, or even add a new telekinesis pool (based on a Talent) that functions like strain but points can only be spent to  boosts your telekinesis.
> 
> Why did I group these together? Because the solution for your character is probably spending Strainpoints to boosts existing Talents as well as to exceed limits.



By 'enhance' I meant basically he has a lot of TK power, and he generally splits it between his strength, mobility, and Defense, but has some left over that he can use either as regular 'TK', or to 'boost' what he needs when the situation arises.  Not by 'trying harder' (Which is what strain points seem to be) but by Allocating that remaining energy - Some times he needs the extra strength, sometimes the extra defense, sometimes some extra speed.  That seems to be the standard 'pooling' as I said, I was just wondering if there was a better way to represent that.

I like the idea for the 'extra Telekinesis based strain points'.  How would that work? A bonus strain point or two each rank? 
OR, perhaps a "TK POOL" power that can ONLY be used for Pooling, but can be used a few times for the same pool rather than just the once you can normally pool something (Since that's all it's used for)?  



> When you don't really have an appropriate Talent, but your 'power' suggests that you could maybe do something, you can 'exceed your limits' by spending Strainpoints (2) and rolling your Superpower Finesse.
> A Telekinetic who can't normally block out air (they have no Talent indicating they can do so) might try to do so by 'exceeding limits'.
> The short version is Superpower finesse rates how many closely related Talents a character has. This is a guide to how flexible the character is in general with their power and allows them to 'exceed limits'.



Hmmm... does this mean that we have to specify exactly what each of our talents is capable of and if we forget to mention something it can't do that?  Or is the 'cant normally block out air' a specific limit/weakness imposed as an example, and we specify what we CANT do, then use strain to exceed THOSE limits?
IE: If I have a Telekinetic shield, do I have to say "Stop Bullets, Knives, Fire, Lightning, etc" or "Doesn't stop Cold"?
Does every particular power have a weakness? 
IE 2: if someone has an "Impervious 5" power, doesn't that seem to imply that it stops everything harmful, or do you have to say it doesn't apply to some things?

Essentially, what I'm asking is : Are limits Explicit (We have to say what they are) or Implicit (whatever makes sense).


Still having some problems with the actual character creation - it's not difficult or anything, it's just.. very different from any of the other systems I've made.  I've never had much trouble stating a character before.  I think it's part of the "completely open yet narrowly focused" vibe I get from the talent system.  

Also the fact that the difference between each rank seems vast - 1 rank = normal human, 2 ranks = Olympian Expert.. not much room for "Kinda good at X, better than Most people at Y", it's "Average>Awesome>Super-Powered"..  Just throwing me a bit.  

EDIT: 
Hmm, You said that we could use 'broad' talents but that they're weaker than normal talents.  Could I use a Broad rank 2 talent to represent several talents that should be better than average but aren't quite good enough to represent full-on Rank 2 talents in themselves?  Such as "Rank 2: War Veteran" usable for anything related to being a Vet?  He's not 'Expert' at any of them, but he's definitely better at, say - spotting ambushes or hand to hand fighting than Joe the grocery clerk.

For example, say he gets to role 2 dice (Like a rank 2) but only KEEP/Use/Count(whatever you call it) one of them?
This would make him a bit better than a single dice(2 chances to roll higher, but still only one 'success' possible), but still not quite as good as 2 full dice (only keeping 1 dice means that even if his highest beats the 2 rank's highest, the 2-rank still has a second un-opposed dice which will win if it's not a 1 or 2).
Am I getting how the rolls work correct?  Would this work?


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## Mark Chance (Apr 13, 2013)

Thondor said:


> Doing something for the sole reason of its benefit to you is not good.




Perhaps. It is _necessarily_ good, but it's not automatically not good.


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## fireinthedust (Apr 13, 2013)

System difference:  Honestly, this system is so like the one I've been designing (and Thondor, if you're in Toronto, we should go for Coffee; I want to show you the draft I did before I read your stuff.  There some stuff your system doesn't do that mine does, and things yours does that didn't occur to me.  I called my talents "power dice pools", for example).  

In a way, d20 does this with Fighter combat feats: you've got your general fighty-ness (like Talent Finesse), but specific things you can do with it (like Power Attack, etc.).  M&M does this with specific powers, they're just build a given way (ie: blast +10 or +5 is a blast, but you've got a descriptor (fire or cold), and a general idea of what you can do with it); but you don't have flight unless you spend PP on that as a linked power.  


Telekinetic Reserve:  I think Jemal means he wants to have low-ish specific telekinetic powers (ie: flight, invulnerability, strength, punch, cosmic blasts), but a dice pool called "telekinetic reserve" that can be rolled alongside whatever other power he wants.  However, it should be for both the defensive and offensive powers, so he can either hit hard in the round, or take a hit, but never both.  

Experimentation:  realistically, do you think WW2-era scientists *wouldn't* use black guys as test subjects?  At least if it was a deadly process?  Maybe, maybe not.  That is a bit bleak, though, I suppose.  

Cosmic entity:  sounds good.  Would I be right in picturing this person as a sort of Galactus/New Gods Kirby-esque entity?  Or like the Guardians of Oa from Green Lantern?


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## Thondor (Apr 13, 2013)

fireinthedust said:


> 1.  Done.  Lowered Strength.  I kind of want to change it to "tractr beam", so he's not "sullying his hands".  What do you think?



Still looks like a 3 to me . . . 
Tractor beam would be neat. Though it would be a little powerful at rank 2. You also should have some limitation -- can it only pull things towards Doctor Nexus?



fireinthedust said:


> 2.  Reformation:  Well, I figure it's a slow regeneration, but outsideof combat.  Maybe not "anything", like Lava or major energy, but something like being punched by the hulk and he'd sloooowly reconstitute.



Hmm, I'm having trouble understanding your point here. Considering it doesn't really give him much benefit, you could just use Strainpoint expenditure to avoid 'death' and use your morphic nature as the 'colour' to explain how you survived.
I think he needs to have a Talent that indicates that he does not have normal human physiology, and while he has almost no control over his form (currently this is something he could develop as he advances) having an alien physiology can protect him in some circumstances.



fireinthedust said:


> 3.  Hmmm, can I have some examples?  Like, the strength (or tractor beam) could have a bonus die for lifting?




Yes for strength - probably not for tractor beam (in the later case it seems to broad.)

Some hard-tech 'purpose' examples:

_Tractor beam_- Nexus's tractor beam can effect almost any non-liquid substance. It's primary purpose is to pull metallic objects, it acts one rank higher when doing so.

_Artifice Armour-_ Nexus' armor can repel all sorts of physical attacks but is especially good at deflecting bullets. It acts as one rank higher protecting him form bullets. 




fireinthedust said:


> 4.  Flight:  Cavorite, as everyone knows, is pushed away by gravity (see League of Extraordinary Gentlemen tpb 1... because it's great).  Therefore, maybe strong force can knockback very easily while he's flying: his mass is compensated for, and while small thrusters can adjust his movement, a big push wil treat him like he's much lower mass.  So if he gets hit, he'll probably fall or crash (thus having reconstitution will be a very handy trait).



Sounds viable 



fireinthedust said:


> Zerith's Anti-hero:  Like Thondor said, you've done a great job with design, and the mechanics make sense (the Ichor would be a reaction to being attacked, nice thought; I'd say use a Strain point to activate, I've found in my own system design that reactions are powerful (ie: you're getting a free attack anytime someone tries to hit you, not just if they do hit you, which is way more than one attack on your turn)).



We would have spent some time tweaking Harbringer . . . but I believe we are moving on.


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## Thondor (Apr 13, 2013)

OK lots to cover here, might not get to it all in one post.



Jemal said:


> By 'enhance' I meant basically he has a lot of TK power, and he generally splits it between his strength, mobility, and Defense, but has some left over that he can use either as regular 'TK', or to 'boost' what he needs when the situation arises.  Not by 'trying harder' (Which is what strain points seem to be) but by Allocating that remaining energy - Some times he needs the extra strength, sometimes the extra defense, sometimes some extra speed.  That seems to be the standard 'pooling' as I said, I was just wondering if there was a better way to represent that.



We could devise another way - but I am not sure we need to.
There is the limitation that you can normally only pool 2 particular Talents together once per confrontation. If you wanted to be able to do it more than once, we could have a particular Talent that could be pooled more often with your TK talents, say twice, but couldn't actually be used on its own.



Jemal said:


> I like the idea for the 'extra Telekinesis based strain points'.  How would that work? A bonus strain point or two each rank?



The standard is to gain 1 positive and 1 negative strain for each rank above 1. So a Toughness 3 - Extra Strain [F] would give your character 8 Strainpoints instead of the regular 6, and his negative 1 would repeat twice.
(eg his strain pool would go 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0,-1,-1,-1,-2,-3,-4,-5,-6)
You need to roll to stay conscious every time you take an action once you are in the negatives. 

Alternatively you could have a 'Telekinetic Energy points' say Might 3- Telekinetic energy [F]. we could have that give you a pool of 4 points. It would function much like strainpoints, but would ONLY be able to enhance your TK Talents. The advantage here? No chance of falling unconscious.




Jemal said:


> Hmmm... does this mean that we have to specify exactly what each of our talents is capable of and if we forget to mention something it can't do that?  Or is the 'cant normally block out air' a specific limit/weakness imposed as an example, and we specify what we CANT do, then use strain to exceed THOSE limits?
> IE: If I have a Telekinetic shield, do I have to say "Stop Bullets, Knives, Fire, Lightning, etc" or "Doesn't stop Cold"?
> Does every particular power have a weakness?
> IE 2: if someone has an "Impervious 5" power, doesn't that seem to imply that it stops everything harmful, or do you have to say it doesn't apply to some things?
> ...




The explicit assumption of the game is that Talents are narrow. There are no defensive talents that will protect you from all kinds of attack, and their are no attacks that can effect everything.

Limits are implicit, but it is best practice to highlight some of them in the descriptive/discussion text.

I'll add more to this with some examples later.


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## Thondor (Apr 15, 2013)

I'm going to heavily frag Jemal's last post, hopefully this will provide some clarity. 



Jemal said:


> IE: If I have a Telekinetic shield, do I have to say "Stop Bullets, Knives, Fire, Lightning, etc"



If you said all these things, I would say "Your Talent is doding to much" talents are meant to be narrow.



Jemal said:


> do I have to say X or "Doesn't stop Cold"?



If it "doesn't stop cold" it probably doesn't stop heat either and potentially other things as well, such as light, sound and air.
Saying both what a Talent is best at, an its limitations in the description are both useful. In person much less discription is needed, these things can be covered simply by talking them through. Many limitations will be obvious, a fist cannot hit someone 300ft away.
You can always take another Talent that makes your protective fields 'airtight' or whatnot.



Jemal said:


> Does every particular power have a weakness?



Every Talent has limitations and players are encourage to think about what those limitations are.



Jemal said:


> IE 2: if someone has an "Impervious 5" power, doesn't that seem to imply that it stops everything harmful, or do you have to say it doesn't apply to some things?




Conceptually I would say "5- Impervious skin" protects from physical trama. But not from heat, sound, gases, etc. A second talent like 'Tempered skin' could be used to protect from "energy" attacks. 
5- Impervious Bubble should protect you from a tazer because the prodes (probably not the right word) can't reach you, but Impervious skin wouldn't. 
Are 5- Impervious skin and 4 - tempered skin  character would be able to handle almost any dangerous substance with his bare hands, while someone with indentical "bubble" talents wouldn't have that advantage.



Jemal said:


> Still having some problems with the actual character creation - it's not difficult or anything, it's just.. very different from any of the other systems I've made.  I've never had much trouble stating a character before.  I think it's part of the "completely open yet narrowly focused" vibe I get from the talent system.




Games like Superheroes Unleashed place are a high-trust game. Meaning you need to trust me, the GM, to make fair judgements on what you can and cannot do. At the same time the GM needs to trust that the players won't try to make the "ultimate character" and that they won't be to frustrated when he makes judgements that they disagree with.
Its all part of the social contract that all RPG's require. In games like Superheroes Unleashed its just a little heightened.



Jemal said:


> Also the fact that the difference between each rank seems vast - 1 rank = normal human, 2 ranks = Olympian Expert.. not much room for "Kinda good at X, better than Most people at Y", it's "Average>Awesome>Super-Powered"..  Just throwing me a bit.



With superheroes you are either great or its not worth mentioning. There are minor things that individuals can have as part of the 'colour' of their character, they just don't get mechanical benefits for them.
I would say the progression is Average>Great>Awesome>Super>Super-duper. 





Jemal said:


> Hmm, You said that we could use 'broad' talents but that they're weaker than normal talents.  Could I use a Broad rank 2 talent to represent several talents that should be better than average but aren't quite good enough to represent full-on Rank 2 talents in themselves?  Such as "Rank 2: War Veteran" usable for anything related to being a Vet?
> _snip
> _



What you've outlined is possible. However I'd recommend that you just use _Brains or Senses 2- War Veteran [F]_. You can pool this every now and then (effectively letting you cover the situations you outlined), and might also use it for general military knowledge and status.
Let's keep it simple.


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## Zerith (Apr 16, 2013)

I would work on Harbinger again; I like his character :3(why else would I ask to use him?)
but I think you're over playing the usefulness of ichor; in a 1v1? YEP! flamboyantly powerfu(even over powered)l for a rank 2 ability! in a team fight however it's a liability, it's close range, and can let an enemy with a weak (1 die) attack turn their attack into an AoE, for free! further do to it procing whenever he uses his ranged attack, he has to remove himself from allies to avoid nuking them; alot.

But, as a rank 2 reaction ability, it basicly gos off just two times, once during his turn as he uses W.o.M. on something, then when he first gets attacked. as for an SP cost, he has to give up LP and or get attacked. to use it, hardly game braking.
Game is team based, thus his penalty comes at the cost of synergy, name someone who can work well with him beyond him being scary.

Anyways, Why has no one said what they would like to see finished? I don't know what way to go! T_T
(thus I'm working on alot of character ideas! XD)

So yeah, You get things like This when you don't say somthin' 
[Sblock=Zeta WiP]Talents
Accuracy:
Mobility:
Toughness: 5-Zinith Armor[H, D] 3-Redundancy[D] 2-Renforced Boilers[H, D] Emergency Valve[H, F]
Might: 4-Steam Engine[H, F] 2-Cannon Fist[H, O]
Brains: 3-Mechanical Genius[F]
Senses: -Steam Cloud

Superpower Finesse: Pending

Weakness:
Clunky: Zeta is by no means the one turned to first when finesses is remotely needed, loud when idle, and more likely to throttle something then simply grab it when ‘at steam’
Steam Cloud: Zeta constantly spews steam, the amount depending on how hot his boilers are, obscuring vision in his area, including his own. (his vizier can be fogged up by his own steam cloud).
Superheavy: weighing in at 914 pounds, at a mere 4’7”, Zeta needs solid footing to be affective, and sinks faster than a brick
Steam management: Zeta is steam powered, and the more steam points he has, the greater his strength, and yet, too much steam pressure is highly dangerous
Boiler fire: Zeta’s boiler needs to stay alight in order to produce more steam

Lifepoints: 8
Strainpoints: 6
Steampoints: 4
Boilerpoints: 2


Relations: 2-True past, 1-the nature of his soul, 1-pending

*Description of Talents:*

Zenith Armor: Zeta’s armored shell is amazingly strong, shrugging off blows, and impacts, of staggering strength.
Zeta can literally out right ignore most, conventional,  attacks like punches from normal people*, machinegun fire, etcetera, but is still vulnerable to more powerful attacks like blows from particularly strong foes and heavier, anti-armor, munitions. Towards the latter, Zenith Armor is considered a rank 3 talent.
Once breached, however, it is always possible to simply hit through the gap…
[*And any one ‘smart’ enough to simply punch him would likely find it a memorable experience.]

Redundancy: Zeta’s body was mad with a wealth of redundant systems that are dormant until needed.
+2 LP, increased strength when steam level is above normal (5+)

Steam Engine: Zeta’s body is entirely reliant on steam power, and its boilers were made to provied amble supply. The boilers (three of them no less), provide an overabundance, far more then Zeta can practically use, or vent while in motion.
At the start of each (combat) round, Zeta rolls Xd6, rolls of 4+ add one steampoint each. After rolling these, Zeta may choose to decrease the number of dice by one or increase them by up to 3 (afecting his future steam rolls). Zeta starts combat, unless otherwise noted, producing 2 steam dice at the start of his turn with an initial pool of 4
[sblock=steampoint explanation]
Zeta uses 1 steampoint at the end of each turn for normal operation, 2 for combat performance(requiring steampoints to be at 4 or higher) and 1 more if Cannon Fist was used.
Beneficial aspects of steam points are tailed after he rolls for steam, over presser is applied at the very end of his turn.

At:
0≥ Steampoints: Zeta can’t move or otherwise act.
1-3 Steampoints: Zeta is generally impaired: Cannon Fist is unavailable, his strength becomes subpar and his location becomes sluggish.
4-7 Steampoints: Zeta is operating within normal parameters.
8-11 Steampoints: Zeta is operating at full steam, His Strength is increased, Cannon fist is considered a rank higher. Overpressure is at rank one.
12-14 Steampoints: Zeta is redlined, operating within a hair’s birth of critical failure, Zeta’s Strength is massively bolstered, his body becomes, for to him, light and agile and swift, Cannon Fist is considered two ranks higher. Overpressure is rank two.
15≤ Steampoints: Zeta is well beyond critical levels, his movements are sudden and imprecise, his strength reaches an unmanageable zenith, and Cannon Fist is considered 3 ranks higher. Overpressure is at rank five.
[sblock= Overpressure]
After ending his turn, Zeta rolls( affective Overpresser rank) dice on the Boiler Overpresser chart, taking the most extreme/highest roll.

1: Zeta manages to vent just enough to perform controlled vent, reducing his steampoints to 11.
2: Zeta manages to vent just enough to prevent  a mishap; nothing happens.
3: Zeta is hit with (affective Overpresser rank) dice and may only resist with Reinforced Boilers.
4: Zeta emergency vents* at then end of his turn.
5: Zeta is hit with (affective Overpresser rank) dice and may only resist with Reinforced Boilers; in addition, Zeta emergency vents* at the end of his turn.
6: Zeta’s systems are ravaged as he fails to vent enough steam: Zeta is hit with (affective Overpresser rank) dice, thrice,  is reduced to -3 steampoints, and may only produce up to 3 steam dice each turn
[*See Emergency Valve][/sblock][/sblock]
Reinforced Boilers: Zeta’s Boilers are heavily reinforced to withstand immense steam-pressure. Grants Zeta two Boiler points, and lowers his affective Overpressure rank by one.
Boiler points can be used to change one die, rolled on the Boiler Overpressure chart, into a natural 1, each.

Emergency Valve: Zeta Dumps all steam reserves, going to -15 steampoints and droping to 0 steam dice per round.

Mechanical genius: Zeta is by no means a slouch when mechanical knowledge is neede: he excels in the ‘practical’ application of mechanics; fine-tuning, repairing and improving his body being but one of the applications.

Steam cloud: Zeta Produces steam constantly, effects left up to G.M., the more Steampoints rise and in congested areas, the steam becomes thinker faster, in more open areas, and relatively low Steampoints, the steam’s vision hampering effect is superficial.

Cannon Fist: Zeta Can fire his hand as if it were a cannonball, leaving it connected to his arm by a thick chain that can then be rapidly winched back into place: if zeta grabs hold of something, that can hold his weight, he may also choose to pull himself up(alternatively he can just pull something to him).

Group: TBA
Orientation: Hero
Role: Heavy Armor[/sblock]


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## HarryBModest (Apr 16, 2013)

Hi everyone.  I'm just posting to say that I'm planning to join.  I'm just playing with a few character concepts, though I think I'm leaning towards a teleporter.  Though I was also considering a character who is extraordinarily lucky, or someone who can see and manipulate relationships.  Any thoughts on the kind of character you'd like to have around, or would make an interesting addtion to your party would be appreciated.


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## Zerith (Apr 16, 2013)

well, extreme luck is a good power for a dice system: unlike Zeta, whos armor is "hard" (it's unreasonable to assume that Joe smoe can punch and hurt a supper heavy armored robot...) Luck is soft: if he is just unrealistically lucky, it makes sense that he can survive a blast from a cannon and then turn around and get knocked cold by Joe smoe. 

and as for friendship... the power of friend ship... yeah...

but yeah, Teleport + hyper armored character: You could telli Zeta over somone and then 'bomb' them with teh steam bot: he would get rather annoyed but that's why your can teleport away XD


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## fireinthedust (Apr 17, 2013)

HarryBModest:  sounds fun!  Good to have you aboard, and welcome to ENworld.  I'd recommend going with a solid superhero concept.  We've got a telekinetic superman, a stage magician whose magic really works, and my character: a 1950s scientist wearing iron man armor.  The Justice League, the Avengers, and in fact any of the old school, silver-age comics, could be inspiration for you.  the teleporter concept is good as a power, but who is this person?  What kind of teleporting are we saying: magic, or science, or something else?  And what can the game system handle?  (ie: lots of short-range teleports, or only big group teleportation?)  and what does he wear?

If you don't want that teleporter: What do you think would be fun to play, not just be?  A speedster like the Flash?  a mythological hero, like Hercules?  An archer like Green Arrow?


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## Thondor (Apr 17, 2013)

Zerith said:


> I would work on Harbinger again; I like his character :3(why else would I ask to use him?)



I'd be happy to develop him elsewhere if you want to for the fun of it. Perhaps in the websites dedicated forum?





Zerith said:


> *Zeta WiP*




You have some great concepts here. I think you are over-complicating things. Let me think about it some more.


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## Thondor (Apr 17, 2013)

OK everyone I have updated the OP with a whole bunch of stuff. I'd like to make sure everyone at least reads the "Defenses" part. Don't want anyone getting a nasty surprise.

Also closing recruiting (for now anyway). 

I did start an RG thread, so if you think your character is done, (and it seems like I agree) please post them there (link in the first post).

Finally . . . _Team Name duh dun duh_! Please discuss.


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## Zerith (Apr 17, 2013)

The Artificers
;3

And I still want to know what character to do. Zeta is one, but I've been working on several and not knowing the one to go with.
This character, for example, is a warlock who, after having a mid eternity crises (sees the light blah blah blah) can't live with the regret and basically reincarnates his own soul(but not his body, interestingly enough
[sblock=Zinerath the Unending]

Identity: Alexander Ravensworth




Talents
Accuracy: 2-Clawed Swipe[O]
Mobility: 3-Feline Grace.[F]
Toughness: 5-Alechemical Alteration[F] 3-Alchemical fortitude[D]
Might: 
Brains: 4-Alcemical Genius[F, H, P]
Senses: 2-Eldritch Sight[F]

Superpower Finesse: Pending

Weakness:
Eldritch nature: Zinerath’s ties to Eldritch powers exceed his new found understanding, and are infused to his very core, this can lead to many surprising circumstances, such as him, accidently, getting trapped within a tome that falls open onto his head, or when holding an eldritch artifact ‘improperly’

Eldritch beacon: Zinerath is a powerful nexus of Eldritch energy, the kind of witch is early seen outside of the very most potent of artifacts and casters alike, to  those with the sense to see the arcane for what it is, he stand out like an ancient oak looming over blades of grass, and for those looking for a guiding light on an astral plane, he blinds. It is amazing easy to find him through arcane means.



Lifepoints: 6
Strainpoints: 6

Relations: 2-Arcane Formula, 1- Eldritch Artifacts, 1-Redeption/true past

*Description of Talents:*
Alchemical Alteration: Zinerath’s body, from imbibing of experimental alchemical droughts, has acquired innumerous qualities, a third heart, powerful clawed legs, a barbed tail, excreta. A curious aspect is that he has seemingly stumbled onto the secret of immortality and eternal youth, he has reportedly been ‘assassinated’, “Slain” or otherwise ‘killed’ innumerous times over the past centuries.
At the start of each turn, Zinerath rolls 2d6, each roll of 4 up he regains 1 LP. Additionally, he has a annoying capacity to ‘get better’ after being ‘killed’ or otherwise incapacitated when by appearance logic he should not be able to do so.

Alchemical Fortitude: one of the reasons Zinerath has posed difficult to slay is that his body is far more vigorous then that of a normal human, granting him surprising resistance to all kinds of poisons and other harms that should be life threatening, as well as making him generally more durable,
Treat as rank 3 vs poisons, disease, venoms, toxins, corrosives, excreta, rank 2 vs general physical harm.

Alchemical Genius: Zinerath, despite his amnesia, is in a league unto himself in term of Knowledge in the field of Alchemy; Zinerath may, with the proper means (a lab…), produce Alchemical derivatives that have a far flung range of affects. The potions must be drank(D), flung(F), or poured(P) as needed to be used.
Zinerath may create one off potions that mimic the effects of abilities up to rank 4, and may have up to three at a time perpered: Most commonly, Zinerath has a potion of vigor(D, healing), a potion of Dra(F, explosive), and a potion of iron skin(P, physical resistance)
[Note: Flung potions must succeed twice, once to hit, and again for the potion itself.]

Claws swipe: Zinerath uses his claws to slash at a foe.

Feline Grace: Zinerath is light footed with long strides.

Group: TBA
Orientation: Hero
Role: Distraction/utility[/sblock]


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## Thondor (Apr 17, 2013)

Zerith said:


> And I still want to know what character to do.



 This is really up to you. I'm going to make suggestions for Zinerath the Unending.

[sblock=Zinerath the Unending- with comments]

Identity: Alexander Ravensworth

Talents
Accuracy: 2-Clawed Swipe [O]
Mobility: 3-Feline Grace [F]
Toughness: 5-Alechemical Alteration[F], 3-Alchemical fortitude [D]
Might: 
Brains: 4-Alcemical Genius[F, H, P] I wouldn't normally put these two here, P for potency is adequate
Senses: 2-Eldritch Sight [F]

Superpower Finesse: Pending

Weakness:
Eldritch nature: Zinerath’s ties to Eldritch powers exceed his new found understanding, and are infused to his very core, this can lead to many surprising circumstances, such as him, accidently, getting trapped within a tome that falls open onto his head, or when holding an eldritch artifact ‘improperly’

Eldritch beacon: Zinerath is a powerful nexus of Eldritch energy, the kind of witch is early seen outside of the very most potent of artifacts and casters alike, to  those with the sense to see the arcane for what it is, he stand out like an ancient oak looming over blades of grass, and for those looking for a guiding light on an astral plane, he blinds. It is amazing easy to find him through arcane means.

An 'Out of time' weakness would also seem natural. He is not really familiar with modern times.


Lifepoints: 6
Strainpoints: 6

Relations: 2-Arcane Formula, 1- Eldritch Artifacts, 1-Redeption/true past

*Description of Talents:*
Alchemical Alteration (5- Toughness): Zinerath’s body, from imbibing of experimental alchemical droughts, has acquired innumerous qualities, a third heart, powerful clawed legs, a barbed tail, excreta. A curious aspect is that he has seemingly stumbled onto the secret of immortality and eternal youth, he has reportedly been ‘assassinated’, “Slain” or otherwise ‘killed’ innumerous times over the past centuries.
At the start of Zineraths action whenever he is part of a combat, Zinerath rolls 2d6, each roll of 4 up he regains 1 LP. Additionally, he has a annoying capacity to ‘get better’ after being ‘killed’ or otherwise incapacitated when by appearance logic he should not be able to do so.

Let's make the above 5. Additionally I would suggest that he does not heal rapidly in non-combat situations, so once a confrontation ends, he'll only get one role per 'transitional scene.' If you narrate him using some time using alchemical mixtures on himself during that scene we can use basic successes (3+ on 2d6).

Alchemical Fortitude (3- Toughness): One of the reasons Zinerath has posed difficult to slay is that his body is far more vigorous then that of a normal human, granting him surprising resistance to all kinds of poisons and other harms that should be life threatening, as well as making him generally more durable,
Treat as rank 3 vs poisons, disease, venoms, toxins, corrosives, excreta, (I would include electricity, genetic manipulation, unwilling transformations  but _exclude_ heat, cold, magic (unless it is administering the previous effects), light etc) 
rank 2 vs general physical harm.
If you want this it would be another Talent, sorry no free lunch.

Alchemical Genius (4- Brains): Zinerath, despite his amnesia, is in a league unto himself in term of Knowledge in the field of Alchemy; Zinerath may, with the proper means (a lab…), produce Alchemical derivatives that have a far flung range of affects. The potions must be drunk(D), flung(F), or poured(P) as needed to be used.
Zinerath may create one-off potions that mimic the effects of abilities up to rank 4, and may have up to three at a time prepared: Most commonly, Zinerath has a potion of vigor(D, healing), a potion of Dra(F, explosive), and a potion of iron skin(P, physical resistance)
[Note: Flung potions must succeed twice, once to hit, and again for the potion itself.]

Numbers - please reverse three an 4.
One-off - Normally a "Potency" Talent like this requires a "Time" Talent, otherwise you would be looking at a few days to a week or more to make something. Since your alchemicals are one-off I think having it take an hour for simple potions and a up to a day for complex substances is reasonable.
Duration - Most potions will be instant. Non-instant substances last for 1 action per basic success on 4d6. Example: Zinerath coats himself in iron skin which takes an action. He rolls 4d6, getting 5,3,3,1 -- three basic successes. The effects of iron skin last for three more actions. 

Claws swipe (2- Accuracy): Zinerath uses his claws to slash at a foe.

Feline Grace (3- Mobility): Zinerath is light footed with long strides.


Group: TBA
Orientation: Hero
Role: Distraction/utility

*Background and Personality
?*
[/sblock]
Overall it is a little odd that you have a mystical seeming background -- and a weakness against magic (being found, artifact mishaps) -- and no defense against magic. Not that I think you need it.


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## Zerith (Apr 18, 2013)

plot wise: he is a Warlock/alchemist who has basically lost his memories, and thus the ability to use spells (beyond those he is innately using in alchemy) and so he can't, just yet, use the spells that would afford him the protections that he formally employed: before if a tome hit him, by any means, he would effortlessly resist being drawn in, instead of knee-jerking and flinging himself into it unwittingly as he now dose. Like wise he could easily mask himself from arcane sight.
Put simply, his character sheet would be/was comically over powered; he was basicly the biggest bad behind all the bigger bads behind all the other big bads. The kind of guy who, if he shows up, you _know_ what's hitting the fan.
Plote wise, from the RP's point of veiw, this gives you the option of having a magic based character, or otherwise learned up on mythic lore character, recognized him for who he is: A (formal) master of evil(, and now a novice hero). I think this is a neet throw in because he is, was obscure even in his days of renown so it makes sense, plot wise to go either way, having a character in _in the know_ know of him or have the character not know of him, he has long been dormant from schemes, and so he has basically long since became more of a boogie man then a real threat/potential-ally that still looms over the world

at RP start, he has basically been around/active, re-experiencing life for just a few months, if that. I would say he could perform impressive displays of _raw_ eldritch power: but it would mean little more then making himself 'shinier'. (rank 1 magic damage at melee range, maybe)

Anyways, onto teh mechanics: the changes look fine to me. 
though I forgot to pout in Eldritch sight's Description: Zinerath can see, even feel, arcane energies around himself, however, these sense are deafened by his own energies; he is hard pressed too sense more then a general direction and relative strength of arcane energies; the range of his sense is dependent on how strong the energy is.
Moving on

His back ground will take a bit to make. But as for his personality, shockingly enough given his past, he is naive, inquisitive and curious (this is not too shocking in that he was motivated purely by expanding his knowledge: gathering immense power to do so was the means, not the ends), good natured, and so on.


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## Thondor (Apr 18, 2013)

@_*Zerith*_ sounds good. All those lose plot ideas I get to play with 

 @_*fireinthedust*_ I am in Toronto and would be happy to grab some coffee and chat game design some time.

 @_*HarryBModest*_ welcome aboard, and welcome to ENworld. "Seeing and manipulating" sounds intriguing, but its been awhile since I've seen someone design a Teleporter . . .

 @_*Jemal*_ would you like me to suggest some possible talents for you hero to get the ball rolling?


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## Jemal (Apr 19, 2013)

Sorry,  but with my other games I think I'm going to drop this one.  I'm just not vibing right with the system.  Good luck to you all and I wish you a great game.


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## Thondor (Apr 22, 2013)

Jemal said:


> Sorry,  but with my other games I think I'm going to drop this one.  I'm just not vibing right with the system.  Good luck to you all and I wish you a great game.




Too bad, I was looking forward to seeing the character RP. He had some wonderful possibilities.


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## Thondor (May 6, 2013)

I am still very interested in running _Artifice City_ for you all. Chime in if you are still game. If you think your character is done feel free to post them in the Rogues Gallery.

I meant to post here sooner but I have been consumed by getting my 7-day RPG ready.

Reality Warp is a cinematic, narrative RPG about people who can change reality (think _Push, Jumper, Dark City, Chronicle, The Matrix_ etc.)

I am opening up recruitment again if anyone wants to jump in.


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## Mark Chance (May 6, 2013)

*Bong!*


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## Zerith (May 7, 2013)

I'm still in, just a forwarning thouth.. Zinerath's Bio? Large ^_^;


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## Thondor (May 11, 2013)

So Walking Dad posted his character in the RG so we have at least 3. [MENTION=51930]fireinthedust[/MENTION] you still in?

Given this auspicious moment, (yeah I know nothing auspicious about it) it is time to reveal more about

[sblock=Artifice City]Artifice City

Artifice City 1950's boom town that lies on one of the great lakes. Residents simply refer to it as The Lake. It also doesn’t matter which side of the border (Canada/US) the city is on. People do sometimes come from or go across The Border.

Artifice City is undergoing the very first wave of suburbanisation. Large swaths of land are being converted into housing zones. Steel, automotive, and other manufacturing is the backbone of artifice city’s job sector and business is booming.


The city council has just broken ground on a raised train service that will connect the old subway downtown with the quickly expanding suburbs. Several neighbourhoods are also soon to be demolished to make way for new freeways.

Artifice Expo
The Artifice Expo opened last year. It has a carnival atmosphere, rides, innovation and games of chance are given equal room. To be invited to showcase your work at the Artifice Expo is a honour held in high esteem across the nation.


Museum of Artifice
The venerable Museum of Artifice holds many of the most precious artifacts in the known world. It also showcases some of the latest breakthroughs in Science and Technology.


Artifice University
Artifice University is home to some of the most renown professors in science, mathematics and economics. Its history department is also well respected.


Falton College
Folks who can’t get into Artifice University go here. It does have a respected journalism and photography program.


College of Magic and Wonder
Many residents are embarrassed by the College of Magic and Wonder. It is the first college in the nation for stage magicians, clowns and other performers such as acrobats. Many residents also don’t even realize this college exists.
  [/sblock]

Aside, go vote on the 7-day RPG competition. And remember a vote for _Reality Warp _is a vote that's real (maybe).


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## Thondor (May 22, 2015)

Just a quick note to let those who were interested in this know that Simple Superheroes is now on kickstarter!

 [MENTION=51930]fireinthedust[/MENTION]
 [MENTION=99953]Zerith[/MENTION]
 [MENTION=9026]Jemal[/MENTION]

Walking Dad -- hmm its been so long since I've used mention tags that I can't seem to get this to work. Ah well.

Thanks for the interest in the game.


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