Prometheus

Re: Legal Questions: Pink Defense You don't actually need direct contact to claim battery-- it can be committed by the driver of a vehicle, for example. More importantly, this corporation is acting as judge and jury in a presumed crime. And they're coercing a confession out of someone under duress ("If you don't admit what you've done, you stay pink."). They're not a law enforcement agency or an agent of the courts and they can't make up their own rules about private security. Pardon the pun, but that private security-- and this corporation can't possibly to have any authority beyond that-- is likely acting under color of law, when it is in fact not a law enforcement agency. Get yourself a good lawyer. Preferably the bookish redhead-- she looks like good DNPC material.

Re: Legal Questions: Pink Defense This may not fall under Assault, but it can argued to be Battery or Trespass to the Person. Drawing a mustache on someone actually could be Battery, though it may get thrown out of court. Trespass doesn't have to involve land or property. More importantly, how is a private company giving itself such blanket power over how it handles offenders not setting off alarms with local and state law enforcement? And why isn't a savvy hero making a public statement comparing this to Thought Crime and the Nazi regime? Whether or not the argument holds any substance, the negative PR will have them reeling.

Re: Natural Disasters: Giant Monsters Awaken! Cthonians. Many of Marvel's Deviant related Mutates- sometimes seen with the Mole Man- would fit the bill. Giganto is a classic.

Re: You Know You've Been Playing Champions Too Long When... ... you've tried to convince a GM to let you take the Mastermind option. ... home improvement projects are derailed by DEF and BODY calculations. ... you list Mark Williams as an early artistic inspiration. ... you can remember a time before 18s and 23s.

Re: Post-Apocalypse campaign with Pulp Hero feel A sense of wonder. Pulp (at least adventure pulp) portrays the world as awe-inspiring on a grand scale, its heroes larger than life. A campaign needs some of that to really get it right. When the characters stumble across the ruins of Las Vegas it should have shades of Xuchotl from Red Nails, a expedition into the Rad-Zone should remind the players of At the Mountains of Madness. The heroes recapturing a stolen gas tanker should share as much with the chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark as it does with the escape in The Road Warrior. I'd say that, bar none, Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales (aka Cadillacs and Dinosaurs) is the best example of these two brought together. The caveat is that Xenozoic is lighter on the action, its apocalypse isn't nuclear, and the (ironically) more familiar mutants and rad scorpions have been replaced with dinosaurs. The feel however- from the ancient library vaults hiding powerful weapons of war, to the island teeming with malevolently intelligent wildlife- is pure pulp.

Re: Lantern Corps...Only Not You might consider translating the colors into Orders or Guilds of a sort, maybe even a secret (or overt) Society, each defined by the corresponding trait. The lantern corps themselves each have a broad range of members, and it makes them more interesting, so I’d argue that setting them up as fighting styles or schools would be a little restrictive. Within just the Green Lanterns, the gutsy pilot, taciturn marine, idealistic artist, and headstrong brawler all have a distinct feel and character to them, but still fit well within the corps. With that in mind, consider these: Red – Anger/Rage. Red has an obvious association with blood, so why not expand it to include any bloodthirsty type? The berserker is a given, but the sadistic weaponsmith works as well. A warlord who fathers innumerable children by dozen of courtesans, but decrees that only the lone survivor will be recognized as his heir has Red written all over him. Orange – Avarice/Greed. Pirates and pillagers may have rules, but they are one and all out for themselves. The highest circle of the Thieves Guild belongs to Orange, but so do the highwaymen, brigands, and reavers. The amoral money lender may harbor delusions of membership some day, and anyone lucky enough to unearth an Orange treasure would be rich beyond his dreams, provided he can hang on to it. Yellow – Fear. Practically anyone who uses terror to their advantage: a legendary assassin who can get to anyone, anywhere, but always warns his targets first, or the notorious warrior with a reputation for consuming those he kills. A ruthless commander who flies the Yellow banner loads his catapults with the heads of the fallen when he lays siege to his enemies. Green – Will. As the center of the spectrum, these are the stalwart, grounded, and durable. The noble knight is in, but so is the courageous squire who takes up his fallen master’s weapon against the Black Rider. Wild, carousing barbarians with no use for authority may seem out of place, but when they hold their ground and refuse to die- that’s their Green showing. Blue – Hope. This is the realm of the inspiring warrior, though like the others, he can come in different forms. A troubadour’s songs can inspire a group, as can a lieutenant’s tales of glory told around the campfire. People often want to be a part of something greater than themselves, so the warrior with a destiny fits as well. Indigo – Compassion. Know for giving quarter to the enemy or even abstaining from lethality. On the other hand, compassion may mean mercifully delivering a comrade into the hereafter when there is no chance of recovery. A (moderately) pacifistic warrior monk is an example, but so is a wandering hero. Violet – Love. Like some of the other colors, Violet is more a motivation than a modus operandi. They may fight for love but it’s unlikely they will literally love their enemies. Diversity is still possible, though they are invariably female in the comics. A young widow who dedicates herself to avenging her fallen husband is just as valid as the stern and maternal cleric who never leaves town without her trusty old, battered, but unbroken shield and an eye on her companions’ backs. Membership doesn’t even need to be implicit. If the spectrum is actually a pantheon of gods or powers, you might be an agent of Violet when you swear to carry on your beloved father’s work, or of Green any time you make a stand against many for what you believe in.

Re: Federated Super Teams (Galactic Champions)

Re: Federated Super Teams (Galactic Champions) This campaign sounds ubercool. Two resources I thought might be useful, given the scope and tone of what you've posted, are the Sinestro Corps War (scope) and Nexus (tone). Sinestro Corps War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinestro_Corps_War Nexus (comic) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_%28comics%29 Keeps us updated!

Re: WWII Spinoff Sort-of. Need help! Glad they could be useful. Those were honestly of the top of my head, but if I come up with anything else I'll pass it along.

Re: WWII Spinoff Sort-of. Need help! DC comics had a trio of demons- Abnegazar, Rhast and Ghast- each of who were linked to a talisman that allowed them to manifest on Earth: a silver wheel, a green bell, and a red jar. That always appealed to me, granting an arcane significance to three otherwise mundane sounding items. They don't all have to be taken literally either; the "wheel" might be a small gear, the "bell" a gong or cymbal, and the "jar" might actually be any container. Adapting those to fit your golem storyline (and I’m assuming this is ancient, lemurian, mechanical golem) you might have something like this: The Silver Wheel - A precisely crafted gear and component of the golem. The Wheel has passed through the hands of Vitruvius and Leonardo da Vinci, influencing their work on proportions and forms. The Wheel is in France, where Leonardo lived out the last years of his life. If the heroes manage to find it the villains might still get away with the artist’s diagrams and construct a version of their own. The Green Bell - Once in the possession of an ancient Chinese wizard, the ages have covered this small copper gong in a green patina. The Bell grants its user control over the golem, or any properly prepared inanimate object. The wizard’s stronghold (and final resting place) on the Nepalese border is guarded by a small army of terracotta soldiers. An enterprising villain could use The Bell to set the soldiers on the heroes while they make their escape. The Red Jar - In actuality a lemurian reactor, The Jar glows red hot with strange radioactivity. Plugged into the golem, its weird energies give the construct life. It’s unearthed at the ancient lemurian colony in Madagascar, but after watching a few of the villains’ unprotected henchmen get melted by The Jar, the heroes may concede this one to the evildoers, instead following them to the final confrontation in the Himalayas! I don’t know that you would want to take those as they are (or at all), but hopefully they illustrate how you might work an item into something a little more interesting, and adapt it into your story.

Re: WWII Spinoff Sort-of. Need help! Simple genre pieces revolving around items "too dangerous to fall into the wrong hands" might be the way to go, at least initially. If you keep the set dressing different each time, the players may not catch on to the recurring plot. A globetrotting chase to keep the Ark of the Covenant out of Nazi hands one week could be followed by a burglary investigation involving odd art objects- a "pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings", perhaps? Or how about a locked room mystery in a (reportedly) haunted mansion? "Weird Science" was previously mentioned and I have to emphasize what a plot goldmine that is. Guys like Baron Zemo were running around with death rays, disintegrator pistols, and even androids! With the state department and armed forces busy elsewhere, an enterprising mad (or weird) scientist might make his move at carving out a piece of the homefront for himself. The All-Star Squadron regularly fought mobsters and fifth columnists back home after all, you can just take it a step further.

Re: Invisibility vs. Sight I'd chalk this up as blatant rules abuse. The question is whether or not a character can be detected. Here, the sense that's doing the actual detection is Radar; the special effect is that the user sees a blip on a display. And since Radar isn't in the Sight Group, affecting one doesn't cascade into the other. That's the reason why Senses affected across multiple groups (a Radar display that is Flashed as Sight and Radar) are bought with a Limitation. What your player is doing is trying to get around a rule by tying it down to a special effect. Sorry, no.

Re: A Dark Golden Age game Have you looked at DC's The Golden Age? I don't know that you need to up the level of violence. Just by making your stories less campy and focusing on different subject matter you can change the tone of campaign. I have to ask- you mention one player would like a darker tone, but how do the other players feel?

Re: Gaslamp Champions If you're looking for more ideas, have a look at this site (It's come up on the boards before, but it's worth reposting).

Re: GM Justice Inc Quandry Assuming you're not out to outright kill the PCs, ridiculous (or at least fantastic) coincidence is fair game. You don't have to hand the players a victory or a way out, just give them enough for the players to earn it on their own. In the real world it's unlikely any amount of gunfire would make the radiator explode- or vent- violently, filling the area with steam, but in the pulps world it's entirely possible. A couple of hexes of Darkness won't hand the PCs a win, just give them a chance to get out of the Oldsmobile and hand out some two-fisted justice.

Re: Gaslamp Champions Have you taken a look at Neil Gaiman's 1602? It's one hundred fifty years earlier than your setting, but I think it's a good example of how to translate modern heroes into a different era. I think Sir Fury the Queen's spymaster and Doctor Strange the royal physician translated particularly well.

Re: what gives your pulp its pep?

Re: what gives your pulp its pep? I have to admit to the dissenting opinion: I've always felt that the best of the pulps are entertaining because they're well written. Robert E. Howard (my personal favorite) definitely had a "literary bent", and he brought it to a subject matter that make his stories especially enjoyable. I mean, if all the Conan stories had been written at a third-grade level with pure titillation in mind, would they be any good?

For the purpose of purchasing Penalty Skill Levels to offset Sweep OCV penalties, is Sweep unilaterally considered a "single attack" (1.5 Points), or are individual variations of Sweep (Sweep Disarm, Sweep Offensive Strike, etc.) considered distinct maneuvers?

Re: Area of Effect for Hand to Hand attacks? Have you had a look at Penalty Skill Levels vs Sweep? This may need a rule clarification, but as I understand it PSLs can be purchased for one maneuver (Sweep). Sweep in turn can be combined with any other maneuver, with the rules giving the examples Sweep Martial Throw and Sweep Disarm. The downside is that your character is at 1/2 DCV, which may be a deal-breaker for you, but if you buy them to offset the OCV penalty for only Sweep, you can cancel the minuses for up to six targets for 18 points.

Re: Cuts through anything Isn’t this, to a considerable degree, campaign specific? Taking the highest DEF listed in the 5ed (Tank, front armor) as a benchmark, then being able to overcome 20 DEF could arguable be a reasonable target. That doesn’t take into consideration what might exist in a particular campaign though- if Adamantium is 30 DEF, Hardened, then you’re aiming at a different level. Something else to consider: “Cuts Through Anything” and “Obliterates On Contact” are, to most people, two different things. If you’re looking at punching a hole in a battleship, that’s very different that slicing it in two with one swipe. With all that in mind, I’d look at Killing Attack, with enough Penetrating to do at least 1 BODY to anything that isn’t indestructible in the campaign. Personally, I’ve never seen any build with Hardened x2- but YMMV- so even 1d6 with Penetrating x2 could be enough to do 1 BODY to practically anything. Now, if you're looking for a build that "Obliterates On Contact"... well, that's a different animal entirely.

Re: I'm just drawn this way... Power Suggestions needed While by no means comprehensive, here are some broad-stroke suggestions, with links to (ideally) helpful examples: Femme Fatalia – EGO, Luck, Overall Skill Levels. Resourceful, tough, willful, and dangerous! Will Eisner and Milton Caniff define this character, but Darwyn Cooke is a modern example. I’d also argue that many of Steve Dillon’s girls fall into the same camp, though with a far rougher edge to them. Action Girl!!! – Flash (maybe Linked to STR, w/Personal Immunity), Force Field, PRE and SPD. Obviously, we’re talking about Jack Kirby’s wild, dynamic style, along with John Buscema. Olympia – Aid (or Succor) to STR, DEX, INT, and COM (with the Variable Effect +1 Advantage), Flight, 8-point Combat Skill Levels. If ever there were Classicists in comics, they were Neal Adams , and George Perez. Lady Killzone – DEX, Killing Attack(s)... and Stretching. Personally, I blame Rob Liefield, Todd McFarlane, Frank Miller, and to some extent Jim Lee. Power Woman – Density Increase, Damage Reduction, and PRE. These girls tend towards the monumental (you might call them Rubenesque, but that can have some negative connotations outside of Art History). Based on the art of Adam Hughes, Frank Cho and possibly Amanda Connor. And I'm certain that's there's also a power set in the art of Art Baltazar, but I'm not sure how you'd go about designing it.

Re: Adaptive Camouflage

Re: Surprisingly Effective Builds? Shrinking Brick. A player had "pocket brick" character with decent baseline stats and a splash of CSLs, then added Density Increase and Shrinking linked together (along with Desolid) to represent the ability to control his density. He was a terror in combat. With forty points of each, anything that managed to hit him had better roll well or it was going to slide off. The added STR also made his hits really sting, and even against high DEX opponents he could keep swinging until he managed a hit. And once the team ninja taught him Stealth, he was effectively invisible out of combat.

Re: Serial Campaign Episode For subplots, I've tried using a checklist to make sure I stay on top of things. Whether it's directly related to the main storyline, or it just involves one of the characters, it's a good way to keep track of what's going on. It works equally well for major plotlines as it does for subplots. Say I want a romance subplot for one character, and a villainous terrorist plot for the greater plotline, I would break both up into checklists for me to track the progress of each. Just as an example, it might look something like this: Burglarize port records for manifests Raid freighter for volatile cargo Kidnap specialist to build bomb Blackmail inside man for security clearances Drop bomb on urban center or Meet the girl Get to know each other Mess it up Reconcile Finally get the girl Of course, the details are up to you, but I tend to stress the points where the characters can get involved. Maybe they only show up in time to investigate the burglary, or maybe they come to the freighter's aid in time to save the hostage crew (but too late to stop the cargo from being taken)- at the very least I know I'm setting up the story and that the players are involved. If they manage to catch up with the villains as they attempt the kidnapping, or if the season ends before the reconcilliation, that's fine, at least I know how everything is progressing and where to pick up. It also helps make certain I'm giving everyone relatively equal screen time. If Agent Garrus's revenge subplot is almost all checked off, but Commander Shepard's romance subplot is practically empty, it's time to give him a little time alone with the new girl in Navigation. It just takes a quick glance to check that you (the GM) aren't neglecting, ignoring, or just plain forgetting something.