John T

Re: Passing Strike (martial maneuver) Unbalanced? Now, imagine that brick in a 10" diameter room (pretty good sized room, by most standards) with reinforced walls... John T

Re: 6-2 Stun Multiplier Method

Re: Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence The film was in theaters here for all of about, ohh, 14.2 seconds, thanks to the paranoiacally-fearful-of-foreign-competition nature of the American movie industry. Anyway, I'd definitely use it (the first one, at least) as inspiration for a campaign. John T

Re: WHy does everything have to be by the rules? Generally, I'm with Lord Mhoram and The Emerged here; I don't sweat the details if they're not critical, though I may (and probably will) build any power or effect that shows up in my games, sometimes purely out of curiosity and sometimes because I'd like to know what it would take to counter the effect through power use (Dispel, Transform, etc.), rather than imaginative PC actions. An example of my in-game notation for something like this might be: 10d6RKA/AP/Pen/MegaAE(enough)/NR Otherwise known as "a bomb/thingie/McGuffin capable of destroying the entire surface of a planet." John T

Re: Truth is stranger than fiction

Re: Mind controll Vs Mind Controll The reason a lot of GMs don't let me play mentalists : The first tactic that came to my mind to counter this situation: hit your controlled teammate with a Mental Illusion that the person he's attacking and the person he's being controlled by have switched places, assuming that option is available. A nice, two-layer effect; if the illusion takes effect, it's (possibly) enough of a situation change to allow a new breakout roll, and even if the roll FAILS, your bud is back to beating on the correct target. John T

Re: Alpha or Beta Gamer? I GM a lot, but still have little problem jumping back and forth between Alpha and Beta roles, I think because I put a lot of personality in my Beta-type NPCs when I run. Generally, I DO play Alphas, though they tend to be less obvious than most. And while I will discuss rule issues with GMs when I'm a player, I try to keep long-winded debates OOG. John T

Re: REcommendations! Welcome to the boards! Welcome, especially, to the HERO game system! Not much I can add to the advice already given, except perhaps "Buy everything! The more the players support the game, the better it gets!" Just kidding... mostly. Seriously, though, I've got dozens of books for each of about a dozen games, and I never really know when I'll be looking through one book and read something that gives me an idea for another game. It's especially handy when it IS the same game (system). John T

Re: Answers & Questions Q: You SHOT IT?!?! YOU SHOT IT!!! A: 186,282.397 John T

Re: Answers & Questions

Re: Answers & Questions Q: What would the U.S. Olympic gymnastic team call themselves if they ever formed a band? A: Thirty pieces of silverware.

Re: Character monologues Will definitely give it a whirl when I've had time to mull it over, but it'll be a bit before I can hammer out a monologue for a half-demon. John T

Ever used a perfectly normal conversational phrase or idiom, and then amusedly wondered what kind of character you'd have if you used the same innocuous term as a character name? Okay, maybe only I do that... Anyway, a couple of examples: Little Miss Communication - character with the power to cause everyone around her to interpret everything said around her in the most unflattering way possible. Could also be called Little Miss Understanding. Unreasonable Facsimile - one of a duplicating hero's duplicates who goes rogue and becomes an independent, free-willed villain. The Pun-isher - character with puns so bad that they cause damage to anyone who hears them. Any other ideas? John T

Re: Games gone awry In character, I've handed someone ("X") we were trying to rescue TO the villain ("Y") we were trying to rescue him FROM, because we hadn't realized that "Y" WAS the villain... I've made legitimate (no OOC knowledge) leaps of logic 1/4 of the way into a scenario that jumped the group right to the end LOOOOONNG before the opposition got there... I've had players attack their own teammates, vaporize critical NPCs and blast national landmarks because I pressed their paranoia buttons one too many times... Fun stuff. John T

Re: Dealing with Hunteds I tend to roll for Hunteds more often than not, but I don't always make them important to the story. For Hunteds with NCI, it might be a lackey that shows up to gather data on the hero(es), perhaps without ever being noticed or identified in any way with said Hunted. If the Hunted is More Powerful, a lackey can be potent enough alone to handle 1 or 2 of the heroes. I've also used Hunteds as brief flavor for stories. In one scenario, the group was facing off with a Cosmic Threat level villain, but I'd also rolled up a player's Hunted. Not wanting to make the situation impossible for the group, I had the Hunter lurk in the wings until an opportunity presented itself, then launch a sneak attack on his target. The Major Villain was so incensed at the "interference" that he blasted the Hunter through a dumpster and a parked car, allowing me to demonstrate that A) the villain was, in fact, a badass, that the villain had an exploitable Psych Lim and C) that I'm not the merciless GM everyone makes me out to be! John T

Re: Everyman Equipment What you have above is pretty good for a modern-day setting, regardless of genre. One other addition: tools of the trade, whether owned or accessible, for the character's primary PS (whichever he currently uses to make a living). John T

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That! The "silliest" character I ever had for Champions (in a Toon-like game) was Super Mister Potatohead. He was a flying Brick... err, potato... with something like a 30- Disguise Roll. New lips, new eyes, etc. and voila, unrecognizeable. These days, I'd probably be even sillier and build him with Shapechange, Based on Skill Roll (no lim. value for such a high skill, though). John T

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That! You seem shocked... John T

Re: I Can't Believe He Played That! A big tiger-man with a crystalline, electrically charged sword, whose sole motivations in life seemed to be "mating with" anything even vaguely female, and killing everything else. I ignored him out of the game. John T

Re: GM Only Listing I think it wouldn't be too long before such a forum, or group thereof, would end up digressing too much to be distinguishable from any of the others. There wouldn't be an easy way to prevent the inevitable thread drift and whatnot. Not that the idea doesn't have merit, just that there's no easy way to maintain the informative integrity. John T

Re: Have you ever noticed? There's also the effect that rage-induced adrenalin might have on powers. John T

Re: I made the GM cry.... Ah, yes; the OTHER "lame GM hobby" I deplore: the (very) old "Let's see if I can kill the PCs" game. Some GMs (like some Players) seem to get into the mindset that "Winning" is the goal of playing an RPG. Tiresome, at best. John T

Re: The Last Word ...I hope it doesn't DISSOLVE... John T

Re: Have you ever noticed? One might conclude that, at least in some cases, such a change is accompanied by the realization that the former hero no longer need "hold back" the full extent of their power. John T

Re: I made the GM cry.... I've found that, all too often, actually quitting in protest is the only way to get the point across, at least to some people. Some folks out there just can't seem to accept the idea that they're doing something "wrong". In other words, If you make such a "threat", be ready to follow through... or continue to play a game you're not enjoying. Your choice, surely, and not one that I ever make lightly, but I've never hesitated once the decision was made. John T