MelonHead

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

Checking In

Ms F
Our friend’s father has been taking up permanent residence outside of Jamestown with some doctors. I will investigate further, let me know what you wish me to do.
-L

His phone buzzed as he sent the message to the Ambassador, behind him the whimpering form of a former doctor fought against her bonds. She was selotaped up and rolling around on the ground, her mouth covered in the same tape, but that hadn’t stopped her making some noise. Enough to irritate the thief to levels where he became unnecessarily cruel.

“Quiet, and you had better not have led me astray, Doctor, or no one will be coming back to release you.” He had what he wanted from Dr Short, the exact location of the facility in which Rach’s Father was being kept, and all the information she could give him on security. Not much, unfortunately. People with the proper clearances pay scant attention to the protective layers around them, it seemed, which made his job a touch harder. He was nothing if not adaptable though, and he had other ‘advantages’.

Silence pulled the door to kidnapped suburbia shut behind him and looked out over the garden for prying eyes. It was late, but a strange man walking out of the Doctor’s house in a mask would garner some attention. Lekh figured the street was probably like most others, no one gave a damn about anyone else in a place like this, no more than superficially anyway. He heard a beep from his ancient flip-phone, as he crossed the garden and onto the street, removing his mask as he made some distance. Pulling it out he glanced across the screen at the blocky text.

Excellent work, send me what you have collected so far. A courier will be by shortly to pick up the documents. Send our friend's Father to LH. I believe a family reunion is in order.

The Polish criminal smiled grimly at the reply, it was smart, and cruel. His estimation of the Ambassador rose a little as he saw through the gist of her plan. Certainly, he had perhaps underestimated his supernatural associates cunning until now. If he released Michael Garth, sent him towards Lost Haven like a rocket with news of his daughter? Could he resist the urge to seek her out, to resist his demons? Of course not, he would carve a bloody path on his way toward her, and Silence knew that the collateral damage would be his fault. So be it.

The Doctor had kindly lent him her car, not that she had much choice in the matter, and as he drove it down nondescript suburban streets and out of Jamestown the night deepened. Usually, the Pole would have planned to stake out his mark for up to a week to discern important information like guard rotations, security measures and to identify potential weak spots. With this task though the secrecy of the place had necessitated a somewhat more reckless approach, and now he was running against the clock. With each passing hour, the chance of a tied-up doctor being discovered in her living room increased, and the alarm subsequently being raised. He could have killed her, it would have certainly made things easier, but he preferred not to do that unless the contrary could get him arrested or killed. In this case, he was confident that even if the worst came about, he had options. For one, he was working for the Ambassador, and he could call on her for supernatural help at will. For another, the Doctor had told him about the security measures in place at the facility, albeit in somewhat general terms. She did not know how many guards, or what they were armed with, but what she did know was that the place was built to keep dangerous test subjects inside and the odd prying member of public out. It relied on secrecy to protect itself from determined outside threats, and Silence had penetrated that vital first layer. Now it was just a question of how determined he was.

An odd flash of green in his peripheral caused him to slam the breaks on, causing his black estate to squeal and rock on the road before coming to a stop in a layby as he span around, pointing an unloaded gun at the figure on the back-seat of his car. It was a creature out of legend, some sort of green skinned little imp with gnashing teeth and a mocking smile, and it held out its greedy little hands as if expecting something.

“Ms Ambaddor sen me sen me.” The thing spoke in rushed tones that distorted half the words it spoke, and if it was nervous about the gun pointed to its head, it did not show it. Perhaps it had no idea what the weapon was.

“Into the back of a moving vehicle? She and I will be having words when I return. I assume you are the courier she spoke of then?” The gun did not waver, he was gauging the creature’s response.

“Yeh yeh, ambaddor sen me, me take wordy paper, you give it, yeh?”

“Yes.” The surreal nature of the conversation was not lost on the Pole, but frankly, it was better to just let the Ambassador lie. She could have here strange minions without too many questions from him, so long as it worked in his favour. Without taking his eye off the toothy little creature for a second, he popped open the dash draw and pulled out something like a dossier. It held a quick write up of what he had discovered thus far about Rach’s past, her parents, and the crimes of her Father taking precedence. He passed the papers to the little creature, which bit into them appreciatively. One of Silence’s eyebrows shot up at this strange display, and then with a poof the creature disappeared.

”What have I got myself into?” He queried to no one in particular as his hands went back to the wheel and he turned the keys in the ignition. The night was still young, and he had a laboratory to infiltrate.

THE UNDYING CRUSADE

The Old Elf fought with the stubborn beast the whole way, but with a few hefty kicks the mule killed off its attackers and finally allowed its master to drag it to safety. His breath wheezed in ragged gasps as he flicked the mad-eyed beast’s nose in annoyance, his hand slowly falling from the sword’s hilt as the battle raged on around him. Pikes and swords had filled the gap he had left in the line, and along it the fortunes of those he fought alongside became clear. For most, luck was theirs. He saw an undead bear wreak havoc further across among the Wild Elves though, and knew that it had not held for all. There was nothing he could do, his eyes dropped low as magic shot back and forth and some individual fighters showed off their skills in remarkable displays of skill and ferocity. If nothing else, the Elf felt confident he had made the right decision throwing his lot in with this group.

Now, one thing that isn’t really overlooked in a battle, but can be somewhat underestimated until the time comes to talk, is how fucking loud they are. Such that Banaari had no clue that a one-eyed elf was speaking to him in stern tones, for she was not shouting at the top of her lungs, and Banaari was concentrating on other matters. His first inkling that she was there was a hand suddenly seizing his arm, and in his current mental state he reacted predictably. He turned, half yelling, and tried to bat the hand away. Expecting to come face to face with one of the shambling dead, the Elf almost threw out a hasty punch and stopped himself at the last moment before he had chance to make a serious political error. He realised that the noblewoman’s aide was addressing him, and hitting her in the face probably wouldn’t have served him well, not at all.

“Blood and ‘ell, dun’t reckon ye should come up be’ind some’un in a fight ye know, if ye pardon me tongue lady.” He turned his head quizzically as she told him the Countess needed his help. What did she need his help for? Well, there were two ways to find out, but talking to this stern elf lady probably wasn’t the better option. He followed her dutifully, dragging his mule all the way, as the battle raged around him.

Then he found out, and his face blanched pure white. The Countess was injured, not mortally so, but any wound could progress to that stage in time. She should have had proper healers, those with the magic and the aptitude for it, but instead she had called for a crude battlefield surgeon like Banaari. And why? Because she believed in fairy tales, or perhaps she was just misinformed by her so called ‘Ranger General’.

“Sorry ta dissapoint’ ye yer ladyship, I can patch ye wounds fine enough, but the grey is fickle, and the Eye even more so, I can’t help ye with thah.” And he would do just that if she let him, though as a physician his skills were far from the best. He tried to tap into the unearthly calm he had experienced a few scant times in his past, but it was not there. It evaded him, chased beneath the layer of stoicism that itself was a mask for a terrible fear that clawed its way inside the Old Grey.

The Rook Versus the ROCK: a Tanking Slugfest.

Updated Rook's CS a little, changed the length of the baton (made it slightly shorter) and increased his overall weight, that's about it.

Arena FAQ/Advice

In the interest of saving time, here's some general information and some answers I've given in the past about all this arena stuff.

Hi everyone! I'm new to the arena, so I don't really know how things work, and this seems like the best place to ask.

1. How exactly do you start/join/organize matches? I'm used to using Interest Checks, but I looked at a few and apparently that mostly goes on in the Chat and HQ threads. How does that work?

2. Do characters persist across roleplays? Again, I'm used to characters that are made for a specific RP, but a few things I've read here suggest otherwise.

3. Is there a place for story fights? That is, fights where the goal isn't for one character to win over another, but to write a story about the characters with the battle as part of the plot.

4. I'm sure I'll have more questions later, but for now, is anyone willing to RP with a newbie? Experience is the best teacher, after all.

Hey there, yes this is the best place for these sort of questions.

1. There are two main methods, one is using an interest check to send out a general challenge (ideally with a character, an arena, and a fighting style mentioned so people know what they're getting into.) Then, once a compromise is made on character selection and everyone is happy, you can upgrade to an OOC/IC and get started. Oh, or if you simply want to join a fight you can look through interest checks and declare your interest in the normal fashion.

The second method is to send out a challenge in the ranked area or the Arena chat thread, which most of the ranked people tend to frequent. The same process as before will also take place, where you will decide on characters etc.

2. Completely up to you, the Arena does allow for multiple instances and therefore unless you've joined a specifically persistent world (the Multiverse for example, which pops up from time to time, or a tournament) every arena fight is a self contained story. So, if a character dies you don't have to make that 'canon.'

3. Hopefully every fight will be a story fight, it's a misconception that Arena isn't still predominantly about telling a story, it's just through the medium of battle. Still, if you favour strong story telling elements over the competition, avoiding ranked battles and going for unranked instead is the answer. In an unranked fight the rules are more flexible and with very little on the line people are going to be more applicable to story elements.

4. Depending on what sort of power (tier) you want to fight at I might be able to indulge you in an unranked battle to cover some of the broad Arena concepts if you want. Tier is a little subjective, but I personally don't stray over the 'high powered' bracket with my characters. Which is somewhat applicable to street/city level destruction. I'm more around the powered/low powered bracket, think Vampires, Werewolves, Cyborgs etc.

These are the two important threads for talking with Arena peoples.
Ranking Headquarters http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/79678-rpguild-ranking-headquarters/ic
Arena Chat Thread http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/78452-arena-chat-thread/ooc

Melons Arena Cheatsheet

Ye Olde Board of Tips and Tricks for the Arena

The Writing Side

1. Accuracy, thoroughness and coherency are your greatest weapons in the Arena, prettying these concepts up is difficult and comes with time. Try and ensure you’ve been accurate in your description of the scene, haven’t forgot to mention any important details, and most importantly read it through from your opponent’s point of view and made sure they can understand it.

2. KISS – The beauty of the T1 system is you don’t have to try and predict any number of an opponent’s moves and write out what if clauses for every eventuality. (Though you may want to pre-empt one or two moves to worry them.) Simply ensure that your character can logically pull out of a manoeuvre with a single statement of their actions if the unexpected ensues. For example, ‘John was ready to abandon his strike at his prone opponent if he instead made any sudden movements.’ Remember though, you only have so much time to work with, if you’re mid-swing it may already be too late.

The follow up to this is that in combat, the more moves you string together the greater the opportunity you're granting your opponent to interrupt and strike you at your most vulnerable. Try not to overcomplicate your post both for ease of reading, and also to keep your cards hidden and your character safe.

3. The CS is key, remember that what you throw into that CS and post in the introduction of a fight is all your character alone has to work with. If circumstances allow, you may be able to pick up one or two advantages from the scenery, but so can your opponent, so ensure your character is thoughtfully constructed and stick to that character throughout. Magic and abilities will be a major point of contention, so remember tip 1 in the construction and you’ll be alright, though a more complex CS construction walkthrough may appear in the future.

The Combat Side

At the risk of sounding condescending, these are some tips for actual combat I’ve picked up in my lengthy years (lol, 3) fighting in post-by-post. Many of these will be contentious, and yes, there’s probably a number of exceptions to every rule.

1. Match your character carefully, this means you should be aiming to fight opponents with a character roughly within your character’s limits. Remember, this is a beginner’s guide, and ensuring you get a beneficial match-up isn’t going to be possible in a tournament setting. Ultimately, avoid bringing a grounded melee character up against someone who can fly or attack effectively from range, because the experience will likely be frustrating and un-rewarding. Some may argue that this is a learning experience, but from what I’ve seen personally it always ends with an unsatisfactory fight.

2. Don’t Jump. No, literally, probably the most common mistake on which I’ve been fortunate enough to capitalise on a number of times (and seen capitalised on, I might add.) is people considering diving into the air (usually anime style) an effective move in combat. Unless your character can control themselves in the air (and change direction) this will probably end incredibly badly, and should be avoided at all costs. Keep both feet on the ground, you can move your body freely and dodge better. Ironically acrobatic ‘speedsters’ should particularly look to avoid jumping in the air, as they tend to be at their most vulnerable.

3. Be careful with melee combat, melee combat is by far the most difficult skill to master in writing combat, especially if you’re like me with scant access to swords and spears and people who know how to use them. Read up on some of the basics of real combat before trying to use a sword, it helps a lot. Fighting hand to hand is somewhat easier, but try to dissuade yourself from flashy movie style martial arts.

4. Don’t spin around. I’ve only ever made this mistake once and it caused me more heart ache than a sick puppy (and I actually had my character spinning to generate centrifugal force). Your opponent will capitalise on it, and without the power of meta-gaming at your fingertips most characters are going to be shit outta luck.

5. Treat the Arena and its combat like an even bigger Arena. No, seriously, this is a contentious point but I would generally recommend imagining every battle like a gladiatorial contest. You’re attempting to make real gritty combat entertaining, you know what Gladiators seldom did? Tried to stab their opponent in the face the moment the battle started. If you try for deadly attacks early into a fight your opponent is –highly- likely to find any excuse to avoid it. Honestly, as the fight tends to work on an honour system of give and take you should try and wear an opponent down before going for any killing blows.

OOC Shiz

1. First rule, be respectful to your opponents, and I mean this in IC as well. For some strange reason (and I’m sure I’ve been guilty of this in the past, though I’ve been working on it.) Arena denizens have a bad habit of insulting the person behind the character in fights. They know exactly what they’re doing, no one is fooled, if you find yourself typing ‘Couldn’t quite believe the stupidity of blocking that move with’ you’re probably not in character anymore. This is a fine line to tread, and may seem trivial, but I’ve seen some Arena fighters who other people (not me, I have authority issues) have called respected and experienced essentially come to verbal blows over this shit. Not even joking.

2. Arguments will happen. If it’s an unranked fight, try and look past the conflict and compromise for the greater good of both of your entertainment and enjoyment. If it’s ranked, seek a judge as soon as possible, an unbiased reading is the fairest and most effective way to clear up any issues. I’ve argued until my fingers have metaphorically bled, and honestly I have no idea why, this is the freaking internet. No one is likely to admit their wrong doing in a ranked Arena battle, so have a judge mediate.

The Rook Versus the ROCK: a Tanking Slugfest.

Typical super bracers, can't say I'm surprised.

Still, for an ordinary human, the guard over the lower torso is fairly weak, our arms are better suited to guard the upper torso, because that's where all the important shit is.

Also, just to clarify, Rook is shooting for the belly button again, so if your character is jogging forward like you said he is going to have to move his arm to block the round, it's not just getting fired straight into his right side.

The Rook Versus the ROCK: a Tanking Slugfest.

Good to see how a foe will deal with a threat. In a world where magic exists, it is an awful crutch not to have any of your own. A lesson Rook learned early in his career. Magic is like any weapon, except when it’s not, because the main threat in magic is that it can manifest itself in so many forms, and unlike a gun, you don’t know what it’s going to do until it does it. By which point, it’s sometimes too late. So, it was good to see how his foe would deal with a threat. He avoided it, partially, so he evidently felt he needed to. But was he harmed by the graze? Not discernibly, something around his torso seemed to mar, almost like dry glue flaking away. So, he had some defence against physical impact.

The guy still had a lot to learn about fighting for real, anyway. He just stood there looking dumb for a moment after impact, probably showing off some more magic, and then he had the audacity to run straight at Rook. The Mercenary had to bite back the urge to tell him how bad a plan that was, but he figured it was best not to look a gift horse in the mouth and frankly, he had a reputation to maintain. At least until it was convenient to reveal that he was more than met the eye.

The second barrel of the shotgun, primed and aimed directly at his incoming foe, as it had been since the first shot, erupted as another beanbag hurtled towards Quebra. This time, he was certainly ready for it, but his action didn’t really suggest he had considered the fact that running right towards a projectile significantly reduces your options. Especially when said projectile is aimed right for the same spot as before, where the armour is weak and your guard is too, the lower torso.

That was it for gun-play, at least for now, though it would have been over even sooner if Quebra learned to use his environment to his advantage. Success or failure, it was irrelevant, Rook had gotten his digs in cost-free, save a couple bean-bag rounds. He slid the shotty back into its holster with a practised flourish, presenting the shield toward the charging Greek, and then calmly braced against it with his right hand wrapping around the side handle. Two hands on his shield, and a lot of bulk, the Rook was ready for whatever Quebra could manage when he finally got into range.

The Rook Versus the ROCK: a Tanking Slugfest.

I'll fight as long as you keep posting.

The Rook Versus the ROCK: a Tanking Slugfest.

@Vordak Dude, if you can't even commit to a mess around fight like this, you really shouldn't join the GCL.

If it'll make things easier for you, I'll ditch half my weapons, but you're going to have to learn to fight characters with ranged potential, or play different characters yourself.

Arena Chat Thread

Well, she probably just wouldn't lie on her back.

If she got knocked on her back, her tail would just be an advantage in getting up, or it would naturally turn her to one side or the other. If she's getting hit into the ground hard enough that her tail would be damaged, she has bigger problems, probably her broken ribs.

Aegis Faces the Man-Eater

Two quick breaths, in and out, in and out, get back on your feet you’ve still got work to do.

Aegis stood, muscles in his legs straining to lift his lithe body, mostly because of all the additional metal strapped to it. The grass was slick with blood, and his wrist ached, two pieces of evidence that suggested that despite everything he had made good with his spear thrust. All those years of training must have paid off, to pull off a strike like that in such poor circumstance, that was no small feat. The wannabe hero gave himself a metaphorical pat on the back as his eyes glanced over the stricken beast, writhing on the ground less than ten feet from him. Perhaps it would be wise to focus again, things weren’t quite over yet.

The monster was in pain, it was wounded, but it could still move. His spear might have damaged some internals, it might not have, but something of the size of the creature would not go down too easily. And if his experience had taught Aegis anything, it was that monsters always surprise you.

So, he was going to surprise it. Rather than advancing straight on the stricken creature and risking being cut in half by a swinging tail or having half his bones broken by a stray leg, he was going to give it something else to cry about. In his free hand, an orb of solid rock suddenly materialised, the celestial orb of moon to be exact. It bobbed up and down as he concentrated upon it, staring down the beast, waiting for it to regain its footing, he took one step backwards while he waited to see if it got up, but in truth, he was concentrating on the orb for a different reason. He was going to turn it into a net.