Insight's Emerald City Knights - OOC

WELCOME TO EMERALD CITY KNIGHTS!
This thread will serve to recruit players to my effort to run the Emerald City Knights series from Green Ronin. This series is designed for 3rd edition Mutants & Masterminds. Emerald City Knights is released in installments (like an adventure path, if you are familiar with the term) and introduces the Emerald City setting, which is essentially a 3rd edition version of what Freedom City was to 1st and 2nd edition Mutants & Masterminds.

The first adventure is the prologue, "The Silver Storm". Once that is completed, we will move on to the first full adventure.

PLAYERS
I am looking for players who can commit to completing a short adventure over a period of a few months. Consistent role-playing is essential, as is a fundamental understanding of not only the 3rd edition Mutants & Masterminds system, but superhero gaming in general. Those who have played any version of Mutants & Masterminds will probably be OK with a slight adjustment.

I am giving preference to players who are refugees from my recently-defunct Secret Wars game.

I'll accept up to 6 players.

CHARACTERS
The game will be played with 4 - 6 PL 10 characters, built using the 3rd edition Mutants & Masterminds rules. Unless otherwise specified, the characters (and the game itself) will use the rules as published in the "Hero's Handbook"; other sources are not being used at this time. I do, however, reserve the right to add resources to the game as warranted.

DO NOT BUILD PL 10 CHARACTERS... YET!

To start the initial adventure, "The Silver Storm", all of our heroes are ordinary folk. They will be built as PL 5, with 75pp. They are exceptional, but normal, people. They do not have any powers. Their abilities are capped at +5 (and really, unless there is a really strong justification for it, characters should have mostly +2s and +3s, maybe a +4 here and there). Advantages should be limited to things "normal" people have. Defenses should likewise be appropriate for "normal" people.

But DO NOT FEAR - your characters will not be NORMAL for long!

Once the adventure gets going, your characters will be transformed into supers! The way this will work is that, during the course of the initial adventure, your characters will each receive 75pp to spend on whatever you want to make your character SUPER! Then, the characters will get to roleplay figuring out what to do with their new capabilities.

So, to submit for this game, I would like to see a 75pp character that is NORMAL - without any powers or crazy advantages (per the above). You can also submit a "Super" version of the same character, with all 150pp applied. This is NOT required however; I would not mind players making those decisions when the time comes.

Because the characters are being "transformed" into supers, certain character concepts may not make much sense. The immediate example of something that may not work is an armored suit / gadgeteer character. Certainly, a character can be transformed into a "supra-genius" that could design and build such things, but that character would be at a disadvantage until they had a chance to build their gear. "Supernatural" characters such as wizards, witches, angels, devils, vampires, werewolves, and so forth are also nigh unworkable for this game (most of these characters would be inappropriate for tone reasons, anyway - see below).

You do NOT need to submit a lengthy back story for this game. After all, to this point, your characters are "normal" and have probably not done anything very impressive anyway. This is not to say that your character should not have ANY background - a paragraph is probably sufficient.

GAME TONE
Keep in mind that "Emerald City Knights" is a fairly "four-color" game. There should be no anti-heroes or loners. Characters should not be killing machines or psychopaths. The characters, once made super, should be ones that can work together to defeat the evil that faces the city and its populace.

Good guys and bad guys are going to be fairly easy to spot. This is not a conspiratorial game, and you should not expect plot surprises/twists to be jumping out at you from every corner. This is a straight-forward game, but it IS a superhero game - expect interesting things to be happening!

POSTING FREQUENCY
My goal is to complete "The Silver Storm", the first adventure (sort of an introductory thing) within a few months. It is not an especially long adventure and is meant to get players into the greater action of this series.

To whit, I would like to get a posting frequency of 1-2 a week from each player (and myself!). Players who vanish for some period of time will be skipped. This is to keep the game from bogging down.

If I need to take a break for some reason - vacation, increased work load, etc - I will post a notice with an expected time to resume normal posting.

*** RECRUITMENT HAS ENDED ***

*** GAME WILL START BY JULY 1st, 2012 ***

The RG has been started.

Greyhound

James Marks never lived an ordinary life. Coming from a poor family in a bad part of the town, it was only a question of time before he was convicted for gang-related crimes.
But he was lucky. The man, Jonathan, who beat him and the others as they tried to mug him sensed in his moves not only potential for greatness, but also that he was holding back, trying not to permanently hurt an innocent man.
As a martial arts instructor in a local dojo, he offered him training and shelter. James was soon good in many styles, but excelled in the Phillipinian stick-fighting art Escrima. Jonathan finally offered him a job as junior instructor.

[sblock=67PP Sheet]
STRENGTH 2
AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 5
AWARENESS 1
STAMINA 3
DEXTERITY 3
INTELLECT 0
PRESENCE 0


POWERS

ADVANTAGES
Agile Feint, Equipment 1, Instant Up, Luck 1, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge

EQUIPMENT (5 total)
Utility (Cellphone, Commlink, GPS) 3
Protective Gear (Protection 2) 2

SKILLS
Acrobatics 4 (+8), Athletics 6 (+8), Close Combat: Batons 5 (+10) Intimidate 8 (+8), Expertise: (Martial Arts) 5 (+5), Perception 8 (+9)

OFFENSE
INITIATIVE +4
Throw +3 Ranged, Damage 2

DEFENSE
DODGE 4 FORTITUDE 5
PARRY 5 TOUGHNESS 5/3*
WILL 5 *Without Protective Gear

COMPLICATIONS
Identity: James 'Jim' Marks
Motivation: Justice
Power Loss: It is nearly impossible to disarm James, but it does happen.
Reputation: Using to much violence against 'normal' criminals

Power Point Summary: Abilities 36 PP + Defense 6 PP + Skills 18 PP + Advantages 7 PP + Powers 0 PP = 67 PP

[/sblock]

[sblock=Current Power-Up]
STRENGTH 2
AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 5 (8)
AWARENESS 1
STAMINA 3
DEXTERITY 3
INTELLECT 0
PRESENCE 0


POWERS
Fast Martial Arts: Enhanced Dodge 4, Enhanced Fighting 3 • 10 points

Super-Speed:
Quick Reaction: Enhanced Initiative 2 • 2 points
Super Movement: Quickness 4, Speed 6 • 10 points
• Super Recovery: Regeneration 5 (persistent) • 1 point

Enhanced Fortitude 2 & Will 2 • 4 points


ADVANTAGES
Agile Feint, Equipment 1, Improved Initiative 2, Instant Up, Luck 1, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge

EQUIPMENT (5 total)
Utility (Cellphone, Commlink, GPS) 3
Protective Gear (Protection 2) 2

SKILLS
Acrobatics 4 (+8), Athletics 6 (+8), Close Combat: Batons 8(+13) Intimidate 8 (+8), Expertise: (Martial Arts) 5 (+5), Perception 8 (+9)

OFFENSE
INITIATIVE +14
Throw +3 Ranged, Damage 2

DEFENSE
DODGE 8 FORTITUDE 7
PARRY 8 TOUGHNESS 5/3*
WILL 7 *Without Protective Gear

COMPLICATIONS
Identity: James 'Jim' Marks
Motivation: Justice
Power Loss: It is nearly impossible to disarm James, but it does happen.
Reputation: Using to much violence against 'normal' criminals

Power Point Summary: Abilities 36 PP + Defense 6 PP + Skills 18 PP + Advantages 7 PP + Powers 27 PP = 94 PP
[/sblock]

[sblock=150 PP Superhero]


STRENGTH 2
AGILITY 4
FIGHTING (5) 10
AWARENESS 1
STAMINA 3
DEXTERITY 3
INTELLECT 0
PRESENCE 0


POWERS
Fast Attack: Damage 1, Strength-based, Multiattack and Penetrating on 5 Damage • 11 points
• Damage 1, Strength-based, Burst Area and Selective on 5 Damage • 1 point

Fast Martial Arts: Enhanced Dodge 11, Enhanced Parry 5, Enhanced Fighting 5 • 26 points

Super-Speed:
Quick Reaction: Enhanced Initiative 3 • 3 points
Super Movement: Quickness 10, Speed 15 (64,000 MPH)• 25 points
• Super Recovery: Regeneration 10 (persistent) • 1 point

Run On Water: Movement 1 (Water Walking), Limited to While Moving • 1 point

Run Through Walls: Movement 1 (Permeate 1), Limited to While Moving • 1 points

Run Up Walls: Movement 2 (Wall-crawling 2), Limited to While Moving • 2 points

Clubs: Strength based damage 2 • 2 points

ADVANTAGES
Agile Feint, Equipment 1, Improved Initiative 3, Instant Up, Luck 1, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge

EQUIPMENT (5 total)
Utility (Cellphone, Commlink, GPS) 3
Armored Costume (Protection 2) 2

SKILLS
Acrobatics 4 (+8), Athletics 6 (+8), Close Combat: Batons 5 (+15) Intimidate 8 (+8), Expertise: (Martial Arts) 5 (+5), Perception 8 (+9)

OFFENSE
INITIATIVE +16
Throw +3 Ranged, Damage 2
Fast Attack +15 Close, Damage 5, Multiattack 5, Penetrating 5
DEFENSE
DODGE 15 FORTITUDE 10
PARRY 15 TOUGHNESS 5/3*
WILL 10 *Without Costume

COMPLICATIONS
Identity: James 'Jim' Marks
Motivation: Justice
Power Loss: It is nearly impossible to disarm James, but it does happen.
Reputation: Using to much violence against 'normal' criminals

Power Point Summary: Abilities 36 PP + Defense 16 PP + Skills 18 PP + Advantages 7 PP + Powers 73 PP = 150 PP
[/sblock]

WD -

It looks all right. 2 things -

1. Is he a cop or in the military or something? Otherwise, his skills and advantages are seriously out of place for a "normal" person.

2. That initiative bonus looks pretty high for someone who isn't a superhero.

Insight said:

WD -

It looks all right. 2 things -

1. Is he a cop or in the military or something? Otherwise, his skills and advantages are seriously out of place for a "normal" person.

2. That initiative bonus looks pretty high for someone who isn't a superhero.

Click to expand...

His background has him as a martial arts instructor. Initiative is just wrong, I forgot to subtract the bonus he got from Improved initiative advantage, which I bought as an enhanced trait.

Hmm. I'm a little disappointed in not seeing more interest for this.

William Elzmyr, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Athletic, smart, good looking, he had everything. Captain of the football team, honour roll student, even dating the prom queen... Until the accident.
Will was a party boy, and by his senior year, his parties tended to include the latest designer drugs. It was after one such party, when he and some friends were out joyriding, that he crashed his car, killing his girlfriend and one of his friends. His family's standing and wealth managed to keep him out of jail, but by the time he got out of intensive care, he was determined to turn over a new leaf, and find some way to redeem himself.


There are lots of different powers I'd like to play, but I decided to make Will just a straight up 'person' for now, and worry about powers later, seems more fitting that way. I can alter the background if its a little too dark for your 4-color game, but I don't think it's too bad.

[sblock=Will]
William Elzmyr - PL5 (75PP)

Abilities: (30 pp)
STR 1 (2 pp)
STA 2 (4 pp)
DEX 2 (4 pp)
AGI 2 (4 pp)
FGT 1 (2 pp)
INT 3 (6 pp)
AWE 2 (4 pp)
PRE 2 (4 pp)

Offenses:
Initiative: +2 (2 agi)
Melee Attack: +1 (1 fgt)
Ranged Attack: +2 (2 dex)

Defenses: (10pp)
Dodge: 4 (2 base + 2 agi)
Parry: 3 (2 base + 1 fgt)
Toughness: 2 (2 sta)
Fort: 4 (3 base + 1 sta)
Will: 5 (3 base + 2 awe)

Skills: (50 ranks= 25pp)
Acrobatics(+5/3), Athletics(+10/9), Insight(+10/8), Perception(+10/8), Persuassion(+12/10), Technology(+5/2)
Expertise: Business, Current Events, History, Law, Music, Philosophy, Politics, Psychiatry, Science, Sociology (+4/1)

Advantages: (10pp)
Attractive, Benefit: Wealth 2, Connected, Equipment 2, Interpose, Leadership, Luck 2,

Complications:
Motivation: Redemption - Will was handed everything and messed up big, and now he wants to redeem himself.
Addiction - Will is a recovering Drug addict.
Guilt - Will is still feeling the guilt of his accident.
Responsibility.

COST: 30 Abilities + 25 Skills + 10 Advantages + 10 Defenses = 75/75[/sblock]

I may drop some of his Expertise's for other stuff later, but it's good for now.

Perhaps try adding *Recruiting* tag to the title to try drawing people in?

Jemal said:

Perhaps try adding *Recruiting* tag to the title to try drawing people in?

Click to expand...

Good idea!

Done.

Just a note, my "Greyhound" will be as much a psychopath and a loner as the JLA Batman.

I'm interested in joining please. Thinking of a shapeshifter tanky like guy for powers if that's okay with everyone. I'll get to making the 75 point normal person asap.