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It's official... 10 years! Crikey... Happy birthday Vanguard

Admin wrote:It's official... 10 years! Crikey... Happy birthday Vanguard

Wow, who'd have thought you'd be still putting up with me after all this time or indeed me with you

Happy birthday to us...

Sj

We've had others come and go but somehow we stuck together. Yay the Terrific Trio!

Right then chaps, I'm offering you some options for the new Haunt/Steeplejack crossover game (it will be separate from the current Vanguard game in that LH/Frosty are in deep, deep space and about to run into possibly more trouble than they can handle on the planet of 'The Tester'... slight spoiler there )

1) We carry on using the house ruled DC Heroes game. Basics are: Choose action. use appropriate stat or power + 2D10 vs opposing stat/power/difficulty + 2D10. if you equal or exceed the opposing total, you have a decent chance of success.

2) Dig out the old Golden Heroes game for nostalgia sake, and come up with a modified powers/skills/adv backgrounds table for each time hopping genre the game drops in. For instance in the Wild West there may be a few less powers but they are more specific for a low power high skill gritty gun slingin' rootin tootin shootin campaign against time travelling agents of Aliens possibly packing (crude) modified weapons that can burn a hole through metal. That sort of thing. In WWII tough skin and low level (think tipping a jeep over) super strength may be the order of the day. Possibly one or two powers at most, but standing out from the Ratzi menace even if they are augmented by Alien/Zombie soldiers. In the Prohibition era, virtually no powers but gadgets rule the day. Costumed vigilantes dealing rough two fisted justice to gangsters and Alien agents alike. That sort of thing.

3) Something else. It needs to be very easy to play, easy to get hold of, suit play by post and not bog down in combat. I'm open to suggestions. I have started writing a home brew game using mechanics from three different systems but it's nowhere near done. I've never played Icons or Supers or Bash but own all of those. Mutants and Masterminds is a no-no for me because while I love the layout and lavish art style it leaves me cold. I love old school champions but the crunch level is too high for my old brain these days. The game itself (3D6 to resolve stuff) plays fine but character creation is like a game in itself and we need fast easy and ready to go in moments. Maybe I'm missing something out there I don't know about.

The easiest fastest ready to go option is 1)

The nostalgia version is 2)

The leap into the new/unknown is 3)

Thoughts?

Basic premise of the game: Aliens have invaded Earth and been partially successful in their world domination plans. Key Countries remain out of their control and are too powerful/resistant/stubborn to submit. Somehow the Aliens have figured out a means of time travel that the future version of HAUNT and his allies have spotted and are trying to head off at the pass. The Aliens plan is to eliminate key people in the past so that they no longer pose a threat in the present. One day Americans might find themselves waking up as part of the Alien Advent group of countries and may not have a memory of how or why that happened because key resistance individuals never existed! The heroes task is to hop about through time and find/stop the alien plots before moving to the next one and finally (hopefully) getting to the source of their time travel ability and shutting it/them down to stop this mess and hopefully restore the time line... even to the point where the Alien invasion never happened, was repulsed, or they took a look at Earth and went for an easier target, bypassing the solar system completely.

Something you should know: The Yahoo Groups pages are vanishing forever in December. The Executive and Lore Knights games will be gone, as well as other groups you may be part of. If there is anything you want to save I suggest getting over there and downloading it! I've tried to save the groups in their entirety but there seems no easy way to do it. if anyone can suggest a program (I tried the website copier I use to back up this site but it's saved Gobbledigook unfortunately) I'm all ears!

Right then, over to you (and David, the right course of action for Haunt is get to London, if you hadn't realised already )

Paul

Admin wrote:Right then, over to you (and David, the right course of action for Haunt is get to London, if you hadn't realised already )
Paul

Well for me I would go with option 1 as much as I love GH it really breaks apart when we get higher level - having said that it might work well for the lower-powered stuff like ww2 and prohibition-era etc, but it's not got lethal combat sorted so gun-toting and all that isn't so good.  

So that is my take on things.  I don't know if you know Steeplejacks origin - did I ever post it up or give it to you Paul?  

Not that it matters, but basically a sort of Spiderman Agility, mobile, wall-crawling, a spidey levels of strength with a line slinger type device (more like Daredevil than Spidey though) and danger sense intuition.  He had an affinity with anything that was earth-based and was weaker on anything like steel, or alloys etc.

By the way, Paul can you let me have the link to the old Executive site on Yahoo?

Thx

Sj

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/The-Executive/info

As far as I can tell we both joined (Lionheart and Steeplejack) in around May -June 2003, about a year after the campaign started.

Good luck remembering your log in details. I had a great time scratching my head and trying all sorts, only to remember that my email address had changed as well

Admin wrote:https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/The-Executive/info

As far as I can tell we both joined (Lionheart and Steeplejack) in around May -June 2003, about a year after the campaign started.

Good luck remembering your log in details. I had a great time scratching my head and trying all sorts, only to remember that my email address had changed as well

Lastpass remembered all my details no problem. Did you find a way to pull down the files, I'd be there all day otherwise?

Thanks for the linkage

sj

Had to download individually There is something to download via something called the yahoo groups dashboard but it created a .json file which I have no idea what to do with. yet.

Option 1 works for me as well unless you want to try the D20 version of Mutants and Masterminds.

Playing Mutants and masterminds is fine. It's all the fiddly bits that add onto the roll I find hard to keep track of (especially combat moves). I look at character sheets and think 'Right. I need to read up on that... on that... that.. .that... that... etc'. It's a shame as it's the most popular/supported game (or was a few years ago, not sure now) and I'm probably missing out on not getting my head around it. That said, I've got 1e, 2e, 3e and the easiest (for me) to understand was 1e. 2e looked fabulous as a book but added a level of crunch dangerously near to Hero 5e (which I read, understood, then gave up on because... damn. 2 inch thick? Really?)

Option 1 - as we are - seems good to me.

Haunt and Steeplejack will stay the same character throughout (meaning you retain memory of who you are and what you're up to) but you'll be adapting stats to the era. Victorian Age London expect few in the way of powers and more in the way of steampunk like gadgets and skills, for example. World War I pretty much the same, and so on. I'll explain more with each era, do the legwork (mechanics etc) and present a character for submission which you can tweak/change/modify or accept.

Admin wrote:Playing Mutants and masterminds is fine. It's all the fiddly bits that add onto the roll I find hard to keep track of (especially combat moves). I look at character sheets and think 'Right. I need to read up on that... on that... that.. .that... that... etc'. It's a shame as it's the most popular/supported game (or was a few years ago, not sure now) and I'm probably missing out on not getting my head around it. That said, I've got 1e, 2e, 3e and the easiest (for me) to understand was 1e. 2e looked fabulous as a book but added a level of crunch dangerously near to Hero 5e (which I read, understood, then gave up on because... damn. 2 inch thick? Really?)

Option 1 - as we are - seems good to me.

Haunt and Steeplejack will stay the same character throughout (meaning you retain memory of who you are and what you're up to) but you'll be adapting stats to the era. Victorian Age London expect few in the way of powers and more in the way of steampunk like gadgets and skills, for example. World War I pretty much the same, and so on. I'll explain more with each era, do the legwork (mechanics etc) and present a character for submission which you can tweak/change/modify or accept.

Works for me, and indeed I think makes life easier for you Paul which is more important.

Did you get anywhere pulling down the files from the Executive site? I realised my recollection of Steeplejack's powers was wrong and I'm glad I snagged his character sheet.

Sj

Should grab them and move them all over to the Hero datafiles here I would think.

DC system I think works well for most time periods. Maybe Pathfinder or D&D if we do a War of the Roses/Robin Hoodish time period? or some other similar game. Wait, wasn't there an actual RPG based off Robin Hood decades ago? Wonder if those rules are still around and useful?

HERO system had a separate game using their regular system called Pulp Hero, that could be useful for that 1910-1940 time period. There was also a third party game using Hero System called Golden Age of Hero that later, as with Pulp Hero, got gathered into Hero version 3 or 4 for WW2. The big thing for those two games was more era appropriate limitations and weaknesses and since they weren't combined into the regular Hero System when they came out, less number intensive.

I really need to dig out the Hero/Champions system book and learn it again. It's decades since I played what I consider the sweet spot (3e) which is the one before the hardback books that turned into bullet stoppers (or not - someone tested the 5e book on Youtube with a gun if I recall). For now we'll go with DC Heroes houseruled.

The Skills will change to make things easier to understand. When I list a skill on a character sheet it will be ranked:

0
1
2
3
4
5
etc

0 means the character has training and can attempt the action using the skill without any penalty that an unskilled person would have. The number indicates the number of extra D10s rolled as well as the standard 2D10. So long as the standard 2D10 don't come up double 1 (instant failure!) roll the extra dice as indicated by the skill and pick two dice to use from the pile, discarding the rest. Makes things clearer than having Detective 8 then heading off the to the table to see how many dice to roll. Batman would have Detective 5 by the way. He's the best at that sort of thing.

Hope that makes sense (it is to make things easier after all!)

Oh, before I whizz off and get ready for work, updates tomorrow. I'm working my butt off at the moment to scrape up money for a house deposit then Xmas rears its head. All being well we'll get Haunt steered towards London by the Weekend. He's in occupied territory remember so that he may have to get creative to avoid having a mass of aliens on his heels...

For Dave E/Steeplejack...



I'll break it down...

DEX 11 is superhuman. Superb at attack AND defence
Str 9 is Superhuman, able to lift somewhere around 10-12 tons
Body 9 is superhuman, and pretty much qualifies as bulletproof, but high calibre weapons (.50 cal etc) still pose a threat, as would explosives
Intelligence 9 is very very smart, Will 5 is ok, and if you want to get better at spotting things might benefit from being higher. Mind 7 is ok, far better than human but he's not a mental powerhouse either.
Influence 7 is pretty charismatic, but somewhere short of Gandhi, Julius Caesar etc. 5 Aura is ok, not great or bad as is Spirit 7 which is reasonable but not great against magic attacks.

Jumping 5 is around 300' per leap, Danger Sense 9 should be ok to tell him about imminent danger and where it's coming from. Regeneration 6 is pretty good. Steeplejack recovers from wounds if he can stay injury free for 1 minute of game time. Deadly wounds from knives, bombs and bullets take longer, but far, far in advance of ordinary humans.

Skills : Acrobatics and Thief are world class, Martial artist is ok. Gadgetry is very good and Charisma/Medicine round him out.

Area Knowledge (London) indicates that's his home turf and he knows it well. Genius allows him to create future tech like force fields and anti grav belts. HQ Expansive is his home counties mansion and the training facilities he's had built underground. In his background I've suggested he takes young superhumans under his wing as John Gibb (Steeplejack is semi retired and he's aware someone at Whitehall will know his Secret ID). Insta Change allows him to twirl a dial on his belt or on his watch that is keyed to his dna/skin and sprays out an incredible polymer that foams out then pulls in to form a skin tight uniform. It is recharged by a canister of the smart polymer which is his own design. Lightning Reflexes helps with initiative. Security Clearance: medium is his contact with the supposedly defunct Department Ex which is part of MI6 and is the go between for supers/government. Occasionally they've called him for missions and he's helped out. They owe him a number of favours. His current ministerial contact is Emelda Sturton-Jones. She's a no nonsense firebrand but secretly fiercely devoted to restoring the Executive.

Background... FEEL FREE TO CHANGE THIS!!!

Indeed, if the powers/skills/stats don't suit feel free to suggest anything from ANY game system and we'll try to make it fit!

Once you have given final approval watch out for STEEPLEJACK ISSUE #1

Thanks for this Paul I love it accept there are a couple of things missing. I'm going to try and include my original character sheet from GH,

He had wall-crawling and could create a force wall of earth - sort of primitive force field, but it was called a wall in GH. He had a line slinger and was always a sort of working-class northern equivalent of Spiderman with a very UK feel to him.

Anyway, I don't mind you adjusting him to fit more in line with his original feel, as that is classic Sj to me.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14nD3p8UtlkdN0HDWjIe0i_2hDFT5iWTC/view?usp=sharing

Thanks again Paul

Sj

Force Shield covers Steeps power in that respect. A gadget with gliding covers line swinging (can't gain altitude, limited uses). What about senses, other abilities? Weaknesses? In the time he's been active he may have picked up a few bits...

Admin wrote:Force Shield covers Steeps power in that respect. A gadget with gliding covers line swinging (can't gain altitude, limited uses). What about senses, other abilities? Weaknesses? In the time he's been active he may have picked up a few bits...

Well if he was an urban working-class take on Spidey, then danger sense would be good. His origin stated that his dad was the original Sj, he gained his powers when he came across a broken (alien) cannister that had leaked onto the ground. Coating him and the earth onto which it had spilt. It was John jnr who by birth inherited those powers and with them came ... it was always assumed that the cannister was alien, I left that open. And it was assumed that this was the way he gained his powers, it might have been something more.

BTW though working class by origin, I've no problem with him having made good and owning and training as you mentioned. As to other things, I want to be a good fit with Haunt, since the aim is to be a buddy set up, so if you think there is points to spend that would fit well, then go for it. I was keen only to make sure the base character was similar, I'd not spotted the gliding and shield - sorry not at my best right now, man flu or something ;-).

Thx mate

Sj

He'd need ramping up to be a match to Haunt. I've no problem with that. Rather than simply make him stronger would have some other power? Maybe he can draw energy from the Earth and release it in the form of a 'Geo Punch' delivering the power of Mother Nature to the enemies of justice. Or something.

Obviously Golden Heroes is firmly rooted in Street level unless we're talking grade 3/4 of Super Strength (don't get me started on movement powers - it's faster to catch a bus at low level flight/super speed).



How about that /\

The first part covers a damaging attack and 'punching above' his current level especially with 14 APs or so, about the same as Frosty (before Frosty enhances his power) and on a par with Haunt.

Dirt Storm is useful, reducing an opponents dex (making it harder for them to attack and easier to hit)

Moving Earth is like Terra from the Teen Titans. Basically she could move volumes of Earth and rock with her mind and that includes hopping on a chunk of rock that she can fly about on.



Force Shield covers the ability to pop up a shield of superhard rock in front or at a distance to protect someone else.

They both sound great, just as I would imagine. If the earth powers were very much tied as you said to the geo natural nature of his power that works for me. Thanks, Paul, all sounds really good.

My only concern was that in giving him a gimmick which was a drawback - the ability not to do so well on man-made stuff steal, glass, etc, it won't end up impeding him so much in practice that it makes it too strong a weakness. However, if you feel its all good I'm good with him. I don't mind play street level, but want to be able to keep pace with haunt so that I'm not the one whose fat he has to pull out of the fire.

For instance, I've appreciated how Frostbite isn't second fiddle to Lionheart, despite how considerably stronger and more powerful he is. Anyway, the suggests are all great and anything else you want to add, would be fine - but I'm good to go with that.

Sj

In the modern day/age if Steeplejack is in contact with anything beyond the ground, so a storey or more up, he may be in trouble. Outside of the building where he can connect with naturally occurring stone and brick (which ok is processed clay but natural enough) he's fine. On a boat, space station, a floor or more above the ground in a sky scraper (a house should be fine as it's made of wood and brick mostly) he's in trouble.

I'll update the character sheet and watch out for Steeplejack Issue #1, coming either today or tomorrow...

Ok, I've ADDED:

1 point of Aura (see below)
Earth Control 13 with a burnout. If you roll 5 or less on 2D10 when using it, you lose the power for an hour. I did this because of cost issues but it also reflects that it's not Steeps main Shtick. It's something he learned to do over time and while powerful, it is hard to control and to practise means he needs some nice open ground to rip up and move about, so it's not that common. I can lose the limitation if you like, or you can pay it off over time. If you lose the limitation you also lose...
Earth Animation 6 (linked to increased Aura for cost). Allows Steeplejack to make a friend out of rock and mud. Not overly powerful (it can lift half a ton and reasonably bulletproof) but handy when he's in a tight spot? Something he's been practising with as part of his Earth Control I thought I'd add. if too much, I'll drop and pay off the Earth Control weakness
Gliding 5, needs a line swinger. Fairly self explanatory. Allows him to move at 50mph over the city streets
Force Shield 9 boosts his protection up considerably (to 18) by placing a wall between himself and opponents. Enough to stop a battleships main guns.

Where things are LINKED with a * this means they are more expensive to increase over time but that's not a worry as a) we're in for the long run and b) it kind of reflects the comics where things may marginally improve but not dramatically - generally Spiderman can't leap more than a hundred feet or lift more than a bus regardless of how long he's been going. That sort of thing.

Just wondering because I had this strange idea that when we time traveled, we would wind up with different or lower powers and looks. That maybe we would be body dropping into previous incarnations of ourselves or our ancestors. But we are going back as ourselves with our powers?

Admin wrote:

Ok, I've ADDED:

Did I miss something or was wall-crawling not a part of this? Otherwise, all looks great to me. The drawback of rolling a 5 doesn't seem so bad a risk, but without risk, there isn't much chance for reward and heroism.

Thx

Sj

Hmmm weird. Didn't see where Cling (wall crawling) went. It's under the same limitation as all the other powers. He's on very shaky ground where glass/metal/separation from earth apply but he is still very dextrous and strong as a backup. He could give Spiderman a run for his money in a scrap. Probably beat him.

Trimmed Spirit by 1 point to pay for Cling. Cling allows him to stick himself and hold up to 400lbs before he gets peeled off the wall.