Recruiting for a Golden Age Bash! Game

Heroglyph · Post by **Heroglyph** » Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:47 pm

Last one..

THE DRAFTSMAN (or maybe the Avant-Guard)

Simon Kirby was a struggling art student who made money on the side working as a police sketch artist. He studied abroad for a semester in France, and while there he came across a crazy old gypsy woman who convinced him to buy a set of paints from her. She claimed that whatever he painted with them would come true. He didn't believe her, but figured she needed the money more than he did, so why not?

On his way home he tripped down some stairs, shattering the vials of paint and cutting his hands on the glass. The paint got in the wounds, but he washed them out the best he could.

A few days later, something miraculous occurred: as he was sketching , the image disappeared from the page and appeared in in three dimensional form in front of him. If shifted haphazardly, all pencil smudges and contour lines, but it was definitely real...his drawing come to life. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Once gone, the original sketch returned to the page.

In the weeks before his return to the States, Kirby found he was able to repeat this incident, and learn to control it, but the images only lasted for a few minutes at at time and the more fantastic the drawing, the shorter it would last. A chair was no problem, but a unicorn was fleeting.

After many long nights of soul searching, Kirby decided to put his new found powers to good use. He would become the mystery man, known as the Draftsman...or maybe the Avant-Guard.

Heroglyph · Post by **Heroglyph** » Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:10 pm

FYI: Of the three submissions, I'm the most interested in Lady Paramount. I like her background the best. It might be interesting to play a "half breed" Choctaw woman in that time period. Plus, I've been taking Archery lessons of late

The other two are either a variants (power wise) of a character I've already played or one a player played in my game. But (assuming I am even chosen as a player) I'm game for whatever works best with the team.

BeardedDork · Post by **BeardedDork** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:57 am

I've been thinking about this a bit more, and I'm not sure I explained it well in the first place.

What I'm currently thinking of is thematically a cross between the Golden Age Sand Man and the Scarecrow.

He was an intelligence officer (an analyst) in WWI, he was wounded and discharged shortly before the close of the war. He came home where he had a hard time coping with civilian life and was haunted by life in the carnage of the trenches.
He became a private investigator, in the course of his work he discovered an organized crime ring which he became obsessed with breaking. He was unable to get much done about that legitimately so he created an alter ego to fight crime with. Using his gas mask and some hallucinogenic toxins used for interrogations in the war, he became the terrifying Cauchemar.

kevperrine · Post by **kevperrine** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:32 am

urbwar wrote:Just on the basis of the size comparison to American Ape, I think you should be in the game! That's like the opposite of a normal person sized next to King Kong!

LOL
Yeah - never thought of that, I just grabbed the image of AA for size comparison fun!
That's what amounts to roughly Growing 4, I think - compared to what I *think* you told me American Ape's height was. I have 5'10" 400lbs on the character sheet I updated for you.

Otherwise, anyone have any thoughts on "BIG LEAGUE" or powers and such? I was thinking of giving him the ability to Grow other (non-living) things - hence why his baseball uniform, bat, etc... are big with him now...
I am going to go back and update the image, that's only about 20 minutes of updating quickly to give an idea of a character for me to play. I love the idea of how *important* baseball was back then, as well as the conjunction of baseball being the "all American" sport of the day mixed with the character's pride in country... etc... so I plan to keep the basics of the baseball uniform mixing and making it more patriotic and "super" in superhero costume too! Should be fun!!

Anyway... any ideas (if I get to be a player) of other types of powers/abilities I could toy with to change the standard "Hank Pym" style tropes of a growth character?
Like I said, I was gonna focus on the Growth and add "Enhancement: Effects Others; Limitation: Only non-living things". The Strength and such that comes with Growth would be added benefits but NOT a focus. I'm also thinking of having him use his baseball bat and a baseball (being a former pitcher) as ranged attacks - can you imagine a 5' diameter baseball (literally!) being hurled from BIG LEAGUE?!?!?!! LOL
Anyway....
Any other ideas?
Mr. Narrator sir? Does that idea sound okay? I can think of others nearly instantly if this isn't a good one for you. hehe...

Which reminds me... Urbwar, the character sheet I updated for American Ape makes the image look better. You're welcome to it if you misplaced the copy I gave you.

American Ape

fun fun
-kev-

kevperrine · Post by **kevperrine** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:42 am

Harrigan wrote:to look in detail at some of the pitches...

Harrigan wrote:In general, I'm shooting for Captain America vs. the *, not Superman vs. the *.

3. What power-level are you targeting,

Harrigan wrote:Super-soldiers, street-level supers and low to mid-level super-humans. Nothing crazy.

Hey, Mr. Narrator sir! I should note... My "BIG LEAGUE" idea shouldn't be thought to be a POWERFUL hero on a level that much above a Captain America... He can just get BIG ... really BIG, but it's almost more of a hinderance power in a way, in most situations.
That said. Yeah - I won't be overloading him with combat prowess power levels.
Actually, if you've seen the new Avengers cartoon... Giant Man in that cartoon is actually much much less powerful than you'd think he should be, he just looks impressive!
That's what I'm shooting for with BL. hehe...

hope that's clearer than mud.
heheh
I'll probably do up stats tomorrow (Friday) to show my work. But like I said - if I've made the cut and you don't like BIG LEAGUE, I can think of a dozen more ideas in a flash, just ask any of the folks here. LOL

-kev-

Harrigan · Post by **Harrigan** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 4:44 am

Messing with my profile pic. Will probably continue to do so until I find one I'm happy with. This one's Meltdown, a modern villain from my campaign background. He's all radioactive and stuff.

So, thanks for all the interest so far -- looks like these are the pitches:

Bashman's Unknown Soldier
Love him. And given that I'm trying to learn this system, I'd be crazy to not admit its creator to the game.

He's in! (I also looked at the American Wonder: also cool, but maybe he's overseas at the moment...)

urbwar's American Ape & Sky Marshal
First off, no worries on the PBP help. We'll all lend a hand. In general, I tend to keep all the "gamespeak" as far from the story bits as I can. I like things to read smoothly if possible, rather than punctuated by a bunch of stat and power talk. Also, I'll handle all the rolls and such. For me at least, PBP is about the characters and the story, not the mechanics of the game. Anyway, your characters -- I like both of them, but probably prefer the American Ape. Love that he's got Leadership, and I dig his background and powers. He might be a little on the expensive side (I've been thinking in the 25-30pt range), but there are always Setbacks. So unless there are objections from Prince Darr's homeland, he's on-board.

saker's...
Possibly going to play someone from urbwar's bevy of Golden Age characters... I'll stand by to see what gets pitched.

BeardedDork's Scary Detective, Cauchemar
I really like the idea of kind of an old Mystery Man on the team, maybe someone the rest respect, look up to or even are a little afraid of or intimidated by. He's in, baby.

kevperrine's Big League
Very cool, though I'll have to think about what's better for the tone of the game -- the baseball angle or the GI angle. My gut tells me GI, but I know the baseball theme is pretty central. I like the background, but have a question about the powers -- can he grow and shrink, or is he always a giant? One thing I like the idea of is his connection to the US military. It'll help the game / team if someone has that connection back to the American war machine.

Heroglyph's Lady Paramount, Sgt. Sahara and The Draftsman
All good, but I too think Lady Paramount is the best fit, for a variety of reasons. I was actually *hoping* someone would pitch an archer in this time period, because, well, I like archer characters.

Also like the idea of her being a little green, someone who needs mentoring and who is just starting out in their career. So while the other two are nifty, let's trim straight away to LP. (Also, the team needs a woman!) She's on the team.

So to recap, on the team so far we have The Unknown Soldier, the American Ape, Lady Paramount and Cauchemar. saker still has to pitch a character, and I'd like to talk a little more about Big League before potentially giving him the green light.

A note about the game -- this is me trying to learn the ropes. I don't want to blur the GM/player boundary too much, so my rulings will need to stand just to keep things moving and everyone happy, but expect me to ask for advice more than once during the game. 8]

Now then -- I normally run games like this over on dedicated PBP sites like rpol.net or pbphouse.com, but I know there's a PBP section here. Preferences on where to play? The advantage of playing elsewhere is that I'll be able to set up a whole sub-forum and group of threads for the game, all in one tidy place. But that will mean some of you having to sign on there, and I know we all need more sites to check like holes in the head. So -- thoughts?

(Last note: I have a friend who might join the game as well. I'm working on him, trying to convert him from M&M to Bash...)

Harrigan · Post by **Harrigan** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:35 am

kevperrine snuck a post or two in while I was writing mine! So, I like Big League just fine, though I'll admit we'll want to be careful with him being over-powered (he just LOOKS powerful, next to the little American Ape!) since we of course don't want any one character dominating combats. I was mostly concerned with him being "stuck" as a giant, which I don't think works as well.

I'll say this -- at that size, he's going to attract a lot of fire...

Also, hey, where are you guys getting all these super-cool character sheets?

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:02 am

Harrigan,

I can take out some stuff if he's too high in points, as I'm not set on playing him as I designed him. I could remove the immobilize/continuous damage power, as well as Swift Strike. I could also either remove the armor all together, or by 1 point. It won't cut out a lot of points, but he won't be as powerful, which will fit more in line with what you're looking to run.

Oh, and if you plan on using his archenemy Simius, I can give you some info via pm on him. I haven't sat down to write him out yet, but I had ideas for what he can do.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:08 am

Kev,

I think I have that sheet, but if you could resend it to me, I'd appreciate it. Might as well do a revision to see how he looks for use with this game.

Oh and still waiting for a reply to the last PM I sent ya

Harrigan · Post by **Harrigan** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:02 am

I'm not seeing American Ape as particularly overpowered -- let's roll with him as-is until we have everyone else getting into character design a well, then we'll see how he stacks up.

(Though I'm thinking of going with a 30pt base, so if you want fewer setbacks, it might make sense to trim a little. I'd look to Swift Strike or Armor rather than the uber-cool Ape-Hug. Also, just noticed that he has Appeal. Awesome.)

And by all means, PM some stuff about Simius...

kevperrine · Post by **kevperrine** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 7:07 am

Harrigan wrote:kevperrine snuck a post or two in while I was writing mine! So, I like Big League just fine, though I'll admit we'll want to be careful with him being over-powered (he just LOOKS powerful, next to the little American Ape!) since we of course don't want any one character dominating combats. I was mostly concerned with him being "stuck" as a giant, which I don't think works as well.

I'll say this -- at that size, he's going to attract a lot of fire...

Also, hey, where are you guys getting all these super-cool character sheets?

LOL
Yes. You're correct, BIG LEAGUE will "look" alot more powerful (being that big) next to others (and tanks, bombers, or anything the Allies marshal with/for us to fight beside when in need).... and YES I love that he would/will attract a LOT of attention fire.
That's the *fun* thing in my head. It's the fun thing I've always loved about Hank Pym as Giant Man. He is over confident BECAUSE he's so much bigger, others think he's so much stronger BECAUSE dwarfs others. Then you have the Hulk, just overshadow, overpower and pummel Giant Man like a Pro Football Player would a PeeWee Football kid. It's funny the difference.

So... I am positive his SOAK won't be as high as *most* of his teammates. It'll be the low-end default for being a Giant, on purpose.

As for Growing.... No. His default size is a normal 6'2" former jock. Growing up that big (when needed) will be the main power. And you can bet that won't be possible in many situations. Which I will look at finding other ways to be helpful to the TEAM in those times to compensate...
I was thinking of having the ability for him to Grow big, effect other (non-living) things to grow that big, and maybe have the ability to make other (non-living) things get smaller - but NOT himself (I just don't want a shrinking hero).

As for the G.I. and Baseball angle.... I want to combine and use both of those aspects into the "superhero" idea. Baseball was SUCH a big important part of the American culture of the time-period ... ball-players WERE "heroes" that inspired people to be better. Baseball is American. Fighting as a superhero during WWII is inherently an American Hero style. Hence, playing with that angle on this character idea.

That said...
I will also come up with some other ideas, you might like or fit better. I have dozens. hehe. (next post)

thanks
-kev-

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:38 am

Just noticed this thread.

Are you full up? I have a character I would like to throw in for consideration;

The Fighting Devil Dog!

In 1930 Bob Garrison was a prize-fighter who was always considered too short to be a pro. After repeatedly proving the naysayers wrong he was given a chance at the heavy weight title. It was during the interview for the fight that he said "It ain't the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog!"

Then he was visited pre-match by Marco Martella, a local mob figure who told him that he was going to take a dive in the 5th round. Garrison began to protest, and then Martella revealed that he had Garrison's daughter and if he didn't take a dive, something unfortunate would happen to her.

I wish this tale would be about how Garrison not only didn't take the dive, but went on to rescue his daughter, but alas he didn't. He took the dive, lost the fight and pretty much ended his boxing career then and there.

But that isn't the end of his story.

Inspired by Hooded Justice, Garrison decided to do something about the criminals and scum who had ruined his life and the lives of countless others. Remembering his words about the size of the fight in the dog he fashioned himself a costume and took the moniker Devil Dog and decided to get some justice of his own.

When WW2 broke out he was considered too old and too short to go, making him 4F, allowing him to keep fighting crime on the homefront.

His daughter you ask? Well she is currently studying very hard at the City College to get her law degree and then plans to become Metro City's first police woman!

Thoughts? Is there still room?

Saker · Post by **Saker** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:38 am

I'm in PM discussions with Urbwar to modify Sky Marshall (SM) a bit. I wanted to take him more techie, since we seem to have an team gap there.

Also, I was concerned about his Disadvantages. As cool as the Wyatt Earp (WE) Super Vehicle would be, we would have to rebuild it from 41 points to SM's character point total -5. If I pump SM up to 30 points, then the WE could be about a private plane. Also SM has both Archenemy and Rogue's Gallery. That may be a bit much of player-sponsored NPCs thrown at you, in addition to American Ape's Simius. What do you think?

If it doesn't work out, I'll pitch something else.

cheers

Harrigan · Post by **Harrigan** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:52 am

Kev -- pitch other ideas if you like, but I -do- like Big League now that I know he's not stuck in giant form and the military won't have to build him a monster barracks.

AslanC -- Devil Dog very cool. Like the veteran angle, and currently we lack a full-time scrapper. (Well, AA is a scrapper of sorts, but in a different, more primatey way.) You might be the last man in the door here, depending on what happens with saker's pitch. Speaking of...

saker -- I like Sky Marshall, but I'm not sure he's the best fit for the game for a couple of reasons. He's a *little* higher tech (at least in terms of the airship) than I was shooting for. The general populace knows there are heroes and villains about, having an air marhsall service with a bunch of rocketships just doesn't fit what I have in mind. So having said that, losing the ship and making him more techie might work, but I'd also want to work on his background if there isn't a full-on aerial marshall service in the US. Not saying no, but I'd kind of rather SM be a solo artist than part of the AEW. I -do- like the fact that he's the second man to serve in the position, though, and the character & powers overall. Can we tweak? Maybe instead he was part of some group put together for the war effort, and things have fallen apart, the prototype tech was too expensive to mass produce, etc. Thoughts?

Saker · Post by **Saker** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:55 am

Harrigan

I'm very OK with the direction that you are suggesting SM. I need to get Urbwar's comments and blessing to retool. Otherwise, I'll repitch.

If I have to repitch, is there a schtick that you want in the team that is not currently represented, like a speedster?

cheers