Question on Powers [Archive] - The aethereal Forum

blaster219

09-05-2005, 09:27 AM

Jerry D. Grayson

09-05-2005, 12:23 PM

I'm trying to convert a character from the Marvel RPG (the recent one) into GA and I'm having some trouble converting some powers over. Marvel character has the following powers:

Toughness:
Absorbs incoming damage. Best bet would be the Body Armour power.

Id go with Body Armor as well

Accelerated Healing Factor:
Heals at a greatly increased rate (heals damage every 2 rounds). Closet fit would sound like Accelerated Healing but in fact Regeneration is the closest fit to the way it works in Marvel.

Again I agree

Now for the big one….

Mastery of Elements - Communications and Computer Data:
This is the hard one, with this power the character can:

Transform self into a communications signal which makes the character incorporal and invisible and allows "teleportation" to any point on the planet or beyond at the speed of light
Astral Projection with the limitation only through communication signals

Sense, create and manipulate my element. This allows wireless communication with teammates without requiring me to wear a communit. Or read the contacts of a hard drive, follow buried network cables, etc..
Telepathy would work for the communications part
Mind reading with the limitation on computers
Detect (Electrical lines or communication networks)

Control or otherwise interfere in the operation of computers, robots and electronic equipment
Mind Control (Electronics only)

Generate a directed EMP
Magnetic manipulation can do this but it may be too expensive just to have one aspect of the power. I’d suggest the Drain power with the limitations that it only works on machines, maybe even give it an area affect enhancement.

Upload self into a computer and travel through a network

Again this sounds like Astral projection with a limitation

Any thoughts on how to model the Mastery of Elements power in GA?
Nope, but I’m currently working on the new POWERS book so there is always a possibility.
I’d love to see this character once you have it written up. He/she sounds very interesting.

The new Powers (http://www.godsendagenda.com/) book has a power called Machine Interface that is tailor made for what you want. A player in my game was using it at our Friday night game in fact. She took control of the entire USER base after a prison break there and shut the place down.

blaster219

09-05-2005, 04:15 PM

I'll pick up POWERS as soon as its released then. In the meantime...

An attempt to convert my Marvel character over GA. This is not a "game-legal" character as I've not used the character creation process. Just gone through each step and ported over a Marvel skill, attribute, advantage, disadvantage and power to whatever seemed fit in D6.

Real Name: Thomas Preston
Aliases: Tommy, Subject 217
Age: 14 (declared dead at aged 11)
Born: 12/06/91
Died: 16/08/02 (declared legally dead)
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 125lbs
Eyes: Green
Hair: Blond

Archetype: The Outsider

Reflexes: 4D, Brawling 7D (Street Fighting +2D), Dodge 5D, Melee Combat 5D (Knife +1D)
Coordination: 4D, Lockpicking 5D, Piloting 6D (Skateboard 8D)
Physique: 7D, Stamina 8D, Lifting 8D
Presence: 3D, Intimidation 4D, Willpower 5D
Knowledge: 3D, Gadgetry 3D+2, Languages 4D, Security 5D, Tech 5D
Perception: 3D, Hide 5D, Search 4D, Streetwise 5D

Advantages:
Hard to Kill (R1), Contacts-X-Men (R2)

Disadvantages:
Age-Teenager (R1), Bad Luck (R1) Enemy-SWD (R8), Enemy-Taskmaster (R5), Enemy-Green Goblin (R6), Overconfident (R1), Poverty (R1), Prejudice-Mutant (R1), Quirk-Phopic (Recapture by SWD (R3)

Powers:
Body Armour 4
Regeneration 2
Astral Projection 10 (body travels with soul, limited to computers and communications signal form)
Telepathy 5 (use others senses, limited to computers only)
Mindreading 5 (limited to computers)
Detect (communications) 7
Mind Control 5 (limited to electronics only)
Ranged Attack (EMP Blast) 4 (limited to electronics only)

Move: 10 Strength Damage: 7D Fate Points: 1
CP: 5 KP: 3 BP: 47

I suppose I should start at the beginning. I was born on a farm near the village of Sutton. About 10 miles from Oxford. Everything was normal apart from that I never seemed to get sick. That was a little odd but not that unusual. Although it meant I could never skive of school by saying I was ill.
On my eleventh birthday, mum took me into Oxford so I could buy the new Captain America play station game. While there we went to the bank so mum could cash a cheque. At the same time some guys tried to rob the bank. A scuffle broke out between one of the robbers and an ex cop. A gun went off and the robbers fled. The bullet hit me in the stomach. I felt it go in and it knocked me down. There was blood all over my t-shirt but when someone lifted it up to check the wound there was hardly a mark. Everyone thought I was just grazed. But I knew different. By rights I should've been dead, instead all I needed was a bandage from an ambulance man and I was able to go home.

I didn't know it at the time but the security cameras had video taped me getting shot. It taped the bullet going in, out my back and it showed the smear on the counter front as I slid down.

The tape eventually wound up in the hands of an organisation called Special Weapons Division. This was a secret government group that was interested in mutants for reasons of "national security". I later learnt that this involved three things. Neutralising dangerous or hostile mutants, researching mutant abilities that assist in intelligence and military operations and containing mutants for "research" purposes.

Nothing else happened for a couple of months. After some experimentation I discovered that minor wounds like a cut or a bruise healed almost instantaneously. I also seemed to get stronger. I knew things were weird when I could bench-press dad's land rover.

I kept all this hidden from mum, dad and Simon (my brother). How do you go about telling your family that your a mutant. Apart from the odd occasion where I lamped a fifth year bully twice my size I kept my abilities secret. It's not as if I woke up one morning and decided I wanted to be a superhero when I grew up. Actually I wanted to join the Royal Navy so I could fly Harriers. I thought I was being careful. But it turned out I wasn't careful enough.

SWD had been watching me at school and at home. They'd seen me doing all the stuff I tried to see how strong I was getting. I guess they thought I'd make a wonderful addition to their program.

They came during the evening. We'd just had dinner and we were sitting down to watch Lord of the Rings on DVD. I went into the kitchen to get a coke from the fridge. As I was in there, the back door opened. Standing in the doorway was a guy straight of metal gear solid or something. Black body armour and everything. I was frozen and couldn't move when he lifted a nasty looking rifle and fired. Something hit my neck that stung really bad and then I blacked out. I guess they must've tranked me or something.

I woke up in some sort of infirmary, strapped to a bed. It took half an hour of screaming before someone came in. They told me that I had been taken for the safety of the public and that as soon as they were sure that I wasn't a danger to myself or others that I could go home. They lied.

I was there nearly a year. Over that year there was test after test. Most of them seemed to be about how strong I was or how much damage I could take before I got injured. I've still got scars on my chest and arms from all the tests that involved chemical burns, flames, gun shots, electrocution and lasers. And I wasn't the only one there. There were dozens of “test subjects” most of which were “tested to destruction”.

Continued...

blaster219

09-05-2005, 04:17 PM

After a while I began to notice something. It started as a tingle in the back of my head, you know like an itch you can't scratch. Soon I started hearing voices. At first I thought I was going mad. It wouldn't be the first time on of us test subjects want nuts. I quickly realised that I was hearing the guards talking on their radio's. At first I thought that I could use it to call for help but no luck. The whole place was shielded or something. After a few days I could, with a little concentration, “feel” the signals in the computer wires running in the walls.

I kept this ability secret from the guards. If they knew that I could listen in to their radios and monitor the computers it'd mean a one way trip to the testing lab.

Things didn't click into place until several weeks later. It'd been a rough day with some really nasty experiments. One minute I was in the DNA scanner (which really hurts by the way) the next I was ... somewhere else. I could see every part of the facility, hear all the phone conversations and read everything in the computers. It hit me. I was inside the computer. Somehow I had merged with all the data and was whizzing around the network. I could see through the security cameras and I knew the lab guys had sounded the alarm. Acting quickly I moved into the central mainframe. From there I could unlock all the doors, jam all the guards communicators and turn off all the power inhibitors.

As I started to leave I came across the medical records. I'd been in the computer for only about 15 seconds so I reckoned it'd be a few minutes before they realised what I'd done so I called up my file. I was curious. I wanted to see what they'd found out with all
their bloody tests. That was when I found out what the soldiers had done after they'd taken me that night.

After dealing with me they had tranked Simon and my parents and left them in the living room. They then “neutralised” them by creating leak in the propane tanks out back which caused a massive explosion. By the time the fire brigade arrived the farmhouse had been gutted. All they found were four bodies that they had to identify using dental records. They killed them because they were a loose end.

My family was dead, I couldn't go home and officially I'd been killed in the fire. To say I was pissed was an understatement. I went crazy. I reappeared in the room were the guards watch all the camera's. They were a little shocked when I appeared. They were even more shocked to see an eleven year old kid shove one of them through a TV screen break his neck. Over the next thirty minutes the other inmates of the facility killed the entire staff. Over 50 people massacred. Afterwards I was sick. I had killed people with my bare hands and their blood was all over me. I still don't feel any sympathy for them. They'd been a bunch of sadistic, vicious bastards and they'd deserved it.

Once outside the compound we discovered that the facility was on an island about 100 miles from the Scottish mainland (called St Kilda). Thankfully there was a boat and the sea was calm but it still took us nearly 12 hours to get to the mainland. Once we got there, we figured that if we all split up there was a better chance that some of us would make it. I've heard from a few since but no one recently. I don't know if everyone made it or not.

After I got some new clothes (courtesy of a closed shopping mall) I wandered around for a couple of months. At first it had hurt when entering or leaving a computer system but I eventually got used to it. Not having any money and with no where to go, I had to get food and money any way I could. Stealing stuff was difficult at first but it got easier. I got pretty good at it too. Hey, when its a choice between starving to death on the streets or breaking into a Tesco's to nick some food you stop being picky OK.

Didn't want to stay in one place too long so I ended up moving about a lot. Figured that if I stayed to long SWD would catch up with me. That almost happened about a year and a half ago in Exeter. I guess I wasn't careful enough and they found me. They had a whole swat team and everything. I was lucky to get away in one piece. I panicked and shifted to the net. I ended up going further than ever before. I emerged on the other side of the Atlantic. I can remember passing through the New York Interconnect when something yanked me northwards towards a place called Westchester. I emerged in what looked like a kitchen opposite a guy with the meanest looking set of claws I had ever seen.

The jump had exhausted me and I couldn't shift. Turned out I had appeared in the Kitchen of the Xavier Institute. I bummed around the place for a while. They pretty cool. They gave me a place to stay and helped me learn how to control my powers. I must admit I enjoyed bugging the Canadian X-Man Wolverine. I guess that was way they sent me back to England. Turned out that Xavier was creating a new UK branch of the X-Men. I was dubious and rightly so. After a few weeks everything went south. The school that had been set up was destroyed and the group disbanded. It was fun while it lasted. I got to meet some of the big boys like Sabretooth and the Green Goblin (I nicked his Glider, however since he nicked it off Oscorp I guess that's Ok)

I spent the next few months kicking around. I had better control of my powers now I and I could pretty much shift to anywhere I wanted. I visited a lot of cool places like Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and Rio. It was fun but it wasn't all playing tourist. I ran into a couple of hard cases here and there.
In San Diego I got caught up with this guy called the Taskmaster. He was running this training academy for super villains and minions. I was ripping off a convenience store to get some money for food when he made his appearance. Said I had potential, if my abilities and skill were properly channelled and focused I could go far, blah blah blah. So I said yes and went to this academy of his for a couple of weeks. I don't know what it was that made me tip off the police. Maybe I didn't like being told what to steal and who to rip off, maybe it was the classes on murder and assassination, maybe I just didn't like being the shortest person in the group again. Don't get me wrong. I'm not the most law-abiding person there is but I'm, not in it for the costumed supervillainy. Anyway, the cops turned up and arrested most of the students and the Taskmaster. I slipped out of an open modem port and watched from the building opposite. I later heard the he got out of jail. Guess he must be pretty pissed.

Things quietened down until a couple of weeks ago. I was in York (no reason, just never been there before) when my favourite bunch of government agents showed up. Weren't there for me this time but for some other poor bastard. I wasn't gonna let what happened to me happen to someone else. They had these fancy high-tech helicopters. Looked like something from Area 51. I figured I might be able to control their flight systems like I did the Goblin Sled. However as I concentrated, I realised that if I generated a massive flood of data I could overload their systems and they'd crash. The computers, not the chopper. That'd just auto-rotate to the ground. It was freaking cool. Like I was some sort of walking EMP generator. The helicopters, pursuit vehicles, radios, mobile phones and even their watches bust. I made a sharp exit. Didn't want to be seen.

Since that I've been hanging round a bunch of rookies. They're pretty cool. And as old TM would say, "they've got potential". ;)

Agamemnon

09-06-2005, 01:37 AM

I would just like to say that I love the new site!

Now, I had a few questions about some Powers listed in the book, and I was wondering if someone would be able to clarify a few thiings for me.

First, in the description of Ka Manipulation it states that the difficulty to get any pawer is three times the point cost for a single level of said power. But what if it's a power with various 'add on's' such as Ranged Attack that has a number of different attack types. Would you include the cost of the special attack onto the base cost for the power?

Second, in the description of Matter Manipulation it states that you can change the molecular composition of pretty much anything, to change it into something else. From the examples given it is clear that you can change solids and liquids, but what about gasses? I'm only asking because in another game I have there is a power that enables you to create anything, effectively from thin air, and I was wondering if such a thing was possible in Godsend Agenda?

Jerry D. Grayson

09-06-2005, 06:49 AM

I would just like to say that I love the new site!

Now, I had a few questions about some Powers listed in the book, and I was wondering if someone would be able to clarify a few things for me.

First, in the description of Ka Manipulation it states that the difficulty to get any power is three times the point cost for a single level of said power. But what if it's a power with various 'add on's' such as Ranged Attack that has a number of different attack types. Would you include the cost of the special attack onto the base cost for the power?

Yes you are correct in your assumption
Example:A standard energy blast would cost 3 points per rank to buy
Ka Manipulation Dificulty: 9
A n energy blast that had the enhancements sweep attack, and power defense would cost 9 points per rank
Ka Manipulation Dificulty: 27

Second, in the description of Matter Manipulation it states that you can change the molecular composition of pretty much anything, to change it into something else. From the examples given it is clear that you can change solids and liquids, but what about gasses? I'm only asking because in another game I have there is a power that enables you to create anything, effectively from thin air, and I was wondering if such a thing was possible in Godsend Agenda?
Yes you can create gasses and could create a solid wall of iron out of thin air

Agamemnon

09-07-2005, 01:22 AM

Thanks for the quick response Attis, that clears up my understanding of things now. :)

Agamemnon

09-14-2005, 02:00 AM

Jerry D. Grayson

09-14-2005, 01:06 PM

I just thought of some more questions.
Are there going to be any specific close combat/melee type powers in the new powers book?
I know its possible to just use the ranged attack powers with the no range limitation, but that kind of limits the effects you can achieve.
What kind of close combat powers would you like to see? There are several I can think of off the top of my head a several more I could make by modifying existing powers with enhancements and limitations.
Give me a few suggestions. I may not see any holes that should be addressed and I’d really appreciate the help

How come there is no ranged area of effect? The one listed in the book centers on the person using the power. That enhancement was omitted in the core book.
Area Effect
+2 Per Rank
Instead of affecting a single target some distance away, the Power may now affect an area of effect around the target, allowing the hero to target behind and not just in front. The character may now use the Power to affect a spherical radius equal to Power rank x 2 meters around the target.

Finally, when regaining Ka, when is it regained? Is it in the morning, evening or spread out over the day?
Quoted from the book
Your character starts the game with a pool of points that can be use to affect the outcome of dice rolls or damage taken, much like character or fate points. The maximum amount of Ka your character may have in her Pool is equal to double her Presence Attribute, and it naturally regenerates at a rate of 2 points per day. In addition, your character’s Archetype allows her to regenerate Ka when she fulfills her chosen role in the universe.

If you had to break it down further I would say one point every 12 hours form the time it was expended. Or you could say that a character gets his Ka back after a good nights sleep. Efficient ka would accelerate the regeneration process a bit.

Agamemnon

09-15-2005, 04:53 AM

What kind of close combat powers would you like to see? There are several I can think of off the top of my head a several more I could make by modifying existing powers with enhancements and limitations.
Give me a few suggestions. I may not see any holes that should be addressed and I’d really appreciate the help

To be honest, I cant think of anything specific - I was just wondering if there were going to be any. I was thinking along the lines of a single attack type - with enhancements and limitations. Kind of like the Ranged Attack Power, but more specific to close combat.

I can think of a few examples of modifying ranged attacks with the no range limitation - electrical, bio energy, that sort of thing - but some of them didn't quite fit for me - sonic, for example - you could further modify them by adding double knock back as well.