Superheroes

[LadyTevar]

Hotfoot's right Step back, deep breaths

[Charon]

The game doesn't need to end. But it does need some change. Personally, I'm of the opinion that most, if not all, of the original remaining characters (Blackheart, Gravitas, Blast, Saibot, Argent) should be retired. Be it via death, self-imposed exile, just going off to do something else. To me it feels like all of the originals are old, and their part in the story has been told and now they're simply hanging around and trouble is starting up because of it. Additionally, a lot of the originals have become pretty ridiculously powerful from power creep.

So yeah, that's just my opinion, new characters are needed to revitalize the story.

[B4UTRUST]

Alright, calmed down a bit. You're right, deleteing the game entirely is just bad juju.

However, as a GM, I am sick of reading the IC stuff taken OOC and the OOC stuff taken IC not by just one person but by several. I am also tired of being constantly barraged by IMs and PMs from people all talking about one thing. Or rather one thing involving three people. Names won't be mentioned, they're not neccessary.

Honestly, I've still got plans for this game. I've got about half a dozen arcs ready to be thrown at you whenever you all get involved with them. But I've got half my players threatening to quit because three individuals can't settle differences and let things die and rest.

Oh, and now that I've had the Caprica B statement explained to me(Thanks, Hotfoot) I can appreciate the sentiment. It wasn't meant to quite be like this. The Genocide plan was there (there was a sub-arc going to be devoted to it) It only got the lime-light it did because of certain players branching off and going seperate ways in character and it was a move to keep them in the game somehow as opposed to trying to railroad them back into an unstable group threatening to self-destruct already. It was suppose to be a slow movement that built up steam in the background until it came into fruitation. However, this has failed. It means that like RCE it must be axed. Well at least partially. The world climate is not going to get better without a lot of things in the world changing. Metahuman relations with norms is still escalating out of control. If it's not Genocide, it'll be someone else somewhere else. So there's that on the table.

What happens next depends on what DS, Tev and Cyn want to do to resolve this whole clusterfuck before anything goes any further. As of this moment I already have plans in works for dealing with the situation if it's needed.

[SirNitram]

I'm actually in agreement with Charon. Either permenant or temporary retirement could be good, particularly with the baggage some of the characters have built up.

[B4UTRUST]

Having read his statement (he posted while I was typing I suppose) I have to agree.

Really and in all honesty the only main ones that need to be let go right now are Argent, Saibot, Blackheart and Gravitas. Blast will probably get there sooner or later, however everyone else is new enough or as Charon said "not stale yet."

I would agree to it if that's whats wanted. It would take me a day or three to figure out how to incorporate a whole new cast into the game but shouldn't be too difficult.

[Charon]

Having read his statement (he posted while I was typing I suppose) I have to agree.

Really and in all honesty the only main ones that need to be let go right now are Argent, Saibot, Blackheart and Gravitas. Blast will probably get there sooner or later, however everyone else is new enough or as Charon said "not stale yet."

I would agree to it if that's whats wanted. It would take me a day or three to figure out how to incorporate a whole new cast into the game but shouldn't be too difficult.

It's not something that has to be done right away. Get rid of one here, maybe a week down the road retire another, then a week later have another die via something heroic, replacing them with the new characters as you go along.

[B4UTRUST]

Yes but the positioning of Mirage Team currently is rather restrictive towards new players joining in. You see what's had to have been done for the last two to get spots.

[Hotfoot]

One option is that we could fade to black, assume certain things happened in the storyline, people who wanted to retire could just write their exits for the game, and the people who want to stay in can just write what happens to their characters in the meantime. Mirage team could return, triumphant from their covert mission, be reinstated, and move forward with the plot. The main thing keeping people from joining the game right now as it stands is the fact that we're playing Heroes: The Departed, and trust is at an all time low as a result. Remove that, and the old dynamic comes back into play.

[rhoenix]

One option is that we could fade to black, assume certain things happened in the storyline, people who wanted to retire could just write their exits for the game, and the people who want to stay in can just write what happens to their characters in the meantime. Mirage team could return, triumphant from their covert mission, be reinstated, and move forward with the plot. The main thing keeping people from joining the game right now as it stands is the fact that we're playing Heroes: The Departed, and trust is at an all time low as a result. Remove that, and the old dynamic comes back into play.

I like this idea - however, if several new characters come into the mix, backgrounds and why they're a part of the team will have to be explained. As B4 said above - you saw what had to happen for the last two to gain admittance.

Perhaps a quick story arc where Mirage Team gains legitimacy and funding, allowing Blackheart, Argent, and Gravitas to fade out as the team takes shape.

[Hotfoot]

That rigmarole only happened because Mirage team is under deep cover. Back when the team was public, characters came and went, easy as pie. Now it's a god-damned Catch-22. Anyone who wants to join us is suspect because nobody should know about us, and the people we did get have no motivation to stay with us unless it's manufactured.

[B4UTRUST]

Well depending on how the next little while goes with plans some people have in effect getting Mirage back into a state of legality may prove much tougher then originally planned. Of course I had actually planned on the eventuality that if they succeeded Mirage would have to fight for their status as a real group. Figure out the who's why's and where's while dodging Ultima teams amongst others.

But oh well. We'll see what everyone wants to do and figure this one out.

[frigidmagi]

I do not have any interest in retiring Blast or killing him off to play a new character. Futhermore I feel there's plenty more story left in him. Thanks for asking.

In my view there is only one character that needs to go away and that is Saibot. Drop a bridge on him, suck him up a black hole, have him jump into a wormhole to redeem himself on a strange new alien planet, whatever. Get rid of Saibot and you get rid of 9/10ths of the drama between Blackheart and Argent.

[frigidmagi]

I'm confused by the way, who is where?

[B4UTRUST]

I do not have any interest in retiring Blast or killing him off to play a new character. Futhermore I feel there's plenty more story left in him. Thanks for asking.

I think that's what we said... I think I pointed out that eventually you'd get to the point where he might need to be considered for such treatment, however was not yet there. Not that he was there or needed it at this time.

[Charon]

I do not have any interest in retiring Blast or killing him off to play a new character. Futhermore I feel there's plenty more story left in him. Thanks for asking.

I agree with you, Blast doesn't need to be retired yet and the only reason I really ever included him on any lists was beacuse it felt a little unfair to have everybody but him on it.

Now, you probably don't feel alone in the idea that there's plenty left to your character and some of the others may want to keep playing their old characters, that's fine I guess. I was mostly just pointing out what I thought would solve the problem of "ZOMG drama!" and I could be wrong. Either way since it's an issue of retiring characters it is up to the player and not the GM.

In my view there is only one character that needs to go away and that is Saibot. Drop a bridge on him, suck him up a black hole, have him jump into a wormhole to redeem himself on a strange new alien planet, whatever. Get rid of Saibot and you get rid of 9/10ths of the drama between Blackheart and Argent.

Going to have to disagree. Yes Saibot is a large source of the drama, which is why he needs to go away as well, but Argent and Blackheart are still going to have a lot of drama, there are a lot of reasons other than Saibot that Blackheart doesn't trust her, and with his "Rar slaughter everything" mentality combined with her "ZOMG overreact to everything" mentality you can be sure that something else is gonna come up. Plus, like I said before, the characters feel old and used up, like they've gone as far as they really can realistically go on this. That's why I retired Legacies.

As for Gravitas... well there's the issue that even with the powerdown he's still ridiculously more powerful than the rest of the party, but mostly I just get the same vibe from him that I was getting from Legacies, he doesn't really have anything to offer to the storyline anymore other than "UNLIMITED POWER!"

[Cynical Cat]

I certainly don't feel Blackheart is used up. I set up him not dying by alien parasite for precisely that reason. He's got a lot of stuff to deal with, not the least of which is he's not doomed and what kind of person he is and could be now that the Sword of Damocles isn't hanging over his head.

The Caprica B plot needs to go. It's the source of far too much drama and metagaming and it keeps on staying around.

Just as a reminder, I brought back the contact with Taskmaster so the team would have a way of checking out people with a credible source so new players could come and go easier by having them vetted by someone Blackheart at least would trust.

[rhoenix]

Ok, for those of us who don't give a shit about NeoBSG, what the hell is a Caprica B plot?

[LadyTevar]

I'm confused by the way, who is where?

Tachyon, Argent, and Ghost are ~100 miles south(?) of the base, in a more deserted region. Why? because that's where Ghost picked to meet Argent.

We may be moving to Millenium City if Argent gets tired of the desert climate.

We are too far away from the base to hear or see what's going on, although Argent can get some impressions via the links. Argent and Tachy do not have any way to contact Mirage team otherwise, as we have never bothered to buy and pass out radios.

[LadyTevar]

As for Gravitas... well there's the issue that even with the powerdown he's still ridiculously more powerful than the rest of the party, but mostly I just get the same vibe from him that I was getting from Legacies, he doesn't really have anything to offer to the storyline anymore other than "UNLIMITED POWER!"

Gravitas is the grandfather of the group, just as Legacies was. He's got the most experience, the most wisdom. He's a mentor, a teacher, and even Argent trusts him to give her good advice.

So, gamewise, I think Gravitas still has a lot to offer.

As for Argent... Tachyon is helping her calm down. I'll work on her more as well.

[LadyTevar]

Ok, for those of us who don't give a shit about NeoBSG, what the hell is a Caprica B plot?

The pilot called Helo was left behind on Caprica when he traded his seat on the Raptor to Baltar. For a while, the show skipped from the main plot following Galactic to the subplot (Plot B) on Caprica, following Helo as he ran from Cylons, met with the #8 Cylon now called Athena, and got her pregnant. A lot of people complained about the shift in focus, and several people bitched about spending that much time back on Caprica setting up Helo and Athena. It was a distraction that didn't make sense.

So that's the Caprica B plot, which also later extended to include Anders' little group of insurgents as they made like hell for the Cylons trying to rebuild Caprica. In retrospect, the plots were needed; setting up baby Hera, introducing Anders, and showing the first splits in the Cylon leadership. The distraction's had further reaching plots than we imagined.

Does that answer the question, or confuse you further?

[rhoenix]

The pilot called Helo was left behind on Caprica when he traded his seat on the Raptor to Baltar. For a while, the show skipped from the main plot following Galactic to the subplot (Plot B) on Caprica, following Helo as he ran from Cylons, met with the #8 Cylon now called Athena, and got her pregnant. A lot of people complained about the shift in focus, and several people bitched about spending that much time back on Caprica setting up Helo and Athena. It was a distraction that didn't make sense.

So that's the Caprica B plot, which also later extended to include Anders' little group of insurgents as they made like hell for the Cylons trying to rebuild Caprica. In retrospect, the plots were needed; setting up baby Hera, introducing Anders, and showing the first splits in the Cylon leadership. The distraction's had further reaching plots than we imagined.

Ah, now that makes sense. Thank you.

Does that answer the question, or confuse you further?

Yes, that answered the question well. So, to infer - the implication with the above sentiments of the other players is that this sideplot didn't really have as far-reaching implications as Caprica B did?

[B4UTRUST]

Just as a reminder, I brought back the contact with Taskmaster so the team would have a way of checking out people with a credible source so new players could come and go easier by having them vetted by someone Blackheart at least would trust.

Which works in theory till you come up against an independent who's been fairly low key in the game world (Luminos for example, was never a caped crusader previous to this). There's just no way Taskmaster has his eye on every metahuman in the world so he can give his official black ops stamp of approval.

[Cynical Cat]

Which works in theory till you come up against an independent who's been fairly low key in the game world (Luminos for example, was never a caped crusader previous to this). There's just no way Taskmaster has his eye on every metahuman in the world so he can give his official black ops stamp of approval.

It's not omniscience, it's making joining the group easier.

[LadyTevar]

So is anything happening back at the house while Fisher, Tachy and I are talking?

[Cynical Cat]

So is anything happening back at the house while Fisher, Tachy and I are talking?

Hand to hand combat, to the death, with nerf bats.