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sinanju

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  1. Thanks
    sinanju got a reaction from Duke Bushido in What makes a complete game "complete"?   
    Nope. No subscriptions. It's nothing but a money grab.
     
    If I buy Software 1.0, and it serves my purposes, I don't need or want anything more. IF and when I find it lacking, I can *choose* to pay for an upgrade (Software 1.1 now with flavor!) or a whole new iteration (Software 2.0). But I'm NOT going to pay a monthly or annual subscription just to maintain access to a product I bought.
  2. Like
    sinanju reacted to Brian Stanfield in What makes a complete game "complete"?   
    Ugh! I HATE subscription models! It's a scam. I don't want to keep paying to use the program that I payed for to use. 
  3. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Scott Ruggels in Shapeshift, Transform, and You   
    Except that it's not. I agree with Duke Bushido on this. Transform *actually* turns you into [whatever]. Multi-form *actually* turns you into [whatever]. Shapeshift only presents the ILLUSION that you have turned into someone or something else. And illusion that, unless you buy every sense group in existence, will always be seen thru eventually.
     
    Next time I want to play a shapeshifter, I'm going to use Transform vs Self.
  4. Thanks
    sinanju got a reaction from Lord Liaden in Coronavirus   
    No, I think it's more just taking care that IF she catches the virus, she won't spread it.
     
    She described the laborious, time-consuming, detailed procedure for masking, gowning, and gloving up before entering a patient's room, and then the even more laborious procedure for de-gloving/masking/gowning, and sterilizing the area where this happens when between patients. Also, each nurse is assigned four patient rooms and that nurse and ONLY THAT NURSE enters those rooms. And they have to do this procedure every time they go into or out of the room to do anything. The time-consuming nature of these precautions is why they're each only handling four patients.
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  6. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Duke Bushido in What makes a complete game "complete"?   
    Secret from the other players, not the GM. We use a Google group to email one another about the game(s), and discuss characters. He doesn't want his character sheet posted, or for anything more than the bare minimum about his character to be revealed until the game begins. His rationale is that PCs should learn about one another by interacting in the game, which I understand, but it does make it harder to create a cohesive group--especially beforehand.
  7. Like
    sinanju reacted to Duke Bushido in Shapeshift, Transform, and You   
    Its not a game breaking element in HERO, though.  What he did was a move-through.  Pathfinder apparently did not require him to apply damage to _himself_.  In HERO, he probably wouldn't have done as well. 
     
     
     
     
    Yes and no. 
     
    There is _no_ chance of any character using a power or ability he doesn't already have:
     
    If Animan turns into a bird, he is using his Flight, which he has already bought and paid for.  If he then turns into a mammoth, he is using his STR, his Growth, and possibly his Density Increase--  all of which he has already bought and paid for. 
     
    So why is it "game breaking" when one guy does it by turning into two animals, but perfectly fine for SuperDude to do the same thing with his flight, growth, and Density Increase. 
     
    SD activates his Flight (instantly) and soars skyward.  He turns off his Flight and activates his Growth (also instantly).  As he drops earthward, he wonders if he has the mass needed to crush completely through the deck and the hull below.  Why take chances?  He turns on his DI.  Instantly. 
     
    Nobody has a problem with this. 
     
     
    Thank you; that's kind of you to say. 
     
     
     
    Assuming you are talking about the way we used to have to do it-- the way I still dot  there is no need because it is already limited: it is not a power.  It does absolutely nothing.  It is a special effect for some _actual power_ that is limited by its own build and rules desription. 
     
    What's the _game mechanic difference_ between I punch him, my fist glowing with the power of my additional +4 hand to hand attack. 
     
    And I turn into a gorilla and lay one on him? 
     
    None.  Only the special effect.   And we don't charge for those. 
     
     
     
     
    The only time you have issues is if you are an over-builder:
     
    Someone turns into a mouse as SFX for Shrinking and you insist that he can't be a mouse because he doesn't also have Climbing Skill. 
     
    The problem comes when you demand someone pay for every potential ability that you personally can justify that animal having.  He doesn't need them.  Being a horse is his special effect for using his breath strength and running to carry a wounded comrade to safety.  He doesn't need Leaping just because horses can leap.  I mean, they don't talk or think like people either, but few GMs will require you lose those abilities just because you're a horse, so why does he need to by "wiggle skin at will to shake off house flies" to be a horse? 
     
    He doesn't.  Being a horse is the sfx for being strong and fast.  Period. 
     
    Being instantly able to change shape is exactly as balanced or unbalanced as being instantly able to activate the particular power he is using, period. 
     
    So try this: Entangle, no range. 
     
    I touch him and freeze him in a block of ice. 
    Vines sprout from my finger tips and wrap him securely. 
    I draw the Earth from  beneath his feet and it rises and traps him.
    I use my stretching Power to enlarge my hand and wrap him up. 
    I turn into a giant python and wrap him up. 
     
     
    Why the Hell is one of these just automatically wrong? 
     
  8. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Duke Bushido in Shapeshift, Transform, and You   
    Duke Bushido is a man after my own heart. I love shapeshifting characters (like Mystique), but 6ED Shapeshift sucks for that. I transform into a Schwarzenegger-sized thug or a slinky asian female. If I want it to be convincing, it's gotta cover sight, hearing ,smell, taste, touch--and those are just the basic senses. If you to want to cover *everything*? It's ridiculous. And as DB points out, you never *really* turn into whatever it is, you just pretend to.
     
    There's gotta be a better way.
  9. Like
    sinanju reacted to Duke Bushido in Shapeshift, Transform, and You   
    Ah!  Yes; I see.  Thank you for the clarification.
     
    I apologize in advance for what you have just cut the straps on.  ;)*
     
     
    Loaded question, Sir, but I suspect you already knew that.
     
    So let me answer it as objectively as I can:
     
    _mmmmMaybe_....
     
    See, the thing is, I-- I, you, Doc, Hugh, LL-- anyone who knows the system, really-- can _easily_ paint you a thousand-and-two pictures  of a game broken by T-form on self.  Hell, we can all paint you a picture of how Energy Blast can break the game!  All you have to do is....  take the controls off of it.   Combine NND and Does BODY.  Make it exempt to damage caps.  Put a freakin' AOE and an auto-reset Trigger and even a couple of Autofires on there for good measure.  That's break the _hell_ out of a game right there.
     
    And that's it.  That's the whole thing.  We don't use "T-form (self)" because we don't want to impose limits on T-form.  Ironically, we do it all the time.  Even know, T-form is broken into three district classes (you know: to make it _cheaper_ for a lot of things that are actually _more_ useful than a dead guy, which is still going to cost you 15 /die as a Killing Attack.)
     
    But for some reason, when we see T-form (self), we don't see those limits.  We don't see the GM saying "I want a list of what you can and can't T-form into before game time" or "fine, but no more than X AP in your new form" or _any_ sort of ruling or guidance.  What we see is "holy crap!  he can turn himself into anything; have any power; touch any cap--!  We can't allow that!"
     
    So do I think it's possible to have T-form (self) and it _not_ break the game?  Sure.  Of course I do.
     
    Do I think T-form (self) is just automatically going to break the game?
     
    No more than "Power Pool."  Seriously.  Power Pool can do exactly what T-form (self) can do:  it can give you any power, any ability, touch any limit or cap....
     
    If you take the controls off.  I don't know any GMs who don't limit pool size right off the bat, and most of them demand some sort of thematic thread running through whatever gets pulled out of the pool.  T-form can do it cheaper (if you wait long enough); Power Pools can do it faster (zero phase change?  No problem.    )
     
    Put some heavy borders on T-form (self), and you've got a different sort of Power Pool, and not much else.  So for my money, T-form self is no more broken or dangerous than an unregulated Pool or really, an unregulated anything else.
     
     
     
    Why'd you go and do that?  
     
    The only problem with Shapeshift is that it's not valid because it makes you pay for a special effect.  Well that, and you don't actually shift shape: you just convince everyone else that you did.
     
    You asked for it, my friend.  Please forgive me for doing it this way, but I actually have a "standardize rant" on this subject that I just save and re-paste as needed.  I really didn't want to do that to you, but it's stupidly late here, and I've got to go to work in the morning.  I hope you can forgive this, or at least excuse it long enough for me to have time to think up an all-new rant on this topic.  
     
    Enjoy:
     
     
    First and foremost, I have no idea what edition of HERO / Champions anyone started with.  Most of the membership seems to have started with 3e, but there are few that started with 2e, and a few less (like me) who started with 1e.
     
    The problem I have with the new "official shape shift" is twofold:
     
    1) there was already something in place that worked extremely well.
     
    2) it's not necessary.  You're quantifying and then paying for the quantification of what amounts to a special effect.  I have no idea why this isn't anathema to more people.
     
     
    So to get a summary that might start a conversation, let me offer this:
     
    Only in Heroic ID. 
     
    This is a Power Limitation that I _know_ has been around since 2e, and may have appeared in 1e as well (I really don't remember; I haven't played 1e since I got my first 2e book).  It wasn't in the main book, but was a found in a write-up -- I can't recall if it was a sample of "how to" or an actual character in a supplement; Chris Goodwin could help you with that, if you're interested.  Guy has a mind for details like Hugh does for math. 
     
    Anyway, only in HERO ID rather readily becomes "Only in X ID."  pair it with something like Instant Change, and poof!  Shapeshifter.   Seriously.   Had a character way back when who wanted to emulate some comic book guy (I'm not much up on comics; I love Champions, but never got into comics.  Accordingly, my take on superheroes may be a bit skewed.   ) who had the power to turn into various animals but they all had to be green or grey or-- anyway, they were all the wrong color.
     
    So how did we do that?  How did we do that in any edition prior to 5e?  
     
    Well there was multiform in 4e.  I can't remember where that came from, either.  I want to say it was an old Adventurers Club article, but I could well be wrong.  It could have been Champions III for all I remember-- sorry; when I get tired, my memory gets terrible.  I actually know this answer, and just can't think of it right now.  Not that it's terribly important, of course: the final answer is that Multiform became "officialized" in 4e.
     
    Ironically, we didn't really need _that_, either, as it's pretty much Shape shift all over again:  
     
    I have a guy who turns into different things!
     
    Cool!  A shapeshifter!
     
    No; he doesn't shape shift.  He just turns into different things.
     
    So he turns into multiple forms?
     
    Right.
     
    And each form has a different shape?
     
    Well sure!
     
    Shape shifter.
     
    No!  You're not listening to me...!
     
     
     
    You see how that goes?   
     
     
    Between you and me, I can't help but think that Multiform was implemented to make shape shifting somehow "cheaper," but it bit them in the backside, as it limits the number of shapes into which you can shift.  Perversely, it lets you make a limited number of forms that are extremely powerful, which you may or may not be able to pull off "old school."  You can _certainly_ do it cheaper than new-fangled Shape Shift!
     
     
    So...   absolutely no one before 4e made a shape shifter, ever.
     
     
    Well that's a damned lie, and I can prove it, because I had several players make shape-shifters even before there was a _third_ edition, let alone a fourth.  Plastic Man is a character I am passingly familiar with, and in the mid-eighties, he had a Saturday morning cartoon, and clones just _kept_ popping up in my games for a while. And of course, person-to-an-arkload-of-animals never really went away completely.
     
     
    How where we doing it?   Well that's pretty simple, really:  Only in X ID became "Only in appropriate ID."  Call it "only in Hero ID," if you want, because when he was shifting shapes, well that wasn't as Joey Bagadonuts; that was as the hero!
     
     
     
    Let's back up a bit and examine something:
     
    When you're building a character, what does it cost to be a normal human male?  Wait--- "Nothing?"  Are you _sure_ about that?  Woah-- seriously?  It really costs _nothing_?  You can just say "okay, my guy's a normal human male, about six-foot two (so Batman can still feel tall), two-hundred sixty pounds, thirty-two years of age, brown hair, green eyes-- you can just _be_ all that, and it costs _nothing_?!  Dude, that is _cool_.  I mean, that's just an awesome game right there!
     
    No; wait-- can't fool me!  I've got it now-- what's it cost to be a normal human _female_?   WHAT?!  "Nothing" _AGAIN_?!  No; something can't be right here.  You can be a man or a woman and neither one costs _anything_?
     
    Oh!  It's because I said "normal," right?   So what would it cost to be like, a cyborg or something, with like mechanical legs and an electric heart?  Dude, you are LYING to me!  It can't possibly be _NOTHING_!
     
     
    All right, how about an _alien_?!  Yeah; I want to be a blue-and-red-skinned alien with like a big shark fin on my head and webbed hands and my eyes on like snake stalks and four arms.  How much does _that_ cost?  Wha-- this is BULL, Man!  That can't be free!  Well how about if I wanted to be a robot?  That, too?!   A mannequin possessed by the tormented soul of a Victorian orphan child killed in a ritual satanic sacrifice?  A multi-dimensional hyper-intelligent barracuda?  How about the _car_ Barracuda?  Hemi-cuda?
     
    Dude, how is all that free?!  It doesn't make sense!   Wait?  What's this about "just being?"  So...  'what I am' is just the special effects of 'being'?   That's pretty deep, man...
     
    Oh!  How about if I want to be like, really short, like dwarf tall?!  Free?!  
     
    Well okay, but in what _way_ am I a female alien cyborg?  No, I mean, like, do I just _look_ like one; do I just _sound_ like one; do I just _feel_ like one; do I---?
     
    I "just am?"  So there's no way that someone is going to look at me or put me under a magnifying glass or examine my nostril leavings and go "Oh, wait!  It's just a guy in female alien cyborg suit---- WAIT!  What if I wanted to be a _black guy?_!  That's got to cost, right?   Are you _kidding_ me?!  So I can just _say_ that I am something, and I _am_ that thing?!
     
     
    All right.  I think that horse is as dead as it's going to get. 
     
    Now let's look at that in the context of powers:  If I have -- forgive me if you started with 6e; I don't use much 6e terminology as I didn't start with and don't really use it-- Energy Blast.
     
    If I say "It's fire from my hands," then it's fire from my hands, period.  No other player will question it; no GM will question it.  It _is_ fire, period.
     
    If I say "it's fire from a flame thrower," the exact same thing happens:  it just _is_, and it is because I said it is.  If I say it's gun or a taser or a lightning bolt, that's what it _is_, period, and no sense-- not even the special ones-- is going to determine that it is anything else, because that's the special effect I have chosen.
     
     
    Now let's say that I have a gun that shoots poison-- liquid poison, directly into someone's eyes?  I build it as a Linked attack: it does damage, and it has a Flash Attack, and possibly even a Transform: sighted to blind-- all rolled into one.  No one will for a moment doubt that that gun is real, because that gun _is_ real.  It's the special effect for that attack:  I whip out my "what the hell kind of sick twisted person invented something like this?!" gun and I start doing evil things to every person I can see.  It's valid, because it's the real special effect for my power.
     
     
    Now suppose my character is an alien snake man who "just do" this thing:  maybe he's got little ducts in his teeth and he just spits a venom that does damage, contains a flash and does Transform: sighted to blind.  Who doubts that he-- my character, the alien snake man-- is a real alien snake man?  No matter what "sense group" I probe with, the result is always going to be "alien snake man who isn't a cyborg or a guy dressed up like an alien snake man," right?
     
     
    Now suppose I have that _identical_ power, but my special effect is that I turn into a spitting cobra to do it?
     
     
    Suddenly there's a problem?  Suddenly I _look_ like a spitting cobra, but I smell / feel / taste / sound like a six-foot-two two-hundred-forty pound normal human _camoflagued_ as a spitting cobra?
     
    What the heck, Man?
     
    It's ridiculous.  You are not only being required to pay for a special effect, you are being required to pay _multiple times_ for a special effect: you want to appeal to all eleven possible HERO System senses, right?   _all_ of them!  Not just sight, but infrared sight, too!  It would suck to _look_ like a snake, only to show up in IR scans as a rather large guy in his late thirties.....
     
    So how did we handle shape shift before "the rules finally allowed it?"
     
    Just like that:  it was the special effect for your powers, period.  We could get creative:  if we wanted to "lock out" certain things and "lock in" certain things, "Only in appropriate form." You know:  Only in Heroic ID.   Animal guy (I swear, I _think_ he called himself "Animan," so that we wouldn't realize he was ripping off "Manimal" from the then-popular TV show) had a laundry list of powers, all bought with the limitation "only in appropriate form."  Seriously:  a list of powers and bonuses to his Characteristics, all with that limitation.  If he wanted to fly, he turned into something that could fly.  If he wanted to fly and have excellent perception, he turned into something like that-- a hawk or something: Flight and +4 PER (sight) and telescopic sight (x100), but he had to be a winged raptor of some variety.
     
    If he wanted to be strong, he could turn into an ox.  If he wanted to be strong and have a manipulable appendage-- Gorilla!  Or an elephant...  Bonus!  As an elephant, he could use that +4 PER (Hearing) he has listed for "only in appropriate form".   He could be a cow, a dinosaur, a mule-- whatever he wanted, so long as it was appropriate to the power or powers he was wanting to use at that time.  More PD and Shrinking?  Tortoise!  (no bonus to his movement, though).   Ultimate move-through?  Cheetah, launching itself into the air and becoming a buffalo!
     
     
    All that with a handful of powers.  Strangely, cheaper-- way cheaper-- than just having four or five multi forms, and _better_, too, because he had _unlimited_ forms!  UN-STINKIN'-LIMITED!  
     
     
    And he _was_ those things, because "just being" those things was his special effect, and there was no "versus this off-the-wall sensory concoction reveals that you're an old Brittish sketch comic in a dress and bad wig" nonsense that the current pile that Shape Shift is.
     
    Suppose we had that, back in the old 250-point superhero days (which I still play, incidentally)?  By the time you bought _all_ of your shape shifts and a metric boatload of modifiers to use against your opponent's PER, -- well, you actually _couldn't_, because getting it nearly fool-proof would cost you more points than you actually had at your disposal, and there'd be nothing left to actually buy _useful, functioning_ powers with!
     
    Note that, and note it well:  No matter _how_ much you spend on your Shape Shift under the 5e / 6e rules, you will never actually _be_ the thing.  You will always look / smell / taste / feel / sound like the thing, but never actually _be_ the thing.  There are many, many board members who will tell you that "it's the same," but it is _not_ the same, at least not if you are playing by the rules, _because_ ---
     
    if anyone examining you rolls a natural 3, you're still a female alien cyborg trying to pass yourself off as a designer coffee table.  Amusingly enough, though, by the rules, they will _never_ disprove that you're a female alien cyborg, even if you're actually a middle-aged fat guy string around a table with his friends and some dice, and they will never disprove that because that was the special effect that you chose for "just existing" in the game world.
     
     
    Shape shift is _nothing_, and I mean _nothing_ but a special effect for something else.  At no point in my gaming career (started mid-seventies, with the rest of us old fat guys) have I, in _any_ game system or any character conception, seen "Shape Shift" be the means to its own end: it was _always_ an enabling device for something else, _always_.   And what do we call enabling devices for skills and powers in the HERO System?
     
     
    Special Effects.  They are completely _real_ in game terms, and they are completely _free_.
     
     
     
    Honestly, today-- I mean right up through 6e, if I didn't already have a thirty-year "only in appropriate form" habit, I'd do it with Power Pool  and be done with it.  The only draw back to that approach is that there wouldn't be a laundry list of "pre-boughts" already written out on the C-sheet.  Sure, I could request them, but I'm not likely to change at this point.
     
     
     
     
     
    Yep, and nothing.  It's a matter of perspective:  Oh!  T-form can give you powers you don't have!"
     
    So can Power Pool, and no one bats an eye.
     
    It's all about where you put your controls.
     
    Good night, All.
     
  10. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Chris Goodwin in Easiest software to run a game online   
    You and me both. I hate it when I follow a link to some news item and I get a video instead of text. I want TEXT. A transcript I can skim to see if it's worth my time to read more closely, or to actually watch the video. Usually, I just hit the BACK button and move on. Life is too short to watch a 10 minute video that turns out to be pointless.
  11. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Chris Goodwin in What makes a complete game "complete"?   
    Secret from the other players, not the GM. We use a Google group to email one another about the game(s), and discuss characters. He doesn't want his character sheet posted, or for anything more than the bare minimum about his character to be revealed until the game begins. His rationale is that PCs should learn about one another by interacting in the game, which I understand, but it does make it harder to create a cohesive group--especially beforehand.
  12. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Rails in Easiest software to run a game online   
    You and me both. I hate it when I follow a link to some news item and I get a video instead of text. I want TEXT. A transcript I can skim to see if it's worth my time to read more closely, or to actually watch the video. Usually, I just hit the BACK button and move on. Life is too short to watch a 10 minute video that turns out to be pointless.
  13. Thanks
    sinanju got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in What makes a complete game "complete"?   
    Secret from the other players, not the GM. We use a Google group to email one another about the game(s), and discuss characters. He doesn't want his character sheet posted, or for anything more than the bare minimum about his character to be revealed until the game begins. His rationale is that PCs should learn about one another by interacting in the game, which I understand, but it does make it harder to create a cohesive group--especially beforehand.
  14. Sad
    sinanju got a reaction from Sociotard in Coronavirus   
    I work at a hospital (in the liver transplant clinic offices, not dealing with patients). I'm in a group of four, two pre-transplant, two post-transplant. Last Friday they had us begin working from home 4 days a week, each of us coming in on a different day to do the tasks we can't do from home (printing and mailing letters, scanning documents, etc). Today they announced that starting next week only ONE of us will come in each week to handle all of that for the whole group. So my next trip to the office will be April 9th. The game store where I play in a twice-monthly game has suspended hosting games there til at least mid-April (though they're still open for business). My gym closed too. Fun fun fun.
  15. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Chris Goodwin in What makes a complete game "complete"?   
    Yeah, I'd be happy to do a Session Zero character building session before a new campaign, but many players in our group--John, in particular--really likes keeping his character concept/powers/build a secret until the game starts.
  16. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Chris Goodwin in What makes a complete game "complete"?   
    Given the GM of that game, and the game he's running, I think your character fits in quite well.
     
    For those of you in the audience, we have a Jewish clay golem character, the Easter Bunny (yes, really), a reskinned Daniel Jackson using a sentient katana, a traditional superheroine (my character), and a cartoon Ostrich who sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger (Chris G). It's a...weird game. It was pitched as 500 points with a 200-point limit on powers and otherwise anything goes. Given that, I think the character designs have been fairly reasonable.
     
    My own Wild Cards-based Hudson City game is one where I do vet the characters, and I'm not shy about deciding a character won't work in it--or about making changing if a character turns out to be a problem once they're in. (I long ago instituted Rule Zero for any campaign I run: the characters must all be willing and able to work together. If your character's personality, hygiene, appearance, or some other aspect makes it unreasonably difficult for you to interact with the other PCs...do something else.)
  17. Haha
    sinanju got a reaction from Brian Stanfield in What makes a complete game "complete"?   
    Given the GM of that game, and the game he's running, I think your character fits in quite well.
     
    For those of you in the audience, we have a Jewish clay golem character, the Easter Bunny (yes, really), a reskinned Daniel Jackson using a sentient katana, a traditional superheroine (my character), and a cartoon Ostrich who sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger (Chris G). It's a...weird game. It was pitched as 500 points with a 200-point limit on powers and otherwise anything goes. Given that, I think the character designs have been fairly reasonable.
     
    My own Wild Cards-based Hudson City game is one where I do vet the characters, and I'm not shy about deciding a character won't work in it--or about making changing if a character turns out to be a problem once they're in. (I long ago instituted Rule Zero for any campaign I run: the characters must all be willing and able to work together. If your character's personality, hygiene, appearance, or some other aspect makes it unreasonably difficult for you to interact with the other PCs...do something else.)
  18. Haha
    sinanju got a reaction from Spence in What makes a complete game "complete"?   
    Given the GM of that game, and the game he's running, I think your character fits in quite well.
     
    For those of you in the audience, we have a Jewish clay golem character, the Easter Bunny (yes, really), a reskinned Daniel Jackson using a sentient katana, a traditional superheroine (my character), and a cartoon Ostrich who sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger (Chris G). It's a...weird game. It was pitched as 500 points with a 200-point limit on powers and otherwise anything goes. Given that, I think the character designs have been fairly reasonable.
     
    My own Wild Cards-based Hudson City game is one where I do vet the characters, and I'm not shy about deciding a character won't work in it--or about making changing if a character turns out to be a problem once they're in. (I long ago instituted Rule Zero for any campaign I run: the characters must all be willing and able to work together. If your character's personality, hygiene, appearance, or some other aspect makes it unreasonably difficult for you to interact with the other PCs...do something else.)
  19. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Oruncrest in Unlock Anything power   
    I'd use Tunneling, with the Limitation/Special Effect that it only works on existing doors/windows/gates/etc. Whenever you want to go thru a door, hey--it's unlocked! How conveeeeeenient. Then I can close it behind me (the "fill in behind" option for Tunneling) and my pursuers can't follow me.
  20. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Scott Ruggels in Unlock Anything power   
    I'd use Tunneling, with the Limitation/Special Effect that it only works on existing doors/windows/gates/etc. Whenever you want to go thru a door, hey--it's unlocked! How conveeeeeenient. Then I can close it behind me (the "fill in behind" option for Tunneling) and my pursuers can't follow me.
  21. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Spence in Two Questions: Map Scale and Campaign Preparation   
    I'm 61 and I've been gaming a long time.
     
    I use 1 hex = 1 meter, since we're using the 6ED ruleset. Occasionally I use scaled down print-outs of buildings (restaurants, apartments, bases) so everyone has an idea of the layout, but the actual combat takes place at 1 hex = 1 yeard on a Battlemat.
     
    I always write up my notes before a session. I create NPCs in Hero Designer and print them out. I have a binder with the NPC character sheets, and another binder with NPC "headshots" with their names and hero names/job titles as appropriate. I write up notes on what's going on in the campaign city, and what the bad guys are up to, and how the PCs might encounter them. In the most recent session, the PCs (who have made a name for themselves in the game) began encountering NPC journalists (some hostile, some friendly) in planned encounters initially; after that, it depends on how the PCs react.
     
    My notes on the NPCs (Villains in particular) tend to cover the same things:
    1. What does he want? (Wealth? Power? Revenge? What, specifically, does that mean to him?)
    2. How does he plan to obtain it? Rob a bank? Hold the city for ransom? Murder someone?  [This is his plan. Unless he's a newbie, he knows it will go awry, probably sooner than later--but this is the plan.]
    3. What resources are available to him? His own powers? Minions with guns? Minions with powers? Allies? Pawns?
    4. How does he plan to handle resistance (from the authorities,  bystanders or victims, or the PC heroes)? Will he try to bribe people (mostly early on, before the overt crime happens)? Threaten them? Hostages? Murder? Distractions?
    5. When things go off the rails, how quickly does he recognize it, and how quickly does he abort? [This often plays into his Psychological Complications. How clear-headed is he about it all?]
     
    While the NPC has a plan, I don't need a detailed if/then flowchart. I don't assume the PCs will do anything in particular, and whatever they do, I can improvise the bad guy's reactions. Sometimes they ignore what's happening and the bad guy happily proceeds with his plan behind the scenes and they only find out later. Sometimes they do exactly the right thing and foil him without ever even knowing it. Mostly they stumble across a plot, investigate, and face increasing resistance until the big battle.
  22. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from iamlibertarian in Unlock Anything power   
    I'd use Tunneling, with the Limitation/Special Effect that it only works on existing doors/windows/gates/etc. Whenever you want to go thru a door, hey--it's unlocked! How conveeeeeenient. Then I can close it behind me (the "fill in behind" option for Tunneling) and my pursuers can't follow me.
  23. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Grailknight in Unlock Anything power   
    I'd use Tunneling, with the Limitation/Special Effect that it only works on existing doors/windows/gates/etc. Whenever you want to go thru a door, hey--it's unlocked! How conveeeeeenient. Then I can close it behind me (the "fill in behind" option for Tunneling) and my pursuers can't follow me.
  24. Like
    sinanju reacted to unclevlad in So, your two statements... What are they/would they be?   
    Mine need a bit of background.  Basically, the world setup would be Marion Harmon's Wearing the Cape world.  The base setting is our world.  In the fairly recent past, an Event happened...the world, for lack of a better term, blinked.  EVERYONE blacked out for ~ 3 seconds...and yes, this led to a TON of accidents.  But starting then, and ever since, when people find themselves under tremendous stress, SOMETIMES they suddenly gain superpowers.  Maybe it's seeing your grandma collapse from a heart attack, or a truck is jackknifing in front of you and you're gonna get *crushed*.  SOMETIMES...BOOM!!  
     
    You have no conscious control, BUT the powers tend to be linked to responding to the situation and your personal mindset.  That is...in the crash...Avoid?  Teleport, perhaps.  Tough it out?  You become a brick.  Is this always a good thing?  No.  The end product may be decidedly NOT normal.  
     
    It's a good premise, I think, for Champs Now, as it really bundles the people/powers/problems package nicely, especially at origin.  
     
    So, statement 1 is "Be careful what you wish for."  #2:  Humanity is Tested.
     
     
  25. Like
    sinanju got a reaction from Lord Liaden in Fantasy Immersion and the Things that Ruin it.   
    I've got this idea for a fantasy game (or novel, I suppose) in which all the classic fantasy "races" exist: elves, dwarves, goblins, orcs, giants, minotaurs, etc. Everything but humans. They're all the creations of a long-gone Ancient civilization. They were created at slaves, cannon fodder, "monsters" for hunts (the Ancients liked the most dangerous game), and playthings. Except humans. Because they're like breeds of dogs--unless you carefully police their bloodlines, they quickly degenerate into mongrels, i.e., humans. Given that the Ancients vanished long ago, there are a LOT of humans. They are, in fact, the majority of the humanoid population. All the other races exist as well, but mostly in their own lands, where they've carefully controlled their breeding for all these centuries. Sometimes they practice "exposure" of infants who aren't X enough. Sometimes they simply expel (or otherwise ostracize) someone who doesn't meet their standards. A lot of "elves" and "dwarves" wandering the world outside their own enclaves aren't *really* elves and dwarves, at least according to their own kind (though these individuals wi'l probably never admit it, and might even fight you for saying it). If you're sufficiently "off" from the ideal, you're a half-elf or half-orc or whatever. And even more reviled.
     
    In fact, the only ones more reviled than half-breeds are complete mongrels--i.e., humans. Yes, they're the largest population, and they're not as strong as dwarves (on average), or as graceful as elves (on average), and so forth. But they're tough and overall pretty successful as a race, and they breed like rabbits. And with no regard for lineage--well, except the sad few who occasionally try to claim there's a Human standard, but even most other humans are like, "Dude--give it up. We're all mongrels. Embrace it."
     
    Which handily explains why the various other races (or sub-races, if you like) all have fairly specific descriptions. If they don't meet that standard, they're not really that race. And why humans come in all shapes and sizes and colors (hair, eyes, skin). And why, of course, every race is convinced that *they* are the pinnacle of humanoid forms, and everyone else is inferior. Good enough for a traveling/adventuring companion, maybe, but you wouldn't want your sister to marry one. Especially those humans.
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