Aberrant: War Journal - War Journal OOC

[Heritage]

Okay, so far the following people have expressed interest in starting up again:

Ezekiel

Phoenix

Bahamut

Prince of Boredom (in chats)

Alex Green (I think - maybe he just wants Mike dead ::wink )

Anyone else?

Something else to consider - since Blue Ninja's game is comepletely seperate from WJ (and lookin' none too shabby, I might add), if you wanted to play your character from Trans-D, I might be able to accomidate you. Or barring a few notable exceptions, you have the option to play your original WJ characters.

[archer]

I'll play! ::biggrin

[Heritage]

I'll play! ::biggrin

←

Cool!

Okay, here's something for WJ old-timers: Zeke is asking about playing Havoc ::ohmy

Now I personally never had a problem with the Big H, but due to all the controversy that surrounded Havocgate, I can understand if people might be a little concerned about his return. As I recall, there were two primary issues:

1. The Stabbing. This blew up largely because of an error I made and a misreading of certain posts that somehow transformed Havoc from a grim avenger in the Punisher style into sadistic bastard who carved Shakespearan sonnets into his victims. I'm hoping that we can move past this tragic turn of events.

2. Child Endangerment. A big part of Zeke's concept of Havoc was the contrast between his violent and gentle sides, as represented by his relationship with his daughter Julia. Some characters were morally opposed to having a young child in a combat zone, which is certainly undertsandable. However, I will say that soon these issues will be less relevant, so hopefully both Havoc and Julia will be able to return to the game.

Thoughts from anyone?

[Bahamut810]

Without knowing who I am going to make (and how upstanding they are) there may be issue with Julia again.

The stabbing can be chocked up to the fogs of war. Sending a kid to the front line of war breaks all the rules though. If I play a 'by the book' guy (even a mostly 'by the book' guy) he is going to be opposed to it. While there may not be many safe places, there are many much safer alternatives (like Warpstation Bravo, which is the difference between a unit and an *army*).

Dont get me wrong, I like the consept. But that is something that breaks the Geneva Convention, as well as general military protacal that most militiaries adopt.

[Heritage]

Without knowing who I am going to make (and how upstanding they are) there may be issue with Julia again.

The stabbing can be chocked up to the fogs of war.  Sending a kid to the front line of war breaks all the rules though.  If I play a 'by the book' guy (even a mostly 'by the book' guy) he is going to be opposed to it.  While there may not be many safe places, there are many much safer alternatives (like Warpstation Bravo, which is the difference between a unit and an *army*).

Dont get me wrong, I like the consept.  But that is something that breaks the Geneva Convention, as well as general military protacal that most militiaries adopt.

←

I hear where you're coming from, and this always was a legitamate beef. Would it help if I said the structure of the Greens is going to be shattered and you're all going to be running for your lives? ::ohmy

[Bahamut810]

If she happens to be there for whatever reason, and the place is attacked...all you can do is run, and make the best of the situation untill you can get her to where she needs to be.

[Alex Green]

Alex Green (I think - maybe he just wants Mike dead ::wink )

It's less of a problem with Mike. Further, when I think about it Mike-#1 was wearing only the bare minimum in survival gear. I.e. enough to keep him alive for a couple of days, meaning he dies of various toxic things at the end of it.

It brings new meaning to the phrase "short mission".

[phoenix]

Let's just forget about the stabbing, first of all, that whole thing was really weird. I don't know about Julia, but if we're to be on the run anyway it seems like Havoc's first move would be to grab his daughter to ensure her safety. So maybe her presence would be more realistic if she wasn't there at the very beginning of the game, but someone warped her to Havoc as soon as the fecal matter hit the fan.

[Asbjørn]

Hey!

Here I'm nagging you to get back into posting, and you don't include me on the list? ::angry ::wink

By the way... You mentioned the possibility of transfering Trans-D characters? Which would you rather have in the story, Argent or Hood?

[phoenix]

Hood! ::cool

[Bahamut810]

Man...I dont know what to make for WJ now.

Mabey should go ahead and make "Hentai-man". Basically lots and lots of tentacles and Emotion Control (Lust only). ::biggrin ::laugh ::happy ::wink

[Asbjørn]

Hood! ::cool

::biggrin

By the way... Is anyone else considering a character transfer?

[Heritage]

Okay, something I need to mention - there are two count 'em two verbotten powers in this revived game, which are:

Teleportation

Warping

You shall soon see why. ::devil This is non-negotiable, not like the way I completely caved like a soggy baked Alaska on eufiber back in the day.

(mumble...stupid eufiber....grumble)

[Bahamut810]

But Eufiber is so guud!

[Heritage]

But Eufiber is so guud!

←

Yeah, I'm okay with it now, though I made sure our sweet little Epstein got some of that eufiber action.

[Alex Green]

That no Warping bit means Mike needs editing. I'm going to assume he gets those nova points back and I'll just shift them into his other powers.

PM to H.

[ezekiel]

or he DIES! Join the club... ::wink

[Heritage]

If anyone is forced to create a new character due to ST-mandated death ::devil, and their ex-character had any unspent XP, I will let you rollover the XP into the new PC. This is only if you don't have a character from Trans-D that you want to crossover. I'm allowing it for Alex, so I offer the same to you all.

[Heritage]

And I'm going to allow Havoc back into the game - let the chips fall where they may.

So here's a list of known PC's who will not be returning:

Damien

Lobe

Mike

Rex - sorry, Potts, but you can play the hot GL chick from Trans-D if you show up

Griff - sorry, Grizz, but since he's not a warper or porter he might be able to return if you do. Actually, the same could be said of Rex, though there is that whole 'ripping Havoc's lungs out' bit that could make things awkward ::sly

I can't remember who all in Trans-D were 'jumpers' - I think Nulli's dwarf and someone else. Non-jumper Trans-D characters can be crossed over - if you prefer your T-D character to the one in WJC, I can arrange for that.

[Bahamut810]

So what are the current creation rules?

[Alex Green]

Dr Nature (Paul) shifted over to the other game.

RE: Experience

Any chance we could have some more? ( ::innocent )

RE: Loss of Mike

ST permitting, it looks like Mike will be replaced by a nova tunnel builder. EM:Earth and all that. It's a surprisingly expensive concept what with the extra senses you need to find your way around. Go easy on him, he doesn't have much soak.

[Heritage]

So what are the current creation rules?

←

Um...the same as when I started the game, minus the Teleport and Warp powers...yeah, that's it! Standard 30 power points, starting packages based on which division you start in (look 'em up at the begining of this thread, I think), up to ten points of weakness.

[phoenix]

Um...the same as when I started the game, minus the Teleport and Warp powers...yeah, that's it! Standard 30 power points, starting packages based on which division you start in (look 'em up at the begining of this thread, I think), up to ten points of weakness.

The starting packages are actually here. ::smile

[Asbjørn]

Well, I tried asking you which one of my characters you think fit best in WJ, Heritage, but since you don't seem to care either way - or at least aren't inclined to answer ::wink - I'll just throw Hood into it. A few questions in that regard, though:

Are we still captains?

Did Trans-D happen?

If so, what happened, exactly? Did the whole project get lost in Red Tape? Did we fail miserably? Was the first assignment a success, but we're being transferred temporarily?

I'm sure I can think of others as well..

[Heritage]

Well, I tried asking you which one of my characters you think fit best in WJ, Heritage, but since you don't seem to care either way - or at least aren't inclined to answer  ::wink  - I'll just throw Hood into it. A few questions in that regard, though:

Are we still captains?

Did Trans-D happen?

If so, what happened, exactly? Did the whole project get lost in Red Tape? Did we fail miserably? Was the first assignment a success, but we're being transferred temporarily?

I'm sure I can think of others as well..

←

Sorry I didn't reply - still getting my head together on this, so I apologize for not getting back to folks sooner ::blush

To be honest, I don't have a preference, I like 'em both - if I had to choose, I would go with Hood as well, since he's had more playing time, plus the failure of the THRONE project (more on that it a second) gives him something to work towards. Plus he might have to deal with his daughter now.... ::devil

I'm working out the details over the course of this four day weekend, but as of right now (this might change, but I don't think so), everything that happened in Trans-D happened - I'm not planning any sort of retconning. What I see going on is this:

1. I'm probably going to do a series of long-ish IC posts setting things in motion; these will probably include a bit of Trans-D stuff, though it will be in the WJ thread. Actually, I have a question - heck, I'll set it up as a poll, which will be up soon. Multiple story threads will get synched up chronologically, so that what happens out in the Badlands, back at X4 and even on Permafrost will happen at the same time (aka G-Hour).

2. PCs who will not be continuing will be handled by me in what I hope is a respectful fashion - if someone's not gonna make it, they will go out heroically, not vaporized while they're sitting on the can or something ::sly

3. Continuing/new characters will be a part of the action as it goes down - this is not a total railroad plot, your actions will have meaning at least as they affect your PCs and the folks around you, but som ethings are gonna happen outside of your spheres of influence that you can't control.

4. There might be a time jump forward after that - still not sure on that. If we've got lots of immediate momentum going, with exciting tales to be told, I probably won't - I don't want to deny anyone the chance to show what their character can do when the shit rips through the fan like a tornado.

Now, in order for this to work, I'm going to have to work fairly closely with people bringing in new characters or reactivating old ones - we need to determine where and when your characters will be when events start to unfold. To make things easier for me, I'd prefer if we kept it fairly local. Some suggestions:

8th Infantry HQ - this is where Havoc will start out, since he's still being detained pending a military inquiry. As a somewhat larger base, it has folks from all branches of service passing through.

Warpstation Bravo - as the HQ of Trans-D, crossover PCs will start here, or will be there shortly. It's also a bustling place where lots of paths cross, which makes it a good place to start. This is also I believe where sweet little Julia will start, but I'll have to double-check old posts.

Warpstation Alpha - briefly seen at the beginning of Trans-D, this is the heart of the Green movement, and where General Chimera spends most of her time. Gens Ballard and Hackney are also frequent visitors. If you start out here, you'd probably need to be somewhat 'connected' - social-type Backgrounds would be a good idea, and might have interesting uses in the future.

I'd rather not have someone else transfer over to X4 just before things happen - we just had Argent come over (what will be his fate? ::huh) and that might be a bit hard to swallow.

One last point - if you're creating a new character, make sure you note which branch of service you're in - things will appear very differently to TS packrat and an Intel spook. etc. If you don't pick one, I'll pick one for you at random ::ohmy

[Alex Green]

PM (char) sent to ST. The new character has exactly the same skills (Engineering background), Rank, etc as the old. (Not sure if that's being lazy or inventive).

[Bahamut810]

Uhhh....We can do that?

[ezekiel]

Reminds me of the old days of dungeon crawling where a cleric PC would die and somehow the party would meet an eerily familiar cleric wandering the dungeon on his own who would join the party, no questions asked... ::tongue

[Bahamut810]

Then meet Abraham...the...uhhh...angel of death... ::wink

You will like him! I swear! ::laugh

Seriously though...I am still getting a consept down. BEar with me.

[Alex Green]

Reminds me of the old days of dungeon crawling where a cleric PC would die and somehow the party would meet an eerily familiar cleric wandering the dungeon on his own who would join the party, no questions asked... ::tongue

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Not all that familar. The name & age have changed, the new guy is much better looking, and the powers are *nothing* like before. It's just both guys are enhanced engineers so I didn't see the point of changing the skills. Mike used his skills to set bombs and blow up buildings, Alex uses his to build tunnels and undermine buildings.

In both cases I build the powers then decided they'd make the most sense with an engineer skill-mold, so for the second one I copied the skills. It helped that Mike spoke Spanish.

Oh yeah, and Alex also has some electrical skills/powers. He's basically built so he can tunnel under a base, fire up an electrical storm for 20 or 30 minutes, and then leave the same way. Since he's always 100+ feet under the ground combat is somewhat interesting. And electricity ignores most armor, is a lethal effect, and just hoses most technology.

[Heritage]

I do have one question for you, Alex - why make this guy a Scout? His power set is all about the Engineers, since they're the ones who do structural sabotage and underground digging. Just askin'...

[Alex Green]

I thought our choices were (or at least our skill packages were for) Nova Scouts and the Nova Military? (Well… OK, there’s also the RA but that seems kind of a baseline thing).

Granted, there are five subdivisions: Engineers, Infantry, Intelligence, Med Corps and Transport and Supply, but he has a power that lets him sneak behind enemy lines (basically at will) and do pretty much anything.

His services might be split between them, and he might end up mostly working for the Engineer Corp, but it just seemed like he’d get Scout training, as opposed to RA training.

[ezekiel]

Just curious...since the character's theme is earth control/digging...why not make it an earthquake instead of an electrical storm? Seems kinda twinkinsh if you ask me due to "electricity ignores most armor, is a lethal effect, and just hoses most technology" instead of just plain cool. ::shrug

[Alex Green]

OOC Answer:

My current SOP (i.e. for the past few years) when building characters is to try to buy 2 unconnected Themes, usually 2 level 3 powers. The DMD is just too limited, and ditto the two other mono-themed characters I've been running recently on other boards.

Paul's themes are nature control and radiation control.

Mike's was less elementally theme oriented but used the same format. He was built as an urban terrorist with 3 level three powers, Warp, Clone, & Q-Bolt+Trigger.

Besides, I've never made Elemental Control work by itself, it's too point inefficient. So in part this is a test to see if it can be done. Neither Electricity Mastery or Earth Mastery is viable by themselves (the powers, not the themes). Both end up with one bullet lifespans mostly because the defense techniques are pretty weak. In theory I could go with Earth Control in combo with Bodymorph Earth, I think even with Clone. And if you think this is Twinkish then that would be much, much worse. He tunnels in and then unleashes a hoard of M-Str 5 clones, then he leaves. The problem is I've run enough Bricks.

I very strongly considered Earth + Magnetism, but eventually decided against it for two reasons. First because the two themes are extremely close together, and that breaks the SOP. Second because what I'd really like young Alex to be able to do is shut down technology. I.e. as a teamwork thing, Magnetic Storm has too many collateral effects. But Electricity Mastery (Decrease - his mastered technique) would let him turn off most of that nasty tech while the rest of you pound on the baselines.

Moving back to IC:

The new Alejandro erupted 12 hours after he was with a group who were caught on the wrong side of a cave in. Their equipment was running low in juice, and young Alex got the power to save the day by both being able to power the equipment and to dig his way out.

[Asbjørn]

Something strikes me as a bit odd... Don't you get confused with all the similar names you use for your characters, Alex? ::huh

[Asbjørn]

So... what characters are we talking about?

Ezekiel - Havoc

Phoenix - ?

Bahamut - ?

Prince of Boredom - ?

Alex Green - Alejandro (tunnel rat engineer)

Archer - ?

Asbjørn - Hood (Scout type)

BlueNinja - Judy Kaprinski?

Did I forget anyone?

[Edit: I mistakenly took Havoc for a cobra at first.]

[ezekiel]

I dunno, I just think it'd be a bit naff if the Iceman threw firebolts.

Why would the clones have mega-str 5? Unless you actually bought the attribute or had boost or something in which case each clone would have to use the power which means a prohibitive quantum cost.

I don't think twinkish is nearly as bad when it fits. Alex was unstoppable (or so it seemed) but at least he was cool.

If you look at EON character greats:

Blaze, the flame guy. You know its the flame guy, if he suddenly made a rainstorm or something it'd just seem icky.

Alex: Dark Matter Destroyer...the name's cool, the guy's a hulk who manipulates dark matter (and is dark matter himself) for cool effects

Rex: Sure there was the Havoc incident, but Rex was a big lizard with all that implied. If at some point Prof took Q-bolt with the spray extra it'd definitely fit as a firebreathing lizard...woulda sucked if he'd suddenly developed teleport or flight even if it debateably be more powerful.

The Samurai: Guy was quick, used those swords, jumped around, and was just freakin' awesome! It was all part of a cool theme and again if he'd taken flight or summoned a storm I just think he'd lose that flair.

Plus pretty much any of the NPCs in Prof's games were awesome and followed themes. Virus was ubercool during that attack on Fabry's estate, Pathfinder combined sexy and scary with a certain theme (the name says it all, pretty much) and even Eel was cool.

EON not so greats (no offense guys...just my opinion. All of you have great characters in other games)

Mike (In WJ): No offense, but I thought that character was a total munchkin. It might look good on paper to have a host stay at home while letting clones warp to different places and sneak around leaving bombs then warping out but when you think of it...meh...I'd never read that comic book...y'know?

Mike (In QZ): I never really got this character's angle. He's mega-social...he's invisible...and he can also create a sphere of flame...yeah?

Ernold (in WJ): K, while I liked the character, and the powers were perfectly themed, this time its just a case of the character clashing with the game's atmosphere. The decision to have him die is totally my own, but in retrospect, he probably would've been better off as a superman clone or other well known super hero...

Anyway, like I said, just my opinion...

By the way, Havoc isn't a Cobra, he's Infantry. Sure I sacrificed skill points, but I figured he wouldn't leave Julia to go through training and that he likes the men in the Crazy Eights..I mean c'mon....would you rather say you're a Cobra...or that you're with "The Crazy Eights!" ? ::wink ::biggrin

[Bahamut810]

Damien didn't make the list? Damn...I failed...

[Prince of Boredom]

Mike (In QZ): I never really got this character's angle. He's mega-social...he's invisible...and he can also create a sphere of flame...yeah?

Well, since we're not likely to see him ever again, I'll let the cat out of the bag and hopefully get you to change your mind.

Mike:

Mega-Manipulation

Mega-Perception

Intuition

Psychic Shield

Telepathy (surreptitious)

Mirage (area extra)

Domination (psychic [just bought it, never got to use it])

The theme of course is that everything is telepathic (he f***'s with people's minds). I even described the intuition as more a low-level constant telepathic scan to sense if someone has hostile intentions.

So basically, every effect you ever saw came from his Mirage power (turning invisible/inaudible, taking out Glacier in a single round with the fire wall, the fire sphere that trapped Carla).

And what about Thunderbolt? He was definately based on a theme, and pretty fun to play too.....

[Prince of Boredom]

So... what characters are we talking about?

Prince of Boredom - The Nomad (basically a Matter Chameleon)

I made this guy a while back as a replacement to my much-maligned Tesseract(perhaps he should be added to the not-so-greats list 'Zeke) character in Trans-D, but never got to play him. He's a T&S Scrounger (their psuedo special ops guys that go in deep to recover supplies) that worked on the Trans-D project very early on (he was actually the 'test pilot' of the program if you will. He would go in first, determine if the dimension is hospitable [he has adaptability] then once he made the determination, he would come back and a team [like the PCs] would go in to actually do their thing).