Monday, August 29, 2016

Ability: Telelocation Inspired by Stranger Things

Soooo 80s XD!!!!!
So I was watching Stranger Things, a show released on Netflix that pays a homage to the types of movies in the 80s that were kinda scary, but not too scary that were almost ok for kids, but not quite - that would have probably been rated PG back then, but now PG-13. It's got supernatural powers, spooky things, and a gang of kids picking up the slack when the no-good adults refuse to. For giggles, I decide to stat out an ability displayed by Eleven, one of the main characters, who communicates with Will, a middle schooler trapped in a horrific alternate dimension.

Mechanics

When Eleven uses her ability, she requires radio equipment, but she doesn't seem to actually need to use it. However it seems fine or very fine equipment gives a bonus to skill. When using the ability, it takes her a long amount of time to tune in on Will, enough so that other kids think she is playing a joke and isn't actually doing anything but futzing with the radio, so Takes Extra Time or  Preparation Required seems appropriate. After she uses her powers, she also incurs a bit of injury as she is seen with a bleeding nose, and is sometimes completely exhausted. This is some kind of Costs Hit Points and/or Costs Fatigue.
When she establishes communication, the kids can hear Will, but they can't seem to speak with him. This is communication in one direction. Will is also trapped in another dimension, so it is the version of World-Spanning that can only work from one to another. The basic advantage is Telecommunication (Telesend), and with modifiers it comes out to:
Telecommunication (Telesend) (Psi, -10%; Accessibility, Requires Radio Equipment, Bonuses and Penalties based on Equipment quality, -10%; Costs Hit Points, 1, -10%; Preparation Required, 10 Minutes, -30%; World-Spanning, +50%; Receive Only, -50%) [15]

Other Thoughts and Conclusion

Overall, this advantage is kinda used not to communicate with Will, but to confirm that he is still alive, so for 15 points, it would be almost decent if it weren't for the long windup. It was still immensely helpful in the show. Power-Ups limitations has two alternate takes on costs hit points/fatigue that might be more appropriate, one for cardiac stress, and one where the cost is only meted out afterwards, but I went with the one most people are likely to have, but just throwing that out there if you want to play with it.

2 comments:

  1. Should be a cost reduction for "destroys equipment"

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    Replies
    1. You are probably right. On occasion it doesn't though... so it creates a limitation on a limitation. It's probably a very common trigger for -20%, but that very common trigger is unreliable, with an activation roll of 8, which is a -40% limitation when applied to something good, but probably about reversed the other way, so -60% on -20% means -8% altogether, lowering the cost to 13 points.

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