Aberrant: War Journal - War Journal OOC

[Centimane]

Lori's aberration just increases her body temp to 118.6 F, which is nowhere near enough to cause actual burns (it's like sticking your hand in really hot dishwater - it stings like mad but it won't burn). And if Lori does give Emerald the benifit of her DI, then Emerald will have also inherited some soak as well. So, all in all, I don't see any real problem.

[ProfPotts]

Ah, okay - I thought someone said House was radioactive..? My bad ::confused .

[Centimane]

Ah, okay - I thought someone said House was radioactive..? My bad ::confused .

She has Black Thumb, as listed in the APG on pg. 94. It kills small plants, insects, and wildlife on touch, and it will leave a larger area blighted after a long time, but it has no listed, mechanical effect on larger creatures such as humans (or novas). So I'd assume that Emerald is safe.

[SkyLion]

So you took away the three fingered dactyl hands did you Cottus! ::laugh

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Speaking of Rourke...I dont know anything about him, aside from hes from another cold dimension...Any chance we will see him in "Meet the Characters"?

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And soft radiation *is* very dangerous to humans....over time just as possible of causing cancer, so dont be too lax...

[Centimane]

And soft radiation *is* very dangerous to humans....over time just as possible of causing cancer, so dont be too lax...

Well, seeing as it's the Black Thumb aberration, that kind of thing is entirely up to H since the APG makes no mention of it doing anything to people. I'm not saying I have a problem with it if it does, since that's essentially a free Immolate power that I didn't even pay for, but I kind of doubt that's the case. I'm describing it as "low levels of soft radiation" ICly cuz I don't know what else they'd call it in the Greens (it's not quite the Trinity era yet, so I don't think they'd refer to it simply as "taint energy"). So unless Emerald also has the Shape Shifting power and she shifts into a squirrel, or Heritage decides different, then Black Thumb won't have any mechanical effects on her.

[archer]

So you took away the three fingered dactyl hands did you Cottus! ::laugh

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Speaking of Rourke...I dont know anything about him, aside from hes from another cold dimension...Any chance we will see him in "Meet the Characters"?

That's kinda the way I like it with Rourke. Man o' mystery. ::biggrin Of course, no PC has ever really tried to talk to him or find out about him ICly that I know of. But yeah, common knowledge(among those who dealt with THRONE anyways), is that he's from Permafrost and hitched a ride back to this world right before this big attack started. There are obviously some of the Greens who know more about him than they're telling(like the psychiatrists and other higher-ranking officers), but they're not talking either, for their own reasons.

Heritage and I have talked about his personnel file, and H may be posting some stuff about Rourke in "Meet the Characters". Rourke doesn't really know enough about himself for me to want to do a file. I don't want to give to much away OOC.

I will say this though...I may not be doing very well with it through the typed medium, but Rourke's way of speaking and general behavior are supposed to be very reminiscent of the good guy in old Western flicks. Kind of a John Wayne deal, but without any pronounced accent. He always addresses women as ma'am or miss, is generally very polite and soft-spoken, and uses terms like 'reckon' in everyday speech.

[Alex Green]

She has Black Thumb, as listed in the APG on pg. 94. It kills small plants, insects, and wildlife on touch, and it will leave a larger area blighted after a long time, but it has no listed, mechanical effect on larger creatures such as humans (or novas). So I'd assume that Emerald is safe.

I'm not sure that's a radiation effect. It may be more like a quantum 'bleed' that novas, being quantum absorbers/processors, would be immune to.

[Centimane]

I'm not sure that's a radiation effect. It may be more like a quantum 'bleed' that novas, being quantum absorbers/processors, would be immune to.

That was pretty much my point exactly. Well, kinda.

The descrip says: "The nova radiates a low level of taint at all times..." (emphasis added). So it's definitely "radiation", it's just not the soft or hard radiation listed on pg. 257 of the core book. Hence my describing it ICly as radiation, specifically "soft" radiation. Obviously that's not really the case, but seeing how humans (and scientists especially) feel an instinctive need to classify things according to what they already understand, it followed that they'd likely (and inaccurately) describe it as "low levels of soft radiation".

Although calling it "quantum bleed" is actually kind of cool Alex. Plus your point that novas would likely be automatically immune to it is a very good one.

[ProfPotts]

She has Black Thumb, as listed in the APG on pg. 94.

Ah, gotcha! ::thumbup1

On the other hand, something of a more serious flaw with the Attunement + DI thing hit me today at work as I was crunching numbers (you know how it is... ::rolleyes ):

Emerald, being all non-Cobra, has Strength 2. Now, in order for her to gain Mega-Strength 1 via Density Control [increase] she'd need to have 4 successes applied to her, which would mean House would have 4 successes applied as well. Standard (for game purposes) human weight is 100 kg (p.234) - 4 doublings makes 1,600 kg. Mega-Strength 1 can't even lift that, let alone carry it!

In fact the books says that a Nova can carry only 100 kg per dot of Mega-Strength - so to carry House's 'usual' half-ton you'd need Mega-Strength 5! Of course, since the Aberrant: Elites book came out & they told us that a Mega-Strength 2 Nova can run around with a 1 ton BFG I think most STs have taken the base book's 'carry limits' with a big pinch of salt. In my games I go with a standard 10% of lifting weight (so a Mega-Strength 2 Nova can lift 10,000 kg, & carry 1,000 kg). I seem to recall Heritage being even more generous - Rex got to carry a 750 kg Bulldog with only a Mega-Strength of 1 (in his 'tiny' form... ::sly ) - although I can't remember how much it bogged him down to do so.

So, if (for argument's sake - Heritage rules how he pleases ::wink ) we were using the 10% of lifting weight variant for carry weight, then even Mega-Strength 2 (with a weight of 3,200 kg) wouldn't cut it. Nor would Mega-Strength 3 (carry 2,500 kg, weight of 6,400 kg), Mega-Strength 4 (carry 5,000 kg, weight 12,800 kg), Mega-Strength 5 (carry 10,000 kg, weight 25,600 kg), or even Mega-Strength 6 (carry 20,000 kg, weight 51,200 kg).

Using Density Control [increase] with Attunement to pass on Mega-Strength is a great idea - just not in the sort of situation we've got going in-game.

Now, did someone say that House had Gravity Control? The suggestion to use Gravitational Field to reduce House's personal weight to zero (just needs 2 lousy successes, & lasts for Concentration duration too) seems like the best idea yet... Unless, of course, Heritage rules that Emerald can just pull things along with her TK at full speed - which would be very good for Halle (power-wise). I wouldn't allow it in QZ, but then again War Journal is set in a later time, with more powerful Novas: from in-game descriptions I suspect that House has the ability to hit Mega-Strength 6, & that Havoc has the Extra Clones Extra (brought with weaknesses maybe?) - if that's true then the PCs are already pushing the limits power-wise, & allowing Emerald to 'tow' with TK could well fit right in with that sort of thing.

Sorry if I'm rambling... sometimes my mind just starts to churn through this sort of stuff... I'll shut up once Heritage rules... ::wink ::biggrin

[Alex Green]

The descrip says: "The nova radiates a low level of taint at all times..." (emphasis added). So it's definitely "radiation", it's just not the soft or hard radiation listed on pg. 257 of the core book. Hence my describing it ICly as radiation, specifically "soft" radiation. Obviously that's not really the case, but seeing how humans (and scientists especially) feel an instinctive need to classify things according to what they already understand, it followed that they'd likely (and inaccurately) describe it as "low levels of soft radiation".

"Radiates" is a form of propigation, not a type of energy. Light radiates from a light bulb, etc. All radiation radiates, but not everything that radiates is radiation. The energy type we are dealing with here is "taint", which I suspect is short hand for "raw quantum" or whatever. Taint of this kind apparently hits non-novas like radiation, but it's at a low enough level that the damage is slow for large creatures (like humans).

RE: Carry

I think that's short for "carry without effecting encumberance". But I don't remember the effects of being encumbered.

[ProfPotts]

RE: Carry

I think that's short for "carry without effecting encumberance". But I don't remember the effects of being encumbered.

Yeah - good clarification, thanks. ::thumbup

Carrying weight over your encumbrance limit imparts a difficulty of 1 on all actions, & reduces base movement by 1 meter per 10 kg. Carrying double or more your unencumbered limit & you can't move. Since in my example above - in every case - of Emerald's Strength being boosted by House using Density Control [increase] & Attunement, House's weight will exceed twice Emerald's carry capacity, then Emerald couldn't both lift House & move. As always, Heritage is the grand-poobah of all things War Journally - so my example is most likely wrong - but you get the picture: increased mass isn't the best choice for increased movement rate.

[Centimane]

Yeah, I'd say that Attuning for Strength is probably out (unless Heritage says different), I didn't realize Emerald was that far away from Mega-Strength level. Plus, all that didn't even take into account all the Cobra gear Lori's toting around.

Regarding Carrying Cap. for Mega-Strength: I tend to take the rules for carrying cap with a bucket of salt! My personal take is that a nova should be able to carry (roughly) 20% of their total lifting ability. A baseline with Might 10 can deadlift 550 kg, and can carry 100 kg without penalty, and a full 190 kg before they can no longer move.

That means they can carry 18% of their lifting cap without penalty, and 34.5% if they limit themselves to a slow walk. So to make things easy for STs and players, just say that novas can carry 20% of their lifting cap without penalty, and double that means they can't move. At higher levels (4+) I don't think it'd be too uber to up that to something more like 25% base, 50% max.

Assuming 20% base, here's what we get:

Mega-Strength Base Carrying Capacity:

1 dot: 200 kg (20% of 1 ton, and only 2% more relative weight than a baseline can carry)

2 dots: 2000 kg (10x mega-1, compare to the lifting cap of 1 ton vs. 10 tons)

3 dots: 5000 kg (2.5x mega-2, compare to 10 tons vs. 25 tons)

4 dots: 10,000 kg (2x mega-3, compare to 25 tons vs. 50 tons)

5 dots: 20,000 kg (2x mega-4, compare to 50 tons vs. 100 tons)

This is internally consistent, comparable to what a baseline can do, and it solves the infamous BFG problem. So there's my 2 cents.

[Heritage]

Yeah, I'd say that Attuning for Strength is probably out (unless Heritage says different), I didn't realize Emerald was that far away from Mega-Strength level. Plus, all that didn't even take into account all the Cobra gear Lori's toting around.

Regarding Carrying Cap. for Mega-Strength: I tend to take the rules for carrying cap with a bucket of salt! My personal take is that a nova should be able to carry (roughly) 20% of their total lifting ability. A baseline with Might 10 can deadlift 550 kg, and can carry 100 kg without penalty, and a full 190 kg before they can no longer move.

That means they can carry 18% of their lifting cap without penalty, and 34.5% if they limit themselves to a slow walk. So to make things easy for STs and players, just say that novas can carry 20% of their lifting cap without penalty, and double that means they can't move. At higher levels (4+) I don't think it'd be too uber to up that to something more like 25% base, 50% max.

Assuming 20% base, here's what we get:

Mega-Strength Base Carrying Capacity:

1 dot: 200 kg (20% of 1 ton, and only 2% more relative weight than a baseline can carry)

2 dots: 2000 kg (10x mega-1, compare to the lifting cap of 1 ton vs. 10 tons)

3 dots: 5000 kg (2.5x mega-2, compare to 10 tons vs. 25 tons)

4 dots: 10,000 kg (2x mega-3, compare to 25 tons vs. 50 tons)

5 dots: 20,000 kg (2x mega-4, compare to 50 tons vs. 100 tons)

This is internally consistent, comparable to what a baseline can do, and it solves the infamous BFG problem. So there's my 2 cents.

I like this figuring a lot, so we're gonna use these percentages in WJ from now on:

10% of max for running speed

20% of max for regular walking or slow walk over difficult terrain

35% of max for slow walking over level/easy terrain, and doing nothing else

I'm defining slow walk as half of walking speed. How does that sound to people?

[Centimane]

The ruling sounds good to me. ::thumbsup

BTW, I added a pic of House to her Personel File, in case anyone's interested. Obviously, there's no way I could accurately represent Mega-Appearance 5, but I did my best. Also, the glossy skin thing could have been better, but I think it's close enough to give you guys an idea anyway (plus it was a pain in the ass - you'd think painting shiny wet spots would be easy, but noooo... ::glare). The Bulldog she's holding is practically a copy of the one that Heritage posted, I just drew it in a slightly different position and then painted it using colors from the background. Her shoulder holster is based off of a USMC version, and the camo pattern was taken from a free internet site that had some up for grabs. The background is just my vain attempt at being artsy and stylish.

Anyway, it came out good enough that I decided to put it up for everyone to see. Hope you guys like.

[SkyLion]

Sha-WING! ::wub

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Great job CC! You did a fantastic job on the "sheen" effect. As always, your eyes really seem alive...don't know how you do it man! Oh and I did notice that you used a similar endowment to the infamous Mega-Appearance picture. ::what

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Oh, and Heritage , if you are reading this, do you think I will be able to enter play soon? I was going to make an entrance to help with those missles, but it seems likr the scene will soon be shifting... ::unsure ...of course however (and whenever) you would like me to come in is fine. ::smile

[ProfPotts]

Great pic CC! There's a certain 'Kitty Pride'ishness about the face - which can only be a good thing in my book! You really get the 'looks great, no matter the circumstances' aspect of House over in that picture - she looks both ready for (or just finished some) action, yet still manages to be casually attractive - very nice. ::thumbup1

[Heritage]

"Good heavens, Miss Yevtushenko, you're beautiful!"

Very nice pic, dude! Do you ever do commissions/requests, because there are several NPCs I'd love to see get the CC treatment!

Oh, and Heritage , if you are reading this, do you think I will be able to enter play soon? I was going to make an entrance to help with those missles, but it seems likr the scene will soon be shifting... ::unsure ...of course however (and whenever) you would like me to come in is fine. ::smile

I should be able to get you in soon; I'm thinking due to your previous connection with Colby we might start you up 8th Battalion way, if that's cool with you. Seeing as we sort of have two 'parties' forming at this time I'd kind of like to see a bit more of a balance between PCs in both, at least for now.

[Alex Green]

...Wow! ::wub

[SkyLion]

I should be able to get you in soon; I'm thinking due to your previous connection with Colby we might start you up 8th Battalion way, if that's cool with you. Seeing as we sort of have two 'parties' forming at this time I'd kind of like to see a bit more of a balance between PCs in both, at least for now.

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Im a bit addled after rereading the entire thread(s)...Is 8th battalion the one with Vlad's tunnel?

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Oh...and I just noticed Loris hair CC....its amazing your ability to capture the way light plays on objects...

[archer]

Im a bit addled after rereading the entire thread(s)...Is 8th battalion the one with Vlad's tunnel?

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Oh...and I just noticed Loris hair CC....its amazing your ability to capture the way light plays on objects...

No, 8th is where Rourke is, along with a bunch of NPCs. I think Heritage is trying to make 8th a point of retreat right now, since it's the only place not actively under attack and has medical supplies.

[SkyLion]

No, 8th is where Rourke is, along with a bunch of NPCs. I think Heritage is trying to make 8th a point of retreat right now, since it's the only place not actively under attack and has medical supplies.

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Yes thank you, i finally found it. Emma, the Captain, Colby and Epstein are all ther now right? With Rourke, Hawthorne and the kids...

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...Im not sure of what use my character would be there...as soon as I get approval from Heritage I can post full details but for now I can say that I am going for an elite assasin type...

[ProfPotts]

So how many PCs are left to add a description to the personnel files thread? I find myself refering there quite a lot as I try to get to grips with who's who, but there seem to be a few missing... ::unsure

[Centimane]

Asbjorn: Hood

Prince of Boredom: Nomad

Grizzly: Griffin

ProfPotts: Emerald

Archer: Rourke

Alex: Vlad

BlueNinja: Kaprisky

Me: Brick House

Phoenix: Sarah

Tooho: Emma

Ezekiel: Havoc

That's off the top of my head, so if I missed someone please don't be mad at me.

Edited cuz I did forget about Havoc (sorry man, I don't how I forgot about Havoc, the guy's technically the longest running character in the game ::blush)

[Centimane]

Oh! Got sidetracked....

Thanks for all the kind words regarding my pic guys, that means a lot!

Heritage, I'll PM you about commissions, but just to warn you: I owe Sky a pic that's overdue, and I still need to do at least one more pic for The New Flesh as well. After that I have no commitments. So yeah, I'll PM you, or you can PM me whichever, but I'd be happy to work with you.

[Grizzly]

WOW!! Great job, CC! I wish I would have 10% of your artistical ability. ::sad

[Alex Green]

Asbjorn: Hood

Alex: Vlad

BlueNinja: Kaprisky

Phoenix: Sarah

ProfPotts: Emerald

Cottus Centimane: Brick House

Prince of Boredom: Nomad

Grizzly: Griffin

Archer: Rourke

Tooho: Emma

Ezekiel: Havoc

I think the Prof was commenting on the lack of an entry for half of the people on that list. Listed rank, known abilities, personalities, etc. For example knowing that House is a (very) mega-app female tells me that Vlad will try to make statues of her.

[Heritage]

Hey gang. I'm sorry for the extremely long posting break in WJ; between my cold (which is almost completely gone but not quite) and trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing (i.e. working on some planning), I've been fairly out of it creatively the last few weeks. I'd hoped to post over the weekend, but it got kind of insane.

So, no more excuses from me! Look for posting from me tonight (about six hours from now), starting off with a 'where the hell is Havoc?' post, and going from there.

[SkyLion]

Oooooh! Pick me! Pick me! Pretty please! :jumping40:

[Heritage]

Oooooh! Pick me! Pick me! Pretty please! :jumping40:

Check your PMs, SL - almost ready for your closeup ::biggrin

[Heritage]

Ok, that one stupid post took forever to write, had to go through lots of old notes. More to come tomorrow!

[Heritage]

Sorry about the complete lack of action here; been in kind of creative funk lately, but I think I'm finally just about out of it. Skylion, check your PM box for some important questions about your character!

Gonna try and put up a least a few posts today, since I'm home sick.

[Heritage]

Welcome, Mr. Schenk! I see that you take after your attractive parents - they were some sort of porn stars back in the day, weren't they? ::wink

Seriously, good to have you in the game, CD - though I have been struggling quite a bit with posting recently, I hope to be fairly active this weekend mit der posten.

[ProfPotts]

Heritage, buddy - are you waiting for someone else to post, or just still tangled in RL stuff? I know I'm not one to talk ::wink , but it's been like 10 days since the last ST post, & getting dangerously close to a month since a ST post related to 'the flying bimbo squad'...

... Of course, maybe this is just the result of Halle botching a HyperFlight roll & causing time to freeze... ::unsure ::wink ::biggrin

[ConcreteDragon]

Heritage, buddy - are you waiting for someone else to post, or just still tangled in RL stuff? I know I'm not one to talk ::wink , but it's been like 10 days since the last ST post, & getting dangerously close to a month since a ST post related to 'the flying bimbo squad'...

... Of course, maybe this is just the result of Halle botching a HyperFlight roll & causing time to freeze... ::unsure ::wink ::biggrin

Naaaaaaa.....

I just scared him away ::devil

[SkyLion]

Im still waiting too! :jumping40:

[Heritage]

Sorry to be so negligent, guys - I keep saying I'm going to post and I haven't been, which is not cool; the good news is I finally have some genuine free time this weekend, and I will catch up on all of the posting here. SkyLion, there will also be a PM coming your way about Cogen.

[Heritage]

Okay guys, here's the deal; after doing some soul-searching and talking with friends, I think I've figured out why I'm struggling so much with this game, none of which should come as a surprise to anyone:

Too many characters: There are eleven characters in this game, not including SkyLion's who hasn't joined us yet. Trying to monitor and post for all of them is really challenging.

Too many locations: My concept for an epic scale campaign is backfiring, as myself and everyone else is having a great deal of trouble of figuring out who is where.

I'm not sure what to do right now; Zeke is willing to drop out of the game, which would mean no more Havoc, but that's only a drop in the bucket. Does anyone else have any ideas? I could really use your help, guys - a well-placed time jump to bring folks together is something I've been wanting to do for a while, but that would still only be part of a solution.

[ProfPotts]

Well, what I tend to try to do is to split the PCs into two or three more managable groups - each with their own 'bit' of plotline, semi-independent from each other. Of course that ends up like running two or three seperate games... ::unsure

Maybe it'd be a good idea if you gave us some outline of where you want the game the head next? As far as I can tell this intro' bit is, essentially, the 'death' of the Greens (at least in their currant form) - if that's the case, is there going to be anything to keep the PCs together? If this is more of a 'setback' for the Greens, then I'd suggest that some sort of rally point would be a good place to time-jump to: of course, this being War Journal & all, some of us might like to get some actually fighting in whilst we can... ::wink

If the whole thing seems totally unmanagable, then could you indicate how many PCs you'd prefer? Five or six tends to be the upper limit if you're looking for a table-top style 'adventuring party' vibe, in my experience. Now, that'd make two reasonable 'parties' if you split the PCs down the middle (& don't mind running simultaneous plotlines) - you could even have the two groups oppose each other if you're feeling frisky (maybe after the Greens die they each hop on-board with different sides?). Otherwise you could have group 'a' doing one mission whilst group 'b' does another - maybe with some crossover (e.g. 'a's mission to shut down the enemy power plant aids 'b's assault on the enemy fortress).

One issue which could be making things harder is the sheer number of characters in the game period - NPCs included: a 'party' of just PCs (perhaps with a single NPC as a ST 'advisor' character) is often easier to follow & control than a party with half a dozen NPCs as well as the PCs. Considering the recent slaughter, this should be pretty easy to justify.

Something I tend to find with military-based games in general is that you get a lot of control as ST thanks to the whole military structure, but that you also tend to get - as a result of the same thing - a bunch of PCs waiting around for someone to tell them what to do, & often doing nothing on the grounds that 'it's not my assigned job'. This can be fine if you've got solid ideas where you want the PCs to go, but a burden if you're more into 'open' gaming. From here the game seems like it could go either way - the PCs become the core military unit of the remaining Greens, or the PCs get cut loose & go independent.

Personally I think I'd most like to see a genuine huge battle - where all the PCs get to cut loose with their powers, Maxing left & right, & taking on scores of enemy soldiers, tanks & the like: you know those great big crossover comics events which have enormous fold-out centre spreads of supers battling? In the circumstances such a battle could be anything from holding off the enemy for long enough that the Green survivors can escape, to taking the fight to the enemy in retalliation for the sneak attack. Everyone likes to show-off their character's powers in an Aberrant game, after all, & I'm not sure how many real opportunities to do so there have been yet. That sort of stuff also tends to help to make PCs recognisable to other players - you remember the signature moves, the power descriptions, & stuff more that you do 'First Sergeant Smith'... at least I do...

Of course, on top of everyone getting to show-off & be all heroic & stuff, if you really want to cull the PCs then such a big fight would be an ideal opportunity - just make sure that we all know that those who die (hopefully heroically) remain dead & won't be getting replacements... :tombstone:

Anyway - that's just my ha'penny worth...

[phoenix]

You could have two, rather than one, in-game threads, like ProfPotts did for Quantum Zero (and QZ: Elites). This might solve the organizational problems you raised. The issues you raised could be less challenging if each location and group of characters had their own thread, and you could plainly see whom you'd posted for and whom you hadn't.

This could be easier on everyone. For example, as Glacier's player in Quantum Zero, the existence of several different storylines means I don't have to know what's going on with, say, Alex Green's eponymous character.

Blue Thunder's approach might be a little easier as well. He divides the Night of Long Knives storyline into multiple storylines, but these are reshuffled at the end of every story arc. The upside to this is that our many characters still form a cohesive unit, the Prometheans - as opposed to Quantum Zero, where my character hasn't interacted with Alex Green in a hundred pages or so, or even met most of the other Elites. The downside is that there are a lot of different game threads to keep track of if you don't remember what happened.

Those are a few somewhat random thoughts. But in general, I agree with what Prof said, and suggest a reorganization of the game threads to facilitate it.

[Alex Green]

What I have seen on other boards is a location thread. This works well with multiple PCs running around changing location on the drop of a dime.

Example: Base #1 has three rooms (A, B, & C), room C has a dance going on. My PC has just woken up (in room A which is the dorm) and is going to join the party. I would copy the entire location entry (which details everyone) and then edit it to change my PC's location and what he's doing. It's important to copy EVERYONE's location so the current entry of the location thread has the current information.

Current Entry:

Base #1: Room A

PC #1 (what he is doing)

PC #2 (What he is doing)

NPC

Base #1: Room B

Three NCPs

Base #1: Room C (party)

(At the bar)

PC #5

PC #6

(On the dance floor)

Vlad (Alex Green)