Day of the Octopus OOC

[Thane of Fife]

This is the first out-of-character thread for the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (Cortex) game currently called Day of the Octopus.

The IC thread is here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?661671-Day-of-the-Octopus&p=25900785#post25900785).
The Recruitment thread is here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?660824-Interest-Recruitment-Marvel-Heroic-Roleplaying-(Cortex)).
The Dice thread is here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?661680-Day-of-the-Octopus-Rolls&p=25901144#post25901144).

Players, please post your character sheets here.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Hero ID: Sleeper (https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Sleeper_(Symbiote)_(Earth-616))
Sleeper is the seventh spawn of the Venom symbiote. His parent was bonded to Eddie Brock at the time and the two of them raised him, keeping Sleeper at home and refusing to find him a host out of fear that Sleeper would turn out like his older siblings – destructive at best and another Carnage at worst.

That lasted until the Venom symbiote’s first host, a Kree man named Tel-Kar, arrived on Earth. While initially friendly, Tel-Kar quickly showed his true colors and abducted baby Sleeper to blackmail the Venom symbiote into leaving Eddie to bond with him, then left Earth in search of a Skrull superweapon. Sleeper bonded with Eddie to allow both of them to accompany a Skrull woman named M’lanz off planet, and the three of them caught up with Tel-Kar and retrieved the Venom symbiote before returning to Earth. However Tel-Kar managed to sneak aboard M’lanz’s ship and return to Earth with them, and ambushed Eddie and both symbiotes. A fight ensued, which ended when Sleeper lobotomized Tel-Kar and took over his body. After some parting words Sleeper left home and has been roaming Earth ever since.

The above is basically the plot of Venom: First Host.

Affiliations:
Solo: d8
Buddy: d10
Team: d6

Sleeper is young, confident (some might say overconfident) and independent. This coupled with the reputation of the Klyntar species on Earth being at best spotty thanks to his parent’s past history as a supervillain and rampages from Sleeper’s older siblings (especially Carnage) means that most heroes wouldn’t seek him out for a team-up and Sleeper isn’t going to bother to seek them out in turn. Beyond that, while the Venom symbiote and Eddie Brock managed to instill some sense of morals into Sleeper he is still a carnivorous alien goo monster and it shows.

Distinctions:
Spawn of Venom – Thanks to being the youngest in a family of symbiotes that frequently leans supervillain, Sleeper has to deal with the fallout in the form of general public fear and most of the superpowered set knowing the primary Klyntar weaknesses of fire and sound, not to mention unscrupulous types who would love to get their hands on a power boost regardless of said power boost’s feelings on the matter. On the flip side, if he needs to threaten to start biting off heads to get someone to cooperate, no one will doubt his ability to do so. This also covers all the miscellaneous quirks of being a Klyntar – hive mind with their own species, codex use, racial memory etc.
Youthful Arrogance – Sleeper is still quite young by Klyntar standards, and the success of his singular mission to rescue the Venom symbiote has given him a possibly inflated opinion of his own abilities. What seems to be justified confidence in some cases is rashness in others, and Sleeper doesn’t have the personal experience to know when to back down or back out.
Host: Tel-Kar – Tel-Kar is/was a Kree spy, officially a deserter but in actuality put through intensive training and genetically modified to be bonded to a Klyntar symbiote for infiltration purposes. That symbiote was the Venom symbiote, and they were separated after Tel-Kar broke his cover while spying on the Skrulls. Tel-Kar eventually tracked Venom down and blackmailed the symbiote into returning to him for the purpose of retrieving a Skrull bioweapon, but was ultimately thwarted. He is currently a lobotomized meat puppet which Sleeper is using as a host.

Power Set:
Klyntar Symbiote –
Enhanced Durability D8, Superhuman Reflexes D10, Enhanced Stamina D8, Superhuman Strength D10, Wallcrawling D6, Chemokinesis D10, Invisibility D10, Shapeshifting D8, Webslinging D6

SFX: Chemicals: Add a D6 and step up your effect die by +1 when creating chemical-related assets or inflicting chemical-related complications.
SFX: Multipower: Use two or more Symbiote powers in your dice pool, at -1 step for each additional power.
SFX: See Invisible: Spend a plot point to prevent enemies from benefiting from an asset related to being invisible.
Limit: Fire and Sonic Vulnerability: When making a reaction against fire-based or sonic-based actions, you take emotional stress equal to the effect die of the attack, regardless of whether you also take physical stress.
Limit: Stronger Together: If Sleeper does not have a host, shutdown Superhuman Strength.

Symbiotic Bond -
If you spend XP to unlock a Watcher character, you can choose to have them become a temporary host (at the Watcher's discretion, some characters may not be willing to serve as a host). Change your third distinction to reference the character and gain access to their power sets and specialties. This lasts until you leave them or until the end of the Event (unless they agree to become your permanent host).

Specialties:
Acrobatic D10
Covert D8
Combat D8
Cosmic D8
Menace D8

Milestone 1:
1 XP: When you investigate potential trouble or an otherwise noteworthy incident.
3 XP: When you barge into a fight in progress.
10 XP: When you get captured and separated from your host, and either manage to escape or have to be rescued.

Milestone 2:
1 XP: When you consider another character’s merits as a host.
3 XP: When you accompany a potential host on a mission.
10 XP: When you select a new host and bond with them.

Ideal host guidelines:

Human or something of equivalent intelligence (stray dogs are fine on a temporary basis, but Sleeper wants someone he can talk to).
Must be at least somewhat heroic in temperament (bare minimum: no worse than Eddie Brock).
Does not have to be an existing superhero, but does need to be willing to become one (otherwise Sleeper would just find a nice cancer patient).
Superpowers are not required; Sleeper is quite confident in his own abilities.
Needs to be a WILLING host (this is probably going to be the sticking point).



Current universe comic book background:

In the days immediately following First Host Sleeper squatted in abandoned buildings and occasionally homeless shelters, moving around a lot; Tel-Kar’s body didn’t come with any Earth-relevant paperwork much less a house, but as Sleeper could shield the body from the worst of the elements, and hadn’t decided where he wanted to ultimately end up anyway, this was a mild inconvenience.

But a few days after leaving home, Sleeper encountered a drug dealer trying to push a new street drug outside the shelter he’d spent the night at. Sleeper sent the dealer packing but let them ‘escape’, following them invisibly and with careful use of tracer chemicals.

After a day or so Sleeper tracked the dealer to Hell’s Kitchen. Mid-interrogation Daredevil arrived, having been tracking the drugs from a different angle. The latter’s super hearing meant he knew what was going on, thus avoiding the usual method of greeting between new and unfamiliar superheroes ((Fight! Fight! Fight! :smalltongue:)), but immediately afterwards followed a tense conversation in which Daredevil tried, in his usual manner, to convince Sleeper to leave Hell’s Kitchen and Sleeper made it clear he was in no way interested in doing that.

The pair nevertheless managed to separate without coming to blows, but Daredevil spent the next few nights trying not-so-subtly to keep Sleeper out of the area. Given Matt had to work during the day and Sleeper didn’t, this wasn’t very successful. It even backfired somewhat: as Sleeper was sneaking around invisibly he now wanted to know how Daredevil was noticing him* on top of going after the drug dealers.

But after a few days (and thanks in part to a daylight rescue Matt had been stuck in court for) Daredevil finally admitted that Sleeper’s help was useful and the effort wasted trying to keep him from getting involved was better spent tracking down the bad guys, and agreed to let him help…with one important ground rule: no killing. Figuring the sorts of foes that Daredevil would normally be taking on would be no serious threat to himself – and anyway this was the sort of behavior his parents would approve of - Sleeper agreed easily. Things went much faster after that, with the pair of them able to keep tabs on notable cartel members day and night.

Unfortunately the earlier sparring between the two had given the cartel time to figure out who and what was after them. When the pair launched an assault on one of the cartel’s manufacturing bases, it went badly: Daredevil was grievously injured and Sleeper wasn’t much better off. To Sleeper’s irritation, Daredevil refused to let the symbiote heal him, or even administer painkillers. When Sleeper asked scathingly if the latter would prefer to be taken to a hospital, Daredevil responded that he knew of a place…

…and that was how Sleeper was introduced to Claire.**

All told it’s been a few weeks – maybe a month or two, but not more than that – since First Host. Sleeper has spent the time since the failed assault hunting down cartel members, refilling Claire’s medication supplies, and quietly scoping out the superheroes who come by for clandestine treatment in case one of them might make a better host than Tel-Kar. Daredevil is still recovering, and may or may not have been super-glued to whatever Claire uses for a hospital bed to keep him from doing anything stupid while he recovers. Claire herself is still a little uneasy around Sleeper, but the free medication means she doesn’t have to beg borrow or steal it from other sources, when he’s around he can generally be counted on to act as an orderly, and he hasn’t eaten anyone in front of her yet, so she keeps a bed open for him to crash on when he needs it and once warned him off when a group of shady people came looking for him.

*I think at one point in the real-world comics Spidey and Daredevil traded secret identities, but I have no idea on the timeline for that, and I think it got retconned away anyway.

For this universe, explanations for this surprising Sleeper could include but are not limited to: Spidey bonding with Venom before meeting DD so that particular memory wasn’t passed on, DD and Spidey just never trading secret identities in the first place, or Sleeper knowing about the super senses and just being surprised because his ego thought he was hiding well enough they didn’t matter. :smalltongue:

**Or whoever Night Nurse is in this universe.

Plot Points: 2
Stress: d6 Physical, d8 Emotional
XP: 2

[Lexiconjurer]

Kid Loki
Loki Laufeyson

Affiliations
Solo d10
Buddy d6
Team d8

Distinctions
Everything Is Part Of My Plan
Godling Of Mischief
Tragic Little Prince

Power Sets
Child God of Asgard
Enhanced Stamina d8, Enhanced Strength d8, Magical Blast d8, Sorcery Adept d8, Superhuman Durability d10, Superhuman Reflexes d10
SFX - Area Effect: Add a d6 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target.
SFX - Multipower: Use two or more Child God of Asgard powers in a single dice pool at -1 step for each additional power.
SFX - Weakened Magic: Step up your physical stress by +1 to step up or double your Sorcery Adept die for a single action.
Limit - Exhausted: Shut down any Child God of Asgard power and gain 1 PP. Recover power by activating an opportunity or during a Transition Scene.
Limit - Guilty Conscience: Step up Emotional Stress caused by guilt or other peoples' distrust of you by +1 to gain 1 PP.

Specialties
Cosmic Master d10, Menace Expert d8, Mystic Master d10, Psych Expert d8

Milestones
A New Team of Heroes
1 XP when you first create an asset for an ally.
3 XP when an asset created by an ally is the largest die in your dice pool.
10 XP when the team gets an "official" name.

The Truth Is Always The Best Lie
1 XP when you lie to your teammates, or tell the truth and they think you're lying.
3 XP the first time you or a teammate take stress because of your scheming.
10 XP when you finally come clean about all your plans to your teammates, or your plans work out and no one knows what you've actually been doing.

[DammitVictor]

Datafile: Kaine (no last name), La Tarantula

Somewhere between one of the CIA's best-kept secrets and a campfire story for rookie SHIELD agents, Kaine is (was) a superhuman mercenary terrorist who is wanted for dozens of high-profile crimes spanning decades, mostly in Central America. In truth, Kaine was first created in a black ops laboratory run by the Weapon X program less than ten years ago, and has only been "freelance" for just over half of that time. Kaine was created for the Weapon X program by OSCORP in a program directly supervised by OSCORP CEO Norman Osborn and OSCORP then-employee Dr. Otto Octavius.

While physically Kaine met-- and even exceeded-- his design parameters, he was quickly revealed to be psychologically unstable and resistant to Weapon X's medical and psionic control techniques. He eventually escaped custody and got into several messily public conflicts with Spider-Man and several of Spider-Man's known enemies, including Osborn and Octavius, before disappearing into the criminal underworld. Kaine is believed to maintain personal connections with several former members of both the Brotherhood of Mutants and the X-Men, though no obvious reason for that connection is known to anyone but Weapon X.

As an artificial person, Kaine has no public/private identity or even legal identity. He's a "person of interest" to most intelligence and law enforcement agencies in North and South America under a variety of aliases, Any biometric analysis of Kaine comes back as a very strong partial match to his genetic template-- Peter Parker-- distantly followed by partial matches to the incomplete records any official agency has on him. A human eye might admit to some family resemblance, but Kaine looks a couple of miserable decades older than the young, clean-cut schoolteacher.

At the time of this writing, Kaine has found religion at the most inopportune time and left the Gulf of Mexico behind with a six-figure job unfinished and a seven-figure bounty on his head courtesy of the Assassins Guild. While en route to Westchester County-- and the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, and hopefully Gambit-- Kaine has taken a dangerous and possibly lethal detour into Manhattan at the insistence of his over-active Spider Sense.

Kaine is a small-framed but deceptively wiry man approximately sixty-seven inches (5'7") in height. He looks like a grizzled, late middle-aged version of Peter Parker, except for the area around his right eye and the right corner of his mouth, which sag like the skin has been melted and is shot-through with purple-black veins; likewise, his left eye is bloodshot but normal-looking, while his right eye is a vampiric red and yellow. He wears his hair and his beard shaggy and unkempt to cover these scars, and wears mirrored Aviator glasses to hide his "bad" eye.

At the time the game starts, he's wearing nondescript clothes that he looks like he's been sleeping in for days. Or maybe like he just got finished being laundered in them. Clean him up a little bit, and he might even remember he was quite the ladies' man when he was working.

Distinctions
Mark of Kaine
My Brother's Keeper
Been Here All Along

Affiliations: Solo d10 Buddy d6 Team d8

Defective Spider-Clone
Superhuman Strength d10
Superhuman Reflexes d10
Superhuman Stamina d10
Wallcrawling d6
Swingline d8
SFX: Grapple: When creating web-related complications, add a d6 and step up your effect die.
SFX: Web Constructs: When creating web-related assets, add a d6 and step up your effect die.
Limit: Mutant: Gain a PP when affected by mutant-specific Milestones, abilities, or technology.
Limit: Clone: Gain a PP when affected by clone-specific Milestones, abilities, or technology.

Fractured Spider-Totem
Superhuman Senses d10
Mystic Sense d8
Psychic Resistance d10
SFX: Spider-Sense: You may spend a PP to reroll a reaction against an attack and include Superhuman Senses d10 if it is not already included.
SFX: Saw That Coming: If your successful reaction roll includes Superhuman Senses d10, you may apply your Effect Die as a stunt die on your next action.
SFX: Venomous Thoughts: If your successful reaction roll includes Psychic Resistance d10, you may apply your Effect Die as Mental Stress on your attacker.
SFX: Gift of Prophecy: When creating a prophecy-related Asset with Superhuman Senses d10, add a d6 and step up the Effect Die.
Limit: Psychotic: When you take Emotional Stress, you may step up that Emotional Stress and gain 1 PP.
Limit: Growing Dread: When your dice pool includes any Fractured Spider-Totem power or any Asset created by a Fractured Spider-Totem power, both 1s and 2s count as Opportunities.

Kaine's spider-powers are more pronounced than Peter's, especially his Spider-Senses. Kaine's Superhuman Senses d10 represents both his heightened "normal" senses and his precognitive danger sense. Kaine is a fully-fledged precognitive and has frequent visions of the future, which the Watcher is cordially invited to use to steer him by the nose.

Specialties
Combat Expert d8
Covert Expert d8
Crime Expert d8
Acrobatics Master d10
Menace Master d10

Milestones

I'M NOT SPIDER-MAN
1 XP when you compare yourself to Spider-Man, either mentally or out loud.
3 XP when you take an action specifically because it is or isn't what Spider-Man would do.
10 XP when you accept or reject your ties to Spider-Man.

THE PENITENT HUNTER
1 XP when you first choose to inflict physical stress in a Scene.
3 XP when another hero rebukes you for your violence or you threaten another hero with violence.
10 XP when you kill someone in front of innocents or expose yourself to great danger to save the life of a dangerous villain.

In the future, I'm considering adding Mystic Expert d8 and additional mystical Spider-Totem powers. Mostly stuff that could only be used in Transition Scenes: Healing, spinning textiles out of thin air, (slow) teleportation, spider stuff.


Status Tracker:
2 Plot Points
1 XP
No Stress. Yay!

[Plaids]

Hero ID: Hercules
Secret identity: None.
Affiliations:
Solo D6 Buddy D10 Team D8
This is sort of the root of the dice pool - you always get one of these, depending on how many heroes you're working with.

Distinctions:
Hero of Classical Myth - Hercules is man born in the days when gods walked earth and modern superheroes had yet to be conceived. Good for matters involving the world of ancient myth and history. But not so good for matters pertaining to the world of modern history. The names of deities and monsters from many mythologies and the happenings from more than a thousand years ago is a breeze but the modern world is a bit of an unknown and trying to create an analogy for a modern phenomenon using ancient myths can be like trying fit a square peg in a round hole.
Living the Good Life - Hercules honors the ancient Greek way of celebration and merriment. Great for taking the edge off a tense situation and building some comradery. Not so great for tasks that require ample amounts of abstinence, sobriety, discipline, patience, and repetition. He can do one, two, or even a few at a time but he ain't going to be of much help when filing for a commercial brewing license or combing a database of criminal activity to uncover political corruption. He's better off taking fist full of gold to pay an accountant to file for him and interrogating a mob boss literally trapped underneath his thumb.
Glory and Honor - Hercules is a man of living legend. Due to his own exploits and swagger it seems just about everyone can recognize him on sight or by account and has an opinion on him. Gaining the attention of others is great for preparing astounding displays, astounding others and leaving them breathless. But subtlety and covert acts within a group setting are not Herc's strength.
These are like the trait you were looking at. You can use one in a dice pool, and it may be big or small depending on whether it's good or bad.

Powers:

The Son of Zeus
This is a power set, so the powers in it are linked together, and you can normally only include one per roll.
Godlike Durability D12
Enhanced Leaping D8
Enhanced Reflexes D8
Superhuman Stamina D10
Godlike Strength D12
A power set normally also has SFX, which are special things you can do with the dice in your pool.
SFX: Area Attack: Add a D6 and keep an additional effect die for each target.
SFX: Berserk: Add a die from the doom pool for an attack action. Step up the doom die by +1 and return to the doom pool.
SFX: Versatile: Replace Godlike Strength die with 2D10 or 3D8 on your next roll.
Limit: Rage: Gain 1 PP to step up emotional stress by +1 from opponents' mocking or taunting.
Note: Can't think of a better power set for now. If I need to I'll incorporate some of Hercule's mystic arsenal.

Specialties:
Specialties are like skills. Again, you normally can add one to a dice pool.
Business Expert D8
Combat Expert D10
Menace Expert D8
Mystic Expert D8
Note: Bumping up Hercule's combat a little.

Milestones:
These are how the character gets experience. You normally have two milestones per campaign arc, which might be these or story-specific ones. Hitting the 10 XP reward completes the milestone, and then you replace it with a new one.

Gift of Battle:
1 XP: When you boast about your fighting prowess or legendary exploits.
3 XP: When you start a physical fight/altercation that probably could have been avoided.
10 XP: When you fight against a teammate in physical combat and either win or lose.

Revelry:
1 XP: When you drink or flirt with a Watcher character.
3 XP: When you get falling down drunk or wander off with a fling.
10 XP: When you are too drunk or too busy with a romantic conquest to help the team when they need you.

Characterization:The light and the dark sides:
Confident & Proud-Boastful & Arrogant
Brave-Foolhardy
Strong Willed-Pigheaded
Idealistic, but certainly not in a reserved, chaste, or chivalrous way-Naive
Mirthful-Superficial
Nostalgic-Regretful ---Explanation: He loves to recount the good old days and all the mythical adventures. But boy did Hercules screw up a few times and no amount of alcohol is going to let him forget those mistakes.
Note:Don't think I could have made it better myself


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdVQyfczDKM
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/58/4a/be/584abe50cbb647a5c9199460ae4d81ca--hercules-marvel.jpg

[Thane of Fife]

Alright, I've posted the IC thread here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?661671-Day-of-the-Octopus&p=25900785#post25900785). I have tried to place all of your characters about the city; if you don't like where I put them, I apologize and am willing to change it.

I don't think that Night Nurse wears a mask normally, but I've decided that she is going to wear one here.

[DammitVictor]

Pardon for the rookie question, but how do we handle dice around here?

What I think I'd like for Kaine to do is to start where you put him, but infiltrate the bank and pretend to be one of the hostages. I've been struggling with my third Distinction, waffling between "Web of Obligations" and "Saw That Coming", but starting off with this scenario reminds me of something I like to do with this character-- can I change that Distinction, one last time, to "I've Been Here the Whole Time"?

Fits with his precognition steering him directly into the path of trouble.

I'm thinking that distinction (or "My Brother's Keeper") d8, Solo d10, Wall-Crawling d6, Covert d8 to establish an Asset of "Inside Man".

[Thane of Fife]

Pardon for the rookie question, but how do we handle dice around here?

What I think I'd like for Kaine to do is to start where you put him, but infiltrate the bank and pretend to be one of the hostages. I've been struggling with my third Distinction, waffling between "Web of Obligations" and "Saw That Coming", but starting off with this scenario reminds me of something I like to do with this character-- can I change that Distinction, one last time, to "I've Been Here the Whole Time"?

Fits with his precognition steering him directly into the path of trouble.

I'm thinking that distinction (or "My Brother's Keeper") d8, Solo d10, Wall-Crawling d6, Covert d8 to establish an Asset of "Inside Man".

So I started a dice thread here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?661680-Day-of-the-Octopus-Rolls&p=25901144#post25901144). My own attempts to roll didn't quite work - I guess don't hit preview post on any post that includes dice rolls - but I think that forum gives an idea as to how the roller works, at least.

I'm okay with that distinction, and with that action. As a note to everyone else, don't feel like you need to start rolling dice immediately. In general, you can all just go over.



One thing I forgot above was that it would be helpful if people could track their plot points and stress on their character sheets. You should all start with 1 Plot Point and no stress.


Also, would people like a quick run-through of the dice mechanics, or would you prefer to go through that when we get to a point where someone needs to roll?

[Kareeah_Indaga]

My own attempts to roll didn't quite work - I guess don't hit preview post on any post that includes dice rolls

Yes that's been a pain point for me too, on several occasions. :smallyuk:



Also, would people like a quick run-through of the dice mechanics

Yes please, and can we start with 'when would we need to roll'?

For example, I'm planning to have Sleeper sneak over invisibly. There's a die associated with his invisibility. Do I need to roll for that, or is it just for combat and similar situations?

[Thane of Fife]

First thing I'll say is, DammitVictor, I think I'd prefer if you were a little less declarative (at least at this point) in your IC post. Nothing wrong with the sneaking in part, but I think I'd like to have a bit more control over what the scene inside of the bank looks like in terms of hostages, robbers, environment, etc. Sorry.

For your questions, Kareeah_Indaga, I'd say that no, you did not see Kaine, and yes, you have a working knowledge of Electro (when villains start showing up, I will probably post stat blocks, though I may censor parts to conceal some surprises).


Yes please, and can we start with 'when would we need to roll'?

For example, I'm planning to have Sleeper sneak over invisibly. There's a die associated with his invisibility. Do I need to roll for that, or is it just for combat and similar situations?

So, normally you can use your powers and do things without rolling. The dice are generally reserved for situations with stakes. Hercules wants to pick up a car (or, y'know, the Baxter Building), he can probably just pick it up. If, for some reason, he really needs to pick up the Baxter Building in the middle of a fight or something, I might ask him to roll for it, but even there it's probably more of a question of whether he can do it in time, or something like that.

Most of the time when dice are being rolled, it is because there is a conflict, or sometimes because you are preparing for or dealing with the aftermath of one. Most of the time, when you roll the dice, you are either creating an asset or inflicting a condition, or you are trying to reduce an asset or recover a condition. Dealing damage in the form of stress is just a special form of inflicting a condition.

So how do you roll the dice? Well, you start off by saying what you're trying to do. "Invisible Woman is going to try to trap the Juggernaut in a force bubble." "I'm gonna rush across the street and pop Dr. Doom right in the kisser." "Spider-Man is going to make a big web slingshot." This should say what your primary intent is - Invisible Woman is inflicting a complication on Juggernaut, whoever the middle character is is trying to inflict physical stress on Dr. Doom, and Spider-Man is trying to create an asset. You may be able to expand your action after you roll, but it's good to have an idea to start.

After that, you put together your dice pool. Your dice pool can include one die from each of the following:
One affiliation
Up to one relevant distinction
Up to one relevant power from each of your power sets
Up to one specialty
Up to one complication or stress die from your target
Up to one asset
Up to one push die, stunt, or resource

You always have an affiliation - either Solo, Buddy, or Team, depending on what's going on.

A relevant distinction can be positive (in which case it's a D8), or negative (in which case it's a D4 and you get a plot point).

Powers are fairly straightforward, but note that your SFX can make big changes to your dice pool. Powers are only used when positive.

Specialties are also only used when positive. Unlike other dice, you can choose to step them down and get an extra die. So if you have Combat Expert D8, you can use that as D8 or 2D6. If you have Combat Master D10, that could be D10, 2D8, or 3D6.

Complications, stress, and assets are things that get created during the action. We'll touch on how in a minute, but basically, if Spider-Man inflicts D8 Emotional Stress on Fixer by taunting him, Wolverine could add that D8 to his own dice pool to show Fixer the pointy end of his claws.

Finally, pushing, stunts, and resources are part of where plot points come in. You can spend a plot point to add a D6 to your pool (that's a push). If you can relate that D6 to your power set or a specialty in an interesting way, it becomes a D8 (that's a stunt). Resources are normally created during a transition scene or when my dice give you an opportunity; they're always related to your specialties. This is a D6 for an Expert or D8 for a Master, and it lasts until the end of an action scene. For example, Hercules is a Business Expert D8. If you thinks it would be helpful to have a fat wad of cash or to get in touch with his business contacts, those things would be resources.

Once you have all your dice, you roll them. First, you set aside any 1's. These are called Opportunities. I can give you a plot point, and if I do, I get to add dice to the doom pool based on how many 1's you rolled. Of the dice that are left, you pick two to make the total and a third one to be the effect die. On the effect die, only the type of die counts, not the number rolled. You can spend plot points to add more dice to your total or take more effect dice. For example, if Invisible Woman wanted to add an extra effect die, she could trap Juggernaut and one of his buddies in the force bubble instead of just Juggernaut. Again, some SFX modify this process.

Now the other side gets to react. If you are trying to inflict a complication or stress, then the target makes their own dice pool and rolls. If you're making an asset, then you're rolling against the doom pool. In either case, the reaction roll produces its own total and effect die. If the reaction total is higher than yours was, your action failed. If it's equal or less, you succeeded, but your effect die may still be stepped down based on their effect die.

Assuming you succeeded, your effect die is the size of the asset or complication, or the amount of stress inflicted. Stress normally lasts until recovered. Assets and complications usually last for one use and then they're gone, but you can spend a plot point to make them last until the end of the scene (and you can work on making them bigger if you like).


Example
So, to put this together, suppose Cyclops and Storm are wandering around some sewer tunnel when they're attacked by Carnage. The Watcher tells them there's a scene distinction of Tight Quarters. Heroes normally get to go first, and in the Cyclops is the leader, so he'll go first. Cyclops knows that he and Storm might be in trouble if Carnage gets in too close, so he wants to come up with a battle plan. That's creating an asset. Cyclops has his Buddy D8 (because he's with Storm), Tactical Genius D8 (he could also use I Don't Have Time For This as a D4, but he'd rather have the plan then the plot point), and Combat Expert D8. His force blast power doesn't help. However, he has some plot points on hand and decides to spend one. He could push, but he sees he has Cosmic D8 as a specialty, so he decides to stunt by working the Klyntar weakness to sound and fire into his plan. He could be rolling 4D8, but he decides to split his Combat Expert into 2D6, so he'll be rolling 3D8 and 2D6.

Cyclops rolls 1, 5, 7 on the D8's and 2, 6 on the D6's. He uses the 6 and 7 for a total of 13 and has an effect die of D8. The Watcher gives him a plot point to add a die to the doom pool.

Cyclops is creating an asset, so the Watcher reacts with the doom pool instead of Carnage. In this case, the doom pool is 3D6 (it was 2D6, plus the extra die from the opportunity). The Watcher rolls 2, 2, 2. His total is 4 with a D6 effect die. Cyclops has the larger total and the D6 is smaller than the D8, so Cyclops has created a Brilliant Plan D8 asset. He spends a plot point to make it available for the whole fight.

After Cyclops, he picks who goes next from the people who haven't gone yet this turn. He picks Storm, and she inflicts D8 stress on Carnage, using Cyclops' Brilliant Plan asset to help her. Then Carnage goes and inflicts D8 stress on Storm. That ends the turn and Carnage went last, so he picks who goes first next turn. He picks himself and puts D8 stress on Cyclops. Then Cyclops gets to go again.

This time, Cyclops wants to blast Carnage. He still has D8 for Buddy. This time, he adds D8 for I Don't Have Time For This. He also adds D10 for his Force Blast and D8 for his Combat Expert. Plus, he has SFX which let him double his Force Blast against a single target and add three dice for his total, at the cost of having to set aside his highest die. He goes for it. He also has D8 for his Brilliant Plan and D8 for Carnage's stress. This is 2D10 and 5D8. Cyclops rolls 10 and 7 on his D10's and 8, 5, 3, 2, 1 on his D8's. He has to set aside the 1 and the 10 (and the Watcher chooses to give him another plot point to continue building the doom pool). Then Cyclops has a choice: he could take 7+8+5 for his total and have an effect die of D8, or he could use 8+5+3 and have an effect die of D10. Cyclops really wants to hit and picks the former.

Now Carnage gets to react. He has Solo D10 and Sneaky D8. In his power set, he has Enhanced Durability D8 and Superhuman Reflexes D10, but they're both in the same power set and he can only pick one. He's about to pick the D10 when he notices he has Multipower SFX that let him use both if he steps them down. Great - D8 and D6 go in. Finally, he adds his Combat Expert D8. Carnage rolls 1D10, 3D8, and 1D6. Carnage ends up wi a decent roll, but he doesn't get anything that can beat Cyclops's total of 20. The Watcher doesn't want to spend doom to add more dice to the total, so Carnage picks two dice for a 16 total and uses his D10 for effect. Cyclops hits Carnage, but since the D10 is higher than Cyclops's D8, the D8 is stepped down to D6. Carnage takes D6 stress, bumping his existing stress up to D10.

[DammitVictor]

First thing I'll say is, DammitVictor, I think I'd prefer if you were a little less declarative (at least at this point) in your IC post. [...] Sorry.

No, no, I'm sorry-- I didn't mean to overstep. How would you like me to revise my post, for now, or are you just asking me to be more careful in the future?

The only material facts that I intended to establish in that post are that I'm mixed in with the hostages and I've got (a bit of) a gaslight prepared if any of the robbers question my presence. That's negotiable if your picture of the scene doesn't support it; anything else, I'm happy to just correct for you.

[Thane of Fife]

No, no, I'm sorry-- I didn't mean to overstep. How would you like me to revise my post, for now, or are you just asking me to be more careful in the future?

It doesn't bother me that much. You can edit the post if you want; I made my post assuming that you are looking into the room but haven't managed to insert yourself into the hostages yet. I think I'd like you to actually make your roll before you accomplish that, if only because you may want to change the result or description if you fail (which admittedly isn't likely with the doom pool currently at 2D6).



Also, Kareeah_Indaga, I'm not giving them gas masks just to mess with you - I do have method to my madness.


Also, Lexiconjurer, how recognizable do you want Loki to be? I wrote that post presuming that he's probably not too widely recognized (at least, not without giving his name), but I can have people react to him more strongly if you prefer.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Also, Kareeah_Indaga, I'm not giving them gas masks just to mess with you - I do have method to my madness.

As much as one-shotting the entire encounter single-handed and leaving the police to sort out the sleeping bodies would have filled me with glee - I understand.

I’m more disappointed that now it looks like I’m not going to get to see Electro’s reaction to Hercules calling him out with someone else’s supervillain name, that would have been hilarious. 😢 Ah well, fewer chances for collateral damage this way!

Speaking of, loving the accents you two! I forgot the comics Asgardians got the fun Shakespearean speech.

[Lexiconjurer]

Also, Lexiconjurer, how recognizable do you want Loki to be? I wrote that post presuming that he's probably not too widely recognized (at least, not without giving his name), but I can have people react to him more strongly if you prefer.

I imagine people familiar with Loki would recognize the resemblance and he isn't really trying to hide his identity, but I'll leave it up to you how people react.

[Plaids]

I’m more disappointed that now it looks like I’m not going to get to see Electro’s reaction to Hercules calling him out with someone else’s supervillain name, that would have been hilarious. 😢 Ah well, fewer chances for collateral damage this way!

Speaking of, loving the accents you two! I forgot the comics Asgardians got the fun Shakespearean speech.

Putting on the theatrical accent fun and it helps to start off a with a character firmly occupying an archetype.
I mistakenly wrote down Shocker instead of electro for some reason. That does give me an idea though. If electro could potentially hear Hercules, I would like to try to impose an irritated or angry condition on Electro.

As for the henchmen the gas masks are a bit of hinderance. But nothing some creative problem solving can't fix. If it was comic book squirrel girl, I could see her sending in an army of squirrels each tied to a can of spray paint with broken nozzles to blind the henchmen.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I did actually consider something similar with chemical dyes, but if Sleeper is close enough to do that he’s probably close enough to apply something topical or just rip the mask off. We’ll see how things go!

But first things first. Questions for the Watcher:

You said I could run in the front door, does that mean the front door is open? (Sleeper is trying to be stealthy, and if he has to open it himself to get in that would give the game away, and by extension be a point in favor of the windows.)
You said the windows on the ground floor are barred, how are they barred? Are we talking locked, or nailed over with boards? (Is this something Sleeper could stealthily unlock by slipping a tendril through? Does it look like something Sleeper thinks he could smash through if it became necessary?)
Anything else noteworthy in the building aside from the bank?


Assuming Sleeper can see inside:

Do the hostages also have gas masks on? (I’m assuming not.)
What is the ceiling made of - is it solid? Is it the kind with the square panels?
Any sign of Electro himself?

[Thane of Fife]

I imagine people familiar with Loki would recognize the resemblance and he isn't really trying to hide his identity, but I'll leave it up to you how people react.

Makes sense.


I mistakenly wrote down Shocker instead of electro for some reason. That does give me an idea though. If electro could potentially hear Hercules, I would like to try to impose an irritated or angry condition on Electro.


I think that making someone angry or irritated would just be regular emotional stress. You can certainly try that (you can get a megaphone or bullhorn or something from the police if you feel you need it). If you want to try to goad him into coming out to fight, you could try that instead - I'd probably handle it a bit like mind control (I.e. A condition like Come Out and Fight Me or something).

If you do attempt to inflict emotional stress or a condition, I'll treat that as the start of the action scene. That doesn't mean Electro will start blasting hostages or anything, but I would put us into turn order and Electro might start throwing insults (or lightning bolts) back.



You said I could run in the front door, does that mean the front door is open? (Sleeper is trying to be stealthy, and if he has to open it himself to get in that would give the game away, and by extension be a point in favor of the windows.)

The door is not open, so you would give yourself away. I just meant that the police couldn't really stop you from doing it.


You said the windows on the ground floor are barred, how are they barred? Are we talking locked, or nailed over with boards? (Is this something Sleeper could stealthily unlock by slipping a tendril through? Does it look like something Sleeper thinks he could smash through if it became necessary?)

We're talking like a cage-like grate over the outside of the windows. So the window may open but the bars don't. Sleeper could rip the bars from the wall, he could break through the glass behind the bars, and he could certainly ooze through the bars if he abandoned his host, but he could not get through them otherwise.



Anything else noteworthy in the building aside from the bank?


Nothing obvious.


Assuming Sleeper can see inside:

It's darker inside than out, so he doesn't have a great view.


Do the hostages also have gas masks on? (I’m assuming not.)

Sleeper cannot see the hostages.


What is the ceiling made of - is it solid? Is it the kind with the square panels?

It's a fancy, arched ceiling, like you might see in an old hotel or bank. So basically solid. (Just to be clear here, this is a big, fancy bank that the thirty-story building is probably named after, not a little corner bank).


Any sign of Electro himself?

Since the goons are dressed kind of like Electro, and the light isn't great, it's hard for Sleeper to tell. But slightly more OOC, I will say that Sleeper can see substantially less of the inside of the bank than Kaine can, and Kaine cannot see Electro.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Assuming I’m doing this right, I want to create the Asset Invisible Insider.

Since we haven’t met each other yet in character I’m assuming I use Affiliation: Solo (d8)
I thought about Distinction: Host: Tel-Kar since Tel-Kar was a spy, but that might be a stretch seeing as he’s a vegetable presently?
Power: Invisibility (d10) (or if I can yank in the Chemokinesis too with multipower because of conjuring up some lubricant, 2d8)
Specialty: Covert (d8 or 2d6)
We don’t have any complications or stress to use yet.
No assets.
No push, stunt or resource at this time.

Is that all correct?

[Thane of Fife]

Since I didn't mention before, DammitVictor, I did roll the doom pool against your action and you did succeed at creating your asset. Not sure if you noticed.

Plaids, I'm going to say you can't use your Godlike Strength in this instance because Electro can't see you. I'm not sure, but I'm inclined to say that general threatening superpowers should maybe not count in general for intimidating because, say, if you can use your strength to intimidate, then surely Electro can use his lightning to not get intimidated, and I feel like that might be making physical attacks too useful relative to dedicated emotional powers (like pheromones or illusions or whatever).

What do you guys think? (Bearing in mind that your characters are just as vulnerable to emotional stress as the NPCs are).

Also, rather than an afraid condition, I think that should just be emotional stress. I don't think there's enough distinction between them. Note that stress can still be used in a dice pool as a complication.



Assuming I’m doing this right, I want to create the Asset Invisible Insider.

Since we haven’t met each other yet in character I’m assuming I use Affiliation: Solo (d8)
I thought about Distinction: Host: Tel-Kar since Tel-Kar was a spy, but that might be a stretch seeing as he’s a vegetable presently?
Power: Invisibility (d10) (or if I can yank in the Chemokinesis too with multipower because of conjuring up some lubricant, 2d8)
Specialty: Covert (d8 or 2d6)
We don’t have any complications or stress to use yet.
No assets.
No push, stunt or resource at this time.

Is that all correct?

I'd say Solo + Invisibility + Covert, I think. Also, since I think we established that you arrived after Hercules and Loki, I'm going to ask you to do this on your first turn rather than pre-emptively.



Also, looking for a general opinion: the way this game is supposed to work is one player takes an action, the Watcher reacts, the player finalizes their action and decides who goes next. Then that player takes an action and so on. I'm totally down with playing it this way, but I admit I'm a little concerned it's going to go very slowly in PbP format. As an alternative, we could do an "Everybody declares their action and rolls the dice, and then I'll try to mash them together in some order that makes sense." There may be other options. I'm totally okay with either, or we can start with one and switch if we don't like it, but I will leave it up to you guys. Preferences?



Finally, setting up the scene:
There are three scene distinctions currently present. Police Presence, Crowd of Hostages, and Amelia Blaine and Crew. Scene distinctions are just like regular distinctions; you can use them instead of your own distinctions if you like. In this case, the hostages and the news crew would probably be used as a D4 by you if they're in your way or you're acting to protect them from wild attacks. The police could be treated similarly, but they're more likely to actually be usable as a D8. You can feel free to work these people into your descriptions more or less as you like (and if you want to take action to get them out of here, you can do that, too), with the general note that the police and news crew are outside the bank and the hostages are inside.

The bad guys present are:


Solo D8
Buddy D6
Team D10

Don't Get No Respect, More Power!, Where Do I Sign?

Living Capacitor
Electric Blast D12
Electrical Mastery D10
Enhanced Speed D8
Enhanced Strength D8
Flight D6
SFX: Energy Absorption: On a successful reaction against electrical attack, convert the effect die into a Living Capacitor stunt or double a power. On a failed reaction, spend a D6 from the doom pool to do this anyway.
SFX: Unleashed: Step up or double a power for one action. If that action fails, step the power back by -1. Activate an opportunity to recover.
Limit: Grounded: Step up or add D6 to the doom pool to shutdown Living Capacitor vs. grounding or electricity-dampening attacks. Spend D6 from the doom pool to cover the power set.

Crime Expert D8
Science Expert D8
Tech Expert D8



Team 3D6
Career Criminals, Undisciplined

Guns D6
Resistance to Gas D10
SFX: Area Attack: For each additional target, add D6 to your dice pool and keep +1 effect die.
Limit: Gang Cohesion: Defeat Team dice (with D8 stress) to defeat goons.



Solo D8
Buddy D4
Team D6
(Note that Mysterio is statted as a minor character here)

Smoke and Mirrors, Envious

Master of Illusions
Your Eyes Deceive You D10
Hiding in Plain Sight D8
Smoke Generators D8

SFX: Special Effects Wiz: Add a D6 and step up your effects die by +1 when inflicting confusing complications or creating illusion assets.
SFX: Smoke Cloud: Add a D6 and keep an additional effect die for each additional target.
SFX: Protective Suit: Spend a D6 from the doom pool to ignore stress, trauma, or complications caused by gas or visual effects.
Limit: Glass Jaw: Add D6 to the doom pool to step up any physical stress you take.

Covert Expert D8
Menace Master D10
Psych Master D10
Tech Expert D8

[Plaids]

Plaids, I'm going to say you can't use your Godlike Strength in this instance because Electro can't see you. I'm not sure, but I'm inclined to say that general threatening superpowers should maybe not count in general for intimidating because, say, if you can use your strength to intimidate, then surely Electro can use his lightning to not get intimidated, and I feel like that might be making physical attacks too useful relative to dedicated emotional powers (like pheromones or illusions or whatever).

What do you guys think? (Bearing in mind that your characters are just as vulnerable to emotional stress as the NPCs are).

Also, rather than an afraid condition, I think that should just be emotional stress. I don't think there's enough distinction between them. Note that stress can still be used in a dice pool as a complication.


I agree with the issue of using non mental or spiritual powers for mental or spiritual actions against an adversary. Since skills would quickly become more homogenous with skills since mastery psychology would have the same amount of impact on an interrogation as ice powers.
Relevant clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U1FVjRRlXY
Superman would be less interesting if he could just use his strength to impose a desired mental state on every adversary he met.

I was in a comic book mindset where powers are often used to supplement interrogations or public performances.

As for turn order we could just get a random order to start every cycle and freely swap orders between people who want to trade. Cohesive plans of action could then be done when desired.
I will also be retconning my action and going through with the original taunting plan and imposing mental stress since no response has been posted.
I think it will be 1D10 for being near Loki and 1D8 with the Honor and Glory, a well known hero who grabs peoples attention is beneficial.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Honestly the moment I read this:


the way this game is supposed to work is one player takes an action, the Watcher reacts, the player finalizes their action and decides who goes next. Then that player takes an action and so on.

A red flag went up for me. Because that means if someone has to deal with real life stuff when their turn comes up - their kids gets sick, their job gets very busy for a few days, they have relatives visit, they need to travel, they lose internet or power, they have midterms or finals - no one else can play until that person gets back. Maybe it would work during an in-person game, but not in PbP; too much can happen outside the sphere of the game that you not only can’t control but won’t even hear about until afterwards.

Forget slow; that’s the sort of thing that will kill the game outright.

[DammitVictor]

Also, looking for a general opinion: the way this game is supposed to work is one player takes an action, the Watcher reacts, the player finalizes their action and decides who goes next. Then that player takes an action and so on. I'm totally down with playing it this way, but I admit I'm a little concerned it's going to go very slowly in PbP format.

Cortex is already very slow in play-by-post because every dice roll is opposed by another dice roll.

One thing that helps a lot with Balsera Initiative is when it doesn't matter, the player acting can declare NEXT as "any PC" or "any ally" or "any enemy". So for a Fastball Special, Colossus would roll to Create an Asset and declare Wolverine-- but if he just hits someone he can just say "whoever".


As an alternative, we could do an "Everybody declares their action and rolls the dice, and then I'll try to mash them together in some order that makes sense." There may be other options. I'm totally okay with either, or we can start with one and switch if we don't like it, but I will leave it up to you guys. Preferences?

I'm also totally okay with this, but in this case I'd suggest we need to maintain some flexibility-- if Colossus declares he's throwing Wolverine, Wolverine needs to be able to say he's doing something else; if Wolverine decides he's going to be precious like Gimli, Colossus needs to be able to do something else. One advantage of pre-planning our panels like this is that if someone does temporarily drop out, we're more likely to be able to continue with their stated goals until they can step back in.


Forget slow; that’s the sort of thing that will kill the game outright.

To revise my earlier suggestion, maybe the person declaring NEXT should also include a backup option, and we should each (as players) suggest our personal backup options if we can't post in a reasonable timeframe. Or maybe all of us have the default action-- if we miss the window-- of trying to reduce the Doom Pool by whatever means the Watcher deems most appropriate for the situation.

[Thane of Fife]

Yes, what you're saying is why I bring the topic up. One approach could be to break things into a Player Turn and Watcher Turn. So, you guys could all talk amongst yourselves and decide what you're going to do and in what order, then roll the dice. Then it would be my turn, and I'd roll reactions and then my actions, and then it would go back to you guys for your reactions and next set of actions, and so forth.

I think that that should help keep things moving in that we don't necessarily have to wait for individual players if they temporarily disappear. It also would mean that we can double up on rolling last turn's reactions and this turn's actions at the same time. And I think it would avoid the overwhelming majority of wanting to spend plot points or doom off-turn. In fact, when you guys are taking an action to create an asset, you could probably roll the doom dice reaction right along with your action.

There might be occasional need for conditional actions ("If Hercules knocks out Electro, I'll attack the goons, otherwise I'm attacking Electro, too") but I don't think that's too big of an issue.

[DammitVictor]

I'm interested to see how that would work in practice.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Yes, what you're saying is why I bring the topic up. One approach could be to break things into a Player Turn and Watcher Turn. So, you guys could all talk amongst yourselves and decide what you're going to do and in what order, then roll the dice. Then it would be my turn, and I'd roll reactions and then my actions, and then it would go back to you guys for your reactions and next set of actions, and so forth.

I think that that should help keep things moving in that we don't necessarily have to wait for individual players if they temporarily disappear. It also would mean that we can double up on rolling last turn's reactions and this turn's actions at the same time. And I think it would avoid the overwhelming majority of wanting to spend plot points or doom off-turn. In fact, when you guys are taking an action to create an asset, you could probably roll the doom dice reaction right along with your action.

For what it's worth from a Cortex newbie, that sounds good. The only issue I think I can see is that we might have some hiccups around Opportunity rolls if I'm understanding those properly.


There might be occasional need for conditional actions ("If Hercules knocks out Electro, I'll attack the goons, otherwise I'm attacking Electro, too") but I don't think that's too big of an issue.

I've done that in my Pokémon game, for the most part it's worked well. The main exception is if someone gets a little too specific with their if/then scenario or the bad guys do something unexpected leaving them sitting around for a round.

[Thane of Fife]

OKay. Then, unless Lexiconjurer or Plaids objects. Why don't we go ahead with that. You can all decide what you want to do for the first round.

It sounds like that's probably Try to Inflict Emotional Stress on Electro for Hercules and Try to Sneak Inside Invisibly for Sleeper. Hercules has rolled, so you can go ahead and roll for Sleeper. Do Loki or Kaine want to do anything?

[DammitVictor]

As soon as the goons hear and start reacting to the commotion out front, Kaine's going to try to snag two of them with weblines-- one from each hand-- and use his Superhuman Strength to pull them into the walls. Spend a Plot Point for an extra effect die, and aim for 2d8 against the mob.

[Thane of Fife]

Sure. And you and Kareeah_Indaga can probably go ahead and make your rolls and IC posts - I don't think it's likely that anything Loki does will interfere with your actions.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Sure. And you and Kareeah_Indaga can probably go ahead and make your rolls and IC posts - I don't think it's likely that anything Loki does will interfere with your actions.

All right then! :smallsmile:

Rolling to get inside invisibly:
Affiliation - Solo: [roll0]
Power - Invisibility: [roll1]
Specialty - Covert: [roll2]

[Plaids]

The lax turn order decided amongst players sounds good.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

All right then! :smallsmile:

Rolling to get inside invisibly:
Affiliation - Solo: [roll0]
Power - Invisibility: [roll1]
Specialty - Covert: [roll2]

Doom Dice: [roll0]

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Okay so quoting dice rolls seems to screw them up in the quote? :smallconfused: That's irritating.

EDIT: And I forgot we DO have a Dice Roll thread and it looks like there's been a couple Opportunities, so I'll roll the extras there. Sorry!

[Thane of Fife]

Okay so quoting dice rolls seems to screw them up in the quote? :smallconfused: That's irritating.

EDIT: And I forgot we DO have a Dice Roll thread and it looks like there's been a couple Opportunities, so I'll roll the extras there. Sorry!

I don't know that you should ever need to roll dice for opportunities. I mean, if you roll some in a roll to create an asset, and you're going to roll the doom pool, you can probably assume that I'll give you a plot point and add a die to the doom pool, but if there are opportunities in the doom pool, there wouldn't be any effect until your next roll (they don't give dice that go back into the action roll).

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I don't know that you should ever need to roll dice for opportunities. I mean, if you roll some in a roll to create an asset, and you're going to roll the doom pool, you can probably assume that I'll give you a plot point and add a die to the doom pool, but if there are opportunities in the doom pool, there wouldn't be any effect until your next roll (they don't give dice that go back into the action roll).

Okay cool, thank you! :smallsmile:

EDIT:
Went over the explanation again, now that I have my roll results I need to select the effect die and results. So it would be 8+7 from Affiliation – Solo and Specialty – Covert and the Invisibility d10 for the effect die. How do I know if I need to step the effect die down?

[Lexiconjurer]

I think Loki will try to help with inflicting emotional stress on Electro. Would it be possible to include Sorcery in the pool for Loki lacing his words with a bit of magic to increase Electro's anger? Maybe conjuring images of his many defeats at the hands of Spider-Man?

[Thane of Fife]

DammitVictor, did you want to use your Lying in Wait asset with that attack?


I think Loki will try to help with inflicting emotional stress on Electro. Would it be possible to include Sorcery in the pool for Loki lacing his words with a bit of magic to increase Electro's anger? Maybe conjuring images of his many defeats at the hands of Spider-Man?

I think that would be okay for a stunt if you want to spend a plot point, but I don't think you can use sorcery in a pool to inflict stress directly (the book is pretty specific about that).

If you want to create an asset using your sorcery (to help Hercules or yourself later), you could definitely do that. But I think I'd want it to lean more toward an illusion (which could be visual or audial) then the somewhat more abstract lacing words with magic.



Also, as two general notes to everyone:

1. Please feel free to fish for experience points. I think Sleeper should have received 1 XP for investigating the incident, for example, and... maybe also Hercules for boasting of his exploits? But if you guys remind me when you're hitting your milestones, you will probably get more XP than if you just hope for me to notice.

2. When you make your rolls, please mention which dice you're using for the total and which for the effect. You can change your mind if you get to add more dice for an asset or even if you just change your mind before I go, but I do think that the declaration needs to come with the action roll (so that the reacting player will know what they're reacting to).

[DammitVictor]

DammitVictor, did you want to use your Lying in Wait asset with that attack?

I wanted to, but I clearly forgot about it and there's not really any way I could use it to improve the roll I got... if you wanted to be really[ generous, you could either let me keep the Asset on my next Action (by saying Kaine is still hidden), or you could refund the Plot Point I spent to include Swingline in the roll, and say that was just me using up my (also d8) Asset.

I'm also perfectly content writing it off, since I did forget to use it and it can't really benefit the Action I forgot to use it on.

I do appreciate the reminder. I'm clearly getting rusty.

edit: Also 1 XP from Penitent Hunter.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Also, as two general notes to everyone:

1. Please feel free to fish for experience points. I think Sleeper should have received 1 XP for investigating the incident, for example, and... maybe also Hercules for boasting of his exploits? But if you guys remind me when you're hitting your milestones, you will probably get more XP than if you just hope for me to notice.

Noted on the character sheet.

Also, in that case I’m going to preemptively ask: once Sleeper officially joins this fight, will that count towards the milestone, ‘When you barge into a fight in progress’? 🐟

[Thane of Fife]

if you wanted to be really[ generous, you could either let me keep the Asset on my next Action (by saying Kaine is still hidden), or you could refund the Plot Point I spent to include Swingline in the roll, and say that was just me using up my (also d8) Asset.

How about we say that the asset is used up, but that you used it to not "reveal yourself" when you attacked? That is, they won't attack Kaine on my turn because they're confused.


edit: Also 1 XP from Penitent Hunter.

Sounds good.


Also, in that case I’m going to preemptively ask: once Sleeper officially joins this fight, will that count towards the milestone, ‘When you barge into a fight in progress’? 🐟

Since you could plausibly be coming here just to rescue hostages, and you're not really "with" these other guys yet, I will say, "Yes, that counts," but only if you refrain from making any attacks until the real fighting (as opposed to hurling insults and picking people off from the roof) starts. Dealing with hostages or other scenery until then is fine.

[Thane of Fife]

Alright, so, Hercules, note that you've gotten a plot point from me activating your opportunity. Also, there was an opportunity in Electro's reaction roll against Loki. So, I think, Loki, you can activate that if you like.

[Lexiconjurer]

I'll pass on the opportunity. Odds are good I might get complicated out by Mysterio here as I realize I don't have many ways to counter tech-based illusions 😅

[Thane of Fife]

I'll pass on the opportunity. Odds are good I might get complicated out by Mysterio here as I realize I don't have many ways to counter tech-based illusions 😅

Well, maybe your friends on the inside will keep Mysterio busy.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

On that subject, did I successfully make my Asset last round, and can I safely assume Sleeper can see the people in the bank now (at least the hostages and the bad guys - since Kaine is/was hiding and he hasn’t run into symbiotes before so he’s not going to have a codex)?

[Thane of Fife]

On that subject, did I successfully make my Asset last round, and can I safely assume Sleeper can see the people in the bank now (at least the hostages and the bad guys - since Kaine is/was hiding and he hasn’t run into symbiotes before so he’s not going to have a codex)?

Yes, you did. Based on your rolls, it should be a D10 asset. It's good for one roll unless you spend a plot point (in which case it lasts for the rest of the scene).

Edit: Missed the second part of the question. Yes, you can see the others in the bank (Mysterio and the thugs - Electro has gone outside).

[DammitVictor]

Kaine's going to give away his position to attempt to have a conversation with Mysterio.

edit: Unless, of course, we determine that someone else goes first and Kaine has to improvise.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I kind of figured Loki and Herc would be going first, since they’re the ones actively under attack, but I don't have a preference, I don't think my plan depends on anyone else.

But if it matters, my tentative plan for Sleeper is:

Make a webline from the window to the ground outside (only on the outside of the building – no point in giving the bad guys a free escape route)
While still invisible shapeshift into Sue Storm in case it becomes necessary to interact with the hostages during their rescue (reasoning being she's a known hero so no one will panic if she pops out of thin air to rescue them - unlike a carnivorous alien goo monster - and I believe it was mentioned the Fantastic Four are still active)
Use ‘invisible force fields’ (actually invisible symbiote goo) to cover the hostages and carry them up the wall to the window, where they can climb down. Multiple trips if necessary, prioritizing anyone that looks like they can be snatched unnoticed


Of course I reserve the right to modify this plan if, for example, Hercules collapses the building or something similarly disruptive occurs.

[Thane of Fife]

Kaine's going to give away his position to attempt to have a conversation with Mysterio.

edit: Unless, of course, we determine that someone else goes first and Kaine has to improvise.

If you just want to talk, you can do that in addition to whatever else you might want to do. If you want to wait and make sure nobody else is counting on you sneaking up on Mysterio, that's fair, but otherwise, you can just start talking in the IC thread.



While still invisible shapeshift into Sue Storm in case it becomes necessary to interact with the hostages during their rescue (reasoning being she's a known hero so no one will panic if she pops out of thin air to rescue them - unlike a carnivorous alien goo monster - and I believe it was mentioned the Fantastic Four are still active)

Most superheroes are still active, it's just that the Fantastic Four are the only big name team that still regularly works together.

I'll hold off on comments on the plan for the moment.

[Plaids]

I think I'm going to have Hercules charge straight to Electro after grabbing some tires from the police to try and subdue him with physical stress.
I think the roll would be 1D10 for being with a buddy, 1D8 for police presence, 1D10 from combat master, and either adding a die from superhuman leaping or godlike strength depending on how far electro his.
The roll seems a bit strong, I might have miscalculated or tried applying to many things to a fairly simple attack roll.

I believe I have 1xp, Maybe 0 stress, 0 assets, and 1 plot point for rolling a 1 for the praise Shocker roll.

[Thane of Fife]

I think I'm going to have Hercules charge straight to Electro after grabbing some tires from the police to try and subdue him with physical stress.
I think the roll would be 1D10 for being with a buddy, 1D8 for police presence, 1D10 from combat master, and either adding a die from superhuman leaping or godlike strength depending on how far electro his.
The roll seems a bit strong, I might have miscalculated or tried applying to many things to a fairly simple attack roll.

I believe I have 1xp, Maybe 0 stress, 0 assets, and 1 plot point for rolling a 1 for the praise Shocker roll.

I think you should have two plot points (you start with one), and you should make reaction rolls against Electro and Mysterio to see if you have any stress/complications.

Also, Hercules should have a strong dice pool here - he's a pretty powerful hero and punching things is something he's good at. I would definitely say that you can use your Godlike Strength, and you should also include a D8 for Electro's emotional stress. But if you want to weaken your roll, you could switch your distinction to a D4 (maybe you can't fight as effectively because you're trying to protect the police or because you're trying to make sure the news crew get your good side) and get another plot point for it. But that would also make you less likely to deal stress to Electro.

[Lexiconjurer]

Sorry for going quiet! Got a nasty cold that made the last couple days miserable.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Sorry for going quiet! Got a nasty cold that made the last couple days miserable.

😟 Hope you’re feeling better!

[Thane of Fife]

Sorry for going quiet! Got a nasty cold that made the last couple days miserable.

Yes, hope you're feeling better.

On Loki's reaction roll, this won't change the result, but I'm still not sure about including Sorcery in that dice pool. Possibly I am undervaluing the power, but I'm hesitant to allow directly into a pool like this because casting a spell that does X could easily justify anything. If you're actually defending against magic or a magical being, that's one thing, but otherwise, I think I'd prefer that if you want to cast a spell, it needs to be created as an asset. I'm willing to be talked into changing my mind on that.


Also, all, I'm expecting to spend more time with family over the coming Thanksgiving week, so while I'll do my best to keep up the pace, you might see my posting slow down a bit.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Also, all, I'm expecting to spend more time with family over the coming Thanksgiving week, so while I'll do my best to keep up the pace, you might see my posting slow down a bit.

Perfectly understandable, enjoy your turkey and family time! 😃

[Lexiconjurer]

Yes, hope you're feeling better.

On Loki's reaction roll, this won't change the result, but I'm still not sure about including Sorcery in that dice pool. Possibly I am undervaluing the power, but I'm hesitant to allow directly into a pool like this because casting a spell that does X could easily justify anything. If you're actually defending against magic or a magical being, that's one thing, but otherwise, I think I'd prefer that if you want to cast a spell, it needs to be created as an asset. I'm willing to be talked into changing my mind on that.


Also, all, I'm expecting to spend more time with family over the coming Thanksgiving week, so while I'll do my best to keep up the pace, you might see my posting slow down a bit.

Yeah, feeling much better now thankfully!

I'll try to avoid using Sorcery then. But I'll still spend the PP, even without the Sorcery, I should have enough to succeed on the reaction.

[Thane of Fife]

Okay, so I think Hercules picks up a D12 Mass Confusion complication from Mysterio (base D8 stepped up twice for being beaten by 10). I will also give you 3 more plot points to step 3D6 from the doom pool up to D8 (which will thus be at 2D6, 4D8). He probably can't attack Mysterio directly because Mysterio is still in the bank and is not visible to Hercules.

As for Sleeper, that plan seems ok except that you probably can't evac people out the window you came in (they would be exiting into the middle of Mysterio's illusion and into an area where Electro's throwing lightning bolts - they won't go). If you can think up somewhere else to send them, you can make and roll a dice pool against the doom pool - let's say that for each D8 effect die you can get, you can evacuate a third of the people.

Also, can Sleeper disguise himself as Sue Storm? I would have thought he would be constrained by his host's mass (and that Tel-Kar would be bigger than Sue Storm).

[Kareeah_Indaga]

As for Sleeper, that plan seems ok except that you probably can't evac people out the window you came in (they would be exiting into the middle of Mysterio's illusion and into an area where Electro's throwing lightning bolts - they won't go). If you can think up somewhere else to send them, you can make and roll a dice pool against the doom pool - let's say that for each D8 effect die you can get, you can evacuate a third of the people.

I can’t ‘protect them with my invisible force fields?’ (Since I deliberately picked a window out of sight of the police cordon at the entrance and Sleeper would have seen the mooks if they were real mooks made invisible beforehand rather than holograms?)

In that case what can Sleeper see as far as the other exits? (I know you mentioned some for Kaine, but can Sleeper see them?) Where are the hostages in relation to the doors, and how is the room set up in general (furniture or other cover, placement of mooks)? Are the hostages wearing gas masks too? (I doubt knocking them out and carrying them to safety would be a good strategy at this point, but if they start to panic mid-rescue it might be a better solution than letting them run into the line of fire.)

Also I would like to throw down the webline outside anyway (Sleeper put it down before finding out it would be useless or whatever) as its meta-game purpose is to provide a clue for Kaine on the off chance Sleeper manages to spend the entire mission invisible or in disguise - since Kaine’s going to know he didn’t put a webline there, and that obviously isn’t one of Sue’s powers.


Also, can Sleeper disguise himself as Sue Storm? I would have thought he would be constrained by his host's mass (and that Tel-Kar would be bigger than Sue Storm).

So glad you asked! 😄 I was planning to incorporate a ‘space and/or extra dimensional environment suit’ to disguise the extra bulk (and height - Tel-Kar’s kinda tall, so there will likely be some clunky-looking boots on this ‘environment suit’). Possibly drop a comment about just getting back from the Negative Zone and not having time to change, if questioned.

[DammitVictor]

Looks like Sleeper and Kaine are running two mutually exclusive plans to get the hostages out-- I'm okay with his plan being a contingency if my plan fails, or my plan acting as a distraction while he sneaks the hostages out.

I think Kaine should be able to smell Sleeper by now-- two extraterrestrial organisms, hospital disinfectant-- but I'm not going to assume that's the case until Sleeper or Watcher confirms.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I think Kaine should be able to smell Sleeper by now-- two extraterrestrial organisms, hospital disinfectant-- but I'm not going to assume that's the case until Sleeper or Watcher confirms.

Google tells me “An odor is a chemical molecule light enough to be swept around by the environment” and Sleeper’s been hanging out with Daredevil for the last month or so, ergo I’m inclined to think he’s had some practice hiding his scent, HOWEVER I would think the open window and resulting breeze would be detectable by Kaine’s super senses? So he should still be able to figure out something is up.

I will defer to the Watcher though.

[DammitVictor]

[...] and Sleeper’s been hanging out with Daredevil for the last month or so, ergo I’m inclined to think he’s had some practice hiding his scent [...]

I was thinking the Chemokinesis might allow to cover up your scent-- basically by just emitting more molecules of the existing ambient scents to cover your scent. It would eventually tell Kaine that something's up... but not before you've revealed yourself on purpose, and it would keep Kaine from recognizing your ET origins, again, until you felt like disclosing them.

Gwenompool (ugh) actually pulls this off well enough to fool most human senses, but Murdock saw (smelled) right through her attempts-- but, as you've said, you have a lot more practice and practice specifically dealing with superhuman senses.

[Thane of Fife]

I can’t ‘protect them with my invisible force fields?’ (Since I deliberately picked a window out of sight of the police cordon at the entrance and Sleeper would have seen the mooks if they were real mooks made invisible beforehand rather than holograms?)


So glad you asked! 😄 I was planning to incorporate a ‘space and/or extra dimensional environment suit’ to disguise the extra bulk (and height - Tel-Kar’s kinda tall, so there will likely be some clunky-looking boots on this ‘environment suit’).

If this is the plan you want to go with, go for it. I'm a little skeptical that it would work, but you've got the powers, so you can go ahead and roll for it - I won't apply any circumstance penalties or anything.


In that case what can Sleeper see as far as the other exits? (I know you mentioned some for Kaine, but can Sleeper see them?) Where are the hostages in relation to the doors, and how is the room set up in general (furniture or other cover, placement of mooks)? Are the hostages wearing gas masks too? (I doubt knocking them out and carrying them to safety would be a good strategy at this point, but if they start to panic mid-rescue it might be a better solution than letting them run into the line of fire.)

Sleeper can see what Kaine could see before. I didn't think about it before, but probably there should also be some elevators to get up to higher floors.

The room is a large bank. There's all the furniture you might expect in a bank (some seats, a counter for customers to use to write checks or whatever, a counter for the tellers), as well as some pillars around the room and a statue/fountain near the center of the large room. The general layout of the bank shouldn't really matter, but in my mind, I'm imagining the main entrance and some windows on the south wall, the hostages along the west wall (and some windows higher up), the tellers' desk and entrance to the vault on the north wall, and the elevators and entrance to the offices on the east wall. I was imagining Sleeper as coming in through a window maybe a couple of floors up, high enough to not really be noticed, rather than finding some window on the ground floor that the police couldn't see.

The hostages aren't wearing gas masks.

The thugs are at the windows, looking out (and in some cases shooting out) at the police. Mysterio is closer to the middle of the room. Nobody is paying that much attention to the hostages.


I think Kaine should be able to smell Sleeper by now-- two extraterrestrial organisms, hospital disinfectant-- but I'm not going to assume that's the case until Sleeper or Watcher confirms.


Google tells me “An odor is a chemical molecule light enough to be swept around by the environment” and Sleeper’s been hanging out with Daredevil for the last month or so, ergo I’m inclined to think he’s had some practice hiding his scent, HOWEVER I would think the open window and resulting breeze would be detectable by Kaine’s super senses? So he should still be able to figure out something is up.

I would say that, if for some reason, Sleeper needed to sneak past Kaine (or Wolverine or Sabretooth or someone), it would certainly be reasonable to use his powers to try to conceal his scent, but in a case like this where it doesn't really seem worth it to roll for it, I'd give it to Kaine, because hiding your scent is sort of a stunt off of chemokinesis, whereas Kaine's senses are the whole point of his power (but I'm also willing to go with whatever you two decide between you).

Kaine doesn't have any skill in Cosmic, though, so he may not be able to place the more alien scents.

[DammitVictor]

Kaine doesn't have any skill in Cosmic, though, so he may not be able to place the more alien scents.

Yeah, makes sense-- he should be able to tell it's "not human", but pinning it down to "extraterrestrial" is... outside of his personal context.

I think we all agree that Kaine's not going to notice until Sleeper either does something much more overt, or Kaine doesn't have anything much more urgent to pay attention to.

[Plaids]

Current status after trying to attack electro and rolling to resist attacks from mysterio and electro.

Stress: 1 Mental Stress
Complication: D12 Mass Confusion
Assets: None
Plot Points: 2 +3 from rolling a 1 for each check
XP: 1/10

[Thane of Fife]

Okay, so it sounds like Sleeper is going to roll to rescue hostages and Kaine is going to roll to, I guess, create a distraction asset to help him?

Hercules has rolled to clobber Electro, so what's Loki doing?

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!


Sleeper can see what Kaine could see before. I didn't think about it before, but probably there should also be some elevators to get up to higher floors.

The room is a large bank. There's all the furniture you might expect in a bank (some seats, a counter for customers to use to write checks or whatever, a counter for the tellers), as well as some pillars around the room and a statue/fountain near the center of the large room. The general layout of the bank shouldn't really matter, but in my mind, I'm imagining the main entrance and some windows on the south wall, the hostages along the west wall (and some windows higher up), the tellers' desk and entrance to the vault on the north wall, and the elevators and entrance to the offices on the east wall. I was imagining Sleeper as coming in through a window maybe a couple of floors up, high enough to not really be noticed, rather than finding some window on the ground floor that the police couldn't see.

The hostages aren't wearing gas masks.

The thugs are at the windows, looking out (and in some cases shooting out) at the police. Mysterio is closer to the middle of the room. Nobody is paying that much attention to the hostages.

So like this? (Sorry for the terrible map.)

=============================Vault Stairs===
||........Teller Desks............................................. ...............||
||H............................................... .............................Office Doors
||o............................................... ....................................||
W s Sleeper........................................... ..........................||
||t.....................................Fountain.. ................................||
||a....................................Mysterio, Kaine..........................||
||g............................................... ..............................Elevators
W e................................................. ................................||
||s............................................... ...................................||
||......Goons..................................... .......Goons.................||
======W========Main Entrance=====W==========

Police, Herc, Loki, Electro, Reporters

Goon illusions

(W = window)

Other notes:

7 thugs (I’m not sure how Kaine’s earlier damage impacts their numbers)
24ish hostages
Darker inside than outside (no lights on?)
Exits from the bank are:

The main entrance (currently blocked by police, the fight between Electro and Herc, and covered with gunfire from goons both real and illusionary)
The window Sleeper opened (a story or two off the ground)
The door to the offices
The stairs to the bank vault
Elevators



If this is the plan you want to go with, go for it. I'm a little skeptical that it would work, but you've got the powers, so you can go ahead and roll for it - I won't apply any circumstance penalties or anything.

Hey, when the Dungeon Master asks me if I’m sure I’m more than willing to rethink my plan! I don’t have an issue with shepherding the hostages out the office doors instead, or down into the vaults, if the window seems unreasonable.

Re: dice pool. How does this look?

Affiliation: Solo (1d8)
Distinction: Crowd of Hostages (1d4)
Power(s): Klyntar Symbiote - Invisibility (1d8), Shapeshifting (1d6) (Multipower)
Specialty: Covert (1d8)
Complication/Stress: I’m assuming the hostages are my ‘target’ I don’t think they have any of these?
Asset: Invisible Insider (1d10)


I would say that, if for some reason, Sleeper needed to sneak past Kaine (or Wolverine or Sabretooth or someone), it would certainly be reasonable to use his powers to try to conceal his scent, but in a case like this where it doesn't really seem worth it to roll for it, I'd give it to Kaine, because hiding your scent is sort of a stunt off of chemokinesis, whereas Kaine's senses are the whole point of his power (but I'm also willing to go with whatever you two decide between you).

Kaine doesn't have any skill in Cosmic, though, so he may not be able to place the more alien scents.


Yeah, makes sense-- he should be able to tell it's "not human", but pinning it down to "extraterrestrial" is... outside of his personal context.

I think we all agree that Kaine's not going to notice until Sleeper either does something much more overt, or Kaine doesn't have anything much more urgent to pay attention to.

Works for me!

[Thane of Fife]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday (or the regular day if you're not in the US).


So like this? (Sorry for the terrible map.)

Sure.




7 thugs (I’m not sure how Kaine’s earlier damage impacts their numbers)
24ish hostages
Darker inside than outside (no lights on?)


There started off something like a dozen thugs (some of them came out of the vault with Electro). That equates to three dice. Kaine eliminated two dice, so there should really only be a couple left. Maybe more than that but they're disorganized or scared.

The lights are on, the room just isn't that well lit.


Re: dice pool. How does this look?

Affiliation: Solo (1d8)
Distinction: Crowd of Hostages (1d4)
Power(s): Klyntar Symbiote - Invisibility (1d8), Shapeshifting (1d6) (Multipower)
Specialty: Covert (1d8)
Complication/Stress: I’m assuming the hostages are my ‘target’ I don’t think they have any of these?
Asset: Invisible Insider (1d10)

That looks fine, except that you should roll Buddy since Kaine is helping you by distracting Mysterio.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

That looks fine, except that you should roll Buddy since Kaine is helping you by distracting Mysterio.

Thank you! I swapped it and rolled. You said to roll against the Doom Pool, are we still at 2D6, 4D8?

[DammitVictor]

There started off something like a dozen thugs (some of them came out of the vault with Electro). That equates to three dice. Kaine eliminated two dice, so there should really only be a couple left. Maybe more than that but they're disorganized or scared.

If it helps anyone else to visualize it, imagine Kaine is Batman for a second. There are a dozen or so gunmen, and neither them nor the hostages knew I was there before two of the gunmen vanished and very audibly shattered, and now Kaine is just there and talking to Mysterio like he's trying to split up the lunch check.

The other ten (or so) gunmen originally in the lobby are useless. The reinforcements didn't hear that horrible sound as clearly, and walked in on Kaine instead of suddenly realizing he was there, so maybe the Watcher is going to bring the Mob back up to 2d8 or 3d8 (totally fair!), and maybe Mysterio or the Mob could take an action to rally the other gunmen back into the game (totally fair!) but right now there's a handful of effective gunmen acting as a Mob d8 and the rest are just screaming furniture.

If it's helpful. I'm not trying to condescend to anyone or dictate terms to Thane of Fife, if he wants to describe it differently, but since people are new to Cortex I'm trying to help paint a picture of how the mechanics relate to the narrative.

[Lexiconjurer]

Sorry for the delay. Hope those who celebrate had a good Thanksgiving!

Turnabout is fair play, so Loki is going to attempt to distract Mysterio with an illusion of his own!

[Thane of Fife]

Thank you! I swapped it and rolled. You said to roll against the Doom Pool, are we still at 2D6, 4D8?

Looks like people have rolled some more 1's, so I'll give Kaine and Sleeper each a plot point and increase the doom pool to 1D6, 6D8.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Looks like people have rolled some more 1's, so I'll give Kaine and Sleeper each a plot point and increase the doom pool to 1D6, 6D8.

Added one Plot Point to Sleeper's total, now at 2.

And that's a 15/d8 vs...a 15/d8 unless I'm misunderstanding how the Doom Dice work. Those die results are scarily similar. :smalleek: You said a draw was a success?

[Plaids]

I didn't realize that some of the goons could be illusions. That would certainly make sense with Mysterio around.
I think everyone has made their second action this turn. With Hercules attempting to smack electro, Loki in engaging in illusory warfare, Kaine attempting to convince Mysterio to release some hostages, and Sleeper attempting to hostages with stealth.

Stress: 1 Mental Stress
Complication: D12 Mass Confusion
Assets: None
Plot Points: 1 start + 1 taunting electro +1 resist electroshock attack + 1 resisting Mysterio's illusory confusion +1 physically attacking electro.
XP: 1/10

[Thane of Fife]

Added one Plot Point to Sleeper's total, now at 2.

And that's a 15/d8 vs...a 15/d8 unless I'm misunderstanding how the Doom Dice work. Those die results are scarily similar. :smalleek: You said a draw was a success?

A draw is a success for the acting party, yes. But in this case, it's not going to be a draw, because I'm going to spend some of those doom dice to increase me total and mess with Sleeper.


I didn't realize that some of the goons could be illusions. That would certainly make sense with Mysterio around.
I think everyone has made their second action this turn. With Hercules attempting to smack electro, Loki in engaging in illusory warfare, Kaine attempting to convince Mysterio to release some hostages, and Sleeper attempting to hostages with stealth.

Yes, I agree. Might take me a minute to roll dice and make a post.

[Thane of Fife]

Alright, lots of dice rolls have been made and the next IC post is up.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

This is a tangent but I feel compelled to share:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8YG_8o1lk0



Also in the bank, Sleeper, first invisible, and then in the guise of Sue Storm, lowers himself down to the hostages. Working to free them, he sets off an explosive booby trap, though fortunately(?) he absorbs most of the blast, sparing the hostages.

Mysterio, alerted by the explosion, spins about to see Sue Storm.

Fluff objection: unless this explosion is kicking me out of invisibility, I never said I was turning visible. I can fluff it on my end as soot from the blast or whatever but I used the invisibility in the roll with the shapeshifting.

[DammitVictor]

Kaine's plan is to use his Spider-Sense to dodge Electro's lightning, then use his Saw that Coming die in a roll to grab Mysterio and use him as a human shield.

Can I see "Sue" or not?

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Can I see "Sue" or not?

Yes, at least briefly. I also dropped a hint for Kaine that something is up with ‘Sue’ if you want it.

[Thane of Fife]

This is a tangent but I feel compelled to share:
Fluff objection: unless this explosion is kicking me out of invisibility, I never said I was turning visible. I can fluff it on my end as soot from the blast or whatever but I used the invisibility in the roll with the shapeshifting.

I guess I was under the impression that the whole point of the shapeshifting was that you were not planning to stay invisible, but I'm fine with your IC post.


Kaine's plan is to use his Spider-Sense to dodge Electro's lightning, then use his Saw that Coming die in a roll to grab Mysterio and use him as a human shield.

That sounds reasonable to me, though I think Mysterio's smoke has defeated Peter's spider-sense in the past.


Can I see "Sue" or not?

We'll go with "You saw 'her' before she turned invisible again."

[Thane of Fife]

Plaids, Lexiconjurer, actions for Hercules and Loki?

[DammitVictor]

Kaine is going to tackle Mysterio into the fountain. I don't really expect that to stop Electro from throwing lightning bolts at me, but one problem at a time.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I think Sleeper’s going to use his chemokinesis to steal Mysterio’s smoke and use it to sneak the hostages away.

[Plaids]

Sorry for not posting recently.
I think I would like to have Hercules make an asset and either use a plot point to push the roll or make the asset last throughout the encounter.

Maybe a distraction could be made by creating an intimidating aura around Hercules or maybe the asset could a hole in the side of a building either one could be a one turn or encounter long asset. Just wreath Hercules in fire to make the aura permanent or have Hercules be extra precise and careful when making a structural change to the building. Trying to scare off henchmen, should make saving hostages easier.

I would be willing to participate in a 'frenzy' period where multiple posts are made in small span of time.

[Lexiconjurer]

Unfortunately I am going to bow out of the game. It's clear I can't contribute the time this deserves but I hope it goes well.

[Thane of Fife]

Kaine is going to tackle Mysterio into the fountain. I don't really expect that to stop Electro from throwing lightning bolts at me, but one problem at a time.

Since you're inflicting physical stress on Mysterio, if you look back at his stat block on the first page of this thread, you'll see his limitation is that you can increase how much physical stress he takes. I don't think that I'll activate that myself, but, assuming he doesn't avoid your attack, do you want to spend a plot point to do it?


I think Sleeper’s going to use his chemokinesis to steal Mysterio’s smoke and use it to sneak the hostages away.

I'm not sure that you are normally allowed to use an opposing party's asset like that, but go ahead.


Sorry for not posting recently.
I think I would like to have Hercules make an asset and either use a plot point to push the roll or make the asset last throughout the encounter.

Maybe a distraction could be made by creating an intimidating aura around Hercules or maybe the asset could a hole in the side of a building either one could be a one turn or encounter long asset. Just wreath Hercules in fire to make the aura permanent or have Hercules be extra precise and careful when making a structural change to the building. Trying to scare off henchmen, should make saving hostages easier.

I would be willing to participate in a 'frenzy' period where multiple posts are made in small span of time.

I think terrifying the goons is inflicting emotional stress. If you inflict D10 emotional stress, then you could get the rest of them to run away or surrender or something. That would also be long-lasting without needing to spend the plot point.

But you could also just run inside and punch them if you like (or thunderclap or something).

Also, while you certainly don't need to reroll anything if you want to stick with the intimidation plan, note that when you are spending a plot point, you can increase it to a D8 (a stunt) if one of your power sets or specialties is relevant. In a case like this, for example, you could easily say that your walking through their gunfire is good enough to work as a stunt off your power set to get the D8 instead of the D6.


Unfortunately I am going to bow out of the game. It's clear I can't contribute the time this deserves but I hope it goes well.

That's unfortunate to hear, but it happens to all of us. If things clear up for you in the future, you can come back.

For the rest of you, does someone want to take over Loki for the duration of the scene, or should we push him into the background a bit and say he's helping to control the chaos outside?


Also, Hercules, Sleeper, and Kaine can have one plot point each, and I'll add 3D6 to the doom pool.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Ouch, the dice just do not like us right now. :smallyuk:


Unfortunately I am going to bow out of the game. It's clear I can't contribute the time this deserves but I hope it goes well.

:smallfrown: Sorry we didn't get to play together longer!



For the rest of you, does someone want to take over Loki for the duration of the scene, or should we push him into the background a bit and say he's helping to control the chaos outside?

Either works for me. I don't think I have the experience with the system to be useful running him, but I don't object to someone else doing it.


Also, Hercules, Sleeper, and Kaine can have one plot point each, and I'll add 3D6 to the doom pool.

Sleeper's sheet was updated with the Plot Point.

[Thane of Fife]

Either works for me. I don't think I have the experience with the system to be useful running him, but I don't object to someone else doing it.

DammitVictor, Plaids - either of you have a preference? If not, I'm going to leave him cleaning up the chaos outside.

[DammitVictor]

I don't think that I'll activate that myself, but, assuming he doesn't avoid your attack, do you want to spend a plot point to do it?

No, but if everything goes according to plan I'm going to do it next panel.

[Thane of Fife]

Rolled defenses. Hercules has either stressed or complicated out the last of the goons (if you wanted to spend a plot point to make that complication persistent, you can have it back, Plaids; I don't think you needed it). Mysterio has a total of 14 and an effect die of D8 against Kaine. Kaine can have his plot point back for the extra effect die (because he won't get it), but I will spend a D8 from the doom pool to lay a complication on him - Kaine goes through the smoke and into the fountain, but finds himself coming up with a Soaking Wet Hostage D8. That goes into Electro's dice pool as he tries to blast Kaine again.

And just to make matters worse, Mysterio will create an illusion that Kaine is attacking the hostage, acting as a complication on Sleeper if he does anything other than try to save the poor fellow.

[Thane of Fife]

It seems that the net effect of your guys' actions has been that Hercules has scared the last of the (real) goons into surrendering to the police or just running away, Sleeper is still busy trying to rescue the hostages, and Kaine has tried to tackle Mysterio but has actually gotten one of the hostages.

I think we've been leaning toward a posting scheme of You guys roll reactions, you guys roll actions, you post IC about what you're trying, I roll reactions, I roll actions, I post IC about what the villains are trying. Before I make an IC post about the results of your actions, would you prefer to use a scheme of You guys roll reactions, you guys roll actions, I post IC about what the villains achieved, I roll reactions, I roll actions, you post IC about what you achieved?

I'm looking for the best place to slot in the IC posts to avoid putting words in people's mouths. (That said, Kareeah_Indaga, I generally don't care if you want to post reactions for NPCs. Maybe be more careful about the named characters like Electro and Mysterio, but you're welcome to decide why the hostages aren't cooperating if you like - or I can do it if you prefer.)

[Plaids]

I'm looking for the best place to slot in the IC posts to avoid putting words in people's mouths. (That said, Kareeah_Indaga, I generally don't care if you want to post reactions for NPCs. Maybe be more careful about the named characters like Electro and Mysterio, but you're welcome to decide why the hostages aren't cooperating if you like - or I can do it if you prefer.)

I think having heroes react then make attempts to act before villains/challenges react then attempt to act works. The react and attempt can be compressed into one post that way. Having players decide their own order seems fine. I'm not sure how villain orders are decided though.

Thank you for the tips on Stunts. A man charging through a hail of gunfire unharmed due to his superpowers would be pretty scary.
As for Loki, I could direct Loki for one turn. I would like to have him try to create an asset. The asset being an illusory spiderman which can be leveraged by other heroes to distract villains.

I think I will have Hercules is going to try to save some hostages. Maybe pull off the bank safe door have some hostages sit on it, kick the collapsed door, and have the hostages sled away to safety.
Posting soon.

[DammitVictor]

Okay, Sleeper sees me attacking one of the hostages (clever), but do I know I've grabbed one of them by mistake?

[Thane of Fife]

As for Loki, I could direct Loki for one turn. I would like to have him try to create an asset. The asset being an illusory spiderman which can be leveraged by other heroes to distract villains.

You can direct Loki if you like, but I think he already did that (though it's a temporary complication on Mysterio rather than an asset). If you want him to make it into an asset, you can have him take that action.


I think I will have Hercules is going to try to save some hostages. Maybe pull off the bank safe door have some hostages sit on it, kick the collapsed door, and have the hostages sled away to safety.
Posting soon.

There are some benches and other furniture about you could use for such purposes, but the actual vault is below ground and not readily available from where everyone is.


Okay, Sleeper sees me attacking one of the hostages (clever), but do I know I've grabbed one of them by mistake?

Yes, Kaine is aware that he's grabbed a hostage. And you can assume he has not roughed up the hostage to the degree that he would have roughed up Mysterio, regardless of what Sleeper sees.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

And just to make matters worse, Mysterio will create an illusion that Kaine is attacking the hostage, acting as a complication on Sleeper if he does anything other than try to save the poor fellow.

Which of course Sleeper is going to do, while having flashbacks to M’lanz. I’ll try to have Sleeper coat the hostage in an ‘invisible force field’ and pull the poor guy away from Kaine.

That said, I’m not entirely sure what I need to roll for it. Do I bring in Stress/Complications from Mysterio who is making the illusion or Kaine who is manhandling the hostage?


I think we've been leaning toward a posting scheme of You guys roll reactions, you guys roll actions, you post IC about what you're trying, I roll reactions, I roll actions, I post IC about what the villains are trying. Before I make an IC post about the results of your actions, would you prefer to use a scheme of You guys roll reactions, you guys roll actions, I post IC about what the villains achieved, I roll reactions, I roll actions, you post IC about what you achieved?

I guess I don’t really have a strong preference, I’m still trying to get the hang of what dice to roll and what the results mean. My thought is that we can always switch things around later if it doesn’t seem like it’s working.


(That said, Kareeah_Indaga, I generally don't care if you want to post reactions for NPCs. Maybe be more careful about the named characters like Electro and Mysterio, but you're welcome to decide why the hostages aren't cooperating if you like - or I can do it if you prefer.)

Okay, thank you! Some DMs are fine either way, some flip out, and I didn’t want to make an assumption that would cause problems.

[Thane of Fife]

Which of course Sleeper is going to do, while having flashbacks to M’lanz. I’ll try to have Sleeper coat the hostage in an ‘invisible force field’ and pull the poor guy away from Kaine.

That said, I’m not entirely sure what I need to roll for it. Do I bring in Stress/Complications from Mysterio who is making the illusion or Kaine who is manhandling the hostage?

You're probably inflicting a complication on Kaine (even if it's just distracting him or something), though you could also be attacking him directly. Most likely, you will want to pick dice for your total and effect in a way that isn't maximizing the impact on him, though, and that's fine. But you wouldn't see any effects from stuff on Mysterio (if you're going after Kaine like this).

[DammitVictor]

Kaine is going to attempt to dodge Electro's lightning, invoking My Brother's Keeper as a d4 for trying to carry the waterlogged bank teller with him.

Next action: I'm going to attempt to web the hostage to the ceiling (reduce Doom Pool) unless Sleeper beats me to it.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

You're probably inflicting a complication on Kaine (even if it's just distracting him or something), though you could also be attacking him directly. Most likely, you will want to pick dice for your total and effect in a way that isn't maximizing the impact on him, though, and that's fine. But you wouldn't see any effects from stuff on Mysterio (if you're going after Kaine like this).

Okay, how does this look?

Affiliation – Solo: d8
Distinction – Spawn of Venom: d8
Power(s) – Klyntar Symbiote: Superhuman Reflexes d8, Shapeshifting d6 (Multipower)
Specialty – Combat: 2d6
Complication/Stress – Soaking Wet Hostage: d...4? Since I'm obviously trying not to hurt the hostage in the process?
Asset – None

[Thane of Fife]

Kaine is going to attempt to dodge Electro's lightning, invoking My Brother's Keeper as a d4 for trying to carry the waterlogged bank teller with him.

Next action: I'm going to attempt to web the hostage to the ceiling (reduce Doom Pool) unless Sleeper beats me to it.

Sounds like a plan.


Okay, how does this look?

Affiliation – Solo: d8
Distinction – Spawn of Venom: d8
Power(s) – Klyntar Symbiote: Superhuman Reflexes d8, Shapeshifting d6 (Multipower)
Specialty – Combat: 2d6
Complication/Stress – Soaking Wet Hostage: d...4? Since I'm obviously trying not to hurt the hostage in the process?
Asset – None

So, I think Electro has used up the Soaking Wet Hostage complication, and it's no longer available for you to use (but if it was, and you used it, you would use it at full D8 strength). The hostage may get in Kaine's way for dodging Electro's attack, but after that, he should be able to get over the problem pretty quickly.

Also, what's the justification for the Spawn of Venom distinction? You may very well have one, I'm just asking.



On a somewhat related note, Plaids, since Hercules is in the bank, now, you can ditch the Mass Confusion complication. Herc is now in a less confusing area.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Also, what's the justification for the Spawn of Venom distinction? You may very well have one, I'm just asking.


Racial memory of Kaine inherited from Venom (second-hand, from Peter’s perspective of course, but present)
Parental pressure to be a hero
Flashback to somebody else (in the previous case, M’lanz) being in danger of dying in a fight with a bad guy when Sleeper went to save the Venom symbiote from Tel-Kar


And I don’t remember if we nailed down whether or not Sleeper is invisible to Kaine’s Spider-sense as with Peter, but if he is, then that too.

[DammitVictor]

And I don’t remember if we nailed down whether or not Sleeper is invisible to Kaine’s Spider-sense as with Peter, but if he is, then that too.

Pretty sure we agreed he'd be invisible to Kaine's Spider-Sense. Likewise, Sleeper probably knows just about everything Peter knows about Kaine, though that isn't a whole bunch.

[Thane of Fife]

Racial memory of Kaine inherited from Venom (second-hand, from Peter’s perspective of course, but present)
Parental pressure to be a hero
Flashback to somebody else (in the previous case, M’lanz) being in danger of dying in a fight with a bad guy when Sleeper went to save the Venom symbiote from Tel-Kar



Ok, sounds good. That said, do note that you may want to roll to defend yourself against Mysterio before committing to an action - if you can see through the illusion, you might want to do something different.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Ok, sounds good. That said, do note that you may want to roll to defend yourself against Mysterio before committing to an action - if you can see through the illusion, you might want to do something different.

Thank you, I didn't realize I should do that. :smallredface:

Affiliation – Solo: d8
Distinction – Spawn of Venom: d8 – What with him being a well-known Spider-man villain, I am making the assumption that Spider-man faced Mysterio either before or while wearing the Venom symbiote, and/or Venom has faced the man at some point, and by extension Sleeper has some inherited knowledge of his tricks and tactics.
Power(s): …I guess I could say Sleeper is using his chemokinesis to track everyone’s body chemistry and figure out the hostage’s body chemistry is wrong for supposedly having the stuffing beat out of them, but that seems like a stretch to me given how chaotic everything is at the moment so I’m going to leave it off.
Specialty – Covert: d8
Complication/Stress – Since this roll is specifically defending against Mysterio, can I use the Spider-man illusion (illusionary Spidey breaking Mysterio’s concentration on the hostage illusion)?
Asset – None.

[Thane of Fife]

Thank you, I didn't realize I should do that. :smallredface:

Affiliation – Solo: d8
Distinction – Spawn of Venom: d8 – What with him being a well-known Spider-man villain, I am making the assumption that Spider-man faced Mysterio either before or while wearing the Venom symbiote, and/or Venom has faced the man at some point, and by extension Sleeper has some inherited knowledge of his tricks and tactics.
Power(s): …I guess I could say Sleeper is using his chemokinesis to track everyone’s body chemistry and figure out the hostage’s body chemistry is wrong for supposedly having the stuffing beat out of them, but that seems like a stretch to me given how chaotic everything is at the moment so I’m going to leave it off.
Specialty – Covert: d8
Complication/Stress – Since this roll is specifically defending against Mysterio, can I use the Spider-man illusion (illusionary Spidey breaking Mysterio’s concentration on the hostage illusion)?
Asset – None.

I'm not sure that Covert really seems applicable here, but you can definitely use the Spider-Man illusion complication on Mysterio.

Edit: You can use the complication, but that would mean rolling Buddy or Team (because you're getting help from Loki).

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I'm not sure that Covert really seems applicable here, but you can definitely use the Spider-Man illusion complication on Mysterio.

Okay I gotta ask, if figuring out the hostage has been disguised and things are not what they seem doesn't fall under Covert, what does it fall under?

[Thane of Fife]

Okay I gotta ask, if figuring out the hostage has been disguised and things are not what they seem doesn't fall under Covert, what does it fall under?

If you were investigating a crime scene and trying to figure out that someone was disguised and things weren't what they seemed to be, or if you were in a fight with Chameleon and trying to pick out who he was disguised as, then I think I would agree that Covert is the right specialty. Trying to see through one of Mysterio's illusions on the fly seems more like Psych to me (that's why I've been using Psych in his dice pool rather than Covert).

I'm not dead set on that and could be talked out of it.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I'm not dead set on that and could be talked out of it.

Sure, I'll give it a shot.


If you were investigating a crime scene and trying to figure out that someone was disguised and things weren't what they seemed to be

But that's exactly what I'm doing. :smallconfused: Kaine and the hostage have been disguised as attacker and battered victim. (And incidentally the bank is even a crime scene, albeit a crime in progress rather than after the fact.)


Trying to see through one of Mysterio's illusions on the fly seems more like Psych to me (that's why I've been using Psych in his dice pool rather than Covert).

I'd think Psychology would be less deception specifically and more knowledge of behavior in general. So while I can absolutely see Mysterio using it to help his illusions, I would think it would be more 'I know if I put up a flashy display over here, people will go look at it, and not pay attention to other stuff' or 'I know if I'm fighting Spider-man and I shove someone off a building before I flee, he will go to save that person 100% of the time rather than chase me.' But if this version of Mysterio was an actor he could then also use it to determine 'if I put a nudity scene in my new play, it will draw more of the 20-50 crowd but there won't be any families showing up.'

I guess what I'm saying is I think there's some overlap between the two.

[Thane of Fife]

Sure, I'll give it a shot.

Ehh, go ahead and use covert.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Ehh, go ahead and use covert.

Thank you! :smallsmile:

20/d8 (or I believe I could do 17/d10, but I don’t know if there’s a reason to do one over the other on a resist?) for Sleeper vs. 11/d8 from Mysterio, I think that’s a success for Sleeper.

Assuming that’s the case, I want to have Sleeper inflict Physical stress on Mysterio by using Invisibility to sneak up on him and then attack him with Superhuman Strength – and if I can I’d like to spend a Plot Point to add an effect die and hit Electro too, by throwing Mysterio at him.

And if I'm wrong and Sleeper did not successfully resist, I'll try to save the hostage instead.

Also are Complications single-use, like Assets? If so I want to apologize to the rest of the group for using up so many of these things and still not managing to do more than fail to attack another PC.

[Thane of Fife]

Thank you! :smallsmile:

20/d8 (or I believe I could do 17/d10, but I don’t know if there’s a reason to do one over the other on a resist?) for Sleeper vs. 11/d8 from Mysterio, I think that’s a success for Sleeper.

Yes. The main reason you would go for one over the other is the size of the reaction die. If you had a total of 4, for example, you could put the D10 as your effect die and it would reduce the effect of the complication because it's bigger than Mysterio's effect die.


Assuming that’s the case, I want to have Sleeper inflict Physical stress on Mysterio by using Invisibility to sneak up on him and then attack him with Superhuman Strength – and if I can I’d like to spend a Plot Point to add an effect die and hit Electro too, by throwing Mysterio at him.

That sounds good, except that I don't think you should include invisibility because

a) I think that should go through as a stunt or by creatig an asset, and
b) Mysterio's sonar gizmos and any ligering smoke seems like it would pretty seriously dampen the benefits of being invisible, anyway.


Also are Complications single-use, like Assets? If so I want to apologize to the rest of the group for using up so many of these things and still not managing to do more than fail to attack another PC.

I'm honestly not sure. The rules seem a little contradictory about whether complications normally last for one use or until the situation causing them goes away. For now, I'm leaning toward Yes, they only last for one roll.

But they're there to get used, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Plaids]

I am thinking of having Hercules ferry some hostages out on some of the furniture in the building.
I the roll would something like

d8 affiliation: Team - given all the heroes packed together in one area.
d8 distinction: Glory and Honor. - A heroic reputation would help gain peoples' trust
d12 power: God like Strength - To better the hostages on furniture
d? asset: Spiderman illusion - Convincing people it is safer to escape with Hercules than remain in the bank with the villains.
d8 stunt - Using superhuman leaping to get away from the conflict.

I don't know if or how successful Loki's attempt to make an asset went.

[Thane of Fife]

I am thinking of having Hercules ferry some hostages out on some of the furniture in the building.
I the roll would something like

d8 affiliation: Team - given all the heroes packed together in one area.
d8 distinction: Glory and Honor. - A heroic reputation would help gain peoples' trust
d12 power: God like Strength - To better the hostages on furniture
d? asset: Spiderman illusion - Convincing people it is safer to escape with Hercules than remain in the bank with the villains.
d8 stunt - Using superhuman leaping to get away from the conflict.

I don't know if or how successful Loki's attempt to make an asset went.

I rolled the doom pool (see the rolls thread) and it looks like Loki failed to make an asset (but Kaine has succeeded in reducing the doom pool).

But your roll there looks fine (but remember to spend a plot point for the stunt).

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I am thinking of having Hercules ferry some hostages out on some of the furniture in the building.
I the roll would something like

d8 affiliation: Team - given all the heroes packed together in one area.
d8 distinction: Glory and Honor. - A heroic reputation would help gain peoples' trust
d12 power: God like Strength - To better the hostages on furniture
d? asset: Spiderman illusion - Convincing people it is safer to escape with Hercules than remain in the bank with the villains.
d8 stunt - Using superhuman leaping to get away from the conflict.

I don't know if or how successful Loki's attempt to make an asset went.

If you can wiggle it in I think Kaine's Undivided Attention Asset never got used.

EDIT:

Yes. The main reason you would go for one over the other is the size of the reaction die. If you had a total of 4, for example, you could put the D10 as your effect die and it would reduce the effect of the complication because it's bigger than Mysterio's effect die.

Thank you! I’ll keep that in mind for next time.


That sounds good, except that I don't think you should include invisibility because

a) I think that should go through as a stunt or by creatig an asset, and
b) Mysterio's sonar gizmos and any ligering smoke seems like it would pretty seriously dampen the benefits of being invisible, anyway.


Okay, then how does this look?

Affiliation – Solo: d8
Distinction – Spawn of Venom: d8 – same justification as before, I’m assuming some inherited knowledge of Mysterio’s blind spots, how well he can take a hit, how far he’ll fly if thrown with force…
Power(s) – Klyntar Symbiote: Superhuman Strength d10
Specialty – Combat: d8
Complication/Stress – None
Asset – None

EDIT AGAIN:

FYI - Christmas shenanigans begin for me this week, starting Tuesday I will have limited availability through most of the rest of the end of the year.

[Thane of Fife]

Ah, I'm sorry - I missed that you'd edited this last post.

What you have there seems reasonable.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Ah, I'm sorry - I missed that you'd edited this last post.

What you have there seems reasonable.

Sorry, I try to avoid double-posting when possible. Also, posted in the IC.

[DammitVictor]

Sorry that I've been out-of-touch... my primary work computer has been out-of-commission for over a month, and juggle my backup devices has been problematic. (Especially when some of them have been broken, too.) Should be improving in the near future.

[Plaids]

Sorry that I've been out-of-touch... my primary work computer has been out-of-commission for over a month, and juggle my backup devices has been problematic. (Especially when some of them have been broken, too.) Should be improving in the near future.

That's fine with me. I have been taking a break from posting while enjoying the holidays. I think some other players have been too.

[Thane of Fife]

Sorry that I've been out-of-touch... my primary work computer has been out-of-commission for over a month, and juggle my backup devices has been problematic. (Especially when some of them have been broken, too.) Should be improving in the near future.

Yes, I was having some computer difficulties myself, albeit not like that.


That's fine with me. I have been taking a break from posting while enjoying the holidays. I think some other players have been too.

But yes, also, I think everyone's been on the downswing due to the holidays.


I've just made some rolls in the rolls thread to respond to Sleeper and Hercules. Hercules will be able to evacuate about a third of the hostages. Before I go on and make villain moves, Kareeah_Indaga, do you want to spend a plot point to activate Mysterio's Glass Jaw limitation? That would step up the stress you deal to d12 (d8 effect, stepped up for beating my total by 5 and then stepped up again for the limitation). Not quite a one-punch knockout, but close. (You can also take back the plot point you tried to spend to target Electro, because that failed before you would have been able to spend it).

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I've just made some rolls in the rolls thread to respond to Sleeper and Hercules. Hercules will be able to evacuate about a third of the hostages. Before I go on and make villain moves, Kareeah_Indaga, do you want to spend a plot point to activate Mysterio's Glass Jaw limitation? That would step up the stress you deal to d12 (d8 effect, stepped up for beating my total by 5 and then stepped up again for the limitation). Not quite a one-punch knockout, but close. (You can also take back the plot point you tried to spend to target Electro, because that failed before you would have been able to spend it).

Yeah, since I can't hit Electro let's do that. Might as well hit Beck as hard as I can.

[Thane of Fife]

Posted. Electro is trying to blast Hercules to inflict physical stress. Total is 10 with an effect die of D4.

Mysterio is trying to inflict a complication of Imperiled Hostages on Kaine and Sleeper. Total is 13 with an effect die of D6.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Doom: 4D6, 1D8
Electro: D10 Physical Stress, D8 Emotional Stress
Mysterio: D10 Meddling Illusory Arachnid Complication

Did you find clarification on the Complication rules over the holidays then? I thought it was just a mis-type for Physical Stress but you said after the limit that would be a D12, so I'm seeking clarification.

[Thane of Fife]

Did you find clarification on the Complication rules over the holidays then? I thought it was just a mis-type for Physical Stress but you said after the limit that would be a D12, so I'm seeking clarification.

No, I just forgot to add the physical stress to the list. I think that complication is lingering from earlier, but I may be forgetting that either you or Kaine used it.

[Plaids]

I think Hercules just failed to resist Mysterio's illusion but did resist Electro's lightning. I don't know what failing to resist Mysterio's illusion will inflict.
I think I'm going to either try to reduce some doom or save some more hostages. If no one else has ant ideas for Loki I think I will have him make a complication to slow down the villains or an asset to help save hostages or take down villains.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I think Hercules just failed to resist Mysterio's illusion but did resist Electro's lightning. I don't know what failing to resist Mysterio's illusion will inflict.

Herc was outside the area of effect for the illusion, that just hit Kaine and Sleeper.

EDIT:

At the risk of screwing up the post cadence again by editing instead of double-posting, how does this look for the resist?

Affiliation – Solo: d8
Distinction – Spawn of Venom: d8 – still fighting a Spider-man villain.
Power(s): None
Specialty – Covert: d8
Complication/Stress – d12 Physical Stress on Mysterio (You said earlier this lasted until recovered, so I’m assuming Kaine can use this too – also yell if I’m using this wrong.)
Asset – None

[Thane of Fife]

At the risk of screwing up the post cadence again by editing instead of double-posting, how does this look for the resist?

Affiliation – Solo: d8
Distinction – Spawn of Venom: d8 – still fighting a Spider-man villain.
Power(s): None
Specialty – Covert: d8
Complication/Stress – d12 Physical Stress on Mysterio (You said earlier this lasted until recovered, so I’m assuming Kaine can use this too – also yell if I’m using this wrong.)
Asset – None

I think it should be Team because the attack was aimed at all of you, even if it didn't even come close to Hercules. Sleeper isn't "on his own" anymore.

Also, while I didn't say anything before, I'm not sold on that justification for Spawn of Venom. I wouldn't give Spider-Man bonus dice fighting Mysterio just for having fought him before, and that would be firsthand. If you were exploiting something secret, then that might be different.

But yes, you are correct that the stress is "permanent" and both you and Kaine can exploit it.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I think it should be Team because the attack was aimed at all of you, even if it didn't even come close to Hercules. Sleeper isn't "on his own" anymore.

I'm confused now, I thought we had to be integrating each other into the roll somehow to count it? (EX: like if we were in a fight with the goons, we'd be covering each other's backs to 'resist' the attack, or like using Loki's illusion counted as him helping?)


Also, while I didn't say anything before, I'm not sold on that justification for Spawn of Venom. I wouldn't give Spider-Man bonus dice fighting Mysterio just for having fought him before, and that would be firsthand. If you were exploiting something secret, then that might be different.

But yes, you are correct that the stress is "permanent" and both you and Kaine can exploit it.

Okay.

[Thane of Fife]

I'm confused now, I thought we had to be integrating each other into the roll somehow to count it? (EX: like if we were in a fight with the goons, we'd be covering each other's backs to 'resist' the attack, or like using Loki's illusion counted as him helping?)

It's mostly a fiction thing. You could think of it as whether you're helping each other out or getting in each others' way. There doesn't have to be direct mechanical inclusion of the others (in some way, the point of the affiliation is to represent that to a degree). But if there is mechanical inclusion, you can't not include the people helping you.

You can't roll an affiliation that's "too small" for the help you are mechanically receiving, but there are cases where you should roll an affiliation that's "too big" because it abstracts some lower level of teamwork.

Not sure if that helps any.

[Plaids]

Affiliation is a little weird to me since distance could be a factor but superpowers like superspeed, teleportation or telepathy can easily bypass long distances. Remote work and meetings bypass distance too.
How much the actions taken are meant to work in tandem to accomplish a goal also seems to be a factor. But even the amount of cooperation intended could change very quickly. Say Spiderman wants to cross a hazardous area on his own so he creates a hang glider out of webbing for himself to navigate the dangerous terrain but one of his friends comes up with an alternate way to use it such as using it to barter with some aliens who can grant them safe passage for the whole group.

I like the idea of affiliation and I think making someone roll with something other than a solo affiliation when using an asset from someone else is a good rule of thumb. Also using underlying collaboration to determine affiliation sounds good too.

Anyway, I will be having Hercules making a "clear line of sight" asset with a thunderclap based on his godlike strength to help someone out.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I’m not sure, I was just hoping for a rule of thumb I could use to tell when I need which affiliation. But I’ll go with Team for now.

So it sounds like I should, for example, have Sleeper jump up to the wall to help redirect the ‘rubble’ from the ‘damage’ as the resist roll? Rather than just doing the dice equivalent of ‘I disbelieve!’?

[Thane of Fife]

So it sounds like I should, for example, have Sleeper jump up to the wall to help redirect the ‘rubble’ from the ‘damage’ as the resist roll? Rather than just doing the dice equivalent of ‘I disbelieve!’?

I would probably say that the resist roll can be just a "I disbelieve," but it's probably worth trying to frame it like it's a comic book. So failing might mean that you turn your back on Mysterio (letting him run away or hit you from behind or something, perhaps), whereas succeeding might mean that you look away for a moment, but are ready for him to try something.

I'll try to come back to the affiliations question, but as a rule of thumb, I'd lean towards, "Go with the number of people you're actually with unless you're specifically doing something to separate yourself from some of them or connect yourself to more of them."

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I would probably say that the resist roll can be just a "I disbelieve," but it's probably worth trying to frame it like it's a comic book. So failing might mean that you turn your back on Mysterio (letting him run away or hit you from behind or something, perhaps), whereas succeeding might mean that you look away for a moment, but are ready for him to try something.

Okay so something like:

Affiliation – Team: d6
Distinction – Hostages: d4
Power(s): Superhuman Reflexes d10 – so if he tries to attack/run for it Sleeper would be like ‘Not so fast!’ and flip Mysterio onto the ground/trip him as apropriate
Specialty – Covert: d8
Complication/Stress – d12 Physical Stress on Mysterio
Asset – None

That work?

[Thane of Fife]

Okay so something like:

Affiliation – Team: d6
Distinction – Hostages: d4
Power(s): Superhuman Reflexes d10 – so if he tries to attack/run for it Sleeper would be like ‘Not so fast!’ and flip Mysterio onto the ground/trip him as apropriate
Specialty – Covert: d8
Complication/Stress – d12 Physical Stress on Mysterio
Asset – None

That work?

Superhuman Reflexes wouldn't always be right for something like this, but it seems fine here. So yeah, that looks good.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Superhuman Reflexes wouldn't always be right for something like this, but it seems fine here. So yeah, that looks good.

Rolled in the Dice thread. That'll be a 16/d10 to resist, no hitches.

[Thane of Fife]

Do you think we've lost DammitVictor, or do you think they're still having tech troubles?

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Do you think we've lost DammitVictor, or do you think they're still having tech troubles?

I'm not sure. It doesn't look like he's posted recently, but as bad as the forums have been lately that might not even be due to personal tech issues. I know I haven't posted as much due to same.

[Plaids]

I think this game has been lost in the shuffle for DammitVictor. Activity has been slowed by the holidays and forum service issues. I am sending a reminder to DammitVictor.

[DammitVictor]

I'm here. I've been checking the forums fairly regularly, but I don't think it's "my turn" to say/do anything IC and I just haven't had anything to add OOC. If I've been holding up the game, please let me know what you nees from me.

[Plaids]

It is a bit harder to be decisive and there is a little less urgency to post quickly without some sort of initiative system. Forums are good for facilitating roleplaying but can struggle with crunchy and rules intensive mechanics.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I'm here. I've been checking the forums fairly regularly, but I don't think it's "my turn" to say/do anything IC and I just haven't had anything to add OOC. If I've been holding up the game, please let me know what you nees from me.

I believe we’re waiting on your resist roll for Mysterio’s illusion.

[Thane of Fife]

I'm here. I've been checking the forums fairly regularly, but I don't think it's "my turn" to say/do anything IC and I just haven't had anything to add OOC. If I've been holding up the game, please let me know what you nees from me.

I think it's correct that we're looking for a resist roll for Kaine, but also, in general, I think it is the heroes' turn in general here. And that includes Kaine.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I think it's correct that we're looking for a resist roll for Kaine, but also, in general, I think it is the heroes' turn in general here.

Unless someone objects, I think Sleeper is going to continue whaling on Mysterio for this round.

Affiliation – Team: d6
Distinction – Youthful Arrogance: That’s two illusions Beck has whiffed, Sleeper can take this guy easily! (Not sure if it should be a d8 or a d4 for that.)
Power(s): Klyntar Symbiote – Superhuman Strength: d10
Specialty – Combat: d8
Complication/Stress – d12 Physical Stress on Mysterio
Asset – None

[Thane of Fife]

Unless someone objects, I think Sleeper is going to continue whaling on Mysterio for this round.

Affiliation – Team: d6
Distinction – Youthful Arrogance: That’s two illusions Beck has whiffed, Sleeper can take this guy easily! (Not sure if it should be a d8 or a d4 for that.)
Power(s): Klyntar Symbiote – Superhuman Strength: d10
Specialty – Combat: d8
Complication/Stress – d12 Physical Stress on Mysterio
Asset – None

That's fine with me, at least. The distinction could go in either direction - it depends on if you want the higher die or the plot point. But if you take it as a bonus here, I'd probably expect you to take it as a penalty if Electro shoots you in the back while you're attacking Mysterio (you'd still get the plot point for that).

[Kareeah_Indaga]

14/d12 on the attack die against Mysterio.

[Thane of Fife]

Okay, I'm going to move this one forwards tomorrow whether we have an action from Kaine or not. Hopefully we will, but this has to get moving.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Okay, I'm going to move this one forwards tomorrow whether we have an action from Kaine or not. Hopefully we will, but this has to get moving.

Okay. If he doesn’t show can I burn another point to try and hit Electro too, and hopefully get us closer to finishing the fight before it can grind to a complete halt? My die rolls are kind of middling for it but we’re running out of players. 😕

[Thane of Fife]

Okay. If he doesn’t show can I burn another point to try and hit Electro too, and hopefully get us closer to finishing the fight before it can grind to a complete halt? My die rolls are kind of middling for it but we’re running out of players. 😕

Yes, you can absolutely do that. Your rolls look fine for it. You've got a total of 14 and it looked like effect dice of D10 and D12.

I'm going to try to get posts up, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the forum tonight.

[Thane of Fife]

Alright, I made the dice rolls, assuming that Sleeper is spending the plot point.

Sleeper has a total of 14 with D10 and D12 effect dice.
Hercules has a total of... I'm gonna say 13 with a D10 effect die. For future reference, when you use versatile to split your dice, we need the separate results (that's rollv instead of roll).

The doom pool resists Hercules with a total of 10 and a D6 effect. So Hercules creates a D10 Cleared the Air asset.

Mysterio gets a 12 to resist Sleeper, and Electro gets an 8. Those are both failures to dodge. You beat Electro by 5 so you can step up the stress against him by 1 level. Since Mysterio is already at D12, you might as well put the D10 against him, which will step his stress up above D12 and knock him out. That would leave the D12 against Electro, and since that is stepped up, it's enough to knock him out, too.

Since that takes out all of the bad guys, that will end the fight. It is up to Sleeper if he wants to inflict Trauma on Electro and/or Mysterio or just stress them out. Inflicting trauma would basically mean that they take 1D6 of longer-lived stress. And if they end up taking too much trauma they would die (you die or are otherwise "permanently" incapacitated if trauma of any sort goes above D12).

Since that will end the fight, you can describe how you knock them out, and then you guys can do any talking or poking around that you want to do.

[Plaids]

Cool, I didn't know the villains were so close to being subdued. I will post soon.

[DammitVictor]

I am sorry. Do we still need my reaction roll, or can we just say that I wasted Kaine's action and try to get back into rotation next turn?

[Thane of Fife]

I am sorry. Do we still need my reaction roll, or can we just say that I wasted Kaine's action and try to get back into rotation next turn?

You can skip the reaction roll at this point, but with the bad guys out, combat should be over. So you can just act freely now.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Mysterio gets a 12 to resist Sleeper, and Electro gets an 8. Those are both failures to dodge. You beat Electro by 5 so you can step up the stress against him by 1 level. Since Mysterio is already at D12, you might as well put the D10 against him, which will step his stress up above D12 and knock him out. That would leave the D12 against Electro, and since that is stepped up, it's enough to knock him out, too.

Since that takes out all of the bad guys, that will end the fight. It is up to Sleeper if he wants to inflict Trauma on Electro and/or Mysterio or just stress them out. Inflicting trauma would basically mean that they take 1D6 of longer-lived stress. And if they end up taking too much trauma they would die (you die or are otherwise "permanently" incapacitated if trauma of any sort goes above D12).

Since that will end the fight, you can describe how you knock them out, and then you guys can do any talking or poking around that you want to do.

Oh wow, I figured at least one of them would have dodged that…this isn’t going to do anything good for Sleeper’s ego. 😂

I’m thinking Mysterio should get Trauma but not Electro. My logic is that from Beck’s perspective a foe he could barely see just landed two very solid hits in quick succession, came after him and him alone, tanking two of his illusions designed to misdirect said foe in the process.

From Electro’s perspective he was throwing around lighting bolts and then his ally unexpectedly flew screaming at his face, knocking him out. Embarrassing, but not the stuff that nightmares are made of, and with Beck’s glass chin he’s not as physically fragile either.

Speaking of, is the Trauma physical, or emotional or does it depend on how the stress was inflicted?

[Thane of Fife]

Oh wow, I figured at least one of them would have dodged that…this isn’t going to do anything good for Sleeper’s ego. 😂

I’m thinking Mysterio should get Trauma but not Electro. My logic is that from Beck’s perspective a foe he could barely see just landed two very solid hits in quick succession, came after him and him alone, tanking two of his illusions designed to misdirect said foe in the process.

From Electro’s perspective he was throwing around lighting bolts and then his ally unexpectedly flew screaming at his face, knocking him out. Embarrassing, but not the stuff that nightmares are made of, and with Beck’s glass chin he’s not as physically fragile either.

Speaking of, is the Trauma physical, or emotional or does it depend on how the stress was inflicted?

The trauma is physical, so it could be a character having a limp or a broken arm or something like that. It's based on the type of stress dealt.

Note also that an attack doesn't have to be literally one attack. It could be Collossus picking up one guy and using him to hit someone else, or it could be Cap wading into a group of Hydra goons and taking them out in a flurry of punches.

Edit: Also, is Sleeper fading into visibility as himself or as Sue Storm?

[Kareeah_Indaga]

The trauma is physical, so it could be a character having a limp or a broken arm or something like that. It's based on the type of stress dealt.

Okay, so broken bones then.


Note also that an attack doesn't have to be literally one attack. It could be Collossus picking up one guy and using him to hit someone else, or it could be Cap wading into a group of Hydra goons and taking them out in a flurry of punches.

Okay, thank you! I’ll keep that in mind.


Edit: Also, is Sleeper fading into visibility as himself or as Sue Storm?

As Sue for now. He’ll drop the disguise if called out on it, now that the hostages are safe, otherwise he’ll probably look for an excuse to bail and go brag to Night Nurse over the successful mission, since I don’t think Sleeper knows Sue well enough to impersonate her under extensive questioning.

EDIT:
DammitVictor I think this:

"Maybe now you'll stop listening to that Jameson character. See, he's just like Spider-Man!"
Was your cue to 🐟 for some XP, as I don’t believe you’ve reached that Milestone yet. If I’m misremembering just ignore this.

[Thane of Fife]

Are you guys willing to jump to Hercules' post-fight party? Is that a thing you are interested in going to, Sleeper and Kaine?

Second, Kareeah_Indaga, I don't think I'm inboard with Sleeper being able to inject thoughts that specific into people's heads. General feelings of fear or agreement or something is reasonable, but I have a hard time believing Sleeper's chemokinesis is functionally telepathy.

[DammitVictor]

Are you guys willing to jump to Hercules' post-fight party? Is that a thing you are interested in going to, Sleeper and Kaine?

Yeah, I was planning to do that before I had the vision. I haven't quite settled on the excuse he's going to use for doing something so... out of character... but basically he needs to start making some changes and maybe having healthy friends is one of them,

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Are you guys willing to jump to Hercules' post-fight party? Is that a thing you are interested in going to, Sleeper and Kaine?

I think Sleeper is sufficiently roped in by the fact that it would look weird (and by extension break his cover) if he bailed right now, so yes Sleeper is going and I’m fine with jumping to the party.

(And he will of course be staying as far away from loud music as possible. 😉)


Second, Kareeah_Indaga, I don't think I'm inboard with Sleeper being able to inject thoughts that specific into people's heads. General feelings of fear or agreement or something is reasonable, but I have a hard time believing Sleeper's chemokinesis is functionally telepathy.

??? I mentioned this was a thing during character creation. He uses his chemical powers to talk to Eddie during First Host.

[Thane of Fife]

??? I mentioned this was a thing during character creation. He uses his chemical powers to talk to Eddie during First Host.

I don't remember that but okay, I'm probably just forgetting. I do see what you're referring to on the Marvel Wiki. I confess I'm still a little iffy on it being usable as a form of direct telepathic mind control (as opposed to telepathic communication), but if you think that's how it should work, fair enough.

[Plaids]

I am ready to move the scene to Hercules' party. Hercules having a party after a win is something he would do if nothing else needed to be attended to.

[DammitVictor]

Also ready.

[Thane of Fife]

Since we're switching to a transition scene, those of you who have stress (I think that's just Hercules) can step each type of stress down by one (for example, D10 to D8). You can also take recovery actions during the scene to further recover from stress (you don't need to do that right now), but you're limited to one attempt per type of stress (however, depending on how things work out, you can get help from others).

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Since we're switching to a transition scene, those of you who have stress (I think that's just Hercules) can step each type of stress down by one (for example, D10 to D8). You can also take recovery actions during the scene to further recover from stress (you don't need to do that right now), but you're limited to one attempt per type of stress (however, depending on how things work out, you can get help from others).

Sleeper took a D8 of Physical from that trap at the beginning, so I'm assuming that's a D6 now.

And I will start plotting some chemokinetical ways for Sleeper to help reduce stress. :smallsmile:

[Plaids]

I don't know exactly how much mental stress Hercules took in the battle. I do know he picked up 1D12 of confusion. I assume plot points go back to starting values after a scene change.

Stress: 1 Mental Stress = 1D_?
Complication: D12 Mass Confusion?
Assets: None
Plot Points: 13
XP: 1/10

[Thane of Fife]

I don't know exactly how much mental stress Hercules took in the battle. I do know he picked up 1D12 of confusion. I assume plot points go back to starting values after a scene change.

Stress: 1 Mental Stress = 1D_?
Complication: D12 Mass Confusion?
Assets: None
Plot Points: 1
XP: 1/10

The confusion is gone. That was just a complication and Hercules is out of the confusing situation. I thought Hercules got hit by a lightning bolt at one point, but it looks like I was misremembering. Only Sleeper has stress, then.

As for plot points, they reset on an Act basis, not a Scene basis, so you still have the points you ended the last scene with. And the doom pool is likewise at the same level that it ended the scene at.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

OOC: I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes here, but I very much do not want Kaine to avoid the reporter, and I couldn't think of any other logical way for him to fail.

No issues here! :smallsmile:

But on that note, I do need to apologize to Plaids if Sleeper’s upcoming bout of suicidal overconfidence ends up getting the Lions’ Chorus set on fire or otherwise damaged.

[Plaids]

No problems here. I wasn't expecting these events, but I am interested in what happens next.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I want to ask a couple questions:

First, do we still have the Distinction for Amelia Blaine and Crew, since they came along to the after-battle party? I’m pretty sure I can justify Suicidal Overconfidence Youthful Arrogance for trash talk (“I’m not afraid of you Johnny Storm! You’re not my mom you don’t get to tell me what to do!”), but for future reference.

Second, if we get into a physical fight and I want Sleeper to try to knock someone out with sleep gas, would that be Physical Stress, a Complication or does it depend? (And I don’t just mean for this encounter, I mean in general. It’s his name, it’s going to come up sooner or later!)


No problems here. I wasn't expecting these events, but I am interested in what happens next.

👍

[Thane of Fife]

I want to ask a couple questions:

First, do we still have the Distinction for Amelia Blaine and Crew, since they came along to the after-battle party? I’m pretty sure I can justify Suicidal Overconfidence Youthful Arrogance for trash talk (“I’m not afraid of you Johnny Storm! You’re not my mom you don’t get to tell me what to do!”), but for future reference.

Let's say that the party crowd in general is a distinction, but not them specifically - Amelia is still there, but the crew isn't really "on the job."


Second, if we get into a physical fight and I want Sleeper to try to knock someone out with sleep gas, would that be Physical Stress, a Complication or does it depend? (And I don’t just mean for this encounter, I mean in general. It’s his name, it’s going to come up sooner or later!)


The book says:

"Physical stress is bodily injury, exhaustion, the effects of toxins or chemicals, and so forth.

Mental stress is confusion, lack of concentration, mental fatigue, and the results of telepathic assault.

Emotional stress is despair, fear, anger, or any number of negative emotional states."

So I would say, yes, that is normally physical stress. It could be portrayed as a complication if it was less "you're exhausted" and more "you want to go home and take a nap," maybe.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Let's say that the party crowd in general is a distinction, but not them specifically - Amelia is still there, but the crew isn't really "on the job."



The book says:

"Physical stress is bodily injury, exhaustion, the effects of toxins or chemicals, and so forth.

Mental stress is confusion, lack of concentration, mental fatigue, and the results of telepathic assault.

Emotional stress is despair, fear, anger, or any number of negative emotional states."

So I would say, yes, that is normally physical stress. It could be portrayed as a complication if it was less "you're exhausted" and more "you want to go home and take a nap," maybe.

Thank you!


I should have rolled Menace as 2d8 and spent a Plot Point to create a 'Hostile Crowd' Asset.

Want me to give making the Asset a try, or double down on the emotional damage?

[DammitVictor]

I think making the Asset is the best way to shut Johnny down before this turns into a fight.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I thought about accusing them of being Skrulls ‘No I’m the real Sue Storm and you two are the impostors!’ …but I’m pretty sure if I put off Sleeper’s in-game reveal to the other PCs much longer the Watcher will send someone Thanos-tier next. :smalltongue:


I think making the Asset is the best way to shut Johnny down before this turns into a fight.

I'll do that then.

How does this look?

Affiliation – Buddy: 1d10
Distinction – Youthful Arrogance: 1d8
Power(s): Klyntar Symbiote – Chemokinesis: 1d10
Specialty – Menace: 1d8
Complication/Stress – None
Asset – None

Not sure if I can invoke the SFX: Chemicals for this?

Also what does the Doom Dice pool look like right now?

[Thane of Fife]

Alright, so I'm cutting things off before an actual fight can develop. If we get back to fighting after the interruption, that's fine, but I will at least provide the opportunity to let events overtake you.

Also, since you guys haven't really been pointing out when you should get XP, I will say that Kaine should have received one for choosing to inflict physical stress on Mysterio (he missed, but he still chose to do it, as I recall), and Hercules should have gotten one for revelry.

Also also, if anyone wants to tweak their character or milestones at this point, I'm open to that - it's still early, but now you have a bit more feel for the system. In particular, I recently picked up the Civil War sourcebook for the game, which does have a stat block for Hercules. It's actually very similar to the one we came up with, but you might like either or both of these milestones in place of what we wrote. Totally up to you (and you can keep the XP you've already earned regardless).


Contests of Strength
1 XP when you joyously congratulate an opponent for a blow that inflicts physical stress on you.
3 XP when you engage in a contest of might against another character with GODLIKE STRENGTH and prevail.
10 XP when you fight a foe who wields a D12 from one of their Power Sets without accepting any help from your allies, or admit that you cannot defeat this foe with your own Zeus-granted strength and accept your ally's aid.

Immortal Friendship
1 XP when you declare another character a true friend and companion.
3 XP when you help your ally recover from emotional or mental stress through food, drink, and fellowship.
10 XP when you avenge a fallen comrade or take trauma in avenging your comrade's fall.

[Plaids]

Some of these milestones look good. I might change some of my milestones around.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

"What? I thought you and Loki brought her to the party.

Since the logic for Sleeper ending up at the Lion’s Chorus was never spelled out, how do we want this to have gone?


Kid!Loki peer pressuring the Klyntar symbiote (having recognized same thanks to his ranks in Cosmic and the hints dropped during the bank fight) to come to the party knowing chaos is a likely outcome
Member of the press being stubbornly clingy (‘Just a few short questions Miss Storm…!’)
Herc dragging Sleeper along (‘I really need to go see what’s keeping Reed and the others…’ ‘Just come have a few drinks, I’m sure they’ll turn up!’)
Something else?

Also the Lion’s Chorus is a bar, yes?


Alright, so I'm cutting things off before an actual fight can develop. If we get back to fighting after the interruption, that's fine, but I will at least provide the opportunity to let events overtake you.

Sounds good!

I probably shouldn’t have been antagonizing Johnny but sneaking out would have delayed the official team up and I figured the press and other witnesses would keep things from getting too bad.


Also also, if anyone wants to tweak their character or milestones at this point, I'm open to that - it's still early, but now you have a bit more feel for the system.

I think I’m good with Sleeper’s, I just need to actually sit him down and have him look someone over and go ‘Hmm, this person would/would not make a good host because…’

(Side note, Sleeper is going to reject the other PCs as potential permanent hosts for obvious OoC reasons. I apologize if the IC reasons are somewhat arbitrary.)

[DammitVictor]

Since the logic for Sleeper ending up at the Lion’s Chorus was never spelled out, how do we want this to have gone?

If it helps, when I say "party", I mean the fight in the bank. Kaine thinks Sleeper was working with Herc and Loki all along, which is why he thought Hercules would know who "she" was, and presumably why "she" was pretending to be Susan Richards.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

If it helps, when I say "party", I mean the fight in the bank. Kaine thinks Sleeper was working with Herc and Loki all along, which is why he thought Hercules would know who "she" was, and presumably why "she" was pretending to be Susan Richards.

Thank you for clarifying, I thought you meant the after-battle party.

[Thane of Fife]

Also the Lion’s Chorus is a bar, yes?

I think Plaids said it was a brewery.

[Plaids]

The Lion’s Chorus is a brewery which can act as an open floor bar if needed.

As for Hercules knowing about Sleeper's identity; Hercules was completely fooled by Sleeper's disguise. Though Loki probably saw through it. I would certainly be in favor of Loki incentivizing Sleeper to make more public appearances by saying something like "You're not the only purveyor of false appearances. I know what you are. Come to the festivities if you want to keep your status quo."

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I think Plaids said it was a brewery.


The Lion’s Chorus is a brewery which can act as an open floor bar if needed.

Thank you!


I would certainly be in favor of Loki incentivizing Sleeper to make more public appearances by saying something like "You're not the only purveyor of false appearances. I know what you are. Come to the festivities if you want to keep your status quo."

I think it would need to be less of an obvious threat or it becomes more of a reason for Sleeper to spray tear gas everywhere rather than less. The disguise, in and of itself, is not that important to Sleeper - he’s a shapeshifter, he can make a new one. He grabbed Sue’s form because it was useful for the situation in the bank, not because he wants to masquerade as Sue Storm indefinitely.

🤔 What about something like…

“Ah, Miss Storm, so pleasant to speak to someone else who hast recently came from the stars. Thou must explain to me some of these Midgardian customs, so often things are not as they seem!”

[Plaids]

I agree, having Loki be knowledgeable of Sleeper's disguise and showing genuine interest in fraternizing with another master of disguise would worker better than him being hostile and threatening to Sleeper.

[Thane of Fife]

Loki had to run off before you could get to the brewery, but one could probably imagine him apologizing to the public for his disappearance by offering up Sue/Sleeper as another illusionist (or such) - something that could apply to Sue, but would apply better to Sleeper; that would be an opportunity to show off being the smartest guy in the room and also pull a small trick on Sleeper.

As for Sleeper, where is he going? The video itself is old enough that the villains will be long gone. It's certainly possible Sleeper just reacts and runs out without realizing that, but I don't want to assume that's what you meant if you were planning something else.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Loki had to run off before you could get to the brewery, but one could probably imagine him apologizing to the public for his disappearance by offering up Sue/Sleeper as another illusionist (or such) - something that could apply to Sue, but would apply better to Sleeper; that would be an opportunity to show off being the smartest guy in the room and also pull a small trick on Sleeper.

Perfect! Meanwhile Sleeper is feeling a little uneasy wondering if he’s reading too much into what Loki’s saying, and then has all the eyes of the press on him so he can’t sneak off. :smallbiggrin:


As for Sleeper, where is he going? The video itself is old enough that the villains will be long gone. It's certainly possible Sleeper just reacts and runs out without realizing that, but I don't want to assume that's what you meant if you were planning something else.

Sorry, with the ‘breaking news’ and the short timeframe between the fight and the party I thought the video was live (or recent enough to act on, anyway).

…so I guess Sleeper does too. He’s still rushing off, he’s still headed to the scene of the breakout, he just won’t be stealthily generating any Assets for another superhuman smack-down while the rest of the heroes catch up.

EDIT:
To be clear, I have no objections to Hercules being the Big Distraction instead, especially as he’s less likely to draw bullets.

Also, my comp died on me so apologies if it affects my posting while I get that repaired/replaced.

[Plaids]

Just checking in. I like the recent character banter.

[Thane of Fife]

Just checking in. I like the recent character banter.

Yes, I've slipped a bit, sorry.

Could I get a roll from Kaine against the doom pool, using whatever you feel is appropriate for your tracking the Rhino?

[Thane of Fife]

Ok, so I rolled a 9/D6 for the doom pool against Kaine's 14/D10. So, Kaine will track them down to the abandoned construction site they're holing up in. You may use that D10 to create an asset for the next scene - that could be that you arrive undetected and set up an ambush, or get the high ground, or find some useful construction equipment or something. It's up to you, but we'll say it's a D10 asset.

[DammitVictor]

Can I define the Asset after you describe the scene?

[Thane of Fife]

Can I define the Asset after you describe the scene?

Alright, I've tried to give a scene description in the IC thread without going into too much detail, in order to leave you some flexibility. If there's something particular you're looking for, let me know.

[DammitVictor]

If we can get close without revealing any traps, I'd like to call the Asset Got the Drop d10 and spend the Plot Point to allow all of us to make use of it in the first panel. Also, if anyone else wants to act first, Kaine is going to hang back and listen to them for a minute first.

[Plaids]

Feel free to act before me.

[Thane of Fife]

If we can get close without revealing any traps, I'd like to call the Asset Got the Drop d10 and spend the Plot Point to allow all of us to make use of it in the first panel. Also, if anyone else wants to act first, Kaine is going to hang back and listen to them for a minute first.

That sounds fine to me, but see the IC post.

[Thane of Fife]

Sleeper, Hercules, do either of you two want to act now with Kaine or wait for the moment?

[DammitVictor]

Sorry, I forgot to nominate next.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Sleeper, Hercules, do either of you two want to act now with Kaine or wait for the moment?

My assumption had been that the purpose of spending the plot point on Got the Drop was so that we could surprise the bad guys all at once. That said if I was mistaken let me know!

(Also since Kaine made himself known, even if it’s just Otto and Max and the rest of their merry band is out using the loo, he’s outnumbered presently.)

Question: does any of the Stress Electro (and Mysterio, but as he hasn’t spoken up yet I’m assuming he’s Schrödinger's Supervillain right now and can’t be targeted) got from the bank fight carry over to this one?

[Thane of Fife]

Sorry, I forgot to nominate next.

I figured we were sticking with the all one side, then all the other thing.


My assumption had been that the purpose of spending the plot point on Got the Drop was so that we could surprise the bad guys all at once. That said if I was mistaken let me know!

Right, and since Kaine is acting now, I wanted to know if you and Plaids wanted to act to go along with that plan.


Question: does any of the Stress Electro (and Mysterio, but as he hasn’t spoken up yet I’m assuming he’s Schrödinger's Supervillain right now and can’t be targeted) got from the bank fight carry over to this one?

If you get stressed out in a scene, then you start the next scene with either none of that stress but still the trauma you took (if any) or D6 of that stress (if you didn't take trauma). So Mysterio has D6 physical trauma and Electro has D6 physical stress left over.

As for who's here, you can assume that Doc Ock, Electro, Mysterio, Shocker, and Rhino are all available to attack. The sixth member (assuming there is one) and Doc Ock's claimed robot are not apparent yet. But if they make an appearance, I will either spend a die from the doom pool or have them arrive at the end of one of my turns (i.e. Kaine's keen senses would detect them).



As for the scene itself, let's say that there is a scene distinction of Unstable Construction. I am also going to say that, because of this, if there is a D12 in the doom pool on one of my turns, I'm going to spend it and the construction will come crashing down and bury all of you long enough for Doc Ock and his crew to escape.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

If you get stressed out in a scene, then you start the next scene with either none of that stress but still the trauma you took (if any) or D6 of that stress (if you didn't take trauma). So Mysterio has D6 physical trauma and Electro has D6 physical stress left over.

As for who's here, you can assume that Doc Ock, Electro, Mysterio, Shocker, and Rhino are all available to attack. The sixth member (assuming there is one) and Doc Ock's claimed robot are not apparent yet. But if they make an appearance, I will either spend a die from the doom pool or have them arrive at the end of one of my turns (i.e. Kaine's keen senses would detect them).

Thank you! Now I need to decide if Sleeper should try to take Shocker and his sound gauntlets out first or Electro and his d12’s…

EDIT:
I think I’m going to go for Electro, I’m not confident the shenanigans I would need to pull on Shocker would be sufficient to take him out of the fight. Better to winnow down the number of bad guys first.

So Sleeper is going to sneak over to Electro and try to inflict Physical Stress via putting him to sleep. How does this look?

Affiliation - Team: d6
Distinction - Youthful Arrogance: d8 (already took this guy out once!)
Power(s) - Klyntar Symbiote (Chemokinesis): d10
Specialty - Covert: d8 (unsure if this should be Covert or Combat)
Stress/Complication - Physical: d6
Asset - Got the Drop: d10

[Thane of Fife]

So Sleeper is going to sneak over to Electro and try to inflict Physical Stress via putting him to sleep. How does this look?

Affiliation - Team: d6
Distinction - Youthful Arrogance: d8 (already took this guy out once!)
Power(s) - Klyntar Symbiote (Chemokinesis): d10
Specialty - Covert: d8 (unsure if this should be Covert or Combat)
Stress/Complication - Physical: d6
Asset - Got the Drop: d10

That seems reasonable; it would feel a little more natural to me to use Youthful Arrogance as a D4, but if you want to take it as a D8, that's fine.


Plaids, anything for Hercules? I'm going to push this forward tomorrow if not.

[Plaids]

Sorry for not posting anything recently and not announcing my absence; I was seeing family and the flight back is arriving soon. I will post in twenty-four hours. Feel free to control Hercules for one turn if you want. I have not read the result of Kaine trying to get the jump on Doc Oc but my first idea is to have Hercules rip open a buried water line and douse an opponent, especially if Sandman is in the area.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Man, the die-roller really doesn't seem to like these guys. There are a lot of 1's in there - 2 from Doctor Octopus, 2 from Shocker, 1 from Mysterio.

There’s a lot of that going around. :smallyuk:

10/d10 to resist Mysterio, 11/d10 to resist Electro.

That’s a step up on Mysterio’s effect die from Sleeper’s lousy roll, but then a step down for Sleeper’s d10 vs. Mysterio’s d8? Is that correct?

So a d8 of Emotional damage and a d10 of Physical if Electro’s die goes towards stress.

[Thane of Fife]

There’s a lot of that going around. :smallyuk:

10/d10 to resist Mysterio, 11/d10 to resist Electro.

That’s a step up on Mysterio’s effect die from Sleeper’s lousy roll, but then a step down for Sleeper’s d10 vs. Mysterio’s d8? Is that correct?

So a d8 of Emotional damage and a d10 of Physical if Electro’s die goes towards stress.

The D8 of emotional stress sounds correct. I think I'll put the D10 into the doom pool.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

The D8 of emotional stress sounds correct. I think I'll put the D10 into the doom pool.

Okay then since Sleeper is still up and Electro’s just firing in his general direction without being able to actually SEE him let’s give him a target to shoot at.

Sleeper’s going to bounce around to put Shocker between him and Electro, then generate some of Mysterio’s gas and blow it into Shocker’s face while he’s focused on Kaine. Sleeper is trying to plant the suggestion that Shocker’s buddies have turned traitor, which should be plausible with Electro throwing lightning bolts in his general direction (and lots of chemicals mucking with his thought processes).

For trying to inflict the Complication ‘False Flag Friendly Fire’ on Shocker:
Affiliation - Buddy: d10
Distinction - Unstable Construction: d8
Power(s) - Klyntar Symbiote (Chemokinesis): d10
Specialty - Acrobatic (split): 2d8
Stress/Complication - None
Asset: None
Chemicals SFX: d6 (and step up the effect die)

Might spend the new Plot Point to make it permanent if it hits…more likely bring the building down the way the dice are going.

[Plaids]

I will have Hercules attack a Rhino, Shocker, and Mysterio with an area attack by leaping while in a large concrete pipe and rolling around to collide with the villains. Hercules rolling around in a concrete pipe will be similar to a regular man rolling around in a wooden barrel.
https://i1.wp.com/cwbchicago.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BOTTOM_OF_BARREL.png?w=678&ssl=1
Also, does the battlefield have any distinctions?

Action: Physically attacking Rhino, Shocker, and Mysterio with an area attack.
Affiliation - team: 1d8 - The gang is all here
Distinction - Glory and Honor: 1d4
Power(s) - Enhanced Leaping 1d8
Specialty - Combat Expert 1d10
Stress/Complication - None
Asset: None
SFX: Area Attack (x2) 2d6 - I think only shocker, rhino, and mysterio and within reach of a rolling hercules due to them not being aireborne
Stunt: 1d8 - Creative twist: Hercules will lift a pipe above his head by its based and leap towards the group of villians. Midflight he will completely enter the pipe. Upon landing he will roll towards the villains, colliding with any who are on the ground. I think Kaine and Sleeper are on elevated scaffolding.


Stress: None
Complication: None
Assets: None
Plot Points: 2
XP: 1/10

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Also, does the battlefield have any distinctions?

It’s got ‘Unstable Construction’ and I think that’s it presently.

EDIT:
12/d10 after the SFX boost and no fewer than THREE Hitches for the Watcher. 😫

[Plaids]

If the ones rolled convert to doom I think I will have Hercules try to reduce the doom and use the "Unstable Construct" distinction in the roll.
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.Op1Tm-7rGPaZBsMufr4BWwHaFk?w=268&h=201&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=1.3&pid=1.7https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.UKbfbxB1KpIeunIa-Tn0bwHaEo?w=249&h=180&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=1.3&pid=1.7

[Thane of Fife]

Sorry for my absence - I've been under the weather for the last week and it's been difficult to focus to post. I'll try to get something up soon.


If the ones rolled convert to doom I think I will have Hercules try to reduce the doom and use the "Unstable Construct" distinction in the roll.
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.Op1Tm-7rGPaZBsMufr4BWwHaFk?w=268&h=201&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=1.3&pid=1.7https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.UKbfbxB1KpIeunIa-Tn0bwHaEo?w=249&h=180&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=1.3&pid=1.7

Reducing the doom pool to shore up the construction is fair, but you definitely can't add "Unstable Construction" to your dice pool for that. If anything, it would be going into the doom pool to roll against you.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Sorry for my absence - I've been under the weather for the last week and it's been difficult to focus to post. I'll try to get something up soon.

😢 I hope you’re feeling better!

[Plaids]

Sorry for my absence - I've been under the weather for the last week and it's been difficult to focus to post. I'll try to get something up soon.



Reducing the doom pool to shore up the construction is fair, but you definitely can't add "Unstable Construction" to your dice pool for that. If anything, it would be going into the doom pool to roll against you.

Take care of yourself and don't rush yourself to return until you feel better.

I thought the "Unstable Construction" meant it would be more conducive to lower doom or subdue enemies through physical means centered around exploiting the construction site to accomplish your goal. Sort of like how the police and news media presence distinction in the bank robbery scene was leveraged to solve the issues at hand.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Everything doing okay? It’s been quiet here.

[Thane of Fife]

Everything doing okay? It’s been quiet here.

I'm alive but still not feeling that great. I should have something up within the next two days.

Sorry! Thanks for your patience!

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I'm alive but still not feeling that great. I should have something up within the next two days.

Sorry! Thanks for your patience!

No rush, just wanted to check. Sorry to hear you’re still sick!

[Thane of Fife]

Before I do make a post, is Kaine taking an action somewhere and I missed it? I see his reactions in the die roll thread, but I don't see an actual action from him?


I thought the "Unstable Construction" meant it would be more conducive to lower doom or subdue enemies through physical means centered around exploiting the construction site to accomplish your goal. Sort of like how the police and news media presence distinction in the bank robbery scene was leveraged to solve the issues at hand.

Using a distinction in your dice pool (as a D8) represents it helping you, not just it being present. And the doom pool sort of represents the chaos and havoc going on around you. So, if the Shocker is blasting girders and threatening to knock down buildings, that's increasing the doom pool, and if the construction is unstable, that could help him do so. If Hercules is trying to shore up the construction, that could be reducing the doom pool (or trying to get rid of the distinction), but the unstable construction would be working against him. You could probably use it as a D4 in your dice pool (which would prevent you from using another distinction as a D8 and make it more likely to roll a 1), which I guess I wasn't thinking of.

[DammitVictor]

Before I do make a post, is Kaine taking an action somewhere and I missed it? I see his reactions in the die roll thread, but I don't see an actual action from him?

Are we back to the top of the panel? I'm sorry. I will post something today.

[Thane of Fife]

Are we back to the top of the panel? I'm sorry. I will post something today.

We're running with a turn order of (normally)

All PCs act
All NPCs defend
All NPCs act
All PCs defend
Repeat

So, every time you roll your defenses/reactions you can also take your next action.

[DammitVictor]

We're running with a turn order of (normally)

All PCs act
All NPCs defend
All NPCs act
All PCs defend
Repeat

So, every time you roll your defenses/reactions you can also take your next action.

Okay. I will keep that in mind. I'm still trying to put something together, but my day went tits-up in a hurry after my last post and I am not in a position to make promises. If I haven't posted by the time you see this, please feel free to skip my turn this panel-- Kaine's busy whispering more sweet nothings in Otto's ear because he's realized he doesn't actually want to let go of him or break his neck again, and he hasn't figured out a Plan C.

I'm sorry for the delay of game. I should be able to pull myself back together in relatively short order.

[Plaids]

Sounds good. If there is another long break having some backstory or flashback prompts can be used to help fill out the story. The flashbacks, backstory, dreams are usually best when they have some cause-and-effect relation to current events or thematic relation.

[DammitVictor]

Last night's "bad night" has turned into a fullblown meltdown/crisis today. I really don't want to drop out of this game, but it's going to be awhile before I'm going to be capable of keeping up with the game reliably-- I know we're already down a player, but is it possible to grant me a hiatus and write me back in when my brain is firing on a few more cylinders?

[Thane of Fife]

Last night's "bad night" has turned into a fullblown meltdown/crisis today. I really don't want to drop out of this game, but it's going to be awhile before I'm going to be capable of keeping up with the game reliably-- I know we're already down a player, but is it possible to grant me a hiatus and write me back in when my brain is firing on a few more cylinders?

Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that. Yes, I think we can do that. I hope everything works out for you.


Plaids, Kareeah_Indaga, how are the two of you allocating your dice?

For Sleeper, it could be 12/D8 or 10/D10.
For Hercules, it could be 14/D8/D8/D6 or 12/D10/D8/D6 or 6/D10/D10/D8. And I also need to know how you're distributing the effect dice between the three targets.

[Plaids]

Last night's "bad night" has turned into a fullblown meltdown/crisis today. I really don't want to drop out of this game, but it's going to be awhile before I'm going to be capable of keeping up with the game reliably-- I know we're already down a player, but is it possible to grant me a hiatus and write me back in when my brain is firing on a few more cylinders?

A hiatus is fine, take as much time as you need. Please send me a direct message since I think the e-mail notifications for posts on subscribed threads seem to be slowing down.

As for dice allocation I will go 14/D8/D8/D6 with a D8 for Mysterio, D8 for Shocker, and D6 for Rhino.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Real life comes first!



Plaids, Kareeah_Indaga, how are the two of you allocating your dice?

For Sleeper, it could be 12/D8 or 10/D10.

12/D8, but Chemicals is stepping up the effect die to D10 unless I’m misunderstanding the rules.