CHARGEN and you~!

[Brian]

So, my work schedule's made it difficult for me to make myself appropriately availible lately, and for that I apologize.  Now, to begin with, everyone will have 100 character points to work with, and 30 CP of disads.  Sorry about the late start, so let's get crackin'.  Any questions, feel free to PM me.  We can start as soon as I get everyone's character.

[Edward]

Could you be less vague on what types of characters.  Are we talking funky martial artists, full-fledged superbeings, or what?

[Bjorn]

Do we have an Everyman package?

[Dracos]

Does Dr. Doom defeat Richards?

Dracos

[Brian]

Yeah, in retrospect, my sleep-deprivation post lacks logic.  (This is why I'm aiming for a comedic game. ;)

Okay.  To clarify and give a bit more structure:  You are super-heroes, or heroic beings of some kind.  It's up to you as players if you've got secret identities or are full-time superheroes, though I'd like everyone to be on the same page on that count (this isn't required, but may mean some players are going to have a harder time working some social situations).  (Side-note: Secret Identity does not count against your limitation limit, so keep this in mind; limit 20 CP on that.)

This means you can play mild-mannered Sam Guyes, who turns into the Whirlwind, a storm of devestation.  Or you could play Galactos, the 14-foot tall blue-skinned four-armed titan of Mars, sent to cleanse Earth of criminals.

As far as your character's backstory, think Silver/Golden age, and your reasons for coming to the city are your own, though you've generally responded to the announcement that the city is experiencing a wave of crime which needs to be shot down.

You also have everyman skills.

Standard everyman skills:
Paramedic
Kno: origin (either your own culture, or the area you first arrived)
Navigation

If you have a secret identity, you also get:
Professional skill (day job)
Knowledge skill (day job)
Transport Familiarity (common ground-based vehicles (not trucks/tractors) or motorcycles)

Perks must be discussed and approved individually; you're new to the area, so you probably can't have an established network of contacts, access, favors, etc.

Talents are generally okay -- I don't have a problem with people taking Danger Sense (though probably it doesn't make sense for the entire team to have it).

Powers are almost all okay, though I will suggest against powers which are unlikely to have any bearing on the campaign (FTL travel, for example).  In addition, remember that you're heroes, and heroes try not to kill people.  So you'll probably want EBs over RKAs.  For this scenario, since it's an advantage, the Does No Body modifier on EB is going to be treated as a +1/4th advantage instead of a +0.  Damage Reduction is a villain power, unless it's to something relatively limited (Ie., Fire, Electricity, Cold, and so on).  I'd like to veer away from VPPs in general, unless you as a player are confident you grasp the system well enough to handle it.  Multipowers are fine, but the same applies there.

Dr. Doom and Richards are in the champagne room, sipping their Roy Rogers and wondering if what Chris Rock said is true (it is).  After that they play Starcraft, and Doom's Protoss zealot rush anhilates all.

[Brian]

Oh yes, before I forget.  The City is giving you a headquarters, though it's pretty basic at the moment (it belongs to Captain Morris Ash (AKA, 'Captain Obvious', once known as "The Distr-Action!-Man") so you don't need to worry about mundane expenses like power, food, and water).  Anything else you'll need to account for, and I'd like to be able to have you all work on upgrading your base as the game progresses.

In addition, I didn't mention vehicles before, and I'd like to try and avoid them in general for the begining (though, if you'd like, you can get them later as a team).

Your base is unknown to the public (Despite Ash's prediliction for announcing everything), on the top five floors of the Globaltech Tower, about six blocks from the harbor, and a block and a half from the train-station.  The airport is on the opposite side of the city, but you've got a good view of Independence Stone, the rock carved long ago with the city's motto of, "Fleeing opression to find promises of better life" when the city was established, all those years ago.

The stone sits out in the harbor; there's a lighthouse atop it, and it's known to be the headquarters of the city's more well-established crime-fighting force.

[Brian]

Merc, Ragnar, if you don't know HERO (I don't think you do), PM me so I can send you a copy of the rulebook and walk you through CHARGEN, if you'd like.  I'll be free all day today, and most of tomorrow to assist, and you can find me in #void on IRC if you've got questions there (Though, I may be slow to reply since Notify is disabled ATM).

[Merc]

I'll poke you when I get home from work and had a bit of time to rest. I do have a rough idea on the sheet, and have some of it worked out (what I could figure out on my own, or at least -think- I've figured out).

EDIT: I'll try to reach you tomorrow evening. I got distracted once I got home and I guess I just logged onto your channel too late.

Requesting clarification after looking at Bjorn's sheets. Were we getting 100 points -plus- 30 points from disadvantage, or 100 points total -including- 30 points from disadvantages? I'd thought the first, but looking at Bjorn's sheets, he seems to have done 100 total?

[Brian]

You get 100 points plus thirty points of disads.  The sheet automatically deducts disads from your total (I was inspired that day; what can I say?).

[Merc]

You know, rather than trying to catch you, it's probably better to just say what I wanna be able to do so you can think on it for when I -can- catch you. I think I can manage with the non-powers part of chargen. The powers bit however confuses me, as I have no idea how the powers cost gets done, and I don't get that whole framework thing Bjorn put in his sheet, multipowers, how he did his alternate sheet on the gargoyle, or whatever.

I want someone with a secret identity who still has powers even in his civilian id (just doesn't show them off then), has energy wrapped punches, has a move that briefly paralyzes his opponents, can leap well (but not fly), and an energy blast that can only be used once a day and leaves him tired, but does a fair deal more damage than his punches. And uh...I guess I'll try to reach you over the weekend or something and see if you can explain how to pull that off.

Just to let it be said, the character is just the cheesiest stereotype of superhero. He poses as he enters battles, gives a dashing smile with glinting teeth that give off a ping and flash (this being the paralyzing move as people stare in awe at his brilliance!) before he start pummeling his oppenents. He dramatizes his battle in prose as he does the pummeling, forever immortalizing the battle in the heart of any bystanders that are there to hear him. And for those dangerous opponents that can't be pummeled into submission with his fists, there is always his energy blast attack, which he'll milk for all it's worth before unleashing it and subsequently saving the day (and possibly damaging much of the area in the backlash due to its uncontrollable power) causing him to laugh loudly in embarassment, while scratching his head and leaping off into the sky, up up and away!

In other words, he's a big freaking ham.

[Edward]

I'm not used to building Hero Pcs on these few of points.

Still, I expect to have something in the next day or two.

Um, how do I put a power that isn't in a framework on the character sheet?

And how do I do a Multipower framework with the character sheet?

[Brian]

If I put the character sheet together correctly, you put together powers that aren't in frameworks by just ignoring the first line (you can actually just use the 'cut' command in Excel).  As far as Multipowers, I'd honestly never considered them for .xls before.

I'm not sure if Excel has the flexibility to handle those.  I will investigate, however.  Hopefully soon. o_o

[Edward]

You also have everyman skills.

Standard everyman skills:
Paramedic
Kno: origin (either your own culture, or the area you first arrived)
Navigation

If you have a secret identity, you also get:
Professional skill (day job)
Knowledge skill (day job)
Transport Familiarity (common ground-based vehicles (not trucks/tractors) or motorcycles)

So no Acting, Climbing, Concealment, Conversation, Deduction, Persuasion, Shadowing, or Stealth as Everyman Skills?  (Again, I'm used to higher powered Hero stuff.  It feels odd to have a hero who can't improvise in these areas without putting points into it.)

Also are there any major ethnic neighborhoods in the city? (Chinatown, Little Italy, the barrio, etc.)

[Brian]

Nope.  Since half of our players are very new to the system, I'm going out of my way to make it simpler for them.  This isn't to say that at some point there may not be a time-skip/powerup to standard HERO levels.

As far as the ethnic districts, the city has all of those mentioned; Chinatown is a block or so from the harbor.  Little Italy is on the northern edge, the barrio is west, but closer to the heart of the city.  The wastes of suburbia sprawl to the south.

The district between Little Italty and the barrio is the slums, (about a mile and a half from your HQ), which is the highest crime district.

[Ragnar]

Dwight D. Eisenpower

Concerned with Vietcong activities in the Vietnam war, A secret government agency re-animated the body and soul of Dwight Eisenhower, 34th US president, to create a superhuman with the tactical abilities and experience of a war veteran. He was endowed with artificial strength, as well as limited energy abilities. Among these are the abilities to create a force shield to defend from attacks and the ability to send a fast wave of energy across the ground (think of Terry's Power Wave, stolen directly from Fatal Fury). He is able to jump long distances, but not to the "Superman" extent.

Unfortunately, by the time the experiment had come to fruition, Saigon had fallen and the US had ended all military action in Vietnam. After being transferred between government agencies and pensioned for a few years, he was finally dismissed from the government due to lack of need for a superhuman warrior. Wandering the US and fighting random crime, he eventually has made his way to [wherever this is].

He is usually a nice person, and very diplomatic. Since his resuscitation, however, he tends to be a bit more aggressive than before, and never hesitates to jump into battle when he must. He generally dislikes war, except when absolutely necessary, and the Military-Industrial Complex.
Dwight stands for Truth, Justice, the American Way, and enjoys cooking, riding motorcycles, and golf.