leons1701

There are relatively easy ways to post statblocks, but unfortunately, a lot of sheets either don't have a statblock section, don't generate it automatically, or DO generate it but it's clearly wrong. This is much more common as you get away from variants of the D20 system. I know fixing that is on the radar, but well, small staff of volunteers and all that, who knows when any given project will actually progress. Same goes for sheetrolls. It will happen someday, but that's little help right now.

I remember the ads in Dragon for Arduin, sadly, that's the entire extent of my experience with the game.

Yup, still plugging away in the background.

7th Sea. On the surface, swashbuckling/pirate adventure with a touch of magic, basically Pirates of the Carribean with the supernatural toned down a bit or Three Musketeers with it added. And you can play the game at that level and enjoy the heck out of it. But start digging into the setting, and hey, what's up with all these secret societies and ancient conspiracies and suddenly it's Rennaissance/early modern intrigue, which to be clear, is still pretty much in the swashbucking genre. Dig under that to the reasons behind all those conspiracies and stuff, and oh look, it's Cthulhu (not literally, but definitely eldritch horror). For obvious reasons, the metaplot is loved, tolerated and loathed in about equal proportions.

I know I've seen this, but my first thought is obviously wrong if Henson has nothing to do with it.

Zyrel (Ekujae Rogue)

AC: 21 | HP: 34/34 | Perception: +10 (Initiative +2) | F: 5 R: 12 W: 10 | Conditions: none| Class DC: 20| Spell DC: 19  | Sheet

"It does seem almost too convenient, doesn't it." Zyrel studies the door from a safe distance. "You say it calls you 'sometimes'. Is it calling you now?" While waiting for the answer, Zyrel looks for any sign of magic on the door itself.

If this actually succeeds, expect to see a LOT fewer games with any online function at all. Which, to be clear, doesn't really bother me, a lot of games right now don't really need the features they have (come on, does Diablo really NEED to be some sort of bastard MMO? That's FAR from the most outrageous example.) but is going to make a lot of people super salty. One nice thing, a possible return to the days when you could actually host an FPS game yourself (would be tough with the huge maps some games run on, but maybe the era of giant player counts is over for the moment?)

I thought it might be something I've seen, but now I rather doubt it.

I looked at that, but the sample is a 400/75 character, we're building 300/60 characters. Also, one character doesn't necessarily tell you if they're supposed to be on the high end of combat ability or just "average" (for a superhero, of course).

Looking at benchmarks, (50-60AP, average 20 PD/ED), what sort of OCV/DCV should we be shooting for?

1. What is your experience with the Hero System Rules?
First played was 3e (I think) about 1987 or so, immediately fell in love with the system, but also never really got to play it. A few campaigns here and there, mostly 4e, none of which lasted longer than 4-5 sessions. The main thing I've done with Hero is stat out LOTS of characters, both existing comic characters and my original creations.

2. What is your experience with PbP?
After my last RL group imploded due to geek drama, I was feeling the itch for something to take that place. CoH worked wonders for a bit, but it just wasn't the same thing and I went looking for online PbP. Found a couple of sites, but only MW and one other really clicked and it was MW I found the first games I got into on. Been a regular here ever since December 2006.

3. What is your Role-playing Experience (overall, PbP and otherwise)? And, what makes a game "good"?
First started "role-playing" around 1980 with some godawful cobbled together homebrewed system that played more like a weird cross between Talisman and Hack than anything Gygax would have recognized. Eventually we did get our hands on actual D&D material, unfortunately perhaps, it was just a Best of Dragon. It wasn't until I was in college in 1984 that I got to play an actual RPG designed by someone who had a least a vague clue what the whole thing was supposed to be (AD&D). Played a good bit of D&D, tried to build Palladium games into an actual system, played various oddball stuff like FASA Dr. Who (terrible game, but fun), learned Champions and GURPS and then promptly found myself in a new city surrounded by people who thought RPG's were the devil's work. Eventually got away from there and got back to playing, just in time for 3e and a massive local renaissance in gaming, at one point had as many as four weekly games going in a variety of systems from 3e D&D to BESM to V:tM. Have been almost entirely online since 2006 though, a few attempts to start something new never went anywhere because nobody had compatible schedules anymore.

The number one thing that makes a game "good" is the players (including the GM as a "player" of sorts), if everyone is insisting on their own thing and refusing to work together or create a coherent tone for the game, it's not going to work out, period. If players are interacting and bouncing ideas off each other and mostly playing on the same page, it's going to be fun.

4. Please link me a couple examples of your Roleplaying here at the Weave (preferred). If no examples, be sure to post an "RP" in the open RP thread (when I get one up) I'd like to see a sample of your game-style writing.

Beacon and avoiding Paragon's trams

5. Tell me about a couple of your favorite characters you've actually played (in PBP or even in TT) and why you enjoyed those characters so much.


6. Name (do not use the "mention" function) one or more players 'applying' for this game ("Shadows of the City") whom you would like to be accepted (Other than yourself, obviously you want to be accepted or you'd just withdraw) into this game and why you would like to play with them here. (example reasons. Good Character concept that fits well with yours, Played with them before and they are a good RPer, They are Helpful, whatever). Please be sure to put this response in a private tag for myself (if left blank, private tags are still viewable by the GM). Please use the Private tags. I don't want anyone's feelings to get hurt. Also, you may need to come back to this later after seeing who has applied.



7. Describe your desired character for me
Right now, I'm working on a Martial Artist brick, a fairly highly trained fighter with minor superhuman abilities in strength and toughness.

Info tracking

Background and such:

Jonny Chen is a Chinese-American, definite emphasis on American. He's a bit sensitive about that, he likes to point out that his great grandparents were almost all born in America. His family has been in Superior City for a long time, one of his great grandfathers may have been the first Asian to move there from the West Coast. While many of his ancestors assimilated quite well, the Wong's were fairly stubborn traditionalists in at least some matters, mostly pertaining to the family school of martial arts. Grandfather Wong is the most stubbornly traditional of all, when his only child turned out to be a daughter, he refused to teach her more than the absolute basics of the style due to the brutality of the full training. His grandson though, that was different matter.

Jonny doesn't really remember a time before he started training, because to Grandpa Wong, even a simple game of catch is a chance to train. Same with a walk in the park. Or pretty much anything. Oh, he didn't get any real fighting training until he was 5, before that it was just basic physical training, which really was mostly just slightly more formal play. At 13, he started the real training, the stuff his mother wasn't allowed to do (she has slightly mixed feelings about that, she's a modern, liberated woman, but that training is truly brutal and she's not at all sure whether she actually wanted it or just the ability to turn it down herself).

The Wong family style places a high priority on Iron Shirt training, it's a style designed for dealing with multiple foes (which is why it includes no grappling or sacrifice moves) and the ability to take a hit is deemed necessary to true mastery. The original founder of the style is reputed to have developed it to deal with an infestation of bandits near his remote village, whether this is true or not, family history definitely places the Wong's as either underdogs or sticking up for those who are. Often both at once. It is rumored that the sudden decision of great grandfather Wong to relocate to Sovereign City might have been due to vigilante activities frowned upon by polite (ie. white) society, though he never actually admitted to such. Grandpa Wong definitely took to the streets as a vigilante in the 60's and 70's when racial unrest and the "War on Drugs" brought chaos to the city's poorest neighborhoods. His wife was not entirely happy about his activities and used the birth of their daughter to convince him to focus on making a living instead, something he did quite well, rising to manager of the largest Asian grocery in Sovereign City before his retirement.

The Chens were much more American, Don Chen works for a small accounting firm as a CPA, his wife Jenny despite her father's protestations worked her way through college and became a schoolteacher. With two busy parents, Jonny was often left with his grandparents, usually the Wongs, his father's parents living in the far suburbs. This was of course ideal for training, not only physical, but cultural, historical and ethical. Jonny grew up knowing he had the opportunity and responsibility to protect those less able to protect themselves. In his school days, he quickly became known as the guy you did NOT want to see you bullying anyone, not so much for what he'd do to you but because you'd end up looking like a complete chump at best, barely able to lay a hand on him and when you did, getting taunts of "My grandpa hits harder than that," which was of course, completely true. It wasn't until after graduating though, that he made the momentous decision to fight crime more or less "full time".

It happened late one summer night when Jonny had been out with some friends and they managed to get slightly lost in Emmy Mours. Taking a "shortcut" through an alley for some necessary relief, they noticed a truck surrounded by shady characters unloading a number of obviously frightened young women. Considering that they were behind one of the shadiest clubs in town, the sort of place everyone had heard of but never knew anyone that would admit to going there and that said club was pretty widely reputed to be a brothel, it wasn't all that hard to draw some simple conclusions. Jonny and his friends managed to get away without being spotted, but not before Jonny recognized one of the characters around the truck as a particularly colorful resident of Chinatown with a reputation as a gangster. Dropping an anonymous tip to the police did exactly the expected, nothing, although the club suddenly closed, then popped up in a new location with a new name.

Several weeks later, another delivery of new "talent" was violently interrupted by a masked figure who tore through the thugs around the truck, scattered the "cargo" and then proceeded to smash in the back door of the club, thrash the bouncers and chase away both customers and "talent". Since that night, quite a few gang operations around Emmy Mours, Chinatown and the waterfront areas have been disrupted by the so called Iron Tiger.

Miscellaneous notes:

Jonny doesn't really have a Secret Identity, the mask is more about plausible deniability than trying to keep him from being known. As least some of the Chinatown gangsters have a pretty good idea who he is, the Iron Tiger style is reasonably identifiable and there aren't a lot of people Grandfather Wong might have taught his style.

Jonny has moved out of his parent's home, he rents a house with several friends. A cheap house in a rather run down neighborhood, it's nothing unusual, though the basement gym might raise a few eyebrows.

No problem with that. Don't know as I'd know more about Hudson than you, though I'll admit I CAN find my copy of Justice Not Law. Anyhow, every Champions GM worth a damn is a would be comic book writer. OK, most of the bad ones are too. Anyhow, exploring the setting is part of the fun.

Edit: just as important as where is WHEN. I'm assuming this is supposed to be the modern day (more or less anyhow) but of course the adventure was written in the 80's and doesn't assume things like "everybody carries a video camera in their pocket" or "Give me a minute or three at the computer and I'll tell you who owns Corporation X". How much any of that matters I don't know, but it's something to think about anyhow.

Ooh, I like that idea. Shades of Gladiator from Daredevil or Steeljack from the Tarnished Angel arc of Astro City.

Yeah, Chargen changes quite a bit with each edition, but the mechanics of play not much at all. I'd be fine with either edition.