Just to play a V&V game.
Maybe possibly eventually run one.
It would probably be old school V&V since I really don't know the newer styled systems that well (Though I have lots of the stuff that was avalible downloaded).

Does anyone ever play with the old system (2ndEd) still? or does everyone play with a modified one?

Are there still places online where you can get the dice rolls done randomly instead of breaking out my multihued dice of old?

...and I guess the biggest question is... Is anyone interested anymore with playing an online RPG?

G7

I play with lots of house rules.  Click on the "Meanwhile at the hall of Justice" picture for a link to my house rules page.

I'd be open to playing in a game!!

I'm happy either way but am also leaning toward newbies. Nice way to learn the universe through their eyes.

What are your thoughts for character generation:
-Random rolls, in the chaotic fashion of V&V?
-Designed
-Using the templates that have been posted here?

Great Idea Paul.
Can you shift the entire conversation and give it a title?

V&V RPG proposal (as a possible name).

I'll wait before I post more for you to slide this into a section/posting of it's own.

G7

I was waiting for you! 

Ok I will try it out tomorrow.

Cool. Now we got a place to discuss this.

I have already taken the time and made a chat room in the RPGing section of OMG IRC . com [ oh my god internet relay chat ] . It is a decent system that has been around for a long time. You can alter the fonts and the size of them (IF indeed we consider chat play).

For dice I would probably use this - http://www.wizards.com/dnd/dice/dice.htm
It is from TSR/Wizards of the Coast. I think they stand out nicely and all the dice are at my fingertips (I tripped across them searching for a RPG chat room there. They used to have really good ones with dicebots right in the rooms, but alas it seems they are gone now).

Anyhow... that is the basic setup.

Far as character types... I'd say newbies too.

For World. I'd say the ones from the Modules (My favorite - though in my case it would be slightly modified).

Rules might be the hard part. I pretty much stick with the VV 2E rules, We can modify whatever we need to. Though for me, most of it works well enough.

We probably need to discuss character creation. First would probably be. Do we keep it hush? PM the GM with the characters and they can do a basic description or just out in the open (Either works for me... as you have to dumb-down your character anyhow). Hidden can be fun.

G7

I agree with you DS on Newbies that way you can make a better chemistry among the players and let things develope

If I am allowed to GM this. These are my ideas.

CAMPAIGN TYPE:
It's a 4color game - so everyone are superheroes.

Characters with claws, swords, guns or other such weapons (especially if used ultra violently) are probably going to have a hard time. (Though I can make due with it, since both Enforcer and Evergreen have those, but use them sparringly)

Lethal characters are another story. Sometimes there are situations where being lethal is necessary (Demons, robots, utter psychos that give you no choice), but I would like to steer clear of that (Those kinds of characters cause me a lot more work and take away from my side of enjoying a game).

CHARACTER GENERATION:
Far as rolling up characters. Frankly I don't want anyone to outshine the other PCs (too much)... although I do want the PCs to stand out (if they can).
Not sure how that translates for rolling purposes or generating characters.

I guess I could allocate points (for attributes) and allow you to custom build your characters.
No rule raping... like giving yourself a 5 charisma to allot more points into other attributes, you must at the very least get "no reaction bonus on the chr chart)... so nothing below an 8 on Chr.

BASIC HITS:
If you character weighs 10lbs over 150 lbs, I round that up to "4" basic hits (cause everyone needs every hp they can get).

POWERS:
If you have a sound idea. I will be more than happy to hear it, most likely I won't have a problem with it.

We can do it this way as well, so far as powers are concerned. I'll allow you 4 powers with one weakness (-1 power to remove auto-weakness)

Otherwise I can roll it on my end and we can do it the standard way, 1d6 + 2 (-1 power to remove auto-weakness).

I probably don't have to state this... but I am sure you guys know that certain power combinations are kind of unfair... like Hgt Str and Gravity/Magnets etc.

Origin/Background is wholly up to you. If you want to say that you have fought a few armed criminals, that is fine with me.
Your occupation is up to you as well. Just have a sound reason for having it.
Inheritor is fine as well. (I just hope everyone doesn't take it). For this I will need a bit of background on the what's, where's and how's.

WORLD:

How we initially start out is really determined by the amount of PCs we get. Though I probably won't accept over 5 (at this time).

I would like this world to feature the Crusaders in it and eventually in your PC's lives.

Backdrop is Manhantten, NY.
They have the Crusader Citadel (Though there is no Space Shuttle... sorry) and are in great standing with both the Goverment and the NYPD (law).

With the Crusaders. You all will get six team members to start off with (don't worry.. they have lives, jobs, buisness, school, etc. They can't all always be there hoggin the glory. LOL).

Little something on the CRUSADERS:
All of the Crusaders now have ability scores of 14 and higher. Partially due to training. You can see (listed below) they have different levels at the start of this game than they do in the Adventure: CaCC.

I'm leaving them at the level to reflect their experience as heroes (I don't think this is a biggie as their hp were so low on some of them that it was bordering on ridiculous - Particularly Laserfire).

I would like it if you tried to configure your character's  powers/abilities around those that the six have, them being;

Manta Man 6th: Lightning/aquatic super-suit (does not knock out armor for those who want it)
Evergreen 6th: Plant control (plus a mutation involving that).
Enforcer 5th: Force Fields/Guns (ugh).
Dreamweaver 4th: Illusions/Telekinsis/inviso
Laserfire 3rd: Lasers (Who I altered and gave him flight and Hgt Senses. Which is how it is on his "handy-sheet" I have)
Blizzard 2nd: Ice powers (Though I took away his vibratory powers and left him the ability to pass through objects).

Of the Crusaders.
Evergreen is around almost all the time.
Blizzard is pretty open and avalible a lot.
Enforcer is next (and he is Co-leader).
Manta Man can get away when he wants (just not always quickly).
and finally, Both Laserfire and Dreamweaver have school schedules.

FOES:
Though I realize probably all of you know the powers and stats of the foes in the V&V material pretty good. I am going to keep mine the same as my initial write ups of them.
Some have changed drastically. Others haven't (Nearly all of their origins are extended).

I do have a list of the villains (Known villains) that probably make the headlines or are news worthy enough.

I have a similar list for the heroes as well. Some I had to make up. Though most all the heroes in the states are what I call "News worthy".

ORGANIZATIONS:
There are a lot around. Though it isn't very likely that the PCs before they became heroes would know anything about them.

Well. That is some of it.
Let me know what you think.

Cya
G7

Well I have always been of the mind that a smart hero can save the day.
Anyone can degenerate to simple violence. Most Bricks could just dig in and start throwin it down. But if they are heroes they are going to do everything possible to ensure not only that whatever menace/threat is stopped... but be mindful of the publics' safety and well being (which includes their property - I know I wouldn't be real happy if John threw my truck at some bad guy... getting the possible cheers afterwards... I am still out my truck. At least if a villain threw my truck... well he is a bad guy... they do that. Besides I am sure my insurance will cover it.

Anyhow... yeah I like heroes.
Dark Champions is a game for shady champions.
Villains and Vigilantes is for heroes.

At least in my mind.
G7

As far as stats goes, here's an idea, each character would have 60 points to "spend" on his characteristics, with no stats below an "8". Sound good to everyone?

As far as the character I'd like to play goes, it's a guy named Wildstar.

Wildstar

Identity: Marcus Wright            
Side: Good                   Sex: Male
Age: 24                        Level: 1                  
Training: N/A

Powers:
1. Power Blast: R=13", 1d20 damage, PR=1
2. Flight: PR=1 per hour. Max speed = 168 mph
3. Independence from Atmosphere (and old first edition power).
4. Force Bubble: Act as standard Force Field Defense. PR=1 per to points damage.
5. Special Requirement: Must be exposed to stellar radiation to recharge his powers.

S:12
E: 14
A: 12
I: 12
C: 10

Weight: 170
Basic Hits: 4
Carrying Cap: 266 lb.
Basic HTH: 1d6

Power: 60
HP: (10)
(1.2)(1.4)(1.1)(1.3)
Healing Rate: 0.3
Detect Hidden: 10%
Detect Danger: 14%
Damage Bonus: +1
Agility Bonus: +1

Origin/Background: Marcus is an African American male, from Chicago, IL. A graduate student, he was accidentally exposed to a massive dose of radiation, which triggered his latent mutant abilities. Known for being a hothead, he's a  quick tempered, and tends to rush into things without thinking them all the way through.

I'll hold off on stats until we can decide on how they'll be generated.

Guardian7 wrote on Sep 6^th, 2009 at 4:54am:


That makes it pretty official in my estimation.
I'll think some more.

Not exactly sure what that means.
Was he the writer/artist of it?

If so. What was the name of the character I call Blue Knight? (armored guy with axe).

Also. If anyone has Break in at Three Kilometer Island I would like you to PM me.

I think the 60 pt (Attribute min: 8) do as you please system of making a character is a good one. Go to town guys.

I have a questions and answers sheet about your characters to give me just a tad bit more insight. I will try to get that up.

Cya
G7

Guardian7 wrote on Sep 6^th, 2009 at 10:46am:


Cool. What bonus do you give for a "Heightened' stat power like Heightened Intelligence? Thanks.

Cool. Captain Cold was from Russia? I toyed with that idea and possibly making him some relation of General Winter from "Trouble for Havoc".

Those four characters were some of my favorite rendered hero characters featured in any of the art blurbs of the V&V modules.

They were some of the best designs by Dee I think. His later ones (particularly the bird guy from the Crusaders comic) seemed clunky in design compared to his more fluid earlier work.

I think his Manta Man design is absolutely flawless.

G7

Guardian7 wrote on Sep 6^th, 2009 at 11:40am:


So the game would be live, everyone playing at the same time online?
Sorry to be obtuse.

Yet another thought:

In a world already populated with many known, experienced heroes, it might be interesting to make a team theme or hook.

Examples:

a) All aliens or from alternate civilization (The Inhumans, The Eternals, The New Gods, etc.)

b) All share the same origin event. This could mean related superpowers (The Elementals) or just matching costumes (Fantastic Four)

c) All teenagers! (see character sheet above). In this example, Wildstar could be the nephew or son of Annihilator.

d) All with same kind of origin, which ties them together.  (All mutants, like the X-Men.)

e) All are family! (The Incredibles, the Inhumans, etc.)

Thoughts?

I'd rather skip the teen and teen sidekick thing. Though I love the Titans and all of them as sidekicks to their mentors (Especially Barry and Wally).

I more plan to run a game that actually involves the Crusaders. Maybe eventually we could derail and do sub-games (and possibly introduce younger heroes). But as I see it now, I would rather stick to the center of my initial concept.

I'd love to see Wildstar's full stats and abilities (your initial write up works very well for me, though Enforcer has Force Field and I‘d rather not have two field wielding heroes on the same team).
Now if the concept is for Wildstar being a relation of the Zorn alien; Annihilator. There is a standard problem with a character like that. He will have knowledge/access of/to advanced alien technology (and how it is used), other alien species and alien societies. This can make a game imbalanced if the character can actually make “alien technology“ (for possibly too many reasons to relate in this post).
Though with Annihilator having been banished, I wonder what reason the “nephew” would have to track his “uncle” down (other than possibly suspecting that he may come back to threaten the Zorn Society), Now if Annihilator had escaped persecution… that would be a wholly different story.

If you do have plans to attach  any character you make to an established character, Such as any of the heroes I listed in the earlier post or the villains from the various supplements. We need to work out the bugs of that. Cause remember, we all have had a LONG time to establish who and what those characters are (to us). I had a long V&V campaign to back-story these characters and there might be a chance that my concept of said character is not exactly the same as what is listed or what you all did with them.

Far as origins of powers go. There is a concept I have that explains powers (across the board, including magic and omni-powerful beings like the Gods). But I will save that for some later date in a game.
The themes although wonderful ideas (you have an incredible imagination... you were geared for stuff involving super heroes or anything that involves imagination), kinda fall flat with the involvement of the Crusaders. UNLESS... your talking about all the players... having a similar theme/origin, then becoming involved with, members of the Crusaders.

Using the Crusaders as a backdrop gives the players resources to use, a haven to be in and backup if needed.

I am also not adverse to playing solo games (Between adventures) with people providing we can get through the first game unscathed (LOL) and making sure the system is playable in that format. It would also allow for PCs to develop their own rogues (thus possibly adding members eventually to the Crushers).

Hgt Int (A-B) Roll. I did two, (A: 2d10) one was +9 (ugh), the other (B: 3d10) was +17 (better).

You guys really don’t HAVE to be dependent on me to roll your characters (Though I like the 60pt attribute concept). Doing a game this way means we have to use a trust system. It would probably go a lot faster if you just simply rolled up the Heightens yourselves. Though I can go through and do a few rolls for each type (Hgt. A-B’s) and post them easily enough.

G7

It is a cool concept.
I can see the practical use of doing that.
Though the Crusaders rarely stole the limelight... and when they did it was only because their powers were the ones that proved undeniably useful (if they hadn't been around the stories might have turned out quite differently).

Though I had Manta Man as the leader. They worked as a team. Suggestions from the other team mates were rarely over-ruled or overlooked by Manta Man.
For me... the PCs are the center of the game.
One player developed a relationship with Dreamweaver.
Most times Manta Man was busy with Manning Enterprise business. So that kinda left who headed the team open. It was kind of a catch all. Whoever had experience in whatever they were investigating, pursuing or whatever took the forefront
My players never minded that Enforcer would take the lead in espionage type situations, anymore than they did when things got all magical and turned to Evergreen or Sister Indigo or the PC Wraith. There were plenty of times when it came down to simple knuckle busting and the Brick Titan would take the lead. It is all circumstantial.
I think NPCs add to a campaign. Not take away from it. As stated the three that tended to be involved the most were Evergreen (lived at the Citadel), Blizzard (a budding artist with a lot of free time, where he did a lot of his work at the Citadel) and Enforcer (in my game he is now a Private Investigator), these members are not my first picks mind you. But their circumstances made them more avalible for "LET'S GO TEAM!" missions.
The others would join when they could. Laserfire was usually able to reach destinations pretty fast since I took away his flame powers (which is what he used for flight and it is WAY slower) and actually switched it up to the Flight power, but occasionally he got lost trying to find them (if he didn't know the area he was in - doesn't make him dumb... just human).
So I just plan on keeping the team intact. As it seems now by my counting... I will only have three players (making the team count 9. That is a good number.
The membership of the Crusaders near the end of my campaign measured at like 17 active/active-reserve.
5 PCs occasionally 7.

Manta Man
Evergreen
Enforcer
Dreamweaver
Laserfire
Blizzard
Sister Indigo
Clamor (active-reserve)
Wonder Boy (reserve/forced inactive)
Shocker (reserve/normally inactive)
PC - Titan (brick)
PC - Wraith (mystic hybrid/demon)
PC - Alloy (invulnerable stretching chara)
PC - Thunderstar (space guy)
PC - Speed Demon (reserve - inactive) (speedster)
PC - Solarflare (fire using artillery chara)
PC - Maxima (reserve/retired to take care of her father) (Brick)

I know this sounds like a LOT... but really it isn't once you configure their private lives into the mix.
Evergreen, Dreamweaver and Sister Indigo were probably the most active members with the team (along with the PCs).
In fights they usually broke into two teams:
Flyers
non-Flyers

My players got really good at switching it up. It wasn't unusual to see Dreamweaver and Manta Man going up against the Brick bruisers and Titan (brick) going after the artillery characters.
The PC I had the most fun watching his antics play out was the invulnerable stretching chara called Alloy (Think Metal Men). he just did the coolest things with his character. He was a ground based scrapper, but had that reach making him nearly an artillery/scrapper. Because of his ability to blanket things he could defend large crowds/team-mates or wrap around a foe and simply relax his power turning into metallic taffy. There were so many times he muddied my plans, cause he played the part of nuisance until the big guns could stomp on whoever he was confounding. Also because of his ability to stretch he moved pretty fast and was a joy to watch battle villain speedsters.

I think I am going to make a separate post.
It will feature what is known of the "V&V World" I will put you guys in.

I will list all the facts I think are relevant for the PCs.

Heroes (present/past)
Villains (more present outstanding “Newsworthy”)
Places.
Possibly outstanding events.
I might have to do something about aliens since they seem to wander all over earth.
Same applies to magic.

Just gotta find the time is all.

G7

What a minute,  Dr Foom was the orginal Captain Cold from the modules?   Wow!

Guardian7 wrote on Sep 6^th, 2009 at 10:17pm:



You'd rather skip it as a team theme only? Or you don't want Manta Lad too?

And will the game be played live?

Thanks!

G7, quick question. Are the sketches you've been posting your work?

Oh yeah... that is my artwork.
You ought to see some of the renderings I have done of Dr Foom's designs.

I (...in a galaxy far FAR away!) was going to be an illustrator and was even getting hits from the Comics industry... but it was such a dog eat dog (especially for my age group at the time) rat race... that I walked away.

Lightning Comics wanted me to sign a four year contract... I should have... my art was superior to anything they were piping out.

I had quite a few artists say they thought my work was good enough to break in (Including George Perez and Matt Wagner). They said if I was as fast as I said I was... I could possibly be a shoe in.

But... Comics started to disgust me as the 90s rolled in (Heroes were failing to be heroes and simply turned into non-thinking fighting machines - those have their place... just not with every hero).
So I walked away from it. Though it never shoehorned my love of superheroes or drawing them.

I was recently approached by another small company about doing comics. I know the owner. Nice guy. But it is a lot of work for little money. Since I never do anything in hack to what I am getting paid (MY MOTTO: If your going to do it... do it right!) I decided to wait. Matter of fact. He sent me another E-Mail yesterday asking if I was interested in doing a cover for him. I just might. Dan Jurgans did a beautiful cover for him and I thought I heard him say he might be able to sneak Perez in for WAY under cost (But George is such a wonderful guy anyhow.)

Hopefully my art speaks for itself.

I had actually contemplated trying to work with FGU at one time in the early days... but they visibly folded. So here I am... an artist with no love. LOL (Kidding)

G7

Sure. Just PM the description.
If you have any ideas that you can use examples of... such as "Looks similar to Scarlet Witch's headpiece" etc. Then by all means throw that in there. Color scheme wouldn't be bad.

Do you guys know about this... http://fabricadeherois.blogspot.com/

It is a nice hero maker. Takes a bit to get it going. but once you use it... it is a breeze.
There is an english language button in the upper screen. Have fun.

Course... nothing replaces real art. LOL

G7

Guardian7 wrote on Sep 7^th, 2009 at 4:08pm:


Urg. I think this knocks me out. I squeeze in gaming (and game-related talk) pretty tight, usually in 15-30 minute increments, when they pop up. Sorry.

Have fun and good luck!

It looks like I'm late to the dance, but this sounds cool.  I've just gotten back into GM'ing for my kids, but playing would be fun.  Time is the issue, when would this be scheduled.  I don't know if you guys were part of the COH we pulled together with the Yahoo group guys, but that was a Blast.  Actually playing with Gauntlet was quite a thrill for me.

Sounds cool, I'd like to give it a shot, I'll need a heads up so I can plan things with my family... I've got nine kido's, so everything we do has to go on the family calendar, or it just doesn't happen....I'll create a character using the guidelines here and send it for you to edit/approve.

That might be best.
Though I still may have to put a deadline up... any chara not active (for any reason means they fall for that round of PBEM into my hands and they can pick up and deal with whatever ramifications of my said actions. I know that may sound insenstive to peoples lives... it isn't. I have the utmost respect for people's lives... it's just a game).

Yeah... that might be best.
But we could always use the chat room to actually chat.
I mean once in a while it might be fun to just blither on V&V in a live medium of some sort... Dunno.

I am so gung ho about running a game I almost called up my old players to see if maybe they wanted to get togather and take a whack at doing V&V once in a while. Though it is not necessary (Just would be fun... plus I have all my notes of their actions, so I am sure it would come back to them).

Cya
G7

Okay.
Got an idea for a cross between Spider-Man and the Scarlet Witch, with a little bit of Thor thrown in.
Thanks goes out to Harold, too!
Due to the Spidey angle, he DOES have a high Agility, but I have a weakness that will help initiative be manageable.

Character concept:

Black Cat! 
Little does Dashiell Richards suspect, but he is the son of the ancient Egyptian goddess, Bast. He had displeased her and been exiled from glorious Khemet and reincarnated into a human of Earth. Stripped from him were his memories, abilities and powers. So when these abilities started to manifest within him, Dash figured he was a mutant and that he’d better get a superhero costume. So he did.
Now, the son of Bast has deluded himself to be… Black Cat!

Origin: Accidental Supernatural

Personality type: Lazy, class clown slacker. Years from now, when (if?) he discovers his true self (and gains some Charisma), he will become more noble and worthy of his station as the son of Bast.

Age: 18
Level: 1

Powers:

Transformation: Power Activation: into cat-man form

1) Heightened Senses: Cat senses
Night vision, heightened smell and hearing: Detect rolls x 3
Sense of balance: Eg: Can run across a wire at normal speed.
Lands on feet: All falling damage is halved
Stealth: Detection rolls against Black Cat when he is sneaking are halved.

2) Magic Spells: The inherent, magical powers of the son of Bast are being slowly “manifested” over time (a.k.a. invented, as per rules). These don’t act like spells to be cast, but more like magic powers instead.
a) Bad Luck:
May alter probability. PR: minimum of 4 per use.
Roll d4 against Bad Luck Chart to determine result.
For each additional Power Point spent, the Cat may move result by one increment on chart. Attacks as better of Gravity Control or Transmutation.

Bad Luck Chart:

     1) Environmental mishap: d12 damage to target

     2) Next attack / power use of target alters to No Effect

     3) Environmental mishap: 2d10 damage to target

     4) Random power of target suddenly activates / deactivates. If target has no powers, go to 3

     5) Next attack / power use of target doubles back on target/ overloads

     6) Environmental mishap: 3d10 damage to targeted 2" x 2" area

     7+) Player’s choice!

3) Natural Weaponry: +2 to hit, +4 to damage with claws

4) Heightened Agility B: he's agile and cat-like

5) Heightened Endurance B: he can take a punch (and has no defenses)

Weaknesses:
The Black Cat should have two Weaknesses, via Transformation. But I ended up giving him three.

1) Diminished Senses: Cosmic Amnesia: The son of Bast has forgotten who he truly is. He has no awareness of his true origin, history, powers, allies, enemies, duties and responsibilities!

2) Cautious: The son of Bast has a high sense of self preservation. He must successfully save vs. Charisma on d20 to not evade with his first action every turn. (This will help manage his high initiative)

3) Reduced Weight: Dash has a slight build. Subtract 30 lbs. from rolled weight. (starts with 3 basic hits)

Background: Bum / Mysticism. Before trying his hand as a superhero, Richards was a drifter, wandering the country aimlessly.


Failing this, and poor Manta Lad, I might revert to Professor Fahrenheit.
Lemme know.
Thanks! 

Online Game.

Okay. It seems that doing the chat room thing is a bust.

Unfortunately as much as I want to do one in any manner. I am not sure how to do one without immediate interaction. So if someone out there is or has run a game by Post or E-Mail (Preferably post). I could use a helping hand.

Do I do turns by initiative? (at least the combat related stuff).

How do I do maps? Or have players show what they are doing (or intend to do)?

How long does it take for a combat session to normally play out?

Since it is obvious that immediate interaction is going to be impossible on a person to person level. How do I handle downtime situations where the Pcs/NPCs are interacting?

Do I summarize the whole of the situation (what has been done/happened) once it is completed and move to the next round?

Sorry… the non-fast pace makes a tad nervous. I just want the game to be enjoyable (for all parties involved, including myself. I certainly want to do this).

Do I need to let them know what the immediate world around this is like (I.E; the overall superhero situation and the menaces that are known)?

I have a fairly good idea of how to intro all the PC’s into the world I will use as a playing field.
Though I still need to discuss what I consider the rough edges of interested PC’s characters so that I fully understand who and what they are (and whatever possible alternations might be necessary due to the constraints of my V&V World ideal - likely these are pretty minor).

I would also like to know the exact number of people who would be interested in playing. I think for this first trial run… four might be my limit until I can get the feel of the environment I am playing in.

Okay… that’s it.

First chance I get I will review the entry chara I have received and do PM’s to discuss them.

Thanks for the patience on this.

G7

NP... Doc F I am sure will give me a heads up.
Thanks Dsumner

G7

Thanks guys.

G7, Here's the site: http://vanguardhq.blogspot.com/

The first part of each "issue" is what I wrote. The second part is the PC replies. ( I currently have seven players.)

I post a new "first part" every two weeks that usually responds to PC actions and requests, and then moves things forward a little.
I go faster when I can, but this pace seems to work for everyone.

(sorry for the delay. Was off board last week. Was out of town)

Sorry to hear that.

G7, I just wanted to compliment you on the the excellent framework you set up for your campaign world. I like the detail, the persepctive, and the overall worldview. It's very cohesive and very accessible. Bravo.