Dr. Arcturus Posted January 1, 2002 Share Posted January 1, 2002 Im running a story based on the DC mega-crossover DC 1,000,000. For those of you unfamiliar with the series,it takes place in the year 85,21 A.D. and details (albeit vaugley) what the various heroic bloodlines from the 20th century heroes are at the other end of time. My story involves Justice Legion A, the godlike descendants of the modern day Justice League of America. Its members includes that eras Superman ("Faster than a speeding Tachyon, More than the gravitational pull of an imploding neutron star,Able to punch through time,Able to leap from world to world in a single bound),Starman( wielder of the titanically powerful Quarvat cosmic rod),Wonder Woman( carved from living marble,imbued with the spirit of the mondern day Wonder Woman), Aquaman( water controling monarch of Neptune),the Flash,Batman( I.Q. 1045,unparalelled detective and combatant), and Hourman( android imbued with superhuman physical attributes,and a device called a Worlogog which gives him total supremacy over the fabric of time and space),and Superman Prime(Modern day Superman after 1,000,000+ years of evolution , including a 15,000 year Chrysalis in the core of the sun;current possesor of the Last Green Lantern Power Ring).Any help profiling these fellas would be warmly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted January 1, 2002 Share Posted January 1, 2002 I saw a few issues of that storyline. I think you are going to have to make up a whole hell of a lot of powers yourself. Some of those bastards are weilding powers that look to be in the level of Q10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Arcturus Posted January 2, 2002 Author Share Posted January 2, 2002 So, do I have to abandon the character creation rules altogether or can I somehow adjust the number of points to spend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted January 2, 2002 Share Posted January 2, 2002 There is no way in hell you could get a 20th century Superman with 30 Nova Points. I doubt it highly with 50 Nova Points. I have seen reasonable versions of Pax made with about 150 Nova Points and Superman could still probably bitchslap him like a weezing little monkey. And you want to make the 847th century Superman with the character gen rules?Nope, not gonna happen. You are putting together a game with NPCs who are so far out there that they would be considered godlike when compared to the high level Terat Pantheon characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Arcturus Posted January 2, 2002 Author Share Posted January 2, 2002 Ok, so for Superman 1,000,000,I'd need to pull something like a million Nova points out of my ass,which is fine....I think.But what about weapons,like Starman's cosmic rod (Quarvat) or the Lantern Power Ring?Throw me a bone Prodigy,there must be some amount of Nova points and some combination of powers that can make these characters possible?!If it helps at all, http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/1185/jlegion.html has profiles of Justice Legion A(who,by the way,are PC's).[ 01-02-2002: Message edited by: Quantum Promise ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted January 2, 2002 Share Posted January 2, 2002 Well, just give the weapons powers themselves. The Power Ring has Quantum Construct of 5 Dots and Q8 with Mastery 2. Give it effectively unlimited Quantum Pool and the user rolls a dicepool of Willpower+ the Rings Quantum Mastery.The Starman weapon looks like it has QBolt, Forcefield, Flight, the Adaptation MegaStamina enhancement, Hypermovement, Gravitikonesis, and otherstuff. Again, give it an unlimited Q Pool, Q8 and everything gets Mastery 2.The problem is that Aberrant isn't designed to mimic certain comic book concepts. If you want to use it for that you really are going to have to play it pretty loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Arcturus Posted January 2, 2002 Author Share Posted January 2, 2002 Ok,loose is difinitely in the cards.Should I adjust the mechanics of the ring so that it possess effective Quantum equal to the characters willpower? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted January 3, 2002 Share Posted January 3, 2002 Quote:Originally posted by Quantum Promise:Ok,loose is difinitely in the cards.Should I adjust the mechanics of the ring so that it possess effective Quantum equal to the characters willpower?Eh, I would just use willpower as part of the dicepool instead. The ring is muy powerful even in the hands of a loser like G'Nort, it is just *more* effective in the hands of somebody with beaucoup willpower. Maybe toss in extra dice if the person has dots in Arts with specialization in drawing or sculpture.So, for your megaBatman guy, do the same thing. Max out his stats and abilities, throw some MegaInt at him and then give him a shitload of powers but make them all gadget based. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard Posted January 3, 2002 Share Posted January 3, 2002 You might be missing the imagination factor here. Yes, willpower is important but part of the reason the new GL is as powerful as he is rests in the fact that he wasn't told about limitations. And his personality is slightly obsessive about creating in many media. He lives for it, breathes for it and can't get enough of it.About a year ago they split the JLA into the proverbial two identities, human and hero. The GL hero portion was willpower and ring alone but lack the imagination use it for anything other than obvious weaponry and armor. The GL human became a near basket case of unrestrained creativity reduced to sketching on the walls with pencils when he ran out of paper and colors.[ 01-02-2002: Message edited by: Wizard ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Arcturus Posted January 3, 2002 Author Share Posted January 3, 2002 OK,so maybe have (willpower+skill)+power rating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Arcturus Posted January 3, 2002 Author Share Posted January 3, 2002 Wizard, how would YOU handle the mechanics of characters at this power level? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugin Posted January 3, 2002 Share Posted January 3, 2002 Wiz, don't want to get into a pissing contest over whose interpretation of the power rings is correct. Kyle's ring is different than Hal's was and I am more familiar with Hal than Kyle. But, from a few things I have read suggests that Kyle's imagination is not what makes him the better GL, but more substantive qualities that Hal lacked that assisted in Hal's downfall.Yes, Kyle comes up with cooler shit, but you know, so did Guy Gardner (at least bigger, badder, nastier shit) but when it came down to brass tacks, Hal pimpslapped Guy up and down the street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Not a problem, James. There are still a lot of people out there that are sensitive on that particular subject. How to do it? To represent the ring in the hands of a capable weilder, you would need to think of the GL power as a framework, or suite. I'm not sure off the top of my head what you would call it but as Jager once pointed out; once you start on a basic or primal theme it becomes possible to justify almost anything. A telekinetic could justify shapeshift as the ability to reorganize his molecular structure consciously. Or fly (no, I am not going into the telekinetic can't fly argument, it's silly).To be honest, I'm not actually tempted to create a comic book character and role play him. Using it as inspiration and a starting point in different though. We can do homage to a character without trying to wear his suit and steal his life.You need to decide exactly what you want this being to be. 'Cuz I'm not going to help you build GL for the reason above.1. Human (baseline) with great power?- The ring is a powerful nova either in chrysalis and being influenced by a human mind as though in a dream; or- A powerful nova conducting an experiment, doing research, or just having fun seeing what a baseline would do with the power of a god and none of the drawbacks.Might make an interesting experience since it's a given that the nova will eventually lose interest as it awakens or stops the experiment. Could be a powerful and difficult roleplay, though it take a certain level of maturity to go into a situation like that as a player.2. A nova?Figure out what you want him to be. Hal was a hotshot test pilot and his approach to ring usage reflected that. Rayner is an artist and his use reflects that as well. Irregardless of the varying interpretations of the ring there are a couple of recurring themes:- Some GL's do things that others can't even conceive of. The orginal golden age GL and John Stewart both understood the trick of becoming incorporeal like a ghost. I vaguely remember Rayner asking him about this and after a minute of thinking he replied, "I dunno. It just made sense. Wouldn't know how to begin explaining it though."So not every GL is equal and it doesn't (necessarily) have anything to do with willpower. The ring is limited by the imagination of the weilder as well as the 'will' of the user. Hal used boxing gloves, hammers and chains. Rayner has a more vivid imagination. G'nort use to create GL power bones to chew on and could barely concentrate enough to fly.So not every GL has the same approach, the same insight, the same imagination. If someone gave you and I three conditions of a story and told us to go write, would we write the same story? You could add a hundred conditions and our stories would show some similarities but would they be the same?My advice? Create the character first then worry about the ring. After you create the character you have an idea of what he would try to do in certain situations. If you want him to be an artist, great. Don't try to be Kyle Rayner. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but it's not very imaginative. You can do better.Once you have an idea start trying to figure out what he can do. Yes, the ring could conceivably do anything he can imagine. My favorite quote is from a recent GL comic where Rayner is trying to explain to the entire Justice League why they may need to kill the guy they're after, a villain with very similar powers. He's just cut Superman (Superman!) off in mid fatherly advice and says,"Did you know I could split atoms with this thing? It's not actually hard, it just takes concentration. Containing the power released is a little trickier."The look on their face is priceless. Sounds pretty cool, huh? Did you also know that Rayner took his ring off when he slept? That he was terrified of what he might accidentally do in his sleep while dreaming? Or that he created a powerful demonic entity inadvertently from his own subconscious when his life was becoming rough?Still want the power?Unless you want Rayner, which doesn't tempt me, you need to prioritize what it is that you visualize him being capable of. It's not a requirement but I would recommend developing a power framework or suite, like Weather or Gravity, and then coming up with a couple of techniques. Anything that you can justify to your ST is possible; there's your versatility. It just costs extra quantum to use any technique not purchased outright.The powers (regardless of the duration of the techniques) have a concentration aspect to them. Translation; you are at a disadvantage while doing anything using the ring because you are concentrating on what you are doing. I would factor in willpower rolls extensively. Oh, well. This is enough to use as a start if you're serious. Good luck. Please come up with something better than an outright plagarization of Gl, but this is in your hands not mine.And remember to have fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Arcturus Posted January 4, 2002 Author Share Posted January 4, 2002 Thank you Wizard,I appreciate your help.I actually had already been setting up this game before I even had the Aberrant system. I have seen a number of systems that could concievably come up with the techniques and power levels neede, but Aberrant has proven to be most versatile. The are actually my players actual identities, if they happened to be Justice Legion A. So far,it's proving to be rather fun (In fact, "Superman" and "Starman" battles have made for intereseting conflicts when fighting fifth dimensional garden gnomes)!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidious Posted January 5, 2002 Share Posted January 5, 2002 well why not just make the New GL ring a quantum powered object that lets it's user have incredible powers?this would remove the need for node and other backgrounds. while remaining true to the character.I think i did something like this on one of the other character models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Arcturus Posted January 5, 2002 Author Share Posted January 5, 2002 Thats a really good idea. Maybe give Green Lantern the "Dumbo Syndrome" Taint,whereas he can't use his powers unless he first "summons" his ring.Heh,maybe I can add a little more mental instability and give him shizophrenia,making him completely convinced that he was given a "power ring" by a "guardian of the universe"...Imagination abound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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