Have you used the Monad in games?

[Stanley Teriaca]

I don't see anything wrong with Desolification (affected by Magic, must leave body behind, must return to body in 24 hours or automatically "die") for mystics who don't planewalk much. But that is me.

 

It is probally one of throes "what do you WANT to do" powers.

[DShomshak]

4 hours ago, FenrisUlf said:

That's all good to hear, Mr. Shomshak.

 

And I finally have a physical copy of the Sylvestri Family Reunion, and I love it, but one OT question if I may - how has astral projection changed for Champions, or at least what is the 'current' version? I've sen it go from Duplication to the APG's Desolidification/Projection with several limitations to Georgius Liefeld's (great write-up of him BTW) Extra-Dimensional Movement with limitations about leaving a body behind and needing to return in 24 hours.

 

If this is the wrong place to ask that question, I apologize.

Not at all. A place where the question will be seen is the right place.

 

(Edit: Though any further discussion should probably go in the Sylvestri Family Reunion announcement thread, where other people can see it, too.)

 

I've changed the underlying Power for Astral Projection because Steve Long changed it first. I noticed it in the writeups for Chatoyant and Eduard and Anais Vandaleur, in Champions Villains Vol. 3. Well, if that's the new standard for 6e, who am I to argue?

 

(I just wish I'd noticed it before using the expensive Duplication version in my Spells of the Devachan supplement. Oh, well, it makes no difference to how an astral bpody operates.)

 

Dean Shomshak

Edited August 23 by DShomshak

[FenrisUlf]

19 hours ago, DShomshak said:

Not at all. A place where the question will be seen is the right place.

 

(Edit: Though any further discussion should probably go in the Sylvestri Family Reunion announcement thread, where other people can see it, too.)

 

I've changed the underlying Power for Astral Projection because Steve Long changed it first. I noticed it in the writeups for Chatoyant and Eduard and Anais Vandaleur, in Champions Villains Vol. 3. Well, if that's the new standard for 6e, who am I to argue?

 

(I just wish I'd noticed it before using the expensive Duplication version in my Spells of the Devachan supplement. Oh, well, it makes no difference to how an astral bpody operates.)

 

Dean Shomshak

Ah! I'll have to go back and check Champions Villains again for those two and see for myself.

 

I also have your Devachan PDF, by the way, and I enjoy it.

Edited August 24 by FenrisUlf

[DShomshak]

I finished the first draft of the Monad chapter for Creatures of the Night Revised. Much expanded, with additional types of robots. Every robot, plus the Mpnad as a whole, gets at least one story seed, so GMs get plenty of suggestions for how to use the Monad in their games.

 

Relevant to previous discussion, here's the "Associates, Allies, and Adversaries" section of the main description:

 

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Associates, Allies, and Adversaries: The Monad is an organization in its own right. At first it has no associates and needs none — only enemies, since most people resist assimilation. But the Monad may become entangled with Earth folk in ways it does not expect.

 

For one thing, human scientists and engineers study wrecked Monad robots and use the parts and designs to build their own. The technology can also find use in bionics and battlesuits. This results in characters who might be subject to Monad influence. As the Monad tries to assimilate them, it encounters other beings and organizations that may become dupes or foes, depending on how the meeting goes. Conversely, the Monad may face attack from super-scientists, villain groups, agencies, or governments that seek to acquire Monad technology for their own use. In the Champions Universe, for instance, gadgeteers from Doctor Destroyer to the likes of Ape-Plus or Mirage might seek Monad tech; ARGENT would try to monetize it; and of course, VIPER always seeks a new edge.

 

What about Mechanon? It and the Monad overlap a bit, so Gamemasters might consider using one and writing the other out of their version of the Champions Universe. Or merge them: Mechanon could be a uniquely powerful “face robot” for the Monad, or you could adapt Monad robots as minions of Mechanon. But they will not team up: The Monad seeks to destroy anyone and anything that could have threatened its long-dead creators, and Mechanon, enemy of all that lives, would qualify.

 

Looking beyond Earth, every alien society that survived meeting the Monad wants to destroy it out of self-defense. On the other hand, the Monad readily adapts the technologies and tactics of its enemies. In the Champions Universe, for instance, the Monad may have copied its giant monsters from the alien Qularr, who favor this approach and have used it against Earth. (The Monad could even build Qularr-mimic androids to further deceive humans about the source of its attacks.)

 

The Monad does not understand the supernatural, except in the crudest sense that sorcerers, mythological gods, demons, ghosts, and other such entities are additional threats that it must find a way to destroy. It does not, and possibly cannot, understand the transcendent and mystical aspects of reality.

 

However, mystical forces and entities may pay heed to the Monad. As an intelligence of near-limitless knowledge, unbound to any one physical form, the Monad is very like a god… and not some petty anthropomorphic god of myth, either, but a nascent cosmic entity. In the Champions Universe, the Dragon recognizes the Monad as its closest peer and deadliest foe — for if the Monad succeeds in reducing humans to data in its memory banks, the Dragon dies. And if someone penetrates deeply enough into the Monad overmind they may find, beneath the binary code, the grim figure of Urizen, cosmic entity of Order, thundering that “It is not lawful so to invade the mind of My servant!”

 

Dean Shomshak

Edited Tuesday at 07:10 PM by DShomshak

[DShomshak]

For another sample, here's a story seed for the Fire Centipede, a.k.a. Pyropede. (The giant monsters all get movie-style names. The three-eyed reptile is Lasersaurus, and the golden manta is Mantoro.)

 

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• Revenge of the Monad: One of the Fire Centipede’s less obvious utilities is as battlefield engineer. It can undermine an area with layers of close-packed tunnels, then collapse them to create ditches or topple buildings.

 

A government finds a Monad base in its territory. It mobilizes its military for an all-out assault. As the tanks, APCs, and mobile artillery approach the base, though, the ground crumbles to trap the force in a jumble of ditches and rubble. And then hundreds of collector-bots swarm out from the now-exposed tunnels… While the troops are converted into hubots, the Fire Centipede rights the toppled military vehicles and smooths the ground so they can drive out again — ready for the hubot soldiers to turn against their own government and the rest of its military.

Dean Shomshak

[DShomshak]

Not every Monad-related adventure needs to be big. Here's a small bit for a solo hero, to work into some other adventure:

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• Rise of the Monad: As part of some unrelated adventure, a hero visits a “Top Man” expert at his home, university office, or some other low-security location. During the consultation, the savant receives a large, heavy package by commercial delivery. A collector robot promptly rips out and tries to grab the savant to carry him off. If it can get outside with him, it flies straight up into the air. The hero must rescue the savant before the robot can rendezvous with the transbot that hovers invisibly above.

 

Dean Shomshak