Lupus

Re: Robbers on the Road I honestly don't see what's heroic about dying to a buncha bandits. I also don't see what's un-heroic about surrendering when there's no other option. Or AT LEAST trying to escape, given the overwhelming odds. After all, if you're captured, that's not the end of it. You don't have to 'watch the dark hero bandit fulfilling his destiny.' You can break out, kill him, take his stuff, and escape. Now isn't that much richer and more fulfilling than 'okay, you beat down the bandits. Next...' Heroic doesn't mean 'I win all the time.'

Re: Stargate Hero

Re: D & D Diatribe The point is, you CAN have powerful characters in D&D, you CAN have powerful characters in Hero. You CAN have a level 20 fighter/level 20 wizard in D&D, you CAN have a 500-point wizard with CSLs in Hero. You CAN have a +1 million item in D&D, you CAN have a 100d6AP PEN sword in Hero. Is this a problem? Hell no. The GM's the final arbiter. If the GM says 'you start this game at level 1, with no gestalting' then that's it. Same as the GM saying 'we're starting this game at 75/75.' And that's all that matters. (And now I wanna have a 100d6 AP PEN sword in Hero. Dammit.)

Re: Possession and MASS mind control Not sure it'd be rules-legal, but I like it!

Re: Angel, the worst original character concept ever? Yeah, it was a big surprise, when he first took off his gloves in X-Men and the team realised they were part of him.

Re: Hypothetical Axis Amerika 2005

Re: Hypothetical Axis Amerika 2005 Yeah, that's more or less what I was aiming for. Everyone loves the Nazis! (after 50 years of propaganda telling them they do). They rock!

Re: Hypothetical Axis Amerika 2005 Britain: the most important detail here is DO NOT BOMB LONDON. Goering screwed up there - he had the RAF on the ropes, but let them recover while the Luftwaffer did the Blitz. Biggest mistake of his campaign - he was an air-power enthusiast, and a big believer in bombs winning wars by making populations surrender. The war in Britain could have swung around a lot faster had he actually annihilated the RAF properly. I do like Proditor's timeline, especially the transports from Dunkirk getting wolfpacked (my god, man, you're harsh.) As for Japan's strategy in the Pacific... the US bounced back from Pearl very quickly because the carriers were untouched. Had EVERYTHING been destroyed there, it would have taken a lot longer, and there wouldn't have been such a large force heading to defend it. In addition, if the US never broke JN-25, they wouldn't have known where the invasion was coming. They may have fallen for the diversion. Japan taking Midway puts them in a much better position. After there, and with Germany's successes, they may have been able to keep the US from attacking them until Germany developed the bomb (and possibly Japan, or maybe Germany shared it with them, knowing they still needed the extra manpower). Hey, it's an idea, right? Anyway, to modern day: the US spirit may be crushed, or it may have been twisted. I could easily see a perpetual 1920s jazz aesthetic - the well-to-do partying all night. Keep the US spirit alive! Things like upward mobility, the self-made man, healthy competition - these things help, as long as you can turn them to your cause over a generation of propaganda. Fierce independence may be a problem, but not if you teach everyone that life is BETTER until the Nazis. That's it's not subjugation - you teach them that America CHOSE to have Germany take over at the top levels. (Maybe Germany held some puppet elections in the 50s, or something.) That way, the fierce independence works for Germany, not against it. There'll definitely be resistance, though. Mostly from the underclasses, who are beginning to realise that they have no opportunity for true advancement, and are beginning to believe the rumours that the election in the 50s was rigged and that the Germans are, in fact, conquerers. And, naturally, they take in refugees from the harsh regime in the Western US, and say 'Hey, we're better than the Japanese!' to anyone who complains about them. Anyway, I just like that scenario. It's harsh, but I think it's fertile game material. Patriots vs 'The Government', after all. Japan's definitely the tricky one. Their invasion was possibly delayed until the 50s or so... they nuked US troop movements to wipe out the military, then took beachheads, and busily decimated the population with biological warfare (which they were pioneers of). THEN they took over, perhaps, using fear and pressure. In the West, America's spirit was broken. Naturally, it can't be broken fully - there are still rebels, who unfortunately have to stay quiet, due to the policy of extreme retalliation. Mostly, they try to send people over to the 'benevolent' West US. More enlightened rebels try to send them overseas. (And if anyone's upset at me saying the US could be twisted like that, you should see what I was planning for Australia in my own Naziworld timeline. Things like these are all about the dark side of things, I think. The Nazi Party was the dark side of Germany. So let's bring out the dark side of other nations, too.) Anyway... that's the rest of my ideas (to add what I've posted before, and others' posts). Hope you find it useful. Take it, ignore it, it's there.

Re: D & D Diatribe He does a lot more than that. Killing a handful of goblins with a single lightning-based spell, for one. But I'm not about to get into this old argument. I chose Gandalf over Elminster 'cause I hate Elminster. It was intended as light rhetoric, that's all.

Re: D & D Diatribe Hey, I heard that in Fantasy Hero, you can make characters who can move planets around, sling spells like Gandalf and fight better than anyone else on the planet, ALL AT THE SAME TIME! What a broken, munchkin, twink system! (The point is: any system can be twinked out. It's up to the GM.)

Re: Hypothetical Axis Amerika 2005 Man in the High Tower situation? Neat. As for the logistics of conquering (since Champsguy went there), might work if Germany developed The Bomb first, blew up... oh, some big city, but not Washington, and said 'We have twenty more of these. You get to decide where they go.' After that, they allow an American to be in charge. The old Colonial power structures that Europe used over most of the colonies involved allowing the old political systems to remain in effect. They just put themselves on top. You'll see Americans in positions of power all over the country, still. They'll just be sympathisers. They'd have to institute a radical program of social change. Start with the schools - they teach German and English, they teach Mein Kampf, they teach why the Aryan race is superior. Outside schools, they play the race card. Sure, the white majority will be pissed off at having lost a war, and being under domination of a foreign power. I can certainly see mass mobilisation of rebel militias. But I can also see an incredible amount of shock. The occupiers would have to move quickly and take advantage of that shock, preferably coming off like a kindly force of invaders. By the race card, I mean: 'Hey, you're bummed at having lost. It's okay, we're a lot like you guys, right? You better be lucky you're under us and not the Japanese. We like Aryans. You're on the top of the heap, here.' and other such motivational speeches. I can certainly see the re-introduction of slavery, which may appease certain quarters. It would still be difficult, but if you want to slant things towards an Axis victory in the control over the US, I'd say that's a good start. Alternate the kind hand of benevolent occupation with the iron fist of 'oh dear, you're rebelling? I really wish you hadn't done that.' The end aim, in my opinion, would be to bend the American idealism to the Axis' will. You'd end up with an America that is still as fiercely proud and independent as ever... they just see Germany as the natural people to guide them into the next Millennium. Now, West of the Mississippi.... the Japanese have a lot fewer points of similarity than the Germans. I think they'd never succeed at a program like the above, particularly taking into account the propaganda that was around during the War. They'd probably have to delay their actual invasion, until they built up their army enough from occupied territories. Then they could invade and 'liberate' the Asian peoples of the Pacific coast, particularly the Japanese in internment camps. The West is certainly problematic... as Champsguy said, the numbers game is simply too difficult. They'd need SOMETHING to even out the score... I confess I can't really picture what it is. But you can be it'll involve some very harsh treatment, scores of prison camps and divine retribution against civilians if any Japanese citizen (let alone military man) is harmed.

Re: Stargate Hero Personally, I get a little disappointed by 'Jaffa shocktroopers' all the time. When we see rebel Jaffa, we see them practicing all kinds of cool martial arts. We see Tealc and Bratac - badass warriors. We see enemy Jaffa? They're cannon fodder. So whatever happened to the 80-year-old-badass Jaffa in the service of the system lords? Maybe they're just too smart to face the heroes. Stargate's a good series, but it still has certain 'disconnects' like this one. Ah well. In a game, that's easier to handle... can even have different Jaffa wear slightly different uniforms - those with 80 years of service may have more intricate designs, or something. So PCs know when they're up against the harsher bad dudes.

Re: Robbers on the Road In my experience, it's not just that PCs would rather die than surrender. It can also be that they see themselves, on death's door, and they say 'why should I surrender? I can still fight! If I can get in just one good hit then I can win...' But then they don't get in that one good hit... they miss, and they get decapitated on the bad guy's next action, unless the GM fudges the dice. Three solutions there, I guess: 1) fudge the dice. Maybe so the bad guy misses, maybe so the good guy just gets knocked out (or permanent head injury, I like that one, it's nasty-ass). 2) Kill the PC. Darwin will take care of the rest. 3) Explain to the PC, before they take action, that they have to get VERY lucky to win, and perhaps they might think about surrendering, because the bad guy isn't going to let them live if they keep fighting. The last option will often sound like railroading, though (even though it isn't). I began to realise this when it was explained to me why my villains kept dying. A very wise man told me that you don't have them run away on the turn when you think they HAVE to. You have them run away on the turn BEFORE you think they have to.

Re: D & D Diatribe

Re: D & D Diatribe Um... except when multiclassing, you don't restart the XP chart. If you're a level 5 fighter, and you pick up level 1 wizard, you're a level 6 character overall. You need 6000xp in order to level up to fighter 5/wizard 2, exactly as if you were going from fighter 6 to fighter 7. Are you perhaps thinking of AD&D Dual-classing? Where you dropped your first class, and couldn't use its features until you exceeded your old class' level? In that case, you restarted the XP table...

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"? I've always been a little O_o at some of the perks, certainly. I have to pay a character point to have a Passport? O_O

Re: Advantage on STR that lets you lift the FF's Baxtor Building in one piece I'd also go with the free effect, or +1/4 naked advantage, as genre dictated. Then a limitation of power depending on confidence. My reasoning is that what he does could be done by any other brick (in some genres), or most of what he does could be done in other, just as easy, ways (in more 'realistic' genres). So if you're running pure Silver Age, no advantage. More modern stuff, +1/4. The thing of picking up the car by the bumper - that's pretty much special effects. Doesn't need a power advantage. Someone with a different kind of power would just pick the car up with a more secure hold and throw it anyway. In-game advantage is zero, therefore no power modifier. Holding up the Baxter building is the one where Silver Age and modern campaigns will differ. In my game, I'd call it +1/4, but other games may vary. Cf Superman holding up oil tankers all by his lonesome. I think that's one reason why Byrne wanted to redefine Superman's powers as psionic - he wanted a more 'realistic' Superman. (Personally, I think the revamp sucked. He can do that because he's Superman. He needs no other explanation. Solar-powered, my arse.) I think buying telekinesis as a separate power is definitely overkill. I always have to remind myself: don't by powers that simulate HOW it works, buy powers to simulate the EFFECTS. And in this case, I don't believe the effects are worth more than a +1/4.

Re: Knockback for Area Effect Powers If the attack's already paying a +1 for AoE Radius, I'm not concerned. Having a 10d6 AoE Radius attack is 100 Active Points, minimum - in a lower-powered game, it shouldn't be there. In a higher-powered game, it'll have virtually no effect other than to do an average of 3" of knockback. I'll give it the ability to choose direction for free.

Re: Possession and MASS mind control Sticky, by the rules, doesn't work past the first one. The guy you mind control will be sticky - but the people he affects won't affect others. The way to do this, just like diseases, is a transform, as in your first suggestion - the people who are transformed gain the power themselves. This is potentially extremely abusive. GMs beware.

Re: New weapons/Armour list Okay, here's what I've come up with. I've included notes in the document where appropriate, as well as specific rules (mainly the 'arrow sticking in target' one). It's not intended to be comprehensive, just give a broad base. It's also supposed to reflect Middle Earth weapons, as opposed to general fantasy. Um... well, here it is. (Word document format. Crappy, I know, but most people will be able to read it. The original WordPerfect file was 49k, this one's 143k. Bleah!)

Re: New weapons/Armour list Cool. I'd be interested in seeing yours. Anyway, gonna post mine...

Re: "Fantasy" withoiut Magic Hmm, making them similar to elephants might be interesting. Prolly not walking on two legs all the time... mostly four legs, but can go on two for short distances... hell, might just work.

Re: "Fantasy" withoiut Magic

Re: New weapons/Armour list

Re: New weapons/Armour list Now, I've also been pondering bows. I pretty much like the bow lists as presented in FH. I was thinking of adding in perhaps a point or two of piercing (one point for lower-powered bows, maybe up to 3 points for the biggest longbows). On the other hand, this may make them a little too powerful. Could be an idea to lower the damage values to compensate. I have also been considering an additional rule - something to allow for arrows to lodge in the target. Perhaps if an arrow does more than 2 BODY, it reduces CV, and does additional damage each phase (if the target keeps moving, that is). I've heard repeatedly that someone with an arrow in them, even if it isn't going to kill, is unlikely to be doing much of anything, presumably due to pain and discomfort. This could, alternately, be an adaptation of the 'twisting the blade' rules from FH - if you make the shot by 3 or more points, and do 3 or more BODY past armour, you get the equivalent of twisting the blade each time you perform a strenuous action (applied to the hit location you took the damage to, and obviously past armour). This would, obviously, be accompanied by a lowering of the damage of bows. Under this system, you'd be less likely to score a single-hit-kill with a bow, unless you hit somewhere important... but you'd be more likely to take the target out of the fight. Alternately, it could simply compensate for the problems such as 1/2DCV for firing a bow. How does that sound to other people? Unbalancing? Unrealistic? Too harsh?