Raveled

I don't like the idea of having a "rated R" section of the site. I feel like the difference between Bedlam and Freedom should be one of tone; Freedom is a city always hoping for tomorrow, while Bedlam is a city devoid of hope.

This isn't a mechanical thing, but I'd like to see his history expanded on. Does he have a family, and how have they reacted to him becoming a living cartoon? If he doesn't have a family, what was his life like growing up?

Blue Jay June Vignette Un-Organ-ised Crime Sounds Like a Sequel Corona None Miras Origin Vignette Domesticity Gang War: Black Tie White Hood Savage History The Stranger All Arise

I'm going to point out that with no S-Senses, his Uncanny Dodge (Mental) is never going to take effect. For UD to help, a target has to enter the area of the sense type; auditory is handy because hearing is +Radius by default, so someone just has to get closer. Mental sense don't have +Ranged or +Radius by default, so UD only helps if someone is attacking him from within his own head. I do love that he has literal Hammerspace as a power, though.

Is there a "West Coast Claremont" in Emerald City? I foresee lots of threads with Easties going west or Westies coming east.

TELK TELK TELK BY HGM Miras Buying Challenge (Combat Diplomacy). Investing 5 PP into skills for +5 to Diplomacy, +5 to Know/Arcane Lore, +5 to Know/Art, and +5 to Perform/Singing. Fixing a typo in her DC block. While that only spends 6 of her 7 PP available, it looks like there was a miscounting somewhere and Miras was given an extra PP in her budget. So with that corrected all of her earned PP has been used up.

Changing a very minor fact about the set-up, because I realized how I could make it work and because Miami is a better city for this than New Orleans.

There was a subaudible hum as the train sealed up and pulled away from the station, powerful electromagnets sending it on its way. Tona glanced out the window, noticed they were picking up speed, and feigned nonchalance even as she gripped Sam tighter. "So you want to go Miami," she said, keeping her eyes on Sam so she wouldn't have to notice the shifting lights that shone on the interior wall of their cabin. Even after all this time, moving so fast under someone else's power upset Tona. "Are you just taking me there so you have a reason to see me in a bikini?" Tona asked, trying to keep her tone light. "Because we have beaches here, you know."

It makes sense. You can't very well wear spandex and leather bodysuits in a town where it gets about ninety Fahrenheit with regularity.

Rolls and suchlike intended for this adventure. We're starting in media res, here. AA, there's just a couple of PL 7 thugs up higher in the building with Crossbones-style super-suits. Lots of punchy, no flying or shooty. Feel free to just narrate how FF lays them out, or we can run a quick fight to start things.

June 29th, 2016 McNider Memorial Hospital, Freedom City, New Jersey Afternoon Miras flinched as bullets chewed away at the ceramic tiles at the corner she was facing, chips and shards of pottery slowed and deflected by her magic. The intermittent roar of gunfire echoed and rebounded through the underground parking garage, setting off several car alarms as the terrorist kept the superhero pinned down. After a solid minute of deadly shots the gunfire fell silent; Miras peaked out of cover and noted that the terrorist, a young woman in a bright red tee-shirt, Kevlar vest, and bandanna, was fumbling with her gun. The musical magus didn't know much about guns, but she knew that they eventually ran out of bullets and that this might be her only attempt to talk the other woman down. "This is your best chance to surrender," Miras called out. "You can't win anymore. We found the anesthesia you swapped out with nerve gas, every hospital in New England is checking their supplies. You're pinned down here, and Fast-Forward is upstairs taking care of the last of your super-suit back-up. You're not going to win here, give up and come quietly!" "Shut your bourgeois mouth!" the woman shouted back. "This hospital is a monument to capitalist greed, a place for sick people to be bilked of more money. If the doctors here really cared about people, they'd be out on the street! Saving lives! Not stuck in board meetings arguing for funding." The terrorist loaded another magazine in her weapon and aimed at the pillar that the superhero was hiding behind. "And you really believe that I shouldn't be here, then come out and stop me, pig!" Miras rolled her eyes at the notion and settled in as more gunfire streamed her way. Bullets were a finite resource; she just had to muster more patience.

I think we've seen that superpowers are more concentrated the colder the climate is. Africa, central America? Barely any superheroes. Northern Europe? You get Vanguard and Fenris. America has its super-city north of the Mason-Dixon, and the greatest concentration of superheroes on the planet is New Freedom, in Antarctica. It's only logical that the city be in the Pacific Northwest.

Asli stood and crossed over to Joe, picking up his hand and holding it between hers. "I want to see it all," she said quietly. "I've already shown you my simit, now I want to see all of yours." She kissed his fingers, smelling the chicken and tasting butter. "But for now," she added in the same quiet voice, "I think we should clean the dishes up before we fall asleep." Together they gathered up the dishes and the serving crockery and carried it into the kitchen; Asli filled one sink with hot water and a little bit of liquid soap, rolled her sleeves up to just below her elbows, and they got to work. It didn't take long for them to get an efficient line of scrubbing, washing, and drying between them. "Erin and Trevor had a beautiful wedding," Asli said as she scrubbed at a pernicious piece of burnt chicken flesh stuck to an earthenware dish. "I didn't know a lot of the people there, though. Who was that table with all the children around it? Those people are certainly starting a family off right." She kept scrubbing, but glanced over at Joe, trying to gauge his reaction to the question.

SHOT THROUGH THE HEART BY HGM Blue Jay +5 PP to bring her up to Strength 20, adjusting Grapple modifier to match. Removing Damage to keep her within caps, and Super-Strength to keep her within Badass Normal. Adjusting description to reflect her greater muscleboundedness. With these changes, she actually comes out using fewer PP than before.

Tona let out a small "Oof" when Sam dropped into her lap, which left her in the perfect position to melt into the kiss. When they finally had to come up for air, she ran her hands up Sam's back and leg, feeling new muscles there. "I'm not the only one," she said, holding her girlfriend close. "I guess when we're not kids anymore, hm?" The truth wasn't just a matter of maturing, of course; Tona had spent two years on this Earth, eating more than the bare minimum required to live. That also meant she could put on muscle mass, enhancing other parts of her physique. And Sam had grown up too, though not quite as much as Tona. The redhead had always needed heels to kiss the archer, but now she might need climbing gear. Or, as it seemed, trains. They kissed again, slow and tender, and even after they broke their faces were close together. "I still love you," Tona said quietly. "I still love this. A chance to be with you, just a few quiet days. Away from all the craziness for a little while. I think... I think maybe we need that more often."

The real question is, do we play him as a hero or a vigilante with good press?

Just pointing out that Blue Jay already made her exit.

For all the rolls that come up in this adventure.

June 27th, 2016 Freedom City, New Jersey Late Afternoon The 129 sat at the station, a humming silver bullet of sophistication and technology, energy gathering in its mighty electric engines as the passengers and luggage was loaded. In a car new the end of the train, Tona Baudin walked down one corridor, a bulky bag over her shoulder. For one she was glad that the world was built to a larger scale than she was. Otherwise, she would been walking down the hallway sideways, like so many other passengers who insisted on bringing bags with them, and that just looked uncomfortable. She trailed her hand along the wall, checking each metal plate in turn and keeping an eye out for one in particular. Finally she found it, nearly at the end of the car; she used a key and let herself in, once again finding that her small size made maneuvering in the tiny room easy. The archer stowed her bag quickly and sat next to the bright, wide window. She smiled at the woman across from her, reaching over and taking Sam’s hand in her own. “Thank you,” she said. “For all of…” She trailed off, twirling her free hand in the air to indicate the entire locomotive. Tona had some issues traveling by plane, and neither of them wanted to drive all the way to Miami, and a ship would take even longer; which left only a few options. She was just grateful her girlfriend could afford it all, and that Sam had agreed to take the slow route. “I’m happy you’re not going out on your own, this time.”

For rolls and suchlike pertaining to this adventure.

June 25, 2016 Joe Macayle's Apartment Dinnertime It was night. If a writer was going to make something dramatic happen, it would have been dark and stormy and rain-washed, but in fact there had just been a light rain this afternoon and now high, ragged clouds were rapidly speeding out to the sea. The evening was proving to be quiet, and pleasant, and Asli was infinitely grateful. A quiet night meant she could enjoy more time with her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s cooking. She put her utensils on her plate and pushed away from the table, sighing in contentment. “That was the best meal I’ve eaten all week,” she said. “If you always cook meals like that, I’m going to start spending the night.” Asli smiled across the table at him, enjoying the moment of quiet domesticity. It was a very different experience than she usually had at the end of the day, and she liked it. She could see herself getting used to it.

You don't want the Underground to be a group of villains?

I don't think edging into cyberpunk is a good idea. FC PbP is supposed to be four-color; while there are darker elements in the world, the good guys win at the end of the day. Making it cyberpunk/the little guy vs the megacorps feels like it would be eroding that foundation.

I'd love to have their Next-Gen equivalent be expies of Big Hero 6...

I think you have two points in your saves that aren't listed there. Otherwise I don't know how his Reflex save is +7 when his Dex is only +5. The Battle Armor has 18 PP in it, not 12; which incidentally means it needs to go up to Device 4, not Device 3. I come up with 28 + 30 + 11 + 31 + 17 + 46 = 158/150 PP. Where to cut? Well first I'd drop Innate on the Nanoblood Array; superheroes get their powers taken away all the time, unless the power is "I have four arms" or something. There's needs to be a really good reason why a power is Innate. I'd also drop Impervious from the Protection, since 2 ranks of Impervious isn't going to do you much. You need to define just want kind of Immunity to have to Necromantic stuff; from all Necromantic effects? That's going to cost more than a few PP. Same for Suffocation: is he immune to drowning, to poisonous atmospheres, what? If he's immune to any kind of suffocation, that's 5 PP right there. Rage is kind of a useless feat, as is a single rank of Fearsome Presence. Drop both of those. A lot of those skills could be removed or rolled into other things. Like, Diplomacy +2 and Medicine +2 aren't going to do anything for you, and Knowledge (Bikers) is too specific, that should be Knowledge (Streetwise). Take a look at any skill that comes to lower than +10 and ask yourself if the character really, really needs it. You bought all of this character's Defense as Base Defense. You could cut that down to +8 or +6 and buy up the rest with Dodge Focus.