talisman

I had a character who died, but refused to accept death. As a result, his spirit re-animated his own corpse. His body could take massive amounts of damage with very little effect (damage reduction). At the same time, because he was free of the need for his nervous system to send reactions to his body parts, he had increased reflexes and stats. It was great describing the horrifyingly gross effects of any damage he took. "...his liver is hanging out of the hole in his back that Mechanon just blasted, and his lower two back ribs are showing..."

I'm sorry, but duct tape exceeds the 30 point rule pretty badly. Based on my real world experiences, duct tape represents about a 60 point VPP. There's almost no limit to what this stuff can do.

I'd love to see a write-up for various effects. Gas clouds, for example (they cover a large area and fade after a certain time period). Also, I'd love to see some discussion concerning the unique game concepts that gadgets bring up: -a table to relate gadget size to OCV modifiers to hit the gadget -a guidline for how damage to a gadget might effect the gadget's abilities. -repair timetables for gadget damage -skill lists and skill roll modifiers to build and repair gadgets. ...and last but not least: GRAPHICS!! Lots and lots of pretty pictures...

As a martial artist, I do allow the block/strike combo in my games. In real life, this is actually a very effective technique called trapping (Jet Li is an expert at this, you can also see a lot of it in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), in which you can block/strike, grab/strike, or throw and strike. Of course, if any of my players wants to use these techniques, I actually make him/her learn it so that they know I will control when and where they can use it.

I onced ran a game in golden champions for ten sessions so that I could have a kind of "history" for my modern game that the players felt some investment in. After the ten sessions, they had to write a history for their characters that brought them up to the modern day. In two cases, the players chose modern characters that were the children and grandchildren of their original characters. One of the best was the fire-elemental type character whose father had never aged and who had become like the "superman" of our game. If all else failed, Nuclon (the dad) would show up and rescue Wildfire. Although he played both characters originally, Wildfire developed quite a complex about his uber-powerful dad rescuing him. I always thought it would be fun to do the opposite, and have a PC's kid be more powerful than the PC. Those teenaged rebellion years would be very interesting.

I had a character who could control any form of metal, and faced some dilemmas as well. Some of the ideas I used were: TK: only to manipulate metal. Basically, I can lift things, but only with the metal that might be around. In your case, perhaps TK with fine manipulation to "work machine controls" Mind Control: obviously limited to metal, but also to control power armored characters and robots (I was controlling the physical power suit, but not the body inside it; it was along for the ride). I agree, however, that a small VPP is usually a good idea for "special circumstances." I had a 30 point VPP to make things like weapons and armor from cars, transformation attacks on large objects (of course, it took a long time), etc.

While still maintaining the concept of your character as a brick, I've found that you can make him/her a boxer or pro wrestler, and take a martial art. The increases that the manuevers can give on things like ocv and dcv allow you to take a lower dex and still hit people, while the increased damage is great too. Taking a martial dodge allows you to actually not be hit rather than absorbing damage. By calling it boxing or wrestling, you still don't "step on the toes" of the martial artist (especially if you don't have a high dex).

AlHazred: E-mail me and I'll send you the pictures.

An idea for a picture: if you search out "concept art" and zeppelin, you should get some of the stuff for Command & Conquer. When you do, there were about 6 unused and very cool pictures of zeppelins that look very menacing.

"Law & Order" changed my perception of how the process of the criminal justice system works. In Cop Shows, it was enough that the police or the detective found the bad guy. Now, I realize how important the trial can really be. Here are some plot ideas based on this premise: a) can the PCs give testimony that's considered valid while maintaining their Secret IDs? does all of the collateral damage that comes along with a fight in public go unnoticed? Are the PCs criminally liable for the damages? c) Can the PCs be called up as expert witnesses (this is great for a solo adventure, when your other players can't be there). I always had trouble planning out disaster games because of all the homework: looking up the damage of falling concrete or planning for falling bits of debris, etc. I always found it easier to do something like a disease.

My favorite: 150 presence. This guy scared pretty much everybody all the time. He was a hippy, and even losing dice for situations, could pretty much just give the "peace" symbol with his fingers and make Mechanon run away