AmadanNaBriona

Re: Killiing a lot of zombies from a safe position.
 
I've been thinking for quite some time now that it's quite appropriate to give Zeds something like this...
 
No Survival Instinct -Physical Complication: Zombies don't defend themselves, don't take evasive action, and move predictably most of the time. All Hit Location Penalties are halved for purposes of aiming, just as if they had been Surprised Out of Combat

Re: A Thread for Random Musings
 
Fare thee well Bruce.
May you make a full recovery and fly with your corvid brethren for many years

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life.
 
also at Folsom Street Faire, gathered with the perveratti at Wicked Grounds (SF's new Cafe/Kinky boutique)...
 
An hour or so earlier, a drunk hippie was running around non-consensually smacking people with a heavy leather belt. K. & myself both shrugged it off as a dumb & stupid, but J. took offense, caught the belt and snarled at him "Not without permission". He started to escalate, so to head things off at the pass, I intervened, which included grabbing his windpipe ever so gently but with the promise of bad things to come if he didn't chill.
 
While recounting the encounter, I commented...
"When are normal people gonna figure out not to mess with the people who study how to hurt other people as a hobby?"

Re: Thoughts on Autofire - what am I Missing?
 
Idea, which requires some bookkeeping: treat it as Ablative, only keep track of the cumulative Body total stopped by the armor. For every multiple of its DEF, treat that as one instance of BODY getting through. (In other words, 7 DEF Armor is hit by 7 BODY. If it takes 1 more BODY, then it takes one Ablative hit. If it's hit by a total of 14 BODY, 1 more BODY pushes it to two. Etc.)

Re: Musings on Random Musings
 
Original Green Death flavor!
Tastes like cr@p, but its powerful enough that you don't care.
Say hello to Klaus!
 
(It wasn't till I first had Absinthe that I finally realized what NyQuil was trying to taste like)
 
NyQuil, we love you,
You giant f**king Q!

Re: Musings on Random Musings
 

 
On a related note, this email was sent to me today:
 

 
For the record, I have a girlfriend, but I'm all for this...

Re: Older HERO rules in 5E games
 
Right after 4th ed came out I came up with an optional Autofire rule to help transition the campaign without rewriting the (literally) hundreds of guns I had written up for our Star Hero campaign. I still use it in some campaigns.
Spreading Autofire against a single target-
When attacking a single target with an autofire attack, the attacker may spread the attack, gaining a +1 OCV for every shot that is "spread", thus reducing the total number of potential hits by 1 per +1. Thus a standard autofire(5) attack may be spread against a single target to a maximum of +4 OCV, with 1 hit possible.
 
allows AF attacks to potentially have the OCV bonus without unbalancing the game, and improves the utility of higher ROF autofire attacks (how often does a 10 shot autofire really make its attack roll by 20 freaking points?)

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...
 
Just finished re-reading Phoenix Guard, 500 Years After, and the Viscount of Adrilankha books, working on the Vlad books. Because a) they are very cool books, and I'm refreshing things for the Dragaeran adventure I'm trying to put together for Dundracon.
 
And hey, not only is Steve a great writer, he's also a pretty good drummer, guitar player, and singer!

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 

I've been in a few situations where there would be a reasonably good chance that the deal would have been honored.
But then again, I don't hang with the average gamer crowd.
(Thems aint normal gamers Caleb... normal gamers don't play Zombies by blacklight with a bunch of hot nekkid girls)
 
And if you never got with the Martha of your past, how do you know she was loose?
Frequent excercise makes strong kegels, after all

Re: Superhero Images
 
OKay, this is Sabre - My take on a Psionic Warrior in the modern age.
 
I basically photoshopped an image of Solidus snake, and added a helmet... Since I suck at drawing, I had to work with what I had.
 
Yeah, I think the Helmet looks out of place too...
 

 
Hopefully I can find a replacement in the future.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 

Bad things always happen when you try to kill a Mockingbird.
 
unless, of course, its a two kilo mockingbird.
 
Then you have lunch.
 
(edit...I really need to go to bed...I'm getting punchy)

Re: Storn's Fantasy Art, Comics and Doodles
 
Swords Defiant.
 
An image that came to me and I've worked on, off and on, for a few weeks now. I did it as a speculative piece.
 

Re: help! how do I build the super sniper?
 

Re: help! how do I build the super sniper?
 
We obviously have different ideas of what is effective, and what is appropriate. I am a massive Genre Fiend, and my games tend to be heavy on genre conventions... as well, I usually enforce soft CV and DC caps on players.
My example is for a SUPER or typical action movie hero. If I was running a realistic heroic campaign, I wouldn't use it.
And a waste of points? How?
example...
No Range Modifier (+1/2) Naked Mod on up to 3d6 RKA (22 AP)
(-1/2) OIF Firearm of opportunity
(-1/2) Concentrate 0 DCV
(-3/4) Extra Phase
(-1/2) RSR: Power skill (Breath control... used for several other abilities)
Total limit (-2 1/4)
Real Cost: (22 AP/3.25)= 7 points.
 
Now my 23 DEX (8 OCV base) , +4 levels with Combat example character can, for 7 points, attack someone with his 12 OCV at the max range of any weapon he picks up, by taking a few seconds of his time to sight in, breathe, and then shoot.
Really powerful?
Yup.
Genre Apropriate?
Depends on the Genre.
Realistic?
Nope. IT'S A SUPERSKILL.
Overpriced?
no. Quite possibly too cheap for the effect. It does make him 0 DCV for 2 phases tho, so its not completly unbalancing.
Try putting him and your realistic sniper on opposing rooftops at 1500 yards and see who dies first... might be a fun excercise (I haven't done it yet)

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
have had a number of good ones over the years, but right off the top of my head, I'd have to say my all time favorites came from an old Runequest campaign.
 
First quote was from an Elven character (elves are plants in Glorantha) after being soundly torched by a dream dragon.
 
"Mind if I smoke?"
 
The other occured after our resident Storm-god following semi berserker barbarian duck found himself, yet again, lying on the ground missing a limb
 
"Looks like Steve's not playing with a full duck again"

Just some thoughts I had about setting up fantasy religions. Obviously, or maybe not obviously, you don't need to supply all of the following details. Some may simply not be relevent to your game, while others may be left as matters of opinion or speculation among the players and characters (PC's and NPC's) in the game world.
 
Let me know if you think of anything that I left out.
 
(and I hope my outline formatting comes out right.)
 
Stuff to make up about the gods
 
I. The pantheon


A. Creation myth
1. Creation of the natural world
2. Creation of people

B. Organization

1. Family tree
2. Command structure
a) Rigid-fluid
Degree of authority/control

3. Relationships between deities

a) Couples
Allies/Partners
c) Rivals/enemies
C. Reality

1. Form. Examples:
a) The gods are all myth/superstition.
The gods are legends based on exaggeration of historical events.
c) The gods are spirits of dead ancestors or other historical persons.
d) The gods are abstract concepts with no actual consciousness.
e) The gods are quasi-real with forms/attributes/aspect assigned by worshipping cultures.
f) The gods exist on a different level of reality, which allows them to modify their aspects/appearance based on their own desires or the culture they interact with.
g) The gods exist in a concrete sense and have true forms/attributes/aspects, which may be subject to interpretation/misinterpretation by worshippers.

2. Power Level. Examples:

a) The gods are nothing more than mere mortals that are worshipped.
The gods are mere mortals believed to rise to divinity upon death or other event.
c) The gods are somewhat more powerful than typical mortals.
d) The gods have great power that only the greatest of mortals could rival.
e) The gods have incredible power beyond any mortal.
f) The gods have cosmic power, incomprehensible to mortals.

3. Power Source. Examples:

a) The gods' power is intrinsic.
The gods' power is granted by superior gods.
c) The gods' power comes from external forces.
d) The gods' power comes from natural phenomena related to the gods' portfolio.
e) The gods' power comes from worship.
f) The gods' power comes from mortals' deeds. II. The deity


A. Symbolic
1. Name(s)
2. Epithets/Nicknames
3. Appearance/Typical depiction
4. Symbol/Icon
5. Associated items/animals/materials/colors/phenomena

B. Intrinsic

1. Myth/Story
2. Portfolio/Sphere of influence
3. Differences/similarities to other deities
4. Stats/powers/abilities
a) Possessions/Artifacts/Relics
Pets/Familiars/Mounts

5. Divine "rank"/Level of power
6. Home

a) "Plane" where the deity dwells
Relationship of the deity to the "plane(s)"
C. Psychology/behavior

1. Personality
2. Goals/desires
3. Degree of involvement in mortal affairs
a) Manifestations/Avatars
Spells/powers/abilities granted to clergy/worshippers
c) Signs/Miracles
D. Social

1. Among the gods
a) Reputation
Position/function/purpose

2. Among mortals

a) Popularity/Obscurity
Purpose of worship/reasons invoked
c) Abilities/skills typical/valued III. The religion


A. Internal
1. Principles
a) Values/Dogma
Obligations/expectations of clergy
c) Obligations/expectations of laity
d) Laws/taboos/restrictions
e) Attitude toward heresy/disagreement/questioning of doctrine/theology

2. Practice

a) Rituals/Rites
Holidays
c) Prayers
d) Priestly Vestments/Raiment
e) Temple architecture/layout/decor
f) Expressions/idioms
g) Equipment/paraphernalia used
h) Resolution of disputes
i) Punishment/penance/atonement
j) Education/Indoctrination of the faithful
k) Proselytism

3. Status of clergy/laity
4. Sects/factions/orders
5. Organization/hierarchy
B. External

1. Position in the community
2. Relations with other religions

C. Race/ethnicity/location/culture of worshippers

1. Alternate interpretations/aspects
2. Alternate names IV. "Divine Magic"


A. Effects
1. Types of effects available/not available
2. Power Level
3. Special Effects

B. Source/Method to acquire/use. Examples:

1. No actual divine magic exists. Priests don't claim any magic.
2. No actual divine magic exists. Priestly magic is all chicanery.
3. There's no real difference between divine magic and "arcane" magic.
4. Divine magic is an inherent force in the world, separate from wizardly magic. Priests access it by their own means.
5. Divine magic is a fragment of the god's or gods' power, which priests access by being priests or doing something that priests do.
6. Gods grant magic to priests directly and consciously, if they choose to.
7. Gods grant magic to priests through intermediaries or lesser divine beings, with occasional oversight by the god(s).
8. Gods grant higher-powered magic to priests directly and consciously, while lesser magic is granted more-or-less automatically.
9. Priests access magic through their own faith, without the god's direct involvement. Strength of faith determines success or power level.