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Modern & "Realistic"


RDU Neil

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Re: The Mechanic...

 

Storn said...

(snip)

Aglar, neil and I have done some PBeM games. We both have a real hard time keeping them going for any length of time. But it has always been Champions and I did a really high level fantasy game once(which bombed quickly).

 

followed by...

 

Originally posted by RDU Neil

(snip)

I would note that I've completed EVERY PBeM game I've ever started (as GM), except for the current one. They've all come to adventure/storyline conclusions, except for the latest, which fell apart over the past holiday season.

 

I realize that the two of you may have PBeM experience that doesn't involve the other, but not knowning if this is the case or not, I am a bit confused...

 

Or perhaps RDU is gently chiding Storn for bailing on a PBeM game or two? ;)

 

Off topic Alert - Storn, I love your art!

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Re: Sorry!

 

Originally posted by AGLAR

I killed another topic!

 

:(

 

Can we pretend I didn't send that last post?

 

I can see it now, Aglar... just like WWII pilots recording their kills, you have stickers on the side of your PC, indicating discussion threads you've sent crashing and burning to the earth. :D

 

Don't worry about it. Storn and I game FtF every week, and give each other all kinds of $#!t. We've even had to go our separate ways for weeks or even a year, because we argued so much... both being quite passionate about gaming. This is nuthin'! ;)

 

I think we'd just said our piece on the subject, that's all.

 

Though... in a slightly similar vein... are you, or is anyone, reading Gotham Central? This new Batman tie in book focus' very closely on the Gotham PD, and street level reactions to a dangerous superworld around them. Not as good as Bendis' POWERS, but a great read, nonetheless. It shows how low level "realism" (again with the quotes) can add a depth to the drama lost in most superheroics.

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Re: YES... RONIN!

 

Originally posted by RDU Neil

 

Other movies that make for good, "more realistic" style adventures.

 

China Town

Any of the Godfather movies.

The Bodyguard (yes, cheesy as it may sound, it's a solid DI adventure)

To Live & Die In LA (heck, the main PC bites it half way through the movie!)

Man On Fire

Platoon

Year of the Dragon

Heat and Manhunter from Michael Mann

Serpico

Taxi Driver

 

aww man, you forgot

HEAT

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Re: Redshirts...

 

Originally posted by RDU Neil

I love the idea of a game like "Redshirts."

 

Like a more serious/dramatic version of Paranoia. I think the idea of the game would be "survive long enough to get promoted from the security detail!"

 

Y'know... this would make an EXCELLENT game to run at a Con.:cool:

 

Well, when Icon trek came out, they recommended that the PCs not be the upper brass (a wildly divergent view from FASA trek) but be the junior officers.

 

This is the first thing I ran. "You're all members of the security detail, you accompany the Captain on missions. Or stand on the bridge. Or something."

 

Great for a one shot.

 

D

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Re: Sorry!

 

Originally posted by AGLAR

I killed another topic!

 

:(

 

Can we pretend I didn't send that last post?

 

We can pretend anything you like.

 

How 'bout ...

 

You didn't kill the thread. um, um, let'see.

 

That much back hair is a good thing. hmmm. nah.

 

How bout ... The Democrats do to have a viable presidential cantidate. erm. well.

 

Morningstar ... nah, too easy.

 

:P

 

D

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Guest AGLAR

Topic killer with bad hair

 

Originally posted by RDU Neil

I can see it now, Aglar... just like WWII pilots recording their kills, you have stickers on the side of your PC, indicating discussion threads you've sent crashing and burning to the earth. :D

 

 

This happens all the time! Great topic is just chugging along, I post, topic dies! Like I vented this huge electronic fart and ran everyone off! My pirogue would be covered completely if I applied a little decal for every topic I slaughtered! :D

 

Don't worry about it. Storn and I game FtF every week, and give each other all kinds of $#!t. We've even had to go our separate ways for weeks or even a year, because we argued so much... both being quite passionate about gaming. This is nuthin'! ;)

 

I think we'd just said our piece on the subject, that's all.

 

I have some RPG friends like that. :)

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Guest AGLAR

Gotham PD

 

Originally posted by RDU Neil

Though... in a slightly similar vein... are you, or is anyone, reading Gotham Central? This new Batman tie in book focus' very closely on the Gotham PD, and street level reactions to a dangerous superworld around them. Not as good as Bendis' POWERS, but a great read, nonetheless. It shows how low level "realism" (again with the quotes) can add a depth to the drama lost in most superheroics.

 

Gotham PD? I will check that out. I like "Powers". Thanks for the suggestion.

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Guest AGLAR

Misterdeath...

 

My secret is simple....

add the following to a blender

1 oz Red Bull

1 dose Viagra

1 oz Rogaine

1/2 Hershey chocolate bar

Mix well, pour into a glass, fill to the top with Diet Pepsi!

 

UmmmmUmmm goooood!

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Re: Gotham PD

 

Originally posted by AGLAR

Gotham PD? I will check that out. I like "Powers". Thanks for the suggestion.

 

The Book should be called "Gotham PD Blues" It's a cop show, done in comic form, in the DC Universe Gotham City.

 

Very... VERY good book.:cool:

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Guest AGLAR

Re: Re: Gotham PD

 

Originally posted by RDU Neil

The Book should be called "Gotham PD Blues" It's a cop show, done in comic form, in the DC Universe Gotham City.

 

Very... VERY good book.:cool:

 

I went in and asked for Gotham PD and they sold me three issues of Gotham Central. :mad:

 

Issues 2, 3, 4 no less! Must wait for number 1! Even if it is the wrong number 1!

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Guest AGLAR

Re: Don't panic...

 

Originally posted by RDU Neil

Gotham Central is the comic you want... don't be angry!

 

Hope you can find Issue #1... it's still on the shelf at my LCS. Where do you hail from?

 

Oh, good! I hail from Shreveport, Louisiana. EvilLuke and I took the pirogue into town Saturday and stopped by the FLGS. They had one of those "Everything on Sale!" things going on.

 

I asked the owner for "Gotham PD".

"Here you go." Hands me "Gotham Central".

I swirled the mullet of power. He has a really low DCV, so my called-shot hit pretty easily...

"INFIDEL, I said 'Gotham PD'! Not 'Gotham Central'! EvilLuke - ATTACK!"

Some 'Magic the Gathering' kids and some goth Werewolvers tried to help the FLGS owner, but we won in the end.

EvilLuke got an black eye from some Hackmaster weilding Heroclixer.

I bounced a brick of 6 sided purple dice off his noggin. No one with class were gonna buy that color anyway....

---------------------

 

Now for the truth. I looked right at Gotham Central and told EvilLuke, "They don't have Gotham PD. Just this Gotham Central." About 10 minutes later Luke waves the Gotham Central at me, "Are you sure this isn't it?" The FLGS owner confirmed Luke's suspicion and I bought 2-4 of Gotham Central.

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Modern & "Realistic", eh? I've played in a couple of those using Hero, but it was at least an edition ago. It actually worked pretty well. We had to be careful, and no PCs died, but we didn't play the campaigns for that long. To assure our survival, we made sure that any time we were going to wind up in combat, it was a pitched battle that the other guys walked in to and had no chance of walking out of. It took a lot of sneaking and peeking, and making sure our contingency plans had contingency plans.

 

Something between modern day and cyberpunk really appeals to me. I've always like Masamune Shirow's work (the Appleseed/Ghost in the Shell world is so cool), but the amount of work that would go in to something quite that detailed is beyond me. It's got cyberpunk-like tech, but in some ways the world doesn't seem as dark. Maybe it's because the protagonists work for the government and don't have the same "us vs. the World" complex that frequently shows up in cyberpunk.

 

Anyways, one partial solution to the problem is what I'm thinking about running for some friends in a couple of months, an X-Files/Conspiracy X type game. If the PCs work for a government agency (or an outside agency with enough juice to fake it), then they can get away with a little more. They also probably have slightly better than standard tech, thus hopefully a better survival rate. Of course, you could ease things a little by having the characters be largely package deals with a bit of customization, and have each player run a character pool (this has been mentioned before, and seems like a *great* idea for this sort of game) that gets drawn from for each mission.

 

Was that mostly back on topic? ;)

 

Tetsuyama

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Originally posted by Tetsuyama

 

Something between modern day and cyberpunk really appeals to me. I've always like Masamune Shirow's work (the Appleseed/Ghost in the Shell world is so cool), but the amount of work that would go in to something quite that detailed is beyond me. It's got cyberpunk-like tech, but in some ways the world doesn't seem as dark. Maybe it's because the protagonists work for the government and don't have the same "us vs. the World" complex that frequently shows up in cyberpunk.

Tetsuyama

 

You have to go back to the first issue of Appleseed. The whole first chapter with Deunan ans Briarios living in urban ruins is preety much the majority of the world. The rest of the series revolves around their life in the "civilized areas" so you don't get to see much more of the junk heap the world is.

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Re: Re: Don't panic...

 

Originally posted by AGLAR

Oh, good! I hail from Shreveport, Louisiana. EvilLuke and I took the pirogue into town Saturday and stopped by the FLGS. They had one of those "Everything on Sale!" things going on.

 

I asked the owner for "Gotham PD".

"Here you go." Hands me "Gotham Central".

I swirled the mullet of power. He has a really low DCV, so my called-shot hit pretty easily...

"INFIDEL, I said 'Gotham PD'! Not 'Gotham Central'! EvilLuke - ATTACK!"

Some 'Magic the Gathering' kids and some goth Werewolvers tried to help the FLGS owner, but we won in the end.

EvilLuke got an black eye from some Hackmaster weilding Heroclixer.

I bounced a brick of 6 sided purple dice off his noggin. No one with class were gonna buy that color anyway....

---------------------

 

Now for the truth. I looked right at Gotham Central and told EvilLuke, "They don't have Gotham PD. Just this Gotham Central." About 10 minutes later Luke waves the Gotham Central at me, "Are you sure this isn't it?" The FLGS owner confirmed Luke's suspicion and I bought 2-4 of Gotham Central.

 

 

Ah... well, I'm in Ann Arbor, Michigan... so it would be a long drive for just one comic. Sorry.:(

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Guest AGLAR

Re: Re: Re: Don't panic...

 

Originally posted by RDU Neil

Ah... well, I'm in Ann Arbor, Michigan... so it would be a long drive for just one comic. Sorry.:(

 

The FLGS owner I didn't really mullet is going to try and find a number 1 for me. If he doesn't deliver, I will check the other stores around here. And there is always E-bay! But thanks for the thought. :)

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  • 20 years later...

I have found that even in Champions games when you start adding all the extra combat additions such as Hit Locations, Disabled, Impaired, Critical Hits, Call Shots, and the like, even high defense Bricks find that they have to pay attention to what they are doing, especially if they are of the typical variety of having low DEX and SPEED. Had them fighting the IHA and when the Sniper put a Armor Piercing Round through the head of their big bad brick removing him from the combat from just short of 500 hexes away meant that every character went for cover to try to look for the sniper. All of this was while in combat with a bunch of troops disguised as VIPER Agents. Got nasty real quick, and they were 450 point characters.

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  • 1 month later...

I wrote a thing, specifically for this campaign style! 

 

I was pretty strident about it when I originally wrote it.  I'm less so now, and if I were writing it today I'd probably put the parts about powers in an appendix or leave them out entirely.  But here it is, warts and all.

 

HERO System Low Heroic Protocols

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