# The Academy[M&M](full for now)



## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 3, 2005)

This is a PL 8 Mutants and Masterminds game set in the Ultimate Marvel universe. The PC's will be high school aged metahuman(superpeople) students learning to control and use their powers in a SHIELD training facility called The Acedemy located in Washington state. This will occasonialy cross over with my Agents of SHIELD game. Any one interested. I would like the backgrounds presented before the characters and will either approve(most of them) or disapprove(only really illogical ones) if you dissapproved you may try and change my mind (I like to think I'm open minded) or come up with a new background. 


Note: Lobo Lurker you were here before these regulations were changed so you can stay, but I do want a good background.


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## Evil Ujio (Jan 3, 2005)

interested


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 4, 2005)

*Neato*

I too am interested.   Any characater creation guidelines you'd like us to follow? In my lurking of the M&M messageboards over at Green Ronin, Steven Kenson (the author) said that the game worked best (balance-wise) when all the players had thier Attack Bonuses and Defense at roughly the same level... do you want to establish a level or do you not care?

Do we have to base our characters of exsting characters in the Ultimate Marvel Cosmology?


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 4, 2005)

No you do not have to base your characters on those in the Ultimate Marvel continuity, acctually I'd definatly prefer if you did not (no sons of Captain America) except for flavor text. Unless you are an established super-hero you have very low attack defend levels, I won't get specific but be resonable a regular kid won't have a +7 to his attack. If you are an established super hero I'll give you a little leeway (think +3 or +4) however you can only have a few missions under your belt before being recruted and must detail them. Your attack and defend will increase quickly due to training by your instructors. For the instructers they are all metahumans on a retired SHIELD black-ops teams (thier have been serveral), their code-names are Cyclone, Inferna, The Puglist, Lady Hex, Protonik, Minotaur, Headcase, Marathon, and Lightning Rod. The special teachers (extra-curricular) are Johnny Rocket, Raven, Iron Giant, Gatekeeper, The Human Tank, Spitfire Jones, Seeing-Eye, Mr. Nobody, and Kittyhawk. The co-headmasters are The Everyman, Centurion, and Nick Fury. Your characters would know this as they have just finished orientation and this has been wriiten on thier palm pilots. (Yes I know all these characters already exsist I figure why make some one up when I already have so many.)


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 4, 2005)

*[ignore this post]*

[post deleted]

Sorry. Didn't mean to ruin anyone's notion of how Mutants & Masterminds should be played.

Don't worry Pete I didn't take anything personally, I just don't think I want to game with some of these guys. I was just looking for a good time. Best of luck to you.


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## Super Girl (Jan 4, 2005)

Lobo, I don't know if this is helpful, but there are a few issues with your character.

Some of those powers are off.  Super skilled doesn't actually exist as you used it, it only affects 1 skill. Extras/Powers as extras on powers cannot cost less then 1pp/rank. I'm not even sure that the flaws are particularly valid, I mean, you can just stand in place moving your am really fast to get around the flaw and go incoporeal, and in either case they do not net a point saving as they would bring the power down below 1/level so they would just be thematic anyway.

Amazing Save Will +6(1pp; 6pp)
Amazing Save Fort +3(extra: immunity; 2pp; 4pp)
Regeneration +2(2pp;4pp)
Super Skill +2(extra: All Dex skills; PS: CHA skills, PS WIS skills; 2pp; 8pp)
Super Speed +5(extras: Invisibility(extras: triggered ; flaw: only when trigered), Incoporeal (extras: triggered, ghost-touch, phase attack; flaw: only when trigered); PS: Spinning, Wall Run, Water Run, Whirlwind Attack; 12pp; 68pp)

Powers Total: 90pp
Combat Stats: 12
Attributes: 15
Feats: 16
Total:133


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 4, 2005)

Not to sound like a pain but does your character have a background story?


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 4, 2005)

I wasn't sure what you wanted to do with backgrounds. Did you want me to just come up with one? Or did you want specific things to happen to us in our backgrounds? Personally, I role-play well, but I suck at coming up with background stories   (in particular, super's background stories). I tend to base my characters off of a specific image that I have in my head and a specific theme. I'll add one later on today (things to do, mother-in-law's birthday party today).

 Besides, if I'd come up with a background and you nixed one of my powers I'd be ticked off. 

Hmm, I guess I miscalculated about the Super-Speed (with the triggered extra and all...) even so, I had taken a flaw on a power that already cost 1pp... I realize that and didn't have a problem with it because it fit within the theme of the character.

And perhaps I should have fleshed out the flaw further. She needs to be actually using her Super-speed for actual movement in order for the Invisibility/Incorporeal to kick in.

I only come up with 10pp the way you did my super-speed... 
* Super-Speed 6pp + Invisibility 1pp (+ Triggered 1pp/ - Flawed 1pp) + Incorporeal  1pp (+ Ghost Touch 1pp + Phase Attack 1pp + Triggered 1pp/ - Flawed 1pp) = 10pp  (6+1+1-1+1+1+1+1-1)


And Super-Skilled is a power that someone over at Mutants&Masterminds.com came up with.

Base Power - All Strength Skills trained & untrained at power rank
Extra: Dexterity Skills too.
Extra: Intelligence Skills too.
Extra: Wisdom Skills too.
Extra: Charisma Skills too.
Total Cost: 2 + (4 extras) = 6pp

If I took the power the way super-girl wrote it it'd be cheaper, but while I'm chumming it up with the homeboys, I'd lose any knowledge/skill I had with noticing things. For example, If I were posing as a locksmith and a guard came up to me, I couldn't bluff him 'cause I'm using my Super-Skilled power to pick locks.

With the way I wrote the power, I'd be able to do that.

Feedback?


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## Super Girl (Jan 4, 2005)

The super-speed would still cost 12/level because both incoporeal and invisiblity only cost 1pp/level when taken as extras of super-speed, and the only when triggered flaw you tacked on would reduce the power below1/level, or it would make the triggered extra cost less then 1/level.  So those 2 flaws are not point reducers in this case. So 6(SS)+1(Inv)+1(Trig)+1(Inc)+1(Trig)+1(Ghost)+1(Phase)=6+6=12


What the person did was just flaw the Super Stats down to just affecting skills.
Super Charisma +2 (extras: Dex Skills, Wis Skills, Int Skills, Str skills; 6pp level; 12pp)

As a note, Super skill provides a bonus to a skill check, it does not allow you to make the checks untrained.  You could have a +13 to drive, and without a rank in drive, you would not be able to make the check.  The ability to make untrained checks would be another extra at least, and thats getting off a lot easier then having to buy 1 skill point in each trained only skill.


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## perivas (Jan 4, 2005)

As you might expect, Pate Pot Pete, I'm interested in this game


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## Super Girl (Jan 4, 2005)

Pete, I don't know if you are interested, but, If you are interested inattracting players to the game, and you want to get some of the better ones who will stick around, then this is my suggestion.

1)Change the name of the Thread, state in the name of the Thread that it is a Mutants and Masterminds game, like so: The Academy [Mutants and Masterminds] (Recruiting).  MnM is a popular ruleset, and stating that its MnM in the title will attract people.

2)Set it up so that people turn in a background/Character stuff before you see any stats or figures.  Once you have a number of backgrounds, go through and choose the best of those instead of going first come first serve.  The more longterm games have done it this way and it really seems to work alot better then somone getting a foot in the door and dropping out later.  By getting the players to put more into their character they will be less likely to drop out later.


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## perivas (Jan 4, 2005)

I agree with Super Girl's assessment of the situation.  It is important to not trust in simple "first come, first serve" philosophy, if you want the game to last.  Going after backgrounds, personality and descriptions first ensures a greater commitment from players.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 4, 2005)

Thank you for the imput supergirl, I belive that you have a very vauleuble opinion and have made the changes you have suggested, let me know if what I did was what you had in mind.


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## perivas (Jan 4, 2005)

*Sandlot*

Great!  My character concept is the baseball-based superhero Sandlot.  Here's his background and general info.  I'll come up with his stats and such later.

Name:    Richard Charles Rantle
Alias:   Sandlot
Concept: Baseball Superhero
Level:   8
Gender:  Male
Age:     19
Height:  5’11”
Weight:  195 lbs.
Hair:    Brown
Eyes:    Blue
Size:    Medium

Powers:
"Psychically enhanced" Baseball bat/ball (melee & missile weapon plus deflection/reflection)
Super-strength
Running

Description:
At 5’11”, Ricky is a young man with an athletic build and handsome facial features.  He’s dressed in apparently a baseball uniform of some kind, although it’s all black and seems to be made of a futuristic material.

Personality:
Despite what happened to his baseball career, Ricky still has a positive outlook on life.  He’s cheery and gung-ho about doing what’s good and what’s right.  If baseball was the athletic embodiment of what’s good in the country; then Ricky is pretty much the embodiment of the good in an athlete in baseball.  He’s a team player, prone to charity work and seems to like just about anybody.  There’s just one thing...he likes to talk trash at opponents.

Background:
As a promising young high-school athlete, he was popular, headed to a great college and seemed destined for success.  Then at a game in his senior year amidst a cloudy day that threatened to rain out the game, Ricky was struck by a lightning bolt in the outfield.  As he was collapsing from the power of the bolt, he was bonked on the head by the pop fly he had positioned himself to catch.  He was sent to the hospital and recovered quickly.

When he returned to the game halfway through the season, he was better than ever.  He hit harder, ran faster and threw faster.  He was getting so good that the Major League scouts came out to watch him, as he led his team to the statewide championship.  He was drafted into the League in the first round and signed a multi-million dollar contract.  Life looked good.

Then, during his professional debut on another cloudy day that threatened to rain out the game, things got weird.  He was feeling good and was psyched to play his very best.  But, his best proved to be too good.  At first, he ran so fast that he was a blur; then, his bat glowed with an eerie light; and when he hit, he sent the ball well out of the park, in fact out of the park’s parking lot.  The reporters swarmed him and accusations that he was a mutant came up.  The tests proved that it was true.  The media debated the question of whether a mutant was allowed in professional sports such as baseball and his face was on every magazine in the country.  His contract was cancelled and he was pushed out of the League.

He didn’t really know what to do and went around coaching Little League on a professional basis.  Then, one time, a bank was being robbed across the street from one of his Little League games.  As the getaway car drove by, he picked up a bat and some balls and hit them towards the car.  They found their mark and nearly destroyed the vehicle.  As the robbers tried to get away on foot, there were more baseballs still and he managed to catch the criminals.

All of this happened in broad daylight and the media was once again there to tell the story.  This time, it was full of praise and admiration.  Encouraged by this success, Ricky began a career as a crimefighter.  It didn’t pay anything except for a few rewards, but it made him feel good.  Soon, he was getting phone call after phone call, which overwhelmed him with endless amount of chores big and small.  He was about to collapse under the piles of insignificant, petty crimes.  That was when Nick Fury called and offered him a chance to make a real difference (to play in the big league)....


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 5, 2005)

Great idea for Sandlot, I've only got one question has he ever fought supervillians and if so what did they do?


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## The Shaman (Jan 5, 2005)

If you still have a slot open, I'm very interested - give me the high-sign and I'll put a background up for you in the next day.


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## Super Girl (Jan 5, 2005)

Pate Pot Pete said:
			
		

> Great idea for Sandlot, I've only got one question has he ever fought supervillians and if so what did they do?




This is very four-color, is the game set in Marvel's Ultimates line?  My character idea was much much grittier and darker, like the Ultimate universe, but if the game isn't in the Ultimate line it wont really work.  Just to be clear, and on the same page, how gritty do you see the ultimate Setting?  My POV is that is very very grim & gritty.  Some 'Heros' can and do kill bad guys (The Ultimates, Jean Grey, Wolverine, etc). in the past Sentinels have been unleashed and they hunted down and killed mutants who were out in public just minding their own business as part of a test of the sentinel program's effectiveness, before the program was cancelled.  Government agencies kidnap teens to brainwash and use for Weapon X.  At one point, before the X-men saved the day and became a junior branch of SHIELD, concentration camps were considered.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 5, 2005)

I see the Ultimates as grim and gritty yes but still keeping some four- color aspects, all character designs are allowed but to be honest I like realistic ones, however I think Sandlot was well-designed and written and am concitering him as a character, shaman and supergirl submit a background please. Also when has Jean Grey killed an enamy, I know the other ones have


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## Super Girl (Jan 5, 2005)

She flamed the Hellfire Club, literally, left only skeletons. The other incident, she killed a doctor who was begging for his life because the Weapon X program was going to kill Scott if she didn't.

I'm just trying to tell how dark it is going to be so I can see whether my character fits.  Once I understand, I'll submit.


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## perivas (Jan 5, 2005)

Super Girl said:
			
		

> This is very four-color...




You are correct that in your statement that Sandlot seems a bit four-color.  However, it is my intent that he would be a relatively bright spot in a dark, gritty world.  We'll just have to see how it plays out.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 5, 2005)

I picked up the X-men at Ultimate War so thanks for telling me that, the game will be pretty realistic, my that I mean a game about a group of young metahumans at a SHIELD training facitity. However this game will have both its lighthearted moments and very dark ones, but mostly stay as realistic while keeping a few four-color values. To summarize, pretty dark, but not a crazy amount of dark. Also I like Sandlot, because I too see him as a bright spot in a dark word, kinda but not really like Ultimate Spider-Man


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## Evil Ujio (Jan 5, 2005)

I will need to think up a concept, right now either thinking of a brick like character who "claims" for whatever reason that he is a son of a god, which no one beleives... but of course he can do some amazing things... but well maybe the kid is just crazy  

Playing off the Thor angle... or a speedster, living on the streets before he got recruited


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## Velmont (Jan 5, 2005)

Ok, before going throught the creation of a new hero, I want to know if there is some room left to this game... just to be sure, last time, I'de compose a 6000+ words background just to see the game died, don't want to do the same process again for nothing...

Playing mainly physical focus character in other game, I may choose more a concept more far from the one I have. (playing a Brick, Super-Agile and Gadget Sniper presently.)

I may even take back that character I wrote that long background, but powers being from mystical source, I am not sure it would be in the type of game you want. He has been created for a G&G game and he is some kind of reincarnated nature fairie (some kind are two important words).


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 5, 2005)

(post removed due to character disapproval)


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 5, 2005)

Sure thing all of you can post your characters, however Lobo if you take the pre/post cog power it must be uncontrolled as an old MnM game I ran had a pre and postcog and this unbalanced the whole, game ie: If he needed something he'd just pre/post cog it. Yes I do like plot hooks enamy's and allies built into the backgrounds it makes life easier for me


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 5, 2005)

Doh! That puts a damper on the whole character...

...though, I do have to say that PreCog/PostCog is a strictly informational power. Having the right tools for any given situation is rightly the domain of the Gadgets power. Pre/Post could tell you what you need in order to overcome an obstacle... but it won't provide the tools.

If that's your big beef, then the above is my stated intention of not using the power in that way. If you still feel that it's a game unbalancer, I'll go back to the drawing board (if I feel I can't work with what I wanted given the enforced Uncontrolled nature of the power).

And I understand you wanting to limit things like this. I too have played with super-munchkiny power-gamers.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 5, 2005)

Umm, Lobo in the Ultimate Marvel U thier were no hero's 200 years ago, so I'm going to have to say no to your character, umm sorry.


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 5, 2005)

Okay. How far back do super's go then (purely an informational question... I stopped reading comics as soon as I was able to afford them... ironically enough)?


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 6, 2005)

In the ultimagte universe supers go back to 1940 but a HUGE increase in them and their profile has happened since 2000.


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## perivas (Jan 6, 2005)

Pate Pot Pete said:
			
		

> Great idea for Sandlot, I've only got one question has he ever fought supervillians and if so what did they do?




In my mind, I think that Sandlot may have fought one or two low-powered supervillains, who were right up his alley.  By that, I mean bank/jewelry store-robbing supervillains who could shoot energy blasts from their bare hands.  To their surprise, Sandlot was able to hit those energy blasts straight back at them!  That's how he managed to defeat them.  But besides that, I don't picture Sandlot really having fought many supers.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 6, 2005)

Ok Peravis, thanks


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 6, 2005)

*Third time's the charm?*

*History*: Trina Leon never asked for her abilities. She never wanted to be different from anyone else. At the tender age of four she burned the roof off of her mother’s house in a fit of childish anger. The resulting fire killed her mother and left her two brothers scarred for life. 

The incident scarred her psyche and she bottled up all her rage, anger, and resentment deep inside her. She formed a mental block around her powers and wouldn’t allow herself to acknowledge that what happened was her fault.

Twelve years passed by and the effects of Trina’s denial were becoming more and more evident. She was constantly depressed, and her powers were slowly burning her out. Her face had a hollow look to it and she looked and smelled… burned. Her father suspected drugs (having never actually learned that it was she who caused the original fire) and started sending her to a psychologist.

She was attending her ninth session with the psychologist, Dr. Annah St. John, when the office was destroyed during a battle between two small teams of costumed vigilantes. Trina was knocked hard in the head and passed out.  The next thing she remembered was being held hostage by a very tall man dressed in a black leather duster. He held some kind of knife… or his hand was a knife (she couldn’t be too sure as everything was still groggy) to her stomach.

She begged and pleaded with him to let her go but he was using her as a human shield. One of the vigilantes pursuing him tired of the hostage game and hurled a small Toyota at the both of them. 

Trina was shocked and enraged. She now lay broken and bleeding, the man’s hand-knife penetrating her back clear through to her stomach. How could the so –called good guys do this? She was just minding her own business, trying to actually help herself, when these terrorists involved her in their own private battle. Who knows how many innocents like her caught up and killed in their reckless little war?

A decade’s worth of self-hate, angst, guilt, turmoil, and pain surfaced in an explosion of light and heat. When all was said and done, Trina was lying naked in a small, perfectly smooth crater. No one was around as she wandered dizzily from one street to the next.  Firefighters soon found her passed out amid the wreckage and Dr. Annah St. John identified her. Quickly deducing what had happened, she contacted an old psychologist currently working for SHIELD and remanded Trina to their care.

Under SHIELD’s tuteledge, she is slowly learning to control her fearsome powers… and she’d better learn soon as her powers are slowly eating her away from the inside out.

Notes: Stylistically (doesn’t have to be reflected in game mechanics (I’m not looking for free points)) using her Disintigration ability causes Trina pain as the intense heat physically burns her.

*Personality*: Trina is frequently depressed by her situation. She never asked to be this way and is now dying because of her *specialness*. She refuses to accept any fault for her mother’s death (though, the guilt eats away at her constantly). As well, she seems to have a vendetta against any costumed group of vigilantes who operate outside the law. Paradoxily, she tends to idolize those meta-humans who work with the law enforcement agencies. She has no qualms about killing avowed terrorists in combat simulations, as she has been quite successful in projecting her guilt and self-hate onto them.

*Appearance*: Trina is 5’ 2” tall and weighs about 78 lbs soaking wet. She doesn’t see herself as particularly attractive, though she is if she ever takes the time to clean herself up. Her hair is brown, but she dies it inky black. Her eyes are are a dark brown, amost black. She tends to dress in black as well, so as to match her mood. 

She wears no jewelry as it frequently tends to melt when she uses her powers or when her temper flares. People often note the smell of burned hair or cloth around her… and she goes through clothes like nobody’s business.

* NAME:* Meltdown
* ID:* Trina Leon
* HT:* 5'4" - * :* 78 lbs.
* HAIR:* dry, brittle black hair (shoulder length)
* DESCRIPTION:* lithe and tired looking. Tends to dress all in black. Unnaturally warm to the touch. Temperature is never cold around her.

* [ATTRIBUTES]:* 16
* STRENGTH:* 12  +1
* DEXTERITY:* 16  +3
* CONSTITUTION:* 14  +2
* INTELLIGENCE:* 14  +2
* WISDOM:* 12  +1
* CHARISMA:* 8  -1

* DAMAGE SAVE:* +4
* FORTITUDE SAVE:* +6
* REFLEX SAVE:* +5
* WILL SAVE:* +5

* ATTACK BONUS:* +2							12
_-- Melee: _ +3
_-- Ranged: _ +5 (+6 Point-Blank)
* DEFENSE:* 16
_ Flat-Footed:_ 13
_ Surprised:_ 13
* SPEED:* 30', Flight 30'
* INITIATIVE:* +3
* HERO POINTS:* 5
* POWER POINTS:* 120
_ -- Unspent:_ 0

* FEATS:* 14
Lightning Reflexes, Iron Will, Dodge, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Hero's Luck 

* SKILLS:* 20 (are you using a 1:1 power point to skill point cost Pete?)
Knowledge (current events) +6 (+2 Int; +8 total)
Knowledge (SHIELD) +2 (+2 Int; +4 total)
Acrobatics +3 (+3 Dex; +6 total)
Profession (student) +2 (+1 Wis; +3 total)
Knowledge (life sciences) +2 (+2 Int; +4 total)
Intimidate +3 (+0 Cha; +3 total)
Sense Motive +2 (+1 Wis; +3 total)

* POWERS:* 10 + 2 + 18 + 28
Amazing Save: Fortitude +4 (source: training; cost: 1pp)	
* Stunt: Toughness, Immunity (heat & cold)
Amazing Save: Will +2 (source: training; cost: 1pp)	
Disintigration +8 (source: mutation, cost: 2pp)
* Stunt: Armor Piercing
* Extra: Cellular Disruption 
* Flaw: Full Effect
_"Blindingly hot white flames rip uncontrolled from Trina's oustretched hand to consume whatever lies before her. She grimaces in pain as her nails blacken from the heat and a ring melts off of her finger"_
Energy Field +6 (source: mutation, cost: 4pp)
* Stunt: Small Area (5' Radius; Area extra at rank 1)
* Extra: Protection
* Extra: Flight (stunt: super-flight)
_"Waves of heat roll off of Trina as any pockets of moisture around her instantly evaporate. A hazy, transparant field of white-hot enegy surrounds her frail form."_

* WEAKNESSES:*
<none>


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## Velmont (Jan 6, 2005)

Finally, I'll pass this time, so good game everyone.


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## Tyreus (Jan 6, 2005)

If your still interested in more players, I'm interested. I should have something up later today.


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## The Shaman (Jan 6, 2005)

*Pate Pot Pete*, I don't think I will have the time I thought I would to commit to this. I'm going to (hopefully) be running a game of my own on these boards, and I don't want to do a half-arsed job on my character or your campaign. Thanks for considering me, and good luck with your game!


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## Mathew Lankard (Jan 7, 2005)

Just wondering if this game is still going on before I throw a background together, cause this sounds like a lot of fun.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 8, 2005)

Sure thing you two post yoir backgrounds for approval, and supergirl are you dead or alive?


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## perivas (Jan 11, 2005)

Just touching base to reiterate interest...I'll throw together Sandlot's stats later, once we have a fuller crew.


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## Allanon (Jan 11, 2005)

I'm interested. I'll look into posting a background as soon as possible. A small question what will the average posts per week be? 3, 5 or once a day?


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Jan 15, 2005)

If there's still room I'm interested in joining.  My basic character concept would be for a character nicknamed Envy with the shapeshift power w/ the mimic extra along with very good eyesight and the ability to memorize things that she's seen (green eyes of course, and they don't change whenever she shapeshifts).  I'll write up her a bit more if I find out you still have positions open.


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## Samnell (Jan 15, 2005)

*More Room?*

Would there be room for one who is quite keen on the young hero genre and isn't afraid to do some grit, but knows quite little about the Ultimate Marvel universe?


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 15, 2005)

Sure, there's room, just post a background for approval, and if I like (probaly) I'll ask for some stats.


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## Captain Tagon (Jan 15, 2005)

I'll try to get a background up tonight if you are still taking potential applicants.


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## Samnell (Jan 15, 2005)

Pate Pot Pete said:
			
		

> Sure, there's room, just post a background for approval, and if I like (probaly) I'll ask for some stats.




 Great! I'll try to throw something together tonight.


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## Samnell (Jan 16, 2005)

*My Concept/Background*

Here he is, Pete. I'm hoping he's not too outlandish and I can turn down his strangeness a bit if it's an issue.

 Samuel’s earliest memories are of books; thousands of books on the walls, on the floor, posing as furniture, and teetering on the very edge of falling over. They came in six or seven languages and he could tell easily who owned which. His father’s (professor of medieval literature and history, Empire State University) books floated in clouds of must. Some of them were centuries old and one or two lived under glass. They came only rarely in English, most often in Latin. Newer commentaries and others came in German, French, and occasionally Italian and Spanish. 

 Sam preferred his mother’s (professor of physics, Empire State University) books, durable things he could hold and not destroy. They contained millions of lines of fine print and diagrams. Whole pages gave way to a morass of numbers and Greek letters. They came in German and English, mostly. Her books were nigh-universally younger and passed quickly out of regular use, where his father’s library saw constant dredging up and digestion as he murmured to himself in a dead language. 

 Growing up, those books were Sam’s companions. He taught himself to read from them, with frequent help from battered dictionaries and indices. More or less accidentally, he taught himself to read the German his mother spoke natively along with his father’s English. As a strict rule, visits to Father’s family at Cambridge were entirely English. Mother’s family in Hamburg warranted equally strict German usage. At home, which ever language was more convenient sufficed. 

 Family friends tended to be older and rarely had children Sam’s age, so he spent his earliest years surrounded by adults. Entering school bilingual, with foreign manners, glasses, and a more than acceptable interest in science, what peers he had didn’t take well to him. When they wanted to talk about baseball or basketball, Sam had no idea what they saw in it. He could and did memorize the terms from a book, but the appeal was lost on him. When they mentioned football, he embarrassed himself by making it clear he was thinking of what they knew as soccer.

 These formative embarrassments made Sam an introverted, awkward boy with little inclination to explore the world beyond books and school. If his parents noticed the lack, they never commented on it. He was well-behaved and studious. What more could they want? For his part, Sam rarely mentioned his frequent sense of isolation. When he did, his parents rarely had any helpful advice. They were as much at a loss when it came to American youth as he. 

 When he was fifteen, Sam won an internship at ESU. He whole process was very strictly administered to avoid any favoritism and he was placed in the chemistry department, where his mother wouldn’t be in the position of having her or one of her close colleagues writing his performance evaluations. The doctors and graduate students treated Sam as a bit of a nuisance until they realized the brain they had on their hands.

 Sam spent the last half of his fifteenth summer working on the cutting edge. He had most of the math he needed to offer a meaningful contribution and gleefully did. If not for the age difference, he might have even become friends with some of the graduate students. They had enough interests in common.

 The chemists were working with a molybdenum compound at near to absolute zero, conditions that made it the most powerful supermagnet known. For most of a month, Sam’s main job was monitoring the equipment that maintained the substance within one ten-thousandth of 0K. He took readings and any change in temperature required him to get one of the students immediately. It wasn’t the most thrilling job, but he was doing real science and that kept him vigilant. His supervisors trusted him alone with the machines for hours on end.

 During his regular morning check one August day, Sam checked the gauges and digital readouts on the high-pressure tanks. The scientists introduced some silicon tetraflouride into the compound the previous day and expected a slight increase in temperature. The notes from the overnight shift indicated the shift came and subsided around 4 AM. 

 Sam ran through his list of measurements and was on his way across the catwalk and down the ladder to the floor when the temperature alarm went off. He wheeled around and ran back to see the temperature had jumped six degrees. He grabbed the phone and hit the speed dial for Dr. Martinson. The automated tones of the phone drowned out the cracking of the now-brittle weldings on the tank, stressed already by the extreme temperature and pressure.

 Sam got the doctor’s voicemail and realized he must be teaching a class. He hung up and hit 2 on the speed dial, Dr. Martinson’s cellphone. It rang four times and Sam noticed an odd odor in the air as the doctor answered.

        “Doc. It’s Sam at the lab. I’ve got a six degree spike on Tank 5.”

        “Are the instruments all working?”

        “I just did morning check.”

 “Ok. I’ll be there in about half an hour. Call Karl and Shuichi to come in. Tell them I want a full equipment check. They’re to stick around until I get there.”

 Sam nearly protested that he could do an equipment check himself, but he decided he’d call the grad students and then start in while he waited for them. With both on the way he shivered in the suddenly cold lab and went at checking the pressure gauges on Tank 5. The primary showed a slow decrease. Sam was checking the second for confirmation with a rivet blew out of Tank 5 and most of the way through Tank 6. The immense pressures released tore both tanks apart and filled the room with a thick, white fog. Sam screamed for help and began to cough as the supercold liquids froze and shattered the fittings on Tanks 4 and 7. He turned wildly and ran for it, knowing he could be inhaling a lethal dose. The catwalk gave way under him and Sam fell into four feet of heavy metals, suddenly liquid and churning in the opaque mist. He felt an intense chill and the freezing liquid poured into his lungs.

 Sam woke feeling incredible. He was brimming over with energy, like someone was running electricity into him. He was ready to run a marathon, and tempted to try. Sam recognized that he was in a hospital room, alone, and the room felt warm, almost too warm. He sat up in bed and that’s when he noticed he’d changed. His surprise blew out all the light bulbs on the floor and left every metal fixture in the room and a good part of the copper wiring stuck to his body, still sparking.

*Physical Description* 


 Sam’s body was profoundly changed by his encounter with the molybdenum compound. It activated his latent X-gene and his biology promptly adapted to its presence, giving him his powers but also dramatically altering his body. It’s been a year since Sam’s accident, but he hasn’t aged a day or grown an inch. His body is amazingly tough and his agility has increased to the limit of human ability. But his skin is stark, chalk white and the underlying veins an even brighter shade of white, the color of crayons. His formerly black hair is now an electric blue.

 Internally, Sam’s blood has been replaced by a substance that resembles a melted white crayon, but quickly changes to the same blue as his hair and evaporates into a thin gas on contact with oxygen. While not absolute zero, or even close, Sam’s body is cool to cold to the touch. He finds normal room temperatures quite warm. He doesn’t sweat and is quite comfortable even in cold temperatures with as little clothing as modesty permits. His body generates a powerful internal electro-magnetic field. When excited or agitated, he sometimes gives off sparks.

*Personality*

 Sam’s awkward, shy personality could hardly be recognized in his new body. Instead he’s always brimming with energy and can be very talkative. His newfound physicality is encouraging him to become more active, as he no longer needs to fear certain embarrassment in failure. Sam has become quite outgoing, but his appearance is bizarre enough that many of those he’s suddenly inclined to talk to are quite put off by him.

 He remains fascinated by science, but his inquisitive bent is now directed almost entirely at his abilities and those of other metahumans. He likes to show off his powers and accepted Fury’s invitation to the Academy because it would give him the chance to explore his own limits and be in regular contact with other metahumans, as well as getting him away from his parents. They’ve become worried about their son’s sudden personality change and fear his powers might be clouding his judgment.

*Powers*


 Sam has the ability to control electrical and magnetic fields. He can use this ability to fly, generate blasts of electricity, and manipulate ferrous metals. On the micro end of his abilities, he can interface with electronic devices and manipulate their tiny currents with equal ability. He can also drain power from external devices. 


 His altered physiology is extremely hardy and difficult to damage. In addition to no longer aging, or sleep, but must eat. He thinks that his body derives what sustenance it requires from breaking the atomic bonds in the food. He does not appear susceptible to any known diseases and has endured exposure to electrical currents without any ill effect.


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Jan 16, 2005)

_*Envy*_

*Background:*

Rebecca grew up in an orphanage bordering the rich side of town.  Frail and sickly as a child, she'd watch the outside world from a window, occasionally playing with the other kids but then having to go in after coughing up blood.  So, she'd watch, with emerald-green eyes she'd watch.  She saw them play with each other, be mean to each other, fall in the puppy love that children have with each other, and she desired to be just like everyone else.  As she grew older she overcame at least some of her weakness, and she eventually did do these childish-now teenager things.  She wanted more though, the object of her desire changed.

Occasionally some one rich would drive or walk by, or during one of her rare allowances of freedom she'd go out some where and run into someone rich.  She was an orphan with no real family and no money, why wouldn't she be envious?  She watched with emerald-green eyes and waited for the day her life would change.

When she was 15 it did.  She doesn't know exactly what triggered it, but she suffered a long period of depression where in isolated incidents her classmates would scream or shout or look bewildered for a moment and then do a double take.  They'd tell her it looked like they were staring into their reflections, or at a picture of another classmate whenever they saw her, but clearly they must have been delusional.  Well, that's what Rebecca thought until she discovered her powers on her own, viewing herself in the mirror as some rich kid who she was pondering about.

Since then she's learned to control her powers more, and she's exploited them.  She fell in with the wrong crowd while trying to fulfill her dreams, a gang who fell into various acts of petty thievery and larceny.  One day they got in over their heads.  They were hired by someone to incapacitate and kidnap some girl, some rich snob.  They weren't the sort of people who'd take such a job, but the pay was really good-offered by someone in a business suit and awfully suspicious, but it was too good an offer to pass down.  They ran into two major problems.  First this "rich snob" was a mutant with weird freaky, unknown powers.  She had managed to knock one of Rebecca's friends down, but another one caught her by surprise with a crowbar to the head and she fell down and starting bleeding...and died.  Confused and panicking, Rebecca's friends had no clue what they could do to prevent themselves landing in a really really bad situation.  Rebecca stepped in, taking charge.  She told her friends to hide the body and she posed as the mutant whom they killed.

The next morning, Rebecca, now in the guise of Alice Walker was called by her parents.  When she saw men in suits come in an armored car she thought she was somehow caught.  Instead however, Alice Walker was supposed to have been sent off to a mutant academy the next day run by an organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D.  Rebecca as Alice didn't look at her parents as she resignedly entered the vehicle, rationalizing to herself that she had to do this in order to not act out of character and raise suspicion.  In truth, on a subconscious level she wanted to live the life Alice had, the life one of those rich kids had.  She never saw any of her friends again.

*Description &  Personality:*

Pending

*Powers:*
Looking at Shapeshift, humanoids only w/ the Mimic ability to help her impersonate another mutant.  I'm also thinking her eyes would be special, giving her Detect (Mutants), enhanced Spot checks, Photographic Memory (fits that some one envious of others remembers everything she's envious about) as well as as well as vision-related feats like Dark vision, True sight and such.

Plothooks:
-What sort of trouble Rebecca's "friends" got themselves into after the murdering of the real Alice Walker
-Whom the man in the suit who hired Rebecca and her friends represented and why they wanted Alice Walker
-Rebecca's an orphan, but very well may have siblings.  One wonders if their powers were modeled off of the 7 deadly sins as Rebecca's have or if her powers are merely an isolated case.


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## Samnell (Jan 16, 2005)

> -What sort of trouble Rebecca's "friends" got themselves into after the murdering of the real Alice Walker




 Did you know that Alice Walker is the name of a reasonably famous African-American author? She wrote _The Color Purple_, among others.

 Don't change on my account, by any means. It's not like the name is uncommon. I just got a chuckle out of the coincidence.


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Jan 16, 2005)

Lol, hah, no I didn't but I think I've heard the name before, and of the book-it must have been stuck in my subconscious.  I'm terribly bad at coming up with names and I just jumped at the first one that hit my mind, Alice and then followed by Walker.  Stupid subconscious 

I wouldn't like to offend people, so I'll change the name to something else if my character is approved.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 16, 2005)

I like both of the ideas, I think we have enough people to start the game now, so lets see some stats please. Also, could everyone thats playing (If they already have posted stats), please say that you are still interested.


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## Samnell (Jan 17, 2005)

*Stats & Stuff*

Pete, if you think anything's out of whack I'll happily change to accomodate.

*Samuel Yossel Howick-Blackley* ("hoyk-blakely")
  Sex: Male
  Age: 16, appears approximately 15
  Height: 5'5"
  Weight: 80 pounds
  Hair: electric blue
  Eyes: electric blue
  Costume: none to date
  Identity: Public
  Nationality: American/British/German (holds citizenship as a minor in all three countries)

  Abilities
  STR: 14 (+2)
  DEX: 20 (+5)
  CON: 20 (+5)
  INT: 20 (+5)
  WIS: 10 (+0)
  CHR: 10 (+0)
  (Total ability pp = 34)

 Saves
  Damage: +5
  Fortitude: +5
  Reflex: +5
  Will: +0
  (Total save pp = 0)

  Attacks
  Base: +0 (0 pp)
  Melee: +2
  Ranged: +5

 Defense
  Base: +0 (0 pp)
  Defense: 15
  Flatfooted: 10
  Initiative: +5

  Hero Points: 4
  Speed: 30

 Skills
  Computers +9 (+17 with datalink)
  Language (German and French)
  Science (chemistry) +7
  Science (physics) +9
  (Total skill pp = 12)

  Feats
  Durability
  Immune to aging, cold, criticals, disease, electricity, exhaustion, heat, poison, suffocation
  Photographic Memory
  Rapid Healing
  (Total feat pp = 24)

  Super-Powers

*Altered Biology* +6 [source: super-science and mutation, 3pp/level]

_Sam's body has adapted so most of his vital fluids are replaced with compounds of super-cold molybdenum and silicon tetraflouride. This streamlined physique is immune to many of the vulnerabilities of conventional flesh and amazingly resilient, but has left him with several physical oddities obvious even to the most casual viewer._

  Acts as Protection
  Extra: Impervious

*Electromagnetic control* +8 [source: mutation, 5pp/level]

_In addition to the changes now inherent in Sam's biology, the super-cold molybdenum retains all of its electric and magnetic potency, which Sam's X-gene allows him to control and manipulate._

 Acts as Electricity Control
  Extra: Magnetic Control
  Extra: Flight
  Extra: Datalink
  Stunts: Drain Energy

  (Total power pp = 58)

  Weakness: Disturbing

*Physical appearance

* Sam is short and formerly slight for his age, but his transformation has left him in possession of a tremendously agile and enduring frame. Beneath his chalk-white skin muscles are visibly defined, but not bulky. Veins show through whiter than the surrounding flesh and Sam's blood is a strange white compound with a density similar to air. When exposed to oxygen, it quickly evaporates into an electric blue mist that exactly matches the color of his hair and eyes. His skin is cold to the touch and has a flat finish except where veins show through, where it can be quite glossy white. Excitement causes this glossy appearance to spread like a blush and is often accompanied by sparks of static electricity. His electric blue hair is slightly curly.

 Sam prefers to dress as lightly as possible for the given situation, favoring athletic clothing in colors that match or contrast strongly with his own coloration. He likes to combine form-fitting and baggy clothing. Sam perceives freezing temperatures as pleasantly warm. Summer temperatures are noticeably hot, but his altered frame is immune to the adverse effects that normally plague people in such climes. He neither tans nor sweats. He typically wears a small, silver Star of David on a necklace.

*Family*
 Sam's father is a Professor of Medieval Literature and History at Empire State University. He comes from a line of upper-middle class Oxford and Cambridge professors. His grandparents, aunts, and uncles all live in the UK and Ireland. One ancestor received a peerage from Henry VIII, but the title became extinct for lack of male heirs in the 1700s. They maintain use of, and zealously defend, the hereditary coat of arms. His paternal grandparents are an associate Professor of Latin at Oxford and a retired novelist who wrote historical fiction under a pseudonym.

 Sam's mother is a Professor of Physics at Empire State, where she met his father. She's from mostly secular Jewish-German stock and her family lives in Hamburg, with a few cousins in Denmark and the south of England. One of Sam's great-grandfathers died in the Holocaust and his grandparents hid in Denmark and England, not returning to Germany until the late 1950s. His grandfather is a retired engineer and his grandmother a botanist.

  The families have mutually agreed not to understand one another.

*Background*
  See previous post.


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## perivas (Jan 17, 2005)

Here's the completed Sandlot!

Name:    Richard Charles Rantle
Alias:   Sandlot
Concept: Baseball Superhero
Level:   8
Gender:  Male
Age:     19
Height:  5’11”
Weight:  195 lbs.
Hair:    Brown
Eyes:    Blue
Size:    Medium

Basic Statistics (Cost: Abilities 36 & Combat 15)
Str 20 / Dex 20 / Con 20 / Int 10 / Wis 12 / Cha 14
Saves: Dmg +5(+9) / Fort +5 / Ref +7 / Will +1
Attack: Base +5 / Melee +10 / Ranged +10 / Mental +6
Defense: Base +0 / Normal +5 / Flat-Footed +0 / Mental +1
Init +5 / Spd 40 (running x4) / Hero Points 4

Powers (Source: mutant; Cost: 33+6+15=54)
“Psychically Enhanced” Baseball Bat/Balls
  Base:   Deflection 8 (2 pp/level)
  Extras: Rapid 8 (+1 pp/level)
          Reflection 8 (+1 pp/level)
          Strike 3 (stun) (+1 pp/level)
          Energy Blast 3 (kinetic/stun) (+1 pp/level)
  Stunts: Catch (flaw: baseball-sized objects only) +1 pp
          Deflection Bonus (energy blasts) +2 pp
  Flaws:  Device 8 (-1 pp/level)
Running 4 (2pp/level +2 pp)
  Stunts: Super-running
Super-Strength 3 (5 pp/level)
  Extras: Protection +1

Feats (Cost: 9)
Fame
Far Shot (flaw: baseball bat only)
Heroic Surge
Inspire Greatness
Lightning Reflexes

Skills (Cost: 11)
Drive +1+5**
Knowledge (baseball) +5
Taunt +5+2**
**other bonuses

Weakness (Cost: -5)
Naïve (major) 

Equipment and Possessions
baseball bat and balls, black baseball cap and jersey

Description:
At 5’11”, Ricky is a young man with an athletic build and handsome facial features.  He’s dressed in apparently a baseball uniform of some kind, although it’s all black and seems to be made of a futuristic material.

Personality:
Despite what happened to his baseball career, Ricky still has a positive outlook on life.  He’s cheery and gung-ho about doing what’s good and what’s right.  If baseball was the athletic embodiment of what’s good in the country; then Ricky is pretty much the embodiment of the good in an athlete in baseball.  He’s a team player, prone to charity work and seems to like just about anybody.  There’s just one thing...he likes to talk trash at opponents.

Background:
As a promising young high-school athlete, he was popular, headed to a great college and seemed destined for success.  Then at a game in his senior year amidst a cloudy day that threatened to rain out the game, Ricky was struck by a lightning bolt in the outfield.  As he was collapsing from the power of the bolt, he was bonked on the head by the pop fly he had positioned himself to catch.  He was sent to the hospital and recovered quickly.

When he returned to the game halfway through the season, he was better than ever.  He hit harder, ran faster and threw faster.  He was getting so good that the Major League scouts came out to watch him, as he led his team to the statewide championship.  He was drafted into the League in the first round and signed a multi-million dollar contract.  Life looked good.

Then, during his professional debut on another cloudy day that threatened to rain out the game, things got weird.  He was feeling good and was psyched to play his very best.  But, his best proved to be too good.  At first, he ran so fast that he was a blur; then, his bat glowed with an eerie light; and when he hit, he sent the ball well out of the park, in fact out of the park’s parking lot.  The reporters swarmed him and accusations that he was a mutant came up.  The tests proved that it was true.  The media debated the question of whether a mutant was allowed in professional sports such as baseball and his face was on every magazine in the country.  His contract was cancelled and he was pushed out of the League.

He didn’t really know what to do and went around coaching Little League on a professional basis.  Then, one time, a bank was being robbed across the street from one of his Little League games.  As the getaway car drove by, he picked up a bat and some balls and hit them towards the car.  They found their mark and nearly destroyed the vehicle.  As the robbers tried to get away on foot, there were more baseballs still and he managed to catch the criminals.

All of this happened in broad daylight and the media was once again there to tell the story.  This time, it was full of praise and admiration.  Encouraged by this success, Ricky began a career as a crimefighter.  It didn’t pay anything except for a few rewards, but it made him feel good.  Soon, he was getting phone call after phone call, which overwhelmed him with endless amount of chores big and small.  He was about to collapse under the piles of insignificant, petty crimes.  That was when Nick Fury called and offered him a chance to make a real difference (to play in the big league)....


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 17, 2005)

Heh, looks like we're going to have an interesting team. ^_^  Notice how both of the girls are screwed up in the head while the two guys are pretty well rounded.   :lol

Just thought that was an interesting observation.


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## Samnell (Jan 17, 2005)

Lobo Lurker said:
			
		

> Heh, looks like we're going to have an interesting team. ^_^ Notice how both of the girls are screwed up in the head while the two guys are pretty well rounded. :lol




 I wouldn't precisely call Sam well-rounded. He's not exactly as screwed up to high-heaven as some of my previous PCs, though.

 ...what's this set of red and white concentric circles that just appeared on my back?


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 17, 2005)

I like Sandlot and Sam's stats, we already have Trina's so all I need are Envy's and we'll be ready to go.


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Jan 18, 2005)

Name: Rebecca
Alias: Envy
Concept: Shapeshifter
Level: 8
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 104 lbs.
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Emerald Green
Size: Medium

Basic Statistics (Cost: Abilities 19 & Combat 12)
Str 8 / Dex 16 / Con 8 / Int 13 / Wis 16 / Cha 18
Saves: Dmg -1 (+5 Evasion) / Fort -1 / Ref +7 / Will +5
Attack: Base +2 / Melee +5 / Ranged +5 / Mental +5
Defense: Base +3 / Normal +6 / Flat-Footed +3 / Mental +6
Init +3 / Spd 30 / Hero Points 4

Skills
Bluff +11
Innuendo +5
Spot +15

(Total skill pp = 11)

Feats
Assessment
Attack Finesse
Dodge
Evasion
Lightning Reflexes
Photographic Memory
Skill Focus (Bluff)
Skill Focus (Spot)
Surprise Strike

(Total feat pp = 18)

Super-Powers

_???_
Base: Shapeshift +6 (2 pp/level)
Extras: Continuous, Mimic (Feats)
*Mimic Extras: Additional Attribute (Powers), All Attributes, Expanded Powers (x3)
*Mimic Flaws: Backlash
Flaws: Limited-Humanoids only, Limited-Signature (Green Eyes)
Source: Mutation
Total Cost = 42

_Emerald Eyes_
Base: Super-Skill (Spot) +4
Stunts: Darkvision, Detect (Mutants), Penetrating Vision, See Invisibility, True Sight
Source: Mutation
Total cost = 14

Amazing Save (Reflex) +2
Extras: Amazing Save (Will) +2
Source: Training
Total cost = 4

19+12+11+18+42+14+4
120/120 PP

*Personas:*
Alisson Walker (Age: 16, Height: 5'7", Weight: 102 lbs., Brown hair, Theme: Psychic, Original PL: 6)
Feats: Attractive, Indomitable Will, Iron Will, Psychic Awareness, Skill Focus (Concentration), Wealth
Powers: Mental Blast +6 S/L, Paralysis (Ex: Mental) +6, Mental Protection +4

Background see above.

Under construction but mostly finished.  Tell me if the stats for Alisson Walker are fair and feel free to change them as you like.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 20, 2005)

The game thread is avilible at Gaming Action.


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## Samnell (Jan 20, 2005)

Pete, did we find out anything in the orientation beyond each other's names and the faculty list you posted?


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## Acid_crash (Jan 26, 2005)

Is it too late to join?  I can whip up a background tonight and post it for approval, and I could be the initial student that shows up late for the first day of class.


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## Acid_crash (Jan 26, 2005)

I'll type of a background and let you think about it.  I like coming up with superhero characters.  

*Background*

Sebastian has always had to depend on himself.  He was born to a rich life, an only child with parents who always were out on business trips or running the family company, went to private schools or had private tutors instead of going to public schools, and no real friends.  He was lonely.  The few times he did talk to other kids, he felt wierd, distant, and wanted nothing more than to make a good friend.  

His parents, however, didn't think that it was appropriate for the future leader of Cyber Industries Enterprises, a leading edge corporation on the future of cybernetics and medical breakthroughs, should have friends.  So, Sebastian was usually alone.

His life turned when he turned thirteen years old.  He was with his butler/driver, going to see his parents at CIE when the most amazing thing happened.  He saw a man swinging through the air, via web, and thought, "if that person can be that free, so can I?"  

He arrived at a stop light, which was red for a long time, much longer than it should be, and this puzzled him.  To the right was a bank, and suddenly the bells were sounding, alarms were ringing, and it was getting robbed.  Out came six goons in black, guns drawn, three holding large bags of what he assumed was money.  The police showed up, the goons getaway vehicle wasn't there, apparently, and so the goons were trapped.  

Something went wrong.  

Either the cops, or the goons, had a grenade of some kind.  It was thrown, bounced the wrong way, and Sebastian's quick eyes saw it bounce and roll beneath the car.  Freaking, he dove through the car door and outside.  Grenade blew, he flew far from the car.  The driver, however, died.  Sebastian awoke a few minutes later, in an ambulance, dizzy, but felt fine.  Which was strange, he had no real burns.  Even stranger, as his memory recalled, is that when it rolled under the car, he went through the door.  

The EMT's were looking over him, talking to themselves about how lucky he was, and his parents would be happy to see him.  His parents, the two people he didn't want to see.  They weren't his parents, they were strangers, he only saw them a few minutes a day at the most, and never during dinner.  Sebastian wanted to belong to something, somebody, anybody.  He clung to this final thought, desperate to be away from this, away from his family who didn't love him.  

He fell through the stretcher, through the bottom of the ambulance, and landed on the ground below.

For the next couple years he found himself on the streets.  He used what money he had in his wallet to survive, buying his way into parties, meeting people, getting into drugs.  He felt like he belonged to somebody, something, finally.  The parties were cool.  The girls were fun.  The gang wanted him.  The Ghosts of Manhattan they called themselves.  He wanted to be part of the gang.  His money bought him attention, attention he wanted, and craved.

He later learned that phasing wasn't his only gift.  He was a mutant, and he loved it.  He used his powers to get what he wanted.  Phasing wasn't his only gift, but it was the only one he told the Ghosts about.  

How he ended up with SHIELD, he can't remember?  Something went wrong, somewhere.  The last thing he can remember is six months ago, he was with Leslie in her bedroom, and she...what did she do?  Sebastian can't even remember, but now when he gets stressed out, and loses control, things begin to fly in random movements.  Sometimes he can control them, but not always.

Someday, he plans on seeing Leslie again.  And he plans on finding out what happened during the last six months of his life.

One thing he does know is that he wants his parents to think he died when the car exploded.

*Physical Description*

Sebastian is average height for a 15 yr old (if this is too young, make him 17), average build.  He wears glasses, brown-blonde hair spiked back, and a charming smile.  He has a tattoo of death on his right shoulder, beneath that another one of a spiked chain that circles his arm.  He wears shirts with the sleeves ripped off, and blue or black jeans.  He wears combat boots.  To help him remember his early years, he also wears a black and red tie with a gold tie clasp (which he stole from his father).  His left ear is pierced, along with a couple piercings on his face (right eyebrow, lower lip, and tongue).  

Basically, he did his best to erase his past life, but loves the tie.  

*Personality*

Sebastian is cocky at times, but shy around people he really likes.  He's talkative about some things, but whenever the past is brought up he clams up real quick.  Sometimes he goes through depressive moods, and he can be quick to anger.  When he's angry his telekinetic powers go haywire and sometimes loses control.

*Name*

Poltergeist


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 26, 2005)

Yes, you found out the names of some of the other students and you went on a tour the the facility. Acid Crash yes you can join, and I really like the background so lets see some stats. Is this how spolier threads work?/S] If not how do they work?


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## Acid_crash (Jan 26, 2005)

You know, I've never figured out how the whole spoiler thing works myself.

Some stats - 

*Poltergeist*

real name: Sebastian Clark Smith
gang member name: Ghost

Abilities: [22 pp]

Strength: 16  +3
Dexterity: 12  +1
Constitution: 12  +1
Intelligence: 16  +3
Wisdom: 10  +0
Charisma: 16  +3

Skills: if 1 for 1 [19 pp]
Bluff (4pp) +9/+12
Diplomacy (3pp) +8/+11
Knowledge (Business) (4pp) +7
Knowledge (Streets) (2pp) +5
Move Silently (2pp) +3
Search (2pp) +5
Spot (2pp) +2

Feats: [14 pp]
Attractive, Dodge, Multishot, Photographic Memory, Surprise Strike, Talented (Bluff and Diplomacy), Immunities (Suffocation) 

Powers: [60 pp - Source: mutation]

Incorporeal +6 (w/ Ghost Touch, Scramble Electronics, and Phase Attack; Cost: 5pp) - 30pp

Invisibility +6 (w/ Flaw--Only Creatures; Cost: 1pp) - 6pp

Telekinesis +8 (w/ extra: Energy Attack w/ extra: Multifire and flaw: Full Effect; Cost: 3pp) - 24 pp  ---note: Full Effect applies to just the Energy Attack, not to Telekinesis entirely.


Attack: +3 [9 pp]
--- Melee: +6
--- Ranged: +4  (w/ Multifire TK Blast +2/+2)
--- Damage (Punch): +3S (+7S if using Surprise Strike)
--- Damage (Telekinetic Blast): +8S (+12S if using Surprise Strike)
Defense: +4 [8 pp]
--- Base Defense: 15 (16 if using Dodge)
--- Flat Footed Defense: 14

Fortitude: +1
Damage: +1
Reflex: +1
Will: +0

Weakness:
Transformation (when angry could potentially lose telekinetic powers and flake in and out of reality - telekinesis loses control as does invisibility)

Character Note:
Is there anything I forgot to do?  I don't think having Partial Amnesis is worth a full 10 points, so how do you want to work that?  If it's just a roleplaying thing, that's cool with me.

edited: Altered Powers to make more sense.


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 26, 2005)

Looking at your powers write-up, you don't need the flaw on Invisibility. You cannot flaw the price of an extra'd power below 1. Note, your Incorporeal power should cost 8pp, not 7pp.

Incorporeal (2pp)
ex: Ghost Touch (+1pp)
ex: Scramble Electronics (+1pp)
ex: Phase Attack (+1pp)
ex: Invisibility (+1pp)
ex: TK (+1pp)
ex of ex: Energy Attack (+1pp)
ex of ex: Multi-fire (+1pp)
fl of ex: Full-Effect (-1pp)

If you're not aware:
- you will need to turn incorporeal before you can turn invisible.
- you will need to turn incorporeal in order to access your TK abilities.
- whenever Pate Pot Pete determines that your character is angry, you'll lose control of your character (Transformation flaw).

Personally, and this is nothing more than the opinion of some nobody on a message-board, I'd ditch the Weakness and just describe the loss of control of your powers as a roleplaying effect (ie, no real in-game effect other than to freak out npcs).

My pc... no, I won't talk about my pc. No one wants to hear that. Samnell's pc, for example, when he gets excited or what-have-you, electricity arcs off of his body. There's no specific flaw or power for that. It just happens. It's a role-playing effect. You might want to use a similar effect for your TK powers when your character gets riled/nervous.

And a last bit of advice. I recommend that you splinter off your TK abilities from your Incorporeal ability. It works within the rules, but you haven't presented any kind of twisted logic that would explain why being incorporeal suddenly allows you to manipulate objects with your mind.

Just my two cents (and remember, I'm a nobody).


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## Acid_crash (Jan 27, 2005)

Lobo Lurker said:
			
		

> Looking at your powers write-up, you don't need the flaw on Invisibility. You cannot flaw the price of an extra'd power below 1. Note, your Incorporeal power should cost 8pp, not 7pp.
> 
> Incorporeal (2pp)
> ex: Ghost Touch (+1pp)
> ...




Thanks...I'm new to M&M so all this advice I'm taking and I'll rework the character's stats.  I was reading the example of creating powers, and how having seperate effects count as extras and stuff...

the power I wanted to create is a power I would call Poltergeist.  It's effects would include Incorporeal, Invisibility and Telekinesis w/ energy attack.  But I do see what your saying.


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## Acid_crash (Jan 27, 2005)

I changed the powers in the character above so they make more sense.  I'll wait till I get final approval before entering the game world.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Jan 28, 2005)

Just so you know I like the character, sorry for not responding earier


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## Samnell (Jan 31, 2005)

Pete,



> Immune to aging, cold, criticals, disease, electricity, exhaustion, heat, poison, suffocation




Sam doesn't get tired, doesn't need to breathe, and can't be poisoned. Is he still knocked out?


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## Brother Shatterstone (Jan 31, 2005)

Okay,

If the person who reported the post is reading this thread and is player please email me at: ftn4life@earthlink.net

V/R
BS
PbP Moderator


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## Lobo Lurker (Jan 31, 2005)

I'm the player of the character being addressed, and I didn't report the post. 

I admit, I was a bit shocked, but I'm a mature guy, wife, kids, etc and I understand where PatePotPete is coming from. We're part of a pseudo-military team and this is part of interrogation training (anyone ever see GI Jane? same thing).

So long as Pete never described anything specifically, I wouldn't be offended... though I can how others might be as I'm sure that there are minors the frequent these boards. And I might be offended were my daughter old enough to read.


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## Samnell (Feb 1, 2005)

Lobo Lurker said:
			
		

> I admit, I was a bit shocked, but I'm a mature guy, wife, kids, etc and I understand where PatePotPete is coming from. We're part of a pseudo-military team and this is part of interrogation training (anyone ever see GI Jane? same thing).




To be honest, I didn't even blink. It's not something I would say to kids were I their teacher and planned on continued employment (I am doing student teaching right now, so I have some idea about this stuff professionally.), but it seemed fairly consistent with what I've been reading about SHIELD in the Ultimate universe. Now if Pete were getting very explicit, that would be something entirely different.

EDIT: It does occur to me why someone would be upset. We are playing minor characters, after all. I'm not insensitive to the complaint, I just wasn't personally offended because of the context.


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Feb 1, 2005)

I also can see where the shock would come from, and I was initially at least slightly surprised myself.  I got over it quickly though.  After all, it was noted up front when we played this game that it would be more grim & gritty and in a bit more realistic world (though slightly darker).  So I'm fine with it, as everyone else said, it's nothing really explicit.


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## Brother Shatterstone (Feb 1, 2005)

Okay,

I just got an email from the member who reported it, its not a player of the game, so as long as the game gets a rating in the subject line like so:



> [Mature] Game Name




It also needs to have a warning edited into the top of the very first post of the IC thread. (I'll take care of the subject line the warning needs to come from PPP, we'll know more than I how graphic it will be or become.)

Besides that I'm willing to reopen this game. (and will promptly do so.)


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## Lobo Lurker (Feb 1, 2005)

Thanks for your time and concern Brother Shatterstone.


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## Samnell (Feb 1, 2005)

So with that handled, Pete, with Sam's immunities, does he still get knocked out?


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## Pate Pot Pete (Feb 1, 2005)

All I can say is well, I messed up, I violaed the TOS and I accept full responcibility for that. The only reson I did what i did was that I was trying to accuratly protry SHIELD as I think of them, a agentcy that isn't afraid to be immoral when it comes to doing what is needed. I am sorry if I offened anyone in this protrayal and am willing to change it via an edit. While I wouldn't like to do that, I will if nessesary to right my mistake. If putting mature in the title is all that is required I will be more than happy to do that. Thank you for keeping an open mind.


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## Brother Shatterstone (Feb 1, 2005)

Lobo Lurker said:
			
		

> Thanks for your time and concern Brother Shatterstone.




As always it’s an honor to serve and have fun with your game.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Feb 1, 2005)

Also to adress your question Samnell, yes everyone gets K.O.'ed


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Feb 1, 2005)

Btw, can I assume that Envy retains her mimic'd form (as it requires for me to actively dismiss it) but simply can't access any of her powers?  It would be such a shame to spoil the surprise so quickly ^_^


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## Pate Pot Pete (Feb 1, 2005)

Yes, envy can stay in the Alice Walker persona.


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## Acid_crash (Feb 1, 2005)

Pate Pot Pete said:
			
		

> Yes, envy can stay in the Alice Walker persona.




Total bummer.  I was hopin to see the goth chic.


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## Gideon (Feb 2, 2005)

I don't know if the 'Looking for more players' is still active or not but I would be interested in possibly playing.


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## Acid_crash (Feb 2, 2005)

Gideon said:
			
		

> I don't know if the 'Looking for more players' is still active or not but I would be interested in possibly playing.




Have you read the IC thread?  When I signed up I anticipated a grim and gritty type game but not a mature game that it turned into, but it's still been fun.  If you haven't read it, read the game and decide if you don't mind the mature overtones.


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## Gideon (Feb 2, 2005)

I've read through the game thread and this one and have a decent idea of what I am getting into.  Thanks for the warning though.  I was a little surprised but not offended when I hit the 'mature' part in the game thread, I was expecting blood not sex after reading the discussion here.  Also, should I just post my charachter concept/background up now or wait for Pete to give me the go ahead or bugger off signal?


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## Acid_crash (Feb 2, 2005)

Post it Gideon.  That's what I did.  I got in.  Doesn't hurt to try, ya know.  Better to try than not try at all.  

I'm thinking SHIELD is gonna put my character in an anger management class after this last scene is over.


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## Gideon (Feb 2, 2005)

Concept posted as recommended.

*Alexander Buckmaster*
“Live for today for tomorrow we die.”

	I am that kid, you know the one who falls in crap and comes up smelling like roses.  But then again, I could have just forgotten most of the bad stuff that has happened to me.  Well, truth be told I forgot most of the things that happen to me anyway.  I think I would have forgotten my name by now if people didn’t call me it everyday.  It just isn’t important, the daily stuff that happens.  Why bother?  Things just work out for me anyway.  I have the most amazing luck.  I think it is because I used up all my bad luck in one week.

My first memory is seeing my parents die in the blast from a terrorist bomb two days before it happened.  I was 5 and they wouldn’t believe me when I told them what I saw, what I smelled, what I knew was the future.  I know what the man that killed my parents looks like.  I know his deep set blue eyes and scraggily unkempt beard.  I know he is alive because I saw him reform himself in my vision.  He is a terrorist that can cause his body to explode and reform.  I was 5 and everybody knows 5 year olds don’t know anything.  It was just night terrors my parents told me.  “Shouldn’t have watched the news with him in the room.” dad said.  And then they died.  I know what their faces looked like when the blast hit them.  My second memory is watching my grandparents die 3 days before the auto accident that killed them.  No one believed me then either.  My house burnt down the day after my grandparents died.  I contracted the flu, broke my arm, my aunt’s computer got a virus when I was using it, I stained 5 shirts, and got pooped on by two separate birds in a 24 hour period.  I think I used up all of my bad luck in one week.  Karma bent me over and gave me all it could for 168 hours.  Now lady luck is my best friend.

I have lived with my Aunt and Uncle for the last 11 years or so.  They just got a divorce, probably because Aunt Nicole decided that she like in shape 16 year olds more than Uncle Jimmy.  Can’t really blame her, I like 16 year olds too.  So here I am just floating through life as part of the non-descript masses.  That was until 11 years after my parent’s accident.
I was visiting the site of the blast that killed my parents on their anniversary, like I do every year, when a big black luxury car pulled up behind my beat up Yamaha Bike.  A gigantic black guy stepped out of the car walked over and handed me a plain manila folder.  As the folder touched my hands I knew my Uncle had signed me away.  I guess I was just one more tie with Aunt Nicole that needed to be cut.  Can’t really blame him, he did well by me.  Beside, I know I am wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform when I meet the man who killed my parents.

Personality:
•	Go with the flow, non-confrontational kind of guy
•	Often shortsighted with his planning because people wouldn’t believe he knows the future and past even if he warned them.  Xander also will come out okay, he always does.


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## Lobo Lurker (Feb 2, 2005)

Just FYI Gideon, Pete's really wary of the Pre/Postcognition powers. I wrote up a nice background with those and he shot me down (well, not really, I just didn't like the option presented).

Pre/Postcog powers must have the Uncontrollable flaw. 

Just FYI if you were planning on going that direction.


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## Gideon (Feb 2, 2005)

Yup, i had read that.  Uncontrolled is fine with me.  The unpredictibility of the powers is part of the reason Xander is so focused on the present.  He is sometimes unsure if what he just saw is the past or the present or the future.  That and nobody has ever believed it when he saw a different time shaking up his faith in his pre/post-cognition.

The only thing I want him to consistantly be able to do is tap into the death of his parents at the  spot where they were killed.


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Feb 2, 2005)

Created a Rogue's Gallery thread for the game so all our characters and their histories can be on one page:

Linkie: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=116137


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## Pate Pot Pete (Feb 3, 2005)

Gideon I like the idea of a pre/post cog that is haunted my the deaths that no one would belive, very Foreshadow like, post stats and welcome to the game. (This is the last new character)


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## Brother Shatterstone (Feb 3, 2005)

Pate Pot Pete said:
			
		

> (This is the last new character)




You might want to edit out the (looking for players) tag from the subject line then.


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Feb 4, 2005)

Congrats on getting in Gideon.

P.S., Envy's true self is messed up, tell me if my last post was overly disturbing however, 'cause if it is I'd be glad to change it.


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## Gideon (Feb 4, 2005)

Happy to be aboard.  Let me know if I need to change anything.  Skills are at 1:1, correct?

*Alexander 'Xander' Buckmaster*
PL: 8 (120 PP)

Abilities: [18 pp]

*Strength:* 12 +1
*Dexterity:* 16 +3
*Constitution:* 14 +2
*Intelligence:* 12 +1
*Wisdom:* 10 +0
*Charisma:* 14 +2

*Skills:* if 1 for 1 [16 pp]
Computers (2pp) +3
Diplomacy (2pp) +4
Drive (9pp) +15 (+3 for skill focus feat)
Repair (2pp) +3
Swim (1pp) +2

*Feats:* [6 pp]
Hero's Luck, Hero's Luck, Skill Focus(Drive)

*Powers:* [80 pp - Source: mutation]

Luck (5 PP/Rank) 8 ranks
Precognition (Extra: Postcognition, Flaw: Uncontrolled Precognition, Flaw: Uncontrolled
        Postcognition) (3PP/Rank) 8 Ranks
Amazing Save(Damage) (Extras: Fortitude, Reflex, Will) (4 PP/Rank) 4 ranks

*Attack:* +0 [0 pp]
--- Melee: +1
--- Ranged: +3
--- Damage (Punch): +1S 

*Defense:* +1 [2 PP]
--- Base Defense: 14
--- Mental Defense: 11
--- Flat Footed Defense: 11

*Saves:*
Damage: +6
Fortitude: +6
Reflex: +7
Will: +4

*Weakness:*
Quirk(Forgetful: Can't remember details of anything) -2 PP


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## Acid_crash (Feb 4, 2005)

Sollir Furryfoot said:
			
		

> Congrats on getting in Gideon.
> 
> P.S., Envy's true self is messed up, tell me if my last post was overly disturbing however, 'cause if it is I'd be glad to change it.




I liked it, really cool.  Makes me glad I'm not the only one who has a character that is disturbed by what's going on.


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## Acid_crash (Feb 4, 2005)

Ok, I know that my character might have gotten bashed by a baseball bat once or twice for losing control of his TK powers.     He would deserve it.  

But, by the way I described what he did, and letting his anger loose, he did exactly that, an area effect telekinetic blast right in front of Fury, which would have slammed everybody in that damn room, including himself.  He probably would've knocked himself out also, but it would've added more to the story.

Ignoring it and treating it as nothing more than oversight ruined the entire scene and part of the story.  I didn't think I had to list my attack score/modifier also.  I thought my description was good enough as it was, and only one of you picked up on it and reacted to it.

Saying the room was impact proof would not negate the powers effect nor what it would've done to all the characters in that room since it originated inside the room itself.  

Oh well, can't change it now.  I just wanted you guys to know where I'm coming from on this.  I'm sure if you guys wanted your character to do something that added to the story, and it got ignored, you'd feel a little bummed about it also.


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## Acid_crash (Feb 7, 2005)

Hey is Pete around?


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## Gideon (Feb 17, 2005)

Thank you for your consideration Pete but I have just gotten a second job and won't have time to participate in your game afterall.  Have a great game.


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## Acid_crash (Feb 23, 2005)

Sorry for all the time I missed.  I had to go to a family reunion and then went out of town for my job so the last week or so has been really had no access to a computer to give you an update so I apologize for that.


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Feb 23, 2005)

Fortunately (or unfortunately, however you look at it), you haven't missed much.  and


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## Acid_crash (Mar 4, 2005)

Apparently not much is happpening since I got back.  Is this game still going?


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## Lobo Lurker (Mar 25, 2005)

That's interesting... can Sam & Ricky even hurt eachother?


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## Samnell (Mar 25, 2005)

Lobo Lurker said:
			
		

> That's interesting... can Sam & Ricky even hurt eachother?




I've got my doubts, especially with reduced powers.


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## Sollir Furryfoot (Apr 5, 2005)

Hey, is anyone here still interested in this game?  I am still, but it's going at a snail's pace compared to where it was when we had started it...


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## Samnell (Apr 5, 2005)

Sollir Furryfoot said:
			
		

> Hey, is anyone here still interested in this game? I am still, but it's going at a snail's pace compared to where it was when we had started it...




I may be able to rekindle interest should the pacing quicken.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Apr 7, 2005)

Sorry about hte slow pace, really strange connection issues with my interent provider. Really sporadic.


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## Pate Pot Pete (Apr 23, 2005)

After a month of trying to get my internet fixed, I'm back online and ready to go, check the in-character thread to see what is happening.


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## Samnell (Apr 27, 2005)

Pate Pot Pete said:
			
		

> After a month of trying to get my internet fixed, I'm back online and ready to go, check the in-character thread to see what is happening.




Well, I'm still here.


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## Samnell (May 4, 2005)

Samnell said:
			
		

> Well, I'm still here. [/QUOTE
> 
> Am I the only one still here?


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## Sollir Furryfoot (May 4, 2005)

I'm around *whistles*


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## Samnell (May 5, 2005)

Sollir Furryfoot said:
			
		

> I'm around *whistles*




That makes two of us. Where'd everyone else go?


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## Evil Ujio (May 5, 2005)

They left for pie


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## Samnell (May 5, 2005)

Evil Ujio said:
			
		

> They left for pie




Cursed pie foils me again! Die, vile confection!

*wanders off mumbling*


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## Lobo Lurker (May 5, 2005)

Whoa! I thought this game had died & PatePotPete lost to the wolves.

Let me see if I can't find the IC thread.


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