The OOC discussion space!

For those who have submitted applications and are wondering what the timeframe is: I usually allow recruitment to run for a minimum of seventy-two hours before I start seriously considering applicants and instead just quickscan for questions and obvious problems. I will personally reply to every requestee once your application has been formally processed and/or decided upon! Presently this means I am probably going to start the first back-and-forths sometime tomorrow.

I know I said I was probably going to start on applications today (well, I said it to myself at any rate) but I've got an unexpected court thing I need to be present for today on top of a live tabletop game and I'll probably have to put it off to Friday. I've seen some really great applications already. It's going to be hard to narrow it down to five!

I'll be picking my applicants today! My mouse is at its end of life and had a small seizure while I was opening everyone's messages into new tabs and I think I might have accidentally purged one of them; if you submitted an application you might want to make sure it is still there! Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience! With luck, you should all be getting a pass/fail message sometime today!

I'm still hemming and hawing about the final applicant to accept. In the meantime, the four of you who made the cut already can sound off and introduce yourselves!

Hi! In my spare time I'm an idol singer, but really, I'm the Whiplash Hero, Alice!

Ooor is that the other way around? Either way its nice to meet you all!

Hi everyone.

You probably won't be using this name much* as you'll mostly know me as Snake Hands: former villain turned reluctant hero. I'm looking less to play The Dark and Edgy One™ and more someone perpetually confused about how they actually got this gig and constantly weighing up whether the headaches are worth getting some recognition for a change.

*There's also a fair chance I'll change it before we get started.

That sounds like there's a story behind it~

The Mighty Olivia Maelstrom is a fatigue empowered super human who wield big mom energy. Less of a brawler than the woman who fed the bank robbers a sandwhich, and convinced them to turn themselves in. Expect a minivan/SUV, a seemingly bottomless purse and a commanding presence. But still building the basics.

Leroy Heavy is a PI and hero on the side. The rough and tumble type with a heart of gold.

Hope ya'll had a nice weekend! Time to get back to work and figure out who our last player is!

You should all have an ezTables-powered character sheet ready to be filled out now! If it's too complicated for you to understand (it's not as complicated as it looks, honest) then let me know and I'll hook you up with a simple list version.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:33, Mon 30 May 2022.

So I have a rough draft of her sheet.

M.O.M. ends up being a bit of a speedster with healer, tank, support on the side.

Minivan, juice boxes, and bandaids for everyone.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:22, Mon 30 May 2022.

It's taken longer than I would have liked -- this week has been a productivity vacuum -- but I have selected my players! There's still some stuff that I need to do in the background before the first in-character thread(s?) go up though and after I blew through my deadline last time I'm hesitant to make another one. So, uh, IC stuff coming Soon(tm)! Work on your character sheets in the meantime, unless you're one of the ones I'm helping!

Hello everyone. Susan Miller here: looking forwards to playing with you all

I don't know the 'do we know each other' stuff. Are we all from the same part of the world? that kind of thing. If we are trying to work out 'how we know each other'... take a look at my description. Susan is about age 14 (who keeps careful notes in this dystopic future) and travels a bit for the filming sessions. She's from a pretty run down/dysfunctional part of town, but can be found in the 'luxury part' as well.

Alice is a support / secondary combatant type. She's got some good nonlethal takedown skills, a couple of attack drones and a spy drone. Her main benefit to the party is in the skills department and her multitasking abilities. She can have all the thoughts at once.

Alice might know Susan - she's an idol singer, tending towards pop-goth and encouraging young girls to make their own fates in a scary world of monsters - after all, at any moment you could die~

You're my heroine Alice: clearly you inspired me to leave the dump I was born in!

I am not at all sure what role Susan will play. I made her as a 'she has these powers and backstory' without thinking that through. She's probably good in a 'brick' mode.

So Olivia since her concept is "super mom" has numerous tactics for non-violent conflict resolution. I was thinking 3 school age boys, but could switch to girls or just have one of the older really into either or both Susan & Alice.

By the way attractive the scale is often misunderstood. From the canon source DC adventures:
Rank-0: Rotting-corpse to Zantanna
Rank-1: Wonder-Woman
Rank-2: no one in the DC universe who got a write up.

0 is ugly monsters to successful models
1 is super-models to goddess
2 is presumably reserved for the exceptional even among goddesses

I need to work on description and family details, complications etc. Will probably go with Olivia being fairly rediculously girl next door pretty without the attractive advantage. I did ask for world class insurance as a benefit since her house and car are non-super super items. Also Olivia can inexplicably drive her ordinary SUV at mach 5 good luck to the cops trying to pull her over...
This message was last edited by the player at 15:42, Sat 04 June 2022.

@Attractive
Thank you for that interpretation. I don't read DC comics (hate superman / green lantern / those power level characters, think batman is OK, love the real life story of wonder woman). So haven't read that book. Susan has  attractive 2 (she is working on being a super model and is already a tv star).

It's interesting that every M&M character I've ever made has had it, and most of the characters in other games I play with have it too, so I suspect that is a DC comics special interpretation and canon only within DC-verse. It's a 'tax' as I don't think in any single game it has had any effect ever (compared to say 'wealth' or your super insurance - also a great idea), but it's a 'thing' that has to be done in one of my M&M characters. Yes I know I am shallow, but in real life I am attractive zero, so it's nice in games to be able to do something I'd like to be in real life.

If you want to interpret it on the DC comic scales that would be awesome, but I've never seen that happen. Most people just ignore it. I suspect that will happen here

@Family details
That's a good idea you have there. I just spent a couple of hours making a write up too :) Probably will just put in character sheet and drag out when/if it becomes relevant. Family / Agent / few friends... Those might well be irrelevant (apart from the agent) if we try your idea

@Susan being one of your kids
That would be very different. I've never before had that particular RP challenge ( A PC parent). It could easily go wrong.... For example Susan is going to be the main line tank I think (from what I've read above). That's going to give you Mommy Worries on a whole new scale. And the normal ones if Susan starts dating... Then again we are saving the world from Cthulhu so it's not like we are choosing to go against super villains. I'm up for it if you are. Just be aware that Susan isn't easy to manipulate: I'm changing the write up for 'why'. The 'why' now would be because you are her mom and she's had all her life to work out how to deal with it. But generally she tries to be a nice person (your upbringing?) and wants to do the right thing.

@Non Violent Problem resolution
Susan is 14 and 'Normal Susan' is only PL4. Probably only that good because of your training. She can talk to people a bit, but isn't a diplomancer. She's a good actress, but not much in the persuading people line. She'll let you do that. Then stomp them when it goes wrong. I think she's quite good at stomping and not being stomped... we'll see...

Tee hee! https://www.questionableconten.../images/alice/55.png (her name is ALSO Alice!)
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:29, Sat 04 June 2022.

Funny link :)

It is not a unique to the DC setting. Green Robin (the publisher) has applied this consistently over all published media. It also spells it out In the rulebook that it's only meant for exceptional levels of attractiveness. In practical game effect it's not as bad as previous version but take a look at persuasion. Just being attractive rank-2 means you routinely shift bystander attitudes to favorable/helpful meaning random people start fighting to defend you if you're nominally polite to them. The typical mafia bar scene where there's not direct conflict, just being attractive-2 means they will be indifferent instead of unfavorable.

It's easier to understand on like the strength scale +5 in say D&D is the difference between being able to bench 100 lbs and 400 lbs (average to half the world record). In M&M 3e it's the difference between benching 100 and benching 3200lbs (average to 3.5 times the world record)

None of which is to say exceptional for a god beauty is unreasonable, but it is what attractive rank-2 denotes.

Well maybe this will be the first game that I've ever played in that saw it treated like that. I think I've played in ... what ... around 20 games ever. 2 of them tabletop, the rest RPOL. A few long lived, most dying after a few months. I've never seen a GM or other players treat it like that. We'll see

I responded to your suggestion on being Mom. The more I think about it, the more interesting it is. Are you up for it? If so I'll change my description

Today I'm going to be doing sheet validations and working on getting premade sheets to those who wanted them. I don't know where Saturday went, I thought I'd have the whole weekend, but what can I do? Time only moves forward, unless you're a chronomancer~

So my personal experience with motherhood as it were covers 2 years old through 5 years old, I decided I needed to be a more engaged Polly-parent due to COVID.

I'm a bit flexible on details but I'm not sure I could do coming of age letting go justice, also if the hero organization tried to strong arm Olivia's kids into hero work...  It ends badly for someone, worse if her kid gets seriously hurt because of it.

It feels like actual child paints us into a corner, what about picked up "stray". Given a family setting that is less than ideal Olivia would take on in loco parentis duties while staying more open to its her choice to start heroing before high school graduation. Would probably make Susan occasional babysitter, and "aunty" or "big sis" to the younger set.

Its all cool if you want to dodge the challenge Olivia.

I have taken two kids through from zero to mid twenties. Both now happily married and I am hoping to start spoiling grandchildren soon... It can be tough in the teens

I thought the Incredibles was great because it touched on this. (only touched). The scene in the flying car 'are we nearly there yet' had me in stiches because it was so my kids.

I'd be happy to be your kids occasional baby sitter.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:13, Mon 06 June 2022.

I just realised I had addressed the wrong point. I thought the issue was about 'raising super powered kids' but actually it was about 'can the hero association put your kid to work'.

My understanding of the world is that is in a terrible state. Cthulhu monsters are attacking. It's not like 'does your kid volunteer' it's more 'OMG we are in a terrible state and maybe we will survive if everyone does their bit. Aren't we lucky that we have someone new with super powers is around'.

I might be wrong about that by the way, so I'd be keen to see what the GM says about the world

So the Hero Association classifies threats and Heroes according to their strength (manga/anime canon not necessarily game)

Threats
• Wolf: unknown and weak threats
• Tiger: many people threatened
• Demon: an entire city and its people threatened.
• Dragon: multiple cities and their people threatened.
• God: humanity as a whole threatened.

Heroes are classed C, B, A, S
Class-B is expected to be able to work alone. Class-A is expected to be able to handle Tiger type threats alone. Class-S is expected to handle Demon type threats alone.

Threats are common daily things but heroes are pretty common. God type threats are rare. Presganging a kid into the Hero Association would be, hard to explain. You figure the S class heroes all 17 of them work full-time globally on Demon level threats and above. So pretty apocalyptic, but normal people live mostly normal lives most of the time.

Well I can always change. I made my proposal based on my understanding which is just on the game info / RTJ.

By the way which class of hero are we? From that list I would guess class A, and together we might be able to deal with a class S. On the normal distributions that people use even if heros are fairly common I doubt if class A are that common

Dunno, one of the jokes in the manga/anime is the titular One Punch Man, Saitama who's PL-X ability is to defeat anything with one punch, that infinitely powerful guy is class B ranked 7th.

Say literal Cthulhu shows up and starts monologing. All 17 S-class heroes couldn't defeat him together if they tried, but Saitama shows up, decides to deliver one serious punch and sighs because it was too easy. The Hero Association looks at giant squid person, 0 casualties and concludes Cthulhu who in any other circumstances would have been rated a god class threat, was a wolf class threat because there's no evidence to the contrary.

Which by the way means there are actually more threats that just never get graded higher because they're dealt with before anyone dies by heroes not recognized fully.

We'd probably be started in B class if Lulu uses that system. I mean if M.O.M. or someone else solves it nonviolently how bad a threat could it have been really?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 15:19, Mon 06 June 2022.

I've just bought some of the one punch comics

Here's a summary of a relevant bit:

There is also the fact that Saitama is unusually humble by hero standards; he doesn't report on most of his kills and relies on civilians doing it for him. But he's kind of shot himself in the foot in that regard because he's acquired a reputation as a cheat and a hack because of deliberately downplaying his own accomplishments to keep civilians from losing faith in other heroes.

By my reckoning, PL8 is in the upper range of what is typical for class B and even low-end class A. I had originally intended the PCs to land in class B with an open mind towards letting some start at class A if their powers happen to be particularly synergistic with what the Association usually looks for. I expect the PCs to be approximately as powerful as the likes of Lightning Max or Stinger in short order.

That tied in with my guesswork. TY GM. I'm still reading comic 1 but it's quite fun

Well I have read comics one and two now. So far two cities have been utterly destroyed I think...(but hey the world has a lot of cities...)  It looks like a pretty appocalyptic world to live in.

I did like the description of the heros association!


So the question is... are we pervy freaks or are we professional heroes?

The expectation was that you would become professionals after the first scene, but aren't yet. The Association is where a lot of the best content I have planned is.

I like that :)

It's nice to have character progression, and that doesn't have to be just 'XP'. It can be by means of in game accomplishments.

Do we have an ETA for the first IC threads?

For what it's worth, I'm only just now reaching the review stage of my character sheet. This is my first time playing this system and actually getting a character put together has been challenging.

I've been keeping quiet because it's felt a bit weird to talk about things when my character's mechanics were still so up in the air, so hopefully I'll be around a bit more now :)

Do you want a hand at all? review or advice?

I've worked with a couple of people over the last week+ (with varying degrees of success) and just sent something into the GM today to check over, so I think I'm good for now. Thanks though :)

Lucretia Olynder was a placeholder name; she is now Eveline Serpens! I think this is a much better name. ^_^

Feelin' good tonight, gonna tackle a few more character sheets; probably finish up Susan and quickly push through Eveline, then see if I have any energy left over after a Mercury Gale post. Last few days have been headache city. =(

Yeah, I'd always been a bit meh about that name. It was something I came up with on the fly out of necessity rather than because I really liked it.

Another reason for the change is that I might be leaning a bit more businesswoman than scientist, and Serpens feels a bit classier and more professional while still having the obvious supervillain factor.

I like the new name. The last one felt very Harry Potter.

I'm sorry you are in headache city GM. That sucks. Hope it's better soon.

I think I've modified in line with all your comments. If I missed anything just let me know

It did rather, didn't it? I was just looking for obvious villain + poison and I guess I ended up channeling a bit too much Slytherin.

My sheet was okayed with shockingly little in the way of changes, so I think I'm pretty much good to go (?). Things haven't quite ended up where I'd originally expected, but there's a lot of snakey stuff that should be pretty fun and I'm certainly not unhappy with any part of it. Should be interesting to see how it all goes.

Just doing my weekly 'How is it going' and 'do we have a start date in mind'?

Can I suggest just sticking up an IC thread so we can introduce ourselves? There's nothing like actually posting for making characters and a game to come to life

My sleep schedule mucked itself up and I've had a nonstop headache for the last five days. These two things are probably related. I don't have a specific start date in mind. I can say that character validation is one of my least enjoyed parts of starting a new game and once we push through it you probably won't have to wait this long for activity.

I'll give your suggestion of a pre-crisis thread some thought. I wanted everyone to meet each other formally during the intro crisis, but I'll see if I can finagle something.

I share your 'hating the character validation'.


Just chatting:
That's by the way why I follow the advice in the link you referenced. I tend to do the character creation during the actual play of the game. And then the validation is spread over a long time, and is mostly 'does this align with your vision of the character that you are displaying in the game'. It helps the players too: they don't need to think about everything up front: they can discover their character in the game and he/she can 'emerge' naturally during the RP.

The hardest thing about character validation is translating the formats of disparate players into something that makes sense to me. I tend to have a fairly coherent format that documents every point expenditure, and I don't (usually) use generators or spreadsheets.

So, I think maybe we could do a short thread where you're attending or passing through a Hero Association recruitment rally of some kind where everyone can interact and maybe explain to each other why they haven't already become Heroes. If you followed my RTJ prompt then your characters should be reluctant to become heroes until the Crisis Moment that will be our first official scene. Does that sound like fun to everyone?

I should mention that one of the reasons my schedule got wrecked was because I got sucked in to playing Oxygen Not Included with a friend, but the spell is starting to wear off and I think I'll be returning to business as usual within a day or two, so such a thread might actually slow down the formal start of the game unless we do them in parallel.

Parallel is good :)

And that makes a lot of sense the idea you had. I've not tried Oxygen Not included. Sounds interesting. I haven't played a game like that for ages

I absolutely cannot recommend Oxygen Not Included. It punishes you for everything you do and it is impossible to achieve a state of stability where you feel safe about trying out more complex game concepts. I still haven't figured out how to reliably make steam. It is quite possibly the least rewarding game I have ever played.

You just saved me pain and effort. Thanks!

To be fair, it is a game about trying to defeat entropy, so the constant lingering sense of inevitable failure and reliance on things that feel like glitches is kind of the point. There are ways to achieve stability but they are not easy or obvious.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:15, Fri 17 June 2022.

I know this might have been lost in the ONI discussion but this was an explicit question I need ya'll to answer. ^_^;

Sorry, I think I must've skimmed that before and just kinda missed the part about wanting our input.

Yeah, that's definitely something that I would be interested in

I thought I'd responded with "parallel is good". I think that would be a great start

You did but everyone else was silent.

Can do parallel intro threads, sure.

This is the medium to attempt such things

I'll put something up tonight then, if ADHD cooperates. I already have a decent idea of what the scene looks like, so it's just getting it down in a textbox.

Looking forwards to it :)

You probably said, but I just want to be really clear. Is it before 'the event' or afterwards? If it's before I won't have any powers but can be there as a kid who just wants to see heros.

It will be before.

Even more fun. OK I'll just be going to gawk at the great heros

Actually, I just had the thought that we could probably go directly from hero rally to inciting incident. It's better than my original plan, which is "I didn't really have one!"

That works too.

Have fun with which ever.

It's getting quite late here (long day) so I might not be responding until tomorrow

I'm so sorry it took this long. Subsequent posts won't be so hard; the first one is always the roughest.

It is :) Like writer's block

I'll post tonight

Nothing kills creativity better than a blank page, full of the crushing weight of potential fallen short.

Poetic~

I think Eveline is talking to Susan! Pointing it out because it had to be pointed out to me. Anywhoodles, while I won't always do this for the introduction phase I'm waiting for everyone to get at least one message out before I start introducing NPCs. I've pulled a bunch of NPCs from my back catalogue so that every PC has a personal rival, and hope to introduce them super early on.

Yeah, sorry if that wasn't clear.

I wasn't sure if we were supposed to be engaging with each other immediately or just kinda doing whatever and going off with NPCs, so I'm very happy to edit or get brushed off as a weird stranger and go wander somewhere else if it better suits what we're doing.

I liked your post a lot. (I worked out it was me)

I would respond but I am at work :) I'll post tonight (I am Europe). I was just checking the rules on Kendo
This message was last edited by the player at 10:56, Thu 23 June 2022.

Don't worry about the rules for Kendo too much, I highly doubt they have provisions for mechanized armor or super powers. It's more like barely-organized hitting people with bamboo bundles until a referee tells them to stop. =P

I'll comment on that too :) Thanks.

Just to check: does the Kendo competition have people with mechanized armour and super powers in it? (Only for RP gist and something to say). If so by the way how do ordinary people survive it? Or is it just for supers (again just for RP Gist: I can make it up if you want)

They're not explicitly filtered out although it is considered proper to announce any special abilities so that participants can be sent against appropriate opponents. I haven't mentioned it IC yet but people who do well might be given an opportunity to spar against Kamen Divider himself who, yes, does wear a powered exoskeleton. Presumably he reduces his suit's output to give people a fair fight.

Kamen Divider has a description now! ^_^

Squeeee! My hero!

Right so the Maelstrom family pending full approval.

Simon Maelstrom (48, accountant, power Sandwich communication)
Arthur Maelstrom (9, 3rd grade, likes karate & baseball, power Electrical generation)
Charles Maelstrom (7, 1st grade, likes painting & soccer, power Illusions)
Edward Maelstrom (5, pre-school, likes karate & hiding, power Bouncing)

These are not sidekicks, or minions these are complications for her. Obviously Simon's power is a joke, probably useless forever. Arthur no idea how strong it is but it's more likely he goes Leroy Jenkins with it than does something useful. Arthur is the classic all American trope but with cracks of girly creeping through, he likes his idol singers and she's not sure what it is but it's something. Charles mercifully not that aggressive but still prone to getting into trouble with his power. He's the quiet artsy one of the bunch. Edward... Edward wants to be a ninja which probably doesn't help the M.O.M. doesn't want her kids to grow up to be super-heroes thing, and he's five and pretty useless in a fight even if weak attacks just bounce off him.

The idea is all three kids are potentially of interest to the hero association but none of them is net helpful right now.
--
PS: I have intentionally left out any mention of power=level on these powers. Not sure if Jack-Jack level power or Flea-powered is funnier/better story wise. I'm flexible on that and even the powers themselves though, some thought went into these choices.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:07, Thu 23 June 2022.

Just checking: Am I your babysitter? So I would know ACE quite well?

I thought you'd like that!

Good to know the deets on the Maelstrom family; might be good stuff to put in her character bio if you haven't already, since I like to reference that when I need a plot idea.

Baby sitter concept still good. You'd probably know the kids are super and how, know or strongly suspect she's a speedster, and Simon is a bit harder to tell if he's super or playing a joke, he has the Dad jokes

Thanks Olivia


General
Would it be possible for people to fill in their descriptions? Even just a bullet point or two is really helpful.

I am hoping to introduce your NPC rivals sometime this evening (US Eastern time), after I write posts for my other games. I'm still trying to decide who from my roster might best serve as Leroy's foil, though. And I still haven't gotten around to final validations. Today feels like a good day though! I am confident in my productivity!

Affirmations help :) Feel free to leave me without a rival. I'll be fine!

Today was a very productive day... just not for this game. I got caught up on a lot of projects, cleaned my room, etc. So, tomorrow probably.

Alrighty, for real today.

Is Aeon something specific to you, Susan, or can I hook my own existing stuff into it?

Oh we just invented a name of a company in a PM. It's just 'yet another hi tech company doing illicit research' and dad was a minor security guard there.

If you want to bring it in that would be cool: THE Venom Queen raided it for goodies a few years ago. Perhaps they want whatever it was back because there was something incriminating? Or anything else. Or nothing. All good.

uuugh every time I try to write the rivals' intro they come off as dickheads for the sake of being dickheads and that's really not how I want them to be perceived. I think I might skip them for now and wait on introducing them until inspiration strikes.

Which means next post is going to be EXPLOSIONS AND MONSTERS instead. Yay!

Olivia? Waiting on you.

Eveline and I have paused because this is the perfect point of Explosions and Diversions to happen.

Friday, I promise. I have live tabletop in an hour that I still have to prep for, and yesterday I was crippled by pain (I tore a muscle in my back last week and it's taking its sweet time healing).

I had so much fun with these monster designs. I hope you enjoy destroying them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Well if we don't get destroyed first :)

They look interesting and fun.

I've just read some more of the One Punch Hero. https://read1.onepunch-manga.com/ for those of you that haven't.

OK they are genuinely funny. Takes time (for me) to get the humour, but now I have. I love how shallow and vain many of the heros are. They remind me of Captain Amazing in the Mystery Men. And I see what you mean about 'collateral property damage'... You know concrete... it's so fragile.

There only seem to be about 500 heroes (300 grade C, 200 grade B, 100 grade A, not many above that - 10?).
This message was last edited by the player at 11:48, Sat 02 July 2022.

Oh my god, I'm so glad got into this game. I'm dyin' over here Loony! OctoPimp? HippoKrampus? LMAO!

You get it and I love it.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:42, Sat 02 July 2022.

Hehehe. I am glad to hear it!

Sorry for the delayed post. I'm still working double time through the first weekend in August. Need to get a cheap cute outfit that I can retrofit with breakaway magnetic fasteners, drill our team of champignons with the choreography me and my partner made up, so come end of the month we can perform our morel-ity tale of warning about the dangers of mind controlling space mushroom multilevel marketting cults through interpretive artistic swimming.

At least it's an original excuse... But yeah sorry

Its fine~ I was slow on the monster reply too.

I'm new to the system (or may as well be, it's been over a decade).

I just finished reading the One Punch Man up to the point where he is going 'toe to toe' with 'Garou' (who is a 'big bad').

Have I got to the end of them or is there any other website I can find them on?

Nah, you're currently up-to-date unless you want to read the original which is nowhere nearly as well-drawn or complete. It's like a rough draft drawn by the author.

And they are probably in Japanese... I'll have a go at Chinese, but Japanese is Greek to me

They're fan-translated.

Do you have a link?

I do not but Google knows all.

For the record I am not one of those GMs who will drop off the face of the planet without warning. Unless I have literally fucking died I am here and responsive, and I have a deadman's switch in case that happens instructing my friends to let people know what happened. I've just been operating at a mental energy deficit for at least two months so getting posts out has been hard. I also discovered that some people's sheets have fallen into the trap of not putting the points in to do the thing that they need to do, so I want to sort that out before we rush into combat, but so many numbers aaaaaaaaa

point is, sorry for the delays, it'll get better I swear, i just don't know when

Thanks for telling us GM. We'll be here :)

Do you want a hand with anything. I can do 'mechanical number crunching things' if that will help.

As for the numbers: I cannot play M&M without Herolabs. The character creation system is far too complex. But with it... well the numbers are no longer a pain. I originally thought a spreadsheet would be enough, but it isn't: too hard to change and tweak .

I don't think you can help. I'm looking at a lot more than just "do all these numbers add up to what they should" as part of validation. For instance I realized we had a character that didn't have any points in the thing they need to do the thing they want to do; AKA the "okay, roll me accuracy!" "wait, I need accuracy?" problem.

Yeah had thought about asking to drop Daze (lacking skill to matter) and Improved initiative (too situational to matter since it requires fatigue) and bump unarmed strike with and without fatigue. Still a last resort, but at least one that'd hit.

A large part of that of course is the getting rid of attributes. If you have attributes you get those things with it by designing for the attributes first.

But anyway 'who needs accuracy' just go ranged 3 :) Autohit everytime. (at quite a cost and the loss of the ability to do manuvers and... and...)

Olivia has 3.5 attack options. Actually looks worse than I thought.

Mind Control 8 "Voice of God" Area (perception); Limited (while fatigued or worse); Unreliable (5/day); Subtle; Insidious

This looks fine reflex save to cover your ears is fine it's not, not supposed to Daze innocent bystanders.

Mind Control 8 "Have a Sandwich" Limited (degree); Limited (talk things out); subtle; Insidious

So since this is an alternate effect it should cost the same it's cheaper. It's supposed to be single target which is fine. Not supposed to need to tag the enemy so maybe perception ranged, and then it supposed to be based on offering something so sense dependent, probably drop limited degree.

Slam attack is a result of speed 9 (also impervious toughness) that's where it makes sense to have a high attack roll though it only applies when fatigued meaning her actual speed is 8.

The .5 is mom-persuasion (those first two attacks) and mom-gets-things-done (speed) could power-stunt into anything you could talk someone or something into by sheer maternal power or do by moving fast. So like psychic damage or cursing someone with misfortune "you'll put your eye out" are both reasonable, as is throwing tornadoes. And since she powers up when fatigued, power stunt is one of the ways for her to unlock her deeper powers.

Shouldn't 'mom-gets-things-done' be Quickness?

I would have thought so. Super speed is running at 200mph. Quickness is getting things done. My mom can get things done, but she can't run at 200mph

8 ranks of such since its not overcoming hindered, but the ranks of quickness dont help with slam attack

Super Mom may in fact be more super than non-super mom

Go with your vision. But you are basically flash with mind control as you can run faster than the speed of sound

It's a good vision. Fun to play

Well I wouldn't under estimate the value of the Mom purse and her "tank mom" ability, but yeah bossy speedster is roughly where she is.

Make anything a purse could contain, and driven vehicles are cartoonishly effective for her

Meanwhile I'm supposed to be a grappling master XD I had to ditch the combat drones to make it work. ^^;

Awww... I liked the drones. Very 'One Punch Hero' But grappling can be fun

Think I managed to scrounge up enough mental energy tonight to do something useful. Gonna try to push through the remaining validations so I don't have that hanging over my head next time I want to try posting.

Awesome I think I am done.

I hope this turns out to be as interesting as it will be in my head. We never know at character design time how it will all work out

One thing I forgot to mention is that in point-based games that have a complication or aspect system, every time you earn a fate/hero/drama point from your aspect/complication/distinction you also earn a character point. In prior point-based games similar to M&M that I have run, I found that this really helps keep a character's unique complications front and center. I have a spreadsheet that I keep off to one side on my second monitor every time I write a post with a bunch of vital information that I can reference at a glance and complications are one of them. Even so, sometimes I forget, so if I don't explicitly offer the complication to you please please please feel free to ask! ^_^

I REALLY don't like this rule. I urge you to change your mind on it
This message was last edited by the player at 05:48, Thu 14 July 2022.

As I said in PMs I'm not likely to change something that has worked very well for me in the past. If it starts causing problems we can discuss what needs to be changed then.

No problem

Just remove me from the game.

Thanks for letting me join. I enjoyed the character creation and the discussions about the web comic which I wouldn't have met otherwise

I won't play a game where the characters get in game rewards for doing stupid things. I hope the rest of you enjoy the game. Have fun everyone

In game rewards for doing stupid things..?

Uh... you mean in game rewards for overcoming your character's inherent difficulties and restrictions, right?

The stupid thing. Consider the following situations

Character A
* Looses some power when in water
* has children
* is impetuous

How does the GM reward him when
* he deliberatly fights on a bridge
* brings the children to a fight scene
* leaps in before the others despite the others telling him not to... again and again and again

Answer the GM gives him xp after xp. The only xp you get in this game will be for this kind of riddiculous behavior

There are a hundred... a thousand similar scenarios

Alternative xp strategies include
* for succeeding in goals
* for overcoming difficulties
* for good RPing

Still if you like it go with it

Enjoy the game

Susan has now been removed from the game per her request. So that current and potential future players can understand my logic, I wish to address some of the final issues she raised before leaving.

Best as I can tell from the nonsense she gave me in her PMs, she seemed to think that complications reduce player agency by compelling them to take suboptimal ("stupid") actions, as if roleplaying is a game of chess or something. When I tried to tell her this she accused me of "character assassination" so, y'know, maybe I wasn't understanding what she was saying. The gist of it was that she thought complications were bad things and could not understand why anyone might willingly want to do the bad thing that holds their character back.

As for her parting message...



Right, let's take this in order shall we?









As you can see, Complications are always opt-in and only give rewards if they are in service to the adventure!


Some complications are goals! That's why every character needs a Motivation Complication. The book even says so!


Difficulties? You mean like... complications???


Ahhh, the elusive holy grail of writing. What is good roleplaying? What definitive criteria defines roleplaying that is good? Is it consistently writing lines that make players laugh? Well that wouldn't be fair to the people playing serious characters! Making people cry, or think? Some people aren't easily moved to tears, and some people don't want to think about nuanced scientific or social issues in their pretend elf game. What if someone is feeling a little out of the game because of personal issues so they keep posting but in a low energy "sorry for the short post, don't want to hold up the game" way, and then when they get back they're behind on experience? Is it fair to punish a player for having a Bad Brain Week? What if one player just isn't a very good writer, but their presence provides amazing plot hooks and emotional anchoring for the rest of the party? What if they're just not native English speakers?

No way, I am not prepared to make subjective judgements of this magnitude. No matter how impartial I try to be someone is going to feel like someone else is being favored and that is not a good feeling.

Okay, I think I am finally starting to come out of the slump I have been in for the last month. I am HORRIBLY SORRY about how slow this game has been to start.

I found a replacement for Susan, we're just working out some details before they are formally added. My understanding is that they are a gravity-bending skate punk who got their powers from doing a half-pipe in a decommissioned nuclear reactor, so they're basically a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle without the turtle part.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:35, Tue 19 July 2022.

In reply to GM LoonyLadle (msg # 124):

I really don't want to get sued by said Turtle people...and I more alter matter than control gravity, but otherwise that is a very accurate description.

Thanks for having me, everyone!

Your character concept is completely silly and that is why it is great. =P

In reply to GM LoonyLadle (msg # 126):

Thank you.

I based it on the DC character Firestorm, which I thought was pretty cool as he could remake things by changing the arrangement of atoms.

I have no idea who that is~!

So, to make it so I have to rewrite as little as possible, how about Rodrigo conveniently show up to save the powerless rising actress NPC Susan from the dread Shootster? There'll probably be at least one more exchange of The Talks(tm) before we get to battle order, to give me more time to finalize everyone's sheets.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:53, Tue 19 July 2022.

In reply to GM LoonyLadle (msg # 128):

Sounds good! Let me know if there is anything I need to fix on my sheet. It should be clear, but i can also show my math if needed.

Heyla, Rodrigo. Welcome to the game.

In reply to Alice Parnell (msg # 130):

Thank you!

:)

I will finish character validation and get the game moving at a more acceptable pace within the next three days. No more excuses or apologies. I will do this!

If I am unable to do this, I will shelve the game until I am able to do my damn job.

Fingers crossed!

I just realized I never explained that I take the initiative mod directly rather than rolling. I think this better serves the needs of the PbP environment, especially given my "all actors declare their actions at the start of the round" thing I've got going on.

I'll hear other viewpoints however, if you have them!

Waiting on Alice, Leroy, and Olivia!

Literally posting right now.

More apologies go here. You know the drill. I can only make so many before they start sounding insincere.

I am committing to getting a post out within 36 hours. Additionally, I am going to be altering my PbP workflow going forward such that I write a response paragraph to every post as I receive them, not all at once. With luck, this'll convince my dumb ADHD monkey brain that I am doing five simple easy tasks and not one big hard one. I am committing to making one post a week, starting now. Even dumb ADHD monkey brains should be able to handle that.

I don't mind if you nag me to post occasionally. In fact, I wish you would do it more. It reminds me that you care, and that I'm disappointing people when I decide to fuck off and watch cartoons instead. I am giving you full and open invitation to nag me, unrecindable, taking effect immediately.

If I am going to keep to this new goal, I'll also need you to be on the ball with weekly posts too. If I feel like the game is dragging waiting for one player to get their post in, I'll do my best to act for them rather than risking getting myself stuck in a rut again. Ya'll're great so I don't expect this to be a problem, I just want it on record.

Okay! Enough faffing, time to do my bloody job!

Ummm...nagging...nagging...ummm...

Ah! Got it!

How dare you have a real life! Dont you know providing entertainment to people you may have never met in person is much more important!?

:P

Hehehe

What's a real life? o.o

I'm posting what I've got so some of you can get started on replies. I'll do Alice and Olivia tomorrow.

A quick note when you back to edit in for Alice and Olivia...

Just take the <b> in front of Telsa Cow Horn Cannon and put it infront of the first <Rose> to fix the formatting.

Whoopsie-doodle~!

Also I've officially decided Rose for hostiles and Periwinkle for friendlies going forward. Unless they are Very Important Named NPCs.

Reminder that I'd really like to be able to write posts for you by tomorrow in order to stick with my "at least one post a week" resolution, but I need something to respond to first!

Alright, I think it's well past time I admit to myself what everyone else already knows.

I'm too damn ADHD to run a PbP game effectively, and it isn't fair to all of you to keep you up in the air for a month or more for every single post in what is obviously and unavoidably supposed to be a combat-heavy game. I am hereby declaring this game a dud. I hope that you enjoyed writing while it lasted.

But that isn't the end of the tale!

I'm a much better livetext GM than a PbP GM, and I think this premise can go far in an environment that better operates according to my strnegths. That's why I am considering rebooting OPIE on Roll20. Realtime, but still text-based, no voice or camera skills or equipment required. I've had a Pokemon campaign going on Roll20 for almost four years now, so I know I'm good for it!

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, let me know what days and times are good for you. I plan to run sessions weekly, preferably in mid-afternoon Eastern Time. I hope to hear from you~!

Other than that, consider this your one-week heads-up before the game is closed down. It was nice being your GM for the few posts I actually wrote for you!
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:02, Sat 15 Oct 2022.