devlin1

Re: Is this technique now considered legal? A city of powergamers? My God! Imagine that! It sounds like a pulp-style "lost continent" kinda thing. Cut off from society and reasonable gaming logic for generations, only to be discovered in the '20s by an intrepid band of explorers.

Re: OIHID & Focus : Mutually Exclusive? Here's an example, IMO, of the difference between the two (not that this hasn't already been fully explained eight ways from Sunday). Magic-Useress gains magical powers when she wears her necklace, and the necklace itself grants her +10 INT on its own. The +10 INT is bought with OIF, because it's part and parcel of the necklace, and also defines the conditions for her heroic identity: when she has the +10 INT, she's in her heroic identity. Her other powers (Flight, Force Wall, etc.) are only available to her when she's in her heroic ID, and she needs her OIF to get into that ID. OIHID specifies that there has to be some way to prevent the PC from getting into his heroic ID; otherwise, it's worthless. If transforming into Kick-Ass Man is a reflex action, there's no Limitation-- but he still needs the Instant Change, and probably a Distinctive Feature. If, however, he has to shout "Kick Ass!" first, one of his constant powers, like Armor, should be bought with Incantations (and maybe Extra Time) to define his heroic ID, and then everything else is bought with OIHID. Frank Castle's distinctive gun is not OIHID. It's a Distinctive Feature of the Punisher that he's known to wield this gun. If he pulls it out in his non-heroic ID, he can still use it, but someone ought to notice it and say, "Hey, isn't that the Punisher's gun?"

Re: Is this technique now considered legal? That's good, since that concept is kinda integral to the whole power-building process. Hasn't that always been in boldface somewhere in every edition? Of course, Limitations don't reduce the Active Points of a power. A 60 AP power with -2 in Limitations is still 60 AP. You guys were letting him get away with murder....

Re: Join Team Freedom! Agreed. Wholeheartedly, even. I hate game mechanics embedded within the narrative. Flashing her a smile [16 COM], he asked, "Read any good books lately? [Conversation 12-] Me, I enjoy the works of Pablo Neruda. [KS: Literature 12-] Here, let me buy you a drink." [Trading 11-, Seduction 11-, 2 Overall Levels to Seduction]

Re: Alternative to Aid?

Re: DEX vs. CSLs Am I the only one who sees one as nature, and the other as nurture? DEX is innate agility/ability, and CSLs are refined skills. So if you want your guy to be a fast (but normal) human who's good with a Colt Magnum, give him an 18 DEX and CSLs with Pistols. If you want to make an impossibly-fast mutant, or an otherwise altered human, who's not a combat monster (e.g., an Energy Blaster who's not a militant), give them superhuman DEX and maybe a CSL or two with their MP to allow for some flexibility. Batman has a decent DEX and a lot of Levels, because he's been training his whole life. Superman has a phenomenal DEX and not as many Levels, because he relies on talent more than skill. IMO, anyway. It's a character, not a tax return.

Re: Help, Zombies are eating my PCs! Y'know, I was struck by some of these same thoughts while watching the Dawn of the Dead remake. "These Normals, they're pretty good with a pistol! Almost all head shots!" When you hand out experience, you could also give them a PSL vs. Hit Locations to make things a little easier on them. Or you could reduce Hit Location Penalties from the published standards. Or maybe the PCs are going to have to get a little smarter about things, and start hacking zombies in half with a lawnmower blade or blowing them up with tanks of propane. There's more than one way to skin a zombie.

Re: A character for a game... Yeah, why don't you write a background for this guy? It's a character, not a tax return! Kidding. I think it's a big improvement over the first version. The only real suggestion I'd make is that he could/should have some other 0-point Psych Lims like "Patriotic" and "Black-and-white morality." "Code of the Hero" is just so... I dunno... blah. To me, anyway. It could be replaced with some more specific Psych Lims, like "Protective of innocents" and "Honorable" and "Code vs. Killing" (at Uncommon, Strong-- it lets him kill if there's no other choice, unlike Total). And then maybe you could drop that Enraged, which, IMO, seems a little out of place. Regardless, these are only suggestions, and none of the existing Disads are really a problem as I see it. Also, listen-- when you post a character and people criticize the character, don't take it personally. They're not criticizing you. They're criticizing your work, and therefore, by extension, you.

Re: Join Team Freedom! As someone who plays/has played in a lot of PBeMs, I'd say that the biggest difference is that, after character creation, the numbers are mostly invisible to you, the player. The GM generally rolls all the dice, including yours, just to simplify things and keep combat on the up-and-up. Character development and interaction is, for the most part, more of a focus in PBeM games than in face-to-face games, partially for this reason. In general, other considerations include what tense the game is in (present or past?), how the posts/replies are structured (from narrative prose to hard game mechanics), and what level of writing skill is required from the GM. IME, the best games are those in which everyone can write, and everything is compiled into a single narrative intended to be read by lurkers/an audience/whomever.

Re: Alternative to Aid? Good points, all. I didn't think it should be better/legal, but I couldn't think of a concrete reason why. It's reassuring to know my instincts are right, at any rate.

Re: Alternative to Aid? Well, it's all theoretical, but.... UBO states that the target is in control of the power, pays all END Costs, etc., and can refuse the power. If bought with Persistent, it can affect an unaware character, but otherwise, it seems like the character has to be aware of it and agreeable. Conversely, from the description of UAA it sounds like it can affect an unaware character by default. Regardless, while +5 STR, UAA and 1d6 STR Aid cost the same, the former is much more effective. Shouldn't that be... I dunno... wrong or something?

Re: Alternative to Aid?

Is it legal to buy a Characteristic Usable As Attack? It seems too good to be legal.

Re: Name Generator That's a great article. I'm always entertained by lists like that-- e.g., take one from Column A and one from Column B, and voila! Your cold-using super is named Nippy Vengeance. I'm thinking not ice powers, per se, but just a minor Change Environment to make it a little colder. Enough for a windbreaker, say, but nothing damaging. "Ah ha, foul villain! Forget your jacket, did you? This slightly uncomfortable, unseaonably chilly weather ought to teach you a lesson, evildoer!"

Re: fun with heroes or villians, a comedy Here's Hulk Smash!, a huge, green, constantly-screaming private detective. I made him for a pulp game. (Also, I made him a while ago with HTML Hero, thus the zipped file. Not allowed to upload HTML files for whatever reason.)

Re: Superhero Fiction? If it were up right now (and it may very well be), I'd suggest the Vieux Carre Universe, aka VC Games. We're a PBeM, but the games are done very much in a story/narrative format, and are intended to be read by someone (e.g., you) instead of just being a game. One of our game settings, Teamups, has a website that's currently operational. Check that out. Some good stuff there.

Re: Mental Entangles and the Weak-Willed

Re: Mental Entangles and the Weak-Willed What about buying the Entangle with Ablative? Just a thought.

Re: Campaign Advice: How to Enforce Style? Alright, I'm going to do a plug, but only because it's almost relevant. Lee Deline runs some great pulp games (collectively known as The Odyssey League) over on VCGames.net that have a lot in common with what Supreme seems to be planning (although admittedly, one of them, The Misfortune Cookie, involves some characters who push the envelope of what "pulp" really is). Maybe there's an opening. Ask him. He's a nice guy, even for a Canadian. On second thought, don't go there. The site seems to be down.

Re: Mental Entangles and the Weak-Willed

Re: Choosing between two constructs for a power The purpose is to put effort, Phase by Phase, into hindering someone else's power. Well, Suppress costs half as much as Drain, and is inherently Ranged, so I'd have to say it has some advantages. 6d6 Suppress: Telepathy, AoE: Radius, No Range, 0 END, Persistent: 60 Real Cost, 90 AP vs. 3d6 Drain: Telepathy, AoE: Radius, 0 END, Persistent: 90 Real Cost, 90 AP With the first construct, as soon as you leave the AoE, your Telepathy returns to full strength, whereas with the second, it takes a little longer. Of course, for the same number of AP, the first is twice as effective.

Re: Mental Entangles and the Weak-Willed

Re: Mental Entangles and the Weak-Willed

Re: Mental Entangles and the Weak-Willed I guess that's true. If you're going to go with a low EGO and a Vulnerability to Mental Attacks, that's what you get. I just... I dunno. There's something about walking up to Ogre and taking him out with a mere touch of my character's hand that strikes me as oddly anticlimactic. "RAARGH!! OGRE SMASH!! OGRE-- *grk*." Still, better than being thrown through another car. At any rate, my real question is "Can he reasonably get out of it?" and the answer seems to be, as I suspected, "Probably not without help."

Re: Mental Entangles and the Weak-Willed That's pretty much what I thought, but... man. Seems pretty powerful for a 2d6 BOECV Entangle. Complicating matters further in this instance is the fact that Ogre takes 2x Effect from Mental Powers, but I digress.