Netzilla

Here is the combat record. CombatRecord.xml

Running HCM 1.13 on Windows 10 (also tested on Ubuntu 20). If a character is entangled, and attempts to break free, the entangle never takes any damage. Attached is a video file showing what I'm attempting. I've also attached the log file with trace level debugging turned on. 2021-06-29 11-24-06.zip hcmlogging20210629110718.zip

This and massy's post above are very similar to how I look at it. For primary stats I group them into categories. Secondary stats are grouped into the same categories with differing ranges due to scale. 8-11 Typical person on the street. 12-14 Best in town. 15-17 Best in the city. 18-19 Best in the state. 20-22 Best in the country. 23-25 Best in the world. 26-27 Once in a generation. 28-30 Legendary / high non-super cinematic. 31+ Superhuman.

My personal ruling regarding weapon-based CSLs in defense is that either the attacker or defender must be welding the weapon in question. The knowledge behind the skill means you know how to use the weapon defensively as well as how to defend against the weapon. In your specific scenario, neither party was wielding a sword, so the CSL would not apply.

Either approach is viable. I'd probably go with the OCV mod because, RAW, Deflect only works against Ranged attacks (so HA and HKA would be immune to the shield).

Personally, I'd build the ship as the main character as it has the controlling AI and all the powers and I'd build the avatar as either a Follower or (more likely) a Duplicate. I'm not familiar with Arpeggio of Blue Steel, so I don't know which would be better.

For an anime martial arts genre where HtH combat is the focus and guns are downplayed, -6 seems perfectly reasonable. If it were a James Bond style espionage or an Indiana Jones pulp adventure style of game, I'd rule it impossible. What genre are you looking at?

Anyway, I'm done with this particular tangent as it's now gotten to the point where I'm having to quote my own posts to avoid having to type the same things over and over again. NinjaBear (or anyone else wanting to discuss the original topic), I'll be happy to answer further questions.

Again asked and answered if you've been reading the thread:

Again, asked and answered. When has justification ever cost anything? Han Solo can try but he's likely to fail as he doesn't have WF Lightsaber nor force powers to boost his OCV like Yoda does. Robin can try. Again he's likely to fail as he doesn't have a WF with the bracelets (seeing as how he didn't buy them, I feel this is a reasonable call for a WF). Most people in the Marvel Universe can try (though they couln't pick up Thor's hammer, much less block with it) but they're likely to fail as they don't have near Cap's OCV nor the correct WF (see above regarding the bracelets). It literally takes me longer to type these out than it does to make these GM calls.

Asked and answered: justification (a blocking device) and (if they want to be good at it) levels.

Depends on what you mean by reliably. How many levels with the Dodge maneuver do you need to be able to Dodge reliably? They need to pay points to buy Deflection if they want to do those things at range. If they want to block those things within arm's reach, they don't need Deflection. They need justification (such as bracers, a shield or a lightsaber) and (if they want to be good at it) CSLs or PSLs.

I'm not sure how what you've written here applies to the part of my post you quoted. Are you arguing that this broke the game? Did it make it unplayable? Are you saying it's bad game design? Are you simply saying that you don't like it so you don't use it and so we can all just move on?

Like many things in the Hero System, there's more than one way. Personally, I'd have them buy PSLs vs OCV penalties to Block Ranged Attacks through an OIF. So, something like this: +4 to offset OCV modifier Block vs Ranged Attacks (4 Active Points); OIF (bracers; -1/2) That allows the character to block thrown weapons at no penalty so long as they're wearing the Bracers. For my campaign, if you want absolute ranged attack blocking with no chance of failure ever, I'll tell you that you can't buy it because it's over the top. Maybe I'd allow it if you gave it an appropriate weakness, not unlike Desolid has. If you want no penalty to block bullets, 8 levels seems reasonable. You want to block mad scientist ray guns, well, in genre they really don't seem much harder to block than most other guns, so 8 levels probably works there as well.

I don't think anyone is arguing that everyone has to like it. I think folks are arguing about how reasonable it is to allow unarmed blocking of ranged attacks. Unsurprisingly most folks mileage varies. The other main argument is whether or not allowing the unpurchased ability to block ranged attacks has somehow ruined the game or made it unplayable or is just plain bad game design. All 3 claims have been made and I say they're all vastly overstating the situation; just like with the hyperbolic arguments about the removal of COM or the decoupling of figured chars. Take out all the hyperbole and aggressive attitudes and we could have a reasonable discussion about what the original poster wanted: how do you, as an individual GM, handle the situation? If you don't like it, you can simply post, "I don't like it and don't allow it" and them move on to allow other GMs to have their say. This whole argument seems rather pointless as 6e's been out for 10 years already. To address the OP's question: Currently, I'm running a 6E Golden Age supers game and allow blocking ranged attacks. To me, the fact that someone with quick enough reflexes can grab a book off a table to stop a thrown knife seems reasonable for a game emulating golden age comics. They just have to deal with the -2 penalty I'll assess them for it. If they tried it bare-handed, I'd make it -4. If it were a bullet, I'd rule it unreasonable (bare-handed or with a book; use something more resilient and we'll discuss modifiers). My base penalty for blocking a ranged attack bare-handed will be, at a minimum, -4. That would be for blocking low-velocity weapon bare-handed. Catching a non-weapon (a baseball) would be easier. Blocking something high-velocity would be harder if not impossible. Like many things in GMing, I make rulings on the spot based on circumstances. I'm a game judge so I use my judgement and haven't found doing so onerous or game-braking in any way.

My wife and I just saw it last night and I quite enjoyed it. I'd put it in the top half of MCU films but not in the top quarter. My wife enjoyed it more than I did. Compared to WW, I consider them about on a par with the exception of CM having better villains. As a result, it gets a (very) slight edge over WW from me. As for what the underlying theme of the film is, I see it as having several. First is how the Kree higher-ups find someone with massive potential power and then try to turn that person into a weapon to fight their wars with no real concern as to her well-being. This has echos of how soldiers get treated in the real world by politicians all the time. Useful in a time of crisis but otherwise ignored or simply paid lip-service to without any real regard for their actual well-being. Additionally, as others have pointed out, there's the theme of the protagonist's true strengths comes from within and finding out who one really is, not from being told what to do/how to act. Also already pointed out, is the theme that getting back up and continuing to try after failing is what makes one strong. Finally, the theme of not abiding by limitations that others put on you but rather finding out for yourself just how far you can go. That was possibly the most obvious theme of the film in my eyes. On a different story/characterization beat, I liked getting to see a relatively young and unjaded Nick Fury. I would have found it hard to suspend my disbelief if he was as confident and competent 24 years ago as he is currently. I also didn't consider him to be simple comedic-relief or useless. He did a pretty good job of evading Skrulls and was even able to out-fight one in HtH except that mere human strength isn't enough to really hurt one. I'll agree that his main role in the film was to be Carol's guide on earth, but really, he's never been a front-line fighter/problem solver in any of the MCU films. He's always been in the role of shadowy behind-the-scenes manipulator who arranges things so that the best person available can get the job done. Probably pretty hard to do that when you've only got level 3 clearance in SHIELD. His losing an eye to an incredibly dangerous alien animal that was able to disguise itself as a cat, I was perfectly fine with. So, all-in-all I quite enjoyed it and my wife wants to see it again in the theater which is something she almost never does.

Not much to add other than the fact that I'm currently running my own Golden Age campaign. So, my answers to some of the issues this thread has raised. Why isn't WWII just one big super-being battle? For one thing, I kept the campaign at the Low Powered Supers level (300 points no resistant DEF over 10), which means that the heroes are still slightly vulnerable to small-arms fire and very vulnerable to anti-tank fire. In addition, the countries involved view their supers as much as propaganda tools as anything else and so only use them defensively, when it's relatively "safe" (such as the Germans unleashing their supers in France only after the tanks and infantry had already done the bulk of the work and all that was left was mopping up) or for 'special-ops' type missions. For my British super-team, I'm going to put this behind a spoiler block as SCUBAHero is in my campaign.

Our Heroes: Amon-Ra -- An archaeologist who discovered a magical helmet that was a conduit for an anchient god of wisdom. Faceless -- A shape-shifting FBI agent who doesn't remember what he really looks like. Diamondback -- A wealthy socialite infused with increadible strength and toughness due to a disasterous science experiement. Shard -- Sister to Diamondback and the author of aforementioned disasterous experiment which gave her the ability to grow and manipulate crystals. Double-Time! -- A young lab worker who was accidentlly exposed to strange chemicals granting him increadible speed. Professor Polar -- A scientist who discovered "cold energy" and accidentally infused himself with it. Zoltan the Magnificent -- A stage magician who happens to also know real magic. *** GM [summarizing the previous session] -- . . .and Shard and Diamondback were going to go investigate the house of the old man who had brought over the package before the cult arrived. Shard -- We were? GM -- Well, that’s what you said you were going to do. Shard -- Well, who said that was a good idea? GM -- I never said anything about it being a good idea, that’s just what you said you were going to do. *** Prof Polar -- I’m great at talking to rational people. Double-Time -- Have you found any of those yet? *** Prof Polar -- He’s tough enough to run for his life if he needs to. *** Prof Polar -- Being a fairly recent immigrant, he’s probably doesn’t have a family graveyard yet. GM -- Seems unlikely. Double-Time -- We start one! Amon-Ra -- That’s what I wanted to do last night but you wouldn’t let me! GM -- No, you wanted to start a crematorium, there’s a difference. Zoltan -- In the church! *** GM -- And you do have Sleight of Hand on your character sheet. Zoltan -- I do? GM -- Twelve or less. Zoltan [looking] -- Huh. So I do, I missed that. Double-Time -- He also has Concealment. *** Zoltan -- The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, nothing more. Prof Polar -- The enemy of my enemy is a tool in my hand. GM -- The enemy of my enemy is still an a-hole. *** Double-Time [OOC]-- I know we barely know each other, but someday I will have extra E.P.s. *** Shard -- People keep telling me that it’s not right that I sleep with men-- I mean next to. *** Shard -- Can I call [Double-Time’s] boss and pretend to be his relative? GM -- I’m sure you’re capable of it. Whether or not it’s a good idea, I’m not going to say. Prof Polar -- I have an issue with the way you phrased that. Yes, she’s capable of making the call, but I’m not certain she’s capable of pretending to be his relative. Shard -- Hey, I did a great job pretending [to Double-Time's boss] to be his girlfriend. GM -- Which is going to complicate the whole pretending to be a relative thing. *** Felix Stauf -- You are proving to be an incredible nuisance. Zoltan -- Why thank you. I thought I was merely a good nuisance. *** Amon-Ra -- When I catch up to the car, I’m going to put up a barrier in front of it so be prepared to teleport out. Zoltan -- Right. He’s casting spells and I’m trying to stop him. And he can hear everything I say! *** Zoltan -- When he cast the spell did he have to use any gestures or incantations or anything? GM -- He spoke the spell. Zoltan -- Ah ha! Unfortunately, I don’t have anything to silence him. Prof Polar -- Yes you do. Put your hands around his neck and squeeze. GM -- Strangle the driver. Great idea! Prof Polar -- So far, strangling the driver has been the safest suggestion I’ve heard for stopping the car. *** Prof Polar -- I head towards the commotion, because I know that’s where [my teammates] are. *** Amon-Ra -- And I’m the dangerous one, eh? I was just going to take out a building. She’s taking out pedestrians. Prof Polar -- Just take out a BUILDING?! *** Zoltan -- I just get the feeling I should be somewhere else; screwing things up there. *** Prof Polar [OOC] --- I want to by Transport Familiarity: Humanoids. *** GM -- My poor blind demons. *** GM -- Teamwork, it’s not just for the heroes. Double-Time -- Yes it is. *** Zoltan -- Got your staff back? Amon-Ra -- Yes, I do. Zoltan -- You know, most of us don’t let go of our staffs. Shard -- [groan] GM -- Not everyone feels the need to handle their staff all the time, either. Double-Time -- Speak for yourself. GM -- Well, certainly not in public! Shard -- You guys are gross. *** Prof Polar -- I don’t want to kill him. I want to humiliate him. I can’t let you kill him because I can’t humiliate him if he’s dead.

Our Heroes: Amon-Ra -- An archaeologist who discovered a magical helmet that was a conduit for an anchient god of wisdom. Faceless -- A shape-shifting FBI agent who doesn't remember what he really looks like. Diamondback -- A wealthy socialite infused with increadible strength and toughness due to a disasterous science experiement. Shard -- Sister to Diamondback and the author of aforementioned disasterous experiment which gave her the ability to grow and manipulate crystals. Double-Time! -- A young lab worker who was accidentlly exposed to strange chemicals granting him increadible speed. Professor Polar -- A scientist who discovered "cold energy" and accidentally infused himself with it. Zoltan the Magnificent -- A stage magician who happens to also know real magic. *** Diamondback: I like the idea of gathering more information before blowing something up. *** Faceless: I’m in charge of this investigation and that means I can do whatever I want. I just have to explain it to my superiors afterwards; which is the hard part. *** Prof Polar: If it gets to the point where there is a sacrificial victim on the altar about to be killed, then we can consider blowing it up or burning it down-- Diamondback [clarifying for certain team mates]: Not the victim! *** Prof Polar: So, we’re in the pre-catastrophe phase. *** Diamondback: He [Zoltan] freaked out so bad, even Double-Time noticed. *** Zoltan: I’m not having any more ideas at all tonight. *** GM: The altar stands about yea high and looks long enough to put a body on. Double-Time [OOC]: That’s a disturbingly specific measurement. *** Shard: Can I somehow forget it [the runes on the altar]? Prof Polar: I can find the specific neurons and kill them. It’s only a few cells of your brain, it won’t do any significant harm. Zoltan: Oh my. That’s a little harsh. Shard: For real? Prof Polar: Uhhhh. . .yeah. Diamondback: I’d just like to point out that he’s smart but he’s not a neurosurgeon. Prof Polar: Well, there’s these new things called x-rays. I’ll just adapt them for brain scanning. . Diamondback: You know, for as much as my sister and I argue, I feel I should stand up for her neurons. *** Zoltan: Amon-Ra may be better suited to protecting us as his powers tend to affect whole groups. Diamondback: Oh my God! He said Amon-Ra would be better at something. We must really be in trouble. *** [As Amon-Ra is communing with his patron and refuses the request to relinquish control of his body.] Diamondback: This is starting to sound like an abusive relationship. So, if you need help, just let us know. *** Faceless: Man, this is going to be a lot of paperwork later. Diamondback: We’re possibly facing an evil demon-god thing and you’re worried about paperwork? Faceless: Look, there’s only a couple of things I truly hate in this world: the thought of all of us dying (and that means humanity) and paperwork! *** Double-Time [OOC]: Sorry, I thought we were calling for the snack god. *** Double-Time: I punch a group. I run around so fast, that I hit everyone in the area. Diamondback: And you can’t pull for hitting your teammates? Double-Time: Nope. That’s why I have tough teammates. *** Zoltan: Elder gods aren’t allowed to testify in a court of law. *** GM: Shard, you have a Double-Time cowering behind you. He looks like he needs a hug. Double-Time: He needs a hug after we finish destroying the scary altar. Then he needs lots of hugs. *** [As the group fights the demon recently summoned by the cultists.] Amon-Ra: Before we kill the cultists, we need to question them. Prof Polar: WHAT?! Diamondback: Should we kill the cultists? Amon-Ra: Well, we need to ask-- Prof Polar: Discussion for later! Demon! *** Zoltan: Well, I wouldn’t want to tell the FBI agent how to do his job. Faceless: You’ve got to remember, I’m not an investigator. Prof Polar: What are you, an accountant? Amon-Ra: He’s their assault team. Faceless [OOC and looking at his character sheet]: Honestly, I don’t really know what he does for them. *** Prof Polar: Could I talk to this man alone for a minute before any of you psychos kill him? Amon-Ra: I wasn’t trying to kill him. Zoltan [imitating Amon-Ra]: I wasn’t trying to kill him. I was just trying to let his life-force out. *** Double-Time [OOC]: You said to control the crowd. I controlled them; they’re dead. I don’t see what the problem is. *** Double-Time [OOC]: Here [Zoltan’s player], here’s a die with a single pip on each side. [Mimics Zoltan’s player rolling the die] ‘Damn, I got a five’. *** Faceless: When I called the cops earlier, I told them we have a case going on here and we’re handling it. Don’t bother about the noise, it’s all under control. GM [imitating Faceless]: When things start blowing up and burning down; it’s fine. *** Zoltan [OOC]: I’m surprised you made your cultists quite breakable. GM: Yeah, well, they’re just cultists. Zoltan: Well, we weren’t expecting that. GM: Quite frankly, neither were they.

Been a while since I last posted quotes from our Legends of the Golden Age campaign. I'm not really sure where I left off. Ah well, let's start at the beginning of the last story arc. Our Heroes: Amon-Ra -- An archaeologist who discovered a magical helmet that was a conduit for an anchient god of wisdom. Faceless -- A shape-shifting FBI agent who doesn't remember what he really looks like. Diamondback -- A wealthy socialite infused with increadible strength and toughness due to a disasterous science experiement. Shard -- Sister to Diamondback and the author of aforementioned disasterous experiment which gave her the ability to grow and manipulate crystals. Double-Time! -- A young lab worker who was accidentlly exposed to strange chemicals granting him increadible speed. Professor Polar -- A scientist who discovered "cold energy" and accidentally infused himself with it. Zoltan the Magnificent -- A stage magician who happens to also know real magic. **** Faceless: I’ve been able to do this [use his powers] since I was just a wee lad. Shard [excitedly]: Can I have a sample of your blood? *** Prof Polar: So, you kicked your servants out of their home and moved yourself in? GM: Well, her folks house doesn’t have nearly as many servants as it used to so they don’t need so much room. Shard: And my folks wanted me and my experiments out of the house. So, they moved me out and moved them in. . . You know, that sounds really bad. *** Diamondback [OOC]: Why do we have so many NPCs with f****d-up lungs? *** Diamondback: We’ve had a rather disturbing incident at one of our warehouses and I need your assistance. [OOC] I describe the incident to Zoltan. Zoltan: I see, I’m not much of an investigator, but I suppose I could try. GM: Actually, he [points to Zoltan’s player] wasn’t here for the description, so you’re going to have to give it to him. Diamondback [OOC]: I do. Prof Polar [OOC]: No, you need to explain to the player what happened. Diamondback [OOC; remembering that Zoltan's player arrived late]: Right! I have to actually say it. Gotcha. *** Diamondback [OOC]: So, here’s the story. I went to the first store because I wanted to get peanut butter M&Ms. However, they didn’t have peanut butter M&Ms. So, after I lit the store on fire for disappointing me. . . *** GM: I was not expecting this level of slapstick, quite frankly. *** Double-Time [OOC]: This is Vanguard, the Slapstick issue Prof Polar [OOC]: Well, there occasionally has to be a comedy issue. *** Prof Polar [to the Cultist they just captured]: Hey, how long have you served this 'Cult of the Naga' and how much do you know? Are you important? Cultist [ranting]: I serve the Great Serpent. I will be greatly rewarded when you are all destroyed! Prof Polar: Right, so you’re not that important. You’re just the local-- Cultist: I will have POWER beyond anything you could dream of! Prof Polar: Yeah. You’re the toenail trimmer. Got it. *** Amon-Ra: I’m going to need your tailor to change my skivvies. Diamondback: That’s an inappropriate use of our tailor. Amon-Ra: My costume doesn’t have pockets. So, I figured he could do something about that. GM [OOC]: Ancient gods of abstract concepts don’t really think of pockets.. *** Zoltan [imitating Amon-Ra]: I stole these magic artifacts fair and square. *** Faceless: I don’t even want to know where the pretty pink ribbons come from. Zoltan: You really don’t. . . You ever see what happens when a cat eats tinsel off a Christmas tree? *** Prof Polar: If I were to establish a cult like this, people who didn’t have the intelligence to keep their mouth shut about the cult would not be people I used for recruiting. I would enforce that by brutally murdering someone who had committed a small infraction. . . GM: But that’s how you want to deal with every problem employee. Prof Polar: Yes, but if I was organizing a cult to end the world, I wouldn’t just want to. *** Amon-Ra [reluctantly]: I promise not the burn the [abandoned church] down until we’ve gotten any innocents out. *** Prof Polar: We have murderers on the loose. I don’t like that. *** Double-Time [imitating Faceless] -- I’m going to need his clothes, the knife, some cocaine and 2 gallons of red paint. . . *** Diamondback [OOC]: “Samuel” sounds like a cultist name. If it were a cult of bros, I’d have gone with “Biff”. *** Amon-Ra: The ancient writings on the altar are likely a conduit of power to the Outer Dark. . . Zoltan: Condom of power? Shard: Did you say condom? Amon-Ra: Conduit! [and now we're completely OOC] GM: Condiment! A condiment from the Outer Dark. Zoltan: Yes, I’ll take the ketchup, please! Double-Time: No, we’re trying to put a condom on the conduit. Diamondback: Why is there a condom full of ketchup?! Double-Time: That’s not. . .ketchup. Diamondback: You should really see a doctor, then. Zoltan: I think that’s passed doctor stage! Diamondback: This scene went down-hill really fast. Prof Polar: Yes t did. [I wonder just how many of our sessions devolve into dirty Abbot & Costello routines?!] *** Double-Time [OOC]: We are the Vanguard of Prophylactics. GM [OOC]: We are the Prophylactics of Justice! *** Faceless: There ain't nobody in here except one scary-ass altar. Zoltan: Describe the altar. Double-Time: Scary-ass! Zoltan: But what kind of ass? Double-Time: Scary! Zoltan: Ah. Faceless: Yeah, that whole ‘burn it with fire’ thing? I’m down.

When people are actively trying to kill you is the best time to profess/reaffirm your love and make out.

True

Long drug-out unarmed fight where hero and villain are perfectly matched, until the villain pulls out a knife (or other weapon). Then the hero is suddenly untouchable. AKA, Never Bring a Knife to a Fist Fight.

Likewise for pumping a shotgun.

All explosions are gasoline explosions. To be honest, though, this doesn't bother me much as movies are a visual medium and a lot of real explosions wouldn't look like much on camera.