ZootSoot

Re: Ultimate Brick -- What Things Weigh

I thought the pyramids were pretty much hallow. Not completely' date=' but there lots of rooms inside. The sphinx is solid stone, on top of solid stone. A smaller pyramid might be about the same weight.[/quote']

 

No, not at all as far as the pyramids go. You have some very small hollow spaces in them, almost negligible when compared to total volume, for placing of sarcophagi and for access to same. Ghizer's pyramid is the heaviest manmade object on earth with the probable exception of the great mounds in the Americas (piled earth pyramids) and the Great Wall.

Re: What character concepts make you cringe?

I agree that regen is helpful but I just dont want the Wolverine type regeneration (its been awhile since I've read any X-men to any extent' date=' but some of the things I've heard about this is a little too extreme). A low-level is fine[/quote']

 

The basic "low level" Regeneration in Champions is 300 Body an hour!!! Don't know what would constitute extreme . . .

Re: Cross-gender roleplaying

Women, in general, are better at playing men than men, in general, are at playing women. In the real world, women's understanding of men is more vital to their prosperity than men's understanding of women is to theirs. Now my advice, for what it's worth, for men playing women, don't have any advice for the other side. Know the character. When you are playing a guy you can get away without worrying too much about this, because you can always play him as yourself or quickly generate some generic "guy" traits when it comes up. Playing a woman is always going to be a role-playing intensive effort, you have to know the character. Two, if you are playing the only female inthe group, make sure your character is aware of that fact. She can be concerned about it, amused by it, exploiting it, etc, but she really cannot be oblivious to it; think about all the real life social situations you have been in where there was only one female and a group of guys and you will see what I mean. I prefer to run female characters only when there is at least one other female character in the group. This allows for more realistic social interactions (whether friendly or not with the other female) and gives me something explicit to contrast my female character with, thus making sure that all women in the game are not wearing the exact same personality to the party.

Re: What superhero character concepts are you tired of seeing?

I don't know if this is a concept so much as a lack o concept, but I am tired of character who do too many unrelated things. Not so much "my character can do everyting!" but more "why in the world are these powers together in the same character?" I want simpler powers and more complex characters.

Re: I Need an Arkham Asylum Clone

You can always borrow another Lovecraft place name and go with Innsmouth or Dunwich or Ubar or something . . .

Wow, looks like I stumped the Hero community.

I put this on the Star Hero board by mistake. I need biographical information on George Bergstrom, the architect of the Pentagon, for a historical campaign. Print and web based information are equally desirable, but all I have found so far is that he designed the Pentagon (which I, kinda, already knew I need info about the person!).

Strangely enough, I need biographical information on George Bergstrom, the architect who designed the Pentagon for a historical game. Online or paper sources are equally good, but so far I can't find anything except that he designed the Pentagon.

1. The player who, when GMing, insists that the story happens as planned.

2. Ignoring the rules to make something "kewl" happen.

3. Players who cannot develop a personality for the characters.

4. Players who play the same character over and over and over (occasionally bringing back a favoured character is good, but to always play the same character . . .)

5. The player, as GM, who says "I never kill a character unless the player has the character do something stupid" which really means "if yopu play your character differently than I would in the same situation, I will kill your character.

6. Players who insist on the stupidest aspect of the genre being the norm for the game.

7. The player, as a gm, who is so caught up in the created environment that s/he ignores the players' inputs and actions while describing them.

Why should they get anything for free? Make 'em pay for their one native language and forget this everyman skill crap! You don't pay the points, you don't have the ability . . .

Re: Re: Re: Re: Genocide?

Originally posted by Monolith

My understanding of the Aryan Nation was that it is an organized group of individuals preaching and upholding racial purity, and doing various criminal acts against those who they consider to be sub-human. So from that standpoint the IHA is basically the same as the IHA only directing their anger toward supehumans, and mutant superhumans in particular. What little information I have on the Aryan Nation all seems to indicate it's involvement in hate crimes. I have no idea about its dealings with organized crime. I was just speaking from a philosophy standpoint.

Whoops! I was thinking Aryan Brotherhood not Aryan Nation, nevermind . . .

Re: Re: Genocide?

Originally posted by Monolith

Since it doesn't appear as though there will be any information on the IHA until at least 2006 you would probably be better off just using the 4E material in your game, if you're not inclined to make it up yourself.

 

In the CU the IHA is a political lobby group dealing with the threat of all superhumans, but most importantly mutants. Think of them as the Aryan Nation taken to the next level. I assume they are secretly funding a "Project Genocide" to deal with the mutant threat since the government appears to not want to deal with it directly.

Uh, no. The Aryan Nation is a criminal organization along the lines of a crime syndicate. It began as a prison gang with racist overtones, but really does not follow a racist agenda now being more concerned with its criminal enterprises. A better analogy would be Christian Identity.

Arrgh! Every time this comes up people give write-up after write-up of the explosion that includes the "affects desolid" advantage. Why? Other than a sense that Desolidification is too cheap of a defense, I can't think of any reason at all. (On the other hand, I don't really think "affects desolid" should be allowed since every desolidification alrady includes a special effect that will affect the character using it.)

Originally posted by proditor

Heck, how did ole Rex Tyler get his powers? Gool old American pharmacueticals!! Nothing like a pill popping hop head who eventually gets addicted to scream out hero.

 

Mind you, I think Hourman is AWESOME. Just saying is all.

 

Of course it's not as bad as the "Say no to drugs" comic featuring Captain America where he keeps talking about all of his powers. The ones he gained from drugs!

"I am a hero who never fails,

I can't be bothered with such small details . . ."

Re: Speed of Lightning, Power of Thunder!

Originally posted by SuperPheemy

And who could forget

 

"The secret space of my ring I fill

With an Underdog super-energy pill!"

That's roar of thunder!

Originally posted by Supreme

(SNIP)Also, the Golden Age Flash - Jay Garrick - got his from "heavy water." (SNIP)

This is pretty much the only origin that builds upon real science. Water composed of tritium isotopes of hydrogen really did speed up a number of chemical reactions, I don't believe experiments were ever done to see its effect on human reflexes (the radioactive decay and probable posioning are serious ethical concerns). This was infinitely more sensible than Barry Allen and the cascade of electrically charged random chemicals

If the players have their characters take Secret IDs I prefer them to keep those secret. The distrust and uncertainty this engenders and the role-playing of ignorance and deception is one of the things that makes the game fun.

To accurately represent Pittsburg in the Marvel universe, it should be a village of about a hundred souls a half mile southwest of of the Hudson river and maybe ten miles east of the Pacific ocean . . .

Point totals in my games can be staggeringly high, but I suspect most of the characters could not keep up with many of the Standard level campaigns elsewhere when it comes to combat. In my games you pay for everything and concept is the most important element.

Originally posted by BoneDaddy

Carr's The Alienist is a great read, and should provide you with good flavor for the times. Seems NYC was politically a little corrupt back in the day.

 

The challenge with the ethnicly diverse group from the 1890s is all the other groups hateed each other. The Irish hated the Germans hated the Polish hated the blacks hated the Bohemians hated the Italians hated the French (and everybody hates the Jews, but during National Brotherhood Week....) What would compel a Mick and Wop to hang around with some Chinaman? (I apologize for the slurs, but I use them to prove a point). Would the supers find each others company safer than life alone at large? Why? Are they all supercompassionate and super-well-rounded?

This is an overstatement. Well established immigrant groups, such as the Germans, were not particularly hated by those of English/Dutch descent. Irish-Italian conflicts belong to a later period for the most part. Eastern Europeans, while widely distrusted by earlier immigrant groups, did not have particular hotilities towards each other. Jews, Asians, Blacks, and American Indians were widely distrusted, scapegoated, and exploited, of course, but Blacks and Amerinds had long historical ties and Jews were widely regarded as quite acceptable in their proper place.

Re: Early NYC Vigilantes

Originally posted by Edsel

I am working on a history for my new Dark Champions setting. As part of the back story I need to have an early vigilante group operating in NYC around 1890. I have never been to New York, nor do I have much knowledge of the demographics of the early city. Maps are not a problem.

 

What I need to know is; Where, in NYC around 1890, could such a hypothetical Vigilante group have sprung up from? What neighborhood or area of the city would such people have likely lived and/or operated in? It only needs to be a simple neighborhood protective organization... at least to start with.

 

Anybody got some ideas for me?

Five Corners. Watch Gangs of New York for ideas. Many of these groups were essentially vigilantes, just mix-rm up a bit and add some color. Bowery Boys, Plug-Uglies, Dead Rabbits, there's a whole mythology there for you to plug into.

Stupidity will get a character killed, but not because I say they must die. They will die if the dice say their tactics result in death. I don't hammer my players into line (I also ignore many genre conventions, my villains have workable plans and comprehensible goals, never use death traps and never refuse to believe the obvious).

Re: Killing Characters

Originally posted by Agent 537

This subject has likely come up before, but I bring it to you all anyway.

 

How do you handle killing characters in a superhero setting? Do you make it an OOC priority not to, because making a character and fitting it into the campaign is difficult and/or time-consuming? Do you allow it only if the characters do something REALLY stupid? Do your campaign's characters start to feel invincible because they know they can't die, and thus start to maybe grow bored or take unrealistic chances?

 

I'd appreciate any and all viewpoints you might care to offer.

I am an extremist on these boards. I don't use death to force players to play my way (punishing them for being stupid) and I don't protect them from failure and death. If the characters would die according to the situation and the dice, they die.

Armando: has the regeneration schtick going for him.

Sword Dancer: Will still have her hand in her civvies (completely different bodies). Once she realizes this, she will soldier on. But she will also probably begin her search for a successor, as she would feel that this is a sign of her mortality.

Gangway: Is a temporal anomaly. She can get her hand back, but it will be a story.

Luna: Unlikely that this could happen, but if it did she would get herself a scary prosthesis (maybe a moyel's knife or a livestock castrating device, or just something with lots of sharp edges and points) and enjoy its impact . . .

Crimson Tide: Ooh, more angst! I don't precisely know its effect but it would be fun to deal with . . .

My favorite episodes (after the original kids in his class graduated the show really started to stink) were the ones where he met the first guy to have the alien suit and his sidekick. In this one it was revealed that the power of the suit eventually corrupted the original hero and they decided that Ralph having lost the manual was the only thing that might save him from the same fate. The other one was when the FBI character had a run in with a biker gang and git his ass handed to him, but then went and got his old bike out of storage and went after them. The FBI guy was tough and I always liked the interaction with the supporting cast. And yes, I know the lyrics to the theme song . . .