Hi.
Would there be any interest in a PBP game. Feel we have gotten enough rules to go through character creation and some simple homebrewed scenarios. And hopefully by that time gotten a look at more of the rules.
I'm very interested in Play By Post!
Play by post might be the only way I get to play for a while.
I'd be interested, depending on the frequency.
I'd absolutely be in! We can definitely do character creation already, and Chapter 5 (scene creation) should be released to backers in the very near future.
Does Chapter 5 also include how to build Villains?
If they remain consistent to what they presented in the Kickstarter outline, yes.
Slightly off-topic; does anyone know how to get the forum to alert you to new activity (preferably just within specific threads, though I'd settle for anything in the SCRPG forum). It'd certainly help with play by post if done here.
Great, there's interest. Can't find any way to subscribe to threads sadly.
First off we should figure out if we should play here or if there's a site better suited. Also, what kind of game people wants. The last part could evolve based on character creation.
I'd also be up for a play by forum game.
Myth-Weavers and RollGate are the two platforms I'm aware of. I personally found Myth-Weavers a bit arcane to use, though it's feature-rich. Haven't tried RollGate yet. Really you don't need much. Could play here well enough either on the honor system or with an online roller (I like Orokos).
Leffa, I assume you're volunteering to GM? If so, did you have a campaign idea or two in mind? I like the idea of adjusting the game style through character creation but PbP doesn't lend itself well to that. If you did want to go with something like that, a formal guided process might be a good idea (e.g. stealing FATE's system).
We could also do it on Discord. There is the Discord-Bot someone made.
I'd forgotten there's a Discord-Bot! And that would certainly allow for notifications! But I dunno how well hp tracking would work there. Eh, there'll be hiccups on any platform really. In any case, count me in! I have a variety of character ideas, but who or what I go with all depends on the tone and style of the game...
Preface each post:
HP: <Hp Number> ; Zone(Personal) ; Zone(Actual) ;
<Entity Doing Stuff>
Append to end of post:
<Next Entity To Go>, <Tag in some way to their controller>
That would be my idea for a template, but I don't know how the Discord Bot specifically works. The bot might need to interupt a post to give out results, in which case split up the <Entity Doing Stuff> around the Discord Bot, and end post stream with the appended stuff?
Or, and this is inefficient but a way I've handled solo play via Google Doc:
Round x
Heroes:
- Hero 1: Health, Bonuses, Penalties
-- Minions or extra effects
Villains:
- Villain 1/Villain Group 1: Sizes/Health(if public), Bonuses, Penalties
-- Members of group, challenge status, extra effects
Environment:
- Environment Target 1/Environment Challenge 1: Bonuses, Penalties
-- Members of target, challenge status, extra effects
<ActorNow> does stuff. <ActorNow> passes to <ActorNext>
- List of objects added/modified with current states
Yes, I would like to run. I have Role Gate account, but haven't used it much. Setting up Character Sheets there is a hassle.Though, once done is practical. I haven't used Discord for PbP before, but open to the idea.
Discord is better for live chat, not so much for play-by-post. If you want to schedule regular times for everyone to play, it'll work just fine. That wouldn't be for me, though.
That I think could be harder. I'm in Europe so I'm usually in the wrong time zone to make that work.
I'm voting for play by post, as well.
These forums don't have any notification system, sadly. However, if you use a google sheet for reference, you can easily make that send out emails after each turn.
Well, Leffa, what's the pitch for this game? I'm one of those players who needs to know more before making their character, as I try to make them to fit the setting, tone, and/or party :)
*readies his Rolodex of character ideas*
The pitch was what I was hoping we would find out togeher once we've decided on place.
What kind of game would people like. There's a difference in feel between a Teen Titans/Young Avengers game and a Sucide Squad/Thunderbolts type game.
Should it be set in the Sentinels universe or a new universe where we make up our own timeline. I'm not the most well versed in Sentinels lore as I've mostly only played the core game and just recently started on the Letters Page podcast.
I lean more towards the Teen Titan feel, personally. Optimism, and heroism. Sure, there will be drama, but at the end of the day, we want to be good guys.
I'll second Godai on tone.
I can see both sides of the Sentinel Comics setting; I'm roughly familiar with it but haven't delved deep into the lore or anything.
I'm good with an optimistic and hopeful setting. If you have a universe ready to be populated, then I'm in favor of it. Else, Sentinel Comics will work.
Ok. More 4-color in its approach is a go.
I'm thinking we set it in a new fictional city that don't have their own hero team and you end up being that new team. Like the West Coast Sentinels or whatever you'd end up calling yourself. The threats would be local rather than global. It's a very basic concept, but works as a test of the system. Seems we have 6 interested players:
catDreaming
ErekLich
Godai
Pydro
MindWanderer
Powehound_2000
Let me know if I've forgotten anyone. Any more and I think it will become unwieldy.
Also, I recommend making it explicitly part of the Multiverse and not the SCRPG universe. That way there's no risk of running afoul with canon. There's no harm in making up your own version of Universe One but I for one might make incorrect assumptions if the game were set there.
So, local scope but overtly superpowered rather than street-level, and cheerful. I may have something ready to go (Idol, a former vocaloid with sonic powers) but I may just roll a couple of Guided characters to see what I come up with.
I'll do some rolls, and see what happens. If nothing works, I got someone who fits the setting.
Awesome! Do we yet know how we want to format play? Someone mentioned a shared spreadsheet; if we want to go that route my Excel-Fu is strong.
Alright, here's my first 3 character ideas:
Prince Ivan: Baron Blade's son, Ivan Romanant III. Fed up with his father's... "antics"... he seeks to take the Mordengradian throne, with an aim to remake Mordengrad as the proverbial "City on a hill." (Alternately, he could already be ruler if that fits the campaign better; after all Baron Blade managed to be ruler and a super!) Military / Tech Upgrades / Close Quarters Combatant / Mischevious. Party Role: Front Line Fighter
Singulara: A career as first a nurse, then a doctor, prepared Samantha Fraiser for her future better than she ever knew. In some sort of life-changing event, she came across and accidentally bonded to a small energy field. It sits just atop her collarbone, shining like a star, and acts almost like a philospher's stone / energy field emmiter. Under her new name, Singulara, she now saves lives on a scale she couldn't before. Medical / Relic / Armored / Nurturing. Party Role: Healer
Spark: Spark awoke in an abandoned warehouse, her memory a complete blank. The only thing in that warehouse with her was a Power Suit, sized exactly for her very short and slight frame. Much to her shock (pun intended), the suit seems to run off and focus the bioelectricity that she can now emit! Though she knows nothing of her past, she has the muscle memory of someone who's trained for thousands of hours with her suit, and her search for answers has led her here... Blank Slate / Powered Suit / Modular Blaster / Inquisitive. Party Role: Skirmisher.
Feedback please! Also, I'm not married to any of these if they don't end up fitting the campaign, so don't worry about ruling any of them out.
I'm going with the character I already have built.
Details, please, Sir or Madam! Who is this character?
To borrow your format:
Sockpuppet: At first, they knew only brief moments of awareness. A flash of light, a sound, murmuring. The moments grew longer with time as well as more frequent. When it became constant, a silhouette of a teenager wearing a hoodie and sweatpants rose from the ground, colors and features emerging as if being painted on. With different appearances and different sets of memories all jumbling together, the silhouette settled into a common appearance and began exploring the various identities of those around it. And if an identity sought to do harm to another... Well, that just wouldn't do.
Blank Slate, Unknown, Psychic.
I'll build a character this evening using the guided method as I don't have any particular character in mind.
I'll second the suggestion of Multiverse setting. Stays lore friendly, but not slaves to lore. I have a few characters off the top of my head, but may come up with another if roles need to be filled.
Cynapse: Late 20's male, Inventor of "the Suit", a lightweight power armor, that allows him to fly, resist damage, and his punches cause synaptic disruptions in those he hits. Party Role: Tank/Single Target Debuffer. Smart guy, smart mouth, confident.
Petey Quick: Late teens male, caught in a science lab accident during a terrorist attack, can now run at super speeds, punching problems away. Party Role: Recon/Close Combat. Smart guy, eager, glass canon.
The Solarkinetic: Late 20's female alien refuge. Solar powered, able to fire blasts of radiant energy to stun or blind foes, flight, super strength. Party Role: Blaster/Moral Support. Naive about Earth, cheerful, team player.
Although reading the concepts for Spark and Sockpuppet makes me want to toss in Gate, who is also a blank slate type, basically a manifestation of Nightmists portals, formed out of a pocket of remaining Mist. Gate isn't Nightmist, but just mist given "life"?
Team Blank Slates, go! (Not a serious suggestion, but it could be fun)
Hm... Idol isn't technically a "Blank Slate" but her background sure doesn't go very far back.
One suggestion for how to manage the game: make turn order first-come, first-served rather than waiting on a specific person to post every time.
Sockpuppet is a Blank Slate because (despite having some number of other people's identities), they didn't have a personal history that they were aware of.
Well, even if a bunch of us were blank slates, having one or three "organizers" to hold us all together is not a bad thing b
All of these ideas could work. Being blank slates would give you a common ground to work from. Starting to come up with a starting scenario. I suggest people playing what they feel like and don't think about filling roles, as superhero is the ultimate kitchen sink setting and one of those weird settings where most concept can find room.
So if I'm playing Spark, the big question is this: are you cool with me making her backstory totally up to you? Or do you want me to come up with some/all of it and give that to you to work in?
Still working out backstory/names but this is the build of the character I've put together using the guided method:
Background: Struggling
Power Source: Radiation
Archetype: Speedster
Background: Sarcastic
Principle of the Debtor
Principle of Speed
Ah, good. That rules out the one I was in the middle of generating, but that's fine, I like my other ones better. May still make one or two more, but right now I'm leaning toward:
Principle of Compassion? Multiple Blank slates? I nominate Mindwanderer's hero for team leader. Also, I know Pydro was put on the list, but it seems like they only commented, not expressed interest. It seems we only have 5 players, which I think is ok?
I would nominate that Sockpuppet not be team leader, but I do think that they should probably know someone else in the team prior to the start of the game.
Up to you. Could come up with some if you’d like.
Correct. Only commented.
This is my hero sheet link at the bottom. Not fully sold on the hero name yet but it initally sounded good to me. Anyways, my background story I have so far:
Dad was a boxer but that doesn’t help pay the large medical bills incurred between his fighting and his mother’s chronic illness. While Fritz like his boxing he wasn’t taken seriously enough to get paid anything. Through some contacts he found out about some guinea pig work at a lab. Typically the work was fairly benign but one saw safety equipment malfunction resulting in Fritz being exposed to radiation. Initially he only lost his hair and the lab offhand couldn’t find anything else wrong. Trying to let go of some pent up frustration he got into a friendly spar at the training room and found he was laying blows faster than he ever had. Those around were stunned. Fritz surprised by this left and went walking home only to find himself instantly there. Putting his hand on a nearby tree he saw it start to glow and wither.
Edit: Hero name is now Collider and an updated link https://www.dropbox.com/s/pbfp8wer2rlv17t/Collider.pdf?dl=0
If you're not happy with Half-Life as a name, I'll toss in Collider or Big Bang as suggestions.
I've got a full sheet for Spark, but I gotta clean it up before I post
Here is Sockpuppet's Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10rlNnwr12ZSmO7P5DBJ3EX37nvu5wbCx/view?usp=sharing
Lemme just copy+paste from the Let’s Make Some Random Characters thread:
So as long as this realities version of Nightmist was here, and now gone, my backstory/concept works.
Gate, or Beatrice Thea Gates if they ever need an identity to be put on paperwork somewhere (Bea for short). Vaguely feminine mistform, long silver/white hair, glowing white eyes. No mouth, no nose, no ears. Communicates via telepathy, but they have the Principle of Whispers, their head is always full of jumbled voices.
Collider sounds perfect.
Leffa, can I get GM permission for a special Power selection? I want this character to have social skills, but every roll requires a Power and she doesn't have access to anything that really makes sense for rolls to just talk to someone. Shapechanging is about the best I can do unless she's talking to an animal or a plant. She doesn't have access to Intellectual Powers. No Archetype (or Power Source) has access to Hallmark as a category, but she does have access to Signature Vehicle and Signature Weaponry through Flyer.
Could I maybe take "Fey Charm" as an Invented Power? Otherwise, I can redo the build to go with Unknown as the Power Source, which isn't the best match for where I was trying to go with this, but I can make it work.
Psychic offers Suggestion, but if that's not your intent, maybe a new Psychic power called Empathy?
Neither Nature nor Flyer has Psychic either.
That said, I was only looking for the Intellectual category, but I can get Presence with Mystical or Supernatural, too, and those could work. Funny enough, the illustration for Supernatural even shows someone who clearly seems to be a nature spirit type. I'll make it work somehow.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VaSuZlPx1KTQzwEyb4ZeXiEmcfA572Y4mjtA16ouJyg/edit?usp=sharing
I couldn't find a form-fillable sheet for a Modular hero, so here's a cleaned-up version of the google doc for Spark!
Speaking of fillable Modular Character Sheets, here is the one I made in Google Sheets.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QdzOY_ntIZ9TJ0xyQQTUhdTfNewJHCx2vXfbshCC-i0
are you guys going to move to a hosting site or stay around these parts?
Too tired and have an odd sleep patern to try and play but i would be almost as interested in listening in on you guys as i am warching the GTG crew.
besides if i was going to play i would look for a freedom academy game where i could play Salamander
I see no problem with this. Feel free to switch one of your dice with Fey Charm
Don’t think we ended up deciding on an external site.
Well, everyone has characters ready. Out of the options that have been raised, do any appeal to you Leffa?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13BoJAKPAkuGgsebHZLglhJB2l5ucGrX1J1xVRl4NPXo/edit?usp=sharing
First draft of a party tracking sheet! Feedback welcome.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-IIuIuIAY74q4CyoKotbwHbmxsH8x2CLqjzYm0SUO_s/edit?usp=sharing
Spark using Godai's prettier sheet! Thanks!
Here's Sylphid's backstory, which the other characters wouldn't know, but anyone is welcome to use this as a springboard for figuring out how they might know her.
Mindy Price came from a wealthy, well-connected family. Her father was an executive at a large Silicon Valley tech company. Her mother was a partner in a large, successful corporate law firm. Between them and their extended families, they know people in business, politics, Hollywood and more.
Mindy herself tried to be a conscientious "granola girl" but did so with all the privilege of class. She loved to hike, bike, and rock climb, and had expensive equipment for all of it. She ate vegan and organic. She did interpretive dance and plays guitar, and did both really well because she's had private tutors. She's traveled to famous landscapes all over the world. She went to protests for all kinds of social justice issues, but never anything dangerous.
As a freshman in college (a small liberal arts college, of course), Mindy and a half-dozen girlfriends went on a wildrness bonding retreat. There were music and dancing, and later wine, and later a pipe of some sort got passed around. The rest of the evening was lost in a haze of sound and motion and strange, fey voices and laughter. When she woke up, she was lying on a dewy hilltop, wearing little more than flowers and a pair of diaphanous fairy wings.
Minutes later, Mindy heard dogs barking and the voices of men. She panicked and ran, not wanting to be discovered like this. She hoped to find her friends before anyone found her, but failed. The day went on, and grew hungry and thirsty. She tried to forage but couldn't find anything to eat or drink. As she grumbled to herself, the bushes next to her started spontaneously growing juicy berries! She ate her fill, then began experimenting with her new powers, spending the next several days surviving in the wild, avoiding rescue parties, and trying to figure out what to do next.
Mindy discovered that she could cause living plants to move and grow, and even dead plants (like the cotton in her friendship bracelets, which she still wore) to move around somewhat. She could talk to animals and understand them empathically, and sometimes even command them. She learned to fly with her new wings, which had great speed but little stamina.
The final piece came when Mindy began to feel weak from her limited diet. She'd even consider eating meat at this point! As she imagined biting into a thick, juicy steak, she found her body changing shape, with her teeth elongating, and claws sprouting from her hands. Moments later, a great tawny cougar raced through the forest looking for prey.
This new power was the toughest of all to master, but eventually Mindy learned to assume the cougar form at will, as well as a wheat-colored wolfhound and a huge golden eagle. Most importantly, she learned to make her fairy wings disappear! She was finally able to sneak back to her dorm room. Once here, she refused to tell her friends anything about what happened, rebuffed their attempts at continued friendship, and focused on finishing the semester. She then spent a year traveling the world, telling her parents she needed to "figure out who she was."
When she went back to school (a new school, wherever the campaign takes place), she was no wiser about the origin of her powers but resolved to make the most of them. She put aside her neo-hippie persona and became a serious, somewhat antisocial student... when she wasn't being a superhero, still dedicated to the protection of the downtrodden and the environment. Rather than settling on a single costume, she put together a wardrobe of fairy outfits (all made of natural, organic fibers, of course), with matching half-masks. The only consistent pieces were a rainbow-colored scarf, assorted wooden jewelry, and the cloth bracelets made by the friends she abandoned.
Hm... I think that Sockpuppet might know or interact with Sylphid post arrival at school? Sylphid's variety of masks and the fact that her powers change her physical identity to a drastic degree would definitely catch it's attention.
Spark will likely first find whichever of the other heroes is most publicly visible. Do we know anything about the city we'll be operating in yet?
I'm curious about how Gate and Sockpuppet are going to interact. A pure white misty outline of a person, who hears dozens and dozens of voices that are not hers (or even necessarily of this reality), and a pure black outline of a person, who is made up of dozens and dozens of personalities.
As a way for Gate to meet/know anyone, I can easily see a way a floating, potentially near invisible, telepathic cloud of "I need to help" to bump into anyone. Plus anyone who moves through her could be teleported away from danger, as a backstory?
ideas off the top of my head include:
And I'll try to have a link to my character sheet in the next day. Hard to commit time to filling it out with two little ones, but I'm close.
I updated the Modular Character Sheet Blank, to include a bunch of the sections I overlooked the first time. But in the process I screwed up the original. Anyhow, here is the new link to the updated sheet.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tADsybkPv3Wv7teRsW9ZmyOYQKW1rJDNirzsb5SpWPA
Sylphid and Collider should probably be among the last to meet reach other. They're going to butt heads like crazy. I imagine Collider wouldn't give Sylphid the time of day without someone to vouch for her--even in her hero identity her privilege will be immediately obvious.
If Spark is looking for someone conspicuous, Sylphid will certainly qualify. She's downright gaudy and isn't going to do the nighttime vigilante thing--she'll be looking for the big things she can do to make an impact.
I would think Collider is going to more likely to make some wisecracks about their differences in wealth. He's struggling but not necessarily bitter about his situation.
Here is the character sheet for Gate. Will get a formal backstory written up while I'm at the mechanics later.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cfbvOs7sZb8gaK0C2sMrLgHGuItPoW-RBdgWUlpXtAQ
Sounds like Spark will definitely find Sylphid then! Might be before or after Gate finds her.
Sorry it has taken me some time to reply. Work and such has been busy.
I have looked at a few alternatives, and Role Gate looks the most promising to me. If anyone has any objections, let me know. If not, I'll create a game tomorrow and send you all the password to join.
I was thinking to set it in a fictional west coast city, that could look like any west coast city. The name in my head right now is Santa Luna, though I'm not set on the name yet.
Hoping to finish up the last few details this weekend so we can start next week.
The sheet looks good ErekLich. It will be helpful.
Just signed up for RoleGate.
Edit: And there is an iOS Companion App. From reviews, it takes you to the website in your browser still, but allows real time notifications on your phone when your games update.
I signed up too. Unfortunately it doesn't look like you can customize the notification settings, at least in the Android version.
I'm signed up for RoleGate.
Have joined Rolegate. On Android, the entire settings tab simply consists of a logout button. Hopefully I can manage notifications within a game once joined?
Never used rolegate before. Setup a login and downloaded their app.
Created the game and sent you all link and password. Let me know if anyone hasn't gotten it
I got the link and joined through the site.
Joined. I still can't find any options for managing notifications, so hopefully the default works.