Folded

Re: Bizarre Crimes for Any Genre

Let's see, been thinking about this. What constitutes a bizarre crime?

1. The motive itself is bizarre. i.e. This is something that no person would do for that particular reason. Stealing money to make a paper mache statue, for instance.

2. The subject chosen is bizarre or other than the obvious. Break into the Louvre and steal the frame from the Mona Lisa, leaving the painting behind.

3. The act undertaken is bizarre, and involves clearly criminal acts. Breaking into Seaworld and moving each animal into a different tank without harming them.

4. Something is done that sort of seems to be a crime, but no actual criminality is involved. The (real life) people in Seattle who put up a monolith on 1/1/2001 would be an example.

5. An anti-crime. Someone breaks into several thousand bank accounts and transfers a sum of their own (legitimately earned) money into them.

6. Bragging rights. Someone breaks into the Oval Office, leaves a harmless apple on the desk, and leaves without being caught. It occurs to me that this could make a really interesting campaign, with strange events representing an escalating series of challenges and dares between skilled, bored professionals.

Re: working on encounter prediction software (for gauging balance)

Running scenarios under multiple attack selection options should ultimately yield the best results, since you can't predict what your players will do. You may want to do some research on how the military runs scenario simulation for ideas. I am very interested to see what you come up with.

Re: working on encounter prediction software (for gauging balance)

This might be interesting. But don't forget that Players will often operate differently than you have modeled above. Some groups would concentrate on the agents, first, then take on the big guy. Others would do the reverse, or take a third option. And movement powers can figure heavily into a fight. A flying opponent alters the tactics of bricks, and a teleporter can mess everyone up, speedsters likewise. A high REC can turn a glass-jawed fool into someone who JUST KEEPS GETTING UP. Then you have the problem of both offensive and defensive Maneuvers of various kinds.

In short, this is a very complex piece of work you're attempting. I wish you luck, but don't expect a robust tool to result quickly.

Re: Persuasion vs Oratory

Assuming that Persuasion is generally targeted at an individual and Oratory is targeted at multiple individuals, then it is, in part, a difference in technique. A person speaking to another person will use certain patterns or language (spoken and body), will probably maintain eye contact, and will adjust his/her speech and propositions to suit that particular individual as the conversation continues. An Orator will use different speech patterns, different body language and will often spread eye contact throughout the crowd. He/She is also much more likely to work from a set speech without adapting (as much) to the responses of the audience. And while they do represent somewhat different skills, I would consider them to be very closely related (certainly Complementary), and probably would allow the substitution of one for the other with a relatively small penalty.

Re: Changes at Hero

Best karma to Darren, Steve, Jason and DoJ/Hero in general. You have all done amazing work over the years, and I look forward to see what you will all be doing in the future.

Re: How can I judge if an encounter is balanced?

Actually you need to read the description of the scenario again. I actually expect them to win - a tough win - but win none the less. But if they lose then a number of things could happen - wake up in the morning without your stuff might be one scenario - which was the worse case scenario.

 

Another might be rob everyone of their money and any other easy to transport valuables + horses but leave them with weapons (i.e. Magnificent Seven minus the horses) - requires some good role playing & persuasion.

 

Or they maybe one or two 'get away with a few horses' in the confusion (role playing & stealth) and come back and they 'pull' a maneuver like in the movie "The Cowboys".

Its all about the story.

 

Let me give an example from a Champions game. The heroes had to rescue the leaders of the Democratic National Convention who had been captured by Hydra. There were 20 well armed and ready Hydra agents. One of the heroes had telepathy and she asked "Is Jessie Jackson there" and I said yes. So she telepathically contacted him and told him to get everyone in the room to start singing "We Shall Overcome" and holding hands while singing. The team had a teleporter who could take as many people as he wanted as long as they held onto him or someone else who was touching him. The downside is they would all 'walk through hell' while teleporting (see why they are singing "We Shall Overcome"). The team teleports in which surprises Hydra, nice PRE attack stops Hydra from acting. The teleporter on his next phase "PUSHES to his Max" and teleports out with all the delegates - but knocks himself out for the rest of the session (I gave him 10 Hydra agents to run).

 

The players start taking on Hydra agents. At some point all three remaining PCs get blasted out of the 50 story window. Both flyers are knocked out and the only one who can't fly is tumbling down. She grabs one of the flyers who has a parachute pulls the rip cord and survives (along with one of the flyers). The other flyer - think Iron Man light - makes a big hole in the asphalt and is out for about a week.

 

When I rolled the knockback and we all realized they were going out the window and the two flyers were going to be out cold and the one non-flyer (my wife's character) would be out there too - 50 stories up - everyone's jaw dropped.

 

You know what? She got clever and figured out a way to overcome the situation. When I talk to the people who played that session - now almost 20 years later - they remember it like it was yesterday.

 

That is what I mean by "It is all about the story". Make a good story first. Then worry about the opponents.

I was actually questioning the 'motivate the PCs' part, rather than the overall idea. You were originally asking about balance, and I was giving a case in which the balance was against us (drastically), and that the result was that we were irritated at the GM, not the NPCs who mugged us. Yes, it was bad GMing, and the guy is still learning so we forgave him. But be aware that your players may not react the way that your story says is best or likeliest.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life.

From my sister:

"My butter's too tall!"

"Who unplugged my cat?"

Re: Bizarre Crimes for Any Genre

The Theobromian is a fanatic who requires purity... in chocolate. His mission is to eliminate any chocolate or chocolate-like product with less than 50% cacao. He routinely takes hostage large groups of people, refusing to let them leave until his demands are met. His demands? Each person there must eat a 1oz. piece of dark, semi-sweet or bitter chocolate, after which they may leave peacefully. Becoming one of his henchmen requires the consumption of a 4 oz. bar of baking chocolate.

Re: How can I judge if an encounter is balanced?

I have seen it done several ways and it is very much up to the GM. As a GM I want some encounters to be about talking and compromise, about introducing figures and things that I may want to use later. Some players seem to think that they should be immune to the realities of the situation.

 

If I organise an ambush on a caravan then the ambushers are likely to believe that they are going to win or they are so desperate that they don't care. In the former case I would be looking for the players to make some decisions. They could fight it out - an honourable stance but one they might see to be futile. They could try to salvage something - break away with some of the valuables so that they can deliver some measure of success. They could simply save themselves.

 

If I had the right characters with the right skills then they might be able to pre-empt the ambush and do something clever. They might be able to talk the bandit leader out of attacking through some clever bluff or threat.

 

As GM, I need to be prepared for all of those eventualities. I do not think that every fight should be one that the players have a reasonable chance of winning - just a reasonable chance of avoiding substantial detriment.

 

Doc

I agree, and this is largely my point. But when the bandits announce their intentions by shooting you in the face (which happened the first time), there's not a lot of room for negotiation and cleverness. So, if you are going to present your players with a situation where they are heavily outnumbered and/or outgunned, don't force the combat. Allow them to find some other way to resolve the situation, or fail to, but don't just beat them up and take their stuff with an unlimited number of bad guys. Even then, that can be handled as a piece of description, rather than a drawn out battle that slowly frustrates and angers the players.

Re: How can I judge if an encounter is balanced?

For me it is all about the story I am trying to tell. For instance the next adventure pits the 3 PCs, + some caravan guards + one really good fighter against +20 bandits. I put +20 bandits and three leaders (for the PCs to have to deal with directly) because I want to be able to add more if the encounter goes to easily.

 

If the players lose then they will find themselves waking up in the morning without their equipment, money, horses, etc. about one day from the nearest settlement. Better figure out how to get home. More role playing options for them. Plus now they will really want to get those bandits - once they get re-equipped .

 

Remember its about the story.

This recently happened in a game I was in. Twice. We did not 'really want to get those bandits', we really wanted the GM to rebalance the encounters so that we had some chance at victory. If you want to strip your characters of their stuff and give them motivation, do so, but don't give them the illusion that they have any hope of defeating the bad guys.

Re: Gliding = Untrackable?

Invisibility (Only vs. Tracking Attempts), or Change Environment (Permanent) with a penalty to Tracking rolls, One Hex only. Not sure on those, but possible starting points.

Re: Potential issues with a Matrix like campaign premise

Well, they were feeding the prisoners their dead.

CES

Well, that's a closed loop that blatantly doesn't work. See the laws of thermodynamics (and yes, they apply to a system of chemical energy).

Re: Psionic Centaur...needing a racial name

I AM MENTAUR' date=' THE MIND, uh, wait, no... "Mind Taker" is already taken, let's see here... [/quote']

 

Do NOT let your Mentaur drink Diet Coke. The humor value is not worth a psionic centaur being enraged over the liquid spewing forcefully from his nose.

 

Re: Bizarre Crimes for Any Genre

This thread just put me in mind of crimes that might actually have happened in the real world that would explain a few things.

1) Someone stole Keanu Reeve's acting ability at some point, probably during Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

2) The government of South Korea spent billions delaying the production of Starcraft II in a desperate attempt to prevent the total collapse of their country.

3) An unknown shadowy organization has been putting psychotropics into Japan's water supply, beginning the day that Tim Berners-Lee released the first browser to the world, just so that we (everyone not Japanese) would have a completely weird experience on the web at least once a week.

4) Time travelers have moved throughout history, providing originals for 'geniuses' to copy from, resulting in every significant work of art ever. This is the result of the most complex bar bet ever.

5) An alien species interfered with human evolution approximately 1 million years ago, guaranteeing our susceptibility to sedentary, entertainment oriented lifestyles. Blizzard is wholly owned by these aliens, as are most pizza delivery companies. Their purpose is to eventually have a permanent source of really good lard.

Re: Human Library

All shall feel the wrath of... The Ultimate Nerd!!!

Now that's a book I wish Steve had written.

Re: Gunslinger

Don't forget Ranged Martial Maneuvers (Ranged Disarm is perfect for this character).

1 Level of Striking Appearance

We used to include a skill in some characters called 'Fashion Sense' to represent the ability to dress well. Could be taken as another level of Striking Appearance (Only When Properly Dressed). Clothes are not usually included as points on a sheet, but could be if the character is truly sharp and it has an effect on gameplay.

Transport Familiarity - Muscle Powered Two-wheeled Ground Vehicles covers bicycle

You might want to purchase a Naked Advantage of Autofire with Pistols, if this is a Heroic campaign, to allow him to get the Autofire benefit from weapons other than his own.

Ranged Damage Classes with Pistols might be good. Be sure to check with the GM about how many extra DCs can be added to a Killing Attack. There may be limits, depending on their interpretation of RAW.

Piano player would probably be a PS.

Security Systems for safe cracking, plus some Science Skills to back it up (Chemistry and Engineering come to mind).

Ambidextrous is good for eliminating the Off-Hand Penalty.

Re: Human Library

Combat Sense, Spatial Awareness - byproduct of Always Pays Attention

Possibly a high DMCV (Esoteric Meditation Techniques)

Jack of All Trades - Knows the theoretical underpinnings of every profession out there, and picks up the practical stuff easily

Heavy on the Social skills, since he/she understands the human mind oh-so-very-well

On the MA - Weapon Elements (All)

Probably a variety of Artistic skills (drawing, at least, is useful in studying certain subjects)

Forgery (study that many documents, you get a feel for how to fake them)

SS: Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Biology

Gambling (mostly the Chess/Go types, but familiar with all of them)

Possible Psychological Complications - Irritatingly Calm; Always Wins at Trivia; Insufferable Know-it-all; Bores Easily; Too Noble For Own Good;

Re: Bizarre Crimes for Any Genre

Hmmm... Time Traveling "Supervillian"* kidnaps people.

It turns out, he was kidnapping them a instant before thier death**, and storing them in suspended animation in order to preserve them for repopulating the Earth after the 'collapse'***. The heroes discovered people disappearing without knowing the circumstances, and assumed he was Up To Something.

 

*He wasn't evil, just misguided, you know.

**A split second before hit by a car, right before they were shot by a mugger, that sort of thing.

***'Collapse' was implied as being caused by nuclear/biological war.

 

Turns out there was a novel or movie with a similar/identical plot. I always wondered if I had read it and forgotten it, or what.

The movie was Freejack, with Emilio Estevez. The far superior book was Immortality, Inc., by Robert Sheckley.

Re: Potential issues with a Matrix like campaign premise

The biggest problems run into in this kind of thing are thematic, rather than mechanical. Here are two questions to start things off.

Question 1) Why are these humans in this VR world? It could be by choice, and maybe their memories of making that choice are removed. It could be against their will, in which case, what are they providing to whomever is maintaining this world? My vote is computing power. A large bank of neural networks put together could provide a lot of extra oomph. You could still use cows, mice or just about anything else with a moderately sophisticated brain, though.

Question 2) Why are they conscious? There doesn't seem to be any real reason, no matter why you have them in the VR world, for these people to be conscious at all. A person with a 20th-century lobotomy and some basic mood control drugs will lie on a bed perfectly happily (to outside appearances, at least), and that doesn't require the overhead that the Matrix did. What is it that makes the owners of the world want people to experience anything while inside?

The only thing I can think of that answers both questions is that the 'jobs' people have in the VR world are somehow directly accomplishing things in the 'real' world. Maybe those accounting spreadsheets you're building are based on real data instead of VR data. Maybe the point is to put people in situations where their creativity can be tapped without risking unfettered invention and the risks that that carries. Both of which would require conscious beings, and intelligent ones, at that. I suppose the idea of some kind of zoo or art project is vaguely possible, but it isn't very satisfying, from my POV.

These are the kinds of things that are going to determine how players react to this campaign. The flaws and strengths of the Matrix movies have been discussed to a fare-thee-well over the years, and players are going to come at this concept hard, looking for inconsistencies and plot holes.

Re: Linguistic Assitance On Building A Japanes Acronym

And acronyms are not entirely unknown in Japanese. I live next door to SEH America, which stands for "Shin Etsu Handotai", roughly "Blue Green Silicon" (or so I've been told). Note, though, that this is a corporate name, and was picked for international business reasons, not those internal to Japanese culture.

Re: Bizarre Crimes for Any Genre

I think it's in CoC's Horror on the Orient Express where someone steals an opera singer's voice.

Re: Not Role Playing Disadvantages.

Why not? Forum conversations are not bound by the same rules as face-to-face communication. itsalwayssunny found this to be an interesting discussion and added to it. I liked his/her comment and added to that. Isn't the point of archiving this stuff so that those who come later can see what people were talking about years ago? Why limit that to a read-only format?

Re: Not Role Playing Disadvantages.

Completely agree' date=' worth zero points. [b']A disadvantage should only be worth points if it actually is disadvantageous to the character.[/b]

 

I see a lot of characters with "showoff" and "overconfident" disadvantages that should be worth zero unless showing off or being overconfident actually gets you in a pickle.

 

--Kap

I have seen disads like that played beautifully, to the point where the character suffered a lot of difficulty that was entirely unnecessary. We even had a character in a Battletech campaign with "Gullible" as a disadvantage. Messing with him was a big part of the RP in that campaign. Lots of fun.

Re: Alien Jedi's

How about Ewok Jedi? I want to vomit just thinking about it.

Re: High- and Poor-Quality Shields

Options:

1) Strict use of the Focus rules regarding breakage, with poor quality shields having the Fragile option. Custom variations between Fragile and Normal certainly possible.

2) RAR - equivalent to Activation/Burnout - if failed, shield breaks.

3) BODY only Ablative Limitation with appropriate modifications