Dr Archeville

Just the students, or are the new staff to report, too?

Great Cthulhu, but that was one exhausting weekend. My feet, back, and arms are killin' me. But now I'm back. And have a lot to catch up on!

Happy Birfday!

Which is all the more reason to be having these discussions -- so we can figure out what we want to do, what we can do, what we're okay with allowing others to do.

"These so called 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of Jet-Powered Apes and Time Travel." ;)

It has recently dawned on me that we focus to much on telling PC Villains what they can't do, and not what they can. There also seems to be some severe dissonance in what different people expect Villain PCs to be able to do. "Fight heroes" is of course one option, but PvP is not and should no be the be-all and end-all of characters here. Most superhero RPGs have people playing the heroes, and have them in a largely reactionary role. Stopping bank robbers, foiling world domination plots, and so on, reacting to things the Ref throws at them. Which is how most superhero comics work: focusing on the heroes and their reactions to threats. Villains are a different kettle of fish, though. They are by nature more proactive. A villain doesn't wait for a hero to become available before robbing a bank, a villain just robs a bank. There's also the issue of the different rules villains play by. Even in the campiest of Silver Age stories, villains can get away with more than heroes can, even though in the end they're always caught. Villains do villainous things, they cross lines no hero should cross. Which makes for some thorny issues here, in a game where folks can play as either hero or villain. Some have expressed that having one set of rules for all characters -- like "No Killing" -- ties some villains hands, and even if the characters don't know that such rules are in place, the players do, so some heroes may show less concern when a villain is rampaging because "no one can die (outside of GM Fiat)". The other choice is to have two sets of rules, one for heroes and one for villains. Problem there is in making sure the two sets are balanced with each other, so that either choice is (more or less) equally acceptable to players. Villains could have more leeway in what they can do, but face tougher consequences. What role do you see PC Villains playing? Why do you play a Villain, and not a Hero? What should a PC Villain be allowed to do here, and what should a Villain not be allowed to do (at least not without consult/approval/backing from the Refs)? And what should happen if a PC Villain is beaten/captured by PC Heroes? Speaking of consequences of villainy, there's Captain Knievel's trial. This was largely done as an experiment to see how a supervillain trial might work in a PbP game, though I am in no way surprised it turned into a big shoot-out. What do you think of the trial? Is it something we should ever do again?

Initiative & Conditions 20 -- Power Corps #7 -- Unharmed 13A -- Power Corps #5 -- Unharmed 13B -- Power Corps #3 -- Unharmed 10 -- Gossamer -- 2 HP -- Unharmed 9 -- Doc -- 2 HP -- Unharmed 8 -- Power Corps #1 -- Unharmed Gossamer's attack hits Defense 13; that misses. Doc weighs the options, and de-cloaks and tries to negotiate. PC #1 monologues, but just a little. Nos. 7, 5, and 3 open fire on Doc. Two of the three hit (24, 30, 17 vs. Defense 18). Doc does... poorly. A 14 and a 5 on the Toughness saves mean he's Staggered, Stunned, and Unconscious. Doc and Gossamer both gain an HP as the Corps surges to get enough actions to scoop up and carry Doc away. Well, I had meant to find some way to have Doc be preoccupied so he didn't take them all out with some techno-gadgetry and leave you doing nothing, but now it looks like Gossamer will really get to shine!

Gossamer misjudges the amount of hair she has left to work with, and her lash falls short of its intended prey. Doktor Archeville suddenly faded into view between the armored men. "Alright, alright, stop, stop! Vhat do you vant of me? Vhy are you doing dis?" "Why?" No. 1 repeated, "Why, revenge, of course. Against you." "Revenge? But you are mercenaries! Surely you know dat-" No. 1 cut him off, "I know, dear Doktor, that you -- somehow -- bested four of my men. And I am going to make sure you pay for that, in a very public manner. The Power Corps is the best of the best, and we're going to prove it, in front of a big audience!" Nos. 3, 5 and 7 had been moving closer to Archeville. He'd seen them moving in, but was not able to react in time. They were now in an optimal position, and when all three fired, the Doktor fell to the ground, alive but unconscious. Nos. 3 & 7 scooped him up and flew out the door; Nos. 1 and 5 kept an eye on everyone.

Oooh, a 22 for Belphegor's initiative

I've posted, so now you have no excuse! :P

As of now: Initiative & Conditions 26 -- Chain-Ghoul -- 4 Bruises (2 Incurable), Stunned 15 -- Ghost -- 2 VPs -- 4 Bruises, Fatigued 10 -- Belphegor -- 1 VPs -- 4 Bruises Toughness vs. Holy Shard is.... 18, fails by 6, another Bruise & Stunned. Bel tries for another power attack (-5 attack/+5 damage) boot to the head... and hits Defense 18, a solid hit. Chain-Ghoul's Toughness save is.... 24, no damage. Grr. End round 6. Chain-Ghoul is stunned, does nothing. As of now: Initiative & Conditions 26 -- Chain-Ghoul -- 5 Bruises (2 Incurable), Stunned 15 -- Ghost -- 2 VPs -- 4 Bruises, Fatigued 10 -- Belphegor -- 1 VPs -- 4 Bruises

The door is locked, but the lock appears to be a simple one. Another holy runed stone falls, piercing the chain-ghoul's other leg. It still thrashes about, though, albeit in a very uncoordinated manner. "Why... won't... this.. thing... stop... moving?!" Belphegor growled as he continued kicking the still-wriggling guardian. Though his feet did seem to stomp on the creature, the demon's uncoordinated rage kept striking particularly thick sections of bone and muscle, doing no damage. What is it gonna take to do in this thing?! The Chain-Ghoul continues hissing and gnashing its teeth, but is unable to get up, due to the damage to its legs and to the blows Belphegor is raining down on it.

Ka-boom?

"De same impacts," Archeville began, "as for any group mit sub-standard education und mentorship und health care. Dey fall to crime, become prey to gangs und other criminals, und turn to supervillainy. Many super-criminals vould haff vastly different lives if dey had had proper counseling und support in deir formative years." "Of course," he added between sips of water, "some require more dan simple counseling, dey require medication as vell. Dough I haff yet to find any concrete studies von vay or de other, it does at times seem metahumans are more prone to neurochemical imbalances vhich lead to psychopathic und sociopathic tendencies. Dere are many conflicting reports on dis phenomenon, of course -- vhether de genes dat code for metahuman abilities are tangled mit de genes for assorted mental disorders, such dat activating von activates de other, or how closely metahuman abilities are tied to de personality of de individual und how mental disorders affect de manifestation of powers."

"Scarab's group has disabled de guards," Archeville reported, "und dey are extracting de children now. Und I believe I should be able to see...." Archeville tried accessing the internal sensors, to see what Scarab & Co. were doing, and to see if anyone was headed towards them, or towards his own group.

Is it the troops' and Malice's turn?

Exxxcellent.... In the 20 or so minutes Ember was gone, Jos shed his mortal disguise and assumed his true demonic form. A few concentrated bolts of hellfire allowed him to reshape and re-join some of the metal bits, whispering blasphemies over it as he did. He then ground up some of the gemstones in a mortar & pestle, specially made to handle his superhuman strength. Before changing back, he plucked out a few scales from his eyelids and earlobes and hid them amongst the other components. It would still take several days to craft the mirror, but these 'shortcuts' enabled him to focus on making sure he did the delicate work as properly and precisely as he could. When Ember returned, Jos did go a bit wide-eyed at all the food he brought down, "I do not remember all of that being in my refrigerator."

Bah! *goes forth to edit*

A busy month! Nine PL bumps, and one new Goldmember! Arranged by Player, it looks like this: Akmenos Duskstalker: 1pp alderwitch Phantom: 6pp Psyche: 6pp Angel Angel: 1pp Angrydurf Ace Danger: 5pp and is now PL 11 :clap: Phalanx: 5pp Arcane Snowman Chimérique: 0pp Dalkaresh: 1pp Avalon The Vestige: 2pp AvengerAssembled Avenger: 5pp and is now PL 13 :clap: Edge: 5pp and is now PL 11 :clap: Bendigeidfran The Spartan: 1pp Blink Blink: 1pp Cyroa Dark Star: 6pp and is now PL 12 :clap: Hellion: 5pp Dr Archeville Belphegor: 9pp (pps should go to PL 10 version) Dr. Archeville: 4pp and is now PL 14 :clap: Ecalsneerg Arrowhawk: 2pp Geckoman: 3pp Electra Fleur de Joie: 5pp Wander: 5pp Elfy Stinger: 2pp ex3leven Midnight II: 0pp Eviscerus River Rat: 2pp Shadowmancer (retired): 1pp Zealot: 0pp genericangst Great Galbini: 1pp Geez3r Atlas: 3pp Malice: 4pp golentan Hercules: 0pp Heritage Gossamer: 2pp Grimalkin: 13pp (pps should go to PL 10 version) and is now PL 11 :clap: Kavos Boomer: 3pp Ember Paw: 3pp Master Pelle Leon Mighty: 0pp Super-Thug: 1pp MBCE Ghost: 14pp (pps should go to PL 10 version) and is now PL 11 :clap: Moira Divine: 1pp Nyrath Exile: 1pp Mongrel Angel: 1pp quotemyname Breakdown: 5pp and is now PL 7 :clap: Captain Knievel: 3pp Raylis Calvin Parker: 0pp Twilight Gryphon: 1pp Sandman XI Quark: 12pp (to the PL 10 version) and is now PL 11 :clap: Wesley Knight: 1pp ShaentheBrain Scarab II: 5pp and is now Gold :clap: Zephyr: 1pp Vith Quiver: 0pp Warmonger Ronin: 2pp Sen: 1pp Top 10 Post Counts for the Month, by Character Phantom (264) Fleur de Joie (252) Wander (214) Psyche (194) Avenger (158) Phalanx (153) Dark Star (152) Ace Danger (137) Breakdown (110) Hellion (105)

Unarchived due to player return.

Welcome back Tarantula can easily be un-archived.

MBCE has started this back up. :mrgreen: Doc's still in. Avenger, Dark Star, Twilight Gryphon, how about you?

Works for me; that'd still give Doc time to get in on the Y2K thread EDIT: I've bumped up the original recruitment thread for this, to make sure people know it's back on (and to see if anyone else new wants in).

TV Tropes for Belphegor include: Be Careful What You Wish For (going hand in hand with Deal with the Devil, below) Big Bad (what he sees himself as/as becoming) Big Eater and Extreme Omnivore (being immune to cold, disease, heat and poison means he can eat anything that's even remotely considered food, straight from the oven or the freezer. Of course, he prefers food taken from others.) Cannot Enter a Church and Crosses & Holy Water (averted and later played straight. Before his trip to Hell/upgrade, he was human enough that holy objects/places/water didn't bother him at all. Since his 'upgrade,' though, he's more demon than man, and those things do harm him) Deal with the Devil (what he offers) Demon Lords and Archdevils (what he wants to be) Despair Event Horizon (he enjoys pushing people over this, sometimes leading to Death by Despair) Evil is Sexy (sorta; some of the "identities" he's set up are firmly this, but his primary one is definitely not) A Glass of Chianti (semi-averted; Jos prefers brandy) Half Human Hybrid (kinda; his parents were fully human, but the incident in Marrakesh fused a demon to him, effectively turning him into a half-demon hybrid) Hellfire (his primary weapon) Magnificent Bastard (what he's working on becoming; he's still somewhat new to it) Man of Wealth and Taste (usually averted; as Jos, he dresses like a college English professor or New England book store owner, comfy sweaters and earth tones, not in sharp suits. However, see Evil is Sexy, above) Moral Event Horizon (he crossed it before being sent to a Hell-Dimension when he killed a family in order to buy their house on the cheap, and while he was in that Hell-Dimension, he forgot what the line even looks like, save in terms of knowing how to push others over it) Seven Deadly Sins (particularly Pride, Greed, Wrath, Lust, and Gluttony) Voluntary Shapeshifting (a la Mystique) Wicked Cultured (he has degrees in archaeology and art history, and is a professional art appraiser; he also loves fine food)

I'm going to be gone all Labor Day weekend. I'll probably be 'net-less Friday evening, and will definitely be offline all Saturday and Sunday. Should be back sometime Monday evening. Also, October 1st-4th, I will be on little if at all. The 1st if when my wife gets surgery on her Achilles tendon, and I'll be spending the next few days afterwards being comically overconcerned for her.