Kevin

(Sigh) Not advocating violence or threats in any form. But...would love to know the context in which this occurred. The same technical threat could have been made sarcastically, tongue in cheek, even (OK, remote possibility) with humor. In which case, the general displeasure of the group with this fellow's behavior was communicated. Only if this threat was made in a serious, vein popping, genuinely violent manner would I consider it completely unacceptable.

Of course, as grown-ups, none of us would dream of threatening to harm a fellow human being. But when that annoying player has worn your nerves way past the point of frayed edges, when he is figuratively jumping up and down on that raw and exposed nerve, you could almost make a strong case for self-defense in presenting such a threat. Defense of your sanity. Don't you think?

What are the most annoying habits Champions players in your gaming groups have had? Not characters...but PLAYERS!

For a guy running a four color fantasy role-playing game, you seem pretty hung up on realisim! Give her whichever kind of owl you want, at whatever size you want, and let it be an enchanted owl! Bigger Night time owl bespelled to be active in the day. Smaller Day time owl bespelled to be MUCH BIGGER. Do what you want, and what works best for your game.

Does the player WANT the owl's schedule to change? Cause it is his or her's magic owl! Could work with a story either way...weird little day time owl familiar OR grumpy owl familiar constantly complaining about being up too early, working in daylight, can't you mages ever do magic at midnight like you're supposed to, etc. etc.

Why not set up a situation where all of the agencies you mentioned are politically vying for a liasion to the team? Then the heroes will be forced to deal with some of the agencies "lobbying" them, some of them strongarming them, some possibly even blackmailing them, into having a liasion. The players would be forced to choose between both the agencies and the individual agents representing the agencies. It could be played for both comedic and dramatic/intrigue possibilities. Then you could pair down who you have as liasion to one or two managable npc's, and deal with the recriminations of all the rejects in game time. (What, you need a favor from us over at the CIA?...too bad you didn't accept our liaison! Getting audited...the FBI launched an investigation into your finances with the Justice Dept...could have been avoided if you'd picked us. All your high tech weaponry being confiscated...guess an NSA liasion would have been a good idea after all.) The game coul have as much fun from the fallout from the rejects as it does from the interference of the liasions you picked!

How about a support group for bitter ex-sidekicks? I'm thinking along the lines of ex-child stars who grow up and then whine that they never had a childhood, didn't really have a choice about what they were doing, and now have been tossed aside in favor of younger faces.

I would like to see the book deal with teen villains as well. The ramifications of normal parents having super-powered children would be great to cover, as well as second generation super heroes. Smallville recently did a twilight zone inspired story with a teenage supervillain. Her parents were terrified of her and had been abused by her. Also the conflict between normal parents and superpowered mentors would be of interest. In Teen Titans, many of these issues are being addressed. The school system's dilemma of what to do with Wonder Girl is a good example of the problems facing a teen hero. With her identity exposed, the school was unable to educate her because of the risks posed by supervillains attacking public school and the insurance nightmares accompanying that risk. Kid Flash is a third generation superhero rebelling because Flash didn't take him seriously. Robin is arguing with Batman because he wants to reveal his identity to his Dad, and Batman doesn't want him too. Superboy is struggling with establishing a secret identity and pretending to be normal, and benefitting(!?!) from having somebody older than him who has been through this before to talk with. The issues being raised in Teen Titans are all great for a Teen Champions book!

When you think about it, some tech makes sense. Not everyone, in fact not MOST, of the members of DEMON should be magic-users. The inner circle are going to jealously guard their secrets and the sources of their power. People with magical potential are going to get used up, not made into apprentices! Who wants to empower a potential rival? So what does that leave? Certainly summoned monsters, mystically created and endowed minions, etc. But having people capable of using mystically adapted technology would make for a DEMON more useful as a supervillain organization. The trick, of course, will be to balance this so DEMON is unique and not "bad mojo VIPER"! Imagine cursing someone through their computer via the internet, enchanting weapons to strike harder and more accurately, etc. Think "modern technology gone awry through possession". Speculating is fun. Can't wait to see what is actually written!

Re: Re: What Do You Want To See?: DEMON I was GLAD to see no high tech in DEMON...until I read this response. Relying on technology makes no sense for DEMON, but having common technology demonically enhanced could be creative and fun. Joss Whedon has done this before in the Buffyverse, and it was appealing. Having DEMON incorporate Wolfram & Hart qualities has been suggested on this Board...how about DEMON incorporate qualities that form a cross between Wolfram & Hart and a demonic version of the Initiative?

Anticipating DEMON very eagerly. Hope to see DEMON be much more than "Viper with bad magic". Would very much like to see a version of DEMON that is so scarily world-threatening if the general public knew what was happening no one would ever sleep at night again. Hope that whatever the mechanics of DEMON end up being, the ATMOSPHERE is such that there is a "shadow world beneath the normal world" creepiness to the whole thing. Would like to see the mystic element of DEMON emphasized, in a way unique to Champions, but stylistically parallel to the way Joss Whedon has made his "Buffyverse" a mystic horrorshow set against the landscape of the real world. In addition to the mystic menace which must neceassarily be at the forefront, please add in all the INTRIGUE and POLITICAL MANEUVERING which needs to be there to explain a) Why DEMON hasn't yet succeeded and Why all those powerful and powerhungry inner circle mages haven't combined their power. Would like to see a chunk of the book dealing with "good" magic users opposing DEMON, both individuals and groups, "bad" magic users in competition with DEMOM, both individuals and groups, and how DEMON fits into the rest of the magical mystical portion of the Champions Universe. Combine that with kick-ass brand-new conceptions for evil magic, evil mages, evil henchmen, and evil creatures serving the cause of DEMON preserving the best of what has gone before and eliminating the goofiest of what has gone before and "voila" - the perfect DEMON book. But no pressure...

Would you rather game as a player or a gamemaster, and why?

OK, now you know my memory is bad. I posted twice!

Think so? Dr. Strange defeated Death as a part of his trial to become Sorceror Supreme. He will live agelessly for millenia. He will see each wearer of the helmet grow old, die, and get a replacement. (Anyone else think it sad many of us remember this trivia, but can't find our car keys in the morning...?)

Think so? Dr. Strange defeated Death, and will live for millenia baring getting himself killed defending Earth, just as his mentor The Ancient One did. (Anyone else think it sad that many of us remember this trivia, but can't find our car keys in the morning...?)

Think so? Dr. Strange defeated Death, and will live for millenia baring getting himself killed defending Earth, just as his mentor The Ancient One did. (Anyone else think it sad that many of us remember this trivia, but can't find our car keys in the morning...?)

Dr. Strange would ultimately defeat Dr. Fate. Fate operates on a belief system and a magic system of absolute black and white. Strange sees all the shades of grey. All Fate has backing him up are the Lords of Order. Strange has been pitted against Gods and won. He has defeated planets and avatars of whole universes. Plus, Fate is not very SKILLED with magic. Even Nabu isn't very skilled. They were granted the use of magical powers by the Lords of Order. Dr. Strange is VERY VERY SKILLED at the use of magic in many forms and from many sources. He calls on many other dimensional powers, any one set of which would be a match for the Lords of Order, as well as his own personal magical abilities. Dr. Strange would win. He could probably convince the Lords of Order that Dr. Fate wasn't serving their needs properly and get his powers stripped! Or he could cause such a conflcit between the Lords of Order and the Lords of Chaos that they had to withdraw their patronage from Dr. Fate to protect themselves on a direct front! Fate would be toast.

Kitty Pryde's desolid is not absolute either. She passes through material with less density with no trouble at zero endurance. When encountering walls that are more dense she has to expend endurance, and for even more dense material has to concentrate. I like the proposed variation of the rules very much, but recognize the bookkeeping headache it would create.

I agree with you, Galdadorn! Most of the issues we have raised could probably be avoided by good communication between gm and player, as well as clear upfront expectations.

I agree with you 100% The game has to be fun. The game has to be fair. Everyone needs an opportunity to shine. And I was writing as a player when I wrote I liked pure concepts. Just a personal player preference thing. As a gamemaster, if a player can make a concept work with a good back story, they can play it. I also like subtle powers. Intricate abilities. No problems. But if every game had the mentalist solving the problem by mindscanning and remote attacking, the game would not be enjoyable. It is possible in game mechanics terms. But, to use comic examples, the team telepaths don't solve all the problems sitting in their base sipping tea and mind scanning. Even though they could. This is my only point.

I wasn't proposing that the GM take revenge on anyone. There are logical consequences that occur in the context of the game for the actions of the characters. EVERYTHING is story driven. Players, however, are free to and often do make choices about how their charcters will react based on how much (or how little) they enjoy playing with the characters in the game. However, as for as "I bought the power, I deserve the benefits" goes: There are players (and I am NOT saying anyone reading this is one) who abuse game mechanics. There are players who abuse the SPIRIT of the game, if not the mechanics. It would be profoundly dull to play in a game where one character routinely mindscanned and attacked the foe from a distance. Personally, I prefer to use mind scanning for comic book flavor, for last ditch efforts, for unusual circumstances and NOT as a routine fight tactic. Some experienced players actually ENJOY pure character concepts like telepaths, bricks, speedsters, etc. I am one. Doesn't make us novices to enjoy playing a character with strengths and weaknesses. If anyone has a good concept for a mentalist brick with desolidification and faster than light capabilities, I am sure that combat monster would work just fine for them. It probably wouldn't work for me.

Your Mind scanning character has to know his target in order to find them. He has to get + 10 to attack mentally, and a +20 to do so without his target knowing he is in his head. The target also knows exactly where the mind scanner is and what they are doing. But this is another instance of not letting the player abuse the ability. Used well it adds a lot to the game. Used badly it is BORING to mind scan and attack from a continent away. The other players will be twiddling their thumbs staring at the player with hatred, and staring at the gamemaster for letting this happen. Play well, and it is fun. Play selfishly, and your mentalist gets attacked by robots with no ego and your fellow players start examing their shoelaces while you get pounded.

How about: Apex Ultimate Max Spire Vertex Zenith Capstone Nth Nadir All meaning height of perfection. Could add 2.0 to just about any of them.

There is also the investigative story line that Law & Order uses all the time: The investigators know perfectly well who did the crime. The criminal is laughing at them because the investigators cannot prove a thing. The challenge comes up in PROVING what took place, gathering evidence and witnesses, getting them to come forward, etc. Or in figuring out motives. Or in untangling a shell game of perpetrators and many different motives.

I don't get the story problems people are expressing with psionic characters. Rule abuses and player problems I get. Story problems I don't. The game mechanics prevent telepathy from being too powerful. Any half decent storyteller can run a mystery with a telepathic character. In fact, a telepath can make a mystery MORE of a mystery. Telepaths do not deal in facts. They deal in perceptions. NPC's can have any and all of the following perceptions: 1. Feel responsable for something they didn't do. 2. Believe someone is guilty who isn't (and either be protecting them or out to get them) 3. Have a false memory of an event! (Do you realize how unreliable eyewitness testimony is?) 4. Have seen something important they don't know the significance of. 5. Not know anything because they paid no attention. 6. Bury a traumatic memory of a crime. There are so many ways to hide events of a mystery to make the game MORE, not less, of mystery because a telepath is involved. Creative storytelling makes having these characters around enhance your game, not make it harder. (Yes, I am definitely pro-telepath. They are my favoriate characters.)