Re: [BNW] Teleporters

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

>Steve Crow wrote:
>
> >
> > I tend to look at it this way.  Look at the Mission Impossible series.
> > Their opponents pretty much _knew_ what the technology available to the 
>team
> > was (what - like the Soviets didn't have the same kind of tech?), but 
>still
> > couldn't stop a well-planned operation based on that technology and 
>ability.
> >
>
>IMNSHO their opponents were stupid.  The computer should not have been 
>active
>when the room was in lockdown.  Very simple to do, and it would have made 
>all
>their efforts usless.  Even a simple keyboard lock would have stopped them.
>(Any lockup could be bypassed, but that would take time and be very hard to 
>do
>without making noise.  And air ducts large enough to crawl through into a 
>secure
>room?
>

Oh, you're talking about the movie, right?  I tend to try and forget that... 
  :)  I was thinking back over some of the 100+ episodes of the original 
series and the revival.  Granted, there are some where they're just as 
stupid as in the example as you cite.

But again, it really comes down to the "active vs. reactive."  Most 
superhero teams are reactive.  They sit around and wait for the villains to 
strike (look at the recent JLA and Legion storylines of World War III and 
the Blight), or someone to show up while they're patrolling, or the Defiance 
or someone to call them up and say, "Hey, we've got a mission for you," or 
for a serial killer to show up in the newspaper headlines.

He who strikes first usually has the advantage.  The IM Team usually won out 
because they were "active."  "Active" superhero teams are relatively few and 
far between (anyone remember the Suicide Squad? a team near and dear to my 
heart since I did the original DC Heroes sourcebook for them).

A good way to determine if your BNW campaign has an "active" or "reactive" 
group of heroes is to start an adventure by saying, "Okay, what are you 
going to do tonight against Kennedy's government/the Mob/whoever?" and take 
it from there.  If they haven't a clue, they're reactive.  If they initiate 
their own cunning plan which you then have to design an adventure around on 
the fly, they're active.

>This is teh sort of setup you might get in a game of Feng shui, where 
>things run
>very closly to cinematic rules.  I see BNW as being a lot darker than that. 
>  BNW
>villians dont use elaborate death traps, they just put a bullet in your 
>head.
>(This is my opinion by the way, you might like supervillians to revel their
>plans to the captive PCs before placing then into an easily escapable 
>situation
>and then assuming they die without watching to make sure.
>
>

I tend to go with you on the "darker" part, but I think BNW has room for the 
latter.  It's just that since supervillains are more deltas than alphas, I 
don't think they have the time, powers, or resources.  I could easily see 
someone like Devastator (if he were still with us) engaging in such 
behavior.  Not that he couldn't be ruthless as well.

I just haven't gone that far yet.  Part of it is how the PCs shape the 
campaign.  I don't think my group would be interested in that kind of thing. 
  If they did, I'd probably give it to them occasionally.

> >
> > I would tend to assume that if you had, say, a modern-day BNW equivalent 
>of
> > the IM Taskforce, with a Teleporter on board, and opponents who were
> > well-enough informed in general of the capability, such a team could
> > probably pull off the equivalent of what they did in the series.  
>Overthrow
> > nations, kill or or set up dictators, you know...that kind of thing.
>
>It's true that any security can be bypassed, given time and knowledge.  You
>could make it difficult though.  Lots of motion sensors, laser beam grids, 
>etc.
>Destroy the plans afterwards so they cant be stolen by your enemies.
>
>

There's so many factors there, it's hard to comment.  For one thing, if your 
"active" PC types set out to do that kind of thing, then obviously you _do_ 
make it possible.  Kind of a boring adventure if you say, "Oops, sorry, all 
the plans are destroyed and the security precautions are too tight - pick 
another objective tonight."

From there, I figure if a determined group of PCs can pull it off, a 
determined group of NPCs can also do so (hopefully the PCs aren't the 
smartest bunch on the planet! ;) ).  Maybe not every time, but when you're 
talking high-stakes economical and nuclear terrorism, once or twice is all 
it takes.

> >
> >
> > >Other tricks could be used to stop teleporters:
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Most of which are kinda...expensive.  The BNW economy is presented as
> > roughly equivalent to "our" economy (i.e., we're told to just assume
> > modern-day prices for modern-day items).
>
>True.  But evil masterminds never seem to want for resources, and Delta 
>Prime
>certainly don't.
>
>

The evil masterminds that tend to have the funds to build elaborate 
deathtraps and HQs, which we agreed above they don't really do in the BNW 
universe?  ;)

Actually, I wasn't referring to Delta Prime or supervillains anyway.  Let's 
just say...every possible target that might be vulnerable to economic or 
nuclear or assassination-oriented terrorism.  Banks, stock exchanges, 
nuclear plants, government mints...

Remember, these kind of places have to guard against Teleporters (and 
Shrinkers, and Phasers) _all the time_.  A Teleporter only needs to succeed 
once, at a time of his choosing.

> > With not ony that, but all the
> > precautions one might have to take against other Delta powers (imagine
> > Phasers, for instance!), you'd think insurance premiums and other stuff
> > would be at an all-time high...  :)
>
>Urk, I hadn't thought of that.  Probably some sort of clause in there about
>delta powers being considered supernatural in origon, considered acts of 
>god and
>not covered under standard insurance policies.
>
>

Wasn't it Marvel who introduced the concept of "superhero insurance"?  One 
does wonder exactly what stops a Phaser, though...  Power-nullification 
fields apparently aren't in common usage.  Hopefully the Defiance SB (which 
was going to feature the Phaser package, wasn't it?) will limit them 
accordingly.

Although that again demonstrates my point.  The Silver Ghost was such an 
effective operative during WWI because he was an "active" element, and the 
folks that had to react to him didn't have a clue (and may not have been 
able to do much to stop him even if they did know about him).

>--
>
>  - doug -


---

Steve Crow

"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

Check out my website at:  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/

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