Help for a 1 shot

[AngryGhost]

Not overly sure if I should put this here but wasn't sure where to put it.

I was wondering if anyone could give me some ideas for a 1 shot with 2 players and 1 gm.

Looking at having pre-gens but sort of want the players to have a range of powers, with perhaps 1 or 2 things they are better at. Something combat, something investigatory and something...different.

I'm probably going X-Men level of powers as the players are familiar with X-Men but probably setting it around my local area (no major back story/setting for a one shot y'see).

There would be super powered people in the world but at the moment it's all a bit quiet - i.e they're not all running about trying to take over the world or prevent such from happening. Yet.

So anyone got story seeds that might be good for a 2 player one shot (4-5hrs)?

Also, any news on the Powers book for BASH! UE?

[kevperrine]

So anyone got story seeds that might be good for a 2 player one shot (4-5hrs)?

My idea for a CLASSIC X-Men style opening/game might be...

open: MEDIA RES....

SPLASH PAGE ONE
Black. Silence. Pin-points of light hang on the black. And SUDDENLY the ROAR of vacuum and oxygen being ripped into the cosmos!

PANNING BACK
The flank-deck ramp looms open. Heroes and minions alike have snagged onto anything they can hang from, legs and caps whipping toward the vacuum of space! The once thought small time heist villain "GLUE GOON" stands affixed and confident at the front of the astro-plane cabin watching the heroes flail. He snidely begins to splurt goop onto his fellow supervillain team-members to avoid their falling into space.

CUT-SCENE
Aboard the astro-plane, in the * 3 decks up [insert one of the heroes] watches as her/his team-mates are about to die! Shutting the deck remotely is an option, but it's likely to catch one of her team on the outside of the deck! Will she sacrifice one for the many? How will she deal with Glue Goon and his team as he secures their safety? and turns on the heroes to knock them free into space??

ACTION!!

NARRATOR NOTE:
This is a "training sequence" in the Doom Room! None of it is "real". Be harsh with the Difficulty Numbers. None of the team members falling will "die" but make them THINK it's real!! The point is to put an "indecisive" hero in the position to make a decision. Don't put super-movement PCs in the * to run/teleport or in some way insta-save the others. The choice is "one for the many". What do they do? Allow them to use their powers to rush to solve the problem.
The reason for this training session is that the team has been alerted that the Omni-corp Astro-plane has been hi-jacked. It's carrying VIPs and high-tech advancements in it's orbital flight. It is known that "the Glue Goon" has contacted the UN with his demands. The group has less than 6 hours before his deadline is met. The team has been contacted to be transported via part of that new tech ("the gate") that may teleport them into the cargo area of the plane secretly to stop these heist/terrorists - they are scheduled to GO in 3 hours.
This Doom Room training exercise is a "game sequence" guessing at what MIGHT be up there. The only info known is Glue Goon is apparently the face or planner of this heist-gang, the team can investigate to learn "known associates" to see if the Doom Room guessed correctly in who they may face....

Overall..... this is a "fish out of water" rescue the hi-jacked plane situation. The heroes (at X-men level) will likely not have space capabilities. The crooks may/may not have space suits. They may/may not plan to use "the gate" to escape. The heroes are walking into a situation (a closed environment - while "big" it's still just a plane), needing to save VIPs, defend against unknown experimental gear, go against an unknown contingent, and do so saving the plane/cargo. What do they do?

Who are the Glue Goon's team?
Glue Goon: a small-time heist villain with "trapster" style gear. This could be changed to a "magnetic" based character. The key is this NPC is not a killer. He's a crook. Heck, if they heroes are jettisoned from the plane for REAL, GG would likely glue them up as they fly out (like the mosquito in amber) to save their lives, but still be rid of them!

The rest of the team would be your choice of villains that might look like Spiderman's "Sinister Six" or the "Wrecking Crew". I wouldn't have too many villains with space capabilities - but one might be cool as a surprise!

I would look for cool pix and then make the team off those!

that's my on-the-spot ... just now idea for you!
-kev-

[AngryGhost]

That's really awesome, only reason why I'm not going to use it is because I did something *very* similar in a game of Feng Shui with one of the players.

But really like it

[kevperrine]

But really like it

Okay.
How about downloading an adventure book I did awhile back (for M&M but it has no stats) called HERO HOOKS. It's free and has dozens and dozens of short adventure ideas. As well as a fun "MEGA-MATRIX" for rolling random adventures.

Tell me what you think. It used to be hosted at M&M forums.... but Here's a link I found quickly.
http://www.4shared.com/document/1mHfzkC ... ume_1.html


-kev-

[AngryGhost]

Excellent!

after a quick flip through I think my biggest issue might be deciding which of the many I want to run. This'll keep me busy for ages (especially with so little time to plan games now due the kids), so thanks!

[AngryGhost]

I've got a basic idea for a one shot now and I wonder if anyone would be so kind as to help with it, both with story arc and maybe characters.

I'm going to give both of my two players pre gens with an identical background with how they got their powers - i.e hit by cosmic beams, radioactive tanker spill etc. The only difference is that their powers are different from one another.

The idea being that during the accident that gave the players their powers the accident only actually happened to one person, it just split that person into x amount of copies, changing their personality slightly and bestowing different powers.

The players wont know this of course until the game is started.

I might write different personality write ups on each players character sheet - i.e "since the accident you've felt more withdrawn/assertive, although you have much more/less strength than you did before". Just a few lines though, or to help make the characters the same and different have one decide to get a startlingly different hair cut/colour or new wardrobe to reflect this. The other option is to make the copies different aspects of the same woman, however that would be presented.

Of course, one copy, unbeknown to the players has got to be an evil copy, and there's got to be another mad copy in a cave jibbering "precioussss" (and possibly holding onto a ring of some discription) that has some vital clue to their condition somehow.

The powers are slightly unstable [Uncontrollable Powers] and although each player has unique powers they do share a limited telepathy that allows them to communicate with one another if they know roughly where the other is within a mile radius. They can't however read more than the others surface emotions and it is tiring.

This should help bring the two characters together and also help them interact/find/discover other copies.

One player I want to give a density changing power to (it will be fun using the uncontrollable drawback with this). I've looked at the mass shifting construct from the core but I want the heroes to be no more than 25 points (possibly 20) as I want to allow the players to continue playing the game if they wish and gain experience points to buy more powers/buy off limitations etc.

Basically with this power I would leave out such things as special attack: phase fist because the original character (and thus the player) would not yet know how to do this, the original character not being a combat character, just a normal girl (yep, both players are women as will be the character(s) if it makes any difference to potential character concept).

However she would be able to change her mass from high Ghost Form to Density 5 and variable amounts. To start with though I wouldn't give them any real combat powers (they'd need to learn them, though obviously all powers have combat potential [like being so dense you can't be moved, becoming a human demolision ball etc]) and perhaps could also only use the powers at certain times/under certain conditions.

I would probably not give her to start with such (density) related powers that would become second nature with practice (such as flight linked with ghost form). I think I might need help with presenting this though on the character sheet/in the build, especially as I want/need to come up with similar types of uncontrollable/opposite powers (ghost form and increase density are polar opposites) for other copies (I was hoping to find something to go with teleport).

The story would probably concentrate on the players finding other copies, deciding how to deal with them and possibly trying to find a cure for their condition (to return to a single being) or decide to make their way as seperate people (especially if their personalities differ much as the session goes on, which...it will because they're different players!)

So yeah, any thoughts, ideas, advice or character builds that could help me would be very much appreciated.

[kevperrine]

Excellent!

after a quick flip through I think my biggest issue might be deciding which of the many I want to run. This'll keep me busy for ages (especially with so little time to plan games now due the kids), so thanks!

I'd love to hear what you think of HERO HOOKS. I created it several years ago. I'm considering updating it (for BASH! use) as a free addition to something else I produce.

Any thoughts?
Anything you'd suggest I update FOR the BASH! game?

thanks
-kev-

[AngryGhost]

I think it's excellent as it for intents and purposes, it's well laid out, the arts good. You could possibly expand upon the story seeds, but if you do that too much they're not so much seeds as stories in of themselves.

Possibly more stories involving super hero squads - what would be good to see is story seeds for x amounts of players with x amount of enemies with x difficulty of encounters - but that might be out of the scope of the book?

Let me have a proper read over the next few days.

Anything on the idea that I've presented?

[AngryGhost]

oh, and I might just say too, that it would be good to see a print friendly version of it too - the arts awesome, but I do like to be able to print out in b&w if I can and get my books in colour if at all possible.

It's a proper quality pdf, be assured.

[AngryGhost]

This really should be under builds I know, but as I posted here to begin with and it's not been moved yet I thought rather than start a new thread I might as well carry on here.

I've left skills off for now, but I was hoping someone could look over this and give me some feedback based on the character idea for the one shot remembering that the woman has only recently got powers and therefore hasn't really learnt what she's capable of (to allow for learning such things like special attack and for exp growth in general)

I have left off skills for now.

Brawn 1
Agility 2
Mind 2

Multipower - Mass Shifter

PHASE Ghost Form 3
linked
FLOAT Flight 1 (limitation: can only be used when fully insubstantial)
linked
ATOMS Invisibility 3 (limitation: can only be used when fully insubstantial)

DARK MATTER Density Increase 5 (costs 1 more than Growing)
linked
Armor 2

Telepath 3
Limitation: only affects X where X is a copy of iteself.
Limitation: always on (will become a problem if against "evil copies" of itself with mental attacks, so can be seen to be a weakness)

Healing 3
Limitation: Situational, must must phase in and out to realign oneself. (I think this would take 2+ panels) - I don't know if it could be added tp the multipower?

I'd like it when she takes on Density Increase to slowly gets eventually jet black (comic book, not = what would scientifically happen). I'm not sure if I need to take Freak for this as a disadvantage or not.

A Few Questions:

Do you suffer the same decrease to your defence stat with Density Increase? And, with Density Increase 5 I take it you can still lift half your weight as with growth so that would be 75 tonnes?

I'm also going to presume from the way Increase Density is written that she can change to whatever density she wishes (mostly, if she concentrates because of her DISADVANTAGE)


Disadvantage: Uncontrollable Powers (quite an issue for her if she turns increases her mass to 5)

10 points stats, Powers 10? Not sure I've broken the powers down right though. 20?

I was thining of either leaving points for hero points (so she basically has two hero dice per session and can start using powers she's not got, in order to learn them) though I'm open to suggestions.

I think the idea in general would be to give someone starting powers that can be used in interesting ways but don't immediately come across as very super hero like. With time and experience she could hone these skills to incorporate stretching, growth or any number of body modifications, maybe mimic, shapshifting, duplicate or even teleport (teleports her atoms to another place) to become a world class hero.

[AngryGhost]

My other pre-gen would gain the following abilities:

Brawn 1
Agility 3
Mind 2

(basically had b1 a1 m2 before inherited abilities).

1pt Clinging 1 Limitation: not glass
1pt Waterwalking 1 Limitation: not actually water, but most other* unstable surfaces - ie perfect balance
2pt Super Jump 2
1pt Swinging 2 (maintained) (limitation: Brachiation only)

*I think two 1 point powers with 1 point limitations counts as 1 point overall, I'm not sure

2pt Danger Sense 2

2pt Teleportation 1 (Enchancement: others)

I think it's 21 points.

(obviously I've not taken into consideration the adv/disadvantages and skills yet so haven't worked out def etc)

Basically I'm after someone who is very agile and light but not someone with super speed (yet) a bit like a super natural free-runner with the ability to teleport. Again, as with the other copy she is just learning her powers.

I was thinking that I possibly should add a special attack to both characters because it gives the characters something to "hit" with. I like the idea though of the players using what they have to come up with some interesting uses for their powers, situation dependent.

What does anyone think of the two characters so far (I'll flesh out a background later, remember it's probably only going to be a one shot).

And please help if you can, it's been awhile since I've run anything and I'm meant to get it together for Friday night, sat at the latest!

[Lindharin]

They both look like cool character concepts, I could have fun playing either in a one shot. Regarding giving them an attack ability, the mass shifter at least gets a way to gain some damage via Density Increase so that may be good enough for your purpose. The other one has no real damage without stunting, which might be a problem. That character might benefit from something. Maybe something like Special Attack 2 (+2 DM), defined as a flurry of blows? If you want a touch of extra flexibility, add the Variable enhancement so he can turn it into a +1 dmg to everyone in a 2x2 area, etc.

I think character 1 is 24 pts as written, but that is based on certain assumptions. 10 for stats. The multipower is 10 points, based on 6+2 for Density 5 linked to Armor, plus 2 for the second multipower slot. I assume a cost of 2 for the second slot because there are abilities from multiple categories in it, but that's a gray area because the base effect without linking are from the same category so you might give it to them for 1 instead (in which case the total for the multipower would be 9 instead of 10). Add in 2 more pts for Healing, and 2 more for Telepathy, and you have a total of 24 (or 23 if the second multipower slot costs just 1).

I think character 2 is 20 pts as written, since you were right that two 1 pt powers with limitations count as 1 pt total.

Gotta run, I'm out of time. Hopefully someone else will answer any questions I missed, or I'll check again tonight.

[AngryGhost]

Thanks for the reply.

If your point calculations are right and the 1st character is 24 points and the 2nd character is 20 then:

as you recommended giving a Special attack x2 for the second character, would giving them Agility 4 and thus making them both 24 point characters seem balanced or would the Agility increase change this?

nb: I'm not one really who cares too much about the concept of balance, I care more about fun and having a good time in a game (hence why I play d6 star wars over d20, but that might start an argument so...) but as the character are meant to be the same person (sort of) but with different powers I think that there should be some balancing here - esp as they are pre gens for a character.

[AngryGhost]

These are the two pregens then a little (hopefully) tidied up. Still going to have to explain some background and how the copies didn't immediately know each other after however they get their powers as well as creating at least one evil (possibly more powerful) copy, but hey...

Sally Albright (A)

Pre Power stats/skills etc are shared by all copies

Stats

Brawn 1
Agility 2
Mind 2

(pre power stats) b1 a1 m2 before inherted abilities).

Skills:
Athletics: Acrobatics, Throwing
Computers: Programming (pre power skill)
Investigation: Gut (pre power skill)

Advantages: Versitile
Disadvantages:Uncontrollable Powers

Multipower - Mass Shifter

PHASE Ghost Form 3
linked
FLOAT Flight 1 (limitation: can only be used when fully insubstantial)
linked
ATOMS Invisibility 3 (limitation: can only be used when fully insubstantial)

DARK MATTER Density Increase 5 (costs 1 more than Growing)
linked
Armor 2

--

Telepath 3
Limitation: only affects X where X is a copy of iteself.
Limitation: always on

Healing 3
Limitation: Situational, must must phase in and out to realign oneself. (I think this would take 2+ panels) - I don't know if it could be added to the multipower?


Stats: 10 points
Powers: 14 (Lindharin thinks it could be 13 or 14)

= 24 points

[AngryGhost]

Sally Albright B

Pre Power stats/skills etc are shared by all copies

Stats

Brawn 1
Agility 4
Mind 2

(pre power stats) b1 a1 m2 before inherited abilities).

Skills:
Athletics: Acrobatics, Climbing
Escapeology: Contortion
Stealth: Moving Silently
Computers: Programming (pre power skill)
Investigation: Gut (pre power skill)

Advantages: Quick Thinking
Disadvantages:Uncontrollable Powers

1pt Clinging 1 Limitation: not glass
1pt Waterwalking 1 Limitation: not actually water, but most other* unstable surfaces - ie perfect balance

(above count as 1 pt)

2pt Super Jump 2
1pt Swinging 2 (maintained) (limitation: Brachiation only)

*1 point limitations counts as 1 point overall

2pt Danger Sense 2

2pt Teleportation 1 (Enchancement: affects others)

3 pt Agile Spring atack/Agile Teleport Attack Special Attack 2 (Enchancement: variable)

Stats: 14
Powers: 11

= 25 points