Quantcast
Channel: Civilization Fanatics' Forums
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 12856

Under the Mask 2: Fading Lights

$
0
0
Its been five years since the Doumedsville Incident. Five years since, for a few brief months, the supers of the world appeared to the public. But the time of the incident is long past, whatever brought them out long gone. The supers of the city have dissappeared back into the underground, burying themselves back in the shadows from whence they came. Life returned to normal.

You aren't normal.

You have power. And you know what they say about power bringing responsibilities. And so you've prepared. But the preparation is over now. You're ready. Ready to slip into that secret world, where magic meets technology, where demons meet robots, where evil meets good. A world where everyone is a different person, where two identities cross. And no matter where you are, or who you are with, the other side of you is always secret.

Always silent, hidden:

Under the Mask


Hello and welcome to the long-awaited sequel to my previous genre-defining title, Under the Mask. I'm sure you were all expecting this series to return amidst a choir of heavenly angels, but I'm afraid you'll have to make do with this paragraph here. Depressing isn't it? So lets get it over with quickly and move on to the good bits.

The game takes place in the city of Doumedsville in the USA. Your character attends the prestigous St. Whosit University, and must balence their super-life with their education there.

Basic Rules:
[Generic anti-troll rules]
As the GM I reserve the right to do anything in the game, up to and including kick players for unwarranted laughter. Me and my iron-fisted reigime decide whats funny, by gosh! :mad:

This game, as with the last, shall enforce a heroes only rule. You cannot join as a supervillain, and commiting to many actions I define as incompatible with this rule will cause your character to be rejected.

This is an Action Chatroom Game. Most of you whole will join probably know what that is, but for those who don't I will explain now. You will create a character, using the Character creation stuff below. You will then come on the Chatroom at certain times and play as that character in missions, where you live out your heroic lifestyle. This may mean stumbling around in the dark with no idea what is going on, but thats just life really... :evil:

Character Creation

This is where you make a character, by filling out the details in the following character sheet. Below the sheet is a guide to filling it out, so hopefully you won't have too many problems with it.

Spoiler for The Character Sheet:
Name:
Alias:
Gender:
Age:
Appearance:
Bio:

XP:
Money:

Stats:

HRD:
AGL:
PRE:
RES:
WIL:
CHA:

HP:

Feats:
Advantages:

Disadvantages:

Equipment:

Residence:
Security:
Vehicle:


Spoiler for And the Guide:
Name: What your name is. :rolleyes: Anyone who needs further help here should consider not joining the game.
Alias: What do people call you when you go out into the night with your true name concealed?
Gender: Are you a male, or a female?
Age: How old your character is. Due to the constraints of the setting, this has to be between 18 and 23
Appearance: What do you look like?
Bio: And now the good stuff begins! What happened to you in the past? What made you become a hero? Why are you in Doumedsville? This is where you describe the story of your life. Interesting parts may become relevant later on, so spare no expense!

XP: The basic currency of the game, earned by taking part in missions. Starts at 0.
Money: The secondary currency of the game. You start with $1,000, unless you take a feat which alters this.

Stats: The basic building blocks of your character. Each stat starts at 5, and you have an additional 15 points to put into them. You can remove the starting points to a minimum of 1, and cannot put a stat above 10 before feats.

Spoiler for The Stats:
Hardiness: How physically resiliant and strong you are. Affects your ability to take wounds and hit things hard.
Agility: How quickly you can make your movements. Affects your ability to hit things, as well as sneaking, climbing and the like.
Precision: How precisely you make your movements. Affects you ability to notice and shoot things, as well as dodging attacks.
Reasoning: How fast you can think your way through things. Affects your usage of powers and your interaction with technology.
Willpower: How determined you are. Affects primarily powers, but also your ability to take wounds.
Charisma: How persuasive you are. Affects how likely NPCs are to go along with what you say.


Note that Agility and Precision both deal with very similar things, so if you arent sure which stat covers something, it may be wise to ask.

HP: Measures how many more hits you can take. You start with 5, then add 2 more for every point of Hardiness you have. Certain feats may also affect this.

Feats: Feats are split into advantages and disadvantages. You start with 3 advantages, and can then take up to another 3 advantages as long as you take a disadvantage with each one. Those of you who want something not available in the feat list can talk to the GM, and may be granted a 'special' feat. Each individual feat can only be taken once.

Advantages: Advantages are split into three different categories: Normal, Supernatural, and Gadget. These determine how you get them, Gadgets being something you have to carry around, Supernatural powers being internal abilities, and normal being perfectly natural abilities you have aquired through work or nature. Please post which category your feat is in just after the name, before you describe it. For Example:

Phlebotinum Projectile: Gadget - Generico has a gun built into his suit that fires a special sticky webbing.

Spoiler for The Advantages:
Made of Iron - +2 HRD (All)
Slippery - +2 AGL (All)
Pinpoint Accuracy - +2 PRE (All)
Quick Thinker - +2 RES (All)
Iron Willed - +2 WIL (All)
The Charmer - +2 CHA (All)
Juggernaut - Each Point of HRD gives +4HP (All)
Determinator - Each Point of WIL gives +2HP (All)
Crazy Prepared - You are allowed 3 gadgets of your own description. (Gadget Only)
Utility Belt - True Crime Fighters carry an additional 2 gadgets in their utility belt. (Gadget Only)
Rich Kid - Start with $3000, Can convert XP to money at a 1:3 ratio. (Normal Only)
Training from Hell - A bonus to melee combat rolls (Normal Only)
Unnoticable - Be more adept at sneaking around (All)
Hyper Awareness - Be more aware of your surroundings, and more prone to noticing seemingly unimportant details (Gadgets/Super)
Flight - The ability to fly. (Gadgets/Super)
Barrier Builder - A defensive barrier of Phlebotinum to defend against attacks. (Gadgets/Super)
Phlebotinum Projectile - The ability to engage in ranged combat, whether it be through Dark energy, a lightning bolt, or via good ol' fashioned LASER EYES! (Gadgets/Super)
Psychic Powers - The ability to detect, read, and even control, minds. (Supernatural Only)
Significant Sense - Helps prevent you being suprised by warning you when you are being watched or are in danger. (Supernatural Only)
Healing Hands - Heal yourself, or someobody else! (Gadgets/Super)
Popular Hero - A strong positive reputation amongst the people (All)
Invisibility - Being able to turn Invisible (Gadgets/Super)
Ghost in the System - A +10 to base security (All)
Sidekick - You have a sidekick (All)


Disadvantages: Disadvantages have no sections. You just pick them from this list.

Spoiler for The Disadvantages:
Socially Inept - Penalties to speaking with people when not hero'ing
0% Approval - A significantly negative reputation
Poor Guy - Start with only $300, convert XP to $ at a 1:1 ratio
Blindingly Obvious - Penalties to Stealth
Weak and Feeble - HRD only gives +1HP
Kryptonite Factor - A certain substance makes you physically Sick
Terrible Liar - A -10 penalty to base security
Half-Blind - A penalty to ranged combat
Unwilling Pacifist - A penalty to melee combat
Life Drain - Powers eat HP when activated
Weak Willed - More susceptible to psychics and weakening
The Fettered - You live by a restrictive personal code


Note that you must pick codes or substances that actually count as a disadvantage, as determined by the GM.

Some feats cannot be taken together, usually due to the fact that they would counter each other out. Most of these are obvious, but there is a list below.

Spoiler for Mutually Exclusive Feats:
Juggernaut - Determinator, Weak and Feeble
Popular Hero - 0% Approval
Rich Kid - Poor Guy
Unnoticable - Blindingly Obvious
Ghost in the System - Terrible Liar
Training from Hell - Unwilling Pacifist


Equipment: This is where you can carry a handful of other items. Only two of these can be signficicant (as determined by the GM), and aquiring them will usually cost you money.

Residence: This is where you say where you live. You start in a College Dorm, unless you are able to buy something else immidiately.
Security: This determines how hard it is for others to work out your secret identity. It is affected by your residence and some feats.
Vehicle: If you have a vehicle, this is where you describe it. Vehicle Aquisition will be explained in its own section.


So now you have your character. But what happens in a few missions, when you have XP and need to do something with it? Look no further, because I'm about to explain:

Leveling Up:

I was very proud of the UtM leveling system. But sadly I have also completely scrapped it, and in fact removed levels entirely. Instead of getting certain bonuses when you have enough XP, you now have to spend XP on buying certain bonuses. This XP is then used up, and will never be seen again, beyond a few record columns in my spreadsheet. Using your hard-earned XP, you can buy the following things:

Money: You gain money by spending XP, with every XP giving $2, unless you have a feat which alters the conversion rate.
More HP: Spending 1400 XP will provide you with a number of additional HP equal to your Hardiness Score at the time of the purchase.
Extra Stat Points: Spending 1300 XP will provide you with a single additional point in one stat.
Additional Advantages: Spending 2000 XP will allow you to select a single additional advantage feat for your character.

Note that additional HP, Stat points, and Advantages can be purchased for a sidekick at the same cost as for yourself.

Spending Money:

Because nobody really wants to be rich. You will usually spend money outside of missions, by purchasing Equipment, Residences, and Vehicles. There may be options of spending money within missions, but these will likely be rarer, and the purchases listed out here must be done out-of-mission.

Residences:

You can buy homes of several different scales, which have both increasing cost and increasing security values.

Spoiler for Housing List:
College Dorm- A few rooms you share with a number of your fellow students. Their respect for your privacy is all that protects your secrets. -Free
Rented Apartment - A handful of rooms which you don't have to share with anyone. A great leap forward in cheap and ineffective attempts at secrecy! -Costs $3,000, Security 5
Private Apartment - Your very own personal space, modified slightly to provide a better hiding spot. -Costs $9,000, Security 10
Small House - Your own personal building. It might be a bit cramped, but the interior is undeniably yours. -Costs $15,000, Security 20
Normal House - A proper sized house from which to base your operations, with a few handy extras to boot. -Costs $30,000, Security 30
Large House - A large spacious dwelling with plenty of room to go that extra mile in super-preparation. -Costs $50,000, Security 40
Mansion - How you afford the servants roaming the corridors of this vast and luxerious palace is your own problem. Why you trust them is another, but they are undeniably effective at keeping your secrets from prying eyes. -Costs $100,000, Security 50


Vehicles:

Every Super Hero needs a Super Car. Or bike. Or Plane. Whatever the case, vehicles are available in the game, if you're willing to spend the money. Contact the GM with what sort of vehicle you want, as well as what sort of upgrades you want on it, and he'll give you an idea of how much you'll have to pay for it.

Equipment:

As with vehicles, contact the GM with what sort of equipment you want to purchase, and he will provide you with a cost. Note that equipment has to be relatively simple, if you want a bunch of neat gadgets, there are feats for that.

Sidekicks:

So, you fancy yourself team leader? A sidekick is the little guy who follows you around helping out with your super-heroing. Even if they aren't younger than you, they aren't your partner, make sure to be able to justify why they accept your commands. And remember that, feat or not, sidekicks are still NPCs; their exact actions, thoughts, and motivations are determined by the GM; you dont get to give orders for them, just give instructions. Also note that you have to pay for all their little toys; sure they'll go traipsing across town for you, but you'd better give them the money for a bus ticket, because no way they're paying for it themselves. You still want one of the lazy buggers? Okay, here's what you have to do...

Spoiler for Making Sidekicks:
Sidekicks have all the same stats to put points into, and start at the same average of 5. However, they only have 10 additional points, so spend particularly wisely. Along the same lines, they only start with 2 advantages, and can take only one extra advantage/disadvantage pair. You have to select their power origins the same as yourself. Some of the advantages and disadvantages are off limit for them due to not affecting them, and I'll list those later.

Spoiler for Sidekick Character Sheet:
Name:
Alias:
Gender:
Age:
Appearance:
Bio:

Stats:

HRD:
AGL:
PRE:
RES:
WIL:
CHA:

HP:

Feats:

Equipment:

Vehicle:


Untakeable Feats: Rich Kid, Popular Hero, Ghost in the System, Sidekick, Socially Inept, 0% Approval, Poor Guy, Terrible Liar

Note that you can try to make pre-existing chars your sidekicks if you keep your old chars and can justify it to the GM. For these, the GM will provide stats, feats, ect, and give you a general description of their abilities rather than a table.


Reputation:

There's one last thing that your character has to worry about: your reputation. This isn't a hard number, because it will always vary amongst people. Some may have never heard of you, whereas others know you're the dark force that skulks through the night annihilating injustice. Some will see you as a glory hog, others will remember you as the man who jumped off Doumed tower to save a falling girl. Your reputation may be positive or negative, widespread or cult-level, but it is always there. Remember, people will judge you by your actions, your words, and even the company you keep; if you want to be viewed as the next Superman, try not to buddy around with Tim.

The Chatroom is here.

[Anything I missed will be added here when I remember it.]

DT
Best GM :king:

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 12856

Trending Articles