Vanguard00

Re: An Intelligence Agency Cat Burglar

Re: Dinosaur Planet

Re: Dinosaur Planet Man, National Geographic is teaching me a lot these days. I know this is a little late in the discussion and that you've moved on, but since I just came across it I thought I'd share: In a recent issue of NG, one article discussed the size of dinosaurs. As in, why they were so big. One theory is basic evolution/adaptability/experimentation. In short, dinosaurs grew that big because they could. It was a way for natural selection to pick and choose the most appropriate size. Since larger bones/fossils are more easily preserved, the false impression is that there were many many of the huge variety, when in fact it's more probable that there was a much greater variety of smaller dinosaur than larger. Their bones just didn't stand the test of time as well. Another consideration regarding mammals and their size has to do with the introduction the various Homo species (Homo erectus, Homo sapien, whatever the Neandertal man was...). Basically, dinosaurs had a much longer period of time to grow and evolve than mammals did, and by the time mammals were gaining the upper hand on the ecology, humanoids were on the scene doin' some killin' and eatin'. In short, mammals never got that large because they never had the chance (whereas they did in the ocean; thus, whales). This might help you figure out the general ecology and the whys and wherefores of your dominant species.

Re: Favorite Super-Mercenary Of the four given, I've only had extensive experience as a player with Mechassassin; our GM played him as a nemesis quite well. I'm another who'll always have a soft spot for Utility, however. The origin story originally presented combined with seemingly unlimited plot potential was one of the reasons Utility was virtually the only Hero System character to make an appearance in every campaign we ran back in the day. Wow...glad I'm not the only one who always loved this guy. He and Whiplash/Blacklash were the inspiration behind many heroes and villains in my younger gaming days.

Re: Champions Universe Plot Hole Plugging Aah. I gotcha. You're not looking for explicit gaps in CU history or content, but rather more realistic and/or rational explanations for issues/plot devices that might not have been addressed, or adequately so. That's gonna be hard for me to address, myself, cuz I tend to mentally add rationales very similar to the one you provided above automatically upon reading, even if I never actually come out and say it (mainly because it might not come up in-game). It's just something I do as a matter of course. Still, it might be fun to see what people come up with. I'll see if I can think of any. If nothing else it'd be good mental exercise.

Re: Champions Universe Plot Hole Plugging I admit that I haven't read all the information provided by the CU books for relavent plot holes (not sayin' there aren't any, but if they're not glaring I apparently missed 'em). Do you have something specific to address? Something to start us off? Or are you just fishing. And I don't mean that as negatively as it sounds...merely curious as to the origin of the question(s).

Re: Character name help needed Soulfire

Re: "Neat" Pictures Just something I thought was 'neat'...

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat BAM! "Ack." gurgle. Thud.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat I left them on my other pockets. NT: Things you can say to your dog but probably shouldn't say to your significant other.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Totally OT...

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat The one-legged-frog-on-a-freeway stroke.

Re: C.U. alternate world, after "Independence Day" I always had it in the back of my mind that the aliens were pretty much NOT an invasion force as much as they were moving from place to place in their every-present search for new materials to power their ships/homes. Having decimated their own home world they set out in search of new planets to strip. A vicious circle, if you will, of "we have all this power but need fresh/new resources to power it; to get the fresh/new resources we need we must have all this power." Just my take on it.

Re: Character Art I'm a Herophile. Big time. Own everything in print Hero has out right now. I own most of 1st-4th edition books, too, regardless of the actual publisher. I own a couple of GRG's San Angelo and related books. I don't own a single thing by Blackwyrm. Am I missin' out big time? Just a little? Help me out, folks. Review this stuff for me, would ya?

Re: Bye all We all agree he had some good ideas and some intelligent input, but apparently even you agree he was a pain. For some (a few? several? many? most?) it never dropped off, and I, for one, was sick of him bashing DoJ and everyone who he considered a 'fanboy' or just stupid--which, if you read the majority of his posts, included just about everyone at some point. We're not saying "I hope Fox1 suddenly bursts into flame!". We're just saying we won't necessarily miss him. Obviously some of us don't know him as well as others apparently do, but that was his loss, not ours.

Re: Disadvantage One of my old GM's taught me a few things about disadvantages and their uses. He often used the disadvantages listed on a character sheet, just not in the way we'd expect. For example, one of my hunted's managed to hit the very bank at which my PC patronized. It wasn't a "hey, this villain is here! Go get him!" It was more along the lines of "while you're out doin' whatever, you hear the report of your bank being hit and your money being taken. It'll take several days before your money is released. By the way, rent's due..." Hunteds have been used by me and against me in a variety of ways without the hunted ever actually being seen. I believe it's up to the GM to make 'em worth their points, and it can be done. In another situation, which ties in to the ice/cold vulnerability example above, my character was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and got nailed by freon (or something similar) while we were helping to fight a chemical fire. I twitched whenever I saw even a small fire extinguisher after that, much less if I saw a tanker truck or something. The enraged thing I used on a guy when his PC beat the tar out of a baddie, but he wouldn't stop hitting him, even after he was down. The whole thing was caught on film and became a PR nightmare. If someone tries to pick some esoteric compound or material to take damage from (i.e. throbmoanium, which I never wanna know its origin), I will often work it into the storyline that that very same material is now being used in some way where the PC might come into contact with it. I know some of y'all can break it down with numbers and such, but I tend to try to aim for usage over alteration. I can work with the points as they stand just fine without worrying about changing the roll numbers, the costs, etc. Just my two pennies.

Re: Book suggestions? Jerry Pournelle CoDominion Series #1 King David's Spaceship #2 West of Honor #3 The Mercenary Falkenberg's Legions Series w/S.M. Stirling #1 Prince of Mercenaries #2 Falkenberg's Legions #3 Go Tell the Spartans #4 Prince of Sparta

Re: Pulp-era resources, if anyone is interested.

Re: Bye all Hey! I'm right here! It would've been nice had Fox1 been able to convey his ideas in a less belligerant manner. I recognize a lot of intelligence behind some of his posts, but frankly he annoyed the bejeezus outta me every time he came down on Hero Games, the system, most of the people using it, etc.

Re: Book suggestions? The Nicholas Seafort series! Ha! David Feintuch wrote 'em, and they have names like "Midshipman's Hope", "Challenger's Hope", etc. whew! Like I said, not as good as Helmsman, IIRC, but not bad. Okay, time to go rest my brain. Too many friggin' 'Davids' writin' books these days...

Re: Book suggestions? Yeah, Gerrold, not Weber. Thanks. It wasn't The Helmsman series, but it's similar. The Helmsman series was better, I think. Crap. I'm gonna have to do some digging for those books now...

Re: Willpower: a power? I'm thinkin' Damage Reduction right now, to simulate some degree of "I'm not gonna let that stop me!" action. Being able to take the damage and keep going, if only for a short time. Well, I don't consider myself an abusive player. If I want to do something more than once or twice I'll buy powers for it. Chances are I'll be able to come up with most of the 'pushes' I want initially, leaving only rare applications out of the mix. Thanks for the ideas, folks! If anyone has more, sing out!

Re: "Hudson City" like graphic novels It sounds like you are unfamiliar with Hero rules in general, so my suggestion takes that into account. Read the whole thing. You need to get a feel for the rules before diving into the system. You'll need to be familiar with all the components of the characters (characteristics, skills, talents, perks, powers, disads), and some of the optional rules pertaining to such. You'll want to know about combat, movement, time... Um, I'd probably just end up listing the table of contents. Seriously, plan on sitting down and reading it, even if you're only skimming some sections. I know it sounds like a chore, but it could save you a lot of headache later on. You'll want to familiarize yourself with the rules so you can at least know where to look for 'em when you need 'em. Perhaps someone else has a better approach, but that's my recommendation. G'luck, by the way

Re: Book suggestions? David Weber's "Voyage of the Star Wolf" is one I was thinkin' of (couldn't get past his Honor Harrington books) There's a series of books--of which I can remember neither the author nor any titles--that followed the exploits of an ensign as he rose through the ranks of the 'space navy' to become an admiral. There were at least half-a-dozen books, and after a while they became somewhat formulaic. However, they dealt with life aboard a starship (a variety of 'em, actually) and 'space navy' combat, and might provide good flavor. Unfortunately, unless someone knows of which I speak, you might have to wait for the titles. I might have one or two books in the series, but if I do they're in storage.

Re: Book suggestions? Prior to Firefly, the only sci-fi author I'd read who I thought captured the whole "Wild West In Space" feel was Mike Resnick. Books like "Santiago", "Widowmaker", "Oracle", and "Outpost" are rich with characters of all types, and the sci-fi tech is only a background to it. I pretty much buy anything by Resnick without even looking at the summary because chances are it's gonna be a darn good tale. I'd also recommend Simon Greene's "Deathstalker" series for good sci-fi adventure romp. Joel Rosenberg's "Emile and the Flying Dutchman" is good fun in the tradition of Han Solo-type adventure. For military sci-fi, I have yet to come across better than David Drake and John Ringo (writing together or separately). Jerry Pournelle ranks up there, as well. Harry Harrison's "Stainless Steel Rat" books could lend some flavor, as could Keith Laumer's "Retief" books. I know there's more but I'm blankin' on author names right now....