The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - (Full) - OOC

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Bladewind
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The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - (Full) - OOC

Post by Bladewind »

*** meant to replace (but not pick up from) my Omega Company game, but with fewer strings attached and a simpler theme ***

*** setting info in a doc linked in my sig/ no previous Merge Universe experience or knowledge required ***

In 2015, our Earth - the vanilla planet with no superheroes or physics-defying tech - suddenly became the center of a brand new world. Heroes and villains from across the multiverse of fiction suddenly became real... Heroes stepped up to save the world, to return it to normalcy and to figure out what the status quo would be. This isn't their story.

Earthers. Natives. Pre-Mergers. Whatever term you care to use, you were here before M Day.

You may have been goblinised, suffer from Merge Gestalt Syndrome or are just a normal person trying to make it in this strange, chaotic new world. Until now, you`ve kept low profiles. Maybe you don`t have the power levels to operate on the same field as some of these so-called heroes. Maybe, and there`s no shame in it, you don`t have the courage. Maybe you`ve been more concerned with your families, friends and loved ones to want to wade into the insanity. Bottom line is, you haven`t been active with your powers or abilities.

You`ve probably been noticed by the DXDO, they likely have a file on you, but you have yet to be recruited by any of the various organizations. In fact, other than the Incursion, you`ve likely not shown any signs of have X-D abilities (save if you were goblinised…)

The other half of this scenario is that you all knew each other pre-Merge. Maybe you all went to the same school, maybe you served together in the army (refugees or escapees could fill out the ranks if you don't all want to be military) or you all worked for the same company (pick a company with multiple aspects – construction works well) or maybe something else entirely The bottom line is that you knew each other, and during the Incursion you had all (or almost all if backgrounds warrant it) gone your separate ways.

There is one other thing that ties you together... you may or may not be aware of it depending on how your origin panned out. Just after the Incursion, before the final battle, you all holes in your memories that last about two weeks. Depending on your character, you may or may not remember this period... (More details to follow on this.)

Circumstances are now about to bring you all back together.

No superiors, no DXDO allies, maybe you know a super or two, but you`re pretty much on your own…

For character ideas, as noted, you lived on this Earth before the Merge. It was your home and it was invaded... and you never had the power to truly stand up and defend it... but now, something is looming for a small group of people, forcing them back together after time apart. How much their actions will affect the Merged Earth will be something time will tell...

You didn`t have powers before the Merge - no one did.

It was essentially this world and you'd come home and rant on the internet about how you loved or hated the latest MCU offering, post to your favourite sites and all that good stuff. Then the Merge happened. You developed powers... some of you have the echo of alternate reality selves haunting you. Others are just unlucky enough to have been goblinised - a term meaning you have outwardly gained the appearance of a mythic creature, and maybe some abilities.

* * *

In terms of mechanics and House Rules, and creation ideas sharing a name with a superhero and developing some of their powers is totally in scope of this game, just not the actual hero. For instance, my version of Supergirl from the original Merge game would fit in this story (despite being a higher PL than I intend). Likewise someone named Robert Parr with superspeed or Violet Parr with invisibility would be great choices. You don`t have to have a link to a movie star or fictional character - an archery enthusiast suddenly becoming an elf (arcane or otherwise) works just as well...

* * *

House Rule PL 9/ 135 PP (+/- PL 8/150 or PL 10/120) Skills 3:1, Each rank of Presence grants a free social advantage.

Freebies: Detect Merger. All characters have Detect Merger as a 1 point power for free and have an additional two points to enhance it as they see fit. Ranged, acute, analytical, etc. Whatever the player feels is appropriate.


Submissions/ Ideas:
Alice Liddle Dream Warrior - kirinke
Devotee of Superman/ Rao Samuel Jameson - Neo-Paladin
Elizabeth Walsh Vampire - Doctor Malsyn
Rowan Catherine McKenzie Slayer - patherfinderq1
John Smith - Flynnarrel
Pratfall - Fuzzyboots
FireBirdHawkStar MagmaNovaFire - jmucchiello
Last edited by Bladewind on Tue Jul 30, 2019 3:17 pm, edited 8 times in total.
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
Bladewind's 3ed M&M Builds
The Merge Setting document
jmucchiello
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by jmucchiello »

Interest. What'll be the home city? (I don't know if that helps me or not. Just curious.)
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Bladewind
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by Bladewind »

There will be travel, but its actual Post Merge San Fransokyo... about 40 miles north of San Francisco
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
Bladewind's 3ed M&M Builds
The Merge Setting document
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Doctor Malsyn
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by Doctor Malsyn »

I suppose I'm somewhat interested. I've only been in one of the games so far, myself. Hmm... Who could I play though...
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pathfinderq1
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by pathfinderq1 »

Interested as well. Will ruminate upon ideas.

Anyone have a compelling connection they want to pitch?
kirinke
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by kirinke »

Got one idea. I've been wanting to play her for awhile:

Alice Liddel: Dream Warrior and Rogue Monster Hunter

Ah, Alice. We can't go home again. No surprise really. Only a very few find the way, and most of them don't recognize it when they do. Delusions, too, die hard with memory. Only the savage regard the endurance of pain as the measure of worth. Forgetting pain is convenient, remembering it: agonizing. But recovering the truth is worth the suffering and our Wonderland, though damaged, is safe in memory... for now.

BACKGROUND
Alice was once Alicia Lawrence, born into an average family with all of the usual things families do. Birthdays, fights, Christmases filled with toys and too much food. That sort of thing. Alicia herself was obsessed with Alice in Wonderland, and loved the twisted version of American McGee's Alice. So much that she named the family cat Cheshire after the famed cat of same name.

When the merge hit and things went insane, all of these elements and more merged into poor Alicia. In one fell swoop, she became Alice Liddel and Wonderland became.... Real or at least as real as anything else and intertwined with the the Dreaming itself.

In those confused moments, Dream of the Endless came to the girl and asked for her help, for nightmares and things beyond belief were assaulting the Dreaming and he needed all the help he could get. She readily agreed and with the help of both imaginary and real creatures, fought back against the horrors that assailed the Dreaming.

After things settled down somewhat, she became his servant, warrior and emissary into the real world. Lately rumors of nightmares and dream demons haunting San Fransokyo reached them and Dream dispatched Alice to investigate....

COMPLICATIONS
Gestalt Syndrome: Alice is a combination of many different Alices, the most prominent are the American McGee's version and all that implies. She also has a healthy distrust of psychologists and psychiatry in general due to the horrible memories she inherited from that particular Alice.

Responsibility: Alice is one of Dream's chief mouth-pieces, ambassadors and warriors and is generally tasked to act in his behalf when it is impractical for him to be there in person. He can at times also act and speak through her if the situation warrants it. Wonderland is one of the Dreamings hearts and Alice embodies the best and worst of it.

Obsession: Alice is obsessed with all things Alice in wonderland and does not like Jervis Tetch aka the Mad Hatter, who also made it through the Merge. They are rather antagonistic towards each other for obvious reasons. In general if a villain's theme is Alice related, Alice is going to not be happy with them and react accordingly.

Cheshire Cat: The cat himself, the grin without a cat, the cat with too much of a grin. He comes and goes as a cat will, guiding and advising Alice in his own unique manner.

The White Rabbit: Time has not been kind to the Rabbit, he's still as late as ever and quite put out whenever Alice doesn't follow him in a timely manner. The pocket watch ticks and tocks and must be adhered to!

Halloween
The King of Screams and Emperor of Fright is none too pleased with the monsters running around since the Merge. Halloween is supposed to be a night of frights and scares and kids go home safe and alive. Since the Merge, some of the monsters that identify with Halloween have been on a rampage and don't obey the rules. Jack, well he doesn't like that at all and he really doesn't like it when kids get hurt or killed. So with Dream's permission, he has enlisted Alice to help stop those monsters who flaunt his laws.
Kirinke's Compendium of Wondrous Creatures
Kirinke's Conversions (D&D Items to M&M3E Rules)

Battle Init
Viv: 24
Ren:22
Peekaboo: 20
Deutschritter: 19
Amy: 15
Angrboda: 15
Adeleth: 14
Thugs: 12
Lilly: 7
Alma: 5
Flynnarrel
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by Flynnarrel »

Some interest.

As for unifying background, have just come off a cruise I can tell you that it takes ALL kinds of people to staff a cruise ship and keep it afloat, not to mention the eclectic group of passengers - family, friends, scientists wanting to study the waters as we go, even a corporate retreat group.
It could be a smaller cruise ship - 100 passengers, leaving from then returning to San Francisco. We could all have been passengers or crew on the ship, at sea when the battles happened and we were lost at sea for two weeks. We arrived back to a changed world.

Just a thought.
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Bladewind
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by Bladewind »

See? This is why I wanted the PCs to come up with the reason you knew each other Before. Had not even considered the vacation angle... Made me think of another possibility - survivors of a disaster. However, that one is a little more flimsy as I want there to be a genuine connection that was built between the characters, not just a "we survived, let's keep in touch" connection (not that such a connection would have any less intensity, it's just not the depth I am going for here...)
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
Bladewind's 3ed M&M Builds
The Merge Setting document
Neo-Paladin
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by Neo-Paladin »

Definitely interested here. Need to hear a bit more about Power Levels and points, however, before working on a concept.
pathfinderq1
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by pathfinderq1 »

A cruise could be interesting- certainly not me style of travel, so not anything I would have considered. Could possibly be combined with the disater angle- anything from a tsunami/rogue wave triggered by Merge-based changes in landmass or a kaiju attack...

Another possibility would be residents of whatever small town was replaced by the arrival of San Fransokyo- 40 miles north of "our" SF is give or take Santa Rosa (or Bodega Bay, if on the coast)- looks like plenty of smaller towns in that neck of the woods. Maybe some or all of us lived there and moved away (for various reasons) after the Merge, but are being drawn back "Home" (which, of course, isn't really home at ll anymore). (this thought was not at all inspired by the preview for It 2)...
Last edited by pathfinderq1 on Tue May 14, 2019 5:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kirinke
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by kirinke »

Either idea works. I like the hometown angle more tho.
Kirinke's Compendium of Wondrous Creatures
Kirinke's Conversions (D&D Items to M&M3E Rules)

Battle Init
Viv: 24
Ren:22
Peekaboo: 20
Deutschritter: 19
Amy: 15
Angrboda: 15
Adeleth: 14
Thugs: 12
Lilly: 7
Alma: 5
jmucchiello
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by jmucchiello »

I prefer the hometown one myself. The cruise seems flimsy. Having one friend you met on vacation is one thing. Having four or five from the same trip? I suppose it's possible.
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Bladewind
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by Bladewind »

Neo-Paladin wrote: Tue May 14, 2019 3:08 pm Definitely interested here. Need to hear a bit more about Power Levels and points, however, before working on a concept.
Still pondering - I'm leaning towards less powerful than the initial Prologue to Annihilation but more than YHI... this is going to lean more towards "your" style than trying to go epic "use everything possible" that I was starting to lean towards in Omega...

And, I just want to add I'm not for or against the cruise idea, I was just interested in a player perspective.
Last edited by Bladewind on Tue May 14, 2019 5:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thorpocalypse wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:01 pm Building to be comics "accurate" is different than building to run a PC or building something to challenge a group.
Bladewind's 3ed M&M Builds
The Merge Setting document
Neo-Paladin
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by Neo-Paladin »

Bladewind wrote: Tue May 14, 2019 5:47 pm
Neo-Paladin wrote: Tue May 14, 2019 3:08 pm Definitely interested here. Need to hear a bit more about Power Levels and points, however, before working on a concept.
Still pondering - I'm leaning towards less powerful than the initial Prologue to Annihilation but more than YHI... this is going to lean more towards "your" style than trying to go epic "use everything possible" that I was starting to lean towards in Omega...
Yeah, might be easier.
I am thinking about doing someone who found religion after the Merge and became a priest in a Superman-worshipping sect...
kirinke
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Re: The Merge - Gestalt Syndrome (M&M 3rd ED) - Interest

Post by kirinke »

So around Pl 9 or 10?
Kirinke's Compendium of Wondrous Creatures
Kirinke's Conversions (D&D Items to M&M3E Rules)

Battle Init
Viv: 24
Ren:22
Peekaboo: 20
Deutschritter: 19
Amy: 15
Angrboda: 15
Adeleth: 14
Thugs: 12
Lilly: 7
Alma: 5
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