Bay 12 Games Forum

Are there dragons and unicorns in this setting?
If there are, can we infect one? I presume that Bio-Bombs and vomitters might get a dragon if it was ambushed...

Also... the infectivity stat has been there since the start of the game, but I haven't seen it come into play AT ALL... might be cool to have another survivor's log, about how some human survivor community has a few people who've been scratched, and it's degenerated into a psychological drama nightmare... heh heh...

Also... poor Diane... when a CHILD RAPE VICTIM says "will it hurt?" it has all sorts of other connotations... not surprised that Zero was disturbed by the question...

Edit:
Also, not sure about Zero, but the players don't really seem to care about Diane gaining POWER... merely survivability...
... Strange that I would care about portraying ourself as a good guy in this setting, ROFL... but I think it'd be nice to later say to Diane "actually, I don't need you to be any more stronger or faster or deadlier... I just want to keep you safe, and becoming a smart zombie would make you almost unkillable barring a precise headshot... you're my best friend, and I just can't lose you Diane..."

...
Ok, maybe too mushy? haha.

I'm pretty certain our actors and anklebiters wouldn't kill and effect their friends and family before we turned them...
I also recall our very first "HERO" enemy... we made his daughter go after him, and he killed her, remember?
So, zeds *WILL* kill their (previously) loved ones, without hesitation...


"Also, zed don't kill other zed.  They kill to eat, and they either can't or don't eat other undead."

Oh, wow. This would make zeds the most cultured and compassionate species on Earth then!!!
HUMANS kill each other over limitted resources.
Animals in nature fight each other over limitted food. (and some fights are to the death)

The reason OUR zombies don't fight each other (much) is because they are all "ants" that serve ONE "queen"... ie Zero himself.

Try getting 2 antfarms with 2 different queens, and plunk down only enough food for ONE colony to survive... do you think they're gonna work together or fight?
Well, I'm not *certain* myself, but are you guys sure you wanna risk it?


Now... having said that... when we finally get our hands on some slugs... I suggest that we EXPERIMENT!!! FOR SCIENCE!!!!

IE, we need to have a "disposable" "captive" smart zombie... and use his body fluids to infect a mix of 20 zombies... and then we put in 20 more of our own zombies... and we plunk them in a soundproof building (so no outside orders to change their default behaviour)... and once in a while, we herd in enough "food" to satiate the hunger of... hmm... TEN (10) zombies!... and after some time, we see what results!

...

Most importantly, remember when Katie's brute almost attacked us, but stopped because he recognized us? ... We should also find out whether the "children" of another smart zombie WHO HAS NEVER MET US BEFORE can recognize us IN ANY WAY. As in... if smart-zombie Diane created some actors... who ran off and infected some normals, who went to another city and infected some brutes, etc etc, several generations down the line... we end up with some Brutes and actors descended from Diane, who have never actually met Zero or Diane before. These zed would recognize Diane as their ancestor, right? But what about Zero? Would they recognize Zero as "family"? Would they mistake Zero as a human and eat him? Would they obey Zero's orders? If Zero was attacked, would they rescue him, or would they save themselves first?

So many questions... so many variables...

I don't think it's a good idea to create smart zombies until we have the answers to at least SOME of these questions!


Edit:


Aha!!! An idea!!!
Sasha said that ZERO can switch out his old "expired" slug for a new slug, right?
...
If we want some smart zombies... maybe we should take a zombie who is ALREADY loyal to us, like snowflake, and try to get a slug into him?

Smart Zombie + Zombie that is absolutely loyal to us = WIN!!!

Maybe save the more detailed discussion on what to do with the worms until we are about to actually embark on obtaining some worms? Or maybe even until we've actually OBTAINED a worm?
...
Oh fine... then, for future reference, my vote is to use any and all worms on OURSELF.

Remember, Sasha explained that each slug gives FINITE MUTATIONS. This explains why patient zero was choosing and gaining perks in the beginning, and so was the horde, but that has not been occuring for a while.
Our slug has run out of juice.
She said that we can gain more mutations by putting a new slug in ourselves.
This is probably IMPERATIVE. ... We should probably try to gain mutation "armored skull" or something. Increasing our survivability comes before ALL other considerations!!!

Checking the dates on this thread... I'm guessing Connecticut made this whole topic much less amusing for everyone? ... yeah. Well, I dunno. So far, Bob's motivation seems to simply be to get rich. He doesn't seem to have any murderous intentions or desire to hurt anyone... maybe he'll turn out to be one of those supervillians that doesn't hurt anyone.
Like Despicable Me.
That'd be cool.

Fair enough.


Positive suggestions:
1. Suggest Bob finds some way to get some serious income. Either a JOB, or through CRIME, or something. Investments will simply not generate enough cashflow for Bob, simply because he does not have enough CAPITAL. He has enough that good investments are a nice BONUS, but he doesn't have enough to retire on/live comfortably off.
2. Then suggest Bob gets his own transport. Even a scooter is better than having to rely on borrowing his mum's car all the time. Amusing as it is to read, it's quite a hindarance to commit acts of villiany. Especially since his mum isn't an active supporter of his supervillian career. (yet?)
3. Suggest Bob eventually gets his own place to live too. Eventually, a supervillian needs privacy. Realistically anyway. It's all very well for movies and cartoons for Captain Acne Teen to have to hide the plans to the White House whenever his mum wants to clean his room, but... Or, the other choice would be to inform his parents of his ambition of becoming a supervillian, and hope for their love and support???


Mundane as it might seem, cash is probably a huge concern for Bob at this point. He either needs to actually get a decent paying JOB, or he needs to multiply his networth by ...hmm... maybe 5 times or so. Within a short span of time, before inflation erodes that value.


...

Also, on the subject of minions, or obtaining allies or similiar... someone said that Bob is not charismatic enough to convert captives via drugs, hypnosis, and other methods?
...
mmm... It probably takes a LOT MORE charisma to get minions and allies via the normal channels of "looking like a leader" or "friendship" or all those other channels...

Well, anyhow, lots of people on thread seem to want Bob to obtain minions to do his dirty work while he works from the shadows... for someone without much charisma, drugs and hypnosis are probably a more likely solution than "how to win friends and influence people".

Heh. Answer to GM's rant.

1. Uh... YES, I interpreted your prologue as "I wonder what career I should pursue... I shall be a supervillian!" as "Bob Mason is doing this as a career ie to make ends meet"
If you had WANTED a protagonist who was out to be the 2nd Captain Killdozer, you could have wrote the prologue as "since you were born, there was something different about you... you never fit in... etc etc... you decide that you will get even with them... with them all! You will become a supervillain!" ... then the players would not be trying to play the character as "oh, let's try to build a safe and secure lifestyle for Bob with evil schemes as a far FAR distant 2nd concern".
If you had wanted a protagonist who would be like Magneto or Hitler or LCS something, you could have written the prologue as "things cannot continue as they are! You will change the world, or die trying!"

But, no.
You wrote the prologue as an average guy, with average ambitions, and SLIGHTLY above average wealth. Have you noticed that your players are playing him with his MAIN CONCERN being financial security?
It's not JUST ME that thinks this, in other words! YOU, the GM, set the AMBITIONS and MOTIVES of the main character as setting out on the path of supervilliany not because of any BELIEFS or CONVICTIONS or EMOTIONS... but purely as a "hmm, other careers not too promising. I shall embark on the supervillian career!"

You say your prologue was about "destiny" and "thinking outside the box"? ... in what way? Throughout this whole thread, NO ONE, not the players, not you, has talked about any dream or destiny or future or ambition  other than "supervillain" and "financial security". And "supervillian" was rather vaguely thrown about.

Fine. Prove me wrong, GM. Then... *WHAT* is the driving force behind the protagonist?




2.  I have no issues with "Ultra Realism".
When the players are given an Ultra Realistic GOAL or TARGET.

The problem occurs when players are given a "Fantasy Task" but are told to operate by "Realistic Rules".

If the average Joe Schmoe could become a successful supervillian in the real world... you'd be seeing a lot of real life supervillians! Point is that it's easier and more common to become a Forbes 100 or a Nobel Prize winner or a Triple Platinum Rock Star than a supervillian.

Try playing a "You will become a Billionaire!" thread set in the real world.... heh. Of course it's achievable! It *HAS* been achieved before, right? ... good luck succeeding without the GM being like Santa Claus though.



3.  Heh. I don't know what I'm talking about? Just did some Googling.
In the movie Goldfinger says his personal stash is 1.5 metric tonnes of gold. He says that the value will go up 10x.
So... which do you think increases his networth more? Stealing a dumptruck of gold (20 tons), or reducing the world gold supply and thus jacking up the price of your 1.5 tons of gold 10x?
... What if you could steal SEVERAL trucks of gold?
Also, what if the price of gold only goes up 2-3 times?

... Also. After somehow pulling off the tremendous task of defeating all the troops in Fort Knox, acquiring the security codes and keys to access the vaults, etc... being able to smuggle a nuclear bomb from China to America... you feel that the simple logistics of "forklifts, dumptrucks and workers" is the major concern here? heh.

...

You mentioned retaliatory action? ... mmm.... so, you're saying that the retaliatory action against someone who steals several tons of gold is going to be more severe than someone who detonates a nuclear device on american soil on a high priority target and irradiated most of your gold stores? ... erm... uh huh...

...

The BEST part of the plan? .... What makes you think the American government would *ANNOUNCE* that their Gold Stores in Fort Knox were irradiated?
...
What's to stop the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States just saying "ummm... just carry on as normal... except that we restrict access from very select people to NO ONE goes inside".
What's Goldfinger supposed to do then? Start a rumor campaign that the gold is still there but irradiated and thus inaccessible? Admit that he did it and demand that they let him into the vault?

But from my point of view...villainy as a "career" in the sense of "making money as an end goal" as you appear to be describing it had never even occurred to me when I started this.

Background

So now what?

You're 19 years old and halfway through your second year at the local community college. You don't know why your parents bothered insisting you go. It's not like there are any jobs anyway. Your cousins both have bachelor's degrees and they work in a kiosk selling tacos. Still, it does give you an excuse for not having a job and it's more fun than hanging around the house doing yardwork.

Either way, you want more than that from life.

January 1st, 2013

After an excruciating week of waiting, the check finally cleared. Your parents insisted you keep going to classes this past week, but unable to focus on your lectures you've spent every waking moment of every day planning instead. Scheming. What are you supposed to do with a mere $200,000? It's not enough to live on. You don't really want to live frugally and invest it. You definitely don't want to spend the next two and a half years finishing your degree only to end up selling tacos at the kiosk with your cousins. You're tempting to blow it all partying, but you know if you do you'll end up right back where you started. This an opportunity and you intend to make the most of it. But how?

You think about your cousins and how grateful they were to get a minimum wage job selling tacos. So much for their ambitions of becoming doctors. You think about your friends from school, studying accounting, physics, law...any number of things to allow them to one day become "good citizens." Bah. Just higher ranking slaves to the system is all they are. You're better than that. But if people like that are really so eager to become wage slaves, why not become the master? Surely none of the people who got ahead in life got there by doing what they were told and working hard at some menial dayjob. Surely the people who have real power are those who were smart enough to think outside the box?

"Outside the box." You toy with the expression in your mind, until one day your destiny comes to you in a flash of inspiration. You won't toil with the rest of the peasants. You won't settle for the mediocrity of a degree and a "better" paying slave job. No.

You will become a supervillain.

Ummm.... dude.

Your BACKGROUND above makes it clear that your backstory and motivation is that YOU ARE AIMING AT SUPERVILLIANY AS A CAREER.


Bob is not "angry at the world"
He is not a raving madman.
He is not driven by strange uncontrollable urges (like the Patient Zero zombie thread)

He basically has NO REASON to be a supervillian, other than your background story reason which is that "other career options suck so I'm going for supervilliany instead".

...

Personally, I think that the Bay12 members are SUPERB at RPing... (I wish my Real Life RP groups were this good!)
They're very much staying in character, in the sense that you have written Bob Mason as "an average guy, with average or below average everything, other than starting off with 200k in the bank... except that he has decided to become a supervillian as a career"