Aberrant: Quantum Zero - QZ - game mechanics

[Alex Green]

I was going to be famous then didn't have the points for it. Influence = 0.

[Heritage]

A quick question for my fellow Tomorrowites: are any of your characters famous? I mean, would we have possibly heard of them before 'today' (ICly)?

I thought of this when I was looking at my sheet and remembered that Lorena has Influence 3, reflecting the fact that she recently erupted during a Teragen bombing of a large bank (already newsworthy in itself), helped save many of the survivors (on camera, with her Almost Live enhancement in full effect), and turned out to be one of the strongest and most beautiful novas alive (the kind of thing the media eats up), and was more or less immediately courted by Utopia as a potential recruit for T2M (Gossip Column). This makes her 'very famous' amongst novox fans, a national hero in her own country, and 'known by many others'. So it's possible (though not certain) that some of your characters may have already heard of 'Aušrinė', and her story, in the news. So I was wondering if this might be the case with any of your characters? If so, then I'd like to be able to include appropriate reactions from Lori in future posts.

Estelle would be fairly well-known in the New York City/Northeastern US area, but not really outside of it; her family is wealthy and influential, but she mostly stays out of the headlines, at least prior to her recent eruption. Unlike Lorena, her eruption was not in public, but she maintains no secret identity.

[Centimane]

Estelle would be fairly well-known in the New York City/Northeastern US area, but not really outside of it; her family is wealthy and influential, but she mostly stays out of the headlines, at least prior to her recent eruption. Unlike Lorena, her eruption was not in public, but she maintains no secret identity.

Yeah, your character sounded like she had a pretty interesting backstory, to say the least. Actually, every character whose backstory has been mentioned has seemed to have a really interesting one. I'm a little envious. A large part of my theme for Lorena is 'simplicity' (or, if you want to be poetic, 'purity'), so I kept her background and eruption experience, like her personality and powers, straightforward and simple. Unfortunately that means her background isn't as cool as some of yours either. ::sad ::wink

Seriously though, I've really been enjoying the character concepts so far, they're all really cool and unique. Just thought you guys deserved to know. ::thumbup1

[Heritage]

Yeah, your character sounded like she had a pretty interesting backstory, to say the least. Actually, every character whose backstory has been mentioned has seemed to have a really interesting one. I'm a little envious. A large part of my theme for Lorena is 'simplicity' (or, if you want to be poetic, 'purity'), so I kept her background and eruption experience, like her personality and powers, straightforward and simple. Unfortunately that means her background isn't as cool as some of yours either. ::sad ::wink

Seriously though, I've really been enjoying the character concepts so far, they're all really cool and unique. Just thought you guys deserved to know. ::thumbup1

I had way too much fun developing Estelle's family history, which really helped to shape the character. To be honest, I like the simplicity thing; you might turn out to be our team's female version of Colossus, which would be very cool ::ultracool

[Expendable]

A quick question for my fellow Tomorrowites: are any of your characters famous? I mean, would we have possibly heard of them before 'today' (ICly)?

I was famous for maybe a week, then they found someone else to talk about. So Influence=0 now. They found me unconscious and running a fever on the steps of St. George the Martyr in London's Southwark wearing only a blouse and with a pair of blood-splattered wings coming out of my back. After they took me to hospital, they found I was mute and amnesic, so maybe a couple days of arguing in forums on OpNet. A bit about me healing a battered girl some nurses snuck in to see me. Then a very rude visit by a reporter for The Sun and a bunch of jokes like the 'flaming halitosis' and parts they'd want to see me 'heal' with a kiss. ::glare >.<; A small note buried in the papers about my joining Project Utopia. So I'll get that 'oh, you're that girl right?' and maybe some candid pics but that's about it. Don't expect any quotes. Your typical 15 minutes of fame.

[ProfPotts]

... The sense of high school deja vu continues in the cafeteria - sorry, the dining room - as the novas start to pick out their tables...

A minor point really, but the dining room is nothing like a school cafeteria: there's only the one long, oak, table to sit at (the side tables are for food & cutlery & stuff - you can't sit at them). Sorry if my description was duff, but it's meant to look like the sort of 'upstairs-downstairs' dining room you get in country estates in period dramas (like Agatha Christie stories set at the correct time, or Jeeves & Wooster), nothing so vulgar or modern as a cafeteria. It's 'dining room' as in 'Colonel Mustard, with the candlestick, in the dining room'.

Like I said, it's a minor point, but it goes to the feel of the castle: it's all very much been kept in the style of a posh hotel or English country manor of, say, the nineteen-twenties or thirties. The recruits' bedrooms aren't vast, but contain four-poster beds, & en-suite bathrooms with gold-plated taps & proper porcelain. All the furniture is antique (or very good reproductions). There will be hi-tech areas - but they're kept well out of sight.

The dining room, in particular, I described as having the one single table so that the new team can get the important social-bonding ritual of sharing a meal together - almost as a 'family'.

[Heritage]

A minor point really, but the dining room is nothing like a school cafeteria: there's only the one long, oak, table to sit at (the side tables are for food & cutlery & stuff - you can't sit at them). Sorry if my description was duff, but it's meant to look like the sort of 'upstairs-downstairs' dining room you get in country estates in period dramas (like Agatha Christie stories set at the correct time, or Jeeves & Wooster), nothing so vulgar or modern as a cafeteria. It's 'dining room' as in 'Colonel Mustard, with the candlestick, in the dining room'.

Like I said, it's a minor point, but it goes to the feel of the castle: it's all very much been kept in the style of a posh hotel or English country manor of, say, the nineteen-twenties or thirties. The recruits' bedrooms aren't vast, but contain four-poster beds, & en-suite bathrooms with gold-plated taps & proper porcelain. All the furniture is antique (or very good reproductions). There will be hi-tech areas - but they're kept well out of sight.

The dining room, in particular, I described as having the one single table so that the new team can get the important social-bonding ritual of sharing a meal together - almost as a 'family'.

Ah, your right, I missed the bit about the single table; I think I got confused becuase of the reference to the side tables. I can change my post a bit to address the single table issue, but the cafeteria reference was meant to be a joke about how this feels like the first day of school to Stelle, with the same awkward sense of meeting people for the first time in a (semi) academic setting, and not sure if anyone's going to like you. Would it be okay if I changed the phyisical description to match reality but kept the stuff about her feelings the same? The bunks reference serves a similar function, as I assumed they would actually have rooms; her comment about being bunkmates is more a silly way of saying she hopes Lorena and her will be friends ::smile

edit: Okay, made a few changes that I hope will work; if they do, I think the only thing left to fix is for CC to edit Lorena's post to have her sit across from Stelle at the one big table.

[ProfPotts]

... but the cafeteria reference was meant to be a joke about how this feels like the first day of school to Stelle...

Yeah - I got that, but then several people seemed to follow your lead & have their characters split up across several tables into seperate little groups: the whole point of the one table / sharing the meal bit was to enable all the characters to interact with each other's conversations & not be limited to one small group (as often seems to happen in these things). It seemed like the sort of 'team building' set-up Utopia would present, as well as allowing each PC to interact with all the others & not having to pick & choose (or repeat information every time they talk to someone new...).

So, hopefully everyone's on the same page (& table... ::wink ) now - keep up the good work all!

[Centimane]

Sorry guys, I was almost done with my QZ: T & E post, but I have to go. I saved it, and I'll post as soon as I can, but I have to go. Again, really sorry. ::blush

[ProfPotts]

Sorry guys, I was almost done with my QZ: T & E post, but I have to go. I saved it, and I'll post as soon as I can, but I have to go. Again, really sorry.

Hey - the fact that you don't have to sit at the keyboard at the same time as everyone else is what makes these games playable! Go do your stuff, we'll be here when you get back... ::wink

[Centimane]

Hey - the fact that you don't have to sit at the keyboard at the same time as everyone else is what makes these games playable! Go do your stuff, we'll be here when you get back... ::wink

Heheh. ::biggrin Thanks.

[phoenix]

'You!'

Once more Glacier & Eel are interrupted...

Has anyone here seen "The Man Who Knew Too Little"?

*knock knock knock*

"This place is busier than my butcher shop... Go away!"

::laugh

[ProfPotts]

BTW: I'm aiming for the Elites to have a period of downtime now. I was wanting to resolve the whole Ms Cable kidnap thing first, but since everyone (apart from Vinnie) seems to be in a convienient 'downtime' place right now, I thought I better let you all know. I'm hoping that nothing crops up at this point to @r$e up Vinnie's rescue of 'the boss lady'.

I'm thinking a month or so of downtime for the Elites (enough so that we don't have to indulge in nothing but 'guilt over killing the city' posts until the end of time ::wink ) - where they'll generally be keeping their heads low (the thing in Chad was not good PR for the most part). Feel free to post what your characters get up to over that time in the downtime thread: they could be just kicking back & relaxing, or could be doing various 'low level' jobs (bodyguard for some rich corporate type, bouncer at The Amp Room, stuff like that), or whatever - I'm sure you all know the drill by now.

I guess that also means that (always against my better judgement ::devil ::sly ) it must be XP time for those boys too... ho hum... ::tongue

[phoenix]

"Please, call me Stelle; if we get bunks, I think we should be bunkmates. I call top bunk." biggrin.gif

Her handshake is warm and firm, and a bit sticky with marmalade.

::laugh ::laugh ::laugh

[Alex Green]

RE: Downtime.

Gaak. Looks like a month without (most) powers for poor Alex. That's mostly ok, I have a write up in mind on Alex's evaluation of this that will work fine. I'm going to assume that Mani is shacked up with Alex during this time and that they stay lovers. I'll also assume that while Alloy knows he hasn't had it out with Alex on this issue. On a side note Alex will write up in his log Mani's description of what happened to #3 and make sure Doc Al gets a copy.

[Alex Green]

Let's see, other things that Alex will be doing:

1) Let's start with what he won't be doing and that's more elite work.

2) I'm not sure whether or not he will try to recover his mask, without DMD there isn't much point and he can't do it by force. On ther other hand Bask seemed to want to trade hers for his so it's probably up to Sameria.

3) It makes the most sense for Alex to try to finish up his PhD thesis. Of course this means the NYU physics department (whose building he badly damaged) will be evaluating it. It may also lead to him having to go to NY to defend it.

[Expendable]

‘Well, ah… The wings & the fire are interesting, of course, but her power with the most potential is really the “healing kiss” – we don’t see Novas manifest that sort of thing often… I think DeVries have a couple on their payroll, but it is rare.’

‘It’s a bleedin’ nightmare is what it is,’ mutters Hunter. Turning slowly towards the PR man Thorn raised an eyebrow,

‘And why would that be, Mister Hunter? Surely the ability to heal is a great boon to mankind?’

‘Well, sure,’ replied Hunter, ‘but let me give you a number: two-‘undred & fifty-seven.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘That’s how many requests we’ve already ‘ad for th’ girl’s “kiss”.’

‘That doesn’t seem too many,’ replied Doctor Morgan, ‘after all, the public have known about her for quite a while now, &…’

‘No, no,’ interrupted Hunter, holding up his hand to stop the Doctor in mid-sentence, ‘two-‘undred & fifty-bleedin’-seven this mornin’, before I left for this god-forsaken lump of rock.’

I know there's a demand for healers but I had no idea it was such a rare gift among the Novas. But I'm glad to see I'm already a problem.

[archer]

I know there's a demand for healers but I had no idea it was such a rare gift among the Novas. But I'm glad to see I'm already a problem.

I've got to say, I really dig seeing the perspective from the ones in charge; nice work Prof. ::smile

As for healers, yeah, pretty rare. I guess if you really think about it, how many people are actually giving and unselfish enough to erupt with the ability to heal others?

Prof, I really liked how Hunter expressed his concerns of the average person about mega-intelligent novas...especially considering the massive explosion that just happened in the Elites game. And of course, the 'dampen their panties' bit cracked me up. ::biggrin

‘Th’ name’s important,’ he explained, ‘makes ‘im more ‘uman, right? In fact, we want people to refer to ‘im as “Doc” if possible – takes the edge off th’ big brain thing. To average folks like me, that bloke’s the scariest of th’ lot of ‘em – th’ sort ‘oo can build “quantum bombs” & all that nonsense. It terrifies folks. We need “Doc Impossible” to be th’ “Nova next door” – as down to earth as bleedin’ possible. Of course, it ‘elps that th’ ladies dampen their panties around ‘im too…’

[Centimane]

This part:

‘Doctor Morgan? Your assessment?’

The good Doctor, face now completely red, murmured,

‘Well, I… I guess he’s good looking, but I…’

‘No, no!’ Thorn interrupted quickly, ‘Your scientific assessment, Doctor!’

‘Oh,’{...}

...made me laugh. ::biggrin

Good times. ::happy

[Heritage]

I agree, this was an awesome bit of writing; we learned a bit about each other's powers, what our superiors think of us, and a little taste of what the world thinks of us, too. I'm now very happy that I didn't give Gossamer any Mega-Socials, both because of her personal journey of learning to live among a new caste of 'beautiful people' and for the public's perception of her.

A great take on PU and T2M; really loving this game so far, Prof! ::biggrin

[ProfPotts]

Cheers all! ::blush ::biggrin

Of course, you guys have given me tip-top material to work with here, so you should all take credit too! ::thumbup1

[Alex Green]

As for healers, yeah, pretty rare. I guess if you really think about it, how many people are actually giving and unselfish enough to erupt with the ability to heal others?

The problem isn't the supply, it's the demand. ::devil

[Alex Green]

Continuing that. Cannon gives us 250 novas where we have enough information to judge whether or not they have healing. 8 of them do. The only problem with that is 3 of them are members of the Q6+ club so maybe we should toss them. 5 of 250 is 2%, or 200 out of the 10K novas.

It's always very iffy to reason down from the total supply like this (witness the QNA's number problems), but we don't really have a choice so I'm going to assume that two thirds of that 200 are unavailable (India syndrom, locked in China, etc), and 3/4ths are unwilling (elites, too busy, etc). I'm partly basing these numbers on the idea that many many people would choose to be a doctor if they could do so for nothing.

That's 16 novas who are presumably professional healers also presumably in the Western World. With money being what it is, half of them presumably live in the USA. Each can restore an organ once a day (because they regain a willpower point once a day). There are 10's of thousands of people waiting for organ transplants. There's hundreds of thousands who could benifit from a healer without needing willpower points to be spent.

EDIT: And I forgot to mention that I too think the Prof is doing an Excellent job.

[Alex Green]

Questions for the Prof:

1) Do we have any kind of body count estimate for the lives lost in the q-bomb? (I know it'll be inaccurate and a range).

2) How public was Alex's & Guy's role of this? I'm thinking the whole mess will be blamed on Malf (this even has the advantage of being true), but will Alex & Guy be hauled into court during our down time in a manner similar to ZUM?

[ProfPotts]

1) Do we have any kind of body count estimate for the lives lost in the q-bomb? (I know it'll be inaccurate and a range).

Um... 'lots'... although it's not half as bad as it could have been: the place was a trade city, but it was still in 'war time' mode, so most 'visitors' wouldn't have been around. The surrounding countryside wasn't densely populated either. So, all in all, around the population of a medium-sized city, I'd say.

2) How public was Alex's & Guy's role of this? I'm thinking the whole mess will be blamed on Malf (this even has the advantage of being true), but will Alex & Guy be hauled into court during our down time in a manner similar to ZUM?

Guy, in particular, gets to be seen on N! lots thanks to the intrepid Nova film crew who snapped him. Alex may have been filmed, but more in passing (with the other Elites on scene). The exact role the two played isn't publically known. DeVries catches a lot of bad publicity, but sends the lawyers & spindoctors into overdrive (& blames everything on Maelfius & Hannibal, yes) - in the end no Elites get hauled into court, but Maelfius gets to be the 'Osama' of the day, the guy the public tend to blame for everything, & the one everyone seems to be trying to track down.

[ProfPotts]

So, ‘Quantum Zero: Smackdown’ anyone? (Old-timers may well recall me thinking about something along these lines before, but not following through). Characters would take the roles of XWF fighters & the game would focus on both actual ‘shootfight’ matches between characters & out of the arena exploits between matches.

Character creation would basically be standard for my games (so 30 NP starting characters, no merits/flaw or strengths/weaknesses, or fan-written powers, etc.), with a few requirements & variations based on the premise of the game.

Backgrounds:

Backing [XWF]: this represents a fighter’s contract with the XWF (so all characters should start with at least 1 dot), as well as their starting ranking within the league. Rank will go up & down in-game based on how well characters do in their fights, & is based on win/loss ratio, as well as the number of fights a character has been in. Rank gained through Backing (either to start, or purchased later with XP) always represents the Nova fighter getting wins under their belt via (usually scripted) matches against ‘jobbers’ (basically mitoids who always loose), rather than shootfights against other Novas – those will be played out in-game.

Starting Backing

● The fighter has a rank 2, has fought (& won) 5 matches, & has been with the XWF for 3 months
●● The fighter has a rank of 4, has fought (& won) 15 matches, & has been with the XWF for 9 months
●●● The fighter has a rank of 6, has fought (& won) 25 matches, & has been with the XWF for 15 months
●●●● The fighter has a rank of 8, has fought (& won) 40 matches, & has been with the XWF for 2 years
●●●●● The fighter has a rank of 10, has fought (& won) 60 matches, & has been with the XWF for 3 years

Followers: a common Background amongst XWF superstars, Followers usually represents the character’s posse / entourage & can include financial managers, bodyguards (hey, someone to keep the crowds of fans back is always good), personal assistants, chauffeurs, etc..

Influence: there are two types of Influence characters can take in the XWF, one representing their public appeal, the other how well liked they are within the business. A character can take both types of Influence independently. With either type of Influence higher ratings require that the character has been with the XWF for a minimum amount of time, as represented by the Backing [XWF] Background. Influence 1 requires 1 dot of Backing, Influence 2 requires 2 dots of Backing, Influence higher than 2 requires 3 or more dots of Backing.

Influence [marks]: an XWF fighter’s Influence [marks] represents how ‘over’ (popular) they are with the fans, & can go up & down as the result of the fighter’s actions in (& sometimes out) of the ring. Each dot of Influence [marks] gives the character 2 permanent dots of ‘Glory’ (see below).

Influence [XWF]: this version of Influence represents how popular the character is within the XWF community, & can also increase & decrease based on the character's actions in game. Each dot of Influence [XWF] gives the character 2 permanent dots of ‘Honour’ (see below).

Mentor: a Mentor for an XWF fighter is usually an older trainer or manager type who looks after their ‘boy’ to the best of their ability. Such Mentors are rarely Novas, but are usually baselines with the connections, influence, & resources to make the fighter’s life easier. Sometimes a fighter’s dots in Mentor represent a team of trainers & instructors who impart their collective wisdom to the rising star (as per the Instruction ability from the APG).

Resources: XWF fighters get a seven figure contract, with prize money on top of that. Characters need to start the game with 3 or more dots of Resources to represent this (a character with only 3 dots presumably has large overheads – possibly from paying lots of Followers or a team of Mentors).

New Traits:

Three new Traits represent a fighters standing within the XWF: Rank (the character’s position within the league), Glory (how famous, or infamous, the character is amongst the fans & the general public), & Honour (how ethical the character is seen to be by those within the industry). Backing & the two types of Influence listed above set the character’s starting ratings in these Traits, but each can change as the result of events in-game as well (usually matches).

Rank

Rank is rated from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest. A rank 10 fighter is considered a ‘contender’ & is allowed to challenge the champion of his or her particular circle (silver, red, or black) in a title bout. Most Novas rise through the ranks quickly by defeating ‘jobbers’ in matches staged to promote the Nova & get the public interested – this is represented by the Backing the character starts the game with or buys with XP. However, shootfights between Nova combatants also effect the character’s rank, & are played out in-game.

Rank 1: fewer than 1 win per 20 losses.
Rank 2: fewer than 1 win per 10 losses, at least 5 matches fought.
Rank 3: at least 1 win per 5 losses, at least 10 matches.
Rank 4: 1 win per 3 losses, 15 matches minimum.
Rank 5: 1 win per loss, 20 matches fought (this represents the average number of bouts an XWF fighter will enter in a year).
Rank 6: 2 wins per loss, 25 matches minimum.
Rank 7: 3 wins per loss, 30 matches minimum.
Rank 8: 5 wins per loss, 40 matches minimum (on average, two years in the XWF).
Rank 9: 10 wins per loss, 50 matches minimum.
Rank 10: 20 wins per loss, 60 matches minimum (on average, three years in the XWF).

Rank is different for each of the three circles of fighters, if a character moves to a different circle (e.g. they become too strong to compete in their current circle), they start with a blank slate as far as Rank goes.

Glory

Glory has a permanent rating of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest) as well as a temporary pool of 1 to 10. To raise his Glory rating by 1 the fighter must attain 10 temporary Glory, and then maintain it for another entire ‘event’ – an event is usually a match, but can also be some notable public heroics or other such things (i.e. scenario-fodder). A character’s starting Glory rating is based on his Influence [marks]; spending XP on Influence [marks] indicates a determined publicity campaign on behalf of the fighter. Glory gained in-game as a result of the character’s action will lead to a corresponding increase in the fighter’s Influence [marks] Background: permanent Glory of 1 – 2 = Influence [marks] 1, 3 – 4 = 2, 5 – 6 = 3, 7 – 8 = 4, & 9 – 10 = 5.

Honour

Honour represents how ethical the fighter is perceived to be, how closely he follows the unwritten ‘fighters’ code’ of the XWF, how much of a ‘stand up guy’ people inside the industry think he is. Not taking advantaged of opponents, ‘jobbing’ (faking serious injury to make an opponent look good), & similar such activities all benefit the character’s honour. Honour has a permanent rating of 1 to 10, a temporary pool of 1 to 10, & effects the character’s Influence [XWF] in a similar manner to Glory (above).

Gaining & Loosing Glory & Honour

Combat:

Not striking a dazed opponent [Honour +1, Glory +1]
Striking a dazed opponent [Honour -1]
KOing a dazed opponent [Honour -2, Glory +1]
Using a Lethal damage attack against an opponent who doesn't have one [-2 Honour]
Fighting against an opponent who has a Lethal attack when you don’t have one [+1 Honour, +1 Glory]
Killing an opponent [-1 Permanent Honour, -1 Permanent Glory]
Striking an opponent held by someone else, or restrained with powers [-1 Honour]
Using a maneuver to which your opponent has a vulnerability repeatedly in rapid succession [-1 Honour]

Challenges:

Accepting a challenge from a higher ranked fighter [Honour +1, Glory +1]
Challenging a higher ranked fighter [+1 Glory]
Challenging a lower ranked fighter [-1 Honour]

Winning & Losing:

Defeating a higher ranked fighter [+2 Glory]
Defeating a significantly higher ranked fighter (4+ ranks higher) [+3 Glory]
Getting beaten by a lower ranked fighter [-2 Glory]
Getting beaten by a significantly lower ranked fighter (4+ ranks lower) [-3 Glory]
Defeating an opponent in fewer than 3 turns (9 seconds) [+1 Glory]
Winning a match [+1 Glory]
Losing a match [-1 Glory]
Losing because you fought Honorably [+1 Honour]
Wining against two opponents at once [+1 Glory]
Winning against 3 opponents at once [+2 Glory]
Winning against 4 opponents at once [+3 Glory]
Defeating an opponent without taking any (perceived) damage [+3 Glory]
Defeating an opponent who has a Lethal attack when you don’t have one [+2 Glory]
Losing against an opponent who has a Lethal attack because you don’t have one [+1 Honour]

Entertainment:

Taking a turn to pose / show off / work the crowd [+1 Glory if the character succeeds at the appropriate (Style or Intimidate) Ability roll: this roll is at +1 difficulty per dot of Influence [marks] the fighter’s opponent has above their own Influence [marks] rating]
Taking a turn to ‘job’ (fake serious injury to make the other guy look good) [+1 Honour if the character succeeds on a Performance roll at difficulty +1 per dot he has in Influence [marks] ]
Failing to take aggressive action for more than 3 turns (9 seconds) (e.g. performing only defensive actions, posing, faking injury, moving around, etc.) [-1 Glory per turn]

Away from the Arena:

Suffering injury while protecting an innocent [+1 Honour]
Running from a challenge [-1 Honour, -2 Glory]
Ignoring someone in need of help [-1 Honour]
Defeating a much more powerful foe [+2 Honour, +2 Glory]

[ProfPotts]

Gimmick

All XWF fighters are, essentially, created personas designed to get ‘pop’ from the ‘marks’ (& thus more ca$h for everyone involved). When the character is created several features of his or her gimmick must be decided (& noted on the character sheet):

Nova name: like Elites & T2Mers an XWF fighter needs a name for their public persona – ‘Joe Bloggs’ just doesn’t cut it, but Joe ‘The Butcher’ Bloggs may well go far.

Role: XWF fighters choose one of two roles they play in the ring, ‘face’ (a ‘good guy’ the crowd likes to cheer – like Core, La Araña, or Melinda Guzman), or ‘heel’ (a ‘bad guy’ the crowd like to boo – like Raja Ravana, Superbeast, or The Terminatrix). A fighter’s role has no effect on other Traits (such as Glory & Honour – heels can be just as popular as faces), but does effect the Ability the character uses when he attempts to ‘work’ the crowd (see above) – a face works the crowd with Style, while a heel works the crowd with Intimidate. A starting character need to take at least 3 dots in their corresponding role Ability (Style or Intimidate) to even land an XWF contract in the first place.

Signature Pose: a brief description of the character’s best known ‘pose’ when showing off to the crowd or celebrating victory – this could be anything from bellowing his name with his arms raised above his head, to politely helping his opponent up off the mat, to flying an aerial circuit around the arena… anything’s possible.

Catchphrase: a ‘sound bite’ the character is famous for (such as Superbeast’s eloquent ‘Step into my jungle, b!tch!’).

Finisher: although fighters can use any finisher they’re capable of, they’ll have one they’re particularly famous for. A ‘finisher’ is a particular Smackdown, Piledriver, or Power Max usually used towards the end of the fight to finish off the opponent. The most famous example is, of course, Core’s ‘Core Meltdown’ power max. Signature finishers need cool names & descriptions (so that the kiddies can hurt themselves trying to replicate them in the schoolyard, & the guys writing code for the XWF computer games have something to make people want to play your character).

Spending Nova Points

When designing an XWF fighter there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. The amount of damage the character can dish out & take sets which ‘circle’ they will fight in – 15 or less damage / Soak = silver circle, 15-20 damage / Soak = red circle, 20+ damage / Soak = black circle. Generally a character will be assigned to whichever circle is indicated by the higher of their damage / Soak scores – so characters with uneven scores run big risks.

2. Fights are scheduled to last between 15 & 30 minutes, & the audience (& promoters, & sponsors) expect a show – characters need to be able to do more than just rely on ‘Maintenance’ & similar low-duration, high QP cost powers. Maintenance powers get a slight break in the semi-real world of XWF combat – turns when both combatants are posing, jobbing, or otherwise not ‘in combat’ don’t take up precious turns-worth of activation. Still, most characters will want a few Mega-Attributes & other ‘QP free’ talents in order to be able to last the duration.

Summary

Basic 30 NP characters

No merits / flaws

No strengths / weaknesses

No fan-written powers, etc.

Background minimums: Backing [XWF] 1, Resources 3

Ability minimums: Style 3 (if playing a ‘face’), Intimidate 3 (if playing a ‘heel’)

Mega-Attributes / Quantum Powers enough to sustain the character through a 15 to 30 minute shootfight

So, questions, comments, interest?

[Alex Green]

:Waves Hand in the Air:

"Pick me!"

[Centimane]

I'm considering playing. As with Truth and Justice, it depends on whether my creativity decides to be cooperative and I can come up with a halfway decent character.

Edit: I think I've got one, so I'm officially interested in playing.

[ProfPotts]

eto... = 'er...' or similar

hazui = 'embarrassing'

ikemen = 'hot guy'

[Heritage]

Prof, if I overstepped my bounds in terms of what Gossamer's powers can do, please let me know - I had a vision of this scene on my way home from work, and I wanted to get it down. I was assuming a Scottish castle would have exposed ceiling beams in most decent sized rooms, like a dining hall, but I can always edit, especially the pickpocketing bit ::smile

[ProfPotts]

Prof, if I overstepped my bounds in terms of what Gossamer's powers can do, please let me know - I had a vision of this scene on my way home from work, and I wanted to get it down. I was assuming a Scottish castle would have exposed ceiling beams in most decent sized rooms, like a dining hall...

That's fine - coiffure chin-ups.

... but I can always edit, especially the pickpocketing bit.

The 'Hunter's wallet' bit, though, is gross 'Dramatic Editing' & definately should be edited out. Whatever made you think that Hunter, of all people, would be an easy mark? ::sly Maybe interesting to try to find out at some point, but you can't 'retroactively pick pockets', no.

[Heritage]

That's fine - coiffure chin-ups.

The 'Hunter's wallet' bit, though, is gross 'Dramatic Editing' & definately should be edited out. Whatever made you think that Hunter, of all people, would be an easy mark? ::sly Maybe interesting to try to find out at some point, but you can't 'retroactively pick pockets', no.

Yeah, your right, that was DE - out it goes!

Edit: Post easily fixed; now she merely mentions she can do it.

[Alex Green]

Prof,

I'm assuming that with the link someone could show Jack a spot and he could then target that spot?

[SkyLion]

Hey all! I have submitted a character for approval to Potts. Hopefully I can join soon! If I get approval it will be my first ever attempt at roleplaying a girl so go easy on me!

[Heritage]

So, questions, comments, interest?

For the record, this sounds like a ton of fun, and I really like the rules you came up with to expand and clarify the world of the XWF, but I think I'm going to pass on this ::sad

As a player in three of your games, I'm very happy with my level of Aberrant commitment right now.

And good luck to you, Sky! I'm interested to see what you've come up with.

[SkyLion]

Thanks! Im eager to join in!

[Alex Green]

The Norwegian bursts out laughing, raising an eyebrow. "Several Scandinavian languages? Who the hell needs to speak several Scandinavian languages..?"

This got me looking. I checked and there are several Scandinavian languages, (Icelandic, Faroese, Norn, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish) and they seem to work well as a group as defined by abby rules.

However, Jack (and Alex for that matter) also got “French”. By abby rules Jack should have gotten the French “group”, i.e. Romance, but the Romance group is Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian. This group covers all of South America as well as half of Europe, North America, & Africa.

I suspect that the big languages (French, English, etc) count as “groups” all by themselves, but I wanted to see what everyone else thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_languages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Romance_languages.PNG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages .

[Asbjørn]

Scandinavia is three countries: Norway, Denmark and Sweden. They're all part of the germanic language group, and apart from a few dialects and the fact that danes speak like they have their mouths full of mashed potatoes, we all understand each other perfectly. The other languages are similar (mostly to norwegian) but by definition not scandinavian. Icelandic and Faeroe is closer to old Norse (which is the original), but neither is the same

I - and any other Norwegian - just find it funny that an American would bother learning not only one but several generally very similar languages spoken by only a tiny fraction of the world's population. In this case I think it would be best to say Jack knows one language and understands the two others.

That said, I think the whole linguistics skill is problematic, to say the least...

[SkyLion]

If you look at the specialties for language then yes, french, german etc. count as one family. Prsonally I like the trinity version where higher dots means more languanges per dot. This is the same as the WoD rule and allows for true baseline polyglots at higher levels.