X-Men: Discussion Topic

[Light]

SUMMARY OF SITUATION ON FIRST PAGE OF MAIN TOPIC SOLDIER. SECOND FLEX POST, I BELIEVE. TEN HUT!Good spawning points, eh, the mansion, las vegas, New York someplace away from the telepaths...

[Alex Humva]

I believe the word you are looking for Basilisk is 'neutron bomb'. Very quick burst of neutrons, destroys all organic life and leaves the buildings completely untouched. Radiation wears off in about a week, assuming you go with the clean version.

 

I would however suggest the robots hide in some sort of lead box, as their sensitive electronics could be... hurt.

[AuRon the champion]

And this is why I hate machines.

[otter]

Basilisk, don't forget the other plan.

[Zulu Yankee Kilo Echo]

Guys, I was thinking, and judging from the current situation in the RP, do you think it'd be a good idea for either SHIELD or the Enforcers to have a covert/clandestine ops division? A group of soldiers trained for operations too immoral/illegal for the big organizations to carry out in the limelight? It'd be a more conventional special operations team.

That...

That actually isn't a bad idea. Although, since the former Weapon-X spec-ops group is currently allied with the Enforcers (or so I've been led to believe), we may already have one.

Edited March 10, 2013 by The Zytrix

[Constructelf]

So one for SHIELD then? It would operate on missions too controversial for public SHIELD agents to work on (ie sabotage assassinations, framing, deep enemy ground penetration, etc). It would be both more controversial and more high tech (Halo-y) than the Enforcer Spec Ops due to the nature of their missions and their equipment respectively. Definitely a far cry from the Avengers and Pantheon.

 

Also, due to the growing number of mutant threats, I've got a new weapon in mind. It would be a portable power dampener, worn as a harness over a suit of powered armor, creating a circular power dampening field with the soldier as the center. If the wearer is a mutant, it'll cancel out their power as well.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Constructman

[Krayzikk]

It's worth noting, CM, that there really is no such thing as a "public" SHIELD agent. Nor are there public teams. The Avengers, though known to the public, do not hand out their every move. In fact, every SHIELD member on that team has functioned in a spec ops capacity throughout their career. James and Brando's continued references to missions in Asia, for instance.The Pantheon, while less publicly known, have similar capacities. So, while it is not a bad idea, SHIELD doesn't really need a spec ops team. They already have two, and most members of their organization are capable of spec ops anyway. Just because a team is known does not mean they are recognizable, or even noticeable when they work. I should also point out that only two members of the Avengers, and none of the Pantheon members are well known. Nor does either team have any footage or still images of them out there save for some distant shots. Only Noel and Stark are well known or identifiable amongst them.

 

The best comparison I can make is knowing an assassin exists. You know they exist, but you don't know when, where, or even if they will strike.

[otter]

Erin hasn't done anything spec-ops in his life.

[Constructelf]

Well, I was thinking something even more cclandestine than average because of its controversialness. There would be no "hero" aspect to it; the people involved would be doing all of the dirty, morally questionable work.

[shadow pridak money gang]

"every SHIELD member"

 

That's James, Brando, Noel and Ares.

 

-Tyler

[Alex Humva]

Since when was SHIELD strictly moral anyways? They were pretty nasty in some of the Civil War story arcs.

[otter]

Don't they technically all count as SHIELD members, though, now that they're a part of the Avengers?

 

Hmm.

 

Wait.

 

I can't remember anymore.

Edited March 10, 2013 by The Otter

[Constructelf]

By morally questionable I mean taking the Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention, ripping both apart, and eating the pieces. I'm talking about the darkest possible for the "good" guys.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Constructman

[Havelock Vetinari]

Bah. In a world like this, the only thing the moral high ground is good for is a position for a spotter.

 

For the biological warfare missile

[Krayzikk]

By morally questionable I mean taking the Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention, ripping both apart, and eating the pieces. I'm talking about the darkest possible for the "good" guys.

That doesn't really exist.To be perfectly blunt, in this game, there are no real heroes. There are no spotless, kind hearted individuals who never have to make controversial choices. The X-Men are supposedly the good guys. But when you actually think about it, they're techincally a terrorist organization that makes use of child soldiers.The Enforcers are a government agency meant to keep the peace, by enforcing registration acts. But mutants and pro-mutant protesters see them as the embodiment of mutant prejudice. The Brotherhood has lofty goals, of a society where mutants are at the very least treated fairly. And in truth, their most fanatical member is Quicksilver himself. They could be the most heroic group, were it not for their methods and their leader's insistence on mutant superiority. SHIELD is a group dedicated to protecting the US, and if you'd payed attention to them around the time of Brando's "death", you'd see that they have no qualms about doing whatever they have to.They already have spec ops capable agents, and they clearly have no regard for morals, and in Marvel canon, not even the law is necessarily enough to stop them from doing what they need to. By your own described standards, there are no heroes because every organization in the game violates every moral and ethical rule there is. Thus, there is no logical reason to make a team specifically for controversial events.

Edited March 10, 2013 by The Snark Knight

[Havelock Vetinari]

In sum: welcome to the world of no right answers.

 

Enjoy.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Basilisk

[Constructelf]

Hm, good point. I was thinking Punisher-level dark but from that point of view, the game's pretty dark already.

[Havelock Vetinari]

In the grimdarkness of the third millenium, there is only war.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Basilisk

[Krayzikk]

We had a guy kill his son (Granted, he got better) so he wouldn't try and stop him from killing his girlfriend so an all-powerful abomination wouldn't be unleashed upon the world again. We had an organization fake one of their agent's death, and let themselves be hacked so a coming issue might be prevented. Heck, we have a character whose entire known backstory consists of forced combat to the death.I'd say we've gotten pretty dark, yeah.

[Let's Henshin!]

In this world, Demonic Possession is one of the lighter things.

[Havelock Vetinari]

In this world, Demonic Possession is one of the lighter things.

 

And the side that would commit genocide if given the resources and no other option is considered morally ambiguous, if not outright good. By comparison to what is on the other side.

 

This setting is pretty freakin dark.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Basilisk

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

This setting is pretty freakin dark.

...you have seen the RPGs title right?

[otter]

This setting is pretty freakin dark.

 

just wait until I give you -all- of Grigori's plans

[Havelock Vetinari]

We should really take a grimdark tally at some point. Between the Lovecraft elements, fridge horror, the massive increases in military power (the sentinals were evidently an internal project)....

Edited March 10, 2013 by Basilisk

[Constructelf]

I'm really itching to get Knower back into the field. I need to develop his dark side but I can't have him go all Punisher if he isn't doing anything. Argh...

[Havelock Vetinari]

Well. I've found the perfect statement to describe the RPG currently.

 

 

"It's not the end of the world...but you can see it from here."

[Constructelf]

Knower's gonna steal that quote. Just warnin' ya.

[Zulu Yankee Kilo Echo]

fridge horror

You mean like what happens when you keep your milk past the expiration date?

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

 

fridge horror

You mean like what happens when you keep your milk past the expiration date?

Either that or Space Lobster... doing that makes quasi-slime monsters... *shudders*

Edited March 11, 2013 by Madara: Mangekyou Master

[Advent Child]

 

Well. I've found the perfect statement to describe the RPG currently.

 

 

"It's not the end of the world...but you can see it from here."

 

I have great love for the song with pretty much the same title.

 

 

fridge horror

You mean like what happens when you keep your milk past the expiration date?

 

Well, that too, but more accurately, it's when you finished watching, reading, playing or experiencing something, and a few hours later, or even days, or possibly years, you're looking in your fridge, and suddenly realize how horrible the implications or actions, or events of what you experienced actually were/could be.

[25K Now!]

Giant piloted robots fit perfectly within the Marvel Universe.

 

Shogun Warriors

 

Now with Brave Raideen Raydeen, Combattler V Combattra and ... Dangard Ace.

 

Also, Godzilla.

[Zulu Yankee Kilo Echo]

I was reading a book about superheroes and zombies today when an idea came to me: what if we had a strength rating scale similar to the system we use to rate telepaths in this game? It would certainly make it easier for characters with superhuman strength to go through the approval process.

[shadow pridak money gang]

I don't like numbers

 

-Tyler

[otter]

I don't like numbers

 

-Tyler

 

none of us do

 

that's why you just trust the players to be smart about it

 

instead of making them conform to some rigid system

 

fight the powah

[Zulu Yankee Kilo Echo]

Well, that's the point. Some players *coughShawncough* can't be trusted to know their own characters' strength. Maybe a rigid rating system isn't in order (I wasn't saying it would be rigid), but I think some sort of system to gauge the strength of characters should be used in favor of the "well he/she might be able to lift this much or this much depending on how badly I want to beat this other character up" approach.

Edited March 12, 2013 by The Zytrix

[Axilus Prime]

Hmm. A scale...

 

(checks scale)

 

IT'S OVER 9000!

[Advent Child]

I'm not particularly fond of the idea of a rating system. I suppose I would have to see it in action before I truly said it didn't work, though. That aside, I'm gonna take a second to disagree with the notion that Shawn couldn't be trusted to know his own character's strength. Aside from the one time in the beginning of the RPG when he held on to that pole while everything and it's mother was hitting him, he played well within the established boundaries of his character.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

Given that the scale used on telepaths has the highly accurate "make it up" system of doing it, what would be the point in one for strength? I mean what exactly does being a 'level 9 telepath' allow Ashlynn and Rapture to do better than someone who hasn't bothered specifying a rating, like pretty much all the other psychics?

Edited March 12, 2013 by Lord of Adders Black

[Alex Humva]

Besides, it isn't that hard to say "this dude can bench n amount" or somesuch for a rough idea of strength.

[Krayzikk]

I'm not particularly fond of the idea of a rating system. I suppose I would have to see it in action before I truly said it didn't work, though. That aside, I'm gonna take a second to disagree with the notion that Shawn couldn't be trusted to know his own character's strength. Aside from the one time in the beginning of the RPG when he held on to that pole while everything and it's mother was hitting him, he played well within the established boundaries of his character.

Weeeeeeell.... There were other instances than that, but that's neither here nor there. Part of the issue is that there is no set concept for super strength, so it basically amounted to whatever the user thought it should be. Which in Shawn's case, was at times not what everyone else thought it should be.

 

Given that the scale used on telepaths has the highly accurate "make it up" system of doing it, what would be the point in one for strength? I mean what exactly doing being a 'level 9 telepath' allow Ashlynn and Rapture to do better than someone who hasn't bothered specifying a rating, like pretty much all the other psychics?

 

Also, pretty much this. Telepathy, though possessing a relative scale at times, doesn't have a set ability scale. So why should strength have one?

 

If someone abuses their power beyond what they should be able to, the staff can deal with it. While an actual scale could be helpful, it just seems like more trouble than it is actually worth, and it really would just reignite the whole "Profile says" debate again, which would the the third or fourth time now.