Super Squirrel

Re: Knockback/knockdown/KNOCKUP?? I had a character named Inertia. His entire concept was Knockback related. Double Knockbacks and Indirects. I think he had an "Inertia Storm" which was an Indirect, Double Knockback, Explosion, NCC (-1 can't control effect). It sent people in completely random directions. Indirect is the solution you seek.

Re: Review My XP Policy Hmmm, extra XP for Pizza might be a good idea to include.

Re: WHY is combat so slow and what have you done about it?

Re: WHY is combat so slow and what have you done about it? I believe the entire action went as a 7 Roll event over two phases. If you include the third phase, combat looked really nice for my character. Phase 12: (I'm surrounded in non-combat) Shift of DEX Skill Level to Fastdraw. Shift CSL to DCV vs. Swords. Draw Rapier, Failed Roll take Half Phase to Draw. Attack Roll to Saddle 13- needed. (3 DCV, -2 Penalty vs. 7 OCV). Guards Draw Weapons for remaining half-phase. Nearest guard makes DEX to remain balanced on horse. PC in party uses a change environment to turn the ground into Ice (Dex rolls to remain standing). Phase 3 Shift of DEX Skill Level to Breakfall. Acrobatics to Swing up and kick the target. Made Roll. Attack Roll to Hit. Surprise move gives Half DCV to target, -2 Penalty imposed on attack. Hit. Guard Falls, fails breakfall and is on the ground. Land on ground and toss saddle at Guard 2 as a distraction. Make Breakfall to successfully land on feet. Guard on ground recovers from STUNNING. Guard on horse near me attacks after tossing the saddle aside (0 phase) and misses. Phase 6 Fire Crossbow Bracers at Guard on Horseback. 0" Range. First bracer at 14-, second bracer at 12-. Two hits, guard knocked out and falls. Guard on ground stands and makes an attack, misses. Phase 9 Shift CSL to OCV with Swords. Disarm vs. Guard #1 and successfully knock his sword away. Guard draws dagger and realizes at this point, the other guards are mostly defeated by the rest of party. He surrenders. Gotta say that I love: Psych Limitation: Swashbuckler's Flare (Total, Common)

Re: Review My XP Policy A semester is 6 game sessions long. There are only a couple of long story-arcs (which is what that bonus for). Those story-arcs are 2 or maybe 3 game sessions long. 4 semesters + 4 story arcs = 8 XP 2 summer semesters + 2 summer semester story arcs = 4 XP 36 total game sessions = 36 XP ~12 difficult games = 12 XP 60 minimum XP from start to graduation. There is a potential of 36 XP from the "extra" system and 36 XP from good roleplaying. Total potential XP: 132 That is a pretty decent number to turn a Teen Champion to a full fledged Superhero.

I want some feedback for my XP System I will be using for my Teen Champions game. Overview 1 XP for showing up. +1 XP for a difficult session. +1 XP for completing a semester. +1 XP for completing a story arc. +1 XP for good roleplay. 1 Team XP. +1 Team XP for excellent roleplay as a team. Up to +1 "Extra" XP. Team XP Team Xp goes towards the team's resource pool. The resource pool is not used during the first Semester of school. However, as this is something that is used to throughout the entire Teen Champions campaign and carries over to the Champions campaign upon graduation, it is highly encouraged you try to constantly roleplay as a team. 1 XP in a resource pool = 5 points towards your base, vehicles, and temporary equipment. At 2 XP a game, think of what your team base might look like after 20 game sessions. "Extra" XP System This campaign will require characters to have and improve non-powers. Rather than require you spend XP toward skills, perks, contacts, and the like I'll be using a system where you can improve these through roleplay during the game. At the start of the game, write down at least two non-powers you want to improve. This is to help remind you later in the game if you haven't brought up that skill and as a way for me to keep track of you improving a skill. I might forget to write it down and having something in writing helps me make sure you get the points. Skills The process to improve skills by means of roleplay is fairly simple. There are two types of skills, skills that you can foresee coming up in a game and skills that you cannot foresee coming up. In the case of the latter, take a moment in game and declare how you are using/practicing/learning the skill. Be sure to try and add detail into it. I may expand on the roleplay and make a scene. I might also find a way to use that skill in the current or following game. For skills that you do foresee coming up in game, just be sure to make the use of the skill a bit more of a spectacle. Don't just declare an action, give detail. SS: Biology Example: "I'm going to speak to my biology teacher about the latest homework and see if I can get him to explain in more depth some of the elements we discussed in class." Acrobatics Example: "I'm going to try and do a flip off of the escape ladder and land on the mugger's shoulder and use my hands to cover his eyes." Remember that just because you make a declaration doesn't mean it counts. I'll want to expand on something in most situations so be prepared to roleplay the scene out. A roleplaying event is roughly worth .5 XP. This makes SS and KS skills quicker to improve than 3/2 Skills. And remember that you can use normal experience to help improve these skills as well but check with me before hand. Perks and Contacts Contacts are pretty straightforward. You need to be prepared to roleplay with them a lot. You need to establish, in character, about trying to get in touch with the character in the future. This may require something as simple as asking for the cellphone or it may require getting them to confess how they can be reached if they are a more subtle contact. Existing NPCs are a little easier to establish than newer contacts. If you want and arms dealer for a contact, I'll need to create one for you. But to get the contact, you first have to meet the person and that may be easier said than done depending on the type of contact you are seeking. Remember that some contacts cost more points than others. All contacts start at an 8- which is worth 1 XP point. If you have an FBI Agent for a contact, it will require far more roleplay to get to an 11- than it would to get a Street Cop to an 11-. Perks will depend entirely on the nature of the perk in question. A perk is worth the same XP rate per session as other things one might buy for their character. However, perks may take longer before they are available. Just because you have roleplayed gaining deep cover enough to get the points doesn't mean it has been fully established and created. This will depend entirely on the type of perk you are trying to gain. Roleplaying to gain a contact is also roughly worth .5 XP per roleplaying session. In Summary This system will help build your skills, perks, and contacts at the rate of 1 XP per session. If this system proves successful and adds to the game, I may expand this to 3 or 4 "improvements" per session. Also, because you are learning experience points, if you have things such as Linguist on your character sheet, you can improve faster than you would normal. In fact, you can buy Linguist or the equivalent without having learned a second language yet and can learn the extra languages within game sessions.

Re: WHY is combat so slow and what have you done about it? I propose a theory. My theory is that it isn't that combat in Hero is too slow but combat in other systems is too quick. Most combat systems cut out the little nuances that make combat grand. I mean, sure there are a lot of rules and it takes forever, but I have actually cut the strap to a saddle and made an acrobatics role to "swing" under the horse and kick the rider off his steed, sending him toppling to the ground. You can't do stuff like that and make it "fast".

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See? Well there is your problem. You should have Blockbuster Online. You get those extra free rentals that way.

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See? I plan on doing a Post-Apoc setting book in full. Whether it will be a free PDF, a buyable PDF, or something I try and get Steve and company to license, I don't know at this time. But this will have to wait until after The Rose and the Crown is complete. I have also decided to wait until after Post-Apocalyptic Hero is published and I own a copy.

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See? The Post-Apocalypse book may be a great place to drop information on how to handle (un)natural disasters (nuke strikes, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, meteor strikes, etc...)

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See? There is also the Earth 2 style apocalypse. A colony expedition goes terribly wrong. I've also seen this else where in Trigun.

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See?

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See? I'd like to see something in the book about typical post-apoc societies. From "The Postman" gangs, to Thunderdome arena survival camps, to the Councilmen survivalist walled settlements. At least a breakdown for the type of civilizations that may emerge would greatly be an aid to GMs.

Re: Post-Apocalyptic Hero -- What Do *You* Want To See? I've been waiting for this for a WHILE now. Mutations, Mutations, Mutations Mutations are extremely important. I'd ultimately, like to see a list of mutations for various body parts (arms, legs, head, skin) with minor and major severity. I'd like there to be a random chart to determine a minor or major mutation on a character (be it NPC or otherwise). It also would be really nice to see rules on how to handle handling, preventing and treating "radiation" that can trigger mutations. Tech Salvaging Rules on finding lost technology and rules on how to repair them are very important IMHO. In addition to this, rules on Trading in the Post-Apoc world. Those are the ideas I have off the top of my head. I have others that will come to me later, I'm sure.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos An animated Calvin and Hobbes (in Italian): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajsWq5-yL_0 Note, this is not the Robot Chicken video.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Hmmm. Citizen-Times charges for Ads for Lost pets, which is outragous, but doesn't charge for letters to the editor. I think we can at least do a letter to the editor about this... and include information on the lost pet IN the letter.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Still no Jeff but thanks everyone for the support.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings *sigh* At least I can find the humor in all of this...

I'm trying to open up a discussion on something I'm pretty sure hasn't been talked about before. In writing and in movies, themes are used to help tell a story. These work well in those mediums because the creator has complete control. However, in a roleplaying game, the element of the theme is not as easy to control. But, I ultimately feel that not only can a theme be carefully woven into a game, but it can also make the game better overall. My Teen Champions game that I'll hopefully be starting fairly soon is going to have one big theme for the entire "Teen Champions" portion of the campaign and several small themes that will last the length of a game session or two. The major theme is "What does in mean to be a hero?". It is a question that all players have to answer for there character at the start of the game and will have to answer again at the end of the campaign. The lesser themes are just more to give games flavor and to help keep a single session more solid. For example, one game will involve around a very loose money theme. One character will have troubles with paying his student aid, another character will be flaunting her wealth, and of course that game will involve bank robberies. But I've gotten off track. In this, I've realized that one way to really strength the game is to build the NPCs to help with the theme. Contrasts are a great way to do this. And being a Teen Champions game, I have a perfect way of trying this out. I have a classroom of supers that I need to come up with. And so, I'm building them as themes around the characters. To do this, I'm creating NPCs with similar power structures or similar natures but with contrasting personalities and motivations. Alice's character is a sort of dark-rooted power with a motivation to overcome her evil root. One character has a "dark" power that also can lead to temptation but her motivation is "because it is a family tradition". Another character will have a power that easy to manipulate others and she is willing to embrace the temptation for personal game. But what is important is in how I show the contrast. I'll, for example, craft a scene where Alice could abuse her character's power but didn't where as another character does abuse her power and demonstrate the far from heroic repricussions this brings. Or, if we are looking at power base, I might have one of the bricks rip a wall down, causing innocent civilians to get hurt and displaced when another approach was easily available. The point to all of this is to make the game much more fun, get them thinking about the game, and to build their characters so that they truly FEEL they are heroes. But the topic itself could be very openly interpreted and perhaps even debated at its effectiveness. And so, I'm curious what others think of this.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Last night, I commented that I wasn't sure we'd have enough money in our budget for something. In the rush of the move and everything the state of our budget was hard to tell. Well, I'm still double checking but it appears we had enough and then $700.00.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

Re: Musings on Random Musings I washed. It is just two spots that itch where I brushed up against the leaves.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER The Red Sox are having a great year this year from what I have heard. Of course I haven't gone and looked to closely into their status.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings My arms really itch.