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Bloodstone

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Posts posted by Bloodstone

  1. Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

     

    Thanks' date=' I'm probably just being naive but when I think of Vow of Chastity my mind goes first to what the person is giving up (a family, children, one of life's great joys, etc) out of dedication rather than rape or sexuality as defilement. But I see how its a topic that would have to be handled well particularly in today's climate.[/quote']

     

    Sure, might be a little naive, but you should probably feel lucky that your brain hans't been conditioned to go there ;)

     

    That said, even taking the rape element out of it, I'm not all that comfortable with the concept for an iconic female character like Wonder Woman being limited that way

     

    "Oh, SuperMAN and BatMAN can have sex as much as they want and there's no repercussions, but the moment Wonder WOMAN is no longer a virgin, she loses her powers? This is @#$%^&*$!!!"

     

    A lesser known character may be able to pull it off without much hassle, but it's still a touchy subject...

  3. Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

     

    Might I add, I would totally play a martial artist/monk type character that loses some amount of power if they have had sex recently. That's a pretty common belief in the fighting/sporting world, though plenty of people, myself included, believe the exact opposite.

     

    Now that I thik about it, there's an ammsuing bit about this in the boxing buddy movie Play it to the Bone.

     

    Anyhow, I would most likely not play such a character if they lost ALL of their power if they had sex, especially if they lost all power permenantly...

  4. Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

     

    Hm' date=' is there anyway to frame the Vow of Chastity particularly as a basis for actual supernatural powers that doesn't come across as offensive?[/quote']

     

    Clearly not! If only because it's such a touchy subject that you are bound to offend SOMEONE no matter what course of action you choose ;)

     

    Seriously, it proobably depends on the setting, story repercussions, mechanics and ones personal views on sex.

     

    I've played in D&D games where a vow of chastity was the source of a cleric, paladin or monks powers. Sometimes this was just background fluff that never actually came up in game. Sometimes it was a powerful roleplaying tool. And sometimes it was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off...

  11. The bystander safety trope and your game

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: The bystander safety trope and your game

     

    If they are at least somehwat careful and mindful of their surroundings, I'll usually let the heroes save everyone with a little bit of effort. Things usually just sort work out in favor of the good guys from time to time. Keeps the angst down.

     

    However, I don't protect my players from the consequences of recklessness, stupidity or bad decisssions either.

     

    We had one player nearly kill a bunch of innocent bystanders though carlessness once, so I'll ocassionaly reference the "bus full of nuns and orphans" as a warning...

     

    Usually I find if the body count is low, it's all the more impactful when a death does occur. I've played in more than one game where the body count was high and observed that the players usually became numb to it all very quickly.

  12. Avatar: The Legend of Korra

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: Avatar: The Legend of Korra

     

     

    What if a non-bender came to her to be "healed"? Would she make them benders, or just see there was no severed connection to heal?

     

    Well, that would certainly change the political climate, but I think it would disrupt the balance she's meant to maintain.

     

    we never saw a body, just the explosion. Is he really gone?

     

    Most likely.

     

     

    The body thing probably doesn't matter so much here. Even with all the death in the first series you never really see the bodies. It's still a kids show afterall.

     

    Also, no one actually saw him die so the drama of his return wouldn't have quite the same impact.

     

    However, he's a REALLY powerful bender, literally surrounded by an ocean of his chosen element and it would be a very pulp thing to bring him back at some point.

     

     

     

  14. Avatar: The Legend of Korra

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: Avatar: The Legend of Korra

     

    The question is' date=' where do things go from here?[/quote']

     

    Not really sure, but I assume it's big ;)

     

    We're getting 14 episode's for Book Two (I assume it Water) and I know the gang wil be spending some time outside of Republic City. Beyond that not much else has been anounced and we can only speculate:

     

     

     

    - Just because Amon is dead, doesn't mean that what he started is over. That the Equalist movement got that much traction at all indicates an incredible degree of social unrest. It's probably not going to vanish overnight, though I assume they will focus on different issues at least for the immediate future.

     

    - Korra still has to master Airbending, enter the Spirt World and master the Avatar State before she's considered a fully realized Avatar. So I presume she'll still be training with Tenzin for the forseeable future.

     

    - I assume we'll get a new councilmember to replace Tarrlok. Gotta avoid those deadlocks. Not sure if it will be somone from the Northern Watertribe again. In fact, if I had to guess a Republic non-bender will get voted in.

     

    - Of course, with them being outside of Republic City for at least some of Book two, we may not see all of that stuff even if it's happening.

     

    - Assorted relationship drama, since it's a staple of the series. We have a lot of single characters and I doubt Korra and Mako are going to be smooth sailing the whole way, especially if Asami isn't willing to let go.

     

    - Plenty of opportunity to explore the past. Lot of unanswered questions out there. We'll probably see more of General Bumi and General Iroh, especially if Republic City continues to be in disarray and needs the military there for security. I also assume at some point we'll meet Tenzin's older sister Kya. We don't even know how Aang died yet. I still want to know who the hell is Lin Beifong's father? General Iroh is Zuko's grandson, so I wonder about his parents too. And will we ever know the truth about Firlord Zuko's mother?!?!

     

  15. Avatar: The Legend of Korra

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: Avatar: The Legend of Korra

     

    Just watched episodes 11 and 12. I'm hopeful they can keep up the pace for the next story arc. This is definitely an interesting show.

     

    You can totally tell that they weren't sure that they would get additional seasons :sneaky:

     

    And I was wrong about the identity of Amon...

  17. Speedster Pondering.

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Speedster Pondering.

     

    I not only know Wally best but he's also my favoirte Flash, so take this with a grain of salt:

     

    Jay is slower than Wally or Barry. He likes to use his hat for various power stunts, which none of the rest of the flash family toys around with much.

     

    Wally eventually gets faster than Barry, at least up until the point where they bring Barry back...

     

    Jay is smarter than Wally and Barry is smarter than Jay. Not that Wally's an idiot, but he's a pretty down to earth, joe average grease monkey while Barry is a genius super scientist.

     

    Despite this, Wally figured out a lot of speed stunts that I don't believe Barry ever tried, most of them relating to the Speed Force mythology. Stuff like draining or adding speed to things, accelerating the bodys healing processes and even demonstrating a Danger Sense on occasion.

     

    Depending on time period, there were other differences... like for a while Wally would cause anythign he vibrated his molecules through to explode...

     

    gotta run, but I'll chime in more later if I have a chance.

  18. I like Playing Bricks! Is that wrong?

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: I like Playing Bricks! Is that wrong?

     

    Well, first off Happy Birthday Q-Man!

     

     

    Myself, I like variety and the challenge of the new. But even so I will often gravitate towards up close and personal physical types: Bricks, Speedsters, Martial Artist/Weapon Masters, Metamorphs... often some combination of the above. Nothing wrong with that. It's a game and you are meant to enjoy it.

     

    That said, exclusive preference for one AT could be seen as a bad thing in a few instances I suppose.

     

    In some groups, schtick protection might mean that there is only one brick per team. If you are always playing that character, somone else in the group may feel slighted if they wanted to give it a shot. Not sure if that's the case for your group, just tossing it out there.

     

    Obviously, if you never try anything else, you'll never know if you like other things. Some may percieve a preference for one type of character as a crutch or weakenss of sorts ("He's typecast. He can;t play anything else!"). But that does not appear to be the case here. Instead it seems like you have found something that makes you happy via trial and error.

     

    Previous editions did give some juicy point breaks to Bricks, so I suppose from a pure math point of view that could be seen as power gaming. But it's not like they are inhernetly more powerful than all the other archtypes. A lot of that comes down to character design and campaign style.

     

    So yeah, if it makles you happy and isn't causing some kind of grief at the table, I say stick with it :)

     

    I'm really quite curios what propted the question, man? ;)

  19. Paladin Martial Art?

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Paladin Martial Art?

     

    What? Practioners get upset when someone suggests that their style's history is different than what was taught to them? No that never happens....:P

     

    Oh, it's not just about the history aspect. Some judoka just really hate wrestling :sneaky:

     

    Certainly not a majority opinion, although the recent IJF rule changes were deliberately targeted against wrestling style technique being used in international competition.

     

    Pretty complex subject actually.

     

    But about Kano and wrestling, I'll have to see what book I had that suggested it.

     

    I probably have at least a half dozen books that mention it. The Kata Guruma story is very well known, though not necessarily true...

     

    Anyhow, sorry for the derail folks.

  20. Paladin Martial Art?

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Paladin Martial Art?

     

    I wouldn't. What do pimps have to do with Paladins? (At least I heard that some of the manuevers were developed by pimps in Paris' date=' but this information is more by word of mouth than actual fact). [/quote']

     

    Oh, I'm sure some pimps practiced it at some point. Some probably practice it now ;)

     

    Savate's got a pretty convoluted history prior to the early 1800's. As the lore goes, techniques initally came from street toughs and sailors. It didn't really start to resemble the art it is today until boxing elements were added in the 1830's. Of course, it didn't actually exist in any form during medieval times, so obviously a fantasy version would have no reason to be tied to any real world history. So you could easily have it being taught to nobels as a companion art to fencing in the finest academys across the land.

     

    A technical advantage in favor of savate is that it's one of the few kicking arts practiced and designed to be done with shoes on. Most of the kicks use the toe (fouette), edge (coup de pied bas) or heel (chasse) of the shoe, so it's particularly brutal with hard soled, raised heel boots (like cowboy boots). Not that other kicking arts are somehow ineffective once they have shoes on or antything like that, it's just a subtle technical detail that could be an interesting thing to highlight.

     

    Anyhow... while the sportive aspect is a pure striking/sweeping art, the self defense side of things covers grappling, throws and disarms. Of course, it's generally a very bouncy, energetic style that focuses on speed, precision and fancy footwork that may not be partciularly well suited to armor. Traditional technique also makes use of the rear hand for counter balance and this may look particulalry odd with a sword or shield in play. Finally, kicking in a armed verses unarmed

     

    Also juijitsu would be a good place to start too. When Kano developed Judo' date=' he studied westren wrestling and added in techniques he thought was useful.[/quote']

     

    Traditional Koryu Jujutsu is a very different beast from judo or the many Western styles of jujutsu, most of which are just modified versions of judo to begin with. There's a lot of debate on just how much influence wrestling had on early judo.

     

    - Kano was never known to practice any of the western wrestling styles. He may have observed them at some point or been exposed to them directly when he traveled abroad. He certainly had access to books on western wrestling at the very least.

     

    - Kata garuma is the one techniqe that's attributed to western wrestling by most judoka, where it's known as the fireman's carry. There's an oft repeated legend about how a young Kano was unable to throw a rival jujutsuka until he learned this technique from a book on wrestling. However, we don't know for sure that this was a book on western wrestling. The technique was present in the sumo wrestling of the day (and today as well)

     

    - There are many other areas where a western uinfluence on judo is likely. For example, the use of pinning techniques that force a mans shoulders to the mat most likely comes from wrestling, as the concept is not really present in any other eastern arts. But this is untilamtly just speculation.

     

    As both a wrestler and judoka, I would love to have evidence that shows a clearer historical/technical link between the two, but it's lacking. The very suggestion of such is often met with considerable hostility from many in the judo community.

     

    Also, I'd reluctantly toss my vote in for jujutsu. It's probably the easiest way to go just based on it's writeup and selection of maneuvers in HSMA, though I beleive it's (oddly) lacking the Takeaway maneuver...

  23. Paladin Martial Art?

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Paladin Martial Art?

     

    If you had to adapt an Earth-based unarmed martial art (be it striking based' date=' grappling based, or mixed) for paladin use, which would it be, and why?[/quote']

     

    Any restricitons on time period that the art can be drawn from?

     

    Just wondering if you are looking for something period appropriate or not.

  25. Avatar: The Legend of Korra

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: Avatar: The Legend of Korra

     

    I have been patiently waiting for the reveal at the end of Turning the Tides since November 3rd, 2010, when Dante mentioned on his blog that he had recorded an episode of the new series.

     

    I got a bit choked up when they revealed who his new character was.

     

    Totally worth the wait :)

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