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Re: Today's Bad Idea Or the edible Giant Robot... Minute-steak MK X

Re: Today's Bad Idea Closely followed by the geriatric Mexican with false teeth... Taco-Phonies.

Re: That's right, more superhero minis (But not mine this time)

Re: That's right, more superhero minis (But not mine this time) That's my miniatures collection. It's for sale on ebay (along with a lot of Hero System stuff), $1 per miniature (much less than I paid, and doesn't take painting into account). You can see it all here... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8820769769

Re: Your Favorite Fantasy Weapon?

Re: Your Favorite Fantasy Weapon? Lots of great ideas for magical weapons! For mundane weapons, I had a dwarf that carried a Pick/Hammer, AP on one side, +1 STUN on the other. Whack 'em with the handle for N damage. Dang, I miss playing FH.

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon What? Nobody mentions Vera? My favorite - the linear accelerator the Moonies use to "send grain" back to Earth in Hienlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". TAANSTAAFL.

Re: Racial Magical Abilities That sounds much better than my idea. Thanks! I could include Suppress 7d Magic (Standard Effect: 21 Pts), 0 END (+1/2), Persistent(+1/2), Inherent(+1/4), Always On(-1/2) for 13 RP.

I'm working on an idea I've had for a while - defining racial magic - and I'm looking for your input! I have a High Fantasy Campaign (that I never get to run, but that's beside the point) where the major races for PCs are Men, Elves, and Dwarves, and the minor races are Gnomes, Halflings, Half-elves and Half-orcs. [i'm implementing the DIVIDE_BY_THREE multiplier suggested in The Turakian Age to make magic more likely to be chosen by PCs. Without it, I always seemed to get a bunch of fighters and thieves. Go figure.] Each race has it's own magic. Men learn magic. I use the basic guidelines for Magic Schools. You need a Power Skill for each School learned, and the spells are a bit more specific - not every School provides Offensive, Defensive, Movement.... types of spells. This is the most flexible form of magic. Elves have Mysticism - a VPP[10+ AP] limited to Mental Powers - Clairsentience, Change Environment, Mind Control, Mental Defense, Mind Link, Ego Attack, Telekinesis, Telepathy. Elves can also learn spells as men, but few do. Dwarves can have Runes. Runes are limited to Aids, HA, EB, HKA/RKA, Healing - battle magic. There are a limited number of things a Dwarf can place a Rune on - 2 on a weapon, 2 on a shield, 2 on armor, 1 on helm, 1 on a large rock (ideal for throwing). All Runes require Focus (OAF), Charges(1-2 on WPN/ARMOR/SHIELD/HELM), Gestures(touch Rune), Incantations(say the Rune), and the obligatory DIVIDE_BY_THREE effect. Rocks and such get range Based on STR. Halflings are Tolkienesque - quite non-magical. They have a variation on Damage Reduction which I call Magic Reduction. I build it (for 13 points - apply that DIVIDE_BY_THREE multiplier) as 50% Resistant Damage Reduction (Physical, Energy, and Mental), versus Magic only (-1), No Concious Control (-2). This applies to ALL magic - both good and bad. A magic dagger is only 1/2 as effective in a Halfiling's hand. A healing spell only cures 1/2 of the damage it would normally affect. Gnomes have Phantasma - a MP[10+ AP] with 3 slots: Invisibility, Images, and Mental Illusions. No Reduced END available. They can also learn magic as Men, but like Elves, few do. Half-Elves can choose Mysticism if they want it, or can learn Spells, or skip it altogether. Half-Orcs can follow Orcish Shamanism, learn Spells, or skip it altogether. All races can learn Priestly Magic. You see few Halfling Priests, however (that pesky Magic Reduction works here, too). Each race worships different Dieties that allow different Prayers. Suggestions? Comments? Bueller?

Re: Disease examples?

Re: [Playtest Manuscript] Stronghold Don't mean to step on your toes, but a few of the points you mentioned I would rather be kept to a minimum. These include "Superhuman Rights Groups", "Rehabilitation & Counciling Programs", "Superpower Training Programs", and "Champions Universe - Media". Not that these aren't interesting topics, but I'm hoping that the book keeps the focus on the prison! I'm hoping it focuses more on: * Plenty of maps of the facilities and surrounding area. Personal desire here - I'd like it to be multi-level (maybe one level for PSI, one for Bricks, etc...), with cell blocks for the less dangerous cons (the ones without their foci), and individual cells for the tougher cons. Deepest levels are for the reall tough bastiches. * Descriptions of the holding cells, and detailed information on how to build "outside the box" individual cells in Hero System. Magneto's cell in X-2 is a decent example. * Write-ups for the security forces. Hopefully this will be based on security gaurds with high-tech equipment as well as a superbeing or two. What about robots (and the can of worms you get by including them)? * Legal issues and how they are impacted by superbeings. Is it legal to use Russian sleep boxes? Keep 'em doped up? Does there need to be more talk about Police powers? * At least one breakout scenario discussion, and a "I've been framed and sent to Stronghold" scenario discussion. An example Stronghold from another country - maybe a low-tech solution? * Like you, definitely want to cover Prisoner Tranportation, Parole Hearings, Super Prison Gangs, Superhuman Legal, Superhuman Ex Cons, and Extradition Procedures.

Re: Tactics Skill When I GM'd I kept it to once per combat per character - only had one PC that ever used it - but he had Captain America-ish Tactics. Lot's of +2s and +3s, and an occasional +4. I did it because "The Bad Guys"® (especially agents) usually had more than one person with Tactics - Mastermind Villian, Squad Leaders for Agents. I wanted the "tip the scales at the opportune moment" effect, not the "Combat is a see-saw" effect. Honestly, I think it would be too unbalancing if you allowed it multiple times in a combat. It's too cheap for the effect if you can use it multiple times. Plus, they do not stack! That would be very bad.

Re: Battlesuits: Too efficient and flexible? I treat Powered Armor as a real weapon, needing upkeep & parts. Also, the character either needs skills to build/maintain/modify it OR have someone else, and if there is someone else there needs to be contacts/disads/whatever to explain it. Also, getting captured and waking up in your skivvies is not a great thing.

Re: Tactics Skill I had a lot of success using Tactics this way... hope this makes sense! A character can use his Tactics once per combat by making a Tactics roll. +1 to OCV or DCV (assigned when the roll is made and cannot change) for every three points he makes his roll by for all his subordinates that can hear him, lasting for as many segments as he makes his Tactics roll. For Example, Captain Courage has Tactics 14-, and rolls a 9 (making his roll by 6). For the next 6 segments, everyone on the team that follows his orders gains the combat bonuses - in this case CC decides to go all offensive and everyone gets a +2 OCV. Yes, CC has to have a tactic for each character that gains the bonus - but it can be as simple as "Titan, take out that armored car, Dreamweaver, deal with Vesuvius. Polymer, protect that crowd". EDIT: Found my chart... for anyone interested. Tactics...Bonus .Roll.....OCV/DCV .0-2..........+1 .3-5..........+2 .6-8..........+3 ..9+..........+4 Duration: Tactics Skill - roll + 1 Segments

Re: Cranston, Lamont Cranston. http://www.sysabend.org/champions/gnborh/text/Shadow2-ks.txt