Emergence of the Nonpareil

Talosian · 08-15-2011, 12:38 PM

Nonpareil

Spoiler:

This is currently FULL.

Monologue

“Let me tell you the shape of the world friends, let me tell you why these things happen... It always follows the same pattern... A corrupt regime enforces totalitarian laws, people rise up and overthrow the regime. Protestors take power and mold the laws of the state to their own ideology. Overtime this ideology is worn down by the demands of the people, and of running a country. Soon, either by attempting to enforce their morality too harshly, or by the fumbling acts of a bad leader, the country will find itself in much the same place as the last corrupt regime. Sometimes however, a corrupt regime is graced with competent leaders who possess charm and a more subtle hand. These regimes can stay in power a long time, getting progressively more corrupt. It may just be me, but when I look out the window and see peaceful protestors getting aggressively pepper sprayed, tear gassed, or clubbed, I get the feeling that that's the kind of regime we're in right now.”

“You might not agree with me. Maybe you still believe in patriotism and the American dream. However, if you look closely at the words of the politicians, you will see that these words are often used to rally support, but rarely acted on... Unless, of course, they are calling for patriots to join the army for their new, “War of Liberation,” or, “Peacekeeping action.” Do you know how many wars we're in right now? Six! Surprised? You probably lost count somewhere along the line, possibly thanks to the state of the education system... After all, we've been in Iraq for the last 22 years, and in Libya for almost 30 years! For those of you who are very poorly informed, our current victims are: Iraq; Libya; Iran; Saudi Arabia; Syria; and Afghanistan. We're also still supporting Israel's human rights violating oppression of Palestine, puppeteering Egypt's newest authoritarian regime, and supporting India against Pakistan. You might point out that supporting India actually seems like a good thing, but I'll tell you a secret... The real reason we support India is because the Russians support Pakistan. Ah, good old Russians... Always around when we need another reason to promote warfare... Oh, and we're also supporting Lebanon's crackdown on their “terrorist problem,” meaning we're helping to hunt down the few people who are brave enough to stand up to dictators! What do you think the British called the men who threw the Boston Tea Party? Terrorists! Now what do we call them? Heroes! Patriots! Freedom Fighters!”

“You're probably surprised that we could support six wars all at once, but such is the might of the America's corporate sponsored war machine. The constant cuts to education, health care, welfare, all of it. It goes to fund the American dream! The dream of crushing other countries, taking anything they have that is of any worth, and then making a sham out of creating a democracy. In the end, they are all left to be reclaimed by the vulture like autocrats who've been circling, waiting for their chance.”

“I say, that is time for this to end! I say, that it is time we took back our rights! I say, that it is time we changed the status quo, because the status... Is not quo! I say, that it is time for a revolution! So... What do you say?”

|-----|

Okay, so maybe it isn't THAT bad, but this is a speech that will show up near the very beginning of the game, and it gives you an idea of where the country is at. Setting is based in a harsh and gritty 2041 Chicago. The government is unquestionably corrupt, but people disagree on just how corrupt it really is. This is an emergent powers setting, so everyone will start out fairly low, but hopefully this will go on long enough to reach the tank bashing stage.

The way I'm running this, you will have a lot of freedom to decide what kind of hero or anti-hero your character is (if you really want to run an evil character, pm me with your idea (powers, what they'll be doing, motivation, etc.), and I will consider it). This means that shortly after developing powers, your characters will have quite a bit of relatively unstructured free time. This is to give you time to have them develop their powers, and what they want to DO with them. Do they go out hunting criminals and looking for people to save? Do they attempt to hide their powers? Something else to keep in mind is that as this is emergent powers, your characters will want to make some attempts to conceal their identity (or suffer backlash from a truly freaked out society).

Tech Level: The year is 2041, and humanity remains more or less as it always has. The computers are faster, the cellphones cooler, but humanity itself remains unchanged. The cutting edge of technology promises some truly incredible advances, but they are – for the most part – still out of reach, and several decades from reaching the public. (World is early TL9, but a heavy safetech lean makes it feel like a slightly slicker TL8. Most TL9 stuff is available, but anything that would make big changes to society is still a ways off.) Since the world is effectively in a transition, I'm considering the official TL to be 8, but there won't be TL penalties for TL9 equipment.

Character Building

Character Points: 100 points as a baseline. Powers will be added to this very soon after the game starts, so don't worry about it. If your character concept requires more points, I'm willing to be quite flexible, though I will require a good backstory (and your powers will develop more slowly to allow the others to catch up).

Negative points: -50 (this can include -5 in Quirks, or it can be in addition to -5 in quirks, as you wish) is a good guideline, but I'm not going to be strict about this either. Disadvantages allow you to personalize your character a lot, so as long as the goal isn't minmaxing, I'll be pretty much fine with anything.

Attributes: I'm keeping this pretty tightly at a starting limit of 13. I'm willing to allow these to be raised a little bit outside of powers, so don't worry about it too much. If your concept really calls for a higher attribute level, I'm willing to consider it (again, a good backstory is required).

Skills: These should be kept at attribute +2. I'm willing to bend this a bit (again, backstory). Wildcard skills will be allowable for supers, but not for starting characters (I'll let you swap out skills for a Wildcard later, if you need to). Unarmed skills are limited to Styles (from Martial Arts, I'll walk you through it if you don't have the book), with the exceptions of Brawling and Wrestling, which I will allow a few points in without a style.

Taboo Traits: This a realistic to gritty campaign, so cinematic advantages are (pretty much) out unless they are part of a power. Normal Luck is okay. (People who want to have a Luck based super, or a super high Dex gun maniac with Gunslinger can go to town. Just not at the beginning.)

Languages: This is set in a future Chicago, so if your character is a linguaphile, Polish is a good place to start. I plan on incorporating diverse backgrounds for characters, so lots of other languages will come up. I hope to have some travel going on (although not at the beginning :P), so languages and cultural familiarities will be useful.

Other: It would be good if you guys could talk to each other about your characters backgrounds, and fit some of them together. If some of the characters have contact on a regular basis, it will require much less divine intervention to get them together.

Powers: Shoot me a pm about what you want and we'll discuss it. Keep in mind that all powers will have the same origin, and that no one starts with them.

Books: I will be using a whole lot of books for this. The main ones are (obviously) Basic Set, Powers and Supers. High Tech and Ultra Tech will also see a lot of use. Some of the gritty rules from Martial Arts will be used as well. I have many of the books, so don't be afraid to use something from a book just because it isn't listed here.

If you want to keep your background or character sheet secret, feel free to do so, but post in the thread if you are interested, and when you have finished your character (so it doesn't sink).

Two last things (you must read both):

This is a post of guidelines from Kromm on the subject of building average people. Very helpful.

This is a post from Brett providing a scale for GURPS skills and attributes. Very helpful.

Please note that this is not first come first serve. I put a high emphasis on character background and originality, and poor grammar/spelling drive me crazy. Take the time you need to build your character. I'll be accepting approximately 6-ish characters total. If there is substantially more interest than that, it is possible that I will open up a second thread that can run parallel to the first, and occasionally overlap with it.

PS: All questions are very welcome.

Talosian · 08-15-2011, 12:39 PM

Party Roster:

Epic Kobold as Tammy "Temperance" Blackburn

ErhnamDJ as Rosa Gonzales

Janitor101 as Vincent Llywelyn Lloyd

Lamech as Jane Blackbird

Sheldrine as Hermann Josephs

Skullcrusher as Kane

barna10 · 08-15-2011, 01:07 PM

Will magic be allowable?

I've wanted to play a character with mana enhancer and wild talent (w/retention). His innate magical nature allows him to tap into the mass consciousness of the world and draw on its knowledge (including ancient magical secrets). He could be the catalyst to bring magic back into the world.

Let me know if magic and/or this concept will work so I can go a different route if I need to.

Talosian · 08-15-2011, 01:17 PM

Magic really doesn't fit the idea very well. I'd thought about it previously, and although I might at some point allow something with a magical origin, it'd be after the scope of the campaign broadened quite a bit (the origin doesn't really fit for magic).

I'd also be a bit hesitant to approach it in the standard Magic fashion, although I'm not sure how I would choose to do it.

Overall, it's not going to happen at the beginning, and I'd be wary of how it was done later. If the situation changes later on, it may be possible.

ErhnamDJ · 08-15-2011, 01:31 PM

I sure am interested.

Only six wars? What happened to Somalia?

Anyway, I have a few ideas. I'll give it a while, see what takes.

Talosian · 08-15-2011, 01:36 PM

I thought you might be :)

I'm sure there could be fun with Somalia too ;)

sheldrine · 08-15-2011, 01:50 PM

Posting my general interest. I have to get my campaign off the ground tomorrow, so I might be a little bit slow getting a character together but if you aren't in a hurry I am always game for a little bit of superhero action.

Lamech · 08-15-2011, 02:29 PM

I'm interested in this. My idea for a character was going to be a scientist/researcher similar personality to bones (from the T.V. show bones), and from a semi-wealthy family.

On that note, a brief assemblage of a character has me wondering, would you allow a custom talent. Specifically:

Invention: Architecture, Bioengineering, Computer Programming, Engineer, Pharmacy, Wierd Science. Reaction Bonus: Inventors who you work with. 5/level.
The skill list might have been stolen from the GURPS skill categories PDF...

ErhnamDJ · 08-15-2011, 02:36 PM

Would Mexico have a different cultural familiarity than the US?

Talosian · 08-15-2011, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Posting my general interest. I have to get my campaign off the ground tomorrow, so I might be a little bit slow getting a character together but if you aren't in a hurry I am always game for a little bit of superhero action.

It'd be great to have you, and there's no rush.

Quote:

I'm interested in this. My idea for a character was going to be a scientist/researcher similar personality to bones (from the T.V. show bones), and from a semi-wealthy family.

Should definitely work.

Quote:

On that note, a brief assemblage of a character has me wondering, would you allow a custom talent. Specifically:

Custom Talents need to be checked out, but I am definitely okay with them.

Quote:

Invention: Architecture, Bioengineering, Computer Programming, Engineer, Pharmacy, Wierd Science. Reaction Bonus: Inventors who you work with. 5/level.

My only objection to this is that there isn't much in common between these skills, which makes it a bit odd. Given that this is a Supers game, however, I'd probably allow it.

Quote:

Would Mexico have a different cultural familiarity than the US?

It's still going to fall under Western. I, personally prefer more variation than just that, but I don't want to enforce lots of points in Cultural Familiarity, so I'll probably add a smaller familiarity penalty to new places.

08-15-2011, 12:38 PM	#1
Talosian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: California	[OOC] Emergence of the Nonpareil Nonpareil Spoiler: non·pa·reil [non-puh-rel] adjective 1. having no equal; peerless. noun 2. a person or thing having no equal. This is currently FULL. Monologue “Let me tell you the shape of the world friends, let me tell you why these things happen... It always follows the same pattern... A corrupt regime enforces totalitarian laws, people rise up and overthrow the regime. Protestors take power and mold the laws of the state to their own ideology. Overtime this ideology is worn down by the demands of the people, and of running a country. Soon, either by attempting to enforce their morality too harshly, or by the fumbling acts of a bad leader, the country will find itself in much the same place as the last corrupt regime. Sometimes however, a corrupt regime is graced with competent leaders who possess charm and a more subtle hand. These regimes can stay in power a long time, getting progressively more corrupt. It may just be me, but when I look out the window and see peaceful protestors getting aggressively pepper sprayed, tear gassed, or clubbed, I get the feeling that that's the kind of regime we're in right now.” “You might not agree with me. Maybe you still believe in patriotism and the American dream. However, if you look closely at the words of the politicians, you will see that these words are often used to rally support, but rarely acted on... Unless, of course, they are calling for patriots to join the army for their new, “War of Liberation,” or, “Peacekeeping action.” Do you know how many wars we're in right now? Six! Surprised? You probably lost count somewhere along the line, possibly thanks to the state of the education system... After all, we've been in Iraq for the last 22 years, and in Libya for almost 30 years! For those of you who are very poorly informed, our current victims are: Iraq; Libya; Iran; Saudi Arabia; Syria; and Afghanistan. We're also still supporting Israel's human rights violating oppression of Palestine, puppeteering Egypt's newest authoritarian regime, and supporting India against Pakistan. You might point out that supporting India actually seems like a good thing, but I'll tell you a secret... The real reason we support India is because the Russians support Pakistan. Ah, good old Russians... Always around when we need another reason to promote warfare... Oh, and we're also supporting Lebanon's crackdown on their “terrorist problem,” meaning we're helping to hunt down the few people who are brave enough to stand up to dictators! What do you think the British called the men who threw the Boston Tea Party? Terrorists! Now what do we call them? Heroes! Patriots! Freedom Fighters!” “You're probably surprised that we could support six wars all at once, but such is the might of the America's corporate sponsored war machine. The constant cuts to education, health care, welfare, all of it. It goes to fund the American dream! The dream of crushing other countries, taking anything they have that is of any worth, and then making a sham out of creating a democracy. In the end, they are all left to be reclaimed by the vulture like autocrats who've been circling, waiting for their chance.” “I say, that is time for this to end! I say, that it is time we took back our rights! I say, that it is time we changed the status quo, because the status... Is not quo! I say, that it is time for a revolution! So... What do you say?” \|-----\| Okay, so maybe it isn't THAT bad, but this is a speech that will show up near the very beginning of the game, and it gives you an idea of where the country is at. Setting is based in a harsh and gritty 2041 Chicago. The government is unquestionably corrupt, but people disagree on just how corrupt it really is. This is an emergent powers setting, so everyone will start out fairly low, but hopefully this will go on long enough to reach the tank bashing stage. The way I'm running this, you will have a lot of freedom to decide what kind of hero or anti-hero your character is (if you really want to run an evil character, pm me with your idea (powers, what they'll be doing, motivation, etc.), and I will consider it). This means that shortly after developing powers, your characters will have quite a bit of relatively unstructured free time. This is to give you time to have them develop their powers, and what they want to DO with them. Do they go out hunting criminals and looking for people to save? Do they attempt to hide their powers? Something else to keep in mind is that as this is emergent powers, your characters will want to make some attempts to conceal their identity (or suffer backlash from a truly freaked out society). Tech Level: The year is 2041, and humanity remains more or less as it always has. The computers are faster, the cellphones cooler, but humanity itself remains unchanged. The cutting edge of technology promises some truly incredible advances, but they are – for the most part – still out of reach, and several decades from reaching the public. (World is early TL9, but a heavy safetech lean makes it feel like a slightly slicker TL8. Most TL9 stuff is available, but anything that would make big changes to society is still a ways off.) Since the world is effectively in a transition, I'm considering the official TL to be 8, but there won't be TL penalties for TL9 equipment. Character Building Character Points: 100 points as a baseline. Powers will be added to this very soon after the game starts, so don't worry about it. If your character concept requires more points, I'm willing to be quite flexible, though I will require a good backstory (and your powers will develop more slowly to allow the others to catch up). Negative points: -50 (this can include -5 in Quirks, or it can be in addition to -5 in quirks, as you wish) is a good guideline, but I'm not going to be strict about this either. Disadvantages allow you to personalize your character a lot, so as long as the goal isn't minmaxing, I'll be pretty much fine with anything. Attributes: I'm keeping this pretty tightly at a starting limit of 13. I'm willing to allow these to be raised a little bit outside of powers, so don't worry about it too much. If your concept really calls for a higher attribute level, I'm willing to consider it (again, a good backstory is required). Skills: These should be kept at attribute +2. I'm willing to bend this a bit (again, backstory). Wildcard skills will be allowable for supers, but not for starting characters (I'll let you swap out skills for a Wildcard later, if you need to). Unarmed skills are limited to Styles (from Martial Arts, I'll walk you through it if you don't have the book), with the exceptions of Brawling and Wrestling, which I will allow a few points in without a style. Taboo Traits: This a realistic to gritty campaign, so cinematic advantages are (pretty much) out unless they are part of a power. Normal Luck is okay. (People who want to have a Luck based super, or a super high Dex gun maniac with Gunslinger can go to town. Just not at the beginning.) Languages: This is set in a future Chicago, so if your character is a linguaphile, Polish is a good place to start. I plan on incorporating diverse backgrounds for characters, so lots of other languages will come up. I hope to have some travel going on (although not at the beginning :P), so languages and cultural familiarities will be useful. Other: It would be good if you guys could talk to each other about your characters backgrounds, and fit some of them together. If some of the characters have contact on a regular basis, it will require much less divine intervention to get them together. Powers: Shoot me a pm about what you want and we'll discuss it. Keep in mind that all powers will have the same origin, and that no one starts with them. Books: I will be using a whole lot of books for this. The main ones are (obviously) Basic Set, Powers and Supers. High Tech and Ultra Tech will also see a lot of use. Some of the gritty rules from Martial Arts will be used as well. I have many of the books, so don't be afraid to use something from a book just because it isn't listed here. If you want to keep your background or character sheet secret, feel free to do so, but post in the thread if you are interested, and when you have finished your character (so it doesn't sink). Two last things (you must read both): This is a post of guidelines from Kromm on the subject of building average people. Very helpful. This is a post from Brett providing a scale for GURPS skills and attributes. Very helpful. Please note that this is not first come first serve. I put a high emphasis on character background and originality, and poor grammar/spelling drive me crazy. Take the time you need to build your character. I'll be accepting approximately 6-ish characters total. If there is substantially more interest than that, it is possible that I will open up a second thread that can run parallel to the first, and occasionally overlap with it. PS: All questions are very welcome. Last edited by Talosian; 09-11-2011 at 07:41 PM.

08-15-2011, 12:39 PM	#2
Talosian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: California	Re: Emergence of the Nonpareil Party Roster: Epic Kobold as Tammy "Temperance" Blackburn ErhnamDJ as Rosa Gonzales Janitor101 as Vincent Llywelyn Lloyd Lamech as Jane Blackbird Sheldrine as Hermann Josephs Skullcrusher as Kane Last edited by Talosian; 09-13-2011 at 10:51 AM.

08-15-2011, 01:07 PM	#3
barna10 Join Date: Feb 2007	Re: Emergence of the Nonpareil Will magic be allowable? I've wanted to play a character with mana enhancer and wild talent (w/retention). His innate magical nature allows him to tap into the mass consciousness of the world and draw on its knowledge (including ancient magical secrets). He could be the catalyst to bring magic back into the world. Let me know if magic and/or this concept will work so I can go a different route if I need to.

08-15-2011, 01:17 PM	#4
Talosian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: California	Re: Emergence of the Nonpareil Magic really doesn't fit the idea very well. I'd thought about it previously, and although I might at some point allow something with a magical origin, it'd be after the scope of the campaign broadened quite a bit (the origin doesn't really fit for magic). I'd also be a bit hesitant to approach it in the standard Magic fashion, although I'm not sure how I would choose to do it. Overall, it's not going to happen at the beginning, and I'd be wary of how it was done later. If the situation changes later on, it may be possible.

08-15-2011, 01:31 PM	#5
ErhnamDJ Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: OK	Re: Emergence of the Nonpareil I sure am interested. Only six wars? What happened to Somalia? Anyway, I have a few ideas. I'll give it a while, see what takes.

08-15-2011, 01:36 PM	#6
Talosian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: California	Re: Emergence of the Nonpareil I thought you might be :) I'm sure there could be fun with Somalia too ;)

08-15-2011, 01:50 PM	#7
sheldrine Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Utah by way of West Virginia	Re: Emergence of the Nonpareil Posting my general interest. I have to get my campaign off the ground tomorrow, so I might be a little bit slow getting a character together but if you aren't in a hurry I am always game for a little bit of superhero action.

08-15-2011, 02:29 PM	#8
Lamech Join Date: Mar 2011	Re: Emergence of the Nonpareil I'm interested in this. My idea for a character was going to be a scientist/researcher similar personality to bones (from the T.V. show bones), and from a semi-wealthy family. On that note, a brief assemblage of a character has me wondering, would you allow a custom talent. Specifically: Invention: Architecture, Bioengineering, Computer Programming, Engineer, Pharmacy, Wierd Science. Reaction Bonus: Inventors who you work with. 5/level. The skill list might have been stolen from the GURPS skill categories PDF...

08-15-2011, 02:36 PM	#9
ErhnamDJ Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: OK	Re: Emergence of the Nonpareil Would Mexico have a different cultural familiarity than the US?