Koshka

Re: Code VS Killing Poll I'm most comfortable playing and GMing characters with some form of CvK. Most of the time, they're total, but sometimes it's interesting to run modified versions. For instance, I once ran a vigilante with no CvK but a Code of Honor that basically said using weapons on an unarmed target was cheating. I hadn't seen the Wolverine quote Hugh cited when I wrote her up, but the attitude is the same. I've also run a villain who saw most killing as counterproductive, so didn't kill unless it was really necessary (and the game fizzled before it ever became necessary). She was a villain because she wanted to show she was superior to others, corpses don't admit someone else is superior, living people can, therefore .... Not a true CvK, but for the most part run as if she had one.

Re: Turakian Age: Drakine Population Dynamics The impression I had is that Drakine have live births, but my copy of the book is on loan at the moment so I can't look that up. Anyone have it handy?

Re: Non-standard mythologies

Re: Turakian Age: Drakine Population Dynamics My understanding of that section is that most Drakine females only have one child. However, most isn't all. Especially with magic, there could easily be some Drakine females who bear twins or can get pregnant more than once in their lives. Now, that's probably not enough to keep the Drakine population figures up to par. I would suspect it's something relatively new (predating the wars the Drakine lost because they couldn't outbreed humans, but "new" if one looks at their overall existance on the planet).

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Well, it cracked up everyone at the table ... I'm running STAST, last session the heroes captured their first COIL agent. For those who don't have that book, 5th edition COIL agents are fanatically loyal. Player 1 (holding the agent in the air in one hand -- yes, he's a brick): Do you surrender? Me: He spits in your face. Player 2, to player 1: Missile Deflect it!

Re: Which NON-Star Hero Book For Star Hero? The Vehicle Sourcebook is great, but I wouldn't buy it for Star Hero use unless you're setting a major story arc on a planet. The only "space-capable without major rewrite" vehicle in there is the space shuttle. I don't have MMM yet, but I would think turning fantasy aliens into space aliens would be a piece of cake.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... In last night's D&D 3.5 game, one player has always been a little overconfident about some of his skill usage. We got into a fight with a giant crocodile, and he announced that he was tumbling over it to set up flanking. Then he rolled a 1. He still would have made a normal tumbling check, but since he was cutting through an occupied square the tumble failed, the croc got an attack of opportunity, and one chomp later that PC is at -2 hit points. "I guess I shouldn't have rolled a 1."

Re: Turakian Age question: Ebistan Tarthu I can think of a couple possibilities: 1) Someone's got to handle religious services for the nuns (which the Hargeshite religion has). In the Middle Ages, that meant a male priest entering the cloistered area daily. Maybe an early Hierakte decided letting selected females go through basic priest training was better than sending a male into the convent. And a priestess could be required to live full-time in the convent, so it would have a minimal effect on the non-cloistered believers in the area. 2) Missionary work. "Don't be silly, those stories about how the Hargeshites treat women must be lies, there was a Hargeshite priestess through here just last week."

After using pregens to run through various adventures for several months, I'm going to talk to the full group this week about starting an actual campaign with player-built characters. I've already talked to a couple of the people, and they seem interested. I'm thinking about going Golden Age, but that brings up my first problem -- getting everyone up to speed on what Golden Age Champs is. I have 5 of the DC hardcover reprints of their golden age comics, but there's some players I just don't feel comfortable loaning those books to. Considering what I paid for them, I'd like some assurance they'll 1) be returned 2) in the same condition. I believe almost everyone has web access, though (and the one guy I know doesn't knows golden age), so are there any websites out there that would give a basic grounding? Preferably featuring CvK characters; one person on the "do I really want to loan her these books" list has to ask every single game session if it's OK to kill the bad guys this time. Another problem I'm expecting, because it's come up in everything else I've run for them, is the classic D&D "loot the bodies" mentality. (If any of you were at Steve's chat a couple weeks ago, this is the group that wanted to take all the empty Snake Beer cans from the VIPER nest and put them up on eBay -- and they weren't planning to donate the proceeds to charity, either.) One idea I thought of was to toss the Money perk out the window and tell everyone they could have the appropriate income/wealth level for their character background for free. If money isn't a big deal, maybe they won't make such a big deal about getting it. Anyone else tried this, and if so how did it work? I'll probably come up with some more questions later, but these are the big ones I had.

Re: Champions I and Champions II Sidekick is basically a streamlined edition of Hero 5th, with a lot of the optional stuff trimmed out. It was designed to help teach Hero to new players, since you're already familiar with the basics it should work just fine for you.

Re: Dark Champions in Champs Universe? Say the ambient magic in Hudson City is much lower than normal. Sapphire gets a major contract to perform at whatever the HC arena is named. Even though her powers aren't magical, they exist because magic does; so whenever the pyrotechnics plan calls for her to fire something minor but flashy she probably feels a bit odd. Defender's armor works because magic let him "jump the gun" on powersuit development, so if he visits HC for some reason he may feel like he has to do more work on maintenance than normal -- even if the suit is running just fine, subconsciously he's picking up the "this shouldn't work" vibes. About the only supers who _could_ work effectively in HC would be those such as Nighthawk, who didn't need a "get out of reality free" card from magic for their training to be effective. (And he's not mentioned in the historical bits at the beginning of Galactic Champions, so maybe he did move to HC to play "who's got a bigger pair" with Harbinger.) Everyone else, both hero and villain, will be getting subconscious pressure every single time they use "impossible" powers or tech. If the magic level is just really low, then minor superpowers would work without that pressure, but anyone manifesting something big will probably be pushed into moving out of town without realizing why.

Re: Mystic World cover Now that's service -- a staff member with no interest in beefcake providing a pointer on where to find it . Alas, local store copies of TUB seem to have been sold out by the time I got my paycheck. However, there's a new store in town (it hasn't even had it's official Grand Opening yet), this sounds like a good time to test their "if we forget to place your special order, it's free" guarantee.

Re: Question: Differences between Dark Champs 4th and 5th? 4th was the book the Old Guard wanted him to do, and 5th is the book he wanted to do From a quick runthrough of the playtest, I'd say 5th covers a wider range than 4th. More to come on the playtest board once I get a chance to really read it.

Re: Mystic World cover I'm certain the guys do ... but what about your female fans? How about some beefcake illos for us? ... Wait a minute, I've got 4th edition VIPER, and whats-his-name from Viper-Force who fights in a speedo was one of the ugliest pictures in the book. How about some good beefcake illos for us?)

Re: Champions vs. Mechanon I got a Champions plus Kinetic versus Mechanon plus four of his summoned robots fight done at work while I was covering for a co-worker, and finally got the notes typed up. Setup: the warehouse map from the Resource Kit. The map is oriented so the large door is north. Mechanon is in the center of the map, as determined by the folds in it. Servitor robots 1 and 2 are side by side, 4 hexes north of Mechanon, numbers 3 and 4 are side by side 4 hexes south of him (slightly offset to miss the crates). Sapphire is on the roof, ready to blast through the skylight I placed three hexes north of the forklift. Ironclad and Defender have just entered through the north door. Nighthawk, Kinetik and Witchcraft have just entered the south door. Nighthawk made his Security Systems and Lockpicking rolls to get in without setting off any alarms, but Kinetik rolled a 13 on his everyman Stealth so Mechanon knows they're there. Witchcraft's VPP is set to her Spell Of Vitality. Turn 0, Phase 12 Kinetic makes a half move and Rapid Punches robot number 2. His OCV is 10, and he hits with a 10. Kinetic does 7 BODY, the robot takes 1. Nighthawk makes a half move to the west between the crates and tosses a Thermite Pellet at robot number 4. His overall level is on DCV, no range adjustment, so final OCV is 8. A roll of 5 hits the hex, and the pellet does 2 BODY Killing AP, the robot takes 1. Defender flies 8" south, puts his levels onto OCV, and fires an Electric Blast at Mechanon. With range adjustment, OCV is 8. Defender misses with a 12. Mechanon returns fire with a combination Autofire Energy Bolt and Tangle-Cable on Defender. His overall levels are on OCV, his levels with his primary weapons array can't be used. Range adjustment makes OCV a 9, and a roll of 13 misses. Sapphire flies through the skylight, moves forward 5", and fires a Power Bolt I at Mechanon. Her OCV is 8, and she hits with an 11. She rolls 52 STUN/15 BODY with 10" Knockback. Mechanon takes 22 STUN, flies backward 5" to the corner of the office, and takes 5d6 KB damage (interior walls average 3 DEF/3 BODY) which will bounce off his defences. Witchcraft and Ironclad roll to see who goes first, Witchcraft wins. She flies 8" west to back up Nighthawk, puts levels on OCV, and calls Witchfire on robot number 3. Her OCV is 9, she hits with a 13 and does 7 BODY, of which the robot takes 3. Ironclad goes for a Leaping Move-Through on Mechanon. A roll of 12 hits the hex, and while his HTH levels don't count for this a roll of 11 hits the half-DCV Mechanon. Ironclad rolls 18 dice of damage for 63 STUN/20 BODY and 18" Knockback. Mechanon takes 33 STUN, slides across the floor 7", and is embedded in a crate by the remaining 11". Knockback damage is 41 STUN/12 BODY; Mechanon takes 11 STUN and the crate (DEF 4/BODY 7) is history. The robots are next. Mechanon doesn't bother ordering numbers 1 and 2 to go after Ironclad, because he knows it would be a waste of time. Instead, those two attack Kinetic. OCV 5, they roll 15 and 12 and miss. Robots 3 and 4 go after Nighthawk -- they can't reach Witchcraft, she's in the air. OCV 5, they miss with rolls of 10 and 13. Post-12 Recovery Mechanon is down to 44 STUN after recovering, everyone else is at full. Turn 1, Phase 2 Kinetic doesn't have the turn mode to loop around his two robots with Hyper-Running to keep his force field up, and I completely spaced the fact that he could have used his normal running. Anyway, he figures his costume will protect him against these things, stands still, and uses his Vibro-Grip on robot 2. OCV 9, an 8 will hit. He does 5 BODY Killing AP, the robot takes 4. Nighthawk punches number 4. OCV 8, a 9 will hit. He does 10 BODY, the robot takes 4. Mechanon gets up, puts all his levels into OCV, and fires an Offensive Energy Bolt at Ironclad. Adjusted OCV is 11, and he hits with a 7. He rolls 53 STUN/15 BODY and 10" Knockback, Ironclad takes 25 STUN and goes back 3" (no point in rolling KB damage). Sapphire makes a half-move forward and fires another Power Bolt I. OCV 8, she misses with a 15. Turn 1, Phase 3 Defender makes a half-move forward and fires an Electric Blast. His OCV with range is an 8, and he hits with a 10. Defender rolls 33 STUN/9 BODY and 0" KB, Mechanon takes 3 STUN and is back on his rear. Once again Witchcraft wins the roll-off. She calls down more Witchfire on robot 3, OCV is still 9, and a 13 hits. She does 8 BODY, the robot takes 4. Ironclad gets up and makes a half-move leap, putting himself within 2" of Mechanon. A 15 just barely hits the hex. Robots 1 and 2 try to hit Kinetic -- a 12 misses, but a 7 hits exactly. The robot does 17 STUN/6 BODY and 1" KB, Kinetic takes 2 STUN and goes back 1". He makes his Breakfall roll easily with an 8, so he's still on his feet. Robots 3 and 4 try to hit Nighthawk. They miss with an 11 and a 7. Turn 1, Phase 4 Kinetic moves 3" to put himself beside robot 2 and uses his Vibro-Grip again. He hits with a 13, doing 5 BODY Killing AP. The robot takes 4 BODY and is severely damaged. Nighthawk tells Witchcraft he can finish off these two and to help the others. He then punches robot 4, connecting with a 10. Nighthawk rolls 10 BODY, the robot takes 4 and is looking as bad as robot 2. Mechanon gets up again and fires Explosive Projectiles, centered on the hex behind Defender. He has one level on DCV and all the rest set to increase STUN damage. A 10 will hit the hex, the area of effect will catch Defender, Sapphire, Ironclad, Kinetic ... and robots 1 and 2, but it's not like Mechanon cares about that. Mechanon himself is just outside the area of effect, gotta love Absolute Range Sense. For simplicity's sake, I just rolled damage once: 38 STUN/9 BODY. Anyone flying gets 8" of Knockback, those on the ground will only get 2". Defender takes 18 STUN, is thrown forward 7", and hits the warehouse wall (for 1 die KB damage, why bother?). Sapphire takes 14 STUN, is thrown forward 5" and hits the warehouse wall herself about 3" from Defender -- once again, there's no point in rolling KB damage because it'll just bounce. Ironclad takes 10 STUN and goes nowhere. Kinetic takes 12 STUN, is knocked back 2", and blows his Breakfall roll with a 16. The robots take 5 BODY each, which will put number 2 into negative BODY. I forgot to roll KB damage for robot 1, so let's just say it bounced. Sapphire makes an INT roll (with a 9) to remember some of the tactical drills Nighthawk and Ironclad have been putting her through. She turns and fires a Stun Bolt at Mechanon. She hits with a 6, and does 19 STUN NND. Mechanon doesn't have an Energy FF, so he takes it all. Turn 1, Phase 5 Defender calls out a maneuver code and holds action. This time Ironclad wins the roll-off. Ironclad and Defender both make their Teamwork rolls to coordinate on Mechanon. Ironclad steps forward, Pushes his STR, puts all his levels on OCV and swings. Adjusted OCV 11, he hits with a 10. Defender puts all his levels on OCV and fires an Overload Blast, hitting with an 8. Ironclad does 51 STUN/16 BODY and 9" Knockback, Defender does 30 STUN/10 BODY and 5" Knockback. Defender's damage will bounce, but Mechanon takes 21 STUN from Ironclad. Defender and Ironclad were on opposite sides of Mechanon, so between them they'll do 10 dice of KB and would push Mechanon 4" toward Defender if there weren't more crates in the way. 35 STUN/8 BODY, Mechanon takes 5 STUN which puts him at -4. The extra KB damage won't do anything. At this point, I figured I could wrap the fight. Three heroes go before Mechanon gets a recovery, and while Nighthawk probably couldn't get there and still attack Witchcraft and Kinetic could. The remaining three robots are damaged enough that they'll be no problem to polish off. (Besides, I had some customers coming in about this point .) I may try another fight without Kinetic, but I don't think it would make that much difference in the outcome.

Re: Best New GC Master Villain

Re: Galactic Champions

Re: Pulp Sci-Fi Later on in the books, Boskonia decided the drugs weren't efficient enough and started running their agents through the psionic equivalent of lobotomy. Unless a Boskonian higher-up took over the lower-ranked agent's mind and gave the appropriate commands, any damaging information or memories simply didn't exist anywhere in the agent's brain. That one stopped Kinnison dead on at least one occasion.

Re: Vehicle: USS Monitor

Re: Champions Question I never got a copy of the 3rd edition CU, but I can help with a couple of these: The Champions are headquartered in Millenium City. AFAIK there's no plans from either DOJ or GRG to put San Angelo into the Champions Universe. PSI is a villain group, their main writeup is in CKC. Mind, Inc is PSI's "front organization". Mind, Inc promotes themselves as a self-help and counseling service, but feeds any potentially useful information such as blackmail info on a businessman or the names of people who may be developing psionic powers to PSI for future use.

Re: STAST Help Needed (Spoilers) Not quite. There's a nicely statted out description of how the infected people spread the plague to others (by biting them). I'm on a friend's computer and my book is at home, but I think it's a 2d6 transform. The tricky part is that the description of how the initial transformations occured, after drinking the infected beer, doesn't quite match up with the game stats for the bite-transform. Apparently no one in the playtest drank the beer . The hero doesn't have any fancy defenses, but he probably does have a higher body score than the agents, so I can justify a partial transform. I'd just like to know if anyone else thinks one beer would have enough of the Ophidian Plague in it to cause a visible effect.

To paraphrase somebody or other, "no adventure scenario survives contact with the players". I'm in the middle of running Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth for some friends, and just had an example of that. First off, Spoiler Space .. .. .. .. .. .. That enough? Ok, the group is in the middle of the Ophidian Plague section, and got to the VIPER base before Frank stuck his head out of the men's room to see if the creepy snake guys who used to be his buddies are still around. I was using the Aerie map from the VIPER book as a reference (and really intimidated the PCs with the size of that place ), and as it happened they got to the kitchen before they found Frank. When they discovered the rest of the Snake Beer shipment, one of the players decided he hadn't done much with his Psych Lim: Curiosity and chugged a bottle before anyone else could stop him "to see what it tastes like". After getting Frank's story, that hero is now in quarantine in Dr. Silverback's lab while the good doctor runs every test he can think of. I gave the player two chances to rewind and not drink the beer, but he says his character would have done it. So, do all of you think one beer would be enough to infect that character? It's indicated in the rec room description that Frank only drank one bottle of stout, if that's a valid guide to how much the rest of the Nest was drinking the hero's getting fangs in an hour game time. (That's how long it took the agents to transform, according to Frank.) However, I don't drink, so I have no idea if that's a reasonable amount of drinking. If the other agents put back two or three beers to Frank's one, and I've been told domestic beers have a lower alcohol content than imports so that's possible, then we're only looking at a partial transform at most. Any opinions?

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... In a D&D 3.5 game, one player is running a shadowdancer (a prestige class) who just summoned his first shadow companion. One of the house rules in this game is that each player is responsible for rolling dice for his familiar, animal companion, henchman, or other being of that sort. So, after the shadowdancer failed a Spot check, the player rolled for the shadow companion and made it. The GM commented, "Well, the Shadow knows ...."

Re: New powers help Depending on how powerful (or how much fine control) the character has, either a Darkness field or a Change Environment that causes penalties to sight PER rolls -- SFX, all the dust/pollen/other particulates in the air got a lot bigger. Of course, she would have to keep pumping END into the power as the enlarged crud fell to the ground. And if she ever gets captured, she can use it as a "community service" power by targetting smog and letting the street sweepers clean it up .

Re: Looking for NEW words of transformation: (SHAZAM, Thunder! Thunder!...) Specifically the Silver Age GL oath. The Golden Age GL went with "And I shall shed my light upon dark evil, for the dark things cannot stand the light ... the light of the Green Lantern."