Supreme Serpent

Re: Order of the Stick

I love that development at some levels. Pay the price for being unnecessarily secretive with the rest of the party.

Heck, if she had been up front with the rest of the OotS about it, at least Roy, Durkon and Elan would have started chipping in some of their loot towards it, or done a side quest to free pops.

Re: Help Make Energy Projectors Interesting

I've enjoyed a number of EP characters, haven't found them to be boring power-wise.

Red Star the flaming Soviet hero of the Great Patriotic War - simple powerset but being a living flamethrower during WWII was pretty handy.

The Entangler - battlesuit villain with various, well, entangles and such. Very fun to use with a team.

Comet - decided instead of the MP of various attacks would just do one attack - but it would be a good one. Kept dumping points into the EB to be as large as GM would allow, made it indirect (tossing around corners and such). Plus when you only have one attack, levels come cheap. Throwing spread curveballs to whallop several villains at once is a very rewarding experience.

Re: Super Psychos

John Doe - shapeshifter with multiple personalities, sometimes latches on to someone else and impersonates them, sometimes tries to eliminate the original

Re: House Rule: Only half of your defense stops body damage.

Another possible way of doing it if you want to increase the body done by normal attacks is...to increase the body done by normal attacks.

Say, calculate body normally as today for KB purposes, but for actual body inflicted, do something like either 1's count as 1 body instead of zero or 5's count as 2 body. Or both, if you want lots and lots of body.

Re: Down the street from Rosie's

We didn't expand the specific Rosie's map, but we do have a bunch of maps in our group. Stronghold, Appleton Mall, warehouse, office building, bank, three different hero bases. We also use a bunch of dominoes to lay things out and/or a big whiteboard on the table and markers.

Re: Twisted Cross, Silver Bullets

Ghost in the machine tank.... I think that's my favorite. Love it!

Yeah. For too long, haunted tanks have been strictly an Allied monopoly!

Probably later in the war, have a previously knocked-out Panther or Tiger begin stalking behind the lines in France...comes out of the fog, blows some stuff up, slinks back into the fog again. Much quieter than a regular tank since it doesn't need an engine, but still squeaky. Gets hit a number of times but keeps on going - no crew to kill, no fuel to burn, etc. Either will need to be completely blown apart or somehow exorcised. Either the ghosts of the tank crew, or maybe the ghost of an ACTUAL panther or tiger that got killed by a bomb, etc. Will have to check on the status of the Paris zoo at that time...

The Holocaust is probably not a good backdrop for a game however satisfying it would be to imagine oneself saving some of its victims.

Yeah, I would probably not have them get directly involved. If I do, I wouldn't have it have any special mystical connection like using the deaths to summon Hel or anything like that - though the PCs might suspect some big ritual purpose, I think it's much more horrifying to realize that the Nazis are doing it as an end in itself. Show that despite all the supernatural terrors they've faced, the most frightening monsters can be their fellow man.

Re: Highway of Lost Soles (Plot Seed?)

I've wanted to make a movie about the "one shoe mystery" - do a series of different shorts, all ending with the shoe in question ending up on the side of the road.

Re: What to do about Hydras

Been trying to wrap my head around the implications of -0 Cannot Recombine Duplication construct for multiple hydra heads, and was hoping for some insight. Assume that there are 8 Hydra heads and all are identical:

 

1. If the hydra makes a full move, can any of the heads take an action?

 

2. If the hydra makes a half move, does 1 head get a half phase action, and the rest a full phase, or are all limited to a half phase?

 

3. If 1 head makes an attack action, can the other heads hold their action?

 

4. Can 1 head use Block to intercept a strike aimed at another head? or the hydra in general.

 

5. If 1 head aborts to a defensive action does that prevent the Hydra from moving until that head's next action?

 

I'm trying to figure out what the advantages of Cannot Recombine are that cancel out the disadvantages of not being able to be in multiple places at once.

 

Thanks!

Would your interpretation of a Hydra really get into blocking, etc?

Another way to build it instead of duplication could be something like an AoE with selective targeting and limitation that could only attack # of targets as has heads...as heads added/removed affects # of possible targets in its range.

Re: HPA In The Works: The Great White Hunter's Bestiary

Maybe a giant catfish, great white whale, or other aquatic great prey.

Re: HPA In The Works: The Great White Hunter's Bestiary

My copy of PH is on loan, so not sure if this sort of thing is already covered there, but if not a section on example native warriors that might be encountered - poison-blowgun toting pygmies, headhunters and other tribal types - could be useful.

Re: Twisted Cross, Silver Bullets

If you make the beast a weredog instead of a werewolf, then you could call this one 'The Beagle Has Landed'.

 

Consider that to be retaliation for 'The Nuns of Navarone'.

I like it!

"We've got a stake in this advance too!"

I've been thinking about this campaign for my FTF group, partly as filler for when we're short 1-3 folks. Take Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mummy (modern version),the opening sequences of Hellboy and Bulletproof Monk, mix with the WWII movies like Where Eagles Dare, Dirty Dozen, and Guns of Navarone. World War II monster hunters! Working for a special subsection of British Intelligence (with later assistance from the OSS), the agents of MI-13 deal with the more unusual of the threats from the Axis.

The idea is to progress through the war in jumps, doing largely episodic adventures. Don't need everyone for every adventure, and players are free to switch out characters between adventures if want to try a different type out (or if one gets killed, whether it be by Ratzi bullets or more supernatural means).

The basic ideas for the scenarios (listed here in no particular order, though I have timelines in mind) are mostly taking classic monster types especially from the early Universal pics and putting them in Nazi hands.

* Werewolf, sent to kill Churchill while he's at Blenheim. (one of the earlier scenarios most likely)

* Zombie troopers (likely in the last days of the war)

* Invisible Man assassin/spy - can you stop him before he uncovers the plans for the Allied assault on Europe?

*Mummies (while DAK is pushing into Egypt)

*Frankenstein's Monster

*Jekyll/Hyde super-soldiers

*Ghostly pirate ship raiding Allied convoys.

*Psychic coven directing Axis attacks on Allied shipping in the Aegean (The Nuns of Navarone)

*Vampire aiding Axis regime in Rumania.

*Part of the final mission will also include rescuing their informant and capturing or killing the final batch of German researchers to keep them out of Soviet hands.

Characters should likely fit into one of several roles:

*The Occultist: Knowledge about the various weird stuff, likely some psychic abilities. British academic type, Gypsy fortuneteller, etc.

*The Soldier: Able to use most weapons, good with guns & grenades. When you need the room cleared, send him in.

*The Fighter: not as good a shot as the Soldier, but likely stronger and tougher. Boxer, knife fighter, brute.

*The Outdoorsman: Tracking, stealthy. Likely a good shot with a rifle but would need to leave the SMGs and such to the Soldier, and not as comfortable with opponents that are shooting back. Cowboy, hunter, explorer types.

*The Expert: When you need something fixed, figured out or broken, he's the one you turn to. Likely skilled with mechanics, demolitions, radio work and the like.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE MACHINE: What Do *You* Want To See?

Does that mean he's at less than maximum effectiveness without such enhancements? Would Mechanon accept that he can be customized to be "more perfect"?

Neither a hammer nor a sewing needle is more perfect than the other, but for certain tasks it is much more efficient to use one instead of the other.

Re: THE BOOK OF THE MACHINE: What Do *You* Want To See?

I would think a section on using robots/androids/AIs in general in a campaign could be useful. What sort of issues might a robot PC run into in the CU? Are different countries more AI friendly than others? etc.

Re: The Super drugs

I've used "Crayola" a few times. In some it gives powers, one of the side effects is bright color changes especially for eyes and hair.

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=621844&highlight=crayola#post621844

Re: Failure To Stop Drill

Why shoot the ground?

I imagine the idea is to use the gun's recoil to help bring the gun into line with vital targets (chest/head) faster, using the 'kick' in your favor.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

"The Marxman - when it comes to class warfare, he's in a class of his own!"

Akin to Stalin being "Man of Steel", whatever the Russian is for "Man of Lead" could be good too.

Re: How to open a door?

What's the vault holding? Who runs it?

The best thing would be to have someone else open it.

Call in a tip to the cops that someone is being held there/that stolen merchanise X is in there. Cops come, get owner to open, ATTACK!

Does the vault open for regular business, put new things in/take them out? Arrange attack for one of those times, set something up if necessary.

Re: Painted into a plot corner and the muse has fled!

I agree there may be too much the bad guys are getting away with without the heroes being able to do much about it. Maybe instead of arranging specific accidents, blowing stuff up and killing folks there's a more subtle way to accomplish their ends?

1] Have the scientists be from out of town, here for a special conference.

2] A couple of Tele-vipers or other tech types in a van disguised to look like a phone company vehicle park and hook into the network. They proceed to flood 911 with pre-arranged calls, alarm reports and such (patching in an army of people from an Arbco call center if necessary), potentially crashing the system, but giving the police innumerable calls to try to respond to all over town. For added fun (and possible clue) throw in some calls about people dressed like the heroes causing trouble so any cops that see the heroes might hassle them a bit/check them out.

3] The cops are headed all over, except for three areas. The airport, the facility that controls the city's traffic lights, and a specific route out of town. A team takes over the facility and puts everything on red. Once that happens the team following the scientists' limo from the airport (Hey, it's the comics ) strikes and captures the scientists. The agents at the facility keep everything red except for a single route out of town that they green all the way. The team at the facility leaves the staff tied up and departs.

4] With the traffic all tied up, heroes out and about may start to get involved helping ambulances get through, may help with accidents or follow the police somewhere and start getting the story.

Possible ways to catch someone/throw a wrench in/figure it out:

A] Finding out that 911 is getting swamped and some of the calls have been wild goose chases a techie hero tracks down the agents tapped into the system.

B] Getting a big picture of the 'emergencies' someone may notice the areas that *don't* have a big spike in reports and go check them out.

C] Someone may get the idea to go to where the stop lights are controlled to see what's going on.

D] Spotting the corridor of green lights, might investigate vehicles traveling that route.

E] If the agents get away, the specific work/knowledge of the captured scientists may give clues.

F] One targeted scientist missed a connecting flight and wasn't at the airport on time. They collaborated with one of the captured scientists and could help the heroes figure out what Cobra wants with them.

Re: Storn's Art & Characters thread.

Assuming the forum info is correct...Happy Birthday Storn!

Re: Project XIII: images from my campaign

Tons of good stuff there Mancer!

Re: Smarter than your average Brick

Watch some pro-wrestling bouts. Adapt to supers.

Spend a few points on Stealth and Concealment, then use them. Few things are more terrifying and effective than a brick showing up unexpectedly right next to someone.

If fighting alone or with a team that can afford to cover for you, retreat and take a breather. Given the high REC of most bricks, one extra recovery can make a big difference. Works well with the rope-a-dope too.

Re: Who was WWII's most important leader?

Aside from the fine folks mentioned previously, I'll toss out another candidate.

OK, Adolf's disqualified, but some of those close to him certainly helped.

Goering. Look at various critical points. Dunkirk. Battle of Britain. Stalingrad. Failures of or overreaching by the Luftwaffe. A different leader for the air forces might have helped.

Hitler's doctor(s), perhaps?

Re: Evil Schemes for the Average Megalomaniac

Mod Note: Let's be sure to keep comments on The Angler and his boss to their fictional versions in input.jack's campaign and not their real life counterparts - NGD is available for them.

Atomic Khan discovers Atlas' true nature and mission. During a fake master plan that brings him into conflict with the heroes (which was the goal of the operation, the front operation was never intended to succeed) he captures and escapes with Atlas...and talks to him.

He explains that he understands Atlas' mission and wants to help - indeed it is very similar to his own goal to help humanity and let their betters do the hard thinking for them. If Khan takes over, his advanced knowledge would help transform the world technologically to a point that Atlas could fulfill his mission. After sufficient conversation, Khan just lets him go as a gesture of goodwill for his 'brother'.

Khan has three goals here, any of which will satisfy him. A ) Atlas decides Khan is right and either actively aids him or refuses to try to stop him anymore, weakening the hero team, B ) Atlas, disgusted by how Khan could explain how close their goals are begins to question his own mission, again perhaps abandoning the hero team to return to space or do some 1970's style soul-searching, or C ) Atlas quietly works out his doubts internally and keeps the details of his time with Khan secret from the rest of the team, making them suspicious that perhaps Khan has controlled or reprogrammed him somehow. Their paranoia is exactly what Atlas doesn't need at that time and might help facilitate a rift between Atlas and the team, driving him to Khan, making the team fulfill their own suspicions. Which at a later date Khan can reveal to them (away from Atlas), hopefully horrifying them and breaking their spirit that they could have done that to a friend and ally.

Of course...his plan will fail. Or will it?

Re: Order of the Stick

On top of that, she knows their real mission is saving the world, and thinks that re-establishing Azure City is at most a side quest.

 

Her player, if she had one, is probably jumping up and down trying to get the group back to the "real" game.

That would be me.