Doc Samson Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 I joined a local Champions game last night that has been running for a short time and wanted to share an intertesing power build one of the player's was using, with you guys. All of his powers ran through and END Reserve that could only be refuelled by the energies of the "Underworld" (i.e. Hell, the Afterlife, Tartarus, ect.). Of course there is only one way to acquire said energies... you guessed it, the character has to die to recover the End in the Reserve. The character has a Regeneration with Resurrection to bring himself back to life after his Reserve is full again. They didn't warn me ahead of time so I was a bit shocked when the character killed himself after his reserve ran out on the way to a battle. It was an interesting concept to say the least. The character's name is Half-Life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Just to show there are no truly original ideas... I designed a character like this, for my girlfriend in a fantasy game where all the characters were essentially demigods/immortals (in the chinese sense). She had a VPP that could duplicate powers and skills from other people, and also had shapeshifting powers - but she could only change powers while dead. The idea was that the character could be "reborn" out of her old corpse as someone/thing else (she was playing The Hanged Man). Since none of the players in this game knew exactly what their powers were to start with (I made all the characters up after discussion with the players on what they wanted to play), this caused some amusement - especially since the first time the character "died", her comrades buried her and then proceeded on their way. Luckily, since it was a shallow grave, she was able to claw her way out (isn't that a great image?). I got some good mileage out of it since she died at the conclusion of one evening's play - I let everyone, including her, think the character was dead, and then ran a solo session, which started with her waking up in her grave.... When she finally worked out what was going on, the character became pretty blasé - throwing herself off cliffs, or in front of passing wagons, etc, which actually freaked some of the other players (not to mention their characters) out a bit. That's saying something, given that the other characters included Death and the Devil. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Samson Posted July 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Just to show there are no truly original ideas... When she finally worked out what was going on, the character became pretty blasé - throwing herself off cliffs, or in front of passing wagons, etc, which actually freaked some of the other players (not to mention their characters) out a bit. That's saying something, given that the other characters included Death and the Devil. cheers, Mark Heh, that's very close to what this character was like. He declares "I shut off my Suppression Field and step in front of the train.", while we were on route to the combat. I thought he was joking except nobody laughed. The GM rolled the damage and said, "Your dead". The players then says, "Great! I don't have to sit here bleeding to death again." They had a good laugh at my expense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrakazog Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet From my defunct Mystery Men campaign, I give you Mr. Easter. His only power was immortality. Whenever he died, he'd rise again on the third day. Well, I thought it was funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet We had a character sort of like this in a GreyHERO game; he was a Passi Pullatum, i.e. a priest of Wee Jas (Goddess of Death, Magic, and Mystery), and everytime the player had saved up enough points to buy up another Spell Level in his magic VPP I wouldnt let him spend the points until his character died as a course of natural events in play. After he died I would do a solo spirit quest with him, and when he succeeded he would return to life with greater favor of his Goddess (larger clerical magic VPP and usually a flat Granted ability if we could swing the points). Worked out really well. The character became quite morbid and was one of the all time best from my gaming experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParagonAlpha Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet I had a player in a game who played a character named Dead Man. No matter what happened to him, as far as he knew, he couldn't die. Okay he could die, but he wouldn't stay dead. So one time the heroes are dealing with corrupt police (the setting was a near future where a totalitarian Metalist had become Prisident of the U.S.A.) who were trying to arrest one of the PC's mother, herself a former superhero, Lots of cops making it really hard to sneak into the house. So they ask Dead Man to create a distraction. So Dead Man leaps into the center of a group of cops, waves at them, pulls out his .45 Pistol and blows his brains out. The cops were slightly distracted (remember facist cops), but Dead Man getting back up moments later had the effect the were looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet the setting was a near future where a totalitarian Metalist had become Prisident of the U.S.A. Lars Ulrich became president? Sorry - couldn't resist. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest daeudi_454 Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet My character Quantum Cat has a similiar mechanic. He was trying to make a bridge to an alternate reality... He turned it on. It failed/ it worked/ it blew up/ it killed him. Turns out he ripped himself a new wormhole. As his spirit floated acroos to the other side, he felt the pull of his still living body. Only problem was, he was pulled back to a living body that he was already in possesion of. Every time he dies, his spirit is shifted through the temporal rift back to a living alternate of himself that isn't mortally wounded. Now he's haunted by 8 of his own ghosts. (Regen+Res, Res Only)(Duplication, cannot recomb, x2 bought with experience, linked to Regen+Res) The bad part is that he heals normally, which means multiple scars, and a great deal of time in ICU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest daeudi_454 Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Lars Ulrich became president? Sorry - couldn't resist. cheers, Mark There's an adventure in that, somewhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwdemon Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet When I saw the concept, my first thought was "Spawn" Granted, Spawn had the high-quantity, no-refresh END Reserve and it was the costume that could draw energy from evil, so the comparison isn't perfect, but that was the firs thing to come to mind. Still, good for the player. It isn't a tired old schtick and it sounds like he enjoys it. It sounds like it could be a bit disrupting to the game, but if everyone's cool with losing the character occasionally, then it's fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted July 31, 2006 Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet I had an immortal character that I played for an "Age of Apocalypse" Marvel Saga game ... he had serial immortality and reality warping ... so he'd die, and basically his powers would make a new body for him Add to it that he had a very deadpan personality and was all about science and you had one disturbing hero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Samson Posted August 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet And I thought it was original. The player did confess that he was inspired by Dead Man and was originally looking for a way to only have powers while he was "dead". The Resurrection was originally going to be the trigger for his Only In Heroic Identity. He would be alive and well again when he returned to his normal form. The closest I came to something like this was a Zombie Brick character I made (before Marvel Zombies ). His STR and powers were fuelled by an END Reserve that would only Recover while he ate people. It was for a Villain campaign but I never got a chance to play him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
name_tamer Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Or there's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Turns out he ripped himself a new wormhole. That is one of the most glorious turns of phrase I have heard in my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest daeudi_454 Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet That is one of the most glorious turns of phrase I have heard in my life. lol, Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Or there's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_Man My concern for a character in game would be similar to what happened in Resurrection Man - the character becomes blase about death. In one storyline, Hitman keeps blowing his brains out until he wakes up with the right power. Does the fact you come back mean that this causes no trauma or pain? Generally, the book was very good, but that pacrticular scene read like a powergamer's RPG... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest daeudi_454 Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet My concern for a character in game would be similar to what happened in Resurrection Man - the character becomes blase about death. In one storyline, Hitman keeps blowing his brains out until he wakes up with the right power. Does the fact you come back mean that this causes no trauma or pain? Generally, the book was very good, but that pacrticular scene read like a powergamer's RPG... That's something I tried to adress with QC. The versions of him that are dead are blase about death. However the Main character is not. Everytime a new ghost is spawned, it is an incredibly painful experience, and he remans terrified that one day the wormhole will close. This guy will never shoot himslef in the head just to have another Duplicate available. (even though at current XP, he should be able to get another 24 of them... but that is a lot of pain.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriot Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Had a character like that in my campaign for a while: No-joy was the name. what a wonderful presence attack, capping yourself in the head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretID Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Every time he dies, his spirit is shifted through the temporal rift back to a living alternate of himself that isn't mortally wounded. Now he's haunted by 8 of his own ghosts. That's an awesome concept. I love the combo of Schrodinger's cat and cats having 9 lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackValhalla Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Huh. I had a player ask for help creating her cat-spirit character. She wanted it to have nine lives. Resurrection regeneration, eight continuing charges, never refreshed. Seemed the easiest way. I thought about duplication, even summon, but they just didn't seem to fit. I'm sure I could have worked out some way to make Duplication serve, but it didn't seem right. The resurrection worked fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet Lars Ulrich became president? Sorry - couldn't resist. cheers, Mark Please, God, Nooooooooooooooo Couldnt resist either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted August 2, 2006 Report Share Posted August 2, 2006 Re: Strangest Game Mechanic I Have Seen Yet That is one of the most glorious turns of phrase I have heard in my life. I agree, when I read that in his post, I started laughing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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