Bloodstone

Re: "Neat" Pictures

More like this please

BAH! Must spread rep

Re: Ben 10: Omniverse

ARGH! Lost post from IE crash and apparently autosave has failed me

Judging from the vid, I note a few interesting things...

 

--First off, we can see that he does retain all the previous aliens he's gained since in UF/UA. As if TerraSpin, Cannonbolt, Water Hazzard, and Humongosaur (look closely for this one) isn't obvious enough.

Mostly. His Ultimate forums were stated to not be in Omniverse, but everyone else should be reurning at some point

By now, I've seen redsigns for a ton of the old forms, as well as quite a few new aliens.

Chickenhawk is still unconfirmed (not even sure I heard it right) and I haven't seen pics of Crashhopper yet, so I can't specualte much more about him.

By contrast Ball Weevil is likely an Omniverse era alien based on his "costume". Since that feature is back on the dial, I'm presuming any new aliens with a predominantly green/black or green/white costumes will be Omniverse era, while Flashback aliens will probably still have a white/black theme. Several of the costume redesigns are very minor (Humungousaur, Spidermonkey) while others are signifigant (Fourarms, Jury Rigg).

Of course, many of the aliens still walk around in the buff, so costumes are no guarantee either way

I'm torn on the new placement of the Omnitrix symbols. I like that the Flashback aliens retain the placement from the origional sries.

But I really liked the universal chest placement they introduced in AF. Ben adjusting the dial while in alien form has become an iconic gesture. New alien forms seem to be keeping it on the centerline, but it's just not quite the same if he has to reach down to his belt or up to the his forhead to fiddle with/smack the dial.

I think that we can avoid most of the write-ups for them if we reffered to the previous ones for the time being.

Yep, I'm going to focus on the new stuff but I want to update everything to the template format as time goes one. It shoudl make updates so much easier.

Plus none of the posted writups are as complete as I would like For example, I don't think I ever went back and added FTL to the AF write up of Jetray, even though it's been in his HD file for over a year now.

But I'm sure we'll be seeing old forms doing plenty of new things anyhow...

--Secondly, 10-year Ben gains some of the forms that 17-year Ben will get before then. Feedback will be the first of his new forms for this series. I guess I'm sorta pleased that he won't be left stagnating during the "transition" between Ben 10 and UF in terms of getting new forms.

I have to admit, I was surprised by the revelation that he was getting Feedback via Flashback. With the big goofy smile and the white/black theme I feel kinda silly for not at least considering that...

And last I heard, Ben's still 16 at the start of Omniverse.

Still not quite sold on the new style, however--I think the nicely shaded/proportionate style (even with some minor changes, re: Ripjaws) that we've run through with so far seems to have become embedded as THE Ben 10 style for me.

Overall, I'm okay with the style. It's not my preference, but I can totally deal with it.

As promised, the animation looks pretty smooth.

I'm sure I'll get used to it with time. I do like some of the new designs and characters, so that helps.

Re: Ben 10: Omniverse

Fix-ed

Re: Ben 10: Omniverse

Interview with Tramm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvVIUMxMe8I

Re: "Neat" Pictures

Spoilered for animation

 

 

 

 

They swiped form Cowboy Bebop too:

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

Mind you' date=' the cynic in me wonders all the (straight male) readers bemoaning why it wasn't Wonder Woman not because it makes the most sense or encourages character progression but because it would play into their own titillations and fantasies -- that a woman's sexuality isn't for herself but rather for the ogling of men. [/quote']

 

I see the , but feel the need to adress this anyhow.

 

As a long time Wonder Woman fan, I feel Diana is in an unfavorably unique position. Since she's the only mega well known superheroine, they try to make her appeal to way too many different tastes. Those tastes include those seeking titilation (see damn near any picture of her by Ed Bennes) and those that think she should be a completly verginal crusader, as no man (or woman) is worthy of her (the Red Sonja complex)

 

Cards upfront, I've had a thing for Wonder Woman since I was a little kid. In recent years, the gray eyed, olive skinned, incredibly buff warrior woman that looked like a Greek godess REALLY appealed to me. But I was always okay with the pin up Snow White look too. So yeah, I won't lie, adding bisexuality on top of that all would play into some fantasies of mine. But I have fantasies like that about a lot of fictional chracters. I wouldn't fight to have Power Girl or Mrs Marvel playing for both teams (despit PG having been in a quasi lesbian relationship recently). But I'll go to bat for Diana being lesiban or bisexual based on her background any day of the week.

 

In context of Diana's fictional history, being a lesbian would have made the most sense POST reboot. It's the happiest, least creepy option available while still keeping the whole Paradise Isle setup intact. Of course, it's not what we got, with Johns having her and Superman flirting over in the JL book... and her own book having Amazons as god shagging, man hating, baby murdering rapists instead of enlightened saphic sisters... but that's another rant entierly.

 

Now, prior to the new 52 reboot I would have prefered Diana to be bisexual. It still makes some sense based on the culture she was raised in and avoids stepping on previous tales. Her leaving the island for Steve was pretty well ingrained in the mythology initially, after all. In fact, it makes it's way into every signifigant retelling of her origin, including the excellent Wonder Woman cartoon that Gail Simone wrote. This also plays to the MANY hints they have made over the years, some far more subtle than others. It might not be refeerenced often, but playing BD/SM games with the Holiday Girls and the famous "Why do you think they call it Paradise Island?" quote are parts of the characters persona. And might I add it has been this way since her inception! She was inspired by/written by a pair of bisexual women in a polyamorous relationship with Marston. "Loving Submission" indeed

 

Lets be honest, she's kind of a badass Disney Princess type for plenty of people and Steve being her slightly more capable Lois Lane works pretty well for many people. But the implications of her being completly heterosexul are downright depressing. It's seriously creepy stuff when you think about it, especially considering she's on an island of immortal warrior women that worship the godess fo love (amongst others of course). Have you seen what a liftime of repressed sexual energy does to a young woman with super strength!?!?! Honestly, this origin would work best for me if we tie an ascetic element to her Amazon training. Mind you, I'm not saying we need to tie her powers to celibacy... that would almost certainly be seen in the most mysoginistic light possible Just establish that she's celibate up until she leaves the island due to her devotion to the Amazon warriror lifestyle. I really don't want her to be the eternal virgin since I've liked else earth stories where she's a mother. You can even have her suropunded by sisters trying to get with her, but she turns them all down. BAM! Jealous stalker Amazon super villianess once Steve Trevor shows up (and I might point out the new Steve Trevor is a bigger bad ass/asset to the series than the old one ever was. I suspect he will die shortly...)

 

Anyhow, I'm ultimatly ok with her being hetero so long as she leaves the island while she's still young AND is portrayed as a strong woman when she's grown. I'm totally ok with her being akward around guys as a super powered Wonder Girl. It's kinda lame seeing her do the same thing as a grown woman... many of those attemots to make her relatable through relationship drama have been TERRIBLE.

 

- mopeing about with the gay BFFs after being rejected by some random hot doctor she liked (can't rememebr the issue, but could find out)

- Sobbing like a fool in her bed upon seeing lawyer Steve Trevor for the first time after their breakupafter years prior (the Wonder Woman TV show pilot)

- Trying to bang Superman while they are traped in another dimension and being rebuff (yay for Clarks true love I guess, but boo for making Diana look like a tool and the weaker of the two)

- the veritable avatar of truth secretly pining for Bruce Wayne for years and this not long after they decided she doesn;t actually think of Bruce (or Clark) that way. ASo she's been lying to them and herself for some time now.. (Blackest Night)

 

And the Nemesis relationship was terrible in (several) entierly different ways. "Wonder Woman has no Kryptonite, so we decided to make her socially akward." Which I might add I could have totaly dealt with had she not already been off the Island for YEARS at that point. Regardless, these are not the actions of a strong, confident woman. When was the last time we saw somone like Bruce Wayne sobbing over being dumped? I don't mind seeing her more vulnerable and human, but not like that...

 

Sorry, went into quasi rant mode there...

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

This is probably old news but I just heard about it.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/05/comics-cliffhanger-as-unnamed-dc-superhero-to-come-out-of-closet/

Not super old, but it's the subject of at least 2 threads oveer on the NGD.

That's also a fairly poorly written article about it... but then I found DC's whole approach to this anouncement pretty distasteful. I don't mind the idea at all mind you, just the spectacle they made of it. They pulled theme BS with Batwoman.

I also find it disturbing that during this whole media extravaganze, almost no one was really mentioning the gay male characters that DC already has. Namely Midnighter and Apollo over in Stormwatch (who were previously married and had a daughter, a relationship the new 52 reboot completly destroyed might I add...)

Since this was news to you, I imagine you hadn't heard about this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43388[/ATTACH]

And the reveal:

Overall, I found that to be much more tactfully done, personally.

Is this about Green Lantern being gay? As long as it's not Hal Jordan' date=' no problem. But Hal is too well-established as being a fan of the ladies (I submit Carol Ferris for your consideration). I don't know enough about John Stewart's and Guy Gardner's love lives to make a call on them. As for Kyle Rainer, I could see him being bisexual, but again, there is an established history of him having relationships with women. Or they could create an entirely new GL who happens to be gay. That works too.[/quote']

 

While I get where you're coming from, talking about a characters "established history" after a major line wide reboot like what DC just did is kind of silly...

 

Personaly I don't like the choice. I would have gone with Wonder Woman personaly. I don't so much have a problem with a new character, or a character who I feel it fits the background of, being gay, but I don't like a character that I feel it is something they are changing to change being gay.

 

On WW, it makes a lot of sense to me she would be either a lesbian or bi, with her background (Island of all women, ancient greeks, etc...). I understand wanting a "high profile" character, and Superman or Batman would be a disaster (Batman espesialy, as unfair as it is, you all know what would be said about Robin)

 

Sure, Wonder Woman makes perfect sense. There's been plenty of wink nod moments in the comics to indicate she's probably bisexual, even though they never quite come out and say it. Given her origin, both in the comics and in the office, it would be totally appropriate.

 

But DC doesn't seem to have the balls to really do it though. Hell, they barely had the balls to let her date men...

Re: Superhero team Leader: PC or NPC?

Do you normally create an NPC to be the team leader (even if only ostensibly) or does a Player character normally take that role. If so' date=' how do you player decide on who's leader? In either case, please share your experiences and preference on the subject?[/quote']

 

Field team leader is always a player (Cyclops), though often times if the PC's belong to an organization there will be an NPC boss (Professor X). Otherwise, the railroading tends to feel strong, even when there is none. An overly wise and vocal GM pet NPC can cause the same problems sometimes.

 

Leadership is generally determined by roleplaying and PC background, but I've seen people decide ahead of time out of game who it would be.

 

In one of my groups, we have a player that tends to favor being the older, more experienced PC, while everyone else playes teens and 20 somethings. He also usually has backgrounds that lend themselves to positions of leadership already (ships captain, former military man, etc). I don't believe he actually LIKES being leader, he just get's saddled with it...

 

The same thing happens to ME in another game group. Force of personality and a desire not to sit around waiting for obvious plot hooks to attack us conspire to always make me leader in that group. It's how a 16 year old street urchin became a knights squire and eventually a general in his nations army... in the end it made for a pretty cool rags to riches type story, but in the beginning it was creepy and more than a little stupid.

Re: "Neat" Pictures

A shot of the new Bond movie Skyfall' date=' compared to a shot from a Connery Bond film (don't know which..any ideas?).[/quote']

 

Goldfinger

Re: Does anyone ekse like People with Powers style games?

Most of the "people with powers" games also tend to have only one special effect/power source. And most often it has a no-alien/no-magic/no supertech rule.

I skirt that issue via philosophy.

All the arcane orginazations call what the players do magic or a blessing from the heavens and all the scientific organizations refer to it as psionics or the product of an alien retrovirus or something along those lines. So while there appears to be a single primary source of powers, in the fiction the world has not decided on what that source truly is. And there are some pretty serious "proofs" offered on both sides of the debate. In fact, two of the characters have backgrounds that completely fly in the face of established scientific metafiction of the world (lets just say mad science was involved and leave it at that)

There's two types of super tech in the game too.

Advanced technology from War World, which is the result of superior availability of materials and an uncanny number of power mad super geniuses, can be picked up and used by anyone.

But anything really physics bending is based on a rare suite of powers known as ethermancy/psionic circuit engineering (enchanting in layman's terms).

A lot of these items select their operator. Thor's hammer is one example, while War World's young Warmachine equivalent fights in unpossibly advanced technological power armor that was designed by a super genius psionic engineer.

On the aliens front, the players aren't actually sure if there are aliens or not yet... and I'm not about to say one way or another since several of them post on these forums

Re: Does anyone ekse like People with Powers style games?

Interesting compromise. Sounds like a very interesting setting

Yeah, it's been fun

We hit a few stylistic stumbling blocks along the way, but we've worked past most of 'em.

Re: "Neat" Pictures

...Then who's driving?!

Who's on first!

Re: So Easy Even A Nine-Year-Old Can Do It!

Clearly this is just a clever photo manipulation. Everyone knows that only grumpy, male grognard mathaletes play HERO System!

Really love the character cutouts to go along with the character sheets. That's a cool touch

Re: Does anyone ekse like People with Powers style games?

My game is based around the premise (more of the secret agents with powers style), but we cheat a little.

The players get to travel to two other parallel worlds where posthumans exist openly (Red Earth and War World)

Earth Prime, the world the PC's come from, is the only one with an active posthuman breeding population, but they keep them hidden and controlled. It's kind of like a forest preserve that way. One of the first pandimensional organizations the players met, DELPHI, is there to protect the flatscans and manage the posthumans.

Mind you, a lot of posthumans end up leaving or getting deported to one of the other two worlds anyhow. They can't deal with their old lives or living the lie. So yes, there is a time when the PC's wear street clothes and maintain the strict illusion of normalacy and there are times when they are decked out in spandex and brawling through futuristic cities while dodging flying cars.

Re: How Do I Build A Superhuman Analyze Power?

When we have allowed something of this nature, it was signifigantly more limtied than the OP suggestions and/or comprised several different Sensory powers.

You can go pretty far with a very high KS: Superhuman World and similar knowledges, so don't forget about that angle.

In additon to specialized Detects and Skills, Telepathy is a great way to discover this stuff. But it won't reveal any weaknesses that the target is themself unaware of.

We had an android who's ability to analyze all forms of energy and matter gave him serious insights into the powers and abilites of most targets, but he still had issues with magic and super skills. But since he was from the 31st century, he was aware of many characters abilities via his knowledge of Future-History.

Precognition can acomplish the same sort of thing...

Re: Zl'f portrait by Storn

Very nice

Though 160 XP over 20 years makes me feel downright Monty Haul How often do you guys play?

Re: So, while we're talking about things that shouldn't be in frameworks again...

...if I had a character who had average Defense' date=' OCV, DCV, and attack DC, but also had a multipower full of fixed slots that could boost any one of these things at a time, would you allow me to put situational powers in that multipower that you would have rejected if they were the only things in the multipower?[/quote']

 

Probably.

 

I'd have to see the build and figure out how it wold work in the context of the game setting.

 

I've had a brick that had an Adaptive Defense MP that included exotic defenses. It worked out just fine in that game.

While Googling to find out if there was a mixed drink called a "Magic 8-Ball"

Search: magic 8-ball, drink

Potental Super Origin: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090607001832AAN6rjp

I'm wondering if I should make the character... and if there's a potential game to be had in search resul wackiness based origns...

Re: Make Your Own Motivational Poster

So what would you call someone who acknowledges the existence of gods but denies the existence of a supreme capital G God?

Survivalists!

I mean, if there are gods, who really wants to risk offend any of them by suggesting that only one of them might be supreme?

Re: Jason Tripitikas

Hey' date=' cool. Just looked in IMDb, and he got second billing just after Gina Carano.[/quote']

 

True, but only because billing was done in order of appearance.

 

(I ended up rewatching Haywire rigth before Forbidden Kingdom)

Re: Material Girl

A couple of poster have commented on how "munchkin" and over powered the idea is.

Wel, I don't think it's particulalry "munchkin", but the fact that she can participate in battle and not really take damage can potentially changes the risk/reward ratio considerbaly.

Mind you, there's TONS of chracter types that can play that game. Summoners, Riggers, Body Jackers (and other psychics), etc...

Since she's an NPC, abuse probably isn't going to be an issue...

Re: Material Girl

A lot of healing' date=' perhaps...[/quote']

 

Sure. But it's an NPC, so it's not like the points matter here.

 

Alternalty you can buy extra "illusionary" Body/Stun for the human form and use non proportional damage when shifting forms.

 

If she effectly has 50 BODY and 500 STUN, then losing 20 BODY and 60 STUN when an Iron Golem form is destroyed is really no big deal.

Re: Material Girl

The lack of damage rollover would seem to preclude Multiform as damage does affect both forms (even with additional defences the MG could take damage to the golem).

She takes damage in the "golem" form and is fine when she reverts to human.

Sounds like Healing to me.

Re: Gender Changing and "Instant Change" Cosmetic Transformation.

The biggest inconvenience female form presents Ranma is he just freaking hates being a girl.

True, though the real problem was that she was supposed to be smoking hot, so it's not just that he turned into a girl. He turned into a girl that got hit on CONSTANTLY.

His girl form was supposed to be smaller and weaker then his natural state, but that was only osccasional highlighted as a plot point. Most of the time it didn't matter at all.

I also have a vague recollection of her being slightly faster and more flexible, and she used her smaller, lighter form to her advanted in a few situations.

But really, it's probably no more then 10 character points spent differntly between the two forms...

Damn, what a trip down memory lane. It's probably been 20 years since I saw that series...

Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar

I suppose it also bears mentioning that we're basically talking about a Paris Hilton analog...

How could you say such terrible things about Gravitar!?!?!

She may be a supervillianess, but damn it the woman has feelings!