Post by dorkknight23 on Sept 4, 2018 11:37:23 GMT -5
Professor Charles Xavier rolls himself to the Danger Room viewing screens. He always valued the irony of the name, one of Bobby’s bad jokes that just stuck. It really was a remarkably safe piece of equipment (at least after its most recent redesigns), a training simulacra of holograms and robotics designed to challenge the superhuman abilities of mutants in a way that prevented harm to themselves and the area around them, and developed their sense of teamwork just as much as it prepared them for a far more dangerous world beyond the walls of the Institute which bore his name.
The door slides open behind him, and the Professor doesn’t need to reach out with his mind to know who’s behind him before he rolls around, “Back so soon?”
Logan snorted, “Dead end. Trail got cold out of Madripoor, we recalled about an hour ago, ‘Bird just rolled in.” He lit a cigar.
“Filthy habit.”
“Not my filthiest, Chuck. New kids?”
“A promising bunch, what do you think?”
The Wolverine eyes them down from below, “They’re alright. But they ain’t X-Men. Not yet.”
“But we’ll see to that, won’t we?”
“Yeah, if they survive the experience…”
******
Anyone can be born a mutant, possessing the X-gene that grants them special powers far beyond those of any ordinary human being. Most mutants want to be left alone to live their lives in peace, whether coexisting among humanity or living separate from them, but a small minority of mutant supremacist terrorists like the Brotherhood of Mutants want humanity to bow before their new mutant masters. Similarly, while a majority of humans distrust or misunderstand mutants, only a handful of extremists like the Friends of Humanity (and their friends and co-conspirators in law enforcement and government) push for greater registration, control, or even elimination, of mutants. Fighting for a dream of peace between mutants and humans are the X-Men, a team founded and organized by Professor Charles Xavier and operating out of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters in upstate New York. The X-Men fight mutant terrorists and human extremists alike while training the next generation to control their powers and to apply them towards fighting for Xavier’s dream of tolerance and coexistence.
You are one of a group of new mutants recruited by the X-Men or Professor Xavier himself, brought to the Institute to train to control your powers. Unfortunately, mutant superpowers attract some of the many strange supernatural threats that swarm throughout the Marvel Universe (superheroes and villains, strange espionage groups like SHIELD, AIM, HYDRA, and Weapon X, as well as aliens, time travel, extra-dimensional or mystical invaders, and other high-concept science-fantasy rigamarole). These alongside killer Sentinel robots and human protesters may make field trips, class assignments, and the usual troubles of being a teen all the more difficult than usual.
General Setting Notes
This is explicitly not a “kids of current X-Men” game, although if an appropriately outlandish concept came about (probably one involving cloning or time travel or the like) I wouldn’t turn it down out of hand. I’m looking more for a general team of misfit adolescents struggling a bit in over their heads with the weirdness swirling around them, with some room for players who want to make more extremely sci-fi weirdos.
In terms of timeline, this won’t be drawn from the recent X-Men titles, but instead be a sort of vaguely “ultimate”-ish inspired setting, with a recently-revived Professor Xavier directing activities at the mansion and trying to coordinate the X-Men as a whole, a difficult task since the X-Men as a team will be very large here, broken up into multiple sub-teams on various missions at different times (Blue, Gold, Silver, etc.) with individual squad leaders (people like Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, etc.) I’m willing to avoid wide swaths of continuity for the sake of recent develops in the comics if they’re more convenient to feature or more fun for me personally to write (I might ignore the Old Man Logan version of the character in favor of a more “classic Wolverine” for example). Going to try and preserve elements I personally consider “iconic”: the mansion, Cerebro, the Danger Room, the Blackbird, etc. etc.
Mechanics/Character Creation
(A quick shorthand: A/A/M= Abilities/Actions/Modifiers)
The standard MURPG rules are in place, including the Durability/Health/Energy link, with some additional caveats built in to encourage certain types of characters. (Supplemental material will be allowed case-by-case, like select material from Spider-Man’s Guide to New York, etc.) To start off, every character is budgeted 30 stones, plus up to 10 stones in Challenges.
Sidebar: Transform Self
In addition, the following Actions and Modifiers are banned at start of play (but can potentially can be purchased in lieu of other benefits, as described below):
Other abilities, actions, and modifiers are restricted. At start of play they are limited, and the A/A/M Number they are limited as follows:
Unless chosen as part of a power set, all other “super-powers” (Flight, Force Blast, etc.) are generally completely unavailable. The limits on these restrictions can be increased by being selected as part of your Mutant Power Set (described below).
Mutant Power Set:
Mutants are wildly diverse in terms of both power level and number of powers. Every mutant has a primary power, either an enhanced Ability, an Action, or even a Modifier. Some mutants have secondary and tertiary powers as well, but it’s increasingly counterproductive.
A mutant’s primary powers gets a -1 discount to cost level. It has to be between AN/MN 5 to 9 (or is a modifier costs that normally costs more than 6 stones, like Duplicate Self, Copy A/A/M, etc.). If, like Cyclops, you only have one power, your primary power gets an additional -2 discount to cost (total -3). Remember: you can’t discount anything more than half AN cost, or below 1 red stone.
A mutant’s secondary powers are available at no discount to cost level. They have to be between AN/MN 3 to 5. You can start play with up to 4 secondary powers; if you only select 2 secondary powers, both gain a -1 discount.
Tertiary powers are any additional superhuman powers, and each one purchased has a +1 increase to cost level. They can be between AN/MN 1 to 3. No limit on number of tertiary powers beyond the limits of your 30-stone budget.
Treat discounts to Modifiers as an equivalent CL decrease of an action. Example: If the character has Duplicate Self as is his only power, the cost would be only 15 white stones (30 stones is the equivalent of a total CL 13, -1 for being his primary power, -2 for being his sole power, reduces it to CL 10, or 15w).
In this game, mutant characters gain +1 bonus stone for having the Non-Human Appearance challenge at any level or +1 bonus stone for Needs Attachment to Stay Alive/Use Power (so, these are effectively valued 3-5 and 2-6, respectively, depending on severity; “Can Appear Human” is explicitly worth 3 stones and implies that either your “base” form appears nonhuman or any power uses trigger something akin to Non-Human Appearance 2). These bonus stones can be in excess of the 10 stone limit on Challenges.
Each character also gets a backstory-relevant perk chosen from one of the following:
* Unban a single banned action. Only limited by budget in terms of AN, must pay for it normally.
* Increase the limit of 2 Restricted Actions by 1; you must pay for all increases normally.
* Create a “Weird Character” as described below.
“Weird Characters” (The Warlock Rule)
Not all X-Men over the years have been human mutants (ex.’s Warlock, Longshot, Omega Sentinel, etc.) or were human hybrids (Namor), and not all students at the Xavier Institute have been either. Some mutations have even been triggered by exposure to mutagenic chemicals, like the Mimic or Cloak and Dagger; or perhaps your mutant character was exposed to additional experimentation from Weapon X or a similar organization. If your character’s backstory is similarly littered with such peculiarities, they can express that in the following ways:
* Must take 5 “additional” stones in challenges; these stones do not provide actual additional character creation stones, but to make your life more difficult/balance out additional bonuses.
* Either: Construct a second thematically appropriate Power Set to describe your special circumstances (examples: Skrull; Kree; Kymellian; Technarchy; Weapon X Experimentation; Rogue Sentinel; Human-Atlantean Hybrid; Human-Shi’ar Hybrid; Time Traveller; Mojovision Contract Star; Demon Sorceress; etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum). You cannot select any powers or skills that you’ve already selected as part of your mutant power set.
OR: 3 total unbannings/increased limits in combination (3 increased limits, 3 unbanned powers, or any combination in-between [2 of one, 1 of the other; cannot stack]) You cannot select any powers or skills that you’ve already selected as part of your mutant power set.
OR: an additional -1 discount to your primary mutant power.
All characters must explicitly be mutants, either by possession of a detectable X-Gene or by being appropriately “variant” from their baseline (cf. Warlock).
I always end up wanting to take on more X-Men than I can handle, so I’m going to set a hard limit here. I want six players; no more, no less. PM me with your sheets, if you want to just keep me aware of your progress with requests for questions/comments/feedback, I’m always interested (if not always immediately available). Any general discussion/comments/etc. I'm happy to handle here as well.
The door slides open behind him, and the Professor doesn’t need to reach out with his mind to know who’s behind him before he rolls around, “Back so soon?”
Logan snorted, “Dead end. Trail got cold out of Madripoor, we recalled about an hour ago, ‘Bird just rolled in.” He lit a cigar.
“Filthy habit.”
“Not my filthiest, Chuck. New kids?”
“A promising bunch, what do you think?”
The Wolverine eyes them down from below, “They’re alright. But they ain’t X-Men. Not yet.”
“But we’ll see to that, won’t we?”
“Yeah, if they survive the experience…”
******
Anyone can be born a mutant, possessing the X-gene that grants them special powers far beyond those of any ordinary human being. Most mutants want to be left alone to live their lives in peace, whether coexisting among humanity or living separate from them, but a small minority of mutant supremacist terrorists like the Brotherhood of Mutants want humanity to bow before their new mutant masters. Similarly, while a majority of humans distrust or misunderstand mutants, only a handful of extremists like the Friends of Humanity (and their friends and co-conspirators in law enforcement and government) push for greater registration, control, or even elimination, of mutants. Fighting for a dream of peace between mutants and humans are the X-Men, a team founded and organized by Professor Charles Xavier and operating out of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters in upstate New York. The X-Men fight mutant terrorists and human extremists alike while training the next generation to control their powers and to apply them towards fighting for Xavier’s dream of tolerance and coexistence.
You are one of a group of new mutants recruited by the X-Men or Professor Xavier himself, brought to the Institute to train to control your powers. Unfortunately, mutant superpowers attract some of the many strange supernatural threats that swarm throughout the Marvel Universe (superheroes and villains, strange espionage groups like SHIELD, AIM, HYDRA, and Weapon X, as well as aliens, time travel, extra-dimensional or mystical invaders, and other high-concept science-fantasy rigamarole). These alongside killer Sentinel robots and human protesters may make field trips, class assignments, and the usual troubles of being a teen all the more difficult than usual.
General Setting Notes
This is explicitly not a “kids of current X-Men” game, although if an appropriately outlandish concept came about (probably one involving cloning or time travel or the like) I wouldn’t turn it down out of hand. I’m looking more for a general team of misfit adolescents struggling a bit in over their heads with the weirdness swirling around them, with some room for players who want to make more extremely sci-fi weirdos.
In terms of timeline, this won’t be drawn from the recent X-Men titles, but instead be a sort of vaguely “ultimate”-ish inspired setting, with a recently-revived Professor Xavier directing activities at the mansion and trying to coordinate the X-Men as a whole, a difficult task since the X-Men as a team will be very large here, broken up into multiple sub-teams on various missions at different times (Blue, Gold, Silver, etc.) with individual squad leaders (people like Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, etc.) I’m willing to avoid wide swaths of continuity for the sake of recent develops in the comics if they’re more convenient to feature or more fun for me personally to write (I might ignore the Old Man Logan version of the character in favor of a more “classic Wolverine” for example). Going to try and preserve elements I personally consider “iconic”: the mansion, Cerebro, the Danger Room, the Blackbird, etc. etc.
Mechanics/Character Creation
(A quick shorthand: A/A/M= Abilities/Actions/Modifiers)
The standard MURPG rules are in place, including the Durability/Health/Energy link, with some additional caveats built in to encourage certain types of characters. (Supplemental material will be allowed case-by-case, like select material from Spider-Man’s Guide to New York, etc.) To start off, every character is budgeted 30 stones, plus up to 10 stones in Challenges.
Sidebar: Transform Self
Transform Self as written doesn’t quite work for my purposes. This modifier is intended to take its place. Characters with Transform Self can transition between their “base” form and a “powered form” as a single full-panel action, and cannot use powered form actions until the following page. At character creation, the base form explicitly should cost less than the powered one. All base form abilities/actions/modifiers are purchased at CL -2, minimum half AN or 1 red stone, all powered form. Characters can “link” actions that are shared by increasing the cost of the base form’s A/A/M by +1 (effectively -1 to base form); character must keep at least 2 A/A/M unlinked. Characters must still abide by the 9 action box limit between forms.
Options:
Faster Transformations: Increase all A/A/M for the powered form by +1, can use powered A/A/M same panel you transform (but must still dedicate an action to transforming).
Multiple Forms: For characters with transitory forms or multiple different states, increase the cost of all Powered Form A/A/M by +2 to Cost Level. You may take the total cost of your powered form and re-divide them between subsequent forms (overlapping action boxes where appropriate). 2 forms minimum, maximum 5.
Omnimorph: Costs 10+X stones. May transform into an infinite number of powered forms within X stones. Designing multiple forms pre-session recommended, as many as necessary.
If “Transform Self” is your primary mutant power, ALL powered form A/A/M costs are at -1 cost, but this does not discount any base cost or linked A/A/M. If Omnimorph is selected and discounted, reduce to 5+X.
Options:
Faster Transformations: Increase all A/A/M for the powered form by +1, can use powered A/A/M same panel you transform (but must still dedicate an action to transforming).
Multiple Forms: For characters with transitory forms or multiple different states, increase the cost of all Powered Form A/A/M by +2 to Cost Level. You may take the total cost of your powered form and re-divide them between subsequent forms (overlapping action boxes where appropriate). 2 forms minimum, maximum 5.
Omnimorph: Costs 10+X stones. May transform into an infinite number of powered forms within X stones. Designing multiple forms pre-session recommended, as many as necessary.
If “Transform Self” is your primary mutant power, ALL powered form A/A/M costs are at -1 cost, but this does not discount any base cost or linked A/A/M. If Omnimorph is selected and discounted, reduce to 5+X.
In addition, the following Actions and Modifiers are banned at start of play (but can potentially can be purchased in lieu of other benefits, as described below):
Black Ops, Genetic Engineering, Inventing, Ninja, Psychiatry, Statecraft, Mastery of Magic (and all affiliated actions: Sorcery, Summoning, Magical Travel, Witchcraft, Voodoo, etc.), Powered Armor/Cybernetics (and all affiliated robot-specific actions/modifiers), Blasting, Manipulate Mutagenic Fields, Psychocentric Power Template
Other abilities, actions, and modifiers are restricted. At start of play they are limited, and the A/A/M Number they are limited as follows:
Intelligence (9), Strength (3), Agility (3), Speed (3), Durability (3), Acrobatics (2), Animal Training (2), Close Combat (2), Computers (2), Gambling (2), General Knowledge (2), Healing, Medical (2), Horsemanship (2), Hunting/Tracking (2), Leadership (2), Private Investigating (2), Ranged Combat (2), Social Skills (2), Technology (2), Thieving (2), Vehicle Operations (2); Luck (Personal) (Good only, max +1), Mental Defense (+2), Toughness (+2), Translation (Normal only)
Unless chosen as part of a power set, all other “super-powers” (Flight, Force Blast, etc.) are generally completely unavailable. The limits on these restrictions can be increased by being selected as part of your Mutant Power Set (described below).
Mutant Power Set:
Mutants are wildly diverse in terms of both power level and number of powers. Every mutant has a primary power, either an enhanced Ability, an Action, or even a Modifier. Some mutants have secondary and tertiary powers as well, but it’s increasingly counterproductive.
A mutant’s primary powers gets a -1 discount to cost level. It has to be between AN/MN 5 to 9 (or is a modifier costs that normally costs more than 6 stones, like Duplicate Self, Copy A/A/M, etc.). If, like Cyclops, you only have one power, your primary power gets an additional -2 discount to cost (total -3). Remember: you can’t discount anything more than half AN cost, or below 1 red stone.
A mutant’s secondary powers are available at no discount to cost level. They have to be between AN/MN 3 to 5. You can start play with up to 4 secondary powers; if you only select 2 secondary powers, both gain a -1 discount.
Tertiary powers are any additional superhuman powers, and each one purchased has a +1 increase to cost level. They can be between AN/MN 1 to 3. No limit on number of tertiary powers beyond the limits of your 30-stone budget.
Treat discounts to Modifiers as an equivalent CL decrease of an action. Example: If the character has Duplicate Self as is his only power, the cost would be only 15 white stones (30 stones is the equivalent of a total CL 13, -1 for being his primary power, -2 for being his sole power, reduces it to CL 10, or 15w).
In this game, mutant characters gain +1 bonus stone for having the Non-Human Appearance challenge at any level or +1 bonus stone for Needs Attachment to Stay Alive/Use Power (so, these are effectively valued 3-5 and 2-6, respectively, depending on severity; “Can Appear Human” is explicitly worth 3 stones and implies that either your “base” form appears nonhuman or any power uses trigger something akin to Non-Human Appearance 2). These bonus stones can be in excess of the 10 stone limit on Challenges.
Each character also gets a backstory-relevant perk chosen from one of the following:
* Unban a single banned action. Only limited by budget in terms of AN, must pay for it normally.
* Increase the limit of 2 Restricted Actions by 1; you must pay for all increases normally.
* Create a “Weird Character” as described below.
“Weird Characters” (The Warlock Rule)
Not all X-Men over the years have been human mutants (ex.’s Warlock, Longshot, Omega Sentinel, etc.) or were human hybrids (Namor), and not all students at the Xavier Institute have been either. Some mutations have even been triggered by exposure to mutagenic chemicals, like the Mimic or Cloak and Dagger; or perhaps your mutant character was exposed to additional experimentation from Weapon X or a similar organization. If your character’s backstory is similarly littered with such peculiarities, they can express that in the following ways:
* Must take 5 “additional” stones in challenges; these stones do not provide actual additional character creation stones, but to make your life more difficult/balance out additional bonuses.
* Either: Construct a second thematically appropriate Power Set to describe your special circumstances (examples: Skrull; Kree; Kymellian; Technarchy; Weapon X Experimentation; Rogue Sentinel; Human-Atlantean Hybrid; Human-Shi’ar Hybrid; Time Traveller; Mojovision Contract Star; Demon Sorceress; etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum). You cannot select any powers or skills that you’ve already selected as part of your mutant power set.
OR: 3 total unbannings/increased limits in combination (3 increased limits, 3 unbanned powers, or any combination in-between [2 of one, 1 of the other; cannot stack]) You cannot select any powers or skills that you’ve already selected as part of your mutant power set.
OR: an additional -1 discount to your primary mutant power.
All characters must explicitly be mutants, either by possession of a detectable X-Gene or by being appropriately “variant” from their baseline (cf. Warlock).
I always end up wanting to take on more X-Men than I can handle, so I’m going to set a hard limit here. I want six players; no more, no less. PM me with your sheets, if you want to just keep me aware of your progress with requests for questions/comments/feedback, I’m always interested (if not always immediately available). Any general discussion/comments/etc. I'm happy to handle here as well.