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

[Matthew Steflik <grifflik@stny.rr.com>]

Steve Crow wrote:


> 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.
>
>
Yeah.  We're on the same wavelength on this.  In my campaign most folks
flat out don't trust the purple robes because of the sometimes ambiguous
nature of their convictions.  Granted, this is mostly to because of the
glow happy way my players have run them.  One PC in particular (who
always plays Doomsayers...right now he's up to his fourth one in my
campaign...I didn't say he played smart) was solely responsible  for
accidentally destroying most of a small ville trying to defend it.  He
rolled up WAY too many times on a nuke (I mean it was really
disgusting).  He got one of the critters, several rickety buildings and
folks, another party member, himself  AND the town fuel storage.  Big
Badda Boom.  He lived through it (!), but was slain quickly afterwards
by another of the critters that survived the blast as the rest of the
party was high-tailing it out of town before the townsfolk could
regroup.  Some of  the town survivors have since become a nomadic group
of Vengants that the posse will undoubtedly run into later. Since then,
word has gotten around and rumors have spread (in part due to the
Vengants) that a posse with a purple robe nuked a ville.  Even though
he's not playing the same purple robe, the player has discovered that
some of the smaller villes in the area that the posse has come to won't
let them approach closer than rifle range if the doomsayer is with
them.  But enough about that.  As to the robe issue, I'm  in agreement
with you.  From a Marshall's standpoint you could concoct some
interesting plot situations by switching robes or not wearing robes at
all.  My players have never questioned it, however.  As a matter of fact
they like the idea of wearing the robe like a "badge of honor" among the
norms and wandering the wastes spewing forth their nuclear scripture.
The idea of removing their robes hasn't come up yet from them - I don't
think they've ever considered it as an option.

> 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.
>
>
O.K., so we disagree on a few details (which is fine by me) and you've
shifted my thinking on a couple points, but we both agree its an idea
with merit and it seems we're coming from roughly the same ballpark.
Let's bottom line this and move on then, unless someone else wants to
join in on the thread  Here's how I see it as the material is currently
presented: in your campaign, do you want this to be a slipshod plan or a
competent plan?  Either way some changes seem to be in order.  If its
the former, let the material ride with the exception of maybe a
corporeal tweak and possible additional power to PK to at least take his
jumping ability into account.  If the party susses out what's going on
(like we've established, how could they not), maybe they can off BN and
get PK onto their side?  Tricky, because he's a father figure, but PK
seems innocent enough and he's not evil - he's ignorant to his "true"
purpose and just wants to be famous.  Maybe a Doomsayer in the party
could later become his teacher and get him moving along the right path.
Now, if its the latter, you've got more work.  First off you'll have to
edit MJ's story information to the posse - if the plan is supposed to be
competent, you're right, it reveals too much.  Don't make it look like
BN has ANY powers. Make him look and act like a sidekick unless he's
positive he can get away with something without being caught.  Steer the
posse away from the idea he has powers - that seems key.  I like your
thinking along PK eventually donning the robe and discrediting the
scismatics, perhaps creating another splinter group that's pro chosen
but anti Joan and anti Silas (on the surface).  That could work and get
PK involved in the actual plotting - something to think about. Once you
changed the presentation, you'd still have to tweak PK's stats as before
and give him a powers increase.  How's that?

Matt