Avatar of SimplyJohn
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    1. SimplyJohn 11 yrs ago

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8 yrs ago
Current When the world gets you down, and you think no one cares, try to picture something soft and cuddly.And then imagine it being run over by a forklift truck.
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11 yrs ago
#We're off to see the Wizard. The Wonderful Wizard of OZ... Sing along now!
11 yrs ago
And remember, Respect is everything!
11 yrs ago
"There's no point in being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes." - Fourth Doctor, 'Robot, Part Four
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11 yrs ago
I think I just pushed the wrong button on my iPad and nuked France. Hope no-one noticed.
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Bio

A player of games and a liver of lives, sometimes with onions and gravy.

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I think Nightshade might be overpowered then. If it controls darkness, then it can literally kill you from inside your body, cause light almost never reaches the inside of your body. If Nightshade's only ability is teleporting from shadow to shadow, it can be pretty interesting. I'd hesitate to accept someone who like, creates tendrils of darkness out of shadows.
There wouldn't be any solid form shadows, but Nightshade would be able to manipulate shadows to a limited degree, making them longer and stretching them before teleporting through them. THis would be very difficult for the player though, as they'd have to concentrate on using the ability and then perform the attack before the shadow snapped back to its original position, so I'd see it only being used when ambushing an unsuspecting target. Mainly Nightshade would be just teleporting between existing shadows and attacking her targets directly.

The others seems fine to me now. With the exception of Tempus. I wouldn't trust anyone, not even myself, with controlling a time-traveler xD If it's just seconds, though... It would be kinda UP, wouldn't it? Most situations you'd find an use for that ability would be situations where you'd already be dead when you realized you needed to go back in time. Like disarming a bomb or moving to a different piece of cover in a shooting.
It's all about the 'Oh Shit' moments, where you have an instant to realise you've made a mistake just before the consequences kick in. As part of the gameplay this would mainly be used to reroll failed actions and defenses with the difficulty increasing each time. Tempus would probably suffer Stress each time he tried to use his power, so frivolous use would make it more difficult for him to keep going unless he took a chance to rest and recover. This power could end up being very overpowered, as he'd be theoretically able to keep rerolling until he got the result he wanted, no matter how unlikely it would be, but since the Stress would be building I can see things balancing out.

Having said that, there would be times when Tempus wouldn't be allowed to use the power, for instance when he wasn't aware of something happening until too late. For instance, if he was poisoned or gassed he might not become aware of the danger until he was already beginning to feel the effects, and by then even if he did jump back he'd not be able to prevent the attack from taking place. Other examples would include sniper or stealth attacks which hit without warning.
Sorry for the late reply, this got hijacked into a Star Wars themed adventure in my local club and so I had to retool it slightly for live group play. If people are still interested I'll be free to start this up soon (plus it's now been RL playtested :) )

This character would be the survivor of that purge, unable to go home and not likely to be hired by many reputable employers due to a distaste for the regime he worked for (hell, maybe there's even a background of war crimes). Of course, he probably falls into the shady side of mercenary work. I can be flexible with the specialist training he might possess.

Sounds like a useful member of the party in case anything goes wrong on board the ship. Specialist training would have to depend on who else was in the party, but anything from weapon and armour maintenance to field medicine could be useful.

I'm interested! Would a tech specialist be appropriate?

Since this mission is a boarding action mechanical engineering, electronics, computer skills and encryption could be useful. Some knowledge of ship design and maintenance would be good too, especially if your character had some sort of previous knowledge of the ship's specific make and model.

I would consider playing an ex soldier who was put into a cryogenic sleep after war left him with severe post-traumatic stress. He would have only been woken from this sleep a year prior to the beginning of the story.

Could be good, depending on how long he'd been asleep for and how severe his PTSD was. WOuldn't want someone who'd be suffering from too much Future Shock or who'd freeze up in a firefight but one who get's a little flaky sometimes would definitely work.
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I have a feeling I could have sugar coated things a lot more. I'm sorry if anything of what I've written is offensive to you, but you asked for criticism. Of course, with more work applied on the ideas, they can become something I'd find fun myself. Keyword being I.

These four are characters that potential players came to me with and I've tried to build around what they've request. The guy playing as Slice has a pretty good idea how her powers work, he'll just have to limit himself to plausible uses of her arm to prevent her turning into a sonic screwdriver for every and all problems.

Nightshade can teleport between shadows and dark environments, letting her attack an opponent from unexpected angles but still has decent combat abilities as well as her powers, plus the brighter the light, the darker the shadows. If someone's carrying a bright flare in front of themselves then the shadow will be cast right behind them.

For Zeitgeist he was described to me as a kind of empathic vampire, feeding off ambient emotional energies in order to power himself up and then being able to project the crowd's emotions onto his target. When working as part of the team he can boost the rest of the party with a unified sense of purpose and when working alone he prefers to stick to crowds and densely populated areas where his abilities can make use of innocent bystanders. The guy playing him prefers support role characters so I can see it working for him in that regard.

As I said Tempus is the headache. I usually prefer to avoid time travel in any form, as it almost always causes problems, but as long as it's heavily limited, say to a few seconds at most, then I can accept it as part of the group. If the player tries to stretch the ability too far then Tempus might just find himself slipping into a coma, or running afoul of some other GM inspired malady.

Other players have come to me with a metal strongman and either a cryomancer or pyromancer (he hasn't decided which yet) but those are both mainstream enough to not cause too many problems during the game. I hope.

PS. No problem with the criticism by the way, that's what I'm looking for so I can get help to sort all the tricky points out in my head.
Shortly I'll be starting a new roleplay game at my local club centred around a group of supervillains working together to commit a large-scale crime and am currently trying to think up a good model for how to incorporate unusual super powers and abilities into the game. What I mean by 'unusual' is things which aren't the usual super-strength, flight, enhanced senses abilities most superheroes and villains tend to have, but other more intricate abilities.

What I'm looking for is a few ideas of what people would be considered more extreme abilities, as well as ideas for how to balance them as part of the gameplay and narrative.

Examples I've already thought of include Slice, a girl with a cyborg arm which can adapt itself to the situation at hand; Zeitgeist, a psychic who gains more power when large groups of people are thinking or feeling the same thing; Nightshade, a scientist with the ability to manipulate shadows and darkness; Tempus, a time-walker with the ability to transport himself back and forth in time.

With Slice I've decided the player will have to give a list of the components in the arm (for instance a power cell, charging coil, emitter lens, etc) and then would have to come up with an explanation for how those elements interact in order to generate4 the effect they want. For instance, if she wanted to fire a plasma bolt from her hand she'd use the power cell to energise the charging coil and then fire it through the emitter lens. If the player can't come up with a reasonable explanation on the spot then they can't use the ability, since Slice wouldn't know how to ge4t the job done under pressure either.

With Zeitgeist, his ability would be based on how many PCs and NPCs are in the current area and how many of them are focusing their attention on a single target. This wouldn't necessarily have to be Zeitgeist himself, as any focus of attention would activate his power, so if he was teamed up with someone like the Hulk (or She-Hulk, if she was wearing a bikini) then he'd be able to feed of their ability to distract large groups. Again the player would have to come up with scenarios Zeitgeist could use to his advantage in order to get people to focus.

Nightshade's ability depends solely on the light levels in the surrounding area. The whole argument as to what counts as a shadow and what's just darkness may cause problems, so I've decided to simply class the ability as darkness manipulation. This would make Nightshade extremely powerful in a pitch black cave, but helpless against someone waving a flare around.

Tempus gave me the biggest headache, as a character who can basically retcon entire scenes would make things difficult during gameplay. What I've come up with is a couple of limits to the character's powers. The first is scope, in that Tempus can only transport himself in time and when he arrives in the past he immediately replaces the previous version of himself. There would never be a time where there would be two of himself, and he wouldn't be able to double-team an opponent with a temporal doppelganger. The second limit is range, in that during adventures Tempus would only be able to travel a few seconds at a time, and wouldn't be able to 'chain-jump' further distances without preparation. This means he could basically reroll his last action or defense against another character's action, but wouldn't be able to jump all the way back to the start of an encounter and replay the entire thing.

Do these limit sound fair to you? Are there any changes you'd make or additions which could be added? What other strange powers can you come up with and what limits would you put on them?
Having just watched the anime The Future Diary I was wondering whether anyone would be interested in participating in a very advanced roleplay based on the idea of a survival contest for precognitive characters.

The basic objective would be to hunt down and eliminate the other players ending up as the sole survivor, with the winner claiming the Throne of the God Of Space and Time, named Deus Ex Machina in the series. The way they achieve this is by PMing the Deus with the actions they take each day, including making guesses as to what other characters may be doing or places they may be going which will then be either confirmed or dismissed by the Deus. When all characters have reported in the Deus will post up a daily report giving details of where characters have been and what they have been doing, while keeping any information which would reveal the character too easily to their opponents secret.

In cases where characters manage to maneuver themselves into the same locations a 'speed round' would then start, where each character in the location sends PMs to the Deus who confirms or dismissed actions depending on who has the advantage in each scenario. As an example, if a character PMs that they run down a corridor and slash at their opponent with a sword and the other PMs that they set off an explosive in the corridor then the first character's action will have been interrupted by the second and so would fail. The second character would only be able to set off an explosion if there would've been time for them to have planted the device before the combat round without the other player noticing them. Once the chain of events has been resolved the Deus will post up a battle report giving details of which changes were made during the quickfire combat and their eventual outcomes.

To confuse matters even more the precognitive aspect of the Future Diaries will mean the Deus may be able to provide information on the other character's actions in the form of PM'd messages each day. The format of these messages vary depending on which type of Future Diary the characters possess, with each falling into one of the following categories:

The Radar: Predicts ones surroundings and environment but makes no mention of the character themselves. Examples include the Random Diary, which gives detailed information on the character's immediate surroundings; the Evidence Diary, which provides a list of all pieces of evidence an investigator may find at a crime scene along with hints for further investigation opportunities; and the Escape Diary, which gives details of the best route to leave an area, either to avoid detection or evade pursuit.

The Searcher: It predicts certain people's actions. Examples include the Perfect Love Diary (or Stalker Diary) which gives precise details about one specific character who the using character has romantic interest in, whether their feelings are reciprocated or not; the Brawler Diary, which contains a blow-by-blow report on any fights the character may get involved with, allowing them to easily predict an opponent's moves; and the Flirting Diary, which gives full demographic information on any potential romantic targets the character may encounter.

The Organizer: Gives details about a group or organization. Examples include the Breeder Diary, which records the movements of the character's pet dogs and anything they are hunting; the Clairvoyance Diary, which allows the character instantaneous activity reports from any minions or employees under their command, no matter how far away they are; and the Family Diary, which provides a live status report on the characters closest friends and relatives.

The Watcher: Provides information on other active characters. Examples include the Murder Plan Diary, which provides advice on the best way to attack a target; the Snoop Diary, which provides a copy of the information provided to another diary; and the Secretary Diary, which allows a character to precisely predict the outcome of a planned action before another character takes it.

All the diaries are records of future events as experienced by their owning characters and so may not necessarily be reliable. For instance the Brawler Diary may report that a knockout punch kills another character as the user presumes the opponent is dead only to later discover that the opponent was only incapacitated instead, or the Evidence Diary may include in its list a spanner instead of a wrench if the user wouldn't know the difference between these two different tools.

No matter which version of the Future Diary a character is using if a chain of events would lead to the death of a character their Future Diary will warn of an approaching Dead End, giving them the opportunity to take action to try and prevent that outcome. This is particularly important during the speed rounds where quick decisions would be required in order to defeat an opponent.

When a character is killed their Future Diaries cease to function, however if an opponent manages to somehow capture a character's Future Diary without killing them they may read any warning messages received, making use of the information themselves.
Timeskip would be a good idea for Felix, he's starting to get cold feet and if we don't take off soon he may jump ship. A dog in power armour..? Could be worse, could be an earthworm...
Just waiting for the opportunity for somebody to notice the extra crewman onboard. So far I am totally unimpressed with security aboard this ship. Who should I make my complaints to? :P
Then again, the way his luck seemed to be going lately he'd probably end up in a sarlacc pit.
It's official; giant human devouring sand worms exist.
I never said a sarlacc was a giant human devouring sand worm. Perhaps in this universe they're like giant cuddly puppies, and Felix is obviously a cat person. :P
Fishing knife- While she can only do so underwater, Achi is well trained in the use of a knife made to hunt fish. She calls it a knife, but it's half the length of her arm and hooked at the end.
What you're describing there sounds like a reverse bill hook machete.
The mess hall was practically empty as Felix stepped through the door and was almost knocked off his feet by an attractive redhead coming the other way with a hot cup of caffeine in her hand. With a twist of his ankle he pivoted himself around her, flowing passed as she stumbled into the space he'd been standing a moment before, her face awash with surprise. It took her a moment to realise what had just almost happened as she stood turning her head back and forth, trying to work out exactly why she hadn't slammed into the newcomer in the brief moment he'd had to react to her. "Did I just..?" She asked gesturing with her cup and sloshing an ample helping down the front of Felix's 'uniform'. He looked down with a sigh as the NVP garment quickly changed colour, mimicking a stain as the liquid was harmlessly absorbed into the material. "Oh, I'm dreadfully sorry." The woman said, raising her free hand to cover her mouth. "No problem," Felix responded with a roguish grin, "Accidents happen." From out of his sleeve he materialises a handkerchief and began dabbing at the coloured mark, pretending to be cleaning it away as the fabrics reverted back to their original colour. "See, all gone." He said with a smile and a flourish. "By the way, I'm Ensign Fletcher Dickinson, but my friends call me Felix. And you would be..?" The woman simply starred at Felix for a moment as he stood bending forwards in an old-fashioned bow, one hand held forwards in greeting. "I'm Kate, I mean Lieutenant Kathleen McCloud from the Navigation department. Are you new to the ship? I haven't seen you aboard before." Taking her hand Felix gently kissed the back of it before stroking his fingers over the warm flesh. His luck was certainly beginning to change, and he began to wonder if there were any more beautiful creatures like Kate on board. "I just came aboard," He answered, with complete honesty, "Just think of me as the morale officer for our little voyage." Pulling her hand away with a smile Kate took a nervous sip from her cup as she smiled back at Felix. "In that case I'm glad to have you aboard. If the rumours I've heard about the mission are to be believed we're going to be needing all the morale we can muster." Felix's grin faltered for a moment as he heard her comment, and he was just about to ask her exactly what she meant by it when Kate glanced quickly at her chronograph and quickly turned to leave. "Speaking of missions, I'm supposed to be on duty so I'd better get back to my post. You should think of doing the same. Hope I see you again soon." With that Kate was off out the door, which quickly closed behind her even as his eyes lingered on her delightfully departing derriere. A gnawing sensation filled his belly, and in that moment Felix knew he had to get off the ship before Kate's premonition came to pass. His only problem now was how to slip back onto the station without raising any suspicions. If he was lucky news of his boarding would get back to Crystal and if he could find somewhere to lay low on the station for a few days she might head off after it when it left. Then again, the way his luck seemed to be going lately he'd probably end up in a sarlacc pit.
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