New recruits

Hey Scott!

Glad to see you joined us. Going to just lurk or have enough time to play?

David McMahon

smaug wrote:Not that Ive been thinking about it all night or anything *cough* SJ, it is a tough call, I love the fact that I could sink a u boat just by touch and full time armour or tough skin would be awesome as well but as long as there is no time limit to how long my armour form would last (its proberly best that it crubbles off when Im unconscious to add In others healing me and what not) I dont really see it as a problem in gerenal combat, I do understand being stranded away from any sources of metal would make me weaker but think of the benifits SJ (melting locks, melting hand cuffs and the T-1000 better look out) I also think it would make for a more intersting plot for my character.

I agree, go for it as he sounds like he'll be a great character to play? Looking forward to witnessing the birth of a new hero.

Sj

Not that Ive been thinking about it all night or anything *cough* SJ, it is a tough call, I love the fact that I could sink a u boat just by touch and full time armour or tough skin would be awesome as well but as long as there is no time limit to how long my armour form would last (its proberly best that it crubbles off when Im unconscious to add In others healing me and what not) I dont really see it as a problem in gerenal combat, I do understand being stranded away from any sources of metal would make me weaker but think of the benifits SJ (melting locks, melting hand cuffs and the T-1000 better look out) I also think it would make for a more intersting plot for my character.

Well thats' why I added the 'bonus power' - as a tradeoff. Metal is available in a war - vehicles, weapons, roadsigns, even things like cast iron benches, discarded helmets (if you get enough of them) even bullet casings if you gather a pile. If you are stranded on a desert island you may be in a pickle but remember the 2nd world war encompassed a large part of the globe. When it gets going there will be tanks and other burnt out vehicles littering the place, along with cars, planes, boats and so on. It might be a challenge, but so would carrying round a large metal filled briefcase - your arm would get tired at some point! However, that said, it's your character Ross so anything you want to change, feel free. If your guy can conjure the armour out of thin air, that's no problem either, you just lose the bonus power of affecting metal (I can see that as being VERY useful as no conventional prison with barred doors will present any kind of obstacle to him, nor locks, if you want a way in to a U-Boat/means to sink it and so on). So, if you'd like tough skin or armour you can conjure, we'll go with: Defense (one of the two mentioned), Energy Attack and Flight and drop the metal morphing. Just let me know which and we'll be good to go.

Admin wrote:He'd have to touch metal to initially form the armour around him, but once formed it would stay there until he willed it off him (to slither away and become a cube of metal, or a puddle, or even some basic object - maybe with experience he can form keys, levers, weapons etc).

Not wishing to intrude but since I know Ross and we talked last night I'd just add, that the thought that he'd have to find metal, before being able to power up, was something Ross was concerned about! That having to do that, would in some way both leave him vulnerable when he was without metal in civvies and waste time when trying to get into action!

I don't know if the army might give him a brief case of metal to lug around for such use? But I'd also say as a player But as a player I know that though Paul will put you into a challenging situations where you are going to have to think outside the box, nonetheless he won't penalise you for having an in game weakness! But its your call.

Excuse me for chiming in but I thought it might be helpful to offer up a thought to consider.

Sj

He'd have to touch metal to initially form the armour around him, but once formed it would stay there until he willed it off him (to slither away and become a cube of metal, or a puddle, or even some basic object - maybe with experience he can form keys, levers, weapons etc). No restriction on the kind of metal (steel, iron, aluminium etc) but complex future alloys are too tricky for him to pick out what he needs. As for the origin - he's a serviceman (enlisted from the sounds of it, rather than drafted) picked from thousands by General Wynn (one of the other characters, though the player has been away for getting on over 6 weeks now ) who is able to manipulate mutant genes inside your body. In essence, what happens here in our campaign sets the ball rolling for generations of superhumans in the future. For all intents and purposes superheroes as our campaign knows them start here, with you guys, so everything you do or don't do will be etched into the memories and records of future generations to come.

This is war though, There will be casualties, but that's why Gen. Wynn can, at any time, empower another character, though he's being selective. It's no small matter to elevate a normal person far beyond the powers and abilities of their fellow man. One or two wrong candidates and ... well, that's where super villains come from. Wynn knows this, but there is a need to balance the scales. the Nazis have a head start, and have been training armies of superhumans up for months!

As for the parents thing - fine save not sure who'd be torturing the mother seeing as the war has just started. Maybe she was one of those who went down on the SS Athenia, the first British ship sunk in World War II, and spurred her son to do his part to pay Hitler back? He doesn't have to go into a coma though - at this moment in time he is not one of the few 'chosen' to be hosts for extradimensional beings - his body wouldn't take it. But in time, when your body has toughened up enough to survive a cosmic being residing in it...? At the moment none of the characters have anywhere near their full power - all are on an even keel.

So let's say, 21 in 1939, having been born at the end of WWI (and never met his father who, having gone back after shore leave after years of hard fighting, never returned home. Perhaps he never died, but he never came back?) Raised by his mother and then seeing his mother off on the ship that was sunk (maybe she was a Govt. Envoy/aide or simply going to visit relatives in Canada, where the ship was bound. Despite 28 US citizens dying, America never entered the war then. Bizarre. Date was 3rd Sep 1939, so that would be fresh in an embittered young mans memory).

Any good? If so, will get round to cooking up your issue 1. Watch out for it in the Current Issue section...

would i have to touch metal any time i want to use my armour? (loving the liquid metal man/venom thing) If thats the case maybe tough skin would be better. Silver Sentinel sounds good. Im guessing i was born In pre war time England and not the furture?? Ok then here goes....

Steve Jenson tryed fighting his way up the ranks of the British army, never finding time to make friends he needed no one but his rifle. He always felt he was destioned for something greater. He has always been proud, proud of his father who fought in the first war and died protecting this once great country, of his mother who died recently under torture and never gave up vital infomation, proud to service his country to stop the contiuing threat of the nazi .......... that is until a strange illness washed over him sending him into a deep a coma

any good? or should i set him in the furture?

I was thinking along the lines of...

His mutant ability is to turn metal he touches into a living, liquid form that acts (to him) as cloth (giving the power armour, or tough skin, even force field but I reckon one of the first two options would be better as it hides his identity). Hmmm, actually, forcefield could be opaque, like a silver effect, like the silver surfer. Anyway, powers of flight and energy attack to start with, along with a defensive power. Later add strength, more protection, maybe vigour and a senses package. The drawback is that he needs a sufficient quantity of metal to touch and shape to his desires. The bonus power from the weakness would be that he can do serious damage to any metallic object with a touch - 2D6 Htk/frame and ignore dividers (i.e. it doesn't matter how tough it is). The only restriction to that is it won't work on special equipment possessed by other characters (like powered suits and ray guns) because they are a mix of metals. To reform metal to his will would take a full round. So he could step up to a car, a tank, a motorbike, press a hand on it, the metal flows (like Venoms symbiote) over him to cover his body and react to his will. If he becomes unconscious it will harden, still remaining protective but meaning if anyone tries to get him out of it they'll need some kind of angle grinder. Or we can simply say the metal rusts and falls off. His power of touching metal could (eventually) destroy a tank but in reality will remove certain sections of it, reducing its usefulness. With regards protection energy attacks are going to be a problem - your low grade armour/tough skin won't even stop them - but thats quite realistic - after all heat/flame would heat up the armour and boil you, cold would freeze you, acid would melt through and radiation would make your hair fall out (and that would be the least of your worries) etc. Against bullets, bombs and punches, you'll last longer. The force field option, I just checked, will protect from all damage but to a very limited degree. It might make you immune to small arms fire but any supervillain worth his salt will knock the stuffing out of you with a few punches (it only reduces damage by 4D6, say around 15 or 16 points. As an example most of the team members with super strength do 2D6+15 damage with a punch, so you can see what I mean. With tough skin or armour that would be divided by 2 or 3, depending on the attack, so you still take damage, but more of a knocking around than flat out hammering).

Anyway, if you're good to go with that will write it up. Just get me a character name, his secret id, any background (doesn't have to be war and peace, just what he was interested in/did before the war) and a short list of any friends/family you might quite like to turn up every now and again. I'll stick it together in a character sheet and should have you up and running by tomorrow, then update every day (early in the morning thanks to my garbage shifts at the moment. Just about to head back to bed and working from 3.30pm till 5am for the rest of the week now). As for superhero name, I'd recommend something a bit cheesy, as comics in the 40s tended to be a little bit that way (before the outright cheese of 60s and 70s and the grim 80s, deadly and dark 90s, and mix of the noughties). Maybe... Mercury Man? Captain Mercury? Major Mercury? Silver Sentinel? Silver Bullet? Full metal jacket? *cough*

The Iron man type of character was the one i picked. I didnt know if armour would work in the story if we travel through time again wouldnt i loose it, so thats why i picked tough skin instead but im easy whatever you think works best. Although that last idea of yours sounds class Im liking it.

Which version of the character did you plump for of the three I listed (or maybe you have different ideas?) With the Iron Man type he maybe has the glowing ring on his chest, just needs a metal chestplate to attach, then everything else (arms, legs, helmet, back, joints) are attached magnetically. Also gives a nice rationale as to gaining more powers (which he will over time) as he figures out the magnetic powers/abilities that allow him to control the armour and make it 'special' (as opposed to being a suit of armour a bullet will penetrate)

God talk get me started on x-men 3, im a massive marvel fan but stain lee really has gone insane this time.
xavier never gets killed by jean. jean never gets killed nor scott, so on and so on.....

One of the NPCs has invisibility, intangibility etc but to be honest he's as much a plot device as team member as he seems to die a lot

Regeneration in this game isn't that great (in my opinion). Certainly out of combat you'd heal much faster but on it's own it's not enough to keep you standing for too long. A tough skin option effectively doubles or triples your characters 'hit points' and the power of vigour gives you better healing as well as more 'hit points' (speaking in D&D terms, but the equivalent in this game are Hits to Coma and Hits to Kill, which are pretty self explanatory). Vigour AND tough skin would certainly make him tough in a fight. As for your character types:

Wolverine - would go with energy claws (the standard claws power is hopeless. You may as well carry a gun around) either tough skin or vigour, and animal senses
Deadpool - again, tough skin or vigour (though regeneration is his thing, like Wolverine, as much as I can tell). Teleportation and, once again, Energy attack for the swords. It's a fudge/bodge but this game is knocking on for 25 years or more old, so there are balance issues. Weapon Skill is pretty much hopeless (it gives you +2 to hit and is harder to dodge for those you attack). I've toyed with the idea of writing our own 'Darkening Shadows' rule set, and even played around with a few powers. Weaponskill in my version would make it easier to hit and multiply the damage you cause with an ordinary weapon. For instance, a person with a bow would cause a certain amount of damage. Hawkeye uses a more powerful pull version, never misses, and can call his shot off several surfaces. THAT would be my version of Weaponskill...
Iron Man - funny you should mention that. Watched on C4 tonight and again reminded of what a good film it was. It really does rank up there with The Dark knight (though not as good as Watchmen or Batman Begins, to my mind). Of course, superhero films generally range from 'stinking' to 'average' for the most part. Don't get me started on X-Men 3 and the last couple of original Batman films (post Keaton)... Anyway, I digress. Flight, Armour, Energy Attack. Thing is, the powers are inbuilt in him - they are mutant genes activated by one of the other characters. HOWEVER, as a fudge, there could be a requirement for the character to 'suit up' and be able to turn an ordinary suit of armour/chainmail into something special - that could be his mutant power - to instantly morph and modify conventional technology into something amazing. Of course, finding chainmail or a suit of full plate to modify will mean he needs to hang about stately homes every now and again...

Dave's as good as anyone to ask on this. Whilst you're asking him, see what he thinks about a rules rewrite and update Add more powers, get rid of stuff we never used, tidy up a few bits, add a couple of stats, standardise what stats do... Hmmm. Hold on, I just described writing a new game... Maybe not...

hi Paul, Sj asked me to think of my fav heroes (the kind of hero i would like to play as) and the powers they have. Ive always been a big marvel fan and my all time favourite heroes are:

wolverine; (not just for his powers but the attatude as well) Regeneration, The energy blades you mentioned instead of his claws and enhanced smell

deadpool; Regeneration, teleportation and weapon skill for his twin swords (energy swords would be nice)

or Iron man; flight, armour/tough skin (whatever is better) and energy attack from his palms.

Ive been looking at the other characters and what powers they have and havent got and I would like invisability (or replication whatever is best for you), strength, energy blades as mentioned and speed and/or weapon skill with blades advantually. Im thinking a strong (compaired to a human but not too super), tactical and melee weapon mad e.g. energy blades, big sword on back and knifes hiden on person. God i feel like a kid in a candy store with these powers

Admin wrote:Hi Ross, good to have you on board

Hiya mate, glad you made it to the board. Feel free to pm me or txt if you want any more help. Paul is very patient, but do yourself a favour and read through some of the current threads in the current issues, section and you'll be a bit more up to speed.

See you Tuesday

Sj

Hi Ross, good to have you on board

With regards power choices, we have two characters (out of the half dozen or so that make up the team) with Intangibility, and claws aren't a great offensive option in this game, but we can figure something out. Strength is no problem - it's more or less the most common power in comic books anyway. In truth the team has a several 'strong' members but no one who stands apart as REALLY strong (so consider the most anyone can lift to be around 2-4 tons. It's been ample so far anyway). There are certain conditions where the characters have had strength off the scale (greater than Supermans, for instance, in terms of lifting) but for now we'll concentrate on your three power 'slots' which places your character at 'street level' but still able to mow down hordes of Nazi goons. Another way of doing claws would be instead to say it's an energy attack of some kind - you can generate claws made out of energy (sonics, vibration, plasma etc) and whilst you can't use them at a distance you can use them close up and get a bonus effect for losing the distance. Being able to use vibration could account for the Intangibility too. Strength (for when the energy runs out), Speed (for movement and dodging ability), even Flight (a flying person is NOT a common sight in this era - 1939 - and superhumans are something only the various Intelligence agencies of Governments know about at the moment, though that will change when a newspaper gets a picture).

If anyone else has any suggestions I'm all ears, but from the description would suggest:

• Speed (for the getting around and dodging attacks)
  
• Energy attack - Vibration - generate claws of vibrating force from back of hands. Special notes are:
  * Can only use at melee range (touch) as a weakness, but get a bonus effect (called a 'gimmick')
  * Gimmick 1: Quick attack (1 frame instead of 2. In a round your character has 4 frames to act in. An energy attack usually takes up two of those)
  * Gimmick 2: Reduced Dividers (energy attacks are great at cutting through armour. This option makes it even more so...)
  
• Intangibility - at Grade 1 (which it will start at if you take the other 2 powers) you can't attack and remain intangible, but it would be great for stealth, vibrating through walls at speed and so on, and allow you to ignore all the guns and bombs going off around you, for the most part.

Anyway, see what you think. Nothing is cast in stone - if there is a power you have never used after a few adventures, for instance, I don't mind you swapping it for something better.

If you are ok with the powers as suggested, all you need is a Character ID, Codename (hero name) short background - where they are from (which part of Britain, any background story about where educated, family members etc) and so on and you are more or less good to go. I'll cook up the stats because you have a different origin to the others (they all come from the future and wake from a coma. You were given powers by one of them who activated latent mutant genes). Your profession is easy - enlisted soldier, naval personnel or RAF.

Cheers, Paul

Hello. Its ur new recruit there, im very new to this type of roleplaying but im very excited to be part of a team fighting for the greater good, break me in gently.
I was thinking about the abilities intangibility (2nd choice armour or tough skin), blades that come from my fore arms (mentioned in the claw section) think assassins creed but bigger blades and finally strength. I wanted to be a bit different than the others because I think it helps us to work together more as a team but I cant say no to strength and a big sword as well lol. If strength is a bit too simalar speed would be nice.
I enjoy dungeons and dragons and other RPGs, oblivition etc but I am a very much a melee kind of guy, i love to get in the thick of it but I think the story always comes first so whatever character you think would fit in with your evil plans is fine by me.
many thanks Ross

When the new player/s have looked around, seen how things work a little, I'll dig out a 'new players start here' pdf I had started to write (and need to finish) and post it up. Basically, right now all you need to do is come up with 3 superhuman powers. They can be different, or the same power (e.g. superhuman strength) with two or more of your three slots allocated. As time goes by your body will adapt and you will gain access to more powers.

The team has a mix of low level superhuman strength, reasonably powered blasters, a mentalist/acrobat (who is the most powerful member at the moment) and a special operative who is older, but able to confer superhuman powers on certain other people. Whilst his player (Kendal) is away from the game, he is picking potential candidates for enhancement from the ranks of the army.

The game is set in the first few months of World War II, around Winter 1939. This period of time was known as 'the phony war' because aside from a few skirmishes, nothing really happened. It follows a period of time after Germany and Russia have invaded Poland. France and Britain, having failed to protect Poland when they said they would, have declared war on Nazi Germany and her allies, though France has had no success thus far in its attempts to invade Germany, despite having superior numbers of soldiers.

Into this come a mysterious group of time travellers intent on seeing the Nazis win the war. They bring superhuman powers, the ability to raise the dead and get them to fight for the Nazis (that would be Nazi Zombies...) advanced technology and an Alien race - the shape shifting P'utinarians, sludge like creatures who are even now setting up their shuttle/base/craft across Europe, including one off the coast of Britain on the Faroe Islands. The Vanguard, a group of heroes from the future following the evil forces, have awoken in new bodies which take time to adapt to their powers. They fight for the allies, but are outnumbered and outgunned right now.

Things are about to get worse before they get better.

Behind all THAT is the threat of the Shadow Demons. Extradimensional creatures that feed on despair, terror and hate, they seek, through manipulating events, to gain a foothold on this dimension by influencing events and plunging the Universe into darkness. The creatures that oppose them were part of the ruling family, now symbiotes of the Vanguard and responsible for giving them their superhuman powers, and a lot more besides. Essentially, they make the Vanguard immortal, but with conditions. For example, one of the Vanguard, a man called James Caldwell, otherwise known as Wraith, and latterly, Nowhere Man, is both responsible for inadvertently telling the shadow demons of this dimension, and gathering the forces to stop them.

Nowhere Man, as yet, has not been encountered by the heroes who discovered each other soon after coming to 1939. Most of the heroes have little or no memory of their past lives, though that may well return at some point (down to the player).

As new players, you'll be taking on the role of a normal serviceman or woman who has been imbued with powers by General Wynn (one of the Vanguard). In time, you may find your character becomes the host of one of the Shadow Demon high princes/princesses. The combination makes the Vanguard some of the most powerful semi-mortal beings in the known universe, though at a very high price, as paid by two of the heroes already. In game terms think of somewhere between the most powerful of Galactus' heralds and Galactus himself.

Right now, they are at the lower end of the power scale (aside from Lionheart, who has all of his powers and is not co-inhabited by a Shadow Demon Prince)

Questions etc, post in here, and I (or one of the other players maybe?) will do our best to answer

Got round to checking my mail today, we have a new recruit - welcome Smaug! Fancy popping in and saying hello? We don't bite! (Or breathe fire...)

Cheers, Paul

Thanks Paul, glad to hear you're ok with this I'll email them in the next couple of days, after tomorrow I'm off for the better part of a week.

Sj

No problem at all with a couple more players Dave. As you know, this time of year it's tricky posting every day so it's an ideal time to get new players in. As for rules and mechanics of the game - I'm more a 'tell a story' than a rules lawyer type, so whilst we use Golden Heroes mechanics for combat and such, the current campaign setting hasn't called too much for any dice rolling, which I'll handle anyway. A simple low down of what is required in combat - actions over four frames, what to do if you get hit (dodge/parry/nothing) and the rest of it we more or less wing, because long drawn out mechanics heavy fights kill PbP, as you well know.

Invite 'em in mate - I'll watch for new entrants and click 'ok to let in' whenever this forum thing lets me know. I must admit I'm not really up to scratch with a forums mechanics - all the features and options etc, but so far we seem to be doing ok.

Cheers, Paul

Hi Paul

I was talking to my mates from the D&D group I run about this whole adventure and one of them seemed very keen on joining in. The other it was hard to judge, but I made it clear that posting was at least once a day if not every other day and the basic premise of the game.

If you are interested in them coming onboard I can give them the web address for the forum so they can PM you through this forum. We'd need to send them a bit of the rules, they've never played before a bit like Kitten, but one of my mates (Ross) seemed very keen.

Let me know what you think, I don't want to put more pressure on you but I know you've been keen for players in the past.

Sj