Ghost Archer

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. One Mrs. Archer remined me of . . . Archerette, age five, is playing with a baby carrage. Not statisfied with a babydoll, she decides to try a real 'baby', one of our three Boston Terriers. Now Bostons aren't that big, normally. maybe 12 to 15 pounds. Well, we had the Hulk of Bostons, DJ, weighting in at 25 pounds. This is who five year old Archerette figured would make the best baby. So, scooping up a complacent DJ, she drops him in the carrage and covers him with a blanket. That lasted just long enough for Archerette to start pushing the poor dog around before he sought escape. Bounding out he upset the carrage, toppling it over onto it's side and sending everything Archerette had pack inside all over the floor. "OH! SHITAKE mushrooms!" screeches my little darling. Wish she'd use language like that NOW!

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. Archerette walks into the kitchen as I am making breakfast. Her: What are you cooking. *Note obvious pan full of bacon and the distinctive aroma* Me: Bacon Her: Oh Two minutes later the Boy Archer wanders in. Him: Whatcha cookin'? Me: Go ask your sister.

Re: What is your plans for your first 6th Edition game? Like Greywind, I have no plans for 6th nor do I have plans to even attempt to convert my website to 6th as I never finished the converstion to 5th.

Re: What's the craziest thing your Supers have ever done? Actually, yes he was but it was a case of the excitement of the moment I guess. There were no hard feelings and SOF became our poster child for thinking before you act. Even now, over 20 years later I tease him about it since he is my brother-in-law.

Re: What's the craziest thing your Supers have ever done? The first Iconic superhero I ever met was Captain New Jersey. Now CNJ is not known for his foresight any more than Soldier of Fortune, so whilst strolling through the nightclub scene of San Francisco, CNJ ‘lucked out’ by stopping at a waterfront dive. As he stepped though the doors a roar of laugher from a table in the back of the room caught his attention. Stunned, he realized that all of his prayers had been answered. For some time CNJ had been hunting the notorious super villain group, Zodiac, and here, before his eyes, sat the entire team, some more than a little drunk. Did I mention CNJ’s overconfidence? Probably the finest example of it you will ever see ensued. Teleporting onto the table, CNJ kicked over the nearest beer and loudly proclaimed “You are all under arrests, come quietly now and you won’t get hurt!” Umm . . . all that could be seen from the outside of the bar where these giant letters like ‘biff!’, ‘sock!’, ‘wham!’, ‘oof!” and the ever popular ‘pow!” Someone ripped off one end of a beer keg and crammed Captain New Jersey inside, butt first. Thankfully they didn’t reseal it and with a liberal dose of Wesson oil, we managed to get him out.

Re: What's the craziest thing your Supers have ever done? Back in the old days . . . 3ed time frame . . . a new group of superheroes, a team of five, discovered they were not able to reach any distance trouble sites as to a man they all lacked the same thing, flight or even serious running. To remedy this oversight, collectively they donated a few points of XP and purchased a reconditioned Vietnam veteran UH-1 Huey complete with the original Vietnam veteran pilot. Transportation problem solved. Shortly thereafter a call of trouble south of the city had the team leaping into the Huey and striking off into the sky to rescue a couple of cute damsels while trying to keep damage to a minimum at the nuclear power plant. If the Huey hadn’t come in high to allow the one farseeing member a good look at the situation the resultant debacle might have been let spectacular. Our farseeing member, know as Solder of Fortune, SOF for short, ID’d a known ‘brick’ type villain acting as lookout for whatever foul deal being conducted inside the power plant. Thinking, and I use the term loosely, it would be the perfect time to take out said lookout, our graduate of the Han Solo School of Action Without Thought unslung the tube of a LAW rocket from his back. To more accurately set the scene . . . SOF is leaning out the right side door scoping out the approaching site. The left side door is closed. Three of his teammates are seated in the rear with him, all wearing headsets and making plans for their assault as SOF describes what he sees. The pilot and remaining teammate are concentrating on what is ahead as well as the conversation over the headset. Pulling the rocket launcher out to its fully locked and loaded configuration and resting it on his shoulder, our expert in weapons touched the thing off. Side note, he did score a hit on the brick but no one really cared as the back blast of the rocket ignition ripped through the skin of the Huey and opened up the side of the engine like tissue paper. The resultant blast scattered pieces of helicopter over several square blocks, started a number of fires, killed the pilot, two members of the team and critically injured the rest. Solder of Fortune did not survive the 2000 foot fall.

Re: Who's your Nemesis? And... WHY? Hero: Ghost Archer : though genetically engineered and born in a Dimensional Nexus has grown up in a modern world with superheroes. Being half human and registering as a mutant places him in a minority class but he’s never been conscious of that distinction. He takes all beings he meets as just that, a being, whether they are human or otherwise. Nemesis: Joshua Plitt aka Sarge, aka the Black King: A product of Kentucky circa 1840 with the education one would expect of the time. Fought for the Confederate States during the Civil War, severely wounded at Gettysburg. Extracted from the battle field by aliens along with his Captain. Both subjected to the normal alien examinations then augmented with various implants and returned to Earth . . . in the 1980’s. Became a member of the Wild Hunt headed by Ghost Archer where they fought for many years side by side. Suffered a psychotic breakdown that stripped away his thin veneer of tolerance for anyone not pure human and white. Took over the drug trade in the East Bay by force, was defeated and imprisoned by Ghost Archer but escaped after many years. Upon escaping joined Genocide in their fight against mutants, particularly ones with bows and pointy ears. Why it stands out: Both characters are PCs and both players, Mark and my self, were good friends. Though many times Mark would get furious with me during the games in the end we’d laugh and talk about how great it had all been. Also Ghost Archer, though he was not responsible for Sarge’s becoming what he is, still thinks of him as a friend and knows there is some good in the man, someplace. Though he has had many opportunities to kill him as the Black King, he has not in the hope of either saving him or returning him to the past. Hero: Ghost Archer – see above. Nemesis: Tsar aka Nick aka Master of Balance: Tsar began after reading a Dragon magazine nearly 30 years ago. The article as about crystal dragons, the neutral dragons. Tsarsaidor was the ruby dragon and he became the Master of Balance for the Wild Hunt’s universe. Being neutral he some times did good and some times evil. The Wild hunt and in particular, Ghost Archer, became his . . . playthings. Understand when I say ‘Master of Balance’ I mean as in can destroy-the-known-universe Master of Balance. There was nothing he could not do, a true deus ex machina. For many years he poked his scaley nose into every aspect of the Wild Hunt, personal or public, in general making a nuisance of him self. Why it stands out: Both characters are mine. It’s like arguing with your self. Archer hates Tsar with a passion but understands he is powerless and Tsar finds the bowman amusing to no end. The ‘lizard’ took up residence in Archer’s Valley, became romantically entangled with a girl Archer had been involved with, destroyed Archer’s relationship with the woman he will always consider ‘the one’, become the patron to Archer’s wife, when he finally did marry, in her endeavors up in Seattle, became ‘Uncle Nick’ to Archer’s growing horde of children, both natural and adopted. In all I feel so conflicted . . . Hero: Sarge – see above. Nemesis: Tsar – see above. Why it stands out: Unlike Ghost Archer who understood he was powerless against this ‘entity’, Sarge never figured that out. Constantly on the lookout for a way to kill the dragon, Sarge was willing to make a deal with the devil to take out the Master of Balance. Mark, Sarge, again got into character so well that we’d be arguing the whole game as Tsar vs. Sarge then laugh about how much fun it was after.

Re: Top 5 Favorite 5E Supplements My top five Champions Dark Champions Ultimate Skill Ultimate Speedster Ultimate Martial Artist

Re: Animal Race: The Untamed Seriously . . . I think it is fairly simple to create the three races. Don't think of an Untamed as an animal rather just another character with fur. Your best bet would probably be a mutli-form then make up some package deals to simulate the various powers. As I am not familiar with playing an Untamed, I couldn't offer much in the way of ideas to represent their varied skills but I wouldn't think it would be very difficult. Off hand, I'd think a Barbarian would have a high STR, CON and BODY with a fair DEX and a straight 10 INT and EGO. Being a huge, hulking tiger-wolf-panda man might increase PRE considerably. For a Veno, more even STR, CON, BODY, INT and EGO with extra COM for the cute factor. (If you still use COM) Elf archers, serious DEX, moderate STR, base BODY and CON and maybe an increase for INT and EGO if you want to use more magic. Clerics, Moderate STR and major INT for all the magic, base DEX, BODY and CON. Wizards, same as clerics while blademasters would be a lite version of a barbarian with a little veno mixed in. The animal forms of the Veno and Barbarian would just be a multiform. While you could use Bestiary, you would probably have to modify things for a better fit but it would give you someplace to start. GA (Cufaen, lvl 60 archer, Sanctuary)

Re: Animal Race: The Untamed So, will you be limiting your Barbarians to male and Venomancers to female? How about skyrays for the Untamed and those neat swords for humans. Of course, we elves already have wings.

Re: Whoops! Did I really allow that power? So far, as a GM, I have been lucky enough to avoid a situation where I regretted allowing a power. However, as a player . . . when a new GM says build a 500 point character and you have as much experience as I do in building Champions characters . . . try not to make a speedster that totally destroys every villian he can come up with and in doing so kills the game.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Re: WWYCD #81 A True Test of a Hero Okay, me as Ghost Archer . . . YIPPEE!!!!! Gee I hope I don't hit too many buildings learning to fly! Oh crap . . . HOW MANY KIDS?!? I KNOW six are adopted! *gulp* Wow, extra teenagers . . . I was just getting used to the one and an 'almost' I have! Ghost Archer as me . . . Oh crap. He is one of the most adaptable characters I've ever created and within a few days he would have invented something amazing and gone about marketing it. He'd also have the world's first AI up and running in no time with a good jump on teleporters and fusion reactors. As for the physical differences, he'd just have to put his mind to a little cancer research while he is here since these constant aches and pains and the feeling of exhaustion suck.

Re: WWYCD? #80: Future Hope or Hellspawn? Ghost Archer: To daughter: "I told your mother I didn't want any more children for at least a couple hundred years . . ." To son: "So your mother will be returning to me?" To both: "Since you both claim to be my children I can safely assume you are both aware of my 'unique' nature. I can also safely assume you are both aware of my abilities in, not only dimension travel, but temporal travel. And if you are indeed my children, then you will understand that I have no doubt one of you is lying. It is merely a matter of 'time' before I discover which. Therefore you both understand that I will be investigating both alternate realities." RPG: This situation is a prime example of how a character's history can totally screw up the question. Ghost Archer, and a very few other individuals, are what is called 'Uniques' in my campaign. They only exist in one place in one time and in one existance. There are no 'other' versions. Because of this, and his own immortality, there would never be an 'alternate' timeline created based on whether a child is male or female. He would know one was fake. From that point it would be a matter of following his timeline into the future. From the situational setup, I believe the 'daughter' would be the 'fake' as he does have an agreement with his wife to refrain from having more children for a couple of centuries and no, it can't happen without his willing it. The 'son' would be the more interesting development in his life as his existance would signal ther return of his 'soulmate' and pretty much throw his entire personal life into chaos. As a GM I would enjoy playing that situation out to the end but as a player I could see some very difficult times ahead for my Archer.

Re: Urban/Modern Fantasy Questions I decided to add my outline of my Dresdenverse. Warning, it's like 30 pages if printed. http://www.the-wild-hunt.org/dresdenverse/dresdenverse_outline.html

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation) Ghost Archer: "Actually, I did that with the help of some of my friends and students. We established a rather pastoral settlement that is now over a thousand strong and growing." "As for moving an entire population en masse . . . it's easier to remove the problem than removing the victims since to uproot them from what they know is a trauma." "With what we are doing, we have been reducing the homeless population of not only San Francisco but Seattle as well. I have helped people in hopeless situations escape pimps, abusive relationship and just plain societal neglect, given them something that is theirs. Truthfully I think it is the one thing I'd rather be remembered for though only a few know it has even happened."

Re: Raptured Ghost Archer: "Actually, I'd be more shocked to be included. Not everything I do can be considered 'good' in your New Testament sense and since I don't believe in religion of any sort I'd be looking for an evil plot by a certain tenant of my Valley." "After confronting him and demanding to know what the hell he's up to and after being reassured by his lady that it wasn't his fault, I just go back to what I always do. I'd probably demend that he fixes it though and since he has connections with the Good as well as the Evil, he might, just to keep his precious 'Balance'."

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation) Ghost Archer: "After just answering the poll about CAK you come up with this kind of thing and make everything I said there an incomplete truth." "The name is GHOST Archer, not Obvious Archer. I'd never be seen or suspected but people would begin to disappear. No bodies would ever be found." "Now, ignoring my first line, in truth I wouldn't kill anyone but it doesn't stop me from shifting them to a somewhat less inhabited dimension where they will be left to their own devices. I would make sure the area I dropped them would be capable of sustaining them, if they bother to hunt and fish and maybe farm. I think I'd drop in now and then to see how things were going and if they decide to kill each other, it IS all a matter of survival of the fittest on a virgin world." "After a generation, the problem would be gone since I'd seperate male and female by at least a continent if not a dimension. It might make an interesting socialogy study. Oh, I'd also let the world know after a time what happened and even be willing to take visitors to assure everyone I am not torturing them. A few pictures of what has happened to these violent people and the threat of the same thing happening to other such might make an interesting detrient since a death penalty seems to be a total failure." Note: Political problems mean very little to me as I do not consider myself a citizen of any nation, I just happen to chose to protect San Francisco.

Re: Urban/Modern Fantasy Questions Been running one for a while, based mostly on the Dresdenverse. http://www.the-wild-hunt.org/dresdenverse/index.html

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? Blowin' In My Ear by Feature Comforts

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished the seventh book of the Nightside series by Simon R Green. I think the only reason I have gotten this far with then is I was given the first eight and I was bored. I think I read a review that went something along the lines of 'Raymond Chandler meets HP Lovecraft'. Yeah, right. Green tries too hard to give his main character, John Taylor, a hardboiled Chandler spin but I think it fails. He manages to fill the books with his 'neat little' tropes that get dull after the third repeatition. I mean, here is the guy that can find 'anything' with his special gift and doesn't work over half the time so he has to rely on 'old-fashion detective work'. Also by his descriptions every thing in the Nightside is mad of MEAT and I think he's in love with the word. Like most 'Urban Fantasy' books I have read, the big bad in each book is more terrible that anything the hero has ever seen, until the next book. That gets old too. Mr Green needs to read the Dresden series. At least Harry doesn't go around killing gods like they are goons. I do admit some of his supporting cast is amusing, Shotgun Suzy, Razor Eddie, Dead Boy but they are pretty one dimensional but that is a Chandler character trait, right? If you have nothing else to read and someone gives them to you as a gift, waste a little time, other else...If I read "I opened my inner eye, my third eye, my rpivate eye..." one more time, I'll hire Suzy Shooter to take me out. Two out of five stars.

Re: Why don't you play online? Well, I see I posted on this back in June of 03. Wow. Nothing's changed really, other than I have been playing online for about ten years now. Oh, and I am using Klooge Werks since WebRPG finally died. I gamed 16 years face to face, and for a lot of years it was intensive face to face, 72 hours at a time, most cases. All in all, I like online better. Even though its rare I physically meet any of my players, I feel the character interaction is a whole heck of a lot better. Some how its easier to picture the steel-skin girl being played by the guy over in England then if I'm sitting across the table from him.

Re: Harry Dresden I've been running a Dresdenverse campaign for about six months. This is my take on the magic. Magic Pools: Magic is extremely versatile and to capture this concept I have decided to use the Variable Power Pool for ALL mortal magic practitioners. All spells within a Magic Pool must take All Powers Must Cost END (-1/4). Note: this should include spells that have charges such as Potions. It must require an expenditure of END to cast in all cases. I will not allow a spell to be purchased Reduced END as this seems contrary to JB’s writings. All powers must take Spell (-1/2). All VPPs must take the Side Effect: Magic Aura: 3d6 damage (only affects Technology near the character, randomly occurs unless the character becomes emotional then it always occurs; -½). This is a quick and easy way to simulate the problems of a wizard around technology and the GM will be able to play around with it as the situation requires. This Side Effect occurs more readily the more advanced the technology. Its effect is significantly lessened with tech before about 1950 according to the author. I have altered this somewhat to about 1945 and pretty much leave tech that old alone. Because of this, wizards tend to drive very old cars and can fly in very old planes. Also World War II radios and such can actually work without too much chance of them burning up. Of course I leave open the possibility of a burn out at a critical time just for the sake of the story. As a more or less ‘free’ power I allow a wizard to make this Side Effect happen if he/she chooses. This represents JB’s regular use of a hex to fry technology. I consider this more of a Special Effect than power. I came to a conclusion after reading the books that human magic is cast not from the mind but the will. Therefore I decided to use EGO as the basis for the skill required to actually cast a spell. I call this skill Force of Will It is 3 points and is EGO-based. Magic Research and the Magic Skill required to change spells of a wizard’s VPP remain INT-based. The EGO-based Force of Will does not mean magic has become a Mental Power; just that EGO is used to determine if a Spell is successfully cast.

Re: Champions games you've run The Wild Hunt: Age: Bronze Begun originally at a hobby shop called the White Heron, the Wild Hunt has existed for 26 years now. The first five years the roster changed from weekend to weekend as people wanted to play Champions at the Heron. At that time there may have been as many as fifty active members. Now it has dwindled to a few, a not very active few. The Seattle Hunt: Age: Bronze A splinter of the Wild Hunt that was a result of a chasm, a gulf, okay, it was a war, between members of the team. It was not an in-character problem but a player problem. I came to love Seattle Hunt nearly as much as the original Hunt. The Lothorien Academy: Age: Bronze Actually a short-lived teen Champions game centered on a school set up by Ghost Archer of the Wild Hunt. Again player problems broke things and lead to the following. The Legacy Age: Bronze When the Lothlorien Academy folded, two members moved south to San Diego and became involved with a retired Golden Aged hero. Again a teen game but with a school set up by the government. Dark Nights Age: Iron The only Dark Champions game I’ve set up. A diverse group brought together by a common enemy. Isla del Oro Age: Iron When a game I was playing folded, one of the players agreed to allow me to use my character Blurr in a new campaign, thus bringing two experienced superhero characters into a world where super powers were just emerging. I know the idea was campaigns that I have actually run, not played but in this case the game came to be a cooperative between two of us that proved very successful.

Re: Heroic battles Urban superheroes in a wilderness area. The battle on a runaway train. The battle inside an alien city ship that was hovering over San Francisco. Chasing an undead villain thru the sewers of San Francisco (tunnels are like five feet high and three feet wide, a hundred years old and made of mostly brick). Trying to escape a sinking submarine. Saving a plane load of people at 36000 feet. The battle in the Coca Cola plant. (Binder was p.o'd they changed the Coke formula while he was in Stronghold). The nuclear power plant battle with Dr D's minions. A battle in the Alameda tunnel under the San Francisco Bay. Two non-flyers battling it out in a helicopter. Pretty normal stuff I guess.