Aeon B-Team: Season 8 Session 7

 

Cast: The Nomads

• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.” Absent
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened.
• MIA Sentient AI made from recovered tech on a prior mission.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• June B. O'Neill aka Prodigy (NPC): Savant with hyper-intelligence that may have cracked the universal power-dampening conundrum. Fresh out of the Meraki Institute for the advanced and gifted. Extremely intelligent, but young (she's 16).
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”
• Nawang Sonam aka Wan Shi Tong (NPC): Martial Artist with a mysterious past. Thresholds mentor, experienced and highly capable, indeterminate age.
• Eleanor C. Bulli aka "Bubbles (NPC): Manipulates bubbles of energy, short range teleportation, can fly on the bubbles, use them for shields or attack and even see through them.
• Grant L. Wojcik aka Fridge Boy (NPC): Can control ice/cold, but mostly the ability to create ice that explodes. 16 year old emancipated orphan, Our janitor. 
• Rudy A. Coldwater aka Gimmick (NPC): Mildly hyper-intelligent savant. Stutters. Makes very accurate guesses. Typical nerd, not yet 20. Wants to make a difference, assigned to support duties.
• Summer Stratos aka Chain Jacket (NPC): Ferrokinetic
• Vargas Manwell Tilium aka "Impulse" (NPC): Speedster.

Session 7? What happened to 5 and 6?!

If you have been following along you may be wondering what happened. Session 4 was July 3rd and a lot of stuff has come up causing us to skip games since. When the two did occur they were very short and I also had no computer for about a month. Sorry for lack of reporting but here is a short recap.

Session 5 was mostly a recap of session 4, some retcons on what people were doing and how long they took doing them.

Session 6 Lynch (from Season 7) knocked on our door to tell us about a secret experiment in the Adirondack mountains in upstate NY.  We filed in a seaplane docked a few miles away and flew to the hidden base to check things out. Some discussion was about how we handled transportation, since many of us can teleport some felt we should go to the edge of the darkness, walk across the border, then teleport to the location.

Another Covert MetaPowers Program

Lynch explains that this was a covert program using darkness manipulators for special operations. Nox was part of the program, as was Erebus.  Apparently Erebus stole the powers of most of the others before being captured and Nox was the only one to escape.

We arrive with Threshold, Whisper, Nox and Nyx, Wan Shi Tong, and Lynch.

Nox has the keycode and entry is easily secured. Heading in we are stalked by creatures of darkness from a dead darkness manipulator "Grue" who says he is someones memory and not real. We find his mummified remains inside, so Threshold decides to take him at his word and gives up trying to save him. There is a chair that boosts supers powers, currently tuned to darkness manipulators.  It effectively is a khyberic fission bomb that can permanently boost your powers - if you live.

Grue tells us that Erebus wants the device to boost his power, Lynch confirms this and says its our only hope as it should boost his powers so much that it pops him like a balloon and kills him.

Threshold is less than pleased with this strategy.

Threshold examines the device (Science! -21 with Pararadar and scanning plus other modifiers) and crits with a natural 3. He now knows exactly how the device works and is confident he can retune it to neutralize Erebus powers permanently using the negative orichalcum that he has back at base.

He tells the team about this new option and they debate it's merits. 

Player invokes Thresholds foible "Prove they are wrong"; inspired by that crit success I felt he was all in on using the device.

Threshold offers to tune the device to "safely" boost Nyx's powers but Nyx declines. Threshold internally considers the others but decided that Nox is too unstable, Threshold has enough power already and what he needs most is more control and refinement over it. Threshold can channel khyberic energy to boost his powers as needed already and fears he might lose control with a sudden larger power boost. Whisper is a super soldier and they tend to be unstable and ride a knifes edge on keeping power, dying, or simply going crazy so that is also out. Similar with Wan Shi Tong.

There is a risk that anyone could die, though Threshold is confident (in a mad scientist sort of way) that he can control things to avoid that effect. But no one really wants to try it and for the reasons above that plan is quickly dropped.

Besides the crit success on Science! Threshold has specifically studied metahumans writing two scientific papers, plus working with other experts over the years.

Whisper announces her plan to shoot the device, Threshold tells her its basically a nuclear bomb and that just shooting it is a bad idea. Threshold disassembles the device and they take it back with them, planning to use it to neutralize Erebus powers.

As they leave Whisper borrows a hand grenade from Lynch to destroy the device as soon as everyone leaves the room. Threshold is less than thrilled as no one had declared the device fully safe from exploding or causing massive collateral damage if destroyed.

The team takes files from a computer, Lynch looked at the files, Whisper looked over his shoulder and SiR hacked and copied the computer files.

Nyx is informed by his ghost friend* that Lynch is possessed by Erebus before we leave, though after plans have been discussed.

As we arrive back at the base Nyx lets the ghost capture Lynch and tie him up in the closet.

*Grue gave up his "afterlife" to lend his powers to Nyx and now Nyx can see and talk to the darkness creatures Grue could make. The rest of the team doesnt really know this yet (to my knowledge) and thinks Grue is still around.

Aftermath

Another very short game, one of the players was sick and once we reached a decent stopping point the game was called. Nyx did not tell anyone about the possession so that's a big trap waiting to happen. He likely will next game when the player is feeling better, so we can try and make up for the plan being revealed to the enemy.

I have a counter plan ready. The best plan would have been to just go with the plan of Lynch to give the chair to Erebus and hope it blew him up after secretly being modified. We can't do that now though.

It was a fun game, though short and a bit frustrating in some respects. I liked getting that crit, and rolled with it. Threshold now knows how to build this kind of device and will discuss it with Wirerat and Prodigy for how best to weaponize it.

Building a Space Opera Setting: Setting Concepts

 Most RPGs are collaborative experiences, the GM and players work together to build a story. Certain things make that easier or harder and they should be carefully considered when building a setting.

• The world should be immersive and detailed enough that the players can quickly understand it.
• Overly detailed and complicated worlds can take people out of the game as they struggle to recall details or figure out how new situations and knowledge fit in.
• NPC's should be diverse and include a mix of ones the players regularly interact with and those that are just background. In very few cases does the GM need an actual stat sheet, even for those frequently interacted with. However the GM should keep notes to maintain consistency and allow the NPCs to grow organically over time.
• The GM should not get stuck on prior decisions. Often the players will inspire new ideas or takes on things and if these things are incorporated the players are likely to feel more invested.  This does not have to be obvious or even known to the players. Keep some mystery, let them wonder if this was the original plan or if it changed! That said I sometimes let players know they changed things but only if it wont disrupt the immersion or feeling.
• The GM and the players should be on the same page as much as possible and working towards a mutually satisfying story arc. Strongly guided campaigns (Railroading) are often less work for the GM but unsatisfying to the players who if they feel have no agency will be less invested. Open stories (Sandbox) leave it up to the players to choose and in my experience are a lot like a business run by committee. The ideal option is something in the middle, my preference is more sandbox than railroad but it takes more work on my part and requires me to leave lots of things the players can pick up on and some improvisation on my part.
• GMs that can better predict the players will typically run more interesting (to the players) campaigns and can save themselves a lot of work. Do not be afraid to recycle ideas. NPCs can often be reused with minor tweeks and the same with many plots.
• Related to the above is anticipating spoken and unspoken desires and goals of the players. If a player is interested in combat then combat should be available. If the player is interested in figuring out mysteries, exploration, advancing the world, or just making a difference these should all be considered and opportunities for them provided. Of course different players may have different priorities so time management is important.

Summary

Much of the above is general GM advise. However, certain things are key when designing a setting.

Place things of interest to your specific players and even broader details should have flavor or fluff material that helps players feel more immersed in the setting.

Building a Space Opera Setting: Personal Weapons

 Combat is an important part of most RPGs, so in a Space Opera setting what should we use?

GURPS Ultra-Tech gives us a good assortment of tech but its a grab bag covering multiple tech levels and sciences. So how should we choose what to include?

Weapon Effectiveness

We want our weapons to be cool and invoke something we think is fun. They also need to make sense for the science of the setting. Good choices will make combat fun and interesting. They should be more effective than modern weapons but not too lethal or else everyone hits dies.

GURPS has a reputation for deadliness, though in my opinion its a bit exaggerated. If you go past 0 HP you risk falling unconscious and start requiring death checks at fully -1* HP. A person with average HT and HP has a chance to die after 5d6 average injury. Lucky rolls, armor, higher HT or HP can make it take more. Modern firearms can do this kind of damage, though small arms will usually require several hits. This means a big damage boost can be very lethal.

The author of GURPS Ultra-Tech, David Pulver considered this and one of his solutions was high armor penetration.

I prefer high armor penetration over massive damage as our heroes can still survive if caught outside their armor, or only wearing minimal armor. I do not want characters to feel the need for battlesuits outside of military actions. Armor Penetration makes armor less effective but gives unarmored people a batter chance than just scaling up the damage.

I also like high accuracy (ACC) and lots of shots so we can avoid reloads or carrying tons of magazines or battery packs. Energy weapons that can be recharged can also reduce accounting. Just recharge between fights.

Star Heist Weapons (TL10)

So I want grav weapons since the technology is a key part of the setting. Grav weapons can do crushing damage and be less than lethal and just recharge back at the starship.

Lasers are a classic, highly accurate, good range, quiet, and also rechargeable.

Slug throwers are often favored by players and can be good when you have special needs or a lower tech base such as on a frontier world.

These are all in Ultra-Tech and I think will use the same stats. So I list this in my campaign bible as..

GURPS Spaceships: Building a Space Opera Setting

 In order to make a consistent and plausible setting you need to outline setting assumptions and try to make them make sense and be internally consistent with the setting.

My first step was to determine what form of FTL I wanted and how it works as well as regular space travel. I wanted to use the same core technology if possible so everything blends together. I went with grav-tech and two variations of Jump drives.

Reactionless drives based on gravity manipulation, not the classic push or pull but by bending the spacetime curvature so ships basically fall in the desired direction and that curve can be as steep as desired for higher acceleration. No grav compensators so that pilots dealing with extreme acceleration is a thing.

The FTL portion is bending spacetime so much that ships fall through space itself, only to reappear days later elsewhere.

This led to TL10^ with Standard and Hot Reactionless drives and a custom FTL drive that used various switches.

How Big Are Ships?

My next big step was to decide how big ships would be. I looked at the material in GURPS Spaceships, specifically the Hull Size Table (p. 9) and some example starships.  Then checked out tonnages and size of real world ships to give me a range of ship classes.

Smallcraft: SM+5 to +7 for shuttles and personal transport.

Corvette: SM +8 commercial, escort, survey, and light patrol ships.

Frigate: SM+9 As corvettes. This is the largest SM where most ship systems do not require a dedicated workstation. This makes Frigates optimal for PC ships where a small crew can easily run the entire ship.

Destroyer: SM+10

Cruiser: SM+10 to +12

Battleship: SM+12 to SM+15

Carrier: SM+11 to SM+15

So Frigates are likely the largest PC controlled merchant ship. Most ship systems do not require dedicated crew so a bridge crew can handle most things. 

• Control Rooms have six workstations, plenty for most PC parties. 
• Each Habitat space includes 20 cabins, covering the full crew with plenty left over for passengers or other facilities such as labs. 
• Hanger Bays can handle 100 tons per system, allowing for a shuttle or fighter craft.
• Each Cargo Hold can hold 150 tons, not a large amount but ok for high value cargoes and a ship can of course have more than one cargo hold.

These guidelines let me focus on what size ships to build a good starting sample set. Star Heist is not intended to be a military campaign so the PCs will likely have a SM+8 or SM+9 starship and compete with larger merchant vessels in the Destroyer or Cruiser class that have higher overhead and crews. I also intend there to be plenty of "independent" merchants using SM+8 or SM+9 starships.

Ship Designations

On earth ships are registered with certain designations. This can be useful for players to quickly identify a ships purpose. I will assign ships transponders that broadcast the designation, manufacture, and the make and model. This will speed things up in play, give PCs with appropriate skills or databases to know roughly what a stock model of the ship they face is capable of, and I hope be immersive. Certainly it feels better than just giving a lot of mechanics and statistics.

For example they encounter an Eagle model courier ship made by Stardust Enterprises.

I can then tell them on a successful roll that it has a UV spinal mount, 1 cargo hold, rated for FTL6/6gs, has a hangar bay, and one electronics compartment - usually ECM.

Of course that just tells them the stock design, they need a good sensor roll or closer examination to find the after market modifications or perhaps even manufacturer options like the spinal mount is Improved UV laser with a gravitic lens and the electronics compartment is really a Tactical Array.

So far I have CX (Courier); LB (Life Boat); MV (Merchant Vessel - mega corp); RC (Research Vessel); TV (Trading Vessel - independent); and military designations CV (Carrier Vessel); DD (Dedicated Destroyer); EV (Escort Vessel).

I'll add more later. Transponders will also list the name of the ship (good for Reputation and maybe knowing the captain), and the owner if its a megacorp or military ship. Transponders can be hacked and military ships can turn them off to be more stealthy, but most ships will broadcast them for legal purposes - much like modern ships and especially aircraft.

Season 8 Session 4: Triage

 

Cast: The Nomads

• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.” Absent
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened.
• MIA Sentient AI made from recovered tech on a prior mission.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• June B. O'Neill aka Prodigy (NPC): Savant with hyper-intelligence that may have cracked the universal power-dampening conundrum. Fresh out of the Meraki Institute for the advanced and gifted. Extremely intelligent, but young (she's 16).
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”
• Nawang Sonam aka Wan Shi Tong (NPC): Martial Artist with a mysterious past. Thresholds mentor, experienced and highly capable, indeterminate age.
• Eleanor C. Bulli aka "Bubbles (NPC): Manipulates bubbles of energy, short range teleportation, can fly on the bubbles, use them for shields or attack and even see through them.
• Grant L. Wojcik aka Fridge Boy (NPC): Can control ice/cold, but mostly the ability to create ice that explodes. 16 year old emancipated orphan, Our janitor. 
• Rudy A. Coldwater aka Gimmick (NPC): Mildly hyper-intelligent savant. Stutters. Makes very accurate guesses. Typical nerd, not yet 20. Wants to make a difference, assigned to support duties.
• Summer Stratos aka Chain Jacket (NPC): Ferrokinetic
• Vargas Manwell Tilium aka "Impulse" (NPC): Speedster.

A Minor Retcon

Threshold is kept at Mt Sinai treating patients. He manages to pop out to grab a few medical people but is mostly working the ER. The pharmacy security camera is adjusted so that he has ready access to it and the pharmacy places various medications, dressings, and other materials on the counter. Threshold can then teleport them to the ER to speed things up.

Busy Bees

Threshold is helping out in the hospital, Wirerat is working on the data being fed to him, and Nyx is handling the patrols of Flushing.

Whisper is incommunicado, probably trying to work with MAPS HQ and the intelligence community.

Nyx comes in for lunch and talks with Nox who has been gently helped so far by Wirerat.

Aftermath

Another short session. Lots of roleplaying and were getting worried on who is trying to deal with the actual threat of Erebus.

Season 8: Session 3: Erebus Holds NYC Hostage

 

Cast: The Nomads

• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.” Absent
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened.
• MIA Sentient AI made from recovered tech on a prior mission.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• June B. O'Neill aka Prodigy (NPC): Savant with hyper-intelligence that may have cracked the universal power-dampening conundrum. Fresh out of the Meraki Institute for the advanced and gifted. Extremely intelligent, but young (she's 16).
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”
• Nawang Sonam aka Wan Shi Tong (NPC): Martial Artist with a mysterious past. Thresholds mentor, experienced and highly capable, indeterminate age.
• Eleanor C. Bulli aka "Bubbles (NPC): Manipulates bubbles of energy, short range teleportation, can fly on the bubbles, use them for shields or attack and even see through them.
• Grant L. Wojcik aka Fridge Boy (NPC): Can control ice/cold, but mostly the ability to create ice that explodes. 16 year old emancipated orphan, Our janitor. 
• Rudy A. Coldwater aka Gimmick (NPC): Mildly hyper-intelligent savant. Stutters. Makes very accurate guesses. Typical nerd, not yet 20. Wants to make a difference, assigned to support duties.
• Summer Stratos aka Chain Jacket (NPC): Ferrokinetic
• Vargas Manwell Tilium aka "Impulse" (NPC): Speedster.

The Coming Darkness

The team is going about its routine when a cloud of darkness permeates the building. Looking around the darkness appears to cover most of NYC and it affects all senses, not just light. Most senses are reduced to 1/10 range, though Nyx is largely unaffected.

Communications become spotty as well and the group figures out its a powerful darkness manipulator named Erebus, His power can cover such a large area and feels about right for what is going on, he also can summon beings from another dimension and if the power lasts long enough he can drain other peoples powers - adding them to his own.

Threshold teleports about a thousand feet up to get a view of things but is still in darkness so teleports even further up until he can see that the dome of darkness appears to be centered in Manhattan. He then teleports back to base, shedding momentum from the fall as he does.

He reports his findings to the rest of the group and MAPS HQ.

Please Stand By

MAPS HQ informs the team that they need to stand down and remain on call for if they are needed. Another team will handle Erubus.

Nyx heads out to check on Flushing and get residents safely home.

Wirerat and Threshold try working on communications or sensors that will work better. Wirerat comes up with a brain induction helmet that can tap into Thresholds brain and sees what he sees as he tries various scans. He also has MIA build up an interactive digital map we can use to move around and update it in real time.

Nox is somehow terrified of the darkness and hides in Wirerats lab. Possibly she fears losing her powers.

Search and Rescue

Nyx has been finding people and teleporting them back home, trying to keep them from panicking.

Threshold, after giving the information he can to Wirerat heads out to help Nyx with getting people off the streets. He finds a woman being attacked by some fanged creature, orders it to leave her alone but it attacks him. He tries to obliterate it but only manages to destroy an arm and part of its torso and it keeps coming. He dodges and Nyx appears and grabs it with his shadow whips trying to keep it off Threshold. Threshold uses his powers again adn this time obliterates enough of the creature that it dies. As it turns into shadow goo they both briefly examine it and feel its one of Erebus extradimensional creatures.

Threshold radios the find to MAPS HQ who inform him they have ben popping up all over.

Threshold portals the woman to Mt. Sinai (not the closest hospital but the one he works at) and the ER is packed and shrouded. He puts the woman on a gurney, calls for aid and using his powers preforms emergency surgery to save her life.

While doing so he sees that a meta is glowing and seending out little balls of light throught the room to help people see.

After the surgery he goes and talks to the meta and tries to analyze the powers since they seem to be helpful and penetrate the darkness better than ordinary light. He gives the details to Wirerat back at Nomad base. Threshold then heads to the admin desk to get a list of medical people on call and goes looking for them to bring them to the hospital. After finding everyone he can, around an an hour later he heads over to Prysbertian Hospital in Flushing and does the same for them before going back out to help Nyx with search and rescue.

OOC Notes

Short game due to the storms but it felt like we kept very active and got stuff done.

TT: Spirits

The supplement I have been working on has been sent to the editors for final draft. Hopefully it wont be too long before an editor is assigned and start working on it. At least two other projects are ahead of me in line though.

Template Toolkit: Spirits changed a fair amount from my initial draft and may change again before final publication.

It originally was built around templates, lenses, and prebuilt powers. The goal was for a GM to be able to just add up various packages to have a new spirit. Playtesters found that too complicated (there were a LOT of prebuilt abilities and lenses) so I thinned it down and went more towards the approach of GURPS Powers than Template Toolkit Characters or Races.

It still has lots of templates, a healthy amount of lenses, and plenty of prebuilt abilities. The main difference though is in building power sets and referring to those in GURPS Powers and GURPS Horror the GM has an inspirational list to work from. Many abilities are really simple and this change is easier to read and use.

I do not know what it will look like when its through editing but I am proud of this supplement and hope a lot of people get good use out of it.

Besides abilities for spirits it also goes into detail on various advantages to answer questions I have seen come up in games and on the forums. That material can be useful for games without spirits as well.

Artifacts of Legend and Artifacts of Saga

 Gaming Ballistic, a third party publisher for DFRPG (Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game) by Steve Jackson Games has a new kickstarter.

Artifacts of Legend and Artifacts of Saga

YouTube interview

So after my last post Gaming Ballistic sent me preview copies of these two supplements. It was a courtesy to me so that I could evaluate whether or not I should reference these in my next supplement which I wouldn't be able to do if I didn't see it until I get my production copies.

First off, let me say that the production value is as awesome as I expected, The items are not just stock "extra damage" weapons or basic armor but interesting weapons, armor, and other things. Each item gives a description, art, history, abilities, and adventure seeds. None of that is a surprise as I have purchased most of Gaming Ballistics GURPS products so knew what to expect. They always deliver quality and detail.

What I was most interested about though was the bound spirit rules.  Its for DFRPG so I wasn't expecting much as thats a slimmed down version of GURPS with a lot of mechanics hidden under the hood. The rules are the same, so its all compatible but the Dungeon Fantasy RPG tends to bury the mechanics so its easier to play.

Would these new rules be just a paragraph and a random item generator?

Well it turns out they are several pages (in both books, different rules focusing on different things) and rather interesting. The rules were written by Douglas, who tweaked a few things from Thaumatology and expanded and added stuff  of his own. The published rules here are simple and easy to understand

Legendary Possessions

As the kickstarter preview tells us this is based off the Named Possession perk from GURPS Thaumatology, which I think was based off GURPS Fantasy, maybe even earlier material. However it expands and combines a few things and then provides several "powers" for items. Accuracy to help hit your foe, Adjustable so it works for different size people, etc. In fact I count 7 pages of these abilities :) Need something new and quick? Several pages for randomly generating items are also included.

I always liked those rulesd and am glad they got some fresh exposure and some updates.

Spirit Binding

This is in Artifacts of Saga and my preview copy is less far along, no bookmarks for example. So I wont give page counts. This section justifies a mention in my upcoming supplement.

It includes how to make and break these kinds of items, as well as good flavor rules for how they work.

Also some consequences for using for example demon bound items.

Douglas came up with a new GURPS Magic spell to help here.

Ley Line Motes

Making a magic item in a place of power is perhaps an uncommon trope but one I really like and there are some short rules for that here too.

Summary

If you have any interest in fantasy gaming you will get value out of these books, even if you do not play GURPS the items include enough detail that they can be readily ported into most fantasy games.

I look forward to getting my production copies!

As a RPG player and supporter I recommend buying quality new product to encourage the best producers to keep producing and giving us what we want. Their profit margins are slim and we see many fail or give up for more profitable careers. If we want quality we need to support those we like so they can survive and grow to keep giving us what we want.

You can wait and buy these things later, after they funded and from the store. But early purchases are what really drive publication.

And Gaming Ballistic does not disappoint on quality.

More Magic items!

 Gaming Ballistic, a third party publisher for DFRPG (Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game) by Steve Jackson Games has a new kickstarter.

Artifacts of Legend and Artifacts of Saga

Production quality for this company is always top notch and I personally am interested in the rules for spirit bound items and any new (or even reused but tweaked) ideas for making magic items in GURPS.

Sadly it will come out well after I send in my revised final draft of GURPS Template Toolkits: Spirits so I don't know if I should reference these new books in my supplement.

However, even if the rules are things I already have seen in say GURPS Thaumatology I expect some interesting unique items that can be dropped into any Dungeon Fantasy type campaign.

And definitely some fun art and descriptions!

Douglas Cole sent me a preview of these two books as a courtesy since I am an author and he saw my post. I'll post more tomorrow but after a brief skim stand by my assertion that the production quality of this product is awesome!!

Season 8 Session 2: Hurry Up and Wait

 

Cast: The Nomads

• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.”
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• June B. O'Neill aka Prodigy (NPC): Savant with hyper-intelligence that may have cracked the universal power-dampening conundrum. Fresh out of the Meraki Institute for the advanced and gifted. Extremely intelligent, but young (she's 16).
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”
• Nawang Sonam aka Wan Shi Tong (NPC): Martial Artist with a mysterious past. Thresholds mentor, experienced and highly capable, indeterminate age.
• Eleanor C. Bulli aka "Bubbles (NPC): Manipulates bubbles of energy, short range teleportation, can fly on the bubbles, use them for shields or attack and even see through them.
• Grant L. Wojcik aka Fridge Boy (NPC): Can control ice/cold, but mostly the ability to create ice that explodes. 16 year old emancipated orphan, Our janitor. 
• Rudy A. Coldwater aka Gimmick (NPC): Mildly hyper-intelligent savant. Stutters. Makes very accurate guesses. Typical nerd, not yet 20. Wants to make a difference, assigned to support duties.
• Summer Stratos aka Chain Jacket (NPC): Ferrokinetic
• Vargas Manwell Tilium aka "Impulse" (NPC): Speedster.

Dates: Friday May 8th to Saturday May 9th.

Please Stand By

The Nomads (our team) has been told to stand by for instructions as we are among the most mobile of the NYC teams and have more teleporters than anyone else.

Threshold is a solid group teleporter using his portals, and Nyx can take at least one person when he teleports. Nox and Bubbles can also teleport, and we think Impulse can as well (not seen him in action yet). That is 4 or 5 teleporters on one team. Plus even those who cannot teleport tend to be pretty mobile with some form of enhanced speed.

Threshold stays in constant contact but still patrols and helps out at the hospital as A) its his job; and B) with the emergency there are a lot more injuries at the moment. He figures he should be helping rather than stay at the base and he can portal back to HQ in a few seconds. Also he still seems to not need to sleep. (Forgot to ask the GM if that was still in effect). He also finished analyzing the fragments of orichalcum and it turned out to be what the player guessed from the initial effects. Samples are logged and put in a safe for when we have time for more study. Meantime gave the info to Wirterat so he can scan for them in case there are more around.

Bubbles and most of the team also go on patrol, especially the non-teleporters.

Wirerat is still on bedrest from his recurring brain trauma,

Many on the team are a little antsy at being sidelined but pretty much toe the line.

Nyx and Prodigy go to her fathers safety deposit box and check out the contents. He gets some records which are handed over to Wirerat to go over.

MIA is monitoring all the communications and cameras in the area.

Whisper runs down some contacts but and mostly acts as a liaison between intelligence agencies and local government. Also works with the dogs :)

Nox goes a little homemaker/nester and cooks for Prodigy.

Emergency, Please Respond!

We get a call that Maniac, a powerful pyrokinetic is burning down a local hospital. Threshold tries to scout the area to get a safe spot to portal everyone in but the GM uses DOOM points to make this a failure. Threshold teleports into a room near Maniac and is caught in the fire. He portals to the Hudson, letting the river rush in to help put out the fire. He then pops up to the roof and creates a portal to the base HQ roof for the others to join him.

The group attacks Maniac who is more insane than evil and goes nuts when a fire is nearby.

Threshold tries to send him near the north pole (new upgrade - Affliction (HT; Exoport with lots of modifiers) but tis resisted. Maniac sets Threshold on fire who luckily only takes minor damage, and it just tingles.

Nyx suggests Fridge Boy join us. (The GM forgot about this NPC)

Fridge Boy and Maniac pretty much cancel each other out, Fridge Boy encasing him in ice as he tries to melt out. Whisper Grabs a halon extinguisher from somewhere and stuffs it in a hole that Fridge Boy opens up.

Fight was over in a few turns, whole thing took less than a minute from first encounter. We help evacuate the staff, Threshold stops the flooding by closing the portal.

Aftermath

A fast session, we started a bit early but had to shut down early as one player was on a different shift this time. Threshold got to try another one of his new abilities and the group got in a good fight where the enemy was not using heavy caliber automatic weapons, refreshing change :)

Oh and Whisper did not inflict massive head trauma on anyone!

Season 8 Session 1 Beginning of the End?

 

Cast

• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.”
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• June B. O'Neill aka Prodigy (NPC): Savant with hyper-intelligence that may have cracked the universal power-dampening conundrum. Fresh out of the Meraki Institute for the advanced and gifted. Extremely intelligent, but young (she's 16).
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”
• Nawang Sonam aka Wan Shi Tong (NPC): Martial Artist with a mysterious past. Thresholds mentor, experienced and highly capable, indeterminate age.
• Eleanor C. Bulli aka "Bubbles (NPC): Manipulates bubbles of energy, short range teleportation, can fly on the bubbles, use them for shields or attack and even see through them.
• Grant L. Wojcik aka Fridge Boy (NPC): Can control ice/cold, but mostly the ability to create ice that explodes. 16 year old emancipated orphan, Our janitor. 
• Rudy A. Coldwater aka Gimmick (NPC): Mildly hyper-intelligent savant. Stutters. Makes very accurate guesses. Typical nerd, not yet 20. Wants to make a difference, assigned to support duties.
• Summer Stratos aka Chain Jacket (NPC): Ferrokinetic
• Vargas Manwell Tilium aka "Impulse" (NPC): Speedster.

Dates: Friday May 8th.

Prison Breakout

We start the new season a few hours after the last session. Most of the prisoners from Rikers got away and the National Guard and a special federal team are on site at the prison.

The Nomads (our team) are told to be "On Call" as were one of, if not the most mobile teams in NYC.

Several members can teleport, pretty much everyone has some form of improved mobility, and of course Threshold can transport the entire team using his portals.

We have some members out on patrol to keep visibility up and reassure the citizens that were on top of things.

Wirerat is in sickbay, again. Complaining about the healthy diet.

The team is reviewing what we know, gathering more intel and distributing it. 

It appears that a group planned the break out and coordinated it very quietly and well. Its possible the attacks on the team were to get blood samples for cloning, though Lindy appears to have a personal reason as well. And Threshold seems to have played an important part in their plans as they made copies of him to create some form of large field that helped facilitate the mass escape.

A few hours after the briefing MedEvac pops in to urgently request Thresholds medical skills. Turns out a high profile patient (name redacted due to Doctor/Patient privilege's) had shrapnel in the brain that prevented MedEvacs healing powers from working. Threshold uses his powers to teleport the pieces out of the brain, MedEvac can then work her magic and the patient will be fine.

He then teleports back to base with the shrapnel which hinders his powers but does not stop him.

Threshold analyzes the shrapnel, determining it is a form of Orichalcum, but silver instead of the usual gold color. It appears to be a power dampener ally instead of the usual energy producing version and it exhibits a slight vibrational frequency. He makes notes and will have Wirerat work up a detector for it when he is feeling up to the task.

Wirerat and his pet A.Is create an army of surveillance drones and hack all the local cameras and surveillance equipment.

Nyx uses his Shadow View power (Clairsentience with lots of modifiers, including Area Perception, +300%) to keep an eye on the area.

The doorbell rings and Threshold decides to check the camera and it appears to be Fracture at our our front door. He goes to talk with her and lets her in where we can all talk in relative privacy.

Fracture says she was used to help with the escape, she was forced to leave and is afraid for her life. She writes a full confession and hands it to Threshold. The only new information she can provide is that their is a mind controller involved.

We elect to hold her in our custody, Nyx suggests we deputize her and explains that will help provide her some protection from being sent back to Rikers until after the emergency is over. Threshold objects to the deputizing but accepts Nyx's argument and does it anyway. Threshold asks her about her powers, specifically if she can sense duplicates she made. She never really tried but can tell when her clones die so he asks Wan Shi Tong to work with her. Prodigy and Fridge Boy jump in to help, making a sense dep chamber to help her focus.

We end the session there. One player was already out and another had to leave for work.

The phone lines started heating up, expecting lots of action next time.

Aftermath

We need to catch some of the bad guys but obviously this was no ordinary breakout. A lot of effort went into this and so something is expected of  significant value from at least some of those freed. What those plans are is our job to figure out. However it appears this was the end game of most of Season 7, of course what happens next is likely to be a whole new ballgame.

Player Comments

I spent some points on less lethal powers, increasing Medic! a level, and getting some medical powers.

An important aspect of a super heroes game to me is the verisimilitude of characters using their powers for something other than crime fighting.

Often characters can apply their abilities to do more regular things faster or better, or otherwise be a useful member of society outside of wearing spandex.

Threshold can teleport and disintegrate things, both useful in real world applications. However he has a strong medical and scientific background and his powers let him see through solid objects and very small details (Scanning Sense, Pararadar with Microscopic 6 and Penetrating 2).

I wanted him to be able to use those powers to do surgery, and the GM let me buy the rest of that toolset,

He has Pararadar with Bioscan, Scanning,  Penetrating 2, Microscopic 6 - allowing him to act as a very good diagnostician. This gives +4 to Diagnosis and he has Medic-22 with some complimentary skills.

It also gives +4 or +2 to things like First-Aid, Forensics, Poisons, Chemistry, Bioengineering (Tissue), and several other skills. Profiling adds another +4 to some of those rolls.

Quick Gadgeteer (Medical), Photographic Memory,

Power Perks: Accessory (Surgical Tools); Expulsion; Expulsion Others; and Medical Sampler to represent teleporting things out of a body and scalpel precision disintegration.

And finally Spatial Surgery which is Healing (Affects Self, +50%; Disease and object removal only, -30%; Reliable 10, +50%; Spatial Manipulation, -20%; Xenohealing, +100%) [150] with cost CP and as an alternative ability for a cost of 6 points.

This last power I am rather proud of. His powers do not make much sense for healing people by restoring HP. But he is basically a built in medical scanner, and the fine tuned disintegration can act like radiation therapy that is more portable and far more precise than most modern medical equipment. He can disintegrate individual cells, teleport or disintegrate bullets and shrapnel. Cut away any tissue, etc.

Pretty much a walking OR, though his powers wont let him stich up or suture anything directly he can guide his hands to do the work with precision (also has Manual Dexterity 1).

I do not really expect this power to come up in game very often, his Medic! skill though is another matter. Costs CP (we use wildcard points) lets him do something very unusual as needed. Even though the campaign has healers who can regenerate flesh his power still gives him an unusual utility, as demonstrated this session.

Technically the Expulsion perk would have probably done the job, or normal use of Medic! in the operating room. But this just looked cooler and was much faster than normal surgery.

These kind of creative uses of a power set or theme really help make the world and characters more fleshed out to me.

Season 7 Session 10 & 11 End of Season!

 

Cast

• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.”
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• June B. O'Neill aka Prodigy (NPC): Savant with hyper-intelligence that may have cracked the universal power-dampening conundrum. Fresh out of the Meraki Institute for the advanced and gifted. Extremely intelligent, but young (she's 16).
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”
• Nawang Sonam aka Wan Shi Tong (NPC): Martial Artist with a mysterious past. Thresholds mentor, experienced and highly capable, indeterminate age.
• Eleanor C. Bulli aka "Bubbles (NPC): Manipulates bubbles of energy, short range teleportation, can fly on the bubbles, use them for shields or attack and even see through them.
• Grant L. Wojcik aka Fridge Boy (NPC): Can control ice/cold, but mostly the ability to create ice that explodes. 16 year old emancipated orphan, Our janitor. 
• Rudy A. Coldwater aka Gimmick (NPC): Mildly hyper-intelligent savant. Stutters. Makes very accurate guesses. Typical nerd, not yet 20. Wants to make a difference, assigned to support duties.
• Summer Stratos aka Chain Jacket (NPC): Ferrokinetic
• Vargas Manwell Tilium aka "Impulse" (NPC): Speedster.

Dates: Thursday May 7th?

Sessions combined as Session 10 was very short due to bad internet issues.

The Big Reveal

We did some tidying up and trying to figure out where to go next. We had a few leads yet to follow but nothing really panned out.  Then Threshold gets a massive headache and we hear an explosion and Session 10 ended.

Session 11 we pick up with a fight. The news tells us of three explosions and we head to the one in our jurisdiction using Thresholds portal.

Threshold, Nyx, Nox, Whisper, SSR, and Wirerat all get involved. We see a young woman, Lindy McCall surrounded by a couple of cats and rats.

Also a big hole in the ground with what looks like Threshold's obliteration beam coming out of it.

We quickly deduce that the animals are fracture clones with the powers of various metas. Perhaps a bit more quickly due to the names of the tokens ;)

Space Cat is a copy of Threshold

Wire Cat is a copy of Wirerat.

Gemini a brick and associate of Fracture (her brother) is there in rat form, as is Fracture.

The rest of our team apparently did not get copied, nor the honor of being cloned as a cat.

We are in a construction site.

Fight!

Nyx teleports under a nearby construction office. Nox teleports closer and behind the enemy on the ground. Whisper runs towards them. Wirerat scans the area nd gets his brain fried for his trouble (again). Threshold tries to obliterate Space Cat as he is off by himself and near the big hole in the ground.

Space Cat teleports away and Nox squeeks about Threshold trying to disintegrate her.

Fracture Rat makes another Gemini Rat and both of them attack Whisper.

Lindy exclaims how Threshold will now regret what he did to her father, Threshold has no clue what she is talking about, this does not go over well. (crit failed his IQ roll to recognize her)

Nyx binds Fracture Rat in darkness.

Space Cat gets Fracture Rat out of the darkness by exporting her (GM pointedly points this trick out to Thresholds player).

Hey Export is expensive!

Threshold uses his Create Singularity to try and take out Fracture Rat and make life rough for the Gemini Rats.

Our Face of Darkness (Nyx) taunts Space Cat using his clairsentience with speaking power and knocks out Lindy with Draining Touch.

Whisper enjoys herself fighting the Gemini Fractures, tossing one into the singularity and watching one miss a slam and run into the hole..

Threshold uses his Spatiokenesis Control power to try and lockdown Spacecats powers, hoping the cat has all his power but not much of his skill.

SSR tazes Space Cat who can't teleport away.

There is a big boom and the hole stops glowing. We look down into it and see a big sphere that Whisper picks up and opens up and it has a Threshold head strapped into a wire harness. Threshold says to kill it and put it out of its misery.

We hear from the radios that there is a massive breakout at Rikers Island and the session ends there.

Aftermath

This is the end of the season and so we get to spend some of our saved CP on upgrades and given the option to pick up a few hours later or a few weeks later. We opt for a few hours.

Were called to MAPS HQ to get briefed on what happened and keep Lindy as a prisoner and Nyx seems to have charmed Space Cat. Our Face of Darkness may add another villain to his retinue of converts/conscripts.

Media Bias

 People claim that there is a media bias and that the media cannot be trusted, except perhaps their favorite media. Conservatives will tell you that the media has a liberal bias.

None of that is really very accurate. First look at the source of revenue and platform when evaluating media sources. Media used to be funded by the government (PBS, CSPAN) or advertising. Hover as cable companies got more powerful they became a major revenue source by paying carriage fees to certain stations.

Fox News is mainly right wing and gets some money from advertisers but most of its funding is from carriage fees. It is owned by the Murdochs who after President Nixon left office decided the GOP needed its own media outlet to spread propaganda. Rupert Murdoch was a billionaire who enjoyed GOP tax cuts and wanted to keep them coming.

MSNBC and CNN are accused of being Liberal Media by conservatives, this is not actually true. MSNBC is a democratic propaganda tool to  match FOX and CNN is a bit more balanced - or at least less obviously a Democratic Party platform but still leans toward them. This is less a situation of being funded by Dems and more an effort to carve out their own lane. FOX News is the biggest cable media provider and the others need to do something different to try to compete for viewers.

However, MSNBC and CNN are what we call corporate democrat, not liberal democrat. Want proof? Think about who they have on and especially the attention they give to Presidential candidates. The most left wing candidates are ignored as much as possible and when they are on they are questioned harshly by the hosts. But the establishment candidates are mostly given praise and softball questions. Senator Sanders was largely ignored in the 2016 and 2020 races even though he was winning many early primaries. I recall once night CNN went on and on about Buddiget for coming in 5th and talked about every other candidate except Sanders who actually won that states primary. This kind of thing happened repeatedly.

CSPAN is the most unbiased source of media as it is publicly funded and lets you hear unedited speeches. We should try to watch or listen to more than one source and check out data for ourselves. We all know most media and most politicians lie, so why trust them? research adn check them out for yourself, most tings are in the public domain. And if it sounds click baity? its probably not full honesty.

When evaluating a news channel listen carefully to what they say and do not say. Odds are good you can see the bias and once you identify it you will have a better idea when they might be lying to you. Also see if they ever admit their mistakes. If someone tells you they are never wrong or never make an a mistake, or simply just refuse to own thier mistakes and make excuses odds are good you cannot trust them.

Converting Mistborn Magic into GURPS

 Awhile back on the forums someone asked about converting the magic systems in the Mistborn series into GURPS. I just read the first book and have a better feel for it.

I see two fairly obvious ways to do this. Powers and Ritual Path Magic. Powers is probably the more obvious and easiest but RPM appears pretty straightforward to me as well.

Alumnancy

There are 11 metals or alloys discussed in the first book. Most people can only control one metal, though mistborn can control all of them. Each metal is a different power or path.

Some of the powers would have very few abilities or if using RPM a very narrowly focused path.

Powers would be built using a Power Modifier (PM) that includes having to imbibe a metal to use it and that it is burned up during use. Also a minor nuisance effect  for most metals, such as sense sensitivity for Tin or the mass restriction for attracting or repelling metals using Iron or Steel.

RPM would require Ritual Adept for the speed of casting and most effects could be cast as Blocking - especially Iron and Steel. I would change the path skills from M/VH to M/A, reflecting how easy they seem to be to learn and the very narrow scope.

Dueling with Iron and Steel I would handle as a Martial Style.

Required Skills: Acrobatics, Body Sense, Throwing

Feuromanchy

This might be a bit more complicated but again can be done using either RPM or Powers.

The magician takes a temporary disadvantage and then stores the advantage for the duration. So you could take a penalty to Vision for an hour so that later on you could use that stored hour as a bonus to vision.

Using RPM we just cap the duration of any effects to the time the caster did without to save them up. Most things should be a Lesser Effect, a trade off for having to do without in advance.

Powers would be purchased with Limited Use and a Nusiance effect representing the time without the advantage being stored up.

the only complication is the sheer volume of possibilities, so alternative abilities or Modular abilities is a must.

I would probably go with Modular Abilities and a UB as these guys are rare in the setting.

AEON Season 7, Session 9

 

Cast

• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.”
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• June B. O'Neill aka Prodigy (NPC): Savant with hyper-intelligence that may have cracked the universal power-dampening conundrum. Fresh out of the Meraki Institute for the advanced and gifted. Extremely intelligent, but young (she's 16).
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”
• Nawang Sonam aka Wan Shi Tong (NPC): Martial Artist with a mysterious past. Thresholds mentor, experienced and highly capable, indeterminate age.
• Eleanor C. Bulli aka "Bubbles (NPC): Manipulates bubbles of energy, short range teleportation, can fly on the bubbles, use them for shields or attack and even see through them.
• Grant L. Wojcik aka Fridge Boy (NPC): Can control ice/cold, but mostly the ability to create ice that explodes. 16 year old emancipated orphan, Our janitor. 
• Rudy A. Coldwater aka Gimmick (NPC): Mildly hyper-intelligent savant. Stutters. Makes very accurate guesses. Typical nerd, not yet 20. Wants to make a difference, assigned to support duties.
• Summer Stratos aka Chain Jacket (NPC): Ferrokinetic
• Vargas Manwell Tilium aka "Impulse" (NPC): Speedster.

Dates: Wednesday May 6th.

Meeting Restarted

We get back to the meeting and go over the news. Threshold kind of pushes everyone for a specific action, seemingly in a hurry. 

Nyx takes Gimmick to Rikers for a follow-up with Fracture and to see if anyone knows anything about her missing father.

Whisper will check on the arms dealer, Dion "Die Die" Crawford.

Bo heads to the lab.

Impulse and Prodigy head out on patrol.

Having mostly cleared the building Threshold goes to the medical lab and gives himself a very though testing. His cells are genetically altered and exhibiting some kind of energy and "hyperactivity". He can regrow tissue, bone, etc in minutes. Also experiences no pain at all and seems to be less vulnerable to exhaustion with little or no need for sleep. He carefully documents everything and decides to test and measure the results daily to see if this state changes, remains stable, or does something else.

Junkyard Dogs

Whisper sets up a meeting for a gun buy and winds up at a junkyard in Brooklyn for the actual deal. Dion has three large dogs guarding the place, the results of an escaped lab experiment. They are highly intelligent and he has explosive collars on them to keep them under control.

While talking a sniper lights up Whisper who then bends a piece of rebar as a means of intimidation. This works really well and Dion gives over some information, though mostly its of little use. the sniper shuts off the laser targeting and vanishes. He also gets and disarms the control to the collars.

Whisper calls Threshold for an emergency exit and he comes through a portal. After a brief conversation Whisper, Threshold, and the dogs go through back to the base.

Threshold recognizes the dogs for what they are, calls Bo to set up a big keyboard for them to use to communicate, and schedules them for a quick medical evaluation. They have been mistreated and need some shots and better food.

Bo happily whips up something for the dogs and gives them speaking collars. Bo also continues sifting data and his pet AI comes up with a nifty search algorithm to help.

Back to Rikers

Nyx, and Prodigy all go to Rikers to talk with Fracture. They get a little bit more information, again using donuts as bribes. Also they some information from the guards on Prodigies father who had been acting weird lately.

Aftermath

Another short session. We broke up after this to discuss ideas for the next campaign and told to post our plans for next session in Discord so the GM can prepare the leads we take up.

AEON, Season 7, Session 8

 

Cast

• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.”
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• June B. O'Neill aka Prodigy (NPC): Savant with hyper-intelligence that may have cracked the universal power-dampening conundrum. Fresh out of the Meraki Institute for the advanced and gifted. Extremely intelligent, but young (she's 16).
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”
• Nawang Sonam aka Wan Shi Tong (NPC): Martial Artist with a mysterious past. Thresholds mentor, experienced and highly capable, indeterminate age.
• Grant L. Wojcik aka Fridge Boy (NPC): Can control ice/cold, but mostly the ability to create ice that explodes. 16 year old emancipated orphan, Our janitor. 
• Rudy A. Coldwater aka Gimmick (NPC): Mildly hyper-intelligent savant. Stutters. Makes very accurate guesses. Typical nerd, not yet 20. Wants to make a difference, assigned to support duties.

Dates: Tuesday, May 5th, to Wednesday May 6th.

To Rikers we a go!

The team is trying to figure out who this guy is and how to deal with him. So far the villains goal is to take out the team, possibly with an emphasis on Threshold since he gets hit the most though as far as he knows he has no real enemies. It could be just Threshold is a target of opportunity since he has the mobility to get to events fast and is not at all stealthy about it. His portals look like the portals from the Dr. Strange movies. he can teleport without a portal but that still leaves a visible heat shimmer effect.

Nyx and Nox can also teleport but they are much more stealthy.

Threshold and Whisper go to Rikers Island to talk with Fracture after determining that she probably duplicated the murder hobo. We have a nice discussion, bribing her with some donuts.

She seems not to have any info we directly need but does provide some interesting bits about duplicating lab rats for someone a year ago.

We finish up and take that back to the group, though Nyx is sound asleep so we wait for a team meeting.

Boom!

Wednesday afternoon were having that meeting and hear a scream just outside the base.

Threshold creates a portal and walks out to see what is going on. He immediately gets shot twice with an anti-material rifle, once in the chest mostly stopped by his trauma plate and his leg which again gets wrecked, almost blown off. However he feels no pain.

Nyx scans the outside and sees the shot came from an ice cream truck just outside. Its empty, robot controlled, and Nyx manages to read the serial number off the rifle. Threshold disintegrates the rifle and the truck blows up. A few civilians are wounded by the explosion but no one is killed or seriously hurt.

This villain does seem to try and minimize the risk to bystanders.

Whisper goes out and takes pictures of everyone, hoping someone might be part of the scheme. Fridge Boy freezes the area around the truck, putting out the fires.

Threshold teleports to the roof to bandage his leg and Nyx follows. She is curious as his leg starts to visibly heal and remarks that Threshold is now kind of cool (she also liked his Singularity in last session) and should test how well he can heal by shooting himself in the head. Threshold pops off to the north pole to work on his leg and think about things with some quiet solitude.

Aftermath

Short game session.

ST in GURPS

The ST attribute is scaled around human realistic capabilities. For most campaigns this is ideal, but super heroic campaigns it is very expensive to  preform some of the lifting feats we see in comics.

ST does not boost a lot of skills but increases damage dealt with low tech weapons and punching plus is a big help in grappling. It also increases HP, meaning you are harder to kill. Also you can carry more so its useful even in a high tech society.

Grappling

Combat in GURPS is probably among the most flexible and tactical of all RPGs out there. Grappling is a bit anemic in GURPS Basic and I would like that to change in a Fifth Edition.

GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling was a very sophisticated and detailed take on improving this. The author later wrote Fantastic Dungeon Grappling a more streamlined take on the topic. I would like to see this added to a GURPS Fifth Edition, either in that version of GURPS Characters ort a Martial Art or combat supplement. I feel the material is solid but could use a little more detail for nonhumanoid's and special situations. A New Take on Grappling, Pyramid #3/34 Alternate GURPS is another effort to improve grappling and also worth a look and has several interesting articles.

Lifting Great Weights

The standard system is good enough for most purposes, even really strong humans. However for a Supers setting I recommend Knowing Your Own Strength, Pyramid #3/83 Alternate GURPS IV which offers a Logarithmic lift rating. This is a solid way to resolve the issue.

Another option is Super Effort on ST, a +300% Cosmic enhancement introduced in GURPS Supers.

I find the first better but the second is still pretty simple. Write down ST as two numbers, the base ST and the modified ST for when you pay that FP to boost it.

Privilege, an Alternate GURPS Advantage

I really like GURPS, but no system is perfect and there are some things people would like to change if they could. This series of posts would be things I would like changed in a hypothetical GURPS 5th Edition. This is purely an exercise and I have no word on if or when such an edition is being worked on, nor am I likely to be specifically asked for recommendations.

However, as a fan we all have our pet things (often contradictory, meaning a new edition cannot please everyone) I will just list some of mine.

GURPS has several social advantages that I think can be combined. Combining things can result in a less intimidating ruleset IF the consolidated material really works well together and is not too complicated.

Claim to Hospitality is tied to an organization or social construct. Diplomatic Immunity grants some protections. Legal Enforcement Powers lets you enforce the law and grants some protections. Security Clearance grants access to information. Tenure prevents you from being fired. I think these can be easily combined into a single advantage.

Privilege

You have been granted access and authority beyond what other people typically have. This may be granted by a government or private entity and is only recognized where appropriate. These privilege's can be suspended or removed at any time and are typically linked to a specific job. What is available is limited to the scope and jurisdiction of the organization, though allied organizations may extend similar "courtesy" privilege's.. Halve the cost (rounded down) for minor organizations of limited ability or importance in the campaign. The GM may build certain packages for the campaign to ease character building.

Sum the various items below and list it on the character sheet as Privilege (Organization; traits) [cost].

Clearance: Your organization provides you the information and material (weapons, computers, labs, etc.) you need to do your job, but sometimes that information or equipment has uses outside work or beyond others in the same role. Narrow range of information or equipment on a "Need to Know" or use basis [1]. Either free access to a narrow range or broad job access to relevant material. [5]. Free access to a broad range of material. [10]. Need to know requires it be strictly needed for your job as defined by your superiors. Free access has much more latitude and usually only requires signing for it.

Enforcement: Local jurisdiction, the ability to arrest suspected criminals, perform authorized searches, and possibly carry a concealed weapon. [5]. One or more of  national or international jurisdiction, or ignore civil rights, or engage in covert investigations, or kill with relative impunity. [+5 each].

Exemption: You are exempt from certain aspects of ordinary law enforcement. This often comes with another organization that applies its own rules to you. Replace ordinary laws with similar rules that are just as strict [5]. Less strict [10]. You can do nearly anything you please provided you don't injure the organization that granted you the immunity. [15]. Diplomatic Pouch [5].

Hospitality: Your organization is encouraged to assist its members, including unofficially having other members help out. Reciprocity is expected and others can call on your aid as well. You can request food, shelter, and basic aid.  A single friend in another city is worth 1 point; a small family, 2 points; a society of merchants along an important trade route, 5 points; vast alliance of wealthy figures, 10 points. Members are friendly towards each other (+3 reactions) and may provide advice, introductions, and small loans, if asked.

Investment: Your invested with basic administrative authority. This automatically includes Rank 0 and gives you the ability act as an "Official" of the organization. You could for example preside as chairperson over meetings, handle the books as a licensed accountant, preside over weddings or other religious rituals, speak on behalf of the organization, residency at a hospital, etc. 

Tenure: You can't be fired through less than extraordinary means. This may be a reward of excellence and being to hard to replace, seniority, political clout and influence, nepotism, or even blackmail. [5].

Special Modifiers

Cosmic, Brotherhood, +50%

    Normally you have to show some form of ID or uniform to exercise your privileges but with this enhancement the appropriate people automatically know you're a member in good standing. Buy this with Selectivity (p. B108) if you need to conceal your nature. This modifier suits some supernatural organizations or exotic groups like the Lensmen of Doc Smiths series.

Summary

This combines  Claim to Hospitability, Clerical Investment, Legal Enforcement Powers, Legal Immunity, Security Clearance, and Tenure with a bit of Patron thrown in. If I were writing it for a supplement, Pyramid article, or that hypothetical Fifth Edition I would expand this a bit for clarity and add some examples but it still saves a decent amount of space and page flipping. It also adds a few bits of utility, such as with the Investment section.

GURPS Bricks

 What is a Brick?

The brick is an iconic stereotype, and not just in super hero genres. Someone who is large and beefy and can shrug off damage is a fun thing to play.

The classic brick is strong and can withstand a lot of damage. I have see3n many people who think a brick is impossible to do in GURPS without a lot of house rules, I disagree.

Special Effects

Bricks usually have very tough skin, possibly made of exotic materials or armor. Many bricks are also hybrids such as a blaster  with a strong forcefield.

Some bricks are easy to damage but so tough that even though it hurts they can keep on going,

The videogame trope where they can force others to attack them is generally just a plot choice in the comics and movies but can be simulated with powers or maneuvers. Though this takes some care and perhaps a generous GM to allow things like Mind Control, 1 command "Attack me" with an Intimidation role.

Character Design

Bricks can be very complicated or very simple to build, just depends on how the specific brick is intended to work. Most of thier points should go into two areas.

Reducing Damage

Damage Resistance (DR), HT, and ST are key to most bricks. If possible its good to take some exotic defenses such as various forms of Resistance as well.

At 5 points/level DR can get pretty expensive, four color supers can easily bounce handguns but rifles require more a dedicated build and even then enough points that it may be tough on the budget. 

Armor Piercing (AP) attacks can really chew through armor and countering them means less armor. This requires good communication and acceptance of the social contract between GM and player. How often and how much AP will be in play? As a GM I prefer AP attacks over higher damage as it means a good hit is more likely to hurt a character than outright kill them for the same number of points. A high damage attack capable of slightly hurting a brick will likely kill many other characters, but an AP one can just mean the brick is hurt and the unlucky martial artist is just down for the count.

Soaking the damage rather than ignoring it generally appears more heroic, so high HP helps here and since that is based off ST its a great fit for this character type. Soakers should have Regeneration or even Healing so they can recover quickly and are not a bad choice for any kind of brick.

Injury Tolerance is a way to reduce actual injury from most attacks (Homogenous, Unliving, and Unbreakable Bones), and Injury Tolerance: Damage Reduction (GURPS Powers, p. 52 and p. 118-119) at 50+25/level is a good bet here and essential for the most powerful bricks. Consider adding that Cosmic,+50% if you can - some levels of  IT:DR with Cosmic, no minimum, +50% and Active Defense, -40% is a great fit that allows usually ignoring damage but some risk of taking injury now and then.

Active Defenses: Do not ignore a decent ability to dodge, block, or parry! This can help when facing really powerful attacks (or ones you have a vulnerability too) and also help- protect your teammates with sacrificial moves.

Speaking of Active Defense, most GMs will limit your DR to some ceiling so they can still hurt you with attacks that wont totally obliterate everyone else. However if some of your DR is on a limitation it may be allowed at a higher level. Extra DR for a fire type is logical and classic and that is just one example. But strongly consider DR with Active Defense. This can give you a boost most of the time but with the risk that you will fail a roll now and then and it wont help against surprise attacks. Because it is not a sure thing you can still look heroic and have some suspense in the game but take some impressive damage pretty reliably. This is usually done with a gadget like bracers or shields but could simply represent blocking with the arms or putting a strong side front and center

Dishing it Out

Most bricks rely on high ST to do damage. This is more expensive than Innate Attack but has several benefits. That ST also increases your HP, helping you stay in the fight and is pretty versatile.

You can punch or kick at close range but stretching or picking up a light post can extend that reach. Throwing objects also gives you some range. If you are strong enough and the area is appropriate you can pick up large objects and use them for Area Effect or even pinning an opponent to the ground (say under a car).

Learn Judo, Sumo Wrestling, or Wrestling to overrun and grapple foes. This leverages your high ST and can take out a high value target. Choke Holds take some time but are effective against most targets if you can hold them long enough, also consider Constriction Attack.

Super Jump is very cheap and effective for quick movement and Slams. You'll want high DR or IT:DR to withstand the damage from high speed slams and a variation on Active Defense (or just accessibility slams only) could help here while still keeping the normal levels at base that works better for the campaign.

Being Strong

A major complaint of brick design in GURPS is that it is very expensive to be able to lift and throw cars, much less tanks or battleships. Considering the percentage of bricks in the comics who can do the latter I personally feel this is mostly fine.

But a little more oomph is probably desirable and various options have been presented. Super Effort (GURPS Supers) is one alternative, though the FP cost is a minor limiting factor.

The article Knowing Your Own Strength from Pyramid #3/83 Alternate GURPS IV changes the Basic Lift from a linear amount to a geometric amount. This is a pretty simple method that can dramatically increase what can be lifted, yet keeping everything else pretty much in line.

Playing a Brick

Bricks need to be able to shrug off most attacks to be effective and satisfying to play but you want some risk there for the suspense. They can be very fun or boring, mostly depending on the preferred style of play and how much risk is still around.

A creative player who makes use of the environment can have a lot of fun. This is also a good choice for a new player who is still getting used to GURPS, especially combat. They generally lack the high skill levels needed for pulling off fancy tricks and risky maneuvers.

Summary

Brick design is relatively easy, though it does require a good understanding and familiarity with GURPS Basic and GURPS Powers. Bricks are also easy to play yet still allow player creativity and are one of the better choices in going up against multiple foes.

However the player and GM need to be on the same page when it comes to the damage and attack types that will come into play. Most GMs will throw in some surprises to keep up suspense and excitement but for the most part the GM should avoid bypassing and especially overwhelming the bricks defenses on a regular basis.