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How's this for a Princess Bride remake?

When Avery Brooks shaved his head on DS9.

Babylon 5 really took off in the second series when Sinclair was replaced by Sheridan. It just seemed to galvanise everything. That or when Morden came onboard and made offers to the ambassadors. The X-Files. Although the Pilot and Deep Throat were strong, it was not until Ice that we had another really gripping story. The fact that there were several capable support actors in it helped but the script was really strong as well.

I think the low point was when Tom Paris went Warp 10 which for some reason turned him and Janeway into lizards. Lizards!!!!!!!

This thread seems to have drifted off the stated topic. “Jumping the Shark” generally means a particular point in a long running series where you can point to and say “this is where the trouble started”. Like the shark jump on Happy Days or the birth of the character Meath that Jonathon Winters played on Mork & Mindy etc. Here we seem to be complaining about stuff in the first season of a show we personally didn’t happen to like.

I would have to add Smallville to this list. The first season was largely freak-of-the-weak encounters, but by season 2-3 the bromance between Lex and Clark was epic. Then of course the series stayed about 3 seasons after it should have wrapped up. Still one of my favorite super hero series.

The hologram doctor was the only good character on the show, and he wasn't even real.

Yeah that's part of what I am working up for the Jolrhos Players Guide, letting people do very minor effects with a Magic Skill roll and 1 END such as start a small fire, anything under 6 active points, basically. You can zap someone with your wand to do minimal damage and make a flash of light; it will kill a mouse, but won't really hurt a person.

Potter made for better TV watching. Blake was true to the original book and story: that one quite reasonable way to endure the madness of war is to become mad yourself in certain ways. That was the whole point of the character in book and movie, but it can't really stand up in an extended TV series. So from the point of view of TV, you're correct about Blake. But for those of us who cue off the earlier work and its fundamental theme ... no, it would have been more appropriate if the TV series had ended with Radar reading the telegram in the operating room.

Wensleydale

Good lord, I bet Hugh COULD pull off a pretty good stand in for old Vincent

They wanted a female McCoy to bounce off Data in a Spock stand in. Problem there? Spock gave as good as he got and banter aside both men clearly respected each other and even kinda sort of were friends. Pulaski going after Data was more like some stranger coming in and kicking a puppy that couldn't fight back. Data could claim he didn't have feelings to hurt, but we were insulted on his behalf. Add that and her moments of disregard for Picard and it was clear the writers and director had missed the mark. As a fan of the character of Riker, the growing the beard trope tickles me greatly. For examples.. I liked farscape, but I think the introduction of Scorpius really got it going. Hardly modern I guess, but MASH for me really picked up with Potter and WInchester joined on Season two of the Justice League cartoon really revved things up for me. I liked Season one, but season two improved it dramatically... I guess we could give credit to Darkseid- he'd assume credit for greatness was his anyway

Exactly my thought. Journalism is more visibly "Lazy and sensationalist" (To use the words of Jon Stewart) than ever it seems and this plays right into an assault on the Freedom of the Press. And despite what the media giants might hope, not all Americans instantly forget once the story fades about errors born of said laziness, sensationalism, or yes, even apparent bias of ideology or who owns them. A lot of it seems to be the sheer excess of youtube goodies they and other social media they can report on but they're so eager to get the news FIRST they seem to neglect getting it RIGHT. The whole situation with the Covington Kids comes to mind. What? it was actually a group calling themselves the Black Hebrew ­Israelites who were doing the racist stuff and it snowballed wildly from there? WHOOPS No harm done..riiight? . Bull. If I were one of those kids, I'd trust a magic 8 ball before I trusted mainstream media after this. And you can bet a lot of other folks in their area and beyond now feel the same, all because the press didn't want to do the WORK before jumping in with a Social media mob and calling it news. Now you got this, thank goodness no death threats to innocent (if smirky) teenagers, but once again, it undermines the Mainstream Media and People will use that as a way to attack Freedom of Press period.

There's too many instances of things like this and they only err in one direction.

The return of Gates McFadden was most welcome. Dr. Pulaski was...suboptimal.

The Texas Stranger Hailing from Mother Russia this member of the group tends to wear a trenchcoat, cowboy hat and wield six shooters. The Texas Rangers do not like her as she has shot guns out of their hands and can perform a lot of trick shots bouncing bullets off surfaces to hit a target from another angle. She can and has killed people but only where there is no other alternative. She is the security expert of the group and can get around computer systems although she is not a hacker per se. She understands English, speaks Russian and seems to have a grasp of Arabic at a basic level. She is also well versed in the lore of the Texas Rangers who she often imitates which lead to her moniker

My fear for a "various power tiers" character would be similar to the "situational limitation" character, like one with a lot of powers that only work at night. The character alternates between a low-powered tag-along and the uber-character who eclipses the rest of the team. Much like Luck, it requires a lot of GM effort and oversight to make it work in the game. If Luck is used as a major component, then the GM and player need to find a common expectation of how effective Luck will be in-game. The mechanic was never really intended as a major focus power (remembering it was limited to 3d6 for much of the game's history). If the character is going to make a significant investment (i.e. AP at campaign standard attack level), and/or it will consume significant resources (costs END; requires actions), then the power has to be run in a manner that it carries a value commensurate with that cost. To me, that means "less effective than the same AP in an attack in combat", as it has non-combat benefits as well, but still pretty effective in both contexts. Turning over some of the control to the player is probably essential - the GM has a lot to do already, without setting the effects of Luck every time the PC's phase comes around. Having a list of generic possibilities for various levels of Luck success and letting the player suggest what happens after the roll could alleviate some of the pressure, as well as allowing the player a better feeling he controls the character (Luck included) and is more a participant in the game than a bystander. Ultimately a challenging concept to integrate satisfactorily in the game, whatever approach is taken, and a great example of the principal of "let's see how it works for a few sessions, then decide whether something has to be changed".

Big Blam Pam This member of the group uses energy to devastating effect. She cannot fly but can call down bolts of energy which damage and destroy people and buildings. She has been given some help in control and focus by Desert Wind and so tends to use her power to intimidate rather than kill. Her defences are not that strong so she wears a padded suit. she is not the brightest member of the team but her powers are the most spectacular

Carol Hardy is the destructive villain know as Lens. She magnifies flaws in material until the material breaks under the stress of her regard CES

Journalism died with Kronkite. Dan Rather was caught red handed _faking_ news, and is _still_ considered one of the giants.....

OD&D suffered from a lot of criticism, and even threats of legal action from the heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien, for how much it lifted from Tolkien's writing. So of course they'll play up other influences. Citing Burroughs I think is fair, though. His planetary romance novels have much more in common with fantasy than science fiction. The "science" he uses to explain how things in his worlds work is so far from real science it might as well be magic; and its special effects (to borrow the Hero term) often resemble fantasy imagery. His protagonists are still swinging swords and fighting monsters. It's when the science inserted into fantasy more resembles what we moderns recognize as technology, that tonal dissonance occurs. OTOH and IMHO, modern physics sounds increasingly like magic itself.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/abc-news-slaughter-in-syria-footage-appears-to-come-from-a-kentucky-gun-range

Buck Rogers started out as kinda campy but pretty good for the sci fi at the time, then they had the writer's strike and apparently the producers had their 8 year old nephew write the show or (as I strongly suspect) dusted off some crappy old show they never made but had scripts for) and it went truly awful with bird guy and Buck flying around space exploring strange new worlds.

Are you sure he's not some sort of mendicant?

In my (as yet untried) fantasy game I want a low magic campaign. To this end spells are relatively difficult to cast and it takes a great deal of focus (read: experience points) to become a truly awe inspiring sorcerer. In game, magical effects are caused by manipulating the underlying Laws of Magic (Laws of Sympathy, Antipathy, Contagion, etc.) Different magical traditions apply their understanding of these laws in different ways which in turn gives rise to different types of magical effects. The difference in traditions is just one of individual interest and focus of study, there's nothing stopping a character from learning different traditions. All magic has the same source, there is no difference between divine and non-divine magic. Game mechanically all spells come with Skill Roll (a separate skill per tradition), Gestures, Invocations, and Focus limitations. Active Point penalties apply to skill rolls and players are encouraged to make use of extra time to offset this for more powerful spells.

In the world of the Arcana Practica, the Thaumic Age began some hundred to hundred and twenty years ago. This was the beginning of systematized study of magic. Before that time, "wizards" (charlatans) would ply their trades, often getting hired on into official positions. Some of these wizards had some actual power, by means of knacks (magical talents that some people, then and now, possessed), but being a wizard was as much about putting on a show as it was about working actual magic. Often, wizards would take on apprentices, some of which had knacks of their own, many of which did not. Their training methods were as much flim-flammery as their wizardry. There was a big scandal, as most kingdoms, governments, etc., gave their wizards the choice of hanging or beheading (sometimes even burning at the stake was offered), but one group (a confederation of duchies) instead commissioned a study on why some wizards could actually do real magic and some couldn't. It turned into a long running study on magic in general, that began the Thaumic Age. Arcana, singular arcanum, refers to a type of magic: air, fire, light, lightning, animals, etc. Practica, singular practicum, refers to a magical technique: create, sense, bind, conjure, dismiss, cloak, etc. Together, these are a spell's Arcanum and Practicum (often abbreviated as "A and P"), and the overall organized body of magical knowledge and pedagogy is referred to as the Arcana Practica. The incidence of knacks has gone down in the general population as the Arcana Practica has taken hold; no one is sure exactly why, but there are a number of competing theories. Learning a number of spells that share a common practicum allows you to buy a Skill (PS) with that practicum, which you can roll as a complementary skill roll to your Magic Skill Roll. Some individuals have an "affinity" with an arcanum, which in game terms is a few Skill Levels that apply to magical and mundane manifestations. So, for instance, an affinity with fire would help you with casting spells of the arcanum of fire, as well as with building fires mundanely; an affinity with animals would improve your spellcasting on animals, as well as your Animal Handling and other animal related Skills. Spells would initially be bought for full point cost, though as the game progresses you can work your way into Multipowers and potentially a VPP (based on arcana). Characters can also buy knacks, which are just a magical power with an A and P. Sufficient study of thaumatology and Metamagic can help you turn your knack into an arcanum. Finally, spells are divided into tiers, based solely on the prerequisites required. Tier 0 spells require no prerequisites; anyone who is not "athaumic" (nonmagical) can learn them, and none of them require a skill roll. Tier 1 spells have a basic level of prerequisites; some might have a particular tier 0 spell, others might require a minimum skill in a practicum, or an affinity, or a knack. Tier 2 spells have more extensive lists of prerequisites; higher levels in various related Skills, demonstrated minimum ability to cast certain tier 1 spells, possibly certain knacks or other magical talents. There are no tier 3 spells, unless you are a disgruntled wannabee who has barely passed their basic Arcana Practica and thinks that there's some kind of conspiracy keeping you from learning tier 2 spells.

In Nyonia (my campaign world) magic is accessible by almost anyone. There are two basic people who can use magic (cast spells), people with a natural talent (born that way) and those who learn how to cast magic later in life. In game terms: Naturally born/talented mages need to pay for a custom magic talent (10 pt talent) which allows them to buy a VPP for their spells People who learn magic later in life, don't pay for the custom magic talent, can not have a VPP or MP Both kinds of casters have the access to the same power levels of magic but mages with the custom talent don't need to worry about what happens if they don't make a spell roll. Those mages without a natural affinity to magic will have bad things happen to them if they miss a spell roll (sometimes fatal). All spells have magic skill rolls, components, gestures and invocations/ The second thing with magic in my world is that the kind of magic you can use depends on your character's race or cultural background. So some races use magic to protect themselves and their communities; and improve and preserve food stuffs. One culture might be all about fire so they can forge and make unique metal objects. Another culture might use magic to enhance their abilities to buy and sell. Characters can pick on and only one type of magic and that is 'permanent'. Nyonian history is littered with mages who tried to learn more than one kind of magic. The best result is the mage only kills himself and nearby inhabitants (dozens of yards from where she is casting the combined spell). Worse case results have resulted in world changing events. I did both of these things so that magic would be unique between cultures. Every culture/race has a set of spells to start with. Players have 'researched' new spells. And I also wanted someone to have the ability to buy one or two important but not necessarily overwhelming spells.

I am going to give this one to steriaca

My latest idea. Elephant Paratroopers

Re: attacking individuals. Under "attacking individuals" the rules note that the ban on attacking individuals is for ease of play. Most actions for prominent individuals are not attack options, but leadership. inspiration and intimidation. However, the rules note that if a prominent individual chooses to attack a unit, it is treated as a unit of one person (ie, the unit it is attacking can attack it back). Determinging damage from individual attacks - yes, the rules note that under most circumstances the Unit Modifer should not be less that 0, in order that a smaller unit may damage a larger one. However, it goes on to note that the GM may allow Unit Modifiers of less than 0 in order to keep smaller units from having too great an impact. In the case of an individual, no matter how prominent, attacking a large unit, that would seem appropriate. AOEs are mentioned in Megascale and Battle Scale in the Magic in Mass Combat section. It suggests the way to build a spell to affect an entire unit is to use Megascale. No mass combat system I'm aware of segues nicely between personal scale and unit scale. There's always some clunkiness and edge cases. Hero System mass combat offers several options - treating prominent individuals as one-person units, using noteworthy events for individuals, and having personal scale combat in a mass combat environment. None of these is without issues - but those issues are much easier to resolve if one remembers that the player characters are the protagonists: it's their story that matters.

Her power is portrayed incredibly inconsistently in the comics. Early on, she seemed a prime candidate for a big attack (potentially above whatever your campaign maximum is), with an Activation Roll and Side Effects. The Scarlet Witch was the one Avenger who could potentially drop Ultron with one blast. Of course if she tried to use it at the beginning of the fight, it would rarely work out in her favor. There's not really a "wrong" way to portray her power, because it's so inconsistent. Whatever you decide to do, it's probably been shown that way at some point in time. I have a writeup of her, but I'm not that happy with it. It's clunky and very expensive, and I kind of kludged it with using a VPP for part of it. This was for a version of her with no cost limit, just trying to properly model the character with everything she could do. Hex Power (3 parts): --11D6 Luck, Activation Roll 13-, Side Effects (becomes Unluck), Costs Endurance (55 Active Points, 20 Real Cost) --11D6 Energy Blast, 1/2 End, Affects Desolid, Variable SFX (any), Indirect (any direction, any origin), Variable Advantage +1 1/2, Activation Roll 13-, Side Effects, Locks out VPP when in use -1/2 (330 Active Points!!!, 120 Real Cost) --70 Point VPP, Powers Change as 1/2 Phase Action (122 Real Cost) So the Energy Blast could represent any weird effect you can dream up. Use the Hex Power and a piano could fall on someone's head. A bus could make a wrong turn and run over the enemy for 11D6. An electrical line could fall and land on somebody. The variable special effects let you choose any kind of appearance. The variable advantage allows you to make it Area Effect, or Armor Piercing, or whatever you want. There was a reason I picked +1 1/2, but I don't remember what it was now. So the Hex Power represents things just going wrong for the enemy. And the VPP could create any power if a straight-up Energy Blast doesn't work. But again, it's kind of crammed together and I'm not thrilled with how it turned out.

The board had only one job. To give best wishes to Doc Democracy so that Scotland could qualify in the Rugby World Cup. Japan beat Scotland and so Scotland are out. The board should be ashamed of themselves for letting Doc Democracy down in his moment of need.

https://i.imgur.com/oxyXzfT.mp4

Historical Event The Alien Invasions In 1895 Nikola Tesla was showing off her newest invention, The Tesla Sphere, which he believed would be a form of television. Invited to the showing was writer H.G. Wells, Astronomer Sir William North, and his American wife Medical Doctor Regina Saetta North. When it was activated they saw images of a strange world populated by small creatures, looking some what like a brain with tentacles. To the groups horror the creatures attacks and came through the screen. Regina, who was really the Ancient Goddess Juno, managed to vaporize the creatures with lightning blast generated from her hands. When Tesla was unable to shut down the device, Regina destroyed the sphere causing a fire which burned down the lab. Telsa developed a fear of spheres, and H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds to warn of the threat, getting the idea of disease destroying the Martians of the book from Regina being a Doctor. In 1938, movie star Leslie North, daughter of William and Regina, was at a remote observatory outside New York. She was doing a favor for her father tracking a meteor shower and putting her degree in astronomy to use. One of the meteors landed close to the observatory and Leslie drove out to the impact site. The glowing blue meteor exploded, charging her with light energy. With the help of her friend, Millionaire industrialist Bradley Taylor, who she knew to be the famed superhero Ultraman, Leslie quickly learned to control her powers. Then next day a second, larger meteor landed outside of New York. Ultraman and Leslie, who decided to call herself Starlight, rushed to the scene just as it broke open revealing three strange 25 foot tall war machines. The Army's weapons were useless, but Leslie's blue light was particularly effective and all three machines were destroyed. One of the aliens in a suit of powered armor escape and would become the villain The Mechanical Menace. Leslie introduced herself to the Press as Starlight, but the next day was shocked and disappointed to find they had dubbed her Starlet. In 1943 it was discovered that the Alien invaders were attempting to set up a trans-dimensional gateway that would have allowed them to instantaneously transport their army to Earth. Dr. John Parker, a physicists and the superhero Minuteman attempted to use the alien device to allow the Navy to transfer a the Destroyer U.S.S. Eldridge from Philadelphia to Norfolk instantaneously. If it worked they convoys could be sent right from U.S. Ports to England and avoid the U-Boat menace. The Axis found out about the experiment, and stole the device, intent on using it to bring the Japanese Battleship Mutsu within range of Washington, D.C. so it could destroy the White House along with the President, the visiting British Prime Minister, and their Combined Chiefs of Staff. The United Superheroes of America prevented the invasion, resulting in the destruction of the Mutsu. Because the Axis didn't know how to operate the device correctly, they inadvertently sent a signal that would allow the Aliens to open the gate themselves in four years. more to come

https://www.radioarchives.com/Bargain_Basement_s/178.htm I'm eyeing the Doc Savage lot https://www.radioarchives.com/Doc_Savage_Bargain_Pack_p/5003.htm Been meaning to read Land of Always Night and Repel for a while now.

Doc Democracy needs the best wishes of everyone as on Sunday Japan play Scotland in the World Cup Rugby. Scotland not only have to win they have to get a bonus point as well, otherwise Japan get through regardless. And Japan have already beaten Ireland.

It's a 5 minute walk from my house to the bar. It's a 45 minute walk from the bar to my house. The difference is staggering.

I do play champions on roll20. They have a character sheet, but to use the one click rolling you need to have the api enabled, so need the pro level which is $9.99 a month (US dollars)) . I also use a few other api like a turn counter .

You couldn't remake Troll 2 however. Because how could you ever outdo

Joan of Arcadia: Ninja Assassin I apologize for this next one: Cooking with Ishikawa Goemon

My mum has spent the week suffering diarrhea and it has knocked her out of a routine she wanted to do. This is a result of the chemotherapy and it is making her miserable. There is nothing we can do about it either. And next week we have the next bout of chemo.