Orion

Re: Group equipment MP or VPP

Re: Group equipment MP or VPP

Re: Character with a symbiote This depends completely on a) which you prefer, and what the campaign allows. For example, there are no mutants in my campaign, and never will be. I decided that human genes don't carry anything that out of the normal, so mutants and genetic experiments wouldn't work if I were the GM. Another GM may decide they are fine, but not allow any aliens. It's a flavor thing, and doesn't change anything about what characters can do, only how the backstory is written.

Re: Cat Up a Tree Well, this seems to assume a superhero clubhouse and publicly available phone line to call them, neither of which happens in my campaign world. If Warhawk was walking by and not otherwise involved, he'd fly up and grab it. Silhouette would use TK. Pretty much everyone else would never even hear about it, and if they did, completely ignore the situation. The kid's parent can get the cat down, or a neighbor, or even the kid can do it. They've got more important things to do, and everyone knows the damn cat will be back up in the same tree tomorrow anyway.

Re: Turbo-Boost Energy Drink Stock up to ensure my own supply. Ask the company when they are coming out with a strength boost or mental boost flavor. Buy stock in the company. Be surprised when it is shown to have side effects.

Re: Vandaleur Twins My preference is that canon doesn't mention family and romantic interests, and leaves all that to the GM. If it must be mentioned (DNPC or some such), just mention that a character has a spouse/partner, and let the GM decide if that person is of the same sex or not. Even if a male is specifically said to have a wife, to me that doesn't necessarily mean the wife is a female, as I've met more than one gay male that strongly fit the wife stereotype. Only give details that are critical to the character. For most, the sexual orientation is no more critical than their favorite movie genre, type of car, or preference for dogs vs. cats.

Re: Questions about Money Perk I only have one character with a Money Perk, but he's more of the really well off type, not a filthy rich individual. As for uses, everything Steamteck lists, but also any gear that is wanted. After all, it doesn't matter how many points they have if they can't afford the price tag. Of course, them wanting gear and having spare cash doesn't mean it's necessarily available. If a character does have a money perk, I will make them deal with that on occasion - they must attend the shareholder's meeting, deal with an economic crisis, wonder if their paycheck will go down with Ogre takes out the main factory, etc.

Re: Cybernetics and Bioengineering: what are YOUR limits? As I love to tell people, I'm married because of my wife's bad judgment and poor eyesight.

Re: Bows What is the general feeling on altering damage based on the type of bow? I know a lot of systems do it, but I've always disliked the idea myself. I figure that any bow strong enough to be used as a weapon can send an arrow all the way through an unarmored person. The damage is based on the type of arrowhead, and location of the hit. Different bows would give different effective ranges, accuracy at range, and even penetration of armor, but would not alter the actual damage. Does this make sense, or am I just off-base?

Re: My Elves Are Different! I think you have a pretty good idea of my current campaign world, and I do agree it is more total commitment problem than anything else. Some villain groups (Viper and Genocide, mostly) will always shoot to kill, and they aren't shy about taking out a busload or three of innocents to get to the hero. The heroes do not have to be killers, but the average character should have a soldier attitude - try not to kill, but if it is necessary to save the hostage or a teammate's life, the villain dies without a second thought, and it won't cripple them psychologically afterward. If players requested, I would run something that was closer to standard comic book, but it's not the default. I'm not going for the comic book genre, but a superpowers in the real world feel, which comes with different assumptions. The best campaign I was ever in had a martial artist with a severe honor code, a mentalist with a strong code vs killing, and a casual killer vigilante that favored ambushes. We spent a lot of time arguing and even fighting with each other, and the vigilante (me) even quit the team once because of his disgust with the other characters. Best roleplaying we ever did, and I miss those days. Since then in other groups I've created characters that did not play well with the group, but they fell flat because the rest of the group didn't want within-group bickering. I went against their assumptions for the genre. They wanted the friendly elf and drunken dwarf and the other genre stereotypes, and when I didn't follow them, it caused more trouble than it was worth.

Re: My Elves Are Different! Genre fiend - I love it! I couldn't put it into words, but this fits me to a T. I can do typical AD&D, Tolkien, Deryni, Conan, etc. in a fantasy campaign. But, that is the style of the campaign, and no deviation is allowed. If something outside that genre trope is wanted, then a new campaign must be started. As a player, the world background, history, and feel is as important as the type of character I play. As a GM, the world is the most important thing, and where I derive most of my enjoyment. I have never been a GM in a generic, anything goes campaign for any genre, and the closest I've come to playing in one was loosely based on He-Man and Thundercats cartoons.

Re: Icons - The Costume and Superpowers Store I think they'd be in the lead trying to repress the use of powers. Anything that could be used as a weapon, they don't like. But more interesting, to me at least, is what would all the firearm advocates be saying? I own several, and while not a member of the NRA, I agree with many of their policies. I'd be all for letting people with powers go about their life. If they choose to use them publicly, I'd be okay with it - what they do is the important part, not the fact that are using them. However, many of my fellow gun nuts, and an even higher percentage of hunters, are quite conservative and religious. I think many in this group would be against the use of powers on religious reasons, and many more would be against them because the gun suddenly cannot defend you any more.

Re: My Elves Are Different! As I am much more likely to do low fantasy, or even historical fiction, it would be rare to have anything but humans. The non-humans are there to bring out the little bits of magic and wonder in the world. The people I've played with wouldn't mind, but they also wouldn't mind having a world with lots of non-humans, and having few or no humans in the party. CrosshairCollie is right about the humans being generic, and that seems to have been the key reason they were not chosen by myself and the people I've played with in the past. Being non-human gave bonuses, and at least in the games I've played, never had a downside. If they had been more balanced, a lot more humans would have been played. It was also an easy way to declare differences among characters in groups that were light on roleplaying and characterization. The dwarf was assumed to action like a normal dwarf, the elf like an elf, etc. In one group in particular, the race/class archetype chosen could have been used as the character name, for all the effort that was put into characterization, group interaction, etc.

Re: What power ideas/concepts do you get from these code names? Code Red - paranoid, always ready for an attack that will probably never come, but when it does they know exactly what to do Livewire - hyperactive, can't sit still, speedster, leaves electrical pulses and sparks behind as sfx Throwback - intelligent ape or caveman, has anger mgmt issues, brick White Out - blizzard/frost/storm powers or time manipulator that can redo recent actions Supernova - energy projector, emits intense radiation and heat Revolution - conspiracy theory nut and anarchist, ultra-libertarian, intensely private, but willing to help anyone that asks

Re: New group of characters.

Re: My Elves Are Different! To, me, the standard honor complex is that of the stereotypical martial artist. Always wants to fight matches in the open that no one else can interfere in. His honor is more important than law or justice. It may have a code vs killing, but often does not. It always makes things more difficult, which is often part of the fun. It is a personal set of rules that must be followed, no matter what. It does not have to be understood or even followed by teammates, although many with a personal code will try to force it on associates. It would not surprise me at all to find others in this discussions mean something very different.

Re: My Elves Are Different! Yep - I thought of that about a half hour after I posted. I know of a couple people that delight in turning stereotypes on their head. Their orcs would be misunderstood, but good, and elves would be vicious forest cannibals. I can see this point. But, in my defense, orcs are created beings in the setting (Harn) I use. I would argue they are also created and irredeemably evil in the source material (Tolkien) I use, but maybe not all read it that way. I think I could play an honor complex in a superhero game....if I had to. It's always seemed one of the silliest and least fun things about the genre, and I admit to not being able to see why you'd want to. To me, playing a superhero is about being more than human, and bringing in the bad guys. Playing an honor complex is just one of many personality quirks that can be chosen, but it certainly isn't the most important. But I have seen exactly 1 honor code character in my gaming career, and even his player thought the honor code was silly. Started as a loaner character from the GM as I remember. I have no doubt many people love honor complexes and play because of them, but I've personally never met a player like that. I don't have a problem with CvK characters in other campaigns, just my current one, and for the simple idea that powers are bestowed upon individuals by universal powers. They are chosen to be the soldiers in the fight against chaos and crime. This is the key - they were chosen, and not always by the squeakly clean powers, either. You don't chose pacificists to be soldiers and cops, and this is what my campaign is about. My campaign is much closer to Dark Champions than straight comic book (though why this makes CvK more palatable to so many, I don't know), and so killing is expected to happen, although that is not the point of the sessions, and not required. Demons get stakes through the heart. Sentient robots get blown up. Alien invaders and Viper agents get shot. Death happens. If they cannot do this, they simply wouldn't get recruited, and someone who could, would be. gah...will add more later...carpool and all that... Okay - edited the above, and will add more now. While I don't buy the idea that most people play superheroes because they want CvK or honor codes, I would agree most want to be heroes. However, what defines a hero is very different between people, and I have no doubt my definition is not agreeable to all. I'll try to start a new thread on this topic some time soon, but for now, I'll just say CvK and being a hero are separate issues that often have no overlap to me.

Re: My Elves Are Different!

Re: My Elves Are Different!

Re: My Elves Are Different! I really can't see why you would not want this. Why would a player not stay within the guideline for a world? If we give them guidelines for points, DCs, and power levels, why not for character types and background? If the group decision is to run a Marvel Family campaign, and someone shows up with the Punisher or Lobo, I think it would be a Good Thing to require them to make another character. In my view, before any new campaign starts, an entire session or more must be spent discussing the possible campaign flavors. Genre is the easy decision, but after that it gets hard. The level of silliness, how much romance, how much killing, is death permanent, power levels of heroes vs average villains, etc. Once everyone has decided on the type of world, campaign, and story they want, then it's on to developing characters for that combination. I've been a part of campaigns as player and GM where the entire planning process was "bring a new character next week, 250 points". Every time, the characters didn't gel as a group, and the campaign fell apart very quickly. By random luck two would fit the GM's ideas perfectly, another would sort of fit, and the last would require all motivations and characterizations to be ignored to have a chance of fitting it. I won't even begin to create a character these days unless I have a good understanding of the campaign world - it just seems pointless. I can't create a character just to play with the rules any more. As a GM, the fun for me is in having detailed worlds, and playing true to that world. When using Harn, there is one set of expectations. When using Forgotten Realms, there is another. Drizzt is encouraged in one, forbidden in the other. I can't see how this is a bad thing.

Re: Star Wars: i was wondering...

Re: Lostorum - "Steampunk Fantasy in a Savage World" I'd quite enjoy a campaign of this sort. I'd see the magic as being much like Heinlein's Magic, Inc. or Garrett's Lord Darcy.

Re: My Elves Are Different!

Re: My Elves Are Different! It has always annoyed me greatly when some writer creates something new, and then gives it the name of something widely recognized, yet very different. Yeah, your elves are different - because they ain't elves! Superman better have a reporter girlfriend and have a code vs killing, and Conan must love wenches and beer. I have no problem with the creating of new stuff, but it comes off as a bait and switch when they use the old name for something new. You tell me I'm going to be battling orcs, and I will have certain expectations. Doesn't matter how many times you explain to me these orcs are completely different, it will still cause a disconnect when you tell me an orc does not act as they always have in my past experience. New Coke would have been an easier sell if it hadn't been called Coke, and reusing a old name is no easier to accept.

Re: Where is your campaign based? In college, we typically used New York City with a heavy Marvel influence. But since noon of us had been there, it was really just a generic large fictional city. The world and the campaign background were pretty generic and flavorless, as the GM wasn't interested in that. My current campaign world has individual heroes scattered about, with no city having more than a single hero. Four new heroes are about to be created, and while they'll start in the San Francisco Bay area, they'll eventually move to a base near Austin. Most of their adventures will happen elsewhere, but leaving the US will be rare.