Hive Type

16 Jul 2016

One of the weirdest kiind of breakthroughs provided by The Event is the so-called Hive-Type. They look like common people, weaker even then Paragons, but their main power is the capacity to tap upon knowledge from other consciousness. There’s lots of ways that they can do this: some of them (Villains normally) can take and “process” other’s mind to absorb them into themselves. Some developed this power by bring some kind of dellusional consciousness into power, like those with Multiple Personality Disorder Disease. Others had a kind of weird collective breakthrough where each one can feel the other feelings or even “talk” with them no matter the distance, sharing information and skills all around the Hive.

Some says that Hive-Type are only a kind of weak Mentalist-Type. This is a misconception, sometimes a fatal one: Hive-Type have normally only the power to tap upon knowledge from their “sources” (shared or not), but this can make a difference when one of the minds into your Hive is a US Marine Sniper or even a Verne. This is the main power of them: they can tap from everyone that is somewhat linked with him (how this link is done depend on the Hive-Type), including breakthrough powers! Fortunately there’s so few of them that can do this… But a Hive can be very powerful when he knows himself, his mind-friends and can prepare itself.

Power Permissions

The Hive-Type Power is basically based on how many and how powerful the other minds inside the Hive. The Hive can be a controller one (one main personality just tapping the knowledge and powers from others) or even a Gestalt (where all the Hive can talk to each other “mentally” and so)

Power Skill

Normally, Hive-Tapping uses the Willpower Attribute, although some of them can learn to tap better than normal under his Hive, using the Awareness Stunt.

Invocations and Compels

A Hive-Type can invoke their power to bring upon a consciousness or tap into the Hive resources, or to send messages for another members of the Hive (if you’re part of a Gestalt). At the same time, a Hive-Type can be compelled to lose the control of his own body, took by another consciousness or be called by someone else from his Gestalt.

Hive-Type are also somewhat capable to identify other Hive-Type, at least from the “same type” of themselves. This is also a good way to Invoke or Compel the Power Aspect.

Power Stunts

Normally, Hive-Types, if they take by themselves, will take only Stunts from Paragon or Mentalist, if any, trying to work better with their own powers. Althought they’re nothing against taking some Power Stunts from other Types (or even tapping for them from someone into the Hive!).

The main Hive-Type Power Stunts will take the following Stunts:

• The Others: like the Stunt Pool Metamorph-Type Stunt - but each one has a Hero, Trouble and at least one Background Aspect, that can also be Ivoked/Compelled.
• Gestalt: works like Slippery Metamorph-Type Stunt
• Exchange Consciousness: works like The Change Metamorph-Type Stunt, using Willpower
• Awareness: each level sums +2 to Willpower for Hive-Tapping checks. Up to 4.
• Exchangeable Skills/Resources: as they call upon the Hive to change their powers, they can do this by somewhat tapping on others Skills/Resources. Normally this is done via the Stunt Pool, however a Hive can take some Skills exchange as default. By 1 SFP, you can “lock on” one Skill Exchange, setting it previously. By 2 SFP, you can choose the Exchanges on-the-fly.

  Example: Rick is a Hive-Type that tap upon the skills from other people from his Hive, by calling for their help. One of them is the master-thief and Paragon Lorcas O’Malley. To do this, he exchange his Good Academics (+3) with his Mediocre larceny (+0), representing Lorcas skills on pickpocketing or lockpicking.

• Mindworld: you can consult your Hive for tips on what to do. Pay 1 FP to pay this and call their help on any specific check. On this Challenge/Contest/Conflict, you’ll receive +1 in all related checks, based on your Hive tips. Describe to the GM how you Hive help you at each check. However, you can’t do any check you can’t normally at that moment, like using Power Skills/Stunts you don’t have (although you can do this by using Powers Stunts into a Stunt Pool)
• Tagteam: you have one Consciousness that can assume yourself when you are taken out or give in. Any Physical Consequences stays, but Mental Consequences are ignored and Stress are cleaned out, and can assume the Conflict the point you are. You can do this only once per session. Name this Consciousness and Give it a different Hero Aspect and Trouble. You can use Stunt Pool to build the Powers for this consciousness. 2SFP
• Pain Share: (require Awareness and Gestalt) as far you can contact others in the Hive, you can transfer your pain (either physically and emotionally) to others. Pay 1FP or do a Hive-Tap roll (against the Hive Willpower). If you pass, you can transfer half the shifts of damage you suffered to your other Hive members (all shifts on a Success With Style). If they are taken out you can’t tap on them as long they can’t heal the damage. However, do this is very dangerous: in a Epic Fail, you receive the same number of shifts as a Mental Attack because of the Psychic Shock
• Wyrdmind: You have a somewhat “chaotic” mind by some reason: maybe your Hive is part of a Multiple Personality Disorder, or the minds on your Hive are too much alien for the humam mind. No matter what, you can tap on this to defend yourself from precognation, scrying or other kind of mind-reading. +2 on all Defenses against those actions and, in case of Epic Fail from the reader, you provoke a Mental Attack with the total of shifts of the Failure as damage.

Power Class Requirement

Hives are leveled by how they can control their Hive. Each Awareness Level equals one Class. A Hive-Type without Awareness is considered D-Class.

Variants

The main kinds of Hives are:

• Mind-Absorvers: they can, consciously or not, absorves other’s mind and put it into her own. Some of them also knows how to free them back to their bodies (considering the body is still alive). One of the worst Hive-Mind Villains, called DASD based on the old-fashioned mainframe storage device from some high-power computers, is known to absorve their victims minds as a way to take hostage people he needs to do his crimes, menacing to kill the victim’s bodies and them “free” them into the death oblivion;
• Collective Minds: They are people that can naturally talk between themselves, no matter where they are, with almost no limitation or lag. They “appears” to each other like they are talking directly, and sometimes they can “assume control” on each other’s bodies and provide useful skills. Urbeto is one of the most famous Collective Minds. Meaning village in Esperanto, he/she/they are normal people that fight against common bandits. Some says that at least one C-Type Ajax is part of Urbeto, and that he/she/they can somewhat “transfer” his powers to others into it. Another known Collective Mind is Gaea Hypotesis, a group of kids that can feel which each one feels and then works together somewaht.
• Multiple Selfs: somewhat, they are like Mind Absorvers, but in this case, the mind of the person is somewhat fractured before or during the breakthrough. But they can tap on this to create lots of consciousness that can works like a Doppelganger Metamorph. One of the famous one is Memetic, that looks like able to use the powers and knowledges from almost every pop culture hero or villain. Their motivations are fluid, but recently, after a robbery spree, he gave himself to the authorities and was allocated to Heroes Without Borders;
• Smartmobs: they are not exactly a breakthorugh, although some call them this way. They are more like a organization that can tap into the knowledges from each other via special Vernetech. The main one known is Smartmob itself, a rescue team that, being best of the best, permits each one to provide help to the main agents in action, via the special Vernetech supercellphone created by Urania, a A-Class Verne;
• Mind Hives: the one that gave the Type his name, normally are a combination of bodies that works under a same mind, that absorves minds and controls it. Looks like a kind of combo of Redux, and Hive… And sometime even Verne, like in the main case, MCP, a Verne that, gone crazy, created his own army of people controlled by his nanotech.

Observations

This type maybe will need some work on how things will be work. A tip is to previously create all The Others

Inspirations:

• Mind Absorbers: Somewhat on Marvel’s Rogue
• Collective Minds: BBC’s Sense8 and Morrison Doom Patrol’s Crazy Jane
• Multiple Selfs: Vertigo’s Shade, The Mutable Man; and somewhat DC’s Firestorm
• Smartmobs: Warren Ellis’ Global Frequency
• Mind Hives: Star Trek’s Borgs; Perry Rhodan’s Posbis

Peregrino Cabeça de Pedra

07 Jul 2016

Aspectos

Tipo:	Aspecto
Avatar (Conceito)	Peregrino Observador Perspicaz e Paranóico
Estandarte (Dificuldade)	“Há a lógica! A Pedra Angular tem que ser a lógica!”
Dragão	O céu e o inferno estão nos detalhes!
	“O que me diz parece verdade mas seu rosto e corpo dizem que você esconde algo…“
	Vê-se como defensor dos indefesos
	“A argumentação é a primeira espada que uso, mas se isto não funcionar…“

Abordagens

Abordagem:	Nível
Ágil:	Razoável (+2)
Cuidadoso:	Regular (+1)
Esperto:	Bom (+3)
Estiloso:	Medíocre (+0)
Poderoso:	Razoável (+2)
Sorrateiro:	Regular (+1)

Façanhas [Recarga: 3]

• Como Estou sempre preparado, recebo +2 ao Atacar de Maneira Poderosa inimigos furtivos.

Cabeça de Pedra é desconfiado, ainda que protetor. Um homem tão das letras quanto do combate, é um peregrino direto em suas intenções e palavras. Além disso, ele sofre para desconfiar de pessoas e para ele tudo tem um motivo de ser, mesmo que não tenha. Seu autodenominado Estilo Pedra de combate demonstra o tipo de pessoa que ele é: perspicaz, direto, forte e até certo ponto feroz!

Game Report - Wearing the Cape Beta Playtest - Session 2

02 Jul 2016

I had GMed yesterday Wearing the Cape for two players: one with a Bosnian Dragon from Sarajevo called Blackstar and another with a Metamorph based on the game Prototype called Quimera (Chimera in portuguese). I GMed the adventure The Verne Chieftain I put sometime before here in the playtest community.

They came into Sierra Leone and were presented to Roque Santeiro refugees’ camp. There, Diana talked about their station, mission and so. Their first mission was something that was simple enough, escorting a convoy with supplies and new refugees for Roque Santeiro from Freetown airport. They received the people and supplies from an Antonov cargo airplane comissioned by RAF (English Royal Air Force). Blackstar did a check for seeing for spies and so, and she tied, so she received a Boost, that she used before an Conflict.

Blackstar and Quimera left the normal warriors for the UN Blue Berets and took chance against some D-Class Ajaxes. They had some problem, specially when Quimera Compel himself for a narrative detail, as he’s a Utopia Corporation Runaway Prototype , which I chosed to use by putting him under a more powerful stance based on Quimera background (she was used as an experiment with a Vernetech virus to give people powers). Anyway, they have not too much problems.

I decided to skip over the camp attack and go direct for the Investigation part of the adventure. Diana declared they where at Class B Intervention Protocol and splitted the local HSF between the activity. Blackstar and Quimera started bby getting with a local tribe for clues. They had some problem, speciall they are Islamic and even Blackstar also being Islamic, she being a woman they didn’t want to speak with her. Quimera (that although originally a she, now uses a masculine form) came in help and they did their way, taking a clue on for a local Witch Doctor (a Merlin) that was selling the Breakthrough Enhancer Drug (BED).

In the city, Blackstar had a Success With Style into a Contact check, and she found an old time acquaintance, a Weapon Smuggler that had gave her the clue about the Witch Doctor. When they came and tried to talk with him, they felt the consequence of a Success with Cost in the tribe, when they were found and confronted initially by Panther, one of the Elite Four for the main villain (they didn’t know in the moment).

It was when Blackstar called that she would “go first on the son, then on the father”. I triggered Panther Aspect, that changed into a leopard, and fought Blackstar… She was able to stop Panther, and we did the first negotiation: he turned into a Double Agent for the players, and they provided him with an Experimental retroviral for Panther’s daughter (that is infected by HIV). After receiving the retroviral, Panther talked and gave to the PCs clues about the Elite Four.

Diana confirmed Panther’s info about the Elite Four and they go for another of the Elite Four, Kilimanjaro, and they get into for Kilimanjaro’s tribe and family. While she was talking with Kilimanjaro’s family (at that time, Quimera’s player had to get out the adventure, and Quimera was posted into Roque Santeiro’s security), the player had been Successed with a Cost, and Kilimanjaro shown herself and a conflict started. Although the thunderbolt she took straight in the chest, Blackstar didn’t fought and opened herself for Kilimanjaro and she came for the reason. But he had did it via a Success with a Cost. I spared the cost for another time.

By this, she discovered that Derek, the Verne Chieftain, had not be able to build another installation anyware to create BED (because of the Vernetech). But anyway, Kilimanjaro were up for helping.

Blackstar had able to discover Derek HQ and they were ready for getting into. Blackstar had been put the infiltration team, with Diana, Corin, Squirrel Girl (Lesley Dimantas, a medic and metamorph), and two extra heroes: Sugarplum, a Merlin with Glamour-based powers for illusion and elemental control, and Jiminy Cricket, a 9-year kid with the strategist mind of a Mastermind and the power to call the good feelings over other’s heart.

They started the inflitration andf have a first fight, but they had bad luck in the dice and, although won, they had taken some consequences. Next level, they were not the same luck and Gave in after Jiminy Cricket was took by one of the Super-Goons as part of a Epic Fail, and they were took to Derek’s main room.

There, it had a kind of James Bond moment where Derek presented himself and gloated his plan for the Heroes, and also I revealed my on-hold Cost on the Success with a Cost for Blackstar: Panther and his daughter and Kilimanjaro were taken as hostages. Then he sent them for a below level, there was a like of a Thuderdome arena, where lots of Goons was put (I gave 4 for Blackstar), however she had more strategy and some help from Diana and Sugarplum, while Corin take the normal guys and Jiminy Cricket used Bellax Analytica to help the team.

They had found a way to get back Kevin’s room and they did a big negotiation, with help of Jiminy Cricket with his Pretty Please power. They could not fight back because Panther and Kilimanjaro and Panther’s daughter were still hostages. But Blackstar with the help of Jiminy Cricket they convinced (by taking a Success with Style) to surrender himself, after all (she could not win HSF heroes by himself).

In the end, we had some critics about the system:

• The Opposition Dice in opposed rolls left me (as a Narrator) without some options for the GM Cheat for when things get over and potentially goes wrong. Maybe in conflict the GM should have the idea to “roll on screen” Defense. For other actions, like Investigations, this sounds very cool, but in conflicts the letallity level goes really amok;
• I felt also a little complex to solve damage on-the-fly, if I don’t not the WR/AR previously, so it’s somewhat difficult to create on-the-fly mooks;
• In the character creation, a good thing should put the “normal” Stunts near the Power Stunts, maybe after the Type descriptions;
• The Powers are somewhat mismanaged (you see Heavy Hitter either as a Power Stunt for Ajaxes and as a “common” stunt);
• Maybe you could create more Power Stunts and put them on a group of “common” Power Stunts, like you did for Superhuman Attribute and things like that.
• As a tip, I think the Sentinels should goes into a Appendix.

The setting was considered a good point by the group, although some of the guys thought the setting could be not that directed for a “thing”. But they loved the Roque Santeiro, and all the things. They loved the setting, but the thing was a little with the system, but we thought (all) there’s lots of potential (I didn’t was part of Phase I playtest, so we could not say how much the system changed).