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Aberrant: Quantum Zero - QZ - game mechanics


Asbjørn

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BTW, Nulli, I'm a bit confused. In an earlier post, you wrote that Verse "called Alloy, changed his mind and hung up."

In a post after that, you put how Verse was waiting for Alloy to answer his phone, so...? Verse hung up already, Alloy's phone shouldn't be ringing.

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Elites, p.16:

... Victorious elites commonly strip their enemies of their masks (instead of killing them), exposing their human weakness and frailty for the world to see. The masks become trophies, like heads mounted on a wall. An elite stripped of his mask is ashamed to ever wear it again unless he reclaims it from the enemy who took it...

As far as anyone knows, One Man Army has the masks of team red (since The Samurai unmasked - & undressed - Basilisk, & she didn't have any Elite masks with her at the time).

From an Elite culture point of view if the PCs are going after OMA they should really give Jetstream a call too - give the guy a chance to reclaim his mask as well. Having a camera there to record the victory would be another plus...

Alloy, on the other hand, could just go ask Decay if it's okay for him to still be 'Alloy' - since the guy's a fellow DVNTS Elite he may play nice... ::wink Reclaiming a mask doesn't have to be a combat issue (although it often comes down to that).

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BTW, Nulli, I'm a bit confused. In an earlier post, you wrote that Verse "called Alloy, changed his mind and hung up."

In a post after that, you put how Verse was waiting for Alloy to answer his phone, so...? Verse hung up already, Alloy's phone shouldn't be ringing.

Erm. Yeah, Verse did hang up, that time. Then, after talking to Shockwave, he called Alloy again. Guess you missed that post.

After he's done saying what he has to say to Shockwave and Thunderbolt, Verse hangs up and calls Alloy.

As for reclaiming masks, Verse really doesn't care about any of that. He wants the suit back for other reasons. ::sly ::sad

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Elites, p.16:

As far as anyone knows, One Man Army has the masks of team red (since The Samurai unmasked - & undressed - Basilisk, & she didn't have any Elite masks with her at the time).

From an Elite culture point of view if the PCs are going after OMA they should really give Jetstream a call too - give the guy a chance to reclaim his mask as well. Having a camera there to record the victory would be another plus...

Alloy, on the other hand, could just go ask Decay if it's okay for him to still be 'Alloy' - since the guy's a fellow DVNTS Elite he may play nice... ::wink Reclaiming a mask doesn't have to be a combat issue (although it often comes down to that).

And Alex. Sorry about that earler post I took down, it looks like I was wrong about what the rules say. Good thing it never happened.

On the other hand, Alex is VERY busy, but no one else knows that I guess... with the possible exception of Alloy. ::innocent

--EDIT--

On the other, other hand... it might take the other PCs an hour or two to get organized. Especially if cameras and such are involved.

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I just realized, Alex's mask was just black silk.  Wouldn't it have been destroyed by Alloy and Knave when they killed those clones of OMA?

Depends which one had it.

Verse could be onto a tactic here. Then again, OMA is pretty Gung-ho - and we're not sure where the REAL OMA is either.

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I just realized, Alex's mask was just black silk. Wouldn't it have been destroyed by Alloy and Knave when they killed those clones of OMA?

Even if it has been, the whole Elite culture thing is really about what the mask represents - his Elite identity. Just getting OMA to say it's okay to still be the 'Dark Matter Destroyer' (or beating him - or Basilisk - in a fight) would be the same as reclaiming his mask. After all, guys like Alloy & Zombie only have face paint as their 'mask' - so owning the physical thing is just part of the symbolism.

After all, if someone unmasks you you can't just put on your spare mask & think it's all okay.

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Hey, no slam on you Nulli, I was just pointing out that things like this...

"Hm. Let me see if I have this straight. Either I send you to your deaths, or I try to help you, and pay you to help me get back my friend at the same time,

would really confuse someone if they didn't know about the suits sentience (ie. what the heck friend is he talking about?).

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My point wasn't that the mask was destroyed, my point was that the mask was destroyed along with the Elites who did the unmasking. If these were normal clones then the maker wouldn't know he'd unmasked us without the Opnet.

Right - that's actually just confused me more... what's the point you're trying to make? ::huh

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Right - that's actually just confused me more... what's the point you're trying to make? ::huh
To be unmasked is to be (in some sense) legally dead.

That's because they could have killed you but didn't.

However, everyone involved in our unmasking was either unmasked or killed themselves.

Say that everyone involved was actually DEAD, say, killed by Totentanz.

How do the dead give permission to remask?

Having said that, Alex should still go to Bask or OMA and get his mask back... although the argument could be made that it would have to be Bask.

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How do the dead give permission to remask?

Ah, right. Well, if someone else gets to 'em before you reclaim your mask, then you're just out of luck - do a 'Lance' & go unmasked, or find a new identity. After all, you can now never really prove to the world that you had what it takes to get that mask back... Unless you get the guy who got them (bag the big T & you can wear whatever mask you want to - no one's about to argue with you)...

Since unmasking usually happens at the ends of fights, it's not an issue which would crop up much.

In this case neither OMA nor Basilisk died, so it's not an issue. I imagine that Basilisk was, in fact, the one to unmask the DMD (since she did all the damage) - even though she wasn't carrying the thing when The Samurai unmasked her (although it was actually Lodestone who dropped her in the fight).

In the end it's all about what the other Elites & the public think - so there'll usually be some common sense logic in what you need to do to 'redeem' yourself. Everyone in the world has seen the footage of DMD being dropped by Basilisk - so everyone expects him to deal with her at some point. Everyone saw Lodestone drop Basilisk, but what they will remember is the fight between her & The Samurai, & the 'stripping' incident which followed - so everyone will expect her to deal with The Samurai, rather than Lodestone plugging her in the back from behind a rock...

The whole unmasking thing is a cultural issue, rather than a set of clearly defined laws. Basically, if ya' got whooped, ya' need to whoop 'em back.

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The whole unmasking thing is a cultural issue, rather than a set of clearly defined laws. Basically, if ya' got whooped, ya' need to whoop 'em back.
Then what was that "Decay could give permission" bit? Personally I'd rather ask Bask out on a date than go toe to doe with her... and she might prefer that as well, everything considered.
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Then what was that "Decay could give permission" bit?

Yeah - you can go cap-in-hand & beg for your identity back if you want. With Decay that probably makes sense since: a) he's kinda' on the same team, B) he doesn't care much about trophies, & (most importantly) c) if ya' tried to whoop him he could kill you with a thought... Decay isn't far behind the big T & Epoch in the ol' Nova-kills stakes after all, so begging him for a favour won't be seen so much as wimpish, but more like common sense.

Basilisk, on the other hand, is probably at about the same ranking as the PCs (maybe a little less than some of the PCs), plus she already got taken down by The Samurai & Lodestone. Begging her would be seen as totally wet.

Personally I'd rather ask Bask out on a date than go toe to doe with her... and she might prefer that as well, everything considered.

Oh yeah - 'cos the DMD's such a lurve-god... ::wub I bet his voice sounds like Barry White when he's Bodymorphed, right? ::sly

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Personally I'd rather ask Bask out on a date than go toe to doe with her... and she might prefer that as well, everything considered.
Basilisk, on the other hand, is probably at about the same ranking as the PCs (maybe a little less than some of the PCs),... Begging her would be seen as totally wet.
Let’s look at this from Bask’s point of view (and Alex will). She’s a sniper who supposedly has no defenses. If she takes down someone like Alex, does she really want to let him live if as soon as combat is over he’s going to come after her? From DMD’s point of view, if he does go after her, and perhaps accidentally kills her, then he isn’t exactly encouraging people to unmask him.
…plus she already got taken down by The Samurai & Lodestone…
And, if the wonder twins are worth their rep, DMD was caught on camera throwing Samurai through the hotel roof.

Mind you, it’s possible that DMD is just stuck in a social situation of his own making, but I thought the unmasking rules were mostly there to prevent fatalities. I think that Alex should try asking (not begging) for his mask back.

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Quick question...

Per Devries Contract...do we *have* to wear our 'Elite' persona on covert missions? The reason I ask (and should have asked eariler) is that we are going on a supposedly covert mission, and Lodestone would like to wear black (its night after all), if we wore his purple uniform it would be a lot easier to see him.

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DeVries Backing:

Just so that people have an idea how they rank with the company at the moment, here's the Backing of various Elites & DeVries personnel...

Backing 5:

Anna DeVries

Backing 4:

Frank Carrington

Rachel Alinsky

Mark Temenke

Bayo Owodunni

Christian James Wether

Tötentanz

Epoch

Backing 3:

Decay

Pursuer

Lotus Infinite

Constantina Zavinovich

Backing 2:

Jestream

Zombie

The Dark Matter Destroyer

Thunderbolt

Lodestone

Tank

The Jaguar

Honour Guard

Backing 1:

Shockwave

The Ghost

Jolt

Backing 0:

The Samurai

Link

Verse

Alloy

Those PCs with a Backing of 2 now have access to the following DeVries-only goodies. They have to be purchased from the company, which means either Resources, or blowing post-mission cash on a toy instead of on beer & women...

Carbon-fiber Garrote

Invisibility Suit

Smartweb

Surveillance Robots (Urban Infiltrator & High-speed Stealth Explorer)

Personal Submarine

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Per Devries Contract...do we *have* to wear our 'Elite' persona on covert missions? The reason I ask (and should have asked eariler) is that we are going on a supposedly covert mission, and Lodestone would like to wear black (its night after all), if we wore his purple uniform it would be a lot easier to see him.

Depends on what the customer wants, although the Elite culture means that most Elites would be 'in character' when on any mission - doesn't mean the same costume has to be worn, just the mask. It's not a strict part of the rules though, no.

One of the big points of having an Elite persona is to help the character seperate the nasty violent parts of their lives (killing people for money) with who they 'really' are. It's like soldiers or cops who feel it's okay to beat people up or shoot people in the line of duty, when in uniform, but would never consider doing stuff like that in their private lives. An artificial line, sure, but a psychologically valuable one.

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Those PCs with a Backing of 2 now have access to the following DeVries-only goodies. They have to be purchased from the company, which means either Resources, or blowing post-mission cash on a toy instead of on beer & women...

....

Invisibility Suit

Hmm, would have been nice to know before Thunderbolt stepped through the warp... ::wink

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