PROGENITOR: WORM (A Wormquest AU)

[DragonCobolt]

SUSPICION​	TECHNOLOGY​	ECONOMY​	WARFARE​
2​	3​	3​	2​

THE METRIC DATA IS NOT AVALAIBLE TO YOUR CHARACTER UNLESS THEY HAVE SUPERHUMAN (10+) DICE IN MIND.
YOU MAY CHECK THE METRICS, BUT YOU MUST NOT ACT UPON THEM.
IF YOU START DOING MONKEY BEESKNEES, THEN I'LL REMOVE THESE.
BUT THEY'RE NEAT, SO DON'T MAKE ME DO THAT.



THE CURRENT MEMBERS OF THE STONEWALL NINE

TEAM MORALE: Dissolved (1/4), Fraying (1/2), Bad (3/4), Average (x1), Good (x1.5), Excellent (x2), Found Family (x3)
TEAM HEADQUARTERS: Yggdrasil, the World Tree
TEAM ALLIES: NYPD (Grudging), Stan Lee (Eager), Cam Nguyet (Whether You Want Her Or Not), Amanda Sykes, Abe Sykes
TEAM ENEMIES: Don Crawler (Nemesis) [IN JAIL], Glasshead (Nemesis) [IN JAIL], Miss Eyes (Nemisis) [IN JAIL], Zipperneck (Rival) [IN JAIL],
Cam Nguyet (Whether You Want Her Or Not)

TEAM WARDS: Tina Shaw, Amy Sykes, Cassie the Humanoid Force, Sloppy Joe, Aisha Laborn, Camilo Vera, Jill Danning
​

Lily Satō, Head of the Stonewall Nine

Spoiler: Lily's Stats

AGE: 19 (DOB: 1951)
PASSION: Girls [7], Fuck the Cops [4], Superheroing [1]
LOYALTY: Queer Rights [7], Your Friends [5], , A Better World [1]
BASE WILL: 25 | XP: 1

Lily has seen nothing but hassle from New York's finest and is damn sure not going to let them push her around. And now, finally, a queer woman can hit back harder than the patriarchy does.

BODY​	CORD.​	SENSE​	MIND​	CHARM​	COMMAND​
1d+1wd​	6d​	3d​	3d​	2d​	2d​

Lily, before becoming a metahuman, was perceptive and smart, but had the strength and endurance of a sixteen year old girl after a bad cold. Afterwards, she could become incredibly strong if she manipulated the physics of the items she touched, or the clothing she wore to augment herself. Her max press was five tons without any additional effort, a top speed of 40 MPH for running, and a vertical jump of 8 yards. Also, she can dodge bullets.

SKILLS (Broad, Flexible, Influence)
[Any] New Yorker, Japanese-American, Delinquent (B/F/-): 3d
[Any] Being a Lesbian in the 1960s (B/F/-): 3d
[Any] Superhero (B/F/I): 1d
[Coordination] Sneaking (-/-/-): 2d
[Coordination] Lockpicking (-/-/-): 2d
[Mind] Speak Vietnamese (-/-/-): 1d
[Mind] Speak Russia (-/-/-): 1d
[Mind - Hyperskill] Intuitive Physicist (B/-/-): 6hd
[Charm] Voice of the People (-/-/I): 1d
[Command] Stubbornness (-/-/-): 3d

Lily, before becoming a metahuman, was the bad apple of her family. A second generation Japanese immigrant, she doesn't like or respect her parents - if only because she's grimly determined they'd freak out if they found out what she...felt about other women. She's good at sneaking out and has spent more time at Stonewall than she has at school, as her grades will attest. She's got a stubborn attitude and is about ten years early for punk and ten years late for the Beatniks. She makes do.

ARCHETYPE: METAHUMAN
Source: Unknown | Permission: Super
Intrinsics:

Immutable: Barring superhuman assistance, gadgets, or something wildly unexpected, Lily's powers will not change or improve.​

​

Infectious: Lily is either a strong, stable or weak vector (she doesn't know which.) If she's strong, she has a 100% infection rate until she reaches power equilibrium. If she's stable, she has an 80% shot (the joy of being a Tier 3.) If she's weak, she's got a 10% shot. Infection passes when she uses her powers on anything sentient.​

​

POWERS

Not So Little Anymore...
Dice: 1wd

Hyperbody (+4), No Physics (+1), Booster [2] (+2), If/Then [Must Be Wearing Clothes Over The Parts Used] (-1), Obvious (-1)​

Cost per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 20​

By adjusting, in minute and gross ways, the physical properties of either what she carries and her own clothing, Lily effectively has her very own suit of strength enhancing exoskeletal structures. This imparts incredibly precise control to her blows, her athleticism, and her jumping. This isn't a subtle effect - her body emits strange flashes and odd noises as air and light interacts unpredictably with her physics alterations.

Fast as a Thought
Dice: 4d

Hypercoordination (+4), No Physics (+1), Go First [2] (+2), If/Then [Must Be Wearing Clothes Over The Parts Used] (-1), Obvious (-1)​

Cost per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 20​

Just like with her body, but this covers her reflexes as well. She can dodge bullets! ...not that she HAS too. The flashing and eerie hissing makes stealth hard, so she prefers to turn it off when she's sneaking anywhere.

Intuitive Physicist
Dice: 6hd
Hyperskill [[Mind]General Physicist (B/-/-)] (+1)
Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 12
She's intuitively a PHD equipped physicist on par with Albert Einstein. Maybe better, actually. She literally can't NOT know the exact right answer to any physics question. This really helps, considering her powers.

Everything is a Gun
Dice: 8d+1wd
Range: 2,560 Yards | Mass: Knockback = Base Damage + 6 meters | Base Damage: Width in Shock & Killing

Attack (+2), Area [1d] (+1) Spray [1d) (+1), Heightened Capacity [Mass] (+1), Penetration [2] (+2), Power Capacity [Mass] (+2), Speeding Bullet (+2), If/Then [Must Touch an Object] (-1), Obvious (-1)​

Cost Per Die: 9 | Total Cost: 108​

By touching an object (any object, really) and canceling their mass and lateral motion relative to the planet Earth, she can turn anything, from an apple to a doorknob to a manhole cover into a projectile. By touching a lot of objects (I.E, using spray), she can hit as many times as she gets sets. By making sure to touch relatively fragile objects and creating deliberate fracture points, she turns the weapon into a kind of kinetic shotgun (using Area.) People hit by this tend to go flying (using the Power Capacity [Mass]), but she can just use narrow blades if she just wants to do the slicing and slashing. The only problem is if she can't touch things with her skin (it has to be a skin to skin contact) it won't work. Oh. Also, the sonic booms.

No
Dice: 10hd
Range: 512 yards

Defends (+2), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Spray (+1), Obvious (-1), Limited Capacity (-1), If/Then [Must have a Medium to Manipulate] (-1)​

Cost Per Die: 3 | Total Cost: 40​

By glaring at the air around her, she can render it impenetrable to whatever is coming her way. Maybe the air molecules suddenly lose the ability to move at all and become an impenetrable wall that simply bounces a kinetic projectile off, or negating an explosive's ability to undergo chemical interactions that lead to detonations, or making the air molecules ahead of her simply non-conductive to whatever energy blast is heading her way. This is not subtle - producing bright flashes, loud booms, and strange changes in local atmospheric conditions as the interactions become chaotic beyond the immediate radius. The maximum number of people or places she can protect at once is five people, but the more people she tries to protect, the less effective the defense is. It's literally impenetrable when she's just protecting one person, but if she's protecting five at once, a fast shot or lucky hit might get through.

Physical Fuckery
Dice: 5wd

Range: N/A | Mass: N/A | Speed: N/A​

Attacks (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Must Be Related to Repressing a Physical Law] (-1), Locational [Head, R. Arm, L. Arm, Body, R. Leg, L. Leg] (-6)​

Defends (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Must Be Related to Repressing a Physical Law] (-1), Locational [Head, R. Arm, L. Arm, Body, R. Leg, L. Leg] (-6)​

Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Must Be Related to Repressing a Physical Law] (-1), Locational [Head, R. Arm, L. Arm, Body, R. Leg, L. Leg] (-6)​

Cost Per Die: 6 | Total Cost: 120​

Whenever she puts her mind to it, Lily can do something. If it can be done by suppressing a physical property or law, she can do it. Needless to say, once she realizes how her power works, she starts studying the hell of out physics. This is really easy, thanks to her intuitive understanding of physics. However, this power requires her to be able to use every SINGLE iota of her body's contact with the surrounding universe. If she has taken any trauma to any part of her body, then these powers short out. If she gets a chance to refocus, she can reestablish her control...unless the body part in question is too damaged to be used (I.E, filled with any combination of shock or killing damage.) In which case, she simply cannot tap into this ability to manipulate the universe. She simply lacks the holistic connection to the universe.

Seriously, Though, everything?
Dice: 1d
Range: Self Only

Attacks (+2), Attack Quality [10] (+10), Augment (+4), Area [10d] (+10), Booster [10] (+10), Burning (+2), Engulf (+2), Penetration [10] (+10), Radius [5] (+10), If/Then [Augment Only] (-1), If/Then [Cannot Spend Use Augment for anything but "Everything Is a Gun"] (-1), If/Then [Must Be Manipulating Matter On A Scale Permitting The Impacts She Wishes] (-1), Self Only (-3)​

Cost Per Die: 54 | Total Cost: 54​

Hey, what if she touches a mountain face and she negates its inertia and lateral motion for a flash of a second and turns Everest into a five kilometer high rock shotgun? Well, uh...take your pick! Add all of the above! If she uses a chemical tanker, it might explode. If she uproots an oil derrick, it will set things on fire. Anything justifiable in the scene, she can do it. She will have to spend a willpower point to do this. Oh, and be willing to accept the consequences.

Confident as Hell
Dice: N/A
Base Will (+3), Attached [Hyperbody] (-2)
Cost Per Point: 1 | Total Cost: 26
Lifting five tons over her head, running as fast a car, and being aware she doesn't have to be afraid anymore all combine to create a staggering, preposterous level of raw confidence. This is good, cause it makes her good at fighting supervillains and changing the world. The only problem is that if that hyperbody ever goes away...poof. There goes the confidence. Good thing that won't happen! ...right?

​

Andy Richter, Time Thief and Genius Gadgeteer

Spoiler: Powers

Andy's Powers

ANDY HAS 11 BASE WILL.

Hypermind
Dice: 4wd
Hyperbrain (+4), If/Then [Must be within 10 meters of any form if electrical equipment) (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted by wrapping his head in a Faraday cage] (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted with any form of non-physical radar jamming too] (-1)
Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 12

More Hypermind
Dice: 2wd
Hyperbrain (+4) If/Then [Must be within 10 meters of a pretty hefty chunk of computers) (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted by wrapping his head in a Faraday cage] (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted with any form of non-physical radar jamming too] (-1)
Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 8

Even More Hypermind
Dice: 2wd
Hyperbrain (+4) If/Then [Must be within 10 meters of even more computer components) (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted by wrapping his head in a Faraday cage] (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted with any form of non-physical radar jamming too] (-1)
Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 8

Dear God, Sir, How Much More Hypermind Do you Need!?
Dice: 2wd
Hyperbrain (+4) If/Then [Must be within 10 meters of a pretty hefty chunk of computers) (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted by wrapping his head in a Faraday cage] (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted with any form of non-physical radar jamming too] (-1)
Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 8

When Andy is within ten meters of any kind of electrically conductive material harnessed for human ends – lamp posts and microwaves, toasters and hair driers – he becomes smarter than the smartest human being in the world. If those electrically conductive materials are arranged into a computer of some kind, then he becomes a lot smarter, and he gets more and more smarter the more and more computers are around him. Eventually, he hits the four way tie for smartest monkey on this marble. Unfortunately, unlike some metahumans, Andy's "exocortex" is suspended on physical matter and communicated to him via electromagnetic signals, meaning they can be blocked or removed by his enemies.

Time Snatch
Dice: 2hd
Mass: 2.5 kg or less
Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Limited Capacity (-1)
Cost Per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 20

Andy has a fascination with electrical gizmos and computers. But the 1960s was not enough for his subconscious. He is able to reach forward in time into parallel universes and, uh...steal stuff. The stuff can only come from other universes, and he can't do more than 2.5 kilograms at a time, making the stuff he REALLY wants (quantum computers, spaceship engines, laser guns) slightly tricky.

I Can Make Whatever You Want
Dice: 5hd+10d+5wd

Attacks (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), Delayed Effect (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Requires at least 6wd of Hyperbrain to be active] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is only for Technology] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Any Gadget Made Must Have the Manufacturable Extra] (-1), Willpower Investment (-1)
Defends (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), Delayed Effect (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Requires at least 6wd of Hyperbrain to be active] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is only for Technology] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Any Gadget Made Must Have the Manufacturable Extra] (-1), Willpower Investment (-1)
Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), Delayed Effect (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Requires at least 6wd of Hyperbrain to be active] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is only for Technology] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Any Gadget Made Must Have the Manufacturable Extra] (-1), Willpower Investment (-1)
Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Delayed Effect (-2), Touch Only (-2)
Cost Per Die: 7 | Total Cost: 280

Hokay. So! Andy can make gadgets. He's, in fact, one of the better gadgeters in the world – in part because he doesn't NEED A LABORATORY. He doesn't NEED supplies. Because he just...uh...borrows them from the future. (Note, if he chooses to not borrow things from the future, then he will need a laboratory, but won't get a rebate in points.) The gadgets he makes can be, eventually, learned to be recreated by non-metahumans. Now, it still takes him some time to actually build a gadget! Now, there is one tiny problem: He needs to be smart enough to do any of this, and that means that if he's in a Faraday cage helmet, then he's shit outta luck.

Oh, also, the last useful ability is the ability to deconstruct other people's foci. So, if he finds a gadget in the wild, he can take it apart and gets all the Willpower used to build the device in the first place. This is why gadgteers tend to HATE one another. He can also deconstruct any device he's built to get the willpower he invested in it back.

Base Will
Dice: N/A
Base Will (+3), Attached [Hypermind] (-2)
Cost Per Point: 1 | Total Cost: 14

He's a driven, focused guy.

Sabah Attar, Girl Who's Under Your Skin

Spoiler: Powers

SABAH HAS 8 BASE WILL

Puppets
Dice: 2hd+8d
Range: Touch/5,450 Yards
Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Delayed Effect (-2) If/Then [Needs Materials To Make Them From] (-1), If/Then [Can only use hard dice with skin] (-1), Touch Only (-2)
Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Attached [Telekinesis] (-2)
Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 48

By using her telekinesis to sew together, uh, material - don't tell people it's skin, please don't tell people it works best with skin - Sabah is able to make incredibly useful puppets. With a 2x10 result, she can make 10 of them. They last forever and are perfectly loyal to her! ...so long as they're within about three miles. Once beyond that, they act on their own recognizance. She CAN make it with non-skin and she's even pretty good at it, but it is kind of tricky and doesn't always make the best minions. (a 2x1 to 2x3 result produces Rabble, while a 2x4 to 2x6 makes trained minions, and 2x7 to 2x8 makes professionals. 2x10 make Elites.

Matterkinesis
Dice: 9d+1wd
Range: 510 Yards | Mass: 1.28 Tons| Speed: 128 Yards
Attacks (+2), High Capacity [Mass, Range] (+2), Power Capacity [Mass, Range] (+4), Spray [1d] (+1), If/Then [Only Manipulates Unliving Matter] (-1), Limited Capacity (-1)
Defend (+2), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Spray [1d] (+1), If/Then [Only Manipulates Unliving Matter] (-1), Limited Capacity (-1)
Useful (+2), Duration (+2), High Capacity [Mass, Range] (+2), Power Capacity [Mass, Range] (+4), Spray [1d] (+1), If/Then [Only Manipulates Unliving Matter] (-1), Limited Capacity (-1)
Cost Per Die: 19 | Total Cost: 247 points

This is the big shebang. Sabah is able to manipulate non-living matter to move it around. She's pretty weak. For...a tier 4, meaning she can "only" lift a 1.2 ton boulder off the ground from a "mere" 510 yards and "barely" throw it at 128 MPH. Guh. What a chump, right? This power can defend, attack, and manipulate matter. The matter that she manipulates tends to "stick" to what it was doing for about an hour - so if she flings a rock upwards at 128 MPH, then it'll keep going straight up at that speed for an hour before falling down.

Specialty Puppets
Dice: 2hd
Range: Touch
Attack (+2), Duration (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only Is Attached to Puppets] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Can Mimic Expert Minion Abilities] (-1), Touch Only (-2)
Defend (+2), Duration (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only Is Attached to Puppets] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Can Mimic Expert Minion Abilities] (-1), Touch Only (-2)
Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only Is Attached to Puppets] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Can Mimic Expert Minion Abilities] (-1), Touch Only (-2)
Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 4

When she makes puppets, the puppets can do stuff that they would reasonably be able to do. If she makes a bunch of ninja costumes, they get the Elite Ability: Stealth, allowing them to do what minions normally cannot (sneak into buildings without being spotted.) She can attach any elite ability she wants to these puppets!

Armed Puppets
Dice: 2hd
Range: Touch
Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), Touch Only (-2)
Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 8

...is that a puppet? HE'S GOT A GUN!? BLAM BLAM! If this power is used after the puppet power, then the puppets have guns and can do their damage in S/K damage. The guns look like they're made of felt cloth or bone depending on if Sabah is making them out of which cloth - but no matter how impossible the gun looks, it still can kill.

Immune Puppets
Dice: 2hd
Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is for Immunities Only] (-1), Self Only (-3)
Cost Per Die: 3 | Total Cost: 12

These puppets don't need to breathe, cannot be poisoned by gas, cannot get cancer, radiation, "live" I guess, forever, and are immune to pretty much whatever would kill a normal human other than straight out physical damage.

Self Stitching
Dice: 2hd
Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Engulf (+2), No Physics (+1), Self Only (-3)
Cost Per Die: 6 | Total Cost: 24

Sabah hopefully doesn't learn about this for a while. But the instant her own flesh dies, she can control it and can instinctively stitch it back together again. This effects her entire body. At the most extreme case, if she is completely atomized, she will reconstitute herself in approximately sixty seconds. She will not enjoy doing this, but she can do it. Death for Sabah now requires some equally permanent effect or for her to lose her powers.

Touch Up
Dice: 1d
Hypercharm (+4)
Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 1d

Like most teens of any gender or sexuality, Sabah has a few hangups about her body. A few wrinkles gone, a bit less sag here and there. Most people won't notice, but they're gone.

Base Will
Points: 1
Base Will (+3)
Cost Per Point: 3 | Total Cost: 1

She's just a bit more confident. Also, I had 3 points to spare

Lisa Wilbourn, Nose Who Knows

Spoiler: Powers

LISA HAS 12 BASE WILL

Become a Foxgirl
Dice: 2hd
Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Self Only (-3)
Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 8

Lisa becomes a fox girl!

Elementary
Dice: 5wd
Hyperskill [Broad, Flexible] (+2), No Physics (+1), If/Then [The wild dice must be set to the value of the normal die rolled] (-2)
Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 20

Why, it's elementary, my dear Watson! This is a broad and flexible skill that covers all manners of detective and investigation sneakery. It has no physics, allowing for preposterous levels of information to be drawn, far beyond what would normally be available from a mere glance. The only problem is that it is somewhat dependent on her own mind (5d.) So, if she rolls a 4, 3, 2, 1 in her normal mind dice, she'd HAVE to get a 5x4 - a fast, but not necessarily correct deduction.

Bang
Dice: 10wd
Hyperskill [Broad] (+1)
Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 40

She's quite possibly the best shot on the planet with any gun or gun like object. This is a byproduct of her incredibly focused intellect.

Coordinated Like A Fox
Dice: 10wd
Hypercoordination (+4), Attached [Fox Girl] (-2)
Total Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 80

When she is a fox girl, she is able to preform feats of physical coordination that defy imagination. Dodge bullets? She can CATCH bullets. She can shoot bullets WITH HER OWN BULLETS.

Can't Touch This
Dice: 1d
Hyperskill [Narrow] (+0), Interference (+3), Duration(+2), Attached [Fox Girl] (-2)
Total Cost Per Die: 4 | | Total Cost: 3

Remember when I said she can dodge bullets? Say she gets shot at. She rolls a 10x10 using her coordination+ this skill. This now on for the rest of the battle. She can dodge all the bullets forever until the battle is over.

The Nose Knows
Dice: 10wd
Hypersense (+4), Attached [Fox girl] (-2)
Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 80

Her senses are so preposterously attuned to the world around her that she can see in the dark, read by touch, identify targets by smell, differentiate between distinct sounds in a symphony by their subtle differences, and can sense movement up to a quarter of a mile away.

Oh Shit
Dice: 2hd
Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), No Physics (+1), Radius [13] (+26), Self Only (-3), Uncontrolled (-2), Attached [Fox Girl] (-2)
Cost Per Die: 26 | Total Cost: 104

This is a power no one knows she has. Because it's not really a power exactly. It's a combination of her incredible senses and her deductive reasoning. Here's how it works. If anything catastrophic happens within 12 hours - the death of a loved one, a natural disaster, a space station knocked out of orbit and smashed into the ground - and it happens somewhere within 50 miles around Lisa, this power triggers. The game resets to that point with her waking up from a prophetic dream put together by her subconscious, aware of exactly what she did during that day. Once she realizes this power exists (and, also, the 50 mile limit to when it triggers) she is going to be INCREDIBLY CLINGY.

Base Will
Points: 5
Base Will (+3)
Cost Per Die: 3 | Total Cost: 15

She's confident, like most of you, because she has superpowers.

Theo Anders, Arm of the Resistance

Spoiler: Powers

THEO HAS 7 BASE WILL

Limb Field
Dice: 8+2wd
Hyperbody (+4), Booster [+8], No Physics (+1), On Sight (+1), Endless (+3), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Radius [1] (+2), Spray [1] (+1), If/Then [Only for arms] (-1), If/Then [Requires Local Materials] (-1)
Cost Per Die: 20 | Total Cost: 320

So! Everything within a 3 mile range can be touched by Theo by manifesting an arm made of local materials (air, if nothing's there, but he can also use cloth, bits of stone, metal, anything that he can use to reach through.) This does mean it doesn't work in a vacuum, but it can work in an extremely thin atmosphere or with local dirt if he was, say, on the Moon. Anywho, he can make as many arms as he want (for example, if there were twenty people in a ten yard radius, he could make 20 arms to grab each of them by the scruff of their necks.) What is more, he can use this power through screens to cheat the distance. If he sees someone on TV, he can manifest an arm there and pants them! Cool!

Anywho, these arms can lift 1.28 trillion tons, last forever unless he is killed or runs out of willpower. They can throw a 1.6 ton object nearly a tenth of a mile. They can punch someone so hard that they'll go flying 48 yards BEFORE you figure for any extra damage. And did I mention they defy the laws of physics - so, he can pick up a building without spilling the coffee cups inside? Cool!

Tougher Than He Looks
Dice: 3hd
Defends (+2), Endless (+3), Hardened Armor (+2), Armored Defense (-2)
Cost Per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 30

He's tougher than he looks. He has 3 levels of Light Armor, which reduces shock damage to 1, then converts 3 levels of killing damage to shock. So, if he was thrown into a wall for 5s/2k like poor Ned, he'd take 1s/2k, then the 2k would be turned to shock, so that's a total of 3s - a bad bruise, not a potentially life threatening spine snap.

Rachel Lindt, Houndmistress Extraordinaire

Spoiler: Powers

RACHEL HAS 9 BASE WILL

Pet Their Heads And They Wag their Tails
Dice: 2hd+2d
Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Touch Only (-2)
Hypermind (+4), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), If/Then [Does Not Provide Hard Dice To Canines] (-1)
Points Per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 30

When Rachel pets a dog, the dog wags their tail! Also, she can now talk to this dog, forever, at any time, using normal conversational English. She can also understand the dog's response. Oh! Also, the dog gets +1d to its mind as hypermind, bumping it from an animalistic 0d to a human level 2d. Good dog! Who's a good pupper?

Make My Doggy GROW!
Dice: 3hd+6d+2wd
Range: 5,120 yards
Useful (+2), Duration (+2), On Sight (+1), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Obvious (-1)
Hyperbody (+4), Booster [2] (+2) Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
Hypercoordination (+4), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
Defends (+2), Duration (+2), Armored Defense (-2), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
Defends (+2), Duration (+2), Interference (+3), Armored Defense (-2), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
Attacks (+2), Penetration [5] (+5), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Engulf (+2), Attached [Pet their heads] (-2), Attached [Make my Doggy Grow] (-2), Self Only (-3)
Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Attached [Pet their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make my Doggy Grow] (-2)
Points Per Die: 13 | 260

If a dog that Rachel has petted is within range - or even just visible through a screen, or...she can talk to it over a phone (note to self: Invent radio collars for her dogs that she can work through), she can make the doggy GROW! This only lasts for a short time, but the dog will become much larger, much tougher, and much stronger and much faster. Basically, they get +3hd+6d+2wd to their Body, their Coordination, AND they'll get (effectively) 5 levels of light and hardened armor and +5 health levels on each area, making each dog a literal walking tank! ...also, they get laser eye vision. Which can cut through tank armor. Cause, you know. They're dogs.

...the dogs can also fly. At 640 MPH.

Cause they're dogs.

Power Collar
Dice: 2hd
Range: Touch
Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Always On (-1), Automatic (-1), Touch Only (-2)
Point Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 4

The dogs, once she pets them, cannot gain dark energy powers despite being sentient. It's an instinctive byproduct of Rachel's will to both connect with dogs and 'keep them safe' - wild, uncontrolled dark energy powers spreading unchecked through the doggy population terrifies her subconscious. And so, her subconscious makes sure to lock that off.

Healing Touch
Dice: 2hd
Range: Touch
Useful (+2), Useful Quality [5] (+5) Engulf (+2), Touch Only (-2)
Points Per Die: 7 | Total Cost: 28

Though terrified at first this power only works on Dogs, Rachel is relieved to learn it actually can work on just about anything. She touches them, and they glow a little, and then heal 7s/7k to every single part of their body instantly. No muss, no fuss. It, sadly, cannot bring people back to life unless she pushes herself (she will have to permanently burn 1 Base Will to do so.)

Base Will
Total Points: +2
Base Will (+3)
Point per Will: 3 | Total Cost: 6

She's determined. Not as much as others, but enough.

Marsha P. Johnson, The Queen of Stonewall

Spoiler: Powers

MARSHA HAS 11 BASE WILL

Flower Power
Dice: 9d+1wd
Attacks (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [All Effects are Plant Themed] (-1)
Defends (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [All Effects are Plant Themed] (-1)
Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [All Effects are Plant Themed] (-1)
Cost Per Die: 21 | Total Cost: 273

A powerful and incredibly flexible ability, Marsha is able to create and utilize plant growths (most people think she can only do flowers, but she can do trees, she can do vines, she can do thorns, oh boy.) These plants often defy physics and understanding - if she wants, she can make a thorn that can cut through tank steel, or a tree that can grow powerfully enough to uproot a building, or an apple that, when eaten, can cure sickness. While her power isn't as "rawly" strong as some other abilities - if she got into a tree V arm wrestling contest with Theo, Theo would win - her powers are so staggeringly flexible that she is an amazing asset. However, her powers do need to be "formatted" - meaning that if she isn't prepped for combat or defense, she is terrible vulnerable.

Queen of Stonewall
Dice: 8hd
Defend (+2), Endless (+3), Radius [3] (+6), Delayed Effect (-2), If/Then [Only Works in an building she owns and operates and has become in, some metaphorical and metaphysical sense, hers] (-1), No Physical Effect (-1), Exhausted (-3)
Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 64

So long as the Queen is in her domain, no harm shall come to any who are there. This power is an endless effect centered on her, radiating out approximately 40 yards (meaning an exceptionally large building won't be entirely protected.) The effect is entirely psychological - people simply cannot bring themselves to harm anyone while in the field - this includes her allies, she can't shut it down for them.

Beauty Without Compare
Dice: +4d
Hypercharm (+4), Obvious (-1)
Cost Per Die: 3 | Total Cost: 12

She is luminous, with total of 7 dice in Charm.

Fabulous Performer
Dice: +1d
Hyperskill (Broad, Flexible)
Cost Per Die: 1d | Total Cost: 1

This is a mild improvement, but it was all I could think to spend her last point on. Sue me!

Tori Heflin, The Telekinetic Smuggler

Spoiler: Powers

TORI HAS 8 BASE WILL

Invisible Telekinesis
Dice: 3d+1wd
Attacks (+2), Booster (+4), High Capacity [Mass] (+2), Non-Physical (+2), Power Capacity [Mass] (+2), Subtle (+1), Spray [1d] (+1), Locational [head] (-1)
Defends (+2), Controlled Effect (+1), Duration (+2), Interference (+3), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Radius [1] (+2), Subtle (+1), Locational [head] (-1)
Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Booster (+4), High Capacity [Mass, Speed] (+2), Power Capacity [Mass, Speed] (+4), Subtle (+1), Locational [head] (-1),
Useful (+2), Booster (+4), Engulf (+2), High Capacity [Mass] (+1), Power Capacity [Mass] (+2) Attached [Telekinesis] (-2),
Cost Per Die: 45 | Total Cost: 315

By focusing, Tori is able to create telekinetic fields. Unlike many, these fields are completely, one hundred percent invisible. She can protect people in bubbles (selectively, if she wants!) bout 10 yards wide, so long as they are within about 80 yards of her. Her attacks are incredibly narrow stabs that then balloon in the target - they can only be dodged, not resisted with armor (hence the 'non-physical' extra.) If she's feeling exceptionally vindictive, she can just grab your heart and punch it as hard as she can from within your ribcage too. Her max range for her TK attacks is 800,000 yards. That's 450 miles! It can send people flying pretty goddamn far too.

Next, she can pick up and carry stuff. Anything within 450 miles, and her max weight is 2,000 tons. Not as stupidly huge as some people, but nothing to shake a stick at. What is really amazing, though...is this.

Anything she picks up - anything at all - becomes invisible TOO. This includes her own self, if she's using TK to fly. This includes the ENTIRE PARTY if she's carrying everyone. This includes jets. This includes buildings. Anything she grabs, she can turn invisible!

Adaption
Dice: 4hd
Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect For Immunities Only] (-1), Self Only (-3)
Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 32

Thanks to telekinesis, she can also breathe in space. With telekinesis.

Base Will
Points: 1
Cost Per Point: 3 | Total Cost: 3

You know the drill by now. Powers, better will, had points hanging.

Brian Laborn, The Power in Obscurity

Spoiler: Powers

BRIAN HAS 7 BASE WILL

Grueclouds
Dice: 9hd
Attack (+2), Daze (+1), Duration (+2), Radius (1) (+2), Non-Physical (+2), Spray [1d] (+1), Limited Damage (shock) (-1), Limited Width (-1)
Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Radius (+1), Attached [Dazing Cloud] (-2), Automatic (-1)
Cost Per Die: 10 | Total Cost: 180

When activated, this power is a bit slow and sluggish - effectively going off last on every round. However, you have to know it is coming, and this requires a Resistance roll of Sense+Perception to spot where Brian is looking (he just need to glare to do it.) If the resistance roll fails, then you get hit with 5x10 attack in a 10 yard radius. Due to limited width and limited damage, this only does 1 shock to the head. ...it also removes FIVE DICE from their next turn. If a character has no dice, they can't do shit. This happens each round they're in the cloud, so if they're completely debilitated, they take 1 shock to the head every round until the cloud is dispersed or they slowly and painfully die. Since, 1 shock per 6 seconds for an hour is going to kill you. Even better, the cloud also gets a 4x10 useful effect that obscures visibility, chokes out EM frequencies, and negates all but the best dark energy perceptions. That's what the useful is, the jamming field.

Power Thief
Dice: 1d+2wd
Attacks (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Endless (+3), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Is For Mimicking Powers Only] (-1), If/Then [Target Must have been exposed to the Gruecloud at all! Ever!] (-1)
Defends (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Endless (+3), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Is For Mimicking Powers Only] (-1), If/Then [Target Must have been exposed to the Gruecloud at all! Ever!] (-1)
Useful (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Endless (+3), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Is For Mimicking Powers Only] (-1), If/Then [Target Must have been exposed to the Gruecloud at all! Ever!] (-1)
Cost Per Die: 18 | Total Cost: 162

If a target has been exposed to the dark energy cloud that Brian can produce, Brian can replicate that power. In himself. Now, usually, it will be a great deal weaker, and it may require expending some willpower, but he can do it. What's more, as he hits more people (or more people volunteer for the admittedly unpleasant whammy), his power catalogue just gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

Ghost Recall
Dice: 2hd
Useful (+2), Duration (+2), If/Then [Subject must have been exposed to the Gruecloud] (-1), No Physical Effect (-1)
Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 8

Powers aren't the only thing that Brian can copy. He can also recreate the memories and personality of a person in a ghostly, shimmering cloud of darkness roughly in the shape of the person. Their personality-clone cannot form new memories and only exists for a short time, but has pretty accurate information. If you can convince them to give it up. Is this ethical? Anyway, that's Brian's power set!

Brian's Library

Spoiler: List

• Every Single Power From the Stonewall Nine
• THE EYEBALL POWER SUITE (note, as this is multiple powers, it would take Brian a total of 5 rounds and 81 WP to make one permanent eye with each of these powers. However, he doesn't need to make an eye with every part. He can just have an eyeball that flies for 18, or an eyeball that can access the Eyeball Zone for 18 WP (18 to make it, 0 to make the Zone) Fortunately, due to Permanence, each of these WP expenditures does last forever. Or, uh...until the eyeball is squished...

Eye Eye, Sir!
Dice: 1d+2wd
Defends [Evasion] (+0)
Useful [Exists] (+0), Permanent (+4), Touch Only (-2)
Points Per Die: 2 | Cost: 18

By focusing, an eyeball grows inside of Brian's body, then pops out. It's gross.

Why Is It So Tough, It's An Eyeball!?
Dice: 1d+2wd
Useful [Health Boxes] (+0), Permanent (+4), Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2)
Willpower Cost: 2 | Cost: 18

When he creates the Eyeballs (which, as a note, he currently cannot), Brian can only give them 3 extra health levels, making them much smaller.

Eyebeam
Dice: 1d+2wd
Attacks [Eyebeam] (+0), Spray [5d] (+5), Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2)
Willpower Cost: 3 | Cost: 27

The Eyes have laser beams. Because they're eyes. Brian's eyes will have a total of 6d+2wd, rather than 9d+1wd.

Eyeflight
Dice: 1d+2wd
Defends (+0), Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2)
Useful (+0), Permanent (+4) Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2)
Willpower Cost: 2 | Cost: 18

The Eyes have it! ...flight, that is. Brian's can soar along at a mere 10 MPH. They are slightly better at dodging though.

Into the Zone
Dice: 1d+2wd
Useful [Traps Target In Horrifying Nightmare Dimension] (+0), Endless (+3), Traumatic (+1), Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2), Touch Only (-2)
Willpower Cost: 0 | Cost:0

Brian's eyes, like Miss Eye's eyes, have access...TO THE EYEBALL ZONE.

Your Attack, Foreseen
Dice: 1d+2wd
Hyperskill [Dodge] (+0)
Willpower Cost Per Die: 0 | Cost: 0

Formatting his power this way does let Brian dodge better.

Mistress of All Eyes See
Dice: 4hd
Hyperskill [Tactics] (+0), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Booster [5] (+5), No Physics (+1), If/Then [Can Only Command Eyes] (-1)
Points Per Die: 7 | Cost: 63

For a staggering 63 GODDAMN willpower, Brian can get the STAGGERING ABILITY to command Eyeballs with his mind at a range. AMAZING!!!!!

Spoiler: Yiggy - Team HQ

GADGET ONE: The Gaia Engine

Useful [Gravity Control] (Mass: 500,000,000 tons| Range: 200,000,000 meters| Speed: 50,000,000,000 meters per round [74 times the speed of light])
Dice: 2hd
Useful (Free, Gadget) | Duration (+2), Booster [10] (+10), Power Quality [Mass, Range] (+4), High Capacity [Mass, Range] (+2), No Physics (+1), If/Then [Requires Metamaterials Produced by Lily to Function] (-1), Foci [Fragile, Bulky, Crew x4, Manufacturable] (-5), Obvious (-1), Slow (-2)
Cost Per Die: 10 | Total Cost: 40 WP (1 Base Will To Free Up)

Costing 40 WP from your pool (representing the metamaterials that you provided to construct it), the Gaia Engine is a remarkable device. Requiring the attendance of sixteen trained professionals - among the first hires that Andy ever made - the Gaia Engine is capable of gravitational manipulation at an obscene scale and speed, with ludicrous precision. How absurd? Well, from orbit, you can snatch up the entirety of Manhattan - island and all - and rip it into space and then fling it towards Alpha Centauri at 74 times light speed without damaging a single thing on it, nor causing it damage when it lands on Charon. Cool! You officially can't bitch about me spending 40 of your WP on this fucking thing, you goddamn maniacs!

The duration is approximately a day, so once per day, the crew have to make sure the gravity field that keeps Yiggy in the air is 'reupped.'

GADGET TWO: The Aegis
Defense [Gravity Shield]
Dice: 5hd
Defends (Free, Gadget), Endless (+3), Interference (+3), Attached [Gravity Manipulation] (-2), Foci [Bulky, Manufacturable] (+0),
Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 40 WP (1 Base Will to Free Up)

Feeding off the Gaia Engine, the Aegis is an attached chunk of material that projects a defensive field around the entirety of the Yiggy's superstructure. Incoming weaponry, unless it goes faster than 5x10, is simply swatted away. This includes beams of light, the rays of the sun, solar flares, and other nasty things.

GADGET THREE: Room Service
Useful [Room Service]
Dice: 3d+1wd
Useful (Free, Gadget), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Gaia Engine] (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is for Room Service Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect only applies within the Yiggy's superstructure] (-1), If/Then [Room Service must be Requested] (-1), Foci [Bulky, Manufacturable] (+0)
Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 7 WP (1 Base Will To Free Up)

Also feeding off the Gaia Engine's powers, Room Service is simple as hell. You ask for tea, earl gray, hot. Then the fucking tea shows up! This also covers very attractive P-zombies that look like dead celebrities, medical aid, giving you lucid dreams, creating illusions, playing movies, and translating languages.

Here's some basic rules for gadgeteer who want to make powers

---

GADGEETING RULES FOR GADGETEERS

STEP ONE
Decide what power does. All powers can either ATTACK, DEFEND, or be USEFUL. Each thing costs (+2)

Example: I want to make a ray gun that can also heal people. It Attacks [Ray Gun] (+2) and is Useful [Heals People] (+2)

STEP TWO
Apply modifiers for extras and flaws to each power capacity. The full list is found in the Wild Talent's core rulebook. Add them all up into a total cost per die. The minimum point value is always 0 (you can't get extra for going below your maximum.)

Example: This ray gun can fire very fast. It has +3 Spray. This ray gun heals all of you! It has Engulf (+2). Both attack and useful has the Foci (-1) with the Fragile (-1) and Accessible (-1) flaws. This means it costs 2+3-3+2+2-3 for a total of 3 points per die.

STEPTHREE
Count up how much it costs based on how many dice. If it has hard dice, the hard dice are "base cost x2" and if it has wiggle dice, then they cost "base cost x4."

Example: This ray gun has 5d+1wd. It costs (5x3)+(3x4) for a total of 27 willpower.

STEP FOUR
Use your gadget. The gadget can then be taken apart to regain your willpower back. If you want to, you can burn 1 base will to make it a gadget that exists permanently (freeing up those dice for later.) If the gadget has the Manufacturable extra, then it can be made a common, household device that anyone can buy for a cost of 1/2 the willpower it costs to make in base will, taking 1 month per base will spent to make it ready for manufacturing.

Example: Pretend the raygun has manufacturable (even though it doesn't.) It costs 14 Base Will to make it buyable at any street corner, and takes a year and change for the final designs to be completed. Once done, the inventor gets the 5d+1wd that they put into the gadget back into their gadgeteering dice pool.

---

HOW TO INFLUENCE PEOPLE WITH YOUR INFLUENCE SKILLS

There's a big old table from the Kerberos Club book! Here it is!

Spoiler: The Big Old Table from the Kerberos Club Book

 

[OctarineShrike]

Assuming I understand the plans here correctly, we're trying to Trojan horse Syndicalism into American Society through hypermind shenanigans.

 

[ThatGazzer]

Assuming I understand the plans here correctly, we're trying to Trojan horse Syndicalism into American Society through hypermind shenanigans.

Click to shrink...

Just a spoonful of spin helps the syndi-communism go down!

 

[notbirdofprey]

Assuming I understand the plans here correctly, we're trying to Trojan horse Syndicalism into American Society through hypermind shenanigans.

Click to shrink...

Or anarchism, or socialism...there are lots of possibiliites.

 

[Lord Ultimus]

I was under the impression we were working towards a full-on post-scarcity society, hence the Cornucopia gadget.

 

[CyberFemme]

why is everyone calling him a dumbass? He's making a competent play with a good goal, yall are just being cowards and refusing to back him up. He's doing the right and smart thing

Click to shrink...

Good goal? Sure. If you don't concern yourself with the opportunity costs.

Competent? Not even close.

This reminds me of your uncritical support for the Hand Biters back in Tyrants, and I'm just not interested in going through that all over again.

On to more productive discussions - material proto-post-scarcity with distributed production feels like it lends itself well to some flavor of anarchism, but we can play it by ear.

 

[Parzival95]

I was under the impression we were working towards a full-on post-scarcity society, hence the Cornucopia gadget.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Changing Society

I mean yes but it's Cold War America so we have to stealth our way towards that. The canon timeline general isn't totally different. Despite everything Nixon, Carter, Raegan, and Bush become president, and at the end it looks like Clinton will get it in 2000. America continues to shoot itself in the foot with neolib/neoconservative policy.

Weeks even has this as part of his ethos.

"His theory of social and psychological engineering suggests that the more you force people and cultures to do anything, the stiffer the resistance and, in time, the harder the pendulum swings back. Because people (and, in the aggregate, societies) are bundles of contradictory impulses, he finds it easier to find the noblest and kindest currents (whether in an individual or an event) and try to make those the path of least resistance."

He opens a school and spends most of his time doing good in post-colonial Africa.

So you've got to be subtle about it. Of his peers, Cam doesn't even bother and takes a hammer to society with memes. Bich is probably the most similar to us, in that she maneuvered behind the scenes in the USSR to liberalize them and repeal state atheism, and she faced a hell of a lot of pushback for that, and ultimately had her heart attack so it fell into infighting once she was no longer there to maintain pressure.

Bunch of book stuff on manipulating society. Not super spoiler, but even so.

Anyway, after this I'm thinking Lily could broach the idea of a MetaUnion. This being the fuckup where two heroes nearly came to blows and they have to prove they're superheroes to the guards who don't know them.

Not quite a traditional union, but a loose organization for coordination and aid in the meta community. Like… provide legal and material aid, information, network connections and communications.

Hell, it could sort of be like an Adventurers Guild, that's actually not a bad thing to call it.

Like, we buy up some land starting in NY and then expand, putting up "guild halls" in major cities to start, advertise to the meta community to register for our services and also to the mundies to place requests for meta assistance. You know, the "quest board."

Act as the middle man between metas and society, have contacts with police, government, industry, law, public relations…

Adventurers Guild / MetaUnion / Meta Guild / The Guild / MetaLeague

 

[DragonCobolt]

Also, as an FYI: My house is being painted, meaning that my room has been turned upside down and inside out and rather than being a nice, quiet room where I can write in peace, I am perpetually surrounded by lovable but distracting relations.

So, updates will be a little slow for the foreseeable future. Meaning, I can ask something: We're nearing the end of the Woodstock adventures, which means downtime (and more vignettes including Who Has to Teach Tina Shaw about Birth Control and Cosparent) and the next STEW roll!

I've rolled it and have the results (they're ZxY and B and A, if you're curious if you clicked on the spoilers, I GOT YOU!!! ) but those results can be smooshed together into multiple different plots. Since last time things got a bit...heated and triggery, I'm thinking of composing 3-4 plots based on the results, and letting you vote on them!

Does that sound good?

 

[CyberFemme]

Spoiler: Changing Society

I mean yes but it's Cold War America so we have to stealth our way towards that. The canon timeline general isn't totally different. Despite everything Nixon, Carter, Raegan, and Bush become president, and at the end it looks like Clinton will get it in 2000. America continues to shoot itself in the foot with neolib/neoconservative policy.

Weeks even has this as part of his ethos.

"His theory of social and psychological engineering suggests that the more you force people and cultures to do anything, the stiffer the resistance and, in time, the harder the pendulum swings back. Because people (and, in the aggregate, societies) are bundles of contradictory impulses, he finds it easier to find the noblest and kindest currents (whether in an individual or an event) and try to make those the path of least resistance."

He opens a school and spends most of his time doing good in post-colonial Africa.

So you've got to be subtle about it. Of his peers, Cam doesn't even bother and takes a hammer to society with memes. Bich is probably the most similar to us, in that she maneuvered behind the scenes in the USSR to liberalize them and repeal state atheism, and she faced a hell of a lot of pushback for that, and ultimately had her heart attack so it fell into infighting once she was no longer there to maintain pressure.

Bunch of book stuff on manipulating society. Not super spoiler, but even so.

Anyway, after this I'm thinking Lily could broach the idea of a MetaUnion. This being the fuckup where two heroes nearly came to blows and they have to prove they're superheroes to the guards who don't know them.

Not quite a traditional union, but a loose organization for coordination and aid in the meta community. Like… provide legal and material aid, information, network connections and communications.

Hell, it could sort of be like an Adventurers Guild, that's actually not a bad thing to call it.

Like, we buy up some land starting in NY and then expand, putting up "guild halls" in major cities to start, advertise to the meta community to register for our services and also to the mundies to place requests for meta assistance. You know, the "quest board."

Act as the middle man between metas and society, have contacts with police, government, industry, law, public relations…

Adventurers Guild / MetaUnion / Meta Guild / The Guild / MetaLeague

Click to shrink...

Utopia Network intensifies.

(Through it's more international in scope, being more or a pro-active ID/EA)

Also, as an FYI: My house is being painted, meaning that my room has been turned upside down and inside out and rather than being a nice, quiet room where I can write in peace, I am perpetually surrounded by lovable but distracting relations.

So, updates will be a little slow for the foreseeable future. Meaning, I can ask something: We're nearing the end of the Woodstock adventures, which means downtime (and more vignettes including Who Has to Teach Tina Shaw about Birth Control and Cosparent) and the next STEW roll!

I've rolled it and have the results (they're ZxY and B and A, if you're curious if you clicked on the spoilers, I GOT YOU!!! ) but those results can be smooshed together into multiple different plots. Since last time things got a bit...heated and triggery, I'm thinking of composing 3-4 plots based on the results, and letting you vote on them!

Does that sound good?

Click to shrink...

I'm always down for trying new mechanics.

 

[Ultrackius]

grumble

there's no need to stealth things when we can just force them through

 

[Parzival95]

We legitimately cannot force them through. That's practically thematic to the setting. The harder you push the harsher the reaction.

You gotta finesse it.

 

[CyberFemme]

grumble

there's no need to stealth things when we can just force them through

Click to shrink...

Counterpoint: There's no need to force things through and eat the loss of life that that will entail when we can render all the means of production the capitalist class has accrued irrelevant over the span of a few months - because that's essentially what Cornucopia does. "Oh, you have a billion dollar auto factory? Give me a months and some sunlight and dirt and I can set one up too!"

Like, seizing the means of production is predicated on the fact that those means of production are actually worth seizing.

 

[Ultrackius]

We legitimately cannot force them through. That's practically thematic to the setting. The harder you push the harsher the reaction.

You gotta finesse it.

Click to shrink...

the size of the reaction is irrelevant when we can crush it beneath our heels with Tessa and Andy's combined skill, and the rest of the team's strength. Cam won in Vietnam for a reason, both here and in canon

speaking of Cam, what ever happened to Uncle Ho in canon? I haven't seen what happens with him in any of my searches about Projenitor

 

[CyberFemme]

On another note, I was reading the handbook a few days ago and I noticed this:

Intrinsic: Immutable (-5 Points). This is a new Intrinsic and it means that, when your powers are set, they are set. You can't gain new powers (barring outside interference), you can't gain dice in your powers and you can't develop or strengthen your powers. What you have is what you have. (You can still increase Base Will and your ordinary Stats and Skills, though.)
(If this notion is intolerable to you, take it up with the GM, but there's a reason and here it is. Progenitor metahumans tend to be pretty powerful as-is, so pumping up your powers further as you go is gilding the lily. It can also turn into an arms race pretty quickly. Rather than deepening the game's attention to powers that are already pretty great, then, the character-broadening choice is to improve the Skills and Stats, finding ways to make them enhance the powers… or to let the character achieve things in arenas where their powers do no good.)

Click to shrink...

Slight problem: The Loom already messes with powers - directly improving Sabah's Matterkinesis dice.
Do we want to respect this immutability of powers going forward, or are we sufficiently off the rails that it doesn't really matter?
This is a question for DC just as much as the players, because the we can make foci for the Nine that add significant flexibility to their existing powers. This fits from a narrative standpoint - flexible, adaptable powers fit well with the general 'change' motif that that the Nine have going on, but it does run the risk of letting them have, if not the ideal tool for every situation, something that comes close, and that comes with some narrative headaches.

 

[DragonCobolt]

The Loom isn't gaining a new power - it's gaining a new focus that augments powers, which is entirely in keeping with the rules.

(Since, like, those are expensive as fuck.)

Also, like, immutable is a lot scarier than it looks? Like...Amanda is "immutable" except that it's trivially easy for her, with enough WP and some base will, to create a permanent effect that functions like a new power. And, in fact, she DOES so in the canon.

 

[CyberFemme]

The Loom isn't gaining a new power - it's gaining a new focus that augments powers, which is entirely in keeping with the rules.

Click to shrink...

I mean, on one hand yes, on the other hand Variable Effect is the next best thing to 'powers as the plot demands', as seen with Marsha and Lily - even within the limits of the original powers it allows for a lot of flexibility. I want to make sure it's not going to mess things up too bad if everyone's got 5hd+5wp (possibly with variable effect) in one of their main powers.

The other thing I was considering was throwing that extra 10d that Andy has for gadgeteering into stat or skill upgrades to round people off? Either with static boosts that each character can choose, or (and I don't know if this is allowed) sticking a variable effect in there and letting characters tailor their hyperstats/hyperskils for the situation they expect to find themselves in. I'm imagining something like the CASIE from Deus Ex granting hypercharm for instance.

 

[Parzival95]

I assume Cam killed or co-opted him. Unlike RFK or McGovern he wasn't mentioned to get powers.

Cam won here because we went out of our way to help her finesse it, and it still almost blew up in our face. Cam won in canon again when she finessed it, going behind everyone's back to cut a deal with Nixon on the campaign trail, after all her attempts at direct force failed.

Amanda leaps before she looks and tries to apply overwhelming power only to fail way too often, Zipperneck can never accomplish anything meaningful with his brute strength and invulnerability. De-escalation, negotiation, compromise, finesse, these are the real paths to power.

The Cornucopia for instance I think needs significant setup. Do MARS, buzzing, panacea first, maybe automation, really build a power base and embed ourself in society, and then Cornucopia will still be a huge fight over the future of society because the old order will not go quietly into the night.

I recommend The Diamond Age as a post-cyberpunk novel in which they have "the Feed" post scarcity replicator tech that functions on a power grid. Everyone can have a replicator, but it's all centrally controlled from the source, the elite who control who gets the power/matter to raise themself up despite being fully capable of ending scarcity.

This comes in conflict with "the Seed" a subversive and anarchist alternative iteration beyond any single actors direct control.

Depending on how the cornucopia works, we could easily fuck our selves into the former scenario, where whoever can violently restrict access to the tech can become the new hyperclass.

I was also wondering about the ability to make tech to increase stats, like letting Lily use hypermind to craft a United field theory. (I'm response to above discussion)

 

[CyberFemme]

I assume Cam killed or co-opted him. Unlike RFK or McGovern he wasn't mentioned to get powers.

Cam won here because we went out of our way to help her finesse it, and it still almost blew up in our face. Cam won in canon again when she finessed it, going behind everyone's back to cut a deal with Nixon on the campaign trail, after all her attempts at direct force failed.

Amanda leaps before she looks and tries to apply overwhelming power only to fail way too often, Zipperneck can never accomplish anything meaningful with his brute strength and invulnerability. De-escalation, negotiation, compromise, finesse, these are the real paths to power.

The Cornucopia for instance I think needs significant setup. Do MARS, buzzing, panacea first, maybe automation, really build a power base and embed ourself in society, and then Cornucopia will still be a huge fight over the future of society because the old order will not go quietly into the night.

I recommend The Diamond Age as a post-cyberpunk novel in which they have "the Feed" post scarcity replicator tech that functions on a power grid. Everyone can have a replicator, but it's all centrally controlled from the source, the elite who control who gets the power/matter to raise themself up despite being fully capable of ending scarcity.

This comes in conflict with "the Seed" a subversive and anarchist alternative iteration beyond any single actors direct control.

Depending on how the cornucopia works, we could easily fuck our selves into the former scenario, where whoever can violently restrict access to the tech can become the new hyperclass.

I was also wondering about the ability to make tech to increase stats, like letting Lily use hypermind to craft a United field theory. (I'm response to above discussion)

Click to shrink...

Mechanically, there are ways around the issue of having Cornucopia co-opted however. The Friends Only and Interference extras for instance could be taken to mean not crude DRM and password protection, but holistic media campaigns, legal shenanigans, political blackmail, and other targeted interventions meant to spoil and co-opt reactionary attacks on the technology. (I think?)

Edit: I do wonder if it's better to give Cornucopia 2hd+1d or 1wd+1d. I'm having difficulty thinking of a reason we'd want to use the later.

 

[DragonCobolt]

You breathe your mouth, about to speak, when Abbie points with his finger at the 'cop.'

A beam of coherent light - you think he's lasing, not sure what frequency or the joule count or anything - goes from the tip of his finger to the left quadrant of the Steel Sentinal's throat, before she had even begun to move her hands for whatever her power was. If she had been Zipperneck, or a Zipperman (the term you'd seen for flying bricks that shared Alfonso's powerset) you were pretty sure she would have been fine.

But whatever Steel did for defense, it wasn't always on.

Her throat was painfully human.

Which was why her a half moon, starting right below her jawline, sweeping down to the upper edge of her ribcage, and ending at the midpoint of her shoulder, vanishes in a puff of red mist. She stands there, her eyes flecked with red, her cheek dripping with misted blood - her entire trunk and brain looked like it had been blasted with a gout of superheated blood-mist, forced through her pores, leaving her literally weeping blood as she toppled to the side and fell limply on the ground.

Abbie gaped, looking at her, like some kid playing make believe, aiming a finger gun, shocked that the other kid's head just exploded.

"Oh god, I...I didn't-"

"Abbie, shut the FUCK UP!" you shouted, then sprinted forward, your cape flaring. You knelt down beside the woman and saw that Abbie was at least a little lucky. If he had been center of mass on her head, there wouldn't be a skull to mess with, let alone a brain. As it was, she was just barely clinging to life through sheer automatic systems ticking over - and that meant that there was a chance. The issue was you'd normally just run things forward until she had healed, fast forwarding things by deleting time in the right way. But she wasn't going to heal naturally as time went forward!

Fortunately, you'd discussed this with Rachel.

It had been late at night, and you had been musing about how you'd heal someone when just running the clock forward wouldn't work.

Obviously, you just need every cell to roll the dice and get a 20, Rachel had said, absently.

So, that was what you were doing now. It took a ton of concentration and a really fiddly sense of finnicky focus, like picking up sand with tweezers. But as you ran time forward, you destroyed the very concept of entropy and bad luck. Every single cell division, every bit of self repair that a human being was capable of, they all worked precisely as they would in the best of all possible scenarios. You still had to cheat even more by also causing thermodynamic miracles to bloom to life in each cell of the woman's body - oxygen spontaneously regenerating itself, so that her cells continued to get oxygenated.

End result?

A bright glow of white light suffused her...and you removed your hands and, literally a few seconds later, there was a nearly perfectly rebuilt Steel Sentinel. You hadn't managed her clothes, so a good chunk of her costume was gone, leaving her chest partially exposed and her domino mask completely gone - she was a cute, freckled, twenty something that looked she was supposed to be at home baking cookies or something. She blinked her eyes - which were back to their normal brown color - and said: "...what...happened?"

She sat up.

Saw Abbie.

Abbie tensed.

She tensed - and you heard a groan as the metal of the fence twisted, bending towards her, as if she was about to bring it whipping around Abbie's body to crush him. Abbie, meanwhile, was clearly building up for that little sideways hop he could do to run away.

"COME THE FUCK ON!" you shouted - and both of them looked at you, their eyes widening. Okay, good. They weren't going to run away or try and kill eachother. "Listen..." you said, pinching the bridge of your nose, while the distant sound of police sirens filled the air. The cops were coming and you weren't quite where to even begin with these two.

---
You've got your captive audience! Now you get to monologue!
[ ] Write In


CURRENT STATUS
Health: Fine
Willpower: 72 (-2 for dice, -2 for dice, +1 for rolling a nat 2x10, +1 for superheroism)

Spoiler: Rolls!

ROUND ONE
DECLARE: Abbie sees a cop, he blasts a cop. Steel Sentinel Defends! Lily tries to fucking talk to people!
ROLLS: 3x9 (effectively width) for charm! 3x10 for Steel Sentinel's defense! 5x10 for Abbie's blast
RESULT: Abbie's blast whammies Steel for 5s/5k straight to the brain, filling all 4 head boxes with killing, then splashing the remaining 5s/1k to her torso in the form of disruptive tissue damage from a high energy impact. She immediately drops and starts spending 1 WP per round to avoid bleeding out.

ROUND TWO
DECLARE: Abbie has to trauma check, Steel is down, and Lily formats for healing!
ROLLS: 2x10/2x10 from lily to format/cast with -1d to make the effect all killing rather than s/k. Abbie gets 2x1, just barely keeping it together. Good job, Abbie!
RESULT: Touch Only (-2), Engulf (+2) means that she heals 4k to each body part, healing her head and chest (though her chest is still badly bruised.)

ROUND THREE
DECLARE: Abbie is gonna run away. Steel is going to try and hit him right back! Lily is going to shout at both of them.
ROLLS: 3x10 - spending 2 WP for bonus dice- from Lily, 2x10 for Abbie, and 3x9 for Steel.
RESULTS: Steel, unwilling to spend WP to resist, calls off her attack. Abbie, also unwilling to spend WP to resist, sticks around.

 

[Evaunit02mark1]

Okay at this point I say we break all their limbs just so they'll sit still for five minutes without killing someone else.

How are we the mature person in this situation, why are we the mature person in this situation.

Just how fucking hard is it to go "Hey maybe I shouldn't escalate to lethal goddamn force?"

If these idiots so much as twitch I swear to God and all his angels no court in the land would convict us.

 

[Ultrackius]

Okay at this point I say we break all their limbs just so they'll sit still for five minutes without killing someone else.

How are we the mature person in this situation, why are we the mature person in this situation.

Just how fucking hard is it to go "Hey maybe I shouldn't escalate to lethal goddamn force?"

If these idiots so much as twitch I swear to God and all his angels no court in the land would convict us.

Click to shrink...

in fairness I don't think Abbie was trying to use lethal force

 

[notbirdofprey]

[x] "Both of you sit down and shut up, since it seems I have to be the grown-up here! You! (Point at Abby) Powers are not a toy. You need to think about what you are doing, and you need to be careful. You have a brain, presumably. Use it. You! (Point at the cop) Don't start fights you don't need to. If I had actually been a villain, you would be dead."

What other points do we want to cover?

 

[Parzival95]

[X] Plan: Hoffman!
-[X] "HOFFMAN ENOUGH! This isn't a game, you're not starting a revolution, you're not going on a killing spree for fucking weed! Stop and think for a minute."
-[X] Introduce yourself to new girl, Morgana of the Stonewall 9, superhero, hello, just healed you. Been chasing this thoughtless moron who literally just got powers minutes ago and apparently lost his mind. He's gonna stand down now and accept our gracious mercy (glaring).
-[X] Fuck it, you'll fix the prison, revert it back to its intact state, then teleport them back to the meta jail in NYC where you'll get Abbie a lawyer and not have to worry about getting shot by prison guards. Explain shit to Pine. Hell, tell Abbie you'll get Sinclair a lawyer too, you're rich and connected, you can probably get him out. Hoffman totally needs to apologize and make it up to new girl though, this shit does not fly.
-[X] Spend willpower for extra oomph to convince them, no base will.

I'm not sure how much time we have. Basic plan is to call Abbie out on his bullshit hurting people, introduce ourself, then teleport to Marsha's meta prison because Pine will actually listen to us, unlike Detroit cops.

Can we teleport all three of us back to the NYC metajail? I think we should be able to.

 

[ThatGazzer]

[X] "Okay, everyone listening? Groovy, I'm Lily Sato, aka Morgonia, Superhero and Activist. This is Abbie Hoffman, newborn metahuman. I think the first thing we should do is all step away from the prison and talk about this in a neutral location, public library, or a diner or something. Then Abbie can explain why we're here and apologize for nearly killing you in the first 10 minutes of having super powers. Then Abbie, we can talk about using some of my millions of dollars hiring the best civil defense lawyers money can buy for your friend. Deal?"

Being hostle isn't going to make them listen, ya know.

 

[Evaunit02mark1]

in fairness I don't think Abbie was trying to use lethal force

Click to shrink...

Just because he doesn't know what a sword is does not absolve him from stabbing someone with it. Intent matters and his intent was "hurt the cop." If course the cop's intent was "bludgeon the hippie" so she doesn't exactly get a pass in this clusterfuck.

 

[notbirdofprey]

in fairness I don't think Abbie was trying to use lethal force

Click to shrink...

He was using an unknown, offensive superpower, when he had an option to escape easily.