OddHat

Re: Superpowers in the Courthouse Agreed, especially with that last line. A legal system in a world with Superpowers must adjust. How it would adjust comes down to the take of an individual author or GM, but I can't see people stubornly sticking to forms that compromise the safety of the court past the first time a Super uses his powers violently at a trial.

Re: Superpowers in the Courthouse If we're concerned about violence from observers, defendants, and witnesses, the easiest solution seems to be keeping all of them separated. Second best is high security for everyone in the courthouse and separation of those that pose the highest risk.

Re: Superpowers in the Courthouse

Re: Fastest man alive Of course, Post Crisis Superman is a total wuss. He exists so that other characters can be more powerful than he is, when he's not being used as a symbol of whatever the writer hates about the comic book industry or American society that week. Give me Silver Age Superman any day, when writers actually liked the character and weren't afraid to let him have some fun.

Re: Fastest man alive Now, the Flash. Silver Age, Superman was at least equal to the Flash. So, depends on the era and who is writing the story. Personally, I'd write the Flash as just a bit faster and much better at speed tricks, but then I like a Doc Savage who is always almost as good as each of his followers in their area rather than better than all of them. In another era, being the Best at Everything was a more popular fantasy.

Re: Superpowers in the Courthouse Sure, the telepath himself may be lying. So could any witness. Information gathered by Telepathic probe only really starts to become overwhelming if you go for the Three Telepath System, with three acredited Telepaths checking the witness and one-another. If telepaths aren't common enough for that in your setting, then their testimony should count about as much as that of a "normal" witness.

Re: Musings on Random Musings At a guess, a huge population of young women who want to be actresses but have few acting chops and no connections, and a huge population of frustrated would be film makers who've been forced to realize that only the fewest of the few can make a living in the industry. Add in a population of investors used to putting out cash for films and an admired elite with very liberal sexual standards. It's almost an ideal location for a porn industry; only ones I can think of that might be almost as good in theory are Rio (lots of good looking people, lots of poverty), Bangkok, or Tokyo.

Re: Order of the Stick

Re: The Emergence Of Superhumans Well, there's a sort of odd set of assumptions you'll run into in different settings as to just what letting Supers into Reality means. In my own setting, Humans were genetically manipulated in various ways by the Ancients in our deep pre-history; from a certain point of view, they made Humans. Those trigger genes are the major source of Fortean Talents / Super Powers in humans today (lifted mostly from Marvel, but other sources used as well). Humans also cross-bred with extradimensional and extraterestrial entities several times in history, introducing other genetic strains that eventually resulted in humans with "Super" powers. Costumed Heroes started emerging in the late 1800s, but that wasn't the start of Supers.

Re: Superpowers in the Courthouse Yup. That's why I went with CCTV for trials. The public still gets their right to observe the trial, but that observation takes place in a different building. It's still possible for someone to attack the trial as it happens, but it becomes that much harder.

Re: Lucha Hero

Re: Superpowers in the Courthouse Depends on the villain, and the setting. In my own setting, many Supers can be held in a high security facility with special precautions taken to deal with their specific powers. Most Supers can be kept under control to some extent with drugs, once you find the right combination. In more extreme cases, Supers immune to the best combinations of drugs and cell design that can be come up with can sometimes be kept under control with surgically implanted gadgets, or through the intervention of government Supers with Mind Control and Psychic Surgery of one sort or another. Cryogenic containment is sometimes an option if all else fails. As to how to deal with the rare Nigh-Omnipotent Writers/GMs Darlings, if you can catch them in the first place, time for a Government Mad Scientist or PC to take a crack at it. I agree that revolving door prisons are a comic trope (and occasional real world problem) that can drive PCs to just kill defeated bad guys in some campaigns. So, I come up with ways for my own settings prison system to deal with Super inmates.

Re: Coming Soon From Hero and Atomic Overmind: Day After Ragnarok, The Hero Edition Read the blurb on the site. So, it's a post apocalyptic setting. What are some of the things that make it groovy? Sci Fi elements, Fantasy elements, or ...?

Re: Lucha Hero For a Ghost Wrestler, I might suggest buying the ADSO on STR rather than the maneuvers, at the +1/4 Level for the class of Ghosts and Spirits (but not other forms of desolid). Under the adding damage rules, the maneuvers should then add on top of this without needing to do anything else (just as would the extra damage from a Haymaker or Move Through). In Lucha films, just as in many Hong Kong films, ghosts and the undead often seem to lack intangibility anyway, at least once a fight starts.

Re: Superpowers and the Law I have a sort of tiered system. Government Sponsored Supers operate under the OSI or other government and law enforcement agencies. OSI Supers are effectively FBI agents in terms of their law enforcement powers. Their use of force guidelines are pretty much identical. Generally, anything that would be unlawful using normal means is unlawful using Powers; anything legal is still legal. Special cases, such as mind control, are treated as if the victim had been coerced through normal means, if the attack can be proved. Court appointed telepaths are part of the setting, requiring a special search warrant and in some cases the consent on the subject. Their testimony is given the same weight as that of any other expert witness. Supers who are private citizens don't gain or lose any rights. If you use deadly force, you need to justify it in the eyes of the law whether it's a gun, a knife, or lasers that shoot out of your eyes. However, the courts tend to look favorably on Supers that cooperate with the law. Some pressure may be brought to bear to try to get them to sign up with the OSI, municipal Super Teams or other government agencies, but otherwise they're generally encouraged. If you want to use your Super Name and costume in contract and legal situations without revealing your identity, you can apply for a Fictitious Name License just like any other company through the OSI. The OSI will keep your real name and contact information as private as they can (as with other confidential information), and in exchange you can sign legal contracts and give testimony under your Super name and in costume. OSI Supers and other Government Supers get better protection for Secret IDs, on the same level as undercover police officers or CIA agents. Additionally, OSI Supers can't be sued as individuals for actions committed as part of their duties unless the OSI approves the law suit. Some Supers who don't trust the government of course ignore all of this and adventure without revealing anything to anyone. If they commit crimes (or are suspected of crimes) while adventuring, they are brought in as per any other suspect. Many will plea bargain and accept Public Service on an OSI or Municipal Super Team to avoid fines, lawsuits and jail time. Some non-violent Super Criminals are also given the chance to change costumes and serve on Super Teams rather than face jail time.

Re: Real Crimefighters Like The Wall Creeper? Well, if you want to do it Die Hard style, you can actually have a great Dark Champions level campaign with these guys. Build them all on 100 + 50, give them each idealized versions of their real world training (martial arts, interaction skills, etc), and then spend any remaining points on Cinematic Super Skills. Jason Walters "You've Got to Have Character" book and Digital Hero stuff is a great place to look for this. There are a fair number of real world characters who could have made surprisingly effective adventurers in a campaign; YGtHC can give you an interesting starting point as you build "Reals".

Re: Real Crimefighters Like The Wall Creeper? Depends both on how accurate you want to be and how tongue in cheek (if at all). I'd probably stat them up as 25 point normals with a psych limit on the lines of "Idealistic" or "Attention Seeker", +5 PRE based on the costumes (which can confuse a criminal enough to make him hesitate, especially if he's drunk or high), maybe with 1-2d6 of Luck to explain why most of them haven't yet been shot, badly beaten, or arrested.

Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #3.5: The Book Creation Process

Re: Superpowers in the Courthouse My own games have some of the same assumptions as yours, Bob, and I don't use Power Dampers as such as the SFX only really make any sense in a single-source setting (which I don't use). As part of the back story of my campaign, a number of very public attacks were launched by Pulp era Masked Criminals in the 1920s & 30s to disrupt trials and intimidate judges and juries. This pattern was repeated again in the 50s as increasing numbers of Supers both came to trial and became publicly active. So, court rooms in my setting don't look much at all like they look in the real world. Many functions of the Court House have been moved to Municipal Services Buildings. These buildings hold the offices of Judges, meeting rooms, Jury selection areas, and all the other high-traffic areas of a standard court house. Actual trials, however, do not take place here. Security entering the Court House proper is tight. You must be a judge, lawyer, police officer, witness, Court House employee, or have already been selected to sit on a jury or otherwise have been officially invited to enter. There is no right to observe a trial in which you are not directly involved within the Court House, but since the 1980s all trials may be observed via CCTV from rooms in the Municipal Services Building. If anyone involved in the case is known to have Superpowers, the case may be moved to a Security Court; usually only one major city in each state houses these court houses, and security entering or moving within these places is similar to that encountered in a secure military facility, with multiple check points and heavily armed response teams. If the Accused is believed to have Super abilities, he will be restrained and those abilities countered as much as possible. Sometimes this will involve asking Supers associated with Law Enforcement agencies to serve as extra security. Accused Super Criminals with powers that can not be countered even in a Security Court will be tried in absentia. All of the above is incredibly expensive, and most of it was a source of political conflict when introduced, but the amount of damage caused by Super Criminals has caused the public at large to have little concern for the legal rights of Accused Supers.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Yup, subtitled. The Black Rose was HKs answer to Batman in the late 1960s / early 1970s. The Film takes the tongue in cheek view that she's now more than a little mad, having been abandoned by her husband and with her most recent protoge having turned Supercriminal. Enter the Twins. Light hearted goofiness, with rifs on everything from Batman to HK gangster films to classic Kung Fu films. I've seen some very negative reviews by people who seemed to think they were going to get Batman Returns; it's a light "nonsense" comedy, not a drama.

Re: Lucha Hero I was thinking a Str around 33, as that's about 10x the lifting capacity of a Str 15 athlete. Have to watch the movie again to figure out the limits, but I'd guess something like OIF and an End bat.

Re: Lucha Hero Finally picked up the book, enjoyed the heck out of it. Kudos and thanks to all involved! Still can't believe there wasn't a write up for super strong midget wrestlers.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Protoge de la Rose Noir. A Superhero film from HK with a light, campy feel to it. If you like light hearted goofiness, including a musical number, in your Superhero films, this is a fun flick. If you're looking for serious Kung Fu or stunts, look elsewhere. The Twins (Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung), broke and homeless, take jobs as the sidekicks of the Black Rose, Hong Kong's version of Batwoman. Add in some riffs on the Adam West era Batman, an all girl costumed criminal gang that manages to be both cute and somewhat menacing, some minor and almost useless actual super powers, and some silly Silver-Age style gadgetry. I could easily see incorporating these characters into a light hearted Champions campaign.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Random 1970s & 80s Japanese TV. I generally miss 1970s & 80s prime time TV superheroics. Just nostalgia, but still.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Sure, she's silly, but the actress is also majorly hot. That counts for a lot.