It's a warm Summer night in Empire City. A full moon casts a bright light of the calm waters of bay, and a light breeze blows in from the East. Officer Sean McDonald, ECPD has just begun what he hopes to be a quiet shift, when he receives a call.

"Unit 23, Dispatch."

"Unit 23."

"Respond to a call disorderly conduct call at 926 East Vermont Street. Complainant doesn't wish to be seen."

"10-4, show me en route."

Moments later officer McDonald arrives at what at first appears to be a large party being held in old warehouse. Loud music is booming from an unseen sound system, and a crowd of several dozen young people has formed outside. As soon as one of them spots his patrol car, a call goes out.

"Five-O, Five-O, ya'll!!"

Officer McDonald pulls his car to a stop, and calls in a quick report. 

" On scene, and I've got a crowd of about 30-35 people, can I get a couple of additional units?"

Just as he finishes his radio transmission, a bottle smashes into his windshield, and laughter erupts from the crowd.

"23 to Dispatch. Be advised that my vehicle his being hit with bottles, can you get a supervisor, in route, and advise responding units to expedite."

Just then a rock smacks into his passenger window.

"Get the @$%&* outta here, we ain't bugging nobody!"

To be continued

Newly returned from his vacation to introduce Karen to his parents, Skyhawk is testing some adjustments to his Suit.
"Wings are functioning properly, extending and retracting as designed. Achilles, let's see if the H.U.D. is running correctly.

Skyhawk's flying companion replies, "Initiating system in 3...2...1...go."

An influx of data came across his screen.

"System is on and performing well. What did I tell you, this is great."

"We have a report of a situation in progress Achilles. Lay in  a course."

"Course plotted an layed in." Achilles replied through the computer chip implanted at the base of Skyhawk's skull.

"Well, looks like the night off is shot, but it sounds like one of Empire City's finest may need some assistance."
Heading towards the disturbance Skyhawk doubles his flight speed.

To be continued.......

Thunderbolt flew in coming from a high vantage point to get a overview of the situation.. the old warehouse district near the docks.  Shawn grimaced... how many bad things had gone down in this part of town was innumerable!  The slump in the shipping economy with the addition of the pull out of some large business investments for easier and larger ports on the east cost had left the docks & warehouses almost abandoned and a nest of criminal activity.

The warehouse was the scene of a block party.. that had apparently spilled outside.  The music was loud... pretty good tunes actually... the techno remix booming out of the sprawl of young adults partying hard...

Then Shawn saw the frantic spinning police cruiser lights and the blaze of the back-up lights as the officer on the scene was clearly trying to get out of the situation of the throng of ravers.  That's when Shawn saw them... a group of partiers... raging, muscles-buldging, smashing anything in their path.. tossing other ravers out of the way like they weighed nothing storming towards the in-reverse fleeing police cruiser...

"Oh crap... Boosters...!"

Officer McDonald, new he was in trouble, the Booster would be on top of him any second now. Slamming on his brakes, he threw the car into drive, and gunned his engine. His tires squealed as the car accelerated toward the raging Booster bearing down on him.

"Oh hell, I hope this works.", he muttered, before the car's push bumper smashed into the Booster, sending him flying over the hood, and onto ground behind it.

But just as Officer McDonald looked over his shoulder to make sure the Booster was down, his right side front passenger window exploded, showering him with fragments of glass. A raspy sounding voice called out "You gonna die tonight $%&%^!!!" A second Booster, had grabbed hold of the door frame, as he attempted to rip it off the car, and then things really got bad.

Officer McDonald's first thoughts were of his girlfriend, Susan, and how mad she was going to be for not getting home in time to walk the dog in the morning.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Not to get too nitpicky, TB, but after years of playing Compass - a magnetic wielder - it seems like you're doing a lot (and if your powers work beyond what the RAW for Magnetic Powers do, then I apologize).  In the rules, normally setting up a magnetic defense takes an action, as does grabbing something with Magnetic Powers.

Also, not sure what the Kyogetsu is (a weapon?), but how would the weapon's accuracy factor in to the attack where you're wielding another person as an improvised weapon?

Dom may be a more generous GM than me (and frankly, V&V is pretty harsh if you ask me, to Magnetics and TK characters), but the way I'd rule it would be:

1) One action to set up a Magnetic defense
2) Another action to snag something Magnetically
3) I'd personally have the player roll a special attack (i.e., two rolls) for the grab of the first person, unless they had a ton of metal on them
4) Then another attack on the second Booster

So four actions total, likely taking up most of a character's entire turn.

Flying towards the police cruiser Skyhawk com's Achilles. "Achieve acceptable altitude to keep me advised of what's happening."
"Affirmative." was Achilles reply.
Upon reaching the police cruiser, Skyhawk stated, "Officer, Thunderbolt and I are here to help, so let's see if we can keep the damages and injuries to a minimum."
Skyhawk turned to face the nearest Booster, and was ready to stop him if necessary.

Well I would only think I'd get that Heightened Expertise bonus once in a single attack; never twice - that's OP.  In this particular case... again TB is kinda using some excessive force here.. these are only street punks... who probably don't have more than 3 to 6 hit points between them {normally}... unless when 'riding the boost'  their upped strength, maybe endurance, affects their appropriate hit points at the same time or they have some increased resilience in the form of some invulnerability or armor.  All that damage could seriously injure his 'bat and ball'~ average of 13 damage to both!

But there is no guarantee that when Dom makes the rolls TB actually hits the Booster pulling at the door {shrug}.. kinda in his hands at this point.  TB has a +8 {13-} on the hand to hand chart to hit... plus any blindside bonus... IF the second booster is actually blindsided and does not make his danger sense check. 

Again all in Dom's hands.. and besides.. as a GM myself... so what if the initial mooks are put down? That's what their there for; cause there are definitely more on the way!  The news reports said; "the 6 hour rampage, by over two dozen Boost enhanced young people".  My guess is TB and Skyhawk are about to have their hands full and it will definitely be Game Time at that point!

And Thank you too for your advice and input as well.. I'll keep that in mind in my future posts!

Thunderbolt wrote on May 21^st, 2015 at 6:11pm:


I hope I didn't come across as busting your ...chops too much, TB.   

After playing a Magnetics character for years, I can definitely say that I feel the rules as written make it tough (to do things effectively).  It can especially be difficult to do a lot in a short amount of time.  My PC Compass (who is something like Level 18) finally just ended up training for a level in "Magnetic Control", just to allow him to do a bit more than what you get in the description in the Powers section.

As for your discussion on Heightened Expertise, assuming you don't have "Heightened Expertise: All weapons" (which is really rare), normally one wouldn't add that bonus with magnetically controlled items (unless that's all you took it with).  Or if you had a 'group' of attacks it worked with, it would make sense to have it work for both Magnetic blasts as well as controlled objects.  Of course all of this is contingent on what you and Dom came up with, when you built the character.

My PC Compass ended up training for something like 6 levels, all to get a +6 to hit with magnetically-controlled objects (or maybe it was +8?).  Otherwise, it was really tough to hit with them.

Yes, actually... TB's Heightened Expertise affects ALL his attacks.  Randomly rolled by Dsummer as far as I know.. I got lucky.

Sounds good to me.

Lorenzo and Shawn spend quite a bit of time in Lorenzo's secret basement workshop under the diesel garage he shares with his father. Shawn can tell that Lorenzo is a genius when it comes to building his armor, but his approach clearly betrays his familiarity and fondness for big diesel trucks. Saving space is not one his top design objectives.

It's a cool quiet night when Lorenzo decides to take the suit out for a spin. Lorenzo is still ambivalent about being a hero, although working with Shawn on the modifications has been fun and recently he got restless again and decided to see if he still felt that he could do some good as Diesel.

Lorenzo drives his van to his usual inconspicuous abandoned spot near the  garage, parks, suits up and checks all the outside sensors to make sure no one is watching. "What the...?" Lorenzo heard a strange sound as he stepped backwards out of his van as he often does after changing into his Diesel suit. "Ha, ha very funny! I'll get you T-bolt." A moment or two later, Diesel gets a call...

(In orde to get a chance to rp with you guys Tad got nothing from his bus ride and is still hiding behind the dumpster lets hope the heroes show up soon)

"Well, choices just get made for me, I guess." Lorenzo says to himself. Over the call he says, "Be there right away." Again to himself, "So, no better time than the present to try out my new gadget." Diesel closes the door from the inside and moves to stand in the front of the van, right behind the seats. He twists his feet a little until he hears a click, and they are firmly locked in place. He grabs a power conduit from overhead and plugs it into his suit. He flicks a switch near the connector and a green light comes on at the dashboard, as his lower torso and legs become completely rigid. His armored hands pantomime putting the van in gear. He puts his hands into a position of holding a steering wheel and pushes forward. The van starts moving out. "Who would have thought that years of playing video games and racing trucks would actually be useful?"

Diesel drives to the location and parks in as secluded a spot as possible before unhooking the conduit. "Fastest I've ever done that!" Lorenzo says as he steps out in the scene of chaos.

[I just thought it would be fun to have a means for Loerenzo to drive his van while in armor so he doesn't need to take time to put it on after he arrives at his location.]

Avatar wrote on Sep 29^th, 2015 at 12:22pm:



Yep! Seems so... by the way.. very cool idea Lord Inar.. love it!

Alright gents, it's a new year, and it actually looks like I may have time to get this rolling again. I'll let you know if/and or when that will happen.

Woohoo!

Glad to here Dom is back

and now, I can't remember how to paste them into the comment... early stage old man...

I updated my profile on the site, but can you give me a refresher on how to add it here?

Agreed, apologies for de-railing the story.

Just as you all arrive on scene, the "whoop, whoop, whoop" of a helicopter can be heard in the distance. A bright light shines down on the area, illuminating it.

A  voice booms from beneath the helicopter's nose "This is the Empire City Police Department! This has been declared an illegal gathering! You are ordered to disperse immediately!"

As the rampaging Boosters hear the the commands directed at them, it only seems to enrage them more. One of them grabs manhole cover and flings it into the helicopter's path. If no one does anything, the helicopter won't be able to avoid being struck by it.

At the same time, roughly a dozen of the Boosters turn their attention to the heroes, charging them, screaming, yelling, and foaming at the mouth. While several others continue to pound the officer's car to pieces.

Anyone monitoring the police band, can hear that help is on the way, but it's still several minutes out.

Tad hears the choper and thinks 'Maybe juvie would be safe from the men in black and these crazies' He Hops onto his skateboard and moves toward what he thinks is Diesl's direction. Unfortunatly in his rush ,his board hits some debris and is lifted swiftly in the 'backwash' of magnetics in the area. He skids on his face in the turf.

The overview is routed to the team communicator which Thunderbolt- is already reading with his electromachine control.. the data a clean picture in his mind... 

Replying over the Communicator < "Got it Skyhawk- , Thanks for the overview update!  Call in 'fearless leader'... we're gonna need Power Chord's- , mojo.. or this is going to get ugly VERY FAST!" >

That is when Thunderbolt's - , magnetic radarsense notices the teenaged skater trying to move out of the scene a moment too late as his magnetic field washs over him and trips up the metal in his skateboard spilling the youth to the turf... in the path of the rioting Boosters...

{Damn! Too many objects moving.. didn't see the kid! He's gonna get creamed when those boost-heads reach him!  Gotta do something... need to loose some weight...}

https://rolz.org/embedX8092739

Initiative roll [Total 20] - Not high enough for a third action this round so.. only movement is possible~ plenty left.

Thunderbolt- , flexes his will and the Kyogetsu-shoge holding Officer McDonald... unreels to its full 80'ft length and sets the officer down on a nearby rooftop out of danger.

"Hang tight, Officer.. gotta save that kid!  If your feeling helpful.. some covering-fire might be appreciated!"

No reaction time left to shift the Kyogetsu to grab the kid.. Thunderbolt- , Draws his katana and brings the manhole cover to his side like a floating shield as he lands in front of the kid between him and the approaching Booster-crazies.

{At least with my blade in hand I got some reach and chance to parry... who am I kiddin'.. this is gonna HURT!  I'm gonna get clobbered... can't let the kid know that though, hope all the effort I put into this armor helps some.. I just need a few seconds to refocus on the kid!}

Using the recovered weight Magnetic capacity from the setting the officer down.. TB bolsters his metallic mesh costume/armor with the rest of the capacity 'he always locks onto his costume'~ technically, RAW, costumes/Armor 'even powered armor' has no weight but TB's costume/armor is made of metal so he adds 250lbs of force to his costume to hold position and harden it against the 'booster-beat-down' he's about to suffer.

"Stay behind me kid.. don't run.. they'll catch you and you'll be where I can't defend you.. let me hold them off then I'll get you out of here.. STAY DOWN!!"

Just out of curiosity, any of you plan on doing anything about the object about to make impact with the police helicopter?

As Tad lies in the grass, a slight light headedness begins to sink in. The sweat pooling in his shirt. He hears the sounds around him muffled. As if coming to him though a layer of cotton. He can hear his heart beating in his ears. Louder than the gunfire going on around him. He closes his eyes,afraid of what might be happening to him. So far this has happened mostly when he sleeps. His arms and legs suddenly feel to heavy for his body. His chest hursts. The pain becoming almost to much for a moment before he takes in a deep breath. The air coming into his lungs seems to be more thanhe can hold. He exhales in a loud 'whuff'sound. He pulls his legs up so he is on his hands and knees. Lifting his head as the sounds around him return to normal. The raving Booster seems to have hesitated a moment while looking at the young man. The hesitation does not last long. Tad stumbles a bit as he tries to stand. (his new height is 6' 7")

Diesel realizes these are just kids, not in control of what they are doing so he's going to try to hold them at bay a little longer.

He waves his flamethrower across the ground in a "line in the sand" gesture to see if any of them respond to the concept of mortal harm.

"Don't cross the line or you'll get burned!" he yells.

[Note that Diesel is not trying to actually create a flaming line, but rather give the impression that he is.]

Tad see's the steam rising from the Booster. He looks back toward the police car then back at the steaming body, unsure what to do.

Skyhawk relayed the distances and directions of the outward bound Boosters to the group. "I'm going for the farthest out booster. I will see if I can make him turn back into where we are now." He says.

OOC: He will blast at the booster in an attempt to either take him out or turn him inward to the team. If this works, he will attempt the same strategy against the next farthest booster. He will continue this against all outbound boosters.

Thunderbolt- , is shocked out of his socks... when the at first impression 'kid' he's protecting grows to almost a foot taller and more muscle-bound than him before his eyes.

"Whoa... er kid... didn't know you were a meta!"

But his attention is drawn to the sudden violent pull on his kyojetsu... the length animated by his magnetic control and held in place by his will... he notes the Booster trying to pull him close with it.  Relaxing his grip with a simple act of will lets the Booster waste effort pulling on the 80'ft length of cable attached to nothing just coiled in his duster pocket, with an amused smirk under his mask.

Pondering his radar sense Thunderbolt- , notes the pause in the approaching line of Booster at the menace of Diesel's- flamethrower... but also the barrage of thrown objects his second booster attacker is hurling his way... coming also dangerously close to the officer he deposited on the rooftop behind him. 

Then his attention is also drawn to the steaming booster near the now tall meta-kid, by Diesel's- , shouting for water from a nearby hydrant... as the meta kid steps over asking how to open it...

{So much happening at once... ok.. prioritize...}

Time seems to slow down for Thunderbolt- , as one of his meta-human talents comes to the fore like no other ... he thinks fast.. faster than is humanly possible...

He acts, first electrifying his body~ he casually touches the spooling out length of his kyogetsu cable... letting the pulling booster "ride the lightning" from the conductive length of metal cable.

Chuckling slightly, "That.. was a mistake fella!"

Turning his attention to the hurling objects... Thunderbolt- , animates his metal mesh cloak he wears and detaches its from his costume sending it through the air to take position in front of the police officer and hardening its mesh surface into a slightly curving 'curtain' of metal with 250 pounds of force to provide cover for the officer.  As for himself.. he simply relies on his already active magnetic shield and armor to deflect or at least dull the impact of  the object being hurled objects at himself... 

At the same time his swaps the smaller 3'ft wide-manhole cover toward the metahuman-kind 'now tall', flexing his will he deforms the manhole cover... pinching it in the center to provide a make-shift hand grip ...like a shield.  Floating the make-shift heavy shield to the meta-kid.

"Hey… ‘Kid Roadblock'... I'll take care of that hydrant... if your stronger in that big form.. and you're willing to help out, do me a favor.. use that make-shift shield to body check that booster throwing junk around.  He's gonna hurt someone...!"

Then flexing his magentic powers Thunderbolt- , locks on to the fire hydrant and exert 1,000lbs of force tears it from the ground with its attached pipe... intact.  Animating it with his will he opens the hydrant pinching the metal to create a blast of water directed at the steaming booster trying to pinch the opening enough to provide sufficient force to drive him toward the boosters held at bay by Diesel's- threatening flamethrower.  Snaking the pipe and hydrant around~ Thunderbolt- directs the blast of water at the street they are ALL standing on...

Then he takes flight... moving carefully over the blast of water to pull spool out his length of kyogetsu cable still being held by the booster to pull the length through the stream of water and electrify it as well... letting all the boosters in its stream take a little bit of the shocking experience....

https://rolz.org/info?X9582648 'Darn STILL not enough for three actions!'

2 actions: [ Action 1# = Electrify body;  Action 2# = Use Magnetic control to 'Lock-On' to Fire Hydrant – with 1,000lbs of Capacity ]
Ground Movement Total = 49”; Flight Movement total = 1,196”
Total Magnetic Capacity In Use: 1,500lbs~ 'roughly'
Movement Costs- 
1) Lessen Magnetic grip on Kygetsu-Shoge ‘allowing Booster to pull on it 80’ft length “mostly” freely’-but not unlocking magnetic control [2”]
2) Touch Kyogetsu-Shoge with electrified hand [2”] 
3) Pinch Manhole cover to form hand grip and move to ‘Kid Roadblock’ [19”]
3) Detach metal mesh cloak with Magnetic Control and move to form curtain of cover in front of Officer McDonald – hardening with 250lbs of Capacity [13”] 
4) Pull Fire-Hydrant free from street and open pinching opening to direct blast of water at steaming Booster… then turn spray upon the ground the threatened boosters Diesel stopped with his flame thrower are standing on [13”]
5) Take Flight 5'ft altitude over scene move over to drag electrified Kyogetsu cable through stream of fire hydrant water to electrify the water the boosters are all standing in [4” – 20’ft Flight Movement]

[OOC: Sorry for the delay of this... needed to evaluate if TB could 'reasonably' accomplish all this at once, though it might take an actual attack to direct the fire-hydrant spray at a target.. I'll leave it to Dsummer to adjudicate the success or failure]