Thursday, October 25, 2012

Manhattan Monster Mash!

I've been playing a ton of the Marvel Heroic RPG lately between KristaCon and MarvelMondays and I still can't seem to get enough. So I decided to put together a little Marvel What If event of my own and run my friends and family through it this weekend to celebrate Halloween weekend! And to ease the pain of not being able to attend Burning Con! It's still a work in progress and I'll be posting the entire event here when I'm finished but in the meantime here is a teaser of the Morbius datafile I've stat'd up. I'm especially proud of the limits, I think they give him that nice vampire flavor and will really help me play him a certain way as The Watcher.



Morbius
Affiliations
Solo  d8    Buddy d4    Team d6

Distinctions
Living Vampire
My Thirst Must Be Quenched
The Night Belongs to Me!

Power Sets
Vampiric Mutate
Superhuman Strength d10
Superhuman Reflexes d10
Enhanced Senses d8
Hollowed Bones (Glide) d6
Superhuman Stamina D10
SFX: Healing Factor. Spend a d6 from the Doom Pool to ignore physical stress or physical trauma unless caused by a light based attack.
SFX: Feeding Frenzy. When Morbius feeds on the blood of a foe, step up or double any Vampiric Mutate power trait die used against a single target. Remove the highest rolling die and add 3 dice for your total.
SFX: Fangs.  Add a D6 to your dice pool for an attack action and step back highest die in pool by -1. Setup up physical stress inflicted by +1.

LIMIT: Sunlight. Step down any Vampiric Mutate trait by -1 when used in direct sunlight.
LIMIT: Bloodthirst. If Morbius goes without feeding for too long step down by -1 any Vampiric Mutate power trait used until he feeds.
LIMIT: Deep Sleep. Shut down Vampiric Mutate power set and enter a comatose sleep to recover all stress and trauma. Add a d6 to the Doom Pool. Activate an opportunity to awaken.

Specialties
Science Expert D8
Menace Master D10

Background
Dying from a rare blood disorder, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Dr. Michael Morbius began secretly working on a cure. He used fluids extracted from vampire bats to create the serums for his experiments, and when combined with an electrical shock to his system, resulted in a dramatic change to Michael's body, transforming him into a vampire-like creature. Now, driven by an overwhelming thirst for blood and shunning the strength sapping light of day, he rises each night to feed.
 


Sunday, March 4, 2012

Dreamnation Update with an Assurance that I'm Still Alive

Hello there fellow gamers! RoseRage here again. I feel bad that with college taking up a lot of my time, I haven't posted as much as I promised to. I'll have to work on that.

Anyways, here is my overview of the fun I had at Dreamnation last weekend! For brevity's sake, I'll only give a brief overview of the games I played in each day.

I got to the convention in the afternoon due to class, so I missed out on earlier games.

- Maid: Trouble in Orcu-sama's Underground Castle
Actually, this was the game I ran! It was my first time DMing at a convention, so I was really antsy about how people would like my game. It went alright, but I felt like I could've done more to get my players really silly.

-Marvel RPG: Breakout
Well, to be honest I didn't actually play in this game (all the Marvel slots filled up pretty fast) but my boyfriend managed to squeak in. I got to watch him play for a while. I really like how intuitive the system is and how combat really seems to flow.

Saturday
I put on my Steampunk costume and I'm ready for the weekend!

- Maid: Trouble in Saru-sama's Mountain of Mordor!
Again, starting my day off with Maid. This time I poured more effort into my prep and it really showed. The game was wacky fun complete with Hobbit flinging and Aragorn-punching!

-Arcane Circle:Adventures in Middle Earth: The Beginning of the End
This was an interesting take on the Lord of the Rings, influencing pre-Fellowship events. I felt bad since I was tired and unsure of how to play my character. But the GM was great and whoever was playing the wizard was hilarious!

This was run by creator Russell Morrisey. What an entertaining (and delicious) game! Just writing this makes me crave some sweet n sour chicken with a side of percentage dice. The game was fast and funny, just as the creator said it would be. I look forward to playing this with the guys back at my dorm.

-Star Wars D6: Ship of Death
This was a more sci fi horror take on the abandoned Sith ship Desolator. It somewhat reminded me of Shadowrun and was pretty easy to pick up despite missing the quick start rules due to a broken elevator.

Sunday
And now it's cyber punky time.

-Maid: Romance Sprouts at the Royal Castle! A Royal Stranger Appears?
This would have been my third, and possibly best, Maid game but only one person showed up and I had to cancel the game. Sad face. Instead I played...

-Coming of Age: Scions of the Superspy
I was pleasantly surprised by this play-test where I was the illegitimate daughter of International Superspy James Bond. The creator described it as "Fiasco with a happy ending" which I think aptly described the feel of the scenes. Still, I felt the die system was more like the Marvel RPG where you build your die pool based on certain sets of information about your character. It was quick to pick up and fun to play.

-Shadowrun: Hostage Situation, 2072
This was my last game of the convention back with the creator of Fortune Cookie Kung Fu, Russell Morrisey. Even though I felt kind of distance, I still really enjoyed the game because I felt that's exactly how my hacker should be: spazzy, unseen, and only contacted outside of meatspace. I also love the little nuances he added to the character sheet, such as "Universe of Starcraft" listed under my future videogames. Even though I didn't help out in fights, I definitely felt like I could contribute meaningfully to the action if I had the guts to hack through the security system.

I had a wonderful time gaming at the convention, and met many wonderful people. I can't wait to see them again at Dexcon!

Ooh and before I forget, I picked up some games and started playing them this week:

-Kittens in a Blender: This card game is from the company that brought you Poo and Nuts. You must tuck your cats away in the safe and cozy Box while your push the other players' cats into the blender. It takes less then a minute to explain the rules before you start whirrin and stirrin. I thought this game would be funny, but it soon became cutthroat once someone dared to touch my beloved kittens. I highly recommend this game for cat lovers and cat haters alike.

-We Didn't Playtest This at All: If I had to describe a pick up and go game in six words, it would be "We Didn't Playtest This at All" which kinda seems to defeat the purpose of a short description. Still, with a box about the size of a deck of playing cards, it's a great grab and go game. The rules are simple: draw one, play one. From there, the craziness begins. Games can be anywhere from 10 seconds to 10 minutes. If you like Fluxx but don't like how long it can take to get a goal or think it's not weird enough, this is definitely the game for you.

-Zombies!!!: I haven't been able to play this game much, but it has been getting rave reviews from around the dorm. You play the survivor, trying to rack up zombie kills to become a bad ass or try to scrap your way to the helicopter pad and salvation. But you can't see the helicopter pad anywhere. That's because you build the board as you go, connecting roads and placing zombies as you go. With special ability cards and endless ways to screw others over, it's a tense, fun survival game that's rarely the same twice.

-Munchkin: Axe Cop: "Put flame decals on it, that'll make it go faster." 10 year old logic reigns king in this edition of Munchkin. I've played classic Munchkin, but reading Axe Cop and the hilarious art on the cards made this game the funniest it's ever been. Definitely worth a look.

-Order of the Stick: Deluxe Edition: I feel kinda lame leaving out a review for this one, but I assure you, once I crack it open, I will give it a thorough review.

-VT|RR
"You can't take my chair! No way!" "Actually, I think it does. Now you get to sit on the floor." "This is my room!"