Vanguard00

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just read Brian Ruckley's "Winterbirth" and "Bloodheir", the first two books in a series. While not a BAD read, it's sort of the endless narration/character development of Robert Jordan mixed with low-fantasy could-we-please-get-to-the-evil storylines of George RR Martin. Again, not a BAD read, but not something you plow through in a weekend.

Re: Poison's Champions Art Thread That's some purdy darn good stuff ya got there. By all means, share more when ya can.

Re: Cursed Amulet

Re: Cursed Amulet I did it this way because I needed to get the Psych Lim "Wearer Must Seek Out Death" thing in there and I didn't know how else to do that. 'preciate the input.

Okay, gurus. What's needed is a cursed amulet. The amulet provides certain protection but in return wants the wearer to "harvest" souls (i.e. be close enough that the amulet can feed on them). It begins to take over when the wearer dies and the amulet resurrects him/her. Thereafter, whenever the character dies, the amulet again resurrects him/her, but also gains a stronger hold on him. Here's the build thus far: Soul Catcher, all slots Independent (-2), OAF Unbreakable (Amulet; -1) 2 1) Mind Shroud: Mental Defense (7 points total) (7 Active Points); Independent (-2), OAF Unbreakable (Amulet; -1) 0 2 2) Mystic Defense: Power Defense (7 points) (7 Active Points); Independent (-2), OAF Unbreakable (Amulet; -1) 0 3 3) Protective Aura: Force Field (7 PD/7 ED) (14 Active Points); Independent (-2), Limited Power Only vs Magic or Magical Effects (-1), OAF Unbreakable (Amulet; -1) 1 7 4) Soul Restoration: Resurrection BODY 1d6, Resurrection (30 Active Points); Independent (-2), OAF Unbreakable (Amulet; -1) 3 5 5) Curse of the Soul Catcher: Major Transform 1d6 (Transform wearer into Seeker of Souls, Healed back by exorcism performed by blessed figure), Side Effects (Wearer must seek out death (occasionally, major); +0), Trigger - Resurrection by the amulet (Activating the Trigger requires a Zero Phase Action, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates, Character does not control activation of personal Trigger; +1/2) (22 Active Points); Independent (-2), OAF Unbreakable (Amulet; -1) [Notes: Each and every time the wearer is resurrected the Transform is triggered. Each successive transform eventually turns the wearer into someone who will actively seek out death, up to and including causing death, in order to harvest souls.] Questions: 1) Is the above build legal? 2) Can it be done better? Notes: Yes, the amulet can be removed at any time, but there is an associated Disad relating to the wearer needing to get it back. In short, the wearer is addicted to it and could possibly die while separated. I'll probably have more questions when y'all tear me apart. This is, by the way, my first attempt at building a cursed item of this sort, so please be gentle.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Good enough! Thanks, Egyptoid! (and repped!)

Re: Start of an Alien Invasion Y'all are sort of moving on, but wouldn't an EMP disable the substations directing the landlines? I mean, the lines themselves are intact and it would certainly be possible for a suitably-motivated individual to MacGuyver a working phone from Point A to Point B (on a direct line), but everything's routed through SOMEwhere, so yeah, the landlines would be kaput with an EMP. Wouldn't they? I mean, if that's what you wanted to do.

Re: A DC Animated-style HeroMachine Without having to go through all 126 pages of this forum (though there are some excellent pics seen via perusal), is there an English version of this? Simply curious...I can make-do, of course, but I thought I'd ask. Thanks.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Great read. The next book, "Red Seas Under Red Skies" is equally as good. Scott Lynch is quite talented and a worthy inheritor of the Fafhrd and Mouser style of thieves-as-heroes style. Reading "Winterbirth" by Brian Ruckley, myself. So far so good. Similar to Erickson but perhaps a touch more traditional in some ways. Prior to that I read Joe Abercrombie's series, including "The Blade Itself", "Before They Are Hanged" and "Last Argument of Kings". I couldn't put 'em down. Highly recommended for fans of epic fantasy in the better-than-Jordan-as-good-as-Martin-not-quite-as-good-as-G.G.Kay genre. But that's just me

Re: The Sacketts Every other book had a call sent out that brought Sacketts from all over. You had gambler Sacketts, riverboat Sacketts, outlaws and soldiers, gunfighters and yes, even preachers (somewhere around the fifth or sixth book, I think). I don't know if I'd go as high as 200 points except for a very few "stars" of the novels--Tell, Orrin, Tyrel, Jubal, to name a few--but I could see 125-150 being common enough. Echo was the only woman I remember, but Lando was a fist fighter and Falcon was a ship's captain. You have options all across the board. I would go with a good solid package build, then tailor each one to a particular niche or staple of the genre.

Re: Where is Fantasy? I found two. Barnes & Noble online has 6 used copies: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fantasy-Hero/Rob-Bell/e/9781558061026 (I love the guy selling his for $500) eBay listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110289225198 G'luck.

Re: How many arrows can an arrow maker make? I can't help but think of the line from Edward Longshanks in Braveheart: "Not the archers...Arrows cost money. Use up the Irish. Their dead cost nothing." As near as I can tell by glossing over some medieval sites, the archer was typically issued 20-24 arrows for battle, with more made available as needed. Otherwise it was rare for an archer not in combat to have more than 10. Arrows cost time and money to produce. Without either in sufficient quantity it becomes necessary for the GM to impose penalties on the OCV of the archer and/or the damage the arrow does. Glue, goose feathers, good birch or pine for shafts, steel or iron heads and twine and/or glue to hold 'em in place...I would impose a minimum of -1 OCV on every area skimped, and possibly a - 1 DC, as well. A more reasonable expectation would be to allow the bowyer to cut and treat wood one time, make feathers (flights) another, and even arrow heads yet another time, then be able to say, "Time to put some arrows together". To have him do it all at one time within days or even hours is highly unrealistic to the point of impossible. Assuming the wood shafts are made and treated already, I'd allow 2 arrows per hour plus 1 for every 2 by which he makes his roll (-2 off roll is another arrow, and so on). A failure on the roll means he screwed something up (the glue on the fletching didn't dry properly, the arrow heads weren't secured, etc), but I'd still allow a roll every hour. But yeah, there's a reason why folks always tried to salvage arrows after a battle.

Re: How many arrows can an arrow maker make? http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/ancienttech/arrow_making.html http://www.thebeckoning.com/medieval/longbow/make-arrow.html http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Bow-and-Arrow And, if those don't work out for ya: http://www.google.com/search?q=making+arrows&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Re: Thoughts on Evolving Villains It's been a while since I instituted this, but way back (like, a decade and a half ago), my friends and I ran a series of games in a "shared world" where we frequently used the same characters. For giggles, the GMs often used the same villains. Your "thug w/ a gun" comment amused me, because that's exactly how Demon Dog became a big-time villain. In the early games our GM used a version of "The Hand", ninja-trained assassins and sort of a cross between VOICE and VIPER. One of them showed up three or four times, to our amusement (it was the old "Oh, no, not again!" kinda thing). The next GM, however, took that guy and turned him into a "pack leader", and he seemed bent on revenge. When it was my turn I ran a campaign where small-time heroes were being killed, and it turned out he was earning bonus points for racking up a body count. The next GM turned him into an "Alpha", essentially a group leader, and we had to take the guy down. He went on the run from villains and heroes alike, and turned up later a full-fledged villain, Demon Dog, with his own mercenary group of hi-tech martial artists. No game I've run since then has had the pleasure of watching a villain evolve, but I always loved the fact that we had Demon Dog under our belts as a "success" story for a villain.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... "Twisting the rope".