World of Freedom 3.2 - Whatever Comes To Mind

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Shock
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Shock »

Davies wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 8:57 pm Shock wrote: ↑
Wed Oct 25, 2017 4:52 pm

My thinking was that Robin spent a lot of time achieving fine control over her nanites and she would be able to keep them out of the womb if she wanted. She'd then be faced with the choice of whether to use them to keep the baby healthy or keep them away with the thought that being connected to the Ultimans would be enough of a challenge for her daughter.

It's your call.
It's your world. I'm just a minor contributor ;}

Obviously, Robin's plan to use her nanites as birth control wasn't a viable long-term strategy so I think it's safe to say her control still isn't 100%. And I'm really curious about how the nano-tech might react to the chinchillas. So I'm on board with Robin not quite being able to keep Caroline nanite-free.
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Davies
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Davies »

Shock wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:43 pm It's your world. I'm just a minor contributor ;}

Obviously, Robin's plan to use her nanites as birth control wasn't a viable long-term strategy so I think it's safe to say her control still isn't 100%. And I'm really curious about how the nano-tech might react to the chinchillas. So I'm on board with Robin not quite being able to keep Caroline nanite-free.
She doesn't have to worry about the chinchillas. Ur-Kel's kids never show signs of Ultima heritage. She does have to worry about the Olympian deity side of his heritage coming through ... and that magic doesn't mix well with nanites. It's pretty much an either/neither situation, with an extremely remote chance of both -- which would attract all kinds of attention from all kinds of parties.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by RainOnTheSun »

Arkrite wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 2:39 am
Hard to believe but Zalman was normally the most calm and collected member of the team. Not only that but he was also the one of two team members who got along with pretty much everybody.
Who would have guessed that the terrifying necromancer, responsible for the deaths of of so many, would wind up being everybody's trusted confidant?

Though my favorite memory is every time that Zalman had his magic negated.
Because every time the bad guys expected an easy victim and he immediately knocked somebody on their ass against all odds.

Actually the dice just seemed to love Zalman, it always felt like we had a PL15 monster on the team. ;~)
There's something I've been curious about for a while, and I hope this isn't a derail, but...

Is it hard to play with/GM a superhero magician? Compared to mage protagonists in fantasy, mages in superhero comics seem to be able to do just about anything the writer wants them to. Does it make it hard to translate them into an RPG?
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Shock »

Davies wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:57 pm
She doesn't have to worry about the chinchillas. Ur-Kel's kids never show signs of Ultima heritage. She does have to worry about the Olympian deity side of his heritage coming through ... and that magic doesn't mix well with nanites. It's pretty much an either/neither situation, with an extremely remote chance of both -- which would attract all kinds of attention from all kinds of parties.
I would imagine it's much more likely for the Olympian blood to overwhelm the nanites. Most of Robin's power comes from the armor which the nanites integrated into her body and the baby wouldn't have any of that.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Davies »

RainOnTheSun wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:07 pm

There's something I've been curious about for a while, and I hope this isn't a derail, but...

Is it hard to play with/GM a superhero magician? Compared to mage protagonists in fantasy, mages in superhero comics seem to be able to do just about anything the writer wants them to. Does it make it hard to translate them into an RPG?
<several false starts later> Ohhhhhh, I'm not really comfortable talking about this without Jalinth's participation ...

I found that it was no harder to deal with Zalman's magic than it was to deal with Zane's telepathy or Donnie's kinetic energy manipulation, mostly because the players didn't want their characters to be omnipotent either. It may have helped that it was a campaign more about personalities than powers.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Davies »

Shock wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:10 pm
I would imagine it's much more likely for the Olympian blood to overwhelm the nanites.
Yes, very much so -- it's a bit like Solar Exaltation encountering a mutation, that way.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by catsi563 »

Davies wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:45 pm
RainOnTheSun wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:07 pm

There's something I've been curious about for a while, and I hope this isn't a derail, but...

Is it hard to play with/GM a superhero magician? Compared to mage protagonists in fantasy, mages in superhero comics seem to be able to do just about anything the writer wants them to. Does it make it hard to translate them into an RPG?
<several false starts later> Ohhhhhh, I'm not really comfortable talking about this without Jalinth's participation ...

I found that it was no harder to deal with Zalman's magic than it was to deal with Zane's telepathy or Donnie's kinetic energy manipulation, mostly because the players didn't want their characters to be omnipotent either. It may have helped that it was a campaign more about personalities than powers.
In my experience it can be hard yes because classic super hero mages can do literally anything they set their minds to. that's pretty much the point skys the limit only imagination and willpower and arcane lore are all that's needed to perform miracles.

that's why most gms tend to work closely with players of such heroes to establish ground rules both in campaign and out of game to avoid the sorcerer facerolling the campaign by himself. things such as the Symphony being disturbed by large magic workings thus drawing the attention of powerful entities that otherwise wouldn't notice you. magic backlash or paradox for botches, and assorted sundry other dangerous phenomena, also rules of magic like the Dresden files and hampering agencies such as the white lotus or the Council of merlins etc that constantly interfere or look over the mages shoulder.

still GMing for and roleplaying these mages can be fun as well because they let you dig into metaphysics of your campaign world the bigger and beyond the vale questions such as are angels under gods control or do they have free will and if they do, what does that mean for the third of the host that fell?

And so on and so forth. As Davies said also the players themseleves can be a big help if theyre mature enough to understand comic tropes and the like. Ive personaly been blessed to have several great mage players in campaigns and they all played the role to great effect and allowed me to really stretch my GM legs so to speak.
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Arkrite
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Arkrite »

Davies wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:45 pm I found that it was no harder to deal with Zalman's magic than it was to deal with Zane's telepathy or Donnie's kinetic energy manipulation, mostly because the players didn't want their characters to be omnipotent either. It may have helped that it was a campaign more about personalities than powers.
A part of the reason I chose telepathy was that I'd seen somebody going into great detail about how you could never have a good game with a telepath in it because they would "ruin the game".
I made my character in an attempt to prove that wrong. And wound up using my Telepathy for mind reading so infrequently that the GM had to actually remind me that my telepath could, in fact, read minds.

Whoops. ;~)

In my opinion any character can ruin a game with their choices.

With magic as a concept it can be hard because there is this mindset that magic can do anything and that all magicians can do anything. And sometimes that can be the fun part of the character, being able to make the impossible possible.

Really at the end of the day I think moderation is important. Yes, you can read every mind you come across to get all of the information. But should you?
Yes, you can magic every problem that comes your way, but should you?

One of the problems we ran into early on was that one player had high ranks in quickness and nobody really understood how the power worked. In the end most of the players just stopped rolling for things because the one guy would take 20 and usually beat everybody else's checks by a wide margin. Which might be why some of the characters in this listing have a really high skill or two, so that they'd still be relevant.

Niche protection is always a nice thing to have if you can manage it, though not entirely necessary to a good game. But it's a nice mindset to start people off in. This is the Strong Girl. She's the strongest and does the strong stuff. This is the speedster. He does the speedster stuff.
This is the jerkface, he will never roll above a five on any diplomacy check ever. *Glares at the dice*

I think if I was going to run a game and I saw a magic user character I might talk to them about having their magic focused on a theme. This tends to narrow the scope of their powers a little bit, which can help temper the "I can do anything" mindset.
And sometimes just talking to the players to let them know about concerns can help too.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Shock »

When you get into super powers, there are lots of different things that can break the game. Magic is hardly the only "do anything" power. It just takes a little less effort to justify whatever effect you're trying to ass-pull. And, as a player, it's hard to resist that because sometimes you just want your character to do something really cool. I know I tried a couple of stunts that surely had Davies rolling his eyes. It's very much a player/GM cooperation thing. Davies wasn't afraid to say "No" and in hindsight, he was right more often than not.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Arkrite »

Shock wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:10 pm I would imagine it's much more likely for the Olympian blood to overwhelm the nanites. Most of Robin's power comes from the armor which the nanites integrated into her body and the baby wouldn't have any of that.
Yeah, there's no reason to worry about it.
I mean, after all, there's probably nothing to worry about with Robin trying to keep the nanites out. It's not that the nanites might see her subconscious concerns about the baby's health as a command to be followed.

And even if that did happen, I'm sure that the Olympian blood would destroy the nanites.

Why there's no chance at all that Caroline would wind up some kind of conglomeration of demigod magic and human technology, becoming the first new Greek god in ages, and of technology. And there'd be no reason why everybody interested in both magical might and technological knowledge would be hunting after her.

Why there's no reason to worry at all.

*innocent whistle*
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Arkrite »

Davies wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:52 pm Donnie Benis, aka Curve
Donnie was funny because he only really had one unusual quirk: He liked to fly everywhere.
And in spite of that quirk how do I remember him? He was the normal guy.
In a group of over the top, flamboyant, extravagant, prone to emotional extremes, Donnie was the "been there done that" blue collar normal guy.

It's funny how him being largely normal made him stand out so much.

It's also amusing how the team rallied around Donnie's kid. Such as a field trip of them trying to find a birthday gift.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Shock »

Arkrite wrote: Thu Oct 26, 2017 2:24 am
Shock wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:10 pm I would imagine it's much more likely for the Olympian blood to overwhelm the nanites. Most of Robin's power comes from the armor which the nanites integrated into her body and the baby wouldn't have any of that.
Yeah, there's no reason to worry about it.
I mean, after all, there's probably nothing to worry about with Robin trying to keep the nanites out. It's not that the nanites might see her subconscious concerns about the baby's health as a command to be followed.

And even if that did happen, I'm sure that the Olympian blood would destroy the nanites.

Why there's no chance at all that Caroline would wind up some kind of conglomeration of demigod magic and human technology, becoming the first new Greek god in ages, and of technology. And there'd be no reason why everybody interested in both magical might and technological knowledge would be hunting after her.

Why there's no reason to worry at all.

*innocent whistle*
That's all very worrying. But then you realize who the paternal grandparents are and the other problems just seem so small in comparison.
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Arkrite »

Oh they were always going to be an issue regardless of what happened and you know it ;~)
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Tattooedman »

Davies wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:52 pm Donnie Benis, aka Curve
Nicely done Davies.

Arkrite wrote: Thu Oct 26, 2017 2:47 am Donnie was funny because he only really had one unusual quirk: He liked to fly everywhere.
What's really funny was that was a choice I made on a lark and just kept using it because I found it amusing that a guy who seemed so grounded (especially compared to the other members of the B Team) regularly wasn't.
Arkrite wrote: Thu Oct 26, 2017 2:47 amAnd in spite of that quirk how do I remember him? He was the normal guy.
In a group of over the top, flamboyant, extravagant, prone to emotional extremes, Donnie was the "been there done that" blue collar normal guy.

It's funny how him being largely normal made him stand out so much.
That was a deliberate choice I made from the get go once Donnie got accepted into the game; everyone else had such strong & flamboyant (and all uniquely so) personalities that the only way I could think to make Donnie interesting was to just be a kind of blue collar guy.
Arkrite wrote: Thu Oct 26, 2017 2:47 am It's also amusing how the team rallied around Donnie's kid. Such as a field trip of them trying to find a birthday gift.
That was an interesting thing that happened, I thought it showed aspects of several of the characters we'd have not seen otherwise. I enjoyed the hell out of it personally.
Jabroniville wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:45 pm
LOl- "The Tattooed Man"? What kind of ABSOLUTE DILDO would refer to himself as "The Tattooed Man" :P!?!
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Re: World of Freedom 3.2 - Fyirwhrx! Nero! The Beacon! The Scarab and the Ankh!

Post by Tattooedman »

RainOnTheSun wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:07 pm

There's something I've been curious about for a while, and I hope this isn't a derail, but...

Is it hard to play with/GM a superhero magician? Compared to mage protagonists in fantasy, mages in superhero comics seem to be able to do just about anything the writer wants them to. Does it make it hard to translate them into an RPG?
I think everyone else's bit about talking with the player of said magic character is a great idea, it's solved a number of "issues" I've had come up over the years.

I also agree that placing a bit of a limit on the magic (aka having a "theme" to it) is a great way to go - it sets some guidelines that are fairly straight-forward. Also the niche-protection bit that was mentioned by someone is another good idea, though it does get difficult to maintain as a game goes on over time.
Jabroniville wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:45 pm
LOl- "The Tattooed Man"? What kind of ABSOLUTE DILDO would refer to himself as "The Tattooed Man" :P!?!
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