Why is Blue about to jam his finger up Green's nose?

>>331896
Nothing gets you healthy like a good nose picking.

>>331895
motives? AVENGING FATHER! for no particular reason.

I mean he had a moon base he had to be pretty cool

>>331895
His motive is being less bored and collecting those encounter checks.

His behavior is genial, police, and considerate, but people are out to stop him because he keeps doing things that are annoying as fuck.

First plan: Use half of that encounter check to pay aspiring young garage bands to play on street corners soliciting tips, and split the tips with them 50/50.

Second plan: Go onto the internet and start packaging free software with a "Vuvuzela Ambiance" application that can't be removed and runs on startup. Charge people $50 for one-time-use codes to make it go away.

Once the moon base is accessible, sell advertising space on the dark side of the moon.

Additionally, start creating OSHA-compliant death traps. Since nobody ever dies to the fatal variety, the heroes will never know these are harmless. If anybody ever does find out then they're going to be incredibly pissed at the heroes.

>>331899
Also, save up the FX so you can get a very competent right-hand-woman with whom your interaction will cause people to argue over if you're actually involved or not, and never actually do anything to prove it one way or the other.

Anonymous 2010/08/21(Sat)20:33 No. 22108 ID: 932552
File 128244801982.png - (18.98KB , 265x265 , VILLAIN.png )

His motive is obviously money and power(FX)!

>>331897
Avenging his dad seems like a pretty cool Freudian Excuse though. Or furthering his father's goals. Or just being better than he was.

Maybe we should find out what his dad actually did.

>>331899
I am all for this plan. Our evil plot shall be to ANNOY. ANNOY THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THE CITIZENRY and be a MILD IRRITATION.

We need him to keep his job because he is a respectable adult. And because it's funny.

>>331914
Yup, this plan is clearly the best.

>>331914
Prodding their pets with sticks in the night!
Giving candy and soda to small children just before car trips!
Making devices that make cell phone noises and leaving them in theatres!
Ensuring Uwe Boll gets more movie deals!
Creating devices for 3 AM Ding-Dong-Ditch!
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

His plan as of now is to create the perfect brunch. Of which his Nemesis's will most certainly try to capture for their own culinary research.

>>331914
This.

Anonymous 2010/08/22(Sun)04:22 No. 22148 ID: 932552
File 128247616555.png - (12.06KB , 180x150 , Blackwicks.png )

>>/quest/220923
> Since we're doing the discussion here instead of the thread
ITT: we mostly talk about hypothetical stuff, long term goals and motives we don't want to bog down the thread with.

In the main thread people started mentioning all these required secondary powers we'd need to take into account for an actual moon base. I was thinking we could just build a base somewhere on earth and use that. Maybe with lava pits or something. You know, because obsidian.
When teleporting to the moon base is actually doable at all, we can pop in and start dragging back anything portable dad left behind. Actually moving there seems like more and more of a high end villainy type deal, which we are too poor and weak to do yet, and probably will be for some time. When we are actually powerful enough to pop back and forth casually and/or have all the required secondary powers, we can just drag anything we took back and move in proper.
Besides, until we can port around all easy type, it makes it kindof hard to go shopping or anything, right?

>>331914
So, Rastin Style Villainy, then? I support this.

People are already coming up with so many long term goals and fixating on Blacwick's father.

Really I think the focus should be on getting Blacwick some cool villain friends and a hot girlfriend who doesn't mind wearing tight black leather clothing and joining in on the villainy business. Villainy in itself doesn't really GO anywhere. I mean Blacwick's dad had a moon base with ninjas, but he abandoned his son and got killed using up all his resources.

with all this fire and teleporting you might say that we'll go out like a candle.

Also he should get some more martial arts training to go with his flames and poofing around.

>>331954
>Really I think the focus should be on getting Blacwick some cool villain friends and a hot girlfriend who doesn't mind wearing tight black leather clothing and joining in on the villainy business.
I fully support this endeavor.

>>331959
No, we save up 10FX and get a BOSS.
That boss will be a woman with an are-they-or-are-they-not-dating cloud of mystery around them.

>>331954
>>331959
>>331963
No way, we need a superhero girlfriend.

you guys are so obnoxious! Crash alocal concert? minor diversions for FX? The only villain that'd go for those is a classless villain!

>>331980
We should take over the local wax museum, clearly.

>>331980
Look, man, these are our early issues. We don't have to really develop our definitive character for a while yet, and once we have it they'll retcon everything that we did in the early days anyway.

>>331978
So we spend 10FX on what I describe then have her register as a hero so she can fight other villains, and the two of them look out for each other - her by helping him quietly slip out the back, him by betraying his fellow supervillains when it would help her out.

Blacwick!94Ud9yTfxQ 2010/08/23(Mon)00:40 No. 22204 ID: a6008c
File 128254925070.png - (28.25KB , 576x720 , Black Wick copy.png )

Character sheet! He bought one extra FX to spend, as well as some unlisted supplies that will be put to use when I next update.

New sheets will be posted as he powers up.

Can we get some more specifics on the teleportation power? How does the charging work? Can Blacwick do other things while charging up a teleport? Does the destination have to be fixed or can he start charging the teleport and then go anywhere reasonable within the charge range? How much can be teleported (people, items etc.)? Is momentum conserved while teleporting? Does it require line of sight or just some sort of reasonable knowledge of where he wants to go?

So far we know that 1) The flames are purely decorative. 2) Blacwick can't change his orientation during a teleport.

>>332068
I made this quest so I would have a quest that does not require too much thinking, or rules lawyering, or any of that gunk. It will make it easier on me, and make it easier on you, the reader. This is not a quest that requires overthinking, and if you keep overthinking it, it will probably die in the same way How To Raise a Princess did.

So, shut up, stop trying to break it, and have fun. Limits will only be imposed on things as you people keep trying to break them wide open. Stop trying to break things, and you will be able to get away with more shit.

So, no. You can't get more specifics on teleport, because Blacwick doesn't know anything about the power yet either. He is learning as you are, and you will have to discover your limits on your own. What those limits end up being is not yet set until Blacwick discovers them.

>>332097
YOU ARE GREAT AUTHOR

Reka 2010/09/06(Mon)00:09 No. 22677 ID: 44d67c
File 128375698911.png - (64.52KB , 342x513 , Count_Baron_Blackwick.png )

So I did a mockup of various possible flight powers in the thread but then people chose something else. So I made a new one.
Since it's no longer aiding suggestions I thought it more suited to be posted here!

The idea of Blackwick with a thin aura made me think of Castlevania and the way supernatural characters often have a pixel-wide aura.
I support turning him into Dracula.

>>332477
hahaha, well maybe a little thicker, with whisps of fire coming off of him. it's still fire based after-all just thin.

>>332477
You never cease to amaze me.

http://quest.lv/wiki/Earth_Defense_Force

So I maded you an article, Gnome. I even put up some basic info.

I've noticed that people don't really seem to CARE about the character sections and such, but I thought we could pin up established plot points and stuff we'd want to frequently reference. Hence the 'Notes' section. It's sort of an experimental design for a wiki article, based more around player and author needs than giving a plot summary.

Blacwick!94Ud9yTfxQ 2010/09/06(Mon)03:38 No. 22688 ID: 2dd0ba
File 128376950061.png - (31.11KB , 576x720 , Black Wick copy.png )

Updated character sheet.

>>332484
Thank you, Adept!

>>332477
Reka you might as well be official co-author at this point, with all the helpful images you post.

>>332488
Lets try to conserve FX. We don't get any bonuses for winning, so lets instead focus on having a lot of encounters where we don't even worry about properly defeating the heroes.
Cause chaos, annoy the heroes, leave.
Spend no FX, just save it up so we can get the high-cost important things.

>>332493
well, some things are worth spending it on. such as doing something really cool taht earns more FX back. like that guitar thing. that totes got us extra.

>>332493
>>332494

Yeah, taking this into account, I think we need to think in the complete opposite way. We have little to lose unless we go overboard on FX spending, and alot to gain in awesome and cool factor by spending. Plus, no matter what after a battle its pretty much guaranteed we are going to get enough money for 2/3 FX.

Love this adventure so far though I must say.

>>332506
Spending money on actual stuff for an encounter requires time and planning. Just having a bunch of FX works anytime, anywhere and usually more effectively. Spending FX on upgrades works out even better, as long as you hold onto a few FX for encounters.

Speaking of which, we need some actual fire attacks next chance we get.

>>332513
>Speaking of which, we need some actual fire attacks next chance we get.

We should work out a power that lets us manifest a sword made of fire into our hands to use as a weapon. Fireballs are nice and all, but we need something flashy and awesome.

>>332515
If we're looking for a close-range weapon, a continuous flamethrower ability would probably be better than a sword made of fire. And, frankly, more awesome. A guy with a burning sword is something that people can fit into their minds as a slight twist on a mundane threat; a guy with a five-foot jet of scorching flame blooming from his palm is not.

Obviously, we need a gun. A gun that shoots swords. Swords made of fire.

>>332517
Is the gun also on fire?

>>332518
That depends on how over the top we want it. What about smoke? Smoke can be nicely dramatic.

>>332519
A smoke belcher gun

That shoots very very hot smoke

>>332515
No, we need a sword that LOOKS like fire, but actually freezes on contact.
All our powers must appear to be fire based, but actually have nothing to do with fire at all.

>>332521
So... a sword that... WICKS away heat?

Maybe a ranged attack that it powers up with said heat?

>>332521
You mean like the Amaranthine Annihalator in Golem Quest? It pushes heat out so hard it makes a WAVE OF FIRE?

>>332530
Dunno.



I don't read Golem Quest.



Huge fireball that gets more huge or normal fireball that burns hotter, I was thinking.

hmm, when the EDF show up again i think we should call a time out and tell them sorry for ruining it the first time they showed up, the fact that they signed up as your nemesis means they really care about this thing. then say "okay then, now that is taken care of, time in, in three, two, one!" and then start fighting. would make them feel better as well as making it fun. makes them feel like they deserve to have that nemesis slot.

>>332523
No, just a ice sword.
Although, come to think of it, cryokinesis and hydrokinesis would completely trump any kind of sword; people see the fire theme and trap him in a block of ice... which he then turns into Ice Armor and activate his fire aura around that.

However, what we should get right now is a healing power. Following that we should upgrade our fire aura so it can encompass another person.
If we can get both of those in one shot - the ability to extend the aura and have it heal everybody inside it - then that is obviously what we must do.

My only concern here is that $200 might not be enough for a date, so lets hold off on spending any cash or FX until after the date.

>>332532

Also: Teleport breakdown:
Upgrades:M/S:Time(Avg distance to moon):FX point cost:FX point total cost
1:10:444d21h51m40s:6:6
2:100:44d11h47m10s:3:9
3:1000:4d10h46m43s:3:12
4:10000:10h40m04s300ms:3:15
5:100000:1h04m04s030ms:3:18
6:1000000:6m24s403ms:3:21
7:10000000:38s440.3ms:3:24
8:100000000:3s844.03ms:3:27
9:1000000000:384.403ms:3:30

>>332534
nice, according to this then lvl 5 is when we can check the place out, with lvl 6 being when it is somewhat practical to get there.
now figure out how many upgrades we need to get to alpha centauri

>>332534
Glad that someone already crunched the numbers. This is a pretty important thing to keep an eye on, since we'll get a goodly amount more resources. With a little luck, there might be some stuff up there to recoup the cost of all those FX, or at least pay for the space suit we needed to make the teleport safe (unless we spring for the 'can breathe in space' superpower).

As for our more immediate concerns, healing seems like it could be useful, but not useful enough. I'd rather put the two points into invulnerability than start down a fresh healing path.

A good solid weapon would be a really good thing, from what we've seen so far. I'm thinking big, heavy, and slow. Speed is what FX are for. To continue the whole theme, how about a big obsidian sword that is also on fire?

...Or, if you wanted to be a complete, teleporting-sneaky-bastard, how about a Baron's Obsidian Blackjack?

>>332535
That's about 40112640400000000 meters.
Teleport level 14 would get there with less than 10 minutes of charging, and would require spending 39FX to get that speed.

>>332537
then it's decided. we upgrade our moon base to a out-of-system base. for double points we put it in a volcano on planet.

>>332538
What? No. That's dumb. We have FAR better uses of FX than sticking our moonbase in another solar system. Can you imagine how much invulnerability that would buy?

>>332536
Weapons? Too practical. Instead lets invest in an indestructible stereo that plays our theme music while we're in battle.
Our theme music shall be the song that doesn't end.
We will spend FX to make the tune a mindvirus so it will ALWAYS get stuck in people's heads for several days afterward - unless we extend our healing fire aura to them to clean it out of their minds.

Next encounter, how about we just turn the fire aura on and teleport into an enemy's leg?

probably a 'can't teleport into solid matter' thing to keep us from getting fused or scrambled.

It might actually be cheaper to buy a spaceship than to blow all that fx on teleport. Or maybe we could just upgrade the base with an 'instant teleporter' upgrade. Limited to just from earth to there, and from there to Blacwick's apartment or something.

>>332544
Not really, FX cost 300$ dollars, and we need 21 FX, so that only brings it to 6300$ if we had no FX. Now STEALING a spaceship might be a nice alternative though.

I think we should focus on what is needed at the moment. A) a way to get to the moon base and B) defense against ice. I say that for now we get a reduced impact upgrade VS ice/cold. Seeing as how we have fire powers, it's only natural that our foes will attempt to use ice and cold based attacks against us. We need to strengthen ourselves against this as soon as possible, even if we can't remove that weakness immidiatlly. As for the moon base, we I think that will be a long term investment requireing alot of time and money. Perhaps we could get instant teleport to certian locations, such as Blackwick's apartment and the moonbase? The enviromental shield power is also a must for the moon base in order to shield us from the vacuum of space. Most of that other stuff seems like it would be of use, but we dont exactly have lots of resources on hand at the moment. Lets stay practical for now.

>>332555
First:
Forget reducing the effect of ice attacks. Instead go for Cryokinesis so he can control ice himself. Why reduce the damage from an attack when he can just turn it into ice armor?

Second:
Get the environmental shield for oxygen-lacking environments first. That would let him breathe underwater, in a solid block of ice, in space, and in low-oxygen environments inside a burning building. Vacuum resistance is far less important.

>>332554
Space ships are worth $Lots.
If we stole one, then we would be better off selling it for the cash and buying FX.
Or ransoming it back to the owner for a price low enough that they'll pay it just so it won't be endangered by a hero fighting to take it back. This tactic is very effective in real life; a botnet owner will DDoS a site, then threaten to do it again at a worse time if the site doesn't pay them a nearly-trivial amount of cash. When somebody demands ~$10k, the expected lost business would be >$1m, and the cost of building a system to scrub the DDoS so you can ride out the attack is >$100k, people will just pay the botnetter.

The same thing applies here. Steal a multi-million dollar craft, hold it for ransom for $10k-$20k, take the money and leave. A superpower enhanced fight inside the craft would do far more than $20k in damage, so the owner would be very likely to just pay it.

Also? Next crime: Stealing the guns from liquor stores and selling them to gun shops for cash. (Or participating in one of those toys-for-guns programs that the police run, then pawning the toys.)

This is something I posted in thread, because I was posting there when I thought of it, but it really belongs here.

We should get some sort of fire blast or flamethrower type thing some time in the future. If we get Fire Shield, we could likely do this by moving our fire aura at our enemy instead of wearing it, thus costing us 3 FX instead of six, but preventing us from doing it while flying, and making us not invulnerable while using it. This also makes us more interesting by giving us a significant weakness (thus adding potential for more FX at some risk).

>>332535
Um, no. Four is when we can get there. Five is when we can get there quickly enough that we could live there and commute to work. Six is when such travel becomes trivial.

As long as we're discussing powers, here's my current "to buy" list.
-Regeneration (no more facial bruises the next day)
-Increased speed/reflexes (would help a lot with our mobile fighting style)
-Danger sense (we've been hit with trick attacks twice now)
-Flamethrower (short/medium range fire attack)
-Fire blast (medium/long range kinetic blast with fire flavor; actual fire optional)

Those are new powers. Upgrading existing powers is of course desirable as well.

>>332573
Lowering our defenses whenever we use a certain attack seems like it couldn't possibly be worth the tradeoff of a few FX. Unless it would be far more powerful than simply buying a new power, this seems like a silly idea. We're not so powerful that we need to give ourself new weaknesses to remain interesting.

>>332567
Our fire aura has a weakness to water (>>/quest/226826), apparently. I don't think it could ever let us breathe underwater.

>>332583
>Lowering our defenses whenever we use a certain attack seems like it couldn't possibly be worth the tradeoff of a few FX. Unless it would be far more powerful than simply buying a new power, this seems like a silly idea.
I'm not really trying to minmax here. It seems like a particularly interesting way to grant ourselves a ranged offensive benefit, so I want it.
>We're not so powerful that we need to give ourself new weaknesses to remain interesting.
We will theoretically escalate in power as time goes on. Preserving an ounce of mortality for later seems wise to me.

>-Regeneration (no more facial bruises the next day)
I like that things can have an effect on us.
-Increased speed/reflexes (would help a lot with our mobile fighting style)
I like this idea.
>-Danger sense (we've been hit with trick attacks twice now)
Good, but it could remove some of the interestingness of combat.
>-Flamethrower (short/medium range fire attack)
>-Fire blast (medium/long range kinetic blast with fire flavor; actual fire optional)
These are the same thing as each other, and also the same as the aura displacement I suggested. There's no reason to use too many names for the same thing.

>>/quest/227910
Aye, a valid point. I doubt it would take much effort to avoid lighting everything on fire.

>>/quest/228513
We're positioning him to be an affably evil punch-clock villain, even without my pushing to make him more annoying than evil. This makes it completely acceptable for him to be dating a hero and for a hero to be dating him due to the fact that he's not bringing a lot of evil baggage into the relationship.
Everything he has done so far has been less total evil than your average tragic back-story hero, he's nowhere close to the evil of a reformed villain, and only people with insanity-level obsessions would accuse him of anything even close to an unforgivable act ("Interrupting a concert? SACRILEGE!").
Right now he's doing the 'noble demon' bit, and heroes have a hard time keeping a grudge against that kind of villain.

With all that said, it's perfectly fine to manipulate people who you don't know, don't care about, or dislike, as that's just part of the job. However, you never manipulate people you like.

Take this example: Blacwick has a date, and people are considering using mind control powers to make her fall in love (or lust) with him.
Completely aside from the implications of rape (one of the few things that always lands straight in the middle of "unforgivable acts"), that's a betrayal of trust, and nobody likes a backstabber.

Grah... I'm ranting.

TL;DR: Don't mind-control friends and loved ones.

>>332629
i agree.

>>332629
>TL;DR: Don't mind-control friends and loved ones.
She's neither, yet. The whole POINT of getting the power is to make her one or both of the above. It's the sort of will-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass act that villains excel at, as she'll eventually break free and declare that she would have liked him if only he hadn't tried to force her to do so.

Draft of overly-dramatic back-story:

"Perhaps you're wondering how I got to be here?
My father abandoned me so long ago that I can't even remember his face. Mother tried her best to raise me properly alone, but it was hard enough supporting herself. I wasn't the greatest kid, but I was pretty good. I didn't get into much trouble, and I got decent grades, at least. Sadly, with my father offering no support college was an impossible dream. I graduated high school and got a job at a grocery market.
I've always wanted to find my father and ask him why. Why did he leave? Why did he never write? Why did he leave mom to raise me alone? So many questions for him; so very many questions...
Not too long ago, some of those answers I sought found me when three so-called 'heroes' attacked me from behind while I worked.
They didn't care that the place was full of innocent people, let alone property damage. They didn't care that I knew nothing of their quarrels. They didn't care that I was just an ordinary person leading a normal life. All they wanted to do was murder me because of a man I never even knew.
They bragged, you know. They told me with relish how my father's death failed to sate their hatred, and that they and those like them would devote their every waking moment to hunting me down and slaughtering me like an animal. It was then I knew why my father left, and why he couldn't have anything to do with his wife and child.
I did the only think I could do; I fought for my life. All it took was one good solid kick, and the cowards ran like the jackals they were.

It was then that I met the mayor. He offered me the power I needed to defend myself and to fight back, and told me the bastards responsible flock to chaos like flies on rotting meat.
But I'm not going to sink to their level, I'm not going to stoop so low as to kill them for what they've done, no. Instead, I'm going to make them miserable. I am going to be their sins given form; I am going to drive them mad until they destroy themselves, and then the world will be free of their bloodlust.
I do regret that I often find myself in conflict with people who have noble intents, but such conflicts bring me closer to my goals."

>>332633
Yes, and I'd rather see the hero/villain romantic interplay work out on its own.

>>332629
I agree with the sentiments expressed here. The mind-control stuff is unnecessary.

>>332629
Damn, we're not talking overt mind control. Just some emotional influencing. A little increase in lust. Why does it matter if it's something Blackwick can do with fire or something I can do with my fingers? That doesn't make it heinous. Manipulative, maybe, if we use it in a situation where her intent is not already determined, but not particularly evil. Furthermore, my suggestion that it be a dual-faceted thing (lust/rage) prevents us from going "hey you're cute. Magic lust attack!" and causing people to fall in love with us, because that sort of thing is more likely to piss folks off than anything else. At the first level, it'll practically be something relatively unobtrusive to get a girl extra worked up when we've already got her going. Not really heinous.

>>332636
That post did not express the sentiment that it was unnecessary, but rather that it's unethical. I agree that it's somewhat unnecessary, but really, there's nothing that's strictly necessary. It would be useful in bed, as a supernatural supplement, and in battle, to cloud the wits of our opponent and thus put ourselves in a position of greater control.

>>332634
I really like this. It's a great speech. It displays us as a villain, but a well though out villain, and hugely overplays the way shit actually went down. Really, quite perfect for a villain.

Side note:
>Instead, I'm going to make them miserable. I am going to be their sins given form; I am going to drive them mad until they destroy themselves
kind of goes against your earlier point. Though I wouldn't care to see an emotional influence related to madness, sin, or misery, in particular. I don't think that fits our theme too closely.

>>332651
you can influence people without mind powers.

Being able to drive our minions to awesome feats of stupidity bravery is awesome and I wholly support it.

>>332653
I don't think we have the right glasses for it.
Besides, might get us sued.

>>332655
>might get us sued.
By who, our minions? Minions don't have rights. Besides, induced bravery is an enhancement, and as such is protected by our status as a Villain.

Random idea: The moon is a pretty long way away. With just a couple of upgrades, though, we could be zapping across borders with ease, and a few more would let us carry hundreds of pounds of whatever we wanted.

We should turn Blacwick into a drug kingpin! The minions can handle distribution, and it ought to be profitable enough to let him go into villainy full-time, even without dealing in hard drugs.
Plus, think of all the great confrontations! D.A.R.E.Devil comes after us, and almost wins, but then we force him to choose between bringing us in or stopping our robots from dumping LSD into the reservoir! So thrilling! Tune in next week for more of the third-eye-opening adventures of Baron Obsidian!

>>332714
Hmm. I'm liking our current grocery store employment. On the other hand, Drug Lord is an entirely respectable state of employment. Perhaps this is a goal for when we inevitably outgrow our current employer. But first we'll need to successfully take down some of his opposition, and position him to become a monopoly, and become a consultant for his growing business. Then, with consultancy fees secured, and plenty of free time, we can move into drug running.

Also, the LSD plot is gold. Similar things have been done before, but it's still gold.

What, drugs! No way, man! Drugs are for, like, C-rank villains! People who don't even wear costumes!

Sure you get supervillains who are on the periphery of drug-running, but if they're anywhere near the big leagues then either 1) it's only a small part of how they get their funding, and managed locally by stereotypical mob boss #36, or 2) they're someone like the Scarecrow and they're actually making fear gas or supersoldier chemicals or something. Certainly no-one who has a moon base should sully themselves with lording over regular drugs.

Hiring out assassins, selling weapons - now those are proper supervillain revenue sources. Plus some shady "legitimate" businesses, of course.

>>332718
We don't actually have our moon base now. But we could make a whole lot by moving things. Obviously, most of the infrastructure would indeed be delegated to an underling (who might or might not be stereotypical) and possibly we could delegate some of our teleportation power to runners under our command (somewhat like the Sorcerer Kings) but there's no real reason why we couldn't spend a few hour every day during harvest season moving shipping crates.

We don't have assassins, and the human resources required would be expensive, and would scale poorly. We can't use civilians for that, bud drug distribution can probably be handled by a boss (maybe even miniboss) and whatever associates he sees fit to employ.

Arms dealing requires manufacturing capabilities which we currently lack. It also has the notable downside that arms get distributed, and become more widespread than we might like. It essentially requires us to put most of our technological advantage on the open market. And that's unwise.

Of course, if California legalizes marijuana in November (all Californians, remember to vote!) then the available funds from drug running will shrink. A lot. But Gnome may or may not choose to reflect that change in-game, and if he does, well, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

>>332718

The drug thing could be just for short term financial independence - Blacwick's boss is a cool guy and all, but real villains work for no one but themselves.
We'd still need a schtick, be it petty annoyance, destroying country music, sky pirates, whatever. All this drugs and gun-running stuff is too serious and impersonal to be our chief focus - we want to attract colorful superheroes, not international outrage.

No no guys wait, I've got it! DASHING MASTER THIEF.

It goes with the black, night theme, we can pull off heists easily with teleportation and flight, and so long as you leave a classy calling card it'd count as being for the purposes of luring out heroes, to search for you! Plus we can totally pull off that roguish charm that enchants the ladies, and be a villain while still having certain morals - we can do stuff like save babies from fires, refuse to kill and junk and STILL be a villain because we still steal stuff and fight heroes and probably get hired by other villains now and then. We'd just be one of those classy scoundrel villains.

Plus we don't have to deal with dangerous underworld types, actual criminals, in order to find and sell drugs; we just need to find some fences, much safer, or even better, sell the stuff we steal to other villains.

>>332732
Drugs are a good, solid business. Nothing wrong with them. But if we want a greater goal... dominating the world was suggested in-thread.

>>332738
Thieves are small-time. We don't want to be thieves. We aren't small time. Well, we are, but we won't continue to be.

>Plus we don't have to deal with dangerous underworld types, actual criminals, in order to find and sell drugs; we just need to find some fences, much safer, or even better, sell the stuff we steal to other villains.
Let me just greentext at you a bit, this is too silly for me to feel like composing a proper response
>fences and villains are not "actual criminals
>kids that sell pot at the local high school are
>for our own protection, we should avoid associating with people who work hard to turn a profit, and are not in the habit of screwing their coworkers over, and instead we should get into a business built around treachery

>>332739

Dearest sir, do you imply that the likes of catwoman, carmen sandiego and lupin are "small-time"?

Now, you are talking about people who sell pot at high schools. That is not the kind of thing that leads to the big time. That is the kind of thing that leads to a hero delivering a Special Message to children. Remember, our crimes have to be designed to lure heroes out. Now, if we started there and tried to move up - where do we move to? In the drugs business, the only up to move to is harder drugs, and more dangerous suppliers. And from the likes of Captain Planet up to Batman.

It's controversial, anyway, even if we stick to the soft drugs. People are gonna start disliking us on principle. As a master thief, though, we can be charming. You don't get charming drug-runners, not in the supervillain world.

Now, selling stolen goods is a better deal especially when you sell to other supervillains. One, you can sell them stuff no-one else would take - a villain will take grasscutter or the declaration of independence or the crystal dice of the old ones just to have it (or make use of it in some scheme). They will, of course, betray us sometimes, but that will allow us to team up with their heroic enemy to earn more money and FX - win-win! Plus it gives us contacts in our industry, very important in any profession.

Looking back on what I said, a proper fence probably wouldn't take stolen goods from someone who is on fire, but we should probably stay away from the real criminal underworld anyway.

>>332744
I like this idea.

I also like whoever it was who proposed the concept of our abilities all appearing to be fire-based but actually having nothing whatsoever to do with fire beyond the visual, just because that seems kind of hilarious.

>>332744
>Dearest sir, do you imply that the likes of catwoman, carmen sandiego and lupin are "small-time"?
Catwoman is. Carmen Sandiego isn't, but only by virtue of things just happening to work out right for her. For us to mimic that, we'd spend FX out the metaphorical wazoo. I don't know lupin.

Now, I'm not saying we would be doing street work ourselves. That would be stupid, and, indeed, small-time. I'm suggesting that we assume an administrative capacity. And underling of ours can manage the kids selling. I brought them up merely to highlight their relative harmlessness as contacts.
We do not need to move onto harder drugs, as we can merely spread our influence wider. We need not associate with unsavory suppliers, as we can establish our own institutions to grow for us.

People disliking us on principle is an unfortunate possibility, but let's face it, that's true of any decent villain profession.

Working for other supervillains is an unwise bet all around. Sure, they're good buyers for specific trinkets, but they hold significant control over us.
Contacts in our industry are good, but only when we meet them as equals, or better yet, as their superiors.
Working with heroes is not necessarily advantageous, and being betrayed by someone with a sizable advantage over us is not a good situation even when soliciting help from the vigilantes. Furthermore, doing so overmuch is liable to reduce our standing among other villains, thus making contacts less useful.

And no, we wouldn't want to interact with a proper fence anyway. It would be better to act through an agent in that situation.

>>332746
Too late for that, our aura now is fire in fact as well as appearance.

>>332748
Oh well.

Still overwhelmingly in favor of stealing things for other villains versus dealing drugs.

And I'm (pretty?) sure Lupin is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin_III .

>>332750
Yeah, for some reason the drug trade seems unpopular. I don't know why, it's a very respectable business, and a good way of attaining revenue.

Side not on the thief thing, that I'd not considered: The quest is thus far not working well in that direction. We have immunity from the law, and we can teleport, so we could just teleport in somewhere, grab the goods, and teleport to our base or our buyer. Hardly an engaging tale. Which would be fine if it, like the drug thing, was merely intended to be a source of cash (actually the drug thing would also be a source of influence and prestige, but...) if this state of employ is intended to be thematically driving, thievery will not work well.

>>332751
Then we shall have to make it interesting.
Leave notes naming the date and time of the robbery.
Choose only the most high-profile targets.
Dress in an absurd costume while doing the job.
Pose extravagantly, possibly invoke pyrotechnics to draw even more attention.

Anonymous 2010/09/11(Sat)06:58 No. 22963 ID: 66014f
File 128421352540.jpg - (58.69KB , 363x513 , snow20flamecj8ys5.jpg )

>>332751

It's a matter of public opinion. When you think "drug trader", in the context of a superhero setting, what kind of person do you think of? A cigar-smoking mob boss? A sideways-gunned, beblingéd gang leader? Woah, like, a scruffy hippy? A sleazy guy in an alley? A pink-eyed, slightly trembling guy at a nightclub? We don't want to be any of those.

We've already shown an inclination to be a punch-clock villain, someone who can hang out with people who are his professional rivals in the off hours. But the key factor of the punchclock villain is to be forgivable. To perform crimes that are "just a job". Thievery, by some quirk of how humans think of things, is one of these - possibly to do with mythological trickster heroes or something. But the only way a drug-pushing villain ever gets redeemed is if they're a drug user themselves.

Making robberies more interesting? They don't necessarily have to be. We seldom see, say, The Riddler actually performing his crimes; just the clue that he left, the chase and the showdown. That's the interesting bit, and so too can it be with the Baron Obsidian.

Plus eventually we can do stuff like, steal mount rushmore and stuff. Maybe transplant it to the moon. A little decoration for our moon base. Impress the ladies.

Finally, do we really want any closer relation to guys like this?

<=

>>332755
That's silly just for the sake of being silly. I disapprove.

>>332763
>When you think "drug trader", [...] what kind of person do you think of?
A man with significant money and influence. Not the sort of fellow you cross, if you can help it. I don't think specifically in terms of the superhero genre, though. I can think of like, one dude who deals drugs in them. A minor Batman villain, the name of which I don't recall. He's more of an Al Capone clone, but with drugs.

>But the only way a drug-pushing villain ever gets redeemed is if they're a drug user themselves.
Two things:
1. We don't want to be redeemed. Heroes make less money.
2. We're not a pusher. We're just an honest businessman doing what we can to make ends meat. Sure, they're big ends, like dominating the world, but that's just the sort of thing you have to do when you're a Villain.

>the chase and the showdown. That's the interesting bit, and so too can it be with the Baron Obsidian.
So they chase us to our moon base and we have a showdown there? That gets real repetitive real quick. The Riddler is interesting because of the nature of his attention whoring, and because you see him from the perspective of the guy tracking him down, so you get interesting puzzles and whatnot.

>Plus eventually we can do stuff like, steal mount rushmore and stuff. Maybe transplant it to the moon. A little decoration for our moon base. Impress the ladies.

>Finally, do we really want any closer relation to guys like this?
He is certainly rather unsavory, but someone of that nature could prove a useful blunt instrument.

I do feel I should point out that I don't care that much about the drug trade specifically though, even though I probably came off that way. I've merely been refuting flawed arguments as I've noticed them, because that's just the way I am. I support it because it's a good job that provides wealth and influence for very little work, but if someone has a better idea, I could roll with that just fine.

I am against being a thief, though. Being a contractor is an ambition well below our means. We should aspire to be the one in charge, of a vast empire... a Barony, even.

>>332793
>We don't want to be redeemed.

I wasn't saying we were; however, it should look like we could be redeemed. Despite being a villain, we should have fans - and more importantly, we want to give heroes a reason to go easy on us. For example, if we killed people, we'd attract heroes that may be willing to kill us. If we get involved in drugs, we may get the kind of heroes who'll call us "dirtbag" and punch us in the face a lot. Which brings me to:

>We're not a pusher.
Doesn't matter. What matters is that we're in the drug trade. Doesn't matter if we do it honestly, or stick to drugs that don't really harm people: there's a stigma to the drug trade, a brush to be tarred with.

We want the possibility of corrupting heroes to our side, of hiring "noble dark knight" minions, of delivering not-so-different speeches to our enemies. Drugs, moreso than thievery or ransom or even killing in some cases, is a trade that will disgust people. As a supervillain, as someone supposed to be putting on a show with each confrontation, we need a good reputation, even as the "bad guy". We want to be one of the cool bad guys. Bad guys who are involved in drugs tend to be way down on the coolness scale, with only occasional, rare exceptions. Even then, the most prominent example I can think of is Jabba the Hutt.

Consider: who do we want our villainous role models to be? Let's look at Dr Doom, Lex Luthor, Ra's al Ghul - do any of these most noteworthy villains ever show sign of being involved with the drug trade? Not really. Would you rather we follow the slimy path of Jabba, or the eldritch machinations of DOOM?

As to showdowns, it doesn't always have to be to our moonbase. They could track us to our meeting with our client, or chase us as we fly away, or lure us into stealing something else to ambush us.

It is not for us as players to worry about such things, anyway. If we attempt villainy, drama will be provided.

So, people don't like the drug trading idea. I think that's dumb, but I'm clearly outnumbered in this. What other options are there for a respectable villain? I can think of two.

Protection Rackets
Protection rackets are the mainstay of funding for the mafia, and work okay for them. The benefit is that it's simple: We turn muscle into money. The flaws here are unfortunately manifold.
To effectively protect, we must have folks with an ear to the ground, and folks ready to fuck shit up at a moment's notice. Our teleportation means we can do more of our fair share of actual protection, but it does nothing to help our awareness of attacks against our interests.
This is an operation that is easily threatened by law enforcement, since our boys will not share our immunity from legal prosecution, and will be highly visible and legally offensive.
It is also easily usurped and invalidated by security systems.

Politics
Politicians get good pay for (depending on office) infrequent work, and have influence paralleled only by those in the upper echelons of the corporate world, and more relevant to our own interests. It does require a significant investment of time when congress is in session, though.
More importantly, it's tough to get into politics. We'd most likely have to get elected. Perhaps a more direct route to power would be to declare the moon to be a sovereign nation, with us at the helm. Obviously, for this to mean anything, we'd have to populate it. This is viable, because the moon is considered international these days, America gave it up in some UN meeting or other. We could just sit up there and be King of the Moon, or we could become a member state of the USA, which would expand our power, and not likely be to our detriment considering that people don't want us to actually be very evil. To do that, we might have to have a minimum population. I'm not sure if that applies to existing states or just to territories, and those requirements are a congressional law, not part of the constitution, so looking it up would be a huge pain.

>>332797
Jabba was entirely successful, if you don't count the part where he tangled with Jedi, and even the Emperor succumbed to that threat. His tastes were rather vulgar, and his practices were often unnecessarily brutish, but as a gentleman, we would not succumb to such vices.

>It is not for us as players to worry about such things, anyway. If we attempt villainy, drama will be provided.
Perhaps not as players, but as considerate folks, we should acknowledge that Gnome does this for his own enjoyment, and started it largely because he wanted a less serious quest. From the point of view of an author, that means that it should not require him to deal heavily in plotting and planning, as he does in Apocalyption. We should be so kind as to avoid driving this quest into a place where that is not possible. Merely a courtesy.

>>332793
>silly for silly's sake
How so?
It emphasises the confrontations that make us money and FX, and there's the villain archetype to consider.
Only problem I can see is fire aura mucking up the targets.

o 2010/09/11(Sat)17:34 No. 23015 ID: 45be60
File 128425169562.jpg - (6.75KB , 219x188 , model villain.jpg )

I really don't understand this insistence on having a villain-job as part of our persona anyway. Just being a super-villain IS a job. We can get our income from epic-level dickery. We don't need to sell drugs or rob banks or hold the mayor ransom. (Though that last one would be entertaining from a logistics standpoint) What we need are impressive capers.

We can make money by, for instance, finding the straightest skyscraper in town, drenching it in black paint, and building a giant fire on the roof. Boom, giant black candle, heroes come running, we get richer.

well i actualy enjoy the quest but i dont want to go all fanboy on this so ill just poast what i think as a moralfag.

we shouldnt tempt the law, we will use that protection enought as it is with property damage. consider that the MAYOR gaved us power, he must have control over it as well. i would not be surprised if things get too rought and he will lift the protection or turn off our powers.

that being said: if we can make a drug that gives superpower im all for it.

>>332818

You may be right. Maybe we should ask our boss what kind of stuff villains have gotten away with in the past?

>>332814
If we want to steal shit, we should steal it efficiently. If we don't want it, then the thief charade is utterly pointless.

>>332815
We have power, and immunity from Law. We should use this to increase our personal wealth and influence. As long as it doesn't take up too much of our time, we're golden. Running a criminal empire of the (drugs or protection, or even more heinous stuff such as sex trafficking) would do this very well. Politics would take up some time, but would be extremely advantageous in other ways.

>We can make money by, for instance, finding the straightest skyscraper in town, drenching it in black paint, and building a giant fire on the roof. Boom, giant black candle, heroes come running, we get richer.
Fuck yes, we should do this. Of course, first we must liberate copious amounts of black paint or ink or something from an appropriate factory, and an immense piece of fabric to wrap around a spire/antenna, forming a wick, and probably some lamp oil, so it will burn for longer, because sky scrapers aren't actually made of wax.

>>332818
I don't think it works like that. I think he'll just call on more powerful heroes to beat some sense into us.

>>332814
If we want to steal shit, we should steal it efficiently. If we don't want it, then the thief charade is utterly pointless.

>>332815
We have power, and immunity from Law. We should use this to increase our personal wealth and influence. As long as it doesn't take up too much of our time, we're golden. Running a criminal empire of the (drugs or protection, or even more heinous stuff such as sex trafficking) would do this very well. Politics would take up some time, but would be extremely advantageous in other ways.

>We can make money by, for instance, finding the straightest skyscraper in town, drenching it in black paint, and building a giant fire on the roof. Boom, giant black candle, heroes come running, we get richer.
Fuck yes, we should do this. Of course, first we must liberate copious amounts of black paint or ink or something from an appropriate factory, and an immense piece of fabric to wrap around a spire/antenna, forming a wick, and probably some lamp oil, so it will burn for longer, because sky scrapers aren't actually made of wax.

>>332818
I don't think it works like that. I think he'll just call on more powerful heroes to beat some sense into us.

Anonymous 2010/09/12(Sun)00:22 No. 23033 ID: 56dc25
File 128427613593.png - (11.88KB , 311x556 , terrible artistry.png )

>>332587
>These are the same thing as each other, and also the same as the aura displacement I suggested. There's no reason to use too many names for the same thing.
Incorrect. Pic related. The details of range and what have you aside, there are serious differences in their application in even a simple scenario.

>>332815
>Just being a super-villain IS a job. We can get our income from epic-level dickery. ... What we need are impressive capers.

The problem with this is that we're paid on a per-encounter basis. Impressive or dramatic jobs don't scale our pay. They give us additional FX, yes, but that FX can't be turned into money (except by buying something of use in some sort of moneymaking scheme). If I may conjure a few hypothetical figures:

If we stage one really awesome encounter a week, fight with personality, and get a whopping 10 FX per encounter, we end up making around $70,000 ($35,000 personal) and 520 FX a year.

If we do petty crime that nevertheless manages to attract at least low-level heroes every single day, making enough of a nominal effort for 2 FX per encounter, we make $475,000 ($237,500 personal) and 730 FX a year.

Since I don't particularly want to fight on a daily basis, not in the least because at some point we'll probably lose and get handed over to the police, it's more than worth taking a shot at making up the difference in income by ensuring that our jobs are lucrative, as well as flashy.

>>332823
im pretty sure our profit would be cutted completely with the lawsuit from the heroes and the fine to clean the building.

>>332838
uhhh, no. if our crime attracts a hero and we battle, we cannot be charged with the crime.

>>332840
if the hero captures us, we will.

and you want all the heroes on us? we gon get captured.

>>332833
>Incorrect. Pic related. The details of range and what have you aside, there are serious differences in their application in even a simple scenario.
I wasn't speaking from the point of view of a vidya designer. I'm aware that it's possible to make variations on "throw fire at somebody to hurt them" if your job depends on it. The fact remains, you're still throwing fire at people to hurt them. And we have no need of more than one way to do that, because they'd all be the same thing in effect, and exactly the same thing for roleplaying. Quests lack codified rules and mechanics, and as such the vidya aspect is pretty much irrelevant. And honestly, making those different abilities would be bad design for vidya anyway, it would be better to map a single fire attack to one button and let it get upgraded as the game goes on.

>>332841
Wait, did Gnome say this was how it worked in IRC or something? Because I know nothing of this.

Ok, there are standards for comic book age-like behaviors. I'm going to do my best here, but please tell me if I screw something up.

Gold age standard:
*Nobody really dies.
*Escaping from prison, making parole, or otherwise obtaining freedom is trivial. Villains are often free within hours, and even basic mooks can pull-off a breakout. Prisons are comfortable.
*Can change gimmicks and behavior as often as every encounter without too much trouble.

Rules:
*No rape, recreational drugs or stand-ins for the same, transactions involving mundane weapons, successful murders, effective torture, or any sort of action that has a lasting effect.

Silver age standard:
*People die, and plenty of them will stay dead with others taking up the mantle.
*Prison sentences are longer and escape is much less likely. Rather than the sub-week stints of golden age comics, villains will often spend months or years in prison. High C- and low B-list villains or better can break somebody else out, but mooks will generally look for interim work. Prisons are unpleasant, but tolerable.
*Abilities and behaviors are more fixed. Villains must rely on strategy instead of new abilities, gimmicks, or uses for old powers.

Rules:
*Limited murders, drugs are looked down upon by other villains, no rape, torture methods must be tame.

Modern age:
*People die and stay dead unless an editor decides to magic retcon them back, including important people.
*Prison sentences last for years. Parole is unlikely. Break-outs require at least one A-list villain or a slew of B-list villains. Prisons are generally the things of nightmares, and if they aren't 'lord of the flies' brutal survivalism then are likely to be places of horrible abuse worse than hell itself.
*Powers, power usages, gimmicks, and tactics are all fixed. Only actions on a strategic level will affect the outcome.

Rules:
*None.


Selling drugs and weapons are bad ideas. We can get plenty of cash using 'harmless' methods, and we shouldn't really need need all that much cash anyway.

In the thread right now: Angel is probably going to intervene - she might have to do so. It would be a dick move to leave her on her own for this, and double-teaming a mutual foe is a classic hero/villain date.

Besides, Shot's completely right about the justification. This guy is hampering BO's ability to enjoy his meal, and that's more that enough reason for him to give this guy a beating.

The real fun will be when another hero shows up and tries to 'rescue' Angel from BO. I want to save an FX for that, since I have a completely awesome usage in mind.

...
Ok, just so people won't complain about me not explaining my plans: When the hero attacks, BO drops cash for the wine plus tip and the cost of replacing wine glasses (He's a Baron; skipping out on the check would just be crass), grabs the wine and glasses, swoops Angel into his arms, and teleports with her to someplace with a decent view that doesn't require flying to leave (Wings don't mean she can fly) and has decent food nearby.
That's outside BO's normal powers, so we burn an FX to stunt it.
After that he sets her back on her feet and offers her her surprisingly-unspilled wineglass with a slight bow and a flourish.
As soon as the FX is over, ask her if she wants to try for a meal in a less fancy restaurant, and if she would rather go in costume or change back. (Who in their right mind would cause a disturbance in a place where two supers are eating dinner in costume?)

>>332847
So we want Gold age Standard, but with the rules of the Modern age. Because fuck rules.

>He's a Baron; skipping out on the check would just be crass
It's not like our evil plot is to skip out on the check. We need not concern ourselves with it overmuch. We can always settle the check the next time we're in the area, or have a mook do it for us. Once we get some mooks, anyway.

Also, teleporting her outside is stupid. She's a hero, she can take care of herself.

>>332844
>because they'd all be the same thing in effect, and exactly the same thing for roleplaying
This is hitting a "someone is WRONG on the INTERNET!" feel, so I'll abort the argument and we can, I suppose, both move on with the quiet certainty that the other person was being a complete idiot on this matter.

>>332851

>So we want Gold age Standard, but with the rules of the Modern age. Because fuck rules.

If you want no rules, then you can expect modern age mechanics. If you obey the golden age rules, then you'll probably get golden age mechanics.
Those are the rules you need to obey to keep to that age, and once you get grittier you can't go back. The sliding scale of idealism versus realism can only slide one way.

>It's not like our evil plot is to skip out on the check. We need not concern ourselves with it overmuch. We can always settle the check the next time we're in the area, or have a mook do it for us. Once we get some mooks, anyway.

It's the little details like paying for your meal that are the sign of a class act. This is something you really should care about since our showmanship determines how much FX we get. Classy villains are far more entertaining and engaging than thugs, ergo we should indulge a flare for the dramatic whenever we get a chance. Settling up and leaving a generous tip as part of leaving is a subtle suggestion that the people here bore witness to a master at work.
Settling up later would fall flat, and would probably wind up like a Stilt-man caper when heroes show up and pound BO thinking he was out to rob the place.

>Also, teleporting her outside is stupid. She's a hero, she can take care of herself.
That's not the point. It's a suave, romantic, and classy move that will show up on the front page the next day and leave the witnesses disappointed that it's over.
Besides, that's for when more heroes show up and start attacking BO. Angel can take care of herself in a fight, but forcing her to step in to settle the misunderstanding would put her in an awkward position. Kidnapping her is a polite and villainous way of removing her from that horribly awkward situation and letting her take the time to properly decide how to explain things to the other heroes.

As far as converting goes? Plenty of us don't want to convert her; it makes so much more sense to declare her our nemesis if the relationship works out, since then they both get paid for going on 'working dates'. Beyond that, the dynamics of hero/villain romances are always so much more interesting than hero/hero or villain/villain.
More immediately relevant? That sort of interpersonal dynamics earns FX; from stealing a passionate kiss in the heat of a large-scale battle to heroes going after BO out of suspicions of nefarious intent.

>>332854
But someone is WRONG! on the INTERNET! Clearly, this cannot be allowed to go uncorrected.

>>332857
>If you want no rules, then you can expect modern age mechanics. If you obey the golden age rules, then you'll probably get golden age mechanics.
>Those are the rules you need to obey to keep to that age, and once you get grittier you can't go back. The sliding scale of idealism versus realism can only slide one way.
I'm going to need some Word of God to believe this, because right now we have punch clock villainy, but rules have shown no real evidence of mattering. Especially
>No [...] any sort of action that has a lasting effect.

>It's the little details like paying for your meal that are the sign of a class act.
Sure, but there's no good opportunity for it. You pay at the end of the meal. If our meal is interrupted, there's no socially normal time to pay. So we deal with it after the fight. If the fight takes us out of the establishment, we deal with it after the date. Otherwise, if we manage to sit down and finish our meal, we pay as per normal. If not, we can tell the waiter to bill it to us along with any particular damages that we feel we ought to pay.

>>332857
>and would probably wind up like a Stilt-man caper when heroes show up and pound BO thinking he was out to rob the place.
I don't see why, as long as we don't do something silly like go in with our full costume and fire aura. Which reminds me, we should get ourself one or more understated but expensive suits.

>It's a suave, romantic, and classy move
lolno

>Besides, that's for when more heroes show up and start attacking BO.
There's no reason we'd have her with us for the sorts of endeavors where this is liable to happen.

>Kidnapping her is a polite and villainous way of removing her from that horribly awkward situation and letting her take the time to properly decide how to explain things to the other heroes.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that she might not actually be socially retarded. Just, you know, based on what we've seen so far.

>the dynamics of hero/villain romances are always so much more interesting than hero/hero or villain/villain.
Joker/Harley
But yeah, I get what you're saying, and don't disagree here.

Larro 2010/09/21(Tue)14:54 No. 23448 ID: cf68aa
File 128510609621.png - (177.86KB , 600x600 , fight.png )

I drew this up a while back I just never got around to posting it.
Blackwick Vs. Mallo!

Here is an an attack combo we got to try.
1)Fly towards the foe at maximum speed
2)Teleport once to dodge whatever counter-attack comes
3)Fly the last of the stretch and deliver a powerful punch

>>333538
The only problem with this is that his current flight speed is a brisk walk.

>>333544
I forgot about that >_>

Well we could fix that with an FX, but there is way cooler things we could do with FX

>>333545
Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention this before but it's only an extension of what is already in the thread, so:

You can use an FX to improve your current abilities in any way. For example, you could spend an FX to teleport someone with you, even though you can't do that right now. Or spend an FX to teleport twice in a row. Or both at once with the same FX.

can we spend an FX to heal those cracked ribs?

>>333548
We can spend FX to get regeneration. That would be a one-time cost, although the healing would likely take some time.

>>/quest/235340
Besides the fact that Baron Obsidian is supposed to be a gentleman, and a gentleman does not make a lady fight a giant ape alone?
Further, that a gentleman is supposed to champion the woman he is courting?
How about that the purpose of this date is to make a good impression on Angel, or that the date can't continue until after this problem is resolved, or that she requested our aid?

Besides, this is a major encounter and we'll earn more FX if we stick with it.

Anyway, I said the two main powers I want to get in the thread - aura regeneration (+6) and aura extension (+3).
Beyond that, I'd like to:
Double the capacity of our teleport (+3)
Increase the teleport speedx2 (+6)
Gain ElementalKinesis (+6)

21FX should take awhile, so we'll be working towards that for awhile.

I can't believe that I did not check out this quest before today. IT LOOKS AWESOME!!!

I think we may want to consider a power of passive regenerative self healing... because broken bones suck.

>>333558
>upgrade quest
of course it's awesome.

>>333570
Wolverine-esqe healing. We get stabbed or disintegrated we rise again like the phoenix

>>333572
That level of healing would cost way too much FX. We don't want to focus on that too much, it's out of theme.

I'm just going to drop an observation down here.

Right now, we're limited to melee punches. Our melee stings a little more with the flame aura, and we can start some fires, but we tend to be thrown around a lot because of our dependency on melee (See: Angel's freezing touch, Don's hefty punch, monkey goon's slam).

We either need to diversify our abilities with a way of doing damage at a range, or to specialize more heavily in melee so we're actually a danger to face at that range.

>>333584
MOTHERFUCKING FIRE SWORD

Also, I noticed when we teleported we left a fire-image behind. Can we spend FX to make that a bit more long-lasting, or even semi-permanent?

>>333584
>We either need to diversify our abilities with a way of doing damage at a range, or to specialize more heavily in melee so we're actually a danger to face at that range.
I vote for the latter. Superstrength can do it, and actually practicing our karate (or learning some other martial art, it matters little) will also help a lot.

>>333585
>MOTHERFUCKING FIRE SWORD
Naw. Fists are nice.
>Also, I noticed when we teleported we left a fire-image behind. Can we spend FX to make that a bit more long-lasting, or even semi-permanent?
I'd imagine so. I can't think of much benefit, though.

>>333589
>Fists are nice.

Rather than fire gloves, like we have now, how about spheres of fire, like boxing gloves, or those big inflatable things they used to sell to kids, you know the ones, "more fun than a pillow fight"?

Moving up to fire-fists of that caliber would be awesome, as well as making those flame hotter.

>I'd imagine so. I can't think of much benefit, though.

Make them animate and attack along with us.

I dunno man, swords are nice. Granted, so's boxing somebody into submission but we're not exactly some kind of teleporting Dudley right now. Either of these results would be pretty cool though.

Regeneration is basically mandatory after this fight because a cracked rib takes a matter of weeks to heal on a normal person. We don't want to be down and out for weeks on end.

If we're going for melee boosting powers... I'd go for super-speed over super-strength. Less of a punch, yes, but also far more utility value and it would also be astonishingly valuable in any melee combat.

I also continue to back some sort of danger sense/split-second precognition, which particularly combined with super-speed and teleportation would make us exceptionally dangerous in a fight, I think. Not unbeatable, since clearly all our abilities have sharp limitations on how effectively we can use them, but it would help a lot.

See also various fire attacks which I won't go into because it would probably just result in another circular bickering session. Would rather go for those after other boosters, frankly, but I can definitely see the thematic value. If we're getting more fire attacks I would rather go with a ranged power than a melee one, though.

>>333594
"Thematic value"?
What's the value in sticking to a theme?
We need to diversify so that we have powers for any situation.

I suggested boosting the capacity and distance of teleport because of its high utility; beyond transportation, or escape, or bailing out a buddy, or countless other uses, it can also be a very effective attack.
For example, what would the Don do if we grabbed him and then teleported 100m into the air? Then took the time while he was struggling to charge up for another jump to 1100m?
Unless he can fly that would be a very painful fall. A very painful fight-ending fall.

>Fire swords
>Naw, boxing gloves

How about this?
Our minions are floating fire swords held by burning boxing gloves. Counts as two minions.

For the fire based-attacking minions of course.
this is possibly the stupidest thing I have ever typed. lets wait for a reaction

How about we get superstrength. Then our punches would actually hurt.

We could also get superspeed, but restrict it to our arms only. The restriction should either boost the effect or cost less fx.
With superspeeded arms we can hit in rapid succession.

>>333591
>Rather than fire gloves, like we have now, how about spheres of fire, like boxing gloves, or those big inflatable things they used to sell to kids, you know the ones, "more fun than a pillow fight"?
Conical would be better than spherical here, for the sake of reach.

>>333594
>Regeneration is basically mandatory after this fight because a cracked rib takes a matter of weeks to heal on a normal person. We don't want to be down and out for weeks on end.
A cracked rib doesn't have to put you down and out. Although it's best to avoid heavy exertion and getting punched in the ribs before it heals. Villainy would be even more hazardous to our health during this time period, but it would be possible, as would waiting for it to get better naturally. Regen is a good idea and I support it, but it's not mandatory.

>If we're going for melee boosting powers... I'd go for super-speed over super-strength.
Now, the question is, what does super-speed even mean? Because your fists moving faster is the normally what makes a punch hit harder. If that's what we want, not the lifting of big stuff, then super speed is ideal. Although we could also improve combat viability with regeneration, like Magnum Bang. Train ourselves to use our full human potential, and use our regeneration to keep that from seriously wounding us.

>I also continue to back some sort of danger sense/split-second precognition
I dislike this for thematic reasons. I suspect that it will make things less dramatic and less fun.

>>333599
>What's the value in sticking to a theme?
In game? Bonus FX. In general? It makes the story easier to follow, and makes it less likely that we'll go forgetting what the Baron can do.

>>333600
I'd say if we're having animated object minions, skip the boxing gloves. I also feel like there should be black candles involved, since we're involving items. But maybe not.

Once we get to the moon, we should have black candles everywhere.

>>333605
Super strength would strengthen the whole body and allow us to hit harder and bear the recoil. Super speed would still allow us to hit harder, but with no gain on endurence, so we hurt ourselves.

Like Flash and superman. When flash does high speed punches you always see him complain in some way afterward (e.g. Shaking his hand to get rid of the pain while spouting some off the cuff rubbish)

So yea. I agree that if we take super speed for melee reasons we would probably need regen too.

possibly.

How about fire punches that if they don't immediately connect with direct contact turn into flying fire fists as a ranged attack?

The way I see it: Our next offensive upgrade is just going to be simple fire manipulation. It can be a small burst or a whip or sword of flame, doesn't matter and it will probably be freeform. After that we can upgrade the intensity, area, range and even give it substance so it can break/parry/block. But first we need regeneration, even just a slow out of battle one. It would be just stupid not to have it.

>>333607
We've got an aura of invulnerability, so that should get around the problem of injuring ourselves. Unless we move so fast that we're punching through our own aura, in which case we should can just upgrade our aura.

>>333599
>What's the value in sticking to a theme?
FX, nominally. Tough to tell if this is true seeing as we've got no basis for thematic/non-thematic actions to compare to one another, but it's supposedly true.

>>333605
>Regen is a good idea and I support it, but it's not mandatory.
I should clarify that I consider avoiding anything as suicidal as vigorously fighting repeatedly with significant injuries mandatory. And we'd have to fight, because at least one group of heroes willing to attack us knows where we work and possibly also where we live.

>If that's what we want, not the lifting of big stuff, then super speed is ideal.
I see super speed as ideal because it would help us hit harder, dodge attacks effectively without relying upon teleportation, and almost certainly improve our reaction time when people throw things at our face. It would also kick our total move speed up into the "very impressive" range when combined with teleporation, which is good for the occasional getaway.

>I suspect that it will make things less dramatic and less fun.
I suspect that we're already being matched up against people outside our modest villainous weight class, and unless we do something as a major power booster will start losing battles left and right. And I have faith in the GM's ability to keep things entertaining even with this ability in play.

>I'd say if we're having animated object minions, skip the boxing gloves. I also feel like there should be black candles involved, since we're involving items. But maybe not.
You know, I really associate the whole black candle motif with some sort of vile sorcery. Possibly involving intricate diagrams. If we do start using it heavily I'm going to start wanting some sort of magic-oriented power just by reflex.

>>333642
Oh, sure, but most of our powers are going to wind-up being fire based anyway. The idea of theme-breaking powers is so that we're not locked in a rock-paper-scissors cycle of hurting.
Fire sucks for stunning or limiting the mobility of our opponents, and leaves us with blatant weaknesses.
Electrical control lets us shock opponents, turn lights on/off (Dramatic entrance FX boost!), and operate/disable equipment remotely.
Cryokinesis lets us put up ablative defenses, trap enemies, hamper footing, and directly counter a major weakness.
Hydrokinesis is mostly useful for combo actions, such as using water+fire=steam for entrances and exits or for quick cover, or water+lightning or water+ice for an area of effect attack, or etc. Not to mention that it also falls under the directly counter a major weakness heading, and one which is far more likely to crop up to boot.
Earth manipulation would let us throw around rocks, trap enemies, create unstable footing, and unleash combo powers such as earth+water=quicksand/mudslide and earth+fire=lava -> lava+water/ice=obsidian -> limitless supply of very hot obsidian-edged blades, etc...

Of course, we would only use these powers when we actually needed them, since then we can do a DRAMATIC REVEAL.

>>333679
I am entirely against non-fire elemental powers. They dilute the theme, they are largely redundant, and they are comparatively not very useful.

Also, the philosophy that we need to eliminate any possible weakness is not a good one. In addition to removing drama from battles, it stunts our growth in our key areas, greatly reducing the speed with which our maximum utility increases.

>>333701
I second this statement 100%.

>>333701
>not very useful
>'my powers are completely useless at stopping a giant ape'
>facepalm

At the very least you have to concede that obsidian-based powers, which fall under 'earth manipulation', are in-theme.

>>333701
>and they are comparatively not very useful.

CONSIDER: NOT EVERYTHING IS FLAMMABLE

So flaming-earth-goth style then?

Not very suave.
How are we ever gonna get Angel?
Maybe she likes misunderstood guys (not likely)

>>333721
What? Where does Goth enter into it? We'll have animated stone fire bats and a FUCKING MOON BASE. That's not goth. that's FUCKING AWESOME.

>>333718
See, stopping a giant ape isn't something we care to do. It's not one of our goals, and is thus irrelevant.

The Obsidian, though...
I'm imagining obsidian growing from our fist... Or a great big obsidian spire spurting up from the ground, with a throne engulfed in flame at the top, leaving us as the black wick.
This stuff is good, there is potential here.

It is worth noting, however, that obsidian comes from lava, and thus could be created within the purview of fire, rather than earth, although doing so would require a bit of creativity.

Also, in light of the sword stuff earlier, I submit for your consideration: Macahuitls.

>>333719
Everything is flammable if you get it hot enough, except for the noble gasses, which are very uncommon, and which we have no real reason to burn anyway. Most things that are not easily flammable can be melted.

>>333721
>>333743
It seems as though we may become rather metal.

SO flame-earth theme with a sprinkle of rock then?

Not debonair, but it fit with the bad boy theme Angel probably likes (unless she's been simply humoring us)

>>333763
No. Fire and Obsidian. No dirt, no baser stones. There is no reason we cannot be suitably debonair with this.

>(unless she's been simply humoring us)
YouSoBeta.jpg

Look, it doesn't work that way. Maybe (probably, in fact) she's testing us out, seeing how she feels about us, but she's not just humoring us.

>>333768
Maybe humoring was the wrong word.
Testing is really what I meant. Sort of.

For some funny reason I find myself sticking to base vocab tonight.

Hey, if we spent all our money on FX and spent all of that on teleportation range we could visit our moon base now. But maybe we should get that survive in space uppgrade first... just to make sure...

>>334479
I was going to say how that isn't yet possible, but just realized that it is. $1500 = 5 FX, 12 total.
But I wouldn't put more than two levels in range right now. Fire is more fun, and this fight has proven our aura could use some oomph in areas other than range. Like passive protection or ignition, maybe.
Besides we've got some Debbie defrosting to do.

And something tells me we're going to see our misbegotten archnemesis...es fairly soon. I'd really like to see how this works out.

Moon base can wait until a single FX is less of a matter.

>>334485
We'll deffo need minions if we're going to face our Nemesis. Make it a SPECTACLE. I mean, a great, epic fight.

Also attempt to seduce Pink

All right, so we've got $1700 and 7 FX! That's quite the haul. Important things first...
-Regeneration 6 FX
-Save at least 2 FX for next battle

That leaves us with $1400 left. We could upgrade any of our abilities once for $900, and we've got quite the list of things we want above. My instinct is to go with boosting our teleportation power so that we can use it constantly; abusing that button is one of our best tricks.

http://tgchan.org/wiki/Earth_Defense_Force
Updated with price list.

Limited-time offer may or may not be relevant.

>>334495
You ever notice how the putties in Power Rangers looked kinda like ninjas?

... yes, we need minions. We would hate to disappoint our rivals~

>>334489
Okay, so that leaves us with a total of four potential spendable FX. Not enough for minions. We could use three to enhance something in some way. Our regeneration is possibly a good target for that, since it's going to be at baseline power. We could also spend it on teleport range, a down payment towards getting our base, as it were. I'd want to access the base before we deal with any infrastructure stuff such as hirelings. We could also spend it on something else entirely, but I wouldn't recommend that.

>My instinct is to go with boosting our teleportation power so that we can use it constantly; abusing that button is one of our best tricks.
Abusing is bad.

>>334503
>bad
>villain

>>334504
Not that sort of bad.

Blackick should pick up some sort of mid-control/illusion shit so we can rape minds. It's seems his is less of a fire theme and more of a demon theme so that's up his ally. Smoke, teleports, fire and brimstone, and we should add mind-rape to that list.

I wonder if there are villains that have gone into complete monster territory. Like if a villain brutally tortured a comrade hero to lure out another.

>>334507
We talked about that earlier in the thread. The general feeling seemed more negative than positive, though I still feel that emotional influence would not be unmerited.

>>334509
I guess what I wanted to suggest was about sending horrible images and flashes of pain to the opponent, not mind control. I just didn't know how to describe it without suggesting turning Blacwick into a complete horribad monster villain, which is why I asked that last sentence.

I really should pick up a better vocabulary. Mind rape is not mind control.

>>334507
You mean lighting the passions of their heart so they either fall madly in love or go into a berserker rage?

>>334512
Despair or insanity, mostly.

Getting regeneration as an upgrade to the aura costs 3FX. If later on we desire to do so, we could spend 3FX to upgrade the regeneration effect to persist even without the aura.
Getting it on its own is 6FX outright, and I think the value of it being separate from the aura is not worth the cost.

Doubling the capacity of teleport makes it a viable offensive move; grab an opponent, bring them up into the air, and drop them, or grab a heavy object and drop it on them.

>>334512
Indeed.
>>334525
That sounds thematically incongruous.
Furthermore, inflicting a long-term emotional state is not at all the same as inducing a short term emotion. While short term emotions should be entirely acceptable, and are easily induced even without superpowers, longer term emotional states should require significant planning, if they are to be caused at all.

>>334533
>If later on we desire to do so, we could spend 3FX to upgrade the regeneration effect to persist even without the aura.
Um, not necessarily. It'd be part of the aura. We can't augment our aura to not be our aura. That doesn't even make sense.

>Getting it on its own is 6FX outright, and I think the value of it being separate from the aura is not worth the cost.
Except that we don't normally have our aura on, just when we're fighting. So we'd only regenerate while fighting, which is liable to cause some problems. Or we could meditate with our aura on or something, which I guess is cool. I'm now imagining Blackwick floating in the sky cross-legged and on fire. I suppose that's acceptable. Meditating to regenerate is liable to take away a lot of free time, however.

>Doubling the capacity of teleport makes it a viable offensive move; grab an opponent, bring them up into the air, and drop them, or grab a heavy object and drop it on them.
Yeah, but that's not very awesome.

I started making a post in-thread, but it turned into discussion, so now it's here instead.

The following is a proposed course of action:
Okay, we want regeneration. This is pretty much overwhelmingly the consensus, it seems like. Personally, I like the idea of it being associated with the aura. I didn't at first, for practical reasons, but then I considered the image of Blackwick meditating with his aura on in order to heal, and that was cool enough that I changed my mind.

That leaves us with a potential total of 9 FX. I'd prefer to save them, I think. There's nothing in particular that we need at the moment. We could use them to improve our teleport range, but since that acquires little practical effect this far in, it may be astute to spend just three FX on that now (giving us 100m/s) and leave the rest for later, thus leaving us with some FX and some money to hang on to.

I also think that Blackwick should now begin constructing a macahuitl, to be his weapon at some point in the future.

>>>/quest/241783
People can post in the thread if they want; they're suggesting. If their opinion changes due to discussion, they can delete and repost.

I desire a minion six-pack.

>>334570
As do I, but I nonetheless feel as though we should delay their acquisition until such time as we have infrastructure for them. That is, until we get the moon base.

How many upgrades do you guys think we need to access that supervillain store out in the Pacific?

>>334584
no where NEAR as many to get to the moon.

>>334584
We can spend a total of 12FX right no, although I'd save at least 3FX for a fight.

Regeneration is a must-have, and adding that to the aura makes it a 3FX upgrade.
12-3=9FX left
Doubling the teleport's capacity would make it a very viable method of attack, both in terms of teleporting objects and other people.
9-3=6FX
Boosting the teleport range by 10x compounds the effectiveness of the capacity doubling, and puts us one step closer to the moon base. From now on we should always toss at least 3FX into this.

>>332847
[06:44] <Seven01a19> Oh, Gnome, it's been awhile but could you look-over this breakdown of the comic ages and how they apply? -> http://quest.lv/kusaba/questdis/res/331895.html#332847
[06:45] <Gnome> I have looked over that already.
[06:45] <Gnome> It is pretty correct.
[06:45] <Seven01a19> I didn't see any comments on it though
[06:45] <Gnome> What age we are in is being determined by you guys.
[06:45] <Seven01a19> So as long as Blacwick plays by golden-age rules he gets golden-age problems?
[06:46] <Gnome> Generally speaking, yes.
[06:46] <Gnome> There are going to be a couple exceptions, but I think those will be obvious when we get to them.

>>334600
This sounds good, I'm willing to second this. I want to see what cool stuff Blackwick's dad left for him up in the moon base as soon as possible. But maybe we could toss 6 FX into teleport since we have so much at hand.

>>334584
It depends on how long we feel like sitting around meditating before we teleport. In theory, we could do it now, but it'd take a lot of meditation. One more would probably change the required time from most of a day to under an hour, though.

>>334600
>Doubling the teleport's capacity would make it a very viable method of attack, both in terms of teleporting objects and other people.
It's viable, but in all honesty, I can't think of a situation where the useful bits of it wouldn't be easily duplicated with just flight. Also it requires some super strength to be really potent. Also I don't care for the thematic idea of indirect attacks as a major means of confrontation.

>From now on we should always toss at least 3FX into this.
A good general rule. I support it. Though we should of course be ready to deviate from it if it becomes necessary to do so, in all normal situations we should follow it.

>>334602
Sounds fine to me.

>>334601
Yesssss we might come across a sicko monster villain eventually in which we get to say "Sorry, but even I have standards."

>>334624
Standards? No. We may have honor. We may be polite. But standards? We are an evil villain. We do not run a standards-compliant operation here.

Lawful Evil?

>>334634
Punch-clock Lawful Evil. There's a difference.

With a slight bend for Lawful Neutral, probably, seeing as how /quest/ isn't particularly malicious.

>>>/quest/242126
>>>/quest/242127
If we do this, the gem in the middle should be a ruby or something of significant intrinsic value, and we should plan a significant heist to acquire it.

>>334638
>Steal shit for our hero girlfriend

THE IRONY, IT IS PERFECT

>>/quest/242261
>>334640
This. So very much this.
We should make that happen, it's totally in character, seriously.

>>334638
>>334640
>>334679

Y'know, originally, I was saying, "No, we should not steal an object to give our hero girlfriend, we should do something else villainous for the cash to buy something." Given how she'd feel about us handing her directly stolen goods, but the Irony-effect is growing on me.

>>334694
And then when she turns us down, we can make her into our kismesis and declare rivalry with her! Nobody burns the Black Baron!

>Justasplanned.jpg

>>/quest/242505
Yo chill out dude.

>>334695
>kismesis
...
This is entering the parlance? I suppose I'm okay with that.

>>334695
Yea, no. BO is aware of her moral standards, and offering her a gift that violates those standards doesn't count for a rejection unless he's an insane villain a-la Joker or a supremely arrogant jerk.
Completely besides that, countering rejection with vengeance is the kind of petty maliciousness and manipulative bullshit that runs directly against the basic concept of gentlemanly behavior. It is not classy.
If she turns a gift down, the proper response is to try again with an even more impressive gift that does not have the same flaw.

Anyway, lets track Wrench Monkey's place of business and troll him legally. How we do this depends on what his day job is.

yeah, we're a BARON, we gotta be a classy villian, hopefully with some overly elaborate schemes once we have the resources for it.

>>334698

Depends on how badly she reacts. If she's generally okay with it, except that she's going to return it, well, we can play it cool too. If she's LG and not only refuses our generous gift, but gets all pissy and never wants to see us again, well, there has to be some response. I mean, we'd take a serious hit to our villain cred if we just rolled over like that. Not that I think that extreme is likely.

As for MW, $5 says it involves wrenches.

>>334698
>Troll Monkey Wrench at his day job
YES.

TotallyNotSamefag!!V1AJL5LzHl 2010/10/12(Tue)20:34 No. 24914 ID: 45c9f1
File 128694089375.png - (127.43KB , 700x500 , ET finger.png )

>>331895
Can't believe this took me so long to think of.

EEEEE TEEEE!

>>334698
>Anyway, lets track Wrench Monkey's place of business and troll him legally.
That's petty and rude. When he's not being a hero, we should let him be.

>>334715
So was going to Angel's place and causing trouble.

If you can suggest another hero to troll then be my guest.

Ideally we would do this to the EDF, of course.

>>334716
>So was going to Angel's place and causing trouble.
That's different. It was a favor for a friend and beneficiary.

We also didn't know she was a hero at the time.

You know, we might present the figurine when she's not on heroic duty so that she doesn't feel obligated to "live up" to the status to get paid.
And when she accepts it, casually mention to what lengths we went to get it.

>>334715
Does that mean we can fuck around with the EDF when they're off-duty if we figure out who they actually are?

But then... they might even be the sort to wear their outfits when in civilian mode.

>>334740

I wouldn't put it past them to have some kind of transformation sequence/quick change ability, if such a thing is possible. But yes, dicking with them when they are "off-duty" would be entirely possible. If we knew their identities.

>>334715

But our MO is to do really annoying things while playing it as suave as possible. How is going down to Monkey Wrench town and saying "Sup? Remember that time I hit you in the face with a guitar?" not fit that?

>>334744
Oh yea, thanks for reminding me.

We need a quick transform sequence.

I suggest the cloak. Wave in front of camera SHAZAM! Baron Mode.
We can even put FX into it to the THE BEST THING EVA!
Flames, epic music, the moon in the background. etc.

>>334754
>We need a quick transform sequence.
Small flames start flickering across our normal clothes and skin, then they continually grow, enveloping the whole body. "Normal" clothes burn away, revealing black, shining, obsidian-like armor beneath.
Cue short one-liner pun.

>>334756

No, to hard on our wardrobe. We do that to much, and it'll eat into our cash 'cuz we have to start replacing the clothes we burn. >>334754 's basic cape flourish change is probably stylin' enough. We can spend an FX to make it really awesome, if we want that good of an entrance.

Actually, it could be done, if instead of burning the clothes, we teleport them away, making the flames mostly aesthetic (they also blind the observer to our trick, making them feel that we really did burn our clothes away.)

>>334764
That would require some significant finesse. Also we'd have to go wearing our armor all the time, which would get smelly.

unless we DOUBLE teleport and while the clothes port away the armor appears.

>>334775

I don't think we can manage that. I don't even know if we can teleport not us (I don't think so, right?) But teleport switcheroo powers would be bitching. Lesse, any upgrade combinations that might allow that?

Uh, wait, do we really have to think through all these minute details?
We don't question how we suddenly acquire a thin fire coat when we activate our aura, do we? Same thing with the transformation: you buy a transformation sequence with FX, you use it, instant magic.
It will pay off eventually if we make enough dramatic entrances.

>>334788
Being able to switch places with a target would be an awesome upgrade. Spreads confusion, allows us to make enemies shooting us hit their friends accidentally, we could quickly swap ourselves out with our mooks once we get some for tactical flexibility, and it could even function as an attack against opponents that can't fly.

That may or may not have been what you meant by "teleport switcheroo powers", but it's what that phrase meant to me.

>>334801

Yes, that is totally what I meant.

I wish I could see more of this quest.

*sigh*

>>334843
I had 3 papers and a project all due this week. Just finished the last paper a moment ago. After class today I am going to pass out until tomorrow, and then there should be quest updates of many types.

>>334859
totally understand bro.

>>334801
Also, we could do Keddic's Telekill move.

So was that "one post each" rule revoked, or are we just chatting up the new thread in flagrant violation of it?

>>334942
There was a one post each rule?
Didn't know that.

Please don't arrest me
It was a one time thing officer
honest

>>/quest/245133
>>/quest/245134
>>/quest/245139
>>/quest/245141
additional offensive power is all well and good, but it'd be useful to get some indirect power up in this bitch. Access to the moonbase would be the best next step for that, followed by minions and minibosses.

>>/quest/245179
To be fair, it could also be a shithole.

>>/quest/245148
>>/quest/245166
It would also have the potential to be bullshit overpowered, which is presumably why Gnome added the frequency limitation in the first place.

>>/quest/245183
Let's leave that until after the bedrest.

[21:54]<Reka>How many teleport upgrades would it take to get to the villain's shop?
[21:57]<Gnome>Lessee. 2 upgrades would let us get to the shop in 3 hours. 3 upgrades would less us get there in 20 minutes. 4 upgrades would get us there in 2.
[21:58]<Gnome>I guess I should post that on the /dis/ thread.

>>/quest/245179
>The moon base might be stocked!

>>/quest/220823
>"It's an inheritance plan. Your father died last week. He was the great villain Blackwing, and you have succeeded him. You get all the resources he had... or you would, if he hadn't blown them all in his last encounter."

I initially took this to mean that the base was basically deserted, but it could just mean he blew all his FX and expendable items (missiles, shuriken blah blah blah). Hypothetically, there could be a factory up there or something.

I wouldn't count on actual supplies, though.

>>/quest/245358
Man, they haven't even used space shuttles since the Challenger blew up.
Besides, shuttles take a long time to get places. Teleportation is much quicker. We can get a shuttle for our henchmen, but it is insufficient for our own personal needs.

>>334959
His base is still in at worst a non-destroyed condition. Everything is still functional up there. We just don't know what that "everything" is.

>>/quest/245143
>You are Baron Obsidian, and you should be a goddamn phoenix of rage!
That should totally become our superweapon.

I'm thinking some kind of oh-no-you-didn't weapon. It triggers in case Blackwick gets beaten up and his opponent closes in for the finishing hit.
Once activated, it releases a fire nova in X meter radius, while Blackwick rises up on wings of fire. I personally would pay extra FX upon purchase to add a small instant healing effect to this trick. You know, the whole point of a phoenix allegory is that it's alive again.

So yeah. Useful, spectacular, dramatic.

okay so there is this girl and she is a queen and we are a baron and so she wants our fealty

but eventually we will gain more power

at that time I think we should become the OBSIDIAN EMPEROR
because nobody is higher than an empire, and also is sounds p cool

I am really somewhat concerned by the number of people who seem fine with calling her our liege. Yes, we're villains and expected to be treacherous... but many villains are also crazy, and can hold a grudge like no others. If we agree that she's our boss, then either we have to do what she says or risk having her take us seriously and get really, really pissed at us and try to kill us when we're not willing to follow all her orders. Considering that she seems far more physically powerful than we are, that could get very ugly very quickly.

>>335019
I concur. Also it is worth noting that although we are bound by neither law nor morality, we are a baron and an honorable individual. Violating an oath of fealty would be bad. If we choose to swear such an oath, it should not be done lightly, and we should pay careful attention to the wording so that we may escape it without breaking our word, should the need arise.

>>335019
>>335024

Guys, it's just a form of address. We're not formally swearing an oath or anything, nor are we signing a binding contract. We're just doing some villainous networking. Also, we're a Baron in name only, currently. It's just or villain title. We lack a Barony to run. Heck, maybe if we hang with the queen lady, she can get us one.

Oh, and to raise a point here that I did in the actual thread, let's not irritate the scary pumpkin lady. Remember what she did to the door when we made her wait a little for her appointment. Imagine what she might do to our soft, squishy flesh if we annoy her further. Let's just give her her proper mode of address and move on.

>>335029
That's just it. She doesn't understand the in-name-only part. She's going to take us at our word and flip out even more when we are forced to explain that we didn't really mean it.

>>334960
Damn it all, you're right. There are a lot of very serious practical problems with having a space shuttle that will totally matter in this setting and WE SHOULD BE HIJACKING AN EXPERIMENTAL SPACE-FERRARI OR TAMING A PHOENIX, NOT STEALING SOME BLOATED PIECE OF 60'S TECH THAT BARELY EVEN RUNS. I don't know what I was thinking, I was just so taken with the idea of fighting off the astro-ninjas that would inevitably sneak aboard.

>>335029
Calling someone "my liege" may be a form of address, but the same can be said of calling someone "my love". How you address someone is a declaration of how you view your relationship to them.

The form of address which she requested is synonymous with "master" or "boss", just with trappings of nobility and formality. By using it, we would identify ourselves as accepting her as a person with the right to give us orders. We should not use that form of address unless we actually intend to follow through on its implications, because she might take our using it as a statement that we will do so.

Her proper title is "Queen", if we're going by villain names, or "your Majesty" first in a conversation and "ma'am" subsequently, if we're going by noble trappings. Likewise, we are either "Baron" (villain) or "Baron Obsidian" and then "my lord", or just "Obsidian" to friends (nobility theme).


This discussion is pretty academic at this point, as we ended up using it but making it explicitly clear that we did not intend its implications, which was probably the safest play overall. Still, important to be cautious about this sort of thing. And it's interesting to talk/think about.

>>/quest/245802
>I'm not your servant
>call her liege, do as bidden
ಠ_ಠ
these things are opposite.

>>/quest/245809
So there's at least two other lots on the moon, and whoever administrates the moon likes putting superfluous zeroes in front of numbers. How 'bout that.

>>/quest/245806
That's not Boba Fett. He's got a vest like ours, and he's got a bowl on his head, and the bowl is wearing women's underwear.

>>/quest/245836
He probably just flew or something.

>>/quest/245849
We know a small amount of karate. Our minions are knights with macahuitls. Training them is silly.

>>335029
>Guys, it's just a form of address. We're not formally swearing an oath or anything, nor are we signing a binding contract.
It's not binding. But we are referring to ourselves as her vassal. She will expect us to act as one. Just as you wouldn't call someone "Master" unless you want to be dommed by that peron, you should not call someone "liege" unless you want to be vassalized by that person.

>Also, we're a Baron in name only, currently. It's just or villain title.
Names carry the implication of certain behaviors. If we are called a baron, the implication is that we are a baron. We are a villain, so legal actuality is pretty irrelevant, making the titles we claim the titles that we in practice have.

>Oh, and to raise a point here that I did in the actual thread, let's not irritate the scary pumpkin lady. Remember what she did to the door when we made her wait a little for her appointment. Imagine what she might do to our soft, squishy flesh if we annoy her further.
This is good advice, but we should also not debase ourself.
>Let's just give her her proper mode of address and move on.
Her proper mode of address is "Majesty".

>>335038
An Experimental Space Ferrari does sound pretty cool.

>>335042
>we ended up using it but making it explicitly clear that we did not intend its implications, which was probably the safest play overall.
It may or may not be safe, but it's definitely horribly improper.

>>335055
I did not say that we should train them, I said we should train WITH them.

That way we know what we can do and we are not going out on heist day with wrong ideas about minion capability.

>>335055
But it does give us a way into a possible organisation. And if we act somewhat subserviant she won't expect it as much when we do a turnaround and take her place.

Besides, it's fun.

>>/quest/245847
Guys, no. Ransoms take time and depend much more on the other side than, say, museum robberies.
We steal a gem, we have it. We kidnap a person, we have to wait for a reply/exchange, and of course any hero will offer their help in freeing the captive.

Teaming up with the Don for fencing stolen goods seems like a plan. He's got tons of mooks, too.

Just keep in mind the Don is a villain too, if we team up with him, we need a contingency plan to stop him backstabbing us and stealing all our loot, because well... Villains are untrustworthy by definition, so lets not put ourselves in a position where he can get away with ripping us off or something.

>>335079
>Villains are untrustworthy by definition
NOT REALLY

Yeah, never heard of Honor Among Thieves? C'mon, we're a classy sort of criminal, and so is the Don.

Admittedly, we may or may not be planning on back-stabbing this Hallow Queen lady, but she was a pit of a prima donna, ripping down the door rather than wait a few seconds.

>Maybe send [the Earth Defense Force] an invitation to our heist, something about us trying to get something "to melt the heart of the most precious glazier on earth" or something like that. What they will think is that we are destroying the earth, therefore fitting their theme, but in reality we are talking about getting a gift for Angel Frost.
Oh, this is fucking perfect. We totally have to do this now.

>>335107
I endorse this motion.

>>335107
oh man, sounds cool.

>>335107
Something like this, maybe?

"YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
to bear witness to and attempt the prevention of one (1) grand heist by your arch-nemesis
THE BARON OBSIDIAN, BLACK WICK;
scheduled to take place on <insert date of heist>.
The object of this heist will be used in a most nefarious plot to melt the heart of the most precious glacier in the world.
Formal dress is mandatory.
SINCERELY,
<unintelligible scribble-signature>"

and of course Blacwick wouldn't be a villain if he didn't set a trap in anticipation for them showing up to the "anonymous" tipoff.

>>335139
On the topic of announcements and invitations - What Blacwick needs to do is buy a superweapon (like a giant laser to ACTUALLY melt some glaciers) and hijack a TV station at prime time to make a public TV announcement of his plan to destroy the entire city unless he gets 100 BILLION DOLLARS!

Cue every hero and villain imaginable showing up to help save/destroy the city and get normal TV back on so they don't miss their favorite shows.

>>335141
Maybe after we've gotten out of the B-List, son. God knows we don't want the Hollow Queen bearing down on us.

We still need to make an awesome evil EDF henchman who will totally kick their asses until they turn good and become their new teammate who doesn't show up all the time but is awesome when they do.

>>335157
>>335157
That would be a boss or miniboss. I'm unclear on the distinction, really. But 8 or 10 points. A good idea, but it should to wait for a bit, we have other more immediate priorities.

>003, Moon

oh damn we've got neighbors

huh, it occured to me that with Blackwick's themes, and the recent updates, I sorta thought of something. If Blackwick ever became good, he might fit the Red Ranger slot, although it's probably a stretch to make, being the EDF's nemsis and all.

Bah, just too much thinking.

! DING!

He could show up and thwart his own plan, DRESSED AS THE RED RANGER!

Then apply for the job right there on the spot and say he prefers to be left anonymous.

Granted he would fit the white ranger position more, what with all the mysteriousness, but this is too good to pass up.

But to do this, he first needs a minion that can stand in for him, because he can't be in two places at once.

And then we can have the EDF have victory after victory, 'foiling Blackwick' left, right and center.... then we strike.

We say we got an anonymos tip that Blackwick is striking <Insert name of high security facility here> tonight and we need to go stop him, we use the EDF to break through the defenses, claiming that Blackwick must already be inside, then when we reach the inner snctum

BAM 3FX!

Epic reveal, summon minions, crushing defeat (because would know their strengths and weaknesses by then).

EPIC LAUGH AND THUNDER(and/or flames)

If that does not get us a HUGE bag of points, then I don't know what will.

It seems so horrible to me though, *sniff*.

I just thought, at some point we should buy a coloured cape, a nice fiery one, match our theme and all, a "doppleganger" minion is an interesting idea btw.

>>335174

OBVIOUSLY we would be the gold ranger. The one that's actually more like a black ranger but has a gold shield/armour and such. Metallic is where it's at.

>>335173
Naw, he'd be black ranger because he is Blackwick and wears Black.

>>335174
We should supply the red ranger, but he should be a boss under our control. Not our own self, that would be a hassle.

>>335174
The only problem I see with this is that EDF are not retards. Lawful Good, yes, but not idiots. When they see that their new anonymous Red Ranger ally has the same powers as their nemesis, it will tip them off.

And we shouldn't try to do all the cool things at once. Our nearest goals are Moon Base and Angel Frost, then... uh, Hollow Queen and... getting to the A-list, probably.

And honestly, the way you described it, it'd take a lot of time and effort, and it's not exactly what I'd enjoy doing for so long in this quest. Of course, the voting decides this, not me, but it's my $0.02

>>335189
well the reason why I would want us to do it and not a minion (boss or not) is that he could be convinced to join their side.

Think about it, the big reveal, they are crushed, they do that really annoying hero thing and appeal to the heart, conflicted feelings.

Zuko.

>>335194

Are you saying we should be more like Zuko? The guy who ended up becoming a good guy and helping his nemesis save the world?

>>335205
When I said 'he', I meant the minion.

>>335206

Oh, well then ignore my comment.

Though I still don't think trying to sneak our way into leading the team is a good idea at this point and time, despite the fun it would be to emotionally crush them in such a way it'd take up all our time and could jeopardize what we already had build up.

Plus there's so much we don't know about what's going on with anything, at least for right now we should just stick to the robbery than looking into information about the moon base and our father, I mean for all we know we could have also inherited his old nemeses who might have been the ones who killed him.

I say after the jewel heist and seeing how our relationship stands with Angel Frost we should consider temporarily working under the Hollow Queen until we have enough resources of our own to truly be our own villain.

Yea, that was just a wild idea for people to keep in mind.... or not.

Personally, I think we should join up with the Queen. After this next heist, of course.

Remember, we are still new, and our last adventure basically had us acting under Angel Frost anyway (though not in the way we'd have liked most, hurr hurr innuendo quota reached). Becoming a Dragon under the Queen's command gets us a way to gain FX, reputation, contacts and money while learning more about the villain business. Sort of like an apprenticeship! Plus, if we get in on the ground floor, we could have opportunity to rank above any other villainous cohorts she gathers. And we'll be much safer, since - as a secondary boss - any heroes will move on after us to get to the Queen, giving us opportunity to escape. Or, as the quirky miniboss, we'll be allowed to escape again and again. And if we do get caught, she can spring us out!

And we'll even have opportunities for eventual career advancement, through a) stepping into her place when she's defeated (though likely we'll want to spring her from jail) or b) suddenly but inevitably betraying her. Plus, think of the faces of the EDF when our own "Queen of Evil" steps out to become an even bigger villain for their second season. They will be so excited, it warms the cockles of the heart.

It's totally win-win, guys!

Before seriously considering working under the Hollow Queen we should find out more about her. We should find out more about the Don before working with him, too, for that matter.

Fortunately, we have a villain enthusiast boss. We can just ask him a few dozen questions, starting with what he knows about them and those who have worked with them in the past. That will let us know if it's suicidally stupid or not.

>>335232
i agree. need to make sure working for her wont be a BAD idea. like she get's 50% of anything we earn from stuff.

>>335233

With a feudal theme, we'd probably pay her a tithe in addition to sending our knights (and our personal support) to aid her. We may have to part with a significant part of our plunder, but in return we'll get access to some of her resources and secondary command of her minions.

>>335233

That's all you're worried about? You saw what she did to that door, who knows what she does to minions.

On that note I'm not objecting to the apprenticeship, but I am throwing my support behind finding out what we can about our allies.

After this heist maybe we should also consider upgrading our appearance too, something a little flashy and fitting of our title.

>>246382

"Melt the heart" of the world's "most precious glacier" eh? Hahaha. Is he acting on that plan from earlier then? The one that involved stealing something and then using it for ice-related purposes? WINK WINK.

Well... he is making it part of his theme. And it's cool not only for later emotional manipulation, but it also leads into passionate sorts of villainy. Things like inciting riots and attacking those whose actions aren't criminal but still dickish. Nothing so much to be called a hero but you can still toss the good guys a moral quandary once in a while.

Blacwick!94Ud9yTfxQ 2010/11/06(Sat)22:48 No. 26304 ID: 6c4937
File 128910891411.png - (28.58KB , 576x720 , Black Wick copy.png )

Current character sheet.

>>336104
Why did we go into battle against multiple heroes with no spare FX to use? That's suicide!

Well, slightly more suicidal than usual, at any rate. And we had the money to buy some, too...

>0 FX

FUCK FUCK FUCK

Pfft, so what if we lose we still get paid. The only REAL danger here is that we don't get a cool gift for the fairy... and maybe the heroes managing to catch us and charging us for theft because heroes can lock us up, but that's slim, plus the heroes also like getting paid I bet and keeping their nemesis outta jail makes better money that way, hero salaries are lower so they have to get some bonus to get that up. Failure isn't that big of a deal as long as we look cool doing it. And we don't need no stinking FX to look cool, we radiate cool. FX can make us cooler, but that's it... I think.

All we have to do is imitate the effect by putting more effort into it.

We might even score some immediate bonus FX if we are epic enough.

>>336114
Yeah, if it looks like we're losing, we should bolt with the gem, using minions to cover our escape.

FX expenditure makes us one step more successful.

>>/quest/253625
This is cool but maybe a bit dark.

>>/quest/253781
If we make our outfit fancier it also gets tougher to draw. We could alter it, I suppose, but any design changes should keep that in mind.

>>336133
Indeed the classic villain escape.

We need a car or something...

wait we can teleport.

Car would still be cool though.

Teleporting would be for when we need a quick retreat after an alleyway chase-battle scene.

nah, only the half baits end up in alleyway chases, we need to either completely dominate or be cruising peacefully in our modified Rolls Royce Phantom when the heros show up in our rear view mirror.

we're a classy villain, we need to be able to stand atop something laughing as we make our getaway, a car would obscure our handsome visage far too much.

Anonymous 2010/11/09(Tue)17:02 No. 26448 ID: 3981df
File 128935097216.png - (570.34KB , 720x480 , HAB.png )

>>336135

Well, we're a candle-themed villain, right? So we should have a hot air balloon!

>>336248
no, one better, dirigible!

>>336249
A dirigible keeps less with the fire theme, and would need more money, but either way a balloon or dirigible would be a) big and imposing, b) unique and c) totally romantic if we bring lady-friends on it.

Also ridiculously slow, even if you ignore that one of them can fly.

>>336251
ultra flame engines. makes it go wicked fast.