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ezekiel Veteran

ezekiel

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::biggrin

haha!

Sorry, been busy guys, I just didn't have time to analyze all the characters, if your character isn't on one list or the other it doesn't mean I don't care...;)

Point was just that the Greats mostly followed some kind of theme and the flunks either didn't or (like Ernold) had a crap one.

I haven't read Trans-D as I was travelling when that was going on so I don't know any of those characters.

Actually my favorite character of yours PoB is the Captain in TEF...:) Plus your old guy in IPWeT was pretty cool but I try to avoid the subject of IPWeT.. ::tongue

As for Mike, that's the problem with playing "secret" powers I guess (I actually knew about some if not all of them since he'd contacted Terry) The character still didn't have a solid theme in my opinion, at least not as far as other players are concerned. Best PCs make the game interesting for everyone, not just the PCs player, which is why playing loners kinda sucks. I wasn't sure if I liked Terry anymore towards the end when he was getting paranoid...He was just starting to get more interesting though...

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Alex Green Legendary

Alex Green

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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 wasn't speaking hypothetically, I've already done the math. Not forever, but if I drop the electrical theme I could have 6 M-Str 5 guys attack for 7 turns.

They rise out of the ground, attack from total surprise, and level many buildings before their lack of soak gets them killed. And then the same thing happens again. The Math works pretty good, considering they are all immune to each other's powers the original could even set off an Earthquake (storm) to really make things uncomfortable for the baseline army.

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.

Thank you. Alex was built as a soak machine. He had the perfect-body thing going for him as well as the Dark Matter (two themes again).

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?

Point taken. Mike worked a lot better on paper than he did in play.

And point taken about the two themes. What you are basically saying is it's better if they aren't actually conflicting. I'm going to think about young Alec and see if I can unify his two themes.

EM:Earth + Bodymorph:Stone + Clone? (Army of Darkness)

EM:Earth + EM:Fire (i.e. Magma?)

EM:Earth + Magnetics (Iron Ore?)

Although we could say that EM:Earth + Electrical is copper ore. After all, lightning doesn't come from the skys and strike the ground. It rises from the ground and strikes the sky.

Suggestions/Comments are invited.

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phoenix Elite

phoenix

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I'm inclined to agree with Ezekiel that a single theme tends to create better characters. On the other hand, I think there are some powers that might be considered "a-thematic" - low levels of most mega-attributes, for example, or certain powers. For example, Terry and Vinnie are greats in my book, and they both had mega-socials that were somewhat outside their themes.

Since you ask, all of those sound like better ideas than electricity. I personally like the idea of seeing a magnetokinetic nova make an appearance, but I watched too much X-Men when I was a kid, so.. *shrug*

I've done two characters that I have to admit really had no good theme, Raphael from War Journal (who in retrospect, I can't believe Heritage let me get away with) and Eddie Chambers from Cognizant Chimera. Now I tend to ask myself whether or not it would fly with Prof before running with a theme.

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Heritage Veteran

Heritage

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Hey, gang! Sorry to be away for so long - the cable modem is in the room where a visiting baby is staying right now, so I can't really reset the modem if it glitches late at night, for fear of waking the noisy young one.

So about what's being said:

Alex - I agree it would be cooler/better if your new PCs powers were more in line; I think it goes without saying that I tend to approve characters pretty quickly and then sometimes regret it just because I'm so darned math lazy, though Phoenix has recently had to face the shock of not one, but two Heritage rejections! (BTW, the new one looks fine, dude!)

The EON rogue's gallery - as far as PCs go, I think Martha was my best, even though her theme was...well, Martha. Slither is good concept who was designed a little sloppy - when I recreated her in another game using Mutants and Masterminds, I put a bit more thought into her design and she turned out better. Conduit is the first PC where I actually liked the character enough that powers were more or less secondary - again, she had a good run in another game on a different site (effining dissapearing GMs.... ::angry) where I rethought her powers and she worked much better. Actually the Whistler is very cool, too, so he can stand proudly next to Martha, and be intimidated by her frank sexuality ::laugh I haven't fallen in love with Buck yet, but his attempt to impersonate a psion to get into a girl's pants was very fun to write ::devil

As far as NPCs go....well, a father loves all his children, but I have a huge sweet spot for both Colby and Esptein, a duo I'd like to see in a movie or comic book someday. And rereading old posts, Delacroix is probably my strongest male character, and his dialogue just crackles.

I'm probably gonna allow BN to play Kaprisky as soon as I make sure that the timing will work - stupid involved epic plots!

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phoenix Elite

phoenix

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Phoenix has recently had to face the shock of not one, but two Heritage rejections! (BTW, the new one looks fine, dude!)

Well it really wasn't that much of a shock either time, they were pretty unusual characters.. Anyway, character forthcoming.

Phoenix - Sarah Chu'mana Adoette

A lady Cobra of Hopi ancestry with developed water powers. Yes, this is another "totem animal" character, my fourth on these forums. ::devil

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Bahamut810 Elite

Bahamut810

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Ok, I have 3 consepts and I dont know which to pick...

1. Energy man. A man who is made from energy (and powers along the same line). Enery form (possibly perm) and Q-bolt at the very least.

2. Codename: Moble Base. An officer who erupted while directing troops. FF+Wall, Analyse weakness, possible psi-link or telepathy for directing troops.

3. Jedi. The thread inspired me.

What do people think?

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Asbjørn Mentor

Asbjørn

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What do people think?
1.  Energy man. A man who is made from energy (and powers along the same line).  Enery form (possibly perm) and Q-bolt at the very least.

Simple. Pure. Independent of other players. Leaves lots of room for personality based roleplaying. ::thumbup1

2.  Codename: Moble Base.  An officer who erupted while directing troops.  FF+Wall, Analyse weakness, possible psi-link or telepathy for directing troops.

At first glance well suited for this kind of story, I'll give you that. But leadership roleplaying always depends entirely on the people you're playing with, and this concept leaves you nothing else...

3.  Jedi.  The thread inspired me.

I think there's absolutely no room for a jedi in the gritty war-type story Heritage always has been aiming for with War Journal. ::thumbdown:

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Alex Green Legendary

Alex Green

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OK, after seriously reviewing young Alejandro,

Option #1: I could switch Electricity to Magnetics, which BTW is a pretty good directional sense as well, which means I could shift some other things around and save 5 points. Those 5 points could then be spent on something else which Magnetoe can do (think, think, think)... like create Electricity.

We call that full circle. ::biggrin ::brick ::blink

However, I decided it would be best to go with option #2 below. I still need to work out the skills before sending Heritage the full character, but I doubt there will be any problems. Sorry, no clone, but he's *much* more effective in combat and has one central theme. If I ever get 9 spare experience I might go the magma route.

Option #2: Alejandro Muñoz (aka "Vlad").

The nova "name" comes from the historic figure, Vlad the Impaler. He has Earth powers, including the ability to move through the Earth, build tunnels, and turn himself into stone. This last ability unfortunately doesn't do a lot for his soak.

In combat Vlad is something of a one trick pony, but it's a really nasty trick. He moves under the ground, and then sends "spears" of Earth up to impale his foes. Vlad can stay under the ground basically forever without food drink or air, just waiting for someone to walk across the surface. His spears have proven able to trash vehicles, unarmored humans are basically just meat.

Alejandro is an able tunnel builder, assassin, sapper, and all around nice guy. He's 17 or so.

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Alex Green Legendary

Alex Green

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RE: Engineering

Engineering is the study and practice of building things, like tunnels. He pretty much has to be one just as part of his power (other people get irate when tunnels collapse). Engineering is also a really useful skill for making tunnels that you want to collapse, and for figuring out the load bearing walls and beams in buildings that your are sapping. So yes, he has a lot of natural tallent, training, and practice in this skill which enhances and is enhanced by his powers.

Mike was an engineer only because I wanted him to have a lot of demolitions, and most of the legal uses of that skill are variants of engineering. Mike didn’t gain any skills when he erupted so everything needed to be explained in his background.

RE: And speaking of natural tallent...

Actually Vlad’s an Artist, although I haven’t figured out yet if that’s his background or another aspect of his powers (a bit of both I suspect). Regardless, he’s known for the incredibly detailed, realistic, and/or beautiful figures he makes and leaves around.

RE: Age

I started out just wanting to make him the opposite of Mike, who needed to be pretty old. Everything considered, I think I’ll make his age 19.

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ezekiel Veteran

ezekiel

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I started out just wanting to make him the opposite of Mike, who needed to be pretty old. Everything considered, I think I’ll make his age 19.

Cool, I was just wondering. Often players play young characters and forget just how young that is (playing 16 year old PhD graduates, veteran war heroes, leaders, etc), the result often being that they can't be taken seriously. If playing a youth is what you intend then its all cool, kids go to war all the time... ::smile

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Heritage Veteran

Heritage

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Yay! 10XP?

Thanks for that belatet christmas gift! ::biggrin  ::devil  ::ultracool

Now I have to think about how to spend them ::wink . I´ll PM you my ideas later.

You're welcome, dude - since this is such a large chunk of XP, my one concern is that everyone's just going to use it to buy Quantum, which is understandable. If you were a point or two away from a jump, that's fine, but I want to keep the power level of this game under control. I've seen what escalating quantum levels can do to a game, and I don't want that to happen to us.

XP is going to be given out more regulaly from now on, so this won't be that big of an issue, I promise - I just want you guys to deal with the new situation at hand before we start scaling the heights of power.

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Heritage Veteran

Heritage

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Okay, so I'm going to start posting today, but I need to lay down a few ground rules - since I just handed out a bunch of xp, I don't expect you all to start posting right away, so the first few posts won't require huge amounts of power to be thrown about, still largely setting the scene.

The time is the early morning after the Badlands team went out, after a long night of poker and Epstein-boinking (to quote Buffy, "Raise your hand if 'Ew'." ::tongue) In actual fact, the two timelines (X4 base and Badlands) are way out of sync, but since the Badlands are so bizarro, I'm going to invoke an All-Mighty Time Distortion Effect which means the timelines are eerily in phase. In other words, time moves erratically there, sometimes slower, sometimes faster, not unlike in a faerie mound out of legend - given the history of the area (destruction of WS Charlie while trans-dimensional portals were operating) this is one of the few places on Earth this actually makes sense ::sly

Since we never stated when Trans-D had taken place, I'm making it somewhat retroactive, as follows:

1. The team made it to Carson and found the surviving members of the first team, as well as a few Greens thought dead who made it through the portal before WSC went up, including Griffin's beloved.

2. Most of the Greens were delighted at the thought of making it back home - a few stayed behind, to be picked up on a second trip. Griff's girl, a medic, stayed behind, but gave Hood a note to pass on to Griffin, explaining that she would see him soon.

3. The Trans-D team has been back a week, during which time they have been poked, prodded, briefed, debriefed ad nauseum. Plans for a second jump are underway, but still in the sketchy phase - no word on whether the team will go back to Permafrost or one of the other alternate Earths...

So there are going to be lots of posts from me - the only thing I ask is that you not post until I get to your introduction, placing you firmly in the swirl of ongoing events - after that, cut loose!

The last thing we have to do is figure out where our new PCs are - I think at this point we have only two (Bahamut said start without him), one from Phoenix and one from Alex. I think I have some background stuff on the Greens that I can put up that might help - it will go up right after this post. I suggest you start somewhere in the lower half of Greenland, either in the 8th, 9th or 10th Battalions area of operations, to make it easier to bring in your characters. If you have any questions, start the tide of PMs flowing!

Good luck, one and all!

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Heritage Veteran

Heritage

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Regional and Battalions Reputations

Colville is a mountainous forested region in NE Washington State, which puts it close to the border with Idaho, one of the Blues mightiest strongholds. Actually, there are several Blue enclaves in Washington, too, all just across the Columbia River. This is the home of the Scouts; their secret HQ 'Mount Doom' is here, and most of them train here as well. There is not a large military presence, but Blues from over the river often sneak in to raid, rape and kill the 'Abbie scum and their baseline whores'.

The RA's 1st, 2nd and 3rd Infantry Battalions are located here, with 1st (AKA 'Richter's Raiders') the closest to the Blues, and the other ones heading out West in numerical order. The Raiders are one of the most respected/feared units in the Greens; they took the brunt of the damage during the bloody Battle of Kettle Falls. The 2nd are their comrades-in-arms, but troops of the 3rd, which is technically outside of the Colville region, are seen as desperate clingy wannabes.

The North, home to 4th and 5th Battalions, is the area closest to the border of Canada in the Cascade range - it is the farthest from any of the ground fighting (at least with baseline forces), though the Navy does periodically fire cruise missiles into the area from Puget Sound and Navy pilots sometimes bomb or strafe as well. This is what passes for 'quiet' in the Greens. As it is slightly more tranquil, this is where Regular Army training usually takes place. There are also a lot of Green-sympathetic towns and campground 'villages' here, and when the Greens take any prisoners, they're usually kept up here as well. Because of this lack of combat, folks from the North are thought to be 'soft' and/or 'lazy' by those who fight elsewhere. The 4th actually is pretty sleepy, probably due to the fine Canadian marijuana they smuggle across the border; the 5th tries to distance itself from its errant sibling, pointing to the impressive new Warpstation Delta as evidence of their commitment to the Green cause.

The Core refers to the heart of the Green Movement, where General Chimera led her mercenary band after leaving Africa in 2044. They set up a training camp at Stevens Pass (which is now a weird sort of 'monument'), and spread over time from there. The 6th, 7th and 8th Battalions are located here, and this is where most of the Cobras do their work. The Core gets it from both sides, hammered by the Army's III Corps (based near Seattle) from the West, by mixed Army and Directive, American Division forces (based near Yakima) from the East.

The 6th Battalion is almost ceremonial, largely protecting General Chimera and her staff. The fact that their bases are old and outdated doesn't help either; Warpstation Alpha, for example, is claustrophobic logistical nightmare, with poor ventilation and Intelligence officers forced to sleep in bunks crammed into curtained niches.

The 'Bloody 7th' is aptly named, probably having done more killing than any other battalion, since their bases straddle the 'Yellow Brick Road' (I-90), the artery through which so many US troops and supplies flow. Their reputation, however, is a little unsavory; horror stories of what they do to captured soldiers may or may not be exaggerated, but everyone's too afraid to ask.

The 'Crazy Eights', whose lands you're currently in, are known for their excellent recon skills - there's a bit of a friendly rivalry between Major Kendall's boys and girls and the local Scout population.

The South is where the brightest minds seem to gravitate - the Engineers, who think of Warpstation Bravo as being their unofficial home, are always coming up with new devices that the unfortunate personnel of the 9th and 10th Battalions get to test in the field.

The 9th, under Major Schwab, is something of a 'hard luck' unit - closest to Yakima, they seem to have drawn a disproportionate amount of hostility and ordinance into their lives. The other Greens often tire of hearing pathetic 'Schwab stories', even though conditions there are truly quite grim. Last year Warpstation Charlie, once their pride and joy, was mercilessly pounded by a barrage of missiles, bombs and artillery fire, and then ultimately atomized by an OMEN skystrike that leveled Tieton Peak. The resulting wasteland, known among the troops as the 'Charlie Badlands', has a dark reputation that borders on the mythological.

Things are far more cheerful in the 10th, the southern-most battalion. The boys and girls at WS Bravo serve all of Greendom south of I-90 with a smile, and apparently the mood is contagious; troops from the 10th have volunteered to serve all over, even warping as far away as Colville to bring food, medical supplies or just a helping hand whenever it's needed. They may not be the most battle-hardened unit, but folks are always happy to see them.

Note:

The Scouts and Cobras have their own unit designations (1st thru 5th Scout Battalions, 1st thru 3rd Cobras) but the Infantry Battalions are the building blocks around which the Greens are built.

Each Scout battalion is spread over 2 Infantry battalions (1st Scouts works with 1st and 2nd Infantry, etc., with one Scout for each Infantry platoon), with a six person recon/infiltration unit assigned to each Battalion HQ.

The Cobras are built around packs of 5-man strike teams based at the three warpstations for rapid deployment (1st at Alpha, 2nd at Bravo. 3rd at Delta), with one solo Cobra attached to each Infantry Company (three companies to one battalion).

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Heritage Veteran

Heritage

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Ranks in the Greens

Regular Army

Rank 0 --- Private (PVT)

Rank * --- Corporal/Specialist ¹/Senior Specialist ¹ (CPL/SPEC/SRSPEC)

Rank ** --- Sergeant/First Sergeant ² (SGT/1ST SGT)

Rank *** --- Sergeant Major ² /Lieutenant ³(SGT MAJ/LT)

Rank **** --- Captain (CAPT)

Rank ***** --- Major (MAJ)

Scouts

Rank 0 --- Scout, First Grade (SFG)

Rank * --- Scout, Second Grade (S2G)

Rank ** --- Scout, Third Grade (S3G)

Rank *** --- Master Scout (MS)

Rank **** --- Scout Captain (S-CAP)

Rank ***** --- Scout Major (S-MAJ)

Cobras

No Rank below ***

Rank *** --- Sergeant, Special Operations (SSO)

Rank **** --- Team Leader (TL)

Rank ***** --- Commander (COM)

Inner Circle (same in all branches)

Rank ****** --- Colonel (COL)

Rank ******* --- General (GEN)

¹ These designations only used in Engineers, Med Corps and Transport and Supply.

² These ranks are administrative (non-combatant) positions.

³ No personnel in Intelligence below this rank.

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Heritage

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One last little detail - originally I had Epstein and Delacroix agree to send little Julia to the 8th Battalion to be taken care of by Dr. Hawthorne (aka 'Mother Figure') - going over my notes and such, this is a pretty dumb idea, as Battalion HQ isn't all that safe and does not have many non-military facilities. So, by the power vested in me as ST, I have done my first retcon (woo-hoo!) and sent Julia instead to WS Bravo, which also ties in better with other characters and makes Havoc need to do a little work; it would be too damned easy to have them at the same place ::devil The retcon can be seen below:

Retcon

On a related note, I never wrote out Julia being sent away - she's barely mentioned after that last post, so I'm going to say she left the base 'off-screen' shortly after that edited post. I also fixed the date on the first post for the new game, which should be Sept 17th, not 16th.

A shocking note: the first post of the first game started on Sept 15th at 1900 hours, which means everything in the regular game has taken place within 33 hours - crazy, no? ::wacko

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Heritage Veteran

Heritage

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Okay, after chatting with Zeke, I have decided that a time jump for the whole game is a good idea - I have to deal with the Badlands team (more on that in a minute) but it solves more problems than it creates. Not a lot of time, just a week, but it will be for the best, I think.

So, what happened to the Badlands team? They found a mixed group of Greens and US Army Rangers holed up in US Forestry Service cabin, cut to ribbons and clinging to life, though more were dead than living. They spoke of clawed horrors attacking in packs, that moved with eerie grace and speed and could find you no matter where you hid. The X4 team never saw the beasts, who seemed to vanish into the mists from whence they came, and the survivors were warped back to WS Bravo for medical treatment. Colby was sent back to Base X4 to rest up, as was a badly-shaken Griff - once again, men and women he knew well had been killed or badly injured, but at least this time, he was able to help. After getting patched up, the Joes were traded for some Green POWs in a very tense exchange outside of Yakima.

The rest of the Badlands team is still on call over at Hades (Hole 23), Rex more or less for good. A few days after the return from the Badlands, things got hairy over in the 9th, and Argent was sent packing before anyone really got a chance to know him. Things have been quiet around X4 - no new orders, lots of poker playing. Emma and Mortimer seem to be getting a little close, and Epstein exchanges frequent emails via the Green Screen with her beloved Ernold. Damien works on his elaborate art project, with Captain Delacroix poking his head in from time to time to check on his progress, and Walter has finally organized every tack and toothpick in his little kingdom.

Meanwhile Havoc smoulders at the bottom of 'the Well', the most secure cell at 8th Battalion HQ; the guards tell him his daughter Julia is playing with other children at the family center at WS Bravo, and the scarred man almost smiles...but not quite.

And so our tale begins...

(BTW, adjusting the date on that first post just one last time ::wink)

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archer Experienced

archer

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You're in if you want to be. I figured you'd be hangin' with the Trans-D dudes; if you want to start somewhere else, let me know.

No, no...hanging with the Trans-D dudes is fine. I just realized I misread your earlier post when you said "The last thing we have to do is figure out where our new PCs are - I think at this point we have only two".

My bad, I freaked out and thought you meant there were only two PCs total, not just the new ones. ::wacko

I totally want to stick with this game. Let me know via PM if there's any weird catching-up Rourke has to do once he gets back with the others. Does he also need to be debriefed and such?

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Heritage Veteran

Heritage

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No, no...hanging with the Trans-D dudes is fine. I just realized I misread your earlier post when you said "The last thing we have to do is figure out where our new PCs are - I think at this point we have only two".

My bad, I freaked out and thought you meant there were only two PCs total, not just the new ones.  ::wacko

I totally want to stick with this game. Let me know via PM if there's any weird catching-up Rourke has to do once he gets back with the others. Does he also need to be debriefed and such?

Will do - oh, one thing? Could you switch WJ2 and original War Journal threads in the forum, since one is more or less defucnt and the other is brand new? Many thanks in advance, kind sir! ::biggrin

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phoenix Elite

phoenix

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Heritage/everyone, should I have my character 'port in and introduce herself, or just give a brief OOC summary of what they would have picked up over the last few days and post a regular "morning everyone" entrance? I'm inclined to the latter but I could go either way.

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