OddHat

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

Well' date=' if you can alter reality, does it count as "murder" if you simply "edit" someone out of existence?[/quote']

 

Count how?

 

From an ability to kill / PTSD point of view, it depends on how well you can deny to yourself your responsibility for killing your victim. It's always easier if you don't have to face the person you're killing, or can dehumanize your victim. If you have to watch the person you kill fade away, it will be much harder than sitting in your bed deciding that so-and-so never existed.

Re: "Normals" gaining superpowers: how would they change in terms of mentality?

Hm...not too many people here have turned to evil. Then again' date=' perhaps those kind of folks are either not here, or not very vocal.[/quote']

 

Depends on what you mean by "Evil".

 

Murder? Only about 3% of the population are sociopaths. The vast majority of people won't kill other people in any but the most extreme circumstances. The vast majority of healthy adults actively dislike causing pain ("healthy" is key there; situations and stress can change this, and there are always those 3%). Use of Superpowers to actively directly harm other people is unlikely to be any more common than use of weapons to do the same thing, and for the same reason. You can, right now, buy a gun or go through a training program that will let you become physically deadly; you're not going to turn into a thug or killer unless you already fall into that 3%.

 

Group violence is a different thing; people go with authority and follow leaders, and if the pack leader attacks an outsider, the pack will usually (but not always) go along, again depending on circumstances.

 

It's the powers that let you deny the harm you're doing that would be easy to abuse. Mind Control (so long as you could avoid seeing / admitting / understanding the consequences), Luck (so long as you didn't know who your good luck was hurting), Super Persuasion, etc.

 

It's fits into a certain set of stereotypes to assume that all of us are Thieves, Killers and Rapists held barely in check by the threat of punishment. It's also hogwash.

 

Of course, someone in that 3% with Superpowers, or someone close to that end of the spectrum, could be a serious terror.

Re: Gencon 2010 Hong Kong Superheroes Character Thread - 6thEd Asian Superheroes

It's a tragedy of epic proportions that manhua has never hit it big over here the way manga did/does. Probably partly due to the lack of accompanying animation' date=' I guess.[/quote']

 

The Superheroes featured in these convention games are live action, either TV or Movies. I use the HK label because there are so many great HK Superhero films, but the heroes come from sources all over Asia. Darna and Lastik Man are both popular live action characters from the Philippines.

Re: Gencon 2010 Hong Kong Superheroes Character Thread - 6thEd Asian Superheroes

how about infra-man/super inframan?

Last year's team included Ultraman. There's a chance I'll find a place for Super Inframan; I do have the movie. Not yet, though.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Yeah' date=' I've heard of that one... and the guy wants to make a sequel... with 12.[/quote']

 

He was very proud; he'd gotten some doctors to consult on exactly how to do the effect to make it as realistic as possible.

Re: Gencon 2010 Hong Kong Superheroes Character Thread - 6thEd Asian Superheroes

It's Darna!

DARNA

 

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

50 STR 0 19- Lift 25.6tons; 10d6

13 DEX 6 12- OCV: 8/DCV: 8

33 CON 3 16-

13 INT 3 12- PER Roll 12-

13 EGO 3 12- ECV: 3 - 3

25 PRE 5 14- PRE Attack: 5d6

 

8 OCV 0

8 DCV 0

3 OMCV 0

3 DMCV 0

4 SPD 20 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12

 

2+18 PD 0 Total: 2/20 PD (0/18 rPD)

2+18 ED 0 Total: 2/20 ED (0/18 rED)

15 REC 0

70 END 0

20 BODY 0

60 STUN 0 Total Characteristic Cost: 40

 

Movement: Running: 12m/24m

Flight: 48m/1536m

Leaping: 4m/8m

Swimming: 4m/8m

 

Cost Powers END

The Power of Darna!, all slots Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼)

Notes: Must shout "Darna" to transform, "Narda" to change back. In the movies and TV series, Narda must swallow her stone each time she transforms. In the Golden Age Comic, she only had to swallow the stone the first time she changed.

11 1) Alure of Diyan Masalanta: (Total: 16 Active Cost, 11 Real Cost) +10 PRE (10 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 7) plus +2/+2d6 Striking Appearance (vs. all characters) (6 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 4) 0

95 2) Speed of Amihan: (Total: 141 Active Cost, 95 Real Cost) Flight 48m, Position Shift, x32 Noncombat, Combat Acceleration/Deceleration (+¼) (91 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 61) plus +5 OCV (25 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 17) plus +5 DCV (25 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 17) 9

30 3) Thunder of Ribung Linti: Blast 15d6 (75 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x3 END; -1), Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) 21

Notes: Use of The Thunder is exhausting; Darna rarely calls on it.

74 4) Strength of Nanolay: (Total: 111 Active Cost, 74 Real Cost) +40 STR (40 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 27) plus +20 CON (20 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 13) plus +10 BODY (10 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 7) plus +50 END (10 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 7) plus +40 STUN (20 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 13) plus +11 REC (11 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 7) 4

89 5) Shield of Alunsina: (Total: 133 Active Cost, 89 Real Cost) Damage Negation (-6 DCs Physical, -6 DCs Energy) (60 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 40) plus Resistant Protection (18 PD/18 ED) (54 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 36) plus Life Support (Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing) (19 Active Points); Only In Alternate Identity (-¼), Unified Power (-¼) (Real Cost: 13) 0

10 Chosen: Luck 2d6 0

Mano Mano / Eskrima

Maneuver OCV DCV Notes

4 Body Shift -- +5 Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort

4 De Cadena +2 +2 Block, Abort

4 Punch/Snap Kick +0 +2 12d6 Strike

5 Side/Spin Kick -2 +1 14d6 Strike

 

Perks

4 Reputation: It's Darna! Defender of the Philippines! (A medium-sized group) 14-, +2/+2d6

 

Talents

3 Beautiful: +1/+1d6 Striking Appearance (vs. all characters)

 

Skills

3 Dubbed

3 1) Language: Cantonese (completely fluent; literate) (4 Active Points)

3 2) Language: English (completely fluent; literate) (4 Active Points)

1 3) Language: Japanese (fluent conversation) (2 Active Points)

1 4) Language: Mandarin (fluent conversation) (2 Active Points)

1 5) Language: Spanish (fluent conversation) (2 Active Points)

0 6) Language: Tagalog (idiomatic; literate) (5 Active Points)

3 Charm 14-

3 Persuasion 14-

9 Writers Forgot She Could Do That: Power: Mystical Warrior 15-

Notes: Darna often comes up with odd one-off uses of her powers that are never seen again.

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 360

Total Cost: 400

 

400+ Matching Complications

25 Hunted: Rogues Gallery Frequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Harshly Punish)

20 Psychological Limitation: Heroic, Protects the Innocent, Defends the Weak (Very Common; Strong)

15 Dependent NPC: Ding (brother), Grandmother 8- (Normal; Group DNPC: x2 DNPCs)

15 Social Limitation: Secret Identity: Narda Ravelo (Frequently; Major)

 

Total Complications Points: 400

 

Background/History: Sometimes she remembers it one way, sometimes another, but the heart of the story is always the same.

 

Orphans Narda and Ding lived with their grandmother in a small villiage near Manila.

 

One clear night, Narda, still a child, saw a falling star, and hear the crash of a meteor nearby. Running to investigate, she found a glowing white stone. On the stone were strange characters, letters of no Earthly language, that somehow Narda could read. The word was a name. The name was Darna.

 

Without knowing why, Narda swallowed the stone and shouted the name. The child vanished, replaced by a supernatural warrior woman. A legend began.

 

Over the years, Darna fought snake goddesses, gangsters, strange cults and monsters of every description. At first Darna and Narda were two people sharing a single body, but as time went on their personalities merged, and now the adult Narda is almost identical to Darna. Ding and Grandmother still remain in Narda's life, and Darna has become the champion of the Philippines.

 

Personality/Motivation: Kind hearted and a devout Catholic, Narda sees no choice but to use the powers of Darna to protect the innocent. She deeply loves her grandmother and little brother, and has shown romantic interest in a number of heroic men. While Darna does her best to protect all lives, she can be more pragmatic than American comic book superheroes.

 

Quote: "I will not let you hurt anyone!"

 

Powers/Tactics: This version of Darna has a number of powers drawn from Gods & Goddesses of the Philippines. These include superhuman strength, near-invulnerability, flight, and the ability to influence others. The ruby set in Darna's headdress can be used to fire blasts of concussive energy.

 

Against most foes Darna will wade in punching, relying on her strength, toughness and cinematic martial arts to see her through. Tougher foes might be hit with concussive blasts from her headdress, and the most dangerous will be targetted by flying move throughs. Against foes she can't overcome directly, she will attempt to use charm and persuasion. She also has a surprising knack for coming up with unusual applications of her abilities. Darna is fast enough to abort to a dodge or dive for cover when facing those few enemies powerful enough to seriously harm her.

 

 

 

Campaign Use: This version of Darna is based on Mars Ravelo's original character "Varga" created in 1947 in the Philipines (Varga was inspired by Captain Marvel; other influences included Wonder Woman, Superman, and in her later incarnations Japanese TV Superheroes). The name change from "Varga" to "Darna" came early in the character's publication history. This version of the character is scaled to fit into a convention game. With a 60+ year publication history along with several movies and TV series, despite her American inspiration, Darna is a true Filipina Heroine.

 

This write up does not include the long list of powers and weaknesses Darna has gained and lost in her long fictional history; it is based primarily on the Golden Age comics version, incorporating elements from later versions. The 2005 TV Darna was an alien; the 2009 TV Darna has a rich history as the latest in a long line of semi-mystical "Darna Warriors".

 

Appearance: Narda is an attractive Filipina apparently in her early twenties. As Darna, she becomes astonishingly beautiful. Narda normally dresses conservatively, while Darna wears a revealing costume in red (see picture).

 

Character by Mars Ravelo. Character sheet by Robert Dorf, 2010.

Much more to come.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

The Thing

 

Don't try to puzzle it out, You can't. Carpenter has admitted that he never decided who's shadow it is when the dog makes it's first "kill," who destroyed the blood, or when most of the characters were infected.

One of my favorite Wold-Newtonisms is the idea that Who Goes There was actually a "secret" Doc Savage adventure. Completely changes the short story when you read it that way. Carpenter's film is one of my all time favorites.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

There's no point in battered deep fat fried bacon if you don't dip it in maple syrup.

Re: For Kazei 5: Hard-to-control esper powers

Both as a GM and as a fan of the genre, I'd probably treat this differently. If you can use it at full power with no problems, I'd have to ask how often you'd want to use less than full power, and why.

At that point, we'd figure out how to write it up. A RSR with -1 per 5 under full power, by itself, sounds like a -0 for me. That said, if failing the skill roll caused a side effect, I might allow full value for the SE.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

I dunno. Too many of these are stunt foods, stuff you eat only to show you don't give a damn.

I used to eat biscuits with sausage gravy, sides of home fries (sometimes with more sausage gravy), hotcakes w/ syrup, bacon, sausage patties (with more syrup), and toast slathered with butter & heavy with jam. Plus coffee with cream and plenty of sugar. That was true gluttony, sincere indulgence without thought of consequence or any need to posture.

Real sin has a certain integrity.

Re: Pretty Hate Machines

I'm buying.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Ah cool. I think it would be pretty cool for big hitters / main lineups of JLA & Avengers to challange Godzilla and the monsters from his series.

I've run games like that.

It's fun, and sort of fits with things like the Ultraman-Masked Rider team ups and Japanese Super Squad type shows.

That said, almost always in the Japanese shows that only Heroes who can grow to Giant size can go one-on-one with Giant Monsters using inherent powers. Heroes who can't grow need weapons and vehicles.

The Science Patrol from Ultraman had weapons that would injure Giant Monsters.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

So do superheroes fit in at all? if so how? Kinda interested. been playing around with a similar idea.

The Superpowered Mutants are Superheroes; they've been recruited by the Earth Defense Forces to form Task Force M, and lead the response to Giant Monster attacks.

The mutants fit well into the Godzilla mythos. Eiji Tsuburaya, the SFX man behind the 1954 Godzilla, did a series of horror films about human mutants. Tsuburaya also created the Ultraman series. Final Wars is a great nod to Tsuburaya's body of work.

We get to see super strength, speed, toughness, energy blasts, telepathy, mind control, mental defense, force wall, and healing. Other powers would make sense based on the stuff that shows up in Tsuburaya's original work.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Watched Godzilla: Final Wars again as I got my GenCon game ready. For gamers of any kind, that is an Awesome movie. Super powered mutants and incredibly skilled humans versus shape shifting aliens and giant monsters, with three giant monsters siding with the humans. It's practically my dream campaign.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

Here, a real food:

I bet they're pretty good, too.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

Beef twinkies sound funny, but sausages wrapped in batter and served on a stick are real food. Beef hotdogs in cake would be a slight improvement.

Re: Super Zeroes

The Entendre! Riding his mighty Balony Pony into battle, The Entendre thrusts at Evil with his many meat themed weapons (The Spam Dagger, The Beef Truncheon, etc). He even has the power to duplicate himself in combat, becoming The Double Entendre!

For unknown reasons, everything anyone says within line of sight of The Entendre seems to have more than one possible meaning.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

I think the issue was making it PG-13. Also' date=' it was a Hollywood production, so I think the over-the-top violence we might expect from something out of HK just wasn't there.[/quote']

 

I think you've pretty much nailed it. If they'd been willing to take the action out to where it would have been in an HK production, this would have really worked for me. As it was, someone was thinking "kid's movie" as they put it together, and while it was pretty good, it didn't quite live up to the source material.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

The Forbidden Kingdom

 

Y'know, if you think about, the story of Jason's character would make for an interesting super hero backstory. I mean, trained by a Taoist immortal and a clone of the Monkey King?

I was kind of disapointed by the film, but I agree that the boy's back story is classic White Kung Fu Master stuff.

The whole movie just felt a little timid to me, too clean and safe. Enemies who weren't menacing by Hong Kong standards, action sequences that didn't really push what the actors or stuntmen could do, and Jackie Chan in his Hollywood family friendly mode. It just lacked the spark I've seen in real HK productions that cover the same general ground.

I'm not saying it was a bad movie; there was plenty to like. It just didn't make me want to see it again.

Re: Super Zeroes

The Human Pastry - Can duplicate the powers of any baked good. Become as hot as a fresh baked apple pie, as soft as a fluffy bun, as cream filled as an eclair, etc. Plus, he's fully edible! Unfortunately, he has no particular ability to regenerate, and if he were to actually spray someone with his delicious, gooey interior he'd be seriously injured. Think a less powerful version of Anpan Man.

Re: '70s TV Supers

That looks like it could have been good. Have you any more information?

I remember seeing this back in the day.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Watched Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans. They're amazingly similar' date=' with the same basic plotline (reluctant hero finally embraces destiny, kills monster, end with ridiculously excessive self-gratification sequence). Alice at least had a decently amusing villainess, while Clash had a cool Medusa, but I'm glad I didn't pay to see either. But why is it all big Hollywood movies these days seem to be scripted by the same not-particularly-gifted 12-year old? [/quote']

 

Because the formula is believed to be what the public wants. Admitting that it isn't would mean admitting that you can't create success on demand, and not many on the business side in Hollywood built careers admitting that.

 

All of which you knew, but I'm bitter.

Re: Super Zeroes

Mister ****tastic. He refuses to discuss his power, ever. Or display it. However, the one time it was used severely emotionally traumatized the supercriminal he targetted. Mister ****tastic himself needed several months of therapy afterwards; the criminal still refuses to speak.

Re: Super Zeroes

(From Douglas Adams) The Rain God. Clouds love him. They want to follow him, and care for him, and rain on him. Makes his living as a long haul trucker, is unaware of his powers, and is annoyed that no matter where he goes it is always raining.