Black Rose

Re: A Map of Zothique I have found myself in possession of digital copies of what appear to be over thirty of Clark Ashton Smith's stories. I'm curious as to which you'd recommend reading first (to get a feel for his style and his world) and which, if any, to avoid.

Re: "Basic" Question About Transform This is sweet!! I was almost positive it was like this, but there was that niggling bit of doubt. That, and I'm sure my understanding of 4th ed HERO was messing my head a bit.

I feel really stupid about asking this, since I'm about 99.9% sure I know the answer already, but here goes. My understanding is that Transform "damage" lasts until the target can recover from it, which can be however long it has to be. Is there any reason, beyond expediting the effect, why one would want to have more dice in a Transform? By this I mean, if the target has no defense against the Transform "damage" being done, is the only thing stopping my 1d6 Major Transform (target into catgirl) from being just as valid as someone else's 5d6 Major Transform (target into catgirl) that mine takes a lot longer?

I feel really stupid about asking this, since I'm about 99.9% sure I know the answer already, but here goes. My understanding is that Transform "damage" lasts until the target can recover from it, which can be however long it has to be. Is there any reason, beyond expediting the effect, why one would want to have more dice in a Transform? By this I mean, if the target has no defense against the Transform "damage" being done, is the only thing stopping my 1d6 Major Transform (target into catgirl) from being just as valid as someone else's 5d6 Major Transform (target into catgirl) that mine takes a lot longer?

Re: Enchanted Items now in the online store They're so cute!

Re: [Character] Glitterbunny There's something truly special about a girl who would use that as a power trip.

Re: Character: Warrior Princess Mihrimah Agreed. Tell me Susano, do you ever tire of being so impressive?

Re: Should I keep going with this article? Seems like the "aye's" have it, Susano. Let me cast my vote as well; an "updated" and expanded advice article by you is something I would have happily bought a copy of DH for regardless of the other content. Frankly, your stuff is just that good IMO. I can't wait to see what you do with it.

Re: "real" Magic resources IIRC, Crowley, aka The Wickedest Man Alive, was the one who really pushed for "magic with a K" as Will Working, not to be confused with the "no-K magic" with the handkerchiefs and cards and coins and whatnot. I'm certainly not saying he was the first to spell it that way, but before him the "k" was used for one of two reasons; referencing an old text, or actually being an old text. Do recall, this word comes from the Olde language, before they invented spelling.

Re: Creating a Martial Art

Re: Creating a Martial Art IMO, if the character is, in-game, working to develop a structured fighting style -- which is something very different from "I know a good way to trick a guy into opening his guard around his left kidney", "I pull back and roll at the waist when I forearm block", and "quick fake to the right, drop to one hand and pivot, taking his legs out from under him" -- and it is representing a real role-playing opportunity -- the character is sacrificing time he could be spending to profit himself in another way -- then I think he should be awarded 1 XP only for KS: specific martial art on an infrequent basis. He's role-playing after all, and that's a good thing; rewarding it with an extra XP every three or four sessions isn't going to tear a hole in space-time for Istvatha V'han.

Re: Penalty Skill Levels for non-combat Skills As far as I'm concerned, this is an even better use for PSLs than combat. If you can throw a Lim on it, "Only to reduce the penalty by half; -1/2" is very nice; keeps you impressive, but not cakewalking, no matter the situation.

Re: Skill System House Rules - Comments? You know, I didn't even see that. Geez, I feel slow. Having the more "obvious" numbers would make remembering the breakpoints a bit easier, I agree. I will say, the two things I like best about this idea are: Being able to have a Characteristic-based roll for Familiarities (too dang hard to parse a good one now) Having more granularity between "breakpoints", which can get to be too much at the high end, but we can use more here

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares That's what the contracts they sign prior to be accepted on the show are for. Lots of legalese that covers their, ahem, assets and makes sure that the contestants know there will be some excitement and physical challenges and such, but the whole things written so that later, they can't sue. I despise "reality TV" with the might of a thousand suns, but I'd watch this.

Re: Skill System House Rules - Comments? I could be wrong, but I think you mean 19+(CHA/2.5). Let me work this for a sec... In True!HERO, Familiarity is 8-, Skilled is 11-, and Mastery is 14-. Using 3d12 for our dice, we would get: 8- 25.93% 15- 26.16% 11- 62.50% 21- 62.38% 14- 90.74% 27- 90.45% The percentages are very close, off by less than .29% at worst. For Familiarity, I'd go with 12+(CHAR/3); 15- at 10, 19- at 20, which is 50% and suits me fine. For Skilled, I'd go with 18+(CHAR/3); 21- at 10, 25- at 20, which is the equivalent of 13- in True!HERO, and means that, without a "supernormal" stat, you're going to have to spend more than the base for a skill to be a master, as you do now. For Mastery, I'd go with 24+(CHAR/3); 27- at 10, 31- at 20, which is a 16- now. All in all, really not too different. Most of your work would be doubling your bonuses and penalties. Rolls are basically doubled, then subtract one (8*2, then -1, is 15). The real appeal is that the distance from Familiarity to Mastery is no longer seven places, but thirteen. Much more granularity. The sweet points are no longer 3, 8, 13, 18, etc., but 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, etc. More incentive to have "odd" numbered stats. There'd be more concern with people buffing up their stats to boost skills than there is now, since it's easier in this system. Combat values would need work, since I don't think DEX/2 is the greatest idea, and DEX alone is worse. Overall, I think this is a good idea. The only big flaw I can see is the "six-siders are much easier to find than d12s".

Re: Fogilioverse HERO I feel humbled, and not a little scared, that not only could I find something Susano couldn't, but I found it on his website.

Re: Foglioverse HERO I really liked this story; granted, all of Phil's xXxenophile stories are great IMO, given that Phil has just the right amount of sardonic wit to suit me. But this one was longer than the others (obviously) and actually had interesting character growth. I wanted to see it continue. If I can call anything Phil does a flaw, it would be that. And Sooja was a very sweet lady, who definitely deserved someone who could see past her eyes (read the graphic novel, you'll see what I mean).

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Given how big of a Ranma 1/2 fan I am, I feel ashamed I didn't catch this sooner. And, for no one's amusement other than my own, I claim the four thousandth post in this thread! Yay me! -looks around- Dude, work was dull; I need me my fun somehow.

Re: Ultimate Grimoire HD Prefabs updated Threw in my rep chips for your ultimate coolness. Thanks man.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Not sure I'd want to play it... but the DVD might brighten an otherwise dull afternoon.

Re: (worst ever)...reasons to be a supervillain You know, if I were to ever get super powers, this would be one of the top thre or four reasons I'd end up being a villain. My laugh either comes out sounding like a baritone "Mwahahahahah!!!" or a demented cackle. Either way I'm typecast.

Re: WWYCD: Alternate Identities Part of my difficulties with this one (tho' I love the idea) is that the characters I use the most tend to have fairly "dark" -- and rather obvious -- abilities. But lemme try.... Penumbra would get a power reduction, since his non-shadow magicks are at about 45-60 AP in a 75-90 AP world, and the attacks in that bunch are not the most powerful (mostly funky-specific defenses, movements, and various utility powers). He'd probably try to come across as a "weak" full elementalist with a bound shadow demon (which he'd almost never use). A glamour would make him look older than he is, adding to the "I've studied for decades to reach this point." Kodachi would have a very hard time, as many of her powers are connected to her weaknesses. If she somehow could work around that, Kodachi could go in several directions with her martial arts -- taijutsu, wushu, aikijutsu -- and she could give her limited ritual magic studies a good dust-off. She'd almost have to be either in a support role on a team with several females or undercover at a girls' school.

Re: Campaign Tone -- explaining “Bronze Age”

Re: Altered Reality (making yourself) Shift the Social INT to Presence, average the linguistic and "most other areas", and minor PhysLim for the math and pattern recognition?

Re: Music To Raise The Dead A lot of how I view magic (in both games and fic) is as a headgame versus the 'danes. Since "most people" have no idea what your true limitations are, it's in your best interests to dazzle and baffle them -- they should never have a real grasp of just how weak you might actually be. Minor casual illusions and evocations -- lighting a fag with the tip of your finger, a finger-snap to start or stop something minor, or (my favorite) a little bit of TK to casually draw a drink to your hand -- these all add to the persona of a mage. As such, a lot of the music to which I listen to put me in the mood for such things evokes that feel of wonder. I'm going to go through my list (which I wrote while quite sleepy, mind you), and make some comments. 3 Doors Down -- Dangerous Game -- mostly due to the fact that I first head it while reading a Harry Potter fic, I still see this as a spell duel Adrian Alexis -- I Want To Be A Vampire -- dude, come on, the name says it all! also, it's got that "face I present to you and you react" vibe going. Aerosmith -- Take Me To The Other Side -- another one of those "I was doing something else at the time and this got fixed in my head" songs Alan Parsons Project -- Can't Take It With You -- if you can't see the Death motif in this song.... Alan Parsons Project -- Cask Of Amontillado -- more for the dark theme and the glorious lines "you who are rich and whose troubles are few, may come around to see my point of view". Alannah Myles -- Black Velvet -- really about Elvis, true, but the images evoked are too rich for that alone. Alice Cooper -- Gimme -- this and Nothing's Free used to be on constant loop on my player for a while, just for the "deal with the devil" flavor. Alice Cooper -- Feed My Frankenstein -- to answer Arkham's comment; yeah, I know, but the first time I ever heard this song was with Alice accompanied by Rob Zombie. And Rob always brings the freaky. Alice Cooper -- Nothing's Free -- the perfect "sold my soul and gotta pay" song, IMO. The phrasing of the choruses, where they spell out what you're not free to do, while implying you are, is beautiful. Ayreon -- Abbey of Synn -- more for the dark magic vibe, really; "another man died today, like the one before, with blackened tongue and blackened fingers", I mean come on. Though I swear I will one day pull out The Deadly Book of Laughter and smite some heroes good. Ayreon -- Isis and Osiris -- people from various times and cultures caught in the afterlife, and their comments on same. Lovely. Ayreon -- Valley of the Queens -- not as good as Isis and Osiris, IMO, but its got a nice mournful melancholy tone. Ayreon -- Temple of the Cat -- it's got the line "He lies here in the Temple of the Cat, dead. He will rise again from the Temple of the Cat." Also a great religious feel. Added in as I was relistening: Ayreon -- Dragon On The Sea -- really about Drake opposing the Armada, but with lines like "Tall ships that rain down thunderbolts and flames," "Take your fleet where darkness falls and turn the night to day," and "Dragon ships they keep on sailing, on to Nova Albion. While the waking world is sleeping, dragon ships are sailing on." you can see the imagery. Blue Oyster Cult -- Don't Fear The Reaper -- do I really need to say? Also, I love Oingo Boingo's cover of this. Boston -- Higher Power -- deep bass line and a nice religious feel on this one, completely aside from the imagery. The Serenity Prayer, followed by "Thy will, not mine, shall be done. Amen." really makes the song, IMO. Chris de Burgh -- Don't Pay the Ferryman -- listen to the song, and you'll see what I mean. David Draiman -- Forsaken -- great vampire song, 'nuff said. Depeche Mode -- Sea Of Sin -- mostly for the sin references and elements, really. What can I say? I like sin. Depeche Mode -- Stripped -- primarily due to a misinterpretation of the lyrics, where I thought "Let me hear you make decisions, without your television." was actually "Let me hear you make decisions, without your deadly visions." Still stuck in my head like that. Depeche Mode -- World In My Eyes -- for the divination aspects of Necromancy, and also because I simply LOVE this song. Depeche Mode -- In Your Room -- great imagery, just listen. Diamond Rio -- One More Day With You -- for a (rather romantic) look at what one man would do to get back what he lost. I tend to hear "lost my love" country songs in a death frame of mind. Dido -- Resting Here With Me -- if you can listen to this without getting a glimpse of a girl who's holding on to a dead love, I'm impressed. Disturbed -- Down With The Sickness -- much about the taint of darkness coming through. The last bit with the screaming at mommy can be ignored. Drowning Pool -- Let The Bodies Hit The Floor -- look at the name, man! Evanescence -- Going Under -- I was really in a mood when I first heard it, so it's stuck in my head as a Death song. then again, it is Evanescence, and much of their work is pretty death related. Evanescence -- Bring Me To Life -- if ever I could craft a resurrection song, this would be it. Just listen to the song and try to see it from the perspective of a dead soul being brought back. Evanescence -- My Last Breath -- very pretty and nice "I'm dying and I want to say goodbye" song. great imagery. Looking at my music choices, I've realized that I listen to an awful lot of depressing-type music. Geez. Oh well, it's what I like -- emotionally evocative music. Tune in next time, when I go through some more of these songs and my reason for putting them on the list.