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Zephrosyne

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  1. Like
    Zephrosyne got a reaction from TranquiloUno in Free Equipment - Pros & Cons   
    I think the cutoff point may vary from campaign to campaign,  more specifically, probably especially, from gm to gm.  Speaking for myself, I don't have a long list of equipment that you can and can't have any more than I have a list of powers/power builds that  you can and can't have.  Once you know yourself as a gm and the campaign that you have built, you just know.  For myself: yes, Tom, you can have that flashlight, cell phone, and Ferrari as equipment because you can afford it (can steal it or whatever); however, if you think you are going to have Iron Man's armor (or a facsimile of) without spending character points, you're out of your damn mind.  The cutoff point is kinda like the definition of obscenity: you may not be able to exactly define it, but you'll know it when you see it.  The important thing is being consistent with your judgement and making sure your players understand it.  If you know yourself as a gm and your campaign, it isn't that difficult.
  2. Like
    Zephrosyne got a reaction from drunkonduty in Free Equipment - Pros & Cons   
    I think the cutoff point may vary from campaign to campaign,  more specifically, probably especially, from gm to gm.  Speaking for myself, I don't have a long list of equipment that you can and can't have any more than I have a list of powers/power builds that  you can and can't have.  Once you know yourself as a gm and the campaign that you have built, you just know.  For myself: yes, Tom, you can have that flashlight, cell phone, and Ferrari as equipment because you can afford it (can steal it or whatever); however, if you think you are going to have Iron Man's armor (or a facsimile of) without spending character points, you're out of your damn mind.  The cutoff point is kinda like the definition of obscenity: you may not be able to exactly define it, but you'll know it when you see it.  The important thing is being consistent with your judgement and making sure your players understand it.  If you know yourself as a gm and your campaign, it isn't that difficult.
  3. Like
    Zephrosyne got a reaction from RDU Neil in Free Equipment - Pros & Cons   
    Yeah, I'm in the camp of allowing characters to have normal crap as long as they can justify it (buy it, steal it, whatever) be it a flash light, a cell phone, a blender, or a gun.  However, it is treated as real world stuff and subject to real world rules.  You didn't play for it with points so I am free to do with it as I see fit.  Since you didn't buy it with points, it doesn't really belong to you, it belongs to the campaign world.
  4. Like
    Zephrosyne got a reaction from Killer Shrike in Free Equipment - Pros & Cons   
    Yeah, I'm in the camp of allowing characters to have normal crap as long as they can justify it (buy it, steal it, whatever) be it a flash light, a cell phone, a blender, or a gun.  However, it is treated as real world stuff and subject to real world rules.  You didn't play for it with points so I am free to do with it as I see fit.  Since you didn't buy it with points, it doesn't really belong to you, it belongs to the campaign world.
  5. Like
    Zephrosyne got a reaction from bigbywolfe in Is an Indirect, MegaArea, UBO power valid?   
    Unless I am misunderstanding what you want, you could use Area Of Effect (1m Radius Accurate; +½), MegaArea (1m area covers the entire world; +2) to affect a single target anywhere in the the world.  This is used to create a spell called Curse (Hero System Grimoire pg. 51).  As a gm, I would also require Indirect +1/2 as well to be able to affect a target that might be inside or outside.
  6. Like
    Zephrosyne reacted to RDU Neil in Batman builds/STR Chart/NCM   
    In wrestling with the "what is normal?" issue, and how does that translate to "essentially human characters who have superhuman levels of success and survivability" in my campaign, I came up with the concept of the Adept. Within the world, there were classifications for the kinds of metahumans that were known and studied/cataloged (the Kirby-Ellis Scale I called it... heh) and it took notice of people who, in any scientific examination, would be nothing more than an incredibly fit and healthy human being, but seemed capable of doing incredible things.
     
    I took the concept from the idea that even in the real world humans can demonstrate some really amazing feats, or train to be really really incredible at one or two tightly controlled and defined activities... but most of these feats are one-offs or only in a very controlled environment. What if there were humans who could perform at that level consistently and in chaotic, ad hoc environments (like combat)?  These were called Adepts. They were hard to identify except in what they demonstrated over time. Nothing that was "impossible" just usually improbable, except these Adepts do it all the time. (It was usually some kind of special origina... ninja training or traumatic event, whatever... that enabled someone to break through normal human levels and become an adept.)
     
    From a stat point of view, Adepts had no limitations except what we as a play group made sense... so 27-30 Dex and 6-7 SPDs were possible. 25 STR, etc. The idea that the amazing aspects of humanity that show up in rare and single instances across the population, well these Adepts had many of those aspects in one person.

    It was a nice conceit, and was a recognized form of "otherness" within the game world, even though they couldn't technically be called metahuman, they were a recognized class of such.  So, in a game where there were plenty of characters that had stats that fell within NCM, there were the truly elite who could be more than that.

    The point was, even these Adepts were outclassed by true metahumans. Once the games started to move into the Avengers/Authority level of power, as some of our sub-campaigns did, the Batman/Daredevil types often couldn't keep up. This was felt as appropriate for the way our games played out... addressing Massey's issue of not trying to force certain character concepts into every campaign. If an Adept ALSO had access to high-tech, or magic or whatever, then maybe they'd gain the raw power and defenses to stand with the Vanguard... but no, none of us ever felt that a pure Batman type belonged at that level.
     
    To me, this was always an important aspect of defining the world you are gaming in. So many comic book tropes simply don't translate well if you try to put ALL of them in the same campaign and hope for consistency and verisimilitude. Comics aren't consistent, and contradict themselves all the time. So a Champions campaign needs to create internally consistent standards for itself, and then that helps define which of the tropes will be acceptable, and which will not.

    A good test of that, IMO, is a Batman type character... how they are statted and defined, and what precedent does that set for the campaign. If Doc Shadow's version above is acceptable (and for the most part, he'd have fit right into my campaign as a very experienced Adept character) then that sets a precedent for what is acceptable in the game. If you also have well trained spec-ops agent types, whose stats are all in the NCM range, but are still considered really good/well trained humans, then, IMO, you have to explain why they are so much less than the "also human" Batman-esque guy.  For me, this explanation was the Adept class. The one in ten thousand highly trained spec-ops dudes, who transcends and becomes legendary.
     
    To me, it is about having an internally consistent universe, more than obeying certain source material tropes (that often make little sense in the first place).
  7. Like
    Zephrosyne got a reaction from Lord Liaden in The Power Of Presence   
    Dude, you don't need to defend yourself.  Frankly, I busted out laughing when I read your first post.  While I am neither a killer gm or a masochist type player, I do realize (as both a player and gm) that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you totally outclass the opposition, and sometimes you are totally outclassed.  It happens.  As long as you are honest and your campaign is overall fair and you and your group are having fun, no one else matters.  Do you!
  8. Thanks
    Zephrosyne got a reaction from Sean Waters in The Power Of Presence   
    Dude, you don't need to defend yourself.  Frankly, I busted out laughing when I read your first post.  While I am neither a killer gm or a masochist type player, I do realize (as both a player and gm) that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you totally outclass the opposition, and sometimes you are totally outclassed.  It happens.  As long as you are honest and your campaign is overall fair and you and your group are having fun, no one else matters.  Do you!
  9. Thanks
    Zephrosyne got a reaction from Steve in The Power Of Presence   
    Dude, you don't need to defend yourself.  Frankly, I busted out laughing when I read your first post.  While I am neither a killer gm or a masochist type player, I do realize (as both a player and gm) that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you totally outclass the opposition, and sometimes you are totally outclassed.  It happens.  As long as you are honest and your campaign is overall fair and you and your group are having fun, no one else matters.  Do you!
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