Chuckg

Re: "Your Most Embaressing Game Mastering Moment" There have been several instances in Champions where what I thought was going to be a long, dramatic battle ended with a single blow: * "Aegis" campaign -- Team of 350-point heroes vs. Gargantua. I figured this would go about a Turn. One Pushed Haymaker, Called Shot to the groin later... * "UNITY Prime" campaign -- Team of 500-point heroes, set up to fight the Engineer. In a *scrap yard*. So, I am anticipating big robot smash! Team martial artist/leader has a plan... he will disguise himself and sneak in, let one of the sentries see him, and then smash it. This will draw out more robots. He will then either smash the robots, or get captured by them. At this point, either way, the boss villain will appear from the depths of ye secret lair, and the rest of the team (which is lurking outside the scrap yard in a van) can run in and save the day. So, just as he's about to smash the first robot... the team's flying energy blaster goes all hot-headed and charging right over the fence. Dude is made out of living pulson energy, and setting off every sensor from here to there. What's worse, he's easily recognizable as the superhero 'Azure', there not being too many guys made of glowing blue energy flying around. This is as opposed to 'Rand Valor', who was very carefully disguised to *not* be recognizable as the leader of the UNITY superteam. So the Engineer, of course, seeing that UNITY has found her lair, Aborts to Run The Hell Away. While I could have had her stand and fight, I'd have had to run her as being enormously stupid to do so... she has a master plan to execute, sticking around to tackle UNTIL's primary superteam who are (for all she knows) going to be backed up by the entire 82nd Airborne division(*) would be imbecilic. So, she jumps in the escape capsule, launches a couple more decoy capsules, and bugs the heck out for the airport. To cut a long story slightly shorter, it ends up with her on a hijacked cargo 747 and *no* robot minions (had to leaves them all behind), against Rand Valor, Jack Frost, and Monkey Wrench. (Azure had charged in solo earlier, and gotten himself first Entangled and then KO'ed.) She had no minions, granted. (No time to Summon any... Azure had at least done *that* much, he'd kept her too busy to have time to make more of her Insta-Bots.) I was expecting her to last longer than she did, though... ... which was "Rand Valor Pushes his STR to up his attack to 16d6, uses Targeting Hearing to locate exactly where she's standing on the other side of the cockpit door, and kicks her through the door w/o opening it." CON Stunned in one shot". (And, of course, all of my players are firm believers in the 'kick them while they're down' school of combat... once you get CON Stunned, you'd better hope you have enough friends to keep them busy, or else they're going to pound your temporarily limp body straight into DM's Discretion.) Note to self -- when facing people who have 16d6 attack options available, put more PD on the villain, even if it requires boosting her writeup. Or at the very least, when the villain wants to talk to the hero with Targeting Hearing, have her use the PA system or the team radios, *NOT* her voice direct! (*) Her last little escapade of blocking out the sun over five states had put the entire East Coast on DEFCON 3.

Re: Ridiculous things in comics that you don't mind. I just tell 'em "No." If they argue, I tell 'em "I already told you 'no', dammit." They keep whining, I tell 'em "Take it or leave the table." I can, and have, been persuaded to change my mind by convincing arguments based on common sense, greater knowledge than my own on the relevant topic, reasoning from special effect, or even pure entertainment value. But trying to munch out or hack out on me during chargen -- especially in a cheap way -- brings out my worst side. Basically, there is no substitute for good players, and no rules system can ever be good enough or comprehensive enough to obviate the need for a DM's most important skill -- the ability to tell a munchkin to sit down and shut up.

Re: Ridiculous things in comics that you don't mind. Whedon's philosophy was actually a very simple "Life sucks, then you die, then life keeps sucking even *after* you die."

Re: Ridiculous things in comics that you don't mind. *froth* Please don't mention the words 'season 6' and 'Xander' in the same sentence. After the whole Anya thing, I lost all respect for him. Then again, after seasons 6 and 7, I was convinced that the only cast member who didn't deserve a slow, painful death was Spike. Seriously, whoever had the bright idea of making them *ALL* massively unlikeable, all at once, should have been shot. (Except for Tara, who actually *was* shot.)

Re: Ridiculous things in comics that you don't mind. ISTR vaguely that they retconned that 'Heaven' later as being just some kind of trap. That was, again vaguely recalling, part of the season 7 retconning called 'Alyson Hannigan is still a cast regular, we have to whitewash Willow somehow.' I could be wrong, though, seeing as how by this point in the narrative I was too busy dealing with the GIANT BLINDING STABBING PAIN IN MY HEAD to focus on the screen, or even watch regularly.

Re: DC's Best "Bricks" Given that Majestic has moved planets(1), he's *above* Post-Crisis Superman level, approaching the Silver Age version in some respects. (1) The gauntlets and stuff were to keep the planet from falling apart under the force, not to amplify motive power. (MR. MAJESTIC #1, first series)

Re: Marvel's Best "Bricks" Oh, this is a favorite list, not a "who'd win?" list? In that case -- Hulk is my pick for winner of the adamantium cage brawl, but my *favorite* is old-school classic Thor.

Re: Ridiculous things in comics that you don't mind. > You are mistaking karma with consequences of magic. Cordelia's hideous abuse by Jasmine and death was brought about *directly* by a decision by Cordelia to adopt magic for purely unselfish motives. (Season 3 AtS, "Birthday") Cordy literally turned her back on being offered everything she'd ever wanted to continue accepting the visions, because she could do good with them. Look at her reward! Wesley died in a spell duel against Wolfram & Hart's chief evil sorcerer dude, under circumstances that practically qualified for martyrdom. (After all, *nobody* on Angel Investigations was expecting to survive their final crusade against the Black Thorn... talk about unselfish!) Doyle died unselfishly as well. > Plus, you are calling death a bad thing in a universe with a proven > afterlife. The only afterlives proven to exist in the Buffyverse are a) stasis traps of phony bliss, hell dimensions, and c) continuing to serve the Powers That Be elsewhere... and that last one required literal divine intervention to exist, and was only seen once. And the other two, as alternatives, suck. > I think that magic in the Whedon Universe works as a shortcut. When > used as a shortcut for the mundane (Search spells, changing clothes, > etc.) no harm, no foul. When used as a shortcut for things that > should not have shortcuts (Relationships, Personal Growth, Grieving) > things go wonky... Wasn't it a specific plot point in season 6 that one of the symptoms that Willow Was Out Of Control was when she was using magic to shortcut for mundane things, like changing her clothes or using her computer? Yup, yup it was.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist Prepare to eat these words, Twilight. Finally got home and to my scanner. http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/5139/page16hm.jpg http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/7980/page29uf.jpg http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/6817/page30bt.jpg Ooo, what's that we see on image #2? Could it be, Prometheus' limp and beaten body hanging in Batman's arms? Behold, Prometheus decisively defeated in HTH combat until he pulls out the wrist-gun cheat at the last second. And man, does he look thrashed in that middle image or what? No *wonder* he had to take a recovery and pop painkillers. Man couldn't even talk intelligibly until he slipped himself some endorphins to kill the pain. Twilight, it's not just that you remembered it wrong -- we all do that from time to time. It's that you were so damn offensively blatant about calling me a liar and a fanboy, while all the time, you were the one who was off base. Like, you couldn't just wait for the scans I said I was going to post around an hour ago? Or go look at the issue again yourself? Just to be sure? *Before* hauling out the flameboy attitude, that is? At any rate, you were wrong, enjoy being such. Edit -- issue is JLA vol. 3 #38.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist > Are you even paying attention to what I am saying? Yes. I am also pointing out that what you are saying is dead wrong. > I have claimed that Batman and Prometheus were more or less evenly > matched. NEITHER of them were getting anyplace in hand to hand combat. > Oh they landed a few shots but neither man was going down anytime soon. Really? Look up. Please note that that page is pretty much the sum total of the hand-to-hand fight. (edit) There was at best a panel or two of punching before Prometheus aborted to Wrist-Blaster, and there may not have been *any*... I'll check. In it, Prometheus gets in the first punch on Batman... and Bruce then proceeds to repeatedly bang on his face like Prometheus is the guest of honor on Pinata Day. Very next page (which isn't scanned yet), Prometheus is desperate enough that he stops trying to fight hand-to-hand and uses his wrist gun to knock Batman across the room and away from him. That's when Bruce pulls out the helmet trick. But this is what *I've* been saying. Prometheus was clearly losing the HTH fight. *He* had to cheat, by pulling a gun, just to save his butt. Batman then pulled out the helmet gimmick to *counter* Prometheus' cheat. Edit -- btw, note in this scan that Prometheus, immediately after knocking Batman away with the wrist-gun blast (check out the sparks from that breastplate), is too wounded to immediately follow up his shot. He's actually having to stand there and take a Recovery, ordering his helmet to pop painkiller endorphins, because Bruce has beaten him that bad. Hence, your statement of 'could have gone a long time' is wrong... four panels worth of beating and Prometheus was already so far into the hurt locker that he's *literally* reaching for the morphine. http://pictures.greatestjournal.com/userimg/4628912/536521 But that fight was in no way even, unless you consider 'get in one shot and then get punched repeatedly back while unable to successfully defend yourself' as 'even'. Edit -- and btw, your statement of 'both men wanted a quick victory' is wrong. Prometheus specifically announced his intention to slowly beat Batman to death at the start of the fight, and Batman could have pulled the helmet cheat at any time, yet deliberately chose HTH first. They *both* wanted that mano-a-mano rematch. And Prometheus switched to the gun only because he was losing it.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist So, Prometheus didn't cheat? Didn't have to haul out his wrist gun because he wasn't getting anywhere in the hand-to-hand match? You actually claim this? Edit -- don't even need to go home. Found some scans online. Don't have a shot of the wrist-gun incident yet (I'll post it when I get home), but it's right after this page... http://pictures.greatestjournal.com/userimg/4628901/536521 You know, the page where Prometheus opens the dance by hitting Bruce once... and Bruce then proceeds to spend the next four panels kicking the crap out of him.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist It is also fact that Prometheus had to cheat first, because he was losing. And Batman pulled out his cheat only in response to Prometheus'. I notice you keep ignoring this part. PS -- I really resent being called a liar, even by implication. Find a way to make your point that doesn't involve being so snotty.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist > Whatever Chuck. I've read the story in question and [snip] ... and so have I. Furthermore, when I get home tonight, I will edit this post to provide scans. And lose the 'tude.

Re: Marvel's Best "Bricks" OK, 'predominantly a brick type' leaves out the cosmics, like Thanos, so... ... it's all about the Hulk.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist > Batman was clearly winning the second fight? Yup. > Didn't look that way to me. In the comic I was > reading the fight looked pretty much even untill > Batman busted out the cheat. So, him getting punched in the face and all was 'pretty much even'? > After all, if Batman was winning he wouldn't > NEED to use the cheat at all. Until Prometheus cheated first by hauling out his wrist-gun and blasting Batman across the room with it, Prometheus was getting his face smashed in. Said wrist-gun incident is why Batman aborted to Plan Helmet. But the HTH fight? Prometheus was *not* winning. After all, if he had been winning, he wouldn't have needed to do a desperation save with his wrist-blaster.

Re: Ridiculous things in comics that you don't mind. > I think I've heard Joss mention, his view of > magic was 'What ever you do, you get back > more". So if you only used magic for good, you > got good stuff, but when you started using magic > for selfish reason, you ended up getting nailed > by it. I don't believe it. Let's look at a list of magic-using cast members of both shows... * Willow -- amazingly enough, despite going all Darth Rosenberg, she's the only sorceress on the show who ended their saga in a happy place. * Giles -- not dead, not happy, kinda blah. * Jenny Calendar -- dead. * Tara -- dead * Anya -- dead * Doyle -- dead * Cordelia(1) -- lied to and used as a demon puppet, forced to host an Elder God, *then* dead. * Wesley -- dead. BTW, note that the only live ones on this list are the ones with a past history of using magic for selfish reasons (The Recovering Magic Junkie and The Watcher Formerly Known As Ripper). While some 'selfish' ones are also among the dead (Anya, and possibly Dark Wesley, although he wasn't using *magic* for that), the two people who always used their magic for the most purely unselfish reasons around (Tara and Cordelia) got horribly whacked with the karma stick anyway. AAMOF, they got it the *worst*. If magic in the Buffyverse truly obeyed the laws of karma, Tara should have died at age 97. In her sleep. In a mansion. (1) First the visions, then the glowy floaty stuff that she got in season 3 AtS.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist Repeating my own theory, it's cause while the dude's skill-chipping allows him to dominate any situation he's prepped for, it really cripples him as far as adapting to things he *hasn't* planned for. Oh, and BTW, any mention of Batman/Prometheus has to mention that in their rematch, Bruce was already winning the fight, even before he broke out the helmet cheat. AAMOF, the only reason he broke out the helmet cheat is 'cause Prometheus, frustrated with the way Bruce was making him eat his own nightstick, went 'screw this HTH noise!' and started hauling out his wrist blasters. Apparently, the only reason Batman lost the first time is he got overconfident. Second time, Bruce knew what he was up against, and brought his 'A' game.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist > Prometheus is walking through the crowd of hostages, takes the shot from the > whip in the nads and goes down. He sees Catwoman standing there and acts > surprised as if he didn't expect her to be there, let alone helping out the > Justice League. Now if Prometheus had seen her as Chuck seems to be > suggesting, why would he be surprised? Are you telling me that Prometheus has reflexes so slow that Catwoman has time to: a) walk through a crowd of reporters take off her civilian disguise (as she'd infiltrated said crowd of reporters as Catherine Grant) and reveal her costume c) take out her bullwhip (which was stowed, her being in civvies) and d) flick ye whip? And finish this all before he can even hope to dodge? If so, then the guy's obviously so slow on the uptake that he's *not* fit for this high-level a competition.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist Sneak attacked? Precisely how do you sneak attack someone from directly in front of him? With a *bullwhip*?

Re: Ridiculous things in comics that you don't mind. No, the Buffyverse never had a 'the recipient must believe the magic to be helped by the magic' limitation. The reason given was (looks up BtvS episode transcripts online...) Then again, healing would hardly be the only thing that magic in the Buffyverse made worse. AAMOF, throughout the history of the show, the very consistent pattern has been "if you throw magic at it, it'll only leave you worse off in the long run." Magic in the Buffyverse took a rather Mythos view of things -- screwing around with it could give you power and miracles galore, but always to a net detriment in your life. Or the life of the person you were trying to help. Or the people around you. The exceptions were *very* rare, and only in season 7, when The Script was absolutely mandating happy endings for the original Scoobies regardless of logic, plot, or precedent.

Re: Ridiculous things in comics that you don't mind. Apparently, only healing magic suffers that particular bug. *shrugs* It's a writer's fudge, you get stuff like this. I'm respecting it simply because it's at least a reasonably *competent* writer's fudge.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist You're forgetting that Catwoman took him down with a single whip shot -- and that was when his helmet was *working*. Prometheus is deadly if he has prep time or the upper hand, but he's not able to adapt to changing circumstances *at all*. Too gimmicky and narrowly focused. Not really a contender.

Re: [Campaign] UNITY Prime Session #2: "Number Two Million Sunblock, Part 2": And our pilot episode concludes with the Engineer being brought to justice at the hands (OK, feet) of the heroic Rand Valor! See the dramatic battle onboard the hijacked plane! Witness the high-tech wizardry of our heroes as they track her to her secret lair! Witness the power of Science gone Mad! And keep tuning in for... UNITY Prime! (Session logs and summaries available here).

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist Eh, was speaking about the bare-hands match. We allow in the New Genesis tech, Mister Miracle wins in two easy steps -- "Step One: Hover Out Of Arm's Reach". "Step Two: Boom-Tube Opponent Completely Off The Map." The end.

Re: DC's Best Martial Artist Her move-reading would simply tell her which way he was going to dodge before he did so, and thus, she'd simply punch him in the face. Emotional weakness is not a prerequisite for her to hit somebody unless that somebody so evenly matches her in every other respect that her only hope of victory is to take advantage of a mental lapse.