Next PbP game inquiry

[Dustland]

I'm going to change the character creation process back to a traditional point buy. There will be some tweaks and limitations but let me think on it a bit. I do know it wil be a 20 pt game with an absolute cap of x5 and stats will have a scaling cost as follows(thanks Saker!):

Stats cost their cummulative value: 1 costs 1, 2 costs 3 (1 + 2), 3 costs 6 (1+2+3), 4 costs 10 and 5 costs 15

Instead of power trees, at the end of each "module" the character will receive 2 more cps to spend and will probably have the option to spend Hero Dice 1:1 for cps as well.

Powers still need to fit a bloodline though!

Mercer: That sounds about right!

Nestor: There can be only one....oh wait, that's not right. There's not latent antagonism between the bloodlines, at least not in this campaign, but yes the whole "I know what you are" part is true. I'll have to check out this Blood game you speak of!

Yes, the public knows about the bloodlines and has a generally good idea of how they work since supers have long lived in the spotlight and their lineages well documented.

Intermingling of the bloodlines is well beyond the scope of this campaign, but yes it is taboo because the result is always monstrous, powerful, and inhuman. Perhaps the half human blood keeps supers grounded enough to deal with one bloodline, but you start throwing together a * and the human side just whimpers and runs away....

But that's an idea for another day.

[Mercer]

Alright, do I have to take a power to represent always knowing if another Bloodline is around or is that more RP?

[Dustland]

Alright, do I have to take a power to represent always knowing if another Bloodline is around or is that more RP?

No sir, it's a freebie for Blooded folks. Basically if you can see them, you'll know them for what they are. You won't necessarily know what Bloodline they have, but each Bloodline will have subtle traits that you can identify fairly easily.

For instance, Air-Blooded individuals may always have eyes the color of the sky, ranging from palest blue to stormy gray and a breeze always seems to follow them around, gently tussling their hair and clothes.

That's the sort of thing you guys will come up with. If not every Bloodline gets played, I'll fill in the gaps.

[Dustland]

Breakdown of the possible Weaknesses and Resistances available:

1) Acid
2) Cold
3) Crushing (Punches, Bats, Explosions)
4) Electricty
5) Heat (including Lasers)
6) Mental
7) Piercing (Blades, Teeth, Bullets)
8) Radiation
edit: 9) Sorcery (magic effects that don't fit into the above categories)

Pretty much any attack should fall into ONE of the above catagories during the course of the campaign. I may add in some options for characters to apply two or more catagories to an attack, but it will cost CPs and will come into play after the game begins.

The way I'm handling R's and W's is that they either double (weakness) or halve (resistance) the incoming damage BEFORE you roll to soak it.

If an attack doesn't do damage, the character gains a +1x to whatever roll they need to make vs. the power (ie Daze doesn't do dmg, so the target of the daze would get to roll Mind+1 to defend, if the had the Mental Resistance).

[Dustland]

I think things are getting spread out a bit too much. Would it help if I edited the first post on here to be a starting point for character creation?

[Dustland]

Character ideas so far (the two involved in saving the Mayor were simply the two players who first sent me character ideas):

Volsung - Detective Zero, an android detective that was one of the two heroes that saved Mayor Whitecastle. His origin is a mystery as his tech is far beyond anything the 1980's scientists could produce.

Saker - Chance Fortune, a Bloodline hero that has control over the forces of Entropy that manifest in ridiculous amounts of good or bad luck. Was at the right place at the right time to help DZ save the mayor, and may not even realize that he'd done so?

Protheuz - ?, a techno-mage super that will straddle the line between power-armored hero and wizard.

Mercer - ?, a Bloodline hero that wields the forces of Earth to defend Universal City.

[Volsung]

Sounds Fun

Stats cost their cummulative value: 1 costs 1, 2 costs 3 (1 + 2), 3 costs 6 (1+2+3), 4 costs 10 and 5 costs 15

So, stats are now cheaper at lower ranks and expensive at higher ranks?
(formerly 1=2pt, 2=4pt, 3=6pt,4=8 pt 5=10pt)

Stats cost their cummulative value: 1 costs 1, 2 costs 3 (1 + 2), 3 costs 6 (1+2+3), 4 costs 10 and 5 costs 15

'Versatile' attacks included?

[Dustland]

So, stats are now cheaper at lower ranks and expensive at higher ranks?
(formerly 1=2pt, 2=4pt, 3=6pt,4=8 pt 5=10pt)

Yep!

'Versatile' attacks included?

By Stats I only mean Brawn Agility and Mind.

[Volsung]

Whoops!

I meant:

pretty much any attack should fall into ONE of the above catagories

'Versatile' attacks included?

[Dustland]

I think you mean Variable (Versatile is an Advantage, confusing I know).

I won't allow the Variable enhancement to change the damage type, only range, area, to hit, and damage bonuses.

That being the case, you need to determine the damage type of any special attacks when the character is created.

[Nestor]

So, stats are now cheaper at lower ranks and expensive at higher ranks?
(formerly 1=2pt, 2=4pt, 3=6pt,4=8 pt 5=10pt)

Yep!

So the starting B2 A2 M2 character would take up only 9 points, instead of 12. That should help.

[Nestor]

Nestor: There can be only one....oh wait, that's not right. There's not latent antagonism between the bloodlines, at least not in this campaign, but yes the whole "I know what you are" part is true. I'll have to check out this Blood game you speak of!

The Blood and Dr. McQuark was a sourcebook for Champions 3rd Edition, written back in the 80's and sadly OOP. The first part was written by Aaron Allston and dealt with a family of super-powered extraterrestrials who were hiding out on Earth. Great stuff and worthy of a campaign all by itself (and was based on part of Aaron's own Strike Force campaign).

Yes, the public knows about the bloodlines and has a generally good idea of how they work since supers have long lived in the spotlight and their lineages well documented.

So assumedly during the "Dark Ages" they mostly stayed out of the spotlight, then?

Intermingling of the bloodlines is well beyond the scope of this campaign, but yes it is taboo because the result is always monstrous, powerful, and inhuman. Perhaps the half human blood keeps supers grounded enough to deal with one bloodline, but you start throwing together a * and the human side just whimpers and runs away....

But that's an idea for another day.

Setting up the potential for star-crossed lovers of different bloodlines, forbidden to consummate their love.

But as you said, and idea for another day.

[Dustland]

So assumedly during the "Dark Ages" they mostly stayed out of the spotlight, then?

Or caused it. I figure a lot of the church's torch parties were in response to the bloodlines making things so repressive they couldn't be tolerated.

Yet another idea that is beyond the scope of the campaign, but one that might be fun to pursue if this one holds together.

The Blood and Dr. McQuark was a sourcebook for Champions 3rd Edition, written back in the 80's and sadly OOP.

Sounds a bit like the Immortals RPG that I picked up recently. Honestly Birthright was the main inspiration for this campaign's use of bloodlines.

[Saker]

The Blood and Dr. McQuark was a sourcebook for Champions 3rd Edition, written back in the 80's and sadly OOP.

It was the first Champions adventure that I ever played in. I eventually bought it and now have a well-used copy. I love Aaron's art too in it.

Although similar to Bloodlines, the Blood in this adventure were primarily an extended family from another dimension.

I loved Birthright, bought it when first released and played many campaigns in it. The structured bloodline powers work well in a D&D setting to ensure game balance. Personally, I prefer variety on themes in Bloodlines which superhero RPG game mechanics can better provide game balance due to the nature of point-based systems vs. level-based systems.

I've been silent here communicating via PM with Dustland. But I'm excited for the game.

@Dust

Do you intend for us to hide our character builds from the other players like in Chimaera?

Do you need any help creating anything to prepare this game?

cheers

[Nestor]

The Blood and Dr. McQuark was a sourcebook for Champions 3rd Edition, written back in the 80's and sadly OOP.

It was the first Champions adventure that I ever played in. I eventually bought it and now have a well-used copy. I love Aaron's art too in it.

Although similar to Bloodlines, the Blood in this adventure were primarily an extended family from another dimension.

Most of the art came from Denis Loubet, who was one of the best artists coming out with stuff for Champions (along with Storn Cook).

The part that resonates the most for me is the power themes. In The Blood, each member had a family title related to their thematic ability. For example, the weapons master's title was "who wields the blade". My favorite was the woman whose title was "who makes the stones weep." Her power? She could start earthquakes.

Do you intend for us to hide our character builds from the other players like in Chimaera?

Personally, I find making the character creation a cooperative group activity much more enjoyable and productive. But that's Dustland's call.