Just floated across my mind that the upcoming conversation may be something like the one that took place after someone was saved from three trolls. It involved “looking ahead” and “looking behind”.
I mean that, too: this is the kind of scenario (in which the protagonist, unlikely to do well at something, does it anyway) that inspired just that sort of tabletop mechanic.
Yeah, that does seem to be the case. Which means either her DM uses a very high number of points for a build or they are using the 4d6, highest 3 method and her player rolled really high.
This is assuming a D&D style game system. It’s been 20+ years since I have played Champions/Hero System which would be the ideal system for Ps238 role playing. IIRC there is a Hero system universe book for Ps238.
Her GM must have allowed her to roll her stats and she got a really good roll. Oddly it happens. My best character had 4 18’s and 2 16’s. Rolled in front of the DM and declared to be a wizard on rolling with 3d6.
That was the oddest roll I’ve ever had in my life. The character did great but often was out front with the fighters and his staff. 😉
Or she’s generated by the classic Marvel Super-heroes RPG, since it doesn’t use build points and not that hard to randomly roll the stats she’s displaying since she’s effectively somewhere around Ms. Marvel level.
The PS238 RPG book, which uses the sidekick part of HERO for metahuman children, lists the following disadvantages for her: Social Limitation – Secret Identity (15), Social Limitation – Minor (10), Vulnerability – 2X STUN from Argonite (10), Vulnerability – 2X BODY from Argonite (10). So, being a child counts for half as many disadvantage points as her argonite vulnerability (mostly because it’s a limiting factor more often).
FWIW, her Intelligence is set at 10, which is fairly high among her classmates–I think only Malphast and the metasavants (Angie, Victor, and Zodon) have higher INT, and theirs only puts them 1 point higher on perception rolls (12 versus 11).
of course 84 would be the first to notice. She is clearly wiser then the rest, and everyone knows that you roll wis for perception checks. That’s what the conjuror gets for taking wis and charisma both as dump stats. tsk tsk.
wait…84 has high wis and good charisma. could she be the bard of the group!?
Maybe someone offers that as a remedial/extension course for adults. To help save face, call it something like ‘Effective Teamwork (4 CR with lab) Connecting with and best utilizing diverse peers in a group situation’ It should be taught by heroes who frequently work with unfamilar heroes in deadly missions, Supes or Bats in DC, Revenant here.
So her casual and forgettable kicking of the rock proves more significant than it originally seemed and they’re all in a spacial loop for the next test. I wonder if everything’s going to prove to be a test and no location just being scenery between tests.
So they have to find the bucket missing from the roadside well because it might be significant that the bucket is missing? Hope this doesn’t turn into that old song they used to play on Dr. Demento. Anyone remember it?
“But there’s a HOLE in the bucket!
Dear Martha, dear Martha,
There’s a hole in the bucket,
Dear Matha, a hole.”
Given the house and well are apparently the only things in the loop outside of them and the rock it’s a good chance one of them is the way out or holds the trick to disabling the loop, just like the entrance had nothing but the obvious trigger to work with. So I agree there’s a good chance the well actually is the way out, either literally or indirectly.
I’m starting to wonder whether Phlogiston might want to consider a career change to the interesting and exciting world of metahuman education. As a chemistry teacher she’d be nigh-perfect.
I don’t think I shall ever be able to read the word ‘Phlogiston’ without thinking back to the heady days of the Spelljammer setting… ^^ That is still a fun way to play AD&D.
Hmm. Phlogiston seems to be a much more honest intellectual than either Neuronet or Conjuror. Those two are both so convinced of their own intelligence (which may be legitimately there, mind) that they seem to have forgotten their own fallibility. Phlogiston took a more measured approach: skepticism – not immediately taking for granted that Julie’s hunch was correct – but open-mindedness. She was apparently inclined to believe it herself, but wanted to be sure – and she’s giving Julie the credit for coming up with the idea first.
Well mages at least, particularly the powerful ones, tend to have as a requirement a need to consider themselves infallible particularly in their bailiwick. It’s why you see Dr. Strange and his enemies so often engaging in breaking speeches trying to shake their opponent’s belief in their infallibility as it weakens their magic. Plus group leaders in general start developing a feeling of infallibility due to leading a group for so long (only the best remain willing to listen to others fairly and compile things to go with the best idea to deal with something even if it isn’t their idea).
I figured there’d be someone asking what the test was, but maybe y’all are all so smart you figured it out, too. They stood still, and waited to see if the others would catch up with them again.
All the discussion above of 84’s stats as a superhero, and what kind of rolls she’s making, strike me as a bit beside the point. This particular episode isn’t a superhero story; it’s a fairy tale, the kind of story where the youngest brother wins out through common sense and good will. Stat checks aren’t in it in this genre. Julie’s the perfect hero for this kind of story—and of course a quest for a mystic egg is a fairy story.
So the egg is running on a Hanna-Barbara engine? 🙂
(For those not old enough, Hanna-Barbara was (and still is) an animation company that, in the 60’s, was famous for creating the “ghetto school” of animation where only the part of the body that had to move was animated and characters would walk (and sometimes run) past the same landmarks in a room multiple times!)
You know if this were real there would be a time when 84 would shock herself when she realizes she has grown enough to not have to hover to have a face to face conversation with someone.
Aaaannnnnnd one of the Most Powerful Magicians on Earth is NOT the first to notice! Cue more ego bruising! 🙂
And yet again the little girl is!
Don’t forget about the Tele/path/kinetic not noticing either!
Too busy trying to rebuild their self-images to notice something as trivial as landscape
Just floated across my mind that the upcoming conversation may be something like the one that took place after someone was saved from three trolls. It involved “looking ahead” and “looking behind”.
Cue super speed to lap them a few times and prove the point.
Perhaps the Conjurer should have attended grade school and high school for super powered people. Julie is quite advertant.
Or, maybe he just has not done enough dungeon crawls to see this kind of thing.
He failed his spot check.
It’s easy to not see ‘walls’ repeating. But when you walk by three cottages in a row, and they’re all the same …
Perception Check, Critical Failure!
That’s about all I can say in regards to those guys.
Dude, they have critically failed every check they have made so far.
84 obviously has a much higher passive perception rating than the rest of the party.
Nahh, she just used a hero point on it.
I mean that, too: this is the kind of scenario (in which the protagonist, unlikely to do well at something, does it anyway) that inspired just that sort of tabletop mechanic.
That’s because she didn’t use Wisdom as a dump stat.
Yeah, that does seem to be the case. Which means either her DM uses a very high number of points for a build or they are using the 4d6, highest 3 method and her player rolled really high.
This is assuming a D&D style game system. It’s been 20+ years since I have played Champions/Hero System which would be the ideal system for Ps238 role playing. IIRC there is a Hero system universe book for Ps238.
TVTROPES says that there is a Hero System book. Hmm $9.75 on RpgNow. Might have to get that
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/58036/Ps238
Her GM must have allowed her to roll her stats and she got a really good roll. Oddly it happens. My best character had 4 18’s and 2 16’s. Rolled in front of the DM and declared to be a wizard on rolling with 3d6.
That was the oddest roll I’ve ever had in my life. The character did great but often was out front with the fighters and his staff. 😉
Or she’s generated by the classic Marvel Super-heroes RPG, since it doesn’t use build points and not that hard to randomly roll the stats she’s displaying since she’s effectively somewhere around Ms. Marvel level.
Maybe the child and common powers disadvantages are worth lots of points
The PS238 RPG book, which uses the sidekick part of HERO for metahuman children, lists the following disadvantages for her: Social Limitation – Secret Identity (15), Social Limitation – Minor (10), Vulnerability – 2X STUN from Argonite (10), Vulnerability – 2X BODY from Argonite (10). So, being a child counts for half as many disadvantage points as her argonite vulnerability (mostly because it’s a limiting factor more often).
FWIW, her Intelligence is set at 10, which is fairly high among her classmates–I think only Malphast and the metasavants (Angie, Victor, and Zodon) have higher INT, and theirs only puts them 1 point higher on perception rolls (12 versus 11).
As a child she lacks the female “most common super power”
Since they share a universe with Nodwick, it’s possible that they have a D&D-like system.
Ah the old common problem gamers have. All the good names are taken!
Usually they are and copyrighted by the comic book publishers. Their lawyers are real super villains.
of course 84 would be the first to notice. She is clearly wiser then the rest, and everyone knows that you roll wis for perception checks. That’s what the conjuror gets for taking wis and charisma both as dump stats. tsk tsk.
wait…84 has high wis and good charisma. could she be the bard of the group!?
Paladin would be my guess.
Given how strong she is, I’m guessing she’s Roy.
Not a skilled fighter, just a brick with extras so maybe a combat based cleric.
She is just inexperienced, so her combat skill is low. Even at 1st level, most fighters suck.
I always enjoy it when older superheros bond with the younger generation.
The metahumans are just like us!
New 100 Level Super Hero course: Get Over Yourself Already, Before a Little Girl Shows You Up.
Maybe someone offers that as a remedial/extension course for adults. To help save face, call it something like ‘Effective Teamwork (4 CR with lab) Connecting with and best utilizing diverse peers in a group situation’ It should be taught by heroes who frequently work with unfamilar heroes in deadly missions, Supes or Bats in DC, Revenant here.
So her casual and forgettable kicking of the rock proves more significant than it originally seemed and they’re all in a spacial loop for the next test. I wonder if everything’s going to prove to be a test and no location just being scenery between tests.
So they have to find the bucket missing from the roadside well because it might be significant that the bucket is missing? Hope this doesn’t turn into that old song they used to play on Dr. Demento. Anyone remember it?
“But there’s a HOLE in the bucket!
Dear Martha, dear Martha,
There’s a hole in the bucket,
Dear Matha, a hole.”
I remember that one from Sesame Street in the 70’s, it was almost as annoying as the Row Row your boat.
We used to have a Disney version on tape… With Goofy complaining about the bucket.
Now that would just be wrong on so many levels.
At least they won’t climb down the well and continue that way.
There has got to be an exit from the loop somewhere.
Ah, good old RPGs
Do not be too sure. The well could be the exit. Remember there are a few myths that go that way.
Given the house and well are apparently the only things in the loop outside of them and the rock it’s a good chance one of them is the way out or holds the trick to disabling the loop, just like the entrance had nothing but the obvious trigger to work with. So I agree there’s a good chance the well actually is the way out, either literally or indirectly.
I’m starting to wonder whether Phlogiston might want to consider a career change to the interesting and exciting world of metahuman education. As a chemistry teacher she’d be nigh-perfect.
And take the job away from Mr. Alloy? How sad!
With as many students as they are getting, the could probably use another science teacher.
She’d be valued more, and that can mean a lot. Not that PS238 is a boring teacher job.
She’d also be respected by her coworkers and wouldn’t need to trick them to get things done.
However, I worry about what her former team would end up doing without her influence.
All night keggers that would leave them too hung over to do any damage.
Plus, the staff could use a member who can fly under their own power. Especially given what the students get up to.
Wait, where’s guy number 5?
Hiding because the safety rules prevent that to fire based characters appear on the same page
Firedrake is coming up “behind” 84 and Phlogiston.
Cue the “WTF” look on his face.
So any guesses on how the men of the group rationalize not having spotted this first?
“Faw, faw! W were too busy discussing important matters and our helmets were too tight! Faw-faw-faw-faw!” [/sarcasm]
They’ll probably insist that Phlogiston noticed it, and that 84 is lying.
And Phlogiston would insist that their helmets are on too tight and to shut up at this point.
The rock has a crack in it. 84 may have to break it open, or maybe one of the others will be useful this time.
Welcome to the Möbius Strip, kiddies… Good luck getting out. ^^
I don’t think I shall ever be able to read the word ‘Phlogiston’ without thinking back to the heady days of the Spelljammer setting… ^^ That is still a fun way to play AD&D.
You are not the only one Rock.
Hmm. Phlogiston seems to be a much more honest intellectual than either Neuronet or Conjuror. Those two are both so convinced of their own intelligence (which may be legitimately there, mind) that they seem to have forgotten their own fallibility. Phlogiston took a more measured approach: skepticism – not immediately taking for granted that Julie’s hunch was correct – but open-mindedness. She was apparently inclined to believe it herself, but wanted to be sure – and she’s giving Julie the credit for coming up with the idea first.
Well mages at least, particularly the powerful ones, tend to have as a requirement a need to consider themselves infallible particularly in their bailiwick. It’s why you see Dr. Strange and his enemies so often engaging in breaking speeches trying to shake their opponent’s belief in their infallibility as it weakens their magic. Plus group leaders in general start developing a feeling of infallibility due to leading a group for so long (only the best remain willing to listen to others fairly and compile things to go with the best idea to deal with something even if it isn’t their idea).
Ah yes. Getting an proper name in a world full of supers can be tricky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7xQUlQ-iys
I figured there’d be someone asking what the test was, but maybe y’all are all so smart you figured it out, too. They stood still, and waited to see if the others would catch up with them again.
All the discussion above of 84’s stats as a superhero, and what kind of rolls she’s making, strike me as a bit beside the point. This particular episode isn’t a superhero story; it’s a fairy tale, the kind of story where the youngest brother wins out through common sense and good will. Stat checks aren’t in it in this genre. Julie’s the perfect hero for this kind of story—and of course a quest for a mystic egg is a fairy story.
So the egg is running on a Hanna-Barbara engine? 🙂
(For those not old enough, Hanna-Barbara was (and still is) an animation company that, in the 60’s, was famous for creating the “ghetto school” of animation where only the part of the body that had to move was animated and characters would walk (and sometimes run) past the same landmarks in a room multiple times!)
You know if this were real there would be a time when 84 would shock herself when she realizes she has grown enough to not have to hover to have a face to face conversation with someone.