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Aberrant RPG - Public Approval


ProfPotts

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There's an old superhero RPG called 'Golden Heroes' written by Simon Burley & Pete Haines which came out in 1984 & was, in many ways, a game ahead of its time. One of its superior features was a system of 'Campaign Ratings' which were used as an aid to describing the life of the hero - how the public saw him, & what sort of state his private life was in. One of the great things about the system was that it can be easily adapted to any game - & Aberrant seems particulary appropriate.

Campaign Ratings were meant to be an aid to role-play, rather than a substitute &, unlike things purchased with hard-earned XP, weren't meant as a 'reward system' - having higher or lower ratings didn't make your character 'better' or 'worse' than any other - it just helped to quantify how they fit into their world.

So, how would these things work in Aberrant? Well, pretty much in a manner familiar to most WW players - each rating has four areas which are measured from one to five dots, & one area measured from one to ten dots. Sound familiar? The totals give an overall rating, but the individual areas indicate how that character is getting on in more specific ways.

Public Approval:

Novas are, by & large, figures in the public eye. What they do & say, & how they do & say it, is important in how the public view & receive them. Public Approval can vary from nation-to-nation, culture-to-culture, & even sub-culture-to-sub-culture, but the overall rating should reflect what could be seen as the 'mainstream' public & media's view of the character.

Public Approval is divided into the following areas -

Accountability

Novas are powerful individuals who could, often, if they put their minds to it, ignore any & all social & legal restrictions placed upon normal people. The public, as a whole, react better to those Novas who they perceive as working within the normal limits of society, & dislike those who do whatever they want.

* - The Nova shows no real regard for human laws & does whatever he or she (or it) wants whenever he wants to. In general this level of Accountability is reserved for practicing Terats & similar criminal types who have broken those laws seen as 'major' by most normal people. A Nova who has gotten away with rape, murder, theft or similar because he's a Nova would have this level of Accountability.

** - At this level the Nova routinely breaks laws considered 'minor' by most people, & doesn't care that he does. This includes Novas who cross national borders without the correct legal procedures, sprint at Hyperspeeds faster than posted limits, & similar incidents.

*** - A normal law-abiding member of the public this Nova obeys the rules the rest of us have to live by, but has no additional restraints placed upon him. This is the normal rating for an independant, but responsible, Nova.

**** - The Nova is employed, or otherwise supported, by a recognised & respected authority (who is presumed to keep the Nova under some sort of control) such as a respected multi-national corporation, or a local city government. Novas employed by, for example, Masters International, would be considered to have an Accountability of this level.

***** - This level of Accountability is reserved for Novas employed or otherwise supported by the United Nations or the local National government. T2M & other PU Novas have this level, as do Nippontai when in Japan (outside of Japan they have a rating of 4, unless in a country hostile to Japan where they'd be rated based on their individual behaviour).

The character's actions can raise & lower his Accountability rating from this base. E.g. a T2Mer who is constantly being disciplined for breaking the rules would see his rating drop steadily.

Role Model

How much does the character's public image fit that which people see as a 'positive role model'? Novas who make the effort to act in a moral & upstanding way are, generally, more popular than those who act as 'bad guys'. As always different sub-cultures will reflect different ideals (after all, someone buys all those Teragen T-Shirts... ::wink ) but this rating covers the 'normal' public image of what a Nova 'should' act like.

* - Anti-hero or criminal behaviour, like most Terats. This character is used as an example of how not to act, & only admired by weird fringe elements of society (like American teenagers... ::tongue ).

** - Vigilante or 'bad boy' behaviour. The character is seen by most as, if not an out-&-out crinimal, then as a bad influence. This is the sort of rating Gangsta Rappers would get.

*** - Slightly suspect, the character isn't a paragon of virtue, but isn't the devil incarnate either. Most Novas (& celebrities) will end up with this rating - generally seen as 'okay', but with the odd scandel in the media tarnishing their reputations.

**** - A hero or 'good guy', this Nova is seen as a generally positive role model, good influence, & an example of how people like Novas to act.

***** - A paragon of virtue, this Novas is seen as a 'boy scout' & loved by housewives & grandparents alike - a shining example for all of humanity.

The character's Role Model rating is based on how he or she acts (or is seen to act) in public. A character who supports a 'just say no to drugs' campaign could rise a dot, while a nice guy who's snapped coming out of The Amp Room steaming will probably lose a dot. An average 'nice' Elite (who doesn't mangle his opponents to death on live TV) will probably rate a 3 at most, while a T2Mer who constantly helps disaster victims & avoids scandel will rate a 5.

Public Empathy

People tend to like those they can relate to more than those who seem 'other'. With Novas this can have quite an effect on their Public Approval ratings, since Novas are, as a whole, a very unusual bunch.

* - Any character with at least one High-Level aberration will rate this low... after all, by this point he's a true monster...

** - Characters with at least one Medium-Level aberration will be at this level - too weird for most to appreciate.

*** - Characters with at least one Low-Level aberration are at this level - unusual & different, but not altogether in-human.

**** - Most Novas rate at this level, any with 'strange' powers which set them aside from baseline humanity.

***** - Only those Novas with the most subtle of powers, those which could be seen as natural advancements of normal human abilities, rate this high. A character with just Mega-Attributes & more subtle Enhancements can rate a 5.

Public Empathy is mostly based on the character's appearance, but can be changed with effort. A monstrous Nova who published his tragic story in a popular best seller, followed up with a 'plush toy' version of himself, & a lovable Saturday-morning kids cartoon show staring his likeness could convert his image to a 'gentle giant' & rise in his Public Empathy score... but never any higher than a rating of 4.

Public Relations

PR... spin... we hear about this one all the time. This rating reflects how the Nova relates to & puts the public at ease. Does he go on talk shows & give interviews? Or does he totally ignore the media?

* - Hates the public & makes it obvious. This guy actively cultivates a negative public image. Again a common Terat rating, many other Nova egomaniacs & the like also manage to score this low.

** - Ignores the public. This guy may just not be interested, or may not even notice the efforts at public attention. Common among those Novas with natural powers to teleport or fly from place to place who, as a result of their power-use, manage to skip the media circus entirely.

*** - Stand offish. The normal rating for most Novas, they tolerate the public interest, but do little to promote it. This guy may allow a few photos, or even sign the odd autograph, but generally won't let media attention get in the way of his life.

**** - Makes the effort. A Nova with this rating bothers with the media & other public attention, giving interviews on a semi-regular basis, stopping to talk to the press & fans, & similar minor, but significant, efforts.

***** - Spin doctor. The Nova probably has a Follower, Ally, or Mentor managing his PR, booking the best slots on talk shows, preparing speeches for the press, setting up an official web-site & fan-club (& interacting with them), & so on. Anything for good PR!

This rating is all about the way the character is role-played. Do they crave media attention or shun it? It can, however, also be subject to a variety of events outside the character's control. E.g. if the character annoyed the editor of a popular newspaper who then began a hate campaign against the character this rating would suffer. Maybe someone impersonates the character or fake photos are released on the OpNet? All those things that happen to true-life celebrities? Hey, they can now happen to your character too! Aren't you lucky... ::wink

Practice

For Novas the most important element to their Public Approval rating is what they are seen to do with their powers. For better or worse a Nova is publically defined by those powers, & people like Novas who use them to help others more than they do Novas who just 'squander' their gifts on selfish pursuits.

* - The starting rating for any Nova who hasn't really done anything yet... or one who has been around for some time, but used his powers for purely selfish ends.

** - Using the Nova's powers for some minor public good, such as stopping a mugging, or helping with routine construction work. Most Novas with jobs which are seen to contribute to society (such as a Nova scientist, astronaut, or construction worker) will have, at least, this rating.

*** - Providing serious aid with the Nova's powers gets this rating. Examples would include helping fight a fire or with post-event disaster relief, or taking down a crazed Mitoid on a rampage.

**** - Dealing with more major incidents, such as organised criminals, terrorists, or mercenaries, or handling a dangerous, but less-powerful, Nova fall into this rating.

***** - Nova-level deeds, such as dealing with a dangerous Nova of the character's own power-level, or single-handedly defeating a whole gang of rampaging Mitoids, or any other deed which the normal authorities would have had a hard time handling, earns this level.

***** * - Combating a Teragen assault team, or a single Nova or greater power than the character (such as a Quantum 6+ Nova) would earn this rank - deeds impressive by even Nova standards.

***** ** - Dealing with a more powerful Nova & all his Nova buddies would earn a rating this high. Major scientific break-throughs which make life better for the whole human race would also qualify.

***** *** - Saving an entire city, or wiping out a previously incurable disease are worth this level of Practice.

***** **** - Saving an entire nation or reversing a potentially deadly global environmental problem would be worth this sort of public reaction.

***** ***** - Saving the planet in an immediate & direct way (diverting that asteroid which got the Die Hard guy would do it ::wink ).

Practice is determined by the character's deeds - both successes & failures. When a character succeeds at something rated higher than his currant Practice he gets to average his current rating with the new rating. On the flip side, if he fails at something which is below his current rating, he again has to average with the incident's rating. Halves are retained, but other fractions are rounded. For example: a Nova who's first act is to save the entire planet would average his Practice rating of 1 with the 10 for his deed, to get his new rating of 5.5; a Nova with a rating of 8 who failed in his attempts to save a family from a burning building (a deed rated at a 3) would see his failure drop his Practice score to 5.5 as well. Hey, the public's a fickle creature, & you're only as good as your last show! ::wink

Overall Public Approval Rating:

Add 'em all up...

5 - 10 The public either thinks 'Who?' or just really hates you...

11 - 15 You're disliked or resented by most people - can't you do something worthwhile with all that power?

16 - 20 Most people accept or tolerate you - 'Him? Yeah, I guess he's okay... No Pax, mind - now that's a real Nova!'

21 - 25 Good for you, you're popular! Your action figure's selling well, & you get to date supermodels... Now wasn't that worth a little effort? ::wink

26 - 29 You're a national figure, a real hero of the people. You know the staff at the White House & Buck' Palace by name, & they know your 'usual' drink. Your trading card stats are probably higher than they deserve to be...

30 Quite simply, you are a legend... Hopefully a living one. Pax is honoured to be in your presence & world leaders listen when you speak. Those American teens probably hate you, but everyone else thinks you're great!

To get a more 'in character' percentage Approval Rating simply multiply the character's overall score by three. Then add an extra percentage point per dot in the character's highest Mega-Social Attribute. Characters with the Almost Live Enhancement get to add double their Mega-Appearance (if that's higher than their other Mega-Socials) - TV, after all, is kinda' an important part of public image these days.

What about my Backgrounds?

Well, Backgrounds are specific things, this is general. A character's Influence represents the character's 'pull & status in society', but not necessarily his popularity, where his Backing is his rank or position in whatever organisation he belongs to. A character's Public Approval rating may adjust the difficulty of certain rolls, but won't add any dice or have any other direct influence like Backgrounds can.

What about my Powers?

Most powers & Mega-Attributes don't really work on the unwashed masses as a whole. Having high Mega-Socials will help a little (as noted above) - after all, if the press are friendly to you, you'll tend to come across better to everyone else - but won't have as much of an impact as players often think (or wish) they'd have. Saddam is meant to be quite charming in person, but his Public Approval sucks... Even a character with Almost Live won't be on the screen 24-7 as reporters write their columns, & Joe baseline discusses Novas over a brew in his local.

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Hmm.... Let's see.

Blaze:

Accountability: **** - Easy, since he's an MI employee

Role Model: **** - He's been a good boy, and a few on-screen heroics have given him some positive press...

Public Empathy: *** - Tops, depending on how you rate his aberrations...

Public Relations: *** - He actually cares, and probably will be more active in the press in the future, but so far not higher than 3.

Practice:

1 (starting) + 6 (Nefertiti) = 3.5 avg.

3.5 + 5 (Ibiza Airport) = 4 avg

4 + 3 (NY fire) = still 4...

Total: 18, so I guess he's okay... ::cool

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Yeah those both sound about right to me - around the top end of the 'accepted' zone, but not yet enough to be truely 'popular'.

On a poll (the sort of thing you get on N!) that would give Blaze an approval rating of about 54%, & Mike one of about 60% (yes, he is in PR - & the Mega-Socials help a little too). Anything above 50% can't be all bad - more people like you than don't ::wink .

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Lodestone:

Accountability = 4 (Devries Employee)

Role Model = 3 (Pagan-boy, but not a bad person)

Public Empathy = 4 (Normal human looking, but has mega socs)

Public Relations = 4 (he is more then willing to give a signature, he has contacts)

Practice:

1 + 1 (loss vs Swarm and them) -> 1

1 + 4 (Battle with Grimskull, even though a loss he protect a public figure and took one for the team!) -> 3.5

3.5+5 (War! He helped with Basalisk, then took an a barrage of BFGs) -> 4.25

Total: 19

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Hmmm...

Think I'd give Lodestone a Role Model of 2 - you're right, he's not a bad guy - but this is about what the majority if the mainstream public think, rather than what might be 'true' - he's the Nova who's teaching our children to Worship The Devil!!! isn't he? Or, at least, that's the sort of thing which is gonna' get into the media & people's heads, no matter if it's actually true or not... ::wink

As for Practice - the fight with Grimskull was an ass-whoopin'! Yes, he helped save lives, but what people will recall is he ended up the guy in the dirt - no points for second place in the ratings game! ::tongue

On the other hand, yeah - he did well in the war, so that'd give him a total of 1+5 -> 3

Overall that'd give him a 17 (or a bit less in countries where DeVries isn't popular, such as Japan).

In an opinion poll he'd rate as around 52%

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Terry Nathanson:

Accountability: 2 (he stated on TV that minor laws don't really concern him)

Role-Model: 3 (unless that dead t2m members thing ever pops up? Other than that and what was mentioned in accountability I think he's clean in the public's mind)

Public Empathy: 4 (No tentacles yet)

Public Relations: 4 (He's talked to the press a few times already.)

Practice: 4 (its identical to Blaze minus the NY fire.)

So that's 17...

In Japan its probably much less. His public relations would be lower and I guess accountability and empathy would be too...

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John "Glacier" Walker

Accountability: 1 - A wide assortment of murders, with only a few arguably in the name of public defense.

Role Model: 1-3 - An extremely nice guy while not a slaughtering berserker.. Not sure about this.

Public Empathy: 1 - Hah!

Public Relations: 3 - He has a tendency to ignore the press when they appear in game, but I can't see him refusing a few pictures or whatever.

Practice: 1 - More often than not, you need saving from him.. He was there for everything Blaze was, but the Montoya-Bernal incident probably wipes that all clean out.

Total: 7-9

Man, I'm the lowest.. ::unsure

..aww, I love him anyway. How can you stay mad at this face?!

IPB Image

::thumbs

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Alex Green (DMD):

Accountability: 4 (DeVries)

Role Model: 3 (Elite)

Public Empathy: 4 (but I'm tempted to drop that to 3 considering his powers)

Public Relations: 4 (Gives interviews, even when he knows it's going to be used against him at his 'war crimes' trial, not that he got one).

Practice: Not sure. Had his ass handed to him on camera in Chad (but it was still impressive how much force was needed to put him down), escaped from the NK army, toe to toe with Miss Eqypt & terrorists). I'll say a 3.

Total: 18

...but he dates models anyway.

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I disagree on a rating here...

Why on earth should working for DeVries give any kind of accountability cred? Granted, the agency brokers quite a few peaceful and morally upstanding agents, but for most - at least us player types - it's a mercenary outfit. DeVries agents are assumed to be willing to do anything for money, and the only responsibility the agency is more interested in plausible deniability and hiding its secrets than in controlling its agents.

A rating of one would make more sense, I think:

A Nova who has gotten away with rape, murder, theft or similar because he's a Nova would have this level of Accountability.

Just exchange 'a Nova' with 'an Elite'. To Joe Public I think it amounts to the same.

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Practice: 1 - More often than not, you need saving from him.. He was there for everything Blaze was, but the Montoya-Bernal incident probably wipes that all clean out.

Good thing for him that the public doesn't know about that particular incident, then... ;) Including a fight with T2M on Blaze's resume probably wouldn't do much good for him either...

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A rating of one would make more sense, I think:

Just exchange 'a Nova' with 'an Elite'. To Joe Public I think it amounts to the same.

We have camera crews following us around, give interviews, have web sites, resumes, and action figures. We can be sued, etc. Where we live is usually a matter of public record, and we have rules and laws we live by.
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DeVries Elites would have an Accountability of 4 in places where the company gets a good press (such as the USA & South Africa), but less in other parts (such as Japan). Individual actions, of course, would modify this but the basic point is that they are seen by the public to have some recognised organisation holding their collective leashes. Remember, as far as the public are aware, DeVries does not break the law - & they have a lot of lawyers & PR guys on staff to make sure that opinion stays a wide-held one. Just because the PCs know that DeVries will actually do pretty much anything for a quick buck, doesn't mean that the rest of the world does.

Put another way: which do you think gets more public support overall - an American soldier who shoots 'potential insurgents' in Iraq, or a private individaul who decides to go over there to shoot people? DeVries is, after all, the recognised Elite standard - the organisation people think of when they think about Nova soldiers. The public know (or, at least, like to imagine) that DeVries would police themselves & bring sanction against any rogue elements within their own group - that makes people feel better about those Nova soldiers out there.

On the other hand Asbjørn's comments do apply to the Role Model rating. I probably didn't state it clearly enough, but the best rating most Elites could hope for is a 3 - & that'd be a guy who is never seen to do anything more than knock-out or unmask his opponents. Elites are, by definition, paid to commit acts of violence. That's not a brillaint role model in most societies.

Any Elite who has been seen to kill or cause large-scale destruction, even in the course of a 'legal' job, is going to be hard-pressed to get a score above a 2. That's why Lodestone's score would be a 2 - not only is he an Elite, but he's a Pagan one who is known to be a bit of a party animal. While no-one in the modern world is going to shun him for having Pagan beliefs, the overall effect of his chosen lifestyle makes him, in the eyes of the general public, a poor role model. Of course, that doesn't mean the kids don't love him, or that he doesn't get a load of hits on his DVNTS official web page - but that's not really what the rating is measuring.

For any of the Elites to score a 3 (or more, if they tried really hard) they'd need to actually make an effort to be a good role model, rather than just passively being 'not such a bad guy'.

Looking at a non-Elite example, Terry would have started his career with a role-model of 4, or maybe even 5 (cop who erupted in the line of duty & is seen as a hero). By now, however, he's also down to a 2 - hanging around with known terrorists isn't something mothers want their kids to copy. In Japan he may be closer to a 1, depending on how much people believed the 'almost destroyed Tokyo by triggering an earthquake with his powers' line that Nippontai fed to the media... ::wink

For the Practice rating, remember that only things the public get to know about count, & that 'success' usually means winning - putting on a good show & giving it your best effort, but losing, only counts in Britain ::wink . In the Chad war, anyone who was unmasked 'lost', anyone who manged to stay in the game until the surrender 'won' - what ratings they get depends on their individual actions (as seen by the public). E.g. Thunderbolt did everything asked of him successfully - but was any of it caught on camera? As Bahamut810 has pointed out (a few times ::rolleyes ) Lodestone probably comes out of the thing looking the best of all the PCs in the public's eyes - he kicked ass & never got caught!

Of course, if someone could get those nice Nova documentary makers to edit their footage in the right sort of a way, then any of the PCs could probably end up looking good... ::unsure ::wink

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We have camera crews following us around, give interviews, have web sites, resumes, and action figures.
All good reasons for a high Public Relations rating, sure enough.
We can be sued, etc.
...and we're likely to be now and then, which means we're not exactly boyscouts.
Where we live is usually a matter of public record, and we have rules and laws we live by.

And a bunch of lawyers on call ensuring we don't have to take the responsibility for our actions unless we get caught... ::ninja

None of us have cared much about travel permits and visas, for example...

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And a bunch of lawyers on call ensuring we don't have to take the responsibility for our actions unless we get caught... ::ninja

None of us have cared much about travel permits and visas, for example...

We don’t care about travel permits because the clients and our lawyers take care of that before hand. Have any of us actually done anything illegal so far? Let’s look at Alex’s missions.

North Korea, two of them, both fairly brutal. North Korea claimed these were illegal, but what they really mean is they lost (NK is at war and these were on duty uniformed troops).

That Indian Reservation. Alex’s involvement was pretty minor, but it’s worth noting that DeVries didn’t get involved until after the protesters introduced violence (including nova level violence). Further, they and not we were violating the law.

Chad. No moral or legal implications here, both sides fielded armies and elites.

Alex is also involved in some medical experiments at DeVries (as opposed to DVNTS) which are of dubious morality, but their legality isn’t in doubt.

We elites are, for the most part, soldiers, bodyguards, etc. But it’s hard to argue that it’s illegal for our clients to defend themselves, and it’s also hard to argue that DVNTS doesn’t have control over us.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Derek Chalmers:

Accountability: ****

Derek works for MI, and hasn't broken any laws. In public. ::wink

Role Model ***

Derek is a hard worker, who keeps out of trouble. And sure wasn't he involved in capturing that crazy fire lady? With some weird contraption?

Public Emapaty: *** (possibly ****)

Ok, so he looks like he's made of person-coloured Metal. But who wouldn't trade that for the power to turn a swimming pool into beer. ::biggrin

PR: ***

Derek tends to get flustered when confronted with large amounts of people. He's not a people-person, but is happy to talk one on one with people.

Practice: **

The Nefertiti thing was a while ago. Otherwise, Derek is just a Scientist working for a large corporation.

That gives a grand total of a 15....

16 if the 'Ability to make vast vast quantities of beer at a whim' counts for anything, and a net 17.5 if we're still counting the Nefertiti event at full strength.

He wasn't popular in High School, he's not popular as a Nova... sheesh, what's a guy to do? ::biggrin

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Edited after some thought.

The Samurai: - probably has higher scores in Japan... : ::blink

He has killed a nova in the public defence; unmasked Basilisk; killed some OMA clones, helped to unmask the sandstorm grrrl (though he got smacked around by the DMD for that) - probably more bad PR for DMD there.

Accountability: **** DVNTS / *** In Japan

Role Model **/*** Japan

Public Emapaty: ****/* (Fairly normal powers - but always completely masked)

PR: ***/**** (The vigil?)

Practice: ***** (so far - so good)

18/19 / 19/20 in Japan

What do you think Prof?

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Alloy:

Accountability: ****

(Works for DeVries)

Role Model: **

(Exploding OMA on TV would qualify as reckless disregard for life, I think.)

Public Empathy: ***

(Alloy's kinda weird with the shifting skin

and sound effects, but I'm not sure how badly it affects this rating.)

Public Relations: **

(Alloy tries to avoid the camera if he can...at least he did before, he WAS trying

to avoid his family seeing him alive. Now that 'Mani's found him, that might be out the window.)

Practice: ****

(Alloy's definitely accomplished nova-level deeds; splattering OMA for one, the battle against

the NK troops for another.)

Total: 15

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Although set up for Aberrant, I thought I'd see how it would look with a psion, so I'm using Finbar Reilly, a teleporting Legionaire with an inventor background.

Accountability: ***

Member of the Legion, one of the few "good" orders, knocked down a star because of an obvious Upeo connection (I'm assuming the public is still unsure about teleporters)...

Role-Model: ****

A local son done good in the DDR and Luna...

Public Empathy: ***

Looks human, but is usually in the lab

Public Relatins: ***

Basically a lab rat, but does the occasional appearance, and the DDR and LIT are definitely helping. The Legion is also helping because of some his weapon systems...

Practice: ***** **

Has participated in some save-the-world stuff, as well as Chromie diplomacy (as should any decent character, if they followed the books). Has also dealt with abbies that were of a greater power level, and has risked his life saving some colonies. I'm scaling back because you would almost expect it of a character in the Trinity Era...

For a total of: 20...Rassen-frassen....But that's okay; means I get a free drink in some areas, right?

FR

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  • 4 weeks later...

hi yall im new here and this is my character

Lithos Torque:

Accountability: 1-2 not sure because hes only really killed and stuff in self defense but he has no regard for law to a point.

Role model: 1-2 again... he loves the spotlight but in the spotlight he does whatever he wants. okay prolly a 1.

Public empathy: 4 not much taint at all, he is mega attractive though.

public relations: 4 i would prolly make this a 5. Lithos made a video of himself doing all his cool stuff and sold it to N! to do a special report, along with it he made a contest "Name the Nova!" ( he wanted a name). one lucky baseline would name him.

Practice: 1 he has done alot but nothing really for the public good except showing the public a good time.

11-12 ouch, i really like this guy. basically after now watching smallville i realised that my character basically is Young superman on red cryptonite. i didnt do it on purpose though.

so thanks for reading!

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  • 1 year later...

Hmm, lemme see how this works for Hermes. . .

Accountability: 4, maybe 5. Member of the Venerated Seers, a major organization within Theran society. OTOH, while the Seers are an official government body, they also have a rep for being a tad 'mad science'.

Role Model: 4. Hermes is no Champion of Ra, but he's a damn good example of what a Theran nova can be, with no meaningful scandals ( until/unless his friendship with Artemis comes to genuinely bite him on the ass ).

Public Empathy: 4. No aberrations, major powers. This one is very questionable in utility for measuring Theran attitudes, though. Lots of Theran novas that are enormously well liked and trusted have minor, or even major, physical alterations ( not clear they are aberrations per se ).

Public Relations: Difficult to rate given the widely different society. There is no 'media,' per se. Going with a 3 by default. He's not standoffish, just not hugely public oriented.

Practice: Lets see, starts at 1. . .

Ayest ( city brought into Compact, army and complications dealt with ), call it a 4 and successful, so 2.5

Diplomatic Escort, was overall a foulup. Recovery was handled well, but still. OTOH, it would be a 5, so no change.

Battle of Grendel, another 5 level personal fight. Again, goal failed, so no change.

The next event, while wildly successful in a bunch of ways, is not public knowledge.

The freeing of the Summer King, OTOH, is, at least to a large enough extent. An 8 if ever there was one, and successful. Average of 5.

Next two major events are secret enough to not effect it.

So, a total of 20, or just below the public hero threshold. A bit low, but the system is a tad off for his world.

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  • 3 months later...

Just because I like this one.

Artemis.

Accountability 1. Let's see, sleeping with the enemy general when she's a border scout, working with other powerful novas that people don't know, and honestly doesn't care(or understand) for human laws. Then again, she'd never murder or casually break laws just to do so.

Role Model 1 Um, love, enemy general. The country she's in now doesn't quite like that.

Public Empathy 2 Well, people consider her a god of nature, and she's understood in that way. In fact, being in love kind of humanizes her.

Public Relations 2 Basically ignores it.

Practice.

1

Ayest +4 =2.5

Escort Duty - = 2.5

Grendel Fight -=2.5

Summer King +8 =5

Carrying the Grail and Saving Minos(Let's just say Artemis stole it from someone very, very powerful, and Minos is the leader of our Country/Compact, about like saving, say, Divis Mal) +9 = 7

13 which is just about perfect. Amusingly enough, she likely has a much higher score on the other side of the war.

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I'm pretty sure that bit *has* been kept under wraps, mainly for not wanting everyone to know *about* the Grail. After all, until not long before, almost nobody but the Summer and Winter King's even knew it existed as anything but a myth.

Not the Grail, specifically. But it's pretty common knowledge she stole something from Mithras that healed Minos. Especially since I imagine the Champion took it as a chance to avoid having the Summer King in a bad position, plus raising Artemis's status.

I might be underestimating Accountability, but really, Artemis doesn't care anything about laws. She's Theran because her friends are and they helped her. And honestly, might not be much longer... though I doubt she's going Herculiade either. Which brings up the scary thought she might have to go to Mithras as an independent.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 7 months later...

Hmm, updating my Approval profile. . .

The sword auction was not public enough to really matter, and well over a 5 anyway. Plus, not really possible to judge what constituted "success."

Rescuing Quetzlcoatl from the future, and finding out something of whats going on, again, not public at all.

The party at Mithras', really was Aral's "victory".

Successfully helping White Crane and entourage reach the General of the West: too vague to really count.

Now, the fight over Zhuge Liang, that was definitely a failure, and public enough. OTOH, that battle would be a 6 ( outnumbered by roughly equal opponents, plus an army, plus hostages ), so, no points lost.

Time travel segment up next was non-public.

Freeing Zhuge Liang? Success, public enough ( given time ), and also a 6 ( technically we weren't outnumbered, but the painful booby trap Hermes stopped basically single handedly balances it out ). So, this raises it to 5.5.

Evacuating the central province would be an 8 ( not exactly the same as a nation, plus, he had plenty of help ). Definitely a success, so, 6.75.

Time travel, as always, not public.

The battle with Ao Qin's army? Or, to put more precisely, 'When Hermes died to save White Crane's life'? A 9, on the same order as freeing the Summer King. This bumps him to a 7.75.

So, his total is now a 22-23 or so ( and might get higher, as he's alive again to continue doing heroics ).

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  • 2 months later...

Hmm, so far, all my PA calculations have been based on Thera. Now, the viewpoint of the people of the Jade Empire on Hermes. . .

This could get tricky, seeing as the whole land is in a state of civil war. :)

Accountability: Started out 1. He's a strange gweilo. As of the present, its probably more like a 3. He works in the name of White Crane, who is a contender for the throne, and has a very good overall reputation. However, he's still a gweilo, and I believe both White Crane and himself specifically have been subject to smear campaigns.

Role Model: Started a 1. Again, strange gweilo. Probably now a 2. He's demonstrated heroism and decency, but he also is rather ignorant of Jade culture and etiquette, relatively.

Public Empathy: Started a 1. By now, he's probably a 3. Nothing that would make him some kind of terrible monstrousity, but he's still a white dude in xenophobia land.

Public Relations: Started a 1. Currently. . . I'll say a 3. On one hand, he and his are actively subject to propaganda attack. On the other hand, during the whole 'evacuation of the center province' deal, he interacted pretty extensively and first hand with a *lot* of people. . . and in a context where his white-dude status wouldn't really matter as much.

Practice: Starting at 1. . .

Helping White Crane get into Jade, and meet with Nameless: too vague

Recruiting Zhuge Liang: a loss, but a fairly high rank one. No change.

Freeing Zhuge Liang: A success and a 6, so 3.5.

Evacuating the center province: A success and an 8, so 6

Saving White Crane's life at his own expense: A success and a 9, so a 7.5

Capital Diplomacy: Too vague

So, starting from a Public Approval of 5, Hermes has managed to climb his way up to roughly a 18.5. Sounds about right. I'm almost popular.

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  • 9 months later...

Hmm ... thinking about it, I figured I throw Michal (Trans-D's lead NPC) in this for fun.

Accountability

**** - He owns and operates a major corporation with assets in the 12-digit (if not higher) range. He's working in tandem with several national governments, and Project Utopia, to operate and maintain intra-solar ships and Earth's one and only space station. That said, he's also known to thumb his nose at PU's technology regulation bureau.

Role Model

**** - Other than occasionally ignoring PU's tech regulators (which has generally turned out well for his company and stockholders), he's well-spoken, no criminal record, and virtually a paragon of good values. His biggest "failure" in this area is being an unashamed geek.

Public Empathy

*** - He's got two low-level aberrations (eyes, and a musical anima), so he's not going to get any higher than this. Otherwise, most of his powers are of the non-flashy type.

Public Relations

***** - Not only does he have Mega-Manip, but his company naturally has a PR department. He also donates quite well to charities. Other than being cuttingly sarcastic, he doesn't have any flaws or relationships for tabloids to exploit (though they keep trying).

Practice

***** ** - He's revolutionized space travel, made visitations of every planet possible for (a few) baselines, and his technology is largely responsible for a base on the moon. Possibly this could be bumped up to an 8.

Overall Public Approval Rating:

21 - 25 He comes in at a solid 23, and could probably get bumped up to a 25 depending on how I parsed it. Most of the bonuses Potts would give here (action figures, supermodels) just aren't in character for him - more likely, he's getting university engineering buildings named after him.

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  • 7 months later...

This is quite an interesting system, but IMO it gives for too much importance and influence to being a goodey-good law-abiding nova, to be believable or balanced. Come on, your typical Teragen or independent Elite nova (Accountability 1, Role Model 1, Public Empathy 3) that saves the world multiple times (Practice 10) and makes an all-out PR effort (Public Relations 5), and still he or she is just "accepted or tolerated by most people" ? I don't ever buy it, if I can save the world on a regular basis and I have an efficient PR machine, I expect to be MUCH more popular than that, even if I got away with felonies and I'm an anti-hero negative role model for the kids. Accountability and Role Model ought to be wrapped up together, for this system to be any truly balanced.

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I suspect those ratings don't combine well (or at least often) in practice.

Accountability 1 means you Get away with "rape, murder, theft or similar because he's a Nova"

Role Model 1 implies you're out on the fringe and don't care what people think, PR 5 implies you do.

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I suspect those ratings don't combine well (or at least often) in practice.

Accountability 1 means you Get away with "rape, murder, theft or similar because he's a Nova"

Role Model 1 implies you're out on the fringe and don't care what people think, PR 5 implies you do.

Actually, IMO very low Accountability and Role Model and very high Public Relations fit the Modus Operandi of PR-conscious Teragen and supremacist Elites like a glove. They don't care about, or purposefully reject, playing by baseline social rules, yet they make the PR effort to the monkeys for their own utilitarian reasons. Really, it's what Orzaiz and Narcosis do all the time (with Mal's blessing), what the Teragen 2006 rallies hosted by Rattler and Fathered Serpent were all about.

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