Re: [HoE] [HOPLER] *STILL SPOILERS* The Phil. Kid

[Steve Crow <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

Just as a note, I'd _like_ to do something with the idea.  For one thing, 
the whole "Ooh, Doomsayers never wear robes of the opposing side" thing 
strikes me as somewhat flawed.  Like, PC Doomsayers will never try to 
infiltrate a Silas-backed community or something.

The way it's presented, you'd think Silas would _never_ have a few of his 
Doomsayers put on purple robes, sneak into town and let themselves 
"accidentally" be spotted while rad-poisoning the water or something.  
Either that, or everyone assumes that, since they're harming people, they 
_must_ be green-robers in disguise.  I guess in my universe, folks ain't 
quite so trusting of purple-robers who aren't necessarily unwilling to nuke 
norms if they're harming mutants.

So, I like the idea of Silas doing something like the whole Phil Kid thing.  
Just like to see how it's workable.

>Steve Crow wrote:
>
> > Actually, Mad Jack's description of the battle also has him jumping "a 
>few
> > meters into the air" (page 34).  I'm just taking it the way it is 
>described.
> >   I don't believe the Quickness trait has anything to do with high- or
> > long-jumping.
> >
> >
>Yeah, in that context, Blue Note is doing something funny, Mad Jack is over 
>coloring
>his story or the Kid flat out needs a corporeal tweak.  I still think the 
>second
>reference sounds like quickness, but enough already.  Choose what you like. 
>  I'll
>drop it.
>
>

Well, I'd agree with you, I get the impression the Kid (or Blue Note) is 
supposed to have some kind of Doomsayer jumping-type power, that may have 
been omitted during final edit.  The emphasis on his jumping ability is just 
too strong.

If MJ is overcoloring the story, it seems like a strange kind of thing.  
It's presented so strongly it's almost like it's supposed to be a "clue" of 
some sort.  But to what, I can't tell...

> > The impression I got was that perhaps a few Doomsayer powers were 
>omitted
> > from the Kid's listing in the Marshall section.  And so wondered what
> > Pinnacle intended.
> >
>
>This could be - it has happened before .  As a matter of fact I did spot a 
>number
>crunching problem - his spirit is 4d8 but his faith is listed as 2d6. This 
>is easy
>enough to change.  Quite frankly though, my thinking is still that the Kid 
>is a decoy
>(cover for Blue Note) and was never intended to be a competent 
>doomsayer...his spirit
>is only 4d8 fer cryin' out loud - above average, but nothing to strike fear 
>into the
>hearts of Doombringers everywhere   Even after the "years of training" from 
>infancy,

Well, with Tolerance and Sustenance you don't really need a high Faith...

>he still only has  two basic newbie/initiate powers.  So, it could be the 
>Kid's lack
>of natural aptitude (didn't sound like Silas went through a real intensive 
>selection
>process - "Here, you muties...gimme that baby."), combined with Blue Notes' 
>dislike
>of children and complete lack of teaching skills.  He can sing him "Its 
>Christmas at
>Ground Zero", but I don't think that will help him learn the power.  Before 
>you say
>it, I know you don't need teaching skills to learn powers - it just struck 
>me as
>funny.  Although, seriously - I'd consider giving someone a bonus to their 
>roll if
>they learned a power from someone with teaching skills.  Besides, the Kid 
>has a
>snowball's chance of learning any of the new powers from the COTA book even 
>if he had
>a good teacher when his Smarts is a lowly 1d6 (another sign of the Kid's 
>poor
>aptitude for this line of work).  Granted, he still could have gotten any 
>of the
>powers from the HOE rule book through "experimenting" on his own, which 
>could lead
>one to wonder why he hasn't bothered.  Another way I could look at it is 
>that maybe
>he's not being encouraged to learn more powers so he really looks like a 
>beginner -
>the better to win Joan's sympathies and get him a mentor.  However,  if 
>THIS is the
>case, Blue Note has already screwed things up by using his powers at all 
>and getting
>folks thinking.  Or maybe he just likes shootin' pistols better?  Or, as 
>you say,
>maybe its an editing mistake.  If it is, I'd imagine it would only be the 
>addition of
>a couple of powers from the main book. Whatever.
>

Well, I'd think the emphasis in MJ's story might change a little bit, too.  
Atomic Blast seems like a pretty reasonable power to hand out to such an 
infiltrator.

> > That also exposes some flaws in the plan.  But if Silas' plan is for 
>word to
> > get back to Joan & Co. that the Kid has powers and Blue Note through
> > storytellin', then it's already failed because MJ is telling the story, 
>and
> > he ain't tellin' it that way.
> >
> > It just seems like Jack's story gives away too much.  My players spotted 
>the
> > apparent hole in it immediately.  I don't really want to assume that 
>Joan is
> > dumber than they are...  ;)
> >
> >
>
>Aw, heck.  I never meant to imply it was a GOOD plan.  It was flawed from 
>the start
>with a poor selection (Here's a little problem - knowing where he came 
>from, why does
>the kid have no mutations?  The only reason he wouldn't, I think, is if 
>he's not a

An interesting point.  However, typically, source material doesn't list the 
type of mutations that NPC Chosen have.  Cleon Bishop, Firebringer, Black 
Ursa, even Blue Note...all are Chosen but none have any mutations listed as 
part of their character stats (other than being Ugly as Sin at various 
levels).

>mutie kid at all and the muties stole him or something.  Hmm.  Not sure 
>where I
>wanted to go with that now.  Anyway...).   If his plan as it stands really 
>is to get
>someone (I'm assuming Blue Note, through the Kid) into Joan's organization, 
>its not
>going to work - period.  The best that can come of it is a one shot decoy 
>that gets a
>couple of Joan's investigators offed.  No, let's not assume that Joan is 
>stupid.
From the way the material on the Kid plot is presented however, we're 
>prodded toward
>seeing that Silas isn't thinking things through. The plan is too obvious 
>and heavy
>handed (shouldn't have even started with the Kid wearing purple when you 
>know the
>purples talk to each other, if you want to REALLY want to nitpick). Well, 
>subtlety
>doesn't seem to me to be his strong point anyway.  Maybe he'll learn from 
>his
>mistakes, because I really don't think the Kid and Blue Note stand a chance 
>once Joan
>starts doing some investigating (like you said, Mad Jack saw through it, as 
>did your
>players).  I still like the premise of the whole thing, though I'm willing 
>to concede
>there are some ambiguities in the execution.
>

I don't mind the purple-dressing thing:  he ain't wearing the robes himself, 
so it's seems like he's doing it to catch the attention of the Schimatics (a 
Chosen/Doomsayer groupie, maybe?).  I just think Pinnacle might have _not_ 
fleshed it out quite so thoroughly, with the various hints (Blue Note 
teleporting) and red herrings (PK's jumping ability??).

The only way I could see going with it effectively, would be to have PK 
eventually don the purple robes without Joan ever training him, and try to 
discredit the Schismatics.  Kind of a "I've defended you, but now I'm 
turning my back on you for the Chosen."  But he'd really have to either 
learn some new powers, or have BN back him even more.

>Matt
>
>
>
>
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---

Steve Crow

"Worm Can Opener Extraordinare"

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


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