ErikModi

Re: Zip-Line Flight Thanks for all the input. Had a chat with the GM, and we've agreed that Swinging replicates this, and there's no need to buy weird Flight.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From tonight's session, a continuation of last week's session with the werewolf, who happened to be a stripper at the same club my DNPC works at: Flipside had drained the werewolf girl of her lycanthropy, and taken it all on himself. He did transfer two abilities to my character, Nightscream, one being the ability to talk to canines, the other being wolflike sense (which, by the way, I was very grateful to receive while were IN A SEWER!!) As a result, we are both afflicted with some of the downsides of being a werewolf: hyperactivity and chronic hunger. Flipside also gets decreased impulse control. Anyway, we take the werewolf back to our base and lock her in the vault for the night, where she promptly goes to sleep. Meanwhile, Flipside and I start nattering back and forth about his new plan to build a cage for the werewolf and dogsit her for three nights every month. We eventually break off, as Groundwire and Gravitas go for pizza, I divide my time between studying brain chemistry and ways to suppress these negative emotional side effects, while Flipside starts building a cage. Groundwire (to Gravitas, away from Nightscream and Flipside): They have lost they're nut. Me (OOC): No, they're right here! Gravitas (upon returning, discussing the implications of keeping werewolf girl in a cage in our secret hero base): We'd have food and water, and some entertainment- GM: You have a stripper in a cage in your home. Groundwire (OOC): I take first watch! Gravitas (chagrined): Entertainment FOR HER! Me (OOC): Bringing a stripper home sounds really swell on paper, but in practice, it's MUCH more complicated! Nightscream has been working on a device to regulate the subject's emotions and prevent loss of reasoning. Nightscream (Me, said rapid-fire as if on a sugar high): This is a sophisticated neural interface device capable of detecting and supressing a predetermined set of neurological impulses. A preselected thought pattern triggers a recursive feedback loop into the autonomous portions of my central nervous system, stimulating the physiological effects of a heightened emotional state without compromising the synaptic pathways in my frontal lobe. The Nightscream symbiote, in sympathetic reaction, draws on my body's natural chemical energy to induce a phase-shift into interdimensional space, drawing on interdimensional energy and translating that interdimensional energy into a corresponding increase in size and mass thereby creating what you have so colorfully nicknamed the "Nightscream Smash" effect. (Yes, I'd been practicing that speech most of October.) After the Drained werewolf abilities wear off, so do the side effects, and Nightscream crashes. As he falls asleep at his computer, Groundwire and Gravitas come across him. Groundwire: I ain't moving him. Gravitas: Do you have any markers? Groundwire: Ah, markers. . . Nightscream wakes up to find not only shaving cream on his face (from the old shaving cream in the hand and feather to the nose trick), but eyes drawn on his eyelids. A good Perception check the following morning allows him to notice them. Me (miming blinking one eye then the other into a mirror): Those BASTARDS!

Re: A powerful cosmetic transform On the idea of Transforming a locked lock into an unlocked lock, I'm suddenly flashing back to an old TV show called Roswell. . . If you didn't see it (and I'd actually be surprised if many did, or remember it) the aliens on the show (who are actually alien/human hybrids, so look completely human) have the power to alter molecular structures. One of the many spiffy uses for this power is to simply hold their hand over a lock and unlock it.

Re: Evasion Talent Problem is, I'm now the team brick, since our Space Marine hasn't shown up for more than three sessions. So I can't rely on my teammates to sponge damage for me, I need to do it for them. This is just part of bulking up my character's defenses so that he can be the tank and hold aggro, as well as putting down threats in conjunction with the rest of the team.

Re: Welcoming Women Who Game I'm already sort of tackling a Sex and the Superhero essay, though I don't make much distinction between "Golden Age," "Silver Age," and "Everything else," so it's more encompassing all aspects of romance and sexuality in superhero comics. I may tackle Erotic Horror, Post-Holocaust, and "supernatural" sex as well. What do you think is missing from my "Sexual Combat" system to make it workable for you'd like in a RESIR system?

Re: Zip-Line Flight Lots of good input, thank you all! In this conception, the character is strong enough to provide his own momentum simply through muscle power, yanking himself through the air from point to point using the zip lines as leverage. The lines are also part of his symbiotic costume, but that's neither here nor there. Perhaps I can talk my GM into allowing the character's existing Swinging to cover this, since it's MUCH cheaper to build it that way. I do, however, see part of his point. . . Swinging is half the cost of Flight because Flight is more versatile, and Swinging is more limited. . . if a character with 40m of Flight and a character with 40m of Swinging can both traverse the same ground in the same amount of time, what's the benefit for the character who spent twice as much on Flight? Any thoughts on the Swinging vs. Flight conundrum?

Re: Welcoming Women Who Game It seems to me that this is EXACTLY the kind of insight the thread in question needs. How many of these male gamers skip the "relationship" parts of stories because they simply have no idea how to run one? Essays on that sort of thing could be insanely useful to GMs and players who want to incorporate that sort of thing into their campaigns, but aren't sure how.

Re: Zip-Line Flight Hm, that's interesting. Combining the "only in straight lines" with the "can go no higher than surrounding terrain" may work together to replicate this ability quite well.

Re: Zip-Line Flight Yes, Spider-Man TYPICALLY uses Swinging. However, in some games, most notably the recent Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time, he has a "Web Zip" mode of movement. Basically, you tap the "Swing" button (instead of holding it down, as to swing) and he fires a webline to the nearest "perchable" object, and zips across the intervening space. My GM doesn't seem to think this mode of movement is included in Swinging, so I'm curious about building a Flight mode to do so.

Re: The "Essay"(ESSE/UEH) Project(Warning: mature/controversial content contained her Not sure about Mass Effect (only played the second one), but yes, EarthGov in Bab5 had apparently released a list of aliens it was safe to hook up with. See my above post for details.

Re: Zip-Line Flight Basically, the GM requires that my character be below the average elevation of the surrounding buildings, since I have to actually swing from point to point. It makes it difficult-to-impossible to chase someone who is, for instance, fleeing across rooftops, since I continuously have to dip below the rooftops the target is fleeing across.

Re: Zip-Line Flight Yeah, that's what I've got now, and it doesn't quite work that way in practice, at least not in the GM's interpretation.

I'm curious as to how to build a flight ability defined as zipping around on lines. For example, Batman's various line-launching gadgets, or Spider-Man's web zips from various games. Flight, Only Along Surfaces doesn't quite seem to work since this sort of flight could be used to zip across a gap, for instance. Thoughts?

Re: The "Essay"(ESSE/UEH) Project(Warning: mature/controversial content contained her It wasn't specifically a pick-up bar, but Babylon 5 had a few such places. In one of the first season eps, a human is flirting with a very human-looking alien (and a very receptive one at that.) Sinclair approaches and asks the guy if he knows what race he's hitting on, to which the guy asks if Sinclair has something against non-humans. Sinclair doesn't, but points out that this race is known for eating the males after copulation, and that the human should stick to hooking up on the approved list (yes, apparently EarthGov in the B5 universe has gone to the trouble of publishing an approved list for which races are and are not safe to hook up with.) The alien chick looks very disappointed, having been. . . I suppose, gullet-blocked.

Re: The "Essay"(ESSE/UEH) Project(Warning: mature/controversial content contained her While the system can certainly support such, that's not all it's intended to model. I know enough people who find that subject distasteful enough that it would never be included in their games, so I deliberately wanted to set off at the forefront that I was not making a "sexual assault system." Basically, the point of the system is that, if your game is such where sex needs to get the same amount of coverage and attention as combat, here's a system to make it work.

Re: The "Essay"(ESSE/UEH) Project(Warning: mature/controversial content contained her Precisely.

Re: Evasion Talent Good thing for me, then that I wasn't looking for a "proper" translation, but advanced protection specifically against AoE attacks. Whew.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From tonight's game: As Gravitas is flying, tracking a strange woman in a trenchcoat holding a "The End Is Nigh" sigh and leaving bird-like footprints: GM: She doesn't seem to see you- Gravitas: For once! We are tracking what appears to be a werewolf. Groundwire is skeptical, to put it mildly. Groundwire (OOC): I'm still in denial it's a werewolf. I'm totally Flat-Earth over here. The werewolf rabbits (no pun intended) as we approach, and I finally catch up with (turns out to be a her.) Nightscream (Me) (OOC): Hello, I'm a police officer with the Undead Task Force. I have reason to believe you have contracted the zombie virus. If you can understand me, STAND STILL! Nightscream (IC): Hey, Werewolf Dude! Cease and desist! Werewolf: Not a dude, and no, you don't get to call me that! Nightscream: Fine, Wolf Chick, HEAVE TO! Werewolf: You realize, with one touch of these claws, I can curse you? Nightscream (my character, afflicted with. . . anger management issues): We're already cursed, b!@#$. Flipside, arriving to the battle late (he is the only one in the group with no enhanced movement power), is accosted by two dogs under the werewolf's control. As he Drains the first dog's STUN to zero: Play dead! His next segment, he Drains the other dog's movement to zero: Sit! The werewolf flees into the sewer. Without my Swinging, I have no hope of catching up to her, so I shout: Nightscream: Come back and fight, you cowardly, flea-ridden, mangy, foul-breathed B!@#$!!! Doesn't lead up to a quote, but probably the greatest moment at the table last night: We finally get the werewolf to surrender, and it turns out it was a fairly innocent young woman inflicted with lycanthropy. She'd killed two men, one in self-defense as he'd tried to. . . accost her, and another planning on doing the same to another woman, trying to use her curse for good. My character isn't very supportive, having already been to prison for manslaughter, and is really upset when the rest of the party seems understanding of her eating people, while they give him endless grief for dealing ten dice of strength attack to normal mortals (unless he rolls really well, the standard 2 PD means no one's going to take more than 8 BODY, so they're in no danger of dying.) The discussion was chalk full of drama and great RP, finally culminating in us deciding to take the werewolf for tonight, then turn over to Tetrahedron, the company making power-nullifying devices for use in incarcerating supervillains. Flipside absorbs the woman's werewolf powers for awhile, giving her some brief respite from her curse.

Re: Superhero Team Members Yeah, and it was shown that this was not the team's most solid lineup, yet they STILL conquered all comers. The claim to Earth's Mightiest stands. Anyway, my cross-universe lineups would be (please note, I'm more a Marvel fan than DC, so my DC universe knowledge is somewhat limited: Avengers: Superman Captain America Wonder Woman Thor Iron Man Steel Marvel Knights: Batman Robin/Nightwing (whichever you prefer) Spider-Man Daredevil The Flash Thunderbolts: Venom (Eddie Brock, not Mac Gargan) or Anti-Venom Songbird Black Canary Catwoman Suicide Squad (as sort of the "black ops" counterpart to the Avengers): Wolverine Black Widow Huntress

Re: The "Essay"(ESSE/UEH) Project(Warning: mature/controversial content contained her Striking Looks, for starters, with Distinctive Features/Not Distinctive in some cultures (Japanese) for starters.

Re: The "Essay"(ESSE/UEH) Project(Warning: mature/controversial content contained her

Re: The "Essay"(ESSE/UEH) Project(Warning: mature/controversial content contained her Lots of heavy stuff there, playboy. Good things to consider. On the subject of vampires, I took a run at making some vampire powers for HERO awhile back, including this one: Mesmerizing Gaze: Mind Control 10d6 (Human class of minds) (50 Active Points); Eye Contact Required (-1/2), Restrainable (Eyes; -1/2), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4), Total Cost: 22 Replicating ye olde "Come to me, Mina" Dracula-type power.

Re: The "Essay"(ESSE/UEH) Project(Warning: mature/controversial content contained her Hero System Sexual Combat Why? Or, WHAT THE @#$%’S WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?! This system is an attempt to bring “sexual combat” into Hero System. Basically, treating the physical aspect of arousal, sexual activity, and climax with the same systems as determining hits and damage in combat. Upon hearing “sexual combat” many people immediately would leap to the conclusion that the system is all about forcing oneself upon a defenseless character. NOT TRUE!!!!! Just like combat in Hero System can cover anything from a friendly spar to a boxing match to attempting to puree your opponent with a wood chipper, sexual combat can be used for any kind of sexual encounter, not just (or even primarily) the violent kind. With that, let’s get into the systems. Stages There are a few stages of any sexual encounter. They are: Arousal Foreplay Intercourse Climax Afterglow Each of these stages progresses differently, involving different rolls and timings. Let’s examine each stage in detail. Attraction and Desire Of course, before one can get down to. . . well, getting down, there’s the little problem of attracting someone to get down with. Finding a partner can be handled in any number of ways. It can be as simple as walking up to someone and asking them point blank if they want to have sex (note: studies claim that 1 out of every 10 people approached in this manner will say yes.) Others favor more discrete, subtle, or downright manipulative approaches, while still others are genuinely interested in sitting down and talking with an interesting person, getting to know them before getting to “know” them. How one handles “the pick-up” depends greatly on the situation, characters, and approach involved. When dealing with PCs, this sort of interaction will most often be role-played, and will probably go on for quite some time before the PCs involved even realize (or admit) that their characters are flirting. With NPCs RP may or may not be involved. Skill rolls can come into play at any time, as one character attempts to woo another (PC or not.) Nearly any skill could be justified as part of a flirting or seductive attempt (some people do, in fact, get quite excited by an intelligent conversation about particle physics.) Arousal The arousal stage is the first, and arguably easiest, stage to complete. It’s the simply, biological process of priming a person (or other being) for sexual activity. Attempting to generate arousal in another character can be resolved with a simple Presence Attack, with some modifiers unique to this kind of Presence Attack: Modifier Situation or Character’s Action +1d6 Character is dressed somewhat provocatively +2d6 Character is dressed very provocatively +3d6 Character is naked or dressed ridiculously provocatively (i.e., Fredrick’s of Hollywood-style lingerie. -2d6 Character is dressed conservatively. -4d6 Target is actively opposing the character’s attempts to arouse them. PRE Halved Character is outside the target’s sexual orientation. If a character can get their hands (or other appropriate appendages) on their target, they can attempt to gain a further bonus to their Arousal PRE attack by making a PS: Perform Sexual Technique roll, which the target may oppose with a CON or EGO roll, as they choose. Success grants +1d6 to the Arousal PRE attack by every 1 point by which the character succeeded. It should be noted that these rolls are not always required. In most any circumstance, any character simply choose to become aroused, or allow themselves to become aroused (unless they have an appropriate Physical Limitation. . . and they make a pill for that now.) Foreplay/Intercourse This is where things start to get serious. The character have their hands (among other things) all over each other, and garments usually begin to be discarded. There are nearly limitless options for how characters can engage in foreplay, just as there are nearly limitless ways in which they can perform strikes in combat, and when factoring in the abilities and entities that can be built in Hero System, it can truly be said that the only limits are one’s imagination. So, a simple system will cover how “well” characters perform foreplay and follow-up, intercourse. All characters have a Pleasure score (PLE), equal to but separate from their Endurance. PLE, unlike END, begins empty and counts up (instead of beginning full and counting down.) Characters may make “Sex Attacks” to add to one or more characters’ PLE. A simple PS: Perform Sexual Technique roll initiates the “Sex Attack,” filling the roll of an OCV vs. DCV roll in normal combat. Succeeding on the Perform Sexual Technique roll allows a character to roll one or more dice to attempt to fill the meter. A character gains one “Sex Attack” die for every point by which he or she beats their skill roll. These dice are rolled and counted like normal damage dice in ordinary Hero Combat. Tallying up the total on all dice adds points to PLE of the character who was the target of the “Sex Attack.” Example: The Spider and Housecat are “recreating” after an uneventful night’s patrol. Housecat does some “charming” things for her arachnid-powered man, beating her Perform Sexual Technique roll by two. She rolls two dice, getting a six and a four. The Spider increases his PLE by 10. Each die rolled also behaves like a normal attack’s BODY damage dice for purposes of increasing the PLE of the other character. Thus, a character who rolled two Sexual Attack dice targeting their partner would normally increase their own PLE by two. However, like BODY damage, sixes count double, while ones do not count at all. Thus, in the above example, Housecat would increase her PLE by three, instead of two. Intercourse follows the same basic rule as foreplay, with the characters rolling Sex Attacks against each other (or themselves) until they reach the fourth stage. Attacking Yourself? Yes, it is possible in a Sex Attack to declare yourself as the target. This can be done when all alone, or when with a partner who’s racing ahead of you to allow you to “keep up.” Other Skills? Of course, PS: Perform Sexual Technique isn’t the only skill that can come in handy for making a Sex Attack. Acrobatics and Contortionist are two obvious skills that can supplement, or even replace, a Perform Sexual Technique roll, and skills like Persuasion, Interrogation, and Oratory (no, not THAT kind of Oratory!) can aid. Teamwork can also add to making such a coupling memorable. Climax When PLE is full, a character reaches orgasm, the whole point of having sex in the first place. There are no special rules as such for climax, but it does feel really good, and has a variety of effects on brain chemistry and physiology. There’s no concrete data one way or the other, but some believe that having sex before bouts of other intense physical activity can be detrimental to one’s performance, levying penalties to combat or other exertions for the next 24 to 48 hours. Others believe that the endorphins released aid in focus and concentration, making one more effective, and applying a similar bonus. Holding Off Sometimes, you’re just not quite ready to be done yet. When a character’s Pleasure Meter is full, they can attempt to postpone their climax for one turn. Doing so requires a CON roll, at a cumulative -1 penalty. Afterglow Again, no special systems are needed for this, though characters (especially males) interested in keeping a regular partner may want to make PS: Perform Sexual Technique rolls to cuddle afterwards. Characters who perform well in sexual combat may gain bonuses to post-coital interaction skills. This can be an extremely effective way of “pumping” a Contact for information, for instance. Certain exceptionally manipulative villains (or villainesses) may use their seductive powers (in or out of their secret identities) to gain an edge over their heroic foes. On the other hand, a character who performs exceptionally poorly may not only have a difficult time getting that partner back for a rematch, but may find themselves the target of a negative reputation. Other Considerations Undressing A wise man once said, “Doesn’t exactly look like a successful mating to me. He’s still got his pants on.” Taking off one’s clothes to some degree is required for successful Sex Attacks. Normally, a character doesn’t need to roll at all to simply drop trou, but sometimes, you may want to get naked with style, or remove your partner’s clothing for them (a much more difficult operation.) Taking one’s clothes off in a seductive fashion can involve a PRE attack, or be handled though PS: Striptease. Taking off someone else’s clothes can be DEX roll, or a STR roll if no one cares if the garment in question remains intact. Undressing someone who doesn’t want to be undressed requires a successful Grab first. Some slight tweaks, some in response to suggestions here. Summary of changes: Changed the requirements for adding PRE dice and gaining Sex Attack dice to a one-for-one ratio. Added a section at the beginning about attracting a partner. Added a section near the end about post-coital bonuses. Changed Pleasure Meter to simple Pleasure or PLE, in keeping with HERO System naming conventions. May change to Ecstasy (ECS.) Thoughts? As always, feedback welcomed and encouraged. Anything more you'd like to see, suggest it. I'd really like to make a unified system for sexual activity that any other powers and abilities can fit into, and thus, treasure the thoughts of those of you going to all the effort to create such abilities.

Re: The "Essay"(ESSE/UEH) Project(Warning: mature/controversial content contained her Womp-Wah. Excellent stuff, guys, keep it coming! (No double entendre intended.)

Re: Evasion Talent Decided to go with this: Evasion: Desolidification , Trigger (Hit by Area Effect Attack) (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates, Character does not control activation of personal Trigger; +3/4) (70 Active Points); Only To Protect Against Area Effect Attacks (-1), Requires A Roll (Skill roll (Acrobatics); Must be made each Phase/use; (-1), Cannot Pass Through Solid Objects (-1/2), Instant (-1/2), Cost: 17 Now all I need to do is show it to my GM and get it approved. Thanks for all the assistance!