oberon

Originally posted by austenandrews

Nice. Texas gets insulted by a guy from Toowoomba, Australia. Somehow I picture an untucked yob staggering up and down Ruthven Street with a backwash-foamy Foster's, railing about how he'd kick J.R. Ewing's butt any day of the week.

 

-AA

Come on, there's no way he'd be carrying a Fosters. You don't think we actually drink that stuff here, do you?

austenandrews, sounds like you're familiar with Toowoomba?

BTW Alan, never gotten around to visiting the Irish club. Might have to drop in with my mates after New Year's to take a look.

Also, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.

I'm off to visit family at the beach

oberon

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

Hehe. Well, ok. Having never seen a Dr Who episode Ill have to take your word for it.

*Gasp*

Ah well, no one else is perfect

Got to say, I'm really enjoying being a Dr Who fan here in Australia at the moment. Been screening every episode they could get their hands on, starting from Ep 1, and they intend to go through, in order, to the end of the Sylvester McCoy run.

Ah, I get to see all those episodes I never saw the first time around (too young for the William Hartnell and most of the Patrick Troughton eps)

oberon

Originally posted by Supreme

Just wanted to pass along one comment about powers being inherited. If having super-powers allows someone to breed more often and more successfully than people without, then over time super-powers will become increasingly prevalent until they are "normal." If they are a hinderance to reproduction, then over time super-powers will disappear with only rare reoccurances (less than one per generation). The exception to that is if the phenomenon that creates super-powers is a recurring event.

 

Just thought you should know that in case you ever thought about projecting your campaign background into the future.

There is another option. Make superpowers a recessive, which confers no benefit/hindrance to a carrier. Superpowers will be rare, but pop up now and then. If there is no selection pressure, then the locus won't change in frequency in the population. Of course, you can then start to talk about polygenic traits and epistatic interactions, but we won't

oberon

What?

Sere - The entire sequence of ecological communities successively occupying an area from the initial stage to the climax.

Oh, you meant the other meaning

Sere - Withered; dry

oberon

Edit: Damn, beaten to the punch

Originally posted by tmutant

The key is that kobolds built the place knowing that they are 1/2 hit die beasties. And that they breed like rabbits. 400 kobolds attacking through murder holes, traps, pits, boiling fluids of various kinds. You know, fighting some kobolds.

Ahh, Dragon Mountain

Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side. We got our butts handed to us

oberon

Originally posted by Eclectic Wave

Hero at least addressed encumbrance of weapons in a new unique way, with Str minimums. Most gamers ignore the encumbrance rules, the Str minimuns are a lot harder to ignore.

My understanding is that the STR Minimum of weapons does not really have anything to do with encumbrance. It is the STR required to effectively wield the weapon in combat. I certainly wouldn't impose STR Min. penaties on anyone who was just carrying the item around and not attempting to use it in combat.

oberon

One variant on the needler that I always thought was pretty cool;

Ammunition is a solid lump of plastic. The bullets are jagged shards, that are torn off and thrown out by contact with a high velocity flywheel. Wouldn't be great range/accuracy due to the poor and variable aerodynamics of the 'ammo', but at close range, it would tear an unarmoured opponent to pieces.

oberon

Flare. Energy projector/absorber. Could easily have gone down a different path.

Character was very self-absorbed, follwed his own self-interest. He gained his powers after fusing with an energy being from a higher-order dimension who was a good guy fleeing from his evil society.

His rationale for becoming a hero is that the heroes get more chicks. He basks in the acclaim and popularity, but it is also due to the unconcious influence of his other half. As the character has developed his heroic side has emerged more as his powers increased and his two 'souls' have merged more fully.

Easy to see where his self interest might have been pushed if the being he merged with was not so altruistic. Start of with petty crime and go from there, getting worse as his power level increased.

Oberon

Just remember to make a gift of the OLD copy

oberon

Loved the write-ups

Must admit, I'm in the same boat as Storn. Saw Spriggan and loved it, but I'm now wondering what I'm missing out on. I think I shall have to try and locate Striker and check out the difference myself.

Cheers

oberon

Just wondering, you've put his STR at 10, and given him a weapon with a STR Min of 12?

Pretty good write-up, however. I was going to wait and see what system Gaurdians of Order uses for its version. Convert from there with the rules in the crossover module.

oberon

Sounds like the same thing, tiny body and LONG legs. If they are they same spider (and don't just look alike) then that is interesting in itself. How many other species are successful enough that they are native on more than one continent?

BTW I agree. As a name it certainly doesn't strike fear into the heart. I named myself after a spider which looks really impressive but is just sort of harmless

I try not to kill them around the house, as they prey on other spiders, including redbacks (Australias answer to the Black Widow)

oberon

Character looks fine to me

The name threw me a little, as the Daddy Longlegs is a spider here in Australia. The squid motif was a little confusing until I actually read the background blurb.

oberon

I have fallen asleep in several sessions over the years. Not because I was bored, but because I was extremely tired

My groups have never really had a problem with that. Unfortunately, I have developed a reputation for characters suddenly becoming temporarily insane when I'm playing tired. Most memorable was 1st ed. AD&D, playing a gnomish thief/illusionist. We'd vanquished the Big Bad, and our reward was identical items, one good and one bad, we had to figure out which was which.

My character had a box with two identical looking potions. Everyone else had gone before me, and finally figured out which items to take (after about 45 minutes) and I was very tired and a little bored at this point. My character doesn't bother trying to figure which is which, but mixes them both and downs the concoction (one was poison, the other spider climbing).

The GM decides to teach me a lesson, and rolls on the potion miscibility table and, lo and behold, my thief ended up with permanent spider climb

I was ROFL, while everyone else was looking at the dice in disbelief.

oberon

Originally posted by assault

Umm, Oberon,

 

you need to remember that there are Canadians, and other citizens of the "places that are really cold" here.

Oh, definitely

Got to admit, I prefer the cold weather to the heat, which is odd considering I grew up in North Queensland. I find it amusing when I'm talking to my family and they are complaining about how cold it is (the min. temp in Cairns is usually about the same as the max temp here )

I'm still generally surviving with a light jumper, a long sleeved shirt, and a tee-shirt underneath the long sleeved one at night. During the day, I've been losing the jumper. At work I've been rolling up the long sleeves... Of course, it's not winter yet - this is still Autumn.

Still in the tshirt and shorts for most of the day. The usual comment at work is that people really know when winter has arrived, when they see me bothering with jeans/jacket.

Anyway, we should keep an eye open for each other's posts: if neither of us convinces the other that we are complete twinkies we might have to actually stumble across each other in person at some point...

 

(I don't have a group in Toowoomba at the moment. I've been a bit of an occasional member of some Brissie groups for a while, but that doesn't really work.)

 

Oh, and I've been playing Champions since early '82, and I've got the rulebooks to prove it...

 

Alan

Cool. I've never actually played Hero, yet

Bought C:NM just before 5th ed came out, found it didn't really do what I wanted, so I sold it and got 5th as soon as it came out. Unfortunately, I don't really have the time at the moment to develop a campaign (finishing my PhD) and most of the people I game with have yet to be convinced of the benefits of Hero, to be bothered trying a one-shot. Ah well, I'll wear them down eventually, and then they shall join the converted

I do know a couple of other people in Toowoomba, who have played Champions in previous eds., and are keen to try 5th, so it's on the backburner until I have more time on my hands.

Of course, if someone wanted to run a Hero game that I could play in, that would be another matter. I'm sure I could find SOME free time

cheers

oberon

Originally posted by assault

Hi Oberon,

 

You're from Toowoomba?

 

Alan

Hi Alan,

I am indeed! What do you know, another Toowoomba person!

Got a question,

Cold enough for you??

(says I as I sit typing, wrapped in a blanket, a cup of hot choc in front of me )

oberon

Playing Earthdawn, the party had just defeated the evil cult in the nick of time, preventing the nasty demon from fully entering reality. As it is struggling to make it through the portal, but being inevitably drawn back;

Dwarf (Me): You should taunt it. Go on, it's helpless.

Saurial (drops his pants): Hey! If you're REALLY nice to me, I'll let you suck on this before you're destroyed!

The GM then made a roll. The demon made a last effort, thrust itself forward and clamped its jaws together. Everyone except the saurials player thought the look on his face was priceless

oberon

Originally posted by RDU Neil

Oberon,

AAAAAHHHH!!! I think that would have caused a fist fight, if I'd been you.

 

That is a perfect example of what I'm talking about, and the GM fudges it so you LIVE! AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!

 

To me that is a GM who has no sense of drama or closure or story telling in general. They don't deserve to GM. Ugh.

 

Better luck next time with the glorious death!

That's the weird thing, he's actually one of the best storytellers I've gamed with (apart from a good friend, hell, I was best man at his wedding )

He actually tells stories for a living (assistant children's librarian) and he's brilliant at evoking moods. He'll happily kill off supporting cast, but he seems to have an aversion to characters dying.

It's something I can understand. I used to play in a group where one of the characters died. The player started a blazing row and stormed out of the house, never to be seen again. Personally that's not something I could do. I have characters that I enjoy playing, but I don't get SO attached to them. If one of my characters dies, it's just an excuse for me to make another.

oberon

I had a character I wanted to go out that way, and the GM fudged it so I survived.

Playing Mage, and my character had stuffed up big time, basically landing everyone in Hell (literally, not figuratively)

We managed to survive long enough to work out how to escape, and began opening a portal. This, of course, attracted denizens from far and wide. My character decided that since he was responsible for the predicament he would hold off the horde while others made their escape.

My intention was that he should sacrifice himself in defense of his comrades as a form of redemption, so I cast a final BIG effect and powered it with my life-force (ie all my health levels. I drove a dagger through my heart). Effect was successful, everyone escaped, but the GM ruled that I had missed my heart and was therefore only critically wounded. I had to take him aside and let him know what I had been planning to do.

Come to think of it, he's done similar things in many games, fudging so that characters survive.

oberon

Cool idea! A bonus to Survival would give me what I was trying for and is so much simpler than creating a raft of spells.

Thanks muchly.

oberon

Hmm. I probably gave the wrong idea using the word ranger. Yes, the character is an independant fighter type, who spends more often than not in the outdoors. But I'm not making a D&D ranger.

So, he has a few charms which would be particular useful to someone who spends a lot of their time in the wilderness.

Not the whole get chummy with the animals, Dr Doolittle, type.

That's why I was thinking along the lines of fire-lighting, healing, survival skills, etc.

cheers

oberon

Ahh, my misunderstanding.

If the points didn't fade, you could just have an END reserve which only recharges in the presence of neg. em.

If the points fade, then, yes an adjustment power is probably the way to go.

This also means he actively has to 'feed' on the emotions around him, rather than passively recharging.

Is there a reason to tie the adjustment power to the detect? I would have them seperate. He identifies an angry person, then starts to leech them.

Question. Does the emotion drain affect the target?

You could make it an EGO transfer to the reserve, Only If Target Is Experiencing Negative Emotion (-?)

I think Transfer would be a better route than Absorption, since Absorption requires you be the target of an attack.

If there is no effect on the target, then Aid.

Of course, this is IMHO only

oberon

I'd have to agree with Jhamin. I'd definitely go with OIHID on all the powers. The Guyver is a classic powered-armour hero. I only use multiform when the character changes bodies (eg lycanthropes) (IMHO, of course)

oberon

If you're using an END reserve, would you need to worry about Aid?

Depends on whether the energy he gathers disappears after he has left the vicinty of the negative emotion.

If yes, use an Aid to the framework, no END reserve.

If no, use an END reserve, with a limitation on the recovery, Only In The Presence Of Neg. Emotion (-1/4 or -1/2, depending on your campaign).

oberon

I haven't even gotten to the points stage yet, I'm just trying to iron out the concept and exactly what I want him to have. It won't be large number (~6?) very low level spells, along the lines of lighting the campfire etc. Certainly nothing that might be useful in combat since he will never have had formal training and only has the barest aptitude for magic.

Thanks fo rthe suggestions

oberon