casualplayer

Re: Limitation Minimization All the limitations are essentially extrapolated Limited Power. Imagine the learning curve if all power limitations were batched together under one roof! Personally I would have liked to have seen two things happen with the HERO Resurrection, as far as power modifiers are concerned. I would have like to have seen ranges of values given, as one GM's Focus enforcement barely warrants a -1/4 for an OAF where some GMs have nothing but Foci destroying/denying NPCs and OAF should be worth -2. Also I would have like to have seen HERO join the 21st century and use decimal instead of fractions. You would receive a much more versatile, intuitive and flexible gradation if power modifiers could range from +/- 0.10 to 2.00. I'm not sure if I like the idea of batching and weighing all limitations and advantages as an aggregate. I have made characters that can Suppress selective power modifiers rather than the gross power, and your suggestion would make this even more difficult than it already is.

Re: Water and Body Well, cool beans. Big Meatloaf fan (and a big fan of Meatloaf) and a big Bonnie Tyler fan. Guess I should read the liner notes.

Re: DEX: and the Marvel Universe My design ethos follows this. I could port any of my characters into this environment and run (and be happy.) You gave Nightwing higher DEX than Batman! I have such a man-crush on you! The problem with DEX is it's just too darn good, and cost effective. Why not crank up the DEX value? You get all these other goodies along with the effect you were trying for. The quick fix would have been to wean SPD off the DEX teat, and I was sad that that didn't happen with the Resurrection. Oh, well.

Re: Attacks of Opportunity (d20) in Hero If you wanted to try Attacks of Opportunity in Hero, give everyone for free an AE: 1 hex No Range Selective Always On (maybe Continuous instead, 0 END to activate) attack at whatever value their weapon of choice is. Then if anyone gets near them at any time, they can take a swipe at them (pay END, roll to hit, doesn't burn an action.) Damage Shield would work also, if you can buy Selective on it. This is the stunt that I think Deathstroke used to tag the Flash in Identity Crisis. Obviously this would hugely benefit the sword swingers and powerhouses, which is why AoO was added to D&D. Mages utterly owned fighters after only a few levels, and this was their awful attempt to "even" things out.

Re: Water and Body This water thread may come in extremely handy in my PBEM. I was wondering how much water my flame aura could turn into steam, and we are fighting a hydrokinetic who appears to be dependent on ambient water. Thanks! By the way Dust Raven, isn't your sig Meatloaf, or did Meatloaf sample that for his song?

Re: Building Optimus Prime Roller, for the most part, is just Clairsentience for Prime bought through a focus. He doesn't seem to be self-willed or have much initiative, and I have never seen him do anything but scout (basically acting as a perception point for Prime.) I can't recall if it was real-time communication of info or Optimus had to link-up (Concentrate?) to get the scoop from Roller. It's not as if Roller is like one of Soundwave's cassette-children. I mean, if Roller is a full-on Autobot, he's dumber than a Dinobot. Optimus' command platform is wonky. The trailer part is his freakin' legs when you transform him, but it apparently can turn into Firebase Prime and act separately. What's up with that? Game-wise, Summon is the way to go, completely loyal, appears out of nowhere, blah, blah. Both of these ways work a lot better than buying Duplication twice for two different Multiforms. The thought of that makes my head hurt.

Re: villain vs villain When I ran my villains campaign the team mentalist Black Dragon killed Aquarian from Champions of the North, and Polar Bear (also from CotN) has been actively hunting him ever since, with the intent to kill. Villains get disturbed when heroes get vicious in response. I also had Harbinger of Justice infiltrate the group and almost put all of them into an early grave. He posed as their pilot for well over a year before striking. Eventually, after we went back to the mainstream hero game, I rolled some of the villains into Eurostar and they got to fight their former characters. Strangely I have found that the best way to get players to learn teamwork and coordination is to have them run villains. Maybe it's because the leader will kill you if you don't do what you are told?

Re: Your favorite PC vs.. I've never had a character that can beat people who fight galaxies and can rend time with their bare hands. Any of my characters (including a Cosmic level game) could never beat Supreme. Maybe Supremouse. The character Sun Knight, that I just finished but haven't played yet, could beat Captain America, Nightwing or Black Canary if I completely disregarded every ethic he has. Pushing a building over on them works well but is rough on the tenants. Throwing bulldozers would probably do ok also. However the first nerve strike past my Armor and it's lights out Sun Knight.

Re: Clarifying Core Defense Mechanic Are there Gms out there letting people buy Flashes and Drains with the Does Body advantage or something? Why the heck would you ever need resistant Flash or Power Defense? This smells of cheese, or more likely a defense created against the smell of cheese.

Re: Player vs. Character If it's even an option of stopping to top off the tank before bursting through the doorway, then the GM needs to work on the pacing. You should be convinced every second counts and tense as all get out, otherwise you might as well play a turn based, untimed game like Stratego (ok in its place.) The shot clock should be ticking, but admittedly it is easier said than done. I am generally a talk-to-the-monster type of player but sometimes I let my weapons do the talking.

Re: Deathstroke Renegade 13 was a very cool character, but only Deathstroke's little brother. Deathstroke written up properly would be 1000+ points and have all sorts of wacky stuff like Area Effect: Selective on his STR and HA so he can make an attack on everyone who gets within 5" every phase (sfx-hopping all over the place) and an HKA Damage Shield so he can stab anyone that tries to touch him. He's fast and agile enough to tag the Flash (but Wolverine dodged Slade's swipe once WTF?) and takes on teams single-handed. Batman has beat him, Wonder Woman has fought him inconclusively and Superman owns him and really should have got on the stick and incarcerated Slade by now. Hmmph, comic logic. Nightwing "beats" Slade often by knowing him well and working that, not in a toe-to-toe fight. Slade has this grudging, "wish-my-kid-was-like-him" respect for Nightwing. His best power is an enormous PRE that makes most supers wet themselves.

Re: PBEM Submissions: NorCal Heroes! Sun Knight is on his way! Hope he passes muster.

Re: Roll up, roll up... Let's see how YOUR Marvel Select will do...

Re: Roll up, roll up... Let's see how YOUR Marvel Select will do... Man, I wanna write Aquaman. The only reason he looks like a chump is because he hangs around Superman and Martian Manhunter. He has so much potential, squandered because even the writers that DC gets secretly feel that he is a chump, the exceptions being Peter David and Grant Morrison (and John Arcudi is giving me hope.) This is going to cause some grimaces but Aquaman could possibly take Captain America in a fight. Definitely Spider-Man, most X-Men, most b-list Avengers and Namor as well. He mind-swatted a White Martian! Mentalists tend to own Marvel characters unless they brought their own or have extensive X-training. That said, the archtypal FF could do well against this JLA roster. If Reed gets near a lab then I favor them in the fight. The right Avengers could do well also. Thor would be nice, but he isn't necessary. Since Avengers usually come in packs of 6 I'll go with these: Captain America-because it ain't the Avengers if he isn't there. Captain Marvel/Photon-only as fast as the speed of light. Darn. Iron Man-the other anchor of the Avengers, almost unimaginable for him not to be there. Quasar-Lantern plus, and a phenomenal team player Sersi-Wonder Woman may rip her head off when she hears the name, but otherwise Superman may end up Streaky the Supercat. Wonder Man-slowly evolving into Nefaria-level powers. If I went to 8 I would probably add Mantis to whup on Batman and maybe Moondragon. Justice and Firestar would be good also.

Re: Teamwork I thought Teamwork was making the players pay for knowing the character sheets of the rest of the team as well as they know their own. Kinda like KS: Supervillains is for those who pathologically snoop in the NPC books. Pay the points or the GM vetoes all the hare-brained, no-way-your-rookie-character-came-up-with-that ideas and knowledge.

Re: Who is your campaigns "Bad Guy they love to hate" I used to use Commodore from Strike Force a lot. He succumbed to the Blood insanity, spectacularly destroyed his marriage to Lorelei and began stalking various members of my team Shockwave. Nimble teleporters with vorpal blades (my addition) are difficult to handle. When I was taking a GM break, the guest GM used him and Commodore killed my character with impunity. Oh, the irony!

Re: Marvel Universe trivia Well, that makes a world of difference. I would start off with the Red Skull commissioning a new Hatemonger from Arnim Zola. Zola has perfected his cloning process and now his clones regain their complete former memories. Adolph Hitler, resurrected as Hatemonger several times before, had a passion for occult lore and mystic artifacts, and the Red Skull wants the location of one of these caches. Specifically he wants the one that contains the Drachen, a prototype of the Demolisher (Destroyer?) also forged by Odin but even less controllable. The stirring of the Red Drachen impels the Uniforce to empower Captain America, but until he puts the pieces together he doesn't know why he was gifted. This could be all sorts of fun: You could use Doughboy, always a crowd pleaser and a huge clue that Zola is involved. Hatemonger not wanting to relinquish the info and Red Skull "coaxing" the information from him. Imagine having to save Hitler from the Red Skull. If Thor is still alive, it makes an easy way to involve him, or any Asgardian for that matter. Quasar will probably notice Captain Ameriverse's new stature and/or the Red Drachen. Spider-Man will likely crap his pants if the Drachen stirs. Maybe the cache is in Latveria? Helmut Zemo may have to involve himself in the Nazi reunion. One of two things will happen, and I know which way I would go, if Captain America were to receive the Uniforce. He will have to have quite the session of introspection, and either be demoralized or reinvigorated. He will really be able to bring his message to the world with this new found power. As long as you keep the mutants excluded this could be groovy.

Re: Need a name... Paladin? Pacifist? Parcheesi? I wish you had mentioned costuming and personality a bit more. Could be anything from Saracen to Samhain. It does bring up one of my naming bugaboos. In a world where Star Wars exists as popular entertainment not as a documentary, a character with this power set is going to be called Jedi. Admittedly the Cease and Desist may speedily arrive from your game world's George Lucas but the media is going to keep calling this guy Jedi. Why not run with it? Had a were-character once that really wanted to be called Kodiak but the papers kept calling him The Wookiee. Pinnacle? Perception? Mymidon? Watchman? Public Defender? Mulch?

Re: Super humans populations in cities Supers go to the cities because otherwise all their points spent on Swinging were wasted. Without a tall building to leap in a single bound, you may be accused of bragging. Magnetic powers in the big city can throw girders; in the country you have to throw monster trucks and bass boats. Without skyscrapers to get in your way, megascale knockback puts you into the next county and out of the fight. No one likes losing their headquarters to a tornado. If you think inner city youth go armed, try living where baby strollers come with gunracks.

Re: Spiderman vs... Oscorp, the wholly owned subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises in a conjoined universe, has the formula to goblin glider exhaust in its database. Green Goblin has been harshing on spider sense for decades. It's not just the symbiote slashers that can bypass it. Mystics tend to blow right past it also. Spider-Man used to be a 43 STR, but he's probably around a 48 STR now. Kinda like Class 100 doesn't really apply in Marvel anymore, Spidey's STR has notched up. He really is a sneakily costumed turbo-brick, not a dodgeball. His combat luck's SFX has been "I get out of the way" for ages.

Re: PBEM Submissions: NorCal Heroes! They are? That's crazy. How do you move a dinosaur anyway? I was crushed to see the comic store where I bought Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen eradicated. Of course the comics glut of the early 90's pretty much crushed Comics and Comix, so maybe it was a mercy killing. Any prohibited builds or power structures?

Re: Spiderman vs... While JMS is doing a lot to make Spider-Man the threat he deserves to be, Bendis is letting Ultimate inexperience bleed into mainstream Spidey. Where the heck was Spider-Man's spider sense when he lept head-first into the prison break in New Avengers? He got his arm broke by Jigsaw of all people. A shot of webbing down the throat of the Rampaging Hulk takes care of him in a hurry. "Hulk smash own windpipe, Rarrrr!" Spider-Man alone couldn't consistently beat any of those teams you mentioned. Not with the main players involved. Cyclops, Colossus, Beast, Shadowcat, Wolverine, Emma Frost-no way. Storm and Nightcrawler X-men-no way. The FF? Please. Any Avengers with Cap involved, nope. Any Avengers without Cap involved ain't Avengers. One on one against any non-cosmic player in the Marvel Universe, good odds on Spidey.

Re: PBEM Submissions: NorCal Heroes! I have never done a PBEM game. How much of a time commitment is involved? I only reliably get to my computer on the weekends. Aside from that I would love to play a game set in my old stomping grounds. As much as they still resemble when I lived there (I can't believe Birdcage Walk is gone.)

Re: Now what do I do? You need to make sure all four players get a shining moment and no one player gets to feel like he was the sole cause for rescue. Capture is the toughest thing for role-playing games to simulate. It happens all the time in the source material but role-playing it can be a grind. Maybe the TK field (sounds more like Flight UAA) is specific to biological material. Then the Brick could spit a filling or flick a beltbuckle into a spotlight giving the Nightlight guy leeway to disable some of the levitation beams, and back and forth and so on. I had a brick break out of a similar trap by not pushing his STR; he pushed his Density Increase! Took 99% of the enemy's base power to hold him and made the rest of the team's cells into virtual swiss cheese. Then when they switched off his cell he plummeted thru 9 levels of base, including the power plant. Maybe the Mage can channel some END to his captured teammates making them lucid enough for one mighty escape attempt. Maybe Technochick can rig a detector to pick up distinctive residue from the last radioactive villain the team fought, residue that still clings to her teammate's costumes. Maybe a combo of the two. "I can cast the Heart of Heroes spell to assist them, but only if I get within a city block." "A city block? I thought it would be difficult. I need a GPS, a Speak-n-Spell, a PS2 and a Venti Mocha Latte." The only reason why villains take captives is because they have Plans For You Later. Maybe you're gonna be sold into slavery, maybe a labrat as a prototype for supersoldiers, maybe just to gloat at when the Supreme Serpent fells insecure. Maybe VIPER will just "tag and release" the heroes, to chastize them or for use later. Maybe they are brainwashed to the hilt. Just don't have NPCs rescue them or have them captured by villains too stupid to hold them. That will trigger player's Berserks.

Re: Marvel Universe trivia Well, since this isn't for publication and there are no licensing horrors to overcome, I would have the Red Skull and Baron Karza merge similar to how the Baron has done before. It would be amusing to have the Baron expect to totally dominate and have to seriously contend for control of the young (compared to the Baron) but palpable evil of Johann Schmidt. Karza tusseled with Captain Universe on his own; Captain Ameriuniverse vs. Skullkarza could be fun.