RPG Bloggers

Woo hoo!! Finally made it onto RPG Bloggers. Very exciting. Hopefully means more comments and input, telling me what people want to see up here. I like M&M, SWSE, and D&D, and if I can get people excited about them too, that's awesome.

There are so many people I want to thank ....

Books I want

Due to the recent world-wide economic downturn, the Australian dollar has taken a massive hit, and now only buys 0.00000001 of a US dollar (NB: figures may not be factually accurate). Therefore, I will not be ordering anything off Amazon.com in the near future.

I have been in recent contact with my local gaming store, and have attempted to order the following:

• Mutants and Masterminds: Ultimate Power
  
  
  
  Powers are potentially the most confusing part of mutants and masterminds, due to their sheer potential complexity. The amazing number of modifiers that give that incredible customisation that we know and love are one of the ways that people who are indecisive (like me) can become stuck. Also, there are a number of generic modifiers that are clear in themselves, but can be unclear as to their actual implementation with each power.
  
  This book has an entire section devoted to a detailed description about how powers actually work, how they can be modified, and so on. It then goes on to describe power effects (which are the actual-things-that-powers-do), how they can be modified, reasonable alternate powers for each of them, reasonable flaws, and examples of each. Then it goes on to introduce more powers, and give more details about selected powers from the core rulebook, similar to their treatment of effects.
  
  One of the really cool things in this book is that it actually explains power constructs: arrays, dynamic arrays, etc... This is not clearly explained in the core rulebook (probably due to lack of space), but is worth knowing about, for that added layer of flexibility/customisation.
  
  Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting this one. Looks awesome. Ultimate, if you will.... *eeexcellent*
  
  
• Mutants and Masterminds: Book of Magic
  
  
  
  As the title clearly states, this is a book about magic. How it might work in your campaign, for your heroes, some sample spells/spell-books, sample magic items, monsters, new hero and villain archetypes, and more magic than you can poke a stick at.
  
  As someone who loves magic in its many forms (I almost always play a mage of some sort), this is a must have for me. The only problem I foresee is that when I finally get a group together to run an M&M campaign, I won't know whether to run a superhero campaign, mystic/occult campaign, or a fantasy campaign (thanks to W&W, which I'll come to next). Truly are we spoilt for choice *drooool*
  

• Mutants and Masterminds: Warriors and Warlocks
  
  
  
  Alright, the reason my gaming store didn't have this one is that it's technically not out yet. According to amazon.com, it's due out November 29th (the day before my wedding), which is pretty soon, so I guess you can call it a pre-order.
  
  Basically, this is the way to finally replace D&D with M&M. Presumably including new hero and villain archetypes, fantasy equipment, weapons, and so on. Also going to include a cruchy re-working of Green Ronin's fantasy setting Freeport, which I admit I've never read, but a lot of people on Atomic Think Tank seem to be excited about.
  
  At the same time as this book, Green Ronin is also releasing another supplement called Mecha and Manga, which is supposed to be devoted to running anime-style campaigns. Sounds cool, but I'm not really into that. For those of you that are, of course, visit the mutants and masterminds web page, amazon.com, and Atomic Think Tank for more details.

Anyway, there is my up-coming reading list, assuming that I can get my hands on these book. When I do, expect reviews/articles about them.

My first DAZ render

Thanks to Greywulf for introducing me to the wonderful world of DAZ.

By looking at his tutorials and doing a bit of random experimenting of my own, here is Victoria, trying to fly like a superhero.

Through my own bumbling efforts, and looking around their website, it seems like the makers of DAZ are developing a tool to allow common people without masses of free time and training into the world of 3D imaging. It doesn't take much time or effort to do, and doesn't look 100% amazing, but the results are satisfying and look good enough to get a simple point across. Considering the above image took me about 10 minutes (less than the time taken to download and install the program), and cost me $0, I'm not unhappy.

Maestro out.

Kineticist Picture

Hey, thanks to Greywulf for this amazing render of my character, Jason the Kineticist:

In this post, an assassin is about to get his comeuppance, as described in the last post.

Thanks again Greywulf, you rock.

Play example: Jason the Kineticist and some poor assassins

Combatants:

• kineticist (as described in previous post)
  
• 2 assassins (as described and statted on page 226 of the core rulebook, except these guys are carrying katanas [+3 damage] and light pistols [+3 damage] rather than rifles)
  

Setting:

• Jason Randall's (aka. the kineticist) 15th floor inner-city apartment
  
• 7pm, dinner time
  

Jason sits down in front of the TV for yet another dinner. While flicking through one useless inane channel after another, he hears the microwave finish nuking his dinner. Leaning forward slightly so he can peer into the kitchen, he uses his powers to pop open the microwave and bring his dinner to him. (what? wouldn't you use your powers to be even lazier than you are? I would). At this point, he hears a door close in the other room.

Getting up to investigate, he reaches instinctively for the balaclava he keeps in his jacket pocket. Slipping it on over his glasses (custom-made to fit snugly against his face for this very purpose), he takes one more bite of his meal before pulling it down to his neck. He readies his mind to form a force field, while at the same time, crackles of living energy form around his hand, ready to throw a kinetic blast at any intruder (mechanically, just readying the force field). Pulling open the door to the next room, he peers inside.

Opposed stealth + notice checks ensue:

• Jason = notice 19+5 = 24
  
• assassin 1 = stealth 10+11 = 21
  
• assassin 1 = stealth 6+11 = 17
  

Jason bursts open the door, and sees two men dressed like ninjas rifling through the drawers in his bedroom.

Noone is surprised, so round 1 ensues. Jason uses non-lethal damage on the intruders so he can question them later. The assassins obviously attempt to use lethal damage.

Initiative:

• J = 12
  
• A1 = 14
  
• A2 = 18
  

Round 1:

• Jason uses his readied free action to activate his force field. A shimmering field of air surrounds him. His toughness save becomes +11 (10 impervious, bwahaha)
  
• The assassin to Jason's right (A2) turns around and draws his sword as he sees Jason enter the room. He draws his katana, leaps and swings wildly at Jason.
  
• Attack roll = 10 vs DC 15 (miss)
  
• The other assassin (A1) is across the room from Jason. He drops to one knee and fires off a few shots from his pistol.
  
• Attack roll = 24 vs DC 15 (hit)
  
• Toughness roll = since the forcefield is impervious 10, this is an automatic save
  
• The bullets ricochet harmlessly off Jason's shield
  
• Jason unleashes a kinetic blast on the nearest assassin (A2)
  
• Attack roll = 30 (natural 20, hit)
  
• Toughness roll = 5 (natural 1) vs DC 32 (normally 27, +5 from critical hit)
  
• Failure by> 15 = unconsciousness
  
• The assassin flies across the room, hitting his head on a bookshelf and losing consciousness immediately, slumping to the floor.
  

Round 2:

• Assassin A1 looks surprised at this turn of events, then suddenly turns, takes a run-up, and bursts out of the nearby window. As he falls, he uses a grappling gun to hook onto a neighbouring building's roof, and starts climbing up
  
• Jason says "I don't think so, buddy. It's not going to be that easy for you", and takes a running leap out of the window, activating his flight power as he does. He dives at the assassin, who is still climbing up the side of the building, and delivers his paralysis attack.
  
• Attack roll = 16 vs DC 15 (hit)
  
• Will save = 6 vs DC 22 (save failed by>5, so paralysis complete)
  

As the assassin fell, Jason swooped down and plucked him out of the air, taking him back to his apartment to tie to a chair.

The first thing the assassins saw when they awoke from their slumber was a gun to their face. "I think you'd better start talking before my friend here ..." Jason nodded at the gun "has some fun. Who do you work for?"

Note: This was going to be a short play example, but I got carried away. Ah, well. It was fun, and I learnt a lot about who actually rolls for what, and how powers work and so on. Please let me know if I've gotten anything wrong. I'm keen to learn from my mistakes.

Character Stats: Kineticist

Hey all. Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Suffice to say, I've been swamped since exams (studying for another one), not to mention preparing to get married. I think you have to be some sort of hero to just survive that .... Not just physically (heavy suits and dresses in potentially 30-40 degree weather), but mentally (dealing with photographers that won't call back, dress-makers that lose dresses, and so on). Let's just say I won't be sorry to just be married and move on. My fiance has been a whole lot of awesome about the whole thing. She's been organising it since January, and therefore there's actually surprisingly little for me to really do (just confirming things, and running around after musicians). So, yeah. Hopefully it'll all go well. November 30th = the big day.

Anyway, on to why you're actually here. I was thinking about doing a little actual play example, so I figured I'd create a quick and easy character to beat up some bad guys with. One of the beautiful things about M&M is the hero archetypes. It makes it so easy to build a character and customise it to your liking without hours and hours of prep time.

I have just been watching Heroes Season 1, so I had the idea of building a Kinetic Controller (aka. one of Sylar's powers). So, turning to page 18 of the core rulebook, and picking Kinetic Control as the energy control power, I have my ready-made hero. A bit of tweaking of abilities and skills (I wanted someone who relied more on reflexes and intelligence), and I'm done. This guy can blow your face off with a kinetic blast, deflect your bullets with a force-field, and fly away when he's done. For more infiltrative missions, he's got good computer use, and his Dex gives him a decent stealth.

So, here they are. All he needs is a back-story, a motivation and one of Greywulf's awesome DAZ renders, and he's good to go.

Kineticist, PL 10, 150pp

STR 12, DEX 20, CON 12, INT 16, WIS 12, CHA 10
Tough +11/+1 (without forcefield), Fort +6, Ref +14, Will +5
Attack +10, Defense +5, Init +5

Acrobatics +13, Computers +11, Concentration +9, Notice +5, Profession: Computer Engineer +5
Accurate Attack, All-out Attack, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Change, Acrobatic Bluff

Flight 6 (500mph)

Force field 10 (extra: impervious)

Immunity 5 (kinetic damage)

Kinetic Control 12 (DC 27, Feat: Accurate):

• AP: Paralyse 12
• AP: Telekinesis 12