SimComm

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Well, I didn't want to make it a big mystery or anything. My name is Japanese (I'm Japanese, there's a lot of Japanese in NY, so I guess that's not giving away anything big). But there's probably not that many girl Japanese Champions GM's out there... Sorry to be so evasive, it's not like I'm trying to tease anyone, it's just that I'm sort of worried about the whole safety issue (I know you all are nice, but you never know who may come across these replies... Maybe I'm just over-worrying again...) -SC

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi? bubba_smith: A tetsubo is a large metal club (japanese) usually with spikey bits on it. I know it from all the Oni (japanese monster) stories. It's pretty much the polar opposite of a katana (japanese sword), as it's not delicate/sensible. They were actually used as war weapons too (as I understand), but as you can imagine, they have some limits to their application (it's a big club!) The tonfa, on the other hand, is just kind of like a police nightstick (that's the closest american equivalent). In Japanese stories, if you want to make a character "extra manly" you make sure he's not shaven, extra grunty in his responses, openly drinks, and wields a tetsubo -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Lemming: This quote actually made my draw drop in sheer metaphysical horror. I'll uh, do my best to try and bring it up to par -SC

Re: That Mechanon fella jest ain't right: a roleplay question I've always thought Mechanon was kind of sad/tragic. He's basically seen enough of the horrible things that humanity has done and has decided to destroy it. Which is really sad, as he's a powerful, intelligent AI that could do a lot of good. :sniff: Sorry, I like mecha -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Sort of a weird question, but when do threads stop? My loner problem is kind of done for a bit, and I've noticed that it's been mostly my insane J-girl craziness lately. I like this thread, but I don't want it to get locked if we go off topic or something? -SC

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi? bubba_smith: Oh, bad manners, thank you for the rep-tonfa! I like the tonfa, but you might want to try the rep-tetsubo, it's more manly Odraude: Hmm, an interesting idea. Might try it for one of the alternate worlds... Best, -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? You know I was going to almost break my cardinal rule and PM you my name and then I saw this: Can't give out intimate information to a guy who thinks I'm 18! (I'd still be living with my parents. Yikes!) I'm at least... kind of older than that! -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Oh my... !revelc yrev -SC

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Oh, I forgot to add one from yesterday. The PCs are all at a "Super Party," and one of the characters, a hot, but snarky sorceress is being hit on. Beefcake Guy: Hey, baby, what's your power? Red: Ranged Castration. -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? I sort of wish it was fancy like that. My folks gave me an old-fashioned name that people always have to ask me to spell I would try to guess another person's name, but I am horrible at it, you have no idea (Although if your name was Harry, that'd be great ) -SC

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi? Thank you all for the replies! I'm glad to see how magic is done all over! I've actually been thinking about adding in alternate dimensions that are close to the original one (My robot ninja is from one, for example, but it's a really divergent future), so it would be interesting to see if I could change how magic/psi is handled. After thinking about things, I must admit that my first real game experience was in World of Darkness, and I had a great time with a campaign that kind of has echos to this one. I'm not sure if I should write about that, as this is the Champions board. If you all like, I can, but I don't want to fill up things if people aren't familiar with the system/don't like it. I know there's a lot of VtM dislikers out there... (Can't say I blame some of them either, I tried a few other games that were... not so great...) -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Haha, I'm so tempted to almost give another clue to my name, but I think this way lies despair/madness. I know just a first name might not mean much, but my name's a bit different (it's not English for one), so it would sort of single me out. SSgt Baloo: Thanks for the compliment (sorry if it seemed like I was fishing for one, after re-reading my lines of self-deprecation, I guess it could seem like it. I wasn't really looking for one, it's sadly just how I write...) I guess I might find someone who could put up with me someday, but I'm not really searching. I figure that I'll have to put my life together before I think of adding anyone else to the mix. But since I just found a bunch of friends (who'll listen to my nonsense), it'll be good enough. BTW, I love kaiju! (really non-girly I know) But... why is putting something in his pants? And why does he have pants? -SC

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi? Stone: They are technically agents. (In the loosest meaning of the word ) As Harry's put it many a time, "Don't let little things like death threats from insanely powerful beings keep you from doing what's right." So if there's a vulnerable character who seems to do magic, but might be best NOT scooped up, they won't, and they'll excuse it (though it'll be frowned on with consequences, but the group will gladly take it). Their cover is that they're "metahuman independant contractors"/PIs, and thus get called by the police if anything unusual pops up. (They're much more available than the 4-colors who are out saving the world on a constant basis.) They also do umm... "side jobs" to make ends meet. (The Council doesn't believe in money as a concept, but refuse to let anyone use their magic to conjure gold or whatnot. Likewise, the Psi-Mind refuse to send anything that will let it be traced back to them) CourtFool: Actually, Dreamy was introduced to the cast after an adventure was done just to PREVENT an outright war. She's the "bargaining chip" that keeps both sides happy. Sort of. (Ok, not really, but less seething than otherwise ) -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? CourtFool: Thanks! I'm so far from "Ms. Perfect" you have no idea! And I'm glad I'm not alone with this whole "FMS" issue Tasha: Thank you as well! I really am glad for all the good advice. In a way, I hope he eventually does come back (though later!) just so that I know that he hasn't given up RPG's forever. (Is it bad that I'm starting to worry about this too? Probably...) Until then, I'm just going to enjoy how things are right now -SC

Re: How does your world handle Magic/Psi? Wow, thanks for all of the great replies! And, um, I'm glad people are interested in my setting, I'll try and explain things more. In my setting, Magic and Psi have been around MUCH longer than Super-Powers, back to the dawn of humanity sort of thing. Magic, though it can be taught to many, runs heavily through families for the really powerful abilities. A long time ago (sometime during the Renaissance Era), a group of really powerful wizards got together and basically toned down the magic of the entire world so that normals couldn't get access to spells, magic creatures would fade of existance, and make the world a bit safer. Thus entered the Age of "Science." However, magic is still there, just in limited amounts, and the Council of Eldars (as the Immortal wizards are now calling themselves) have always sent out agents to try and find out if there's anything dangerous wandering around. There aren't that many wizards, so they've usually been quiet. Hellraiser (Harry) sort of threw this on its ear, when the PC decided that he'd go public and make himself into a "super-hero." Super-Heroes, being sort of a new phenomenon (I mean, they've only been around for less than a century ), made the Council worry (and gave Harry ANOTHER Hunted), but gave Harry and his crew an excuse to be doing weird things out in the open. They just can't truthfully explain why things happen the way they do. It's fun, especially when they run into all of the really weird 4-color aspects. My most recent fun memory with them (actually yesterday) was when the Mayor decided to throw a "welcome back" party for one of the new heroines (actually a hero/heroine... it's complicated...), and the heroes were forced to deal with a "Super-Party." Large, muscular swaggering guys talking about who can bend the most steel, fly the highest, etc. Psionics are done a bit differently, as they decided fairly recently (about 1950 or so) to pull themselves COMPLETELY out of the normal world. Basically, they all got together with their agents and mindwiped the entire planet so that nobody would remember anything about psychic powers. Their agents did their best cleaning up the more "physical" aspects and capturing anyone who showed any psi ability (which, since it is pretty much genetic, is kind of rare). They all live in camoflaged convents in secluded parts of the world, and really just don't want to deal with the real world. Their agents (many of who have "mild" psychic abilities) aren't so lucky, and have to be on the lookout for anything "unusual." The Council of Eldars and the Psi-Mind (the name for the "universal hive mind" that is the psychics) know of each other and reluctantly work together. I hope this explains more! -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Thank you all for the advice! I do feel a lot better. I guess it did end well after all, and I'll try to do a "cryptic farewell" sort of thing for BloodClaw. I think I mostly worry because Harry's one of my oldest friends and I worry that I might do something ill-advised unintentionally. Actually I worry about this kind of thing alot, especially the day after a session. (My BFF has nicknamed this a FMS (F (my real name) Mental Syndrome), as I used to call her up in panic-like fits after every session; I've gotten better, really! ) And I am really working on the self-confidence thing. I think I've gotten better mostly thanks to RPGs, especially now that I'm a GM from time to time. In the game I'm pumped up and fine, but afterwards there tends to be umm... concern Thanks again! -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Dear All, I was trying to write back replies, but really, they're all going to say the same thing: Thank you SO MUCH for all of your support!! I guess now the only thing I have to deal with LABC (Life After BloodClaw) is trying to figure out what I should do with his character (I usually put them on a bus), and also what if he should come back?? I have no idea if he will... Also, wanted to get feedback on something, as I'm always a bit worried about things like this. Did I take the "easy way out" and basically get Harry to do my "dirty work" for me? I now feel kind of bad that I may have inconvenienced him and made him trouble with his friend (even though I didn't like BloodClaw doesn't mean that he didn't...) Should I have buckled down and talked to the guy myself?? (Sorry to keep asking things like this all the time, really, really unsure all the time on things like this...) Thank you! -SC

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... The male lead PC after "succeeding" an EGO roll to not stare at a girl's rather ample chest, for some reason continues to do so. His reasoning: "Those bazooms are at least a -6 penalty!" Massive dice-throwing occurred afterwards, but all in good sport -SC

Hi All, I will post in my other threads, but I had a question first, that's been brewing for a bit, hope you don't mind Just wanted to know how other people hand Magic and Psionics. Our world has no official knowledge of Magic or Psi, as both have a sort of "secret society" that scoop up any signs of weirdness and keep them hidden away from sight. They try to have a "non-interference" clause with the rest of normal society. The world, however, is pretty standard Super-fare, with four-color heroes and such. The main hedge of the game runs around a group of heroes with magical abilities, who are (I hate to use the word, as it has certain connotations ) masquerading as four-color heroes with public identities, working out of a private investigation-style office to try and help out the city (which is New York City). I know this is a bit unusual for standard Champions fare, but I've been having a LOT of fun with it, especially since it forces the PCs to deal with the more "flamboyant" four-color world as well as having the standard secrets (tho not SI) and magical things that they have to try and keep quiet. Please let me know what you think of my world, and also let me know how you handle these sorts of things in yours. Thanks -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Hi All, Thank you so much for the many replies and help! I'll try to get to individual posts, but I'm going to try not to write too much at the moment, lest I repeat the bad habits of last night Well, it was an interesting night. After all of the mess with BloodClaw, I actually got to the session a little late, and I saw Red, Dreamy, and oh yeah, the Maiden. The new male/female character was starting tonight and I had kind of forgotten (wow, smooth move GM!). The really noticably absent parts were no BloodClaw and... no Harry So, we started gaming for a while, introducing Maiden to Red, some hijinks ensue, and Red eventually deduces out that Maiden's not a woman (I later found out that Maiden and Dreamy told her before I arrived, but it made her look impressive ) We're into the game for a bit, and I'm scrambling to try and figure out a plot hook (Harry's agency is my #1 fallback for plots), when who walks in, but Harry!!! Without BloodClaw! I sort of asked what happened, and Harry said that his friend decided to "do something different tonight." Wow. Just wow. So, we start gaming, and it's not until the PCs are introducing Maiden to Harry, that I realize that in all the madness, nobody's told Harry the uh, special secret that Maiden has. (She's actually a teenage boy with the magic ability to become a woman. Yes, she's also unavoidably hot) So, Red and Dreamy trade notes and I think they decide to see how long it takes the "PI" to figure it out. It actually took a LONG time, mostly because Harry was hamming it up about how he's a fan of Maiden and giving off these kind of funny little looks. Intervention eventually became necessary, as he kept staring at his (the PC's) chest for a full minute or so. Red piped up and said something snarky, and he responded that he'd need an EGO roll. He rolled pretty well, then kept on staring. I asked why he did that, and he said that "with bazooms like that, it's at least a -6 penalty." I forget who threw the first dice at him, but soon it was full on dice-throwing mayhem, with everyone eventually lying around laughing their tails off. We even went for drinks afterwards, and Harry was nice enough to buy drinks for everyone (yay, didn't have to get carded ). He explained to me that BloodClaw kind of thought that he'd be able to just hang around and eventually one of us would just HAVE to throw ourselves at him. I'm pretty sure he was exaggerating. But the best part of the evening, was that when I asked him if he's fine with BloodClaw not coming, he said that "nobody else but this pack of fools would have him." I think I cried a little bit, I'm not sure. Red said something snarky, and everyone eventually left. Welcome to my life as a sit-com I'll try to write up more later. -SC P.S. I just realize that I don't think anyone ever told Harry! (gah!)

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Dear All, Thank you for all of your replies! Unfortunately, I only have time for a quick post, as tonight is our (shudder) gaming night. This is the first time I've ever NOT wanted to go... To make a long story short, after talking with all of my players, something rather horrible that was hinted on last night is apparently true. (This sounds melodramatic, sorry, but it keeps me from thinking about it too hard...) BloodClaw, the player in question... he I have difficulty writing this, had to keep deleting it. He seems to like me. Or so other people say. Apparently, I'm not his first choice though, as he's more or less directly hit on the other ladies before, and is now I guess trying something kind of weird for me. I have no idea why. The two (former targetees? I don't know how to explain this without it sounding outright horrible) players aren't really bothered by it. The player playing Red went so far as to call him, "Harmless in every way of the word." (Actually, she didn't use the word "harmless," but I'm editing her a bit, as I try to keep it clean...) They seem to think that if I just directly blow him off, then he'll be disinterested in the whole thing and leave. I'm just surprised at the whole thing, really. I've never had the experience of someone basically "hunting" me at a game table, although the other two say that it has happened to them a lot. (But they're cute and hot respectively, and I'm thankfully fairly transparent on most guys' radars; you know that quiet, meek anemic girl in the corner who keeps writing in her little book? That's me.) I even talked to Harry's player, who is the bastion of common sense in the sea of guy-dom (yes, I pedestal-ize him, so what? ), and he says that his friend has said that he's "interested at anything at this point." I'm not really sure what that means, but it sure doesn't make me feel special But he said that he'll break the news to BloodClaw, and he'll let me know what happens. It sounds like everything's ok, but why am I so worried??? Thanks for being my emotional soundboard... -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Supreme Serpent: Thanks! I guess the Avatar picture wasn't a good way to do it. (I just really like the picture; FYI she's a lot cuter than me, so don't get any ideas! ) But at this point I guess it's sort of too late, as I've effectively "shown my goods" to the internet. Re-reading posts would be a good idea too... Uh, besides my extreme drunken insanity last night, is there a post you're referring to? -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Oh. Oh, god you're really experienced at this then... (Feel slightly less bad that my attempts at gender-anonymity weren't entirely obvious..., although I might as well have posted my life story it seems like...) I hope you don't mind that I seem a bit hesitant on-line, it's just that you hear all of these really scary stories about internet-crazies. One of my friends had a REALLY bad experience with someone that she met via a MMORPG, so I'm kind of skittish (although I guess I'm not as ninja-like disguising as I had hoped...) Your story about the guy with the "sock puppets" kind of both disturbs and saddens me in a way. I don't want to be judgemental, but why would someone do that? I mean, sure if you want to say that you're a girl when you're not, that's fine but there's a line. I don't know, I'm always hoping to be as un-transparent as possible (although it looks like that's ANOTHER thing I'm not good at...) -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Odraude: I sent you a PM, please check it! (Sorry, don't know what else to say...) AmadannaBriona: Umm, thanks for the reply. I have very, very little relationship experience. I'm pretty quiet, frankly timid, and freak out easily. Not quite the package that guys are looking for (plus you know, I'm not smoking hot or anything). I think I might Ok I don't know what to do at this point. Frankly, I'm considering putting the game on hiatus. But that seems unfair to my players just for my own craziness. :cue inner frustration: -SC

Re: How to make the Loner feel not so Lonely? Vondy: Thank you so much!