Megalopolis
Play by Email (PBEM) Rules
Play by Email (PBEM) Rules
World building
- · It can’t give you powers not on your character sheet. It can add flavor to your existing powers but it can’t give you more
- ·
Magic is the impossible and science is
the repeatable. So Magic can't be mass reproduced and science is about mass
production. No one person that isn't immortal can be knowledgeable in both.
- ·
Minor changes to the world are allow
(e.g. Your Company is one of the largest in the world) but not Major (You can
create a Fleet of Spacecrafts with teleportation capability)
- ·
If your world building increased the
power level of the campaign all NPC will have their power levels increased,
especially the villains.
- ·
World Building can't limit the
randomness or fun of the game. This is a game that represents Comic Books.
World Building can't eliminate this or change its nature.
- ·
PCs are more capable than NPCs, if you
leave the GM to accomplish tasks with NPCs instead of the PCs doing it, don't
expect the NPCs to do it effectively or creatively as the PCs would.
All rules for Mighty Protectors Villains & Vigilantes 3.0 edition used unless changed below.
Performing Skills Faster or Slower
With GM approval, a character may perform skills faster or slower than the normal times expected to perform a skill.
• A skill may be performed up to five times faster (GM’s call) by making the skill category one tougher
• A skill may be performed five times slower by making the skill category one easier
Combat
Killing Attacks
All sharp kinetic attacks have the Death Touch power as a carrier attack when a called shot of stabbing or piercing is performed. The 'to Hit' is HtH attack without any accuracy modifiers or defensive modifiers. Characters saving rolls against EN are performed as per rule book.
Standard or Mundane arrows, bullets, or throwing weapons with an edged or pointed blade are always considered a piercing attack.
Armor, bulletproof material, and invulnerability prevent the killing carrier attack for occurring. Damage exceeding the protection value does not allow the carrier attack to occur. The damage is considered to have been blunted. In order for killing attack to occur the hit has to miss the armor or bulletproof material completely. Invulnerability always blunts the attack.
The current issue will be sent out to all players. A deadline of about 1 and ½ weeks will be set. During that time the players will be able to communicate with each other and the GM. Questions to the GM to better prepare the PCs turn response are encouraged. These should be sent before the deadline with all players copied. This correspondence should be the OOC type content. The deadline submission can include all of the listed content types below.
OOC
The notation means "Out Of Character". These are questions that in a normal face to face game the player can see on the board, their character sheet, the rulebook, or ask the GM about. Questions asked usually revolve around the situation, the environment, what the PC knows or understands, a rules interpretation, or to highlight a rule or bonus the PC is using. The question can even be exploratory toward the GM’s reaction to an action the player is thinking about taking. Examples are “Can I use a luck point to …?”, “If my PC decided to left the two drunks fight it out, does that fit his motif and what it means to be a hero in our game?”
IC
The notation means “In Character”. These are the submitted actions the player has for the PC. It includes a descriptive text of actions, whom the PC is interacting with, and dialogue of the PC.
GOAL
The notation means the goal of the PC for the turn. The GM will be combining all the actions of all the PCs in the game as well as the NPCs actions. Goals allow the GM to play through a complete turn even if the PC has multiple actions instead of requesting new submissions after every PC has had one action.
The inclusion of the PCs goal for the turn allows the GM to determine when an action occurs that requires all players to be made aware of the situation and provide new submissions.
Examples of PBEM Submissions and Turns
From the Villains & Vigilantes 2.1 edition 7.1 Example
Issue 1
The Gunsmith followed the trail of 9 year old runaway Gerald Mays to an abandoned technical school building outside Chicago, where Gerald has been recruited as a student into the Academy of Crime by the mysterious Crime Teacher. From behind the classroom door, Gunsmith waits until Gerald moves close. His plan is to grab Gerald and escape. Crime Teacher spots Gunsmith’s shadow from under the door and cries out to warn Gerald.
(Replies? Actions? – Gunsmith has 2)
[OOC] How close is the Gunsmith to Gerald? What is the room like? What is the positioning of all three?
[GM Response]
From the sound of Gerald’s footsteps he is within jumping distance. You can’t see the Crime Teacher from your position behind the door but her voice sounds close as well. The room has a concrete floor, steel walls and windows every 15 feet. There are chairs and table in a classroom setting with a desk at the front. You can’t tell if they are in your way or not.
Turn Submission
[IC]
The Gunsmith charges into the room and attempts to grab up Gerald from behind.
[Goal]
The Gunsmith wants to escape with Gerald. He takes action to prevent the Crime Teacher from stopping him using Taser rounds and then more damaging ammo if needed.
[OOC]
The Gunsmith will attempt a grab from behind to gain facing bonuses.
Issue 2
As Gunsmith emerges from behind the door, Crime Teacher screams, “Show me your hall pass” and lunges for the throat. The Gunsmith is able to twist his body so her hands grab only air. As the Gunsmith grabs for Gerald he replies, “We don’t need no stink’ in passes!” Unfortunately his dodging has put him out of position and the Gunsmith misses Gerald.
The Crime Teacher turns around to face the Gunsmith. As she straightens her glasses she says, “We will just has to see about that”. A strange beam emerges from her glasses and hits the Gunsmith. He can feel the energy being drained from his body [OOC] (Devitalization Ray, Gunsmith Power is reduced from 72 to 38)
Better end this quick”, the Gunsmith thinks to himself. Grabbing Gerald with his right arm, and shooting with the pistol in his left hand. He fires a Taser round at Crime Teacher aiming right between the eyes. The round hits Crime Teacher right between the eyes and she is enveloped in a field of jagged electrical arcs. The smell of ozone fills the air along with a crackling sound. Barely able to stand, she angrily swats the stinging pellet from her face and shakes off its tingling effects.
Gerald shouts “let me go” and struggles to get out of the Gunsmith’s grasp but isn’t strong enough. The Crime Teacher kicks at the Gunsmith’s left hand. Her leg lashes out as quickly as a whip crack and finds Gunsmith’s left hand. [OOC](13 damage, -3 to Power points for rolling with the attack, -10 to Hit Points). The Gunsmith is able to hang on to his gun [OOC] (He made his Strength saving roll).
(Replies? Actions?)
Current Conditions:
Gunsmith: Hit Points: 13, Power Points: 33
[OOC]
What is the structural rating of the floor? Is it normal concrete? Is this the bottom floor or are there lower floors?
[GM Response]
The floor is normal concrete, it has s structural rating of 6 and there is a basement underneath the floor.
Turn Submission
[Goal]
The Gunsmith wants to escape with Gerald. He will attempt to shot the floor out from under the Crime Teacher with explosives rounds as he runs away.
[OOC]
The Gunsmith has a video feed that should allow him to shot where he isn’t looking. He will use it to eliminate any facing minuses. He will fire 3 shots.
[IC]
‘I have to get out of here. I am halfway to death and the Crime Teacher has barely broken a sweat!’ He runs with Gerald and shots behind him. Looking through the video feed to his goggles from of his pistol’s sight he unleashes a barrage of demolition rounds at the feet of the Crime Teacher.
Issue 3
The Crime Teacher freezes and closely watches for the Gunsmith’s next action. A slight haze appears around the gunsmith as she watches him.
‘I have to get out of here. I am halfway to death and the Crime Teacher has barely broken a sweat!’ Gunsmith knows he must escape. As Gunsmith goes to retreat, with Gerald under his right arm, he fires behind him with the pistol still in his left hand. The cameras on the gun barrels with the video feed streaming to his goggles allow him to target as normal. He switches to demolition rounds and fires three rounds in various areas of the floor surrounding Crime Teacher. The result is a series of explosions that cause the floor in a seven foot radius around Crime Teacher to crumble and vanish. There is nothing within her reach to grab onto as she falls into the basement. Her last sight is of the Gunsmith with Gerald running through the door.
With a shake of her head, the Crime Teacher clears the haze before her vision. ‘That is a future I can’t let happen’ she growls.
‘I have to get out of here. I am halfway to death and the Crime Teacher has barely broken a sweat!’ Gunsmith knows he must escape. As Gunsmith goes to retreat, with Gerald under his right arm, he fires behind him with the pistol still in his left hand. The cameras on the gun barrels with the video feed streaming to his goggles allow him to target as normal. He switches to demolition rounds and the Crime Teacher leaps through the air toward the gunsmith [OOC](Two delayed actions, first used precognitive sixth sense and then action to interrupt Gunsmith’s action).
As Gunsmith gets ready to run he quickly realizes he is carrying Crime Teacher on his back. She attempts to punch Gunsmith in the back of the head and try to knock him out. Crime Teacher does no better than landing a glancing blow. [OOC] (No damage). Gerald squirms within the Gunsmith grasp but does not free himself.
Watching through his gun barrel camera, he sees Crime Teacher prepare to throw another punch. WHAM! She lands the blow. [OOC] (14 damage, -3 points to Power and -11 to Hit points. Gunsmith only has 2 Hit Points left!) . He fires another Taser round point blank into Crime Teacher, hitting just where he wanted to put it, just under her chin. She is enveloped in a field of jagged electrical arcs. The smell of ozone fills the air along with a crackling sound. This time the Crime Teacher falls unconscious.
Gerald brings up Gunsmith’s second pistol. He had lifted it from the track of the wrist holster of his right arm without Gunsmith noticing. [OOC] (This was Gerald’s squirming and Gunsmith failed his Detect Danger roll). Gerald fires at Gunsmith. This gun had a Taser round in its chamber. The round strikes the Gunsmith and then he is enveloped in a field of jagged electrical arcs. The smell of ozone fills the air along with a crackling sound and he falls unconscious at Gerald’s feet.
Gerald radios his fellow students at the Crime Academy for back up. He wonders if capturing Gunsmith will be worth extra credit.
Performing Skills Faster or Slower
With GM approval, a character may perform skills faster or slower than the normal times expected to perform a skill.
• A skill may be performed up to five times faster (GM’s call) by making the skill category one tougher
• A skill may be performed five times slower by making the skill category one easier
Killing Attacks
All sharp kinetic attacks have the Death Touch power as a carrier attack when a called shot of stabbing or piercing is performed. The 'to Hit' is HtH attack without any accuracy modifiers or defensive modifiers. Characters saving rolls against EN are performed as per rule book.
Standard or Mundane arrows, bullets, or throwing weapons with an edged or pointed blade are always considered a piercing attack.
Armor, bulletproof material, and invulnerability prevent the killing carrier attack for occurring. Damage exceeding the protection value does not allow the carrier attack to occur. The damage is considered to have been blunted. In order for killing attack to occur the hit has to miss the armor or bulletproof material completely. Invulnerability always blunts the attack.
PBEM Communication
The current issue will be sent out to all players. A deadline of about 1 and ½ weeks will be set. During that time the players will be able to communicate with each other and the GM. Questions to the GM to better prepare the PCs turn response are encouraged. These should be sent before the deadline with all players copied. This correspondence should be the OOC type content. The deadline submission can include all of the listed content types below.
OOC
The notation means "Out Of Character". These are questions that in a normal face to face game the player can see on the board, their character sheet, the rulebook, or ask the GM about. Questions asked usually revolve around the situation, the environment, what the PC knows or understands, a rules interpretation, or to highlight a rule or bonus the PC is using. The question can even be exploratory toward the GM’s reaction to an action the player is thinking about taking. Examples are “Can I use a luck point to …?”, “If my PC decided to left the two drunks fight it out, does that fit his motif and what it means to be a hero in our game?”
IC
The notation means “In Character”. These are the submitted actions the player has for the PC. It includes a descriptive text of actions, whom the PC is interacting with, and dialogue of the PC.
GOAL
The notation means the goal of the PC for the turn. The GM will be combining all the actions of all the PCs in the game as well as the NPCs actions. Goals allow the GM to play through a complete turn even if the PC has multiple actions instead of requesting new submissions after every PC has had one action.
The inclusion of the PCs goal for the turn allows the GM to determine when an action occurs that requires all players to be made aware of the situation and provide new submissions.
Examples of PBEM Submissions and Turns
From the Villains & Vigilantes 2.1 edition 7.1 Example
Issue 1
The Gunsmith followed the trail of 9 year old runaway Gerald Mays to an abandoned technical school building outside Chicago, where Gerald has been recruited as a student into the Academy of Crime by the mysterious Crime Teacher. From behind the classroom door, Gunsmith waits until Gerald moves close. His plan is to grab Gerald and escape. Crime Teacher spots Gunsmith’s shadow from under the door and cries out to warn Gerald.
(Replies? Actions? – Gunsmith has 2)
[OOC] How close is the Gunsmith to Gerald? What is the room like? What is the positioning of all three?
[GM Response]
From the sound of Gerald’s footsteps he is within jumping distance. You can’t see the Crime Teacher from your position behind the door but her voice sounds close as well. The room has a concrete floor, steel walls and windows every 15 feet. There are chairs and table in a classroom setting with a desk at the front. You can’t tell if they are in your way or not.
Turn Submission
[IC]
The Gunsmith charges into the room and attempts to grab up Gerald from behind.
[Goal]
The Gunsmith wants to escape with Gerald. He takes action to prevent the Crime Teacher from stopping him using Taser rounds and then more damaging ammo if needed.
[OOC]
The Gunsmith will attempt a grab from behind to gain facing bonuses.
Issue 2
As Gunsmith emerges from behind the door, Crime Teacher screams, “Show me your hall pass” and lunges for the throat. The Gunsmith is able to twist his body so her hands grab only air. As the Gunsmith grabs for Gerald he replies, “We don’t need no stink’ in passes!” Unfortunately his dodging has put him out of position and the Gunsmith misses Gerald.
The Crime Teacher turns around to face the Gunsmith. As she straightens her glasses she says, “We will just has to see about that”. A strange beam emerges from her glasses and hits the Gunsmith. He can feel the energy being drained from his body [OOC] (Devitalization Ray, Gunsmith Power is reduced from 72 to 38)
Better end this quick”, the Gunsmith thinks to himself. Grabbing Gerald with his right arm, and shooting with the pistol in his left hand. He fires a Taser round at Crime Teacher aiming right between the eyes. The round hits Crime Teacher right between the eyes and she is enveloped in a field of jagged electrical arcs. The smell of ozone fills the air along with a crackling sound. Barely able to stand, she angrily swats the stinging pellet from her face and shakes off its tingling effects.
Gerald shouts “let me go” and struggles to get out of the Gunsmith’s grasp but isn’t strong enough. The Crime Teacher kicks at the Gunsmith’s left hand. Her leg lashes out as quickly as a whip crack and finds Gunsmith’s left hand. [OOC](13 damage, -3 to Power points for rolling with the attack, -10 to Hit Points). The Gunsmith is able to hang on to his gun [OOC] (He made his Strength saving roll).
(Replies? Actions?)
Current Conditions:
Gunsmith: Hit Points: 13, Power Points: 33
[OOC]
What is the structural rating of the floor? Is it normal concrete? Is this the bottom floor or are there lower floors?
[GM Response]
The floor is normal concrete, it has s structural rating of 6 and there is a basement underneath the floor.
Turn Submission
[Goal]
The Gunsmith wants to escape with Gerald. He will attempt to shot the floor out from under the Crime Teacher with explosives rounds as he runs away.
[OOC]
The Gunsmith has a video feed that should allow him to shot where he isn’t looking. He will use it to eliminate any facing minuses. He will fire 3 shots.
[IC]
‘I have to get out of here. I am halfway to death and the Crime Teacher has barely broken a sweat!’ He runs with Gerald and shots behind him. Looking through the video feed to his goggles from of his pistol’s sight he unleashes a barrage of demolition rounds at the feet of the Crime Teacher.
Issue 3
The Crime Teacher freezes and closely watches for the Gunsmith’s next action. A slight haze appears around the gunsmith as she watches him.
‘I have to get out of here. I am halfway to death and the Crime Teacher has barely broken a sweat!’ Gunsmith knows he must escape. As Gunsmith goes to retreat, with Gerald under his right arm, he fires behind him with the pistol still in his left hand. The cameras on the gun barrels with the video feed streaming to his goggles allow him to target as normal. He switches to demolition rounds and fires three rounds in various areas of the floor surrounding Crime Teacher. The result is a series of explosions that cause the floor in a seven foot radius around Crime Teacher to crumble and vanish. There is nothing within her reach to grab onto as she falls into the basement. Her last sight is of the Gunsmith with Gerald running through the door.
With a shake of her head, the Crime Teacher clears the haze before her vision. ‘That is a future I can’t let happen’ she growls.
‘I have to get out of here. I am halfway to death and the Crime Teacher has barely broken a sweat!’ Gunsmith knows he must escape. As Gunsmith goes to retreat, with Gerald under his right arm, he fires behind him with the pistol still in his left hand. The cameras on the gun barrels with the video feed streaming to his goggles allow him to target as normal. He switches to demolition rounds and the Crime Teacher leaps through the air toward the gunsmith [OOC](Two delayed actions, first used precognitive sixth sense and then action to interrupt Gunsmith’s action).
As Gunsmith gets ready to run he quickly realizes he is carrying Crime Teacher on his back. She attempts to punch Gunsmith in the back of the head and try to knock him out. Crime Teacher does no better than landing a glancing blow. [OOC] (No damage). Gerald squirms within the Gunsmith grasp but does not free himself.
Watching through his gun barrel camera, he sees Crime Teacher prepare to throw another punch. WHAM! She lands the blow. [OOC] (14 damage, -3 points to Power and -11 to Hit points. Gunsmith only has 2 Hit Points left!) . He fires another Taser round point blank into Crime Teacher, hitting just where he wanted to put it, just under her chin. She is enveloped in a field of jagged electrical arcs. The smell of ozone fills the air along with a crackling sound. This time the Crime Teacher falls unconscious.
Gerald brings up Gunsmith’s second pistol. He had lifted it from the track of the wrist holster of his right arm without Gunsmith noticing. [OOC] (This was Gerald’s squirming and Gunsmith failed his Detect Danger roll). Gerald fires at Gunsmith. This gun had a Taser round in its chamber. The round strikes the Gunsmith and then he is enveloped in a field of jagged electrical arcs. The smell of ozone fills the air along with a crackling sound and he falls unconscious at Gerald’s feet.
Gerald radios his fellow students at the Crime Academy for back up. He wonders if capturing Gunsmith will be worth extra credit.
