Steve

I was recently contemplating how to write up a time travel campaign after watching Dr. Who and thinking how to integrate elements of the series into the Hero Universe without adding the Doctor directly. I would need a renegade from an advanced but static (maybe dying) culture with technology sufficient to travel through time. In the Hero Universe, there is a perfect one to pick: the Malvans. Imagine a Malvan who differs from other of that race, one who loves exploring the furthest reaches of time and space, a willingness to mix it up a bit and stir up trouble, and who has a special fondness for humans for some reason. I'm tempted to do more of a Dr. Who homage and call this character Romana.

This came up through some discussions regarding a build I was exploring for doing parthenogenetic reproduction, which turned into a general discussion on reproduction. One of the assumptions in the build is that a baby is basically a zero point Duplicate that can't recombine. Should that cost 1 Active point anyway? You mention something about this in Ultimate Metamorph, that a clone of a person that created a child version would cost a minimum of 1 point, but I wasn't sure if this was an official ruling on cost.

Re: Dark Champions the Anime Series Could you do high-level Go mastery as a type of super-skill? Or is it just a battle of ordinary skill rolls?

Re: Dark Champions the Anime Series Noir is pretty much what I think of when I think Dark Champions as well. Although Black Lagoon is gaining on it.

Re: Reproduction That's a good point, and part of what I am considering. I may abandon the notion of requiring points be spent in order to be able to reproduce, but it's proving to be a good experiment in modeling abilities, even ones you wouldn't normally consider writing up.

Re: Reproduction Well, it started out pretty simply. I was trying to model parthenogenesis in game terms for a PC race that reproduced that way, so I sat down and wrote it out. That got me curious to see how regular pregnancy could work in game terms, so I wrote that one out. Then I thought about fatherhood, and I wrote that one out. What was interesting to me is that Duplication and Summon both worked for the exact same point values for the first few doublings. I didn't realize I'd found a bug in HD when I was doing this though. Calling it a Perk seems funny to me, since it is a natural ability that not everyone has, so calling it a 1 point Talent seems better. "Breeder" seems reasonable for a name for it. I've had campaigns go through two to three generations before, so I'm planning ahead to make it available as an option. But it's like I said in an earlier post, why buy Life Support versus Aging in a campaign that may not go long enough in game time to make it "valuable" to have? I believe you buy such things because they are in concept. This seems no different, especially since children are the only form of immortality that exists in the real world.

Re: Reproduction Hmm. Interesting. I hadn't realized it was a bug issue. If you add Inherent to Duplication, in this build it will let you build a Duplicate up to 2 points in value for 0 Real Cost. But if you take out Inherent, it costs 1 point starting at 1 point in Duplicate points and 0 points for a 0 point Duplicate. Do I win a no-prize? Wow, my 600th post. Woo Hoo!

Re: Reproduction I'd forgotten about the doubling issue since I was looking at it as a handwave in this case. But the points don't get that much more expensive when you throw in a few doublings. 1) For the parthenogenesis write-up, the first child is essentially free, since the power costs zero points as written, according to HD. An argument could be made that the conditions around during the first delivery have damaged the reproductive organs, so no more kids. For a single point, there can be two to four births. And for two points, five to sixteen births. That's a lot of reproductive ability for a couple of points, and seems reasonable as a Talent in a post-apocalyptic setting, where the ability to expand the population would be important. 2) Pregnancy as I wrote the power up follows the same pattern as above. The first birth is free, one point allows up to four births, and two points for up to sixteen. 3) Fatherhood follows the same progression as the female Duplication verision when you start throwing in doublings. For a point, up to four kids can be fathered, two points get you sixteen, and going up to three points gets you sixty-four. At this point, I pretty much hit the believability wall. Yeah, I could take the fatherhood and motherhood abilities to higher point levels (10 Real Points allows for a whopping 262 thousand kids for the fatherhood one), but I'm satisfied with it as a Talent costing a point or two to be fertile. Why buy it? I could ask the same thing about characters who buy Life Support versus aging. It's bought if it's in concept. No difference with this one. I would imagine most PCs wouldn't bother with it, but some might desire to found a dynasty of sorts.

In working on a post-holocaust campaign idea of mine, one of the things I am considering the ramifications of is reproductive ability. The default would be sterility, since there will be a lot of mutants running about. It would be an advantage in this setting to be able to have offspring. Yes, I'm about to talk about adult stuff. Children should cover their eyes. So there you have it, three power builds on reproduction. What I discovered in running through the game mechanics is that a reproductively-viable male is essentially a 1-point Talent in this setting. A female could choose to be sterile, or maybe take a 1-point Talent to be that way, since pregnancy has Side Effects built in that a male doesn't have to deal with, and maybe it's worth a point to be able to avoid that. In the Ultimate Metamorph, Immunity to Pregnancy is built using a 5 Active Point Life Support Power with a Non-Persistent Limitation. I think 5 points is a bit high in Active Point cost though. Taking it as a 1-point Life Support Power with Non-Persistent might be more points logical.

Re: Mental Regeneration

Re: HCPD - The 13th District (Campaign Idea) Well, I've just seen the first couple of episodes of Torchwood, and it gives me some more fodder to think about. 1) I could borrow from TSR's Urban Arcana to explain the presence of supernatural types. They've simply 'washed ashore' into Hudson City's reality, forming an invisible sort of subculture that melds into the cityscape. 2) When dealing with the supernatural, should D13 be more tech-oriented and not have any supernatural elements like spellcasters on the payroll? This would be something more like Ghostbusters in a way. Also, I could imagine the type of CSI work that might go on, with supernatural effects classified and typed in a scientific method in D13's files.

Re: Mental Regeneration Since there are negligible downsides to an Always On Healing ability (aka Regeneration), I'd agree on a +0 Limitation value. Questions: 1) Do you think this power would also work on Spirit-based Transforms as well as Mental ones? The example I can think of is a curse of some kind that turns someone 'Evil' in Spirit that they can eventually heal from through this ability. Or would you call a curse like that a purely Mental effect? My mind sort of boggles at the notion of a soul that can perpetually 'refresh' itself and heal from any 'sin' imposed on it. I can picture it, but it raises some interesting theological implications. 2) If you set up Mental and Spirit as two separate qualities subject to Transforms, would they both be tied to EGO? What other characteristic could be one to use for Spirit? Is this answered in 5ER somewhere?

Re: Mental Regeneration

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From a long-ago game by a particularly arrogant PC: "Some people are born great, and some people have greatness thrust upon them. I'm both." I found a webpage with a ton of gaming quotes. Here's an example: One of my favorite characters would have to be my priest of Lathandar, Will. Since I'm the only cleric in the party, I'm the one stuck with handling the undead, like its that much of a challenge when you're basically 13th level (he's 12th with the +1 level Ioun stone). For a while I was saying the same boring stuff "OK I attempt to turn them." Then I started getting more into it: "Demonspawn, BEGONE!" But it hit an all time high when I had recently watched Ghostbusters again. I believe it was a heucuva but instead of the usual "I turn the undead." I went amok saying: "Good evening. As a duly designated representative of the church of Lathander, I hereby order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your home plane or the nearest convenient parallel dimension." We had to wait until everyone regained their composure and the DM ceased to look like he was going to explode from laughing so hard. Later though since that was a bit long to say over and over when we fought undead, I switched to a shorter turning speech: "Back off man! I'm a cleric!" Yeah. Ghostbusters is one of my favorite movies, next to Big Trouble in Little China and Army of Darkness. *grin*

On the Champions board, there is this thread concerning Menton, and it gave me an idea for a power, a form of psychological Regeneration. My thought is that it would represent a mind capable of snapping back quickly from any Ego characteristic damage or psychological Transforms. I think it would be modeled by taking the standard build for Regeneration and substituting Ego for Body. I don't know if it would be legal to take any additional Limitations, even though Ego damage would be rarer than BODY damage. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Re: How do your Star Heroes get around? Now that's a cool list. Repped!

Re: Speed of Travel Hmm, for a 25 light-year radius, that formula gives about 34 habitable worlds around Sol. That's a lot of real estate, but I think the numbers look skewed because I'm dealing with a more limited selection of stars. I'm going to try and limit my habitable systems to F,G and K type stars, since those are said to be the most likely ones to have such planets. Other systems would have domed colonies or other types of articificial habitats. I'd probably go with a number more like a dozen habitable worlds around Sol, some of which are already inhabited before mankind finds them. Since there will be a large demand for a work force, that's part of the reason why I plan to bring in bioroids to the setting. A little Blade Runner homage, of sorts.

Re: HCPD - The 13th District (Campaign Idea) Well, I could do it as a whole Demon Hunter X (to borrow from White Wolf), with plenty of funding and tech toys, or I could do it as the weird group in the precinct basement in the old file room with the leaky pipes. I could also start it as lower key, and then build up their importance as time goes on, especially if I decide to go with your idea of D13 being shut down for a while. Giving that notion some thought, it could be that supernatural activity comes in tides, like TSR's Dark Matter campaign setting proposed. When the number of instances of spooky stuff ebbed away a generation ago, D13 was mothballed. Now the tide is coming up again, and a new group is needed to be brough in. Knowing how eclectic players can be, I half-expect to see homages to X-Files, MIB, and maybe even a nod to Kolchak. Actually, a Kolchak type would be kind of funny to bring in as an NPC. "I'm telling you! The city's got some kind of special group that deals with this stuff! I'll get that story! You'll see!"

Re: HCPD - The 13th District (Campaign Idea) That's one option I was definitely considering doing, and this thread has helped me see things a bit more clearly. On one hand I can have D13 as a "top secret" elite group, and on the other a collection of misfits and weirdos who don't fit in on the regular force, a collection of Mulder and Skully sorts. My players would probably prefer to go the loose cannons route. With 200 points, I foresee some interesting creations. I hadn't considered them as part of a state or national force, but that's a possibility. There is an old rpg called Bureau 13 which is sort of a national version of what I see D13 being for Hudson City. Yes, there would also be people in the Mayor's office wondering what taxpayer money is going towards. Collateral damage might be something to worry about, especially when dealing with the supernatural. I'm sure the city accounting office would get in on the act, wondering about these piles of damage claims showing up after some big dustup with an ugly of some kind.

Re: Speed of Travel

Re: Speed of Travel This raises a thought. There seems to be two basic ideas on travel speeds I've seen in this thread. One is that travel is literally as long as it takes, given whatever speed I decide to make available in the campaign. The other is a more flexible "speed of plot" notion. I wonder if that could be a type of subsection of the Realism for a campaign?

Re: HCPD - The 13th District (Campaign Idea) I'd forgotten about the Dresden Files. Yes, I was thinking of having most people be unaware or not believing in the supernatural. Of course, there's also the Silent Mobius notion of supernatural police work, with the D13 types being elite police recognized by their peers. Of course, there is something to be said about putting them (in the beginning of the campaign) down in some file room with leaking pipes or something.

Re: How do you use Surbrook's Stuff? Sounds interesting from the little blurb available on your site. I'm looking forward to more.

Re: How do you use Surbrook's Stuff? Personally, I like the World Books you have, and I'd love to see more added to this, if there are additional notes or characters available. I also like the write-ups for effects like Fu schticks, and the character archive is also fun to peruse. I'm a major anime fan, so anything to do with that is great enjoyment for me to read, and while there's a lot in the archives already, there's always room for more.

Re: HCPD - The 13th District (Campaign Idea) I have read Fables. You're right. It is a good fit for this sort of campaign. It probably wouldn't be hard to set something like Fabletown somewhere in Hudson City.