Peregrine

Originally posted by Supreme

Related Question Supreme:

 

If your cybernetics are based upon fiber-optics as opposed to conventional circuitry, are you still vulnerable to EMPs?

AFAIK, fiber optic circuits are NOT susceptible to EMP, as EMP disrupts electron flow, and fiber optics are photonic, nor electronic. However, for most fiber optics, there are some electronic components at some point in the system.

Maybe damage reduction, only vs. EMP, for fiber optic systems.

I see sleep powers done as either EB, NND or Drain STUN. As an alternative, how about Mind Control, One Command ("Sleep")? After all, when we sleep at night, we're not down to 0 STUN.

Re: older game background material

Originally posted by MoonHunter

There are dozens of older games (and heck modern ones) that have difficult game mechanics or are just nearly obsolete. We played a number of them using hero 4th edition, a few of them will adapt nicely to 5th edition.

 

Star Trek (Fasa)

Blue Planet (Modern, but the 2nd edition mechanics suck)

Lace and Steel (so we did not have to use the cards)

Cidri (Fantasy Trip's, GURPs precursor, game world)

and the list goes on....

Ah... FASA Trek. Remains to this day my favorite incarnation of the Star Trek universe. FASA gave FGU a run for its money in the 'great setting/crappy mechanics' league. (Shadowrun, anyone?)

Originally posted by MisterVimes

Another good CHEAP resource is old FGU Space Opera atlases...

I'll second that one. FGU's Space Opera was chock-full of ideas, but lacked consistency - lots of depth in some areas, very little in others. And nigh-unplayable game mechanics.

Originally posted by oneoflittleword

Now based on all the responce the next question is .....

 

Other that the main book, which supplements would be consided a must have for a GM? In time all would be the goal, but the must haves for really getting things rolling.

Depends on what you want to run. For a superheroic game, Champions; Champions Universe if you want a premade setting, Conquerors Killers and Crooks for premade villains.

For science fiction, Star Hero, Terran Empire for a premade setting, and Ultimate Vehicle for in-depth rules for starship creation.

For martial arts gaming, Ninja Hero is the genre book; Ultimate Martial Artist is indispensible.

Re: Two offbeat ideas....

Originally posted by BobGreenwade

2. LA Major Cases: This is something at the low end of the power spectrum. The PCs, all Competent Normals, work for the LAPD to solve cases involving celebrities, violent serial offenders, or other high-profile elements. They would include two detectives, two CSIs, an ME, a criminal psychologist (with some background in criminal profiling -- or perhaps one with and one without), and an assistant DA. The approach would be a combination of the Law & Order and CSI franchises, with Crossing Jordan and The Profiler thrown in for good measure.

Sounds like the new Dragnet show, which is the only TV show I currently make a point to watch.

On the OLD, old boards (back in the Days Of Which We Do Not Speak), someone posted the idea that the infamous 'Jedi Mind Trick' ('JMT') was, in fact, PRE 'Only to do Presence Attacks'. The supporting points were (if memory serves correctly) that the 'only works on the weak willed' limitation of the JMT is perfectly reflected by the Presence Attack working against the stronger of PRE or EGO, and the effect of the JMT is nicely modeled by the effects of a Presence Attack. The SFX of the JMT Presence Attack is, of course, much more subtle than what we normally associate with a Presence Attack, but doesn't SFX make all the difference sometimes?

As further support for the 'weak-minded' theory, the clone warriors of AotC were genetically altered to be 'less strong willed' (paraphrasing here), and they are presumably the progenitors of the Imperial Stormtroopers. So the Jedi Mind Trick from ANH worked because the Stormtroopers are bred/engineered to be weaker-willed.

Of course, this was originally intended to make them more susceptible to the Emperor's power...

Originally posted by Monolith

It is strange that two of us would pick the same location. Of course I have never actually been there, but it seemed like a good spot for a "Super City."

I've never been there either; the route from Atlanta to St. Louis goes close, depending on which way you go from the end of I-24, but I've always bypassed it. I was drawn to it by the 'transportation crossroads' aspect of two major rivers converging. Add 19th century rail lines and, voila! Burgeoning metropolis.

And the whole Earthquake of '45 thing wasn't my idea. It was my co-developer's, who is an old Army buddy of mine.

Re: Re: HTH Rapid Fire, Auto Fire, etc.

Originally posted by Syberdwarf2

Just buy Autofire with the maneuver. Give the number of shots (punches) to determine the adjustment. Apply the advantage cost to the points of the maneuver.

example...

 

Killing Strike, Autofire (5 shots; +1/2)

Base cost: 4 points

Active cost: 6 points

 

Remember that Martial Arts are nothing more than a collection of maneuvers that a character learns under a certain style. Essentially, the maneuver is just a power to which the advantage is applied. However, some GMs would only allow this to be built as a Hand Attack, or HKA.

Also, I believe there's more on this in Ultimate Martial Artist, but I'm still waiting on my copy, so I'm not sure.

There is indeed more in UMA. Basically, you figure the 'pseudo-Base Cost' (my term, not used in UMA) of the maneuver, figuring in STR and Extra DCs, and figure the cost of the naked Advantage from that. UMA has the details.

Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft

Ouch. And I can see why you would be.

 

Getting back to teran Empire -- I've ordered my copy by Internet and am waiting for it to come by whatever means it comes. Hopefully it'll show up in my PMB during my trip.

 

I hope the Terran empire book didn't fall into "there was only one emperor -- he just happens to be immortal/keeps on cloning himself/etc." trap.

Nope. There's a definite line of succession of Emperors and Empresses; some good, some bad.

Originally posted by SAW

 

quote:

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Originally posted by Monolith

In my spare time I am writing the background for the fictional city of New Cairo, based at the southern tip of Illinois.

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Speaking as someone who lives in southern Illinois, don't go breaking too much stuff.

 

SAW

In Trinity City, I did. Old Cairo (where Cairo is R/W) was sunk beneath the converging rivers by a freak earthquake in September 1945 (the fact that there was a superbattle occurring in Old Cairo that included a seismic-powered super has not been confirmed as being related to the disaster). In the 1980s, on the site of Old Cairo, a massive combination artificial island/building was constructed. Officially named Government Island (because it was intended to house the city government of Trinity City), it has come to be popularly known as Trinity Island, and it is the location of not only city government, but Federal government offices (including a PRIMUS base), various nations consulates, and UNTIL's North American Regional Headquarters (moved there in 1993-94, after the U.S> signed the Tribunal Treaty).

A city of my own creation, fleshed out over the last 10 years or so: Trinity City, located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. I'm currently aiming for a flavor that I call (for lack of a better descriptor) 'superheroic Dark Champions'.

Edit:

(Note to self - read the thread before posting!)

Having seen that I am not the only one to put a city at that location, I can only say that Trinity City's history diverges in the 19th century.

Originally posted by Mutant for Hire

Personally, I would have been happier if they advanced the old 4th edition universe. Have some supervillain teams fall, other ones arise, shakeups in the lineups and so on. Have the 4th edition Champions as background characters in the universe and have a new team as the presented team in the book.

There is some sense of that - the demise of Professor Muerte and the changes in Eurostar's lineup. The Champions remain the 'sample' characters (and I note that they are published in the Champions genre book as such) to showcase 350-point superheroes. There is no hero team whose members' character sheets are presented in Champions Universe, though there are several team (and team members) mentioned by name; from the historical accounts some of these characters are likely very experienced.

A setting as a 'character'

I would publish my Trinity City setting, with the cast of NPCs/semi-PCs I have developed for it.

Originally posted by ogier300

Mack Bolan vs. Frank Castle

D'oh! Talk about The Original vs. the Knock-Off...

And Mr. Bolan (would YOU call him Mack if you weren't a personal friend?) wouldn't even need his cast of friends and allies.

If the special effect of a power vs. Danger Sense is 'self-control of conscious intent' (as per my question on the Rules Questions board), would that be best modeled by Invisibility or Darkness? My first inclination is Invisibility, but I wanted to canvass Herodom Assembled for your input.

That would be greatly appreciated.

In the interim, may I recommend GURPS Special Ops? The templates there should be easily convertable to HERO, or at least give a good starting point.

So (subject to GM interpretation), Danger Sense is generally triggered on the conscious intent of a mind, or on the hazard of something without a mind, depending on how the Danger Sense is structured.

Thus, the special effect of an Invisibility to Danger Sense power could be 'self-control of conscious intent'.

Is that right?

I second Ablative as the best answer. Star Trek shields ablate as they are hit, and pass damage through to the ship without going away completely.

Originally posted by Hermit

Side Note:

I've been hearing particularly good things about the Nightwing comic book series. I don't collect (not any more) but is it worth snatching from the shelves from time to time? Or have I just run into some die hard fans who'd buy anything with him on it?

I gave it up shortly after the original writer, Chuck Dixon, left DC Comics to write for an alternative press. Dixon's run was excellent, but it hasn't (IMO) maintained quality since then.

On the other hand, there is a new series starting this spring/summer called THE OUTSIDERS, with Nightwing as team leader, that I plan to give a 12-issue trial.

On further consideration

Add to my list:

Scarlet Pimpernel (the original from whence Bruce Wayne/Batman decended)

Swashbucklers

Steampunk

Cliffhangers

Martial Arts (though either edition of UMA beats it easily)

My GURPS favorites:

Black Ops (#1 with a bullet)

Cabal (dare I say it - a better treatment of the subject than the original Ultimate Supermage)

Special Ops

Lensman

Technomancer (most of it - as was mentioned in IST above, some of the underlying assumptions the author chose are a matter of taste)

Traveller (they diverged from the Shattered Imperium timeline - and for that I will be ever grateful)

Originally posted by AlHazred

Doc Savage is nice, but very often he goes over the top;

You say that like it's a bad thing...

Terran Empire

Terran Empire has quite a few alien races detailed. Since that setting in is the official future of the Champions Universe, all those races (unless noted otherwise in Terran Empire, I would presume) are 'out there' in the Champions Universe.