James Gillen

Re: A Thread for Random Musings The Mirage hotel in Las Vegas finally took down the posters of Siegfried and Roy, months after Roy was mauled by his tiger and the show had to close for good. I bring this up because today in my cab, one of my fares asked, "Is Sigmund Freud coming back to the Mirage?" JG

Re: Phermones That's pretty much the only way it could work (if the effect of looks is going to be simulated in rules). It also makes it easier to convert with GURPS, BUFFY/Unisystem, and other games where an 'attractiveness' advantage actually has game effects. Let's see: does "opposite or preferred gender" count as medium or large-sized group? I'll say large. That's 2 points per die of positive Reputation. I'll leave the Reputation roll at default cost, 11- (about a 50-50 chance). So 2 pts. of "Comeliness Reputation" (for lack of a better term) gives +1 to certain Interaction Skills and +1d6 to PRE Attacks. 2 pts. is the same cost as 14 COM. 4 points would get you +2/+2d6 bonus, for the same cost as an 18 COM. 18 is supermodel territory by most players' standards. 6 points would get +3 to the figures, and while that's a big cost, it IS 3 dice or +3 bonus, and the same cost as a 22 COM. Who in the real world has a 22 COM? This idea makes more sense the more I look at it... JG

Re: Using COMliness How would that work? If you had (say) 25 PRE and 20 COM, you'd get to use 4d6 base PRE Attack for seduction/awe purposes, but the full 5d6 for general PRE Attack? JG

Re: Gentlemen Start Your Engines I usually have them recruited by a stranger they met while drinking together at a bar. JG

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Hey, Van Hagar's having a reunion tour! JG

Re: Should FH wizards use VPPs? Uh, yeah. The main limitation imposed by the VPP Framework- and it should always be kept in mind- is that the Pool Points are an absolute limit on Active Points (although various Limitations applied to each spell mean the VPP can run more than 1 spell at once before re-allocation). If a spell has 2d6 RKA, that's 30 Active Points right there. Continuous is +1, Area Effect is another +1, that's 90 AP right there, not counting any MegaScale. So... if the mage player thinks he can create the effect described with a 75 pt. Pool, he's WRONG!!!!!! Now, you might allow such a spell outside the Power Pool, but then the PC would have to buy the monster with a LOT of Limitations to make it affordable. That's the idea. That means that the high-Active Point attack will be appropriately limited in game terms, and the PC has something to save his XP for after getting a reasonably sized VPP. I would allow VPPs mainly as a "utility grimoire" to account for all the common spells a character could have learned without needing to pay points for. Major spells, like the one described, would require a major effort to learn and perfect, thus they justify spending points on an individual basis (outside the Framework) like usual. That's definitely true. JG

Re: just a note for the arduin fans Ah yes. Who could forget Kill Kitties? JG

Re: Real World Issues in the Game World I was thinking of a game world where 9-11 was the major catalyst for powers (just as 1938 and the appearance of Superman seemed to be a catalyst 'historically'), but there would still be aliens and possibly magic. JG

Re: Golden Age Champions I loved Chris Cloutier's GAC (both versions) and I don't know how they're going to top it. I assume Steve's gonna actually make this part of the Champions Universe, but the '40s characters we've seen so far don't grab me like Vanguard and Shocktrooper. JG

Re: Real World Issues in the Game World Then there's also "The Zero Factor." JG

Re: Real World Issues in the Game World That's why it's called "fantasy." JG

Re: So, Who Else Is Gonna Grab Galactic Champions ASAP?? ASAP? When's it coming out? JG

Re: A new Silver Age Hero like world "It's against the law to frown in- Capital City..." -Tony Bennett, The Simpsons

Re: Macho HEROes With Guns True... but in order for it to be republished in the first place, it was given to a D20 company. HERO (along with GURPS) is a lot closer to the original concept. JG

Rules for Hot Oil Wrestling This is inspired by a spontaneous combat that occured between PCs in our RIFTS game this week. If you're interested, ask Gary Ciaramella to tell the story. According to the D20 book: "A catfight or tussle is an informal fight for dominance; occasionally, however, honour must be satisfied in front of witnesses and it is at these times that wrestling in mud, oil or some other gooey substance, such as Bthulhu slime, is called for. In the world of Macho Women with Guns wrestling is accepted as the one true and final way of settling an argument, held in as much esteem as duelling with swords or boxing has been in times gone by." The book goes on to describe how catfighters demonstrate personal superiority through special manuevers that humiliate the opponent and demonstrate the victor's superiority. These attacks cause Charisma damage, which in this context is not making the target any uglier, it is simply a measure of how humiliated or bedraggled a target becomes before having to give up or run off to recover. Thus, in HERO these attacks are a Drain, not against COM (the dirtiness and damage to makeup is cancelled out by the arousal effect) but PRE (representing the loss of confidence). In addition to the normal STUN damage caused by Grabs and other attacks, wrestlers get to perform stunts like slaps, hairpulls, removal of clothing, etc. which cause 1d6 PRE Drain, Recovers per Minute. If a Grab is maintained, the Grabbing character can continue to do the damage continuously; this is known as a 'spanking.' Note that all Grab modifiers apply (even with the slap, as it's not a conventional attack), and that the Drain has to be done instead of normal damage. Furthermore, wrestling in mud or oil has the same effects as Poor Footing (p. 250, FREd) and also affects Breakfall rolls by at least -1. Characters should have to maintain Breakfall or DEX rolls to stay upright; failing to make the roll causes the character to take a one-time roll of 1d6 PRE Drain. JG

Re: Dark Champions: Secret Worlds "As he points, Terry realizes he still has his MK 23 in his hand and that part of him has already factored the easy headshots that would kill all five of these scared men in less than that many seconds." Heh. Love these little details. JG

Re: New Limitation: Does not Stack. Gm's please look It depends on whether you want to make it the kind of "progressive" game where the opponents are scads more powerful over time than when the PCs started. These considerations wouldn't apply to a "low-fantasy" game. If you're in a High Fantasy game, either the Limitation shouldn't be used in the first place, or you give the PCs defenses that aren't entirely dependent on stacking DEF- amulets of Missile Deflection or DCV, for example. JG

Re: A Thread for Random Musings The new Mightybec and Thrakozog avatars are just f'n wrong, man. JG

Re: RPG.net Well, that's ONE good thing about the new format. JG

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Have I mentioned how much I hate this new format? JG p.s. 2000!!!!

Yes, exactly. Actually, they don't like a LOT of things on RPG.net. Like America and capitalism. On the other hand, if I didn't read RPG.net, I never woulda known about this guy: http://www.albrunothethird.com JG

It's worth noting that in the D20 editions of D&D they specifically detail separate categories of bonuses so that they don't stack; e.g. an 'armor' bonus doesn't stack with better armor, but deflection/dodge bonuses are cumulative, etc. JG

Driving my cab today I picked up one guy on a run to his doctor's hospital. He told me- as well as he was able- that during his military service he'd taken something like 2.5 rads (where 4 is enough to kill) and over the past decade had something like 117 surgeries, with maybe 100 of those being Veterans Administration operations that screwed up at some point or other. Of all the things I have to be grateful for in life, I guess I should add my tongue and my jaw to the list. JG

No, the -1/2 Limitation sounds right to me. I vaguely recall doing something similar for my D&D conversion game. JG

Does Pennsylvania actually have a Hershey Highway? JG