Shadow Hawk

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat

NT: Unexpected uses for a metric ton of Unobtanium.

Paperweight. That document ain't going nowhere.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat

NT: Olympics events that have to be changed in the Super Olympics.

Sattelite tracking for discus throw, shot put, hammer throw, high jump, javelin... "It landed where?"

Re: US Color-coded war plans, part I: Plan Crimson, the invasion of Canada

It was a time of great technological change, also, and no idea what would work and what wouldn't. The internal combustion engine alone made possible airplanes, submarines, tanks, trucks, armored cars, self propelled artillery...

Re: "Neat" Pictures

A possible explanation is that the animal in the foreground is a caribou' date=' not an elk, and the planes look somewhat like P-39 Airacobras, which were known as Caribou in the British service. I think it likely that the photo was a Photoshop or some other sort of manipulation, but they could have appeared together in the Aleutian campaign in WWII.[/quote']

 

I'm almost positive that the aircraft are early model Hawker Hurricanes.

I have no idea what the mammal in the foreground is, but if it were a reindeer, it could be a photo from the Norwiegan Campaign in 1940.

Or it could be totally photoshopped.

Re: US Color-coded war plans, part I: Plan Crimson, the invasion of Canada

With respect I would submit that the British M1 (and M2 I think) submarine from World War (or possibly just after) which was armed with a 12" gun was the biggest gunned sub ever.

Yes, the British "M" class submarines had the biggest guns and the worst luck...

M-1 sunk in collission.

M-2 gun removed, converted to seaplane scout, sunk in training accident.

M-3 gun removed, converted to minelayer, scrapped as poor design.

M-4 never completed, scrapped as unneeded.

The French Surcouf wasn't any luckier, sunk in a collision I believe.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

I envision it as some horribly bad attempt to cash in on the late '70s popularity of CB radios' date=' truckers, and scoffing at the national 55 MPH (then) speed limit, which led to such cinematic classics as the [i']Smokey and the Bandit[/i] or Cannonball Run movies, and many, many imitators.

Cannonball Run (1981) is a pale imitation of the classic Gumball Rally (1976)

The Gumshoe Rally

Smokey and the Time Bandits

The Man in the Iron Mask with One Red Shoe

Re: "Neat" Pictures

 

Fire, Slytherin, Pegasus, Dr. Doom, Dúnedain, Vampire, Purple, u mad bro?, Poison, Paladin.

 

You?

Air. Ravenclaw. Pegasus. Kal-El. Rohan. Vampire (No Sparkling). Blue. B***h, Please. Psychic. Wizard.

Re: Superman Averts World War II?

Germany implements the Z Plan, England matches or exceeds thier ship production.

Jet engines were invented in England. The Gloster Meteor was in production before the Messerschmit Me-262.

The end of the Washington Naval Treaty with Japan's withdrawel in 1937 unleashed a lot of new warship construction.

It's a big old can of worms, as countries react to what other countries are doing.

America hears about German rocket experiments, and Robert Goddard gets more funding.

Would Japan react to the American embargo with war if Holland and France weren't already conquered and England fighting for it's life? WW2 might start in the far east in 1941-42, instead of in Poland 1939.

Without the war, does Germany build the 'better tanks' it had in the late war? They'd certainly have enough Pz IVs for infantry support, Pz IIIs for the Panzer divisions, and Pz IIs for recon work, so they could leave the Pz Is at home, but would they develop the better anti-tank guns if they never faced British Matildas at Arras, or better tanks like the Pz V Panther or Pz VI Tiger without facing Russian T-34s? Likewise, would the British replace thier pathetic 2lb AT gun with the 6lb and 17lb if they weren't bouncing shells off of Pz IIIjs near Tobruk in 1941? With 4 more years to work on the problem, do the Americans come out with a better tank than the M4 Sherman?

Without the war, the U.S. builds fewer ships. Which ships get cancelled? The Independence class light carriers, certainly. Do they build all six of the North Carolina class BBs, all six of the South Dakota class, and only six of the Essex class CVs? (Historically, they built two North Carolinas, four South Dakotas, plus four Iowas, and 24 Essex class)

Countries react to what other countries do. German production of the Bf-109 in the mid 1930's led to British production of the Spitfire. If Germany is building a modern fleet, continues to upgrade thier air force, and is working on rockets, other countries will follow suit. With the war paused until 1945, everyone is better prepared. None of this flopping around with training tanks forced into the front lines, or a navy unprepared for the kind of war it has to fight. But there will still be blind spots. Some of the same blind spots, some different.

Re: World War Two Campaign

There were mini-subs used by the Japanese during the Pearl Harbor operation (2- or 3-man craft, IIRC),

whose mission was to attempt to penetrate the antisubmarine defenses of the base and do their best to

damage as much of the Navy ships there as possible. Aside from the one that was detected and sunk by

the U.S.S Ward, there were at least two of the mini-subs that managed to enter the harbor.

 

As for Lt. General Short, I can't help but wonder if he didn't get saddled with a nickname like "Short On

Brains" following his less-than-stellar decision to group the planes together on the airfields. I've also

never heard if, like Kimmel, he was relieved from his post following Pearl Harbor.

 

 

 

Major Tom 2009

Minus 90 and counting...

Both were relieved, both were court-martialed for dereliction of duty, both were encouraged to retire or face serious charges.

The court martials were excellent examples of Let's Blame The Other Guy (Kimmel blamed Short, Short blamed the War Department). LGen Short was blamed for not conducting proper recon, Adm Kimmel was blamed for not making sure that LGen Short was doing proper recon.

Re: World War Two Campaign

Well, of course the comic logic is different...

How's this for a concept: the Japanese co-ordinate with the Atlanteans to attack the Hawaiian Islands. However, due to American codebreaking, the Atlantean attack is discovered, and the heroes (PCs) rushed to the scene, soundly defeating the Atlanteans, only to discover that while they were dealing with the Atlantean threat, Japanese Naval Air Forces have smashed the naval base!

Make the Atlantean attack at Honolulu or Wiakiki; close enough to see the fires at Pearl Harbor, far enough away so that the two battles are seperate. If they can defeat the Atlanteans quickly enough, they can turn and assist the base; if they can't...

Re: World War Two Campaign

Yes, there were warnings of a Japanese attack in the Pacific, which is why the "War Warning" message was sent out to all commands in the Pacific.

My logic as to improved Pearl Harbor defenses is simple: one attack will lead to more. The attack would have to be a total joke to lead to complacency ("Did you hear that the Atlanteans tried to sink a battleship by poking it with tridents?" "Yeah, and then they stood thier looking confused until the Swabbies grabbed rifles and shot them all! Ha ha ha!") Add a Atlantean attack to the War Warning message, and maybe LGen Short would do something useful... or not, since his response to the War Warning was to disarm his airforce and park it in rows to avoid sabotage.

The U.S. Atlantic coast wasn't militarized until wellafter Germany's declaration of war on the U.S., which is why the first U-Boat attacks on the U.S. (Operation Drumbeat) were so successful.

Re: World War Two Campaign

If you are going to attack a Royal Navy base, Scapa Flow is THE base.

Attacks on Gibralter or Malta would also work.

U.S. bases on the west coast were San Diego, Long Beach, and San Fransisco (Seattle?).

Consequences: if against a U.S. base, the USN goes on a war footing. Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor might not work as well if the base is on alert against possible Atlantean attack.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Miscasting...

Pee Wee Herman as James Bond.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

4th edition DnD-ness

Theren the Archer, Elven Ranger

Goguin the Faithful, Dwarven Cleric

Darrek the Redundant, Dwarf Fighter

Lucius the Pyro/Cyromaniac, Tiefling Elementalist

Terios the Moo, Minotaur Fighter

Varus the stretched, Half-Elf Ardent

Whisper the Loud, Half-Elf Paladin

Lucius: What the hell are you doing?

Terios: Hark, I hear our battle cry!

Illithyds attack!

Whisper: I've seen enough hentai...

Terios: Illithyd bounty hunters?

Darrek: Give them some paper towels.

Terios is upset...

Terios: Mood swing, slay the party!

Theren: Nothing more stubborn than a minotaur.

Varus: Terios could win a staring contest with a medusa.

The GM has a request

GM: I need more dice.

Terios: Not a good sign.

Goguin: No guts, no gory.

Brain in a swimming pool drags Whisper in...

Terios: Avenge yourself, pee in his pool!

Goguin: I use three minor actions...

Therin: Dig for gold, we need the money.

Darrek: Dig for iron, we could make armor.

Whisper: Dig for weapons grade plutonium.

Goguin: Minor, m-i-n-o-r, not miner!

Re: Superman Averts World War II?

I'm not sure even Superman could stop WW2 by 1939. Germany wanted revenge against the French very badly, and feared the Russians a great deal. They wanted thier territory back in the Polish Corridor and the city of Danzig (Gdansk) a great deal. Kidnapping Hitler might not succeed in stopping the German invasion (the troops were in position, the orders had been given, and you've just kidnapped the only man in Germany with the power to countermand them).

So, just a train of thought...

1. Supes snags Hitler.

2. German army invades Poland on schedule.

3. German army takes over German government.

4. New German government blames Hitler for all the current problems.

5. Negotiated settlement with Poland erases Polish Corridor and makes Danzig part of Germany. Chamberlain, encouraged by his service chiefs, insists to the French to accept the results.

6. WW2 postponed for 5 years in Europe...

Re: World War Two Campaign

To have a WW2 campaign with supers that follows the general flow of the war requires some forethought... someone upthread pointed out 'rule of cool' applies when I pointed out treaty limits, and that was correct. So, give the Germans and Japanese superweapons and have the PC heroes counter them, either by facing them directly to nuetralize them, or by doing 'commando' type raids to knock out the factories before they can be massed produced. Some ideas...

1. German atom bomb. In reality, the Germans weren't all that close, either because they drove out the scientists who could have put them on the right path, or because one of thier top scientists intentionally put them on the wrong path, or just plain bad luck. Put them on the right path, and have the PCs sabotage them!

2. Japanese Naval Might. Japan lacked resources to build all the stuff they planned on. Blowing up shipyards sounds like fun, especially if the uncompleted battleship Kii (the 4th Yamato class) is "fully armed and operational". OR, make the Kii the never built "Super-Yamato" (eight 20" guns!) for the heroes to destroy.

3. German super-tanks.

4. German jet fighters.

5. Japanese Super-Ninjas.

6. German powered armor. Have one suit used by a supervillian, made as a prototype, and have the PCs destroy the factory.

And so on.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Bad News Care BearsFoundation and Empire Strikes Back

Re: US Color-coded war plans, part I: Plan Crimson, the invasion of Canada

Indeed. The U.S. military greatly admired the abilities of the German General Staff to 'plan in advance'. The color coding was interesting (The members of the British Commonwealth were all shades of red, China was yellow...). The pre-Pentagon planned out every possibility they could think of (taking sides in China's civil war, how to invade the Azores, dealing with a communist revolution in America...). Historically, the U.S. Navy followed the plan for the war against Japan (War Plan Orange) almost perfectly from 1943 to the end.

Re: World War Two Campaign

That was the plot device, of course. But any Second World War that takes place in a universe with superheroes must be considered an alternate time line. This does not mean that the major events of the war would not happen as in ours. It does mean that there would be an additional layer of events would take place.

 

For example in 1923 the Japanese aircraft carrier Amagi was underconstruction when he was damaged beyond repair during the Tokyo earthquake. In a world full of superhumans Sumo, a japanese superhero (or villain depending on which side you are on) prevents the carrier from being damaged. The carrier takes part in the battle of Midway as a fifth aircraft carrier in the Japanese strike fleet. Fortunately the American superhero Torpedo Man manages to sink the carrier during the dive bomber attack that took place in real life.

Unfortunately for the Japanese in this scenario, if the Battlecruiser Amagi was saved from damage while being converted into a aircraft carrier, then the Battleship Kaga would have been scrapped instead of being converted into a aircraft carrier, as per the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. The faster but less armored Amagi would take the space of the Kaga at Midway, and probably suffer the same fate.

Internet Know it all at work.

Re: Quickly figuring out movement rates

I use a simple kludge: Inches per turn x0.3 = MPH in 5th. It's not exact, but it's close.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Rambo: True Blood

Twelve O'Clock High Noon

Where Eagles Dare to be Stupid

Platoon Town

Full Heavy Metal Jacket

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Charles Xavier and the Chocolate Factory

James Kirk and the Giant Peach

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

On the Death Star...

During WW2, the U.S. military ran bars and restaraunts (Clubs) surprisingly close to the front lines, especially in the Pacific.

And the bartenders, waiters, cooks, chefs, floor sweepers, bus boys, bouncers, etc. were all active duty military. Only the rare USO shows were civilian entertainers. The idea that these jobs 'require' civilians is a recent one, pushed by the likes of Halliburton.

In addition, Star Wars Universe has droids to do menial labor. The toilet scrubbing droid does the job (and the food serving droid, the plate washing droid, the floor polishing droid that Chewbacca threatens...). No need for civilians.

But, there were civilians on the Death Star (my opinion). There was almost certainly a USO show equivelant, a couple hundred contractors, an admiral's mistress or two (although the Admiral's Mistress might be a enlisted yoeman, following the U.S. Navy's tradition).

Re: Order of the Stick

Catholicism: I've been doing it wrong.

Don't tell us, tell the guy in the confessional!

Re: Order of the Stick

It was also believed that succubus and incubi were the same beings' date=' switching genders as needed. In fact, I recall reading that there was the belief a succubus would collect semen from a male then use it to impregnate a female after becoming an incubi.[/quote']

 

Yes, it made a handy explanation why a Catholic nun's child looked like the Archbishop...