Doc Quantum

Re: You Don't Have to be Crazy to be a Superhero, but it Helps!

My 2 cents.

Comic book mages deal with things that would drive most people insane upon their first exposure. I think of magical adventures as being like radiation poisoning. Mages have better shielding but some still leaks through over time. Also, as a mage becomes more powerful, he might become so attuned to mystic phenomena that his entire frame of reference shifts to that and everyone else starts commenting on how he seems to only speak in riddles and non sequiturs. It would make perfect sense to anyone who shared that frame of reference.

Putting on a costume to fight or commit crimes is, I think, an attempt to become more than just a human being. When a highwayman concealed his face, he didn't just conceal his identity. He also signaled that he couldn't be expected to conform to normal behaviors and could do anything, including kill at the drop of a hat. Batman is a classic example of symbolism to evoke fear of the dark, imo. Criminals accustomed to thinking of the night and darkness as their protector from the law had to rethink that when Batman loomed out of the shadows.

I agree that mutants just a metaphor for prejudice in most cases. There was a supplement called The Mutant Files that covered GENOCIDE and a mutant supremacist group whose name escapes me at the moment(IMAGE?). Anyway, it talked about a subset of mutants called the New Generation. They didn't have any obvious physical mutations other than being very physically attractive. Their package deal included extended lifespan, reduced need for sleep and stat bonuses. They were supposedly the result of the mutant genome stabilizing after the initial breakout and all of its variations. The implication was that they were the future of mutants on Earth (sorry, Beast, but you ain't it). It made me think of the Inhumans or some kind of proto-New Gods.

Re: Time Frame for Appearance of Superhumans

In Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series, there were always people with "superpowers" but they were mostly only suited for low-power campaigns. The closest the series had to Invulnerability was a magic charm tattoed on Mike Fink's (see the Disney film Davey Crockett and the River Pirates) backside (his mom had it done when he was a child) that acted like damage resistance. Alvin Maker himself was like a low-level Dr. Manhattan with some transmutational powers that extended to body control (self and others) and even DNA changes. He did this to a runaway slave child so that the trackers couldn't find him anymore.

Re: What if there are no super-prisons?

Ditto to all the above. I can't see any government being willing to allow a private prison with no government supervision or control, even for someone like Valak. For the U.S. at least, I don't think it would pass Constitutional muster. If the mirror cell tech was given or even just licensed to the feds and they ran it, then I don't see them having a problem with such a facility.

Re: Nighthawk's Rogue's Gallery

Jade Phoenix has a rivalry with Nighthawk's civilian ID' date=' doesn't he?[/quote']

 

I just checked my copy of Villains vol. 3 and he's still Nighwind's nemesis. I don't remember if Nighthawk has a true nemesis a la Batman and Joker.

Re: Curious about your view on the current state of CO. (Anybody still play regularly

The main thing that PO's me about the game setup is that there are Lairs that are impossible to run without a full team of 5. The fact that these Lairs also have the most Story in them makes it doubly annoying. I have only once been to Apocalypse Aversion' date=' yet could only get part-way through before half the team had to bail because it was taking so freaking long. I have [b']never[/b] been to the final Lairs on Monster Island or Lemuria, because I could never get a team together. And now that Alerts are the Big Thing™, its almost impossible to get teams together to do the Lairs that there were always takers for, like Destroyer's Factory or Teleios's Tower.

 

Dang it, if they can scale Adventure Packs to work for any character regardless of level, they should be able to have a Lair scale to the size of one's team.

I don't know about Teleios' Tower, but Destroyer Factory has been bugged since the Nighthawk update. You can't finish the final room because Destroyerbot's flying fist drones keep duplicating. Even if you teleport past them, they home in after about a minute and no character can stand up to that barrage for long.

Re: Announcement: The Monster Hunter International RPG!

Baen is offering the first three novels as a bundle for $6.

Re: Announcement: The Monster Hunter International RPG!

Baen has the first three bundled together for $6.00. I downloaded the ebook format for my ipod.

Re: Announcement: The Monster Hunter International RPG!

So to be clear, is this going to be a Kickstarter book or is DOJ, Inc. I just want to know if I should stop looking for it at kickstarter.

Re: Announcement: The Monster Hunter International RPG!

Baen sells e-books in a variety of formats' date=' and I think MHI might be in the free library already. I personally do not prefer e-books, but the convenience of delivery is hard to beat.[/quote']

 

Audible.com has them in mp3 format as well. I would also recommend Confessions of a D-List Supervillain. Funny, engaging and shows an uglier side of superheroics.

Re: TUALA MORN -- Interested In More Stuff?

Write them and I'll buy them. To borrow an idea from Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody, I move that we confine Steve to a secured room with a chair, a table, a laptop and a floor rigged to administer electric shocks if he falls below a certain number of words per minute. Any seconds?

Re: What "Pulp" have you read lately ?

I'm reading The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu.

Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments?

Or in Niven's books executed criminals were parted out to the organ banks' date=' which lead to lowering the bar on capital crimes.[/quote']

 

Ah, yes. The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton. When they say "Keep off the grass", they really mean it!

Re: Realistic Monetary Systems in FH

Oh, why do it the easy way? Do it like real people did. Imagine the most commonly purchased goods and services in your fictional society and set values in your fictional currency. By the time your campaign is ready, your players will have lots of time on their hands (being retired and all).

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter

Someone just canceled a pledge.

Re: BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter

All is as I have foreseen it.

Re: Possible HERO System Supplement Kickstarters From Steve -- What Interests You?

1. STORMlords – Very interested in this one. $25-$50.
    
    
   
2. Mythic Hero – This one if it also has meta-stuff like Wizards of the Coast's Primal Order series (I wish they'd been able to continue it. They really make you think about how to run a deity as an NPC). $25-$50
    
    
   
3. Cyber Hero -Interested but not so much. $25-$35.
    
    
   
4. Dark Champions 6E – Not really interested. Pretty much covered in DC 5E and Ultimate Skill. Danger International-type setting book would be better.
    
   

Re: Religion and Faith

In the Roman empire, worship of the Graeco-Roman pantheon was considered an essential part of maintaining the health of the state. This is no different than the Chinese emperors performing the rituals to maintain the Celestial Court's favor. Priests were appointed because it was a government job. Refusing to worship the Roman state's gods was a dereliction of civic duty. Judaism was barely tolerated because it was a traditional faith of the conquered Jewish people. The early Christians were tolerated, too, because they were thought to be an offshoot of Judaism. The apostle Paul declared that there was no need for people to become Jews before converting to Christianity (I'll bet many observant Jews were pleased about that. How would you like it if someone treated your faith as training wheels for the religion they really wanted to join?). The persecution of Christians began in earnest once it was established that Christianity and Judaism were actually separate religions. Christians were considered subversives and dangerous to the health of the empire through their impiety(to Jupiter & Co.).

I'm watching A Christmas Story and it got me to thinking about building powers with the limitation Must Curse a Blue Streak.

Obviously, the Old Man's Everyman home repair skills are boosted by steady profanity.

What about a self-healing power in which your character has to swear loudly while dancing in place and shaking the injured body part?

What if the Old Man's "Tapestry of Profanity" was a literal flight power like a magic carpet? (Still hovers over Lake Michigan)

Clairsentience ("Where the !@#$ is he/she/it?")

Defensive Powers ("You ain't hittin' me with that !@#$!")

Please add your suggestions.

Re: Real Life Dragon Discovered

I've got no first hand experience with keeping them' date=' but I'm told they can be challenging to care for.[/quote']

 

All it takes is the right attitude. Just ask Hagrid.

Re: The future is here, again.

I hear Tokyo and NYC are doing this in their subways.

Re: List Your CO Heroes!

Doc Quantum(40) My Avatar. "Roman Drake was a science prodigy who seemed destined to spend his life in a lab. Then puberty hit and he discovered girls and extreme sports. His methods might not be very conventional , but they're a lot more fun and there's no denying the results. Drake, now known as Doc Quantum thanks to the media, was in Millenium City to present a paper on zero point energy when the big bugs invaded. Donning his new exo-suit, Doc went out for some field testing."

Disco Inferno(40) "Quote: "So many cliched pick-up lines, so little time."

Rick Stone was a rising star in the disco scene in 1975. No one could match his groovy moves and the ladies couldn't resist his handsome face and devilish grin. Rick disappeared one night and no one knows where he went. One persistent story says that one night he boasted that he could out-hustle Satan himself and the devil took him up on the challenge. Rick, so the story goes, bet his soul against the Devil's flame powers in the ultimate dance-off. Some say the story ended with the Devil claiming Rick's soul but others say Rick won hands-down. But the devil, so to speak, is in the details. In that ending, the devil gave Rick powers but sent Rick to the future where disco was dead. ;)"

Magenta(36)"Gabrielle Sinclair's parents wanted her to have a normal life with normal problems. So they never told her about her granfather's work as a spy and saboteur against the Nazis in WWII. Or her great-grandfather's battles against an occult conspiracy spanning Europe, Asia, and Africa. Or her great-great-grandmother's work infiltrating terrorist cells in the post-Civil War United States. You get the idea. They also didn't tell her that her ancestors were so successful because of their preternatural gifts: their "edge", if you will.

The fact that Gabrielle's eyes burned with the same intensity as her forebears only increased her parents fears that she would "run off on some fool crusade". In spite of their best efforts, Gabrielle stumbled across some of her grandfather's journals. These led her to other journals kept by her ancestors. She learned a great deal about life and evil in the world and how to fight it with her own "edge".

Now she's happy to continue the family tradition."

Shadowhunter(25) "Ben Klein spent his life in Phoenix, AZ until his father got a great job opportunity in MC. This meant moving during the summer before Ben started high school.

He liked MC, but missed living out in the country. He got his Law Enforcement degree and intended to become a Federal Marshall. A distant cousin left him a house and a lot of money in New Orleans so he went to check it out. A run-in with a nomadic biker gang of werewolves left him infected with lycanthropy but didn't rob him of his self-control. Newly-augmented senses enabled him to discover a hidden room in the house where he learned that some of his ancestors had trafficked with the powers of darkness and committed acts of great evil against humanity.

Ben decided to turn his mystic heritage to fight against the dark and hunt the evil that hides in the shadows."

Silk Tiger (14) "Sharon Wing adored her family's traditional stories of the Storm Wardens and their defense of the Jade Empire from demonic incursions but thought they were just a way of teaching manners and good behavior to children. True, she possessed a phenomenal natural talent for the martial arts but that didn't make the stories real, did it?

Then came the night when invaders from another world attacked her new home, Millenium City. As she meditated to calm herself, she heard her late grandfather's voice call out to her. "The Storm Wardens are needed again, child. " Opening her eyes, Sharon saw a man standing before her surrounded by light. She recognized him from a picture taken of her grandfather when he was a young man. "These swords are called Lightning and Snow", he said, producing them from his robe and placing them in front of her. He caressed her cheek and said, "The blessings and knowledge of our family are now yours. Rise up and claim your place as the new Lady Silk Tiger!" With those words, he vanished.

An instant later, Sharon's mind was bombarded with secrets and lore she never imagined existed. She knew what she was meant to do. Taking hold of Lightning and Snow, Sharon transformed into Silk Tiger and charged into battle!"

Lux(8) No backstory yet.

Re: Religion and Faith

One way of looking at it would be to replace 'faith' with 'faithfulness' or 'loyalty'. In a multitheistic environment it might be less of a question of belief and more a question of choosing sides.

 

Alternatively, you can do what I've done in the past, which is declare that all faith-based magic be bought Invisible. That puts a big limitation on divine magic--flame strikes go right out the window--but it does make it more ambiguous as to the role of Gods in mortal affairs. (FWIW I put a bunch of required limitations on secular magic in that campaign as well--plenty of Concentrate and Extra Time. It was more of an S&S campaign.)

I agree. In a setting where people often see overt manifestations of a god's power, it's not a question of belief in the gods. Instead, it's how devoted to your god's principles are you? Do you understand them and practice them to the point that you are attuned to your deity and can be used as a free-willed extension of your deity's power? In Shadowrun, shamans are described as taking on the appearance of their totem as they work magic. That sounds to me like a priest becomes a microscale avatar of the deity for the time of the casting. The deity knows if you've been following the rules in letter and spirit because you've given it a continuous, passive link to your mind in exchange for sharing its power. Lloth could have struck Drizz't dead if he had simply been an apostate. Because he fully renounced her in his heart(breaking the link of faith), she had to resort to flinging adversaries at him.

If it's not obvious when divine magic is in use and gods don't typically send flashy heralds to declare their desires, there is plenty of room for debate on the nature of the gods. Do they really answer prayers or are miracles simply the unconscious use of one's strength of belief to grab a little power from the mostly oblivious god to use for your purposes? Are the gods separate entities or, as one explanation I've heard about the Hindu pantheon goes, are they just facets of the personality of a single creator god that is otherwise beyond a mortal's most rudimentary comprehension? Think of the centuries of debates among Christians about the nature of the Trinity.

There's plenty of room for philosophers in a fantasy campaign.

Re: 11 Victoria's Secret models hit the catwalk as superheroines

The problem is that superhero costumes are not designed to look good under normal lighting. Christian Bale's batsuits look obviously fake on the sets, but through the magic of set lights and camera shutters they look great on the screen.

As and aside, I discovered something truly freaky about my dvd player software. It has a feature that changes the light values. Basically, it alters the lighting so that the movie looks like it was filmed with a wide aperture lens. Because the images were filmed and processed for the theater, this makes good-quality CGI sfx and creature makeup look real and alive (the cave troll in Fellowship of the Ring is astonishing in some shots). So when I watch either of Nolan's Batman films, it looks like Nolan was filming a hidden camera documentary with normal light but the costume looks like real armor and still looks cool.

Re: 11 Victoria's Secret models hit the catwalk as superheroines

Anyone else feeling nostalgic for Electrowoman and Dynagirl? Judy Strangis did things for me before I was even old enough to understand what those things were.