Chat about the game...

Hello everyone. I'm new here, but have been playing superhero games online with Paul for years.
I'm looking forward to getting to know you and your heroic counterparts.

-andyman

Glad to have you with us. Paul will get your started depending on whether you want to solo or join another game in progress or want to join the 1950s game that will get started soon.

David M
Haunt, Miss Victory, Prof. Wynde, and soon Lightning Bullet.

I'm interested in joining the 1950s game. Working on a character concept now.

Thank you,

andyman

Buy area attack for lightning, but won't Shrinking reduce the aps of Effect on the Lightning? If I recall it drops str but I'll look it up, maybe it reduces APs of of EV on physical powers. Besides, don't distract me, I'm cooking up 'The Ultrahumans #1 starring Miss victory and Lionheart!'

andyman wrote:I'm interested in joining the 1950s game. Working on a character concept now.

Thank you,

andyman

This is sort of a concept I came up with for the reason the team forms that I put in Lightning Bullet's description.  Use it if you want:

When he [Max] was in college, he made a number of close friends there.  They shared a mutual love of superheroes who had started appearing when they were still kids.  They made a pledge that they would all someday become superheroes on their own and then they would join together to become their own super-team.  Many names for the team were thrown back and forth with no one name winning a majority.  Max is the first of the group to actually become a superhero and he waits for the others to become superheroes and join him in Ruby City.

So we could be old college buddies who went our own way to become superheroes.

It's now early August, 1953. The Korean War just ended a few weeks ago with the Armistice that was signed. Max just turned 25. So that will help with ages.

or

Do your own thing. But I got the base already built and paid for!

Admin wrote:Buy area attack for lightning, but won't Shrinking reduce the aps of Effect on the Lightning? If I recall it drops str but I'll look it up, maybe it reduces APs of of EV on physical powers. Besides, don't distract me, I'm cooking up 'The Ultrahumans #1 starring Miss victory and Lionheart!'

It only drops strength and weight if you take the -2FC which I didn't do. He'll be as heavy shrunk as he is full-size. The power does limit movement though, 1 ap of movement per 1 ap of shrinking. And movement limits how many people you can multi-attack based on how much movement you have left. So with his flight of 8 and shrinking of 3, he can attack a max of 5 people and move 5 ap per round.

And area of effect attacks friends, foes and whatever is around in a 3 AP range. Not what I'm looking for. And the multi-attack bonus is for attacking certain powers, not people. Guess I will just have to keep raising his Dex.

Unless ... would you allow a Misc Advantage of 5/25/50 called Minus shift in Multi-attack column for one power/attack, -1 column shift for 5, -2, for 25 and -3 for 50?

+2FC with Area affect gives area effect of 80' (3Aps) or lower as per your requirements, so you can aim a 'bubble' of lightning that avoids your buddies and nabs a few bad guys.

DavidMcMahon wrote:

andyman wrote:I'm interested in joining the 1950s game. Working on a character concept now.

Thank you,

andyman

This is sort of a concept I came up with for the reason the team forms that I put in Lightning Bullet's description.  Use it if you want:

When he [Max] was in college, he made a number of close friends there.  They shared a mutual love of superheroes who had started appearing when they were still kids.  They made a pledge that they would all someday become superheroes on their own and then they would join together to become their own super-team.  Many names for the team were thrown back and forth with no one name winning a majority.  Max is the first of the group to actually become a superhero and he waits for the others to become superheroes and join him in Ruby City.

So we could be old college buddies who went our own way to become superheroes.

It's now early August, 1953.  The Korean War just ended a few weeks ago with the Armistice that was signed.  Max just turned 25.  So that will help with ages.

or

Do your own thing.  But I got the base already built and paid for!  

The hero I was leaning toward could fit this history as a college friend, but he also has electrical powers. Would it be too weird to have two electricity based heroes on the team?

My guy was a soda jerk at a pharmacy who made and drank a weird soda/medicine concoction and then stuck a fork in a toaster. The shock mixed with the weird chemicals he ingested granted him powers. He then meets you in Ruby City as Captain Conduit!

Lightning Bullet's schtick is that he shrinks and has a no-range lightning attack and flies.  He is a combination of Doll Man, the 2nd Atom, a dash of Lightning Lad and has other powers.

Currently, because I ran out of points, he is level 3 in Shrinking which is about the size of a dog. So you having electrical powers too but usable at range doesn't sound bad to me.  Be funny if we get one or two more players who also want electrical/lightning powers but with their own variations.  We could be the Electric Company!  Or Power Company!  The Lightning Rods!        

Character sheet and pics {From City of Heroes} below gives you an idea of what he looks like right now and what he can do.  

He has 3 foes of equal level that show up.  First off, we have Pack Rat - Our American supervillain, detailed earlier in this chat including why he fights Lightning Bullet.

Second, our villain from Red China - Big Tien, the Collective Man. As LB has 3 levels of Shrinking, this foe has 3 levels of growth, which is why he called Big Tien. In that sense, they are opposites. He also, somehow, can use a small fraction of the collective [Hence the Collective Man nickname] abilities of the people of Red China, which is shown by the Power Reserve he has.

Third, we have the Soviet version of the standard jetpack hero like Buck Rogers, Adam Strange, Rocketman and Rocketgirl, Zip-Jet and Jetgirl, Commander Cody, Sky Marshall and others. He has a rocket/jetpack and a raygun which fires an Energy Blast, later with more HP, it could fire a variety of blasts like Vibration, Fire, Lightning and Sonic. He also has a sidekick. A lovely femme fatale/girlfriend/sister/political officer [pick what works] who fights with him and has her own jet/rocketpack and raygun. They use the Teamwork attack regularly. Together they are Red Ace and Natasha. He was a top Korean War Jet Fighter Ace before being selected to become Red Ace.

As to motivations for our two Commie villains, they mainly have two. First, they want to capture Lightning Bullet and determine how he got his powers so that their respective countries can duplicate them and/or be able to use them as weapons against the Imperialist Running Dogs of the non-Communist world.

Second, they want to prove the superiority of Communism by beating the stuffing regularly of that Imperialist Running Dog Lackey of a Degenerate, Weak American, Capitalist Pig Hero.

Third motivation that they have to be in America that's not directly connected to Lightning Bullet, he just gets involved, is the stealing of military and technological secrets.  

This is, after all, the age of the Red Menace.  Might want to take the enemy disad yourself and get one or two foes who show up as your rogues gallery.  Just a suggestion.

Andy, these are the points that came up when I ran the characters through the program...



Writing out a background netts 15HP, Description, Personality another 30Hp total and a bonus of 5Hp for doing all three which should take care of the negative Hp totals.

Running behind this week guys, apologies. Will be back up to speed by Thursday all being well. Blame the nice weather and wanting to grab the last bit of sunshine before we batten down the hatches for autumn...

Fred Aster (I'm changing his last name to Aster) grew up with constant bullying, because his parents were actors who thought it would be funny to name him Fred, since Aster sounds a lot like Astaire. They tried to make Fred into an actor too, but he rebelled by excelling in science instead. He's used science kits ordered by mail through a magazine to play practical jokes and only really got along with the nerdy kids who talked about mutant powers. Since his parents were not very supportive of him going to grad school to study science, he had to take a job as a soda jerk at a college town drug store to pay his expenses. At least there he could experiment with candies, sodas, medicines and electrical gadgets. One day he finally did it... no he didn't burn down the soda pharmacy, he created a drink that after shocking himself by sticking a fork in a toaster, caused him to gain superpowers! Unfortunately, he was unable to remember what he mixed in the concoction he drank and after being sent to the hospital, the manager of the shop threw away the napkins on which he wrote his notes.  Still, Fred Aster now could be a hero, to fight back against bullies, like those that gave him wedgies as a kid because of his name. Donning a costume of his own design. Fred Aster took up the name "Captain Conduit" and now seeks out his old friends to see who else has become a superhero. However, he was fired from the soda shop and had to quit school. He got a new job selling electronics door to door and can work in whatever city his adventures bring him to, as long as he mails the orders into the home office for delivery in 2 to 4 months.

Fred is kind of a pain in the ass. He has a large ego, but is really a softy deep down. His language is shocking for 1950s standards and he doesn't take social issues very seriously. Hopefully he'll learn to be a better human through being a hero.

Updated. See the extra points? Spend em! Spend em! Gotta be worth upping one or two stats?

Updated. See the extra points? Spend em! Spend em! Gotta be worth upping one or two stats?
_________________
 



ooc: My two cents, hope you don't mind my butting in but if you do, just ignore the rest of this post.  

I don't see any defenses.  UP your Body or get some armor/systemic antidote or get some regeneration.  You are like Lightning Bullet in that your defense is not being hit.  But I gave LB some low level regeneration so he can survive after being hit and waking up a bit sooner or not bleeding to death. 

Our GM really loves making characters who can hit our PCs.  Just a warning there. 

Also no movement powers.  Planning on using gadgetry to build a souped up Captain Conduit-cycle?  Or jetpack?  You got Gadgetry which means you start with a gadget that you spend HP on so ... spend some of those remaining points on your gadget?

Running is really cheap, BC 0 and FC 2.  Give yourself souped up roller skates like the original Air Wave or Zippo [first from DC and second a Public Domain Character, so you can look them up], stick it in Hero ID only for a -1 for FC 1.  Or make it a gadget and get ?  I don't know what you get, gadget rules still confuse me.  Ask our wonderful GM how to do gadgets [who happens to like making characters who can hit our PCs, did I mention that?] 

Running of 7 equals the speed of a racing car. 

Maybe take Genius to go with your Gadgetry so you can build more gadgets later on?



Take 1 or more disads for another 15-25 points? 

For disads:

maybe take Enemy, shows up every 2 or 3 adventures, equal to your level? That's 4 or 8 points.

Your character went to the hospital after electrocuting himself.  No medical insurance in the 50s, they were just starting that in the larger companies.  So maybe he has the Debt Disad for 10 points?  Needs to pay off his hospital bill.

Maybe take an Irrational Attraction/Fear/Hatred?   Minor one for 5 or 8 points, common or uncommon.  Maybe "Attraction to Mail Order Science Kits"?  That would probably be an uncommon attraction and fits what you wrote about his character.

You could take "Socially Inept" but that would tend to make you a bad door to door salesman. 

Not sure how to figure wealth for the 1950s.  GM will have to tell us on that.  A wealth of 4 or $20,000 is a HUGE income in 1953.  This is when most working people make between 2-7k a year.




Got this from the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics.  So calculating what $20k would be worth in 1953.  Aug, 1953 compared to Aug, 2020.


CPI Inflation Calculator
 $
in 1953

has the same buying power as
$193,247.58
in2020



Or reversing it so Aug, 2020 in Aug, 1953 terms.

 $20000
in 2020

has the same buying power as
$2,069.88
in 1953


So your income of 4 puts you in the upper lower-class or lower middle-class


Just to throw in LB's wealth of 9, 2020 to 1953, that equals

CPI Inflation Calculator
 $500000
in 2020

has the same buying power as
$51,747.09
in 1953


===================



Just as a total aside, as I wrote that I had a memory jog.  Tin of the Metal Men sent off for a Mail Order "Build Your Own Robot" kit, during their original run in the 1960s, and build himself a robot girlfriend who was eventually named "Nameless" by a reader poll.

I'm at work with time on my hands so here is a couple of shots of Air Wave and Zippo.

If I do get a gadget, I think Captain Conduit's suit would be it. I'd like the suit to be able to increase his Body by one or two and allows him to fly on electrical currents. So no one else in the suit can fly, because it works in conjunction with his Lightning power. Paul, could you build this for me please?

Apologies for the delay this week guys. Got my son last night/today so it'll be tomorrow morning before I can get up to date and I'll start the 50s game. We can find more players as we go. Been a strange kind of week. Haven't been sleeping (like waking up before alarm 3.5 hours) and shattered when I get home, body clock all over the place.

Hope y'all have a good weekend, watch for the updates, Foxy Deville still with us?

No worries. Your health comes first.

andyman wrote:If I do get a gadget, I think Captain Conduit's suit would be it. I'd like the suit to be able to increase his Body by one or two and allows him to fly on electrical currents. So no one else in the suit can fly, because it works in conjunction with his Lightning power. Paul, could you build this for me please?

Hmmm missed this will have a look. Gimme a sec...

Had to add a couple of drawbacks to scrape up some more points...

FLIGHT is an integral power and is powered by his Lightning ability. It requires the Captain Conduit costume to work, however.
LIGHTNING is reduced by the same APs of Flight he uses in the same round. Not really toobad as he'll be hovering (cost = 1AP0 when shooting from the sky and range modifiers make distance attacks tricky anyway.

COSTUME doesn't really do anything but is cheap and on 'mk1' so you can upgrade and add to along the way. Costs 9HP to replace

Added an arch enemy ZAPPER and his ZAPETTES (groupies with electricity gadgets) who is technically built on 900HP (but probably nearer 500HP with the rest spent on groupies)

Added a vulnerability - if wet/doused or immersed he is vulnerable to being attacked. Sort of fits in with lightning powers and if the bad guys find out they'll carry buckets of water around

Added those to get the points needed to boost Body (to 6) and add Flight.



Let me know if you are ok/not ok with the changes and I'll wiggle the points about.

Here's a thought, put all your powers into the gadget.  Have it in Hero ID only and with a time limit and some kind of recharge limit, either 4 or 8 hours of powers, with a recharge time of either 4 or 8 hours or something like you need to stick your finger into an electrical socket or plug to recharge it.  That would be the Power Loss Disad, right? 

I'm thinking the original Starman and Green Lantern here, sort of combining the two.  Your origin said something about sticking a fork into a toaster.  So maybe the fork melted around your finger and formed a ring?  You can concentrate on the ring in order to bring out your powers and costume.  The ring morphs into your costume or your costume morphs out of the ring.  But until it morphs into your costume, it is mostly a normal ring and you cannot access your powers. 

You need Gadget advantage to start with your gadget and I think you can always add more stuff to it later.  And Genius advantage lets you create more gadgets later on that don't exist for the time period.  So if you do not want to make other gadgets then you don't need Genius.  Then you have Insta-Change as well.

Not sure if having the two disads of Hero ID only and Power Loss/Time Limit/Recharge would be cheaper or the same.  Paul can figure it out if you want to see what you can get for it.

And try to stay away from the Burn Out disad.  Paul loves it but if it activates, all your physical stats drop to 2 for an hour.  Great for NPC heroes or villains but do you really want to lose all your powers in the middle of a fight and if you still survive, wait an hour to try and go after them?  And what if you are high in the air when your powers burn out?  And believe me, powers will burn out!  It's happened to EVERY NPC hero Paul has given that disad to.

And I think this is true, but any future stats can always be added through the gadget.  Paul will correct me if I'm wrong.  So it would or should be cheaper to add them through the gadget.  So you could wind up being bulletproof in hero id with gadget activated but not so when in secret ID when you have more HP to spend on developing your character.

Just an idea for you to consider.

David makes good points but the counterpoint is that damage to a gadget needs repairing which costs HP which are hard to earn when your main source of abilities (gadget) is on the fritz. In the Lore Knights game Ghost Knight took a pounding (or rather his magic amulet did) which leaves him without powers until his magic house can rebuild it.

By all means add a weakness so that you rely on a gadget (like Wonder Man does - his ring won't work for anyone else if they put it on, but it will deprive him of his powers until he puts it back on) but make sure the gadget is cheap and easily/quickly replacable!

The Burnout disadvantage is a great way to reduce costs of Dice power but as David says it can be a swine when things go south in the middle of fight thanks to a lousy roll. I would recommend against getting it, but if you want great bang per buck it's one of the better ways to get it, albeit at a price. Those dice can be cruel!

And I think this is true, but any future stats can always be added through the gadget.  Paul will correct me if I'm wrong.  So it would or should be cheaper to add them through the gadget.  So you could wind up being bulletproof in hero id with gadget activated but not so when in secret ID when you have more HP to spend on developing your character.

Just an idea for you to consider.


Turns out I was wrong about this, you cannot put stats into a gadget that builds on top of your stats, you can use the gadgets' stats to REPLACE your stat.  So if you currently have a Body of 5 and want a Body of 10 in Hero ID with Gadget, the gadget has to have a Body of 10.

On the bright side, we have an expansive base, that is currently empty.  After an adventure or two we can use HP to buy a lab where you can build and repair gadgets.  And Dang! We need someone with the Gadget Advantage to put stuff in that base - computers, vehicles, labs, med bays, etc.  Or know of someone who could build it for us.  Not too worried about the cost of gadgets since I'm thinking we can use Lightning Bullet's wealth to pay the costs since it is basically for the good of the team.

Gadgets really are a pain in the butt to use but some people love them so I say more power to them!  

Or you could avoid gadgets completely, just take Scientist as a skill for your experimenter background with Scholar: Experimenter.  Then make all your powers In Hero ID Only/Insta-Change and having a time limit on when the powers run out and you need to recharge them by absorbing electricity - the ole "stick yore finger in the socket" act.  That's at least a -2 FC for those 2 disads if not more depending on the time limit your powers work before recharging.

Been working all weekend (2nd weekend on four on the bounce ...) and not been in long so gonna hit the sack but watch for updates in the morning. Not seen the new players for a while - still with us? David M will probably start Lightning bullet off on a solo adventure and do the same with the other players if they show up at some point. I get real life can be demanding so there's no pressure from me, hopefully we can get stuff started in Ruby City 1953...