Battlestaff

I finally got a chance to look over my pre-release review copy of Dragon's Gate for San Angelo: City of Heroes. I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot. Dragon's Gate covers the Chinatown area of San Angelo in great depth. It gives a pretty detailed history that ties into the overall history of San Angelo nicely. And like San Angelo itself, it covers all aspects of life from the point of view of the average person on the street. You get information on what's going on in the professional, commercial, legal, political, and religious arenas. These also include names of the people who are involved in those areas, so the GM doesn't have to come up with a whole lot of NPC's. There is enough there to allow a GM to present the area to the players with a minimum amount of preparation time. That being said, there's plenty of space for a GM to personalize Chinatown to his own campaign. Two other areas that are most likely to be of interest to players are the mystic and martial arts world in Chinatown. While there is a good treatment of these areas, these areas are not treated with any kind of real depth. While the book does provide a good introduction to the people who are involved in those circles, and a short bit of information about certain aspects of the world, such as bits concerning acupuncture and alchemy, I would have liked to have seen these areas expanded. There's enough there to provide a GM with a set up for NPC's the characters might meet, and enough information to give them a taste of what's going on, but for anything more substantial, the GM is going to have to do a little work. A large portion of the book is taken up discussing the various Tongs that are involved in activities in Chinatown. There are three that are presented, including the Tong leaders, lesser minions, associates, and goals. This works great for any campaign, and would be of particular interest to anyone running a street-level campaign. On the whole, the book looks great, and anyone intersted in the San Angelo setting I encourage to go out and get a copy of the book. It's got the same feel as previous San Angelo settings, including personal quotes, tips for the GM, and areas of interest. It's also got stats for the Action! and M&M systems, so the book can be easily converted for any of those systems. And, if nothing else, the number of ideas and bits that could be adapted by a GM to his personal campaign is enormous, and makes the book well worth the time (and cost).

You could introduce these guys early on in the campaign, and show them to be unequivacally good guys, so that when the characters do find out how evil the Major is, (a) they will know that not all military are evil, and ( they have someone to turn to for help, advice, etc. As for what the Major could do with the team, you could get several missions where the Major is misleading the team into thinking they are working for the good of the military, when in actuality they are working to advance the Major's agenda. You could go with the old stand-bys. Have the Major use the team to: (1) Break up a ring of spies. (Actually, they are federal agents looking into the Major's actions.) (2) Investigate a person who may be disloyal or a traitor. (Actually remove a rival from a position where she can threaten the Major's organization through dirty tricks.) (3) Protect a delivery of arms to a locak resistance cell in an unfriendly nation. (Actually an arms sale to the unfriendly power/terrorists/evil organization. Do the players know what the proper paperwork for this really looks like?) (4) Recon an unfriendly country and make contact with a local resistance cell (Actually an arms dealer or someone who will allow the Major to smuggle antiquities out of the country. Possibly dangerous/mystic artifacts with powers. Possibly also a drug dealer.) (5) Run a training exercise with other military units, with no holds barred. (Actually an attempt to scare other officers into not getting in the Major's way. A good way to introduce the SHIELD-type unit discussed above.) The Major will probably want to prevent contact with other military personnel not part of his plan or sympathetic to his organization. The players will most likely buy this for a time, but will eventually chafe under these restrictions. Then they'll break the rules to get some relaxation, which could lead to all sorts of hell when the Major finds out. The Major may try to forestall this by keeping the team very tired. All that will mean, though, is that when they do get downtime, any restrictions placed on their having fun will chafe all the more. That could lead to a standoff with a nervous Major over what's really going on. Hope this has helped a bit.

Yes, but have you planned on who's going to shoot your version of J.R.?

I agree with what's been said before. Always give the character an opportunity to mend his ways. That doesn't mean that you have to make it obvious. Rather, leave clues around of the dangerous nature of whatever he's shooting at, how many people are around, etc. I also like Firegolem's suggestion that some villains may know of his reputation, and use it to manipulate him. If VIPER is trying to discredit supers, getting him to kill non-agents is a great way to destroy his reputation. He can go on a search for redemption to prove he was set up, and the public could change its perception, but hopefully it would make him think about the consequences of his actions (though from what you say, it probably won't). My other recommendation would be to make some comment to the other team members about his choice of tactics, and have some bad press come their way, so they have a reason to try and get blaster-boy to change his ways.

At the end of the night, each player walks away with the same amount of points. However, my players know I give extra points for good role-playing, puzzle solving, etc. These extra points are not awarded directly to the characters to use on their own, however. They are saved for future use by the GM (me) when letting them develop a base, build a team jet, etc. They don't get to know how many points they have. It's worked out well so far, since the players have a cool base and jet they earned through good play, without having to allocate any of their earned points towards them. Of course, if a player has a 'radiation accident,' and their new makeup requires a point or two to balance out, I will give them some of their earned points. But on the whole, they are used for team items, such as the base, jet, contacts, favors, etc. (though the latter two are awarded even if no points are available).

I don't know, most SO's can Detect use of that power, and the consequences can be pretty bad........

Don't forget police who get confused when people don't conform to their utopian views, and do what they can to 'correct' them.........

If they've harassed him before, they have probably done some background investigation. Have them run a full expose on all they have learned about the 'hero.' Of course, the story would be slanted to show all the bad decisions of the super. Imagine if all the bad decisions you made in public were pointed out in one place. Also, if they have any footage of him doing things of a questionable nature (as a result of his bad decisions), run them on the TV show. Nothing captures the people's attention like a videotape of a super doing something stupid, illegal, or immoral.

Comment from Newbie Player: "Hey, you forgot I take double Stun from that, didn't you?"

IIRC, there was a character in the old Enemies II or Enemies III book that had a similar power. I don't remember her name, but she was a mystic character that had an HKA damage shield, always on. However, she could spend endurance to turn off the field for limited periods of time, such as when she tried to get close to a hero (she was designed to fall in love with a hero, but with the damage shield it was dangerous, etc.). When I get home tonight, I'll see if I can dig up the book and get the specifics.

KS: Mystic Artifacts KS: Supernatural Beings KS: Vampires (or any other specific creature) KS: Eastern Philosophy/Mysticism KS: American Indian Philosophy/Mysticism KS: Arcane Lore KS: Dangerous Cults KS: Artifact Crafting (use PS: Artifact Crafting to build it) SS: Gemology (to analyze crystals and gems involved in magic) SS: Psychology (to deal with mystic victims)

What?? People read these posts at work? Get back to work you lazy git!! Oh, wait, I'm usually cruising these boards at the office. Never mind.

A lot depends on your players. I was running a Champions game with a group that included players who had worked together for a while, and some new players. I was able to come up with a location for a crime that could reasonably bring together all the characters. Well, they banded up and beat the VIPER team, then met in a quiet bell-tower to talk about what happened. Shortly after they started talking, one player (a batman clone who was paranoid about his secret ID, even from the other players) decided to take off, and another character followed, until only one character (whose player knew this was intended to be the formation of a fledling team) was left there. I admit it was my fault for not realizing the batman clone was not one for being a team player, and the another player would just do whatever everyone else was doing. Know your players before working up a plan.

Look at the skills, training, and education of the people that are left. People with specialized knowledge (electrician, nuclear engineers, etc) will become all the more important because of the knowledge they possess. These people could be the center of a plot, as they seek to escape an evil dictator who forces that person to keep seized weapons operating so the evil dictator can control a population. Were most of the educated elite able to hide in bunkers designed to protect them from just such a disaster? if so, they will probably move to seize power wherever they are. And they would be the kind of people that would have the skills and knowledge to use the equipment that was left behind. These would be the kind of folks who would gather together remaining military personnel and train them into effective fighting forces. Did certain remote locations escape the effect of the plague? If so, they might retain enough of their infrastructure and be in a better situation than people in citites where certain key personnel (power plant employees, etc) are no longer around. With all of these, you can create subtle situations to test your supers. Sure, they can fly in and destroy anyone threatening their village, but do they really want to risk destroying the necessary supplies, or the only doctor left who can find a cure for a disease that has mutated?

Convention #24 Any superhero costume, no matter how silly or outlandish, will substitute for formal wear at any formal occasion (weddings, funerals, etc.).

Just checking in everyone. I have to use a borrowed laptop, since my apartment was one of the buildings destroyed by Grond on his rampage!!!! That's right, Grond destroyed my apartment! What really sucks is this is the second apartment I lost to a super-battle. My insurance company is gonna raise my renters insurance out the wazoo! And did 'The Running Man' stop to help?? Not on your life!! Gotta run. I'm thinking of moving out of here. Anyone know a good place to get away from super-battles? I hear Wyoming is a nice place to get away from stuff like that.

Scavenger Hunt, for any of a number of purposes. Of course, you don't have to call it that, you can say "we need to get these three objects for the to work and save the world!" Road Trip in their secret identities. If they have official sanction, call them before the board, and have them review their actions for the last several adventures.

Genre Convention #14 In any mystery, the killer will invariably turn out to be the person left with the detective's girlfriend/fiancee/wife while the detective and his associates go off to investigate the prime suspect.

I've seen in a couple of other posts people referring to "Genre Convention #xxx" and "Cliche #xxx." I was wondering what genre conventions/cliches people think are absolutely important to running a successful game. For example: Genre Convention/Cliche # 1 Any mask, no matter how small, will conceal the identity of the wearer from everyone, even family and friends intimately familiar with the wearer. Others?

Champions 3D I loved that book. I've always been a fan of alternate history writings, and this allowed that interest to come into play. As a point of fact, that book also provided the inspiration for a campaign I'm planning, invovling the slow decay of the walls separating realities. Should be lots of fun. After doing research on various websites and various stories, I've come up with a fair number of alternate worlds, all of which are on my computer at home, not here at work. Several are from the book, but some were based on ideas presented in various stories. What are you planning to do for Soviet world? What's the breakpoint?

True, but when you pull a gun on someone, no matter the calibre, they tend to notice, and if nothing else will usually move on and find someone else to annoy. Most people, when facing a gun, aren't going to assess whether it will seriously hurt them or not. They usually just move on for easier pickings. The fact the shooter supposedly shot twice into the ground, and the officer kept coming, makes me start to wonder. If I'm pulling a prank, and someone starts shooting off live rounds, I'm going to end the prank right there before I or someone around me gets hurt. I'm wondering why he continued to advance after the first rounds went off?

I don't think you're being unreasonable at all. In your posting you present a logical argument for why you think Multiform should be done a particular way. As long as you have thought out the reasons for implementing a house rule, and it works for you and your group, there shouldn't be a problem. I am kinda wondering about your player saying you are 'crippling' his characters by only allowing a base 125 points, instead of the 150 points. Talk with your player, and give him an explanation of why you've implemented this house rule. Once he understands where you are coming from, he might be willing to accept the house rule more. Also, he can explain his problems with the limitations, and if he makes a compelling enough argument, you might consider giving him a "one-character exemption."

Only if it's set to activate when an unauthorized person attempts to use the elevator.

This could be interesting. Grond as a new team member, when all is cleared up? That could make for an easy war on crime. Are any villains going to mess with the team then? As for comments, I think this is so cool. As the GM, I think it's great that you let the characters do something like this. It's always more fun when the players come up with a solution to a problem beyond "Smash the bad guy and call in Stronghold to pick up," and the GM lets them have the benefit of their thinking. I think the players were also on the ball with this, as long as they knew about the circuits from something in game.

I use San Angelo the way I use all other supplements: as starting points and ideas that can be incorporated in whole or in part into my own campaign world. I like San Angelo: City of Heroes because the city is well-detailed without being tedious. Also, since most things tie into a specific area or type of area, I can lift ideas I like and place them in my campaign city without having to do a complete re-wrtie. Things were built so they fit within the city, but weren't so tied to the specific setting that they couldn't be used elsewhere. I think I saw someone comment that SA:CoH appeared to be written from the point of view of the average person on the street. I like that idea, since it gives myself and the players an angle that helps us understand how things may be seen by the average public. I liked the enemies book again because the characters were well defined and thought out, without having been tied to any particular idea that couldn't be converted. Each character had his or her own motivation that fit with the character. Some I've used wholesale, while others have been only slightly modified. All in all, I've enjoyed the products. When I first saw them, I thought "Just what we need, another city supplement," but I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised.