Vanguard00

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs I also see plenty of helpful and useful advice, experience and perspective, which I'm guessing is what the original poster was after. Glass half empty/half full, I guess.

Re: Does Not Work in Water For any gradual dampness I'd probably treat it as an across-the-board drain for every power/ability that had that particular limitation. As Derek says, reduce the effectiveness of a given power dependent upon the amount of water the character is being subjected to. If it's a light drizzle it might take several turns for systems to start shutting down. Getting hit with a firehouse might give the player a phase or two at reduced capacity before shutting down completely. That sort of thing. Think of a person wearing a good rain coat. How long and under what circumstances would it take the undershirt to get wet? That's how long it would take his systems to shut down. Them's me thoughts.

Re: Have you written a story? I have written a number of short short stories about characters over the years, but it's only been recently that I've made an effort to focus on writing a novel. I'm a hundred or so pages in, using characters I've played before (and a few others loosely based on those I've gamed with), but it's in "lull" mode. I had hoped to finish it by year's end, but I'm not sure it's going to happen.

Re: If you act, as you think . . . Thanks for the kudos. Here's another idea: A collection of CSLs that require an EGO roll (or alternately a "Zen" roll), then leave the actual event as a plot device, either on the part of the GM or the player. For example, +3 with Ranged Combat, requires Zen Riflery skill roll. It might look thusly... Player: "I line up the target in my sights, take a deep breath, and push all the world away except for the rifle and my target." GM, rolling dice: "You're zen. Go for it." Player: "From the corner of my eye I see a rat scurry across the alley. Just as a cat pounces upon it I take the shot." GM, rolling more dice, "Hit, dead center. Target falls." Just throwing stuff out as it occurs to me. I'm kinda zen myself...or maybe that's just lack of sleep.

Re: No Horses For You Large horse-like rams were used in an old comic-fantasy series by Lionel Fenn ("Blood River Down" Ithink it was called). His, at least, while not necessarily sentient, was pretty darn smart. I'm of the opinion that horses are fine in any world populated with "familiar" beasts such as birds, dogs, cats and fish. If you're going to come up with something instead of horses, make sure it has a place in the ecology. Make the horses slightly different, if you wish; make 'em like zebras, but bluish-grey in color. Or given them cloven hoofs. Or make them omnivorous pack (instead of herd) creatures. Don't just do away with them because you want something different. That's not to say that some cultures didn't find large flightless birds more their style, or that some magic-based priesthoods have a rapport with oversized canines or felines, and so on. Remember that fantasy is fun because of the differences in reality, but that reality-based ideas provide plenty of contrast. A real-world horse is fine, but it gives the very rare riding cat that much more oomph, or makes the lizard-riding folk of the savannas that much more strange. Just sayin'...

Re: If you act, as you think . . . Perhaps a collection of gun-fu tricks--indirect, find weakness, etc.--coupled with an EGO roll or some such. Maybe a "Zen Gunnery" skill on which to base the powers/RSR and such.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I should've said no to so many things...

Re: If you act, as you think . . . Did you, by chance, mean "synergy"? Which still doesn't help me understand what you're lookin' for but makes a little more sense...

Re: Gorilla 'mother lode' found in Congo I see it as that one episode of JLU wherein Grodd led followers outside the city in an attempt to subjugate the rest of the world, while the true king tried to stop him (or something like that). I think it's a great idea, but I'd probably go Pulp Hero with it rather than Champions, just cuz I think it'd be a helluvan adventure.

Re: What Makes a Good Non-Human Fantasy Race? I played in a world like that and thought to one day develop the idea. Essentially humans were the first race, and all others stemmed from the various usages and developments of magic in the land. As elemental mana (for lack of better term) was tapped, those with such potential eventually became the world's equivalent to elves, with several "subraces" developing concurrently. As the "binding" magic (that which bound the world) was developed, so too did the race that would eventually fill the traditional dwarf/gnome niche. Other races were created from tainted magic (orcs) or simply from living with the magic instead of using it (halflings, faeries and the like). Some few developed from preying on magic (draconian-like race). The magic of the world--and time/evolution--allowed for a variety of races to populate the planet, but humans were still the oldest race. Those are about all the notes I had as I never developed the idea on my own and I've long since lost touch with the original GM. Still, they helped formulate my own ideas of using fantasy races. For me personally, with the one world I developed fairly extensively, humans populated the main continent and were essentially treated as a European community, with mostly similarities but a few differences between them. Fantasy races filled the niche of other historical cultures, such as Japan (elves), Egypt/Sumeria (dwarves), Gypsy-esque nomads (halflings) and American Indians (orcs). So, to answer the original question of "what makes a good non-human fantasy race" I'd have to say that it's one you are happy with, whether you're a GM or a player.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings "Wurdle wurdle" has to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a comic book.

Re: Opinion wanted about coverage of Detect Life Force power I agree with pretty much everything above. Disc/anal (and yeah, that does look dirty) would allow a person to not only know what sort of life force they were detecting (a middle-aged male in reasonably good health), but would allow them to recognize that particular life force again. Which could be problematic at some point, especially when the middle-age male in reasonably good health has the same exact life force as a particular hero or villain in your campaign... The one thing I don't agree on is the "is there life" question. If you're looking at a body yeah, you can say "is that alive?", but if you're casting about in the dark and there's nothing but corpses (whether you know they're there or not), then no, nothing happens, not "you detect vessels that formerly held life forces". Not sure if Badger was goin' for that or not, but I thought I'd offer my opinion anyway Discriminatory would allow the person to filter out bacteria, insects and so on, too, so you could concentrate on "big" life forms/forces. Probably.

Re: We Loves Us Some Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs It's not important at all. I look for a developed world as a basis for a developed story. Elves, dwarves and orcs are all fine if there's a reason for them being there. Same answer. The world, the story and the potential for fun is the thing, not the trappings of familiarity. I'm okay with that if there's an in-game reason for it. Tree-hugging bow-wielding elves that live for a 1000 years with no good in-game reason don't make sense. A race created by the gods to be caretakers and thus have an affiliation for the land and live a long, long time makes sense. I've played more Tolkien-esque games than anything else, but a few with different and/or no other races, and I'm cool with that. Just make it plausible. In Star Wars you had countless worlds in countless systems to populate the galaxy. In a fantasy world you need a darn good reason to have many random races floating around. I don't believe a single world--even a fantasy one--can support more than a few sentient races, at most, and that's only if they develop independently and completely before mingling. I have just enough anthropology and sociology knowledge to believe that two sentient races developing at the same time in the same place will either fight until one is gone (likely), intermingle to become something new (less likely but possible), or destroy each other. Three or more intelligent races developing on a single world at the same time are bound to come into conflict, so there should be a good reason for their differences. Phooey on that. Don't make sense. I use fantasy races to represent certain real-world cultures that I like. I've had elves modeled after feudal Japan with a touch of Mongol thrown in, dwarves modeled after ancient Egypt/Babylon/Sumeria, and halflings that were as much American Indian as Gypsy. They fill a niche in my worlds, not an expectation. Heck, I've even had Orcs be American Indians in that they were the "evil" race for a while but have been integrated into modern society while still trying to retain their own sense of culture and heritage. I love the stereotypes, and I love changing things up and making the familiar not-so-much. Just have it make sense and I'm happy.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... At this point I pretty much will buy all three authors' books without checking. Stackpole's 'Draconis' series and "Once a Hero" are some of my favorites. Gemmell is (was) another, and Mike Resnick is yet another. Love Resnick's sci-fi. Love it.

Re: Unusual Powers

Re: Confessions of an Online GM Just an afterthought...yeah, maybe he lured Godzilla over to LA to distract the guards, and maybe he did it to hide his presence in the area. A 60'-tall lizard makes a big boom with every step. Seismographs are goin' haywire as it is. Who'd notice a trembler here and there as Moses Magnum does his thing? Plus power outages, superhero distractions, major emergency procedures...it all works in his favor. It's a good idea (if a bit after the fact). By the way, do you know where the sonic ray is located? Make it Hollywood if you haven't already...

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Most excellent read.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings The third puppy is most definitely not the charm.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread. I missed this thread...

Re: how many points to spend on villains What he said. Or as a former GM once said, "...as many as it takes". Just be consistent and write down what you use.

Re: Which super-powered villain would be dumb enough to work for the Black Harlequin? Shadowdragon. The guy's in love with evil and talks to his own darkness. That's gotta appeal to BH on some level...

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Had to work last night. Not bartend so much as cover karaoke and do a little extra catch-up work on the books. I also got to throw a guy out for being a putz, but had to listen to a couple of bar-tards drone on endlessly about nothing in particular. It's part of the job, I know, but Mondays are supposed to be my day off. In any case, I came to a startling conclusion during all this guff: My girl is hawt

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I spent a year getting my life in order. Not that it was totally out of whack, but sometimes it takes that long to undo the kinks, y'know? So anyway, one year after I quit my last job, about 7 months after leaving the band, and about a year since I did any gaming...I'm in a PBEM again and I'm on the boards again, and suddenly my life has taken an icky turn. I haven't even spent that much time on gaming--we're talking a couple hours a week, tops--but things are definitely heading for the crapper. Work stress, personal relationship stress, and school stress, all in one week. Coincidence? Gawd I hope so...

Re: Merc Drat drat and double drat. I just repped you for the other thing and now I find this! Again, good stuff!