OddHat

Re: The Brat Pack It was a satire, albeit a very angry satire. And yes, everyone dies when Maximortal returns and draws his power back out of them. The entire group is only about one step past Image characters, but then Image titles definitely drift into satire fairly often.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Musings on Random Musings Yeah, nothing like a really buff Asian. I once knew this girl, a kick boxer who also lifted weights, biceps like tennis balls, perfect six pack, and yet ... Oh. Misread there. Nevermind.

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth? Great stuff, rep when I'm able. What I like best about it is that, even without the caveats that you mention, while it looks fair and just to an outsider (V'han's people), and has appeal for certain segments of the human population ("No more war! True justice!"), It's also easy to see how sane, reasonable humans could be willing to fight and die to stop alien telepaths from taking over the judiciary. Europe will scream about the reintroduction of the death penalty (again, judgments being made by unchecked alien telepaths), America, Russia and China will refuse to give up the sovereign right to defend their interests by waging war, corrupt countries will scream at the idea of judges actually interested in enforcing the law rather than serving their political masters, bigots and xenophobes will panic at the idea of alien children in our schools. Even if V'han has the best of motives, there's plenty of reason for bloody war. And then come the bits she isn't telling.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Of course hobbies are bloody silly to people who don't share them; they're hobbies. That's a big part of the point. The "Role playing / weight lifting / reading science fiction / playing computer games is stupid / childish / a sign of being a serial killer" blather is mostly a way of saying "People in my group do not do that" with a large share of dick waving added in. The best thing about Japan was living someplace where nobody expected me to be part of their tribe.

Re: Weapon From Anything??? How often is destroying the donor object going to be advantageous? I agree that if the effect is built as a limitation, the GM can declare that the donor object can't be used if destroying it would be an advantage, or require an additional power to destroy it. Personally, I'd just allow the -0 Side Effect and make sure it was a problem at least as often as it was a help. It is a very limited power, unless the player is making a habit of trying to use it on enemy foci (in which case, if he hadn't paid points, the GM is free to say "It didn't work"). If done as a Transform in a Champions game, the player is using Transform to effectively get a free VPP of attacks. That's unfair to players who don't have similar sources of free points in their builds. In some campaigns it might work, but I wouldn't allow it in most of mine.

Re: What if: Japan won World War 2? Most of that is bollocks. "Respected Geisha" in Japan are not celebrities, though there are a very small number of Geisha that have become celebs. Kimono are only worn for weddings, a few holidays, special occasions, and the occasional theme pub. Nurses do wear uniforms with caps, and there are some uniforms that include white gloves. If you want an accurate look at a mix of Japanese and American culture, sit and watch a half dozen films made and set in modern Tokyo (not Anime). The stuff Americans and Europeans do puts too much emphasis on the mildly freaky. Think pachinko parlors; big public video game parlors; "Fashion Health Salons", Soaplands and similar openly advertised; good hearted prank, softcore porn and amateur athletic game shows; noodle shops with plastic models of the dishes where you buy tickets for your meals; Conveyor belt Kaitenzushi restaurants; Cell phone culture. IMDB and a few DVD rentals will get you far more interesting ideas than Wiki.

Re: Weapon From Anything??? The Multipower destroys the object transformed through use of the "Side Effect: Environmental Damage" limit. In this case, the environmental damage involves the destruction of the "donor" object, through an attack (side effect) with 50% of the active points in the slot.

Re: Weapon From Anything??? I've done this a few times. I used a MP. For your specifications, the MP would look something like: Slot one: Sharp Stuff, 2d6 HKA, requires appropriate object of opportunity (-1/4; would be -1/2 in other circumstances, but he can use anything), Side Effect Always Occurs: Environmental damage (-0), only up to damage appropriate to the source material (-1/4). Slot Two would be "Blunt Stuff" using a HA, and three and four might be an RKA based on STR and an EB.

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth? Yup. All you need to do to use her is give her whatever bases, vehicles and followers she needs to work in your campaign.

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth? Obvious' answer is a good one. I'd add that Queen Victoria didn't rule her Empire based on her ability to personally beat up every man, woman and child from England to India, nor was she in a position to easily destroy the other great powers of her day. V'han only needs an army sufficient to hold the worlds and territories she has claimed; when she meets great powers she can't defeat, she makes peace or retreats and finds another way to get what she wants, just like any sane ruler. Which can be used as a prime reason she hasn't conquered Earth; too many other great powers interested in the territory for her to risk it, at least as things stand now.

Re: Mental

Re: When Stan Lee met Jack Chick! Can't rep that enough.

Re: Mental Treat Mental Awareness as part of the Sight Group rather than the Mental Group, or as both for a -0 limit. Now it's Ranged and Targeting, but can't see through anything that blocks Line of Sight. It's still free with Mental powers. You are now targeting with your Mental Awareness. To do so when blinded, you'll need to purchase it again outside of your Sight Group. People with mental powers that don't give Mental Awareness are assumed to have powers that can target without it, as per the standard rules (and it is appropriate; such powers are usually vs CON anyway, and represent drugs and such).

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth? In my home campaign, Mongo is a dimension hopping World-Ship, and many years ago, V'han had a different name. Earth men called her Aura.

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth? "Empress, We the People of Aurialus have suffered since you blasted our home world. We have nothing this year to offer, save our loyalty." "We value nothing more highly. Tell me, how great is this loyalty to your Empress?"

Re: Istvatha V'han - why can't she conquer Earth? Comic books include dimension conquerers. So does science fiction. If you're going to simulate those stories, you go with the idea, just like you go with the other silly ideas built into the settings where the stories take place. If you don't want to simulate those sources, that's your call; Steve Long will not come to your house and force you to use V'han in your campaigns. Personally, I find the idea of anyone trying to conquer the world unbelievably silly. The Nazis were idiots, and the saner ones really didn't have much more than full control of Europe in mind. However, it's a fun kind of silly, and it's a kind of silly that real humans fall into, so I include World Conquest as a villain goal in my campaigns. And who knows, maybe that Orbital Mind Control Laser will work out after all.

Re: Mental Nope, not as long as he has Line of Sight. However, both are great defenses against Mind Scan or special Mental Senses. In most campaigns, those powers won't mean much; in a Psionics heavy campaign, they'll be very useful.

Re: Mental You get Mental Awareness for free when you buy any Mental Power; so, the "extra" sense is kind of covered. Invisibility to Mental Senses in most campaigns might as well just be written as "Immunity to Mindscan", though it also covers other senses purchased as part of the Mental sense group (most notably some SFX of Danger Sense and Spatial Awareness). Personally, I don't mind extending Invisibility to Mental Senses to something like Telepathy, but Steve once ruled that it didn't apply when I asked him the question.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Watching a lot of Dexter. Not so good as a police procedural or exploration of sociopathy, lots of fun as a drama with black comedy touches. Really enjoying it.

Re: Who's doing that? A game in which all of the players survive (let alone their characters) is an opportunity wasted.

Re: FRPG Ideas from D&D that ain't necessarily so Agreed. Also note that in some Hero campaigns, it is your KS that make your character powerful. Many of the adventures I run are much easier to complete with the right combination of KS and PC choices than with combat, and I'm a GM who likes combat heavy games.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings At least serial killers accomplish something. They don't just sit around when they're not at work. Some of them hold down a full time job and still find time to kill. Same with working junkies and US Senators. A full work week, but there's still time to go out, find and buy drugs, even engage in loveless, joyless sex with hated strangers. Where do they find the energy?

Re: Am I the only one who ever noticed... Slang is by nature exclusionary. When the little middle aged white woman announces "I speak jive", that's the signal for the cool kids to come up with something new. I've always held that it's impossible to be simultaneously cool, fully employed and married. Heck, it's hard to manage just two of the three.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Contact: Bigdamnhero, Very Good Relationship with Contact, 14-