Author Topic: The Heroes of New Arcadia - RPPR Superheroes campaign - Wild Talents  (Read 559102 times)

clockworkjoe

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #105 on: January 06, 2011, 01:35:13 PM »
As someone from Cali and familiar with Morro Bay....how did you pick Cambria of all places?

It was on the coast and I didn't want the city to be too close to San Francisco or LA.

beej

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #106 on: January 06, 2011, 07:17:56 PM »
That makes sense.   Hell, any town between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara you'd miss if you blinked.   Although Cambria does have Hearst Castle, which is creeptastically fun.  You might want to consider using that at some point. 
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clockworkjoe

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #107 on: January 07, 2011, 01:09:55 AM »
Google Docs WT character sheet https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AiYuPY-LkIDhdEx1Q0FTUVcyZWpTU1BZUy16OFBvR3c&hl=en&authkey=CKi8xf8H#gid=22

First session: Fun overall - more of a intro to the system since most players weren't familiar with it - definitely going to break it up into 2 groups. We had 7 players tonight which was too many.

Mckma

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #108 on: January 07, 2011, 02:28:12 PM »
That makes sense.   Hell, any town between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara you'd miss if you blinked.   Although Cambria does have Hearst Castle, which is creeptastically fun.  You might want to consider using that at some point. 

Hearst Castle is indeed an absolutely fascinating place and could be a killer backdrop for some weird stuff...

clockworkjoe

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #109 on: January 10, 2011, 02:09:09 AM »
New Arcadia news:

Attack thwarted by new vigilantes: A massive terrorist attack on the federal courthouse by unidentified gunmen was stopped by a group of new metahuman vigilantes. Reports are conflicting, but the vigilantes appear to have a mix of powers and included: A flying robot or power armor unit, a man manifesting some kind of fire weapon, a man generating energy fields capable of stopping heavy weapons, a humanoid capable of superhuman speed and a cyborg of some sort. Other metas may have been present as well. The gunmen have been linked to the Syndicate, a new drug cartel that is consolidating all other criminal organizations in the city and it appears they had access to banned super soldier drugs and OGRE class weapons. Police have not made a statement in regards to the vigilantes but sources inside the police department say that police are unsure about how to proceed - the leadership is divided between supporting them or hunting them down.

A new hero? A new vigilante has taken the fight to the Syndicate. Calling himself the Knight Errant, the hero has raided several drug labs controlled by the Syndicate. Clad in high tech armor stylized as a medieval knight and wielding a sword crackling with an unknown energy source, Knight Errant has promised to take down the Syndicate. His latest battle sprawled across Chinatown, as he chased down several heavily armed gang members armed with automatic weapons. Seven civilians were injured in the crossfire.

UFO Sightings In Fiddler's Green: Strange lights have been seen flying around the abandoned skyscrapers of Fiddler's Green over the last week. Appearing as bright balls of light that fly without regards to the laws of physics, the lights have startled observers and some believe that they are scouts for a new alien attack on Earth. The Department of Defense has denied this rumor, saying that their detection systems are capable of detecting any alien craft in the solar system. 

Judge Allan Chambers missing: The judge went missing last night and was last seen entering his home. Police have not stated if the judge has simply left on his own or was taken. The judge was presiding over 20 cases, most notably a class action lawsuit against Von Junzt Traders by thousands of investors that claimed the company defrauded them for over $3 billion by misrepresenting the value of the financial instruments it offered for sale.

Building condemned for toxic waste: An empty building has been condemned for housing excessive amounts of toxic waste. It was detected after building inspectors ran routine tests on the building after nearby residents complained of odd smells. It is not known how the waste got there because the chemicals detected are typically used in high end pharmaceutical production. One compound, trioxin is associated with NATO super soldier drug manufacture. The DEA declined to comment.

'Rock'em Sock'em Bandit' strikes again! A new stick up artist equipped with oversized armored gauntlets has stolen over $100,000 in jewelry when he crashed a gala ball hosted by the Vanderburgs at the Metro Opera. The thief ripped several necklaces off the necks of women attending the ball while being chased by security officers. The bandit demonstrated his metahuman strength yet again by knocking a hole through a nearby wall to make an exit. Some witnesses mentioned that the artist (who wore a mask and hoodie) sounded like a teenager. The gauntlets have not been identified. The Vanderburgs have offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the thief. The bandit's name came from his battle against a police riot control 'Lawgiver' robot two weeks ago. The thief literally knocked the head off the two story robot with a single punch. The robot, a one of a kind gift to the New Arcadia police by Avalon given in 1994, is currently undergoing repairs. Critics of the Lawgiver program point out that prohibitive cost of maintaining the machine does not equal the benefit as proven by the latest defeat. Supporters state that the Lawgiver is the only real measure the police now have against metahuman villains since the disappearance of the Ideal.

Police break up dispute between homeless and religious group:
The Crystal Children, a new age religious group was attacked by a large group of homeless squatters at the tent city by the Interstate highway. The Children claim the squatters were agitated by bigots fearful of change while the squatters claim the Crystal Children are a cult. The Crystal Children had been providing charity. No serious injuries were reported.

Sense Memories a big hit! The newest craze to hit the streets of New Arcadia, Sense Memories are small devices that attach to a finger, the tongue or the nostrils. After placing the device on the appropriate location, the user experiences a sense memory - touch, taste or smell. The sensation lasts for about ten minutes or until the user removes the device.  Each one costs $20-100 and can be only used for about a dozen times before needing to be recharged. They can only be recharged at the Sense Memories kiosks, which are the only vendors for the devices. Popular sensations including the taste of a delicious steak, the caress of a light hand, the feel of ocean water on one's feet. The mysterious company Euphorics owns the patent for the technology and the kiosks but little else is known about the company. Some critics claim that Euphorics has used illegal alien science but the company has denied all charges through its law firm - Richardson and Smith.

clockworkjoe

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #110 on: January 10, 2011, 02:11:19 AM »
those are my first plot hooks.

If you play in my game

PLEASE GIVE ME A NAME AT LEAST FOR YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

and

Let me know what plot hooks interest you the most so i can plan accordingly

Cthuluzord

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #111 on: January 10, 2011, 04:48:23 PM »
My character would be most interested in either the 1st or 2nd hooks.  Here's why:

1st one: My character is really not supposed to show off those forcefield generating arms o' his.  In fact, the only way he got the job in Chinatown is because his social worker made him promise never to use them again.  Considering he was first on the scene and at least glimpsed without his mask on, he'd be concerned about that.  Furthermore, since he made that perception check in the hostage situation, he'd want to know more about why the building was really attacked because he no long buys the official story.  Lastly, he'd have to be curious about that crazy bat creature that came in and saved him at the end.

2nd one: Though not chinese, my character resides in and owes loyalty to residents of Chinatown.  He would not be happy with the Knight Errant AT ALL for tearing up his neighborhood unnecessarily (especially with superheroics, which he doesn't even think of himself as capable of).  He'd likely seek help to investigate what happened from the other meta-humans in the city and his contact in the area.  Mainly, if we did well, I'd get me some more willpower.  I'ma crazy for the willpower! :o

BenignSpy

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #112 on: January 11, 2011, 01:55:49 AM »
Zer0-Shift

Real Name:
Jack
Loyalty:
The Helpless

Stats
Body3d     Body Skills     Coordination Skills    Sense Skills Mind Skills  Charm Skills  Command Skills
Coordination   5dAthletics1d(4d)     Dodge1d(6d)Empathy1d(6d)   First Aid2d(5d)   Lie2d(4d)   Interrogation3d(6d)
Sense5dBrawling2d(5d)Stealth5d(10d)   Perception1d(6d)Streetwise3d(6d)Persuasion2d(4d)   Stability3d(6d)
Mind3d Scrutiny1d(6d)Tactics3d(6d)
Charm2dBase Will6
Command3d

Source:Cybernetics
Permissions:One Power
Intrinsics: Allergy: Electricity (Uncommon, shock)

Power: Teleport (1d+2wd)
Attack: Augment dice
Defense: Augment dice
Useful: Booster (1), Ignore Physics

Source:Technology
Permissions:One Power

Power: Idealist House Arrest Device (3d)
Attack:Daze, Full Power, Limited Damage (Shock), Loopy, Self Only, Un-controllable, If/Then

9 Points to Spend (+3 exp points)

Background:
Jack Le'Rond started out the way most super hero's do; Rich and bored. He burned through 90% of his trust before his twenties. While he was at the bank one day, a group of armed men entered and started to rob the place. The police surrounded the bank, and Jack was one of the many hostages. It was such a rush, way better than base jumping or cliff diving. He took little part in the robbery, but started an intense training regime after the events.

Shortly there after, Jack Be Nimble was prowling the streets; protecting citizens from crooks, bandits, and super-villains. Ideal didn't like that Jack was fighting super-villains, but they didn't really mind too much. However, Jack was captured by Ideal many times, for vigilante justice against un-powered criminals.

Jack would serve his time, be released (or escape), and then be re-captured soon after for vigilante justice. He was captured so many times, that Ideal implanted a house arrest device in one of his legs. He was in their custody during Raganrok. He only tried to escape days after the event (Because nobody had brought him food). Because he was in Ideal custody, Jack knows a little more about Raganrok than most, but still just a minute amount. The arrest device can be used to scan for Ideal bases, but only because he'll be shocked when they're nearby.

Offically Jack Le'Rond was dead, killed in Ragnarok. In reality he sold looted ideal tech to Omega. They jacked up his nervous system with a molecular mater transporter. Zer0-Shift was born; Shepard of the helpless.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2011, 07:33:57 PM by BenignSpy »
Who Dares, Wins

Jason

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #113 on: January 11, 2011, 06:32:39 PM »
The Martyr

Real Name: Jamal Sykes
Gender: Male     Age: 17
Height: 5'7"     Weight:  135 lbs
Ethnicity: African-American
Education: High School (dropout)
Birthplace: New Arcadia
Base of Operations: The Ruins
Occupation: Babysitter
Loyalty: The Forgotten, the Abandoned, and the Castoffs
Passion: Religion, Politics, and Philosophy

Stats

Body: 2d
Coordination: 2d
Sense: 2d
Mind: 5d
Charm: 3d
Command: 4d
Base Will: 12
Willpower: 13

Skills

Lockpicking: 1d(3d)     Empathy: 1d(3d)      First Aid: 1d(6d)         Lie: 1d(4d)                 Conjuration: 3d(7d)
Stealth: 1d(3d)          Scrutiny: 1d(3d)       Research: 1d(6d)        Invocation: 2d(5d)      Intimidation: 2d(6d)  
                                                            Spellcraft: 2d(7d)       Persuasion: 3d(6d)      Stability: 3d(7d) 
                                                            Streetwise: 1d(6d)                                

Powers

Illusion  
Source: Paranormal
Permission: One Power
Attack: Range, No Physical Change  4d+1wd
Defend: Range, Duration, No Physical Change  4d+1wd
Useful: Range, Duration, No Physical Change   4d+1wd

Summoned Entities from Power Focus Artifact
Permission: Power Theme
Attack: Fire Demon  6d
Useful: Imp  5d
Defend and Useful: Archon  5d
« Last Edit: January 13, 2011, 06:03:25 PM by shadowofweb »

clockworkjoe

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #114 on: January 11, 2011, 09:31:11 PM »
A note on the spirits: The Martyr must spend at least several rounds to summon a spirit and has to pay Willpower or some other price in order to get their service. Only one spirit can be summoned at a time but they can be given specific tasks - 'destroy that robot' or 'find out where the drug lab is' and they will follow them to the best of their ability. As incorporeal magical beings, they are extremely hard to injure, banish or kill. The Martyr can learn how to summon other spirits later on at the cost of XP.


ugnis13

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #115 on: January 13, 2011, 03:13:22 AM »
So who are all the players in the new campaign? Old? New? Cody? Arje?

SageNytell

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #116 on: January 13, 2011, 07:41:28 AM »
So who are all the players in the new campaign? Old? New? Cody? Arje?
Cody's long-suffering wife?  ;D

Jason

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #117 on: January 13, 2011, 06:07:08 PM »
So who are all the players in the new campaign? Old? New? Cody? Arje?

There are 7 players at the moment.  Aaron, Cody, Tom, Caleb, Drew, Bill, and myself.  We might end up with another player but I think that's the max Ross is willing to handle.  He's splitting us up into two different groups to manage things better because seven players was pretty chaotic the first night.

Setherick

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #118 on: January 13, 2011, 07:50:22 PM »
So who are all the players in the new campaign? Old? New? Cody? Arje?

There are 7 players at the moment.  Aaron, Cody, Tom, Caleb, Drew, Bill, and myself.  We might end up with another player but I think that's the max Ross is willing to handle.  He's splitting us up into two different groups to manage things better because seven players was pretty chaotic the first night.

I can only imagine. Having 6 players in a Skype game is insane. I can only imagine what 7 crammed around Ross' table is like.
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clockworkjoe

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Re: The next big RPPR campaign - what will it be?
« Reply #119 on: January 17, 2011, 12:20:25 AM »
Dr. Pangloss
Supervillain
Status: Missing since Ragnarok event - wanted by Interpol and US government for murder and crimes against humanity
Powers: Hypermind 5wd - Hypercommand 5hd - numerous hyperskills, inventions, enhanced minions and henchmen - Mind replication technology
Real name: Vanessa Grouling

A notorious supervillain and scientist, Dr. Pangloss started as so many other super-scientists as just another ambitious academic trying to make a name for herself. Unlike the countless other lab jockeys that were content to chase after government and corporate financing for their work, Dr. Grouling financed herself. She embezzled money from her university in order to pursue a secret project that she thought would bring her enough money and power to set up her own corporation. Researchers at the time focused on the Greys and Luytens - reverse engineering their technology. It was a slow, tedious and resource intensive effort and they took the lion's shares of research grants. The few biotech grants available for any scientist were granted to typical medical projects like curing diseases or for improving existing super soldier serums (the original drugs were all of human origin NOT reverse engineered alien tech)

No one was researching the aliens from the Biological invasion. They were insect like - hive mind creatures that spewed fire and nearly overwhelmed the earth in weeks. Grouling reasoned that their genetics could be spliced with humans or animals for enhancement - cures could be derived from their fluids - new materials could be made from the resin they secreted which was as strong as steel. The Biologicals were ripe for exploitation. Only they were being ignored by the research community. They were biased against biological enhancements. New death rays or cyborgs were fine but a vat grown napalm breather or genetically enhanced super soldier was unwholesome - unnatural event. Grouling wanted to prove them wrong.

She experimented on herself and a few lab rats and was able to enhance her mind to unprecedented levels. She quickly learned how to improve humans mentally or physically but this was already doable with certain drugs or cybernetics. She became obsessed with achieving perfection in all areas - and developed an obsession in doing so. She was eventually exposed by heroes working for the Ideal and was brought to justice.

Of course, a rogue super scientist with no qualms about ethics or morality is valuable to waste in jail. The US government released her first and she worked for their military to develop anti-Ideal and anti-Avalon weapons and warriors. Avalon stopped her and brought the rogue program to a stop. She fled and worked for a variety of other supervillains and organizations. Her handiwork is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide.

She developed a supervillain identity. An eternal optimist she called her Dr. Pangloss and often ranted about making this world the best of all worlds. Everyone simply assumed this was an act or a normal insanity from her years working in super science. In truth, she had discovered how the Biologicals hivemind worked and had given herself an implant to tap into the hivemind. Her original theory was that if she could access the hivemind, she could control cloned Biologicals. Instead, as soon as she tapped into the hivemind, she saw the world from their perspective. They saw the hive as a perfect utopia - no imperfections - no flaws - no evil - no pain. Everything outside the hive was evil and imperfect. She possessed enough force of will to retain her own mind but the hive influence tainted her views. She wanted to achieve her own version of a hive - a human hive. In order to achieve this, she had to create perfect templates for every type of worker and warrior the human hive would need. Perfect doctors. Perfect janitors. Perfect soldiers. The best of all possible worlds could be achieved if she could complete her work. She released a manifesto describing this perfect world and challenged anyone to stop.

She died.

An explosion after a dramatic confrontation with Avalon in a remote island fortress. Of course that wasn't the end of her.

Her hivemind tech also allowed her to imprint her mind and memories into a waiting clone. She set in forth a plan to assassinate Avalon but that plan too failed and the world learned she could come back after death. Not entirely unprecedented but still a rare event. She menaced Avalon and the world several more times before Ragnarok. Then like so many others, she simply vanished. Or did she?

She appeared a month ago at the UN general assembly and killed five delegates before killing herself with conventional firearms -she displayed superhuman speed and coordination but was erratic and unstable. Some theorists have posited that she must have had several backups in case one got compromised and for some reason - the process was flawed - it wasn't Pangloss but a bad rendition of her - a 4th generation photocopy.

She operated out of New Arcadia extensively and it appears her legacy is still plaguing the city. Three men were burned to death with the same organic napalm used by the Hybrids - a street gang spliced with Biological DNA by Dr. Pangloss and used as her enforcers sporadically.