BoneDaddy

My arch-villain is The Chronomancer, a diabolical sorcerer with time control powers. He's going to send a time elemental after our heroes to retrieve the Maguffin, which they intelligently took with them.

So. What's a Tempormental do?

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

Well' date=' there is that, but I'm mainly talking about being a vegetarian. I can't even eat their fries due to lard.[/quote']

But at least you can enjoy the Jell-O (Biafra, that is.)

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

Ewwwwww! Yuck! Where's the brain bleach to get that image out of my head.

This may be the real reason Hadrian fled the northlands.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

Had deep-fried Snickers and deep-fried Oreos at the county fair. Oh' date=' and a cream-cheese filled, deep-fried pickle. They're all dipped in funnel cake batter, so it's the light, sugary stuff. The Snickers was pretty good. I'm a firm believer that the reason county fairs exist is to fry things that I can eat.[/quote']

At the Hebron Carnival, in Hebron MD (which I recommend to anyone who wants to see small town America at it's purest - warts and all), I had an oyster fritter sandwich, which is about a half dozen oysters, battered, deep fried, and put between two slices of white bread. Then I had a funnel cake (Aside: Vermont for some demented reason does not have funnel cakes - I think I ay move bakc there and open a funnel cake stand and make my first million fattening the liberal masses up there), which is cake batter poured through a funnel into hot oil and then sprinkled liberally with confectioners sugar. I washed it down with a coke.

 

My then five-year-old step-son begged and pleaded with me to go with him on the tilt-a-whirl. Doting father and fool that I am I agreed. We got on the ride, which is in the same location it was when I was five, and sat down for the ride. Every car was filled with a pair of people except for one, where a woman who kissed the ride operator on the way in sat very happily.

 

Happy people are fun to watch, so I did, and the ride began. We tilted and whirled, and occasionally I could get a glimpse of the happy whirling girl. Whirly girl was text messaging someone, from her perch in the tilt-a-whirl. I was dazzled by her texting abilities and dedication, but I wondered why she would ride the tilt-a-whirl only to spend the time texting someone.

 

The ride continued. I began to feel a little grey. As we tilted and whirled, we spun past the ride operator. He was likewise texting. I wanted him to pay more scrupulous attention to the ride, but whatever.

 

The ride continued. Whirly girl was texting and laughing and shaking her head back and forth. It felt like we had been on there for a few minutes, and I was getting more than a wee bit nauseous. Oysters, cake batter and grease competed for attention in my tilting, whirling stomach. My son was having a grreat time, shouting "Wheee!" with every tilt and whirl. Gamely I attempted to "Whee" along with him. It was really great to have such a good time with him - we were still in the getting to know you stage of our relationship, negotiating trust and yeliding authority as Step families have done in one fashion or another since Solomon's second wife moved in.

 

The ride continued. As we passed, the ride operator laughed maniacly and fingered his cell phone. It had been about five minutes, at least two minutes longer than I had planned on riding this godforsaken torture contraption. Whirly girl was laughing and shaking her head and texting. The oysters in my stomach had rolled what was left of the funnel cake into a bettering ram were attempting to emerge through my abdominal wall like something from Ripley's nightmare carnival from hell. The five-year-old next to me was laughing hysterically as the ride went on and on and on. It was worth whatever I was suffering to see him this happy.

 

The ride continued. I tried to find the spot on the seat that tilted and whirled the least, to no avail. It is not called the tilt-a-whirl for nothing. Oysters gave up on the cake and held an impromptu rave, blowing those irksome little whistles and spinning glow sticks for no good reason. The grease rocked the turntable, spinning and scratching my guts while reminding me that if there was any sucka MC in that ride it was me. Minute ten passed.

 

The ride continued. It was like something from a Stephen King story. The ride operator and whirly girl continued to text each other, no doubt laughing about the way we were all going to die when my stomach exploded. I turned green and flexed my abdominal muscles to try and bludgeon the oysters into submission. In protest they put on golf shoes and took up Irish clog dancing. I didn't even know they had legs. Oblivious to my torment, my son tilted and whirled with wild abandon, occasionally sliding over against me, tilted or whirled in my direction. He put his hand on top of mine as we clung to the chrome lap bar for dear life, and I thought that even if I was going to die it was worth it for this small boy's hard won affection.

 

The ride continued. At minute fifteen she nodded her head up and down at last, and the ride came to a relatively gentle stop. The oysters were disappointed by the abrupt change and continued to tilt and whirl. My head likewise tilted and whirled. The lap bar came up and I staggered to the exit. My step-son tore off like nothing horrifying had just happened and ran to hug his mother. Whirly girl approached the ride operator who was on one bended knee with a ring in his hand. It is not often that a stranger wants to kill two other strangers just for being happy and young and in love, but oh how I wanted them dead.

 

I kept the oyster sandwich, funnel cake, and coke, but only just barely. I spent a good two hours after that looking green and sitting as still as I could while my step-son rode the tiny ancient roller coaster there over and over again and my lovely wife patted my head and reassured me that I was a brave and valiant fool to have done such a thing with a full stomach and no Dramamine.

 

It was worth it.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Side A of HST's Science Data Formatter has failed. This happened Saturday. There is a side B, but transitioning over to it is about a 2-week process. The B-side has not been turned on since ground tests, at least 17 years ago. All science work with HST is suspended at this time.

 

HST Service Mission 4, which was to have flown on October 14, is suspended while they see if the spacecraft will resume regular operations with the redundant data formatter B-side.

Well dammit there goes my MERPS gaming group. About half of them maintain that darn thing, and they'll be so busy with that we'll never find out what's up in that tower.

Re: Forcing a Step Backward

A limited shove linked to the strike? Limited knockback?

Re: Moving Entangle

I get the impression you mean something like a rolling ball of tar, or something similar. I think the previous suggestions are better for that.

I used Gradual Effect on an AOE Entangle to simulate a rapidly growing entangling plant (the Martian Red Weed, weaponized.) I don't think that applies to what you're after, but it might.

Re: Uses varied on Time Chart

Do you mean faster than 5 points per Turn?

Sure! Why not 5 points per phase? 5 points per turn is frankly almost all of any reasonable combat duration.

For transforms, something that will turn your opponant into a Frog for an hour or so would be just as useful as one that would do it for a month. Why not?

Re: Uses varied on Time Chart

While we're at it, I'd like a limitation for Drains etc and Transforms, allowing the points to recover or the target to heal faster than he would ordinarily, moving up the time chart rather than down it.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

Accrding to wikipedia, in 2008 Gogol Bordello played a "superjam" at Bonnaroo music festival with Les Claypool and Kirk Hammett, where they played songs by Tom Waits. It's so crazy it just might work.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

இடியாப்பம், சந்தகை எந்நாளும் பண்டிகை!

So sayeth google ads on my gmail. I think it's Tamil. I don't know what I said to persuade them that I'm Sri Lankan.

Re: Leaping indoors

There's a difference between a fastball and a pop fly. A leap lasting one second can't go up for more than half a second, and as such will be falling for half a second. A horizontal leap of 30" won't go any higher than a horizontal leap of 2", because that piddly little weakling, gravity, rules the day here. That means every horizontal combat leap will go up about 2.4 meters, because any further would take too long to land.

So, yes, you can leap indoors if you stretch yourself out a bit. Oddly, everyone must do this to leap in combat.

Fun fact: Due to the extra time required for non-combat leaping, someone with 2" of leaping but X8 ncm will go 16" horizontally, but 19.6" vertically. (If I have my rules right. It might be less, but if it is we run into other funny problems.)

Re: The cranky thread

Last night was a little better. I still had to drag myself out of bed today and am still exhausted but I slept through my 2:30 am binge. Maybe if that keeps happening I'll actually lose some weight.

A friend of mine lost 180 pounds that he credits to the effects of the CPAP. Better sleep, more energy, better moods, less depression, easier exercise, less appetite. It really made a lot of things possible for him that had been out of reach for years.

Good luck, and stick with it - it will be worth it.

Re: Fine Manipulation

Nice list, although I agree with lord Laiden that the majority of them I would do with penalties to OCV.

 

Shooting off someone's suspenders or throwing a knife to cut a rope, heating tea or freezing an opponent's boxers with an ice EB all strike me as far better suited to an OCV penalty for the simple reason that if you blow the roll something bad could happen - an adder is pretty much an automatic effect.

 

... [redacted for space, not content] ...

Why would the fine manipulation adder mean that they wouldn't have to make an attack roll? It would just eliminate the penalty for the "fineness" of it. FREX, the frozen boxers is still a called shot to location 13, but the adder would let you be very selective about what you targeted there.

Here's a thought.

 

Power Skill: a roll on the power skill allows you to change the way your power works on a single use basis that you should not attempt more than 3 times without ponying up the XP to actually buy the power BUT for each skill level with the Power Skill you can decide on a Power Trick that you can use as often as you like. All Power Tricks have to be GM approved.

 

There are some restrictions. You cannot use a power trick slot to modifiy your power by adding an advantage, unless the total active points are less than half those of the normal power. You cannot use a power trick slot to simulate the use of another power, unless the total active point s are less than half the normal power.

 

For example a GM might allow a Power Trick that enables an EB to etch a message on a wall or act like a flare to attract attention. A GM might require that more than one Power Skill level is required to accomplish a particular trick - for instance if the character wants to use his laser vision to etch holograms or extremely complex images.

 

If you subsequently spend XP to buy the Power Trick that frees up the skill level for another Power Trick.

 

Power Trick use is IN ADDITION to the normal use of the Power Skill.

Nifty idea.

If Fire-man (bad name, but so it goes) has a 60 AP Energy Blast (Fire blast), if he spends 5 AP on his Fire Powers skill, he could opt to always be able to do 30 AP of flame specific Images? If turns any power into a discount multipower.

Re: Fine Manipulation

Well' date=' all of those sound like Power Skill uses or OCV-penalty called shots, unless you want to be able to do any of them exactly the same way on a regular basis. In which case I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with a single Adder that would give that wide a range of effects for a variety of Powers.[/quote']

No book with me, so numbers may be off a little.

 

10 points = 1 fine manipulation adder for one power

9 points = One power skill with 3 skill levels

9 points = 6 PSLs with one power for one penalty

 

I'm not sure I see the problem. The adder means less dice rolling. If you like more dice rolling in your games, go with the latter two options. I have to admit I'm more of a story guy than a numbers guy, so I'm biased towards simplicity (an odd bias in a herophile, I know.)

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Crash Test Dummies incredibly stupid single was crap, but the rest of that album was undiluted awesome, and actual music, I promise.

Re: Elemental Control Vs. Multipower

Most characters have both DCV and defenses. A trade between the two still leaves you exposed to a lucky shot, or a team of opponents, some of whom can or cannot hit your high DCV/get through your high defenses.

 

The official rule is that an ability which does not cost END by default cannot go in an EC unless you add "costs END". There are several old discussions about the appropriateness (or complete, utter, ludicrous absence thereof - but I'm not biased on this ) but that is the default rule.

It gets fun when you put a formerly 0 END cost power in a framework by adding Costs END, but include a traditional END costing power with the advantage "Costs 0 END" in the same framework. Makes perfect sense.

Re: Fine Manipulation

I allow Fine Manipulation for Force Wall and Entangle to form complex shapes. I'm not sure what else it could apply to.

 

I think 10 points is quite expensive and would not object if the cost fell to 5.

Shooting off a man's suspenders, a-la Once Upon a Time in the West.

Etching a message or image into a surface with a laser.

Etching a hologram into a glass surface with a laser (harder trick, I admit, but it occurred to me).

Heating tea with pyrokinesis.

Throwing a knife across a room to push a button, cut a rope, etc.

Turning invisibility off in one direction only to reveal one's self to an ally.

Turning only one aspect of one's gear invisible to sneak it somewhere.

Using your ice blast EB attack to freeze your opponent's boxers only.

Using Change Environment to rain on one person.

Re: Elemental Control Vs. Multipower

Sorry to contribute to thread drift, but if there's a valid mechanic for the CSLs and they Cost END then I've rarely had trouble getting them into a Multipower - the hero is focusing his abilities in the direction of combat, which works well for the fast or the dextrous, or the strong. Getting them into an EC would seem a little greedy, IMHO.

Re: COM as a function of health...?

COM should be ditched in favour of limited skill levels for PRE based skills, which could be additionally limited to be linked to the BODY (or STUN) stat, if you like.

 

Redhead: 10Active, 5 Real

+2 with a group of similar Skills (10 Active Points); Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (Skill bonus acts as a skill penalty if target doesn't like redheads; -1/2), Limited Power Power loses about a third of its effectiveness (Only works if the target particularly likes Redheads, may work at lower level; -1/2)

Well hell that's much simpler than just buying 10 points of COM.

Re: COM as a function of health...?

I can answer your first question, but not your second one. Ben Grimm wouldn't need to date a blind woman. As for the second, make it an average of BODY and CON, but keep the price the same, in case someone wants to be frail but pretty or tough but ugly.

Re: Matter Eating (with linked powers)

Why not a general dispel solid object? 60 AP gets you a sizable attack there, and you can use it to eat any focus you can get your mouth on. (I'd use the Restrainable limitation here, but I'm a little munchkinny about that one.)

Re: Better Block

I think you're having trouble with SFX. How often does a hero in a movie duck right at the last second and an enemy hits another antagonist that was standing behind the hero? There are also martial artists that quite often--in movies and in practice--use an attacker's momentum against them in a way that depends a great deal on the power behind the attack.

 

And then we could pop into the realm of fantasy and superheros, where even movie SFX aren't all that important. A superhero who uses literal reflection type SFX, or "wormholes", or carefully timed "desolidification", or even illusions, could easily cause an attacker to hit someone else on a per-attack basis without affecting other story or game mechanics.

Good points all, and hard to model otherwise. Hmm...

Re: Power advantages to Martial Arts

What about this... Say a Martial Artist uses a weapon of some sort, perhaps a selection of them.

What if you bought a naked advatage, applicable to Hand to Hand Attacks and HKAs? For an easy one, how about a Feint? Naked Advantage: Indirect (+1/4), on up to 30AP of HKA or H-HA, requires a Sleight of Hand roll, for a whopping 6(?) points.

The Martial Artist could use the feint skill with any weapon he's skilled with, which means he could use it with any maneuver he's skilled with, too.

Tell me why that is not rules legal, and whether it reeks of cheese.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

I thought Toon was a pen and paper RPG?