I have a similar player Majestic, drives me up a friggin wall most of the time. Thankfully he is not in my V&V game but he is in both my GURPS and Pathfinder groups. His ability to carry one of everything was a big reason I didn't invite him to be a part of the V&V group.

Duroon wrote on Mar 19^th, 2010 at 2:58pm:


Inventing points are used to simulate one-off gadgets.  But that doesn't touch on a gadgeteer character.  Technically, a limited gadgeteer could be simulated just by rolling his powers on the devices tables and saying those are his gadgets.

The archetypical gadgeteer is someone who can make various items for limited uses.  They might have a standard set of gadgets, but limiting this kind of character to their inventing points would be like saying a shapechanger would have to use inventing points to change to a new shape.

Here is an example of a character I played in Superheroes Impossible.  He was a gadgeteer, but not technological.  He dealt with talismans.

Talismancy - Talisman crafts magical talismans that grant him superhuman abilities.  At any time, he can have 5 active talismans.  It takes a ritual to transfer the active magic from one talisman to another, and the ritual must be done in his lab.  The talismans each have limited uses which can be recharged either in the lab, or in a mystic ceremony at dawn, both of which require an hour.
a) Bracelet of Nehebkau - the mystical energies of this bracelet form a shield around the wearer when he is aware of an attack.  Uses 3 per day. (provides force field defense on table)
b) Ring of the Elements - the energies bound in this ring allow Talisman to project either fire, ice, or electricity as an attack.  Range = 20", damage = 2d6, 3 charges.  (use appropriate column on attack table)
c) Necklace of the Cheetah - calling upon the energies invested in this necklace of cheetah claws allows Talisman to enhance his running speed.  (speed bonus +100" to ground move for 1 hour)
d) Spectacles of Translation - these simple appearing reading glasses translate any language for an hour
e) Fang of Ti-Lyn - This ring grants the wearer the ferocity of a tiger in combat (natural weaponry +3 / +6 - 3 charges)

That was the power description, but here is how it was worked out with the GM:
Basic Rules:  Talisman can maintain magical energies charged in 4 talismans at a time.  Talismans either have a 3 charge limit, or a 1 hour duration, whichever makes more sense.  The energy can be recharged in his lab or in a mystical ceremony at dawn - both of which require an hour.  Talisman could create new talismans with inventing points, or could modify his abilities with talismans with inventing points.

Updated Rules      Gained +1 active Talisman as bonus for creating a talisman to destroy the zombie virus.

Duroon wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2010 at 3:21pm:


You are correct, and as I was typing up my Talisman character, I realized that we had pulled the rules mostly from the section on inventing points.

One of the difficulties I've experienced with my many years of running V&V is that so many characters want to end up making inventions.  They work great for gadgeteer characters, magic users, and the like (Talisman above is a great example!), but we end up having probably half of our characters play around with inventing, from time to time.

In comics, it seems like inventing characters are few and far between, but V&V's lack of any system for augmenting/improving powers is something I think that leads some players to want to explore something new.  Since there's no other way to gain new powers or abilities, some end up trying out inventions.

I will look it up when I get home from work tonight. Unless someone gets to it before I can.

Talisman was a great take on the gimmick power! Nice job!

Duroon wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2010 at 5:35pm:


Oh yeah. That $8 copy. Don't remind me.   

Imaginos wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2010 at 3:26pm:


I "heart" inventing points. They really capture the ways that Reed Richards and Brainiac 5, and even Dr. Strange seem to work. It's one of the most brillaint parts of V&V!!!

I see no reason you couldn't lift that straight out of 1st edition and use it in a game of second edition.

Duroon wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2010 at 7:48pm:


Actually, Blackjack, from Super Crooks & Criminals, uses the Gimmick Power.

dsumner wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2010 at 9:31pm:


Which means someone wrote him up using the first edition rules or they just chose to use that power from first edition for the character. I think it is an interesting power, would be cool and I am definitely going to be looking through my 1st edition core book for more great ideas.

I'm bumping this back up, as I've been giving it a bit of thought lately, and I'd enjoy hearing some additional feedback.

I don't see Batman, Green Arrow or Hawkeye as gizmo characters.  Look at the utility belt on the build for Robin, or Crossfire from MW, Vol 1. Special weapons cover all these characters.

When I think Gizmos, I think an array of weak devices. For example, Sportsmaster would have exploding golf balls, an array of golf clubs for hitting golf balls and anyone who got in his way, a golf hat that could be thrown at a target and exploded in gas, golf tees that could deter pursuit like caltrops, and a tricked out golf cart for driving off with the loot. And the next time you met him... he'd have a whole new batch of gizmos up his sleeve... these all related to baseball, bowling, or (gulp) hockey.

RAMBLE

Considering I have neither edition, it's nice to see I'm not going off the deep end in terms of ideas and concepts.

(Plus I spent an inventing point on it!)

RAMBLE