Brian Rogers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
subplotkudzu) wrote2008-04-08 06:38 pm
subplotkudzu) wrote2008-04-08 06:38 pm
Entry tags:
Always wanted to
As I noodle around on my supers setting building construction kit I have a question for my hordes of fans [Listens, daffy duck-like, for crickets]. Is there any super-hero concept that you've always wanted to play but either have had the opportunity or haven't found a system that could handle it?
In my case two spring to mind (there used to be more, but I did get to play my super smart guy and my super-strong cowboy ideas in now defunct PBEMs).
The first is an Adam Strange style SF adventurer: a two fisted science hero with a jet-pack, ray guns and other gadgets who, while a member of the super team on contemporary earth, is actually the defender of a different planet, time or timeline. The system would have to be able to handle someone who was basically a skilled, smart normal person with flight, a good dodge and a modest energy blast - a little tricky in some systems but more a matter of lacking opportunity rather than systemic problems.
The second is someone who has a separate energy body, similar to Negative Man, Raven's Soul Self or, ideally, Antibody from the New Universe book DP7. This is much harder to work mechanically - Cambias once recommended doing it as an Ally, or perhaps it's duplication where one of the duplicates has all the powers, or something of the sort. It's a really neat idea, but finding a system that could handle it is the problem.
This latter is one of the reasons why I'm building the supers setting construction kit: the hope of being able to simply define the characters potency, versatility, and scarcity and have it be in the world as its own distinct power - if the scarcity is high enough (or even if it's not with an oddball power like this one) my PC might be the only person with it, but it would be a quickly defined part of the world.
Finally, as a villain I still love the idea of a mummy whose internal organs were eaten away by vermin that now occupy his body cavities. He would be able to have his eyes turn into snakes, vomit up spiders, breathe out termites and so on for a variety of nasty effects. Icky, yes, but it just sticks with me,
In my case two spring to mind (there used to be more, but I did get to play my super smart guy and my super-strong cowboy ideas in now defunct PBEMs).
The first is an Adam Strange style SF adventurer: a two fisted science hero with a jet-pack, ray guns and other gadgets who, while a member of the super team on contemporary earth, is actually the defender of a different planet, time or timeline. The system would have to be able to handle someone who was basically a skilled, smart normal person with flight, a good dodge and a modest energy blast - a little tricky in some systems but more a matter of lacking opportunity rather than systemic problems.
The second is someone who has a separate energy body, similar to Negative Man, Raven's Soul Self or, ideally, Antibody from the New Universe book DP7. This is much harder to work mechanically - Cambias once recommended doing it as an Ally, or perhaps it's duplication where one of the duplicates has all the powers, or something of the sort. It's a really neat idea, but finding a system that could handle it is the problem.
This latter is one of the reasons why I'm building the supers setting construction kit: the hope of being able to simply define the characters potency, versatility, and scarcity and have it be in the world as its own distinct power - if the scarcity is high enough (or even if it's not with an oddball power like this one) my PC might be the only person with it, but it would be a quickly defined part of the world.
Finally, as a villain I still love the idea of a mummy whose internal organs were eaten away by vermin that now occupy his body cavities. He would be able to have his eyes turn into snakes, vomit up spiders, breathe out termites and so on for a variety of nasty effects. Icky, yes, but it just sticks with me,
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I changed my suggested solution because you refined your description of the concept you wanted to play. Antibody, the example you gave with which I am most familiar, does not fully share consciousness and volition with his Antibodies. You, as a player, would like to play out the actions of the Antibodies, of course, rather than sit back and wait while the NPC Antibodies do stuff, and that is understandable. However, that shared identification is not a power that the character has in the context of his fictional world, but rather is a metagame issue, similar to people having multiple PCs.
WHAT CHARACTER CONCEPTS WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY THAT YOU HAVE NOT HAD A CHANCE TO DO SO?
You said part of not having a chance was because you couldn't make a build that suited you. Since you displayed some mistaken assumptions about how GURPS currently worked and I've spent spent hundreds of hours researching the subject, I thought you'd have a second chance to make a better build with the correct information.
I wouldn't dream of talking you my neighbor out of building your own custom lawnmower, but if I as a factory-trained mower repair man saw that your old mower wasn't quite as broken as you complained it was, I'd feel obliged to let you know in case you preferred to cut the grass just so sooner rather than later.
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You. Wished for Characters. That's it. Comprende?
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This isn't an unmoderated message board, it's my blog. If I ask you to drop something but don't ask you to leave, it's because I'm interested in your statements on the primary topic but, as host here, I want you to drop something. It's really that simple.