Jinx999

Re: Jane's Superhumans

A lot will depend on the country. A group tyranny (like China) would react differently to a strong-man tyranny (like too much of Africa) would react differently to a country with a history of human rights. A strong-man goverment can be beheaded. The other's can't, effectively, so will have less reason to be paranoid.

What I don't see is a forced draft. Depending on powerlevel, superhumans are either best used as special forces or heavy assault. The last thing you want in either case is someone who isn't motivated and doesn't want to be there.

Re: What would your character do? #71

Special Agent Trent would spend the first day cursing supers' date=' superpowers, and general weirdness in every way he could think of, then suffer through an uncomfortable night. The next morning, priorities would seem much clearer, and he'd start looking for humans in South America, where he'd set himself up as a "lawgiver" type. Why South America? Because they've got coffee.[/quote']

 

Actually Coffee originally came from Africa. (Quick check on Wikipedia later) probably Ethiopia. Trent will be doomed to disapointment.

 

Jinx

Re: Exotic Methods for Executions?

A Chinese method I once read about:

Bury the executee up to their neck in the ground. Invite passers by to try sawing the head off with a bamboo saw.

From The Twelve Kingdoms

Tie the victims hands to a post and an ox to each leg. Drive the oxen in opposite directions. An ox is a lot slower than a horse.

Re: Have you ever taken a fall?

I don't think you need to require a 3 page contract... the above example is perfect...

 

"Attack your teammates"

the player attacks them but the character doesn't have to like it and this was a perfect example of role playing the way a smart character might resist (or do something half-hearted) I would have similarly allowed this character to attack with is weakest attacks (although not with partial strength). I even would have allowed him to use an NND attack on a character he knew to be resistant (at least until the mentalist realized what was happening and changed the command). I'd also like to point out that the mentalist's command reinforced the notion that they were teammates and so was internally inconsistent to some degree...

Or, as an extreme example, attacking the brick . . . using the mentalist as a club.

Re: Mental Transforms?

I'd say a cosmetic mental transform would be doing something like implanting a specific false memory that wouldn't fool the recipitent, but might fool another mind reader if he doesn't look too closely or some other kind of mental disguise.

Possibly making a human mind look like an animal mind for a short time to a cursory mindscan.

Re: Time Travel

Kagome has used the well to bring limited anacrhronisms into the past (such as her omnipresent bicycle_ without seeming to cause people to build bicycles in feudal times. But Kagome is a smart time traveler and doesn;t bring dangerous anacronisms into the past' date=' partly because she doesn;t have access to things like firearms and partly because given the nature of what she fights they wouldn't do her any good. The strangest thing she does is continually go into the past wearing her junior high school uniform, which stands out as "outrageous" dress; one would think someone as savvy as she is would see the viture of blending in as best she could with a dog-eared demon boy in her company. Maybe she feels kimonos or a miko's unfiorm would restrict her movement more than a pleated skirt and sensible shoes would.[/quote']

 

I've heard that Kagome is rather an odd name in Japan, it doesn't seem to mean anything. I wonder how Kagome would react if she discovered she was named after a wandering foreign (look at her clothes) Miko folk-heroine from hundreds of years ago. . .

Re: National Warrior Archetypes

Actually, the longbowmen were Welsh, who would never consider themselves English.

 

Maybe Redcoat would be better (or Limeys?)

The Longbow was originally invented by the Welsh. However it was adopted heavily by the English and they made it their own. It's like claiming that the Cowbow isn't archetypically American because the pistol wasn't invented there.

Re: National Warrior Archetypes

France - Musketeer

Switzerland - Pikeman

Re: National Warrior Archetypes

England - I think a longbowman is more Archetypically Englansh than a Knight, but it could easily go either way.

Re: Foriegn Captain America's

I think it'd be necessary to consider whether a flag suit would work with a particular nation's culture.

A Britsh super patriot would, I think, be more likely to wear a costume in a subdued colour (like Navy Blue) with the union jack, at most a few inches across on the right breast.

Re: WWYCD? #113: What If God Was One Of Us?

Raven - Would try to fix the damage, she really doesn't like it when innocents get hurt. However, apart from that she isn't very nice. Any villians that have managed to seriously piss her off (primarily Eurostar, Demon and Dark Seraph) are going to (probably) die. She'd also do some research into her own part and discover if her old teacher was messing with her. The problem is that she really wouldn't want to give up that power. She hates feeling helpless

The Gentleman - The character concept was Bertie Wooster with superpowers. This could get BAD.

Re: Historical Champions

The thing to remeber about historical settings is that you have to pay attention to the memes floating around. For example, medieval times did beleive in witches but it had two other theories with interesting consequences, based on a belief in an active God who interfered with the human world.

1) They believed in the Divine Right of Kings. The idea that the rulers and nobles were selected by God and granted special qualities.

2) Trial by combat. Obviously God wouldn't let an unjust person win a fight. Therefore combat is a good way to find out who was favoured by God.

Therefore, the consequences of medieval superbeings who are powerful enough to not be burnt . . . .

Re: I made the GM cry....

Actually, there's a decent followup that could readily come of the above plot. Six months later, all those people start reverting to their criminal tendencies. They're all back in normal society now, separated by hunreds of miles.

 

Why? The villain's power actually makes targets loyal, and causes a memory wipe of the time they were with him if they get mentally scanned which reverses itself after a period of time. And subconsciously, throughout that period of time, their minds are percolating how best to use their current position to further their Master's ends.

 

[so, LordMhoram, does your GM follow the boards at all? ]

To me that sounds too much like. "How dare you mere players thwart me! I will punish you for your presumption! I will crush you like the insects you are!"

Re: Perks and Bases

I'd allow a base to have wealth or poverty, but only to represent the base's "lifestyle". A beautifully furnished base with luxurious rooms and a well stocked wine cellar and gourmet kitchen would have wealth, while a converted subway station with matresses on the floor and some frozen pizza's in a salvaged freezer would have poverty. The wealth perk is pretty cheap and when you divide it to get the cost of a base, it isn't a lot of points.

Re: Superhumans pulling an Authority

Your characters are a group of self-righteous tyrants. You are living in fantasyland if you think people will accept rule by these tits. I would not. They can kill me but they can't make me take them seriously. I'm sure that torturing me or my loved ones sufficiently would obtain my grudging surrender. Is that what they would resort to? Because that is what it would take. I wouldn't be particularily worried about that either. There would be about a billion people in line first. I'd die of old age before they got around to me. (If I didn't starve or freeze to death first due to their environmental fanaticism.)

Drafting Supers

Faced with superhumans, the military will do it's very best to match them. Otherwise it wouldn't be much use. If it cannot defend America (or Canada or Britain or Eastern Mongolia), it might as well quit.

The only question is how does it go about this? Researching super-technology? Trying to create superhumans? Recruiting superhumans?

The military can offer very good recruitment deals if necessary. Forced drafting of superhumans would be a very bad move. First, if they are so powerful that conventional forces cannot beat them, trying to force them to do something they don't want to would be foolish. If conventional forces can beat them, you don't need them that badly. Second, they would be most useful in a special forces role and you really don't want someone in such a sensitive role who doesn't want to be there.

Besides, when you can appeal to their self-interest / patriotism / whatever, drafting would be the last resort.

I assume she is the one from the manga not the (rather bad, if pretty) anime?

Jinx

It's an illusion

The whole point of this is that the guy looks different from a distance than what he really is. It's an illusion. Use images.

Anime Laws

There is an important point that I think needs to be mentioned here. There is no one set of Anime laws of physics, in different series, different rules apply. It's not just power level. In some series, the characters can give and take blasts capable of leveling a mountain, in others a 9mm pistol is potentially deadly, even to the world's greatest assasin. In some series, people drop like flies, in others nobody dies, even if the level of scenery damage is the same.

One other point, the central characters are powerful for the setting. If it's a martial arts show, any character worth naming can plow though untrained thugs, even if they have to travel the world training for 24 episodes before they can take on the big bad. If it's a high school romance, they are among the best looking, star athletes, brains of the school.

At the same time, they have weaknesses that either have to be overcome or constantly chalenge them. Anime characters can be monumentally screwed up.

Go Go Yubari

I had a theory so I looked it up on the Internet Movie Database. Go Go was played by Chiaki Kuriyama, who also played Takako Chigusa in Battle Royale. (Not the complete psycho girl, the one who stabed a guy repeatedly in the groin. )

You're insane!

You are trying to write up Furi Kuri?

The leading contender for "Most Insane Anime Ever"?

The one that parodies "The Matrix" and "South Park" in the same scene?

What next? Ebichu the Housecleaning Hamster?

Very nice

Very nice (if too wide for my browser).

Considering how Luke Valentine (and I) reacted to Arucard's shadow form / monster out / shoggoth form, I'd give him a hefty amount of presence in that form, only to cause fear.

A minor point, I wouldn't give the Halconen's explosive rounds the same amount of AP as the depeleted uranium rounds.

So Dr. Destroyer has superoir technology?

In the real world the US army has the best fighting technology in the world. If someone turned up with superior technology they are not going to sit around. Even if you are completely cynical about it, think about big research projects, new factories and all the rest of the congressinal pork.

So - how does this play out. Let's say your PC's want a favour from the US government (say permission to build a base). In return they want you to capture a Black Talon intact to reverse engineer it. The possible complications, even if they succeed are endless.

My contribution

In 1972 Dr Moreau launched his plan to conquer the world. (He actually called himself Professor Proteus, but the name stuck for reasons that will soon become apparent.) He Had invented a machine that allowed him to transform people using genetic samples taken from animals.

After stealing suitable genetic samples and obtaining an implant based mind control machine (from an unknown source, which worries some people to this day) he set up buisness on the Solomon Islands (or any isolated Pacific island chain that suits you) and began kidnapping people (both tourists and locals) transforming them into animal hybrids and implanting them with control chips and forming an army.

Between the super team that tracked him down and the moreaus that could resist the mind control (especially the one that destroyed the control machine), his plan soon went down in flames.

The problem was, despite the machine surviving, nobody could work out how to reverse the transformation. While some moreaus decided to try to go back to their old lives, most decided to try and build new ones.

Due to some good leadership, the Moreau islands are doing OK. Their living standards are no match for a first world nation (they are isolated and have few natural resources), however they are a lot better off than many other nations. With every inhabitant being a low powered super, they are pretty secure. Their primary buisnesses are tourism, medical services, agriculture and fishing and mercenaries.

I was going to say something, but Scott beat me to it and did it better than I could.

The whole idea presupposed that the rulers of the failed states cared about the well being of their people rather than their own wealth and power or failed ideaology.

As an aside - I think Dr. D in CKC is grossly overpowered. His powers are too brute force. I think a master villian should be more. "I wish we could get this guy in our sights, but he always slips through our fingers." rather than "I'm glad we've never met the guy, he could kill us easily."