Adventures Assemble! OOC

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Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

Sorry about all this. I feel like I need to end this particular adventure quickly, because it is sapping my energy and I feel that unless I move on quickly, the game is in real danger of dying.

So, I have decided that as it is Nightbird's turn in the initiative, and the next attack is statistically highly likely to KO Lucy, Nightbird may have 3 days to post (until the end of the 18th server time), and Gilliam will automatically inflict the final staggered condition. And if Gilliam has not posted by that time, then any PC may do the honors.

We will then have a short roleplaying segment where you deal with the Incarnate of War proper, and the adventure will end! During this last roleplaying segment, there will be no die-rolling, and you can generally do whatever your character would be capable of. In fact, feel free to go a little above and beyond. You have earned it.

My plans remain unchanged and I have decided to start the first adventure of the new season on the 1st of June.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

I want to respond to some of your thoughts on the new season.

Regarding starting a new hero team: the only character I am interested in playing is Amethyst. This is the last game I will ever run or play, and after so many years of being mocked, humiliated and disrespected, sidelined in favor of player characters in the adventures I ran, it's high time I allowed myself the freedom to write my favorite creation the way I've always wanted to. I've realized that it's up to me to have fun, not wait for someone else to make the game fun for me.

So you are welcome to switch characters (and I encourage it if it'll make the game more fun for you), but I personally will not, and any team will have Amethyst in it. Personally, I don't think it is good to create a new hero team and have some Champions from the old team in it; but you may not mind.

I am also not interested in a PL 10, 150pp game. While there's nothing wrong with PL 10 games per se, they are basically a dime a dozen and I've had my fill of them. What I do want to play are superheroes - larger than life characters with extraordinary abilities who change the world. So unfortunately I'm going to veto that. Instead, I'm proposing an advance to PL 12, 200pp.

Finding suitable threats for you is not really a problem, so don't worry. It's a big world, with a bigger universe out there, and there is plenty of room to find villains of appropriate scale for you.

Going forward, there will be some experimental changes with how I run combats. Most villains will have unusual or PL-breaking defenses that are difficult to overcome by just rolling a big damage power. To compensate, they will have severe game mechanical and descriptor or complication-based weaknesses (note that my NPC's never receive hero points for their complications). An example is a villain with maximum ranks of Regeneration with the descriptor of nanite reconstruction, but very low Toughness, and the regeneration does not work against a myriad of attacks, from extreme heat to magical flame. Another example is a villain with complete Concealment and the ability to attack from Concealment, but a weak offensive power and 0 toughness. So once you discover the trick to reveal him, he will fold like a deck of cards.

This means that there will generally be a few rounds of sparring while you determine the counter to the villain, but once you do, winning is very straightforward. Villains will have both game mechanical (e.g. undercapped or flawed defenses) and descriptor-based (e.g. weakness or vulnerability complications) weaknesses. So creativity in use of game mechanics and good roleplaying will always be rewarded.

Essentially, battles will be a lot more about thinking how you can overcome the enemy's strengths, rather than whittling down enemies with lots of -1 penalties. The only really long drawn-out combats will be against very powerful enemies, probably no more than 1 or 2 per adventure.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

Anyway, please let me know what you think, and specifically, your thoughts on the next season beginning at PL12, 200pp. There is also no pressure to continue playing: if you have lost interest in the game, this is as good a time as any to withdraw.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

I would like to continue. I think I will bring back Tyrael, since he has been interacting with the team in the background since he left.

Edit: I may not want to play Tyrael after all. He doesn't fit the mold of heroes who think their way out of problems that I prefer to play.
Last edited by kenseido on Sat May 15, 2021 8:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Psistrike
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Psistrike »

I'm still up for continuing. Love the idea of PL 12, 200pp. And after having thought about it I'm going to stick with Moonlight as she is fun for me to play and roleplay.
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Gilliam
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Gilliam »

I have been playing NIghtbird since the start so it will be nice to finish up with her.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

Then, as there doesn't seem to be any objection, please submit PL 12, 200pp builds for approval. Here are some considerations I would like you to keep in mind:

Characters should be able to travel significant distances under their own power. This means a movement power, or a device or vehicle with such, of at least rank 8. This is because some adventures will have an international or interstellar scope and some scenes will cover large areas.

You should have at least a few flavor skills, advantages, abilities or powers. These are useful in tailoring scenes and checks to your character. They don't have to be major point expenditures, and I won't go as far as to put numerical requirements for this group, but every character should have at least a few.

Related to the above, your character should not be overly reliant on a single source of power. This is because power loss is among the most classic and common of comic-book complications. The classic example is a super-mage, with all their powers in a single big array, and no significant traits outside of it. If something disables the array, they have no means of participating in a scene at all. It's alright to have all your combatpower in a single basket, e.g. Amethyst's battlesuit. Without it, she can't fight at all. However, that's alright provided that she has other means of taking part in a scene, such as social skills, science skills, or Invention. This means that the character is not forced to completely take a backseat when their primary power source is nullified, even if they cannot fight.

Temporarily being unable to fight is alright. Completely being unable to engage with the scene is not.

Characters should be of sufficient stature to stand among earth's foremost heroes and be a member of a leading hero team with international renown. This doesn't necessarily mean brute power (after all, Captain America and Batman are among the foremost heroes of their universes), but they should bring something unique to the table that warrants their inclusion in such a team, such as a respected legacy, a world-renowened talent, etc. My standard for this is that you must be able to plausibly see your character starring in the latest Avengers or Justice League movie.

You may want to add powers which are useful for capturing villains, rather than merely defeating them (e.g. Immobilize, Grab, various afflictions). This is because villains will actively try to escape when they sense the tide is turning. This is not a requirement, though you'll be rewarded for capturing villains.

Characters should have good complications. Good suggestions for complications (ones that can be easily slotted into any story or adventure) are:
  • Power Loss - You gain 2 HP and the scene is tailored so that it is possible to be overcome through the use of your other traits. An example is the Supergirl episode where she talked down a criminal instead while depowered. You gain another 1 HP if you resolve the scene successfully.
  • Weakness - Usually 1 HP for a -2 penalty, or 2 HP for a -5 penalty against attacks of a particular descriptor. Other kinds of weaknesses are possible too with different severities and rewards. Avoid weakness descriptors that are too common (eg. water, sunlight).
  • Enemy - Your enemy often shows up with weapons or tactics designed to counter you, or is immune to your most common powers. 1 HP awarded on being attacked and a further 1 HP given if you defeat and capture your enemy.
  • Prejudice - May manifest as penalties to interaction checks or non-game-mechanical penalties. Typically 1 HP. Note that if you want this complication, the prejudice has to be reasonably widespread - prejudice against aliens is the easiest one to write for in upcoming adventures.
  • Identity/responsibility/motivation/relationship - HP typically only awarded if you suffer some disadvantage in the course of protecting your secret identity, or fulfilling your responsibility or motivation, or maintaining the relationship. An example is being unable to use your powers, to avoid giving away your secret identity. Another example is a character with the Honor motivation showing up to answer a challenge to duel and getting ambushed. Success in eventually keeping your identity secret/protecting your loved one/etc. is a given. The complication is about the travails suffered in the process.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

{DELETED]
Last edited by kenseido on Sat May 22, 2021 10:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

kenseido, that looks alright for now. I do have some mild concern about how this character will function in a power loss situation, as he doesn't seem to have a very strong focus outside of his magic arrays; however, I'll reserve judgment until we have seen how things work out in actual play, and if necessary, I will bring up any issues after this adventure. Consider your character accepted under probation for the first adventure.

For the rest of you, you have until the 31st of May to submit PL 12, 200pp builds (or ask for an extension of deadline). If I receive no response in this thread by then, you will be assumed to have dropped out. If you have friends you want to recommend, I'm willing to consider them as players, but otherwise, I won't be specifically looking to recruit anyone.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

Before we go on, I want to discuss something that has been allowed to fester for far too long:

I have always put in great effort to give the player characters the chance to be cool and badass, and to portray them in a positive and heroic light. In return, multiple players in multiple games mocked, shamed and humiliated my characters, IC and OOC, simply because they wear revealing costumes.

In the game SA avengers, which several of you played in, this went as far as abusing GM power to have a powerful NPC call my character (an INT 20 super-genius) "stupid" to her face. This especially hurt because those of you who have spoken with me on Skype know that I have deep insecurities over intelligence and smarts; it was the kind of passive-aggressive attack only a friend could make. While multiple people in that game took pains to make Yeoman - a male player - feel at home, nobody defended me nor pointed out the inappropriateness of what was done to me. Sexist incidents such as these destroyed my enjoyment of this hobby and made it impossible for me to have fun writing for Amethyst.

I bring this up not to dig up old grudges or demand apologies. Articulating my resentment is the only way I can stop it from festering any more, so I can try to find enjoyment in this hobby and my favorite character again. I'm setting some ground rules for the new season, and I want you to understand why they're there.

Firstly, there will be no sexist behavior from you or your characters. Your characters are heroes, and should act the part. Specifically:

1) you and your characters are not allowed to use words such as "slut", "whore", "bimbo", "ho", references to female genitalia, etc. in any context. While these words sometimes are applied to men, they remain predominantly weaponized against women.

2) you and your characters are not allowed to mock or shame women (including female-presenting villains) merely because they dress a certain way. This includes using practicality and realism as a pretext, e.g. "her armor covers so little, she must be silly to go into battle wearing that!" Not only does this tie women's competence to their appearance - implying they must look a certain way, or avoid looking a certain way, to be considered capable - men's superhero costumes are not subject to the same level of scrutiny, making it a sexist double standard.

Secondly, you agree not to attack or mock Amethyst, directly or indirectly, IC or OOC, in this game or in any other game, etc. This hurts because I put in effort to portray your characters as a positive light and when you do this it feels like a betrayal.

You don't have to like me, my character, or how she dresses. You also don't have to reciprocate my efforts to make your character look cool. But you do need to behave like a decent human being, and that means not biting the hand that feeds you.
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Psistrike
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Psistrike »

Quote "You know you can't fight the Moonlight."
Moonlight
12

ImageMoonlight
• Image used is elfgirl_cols_byewg_52815web_by_eryckwebbgraphics from deviantart.

Real Name: Aranel Moonstar
Age: 100 [equal to 20 in human years]
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Eyes: Silver-gray
Hair: Blue-green
Race: Other-dimensional elf
Identity: Public
Legal Status: Other-dimensional with no criminal record on Earth
Status: Active
Occupation: Adventurer
Base of Operations: Phoenix Bay
Team Affiliations: The Champions
Concept: Other-dimensional Child of Gaia
Marital Status: Single

Abilities: Strength 1, Stamina 4, Agility 4, Dexterity 2, Fighting 6, Intellect 4, Awareness 5, Presence 4

Skills: Athletics 4 [+5], Expertise: Nature 8 [+12], Insight 4 [+9], Perception 7 [+12], Persuasion 6 [+10], Ranged Combat: Nature Powers 10 [+12], Stealth 4 [+8], Treatment 3 [+7]

Advantages: Animal Empathy, Attractive, Eidetic Memory, Improved Initiative, Languages 1 [English], Luck 1, Power Attack, Precise Attack 2 [Ranged, cover & concealment], Uncanny Dodge [touch]

Powers:
Child of Gaia: Comprehend 2 [speak and understand languages], Enhanced Advantage 1 [Attractive], Immunity 4 [aging, cold, disease, heat], Movement 2 [Sure-footed, Trackless], Regeneration 2, Senses 1 [Low-Light Vision] • 16 points
Air Sense: Senses 2 [Air Awareness, Ranged Touch], Uncanny Dodge [Touch] • 3 points
Connection to Nature: Array [10 points]
Carried by Nature: Flight 8 [500 mph], Platform, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature]] • 10 points
One with Water: Immunity 2 [Drowning, Pressure], Sustained; Movement 1 [Environmental Adaptation: Aquatic]; Swimming 6 [30 mph] • 1 point
Nature's Shield: Sustained Protection 10, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature] • 12 points
Water Tricks: Features 3 [Anything she wears or carries never gets wet or suffers water damage if she doesn't wish it to, even if she is immersed; Undo any water damage caused by her powers at will; Make contaminated water pure and drinkable instantly at a rate of -5 volume per round] • 3 point
Nature Powers: Array [35 points]
Nature Strikes: Ranged Damage 12, Indirect 4, Penetrating 2, Precise, Split 2, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature] • 35 point
Nature Engulfs: Ranged Shapeable Area Damage 9, Indirect 4, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature] • 1 point
Nature Mastery: Move Object 12, Indirect 4, Precise, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature] • 1 point
Creations of Nature: Continuous Create 11, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature] • 1 point
Nature Entraps: Ranged Cumulative Affliction 11 [Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage or Sleight of Hand; Hindered and Vulnerable, Defenseless and Immobilized], Extra Condition, Limited Degree, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature] • 1 point
Dousing: Nullify Water-Soluble Effects 11, Broad, Simultaneous • 1 point
Transmute the Elements: Ranged Continuous Transform 4 [Any material into anything else] [12 lbs.], Precise • 1 point

Offense
Initiative +8
Nature Strikes +12, Ranged, Damage 12 [Indirect 4, Penetrating 2, Precise, Split 2, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature]
Nature Engulfs Ranged Shapeable Area Damage 9, Indirect 4, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature]
Nature Mastery +12, Ranged, Move Object 12 [Indirect 4, Precise, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature]
Creations of Nature +12, Ranged, Continuous Create 11, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature]
Nature Entraps +12, Ranged, Cumulative Affliction 11, Variable Descriptor 2 [Nature]
Transform Matter +12, Range, Continuous Transform 4, Precise
Unarmed +6, Close, Damage 1

Defense
Dodge 10, Parry 10
Toughness 14/4*, Fortitude 8, Will 14
*Without Nature's Protection

Power Points
Abilities 60 + Powers 86 + Advantages 8 + Skills 23 [46 ranks] + Defenses 23= 200 Total

Complications
Motivation: Aranel was taught her gifts are to be used for the good of everyone, to use them responsibly. Yet her very nature leaves her craving thrills and sometimes takes risks when she shouldn't.
Enemy: With her awakening to her true nature as a Child of Gaia, Factor Four is no longer the only villain after her. Every villain with elemental, plant, or weather-based powers seems to think she is the key to one scheme of theirs or another.
Iron Allergy: Aranel has discovered with her stronger connection to Gaia comes a weakness to cold iron aka cast iron and wrought iron. Contact with it leaves her Nature powers Impaired, suppresses her regeneration, and burns her for Damage 2 each minute. Injuries inflicted by weapons made of such material inflict an extra degree and always inflict at least 1 degree of failure no matter how high the Toughness check.
Stranger in A Strange Land: Although she has had some time to adapt to the differences between her Earth and this reality's Earth, there are still many things involving technology and its history she doesn't fully understand.
Weakness: The Children of Gaia of her dimension are allergic to synthetic fibers, causing an increasingly painful rash the longer the contact and area of contact. Impaired until 5 minutes after the synthetics are removed.

Build Comments: Aranel has learned she is a Child of Gaia thanks to Lucienne's destruction no longer blocking Gaia from communicating with her. She can control all of nature, the elements, plants, and even the weather to a degree now, but it has also come with greater troubles. More villains thinking they can use her for their schemes and a strong allergy to cold iron.

History: Aranel Moonstar, daughter of the queen of the Elemental Elves of the Moonstar clan on Earth in another reality. But her life took an unexpected twist when the Lords of Wonderland decided she would be the replacement for March Hare on the Champions team, plucking her out of her reality and dumping her right in front of them.

It has been a wild ride so far, learning about this different world from her new friends. The technology confused her at first, but she is adjusting. The adventures, from going to a foreign nation in tropical jungles to all the way to snow-capped peaks to a legendary location even on her Earth all to fight to save the world. But the most shocking thing of all happened right after Lucienne, a being that had harmed so many, fell.

She heard, no, saw the images of Gaia, messages from this world's Earth and her own. The true history of her people, Children of Gaia, losers of war with psychic humans in her world and brainwashed to think themselves no more than elves with power over the 4 elements. Blocked from their link with their mother, Gaia. The link restored for Aranel, she helped save Earth from War Incarnate and has since been spending what little time she can learn the new limits of her powers and what they mean.

Description: Aranel is a Child of Gaia, appearing to be an elf from another dimension possessing fair skin. Her long, blue-green hair is kept in twin French braids, while her silver-grey eyes make her hard to read, shifting between emotions at a moment's notice.

She tends to wear simple tee-shirts, slacks, a jacket, and sandals most of the time. All are 100% natural with natural dyes, due to her elf allergy to synthetics. Her glasses were a gift from her great-great-great-great grandmother, a magical artifact which she has yet to unlock any of its powers.

Powers & Abilities: Aranel has recently awoken to the truth of what she and her people are, Children of Gaia. Naturally, in tune with the elements and all of nature, her past training in how to control and wield the 4 classic elements helps her some but can be an issue when controlling plants, any aspect of the weather beyond wind, and stuff like lava. Thought to be an enchantment cast upon a child's 4th birthday, the Children of Gaia's ability to speak and understand any language is natural from birth when fully attuned. Possessing natural beauty and grace, along with immunity to the ravages of time, disease, heat, and cold, she heals rapidly, and never scars. She is easily able to move through difficult areas and never leaves a trace of her passing, making it difficult to find her when she so chooses.

All are taught from an early age to sense the follow of air around them and use it as another sense. Her past training and expanded connection to nature allow her to call upon any part of nature to carry her through the sky, shielding her from harm, and survive underwater while swimming as fast as a fish.

While she was trained in the art of wielding and manifesting the classic elements at will, she can do so with other aspects of nature such as plants, the weather, and substances such as lava. She can manipulate nature and the elements to do her bidding, use existing elements, or summon them into being to attack her foes, form powerful barriers and simple structures, and even binding foes. A technique she has learned is reserved for the Chosen of Gaia, she has the power to transmute the very elements no matter their current form, wielding fire at the atomic level to change and reshape them.

She focused more on power over water, thus having a few more abilities with it. She can prevent anything she wears or carries from getting wet even if immersed unless she allows it to; undo any water damage done by her powers at will, a trick she learned after accidentally flooding the great library, and even purify contaminated water. She can use her water more easily to put out fires and deal with other water-soluble effects.

Skills required to survive and understand nature are taught to all young elves, but Aranel excelled at them. Friends with the animals and having learned the healing arts from her elders.

Personality: Aranel is as fluid as water, changing to fit the current mood with a moment's notice. She can be as furious as a blazing inferno, as calm as the still earth, or sometimes as flighty as the air itself. She prefers to take life as it comes and goes with the flow but always is focused and serious in a fight or emergency.

Known Tactics: Moonlight seeks to reason with foes first, trying to persuade them before taking violent action. The exception is if innocents are already hurt or being threatened. She will try to restrain or form barriers between any threats and innocents. Constantly moving, never in the same place from moment to moment, she might seem hyper to those who don't know her well.

Other than these basic tactics it is impossible to predict what she will do, literally going with the flow and changing foes or actions as the mood takes her if someone proves themselves a greater threat or harms innocents or friends.

Transmuting any obvious weapons or threats, even if just the trigger to disable them, is a common stunt against those with equipment or devices. Young for her species, she has only begun to tap into her potential.

Friends and Allies: A stranger in a strange land, Aranel seeks to find those who would aid her and has started coming out of her shell around other humans beyond her friends.

Rivals and Enemies: Awakening to her true nature as a Child of Gaia, the Factor Four, the Green Man, and various other elemental, plant, and weather-themed villains are after her for one scheme or another.
Last edited by Psistrike on Sat May 22, 2021 7:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

Psistrike, if Moonlight gets shackled with cold iron, how is she going to escape?
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Psistrike
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Psistrike »

kenseido wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 3:55 am Psistrike, if Moonlight gets shackled with cold iron, how is she going to escape?
You're right, she can't. I probably made that weakness too severe will edit it to something less harsh.
Edit: There, made it where it leaves her Nature powers Impaired instead of suppressing them completely.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

I am working more on the build and scrapping the origin. I feel like it just does something similar and doesn't give me anything to build on.
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kreuzritter
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kreuzritter »

due to other gaming obligations, I will be bowing out.

thank you, Ysariel, it was a most wonderful game, and you really should have had more chances to play, and I once again deeply apologize for the horrible things I had my villains say about you
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