The League (LL) (PbP) (No Longer Recruiting)

...Actually. I might as well get the tragic news out now.

I can't run this.

Between Real Life (vacation notwithstanding), My Little Warehouse, and other projects, I don't have the time or creative energy to keep up here. I thought I could; I have proven myself wrong.

If someone else wants to give it a whirl, by all means! I'll try and send you my notes (I must confess I don't have too many.) But I can't carry on with it anymore.

Notching the Hangman's tree. Well I guess I'm gonna see about porting Phoenix's cool unique abilities here into him in the other game.

You know what we should do? Just RP. No DM required, just regular everyday Slice of Life stuff between our characters. Despite the many times something like that has been proposed, it hasn't happened yet, and I'd like to get some mileage out of this setting.

Well, I already stoleborrowed one game idea from you...

Seriously though, I'd like it if someone could pick the game back up, but I already have a lot on my plate with what I got now.

I almost feel like taking the blame. Campaigns I'm in tend not to last. And I really wanted to play as opposed to GM since I'm GM for enough campaigns as is.

ZamuelNow wrote:Campaigns I'm in tend not to last.

Unless you're playing the Element of Honesty?

Well, (God, I feel awkward suggesting this)if you want to play in something, Discordian Promise still needs a Laughter user.
 

We rewrite our character sheets and turn this into a game of Nobilis.

All those in favor say "Lord Entropy is a big jerk"!

So erm...hi guys.

It's been quite a while since this originally started but I was contemplating starting it up as GM. Thing is, I'm wondering who would even be interested in joining.  Some things like the base premise would remain the same while some mechanics would get heavy shakeups. I'm crazy to be contemplating GMing yet another campaign but I'm getting ideas.

I'm 100% ok with this game starting up again, because this was a fun remodeling of one of my characters that I (as usual) didn't get to see fulfilled. That said, I'd REALLY like to not have to remake a character sheet yet again.

I guess I'd be game too.

A1C Bronymous wrote:I'd REALLY like to not have to remake a character sheet yet again.

I'm sorry.

Alright, here are the things that would likely change:

-Coin flip between between WL's combat system and a modified version of the LL system.  WL combat would be because it's easier for me to build enemies for since the math is smoother.  LL combat would mirror the stuff I've standardized across most of my campaigns--bring all 8 instead of pick 5, 50 HP, Fatal HP instead of losing pips or going comatose, Sunbeam's rebalanced special's are allowed.  I feel both options have merits so I'll actually leave this to majority vote between the two.
-Keeping things on LL Abilities but lowering the starting points from 30 to 21.  The reasoning is that the 9 would be distributed across the leveling curve.  Makes GM planning easier and gives level ups more worth.  Now that I've been GMing in the system a bit, I now err on the side of leveling pbp campaigns faster.  Especially going from lvl 1 to lvl 2.  I feel this has tons of merit but this is the least likely to be implemented out of all of these due to there being preexisting builds.
-While it would be LL Abilities, switching over to WL's skill block.  Skill/Defenses split is so much cleaner, dropping Attributes increases flexibility, and I'm not the biggest fan of the current LL skill list in comparison.  I do know this effects things like Yee-Haw and I have thoughts on how to deal with that.

I will note that things will be reset instead of starting back at the same point the last one left out on.  In fact, a new thread would be made since it would be a clean slate. Still, I'm up for discussion on things before it gets started.

Hmmm, considering how Serena was built, would probably need to do some heavy rebuilding anyway

Well Silent Fractures is currently running a similar deal, WL skills and PT abilities, and the two consolidate pretty well once you work out the obvious stuff. As for combat, I'm all for retaining LL, simply because its less work and what we're all already familiar with.

That said, I do have a particularly neat Wanderlust DPS build that I'm putting into another character, so I suppose I don't have to work TOO hard to avenge combat.

The really difficult part would be cutting down the Abilities. But it could be done.

A1C Bronymous wrote:Well Silent Fractures is currently running a similar deal, WL skills and PT abilities, and the two consolidate pretty well once you work out the obvious stuff.

Yeah, one of the nicer strengths of the in combat/out of combat split is just how modular the system is.

The really difficult part would be cutting down the Abilities. But it could be done.

Glancing at things, the one who I think would be hurt the most would probably be Sunset Wolf if Copper Rose were rejoining due to the mix of size changing, shape shifting, and flight. Though I think it's reworkable with key tweaks.

Well she'll be back solidly on Friday, so I wouldn't expect an answer on that question until at least then.

Caveat:

I would definitely be interested in coming back as Dr. Cal, but I understand if you'd rather I build something new, considering what an...abrasive sort he was.

Dr Cal abrasive? No...

In seriousness, I assumed people would probably want to play their previous characters so I'm fine with him returning.  That said, my primary issue is his lack of superness.  Not that I have problems with handicapped super geniuses (I think Oracle is kinda awesome) but he lacked any sort of secret identity or code name.  I plan to make such aspects of the characters have worth so while we can make (somewhat) valid comments about how valid domino masks and glasses are for identities, just a small push in that direction would help.  Also, if a character is abrasive, NPCs will react.

Well, if NPC's didn't react in turn to PCs being jerks, something's gone horribly wrong.

On the topic of NPCs and jerks, though, if the secret identity part of the game is going to be stressed further, not to even mention the inevitable pitfalls of having a person with limited ambulatory capabilities brought into inevitably combat oriented situations, I think Cal would be better suited to the sidelines.

That said, I don't really have a different character in mind yet. I'll give you my replacement's mock-up tomorrow, once I've put it properly together.

Have we decided on whether or not to switch to Wanderlust for combat? I'm going to be heavily modifying Serena's combat anyway, so I'd be perfectly fine with switching, but if everybody else wants to stay, that's fine.

I'd be down with Wanderlust combat. Currently, I'm trying to build my new character in the way Zamuel described it, though if I do it wrong, I'll gladly revise.

Speaking of,

Here's Jamie Wells, AKA, SCRATCH

Elacular wrote:Well, if NPC's didn't react in turn to PCs being jerks, something's gone horribly wrong.

There are some situations where NPCs can't do much about jerks but I think I'm better prepared to deal with it and you guys are less likely to push things too far.

On the topic of NPCs and jerks, though, if the secret identity part of the game is going to be stressed further, not to even mention the inevitable pitfalls of having a person with limited ambulatory capabilities brought into inevitably combat oriented situations, I think Cal would be better suited to the sidelines.

There are options for Dr Cal but I see you have posted the other character sheet.  Still digesting it at the moment but it's certainly workable.  May need to double check some timeline stuff since modern day wouldn't have intermittent camps but it's not impossible those existed in the campaign since they existed in real life.

I think I'll note that the tone I'm aiming for is a Modern Age leaning towards optimism.  Probably most comparable to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the DC Animated Universe.  Death exists and sometimes heroes lose but it's still overall optimistic and superheroes can actually be superheroes that people look up to.  It shies away from underwear on the outside but it isn't turning its nose up at those who don't want to wear black leather.

mjh6 wrote:Have we decided on whether or not to switch to Wanderlust for combat? I'm going to be heavily modifying Serena's combat anyway, so I'd be perfectly fine with switching, but if everybody else wants to stay, that's fine.

I believe I've decided WL combat, LL abilities, 21 ability points, WL skills, various adjustments to smooth things out.  I'll be PMing people a modified version of Dan's questionnaire once I have a better idea of who's in the group and more major build issues are sorted out.  In addition, I'll need the following from players:

Crystalite wrote:What is ICE? ICE is a three letter acronym for In Character Excuses, and as the term implies it is used to excuse things from an In Character perspective. For instance: every time you re-flavored a neat talent, you made some ICE; you wanted that talent, so you reflavored it to justify your character having it.

There are several bits of ICE that, I think, need to see more use here. In particular:

• Absence: This is a rather strange piece of ICE; however, for Play By Post games it is of utmost importance in order to keep a game moving. It details what should be done with a character if the player decides they can't or don't want to play anymore. Now, if the player is only gone for a few days, you can usually promote them to NPC and/or stick them in a corner until they get back. (I've done it and had it done to me.) But what happens if it's been longer than that? When does the madness end!? Absence ICE is used to move the character out in a more permanent fashion.
  
  
• Ties: This is essentially pieces of backstory that have to do with the character, but not necessarily the main campaign. While it's not particularly good for any one purpose, it can justify enough different things (Absences, plot hooks, player resources, the list goes on) to deserve mention on a character sheet.
  
  
• Resources: This answers the question (In the words of Jack Nicholson) "Where do they get those amazing toys?" It sure wasn't from the Christmas Bag of Holding. Characters need to eat, sleep, and acquire tools of their trade too,er such too, and players should really spend more time considering how they're accomplishing that. (You do it in real life too, it's not that hard to pretend you have a job...) Similarly, I think GMs should take this into more account; offering the reward of easier acquisition of goodies at the cost of responsibility, and vice-versa.
  

Also, if you have any specific enemy ideas, or regular NPCs, certainly let me know. I'll be using some of Crystalite's from the prior campaign and some of my own.

Do you have all of our prior Nemeses? Because I gave Crys a LOT of story for my major antagonists, as well as some friends. I didn't expect most of them (the really story integrated ones) to actually ever see gameplay, but if you're asking for ideas...

Depending on how fleshed out your universe is or not, I could provide some assistance with some of the setting details that are a bit farther removed from the PCs.

A1C Bronymous wrote:Do you have all of our prior Nemeses?

No, I don't. Resend any of interest (though preferably in a single PM or in a Google Doc with links since my inbox consistently hovers around 50-60% full).

Depending on how fleshed out your universe is or not, I could provide some assistance with some of the setting details that are a bit farther removed from the PCs.

I'm importing some from another superhero campaign I ran so there's some enemies, someone who can be repurposed as a League director, other heroes, a lawyer, and a few assorted NPCs. Plenty more will be useful of course. Of note, don't have any politicians, though hopefully that kind of interaction would be limited.

Okay, so how would Best of the breed translate?