WW2 Supers d6: OOC

[max_vale]

Welcome to the game! This will be the Out Of Character thread....

[max_vale]

Okay, to continue my thoughts from the recruitment thread; everyones character will be in the Philippines circa December 8th, 1941 when the Japanese assault begins.

-Rex has expressed a desire to play a Gurkha character.....he'll probably be in the Philippines either on some kind of personal business or as part of some kind of 'exchange' whereby he's teaching troops from other nations some military techniques....

For the rest of you, please come up with a character in either the United States Navy or the Marine Corps or the Philippine Scouts. I can also go with 1 civilian, who after his Talent(s) manifest, will essentially be drafted into the military.

Some background info on the military forces in the Philippines circa late 1941....

-The Navy's 'Asiatic Fleet' is headquarters in the Philippines, with the major base being at Cavite and Manila. The main power of the USN is the Heavy Cruiser Houston, the Light Cruiser Marblehead; 13 old WW1 vintage Destroyers, 5 recently transferred Yangtze River Gunboats that had previously served in China, a half dozen new PT (Patrol Torpedo) Boats, numerous small Minesweepers and Auxiliary vessels (i.e. Tenders, Tankers, etc.) and what was considered the "true" striking power of the Asiatic Fleet; 23 modern Submarines. Of course, no one knew these subs were armed with terribly defective Mark 14 torpedoes.

-The Marines in the Philippines mostly consist of small forces that were part of the FMF (Fleet Marine Force) aboard the various ships (i.e. small detachments of Marines were on big ships as Security/Boarding forces); as part of the guards at major Naval bases (the Marines are part of the Department of the Navy); or they are part of the recently arrived (late November of '41) 4th Marine Regiment...the "China Marines". The 4th Marines had been assigned to Shanghai in China for the past 4 years and some had been involved or at least seen some of the fighting between the Japanese and Chinese (the war between the Chinese and Japanese had been going on since '37); or between various factions of the Chinese (the Nationalists of China...i.e. the 'legitimate' government the U.S. was allies with; the Communist faction under Mao, and various independent "Warlords" had their own forces). The fighting had gotten too hot by late '41, so the U.S. ordered the 4th to the Philippines. Upon arrival, they had mostly been sent to fortify the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay; though some had been detached to the Bataan peninsula.

-The Philippine Scouts were seen as the "cream" of the Philippines Military forces; and they were directly attached to serve under the U.S. military as essentially Light Recon/Strike units that knew the area and could serve as guides and scouts for U.S. Army and Marine units.

There were also numerous Civilians from all over the world in the Philippines for any number of reasons....businesses such as Fruits or Lumber that didn't grow in non tropical parts of the world; Shipping or Airlines; people running restaurants or entertainment venues in "exotic" locales; etc., etc.

Hopefully this might help give you guys some 'food for thought' in coming up with a character concept.

[Rex]

Interesting.....now to find a reason why he's in the Philippines in December of '41....hmmm....perhaps he was part of an 'exchange' program and was teaching US/Philippine Army soldiers some techniques and such......thinking out loud here....

I like the idea though, thanks!

Most likely ranks for your character (with US/ANZAC equivalent in parentheses)....Rifleman (Private), Lance Naik (Lance Corporal), Naik (Corporal), Havildra (Sergeant).

Also you can pick either the SMLE (Bolt action rifle for the British/ANZAC troops), Sten (Submachinegun) or Bren (Light Machinegun) as your long arm; and a Webley Revolver and of course a Khukhri knife.

If we need more info 4 of my siblings have advanced history degrees, one's doctoral thesis was on the use of mercenaries in WWII so I have access to lots of info on the Ghurka.

[GreyWolfVT]

I'm thinking my character is a US Marine he joined the force his draft registration number was low, so he decided joining up willingly was more honorable than merely being drafted.

Aside from this I am still building up the character in my mind having watched a lot of WWII shows, movies, documentaries I'm still working on things.

[Zhym]

I'm thinking of a Navy man along the lines of a Mr. Roberts—an LTJG who's been stuck on the sidelines of the war so far toiling away in relative obscurity on a supply ship. Or maybe he's a ship's cook, or a ship's medic. Maybe a radio man. Or a mechanic.

As for powers, I'll mull that over, but it might be easier to let the dice decide.

[max_vale]

Fantastic ideas fellas!

-Zhym, if you go the LTJG route, you'll probably be the C.O. (Commanding Officer) of the Team, but don't worry if that frightens you....I can have an NPC or one of the other PCs as the senior NCO (Non Commissioned Officer, i.e. highest ranking Enlisted member) be the main "decision maker" for ground combat ops if needed.....this actually happens more than people think....both back in WW2 and even in the present day where the senior Officer or NCO isn't that experienced or is from a field NOT involving combat arms essentially 'defers' to whoever the senior person who IS experienced in such matters when needed.

-Hey Greywolf.......the Marine idea is good and don't worry too much about the Draft vs. Volunteer part; the Draft had JUST started in 1940/1941 time frame and hadn't impacted all that many people quite yet.

[GreyWolfVT]

Max - Very well I was mainly aiming to incorporate my only uncle that served that was his story low draft lotto number back during Vietnam opted to enlist before he could be drafted but he was stationed in Germany.

As for the rank or position of my character I'd say lower rank possibly also the cook/chef for his platoon/squad.

[Zhym]

I definitely wasn’t looking to be in command! But someone thrust into command who is totally unprepared might be fun, too.

[max_vale]

Greywolf: You can certainly use the draft story, no worries!

Zhym: You don't have to go the Officer route; but as you say, I think it could be fun! Seriously though, whatever works for you is cool.


Everyone: Please feel free to add whatever personal details you like for your characters; I just tend to toss out some 'useless historical knowledge now and then' (history major and WW2 buff in me....I'll try to stop! ); but considering we're playing a game with super heroes in WW2, CLEARLY there's very few 'hard and fast' rules.

[GreyWolfVT]

Max - Thanks. As for powers I hadn't overly thought that one through will there be a list of powers we can see to choose from or roll from? I'm partially inclined to let the dice do the picking but I also might wish to override them if i get something like "make plants grow" or some such thing.

[max_vale]

Hey Greywolf....yeah, you know what, I've had a couple of other people as about a list of powers too, so I'll just go ahead and throw up a quick list here. A couple of quick notes.....you can have 3 Minor Powers (they'll be at 5D level), 1 Moderate (7D level) and 1 Minor Power or 1 Major Power (9D level). As a quick indicator of what those D numbers mean....5D is about equal in Damage to a .45 or Light Rifle round; or if a "hyper" Attribute, a little stronger than then strongest human (Human Attributes are in the 2D to 4D) range; 7D is equal to Heavy Machine Gun/Light Cannon power; 9D is like Direct Hit from a 5 inch shell kind of power/more than twice the strength of the strongest person...i.e. you can certainly tip over a tank and on good, adrenaline-fueled moments you can pick up and flip a tank.

For those powers that are not that easily comparable.....you could impact about a 10 ft cube area with a Minor Power or Fly/Run at up to about 50 MPH or Teleport yourself and about 20 extra pounds anywhere within about 100 yards..etc., ec. For a Moderate Power up that to a max of 150 MPH or affect a 20 by 20 foot cube or Teleport yourself and 1 other person (+light gear they are wearing/carrying) about 250 yards.....or move up to 300 MPH or impact a 30 foot cube area or Teleport yourself and up to 2 other people a distance of about 500 yards away; etc., etc.

'Hyper' Attributes are the 6 Major Attributes (DEXTERITY, KNOWLEDGE, MECHANICAL, STRENGTH, PERCEPTION, TECHNICAL) at greater than Human ability...i.e. replace "hyper" with "super"...

Armor is turning your body into something impenetrable....Shield is a Force Shield......if there's other questions, let me know. This is NOT meant to be a Definitive List of all Powers, so if there's something you're looking for in particular, please let me know. Also, please note that Moderate Powers have a minor 'quirk' (i.e. When Hyper Strength is activated your character glows blue); Major Powers have a significant quirk (i.e. when Flight is activated, your character MUST be able to put his arms in front of him a la Superman....if he can't, he can't use his Power.....super powers can be CRUEL in this world! )

1. Hyper DEX
2. Hyper KNO
3. Hyper MECH
4. Hyper PER
5. Hyper STR
6. Hyper TECH
7. Blaster
8. Flight
9. TK
10. Armor
11. Shield
12. Teleport
13. Shape-Change
14. Mental Projection (words/pictures....NOT mind control, but definitely communication or 'clouding' is possible)
15. Invisibility
16. Control Weather
17. Light/Dark 'Blast' (Bright Light or Darkness is created covering a cubic area as listed above)
18. Heal Self/Heal Others (You have to pick one and the same person can't pick BOTH)
19. Ghost (become insubstantial....can go through walls, etc. but CAN still be impacted by things like Fire or Blasts or Electricity)
20. Super Speed


Roll a d20....see what you get or choose. I hope this helps as a place to start!

[Zhym]

Okay, this may be too silly for this game, but here's a character I had in the old City of Heroes game:

Screen Shot 2012-11-30 at 2.49.25 AM.png (1.18 MiB) Viewed 5941 times

Maybe build that as someone with shape change, leaping, and some martial arts abilities?

[max_vale]

So, I'm tempted to say....yeah, that's a bit silly for the kind of game I had in mind....but on the other hand.....I don't like raining on people's parades.....so here's an idea....

'Captain Kangaroo'; An American Marine officer (rank: Captain) with some kind of tie to Australia....perhaps he has family there....or perhaps he was raised there since his Dad got a job or preached the good word there; or perhaps his fiancé/wife is from there....whatever.....the point is, he has spent significant time there and has an affinity for Kangaroos.

In the attack on the Philippines, his power manifests itself and he shape changes into a Kangaroo that has hyper DEX (or perhaps hyper STR).....

So in game terms it'd be something like; Shape-Change at the Moderate Level; basically, Shape-Change at basic level lets you change your body into whatever you can imagine (though no bigger than your normal form...but smaller is fine) but you do NOT gain the ability to best utilize that form's strengths....so Minor Shape Change: you can change into a cat....but you wouldn't 'land on your feet' every time you fell, you wouldn't have the night vision, etc.; with Moderate you gain the new form's abilities but you still can't change into anything bigger than your normal form....with Shape-Change: Major, you have the new form's abilities AND you can change into something up to twice your own size).

The quirk for the Shape-Change would be he could only change into a Kangaroo

The Hyper DEX or Hyper STR would allow him to be more effective in hand-to-hand combat; or perhaps instead of Hyper DEX/Hyper STR he has Leap: Minor; which allows him to make....I don't know....10 foot (flat-footed) leaps (height and distance) or 30 foot (running/bouncing....height and distance) jumps


I don't know....just spit-ballin' here!

[Zhym]

Yeah; I'm just throwing ideas out there, too. I do like shape-change as a power, though. That's what reminded me of my old character. But it doesn't have to be that character. Something werewolfy could be fun, too, where it's a shapechange that only happens in certain circumstances.

Lots and lots of possibilities...

[GreyWolfVT]

[1d20] = 9

Hmm see now this is where I would want to re-roll or override it.

[max_vale]

By all means amigo....do what you will....but TK is pretty versatile....lift things (yourself) up.....or down....pick things up and hurl/drop them....float the keys away from the jailer when his back is turned, etc., etc.

However, choosing anything off the list or coming up with something NOT on the list (I don't know......like growing plants....could be useful in a lot of Pacific areas.....vines grab the Japanese guys.....something to think about there..... ) is all perfectly good too!

[Zhym]

With that talk about plant control, now I'm thinking of a hero called The Druid: shapechange into animals; plant control; maybe a little bit of weather sense?

[Rex]

I was thinking about this today and was actually thing about a couple of different possibilities.

One would be he could create something like an energy khukuri (moderate) and Combat skill with it would be enhanced (minor). Maybe since the Khukuri isn't a ranged weapon it would do 8d instead of 7? He could cut through doors and light armored vehicles with it etc.

Second would be teleport (moderate) combined with Toughness or Armor (minor), when I was thinking about it I was thinking within sight for range but am fine with 250 yards and the ability to take a person along.

Third was just a classic super soldier. Hyper Dex, Str and Toughness (all minor), it would fit a Gurkha well actually.

[max_vale]

These ideas are great!

Zhym: if you went "the Druid" route....I could see Shape Change: Moderate (allows you to change into any animal your own size or smaller and be able to use it's ability)....perhaps the Quirk. could be something like: "Only works outside"....or "only into mammals" or something of that nature; and the Plant Control: Minor...which basically means you could only control enough plants to affect 1 person at a time for something like Grabbing them with the intent to harm (5D damage)....or a 10 foot area for something more minor like "sway to obscure sight" or "trip up for a round". The Weather Sense might not be worth it......unless you decide to go with Shape Change: Minor....in which case you can change to animals your size or smaller, but other than basic movement/camouflage, etc. you don't get the cool stuff like Eagle Eye sight or Snake Venom or Super Smell from a Tiger's nose, etc. Still....pretty cool idea there....

Rex: Any of these ideas work pretty well; keep in mind that Toughness and Strength are basically the same stat in this game (STR); so that could help.....and the 'generic' Super Soldier might be something like Hyper STR, Hyper DEX, Armor or Heal/Self or something along those lines.

I am kinda partial to the Energy Khukri idea.....if it was Moderate, the damage would still be 7D (which is 3D against Vehicles and doors would't stand a chance....decent shot at ripping thru light armor); with perhaps the Quirk being that it glows brightly or hums or something....

I don't know, just throwing out ideas here....but I LIKE this brain-storming!

[Zhym]

How about instead of weather sense, The Druid has animal affinity? I don't know if that would ever come in handy in this game, though.