ThothAmon

Re: Tommy Spyder

Cerebral palsy has very severe, progressive debilitating effects - more than just wobbly legs.

Nevertheless, I appreciate the character design. The 'heroic cripple' is almost a Package Deal...

Re: Chainmail Bikini Effects

I recall the ancient Celts also being toked up on woad and the like while doing so.

The ancient Celts fought a ritual form of warfare (as do many African tribal cultures). The use of armour wasn't that important (initially) as the Celts fought man to man rather than in regimented army formations.

Wars were often presided over by the neutral Druids and the outcome was not necessarily simply a matter of who killed the most of the enemy.

Back on topic, I like the abilities. Male PCs deserve to have their sexist behaviour used against them...

Re: The Bureau of Special Investigations - long

I must point out that any halfway savvy group of players will take the initials BSI and expand them to name the organization B U L L S H * T. Well, mine would...

Re: Crimson Skies Hero?

Vehicle rules shouldn't be overlooked as a source of fun - one such (good) combat we've had was gyrocopter vs bad guys in fleeing truck - another would be the squadron of 1920's bombers vs winged aliens from Pluto

Re: Orichalcum

But I really want to ask about liches. I have a vague idea that there was a Persian belief in a kind of undead wizard who could not be killed because he had preserved his internal organs and kept them in a safe place' date=' and could only be destroyed if you found that hiding place and attacked his naked heart, brains, etc. (Perhaps an idea derived ultimately from Egyptian funereal practice??) Of course this is also just a special case of the fairy tale motif found everywhere of the giant/wizard/whatever whose heart/life/soul is not in his body. But if any of you impressive scholars can give me more information, or can direct me to good sources, I would appreciate it.[/quote']

 

I know of it from a couple of sources - an Arabian Nights movie (or perhaps Sinbad) and a Fritz Leiber 'Grey mouser' story wherein the heroes end up in ancient Tyre.

 

Not scholarly but you did ask...

Re: Numbers as a Campaign Hook

I haven't seen it but it sounds like a modern twist on the Sherlock / Mycroft Holmes relationship...

Re: Help me flesh this out...

Flesh it out in what fashion? Sounds like something angsty and vampire-related.

I see two obvious routes for players of these 'mutants':

(1) Release the virus into the population, either en masse or selectively (e.g. captains of industry, media barons et al).

(2) Start your own cult in an attempt to recruit more like yourself. Offer cultists the chance to become a mutant.

I also don't see the Catholic Church as being relevant in any way whatsoever, certainly not in continental USA or the UK. Governments are more of an issue but they can be corrupted given sufficient power / money / leverage.

Re: Ringworlds, orbitals, etc...

I also would recommend a look at Iain M Banks' Culture novels (e.g. Look To Windward) for inspiration on Orbitals. Chances are your Watchers are going to be machine intelligences not unlike Bank's Drones.

My initial explanation for the Watchers' behaviour (and the abandoned status of the Orbital) might be scientific interest in studying the barbaric remnants of a long gone culture. There may not be many clues for PCs regards the prior occupants as most high tech cultures use non-physical means of storing data.

Another smaller-scale artifical world that may be worth your investigation is found in John Varley's Gaea trilogy of novels (Titan, Wizard and Demon). The world depicted here is significantly different from hard SF ringworlds or orbitals and contains many fantasy and fantastic elements. It also features a tailor-made explanation for the Watcher in an RPG setting

Re: Penalty of Death

One question that you do need to resolve is why the authorities are using criminals rather than well-trained agents.

Other than that, I've used the 'Dirty Dozen' hook successfully in the past and I'd recommend it

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now?

The Essential Mix - 1995-05-07 - Snap

Re: So...About Seeker...

I never had a problem with Seeker's origin or his appearance. Regards the latter (which seems to be subject of some negativity) you have an issue with a barechested guy in loud pantaloons yet you are happy with spandex clad cape-wearing types?

My only gripe with original Seeker was the poor design. Grossly inefficient, lacking weapon skills and a number of other seemingly obvious skills (e.g. Seeker really need lager lout and cricket talents). A similar argument could be made for many of the example characters in 4th Edition.

I always read Seeker as an offshot of the Australian martial arts movie boom of the 1980's, an intriguing period that produced a handful of good flicks. Was I the only one who though this way?

Re: Only barely related to Pulp... but funny

I like the fact that the Hero is as thick as pigsh*t - a true Pulp convention

Re: The Network: Campaign Setting Idea

It's a reasonable skeletal outline for a campaign SS.

I suggest you work on the alien technology and master plans. You need to have lots of stuff for the PCs to discover - not just one 'big secret' but a whole load of secrets. And you need to have these secrets discovered in a 'drip feed' fashion. Examples:

Alien biology - they are humanoid and they can interbreed with human females

Alien psychology - vastly superior brains with telepathic powers?

Alien homeworld - destroyed by pollutants, they hop from world to world like interstellar parasites, sucking planets dry then migrating to the next?

Alien technology - their fourth dimension jaunts cost lots of power and kill their troops in a manner similar to massive doses of radiation?

Alien master plan - bioengineered algae to screw up oceans and CO2 cycle?

Alien collaborators - there will always be collaborators, and maybe they have a good reason for doing so e.g. aliens threated Earth with planetkilling asteroid in orbit?

Alien conscientious objectors - amongst the aliens there are potential allies if the humans can beat their prejudices and open lines of communication?

Re: Robert E Howard or J.R.R. Tolkien?

For me Fritz Leiber was the man.

However, if forced to choose between just those two it would have to be Howard as IMO Tolkien's writing is devoid of humour, satire and many of the more visceral emotions.

Re: Who is the best Archaic/Anachronism/whatever in comics?

Who was/is your favorite Cowboy in comics?

Judge Dredd

Who was/is your favorite Ninja in comics?

The Ninjas from 'The Tick'

Who was your favorite Knight in comics?

Deadlock

Who was your favorite Archer/Robin Hood type?

Crossbow (or X Bow if you prefer)

Got any other favorites? (Samuraii, Cavemen, etc)[

Usagi Yojimbo, Wulf Sternhammer, Middenface McNulty

Re: Cavalry Charge , House Rules ?

I allow variants on Move By and Move Thru calculated using the velocity of the animal, the STR of the rider, and OCV / DCV adjusted according to the competency of the Riding skill roll.

In the case of a lance charge the rider had better score some knockdown or he's rolling to avoid the animal falling at the end of the charge.

Re: Where's Amelia Earhart?

Where's Amelia Earhart?

Mighty Cthulhu was trying out the new superfast home delivery service at the time...

Re: Expanded Card Shark Rouster Ideals.

The layout of the Nine Of Diamonds is the same as the coat of arms of the Earl of Stair, the man who was ultimately responsible for the Glencoe Massacre. Hence the appelation the Curse Of Scotland.

IIRC Card Shark already has at least one superpowered agent whose name duplicates that of another, separate non-superpowered agent.

As for what you'd do with a villain called the Curse Of Scotland? He'd need to be a really evil, scheming treacherous SOB who works behind the scenes just like his historical namesake who was known for being exceptionally cold, ruthless, bloodthirsty and uncaring. I'd go with exceptionally subtle powers of persuasion, blackmail, forgery, masses of contacts rather than up more obvious combat-oriented superpowers. Ideally he'd be in a position to have others do his dirty work for him.

Re: Expanded Card Shark Rouster Ideals.

Just thought of a new one...

 

Suicide King: A former psychologist turned asasion who specalises in mainpulating the target into killing themselves via psychological manipulation. His card is a split card, an King Of Spaid and an Ace Of Spaid. His name comes from a poker term (othoe I don't know exactly what a 'suicide king' refers to exactly).

Amongst others I know of here in sunny Scotland we have Suicide Kings and Bedpost Queens

The Suicide King is a playing card where the King appears to be killing himself by stabbing himself in the head with the sword he's holding. IIRC it's usually the King of Hearts.

The Bedpost Queen is a card where it appears as though the Queen is holding onto the wooden post of a four-poster bed.

The Curse Of Scotland is the Nine of Diamonds. I always knew it as being associated with the Earl of Stair who conspired in the Glencoe Massacre, but there are other explanations too.

Re: Batman Begins

I liked Hulk quite a bit' date=' I think it's one of the best of the superhero films . Although my wife didn't at all. But we both thought this was mediocre. Not bad, but not great. It just doesn't compare to the other superhero movies that kicked off this wave. We both thought both X-Men movies were much better, for example.[/quote']

 

I'm in agreement with your regards 'The Hulk'. IMO it's a criminally under-rated movie that is streets ahead of anything in the superhero genre to date. Psychologically much deeper than anything produced so far, it also trips wildly across the conventional boundaries of movies and comics. A very rich film indeed.

 

'Batman Begins' was, well, rather ho-hum and quite trite in its exposition. As ever, Christian Bale excelled on screen and in terms of appearance / physique he's the closest fit yet to the Bat. Shame the script and plot were not up to his standard.

 

In the villain stakes the Scarecrow almost stole the show. Cillian Murphy takes the gold medal for that performance based on sparse material - he left otherwise good actors looking foolish.

 

Finally, Michael Caine, what a class act. His Alfred was joyous to observe.

 

Now the ideal world would be to have another Bale / Batman with Tim Burton back at the helm to provide a healthy dose of surreal nightmare. Say it with me - I do believe in fairies, I do, I do...

Re: Good News For Time Travelers!

If they're dressed in period' date=' speak English well, and don't do anything outrageous, a tourist from the future would look just like a tourist from Chicago. How do you know that guy standing next to you taking a picture of the Space Needle didn't really come from the year 5714 -- or the year 700 B.C.E., for that matter?[/quote']

 

Considering how badly current tourists behave (e.g. Yanks in Scotland) one might expect that time-travelling tourists would be just as bad. OTOH those shockingly gauche tourists may actually be from the future but hiding in plain sight...

Re: Captain Jack

Although Captain Jack struck me as an obvious queer-friendly character written in by Russel T Davies, I'd have to agree with the sentiment that he's a very good character. Mr Davies took some obvious liberties to make the recent series 'Gay Friendly' but they all worked well.

I was particularly impressed by Jack's ability to produce a hidden blaster pistol after being stripped naked by the robotic versions of Trinny and Susannah (two BBC non-celebs who host a UK-based lifestyle show, excellently parodied in Dr Who). That particular talent demands a writeup.

Re: Psychic Wars

Other fiction worth examining (and I'm surprised it hasn't yet been mentioned given its winning of the Bram Stoker Award) would be Dan Simmons excellent psi-oriented Carrion Comfort, featuring many intriguing uses of Mind Control and Telepathy.

A slightly lesser known oldie-but-goodie that provided my teen years with a mind-blowing take on psis and psi-tech is the 50's classic Jack Of Eagles by James Blish. This deals directly with a Psi War and provides intriguing looks at psi powers, power levels and simple methods of countering the same. It's one of the earliest SF examinations of the psi genre and well worth the effort.

I'll echo the positive comments for Alfred Bester. Likewise for Brian Lumley but for the first three Necroscope novels only and none of the later ones. Then I'd suggest Lumley's Psychomech / Psychosphere / Psychoamok trilogy which deal directly with a specific Psi Wars genre. Their depictions of machine-augmented psionics are rather vivid.

Moviewise I'd suggest Scanners (first one only), The Dead Zone, Firestarter, The Fury, Carrie and I can think of an original Star Trek episode that fits the bill too.

Re: Early Tommy Guns

The Owen Gun

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-weapons/omc.htm

Re: Character Art

Sweet. Nice concept art there.

What's the UK distribution for this stuff?