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Joe Walsh

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Joe Walsh last won the day on September 20 2018

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About Joe Walsh

  • Birthday 11/27/1968

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Chicagoland
  • Interests
    I enjoy collecting and playing classic video, computer, and role-playing games and researching their histories. I'm also a theme park maven and a streaming media enthusiast.
  • Biography
    I grew up California then moved to Illinois in the early 1990s. I'm married to a wonderful woman who shares my hobbies and passions. In the mid-90s, I did freelance work for Imperium Games as a member of the Core Group.
  • Occupation
    Corporate IT

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  1. Barry (S4). What a shame. Seasons 1-3 were fantastic. Season 4 was "meh" at best.
  2. I know she got the first two doses (they were offered onsite through our employer, and we got them at the same time), but other than that I don't know.
  3. Although Talents weren't explicitly pre-built powers in earlier editions, you're right that there should be a strong message to GMs about changing not only the availability of particular Talents based on campaign requirements, but also their pricing. It does make for a more diverse list of Talents, and it's not a bad idea to have more examples for GMs to draw from. So it makes sense to leave the seemingly less-useful but otherwise benign Talents in there. Thank you!
  4. I hope you're feeling better, Duke -- especially if you did have to go back to work yesterday. 😬 A woman I work with (younger millennial, no complicating medical conditions, etc.) avoided Covid until late last year, then caught it and was down for months due to reoccurring infections by every virus or bacterium she came into contact with. I hope you're on the mend for good!
  5. We all know the value of everything in the game is dependent on the campaign, but some of these Talents seem like extreme cases of that. It makes me want to just leave them to a generic category like 3e has for Perks. Absolute Range Sense, Absolute Time Sense, Bump of Direction, Lightning Calculator, and Perfect Pitch are good examples. What're the chances they'll be valuable in a given campaign? Are they worth having specific Talents? Maybe an Other Talent category or some such would be more appropriate (like Limited Power or the various Knowledge/Professional/Science Skills, where you can put any miscellaneous thing)? Or are they more commonly useful than they've been in my campaigns over the years? Here are the Talents I set aside but about which I'm most on the fence: JI DI 4e 5e 6e Body Toughness Full PD vs. BODY damage done by Killing Blow. Too hyper-specific w/o extended Martial Arts' KA? X Double Jointed Bonus to contortionist rolls. Increase Contortionist skill instead. X X X X Enhanced Senses Bonuses to PER roll for specific senses. Use Perception Skill’s rules instead. X Environmental Movement 2 CP per -1 CV/DC of Environmental Conditions penalty removed. (6e) X X Pain Resistance Use PD to reduce STUN damage of killing attacks. X Universal Translator Not useful enough? X X X
  6. Over the weekend I took a look at the Talents in JI, DI, 4e, 5e, and 6e. Considering the base I'm starting from is Espionage!, coupled with the fact that at this point I expect to keep Superheroic as a separate base, the Talents that seem to make sense to include are in the following table. I decided not to include Talents like Height Manipulation and Hypnosis that seemed a bit too genre-specific. For Talents that had a Stop or Caution symbol, I plan to either use a less-powerful version (like going with the JI & 6e Missile Deflection rather than the more powerful Missile Deflection & Reflection combined Talent) or set it aside for later consideration if I don't feel like it fits in well (like Universal Translator). Also, existing 2e/3e Other Skills that became Talents in 4e and beyond (like Ambidexterity and Luck) will remain Other Skills. This is just a first take on it. Let me know if I'm missing something important. JI DI 4e 5e 6e Absolute Range Sense (Useful enough?) Accurately determine distance w/o external aid. X X Absolute Time Sense (Useful enough?) Accurately determine the passage of time w/o external aid X X X X Animal Friendship +3 to PRE roll only to gain animal's trust, etc. (use 6e version) X X Bump of Direction (Useful enough?) Accurately determine compass direction w/o external aid. X X X X Combat Luck +3 rPD and +3 rED for 6 CP, only vs. perceived attacks you try to avoid. X X Combat Sense INT Roll each round for no darkness penalty to OCV and DCV. (use 6e version) X X X X Danger Sense Just the “cannot be surprised in combat” level. X X X X Defense Maneuver Combat Maneuver, ½ Phase, attacks from behind don’t halve the character’s DCV. X X Eidetic Memory Perfect memory for images studied (photos, written pages). X X X X Extra Push +1 to EGO roll, only for purposes of Pushing. X Immunity Immunity to one specific toxic substance or disease. X X Lightning Calculator (Useful enough?) Accurately and quickly add numbers w/o external aid. X X X X Lightning Reflexes DEX bonus only for purposes of acting first. X X X Lightsleep Automatically wake up on nearby activity. If activity is performed with a successful Stealth roll, then awake on a successful PER roll (roll skill vs. skill). Roll EGO to feign sleep if desired. X X X Missile Deflection Use JI version. Later versions included Reflection (a mistake 6e corrected). X X Perfect Pitch (Useful enough?) Accurately determine any note you hear. X X X X Resistance 1 CP per +1 to roll for resisting one of: Interrogation & Wounding, Persuasion, Bribery, Seduction, etc. (6e) X X X Self Healing 10 CP; for 10 END, stop Bleeding (from Bleeding rule or when BODY <1, so it also includes internal bleeding from blunt trauma). +3 to REC for healing. X Simulate Death EGO roll to slow metabolism to the point character appears dead. X X X X Speed Reading Learn new Knowledge Skills in 1/2 the time. Combine with Eidetic Memory to memorize as fast as you can turn the page. X X X X
  7. Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow This is the first book by Doctorow that I've read. Set in and around present-day San Francisco, the book starts out as a pretty standard mystery story, then morphs into something of a techno-thriller. The characters are strongly drawn. Early on some of the character interactions reminded me of Heinlein's awkward handling of masculine characters, but thankfully that wasn't continued in the rest of the novel. The protagonist is a freelance forensic accountant who, nearing retirement, gets one last job that kicks off the story. A cliche start to be sure, and as I mentioned the first part could have been written by anyone familiar with the standard conventions of mystery stories. Don't get me wrong, it's competently-written, but there's nothing really surprising going on until the initial mystery is resolved. From there, it gets a lot more interesting. The book spends time with various interesting characters and the plot sometimes zigs where others would zag. Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable read/listen. Thanks to a recent Kickstarter, I have both the physical book and the audio book. I read the first few and last few chapters, listening to the rest on my way to/from work. For those interested in audiobooks, I can recommend this one. Wil Wheaton did a good job on the audiobook. Overall, I'd say this one is worth checking out if you're into mysteries, techno-thrillers, and/or the intersection of cryptocurrencies, organized crime, the legitimate accounting world, and government.
  8. Well that's good! I'll definitely skip S2 then (given how low the audience ratings on those episodes are) and if S1 keeps being boring I'll feel OK skipping the rest. Thanks!
  9. Someone put together a really neat space elevator web toy. It really drives home how far up you have to go to get to outer space. There are also a lot of neat facts given along the way (and the elevator music is pretty good, too!) https://neal.fun/space-elevator/
  10. Tried Picard (P+) again. 4 eps in and it's just OK-ish. Not really worth the time; in the 90s, it might have been on in the background while I was doing other things. These days, of course, there's no need to watch mediocre content. Still, I've heard S3 is much better, so I'm going to try to stick with it but I'll probably fast forward to Season 3 at some point. Started watching I Hate Suzie (HBOMax). It's one of those shows about someone who is sort of likeable, but who is so messed up you're mostly watching a train wreck in progress. Like Barry, Fleabag, Oh Hell, and many others. It's pretty good. The Rehearsal (HBOMax) is funny and so far just good enough to keep me watching. School Spirits (P+) is about a high school girl who wakes up dead at her high school as a ghost with no memory of how she died. She's stuck on campus, seemingly forever, as are other ghosts -- many of whom are stuck in their own personal hells of their own making. She finds out that one of her friends -- still among the living -- can see and hear her sometimes. They set about solving the mystery of how she died. It's pretty good so far, with some humor, some drama, and some typical teen genre stuff. At times it's handled almost as well as Pretty Little Liars was, and at other times it's just par for the course as a teen show.
  11. So long my unfairweather friend I leave you here Under the cloud Where the sidewalk ends My misery, your company They fit so well My need to please, your self-esteem So give back the hand Of someone you can't stand When I fall Into peace Into place When I'm in love And in light And in grace You, you don't Like me this way And so I say So long my unfairweather friend I'm all filled up Your soul ascends My sadness ends You make amends, I make a mirror To your soul The way from here is getting clearer I've got to go Someday I pray You'll smile for my sake When I fall Into peace Into place When I'm in love And in light And in grace You, you don't Like me this way And so I say There's no wrong or right It's not black and white I know you can't see it now But I feel color in my life Yes I fell Into peace Into place And I'm in love I'm in light I'm in grace And I I really love me this way And so I say I hope you fall Into peace Into place That you're in love And in light And in grace And I You know I love you anyway But I can't stay So long, my unfairweather friend
  12. All the king's horses And all the king's men Can't put your heart back together What can you do She's not a tattoo Can't stay on your own forever So what do they feed us If it's not a lie All of the mice here are dying And what are we selling if it's not our souls I don't want to believe that I'm buying And I thank you for your time But it's getting hard Shooting at love in the dark Beating it into the ground If he goes and she goes If they go we all go We all go down, down, down Down, down, down Superimpose me in your frame of mind Am I still a shadow that listens And are we so far we can't come back around I saw the signs of forgiveness And I thank you for your time But it's getting hard Shooting at love in the dark Beating it into the ground If you go then I go If we go they all go We all go down, down, down Down, down, down Down, down, down Game over Game over Game over Thank you for your time Shooting at love in the dark Beating it into the ground If you go then I go If we go they all go We all go down, down, down Maybe I already know Tell them it's time to come home If he goes then she goes If they go we all go We all go down, down, down. Down, down down. Down, down, down.
  13. Interesting! What would the roll be for someone who didn't purchase the Skill? I look forward to seeing your completed system! I've tinkered with changes to the mechanics over the years, but so far I haven't come up with anything worth adopting.
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