Battlestaff

Re: The Law I use a version of a registration program called SHARP (Super-Human Activities Registration Program). Any character who seeks to use their powers in public must register with the program. Any person who doesn't faces penalties not only for unauthorized use of powers, but also use of powers automatically aggravates any criminal charge based on the use of that power. All supers who participate in the program have to carry liability insurance (though that aspect of the game is largely dealt with "off camera"). However, supers are granted limited immunity from suit based on their activities. This takes care of minor issues (destroying streetlights, etc.), but the supers still have to think before destroying an entire building.

Re: What's *your* superpower? My powers: Enhanced Visioin (can see pretty well in near total darkness) The mutant ability to kill any conversation I join by only saying one line (and not even using anything gross or unrelated to the topic) Trustworthy Face (people feel they can tell me all their problems and think I will magically wave my hands and fix everything)

Re: Build Champions Elite Superteam If they are operating on a level to challenge Mechanon, Dr. Destroyer, et al., then they are probably not operating on the threats the PC's are. I mean, a team that high powered, knowing that the PC's team is around, is going to leave GRAB to them because they have bigger fish to fry. Also, remember the full extent of the high-level team's activities will not be reported, for any of a number of reasons (security, to avoid a general panic, etc.) However, the PC's will know how bad the threat was, because they know the kind of danger's the big names bring, and hopefully will realize that they were not powerful enough (yet) to handle the problem the High-Power Team did. If the PC's are a mid-level team, you could also make the High-Power Team handle threats global, instead of local. This way, they aren't stepping on the heroes bailiwick, but instead are stopping riots in Djakarta, or DEMON in Kuala Lampur, places the PC's aren't going to (again, yet). I agree. And this coincides with what I said above. The JLA and Avengers are dealing with Earth-shattering threats, not with threats on par with GRAB. The PC's will have plenty to do, but will know that the High-Power Team is out there, and have something to aspire to someday being a member of.

Re: Mystic "The's" I thought about that, but thought that it was too general to fit. There are a lot of things they could be chosen for.

Re: Mystic "The's"

Re: Mystic "The's"

I was watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a friend the other day, and while we were watching, it suddenly struck me that while Buffy is "The" Slayer, what other mystic "The's" might there be? We got to discussing the idea, and came up with a few. I wanted to throw them out, see what Herodom might think, and see if there were any other suggestions out there. While there might be other people who perform similar jobs, as holders of these titles, they are endowed with certain powers to assist them in the performance of their duties. "The Slayer" - Her purpose is solely to kill evil beings that threaten to harm others. For this job, she is endowed with enhanced strength, speed, and stamina. "The Warder" - His purpose is to protect humans from mystic threats that are not necessarily creatures. For example, while The Slayer might kill the evil cultists threatening a human sacrifice, it would be the job of The Warder to come in and make sure that all the mystic artifacts are properly disposed of, any gate that was opened is closed, and any magic residue is grounded and dispelled. For this job, he is endowed with the knowledge of how to ground magic, detect and close gates, and the ability to destroy evil artifacts. "The Seer" - Her purpose is to predict future threats, and alert either The Slayer or The Warder, or both. She is mainly a non-combatant. To be chosen, she would have to already have some minor precog abilities. For this job, she is endowed with enhanced foresight, allowing her clearer visions and the ability to understand what she is seeing, the ability to view alternate timelines, and maybe a little retrocognition. "The Geomancer" - He listens to the whispers of the Earth (yes, this idea comes from the Valiant Comics character). His job is to help prevent and heal the wounds magic inflicts on the Earth and its biosphere, either alone or in conjunction with The Warder. For this job, he is endowed with the ability to hear the whispers of the Earth, to read the past and future in certain objects, and control mystic abilities to heal any damage to the biosphere. "The Archivist" - His job is to record and remember all mystic events. He has the ability to appear at any significant mystical event, though only highly skilled mystics can detect his presence. He does not speak or interfere, but rather just observes. However, his presence is a sure indicator of the significance of an event. For this job, he is endowed with the ability to travel anywhere, to know when significant events are about to occur, though he will rarely, if ever, pre-warn someone of an event, and to remember everything that does occur. "The Healer" - Her job is to heal the damage done to people by the various mystic threats handled by they others. Whereas The Geomancer heals the Earth, The Healer heals the people actually affected by mystic activity, both physically and (often more importantly) psychologically. For this job, she is endowed with empathic abilities, and the ability to heal physical damage, including transformations (into vampires, etc.) that have not completely transformed the victim. Suggestions, comments, critiques? Oh, we also came up with the name "The Fool," but we couldn't find a purpose or power for the name. Any suggestions?

Re: Plot Device: Techlandia At its base, the anti-tech effect work allow tech to work if it in involves any type of human-manufactured material. This would automatically rule out most common types of tech, such as power-armor, radios, and any electronic devices. However, as to whether other items work or not, you can base that on the plot of the adventure. For example, if the Scarlet Archer has not been the central character of a story in a while, you can say that his bow and arrows are non-tech enough that they still work, though maybe not the trick arrows. If he was the central character of the last several stories, however, you can always determine that because his bow, the bowstring, and the arrows were manufactured on man-made tools, they won't work. (But remember this rationale when determining the other characters powers). To be close to the restriction that was presented in the original premise, you could use a similar rationale as this. For example, the explorer's lever didn't work because they had to drag a log over to the rock-fulcrum, and therefore the lever is of "human manufacture." The same would occur with the pulley, if the person threw the rope over the tree. However, to get around the limitation as to the human body, you could say that the effect does not apply to organic tech. Therefore, the human body would not be affected by the anti-tech effect. For an added twist, you could also say that the effect does not apply to techno-organic technology. As the explorers probably did not have any such items with them, they could not observe this exception. However, maybe Dr. Destroyer (or whoever commissions the trip) believes this may be the situation, and he wants the characters to explore and find out (though of course he doesn't tell the PC's about his suspicions straight out). Then, its up to you to decide whether such tech exists. And if their are inhabitants, couldn't they have used such tech to hide their presence from the original explorers? This is just off the top of my head. Pick to your hearts content.

Re: Who was the LAMEST? Darkhawk Kickers, Inc. (though that was more a team book of lame 'supers').

Re: PRIMUS Supers Is the church where we get to meet the women wearing the evening gloves?

Re: 80's Champions Oh, and I forgot, everyone upon entering high school was issued a copy of Pyromania. And in my high school, they also got a copy of the Purple Rain soundtrack.

Re: 80's Champions Ah, the 80's, what memories... Eddie Murphy was HUGE. ("I got ice cream and you don't, cause you're daddy's on welfare.") Indiana Jones had just come out. Whips weren't for just kinky stuff anymore. Reagan was in the White House. At the beginning of the decade, people were still afraid of the evil commies ("they're in Central America, only 150 miles from the American border.") By the end of the decade, tensions were easing a big. Towards the end of the decade (or was it the 90's) you had Ollie North and Iran-Contra. The 80's saw the influence of TV on pop-culture to a level I don't believe was seen in previous decades. MTV was born ("Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles was the first video). Miami Vice influenced fashions around the country. Members Only and Jean jackets were big (at least where I was). Thriller came out. God, I could go on, but now I have to sit and wax nostalgic about my lost youth......

Re: What's the best way to conquer Canada?

Re: Headquarters for review Since it used to be a church, how about a 1 pt. perk or power "Holy Ground" if it's still sanctified? This way all those villains that have susceptibilities or vulnerabilities to holy places would take damage.

Re: X-Men Continuity Question (shudder) concering Emma Frost. X-Men? Continuity? Do those two words even go together?

Re: How would you build Temporal Immutability?

Re: How does this VPP look? Just a few points. According to my calculations, the control cost at 11 pts., not 8. Second, the pool is limited to skills, martial maneuvers, and "super-skill" powers, but the next two limitations say nothing about martial maneuvers. I would say either include martial maneuvers in all, or take it out altogether. Also, I would require the player to list one or two specific powers that define "mental contact." Also, I would list it as "mental contact initiated by the character." This way, someone who uses telepathy on him doesn't give them access to all their skills. If this is what is intended, then I would make the "can use if other person initiated contact" as a bonus (+1/2 or such). Otherwise it's an interesting idea, and looks basically okay.

Re: New Campaign Start Idea - Critiques Wanted I ran a one-shot game like this idea when the GM wasn't going to be able to run one weekend. Since it was just going to be a one-off, I developed all the characters, then gave each character a history sheet for their characters, along with any disadvantages they might have before gaining super powers (though I explained them in general terms, not game terms). I started the characters off by waking up on gurneys in a lab, except the one guy who woke up on a heavily reinforced gurney (due to being extremely dense). The question of where they were and the common threat required that they work together to escape the lab without a lot of the problems you might have with four total strangers hanging out. They had to rely on their own skills until they figured out what their individual powers were. And some of them never did figure out all their powers. It turned out to be a lot of fun. The best was the one player who had a character sheet that said the character really enjoyed reading comics. He ran around trying every different power he could think of (he was a telepath, but didn't find out until almost half-way through the adventure).

Re: Archetypical American Warrior core?

Re: H.P. Lovecraft, Otto Skorzeny, and the CU While satisfying, I believe low-key would be the better approach. This way they don't mount a major offensive against you or start just shooting everyone before they even get to the camps.

Re: "Grond smash!" and other Grond plots

Re: Weird RL Phenomena Who says they're not aliens.....?

Re: Vengeance for Milllenium City! Or a kid sidekick who the dead hero kept out of the fight by putting him on 'crowd control' or somesuch. The sidekick takes the deceased hero's name. Whether or not he tells the world he's the former sidekick, or the hero resurrected, is up to him.

Re: Weird RL Phenomena I see a new super in the making!! And will his daughter gain any powers?

Re: H.P. Lovecraft, Otto Skorzeny, and the CU Actually, I think the character's don't automatically "snap back" to the present, so if you wanted to, there wasn't any reason you couldn't. Of course, the point of the adventure is not to mess with time, so there might be unintended consequences of that action. Not that I wouldn't do something if I got sent back there with super powers.